Connections Spring 2015 by Greenwich Academy

T HE CONNE CTIONS MAG AZINE OF

GREENWICH ACADEMY SP R ING 2015

Kickstarting Innovation Teacher grants bring new concepts to GA page 10 >>

IN THIS ISSUE

09 MBAx CEO Inspires Casey Gerald shares his personal story of overcoming tough odds on the road to success

16 Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Leadership in the 21st Century MakerBot CEO Jenny Lawton headlines the fifth annual GA Symposium

22 Broadway Magic US musical Pippin casts a spell on audiences

30 The Great Escape New yoga studio provides a respite for students

SPRING 2015

IN THIS ISSUE

Middle School Girls Take a Moment Wednesday Advisory Moment (WAM) unifies students and teachers in fun and different ways

Faculty Profile Upper School film teacher Sean Lahey shares the path that led him to GA and a surprising, little-known fact

It IS Rocket Science Innovation Grant adds engineering to Lower School science curriculum

Being Mindful How mindfulness techniques and movement provide essential “brain breaks” for Lower School girls

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OUTLOOK

FROM THE ARCHIVES 20 || Looking Back Exploring the rich traditions

02 || From the Head of School Molly King discusses how developing

of Charter Day

confident girls and young women is an explicit goal for GA faculty and staff

MS Girls Immerse Themselves in Wampanoag Culture A two-day project immerses the students in the lives and culture of New England’s indigenous peoples

he Latest News from T On and Off Campus Including visits by author Wendy Mass

Exploring how the new fitness center is giving Gators an edge on and off the field

enowned Author Chimamanda R Adichie Enthralls US Audience Ms. Adichie discusses her best-selling

popular with novice and experienced student spinners

24 || Winterfest GA dance showcase features student choreography as well as Strategies for a Shifting Landscape by guest choreographer Becky Radway

26 || Luchsinger Gallery Visiting Artist Artist Claire Corey displays her work and teaches Group III classes

book, Americanah, which was the US summer read

cross country, field hockey, and volleyball.

ARTS

and author and journalist Claire Shipman

Building Better Athletes

28 || S ports Roundup Fall sports highlights including soccer, 33 || US Students Take a Spin The new spinning studio proves

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ATHLETICS

Fall 2014 Athletic Awards

ALUMNAE 36 || Class Notes The latest news from our GA family 40 || Milestones Weddings and new arrivals

ongressman Himes C Discusses Political Process The representative for Connecticut’s 4th

Alumnae Profile

Amanda Fuller ’05 launches RootedNY, a company that brings consumers closer to their food sources

District discusses the roots of democracy and stresses the importance of voting

Events

Including the Alumnae Care Package Event, Networking Forum, and STEM Alumnae Panel

Connections Magazine of Greenwich Academy Editor ASHA MARSH Associate Editor SARA FLUDD Alumnae Editors MEGAN TYRE ’88 JOCELYN SHERMAN-AVIDAN ’96

Sports Editor MARTHA BROUSSEAU Design TAYLOR DESIGN Photographers SARA FLUDD DON HAMERMAN LEE MAYFIELD CLAUDIA CHIMALE GREG RAYMOND

Connections Magazine is published twice a year by the Communications Office. In compiling this magazine, every effort has been made to ensure that it is accurate and complete. Please advise the Communications Office at 203.625.8926 if there are any errors or omissions. Note: All group designations and faculty titles represent the 2014-2015 academic year.

To minimize the impact on the environment, this piece was printed on paper made with 100% post-consumer water fiber processed chlorine free, manufactured with non-polluting, renewable, wind-generated electricity and certified by FSC, Green Seal and Green-e. Renewable vegetable-based inks with low VOC and low heavy metal content were used.

On the covers: Photography by Don Hamerman Pictured on the front: Left to right: Darren Drittel, Kate Connors, Paige Harty Correction

On p. 39 of the Fall 2014 issue of Connections, Chapin Ruffa was misspelled in the Athletic Awards section.

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OUTLOOK

FRO M MOLLY KING, HEAD OF SCHOOL

OUTLOOK Instilling Confidence

“ What we know is that the correlation is high between how girls feel about themselves and the extent to which they achieve. Confidence is the key connector.”

A few years ago, while visiting a good friend who is the head of a top coed school, we shared our worries as well as our goals for our students. I told him that my biggest worry was synonymous with my biggest goal—namely, that I wanted GA girls to be confident enough to be the best version of themselves both on and off campus. I worried about the negative impact on their mental and physical well-being when they fell short of their goals. I talked about how we tried to approach this as an all-girls school, conscious of the criticism that a single-sex environment does not teach them to operate in a coed setting. He surprised me when he said, “We deal with it, too. The girls rule the school from 7:45 AM on Monday until 5:00 PM Friday, and then they cede too much power to the boys over the weekend.” We agreed that boys, too, have academic and non-academic personas and pressures, and that helping girls and boys to reconcile these discrepant identities is the shared goal of school leaders. While I wouldn’t have characterized my concerns in such stark terms, I found my friend’s comments to be useful and carried the conversation back to my colleagues at GA. What we know is that the correlation is high between how girls feel about themselves and the extent to which they achieve. Confidence is the key connector. Increasing the confidence of the GA girls has been an explicit goal and led to our stated theme of

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“confidence” for this school year. As a community, we read The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of SelfAssurance—What Women Should Know by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. As a faculty, we discussed the research in the book that points to different ways to generate and define confidence, including: • “Do More, Think Less,” a key chapter in the book that directs girls and women not to overthink before they act or speak, as doing so can make one risk-averse. In addition, girls and women need to let go of rumination and self-criticism after they think or speak as it undermines resiliency and the ability to reestablish positive momentum. • Identify and foster optimal conditions for confidence, including its “cousins”—self-esteem, optimism, self-compassion, and self-efficacy. I was struck, in particular, by Kay and Shipman’s focus on optimism, capturing its importance in a quote from Winston Churchill when speaking to how we interpret our experiences. He said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

We were so fortunate to have Claire Shipman visit GA, speaking to faculty and parents this winter. An award-winning journalist, wife, and mother of a son and daughter, Ms. Shipman is a compelling role model. During her comments in Massey Theater, she spoke eloquently and transparently to our shared goal of helping girls and women feel more confident, so they can help shift the dominant paradigm in business and many other arenas to benefit from female voices and expertise. Additional resources and important contributions to our work this year at GA include our active membership in the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools. Visit their site at ncgs.org to learn about the many important initiatives being undertaken at GA and other top girls’ schools around the country. Also, be sure to read Women at Work, a recent series in the op-ed section of the New York Times by Wharton professor

Adam Grant and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. These articles are well worth reading as they underscore the importance of confidence in the workplace, point to ways that women can more effectively self-advocate, and suggest how employers can refine practices to maximize the talents and skills of all their workers.

m Avery Slayton (Sally Ride),

Phoebe Wise (Dr. Mae Jemison), Head of School Molly King, Sara Raghavan (Mia Hamm), and Amanda Park (Shawn Johnson) at the Group IV Wax Museum. This culminating event celebrates the girls’ research about the lives of famous women.

As educators, parents, alumnae, and advocates for girls and women, let’s pledge to keep this conversation going. Please share your thoughts and ideas so that GA can employ best practices in developing confident girls and young women who can, indeed, become the best version of themselves. Onward! v

Molly King, Head of School

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NOTEWORTHY

NEWS FROM ON & OFF CAMPUS

NOTEWORTHY Claire Shipman Brings Confidence Code to GA

Head of School Molly King and Confidence Code author Claire Shipman

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By Sara Fludd

Confidence, the theme for the 2014-15 school year, was also the topic of the annual Parent Program event. Shedding light on this subject was Claire Shipman, co-author of The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance— What Women Should Know. Opening her address, Ms. Shipman quipped that if the Three Wise Men had been Three Wise Women, they would have been on time and they would have brought useful gifts like diapers. She continued this thread, likening the Christmas story to a job description that would require navigational ability, knowledge of Middle Eastern politics and culture, and childcare experience. If a man saw this imaginary job description and had a GPS, a bottle of spirits, and had changed a diaper once, he would absolutely apply for the job. A woman, on the other hand, perhaps with advanced education in geography, the ability to speak Arabic, and significant infant experience, might see the same description and consider herself unqualified. “That, in a nutshell, explains what’s going on with the confidence gap,” said Ms. Shipman, who went on to reference a Hewlett-Packard study that examined why more women weren’t in top management positions. “Women will apply when we have 100% of the skills—when we can tick everything off the list. Men will take that risk at 60%. This affects not only jobs, but also promotions. We [women] constantly judge ourselves as not ready, not quite there.”

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“ Girls are not learning to fail and not learning to take risks. They are doing so well in school, but not being trained in a way that works for real life.” When Ms. Shipman and co-author Katty Kay researched Confidence Code, they “began thinking about why there are so many successful girls and young women graduating from school [who] transition into careers where suddenly their confidence crashes. They are not achieving as they should and they are not as successful as they could be.”

Quoting Mindset author Carol Dweck, Ms. Shipman said, “If life were one long grade school, women would rule the world.” She went on to explain, “From a very early age girls sit quietly, color in the lines, please everyone, and we reward them for that. Girls pick up that they are valued for being people pleasers and perfectionists.” She then described boys who are more prone to roughhousing, breaking things, and not following the class rules. Boys, she said, are learning the true life lessons—to fail, recover, and move on. “Girls are not learning to fail and not learning to take risks. They are doing so well in school, but not being trained in a way that works for real life.” Ms. Shipman then shared some lessons and methods for building confidence in young girls. 

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Embrace Failure Embrace the notion of failing fast. The world is moving too quickly for anyone to spend a year perfecting a prototype. If you are not failing in some way, you’re not learning and you’re not succeeding. The best thing you can do for your kids is to model that for them. Think about your own confidence and how you’re dealing with situations. Narrating your own experiences can be so valuable for them.

Stop Ruminating Women and girls are really good at thinking. We can think and think and think, and we overthink into analysis paralysis. Very often there is a gap between the thinking and action—and sometimes the action never comes. Don’t ruminate—rewire. Stop the obsessive rumination swirl that goes on in our minds. When you have these moments, and you know you do, all you have to do is think of an alternative explanation. Any explanation will do. It doesn’t even have to be a reasonable explanation.

Participate in Sports Athletics and competitive sports are so valuable for confidence building in girls. Athletes lose consistently and struggle consistently in a regular way. Athletics taps into a girl’s natural passion to help others (the team) and taps into a natural source of confidence.

Wendy Mass

Author Sheds Light on Writing Process Author Wendy Mass was a model of resilience when she visited Greenwich Academy—during her presentations at Lower and Middle School assemblies, she had two students join her on stage to display a laminated roll of the 49 rejection letters she received from publishers for her first novel, A Mango-Shaped Space. The 50th time was the charm for Ms. Mass, who has since authored 14 more novels for young people. “Each time I received a rejection letter in the mail,” she said, “I had another copy of my manuscript ready to mail out to the next publisher.” Her journey to becoming a writer began as a child when she read Harriet the Spy—the first book she’d ever read about a girl who wanted to be a writer. Modeling

herself after the main character, Ms. Mass began carrying a journal and taking note of her experiences. The creative process was discussed at length as Ms. Mass explained that “all stories come from three places—your experiences, your observations, and your imagination. Every author uses bits and pieces of themselves in their writing.” For example, as a young child, Ms. Mass wanted to be an astronaut, so as an author, she’s written several extraterrestrial novels, including Every Soul A Star and Pie in the Sky. Once she’s selected a topic for a book, the next step is research. Here Ms. Mass revealed an insider secret—the For Dummies series of books is a fantastic way to begin understanding a broad array of topics (including two she has used featuring astronomy and candy making). Another trick of the trade that she revealed was her character “interview” process. As she develops the characters for her novels, she performs a mock interview that enables her to build rich, multidimensional personalities. At the conclusion of the presentation, the girls were eager to ask questions about everything from what it was like to have her book, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, turned into a movie, to how she chooses the names of her characters. After such an engaging and informative assembly, the girls were ready to take on school-year writing projects with renewed enthusiasm. v

QUICK TAKES

ALUMNA TAKES OFFICE Election Day took on special meaning for the GA community as former School President Caroline Simmons ’04 ran for and won her race for Connecticut State Representative in the 144th district of Stamford. In the run-up to the election, Caroline graciously took time out of her busy schedule to visit GA and discuss her campaign as well as her experiences as a woman in politics.

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INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE MISSION FOUNDER VISITS AT GA

UPPER SCHOOL IS GREEN & CLEAN

AUTHOR SHARES PICTURE BOOK MAGIC

GA’s Upper School recently hosted visitors from the International Justice Mission (IJM), a global organization working to end slavery worldwide. Two classes of students and the Global Scholars met with Brian Cress, IJM’s director of youth mobilization, to hear how IJM rescues and helps restore the lives of victims. Several students also attended an evening event at GA featuring Gary Haugen, founder and president of IJM.

The Upper School’s new ionization system maintains clean, healthy air in the building while also reducing energy usage. Traditionally, building ventilation systems draw in a steady stream of outside air that must be heated or cooled to an ambient temperature. With the new unit installed last summer, clean air can be maintained without large volumes of air transfer, significantly reducing the energy required to heat and cool the air.

Jarrett Krosoczka, author of picture book favorites including Peanut Butter and Jellyfish, discussed his path to becoming a published author with the Lower School girls. The students were delighted to see the progression of Mr. Krosoczka’s works, starting with those first stories written in pencil and illustrated with crayon drawings, to the comics he created in his teen years, to the stories illustrated with vibrant paintings on store shelves today.

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NOTEWORTHY

Adichie Talks Identity, Love, and Writing with Authenticity

Middle School Memories Made by the Moment

By Sara Fludd

Lexi Handrinos, Madison Farello, Tessa Brooks, Evelyn Barringer, Maddy Singleton

Middle School Advisory meetings are joyous places. Girls, usually in small groups, can be found chatting, playing games, or often taking a moment to talk to their teachers about “fun” things—unrelated to school. But on selected Wednesdays during the school year, the entire Middle School takes a moment to work separately, as one. The Wednesday Advisory Moment, affectionately called WAM, began last year and has blossomed into a division-wide activity that unifies the community. Middle School Assistant Head Nina Hanlon developed the program based on feedback from the first Digital Detox week held during the 2012-13 school year. “It was an entire week where the kids weren’t using electronics, so we created these activities,” she explained. “The response was so positive we opted to expand it into a yearlong

community building project.” Beginning last year, Mrs. Hanlon created WAMs for each weekly advisory. “The SLC [Student Leadership Council] helped us put together packages with all the materials and instructions and distributed them to the advisories,” she said. Of the inaugural WAM year, Mrs. Hanlon said, “It was fun, but a little overwhelming, so we solicited feedback from the faculty. We felt that every week was a bit too much, because it didn’t allow us to talk about the activities and reflect on them before moving to the next one.” Also, in the first year, WAMs were mostly engineering based, and the feedback indicated that the girls wanted this space to be used for a less structured activity. So this year, WAM is held twice a month and it includes a mix of games, riddles, challenges, and

advisory mixers. There are more prizes, some candy, and—most of all—it gives the students a “moment” to be silly with their schoolmates, which is the goal. “We didn’t want it to feel like school,” Mrs. Hanlon explained. “It’s a nice break for creativity, play, and advisory bonding. Our time is so structured that downtime to play with your advisory makes a huge difference, and since the entire Middle School participates in WAM at the same time, it is building a sense of unity and advisory pride.” Science teacher Mary Stranghoener says her advisory enjoys WAMs because each one is an exciting surprise and because they nurture a spirit of friendly competition. “You open the box, empty out the strange contents, and then start to make sense of it all as you read the instructions,” Ms. Stranghoener described. “Each activity is new and different, but the general structure stays consistent. The familiarity of WAMs also creates a safe environment where girls push themselves out of their comfort zones, which strengthens the relationship of the advisory as a whole.” Head of Middle School Becky Walker added, “WAMs are truly a high point for our Middle School girls and their advisories. These creative, engaging, and sometimes very entertaining activities lead to many meaningful advisory moments.” v

Americanah, GA’s 2014 Upper School summer read, is a love story, a narrative of feminism in the 21st century, and an honest look at race in America. As English Department Chair Edwina Foster explained, this novel by Chimamanda Adichie was chosen for these very reasons. “It’s a great read, both challenging and engaging, and it’s packed full of ideas about race and gender we thought the girls would enjoy wrestling with.” Ms. Adichie’s novel, which was recognized as one of the New York Times’ five best books of the year in 2013, tells the story of Ifemelu, an intelligent and self-assured young woman born

and raised in Nigeria who emigrates to the U.S. as a college student. In her move to America, she leaves behind her love, Obinze, with the promise that they will soon be together. Things don’t go as planned, and Ifemelu finds herself struggling with the challenges of being black in America, of being an immigrant, of having to find a way to support herself, and always of having left Obinze behind. When Ms. Adichie visited Greenwich Academy in September, she shared her Chimamanda Adichie and Jadesola Ariyibi

“ It’s a great read, both challenging and engaging, and it’s packed full of ideas about race and gender we thought the girls would enjoy wrestling with.” - Edwina Foster, Chair, English Department

perspective on what it takes to be able to write with authenticity. She explained that Americanah takes place in cities where she had lived because she felt she could write about those locations with authority. She also advised aspiring writers to read all kinds of books—different types of fiction and nonfiction of all sorts (history, politics, biographies, etc.) so that they understand the world from all perspectives and more believably reflect the complexity of the real world in their writing. The girls had many questions for Ms. Adichie, ranging from inquiries about favorite authors (too many to list them all) to why she included certain “annoying” characters in her story. Here again, she offered sage advice for would-be writers, saying, “For characters in literature, being likeable is fine, but being interesting is what’s important.” Americanah was selected as the allUpper School read in part because the English Department wanted to choose a young writer that the girls could continue to follow as her work evolves. You can be certain that Ms. Adichie left a lasting mark on the GA girls and that they will be tracking her progress for years to come. v

Lulu Berner, Clarissa Gillis, Sadie Smith, Rashelle Ibrahim, Chimamanda Adichie, Lizzie Carrier, Paulina Swigart, Eastlyn Frankel, Katherine Dawson.

m (l to r) Julia Freedman, Samantha Cannon, Olivia Jonokuchi, Georgia Gallagher

QUICK TAKES

AN HOUR OF CODE AND THEN SOME

The Hour of Code

During Computer Science Education Week, GA students of all ages took part in the Hour of Code initiative. The purpose of this national campaign is to expose students to computer programming for at least an hour. GA girls, however, spend far more than an hour per year learning to code. In fact, GA continues to make sizeable investments

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in this aspect of the school’s curriculum. So whether they were using Lightbot in the Lower School, experimenting with Python in the Middle School, or getting together for a Coding Club meeting in the Upper School, this week was an opportunity to celebrate and recognize the growing skill base and interest in coding among GA girls.

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NOTEWORTHY

MBAx CEO Brings Inspiration to Upper School

Himes Discusses Political Process

“ I’m not telling you how to vote. Vote Democrat. Vote Republican. Just vote!”

A few days before Election Day 2014, Upper School students received a lesson in civics—from their congressman. Jim Himes, representative for Connecticut’s 4th District, spoke at an Upper School assembly about his responsibilities as a “representative of the people” and why he’s optimistic about America’s political process. Mr. Himes has been a member of the House of Representatives since January 2009, winning the November 2008 election when the U.S. economy was in crisis. Today, he serves on both the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The congressman discussed how the twoyear terms for House members were brilliantly designed by our country’s Founding Fathers “to respond to the momentary will of the people. It is a system that worked well during the 2008/2009 economic crisis,” he said, “even though there’s still a great deal of dysfunction [in the system].” He went on to explain that his optimism about our system of democracy is rooted in the fact that, even in our most challenging moments, our nation is able to handle conflict and dissatisfaction through the political process, versus the sometimes violent transitions we see in other countries. Reflecting on his own approach, he said, “I’m not a partisan warrior. I didn’t grow up in politics.” His corporate and nonprofit experience makes him more inclined to try to broker a deal than to stand firm on a position without any room for compromise.

Congressman Jim Himes

Mr. Himes also touched on the things that keep him busy as a representative. He spends a lot of time talking to his constituents and those who represent the issues that affect them, whether they’re teachers, unions or financial services organizations. His work on the Intelligence and Financial Services committees is also paramount. And while people assume congressional representatives spend a lot of time on the floor of the House, they actually spend more time writing the bills debated on the floor, often in committee. When Mr. Himes opened the floor to questions, the girls asked about his thoughts on gun control, containing the spread of Ebola, reenergizing the economies of cities like Bridgeport, and much more. For many of the red-shirted seniors in the audience, Election Day 2014 was their first opportunity to participate in the electoral process, and Mr. Himes urged them to vote. “I’m not telling you how to vote,” he said. “Vote Democrat. Vote Republican. Just vote!” v

As guest speaker Casey Gerald explained his governor Bill Clinton, and became a Rhodes career and life choices, it was apparent that his Scholar. But in a cruel twist of fate, he died at past failures are inextricably linked to his current age 21 in a car accident a few months before success. Since graduating from Harvard Business graduation. School (HBS) last spring, Mr. Gerald has been That story had a profound effect on Mr. leading MBAs Across America, the nonprofit he Gerald, crystallizing for him that life is fleeting and founded with three HBS classmates. that he needed to let go of fear: “‘What would I MBAs Across do if I wasn’t afraid?’ I asked myself.” He decided America, or MBAx for to apply for the Rhodes Scholarship and made short, was founded it to the final interview on the day before the on the belief that the biggest football game of the year, Yale vs. Harvard. future of the nation is Yale lost the football game and he didn’t get the inextricably linked to the scholarship. “But a funny thing happened in this fortunes of America’s first moment of failure,” he said.“. . . I got an email entrepreneurs—and not from Rick Levin, the president of Yale at the time, just those living in Silicon Valley or New York City. saying, ‘I know you must be very disappointed To that end, MBAx sends teams of MBA students right now, but I just wanted to welcome you to the to travel the country in search of entrepreneurs club of the failed Rhodes Scholar Finalists.’ It was who could benefit from their perspective and a profound message that I have taken with me skills. They focus on cities that do not have a since then, that I hope to leave with you. I thought well-developed network and support system for all that time, for nearly 22 years, that failure entrepreneurs. would be the death of me, that failure would be Mr. Gerald’s speech, however, focused less the end of all the praise that I have built up over on his work as CEO of MBAx and more on what the years, but that failure was the beginning of the you can accomplish if you’re not afraid to fail. life I now live.” Growing up in Dallas, Texas, with parents who A few years later, when Mr. Gerald arrived struggled with drug addiction and mental illness, at HBS, this valuable lesson gave him the courage he had to overcome a great deal to make it to and confidence to start MBAx. He explained, Yale University, where he also played football. “This idea for MBAx was not an idea about the Yet, upon hearing the tragic story of Roosevelt future of an organization; it was an idea about Thompson, Mr. Gerald realized there was so the future of our lives.” He went on to pose to much more that he could do. the girls, “What are folks in our generation, like Young Roosevelt was a legend on the Yale you, who have had extraordinary opportunities, campus—he played football, maintained stellar extraordinary educations, what are we going to do grades, set up a tutoring program for children to solve the biggest challenges we’re going to face in New Haven, interned at the office of then in our lifetimes? If you have young people inspired,

not just to make a buck, but to make a difference, then perhaps this little thing called the American Dream, which today seems very much in peril, might just survive.” Following his address at the Upper School assembly, Mr. Gerald spoke to students in the AP Economics and Financial Responsibility and Philanthropy classes. Senior Kayla Johnson said Mr. Gerald’s message was incredibly powerful.

“ If you have young people inspired, not just to make a buck, but to make a difference, then perhaps this little thing called the American Dream, which today seems very much in peril, might just survive.” “Although he is such a large figure in social entrepreneurship, our class was surprised that throughout our conversation he wanted to know more about what we were doing rather than talk about his many accomplishments, and there were plenty. A powerful point that he made is that our generation is made up of people who will not just put a band-aid over problems, but will fix them from the source. We just need to find a way to solve the problems. His words of wisdom and inspiration have impacted our class and most likely the entire Upper School since his visit.” v

p Head of School Molly King, MBAx CEO Casey Gerald, School President Jubilee Johnson, Head of Upper School Tom Sullivan

QUICK TAKES

UPPER SCHOOLERS ATTEND DODGE POETRY FESTIVAL Last fall, 12 GA students, accompanied by English teachers Kent Motland and Nellie Pitoniak, attended the biennial Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, NJ. The festival, founded in 1986, is the largest poetry event in North America, and over the four-day span draws an audience of 140,000. This year the festival featured 70 renowned artists including National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winners. English teacher Jeff Schwartz, who has attended for the past 20 years, has dubbed the event “Woodstock for Poetry.”

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KICKSTARTING

INNOVATION By Associate Head of School Mark Feiner

All of these students were doing new projects in their classes last spring or fall, projects GA students hadn’t previously completed in those classes, because their teachers had won innovation grants in 2013 or 2014. The grants exist to support teachers in their efforts to redesign an element of curriculum with an emphasis on fostering student innovation, experiential learning, and/or creative problem solving, and they have been an extraordinary success. In truth, GA teachers don’t need an incentive to innovate. It’s the nature of this faculty always to be examining their pedagogy, exploring best practices, and reimagining how they might inspire student learning that is even deeper than it currently is. But what these

grants have done is unify the faculty’s focus on the principles mentioned above. We all know that when learning feels like real living, when it is alive and experiential and students feel ownership over how they’re learning the concepts they need to learn, they immerse themselves more fully and feel more committed to their own education. The grants at GA have supported teachers in their development of projects with these goals, and they have shown the students that even teachers who are experts in their fields are constantly learning and trying new things. At Greenwich Academy, innovation is an evolutionary given. We do not change in order to chase flashy new trends but to refine that which we know works for our students. In 2014, Caroline

Elwell, Abbe Karmen, and Gail Sestito teamed up with the whole Group VII team to develop an interdisciplinary project that turned the GA campus into a Wampanoag community for two days; Sean Lahey developed a project that has empowered his film students to use their phones to capture images and moments they might otherwise have missed; and Doug Rendell has reimagined the curricula in Groups I-IV so that GA students will begin to build the skills of engineers in some of their earliest science classes. These innovation grants help honor and support all GA teachers in their efforts to ensure that Greenwich Academy students will always have access to the best education the world has to offer.

Learning by doing is a fundamental tenet of Doug Rendell’s Lower School science classes. Whether they are learning about plants in Group I or forensics in Group IV, the girls test the veracity of the principles taught through hands-on experiments and projects. Through this process, the Lower School girls build both their knowledge and interest in science. In recent years, Mr. Rendell has seen the need for expansion of the curriculum, explaining, “The students I see in the Lower School will most likely be working in jobs that do not exist today, so it is important that we teach them to be innovators and creators who can evolve as the skill sets needed to be successful in the workforce continue to change.” With this in mind, Mr. Rendell applied for an innovation grant to add an engineering unit to the LS science curriculum at each grade level. The models for teaching engineering and pure science units are different, according to Mr. Rendell, who also co-heads GA’s robotics program. “Through the science units, the girls learn to make a hypothesis and then make observations that either confirm or disprove the hypothesis. While the science units are concept-based, the engineering units are process-based. For the latter, we use the Engineering is Elementary Model 1

developed by the Boston Museum of Science: Ask ∑ Imagine ∑ Plan ∑ Create ∑ Improve ∑ Ask . . . The process is iterative.” Each new engineering unit has been designed to piggyback on an existing science unit. Group I students who have already studied weather, including air and wind, designed and constructed their own parachutes, testing different canopy materials, lengths for their suspension lines, and payloads. After learning about simple machines, Group II designed and built their own mechanized playground equipment using the LEGO WeDo introductory robotics construction kits. Group III students extended their study of the solar system by building rockets that could be used with a Stomp Rocket base. They varied the length, width, and material of their rockets with the goal of increasing distance traveled. This spring,

after learning about the movement of the earth’s plates and earthquakes, Group IV girls will build earthquake-proof houses. In an effort to get the girls thinking differently, Mr. Rendell has also changed the setting for the engineering units. Rather than taking place in his Lower School science classroom, the girls are designing and building their creations in the Engineering and Design Lab. He explained, “I wanted to set a precedent for the girls. I want them to be comfortable in this space and to understand that it is a place for brainstorming, creating, risk-taking, and testing and improving their own ideas.” Group III student Andrea Nystedt said of the rocket design experience, “What I really liked was that there was a lot of creativity put into it. I learned that if it doesn’t work the first time . . . you probably need to make lots of adjustments. They might not be 2 things you want to do but are things you need to do to make your rocket go to those places.” “There isn’t always one right answer in the engineering process,” said Mr. Rendell. “During the rocket project, one of the girls asked me what would happen if her group couldn’t get their rocket to the designated planet. That led to a great discussion about engineers learning by doing, and that even when you don’t achieve your goal, there’s something to be learned. That’s certainly a lesson that will be valuable to the girls now and in the future.” v 1 Lila Schaftel and Ruby Montanez 2G racie Burraway, Arielle Burrows and Libby Nook

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

INNOVATION GRANTS

None of the students in the Group X chemistry classes had any idea they were the beneficiaries of a Greenwich Academy innovation grant. Likewise for the Group VII girls who found themselves cooking over fire pits and building a Wampanoag shelter, or for the Lower Schoolers studying the principles of engineering in their science classes.

To Infinity and Beyond

Experiencing Time-Honored Traditions By Sarah Stapleton

For two days last fall, a wispy column of smoke could be seen rising from a corner of the playground. The smoke came from a campfire that the Group VII girls were using to roast corn and cook traditional Wampanoag meals. While some maintained the fire, others wove mats, told stories in a group setting, and worked on the construction of a Wampanoag dwelling.

Evelyn Barringer, Natalie Walsh, and Rachel Ong

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rotated through the different activities, learning about the time and effort required to complete each task, how these skills are passed on from one person to another, and how working on these activities in a group would help foster a tightknit community. Even students who know each other well learned something new about their friends during the process, especially when participating in the oral tradition of Katharine Glassmeyer and MS math teacher Megan Manyuru storytelling. English teacher Mrs. Elwell were also gratified to hear that the girls were remarked that the girls “told amazing stories, having conversations at home about native ranging from Holocaust survivor stories to ‘my peoples and culturally sensitive debates relative was Alexander Hamilton’ to ‘my father about the appropriateness of team names and hid 100 caterpillars in the back of his car.’” the wearing of Native American costumes. At the end of the project, “We had a couple Afterwards, the Group VII students continued of girls saying, ‘We did that whole thing. We to address the issues and activities related cooked and we built and we wove and we wrote. to their project, including a history writing I’m really proud of myself,’” said Mrs. Sestito. assignment that requires the girls to explain Dr. Karmen added, “The cultural sensitivities the project to others in a way that continues and awareness of the girls were seriously to respect the Wampanoag people. v heightened by this experience.” The teachers G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

INNOVATION GRANTS

INNOVATION GRANTS m Christina Maldonado,

This immersion experience in the Wampanoag culture was the result of an innovation grant awarded to Group VII teachers Caroline Elwell, Abbe Karmen, and Gail Sestito. The award was initially made in support of their work to establish a curricular unit centered on the construction of a wetu, a dwelling of the native peoples of New England. Through the months-long planning process, the project was expanded to include a host of other interdisciplinary activities, turning classroom experiences into hands-on lessons. As in previous years, the Group VII students learned about the indigenous peoples of the Americas both in class and during an overnight trip to Boston and Plimoth Plantation. The newly developed on-campus experience then provided a hands-on capstone project for the girls. Preparations included the construction of model wetus in science, the gathering of “origins stories” from home for English, and frank conversations about what the term “Indian” means in history. The visit to Plimoth Plantation focused on the upcoming project, with the students spending the day on the Wampanoag home site with the site’s educators, who are all of indigenous descent. They covered topics including house building, pottery, storytelling, and gender roles. Dr. Karmen pointed out that “usually they [the staff of the Wampanoag Indigenous Project] feel uncomfortable with non-native groups replicating any part of the indigenous culture. However, because of the degree of planning and preparation that we had done, they were willing to help us.” Upon their return, the girls launched into the experience, fully immersing themselves in the daily lives of native New England peoples. They

FACULTY PROFILE

Sean Lahey

(AND IN FRONT OF)

By Sara Fludd

m Sean Lahey with Annabelle Raine, Allison Lindemeyer, and Sara Poulard

INNOVATION GRANTS

Please Don’t Turn Off Your Phone

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Mr. Lahey’s assignment for the students was straightforward—over the winter holiday break, each member of his Film II and Honors Film classes was to film themselves or their environment for 60 seconds a day, every day. Winter break presented the ideal shooting period, ensuring variety in the raw content, including footage of holiday traditions, time spent with family and friends, indoor and outdoor activities, and travel both near and far. Through the experience, Mr. Lahey sought to teach his students that they should always be aware of their surroundings, and to visually isolate and then shoot an event. “I wanted to impress upon them the desire to see things differently or from a new point of view,” explained Mr. Lahey. “Each evening the students were required to download the day’s findings from their phone and catalog them in Final Cut. Then, for a period of time, they had to set aside the day’s footage and move on to tomorrow’s shoot and the adventures ahead. It required them to constantly live life in the moment, while attempting to capture fleeting

And as these things often happen, one ad led to another, and another, then an agent, then dozens of other gigs. Mr. Lahey and his mother traveled to Manhattan at least three times a week either for auditions or work from the time he was in elementary school to just before high school.

Before he was the creative director at Animation Collective...before he attended Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and earned his BFA in Film, Animation and Video... before he graduated from Fox Lane High School in Bedford, NY, where he was vice president of the senior class...

“When it was time for high school, my mom said I should either pursue acting full-time or

Sean Lahey was a child actor who appeared in more than 30 national commercials. The little brother tagging along in the CocaCola commercial. The kid enthusiastically crunching Honeycomb Cereal. The goatracing legend for Farm Bureau Insurance. All of the above—Sean Lahey.

Reimagining the iPhone as a Traditional Film Camera Sometimes simple ideas can yield big results. This was the premise behind film teacher Sean Lahey’s innovation grant project, which had students using the phones in their pockets to create documentary-style films. “My hope was to inspire a reexamination of the traditional ideas of documentary film, linear storytelling, and personal narrative,” said Mr. Lahey. In order to develop this new unit of study, Mr. Lahey spent a month last summer cataloging his own daily experiences using his iPhone. “I shot almost every day in August,” he said, “some days for only a few minutes at a time and some days for several long sessions. The process became more a meditation and a ritual of selecting the person or thing or event that I hoped would summarize that day, or the singular event that stood out as unique. Doing this for several weeks at a time, it became a habit—almost like practicing an instrument. I was always thinking about whether or not I should be shooting. It was truly an artistic immersion.”

Upper School film and art teacher Sean Lahey has been a member of the Greenwich Academy faculty for three years. While his passion for filmmaking, art, music, and all things creative is apparent to everyone he meets, Mr. Lahey has withheld a crucial tidbit of information from our community.

Who knew?

fragments of their experiences for a later day.” The resulting footage did not disappoint, including scenes of snow, sand, and subways. Upon returning to school, the students edited these segments together to create their own personal “iJourney” lasting no more than three minutes. Senior Claire Robins said of the experience, “The iPhone project was different from what we normally do because we weren’t planning shot by shot in advance. This gave us the flexibility to take out our phones at any second to capture real, unstaged moments. I learned that moments like these can be just as beautiful and interesting as the ones that take days to plan.” The student films were displayed on iPads in GA’s Luchsinger Gallery as part of the “GA: Art in Process” exhibition. These tightly edited windows into each student’s daily life were not only a valuable exercise in film technique and tools, but a visual diary that was compelling to the young filmmakers on a more personal level. So much so that they’ve asked Mr. Lahey if they can do it all over again during spring break. v

Mr. Lahey describes his early years in a manner that is at once charming and selfdeprecating, and admits this early exposure to the “business” is where his love of filmmaking and acting was born. “We weren’t a theater family. I didn’t even have an agent,” he explained. But because the 8-year-old Mr. Lahey was a boy who (like most) enjoyed jumping on the bed, and who in the process fell against the radiator and knocked out his front teeth, his big break came purely by chance. “My mom worked for [advertising agency] JWT where she was a writer and editor. She somehow heard they were looking for a kid with no teeth for a Trident commercial,” Mr. Lahey said. “Since I happened to have no teeth at the time, I auditioned for the role and got it without an agent. It was just luck.”

“I come from a family of educators, and I think that I’ve always found that teaching is a great way to foster creativity.”

be a typical high school student,” he said. “It was a hard choice, but I stopped acting, joined the wrestling team, and started an art club.” So off to high school he went and then to RISD. “I thought I was going to study graphic design, but I rediscovered and fell in love with film. I love working in this medium, the linear storytelling, crafting a narrative, and working collaboratively in the creative space,” he said. As graduation approached, Mr. Lahey had a Boston gig lined up, but once again, he was in the right place at the right time. This time with all of his teeth. “Gus Van Sant (the legendary film director) was the guest critic my senior year. After my film was screened, he asked me to be his assistant on his next project. So there I was, a week after college graduation, in the middle of a Las Vegas desert. I just fell right into it!” he exclaimed. From there, Mr. Lahey worked as a production assistant, then an assistant art director, and worked his way up the corporate ladder. All the while, he continued teaching, whether as a guest lecturer at Parsons or as an adjunct professor at the New School. But the further he progressed along the career path of a creative director, the more he found the creative opportunities to be lacking. “I would be in very long, very corporate showdevelopment meetings with Nickelodeon or the CN [Cartoon Network], which wasn’t fun,” Mr. Lahey recalled. “And the longer I did this, the more I realized I enjoyed the teaching part more. “I come from a family of educators, and I think that I’ve always found that teaching is a great way to foster creativity. I loved the creative environment of college—that nest of creativity—it felt organic, and I knew that I would continue in some sort of academic setting,” he explained. And lucky for us, Greenwich Academy is that setting. v

lU pper School film

teacher Sean Lahey

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

GA’s 5th ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM

Women’s Leadership in the 21st Century “My mother always told me I could do anything I wanted to do—and I took her seriously,” MakerBot CEO Jenny Lawton said in her keynote address at the 5th annual GA Symposium. This year’s conference, titled “Women’s Leadership in the 21st Century,” featured a host of accomplished women, like Ms. Lawton, who proved to be both inspiring and informative to the Upper School girls. An entrepreneur at heart, Ms. Lawton’s career has spanned several industries; prior to joining MakerBot, she co-founded IT consulting firm Net Daemons Associates, she worked as an

“ If you don’t fall down trying, then you’re not trying hard enough.”

entrepreneur-in-residence with Softbank and Mobius Venture Capital, and she established and managed two bookstores and a café in Greenwich for over 10 years. As one of the early players in the tech boom of the 1990s and often the only woman in the boardroom, Ms. Lawton had a lot of valuable advice to share with the audience. Her central messages were: have the confidence to take a risk; ask for help without fearing you will be perceived as weak; risk failure as a means to grow; ask for what you want, and accept that the worst thing that can happen is getting “no” for an answer. “To be an Olympic athlete, you have to fall [down] a lot of times,” she said. “If you don’t fall down trying, then you’re not trying hard enough.” Ms. Lawton and many other panelists talked about the immense value of networking. “Network. Always network,” she said. “The way I’ve gotten almost every job opportunity I’ve had has been through my network.” Case in point, a personal connection helped her land the crucial first meeting with the founder of MakerBot. The keynote was followed by three rounds of breakout sessions, with 12 accomplished and fascinating women who discussed their road to success, how they define success, and inflection points in their careers. CMO of the US Olympic Committee Lisa Baird P’15 ’18, who previously worked at the NFL, joined the organization shortly before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding areas. A priority for NFL senior management at that time was developing a plan to keep the Saints football team in New Orleans and repairing their stadium in a way that would be sensitive to a nation still healing from the devastation of the storm and the suffering of the citizens who took refuge there. Ms. Baird boldly suggested that the best way to recover was to have

the stadium ready for the Saints’ first regular season home game. Ms. Baird was able to gain consensus for her plan, and history tells us that this gutsy move paid off. GA alumna Rachel Stockman ’03, a reporter for Atlanta’s Channel 2 Action News/ABC team, talked about working her way through reporting positions in Clarksburg, WV; Green Bay, WI; Phoenix, AZ, and now Atlanta. One of her most memorable career moments came two days after she started her first job in Clarksburg. She was expecting her job to involve reporting on small community events; instead, she found herself at the forefront of a national news story—the Sago Mine Disaster—one of the worst mining disasters in US history. “There’s nothing like learning on the job,” she quipped as she described being overwhelmed, yet determined to report on the story to the best of her ability. From Deb Elam P’14 ’16, GE’s chief diversity officer and president of the GE Foundation, to Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Elizabeth Frates ’85 who is a pioneer in the new field of lifestyle medicine, the symposium’s speakers served as role models for the GA girls. They are proof positive that confidence, perseverance, and passion are the building blocks for a fulfilling career. Global Initiatives Director Connie Blunden, one of the event’s organizers, said, “The symposium this year affirmed the potential for all women to be leaders and innovators in their fields. The insights and advice of our speakers resonated with our students and faculty, and we will continue to talk about and reflect on the messages we heard in the coming weeks. This was a truly inspiring moment for the GA community.” v

m Deb Elam P’14 ’16

mC onnie Blunden, Dr. Elizabeth Frates ‘85, Anne Madoff, Claire Corey, Lisa Baird P’15 ’18, Deb Elam

P’14 ’16, Jennifer Lawton, Rachel Stockman ‘03, Sandra Richter, Dr. Courtney Robinson, Katie Spotz, Caitlin Toombs ‘01, Dr. Ann Decker

m MakerBot CEO Jenny Lawton 16

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G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

Being Mindful

Twenty girls moving their arms in a circular motion above their heads, in unison and in complete silence, is not something you’d expect to see in a kindergarten classroom. Yet these meditative movements have become part of the daily routines of the CC girls and students throughout the Lower School. Mindfulness, the practice of focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, has long been used as a means to improving an individual’s emotional and physical well-being. Over the past few years, this practice has been adopted by GA’s Lower School teachers with tangible benefits.

ransitions are one area where mindfulness techniques come into play. “We don’t have the same ‘moving from Point A to Point B transitions’ like the other divisions,” Head of Lower School Jonathan Ross-Wiley explained. “A transition from math to social studies may be to simply put away your math materials and take out your social studies materials—that’s the transition.” Mr. Ross-Wiley said breaks for movement or “brain breaks” are essential for elementary school students as most, if not all, find sitting still for long periods of time to be challenging. “That’s why we are trying to build in some transitions. It clears the mind. Even if the class just stands up for a moment, it creates a mental break from where you just were and takes you into another space,” he said. Finding these moments comes in multiple ways, including counting breaths and silently waiting for the tone of the Tibetan singing bowl to come to an end. Lower School teachers also deploy mindfulness techniques when an energy shift is needed. “There is a tremendous amount of energy in the Lower School, and we count on this energy

to make our days work,” Mr. Ross-Wiley said, “but at times we need to refocus the energy or bring it down.” The MeMoves video series is a popular tool for both students and teachers. “The videos combine music, images, and movement, and the girls have to mirror what they are seeing. Speaking as an observer, it’s similar to Tai Chi, and the girls really dial into it,” Mr. Ross-Wiley said. CC teacher Marianna Keels said, “We use MeMoves and yoga to center and calm the kids in preparation for reading group, a time when they need to focus for longer periods of time. It also helps to get the blood flowing throughout their bodies, especially their fingers and their brains.” In Group II, coordinated finger movements help girls refocus. Teacher Fay Venetsanos explained, “It’s a coordinated activity but, like rubbing your belly and tapping your head, it requires opposing movements, so you need absolute focus to do it well. The outcome is

usually that the girls quiet their thoughts because they have a single point of focus, so when you ask them to transition to a lesson or other activity, they go into it with less ‘noise’ going on in their brains.” In Group IV, focusing inward is being practiced. “Breathing is one of the techniques we have found to be helpful when the girls are feeling overwhelmed or stressed. It gives us the opportunity to take a moment, become present, and then be ready to tackle the next task,” teacher Stephanie Seidel explained. “At times we find the girls reminding each other to take a moment, a deep breath, and then move on. We specifically see this when faced with a conflict.” Certainly these lessons in mindfulness will serve as an asset to our Lower School girls now, throughout their years at GA, and well into the future. And perhaps as adults, we should ponder taking a moment from our hectic day to be mindful as well. v

“ Breathing is one of the techniques we have found to be helpful when the girls are feeling overwhelmed or stressed. It gives us the opportunity to take a moment, become present, and then be ready to tackle the next task.” - Stephanie Seidel, Group IV teacher

o Front: Tessa Morley, Julia Duval, Emma Hakim, Amelia Liersch, Drew Moore, and Pili Fernandez Back: Ines Matitia, Mary Winston Codraro, and Jane Moro

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G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

ARCHIVES

Charter Day By Archivist Susie Davis ’79

Fifty years ago, in 1965, students staged a tableau in which they portrayed the year 2026 (for GA’s 200th birthday) and another tableau representing the school in 1827. Lower School classes sang, and the seniors planted a spruce tree, donated by the Mothers Board, in honor of the 10th anniversary of Katherine Zierleyn’s appointment as headmistress. Television announcer Bud Collyer, who had two daughters at GA, read a poem he wrote for the occasion. As was typical throughout the 1960s and 1970s, a garden party and picnic took place on campus. In 1976, one year into his tenure as headmaster, Alex Uhle followed Ruth West Campbell’s example and invited former teachers from the 1920s to celebrate GA’s 150th birthday. Upon receipt of the invitation, Annie W. Allen, a Radcliffe recruit who was a French teacher at GA from 1925 to 1928, wrote of six students graduating in 1926. She also recalled being paid $1 an hour as piano accompanist to Mrs. Pethick’s tap-dancing class. At the 175th birthday in 2002, the assembly not only included former Headmaster Alex Uhle (1975-1988) but also a big birthday cake and buckets of confetti released from the ceiling. Today, Charter Day is a very different affair. The maypole dance and a Charter Day assembly are the mainstays, but in recent decades Charter Day has been aligned with groundbreaking ceremonies, headmistress retirements, and the beloved student-run carnival.

It was men who founded Greenwich Academy and boys who first attended back in 1827, but it was women who ultimately presided over what is now the sixth oldest all-girls school in the country.

In the early days of the school, Charter Day, which at the time was known as May Day and celebrated on May 1, was a celebration of Greenwich’s beginnings. Since many of the students were descendants of Greenwich founders, the annual May Day pageant featured scenes of the founding of Greenwich. Other annual celebrations involved presentations at the Second Congregational Church, with which the school was closely tied. The first major celebration of Charter Day was at the school’s centennial in 1927. The headmistress at the time, Ruth West Campbell, extended invitations to former

headmasters and teachers from the 1890s to attend the centennial dinner at the Pickwick Arms Hotel. One response to the invitation came from a flattered but surprised Clarence Roote, a former assistant principal in the 1880s, who replied, “Is this the same Greenwich Academy of which I was associate principal? I see a lady is now the principal of the school, which implies that there must have been radical changes.” Greenwich Academy became an all-girls school in 1913, and Ruth West Campbell became the first female head in 1925.

1927

1980s

2001

mC entennial: Rhoda Reynolds dressed as General Putnam

p Bagpiper performing

1926

at the 2001 Charter Day celebration

m Maypole dance in the 1980s

2002

m Maypole dance

m 175th Charter Day celebration with confetti falling from the ceiling

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G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

THE ARTS

OUR STUDENTS’ CREATIVE ENDEAVORS

THE ARTS BROADWAY COMES TO GA IN

Pippin

By Phoebe Bloom ’16

Last November, the Greenwich Academy and Brunswick communities were treated to a threeday run of the Broadway musical Pippin. In a story of revolution, drama, and nobility, Pippin’s protagonist sets out on a quest for passion and fulfillment. Pippin, played by Andrew Kelly BWK ’17, experiences many adventures along the way. While struggling with his familial relationship, he also meets new inspirational companions. In GA’s production, the ensemble represented Pippin’s conscience, which guided him through all of his experiences and meant that the full cast was engaged in the performance at all times. The musical promised something for all interests, and it delivered. It combined great

acting with singing, dancing, a myriad of elaborate costumes, and an all-around outstanding cast. The entire production represented a wide spectrum of talent within the GA and Brunswick communities. The dancing, choreographed by Darren Drittel ’16, echoed the Fosse-style dance numbers of the original Broadway show. Singers and actors from all grades brought with them the skills of various acting classes and singing ensembles. The live pit orchestra was filled with professionals, including GA and Brunswick teachers, and Maddie Jansson ’15, who contributed on the piano. “The music and dancers were fantastic, and both really added to the show,” said Ridgley

Katharine Dowley, Taylor McDonald, Sarah Hart, Olivia Hartwell, Alessandra Caruso, Jordan Smith (front), Alexa Beeson, Bella Cartularo, Joseph Jimenez, Connor Tyler, Sean Redahan

Joseph Jimenez, Ridgley Knapp, Andrew Kelly Kate Connors

Katharine Dowley, Alessandra Caruso, Olivia Hartwell

“ The audience responded very positively to our show, and we had the first sold-out crowd for a GA theater production” - Sarah Gold ’16

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Taylor McDonald, Emma Osman

Sarah Gold (center), Alexa Beeson (left), Rashelle Ibrahim (right), Bella Cartularo (bottom)

Knapp ’16, who played King Charlemagne. “The cast [was] studded with Madrigals, as well as members of Bel Canto and Brunswick's Music Improv,” he added. The dancing in the show was an absolute blast. It was the first time GA did a show with big dance numbers…and it definitely added a lot to it,” enthused Fastrada-playing actress Charlotte Stone ’15. Not only did the production include great acting, music, and dancing, but the storyline was also engaging and emotional. It ran the gamut from the humorous to the dark to the sentimental. And the performances were genuinely sad, joyful, and hilarious. There was never a dull moment.

The audience’s laughter, gasps, and enthusiastic applause proved their appreciation for the show’s variety. And if the audience’s audible reaction to the performance was not proof enough of their approval, a full house surely was. “The audience responded very positively to our show, and we had the first sold-out crowd for a GA theater production,” said Sarah Gold ’16. As the 32nd longest-running Broadway show, Pippin is highly decorated. Its 2013 revival, for example, received several Tony Awards, including one each for Best Actress in a Musical and Best Direction of a Musical. Given its many accolades, some feared GA’s Pippin could not possibly measure up.

But thanks to the hard work of drama teacher Brian Borowka and Gospel Choir director Erica McCants, who led a dedicated, enthusiastic cast, the production exceeded expectations. “Mr. Borowka and Ms. McCants went above and beyond in making sure everything went smoothly,” Charlotte added. Not only did the cast appreciate one another’s talent and the inspiration of their directors, but the directors, too, took pride in their work and their cast’s performance. “The show came together quite successfully… I was proud of all the work the students did on this challenging show and was very happy with the final results,” said Mr. Borowka.

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

THE ARTS Paige Harty, Katrina Hannett, Eliza Osman, Katie Morena, Amy Cass, Olivia Winn, Charlotte Stone, Sarah Better in Amy Cass's, Fall From Grace

Dancers Shift Landscapes at Winterfest By Sarah Better ’15 This fall, the members of Dance Corps and Junior Dance Corps rehearsed tirelessly to prepare for their annual December dance concert, Winterfest. The many hours of hard work paid off in a show that was fresh, cohesive, and performed with ease. As the first full performance of the school year, Winterfest marks the official debut of Dance Corps and Junior Dance Corps. Both companies are small, so as veteran members graduate and new ones enter, the composition of each group shifts significantly. During Winterfest 2014, the new dancers slipped seamlessly into the ensemble and, at the right moments, contributed with stunning individual flair. Alongside them, the returning members brought intense energy and strong technique. The pieces created by this year’s novice student choreographers were of a professional quality that wowed both the audience and the dancers. Dance Corps senior Catherine Jones remarked, “Choreographing is always a huge challenge, and even more so the first

time. The new choreographers consistently came prepared and worked efficiently so we all felt confident going into tech week.” This confidence showed on stage, as each piece was performed with precision and character. One of the show’s highlights was Strategies for a Shifting Landscape by guest choreographer Becky Radway, which featured the winter Dance II class. Although some were daunted by the idea of a piece with 26 dancers, Ms. Radway moved them through the stage in such a way that none were lost in the ensemble, and the floor space never seemed lacking. The result was a moody, modern masterpiece—the perfect opening for the show’s second act. In Winterfest 2014, Dance Corps and Junior Dance Corps exhibited not only enormous talent, but also a rare quality of togetherness that made each piece seem like part of a whole. As the dancers and choreographers continue growing throughout the year, so will the anticipation of a spectacular spring concert in late April. Front: Charlotte Stone, Darren Drittel Back: Sarah Better, Phoebe Bloom, Paige Harty in Marcia Brooks's Alinea

Front row: Eliza Osman, Sloane Ruffa, Ellie Lobrano Middle row: Ainsley Buck, Phoebe Bloom, Charlotte Stone Back row: Molly Kalb, Kesey Krantz in Eliza Osman's Before The Dawn

Front: Kelsey Krantz Background: Ellie Lobrano, Molly Kalb, Reid Guerriero, Blaire Fauser, Sloane Ruffa in Annie Heinemann's Cat Rock Road

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Front: Alex Sala Background: Winter Murray, Natasha Recoder, Sadie Smith in Natasha Recoder's, Youth

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

The colorful fantasy world of Nocturno was brought to life with humor, compassion, and striking costumes in the Group VI production of Still Life with Iris. We learn in the play’s opening that the citizens of Nocturno wear coats made of a vibrant patchwork of fabrics, with each piece of material, each button, and each thread representing a memory. When circumstances force title character Iris to leave home to be adopted by the tyrannical rulers of Nocturno, Iris removes her coat, becoming a person without a past. Along the way, Iris makes a few quirky friends, including an 11-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Yet, when she happens to find a button that has fallen off her coat, the memories it carries are enough to pique her curiosity about her past and prompt her to start planning her escape with the help of her new friends. The Group VI actors showed off their comedic timing and tugged at our heartstrings as we followed Iris on her journey to rediscover her past.

COMMUNITY TURF PROJECT

n Kaia Close, Edie Roth

Group III Explores Art in Layers Sometimes a mistake can be the start of something beautiful. That was one of the lessons that visiting artist Claire Corey shared with the Group III girls. Ms. Corey, whose works were on display at the Luchsinger Gallery last fall, is known for her pioneering use of graphic design software in combination with traditional mediums. As part of her process, elements of photographs and digital marks are reworked through repeated scanning, printing, collaging, drawing, and painting to create hybrid works. In some cases, as she shared with the girls, glitches and error patterns are even incorporated in her pieces. “When my computer crashed because of the large files I was working with, instead of getting upset, I decided to use the error pattern on the screen in my work. Nothing is wasted,” she said. Ms. Corey’s visit to the art class started with a slideshow that deconstructed some of her pieces, showing the girls the many layers and steps involved in creating a single canvas. She then helped them do some experimenting of their own. Each student had brought in a picture of something that is precious to her. These images, which included pets, lockets, and even a gymnastics 26

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Actress Name, Actress Name

m Sophia Lin, Claire Corey, Hailey Presser, Melanie Molina leotard, were copied as black and white images onto a heavy paper stock. The girls were then given liquid watercolors, pastel crayons, colored pencils, and markers, and asked to color in, around, and on top of their images; they were encouraged to layer their coloring and to mix usage of the different art supplies. The students were asked questions like, “What happens when you color on top of pastels with colored pencils?” and “What happens when you mix the watercolors with the markers?” Gallery director and Upper School art history teacher Kristen Erickson explained that Ms. Corey was invited to show her works at the Luchsinger

Gallery precisely because of her hybrid process. “As GA students are increasingly encouraged to tinker in the Engineering and Design Lab, to embrace ‘accidents’ as fertile ground for new ideas, and to fuse the digital and the traditional, Ms. Corey’s work seemed a perfect fit for the campus gallery,” she said. The resulting images, while maintaining the spirit of the “precious items” brought in, took on a life of their own, and by the end of class, the girls were eagerly discussing the possibility of taking them to computer class to work on the images in a digital format.

JOIN US ON GA’S TURF Support the Community Turf Project www.greenwichacademy.org/turf

EXCELLENCE

Still Life with Iris

AT THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING

ATHLETICS

GA GATORS SHOW WHAT THEY’RE MADE OF

ATHLETICS

CROSS COUNTRY

Varsity Runners Go the Distance Nico Wada, Jane Zachar, Catherine Jones, Sara Hyman, Olivia Bastianich, Sara Callahan, Megan Apostolides

SOCCER

A Season to Remember ROSTER

Maggie Basta Graiden Berger Hannah Casey Rachel Connolly Claudia Consuegra (C) Cora Creighton Elizabeth Dunn Georgina Hickey Charlie Johnson

Meghan Keating Alex LaMantia (C) Ali Mothner Megan Root (C) Chapin Ruffa Lizzie Sands Anna Sargeantson Katie Tenefrancia Charlotte Warne

Alistair Lonsdale

Evan Gilbertson

12-5-2 OV E R A L L R ECO R D

Megan Root

*FAA standing 1st place

The Gators entered the 2014 season unsure of what to expect—losing seven seniors to graduation the previous year seemed insurmountable. Yet after a two-week preseason full of fitness, technique, and tactics, it was evident that the Gators did not need to worry. The team’s hard work in late August paid off early as they came out of the gate flying. Two immediate FAA wins, including an all-important confidence boost from tallying five goals against rival St. Luke’s and a shutout versus Holy Child, were good omens. Their confidence carried over into their game with Choate, and the results did not disappoint. In this tough match-up, the Gators worked relentlessly to earn a draw against the eventual Western New England Champions and NEPSAC finalist. It was a performance to remember, and it propelled the girls to a 12-game winning streak where they played some exceptional attacking soccer, scoring breathtaking goals. Like all good things, the run eventually came to an end at the hands of Loomis in a hard-fought 1-2 loss. But the girls 28

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y S P R I N G 20 15

again played with grit and determination until the final whistle. Running the table at 8-0, the team captured the FAA League Championship. Advancing from the first two rounds, GA faced Convent of the Sacred Heart in the final. The Gators dominated possession for large periods of the game, but lost with a goal against the run of play in the second overtime. The team had no time to hang their heads as they faced Westminster the next day, the result of which would have a great influence on New England seeding. Entering as the seventh seed, the team traveled to Boston to face the #2 seed, Noble and Greenough. Once again the girls produced a performance worthy of champions and gave the host school a real run for their money. Sadly, it wasn’t our day, and we ended up losing in double overtime to the eventual NEPSAC champions. Stepping back from this loss, the girls were able to reflect on all they had accomplished and see that it was indeed a year that will go down as one of our best. ~ By Alistair Lonsdale

Meghan Keating

Hannah Casey

17-2 OV E R A L L R ECO R D

COAC H E S

The cross country team enjoyed another exciting and successful season this fall. With a remarkable 17-2 record, GA’s harriers earned distinction as the 2014 FAA champions. This success was made possible by the strong leadership of the team’s captains, the unwavering commitment of each of its members, and the strong sense of camaraderie that developed among the girls as the season progressed. Throughout the season, captains Skylar Burdick, Sara Hyman, and Catherine Jones proved worthy of the leadership position to

which they were elected. In both practices and meets, they set a high standard of achievement, encouraging their teammates to consistently work hard, support each other, and rise to the challenge of racing against GA’s tough competition in the FAA. This leadership fostered among GA’s harriers a strong commitment to success. In addition to motivating the team’s victories throughout the season, it hastened GA’s recovery from two early-season losses to the Hopkins School and allowed the team, in the last race of the regular season, to win against all of its FAA opponents and thus to place first in the FAA. Overall, the team exemplified a remarkable sense of camaraderie that undoubtedly contributed to the success of each of its members. The most noteworthy instances of this success occurred in the FAA Championship meet at Waveny Park in New Canaan where seniors

*FAA standing 1st place

ROSTER

Belen Agrest Meg Apostolides  Olivia Bastianich  Megan Bugniazet  Skylar Burdick (C) Sarah Callahan Alessandra Caruso Jordan Fischetti Courtney Frauen Sara Hyman (C) Madeleine Jansson

Holly Johnson Catherine Jones (C) Elizabeth Jones Francesca Narea Alina Pannone Julia Saer Sarah Sheer Nico Wada Olivia Weiser Jane Zachar

COAC H E S

Jane Finch

Jonathan Coffin

Nico Wada and Sara Hyman were awarded all league status, and freshman Sarah Callahan earned honorable mention. This spring, nine of GA’s harriers will graduate, including two (Sara Hyman and Nico Wada) who ran for the team during all four of their years in the Upper School. Nonetheless, the team looks forward to the return of its five juniors, four sophomores, and three freshmen. ~ By Jonathan Coffin

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

ATHLETICS

YOGA STUDIO

New Yoga Studio Provides Serene Escape Tucked away in a quiet corner of Ramsing sits a tranquil space that houses the GA yoga program. A mere step from the bustling gymnasium into the studio transports you to a quiet realm where students put the chaos of day-to-day life aside . . . for at least 60 minutes. Yoga classes are offered to Upper School students three times per week during each sports season as a Arden Orwicz with instructor Nellie Pitoniak part of the physical education program. The program has several faculty instructors, including English Fellow Nellie Pitoniak, who has extensive yoga experience and training. “I started practicing yoga in high school, but not in earnest until college because Middlebury offered lots of classes,” Ms. Pitoniak said. After graduation when she returned home to Rhode Island, she enrolled (along with her mother) in a yearlong certification course at a local studio. The yoga classes at GA currently range from 6 to 12 students, and the smaller class size gives instructors ample opportunity to connect with

l Lizzie Thornton 30

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y S P R I N G 20 15

FIELD HOCKEY

Field Hockey Dominates FAA Opponents “ Some days we do a rigorous flow through different postures to get the energy up, and sometimes we spend a class doing deeper stretches.” - Nellie Pitoniak, Yoga Instructor and Upper School English Fellow

and adjust students as needed. “There were a few students who had never done yoga before; others were familiar and knew what to expect,” Ms. Pitoniak said. The classes are based in Vinyasa or flow yoga, and Ms. Pitoniak strives to keep it fresh by varying each session. “Some days we do a rigorous flow through different postures to get the energy up, and sometimes we spend a class doing deeper stretches.” In addition to mastery of poses, the class also focuses on the more meditative aspects of a yoga practice, including breathing techniques and chanting. “In terms of relieving stress, in yoga you are creating a space where you can become quiet and create stillness,” Ms. Pitoniak explained. “Any physical movement relieves stress, and yoga pairs physical movement with mental relaxation.” The yoga studio, made possible by a gift from the Packer family, has been described as a place to “slow down, reflect, and breathe.” Without a doubt, the practice of yoga at GA is equipping our girls with the knowledge and ability to mitigate stress later in life, a vital skill for all. ~ By Sara Fludd

13-3-2 OV E R A L L R ECO R D

*FAA standing 1st place

ROSTER

Whitney Balanoff Julia Booth (C) Lucy Burke  Haley Carmichael (C) Kate DeFrino  Charlotte Gilliland Caroline Keller Anna Khoury Erika Kraus

Whitney Balanoff

The GA Varsity Field Hockey team arrived on campus in August ready to get to work. With only nine players returning from last year’s team, many of whom saw limited minutes in the 2013 season, we knew we had a lot of learning and growing to do. After two grueling weeks of training, a team of 16 field players and two goalkeepers was named. Youth and inexperience were heavy on this year’s roster, but so were speed, scrappiness, and a willingness to learn. With those three building blocks, we began to forge our team. An opening scrimmage against Mamaroneck taught us that we still had much to learn and, with each contest thereafter, we took steps toward becoming a stronger and more confident team. Our schedule opened with FAA games, which we handled with aplomb, and when faced with boarding school opponents, we continued playing well. A tough overtime loss against Hotchkiss fueled us to refocus and make a few strategic adjustments. With these tweaks we were well

prepared to face two talented teams in Taft and Rye Country Day School, and earn another two wins. Little did we know that as we traveled to Choate to play Tabor, we would see them for a second time at the New England Tournament quarterfinals. We finished the season with some hard-fought victories, including a 5-2 win against Loomis, an eventual New England Tournament finalist! Captains Julia Booth, Haley Carmichael, and Katrina Kraus led the team with quiet consistency to our 13-3-2 record. Along with their leadership, seniors Lexi Olney and Charlotte Gilliland guided an unseasoned team to a campaign filled with moments of brilliance. Whether we were talking about “what step” we were on in the season, lying on the turf practicing our mental game, or celebrating our 31st FAA league title, the girls represented GA in a way that would make our distinguished field hockey alumnae very proud. ~ By Jamie Brower

Katrina Kraus (C) Olivia LeSueur Alexa Murray Lexi Olney Ellie Otton Maggie Reville Karina Schulze Sofi Viola Tati Viola

COAC H E S

Jamie Brower

Sally Maloney Duvall

Pieter Hartong

Olivia LeSueur

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

ATHLETICS

VOLLEYBALL

Varsity Volleyball Digs Into Teamwork

Kennedy Woods, Phoebe Morris

SPIN

Upper School Students Go for a Spin in New PE Class Ellen Clark

Greenwich Academy’s 2014-2015 varsity volleyball team carried its largest squad to date with 14 members, eight of whom were seniors. While the roster was packed with talent, it took time to develop the rhythm and synchronization that ultimately carried the team late in the season. The team was led by tri-captains Ellen Clark, Caroline Zhao, and Phoebe Morris who, in combination, were the perfect mix of smarts, physical abilities, and drive. The sting of an opening 0-3 loss to King was quickly negated with a 3-0 win against Chase Collegiate. The Gators would face perennial Class A powerhouses in Choate, Loomis, and Taft and used those matches to propel them to a thirdplace finish in the FAA. Exciting FAA matches against Greens Farms Academy and Hamden Hall featured trick plays to avoid the opponent’s big blockers and were accompanied by well-placed, aggressive serves. The cheers of Gator fans at 32

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y S P R I N G 20 15

Clare Ryan

these matches were deafening, producing the “seventh woman” effect in the gym! Moving past the School of the Holy Child in the opening round of the FAA tournament, the Gators traveled across town to face the Tigers of Sacred Heart in the semis. GA demonstrated just how far they had come since their meeting a month before and overcame their underdog status with a hard-fought five-game win. They carried their momentum into the final against top-seeded King, winning the first game by storm. Soon the host school found their rhythm and the Gators, Athlete Name with a no-quit attitude, succumbed to the Vikings in four. Anyone who saw this team compete this season relished in the squad’s love and support of one another and shared in their laughter and joy. With a record of 9-10, the team got off to a slow start, but they had a terrific finish. ~ By Christy Girard

OV E R A L L R ECO R D

9-10

*FAA standing 3rd place

ROSTER

Jadesola Ariyibi Ellen Clark (C) Paloma Corrigan Maxx Grossman Olivia Hartwell Kayla Johnson  Jessica Liu Phoebe Morris (C)

Kathleen Reynolds Clare Ryan Ally Staab Natalie Threadgill Kennedy Woods Caroline Zhao (C) Grace Zhao

COAC H E S

Christy Girard

Dina Ding

Music pounding. Quads burning. Sweat dripping. Fifteen girls move in unison—sprinting toward a virtual finish line with constant encouragement from their instructor. Welcome to the Greenwich Academy Spin Studio, where the rubber doesn’t meet the road, but the miles still speed by. The instructor, Middle School Mandarin teacher Kate Lee, was recruited to take the lead bike in the new spin studio when Athletic Director Martha Brosseau discovered that Ms. Lee was an avid spinner in college. In preparation for teaching classes, Ms. Lee became certified in a grueling nine-hour course, which—in addition to instruction on spin profiles, endurance, and intervals— included two “rides” and an exam! And she didn’t stop there. “I started taking more spin classes in New York City. I took five or six different types of classes, including some that featured karaoke, choreography, and weights,” she said. The GA spin classes are 45 minutes in length, and they meet three days a week. “During the first

“ Now that I can spin at school, I don’t go to other exercise classes because there is no need to! I get good exercise and also a chance to relax after a busy day at school.” - Olivia Quinton

five minutes of class, we get on our bikes and slowly get warmed up,” Ms. Lee described. “We ease into it, slowly getting our energy levels up.” The inaugural group of spinners includes an even mix of spin veterans and newbies. Olivia Quinton ’16, who began taking spin classes over the summer, said, “I think spinning is such an appealing form of exercise because of the atmosphere . . . it’s really motivating to see other people around you working hard. Also,

it is so much fun to spin to the beat of your favorite songs. Sometimes I’m having such a good time listening to the music, that I forget I’m actually getting exercise!” Emma Cannon ’18 took her very first spin class in the GA studio and quickly became a huge fan. “When I came to my first class, it was nothing like I expected,” she said. “I am not a huge fan of running, and spinning for me is a fun alternative.” For those who are considering spinning, Emma offered this advice: “Come into it with an open mind because while everyone says it’s very hard, which it is at times, it’s so much fun when you get into it!” Though the classes are tough, students and instructor agree that the benefits are numerous, including stress relief and building community across US groups. Olivia added, “Now that I can spin at school, I don’t go to other exercise classes because there is no need to! I get good exercise and also a chance to relax after a busy day at school.” ~ By Sara Fludd

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

ATHLETICS

FA L L 2 0 1 4 AT H L E T I C S AWA R D S 2

VARSITY Cross Country Cedarwood Award Excellence in Cross Country Sara Hyman Nico Wada 1. I n the past, the crew team had to move their ergometers from the Raether balcony to the squash courts each season. Now, they are reveling in the luxury of an erg room all their own.

2. The girls use their own body weight with the TRX suspension system to strengthen muscles.

3. Lunges with a medicine ball build core strength.

FACILITIES

Fitness Center Helps Build Better Athletes When the newly renovated fitness center opened last September, GA’s sports teams immediately began to appreciate the benefit of having the fitness center as an extension of their training programs on the fields and courts. One of the first to use the space was JV soccer. “We use almost everything, from the cardio equipment, which you can put all of the team on at the same time, to station work using medicine balls or squats and core,” said coach Erin Brawley. “We’ve also incorporated kettle bells into a couple of exercises, which the girls really like.” Another team, JV field hockey, hit the fitness center “boot camp style,” with various exercise stations set up like an obstacle course. Coach Cayla Liptak said, “We do a minute per station and move around. We use the BOSU balls for planks and hurdles, and ladders are awesome for cardio and agility.”

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The combination of cardio equipment donated by GAPA, cutting-edge strength training options, and a powerful sound system allows coaches and athletes to customize programs to both individual and team needs.

OPEN SPACE IMPACTS TRAINING A hallmark of the new fitness center, made possible through a gift from the Tapiero family and the John H.T. Wilson family, is its expansive space. Crew coach Nathan Kress believes that all GA sports teams will benefit from this. “With the open floor space, we can do multiple exercises as a team, and it allows coaches to be able to work with more athletes at once, which better utilizes our human coaching capital,” he said. Ms. Brawley agrees that the larger space makes workouts much more efficient. “We’re so fortunate to have more girls being active at once

m Sydney Heath

and to be able to do the station work and have the space to do it well,” she said. An added benefit of the center: “It will make them stronger, and that will give them an advantage versus other powerhouse schools. It’s also a nice change of pace for the girls to go inside once in a while—they love it.” Cross country coach Jane Finch agreed. “With the intensity of running, muscle fatigue can set in and ailments start to pick up,” she said. “Being able to deviate from a running day helps other muscle groups and gives fatigued muscles more time to heal after a race.” The windows surrounding the room not only allow for copious amounts of natural light, but also provide a great vantage point to view games on the fields. Coach Liptak said, “The idea that people are watching them while they get their cardio done really motivates the girls. And seeing the Varsity teams competing while they work helps them visualize the goal they are working toward.”

CORE STRENGTH IS KEY According to the coaches, the cornerstone of the center is the myriad options to increase core strength, which plays a significant role in

athletic ability and health. Mrs. Finch said, “For runners, the abdominal and back muscles help with form and reduce fatigue during a race.” One way to build up these muscles is with TRX equipment. “With TRX, you use all your body weight, and you can adjust how hard or easy it will be depending on the angle,” Ms. Brawley explained. “You adjust for your personal ability. With TRX you’re working on coordination and balance, but mostly it is core strength.” Building core strength is also a priority for crew. “The core is not just for rowing,” Mr. Kress explained. “It helps in injury prevention, injury mediation, flexibility, and balance. A strong core makes you less injury prone in whatever you do.” Ms. Liptak added, “Core strength is needed for every drive, every shot, any type of passing. The more you engage your core, the more dynamic the pass or shot will be,” she said. As the fitness center becomes more integrated into team sports and physical education, it is certain that it will positively impact GA athletes both on and off the field. ~ By Sara Fludd

Meiklejohn Award Most Improved Alessandra Caruso Field Hockey Carole Kenyon Award Excellence in Field Hockey Julia Booth Rote Award Leading Goal Scorer Tati Viola

Most Improved Field Hockey Karina Schulze Soccer Golden Boot Award Excellence in Soccer Katie Tenefrancia Most Improved Charlie Johnson Volleyball Decederfelt Award Excellence in Volleyball Kayla Johnson Phoebe Morris Most Improved Paloma Corrigan

SUB VARSITY Field Hockey Gator Award (JV A) Lulu Berner

Most Improved (JV) Christina Normile

Gator Award (JV B) Sydney Heath

Volleyball Gator Award (JV) Jubilee Johnson

Most Improved (JV A) Amelia Riegel

Gator Award (3rds) Q Lasley

Most Improved (JV B) Marley Houston

Most Improved (JV) Arden Orwicz

Soccer Gator Award (JV) Lily Bloom

Most Improved (3rds) Alex Elam

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

ALUMNAE

THE LATEST FROM OUR GA FAMILY

ALUMNAE Class Notes THANK YOU, CLASS CAPTAINS!

We want to thank our Class Captains for sending us news and updates from classmates throughout the year. To see the full list, go to this link: www.greenwichacademy .org/volunteers. To volunteer to be a Class Captain, please contact the Alumnae Office for details at alumnae@ greenwichacademy.org. HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE? SUBMIT A NOTE!

Keep the news coming and be sure to check the alumnae website for more updates at: greenwichacademy.org/ alumnae. Contact the Alumnae Office for your password at 1.800.ALUMNAE (258.6623) or alumnae@greenwichacademy.org.

1934

Archivist Susie Davis ’79 organized a visit with Peggy Schusser Herold and her daughter Susan at Peggy’s home in North Branford, CT, in October. Susie and members of the Alumnae Office were treated to lunch and a lively walk down memory lane as Peggy regaled us with stories from her days at GA in the ’20s and, ’30s!

1941 1944

Elizabeth Stevens Green’s fourth great-grandchild arrived in September 2014.

Joan Lott White reports, “I am just glad to see each new day! I move a little slower, but I still get around. My husband and I don’t travel anymore but we love where we live.”

1950

Two members of the Class of 1950 had a delightful visit last year when Odyssia Skouras Quadrani came to New Haven for a look at the Yale University Art Gallery in its new splendor. Odyssia

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and Dorcas Eason MacClintock were not only classmates, but had the privilege of being boarders in the home of Headmistress Ruth West Campbell. A lunch break gave time for sharing memories about life in the Patterson Avenue house.

1955

Elaine De Witt Tournesac reports, “I am still counseling people on a psychological and spiritual level; the Gospel being my main book of reference. I really appreciate the new Pope Francis and everything he says about kindness and not judging others or ourselves. Our latest news is the birth of two more great-grands: Zoé on August 8 and Flora on December 1. Now we are blessed with four little ones in the Tournesac family.”

1957

Class Captain Meredith Wood Einaudi gathered the following news: As I read the email responses to my requests for news, I am struck by the many members of our class who have maintained and reestablished connections with each other over the years since graduation. I think this points to both the important role that the school played in our lives, and what a pleasure it is to be in the company of those who knew us in high school and find in us still very much the same person that they knew so long ago. Nancy Wilkerson Pruitt texted me from one of the beaches at Turks and Caicos where she and five other widow friends were soaking up some rays during the holidays and probably playing a few hands of bridge. She has reconnected with Ines Hinckeldeyn Kingsley and Frannie Trask Wozencraft and hopes to see them at Hilton Head this spring. Hopefully, Gleaves Sydnor Rhodes will be there at the same time. The bulk of the winter Frannie will spend in Arizona where she has a home in Tubac near one of her sons. Fran and Ines were able to see each other at Christmas in Washington State when Ines visited her daughter Kate Kingsley Lund ’89 and twin grandsons William and Brady. It has been a sad year for the Kingsley family with the loss of Ines’ husband John in July.

This past year was the year in which most of us turned 75. In celebration of Ines’ birthday, she was taken to lunch and the theater by Pat Don van Heel, Anne Boultbee Testa, and Susie Enyart Magee. Ines also enjoys seeing Kathy Crimmins Cawley when she is in Greenwich. From New York City, Doris McCarthy writes that she is enjoying her freedom from the corporate world but is not ready for fulltime retirement. Instead she is doing contract work, as it interests her, with television. Our expanding Florida contingent now includes Marcia Whipple Sortor in Venice Beach, Susan Ryan

Mimnaugh and Ann Withington Rein in Sarasota, and Lyn Eadie Webster in Boca Raton. Ann and Dave were in Idaho this summer with their family and continue both their regular fitness workouts and volunteer fine arts ushering. Lyn is relieved to have the worst of her chemo behind her, and she still does tax work.

Here in California, the big news for your scribe was the birth of our youngest granddaughter, Theofila Einaudi, in July. It is a joy to have her and her father, mother, and 4-year-old sister nearby in San Francisco.

1958

Susan Atkinson Lukens shares, “Alan and I are well and enjoying life in DC and trying to keep up with 10 grandchildren ages 5-21 years old.”

1961

Peggy Chane sends this news: “This fall I was in Beijing, heading for Tibet, Mt. Everest Base Camp, and Kathmandu, Nepal, when I read in the October 2014 alumnae e-newsletter that fellow alumna Catherine Polisi Jones ’95 had family friends in Kathmandu. I contacted the Alumnae Office, who put me in touch with Catherine, who connected me to the family, the Shrestha. Menuka, the mother, invited me to her home and prepared a lovely Indian meal. She’s a school-teacher for first graders. Her youngest daughter, Sriya, was also there. She was 5 years old when Catherine lived with them; she’s now 18 and just finished high school. After a wonderful visit, Sriya drove me home on the back of her motor scooter.”

1962

Class Captain Mimi Mason Brooks gathered the following news: Looks like the class of 1962 is already gearing up for our 55th reunion in 2017! I was so pleased to hear from so many old friends.

Susan Boyer Malsch moved to Stuart, Florida, a year ago, and I see her often! She has one daughter, Kelly, who lives in England, and a son Tucker who lives in California. Anne Pierson Emery has children, grandchildren, and GREATgrandchildren! I’m always intrigued with her motorcycle stories, but this last one was not so great: last fall her son Jamie, while racing his top fuel motorcycle, sustained injuries that kept him in the hospital for several days. Then, shortly thereafter, his son Matthew (14) passed out at school, falling face down and badly injuring his jaw. Pam Miller Callard and husband Tim hailed from Washington, DC, where she was enjoying Christmas with her family—Jonathan (41), Andrew (38), and Johanna (37); her husband Gerome and their two children, Owen (3) and Lucas (5 months); Katharine (33) who is pregnant with twins due in May and her husband Kris. Marion Hemenway Conklin is still living in West Hartford and this year writes that she was able to hear Handel’s Messiah

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with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Hartford Choral Society. Pammy vonBucher Culpepper Cronk sent Christmas greetings from Tucson where she and husband Peter were celebrating the holiday with her daughter and “precious grandchildren” ages 5, 6, and 9. Annie Freiberg Kaplan and husband Bruce celebrated Christmas with her son Ken. She still works at Saint Thomas Church, an Episcopal church in New York. Winkie Meyer Grandison wrote that she and George were in Greenwich for Christmas Eve and joined their youngest daughter on Long Island on Christmas Day. She also says she went to GA to check out Margaret Kohler Nicholson’s sculpture, which she says is anxiously awaiting our return. Mardi Yeager Taylor writes from “Down Under,” where she and husband Rip spend half the year at their house on the Bass Strait in Boat Harbor, Tasmania. Much to her surprise, she has taken up gardening, of all things, which she never did before and loves it! Their big news is that they have finally sold their Colorado house and have moved to Devil’s Lake in Lincoln City, Oregon, to be closer to her son who lives just outside of Portland. Daughter Sue still lives in Colorado. Mardi and Rip will be returning to the USA in May for the summer months. I heard from Nancy Van Deren last spring, who shared with me that she had been doing some traveling in Mexico

1 Peggy Schusser Herold ’34 (right) with her daughter Susan Herold, October 2014 2 Class of 1957 mates Susie Enyart Magee, Ines Hinckeldeyn Kingsley, Pat Don van Heel, and Anne Boultbee Testa at a birthday celebration for Ines

4 Peggy Chane ’61 in Nepal (center) with Menuka and Sriya Shretha, family friends of fellow alum Catherine Polisi Jones ’95 5 Pat Dilliard Dennis ’61 with her daughter Heather Dennis Gillespie ’88 at a GA alumnae event, Fall 2014

3 Ann Withington Rein ’57 with her children

and Italy. Corinne Rutgers Tolles writes that she is still recovering from a severe illness which has now left her with chronic kidney disease, and also says she is just grateful to be alive. She will celebrate her 70th birthday in January and then next November her 40th wedding anniversary with Jim. She also says she is spending more time with her children: Paul in Florida and Mary in North Carolina; granddaughters Tiana, Mikaela, and Athena; and grandson James in North Carolina. She also writes that she is finally retired from 27 years as a member of a piano group and 21 years with a choral group. Muffin Ramsing Zoubek has seven grandchildren, three of whom were with her for the holidays. Josie Richardson Dingee and husband Mick wrote that granddaughter Ryden stayed with them last June for tennis camp and swim lessons. After that, Josie and Mick went to England for a wedding and then drove along the southern coast visiting little villages and sightseeing. Then Josie went to Texas to visit old friends from Venezuela and Brazil whom she hadn’t seen for 30 years. Since then, she has had surgery on her right foot and is enduring a long recovery with the help of Mick who, she says, is “a fantastic caregiver.” Emmy Walz (who has taken back her maiden name) reports that she has never been better! She has a new man in her life whom she has been dating for a year. He is a

retired doctor whom she met through a very dear friend. He comes from a large family in Minnesota, which keeps them traveling all over the country visiting and attending family weddings. To be noted, Emmy has (until now) no living relatives. She also reports that after 12 years she has finally retired from Saks Fifth Avenue and also Lancôme after being with them for 18 years. Diana Frese wrote that she and husband Chuck went to Rhode Island to visit his family for Thanksgiving. She also says that they are back in the carpentry business again. Tangley Lloyd wrote that she has had a busy year and accomplished two goals: passing her Florida license to practice social work in what she now calls her home, and becoming a certified NRA instructor who can teach in any state. She also shoots competitively and WINS most of the time! (She didn’t brag like that but as her close friend, I KNOW!) And last but not least, she went skydiving on her 70th birthday with son Jamie Quinn BWK ’94 in Las Vegas! Her mother just celebrated her 95th birthday and is still bright as a dollar and doing very well. (I can still see her in that station wagon picking up her group!) Gale Whittelsey Sherman says she is enjoying all of her children’s comings and goings. Susan Lawson, who still lives in Ponte Vedra, Florida, sent a wonderful note telling us of her 25 years of service as a volunteer. She eventually shifted her work to the healthcare field where she created

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her own mission statement, which was “To empower and support people during health crises.” This she accomplished as a hospice volunteer for the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery program and as a State of Florida court-appointed Guardian Advocate for three men who are developmentally disabled and, except for Susan, had no one else to care for them as family had long since abandoned them to state hospitals. The GA Class of ’62 stands strong even as we move into our 70th birthdays, giving our time and talents without asking for anything back! From across the pond, we had a sweet note from Pat Binkerd Jeanrenaud who summed up what we all know in our hearts…in her own words...and eloquently said: “Here in England it is mild and the new moon hangs clear and promising in the night sky. I love knowing all of us are one, however far flung we are.” As for me, Mimi Mason Brooks, I am moving back up to Connecticut in the spring to be closer to my family and friends. My son Jimmy (24) is graduating from college in May, Tyler (23) is at the University of Maine, and Garrison (41) was married a year ago and has just bought Cook and Craft, a high-end cooking store in Old Greenwich. His wife Rachel is a very successful real estate broker in Manhattan. See you ALL in 2017 for our 55th reunion!

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Class Captain Lucy Mitchell sends the following news: Linda Allen Winslow spent Christmas week in Charlotte, NC, running to keep up with William, her high-energy 2-year-old grandson. She was exhausted when she got back but would not trade it! Linda says, “William will be getting a little sister due April 24. I am thrilled. I am still working part time and love living here in Wilmington, NC, which was named ‘Best River Front City in America.’ It is beautiful here!” Jill Aszling can occasionally get husband Billy to take a day off to do something with her. That was in response to my query, “Is Billy ever going to retire?” Jill says, “My sister Kristen and I went to Florida several times this year to hang out with her twin Gretchen. Once we even had big brother Phil with us, all four of us bumping into each other in Gretchen’s tiny house. But it was fun and reaffirming. One of our trips in August followed right on the heels of an incident when I fell and broke four ribs. Fortunately, JetBlue was still offering extra legroom seats then, which helped, along with some pain medicine, to make the trip bearable. Thank heaven for my angel, Kristen, who has come to help so many times this year, and who never left my side during the trip. The grand-nephews are growing way too quickly. My 13-year-old godson, Christopher, is now nearly six feet tall.” Jill still serves on the board of the Old Schwamb Mill in Arlington. She says, “It makes me feel I’m still involved with the museum community, which is great.” Joanie Baird McCord is back in the science classroom full time. “Half of my classes are kids who are in a special health and science program; higher-level learning means higher expectations. These kids are the ones who will follow this program through high school and college to eventually become some type of a healthcare provider. This could be any career from lab tech to a doctor/surgeon, from a dental hygienist to a dentist. Or they will enter the IB program (International Baccalaureate) in high school and follow this pathway into college. Not bad for a Title 1 school with over an 80% free and reduced lunch rate, is it?”

Nathalie Durbin Heydet is the self-appointed Ms. Chamber of Commerce for The Villages in central Florida. “I love my new life and wish I had moved here five years earlier. So much to do such as exercise classes, golf, lifelong learning classes, and much more. I love golf-carting to do my errands! GA guests always welcome. Looking forward to the 50th reunion in 2016!” Jane Fisher Carlson is excited to share the news of the publication of her daughter Caroline’s second book in her trilogy The Terror of the Southlands. My daughter Leiba is reading the first one, Magic Marks the Spot, to her son Gavin, who just turned 8. They are loving it! Jane reports that Caroline has finished the third book, The Buccaneer’s Code, which will be published next September. Son Jonathan began a new job as a marketing specialist at Philo, a startup company in Harvard Square offering cable TV over the web to college students. Andrew McCollum, who was on the team that founded Facebook, recently became Philo’s CEO. Jane reports, “Chris and I took a wonderful five-day hop ‘across the pond’ to London with other patrons of Boston’s Handel & Hayden Society. We attended excellent concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Handel House in Westminster, a Downton Abbey-style country house in Kent, and a beautiful cathedral in St. Albans built in the year 1070, as well as Comedy of Errors at the Globe Theater”. Jane’s most exciting news is that Carla, the woman she had been mentoring at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Framingham, received parole. In addition to getting a job, Carla has also been speaking at Harvard about prison reform with one of the professors whose seminar she attended through BU’s College Behind Bars program. Judi Hill is looking forward to flat water kayaking this coming summer. Last summer there was a drought in Oregon, and a massive fire came within an eighth of a mile of her house. After 22 years, Judi retired from her work with families dealing with death, dying, and end-of-life issues. She still teaches at a local college about six days a semester. She reports, “I was talking to some kids the other day. I said at their age everything is ahead and they wonder how their life will turn out. At my age you say, ‘So that’s how it turned out!’ Who’d have thought I would end up in the mountains of Oregon and build a place from the lean-to up? I started the first birthing center in southern Oregon, helped build the first not-for-profit hospice in southern Oregon, developed more programs for end-oflife education and other caregiving organizations than I can count. I am going to be the old lady who lives happily alone with her dogs, great friends around, her garden, and her kayak. I do smile a lot. I am surrounded by beauty every day. Every day is such a gift.” Anne Hughes Kieve writes that after two weddings last year, there are two new babies this year: Hugh Bedingfield Kieve, born April 13 to Kate Bedingfield and David Kieve, and Rudy Flint Kieve, born October 16 to Bronwyn and Andrew Kieve. Hugh and family live in Washington, DC, and Rudy and family are in Boston. There will be a lot of cross-country travel for Anne and Loren. Nancy Ogden lives in South Dartmouth, MA. “I’m producing two projects which are currently in development: One is called Soccer: A Beautiful Game and the other is Secrets of Rome: The Great Colosseum in 3D. The research

has been grand, including two weeks in Rome and sailing on the Mediterranean with friends. My darling daughter Chrissy graduated from UVM, lives and works in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and I am excited to see her and ski the famous mountain. I have two dogs, three cats, and live in a beautiful part of the world.”

Laura Pearsall writes that her younger son, John Morgan, was able to celebrate Christmas in San Francisco this year at her older son Noah’s house. She still loves her job working with special education children. Sue Porter Beffel decided to “get her voice back” this summer. After a couple of classes with the choir director, she made the leap and joined the choir. In the fall, a friend loaned her an autoharp so she could be a member of an autoharp group. They visited Barcelona, sailed the Spanish coast, crossed to the Azores, and sailed back to Florida.

Vicki Van Rensselaer writes, “This year in April I launched a website that I plan to operate in the years ahead (http://putnamafield.org). In May I attended a twohour training session to become a Weather Spotter for the National Weather Service. In August my great-nephew, Kobi, was born. (He joins my great-niece, Kyra, who is now 4 years old. Kyra and Kobi’s father is my second oldest nephew, Kyle.) In September I toured the Golden Sunlight Mine (a gold mine) in Whitehall, Montana.” Jan Johnstone spent two wonderful weeks in Dordogne, in the southwest of France. “Beautiful country, sandstone cliffs and rivers, historic walled cities, and cave paintings. It was breathtaking to see art from 17,000 years ago, made with the most primitive of utensils, which looked incredibly contemporary. A week spent in Sarlat was wonderful, fascinating history and, of course, fabulous food. This was France, after all! For Thanksgiving, I went to Ann Arbor, MI, to my niece’s house. My brother and sister-in-law came from Chicago and we celebrated his 70th birthday the day after Thanksgiving. My niece Sarah and her husband, Rick Russell, have a 5 year-old son, Gavin, my greatnephew, with whom I’m completely in love! Despite being a member of the Med Gen (Medicare generation), I’m still taking ballet classes twice weekly and master classes when they’re offered, and walking my energetic young dog daily. I’m volunteering with the Saratoga Farmers’ Market and the Saratoga Film Forum, two most worthy causes to me— food and entertainment! Other activities include napping and forgetting.” Merri Ann Messenger is a very proud “GG” (great grandma) and daughter Ghislaine is a proud “Nana.” “It has been a year of mixed blessings, having fractured my right foot in three places while hiking up in Northern California in September. I’m almost fully recovered, I’m happy to report. Rick and I are doing well, and I joined him and his martial arts group last spring and did my first rappel. I loved it! We are thrilled to have Adrian back on the mainland and stationed with the Coast Guard in Eureka, CA. He is out to sea often but we now get to see Knox (3) and Gabrielle (almost 2) regularly. Luke, my younger grandson (15), finished another successful year in football and is now in 10th grade in Aptos, CA. As for me, my work continues to give me great pleasure, and I feel very blessed with the many friends, family, and students who are in my life.”

1 Judi Hill ’66 with her rescue dogs, a father and his daughter

3 Linda Allen Winslow ’66 with grandson William

2 Four generations of Merri Ann Messenger ’66’s family in Aptos, CA, Thanksgiving 2014

4 Pamela Stanger ’70, Chantal Aubertin Curtis ’70, and Wendy Walworth Schrijver ’69 at the GA/BWK alumni event, University Club, December 2014

Daughter Ghislaine holding Gabrielle, Merri Ann, son Adrian holding Knox, and grandson Luke (behind Merri Ann)

Mary Spilman Cassady had a wonderful Christmas visiting her son and his family, her sister and brother-inlaw, and some dear friends in Bradenton, FL, where she used to live. “It feels very ‘circle of life’ that my son wound up where he lived from age 4 - 9 years, his oldest attending the same school he did, his children loving the same little park near our old house. We are looking forward to a trip to Turks and Caicos at the end of January.” Eleana Steinberg Cobb reports, “I was home for the holidays with Jimmy and both our daughters, so that was a treat! We are looking forward to the Tucson Jazz Festival next week. We’ll be there for a month or so.” Judy Derkash Hollander writes to us from Alaska where she is working for the State of Alaska as a traveling public health nurse. She flies out to rural Native Alaskan villages for a week at a time and is writing to us today from Gambell on St. Lawrence Island (look that one up!). “This is the farthest north and west I have been. It always fascinates me to see the mixing of traditional and modern ways; for example, eating and collecting mainly subsistence foods such as walrus, seal, and whale, while having soda pop and chips available in the village store. In early 2014 we moved to Anchorage, bought a condo, and are here enjoying winter activities. We both travel for work but are home about 50% of the time.”

Wendie Force took a “blur tour” with her son Jordan—a charter bus trip out West. “I love them because you get to see so much of the country. We stopped in six states and slept in a few of them, including Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and Colorado—all in nine days! The main portion focused on Yellowstone, and we also rafted down the Snake River in 40-degree weather. It was an amazing trip, though my son said he’s done with buses. I’m still working at Conair, and Jordan is a junior at UCONN and doing really well in the honors computer science and engineering program. He was fortunate enough to be contacted by Google for an interview.” Polly Bullen Georgiou reports that they are all okay in Philadelphia. “Granddaughter Gia Appollonia is a joy at 16 months. Walking and starting to speak in two languages, plus a smattering of Greek! Gia enjoys Fridays with YiaYia (that’s me), and we are settling into grandparenthood. My brother, Halsey, became a grandpa this year with the birth of Noah in December. I am still working half time, George is shepherding Chef’s Market catering company (Chef’s Table) in Philly and may be moving to a larger new facility next summer. Three of my four offspring work with him in various capacities and are poised to take over whenever George decides to hang up his calculator and cell phone. Daughter number one, Marissa, is now an advisor at Temple University’s Tyler School of Fine Arts and loves her job. All four kids are happy and healthy.”

Deb Duxbury took a trip to California to visit friends to celebrate her 66th birthday. She reports, “I love my house in Marblehead and started doing Airbnb last summer. It has inspired me to do more traveling. I’m going to Brazil in June, and I plan to be more adventuresome this year. My daughter lives in Somerville, still works for Head Start, and is the joy in my life. I work a little doing health coaching, and I will be studying positive psychology at Kripalu next year.” Katty Skaarup Parker quips, “The last shall be first!” referring to her youngest son Frank’s impending marriage to Katie next September on a farm in western Massachusetts. “They’re real country folk, though NYC has them temporarily. Frank has a huge job constructing a 52-story building in Brooklyn, so commuting from the Upper East Side is easier than from Connecticut. James still lives in Stamford and is doing well at Wells Fargo Bank. It was a shock for all of us to lose our wonderful Greenwich Selectman Dave Theis right before Christmas, but especially hard for James. Dave’s door was only two away from his, and he was a special friend. John has done the traveling for most of us this year. He was in Bali for 10 days, Monte Carlo, Paris, and all over the USA. He continues to work for Charles Mallory and has a lot of balls in the air. Rusty is semi-retired but stays very busy. Horses, the Greenwich Land Trust, and other organizations keep him occupied. I’m semi-retired also, but it seems I (continued on page 42 >)

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Milestones 1 Yasmina Jacobs ’99 and Jonathan Perrelli on their wedding day, November 2014 2 Alumnae and friends at the wedding of Evan O’Connell ’01 and Brian Scall, October 2014; Caitlin Toombs ’01, Miyuki Arikawa Sato ’01, Christine Gaffney Franz, Emily Parker ’01, Brian and Evan, Brooke Townsend, Megan Henze ’01, Crista Petrelli Downey ’01, and Ashley Einhorn ’01

4 Mary Birnbaum ’02 and Justin Shane on their wedding day, October 2014

5 Alexandra Papanicolaou ’02 and Edward Shaheen on their wedding day, October 2014.

6 Alumnae gather in NYC to celebrate the wedding of Adele Lewis ’03 to Jay Gleacher, nephew of former Head of School Patsy Howard, November 2014: Sarah Thorndike Kelly ’03, Hilary Thorndike ’01, Lily Gumz ’03, Alexis Humiston ’03, Patsy Howard, Chloe Wohlforth ’03, Adele Lewis Gleacher ’03, Kate Whipple ’03, Kristin Gregory ’03, Christina Fast Adamson ’04

9 3

NEW ARRIVALS

WEDDINGS Meg Drake ’75 Todd Vallely September 13, 2014 Michelle Summers ’92 Stacy Bergman August 9, 2014 Amanda Taplett ’97 Ethan Johnson June 28, 2014 Janet Carter ’98 Philip Benedetti August 23, 2014 Kristy Keller ’98 Bradley Hughes September 20, 2014 40

Yasmina Jacobs ’99 Jonathan Perrelli November 1, 2014

Sara Simmons ’01 Philip Key Bartow III July 19, 2014

Alexandra Day ’03 Jonathan Golden June 21, 2014

Whitney Day ’06 Jefferson Steele September 27, 2014

Carolina Gonzalez-Bunster ’01 Stefano Bonfiglio April 12, 2014

Mary Birnbaum ’02 Justin Shane October 5, 2014

Adele Lewis ’03 Jay Gleacher November 8, 2014

Nichola Samponaro ’06 Tami Parker July 5, 2014

Hollis Haertel ’01 Porter Hill December 20, 2014

Stirling Fiss ’02 Davis Eads August 9, 2014

Rachel Stockman ’03 Robert Koven June 14, 2014

Kathleen Woodruff ’06 J. Patrick Nelli, Jr. July 26, 2014

Evan O’Connell ’01 Brian Scall October 25, 2014

Alexandra Papanicolaou ’02 Edward Shaheen October 4, 2014

Kristel Keegan ’05 Austin Hsiao July 19, 2014

Cecilia Haig ’07 Daniel Stallsmith September 14, 2014

Kelly Sennatt ’01 Jordan Esten July 19, 2014

Tara Bergin ’03 Andrew Dalgleish June 28, 2012

Heather Black ’06 William R. Cox, Jr. August 16, 2014

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Radhika Jones ’90 Finlay Edmund Jones Petersen July 16, 2014 Karin McKittrick Kovacic ’94 Andrew Benson September 4, 2014 Lindley Tilghman Pless ’95 John Tilghman November 22, 2014 Elizabeth Darst Leykum ’96 Lucy Rockefeller December 21, 2014 Fiona McDermott Wheeler ’98 Charles Lawrence Gustaf June 19, 2014

Janet Carter ’98 Clara Carter November 7, 2014

Katie Wilson Collins ’01 Amelia May August 9, 2014

Emily Orrick ’98 Eleanor Jane April 15, 2014

Tasia Richards Long ’02 Moriah Zoe February 26, 2014

Kristin Santora Lamendola ’98 Clara Theresa February 27, 2014

Macaulay Steers Kerr ’02 Thomas Chamberlin September 4, 2014

Elizabeth Sykes McIntyre ’99 Gwyneth “Winnie” Sykes September 18, 2014

Tara Bergin Dalgleish ’03 Noah Patrick July 25, 2014

Natasha Ulyanov ’99 Anna Sophia June 6, 2014

Emily Littman Moraes ’03 Aiden Lionel Augustus August 6, 2014

Emilie McLaughlin Carvette ’00 Henry William October 18, 2014

Katherine McGirr Nix ’03 Joslin Anne October 9, 2014

3 Alexandra Day ’03 and Jonathan Golden on their wedding day, June 2014, with the Day family: Sean and Ginny Day, Robyn Day ’10, Jonathan and Alexandra, Whitney Day Steele ’06 and her then-fiancé Jefferson, and Annie Day Thorp ’02 and her husband Ryan holding their daughter Eliza

7 The Woodruff Family at the wedding of Kate Woodruff ’06 and Patrick Nelli, July 2014: James Woodruff BWK ’11, Clay Woodruff, Patrick and Kate, Jack and Pam Woodruff, John Woodruff BWK ’03, Mallory Hughes Woodruff ’04 8 Emily Orrick ’98’s daughter Eleanor Jane, born April 2014 9 Fiona McDermott Wheeler ’98 and her boys From left: husband Stuart and sons Tristan and Charlie 10 Emilie McLaughlin Carvette ’00’s son Henry William, born October 2014 11 Macaulay Steers Kerr ’02’s son Thomas Chamberlin, born September 2014 12 Emily Littman Moraes ’03’s son Aiden Lionel Augustus, born August 2014

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In Memoriam ALUMNAE Joan Fisher Faulkner ’28 September 11, 2014 Primrose Johnston Craven ’39 September 9, 2012 Patricia McAdams Thom ’39 September 5, 2014 Elizabeth Scott Gunn ’39 April 3, 2013 Barbara George Crilley ’40 April 22, 2012 Joyce Towne Martin ’40 June 25, 2011 Janeth Nancy Hyland Martin ’42 June 29, 2014 Dorothy McCullough ’42 November 22, 2014 Louise Cowles Hipkins ’45 October 19, 2014 Mary “Tay” Pryor Thomas ’45 October 17, 2014 Fiona Blair ’63 September 26, 2014

Pamela Malley ’68 November 4, 2014 Lisa Love ’77 November 1, 2014

FRIENDS AND FAMILY Tyler Adams Son of Ginny Gold-Adams ’71 October 12, 2014 Kjell Anker Husband of Andrea Anker, former faculty member October 27, 2014 June L. Crabtree Mother of Marilyn Peek Juan ’72 and Pinky Crabtree Markey ’73, grandmother of Kelly Anne Markey ’06 and TJ Markey BWK ’05 October 26, 2014 Stuart Cragin Father of Grace Cragin Heintz ’89, Benjie Cragin BWK ’88, and Reg Cragin BWK ’85 October 24, 2014

Peter D’Agostino BWK ’13 Brother of Alexandra D’Agostino ’08 and Jane D’Agostino ’09 November 20, 2014 Daniel J. Donahue Father of Laura Donahue McKeeman ’85, Daniel Donahue BWK ’84, and Joseph Donahue BWK ’89 October 21, 2014

Susan Noonan Mother of Kathleen Noonan ’78, Tammy Noonan Collins ’80, Laura Noonan Ford ’83, and Randy Noonan BWK ’89 November 18, 2014 Rosemary C. Preis Mother of Roberta Preis Anderson ’82 October 24, 2014

Christopher Hunter BWK ’01 Brother of Dana Hunter ’08 November 5, 2014

James “Baker” Stuart BWK ’03 Brother of Lexie Stuart ’05 December 13, 2014

Sylvester P. Larkin, Jr. Father of Van Larkin Rutley ’75 and Gay Larkin Coe ’77 and grandfather of Katherine Coe ’11 September 14, 2014

Richard Treibick Father of Amy Treibick Caplan ’87 July 13, 2014

Chapin Lawson Father of Susan Lawson ’62, Janet Lawson ’65, and Carol Chapin Langford ’68 October 12, 2014

1 Vicky Schuyten Fuscaldo ’70 with her family: daughter Anneliese’s fiancé Matt Bonacci, Anneliese, Vicky, daughter Nancy Pires holding her son Matthew, Nancy’s husband Matt, their daughter Caitlin (in front of Matt), mother-in-law Lucie Fuscaldo (88 years old), and husband Pat

Lotte Ann “Toni” Wyman Mother of Leslie Wyman Cooper ’72 and grandmother of Clare Cooper ’05 November 4, 2014

Paul Montgomery Husband of Wendy Adams Montgomery ’78 September 6, 2014

3 Class of 1971 mates on the shores of Napeague, LI: Kirby Delany Williams, Anne Warner Linville, Madeleine Slack Szabo, Linda Brown Salvatore, Ginny Gold-Adams, Mimi Baumgardner Shafey, Mary Tietz Wheeler, Deborah Willard LaBerge

2 Claire Sandifer Tuttle ’70 and Angela Tammaro when Tammy was in Paris, October 2014

(continued from page 39 >) don’t have as much to keep me out of trouble! I try to do monthly visits with my prisoners at FCI Danbury, which I love (hard to believe it’s already five years with PVS!), and I get out to ‘play’ with Sandy Waterman Keller every few months. She’s incredible, has taken up the sport Pickle Ball, and is totally committed to it. The riding has tapered off, but she continues agility training with her dogs and is amazingly fleet of foot! I’m also in touch with Nancy Roper Potts. She’s as cute and lively as ever and has a very busy life. Rives is Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, a very big commitment. I’m very much looking forward to our reunion next year.” Nancy Roper Potts wonders when life will slow down, “but maybe that’s just not in the cards. Our daughter Landon is still practicing law and will soon be moving into her new house, which she helped design and includes a home office so she may work from home. Our son Walker has started a hydroponic farming enterprise on some property we bought in Old Lyme, CT. He is growing a vast array of the most beautiful lettuces, arugula, chard, kale, and other greens, as well as fabulous tomatoes in two greenhouses that he built. Our oldest son, Allen, is living in Boston and just got engaged in October to his wonderful fiancée Emily. They will be married next October, and we couldn’t be happier! He owns a spinning studio called Velo-city in Boston and is also a mortgage broker licensed in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Rives is president of

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Brewer Yacht Yards, which owns 24 boatyards and marinas, mostly in the Northeast, and has just become Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, all of which keeps him very busy. We are also in the process of renovating an old home on the aforementioned property in Old Lyme, which had become totally derelict over the years. I’m trying to clean stuff out of our present home, help Landon get her house completed, and oversee some of the design and construction on our farmhouse. I see or talk with Katty fairly frequently, which always makes me happy. I’m forever grateful that we are all in good health.” As for me, Lucy Mitchell, my life as a bakery owner is still in a holding pattern. Certainly this year will be the one in which the City of Tucson will buy my building for demolition purposes and, perhaps, relocate Small Planet Bakery. My head is spinning with possibilities, but until there’s money on the table or at least an offer, I’m a bit stymied. I would love to establish a community kitchen. There is a surge of new food trucks in town seeking commissary space and scads of small caterers looking for the occasional health-approved space. Then again, I long to spend my summers in Vermont and more time with my grandsons, Gavin (8) and Sawyer (almost 4). Doug had his first pottery sale in three years in December. It is a thrill and a joy to have people line up waiting for the doors to open. Leiba is thriving as math department head at University High School, one of the top 10 high schools

in the nation. Pel is almost ready to start volunteer work again after a four-year withdrawal. I maintain my sanity by swimming four days a week with the masters group. Just one more year until our 50th! We hope to gather everyone’s email address so we can stay in touch more efficiently, especially as we start to plan—please make sure I have your email contact information by sending me an email at studio546@q.com. Thank you!

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Class Captain Marilyn Makepeace gathered the following news: Robin Bailey Harvey writes, “It has been a busy 15 months. Our daughter Anne married Jamie Sharpe in Newport in September 2013, and our daughter Kate married Jason Anklowitz at our house in New Hampshire in July 2014. The weather cooperated! Son John, his wife, and three children relocated from Nashville to Darien this past August, and Anne and Jamie moved out to Rowayton from NYC in June and welcomed a daughter, Addison Jane, in November. I am still working at Barrett Bookstore and, yes, people still are reading actual paper books. I’ve had fun getting caught up with both Itty Veysey Hays and Susie Hubbard Ryan at numerous weddings and engagement parties. Darrell continues at the Ashforth Company and is an investor in property in New Zealand, so we try to make it down there at least once a year. It is gorgeous.”

Candy Hapgood Seley reports, “Rex and I still have our main residence in Wellington, FL, but we have relocated our summer residence to a mountain lake in Cashiers, NC. I guess that makes me a Southerner! We now have six grandchildren between us. Two families live in Charleston, so coming to visit is a drive—no more flights. I still have the horses, still doing dressage. I’m on the tennis court five days a week and love it. If any of you are in our area, please let me know so you can visit or we can grab lunch.”

Carol Gronquist Manning shares, “My daughter is about to finish a PhD in psychology, and her husband is about to finish his MBA at Cornell. My son is knocking it out of the park in commercial real estate.”

Marilyn Makepeace shares, “In March I had surgery to repair the foot I mashed in a motorcycle accident in Argentina last January. I spent the summer in PT learning to walk again, and now everything is back to normal. I am currently taking dirt bike and off-road classes on my F700GS that I’ve outfitted for adventure riding. It took four years of planning, and in October the remodel finally started on my house. Except that my office is on site in the cabana behind the old garage, and there are no utilities. We’re renting for the short term. I still rescue senior/ special needs Goldens and currently have three. Anne has retired from her consulting and now has more time to write and help care for her 93-year-old dad.”

Sally Johnson writes, “2015 is going to be a fantastic year in my family as I am about to be a ‘Grammy’ for the first time! In March our son Dan and his wife Nicole are expecting their first child. Second son Steve is marrying his high school sweetheart in September. I remain at Spaulding Rehab Hospital in Boston where I have been for 24 years, working with brain injury survivors and their families, plus stroke survivors, amputees, and a small number of folks with ALS. I am still running three times a week and did the Tufts 10K for the fourth year in October. I am white of hair and have to wear glasses all the time, but am mostly healthy and feel blessed. Anyone in the Boston area, please feel free to be in touch!”

Melinda Zeder Blackman writes, “Since I left GA after seventh grade, I don’t know many of you, but I still remember my three years there and the friendships I formed with many of you. I have raised two girls, divorced and remarried, and am now living in New Mexico on a three-year sabbatical from my research position at the Smithsonian (along with my husband, another Smithsonian researcher) leading up to retirement. I doubt I will be joining you all for the 45th anniversary of graduation, but I’ll be thinking about you. I still remember Berrin as the prince in The 13 Clocks and trick-or-treating with Clay Soutar Halsey as if it were yesterday.”

Berrin Ergul Snyder reports, “I moved back to Greenwich in 2011 to be with Dad after Mom died, and he is doing very well. I started working with William Raveis Real Estate a year ago and love it. My daughter in Denver

Claire Sandifer Tuttle reports, “I am still in Paris where I have been since 1974. Both of our children, Solange and Jean-Philippe, and his wife Mélanie, live on the outskirts of the city. Solange has two children, Emma (10) and Mattéo

1970

Class Captain Kathy Fogarty gathered the following news: Cathy Robinson Smith reports, “I still love living in beautiful Sausalito, CA. It is truly a paradise here. Come visit! I have let go of my

hypnotherapy practice, and I am now spending my days hiking, biking, sailing, and doing a lot of volunteer work for both my yacht club in the Youth Sailing Program and with the town of Sausalito for our three Sister Cities.”

got married in 2012, my son in Boulder got married in Germany in 2013, and I’ve been having a ball renovating some family properties on the side.” Chantal Aubertin Curtis shares, “I am now a Florida resident and go back and forth between Florida, Rhode Island, and NYC. I have been working at the Metropolitan Museum on a volunteer basis, first in the education department and now with Japanese conservation. Our daughter Caroline Curtis ’02 is also working and living in NYC.”

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Remember the Pattersons A really nice group of alums turned up to “Remember the Pattersons” right after Mumming in December 2014. Pinky Crabtree Markey ’73 spearheaded this event and donated the Christmas roses surrounding the bench. Vivian Patterson ’73’s widower, Steve Pagnotta, came down from their home near Williamstown, MA. Vivian taught at Williams College for over 30 years.

1 Class of 1973 mates gather to celebrate Vivian Patterson’s life. Front row: Barbara Cuminale Fletcher, Anne Preston, Maria Mannetti Kivijarv Back row: Betsy Johnston Lewis, Betsy Fogarty, Betsy Kreuter

(7), and we help her a lot with them and enjoy doing so immensely. Ty continues translating and will most likely do so for a couple of more years, so we alternate between our homes in Normandy and Paris. I was unable to attend Tammy’s party this past fall, but did get to see her when she came through Paris in October, which was great. Attending the 45th reunion is unlikely, but I will try to aim for the 50th!”

solutions within the Manpower Group. She is the youngest vice president the company has ever had!

“Nancy, who has been mentored by Pat, owner of Rutt Studio of Westport (www.ruttstudioofwestport.com), in the skill of designing kitchens and baths, is clearly prepared to assume the reins of the company when Pat decides to retire on a full-time basis. Pat and I are both grateful that our girls reside within 20 minutes Vicky Schuyten Fuscaldo writes, “Even though I did not (in Trumbull and Fairfield) of our home in New Canaan, so graduate from GA, I feel honored to still be considered a we are able to see them and the grandchildren on a regular member of the Class of 1970 and remember my eight years basis. Anneliese and her fiancé, Matt, recently purchased there with great fondness and affection. There are so many a house in Trumbull, and for their Christmas present, they memories that come to mind, such as our eighth grade had a new Rutt kitchen designed and installed—owning Peter Pan production, directed by Mrs. Edwards (what a your own company does have its perks! I am still working character she was!), or our class trip to an ice cream factory in the corporate environment; however, several years ago someplace in New York where we all took advantage of all I decided to lessen my hectic duties and responsibilities the free ice cream samples (this is going back to maybe as an EA to the chairman of a company to the position of fifth grade), and occasionally playing the GA school song receptionist where I am currently working at MBI, a maron the piano for assemblies (I was always a nervous wreck keting company in Norwalk, with a 10-minute commute. when Mrs. Charmamonte and Mrs. Ford would recruit In my free time I head over to the New Canaan Y six me for this). Well, 2015 finds Pat and me approaching our days a week for my Power and Zumba classes (Miss Luke 38th wedding anniversary in May and the proud parents of would be proud of me!) and do my four miles on the Nancy (our oldest) who is married to Matt Pires and made elliptical bike.” us very proud grandparents of Caitlin (9) and Matthew (5). Our youngest, Anneliese, was recently promoted to Vice Teri Ardleigh Swift says, “My daughter Robyn, her President of Business Operations at Right Management, a husband Hammond, and my 1-year-old granddaughter Lily global leader in talent and career management workforce moved to San Francisco this past August. I get out to see

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2 Class of 1975 mates Alixe Reed Mattingly, Meg Drake Vallely, Mari Wellin King, and Didi Roome 3 Class of 1975 mates Marianne “Chop” Cholnoky Kay, Heather Dickey Schneeberger, Kathy Mitchell Williams, and Stacy Stacom Ossorio in Big Sky, Montana, Fall 2014

them every few months. Being Grandma T is just the best! My son Matt is in NYC and has his own company—he puts on an event every year called the Concordia Summit. I live in Florida year-round and am involved with starting a biotech company, Xcovery Vision, which is developing a new ophthalmology drug—a pill for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Also, we have an oncology company called Xcovery, which is making steady progress in treating lung cancer and other solid tumor cancers. I was lucky to catch up with Berrin last year in Greenwich. I saw Ginger Edington, too, and live a couple of miles from Beth Ramsing Palmgren. Beth’s sister Karen RamsingBixler ’72 lives nearby in the winter.” Jane Appleyard Roel shares, “I live on Long Island and am married to Ray Roel, who has his own business as a marketing consultant. We have been married for 28 years. Our two grown sons live at home for the moment. Christopher is a laboratory research associate at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC, considering possible grad school options, and Daniel just completed his MBA in healthcare management and is embarking on the job hunt.” Nancy Derkash Hanson reports, “I am still teaching French in middle school. My husband and I have lived in Darien for over 30 years. Our son was married last year, and this summer our daughter is getting married to a Frenchman. Our other two sons live one or two hours

Each member of the group spoke about their memories of being taught French by one or both of the Pattersons, emphasizing their toughness and how grateful they were for the rigor—two even mentioned living and/or studying in France later in life and how their early lessons paid off well. People spoke of Vivian’s strong academic and athletic success—she was president of the school. Remarks that were sent by email in response to the invitation from folks who could not attend were read aloud by the group. It was truly a beautiful moment.

away and come to visit often. We are getting used to being empty nesters. After Christmas, we went to visit my 97-year-old mother in Vero Beach. My father was in great health until two weeks before he passed at age 102.” Mette Riis reports, “I’m still working for Denver Public Health in travel health and infectious diseases three days a week. It’s a perfect schedule, and Jerry, my other half, and I take time to travel as much as we can. In the last three years we’ve gone to Africa, Asia, South America, Italy, and France. I’m also very active with hiking and cross-country skiing and love living in the foothills west of Denver. I visit Greenwich about four times a year; my parents are still alive at 90 and living in the same house I grew up in— pretty amazing! My sisters and six nieces and nephews also live in Connecticut, and I love spending as much time as I can with them.” Kathy Keefe Raffel writes, “I am living in San Francisco and working as a professor in the School of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of San Francisco. I teach graduate students in public health and am the director of a small (but hopefully growing) MS in Behavioral Health program. I am the chief cook and bottle washer and do everything from recruitment to advising, curriculum development, and staff training and supervision. Our older son recently got married and is living in Columbus, OH, where my husband and I lived between 2007 and 2013. Our

Members of the Class of 1973 and fellow alums gather at the memorial bench for Vivian Patterson ’73 and her parents who were long-tenured faculty members at GA from the ’50s through the ’80s Front row: Corinne Rutgers Tolles ’62 (standing), Maria Mannetti Kivijarv

younger son is working on a doctorate in EE at Columbia, living in Harlem. My husband I just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary.”

’73, Patrice Arturi ’73, Anne Preston ’73, Anne Stambaugh Satterthwaite ’58 Back row: Berrin Ergul Snyder ’70, Betsy Kreuter ’73, Pinky Crabtree Markey ’73, Kim Coleman ’73, Tracy Kauffman-Agro ’75, and Vivian’s widower, Stephen Pagnotta

and have been here since. It’s beautiful—come visit. My wonderful 20-year-old daughter, Margaret, is a sophomore at Occidental College in L.A. I’ve worked as a technical writer and editor for more than 30 years, with a specialty in environment, energy, and natural resources. However, the work I’ve focused on in the Northwest has been handled mostly by technical staff since the last downturn, so I’m using that as a nudge to look for less technical work. After all, I was an art major for a good reason!

Clay Soutar Halsey shares, “This year of our coming reunion seems to be another year of thinking about numbers—well, numbers that keep getting larger, like our 45th reunion. This month Van and I observed (too tired to celebrate) our 33rd wedding anniversary. I thought this was very nice until I remembered it was our daughter Ashley’s 30th birthday, and then I felt pretty old. Then I “I went back to singing and playing the guitar and banjo smiled, thinking about how she thought she was really old. in 2000, did regular solo gigs for a couple of years, and Then I chuckled when I remembered how shocked she was have been in a folk band for 12 years now. We don’t play two years ago when her baby brother, who is now 27, was out much, but we love playing together. I still do a bit getting married. (Of course, I didn’t think he could posof creative writing and have been easing my way back sibly be old enough to get married either.) I’m beginning into drawing lately by attending periodic life-drawing to think things are getting sort of like what Mr. Muhlfeld marathons. About a year ago, I moved to within a mile of taught us about in physics—having a frame of reference. I the urban growth boundary, which made my motorcycle am not a grandmother yet, which is just fine; I’m happy to very happy.” stay a step-grandmother for now. I am really hoping to get to our reunion this spring. The 40th was the ultimate time Joan Wilsey Rapoport shares, “My husband and I left machine experience—I came home totally disoriented! It New York for Arizona, opened a restaurant, sold it, and is really quite a ‘trip’ as we used to say in the Sixties, and a moved back to NYC because both our kids were there. As great one.” soon as we returned, our son married his girlfriend and they moved to Zurich! Our daughter and her husband Lorna Stebbins Fossand reports, “After 14 years in are still in NYC so we see them, but we have to travel to NYC, I moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1990 with my Europe to see our son and daughter-in-law. We hope they then-husband (we’re divorced), settled in Portland, OR, move back soon.”

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Tyler Adams Memorial Bench

1 Class of 1975 mates Heather Dickey Schneeberger and Debbie Whitlaw Llewellyn met in Cape Cod, Summer 2014 2 Tara Stacom ’76 and husband Arthur Diedrick in Morocco, Holiday Season 2014

The Class of 1971 donated a memorial bench to commemorate Tyler Adams, the son of classmate Ginny Gold-Adams ’71, who was killed in a plane crash on October 12, 2014.

3 Martha Johnston Widing ’77 holding granddaughter Isobel Rose, born August 2014 7

4 Gabrielle Murdock Kirk ’78 5 GA and BWK alumni and friends at a Belle Haven Pool Night, Summer 2014 - Trey Reynolds BWK ’75, Margie Walker Hauer ’78, Pam Pagnani ’76, Chris Martin, Jackie Wetenhall ’78, Allyson Pagnani Martin ’78, Dan and Helen Ix FitzPatrick ’78, David and Nancy Pivirotto Sebastian ’78, and John Stratton BWK ’79

6 Lia Connor Farley ’83’s children - Grace (8), Lilly (4), and Jameson (7) 7 Class of 1983 mates Laurie Noonan Ford, Clare Rooney Butler, and Valerie Primo Lack in Greenwich, December 2014

Kathy Fogarty says, “The highlight of my year was spendMary Anne Napier says, “Our second grandchild was born in July. She’s a great little one, much calmer and more ing time in South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe with Hans. What we experienced far exceeded our expectations content than her 3-year-old brother was at that age. Also, in so many ways. Of course, the animals in their natural before her birth in June, we were able to cruise to Turkey, habitats, but the birds, the Cape Turtle Dove in particular, Greece, and Italy, which was great fun. We were unexpectthe stars, the wonderful people, their varying cultures and edly and pleasantly surprised by our Turkey experience, beautiful South African accents. We had reentry trauma especially Ephesus, and would love to go back as soon as returning to the US! And how fun it was to consult with things calm down a bit in that part of the world. We spent Mette Riis about the shots needed and not needed for the the winter months in Key West where I can continue with trip. I highly recommend her input! my consulting work, doing the legal review of advertising/marketing/promotions for a consumer products “I am still enjoying my placement businesses, permanent company, while my husband does financial consulting. The and some temp, and spending time in Harbor Beach, Fort Connecticut winters have become too much of a challenge Lauderdale. We just had dinner with Ros and Chantal for us, so for the last several years we’ve ended up avoiding Aubertin Curtis where they live in Delray—they are both them in the tropics. Our next trip is to Ecuador and the great! I also had a wonderful weekend in Minneapolis this Galapagos Islands, possibly this fall. Any interest in joining summer with Kim Peterson Kotila, and got together us? Let me know and I’ll forward the details!” with Pam Stanger, Amy Fates, Berrin Ergul Snyder, and Barb Mortimer who are local.” Cora Burnham Correale reports, “I still live and work in Greenwich. In the winter months I put down my shovel Class Captains Ann von Gal and and gardening clippers and pick up my paint brushes and Madeleine Slack Szabo sent this news: HB pencils on portraits, still life, and landscapes. It’s nice The beautiful summer home in the Hamptons, Long to catch my breath because my landscape design business Island, was the setting for a long September weekend is very busy during spring, summer, and fall! My big news is sojourn of eight members of the Class of 1971: Mimi my son Ben and his German sweetheart moved from NYC Baumgardner Shafey, Linda Brown Salvatore, Kirby to Berlin and had a baby girl, Ella Louise. I can’t say enough Delany Williams, Ginny Gold-Adams, Madeleine Slack Szabo, Mary Tietz Wheeler, Deborah Willard about how amazing and fun it is to be a grandma!”

1971

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LaBerge, and Anne Warner Linville. Madeleine’s sister Amy Slack Cinque ’78, who lives year-round in Amagansett, Long Island, invited the women to stay in her husband’s family home on the shores of Napeague, Amagansett. Madeleine reports, “We had a wonderful time reconnecting, laughing, and catching up, thanks to the generosity of my little sis Amy who loves bringing GA alums together. When GA women reunite, there is always a good time with great fellowship.” Sadly, tragic news soon followed with the untimely death of Ginny’s son Tyler Adams in a plane crash as a result of a flying accident near Yerington, Nevada. Tyler was an avid outdoorsman. In high school he was a competitive mountain biker and downhill skier. He had recently discovered flying and was in the process of working toward his commercial aviation license. Many of Ginny’s GA classmates contributed to a bench, which was installed at the Corvallis Municipal Airport in Corvallis, Oregon, as a tribute to Tyler and to their GA bond with his mother. Ginny is grateful to have the support of so many friends at Greenwich Academy.

1974

Founder and president of O’Sullivan Wright, Inc. Joan O’Sullivan Wright, MSW, MCC, was honored in June 2014 as one of the “50 Most Influential Women,” which recognizes the important role women play in the greater Charlotte region, in the

economy, and in society. The honorees represent the most influential women in business, government, education, and not-for-profit fields.

1975

paintings to be placed in a newly renovated dining room at Ansley Golf Club here in Atlanta. I am still working with Paula Deen and her magazine. It’s all about a comeback of sorts.

Kathy Mitchell Williams writes: “We had a great holiday this year! All my kids were home, my mom spent Christmas with us, and the Mitchell family had its usual family reunion for New Year’s.

Class Captain Marianne “Chop” Cholnoky Kay gathered the following “Heather, Chop, and I made a fabulous trip out to Montana “In a fun small-world story, I saw Heather Dickey news: Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn reports, “This has to visit Stacy this fall. We hiked, shopped, eagle watched, Schneeberger this past August on the Cape. Jim and I been the year of finished projects and accomplishments. reminisced, and laughed the whole weekend! were on our way to Nantucket via the ferry, and she hapMadeline, my husband’s granddaughter who we’ve been pened to be in Hyannis Port. It was great to catch up.” raising for the past three years, graduated from Atlanta “The big news that I have to share this year is that I’m Girls School last May. She came a long way and worked going to be a grandmother. My oldest son’s wife is having Heather writes that her daughter Katie is a sophomore hard. On top of that, she received a Posse Foundation a baby in June and we are thrilled. I’m working on my at the University of Notre Dame. She is looking forward Scholarship to Bard College. It’s a four-year, full-tuition ‘grandmother name’ already!” to spending Christmas in Hawaii with her brother. She scholarship. She is enjoying her first semester there, has shares: “It was so fun to have a surprise visit from fellow a great roommate, is making friends and adjusting to ‘real Stacy Stacom Ossorio writes: “Eric and I are now alum Debbie Whitlaw Llewellyn and her husband on winter.’ I photographed a few book projects that were empty nesters and have lots of room for visitors—we released this year including Classic Florida Style, an interior their way to Nantucket this past summer. Debbie texted would love to see you in beautiful Big Sky, Montana. me that she was on the Cape and could we get together for and architecture book by Bill and Phyllis Taylor, as well It was so much fun to have Chop, Kathy, and Heather lunch. It was so last minute but we made it work and had a as several cookbooks: Picture Perfect Parties, Homemade for a girls’ visit. We had a great time hiking, touring blast catching up on a lovely day. Another GA highlight this Yellowstone National Park, and reminiscing about Donuts, and Field Peas to Foie Gras. I’m in the middle of year was getting together with my old friends Marianne shooting another cookbook all about Southwestern food. old times.” ‘Chop’ Cholnoky Kay, Stacy Stacom Ossorio, and A friend of mine has recruited me to help her teach food Kathy Mitchell Williams. We had so much fun laughing, styling and food photography workshops. It’s been fun so Ursula Berlinger shares: “I am in the process of moving hiking, dining, and sightseeing. Stacy had saved an old far. We’ve taught in Seattle, WA; Austin, TX, and here in to Atlanta and job hunting. The Hamptons house is up shoebox full of funny high school treasures. The contents Atlanta. In February, we are teaching a larger workshop in for rent, so this is a pretty serious move for me. Leaving Marrakech, Morocco, and possibly one in Italy this June. I were so ‘senior year’! I forgot that she ran for office. In New York at last! Antonia is in her junior year at Pratt and am still painting with wax; that is, photo encaustic paintthose four days I learned that these women have been and doing very well. She was nominated to Pratt’s Board of ings. I have had a few sales and a nice commission for two will always be my dear friends.” Directors’ representing the undergrad school. I couldn’t

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1 Kristine Reinarz Rhodes ’83’s daughter Megan and her fiancé Brian

2 Kristine Reinarz Rhodes ’83’s son Stewart and his girlfriend Jenn 3 Kristine Reinarz Rhodes ’83’s son David and his girlfriend Lori 4 Gesine Albrecht Chung ’85 (far right) with husband Wing and their children Felix and Nina 5 Beth Pegg Frates ’85 and husband Jim (center) with their sons Peter and John 3

6 Inger Dewey-Golob ’85’s family: daughter Katrina, Inger, son Trevor, husband David, and son Derek

be prouder! I am looking forward to catching up with my sisters Alison Berlinger Holland ’81 and Jaqui Berlinger Clelland ’79 and seeing Debbie Whitlaw Llewellyn soon in Atlanta.” Alixe Reed Mattingly writes: “To commemorate our 40th reunion, my New Year’s aspiration is to slow it down and smell the roses more, of which there are many in Santa Barbara. My wonderful career in PR and strategic communications for companies, foundations, politicians and presidents, trade associations, and nonprofits has been fulfilling and rewarding, and now I find my time more focused on community service and hopefully some adventure travel. My husband Mark thrives in his many hobbies, which include golfing, surfing, skiing, cycling, and his commercial real estate. He has just become a pilot—oh, the places we will go! My stepson Colin is off to graduate school for a PhD. I am hoping to be in Greenwich more often and visiting GA. Wow, what a great school!” Meg Drake Vallely writes, “Todd Vallely and I got married in September. It was a fabulous celebration and included many Brunswick and GA alums from the classes of 1975. We are living in Old Greenwich and enjoying married life immensely.” Margaret Van Vliet Fisher writes: “My three daughters are all fine—one is a teacher in Durham, NC, one is

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a substance abuse counselor in Warner Robbins, GA, and my youngest just moved to Greenwich after finishing at Ole Miss. I LOVE having her here! We’re making fun plans for my mother Harriet Fenn Van Vliet ’43’s 90th birthday. I have been playing a lot of paddle this winter with Suzanne Branch ’81 and my brother Derek Van Vliet BWK ’87. I am sad to report the passing of my husband’s uncle, Everett Fisher, brother of the late Joan Fisher Faulkner ’28. Although I didn’t know Everett very long, I always regarded him highly for his service to Greenwich.” Chop shares: “I am still happily employed at the New Canaan Nature Center as the preschool director. I walk to work every day with my dog Lacy and enjoy all that I do for the wonderful families and staff that I am surrounded by. My daughter Elisabeth is in her sophomore year at the University of Vermont, studying math. My younger stepson had a baby in April, so I am officially a grandma, and my older stepson is getting married in February in Phoenix. I had a fabulous and fun mini-reunion with Kathy, Stacy, and Heather in Big Sky, Montana, in September.”

1976

Class Captain Margriet Yonkman McGowan submits this news: The Class of ’76 has had a busy year! Joan Sturgis Parsons’ daughter Sarah was married in Chatham, MA, in August;

7 Amy Haig Wagner ’85’s family: husband Peter, Amy, and their sons Jackson (18), Ben (16), and Christian (14)

Margot McDonnell Genge and Jennifer McClellan Pivirotto were in attendance. Joan writes, “My daughter Sarah and husband Jon Wolter were married in Chatham, MA over Labor Day weekend where we had a wonderful four-day event. Sarah and Jon met at Dartmouth. They currently live in New York where Sarah works for Morgan Stanley in foreign exchange sales and trading. “My son Tyler graduated from Vanderbilt in 2013, also lives in New York, and also works for Morgan Stanley in securitized products sales and trading. I continue the weekly commute to the Bay Area from Boston, continuing on in my 20-year career with Silicon Valley Bank where I am responsible for a good chunk of our corporate banking business across the US. Paul runs an investment management business called Planstrong Partners, and recently we bought a home in Sanibel, FL, so Paul can keep up his golf game through the cold New England winter months. I am looking forward to our next GA reunion!” Dede Brodeur-Coen is back on the stage for the first time in 14 years. She has the lead role as Heidi in the Heidi Chronicles. Tara Stacom and her husband Arthur were off to Morocco for the holidays. Patty Utterback Gebhardt’s mother turned 90. Her oldest son Phillip is engaged, and her middle son is back on the West

Coast. Suzy Mayer Breck enjoys having Monique Lee Bahadur as her neighbor when she and her family are in from London. Susan visited her son Reid Breck BWK ’12 in Hong Kong where he was studying. Her daughter Morgan Breck ’06 is at the Darden School of Business at UVA. Leslie Minton Toscano and her children gathered from Italy and the West Coast to spend the holidays in Greenwich with her mother. Lisa Schneider Thornton, Pam Pagnani, Susan Mayer Breck, and I got together for a fun Christmas lunch in Greenwich. Pam is VP for Sotheby’s International in Greenwich. Lisa was traveling to Florida to spend the holidays with her sons. I recently joined the real estate firm William Raveis in Greenwich, and I love my new affiliation. Peggy Mazer Ogdon and I get together regularly in Greenwich and Vermont. We enjoy playing golf together and antiquing. Our daughters Katy and Eve often join us. I also see Sabrina Pray Forsythe frequently in passing and ran into her on a bike path in Nantucket last summer. Sabrina runs the Pray Achievement Center and the Pray Automotive Museum. Cary Bacon Winslow, Terri Rodger, and I missed each other recently in Naples, Florida. Terri was helping her mother move, Cary was in Captiva, and I was with my husband on a short golf weekend. We all saw posts on Facebook, but by the time we connected I was on my way home. I hope that we continue to keep in touch. Please let me know if any of you come to Greenwich. I would love to see you! Wishing everyone a wonderful 2015!

1978

Christina Cook Bates reports, “We love Portsmouth. I’m teaching second grade and enjoy bicycling.”

Lesley Woodberry Robinson shares, “We just moved to Dubai three weeks ago after two years in London. Before London we were in Singapore for two years, and before that we were in India; first Mumbai, then Delhi. We moved to Delhi from Russia. It has been a little crazy! Our three boys are at Harrow, a boarding school in the UK. Austen, our eldest, will go to college next year in the USA. Gwen is at Uppingham, a coed boarding school, so the nest is empty!” Gabrielle Murdock Kirk writes, “I had serious back surgery two years ago. Although I had to retire from regular teaching as a result of the surgery, I am able to volunteer teaching preschool music at a Catholic school, which I enjoy. Our daughter Kate is an International Student Advisor at Georgia Tech. Our son Danny is our entrepreneur in Tucson. My husband Ken is still teaching at the university and conducting.”

1979

Class Captain Susie Davis gathered the following news: In 2014, I was offered the archivist position at Greenwich Academy, taking over from Nancy Wasserman, the former PE teacher and coach, who retired to Minnesota. The archives room is like a

museum of treasures for me. A few years ago I started a history project on my neighborhood in Greenwich. Several of the neighbors had gone to GA or Brunswick. It was so fun to see GA archival photos of the neighbors from the 1920s through the 1950s. Photos aren’t the only fascinating items in the collection. Poring through old catalogues and team sports schedules from back when GA accepted boys (until 1913) gives me goose bumps. I looked up some of the schools we played against in the early 1900s, and many don’t exist anymore. I was recently reading some student council notes from the 1920s. Back then, a hot lunch wasn’t served, and the students were trying to help out by serving soup three days a week. In past years I have tracked down lost classmates, and in 2014, I found Suzanne Ling Mattera, who was in our class in seventh grade. She was from England and her dad worked at IBM. She now lives in North Carolina and looks the same as she did in 1974! In other class news, Rebecca White has a new job managing insurance risk for the state of Vermont. She is living in a house she built by hand a couple of decades ago with her husband. She often returns to Greenwich to visit her mother. Last summer, Chris Graf took up golf, so I hit a few balls with her at the Griff Harris driving range. Chris has talent, which isn’t surprising, as she comes from an athletic family in which sister Liz Graf Gaynor ’77 was captain of the tennis team, and her niece Kate Hazlett Group VIII, daughter of Alexandra Graf Hazlett ’83,

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1983

Class Captain Martha “Reed” von Gal Donahue sends this news from her classmates: Teryn Bevan Weintz shares, “My husband Karl Weintz BWK ’83 recently accepted a CEO position with a high-tech company called Sonavation in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, so we have relocated. We drove south and got to visit with my sisters, Kathryn Bevan Farthing ’96 and Elysia Bevan Pearce ’98, who were each visiting in-laws in the Carolinas, en route to our destination. We started the New Year in sunny Florida,

1 Mara Hotung ’85’s sons Elijah and Joshua

Olivier Spaeh BWK ’86 and his family

and Presley Tomer. Carly is in Group I at GA.

2 Class of 1985 mates Sally Dommerich Lineberry and Laura Donahue McKeeman

4 Emily Randolph ’85 holding Phoe-Phoe the Rabbit, the Phoenician Resort’s mascot, which was developed by Emily and her husband Dan

7 Corinne Stagen Torkelson ’85’s daughters Claire and Grace

3 Andrea Spaeh Lupinacci ’85 with her son Matthew and husband Steve in Berlin, August 2014, where the family celebrated Andrea’s parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, along with Andrea’s brother

is a nationally ranked swimmer. On a trip to Boston, I visited Lolly Robinson, who is still with Horn Book publishers in Boston. She made us a delicious pizza with prosciutto and caramelized onions. Amy Novatt, our former senior class president and an OB/GYN in Rhinebeck, NY, started a blog called “The Other Side of the Speculum.” I visit Dede Lavin Parish in Florida every so often or when she comes to Greenwich to visit her mother. They still have the house on Old Church Road. I am planning on writing an article about GA students who became pilots, and Dede is one of them. Fran Farley Snabes was also a pilot in her teens. In fact, she posed with an airplane for her yearbook photo back in 1979. Fran tells me she is a much better surgeon than she ever was an airplane pilot! Lucy Tart Albers and I are four for four in attending Broadway shows that ultimately win Tony Awards. This time we saw Twelfth Night.

and this hothouse flower couldn’t be happier about it. We sold our townhouse in Boston, and I have relinquished my nonprofit volunteer work there. I have kept my nonprofit ties in Newport, RI, where we have a home and will be looking to establish new ones in PBG.” Kristine Reinarz Rhodes reports, “The Rhodes family is moving a million miles an hour with two primary focuses for 2015. The first is the wedding of our daughter, Megan Parks, to an amazing man—Brian DuBose. They met in NY where they were both living and working. They are both from Texas and, as far as we can see, a perfect match! They got engaged and moved down to Dallas where they are now both working and planning their wedding for May 9, 2015. The second focus is that we are converting our Texas family homestead into a bed and breakfast and wedding venue called CW Hill Country Ranch: www.cwhillcountryranch.com. Of course the idea came from investing a pretty penny on Megan’s wedding for a venue that wasn’t nearly as beautiful as ours (of course!). So we bought our family place and are going to be ready to launch in the spring of this year. Keep checking in as we will have more pictures in the wedding and gallery section weekly. I would be remiss to not mention our twin sons—David and Stewart—who are both doing very well in their careers and madly in love. In fact, I wouldn’t doubt if my next GA newsletter mentions that we are planning weddings for them! They have met

5 Annie Davidson Swepston ’85 and husband Karl 6 Betty Unhoch, Pamela Unhoch Tomer ’85’s mother, with Pam’s daughters, Carly

8 Left: Evers Whyte (BWK ’85) and Laura Danehower Whyte ’85 Right: Their daughters, Pia (13) and Chloe (9), in Costa Rica, Thanksgiving 2014

amazing women who we love and are both working and living in Texas as well.” Lia Connor Farley writes, “Our family will be moving overseas this summer. Jim has a new position with Ford Motor Company, and we will be based in the UK as well as Germany.” Stacy Beckwith reports, “I am very happy at Carleton College. I was promoted to full professor of Hebrew at Carleton in 2013, and I chair our Department of Middle Eastern Languages (Hebrew and Arabic). I’m the director of our Judaic Studies Program, as well. These various roles had me back in Israel this past summer doing research to prepare a new course on Israeli film—while the rockets were flying, unfortunately. I hope everyone in our class is doing well!” Christine Jacobson Popp shares, “I had a nice time catching up with Laura Noonan Ford last summer. One would never know 30 years had passed as we chatted and partied the night away like it was yesterday. Hoping this year I will catch up with some other GA pals. Personally, I hope to publish some more; I’ve been working on stories mostly about travel but also some personal essays. My son Julian will be 14 this year, and my daughter Clara will turn 11. We will visit my mom in Florida this Easter as she has made a full recovery from being ill two years ago.”

Reed shares, “All is well here in Newton, MA. My son Connor is now a freshman at NYU and loving it. Mike and I had a ball in the city over parents’ weekend, acting as if we were still in college. My daughter Mackenzie is applying to colleges and will be happy when the whole application process is over. She is looking at schools all over the country, so it is exciting and nerve-racking all at the same time, not knowing what the future holds! Next year Mike and I will be empty nesters during the school year. Not looking forward to that, but it means they are headed in the right direction, so that is great!”

1985

Class Captain Pamela Unhoch Tomer sent the following updates: Anne Elizabeth Davidson Swepston is still living in the mountains above San Diego with her husband Carl. They are active in the West Coast Navy SEAL Community and continue to love mountain-biking and hiking. In 2014, Anne wrote her third novel, fifth comic book, fourth graphic novel, AND became a New York Times & USA Today Best-Selling Author. If anyone attends Comic-Con International in San Diego, please stop by her Booth #2201, or give her a shout if you’re in the area. She is superpysched to see her classmates at the reunion this year. Amy Haig Wagner shares, “The big news just now is that Jackson will be heading to Harvard in the fall. I may need to get an apartment in Boston—I will miss him so much!”

Emily Randolph says, “2014 was a real work year. My husband Dan and I published two more children’s books: one in collaboration with the Desert Botanical Garden; the other, the second in a series for the Phoenician Resort starring Phoe-Phoe, the mascot that we developed for them. We also moved our house and started a major renovation. When it’s all done, we will have what we are playfully calling ‘The Beach House,’ which is in the middle of the desert in Scottsdale! Please come and visit us when you need some sun.” Corinne Stagen Torkelson shares, “Jim turned 50 this winter, and soon after we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. It was so cold out that the temps possibly beat the day we married, which was the coldest day of the century! The girls are both driving, which is giving me such angst—they are 16 and 18 years old. Grace is leading her varsity basketball team as top scorer and rebounder and awaits news from her Big Ten universities—she wants to stay a Midwestern gal. Claire is playing indoor sand volleyball as she can never get enough of the beach and she hopes to play in college in Southern California. My photography business continues to occupy a lot of my time. In addition, I devote a lot of my time to two amazing organizations: I teach nutrition and fitness to a Hispanic population at a community house www.roberticommunityhouse.org and work with women and child victims of domestic violence at a residential

shelter www.houseofpeaceshelter.org. I received a great honor from the county for my service (Lake Country Cares I Care Award), which was wonderful as it allowed me to get some recognition for these two incredible organizations that are in such need. My commitment to The Dailey Method and Dailey Cycle, platform tennis (aka paddle series 3 team) and cross country skiing (yes I am truly a flatlander) keep me in shape both physically and emotionally.” Beth Pegg Frates reports, “After one year, we are feeling more at home in our new house. My mom still lives with us and is enjoying all the hustle and bustle. The boys, both teenagers, are happy with their schools and sports. Jim likes his job, and I continue to tackle new opportunities that come my way. This past fall, I was invited to teach a college course at the Harvard Extension School (Psych E 1037 Introduction to Lifestyle Medicine). Teaching this course was a huge challenge for me; I had physicians, premeds, engineers, and lawyers from across the country and the world as the course can be taken online entirely as well as in person for those in Boston. If anyone is interested, the course will run again in the fall 2015. Most recently, I was the medical editor for a Harvard Medical School Special Health Report titled ‘Get Healthy, Get a Dog.’ It was a joy to pull together the research on dogs and health and to work with the writer on crafting an informative report.” (continued on page 54 >)

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ALUMNAE PROFILE

STAYING ROOTED

Amanda Fuller ’05 had always envisioned turning her passions for food and social responsibility into a fulfilling career. After spending several years honing her business skills in the finance world, Amanda is pursuing those passions, with the recent launch of RootedNY. The company, started by Amanda and a friend, brings consumers closer to their food sources by offering expeditions to local, sustainable businesses, and has turned her vision into a reality.

rom GA, Amanda went to NYU’s Stern School of Business for her undergraduate studies, which she completed in only three years. “While on one hand I rushed through a bit, I was also lucky to graduate in 2008 and interview in the fall of 2007, when jobs in finance were plenty, instead of 2009 in the middle of the subprime lending crisis,” Amanda said. “I worked almost every semester in a variety of internships, and getting that breadth of experience was really valuable to me in figuring out the type of job that I wanted.” After graduating, Amanda took a job at the boutique real estate investment firm W.P. Carey, where she worked on the investment team. She had offers from both W.P. Carey and J.P. Morgan, but chose the former because of the smaller team. “It was also a great place to ride out the recession. We got some really interesting deals done, and I was never at risk of losing my job like others in the real estate industry,” she recalled. “After a few years at W.P. Carey, I was given the opportunity to work for a competitor, Angelo Gordon, a bigger firm with several alternative investment strategies. I was still doing the same type of work, but I learned a lot more working on raising a fund and coordinating with other strategies in the firm.” While working, Amanda was also pursuing the lofty goal of becoming a CFA® charterholder—a challenging and time-consuming commitment. “I began pursuing the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation in the early months of the subprime lending crisis when the markets began to screech to a halt,” she said. “When I finally passed the third level of the exam in the summer of 2012, I had become fairly entrenched in the net lease industry, which I had never really planned on doing for my entire career.” With her CFA studies completed, Amanda felt the time was right to move on. “I realized that if I wanted to pursue something I was deeply passionate about, this was the time of my life to do it. I still wanted to do something within business or finance, but I had already spent years learning about that area. I chose the graduate program in food studies at NYU to dive into a subject I was deeply passionate about, but had little knowledge of. I had been watching the food movement take off as a consumer, but I wanted to be on the other side, helping to shape it.” In the spring of 2014, with her graduate studies well under way, Amanda’s college roommate, Clarissa Delap, approached her with an idea to take people out of the city for day trips to visit farms in an effort to educate them about where their food comes from. “She asked me to work with her due to my experience in business and education in the food industry,” Amanda said. “The beginning of RootedNY is really a testament to programs in entrepreneurship, because the idea for the company came out of Clarissa’s desire to enter the Brooklyn Public Library PowerUP Business Plan Competition. She just wanted to win the $15,000 prize! Ironically, we didn’t make it into the final round of the competition, but we have a viable business plan because of it.” Together, Clarissa and Amanda held brainstorming sessions as they solidified their business model and mission. “We kept

coming back to ‘roots’ because it gets to the heart of what we wanted to do—create a connection with the people and places where our food comes from,” Amanda explained. “We want to offer unique, fully curated educational experiences in highly relevant areas. It’s also very important for us to be a socially responsible company and think about sustainability in everything from our transportation and waste to the tour sites we partner with.” RootedNY offered some test trips for family and friends this fall. Based on those experiences, they are tweaking the program in preparation for their full launch this spring. Outside of work and school, Amanda has become involved with Slow Money NYC, a branch of the national organization dedicated to catalyzing investment in sustainable food and farms. “I’ve worked with a group of angel investors called Foodshed Investors NY that invests according to the Slow Money Principles,” Amanda explained. “I’m really proud that I was able to act as deal champion for an investment in Blue Marble Ice Cream. I coordinated the angel investors and led due diligence and negotiations, as well as investing a bit of my own funds.” Amanda is also working on creating an educational farm of her own on a family-owned piece of land that isn’t being used, and she is on the committee for Food + Enterprise, a three-day conference focused on using business to create a sustainable local food economy. When asked about how GA helped to shape her, Amanda recalled many teachers who were impactful, but two in particular stood out. “Peggy Cragin was my advisor throughout high school. She would always say that we’re going to live to 250 years old and have plenty of time for several careers! I liked that idea of a long journey filled with diverse experiences. Mrs. Cragin gave all her advisees these beautiful little Russian warrior figurines when we graduated. She told us to look at them closely, and the little faces were clearly painted to be women. She said to never forget that we are warrior women. My little warrior woman has been on every desk I’ve had since, and it reminds me of who I really am when I forget. The other is Mrs. Hyman, who nearly failed me in AP Chemistry. I don’t think I had ever seen a D or an F on a test before her class, and I saw both in the first quarter. She taught me that a failure means you have to come back fighting harder. I pushed all year, and although I don’t think I did better than a B in the class, I got a 5 on the AP exam and used those credits toward college.” Always an incredibly driven student, Amanda, who was one year short of being a “lifer” at GA, said, “It’s difficult to separate what I can attribute to my mom’s excellent parenting and to GA’s amazing community and education. One thing that’s for sure is that I always grew up thinking about how I could change the world. I absolutely felt empowered, important, and prepared for anything.” v

I realized that if I wanted to pursue something I was deeply passionate about, this was the time of my life to do it.

RootedNY officially launches this spring. Learn more or sign up for one of their tours by visiting www.rootedny.com.

n Amanda Fuller '05

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2 8

1 Andi Zales Hughes ’85 and Mara Hotung ’85’s families in London, Easter 2014 Back row: Andi and husband Keith Hughes, Mara, Mara’s husband Ilyas Khan, and Mara’s brother Tony Hotung Front row: Ashley Hughes, Elijah and Joshua Khan, and Garrett Hughes 2 Patricia Stanley Hochstetter ’83 and Gretchen Sloan Larkin ’86 at NAIS Institute for New Heads; Patricia is the new Head of School at The Mountain School at Winhall in Bondville, VT, and Gretchen is

Head of School at Charles River School in Dover, MA 3 Beth Barr ’87’s family: daughter Pia, husband Robbie, daughters Fifi and Pilar, Beth and son Lucas 4 Kelly Coveny Sequenzia ’87 and husband Joe with their sons Finn (8) and Leo (9) in France, 2014 5 Amanda Fuller Wellman ’87’s oldest children, Willow and Wyatt Sommer 6 Amanda Fuller Wellman ’87’s youngest children, Sam and Sawyer Wellman

7 Laurel Montgomery Edinburgh ’87 (center), whose Runaway Intervention Program was honored at the St. Paul Children’s Hospital Benefit in Minnesota, joined by her mom Kay Cowan ’63 and Nancy Wasserman 8 Above: Kate Gace Walton ’87’s son Peter and daughter Anna (below) 9 Jane Odiseos Purnell ’91’s company All Good, by Elemental Herbs, created Greenwich Academy organic branded lip balms

(continued from page 51 >) Laura Danehower Whyte writes, “Evers (Whyte BWK ’85) and I and our two daughters, Pia (13) and Chloe (9) are all thriving in the Berkshires. We enjoy lots of skiing, music, and fellowship with our wonderful community. I look forward to seeing everyone, wrinkles, inner beauty and all!” Mara Hotung reports, “The best news that I have is that Andi Zales Hughes and her family came to visit me and my family in England during the Easter holiday. We had a great time catching up and reminiscing. We are still the same—taking delight in making each other laugh so hard that our stomachs hurt, and we had tears rolling down our cheeks! We did quite a bit of sightseeing in London, Windsor (close to where I live), and up to Cambridge where we went punting on the River Cam. The added bonus was that my mum, who is living with us, and my brother Tony, who was visiting from Hong Kong, also got to see Andi and Keith, and they were finally able to meet Ashley and Garrett. All our kids got on great despite the age gap. I was very sad to see my closest friend head home. The house was quiet without Andi’s laughter filling the rooms. Her visit was definitely the highlight of my year. “Both my boys, Elijah (9) and Joshua (6), are thriving. They are quintessentially English and are into football (soccer), cricket, rugby, and Eton Mess (a very sweet meringue dessert)! ”

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Inger Dewey-Golob writes, “2014 was a great year for our family and me. I started a new job, attended my 25th college reunion, got excited about a nonprofit, and found excitement and relief in seeing the facets of my life blend more easily together. On a high note, we were visited this Christmas by my parents, who stayed for three weeks, and my sister, Brit Dewey ’86, and family who joined us to ski in Tahoe over New Year’s. “With our three children all happily placed in three schools and thriving, I decided to get back into the investment business in earnest, having decided that it was due time for me to relaunch my career, invest in myself and, ultimately, in the health of our family in a different way. On a trip to New York last spring, I reconnected with an old friend and roommate who has done angel venture investing in the consumer space for a few years and had her own firm, so we have been doing some work together. “In May my husband, David Golob, and I attended our 25th reunion at Harvard. A highlight of the weekend was dusting off my acoustic guitar and singing and playing with some former classmates. “Lastly, this summer I started getting involved with a New York-based organization, Women’s World Banking (WWB). The organization helps local banking institutions in developing nations invest in women, through

setting up a banking account for the first time or providing a loan for a business. As I consider the mission of WWB, I have felt the gratitude for the uniqueness of my formative education at Greenwich Academy. I have wondered where other women would be today if they had had the opportunities I did, to have equal access to an education, to the choice of whom to marry and whether to have children. I feel blessed, but also a responsibility to put my knowledge in the financial arena to use to help others. Thank you, GA, for giving me the education in the classroom, on the stage, and on the field, and most importantly, the tools to believe in my potential.” Kristen von Summer Waldorf writes, “I can’t wait to see our class in Greenwich this April! I hope everyone comes back, with or without families, so we can catch up and have some quality time together. My boys and I had a good year—our youngest son, Ford, started kindergarten at Brunswick this fall and loves it, especially gym and recess. I still break into a cold sweat when I enter the pre-K gym and I’m awash in memories of Mayfair dances, being a head taller than most boys, and sweaty palms! Hudson, our oldest, is in second grade and loving the big new ’Wick campus. “David’s business is getting off the ground with a partnership with Liberty Mutual. After four years in Greenwich, we finally feel settled and blessed with wonderful new

friends, and we are enjoying the Greenwich of today. I am on the Alumnae Board at GA and get to keep current on all the amazing things the students and the school are doing. I’m particularly impressed with their new STEM initiatives and Engineering and Design Lab. “It’s been a great year for seeing a lot of our classmates: Gesine Albrecht Chung was here this summer, and Elizabeth Whitmore, Nicole Conte, Gesine, and I saw each other at our college reunions. Laura Donahue McKeeman was here this summer, and I saw Andi Zales Hughes, Meg Gallagher Hock, Melissa Akopiantz Gray, Beth Pegg Frates, Sally Dommerich Lineberry, Inger Dewey-Golob, and Pam Unhoch Tomer. I always treasure these lifelong friendships with such amazing and kind people.”

end of 2013. In April 2014 we purchased land near the mountain and will build our long-dreamt-about vacation home. Carly and Presley (ages 6 and 4) continue to keep our lives full of joy. Carly enjoys Group I at GA and Presley is in full immersion Spanish preschool at Greenwich Spanish School. I am hoping she has inherited my love for languages. I am in the 13th year of my consulting business and just love what I do more each day, staffing for systems implementations and soft skills projects— HighlandTraining.com. Ed is still at Thomson Reuters and enjoys his short commute to Stamford. My mom continues to do well and still lives in Riverside.

“We will get to see Nicole Conte a bit more often now that we’ll be in Vermont as her husband often works in the medical center at Mount Snow, which is just five minutes Andi Zales Hughes says, “I had the best vacation ever, from us. Nicole will accompany him on some of his trips. I visiting Mara Hotung and her family in England. We didn’t keep in touch with Lara Beetham Monasch, whose son stop talking or laughing from the minute I got off the plane Ryan is his class valedictorian. I need to take parenting until when I cried getting back on it. We realized that neilessons from Lara because she has the most thoughtful ther of us has truly matured over the last 32 years of friendand smartest children ever! We missed our annual trip ship. I recently started a new job at Co-Communications, to Newport this year to see Sara Paul Krewson and her a PR/marketing firm in Mt. Kisco. I love being back in the world of PR. Keith and the kids are great—Ashley is a fresh- family, but we are in touch by email and on Facebook. I keep in touch with Mr. Murdock, too, who has moved man in college and Garrett a sophomore in high school.” home to Oklahoma. As I write this, I realize how much GA continues to be part of my life and now Carly’s life. What a Pam shares, “My family and I are enjoying skiing in wonderful gift!” Vermont at the Hermitage Club, which we joined at the

1986

Audrey Dumper O’Connell reports, “Life continues to be one fascinating jigsaw puzzle as my husband and I juggle careers, wee kiddos, hearth, and home. Owen (5) and Clancy (3) offer endless opportunity for diversion. They are spirited, sweet, and pretty silly. We live in Natick, MA, just outside of Boston. We recently moved my mom to a nearby town to be closer to our bustling little family. The kids call her ‘Gaga.’ I’m still working for/with Trader Joe’s (it’s been 17 years!). I am now a consultant rather than an employee. I started my own consulting company called In Other Words Consulting about three years ago. TJ ’s is my primary client. I miss my GA girls! You’ve all had an impact on my life that’s more substantial than you likely know. Thank you for your friendship and the color you bring to my life. Even if we haven’t spoken in years, I know you’re out there!”

1987

Class Captain Stacy Rukeyser sends the following news: Kelly Coveny Sequenzia reports, “Leo (9) and Finn (8) are playing their little soccer hearts out, and we are starting a Partridge Familystyle band with Finn on drums and lead vocal, Leo guitar and keys, and Joe and I as backup dancers. Not quite ready for the bus tour, but having fun making music. Still working at milk* (a marketing agency) and just launched a free web-book-experience called Empire of Disruption: The Circuitous Path to Human Connection

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1 Amy O’Reilly Rizzi ’91’s twins Emmy and Joe (5) flank their brother Connor (2)

photo made the front cover of the sports section of the New York Times

2 Wendy Jason ’94 (fourth from right in red shirt) and her teammates: The 2014 Masters Ball Hockey World Cup All-Star Team

6 Class of 1996 mates at the GA/BWK holiday party, December 2014–Jocelyn Sherman-Avidan, Katelyn Delaney, and Shannon Law Otte

3 Michaela McGuire FitzGerald ’94 holding her son James 4 Emilie Vasu ’96 and Laura Hill ’95 at the GA/BWK holiday party, December 2014 5 Christina Winters Blaustein ’95 and Christie Browning Rana ’95 at the start of the NYC triathlon, August 2014—this

(empireofdisruption.com), which is gratefully getting some good press and reviews. We did an aggressive European family trip this past summer for Joe’s 50th and had a blast. Highlights included feeding pigeons in Venice (which totally freaked me out), the cheese and honey farmers’ market in Montserrat, gelato-sampling pretty much everywhere, and jeeping all over Mykonos (seat belts not so much of a thing in 1969 vehicles). Still happily living in Rowayton and loving being a mom and working.” Laurel Montgomery Edinburgh shares, “The Children’s Hospital Association featured the Runaway Intervention Program as the Fund a Need at their annual ball. My mother, Kay Cowan ’63, and Nancy Wasserman came to the event.” Beth Barr reports, “I am still in Greenwich, teaching at GA, and my two youngest daughters are GA girls! Sofia “Fifi” Fernandez is in Group IV and Pilar Fernandez is in Connecting Class. My older son Lucas, 24, is a Special Forces RECON Marine, and my older daughter Pia, 17, is moving to the US to go to college. Robbie and I keep busy with the kids, work, and our animals—an adopted dog and cat, as well as the 15 chickens we have in the backyard for eggs. My parents are retired to Florida and Vermont, and my sister Kathryn Barr Dixon ’90 is living in Charlotte, NC, but she visits often with her husband and three kids.”

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Kate Gace Walton writes, “After two decades of near-constant moves, I’ve actually stayed put in recent years; we’re still on Bainbridge Island, surrounded by the Puget Sound and lots of family (my parents, my brother’s family, and my mother-in-law). By day, I run a company that places writers on corporate projects. By night, I tend to my labor of love, Work Stew (www.workstew. com), a website where people ponder their work lives. (Quite a few GA grads have contributed essays: Pamela Arturi ’89, Samantha Cole ’90, Priscilla Emerling ’87, Melissa Brown Grieco ’87, and Dominique Vincenz Veniez ’86.) Husband Chris is a video producer. Daughter Anna is a first grader. Son Peter is a kindergartener. We play a lot of UNO.” Amanda Fuller Wellman shares, “Todd and I moved to Evergreen, Colorado, in April 2013. Todd is now owner/operator of Service Master Damage Restoration. My daughter Willow, 20 years old, is a junior at Boston College. She is majoring in political science and minoring in economics. She is heading to Berlin this spring with Brown University’s German study abroad program. My son Wyatt (18) started his freshman year at the University of Colorado at Boulder this fall. Currently, his interest is in digital marketing. He is enjoying the early-season start in snowboarding too. Son Sawyer (8) is in second grade at Wilmot Elementary. He loves reading, math, skiing,

soccer, and swimming. Youngest Sam (7) is also attending Wilmot Elementary in first grade. He loves bicycling, soccer, and remote cars. Sam has been with us in the US since October 2014 and is doing really well. “Todd, Sawyer, and I had the good fortune of going to Uganda on August 14 when we finally received ‘the call.’ We had been pursuing an adoption for close to two years. We stayed together in Uganda for 10 days. Sam and I remained until October 4 to complete the process. It has been a challenging, exciting, life-changing process. “As for me, I am very active in our local school. I am Chair of the Advisory Education Council to the elementary school as well as soon-to-be PTA president starting in the 2015-2016 school year. Additionally, I am in the process of transferring my social work license from New York to Colorado so I can practice here. My niche will be working with/assisting families who are at some point in the adoption process. Hilary Phillips Haynes and I have gotten together a couple of times in the past year. We now live so close, which is great.”

1991

Jane Odiseos Purnell shares this news: “Our company was happy to create Greenwich Academy organic branded lip balms. They look great, and we’ve heard that students and alumnae are loving them.” Jane and business partner Ryan Rich

7 Sally Maloney Duval ’96 (far right) with Varsity field hockey seniors and fellow coach Jamie Brower (far left) 8 Class of 1997 mates at the home of Cathy Ritman Holligan–Beatrice Toepke Mellick, Katie Iorio, Gavin Weiss, Cathy, Olivia Jacquet, and Joanna Galvin Sisser

BWK ’91 are working hard to grow their brand All Good, by Elemental Herbs (elementalherbs.com). Ryan is director of sales, and in 2015 Jane will be heading up the private label division. All Good makes a line of herbal-infused organic products such as lip balms, healing balm, zinc sunscreen, lotions, sore muscle spray, and chemical-free hand sanitizer.

1994

Class Captain Jessie Jacquet Adams gathered this news: Wendy Jason writes, “I’m still living right outside of DC and working at a shelter for men experiencing homelessness. I also facilitate a weekly after-school program in DC, and continue to manage the Prison Arts Coalition website. A high point of the year was playing in the Masters Ball Hockey World Cup in Tampa alongside women ages 35+ from six different countries.” Tatiana Papanicolaou Perkin shares, “This spring, my son Gardner will turn 4, and my daughter Isabella will turn 2. They are a handful, but so much fun to watch together. I am still full time at MILLY and enjoying my work.”

1995

Christina Browning Rana shares, “Christina Winters Blaustein and I were on the front cover of the sports section of the New York Times in November 2014 before starting the NYC

9 Alumnae and friends at Janet Carter ’98’s wedding

Back row - Abi Rankin Fitzgerald ’97, Mike DeCarlo, Eddie Fitzgerald, Lorena Gonzalez DeCarlo ’98, Burnet Pearce, Charlie Morgan ’98, the groom Philip Benedetti, Nina Kahm ’98, Amanda Bates ’98, Matt Chatham (partially obscured), Sam Drimal Chatham ’98 Front row - Elysia Bevan Pearce ’98, Abigail Clark ’98, the bride Janet Carter ’98, and Elizabeth Pizzuti ’98

triathlon on Sunday morning. We finished within about 10 minutes of each other too! It was a fun race and really special to do it with a classmate—we enjoyed reconnecting prior to the race in our age corral. Thanks to Facebook, we knew we were going to be doing the race together and agreed to meet up before race start on Sunday.”

1996

Brooke Altman writes: “After eight years of working at Viansa Winery as their director of events, I have started my own wedding and event planning business, Orchard Avenue Events, in Sonoma, CA. The majority of our events are located in beautiful wine country, but we do travel all over the country as well.”

1998

Class Captain Janet Carter sends in this news: Stephanie J. Benedetto, Esq. is launching an innovative technology platform called Queen of Raw for independent fashion designers.

Nilla Watkins shares, “I just booked a series regular role on a pilot for ABC Family. Fingers crossed it gets picked up! Also, I just signed with a new theatrical agent, Connor Ankrum & Associates, as well as a new commercial agent, Circle Talent Associates.” Fiona McDermott Wheeler reports, “Stuart and I welcomed our second baby boy, Charlie. Big bro Tristan adores him.”

Sally Maloney Duval shares, “This fall I was honored to be the assistant coach of the Varsity field hockey team at GA. I am now coaching three seasons at GA and have loved working with the current athletes. It has been so fun reconnecting with GA through my daughters and coaching.”

Dana Marsh is a SAG/ AFTRA actor with a one-person show in progress called Francis. She has been doing readings from the show in Los Angeles and New York this year. The show will begin a Los Angeles run in April. She posts most current info on the piece and her readings via Facebook. Friend her for more info!

Jenny Hoffman reports that in September she ran the NorthCoast 24-Hour Endurance Run in Cleveland, OH, running 127 miles in the 24-hour time period and winning the National Championship race. In addition to her success on the course, Jenny raised $11,000 for the occasion to benefit Special Olympics.

Emily Orrick started her own educational consulting business called Orrick Consulting. She provides academic advising for individuals who have struggled with alcohol or drug addiction and are seeking guidance as they get back into school or transfer after receiving treatment. Emily works closely with interventionists and treatment centers

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to give individuals the greatest chance to achieve their academic and life goals. She also had another baby, Eleanor Jane, in April 2014. Silvana Perelli Vasaka married Stephen Vasaka, Jr. BWK ’99 on June 14, 2014, in Tarrytown, NY. Kristin Santora Lamendola was a co-matron of honor alongside Silvana’s sister, Caroline. Nina Kahm, Liz Pizzuti, and Elysia Bevan Pearce were also in the bridal party. James Kearns BWK ’98 was one of Steve’s co-best men and Tommy Egan BWK ’98 was one of Steve’s groomsmen. Many GA/Wick classmates shared in the joyous occasion. Stephanie Staidle has launched her own cutting-edge business called The Right Brain Entrepreneur (www.trbe. org). Based on her experience as a licensed art therapist and personal development coach, she has developed methodology based in neuroscience to help anyone be more effective, productive, and fulfilled by harnessing their brain’s natural power. She teaches her clients how to tap into an underused resource called “right brain thinking” to improve problem solving, communication, and creativity. She has been featured at a local TEDx event in San Francisco, led a sold out workshop at SXSW in 2014, and was recently interviewed on NBC. She now offers multiple online courses and will be next presenting at SXSW V2V in Las Vegas this summer.

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2000

2006

2002

2011

Emilie McLaughlin Carvette and her husband Matthew welcomed a baby boy, Henry William Carvette, born on October 18, 2014, in Santa Monica, CA.

Alexandra Papanicolaou Shaheen reports, “I married Edward Shaheen on October 4 in Prides Crossing, MA. My sister Tatiana Papanicolaou Perkin ’94 was matron of honor, and my brother S. Nicholas Papanicolaou BWK ’97 was groomsman. It was so special to have several other alums there as well.” Macaulay Steers Kerr shares: “On September 4 my husband Alex and I welcomed our first child, Thomas Chamberlin Kerr. We are living in Rye now where I work in WestMed’s urgent care as a physician’s assistant. We are enjoying every minute with our new little guy Thomas.”

2003

Emily Littman Moraes reports, “My husband Scott and I welcomed a son this summer. Aiden Lionel Augustus Moraes was born on August 6. We are thrilled to have this happy, healthy, beautiful baby boy in our lives.”

2005

Katie Semida Manoff and her husband have moved to Houston.

It was a thrill to see Allison Williams star in NBC’s live production of Peter Pan in November! She performed alongside Christopher Walken, Kelli O’Hara, and Minnie Driver. Allison can be seen regularly on HBO’s hit series Girls.

Class Captains Jessica Green, Kristen Morris, KC Morse, and Kirsten Schnackenberg gathered the following news: Camille Candland shares, “I accepted a full-time position at Barclays Capital in fixed income sales in New York City for next year. I will be graduating from the University of Richmond in the spring as a double major in finance and chemistry.”

Sahara Lake reports, “I was accepted to Teach for America this fall and will be teaching elementary school in Baltimore, Maryland, starting in the 2015 school year.” Olivia Choi shares, “2014 has been an absolute whirlwind! I spent most of my year abroad and had the most incredible time traveling through Southeast Asia and Western Europe. I spent the summer as an investor relations and asset management intern at GMM Grammy, the largest entertainment company in Thailand. I came home and had the opportunity to attend Burning Man, a week-long, self-sustaining, transformative festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, and then continued my journey

1 Shan Hannigan and Liz Koppelman ’98 on their wedding day, May 2014 2 Alumni and friends at Silvana Perelli ’98 and Steve Vasaka BWK ’99’s wedding. Nicole Zannino Iraci ’99, Joseph Iraci BWK ’99, Dave Maloney BWK ’01, Elizabeth Pizzuti ’98, Elysia Bevan Pearce ’98, Janet Carter ’98, Amanda Bates ’98, Nina Kahm ’98, James Kearns BWK ’98, Grant Gyesky BWK ’98, Silvana and Steve, Kristin Santora Lamendola

’98, Tommy Egan BWK ’98, Lee Oxman BWK ’99, Jarrett McGovern BWK ’99, Graham Gyesky BWK ’00, Scott Neff BWK ’99, Josyl Barchue BWK ’00, Jenifer Parker ’08, Andrew Rosato BWK ’97, Jerry Carnegie BWK ’99, Mandela Jones BWK ’00, John Egan BWK ’95, Matt Nielsen BWK ’01 3 Stephanie Staidle ’98, a licensed art therapist and personal development coach, has developed methodology and launched a business called The

Right Brain Entrepreneur 4 Class of 2004 mates Nicole Casson and Nina Delano 5 Class of 2004 mates: Front row: Nicole Casson, Christina Hoffman, Nina Delano, Kylie Gattinella Back row: Allison Henze, Cricket Phillips, Denia Craig, Ashley McGovern 6 Class of 2004 mates at the GA/BWK holiday party, December 2014: Katherine Muhlfeld, Kathryn Sorte,

Maxi Adamski, and Ashley Smith 7 Alumnae and friends at the wedding of Nichola Samponaro ’06 and Tami Parker at the Samponaro home, July 2014 Front row: Sara Kratovil ’06, Ellie Erdman ’06, Melissa Shaw ’06, Caroline Samponaro ’97, Nichola and Tami, Amanda Samponaro Runne ’00, Olivia Jacquet ’97, Dana Gestal Frederickson ’00

Back row: Welyn Craig ’06, Paige Pedersen ’06, Laura Pyne ’06, Louise Ward ’06, and Lindsay Casson Brosens ’06 8 Class of 2010 mates at the GA/BWK holiday party, December 2014: Cicely Hoelscher, Mary Katherine Leary, and Hannah Bacon 9 Hannah Bacon ’10 and her father, Mike Bacon BWK ’75 10 Class of 2011 mates Courtney Griffin and Karen

Pozo visit GA in December to speak with the CSBGL students 11 Class of 2011 mates Allen Louis BWK, KC Morse, Sahara Lake, Jess Green, and Performing Arts Department Chair Erica McCants at the Winter Concert 2014 12 Class of 2011 mates KC Morse, Sahara Lake, Yasmeen Audi, Jess Green, SueSue Drennen, and Kirby Taylor, Thanksgiving 2014

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

ALUMNAE

1 GA and BWK alumni at King Family Vineyard in Virginia celebrating Young Alumni Reunions and UVA Homecoming, October 2014 Brian MacFarlane BWK ’11, Karen Pozo ’11, Ellie Castine ’07, Alex Burnett ’08, Lara Nosseir ’11, Sammy MacFarlane BWK ’11, and Preston Baldwin BWK ’11

2 Class of 2011 mates at Kirsten Schnackenberg‘s 22nd birthday celebration Susannah Benjamin, Kirsten, Gracia Vargas, and Lili Rosenkranz 3 GA alums who rowed in the Princeton Chase in October 2014 at Princeton University; this group rowed for Varsity Crew while at GA Galen Hughes ’13, Princeton 2017; Caroline Ostrover ’13, Yale 2017; Kelly Bojic ’14, Princeton 2018, and Natalie Reynolds ’13, Penn 2017

4 Eric and Annie Tillman visiting Nancy Wasserman (center) on their trip to Minnesota, Summer 2014 5 Liz Morris ’12, Hamilton 2015 and Hope Matthews ’14, Middlebury 2018 at the Middlebury Invitational Golf Tournament, September 2014

abroad at the University of Manchester in the fall. My experience outside of the country has opened my eyes to the idea of working abroad once I graduate from the University of Southern California this coming May.” Jennifer Park writes, “I can’t believe that it is already time for the Class of 2011 to graduate from college. It truly has gone by so fast. There is so much I owe to GA for allowing me to explore and grow my love for science, technology, sports, and art. As a young woman pursuing a career in the STEM fields, I believe GA prepared me to be unafraid to speak my mind, confidently share ideas, and dream big. I felt empowered by the amazing support from the GA community and the Global Scholars Program. I will be graduating from Cornell University with a BS in Policy Analysis & Management and minors in Business and Law & Society this spring and will be joining the Enterprise Strategy and Technology Consulting team at Microsoft this summer.” Kirsten reports, “I am in the midst of my senior year at Yale, and it is hard to believe how time has flown! I will be working at Fred Alger Management in Manhattan after graduation. This past summer, I had a great time working in Manhattan and living in Greenwich Village with Alex Lunt. I was very excited to be recently inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Yale. I also have started volunteering with Squash Haven.”

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2013

Water Stories: A Conversation in Painting and Sound BOSTON, MA

A small but loyal crowd braved torrential rains to meet at the Boston Museum of Science for a special tour of Anne Miller Neeley ’64’s installation called Water Stories: A Conversation in Painting and Sound. A reception at the Royal Sonesta followed the tour and included Jean Barringer, Evelyn Barringer ’20’s grandmother; Judy Reynolds Shaw ’56 and her husband Roger; classmates Katie Holt Campbell ’82 and Laurie Habiby Detwiler ’82 who are neighbors in Norwell, MA; and Josie Watson ’14, a freshman at Tufts. kA nne Miller Neely ’64 at the opening of her Water Stories installation at the Boston Museum of Science, October 2014

performance of 21-2-1. They advanced all the way to the NCAA Division III Tournament Finals in Kansas City but unfortunately were defeated by Lynchburg in penalty kicks.

Class Captains Samantha Berenblum, Pamela Cevallos, Leigh Gilliland, Lexi Henkel, and Hannah Staab gathered the following news: Eva Rosencrans has been selected for the 2014 NESCAC Field Hockey All-Conference Team. Eva was voted to the second team for the second year in a row. She is one of 22 athletes on the all-conference team, and she is one of eight that made it in 2013. Playing forward, she is ranked fourth in the NESCAC with 17 goals and 36 points. Both totals are the second most in one season by a Hamilton player. Eva is already tied for fourth place on the program’s all-time list with 25 career goals. Eva helped lead the Continentals to their second appearance in the NESCAC Championship quarterfinals since they joined the conference for field hockey in 2011.

Annie Leonard helped lead the Middlebury College women’s field hockey team to a very successful season, with an overall performance of 19-2. They also beat Bowdoin in the NESCAC Finals and became the 2014 NESCAC Field Hockey champions.

2014

Megan Collins spent this past semester studying at the Island School in the Bahamas. She will begin her first semester of college this February at Middlebury College.

Kate Sands and the Williams College women’s soccer team had an incredible season with an overall

Isabelle Dumoulin reports, “I had a wonderful first semester at Conn College. I played flute in the school orchestra and took private lessons with a professor on campus. I also played on the women’s club soccer team and had a lot of fun getting to know people in all grades. I loved the classes I took and am looking forward to my classes next semester too. I am also going to be a tour guide starting next semester, which I am really looking forward to!”

Class Captains Megan Collins, Isabelle Dumoulin, and Zoe Morris gathered the following news: Kitty Arenz was named Scholastic All-American by USA Swimming, the national governing body for the sport of swimming in the United States. The organization is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competition including the Olympic Games. Kitty swims for the Westchester Marlins.

Events

Alumnae events are a great way to reconnect with friends and former faculty, to network, and to hear about what is happening on campus. The Alumnae Association hosts events in New York, Boston, DC, Chicago, San Francisco, and Dallas, as well as many other areas across the country. We hope to see you on campus or at a regional event nearest you!

Immy Hepsworth and her family moved “across the pond” to England where she is now studying at the University of Edinburgh.

Alumnae Care Package Event GREENWICH, CT

Parents of alumnae Tracy Smith, Tancee Broduer-Sassi, Deb Elam, and Hillary Spizzirri McAtee ’79 gathered at the care package event to stuff and send care packages to their daughters at college, October 2014.

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

ALUMNAE

Events Carson Wos ’09 looks on as presenter Rebecca Babcock ’97 discusses her career in marketing

Georgetown University Visit WA S H I N G T O N , D C

While in DC on school business, Head of School Molly King met with alumnae currently attending Georgetown University. k Leigh Gilliland ’13, Julia Jones ’13, Georgia Williams ’13, Sydney Simmons ’11, Caroline Neumann ’14, Eliot Johnson ’14, Megan Jasson ’13, Rina Racheva ’11

Networking Forum N E W YO R K , N Y

We were thrilled to welcome nearly 75 GA and Brunswick alumni to our joint networking event this fall. Hosted in the beautiful offices of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, the evening began with a keynote address by Ben Carpenter, author of The Bigs. Ben spoke about the importance of networking as we navigate through our careers. After the keynote address, alumni went to breakout sessions on topics including science and medicine, marketing, and finance. Sessions were led by teams of GA and Brunswick alums who shared their stories before opening the floor to questions. Lively conversation and lots of career networking ensued at the reception afterwards.

STEM Alumnae Panel GREENWICH, CT

m Sam Cohen ’07 looks on as presenter Olivia Frazao ’06 discusses her career as an entrepreneur

k Chase Kreuter ’06 and Annie Graber ’87, presenters at the Networking Forum with Brunswick, October 2014

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In November, biology teacher Charlie Alt organized an Alumnae in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) panel. We welcomed Lindsay Edwards ’08, Katherine Schultz ’11, Rebecca Deubler ’12, and Marissa Sterling ’12 back to GA to speak with current students about their experiences pursuing studies and careers with a STEM focus. It was a delight to hear from these accomplished women, whose expertise includes environmental geology, computer science, neuroscience, and sustainable development. They spoke about their own paths and answered many questions, addressing the challenges and benefits of being a woman in their typically male-dominated fields. All of the panelists shared their appreciation for the strong camaraderie and support system that exist among women in these areas, as they want to help each other to succeed. They also all shared their deep appreciation for the preparation they received at GA, citing their confidence, problem solving, and writing skills as important components for success.

mM arissa Sterling ’12, Lindsay Edwards ’08, Rebecca Deubler ’12, and

Katherine Schultz ’11 address students interested in STEM fields

G R E E N W I C H AC A D E M Y.O R G

2014-2015 ANNUAL FUND

Events 1

GA/BWK Holiday Party N E W YO R K , N Y

The Fourth Annual GA/BWK Holiday Party in NYC was another smashing success. Alumni spanning 66 graduating years were in attendance alongside faculty members and the heads of both schools, Molly King and Tom Philip. The University Club provided a festive setting, and guests enjoyed mixing and mingling. We are already looking forward to next year—mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 8, 2015!

o Corinne James Menacho ’93, Shannon Law Otte ’96, Katelyn Delaney ’96

1K atie Bishop ’09, Connor Fitzpatrick BWK ’09, Susy Schieffelin ’07, Julia Marcus ’09 2 Class of 2010 mates Maddie Burbank, Nicole Murphy, Elise Taylor 3 Associate Head of School Mark Feiner, Ashley Einhorn ’01, Kylie Gattinella ’04, Megan Henze ’01, and Allison Henze ’04 4 The Kiernan sisters at the GA/BWK holiday party in NYC – Sarah ’01, Katherine ’10, and Julia ’04

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Transforming an extraordinary education into an extraordinarily vast educational experience.

Toward the Building of Character Visit www.greenwichacademy.org/annualfund and learn how your gift to the Greenwich Academy Annual Fund empowers today’s students to become future leaders and global citizens.

Make a gift today at www.greenwichacademy.org/gift

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