Greens Farms Academy Spring 2011 magazine

Greens Farms Academy Magazine Spring 2011

Inside:

From Twain to Technology GFA Alums Find their Passions

Retired GFA laptops find a new home in the L.E.A.D. Uganda program through GFA senior, David Morgan

Faculty Enrichment Travel Grants Three years ago, the generosity of a GFA family foundation enabled us to set up a faculty enrichment initiative that deepens the mission of our Global Program. These grants allow teachers to travel over the summer, providing them with opportunities for the close study of countries and cultures to broaden the scope of their curriculum and pedagogy, and in some cases to aid in the design and execution of new courses.

The following faculty travel grants have been awarded for summer 2011 First grade teacher Anne Hoover will travel to Anchorage, Seward and Talkeetna, Alaska to enrich the first grade study of Native American culture.

Ginny Balser, English teacher, will visit Turkey and Crete to enrich her World Literature, New World Voices and Greek Literature in Translation courses.

Joachim Kuhn, Physics teacher, will join the research effort at Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland with the goal of enhancing his students’ knowledge of the composition and creation of the universe.

Jay Blau, Math teacher, will be traveling to Germany and England to learn more about the mysteries of prime numbers and to further investigate the Riemann Hypothesis to help him design a unit for M.S. math.

Seth Pianka, Science teacher, will research Volcanoes and National Parks of the Northern Western United States to bolster his M.S. science curriculum.

editorial

Greens Farms

Academy

Greens Farms Academy Spring 2011 Volume 21 The GFA Magazine is published twice a year for parents, alumni and friends of the school by the GFA Development Office.

Editor Alison Freeland

Associate Editor Natalie Gagnon

Four postcards that our students received in the exchange with the CANFORD SCHOOL in Dorset, UK. Features

Editorial Assistant Nancy Fishkin

Alumni Editors

Faculty Travel Grants

7

Mark Twain in Redding

16

Tech Perspectives

18

Susan Ball ’71 Matt Hintsa ’06

Design © Plaza Design www.plazadesign.com

Photo Contributors

Departments Editor’s letter

2

Head’s letter

3

GFA News and Events

4

Arts

8

Athletics

12

Alumni Events

20

Class notes

24

Births & Marriages

41

Natalie Gagnon Matt Hintsa ’06 Brian Hirschfeld ’12 GFA Photo Students

In an effort to streamline our mailing list, we are sending one magazine per household. If you would like extra copies, please email afreeland@gfacademy.org.

Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor are welcome and may be edited for clarity and space. Please send all correspondence to Alison Freeland (afreeland@gfacademy.org).

Alumni News We welcome news from alumni, parents and friends of GFA. Please send your news and labeled photographs to Alumni News at GFA, or email them to alumni@gfacademy.org.

The following minimum digital file size is required to produce a high-quality image 2.5" x 3.5" • # pixels 375 x 525 pixels • 550KB/ .tif • 100KB/ .jpeg

Printed on paper that contains recycled fiber

Greens Farms Academy 35 Beachside Ave. PO Box 998 Greens Farms, CT 06838-0998 (203) 256-0717 www.gfacademy.org Greens Farms Academy is dedicated to guiding students through a rigorous course of study encompassing academics, arts and athletics.

Cover: Susan Boone Durkee ’72 with her portrait of Mark Twain.

—see page 16.

Tech Perspectives, page 18.

editor

A Letter from the Editor Dear Readers,

© Naru Photography

One day, during this winter-that-would-never-end, I noticed an Upper School student loping for the train in the late afternoon. She wore shorts and sneakers—just looking at her bare legs made me cold. Her backpack bounced heavily as she rounded the driveway onto Maple Ave. On top of it all, she was holding a book in front of her nose, reading as she went. I offered her a ride, which she gratefully accepted because she had flown out of basketball practice to catch the 5:15 southbound.

In some ways, this Reader-on-the-Run, as I have come to think of her, typifies the GFA student. She is one of 134 train-travelers at the school. I learned that she is a three-sport athlete. One of her coaches told me, “She’s going to be one of my best players, but I haven’t told her yet. It’s a little soon.”

The book in her hand was All Quiet on the Western Front, part of the World Literature course, which feeds into the World Perspectives Program. “We want the students to learn about an event like WWI from multiple perspectives,” says her English teacher, Ginny Balser. “You should see our books this year. I love them.”

It turns out my Reader-on-the-Run also takes two languages, as do almost twenty percent of our high school students. “It’s good to learn more than one,” says Marion Mapstone, Foreign Language Chair. “Language is thought, and the more languages you learn, the more entrée you have into how other people think and live.”

Reader-on-the-Run also happens to take honors chemistry. Dr. Freeman says she is poised to try the science research program in the next two years if she chooses. She takes honors pre-calculus, which puts her in line for at least two AP math classes before graduation. There’s more, of course—an art class and history, and the school-sponsored trip abroad she might take during the summer. As with so many of her eager fellow students, she carries more than textbooks in that bulging backpack. She carries great expectations. Small wonder she reads while she walks.

We hope you enjoy this issue of the GFA Magazine, which talks about the often-inspiring journeys of a number of our amazing students, past and present.

Alison Freeland Director of Communications

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head

From the Head of School We began the school year with a talk at Convocation by Ophelia Dahl of Partners in Health (PIH). Students were so inspired by her and by the work of PIH that they decided to dedicate their student fundraising to the organization. With a matching gift from a GFA family foundation, we have so far been able to send over $16,000 to PIH. I can think of no more fitting organization for GFA to support during this first year of our World Perspectives Program than this group with both a “medical and moral” mission and work in many countries across the globe including Haiti, Mexico, Malawi, Rwanda, Peru and many more.

© Naru Photography

Dear Friends,

Our students are also learning to travel the globe on a daily basis in their classrooms.

From conducting water research in environmental science class with a partner school in Suzhou, China, to shared art work with students from a Palestinian camp on the West Bank, to collaboration with a playwright in Peru, the curriculum covers many miles. Our World Perspectives Program is becoming part of the fabric of our students’ academic lives, integrated into the classroom almost daily. This month we hosted our first student exchange with the Suzhou School, which sent students to stay with GFA families and follow a host student during the day. We hope to send some of our students to China next year.

In his book The Global Achievement Gap, Tony Wagner talks of the Seven Survival Skills for the New World. He cites a conversation with a CEO who talks of the qualities he most looks for in a new employee: someone who asks good questions, who can engage in good discussion and who can work well in teams. He goes on to say, “if you can’t engage others, then you won’t learn what you need to know.” Wagner expresses his surprise that this CEO, who was an engineer and head of a very technical business, asserted that his most valued employees were those who could ask good questions and engage others. Along with analysis, synthesis, critical thinking and creative problem solving, these are the very qualities our students learn from a program such as World Perspectives, which also happens to encourage engagement, a habit of mind that will serve them well in our “brave new world.”

Kind regards,

Janet M. Hartwell Head of School

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GFA news

Von Kohorn Address This year’s Von Kohorn speaker was math teacher, Jon Matte.

In a presentation that touched upon how to find oneself, where to fit in, how to stand out, how to be happy and how to handle a Möbius Strip, Mr. Matte entertained and instructed his audience. His finale was an a cappella rendition of “It’s Not Easy Being Green”.

Real Life 101 Seniors can now get a glimpse of college life before they graduate from high school. The College Office introduced a seminar to talk about banking, credit cards, budgets and security as well as auto maintenance, public transportation, campus vans and what to do if your car breaks down. And that was just one session. Another focused on visiting the campus health center, hospitals, healthy eating, substance abuse, drinking, general health and campus safety as well as roommates, R.A.s, dorm security and privacy. Along with a suggested reading list and Web links, the seminar goes a long way toward de-mystifying the practicalities of freshman year.

Science Awards At the Junior Science and Humanities Symposia (JSHS), seniors Elizabeth Woodson, Allison Kruk and Kaitlyn Morio were granted Finalist status out of over one hundred projects entered. At the Connecticut Science Fair (CSF), two projects were granted Poster Finalist status out of over 500 projects entered: Allison Kruk’s The Investigation of the Biological Health of the New Creek Salt Marsh through Water Quality Testing and Species Identification of Benthic Invertebrates and Kaitlyn Morio’s Characterization of Nickel and Copper Complexes Using NMR, and X-ray Diffraction, and Cyclic Voltametry. Allison also earned Finalist status in the Environmental Sciences category and won other recognition such as The GENIUS Olympiad Special Award—an all-expense paid trip to the international competition for top Biodiversity projects. Currently, there are five juniors and one sophomore at GFA already working toward next year’s projects.

The Bruce Fishkin Scholarship Fund From Cal Fishkin ’95 comes a great opportunity, named for his dad, for high school juniors and seniors. The Bruce Fishkin Scholarship Fund is in search of outstanding students. Formed in 2010, the Fund covers the entire cost of a college education and is in search of “high school students who seek to challenge themselves to succeed and accomplish what most people never imagine. Selection is primarily based upon each recipient’s answer to three essay questions. Awards are not predicated upon need, but rather on ability, individuality and potential. If you have always known deep inside that given the chance, you’d achieve greatness, well, here’s your chance.” The Board anticipates awarding two to six scholarships annually to students enrolled at high schools in one or more of the following areas: Redding, Fairfield and Westport, CT and the cities and surrounding suburbs of Chicago, Illinois and Las Vegas, Nevada.

Spring Coyle Scholar On May 10, the spring Coyle Scholar is Dr. Joia Mukherjee. She has written of her work: “In the face of the AIDS and TB pandemics, I pursued the specialties of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Infectious Disease as well as training in Public Health to bring the fruits of modern medical treatment to places in desperate need. Since 2000, I have served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and as the Medical Director of Partners In Health (PIH).

In this capacity, I lead a multidisciplinary, transnational team in nine countries in the design of systems to treat patients for HIV and TB.” GFA is honored to host her and to continue the school’s engagement with Partners In Health.

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College Perspectives

GFA in the White House

College Perspectives The College Office invites a college dean each year to speak to seniors and parents about the admission process. This year, the dean was also an alumus. Rob Springall ’85 is the dean of admissions at Bucknell University. After his visit, Rob wrote of GFA, “I think it’s impossible to remember the facilities we had back in the 1980s and not look at today’s space without a little envy. My career in college admissions has taken me into hundreds of high schools and GFA’s campus is comparable to independent schools with much larger upper school enrollment.

In Memoriam

What I look at most closely when I visit a school, though, is the depth, breadth and quality of its curriculum. That is another component of GFA that is much improved. On top of the always robust college prep program, the World Perspectives Program, the science research opportunities, and the range of speakers are notable.”

Will ’08 and Matt ’10 McCalpin both sing with the Princeton Tigertones, who performed not once, but twice, at the White House during the holiday season. Will recalls, “Upon entering the back room, we broke into a rendition of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young’s Our House. We thought it a fitting song considering we were singing at the President’s own house. After shaking hands with the President and receiving hugs from the First Lady, we posed for a picture. The coolest part was when the President began to wave his hands around as if he were directing the group.

Our own Music Director promptly dropped his hands and let the Commander-in-Chief take over.”

Sustained Support Ophelia Dahl from the organization Partners in Health delivered the Convocation address last fall, inspiring the GFA community with stories of successful efforts to combat disease in both Haiti and Africa. Since then, students put their mind on ways to fundraise for Partners in Health, and through an evening basketball event, Harmony for the Homeless concert and other gifts, have raised over $16,000 for the organization over the school year.

During the holiday season, GFA lost its beloved receptionist, Marge Cardillo.

Janet remembered her to the school community: “For many of us faculty and students, Marge was the first person we saw in the morning and often the last person we said good bye to in the late afternoon. Always smiling, always with a kind word and a laugh, Marge was the friend to whom we told our troubles, shared our joys, celebrated our successes and bemoaned our losses. Marge listened to each one of us, and held our many secrets and stories as if they were her own.” A dogwood tree will be planted on campus in Marge’s memory.

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GFA news

Development News

Horizons Students

The campaign for GFA’s new outdoor athletic facilities was launched in December with the goal of raising the final $2.5 million. We have already completed a new varsity soccer and lacrosse field, eight beautiful tennis courts and an independent baseball infield. We are now working toward three more fields this summer, including a synthetic turf field, which will be one of the first “green” turf fields of its kind in the region.

Thanks to the generosity of a dedicated group of alumni and the Hennessy Foundation, we have closed out the fundraising for the permanently endowed portion of the Horizons Scholarship Fund, which covers the GFA tuition of select graduates from the Horizons at GFA summer enrichment program. Our New York Alumni Council members have become impassioned about this project and are continuing to fundraise for immediate-use financial aid dollars for the fund.

We welcome back to campus MJ Berrien, parent of Reid ’04 and Lacey ’06 and former Trustee, as our new Coordinator of Parent Relations and Events.

This year, Annual Giving funded 18 new Vex Robotics Kits for M.S. Science.

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This year’s Annual Giving drive stands at $1,300,000 with a goal of raising $1.5 million to help fund our dynamic program. Alumni now have the option of giving to a variety of initiatives. We are looking for special participation from this year’s reunion classes— those ending in a “1” or a “6”.

Gatsby in the Garden Co-Chairs, Deborah Murtaugh and Kim Ebbesen with MJ Berrien, GFA’s new Coordinator of Parent Relations and Events, in the planning stages for the April 30 gala event.

Faculty Travel Grant

Following are excerpts from six GFA faculty who were able to benefit last summer from faculty travel grants.

Exploring the Landscapes of Western American Writers • Elizabeth Cleary Chair, English Department Ten years ago, after reading Kathleen Norris’ book Dakota, the epigraph of the book lingered with me: “Show me the landscape in which you live and I will tell you who you are.” In spite of years of teaching American Literature, I wondered: had I really seen this county that inspired these writers?

My answer was…well….not really. I felt a deep yearning to hit the road and see the country from which this literature emerged.

I left Connecticut in early August with my maps, my journal, a few guide books, a pair of rattlesnake boots and absolutely no idea what I would discover. Three weeks later I had driven three-thousand, three hundred and forty-five miles on the back roads of seven western states feeling a bit like a literary Lewis and Clark. I found myself meeting a country that was both foreign and familiar: an expanse of land that although I was one of its citizens, I was discovering for the first time.

My trip ended in the Salinas valley at the Steinbeck museum, and it was only then that I realized that he and I had made similar journeys. In his book Travels with Charley he writes: “I’m going to learn about my own country. I’ve lost the flavor and taste and sound of it…. I’m going alone, out toward the west by the northern way, but zigzagging through the Middle West and the mountain states.”

In American literature, the concepts of rugged individualism and the American dream are prominent. This trip allowed me to come to new definitions of these terms as I explored both the physical and literary frontiers of America. What I didn’t expect was how much it would teach me about myself.

An Exploration of Art Nouveau in Austria and the Czech Republic • Nicole Yates, Lower School Art My travel grant sent me to Vienna and Salzburg in Austria, and Prague in the Czech Republic to experience firsthand the environment, sights and artwork of the Art Nouveau movement in this region in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I was most interested in exploring the life and work of master artists Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Alfons Mucha - artists whose work I have admired since my first trip to Europe in 1998.

Since my return I have developed two units inspired by the artwork I viewed on my travels, including a fifth grade self-portrait lesson exploring the composition and pattern use evident in Klimt’s portraits of the Viennese bourgeoisie and a first grade project inspired by Schiele’s landscape paintings of houses in the Austrian countryside.

Big Sky Country, 5th grade art inspired by Gustav Klimt

continued on page 15

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arts

Electric FARM Sebastiaan deGoeijen and Benjamin Shack Sackler,

both juniors, share an interest in electronic dance music, which Seb first listened to in his native Holland.

The boys say their interest has increased over the past two years, leading to an Independent Study in Music Technology, where they research the history of the genre and produce their own mixes. Recently they held an electronic music concert at GFA called “The Electric Farm.”

“Usually a DJ will come to a dance and just have to plug in his CDs,” Seb says. “We had to do the lights and the sound, and we were running everything through a gym! It was a test to see if we could organize the whole concert and be the DJs as well.”

Over one hundred people showed up wearing neon and ready to dance. “We didn’t know what to expect,” Ben says. “We half expected parts to be dull, but we gave a two-hour set that didn’t seem to have a dull moment.

Production of the music takes so long and you do it mostly alone. Playing it for a crowd is the rush.”

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Seb agrees. “We played our own stuff and people liked it. Crowd reaction is what you live off as a DJ, and people were really open to the music that night.”

Hopes for the future? “Well,” says Ben (aka DJ Benni), “getting signed to a record label would be the best.

We’re not quite there yet.” |9

Arts Derek Alexander ’12 has a view of the United States not shared by many of his peers on the East Coast. Because of his love of a family horse enterprise in Tennessee, Derek spends as much time as possible back on the farm. And many times, he has his camera with him. “My extended family owns a farm and Show Horse Barn in Murfreesboro, TN with about 30 Tennessee Walking Horses and many acres of woods and trails.

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I grew up around horses, I spend all of my free time working on the farm, and I hope to one day have a career as a large farm animal veterinarian. When I am not in school up in CT, I spend my time training horses, taking care of the farm with my family, and working tractor pulls.”

Top clockwise from upper left: Knight, a Tennessee Walking Horse; one of our rock crawling trucks; my horse Diego; 2010 World Equestrian Games, KY; Truck and Tractor pull, Murfreesboro, TN; Jersey dairy cows. Below: the first harvest

Art Exhibitions & Awards

Music Awards: Will Conroy & Jonathan Bauerfeld —All Region Jazz Band

National High School Photography Exhibition at Drexel University

Jessica Liu—All Region Band

Derek Alexander Matt Alexander Ryan Eckert Emily Fontana Rebecca Lavietes David Morgan Harrison Thompson Caroline Vanacore

Small Notes Department Chair, Rex Cadwallader says, “Performing in small groups demands that students take more personal responsibility for their own playing, since they’re all responsible for different parts. It’s a cool concept, and one that we’d like to see expand.”

Westport Magazine

Small music groups now thriving at GFA:

Emily Caldwell

Beachside Express Harbor Blues Premiere Jazz Combo Jazz Combo II PAN-acea (Steel Drum Band) Guitar Ensemble

Connecticut Scholastic Art Awards Sisam Acharya (Mixed Media, Gold Key & The Connecticut Art Educators Award of Excellence/Best in Mixed Media) Madison Leonard (Photography, Gold Key) Katherine Norbom (Drawing, Honorable Mention) Tucker Pearson/Cooper Gordon (Film & Animation, Silver Key) Avery Salinger (Film & Animation, Silver Key) Harrison Thompson (Honorable Mention)

Photographic Instruction Education Association Sarah MacDonell Kiki Kauffman Kyja Kutnick Kate Mohr Grace Backe

String Quartet I String Quartet II 8th Grade Jazz Combo Select Middle School Choir

Work by Madison Leonard, Harrison Thompson, Katherine Norbom, Grace Backe, Sisam Acharya and Emily Caldwell

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athletics

GFA Athletes The Boys Varsity Cross Country team had a phenomenal 2010 season. After losing three times to rival Brunswick in regular-season racing, the Dragons won the FAA Championship title, with junior captain Wills Rooney taking first place and earning his season personal best time of 15:58. Achieving FAA All-League status were Rooney, senior captain Evan Bieder, senior captain Will McCarthy and senior Girls Varsity captain Kaitlyn Morio.

The team also conquered the next level of competition at the Division IV New England Championships, with Rooney again winning the race, setting a course record and achieving All-New England status. Joining him were Evan Bieder, Will McCarthy, sophomore Kenner Clark, junior Peter Maturo, junior Chris Tarika, freshman Andrew McCarthy, as well as junior Charlie Ross and Kaitlyn Morio.

Above: CT All-State for Soccer: Caroline Vanacore ’13, Kate Tomlinson ’12. Below: Andy Mondino ’11 & CJ Smith ’11

Finally, Rooney again dominated the 34 elite competitors at the NEPSTA All-Star meet, winning the race with a dramatic two-second victory and nearly setting another course record.

Be on the lookout for another successful season in 2011 owing to the depth and talent of the team.

Fall 2010 Upper School Varsity Team Results Cross Country

Girls Soccer (12-1-7)

3rd straight— FAA Post Season Championship

2nd place finish—FAA Regular Season

3rd straight— New England Championship (Division IV)

MS Wrestling At the FAA Wrestling Championships, ten Middle School wrestlers placed in the top four of their respective weight classes, earning three gold medals, three silver medals, three bronze medals and one fourth place standing. The team was coached by Jack Conroy ’06 and Chris Mira.

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2nd place finish—FAA Regular Season

FAA Post Season Tournament Runner-up #1 Ranking—Western New England Undefeated FAA Regular Season

Field Hockey (9-8-1)

Boys Soccer (8-7-1)

3rd place finish—FAA Regular Season

3rd place finish—FAA Regular Season

FAA Post Season Semi-Finalists

FAA Post Season Tournament Semifinalists

Girls Volleyball (9-6) 5th place finish—FAA Regular Season FAA Post Season Tournament Quarterfinalists

GV Basketball

Senior Girls Leave Mark with Record-Breaking Season The Girls’ Varsity Basketball team (14-9) had one of its most successful seasons to date finishing 6-3 and 3rd in the FAA. After starting the year at 2-4, the team then went on a tremendous run, winning ten of the next eleven games. Highlights of the season included wins over Rye Country Day School, Holy Child, King, St. Luke’s and Convent of the Sacred Heart. The team’s defense was one of the best in the conference and was often noted as “relentless” by their opponents.

The team graduates five seniors, captains Stephanie Garofoli, Jenna Pittleman, Alexa Sullivan and classmates Alex Dudley and Allie Kruk—all leaders in both their words and actions. When asked about the leadership of the team, head coach Jen Doughty commented, “All five seniors encouraged their teammates and came to practice with a positive attitude every day.” There was a “unified energy” on the court. Garofoli commented that this team had the “perfect balance of being focused and having fun.”

Winter Varsity Team Results Wrestling 12th place finish—Canterbury Tournament 9th place finish—Brunswick Invitational

Boys Basketball (13-10) 4th place finish—FAA Regular Season FAA Post Season Quarterfinalists

Girls Basketball (15-9) 3rd place finish—FAA Regular Season FAA Post Season Semifinalists

Girls Squash (4-9) Division IV High School Team National Championships Runner-up 6th place finish—New England Tournament

Boys Squash (2-10) 10th place finish at Division IV High School Sean Obi ’13

Team National Championships 5th place finish—New England Tournament

Nationally ranked Emily Caldwell ’12 was undefeated for GFA at the # 1 spot and won the New England title in Division IV.

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athletics

An interview with Doug Scott, boys’ basketball coach: What is your background?

Seven years ago I co-founded the Fairfield County Basketball League. I also run several boys’ high school summer leagues out of Stamford. I have been coaching basketball for 23 years, and I love to coach, but the ability to also help promising young men get a superior college opportunity boost is incredibly exciting for me. I think there’s no finer college opportunity boost in our area than Greens Farms.

Season highlights?

Well, we were 13-10 overall, and 7-7 in the FAA. We beat Brunswick, a perennial FAA powerhouse twice, and we beat Hopkins for the first time ever.

What defined the team this year?

Over half our players were new to the team, and that was combined with a new coach with completely new schemes. As the Miami Heat, who struggled in their first 17 games while trying to assimilate three of the best players on the planet, will attest, that is a sizable challenge to overcome. We actually lost three of our first four league games in December, but went on to an undefeated January.

Describe Sean Obi and Dan Chase as players and what they accomplished this year Dan Chase has played point guard since he was in kindergarten. Next year, when he attends Colby College, they have told him that he will be their starting point guard for the next four years. But here, I told him that we had another solid point guard in CJ Smith, and that this team needed more scoring punch from the wing. To say that Dan made the switch successfully would be an understatement. According to the CT Post, Dan was the leading scorer in the region at 22.5 points a game.

Not that long ago, Sean Obi was a civil war refugee from Nigeria and now his basketball talent and outstanding work in the classroom have pretty much guaranteed that he will go to a great college. I feel he was the dominant player in the state. He recorded a double-double in all 23 games. Thank God for his host family, Bobbi, Steve and Hunter Eggers for being so generous in opening both their home and their lives to make this wonderful outcome possible.

What do you look forward to next year?

It’s hard to replace one’s best scorer, Dan Chase; best floor general, CJ Smith and best defender, Chris Morency, but I think we have a chance to do it in fine fashion. Sean seems to still be growing, as does our 2011-12 team captain, 6'6" Brien Comey. Hunter Eggers, also a 2011-12 team captain, Christian Papic, Eric Walsh, Will Pavlis, Wills Rooney, Kam Mickens and Dan Hoffman are all returning. The future looks good from here.

Top: CJ Smith. Bottom: Sean Obi, Dan Chase

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Travels in China and Tibet • Mrs. Russell, Kindergarten

continued from page 7

While I traveled through Tibet and China, I attempted to keep two views of Chinese life in my observations. One was my adult political perceptions and the other was what kindergarten children would be interested in--family members, play and toys, family fun, homes, pets, school, clothing and cars. In other words, the kindergarten is interested in the range of existence that they have had exposure to. For purposes of my curriculum, this meant observing ordinary Chinese families neither very rich nor extremely poor.

One example was an overnight in a rural village. The people were comfortable by Chinese standards. The living rooms contained a television set and a water cooler (everybody in China drinks bottled water). Many families kept dogs: corgis, Chihuahuas and poodles sat on the doorsteps with their owners on this hot summer evening. After dinner, I joined all the village families in their town square for dancing and to watch the local teen boys shoot baskets. Everybody stayed up late as it was too hot to sleep. This is the kind of image that lives in my mind as I teach my students about life on the other side of the globe.

Sir Walter Raleigh and King George III • Amy Colbert, Grade Three “Should you reflect on his errors, remember his many virtues and that he was a mortal”. These words are found inside St. Margaret’s Church in London on a plaque commemorating Sir Walter Raleigh. Although I knew he was interred there, finding this plaque was one of many unexpected surprises that occurred on my trip to England this past summer. My travels lead me there to explore the lives of Sir Walter Raleigh, as part of our European Explorers unit, and King George III and his role in the American Revolution as part of our study of Connecticut history.

Since my travels, Social Studies has become one of my favorite parts of the day. In many ways, I no longer teach solely out of a book but from my heart. I have my own stories to tell of the land, the people and their customs. It has become personal for me, and I feel a real connection to the parts of the curriculum where I have seen the terrain firsthand.

Ancient Greece • LaRee Delahunt, Grade Five Massive columns loomed and stretched across the foundations of the Parthenon on the Athens Acropolis. I ignored the 109 degrees and sunbaked stones and stood amazed at the iconic scene before me. Greek history and mythology had come alive, truly three dimensional, as I explored the ancient sites of Athens and several other Greek archaeological sites, museums, and astonishing landscapes and seascapes. I felt a noticeable shift in perspective when I realized that the carved marble columns, statues and ruined structures were sometimes over thirty-five centuries old. The most ancient Euro-American site in the American Northeast is colonial Plymouth, a mere baby by comparison.

My knowledge base has been enlarged, my enthusiasm for teaching Greek history and mythology to my fifth graders is sharpened, and my desire for additional on-site learning has been incited. When I explored the ancient Greek and Roman Agora, spread out in the shadow of the Acropolis, I was imagining the fifth graders in that space. My pictures and experiences have now helped them visualize themselves in the center of an ancient civilized economic, philosophical, and social interaction.

Senegal and Mali • Marion Mapstone, Chair, Foreign Language Department Shortly after arriving at the home of the Ba Diops, who were to be my “family” while I was staying in gloriously vibrant Dakar, I was invited to join three generations on a mat in the courtyard to enjoy our first communal meal. This was my first experience of Téranga, a Wolof word that sums up the warm hospitality of the Sénégalais. Circled around two huge round dishes, we used our hands and pieces of baguette to eat spaghetti with roast chicken and onion sautéed in the most delectable spices. My daily classes in Wolof and Senegalese culture prepared me well for my travels and interactions up and down the coasts where I saw a salt mine, pristine beaches, an animal reserve, the historic slave museum and swathes of red earth populated by the mighty baobab. In every village I was welcomed during the wet season by a riot of color as the beautiful women in their bright pagnes line the road with their stalls piled high with the luscious mango. Overall, my trip left me joyous and grateful. I bring back so much rich material on Francophone Africa to my classes and cannot wait to return to Senegal in June with my students.

Chinese panda, Granaries in Mali, Greek history, GFA dragon in London

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feature

Susan Durkee ’72 moved onto Mark Twain’s property, and then things got interesting…

Susan Durkee, petite and precise, stands at the edge of her yard, pointing to the large stone gates that lead to Mark Twain’s Stormfield residence in Redding. When she talks about Twain chronology—when he moved to Redding, wrote “What is Man?”, started the local library—she speaks so fast that dates, quotes and details shoot out of her mouth like sparks. Then she holds her hands up to the tree-lined driveway, a quarter-of-a-mile long, and says with a sigh, “Walking up this lane is like going back in time. It’s just the way it was when he first saw it, but he couldn’t have known his time here would be so eventful.”

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Durkee, like many residents of Redding, CT, is learning about Mark Twain “backwards.” Much of the record of Twain’s final 18 months was concealed by his daughter, Clara, and biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine. Ken Burns did a Twain documentary in 2002 that barely touched on the final years, but with the recent publication of Volume 1 of Twain’s autobiography, events and relationships that were obscure are growing clearer. Redding residents are beginning to understand the place their town occupies in the Twain legend, especially if they live on actual hallowed ground as Durkee does.

It was over twenty years ago that Durkee bought a house standing on what had once been Twain’s property. She knew the house was nicknamed “the Lobster Pot,” but it wasn’t until she read that Twain himself named it that she began to feel the gravitational pull of his life. Research revealed that Twain had given the original Lobster Pot to his social secretary and late-in-life-companion, Isabel Lyon. It was this Isabel that Twain’s daughter tried to edit out of her father’s story. An essential question for scholars is whether Isabel was a dutiful companion whom Twain treated poorly in the end, or was she a manipulator after Twain’s money and affection. Durkee found photos of Isabel sitting on the patio wall, looking at the same view Durkee sees every day. Her life was beginning to overlap Twain’s.

One hundred years after Twain’s death, Durkee has become a full-blown “Twainiac”—one of those people who falls under the spell of the great orator, comic and writer and can’t stop delving into his life. As Durkee describes it, “It’s a disease. It’s when all things lead to Twain.”

By all accounts, Twain’s extreme need to express himself, lightning wit, narcissism, keen observations and marketing instincts make him endlessly interesting and worthy of study. When the first volume of his autobiography came out last fall, it was a best seller.

The autobiography has only inflamed the passion of Durkee and other Twainiacs. Twain finished the autobiography while at Stormfield, and word has it that the last volume (not yet released) talks about Isabel Lyon and his time in Redding. Scholars now come to the Lobster Pot to see where Isabel Lyon lived, would-be writers drift across the lawn looking to hike on Mark Twain trails, journalists call from other countries to verify their articles. “It’s as if Twain wanted the last part of his life opened up,” Durkee says. “I’m only helping.”

One of the ways Durkee helps is by painting Twain’s portrait. She loved art as far back as her high school years at the Kathleen Laycock School, and has become a portrait artist as an adult. She now works in a studio on the property and has produced nine portraits of Twain that are used in exhibitions, local historical displays and whenever the town decides to celebrate a Twain event.

Note: Durkee is currently at work on a portrait of GFA’s original school founder, Mary Bolton.

For more information about Mark Twain in Redding, visit http://www.historyofredding.com/HRtwain.htm For more information about Durkee’s painting, visit http://www.susandurkee.com/

When Robert Hirst, Official Curator of the Mark Twain Papers at the University of California, Berkeley, visited Redding earlier this year, the essential question about the nature of Isabel Lyon came up. He and Durkee exchanged a few thoughts. Manipulator or respectful companion?

Durkee walks the property, looks at the view, and thinks she just about knows the answer.

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Tech Perspectives feature

b We asked three GFA alums who work in the tech world the following questions: Q # 1. How did you get into the tech field?

Q # 2. What is your current favorite software or hardware that you’re playing with these days?

Q # 3. Do you have a piece of advice for our graduating seniors as they head to college

and careers?

Surprisingly, they answered the last question similarly. Hint: It’s not about technology Othar Hansson ’83 Senior Staff Software Engineer, Google 1. My brothers and I bought an Apple II when I was 12, and I kept working with computers with Ed Denes and some classmates through high school. I got my first real programming job as a senior at Columbia and could finally afford to take taxis.

That experience also sparked my interest in the chaotic fun of entrepreneurship—the company was in several rented apartments on the Upper West Side, and they had to string ethernet cables down the fire escape. I went on to grad school in computer science at UCLA and then Berkeley, continuing to work in startups and research labs the whole time.

2. I’ve been using tablets for a few years, so it’s great to see them becoming more mainstream with the iPad and Xoom and others.

I’m also getting more interested in cameras. Cameras are a surprisingly “closed” technology. Imagine what they’ll be like when you can choose your own software to run directly in the camera.

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3. In addition to technical skills, you need great communication skills to succeed, because nobody develops technology in a vacuum (well, except for technology that’s literally developed in a vacuum). And, if you’re working in software, learn to sketch mockups and build demos. Even a bad sketch is clearer than a page of text.

Joshua Auerbach ’86 Senior Vice President, betaworks studio, LLC 1. In 2000, after a decade in financial services, I was getting bored. I had lunch with a friend who’d sold his company to AOL, and he suggested I work for him there. I joined AOL and have been in tech since then. It’s been an amazing ride.

2. When it comes to hardware and software, I have too many favorites! On the software side, I’m partial to Dropbox (terrific software for synchronizing files across computers) and Tiny Wings (a great iPhone game). On the hardware side, I’m in love with my new MacBook Air (the 13-inch model), which packs an amazing

betaworks amount of computing power into an incredibly small package.

3. My advice is to keep focused on people and products, not on technology itself. More and more, the product that provides the best user experience trumps competing products with better specifications. Real people want products that work well and are a pleasure to use, and care little about the bits-and-bytes-andsilicon that provide that experience. So, as you get smarter about the nuts-and-bolts of technology, make sure you’re also getting wiser about design.

Brian Reich ’96 SVP and Global Editor, Edelman Digital 1. I got into technology completely by accident. My background is in politics—running campaigns, etc. I served as Vice President Gore’s Briefing Director in the White House and during the 2000 Presidential campaign. My job was to manage the information flow to and from the Vice President and the White House staff.

Yahoo! was the dominant search engine at the time, Facebook didn’t exist, AOL was a juggernaut. But my job forced me to find information and feed it to the Vice President and White House staff wherever they were in the world, whenever needed.

I worked twenty plus hours a day (no exaggeration). I worked when the VP worked, and I worked to prepare the VP for working.

Government doesn’t stop. Campaigns don’t stop. Information doesn’t stop. I didn’t stop. So I developed an expertise in, and passion for, understanding how people get and share information

and the influences that technology and the internet were having on behavior and society. After leaving the White House, I started consulting, writing, teaching and speaking about how we could leverage the internet and technology to address serious issues.

2. I don’t have any favorite technologies. I try to use them all.

I work on both PC and Mac. I have a Blackberry and an iPhone.

I think Apple has done a better job creating a user experience that supports innovation and learning and provides the most valuable environment for watching, reading, consuming and understanding information of all kinds. But there are exciting new innovations happening all the time. Every time a new platform or community emerges, whether it’s Twitter, Foursquare, Groupon, or things we haven’t heard of yet, we change a bit. Everything we know, how we learn and organize, how we work, what we expect gets a little update. So I try to look for those trends and shifts, not the tools themselves.

3. It’s not about technology; it’s about how people use it. There will always be new tools, new platforms, new devices—hundreds of them, each with a specific focus, purpose or unique attribute.

But the constant across all those devices are the people who use them. Understand how people get and share information, how they use technology, what help they need in their lives, and that is where you will find the opportunity for doing exciting things, making money, having success and changing the world. Simply build a tool, and you will be obsolete faster than you can program a line of code. Twitter handle: @brianreich

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Homecoming Homecoming 2010 was a day for celebration as GFA inaugurated its new outdoor athletics facilities. Members of the community took to the eight new tennis courts in exhibition matches, while the new dedicated baseball infield played host to a batting clinic with former major leaguer Willie Upshaw. The beautiful weather brought a large crowd to cheer on the dragons and to catch up with friends and faculty.

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1 Alumni soccer players, pre-game: Back row (L to R): Chris Friend ’10, Mathias Mondino ’06, Tomas Botero ’09, Web Shaffer ’83, Dan Shaffer ’81, Jerry Bozentko ’88, Rick Bayuk ’82, Jill Rackett Pengue ’83, Carlos Guzman ’04, Jimmy Bebon ’83 and Dobson Stephanak Front row (L to R): Anthony Law ’82, Deering Rose ’83, Roz Koether Stephanak ’82 and Shane Stephanak 2 Deering Rose ’83, Barbara Rose ’51 and Roz Koether Stephanak ’82 3 Mathias Mondino ’06 and Anthony Law ’82

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4 Marc Powers ’09, Mickey Gallagher ’04, Mike Greenberg and Stew Leonard Jr. 5 Jimmy Bebon ’83 and Anthony Law ’82 6 Francis Herman ’10, Willie Upshaw and Janet Hartwell after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch 7 Francis Herman ’10, Henry Van Zant ’11, Todd Mathewson and Rex Tavello ’11 8 Mickey Gallagher ’04 9 Carlos Guzman ’04 and George Koether ’84

10 Peter Connelly ’05, Jon Matte and Gerard Connelly ’10 11 Nick D’Addario ’04, Adrienne Rudkin ’06 and Heather Ogletree ’05 12 Dan Shaffer ’81, Jackie Reiss Bebon ’84, George Koether ’84, Michael Rintoul ’84 and Rick Bayuk ’82 13 Francis Herman ’10, Tom Bremer ’10, Tommy Ross ’10 and Jon Matte 14 Class of 2010: Tommy Ross, IG Schottlaender, Chris Friend and Drew Rider 15 Jeff Velez ’10, Bridgette Foster ’12 and Priya Gupta ’14

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Chicago GFA hosted its first ever alumni event in Chicago in late October. An enthusiastic group of alumni came together at The Tasting Room to catch up, and we look forward to seeing more Midwest-based alumni at future events.

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1 Brian Stephanak, Peter Rose ’82 and guest, Julie Colhoun ’83

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Young Alumni Panel In early January, four alumni returned to GFA to address the Upper School for the third annual Young Alumni Panel. They discussed their experiences at Brown, Boston College, Whitman

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3 Roz Koether Stephanak ’82, Ekky Kubler ’81 and Steve Backart ’78

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4 Willy Franzen ’02, Amy Gordon, Matt Hintsa ’06, Sheridan Shafer ’86, Eric DeFeo ’07 and Jake Sherin ’08

College and, in one case, taking a gap year between high school and college. The topics discussed included efficient use of free time, deciding on an urban vs. rural campus and taking advantage of the unique opportunities that come your way. A common thread among each panelist’s talk was how well GFA prepared them for their post-graduation pursuits.

Left to right: Ally Norton ’09, Jeff Velez ’10, Ellie Monroe ’10 and Emily Blum ’10

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Thanksgiving Gathering Nearly ninety alumni and guests came together for the annual and lively day-after-Thanksgiving gathering at the Southport Brewing Company.

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Tom Proctor ’05, Frank Bewkes ’06 and Krysta Cihi ’06 Michelle Cole ’01, Maggie Moore ’02 and Laura Foudy Carraway ’01 Kim Cooper Owades ’70, Shelly Silk Wehrly ’71, Susan Ball ’71 and Judith Chapman Proctor ’70 Bernadette Jamison ’06, Joe Weitzer ’05, Alex Perry ’06, Anni Satinover ’06, Natalie Birinyi ’06 and Anna Birinyi ’09 Peter Hellwig, Sharlia Gilman, Les Gilman ’81, Peter Rose ’82, Barbara Hellwig Rose ’51 and guest Charlie Proctor ’10, Chris Martin, Gordon Thompson ’08 and Jake Sherin ’08

7 David Temple ’01, Michael Silberman ’98 and Nikhil Ramchandani ’95 8 Adam Davies ’03, Krysta Cihi ’06, Frank Bewkes ’06, Willie Miesmer ’03 and Egan Frantz ’05 9 Adam Davies ’03, Krysta Cihi ’06 and Frank Bewkes ’06 10 Amy Gordon, Willy Franzen ’02 and Nick Heasman ’02 11 Katie Flynn ’05, Ed Denes and Jill Greiner ’05 12 Erin Pulice ’01, North Shutsharawan ’01, Laura Foudy Carraway ’01 and Michelle Cole ’01 13 Lynne Laukhuf and Amanda Glendinning ’01

14 Doug Markey ’03, Marshall Wheeler ’03 and Christian Wakeman ’03 15 Class of 2005: Jill Greiner, Joe Weitzer, Tom Proctor and Katie Flynn 16 Libby Parks ’04, Natalie Birinyi ’06, Anna Birinyi ’09 and Julie Petropoulos ’07 17 Chase Barrette ’05 and Alex Perry ’06 18 Class of 2004: Chris Howard, Libby Parks, Ben Parsons and Sarah Satinover 19 Hunter Siegel ’06, Sam Parsons ’06, Carlos Guzman ’04 and Matt Garofalo ’05

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20 Eric DeFeo ’07, Ed Denes, Ricky Woodward ’07 and Justin O’Neill ’07 21 Class of 2005: Chase Barrette, Anna Kharaz and Joe Weitzer 22 Egan Frantz ’05, guest and Richard Del Bello ’02 23 Alex Perry ’06, Jack Conroy ’06, Luca Soncini ’06 (former exchange student), Katrina Franzen ’05 and Willy Franzen ’02 24 Alex Perry ’06, Jack Conroy ’06 and Dave Perry

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Births 1 Karen Park ’88 and partner Lisa welcomed a girl, Lilian (Lil) Gael Park, on December 2, 2010.

2 Sarah Morrison Kleinhandler ’90 and husband Aaron welcomed a girl, Lila Rose Kleinhandler, on October 9, 2010.

3 Cate Ellison Mills ’95 and her husband welcomed a boy, Finn William Mills, on June 2, 2010.

4 Erica Atkinson Applestein ’95 and husband Ben welcomed a boy, Bradford Boyd Applestein, on February 27, 2011.

5 Katie Rudkin McMullan ’97 and husband William welcomed a boy, William (Wills) Holt McMullan III, on January 27, 2011.

6 Patric Glassell ’00 and wife Caroline welcomed a girl, Isabella Glassell, on October 31, 2010.

7 Alexa (Weeks) Pessoa ’02 and husband Rodrigo welcomed a girl, Sophia Olivia Pessoa, on January 10, 2011.

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Marriages

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Donna (Garneau) Campbell ’66 and Scott Lister Chapin on November 17, 2010 in Del Mar, CA Gillian Scouler ’93 and Adrien Weindling on February 13, 2010 in New York, NY Gina Luciano ’98 and Dr. Harry Levere Hoar, III in July 2010 in Westport, CT John Collins ’02 and Laurie Riester on October 2, 2010 in Buffalo, NY Julia Mandeville ’02 and Alex Curtas on July 14, 2010 in Taos, NM Alexa Weeks ’02 and Rodrigo Pessoa in September 2009 in Southport, CT

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Please contact Greens Farms Academy to notify us of any change in address or if this issue is addressed to your son or daughter and they no longer maintain a permanent residence in your home.

INCLUDE OLD AND NEW ADDRESSES.

GFA students on their way to Ecuador for Spring break with Builders Beyond Borders

Greens Farms Academy

35 Beachside Avenue, PO Box 998 Greens Farms, CT 06838-0998 T. 203.256.0717 F. 203.256.7501

Email. alumni@gfacademy.org

www.gfacademy.org Address Service Requested

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