2015 Spring Magazine

Arts Week 2015

A Celebration of Creativity

30 Reprise!

Annual Arts Week Applauds Creativity

With a dramatic play and open-mic night as its bookends, this Upper School celebration of visual and performing arts unleashes the imaginative spirit.

BY AMANDA MAHNKE

36 Her Story

Fourth Grade Recounts Lives of Notable Women

Each year in Lower School, costume dress serves a greater purpose as students don the personas of important women in history.

BY WANDA ODOM

40 Different League, All Their Own

An eighth grade research project on American Civil Rights Movement leads students into new territory as learners.

BY AMANDA MAHNKE

42

Courageous Conversations

The Upper School creates a forum for students, faculty and staff to tackle often-difficult discussions as a community.

BY WANDA ODOM

Opposite page

IN EVIDENCE: A graphic recorder (or illustrator) documented the first-ever think tank on STEM education organized by the Center for the Advancement of Girls, held March 19-20. The large-scale drawings (4 feet by 12 feet) captured keynote speeches, panel sessions and small-group discussions. Story on page 26.

The first of the bulbs planted last fall for Dr. Hill’s Convocation began springing up in early April! Guess how many new perennials were planted; see Digest for the answer.

ON CAMPUS

EDITOR

Wanda Motley Odom

Director of Marketing and Communications

CONTRIBUTORS

Janet Bartholdson ‘06

Associate Director of Annual Giving Programs

Corin Brena

Webmaster & Digital Communications Manager

Bridget Carlin

Administrative Assistant, Athletics Department

Mariandl M.C. Hufford

Director for Academic Affairs and the Center for the Advancement of Girls

Vicki Lynch

Freelance Writer

Amanda Mahnke

Social Media & Media Relations Manager

Sandra Ulikowski

Brand & Creative Design Manager

Dr. Thomas Weissert

Director of Technology

Margaret Welsh

Director of Development

LAYOUT

Sandra Parker Ulikowski

PHOTOGRAPHY

Academic Images, Jared Castaldi, Amanda Mahnke, Karen Mosimann, Donna Meyer, Jim Roese, Linda Walters

THE AGNES IRWIN SCHOOL

Ithan Avenue and Conestoga Road

Rosemont, PA 19010-1042

Grades PreK–4

Tel: 610-525-7600

Fax: 610-526-1875

Grades 5–12

Tel: 610-525-8400

Fax: 610-525-8908

FRONT COVER: Freshman Eleanor Parks poses for the camera holding a Fuji X100S amid a variety of artwork and other examples of artistic life in the Upper School. Cover photo by Jared Castaldi.

From the Head of School

Excitement Abounds

New beginnings often bring a wave of enthusiasm that is contagious. It’s like spring, when nature slowly emerges from the quiescence of winter and begins to reveal for another season the splendor of new life and growth.

My first year as the new Head of The Agnes Irwin School has certainly conveyed such excitement, perhaps more for me than for the school community. The delight of learning more intimately the rich history of this remarkable institution and of getting to know the students and adults who stoke its great traditions continually invigorates me. The gratification inherent in working with a dedicated and talented cadre of educators constantly inspires me. The possibilities that flourish in a dynamic educational environment perpetuate my conviction that one should always dream big.

Now I have the opportunity to write my second Head’s Message for the school magazine, and it seems fitting that this Spring 2015 issue introduces a newly redesigned publication. It is through this biannual magazine, as well as other print and digital means, that we share and celebrate all that Agnes Irwin embodies. The news and stories we highlight demonstrate the excellence that has been a hallmark of the school for nearly 150 years.

On the cover as well as the pages that follow, we applaud the school’s commitment to visual and performing arts as evidenced by the annual Arts Week program organized and executed by our arts faculty and student-led Arts Board. We take note of the creativity in our Lower School curriculum, the scholarship required by our Middle School capstone project, and the open dialogue encouraged in Upper School.

We continue to feature our amazing alumnae, whose personal and professional successes are testament to the manifold ways Agnes Irwin empowers girls (and women) to learn, to lead, and to live a legacy. From the practice of corporate law to organic farming, our alumnae demonstrate that accomplishment comes in many forms.

I hope you enjoy the new look of our magazine and the stories therein.

Wendy L. Hill,

Ph.D.

About This Issue

REFRESH

Good Time for a Change

In the summer of 2014, members of the Marketing and Communications Office and the Development Office began discussing a redesign of the school magazine with the goal of bringing a fresh and updated look to the biannual publication.

We set about drafting an operating statement for the magazine, mulling over its mission and content strategy, soliciting requests for proposals from nationally recognized design firms, and selecting three firms to present to the redesign committee. We ultimately selected B&G Design Studios, an award-winning design team with over 30 years of combined experience in consumer and corporate communications, including art direction for the magazines of several major colleges and universities.

The first step was conceiving a new masthead that would be true to the storied history of The Agnes Irwin School, yet also exude a contemporary flair. Bold, traditional and full of savoir-faire. A subtle bow to the “lamp of learning” flows from the flame that punctuates the lowercase letter “i” in Agnes Irwin Magazine. Next was the development of the magazine architecture, with reimagined standing sections such as Digest and Class Notes, and new features such as Big Picture, Limelight and From the Archives.

The new design symbolizes a contemporary and eloquent awareness, a presence befitting a publication that has long hailed the tradition of excellence and achievement embodied in The Agnes Irwin School and the many members of the school community, beginning with our famed founder, Miss Agnes Irwin.

– Wanda Motley Odom, Editor

Retrospective

The Irwinian

The first issue of this monthly paper appeared in December 1898, a year after the formation of the Alumnae Association. It was published for 70 years.

Agnes Irwin School News

During the 1970s and 1980s, the periodical was variously titled School News and Alumnae Magazine.

Irwin’s

In the 1990s, the publication was known by the school’s popular sobriquet, with various treatments of the masthead that incorporated the lamp graphic. AIS

Magazine

This cover design was first published in 2002, using the school monogram for the masthead.

With her crown of curls, junior Nadia Slocum was an equally engaging cover model for the inaugural issue of the redesigned magazine.

What’s Online

Wondering what we’re up to on social media? You can follow our most recent posts — without leaving the AIS website — on the Owl Nest, our social media mashup page. There you’ll find a stream of activity on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, YouTube and Flickr, in addition to a few featured images from Pinterest. Find it at agnesirwin.org/mashup

VIDEO STORIES

Women in Wax: The fourth grade presented its annual Women in Wax Museum on Jan. 9. The students read biographies and wrote first-person monologues in preparation for the project, then dressed as their notable women for their presentations. Learn more about Women in Wax and hear students share their experiences.

Modern Language: At Agnes Irwin, Modern Language students gain proficiency in interpersonal, presentational and interpretative language skills, which they use to access a wide range of knowledge and a diversity of culture. See how the French program exemplifies the modern language curriculum at AIS.

Art at AIS: Senior Molly Clark filmed and edited this video about the arts at Agnes Irwin, which she shared in Upper School assembly to kick off the annual celebration of Arts Week. Hear from students, faculty and alumnae about what the visual and performing arts mean to them.

AIS BLOG: At the beginning of April, we launched Girls in the World, our new all-school blog! Through reflections by Head of School Wendy L. Hill, other administrators and faculty, we aim to provide readers with a girl-centric lens through which to view our world and the lives of girls. We’ll post on topics ranging from the shortage of women in STEM fields, to the significance of the AIS tradition of senior assemblies, to the  importance of emotional authenticity. Through Girls in the World, we want to raise awareness of and appreciation for the unique experiences and voices of girls and women. View it at blog.agnesirwin.org.

TOP SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

FACEBOOK TWITTER INSTAGRAM

Rosa’s Pizza: (6,632 people reached), 89 likes, 4 comments, 1 share Mason Wartman, owner of Rosa’s Fresh Pizza in Philadelphia, visited during Hunger Week to give a brief talk to Upper School students during lunch. Rosa’s recently gained fame for its “pay it forward” program, which lets customers pay $1 for a slice of pizza for any homeless person who visits the pizza shop. During his talk, Wartman shared a little about his background and the origin of the Center City program.

Impulse Arts Open Mic Night (4 retweets, 10 favorites):

Bravo to all the performers at our Impulse Arts Open Mic Night — the culminating performance of Arts Week at AIS, featuring students from Agnes Irwin and other area schools.

Rain Chain (114 likes): One addition during last year’s campus expansion was rain chains outside the Student Life Center. During freezing and melting patterns of precipitation this past winter, the chains took on some interesting crystalline shapes.

ARTS

Advanced Math student Sophie Fisher, a junior, uses a Computer Aided Design program and a 3D printer to create a plastic model of a shape defined by mathematical equations. Enterprising students use the resources of the Innovation Center, including iMacs, maker kits, Lego sets, circuit boards and a laser cutter, to turn their ideas into objects, which in turn refines their creative imagination. Classes in media arts, computer science, engineering and mathematics as well as the Middle and Upper School robotics programs regularly use these resources to give students a hands-on educational experience.

Dr. Tom Weissert, Director of Technology and Upper School mathematics teacher

For more info visit AGNESIRWIN.ORG

6

AGNES

Save the Date

An Evening with Dr. Jane Goodall

“Sowing the Seeds of Hope”

A lecture by one of the world’s most-renowned conservationists.

Tuesday, September 15, 7 p.m.

The Agnes Irwin School

RSVP Required ~ Online reservations to open in May

In July 1960, Jane Goodall began her landmark study of chimpanzee behavior in what is now Tanzania. Her work at Gombe Stream would become the foundation of future primatological research and redefine the relationship between humans and animals.

In 1977, Dr. Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute, which continues the Gombe research and is a global leader

in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. The Institute is widely recognized for innovative, communitycentered conservation and development programs in Africa, and Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, the global environmental and humanitarian youth program.

Dr. Goodall founded Roots & Shoots with a group of Tanzanian students in 1991. Today, Roots & Shoots connects

hundreds of thousands of youth in more than 130 countries who take action to make the world a better place for people, animals and the environment.

Dr. Goodall travels an average 300 days per year, speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises, and her reasons for hope that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on the earth.

Stuart Clarke

Spring 2015

SCREENING OF A DOCUMENTARY FILM

Dr. Henri Borlant: Survivor anD WitneSS (in French with subtitles)

Chronicles of the Holocaust

On March 16, the inspiring story of a French Holocaust survivor was brought to life during the inaugural screening of a short documentary directed and produced by AIS alumna Catherine Wulff ’14 and longtime French teacher Barbara P. Barnett.

It was a capstone event in Barnett’s 43-year career at AIS (she and her husband, history teacher Dr. George Barnett, retire in June 2015) and her collaborative film projects based on material from France during the Second World War.

The 16-minute film, one of four that Barnett has created with AIS students, chronicles the experiences of Dr. Henri Borlant, who was deported to Auschwitz at age 15 with his father and two of his siblings, survived three years in a series of concentration camps, and became a physician after the war.

“I was instantly drawn to Dr. Henri Borlant’s testimony because he struck me as having incredibly admirable character,” Wulff told the audience. “While watching Madame’s interview with him for the first time, I was amazed by his sense of integrity and impressed that even after enduring such an ordeal, he could still achieve so much.”

Norman Sargen, chair of the Modern Language Department, which sponsored the screening, praised Barnett’s work and said it honored her students, her department and the school. “This body of work … speaks to your unfailing dedication to your teaching and the ways you have nurtured all of us,” he said. Barnett served as Modern Language chair for 31 years.

MODERN LANGUAGE

Cooperative Games

Over the winter, Lower Schoolers engaged in a cooperative games unit as part of their physical education classes.

“Sportsmanship is one of the things we push, and this is an important tool in developing that,” said physical education teacher Suzie McInnes. In PreK, kindergarten and first grade, students participated in cup stacking games and a cooperative hula hoop dance that required coordination, listening to directions, working together, and finishing the task as quickly as possible. Take a look at the video posted on Vimeo to learn more.

OBSERVANCE

Honoring International Women’s Day

To mark the International Day of the Woman, third and fourth graders had the opportunity to meet Katlyn Grasso, the founder of GenHERation, a female empowerment network for high school girls. Grasso met with students on March 2 to share her experiences in leadership.

In addition to being a senior at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, she is also president of the Wharton Small Business Development Center’s Growth Accelerator Program, the co-president of Wharton Ambassadors, and a member of Wharton’s Venture Initiation Program.

Director of CAG Mariandl Hufford said of Grasso, “When we were thinking about the origins of International Women’s Day, and who could embody the advancement of women’s causes around the world, we realized that Katlyn Grasso, as young as she is, would be perfect. Katlyn’s organization, GenHERation, has grown rapidly to become a well-known entity in the world of girls and girls’ leadership development. I could not wait for our young students to hear from her.”

Space Talk

CLASS PROJECT Picasso Self-Portraits

One of the art projects taken on by fourth grade this year was self-portraits inspired by Picasso, co-founder of Cubism and one of the most influential visual artists of the 20th century. Art teacher Trish Siembora showed students examples of the artist’s work and discussed different techniques — including how many of the artist’s paintings have a split view, with half of the face in profile and the other straight on. The girls used oil pastels on their canvases, then constructed a frame and painted it to match their drawing, serving as an extension of the painting. At right is Siembora’s example portrait.

Two scientists at the European Space Agency who work with PROBA2, a satellite being used to validate new spacecraft technologies while monitoring solar activity, talked with third graders via Skype in December. The scientists taught the girls about the satellite, and then fielded a lot of good questions about PROBA2 and working in STEM fields. The girls were very excited to learn that one of the scientists with whom they spoke, Dan Seaton, is the son of PreK teachers Kathy and Paul Seaton.

EXPERIMENTATION

Rock Science

Fourth grade got a fun, hands-on look at the rock cycle of the Earth in January — stacking, mashing and melting Starbursts. They learned the process for creating sedimentary rocks (layers), metamorphic rocks (heat & pressure), and igneous rocks (extreme heat) — the latter of which science teacher Veronika Paluch used a hot plate to demonstrate.

SPECIAL GUEST

Author Leads Class

First and second graders had a special guest this winter, Lee Harper, a Doylestown, Pa.-based author and illustrator of children’s books. He has illustrated several books with other authors, including Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano, as well as his own. Harper told students about his start as an illustrator and author, then led them in a drawing exercise.

Bulbs planted in celebration of Wendy L. Hill’s Convocation

Writing Ceremony

Audrey Sikdar’s first graders toasted their first “published” stories with their families at a Writing Celebration in December. The students wrote, revised and illustrated the stories over several weeks as part of their “Small Moment: Personal Narrative” study, then shared the stories at the celebration. They appropriately topped the morning off with a juice box and sparkling cider toast to all the authors.

On Board

Assistant Director of Lower School for Student Support Dr. Elizabeth “Biz” Sands has been named to the board of the Pennsylvania branch of the International Dyslexia Association (PBIDA). The nonprofit shares dyslexia research to educate its membership and the public about the learning disorder. Sands, a longtime member, will help manage its annual fall conference and other outreach, including teacher training on dyslexia.

Ocean Summit

New to the seventh grade’s Culture Week in February was an Ocean Summit, in which students grappled with a particular scenario — a pirate ship threatening their biomes — based on their alliances and relationships with other culture groups. Culture Week is an annual project in which students explore how cultures develop by creating their own. With eight vocations (such as scientist, linguist, ambassador, architect) and a particular ecological profile, the groups determine how their societies would create language, transportation, and other aspects of culture in an ancient civilization. See Vimeo.

Hunger Pack

Middle School students helped pack 20,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now as part of the 2015 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. The event brought together middle school students from Agnes Irwin, Baldwin and Haverford for several hours on a Saturday in January. The meals were sent to West African communities battling the Ebola outbreak.

THEATER

Got the Beat

Middle School played to the ethos of the 1960s and a fair share of musical highlights with its production of the musical Hairspray, Jr. in March. More than 60 students participated in the musical, which the entire Lower School had a chance to enjoy before three performances for the general public on Feb. 27 and 28.

CLASS PROJECT

Puppet Art

Miss Piggy, tigers and bears, oh my! Kathy Halton’s sixth grade students took on the task of molding their own puppets out of papier-mâché in February, as well as constructing garments for them. Creations include Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Muppets, Sesame Street characters and more.

Number of times the annual Philadelphia Dream Flag Project Festival and Celebration has partnered with the National Constitution Center. This year’s event was held in May. Learn more at dreamflags.org.

Hour of Code

Jennifer White’s fifth grade science classes had a great time participating in Hour of Code, a global movement that encourages students to explore computer science. Some girls played coding games, while others learned the steps to programming their own app!

Co-Op Artist

Seriously Scientific

Seventh grade explored the makeup of cells and DNA over the winter and created a variety of board games aimed at making review of their science facts fun — including one “Operation”-style game. Players who answered a study question correctly took their chances trying to carefully extract a piece of the cell without getting buzzed!

Spanish teacher José Sevillano had his photography featured in April at the Media Arts Center and Gallery, where he is a member of the Arts Council Co-Op. Now in his 14th year at Agnes Irwin, Sevillano has been a photographer all his life, but has studied the art more seriously in the past four years. “It’s become a passion and a way of life,” Sevillano said. “I went from recording memories — something we all do with our ever present cameras (phone or otherwise) — to developing a sense of vision when I started studying the works of the masters of photography. I felt drawn to some of these images and over time immersed myself in the art form. Now it is simply a form of self-expression for me.” See more of his work at sevijosephoto.com.

The approximate number of miles traveled over the course of one year on Middle School field trips.

LEARNING GAMES

Madame VP

In January, French teacher Rita Davis took on the role of vice president of the American Association of Teachers of French, the largest national association of French teachers in the world (with nearly 10,000 members). A native of France, Davis has taught Middle and Upper School French at Agnes Irwin for 32 years, and currently serves as the school’s French Coordinator.

Malala and the Liberty Medal

Upper School students had a featured role in October’s nationally televised 2014 Liberty Medal Ceremony at the National Constitution Center, reflecting on how the autobiography of recipient and Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai brought to life the topics discussed in their global health elective. Ten Upper School students attended the Oct. 21 ceremony in Center City Philadelphia, selected through an essay contest.

Diversity Conference

In October, AIS hosted its first-ever Acceptance and Awareness of Diversity Conference (AAD 2014) with the theme Humankind: We Are One. Approximately 60 students from area independent schools as well as a dozen faculty and staff participated in the conference, designed to promote positive dialogue and greater understanding through workshops, group discussions and games.

Model UN Goes to D.C.

A group of 12 seniors, juniors and sophomores from the AIS Model UN Club attended Georgetown University’s 52nd annual North American Invitational Model United Nations conference in February. The AIS delegates represented countries as diverse as South Korea, Malaysia, Croatia, Angola and the United Kingdom on committees ranging from INTERPOL to the United Nations Security Council, the World Economic Forum and the British House of Commons. They discussed, debated, formed coalitions, wrote resolutions and reached compromises, experiencing how governmental and diplomatic processes work.

700 Lunches

In November, scores of students from Agnes Irwin, The Haverford School and Episcopal Academy made 700 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to pack lunches for Project Home, a nonprofit organization that provides housing and services to chronically homeless men and women in Philadelphia. The event was a community service initiative of AIS/EA Day!

INNOVATION

Student Apps 4

In the advanced computer science class taught by Steven Grabania, students can often be found coding in the Anne S. Lenox Lobby, developing web-based apps for Agnes Irwin. The projects range from a local Craigslist-like classified app, Irwinslist, to an athletic apparel app for the school store, allowing users to browse and place orders for items. Another student is working on a task management app customizable for any board or club on campus to use for managing many different tasks as a team.

$10K

Amount

‘Disease Detective’ To Speak at Commencement

Alumna Iman K. Martin, Ph.D., an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will be the Commencement speaker at the June 9 graduation exercises for the Class of 2015.

Dr. Martin, Class of 1999, is among those the CDC has described as its “boots on the ground disease detectives… our first line of defense … to prevent, detect and respond to disease outbreaks. They are essential to protect global health security and keep Americans safe.” Last year, she served as an epidemiologist during the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa. She has more than a decade global and domestic research and applied epidemiology experience.

A Philadelphia native, Dr. Martin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with dual bachelor degrees in health and societies and African studies. She received her doctoral degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health, and holds a master degree in epidemiologic sciences from the University of Michigan and a master degree in public health from the University of Ghana.

An Assist in Expanding Horizons Head of School

Wendy L. Hill has been selected to deliver the keynote address at a one-day conference on April 18 organized at Cornell University to foster interest in the fields of math and science among 7th-9th grade girls.

Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) provides participants with workshops and hands-on learning that demonstrate the opportunities in math and science-related careers. Although focused on girls, the conference also offers a special session for adults on educational and career opportunities involving science, math and engineering.

Each year, the organizers select a prominent woman scientist to deliver a keynote address to the 500 participants. The conference has been held since 1988, and is organized by mostly graduate students and volunteers across the university.

“I am honored to give the keynote speech for this important effort,” said Dr. Hill. “My own career grew from the encouragement of a woman scientist, and I hope to inspire those gathered by sharing how rewarding a career in science can be.”

raised by Empty Bowls Supper, annual anti-hunger service project with The Haverford School.

Inquiry | Faculty Focus

9 Questions with Gerard Kapral

Music teacher Gerard Kapral could certainly qualify as a musical prodigy. He was playing piano by first grade, and his church organ by sixth. At 16, he was a fixture in rock cover bands around Philly. By senior year, he had so many nightly gigs that he was dragging himself to calculus class with less than five hours’ sleep most mornings. One year studying computer science at Drexel University led him back to his first love and a major in piano performance at Temple University. The gigs just kept coming (and paid for college) — special events, beach resorts, cruise ships, a tour of Ireland. Then Kapral brought his wealth of experience back to Philadelphia as a teacher. –

Wanda Odom

Q: How did your interest in music begin?

A: I was eight years old, and I just decided I wanted to play piano. At my grade school they didn’t start lessons until second grade. I decided I wanted to take lessons at the beginning of first grade, and I bugged my parents and the music teacher at my school for four months, probably every couple of days, until around January of that year my music teacher said OK. I guess they decided that if a first grader didn’t forget about it in four months, he was never going to forget about it, ever.

Q: What was your first exposure to music?

A: My first exposure to music was in music classes in school. My parents didn’t listen to music at all. In fact, we didn’t have an FM radio in my house until I bought one when I was in the beginning of high school. My mom would listen to AM; we had an AM-only radio and she had two eight-tracks of music, which I remember being played twice in my whole life.

Q: You spent six years after college performing widely. How has that experience influenced you as a teacher?

A: Having a variety of life experiences and dealing with a lot of different people kind of helped in dealing with a diverse student body. … The different styles (of music) that I played — my ensembles did anything from classical music to jazz, pop, rock — made me very comfortable with teaching all these styles.

Q: In addition to your musical talent, you are regularly sought after as a sound engineer. How did you get interested in the field?

A: I became interested in sound design and engineering early in my performing career. While I was in high school, I remember working on doing multi-track recordings using two cassette decks and a small mixer. It didn’t work out very well but it was a start. While in college at Temple University, I was hired as one of the in-house sound engineers for the jazz studies department. I would provide sound reinforcements for the student and faculty recitals that the department would present. When I graduated from college, I worked at a regional professional

theater where I was the resident music director and sound designer.

Q: What is your favorite part of teaching music to such a wide range of age groups?

A: I enjoy seeing the excitement that learning to play music, and being exposed to different sorts of music, can cause in a person. I remember the music teacher when I was a student who instilled in me a love of music. The most special part of teaching for me is being able to instill that love of music in my students.

Q: What do you enjoy most about teaching at Agnes Irwin?

A: I love the strong sense of community that prevails in this school.  Everyone, from students to staff, is very supportive of each other. This makes AIS a very special place.

Q: What do you envision for the music program at Agnes Irwin?

A: As the instrumental music teacher, I look forward to one day having a very expansive instrumental program, including an orchestra, a concert band, a jazz band, and several contemporary bands.

Q: Tell us about your collaborations with Bill Esher, Chair of the school’s Visual and Performing Arts Department.

ROLES

Teaches cello, trumpet, clarinet, flute, percussion in Lower School; teaches music classes for 7th and 8th grades, including guitar lessons; teaches music theory and harmony in Upper School; Director, Middle School Ensemble and Upper School Ensemble; Technical Director for Theater, Radio Club, Broadcast Studio; Advisor for Stage Crew; Audio/Visual Engineer for campus events

A: Bill was a founding member and artistic director of the Living Arts Repertory Theater when we met. Bill hired me to be the music director for the season of shows that his theater was producing, and I was employed at that theater for two years. In that time, I music-directed and sound-designed all of the musicals that the theater produced. During the same period, Bill and I wrote several musicals for the theater’s young audience series; Bill wrote the libretto and lyrics, and I wrote the music. Since then Bill, and I have worked many different productions, including the annual Upper School musical. I worked on those for several years before taking the full-time job that I currently hold at AIS.

Q: What fun fact about you would surprise people?

A: I like to cook and love trying new recipes.

Limelight | Student Profiles

Samantha Zimmer LOWER SCHOOL

Fourth grader Samantha Zimmer is a wiz in the classroom. The 10-year-old “is an incredible math student and an excellent writer,” said teacher Pedie Hill. “She is now working on fractions, decimals and percents, which is quite far above what generally is expected of a fourth grader.”

Agnes Irwin isn’t the only place the Gladwyne Library Junior Author Contest award winner shines, however; Samantha is making a name for herself on the junior tennis circuit.

As a young child, Samantha hit balls around with mom Karen — who herself was nationally ranked as a junior tennis player. “She gave me my first racquet, and I loved tennis pretty much right away,” Samantha said. She began taking lessons at age 5, and won her first tournament last year, at age 9 — against a girl three years her senior.

“She was about three times as tall as me,” Samantha recalled. “It was definitely one of my proudest moments.”

Since then, Samantha has kept competing, and recently won the High Performance Tennis Academy G12 Classic on Feb. 2. The 10-year-old placed first in the 12-and-under division, winning 6-0 and 7-5.

“I started playing tournaments last year, but this was the first time I was a little bit stressed before the matches,” Samantha said. “Most of the girls were a little older than me.”

Her nerves quickly subsided though, as she placed her focus on playing the ball and not on winning — taking the match shot by shot. Her strategy worked — and since she hadn’t been expecting a win, it was an especially big accomplishment.

“I totally kicked her butt,” she said with a grin.

Samantha is a big fan of reading, baking and sailing — when she gets the chance — and just about anything that keeps her active. She plays goalie on her township travel soccer team, and is mainly happy to run around. Now in her third year at Agnes Irwin, her favorite thing about AIS is how friendly everyone is. “I know I can talk to anyone in my class about anything,” she said.

The level-headed student — who, if tennis doesn’t work out, wants to go into engineering — offered some advice for anyone thinking about taking up her sport: “If you start playing tennis and taking it seriously, don’t get mad if you miss a ball, because there’s always going to be another one coming. It won’t be the end of the world if you lose one match.”

— Amanda Mahnke

“Don’t get mad if you miss a ball, because there’s always going to be another one coming.”

Mia Ciallella UPPER SCHOOL

“I think high school is a time for everyone to develop political stances and learn more about the world in general,” reflects senior Mia Ciallella in a self-assured voice. “It has been so rewarding going to class, having great discussions with cool, interesting girls who all have differing opinions and are able to articulate them — and to be in an environment where girls of all backgrounds and walks of life are able to come together, share their ideas and different perspectives.”

Mia joined the Agnes Irwin community four years ago and now as a senior is not only the elected head of the Environmental Board, but also the founder of a feminism club. She attributes her confidence and comfort speaking up in class to the safety and support of her teachers and peers and points to the community as the reason she has felt comfortable stepping into leadership roles. “Being here I have built up confidence through talking in class, sharing my ideas, and have been able to really develop my own personal stance about political issues and social issues,” she said.

For the past few years, the main goal of the Environmental Board was to start a school-wide composting system, and Mia led the charge to make the vision a reality. From contacting the Philly Compost/Kitchen Harvest for research purposes to collecting data on campus to writing a proposal for the school administration, the Environmental Board has been thorough, methodical and undaunted in its approach. Data collecting meant going into waste bins and sorting out the trash, compostables and recyclables from lunch.

“Before we proposed the idea, we really wanted to have all our bases covered, and present it in a very researched and organized way,” said Mia. Once approved, the board gave a presentation to the

whole school in order to introduce the idea to the student body.

“Overall, the goal of the Environmental Board is not just to educate the students, but to take action that will lessen the school’s negative impact on the environment.”

“It is important to think about our impact on a global level and how our actions are affecting others.”

— Corin Brena ~

Athletics

REVIEW

One Year Later, Squash Still a Smash Hit

It’s frigid and dark outside, but 15 Middle School girls have risen before dawn on a wintery morning and made their way to the Pierce Squash Center for a 7 o’clock practice.

The girls did so five times a week, for 45 minutes each day, learning the sport and honing their skills as the first members of the new Middle School Junior Varsity team.

“All 15 have been turning up every morning and did throughout the season. I was surprised at the commitment, especially in December and January when it’s pretty cold and dark in the morning,” said Alex Stait, Varsity squash coach and director of the center. “I think it actually got them pretty awake for school.”

With the opening of four international squash courts at AIS, the relatively exclusive racquet sport has become highly popular among students, so much so that Stait and Athletic Director Sheila Pauley decided that a fourth, developmental team was needed this school year to support the growing interest.

Such necessity was precipitated by good fortune — the Middle School Varsity squad is stacked with talent; its A Team captured third place in this year’s national competition at Yale, while the B Team won the consolation match. Middle School girls seeking to get into the sport had a very slim chance of making it onto the Varsity roster, which carries a maximum of 12 players although only the top five compete at the national level.

One year after its introduction, the squash program has become integral to the physical education program as well, with all third through sixth grade students learning the sport. The Upper School fields Varsity and JV teams; Varsity took fifth place in its division at last year’s national competition, where upward of 2,000 youth compete; the Varsity was bumped up to the first division at this year’s Nationals.

Stait anticipates the AIS squash teams will only get better as more students begin to develop their skills at a younger age.

“There have always been some good players at Agnes Irwin, but they have always done it on their own club time,” he said. “What’s really changed is that because we have the courts here it makes it more accessible to people who aren’t members of a private club. And even for the ones who are, it gives them the opportunity to combine their school work and practice a lot more economically.”

In fact, Middle School 7th grade students Katherine Glaser and Rachel Mashek both won successive Junior Championship Tour events, which attract the top 32 play-

ers in the country. Their wins placed both at different times during the season in the top 5 ranked players in the country. Glaser played up in the high school Varsity team at number 2 string all season.

Stait said it has been great fun getting the Lower School girls onto the courts and giving them access to the Upper School athletic facilities, adding that although squash is “a pretty hard sport physically,” in Lower School the main focus is exposure, encouraging hand-eye coordination, and learning to love the sport; for older girls, squash serves as an excellent crosstrainer for other sports.

“It’s so dynamic and so fast. It teaches you to be competitive with your strokes. There is nowhere to hide. It’s an individual sport and you have to step up when you play,” said Stait, who gets young girls playing games fairly quickly so they can enjoy friendly competition and start to work on their skills.

Another plus is a squash player can practice alone, with just a racquet and a ball, and just about anyone can play. “You don’t have to be tall, you don’t have to be small; that’s not necessarily an advantage or a disadvantage. All shapes and sizes can be good at squash. There’s no sort of prejudice with that. It depends on your skill level and it comes down to hard work,” he added.

With a mandate to make squash accessible to all AIS girls, Stait, who joined the athletics staff as Varsity squash coach two years ago, believes he has “a good nucleus of a strong team for many years to come. But it is going to take time for those girls to come in. I guess my big focus is strengthening the Varsity team as soon as I can, but also making sure the girls below also aspire to be at that level.” — Wanda Odom

“In Lower School, the main focus is on exposure.”

AIS-EA Day Hits 10th Year

Every fall, The Agnes Irwin School and Episcopal Academy compete in a day of spirited contests comprised of four sporting events — a cross-country race, tennis matches, a field hockey game and a soccer game. This annual competition between the two schools not only involves the day of the contests, but also includes a week’s worth of activities leading up to it.

AIS/EA Day has become a full-blown community event for the school, focusing on service to others through a canned food drive, as well as a Spirit Week involving all three divisions. Events such as the Lower School Carnival, theme days, poster competitions, a family pasta night and a staff vs. AIS volleyball game all help to showcase school spirit and build pride. A pep rally and a dance competition among the fall sports teams wrap up the festivities on Thursday night and exuberantly lead AIS students, parents, faculty, staff, alumnae and friends into Friday’s contests.

November 2014 marked the 10th anniversary of AIS/EA Day and of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, established in 2004. Celebrating and helping to preserve our rich tradition and history of success in athletics, the Hall of Fame inductees are honored every two years to coincide with the years Agnes Irwin hosts the competitions. Inductees are recognized at halftime of either the field hockey game or soccer game on Friday afternoon, and honored at a Hall of Fame Ceremony Saturday evening.

“It has been a great decade of competition between two great schools that believe in the power of girls’ athletics and the important life skills that

BRIEFS

Lacrosse Player Goes

Global

Junior Sarah Platt will represent the United States as one of 18 high school lacrosse players on the 2015 U.S. Women’s National Under-19 Team. The team will travel to Scotland in July to defend gold at the Federation of International Lacrosse Under-19 World Championship.

A First in AIS Sports

come from participating in competitive sports,” said Sheila Pauley, AIS Athletic Director. “No matter the outcomes each year, the athletes and the fans learn and see spirit, heart and exemplary effort on both sides.” — Bridget Carlin, administrative assistant for Athletics Department

For the first time, two fall athletes were named 2014 All-Delco Player of the Year. Senior Sophia Tornetta (right) was recognized for field hockey, and junior Hannah Keating was named for soccer. Tornetta will play at Princeton next year. Keating has verbally committed to Harvard for lacrosse.

Setting a Record

The Varsity swimming and diving team placed fifth (out of 23 teams) at the 115th Annual Eastern Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championships, held at LaSalle University in February. It was the highest finish in the school’s history. Easterns is the largest prep school aquatic event in the United States for men’s and women’s swimming and diving.

Senior Nicole Paradis prepares to unload.

Timeline

A Day in the Innovation Center

Innovation is more than just a buzzword at Agnes Irwin.

In a 1,500-square-foot flexible and customizable learning space for applied technology, girls get their hands dirty, figuratively, and stretch their thinking, literally, by tinkering with Legos and circuit boards, microcontrollers and design software, graphics tablets, laser cutters and 3D printers.

Here the focus rests squarely on a “maker mentality,” with hands-on projects that bring out the creativity inherent in science, technology, engineering and, yes, mathematics. Full of profes -

8:45 A.M.

How does a graphic designer bring a product’s packaging to life? Media Arts 2 students are in the midst of a unit on package design, adding to “mood boards” that will help direct the font, color, logo and aesthetic strategies of their imagined product.

10 A.M.

Innovation Through the Arts students Grace Williams and Liz Correll, both seniors, meet to work on independent study projects: Williams is making Tracks, the school’s online academic notebook, more visually pleasing through new CSS coding and other additions, and designing a bracelet that can house a FitBit; Correll is creating a “grown-up music box” — an icosahedron capable of playing Kanye West on a tiny speaker, via a micro-SD card.

sional-grade tools for digital media arts, state-of-the-art systems for robotics and control technology, and lots of can-do ingenuity, students from fifth grade through senior year are finding inspiration and joy in the regular practice of taking an idea through both requisite and unexpected paces to its fruition. Constructing meaning, altering their thought processes, drawing deeper interdisciplinary connections — hands down, with our Innovation Center, students are echoing all those 21st century hallmarks.

— Wanda Odom

11 A.M.

Students in New Media Narrative, open to juniors and seniors, are at various phases in a “wayfinding” project (also known as a location-based or environmental graphics).

11:45 A.M.

The yearbook staff spends Lunch 1 on B and D days using Photoshop and InDesign to lay out the 2015 Lamp, the AIS yearbook. Here, junior Meghan Dillon lays out the “Student Year in Review” page.

1 P.M.

Media Arts 1 is working on a visual branding unit. Students develop a business idea and design a letterhead set and brochure, creating a logo in Adobe Illustrator. The brochures must include a 3-D component. Here, ninth grader Ellie Kirkpatrick assembles her logo for Chappy Dock & Dine, with hand-painted cardboard letters made on the laser cutter.

4:15 P.M. Middle School Robotics Club takes up residence every Wednesday afternoon. When the team isn’t prepping its robots for a competition on the room’s robotics obstacle course, students have a chance to build a robot of their own choosing.

2:30 P.M.

Eighth graders spend time in the Innovation Center as part of their quarterly arts rotation (visual arts, music, theater, wellness). This day, students conceptualize and design an image in Illustrator using the graphics tablet, then etch the design on acrylic. The finished piece will be displayed in a stand with LED lights at its base, illuminating the etching. Pictured is the work of Lisa Yamada.

TIMELINE BY AMANDA MAHNKE

GHLREPRISE

Annual Arts Week Applauds the Creative Process

BY AMANDA MAHNKE PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMANDA MAHNKE

Students pack into the Student Life Center for the annual Impulse Arts Night coffee house.

Images of two famous paintings sit side by side on a whiteboard: Emanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware” and Hans Hofmann’s “Song of the Nightingale,” a chaotic set of splatters, punctuated by colorful squares.

Katy Perry’s song “Firework” plays in the background.

“Which painting best matches this song?” visiting lecturer Dr. Jonathan Wallis asks a class of about 30 students. Then he changes tracks, and the distinctive four-note “short-shortshort-long” motif of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony starts to play. “How about now?”

The girls begin debating the question, with a few offering their evaluations.

“At first, I was thinking — of course Katy Perry fits better with the abstract piece,” one student shares. “But ‘Firework’ is all about standing tall — and did you see her at the Super Bowl? Riding that tiger? It reminds me of Washington on the boat.”

Another chimes in, “In Beethoven, we hear a lot of crescendo — but we see distinct focal points in the abstract piece, the same way Katy Perry’s music is all about the chorus.”

The lively conversation continues for about 10 minutes. From there, Wallis launches into a passionate discussion of the varying philosophical theories of art in ancient Greece, while 30 Upper School students sit transfixed.

Wallis’ visit was just one highlight of Arts Week at Agnes Irwin, held each winter in the Upper School to celebrate visual, written and performing arts and to encourage the “artistic spirit” in every student.

For more than a dozen years, Agnes Irwin has dedicated one week to learning about and participating in a variety of artistic and creative processes. Organized by the student-led Arts Board and faculty advisors, Arts Week is designed to put a spotlight on the arts through workshops, lectures and the culminating Impulse Arts Night, a highly-anticipated open mic event showcasing student talent both at AIS and at peer independent schools.

This year, Arts Week opened with the AIS Repertory Company’s production of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play

Our Town.

“The Arts Department is really a family,” Arts Board president and senior Shelby Brisbane said. “So during the play, and during Arts Week, we open our ‘house’ up to the community and invite people in.”

Visiting Artists

Dawn Morningstar, a dance therapist and an assistant clinical professor at Drexel University in the creative arts therapy department, shared with students how she uses dance to help clients with differing needs, such as autism, and led students in a 30-movement activity used in her work.

Freshman Tyler Lynch and senior Mercy O’Malley improvise at workshop (top); freshman India Dixon performs at Impulse Arts Night.

Curlee Holton, founding director of the Experimental Printmaking Institute at Lafayette College, led a printmaking workshop for students and faculty. Holton shared his background and samples of his work, and demonstrated various printmaking techniques alongside students.

Dr. Jonathan Wallis, associate professor of art history at Moore College of Art & Design, lectured on “Illusion Versus Abstraction: Changing Ideas about Visual Representations,” discussing historical philosophical debates between the arts of illusion and abstraction in Western art history.

Nestor Gil, Lafayette College art professor, presented a lecture on the experience of art. Gil’s work, which often draws on his Hispanic heritage, centers on relational aesthetics: a form of art requiring participation from the audience. Much of his work centers on art installations and performance.

Each year, the 13-member Arts Board decides what theme, message or idea to focus on during Arts Week. In years past, Arts Week has focused on service-oriented art, spotlighted careers in the arts, and engaged in a study of art in different cultures. One year, Nancy Heller, author of the pioneering women’s art history book Women Artists: An Illustrated History, was a featured speaker; another time, the entire Upper School participated in a full afternoon of art workshops.

While Wallis’s lecture was geared toward students already passionate about discussing themes and philosophies of art, the main focus of this year’s Arts Week, held Feb. 2-6, was to make art more accessible to everyone in the community, including those who aren’t naturally drawn to conventional modes of art, Brisbane said.

“I live in the arts wing,” said Brisbane. “But for students who don’t come into this side of the building a lot, there’s a tendency to say, ‘I’m not good enough. I can’t draw, so I can’t come here — I’m not a painter, I play sports.’  But our goal for this year was to break down that stigma and the misconception that you have to be an ‘artist’ to do art.”

This year’s Arts Week activities included workshops about dance therapy from Drexel professor Dawn Morningstar; printmaking from the founding director of the Experimental Printmaking Institute at

Lafayette College, Curlee Holton; philosophical foundations of art from Jonathan Wallis, associate professor of art history at Moore College of Art & Design; and art as experience from Nestor Gil, assistant art professor at Lafayette College.

“While each artist works in a different medium, they all see art as a way of expressing themselves, a way of life, and a means of understanding the world around them,” said art teacher and Arts Board co-advisor Keri Farrow. “They are all driven by a strong desire to create — to shape their own world and rephrase it — and to move through life in a different kind of way.”

Morningstar, a movement therapist and an assistant clinical professor at Drexel in the creative arts therapy department, shared how art can be not only visual and emotional, but also physical and practical. Movement therapy, she explained — defined as the psychotherapeutic use of movement that furthers the emotional, cognitive, social, and physical integration of the individual — focuses on how the body can heal the mind. She led students and faculty in a 30-movement exercise she uses with her clients.

“Everyone from dancers to athletes to those with emotional or physical challenges can benefit from this kind of therapeutic activity,” Farrow said.

Throughout the week, several visual artists also shared with students their vision for art as a means of making sense of their own experiences and sharing that with others.

Holton, who has taught printmaking and African American art history at Lafayette since 1991, led a printmaking workshop for students and faculty, shared his background and samples of his work, and demonstrated various printmaking techniques alongside students.

Prior to Lafayette, Holton worked with famous master printmaker Robert Blackburn at his Printmaking Workshop in New York City. During his visit to Agnes Irwin, he shared with students his unique experience as an African American printmaker, as well as the inspiration he draws from the generation of “art rebels” who re-contextualized and appropriated image-making processes in the form of abstract expressionism in the first part of the 20th century.

His prints speak to human experience through the lens of his heritage, giving voice to significant personal, political and cultural events through symbolism and figurative representations.

Similarly, Gil’s art also draws on his heritage, and his work tends to take a socio-cultural bend — though the medium is quite different. Drawing on his Hispanic heritage, the Lafayette professor’s art often explores cultural and social issues through site-specific installations.

Azucar, one such piece, features a boat bisected by a white picket fence, crashing into a mound of white sugar. The piece “evokes the physical, psychological, and psychic disruptions brought about by immigration, both in the literal sense of moving from one place to another and in the symbolic sense that underlies personal quests and transitions of all kinds,” a curator’s description reads. At the same time, such pieces require viewers to bring their own interpretations to the display — reflecting Gil’s emphasis on relational aesthetics, or art requiring participation from the audience. He

Wallis (below) asks students to compare painting styles; students block print at workshop

Fourth Grade Wax Museum Brings

Notable Women to Life

BY WANDA ODOM PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMANDA MAHNKE ELEANOR ROOSEVELT Lilly Press

W

When the coins land in their plastic cups, the girls begin to speak recounting adventures, achievements and challenges during their lifetimes.

Dressed in period costumes and contemporary attire of various sorts, they talk about being Dr. Jane Goodall, a pioneering scientist studying chimpanzees in the wild, or Amelia Earhart, the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic, or Clara Barton, a nurse who rose to prominence during the American Civil War and went on to establish the American Red Cross.

Their monologues and performances are part of an annual fourth grade tradition in Lower School known as the Women in Wax Museum, the culmination of an interdisciplinary project that combines research, note-taking, writing and public speaking through the study of one woman’s biography.

The Museum, held each winter, is an all-day affair: Students stand on pedestals throughout the Buck Pavilion, where fellow students, families and teachers are invited to come learn about significant women in history through each fourth grader’s five-minute, first-person, completely memorized monologue. For those few hours, students become the women they’ve studied for several months.

Fourth grade teacher Pedie Hill credits a former AIS teacher, Teodora Nedialcova, with introducing the concept as a special project in her homeroom. Everyone loved it, and the project quickly became a capstone experience in the fourth grade curriculum.

The girls start by selecting a biography of an accomplished woman to read, and each section of fourth graders reads another biography

as a homeroom to teach them how to read a biography, take notes, and organize the notes, Hill said.

During classes with the Lower School librarian, students learn the difference between a biography and an autobiography, picture books and chapter books, and how to write citations. Librarian Michelle Burns has an extensive list of titles about women from which the girls can select a biography.

“But the girls aren’t held to only biographies we have in school,” said Julie Haines, who also teaches fourth grade. The girls are encouraged to visit their township libraries to find chapter books on notable women and to search for women whom no one has chosen before. Helen Keller and Jane Goodall are perennial favorites — but this year’s chosen women include Margaret Bourke-White, the first female war journalist; Ruby Bridges, the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school; and Julia Butterfly Hill, an American environmental activist.

“IT’S ONE OF THOSE EVENTS IN THEIR LIVES THAT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER”

DR. ELIZABETH BLACKWELL Natalya Russin

MARGARET BOURKE WHITE Lorna Petrizzo

ABIGAIL ADAMS Abby Blejwas

The teachers have to approve a chapter book as a primary source, but the girls are also required to use a secondary source to gather information about their notable women — such as an encyclopedia, anthology or online references.

“We want them to get a full scope and sequence about the person’s life. So a chapter book accomplishes that,” said fellow fourth grade teacher Susie Hagin, adding that the second source encourages the girls to investigate a little more and find a few facts not contained in the chapter book.

Sometimes they discover “interesting twists in the facts,” said Hill, which requires them to critically analyze the information. In library, the girls are taught how to write citations, an ability they will need when they move on to Middle School.

“The criteria is supposed to be someone who has made a mark in history, and someone who will stand the test of time. We’re not looking for celebrities. We talk about synonyms all through the year and what makes someone notable, that essential question,” said Hagin.

The project is the beginning of report writing for AIS students, and similar to the Senior Assembly presentation required in Upper School. “It is the same kind of thought process that they go through, of picking a topic, presenting to the whole Lower School, and being graded on that. It’s really a launching pad,” said Hagin.

“It’s also one of those events in their life that they will always remember,” said Haines. “They all have seen it if they have been here in the years leading up, and they all think, ‘Oh my gosh that’s going to be so hard. I’m never going to be able to do that.’ At the end of the year, I always ask the kids what was their favorite thing of the year and I always have about half of the class say, ‘I never thought I was going to be able to do that, but forget that. I did it.’ ”

NOTABLE WOMEN IN WAX FROM THE CLASS OF 2023

Helen Keller (3)

Jane Goodall (3)

Abigail Adams

Clara Barton (2)

Princess Diana

Marie Curie

Wilma Rudolph

Billie Jean King

Queen Elizabeth I (2)

Julia Morgan

Beatrix Potter (2)

Serena Williams

Elizabeth Blackwell (2)

Jacqueline Kennedy

Susan B. Anthony

Anne Sullivan

Sally Ride

Julia Butterfly Hill

Amelia Earhart (2)

J.K. Rowling

Margaret Burke-White

Eleanor Roosevelt

Betsy Ross

Dolley Madison

Coco Chanel

Ruby Bridges

Oprah Winfrey

Madame C.J. Walker

Frances Perkins

Queen Rania of Jordan

Althea Gibson

AMELIA EARHART Casey McIntyre

SUSAN B. ANTHONY Julia Layden

MADAME C.J. WALKER Anahla Thomas

BETSY ROSS Peyton Reidenbach

Different League, All Their Own

Eighth graders explore notions of home, voice and citizenship in capstone research project on Civil Rights Movement

Diane Nash. Ella Baker. Bayard Rustin. Fannie Lou Hamer. Jo Ann Robinson. They’re lesser known than Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, but each of these courageous men and women played an integral role in the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s — and each is explored in detail by an eighth grade student every year.

The Civil Rights Research Project “is a little bit of a rite of passage for eighth graders,” said history teacher Ann Ramsey. The two-month assignment is the students’ first real experience writing a research paper in the Middle School, and serves as a capstone that prepares them for the requisite research they’ll encounter in Upper School. “We say the project takes them from soup to nuts: Given a broad topic, it teaches them how to research, learn forms of note-taking, cite sources, and come up with a thesis statement,” Ramsey explained.

It can be a daunting task for students, Ramsey said. “But at the end, it’s something they will own.”

The middle part of the eighth grade year is spent exploring the concept of citizen, and how its definition has evolved throughout American history. In the research project, students are assigned one of about 15 names — unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, many of whom were not much older than the girls themselves — on whom they will focus for eight weeks.

“We look at the student and try to match level, personality, or someone I think might be inspiring to them,” Ramsey said. “For example, Fannie Lou was a spunky, sassy, in-your-face woman. She had about a sixth-grade education, but was absolutely fundamental in getting the right to vote in Mississippi. So, I’ll sometimes assign her to one of my girls who can appreciate that kind of gumption.”

The result of the project will eventually be a four- to five-

page research paper analyzing the subject’s most important contribution to the Civil Rights Movement. But students start from the beginning. For about two weeks, students spend each history period in the library, take notes and create a timeline, and from there develop a thesis for their paper.  This is turned into an outline, which is turned into a rough draft, which becomes a final paper with a bibliography and parenthetical citations — with evaluations and feedback along the way.

“They’re very proud of it, as they should be,” Ramsey said. “The project is designed so they can write the best paper they can write in eighth grade.”

Throughout the process, the project also teaches students the important skill of time management. Students are expected to spend 20 to 30 minutes per day on the project, even if they aren’t meeting in class. They are encouraged to use study hall time and to manage their workload in an independent way.

The project helps girls further explore the concepts of “home” and “voice,” two overarching themes examined during eighth grade through an interdisciplinary unit on immigration, readings such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Raisin in the Sun, and topics in science, including an in-depth study of our planetary home and sustainability.

“Girls on the cusp of entering Upper School are becoming increasingly aware of their place in various groups and their community,” said Middle School Director Lynne Myavec. “They are starting to evaluate the causes that intrigue them and stir their passion — and as they mature, they look outward more and more, away from their day to day experiences, and find themselves caring in profound ways about issues like social justice and global citizenship.”

A range of books assists with students’ first foray into major research writing.

Over and above the critical research skills acquired, the Civil Rights project demonstrates to students that one person, with enough “gumption,” as Ramsey called it, can significantly impact the quality of life for generations to come.

BY AMANDA MAHNKE PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMANDA MAHNKE

Courageous Conversations

Upper School creates forum for difficult topics

TThe bell rings at 12:10 and bunches of Upper School students head pell-mell from every quarter to the Student Life Center for lunch and an afternoon break. But a few dozen girls also stream toward an empty classroom to talk, debate, and ponder some major issues of our times.

Charlie Hebdo, Ferguson, domestic violence, race relations, cell phone malaise, and “screen sucking,” or being entranced for hours by the Internet.

They have arrived for “critical conversations,” an emerging program to help students grapple with topics that might be troubling them, confusing them, or just plain angering them.

“It really is meant to be a student-driven process,” said Upper School counselor Anastasia Grillo ’03. “This isn’t the administration saying here’s what we want to talk about.”

Only a handful of sessions were held in the fall, but during the spring semester the meetings have occurred twice a month; students are primed for the discussions by video clips, news stories, even TED Talks, sent to them via email in the morning announcements from Upper School Dean of Students Jenn Fiorini ’97.

One of the first conversations was about satire and its role in politics, following the terrorist attack on the Paris office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The students viewed a TED Talk about the influence of Comedy Central shows such as “The Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” which have become iconic in pop culture for lampooning national politics, international issues, current events and prominent leaders of every stripe.

“Even though it’s satirical, a lot of people get their news from (those

shows), and somewhat more accurate news, so that ended up being one of our best conversations yet,” said Grillo. “The girls said that if we’re more interested in what (Colbert and Stewart) have to say, we are going to go and do our own research.”

Grillo, who has organized the discussions with Fiorini, said one great aspect of the initiative is that faculty attends as well. Grillo comes prepared with bullet points to help guide the conversation if talk wanes, but generally the students freely share their opinions for a full 40 minutes.

“I felt it was important to talk about all those things that people don’t want to talk about. But also let’s make them not always super deep and intense lunches; let’s talk about the show Gossip Girls,” said Grillo. “What purpose does gossip serve?”

Attendance has steadily grown for the five sessions held so far, but Grillo is hoping to gain more and more participants during the second semester. She plans to survey students about the topics they want to discuss, and consistently provide a forum for multiple voices to be heard.

“It has also become a place where students who might not feel safe saying something … who might not want to say something about their political views, can voice those opinions and not fear being attacked … it’s not in the classroom setting or in the lounge or in this big assembly,” said Grillo, noting that the conversations also reinforce the benefits of listening “even when you don’t agree.”

Grillo added that with students, faculty and administrators attending, the conversations provide an opportunity for students to express their issues (such as “why can’t we use cell phones in the hallways at school”), and faculty and staff to give their rationale for certain school policies.

“That’s where it’s cool for the adults to be there and say here’s our view on it, but its really interesting to hear a different point of view,” she said. “It’s good forum for everyone to come together and to hear one another’s voices. The number one goal is for students to know and understand that they have a very powerful voice here.”

BY WANDA ODOM

“It was important to talk about all those things that people don’t want to talk about.”

Girls at The Agnes Irwin School

“It is extremely rewarding to participate in the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program. It affords deserving students an opportunity to obtain an AIS education while enabling our company to direct its state tax dollars It is truly a win-win program for Elwyn Specialty Care and The Agnes Irwin School.”

T— Nick Karalis, P ’27 and Jim Karalis, P ’22 he Commonwealth of Pennsylvania offers a unique opportunity for businesses in the state to reduce tax liability by contributing to registered scholarship organizations. Gifts to scholarships at AIS can generate a tax credit equal to 75% of the contribution, up to $750,000 annually. Two-year commitments receive a 90% tax credit.

If your business is authorized to operate in Pennsylvania and pays one of the following taxes, you can apply.

received more than $900,000 in funds through the EITC/ OSTC program during the 2014–2015 academic year.

The one-page application is now available online at www.newPA.com/EITC. Tax credit applications are processed on a first-come, first-served basis. New businesses can apply starting July 1, 2015. Businesses enrolled in the two-year commitment may apply on May 15, 2015.

Spring 2015

Alumnae

A Life Helping Others Manage Death

Shouldering more than a few major duties simultaneously was nothing new for Dr. Molly MacGregor ’00 during her combined residency in pediatrics, adult psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. But she admits that it was a challenge to train in three different medical specialties at the same time.

“On a given day, I could go from adjusting the medication regimen for a patient with chronic schizophrenia in the morning to seeing a healthy newborn baby for her first check-up in the afternoon,” MacGregor, a 2004 graduate of Wesleyan University, recalled. “At Agnes Irwin, that sort of multi-tasking was the norm — you weren’t just an athlete or an artist or on Student Government; everyone was encouraged to explore a variety of interests.”

Today, MacGregor’s interests are as varied as ever: yoga, marathons and providing psychiatric care for children and adults who are being treated for cancer and for their families. A 2009 graduate of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, she is currently a Clinical Fellow in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psycho-Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

“I trained in pediatrics and psychiatry, and the fellowship has been an amazing opportunity to combine these specialties. My favorite part of my job is spending time with patients, most of whom are very sick. Many are dying. But I am inspired on a daily basis by how strong people can be when dealing with life-threatening illness — their own or in their loved ones. It’s a privilege to spend time with people who are facing some of the most difficult situations of their lives. I’m also lucky to have fantastic colleagues, people who truly care for their patients and for each other,” said MacGregor.

During medical school, she became a certified yoga teacher. Although she doesn’t have much time to teach anymore, she loves to wake up early, practice yoga and

meditate before work. On the weekends, she carves out time for running in Central Park or along the East River. For nearly 10 years, she has been meeting up with her sister Christy ’04 to compete in half-marathons and marathons. Their father and Christy’s husband join in as well. “It’s a great way to spend time together, since we’re all living in different cities,” she said.

MacGregor has lots of favorite memories from her 13 years at Agnes Irwin, including performing the role of the cactus in the first grade play. “I was a pretty shy little girl and somehow got picked for this role where I had a duet with one of my classmates, Erin Lanahan, and a special dance. The faculty at Agnes Irwin had a way of seeing our potential and encouraging us to try things we didn’t know we were capable of,” she mused.

Dr. Molly MacGregor ’00

‘‘The faculty at Agnes Irwin had a way of seeing our potential.”

With sister, Christy (right), father and brother-in-law at 2014 Raleigh, NC, marathon.

On medical service trip to India in 2008

Adrienne Lucier ’90

On the Waves of Global Finance

No two days are even close to identical for Adrienne Lucier ’90.

In the volatile world of global investment, Lucier serves as a Managing Director in fixed-income credit project at Credit Suisse, leading international financial services company headquartered in Zurich, where she began her career in 2000 after earning an MBA at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.

“I enjoy the complexities of deal-making in a challenging global marketplace, where every investment decision can be influenced by a countless number of macroeconomic factors,” said Lucier, who was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as a Woman of Note for 2015.

“In addition, many specific credit and individual company factors play a role in determining relative value. No two days are the same and increased volatility creates multiple business opportunities. Facing institutional clients and developing lasting trading relationships is also paramount.”

Lucier, who graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with dual bachelor degrees in economics and French and a minor in art history, considers her biggest achievement to date to be how quickly she has risen in the ranks in a business dominated by men. She said it is “a rarity” for a woman to advance to senior status as quickly as she has, and credits the values she developed at Agnes Irwin for her success.

“It underscores the importance of working hard, doing something you are passionate about, and believing in yourself. Each achievement creates more opportunities, despite the fact that they may not be apparent at the time,” said Lucier, who finds it rewarding to mentor other young women as they embark on

their careers.

Despite her demanding schedule, she always seeks ways to balance her work life and her personal life. She enjoys golf, tennis, Pilates, ballet, photography, travel, cooking and interior design. She also enjoys stints as an adjunct teacher of classes in small business and brand management, and bond and capital markets.

Lucier said there were many types of leaders during her years at Agnes Irwin, as well as many different types of success, which one could see even at a young age. “It became apparent early on that there are many different roads to take to get to the same finish point. Being open to different ways of thinking in order to achieve results was something that was ingrained in me not only in my home life growing up, but at AIS,” she said.

She has many fond memories of her AIS school years, including the special days set aside for celebrating the move from Lower School to Middle School, and Middle School to Upper School, AP history classes and AP English classes. “I would be remiss if I left out the photography shows,” she quipped.

— Wanda Odom

sorry to be missing our 55th, but it’s trumped by our first grandchild’s graduation. Have a wonderful time together –girls of the Class of ‘60!”

Christine Carlisle Blair ’65 is living a retired life with her husband, Carrick, in Redding, CT, after raising two children who are now in their 40s. She spent 25 years working in public relations at a major pharma company and currently keeps busy with local women’s clubs, golf, tennis, traveling and summering on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Jacqueline Earle-Cruickshanks ’65 worked as a learning specialist/school psychologist in upstate New York and moved to Vermont in 2000. She became a learning specialist/senior diagnostician for 20 years for Stern Center in Williston, VT. Her husband, Paul, died in 2012, and she married an old friend in 2013. After she retired, she became an archetypal dream analyst. She has two children and one grandchild. She is living in Montpelier, VT, and loves working on other people’s (and her own) dreams.

Marian Godfrey Gardner ’65 writes, “In November 2007, I married Tom Gardner at our farm in Richmond, MA, in Berkshire County; it is a first marriage for both of us. Tom runs his family business, the Gardner Pie Company in Akron, OH, from the farm, where he pursues his long-time interest in heritage breeds of both livestock

‘‘I enjoy the complexity of dealmaking in the global market.”

and vegetables. We keep sheep, poultry and many dogs, and maintain the beautiful gardens mixing vegetables, flowers and fruit trees that he has developed over the years. We also have a home in Vinalhaven, ME, on the property where my family has lived since 1963, and travel there as often as possible throughout the year. In December 2011, I retired from The Pew Charitable Trusts, where I had directed Pew’s cultural initiatives for more than 22 years. Currently I serve on the boards of directors of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, ME; the League of American Orchestras, a national organization based in New York City; and the Poetry Foundation, based in Chicago. I also serve on the Curtis Institute of Music’s Board of Overseers in Philadelphia and on the Founders Council of Arts Emerson in Boston. I am the cultural advisor for the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, where Tom and I have a donor-advised fund. After many years of professional writing about arts funding and arts policy, I have begun to develop a personal creative writing practice.”

Keith Manley ’65 lived in Smithers, British Columbia, for 35 years before moving to Vero Beach, FL, in 2008. She enjoys being close to her sister, Langie Manley Mannion ‘57. During the summer, she travels back to Canada to visit her three daughters and two grandchildren. She has

also had adventures traveling to Turkey in 2013 and Kenya and Zanzibar in 2014. “I am looking forward to seeing classmates at our Reunion!”

Anne Clement Monahan ’65 is retired from Sidwell Friends after 42 years and is now coaching parttime at the Madeira School in McLean, VA. She coaches field hockey,

CLASS NOTES | Alumnae

1970-79

squash and lacrosse, which is ideal because work is so close to home and it’s great fun. She has two grandchildren (more on the way!), and two of her three daughters live close by. She says retirement is quite an adjustment both emotionally and physically.

Wendy Boenning Noll ’65 says, “I have no career

news, I have no public service news ... but I have had an amazing few years. My first grandchild, Bentlie Marie Noll, was born on Feb. 24, 2013. Bright red hair and a personality to match! Last year, I became involved in a project to find some missing film from ‘Woodstock 69’ for Melanie (Safka) Schekeryk (long story). It seems that the

producer of Woodstock, Michael Lang, had done a small shoot for (Melanie’s) documentary about the original Woodstock and showed the entire ‘set list’ she had performed. He promised her a copy, as she had never seen the original set in its entirety. It was not delivered so a call went out — could anyone find this? I jumped in ... I

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1. The family of Barbara Roche Wille ’75 2. Anita Saville ’70 and her wife, Emily 3. 1970 classmates (l-r) Pamela Moyer Fernley, Katharine Norris, Alta Wister Hamilton, Wendy Griffin Palmer, Lindsay Huffman Smith 4. Virginia Pratt Nemir Lukefahr ’74

Mimi Wang

Adventure on a World Stage

Life is an international adventure for Mimi Wang ’05. After graduating from Agnes Irwin, and then Yale in 2009, where she earned a B.A. in history and international studies, she turned her attention to international affairs.

Her work with the U.S. Department of State has sent her from Washington, D.C. to the Philippines, then Afghanistan and back again. Since 2010, Wang has been a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department, and she is currently a Watch Officer in the Operations Center, which is the State Department’s 24/7 breaking news and crisis monitoring center.

The Washington Post described the Operations Center as “60+ foreign service officers and other civil servants operate a worldwide 911. They support

Americans caught abroad in political violence and natural disasters. They send out alerts when an overseas flight crashes or a grenade hits a U.S. Embassy. They connect, at all hours, the Secretary of State to foreign leaders.” Wang and her team must be on constant alert for any and all crises and be ready to respond at a moment’s notice. She says, “It’s a mostly fun, occasionally tedious, but always interesting job!”

From July 2013-2014, Wang was a press officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her role as a press officer entailed arranging press conferences, briefings, and interviews for Afghan and international media outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, and the Associated Press. She was also responsible for responding to emergency media inquiries, including those during and after the attack on the U.S. Embassy on Christmas, which was reported on by more than 100 media outlets. During her time in Afghanistan, Wang also chose to focus on the issues facing Afghan women, as she helped to create the first professional organization for female Afghan journalists and worked closely with U.S. and coalition military public affairs officers on messaging related to women’s issues.

“This focus on women, of course, reminded me of Irwin’s. The status of women in Afghanistan has come so far in the past 15 years, but there’s still so much progress to be made,” she said. Despite the intensity and seriousness of her work in Afghanistan, she still found time for fun, such as an appearance as a guest judge on the Afghan version of Iron Chef, a program called 59 Minutes, an experience that allowed her to highlight some traditional American treats — like apple cobbler — on TV!

Wang credits Agnes Irwin with many formative experiences, especially giving a senior assembly, and although she does not like public speaking, she knows that she will always be able to give a speech if she needs to thanks to that preparation. Wang also thanks the school for “instilling in me, and my classmates, the sense that anything is possible. At Irwin’s people don’t tell you ‘you shouldn’t do that’ or ‘you can’t do that.’ If you want something, you can figure out a way to get it done; or if there’s an opportunity to do something, you take that opportunity.”

— Janet Bartholdson

a Stephen minister at St. David’s Church — a very fulfilling ministry. I am looking forward to catching up with classmates!”

Virginia Nemir Lukefahr ’70 writes, “I am a retired elementary school art teacher and currently active in the schools. I am a portrait artist in drawing and painting and had a one-woman show at the San Antonio Branch Library in 2014. My husband, Jim, is a pediatrician practicing and teaching at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. I have four grown children. Helen is a grant writer and currently enrolled in the physician assistant program at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Catherine is the financial director of a mental health case management company in Houston.

Nathaniel is a writer for a Houston-based oil and gas company, and Joseph is a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. I have five grandchildren: Luke, 4; Caroline, 3; Elizabeth, 2; Joseph, 1, and Charlotte, 5 months. They are precious and I am blessed.”

Barbara Bell Shea ’70 has been working for several environmental nonprofits for the past 15 years. She was the founding president for Casey Trees in Washington, DC, and is still on the board. They restore, enhance and protect the trees of the District of Columbia. She is currently also the chairman of the Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA). The company is the private partner of the

’05

‘‘There’s still so much progress yet to be made.”

U.S. National Arboretum. She is also the past chairman of the Board of the Irvine Nature Center, an environmental education organization, and currently chairing their endowment campaign.

Theresa Bailey Baker ’75 and her family moved to Michigan 15 years ago to pursue career opportunities for her husband. She retired from a long career in corporate law to focus her attention on her two sons and new community. “My community involvement includes service as president of our homeowners association, president of the Parent Teacher Association and president of the board of a 501(c)(3) organization involved in mentoring middle school girls in Detroit. My sons are young adults now and starting careers of their own. My husband and I are planning to travel extensively now that we are empty nesters. Life is good!”

Joanne Lloyd Butler ’75 has two children — a daughter, Kaci, 33, and a son, Matt, 28. Kaci is a kindergarten teacher, and Matt is a medical assistant. She has one grandson, Dylan, who is 4. Her daughter is getting married, and she is excited to welcome her soon-to-be son-in-law, Dominique, to the family. She has a grand dog named CoCo and a dog named Reina.

Linda Christie ’75 says, “I am living on the southern border of the Adirondacks with my husband, Curtis Mills. I am blessed to have my dream job as

the medical director of an organization that provides care to people with developmental disabilities. I have three sons. Two of them will soon be deployed as pilots for the military (one in the Navy and one in the Army). The third, Thomas, lives in a group home and would LOVE to talk sports or politics with anyone willing to do so. My husband started a new business as a licensed Adirondack guide teaching rowing, kayaking, sailing or fly fishing. Please visit. Life is good!”

Eleanor Funkhouser Doar ’75 is living in Indianapolis and Chicago with her husband, Michael.

1980-89

M. Catherine Cornell ’80 is living the dream in Colorado! Her oldest son graduated in December from the University of Rochester and is spending the winter working as a snowcat operator in Aspen. Her youngest son is a junior at the University of Denver. After 30 years in the corporate world, she is looking for a position that she feels passionate about and which will make a difference.

Lydia Fitler Kimball ’80 says, “Very sadly my husband, Dan, died in August 2013 after fighting auto-immune issues for a number of years. Since then, my 20-year-old twin boys/men have been adjusting to our new normal and moving on with our lives. Both are in their second year of college,

William at Colby and Andrew at the University of Richmond, both majoring in economics. I’m working as a consultant for the Boston office of Christie’s, the auction house, focusing on marketing and business development. I also do volunteer work with a number of nonprofits focusing on the art, historic preservation and conservation. Travel is my big hobby, as well as spending time in Northeast Harbor, ME, where we have a house. My Reunion plans are unclear, but I hope to get there for some of the weekend.”

Anne Rock Maurer ’80 and her husband, Gus Maurer, live in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia with their son, James, a sophomore at J.R. Masterman. After 10 years of teaching at Chestnut Hill Academy, Anne switched careers and spent two years in the outdoor industry working in sales & marketing at Nathan Sports. This career diversion turned her into a running enthusiast and took her to a variety of U.S. cities, including Austin, Salt Lake City and Chicago. Despite her love for the outdoor industry, Anne left Nathan Sports to pursue an opportunity at AIM Academy in Conshohocken. When not teaching, she competes in a variety of bicycling disciplines around the Mid-Atlantic and New England. When time permits, she volunteers for Gearing Up, a Philadelphia nonprofit that teaches women in transition to ride bikes for

CLASS NOTES | Alumnae

transportation and exercise. She loves traveling with her husband and sons, and is always plotting their next adventure. “I hope to one day visit Cindy Whitman Lawes in England and Kathy Moran in Belgium, the cycling capital of the universe. “

Tamara Schrader

Normington ’80 writes, “My sons Steven, age 21, and Stuart, age 18, are graduating from college and high school this year, so my husband and I will be empty nesters. Not sure quite how I feel about that! I work part time as an RN in my husband’s medical practice and am a part-time supervisor at a local nursing home. I am an avid baker, scuba diver and traveler, and keep busy with that and volunteer work. I won’t be able to make the Reunion this year, as we will be biking from Bruges to Amsterdam then. I will be visiting Kathy Moran during this trip however, and we will both miss you all!”

Elizabeth Goldstein Beeby ’85 writes, “I live in South Salem, NY, and have three awesome boys: Charlie, 16 and in 10th grade; Tommy, 15 and in 9th grade; and Jack, 12 and in 6th grade. I work in NYC at Discovery Communications as director of account communications in our programming sales distribution department.”

Cassandra Byrnes Billig ’85 has been living in Connecticut the past 14 years. “We are happily raising two teenage boys Lucas, 16 and Nathaniel,

13. I work as a designer for Lillian August in Norwalk, CT.”

Tracy Yancey Defina ’85 and her family live in Malvern, where her kids are in school at Great Valley — an artist, a scout and an athlete! “I love my job as director of family ministries at Church of the Good Samaritan. When Mike isn’t working at Comcast or birding, we love escaping together on vacations. I catch up with Laura DePhillippo Sullivan, Cynthia Krall Dionne and Jill Juda Marshall a few times a year for dinners full of laughs!”

Leigh Morrissett Foltz ’85 says, “The Foltz family has been busy. My daughter, Sydney, is in her freshman year at Columbia College in Chicago, majoring in theater with a concentration in comedy writing. Our son Cameron is completing his junior year with hopes to get accepted into a university or college with a good astrophysics program. Yes, two extremes for sure! Our youngest, Charlie, is in 8th grade and loves playing football, wrestling and lacrosse (Cam too). I have been busy serving two years of a four-year term on our local school board (who knew?). My husband, Bob, is a wealth manager at Merrill Lynch. Everyone is healthy, thriving and keeping busy! Come visit!”

Susan Tecce Kailis ’85 has been working for Comcast ad sales for 14 years. Susan and her husband live in Bryn Mawr and have two

daughters. The kids are very busy with school and music and all sorts of stuff that keeps them running! “I look forward to catching up with everyone in the spring!”

Karen Foky Randazzo ’85 is working full time in commercial insurance as the education industry practice leader for a large regional agency, Riggs, Counselman, Michaels and Downes (known as RCM&D). She has been in Baltimore,

MD, since 1993 and is married with three sons — ages 17, 14 and 6.

Gertrude “Trudy” Rosato ’85 recently moved back to the area after living in Princeton, NJ, for three and a half years. She is a member of the NJ State Council on the Arts and continues to be a fine arts appraiser and adviser. Her daughter, Lilah ’26, is attending AIS as a first grader and her son, Jimmy, is in Pre-K at Rosemont

School of the Holy Child.

Margaret Schrader Walton ’85 writes, “My husband, Scott, and I moved to Baltimore in June 2013. Previously we lived in Chapel Hill, NC, for eight years and Atlanta, GA, for 11 years. We are closer to my family now, which has been very nice. We even joined Merion Golf Club because we both love to play. We make our way to the Main Line pretty often. Our kids are ages

20, 18, 15 and 12. Our eldest, Maggie, is a sophomore at UGA. Our senior, Andrew, is still undecided about college. The youngest two, Elizabeth (15) and Pete (12), are enjoying school and sports and figuring out their new city and school. I have reconnected with Stacey Macklin Grandy here, and she has been very kind to me — introducing me to friends and teaching me what is neat to do in Baltimore.”

1990-99

Daniele Laws Dillard ’95 is currently working at Morphotek as a senior QA specialist, where she supports pilot plant activities. She is also involved in clinical operations, specifically clinical QC. Her daughter, Morgan, 6, is in kindergarten. Morgan enjoys swimming and playing with her American Girl doll and our dog, Della. This April, Daniele and her husband will celebrate their 10th anniversary.

Anne Thompson ’95 says, “My life is wonderfully busy with Charlie, 3, and Trixie, 1, keeping life interesting.”

Susan Joan Mauriello-Orlando ’95 writes, “My daughter, Charlotte Francesca, was born on March 11, 2014 and my son, Elliott Joseph, was born on Feb. 18, 2015. I live in Pasadena with my husband, Paul, and our family. I am a second year medical student at Keck School of Medicine at USC. I switched careers while living in Hong Kong for seven years, where I started and ran an education consulting company.”

1990-99

Jennifer Nagel Suttmeier ’95 writes, “I live in Cranbury, NJ, with my husband, Steve, and our beautiful children Robert, 3, and Emily, 7. We love to travel and spend time with family and friends. I work at Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals as an associate director on the Levemir brand team. Working in a high-profile role is an exciting experi-

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1.Wendy Rhoads Costa ’90 with her husband, Paolo, and sons Lucas and George 2. Julianna and Luke Tiso, children of Bernadette Spina Tiso ’95 3. Michael and Page Callaghan Pisapia ’95 with their children in Winston-Salem, NC 4. Emily Eleanor Vassalli, daughter of Emanuel and Allie Keen Vassalli ’95 5. Children of Elizabeth Wasley Reese ’99

ence, though balancing work and family is always a priority. To support other working moms, I’ve created a blog called Work-Mom Balance and would love to share with the class.” workmombalance.com

Mary Beth Noel Todd ’95 says, “In June we welcomed our third child and first daughter, Elise Noel Todd. With the scales tipped out of balance, I retired from my job as assistant athletic director at San Francisco University High School. I am starting my own business helping youth sports organizations administer their programs. I will also be coaching youth lacrosse this year... should be an adventure!”

Allie Keen Vassalli ’95 writes, “I’m still happily living in Lugano, Switzerland, teaching at TASIS Elementary School. My big news of 2014 is that last summer I married Emanuele Vassalli. It was a beautiful wedding in Lugano, and I was so happy that Heather Roehrs Galgon and Ecy McIlvain Hughes made the trip over here to be a part of our Swiss-American wedding. The big news of 2015 is that we welcomed a baby girl in January. Emily Eleanor Vassalli was born on Jan. 25. She is keeping us busy and amazing us every day! Sadly, I don’t think that I can make it to our Reunion. The timing fits in perfectly with my maternity leave, but I’m not sure I’ll be quite ready for a trans-Atlantic flight solo with Emily. I will miss seeing everyone; hopefully I’ll make the next one!”

Embracing Opportunities for Success

Since her days at Agnes Irwin, Sandra DuBarry Laflamme ’95 has experienced firsthand how leadership opportunities can present themselves in many forms and situations.

From presiding over the Ecology Club, to coaching an underdog collegiate crew team to a second-place championship victory, to teaching bright-eyed first graders, to starting a healthy living blog, Laflamme has lived the legacy of leadership Agnes Irwin has instilled in its students for nearly 150 years.

“After I graduated from Colby College, I took my first job as the Bates College freshmen women’s rowing coach. When I started, I was nervous about leading a mostly new group of rowers and helping them to form a cohesive team on the water. I wanted to inspire my athletes and to share my passion for rowing,” said Laflamme, who was part of the inaugural crew team at AIS and is now an avid runner who has conquered marathons and triathlons.

“Not only would I need to teach them proper rowing form and technique as well as train them to be fit and strong, but I also needed to teach them how to

work together as one on the water to reach their goal. Agnes Irwin gave me the confidence to lead my team and to be a strong athletic role model. I used leadership skills gained at Agnes Irwin to teach others how to fully embrace an opportunity for success. This is something that I have always carried with me in everything that I do, whether it be in a job or in a running race.”

She credits Agnes Irwin with allowing her to find her voice in sharing her passions. Participating in sports taught her how to lead by working with others.

Today, Laflamme is self-employed as a healthy living blogger for the blog Organic Runner Mom (organicrunnermom.com), her blog, and a freelance writer for fitness and health websites as well as athletic apparel, health and wellness, and organic food brands. She also handles social media marketing for her family’s business, Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs and and Nellie’s Cage Free Eggs. “I love the flexibility of what I do, as it allows me to spend time with our children Piper, 6, and Brock, 4, while doing something that I am passionate about,” she said. — Wanda Odom

Sandra DuBarry Laflamme ’95

‘‘I love the flexibility of what I do.”

Leslie Bailey Hardy ’55

An Eye for Transformation

Leslie Bailey Hardy ’55 sits in her studio in Winter Park, FL surrounded by her three Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and reflects on her days as a student at Agnes Irwin. Although it is nearly 60 years since she graduated, the experiences and passions she developed as an AIS student continue to define who she is today.

Moving from her childhood home in Cincinnati, OH, Hardy entered Agnes Irwin in the 10th grade. She recalls how welcoming her new AIS classmates were. Agnes Irwin teachers went out of their way to enhance student’s learning, says Hardy. For instance, Miss Lent not only taught English literature and grammar but made sure her students were well versed in business correspondence — a skill Hardy uses today. However, it was in athletics, especially tennis, and in the arts, that Hardy hit her stride. She soaked in Mrs. Ridpath’s art classes, developing a love of drawing and painting and an appreciation for the history of art.

After graduating from AIS, Hardy entered Bennett College (Millbrook, NY). She majored in art history and after graduation continued her studies in Europe. While there, she discovered a love of architecture and design that is evident in her work.

Hardy married in her early twenties and along with her husband moved to Syracuse, NY, for nine years. She poured her creative energy into decorating their home. An admirer of Hardy’s efforts commissioned her for some design work, which ended up giving her the impetus to start a business. With three daughters under the ages of three and a half, Hardy opened an interior design firm. The business thrived, but when Hardy and her family had the opportunity to move to Winter Park in 1973 they seized the chance to live in the warmer climate.

Hardy maintained interior design clients in Florida but concentrated most of her efforts on her family, including three daughters and a son. She continued studying painting and design whenever she had the time. In fact, she took courses at the noted Isabel O’Neil Studio in New York City. Under the tutelage of O’Neil, Hardy learned the art of painted finishes and began creating decorative painted furniture and interiors.

In the early 1990s, Hardy was yearning for a new challenge when biking through town she noticed a small cottage. She sought out the owner, negotiated the purchase of the property, and began a collaboration with Winter Park architect Steven Feller that has resulted in the design and construction of four houses.

Starting with the single-story frame cottage, Hardy and Feller expanded the structure to two-and-a-half stories featuring banded windows and an articulated gable entrance. According to Feller, “Leslie loves the process of design and will spend hours to get every detail perfect.” The renovation even attracted the interest of Southern Living magazine, which featured the residence in an article entitled “A Cottage Transformed.”

Hardy has undertaken three more residential design and construction projects in Winter Park. Each house fits beautifully into its surroundings and features a variety of rooflines with molded overhangs

and exquisitely paneled interior walls, moldings and mantels.

Today, she resides in her fourth and largest project. She oversaw every detail of the construction and even painted the trompe l’oeil paneled ceiling in the living room. For the time being she does not have a new construction project on the horizon but continues to study painting each week, currently working to perfect her skills in portraiture. She manages to find time for tennis two to three times a week. When asked if any of her children inherited her love of art and design she says “not really,” but was quick to add that all of her children developed her love of tennis. On Saturday mornings, she gathers with her children and grandchildren on the tennis courts for a game.

This spring, Leslie looks forward to taking time out of her busy schedule to return to Agnes Irwin for Reunion Weekend and to celebrate with the friends she made in school, visit the Barnes Foundation with classmates for more creative inspiration, and to play a game of tennis on the new courts at AIS.

— Margaret Welsh

‘‘Leslie ... will spend hours to get every detail perfect.”

kids’ school with library duty and class mom.

Dana Marchetto ’03, before entering medical school, worked in research at the Neuropsychiatry Section, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, her alma mater. There she published two research papers. One is a meta-analysis of olfactory deficits in schizophrenia, which examines the degree to which olfactory deficits in schizophrenia are moderated by psychophysical, clinical and demographic variables. The paper, “The Influence of Semantic Processing on Odor Identification Ability in Schizophrenia,” was published in the March 2013 online edition of the Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. The other paper, published in the January 2014 edition of the Schizophrenia Bulletin, examines the contribution of semantic difficulties to olfactory identification deficits in schizophrenia. In this study, no correlation was found between odor identification and semantic performance in patients, which implies that olfactory deficits are largely independent of the semantic difficulties in schizophrenia. Dana will graduate from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in June 2015.

Kathleen Bonner Benjamin ’05 was married on Nov. 8, 2014, in Palm Beach, FL, to William (Bill) Benjamin. Many AIS grads were in attendance. She began a job

Priscilla Sands ’65

In Her Mother’s Footsteps

Priscilla Sands ’65 is likely a familiar face to many in the Agnes Irwin community. After graduating in 1965, she returned to Agnes Irwin in 1985, serving as a drama director, English teacher, Director of Community Service, Director of Admissions and ultimately, from 1990 to 1996, as the Assistant Head of School.

For 15 years, she served as Head of the all-girls Springside School in Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill neighborhood — then became president of the merged co-ed Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, a post she has held for the last four years. This summer, she will embark on a new adventure as Head of Marlborough School, an all-girls school in Los Angeles.

“Having attended Irwin’s, and then working in a girls’ school, I’ve loved the opportunity to help girls find their voice and develop the confidence that you can achieve anything,” Sands said. And while she has enjoyed the process of transitioning Springside and Chestnut Hill to one merged school, “It will be fun to close out my career with an all-girls’ school.”

Sands was “not a particularly standout student at AIS,” she admits. “I was not the child my mother (former Head of School Adele Sands) would ever have thought would follow in her footsteps — it was something of a shock to her.” But the confidence she gained at Agnes Irwin — through drama teacher Kate Reiser, through Eliza Kellogg’s English classes, through the process of creating her senior assembly — has stayed with her. “I had teachers whom I loved and who cared for me and really helped me believe in myself. I learned significant skills of self-expression, I learned to speak, and I learned to feel confident in the public arena.”

Those skills have served her well, as Sands has held many public roles in the past 40 years — including serving on the board of directors at The Haverford School and the Association of Delaware

Valley Independent Schools, and as the regional vice president of the National Association of Principals of Schools for Girls, president of the Head Mistresses Association of the East and a commissioner for the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools.

Her passion lies in education, and she considers some of her greatest accomplishments to be the relationships she has built professionally and with the children in her care. “Your legacy is in the small moments,” she said. “I hope my greatest accomplishment is being able to say, ‘Look at what we all did together.’ What I hope I brought to Springside Chestnut Hill is a sense of collaboration and joy in working together.”

The same is true of the time she spent at Agnes Irwin. It’s not one particular moment that stands out, but the central theme of sisterhood from her time here. “We were sisters who may have fought and gone through many different stages of life together, but also, we’re the women who know one another better than most.”

— Amanda Mahnke

‘‘Your legacy is in the small moments of life.”

From the Archives

Class of 1892

The Roots of Kinship

Miss Irwin’s School, as it was known in its earliest years, was not expected to thrive with the departure of its founder and guiding hand for 25 years, Miss Agnes Irwin, for Radcliffe College in 1894. But three years later, the school was indeed flourishing under the leadership of Sophy Dallas Irwin, her younger sister.

The seeds of the school’s longevity were no doubt planted by Elizabeth Elliot, Class of 1892 (front row, second from left). Elliot gathered 149 former students on Nov. 29, 1897, and urged the formation of an alumnae

association. Its creation would, she argued, “promote ‘a feeling of kinship to the school … foster and extend school spirit,’ and through annual receptions renew friendships and, even more important, enable the grades to be again with Miss Agnes.” They held a Christmas tea with her.

The women labored for 12 months. Executive committee selected, constitution and bylaws adopted, and membership criteria and annual dues set. They designed a pin, chose colors (blue and gold), and even embraced a motto, Non Sibi Sed Aliis, Not

for Ourselves But For Others. With the organization’s structure complete by early 1898, they had just one more issue: what should they do?

“A purely social organization, pleasant thought that might be, could never satisfy Miss Agnes’s girls. They must be, in the words of their President, ‘an honor and a credit to our beloved Miss Irwin, and … a power for good in the community.’ ”

— Wanda Odom; adapted from Miss Irwin’s of Philadelphia by Joanne Loewe Neel. Copyright 1969.

NOW IS THE TIME to make a on The Agnes Irwin School with a gift to the annual Agnes Irwin Fund. The Agnes Irwin Fund supports every area of the school, and it benefits every Agnes Irwin student. Gifts to this annual giving program are essential to maintaining the excellence of an Agnes Irwin education. Because of your support, Agnes Irwin girls will continue to make their !

YOU CAN CHOOSE one of the directed giving options within the Agnes Irwin Fund. Make your on:

If you have questions or would like to discuss your gift, please contact Brooke Record, Associate Director of Development, at 610-526-1674.