Garrison Forest School Magazine 2014

G A R R I SON F OR E S T 2014

MAGAZINE

Kim RobeRts 10TH HEAD OF GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

CAMPUS VIEWS These pinhole camera photographs of the Garrison Forest School campus were taken as an assignment in Photo I taught by Michele Shepherd. Students created their own pinhole cameras, composed and shot a photograph, developed it using a paper negative in the darkroom and then scanned the negative and manipulated images in Photoshop.

Top row (from left): Victoria Bennett ‘16, Jackie Watts ‘16, Anna Gorman ‘14; Second row (from left): Sarah Kate Lynch ‘16, Brianna Thewsuvat ‘16, Jamie Glueck ‘16; Bottom row (from left): Fernanda Graf ‘17, Ari Harris ‘15, Quhan He ‘16

BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2014-2015 OFFICERS OF THE BOARD

David M. DiPietro, President Carroll Dawbarn ’64, Vice President Amabel Boyce James ’70, Treasurer Timothy T. Weglicki, Secretary BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Emily Gardner Baratta ’88 Sara N. Bleich ’96 Robert S. Brennen Cassandra Naylor Brooks ’85

Kimberly Hubbard Cashman ’85 Diana Warfield Daly ’74 Timothy F. Daniels Molly Mundy Hathaway ’61 Timothy W. Hathaway Sarah LeBrun Ingram ’84 Catherine Y. Jackson ’83 Peter D. Maller Mark W. Mullin C. Ashton Newhall William M. Parrish

Gregory C. Pinkard Karan H. Powell Frances Russell Rockwell ’68 R. Todd Ruppert Elizabeth B. Searle ’74 Helen Zinreich Shafer ’93 William B. Spire William L. Yerman

EX-OFFICIO

Kathleen W. Baughman Emily Appelbaum Brennan ’96 William S. Hodgetts Liza Hathaway Matthews ’83 Elizabeth P. Piper Kimberley J. Roberts

G AR R IS ON F OR E S T gfs.org

2014

MAGAZINE

14 Kim Roberts meet Garrison Forest’s 10th Head of school

20 Garrison Food School explore the numerous ways GFs alumnae are contributing to the world of food

26 Garrison Forest Gallery “tour” the GFs art gallery of student work

28 Monuments Man take a behind-the-scenes peek at treasures saved by GFs archivist Dante beretta

126 Historically Technological enjoy a fun look at the history of technology at Garrison Forest

Departments

2

Letter from the Head of School

4

Newsmakers Alumnae, students and faculty make headlines

12

Farewell to the Forest

30

Faculty at the Forest Celebrating faculty and staff honors and retirees

35

Spirit of Giving the Fund for Garrison Forest, senior Class Gift, Leadership at the Forest, the marshall-offutt Circle and Career Day 2014

40

Class News

128

Words We Live By: Esse Quam Videri this issue’s guest columnist on the impact of the GFs motto is G. Peter o’Neill, Jr., retired Head of school

GO ONLINE to gfs.org/magazine for this and more

EDITOR AND WRITER

Sarah Achenbach Director of Communications sarahachenbach@gfs.org CLASS NEWS EDITOR AND WRITER

Aja Jackson Assistant Director of Communications ajajackson@gfs.org TRUSTEES EMERITI

DESIGN

Frank A. Bonsal, Jr. Mathias J. DeVito H. Grant Hathaway Henry H. Hopkins Douglas A. McGregor Elinor Purves McLennan ’56 Francis G. Riggs Clare H. Springs ’62 Frederick W. Whitridge Katherine R. Williams

Cortney Geare, Art Director Jeni Mann, Director Clipper City Custom Media clippercitymedia.com PHOTOGRAPHY

F. Paul Galeone Photographers, Crystal Lee ‘96, Lilly Nguyen ’15, Michele Shepherd, David Stuck Photography, Robin Taylor

Garrison Forest Magazine is published annually.

The opinions expressed in the magazine and Class News are those of the authors and/or interview subjects and not necessarily those of Garrison Forest School. Garrison Forest makes every effort to include all submitted Class News but reserves the right to edit for clarity, length and content. Alumnae Class News agents are responsible for accuracy in their Class News.

Garrison Forest School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation or national origin in the administration of its educational programs, admissions and financial aid policies, employment practices and other school-administered programs.

SEND ADDRESS CORRECTIONS TO:

Alumnae Office Garrison Forest School 300 Garrison Forest Road Owings Mills, MD 21117 gfs_alum@gfs.org 410-559-3136

•

gfs.org/alumnae

2

From the Head of School

As I sat down to write my first letter for the Garrison Forest Magazine i contemplated the many different directions i could go. i could write philosophically about why girls’ schools matter; or about why i am so deeply energized by Garrison Forest’s approach to girls’ education, in particular; or about how excited my family is to be joining such a vibrant community; or even about the epic move—the packing and purging, the chaos and the leave taking, all leading to our comical trip across the country with multiple animals and children in tow.

All of these thoughts are top of mind for me at the moment. but taken together, they represent a pivotal moment in my life. i have taken a risk, landed my dream job and completely upended my life and the lives of my family. in other words, i have just embarked on the kind of journey i most hope our students will experience in their lives.

This is a moment of seizing leadership as a woman, of letting my passions lead me to stretch to reach my full potential and, yes, of even tolerating fear as i contemplate the inevitable mistakes i will make along the way. most of us can now rattle off the list of 21st century skills we want our students to master.

With a nod to tony Wagner, these skills and habits of mind are things like critical thinking; problem solving; collaboration; adaptability; effective oral and written communication; global awareness; facility with data and information; and above all, deep and lasting intellectual hunger. it is fitting that as i begin my tenure leading an innovative, thoughtful 21st century girls’ school, my daily experience feels like that of a quintessential 21st century girls’ school student. And i have to confess that the skills required to succeed today are significantly more challenging than those emphasized during the girls’ school education of my youth.

And this brings me to empathy, the most personally powerful to me of the 21st century skills we want our students to possess. Right now, as i experience the slight discomfort that accompanies growth, the tingle of nerves that comes of not

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

knowing the answer to every question in advance (or indeed the questions themselves), i feel deep empathy for our students. it occurs to me that as we challenge our girls to master these noncognitive skills, we rarely acknowledge that these same habits of mind are incredibly difficult for us to embrace as adults. We might feel sympathy for the busy lives our students lead and the multiple demands they juggle, but unless we are on a path of growth alongside them, it is difficult to feel true empathy.

There is deep courage required in being a student today. Not only do they have to master content, but they also have to build their eQ (emotional Quotient) to match their iQ. in this way, girls who have the benefit of a girls’ school education will not only see themselves represented in stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields at nearly three times the numbers of their peers who attend coed schools, they will also have the opportunity to learn from teachers, advisors and mentors who understand their particular, highly relational universe and who will help them learn how to flex their eQ. The lesson of my summer has been this: We strive to teach in ways that challenge high-achieving girls to thrive in ambiguity (when we want answers as much as they do); to tolerate mistakes as opportunities for growth (when we rarely allow ourselves that same forgiveness); and to speak and write with conviction and authenticity (when we are often at risk ourselves for taking the path of least resistance). Really, i am learning that we must also have the courage to flex our eQ alongside our students.

As a scholar who studies “vulnerability, courage and authenticity,” Dr. brené brown claims that “empathy fuels connection.” Garrison Forest is clearly a community that values connection. As i skydive into my new position as Head of school, i feel connected to our students in a profound way.

We are on this courageous journey together.

Kimberley J. Roberts, Ph.D. Head of School

Garrison Forest Commencement 2014

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

4

Newsmakers

NATIONAL MERIT AWARD WINNERS each year, the National merit scholarship Corporation recognizes students across the U.s. for their remarkable achievement in the PsAt. From a pool of the more than 1.5 million students who took the test in their junior year, four members of the Class of 2014 received National merit honors.

NATIONAL MERIT FINALIST KATHERINE PASEMAN ’14 Activities: President and founder, Debate Club; Co-president, January for Jhpiego; Math Club; Co-head, Arts Association; DaVinci Club; Advanced Dance; Ragged Robins; Chamber Choir; BGSLC; Robotics.

Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) project: In collaboration with Jhpiego and the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID), Katherine worked to reduce the cost of urine dipsticks, which test for urinary tract infections and gestational diabetes, from 10 cents to 1/3 of a cent for use in developing countries.

IN

January 2014, Katherine made Garrison Forest history as the school’s first Intel Science Talent Search (STS) semifinalist in the nation’s most prestigious science research competition for high school seniors.

one of 300 intel sts semifinalists in the U.s., Katherine was among 21 semifinalists from maryland and the only one from a girls’ school or independent school in the state. she submitted her research on blood analysis, “c ≠ 35H: A New model Relating Hemoglobin, Hematocrit, and optical Density,” an analytical model of the Hemometer, and was invited to submit her paper to E=mc2: A High School Science Journal at the University of Chicago. “such a device has many uses, home health monitoring, blood bank pre-screening, etc., but our primary focus is helping Jhpiego [the Johns Hopkins-affiliated international health organization] reduce infant mortality by detecting low hemoglobin levels in expectant mothers,” says Katherine, a boarding student from silicon Valley, Calif. “in order for the device to work, we need a mathematical model of how light interacts with whole blood. We create one by extending existing equation-based models using intuitions from 3D geometry.” in addition to her Wise research in the Jhpiego-affiliated Center for bioengineering innovation & Design (CbiD) lab

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

Favorite class: A.P. Calculus BC. “The way the material was presented reinspired me to pursue a career in STEM. I’ve always loved physics, so seeing the patterns of numbers in their purest form was really interesting.

I also spent time with some of the most intelligent girls I’ve ever met.”

College plans: Studying mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

at Hopkins, Katherine spent the summer of 2013 as a CbiD intern to continue her Wise research with CbiD and to work on her intel sts application. As a result, she was invited to spend 10 days in December 2013 in Kolkata, india with a CbiD HemoGlobe research team under the supervision of Dr. soumyadipta Acharya. The team field tested the validity of several models of At the CBID lab during the WISE program noninvasive blood analysis; this data collection also assisted HemoGlobe and Katherine’s own Hemometer efforts. “We are each building low-cost devices which use light instead of needles to measure components of a blood panel,” says Katherine, who is an A.P. scholar of Distinction and plans to be a biomedical engineer. “by coming to Garrison Forest and having time to explore my interests in stem, i have fallen in love with the sciences. For me, it is more important to do what i care about. What i love the most about science is having a way to improve the quality of a person’s life.”

Newsmakers

NATIONAL HISPANIC RECOGNITION SCHOLAR FABIANA BERENGUER GIL ’14 Activities: Member, Varsity Tennis (four years), Co-captain (2012); Advanced Dance; Peer Educator; Tea Club.

WISE project: In 2013, Fabi worked in The Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering Department of Civil Engineering to design a structure on computer-aided design (CAD) programs to withstand earthquakes.

She constructed a 6-foot model and used the shake table to test the acceleration of the building at different points.

Favorite class: “I want to be an architect, and I really enjoy creating things, so Architectural Modeling and Architectural Drawing classes were fun. 3D Studio Class sophomore year, though, had the greatest impact.

I hadn't had that much experience with sculpting before, but I loved it.”

College plans: Studying architecture at Cornell University.

Pictured in the GFS studio, crafting a piece of jewelry.

COMMENDED SCHOLAR ANNA GORMAN ’14

COMMENDED SCHOLAR ASHLEY MITCHELL ‘14

Activities: Member, Da Vinci, Global Philanthropy and Tea clubs; Manager, Varsity Badminton and Basketball; Member, independent service team that made a trip to Haiti in December 2012 to build an orphanage.

Activities: Founding member, Student Diversity Leadership Council; Advanced Dance; Forum Class Representative; President, 2013-14 Ragged Robins.

WISE projects: The only student in the 10-year history of WISE to do two separate projects, Anna spent fall 2012 in Hopkins’ Gerecht Lab, Biomolecular Engineering Department, Whiting School of Engineering studying how the matrix outside of breast cancer cells affects the growth of tumors. In 2014, she translated ancient Roman funerary inscriptions at The Johns Hopkins Archeological Museum with Amanda Witherspoon ’14.

5

WISE project: In 2013, Ashley participated in a cross-disciplinary study of the autoimmune disease scleroderma, working with the JHU departments of Geography and Environmental Engineering to identify associations between deadly manifestations of the disease and blood measurements.

Most rewarding GFS experience: “With WISE, I was put into a situation where I didn’t understand all the information. No one was holding my hand teaching me about complex statistical analysis and biological processes. I had to learn how to ask questions when I was confused.

My graduate student mentor told me, ‘It’s OK to say I don’t know.’ That advice has been priceless.”

Most rewarding GFS experience: “My summer trip to Spain with Ms. Hurley and other GFS students was the experience of a lifetime.

I experienced a culture outside of my own and cultivated my independence.

While it was a bit overwhelming to be living with a family that spoke no English, I [took it as] a challenge to become more comfortable in different environments.”

College plans: Studying computer science at William & Mary.

College plans: Studying biology and computer science at Bucknell University.

Pictured at Garland Theater, where she was the only GFS soloist with Loyola Blakefield’s Dave London Orchestra.

Pictured in Johns Hopkins’ Gerecht Lab.

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

6

Newsmakers

Team GFS Races for a Cure For 16 years, Garrison Forest has participated in the susan G. Komen Race for the Cure as team GFs, the largest schoolwide community service project. For the second year in a row, team GFs won the top team Challenge among all teams participating in the october 20, 2013 Komen Race for the Cure in Hunt Valley, md. David berdan, Preschool parent and campus resident, won his fifth straight Race for the Cure 5K in 2013, a week after winning the baltimore marathon. organized by the GFs Parent Association, team GFs encompasses a month of awareness activities.

In May, current and former GFS polo players saddled up for the first-ever “Canter for a Cure,” sponsored by the Susan G. Komen Foundation at Pimlico Race Course. From left: Katie Elder ‘14, Demitra Hajimihalis ‘15, Liza Allner ‘14, Molly Wolfe ‘10, Rebecca Kozlowski ‘11 and Posey Obrecht ‘09.

New Team GFS member Kristine Hilbert ’17 and six-year veteran fundraiser for breast cancer support and research was a member of the 2013 Pink Honor Roll for Komen.

A proud Team GFS displays its banner as the 2013 Top Team Challenge winner.

For the second year in a row, the Parent Association created a moving “Tree of Hope” on campus, using 700 yards of pink ribbons upon which the GFS community had written messages of hope, courage or remembrance.

Members of the Upper School Chamber Choir, directed by Cedric D. Lyles, Upper School Music Director, sang the national anthem to begin the race.

SAVE THE DATE: Alumnae, parents, students and friends, join Team GFS for the 2014 Race for the Cure. Walk, run or sleep in for the cure on Sunday, October 26, 2014 at Hunt Valley, Md.

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

Register at gfs.org/raceforthecure

Newsmakers

7

GARRISON FOREST POLO ALUMNAE LEAD NATIONALLY 2013 Polo Training Foundation Intercollegiate Player of the Year: Posey Obrecht ’09 Garrison Forest and University of Kentucky polo standout Posey

obrecht ’09 has been named the 2013 Polo training Foundation intercollegiate Player of the Year, one of the most prestigious awards given at the collegiate level in the sport. “Posey personifies every quality that the award represents—skill, sportsmanship, dedication to the sport and much more—in addition to being one of the strongest women players in the country,” notes a proud Cindy Halle, GFs head coach. “When the University of Kentucky won the national championship in 2010, Posey, then a freshman, was the link that held it all together. Her knowledge of the game, horsemanship and selfless play led her to score most of the goals for her team that year.” in 2012, with UK well on its way to being one of the contenders for the national title, Posey had a horrific fall during a match. she spent the next three months in a brace, ending her season and the chances of a repeat national championship. true to her character, Posey continued to lead UK’s student-organized program, negotiating with coaches, securing stabling for the polo ponies, soliciting donations and instructing less-experienced players.

While in college, she managed several high school interscholastic polo tournaments for the United states Polo Association (UsPA) and served as a mentor for GFs’s middle Grades Partnership summer polo program for underserved middle school students in baltimore City. Posey, who holds a degree in equine science and

From left: Andy Obrecht, Posey Obrecht ’09 and Weeder Roberts Obrecht ’77 at the Polo Training Awards ceremony in Houston in October 2013.

management, has served on the UsPA student Athlete Advisory Committee and is a past volunteer coach at the University of Virginia polo camp. Posey worked for Preakness Week in baltimore, giving tours of Pimlico Race Course and working in public relations.

“Posey has done all of this with a wry and self-deprecating sense of humor, with humility and poise and an incredible work ethic,” says ms. Halle. “she has done all of this because of who she is and because she truly enjoys every aspect of the game of polo.” in July, Posey joined GFs as assistant polo coach.

Jenny Schwartz ’11 Leads Virginia Tech’s Fledgling Polo Club

Anna Winslow ’12 (center), who is a starter for the top-ranked Cornell University Women’s Polo team, was selected to represent the UsPA’s intercollegiate program in the U.s. Women’s Championship Arena tournament. The october 2013 tournament featured some of the strongest teams and players in the country who had to qualify for play in the championship.

Anna’s team won both their matches to win the championship. Anna, a member of GFs’s 2011 national championship team, was selected as the most Valuable Player.

When Jenny Schwartz ’11, captain of the 2011 GFS National Championship team, enrolled as a double major in marketing and management at Virginia Tech, but there was one small problem: The university offered polo only in theory. There were no horses or matches, just talk among people interested in the sport. In her first few weeks at college, Jenny was elected president of the student-led Polo Club of Virginia Tech, a position she still holds as a senior. “I taught polo every day for the first year,” she recalls, noting that she was the only team member who had ever played before. This year, there are experienced team members to field a varsity, junior varsity, third team and a men’s team, allowing “coach” Jenny to play as well.

“It’s been incredibly rewarding,” Jenny says. “I was very fortunate at Garrison

Forest to play with so many amazing people.

After GFS, I was ready to spread the joy I have for polo.” The Tech team has competed against other university and club teams, even facing off against the GFS Grizzlies last November. Jenny enjoyed coaching against her mentor, Cindy Halle, GFS polo coach. “It was cool to show her what I learned from her,” she says. “I am a very fast-paced player, and coaching a new team has taught me patience. As a player and now as a coach, the score is not important.

It has always mattered more if I played my best.” It’s a philosophy she’s instilling in others as she spreads her love for the game.

Above: Jenny in action at Virginia Tech.

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

8

Newsmakers

BILL HODGETTS: PATRICIA CAMPBELL-SMITH ’83:

Appointed Chief Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims Patricia CampbellSmith ’83

made history in september 2013 when she was appointed Judge of the United states Court of Federal Claims. A month later, President obama designated her to serve a 15-year term as Chief Judge, making her the first AfricanAmerican to do so. Prior to this historic appointment, trish served for six years on the Court, the last two as Chief special master. in this role, she presided over litigation regarding the National Vaccine injury Compensation program. in the 1990s, trish was a member of the law firm of Liskow & Lewis in New orleans, specializing in environmental regulatory law, patent infringement litigation and toxic tort litigation. trish was the 1994 Cum Laude speaker and has served on the GFs board of trustees. she is a cum laude graduate of Duke University with a b.s. in electrical engineering. in 1992, she graduated from tulane Law school with honors. “i have taken to heart the school’s motto Esse Quam Videri and have endeavored to be— not merely to seem—well-prepared, focused, collaborative and uncompromisingly trustworthy,” trish reflects on lessons learned from Garrison Forest.

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

The National Business Officers Association’s “Quiet Giant” In February 2014, the National Business Officers Association (NBOA) named William “Bill” S. Hodgetts, Garrison Forest’s Assistant Head of School for Finance and Operations, as the 2014 Ken White Distinguished Business Officer Award recipient, NBOA’s highest honor. A founding member of NBOA, Mr. Hodgetts currently serves on its board of directors and chairs its emerging issues committee. Described by national peers as “a quiet giant who has worked tirelessly to support others in the profession,” Mr. Hodgetts has also worked tirelessly for Garrison Forest since 1989 when he joined the school as Business Manager. For the past 25 years, he has worked with the GFS Board of Trustees and Head of School to consistently balance the operating budget.

Mr. Hodgetts also has managed $36 million in campus construction and renovation and organized a profitable after-school facilities rental program and an innovative technology program among others.

“We are in the business of relationships,” Mr. Hodgetts said during his acceptance speech at the NBOA’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. “We have a strategic part in the development of one of the most critical relationships in someone’s life: that between a teacher and a student. The quality of that relationship should guide us in all we do.” Mr. Hodgetts holds an undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago. He is active in a number of other local, state and national organizations focusing on the business of independent education.

Bill Hodgetts at the 2014 NBOA annual meeting with his wife and daughters (from left) Catherine Hodgetts ’98, Dr. Barbara Cavanaugh, Colleen Hodgetts ‘03 and Maura Hodgetts ‘05.

JULIANNA JOHNSON FERREIRA ’93:

New Mexico Nursing Excellence Honoree Julianna Johnson Ferreira ‘93, a nurse epidemiologist with the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDH), received the Excellence in Public Health/School/ Community Award at the 2013 New Mexico Nursing Excellence Awards. She helped identify the cause of several infectious disease outbreaks in New Mexico as well as the source of a recent multistate outbreak of hepatitis A. Julianna received her master’s in public health from the University of New Mexico (UNM) School of Medicine and her master’s in nursing with a concentration in community health from UNM’s College of Nursing. A psychology major at Reed College, Julianna earned her R.N. degree in 2002. She manages the epidemiology and tuberculosis programs for the Albuquerque metro area and serves as a mentor in the NMDH’s partnership with the Center for Disease Control Public Health Associate

Program, an initiative she helped to establish to place the next generation of public health professionals on Julianna Johnson the front lines of public health Ferreira ‘93 issues. As a result of Julianna’s receiving her New Mexico 2014 presentation at the Nursing Excellence National Association for Public Award.

Health Nurses Conference, her department’s “Go-kits,” a system to organize field outbreak response supplies, are being shared nationally. “At GFS, I learned that I could accomplish anything to which I set my mind. I was encouraged to take risks, speak my thoughts and forge a path when none existed,” notes Julianna, who was active in GFS Service League projects.

“I learned that I had a responsibility to use the privilege of my education to help others, and that has always been the focus of my career.”

Newsmakers

CHANNELING CURIOSITY: Digital Learning Specialist and Imagineering Teacher Chris Shriver GIVE CHRIS SHRIVER a new idea and within hours, it’s gone viral, criss-crossing the world through her vast network of tech-savvy educators. She’s passionate about getting students as excited and curious about learning as she is, no matter their age. In 2012, she co-founded Edcamp Baltimore, an “un-conference” for educators, and is a frequent presenter at regional and national education and tech conferences.

Q: You’ve created quite a digital community that stretches from Baltimore to Oslo. How did it start?

A: In 2010, when I made the switch from Garrison Forest Preschool associate teacher to Lower Division technology coordinator, I attended my first tech conference, Building Learning Communities, immersing myself in the world of ed tech [educational technology], social media and professional learning networks. I was amazed at the number of opportunities there are for someone who is a self-motivated, curious learner. When I have a passion for something, I go out and find the answer. Technology doesn’t stand still.

Most ed tech people are constantly working to improve their skills and knowledge. My students don’t have to love technology, but I want them to own their passion and own their learning.

Q: You were part of the first Powerful Learning Practice (PLP) cohort at GFS, which connects pedagogy and teachers around the world through technology.

What role has it played for you?

A: The PLP promotes growth mindset.

I learned that I don’t have to be perfect the first time: just keep learning and growing.

As my network grew, so did my Twitter reach. I was at a local conference when a fellow participant, Shannon Montague, told me that she followed me on Twitter.

We became fast friends, and in 2012, we co-founded EdCamp Baltimore, an un-conference for education.

Follow her on Twitter @ccshriver.

Q: What’s an un-conference?

A: It’s participant-driven and organic.

The agenda isn’t set until the morning of the conference when the attendees determine what they want it to be. EdCamps began in 2010 in Philadelphia. For our first EdCamp Baltimore, we had 90 participants. Last year, we had 150. On September 27, we’re hosting our third EdCamp Baltimore.

(Visit edcampbmore.org. to register.)

Q: How have you shared your passion for digital teaching and learning?

A: In 2013, my digital learning colleagues Lindsay Kelland and Stacie Muñoz and I presented the GFS pilot for e-portfolios, an initiative to help students document their learning using technology, at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) national conference, and I published an article about e-portfolios in the winter 2014 NAIS magazine Independent School. I am more than happy to share what I have and what I’ve done and hope others will share their knowledge with me. All information today is out there in digital format, which makes learning today so exciting and truly self-motivating. You no longer need to wait for someone to bestow golden knowledge upon you.

Q: What is Imagineering?

A: It’s a pre-engineering curriculum that we started last fall in Preschool and Lower School.

We wanted to take the skills we know girls need but are often overlooked— spatial reasoning, 3D thinking, problem-solving and creativity— and combine them into

a hands-on, open-ended program. I focus the students on figuring out the directions for themselves. Initially, the girls would ask me if what they were doing was right, but my answer is always ‘What do you think?” I’ve watched them take risks and encourage and teach each other. Peer learning is always more powerful and authentic. We use technology, but we also use a lot of non-tech materials. Last winter, the Pre-Kindergarten and I built a life-sized igloo from recycled milk jugs. Technology used to be the end goal, but now it’s a ways and means to larger learning goals.

9

10

Newsmakers

The Fifth Grade team of (from left) Paris Colgain, Summer Chohan, Chloe Shriver and Jillian Brown won the 2014 Elementary Division of the Maryland Council for Economic Education (MCEE) Stock Market Game, the only all-girls’ team in the statewide competition.

Their investment performance beat the winning middle school and high teams’ performances in the competition. Also pictured is teacher Dana Livne.

From left: Sidney Butler ‘16, Racquel Bazos ‘16, Maggie Baughman ’17 and Marissa Kokinis ’17 were awarded silver medals in the 2014 National Latin Exam, which tested their knowledge of Latin grammar and vocabulary, English derivatives and Latin used in English and Roman history/culture.

STUDENT AWARDS: In 2013-14, Garrison Forest students earned an impressive number of regional, national and international honors and accolades.

Sisters and computer engineers Alyssa ’19 (left) and Jackie ’16 Magaha earned three first-place wins at the statewide 2014 Johns Hopkins Robo-Challenge, including a repeat championship in the Robot Dance category.

Jackie has competed in and earned an award in the Hopkins competition every year since Sixth Grade, a record Alyssa is on par to match.

Mengchu “Michelle” Chen ’15 (left) and Amy Mullan ’14 were published in Bridges, a national anthology of student writing with a global focus, sponsored by World Artists’ Experience.

Maggie Baughman ’17 qualified for Round 2 of the highly competitive North America Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO).

In January, she and 20 other GFS students took a three-hour linguistics exam for Round 1.

Maggie was one of 165 students in North America to qualify for Round 2’s six-hour exam.

GRIZZLY SPORTS STANDOUTS 2013-14 Championships: IAAM Badminton Co-Championship Second straight IAAM Cross-Country Championship First-ever IAAM Golf Regular Season Championship and second straight runner-up in the IAAM tournament Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) Futures (Middle School) Region I, Zone 3 Champions IEA Nationals: Dani Ziegfeld ‘17, Fifth Place

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

2013-14 IAAM All-Stars: Badminton: Dakota He ’16 Julia Walker ’16 Basketball: Aliyah Smith ’15 Cross Country: Jillian Newton ’15 Katey Smith ’14 Field Hockey: Allie DiPietro ’15 Bayly Jarrett ’14 Megan Rossi ’14 Golf: Ellen Kirk Jarosinski ‘14 Lacrosse: Julie LeGar ‘14 Indoor Soccer: Liza Allner ’14, Laura Hancock ’15

Newsmakers

11

The Middle School Chorus, under the direction of Ginny Flynn, Middle School music teacher, won its fourth straight “First Place Women’s Choir” honor and its third consecutive “Best Overall Choir” award at the 2014 Music in the Parks competition at Hershey Park, Pa.

“Grizzly Town,” one of two GFS Middle School entries in the 2014 national Future City engineering/city planning competition, garnered the Student Choice Award and Outstanding First Year Participant Award for teammates (from left) Serena Shafer ’19, Alyssa Magaha ’19 and Lauren McEachin ’19.

Vasi Argeroplos ’17 (left) and Amanda Rein ’17 won the Encouragement Award for their performance in the first Confucius Institute Cup International Composition Competition for Chinese Language Learners sponsored by The Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban.

The recognition for their essays written in Chinese is even more impressive given that when they entered as Eighth Grade students, neither had completed Level One Chinese. GFS offers Chinese through the school’s Confucius Classroom program.

Yeon Ji Kim ’14 won a national Silver Medal in the 2014 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition for her writing portfolio. For the regional competition, 14 GFS writers and visual artists, including Yeon Ji, won awards.

Jackie Magaha ’16 (left) and Emily Oleisky ’16, students in AP Computer Science through Online School for Girls, won the 2014 National Center for Women & Information Technology Award for Aspirations in Computing, the first two GFS NCWIT recipients.

Soccer: Anna Schaefer ‘14 Softball: Kayla Boswell ‘17

From left: Olivia Herlein ’18, Ashley Wells ’18 and Charlotte Nanteza ’18 were selected to the prestigious Maryland All-State Junior Chorus.

More than 1,200 seventh through ninth grade students auditioned for the 160 slots.

2013 Gladiator by SGI/NFHCA High School National Academic Squad:

The Gladiator Program recognizes athletes with a minimum cumulative, unweighted GPA of 3.5 out of 4.0.

Bayly and Meghan achieved “Scholar of Distinction” status, a new award honoring those athletes with a minimum cumulative, unweighted GPA of 3.9 out of 4.0.

Hannah Reynolds ‘18

Stephanie Burroughs ’14 Bayly Jarrett ’14 Julie LeGar ’14 Meghan McCann ’14 Megan Rossi ’14

Polo: USPA Girls’ Interscholastic Regional All-Stars:

Maryland State Field Hockey Coaches Association Senior Game Selection: Stephanie Burroughs ‘14

Polo: USPA Girls’ Interscholastic Prelim All-Stars: Demitra Hajimihalis ‘15

Katie Elder ‘14 Hannah Reynolds ‘18

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

12

Farewell to the Forest

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

Farewell to the Forest

13

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

hello 14

Meet Kim Roberts

10th Head of Garrison Forest School

here are moments in life when you just know. For Kimberley J. Roberts, Ph.D., that moment came during a whirlwind, intense three days of interviews for the position of Head of Garrison Forest. in November 2013, Dr. Roberts had just finished her third morning of meetings, visiting classes and learning about GFs. “The search process and campus visit were very in-depth, and i was enjoying a quick walk across campus to my next meeting,” she recalls. “A group of Upper school girls started waving and calling ‘Dr. Roberts! Dr. Roberts!’ and stopped me on the path to talk. At that moment, i knew that this was the place i needed to be. it just felt right. And it was amazing that i could feel so connected to Garrison Forest in just a few days.” she was drawn to the Garrison Forest spirit—what her predecessor Nancy J. offutt, co-headmistress from 1929 to 1960, called “a sense of belonging”—right away. “one of the things i love is that there is such a consensus around what it is to be a Garrison Girl,” says Dr. Roberts, who has spent her career in education, specifically girls’ and women’s education. “it’s an identity people understand on a deep level and one of the key strengths of the school. Clearly, students feel a lasting sense of connection to each other and to Garrison Forest.” on July 1, Dr. Roberts began her tenure as Head of Garrison Forest school, a position for which she’s spent most of her life preparing. When she was growing up in

T

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

Atherton, California, she dreamed of being a teacher. As a teenager, she flirted with the idea of becoming a diplomat or lawyer, but by graduate school the wisdom of her 7-year-old self prevailed and she became a teacher. And at 35, she knew, without a doubt, that she wanted to lead a girls’ school. single-sex education is part of her DNA. The youngest of four girls, Dr. Roberts, her sisters and her mother all attended Castilleja school, an all-girls’ (grades 6-12)

“

One of the things I love is that there is such a consensus around what it is to be a Garrison Girl. Clearly, students feel a lasting sense of connection to each other and to Garrison Forest.

”

school in Palo Alto, Calif. After receiving her b.A. from the University of California at berkeley, she attended the all-female mills College for her m.A. in english Literature.

At the University of Virginia, where she earned her Ph.D., she taught in the studies in Women and Gender Program, served in the Women’s Center as director of diversity and Advocacy programs and co-founded and directed the Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP), a mentoring program for underserved adolescent girls. The program has

been replicated nationally and internationally, including at Castilleja with the Halford Young Women Leaders Program. “At U.Va. i was working on YWLP, working at the Women’s Center and teaching women’s studies,” she recalls. “There was coherence to what i was doing around the advocacy and empowerment of girls and women. i loved the work but was hungry to return to the feeling of community that can be so powerful in independent schools.”

That desire inspired a return to her California roots, first as director of development at mark Day school in san Rafael, before joining her alma mater in 2009 as director of advancement. “When i was a student there, all my friends joked that i was ‘most Likely to Work at Castilleja,’” she says with a laugh. “i told them that they were crazy.” Jennifer brill, lifelong friend and fellow classmate from Castilleja’s Class of 1983, remembers full well the certainty of her prediction 30 years ago: “We all knew that Kim would return to work there. she’s always believed in all-girls’ education—she lives it.” ms. brill and several of her Castilleja classmates were with Dr. Roberts just before she traveled to Garrison Forest for the first time. in fact, they were celebrating their 30th reunion at Dr. Roberts’ house just two nights before her flight to baltimore. “We all knew this position was meant for Kim,” recalls ms. brill. “This is what she was born to do.” ms. brill enrolled in Castilleja in ninth grade when most of the class had been together since sixth grade. “Kim immediately

o

took me under her wing,” she recalls. “she’s very good at making people feel welcome and bringing people together.” When ms. brill wasn’t cheering on Dr. Roberts, a high school athlete, at sporting events, one of their favorite afterschool activities was to take Dr. Roberts’ two black Labradors to the local ice cream store for a scoop of vanilla. “i’m in awe of what she accomplished at Castilleja,” ms. brill says of Dr. Roberts, who became assistant head of Castilleja in 2013. “she’s thoughtful and deliberate, honest and authentic. Garrison Forest is such a perfect fit.”

Finding the Right Fit it was exactly what the Garrison Forest search Committee was looking for when it embarked on a national search in what was a very competitive year, given that over 180 National Association of independent schools (NAis) were also looking for heads. “We expected and did meet many smart, experienced school leaders, but our first priority was to appoint a head who would understand and value the Garrison Forest we love as well as have a vision for our future,” notes Lila boyce Lohr ’63, co-chair of the search Committee with past GFs board President molly mundy Hathaway ’61. ms. Lohr, who served as GFs’s board President from 2005 to 2011, is a former school head herself.

“From the moment Kim stepped on campus, it was clear that she knew and loved girls’ schools,” she recalls. “Comfortable with herself, extremely familiar with many facets of curriculum, community service, fundraising and school life, she was warm, open and articulated what she had learned from her previous school experiences that could be relevant for Garrison Forest.” Feedback from the GFs students, faculty, staff, parents and alumnae and an extensive reference check confirmed what the search Committee already sensed: Kim Roberts and Garrison Forest were the right fit.

When Dr. Roberts learned of the position in early fall 2013, she remembered

F

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

16

can teach them how to be their own best advocates, they will persevere in college and beyond,” she explains. Dr. Roberts is equally enthusiastic about leading a comprehensive program from preschool through high school.

Teaching Girls to Lead dith “Winx” Lawrence, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Virginia’s Curry Programs in Clinical and school Psychology and director of the Young Women Leaders Program, knows full well what happens to an idea when Dr. Roberts gets hold of it. Dr. Lawrence first met her at a women’s center retreat in 1996.

“The staff was discussing what our goals should be for the coming year, and i made an off-the-cuff remark that we should focus on mentoring middle school-aged girls,” Dr. Lawrence said. “Kim jumped right in and took a great leadership role [in developing the Young Women Leaders Program]. she rose to the top as one who understood the concept, and she developed the structure and curriculum.”

As co-founders of the program, they worked closely on expanding YWLP, all on a shoestring budget, Dr. Lawrence is quick to point out. “We had lots of challenges in the first few years,” she says. “We were finding it difficult to make in-roads into the local middle schools, so Kim had a great idea to use club and rec sports leagues for girls. she made the connection, and we immediately had a waiting list for the program. she has an innate ability to think outside the box.” today the YWL program is thriving in 12 sites nationally and in Cameroon, mozambique and Nicaragua, serving nearly 4,000 girls. The program’s model of one-on-one mentoring plus group mentoring has different variations at colleges and universities and high schools, among them Castilleja. in 2011, Dr. Roberts implemented the Halford Young Women Leaders Program, where juniors and seniors mentor underserved middle school girls in the bay Area. “Kim knows that the best way to empower girls is through education that is supportive,” Dr. Lawrence says. “she knows that education doesn’t and can’t occur just in the classroom.” Her national leadership on philanthropic boards and for educational

E

Dr. Roberts with students from each division last February.

the Garrison Forest alumnae she had met in her classroom at the University of Virginia nearly two decades earlier. each semester, she asked first-year students to share where they had gone to school. As a girls’ school alumna herself, she always honed in on those with similar backgrounds. more recently, she was well aware of the national reputation and the innovative programs of the GFs James Center, particularly the school’s partnership with The Johns Hopkins University through the GFs/Hopkins Women in science and engineering (Wise) program. in fact, an innovative curriculum with equally impactful co-curricular programs was among the qualities she was looking for in a school to lead. “i come from a technologically innovative environment,” she says of

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

Castilleja, which is located in the heart of silicon Valley. “Garrison Forest is already doing great work in the areas of digital teaching and learning and experiential, stem-based programs like Wise. it impressed me that GFs is thinking about what the future looks like for students.” she is excited to work with the board of trustees, faculty, administrators and staff on deepening key learning skills across the curriculum. “Collaboration, problem-solving, the ability to direct one’s own learning and to persevere even when faced with challenging content—these are essential skills and habits of mind that girls will need to tackle the seemingly intractable problems we will face in the next 50 years. Research shows that if we can teach these skills to girls now, if we

17

organizations underscores her commitment to girls’ education.

Listening and Leading eadership has been a theme for Dr. Roberts in virtually all areas of her work with girls and women.

“YWLP was an extension of my teaching because to me, part of being an excellent teacher means helping your students grow as confident agents of their own lives.” so, when she used to teach literature and Women’s studies at the University of Virginia, she would think on two different planes: “i knew the content skills i wanted my students to gain, like critical reading and writing, but just as important to me were the leadership skills i wanted them to develop, like the ability to ask the right questions, to respectfully disagree with one another, to stand in front of their peers and speak eloquently, and to advocate for their own learning, even if that meant disagreeing with me. These are skills i learned as part of my own girls’ school experience, and i have always been eager to pass that learning along.”

Nanci Kauffman, head of Castilleja, saw Dr. Roberts’ leadership potential immediately. “i was the assistant head when she was hired as director of advancement,” says ms. Kauffman, who began her career at Castilleja in the middle school history classroom. When Dr. Roberts arrived at Castilleja in 2009, ms. Kauffman’s appointment as head was in process. “i barely knew Kim, yet within her first month at Castilleja i told her that i wanted her for my assistant head,” she recalls. “she had all the right qualities.” in her role as assistant head, Dr. Roberts was responsible for driving key interdisciplinary initiatives, such as Castilleja’s Partnership for 21st Century Assessment, an innovative “research think tank,” working to develop ways to measure student growth in the very skills and attitudes Dr. Roberts values so deeply: self-knowledge, empathy, resilience, collaboration and creative problem-solving. in the past year, Dr. Roberts also chaired Castilleja’s reaccreditation process, which involves a rigorous self-evaluation of the institution conducted by numerous subcommittees of faculty, staff, alumnae,

L

parents and trustees, which is then reviewed by educators independent of the school.

Dr. Roberts had to juggle the internal and external organization and details within a then brand new reaccreditation process introduced by the California Association of independent schools. “Kim really had to invent a new way for a school to write a self study,” ms. Kauffman explains. “she created a highly collaborative and engaging process, one with which all the Castilleja employees were delighted. she took something that is usually insufferable and made it a positive for the school. it’s a wonderful, final legacy.” together, Dr. Roberts and ms. Kauffman created an innovation investment Fund in 2010 to fund programmatic leadership and allow Castilleja to respond to innovative ideas by empowering the faculty. “Kim treats faculty as partners in the leadership of programs,” she adds. Growing the innovation investment Fund and watching the excitement of the faculty as they were empowered to take the lead on shifting the program in new directions has been deeply gratifying to Dr. Roberts, who explains, “Through the fund, we launched an endowed computer science program; built a ‘tinkering lab’; developed an iPad program for several grades; established an artist-in-residence program; developed partnerships in Kenya and india; and launched interdisciplinary courses in

At-A-Glance EDUCATION ■ B.A., English Literature, University of California at Berkeley ■ M.A., English Literature, Mills College ■ Ph.D., English Literature, University of Virginia EXPERIENCE ■ Assistant Head of School and Director of Advancement, Castilleja School ■ Director of Development, Mark Day School ■ Adjunct Assistant Professor, Studies in Women and Gender Program, University of Virginia ■ Co-founder, Young Women Leaders Program, University of Virginia ■ Director of Diversity and Advocacy Programs, Women’s Center, University of Virginia NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP ■ Board president, Now & Next Dance Mentoring Project ■ Board member, Palo Alto’s Children’s Health Council ■ Board member, Mark Day School ■ Past chair, GirlSource ■ Past co-chair, 2013 California Advancement Partnership for Schools Conference

(continued on page 19)

From left: Charley Roberts-Laine, Dr. Roberts, Ellis Roberts-Laine and Michael Laine (holding Henry James).

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

18

10

Ten Things YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT KIM ROBERTS

2.

1.

Dr. Roberts at her Castilleja Commencement (fourth from right, standing)

Dr. Roberts has spent almost her entire life in all-girls’ environments: has three older sisters and many girl cousins; attended an all-girls’ school and a women’s college for part of graduate school; taught women’s studies and worked in the Women’s Center at the University of Virginia; and spent the past five years at Castilleja, her alma mater in California.

So far, her son Ellis and daughter Charley’s favorite spot on campus is the barn.

Both are new to riding and love taking lessons.

6.

5.

An avid runner and tennis player, Dr. Roberts was a diver in high school and a standout gymnast on the parallel bars as a young girl.

(She can still walk on her hands and do a back flip on the trampoline.)

9.

Dr. Roberts is a member of the Raven Society, the oldest and most prestigious of the honorary societies at the University of Virginia. Members must possess “integrity, high character, sound judgment, definite promise of intellectual attainment, capacity for leadership as demonstrated by participation in extracurricular activities and willingness to serve the best interests of the University.” Given this, she is eager to become a Baltimore Ravens fan!

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

She’s a California girl, born and raised near San Francisco, who loves the sun and the beach but doesn’t surf (deathly afraid of sharks). Despite these roots, she and husband Michael Laine were married in Florence, Italy (with Italian vows they could only understand in translation).

3.

A FEW OF HER FAVORITE THINGS: the first sip of coffee in the morning; solo trips to the movies; baking a triple-layer cake; roller coasters; fireworks; chocolate chip ice cream; and the moment when you start reading a book and realize that it is a really good book. And you still have hundreds of pages left to read.

The Roberts/Laine family has a 14-year-old dachshund named Henry James, who is enjoying life in Lochinvar, napping near the fireplace, and sibling tuxedo cats, Kimchee and Veruca.

4.

7.

Husband Michael Laine is a practicing attorney and a French-trained chef who cooks nearly every night. Every member of the Roberts/Laine clan is accomplished in the kitchen. Favorite family meals include: sliders stuffed with smoked gouda and topped with homemade pickled onions (low brow); pulled pork wontons with homemade kimchee and ginger scallion sauce (mid brow); seared sea bass with corn emulsion and watercress salad (high brow).

8. ★ Favorite book: Beloved by Toni Morrison Favorite book to read to her children: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

by E.L. Konigsburg Favorite book to teach: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf “because it is poetic and complex yet knowable, and getting to have that ‘a-ha’ moment with students is wonderful.”

10.

Her favorite color really is blue.

19

archaeology, engineering and science research methods, just to name a few. to shift the academic program to a more collaborative, hands-on and interdisciplinary approach requires the most precious of all resources at a school: time. The Fund gave us the ability to offer stipends and course releases so that the faculty could continue to innovate without burning out.”

According to ms. Kauffman, this issue of “burnout” is an essential one for any school head to understand. “What characterizes Kim’s leadership is how much she gets done, but also that she understands the practical side of leadership and the symbolism and meaning behind what needs to be accomplished.” When asked to describe Dr. Roberts’ leadership in a word, ms. Kauffman offers an unexpected answer: stamina. “it’s a word we don’t always remember to use when talking about leaders, but it’s critical for the job as head of school. i believe that you only have stamina when you love what you are doing.”

Family, Home and Community eturning to the east Coast also appealed to Dr. Roberts and her husband michael Laine, an attorney in project finance specializing in renewable energy. He grew up in Virginia—they met while she was at U.Va.—and they have two children. Charley enters the Fifth Grade at Garrison Forest this fall, and son ellis will be in third grade at nearby odyssey school. both children are thrilled at the prospect of living in a real castle at Lochinvar—the head’s home on campus whose architecture was inspired by a scottish castle—and of spending time in Garrison Forest’s P. and J. smith equestrian Center. (both children are new to horses and began riding lessons shortly after the moving van drove off campus in early July.) “Part of what makes this move so exciting for our family is that we get to be a part of a 24/7 residential community of families,” says Dr. Roberts, who even knowing how harsh the east Coast winter was this past year, can’t wait to enjoy all four seasons again. “i cannot think of a better way for our kids to grow up, surrounded by friends and mentors. Not to

R

Ellis and Charley ‘22 Roberts-Laine at Lochinvar, the campus home for the Head of School family since the 1960s.

mention that we just moved from a quarter acre to 110 acres. We feel so incredibly lucky to live in such a beautiful place.”

The family, who moved in on July 1, is already enjoying being part of the GFs community and looking forward to being part of the boarding community. “moving cross-country with a young family, two cats, an ancient dog and all our belongings can be daunting, but Garrison Forest already felt like home before we

“

The first few weeks in the job echo the feelings she had her first few hours on campus almost a year ago. “i felt right away the sense of joy, of caring connection, qualities that i quickly understood to be the Garrison Forest spirit,” says Dr. Roberts. “i saw in my first hours on campus how deeply each student is known by our faculty, how each student is emboldened to be her best and true self. The teachers and every member of the staff are invested in the girls,

Dr. Roberts knows that the best way to empower girls is through education that is supportive.

She knows that education doesn’t and can’t occur just in the classroom.

”

— Edith Lawrence, Ph.D., professor at the University of Virginia

left Palo Alto,” Dr. Roberts says.

“We visited GFs for a week with the children in February, just after one of the many snowstorms maryland had. being Californians, we didn’t own snow boots and had to buy them for the kids when we arrived, but the campus was magical. everyone has been so welcoming.”

believe in what they are doing and believe that Garrison Forest school is the best environment for students to learn and grow. i am excited to harness that energy and carry it into Garrison Forest’s next chapter.”

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

20

Garrison Food School “What’s for dinner?”may not be the most important question we ask ourselves, but the

answer does much more than feed our bodies, it nourishes our souls. Food sustains and heals us. It brings us together in joy and sorrow. And, since our earliest ancestors first foraged for berries, it has been the world’s most important industry. In this issue, we explore the roles Garrison Forest alumnae play in the world of food, from chefs and nutritionists to leaders working to feed the country and educate us about what we put on our plates. Bon Appétit!

Liza Shaw ’95, Owner and Executive Chef, Merigan Sub Shop Liza Shaw first fell in love with rustic Italian fare in the women, she prefers a more positive perspective: “With Glyndon, Md., kitchen of her parents’ house. “We have any industry, you can say that it has disadvantages for a great family friend from Sicily who visits and cooks women, or you can kick [butt], go cook with men up a storm,” says Liza, who earned her cooking chops and be a great chef. I credit Garrison Forest for my making rustic pastas and sauces in San Francisco’s leadership skills. Women educated in single-sex top-rated A16 restaurant and consulting on high-end environments tend to be more outspoken and thrive pizza programs in California’s wine country. “I remember in a competitive atmosphere.” being excited about watching him cook.”

Last spring, Liza, who was recognized in 2009 Following that bliss didn’t occur to her post-Garrison as Restaurant Hospitality’s Rising Star, opened her own Forest, though. Rather, Liza pursued a dual degree in art restaurant, Merigan Sub Shop near Giants Stadium history and environmental science at Middlebury and (merigansubshop.com). The East Coast-inspired sub then moved to San Francisco with plans to work in a shop is the first of its kind in San Francisco, and if all gallery. After stints as a waitress and dot.com-er, she goes well, the first of many for Liza. Merigan Sub Shop followed the example of a college friend and enrolled in 2012 at the California Culinary Academy. At “The prevalence of cooking shows has that time, the foodie culture and skewed reality for aspiring chefs. Like any the idea of the celebrity chef were exploding, thanks to the then-new industry, hard work and time are what pays off.

Food Network and other cable cooking shows. “The expectation of the younger students was that they would become combines her love of rustic Italian food, the submarine an executive chef right away and get a TV show,” Liza sandwiches of her Maryland youth and upscale says. “The reality is that you may make $12/hour as a preparation (she and her staff source locally and do line cook for several years. The shows bring a lot of whole-animal butchering). She’s thrilled that strangers people closer to the food they eat and broaden the stop her on the street to thank her for bringing subs (or global perspective on food, but they’ve skewed reality hoagies, grinders, choose your regional vernacular) to for aspiring chefs. Like any industry, hard work and San Francisco. The business of owning a restaurant is time are what pays off.” challenging, but she’s undaunted, clearly relishing the The networks did come courting, though. Liza, then niche she’s carved for herself in San Francisco’s storied a sous chef at A16, turned down Bravo’s “Top Chef” a foodie town. “Cooking is a team sport with an intense few times but did appear on the 2007 season of “Iron amount of camaraderie and teamwork,” Liza reflects.

Chef” as Chef Nate Appleman’s assistant. She also “Everyone has to work together to make a plate of food appeared in Skirt Steak: Women Chefs on Standing the for someone. It’s really gratifying to feed somebody.”

Heat and Staying in the Kitchen (Chronicle Books, 2012).

Go to gfs.org/magazine for Liza’s “hots” recipe, While Liza acknowledges that the restaurant business’s a chunky, home-pickled pepper spread no long hours and low pay are not exactly hospitable to self-respecting sub goes without.

’’

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

Joan Allan Aleshire ’56 Joan Allan Aleshire is neither farmer nor gardener, but she’s an expert on planting seeds, nurturing young shoots and reaping what she sows.

Founder of the nonprofit shrewsbury institute for Agricultural education in Vermont and owner of Red Wing Farm, a 92-acre organic dairy incubator farm, Joan is a leader in sustainable farming initiatives, conservation and community development.

These initiatives grew from her love of the neighbors who welcomed her when she moved to Vermont in the 1970s as part of the “back to the land” movement. she frequented Rutland’s farmers’ markets, met farmers and began sowing relationships in her adopted community. she had a garden then, but when Joan, a poet who has published five books, began teaching in the m.F.A. program at Warren Wilson College, which includes a summer residency, she had to give up her garden.

Her love of local food and conservation began long before that, though. “i remember my grandmother’s victory garden during World War ii in the Green spring Valley. i grew up with really good fresh food and a love for conservation. my uncle was a founder of the manor Conservatory, and my family’s involved with the Valleys Planning Council [in the Green spring Valley].”

During her 50 years in Vermont, Joan’s community leadership includes starting a library in shrewsbury and serving on several nonprofit boards, but founding the all-volunteer shrewsbury institute for Agricultural education last year was the first time she and her neighbors have come together formally around issues of organic sustainability and food scarcity. “i saw a friend struggling to farm as a renter and decided to co-own Red Wing Farm with him,” she says. “in 2008, i became sole proprietor and conserved it with the Vermont Land trust. my vision was that it would be a real community center.” on the property, she’s built a LeeD-certified house and hoop greenhouses, and today, two young couples, organic goat milk farmers, live on the farm free of charge in exchange for leading workshops for

“Crabs”

oil painting by Megan McCulloh ’14

“Pear and Lemon”

oil painting by Catherine DiPietro ’12

the institute on fruit-tree pruning, logging, permaculture (enriching soil through various plantings) and other sustainable techniques and helping with its tool- and equipment-sharing program. “sometimes the term ‘incubator farm’ means providing land and space, or it can be a house for a young farmer,” says Joan, who lives nearby. “We serve as an incubator, both in our support of these young farmers and in our board’s networking with each other to encourage traditional and innovative agriculture.” one such innovation is the Good Food bus, the institute’s mobile farmers’ market that provides fresh, locally grown vegetables and recipes to school children. “There are 8,000 food-insecure people in Rutland, Vermont, 3,000 of whom are children,” Joan says. Last year near Thanksgiving, the bus had its maiden journey to a local elementary school, where Joan and her volunteers gave students prepared vegetable dishes with a fall theme, such as kale-bok choy salad and butternut squash soup. “At first, the kids didn’t want to try them but ended up loving the food,” she says. “We gave them raw vegetables and recipes to take home. it’s an exciting project, now just beginning.”

“As a writer, this work is inspiring,” says Joan, who continues to teach in the m.F.A. program at Warren Wilson College. “every writer is grounded to what we see, taste and touch, but writing is very solitary. it’s important for me to think and work for the community. it connects me in a way that my writing life can’t. Farming can be solitary as well, but through the institute, people are sharing knowledge.

For more information, visit shrewsburyagriculturaleducation.weebly.com.

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

22

“Sung-gae Bibimbap” prismacolor drawing by Hoerim “Holly” Kim ’16

Caroline Stewart Nation ’73, nutritionist, founder MyFoodMyHealth.com Nutrition was far from the top of Caroline stewart Nation’s to-do list during her impressive career in international fashion publishing as associate publisher of W Magazine and publisher of W Europe. The hours, constant deadlines, meals on the run and global travel from her London base took their toll. “Publishing is such a crazy, burnout world,” she says. “my health had gone out the window. i was really worn out and only in my 40s. i began to have conversations with myself about what mattered.”

For answers, she began working with a health practitioner at London’s Hale Clinic. “i discovered that my health mattered a great deal.

Next, i discovered that there is a lot of misinformation about foods and supplements.”

At a crossroads, she ditched fashion publishing for graduate school in clinical nutrition at London’s College of Natural Nutrition, earning her practitioner’s certification but soon found herself at another turning point: her husband’s death in 2004.

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

Caroline chose to return to her native New York and establish a practice. America, she discovered, had been getting fatter and fatter while she was abroad. “in the U.s., i saw that people had a huge disconnect between what they were eating and the effect it was having on their health,” she said. After working with doctors who had celiac patients but often little range of non-gluten dietary choices (gluten is the only known trigger for celiac), Caroline saw an opportunity for another answer. “Advising patients to ‘avoid gluten’ and providing a few recipes isn’t going to get compliance or help someone facing lifelong issues with food,” she explains.

With patients and clinicians turning to the internet for answers, Caroline knew her solution had to be web-based. she began by writing a business plan and spent two years developing a massive matrix of meal plans with the capability to remove any ingredient, based on a person’s allergies or health issue, such as diabetes, arthritis or celiac.

Programmers turned her matrix into myFoodmyHealth.com, a subscription-based, non-diagnostic web tool to create individualized, extensive meal plans around a myriad of health issues for which there are proven, effective nutrition-based interventions. she collaborates with 35 chefs to make sure the recipe index is culturally compatible. “if you’re treating a diabetic patient in Anchorage or in miami, you have to provide people with food they are familiar and comfortable with,” she explains. Now in its sixth year, myFoodmyHealth.com is used by 40 hospitals and gets a quarter of a million visitors a year. Caroline, who maintains a private practice in New York and London, is in the process of revamping the site and has begun to make in-roads into school systems to address the nutrition in school meals. Her next goal is to sell the site in a few years and focus fully on children’s diets. “Garrison Forest put me on the path of always being curious, and my nutritional journey has been the journey of a lifetime,” she says. “Nutrition is way beyond thinking about sugar.

People now understand food as medicine. Food has enormous power.”

For more information, visit MyFoodMyHealth.com.

Nutrition

‘‘

is way beyond thinking about sugar. People now understand food as medicine.

Food has enormous power.”

23

Melissa Harrison ‘98, Owner and Executive Chef, Seasonal Montana The menu for Seasonal Montana follows the seasonal bounty of beautiful southwestern Montana, a philosophy Melissa Harrison has adopted for her career and lifestyle. During the spring and summer, she lives in Bozeman, taking the “pop-up restaurant” trend to new splendor as Seasonal Montana patrons dine in different fields and on farms in Big Sky country. In the fall and winter, Melissa travels to Chile to serve as chef at Patagonia’s Martin Pescador Lodge.

A Maryland farm girl, she is used to eggs straight from the chicken and carrots plucked from the garden. “The idea of ‘good food, good life’ was a big part of my childhood,” says Melissa, who graduated from The Baltimore International College Culinary program. “I’ve always loved the farm-to-table concept.” After culinary school, she moved to Boulder to help open a restaurant and in 2008, was on Season Five of Bravo’s “Top Chef.” “It was a crazy experience,” she recalls. “I was in New York for the taping and couldn’t tell anybody but my family.” Being under the camera lens was challenging, but Melissa embraced it. “I pushed myself to all extremes. The show tears you down then builds you back up, but I was there to cook and not fuel the drama [of the show].

I cooked for my heroes and chefs whom I look up to.”

Inessa “Inna” Lurye ’02, Vice President for Product Strategy, Farmigo Inna Lurye doesn’t sugar-coat it: “Our food system is broken in many, many ways.” First, it travels a long way to get to warehouses, where it remains for a long time. She explains that 30 to 40 percent of perishable food is wasted before getting to the customer, and a large portion of the money spent on food goes to the retailers, not the producers.

“Farmigo works to disrupt and fix the system and help consumers eat better in the process,” Inna says.

Initially, Farmigo was founded to assist farmers in selling directly to consumers through a Web store and back-end operations support.

The start-up raised more capital in 2012 and expanded its reach to serve the consumer market, which is Inna’s focus. She is building

“Strawberries”

oil painting by Megan Goldman ’14

The experience also served as a wake-up call. “After the show, I returned to Boulder and felt that I was doing everything I should be doing and not what I wanted to do,” she admits. “I wanted to travel, find myself again as a chef and have my business match my lifestyle.” She saw a job listing in Chile and applied. “Everything there is farm to table, which inspired my business model for Seasonal Montana. I am trying to reinvent how people eat and appreciate food and where it comes from.

There are a lot of hothouses in Montana, so I can get food out of season, but I am trying to stick to how food is meant to be, to its pureness.” She had no idea while at Garrison Forest that she would become a chef and entrepreneur, but the GFS philosophy prepared her for the path she’s taken: “Garrison Forest pushed me to be the best person I can be and to be original.”

Visit seasonalmontana.com for Melissa’s blog, and go to gfs.org/magazine for her zucchini carpaccio recipe.

“I am

’’

trying to reinvent how people eat and appreciate food and where it comes from.

what she calls a CSA 2.0, the next iteration of community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs. The Farmigo model has local producers delivering produce to sites organized through community organizers, “a farmers’ market on someone’s front porch,” Inna explains. “People buy online then pick up their customized orders at a designated site.”

Before becoming a full-time Farmingo employee in summer 2013, Inna had been a Farmigo intern as a student and post-grad of the Harvard Business School/Harvard Kennedy School of Government joint M.A. in Public Policy and Business Administration program. For a permanent position, she was looking for a problem, not specifically a food company. “I am interested in creating systems that are solving large-scale problems and designed around top-down human behavior,” she says of her expertise honed in two high-powered mayoral offices.

For two years, she was senior advisor to former D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and worked on environmental issues for former N.Y.C. Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Her time with Mayor Fenty underscores just how powerful a Garrison Forest education can be: “During my first two weeks, I had daily meetings with him and would really push back. It didn’t faze me that he was the mayor or to not speak my mind.”

Farmigo, though, is different from her past experiences. “With a start-up, there’s no model, so the highs are higher and the lows are lower,” she says. “We’re building the path as we walk it and have to be comfortable with ambiguity.” Inna is more than comfortable with change and hopes that Farmigo inspires the same in others. “The reason someone starts a Farmigo pickup site is that they want to help change the food system,” she explains of the nearly 100 Farmigo delivery sites now in New York and San Francisco serving more than 3,000 consumers. “Soon there are 20, 30 or more people in a neighborhood shopping fresh, eating local and eating better. The more directly you shop from the person who makes or harvests the food, the better.”

For more, visit Farmigo.com.

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

24

Courtney Pineau ’95, Assistant Director, Non-GMO Project Garrison Forest taught Courtney Pineau not to shy away from complex issues. She recalls challenging conversations about race, prejudice and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, issues at the forefront during her high school years. “I learned at Garrison Forest that to facilitate meaningful changes, you need to have open dialog,” says Courtney, who served as Service League co-head. “Rather than just tell us what to think, GFS took the bold approach of having us dive into some very complex discussions as a community. This taught me that education and honest information can be very powerful tools for change.”

Today, as assistant director of the Non-GMO Project, North America’s only third-party verification program for non-GMO (non-genetically modified organisms) food and products, Courtney works to protect and build the non-GMO food supply through consumer education. “We approach the issue of GMOs in the food supply in a proactive way,” she explains. “Our role is not to demonize genetic engineering or GMOs but to provide transparency so people can make informed choices and become engaged citizens.”

Unlike more than 60 other countries, the U.S. and Canada do not have mandatory GMO labeling, yet genetically engineered ingredients are found in more than 80 percent of American packaged foods. “In the absence of mandatory labeling, the Non-GMO Project gives the public the information they deserve and, at the same time, leverages the power of the marketplace to drive demand for non-GMO ingredients and production,” she says.

To date, 30 states are working on mandatory labeling legislation, including Maryland, but only Connecticut, Maine and Vermont have passed such measures.

“I have always had an interest in the relationship between food and health,” explains Courtney, who co-authored The Non-GMO Cookbook: Recipes and Advice for a Non-GMO Lifestyle (Skyhorse Publishing, 2013). “After working for major natural foods companies, it became clear to me that there was significant work that needed to happen to address the health of our food on a systems level.” She returned to school, and in 2009, she earned a M.B.A. with a concentration on sustainable business and food systems from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Seattle. Her undergraduate degree from Western Washington University is in health education and pre-medical studies.

Her advice to avoid GMOs? Eat certified organic and Non-GMO Project-verified food as often and as widely as possible; plant and share organic seeds; and avoid conventionally grown corn, soy and canola products, the most pervasive GMOs in our food supply. And stay informed: “We all deserve to know what’s in the food we’re eating and feeding our families.”

Learn more at nongmoproject.org.

“Untitled”

digital print by Kat Pardoe ’14

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

“Government

’’

cannot and should not implement food policy alone, it takes a partnership to strategize and analyze how to reach the most people.

Holly Freishtat ’91, Food Policy Director, Baltimore City Department of Planning

solving big issues, Holly Freishtat knows, takes more than just big ideas. it requires bringing different perspectives and expertise to the table. As baltimore’s food policy director—hers was among the first such positions in the country in 2010—Holly deftly works across city agencies and with over 50 nonprofit and nongovernment agencies to bring innovative food policy solutions to the 120,000 people in baltimore (including 31,000 kids) living in “food deserts.”

“Government cannot and should not implement food policy alone,” states the former AmeriCorps volunteer. “to meet such a great need, it takes a partnership to strategize and analyze how to reach the most people.” to increase access to healthy, fresh food in “food deserts”— urban areas where residents live more than a 1/4 mile from a supermarket; exist at or below the poverty level; and have limited or no access to a vehicle—Holly’s department collaborates with many partners on an array of innovative programs. Among them are the baltimore City Health Department, which created a virtual supermarket program to allow residents to order healthy food online at senior and disabled public housing, and “Get Fresh Kids” at the city’s Lexington market, which offers healthy kids meals and fruit

“Cabbage”

“Donuts”

digital print by Shannon Morin ’14

and vegetable edible art workshops. Food access at farmers’ markets is also critical. Through a vast partnership, the baltimore Farmers’ market and bazaar is one of the first farmers’ market organizations in the nation to use the new incentive system with farmers and vendors equipped with a smartphone that accepts credit and debit cards, incentive dollars and sNAP benefits (food stamps). This summer, the city launched Homegrown baltimore employee Wellness CsA (community-supported agriculture), which provides weekly delivery of prepaid local fruits and vegetables to city employees. “baltimore is one of the first cities to have a CsA be reimbursed as part of a wellness plan,” explains Holly, who has a b.s. in nutrition from the University of Vermont and an m.s. in food policy and applied nutrition from tufts.

All this hard work, big thinking and strategic implementation is earning her a national reputation. baltimore’s mayor stephanie Rawlings-blake helped create the United states Conference of the mayor’s (UsCm) Food Policy taskforce. Holly works with UsCm to support cities across the country to launch food policy initiatives similar to baltimore’s. “The more i do this work, the more i love it,” says Holly, who first fell in love with growing food during a GFs Lower school plant-raising assignment.

(Her broccoli plant died, but her passion didn’t.) “every day there are new issues and challenges to meet. i love being innovative and thinking through every issue to find food solutions.”

Go to baltimorecity.gov/Government/Agencies Departments/Planning/BaltimoreFoodPolicyInitiative/ FoodPolicy.aspx.

oil painting by Sequoia Scavullo ’14

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

26

Garrison Forest This year’s GFs artists created exceptional work across the full spectrum of genres and across an array of visual arts electives.

Architectural model by Xiying “Haey” Ma ’14 Haey created an amphitheater for the new art elective, Architectural Model Making.

Necklace

by Katie Asdourian ‘14 Jewelry students learn to use several materials and techniques, including copper enameling used to make this necklace.

“Decomposition” digital print by Lilly Nguyen ‘15 For the Digital Imaging I assignment of exploring fragmented time and Cubism, Lilly documented flowers as they decomposed over time.

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

27

“Shells,” oil painting by Emme Childs ’14 Emme was chosen for the highly selective high school mentorship program at the National Gallery of Art during her senior year.

Digital print of Haey Ma and her architectural model

by Chuning “Sherry” Shi ‘14 For her A.P. Art Portfolio concentration in architectural photography, Sherry developed 12 images including this photograph that she took and manipulated in Photoshop.

Architectural model by Fabi Berenguer Gil ’14 Created in the Architectural Model Making class.

“Variations on a Cube” sculpture by Kendall Shriver ‘15 For this assignment, using only task board, students addressed the formal visual principles (balance, weight/counterweight, numbers in form, pattern, asymmetry and texture) to create a 3D work that stands in space.

To see artwork from each division, scan the QR code on your smartphone or visit gfs.org/arts/gallery.

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

28

Monuments Man D A N T E B E R E T TA

uring World War II, a band of unlikely brothers— bookish art historians and museum curators and directors—recovered art treasures stolen by the Nazis. In The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, Robert M. Edsel captures the real-life exploits of the official Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section of the Allies. Earlier this year, “Monuments Men” hit the big screen.

School Archivist Dante Beretta is just as dedicated and detail-oriented (but without the cloak-and-dagger). Dr. Beretta, who holds a Ph.D. in Classics from The Johns Hopkins University and has taught Middle School Latin since 1985, is detective, art historian and archaeologist in his efforts to recover and restore Garrison Forest artifacts. “The satisfaction comes from finding some fragment of the past, out of context, and trying to reconstruct its relationship to GFS,” he says. “There are always clues screaming a connection to the school.

It’s thrilling to piece together the history and connection.”

D

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

29

Grave Stele of Dexileos, a plaster relief sculpture THE MYSTERY: In 1938, GFS purchased two large reproductions of ancient Greek sculpture from Bryn Mawr School: the Amazon Frieze from the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the Grave Stele of Dexileos. GFS mounted the pieces in Study Hall, then the main academic building for the Upper School. The Amazon Frieze still graces the entry to the Lower School Library, but by the early 1990s, the other sculpture had been removed. At the time, Dr. Beretta asked Rufus Davis (Lower School art teacher, now retired) what she knew about the remaining Amazon Frieze. She did one better and showed him the Grave Stele stored in her art room closet. Dr. Beretta installed it in the Middle School (then the F.E. White Building) and researched its origins. Reinstallation was challenging, though. A few “enthusiastic” Middle School art lovers decorated it with blue paint pens and chipped away at the already deteriorating plaster with pencils. During Dr. Beretta’s leave of absence while his wife served military duty, Butch Darrell, Middle School History teacher, placed it in campus storage, which at the time, meant a dirt slab underneath the Old Gym.

The Grave Stele of Dexileos, ca. 1950s

THE RECOVERY: “When I got back, it was broken and I thought beyond salvageable,” explains Dr. Beretta. Undaunted, he contacted an ornamental plaster restorer. “Six months later, Humpty Dumpty was remade, reinforced and absolutely beautiful,” he says. The piece now is permanently displayed above the Garrison Room in the G. Peter O’Neill, Jr. Middle School (see left).

Two large Masonite panels of a Clinton Arrowood graphic illustration THE MYSTERY: In 2009, Dr. Beretta received a call about two Clinton Arrowood drawings in the barn next to Glanville Cottage, a faculty residence. The drawings of a man and a woman dressed in colonial garb were devoid of any markings to indicate what Mr. Arrowood, the late GFS music and art history teacher and professional illustrator, was illustrating. The subject, though, did look familiar to Dr. Beretta.

Earlier in the year, a smaller, black-and-white working drawing of the same scene had been found in a closet elsewhere on campus.

THE RECOVERY: Dr. Beretta framed the large panels and displayed both

versions as part of the permanent Clinton Arrowood Collection in the G. Peter O’Neill, Jr. Middle School lobby. Though the trail of the drawings’ origins is cold, Dr. Beretta remains hopeful.

Gutenberg Bible leaf 47, vol. II. THE MYSTERY: In the 1970s, Charlotte Ober Lord Goodwin ’53 and her children donated a portion of the art collection of her late husband, Dr. Mason F. Lord, a Baltimore physician and patron of the arts and art education. The most recent in-house list, completed in 1995, and a 1984 Sotheby’s inventory did not list the Gutenberg Bible page.

THE RECOVERY: In 2008, Dr. Beretta and

Kali Ruppert ’11 began researching the Lord Collection in preparation for an exhibit during the GFS Centennial. Some of the collection was on display and in storage in the Elinor Purves McLennan ’56 Library.

“In the library’s storage area, I found a mysterious, sealed cardboard folder containing a page of old printing,” he recalls.

“I knew from the Latin inscription that it was a page from a Bible, but it wasn’t on the Lord Collection inventory.” Dr. Beretta had a hunch that it was a Gutenberg Bible page. He sent photos to the Walters Art Museum and to Paul Needham of Princeton University, a Gutenberg Bible expert. The response? “A true Gutenberg Bible leaf? You betcha.” The GFS leaf is one of a group of 24 paper leaves discovered ca. 1921. They were binding waste from Gutenberg Bibles used to make up pasteboard for the covers of bindings for newer editions; in this case, the Basel 1559 folio edition of Heinrich Bullinger, In Apocalypsin. Other leaves from this group are at the Library of Congress, in private collections and at King’s College, Cambridge, England.

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

30

Faculty

Faculty at the Forest GREAT teaching is the core of the Garrison Forest experience and mission. Each year,

we honor individuals for their devotion to students, commitment to their profession and dedication to the GFS community

TWENTY-YEAR SERVICE PIN In 1992, Garrison Forest established the tradition of honoring faculty and staff who have attained 20 years of service to the school. The outstanding loyalty and commitment of so many GFS faculty and staff is one of the true hallmarks of Garrison Forest.

G. Peter O’Neill, Jr. Head of School

At the 2014 Garrison Forest Commencement, Peter o’Neill received his twenty-Year service Pin from the four GFs board of trustees presidents with whom he has served since beginning his tenure in 1994 (in chronological order): betsy b. searle ’74, molly mundy Hathaway ’61, Lila boyce Lohr ’63 and David DiPietro, current president. excerpts from David DiPietro’s remarks: “Hired as our interim head in 1994, Peter o’Neill has led this school with passion, integrity, vision and humility for the past 20 years. He has navigated us deftly through several challenging economic cycles and demographic shifts and yet delivered 20 consecutive balanced budgets. Throughout his tenure, he championed innovation in the classroom, physical transformation of our campus and defining strategic partnerships while overseeing the fundraising to support it all.

“Peter’s ability to work equally effectively with his leadership team, his peers in the baltimore market and his board of trustees under four different presidents has been exceptional. As his stature in the world of private school leaders rose over the years, it engendered respect and admiration for Garrison Forest at the local, regional, national and even international levels.

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

Peter O’Neill at Commencement with the GFS board presidents during his tenure. From left: Mr. O’Neill, Betsy B. Searle ’74, Molly Mundy Hathaway ’61, Lila Boyce Lohr ’63 and David DiPietro.

They are photographed in front of the G. Peter O’Neill, Jr. Middle School, a surprise naming honor announced at the May 9, 2014 trustees’ dinner.

Peter’s advice is often sought out by his peers in the secondary education sector, and he has been consistently part of the national discussion of pressing, strategic issues in the education field. Any recognition that has come his way for the many great things going on at GFs he quickly deflected to his staff and faculty. it has never been about Peter o’Neill, but about the well-being of Garrison Forest school. As Lila recently commented, ‘When it comes to the critical issue of ‘fit’ between a school and its head, we, Garrison Forest and Peter o’Neill, could be the poster child.’

“Peter has demonstrated outstanding judgment and discipline in dealing with the almost daily crises and challenges that

confront a school head, making difficult decisions wisely and with empathy for those involved. more than anything, Peter’s passion and enthusiasm for everything GFs is sparked by the students who bring it to life every day. i found it extremely telling that throughout this period of numerous events to honor Peter and Peggy, he was visibly the most emotionally moved by the tributes paid to him by the students—which i think says it all. Peter, it has been our privilege and pleasure to have worked with you for these many years, and i am honored to present you with your 20-year pin with our sincere gratitude and best wishes for the future.”

2.

1.

Farewell to the Forest: G. Peter O’Neill, Jr. On June 30, 2014, the Garrison Forest School community bid a heartfelt farewell to Peter O’Neill, who served as Head of School from 1994 to 2014. He retires from GFS, leaving a legacy of transformation and vision. His accomplishments are many over his two decades at the school: among them, leading the largest campus expansion to date; implementing digital teaching and learning; raising more than $85 million in annual, capital and planned gifts; and establishing nationally recognized programs including The James Center and Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), a partnership with Johns Hopkins University.

Beginning in December 2013, the GFS community planned a series of events to honor him and his GFS service, a tenure surpassed in years only by co-headmistresses Jean G. Marshall and Nancy J. Offutt—not bad for a man who began as interim head. Here’s to you, Mr. O’Neill!

3.

4.

1. Every December, Mr. O’Neill, with his bathrobe over his suit, read The Polar Express to Kindergarten students.

He was surprised in December 2013 with a reading to the entire Upper School and the Kindergarten and Pre-First classes.

2. On April 2, 2014, Mr. O’Neill threw out the first pitch at Oriole Park at Camden Yards for a game between his beloved Boston Red Sox and the Orioles. The “Garrison Forest School Family Night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards” included faculty, staff, students and parents, with the Chamber Choir singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

3. Peter and Peggy O’Neill at the “Garrison Forest Family Night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.”

Peggy O’Neill ably served GFS as well, creating the faculty/staff on-campus daycare and the O’Zone Student Center in Manor House and founding the school archives.

5.

6.

4. April 12, 2014 was “O’Town: An Evening of Motown Favorites” with spectacular performances by students, faculty and professional singers, dancers and musicians from ArtsCentric, a regional arts troupe.

This tribute to Mr. O’Neill’s favorite musical genre was created and directed by Cedric D. Lyles, Upper School music director.

5. In 2008, Mr. O’Neill presented stepdaughter Cara Foley ’08 with her Garrison Forest diploma (inset), citing that moment as his proudest at GFS. At the 2014 Commencement, she surprised him with his own diploma.

6. Fittingly, the student-created tribute on May 15 was the final celebration.

Students from Preschool to Upper School shared songs, poems, skits and more with Mr. O’Neill, who was deeply touched. Pictured here with his “twins,” from left: Blair Foreman ‘14, President of the Upper School, and Ella Goetze ‘18, President of the Middle School. Each student and faculty and staff member received a “got grit?” cap.

32

Faculty

2014 DISTINGUISHED TEACHER AWARD

arrives early, leaves late and gives way beyond In 1980, Elinor Purves McLennan ’56 100 percent to her and Courtney McLennan Myhrum ’79 students and to Garrison established the Distinguished Teacher Forest. A graduate of Award to recognize excellence in teaching towson University for at Garrison Forest. Each year’s recipient both her b.s. and her is chosen by a committee of parents, master’s in education, students and faculty. mrs. berrier stays current on early-childhood Ginny Berrier pedagogy and is always Threes teacher, Preschool seeking new and A true master teacher of preschool-aged different ways to reach children, Ginny berrier has understood for and teach students. she years what brain research has recently From left: Peter O’Neill, 2014 McGregor Honoree Linda Rowe and also teaches the ParentBill Hodgetts, Assistant Head of School for Finance and Operations. confirmed: that a child’s brain develops toddler program for more in the early childhood years, 2014 IRVIN D. McGREGOR young parents and their toddler children, particularly before the age of 6 than at DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD which GFs added to its Preschool program any other time in its life. since 1986, Named for beloved GFS staff member in 2006 as an introduction to the social mrs. berrier has expertly and enthusiastically Irvin D. McGregor, who served in the dining interaction so beneficial for school.

Her taught 3-year-olds in Garrison Forest’s hall for 43 years, the annual Irvin D. coed Preschool, knowing full well that some boundless energy and constant good cheer McGregor Distinguished Service Award are as welcome with the parents as they are of the most important teaching occurs at honors full-time staff members who have this level. she developed—and is constantly with the children. distinguished themselves based on Her two sons are graduates of the GFs tweaking—a rich, comprehensive exemplary tenure, service and dedication Preschool, and she is the proud grandmother curriculum that touches every important to the school. of four whose brains are, no doubt, area of development for young children. benefiting from her early childhood magic.

Linda Rowe mrs. berrier unfolds her program with deep Business Office When she began her GFs teaching career kindness, endless joy for and patience with 28 years ago, mrs. berrier wrote that her every student and unexpected moment (and For 22 years, Linda Rowe has been essential objective was “to work in an educational there are many when teaching 3-year-olds), for everything to run smoothly behind the program that offers an opportunity for and above all, respect for each boy and girl scenes in the business office. A role model professional and personal growth.” What she as an individual. to many, a friend to all and a trusted Her love for her students and the worlds has done is create an environment where colleague, ms. Rowe engages everyone who children have enjoyed an incredible opportuand concepts she introduces to them is crosses her professional path with kindness nity for a profound level of personal growth. exceeded only by her work ethic. she and dignity. she shares stories and photos of family, never failing to ask about others’ From left: Christopher Berrier, Ginny Berrier, Alan Berrier and Jonathan Berrier. Both Mrs. Berrier’s sons families, pets and milestones. it is ironic are GFS Preschool alumni. (or perhaps, fitting) that in 1990, when she joined the business office, it was, she insisted, only for six weeks to help out while a staff member was on maternity leave. she proved indispensable to the work and to the many friends she made in that short time. every day, ms. Rowe brings integrity, reliability, high level of organization and a wry sense of humor to the office. she is the consummate team player and a critical link that keeps the flow of communication moving, solving problems quickly and efficiently and always with a smile.

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

Faculty

33

Michele Shepherd

RETIREES

Michele Shepherd Upper School Art

Five tons of clay for sculpture class.

At least 20,000 jewelry saw blades for making bracelets, necklaces and other wearable art in jewelry making. millions of camera shutter and computer mouse clicks.

These are just a few of the ways to measure the extraordinary 35-year career of art teacher michele shepherd.

The most impressive statistic, though, is one which is impossible to measure: the lasting impact mrs. shepherd—or “shep” as she is known—has had on generations of young women who have been molded by her quiet, calm persistence, experienced artistic eye and boundless enthusiasm for what her students can create and who they can become artistically and personally.

Hired in 1979 to teach jewelry making in the Upper school, mrs. shepherd has taught photography, digital imaging and 3D studio as well as jewelry and portfolio classes. Her talent, experience and passion for teaching art played a key role in collaboration with art department chair b.J. mcelderry, creating a comprehensive visual arts experience at Garrison Forest.

“The first words i think of for michele are three “i” words: inspiring, innovative and integrity,” mrs. mcelderry said. “she

has inspired me, other teachers and her students to think creatively and explore new directions; she has designed innovative curriculum and has demonstrated integrity in her values, inclusiveness, compassion and service to others.” mrs. shepherd, who was honored in 2008 as the GFs Distinguished teacher of the Year, expertly guided the students and the photography program’s transition from darkroom to digital. Her courses are perennial favorites, such as Jewelry making, a class she taught during each of her 35

years at Garrison Forest. Her enthusiasm for new ideas and media never wanes. in sculpture classes, students worked with an array of materials from clay and fiber to wire, wood and recyclables. if a student has an artistic idea, mrs. shepherd, ever the sculptor, would work tirelessly to find the idea’s form, shape its contours and bring it to life. embracing a growing student interest in architectural design, she added Architectural model making this past year—the first time the class has been offered at GFs—to the comprehensive GFs art program. Under her steady eye and kind encouragement, students created 3D models of their architectural plans. mrs. shepherd received her b. F. A. from the maryland institute College of Art and an m.ed. from towson University.

Michele Shepherd has brought creative passion to her classrooms for 35 years.

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

34

Faculty

College with a degree in child development and Pacific oaks College with a master’s degree in human development, had the idea for the project while developing curriculum around the second Grade’s community service theme of nutrition.

After reading Uncle Willy’s Soup Kitchen by DyAnne DisalvoRyan to her students, she worked with them to develop the project. This signature Lower school service project is a testament to mrs. Nelson’s life and to her commitment to Michelle Nelson modeling for students a life of selfless service. “michelle loves children, and her work is dedicated to Michelle Nelson, Second Grade making an impact on the lives of young girls,” everyone has a favorite elementary school notes steve song, Head of Lower school. teacher, an individual who encouraged with “i recently had breakfast with a group of just the right words, who opened up new fifth-graders, and i asked them to name worlds of numbers or letters, science or a person who has made a difference in their history. michelle Nelson, has been such lives. immediately one of the girls’ hands a teacher for many Garrison Girls. shot into the air; when called upon, she said, she began her GFs career in the Preschool ‘mrs. Nelson!’” in 1997, bringing with her 18 years of teaching experience. in 2002, she transitioned Mary Stewart, Middle School Art to second Grade, bringing her warmth, “i choose to spread more ready smile and clear skills in the classroom joy.” Fitting that these are to the Lower school.

Mary Stewart the six words mary stewart, mrs. Nelson’s impact has been felt across middle school art teacher, the GFs community. The Lower school chose to define herself in a representative on the school’s Diversity 2014 middle school project Leadership Council since 2011, she planned based on six-word sentences. and organized all Lower school diversity since 1992 when she programs and worked with colleagues in joined Garrison Forest as other divisions to create schoolwide a Preschool teacher, multicultural events. The qualities she mrs. stewart has been brought to these endeavors were identical spreading joy in her to those she brought to her second Grade classroom and throughout students: an open-mindedness; kind the GFs community with consideration of a variety of viewpoints; her smile, enthusiasm, and a willingness to learn. talent and creativity. After For the past seven years, she has inspired six years in the Preschool, her students to lead the Lower school in making thousands of bagged lunches for our the 2002 Garrison Forest “Distinguished teacher of Daily bread, a baltimore soup kitchen. the Year” became Lower mrs. Nelson, a graduate of evergreen state

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

school art teacher, and in 2007, she joined the middle school faculty.

When daughter ellie stewart Austin ’03 was a Girl scout, mrs. stewart connected GFs to Race for the Cure, now the school’s largest community service effort. mrs. stewart, who received her art degree from sweet briar College, served on virtually every GFs committee, including as the peer-elected faculty/staff representative to the board of trustees. she designed costumes for the middle school musicals, founded the Lower school Art Night, painted murals in the Preschool and more. in 2010, she chaired the Garrison Forest Centennial Celebration for faculty, students and staff, creating a meaningful and memorable series of community events. A talented landscape painter, her house portraits are presented to the new owners of each sandtown Habitat for Humanity house built by the GFs faculty and staff. “Welcome Home,” her stunning painting of the Garrison Forest Road entrance, is the gift to those faculty and staff members with at least 20 years of service to GFs, an appropriate tribute to colleagues who, like the artist, have left their indelible mark on the school.

Spirit of Giving

35

Annual gifts to The Fund for Garrison Forest celebrate the school’s enduring tradition of exceptional learning within a remarkable, welcoming community.

$1,306,060 RAISED IN 2013-2014

SOURCES OF

$2,083

Revenue

per student

77 %

TUITION AND FEES

6%

ENDOWMENT

Expenses

15% supports financial aid.

THE FUND FOR GARRISON FOREST

6%

6%

AUXILIARY INCOME

5%

OTHER

58 %

of the school’s budget goes towards salaries and benefits for our exceptional faculty and staff.

27

% covers other general operating costs from library books to lacrosse sticks.

All figures for fiscal year July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014.

>

YOUR GIFT EVERY YEAR HAS A DIRECT IMPACT ON STUDENTS AND FACULTY AND ENRICHES THE LIFE OF THE SCHOOL.

THE 2014–15 FISCAL YEAR BEGAN JULY 1. PLEASE JOIN US IN SUPPORTING GARRISON FOREST THIS YEAR. Give or pledge online at gfs.org/give.

Sign up for monthly installments.

A Shriver Society gift of $1,000 over 12 months is about $84/ per month.

Check out the online 2013–14 Donor Report beginning September 1 at gfs.org/donorreport (use password: thankyou).

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

36

Spirit of Giving

THANK YOU TO THE VOLUNTEERS OF THE 2013-2014 FUND FOR GARRISON FOREST Eleanor Shriver Magee ’89, Overall Chair Dawn Dias-Bulls, Parent Fund Chair

REUNION GIFT CHAIRS AND VOLUNTEERS

Steve Sarigianis, Parent Fund Vice-Chair

1949 Eleanor Shriver Cassilly

Helen Zinreich Shafer ’93, Leadership Chair

1954 Carrington Dame Hooper

Susan Obrecht Riehl ’79, Overall Reunion Chair

Cindy Kelley McGrath

Chris Shriver, Faculty Fund Chair

Kingsley Black Moore

Linda and Nick Penniman, Grandparent Fund Chairs

Jenny Burton Parr 1959 Lucy Howard

PARENT FUND VOLUNTEERS

CLASS OF 2014 SENIOR CLASS GIFT COMMITTEE

Sheray Austin

Michele and Billy Yerman, Chairs

Dawn Dias-Bulls Stephen Goldstein

Christy and Dirck Bartlett

John Harroun

Jennifer and Richard Berman

Geoff Hengerer Julie Higgins

Debbie and Paul Foreman

Peter Korzenewski

Ellen and Jim Ivey

Kellie McGowan

Sorrel and Tony King

Chuck McMahon

Melanie and Keith Pauley

Matthew Neuberger

Emily and Kevin Powderly

Chris Newman Jennifer Cohen Quartner ’90 Chris Robinson Steve Sarigianis Laura Schuebel

Susan and John Riehl Laurie and David Wingate Lisa and Morry Zolet

Dana Scrivner

ALUMNAE VOLUNTEERS

Chris Shriver

S. Dorsey Smith ’65

Marcelle Simon Nicole Smith

Margie Garland Whitman ’75

Robert Smith

Sana Naylor Brooks ’85

Brian Singer

Rebecca Ferrell Smith ’87

FACULTY FUND VOLUNTEERS

Julie Martin McAllister ’92

Barb Ackerman

Beth Fenwick Garner ’91 Ashley Ingraham ’95

Nicky Hawes Perry Jay West Riggs

SENIOR CLASS GIFT

Wendy Livermore Wade

The senior Class Gift effort to honor the Class of 2014 was co-chaired by michele and billy Yerman.

The Committee raised funds from senior parents and grandparents to refurbish the senior House lawn.

1964 Lindsay Patterson Allison Ludy Blundon Biddle Betsy Girling Bullitt Polly Townsend Cooke Cam Dawbarn Diana H. Dick Kathy Burnam Flood Daisy Nelson White 1969 Pootah Barrett Rich Beverley Whiting Young 1974 Shirley McLane Putnam Lisa Downing Sartorius 1979 Holly Dunn Anne Cantler Fulwiler 1984 Mary Howard Sarah Crosby Schweizer 1989 Eleanor Shriver Magee Reid Boyce Nichols Susan McCormick Scarborough 1994 Sassy Stifel Jacobs Rachel Karceski Ravalico 1999 Ashley Martin Brewer

Ginny Berrier

Natalie Litz Bissonnette ’98

Louis Gephardt

Anne Deady ’01

Annie Legg Preston

Gail Hutton

Erica Chan Day ’02

Karen Meyers

Alexa Sabelhaus

Colleen Hodgetts ’03

LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

Abigail Malis ’06

Emily Gardner Baratta ’88

Courtney Smith ’08

Ellen Ivey

Jenny Schwartz ’11

Charlotte Pinkard ’07 Dani DiPietro ’10

Sorrel King

Haley Austin ’12

Diana Warfield Daly ’74

Meg Phippin ’13

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

2014 Senior Class Gift Committee Co-Chairs Michele and Billy Yerman with daughter Savannah ’14 at Baccalaureate.

Brooke Kirby Buppert

Talamo 2004 Jenn Unter Brown Charlotte Gormley

Reunion Giving Cup The Reunion Giving Cup is awarded each year to the Reunion class with the largest increase in participation for The Fund for Garrison Forest. This year, the Class of 1954, a perennially enthusiastic and engaged group, took the Cup with an incredible 100 percent participation for its 60th Reunion. Congratulations to the class, and a big “thank you” to spirited volunteers Carrington Dame Hooper, Cindy Kelley mcGrath, Kingsley black moore and Jenny burton Parr.

MC Hooper Morgan Scott 2009 Vaughan Fountain Lily Stellmann Jules Zitnay

100% PARTICIPATION!

Spirit of Giving

37

Leadership at the Forest THANK YOU to stacy Garrett-Ray ’92, parent Kim Gordon, sarah Crosby schweizer ’84 and the Rev. Caroline “stuart” Rinehart stewart ’66, who finished their GFs board of trustees tenure on June 1, 2014. Their service, guidance and dedication to Garrison Forest have been invaluable. Former board member Dr. William m. Parrish, parent of sara ’10, returns for a one-year term, and mathias J. DeVito, grandfather to Hannah DeVito ’17 and Julia Walker ’16, has been elected trustee emeritus.

2013 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNA AWARD WINNER

Betsy Garland Wilmerding ‘78

Peter and Trisha Maller with daughter Hailee ’14

NEW TRUSTEE

Peter D. Maller Parent of Jaida ’17 and Hailee ‘14 Peter founded Maller Wealth Advisors in 2014, which specializes in sophisticated investment strategies, comprehensive financial planning, risk management services, business succession planning and employee benefits.

Prior, he was a founding partner of Heritage Financial Consultants, LLC. For six of the last seven years, he has been named “Planner of the Year” for Lincoln Financial Advisors out of 8,000 affiliated planners. He is a qualified member of the life insurance industry’s prestigious Million Dollar Round Table and has achieved “Top of the Table” status, ranking him in the top half of 1 percent in the industry.

A magna cum laude graduate of Washington College in business administration and management with a M.B.A. from Florida State University in 1992, Peter was a nationally ranked tennis player in his native South Africa.

He earned numerous awards in college and graduate school for his athletic and academic performance. His nonprofit leadership includes: Washington College’s Visiting Committee, Alumni Board Task Force and Sho’men Club for the support and promotion of athletics and intramurals; Baltimore Medical Systems’ Board of Trustees; and Florida State University’s M.B.A. Advisory Board.

Annually since 1981, Garrison Forest School honors an alumna whose leadership and service to GFS merit special recognition and appreciation.

“Certain places call to us, and Garrison Forest is one of those places,” noted Betsy Garland Wilmerding ’78, the 2013 Distinguished Alumna. The core of her volunteer leadership approach is steady, thoughtful counsel, distinct intellect and depth of questioning that cuts to the heart of any critical issue—qualities she brought to her work for Garrison Forest. Betsy, a former Parent Association President, was a member of the GFS Board from 2005 until 2013; she served as chair of School Life, was a member of the Strategic Initiatives Committee and reaccreditation Philosophy Committee and served as GFS School Trustee for the Samuel Ready Scholarship, Inc. program. She earned her B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Yale University and received her M.S.W. from the University of Maryland School of Social Work.

Her nonprofit leadership includes Valleys Planning Council trustee and executive committee member; St. Thomas’ Church’s Outreach Committee and volunteer coordinator for the church’s Habitat for Humanity program; and former Calvert School trustee.

Professionally, Betsy has worked as a United Way fundraiser, family therapist and curriculum designer for the Success For All Foundation, which serves the educational needs of students in underserved schools around the From left: Relie Garland Bolton ’53, 2013 Distinguished Alumna Betsy Garland Wilmerding ’78 and Courtney Garland Iglehart ‘48.

nation. Her family’s GFS legacy of leadership is well known. Her late father, Charles Garland, Jr., and her grandfather, Charles Garland, Sr., served on the GFS board, as did her aunt Relie Garland Bolton ’53, who is a Distinguished Alumna Awardee and the first female president of the GFS Board of Trustees. Her aunt, Courtney Garland Iglehart ‘48, has served as a devoted GFS volunteer for 65 years.

Anne Deady ’01, 2013 Deady Award honoree Kellie McGowan and Pat Deady.

2013 H. BRIAN DEADY AWARD RECIPIENT

Kellie McGowan The H. Brian Deady Award, established in 2001 in memory of extraordinary parent volunteer Brian Deady by his wife Pat and daughter Anne ’01, honors exceptional parent volunteerism.

Kellie McGowan, mother of Briana ’13 and Mia ’17, immediately shared her enthusiasm and exceptional volunteer skills when her daughters enrolled in 2005. A Grade Fund Agent since 2007 and Parent Fund Chair in 2012-13, she has co-chaired the GFS Race for the Cure efforts and served on the 2013 Senior Class Gift Committee and as Parent Association treasurer. A former media industry and corporate training professional, Kellie recently founded an event planning and leadership consulting business. “I love volunteering at GFS because it sets an example for my children, and it positively impacts the students,” Kellie said.

2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

38

Spirit of Giving

The Marshall-Offutt Circle

M O

Ma rsha l l- Offutt C irc l e

HAVE YOU ALREADY REMEMBERED GFS IN YOUR WILL? If so, please let us know so we can include you in the Marshall-Offutt Circle.

To see a full list of all members, visit gfs.org/plannedgiving/ members.

The top classes for Marshall-Offutt Circle membership: 1958 – 8 1948 – 7 1978 – 7 1966 – 6 1945 – 5 1946 – 5 1960 – 5 1971 – 5 If you are considering a gift of real estate, including GFS in your will, a trust or other planned gift, please consult with your professional advisors (attorney, estate planner, etc.).

For more information on planned giving, contact Deanna Gamber Urner ’85, Director of Development, at deannaurner@gfs.org or 410-559-3135 or visit gfs.org/plannedgiving.

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

Planned gifts to Garrison Forest School—charitable bequests, annuities, trusts, real estate and other legacy gifts—benefit both the donor and the institution. To date, more than 219 alumnae, parents, faculty, staff and friends of Garrison Forest are members of the Marshall-Offutt Circle. The reasons for joining the legacy giving society are many, but each story is unique.

KATHARINE “KITTY” McLANE HOFFMAN ‘37 Katharine “Kitty” mcLane Hoffman ’37, who taught riding to generations of Garrison Girls from 1963 to 1975, is a Garrison Forest legend. she never misses a GFs reunion and a chance to chat with former students. she regales friends with stories of GFs’s earlier days; in fact, she carries the distinction of knowing all of the school’s heads including founding headmistress, mary moncrieffe Livingston. in 1925, she and sister, ethel ’38 came to Garrison Forest at the suggestion of family friends Jean marshall and Nancy offutt, then co-headmistresses of GFs. The Hoffman girls thrived at the Forest and in their adventures following graduation. Kitty volunteered for the Red Cross during World War ii and was stationed in New Guinea, the Philippines, the Dutch east indies (now indonesia) and Japan.

After the war, she returned to maryland to use her gift for numbers working for an insurance company and an interior design business.

An expert rider and foxhunter, she never gave up her true love: horses. ethel began teaching riding at GFs in 1943, becoming director of the program in 1960. in December 1963, while ethel and Kitty were delivering Christmas baskets on Reisterstown Road, ethel was struck and killed by a car. Kitty stepped in to continue ethel’s work, creating a legacy of her own as director of riding for the next 12 years.

As a devoted alumna, dedicated teacher, and avid horsewoman, Kitty is the embodiment of the school’s motto, Esse Quam Videri—to be

Kitty Hoffman ‘37

Rather Than to seem. Kitty, who previously established a charitable remainder trust to benefit her estate and GFs, gifted her house to the school in 2012, receiving tax benefits for her gift and providing for the school she loves so dearly. GFs sold the house and established the ethel and Katharine Hoffman Riding endowment to support the GFs riding program in perpetuity ensuring the strength of this important tradition, which has touched the lives of so many of our students and alumnae. “i have loved Garrison Forest from the very first day of First Grade,” Kitty proudly exclaims. “Garrison Forest continues to do wonders. my gifts help me and help the school.”

Spirit of Giving

39

2014 CAREER DAY Presented every other year, Career Day brings alumnae across an array of careers back to the Forest to share their vocations and career paths with eighth through twelfth Grade students. the 2014 Career Day, held march 28, 2014, included:

The 2014 Career Day panelists gather in Manor House.

• Angela Gustus ’93, Director, Bureau of Program Evaluation, Maryland State Government Department of Human Resources • Alexandra “Alex” Hoblitzell Heintz ’74, Administrative Director of Patient Safety and Quality, Southwestern Vermont Health Care • C. Peyton Hutchins ’04, Certified Child Life Specialist, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center

• Keegan Billick ’07, Product Line manager, Licensor/Brand Marketing, Under Armour

“If you had asked me at GFS graduation if this is where I would be, I would’ve said ‘Absolutely not.’

But this is where I should be. Throughout my career, I’ve remained open to possibilities. Always embrace change.”

• Caitlin Carlberg ’05, Senior Associate, Arc Aspicio

—TIFFANY ZAPPULLA ’85, President, TAZ Designs; Emmy-nominated Set Decorator

• Rachael Diamond ’05, Clinical Nurse, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit

• M. Cantey Boyd ’98, Principal, Baker Bros. Advisors • Cortney Foster-Boughan ’96, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine • Heidi Bringenberg ’08, Manager of Global Programs, U.S. Grains Council • Caroline “Carly” Busta ’97, Associate Editor, International Reviews, Artforum

• Rosalie Escobar-Ferrie ’96, Senior Global Programs Strategy, YouTube

• Movique “Vicky” King ’06, Ensign, United States Navy, Reserve – Medical Corps • Ann “Annie” Jenkins ’04, Speech-Language Pathologist, AMN Healthcare, University of Maryland Midtown Campus Hospital • Aubree Billick Jones ’02, Director, Human Resources, Abercrombie & Fitch • Inessa “Inna” Lurye ’02, Vice President of Product Strategy, Farmigo • Navara “Nana” Malayaman ’92, Physician, Maryland Family Care, Department of Internal Medicine, Mercy Medical Center • Eva Rigamonti ’02, Associate, Steptoe & Johnson, LLP • Angele Seriki ’07, Analyst, Treasury and Trade Solutions, Citi Institutional Clients Group • Khiran Sidhu ’01, Attorney, Bruch Hanna LLP • Erin Floyd Weiss ’95, Primary School Therapist, Glenelg Country School

• Stacy Garrett-Ray ’92, Senior Medical Advisor and Lead of the Integrated Health Plan, Department of Veterans Affairs

• Lisa Nolan Wright ’96, Regulatory Affairs Specialist, Cote Orphan Consulting

• E. Hiltie Gormley ’05, Associate Product Development Manager – Handbags, Tommy Hilfiger

• Tiffany Zappulla ’85, President, TAZ Designs; Set Decorator “House of Cards” (Emmy-nominated) and “Veep” 2014 GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL

126

@

Technology at

the

Forest

BY DANTE BERETTA, PH.D., GFS ARCHIVIST AND MIDDLE SCHOOL LATIN TEACHER

UNTIL THE 1980s, “technology” as a term that refers specifically to digital devices and the functions they perform was unknown in mainstream parlance. Along with

“infrastructure” and “network,” it was part of a general engineering vocabulary that could apply to anything from the study of ancient societies to the behavior of bees.

Meaning essentially “the know-how to solve a practical problem,” technology has implied mechanization and complexity from the industrial age forward, including

a horse-drawn lawnmower used to cut Manor House lawn. In 1983, the GFS Lower

School head commented in a newsletter on the then still novel computers on campus: “I think we are just beginning to get a glimpse of the benefits. As technology

improves and more and more educational software becomes available, the uses

and benefits of computers will grow considerably.” Indeed.

In 1954, educational technology meant typing class, an elective that continued into the 1970s.

“ Fun and fantastic!

It’s hot! Groovy!” commented math and science students who were learning BASIC on the new Edu System 20 installed on Manor House sunporch in 1974.

Two years earlier, students programmed remotely using the University of Maryland’s Univac 1108 digital mainframe computer.

The Math department chair predicted that “Garrison Forest alumnae will, in all probability, need to use computers and computer programming concepts in their future study of mathematics, science, medicine, economics, psychology, education and many more of the social sciences” (1974 Alumnae Bulletin).

1982 marked the beginning of the computer department and the arrival of the first Apple computers on campus. The computer lab in Marshall-Offutt served all divisions with typing, language, math and programming as the main activities. That same year, Time Magazine chose the computer as its Man of the Year. Soon thereafter a 12-year-old GFS student took issue with the Baltimore Sun in a letter to the editor: “I saw your articles in the Sunday paper on computers, in which you made it sound as if computers are only used in math. I disagree with you. A computer is used in foreign languages and English as well.”

Archives: Technology

@

127

The early 1990s brought the dawn of the worldwide Web via dial-up access to

a regional library database. The GFS library offered online access to magazines and newspapers. In 1997, GFS officially went online with the launch of the school website.

In the following year, laptops made their debut, and by the end of the decade, the school’s wireless network was weaving its way across campus, beginning with the Middle School.

2005 marked the beginning of the 1:1 tablet PC program

for grades four to 12 and all faculty, and GFS introduced online electives through Online School for Girls in 2009. Today, GFS offers 20 online courses including AP Computer Science.

Today, the school relies on “cloud computing” options. In 2013-14, GFS piloted a Google Chromebook program in the Fourth Grade—the latest steps in the evolution of computer technology and pedagogy —a process as unpredictable today as it was 40 years ago.

128

Words We Live By: Esse Quam Videri

Living and Wearing the Motto a nod to Henry David Thoreau, who wrote in Walden to “beware of all enterprises that require new clothes,” I purposely chose my outfit for “Peter O’Neill Day” on May 15 to reflect what I wore the very first day I entered a classroom. In 1971, I walked into St. Peter’s School in Worcester, Mass., wearing a blue blazer, tie, blue button-down shirt, gray flannels and penny loafers.

I chose the same outfit (with the addition of the Garrison Forest tie) for “Peter O’Neill Day,” the final recognition of a humbling and deeply touching series of tributes held this past spring to honor my Garrison Forest tenure.

I believe that what Thoreau was speaking to is to be careful of situations in life that require you to change who you are. Perhaps, my intentional wardrobe choice falls solidly in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s belief that “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…”

My hope was that this was a more thoughtful consistency reflecting the need to be authentic, which is inherent in the Garrison Forest School motto, Esse Quam Videri—To Be Rather Than To Seem. By tying my educational career together from my first day to my last, I wanted to honor the words that have come to mean so much to me.

I never set out to complete a particular tenure at Garrison Forest or at any of the other institutions where I have had the privilege to teach, coach and lead. I certainly never held up 20 years at GFS as the goal. The motto inspired this achievement, and I have been deeply touched by the tributes this year that recognize our common commitment to integrity in keeping with our motto.

I first learned of the school’s motto during my first visit to GFS in winter 1994. It struck me immediately that it spoke to the sense of authenticity I had experienced in my first few hours on campus and that I have come to so value in this community. It is a guiding star, a template and touchstone; it is a beacon to which I have often returned personally, and with my administrative team, as the measure of our decisions and a test of our integrity.

Our motto has always reminded me of a question posed by my philosophy professor Fr. “Spike” Linehan at St. Michael’s College.

We spent my freshman year debating and analyzing, but never answering, the question of what is being and what is essence. Once, Fr. Linehan burned a piece of paper in class. “Has its being changed or has its essence changed?” he asked us. After much discussion, we determined that the paper’s being, not its essence, had changed.

Over the past two decades, I often have said to GFS alumnae that the school is remarkably different from the school they attended, yet remarkably the same. Its being has changed but not its essence.

To Be Rather Than To Seem is the essence of Garrison Forest.

And just as most of my freshman philosophy classes ended with a discourse on the soul, our motto speaks to the soul of our school.

These words are what I have tried to reflect in every moment since 1994. I have seen our motto play out countless times in the

IN

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL 2014

classroom, on the playing field and in the lives of purpose lived by our alumnae and faculty. The integrity inspired by our motto is integral in everything we do here and in life beyond Garrison Forest.

This past spring, I packed up two decades of mementos from my office, meaningful reminders of my time at Garrison Forest School. Among them are tokens handed to me by graduating classes during Commencement ceremonies, a signed hockey stick and thank-you letters from Lower Schoolers for class ice cream parties at Lochinvar. All will find a place in my study in Chatham, Mass., particularly the plastic-wrapped toy car, a reminder of the Class of 2010’s memorable April Fool’s Day prank when they wrapped my real car completely in plastic wrap, and I had to climb in through my car’s back gate.

I also packed many framed photographs of happy GFS memories. One photo, though, stands out. It is a snapshot of me with a member of the Class of 1995, taken immediately following Commencement. There was a hard moment that first year—my first as Head of Garrison Forest and her first in a prominent leadership role as President of the School—during which she made a mistake of judgment but not of character, a mistake I would have not known had she not come forward of her own volition. Hers is one of the finest examples I have seen over the past 20 years of living our motto.

Esse Quam Videri is not about perfection; rather, it speaks to what we do, students and adults, when we get it wrong. It speaks to the character required to correct our mistakes, learn from them and move on. At Garrison Forest we have known for 104 years and counting that we are truly tested on the hard choices, not the easy choices.

The notion of resilience and perseverance, of learning from failure is finally getting its due in current educational pedagogy.

The research underscores that how one handles life’s tougher situations is a better indicator of success than academic achievement and test scores. It has been my greatest professional joy to have witnessed the success of so many students and alumnae over the past 20 years. Yes, the school has thrived, but it has done so because of our living embodiment of Esse Quam Videri. There will be few days ahead for me that will require a jacket and a tie, but every day and in every way, I will proudly wear the motto.

G. Peter O’Neill, Jr. retired from Garrison Forest on June 30 after two decades as Head of School. To read more about his service to the school, see page 30.

40

Class News

Alumnae Class News The following was compiled by May 2014.

Keep in touch with other alumnae through the secure GFS Alumnae Center at gfs.org/alumnae.

For additional Class News photos, visit gfs.org/alumnaegallery.

NOTE: Alumnae names are listed according to Garrison Forest’s records. Due to space limitations and photo-resolution issues we cannot print all images received.

Reading The Blueprint in front of Senior House, ca. 1950s

STAY CONNECTED AT GFS.ORG THE CLASS NEWS SECTION OF THE MAGAZINE IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE ONLINE VERSION.

“Like” us on Facebook at facebook.com/garrisonforestschool and facebook.com/GFSalumnae

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/garrisonforest If you did not receive your 2014 Garrison Forest Magazine, please send your updated address to:

Follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/garrison_forest# Alumnae Office Garrison Forest School 300 Garrison Forest Road Owings Mills, MD 21117 gfs_alum@gfs.org You may also email magazine@gfs.org to receive the Class News section as a PDF.

Watch us on YouTube at youtube.com/garrisonforestschool

Follow us on Pinterest at pinterest.com/garrisonforest

Log on to LinkedIn and join the Garrison Forest School Alumnae group to network professionally with alumnae

CLASS OF 2014 COMMENCEMENT AWARD WINNERS

FACULTY AWARD

ALUMNAE AWARD

GEORGE M. SHRIVER AWARD

PHILIP J. JENSEN AWARD

Yeon Ji Kim ’14

Fabiana Berenguer Gil ’14

Anna Gorman ’14

Katherine Paseman ’14

THE FUND FOR GARRISON FOREST made a critical difference in the GFS experience of each of these young women. Annual gifts to The Fund supported the salaries of their teachers, purchased digital, art and athletic equipment, contributed to financial aid, funded field trips and much more. To make your gift, go to gfs.org/give.

THE CLASS OF 2014 IS ATTENDING THE FOLLOWING COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES:

Colgate University

Indiana University at Bloomington

Sewanee: The University of the South

University of Maryland, College Park (9)

College of Charleston

Jacksonville University

Spelman College

College of William and Mary (3)

James Madison University (2) Johns Hopkins University

St. Mary's College of Maryland (2)

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Bucknell University (4)

University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Susquehanna University

University of Notre Dame

Cornell University

Loyola Marymount University

Drew University

Loyola University Maryland

Duke University

Ohio State University

University of Pennsylvania

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

University of Alabama

University of Rochester

Elon University (2)

University of Tampa

Miami University, Oxford (3)

University of California at Riverside

Emory University (2) Franklin and Marshall College

Pennsylvania State University, University Park (4)

University of California at Santa Cruz

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Furman University

Roanoke College Rollins College

University of Colorado at Boulder (3)

Washington and Lee University (3)

George Mason University Georgetown University

Sarah Lawrence College

University of Kentucky (3)

Elizabethtown College

University of Vermont

Washington University in St. Louis

Go to gfs.org/magazine for a list of the colleges and universities where the members of the Class of 2014 were accepted. Check out the podcast links of the GFS college counseling office, which share advice and wisdom on the myths and realities of today’s college admissions climate.

Garrison Forest School 300 Garrison Forest Road Owings Mills, MD 21117

gfs.org

2014-15 Prospective Parent Visiting Days UPPER SCHOOL: October 21 and November 4

LOWER SCHOOL: October 15, November 5 and December 3

MIDDLE SCHOOL: October 24, November 7 and December 12

PRESCHOOL: October 23, November 20, December 11 and January 22

DETAILS AND REGISTRATION: GFS.ORG/LEARNMORE

INTERESTED IN BOARDING? Students can enjoy an overnight visit to experience life 24/7 at GFS Garrison Getaway, November 6-7.

FOR MORE on any of these programs or to schedule a visit anytime, contact the Admission Office at 410-559-3111 or admission@gfs.org.

Please remember to recycle.