Kent Quarterly Summer 2013 by Kent School

Summer 2013

KENT Quarterly

KENT

CONTENTS 10

Quarterly

Volume XXIX.2 Summer 2013 Editor

Joan M. Beattie

Features

4 16

Class Notes Editor

Laura Martell Alumni and Development Editor

Marisa Scarnati Contributors

Marc Cloutier Adam Fischer Elaine Griffin Tonya Kalmes Jesse Klingebiel Stacy Langa Denny Mantegani Laura Martell Ben Nadire Liam Nadire ’15 Megan Sokolnicki Design and Production

Cheney & Company

The editors of the Kent Quarterly invite all readers—alumni, parents past and present, trustees, faculty, staff and students—to contribute to the magazine. We also welcome letters to the editor and look forward to your comments on articles and issues concerning the School as well as suggestions for future articles. The email address for letters to the editor is beattiej@kent-school.edu, and for class notes, alumni@kent-school.edu. Changes in address should be emailed to Laura Martell at Lmartel@kent-school.edu or mailed to her at Kent School, Box 2006, Kent, CT 06757. To reach the Alumni and Development office, please call 860-927-6230.

Prize Day 2013

SEEK: A Successful Implementation

Flat Water Tuesday: An Excerpt

Eulogy for Melvin Young

Building Plans

Kent in Alaska

Departments

From the Headmaster

Between the Hills and River Shore

Alumni Council News

Alumni and Development News

Class Notes

Announcements

In Memoriam

... Kent School adheres to a longstanding policy of admitting students of any race, color, creed, religion, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan program and other school administered programs.

On the front cover: SEEK3 visited the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association in Kent. Photo by Liam Nadire ’15

From the Headmaster

Housatonic End of Autumn by Bjorn Runquist (Read more about the painting on page 9.)

A Useful Education WE PAUSE FOR A QUIET MOMENT before the

Prize Day proceedings begin here in St. Joseph’s Chapel in the presence of our families and friends. In the presence of God. Just to gather our thoughts and reflect, one more time, on this marvelous gift in our lives: a useful education. To say thank you to one another. Your parents and teachers all of us are filled with pride in your accomplishments, in what you have become. And we are filled with hope and confidence in what you will become. Today we celebrate present accomplishments, congratulate you on your college acceptances and choices for the coming years, and contemplate what lies ahead… beyond college. You know better than anyone this Day didn’t happen by accident. It started with a dream of yours. Then came the sacrifice by your families of letting you go off at a young age more or less on your own to pursue your education in some cases halfway around the world. Then the joy and pain of learning and growing up with the expert guidance and compassionate care of the incredible Kent faculty and staff. All in this beautiful community inspired by the teaching and example of Jesus Christ and guided by the timeless motto of our Founder Fr. Sill: Simplicity of Life, Directness of Purpose, and Self-Reliance.

You have done and are doing marvelous things... You pursued your interest in sustainable agriculture by working in Urban Oaks, an organic farm in Hartford that offers triple value to families using food stamps. Though a volunteer, you were sometimes paid in vegetables. You competed in the CanAmMex Regatta and won two gold medals and set a course record. You were awarded a letter of commendation from the mayor of your hometown, Incheon, for outstanding contribution to a Model U.N. Conference there. You sent for your cello from home in order to resume playing in the Kent School Orchestra. Coming from Vietnam, you rapidly improved your English in one year, going from Intermediate ESL Literature into regular English and AP Modern European History. You were president of the Adopt-a-Grandparent Club, visiting the elderly at Morningstar just over the bridge. You are an Eagle Scout and you built a drainage system for the church’s day care center. You worked in the Marshall Islands in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will be assigned to the U.N. this summer while studying at Columbia. You spent two summers working in the oil fields of Texas. You will pursue English studies at the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford. One in five of you were consistently on the High Honor SUMMER 2013

Roll. Seventeen of you were elected to Cum Laude, the largest number in memory. Eleven of you submitted AP Studio Art Portfolios. Five of our crews came home with medals from the New England Rowing Championships, while the girls third boat, half a length down with 200 meters to go, sprinted their way to a gold medal. You defeated the British National Football Team in Dublin. You are a Scholar Athlete Award Recipient from the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. You successfully defended the New England swimming and diving championship title. In Girls Ice Hockey you yourself scored three goals in 1 minute and 14 seconds. You took Boys Hockey to the New England Championship finals. You will row on the Junior National Rowing Team for the fourth consecutive summer. You are a black belt in martial arts. With the GSA you took a stand against intolerance. A Volunteer Fire Cadet, you flew a plane solo at age 16; you are headed for ROTC. You are a driver for your family so your sister can go to school and your cousins can get to work. You will go to Oklahoma next month to work with Habitat for Humanity for those affected by the devastating tornado. You spent spring break helping children with Down syndrome. You led the student body with honesty, integrity and with a sincere passion to make Kent a better place. You aspire to be a pediatrician, a diplomat, a chemist, an entrepreneur. You have taught the faculty children to dance. You have come a long way, from the poorest village in one of the poorest countries in the world. This has been an extraordinary year in college acceptances and choices. You are on your way to the finest colleges and universities coast to coast in this nation and abroad. I know you had to think through your decisions, since you each were accepted at numerous colleges. And even though it was more competitive than ever, you did better than ever! Those colleges will be fortunate to have you in their student body, as Kent has been. In the words of Ms. Diana Yammin, Assistant Head of School and Director of Studies, “All in all, this has been a most successful year for the Class of 2013.” You are on the path to attaining what a good society requires: citizens who are steeped in history, literature, languages, culture, scientific and mathematical ideas. You are curious, independent minded, empathetic. As one of our Chinese students said, “I came 2

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to Kent and learned to think freely.” But knowledge in itself will not be enough. I read the other day that: “The world doesn’t care anymore what you know; all it cares is what you can do with what you know.” (That was Harvard education professor Tony Wagner quoted in the New York Times.). Hyperbole perhaps, but we get the point. And it is not a new thought: the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, and the American Century (of our parents and grandparents) all resulted from the application of knowledge to life’s challenges: Advances in the application of knowledge added value to the quality of life, improved health and longevity; and despite our societal woes, except in the imagination, no one wants to go back in time. No matter what else we do, we have to add value, if we can. That idea of balancing ideals and practical things reminds me of an old New Yorker cartoon: Two passengers on the Mayflower are standing on the deck as Plymouth Rock comes into view off the bow. One says to the other: “My short-term goal is religious freedom. My long-term goal is to go into real estate.” We all have to work at finding balance in our lives, between present and future concerns; between time alone and time with others; between self-interest and public interest; between making a living and doing good. I know you understand what I mean. A few things to keep in mind. It is a great life... but it can be a hard life. We live in an unpredictable and dangerous world. In just one year: the heart-wrenching devastation of Sandy, Newtown, Boston, Oklahoma… We must prepare, protect, defend and constantly add value. We must all serve in one way or another. Our society has faced monumental challenges before. You’ve all heard me tell the story of Melvin Young. Every student who comes to Kent passes through the Melvin Young Room in Admissions in Old Main. The room was named for a young man who came to Kent from England in 1930, and graduated in 1932. While at Kent, his roommate Ed Rawson ’32 (now 98 years old) invited Melvin home to Sunday lunch at his family’s farmhouse on Skiff Mountain (that farm later became Kent School for Girls and is now Marvelwood School). There Melvin met Ed’s older sister, Priscilla, and later on, after finishing at Trinity College Oxford, Melvin came back to Kent to marry Priscilla, in this Chapel, with then Headmaster Fr. Chalmers officiating. Then the couple returned to England to start their

lives together. Melvin joined the RAF and only a few months later was training for the top secret Operation Chastise. That became the famous daring nighttime Dambusters Raid which took place seventy years ago last month that delivered the “bouncing bomb” that took out a major dam in the Ruhr Valley, effectively slowing down the Nazi industrial war machine. Melvin piloted that plane. On the return trip his plane was shot down over Holland and he and his crew were lost over the North Sea. Melvin Young, Kent ’32. I mention this just as a reminder that we as a society have stood up to challenges before and whenever necessary have turned back the tide of tyranny in the defense of freedom and human dignity. Looking ahead: There is no shortage of grand challenges in our time from clean water to solar energy to affordable health care for all as Prof. Wesley Harris, Associate Provost of MIT, laid out for us in the Pre-Engineering lecture last fall. At the top of my list of ways to add value is the education of girls and women. Not only are girls and women half the population, but eventually they largely raise the other half. We cannot afford to neglect opportunities for girls on this or any continent. And not just their education, but also their development as leaders in all human endeavors. Making education affordable: this is a task for our time. Your Class of 2013 Scholarship Fund is the largest gift of its kind in Kent history. It will be directed to the School’s highest priority, endowing financial aid providing scholarships to make a Kent education accessible and affordable. Thank you, members of the Class, for being out in front in recognizing this urgent need in these challenging times! As you and your parents know better than anyone, economic realities are putting more and more pressure on individuals and families seeking quality private education. The sacrifices your parents and those who came here before you are making for you are more challenging today than ever before. Thank you, Parents! And yes, in the years ahead, the School, your alma mater, will be asking you again and again to help provide funding for those who come after you, especially qualified girls and boys who cannot otherwise afford to attend. Our nation’s commitment to equal opportunity and our School’s founding principles are in the balance. Kent was founded for students from families “from all

walks of life.” We must pay attention to this charter or risk everything. So, when the School calls on you as the years go by, remember there is a fine boy or girl like you somewhere waiting for the opportunity to go to Kent. This is a Day of Pride and a Day of Love. We are all so proud of you. We all love you. Kent will never forget 2013. And you... well, it’s there in the last line of the School Song: “Remember still thy dawn at Kent, ’til dawn and darkness are no more.” Kent will be with you, and you with Kent. Robert S. Hillyer ’13, Kent’s Pulitzer prizewinning poet who wrote the words to the School Song, also captured this moment today in these lines from half a century ago: Compared to the present days the school was poor, But the essential spirit was the same; The nucleus of virtues that endure Foretold what affluently Kent became: The Library, the shrine of literature, The Chapel, the shrine of sacramental flame, Were scarcely more than sheds, but faith and learning Though humbly housed were no less brightly burning. Blest was the school where so much brightness shone From frugal windows in that simple place. Blest is the school that grows as Kent has grown Without diminishment of zeal or grace. Truth does not weaken when more widely sown, Nor vision become dim in ampler space; For every hill we climb, a higher hill Reveals unfolding vistas further still. Well done, Class of 2013! Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. God bless you! Richardson W. Schell ’69 Headmaster and Rector

SUMMER 2013

Angus McPhail, Warden of Radley College, was the Prize Day speaker.

Prize Day 2013 Radley College, founded in 1847, is one of the most distinguished schools in the United Kingdom. The school, located in the village of Radley in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, has enjoyed a trans-Atlantic relationship with Kent School since the summer of 1927, when, following Kent’s debut at Henley Royal Regatta, the indefatigable Fr. Sill challenged Radley to a crew race on the Thames. The prize, a silver cup, given by the Radley masters, went to Kent that day. Later that year in December, ten boys and two dons from Radley visited Kent School, where the Radleian crew rowed with Kent on the Housatonic, played “breath-taking” ice hockey games, and stayed with Kent boys and their families for the holidays. Radley has sent crews to Kent, most recently in 1981, 1983 and 1985, and over the years, several Radley and Kent boys have participated in a school-year exchange program. In 1927, Fr. Sill hoped that the crew race would initiate a Kent-Radley relationship, which would, in turn, foster Anglo-American friendship on a wider scale, through young people.

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In that spirit, on Kent School’s 107th Prize Day, we welcome Angus McPhail, Warden of Radley College, nearly 86 years after the two schools’ first meeting on the River Thames. Angus McPhail was educated at Abingdon School and read PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at University College, Oxford, and played on the cricket team. Following a four-year career in the Overseas Department of the Bank of England, Angus began a career in education, with appointments as Assistant Master at Glenalmond College; Head of Economics and Housemaster at Sedbergh School; and Headmaster at Strathallan School in Scotland, before being named Warden at Radley College in the year 2000. As he retires from his position as Warden in the summer of 2014, Mr. McPhail hopes to pursue an MLitt in History at University of St Andrews and serve as a trustee of Yale University Press in London. He and his wife, Liz, have three children: Tom, Will and Flora. It gives me great pleasure to welcome and present our Kent School Prize Day 2013 speaker: Angus McPhail.

Kent

Two reasons to be nervous: the woman with the handbag and Margaret Thatcher at my Prize Giving. Angus McPhail AND IF THAT SEEMS A LONG TIME AGO , bear

in mind that the link between my school, Radley College, and Kent pre-dates it by 46 years. It was 1927 when Father Sill brought the Kent crew over to Henley and, by way of relaxation, defeated the Radley VIII on our water very comfortably. A group of ten Radleians visited Kent the following year and a precious link was established. As the editor of our school magazine later wrote, “The success of the whole plan, started by Father Sill, lies in the fact that the American nation knows and preaches what the word hospitality really means,” and in just 24 hours at Kent my wife and I have experienced just that. It was Father Sill’s determination to build bonds between our two countries, bonds developed through the hospitality he championed. As he said to British visitors, “When you think of America, don’t think of democracy, or our common heritage, but about the homes where you have sat at the fireside and been happy.” Both my sons were lucky enough to visit the States as members of the British Independent Schools golf team, the Swifts, and it was the hospitality they received, as much as the courses they played, that made the tours so memorable. So with all that history and having enjoyed such a wonderful welcome, it is a real privilege to be a part of this very special day at Kent, and it is my sincere hope that links between our schools will flourish in the years ahead. Given the pace of change, it should be no surprise that we live in a world that is very different from both the inter-war years (when the Kent crew came over to Radley) and the 1970s when Margaret Thatcher was speaking at my Prize Giving. Whilst there are encouraging economic signs in America, the mood the world over in 2013 remains dominated by enormous anxiety: concerns about debt and economic recovery; a belief

that we have lost our moral compass; worries about a world in which terrorism remains an ever-present danger; and the real ecological concerns about the future of our planet. The young today can, with some justification, say that their parents’ generation has broken the contract that Edmund Burke described as “a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are yet to be born.” I am sure that all the parents here today think much about that contract. You will have faced the ageold question of how best to support a son or daughter into adulthood: the extent to which you give them their heads, or try to direct them; the extent to which you protect them from possible threats, or support the freedoms that always involve uncertainty. With that in mind, I asked the Headmaster to print the poem “Walking Away” in your programme. You may know his son Daniel better, but Cecil Day Lewis, a former Poet Laureate, was a parent and a schoolmaster before he was a full-time poet, and I would be surprised if his beautiful poem did not strike a chord amongst parents and teachers here. A Saturday early in what we like to call autumn… father watching his son’s football match… the slight awkwardness on both sides… the “half-fledged thing set free”… The uncertainty and emotion caught in the hesitance of the son, the fact that the parting still “gnaws” at the poet’s mind. And then the message it has for us all parents and teachers: Selfhood begins with a walking away And love is proved in the letting go. It was true for Day Lewis writing almost fifty years ago and it is true for us today. As parents we take delight in the growth in awareness and independence of our children, but the pride and pleasure is tempered with a sense of loss. No longer dependent as SUMMER 2013

Kent Henley crew of 1927 with the crew of Radley School

they were, perhaps not so trusting of the wisdom of what we say, but ours. The letting go is not an indication of detached lack of interest, but, paradoxically, of support and love. The letting go is part of the encouragement to the young to become their own people. As the poet says, the example has been set by the supreme love of God in letting his only son die for us; extraordinary love for us shown in that selfless act. If that poignant statement about loss that is actually a celebration of giving, is appropriate to all of us as parents, then it is another of the poet’s observations that seems particularly important for those leaving Kent today. Here are the relevant lines: That hesitant figure, eddying away Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem, Has something I never quite grasp to convey About nature’s give-and-take the small, the scorching Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay. We live in a world that is less and less prepared to accept, or cope with, the “small and scorching ordeals” which, as Day Lewis says, are what make us wiser and better people. This has not always been the case. Writing at the time of the death of our Queen Mother at the age of 101 in 2002, the columnist Libby Purves had this to say about her generation: “One frequent mark of that wartime generation is that they are not bored. They do not look for fantasy escape, they see no point in rush and they regard adrenalin as mainly useful in war and sport. They dislike the new culture of victimhood, litigation and constant formulaic appraisal, preferring instead to operate on trust and deal with people they know. They regard adversity as inevitable, to be greeted with a shrug.” The point that Libby Purves makes is an important one. The last thing anyone wants is for those of you leaving Kent today to have to be schooled in the awfulness of war, but it is right to expect you to realise quite how fortunate you are and to appreciate that 6

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things are actually remarkably good. It is paradoxical that despite all the entertainment we have and seek there is, sadly, a central sense of boredom amongst many today. Despite all the hullabaloo, the constant communication, the quest for personal fulfilment and celebrity, the strident focus on rights, many are perhaps further away from the happiness and fulfilment that we seek. The contrast with the war generation is evident. I suppose one of my hopes, therefore, is that you will be stoical when faced by adversity in whatever form it takes: the unkindness of others, but also the pressures of university, the challenge of finding a job, the difficulties of finding a balance between the demands of work and family life. Believe me, as work increases so the things most likely to ensure your resilience and happiness friends, good health, an appreciation of the spiritual in our lives can easily be marginalised. Don’t let this happen. Let me finish with some wonderful words that encapsulate this. Having settled in America in 1937, Alistair Cooke entertained British listeners for nearly 60 years with his weekly “Letter from America.” Writing at the time of another crisis in the Middle East— Britain’s final imperial reflex in Suez in 1956—he had this to say about what is important in life: “When the nations rage furiously together we should not be misled into thinking that the world’s anxieties, however grave, are the fundamental things in life and all else is a bauble... we should not put off those things for which we were designed in the first place... the opportunity to do good work, to fall in love, to enjoy friends, to sit under trees, to read, to hit a ball and bounce the baby.” There is an echo of the words of your remarkable Founder that I quoted earlier: “Think about the homes where you have sat at the fireside and been happy.” I hope that Kent, in amongst all the work and the endless advice, has opened your eyes to this, and that in the years ahead “the opportunity to do good work, to fall in love, to enjoy friends, to sit under trees, to read, to hit a ball and bounce the baby” comes your way.

Trustee Helen Pardoe presented the First Class Prize to Stephanie Morales.

Jenna Lynch, chair of the Art Department, presented the Art Prize to Cheng En (Ken) Yeh while the other recipient, Lin (Linda) Zuo looked on.

Director of Athletics Todd Marble presented Pater’s Mug to Connor Mitchell.

Science Department chair and Master of the Guild, Jesse Klingebiel, presented the Louis Talcott Stone ’33 Guild Bowl to Henry Brefka.

John Hinman, English Department chair, presented the Robert S. Hillyer ’13 English Prize to Stefany Gutu.

Waring Partridge ’61, president of the Board of Trustees, presented the Columbia Cup to Brian Robey. Headmaster Schell presented the Headmaster’s Prize to 2013 Senior Prefect Cristina Lima.

Dr. Greene presented the Lawrence Rose ’19 Theology Prize to Henry Brefka. Stephanie Morales also received this prize.

Science Department member Cortney Tetrault presented the Class of ’31 Bowl to Laura Hamilton.

Headmaster Schell presented the Headmaster’s Cup to 2013 Senior Prefect Charles Fennell.

SUMMER 2013

Lisa Brody CUM LAUDE SOCIETY INDUCTEES Class of 2013 Inducted Prize Day 2012 Stefany Gutu Peter Moon Inducted April 2013 Tiffany Ang Kelsey Bodden Karen Chen Katherine Dembinski Tanner Jankins Harrison Lee Ching Kiu (Matthew) Leung Hunter White Benjamin Yetarian Lin (Linda) Zuo Inducted Prize Day 2013 Xinye (Iris) Chen Eleanor Hilton Brian Robey Thao Vu Class of 2014 Inducted Prize Day 2013 Sarah Cho Christ Dineff Karahm (Sam) Kim Daichun (Lily) Lin Faculty Lisa Brody Honorary Angus McPhail

APPOINTED TO THE FACULTY in 1992, the latest faculty member inductee to the Cum Laude Society earned a bachelor of arts in fine arts and architecture, cum laude, with distinction in architecture and fine arts, from the University of Pennsylvania; a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and a grades K through 12 art teacher certification in the state of Connecticut through Wesleyan University. A past holder of the Arthur Collins ’48 Teaching Chair in Art and Architecture, she teaches courses in painting, drawing, architecture and art survey, and advises the student literary and arts magazine, The Cauldron. To quote from an earlier citation, “As an accomplished painter, the quiet and spiritual person we know is also a bold adventurer and risk-taker. Painting is among the most hazardous of all professions. As Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary records, painting is ‘the art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critics.’” And as we all know, too, she does not limit herself simply to “protecting flat surfaces from the weather.” She has studied and created as an illustrator, a sculptor, a printmaker, a weaver, a graphic designer and a studio artist, and her works appear in more than twenty collections throughout the United States.

Members of the Cum Laude Society elected on Prize Day 2012 and in April 2013.

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Over the past twenty years at Kent School, Ms. Brody has encouraged and nurtured, with her singular, light-handed touch, the artistic creativity of hundreds of student artists and their works in architecture, painting and drawing. Toward her students, she is intuitive and responsive; toward her colleagues, she is supportive; and for other artists, she is an inspiration. She enjoys travel, opera, reading, and art from a wide range of historic periods. In fine, she is an artist who loves beautiful things and through that love, in turn, creates beautiful things herself, and nurtures the creation of beautiful things by her students, thereby enhancing the lives of all within the Kent School community. It is with great pleasure, admiration and gratitude that I announce the Prize Day 2013 Cum Laude Society’s newest faculty member inductee is Lisa Brody.

New members of the Cum Laude Society from the Class of 2013 and the Class of 2014.

Up the Housie January Two beautiful paintings by Bjorn Runquist (above and page 1) now hang in Hoerle Hall, thanks to the generosity of Lynn Doe Shipway ’66, Beau Genovese and Tom Cabelka, friends of Kent. Their gifts were made in honor of Christ Dineff ’14.

Bjorn W. Runquist HAVING EARNED A B.A. AT COLGATE, Bjorn

Runquist went on to earn an M.A., with distinction, from Kings College, University of London, in Romance Languages and Literature. Bjorn is among a select group at the School, having been appointed to the faculty here not once, but twice, as a member of the Foreign Languages Department. In 1977, during his first year at the School on the Hill campus, when he expressed surprise about his teaching load (four courses, five sections—with his wife, Anne, even helping to correct French 1 homework!) and coaching assignments (three interscholastic sports), Brud Humphreys replied, “Didn’t you get my letter?” From 1981 to 1993, Bjorn served as the head of the French section at Choate-Rosemary Hall, where he held the Frank C. Wheeler Chair for Excellence in Teaching, taught all levels of French (including AP Language and AP Literature) and served on the AP test development committee from 1988 to 1991.

Bjorn’s desire for a smaller school and a more close-knit environment for his growing family led him to seek his second appointment here at the School, beginning in 1993, where, once again, he taught—and very much enjoyed—all levels of French instruction and his tennis and squash coaching assignments. He was appointed department chairman in 1999 and is a past holder of The Harlan and Ria Newell ’36 Teaching Chair in Modern Languages. As a colleague, department chair, teacher and advisor, Bjorn has served as an outstanding mentor to new teachers, a light hand in allowing his department members the flexibility and space to teach as they can do most effectively, and as a wonderful, wise sage in offering advice and promoting conversation and interaction in the area of French language, but so much more, too, including literature, philosophy, culture, food and travel. Young and old, many are the beneficiaries of his time spent as a font of learning and discussion in these areas.

Headmaster Dick Schell congratulated Bjorn Runquist on the occasion of his retirement.

SUMMER 2013

A Successful Implementation

Summer Educational Experience at Kent (SEEK) In the summer of 2012, Kent School implemented the Summer Educational Experience at Kent (SEEK) under the supervision of Dr. Ben Nadire, who is the director of the Wentz Pre-Engineering program. During its pilot year, SEEK offered two programs designed to give high school students, including those who will be beginning ninth grade, the chance to experience engineering education and entrepreneurship. The program was held in partnership with professionals from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. This year, SEEK3: Grand Challenges for Global Development was held in conjunction with Harvardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kennedy School. SEEK provides an applied learning environment.

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The participants shape their individual learning by participating in design, discovery, research, collaborative work, creative problem-solving, decision making and active experimentation. The students end the week by presenting their work. Each SEEK program features keynote speakers and field trips, and it engages Kent alumni and other professionals, thereby appealing to all learning styles. In the summer of 2014, SEEK will expand into another area: Public Health Education.

SEEK1 (Pre-Engineering) The Wentz Pre-Engineering program, now in its sixth year, added SEEK1 to its framework to continue its ongoing effort to strengthen STEM education at Kent. This is done by raising awareness and interest in engineering and by identifying students with the potential to succeed in engineering-related studies. The Wentz Pre-Engineering program is developed around a Pre-E Certificate. This certificate is given to those students who fulfill four requirements: A) Pre-E course work; B) extracurricular activities, such as the FIRST or VEX robotics competition; C) summer programs; D) attending guest lectures and field trips. Kent School also awards a Judith B. and Howard B. Wentz Jr. College Scholarship Prize in Pre-Engi-

neering, which recognizes the superlative academic achievement of motivated students who show a command of STEM fields, have shown a strong commitment to pursuing Pre-Engineering studies while at Kent, and intend to major in engineering while in college. The recipient is selected by the faculty on the basis of curricular and extracurricular accomplishments related to the completion of Kent’s Pre-Engineering Certificate. The cornerstone of SEEK1 is student involvement in hands-on learning. SEEK1 introduces prototyping (3D color printing), manufacturing and renewable energy, and ends its program with a VEX Robotics competition on an official VEX Robotics Competition field. “Needless to say, Elizabeth’s experience at SEEK was truly life-changing… I do know that she has been more engaged in the activities at SEEK than she has been in the past two years. It’s refreshing to see her so passionate about what she’s learning. For that, I thank you profusely. If Elizabeth becomes an engineer, it is because of the amazing introduction she had to engineering through the SEEK program.” —From Tamara Stepton, parent of SEEK1 participant “Thank you for the wonderful week! I really enjoyed every part of it.” —Adam Davenport ’15 “Thank you for running such a great SEEK program. I really enjoyed the renewable energy part, and I also

SEEK participants gathered in front of the Science Building. All SEEK photos by Liam Nadire ’15

SUMMER 2013

SEEK3 (Grand Challenges for Global Development) Top left: Russ Marvin’s (P’17) keynote speech for both SEEK1 and SEEK2 on engineering and entrepreneurship. Top right: End of the SEEK1 team presentation for renewable energy and robotics. Bottom left: SEEK3 at the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association in Kent. Bottom right: Mr. Seye, Dr. Sujata Bhatia, Dr. Nadire, Professor Calestous Juma and Father Schell.

liked learning about the VEX robots and how they worked. I thought that SEEK was a great extension of school, and that it made for a great transition phase into summer. Thanks again.” —Adam Jolly ’15

SEEK2 (Entrepreneurship) Wharton Professor Keith Weigelt, the coordinator of the Field Application Project (FAP), and FAP Associate Director Stacy Franks run the SEEK2 program, where students delve into the creative world of entrepreneurship and explore innovative thinking while working in small groups. Topics covered include business plan ideas, competitive environments, sales and marketing, pricing strategies, operations & human resource management, and budgeting and accounting. This year, SEEK2 added another component to its five-day intensive program, a BOX simulation of “how to start a business,” run by Team Business Inc.

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In this session, which was ably coordinated by Kent School Dean Pape Seye, students learned how to leverage the power of engineering to solve global economic challenges. This session included themes selected from, but not limited to, Engineering in Economic History, Health and Nutrition, Energy and Water, and Education Technology. The program was under the leadership of Professor Calestous Juma, Director of the Science, Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School, and he was assisted by Dr. Sujata Bhatia, the Assistant Director for Undergraduate Studies in Biomedical Engineering and the Assistant Dean at Harvard Summer School. Also contributing to SEEK3 were four students from Harvard University and MIT, Sugarlabs, One Laptop per Child Foundation, members of the Kent faculty, and Dr. David Mueller, Kent School Class of 1963. Dr. Ben Nadire, Director of Pre-Engineering

Preparing the Youth to Solve Global Grand Challenges

Vex robotics final team competition (SEEK1) sac attack game

Calestous Juma IN A BOLD MOVE, the U.K. government has

announced the creation of a £1 million prize for a new “grand innovation challenge.” According to Prime Minister David Cameron, the award would go to the “next penicillin” or a plane that could fly carbon-neutral across the Atlantic. This effort will complement the £1 million Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. The inaugural prize was awarded to the inventors of the Internet and World Wide Web in London on June 25, 2013. The prize will not only recognize those who come up with outstanding ideas, but it will also serve as a source of inspiration for young people. Getting the youth to focus their creative energies on solving the world’s pressing challenges needs to start early, especially in high schools. Indeed, high schools have started to explore how to prepare their students for the task. For example, Kent

School has launched the Summer Educational Experience at Kent (SEEK) to prepare students to tackle the problems outlined by the Grand Challenges for Engineering report prepared by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. The one-week program on Grand Challenges for Development was organized in conjunction with the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School and involved students from Kent School, Middlesex School (Massachusetts) and Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School (New York). The program involved faculty, speakers and student mentors from Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), MIT, Boston University and Sugar Labs Foundation. In addition to Kent faculty, students also benefited from the School’s alumni who SUMMER 2013

Above left: SEEK students visited the Emergency Room at Sharon Hospital. Right: SEEK students at the fuel cell plant operated by AMERESCO

shared their lifelong experiences in solving engineering challenges. In her keynote, Dr. Sujata Bhatia from SEAS stressed the role of engineers in solving societal challenges in fields such as sustainability (solar power, fusion energy, carbon sequestration and nitrogen cycle); human well-being (clean water, infrastructure, health, medicines and the human mind); security (nuclear terror and cyber-security); and learning and discovery (virtual reality, personalized learning and tools for scientific discovery). Based on the list derived from the NAE report, students decided among themselves which challenges to address. They broke into four working groups and decided to address four challenges: clean energy for rural areas; water desalination; personalized learning; and reverse innovation. The energy working group used rural China as a reference point and proposed the use of biomass and wind energy as a way to power rural development. The group was motivated by the view that readily accessible renewable energy is essential for promoting economic development in rural China and in other poor regions around the world. Motivated by similar societal concerns, the second working group focused on ways of providing clean water to coastal populations around the world through desalination. The group sought to address the energy needs for desalination by tapping into tidal power and other renewable energy sources. In response to the lack of access to technical education in poor regions around the world, the third group

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worked on ideas that leverage emerging low-cost technologies for personalized education. The group explores the potential of deploying technologies such as Raspberry Pi, BRCK and others. The Raspberry Pi is a $35 desktop computer, with similar computing capability to a smartphone. It can fit in oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hand and requires almost no maintenance. The BRCK is a device that allows for Internet connectivity in regions where cellular connectivity is weak or cannot be accessed by normal devices. In a notable departure from the standard grand challenges list, the fourth group chose to develop the idea of â&#x20AC;&#x153;reverse innovation,â&#x20AC;? a term that has been used by the CEO of GE, Jeffrey Immelt, and popularized in a namesake book by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble. The focus of the group was to find a way to spread prosperity in emerging economies by globalizing innovation. The program was conducted through lectures, field visits, discussions and hands-on activities. Many of the students had already taken one-week programs on pre-engineering and entrepreneurship at Kent that provided design and commercialization principles as part of the Summer Educational Experience at Kent. The lectures covered themes such as engineering in economic history, engineering for better health, engineering for clean energy and engineering education. Students visited the agricultural and mining museum of the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association, the Emergency Room of Sharon Hospital, and a fuel cell plant operated by AMERESCO in Middletown, Connecticut.

The focus of the visits was to understand the role of engineering in solving societal challenges. At the agricultural museum, students were able to explore the role of engineering in agricultural transformation and its links with industrial revolutions around the world. At the hospital, students received firsthand information on how advances in medical engineering have helped to improve human health. The fuel cell plant was an opportunity for students to explore the linkages between scientific principles and engineering design. The students benefited from mentoring by undergraduate and graduate students from Harvard, MIT, and Boston University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. Mentors spent long hours helping the students to refine their ideas and sharing experiences as well as providing guidance on college life. In addition to the mentors, the students also benefited from hearing from Kent alumni. Dr. David Mueller ’63 shared his life experiences from Kent to his graduate days at MIT and as a senior manager at Chevron. Dr. Mueller’s experience spans several decades of work in countries such as Brazil, China, France, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Thailand. He stressed the importance of continuous improvement. “Things do not have to be bad to make them better,” he advised the students. He urged the students to find good role models and mentors. “School ends but learning continues,” he said. In keeping with Dr. Mueller’s advice on the value of communication skills, the students presented their

initial ideas for feedback. They were asked to improve on them based on new information each day. The students also received introductory lessons in programming from Walter Bender of Sugar Labs. Mr. Bender emphasized the difference between “education” and “learning.” He noted that the best learning opportunities are associated with solving practical problems. He challenged conventional views of “carrots and sticks” as a way to motivate the youth to address global challenges. Instead, he said there is emerging evidence to support the view that the best incentives are autonomy, mastery and purpose. By the end of the week the groups had outlined their own challenges, offered solutions, and identified their economic, social, political, cultural and ethical aspects. They also benefited from feedback from other students as well as Kent teachers, mentors and the visiting faculty and speakers. Bringing the task of global grand challenges to high schools is an important way to engage the youth and enrich their educational experiences. This can help the global community avoid George Bernard Shaw’s lingering worry that “Youth is wasted on the young.” Calestous Juma is Professor of the Practice of International Development and Faculty Chair of Innovation for Economic Development Program at Harvard Kennedy School. He is a member of the judging panel of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.

Students worked with mentors from Harvard and MIT with computers that are part of the One Laptop per Child program.

Twitter @calestous

SUMMER 2013

KENT QUARTERLY

Excerpt from the novel Flat Water Tuesday, by Ron Irwin (1988)

In this section of the novel, Rob Carrey, the main character of Flat Water Tuesday, meets the Fenton School Boat Club’s team captain while out sculling in front of the school. They race unaware that Charles Channing, the rowing coach, is watching. “Smooth out, Robby.” Connor’s voice sounded controlled and patient, the voice of someone out to test me. I had been avoiding him ever since the episode with Perry and was taken aback and immediately irritated to find him on the water. He sat hunched in his own flat, thin craft, watching me. We had been enjoying a few temperate days—a last respite before the really cold weather blew in— and I was sneaking in this dawn practice because I doubted I’d have a chance to scull again. Connor was the last person on earth I wanted to see right now. He was waiting for me where the river bowed after the bridge, had to have started out in the dark at least twenty minutes before me in order to catch me off guard like this. I grit my teeth, the rubber ends of my oars slippery in my hands. Balancing, I crept forward, the fragile wooden scull precariously gliding across the water, my arms outstretched for another stroke. I dropped the oars in behind me and pressed with my feet and then my legs, fell back into the stroke and the boat surged, water running around the bow. Connor was just ahead of me now, eyeballing my bladework. The muscles across my chest tightened as I tapped the oars out of the water, gently feathering them for my next stroke. I saw the stern of Connor’s shell as I passed. He was still crouched languidly in his seat. I caught another stroke, and the boat ran free, losing me in a familiar sensation, the feeling of speed and hypnotic rhythm. I fell backwards for a second into that mysterious rush. “Decent, decent.” Connor leaned forward and pulled his boat to me. “Not bad.” I sincerely wished he would vaporize. Connor rowed the Morrison, christened after a Fenton old boy who had been shot on Sword Beach. It was a Vespoli racing shell, blue and black, banged together from carbon fiber and aluminum, light as an arrow. Connor reached forward, dipped his oars into the water and snapped off a swift, level stroke. He fell back into the coda of each finish. He feathered his blades and torpedoed away from me. “Let’s see what you’ve got.” I spun my craft and dipped the oars into the water, flung down a few quivering strokes, then settled into a smooth set that left me feeling as if I were being borne down the

river only inches above it. I shot by him, then slowed down to wait for him to catch up. I watched Connor’s back as he leaned into his own oars, his eyes level, the black shafts extensions of his long arms. As he drew even, his blades disappeared into the river and his boat began to really move. I drove into my oars. When I floated forward into my recoveries, I could hear his breathing and the splash of his oars. I heard the tiny drops of water falling from them as he gathered for each new stroke. Lungs burning, I glanced over my shoulder at the dock, a blur just visible over the waterline less than eight hundred meters away. My long, slender oars bowed a tiny bit each time I drew them through the water. The living bones of my forearms and wrists and the birdlike ones of my hands were flexing as well. Bones and wood snapped back into shape at the end of each stroke. My lungs began to smolder and I found myself gasping for air. Matching my every movement, Connor gave me a quick glance, noting the distance to the dock. Our oars were almost touching one another, our blades sharing the same swirling whirlpools. Then, unexpectedly, he leaned into his finish and paused, granting me some time. I slipped by him, leaving him tense and poised, carried along by the river and his own flowing inertia. I pounded through ten more strokes, then I paused as well. My speed carried me forward. Was it over? Abruptly, his glistening back bowed and his oars sank into the water again. I glanced behind me, the dock maybe only twenty strokes away now, then focused once more down the river. Connor was charging towards me, his oars smooth and low and quick, the Morrison’s bow ball claiming giant increments of water with his every stroke. I could clearly see the rigid muscles of his back straining through his wet shirt. By the time I reckoned the dock was beside us, the bow ball had vanished and Connor himself appeared in my red vision, gliding, face contorted, a great silent bird of prey falling upon its quarry. Mouth open, eyes bulging, arms outstretched, he snatched the final stroke from me and drew it to his chest. Unbelievable. He was just unbelievable. We paused mid-river, inside the dank shadow of the SUMMER 2013

bridge. Our breathing echoed hollowly. We tapped the boats back to the dock gently. Connor didn’t look at me as he pulled his feet from the foot stretchers, heaved himself out of his seat to stand beside his boat dripping wet, his face red beneath his bone-white shock of hair. “You’d go faster in a better boat,” he said. Please. Shut. Up. I took a deep breath, my lungs scorched from the race. “Have you ever rowed in a wooden boat? Ever used wooden oars?” He still wouldn’t look at me, and it was satisfying to see how exhausted he was. He was struggling to fight off the pain, to stand straight on his red knees. I held my shell a foot away from the dock’s edge. “The oars flex, like a tree flexes in the wind. The boat gives against the water. My father used to ask people if they’d want to play a plastic violin, or a plastic guitar, or a steel piano.” “Do you plan on playing music with that thing?” Connor looked at the boat dubiously. “Did your father make those repairs to the bow deck?” “Yeah.” I waited for the insult. “He worked the wood right in. He had to strip it, huh? Revarnish?” “Everything.” “You can barely see the joins.” “He’s pretty good.” “How old’s that thing?” “Thirty, maybe forty years old.” “My father keeps a wooden sailboat on Cape Cod. You sound like him, getting sentimental about wood when it’s just a liability on the water. A pure liability and lots of work to keep up. I still beat you. I even spotted you seven or eight strokes.” “You gave me nothing. You were just messing with me. Plus, you took the outside lane around that bend. I figure you must owe me a length anyway, considering we only started about a thousand meters down.” “I’d say maybe half a boat length. The river’s not that high.” “You weren’t going to mention that though, were you? You wanted to let me think you had me.” “Wouldn’t you?” “I’m just wondering if you were going to be honest about it.” “I’m not about to talk to you about currents and details like that when you’re bashing away with those oars. You’d have found that extra stroke easily if you’d used good old American carbon fiber.”

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“I’d have found it if I had that outside lane.” He bent down, braced himself, flipped the scull out of the water, balanced it on his head, then steadied it. “I’m thinking that if you can do what you did today in the God Four, maybe you’ll stand a chance at greatness. Because you’re pretty damned good.” “What makes you think I had any doubts?” “I’m just informing you.” “You want to go out and race again? For real?” “You’ll have plenty of time to prove yourself.” He began walking the boat back up towards the boathouse. I watched him balance it as he reached the incline, finding his footing carefully on the ramp. His dirty white socks were soaking wet, making the trip all the harder. He stopped, his back to me, and steadied the boat one more time. “You’re good,” he said. “I’ll be the first to admit it, Carrey. That was not easy.” I hated how he felt he could pass judgment on me. Despised it. He knew he had a right to because he had won—no matter by just a second, unbidden and unfairly. He was just so incredibly powerful. I watched him walk up the ramp and into the boathouse, waited for five cold minutes until I got out of my boat. I flipped it up and knelt easily for the sculls with the boat balanced against my scalp. I picked them up, wet wood slippery and heavy in my hands, the sculls balanced in my palms. I had twisted open the scuppers and air holes and the warm, living smell that breathed out from the innards of the boat calmed me. I kept my neck straight, felt the press of the weight against the bottom of my spine. Water dripped off the bow, along the sides of the boat and from the splashboards. The boat felt light, and I held it far down on the port outrigger, walked carefully so it wouldn’t tip and smash the stern or the new rubber bow ball. Had I looked down the shoreline, I would have seen Channing turning his stopwatch in his hands. He’d walk to where he believed we started racing and gauge the distance properly. He’d gaze down the river humming softly to himself, check the distance against the times he had scrawled inside his diary and slip his stopwatch into his trousers. He’d walk through the long river grass to the fields, then across to the road, whistling. Ron Irwin (1988) lectures at the University of Cape Town in the Centre for Film and Media. While at Kent he was the editor of the Kent News and the Kent Cauldron and rowed as the spare for KSBC. Flat Water Tuesday was released in June 2013. You can follow its progress at www.flatwatertuesday.com

Service to Commemorate the Dambusters’ Raid EULOGY FOR MELVIN YOUNG (1934) BY ARTHUR THORNING (1962) 17 MAY 2013, AT TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD

HENRY MELVIN YOUNG, always known as Melvin, was born in London on 20 May 1915. He attended Amesbury School at Hindhead until the family moved to California in 1928. In 1930 he moved to Kent School, Connecticut, where he came under the influence of the founding headmaster, the Rev. Frederick Herbert Sill, an Anglophile and rowing enthusiast. He also made friends with a local family whose daughter he was destined to marry. It was at Kent that Melvin started his career as an oarsman, and he developed this when he moved to Westminster School in 1933, in preparation for coming up to Trinity in 1934. Melvin applied himself with determination to rowing at Oxford and this effort was rewarded by a place in the winning Boat Race crew in 1938. As well as rowing, Melvin achieved a good degree in law, with Philip Landon as his tutor, and intended to follow a career as a solicitor. While at Trinity, Melvin applied to join the Air Squadron and was successful at the second attempt in 1937. He was reported as “not a natural pilot” with a tendency to be heavy on the controls; but most of us have received such comments when learning to fly! As with his rowing, his determination got him through, and on leaving Oxford he was a member of the RAF Volunteer Reserve. On the outbreak of war, and after some basic training, he was sent to Hullavington in Wiltshire to No. 9 Service Flying Training School, along with another Oxonian, Leonard Cheshire. Then came conversion to the Whitley bomber and posting to 102 Squadron, again with Cheshire. Melvin’s adventures with 102 were numerous, not least two occasions when he had to ditch in the sea, earning him the nickname “Dinghy.” In the first case engine failure brought them down into the Atlantic off Ireland, and it was only after 22 anxious hours that he and his crew were rescued, by chance, by a passing Royal Navy destroyer. On the second occasion several Whitleys were lost due to fuel exhaustion on return from an ambitious raid on Italy—in this instance Melvin and his crew were picked up off

FRIDAY May 17th th

70 Anniversary of the Dambusters’ Raid

Devon after a shorter time. After this tour of duty, Melvin was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Later he was posted to the USA and on arrival he lost no time in going to Connecticut TRINITY’S DAMBUSTER and proposed marriage to his longThe Life of Melvin ‘Dinghy’ Young time friend Priscilla Rawson. The wedding took place in the Kent School chapel, followed by five months of married life in the USA. At this time he was awarded a Bar to his DFC. ARCHIVE EXHIBITION – Old Bursary – 4–5.30 pm COMMEMORATION SERVICE – Chapel – 5.30 pm In early 1943 Melvin was back in England learning to fly the Lancaster bomber and joined 57 Squadron as a flight commander. Melvin and his A moving service took place in Chapel on Friday flight were transferred across the airfield to join 17 May to commemorate a special squadron formed for the attack on the the 70th anniversary of German dams. A unique weapon had been devised the Dambusters’ raid. Eleven smartly uniformed which required intensive training to use successofficer cadets of the fully. Although many of the crews in this new Oxford University Air Squadron—forever famous as 617, the Dambusters— Squadron attended, as did Dick Schell, the were inexperienced (don’t believe the film!), Melvin played a major part in getting them trained up to the current headmaster of Kent School, Conn., where necessary standard. Melvin Young went for The story of the Dambuster raid has been told a year. Melvin ‘Dinghy’ Young (1934) was the only elsewhere many times. Suffice it to say that it sucOxford man to take part in ceeded in destroying two major dams—in the case the Dambusters’ raid. of the principal target, the Mohne Dam, it was MelBefore the service, vin’s weapon, the fourth to be dropped, that was the first actually to reach the dam wall—it worked as the Clare Hopkins, College archivist, had prepared designer had predicted and the dam started to crack. an excellent exhibition of Melvin Young Another bomb finished it off. Tragically, after folmemorabilia, including his lowing Guy Gibson to the Eder Dam as his number Trinity rowing scarf and two, his aircraft fell to the guns on the Dutch coast. photographs of him in Melvin and his crew are buried in the Bergen Genthe College eight. In one of these he is seen with eral Cemetery in North Holland along with many Richard Hillary (1937). other allied aviators. A local family regularly places flowers by the graves of Melvin and his crew. So we remember Henry Melvin “Dinghy” Young, a good man and a hero. I shall leave you with a last word from his wife Priscilla: “Melvin loved flying and was proud to be in the RAF.” [ed note: dates shown are for Oxford, not Kent, years] SUMMER 2013

Building Plans The Future Home of Pre-Engineering and Applied Sciences Kent School has acquired a new building in town. Thanks to the generosity of President of the Board of Trustees Waring Partridge ’61, Kent has gained access to the former Cyberian Outpost building behind the Kent Town Center. Mr. Partridge purchased the building at auction and will lease it to the School for a few years, after which he will give the building to the School. Renovations have already occurred, making the building ready to house the expanding Pre-Engineering program as well as growing summer programs. It will also feature uses for the arts, administrative space and social functions. The new space will also enable the development of applied sciences such as public health, health care professions, nutrition, and culinary science. (Adapted from the Kent News article by Peter Moon)

Music and Theater Departments Benefit from Renovation this Summer Extensive renovations to the upper floors of the Dining Hall and to Mattison Auditorium will give the Music Department and Theater program enhanced facilities and increased space. In addition, the campus will acquire a clock tower as the result of the addition of an elevator.

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The new music facilities above Dining Hall will house an additional music classroom, more practice rooms, a cutting-edge recording studio, and two rehearsal rooms, one of which will double as an intimate performance space. The Theater program will benefit from a larger stage and backstage area, improvements in lighting and technology, dressing rooms, storage space, a scene shop and an office for the Technical Director, Matt Jandreau. But one area will not be larger: Director of the Theater Program Geoffrey Stewart said that “it is difficult for young voices to fill the auditorium,” so Mattison will be reducing its seating capacity. Work on Music Department renovations is expected to be completed as soon as November 2013 and the extensive work on Mattison is predicted to be completed in the winter. (Adapted from the Kent News article by Stefany Gutu ’13)

New Turf Fields Theobald Field and the South Fields are also being renovated, as “FieldTurf,” the industry leader for synthetic turf, is being installed in both areas. The turf fields will “be more suitable for play during inclement weather,” and facilitate out-of-season training. The South Fields are used for girls field hockey, boys and girls soccer, and girls and boys lacrosse.

FIRST FLOOR

SECOND FLOOR

ST. OFFICE

CONFERENCE OFFICE

DESIGN/HOSPITALITY 2,925 Square Feet

OFFICE

ADMINISTRATIVE 2,935 Square Feet

GROUP SPACE

STOR.

HOOL

OFFICE

DES. LIBRARY

SHOP

VIDEO CONFERENCE

ST MASTERPLANNING

OFFICE

FABRICATION AREA

GROUP STUDY

TOOLS

PRE-ENGINEERING

TEAM

2,925 Square Feet

APPLIED SCIENCES

TEST/EVENT AREA

2,935 Square Feet

TEAM

OFFICE CAFE

3D PLOTTER CNC MACHINE

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

OFFICE DESIGN AREA

KENT SCHOOL Glastonbury, Connecticut KENT EAST MASTERPLANNING

GROUP STUDY

CLASS A

CLASS B

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

Glastonbury

ELEVATOR TOWER AND GALLERY OPTION Glastonbury, Connecticut

Pre-Engineering and Applied Sciences building, facing page, and floor plans above left and right; renovation of the Mattison Auditorium, center left; and a new elevator clock tower, above, from plans by The S/L/A/M Collaborative. Kent’s South Fields, left, are being redone in FieldTurf.

SUMMER 2013

Katmai National Park, Alaska, known as the “Land of 10,000 Smokes”

Kent in Alaska TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO, as graduation from

Bucknell University loomed, I was looking at what I anticipated to be my last summer break when a friend mentioned that he and two others were going to Alaska to work and explore the Last Frontier. Knowing that my family had a cabin in the San Juan Islands of Washington, a possible jumping off point, he asked me to join them. Without a clear plan other than open ended adventure before the world of work and graduate school enveloped us, we spent most of the summer camping out near and working in a fish processing plant in Kenai, Alaska, on the Cook Inlet. That experience and the traveling that followed was a time that I learned more about myself, people, and the culture of the raw and subsistence society that make up our 49th state than I thought possible. I often thought of returning, but as career and family grew, repeating the grand adventure became unfeasible. Thus the experience became part of my personal warehouse of stories for social gatherings and, of course, relevant class discussions of tundra ecosystems, marine fisheries management and geological activity. Last summer I received another remarkable offer. Unknown to me, Brandon Sweitzer ’60 had a similar experience upon his graduation from Kent School a few years ago. Matched up with four of his classmates 22

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(Chris Clapp ’60, Tony Morris ’60, Syd Smithers ’60, and Dick Springs ’60), they drove west across the Alcan Highway, unpaved at the time. They then spent the summer replacing railroad ties on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad from Skagway, Alaska, to the Yukon Territory. Memories of this singular experience for Brandon Sweitzer were what drew him back to the state time and time again. Now he was looking to give Kent School students the chance to experience the wonder and majesty that is Alaska. The remote Bristol Bay region was his recommended destination, the isolated Intricate Bay Lodge was to be our host, and the unique geology, biology and ecology of the area our topic of study. The student response to the offered trip was dramatic. It took some financial wrangling to make it possible (for which we are very grateful), and this June ten Kent School students, Brandon and I arrived in Anchorage for what became known as SEEK4: Alaska Marine Biology. While our host’s primary business model is sharing the incredible fly fishing of the region’s massive rainbow trout and migratory salmon, the guides were thrilled with being able to share their expertise on the region’s other aspects. With only seven days for our travels, I was concerned that our students would not be able to fully appreciate the scale and power of the forces that shape the land-

Below left: The crew on top of Lookout Mountain, day one at Intricate Bay—Emily Klingebiel ’16, Eugenia Zhang ’16, Hunter White ’13, Kat Ziegler ’12, Henry Brefka ’13, faculty member Jesse Klingebiel, Rachel Herman ’14, Cate Porter, Cassidy Pratt ’15, Mikayla McLaughlin ’15 and Hiro Kamei ’15. Center: Tour guide Brian and Mikayla McLaughlin ’15 help Cassidy Pratt ’15 tie a fly. Right: Eugenia Zhang ‘16 runs the jet boat.

scape, ecosystem and people. Fortunately, our packed agenda, enabled by our traveling by jet boat and float plane and the near 20 hours of daylight around the summer solstice, allowed us to connect in a transformative way. It was in the air that macro-scale geology was evident. We could see the vast U-shaped valleys and kettle hole ponds that were left from retreating glaciers. We could also see the ongoing battle between massive

glaciers grinding down the mountains that continued to grow from tectonic activity, including actively steaming volcanic peaks. Descending for closer looks, we toured the “Land of 10,000 Smokes” in Katmai National Park, where in 1912 the largest eruption of the 20th century deposited ten times the ash of Mount Saint Helens. Almost a century later, these deposits of volcanic pumice have formed a surreal landscape, including dramatically sculpted creek valleys with

Macro-scale geology is evident when seeing Alaska from the air.

SUMMER 2013

Kettle hole pond (above) left from a retreating glacier Alaskan brown bear (right) fishing for salmon in Katmai National Park

sheer eighty-foot cliffs. Looking closer still, we were led by budding geologist Kat Ziegler â&#x20AC;&#x2122;12 in finding marine fossil laden mudstones, agates, conglomerates and every type of rock in between. Fortunately, Kat left herself room to spare in the weight department of her bag as her personal rock collection swelled by 300 percent. The biological component focused on the aquatic systems and how the macroinvertebrate community of the Copper River (which surprisingly was far less diverse than our own Housatonic) supplies the energy and nutrients for the higher trophic levels. Our appreciation of the invertebrates we sampled was aided by a fly-tying workshop as we learned to match the shapes and patterns of the adult versions of the larvae we sampled. It was after this fly-tying session, and using the flies we had tied ourselves to lure the trout from the river, that we felt truly connected to the energy flow of the Alaskan ecosystem. As an exciting addition on that fourth day of fishing, a young brown bear showed up to see what these young Kenties were up to near his home. Fortunately our trained and wellprepared guides were able to shoo him away before the human connection to energy flow became literal. Connecting to the Native American population of the region was made possible by a pair of unique meetings our host arranged for us. The first was a visit

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to a native Alaskan who truly did live off the land. Marlene was a lovely woman who shared with us her isolated home with seemingly typical gardens and domesticated animals. However, as we gushed over her adorable puppies, she peppered her descriptions of her life there with thrilling anecdotes of dangerous brown bear encounters. She explained how she dried both salmon and other meat caught in traps to provide nearly all the calories for herself and her family. The reality of her isolation and inventiveness was quite an eye opener for those used to food coming from the Dining Hall and refrigerator. Our other connection to the natives was rather different, as a mother and son came to the lodge to talk with us about the large Pebble Mine operation proposed by a multinational corporation to the north of our lodge. The students were familiar with this project as our hosts, like nearly all the fishing lodges in the region, are opposed to this large gold and copper mine, due to its threat to the watershed and the fish that make their livelihood. Their presentation was fascinating as we were able to see the possible benefits to a small isolated native community with limited potential for economic development. The deep discussions that followed were one of the high points of the trip as students had connected to the area and could see the quandary posed by this project from all sides. It is always a good thing when a trip ends with everyone finding it hard to believe it is over so soon. The maturity and curiosity of the students on the trip were remarkable. The trip is one I will never forget, and like every student who came, is one I hope to repeat someday. It is with much gratitude that I pass along thanks to Brandon Sweitzer, Father Schell and all the alumni who helped make this trip a reality. Jesse Klingebiel, chair of the Science Department

Between the Hills and River Shore

Music and Modern Languages Department Chairs Announced by the Headmaster Thomas G. Bouldin has been appointed Chairman of the Music Department, for a five-year term, effective July 1, 2013. Dr. Bouldin earned an Associate in Electronics Technology degree from Alabama Technical College in 1983, a Bachelor of Music Education in Instrumental Music (1989), a Master of Education in Instrumental Music (1991) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Instrumental Music Education (2010) from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Dr. Bouldin was appointed to the faculty of Kent School in 2011. He has a vast knowledge of music as a technician, a performer and a teacher. He teaches Music Theory, Music Technology and Music Survey. Kristin E. Benjamin has been appointed Chair of the Modern Languages Department, for a five-year term, effective July 1, 2013. Mrs. Benjamin earned a B.A. in French and Political Science from Middlebury College and an M.A. in French Literature from Tufts University. She was appointed to the faculty of Kent School in 1997. She has taught all levels of French with great expertise, from French I to Advanced Placement French classes, as well as the Italian Language and Culture course. She was the holder of the Class of 2000 Teaching Chair from 2008 to 2011. She coaches Girls Junior Varsity Lacrosse and Developmental Lacrosse. Kristin and her husband, Michael, a member of the Science Department, have two children, Alice and Zoe.

Cortney Tetrault Recipient of the Class of 2000 Teaching Chair Cortney Tetrault has been a role model for Kent School’s students ever since her arrival here in the fall of 2007. She hails from Wesleyan University, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree, double majoring in “Neuroscience and Behavior” and biology. At Wesleyan, she served as the campus campaign manager for Teach For America while studying and playing two intercollegiate sports. As a field hockey player, she won First Team AllNESCAC honors and Third Team AllAmerican honors; she was also Second Team All-NESCAC for lacrosse in 2007. Prior to Wesleyan, she attended Phillips Academy. There she was captain of the varsity field hockey team and played varsity basketball and lacrosse. She was a dormitory proctor at Andover and a resident assistant at Wesleyan. Cortney brought her skills as a researcher, an athlete and a dormitory supervisor to Kent School. In her classes, she has been an inspiration. She has taught Honors Chemistry and Advanced Placement Psychology, encouraging her students to higher and higher levels of success. Her AP Psych class earned an exceptional 4.5 average on the AP test last spring. Her department head celebrates her as “thoughtful, courteous and professional.” In the dormitories, she has been stalwart, capable with boys and girls, and beloved. But it is her players with whom Cortney has possibly had the most influence. One player wrote “She puts her heart into our team and we are all very lucky to have had the opportunity to be coached by her because she truly cares about each and every one of us.” Another player wrote “She turned a foreign sport I picked up

as an activity… into something I love to do.” Cortney loves her family, her friends and, most especially, horses. We are grateful for all that she has brought to Kent School over the past six years.

Radley College Organist Gives Recital on Holcombe Organ St. Joseph’s Chapel, April 8, 2013, Recital performed by Timothy M. Morris, M.A., D.Phil. FRCO, PGCE, Succentor and Head of Music Technology Contingent Commander, Radley College (U.K.) Timothy Morris studied organ, piano and harpsichord as a specialist musician at Wells Cathedral School before going to New College, Oxford, as organ scholar. After three years touring and performing with the world-renowned New College Choir and graduating, he remained at Oxford to study for a D.Phil. in mediaeval music and liturgy before becoming organist and, from 1999, Succentor at Radley College. As well as his organ performance and teaching at Radley, he commands the school’s Combined Cadet Force and is master in charge of the school’s beagle pack, one of only three surviving school packs in England. The Recital program included Bach’s Prelude in E flat BMV 552.i, Bach’s Vater unser im Himmelreich BMV 682, Wir glaüben all an einen Gott BWV 680, and Ayres, Toccata (Suite for Eric) [2011]. Organist Timothy Morris (right) pictured here with Tom Holcombe, organist emeritus (left), and Jennifer Hobbs, former chair of the Music Department.

SUMMER 2013

Service Trips Oklahoma Six students joined Mr. and Mrs. Sokolnicki for a week of service in Oklahoma this July. Director of Community Service Megan Sokolnicki grew up not far from Moore, where a series of devastating tornadoes hit in late May, and recognized that the need for aid would be ongoing. Kent School students worked alongside students from Casady School, an Episcopal K–12 school in Oklahoma City, and Mrs. Sokolnicki’s alma mater. On Sunday, the group joined students from Casady for a day of leadership training. A family who survived the Moore tornadoes also spoke, giving everyone a real perspective on the mission of the trip. On Monday, the group volunteered at the Disaster Relief Center in Moore, sorting and restocking at a food bank that serves families affected by the tornadoes. Students helped families shop, checked them out and helped load their cars. On Tuesday, the group was able to tour the Oklahoma City Memorial, on the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which was bombed in 1995. Speakers included the design team of the Memorial, a survivor of the bomb and a local chaplain. On Wednesday the group began work with the Habitat for Humanity Critical Home Repair team. A home in Midwest City had a failing roof which had gotten so bad that the water leakage had damaged a portion of wall and floor. So while the main repair job was the roof, the group first had to take down the wall and rebuild studs and take out rotted flooring and install new floor joists. This was Kent School’s first time working with a current homeowner, which was a unique experience. Normally, students work on new construction alongside the future homeowner, but working on a current

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In Oklahoma, top: Students from Kent School and Casady School in front of the Habitat for Humanity mobile construction truck Bottom left: Gaby Alias ’16 and Rebecca Brough ’14 assist Mr. Sokolnicki with new cutting new door frames. Bottom right: Blake Keesee ’16 installing trim

home took a whole different understanding. The family lived in the home while it was essentially demolished, taking out the kitchen floor, bathroom floor, and part of a bedroom floor, leaving it exposed to the elements for two nights. Luckily on the third day the outdoor walls and floor were sealed up, though enough work was not completed to get to start on the roof. The group also took a few trips through the areas in Moore that were hardest hit by the tornado. Students

were awestruck by the devastation they saw; houses had been completely flattened down to the foundation, while those right across the street were left untouched. A memorial had arisen at an elementary school that was destroyed, with volunteer groups from all over the country leaving momentos. Kent students added their trip t-shirt to the fence full of other shirts, stuffed animals and messages of hope. The trip was not all work, howeverstudents were introduced to the culture

In Costa Rica: Kent students work alongside local villagers on a community organic farm.

and hospitality of Oklahoma City on a daily basis. Many meals were provided by local families, and almost all included amazing barbecue. The group also went to a Redhawks baseball game, a county rodeo and the Western Heritage Museum and Cowboy Hall of Fame, along with several local restaurants, including Cattleman’s Steakhouse, which has been featured on ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives’ and ‘Man vs. Food.’ Special thanks should be given to Mr. and Mrs. Tepper-Rasmussen (Megan Sokolnicki’s parents) and Learning Tree Toy Store, who provided food and lodging for the group while in Oklahoma. We look forward to hearing news of the completion of the house we worked on, and also to continuing the relationship with those we met in Oklahoma by returning next summer to aid in the rebuilding effort.

Costa Rica A few days after graduation eight students joined Ms. Sierra Thomsen of the History Department and Ms. Gabriella Vannoni of the Science Department, on a service trip to Costa Rica. The group worked with Globe Aware, a non-profit that offers ‘mini Peace Corps’ experiences that ‘help to empower the host communities in creating renewable, sustainable programs’ while also immersing participants in the local culture. Students spent their week in the small village of El Yaz, in the Orosi Valley, working alongside villagers on projects that the community had deemed important. The group took their meals with families in the village, giving them an opportunity to practice their Spanish, or learn some. One service project included painting a wall in the village cemetery, and the group had dinner with the woman who had suggested this project to village leaders, giving them a greater sense of purpose while working. The group also did work at the local school, teaching English to the children as well

as helping out in the classrooms. In addition, the group worked on a nearby organic farm, and were able to bring some of these more sustainable agricultural practices back to individual farms in the village. Evenings were spent with the local people, eating, dancing and playing a lot of soccer. The group took a rafting trip one afternoon, and saw some amazing sights on nearby hikes through the rain forest. The highlight of the trip was getting to know the people, especially the children, and gaining a new perspective on what is means to ‘help,’ as our students felt they gained much more from the villagers than they gave. We would like to thank the Dominic Rich ’14 Memorial Fund for Christian Mission and Education and the Reverend Cora Cheney Partridge Fund for their support, as well as Father Schell for his continued support of summer service abroad.

SUMMER 2013

Pembroke College Choir in Kent The choir of Pembroke College Cambridge visited Kent in July as part of its tour of the East Coast. Prior to the concert at St. Andrew’s Church, they performed at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and St. Thomas’s Church on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Their next concert after leaving Kent was at Emmanuel Church in Boston, and they ended their tour in Rhode Island. A highlight of the tour was their concert at Trinity Church in Newport as part of the celebrations to mark the 350th anniversary of the granting of the Royal Charter by Charles II to the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations on July 8, 1663. One of the state’s founders was Roger Williams (BA 1627), an alumnus of the College.

In Kent, the School and Father Schell hosted the choir. At a dinner for them the night before their concert on July 10, the choir sang Grace before dinner and presented a brief concert following the meal, delighting the assembled guests. However, it was clear that the highlight of their stay in Kent was their opportunity to play American football, which they embraced with great vigor. The concert program of English songs and American spirituals was received enthusiastically by a large audience of Kent School faculty and residents of the town. Kent School’s relationship with Pembroke College is a close one as Sir Richard Dearlove, Master of Pembroke, is a Kent alumnus, Class of 1963, and member of the Board of Trustees.

Kent School Alumni

now there’s an APP just for you ... and it’s FREE! We have released our first ALUMNI APP for iPhone, iPad, iPod and Android! With it, you can securely connect with old friends, classmates and fellow alumni. Special features include: • Connect safely with alumni around the corner and around the globe. • Contribute memorable photos and keep everyone up to date.

• Network with classmates through the built-in integration and Alumni Directory. • Pinpoint alumni living in your area or anywhere you travel.

Download it for free. Simply search Kent School in the APP Store.

Be sure to use the Kent Alumni APP to follow us on Twitter or become a fan on our Alumni Facebook page. The Kent School Alumni APP for iPhone and Android uses e-mail verification and is limited to use by confirmed and authenticated Alumni of Kent School. If you have questions, contact langas@kent-school.edu.

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PLEASE NOTE: Alumni information pulls directly from Kent’s database. Therefore if you need to update your information, please visit: www.kent-school.edu/ alumni and use the “Report a Change of Address” form. To opt out of sharing your information on this APP, please email lmartel@kent-school.edu.

Alumni Council News

The Reverend Frederick H. Sill, O.H.C. Society Class of 2013 is Announced R. CHANNING JOHNSON 1946

‘Where Have All the Young People Gone?’ This is the question Dr. R. Channing Johnson wants to understand, and in his book by the same title, he goes a long way to answering it. It is a rallying cry to understand the concerns of the young— and bring them back to the churches. He aims to bridge the gap between the generations, and bring young people back into fellowship with the older generations. Born and raised in New York, Dr. Johnson graduated cum laude from Kent in 1946, then went on to complete his studies at Hobart College in 1965, completing a paper on the Church in history, and its role in society during the chaos of the 1960s. From 1972–74, he completed graduate studies at sUNY Buffalo, Department of Computer Science, with a focus on artificial intelligence. Dr. Johnson has been a senior scientist at The MITRE Corporation, and a senior manager at Hooker Chemical. He retired as a consultant in the evaluation of hazardous waste sites in 2010. His career as a scientist spanned the period from 1973 to 2010. His career as an Episcopal clergyman began much earlier, in 1953, and continues to this day. Dr. Johnson’s writings on religion reflect his thoughtful sensitivity to the differences in perspective and outlook across the generations. His central theme is that changes in the family have ‘impaired the transmission of beliefs and values from

one generation to the next.’ He views these changes as the price we are paying for the upward mobility of World War II and following generations—which created material abundance, but limited the strength of the family culture and sharing of values. Currently he is associate pastor at St. Luke’s at the Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona where he teaches young adults and carries on a prayer and anointing ministry. CRAIG CALL BLACK 1950

Dr. Craig C. Black was a noted vertebrate paleontologist and museum director, whose fascination and professional involvement with vertebrate paleontology spanned more than four decades. Dr. Black was born in Peking, China in 1932 where his father taught pediatrics. He lived there until 1936. Dr. Black briefly attended Austin High School in El Paso, but entered Kent School in 1945 and graduated cum laude in 1950. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Amherst in 1954 and was appointed a Simpson Fellow at John Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore. The following year he returned to Amherst where he earned a Master’s degree in Biology in 1957. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University in 1962. Dr. Black began his museum career in 1960 as an Associate Curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and was appointed Curator of Vertebrate Fossils two years later. In

1970 he became an Associate Professor of Systematics and Ecology at the University of Kansas. In 1972 he was appointed Director of the Museum and Professor of Geosciences at Texas Tech University. In 1975 he returned to Pittsburgh as the Director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Dr. Black was later appointed Director of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County on September 1, 1982 and remained there until his retirement in July 1994. In 1982, President Reagan appointed Dr. Black to serve on the National Museum Services Board and in 1985 he was nominated to serve on the National Science Board for a term that ended in May 1990. While on the National Science Board, he chaired the Committees on International Science Programs, Global Environment and Change, and Biodiversity. In 1991 he was appointed by President George Bush to serve on the Environment for the Americas Board. He also served on the boards of the National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property, The African Wildlife Foundation, the Explorer’s Club, Explora Science Center and The Children’s Museum of Albuquerque, NM. In 1994 he was elected to the board of the U.S. Mexico Foundation on Science and Technology and at the time of his death was Vice-Chairman of that group. Dr. Black’s son, Chris, graduated from Kent School in 1991.

SUMMER 2013

FLEMMING GOMME GRAAE 1967

Flemming G. Graae is a nationally recognized child psychiatrist and academician who has made important contributions to his field and, in particular, the areas of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and the neurophysiology of self-injurious behavior. Flemming G. Graae was born December 1, 1948 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He immigrated to the United States in 1952. As the third member of his family to attend Kent School, Flemming Graae graduated from Kent in 1967. His brother, Steffen, graduated with the Class of 1958 and his brother, Michael, graduated with the Class of 1961, both now deceased. Dr. Graae credits faculty at Kent for key support in his development, specifically, Hal Bredberg, who encouraged his interest in biology; Lee Osborn, who urged him to persevere and believe in himself; O.B. Davis, to go beyond his “animal intelligence”, and, of course, Bill Armstrong, whose pragmatics for living well will live forever. After Kent, Fleming went on to receive his B.A. from Rutgers University in 1971, followed by a M.A. from Indiana University in 1973 and an M.D. from St. George’s University School of Medicine in 1983. Dr. Graae began his career in child psychiatry in clinical research at Columbia University, and was involved in some of the early research in the treatment of anxiety disorders in children. His research extended into assessment and treatment of ADHD, tic disorders, and mood disorders. He collaborated in efforts to understand and treat children suspected of having autoimmune disorders with psychiatric impact. Subsequently, he directed the child outpatient services at the White Plains

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Campus of NY Hospital-Cornell (now part of NY Presbyterian Hospital), where he became interested in clinical academic programs, which would be integrated with community programs. This, in turn, led to his appointment as Chief of Child Psychiatry at Westchester Medical Center (WMC) and NY Medical College, where he began the restructuring and modernizing of both the clinical and training programs. Now as an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Westchester Medical Center and New York Medical College, Dr. Graae continues to teach and supervise trainees as a voluntary faculty member. He has published widely in leading journals of psychiatry, and because of his renowned expertise in child psychiatry, Dr. Graae is frequently consulted by print and media journalists. Dr. Graae is also the founder of the Westchester Child and Adolescent Network, under the auspices of the WMC Foundation, whose mission was to build an endowment base to support clinical services, education, and research at WMC and New York Medical College. BERTIE W. DEMING HEINER 1967

Bertie “Bebe” Deming Heiner is the Chair and Founder of The Women’s Initiative, where the mission is to provide effective counseling services, social support and education to empower women to transform challenging life situations into opportunities for renewed well-being and personal growth. Ms. Heiner was born in Charlottesville, VA. Along with her sister, Catherine Deming Pierson ’69 and several cousins, Ms. Heiner attended Kent and graduated in 1967. After Kent, Ms. Heiner graduated with a degree in Art History from Washington University in St. Louis in 1971.

Several years later in 1997 she graduated from University of Virginia with a master’s degree in Mental Health. Ms. Heiner is a licensed professional counselor with fourteen years of experience providing psychotherapy to individuals, couples, and families. She is the former Director of Counseling Services at FOCUS Women’s Resource Center, where she also developed and facilitated the Single Mothers’ Support Group and the Assertiveness Skills Training Workshop. Her community service includes board and committee membership at Mary Baldwin College, Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, Virginia Institute of Autism, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts at Sweetbriar College, and Planned Parenthood. ALEXANDRA DAVIS DIPENTIMA 1971

Chief Judge of the Appellate Court Alexandra “Randy” Davis DiPentima grew up in Kent, CT. Her father, O.B. Davis ’42, was a longtime teacher and former Head of the English Department at Kent. Judge DiPentima graduated cum laude from Kent School as Senior Prefect in 1971. She then went on to Princeton University where she graduated in 1975 with an A.B. in intellectual history. She then completed her J.D. at the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1979. Judge DiPentima spent her early career working as a staff attorney for Connecticut Legal Services, Inc., representing low income persons in domestic disputes (especially spousal abuse and custody issues) and housing problems. In 1981, she joined the law firm of Moller, Horton & Rice, P.C., where she was a litigator in appellate advocacy and both plaintiff and defendant trial advocacy. She became a partner in

1985. In November 1993 Governor Lowell Weicker appointed her to the trial bench as a Superior Court judge. In May 2003 Judge DiPentima was sworn in as a judge of the Appellate Court. Since her appointment to the bench, Judge DiPentima’s assignments have included presiding judge of the Hartford and New Britain Housing Divisions, presiding judge in Meriden, and from 1998 to 2003, Administrative Judge of the judicial district of Litchfield. She has served on the Rules Committee and the Judicial Education Committee. From 2001 to 2002 she served as President of the Connecticut Judges Association. On March 29, 2010, Judge DiPentima was sworn in as Chief Judge of the Appellate Court by Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers. During her professional years, Judge DiPentima has received many notable awards and special recognitions, including—Connecticut Bar Association Henry J. Naruk Judiciary Award in 2010; and the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Connecticut School of Law Alumni Association in 2011. She is also involved in many community and professional associations. She is active in her judicial branch speakers’ bureau, which involves regular visits to elementary, middle and high schools and talks about civics; Chair, Public Service & Trust Commission, 2007–present ; and Vestry Officer, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Kent, CT. Currently, Judge DiPentima lives in South Kent, CT with her husband, Anthony, and continues to be very active in the local Kent community.

Fuzz Foster ’41 Class Secretary Award Julian C.S. Foster, Class of 1941, better known as “Fuzz” Foster, served as Class Secretary for 44 years, from the time of his graduation from Kent until his death in Scott Lister ’88 with his wife, Jessica, and 1985. In grateful children, Katie and Teddy recognition of his faithful and devoted service to his Class and to Kent School, the Class of ’41 and the Alumni Council established an award in his memory to recognize “class volunteers who have done the most to promote the Annual Fund among their classmates, to stimulate interest in their Class Reunions, and who have served their classes with distinction.”

This year’s recipient of the Fuzz Foster Award is Scott Lister of the Class of 1988. Scott volunteered to be Class Secretary after his 20th Reunion in 2008. Over the past five years, he has worked hard to build class support of the Annual Alumni Fund and the 25th Reunion. Total class giving for the 25th Reunion exceeded $100,000. In the last year alone, Scott assembled a terrific reunion committee, set up a very active Facebook group, and has been in regular contact with the Alumni Office offering to do whatever was needed for a successful 25th Reunion. Always ready to step up when needed, Scott also helped with fundraising for Hoerle Hall. Thank you, Scott, for your leadership and your commitment to the Class of ’88 and Kent School.

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Alumni and Development News

Class of 2013 Blue & Gray Dinner

On Friday, May 10, 167 sixth formers gathered with Kent School Alumni Council members at the Richard A. Springs, Jr. ’36 Center and enjoyed a specially catered dinner as they officially were welcomed to the Kent School Alumni Association. Alumni President Peter Patch ’67 (New York, NY) and Ernest Franklin ’87 (Dallas, TX) welcomed the seniors and highlighted

Laura Hamilton, Stephanie Izzi, Mariah Farrell and Amy Curry

Ed Newberry, Olivier Fontaine, Craig “Cas” Simmons and Charlie Pardoe at the Springs Center

Kathleen Turajane, Kelsey Bodden, Karen Chen, Iris Chen and Linda Zuo representing Case Dorm sixth formers

Michael Graham, Max Rewell, Tim “TJ” Roche, Chris Capizzano, Chris Reckmeyer, Jac-Antoine MuntuCaron and Adrian Marcogliese

Some of the first to arrive: Ember Fenerol, Tiffany Ang, Katie Dembinski, Kelly Masotta, Stephanie Morales, Elaine Flores, Zoe Sayre and Yool Bin Kwon

Seniors Elizabeth Quartararo, Kelly Dirgins, Erin Wilson, Ariana Fasulo, Isabel Wilson, Bianca Scofield and Mariuka Corsini waiting for the start of the Blue and Gray Dinner

Fifth form waiters Khadim Seye, Walker Sachner, Stephen Morrissey, Lauren Kennelly, Addison Davis, Mary Um, Kate Conway, Sabine Neschke and Rachel Herman

the importance of staying in touch with the School throughout the upcoming years and of supporting Kent through the Annual Fund. Other Council members included Martin Whitmer ’88 (Washington, DC), Ashley Cooke ’98 (New York, NY), Aisha Simpson Williams ’98 (Westchester County, NY), Mark McWhinney ’75 (Stamford, CT) and Ken Southworth ’81, P’14 (Darien, CT).

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Class of 2013 Gift In early September, eleven members of the Senior Class answered the call to think about and plan for various fundraising efforts so that on Senior Recognition Day, the great Class of 2013 could present Kent with their own gift to the School. The committee members and the class worked on six fundraisers throughout the year. The Committee presented Father Schell a check, a record-breaker for a graduating class, in the amount of $9,053.11 as their Class Gift. The gift is two-fold: 1) The seed money for â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Class of 2013 Scholarship

Fundâ&#x20AC;? designated for the Endowment, and 2) the planting of a tree near the walkway connecting Hoerle Hall and the main part of campus. Committee members did a terrific job at organizing this yearlong effort: Cassidy Gale Nishant Patel Devin Gardner Marni Sheps Philip Han Hunter White Susan Leonard Isabel Wilson Spencer Martin Ben Yeterian Stephanie Morales

Headmaster Schell with record-breaking check for the Class of 2013 gift to Kent

Seniors Spencer Martin, Hill Davenport, Brian Robey, Charlie Fennell, Chris Capizzano, Stephanie Morales, Kelly Masotta, Elaine Flores, Kate Dembinski, Ariana Fasulo, Isabel Wilson, Susan Leonard, Marni Sheps, Shesira Said, Eunice Park, Kelly Dirgins, Elizabeth Quartararo, Bianca Scofield, Samantha Kent and Connor Mitchell proudly stand by their Class Gift.

Finishing touches for the 2013 tree: The tree is planted along the new walkway connecting Hoerle Hall and the main part of campus.

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Reunion Weekend 2013 Athletic Hall of Fame The 13th Annual Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place on Saturday of Reunion Weekend. Six alumni spanning 35 years were honored, as well as one team. The honorees included team captains, All-Americans, NCAA champions, record holders, and league champions. It was definitely a “family affair” for Buff Dobbin Barnes ’73 and Matt Dunn ’98, whose sister (a Hall of Fame inductee in 2010) and father, respectively, spoke about their athletic achievements and presented them with their Hall of Fame certificates. Colleen Neill Overlock ’98, whose sisters Maureen and Christine ’87 were inducted in 2002, attended with her newborn baby, Abigail. Congratulations to Colleen and her husband, Will Overlock ’98! A common thread throughout the remarks of the honorees was the lessons learned through competition, the role models provided by coaches and fellow athletes, and the joy of competition. For more information on the Hall of Fame inductees, go to www.kent-school. edu/athletics and click on Hall of Fame.

Sisters and Hall of Fame inductees Francie Dobbin Thayer ’75 and Buff Dobbin Barnes ’73

Proud parents Anne and Dean Pitter with daughter, Sam ’03

Colleen Neill Overlock ’98, Ed Dunn, Matt Dunn ’98

Bill and Cathy Pike with son, Dan ’93

2013 INDUCTEES

Katherine Lambert Pettit 1968 Elizabeth Dobbin Barnes 1973 Daniel W. Pike 1993 Matthew F. Dunn 1998 Colleen Neill Overlock 1998 Samantha R. Pitter 2003 TEAMS

The 1992 Football Team

The League Champion 1992 Football Team: George-Ann Gowan (Hon.) ’66, ’08, Ed Dunn (Hon.) ’98, ’06, Cy Theobald, Jody Tucker ’93, Gray Bullard ’93, Waldo Gonzalez ’93, Dan Decker ’93, Creel Brown ’95, Mike Estroff ’93, Art Walters, Dan Fort ’93, Dan Pike ’93, Todd Marble

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Authors’ Corner The Kent Authors’ Corner debuted at Reunion 2013. Anthony Abbott ’53 conceived of creating an opportunity for his class and the members who are authors to get together. Then it was suggested to include other classes as well, and when the authors from ’88 joined in, as Tony put it, “We had something wonderful—a much better idea than just doing it for one class, because it promotes interaction among classes—allows us to know people we wouldn’t have otherwise known.” In the end, Tony, Alex Troubetzkoy ’53, Caitlin Macy ’88, and Ron Irwin ’88, recited and read from their works, discussed their craft, and answered questions from the audience. It was a lively, standing-roomonly session in the Headmaster’s Study. Because the four authors write poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, there was quite a variety both in the readings and in the way each author approaches the discipline of writing. One thing they all have in common is a terrific sense of humor, which made the event both insightful and enjoyable.

Many remained in the Headmaster’s Study after the event chatting with the authors. They generously shared copies of their books, which they were kind enough to sign for those who wished it. Their biggest piece of advice to aspiring writers— Don’t give up. Keep writing! Earlier that morning, Academics at Kent was the subject of an informal Q&A in the John Gray Park ’28 Library. Members of the Class of 1953 met with Adam Fischer to learn about the current state of the advancement and support of Academic Program. It was a wide-ranging and animated conversation about everything from advising students and what a 21st century education ought to be, to the re-invented study skills class once taught by Bill Armstrong. It now builds on his work to prepare students to meet the challenges they face at Kent and beyond. It was evident from the keen questions and comments of the class of ’53 that interest in intellectual life and having a strong academic program here at Kent is as vital as ever.

Alexis Troubetzkoy ’53

Ron Irwin ’88 and Caitlin Macy ’88

Tony Abbott ’53 recites one of his poems

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Reunion Weekend 2013

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SUMMER 2013

REUNION WEEKEND 2013 CONTINUED

Dan Fox and Bruce Lebens, both Class of 1968

Ed Dunn P’98 proudly receiving Honorary Membership to the Class of 1998

2008 classmates Dominique Paiement, Alex Armellini, Hillary Clifton with Hunter Southworth ’98

Class of 1993 Saturday Dinner at Kingsley Tavern

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Class of 1988, Jennifer Loud Ungar, Phil Mittleman, Mike Stern, Suzy Smith Evans, Liz Eberhardt Thorp, Michael Lehmann and Francesa Fracchia Leschin

Children of the Class of ’93—Kenties of the future!

Ames Brown ’98, faculty member Rob Ober, Sterling Wilson ’08 and Erin Reilly ’08

Art Walters and Gregory Haynes ’93

Art Walters P’97,’99,’02, Ed Dunn (Hon.) ’98,’06, Ann Fitzgerald-Dunn, George-Ann Gowan (Hon.) ’66, ’08, Margaret and Cy Theobald following Kent Athletic Hall of Fame Ceremony

Libby Webber Gruner, Gretchen Steiger and Abby Gouverneur Carr at the Class of 1978 Dinner

Blake Jobkar, Sophie Stich, Francois Anderson and Henry To representing 2008

Paul ’64 and Brian Patrick ’98, Ashley Cooke ’98 and Marc Cloutier P’99,’01

SUMMER 2013

REUNION WEEKEND 2013 CONTINUED

1978 classmates Abby Gouverneur Carr, Abbie Flynn, Caroline McKallor Dahl, Libby Webber Gruner, Jane Hewetson Franses and Elisabeth Watson

Paul Patrick ’68 catching up with former Director of Admissions Peter Bragdon P’81,’82,’87

2008 classmates Skylar Shapiro, Nick Whitaker and Pon Saropala

Martin ’88 and Julie Whitmer

Elliott Bates ’48 with Headmaster Dick Schell ’69

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Ward Wellman ’63 joins former Music Department Chair Charles Emerich and the Algo Rhythms

The Class of 1958 Celebrates their 55th The Class proudly inducted another prominent member into the 2012 Sill Society, and admired the two classmates inducted into the Sill Society in 2008.

Howard Hart ’58 shares his experiences with classmates.

Hart’s two-part, Headmaster’s Study talk on his illustrious career with the CIA

Members of the Class, their spouses and guests gathered in St. Joseph’s Chapel for a special memorial service.

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Alumni in Technology Over a span of four months, Melissa Holcombe ’87, Kent’s director of information technology, interviewed three alumni, Diane deCordova ’79, Margaretta Colangelo ’83 and René Lacerte ’85, about their careers in various aspects of the technology field. The interviews originally appeared in a campus e-newsletter that reports on technological resources and innovations for students and faculty. Their career

paths vary—one of the alumni featured below has been involved in technology throughout his career, while another came to the field by a more circuitous route. It’s worth noting that when all three alumni were at Kent in the 1970s and ’80s, the technology world as we know it today was in its infancy. Their careers parallel the rise in the importance of the computer and later the Internet.

Tell us a bit about your role at Google. What might a typical workday entail?

DIANE DECORDOVA ’79 worked at Google

for two years as a global sales executive focused on selling video to marketers. Prior to that, she was senior vice president for Brand Sales at Next New Networks, a media company that produces online video networks. She graduated from Princeton with a degree in politics and received a master’s in comparative government from London School of Economics and Political Science.

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I had two distinct roles in my two years at Google: My initial role was as a video sales specialist lead. That meant I deployed a team of specialists to help the YouTube sales team sell online video ads. They needed to learn a different technique to sell to marketers who usually buy ads on TV. So we spent a lot of time developing presentations. We crafted a story about how YouTube is the most powerful, persuasive, precise, and engaging platform. We developed training materials and conducted training sessions. Lastly, we launched “video ad buying” discussions with several ad agencies to encourage them to commit to spending upfront dollars with us for the next year. More recently, as the team lead for the Google BrandLab, I led a cross-functional team to develop a center of excellence for building brands online. We developed a 3,500 sq. ft. physical space with cool digital A/V tools like a fireplace made of tablets, a touchscreen table, and a 32-ft.-wide screen. The core of the experience was a workshop program designed to inspire and educate senior marketing execs from leading brands like Nike.

There weren’t really any typical workdays during this year-long project. I spent a lot of time commuting from New York to San Francisco where the site was being developed. Initially, we had to write a business plan and creative brief, and secure budgeting. Then there were a number of brainstorming sessions with architects, interior designers, software developers, hardware vendors, and Google marketers on what we should name the space. Those were fun! Once construction was under way, our time was spent more on developing agendas, content, and communications pieces so that we could begin getting clients excited to schedule a full-day visit. What was the motivation for building the BrandLab, and what was the most challenging aspect of this project?

The motivation for building the BrandLab was to raise the awareness among marketers of Google’s potential to help build their brands, and therefore their businesses. Google is primarily known as a search engine, and is heavily used by some marketers. However, those who need to introduce new brands or to persuade consumers

often rely on the sight, sound, and motion of TV. Now, with YouTube, Google+, and Android tools as part of its arsenal, Google can be highly effective at solving brand challenges. We figured that the best way to demonstrate that is to actually tackle specific challenges face to face in a collaborative workshop setting over the course of a day. The most challenging aspect of this project was that it began as a YouTube initiative, but then became more about Google. This was the right business decision, but it was made midway through the project. So many more people became involved. It had an impact on the naming, the range of content, etc. What qualities do you look for when hiring someone to join your team? How do you get a good read on whether a candidate is the right fit?

I look for ambition, curiosity, and a positive outlook. In other words, I want my team to be self-motivated, naturally inquisitive problem-solvers, and predisposed to believing they can contribute and the result will be good. It is amazing how much you can tell in a 30-minute interview from personal appearance, level of preparedness, and body language. Often the determination of “right fit” is subjective and intuitive, assuming the key qualifications are met. (As a sidebar, Google looks for role-related knowledge, leadership, cognitive skills, and Googleyness. Interviewees are rated on these characteristics.) What is one tool that you can’t live without?

I can’t live without my Android phone, but I also need my glasses to use it (eyes go with age!).

What activities or hobbies do you enjoy outside of work?

I have always loved photography, but now with digital cameras and Photoshop, I am hooked. Mostly, I love taking pictures of my new dog, a white poodle mix named Chipper. Taking care of him is probably my biggest hobby! Although, to be fair, I spend a lot of time at the theatre, now that I live in New York. And recently, I have become interested in my family genealogy. Ancestry. com can quickly become an addiction and a fascinating way to learn history. I have traced my roots back to Constantinople in 1595 and have connected with relatives in Jamaica and Texas I previously never knew existed. What book or writer has inspired you lately?

I recently read The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined by Salman Khan. It taught me so much about the educational system that we have today and also painted a very ambitious picture of what it could be in the future. I was inspired by the power of his vision for “a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere.” I have been working with digital companies for nearly 20 years now, many of which have been very compelling, but I am hoping that I can get involved in this educational evolution. As you look back at your time at Kent, is there anything you wish you could tell your younger self?

Remember to stay true to yourself and your friends. Know who you are and what your goals in life are. They will be your true north.

MARGARETTA COLANGELO ’83

lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and has worked in the software industry for over twenty years. Where do you work, and what is your role?

I am president and COO of U1 Technologies (www.u1.com). We develop messaging software that provides connectivity for real-time electronic trading to global markets for futures, options, FX, swaps, and bond trading. Our customers are Wall Street financial services firms. I am responsible for executive management and business development. How did you come to realize that you were interested in working in technology?

It was a circuitous route. I graduated from Sweet Briar College in Virginia with a major in government and a concentration in European history. After college, I moved back to San Francisco where I was born and raised, and worked at Cathedral School for Boys as a first grade teacher for two years. Then I moved to Italy, where I had studied during my junior year, and I worked at the American Embassy in Rome. I moved back to San Francisco in the early 1990s, and met a group of Silicon Valley engineers and entrepreneurs who worked in technology. I found these people, and their ideas, to be very exciting and engaging. I joined Open Horizon, a venturebacked startup that was founded by some of the early employees of Oracle. I was the 18th employee to join Open Horizon, and over five years I worked in marketing, investor relations, and corporate services. After Open Horizon, I joined several other technology companies including Esurance and Nuance Technology.

SUMMER 2013

What do you feel are your greatest strengths, and how have they helped you get to where you are today? What shortcomings or challenges have you had to overcome?

I think that my strengths are that I am optimistic and extroverted, and I have confidence. The challenge is to keep up with technology as it is evolving and to continually expand my mind to encompass the new innovations that are appearing every day. With technology changing so rapidly, how do you keep your knowledge up to date?

I surround myself with engineers and the smartest people I can find. We discuss technology constantly. I use all the new gadgets, apps and social media. I read about technology every day. I read slashdot. org, engadget.com, and gizmodo.com. Some books that I have read recently are: Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell This Will Make You Smarter by John Brockman The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Who Owns the Future? by Jaron Lanier Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age by Douglas Rushkoff

building, which is really key in building a successful company. I always hire the best people and the turnover at my company is almost zero. It is important to use tools to help with organization and structure. I actually use a planbook every day, as well as newer web-based tools. Do you have any advice for our students who might be considering careers in technology?

I encourage students to intern at a startup so that they can have exposure to technology and the people who work in this environment. Self-reliance, simplicity of life, and directness of purpose are all very valuable skills to have in a startup. I also encourage Kent students to join two alumni groups that we started on LinkedIn where alumni post internships and job opportunities: The Kent School Alumni group, for Kent students, alumni, and faculty and the Prep School Alumni group, for students, alumni, and faculty of prep schools.

KENT QUARTERLY

You come from a family of financial services entrepreneurs. What lessons did you absorb at a young age, from growing up in that environment?

I grew up listening to my dad and granddad talk shop at the dinner table. They both were serial entrepreneurs with a ton of passion around solving problems for small businesses and accountants. I learned from Granddad that listening was more valuable than talking, and I learned from Dad that passion and creativity were the core of any enterprise. I learned this by listening at the dinner table and watching them work every day. It was motivating to hear about big problems on day one and then realize months, if not years, later that the problem was solved. Patience, tenacity, and hard work are required when you start businesses. I don’t think I appreciated that as a kid, but I do know I learned it from them. What did you study in college, and what was the career path that led you to where you are today?

How did Kent prepare you for your career?

Kent is an intellectually rigorous place where students are encouraged to think. In a software company, thinking is the primary activity and the core process used to create value. Teamwork is key to success in a startup. Kent’s emphasis on competitive team sports and working together to achieve an objective is great preparation for the competitive business environment in Silicon Valley. Playing lacrosse and rowing at Kent also taught me about team

and was named Product of the Year in the financial services industry by the Business Intelligence Group. He and his family live in Portola Valley, CA.

RENÉ LACERTE ’85, a member of Kent’s

Board of Trustees, is the founder and CEO of Bill.com, a cloud-based application that helps businesses manage their bills, invoices, and cash flow. Bill.com has won many awards since its founding in 2006. In 2012 the company garnered a Best in Biz Award

I studied quantitative economics (BA) and industrial engineering (MS) in college. The degrees combined prepared me for the combination of finance and technology. After school, I worked at Price Waterhouse as an auditor and a consultant. I learned a ton from all the companies I worked with, and of course I learned accounting. After doing that for a few years, I got the itch to get back to something more technical. That led me to working for my parents’ company as a developer and operations manager. From there I moved over to Intuit and gained tremendous experience regarding software development and the importance of customer focus in all aspects of the business. Eventually, the itch came back and

this time it was to start my own company— Paycycle. That was 1999. While we sold that in 2009, I got the itch again and started Bill.com in 2006. What does it take to build a successful IT company? What are some of your guiding principles?

The core of any company or institution is its values. Before I started both companies, I defined the values I was interested in managing towards. They are at the core of whom we hire and how I run the company. The most basic values are listening to your employees and customers and to proactively communicate with them. Pretty basic in principle but it requires a tremendous amount of patience, tenacity, and hard work to pull it all together. From your vantage point in the intersection between IT and financial services, what do you see as the most significant trend in technology these days?

The social network and the cloud, which have permeated everything on a consumer level, are coming over to the business world. The idea of paper invoices, bills, and payments is so twentieth-century, and we know that at a consumer level. What’s held the business community back is the sheer amount of collaboration that they must do across people, systems, and documents. Well, the internet and the cloud are enabling that collaboration anytime and anywhere. Ultimately, when you connect businesses to pay each other, to invoice each other, you have enabled collaboration in a new way. What personal attributes do you feel have helped you most in your career? What skills have you had to work hard to develop in yourself?

Patience, listening, and hard work are at the core of what I do. Patience because it takes time to solve complex problems.

Listening because you have to listen to your heart, your customers, and your employees. And hard work because solving hard problems requires that. I am reminded on a daily basis of one of Mr. Armstrong’s quotes above his desk: “Before the gates of excellence the high gods have placed sweat.” The hardest thing to develop has been managing confrontation and proactively communicating issues and concerns that I have. It is all too easy to focus on the easy problems on a daily basis, but ultimately it is the hard ones that make the difference. I have found that oftentimes the hard ones involve discussing potentially painful topics, either canceling a project that is dear to someone’s heart or providing feedback on how to improve. Do you have any advice for our students as they look ahead to college and beyond?

One piece of advice that I picked up along the way is to think about one’s career in big chunks and not just about what one is going to do tomorrow. It’s hard when you are in college to know exactly where you want to end up, but you can think about gathering the skills and learning to get you to the next step, and when you think about it in that time frame it might inform your decisions in a different way. In addition, I would say pursue what you are passionate about passionately. Work is something we do more than anything else in life, and without passion it can turn into drudgery. Lastly, what are some hobbies or pastimes that you enjoy when you are not working?

I have two boys that are 10 and 8. They are active and I love spending time with them. As a family, we hike or ski together when we can and always have a great time. In addition, I like to run and listen to music.

SUMMER 2013

Alumni/ae Row and Boat Christenings On Saturday, May 4, alumni spanning the Classes of 1942 to 2008 returned to campus for the annual Alumni/ae Row. Some came back to row, while others simply enjoyed visiting with fellow alumni and touring the boathouse and the Benjamin Waring Partridge Rowing Center. Under the direction of coaches Eric Houston ’80 and Garrison Smith, two eights headed down the Housatonic on a beautiful spring morning. After the row and lunch in the rowing center, alumni and current KSBC oarsmen and oarswomen gathered on the field next to the boathouse for the christening of four new 4-person shells: the Alexander Jenkins III ’52, the Captain Benjamin Schramm USMC ’04, the Melissa P. Flack ’13, and The Nekvasil. After brief remarks by Alex Jenkins and Hal Flack P’08,’10,’13, Alex and his wife, Judy, Melissa Flack and Tess Nekvasil ’14 christened the boats with champagne. Eric Houston performed the honors for “The Schramm” as Ben was not able to attend. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins also generously donated additional equipment to support the rowing program: spinning bikes, speed coaches, which measure boat speed, and a SmartOar system, which measures the force a rower applies to the oar. Following the christening, alumni and parents headed to the finish line to watch KSBC boats race Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club.

Sisters Melissa ’13 and Hilary Flack ’08

Judy and Alex Jenkins ’52

Wearing a vintage KSBC hat, Nick Fitzgerald ’88 gets ready to row.

Tess Nekvasil ’14 christens the boat named in honor of her family.

Heading down river

KENT QUARTERLY

The stern of the Capt. Benjamin Schramm USMC ’04

Taking a break: Sarah Benstock ’16 (coxswain), Dominique Paiement ’08, Fred Elliott ’72, Russell Lane ’82, David Genovese ’82, Hunter Southworth ’98, Elizabeth Guernsey ’02, Gus Southworth P’98, Pim Goodbody ’55

Following the row, alumni spanning 66 years gather in front of the Sill Oar

SUMMER 2013

Christening of the Samuel Seabury King ’84 On Saturday, May 18, family members of Sam King ’84, KSBC and KGBC members, and classmates gathered at the Benjamin Waring Partridge Rowing Center for the christening of a shell in Sam’s memory. Sam passed away from heart disease on August 21, 2012, in Salem, Massachusetts. Sam came to Kent as a third former in the fall of 1980. It did not take long before he was selected by Kent School Boat Club’s Head Coach, Hart Perry, as a coxswain. In his first year Sam led his crew, the Second Eight, to an undefeated season, joining the First Boat in their perfect season in the U.S., placing these KSBC boats in the company of the great crews of Kent School. Under Sam’s directions, the Second Eight enjoyed impressive credentials—no American School Crew was ever within a length of the Second Boat. In his fourth and fifth form years, Sam became coxswain of the First Eight, and in 1982 led his proud and fast crew as they rowed with speed and dedication to a 20–3 record. The 1983 crew season saw first place finishes in the New England Championships for both KSBC and KGBC. As Coach Perry wrote in June 1983, “Sam’s command of his boat at Worcester was a large factor in the sweet victory.” In his senior year, Sam—now over six feet tall—was no longer able to cox but remained with KSBC as a manager and as a coach for the younger club crews. The shell was christened in honor of Sam—a much loved teammate and classmate—by his mother Sally Mann and brother David. Sam would appreciate that young oarsmen who aspire to continue the great traditions of KSBC will row in this beautiful shell as they find their rhythm on the Housatonic. To those family members, teammates and classmates who helped make this day possible, our heartfelt gratitude.

KENT QUARTERLY

Sam’s family members Sally Mann, Frank Burke, Dick Barton, David King and Mark Manley

Adam Davenport ’15 reading remarks from his father, Bob Davenport ’83, who was KSBC Captain of Sam King’s First Boat

KSBC Fourth Boat ready for race: Adam Davenport ’15, Anthony Rinaldi ’14, Christian Ouellette ’14, Ryan Courtney ’14, Jake Diesu ’14, Noah Burhance ’16, Nikhil Maheshwari ’15, Benedikt Folttmann ’16 and Sarah Benstock ’16

KGBC members Libby Sporer Moffitt ’83, Jennifer Robinson Haack ’84 and former KGBC coach Mark McWhinney ’75

KSBC Fourth Boat Coach Mark Gibson ’82, Sally Mann, Fred Schavoir ’84 and David King

David King christens the Samuel Seabury King ’84 shell with Sam’s mother, Sally Mann.

Guests Karen and Brad Martin ’84, P’13, Carlin van Noppen and Scott Akers ’83, Jennifer Robinson Haack ’84, Libby Sporer Moffitt ’83, Russell Lane ’82, P’16, Tomasa Lane ’16 and Tom Sanford ’83

Fourth Boat KSBC nearing the finish line

SUMMER 2013

The Eleventh Annual United States Naval Academy–Kent School Alumni Brunch U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY OFFICERS’ AND FACULTY CLUB—ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND

At the end of February, we had another wonderful gathering at the United States Naval Academy with current midshipmen, graduates, parents and friends of Kent. Thanks to everyone who made the trip to Annapolis from nearby to as far away as Norfolk, VA and Buffalo, NY. We were honored again this year that Capt. Ed Wallace could join us. Capt. Wallace USNA ’72 is Vice President of Athletic & Scholarship Programs at the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation. He works closely with current USNA Foundation Scholars at Kent School throughout the year and with other candidates from Kent interested in the U.S. Naval Academy. Our continuing thanks to Dik and Barbara Glass P’02,’05 who began this wonderful annual tradition when their son Alex was at the Academy. LT Alex Glass ’02 USNA ’06 is currently attached to the reserve air group in Norfolk and flies regularly with his old squadron, the Seahawks. Please join us next year for the 12th Annual USNA-Kent Brunch. If you are a U.S. Naval Academy graduate or currently serving our country and would like to join us next winter in Annapolis please contact Kent Alley ’82 in the Alumni Office, 860-927-6265 or alleyk@kent-schoool.edu.

Lad and Kathy Rizman, with their son, Chris Rizman ’12

Alex Glass ’02 and Kate (Hobart) Glass ’02 along with Ashley and James Thomas ’01

KENT QUARTERLY

Guests enjoy a lively discussion following brunch.

From top left to right: Alex Glass ’02, USNA ’06; James Thomas ’01; Keefe Rafferty ’11; Henry Christoph ’09; Ashley Miller ’09; Joe Savo ’09; Lad Rizman P’12; Brandon Karpf (guest of Ben Wright, from Lawrenceville); Kate (Hobart) Glass ’02; Ashley Thomas; Kirk Kostrzewski ’12; Headmaster Dick Schell ’69; Benjamin Wright ’80, USNA ’85, and George Wright; Kathy Rizman P’12; Laurie and Mark Kostrzewski P’12; Lucia and John Miller P’09 and Capt. Ed Wallace, USNA ’72.

SUMMER 2013

Kent Receptions Kent Room—Leander Club—Henley Members and Friends of the Kent Family gathered at Henley at the Kent Room of the Leander Club on July 3.

Left to right: Ben Bowers, Spencer Bowers, Barrett Naylor, Allison Bourke, Carolina Galdiz, Joe Carroll, Avery Bourke, Dick Schell, Whitney Naylor ’11, Lesea Bourke ’11, Kim Brainard Naylor ’80, Liam Bowers ’12 and Todd Gentry, former faculty member

Kent in Vero Beach Over 60 members of the Kent family gathered on a beautiful evening at the Riomar Beach Club for cocktails and dinner by the ocean. Thanks to the generosity of Foster ’56 and Penny Devereux, this annual event in March has become a highlight for alumni and their families, as well as parents of current students and alumni. Headmaster Dick Schell ’69 welcomed everyone and spoke about the state of the School and plans for the future, and Trustee Bob Anderson ’60 shared information about the financial strength of the school. Our sincere gratitude to the Devereuxes for making this wonderful annual gathering possible.

New York Yacht Club Harbour Court, Newport, RI, Event On a beautiful summer day in August, 40 Kent alumni, parents, grandparents and friends gathered for a luncheon at the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court in Newport, RI. Special thanks to Elijah Schachter ’87, former Kent School Alumni Council member, for helping to organize this wonderful gathering.

Wine Tasting in New York City On Thursday, April 4, the Alumni Council hosted a wine-tasting on the 15th floor of the New York Times building. As guests arrived, they enjoyed the photographs of Pulitzer Prize winning NYT writers that lined the halls and the beautiful view of the Hudson River in the distance. Soon afterwards, they took their seats at tables set up with six wineglasses at each place and the program began. Under the guidance of David Hamburger, senior wine buyer and director of special events at wine purveyors Acker Merrall & Condit in New York, alumni learned about the merits of wines from France and California in a program called Bordeaux vs. Napa. Wine connoisseurs and novices alike gained a great deal from Mr. Hamburger’s program, as he spoke about the two famous regions, representing the best of the traditionalist and modernist wine-making schools. Many thanks to Alumni Council members Eleanor Culbertson Albert ’65, Ashley Cooke ’98, Lindsey Huenink McCormick ’95 and Jesse Kimball ’98 for their creative ideas and organizational skills in planning this wonderful evening.

Kent School alumni, parents, grandparents and Headmaster Dick Schell overlooking Brenton’s Cove

David Jaffe ’98 and Adrianna Holiat ’01

KENT QUARTERLY

David Hamburger discusses the finer points of wine with Sam Taylor, Chris Chopek and David Ingraldi, all Class of ’03.

Byron Loflin ’79 displays the wine connoisseur’s magazine, Tong

Alumni Council member Tom Melly ’76 and Austin Berescik-Johns ’03

Richard Purington, Alumni Council member Eleanor Culbertson Albert ’65 and Trustee Ann Dickinson ’65

SUMMER 2013

KENT RECEPTIONS CONTINUED

Dallas/FlightSafety Event 26 Kent Alumni, parents and future students’ families enjoyed an exhilarating evening of piloting highest-fidelity commercial and business aircraft and helicopter simulators at the Dallas/FlightSafety International Event. Hosted by Kent Trustee, Bruce Whitman ’51, President and CEO of FlightSafety International and Alumni Council Vice-President, Ernest Franklin ’87 at the FlightSafety’s DFW Training Center at Dallas Airport on Saturday, May 4, 2013. The evening was complete with staff and classically attired stewardesses. In the words of Mike Wyatt ’80, “Evening was a great success! Our group flew over Rio, crashed landed in Telluride, flew the coast of San Francisco and night landed in Paris. Staff was warm and friendly, flight attendants with smiles and great camaraderie. Thank you very much!” Thank you to Bruce and Ernest for visualizing, sponsoring and hosting this funfilled event! Bruce offers the availability of more than 30 other FlightSafety training centers in the US to Kent Alumni Groups if they would like to host similar events to bring together their local communities. Please contact the A&D Office at 860-9276262 for assistance.

Kent alumni, parents and future students’ families pictured in front of a simulator

FlightSafety pilot and co-pilot at Dallas/ FlightSafety International Event

Stewardesses and Kent simulator pilots at Dallas/FlightSafety International Event

Saratoga Event On Sunday, August 25, alumni, parents and friends gathered at the Saratoga Raceway (NY) for an afternoon of races, lunch, seeing old friends and meeting new ones! Graham Motion ’83 was gracious to come over for lunch and visit with everyone. He stayed long enough to do a meet-and-greet, then he raced back to the paddock to watch his horse run the sixth race. A good time was had by all!

KENT QUARTERLY

Classmates Chris Steinkamp, Kevin Coogan, Doug Horner and Graham Motion, all Class of ’83

Janet Terhune ’76 with Graham Motion ’83

Prouts Neck Event Almost 40 Kent School alumni, parents and friends gathered in Prouts Neck, Maine, an annual vacation retreat of Lela Whitmer P’88, Alumni Council member Martin Whitmer ’88 and his wife, Julie, on Friday, August 9, for Appetizers on the Atlantic. Attendees braved the stormy coastal Maine weather to experience the peninsula where one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in American art, Winslow Homer, lived and painted. Thank you to Mrs. Whitmer, Martin and Julie for hosting the extended Kent family. A special thank you to Tate Whitmer for passing the delicious hors d’oeuvres!

George Smith GP’14, Graham Gadenne ’09 and Francois Gadenne P’09,’11

Julie, Tate and Martin Whitmer ’88

Martin Whitmer ’88, Katie Rolanti and Mike Rolanti ’91

Leslie Beaulieu P’15, Sara Shaw, Jett Shaw and Dyke Shaw ’77

James P’10,’12, Katie ’12, Alex ’10 and Angela Lineberger P’10,’12

SUMMER 2013

Picture this: By including Kent in your will or naming Kent as a beneficiary of your IRA or retirement plan, you can help your School continue to prosper well into the future. It is easy to arrange, and you will have the satisfaction of knowing that your gift will provide meaningful support for years to come. To learn more, please contact Denny Mantegani, Director of Planned Giving at ManteganiD@kent-school.edu 860-927-6274 or 877-770-5368 (toll-free) Or visit the planned giving website: www.kent-school.edu/plannedgiving

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID

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Kent School Alumni and Development Calendar 2013–2014 (As of August 2013) August 2013 Alumni, Parents and Friends Gathering in Prouts Neck, ME Alumni, Parents and Friends Gathering in Newport, RI Kent Day at the Races, Saratoga Springs, NY

Friday, Aug. 9 Saturday, Aug. 24 Sunday, Aug. 25

September 2013 Men’s Alumni Soccer Game at Kent Alumni, Parents and Friends Gathering in Boston, MA Alumni, Parents and Friends Gathering in Austin, TX

Saturday, Sept. 7 Tuesday, Sept. 24 Monday, Sept. 30

October 2013 Alumni, Parents and Friends Gathering in Houston, TX Scavenger Hunt at Museum of Natural History, New York, NY Fall Parents Weekend at Kent Alumni, Parents and Friends Gathering in Denver, CO Head of the Charles Tent, Boston, MA

Wednesday, Oct. 2 Saturday, Oct. 5 Friday, Oct. 11–Saturday, Oct. 12 Tuesday, Oct. 15 Saturday, Oct. 19–Sunday, Oct. 20

November 2013 Alumni, Parents and Friends Gathering in Portland, OR Alumni, Parents and Friends Gathering in Seattle, WA Alumni & Parent Spirit Day at Kent

Monday, Nov. 4 Friday, Nov. 8 Saturday, Nov. 9

December 2013 New York Yacht Club Holiday Party

Thursday, Dec. 5

January 2014 Alumni/ae Hockey Game at Kent Kent Forum in New York City

Saturday, Jan. 18 (tentative) Friday, Jan. 24

May 2014 Grandparents and Special Friends Day

Wednesday, May 7

June 2014 Prize Day Reunion Weekend 2014 at Kent

Sunday, June 1 Note new dates: Friday, June 6–Sunday, June 8