Organic Roots, Summer 2014

Our Seasonal Ovation

By David Hochschartner, Head of School and Camp your homes to share the short film of the October 2013 environmental panel event in New York City. These gatherings speak to our core values and highlight the profound impact of environmental stewardship on members of our community. But we are equally interested in coming together to celebrate the fun and beauty of the outdoors.

In April, many of you joined me for Friends’ Weekend in Alta, Utah. While this year there was a dearth of powder, 60 degree bluebird days with corn snow were enjoyed by all.

These diverse experiences continue to be vital reminders of where we have come from, why we do what we do, and where we are headed.

Spring is not only a time of growth, but of celebration. “Momentum” was the theme of my last editorial—that certainty of strength and resilience that drives us toward the horizon. Today I can report that we have continued to progress through the winter season with impressive heart and speed. On May 31, 2014, with the graduation of Level V students, we will celebrate many successes, including student acceptances to an impressive array of secondary schools. Once more, a unique group of NCS graduates will move forward, eyes fixed on the future and feet firmly grounded with roots cultivated at North Country School.

Surviving the long freeze of a stubborn Adirondack winter, we now revel in the slow but sure emergence of the spring season. Sugaring did not begin until April 4th this year, with the rope tow running until April 14th. From that first horseback ride or Frisbee toss, box suppers, spring dance, and annual “Dirty Dozen” competition to the excitement of the theatrical production—this season’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream—there is much to experience and to celebrate this time of year.

Over the past several months, I’ve enjoyed catching up with Treetops and North Country School friends, family, and alumni. Reconnecting with our community always proves to be a powerful experience. From Washington, DC and San Francisco to New York and Chicago, we have gathered in

page 1

Most recently, in our semi-annual survey, 90 percent of parents reported their child to be “engaged” by the program at North Country School. Ninety-two percent of parents told us that their child is happy at least 70 percent of their time here. Further we learned that 83 percent of our parents believe their child is now more likely to explore new things; 83 percent feel their child is more likely to continue and persevere after experiencing failure, and 84 percent find their child is now more likely to believe that effort will improve his or her future. I believe that parents feel this is a place where their children can flourish while developing both creativity and grit.

While such positive statistics are encouraging, we remain committed to growth. We continue to foster an educational environment emphasizing the five pillars of NCS: academics, farm and garden, arts, residential living, and the outdoors.

These pillars serve as both a connection to the past and as a north star to guide us into the future.

Shortly after this issue of Organic Roots lands in your mailbox, more than 170 barefoot campers will be enjoying juice and crackers on the Lake Hill. From the completed construction and renovation of the Treetops Main House to North Country School’s Graduation weekend, this spring is a time of great anticipation for our community.

Thanks to all for contributing to our progress.

Organic Roots Summer 2014

The Butterfly Effect

By Karen Culpepper, Camp Treetops Director

With its bright yellow and black striped wings, the eastern tiger swallowtail is a vivid reminder of summertime at Treetops. Whether fluttering just above the surface of the lake or in a frenzy of color over mud puddles after a rain storm, this special butterfly is a familiar sight at Treetops. But it is only one of many native species.

The Adirondacks are home to seven families of butterflies— swallowtails, whites and sulphurs, gossamer wings, milkweed butterflies, brush-footed butterflies, and skippers.

At Treetops, we live so closely with the environment that even our “inside” spaces are ripe with the wonders of the natural world. Since the mid-1990s, the butterfly house has captured the imagination of children who themselves fly to us from far-ranging corners of the earth, from China to Kazakhstan to California. Although he was only six years old at the time, Treetops had a profound impact on former camper Ken Philip and his life’s pursuit as a butterfly expert. So much so that in his resumé for National Moth Week, Ken wrote: “Introduced to butterflies: Camp Treetops (in Adirondacks), 1938.” Ken became the leading expert on Alaskan butterflies, and through his own persistence as a butterfly hunter, acquired the secondlargest collection of Arctic butterflies in the world. Currently, it resides with the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Alaska Museum of the North, and the National Park Service.

Several years ago, Ken phoned me out of the blue. This initial conversation evolved into a series of email exchanges during which Ken shared with me many exquisite photographs of birds, butterflies, and moths (See Ken’s photos right). He once wrote: “I hope that photos like these from a former Treetops camper will help to energize some of the current kids to try their hand at wildlife photography. If that should happen, please let me know. That would be a marvelous payback for my one summer in 1938.”

Sadly, Ken died in early March 2014. We will fondly remember him and the tremendous impression that a single summer communing with butterflies had upon his life. His story reflects the deep roots of our Treetops community, and demonstrates how we discover connections, old and new, both at Camp and in the world beyond these wild acres.

These stories remind me that, like the “butterfly effect,” even the tiniest of changes and smallest of actions can have an incredible impact on our world. They make me appreciate once again the importance of individual choices, as well as the miraculous possibilities that emerge when we allow life to unfold exactly as it conspires to unfold.

The interconnectedness of the world and its natural cycles remains woven into the very fiber of the Treetops community, one that extends beyond our little corner of the Adirondack Park. Once more I look forward to the coming summer, fresh with its vibrant colors and new beginnings, and the wonderful excitement of celebrating yet another season with you.

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 2

Editors’ notes Dear Readers,

Dear Readers,

I write in this space today as a guest, having departed NCS and Treetops in March to join my husband in retirement.

New Organic Roots editor Emilie Allen kindly offered me the chance, and I appreciate her thoughtfulness and take comfort in knowing Roots is in good hands.

This spring, about three weeks into my tenure as staff writer at North Country School and Camp Treetops, a postcard arrived quite unexpectedly in my campus mailbox. The photograph depicts a painterly landscape of lily pads on water, palms trees and mangroves—a keepsake sent by my predecessor as editor of the Spring 2014 Organic Roots: Lisa Rowley.

As with most change, I left with mixed emotions. I miss my colleagues, the children on whose behalf we worked, and views of Cascade and Algonquin.

But mid-week hikes and daytime reading have yet to get old, and I’m looking forward to lingering over future issues of Roots—without prior knowledge of their contents—in the afternoon light on our porch in Vermontville.

With thanks to all who made my work such a pleasure,

Lisa Rowley

On the back of the postcard, Lisa wrote: “Greetings from Florida, where it is warm, green, and lush, just as we’d hoped. Congratulations on your new position. I hope you enjoy the work as much as I did. Best of luck.”

A profound sense of community is one of North Country School’s and Camp Treetops’ many virtues. In my short time here, I have been amazed by the depth and compassion of this diverse and unique community. Lisa’s timely postcard is only one example.

I feel embraced here and am deeply grateful for your warm welcome.

Perhaps some Florida retirees would find themselves at a timeshare or beach resort.

Not Lisa Rowley. The ever-adventurous writer celebrated her retirement camping with her husband by a mangrove forest, under the stars.

Lisa captured the magic of North Country School and Camp Treetops with her vivid and illuminating prose. As a fellow lover and keeper of stories, I’m both honored and humbled to take up Lisa’s torch as the resident storyteller of Camp and School.

In this vein, if you find you have a story to share, a photograph, a memory, or reflection, I would love to talk.

Please contact me by email: eallen@ncstreetops.org.

Emilie Allen

Trustee Transitions The School and Camp community thanks departing board member Sam Kim for his years of service and dedication. Sam’s business savvy and marketing expertise provided invaluable contributions, and his energy, insight, and embrace of shared values will be greatly missed.

In addition, we are pleased to welcome the following new and returning trustees.

We are delighted to welcome back to the board former trustee Marty Rosenberg, whose daughter Sophie graduated from NCS in 2011. Marty leads Navigant Healthcare, Inc.’s Global Healthcare Technology Business. He recently created the “Cisco’s Kids” Foundation in North Carolina to grow healthier communities and inspire children to take up cycling. Marty earned his BA at Hofstra University and an MS in Healthcare Management from RPI, Lalley School of Business. He and his wife Mara currently live in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

Karla Ayala’s son David graduated this spring with the NCS class

of 2014. Karla holds a degree in business administration from Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala. She was the president of the PTA of the American School in 2006 when her children attended. Karla is an impassioned speaker who can move an audience, especially when the subject is what NCS has done for her and her family.

page 3

Jun Zhang’s daughter Brandy is another 2014 graduate of NCS.

Jun is CEO of Tianfeng Securities Company, an investment bank in China. He also serves in several not-for-profit organizations in China. Jun earned his PhD in economics from Wuhan University and in 2009 completed the executive MBA program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Jun and his wife Bei Zhu live in Shenzhen City, China.

Organic Roots Summer 2014

Board of Trustees Dennis Aftergut, Chair Barkley Stuart, Vice Chair Hope Knight, Treasurer Sandra Gray Nowicki, Secretary

Jennifer Ewing Allen

From our readers

Dear Mother and Dad,

Karla Ayala Lisa Beck Barry Breeman Peter R. Brest J. Matthew Davidson Guillaume de Ramel Brian Eng Laura Thrower Harris Caroline Kenney Roger S. Loud Jennifer Maslow Robert Parker Marty Rosenberg Pamela Rosenthal Matt Salinger Hume Steyer Manny Weintraub Bethany Dickerson Wynder Jun Zhang

Honorary Trustees Joan K. Davidson Colin C. Tait, Esq. Richard E. Wilde

Trustees Emeriti David T. Kenney Rose Kean Lansbury Sumner Parker

A LITTLE HISTORY

By Lisa Dillmann, CTT 57-58, Staff 70-71 My mother, Bunny Fuller Dillmann, passed away this year just before her 98th birthday.

After her passing, we discovered many letters to her family from her early years. The Fuller family has been connected to Treetops nearly from the beginning, with my grandmother Mary Fuller, a counselor. Over the years, Bunny and her brother Bill Fuller and his wife Joyce were camp counselors. Later their children (Johanna Dillmann and Chuckie, Robbie, Jill Fuller) were campers in the 1950s and 60s. Lisa Dillmann and Jill Fuller became counselors in the 1960s-70s, and Jill’s children (Miranda Johnston and Tim Johnston) were campers and counselors in the new millenium. Helen and Doug Haskell and Walter and Leo Clark were friends of the families from as far back as the 1920s.

Their philosophies and methods are still being practiced at Treetops, so I thought I might share a letter about Helen and Doug that probably typifies them to those who knew them. At the time of this writing, February 9, 1935, Bunny was a student at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, not all that far from Treetops, though it was a lot longer in 1935!

My jaunt into the mountains was fine in every way. Helen and Doug were so nice and simple and jolly with each other. As you know they are making over the Taylor house and are doing a beautiful job of it. They have a furnace in which they burn wood entirely and live just about as primitively as you do (pardon me, Daddy) at Winterton, except that they have a farm to handle. Doug milks the cows and tends to five horses. They get so much milk that they cannot get rid of it all and use skimmed milk almost like water. Helen makes butter every other day (two to three lbs. at a time) and sells part of it. Cream flows abundantly and is whipped for nearly every dessert. In fact I said over and over again to Helen, “Gee, I wish Mother were here to have all the cream she wanted.” And so you see I found out for the first time what actually living off the fat of the land meant.

I was skiing nearly every minute of the three days I was there, and Helen and Doug went along, too, although they have just taken up skiing. They are coming along finely, especially Helen does nobly.

The mountains were just beautiful, so different from the splendid Alps, yet it felt like coming home, to see them once more. It must be six or seven years since I have seen them.

I almost persuaded Doug to go down the famous Bob run with me, but it cost 50 cents, so we decided to seek our thrills elsewhere. I also went ski joring with one of their little horses and it was loads of fun.

Love, Bunny

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 4

The Farm, Then and Now

By Susie Localio, CTT 55-56, 58-59, Staff 65-80, 89-94

In the beginning Walter Clark didn’t know he was an organic farmer. Betty Eldridge and Tessa Huxley recall the same story. In a summer of drought, farms in the North

as the first year-round garden manager. Currently, two fulltime farmers are assisted by two farm interns. Campers and students are involved in all stages, from starting seedlings to transplanting, thinning, and harvesting. Children make pickles and lip balm, goat’s milk yogurt and natural dyes, pesto and cheese, and much more. Cooking in the Camper Kitchen is now always farm related. School children have designed and built an aquaponics system that provides the kitchen with fresh herbs even in the dead of winter. On the 2013 Treetops parent survey, the farm and garden received the highest ratings of any program, with 78 percent of all respondents calling it “superb.”

Back then there were no year-round garden staff, no greenhouses, and one garden spigot. During dry spells we formed bucket brigades (using #10 tins) that stretched from the meadow pond to the garden to water rows of vegetables. Coordinating with the kitchen wasn’t always easy. Produce sometimes went to waste.

And it isn’t just camper and student participation that has skyrocketed. Compare the following yields from then and now.

Country were suffering badly. A county extension agent stopped by and was amazed at how good our garden looked. He asked Walter how he did it. I picture Walter leaning on his hoe as he explained his methods. “Oh, you’re an organic gardener,” the extension agent said. Walter had never heard the term. Betty remembers Walter retreating to the barn to shovel manure when things weren’t going well. He didn’t know that using the stuff had a name, but it made him feel better.

And as campers, many of us took the garden for granted. We harvested beans and rhubarb. We pulled carrots from the free patch on our way to the barn, feeding the tops to our favorite horse. We saw Hartley Smith on hands and knees weeding, or John Morgan behind the wheel hoe. We knew that Bruce Hodes and Ruth Harzula and Tessa Huxley came to lunch in very dirty jeans. But as children, few of us “owned” the garden. We weeded dutifully or grudgingly. A long-time board member admitted recently that as a child he hated weeding so much, he would volunteer for any mountain trip just to avoid garden work.

Today the scene is very different, thanks to expansion efforts started in the early 1990s when John Culpepper was hired

1978

2013

CABBAGE

240 lbs

796 lbs (Napa, green, red)

CUCUMBERS

10 cukes

144 lbs

TOMATOES

70 tomatoes

1,583 lbs (cherry, Juliet, and slicers)

The 2012 yield sheet lists vegetables that do not even appear on the 1978 sheet: brussel sprouts, garlic, honeydew melon (328 pounds in 2012!), lavender, pak choi, soy beans, watermelon, tomatillos, to name just a few.

And the barnyard pig pen, which Helen Haskell bemoaned as a disgrace, no longer exists. The pigs are out in Dexter Pasture rooting happily in the good earth. The farm now provides pork,

Photos: Walter in the garden; the author, circa 1980s

page 5

Organic Roots Summer 2014

ham, bacon, and sausage for Camp and School.

None of this would be possible without three very important people at North Country School and Camp Treetops. Farm Manager Mike Tholen, Head Cook Paulette Peduzzi, and Farm Educator Katie Culpepper work closely together to make sure that the farm and garden is an integral part of what Camp and School are all about.

BOOSTING FARM PRODUCTION “I figured there were a few really noble things I could do in my life,” says Mike Tholen. “I could work in education, I could build shelter for people, or I could grow food to eat.” So far, he’s done two of the three at NCS and Treetops.

A self confessed “foodie,” Mike quotes Michael Pollan and Wendell Berry when he preps kids for chicken harvest. He worries about climate change and our industrialized system of food production and future water shortages that will challenge our nation. He does a lot more than weed and seed.

With degrees in elementary education and K-12 art education and years of experience teaching, farming, and working with kids, Mike arrived at North Country School as the Level I (grades four and five) teacher in 2004. Five years later when an opportunity to run the farm came up, he jumped at it.

The challenges, however, were real. Six sheep didn’t produce enough wool to be sent out for processing. Six goats needed to be adopted out and replaced by females that would provide milk and kids. Three pigs didn’t supply enough pork. Barn windows were broken. Weeds were thriving.

Mike’s first step was to increase the sheep flock to 20 breeding ewes selected for good quality wool. The ewes are shorn in early May. Some of the wool is kept for handwork but most is processed at the Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney, Vermont, and later used in spinning, felting, and knitting. Lambs are harvested in October for the freezer.

The barn is not a petting zoo, Mike reminds us. Animals must pay their way, either programmatically or in production: eggs, chicken, turkey, pork, wool, lamb, goat’s milk. So Mike also increased the chicken flock, which now numbers 200 meat birds and 150 laying hens. He oversees two chicken harvests, one at School and one with the older children at Camp. In advance of each, Mike leads the children through the steps carefully, stressing how important it is to be respectful of the process. He

talks about reverence for the creatures whose lives are ending in order to sustain our community. When children deliver the birds, plucked, gutted, and washed to the kitchen, they truly understand that chicken doesn’t appear magically wrapped in plastic in grocery coolers.

The garden flourishes. Two large greenhouses provide 4,000 square feet of indoor growing space. Only the cold of February sees nothing harvested from garden or greenhouse. Mike and his interns, students, and campers do 30,000 plant starts a year; the only direct seeding done in the garden is for carrots and peas.

An irrigation system helps with increasingly hot summers. In 2013, the farm produced hundreds of varieties of more than 35 different veggies and greens, plus a dozen kinds of herbs, at an estimated retail value of more than $55,000.

All this is not without its challenges, the biggest being weather.

The NCS/Treetops garden is at 2,000 feet of elevation in really upstate New York. Temperatures are ten degrees colder than down in Keene Valley. Summers can be very rainy or very dry.

In 2013 there was a frost every month of the year. Creeping yellow cress and galinsoga (whose seeds are viable for five years) threaten to take over.

Nothing happens by itself, nor does the goal of immersing students and campers in farm life and making the farm and garden meaningful and educational occur without immense amounts of time and thought and effort.

Mike’s attention to details and aesthetics, his respect for animals, extensive knowledge and commitment to teaching kids good Photo: Mike with his puppy, Bear

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 6

continued on page 7

The Farm, Then and Now stewardship would win high praise from our founding farmers, Helen Haskell and Walter Clark.

Lettuce is a daily staple. Kale and carrots, broccoli and zucchini and other veggies are used in side dishes. One challenge is to make vegetables such as pac choi or rutabaga or turnips attractive to kids; another is to use vegetables in many ways when a burst of them comes from the garden.

EATING WHAT WE RAISE All the hours of work that Mike and his interns put in would not be nearly as meaningful were it not for Paulette Peduzzi and her kitchen staff. Together they turn thousands of pounds of cabbages and rutabaga, onions, kale, and squash into food that kids will actually eat.

Paulette grew up on a farm in Gilman, Minnesota, where her family ate what they grew and raised. They planted and harvested, canned and froze.

They had 35 dairy cows and raised chickens and pigs for meat.

Paulette learned all about food early in life, then continued learning about it as a young adult, beginning with working in a family-style restaurant as she cared for her ailing grandmother.

Next came a six-year stay in Akrata, Greece that started as a three-month backpacking trip in Europe. There Paulette worked at a campground and restaurant run by folks she’d met in her travels. (It’s also why kids at Camp and School eat spanikopita.)

Returning to the U.S., Paulette and some friends found their way to the Adirondacks and started High Peaks Base Camp in Upper Jay. They built onto existing dorms, expanded the campground, stocked a big pond with fish, and turned the stable into a restaurant and kitchen. All this renovation meant frequent trips to Ward Lumber, where she met Mark Peduzzi, her future husband. After five years of running the Base Camp and the addition of two children (Luke and Naomi, both alums of Camp and School), Paulette joined the kitchen staff of North Country School and Treetops in 1994, becoming head cook in 2008.

Paulette’s job entails much more than is required at most camps and schools. Yes, she plans menus and does the buying, but on a daily basis she also checks with Mike and the farm interns to see what is ready for harvest. The interns appear each morning to get her orders and with the help of the garden harvest crew of campers and staff, deliver the washed produce to the kitchen.

Most summers all the vegetables eaten in both Senior and Junior Camps come from the garden.

“I spend a lot of time trying to come up with menus that the children and adults will like that are healthy, well rounded, and utilize our own meat and produce,” Paulette says.

“Paulette is amazingly creative when it comes to integrating even the most unusual veggies into her menus,” Mike says. She uses winter squash in chili, marinara sauce, and even pancakes, and desserts like lavender-lemon shortbread or rhubarbraspberry crisp are instant hits.

When she does need to buy, as much as possible Paulette supports local growers and producers: grass-fed beef from a nearby farmer; apples and honey from an orchard in Peru; flour for bread, muffins, and desserts from Champlain Mill in Westport, NY. Even the rise in food allergies—besides the regular fare, each meal has nut free, lactose free, gluten free, and vegetarian options—doesn’t rock her. “I’m happy I am in a position to make a difference in the food we serve the children. So many bad habits are ingrained in our brains as to what we think we should eat for convenience or comfort.”

She goes on, “I like this situation because the philosophy being supported matches my own values of how we should eat and conserve. It is what this place is about.”

And it’s how she was raised. Good food, raised healthily, cooked with love.

COMPLETING THE CYCLE Mike Tholen likes to point out that before we had a farm educator on staff, a crucial link in the farm to fork cycle was missing. Though children here have always been involved in growing and harvesting their food, the preparation of our meals, aside from an occasional out-time or activity period, was always a hole in the process. No longer.

One of Katie Culpepper’s first acts after becoming farm educator in 2012 was to spruce up the Camper Kitchen, giving it fresh paint, new aprons, cutting boards, and utensils (many made by campers). It’s now a busy hub of daily activity at Treetops (note the CTT parent survey results), where campers take ingredients

Photo: Paulette tosses pizza dough

page 7

Organic Roots Summer 2014

The Farm, Then and Now

fresh from the farm and use them to create jams, salsa, butter, dressings, sauces, and more. In the two wood-fired ovens parked outside they bake bread and scones, muffins and pies, pizza and calzones, all flavored with fillings and seasonings picked from the gardens or patches of wild edibles. NCS students, who now have the opportunity to take a farm class in every grade, use the kitchen in Clark House for similar culinary creations.

“The farm gives us the opportunity to connect kids to the world they live in,” Katie says. “It’s so important for them to know where their food comes from. Having a class see things all the way through—from the start as a seed through cultivation and harvest to the table—is one of the best parts of my job,” she says.

To help boost children’s ownership in the farm, Katie and Mike have more than doubled the size of the Children’s Garden, a special plot where students and campers can experiment without the pressure of producing for the kitchen. “The good thing about the Children’s Garden is you can just go there and eat up,” my ten-year old nephew (and junior camper) Donald told me, his favorite veggie being snow peas.

But Katie aims to do more than create proponents of local food, important as that may be. “It’s not just, ‘Here, let’s look at this seed,’” she explains, “but what are the factors that determine what we eat—from money, resources, and availability to culture, history, and traditions. It’s not only what can we grow, but what can we store? And in turn, what are the social, economic, and environmental consequences of what we choose to eat?”

Questions like these quickly lead beyond our small farm to the

larger community. Katie’s classes have visited the food pantry in Lake Placid, learning about hunger in our midst. Students and campers have grown, harvested, and donated vegetables requested by the food pantry, and a plant sale during NCS’ annual spring community pancake breakfast netted a $500 donation. Treetops campers volunteer to weed and help maintain school gardens in Lake Placid and Keene Valley in the summer months, when teachers and students are not around to care for them. A group of NCS ninth graders attended the Adirondack Youth Food Summit last fall.

Katie is gratified to see the excitement and energy that children and adults bring to the Children’s Garden, the cooking, and aquaponics. A food club, started by students, has formed at NCS and meets once a week. Treetops counselors get so excited about the garden that some return to college and join or form farm clubs on campus, and NCS teachers routinely observe Katie’s farm classes to find out how they can incorporate the farm into their lessons.

“The farm is such a powerful resource as a teaching tool,” says Katie, who is less than a year away from her master’s in education with a focus in sustainability. “It offers so many ways to make learning meaningful for students and campers. Having children work in the gardens and with animals is such a large part of our past,” she goes on, “and it’s cool to find ways to take that into the future.”

A frequent contributor, Susie Localio lives in Port Townsend, WA, where she gardens, hikes, and reads a lot of kid books to her grandchildren.

Photo: Katie and students in the dirt for potato harvest

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 8

Thousand Friends by Friends’

To help us thrive this year and grow our foundation of support for the future, three members of our board of trustees have issued the largest challenge in the history of NCS and Treetops: the Thousand Friends by Friends’ Challenge.

THOUSAND FRIENDS BY FRIENDS’ To earn the $125,000 in Challenge funding, our community must:

When we inspire 1,000 members of our community to support the Annual Fund by Friends’ Weekend, August 20-24, and reach $1.1 million in Annual Giving, we will receive a gift of $125,000 from three committed trustees to enhance our programs.

page 9

Organic Roots Summer 2014

• Inspire 1,000 donors • Reach $1.1 million in Annual Giving • All by Friends’ Weekend, August 20-24, 2014

sustain. transform. flourish.

We are grateful to nearly 2,400 community members who have given more than $16.4 million for the most successful comprehensive Campaign in our history.

We are grateful to the nearly 600 members of our community who have joined Thousand Friends by Friends’ and together given more than $800,000 to the Annual Fund. With your help, we can meet this challenge and earn this historic funding. Won’t you join in? Please use the enclosed envelope or give online: www.camptreetops.org/giving OR www.northcountryschool.org/giving.

CAMPAIGN ACCOMPLISHMENTS: • Annual Fund now over $1 million • Clark House construction, Treetops Main House renovation, and Flushing Meadows installation • Nearly $2.9 million in gifts to endowment boosting the total to more than $10.4 million

For more information about the Thousand Friends by Friends’ Challenge or the STRONG ROOTS, HIGH PEAKS CAMPAIGN, contact Kurt Terrell, Director of Advancement, at 518-523-9329 or kterrell@ncstreetops.org. camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 10

Alumni Spotlight: Francie Parker, CTT 79, NCS 82, CTT Staff 84, 86-89, NCS Staff 91-92 Francie is up front about the place’s other lasting influences on her. “Treetops is so interwoven into the fabric of my being, it’s hard to know where it stops and I begin.” But some things, she reminds us, are innate. “I don’t think I was ever not an artist,” Francie says. “I remember when I was little, I used to love going into Mom’s wrapping room to play with the paper and ribbons or make Christmas ornaments.”

and teacher, and youngest child of Camp and School alum and trustee emeritus Sumner Parker—solidified her early interest.

An Artist By Nature

By Lisa Rowley When she is not creating sculpture in her studio, Francie Parker, 46, teaches ceramics at Santa Fe Community College and at Santa Fe Clay. She was surprised to realize during a recent class that she has been teaching for 28 years.

She got her start as a young counselor at Treetops.

“I had wanted to come back to work in the Hike House and lead trips,” Francie recalls, “but as it happened, Paul Nowicki was taking a summer off, and they needed someone to fill in in the pot shop. I discovered that I was actually a good teacher and enjoyed it. I didn’t have to be hiking all the time.”

For someone who spent as much time in the mountains as Francie had, that was a revelation.

Francie started hiking as a young child, climbing Cardigan Mountain in New Hampshire, where her family had a summer place. Her time at Treetops and NCS—as camper and student, counselor

At NCS and Treetops, Francie went on every hike she could. “All my best memories are outside in the woods.” She hiked her first 46er during Camp. “We climbed Giant, and there was a massive rainbow overhead. It was gorgeous.” A three-day hike in the Sewards remains memorable: “I was the weakest hiker of the group, but somehow I got to go.”

Later, during a study abroad program in college, Francie and her parents hiked in the Himalayas. A couple years later she became a 46er on Phelps, with her parents, Roger Loud, and ice cream in tow. The summer before, she and a friend covered 900 miles of the 2,700-mile Pacific Crest Trail that stretches from Canada to Mexico. “NCS and Treetops set me up for having the confidence to do that,” Francie says. “I remember thinking that if I could do the three-day hike in the Sewards and John Morgan’s four-day hikes in the middle of winter, then surely as an adult I could hike for 2 ½ months during the summer.”

Photo: Francie with her family at the summit of Wheeler Peak, New Mexico’s highest (elev. 13,167’)

page 11

Organic Roots Summer 2014

She first took to clay at age 9, during a ceramics class at a museum at home in Wisconsin. But surprisingly, she did not spend much time in the pot shops at Camp or School. At Treetops, she was hiking as much as she possibly could, and there were so many other crafts to try. At NCS, she was hiking as much as she possibly could, and “Bonnie Morgan was such a pied piper, that I got hooked on batik instead.”

Francie had her first art show as a senior in high school, as part of an independent study. She showed her ceramics, watercolors, drawings. “I loved it all,” she says, adding how disappointed she was in college (at Lewis and Clark in Portland, Oregon) to be required to choose a major that would force her to narrow her interests. “I couldn’t do everything, so when push came to shove, I chose ceramics. There was never any doubt about that.”

There was, though, some consideration of a double major in math, which much to her father’s chagrin, did not pan out.

Instead Francie minored in South Asian Studies and spent six months in India, seeing how people elsewhere lived.

Upon her return, the culture shock was intense. Francie recalls wandering the aisles of a supermarket, stunned by the abundance, when an old man approached her and said, “It’s okay, Miss, I’ve been lost in here, too.”

After graduating from college, Francie spent a year in Portland, Maine, working

in an art gallery. The next year she returned to North Country School to teach ceramics, an experience she enjoyed as much as her student days. That summer a workshop at Skidmore College presented an unexpected opportunity.

What has not changed is the primacy of nature in Francie’s work with clay, much of which is meant for display outdoors or in a garden. “My ceramics is how I extrapolate meaning from the natural world around me.” She does not mean to reproduce nature—“Why would I try to recreate something so perfect?”—but rather to interpret it. It’s a legacy she traces to her days at North Country School and Treetops. “Being out in nature all the time, living so much in the here and now, observing our surroundings—these were instilled in us at School and Camp.”

She had signed up to study under Toshiko Takaezu, a world-renowned American ceramicist who taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art and at Princeton for a combined 35 years. At the end of the summer, and on something of a lark—Toshiko had never had a year-long female apprentice before— Francie asked for a second time if she For an artist, teacher, and outdoor person, could apprentice for her (Toshiko had life in the West makes perfect sense. declined when she’d asked previously Missing family and friends back East is during college). This time, to her great the only drawback. “I started at Treetops surprise and delight, Toshiko agreed. in 1979, and until 1995 when I left for Former Head of School Frank Wallace New Mexico, I never spent more than graciously excused Francie a year away from the place,” from her contract: “North Francie says. Once she moved Part of what North Country Country School will always West, she did not return for 12 and Treetops does is make you be here; an opportunity like years. appreciate the value of hard work this will not.”

One day soon she hopes to So Francie spent the year become a Treetops parent. before starting her career. Just as she with Toshiko in her Quakertown, NJ, “I want my boys to have a similar was preparing to move back East for a studio. She fired the kiln, prepared experience,” and her eldest has already teaching job, serendipity struck again; made a positive connection. In 2007 clay, mixed glazes, helped organize a Francie met a fellow skiing enthusiast Thanksgiving show. Years later at her she brought Ian, then age 2, to Friends’ whom she would marry three years later.

Weekend.

“I remember it was raining, wedding, Francie told Toshiko that the She’s lived in New Mexico with husband and I was in the Pavilion buying t-shirts. apprenticeship had been the hardest thing Russ ever since, creating art, teaching Before I knew it, Ian was running around she’d ever done. Years after that wedding ceramics, hiking, skiing, and raising sons outside on the fi eld, playing with a soccer conversation, Francie told me: “I’ve Ian (9) and Isaac (6). ball he’d found. It was the first time he’d just realized the similarities between ever not had me in his sight. He just felt working with Toshiko and working in the The desert surroundings of Santa Fe safe and comfortable enough to go do his kitchen at Treetops with Bea [Johnson]. have affected Francie’s ceramics, handown thing.”

Both were incredibly hard taskmasters, built pieces that favor texture and shape, but also such amazingly strong and though it took her a while to realize Francie knew the feeling. Despite the wonderful women. Part of what North how much. She was preparing for a years and distance, “I was amazed by Country and Treetops does is make you show when she was shocked to notice how much it felt like home. I don’t think appreciate the value of hard work.” pockets of color in her work. She finds there’s any other place quite like that for the New Mexico landscape so subtle, me.”

The apprenticeship also cemented the sunsets so ephemeral, that she has Francie’s desire to go to grad school come to appreciate its bursts of bright For more about Francie’s work, so she could teach at the college level: color—a cactus in bloom, for instance— visit parkerceramics.com.

“Treetops and North Country got me and incorporate them in her work. Back to love teaching.” She completed her in New England or at Treetops, where master’s in ceramics at SUNY New Paltz vibrant hues were everywhere, color had in 1995, then moved to New Mexico not been as important a feature of her for one last youthful stint of skiing sculpture.

[

]

Photo: On Tippy Toes #3

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 12

Alumni Profile: David Stewart, NCS 94, TTWest 93, TTFrance 94 Interview with Emilie Allen

David Stewart first came to North Country School in the sixth grade. As a new student, David was drawn to the high level of trust among students, staff, and faculty, as well as the tangible openness of the community. Over the course of his four years at NCS, CTT West, and CTT France, David developed a profound love for the outdoors. After graduating from NCS, he continued to secondary school before going on to Yale University, where as a Latin American studies major he became fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese. David eventually earned his MBA, also at Yale, before pursuing his career at various tech companies, including Google and YouTube. Of several successful start-ups, two were eventually acquired by Disney and Microsoft. Today, David lives in San Francisco, where he runs the tech company “JumpCam,” which features a free mobile app that allows users to create collaborative videos with other viewers.

“JumpCam” was recently highlighted on the Today Show, and was named one of the “2013 Ten Best Applications” by Time Magazine.

EA: You’ve spent much of your career working in social and video technology. Given your current status as a “tech guru,” how much interest did you have in the outdoors programs as a student at NCS? DS: Well, to begin with, I was not interested in hiking, and I wasn’t very good at it. But everyone had to do a hike in the spring. The first one I ever signed up for was Marcy Dam. It was the easiest: 2.4 miles and flat. I found that to be a demanding hike.

Then later on that spring, I had to do a second hike because Roger Loud was retiring as headmaster, and the entire school hiked to the top of the Cascade to throw him a surprise party. Even though Cascade is a 46er, it was probably one of the easiest to get up. And yet I found it to be really, really, really hard. I was not in very good shape at that point in time. I didn’t think I’d make it to the summit. But when you get to that rocky bald top, you think you’ve hiked this major mountain and there are views everywhere. I thought: “Wow! I just climbed a mountain. That felt really good.”

EA: So, did you do much hiking at NCS after that?

DS: Yes. Being at NCS really helped me to develop my explorer

spirit, in part because of its location in the High Peaks of the Adirondacks.

I definitely was competitive. That second spring, I hiked over 100 miles and was inducted into “The Dirty Dozen.” The following year, I was determined to win the competition among the 12 hikers who had hiked the most miles and highest altitudes. I didn’t win, but I got pretty close.

While at NCS, in those two years between sixth and eighth grade, I climbed most of the 46 peaks over 4,000 feet. Now I live in San Francisco, and every year I do at least a few overnight backpacking trips along the coastal range and the Sierra Nevadas.

If it were not for my time at NCS and Treetops West/France, I would not have discovered this enjoyment, nor would I have the confidence of knowing how to hike and backpack, how to use camp stoves, treat water, etc.

EA: So your hiking experiences at NCS inspired you to participate in Treetops West and Treetops France?

DS: Yes. To do the summer programs you had to be an experienced hiker.

Photo: Recent backpacking trip in Desolation Wilderness, 2012

page 13

Organic Roots Summer 2014

EA: What differences did you observe between French and U.S. mountaineering?

DS: Some things were the same as in the States: the mountains themselves, the geological formations, the way glaciers work, how to set up rock climbing gear.

But in France, it’s not as wild. In Wyoming, you would drive to the middle of nowhere and spend a whole day driving on a long dusty road through an Indian reservation that you had to get permission from the tribe to drive through. Then you’d hike for several days on a trail where you might not see a single other person.

Some things were totally different because of the cultural differences. The food people eat on the trail; the etiquette for hiking and climbing. The attitudes people have toward the outdoors in France are really different. In France, human conversation has been a part of that landscape for so long, that almost every valley that you go into has a little village where you can get a crepe or omelets, or an old shepherd’s hut.

EA: Other than Treetops West and France, do you have other favorite memories of your time at NCS? DS: In my senior year in eighth grade (eighth grade was the last year in those days), we did a trip that was quite an adventure. We were doing a segment on the Caribbean, and we learned a little bit of Spanish and about the history of Latin America. Then we learned were going to take a field trip all the way down to Key West, where we were going to get on a 50-foot sloop and sail through the Caribbean for a number of days. We were really surprised!

We ended up taking the train down to Florida. Although this was more time consuming than a flight might have been, it ended up being a bonding experience. I remember the train ride pretty vividly. Basically, we just hung out, talking with each other, getting to know each other in a different way because we suddenly were just with each other all the time. And then, of course, we were on a little boat together all the time. We explored all over Key West and the Everglades. We ate seafood that had just been caught and cooked it right on the boat. We went out to these islands off of Florida, which were just spectacular, so that was a really exciting experience.

In those days, this kind of trip was not typical. We were expecting

a class trip, but we were also expecting that trip to be somewhere like Fort Ticonderoga or something. The fact that there was a trip that went all the way to the southern tip of the United States was pretty exciting.

EA: Can you talk about some of the mentors that you had while at NCS and what kind of impact they had on you?

DS: There were several, but Tommy Hughes and Hock really stand out. Hock was the head houseparent with Selden my eighth grade year. He was also very helpful in leading trips and giving me an appreciation of outdoors.

Hock at that point was a teacher and he was an excellent teacher. He came up with creative ways to teach you about things. For example, he had a social studies class and we were learning about Asia. So he created a version of the game Diplomacy on one entire wall of the classroom. Each person was given a country and their goals were real world geopolitical goals. It was a very effective game. Rather than just reading about these things, it really put you in the head of the geopolitical forces at work in that region.

In sixth and seventh grade, my houseparent was Tommy Hughes. He was also one of the leaders of Treetops West and France. He was always really interested in politics and how the world works. He made a big impression on me. He helped us through our disputes.

We would have long conversations about the social issues of the day.

EA: How do you think the values you learned at NCS helped define your personal and professional path?

DS: I definitely learned an appreciation for the outdoors.

Hiking in the outdoors helped ground me, which has been very important throughout my life. Being in the natural environment and understanding where you live, I never appreciated that before North Country School.

I also learned how to work better with other people. I always excelled at getting good grades, at quantifying my success. I could see goals and was good at working toward them, but at NCS there are no grades except effort grades. It’s much more about how you interact with other people: Are you progressing in your life skills? It was a challenge for me to learn that the things in life that matter—you don’t get a score for them.

Photo: TTWest at Wind Rivers, Wyoming, 1993

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 14

Treetops Staff Essay Our Best Teacher

By Barbara Davis, CTT Staff 78-80, CTT Parent 03-05 my experience at Treetops that convinced someone in that organization to accept me as a volunteer.

After Peace Corps I moved to New Hampshire and started a farm. I had three children whom I home schooled at different times in their lives. My youngest Addie always had an interest in cooking and baking, so we found an opportunity for her to help at a nearby bakery. The owner trusted her and gave her many opportunities to learn.

Upon my return to Fredonia State [NY] University in 1977, I moved into an apartment off campus with Deb Baker, also known as D.J. at Camp Treetops. We

compared notes on our summer experiences as camp counselors.

D.J. was beaming. I was not.

D.J. had spent the summer canoeing, swimming, and eating vegetables from an organic garden. I had watched campers water ski and compete in color war, while gaining weight from eating fudgsicles. I felt cheated and wished I had gone to a place like Camp Treetops for my summer job.

As winter came to a close, D.J. signed on for another great summer at Treetops, and I followed suit. I interviewed with Colin Tate, who shortly thereafter invited me to be the “pot shop” instructor in Junior Camp. So began my 35-year (to date) connection to Camp.

During my three seasons in Junior Camp, I sometimes felt like a camper myself. I had never climbed a mountain, gone canoeing, or eaten wild foods. I had no idea then how strongly this experience would influence the rest of my life and the life of my youngest child Addie (CTT 03-05, staff 08-13).

Two weeks after graduating from Fredonia with a degree in ceramics, I left the U.S. for the first time to work as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala. I am sure even now that it was

When Addie was 12, I applied for a scholarship for her to attend Treetops. I remember receiving the letter saying she had been granted a full scholarship; I cried, right there in the post office. I knew this would be the start of something big for her. She had three wonderful years in Senior Camp, and when she was old enough she became part of the kitchen staff. She enjoyed working there as much as being a camper.

After high school there was no question that Addie wanted to continue on her culinary path. We learned that Paul Smith’s College had a culinary program. When we visited and saw the campus situated on a beautiful lake nestled amid the Adirondack Mountains, it all felt familiar to us both.

During her summers, Addie continued to cook at Treetops and was mentored by Paulette [Peduzzi], the head cook. She encouraged Addie’s creativity while teaching her to be frugal.

She learned to plan meals for large groups, order food for the kitchen, work with the garden staff to utilize the produce grown at Camp, and to manage the kitchen staff and work job campers.

Friends’ Weekend 2013 found Addie’s sister Eliza and me working in the Junior Camp kitchen. It was fun to work together again, though sometimes hard to take orders from my daughter!

Addie now works as the head pastry chef at one of the top restaurants in Portland, Maine. She loves what she does.

Treetops was her best teacher. And I still have a farm where I grow organic fruits and vegetables, raise chickens, and teach pottery. I also love what I do. Thank you, Camp Treetops.

Photo: Barbara with daughters Addie (left) and Eliza (right) at Friends’ Weekend

page 15

Organic Roots Summer 2014

Treetops Staff Essay Dreams of Summer

By Jill Gordon, CTT Staff 13 My family does not have a legacy here.

We came by grace and a leap of faith.

In the cold of last winter, having little idea of what I was really getting the three of us into, I sensed that it would be an important adventure. We were brought into the fold, my two young children and I, welcomed into the mix.

My first chilly morning was of holding hands before breakfast, of handmade cloth napkins. The strawberry plants in the Children’s Garden still had white blossoms, after we had just picked several pounds back in Baltimore. My first postcards told of the quiet, the birdhouses along the fence, the roof of the garden shed propped against a huge solid rock, the sheer amounts of trees and stars. Walking in the dark by moonlight, without hesitation or concrete, hearing the horses snuffling, frogs splash and plop, crickets, I sank into the rhythm of Camp Treetops. Early on, Betty Eldridge became my kindred friend with whom I worked and learned in the weaving studio, and on blankets spread with looms of brightly colored threads in the sunshine. In our last week, over tea and blackberry pie from Noonmark diner, we adopted each other. She, now, our Adirondack grandmother.

On our way out of town, hugging our last goodbyes to our new friends, I lugged a gallon of maple syrup to the car. We connect ourselves to the sense of place and energy of this past summer every day. My daughter eats from the bowl she made in the pot shop. I recall the clear images of my feet in the orange hawkweed and Queen Anne’s lace, freshly picked beets in my lap, wildflowers in my hands against a clear sky, tiny blueberry bushes, bunches of chamomile tied with string. My daughter pulling my son in a red radio flyer wagon down the dirt road at sunset. A red eft (an adolescent newt) in a miniature toy truck belonging to my three year old, huddled wrapped in fleece and wool with a reptile field guide in hand. We were nourished by the land, fresh air, community, and good, good food we enjoyed every day. I felt a child’s excitement within me the time I collected 60 eggs, and found usefulness and meditation in afternoon weeding. Warping an inkle loom and weaving became a muscle memory I did even in sleep.

We are city dwellers, seeking out green whenever we can. On the arboretum trails here, I can still hear the highway. My seven-

year-old daughter identifies nasturtiums, recalling when she harvested them for the farm festival. She walks ahead pointing out wood sorrel, plantain, chicory. I remember her barefoot, tree climbing, cold lake swimming, hands in the soil, blooming— confidently, radiantly. She amazed me daily at the choices she made—ukulele, frog catching, cheese and jam making, rolling down the Lake Hill, creating fairy houses and friendship bracelets, playing evening kickball. I’m sure she raised her hand for every single farm and garden activity.

Fall comes late in my city. I hear camp songs from little voices in the backseat as I drive. The songs are of firelight, country roads, summer. They evoke moonlight instead of streetlight, open spaces, safety, longing, camaraderie. I recently found a treasure in the zipped pocket of my coat, a crinkled handwritten map of the trail to Balanced Rocks. Pencil drawn shapes of the rocky scramble, the clearing, and log that marks the trail back to Camp. My feet in the present, heart wanting a bridge, I work with my students to make a map of our small school playground.

Straddling these worlds of the wild and the urban, we squint against the sun just the same, and feel how each place is within us and around us. We celebrate and honor both, and dream of next summer.

Jill Gordon is an artist, writer, and teacher living in Baltimore, MD. We thank her for the beautiful photo that graces our front cover.

Photo: Jill with her daughter, Sage

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 16

Campus Greening & Renewal

By John Culpepper, Director of Facilities & Sustainability RENOVATION, RENEWAL & REPLACEMENT Our campus is extensive, comprised of more than 200 acres and 150,000 square feet of building space distributed among approximately 150 structures. Almost 100,000 square feet of our building stock is year-round space. With thanks to the STRONG ROOTS, HIGH PEAKS CAMPAIGN, and ongoing generous support of our trustees, we have accomplished significant improvements to the campus grounds and to the aesthetics and structural integrity of the buildings. Below is just a sampling of recent work.

CTT MAIN HOUSE RENOVATION With construction currently on schedule (and budget), Camp Treetops will celebrate the completion of the Main House in June. The preservation and renovation of historical buildings is always a delicate process, especially of a structure that for 92 years has been a much beloved gathering space for our community. Maintaining the beauty and integrity of the original building has been of utmost importance throughout the planning and construction phases.

Campers, staff, family, and friends can now look forward to a far more spacious and pleasurable dining experience. Improvements to the overall “flow” of the interior space have allowed us to cultivate Helen Haskell’s longstanding commitment to civilized and enjoyable mealtimes. And the kitchen benefits from additional space for processing and storing more of the food grown on campus.

page 17

In addition, the fireplace remains the center and heart of the building, particularly as it now sits at the meeting point between both wings. The Main House library will once more be used solely as a home for books, quiet time, and small gatherings, rather than for overflow mealtime seating. Importantly, the building’s energy conservation also has been vastly improved, with all new double-paned windows, as well as enhanced kitchen freezer and refrigeration systems.

MAIN BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS Original construction of the East End of the Main Building was completed in 1938. Since then, the Ramp, Quonset, Circle Locker Room, and West End have been added, with several other footprint extensions in the East End and the dining room.

We are now in a sustained effort to renovate the Main Building in a phased approach. Thus far we have completed several major renovations: sound attenuation and structural improvements in the dining room; foundation repair and installation of a heating system in the Ramp and Circle Locker Room; significant upgrades to the roofs and to communications and electrical systems throughout the building.

RENEWAL OF CAMPUS CORE Concurrent with the construction of Clark House, now concluding its fourth year of service, we imagined a re-designed campus core. Reclaiming green space previously used for parking, it would be more child-friendly and aesthetically pleasing. Now

Organic Roots Summer 2014

nearing completion, this work has entailed relocating roads and parking areas, re-sculpting land around the Main Building, new plantings of trees and shrubs, and the upgrade of all associated underground utilities. Part of the plan also included moving the maintenance functions to the other side of Route 73, between Road House and Hansen House, where we have created a new maintenance shop and various storage facilities to accommodate maintenance and farm equipment.

NEW CTT LEAN-TO To accommodate an enrollment bubble of older boys, we are building a new lean-to in the Super Boys area of Senior Camp.

As with all new seasonal structures—such as the recently constructed sod-roofed lean-to and life jacket shed—the design includes some Doug Haskell-style whimsy.

FARM AND RIDING IMPROVEMENTS Children and adults—not to mention the animals—participating in the farm and garden and riding programs have benefited from a variety of recent improvements. These include construction of a small animal barn; renovation and re-siding of the horse barn; burying of all overhead power and communication lines; new construction of greenhouses; improvements and additions to our pasture areas. In addition, expansion of our on-campus trail system provides enhanced opportunities for horseback riders, runners, and skiers.

GREEN & GREENER North Country School and Camp Treetops have become regional models for sustainability. We have numerous sustainability initiatives that interest individuals and organizations from all over, and we are frequently asked to host visitors on campus or to give presentations at conferences and workshops.

Recently we received three grants from the New York State Cleaner, Greener Communities program, totaling approximately $75,000. Two of the grants will fund a biomass heat plant for Farm House and the small animal barn and another for Road House and the maintenance shop. The third award is for an in-vessel composting demonstration project designed to show medium-sized organizations such as hospitals, schools, or restaurants how to construct a rotating drum-type compost system; we are working with a local contractor to design and construct the prototype on our property.

While contracts with the State have yet to be finalized, detailed planning on all three projects has begun. And with help from our development office, we are queuing up four proposals for the next round of funding.

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 18

School News SUCCESSFUL AUTHOR VISIT

children’s picture books, young adult novels, reference books, and linguistics texts. She has won many awards, and her books have been translated into Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Farsi, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and soon into Thai and Polish.

SKIMEISTER 2014

Donna Jo Napoli, this year’s visiting author, spent a day on campus in late January. Prior to her visit, most students read at least one of her books. Fourth and fifth graders read Three Days, a realistic novel set in Italy. Sixth and ninth graders together worked on Stones in Water, historical fiction set in Europe during World War II, and seventh graders read Zel, a Rapunzel-like story with more in depth character development than the fairy tale. During her sessions with students, Donna Jo read aloud from her work, discussed the writing process, and answered questions.

After lunch Donna Jo led a town meeting. She read a passage from Sandra Cisneros’ House on Mango Street to show how vividly (and succinctly) a picture can be drawn with words. She asked students to try their own. The dining room has rarely been as quiet, as students focused intently on the task, then shared their work with the large group.

Donna Jo is professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College and earned both her BA (in mathematics) and PhD (romance languages and literatures) at Harvard. She has held visiting lecture positions in universities in England, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia, and China and held grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, and the Sloan Foundation. She has written more than 50 books, including

page 19

For this year’s Skimeister, the Nordic, slalom, and freestyle events took place under cloudy skies with strong gusting winds.

The biathlon was held at a later date (not due to the weather but to an unprecedented shortage of paintballs). With Level V scheduled to depart for its Outward Bound sailing trip in the Florida Keys later that evening, the seniors were perhaps a touch distracted. As a result, the 2014 version of Skimeister may not have adhered as strictly as others to the 30+ year tradition. But the friendly competitiveness of the participants, the enthusiastic support of their friends, and the zeal with which the winners ate their sizable chocolate chip cookie medals were all vintage Skimeister.

INTERSESSION During the week of mini-elective courses just before spring break, students built from scratch a portable snow gun that will make snow for the ski hill. They created colorful swants (a piece of clothing made by reassembling an old sweater into a pair of pants). They hardwired their own robots, carved bones, tied flies, solved mysteries, and watched history. Others fashioned jewelry, cooked vegetarian dishes, made beef jerky, built new holds for the Hike House climbing cave, and designed costumes and a stairway to heaven for the spring play. Groups sewed, knitted, and crocheted, worked on the yearbook and with video, learned survival skills, and homesteaded Amish style, while others took to the slopes and the sugar bush.

During the culminating evening exhibition, students displayed

Organic Roots Summer 2014

School News

all that they had made, learned, and done in presentations that clearly showed the creativity and energy of a wonderful weeklong break from routine.

LEVEL V TRIP TO FLORIDA In late February, Level V students departed for Big Pine Key, Florida. As Outward Bound participants, students lived and slept on two 30-foot sailboats for five nights. They then completed a service project at Bahia Honda State Park, where they worked together to clean the beach of garbage and debris. Afterward students relaxed on the beach in the afternoon. Next, they traveled by bus to Key West where they slept on the deck of the schooner Hindu, a boat owned and captained by alumnus Josh Rowan (NCS 95). Students were able to explore the streets of Key West before taking a day sail with Josh. Overall, the weather was beautiful, sunny and warm, with two great days of wind and a few days of rowing. Many thanks to Josh for sharing his boat, sailing expertise, and stories with us!

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 20

Inside our classrooms

By Larry Robjent, NCS Faculty Member

The Art of North Country School The following photo essay and narrative are adapted from presentations Larry gave to parents at Thanksgiving and to trustees at their February 2014 meeting.

NCS “studios” are everywhere. Creation and beauty are woven into the fabric of our philosophy, so students (and adults) are living boundless creative endeavors.

Younger kids (Levels I-III) get rotated through visual and performing art classes [see box next page] to gain exposure, perspective and introductory skills for different arts. Older students (Levels IVV) choose their own courses and develop mastery. We feel this is fundamental to an NCS education.

Board to Bowl

Our focus is on the process but with the end result in mind. We guide students, suggest options, but let them decide where to go. That lets their creativity come out and gives kids ownership of the project. And when you do that the product comes out super sweet.

process of creation is cooler than the final product. (Although, I’m consistently amazed at the final results.)

Caroline Muther (CTT 07, NCS 08) built this hoop structure (see next page). She put the fabric on, and it sat in the Quonset untouched for 10 days. We hadn’t yet seen how “the statue in the stone” was going to come out. Eventually, a turtle emerged from the shell.

In my tech theatre classes, I always try to introduce projects and designs that seem impossible—the Don Rand head [in Wicked] had to do everything Don does (aside from his unmatched wit).

Then I tell the kids, “Let’s do this!” That to me is the beauty of NCS art; you really challenge each other on what’s possible.

Art for the Place: Fostering attachment

My favorite pictures and memories are from the process of doing something. We can be stoked about the product, and we encourage our students toward mastery of the craft. But the mistakes and growth along the way are more memorable. The

page 21

to community through art

We want students to see the world through the eyes of an artist. We have art displayed all over campus: the barn murals, awesome quilts over the tea cart in the dining room, the mosaic in the

Organic Roots Summer 2014

foyer, huge painting in the media center, sculptures throughout the grounds and forests.

The Community Project class this fall created the Children’s Garden shed. For the Senior Project in 2011, kids built the Crag Cabin. Later students added a deck, stairs to the loft, and a woodshed.

All those kids can say, “I did that.” Next year? An outhouse with a view.

VISUAL ARTS Woodshop: assigned projects like

birdhouses or cherry tables, plus independent projects Photography: both traditional film

and digital; darkroom processing and printing Visual Arts: drawing and sculpture,

Art makes connections to the larger community. Students exhibit their work for the public during the Pavilion Art Show on campus and at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. A yearly overnight to Storm King Art Center [in the Hudson Valley] gives kids appreciation for installation art and reminds them they can DO whatever they can imagine.

Kids Need Art

Two reasons, true stories: A kid arrives here who has had a difficult time. He sits in the back of the class, gets in trouble, is disconnected. Then through guitar, he makes a connection to a teacher. He makes another in welding class. Now he sits in the front of my class and is totally engaged. I can challenge him in our art class, build trust, which allows him to feel safe making mistakes in my earth science class. Another student, a recent grad, learned lighting tech here. He ran the program at Putney and then received a presidential scholarship for theatre in college; his life plan… is to work in theatre.

Technically, we teach art in class blocks, but it’s in everything we do here. The Children’s Garden is classic. It bonds farming and food with outdoors, with educational endeavors, with artistic creativity. This is what we’re all working for—to develop future stewards who are creative, committed, and forward thinkers, who see the statue in the stone.

North Country School IS Art.

3D plaster Ceramics: hand building techniques,

learning on the wheel Fiber arts: table loom and belt loom

PERFORMING ARTS Music: individual lessons in strings,

piano, guitar, winds, voice; classes in ensemble, composing Dance & Movement: STOMP, Latin

dance, dance aerobics, Zumba Drama: acting, directing, film study Technical Theatre: stagecraft,

stagelighting, costume and make up design, set design, stage management Performance: 95 percent of kids

perform in front of an audience in their time here. Our end-o-year performance is a must see!

ART STATS 20 total classrooms:

10 are used for art classes 30 total teaching faculty:

10 teach an art class 44 art classes listed on website:

a student could take 32 art classes over 5 years Students in Levels I-III average 5 periods of art (225 min.) or 15% of academic week Students in Levels IV-V average 7.25 periods of art (325 min.) or 21.5% per week

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 22

Winter Alumni Events

by Kimberly Corwin Gray

In March, a group of NCS and Treetops friends gathered at the beautiful Kennedy Warren in Washington, DC. Thanks to Marian Osterweis (CTT 1953-57) for providing the space. The snowy evening began with cocktails and hors d’oeuvre and an update from Hock, followed by a screening and discussion of From Alarm to Action: What Works?

Over 40 alumni, new and old friends, gathered at Alta Lodge in April. The weather provided great skiing under warm, sunny, spring skies with lots of reminiscing on and off the lifts. Alta Lodge arranged a beautiful picnic on the mountain, where even those who couldn’t ski received a special ride up to join us all. Many thanks to Mimi Levitt (NCS 57, CTT 195152) and Cassie Dippo (NCS 70, NCS Faculty 80-82, CTT Staff 80) for hosting us year after year.

Photos (clockwise): Friends’ Weekend at Alta Lodge group; Harvey Weinig, Sam Weinig; Ruth Hewitt, Manny Weintraub, Lisa Beck; Edward Kenney, Susie Jakes, Caroline Kenney; Margaret Sloane, Lauren Baker

page 23

Organic Roots Summer 2014

Balanced Rocks Circle

Dear Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials,

As you may have seen, many national organizations have designated the months of May and June as Leave a Legacy Month. This public awareness campaign aims to inspire people from all walks of life and income levels to think beyond their lifespan when doing good works.

At North Country School and Camp Treetops, we recognize that our long term financial ability to provide much needed scholarships, attract excellent faculty and staff, and care for our facilities and grounds depends upon a continually growing endowment. A significant portion of this growth will come from people who make a bequest in their will or a planned gift for NCS and Treetops.

So, whether you are writing your first will as newlyweds or new parents, revising as empty nesters, or freshening up your estate plan in retirement, we hope you will join our Balanced Rocks Circle and include North Country School and Camp Treetops in your estate plans.

We will be publishing a list of Balanced Rocks Circle members in the 2013-14 Annual Report. If you have the institution in your will or estate plan, please let us know, and as some members have requested anonymity, please also inform us as to how you wish to be recognized.

8-523-9329.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact us at 518-523-9329.

Happy spring to you and yours,

Kimberly Corwin Gray Gray, NCS 95 Director of Alumni Relations and Events kcorwingray@ncstreetops.org

Michael Gillis Advancement Officer mgillis@ncstreetops.org

D. Kurt Te errell Terrell Di Ad Advanceeme m nt Director off Advancement kterrrell@ncstreetops.org @ncstreetopss.o .org

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 24

Heart and Soul A Tribute to Departing NCS Stalwart Susie Runyon

By Lisa Rowley

One-quarter of a century, onehalf of her life (she turned 50 in December), all but two years of her adult existence: that’s how much Susie Runyon will have devoted to North Country School when she departs in June.

early administrative role quickly evolved into one of active leadership. “Susie always asked the critically important question that got us to the heart of the matter and kept our institutional eye on the ball,” Hock says.

“She was the catalyst that helped forge consensus. Her leadership style is authentic, understated—and incredibly effective. And she made a huge difference in the lives of so many children here.”

Over the years, she has taught math, computers, and photography; houseparented in Woods and Algonquin Houses; led summer TTX trips for Treetops; filled in for Tsu Hansen in the business office. As Hock’s Everyone who lives and right hand for more than a works at NCS gives to the decade, Susie organized the students and adults in our Head’s schedule, routine midst. But few give as readily correspondence, and as Susie. From staying travel; worked closely with overnight in the infirmary trustees; hired new staff; with sick children to cleaning guided institutional strategic up mishaps in the bathrooms planning and NYSAIS that most of us pretend not accreditation studies and to see; from anonymously visits. At the same time distributing chocolate to every she managed faculty and staff member’s mailbox, student schedules, the hosting pot luck dinners at website, personnel policies; her Wilmington home, or coordinated holiday unexpectedly relieving a celebrations and special maxed out houseparent of events like Thanksgiving an evening duty—what Susie Everything Susie does, she and Graduation; directed has given to North Country does with humor, grace, housekeeping and School is nothing less than her patience, and a deep love for laundry; assisted with the heart and soul. For many, she implementation of a branding is the School’s heart and soul. all our children. effort; helped systematize The place won’t be the same academic report and contract without her. writing; and helped establish the current administration’s leadership structure.

“Everything Susie does,” Hock says, “she does with humor, grace, patience, and a deep love for all our children. We will miss It’s no wonder that Hock variously describes her as “the glue her dearly.” that holds it all together” or the “brain that coordinates all” or “the radar screen tracking everything.” Whatever the metaphor, Susie sat down with me a few months prior to her departure; she Susie’s work, he says, “is critical and indispensible.” Her shared memories and insights gleaned over 25 years.

[

Photo: Susie with the llama, Sumo, who went on the house overnight to Mt Van Ho in fall 1993

page 25

Organic Roots Summer 2014

]

How did you first come to North Country School?

Ben proposed to me on the Lake Hill in January of 1989. We’d been cross country skiing around the lake under a full moon (and, no, he did not have a ring on him at that point). He was teaching math here, and I was visiting, up from New Jersey where I was working as a computer programmer.

We were married in my hometown—Glencoe, IL, just outside Chicago—in mid-August. We honeymooned in Nova Scotia, then we arrived back on campus all of two hours before new faculty orientation began. Roger [Loud] had hired me earlier that spring. He figured if I could be a computer programmer for Prudential, then I could probably teach computer science and math at North Country School.

For our first two years, Ben and I lived in Woods House. That first year, we were supposed to have the honeymoon suite— no students in the house—but enrollment was up, so we got married in August and by September we had 10 kids! But we loved Woods House. This was back before there was a real kitchen. We ate in the living room, and it was really cozy.

Roger and Karen Dunmire were our support houseparents.

I loved the birches outside the window.

In the fall of 1991, Susie and Ben moved to Algonquin House. The Hill Houses provided more room for their two large dogs—a husky and a yellow lab—and more privacy.

Both she and Ben continued to teach and be houseparents.

I taught math, computers, and photography. There was a computer lab in an Upper West End classroom–prior to that it had been a language lab. We had maybe 12 Apple IIe computers. And for photography, which was more like a club, we used a closet off the fiber arts room. Later on we moved it, and I designed the current darkroom.

In the summers, Ben and I did two TTW trips: in 1990 to Utah, the Wind River Range, and the Tetons and in 1992 to the North Cascades and Olympics, seven weeks of hiking, climbing, backpacking with 10 campers.

Susie loved it. She and Ben spent the summer in between TTW trips working as head trail counselors for ATIS, the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society, based in the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. She hiked a lot of the High Peaks that summer and became a 46er in 1993 on Cliff Mountain during a Saturday trip with kids from NCS. Then in May of 1994, Meg was born in the hospital in Saranac Lake. We were still living in Algonquin House. The fall prior, we would joke with the kids that we’d be having a new house member in the spring. They kept wanting to know if the new student would be a boy or a girl. Finally somebody figured out that new students didn’t arrive in May. It must have been hard being a houseparent with a baby of your own.

It was good. But it was a juggle.

On homenights, after we put Meg down for her nap, we’d try to get the kids’ laundry done and start cooking for dinner. Meg would wake up and come wandering down the hall, and I’d say, “Oh, you’re awake.”

It’s great raising kids here, especially for first-time parents. The socialization our children received was awesome. It was like having 50 brothers and sisters, and I was always comforted to know that so many people were looking out for them— whether they were about to go down the slide outside the dining room unattended or heading down Bramwell Run unaccompanied for barn chores. It’s that “takes a village” thing.

So you did not find that they suffered from having to split your attention with the students in your house?

No, not at all. This is a just a great place to grow up, with so many opportunities. Meg came with us everywhere, to the barn for chores, skiing all over campus and at Whiteface. She went on a Level IV trip to Boston with me when she was five years old.

Hannah was born in February 1997, on Lincoln’s birthday.

Paulette [Peduzzi] and I were pregnant at the same time, and we Photos: Treetops Visitors’ Day, 2007; Summer 2013

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 26

A Tribute to Susie Runyon had contests to guess when the babies would be born. Hannah beat Naomi by four days. During the fall before they were born, I remember being an eggplant for Halloween. I was fully plump and shaped like one, and I knit a purple and green hat for Meg so she could be a “Megplant.”

But after Hannah was born, the juggling got to be too much. We were still living in Algonquin, and with two kids of our own, it was hard trying to get the girls to bed, read them stories, and manage the students in the house. At the time they were converting the Hill House garages into faculty apartments—only Algonquin had an original apartment in it—so by 1998 or ’99, we were the first residents in the new Mountain House apartment, which had three bedrooms. Ben was dean of students, plus teaching and support houseparenting, and I kept teaching math and photography.

For the 2000-01 school year, Susie took a year off from NCS. She taught in the 1st-3rd grade classroom at Northern Lights, a Waldorf School in Wilmington. Meg was in her class, and it proved a difficult arrangement.

It was hard on Meg, which was hard on me. She needed me to be her mom, not her teacher. So that’s why I came back to NCS the next year. Hock had returned as Head in 1999, and it seemed a better seat to be behind the scenes, organizing and administering.

So I was Assistant to the Head for a dozen years. Though I started off supporting Hock, I also became increasingly involved with the program, working with different sets of the school admin team that included at various times Ben, Libby [Doan], Betsy [Thomas-Train], Louisa [Muñoz], Nick [Perry], and me. There was lots of change.

What’s the biggest change you’ve seen?

The change from being a “mom and pop” kind of place, a family place. Everyone lived on campus, and this was your life. Of course that’s also what is hard. The all-encompassing aspect is what makes this place so special but also very challenging. If I could grant one wish for NCS it would be to figure out how to have the magic and the close relationships but also make the experience sustainable for the adults.

Another important change has been the increased focus on and quality of our academics. We have highly accomplished professionals teaching here now; we’re not just a bunch of hippies out in the wilderness. And we’ve managed to raise the academic standards without sacrificing the quality of our outdoor

and experiential ed. programs, the farm and garden, the social development. What we’ve always done instinctively is now being recognized as important for children’s healthy development. And that’s why I am also so happy that my children were students here. Meg and Hannah benefited not just from the community that looked after them as toddlers, but the teachers who provided them with classroom experiences and challenges that helped them grow. The same is true of the wonderful Treetops counselors who guided my kids over the years.

Can you talk about some of your best memories?

Oh, so many… Having the kids in Algonquin House pull out my gray hairs back when I only had a few; being at the ski hill with kids from the house; taking the mattresses out of a bedroom and hiding them in the closet when we discovered two roommates

Photos: Susie, John Morgan, and a group of Level II students, acting goofy for the camera on Short Job, 1991; On Mount Adams, Washington during Treetops West with Mount Ranier in the backdrop, summer 1992

page 27

Organic Roots Summer 2014

A Tribute to Susie Runyon out night walking. Teaching students to use the darkroom and helping them to see through the camera. Having alumni write me about their continued interest in photography or how much they enjoyed my math class. Making a difference for kids. Horseback riding at Cliffords; falling off Peanut with Larry Gibbons; driving the tractor with John Morgan during sugaring season.

What are you most proud of?

Supporting faculty and making some sense of the scheduling; developing systems to help this place run more smoothly.

Developing the dark room to be a learning space, especially when digital photography was on the rise, and having the program flourish.

Do you have plans for what’s next? What’s it like to leave a place after 25 years?

With both Ben and I having our summers off, we hope to travel this summer. We’re planning a motorcycle trip to beautiful places out West, like the Grand Canyon and Colorado. I hope to do some more photography, maybe even teach workshops somewhere.

And leaving will definitely be weird. Change is hard—let the emotional roller coaster continue. I’ll miss this place. There are lots of good people here.

And the children, adolescents, and adults of this place are better people for having known, lived, and worked with Susie Runyon.

Thank you, Susie, for taking us into your big heart and keeping us there. You certainly will stay in ours.

‘To See Through the Camera’ One of Susie’s passions is photography. For years and years, her images have graced covers of Organic Roots, been distributed as notecards, and supplied our websites, yearbooks, parent slide shows, invitations, and programs. She has taken photography workshops in Montana, Maine, and the Adirondacks. She has sold her work locally in shops and farmers’ markets.

“I always took pictures,” Susie says. “When I was little, I used to dress up my dog and sit her at the piano with glasses on her head, then snap her picture.” But she first became seriously interested in college [at Bucknell], when she took an introductory photography course during a January term.

She loved working in the dark room and learning to develop film. Later she worked on the newspaper and the yearbook and became the photography editor. It’s how she met Ben; he was taking sports photographs for her.

“I think photography appealed to the logical side of my mind. I like landscapes, the macro perspective, and seeing interesting compositions and patterns.

But I also like taking photographs of people.”

It’s an interest Susie will devote more time to in the future—and just one of the talents we will miss after she goes.

Photos: Labeling lost laundry, 2013; Adirondack Morning Light

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 28

New Staff, 2014 Emilie Allen

Emilie Allen

Carly Dominik-Sobel

Communications Associate & Staff Writer A North Country native, Emilie is a writer with additional experience as an editor, artist, and media maker. Most recently, she worked with Sensate, an interdisciplinary online journal in experimental media based at Harvard University. Previously, Emilie was a college instructor and a wilderness trip leader in northern Ontario, where she paddled 400 miles of whitewater from Lac Mistassini, QC to the Cree community of Waskaganish on the Hudson Bay. Emilie earned her BA (philosophy) and BFA (fine art and art history) at Queen’s University, Kingston, ON; her MA (media studies) at Concordia University in Montreal; and her MFA (creative writing) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Currently Emilie is writing a book of linked short stories, Hedera & Héloïse, and soon hopes to attain both her doula certification and Italian citizenship. She also enjoys yoga, skiing, playing the fiddle/violin, and learning to skijor with her dog and best friend, Tennessee.

Carly Dominik-Sobel

Linda Ellsworth

Christine O’Loughlin

Farm Intern Born and raised in Ithaca, NY, Carly fell in love with the Adirondacks while attending the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid. She holds degrees in biology and sociology from the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. As a pre-med student, Carly traveled to Honduras to work at a medical clinic, where among other duties, she had the task of pulling teeth. Most recently, Carly was the coordinator of a therapeutic farming program in St. Louis, MO, that worked with the city’s homeless population. With a long-time interest in social justice, Carly discovered in St Louis a passion for sustainable agriculture. She has taken quickly to the operation of heavy machinery at NCS and also loves playing ice hockey, eating, and exploring new things.

Linda Ellsworth

Jacy Rine

Development Office, Operations, and Database Manager Originally from Clifton Park, NY, Linda is now a proud, 11-year resident of Lincoln Pond in Elizabethtown, NY. She discovered the Adirondacks through her husband, whose family owned one of Lincoln Pond’s original camps.

Linda has 25 years of experience in office

page 29

Organic Roots Summer 2014

administration and has spent the last 15 years in daycare management. Most recently, she worked at Adirondack Community Actions Program, Inc. as an after-school coordinator overseeing six programs in various Essex County school districts.

She currently chairs the Elizabethtown Grievance Board of Review, where she helps community members review and challenge their taxes. Linda holds a child development associate credential and a BA in human development and family relations from SUNY Empire State. Married with three children (Tammy, 28, Patrick, 21, and Kayla, 19), Linda is a talented photographer, artist, and woodworker who also loves to fish.

Christine O’Loughlin

Farm Intern Christine came to the Adirondacks in December 2013, having relocated from New Paltz, NY, to the historic Bark Eater Inn in Keene. At 17, she read This Common Ground by Scott Chaskey, a book that inspired her to pursue a life and career in organic farming. She attended SUNY New Paltz where she focused on women’s studies and environmental studies with a concentration in agriculture. She also helped run Tweefontem Herb Farm, a collective organization in New Paltz that educates the public on earth-conscious living and makes locally grown, herb-based products—from healing salves, handmade soap, lip balm, and room and body sprays to fresh teas, pesto, fire cider, garlic herb butter, and cooking spices, among others. Christine someday hopes to operate a goat and herb farm of her own. In the meantime, she enjoys rock climbing, hiking, and aerial silks in her free time.

Jacy Rine

Kitchen Staff Originally from northern Minnesota, Jacy has lived in the Lake Placid area for the past 15 years. Most recently, she worked at Lisa G’s restaurant—a favorite among locals—as both a line cook and baker. Jacy also worked for many years at Adirondack Yarns. She attended Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she studied sociology. Drawn to NCS and Treetops for our farm-to-table living, Jacy also enjoys knitting, reading, whole grain baking, walking, and snowboarding.

In Memoriam With profound sadness we share news of the tragic accidental deaths in March 2014 of Gabriel Mironov, 33, (NCS 93, CTT parent 13) and his son Oliver Mironov, 11, (CTT 13).

An entrepreneur and innovator in renewable energy, Gabriel founded in China a company that manufactured molds for wind turbine blades; more recently he established in Montreal a hydraulic system designed for the turbine blade molds. “Gabe came to NCS when he was nine,” his houseparent Selden West says. “He was, literally, a genius.

Everyone who knew him then remembers his passionate questioning and his equally passionate arguing. His

brain never rested. There was always a new project or an ‘improvement’ idea. At the same time, he was a typical little boy inside, goofy and extremely sweet-natured. Hock and I were lucky enough to be Gabriel’s houseparents for three of his four years. We were so happy when Oliver came to Treetops.”

In one short summer, Oliver embraced all that Treetops offers and values. He was known for his positive spirit, his curiosity and creativity, his kindness and compassion. Quick to offer a helping hand, Oliver saw the fun in community work; he was everyone’s best friend.

Peter Bunker (CTT 48, NCS 50), 76,

Marie Bernays (CTT staff 50s, CTT parent

64-68, CTT grandparent 94-02), 95, died March 1, 2014. Marie and her husband Peter, who died in 2009, both worked at Treetops in the early 1950s: Marie as Camp nurse and Peter as waterfront director. Marie attended Bryan Memorial Hospital Nursing School of Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, NE. She served in the Army Nursing Service in the Pacific in World War II and retired as a first lieutenant in 1946. After the war, she and Peter were married and in 1955 moved to Columbus, OH, where she lived until her move to Judson Park in 2010. Marie was a member of Covenant Presbyterian Church, active in the Sunday school and food pantry, and a volunteer with Camp Fire Girls and AFS. She is by survived by her children, Lynda Bernays (CTT 64-65), Sally Burgess (CTT 1968), Michael Bernays (CTT 1968), and Marx Lomoro, and her grandchildren.

(also known as Henry Alden Bunker III), longtime resident of Falls Church City, VA, died January 30, 2014. Peter earned his BA from the University of Rochester (NY) and his MS in physics from the University of Connecticut. A Renaissance man, Peter’s career reflected his eclectic interests: he was a camp counselor at Treetops; a certified farrier; a high school science teacher in St. Croix and physics instructor in the Virginia community college system; an engineer scientist; and entrepreneur and owner of a company that made tabletop mobiles. An avid reader, he also enjoyed horseback riding, woodworking, photography, and singing.

William Coperthwaite (NCS staff, late 1950s), 83, died in a single-car accident on November 26, 2013. A resident of Machiasport, Maine, William gained international acclaim as an architect, visionary social critic, homesteader, and author of the award-winning A Handmade Life. He was a graduate of Bowdoin College and earned a PhD in education from Harvard. Peter Forbes, a Vermont farmer and co-author of A Handmade Life writes: “William was a man who inspired many thousands by his life led close to

nature and in opposition to contemporary society… More than an architect, Mr. Coperthwaite embodied a philosophy that he called ‘democratic living,’ which was about enabling every human being to have agency and control over their lives in order to create together a better community.”

Stephen Pell Dechame (NCS 62), 66, died

suddenly October 23, 2013 at his family home, Le Petit Pavillion, in Ticonderoga, NY. The son of Stephanie Pell and Roger Dechame, Stephen shared his parents’ devotion to Fort Ticonderoga and served for most of his life as a trustee of the Fort.

Also dedicated to the fulfillment of social justice, Stephen touched uncounted lives through his work as a juvenile defender, guardian ad liten, and advocate for reform in the Massachusetts juvenile justice system. He is survived by his brother Robert Pell Dechame, his godchildren Mimi Krueger Rozek and Christopher Krueger, and beloved cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.

Charles H. Edmonston (CTT parent 5560, NCS parent 55-66, trustee 63-69), at just shy of 100, died December 2, 2013 at Danbury (CT) Hospital. Mr. Edmonston graduated from Princeton University in

continued on page 31 camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 30

In Memoriam

1935 and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1937. During World War II, he worked in military intelligence at the Pentagon, was discharged in 1946 with the rank of colonel, and awarded a citation for meritorious service. He then joined Riegel Textile Corp., where he worked for more than 30 years. He is survived by his beloved wife of 72 years, Elmina Tilden; three children Elmina Placek (CTT 55-56, NCS 58), Charles Edmonston (CTT 57-60, NCS 62) and Tilden Edmonston (NCS 66); and granddaughter Elspeth.

Hugh Fleischer (CTT staff 61-63), 75, died

October 9, 2013 in Anchorage, Alaska, surrounded by his loving and beloved family. Hugh practiced law in Anchorage for several decades, specializing in employment law (on behalf of plaintiffs only) and criminal defense. Previously, Hugh served in the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he earned special commendation for his work on voting rights and equal access to education, employment, and public accommodations. Hugh was famous for his huge tossed salads, love of good wine and a good party, his large book and music collections, and his pride and love for his children and grandchildren. He is survived by his wife and soul mate of 53 years, Lanie (CTT 49-50, staff 61-63); three children Robin Niemuth (Randy), Erin Fleischer, and Ian William Fleischer (Kathy); former son-in-law Mike Herzog; and five grandchildren Nora, Margot and Satchel Herzog and Owen and Theo Fleischer.

page 31

Victoria Kaufman Forest (NCS 58) died

August 4, 2013 in Dunwoody, Georgia, at 69. A loving wife and mother, she also had life-long accomplishments in journalism and tennis. Vicky was a wonderfully compassionate woman who never met a stranger. She is survived by her husband David Forrest; daughter and son-in-law Heather and Greg Mullinax; son and daughter-in-law Michael and Kathy Forrest; four grandchildren; and a sister, niece, and sister-in-law.

Ben Ladd (CTT 63-65), 61, died

October 19, 2013 after a tractor accident tending the land he loved in Upcountry Maui, Hawaii. A farmer and earthworker of 40 years, he accepted the risks of hard physical work and heavy machinery. His love of nature is evident in his photography, as was his creative, passionate, and energetic spirit. He is survived by his wife and partner of 40 years, Melanie Stephens; daughters Ariel Stephens-Ladd and Kiva Stephens-Ladd; mother Elizabeth Lee Fierro; and siblings Daniel Ladd (NCS 63, CTT 57-62), Adam Ladd (CTT 61-63), Lucinda (Reginald) Ladd-Hathorne (CTT 63-67), and Ami Ladd (NCS 70, CTT 65-67).

Kenelm Philip (CTT 38), 84, died March

13, 2014 at his home in Fairbanks, Alaska.

He was predeceased in 2010 by his wife of 52 years, Betty Anne Philip, and in 1986 by his only child Mary Van Ness Philip, at age 17. Ken earned his undergraduate degree and a doctorate in astronomy from Yale. He moved to Fairbanks in 1965 and established the Alaska Lepidoptera

Organic Roots Summer 2014

Survey. Over the years, Ken managed more than 600 volunteer collectors and amassed roughly 80,000 specimens.

Ken’s wide-ranging interests included photography, classical music, books, and computer programming. With his brother Davis he published articles on fractals.

Kathleen (Kane) Raynor (CTT 73, 75), 60,

passed away peacefully October 19, 2013 after a courageous and inspirational battle with cancer. With a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Russell Sage College in Troy, NY, Kathy enjoyed 20 years in pediatric nursing, followed by 15 years in hospital administration with Carolinas Healthcare System and Novant Health.

Kathy is survived by her husband of 37 years, Jeff Raynor; their children Cori Haden and Chris Raynor; grandchildren Hayley Haden and Henry Haden; and three siblings and their families.

Organic Roots Summer 2014 Editors Emilie Allen & Lisa Rowley Contributors Emilie Allen, John Culpepper, Karen Culpepper, Barbara Davis, Lisa Dillmann, Jill Gordon, Kimberly Corwin Gray, David Hochschartner, Susie Localio, Larry Robjent, Lisa Rowley

Photography Emilie Allen, Nancie Battaglia, Lisa Beck, Tom Clark, Larry Gibbons, Jill Gordon, Kimberly Corwin Gray, Francie Parker, Larry Robjent, Lisa Rowley, Susie Runyon, Susan Topper

Cover Photo Jill Gordon Layout / Design Aaron Hobson Printing Benchemark Printing, Inc.

News and Notes NCS ALUMNI/AE 1947 Piri Halasz “I just got my bathroom remodeled – it’s beautiful!”

1970 Cassia Levitt Dippo (also NCS staff 80-82, CTT staff 80) “I am teaching third grade in Salt Lake City as well as working at our family business, the Alta Lodge in Alta, Utah.

Both sons are doing well in California and Idaho. Great to see familiar faces and renew friendships at our NCS/CTT reunions every spring at our lodge in Alta.”

1970 Amelia Wood Silver “I’m happily ensconced in Pownal, Vermont working at Sunrise Family Resource Center. We run a high school for pregnant and parenting teens and work with families in crisis. After nine years of direct service in the field, (which means in houses and trailers), I have just started as development director for the agency. It’s a very exciting new job. I think of North Country every day still (after 43 years!) and those years still reverberate in my life. My daughter and I worked for CTT alum and fellow Buxton School pal Peter Shumlin’s (CTT 66-69) two gubernatorial campaigns—she’s got the activist/political bug too! And I had the great honor of going to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte as an alternate delegate in Vermont’s delegation. North Country pops up everywhere: not long ago I met a sheep farmer in Pawlet, VT, at a party. After talking for awhile it turned out he had taught at ‘a school no one’s ever heard of in the Adirondacks,’ to which I replied, ‘I went there! NCS!’ It was Peter Helmetag…Very cool stuff.

After my oldest daughter’s wedding next summer, I’m hoping to come visit you all up there. It’s time!”

1971 Charles Biddle “I’m living in South County, Rhode Island. I follow NCS daily on Facebook.

My son Charley is at Georgetown University; my daughter Kate will attend Washington University in St. Louis. If nearby, please come visit.”

1971 Tanaquil “Tania” Taubes “I am indebted to NCS for the social activist in me. I’ve been raising my son, Solomon, in the NCS spirit, the internet notwithstanding. When my son slips into that ‘lost-in-his-own-thoughts-I’m-toobusy-world,’ which our society calls, ‘Oh, he’s a teenager,’ I use my NCS compass and repeat: ‘Solomon, please do x, y & z (then, with emphasis): If not you? Who?’ For me NCS taught: Yes, you can help.”

1974 James Lindquist James founded and runs Red Sky restaurant in Southwest Harbor, Maine, with his wife Elizabeth. Red Sky was featured in the January/February 2014 issue of Bangor Metro magazine. James remembers night walking to the chicken coop for goose eggs to cook omelets.

1983 Tom Hughes (also CTT 84-85, CTT staff 89-94, NCS staff 92-93) “Una Loomis Hughes, born December 16, 2013 at 5:48 AM, 8 lbs. 20 inches.

Born under a full moon shining through the window, her name rhymes with Luna and evokes her grandmother Nancy Hughes and great-grandmother Natalie Loomis. Everyone is doing well!”

1984 Alex Delgado

“Our NCS family hiking in Guatemala in January 2014 (from right): Alex Delgado (84), Cecelia Delgado, Irene Delgado, and Alexia Delgado, who will be joining us at NCS in Fall 2014. Also hiking but not pictured are Isai Calderon (00) and Maria Calderon (02).

1993 Donald McKoy “I just want to let everybody know that I’m doing ok. I’m still living in North Carolina (Wilmington). I’m a proud father of two girls, Kamahra and Chi’Asia, ages 7 and 8. I would love to hear from anyone who attended NCS. NCS holds a special place in my heart.

What an experience. Class of 93: We Are NCS! Love each and every one of y’all.”

1995 Josh Rowan Our thanks to Josh, who this spring hosted 22 NCS seniors on his family’s schooner, Hindu, in Key West. http://sailschoonerhindu.com.

2002 Jon Hochschartner

Jon and Amanda Kane are happily engaged.They live with their three furry “children,” Max, Rosie and Teddy. Feel free to drop them a line at JonHoch3@ gmail.com. continued on page 33

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 32

News and Notes 2006 Seth Clare (also CTT 04-05) Seth graduated magna cum laude from the College of Charleston this spring. He is now doing an internship in Israel as assistant to the director of the language services department in the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

2009 Eli Clare (also CTT 2005) Eli recently transferred to Earlham College. current NCS families, including Mr. Yasuhiko Sotohama and Ms. Setsuko Egashira (back row), parents of Shinawi.

Also pictured are Shusei Hirotake (CTT 13) with his sister Mio (CTT 14) and their mother, Norie Komatsu.

2010 Zack Tashman

This spring, Director of Alumni Relations and Events Kimberly Corwin Gray (NCS 95) visited former NCS students and alums at Stoneleigh Burnham School and Northfield Mount Hermon. Back row, left to right: Kate Majewski (NCS 08-13), Ashley Miles (NCS 11), Hongqiao (Jessica) Li (NCS 13); front: Emily Majewski (NCS 0913).

Zack (far left) and other recent alums got together at the first Nordic prep school meet of the season, a 5K skate race, at Proctor Academy on January 8, 2014. Also pictured: Marcos Fernandez (NCS 12), Hyelom Love (NCS 13), and Lucy Hochschartner (NCS 13).

NCS STAFF Former farm intern Carrie Blackmore was honored recently as queen of Madison County (NY) hops. She and her husband Matt Whalen (CTT staff 09) own and operate Good Nature Brewing in Hamilton, NY, which produces handcrafted beers made with local ingredients and without artificial preservatives.

On a fall 2013 trip to Japan, Director of Admissions David Damico visited with

page 33

Gerald LaGrange Jr.

“I have had a long career in Supply Chain, but I miss teaching. Maybe something I’ll get back to in retirement in a few years. Best to Roger Loud, Don Rand, Dimitra, and all the team from the late 1970s.”

During Intersession, NCS English teacher and curriculum coordinator Carrie Niebanck was a member of a NYSAIS visiting team for a 10-year

Organic Roots Summer 2014

accreditation of St. Thomas Choir School in New York City.

Eliza Pillard (NCS staff 94-00) is a child psychiatric social worker in Burlington and Ken Spencer (NCS staff 94-00) is the technical director and lead stenographer of a cardiology practice.

Nick returned from a term in Australia to his junior year at Middlebury College; Eli has adventured to Colorado for his junior year in high school.

CTT FRIENDS Linda Bird Francke

Camper 49-50 “It’s been 65 years since I was at Treetops, but I still remember the hot, canvas smell of Tent #5, a horse named Goldie, playing mumblety-peg (toe, knee, chest, nut), going to sleep in my clothes so I’d be faster off the mark for barn chores, square dancing, learning to make a halter hitch, the huge safety pins for blanket rolls, sleeping in John’s Brook Lodge and in lean-tos, Van Houten chocolate bars...on and on. Every child should have that same wonderful experience. Treetops shaped my life.”

Gail and Robert Schumacher

CTT 56-97 staff, CTT parents 64-87 “During 2013, we moved to Concord, NH to be with our son Jay, his wife Sonya, and their two children Lindsey and Ian.”

News and Notes Russell Taylor

Camper 57, 59 “I am currently a leadership coach on the 777 program at Boeing. My son, Charlie Taylor (CTT 99), graduated from the Lawrence University Conservatory in 2010 and is engaged to marry Ellen Tatarsky next summer.”

NY) just outside New York with husband, two boys (17 and 20) and a big labradoodle. Working as an art historian, lecturing at MoMA, and writing. I think often about Treetops and the High Peaks. It was a long time ago, but the things I learned there are forever fresh in my mind and heart.”

Jennifer Ladd

Peggy Sand

Camper 60-64 “Enjoying living and working in Northampton, Massachusetts. Sad to say that cousin Ben Ladd, also a Treetops camper, died on October 19, 2013.

Bruce Hodes

Camper 62-63, staff 77 “Sienna came into our life seven weeks ago. Being a grandfather is blessed.

If I knew that Grandchildren were so amazing, I would have had them first. Come visit us in Oak Park near Chicago.”

Dr. Shiu-Kai Chin

Camper 64-66, staff 72-74 “I turned 60 in 2013 and still routinely hike and paddle in the central ADKs. This is my 28th year at Syracuse University as a professor. My research, teaching, and writing center on mathematically assuring the security and integrity of command-and-control for mission-critical computer systems.

Each day I am thankful for the lesson Treetops taught me, i.e., environmental integrity is the result of deliberate planning and action, and cannot be an afterthought.”

Adam Hewitt and Carol Hewitt

Camper 64, NCS 71, NCS staff 92-93 “We are still here at Camphill Soltane in Pennsylvania, working as houseparents and teachers. I’m also keeping a honeybee sanctuary and looking toward expanding the perennial bee flower gardens. Andreas (NCS 93, CTT staff 12) is studying Global Health at UW in Seattle, and Katya (CTT staff 12) is at WWU in Bellingham, WA. Joan Pachner

Camper 68-70 “I am living in Edgemont (Hartsdale,

Camper 71-74, CTT parent 07-11 “My son Max Kronstadt (CTT 07-11) became a 46er in 2013. He and Hunter Hartshorne (CTT 11) enjoyed a four-day Adirondack back packing trip in 2013 using the many skills they learned at Camp.”

Cindy Marvell (Friedberg)

Camper 77-80 “I finally moved, post-divorce, from the circus center to my previous neighborhood. From here I can hike, bike or walk. My son Theo absolutely loves the new house. We are both hoping for more time together. Had I not been a Treetops camper, I would not have learned to hike so well, and I wouldn’t have been a very good juggler, either.”

Hilary (Culverwell) Wilkinson

Camper 79-80, CTT staff 89-92, NCS staff 91-92 “I’m living in Bellingham, WA, where I run a small environmental consulting business—Veda Environmental—which focuses on marine conservation efforts on the Pacific coast. My husband (Scott) and I are in the middle of adopting kids through the state’s foster-to-adopt program. Glad I learned the importance of the Three Rs (rugged, resourceful and resilient) at CTT; they are coming in handy as we navigate the murky, frustrating waters of the state foster system!”

Sarah Adams Steinberg

Camper 83-86, staff 90-91 “My husband Peter and I welcomed a new baby boy on October 23, 2013. We are looking forward to the day when Charlie and Henry are full fledged campers, rather than just enthusiastic participants in Friends’ Weekend.”

Alberta Hemsley

CTT staff 86-90 “I’m now retired after 45 years of science teaching. Staying active playing my old instrument and learning a new one, working in politics, and my union.

Spending time with Jenny (CTT 89-90) in Tucson and two grandsons, 5 and almost 3, and visiting David (CTT 8590) in Seattle.

Mark Seltzer

Camper 91-93, staff 01 “After graduating from Vermont Law School in 2008, I am now living in Washington, DC, and work as an attorney advisor for the U.S. EPA. In my free time I work as national ski patroller at Liberty Mountain in Pennsylvania and enjoy running marathons and canoeing in the urban waters of DC. Email: mark@seltzer.org” Kai Xing

Camper 93-96 “Our first child, Konrad Alexander Xing, was born on October 24, 2013.

We are struggling to find time to sleep, but he is healthy and happy and that is all that matters. My wife and I are very happy, and I look forward to being able to send him to CTT—a place that meant a lot to me. I hope all is well with you. Please send warm regards to John, Karen, Tucker, Katie, and Kelli.”

Doralynn and Jeffrey Pines

CTT parents 95-03 “Our older daughter Giulia (CTT 9598) is living in Berlin, Germany; she just published a book on Berlin, and is about to publish another. Our younger daughter Abigail (CTT 99-03, staff 05), just finished her first semester at Cornell vet school.”

Barry Strongin & Laura Whitman

CTT parents 11-13 Theo Strongin (CTT 11-13) is a freshman at Stuyvesant High School in New York City.

camptreetops.org | northcountryschool.org

page 34

Non-Profit Organization US Postage PAID Albany, NY Permit #97

Unpack your bags for the weekend…

Join us for Friends’ Weekend - August 20-24, 2014

Register online at camptreetops.org/fw14 or northcountryschool.org/fw14 For details, contact Kimberly Corwin Gray | kcorwingray@ncstreetops.org or 518-837-5407