Georgetown Days // Spring 2018

GEORGETOWN D

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THE EVOLUTION OF

MATH AND SCIENCE AT GDS 34 BOYS LEADING BOYS Creating spaces for conversation and adding allied voices to a movement

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THE FUTURE IS NOW

GDS Lower/Middle School Groundbreaking

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

OUR MISSION

DRIVES ALL THAT WE DO. Georgetown Day School honors the integrity and worth of each individual within a diverse school community. GDS is dedicated to providing a supportive educational atmosphere in which teachers challenge the intellectual, creative, and physical abilities of our students, and foster strength of character and concern for others. From the earliest grades, we encourage our students to wonder, to inquire, and to be self-reliant, laying the foundation for a lifelong love of learning.

to all of our staff and alumni writers for your contributions to the magazine.

We welcome submissions from all Georgetown Day School community members.

THANK YOU

Please contact agrasheim@gds.org to learn more. Alumni are encouraged to send their news with photos to alumni@gds.org for inclusion in the Georgetown Days magazine.

SPRING 2018 GEORGETOWN DAYS Head of School Russell Shaw Associate Head of School Kevin Barr Assistant Head of School for Equity and Social Impact Crissy Cáceres

MAGAZINE STAFF Director of Communications Alison Grasheim Temporary Storyteller and New Media Associate Shonica David Magazine Design Think

2017-18 GDS BOARD OF TRUSTEES Officers Jenny Abramson ’95, Chair Monica Dixon, Vice Chair David B. Smith, Treasurer Anu Tate, Secretary James W. Cooper, At Large Trustees Stephen Bailey Sid Bannerjee Jeffrey Blum Shawn Davis-Wilensky Lisa Fairfax Franklin Foer ’92 Betsy Keeley Rosemary Kilkenny Reid Liffmann Cathy MacNeil-Hollinger Pamela Reeves Michael Sachse ‘95 Erik Smulson ‘85 Ben Soto Brad Vogt Josh Wachs David Wellisch Phil West Laurie Wingate

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

Assistant Head of School for Curriculum and Instruction Laura Yee

ALUMNI BOARD 2017-18 Ava Jones ’02, Alumni Board President Nina Ritch ’95, Alumni Board Vice President Jason Campbell ’07 Jonathan Drobis ’98 Julia Fisher ’09 Hunter "Hunter" Fortney ’11 Jeff Goldberg ’94 Branden Isaac ’08 Tayo Jimoh ’10 Elena Lobo ’04 Mitch Malasky ’04 Denise Odell ’84 Stephanie Rosenthal ’98 Elizabeth Slobasky ’97

CORRECTION: In the Fall 2017 edition of Georgetown Days, photographs on page 24 of our Athletics section did not properly credit our student photographer, Karen Thomas ’18. We regret the error, and appreciate Karen’s contributions to the magazine and the School.

CONTENTS 2

FROM WHERE I STAND A Message from Head of School Russell Shaw

AROUND CAMPUS 3 In the Classroom 9 Beyond the Classroom 20 Arts & Performances 26 Athletics 30 THE EVOLUTION OF MATH AND SCIENCE AT GDS 34 BOYS LEADING BOYS

Creating Spaces for Conversation and Adding Allied Voices to a Movement

38 THE FUTURE IS NOW GDS Lower/Middle School Groundbreaking

40 ALUMNI PROFILES

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HONORING THE INDIVIDUAL:

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

FROM WHERE I STAND Russel Shaw, Head of School

The Reggio Emilia approach to learning, which emerged in Italy following the Second World War, posits that children have Three Teachers. Our First Teachers are the adults we encounter, both parents and educators, who engage us with intention and provide us direction. Our Second Teachers are our peers, from whom we learn to share, argue, take risks, and collaborate. Our Third Teacher is our environment, the spaces—both indoors and outdoors—in which we spend our days; it’s the walls and lighting, trees and gardens, furniture and feng shui. While the Third Teacher is not always introduced at GDS’s fall Curriculum Night, there is no doubt that it has a profound and lasting impact on the ways in which we learn.

Over the past two years, I’ve been thinking a lot about this Third Teacher. Unifying our schools into a single campus and designing a new Lower/Middle School building from scratch are once-in-a-generation opportunities. Over Georgetown Day School’s nearly eight decades, the School has inhabited myriad different homes, from a row house on G Place to a mansion on Nebraska Avenue to a former hardware store.

As our School turns 75, we will be settling into what we expect to be our permanent home, a space that will serve as community hub and Third Teacher.

Designing our unified school has required us to simultaneously recall the spirit and vision of our School’s founders and to imagine the world into which future generations of GDS students will graduate, one which is evolving at an unprecedented pace. Our unified school will reflect both our School’s deeply held values and our aspirations for students heading into a changing world.

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Our GDS mission calls us to “honor the integrity and worth of each individual in a diverse community.” In practical terms, this means that individuals with different interests and passions may be drawn to different elements of a campus. On our new campus, future engineers, researchers, and physicians will enjoy new science rooms and maker spaces. Student athletes will value improved athletic facilities, from a new field to a double gymnasium to a competition-size wrestling room. Actors and musicians will light up our new performing arts center and painters and sculptors will create in new state-of-the-art studios. Small group instruction spaces will allow for tutoring and project work to ensure that individual learners experience the right combination of challenge and support across our program.

STRENGTH IN COMMUNITY:

School is a place where we model for young people the value of community as well as the value of learning and growing among those whose life experiences and perspectives may be different than ours, and with whom we can collaborate, sometimes disagree and compromise.

For the first time in our School’s history, we will have a dedicated space for dining together, and we look forward to building community while breaking bread. We will also connect as a community in our lobby, our performing arts spaces, on our fields, and in our new library. And of course our community will be profoundly strengthened by building bridges between students, faculty, and families from all three of our divisions.

COLLABORATION:

Our changing world necessitates that our graduates know how to collaborate across difference. GDS students collaborate in classrooms, seminar rooms, and more. A unique feature of our new building will be grade-level neighborhoods. Each grade-level will be housed in a different part of the building, allowing students to build deep connections to their peers even as they branch out to other parts of the building and make connections with older and younger students. Grade-level neighborhoods will feature “commons” spaces, where students can gather for class meetings, small group discussions, or informal “hangout” time.

Throughout our history, GDS has been blessed with exceptional teachers whose passion and skill foster a dynamic learning environment. In the fall of 2020, we are eager to introduce our students to a new Third Teacher, one who will change the ways in which they are able to learn.

Around Campus IN THE CLASSROOM

Open Hearts, Opening Minds As students move through the School and begin to recognize where their interests and talents lie, GDS seeks to provide opportunities both in and out of the classroom that can help lead them to their future career paths. In one classic GDS example, every year, future doctors get a chance to see how their studies of biology translate to the human body—specifically a human undergoing open-heart surgery.

Under the direction of HS AP Bio and science teachers, Vinay Mallikaarjun and Chris Levy, this year’s students in AP Biology, along with members of the GDS Aspiring Doctors Club, ventured to Inova Fairfax Hospital to watch a surgery in process.

Prior to the start of the surgery, a nurse briefed the GDS contingent as to what they were about to witness: a surgery to implant a ventricular assist device in a male patient.

In a state-of-the-art surgical facility, students watched the surgery from a glass-bottomed room overlooking the operating room. The viewing room also included several screens showing close-up shots and the fine-motor movements of the operating team members.

The impact of such a pivotal experience—seeing firsthand the intricacies of the human body and the skilled movements of surgeons—is long-lasting; and, providing experiences such as this one is a goal of the GDS HS science department.

As students explore the complexities of the natural world and the human body, they get a glimpse of where their studies can lead them. As Vinay said, “This is a wonderful opportunity for the students to see what can you actually do with what we’re learning in class—not next month, not next year, but 20 years from now. What is the foundation that we’re building right now? What is that building up to?”

Emma Herman ’19 said the experience heightened her interest in pursuing medicine after high school: “Attending the open-heart surgery allowed me to experience AP Biology outside of the textbook. It enriched what we are learning in a way normally only experienced after medical school.”

Following the almost four-hour surgery, the surgeon spent time answering the students’ questions. “Observing open-heart surgery was a remarkable experience for my students,” said Chris. During the discussion with the cardiologist, “They learned about risk factors that contribute to heart disease..and about his journey to becoming a physician. It was amazing to see students leaving such an experience with a greater consciousness of heart health and a willingness to make small lifestyle changes to remain healthy,” he said.

Shira Minsk ‘19 agreed, saying it “made me more conscious about heart health.” Thank you to Dr. Linda Bogar and her medical team for providing this opportunity!

A GDS STUDENT WILL Learn actively G EO RG ET O W N D AYS S PRI N G 2018

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THE BUDDY CONNECTION More Than a Photo Op

In the not too distant future, students in the different divisions at GDS will have many opportunities to connect easily, crossing the distance between the High School building and the Lower/Middle School building in a few steps—just across Davenport Street.

We know how important connections across the GDS generations are, and we look forward to supporting them in the years to come. In the meantime, our Lower School buddy program, where fourth grade students mentor their PK/K buddies and fifth grade students connect with their first grade buddies, provides a window into just how magical those connections can be.

Something special happens when a PK/K class crosses paths with a 4th grade class in the hallway. Amidst gasps of recognition and squeals, the two groups high-five and get in some quick hugs. Seeing the littlest kids in the

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school connect with older kids is one of the joys of the program, according to interim Lower School Principal Denise Jones. “Connecting students across grade levels builds community and friendships—and it’s reflective of our core values of honoring individuals and fostering strength of character and concern for others.”

The Buddy Program is built to nurture leadership, connection, and friendships that last. “I love my 4th grade buddy because he’s so nice,” said Mattias Nyberg ’31.

“When I see him in the hallway we always high five!”

Early in the school year, students are paired with one another based on their interests, personalities, and other circumstances that can foster a potential connection (i.e., a new to GDS student, aspiring artists, etc.). “There is an intentionality about making sure the connections are real and authentic,” said PK/K teacher Nichelle Dowell.

Twice a month, students meet to learn more about one another during special joint activities, co-planned by the grade-level teachers. Some are thematic and others are seasonal in nature. Whatever the project, both buddies take home a portion of their project. As the students move through their academic year, their friendships bud into stronger relationships and great things happen; they grow in confidence, leadership, respect for others, responsibility, empathy, and communication skills. And that skill development goes both ways.

“Too often, we assume that programs like these support only our older students in becoming leaders,” said Assistant Head of School for Curriculum and Instruction Laura Yee. “But these relationships also develop leadership skills in the younger kids who get the chance to interact and share their skills. The older students build intimate relationships with the younger ones, learning how creative and capable they are.”

As Alida Cuttriss ’26 said, “I love being a buddy—they are so much fun, and surprisingly very fast, faster than me!”

Anjali Martin-Shanker ’26 agrees. “I love getting to know my buddy and knowing more kids in the school.

In the beginning of the year, my buddy was a little shy.

Now we’ve really gotten to know each other, and I love spending time with her.”

The lasting friendships and the opportunity to care for another person are valuable resources that these students are learning at a young age, which only helps build the GDS community.

A GDS STUDENT WILL Lead Build networks and collaborate Communicate clearly & powerfully

G EO RG ET O W N D AYS S PRI N G 2018

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Around Campus IN THE CLASSROOM

CULINARY CLASSROOM:

L A NGUAGE EDI T ION Food, language, and culture go hand in hand. In GDS’s LMS World Language courses, as students learn the nuances of French, Spanish, and Chinese, they also delve deep into the cultures behind those languages. This year, language teachers took students on a culinary classroom excursion. Chef hats, aprons, and ingredients all set the stage for a great chance to mix culture with a hands-on culinary experience. Language skills were highlighted and put to the test as students worked on comprehension, understanding, and listening throughout the cooking process.

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A GDS STUDENT WILL Learn actively Communicate clearly & powerfully

Les Crêpes LMS World Languages department chair and French teacher, Aicha Kacem, helped her eighth grade French class make the popular French pastry, crêpes. With smiles on their faces and French music playing in the background, students prepared their own crepes and adorned them with a wide variety of delicious toppings.

火锅 On a cold winter day, both the third and sixth grade Mandarin classes were busy making steam pots, also known as hot pots. Step-by-step, Chinese teachers Yi-Na Chang and Janice Jewell walked their students through each step of the process, guiding students and allowing them to both respond and ask questions in Chinese.

Le Pain et Le Fromage Sixth grade French classes made bread and cheese from scratch. Wonderment and excitement filled the room as the French-speaking students worked through their recipes. From mixing to kneading to tasting, the students used all of their senses to experience a part of the francophone world. Under French teacher Selma Aniba’s masterful hands the children managed to make and eat their pain et fromage.

These delectable teaching moments provided reinforcement, recall, and reason to further engage and create a love for language and learning.

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Future Lower School Engineers Tackle Real-World Scenarios How do an eroding dam, a tricky foundation, and blueprints rock the mind of a future engineer?

First grade science classes took on these real-world challenges this year as they worked through their Engineering unit with LS first and second grade science teacher, Kathleen Dawson. Kathleen aims to bring relevant events into the science classroom to engage developing scientists with the world around them. During their tenure as engineers, students sharpened their cooperation and teamwork skills by learning how to find creative solutions to the problems placed before them.

They began by learning how to read blueprints, first with blueprints for the current LMS first grade hallway and then with blueprints from various local historical monuments.

(Students then took their learning into the field during their field trip visiting DC monuments for social studies.)

Up next in the engineering unit: finding solutions to the influx of new residents to the District and the need for housing throughout the city.

Students explored various housing options, including the popular “tiny house” craze as well as mixed-use developments. All the while, students were asked to think about conservation and spaceplanning, while taking into consideration minimal use of natural resources and materials.

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The young engineers then moved to studying bridge engineering: building and simulating different types of bridges, including suspension, arch, and draw and swing bridges. They even replicated a beam bridge (a popular example is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge).

First graders work on their "Building on a Hill" challenge during their science engineering unit, where they built a structure on top of an incline that had to be level enough to keep a marble from rolling off.

“First graders are great at this work. They don’t overthink and they are a lot more comfortable with trying, failing, and trying again. And that’s how scientists succeed in the end, by using multiple trials!” said Kathleen.

First graders wrapped up their engineering unit on STEAM Day with a challenge that looked at how weather, their upcoming unit, can affect engineers’ work. They looked at last year’s Oroville Dam disaster, when part of the California dam eroded, resulting in 200,000 people having to evacuate their homes. Students then had to choose from a variety of materials to construct a dam that could stand up to an overflowing reservoir.

First grade students participate in a newspaper tower challenge during their science engineering unit.

With creativity and the application of their budding science knowledge, first grade science students are finding that solutions to engineering challenges take trial and error, teamwork, and creativity.

A GDS STUDENT WILL Build networks and collaborate Tackle complex problems Learn actively Take risks

First grade students work on their beam bridge challenge.

Around Campus

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

M L K S O C I A L J U S T I C E D AY S

L E AV E A L A S T I N G I M PAC T AT G D S The theme for the 2018 MLK Social Justice Days was REACH, BUILD, GROW: Bridging Our Community. Both the Middle and High School divisions participated in a day of workshops, engaging discussions, and interactive sessions with speakers, all focused on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s social activism.

Lakaya Renfroe, Program Associate with GDS Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion, opened with the following charge: “These days are a chance for students to build their capacity for compassion, to grow and lean into difficult conversations—while respecting the work of peers, reaching across the aisles for understanding, and walking across the bridge of unity and respect.”

T H E D AY B E G A N W I T H I M PA S S I O N E D P R E S E N TAT I O N S B Y O U R F O U R KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Ashlee Lawson, the founder of two organizations that channel her passion for running and black female empowerment; Jinan Shbat, a Palestinian-American activist who serves as the National Events and Outreach Manager for CAIR (Council on American–Islamic Relations) Marsha Dixon, a member of the Town Council of Riverdale Park, Prince George’s County, whose focus has been on underrepresented groups in her community Dr. Zelaika Hepworth Clarke, a social worker with particular expertise in human sexuality who works with the DC Center for the LGBT community

Students, faculty, alumni, and local groups led workshops throughout the rest of the day. The workshops allowed the students to grapple with a host of topics, including socioeconomic status, integration, reverse racism, gender and health, music, body image, privilege, and the #MeToo movement. Middle school students also attended facilitated affinity group meetings.

With spoken word presentations by Asha Santee, Charity Blackwell, and Rebecca Dupas and Middle Schoolers demonstrating their piano skills and dance moves, the day ended with celebration and a recognition that social activism and joy are not mutually exclusive.

A GDS STUDENT WILL Build networks and collaborate across difference Learn actively and resourcefully Engage as a just, moral, ethical citizen Lead G EO RG ET O W N D AYS S PRI N G 2018

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The Book Fair allows the whole GDS community to put a spotlight on books. Thank you to the GDS PSA for hosting the fair; GDS families bought more than 2,000 books and donated more than 130 to the An Open Book Children’s Literacy Foundation.

THE HOPPER BOOK AWARDS Decided for Kids, by Kids

Two years ago, then-fifth grade GDS students came to an alarming conclusion: the American Library Association (ALA) Awards for children’s book (that of the Newberry, Coretta Scott King, and Caldecott Award granting fame) were decided by...adults.

That made no sense to these fifth graders. Shouldn’t kids be the ones deciding what makes for a great book aimed at children?

The Hopper Book Awards were launched that year as a counterpoint to the ALA’s awards. These awards would be chosen by kids, for kids. And these awards would be presented at GDS during the annual Book Fair (hosted by the Parent Service Association, with books provided by alumni parent-owned Bartstons Child’s Play).

The students worked with LMS librarians Kay Miller, Rhona Campbell, and Lisa Fall to devise a fair process that would involve the entire Lower School student body. First, they had to choose subcategories from three main categories: picture books, fiction, and non-fiction. Nominations of books to include would follow, whittled down by the fifth graders to the top five.

Any student who had read all the books in any category could cast a vote. Librarians read the picture books to students in younger grades during their regular library period; older students read the other books on their own. Students had three months to read and cast a vote. Fifth grade students also had a chance to design the sticker, voted on by the entire grade.

On Awards night, the winners would be announced.

Two years later, the Hopper Book Awards are going strong. This year, the class of 2025 nominated books in the categories of Picture Books featuring Female Main Characters, Fiction that Makes us LOL, and Non-Fiction Sports.

The night of the awards in March, this year’s fifth grade students hosted a soiree, where they shared the stories behind the nominations and announced the winning books. Later, students sent a letter to the authors of the winning books to share with them the good news!

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A GDS STUDENT WILL Innovate & Create Self-Advocate Communicate Clearly & Effectively

This year’s winning sticker design was created by Alexa Gillespie ’25.

Dozens of GDS families joined the fifth grade for the Hopper Book Awards soiree.

And the Hopper Awards Go To… PICTURE BOOKS FEATURING FEMALE MAIN CHARACTERS:

Violet the Pilot written and illustrated Steve Breen

Other nominees included: Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett; illustrated by Jon Klassen Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty; illustrated by David Roberts Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio; illustrated by LeUyen Pham Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes

FICTION THAT MAKES US LOL:

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made

by Stephan Pastis

Other nominees included:

Last year’s picture book winner, Bill Thomson for his book Chalk, responded to his Hopper Awards win with signed copy of his newest book (The Typewriter)!

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger Frindle by Andrew Clements Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis Holes by Louis Sachar

NON-FICTION SPORTS:

For Soccer-Crazy Girls Only: Everything Great About Soccer by Erin Downing Other nominees included: Hoop Dreams by John Coy; illustrated by Joe Morse 99: Stories of the Game by Wayne Gretzky with Kirstie McLellan Day We are the Ship written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson Any Given Number by Bill Syken Year in Sports 2018 James Buckley Jr.

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HIGH SCHOOL MINIMESTER An Inspiring, Risk-Taking Adventure

On February 7 and 8, the GDS High School took a pause from regular classes to engage in the first-ever GDS Minimester. Designed to be a two-day deep dive into one topic, students had an opportunity for an immersive, experiential learning experience without the confines of traditional schooling (schedules, assessments, etc.).

In “Unplugged in the Wilderness,” students hiked the Appalachian Trail, learning basic skills like how to build a fire, cook meals, navigate and “leave no trace.”

PHOTO CREDIT: SEBASTIAN HARKNESS

As HS principal Katie Gibson shared earlier this year, “This is a perfect example of some of the risk-taking we want our students to be confident in when approaching their own learning. Yet, as the adults in their lives, we don’t frequently model this for them. I am proud that the faculty jumped into this endeavor with their hearts and minds open, and look forward to learning together along the way.”

At the culminating celebration at the end of the minimester week, students watched a video featuring photos from their courses, and then shared some of their takeaways with the rest of the school.

Students told each other about what they had accomplished and learned, and also how they had grown over just two days.

“I want to put in a plug for this to not only continue next year, but be expanded to a week,” one student said. “The passion we experienced this week—that’s what education should look like!”

Students in the Asian track of “Food, Culture, and the Immigrant Experience” visited a Chinese grocery store, met with a local Chinese chef, and tried their hand at making their own Chinese dishes.

PHOTO CREDIT: XUEYING ZHANG

“This was the most influential experience I’ve had in my 14 years at GDS,” shared another, who had participated in “A View From the Other Side: Partisan Politics in Trump’s America.” He reported witnessing and experiencing provocative, respectful debate, a thought echoed by one of the featured speakers from that class, Gary Abernathy, publisher and editor of The Times-Gazette of Hillsboro, Ohio. As he wrote in an article in his paper, “Dialogue between people with differing views may not lead to agreement, but it hopefully leads to a greater level of understanding and mutual respect, something sorely missing from our political landscape.”

All told, students and faculty members reported feeling invigorated and inspired.

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A GDS STUDENT WILL Tackle complex problems Learn actively Engage as a just, moral, ethical citizen

One student in “Art Behind the Scenes” said, “I loved seeing the Kara Walker exhibit at the Portrait Gallery...

I also LOVED going off campus both days... the change of pace was so nice.”

PHOTO CREDIT: LAURA TOLLIVER

Check out the list of offerings—topics sprung from the passions and interests of our faculty and staff: • • • • • • • • • • • • •

In “Africa through Culture and Dance,” students explored African cultures through dance, food, art, political movements, and history. One student said, “I enjoyed getting to broaden my dance experience and learn about the history behind the steps and the culture.”

PHOTO CREDIT: KATIE GIBSON

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

In “Pedals for Progress,” students collected, repaired, and distributed bikes to those in need. Said one participant, “The highlight of my Minimester was going to volunteer at Bikes for the World and loading a shipping container with bikes. I felt like I was making a real impact in the world.”

PHOTO CREDIT: MACK DIXON

• • • • •

Africa Through Culture and Dance!

Art Behind-The-Scenes: An Exclusive VIP Pass Art Outside the Lines: A Crash Course in Feminist Art History A View From the Other Side: Partisan Politics in Trump’s America Bop and Bougie Chemistry Demonstrations Comedians & Society Examining the Brains of Serial Killers and Adolescents: You Have More in Common with Mass Murders than You Think Experiential Disabilities Exploring Reproductive Justice Food, Culture, & the Immigrant Experience From Then Until Now: HBCUs in a Changing America From Yellow Peril to Yellow Power: A Crash Course in Asian American Identity and Politics Hamilton vs. Jefferson: The Great Throwdown Hands-on Practical Life Skills in the 21st Century Hiking Through History in Shenandoah Humanizing Homelessness: Understanding the Rise in Family and Youth Homelessness in DC Introduction to Programming in Java Through Games Just Mercy: Race and the Criminal Justice System in the U.S. Lego Mindstorm RoboChallenge Let’s Talk About Sex Living through the AIDS Crisis 1981-1994: A Personal Memoir Modern Physics Experiments Paper to Play in Fourteen Pedals for Progress/Bikes for the World Poetic Politics: the Voice of Protest and Passion for the People in Dangerous Times Prisoners and Their World Producing Music in a Modern Digital Recording Studio: Let’s Make a Hit Song!

Sabermetrics Stealing Stories Ten Days that Changed the Country: Selma, Voting Rights, and Current Issues The Great Immigration Debate: Exploring How Contemporary Immigration Has Affected the Country and the Diverse Viewpoints on This Issue Ukrainian Easter Egg Decorating Uncovering the Fallacies of the American Dream Unplugged in the Wilderness We Need A Hero: Representation in Superhero Media Were You Born a Racist? The Neuroscience of Implicit Bias 13

S T E A M D AY ( S ) AT G D S :

HIGHLIGHTS

On a wintry Friday, March 2 (@ the HS) and a sunnier Wednesday, March 7, (@ the LMS) GDS celebrated the convergence of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics with our annual STEAM days! STEAM day brought innovation, technology, and experiential learning to the hands and minds of every GDS student, who had a chance to take part in a wide range of enriching workshops, discussions, and keynote addresses. Though individually categorized for clarity’s sake, each of the presentations listed on these pages perfectly modeled the message of the conference: learning rarely takes place in a silo.

A GDS STUDENT WILL Innovate & Create Take Risks Learn actively and resourcefully

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

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SC I E N C E Dr. Griffin Rodgers (father of to two GDS alumni, Chris Rodgers ’07 and Gregory Rodgers ’11), Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, presented on sickle cell anemia and the progress made in the field to High School students. In a fascinating keynote presentation, he aimed to excite and encourage those who may consider a future career in biomedical research.

“I cannot think of a better time to be in science than now. If you can think about a way to relieve the pain and suffering of patients or help people prevent diseases that they may have the risk of developing, that is really an incredible thing to devote one’s life to,” he said.

When our HS students visited the LMS, they brought with them the “wow” experiments, like the chemistry behind ice cream, the connection between magnetic levitation and transportation, and various experiments that included “safe” explosive elements.

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

T ECHNOLOGY

DEI Lab joined us at the Lower School, bringing a virtual reality center, where students could use 3-D goggles and computers to explore scientific concepts; in one program, students experimented with circuits to explore varying ways to test electrical currents (in a safe environment).

At the HS, alumnus Carlton Marshall II ’14 hosted the workshop, “The Life of a Computer Science Major: Why This Major is the Best!” aimed at helping students understand the computer science major, in college and beyond. Students participated in group activities based upon logical thinking problems asked in typical interviews conducted by the likes of Google, Capital One, and Facebook.

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EN G I N E E R I N G

High school teams were tasked with creating an aerodynamic plane out of cardboard. Each plane took flight from the top floor of the gym, with the winner covering the most distance.

At all three divisions, students participated in building challenges!

Middle School students were tasked with creating a machine that would catapult a gummy bear as far as possible. In a competition that felt like a science pep rally, teams competed against one another by grades to test their catapults.

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

Students in PK through 3rd grade built cars out of legos and put their designs to the test. Fourth and Fifth grade students built mechanical dueling “battle bots” for their design challenge.

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A RT

Dan Tepfer, a pianist-composer gave an interactive keynote address sharing the connection between music and astrophysics.

Tepfer took students on an exploratory trip through the galaxies, while listening for the placement of harmonies and dissonance.

GDS parent Jen Daniels (parent to Benjamin Fox ’26, Ruby Fox ’26, and Stella Fox ’24) spoke to Lower School students about her role as the Senior Landscape Architect at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park and Conservation Biology Institute, where she works to build a zoo in which animals will thrive and that humans will love.

M AT H E M AT I C S In “Fractals in Art, Nature and Technology,” Middle School math teacher Angie Errett introduced students to fractals by first looking at examples in nature and technology, and then building a collaborative Sierpinski pyramid. Eighth grade student Charles Baar taught a workshop on quantum mechanics, speaking about the first quantum experiment, Thomas Young’s double slit experiment.

At the High School, Marc Rosenblum from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics talked to students about how the federal government uses “big data” to address current policy debates. David Perry from the National Security Agency presented to students on Enigma, the German cryptodevice. Students got a chance to see an actual Enigma machine in action, thanks to a loan from the National Cryptologic Museum.

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PLATINUM ANNIVERSARY FOR BEN COOPER LECTURE

Author and Scientist B. Gentry Lee Takes Us on a Tour of the Cosmos

The Benjamin Cooper Memorial Lecture has been a part of the GDS landscape for 20 years.

Established in memory of Ben Cooper, by his close friends David Goldberg ’98, Jennifer Miller ’98, Megan Palmer ’97, Jacob Remes ’98, Dan Sharfman ’97, and Jessica Wolland ’97 and by the Cooper-Areen family, the lecture enables GDS to bring a renowned guest speaker to the school each year to stimulate the kind of dialogue in which Ben loved to participate.

This year, those very friends who established the lecture in Ben’s memory were keen to lend their support in the search process for a speaker. “Ben had a remarkably diverse set of interests, and we wanted to help broaden the selection process,” said David Goldberg ’98.

Jennifer Miller ’98 concurred, “From the beginning, the lecture series was meant to pay tribute to Ben’s intellectual fearlessness and curiosity, and to encourage the GDS community to think expansively and be self critical. When Ben died, he was coming home from an internship helping a group of scientists understand the extreme conditions in which early life thrived. His name was posthumously included on the paper they published. Lee’s work with Mars isn’t so different from that.”

Bringing in best-selling science fiction novelist and chief engineer at the Solar System Exploration Directorate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) B. Gentry Lee honored Ben’s passion for both science and science fiction.

During a morning lecture with High School students, B. Gentry Lee captivated his audience as he took them on a journey to the stars, as he spoke about the twin rover missions to Mars and the Galileo project, among others.

Lee happily and easily fielded questions on topics ranging from extraterrestrial life and colonizing other planets. Lee 18

B. Gentry Lee speaks to students about his passion for space exploration.

also shared valuable insights on his own development as a scientist and a science fiction writer, while challenging students to think about the legacy they themselves wished to leave behind.

Lee returned for an evening lecture with an audience of hundreds from the GDS community. He spoke on the power and wonders of science, the importance of finding the balance between innovation and risk in terms of engineering design and technology, and, of course, space exploration.

Twenty years since his passing, Ben Cooper’s friends are grateful that GDS has maintained its commitment to the lecture, and most importantly, according to Jennifer “continues to prioritize the more informal and intimate interaction between speaker and students.”

The lecture is an affecting moment for Ben’s peers and former teachers to gather together in his memory every year. “I’m glad that it serves as a regular opportunity for the GDS community to remember and honor Ben, who was truly a model student and an embodiment of GDS values,” said Jennifer.

MIDDLE SCHOOL CLUBS:

CREATING SPACES FOR STUDENT VOICES In recent years, Middle School Clubs at GDS have taken off, as students have felt encouraged to use this space to explore their interests and use their voices. Clubs are also an opportunity to try new things, sharpen skills, and create bonds and friendships that go beyond the academic classroom.

All students in grades six through eight can choose an affinity, hobby, or interest club that meets during the Lunch/recess period—most of which they have helped to launch themselves.

From the GSA (Gender & Sexuality Alliance), and the SOC (Students of Color) to the Lighting Team (those who provide tech and lighting support to middle school events), students use these times to build rapport with one another and build community.

“Students are active in initiating the clubs,” said MS Assistant Principal Mayra Diaz. “They know we support them in creating spaces that are safe and engaging, and also where they have a voice.”

Some clubs are focused on social justice, allowing students to advocate for causes that emphasize helping others, including the Sustainability Club and WATFO (short for We are the Fifty-One, referencing the 51% of the population who do not identify as male). Students who would like to try out their dramatic skills can participate in the Middle School Fall Musical or Spring Community Productions.

Innovation minded students can get involved with the Makers Club—a place to create and build outside the confines of the classroom. For those who enjoy capturing the special moments of their GDS days, there’s Photography/Yearbook, the Newspaper, and a newly launched

student initiated club for Insight (a diversity newsletter). Both the Spanish and Quiz Bowl clubs provide opportunities for enrichment and fun!

Sixth-graders also have a dedicated club period Friday afternoons. During the first semester, sixth grade teachers created and hosted the club options.

During second semester, sixth grade students provided input for their club options. Those with an interest in writing can join the Glo club (Poetry Enjoyment) or even Sports Journalism.

For those with a knack for arts and crafts, there is Knit for Love, Crossstitching or Art for Relaxation. Those desiring to put a pep in their step with a dash of a Friday afternoon pick-me up step into the moves of the Zumba club or lace up and go for a run with the Scrambled Legs & Achin’ club!

The growth of MS clubs has given more and more of our students an opportunity to learn and to demonstrate how to be leaders.

Putting those newfound skills to good use, the GSA led a unique school assembly in April 2018 for Pride Week, featuring Sarah McBride, the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign. As part of that assembly they created a talk-show format that felt informal and safe. WATFO also worked with their HS counterparts to plan a school assembly as well.

Lighting team members plan and prep for various MS events, including the MS Fall musical, MS Talent Show, and special events.

Students enjoy a fun Friday afternoon Zumba dance workout.

The sky is the limit for middle school students, as GDS provides a healthy place for them to discover new passions and interests within a club enrichment time frame.

A GDS STUDENT WILL Build Networks & Collaborate Engage as a Just, Moral, Ethical Citizen

WATFO (We Are The Fifty One) students meet during lunch to prepare for leading an upcoming MS assembly.

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PHOTO CREDIT: MICHAEL DESAUTELS

Around Campus

ARTS AND PERFORMANCES

Contemporary Themes Meets Classic Musical at LMS

More than 60 MS students participated in Fiddler on the Roof, Jr., learning what it takes to mount a musical while attending to all the other demands of their busy Middle School lives, including acting, singing, choreographed movement, set design, and lighting.

“Tradition”was the opening number of the fall Middle School musical, Fiddler on the Roof, Jr., and it was hand’s down a favorite scene of the LMS Visual and Performing Arts faculty. Involving the entire ensemble, the song highlights the musical’s main theme as it allows the audience to see “[the students’] pride and ownership of who they are as well as what they mean to each other,” said LMS drama teacher and stage director Brooke Houghton.

The musical follows poor patriarch Tevye, as he tries to instill a sense of tradition in his five daughters, while attempting to find them suitable (and loving) marriages and also navigating anti-Semitism in Czarist Russia.

Though set in 1905, the show’s issues have contemporary resonance. After two years of fantasy-based shows (Willy Wonka, Jr. and Seussical, Jr.), LMS visual and performing arts director Keith Hudspeth felt it was time to embrace a more serious production.

“We wanted to do a show that highlights marginalized people and how they contend with struggle,” he said.

From the initial interest meeting during the first week of school to the many after-school rehearsals culminating with two weekends of shows in early November, the MS musical “family” worked together to put on what has now become a highlight of the fall at the Middle School. Their skill, dedication, and enthusiasm were apparent to everyone who had the chance to see this marvelous production.

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In a jaw-dropping moment during the wedding scene, three students dance with bottles balanced on their heads. No bottles were dropped during the making of this show! The show’s choreography and lighting design were created under the direction of LMS dance teacher Felipe Moltedo.

The prop and set design team (under the direction of LMS visual arts teacher, Susan Mols) took on the challenge of hand-making every item to make them look as realistic as possible, from the potatoes, which needed to look like they were being peeled, to the Challah bread, which used twisted paper in order to make it look nearly edible.

ANNUAL HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ F E S T I VA L C E L E B R AT E S T H E F O R M The 2018 Jazz Festival brought together performing artists, jazz enthusiasts, and student musicians for a full day of music instruction, musical collaboration, and performance.

French-American jazz pianist Dan Tepfer gave a keynote address the day before to those gathered for the HS STEAM conference on Friday, March 2, where he highlighted the relationship between music, algorithms, and physics.

On Saturday, March 3, students from GDS, Sidwell Friends, and Edmund Burke performed in a variety of combos. A mid-day performance by jazz teachers from Burke and Sidwell, playing with GDS History teacher and multi-instrumentalist Topher Dunne, Brad Linde, Director of GDS Jazz and Instrumental Music, as well as our guest musicians proved a show stopper.

Guest artists, drummer and composer Matt Wilson and Dan Tepfer offered extremely well-attended and thought provoking master classes. Wilson’s creative fusing of jazz and Carl Sandburg’s poetry provided the basis for the culminating concert of the weekend, a rendering of his project Honey and Salt: Music Inspired by the poetry of Carl Sandburg with band members Dave Ballou, Jon Koozin, Dawn Thompson, and Brad Linde.

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DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?

MIDDLE SCHOOL COMMUNITY PRODUCTIONS WILL HAVE YOU SAYING YOU DO

No set. No costumes (everyone wears the same student-designed t-shirt) and no makeup or music. Student written, directed, and led. That is the Middle School Community Productions!

of me that no one else can see? How do I indicate that we’re in an elevator without a sign?’ They’re not limited by a set, and they’re able to access a whole different set of skills,” she said.

For decades, GDS Middle School students have worked together to put on Community Productions—a name referencing the truly organic and GDScentric nature of the work. Coached

by LMS drama teacher Ivan Zizek and MS history teacher Julia Blount ’08, this year’s group wrote and produced stories around the theme of “magic.”

From a current-day setting of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts to an imagined conversation between Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift, from a story of a magician finding success despite early failure to a scene from The Twilight Zone, students referenced pop culture, personal trials and tribulations, and their own imaginations to put on a show that shared a window into their lives at this specific moment.

Julia says a stage that removes all of the normal accoutrements of theater “forces the students to focus on being physically creative and expressive.

“They have to consider, ‘What does it look like if there is a monster in front

“Community Productions tells GDS middle schoolers that we value their legitimate perspective on the world,” said Julia.

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JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

Puck (Diesenhaus) leads Bottom (Kaplan) on a merry round with the help of fairies: Mateo Brown ’21, Bryce Savoy ’21, Caleigh Vergeer ’21, Sophia Warshauer ’19, Nathan Greiner ’18 and Maddy Brown ’19.

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

AN OUT OF THIS WORLD EXPERIENCE

The set designers (Susannah Epstein-Boley ’18, Asha Klass ’18, and Izzy Verdery ’18) created a three-tiered circular set that easily showcased the play’s dream sequences as well as its social dynamics.

High School Fall Production Of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

The Rustics prepare their play for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. From left to right, Matthew Ciazza ’19, Nico von Friedeburg ’18, Alex Hewlett ’18, Mihir Kesavan ’20, Cole Wright-Schaner ’19, Eli Kaplan ’18.

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

The lover quarrel. From Left to Right, Gigi Silla ’21, Tess Thornton ’21.

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Oberon (Brion Whyte ’19) concocts a plan with Puck (Simon Diesenhaus ’19).

Student makeup, set, and costumes were inspired by Broadway director Julie Traynor’s creative take on the play that emphasizes storytelling through technical elements.

In fall 2017, HS theater took on the iconic and challenging A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Kings and queens and working class laborers, fanciful fairies and imps, adventure and romance, spells and hallucinations—all came together in GDS’s take on Shakespeare’s oft performed play. Like so many of Shakespeare’s works, A Midsummer Night’s Dream provides an opportunity for actors and audience to delve deeply into themes of love and power.

Laura Rosberg, GDS HS Performing Arts Department Chair and director of the play said the timing was right for the students to take on Shakespeare: “I think our program is really sophisticated, especially technically. Kids design all of their own costumes; they build their sets; and they build their props—and we have the facilities that let them do it. The unusual nature of our program is that it’s student-led, not led by the adults.”

Laura said the technical elements of the show all added up to a mindblowing experience for audience members: “In this particular version of this show, the costumes are out of time and place (including the costumes with lights in them that light up); the makeup is worldly (featuring sequins on kids faces). It’s just gorgeous.”

POP-ART COMES TO GDS:

7TH GRADERS STUDY CLAES OLDENBURG American sculptor Claes Oldenburg is best known for his public art installations that typically feature large replicas of pop culture items. One of his installations, “Eraser,” is featured right here at the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC. Inspired by Claes Oldenburg’s work, our 7th Grade Arts Enrichment class constructed popular everyday objects. Using a wide variety of materials such as cardboard, paper mâché, paint, model magic, felt and more they captured the distinct features of each show-stopping piece—pancakes anyone?

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THIRD ANNUAL IDENTITY ART SHOW:

A R T C ONNEC T E D T O SE L F GDS has long believed that to meet their full potential, students must be free to explore who they are and who they are becoming. From the earliest grades, we support the students in being proud of themselves, their families, and their cultural heritage. One’s identity, though, can be as complex and hard to grasp as the most difficult math problem.

Not surprisingly then, it can serve as a rich source of artistic creation, a fact that served once again as inspiration for the High School Art Department’s third annual Identity Art Show, held in February 2018. In In strikingly original, arresting, and provocative pieces, students explored issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, body image, age, and religion.

While High School Art Director Michelle Cobb applauds the bravery of the students who put their deepest selves on display, as a teacher and practicing artist herself, she has an equally practical goal for the art show. “It’s the first time for a lot of our students where they are asked to fully grasp the term ‘concept development,’” Michelle said.

Developing their artistic creations, students were asked to take risks, learn from their mistakes, generate, iterate, and perhaps even abandon their initial ideas, and above all, push the boundaries of the comfortable and familiar. For Michelle, cultivating students’ imaginations and helping them develop an original vision are key elements fostered by this process. “We really want to make sure we’re developing a student voice,” she said.

Students developed their artistic voices and explored their identities through a wide range of both traditional and non-traditional forms, including painting, mixed media, photography, video, and sculpture.

Zoe Welsh ’18 (top right) created an acrylic painting entitled Psalm 23 that reflects her faith: several DC monuments and cherry blossoms are depicted with the Washington Monument’s reflection turned into a cross. The monuments symbolized Zoe’s love of her hometown and were purposefully used to juxtapose all that has happened in her journey. “I have the cross reflecting the water because it’s fluid and always changing, always becoming different. I used the greenery in the water, to show the fluidity and that my understanding of the Scriptures and my understanding of my relationship with God is always changing, always growing. And that differs from the hard structures like the monument.”

This Burning Land is a watercolor painting that Amelia Myre ’20 (bottom middle) created to share a story based on a picture from her childhood when her family lived in Jerusalem.

At a young age, Amelia and her sister did not recognize all that was happening around them. “I used this piece to show the contrast between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the burning gold city in the background with an idealistic family portrait. I used watercolor because I was so young when I was experiencing this. It’s the most distant light kind of way to portray it.”

Jazzmin Cox-Cáceres ’19 (top left) created a three-dimensional art piece, “To Stifle the Imagination.” In the accompanying art explanation, Jazzmin shared, “I called it that because the entire idea is to create a representation of what it feels like as an artist and as a woman of color to have certain parts of your identity sort of stifled for reasons of your own protection. Within the warm maroon hues, the draping of fabric, and textures of lace, a women and a child come to life in the realistic life-size mural. Both are adorned in ball gowns and beautiful hairstyles, attached by a heart and strings. The woman wears a bird earring, which holds a hidden meaning.”

Jazzmin channeled her Puerto-Rican and African-American heritage to create an earring that symbolizes both cultures.

The bird of wisdom fused symbols from both the indigenous people of Puerto Rico and West Africa.

The hair was purposefully notable. “I think for myself and for many black women, there’s a lot of connection to your hair. I wanted to first give her a style that I would love to do someday.

And second, something that felt empowering on its own...I think hair is really important and it still has its own presence.”

High School photography teacher Laura Tolliver watched her students capture their stories by looking out into the world and composing original pieces. She found the identity theme created a strong resonance with students. “I think the kids really love it because [they] get to look within themselves and it makes them think about what they identify with. People assume things about them that aren’t necessarily what they have within themselves.”

With their works on display for the entire GDS community, they can be sure that others were helped as well.

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Around Campus AT H L ET I C S

HIGH SCHOOL WINTER SPORTS

HIGHLIGHT REEL During the 2017-18 Winter Athletic season, GDS student athletes hit the courts, track, mats, and the pool, pushing themselves physically, persevering, and breaking records.

I N C O E D V A R S I T Y I N D O O R T R A C K & F I E L D , the Women’s team brought home a 4th Place finish at the DC State Indoor Championships and the Men’s team had a 7th Place finish.

Ziyah Holman ’20 had a fantastic season. Not only was the sophomore named as an Honorable Mention member of The Washington Post All-Met team, but Ziyah also set two meet records in both the 300 meter and 500 meter races at the DC State Championships. Her record times of 39:88 (300 meter) and 1:15.00 (500 meter) qualified her for the elite division of the New Balance National Championships held in the spring! “Ziyah had an outstanding season in track and is more than deserving of this award,” raved GDS Athletics Director Kathy Hudson.

As a member of both the Women’s 4 x 200 and the Women’s 4 x 400 relay teams, she joined her 4x200 team (including Nevada Lomax ’20, Allison Burke ’19, and Laela Lucas-Walker ’20) in placing during both races. They ran a 1:50.44 relay race, which resulted in a third place finish. Congratulations to the Women’s 4 x 400 (including Ziyah, Nevada, Allison, and Ruby Kaplan ’21)!

They took home a phenomenal first place win, running their race in 4:09.40.

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WOMEN’S JUNIOR VARSITY BASKETBALL finished their season with a record of 8-5-0.

WOMEN’S VARSITY BASKETBALL

ended their season with victories against Trinity Meadow View at the GDS Holiday Invitational, as well as in-season games versus School Without Walls and Sandy Spring.

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MEN’S JUNIOR VARSITY BASKETBALL played with heart, enthusiasm and passion!

MEN’S VARSITY BASKETBALL

With a 7-12-0 record, the Men’s Varsity Basketball had first-place tournament finishes at both the GDS Holiday Tournament and the Parkview Tournament.

In one home game, the Hoppers were victorious over St. Anslem’s Abbey (66-54) on January 19.

Jordan Rayford ’21 scored an impressive 28 points in the game! Two Men’s Varsity Basketball players also received recognition from the 2018 Metropolitan Awards “The Mettys.” Congratulations to Jacob Boles ’18 for a nomination in the Academic category, which recognizes students who excel in the classroom and on the court, and Jordan Rayford ’21 for a nomination in the Freshman Player of the Year category.

PHOTO CREDIT: BRIDGETTE COLLINS

HS SWIM TEAMS

continued their philanthropic outreach, hosting a practice to support the local Special Olympics swim team and supporting one of the swimmers who qualified for the 2018 USA Special Olympics games. In the midst of the season, Coach Meg Blitzer said, “[The team] has seen dramatic improvements in personal best swims and are eager to see those swims continue in our big meets.” The Men’s 200 medley and 200 free relay teams both set new school records in February’s WMPSSDL Swim Championships, with the free relay team successfully taking three seconds off the records. Congratulations to team members Alex Arioti ’21, Thomas Brooks ’18, Jalen Friday ’21, Ben Jones ’19, and Andrew Smith ’19.

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CO-ED VARSITY WRESTLING

had a good season filled with growth and improvement. They took home a fourth place finish at the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAC) Wrestling Championships on February 9!

Several wrestlers had notable awards. Daniel Ernst ‘18, Duncan Edwards ‘20, and Saul Atwood ‘20 received second place finishes, and Ransom Miller ‘19 came in first place in his weight class. Both Daniel Ernst ‘18 and Ransom were also named to the 2018 All-MAC conference team at-large.

BACK TO THE MATS GDS Alumnus Leads MS Wrestling to Undefeated Season

Grayson Shepperd ’11 returned to the LMS last year to coach a sport that he loves, at a place that he and his family have called home for many years. Grayson is a second-generation Hopper—not only did he walk the halls of both the LMS and HS as a GDS Lifer, but he was following in the footsteps of his father, Scott Shepperd ’79.

During his days at GDS, Grayson was a member of the GDS wrestling, baseball, and soccer teams, and after graduation, he studied at Princeton University and continued wrestling at the collegiate level. After graduating from college, Grayson began his second tenure at GDS as the head MS wrestling coach.

Grayson focuses each season on conditioning, drills, and building fundamental skills, helping his team understand the details of the sport and getting them ready for their first competitive matches.

Grayson credits his previous coaches for the inspiration and knowledge to help prepare the next generation of GDS wrestlers. “My focus is making sure that they are learning—more than just how to wrestle, but also how to work hard, improve, and learn from their losses,” he said.

Congratulations to Grayson and the MS Wrestling team for an undefeated 2017-18 season!

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THE EVOLUTION OF

MATH AND SCIENCE AT GDS The year 1969 was a tumultuous and transformative one in American history, from the moon landing, to the Stonewall riots, to the Vietnam War; it was also the year that Georgetown Day School chose to launch its high school. Adding on to its already existing 9th grade, GDS would see its first high school class graduate in 1972.

In the nearly 50 years since that first graduating class, not only has the world grown and changed at a rapid pace, but the curriculum offered to students, particularly in the fields of math and science, have as well.

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CURRENT COURSE OFFERINGS @ THE GDS HIGH SCHOOL

GDS launched the Advanced Placement program in the early 1980s, and with that, more math and science courses were developed for students who were eager to expand their horizons in those fields.

Even now, when mentioning GDS, people often refer to the English or theatre programs—two highly regarded, strong programs, which have launched the careers of a host of award winning actors, writers, directors, and journalists, including the recently Tony-nominated actor Ethan Slater ’10 and the Pulitzer-prize-winning author Andrew Greer ’88. What people don’t always realize is that GDS’s math, computer science, and science departments now equal the better known humanities and arts programs; courses in those subjects currently available to students (as listed in the Course of Study), are matched only by local magnet schools, such as Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Today, Georgetown Day School now offers courses on subjects as advanced as differential equations and quantum theory and can boast graduates as well regarded in the fields of science, mathematics, and medicine as it’s writers and actors (see our alumni profiles on page 40).

From its founding, GDS has worked assiduously to hire and retain faculty with the knowledge, skill, and desire to meet students where they are, help them uncover their interests and passions, and then take them as far as they would like to go. That approach is true whether the student is interested in poetry or neurobiology. GDS has also been fortunate to hire practitioners in their field. Students can learn about what it’s like to work in a lab from teachers like Dr. Bill Wallace, who have had distinguished careers in scientific research prior to coming to GDS.

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

Few departments have seen the kind of growth over time as has our math department. According to math department chair Lee Goldman, the math department “wants kids to learn how to think—deeply about concepts—not just think through procedural skills.”

“The GDS math teacher isn’t just someone who has the mathematical expertise,” said Lee. “We seek out people willing to think about learning, understanding how the brain works, and how to reach all kinds of learners.”

MATH Algebra I Geometry Algebra II Precalculus Statistical Analysis and Applications AP Statistics Calculus AP Calculus AB AP Calculus BC Linear Algebra Advanced Linear Algebra Differential Equations Multivariable Calculus Seminar in Advanced Topics in Mathematics

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

In the first days of the High School, as the curriculum was being designed, heavy emphasis was placed upon the arts and the humanities. At one point, over the course of a high school tenure, students were required to take four writing courses and four literature courses—eight year-long courses in humanities. In contrast, there were considerably fewer sciences courses, and the math program was not substantial in its offerings either; only a few students took calculus.

The number of science labs on campus was limited, and the equipment was described as “makeshift.” The programs were simply not in a position to expand at that point.

INNOVATION & COMPUTER SCIENCE Making Things That Do Tinkering and Hacking Creative Coding Visualizing Data for Justice C++ for Engineers and Scientists Introduction to Computer Programming Introduction to Java Introduction to Python Accelerated Python Statistical Programming with R SemesterDC

INTERDISCIPLINARY Neuroscience: An Interdisciplinary Venture into the Etiology, Psychology, and Biology of Behavior Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR)

SCIENCE Biology 9 Physiology AP Biology Chemistry Advanced Chemistry AP Chemistry Physics AP Physics, Level C AP Environmental Science Hot, Crowded, and Hungry: Research in Environmental Science Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity Research Methods in Biology Astronomy Astrophysics Investigations in Plant Biology Evolutionary Biology Forensic Science 31

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Math teacher Suzy Hamon said that after going through math at GDS, students “know how to look at a problem from a different point of view, how to integrate prior knowledge, and how to be resilient.”

Teacher Beth Thompson agrees. She said that after participating in math classes at GDS, she notices that students are “getting better at collaborating, especially when it comes to creative problem solving...they’re also able to get joy out of math. One of our strengths is supporting kids in discovering math and teaching themselves and each other.”

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While the course offerings have expanded and the way we think about teaching math has changed, the school has also invested in building facilities with top-tier labs and computers, such as the maker space in the studentnamed space referred to as the Odradek. The Odradek is a unique spot for students interested in design and technology to play and experiment with cutting-edge instruments and programs, under the guidance of able instructors. This year saw the addition of three 3D printers, which the students have free access to after completing a basic introductory session on use and safety.

Some students have put access to technology to great use by constructing their own drones.

Kevin Barr, our Associate Head of School, takes the long view. “GDS has made good on its promise to provide facilities, faculty, and programs that allow students to uncover and explore their talents and passions in all disciplines,” says Kevin. “The Renaissance ideal of being well-versed in multiple subjects continues to have validity. Whether it’s Ethan Slater wiping off his theatrical makeup on his way to wrestling, Beth Thompson being as committed a poet as she is a mathematician, or John Burghardt engaging in conversations about Wittgenstein with ninth graders, we want our students and our teachers experiencing and living a full-life of the mind and spirit.”

“Our founding administrators and teachers believed that the only limit that should be placed on children’s educational growth was their willingness to do the hard and joyful work that all meaningful learning entails. Since the establishment of the School, we have tried to teach the whole child. It’s just that now, we have the capacity to do that in a way teachers in the early years couldn’t have imagined.” Kevin notes.

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

Students and teachers at work in the Odradek.

MATH CENTER Just at the top of the first flight of stairs at the High School sits the math department, and right alongside it is THE MATH CENTER. The door is adorned with images and names of the math teachers and advanced math students who staff the room. Designed as a place to offer assistance to students all throughout the day, students can drop-in or request support when they need it the most.

JASON PUTSCHÉ PHOTOGRAPHY

Although it’s been in place for years, math department chair Lee Goldman said she’s seen a marked uptick in students taking advantage of the space as the math department has expanded and relocated to the first floor a few years ago. Lee said it’s also thanks to the teachers and students who are there for students when they need them the most. As math teacher Suzy Hamon observes, “It’s a place where students can go for help—I’m there for whatever they need.”

Jenna Shulman ‘19 shared that she uses the Math Center on a regular basis, saying it’s a calm environment where students can feel comfortable asking for help.

“The math center has supported my pursuits in math by providing me a space to ask my questions and create relationships with other math teachers. I love the math center, and it plays a big part in my GDS academic career,” she said.

GDS's 3-D printers with their wares.

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T

his past November, on a pleasant Saturday afternoon, a classroom at Georgetown Day School was filled with people and a palpable sense of excitement. Two seniors, Jacob Gaba ’18 and Alexander Thompson ’18, self-assured and welcoming, stood at the front, as participants poured in.

It was the Second Annual Summit on Sexual Assault and Consent (see page 37), and this gathering was one of its most anticipated workshops, “Boys Leading Boys: A Think-Tank and Advocacy Group for Young Men.” Jacob and Alexander, along with faculty advisor Ed Stern, were there in hopes of leading discussions that would help create a catalyst for understanding, action, and change.

With guidance from DC-based organization ReThink, Jacob had created Boys Leading Boys (BLB) in the Spring of 2017. “When I attended the GDS Summit on Sexual Assault and Consent in 2016, I observed that most of the participants were not male. After a workshop by ReThink that discussed male culture and our culture in general, I realized that there was something fundamentally wrong with approaching this issue with so few male voices,” Jacob said. “It’s imperative that men get involved in awareness and activism, as well as consent education, because our society relies on men understanding these ideals and values of respect in order to prevent sexual assault.”

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B re oys ce L nt ea in din te g rv B ie oy w s w co ith -h al ea um ds ni Ja pa co re b nt Ga Li ba sa St ’18 ar an k fo d A r P le BS xa N n de ew r sH Th ou om r a ps nd on Ed ’18 uc d at ur io in n g W a ee k.

Once Jacob established the framework for the Think Tank, Alexander came on board, working closely with Jacob on the structure and content of the group’s meetings. Alex had also attended the first Summit, and found himself inspired to continue the conversation.

our youth are empowered to spread the word and enact change in their communities—from local to global. BLB is one example of that. Our meetings this year have shown that there is not only an interest, but also a need for these conversations.”

“I heard stories from sexual assault survivors, learned about congressional reform regarding sexual assault, and took part in a presentation about the role young men can play in peer education,” Alexander said. “From this experience, I emerged eager to engage more of my male peers in conversations about consent and sexual assault.”

Discussions in BLB often center around the frequently toxic and unhealthy male culture present in contemporary society. During regular meetings, the group considers what could be changed if men were willing to break down the barriers that often hold them back from discussing sexual assault and consent openly. Their goal? To get young men talking, and to get them involved in finding solutions to problems.

Faculty member Ed Stern joined BLB as an advisor and sounding board. A math teacher for more than 20 years, Ed has spent nearly every summer of his life at an all-boys residential camp, as a camper, counselor, and director.

According to Ed, “It is important that

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Jacob and Alexander lead their workshop for the 2018 Summit Addressing Sexual Assault and Consent.

The day of the Consent Summit, the energy in the air is electric. Although the name of the workshop is Boys Leading Boys, several women are in attendance as well, welcomed to the table and invited to share their thoughts and experiences. As introductions begin, it is abundantly clear that everyone is here to listen and to learn, with open minds and hearts.

After the Summit, Jacob is pleased with how this inaugural BLB Think Tank went. For both him and Alexander, being able to collaborate with both their peers and teachers in such important discussions has been a humbling and exciting experience.

“Working with Ed, along with a host of other male teachers that have given advice and shown interest in our idea, has been one of the best parts of this experience,” said Alexander. “It’s exciting for me to know that the mentors in our community want to get involved in something like BLB, an organization that emphasizes mentoring to young men as a way to model consent and respectful behavior, as well as healthy expressions of male identity.”

Alexander added, “So much of the energy that has kept us going this semester has come from counselors and teachers from various schools in the area. It’s really encouraging to feel like Jacob and I have a support network of passionate adults across the DMV.” As with any fledgling project, Jacob and Alexander are looking for ways to build on the work that’s already been done. The group hopes to establish chapters at area schools, including Sidwell Friends and The Potomac School, in addition to developing stronger ties to an already existing chapter at St. Albans. “At the Potomac School, we hope to use athletics as a medium through which we 36

can teach young men,” Alexander noted. “We are working closely with their guidance counselor and Athletic Director to do so.”

As a way of promoting their cause, Boys Leading Boys sponsored the GDS boys lacrosse game against the Potomac School on May 4, advertising the match as a BLB event to raise awareness about sexual violence. Following the game, Jacob, Alexander, and the Potomac School Athletic Director, Robert Lee, led a short discussion with both teams in hopes of peeking the interests of future BLB leaders at Potomac.

Knowing that next year both of them will be heading to college, Jacob and Alexander have already begun to lay the groundwork for the BLB to continue after they leave. They have developed a strong network of junior leaders to guide the group next year.

BLB is in good hands, as Ed, as well as other teachers and students, are deeply committed to keeping the work going.

“As the club advisor I am proud of what BLB has already achieved and look forward to its future impact for years to come.”

As Jacob notes, “We know that the very name of our group promotes leadership and learning, and what I mean by that is, instead of our group just promoting these ideals in our community, we are simultaneously leading and being led during our meetings. We are teaching each other and learning from each other at the same time.”

A GDS STUDENT WILL Tackle complex problems Learn actively and resourcefully Engage as a just, moral, ethical citizen Lead

CONSENT SUMMIT 2017 On Saturday, November 18, 2017, Georgetown Day School hosted the Second Annual Summit Addressing Sexual Assault and Consent. An outcome of the summer Policy & Advocacy Institute focused on consent and sexual assault, the Summit aims to create a consent culture, prevent sexual violence before it occurs, and support survivors by educating others in the greater DC area and beyond.

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1 in 5 women and 1 in 33 men are sexually assaulted in their lifetime. (Source: Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, aka RAINN)

1 afternoon speaker, Dr. Rich Weissbourd, director of Harvard’s Making Care Count Project, who spoke to participants about preparing young people for romantic love, healthy relationships, and healthy conversations about mature love and respect.

44% of these assaults occur before the age of 18.

(Source: RAINN) 19 participating local and regional public and private schools, including Holton Arms, Landon, Madeira, Maret, National Cathedral, Sidwell Friends, St. Albans, Walt Whitman, Park School (Baltimore), and Severn School (Annapolis). The Summit is open to schools across the country, and organizers hope to increase the reach year after year.

9 organizations presented at the Resource Fair, a section set-up for organizations to share information for schools and survivors and connect with Summit participants, including DC Rape Crisis Center, End Rape on Campus, Human Rights Campaign, It’s On Us, PAVE, One Love, and ReThink.

60 educators attended the pre-summit workshop for educators led by the DC Rape Crisis Center and ReThink.

The workshop was designed to help high school and middle school educators build consent, empathy, healthy communication, and emotional intelligence into their classrooms.

32 workshops were offered to conference participants.

Presenters included Lorn Marshall from Senator Warner’s (VA) office who talked about policy and politics around campus sexual assault; the Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC) and DC Forensic Nurse Examiners (DCFNE), speaking about how the DC sexual assault team work to coordinate a collaborative response for survivors; and the National Women’s Law Center on Title IX in the Trump era.

100 kits created by Love.Care.Heal (the group launched by student Tyce Christian ’18) workshop participants for sexual assault survivors. The kits hold items that provide a healthy start to healing.

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THE FUTURE IS NOW Does time speed up as we approach milestones in our lives?

Or, is it the first year we do not have children in the PKK classrooms, or our youngest child is celebrating the last day as a senior that we realize how fast time goes? Do faculty even realize they have been teaching at GDS for 20 years until the annual spring lunch invitation to the GDS Twenty Year Club arrives?

Has it really been 47 years since the entire GDS student body has shared a campus? Is it coincidental that the GDS unified campus is scheduled to open Fall 2020, our 75th Anniversary year?

GDS celebrated the dawn of a new era with an official groundbreaking ceremony and champagne toast at the site of the future LMS and unified campus Sunday, April 15 with hundreds of our current, future, and past students, parents, grandparents, and faculty. Student speakers Callie Solomon ‘25, Luke Flyer ‘22, and Bryce Savoy ‘21 shared their love of GDS and hopes for the future and special guests donned hard hats to help “turn the dirt” for the ceremony. The big

machinery will be here before we know it (in the next month or two) to create the foundation for our new LEED-certified Lower/Middle School.

Four floors of bright and flexible classroom, dining, and community space above ground will sit atop a new twostory gymnasium that will serve the entire school, along with a new 4,800 square foot performing arts center. Music, drama, dance, visual arts, physical education, and athletics will be well-supported in this 150,000 square foot building surrounding by outdoor play and learning spaces for our youngest students.

As we move towards a fall 2020 open date, keep an eye on the changing landscape on Davenport (we may even have a bird’s eye view to share.)

GDS families have called eight locations home since 1945 — and although the locations have changed, the heart and soul have remained the same. As Gladys Stern wrote to Russell upon his appointment to head of school “To the Future!”

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Helping to "turn the dirt" for the ceremony were special guests Associate Head of School Kevin Barr, former Board Chair Brad Vogt, Head of School Russell Shaw, current Board Chair Jenny Abramson '95, Parents of alumni Marilyn and Michael Glosserman, current parents Kate Koffman and Sid Banerjee, Assistant Head of School for Equity & Social Impact Crissy Cáceres, Assistant Head of School for Curriculum & Instruction Laura Yee, and alumnus and parent Kamal Ali

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ALUMNI PROFILES

Laura Spero ’98 Laura Spero ’98 is the type of person who is always looking for a better answer. She isn’t the sort to be satisfied by a quick or easy solution to a problem—which she admits has sometimes increased the levels of chaos in her life, but has also led to remarkable adventures and the ability to make a profound impact on the lives of others.

Laura is the founder and Executive Director of Jevaia Foundation, founded in November 2007 (as Eva Nepal), the culmination of community outreach projects she had been involved with since 2004. She writes about her work on the blog All The Pieces (https://allthepiecesof.com), chronicling life in and around rural Nepal, and her home in Kaskikot.

Laura is enthusiastic when discussing the important role Georgetown Day School has played in shaping her journey.

“Besides my parents, I think GDS has influenced my path more than anything in life. I was incredibly lucky to get my education there. GDS taught me to be fierce both intellectually and emotionally. I learned to take risks and be wrong and bounce back. At GDS, the process was always as important as the outcome, and it shaped me as someone who feels responsible for getting things right (eventually), but also doing it in a way that has integrity and originality.” She remembers many special teachers and mentors at GDS, and says that Clay Roberson’s 8th grade English class was a real perspective-changer. “The teacher who opens your eyes to literature holds a special place in every person’s life,” she says. “I still have my notes from that class.”

In 2002, Laura visited the rural village of Kaskikot as a volunteer primary school teacher, living with a local family and playing an active role in both the household and village life. As people in Kaskikot got to know her over the course of a year, she became a go-to person for a variety of problems, but the one that stood out most glaringly was severe pain due to dental problems.

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“Of course there was nothing I could do except give out some Advil and suggest they go to a city hospital,” Laura says. “I wanted to have a better answer when people came to me with this problem, but the more I looked into it, the more I realized how few options they had.”

Dental care goes far beyond the condition of one’s teeth— oral disease is an epidemic in Nepal, one that is closely linked with malnutrition, cardiac problems, risks during pregnancy, and chronic infection. “A lot of us here [in the United States] don’t think about oral disease, because we have better overall health care, prevention, and daily oral hygiene habits from an early age. Oral disease has a big impact on quality of life, it raises susceptibility to other illnesses, and if you’ve ever had an acute tooth infection, that pain stops you in your tracks,” Laura notes. “It’s a terrible feeling to look someone in the eye when they are feeling like that and not only have nothing you can do, but no suggestions. I thought, ‘Well, this really stinks. I should be able to give people a better answer. I want to figure it out. How hard can it be?’ Yeah—famous last words!”

She began collaborating with teachers and community members in Kaskikot to find a solution to the lack of dental care, and a decade later, Jevaia Oral Health Care (JOHC) was launched, a program that sets up sustainable, community-based dental clinics one village at a time, as well as school-based prevention for thousands of children in Nepal.

Each clinic is implemented by a team of three local residents, and handed over to the community to run after two years. Currently, 11 clinics serve an area of about 60,000 people, and now Jevaia is trying to get this model adopted by the Nepal Government into 3,500 rural health posts in the National Health Care system. Their work has increasingly turned toward mobilizing communities to advocate for these services themselves. In Jevaia’s mission statement, they emphasize approaching the work from a human rights angle: “all people are entitled to basic

“ All people are entitled to basic security, personal and cultural autonomy, and a life of dignity.”

security, personal and cultural autonomy, and a life of dignity. Our programs are designed around collaboration, sustainability, and respect for culture.”

It is Laura’s deep love and respect for the people and culture of Nepal that motivates the work she does. She has learned the language, and been adopted into a home and community in Kaskikot, where she has forged deep and meaningful relationships, and she says it’s important that these are independent of whether her work succeeds or not. “No matter what falls apart, or how incompetent I feel after a day of work, I come back to my house in Kaskikot, and we cook over the fire and the neighbors come over to chat,” Laura says. “Half the people in Kaskikot don’t know or care what I’m ‘accomplishing’ in Nepal. They love me for me and I love them back. We don’t rely on each other for redemption.”

Laura says she thinks there’s a lot of saviorsm in this field, which is demeaning and counterproductive for everyone involved. Real social justice, she says, is about redistribution of power to those who are marginalized.

“I can raise money and use my global power status to operate far outside the boundaries of my expertise, and never have to realize that I may be doing a terrible job,” she explains. “That [saviorist] story doesn’t resonate for me.

It’s self-deceiving. But if you show me a person in pain, I am interested in how we can find a solution. And if I’m paying attention and I’m connected with people’s lives outside of that particular toothache, I’m going to eventually realize their pain is not about the lack of a dental filling. It comes from an unfair balance of power that leaves people in rural Nepal without basic health care. That resonates deeply with me, because the problem isn’t dentistry, it’s how power is used. People are uplifted by gaining agency and dignity, not by having their teeth fixed, although that is a secondary and also very satisfying result. What could be more rewarding than being part of that?”

Back in December, Laura and her full-time team successfully executed their second research and training collaboration with students and faculty from University of California, Berkeley, University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Puthisastra in Cambodia. Using a participatory research approach that embodies human rights principles, Jevaia’s dental technicians and community mobilizers supported students in conducting five overlapping projects, including focus groups, school observations, and a survey on maternal and child oral health, along with a week of technician training with a foreign specialist in community dentistry.

When asked what it’s like to juggle the moving parts and responsibilities of such an significant foundation, Laura’s answer is honest, and reflective of the collaborative GDS mindset. “I’d say my best leadership asset when it comes to juggling is probably being uncomfortable and doing it anyway. There is always someone who’s good at something you aren’t, like building complex spreadsheets, writing reports, and keeping track of filing requirements. Running something is about building a team, and I think I do understand teams pretty well, partly because I was a threesport athlete at GDS. So, what mostly goes through my mind is…I need to find all the jugglers I can get!”

She notes that GDS really encouraged her to become familiar with her own unique strengths: to be fearless, but also to be accountable. “If you can be both fearless and accountable,” she says “you can really do a lot of unexpected and useful things in the world.”

G EO RG ET O W N D AYS S PRI N G 2018

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Sarah Rosenbloom ’93 In Kiswahili, “Toa Nafasi” translates to “provide a chance,” which is exactly what Sarah Rosenbloom ’93 is doing for the children of Tanzania through her program, The Toa Nafasi Project.

The Toa Nafasi Project (Toa) was created to support children who are unable to reach their full potential, due to the inability of the current Tanzanian early education system to accommodate individual learning needs or those with learning difficulties. Due to severely limited resources, and the often complex nature of learning difficulties, such children are often seen as disobedient, or “lazy,” rather simply being divergent learners. The project’s website states, “We envision a world in which every Tanzanian child is provided the chance to receive quality primary education that recognizes and fosters individual talent and celebrates uniqueness”—which certainly must sound familiar to anyone with knowledge of Georgetown Day School’s mission.

In 2007, when Sarah was living in New York City and working as a publicist in the publishing industry, she had a feeling that something was missing; she made a bargain with herself: if the job she was interviewing for didn’t come through, she would go to Africa. Sarah recalled having her eye caught during the interview by two old maps framed on the wall of the office: Kenya and Tanzania. “I remember feeling this was a sign,” she said. “That as I schmoozed and peddled my first-world wares in this magnificent office overlooking the Avenue of the Americas, there was a little omen of my future right in front of me.”

Her original intent was to travel for six months and experience another side of life, but travelling to Africa with a program called Visions in Action as a volunteer nursery school teacher turned out to be deeply and personally transformational. She learned Swahili, made local friends, and began a new and different life in Africa.

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GEORGETOW N DAY S S P R I NG 2 0 1 8

It was during her work with the local school that the need for Toa became glaringly evident. “When a five-year-old child answered a question wrong, this teacher would say ‘mwongo’ which means ‘liar.’ There were some fairly clearcut cases of dyslexia and dyscalculia as well, which received the same kinds of name calling. I could see the need then for teacher training, community awareness, and remedial support for the kids.”

Upon returning to the U.S. in 2008, Sarah set about finding a way she could make Tanzania her permanent home; she ultimately returned by working for Visions in Action until 2011, as the manager of the same volunteer program in which she had participated. In 2012, she incorporated Toa Nafasi.

Toa works with struggling students, helping them complete the standard Tanzanian curriculum in a modified context.

Toa has learned how to adjust the syllabus and/or teaching methodology for students with special needs, using more time spent on each lesson, one-on-one time with the tutor, or hands-on learning.

Toa does not just address academic needs: “Since there are many reasons why a student might underperform in the classroom, Toa Nafasi has a referral system of health professionals to treat pupils who are struggling due to medical or psychosocial issues,” Sarah said.

“Our program can be introduced into any public primary school in the country, and has expanded from one location in Moshi (the capital city of the Kilimanjaro region) to three neighboring schools,” Sarah explained. “Ultimately, the goal is for our services to be available in all public primary schools, so people will not have to travel long distances or pay extra money.”

ALUMNI PROFILES

Students are not the only beneficiaries of the project: Toa Nafasi teachers are young women from the local village, who have struggled to find gainful employment, but are deeply committed to working with the children. They learn effective teaching methodologies through Toa and then gain further experience in the classroom. It is these opportunities for meaningful, fulfilling employment that make such an impact on the local community. Toa now employs a project leader and 12 teaching staff, all Tanzanian women.

Sarah acknowledges that life has changed irrevocably for her in the past decade, but that the difficulties of growth and change have most certainly been worth it. “It has not always been the easiest road, but it has been rewarding in a way that, prior to going to Tanzania, I had not known life and work could be,” she notes. “Being dealt a lucky hand in life—great family, great education, financially sound, emotionally supported—it was my hope to give some of the kids I met a taste of my lucky hand.”

The Toa Nafasi project celebrated its fifth anniversary this past February, marking the milestone with a small gathering which included Anna Mghwira, the Regional Commissioner of Kilimanjaro, and Genesis Kiwelu, a Toa board member and Councilman for Ng’ambo, one of the wards in which they work. They were joined by board members, district and regional government authorities, and most importantly, the teachers. Reflecting upon the first five years, Sarah said “Toa’s success relies on teamwork, and the partnership we have built with the Tanzanian government.”

Her passion for learning, and sharing that love of learning with others, stems from her GDS education. “I believe very strongly in education and the powers of education that it can get you to the next step. I’m so lucky to have had the education that I had at Georgetown Day.’’

Dr. Kiran Kedlaya ’92 Although Dr. Kiran Kedlaya ’92 is considered one of the foremost mathematical minds in the country, to him, his remarkable work on topics such as arithmetic algebraic geometry is just one piece of a much larger picture.

Kiran is a Professor of Mathematics and the Stefan E. Warschawski Chair in Mathematics at the University of California, San Diego (and will be spending the 2018-19 academic year at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton). As he reflects on his time at GDS, he notes how valuable it was for him to achieve exposure to a wide variety of subjects that interested and challenged him.

ARCHIVES OF THE MATHEMATISCHES FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT OBERWOLFACH

Balancing his passion and talent for math with immersion in the humanities was crucial in shaping his identity as the educator, researcher, and theorist he is today: “Although I teach one particular subject (mathematics), I definitely feel like my GDS education prepared me to take a much broader intellectual view. Moreover, the conducive intellectual environment was not solely a product of the teachers and classes, although they definitely set the tone. It was also partly due to my fellow students, a number of whom have themselves gone on to illustrious careers in their own right.”

Now as a respected educator himself, as well as a member of the USA Mathematical Olympiad committee, Kiran wants his students to have the same palette of skills to draw from in their work as he does. “Even in mathematics, verbal communication (both written and oral) is an important professional skill,” he notes. “Many of my students struggle to accept this; but coming from an environment in which these tasks were highly valued, for me this point of view was entirely natural.”

With a strong and well-rounded curriculum, GDS encourages students to fully explore their genius in any field, be it mathematics or science, dance or literature—and be able to pursue an education that proves their horizons are limitless.

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Gina Gionfriddo ‘87 Writer Gina Gionfriddo ’87 is smart, eloquent, and thoughtful in her answers, much like any of the fascinating characters she creates for stage or screen. Gina, an awardwinning playwright and accomplished television writer, has had her work performed in theatres all over the world, been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, and written for several of the most critically acclaimed shows on television.

Her work is impressive, nuanced, and layered, but it is the fearlessness with which she embraces the challenges that come with creation and storytelling—a fearlessness that was nurtured at Georgetown Day School—that places her firmly in a class by herself.

Gina’s writing first commanded attention in 2002, when she received the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, one of playwriting’s highest honors, for U.S.Drag. Her next play, After Ashley, garnered glowing reviews and a 2005 Obie Award for leading man Kieran Culkin. She followed up with Becky Shaw, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2008, and was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. She was again honored by the Pulitzer Prize committee with a 2013 nomination for her next play, Rapture, Blister, Burn, which premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, and was called “intensely smart, immensely funny” by The New York Times. In addition to this remarkable body of stage work, Gina has worked as a writer and producer for Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, as well as writing for Cold Case, Borgiai, and House of Cards.

difficult,” Gina recalls. “And that was incredibly important, I think—Laura’s belief that high school students could handle difficult texts. I look back on some of the student-directed plays Laura green lit—plays by Ionesco and Pinter and Sartre. The Ionesco play I did at GDS is a challenge for me even now! I’m so happy Laura didn’t steer her students towards less challenging work.”

The English Department also left its mark on Gina, particularly Kevin Barr’s “19th Century American Literature” class. Gina vividly recalled a class discussion about Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, and the written push-pull between what the author wanted for his character, and what that character organically needed to do. “I find this happens all the time in my own writing—characters assert themselves and their wills. I have all these plans for them and then I hit a wall; I can’t make my plans work. Often for me that impasse is the character letting me know I’m making a choice that isn’t truthful to the world I’ve created.

I don’t generally go in for these kinds of mystical ideas about how writing happens, but this one I experience often, and it always takes me back to Kevin Barr’s classroom.”

When asked about how she approaches writing plays versus writing for television, Gina’s response echoes the embracing of intellectual and creative challenges that is a hallmark of a GDS education. “For me, a lot of the fun and excitement is in interrogating my own beliefs through the act of writing.”

While at GDS, Gina acted in plays under the direction of Performing Arts Chair Laura Rosberg, and it left a lasting impression that so many of the plays Laura chose for the students to perform were more modern works. “I gained a sense of playwriting as a living art that living people practiced,” Gina says. “I knew this penchant for new plays was something that made my theatre work at GDS different and special.”

With television, however, there are often so many cooks in the kitchen (producers mostly) that the intricate outline constructed by the writer initially has been reacted to and reshaped substantially. “I think the cable shows that people get most excited about tend to be the more auteur-driven shows that have fewer people shaping content. With the best of these shows, you get a sense of one person’s singular vision and it’s like a great novel unfolding.”

She recalls a time when Laura contacted a publisher in order to secure rights to a new script, Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, only to be met with skepticism that a high school could pull it off. (The play is a highly-physical farce that has to run like a Swiss watch; now it’s considered a high school drama staple). “I remember acting in that play at GDS and feeling such a sense of achievement because it was truly

In her writing Gina is unafraid to boldly tackle uncomfortable subjects with dark humor, to smash molds and question the motives and morality of her characters.

She embraces and learns from challenges, keeping the memories and lessons of her time at GDS at the forefront of her mind.

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