Kent Place Magazine - Winter/Spring 2022

Kent Place WINTER/SPRING 2022

28 HOW TO BE WELL

32

THE THINGS THAT SHOW US WHO WE WERE AND WHO WE WOULD BECOME

38

IT BEGAN WITH . . .

DEAR PEN PAL

A late-1960s field hockey uniform from the Kent Place archives

CONTENTS 02

From Mabie House

03

In Her View

04

Commons Room

28

How to Be Well

32 The Things That Show Us Who We Were and Who We Would Become 38

It Began With . . . Dear Pen Pal

40

Keeping Pace

47

Class Notes

60

With Wisdom

Christina Jong ’22, Sajni Shah ’24, Eirian Huang ’22, and Diana Reig ’24 review items from the Kent Place archives

“ Looking and sorting through the archives enabled me to get a glimpse into people's lives. It gave me a newfound appreciation for these artifacts from the school's past.”

—SAJNI SHAH ’24

FROM MABIE HOUSE

Kent Place EDITOR Rachel Naggar P ’25 Director of Communications ADVANCEMENT EDITOR Coral Butler Brooks Director of Advancement

Cultivating Wellness in Body and Mind

ALUMNAE EDITOR Aimee Bousquet Singer ’88 P ’25 Advancement Communications Manager

It’s been a little more than a year since we unveiled our updated mission statement: Kent Place empowers girls to be confident, intellectual, and ethical leaders who advance the world. It was a bold change that has set the tone for our entire community, but especially for the girls who come to campus every day embracing their potential and learning how to fulfill it.

It’s been exhilarating to witness our mission play out over and over in the classroom, on the stage, and on the playing fields. But how does Kent Place lay a foundation of confidence, intellect, and ethical leadership — and then build on it — when an equal watchword is resilience? The answer is just two words: health and wellness.

Health and wellness, particularly our new Learn. Live. (Wonder, Grow, Lead) program, accompanies our students throughout their time at Kent Place, teaching them the skills and courage to advocate for themselves, strengthening the connection between mind and body, and helping them live a life of balance and joy. The work is critical to this generation of students — it’s the reason we’ve designated it one of the priorities in our strategic plan, which recognizes that wellness is a condition for successful learning and leadership.

In the spirit of one of our new practices, I invite you to relax with the Heart-Focused Breathing Technique, a quick, energy-saving, self-regulating strategy we’re teaching across campus. Concentrate on the area of your heart.

Imagine that your breath is flowing in and out of your heart and breathe a little more slowly and deeper than usual. Do this for a minute or more. And once you’re centered, turn to page 28 for a look at our Learn. Live. program.

Yours for Kent Place,

Dr. Jennifer C. Galambos Head of School

02

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

CONTRIBUTORS Scott Butterworth Andrea Dawson Lori L. Ferguson Julie Gentile Grace Kennedy Bobbi Moran Erin Peterson Lainey Segear P ’34 Edel Thomas Doris Troy, Copy Editor Julia Wall P ’23 ’27 CREATIVE DIRECTION & DESIGN 2COMMUNIQUÉ PHOTOGRAPHERS Peter Chollick Eric Hartmann Will Hauser John O’Boyle Michael Rubenstein Mark Wyville PRINTING Prism Color Corp.

Kent Place is the official magazine of Kent Place School and is published twice a year by the Communications Office, in partnership with the Advancement Office, for alumnae, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends of the school.

Kent Place School 42 Norwood Avenue Summit, NJ 07901 (908) 273-0900 kentplace.org We welcome your input: communications@kentplace.org

IN HER VIEW

IN A WORD OR PHRASE, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE KENT PLACE? “ Foundation”

“ Amazing faculty”

—SUE (SAVAGE) SPEERS ’47

“Forever friends” —CHANTAL (KULLMAN) REINLIEB ’90

“Wonderful, strong” —NANCY PURDY ’47

“Creativity” —HARTY (PLATT) DU PONT ’70

“ Nonthreatening encouragement to lead” —DORIS (HODGES) HEISER ’61

“ Unconditionally supportive in realizing your potential”

“ Sisterhood” —EVELYN MUKHERJEE ’18

—SONIA (LEONARDOW) DICKINSON ’66

—OLIVIA MUKHERJEE ’16

“ Roots”

“ Lifelong friendships”

—MARLA MCDONALD ’79

—RONNIE (GRAUMAN) BISHOP ’90

“ Affected my future in many ways”

“ Empowering”

—PAM KAPSIMALIS ’79

—HELEN (PREUS) MAIRS ’47

“ Challenging, but encouraging” —CAMILLE BRZECHFFA ’16

“ Nurtures leadership potential”

“ Inspiring” —KATHANNE (HARTER) WEBSTER ’47

“ Family”

—KATRINA PETERSON ’16

“ Top in academics, athletics, arts, and making friends”

“ Exceptionally valuable” —JULIE (ABRAMS) DUNBAR ’54

—ANNE (CAMPBELL) DOWELL ’47

—JUDY CHAMBERLAIN ’70

“ Think, ladies, think” (Miss Wolfe) —EVELYN (FRANCE) KALAGHER ’47

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

03

COMMONS ROOM NEWS AND VIEWS FROM KENT PLACE

BRILLIANT DETERMINATION

ACES GALORE FOR VARSITY VOLLEYBALL THE STATS

NJSIAA Non-Public A Semifinalists NJISAA Prep A Champions UCIAC Conference Champions Union County Athletic Conference Watchung Division Champions Union County Conference Player of the Year: Iman Handy ’22 22–0, undefeated regular season Ranked #9 in the state Co-captains: Iman Handy ’22 and Victoria Nouss ’22 THE HIGHLIGHTS

Ever since 2018, when Reynaldo Ferreira (Coach Rey) took the helm of Varsity Volleyball, the Dragons’ steady improvement and their energy have commanded attention. Last fall, that energy reached new heights.

Capping the most successful season in the program’s history — during which senior Co-captain Iman Handy surpassed 500 career kills — the team powered its way to the state semifinals, earning a top-10 state ranking. What’s more, the team defeated perennial rivals Union Catholic and Westfield, each on more than one occasion. Not bad for a team whose roster contains only six juniors and seniors. (For more about Coach Rey, see Scorecard, page 16.)

04

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING WINTER 2022 2022

“ This year’s accomplishments brought the volleyball program the recognition I knew it deserved.

There was a ton of hard work and sacrifice along the way, and I’m glad the journey provided the team with lasting friendships, an energized school community, and county and prep tournament firstplace trophies.”

—CO-CAPTAIN IMAN HANDY ’22

The 2021–22 Varsity Volleyball team: (l–r) Sabrina Skyers ’22, Julia Carey ’25, Gretchen Cadranell ’22, Annika Bhatia ’23, Rhyan Brown ’24, Margo D'Angelo ’23, Iman Handy ’22, Alexandria Grinis ’25, Victoria Nouss ’22, Margeaux Morial ’24, Alyma Kardownik ’24, Lilly Gomes ’24, Eden Selassie ’25, Abby Werbel ’25, and Lauren Osuala ’24

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

05

COMMONS ROOM

BRAVE & BRILLIANT

Georgia Post-Lipnick ’22 Georgia Post-Lipnick can scarcely remember a time when she wasn’t making music. A violinist since age 4, she switched to viola in high school. “My mom grew up playing the oboe and majored in music,” she says, “and she wanted my sister and me to play instruments as well.”

Her mother got her wish. Nowadays, you’ll usually find Georgia with a viola in her hands. She’s co-president of the Upper School Orchestra and performs with the

Harambe Chamber Orchestra, a group that specializes in contemporary works by underrepresented composers. Off campus, she studies viola and orchestral studies with the Juilliard Pre-College program and performs as principal violist with the New York Youth Symphony.

Georgia also sings, and is a member of the school’s Chamber Singers as well as the New Jersey Youth Chorus. “I’m not sure I consider myself a singer,” she says modestly,

“but learning to produce sounds on my own, without an instrument, has enhanced my ability to use my ear and think more carefully about performing as part of an ensemble.”

Georgia’s musical prowess is widely admired around KPS. “Georgia is a musician’s musician,” says Edel Thomas, chair of the Performing Arts Department. “She brings her advanced reading skills and performance sensibility to every rehearsal — it’s infectious for those around her, who revel in her talent. Even more important, she’s a kind, helpful ensemble member who enjoys making music with others.”

Georgia is equally accomplished within the classroom. “I consider myself a math and science person,” she says. “I like the logical, organizational qualities of those fields; they’re a nice complement to my musical pursuits.”

A KPS student since ninth grade, Georgia says it was students’ pervasive sense of intellectual curiosity that initially attracted her. “I know it sounds cheesy, but when I first visited Kent Place, I felt that the students I met were genuinely interested in participating, taking initiative, and working to be valued members of the community, rather than just chasing a grade,” she says.

Indeed, it’s this delight in learning that Georgia will miss most when she graduates.

“I love our assemblies in the Great Room,” she says. “The questions students ask are confident and enthusiastic — it’s inspiring.”

She’ll miss the annual winter music concert, too, she quickly adds. “STAR is my favorite tradition,” she says. “I love the fact that the whole Upper School participates. It goes beyond music — it’s a special night for everyone.”

MORNING MEETING

STEM SISTERS. To kick off robotics

and faculty took a break from their

and the Lord Sterling Environmental

relax. WHAT’S THE WORD, KPS?

season this fall, as part of her Girl

academic work and hit various

Center were just some of the sites

This year, the Diversity, Equity, In-

Scout Gold Award, junior Charlotte

beautiful mountain trails for the

our students journeyed to for some

clusion, and Belonging Office (DEIB)

Betz and other members of the

second-annual Trailblazer Day, the

experiential learning. QUIET TIME

has been working to ensure that the

Upper School Robotics Team held an

division’s newest tradition. FINALLY,

FOR THE WORKING MIND. This fall,

entire KPS community is involved in

interactive launch event for Primary

FIELD TRIPS! Waterloo Village, the

the Upper School opened the Zen

its efforts, which led to designating

School students. LOG OFF. SHOW

New York Botanical Garden, the

Room, a space in the Fitness Center

our word of the month. From Sep-

UP. HIKE ON. Upper School students

Urban Farm, the Penn Museum,

where students can decompress and

tember through

06

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

[continued on p. 8]

BOUNDLESS OPPORTUNITY

STEM @ KPS: DEVELOPING CURIOUS MINDS STEM education at KPS is defined as “opportunities that enhance understanding of, confidence in, and a positive attitude toward science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by cultivating connections across disciplines.”

Curricular and cocurricular pathways diversify participation, unleash creativity, encourage learning through play, support risk taking, and promote collaboration among the sciences, engineering, mathematics, the arts, and the humanities.

Ultimately, our STEM opportunities aim to develop curious minds that are inspired to seek and solve problems, embrace uncertainty, study phenomena, and innovate, and as a result, students gain the following key competencies:

Analytical skills to draw conclusions from research results; technical skills to troubleshoot the source of a problem, repair a machine, or debug an operating system; and computer capabilities to stay current on appropriate software and equipment.

In Engineering and the Lived Experience, Margot Callahan ’24 and Nina Choi ’24 build a finger clip to monitor oxygen levels and heart rate after exercise.

Science knowledge and the ability to break down a complex scientific system into smaller parts, recognize cause-andeffect relationships, and defend opinions using facts.

Engineering skills and habits of mind such as computer programming, critical thinking, systems thinking, problem-solving, designing and making, 3D visual spatialization, creativity, optimism, and ethical consideration.

Mathematical knowledge and skills for calculations, measurements, pattern recognition, and modeling.

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

07

COMMONS ROOM

MATH FOR A MODERN WORLD

Salsa dancing in Women's Voices

SPANISH THAT LEAPS OFF THE PAGE When Sandra C. Medina joined the Kent Place faculty this year to teach Spanish, she saw one of her classes as an opportunity to shake up how teenagers study the language.

“Language learning comes with exposure,” Dr. Medina says. “We need to see how language is used in real life.”

With that approach, she reworked the syllabus for Women’s Voices, an elective that gathers the school’s most experienced Spanish scholars. Literature remains an important unit, but Dr. Medina added others on music, cinema, painting, sculptures, and installations. Every form of expression, the course now signals, is worthy of critical analysis.

Even dancing.

To a pulsing beat and Celia Cruz’s rich alto, students in the Upper School spent one class doing their best to replicate the dance moves of their salsa instructor, Assistant Director of Admission for Outreach and Engagement Joseph Saldoriga.

“When we’re exposed to a new language,” Dr. Medina says, “we call upon all of our senses to understand what’s being said to us, to get the information and then to comprehend in the moment that ‘they’re saying this to me.’”

Ultimately, Dr. Medina says she hopes the scholarly creativity inspires students to develop their own forms of Spanish expression.

“I just want you to think independently, that’s all,” she tells the class. “That’s my expectation. And if you learn a little bit more about the language, the culture, and your confidence in speaking it, I think the job is done.”

The start of the school year brought exciting changes to the mathematics program, beginning in Grade 8. The new mathematics paths integrate content from Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and Precalculus into the new sequences.

Students in Grade 8 now take Math 1 or Math 1/2, depending on the pace that makes sense for each individual. Math 1 is the start of a four-year sequence leading to college-level calculus and/or STEM electives in Grade 12; Math 1/2 follows the same sequence at an accelerated pace, integrating four years of content into three.

“The pathways are about honoring students and making them feel supported wherever they are,” says Grade 8 Team Leader and MS/US math teacher Alicia Rodriguez. “If students would benefit from a pace that offers practice time in class, we’re able to support them, and if they’re asking for faster-paced content, we can support that as well.”

Both sequences provide interdisciplinary connections, such as a “Fast Fashion” unit combining statistics, history, ethics, and science. Mrs. Rodriguez says she’s thrilled with the launch: “We’re excited for students to make connections between what they’re learning and what’s happening in society.”

Supriya Kamilla ’26 and MS/US math teacher Alicia Rodriguez

December, that word has been

written by students for students.

The Primary School welcomed Dr.

world. Hosted by the Global Educa-

identity, respect, belonging, and

IT’S SHOWTIME! After a year of no

Rajani LaRocca, the award-winning

tion Benchmark Group, this year’s

awareness. LET’S GET TALKING.

in-person performances, our newly

author of Seven Golden Rings, to

topic was “Reducing Inequality in

As part of seventh- and eighth-

structured classes of seventh- and

Hauser Hall for an interactive pro-

and among Countries.” This is the

grade Advisory and spearheaded

eighth-grade Performing Arts

gram for Preschool through Grade 5

second time our students have tak-

by eighth-grader Claire Cherill, the

students came together and showed

students. ZOOM-ING AROUND THE

en part in this powerful experience.

Ethics Institute rolled out Ethical

what they learned for an audience of

GLOBE. Middle Schoolers participat-

¡HOLA, UPPER SCHOOLERS! As part

Conversation Cards, real-world

other students, faculty, and parents.

ed in an international Zoom dialogue

of their celebration of Hispanic Her-

scenarios and questions about them

WELCOME BACK TO CAMPUS.

with fellow students around the

itage Month,

08

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

[continued on p. 10]

Tenth-graders Margot Callahan, Megan Altier, Kathryn Cepeda, Emma Claire Quinn, and Clare Pawlowski work on their winning Ethics in Action project in the Fabrication Lab.

Measure Often, Cut Once The threat from COVID-19 caused many schools and offices to install plexiglass shields to reduce the spread of virus particles. As the emergency fades and the shields come down, though, what happens to the piles of plastic?

Last winter, five Kent Place students took up this question through the Ethics Institute at Kent Place’s Ethics in Action program. “We thought to ourselves, ‘How might we repurpose this in order to decrease waste?’” says Margot Callahan ’24.

In 2020–21, Ethics in Action challenged students to formulate a local solution to one of the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals — health and well-being.

Along with Margot, members of the Class of 2024 Megan Altier, Kathryn Cepeda, Clare Pawlowski, and Emma Claire Quinn proposed to transform some of the 5,000 feet of

plexiglass stashed in a Kent Place basement into rulers and other supplies, particularly for the Primary School. Using the Center for Innovation’s power tools and laser cutter, they carved samples that proved the viability of their idea. In March, they presented their project to a panel of Ethics in Action judges.

The judges determined the idea to be the best high school proposal in last year’s Design Expo. With $1,000 in seed money, the five sophomores are now making the supplies.

“Once the plexiglass is cut down into manageable pieces to fit into the laser cutter, it’s pretty quick from there,” Margot says.

Kent Place has enough plexiglass on hand to benefit not only the Primary School, says Clare, but also area schools that are short on rulers, handheld whiteboards, and clipboards.

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

09

COMMONS ROOM

LIVE FROM NEW YORK. Early in the morning, a group of eighth-graders from Dr. Galambos’s fall Leadership Seminar traveled to New York City to be part of a live broadcast at The Today Show’s celebration of International Day of the Girl. We were thrilled that our students, together with Dr. Galambos, Board Chair Anne Grissinger P ’25, and CFOO Genevieve Madigan P ’27, represented Kent Place and our message of “Empower Girls.

Advance the World.”

C’est Magnifique Sami Sharp ’22 loves studying both the French language and ethics. Thanks to the independent-study opportunity offered exclusively to Kent Place seniors, Sami can blend her two favorite subjects into one project — and what an interesting project it is!

“Ethical Analysis of French Literature” is a yearlong immersion into the ethical issues raised in three works of French literature: L’étranger (The Stranger), by Albert Camus; Corps désirable (Desirable Body), by Hubert Haddad, and Le Deuxième Sexe (The Second Sex), by Simone de Beauvoir.

The project, which Sami designed and proposed to the Academic Committee, comprises written reflections in French, monthly presentations to the French 6 class, meetings with Ethics Institute Director Karen Rezach and French teacher Francoise Moreau, and a final paper incorporating all of her reading and reflections.

Sami and her family lived in France for a short time, so she’s comfortable reading and writing in French, and she’s competed on the nationally ranked Kent Place Ethics Bowl team since sophomore year. Still, tackling complex ethical issues in a second language is a challenge, and Sami readily accepts it.

Students, who are ready to delve into topics that fascinate them and want to hone the skills necessary to complete a long-term project, may apply for approval for an independent study.

“I’ve learned time management,” says Sami, “and I’ve also learned how to follow my own interests and advocate for what I want to study.”

“ Everybody has a place at our school.

Sometimes you fumble and sometimes you score, but we are always there to cheer each other on.”

—CAROLINE TRACY '29, REPRESENTING THE FIFTH GRADE AT THIS YEAR'S VIRTUAL THANKSGIVING ASSEMBLY

third-grade Spanish students at-

I–III level next year! MUSIC ACROSS

OUR PART. In collaboration with the

to discuss literature on a specific

tended the Upper School’s Morning

THE AGES. The Primary School

New Jersey Department of Health

theme. Among past themes have

Meeting. Each held up a flag from

held its first Cozy Cub Concert of

(NJDOH), Kent Place held two vacci-

been New York, Higher Education,

a Spanish-speaking country and —

the year, featuring “The Communi-

nation clinics on campus for children

Memoirs, the Immigrant Experience,

entirely in Spanish — gave a speech

ty of Instruments.” Our orchestra

and adults. More than 250 people

and Black American Stories. This

that discussed facts about it. DRAG-

conductor, Mr. Thornhill, brought

came to campus to get their shots.

year’s theme is Coming of Age, with

ONS ARE REAL. Congratulations to

some of the Upper School students

BOOK CLUB, ANYONE? The Parents

selections tied to the culture and

our 11 student-athletes who intend

to play their instruments with the

of Alumnae and Current Parents

heritage being celebrated by the

to play collegiate sports at the Div

children in Junior Pre-K. PLAYING

Book Group meets four times a year

KPS community each month.

10

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

FIVE THINGS ABOUT . . .

THE TEACHING AND LEARNING LAB Our Teaching and Learning Lab lies on the perimeter of the Center for Innovation lobby adjacent to the STEM Innovation Lab, the Ethics Institute, and the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. And it’s there where students (and teachers, too) can take advantage of a variety of resources to assist them in navigating the Middle and Upper School years. Here’s a sampling of who and what make their home in the lab.

1

WRITING CENTER Staffed by members of the Upper School English Department, the Writing Center has for decades been a source of support, in any academic discipline, for Upper School students. Now in its new home, it offers the same outstanding assistance but also provides ample space for students to work individually or in small groups with faculty.

2

5

LEARNING SUPPORT COORDINATOR The Middle and Upper School Learning Support Coordinator (formerly known as the Learning Specialist) guides students in the areas of organization, time management, executive functioning, and learning strategies. Although her specific expertise benefits students with learning differences, all KPS students and their parents may use her as a resource.

RESOURCES FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING The lab contains a growing library for teachers to learn about theory and to develop lessons as well as a collection of books to guide students in their writing.

4

REGISTRAR AND ACADEMIC SCHEDULER Responsible for student attendance, academic scheduling, record keeping, and transcripts, the Kent Place Registrar encourages students to stop by with questions as they navigate the Middle and Upper Schools.

3

ASSISTANT HEAD OF SCHOOL FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING The chief academic leader at Kent Place, the Assistant Head of School for Teaching and Learning oversees the entire academic program from Preschool through Grade 12. She works in collaboration with the Division directors, the Upper School Academic Dean, and all department chairs to implement Learning with Purpose — a pillar of our strategic plan — and to ensure a cohesive, responsive, challenging, and relevant academic experience for all students.

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

11

COMMONS ROOM

CHANGING COURSE(S)

Curricular Change: Forward Facing, Mission Aligned Empower Girls. Advance the World. This is the mission statement of Kent Place’s new strategic plan, and a central pillar is curriculum development, calling on the school to “transform academic structures and practices to further develop intellectual leaders who think critically and ethically.”

Not surprisingly, changes are often achieved through new courses, says Assistant Head of School for Teaching and Learning Julie Gentile. “We have a well-established system for proposing, developing, and approving classes,” she says, “as well as guidelines for curriculum-shaping initiatives, such as the introduction of a textbook to an existing course.” All curriculum decisions are made thoughtfully, she says, and the broader the changes, the more people involved in the decision-making.

New courses are typically introduced for one of two reasons, says Ms. Gentile.

“In many cases, a proposal is generated by a department chair or faculty member in response to student interests or requests.

At other times, a new course may be designed to address our students’ changing educational needs.”

For example, she says, engineering courses on such topics as computer programming were not often found in schools 15 years ago, whereas today they’re almost commonplace. When KPS realized that educational needs and interests in this area were changing, it responded. Among the courses now offered are Introduction to Computer Science — a requirement in the Upper School — and Robotics and Autonomous Systems.

Likewise, anticipating the need for broader education in diversity, equity, and inclusion, KPS launched its Upper School Black studies course in 2019, before the emergence of the racial-reckoning movement that has galvanized this country since the summer of 2020.

A great deal of internal and external research is conducted before creating any

12

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

course, says Ms. Gentile. “Faculty members advocating for a course explore interdisciplinary connections, the ways in which its content and skills will fill a need, and how they fit into our scope and sequence,” she says. “They also examine the course with an eye to the university level, considering what preparatory work our students must do to advance in their college studies.”

Occasionally, new faculty arrive on campus with their own courses already formulated. The timetable for developing a new, yearlong course, however, is typically 12 months, but a trimester course can be built more quickly. “KPS offers grants and professional-development money to faculty who’d like to create a course from scratch or flesh out an existing idea,” says Ms. Gentile.

Carey Gates, chair of the Department of Visual Arts, is well acquainted with the course-development process. He recently led an initiative to revitalize a substantial portion of the visual arts curriculum. “We moved away from material-based classes like drawing and painting to more principle-based courses, such as 2-D Design and 2-D Design #2,” he says. “For example, lots of students are excited about painting, and now they can explore that material in an array of classes, rather than solely in the painting course.

“Uncoupling the curriculum from the materials gave us an opportunity to respond more to students’ interests,” he says, “and potentially grab more lifelong learners and lovers of art by appealing to students through a variety of avenues.”

Providing students with tools that engage, inform, and inspire them to contribute to their world is key to the KPS mission, says Ms. Gentile: “We’re always thinking about who we are as a school for girls. We want to ensure that we’re mission aligned and offering our students an education that will ultimately empower them to become confident, informed, and ethical leaders within their communities.”

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

13

COMMONS ROOM SCORECARD

Meet Jesse Schulman, the New Assistant Director of Athletics What makes you passionate about your job?

Athletics is a huge part of my life as a player, fan, coach, and administrator (fun fact: I met my wife playing flag football). To find a career that enables me to utilize my strengths while being around sport and competition is a dream come true. I also like working in education, as I find it rewarding to have the opportunity to shape the next generation.

What’s your greatest wish for our Dragons?

One of the biggest draws for me in coming to Kent Place was the plan to build a state-of-theart athletic complex. In my short time here, our teams have had tremendous success and it's been extremely enjoyable to be a part of that winning culture. However, I think there’s still room for growth, and a new facility would help to bring KPS Athletics to the next level. Participating in that process is something I’m looking forward to. Go Dragons!

Before arriving at KPS, Jesse Schulman was director of athletics and physical education at Williamsburg Northside School, in Brooklyn, and assistant to the athletic director at Avenues: The World School, in Manhattan. He has taught K–8 physical education and coached girls varsity basketball, boys middle school basketball, and girls flag football. He earned his BA from SUNY Geneseo in business administration and his master’s in sports administration from the University of Miami.

14

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

DRAGONS ARE ON FIRE! Kudos to our fall athletes and coaches for an incredible fall season that showcased determination, heart, and teamwork. Our athletic teams collectively had their winningest season in KPS history!

VOLLEYBALL •U nion County Conference Watchung Division Champions •U CIAC Champions •N JISAA Prep A State Tournament Champions •U nion County Conference Player of the Year: Iman Handy ’22 TENNIS •U nion County Conference Watchung Division Champions •U CIAC Conference Champions •M oorestown Classic Champions

CROSS COUNTRY •N JISAA Prep A State Champions •K PS XC finished season at Meet of Champions as Top Private School in New Jersey •U nion County Conference Coach of the Year: Danielle Stanton • Union County Conference Runner of the Year: Lindsay Hausman ’23 MIDDLE SCHOOL SOCCER •F inished season undefeated, 7–0 •T wo wins vs. Oak Knoll; shutout against Pingry, 3–0

FIELD HOCKEY •N JISAA Prep A State Tournament Champions •N JSIAA Non-Public North Runner-Up

BACK IN ACTION. This fall, our Middle School tennis and soccer teams each posted 7–0 seasons, while the cross country and field hockey programs worked to build foundational skills and developed a deeper passion for the sport.

Olivia Peters ’26

GET TO KNOW PILAR TORRES ’22 What goals and hopes do you have for your teammates?

My main goal is to create a well-bonded team by bringing back some of the “traditional” ice hockey activities we couldn’t do last year because of COVID-19, such as team dinners and locker-room chats. In order to ensure safety, not only could we not participate in those, but we also couldn’t always have fans at our games. I’m excited to see some normalcy return in terms of our traditions so the underclassmen know what the team was like when I was in their grade.

Congratulations on being recruited to play field hockey at Williams. What does it mean to be able to play there with your sister?

In ninth grade, my sister and I grew very close. I was grateful that we got one season together; being able to play again with her in college never really crossed my mind. Even when I was considering different schools, I took her influence out of the equation in order to ensure that I was making the best decision for myself. However, when it came down to just a couple of schools, I couldn’t ignore how happy and successful she was (and still is) at Williams. The decision quickly became very easy and I can’t wait for next fall. Her support has always made my life easier, so it will be wonderful to have my sister by my side as I enter a new environment.

After you graduate from KPS, what legacy as an athlete would you like to leave?

All of my coaches can attest to that fact that I love KPS athletics. Having field hockey and ice hockey practices every day after school makes all the other aspects of my life much easier. As I begin my last season, the only phrase that sums up how I feel about the past four years is “Time flies when you’re having fun.” I want people to remember my pride in Kent Place and my positive mindset through tougher days. In terms of the Upper School Athletic Association, I hope to leave the legacy that all students, even those who don't necessarily consider themselves "athletes," can participate in fun athletic activities that bring them closer to their grade. From a Ping-Pong tournament, to a PowderPuff game, to a weekly fitness challenge, any athletic activity — even if it’s doing just a small amount — can help someone become happier and healthier.

Pilar Torres, now a senior, is captain of Varsity Field Hockey and Varsity Ice Hockey. She has been a key member of both varsity teams since her freshman year. This year, she is president of the Upper School Athletic Association, a committee which works to bolster school spirit and Dragon pride.

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

15

COMMONS ROOM SCORECARD

The Volleyball Whisperer Last fall, in only his fourth season as head coach of Varsity Volleyball (he was assistant coach for two years before that), Reynaldo Ferreira led the Dragons to their first-ever state semifinal. Perhaps even more significant, says Director of Athletics Bobbi Moran, he helped ignite an esprit de corps that not only turned the program around, but also united the school community.

“We call him the Volleyball Whisperer because he’s never a coach who will raise his voice,” says Ms. Moran. “He can see the soul of every kid he works with. He treats all his student-athletes with the utmost respect and at the same time draws everything out of them.”

Testament to his success: a packed Field House for home games and a whopping 50 students who tried out last year for the Middle School team, which Coach Rey also helps to oversee. “He doesn’t just coach a team,” says Ms. Moran. “He runs a program. I’m honored to work with him.”

“ A huge part of our success was the culture Coach Rey set. We walked into every practice with purpose, always aiming to give 110 percent so we could give 150 percent in games.”

—CO-CAPTAIN IMAN HANDY ’22

You’ll also find Coach Rey . . .

•S erving as director and head coach of the Conquest Elite Volleyball Club (before that, he was assistant head coach at Hudson Catholic Regional High School) •C ompeting with the Garden Empire Volleyball Association •S etting team goals: advance to the Tournament of Champions and secure a third prep title

GAMETIME THOUGHTS

“ Pingry asked us to compete in the Ed Scott Invitational, and I came in 11th! Then, at that same meet, against seven other schools, we WON! I'll always remember that moment. We won our first trophy! I’ll never forget this crosscountry season and my team — we bonded so much.”

—TESSA VUCHIC ’26 Tessa, who has been at KPS since Kindergarten, ran for the Middle School's Cross-Country team this fall.

16

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

The Lasso Way As an athletic administrator and coach, I’m often asked what it takes to produce consistently successful teams.

To answer, I turn to the coaching brilliance of the title character in Apple TV’s Ted Lasso.

BELIEVE. Belief alone doesn’t create a winning team.

That takes commitment, dedication, and sacrifice on the part of all involved, but here’s where I toss in a bit of Lasso: Believe in your players and the roles and responsibilities of the extended lineup.

Many good teams will always be just that — good — because they don’t realize that the secret ingredient to a great team is believing in it.

Studies show that one minute of mental training is equal to seven minutes of physical training.

Imagine that!

How much time do coaches put into the mental game? How much thought goes into building the confidence of the players who aren’t the stars?

Good coaches concentrate on the starting lineup, the goal scorers, the savers, the playmakers; great coaches, like Lasso, value the gifts of every individual in the program. From the “kit-man” to the “Boss Lady,” from the assistant coach to the most talented player, it takes a community to build a winning program, and I thank Ted Lasso for reminding me of this.

I’ve seen good teams become average teams when individuals aren’t seen, heard, and appreciated, and I’ve witnessed average teams transforming into tournament champions when everyone in the program is valued for the skills each brings to the table. Great coaches empower the voices and talents that lie in the second part of the roster; and when it comes time for the tournament, these athletes are the real game-changers. Internally, we know this. We know that when people believe in themselves, they can and will accomplish great things.

So how does this relate to KPS Athletics?

Our mission is to build strong, confident, self-assured young women through their experience in our athletic programs. We don’t promise that getting there will be easy. We know there will be peaks and valleys along the way, but we believe in the ability and the gifts that every individual on our rosters brings to our program. We respect and acknowledge the voice of every individual, and we know that it takes training, commitment, dedication, and sacrifice from everyone to get where we want to be. We’re willing to put in the work because we know that results will come.

Try it for yourself. Put a BELIEVE sticky note somewhere where you can see it and spend just a couple of minutes a day reflecting on it.

You may discover that it’s just the thing you need to ascend from good to great.

—BOBBI MORAN, ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

17

COMMONS ROOM

History and Literature: A Meeting of the Minds

Interim English Department Chair Kimberly Lee in class

As much as literature relies on a protagonist and a point of view, it also needs a sense of place and context. History, meanwhile, becomes far more compelling when personal narratives breathe life into cold dates and facts.

The study of literature, in other words, can contribute significantly to history classes and vice versa. As 10th-grade English teacher and Interim Chair of the English Department Kimberly Lee puts it, “It’s hard to empathize with a story and its characters unless you know their history.”

Kent Place has long encouraged this overlap in 11th grade with the Cumulative Humanities Project, in which students pursue an independent research project involving both subjects. Now 10th-graders are experiencing the same interdisciplinary approach.

As their history class, taught by History Chair Rashied McCreary P ’29 ’34, examines the Vietnam War, for example, those students can reflect on insights from Kim Thúy’s novel, Ru, about the Vietnamese boat people who escaped war in their homeland and immigrated to North America. At the same time, speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. highlight the gap between America’s stated ideals in fighting the war and its practices back home.

“History is a tapestry of all of our stories — you cannot have one without the other.” Ms. Lee says. “The historical lens allows students to view and see and feel the weight of the burdens with those whose stories have survived.”

These “linkages” between the disciplines, says Dr. McCreary, help “create a greater alignment between the humanities.”

A WELCOMED RETURN. The Kent Place Gallery brought in its first featured artist, Juno Zago, since the pandemic.

The exhibit, Stolen Goods, was full of rich and intensely colored works on canvas that combine drawn and painted figures, abstract forms, and found and collaged material.

Mr. Zago held a few artist visits to speak directly to students about his work and the themes his paintings represent.

18

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

BRAVE & BRILLIANT

Sanjana Shah ’22 Sanjana Shah is crazy about chemistry, and it’s a love that’s baked into her DNA. “My grandfather was an avid organic chemist who worked in his lab right up to the day he died, in his eighties,” she says. “As a little kid, I spent hours there with him. He would draw diagrams of polyunsaturated fats to

entertain me, and even though I didn’t understand them, I could see his genuine love for the subject matter. He passed that passion on to me.”

Today, Sanjana understands those childhood diagrams and is eager to use her aptitude for chemistry to solve global prob-

lems, such as environmental damage. “For my Cumulative Humanities Project junior year, I read Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, which details the abuse of pesticides,” she says. “It inspired me to consider how I could apply my interests in chemistry and history to solve problems that affect the entire world.”

The viability of this path was cemented in Sanjana’s mind last summer, during her participation in the Yale Young Global Scholars program. “Students from all over the world gathered to address global challenges,” she says. “It opened my eyes to all the challenges I can tackle with others in order to help society.”

Sanjana’s commitment to addressing issues collaboratively extends beyond the classroom. A gifted lacrosse player, she and sister Shivani ’24 participate in Nation United, an elite youth lacrosse program dedicated to highlighting diversity in the sport.

“It’s a nice community where we feel like we belong,” she says. “We’re using our skills and social media to demonstrate that people of color are good at lacrosse and we’re learning important lessons about how to respond to environments that lack diversity.”

Sanjana is confident that she’s honed the skills needed to make her voice heard.

“During my years at Kent Place, I’ve learned about support systems through interactions with my peers and teachers,” she says. “I’ve realized that I should never be afraid to share my values or speak my truth and that I’m not alone in my journey.”

Upper School chemistry and medicinal chemistry teacher Samantha Prato knows that Sanjana will have an impact on her community, whatever path she takes.

“Sanjana is a prime example of the type of student who uses learning and takes on projects to deepen her understanding of the world around her,” says Ms. Prato. “It’s inspiring and refreshing to have a student who has a passion for taking what she learns to make this world a better place. She loves to find ways in which different areas of studies intersect and the significance they hold, especially with regard to our environment.

She’s the sort of person to lift those around her just by her curious nature and ability to work hard.”

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

19

COMMONS ROOM

Middle School Dean Neisha Payne teaches the Identity course to an enthusiastic class.

A Strength-based Approach to Middle School What do ethics, leadership, identity, wellness, social justice, and STEM have in common?

They make up the pillars of the Grade 6 Seminar. Now in its second year, the seminar is a series of mini-courses all six-graders take in addition to their traditional classes. Broken into three modules — STEM: Innovating for Our Future; Wellness, Identity, and Social Justice; and Ethics and Leadership — the seminar occurs at an age when students are naturally extending their world from the self to the group.

“Our intention is to give Grade 6 students a common language to begin exploring their new home away from home and introduce the core pillars of our cocurricular experience,” says Middle School Director Kooheli Chatterji. “Everything we know from neuroscience tells us that at this age, the brain benefits from being exposed to a wide range of topics, concepts, disciplines, skills, and competencies.”

20

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

The seminar is strength based, meaning the emphasis is on harnessing the interests and skills students already have, rather than trying to mold them into a certain type of leader or thinker.

In STEM: Innovating for Our Future, students unleash their creativity as they innovate, engineer, and code. Throughout the course, students gain content knowledge and skills in computer programming, problem-solving, human-centered design, and systems thinking and develop an appreciation for the impacts of computer science and engineering for the world.

Students in the Ethics and Leadership module look at the qualities and skills of the people who inspire them and then identify circumstances in which they themselves are already using those skills. Then they figure out how they can develop those skills and apply them in new ways.

“Our attention is on both action in leadership and empowering others,” says Holly

Doyle, MS Latin and history teacher, Girls’ Leadership Institute Director, and Ethics and Leadership module instructor. “We talk about how a leader doesn’t always have to be the person in charge or have all the answers.

Leaders can be vulnerable.”

Opportunities for self-discovery continue with the Wellness, Identity, and Social Justice module, led by Middle School Dean of Students and math teacher Neisha Payne.

Here students learn the vocabulary and gain the historical understanding to feel comfortable talking about such topics as their own racial identity, their family background, and current issues related to race in our country.

“It’s very important for our students to understand who they are and what they stand for, and to have factual information with which to engage in conversations about race in the future,” says Ms. Payne.

This year, modules were added to Grades 7 and 8. “I love the fact that the seminar will be built upon and grow,” says Ms. Payne.

GRADE 5 GIRLS LEAD THE WAY Four times a year, as the community-service coordinators in the Primary School, fifth-grade girls decide on local projects they’re passionate about, email external constituents to make arrangements, make posters and prepare presentations for Morning Meeting, and organize donations upon arrival.

They’re the driving force for a reason: In Grade 5, the spotlight is on leadership. “These service projects develop empathy, compassion, and an awareness of important issues outside of students’ own lives,” says English and social studies teacher Susan Mascioli. “But they also encourage leadership skills — communicating with adults and fellow students, feeling confident, and having a sense of ownership in their work.”

What’s more, by connecting the service projects to the curriculum — human rights, healthcare, education, and concepts of economics are introduced in the fifth grade — the teachers not only reinforce the significance of the girls’ efforts, but also help them to understand their real-life implications.

“You start to see this recognition coming over the girls’ faces — ‘We’re really in control, making the ‘decisions,’” says Mrs. Mascioli. “They feel empowered to make a difference without adults telling them how to do it.”

Says fifth-grader Alex Marazza, “It makes me feel like I’ve done something good for the world.”

Fifth-graders Caroline Tracy, Caroline Halldorson, and Arwen Xu sort books.

A SAMPLING OF SERVICE PROJECTS IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL Halloween candy drive (for El Centro Hispanoamericano) Giving Thanks book drive (for GRACE) Hat, mittens, and coat drive (for Summit’s Santa Claus Shop) Dog toys and leashes drive (for St. Hubert’s) Canned goods (for St. Teresa’s Food Bank) School supplies (for hurricane victims in Louisiana)

“ I’m passionate about community service.

We can get stuck in our bubbles and forget about what others face. It’s hard to complain about a history test when you realize the challenges some must overcome to get basic needs. I love the Snowman Gift drive: Students volunteer to bring in holiday presents for kids who otherwise wouldn’t receive any. To see a child’s name and age, buy a special gift, then wrap it makes the donation intimate.”

—CASSANDRA MILLER ’24 In addition to being her grade-level representative for two years on the Community Service Committee, Cassie is a member of the Math Club, the First Aid Club, and the Investment Club. The lead organizer for the makeKPS hackathon, she also participates in the Science Olympiad and Math Madness and is the pitcher for Varsity Softball.

Haitian bracelet sale (for that country’s earthquake victims)

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

21

COMMONS ROOM

TRANSITIONS

MEET THE WELLNESS TEAMS The people, perspectives, and priorities driving Kent Place’s Health and Wellness Program When Head of School Dr. Jennifer Galambos invited her to reimagine health and wellness education at Kent Place, Michelle Stevenson saw it as an exciting opportunity to implement a vision that had been percolating for some time. She unified the Health Office, the mental health professionals, Student Learning Support, Physical Education, and Health Education into a single department. Now she leads a group of five integrated teams that are, at their heart, strategic, collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and impressively student-centered.

Meet the members here, learn a bit about what they do, and find out why Kent Place students are poised to tackle challenges like never before.

Note: Because of the collaborative nature of the work, additional teachers and staff assist these teams; only the core members are listed below.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEAM Who We Are Sheila Dunne (PS, MS, US) Antoinette Nivar-Rowe (PS, MS) Philip Wolstenholme (MS) Michelle Stevenson (US) What We Do We illuminate for students the importance of both physical activity and physical literacy. An emphasis on cross-curricular activity and lessons provides a wider lens through which to view physical wellness and helps girls understand that Ms. Nivar-Rowe, they can be active and be themMr. Wolstenholme, selves at the same time.

Ms. Dunne, and Why We Do It Ms. Stevenson “We have a responsibility to make sure our children have all the tools they need to be successful adults. If we start when they’re young, they’ll have all the strategies they need to self-regulate and resolve conflict later. And if students see that our emphasis on wellness is happening across departments and divisions, and see the faculty modeling the behavior being taught, that solidifies what we’re trying to accomplish.”

—SHEILA DUNNE, P.E. TEACHER AND COACH, 12 YEARS AT KENT PLACE

Ms. Dunne’s Wellness Routine “I prioritize sleep. And I wake up early to fit in 30 minutes of mindful meditation followed by at least a half hour of exercise. Before each class I teach, I do a minute of heart-focused breathing so I’m in the right space for the students. I try to have lunch with the students and get to know them outside of class, and show how important it is to belong and be seen. I walk a lot, and I’m mindful of having positive thoughts, reframing things in my mind.”

22

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

Ms. Smith, Ms. Wilson, and Dr. Hays

MENTAL HEALTH TEAM Who We Are Marie Hays, PsyD (PS) Joan Wilson ’93 P ’25, MSW, LSW (MS) Barbara Smith, MA, SAC, LPC (US) What We Do We support the social and emotional well-being of Kent Place students according to their developmental needs.

Why We Do It “The more we can focus on student health and well-being — guiding them through social-emotional challenges as early as possible — the stronger a foundation they’re able to build. It’s really important to start as young as we can so these ideas become a natural part of students’ thinking and skill set. When they encounter stressful events in the future, they’ll be better prepared to handle them.”

—MARIE HAYS, PSYCHOLOGIST, 13 YEARS AT KENT PLACE

Dr. Hays’s Wellness Routine “I combine long walks outdoors in nature by myself — to breathe fresh air, watch the birds, and feel the sun — with good times with friends and laughter. Life is full of joy. Find time for it.

It’s so important.”

HEALTH EDUCATION TEAM Who We Are Leslie Jones-Wentz (PS) Joan Wilson ’93 P ’25, MSW (MS) Michelle Stevenson (PS, MS, US) What We Do With a whole-child, cross-disciplinary approach that emphasizes the unique needs and concerns of girls — and prioritizes concepts of identity, leadership, and value and respect for others — we nurture an awareness among students that well-being is a lifelong Ms. Stevenson and pursuit, and much broader than Ms. Jones-Wentz physical health alone.

Why We Do It “We really try hard to meet the girls where they are and create a place where they can be themselves in totality — to know what resources are available to them, who to turn to if they need help, and, in the end, to be intentional about taking care of themselves. Foundationally, they need to be healthy and whole individuals. That’s the basis of everything, and it’s more important now than ever.”

HEALTH TEAM Who We Are Lynn Evans, RN, BSN, CSN (PS, MS, US) Amy Ashinsky, RN, BSN, MAN (PS) Chrissy Schmidt, RN (MS, US) What We Do We keep the Kent Place community healthy and safe while promoting an overall message of health and wellness. With more than 50 years of combined school nursing experience, we create a trusting environment for students to express their needs — physical, emotional, and social.

Why We Do It “As we prepare students for college, we want them to be self-advocates, leaders with a voice who have a strong sense of self-worth. We take care of all our daily nursing duties, which include, of course, medical needs; however, a great deal of our work is psychological in nature. Students know we have an open-door policy; we’re always here to listen without judgment.”

—LYNN EVANS, SCHOOL NURSE, 19 YEARS AT KENT PLACE

Ms. Evans’s Wellness Routine "I do a lot of deep breathing and I meditate and listen to music. Walking my dog helps me tremendously."

—LESLIE JONES-WENTZ, SCIENCE AND HEALTH EDUCATION TEACHER, 20 YEARS AT KENT PLACE

Ms. Jones-Wentz’s Wellness Routine “I try to eat healthfully, I read a lot, and I’m very active in different environmental initiatives on campus and in my town. I also walk at least an hour daily. I do this at the end of my school day because it helps me unwind and make that transition to home. It’s a big stress release for me, and it’s my daily meditation practice.”

Ms. Schmidt, Ms. Evans, and Ms. Ashinsky

STUDENT LEARNING SUPPORT TEAM Who We Are Joanne Emery, EdM (PS) Melissa Nazon-Tolbert, EdM (MS, US) What We Do With an appreciation for neurodiversity, we support students in their classrooms and provide teachers with differentiated instruction strategies so that the learning needs of every student are met.

Why We Do It “We want to ensure, first and foremost, that neurodiversity is appreciated, and that every student feels a sense of belonging in both opportunity and access to learning. Let’s celebrate the differences in the brain and look at them as part of the process of learning rather than as obstacles.”

—MELISSA NAZON-TOLBERT, MIDDLE AND UPPER SCHOOL LEARNING COORDINATOR, 1 YEAR AT KENT PLACE

Ms. Emery and Ms. Nazon-Tolbert

Ms. Nazon-Tolbert’s Wellness Routine “I try to keep work at work and maximize my time in the office. This way, I can be fully present at home and enjoy my family. This is what fills my cup and helps me to reset. I also make it a habit to eat breakfast every day and, if I can, pack a lunch. I’m working toward drinking enough water and staying hydrated throughout the day. Spiritually, I pray to keep myself centered and focused.”

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

23

COMMONS ROOM MARQUEE

STAR Burns Bright: 98 Years and Counting

GET TO KNOW AMANDA HUDSON, MIDDLE SCHOOL DANCE TEACHER What’s been the most exciting part of teaching in your first year at KPS? Joining the Kent Place community is definitely on the highlight reel of my teaching career. In Middle School, every sixth-grade student takes dance. As many of these students have little to no experience, it’s been incredibly exciting to open that door for them.

What strikes you about the Middle School dancers you work with?

It’s thrilling to see how eager they are to embrace new information as they explore music and movement. Students are phenomenally creative and bring a unique perspective to each class. Their willingness to create is inspiring.

In terms of the personal growth of your students and the development of dance skills, how do you design a lesson that encompasses both?

I try to focus on a clear set of goals and objectives. It’s helpful for students to understand the "why" behind a task. An element of relatability is also crucial. In keeping this top of mind, I can easily help students draw parallels, demonstrating how the exercises in class are analogous to “real-life” scenarios. Students learn that being committed to the process yields a finished product they can be proud of.

Ms. Hudson joins the Kent Place community with more than 15 years of experience teaching classical ballet and modern dance. She earned her BFA in dance and psychology from Montclair State University and completed her professional training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Joan Weill Center for Dance.

24

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

Since 1924, the Kent Place community has enjoyed the magnificent STAR concert. It’s a tradition unique to our school, one that involves every Upper School student. It’s quite remarkable that even as students protest that they can’t sing, they come together for weeks of rehearsals, enjoying learning new songs (and reveling in time together, away from classes) and working toward a common goal: to create a night of beauty. The sense of being a part of this community is a gift that STAR presents each year.

On Thursday evening (STAR has usually taken place the day before winter break), the student presidents of Orchestra and Chorale sign out candles for singers, tie the Chamber Singers’ sashes, check the processional order, and make sure the orchestral instruments are in perfect tune.

And then the magic begins . . .

I’ve experienced this magic since 1992, when I first directed the Kent Place Singers for STAR — I remember wanting to bottle the euphoria of that evening. Later, with many more performances behind me, I began to wonder: Every year, we welcome a new community of families in September. How fitting would it be to present a performance that reflects their passions and strengths but holds to the universal aspirations of peace, love, joy, and light, uplifting during our cold winters.

Since I took over as director, in 2008, we’ve been dreaming and planning. This was our mandate: The collaborative effort will focus on music, pace, and message. We will strive to balance the need for continuity and tradition as we create a community in which all students feel a sense of belonging. All music will contribute to the program in a meaningful and inclusive way.

This year’s STAR, which took place on December 16, fulfilled what we set out to do. “Darkness to Light” was the theme connecting all the repertoire we performed, in recognition of the challenges we had all endured since March 2020. Sadly, with our new spacing configuration, we weren’t able to include our alumnae community, who since 2004 have joined us in the singing of the refrain for “O Holy Night.” There was, however, a meaningful way that they were present with us.

In 2018, Margery "Marnie" (Follinger) Davies ’48 made a gift to the Music Department in honor of her classmate Jo (Smith) Davenport ’48, who often had a solo in STAR. Marnie told us that although they never lived near each other after Kent Place, for the next 70 years she never had a truer friend.

Through the generosity of that gift, a choral work was composed by Susan LaBarr that would honor the women’s friendship and live on for generations of singers at Kent Place and beyond. The result was Orion, about the constellation shining in the dark. (See page 26 for more about this commission.)

We look forward to welcoming our alumnae community back to the stage in 2022.

—EDEL THOMAS, CHAIR OF THE PERFORMING ARTS DEPARTMENT

“ I was completely inspired by tonight’s STAR performance! I’m an alumna of the Class of 1961 — and it’s been some time since I’ve ‘attended’ a Kent Place STAR. This was so ambitious and beautifully, charmingly performed. I swallowed hard more than once . . .”

—SUSAN (PILCHIK) LYONS ’61

STAR 2021

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

25

COMMONS ROOM MARQUEE

Victoria Ng ’23 shares her composition

MAKING THEIR COMPUTERS SING Technology now makes it possible for us to write and perform music without a single piano or trombone or cello or flute or drum — and the only keyboard involved is one attached to a computer.

In the new Upper School course Engineering, Ethics, and Entertainment, our students are transferring music from the physical stage to the digital one.

Victoria Ng ’23, for example, has played the piano for years, but the course helped her to write a composition that also features guitar, trumpets, and drums.

“It was so much fun experimenting,” Victoria says.

“The instruments and note progressions occasionally reflected my favorite songs. I would say that I was definitely inspired by my favorite songs, which are all by Harry Styles.”

Performing Arts Chair Edel Thomas says the 10-week elective grew out of Engineering and the Arts, a class in which students create visual art through computer programming. In collaboration with the Computer Science Department, Edel helped to realize this new course.

The class also considers ethical questions about the nature of music: What exactly establishes ownership when every composer uses the same 12 notes? What is the line between inspiration and appropriation?

Students then set to writing compositions through the JFugue programming library, based on the Java language, which makes virtual instruments sound like the real thing.

In their final assignment, the class produced true music, with melody, a rhythmic groove, and various timbres.

“This course let me build off my musical knowledge,” Victoria says, “to succeed in engineering, an area I’ve long wanted to pursue.”

“Their final projects were outstanding,” says Ms. Thomas. “I’m thrilled to have this class expand their notion of what can be done musically.”

26

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

A Letter, a Song, and the Legacy of a Kent Place Friendship On October 9, 2018, a handwritten letter from Margery “Marnie” (Follinger) Davies ’48 arrived at the KPS Advancement Office, along with a donation in honor of her friend Jo (Smith) Davenport ’48, who had recently passed away. Both Kent Place boarders, the women met when they were 15 years old, and though ultimately separated by a continent, they maintained their friendship for 70 years. Fondly recalling Jo performing at the annual STAR, Marnie’s only request was that the Music Department find use for the gift.

“Partnering with Director of Advancement Coral Butler Brooks, we thought of a few options that were above and beyond solely buying brass instruments or a piano upgrade,” says Edel Thomas, chair of the Performing Arts Department. “A song was commissioned to coincide with the school's 125th anniversary. Marnie knew the power of music and that it needed to be something that would live on and affect future generations of singers.”

And so Ms. Thomas and Anna Lenti, her colleague at the time, commissioned Kent Place’s first-ever choral work, a tribute to both Marnie and Jo. Composed by Susan LaBarr and with lyrics by Faith Morgan, Orion — completed just before the pandemic struck — finally saw its world premiere by the Chamber Singers at STAR 2021. Marnie, who passed away last summer, wasn’t able to hear it, but the spirit of her friendship with Jo, and the legacy of their Kent Place bond, prevails.

ORION, The Warrior

Most mourn the falling leaves, The weight of death the ground receives.

Yet you rise in Winter’s Chill, And in the gloom you still believe.

Most mourn the setting sun, The aging day is overcome.

Yet you rise in Twilight Still, And night reveals you one by one.

Carefully the constellations Bend their knees to your dictation Standing guard with quiver ready, Stance you’ve held for centuries steady.

Warrior high above the earth, Telling human beings of their worth.

Most mourn the sinking mast, The ocean’s pull into the vast.

Yet you rise at Memory’s Will, And you will stand on ages past.

Jo (Smith) Davenport ’48 and Margery “Marnie” (Follinger) Davies ’48

Lilly Fanelle ’23 in this fall's Upper School play, Silent Sky

To what do you attribute your connection to the performing arts?

I love to express myself through music and being surrounded by people who do too. Through a mutual sense of passion and love for music, dance, or acting, I’ve made many friends here. Whether it’s a performance or something as simple as playing a fun song on the piano in a practice room together, I love bonding with friends over music and the other performing arts. I love rehearsal and class because I enjoy working as a team with my friends, cheering each other on as we sing, act, dance, or play together. I always leave each rehearsal feeling a little happier, a little less stressed than I was before.

What has been an artistic highlight for you in the Upper School so far?

I love STAR, our winter concert, because each ensemble gets to play and share its hard work with the entire school. It always sounds (and looks) beautiful. Since I participate in several ensembles, I love the thrill of moving quickly from one to the next. When I was a freshman, I watched as some of the juniors and seniors in Chamber Singers performed in solos or small groups. I remember cheering them on and thinking to myself, “I don’t know if I would ever have the courage to do that.” However, my time performing here at Kent Place has helped me build that courage. This year, I sang in a trio in STAR. I think freshman-year Lilly would be proud of herself!

Meet Lilly Fanelle ’23 Lilly, you seem to have found your home in the performing arts. How have you taken part in the various strands?

I’m a “triple threat,” which means I act, dance, and sing. I also play a few musical instruments. I performed in the past five theater productions here, and am now in rehearsals for our musical, The Hello Girls. I’ve been taking Kent Place dance classes for three years. I also love being in Chamber Singers and playing flute and cello in both the Orchestra and the Meraki Ensemble.

Fourth-grade cast of We Are Monsters

Do you pursue artistic experiences outside of Kent Place?

I’ve been in the New Jersey Youth Chorus for the past decade. I attend the Elisabeth Morrow School Summer String Festival every year to play and teach cello as well. My family is also very involved in the performing arts. I love playing music with them, especially during the holidays.

Lilly has attended KPS since ninth grade and is an enthusiastic participant in all of the performing arts. An asset to any ensemble, Lilly is much admired by her peers. She and her older sister, Sophia Fanelle ’19, enjoy participating in ensembles and performances throughout the greater metropolitan area.

A BIG SCARY HIT. Congratulations to our fourth-graders, who presented their class musical, We Are Monsters, to a live, in-person audience this fall.

A collaboration between fourth-grade music and theater classes, We Are Monsters is a hilarious new musical that follows human kids into a monster cabaret filled with quirky monster characters. Brava!

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

27

HOW TO BE WELL Kent Place’s ambitious new Learn. Live. Health and Wellness Program helps students build healthy community connections and personal resilience at every age.

Bleary-eyed students in early-morning classes? Not if Michelle Stevenson, Department Chair of Health, Wellness, and Physical Education, has anything to say about it.

Many students in Kent Place’s Health and Wellness Program don’t just slide into classroom chairs first thing in the morning.

Instead, they start their school day by practicing sun salutations or walking a loop near campus, says Ms. Stevenson. “We offer classes across the board starting at seven thirty, when they can do yoga, meditate, or move their body.”

For Ms. Stevenson, it’s one of the simple but profound ways that Kent Place helps set students up for success both in the classroom and beyond it. “By the time students get into the classroom, they’re ready to engage,” she says.

These before-school activities are just the beginning. Learn.

Live. Health and Wellness Program, officially launched during the 2020–21 academic year, uses an array of tools to holistically support and strengthen students’ physical, mental, and social-emotional well-being. It represents a key pillar of the “Thriving in Community” priority within the strategic plan.

The program, designed for students’ needs at different ages, is divided into three tracks, one each for Primary, Middle, and Upper School students.

In the Primary School, for example, students are in the Learn.

Live. Wonder. (Learn through inquiry, live a life of curiosity, and wonder and explore) track. They participate in activities that will help them improve their leadership skills; begin to learn about ethics; forge healthy connections with their classmates; practice body positivity; experiment with learning styles and strategies; and take part in initiatives linked to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB).

28

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARÍA MEDEM

Middle School students continue in the Learn. Live. Grow. (Learn to find your voice, live a life of creativity, and grow the heart–brain connection) track. Among the themes are self-esteem; conflict resolution; drug awareness; body positivity; healthy decision-making; and puberty and human reproduction.

By the time students reach the Upper School, they’re ready for more sophisticated programming in the Learn. Live. Lead. (Learn about yourself and others, live a life of balance and joy, and lead others to do the same) track. They practice goal-setting and self-awareness; stress management and mental health; leadership and ethics; DEIB; and holistic nutrition.

If it sounds like a lot — well, it is. Concepts of health and wellness are more than “nice to have” as part of a well-rounded education: They’re essential for successful learning and leadership. The Learn.

Live. program is one of the most powerful tools to bring those ideas to life. At Kent Place, faculty and staff are committed to helping students internalize the ideas within the program, not only because they’ll help during their school years, but also because they’ll be useful for the rest of their lives.

“Our overarching goal is to help them find and feel their sense of self,” says Ms. Stevenson. “We want them to lead from that place.”

So, what does this big vision look like from year to year — even day to day? How do Kent Place teachers and outside experts help students learn, grow, and thrive from the moment they step on campus in the early grades to the time they toss their caps at Commencement?

In this grid, we capture some of these big themes within each track and display a tiny sampling of the ways that Kent Place transforms those high-level ideas into concrete and joyful activities that make an impact.

LEVEL 3: COLLECTIVE WELL-BEING

LEVEL 2: INTERPERSONAL WELL-BEING

LEVEL 1: PERSONAL WELL-BEING

As part of the Learn. Live. Health and Wellness Program, students learn about and implement healthy-living strategies in age-appropriate ways. The program addresses areas such as mental and emotional health, physical health and safety, DEIB, relationships, and community building.

PRIMARY SCHOOL LEARN. LIVE. WONDER.

MIDDLE SCHOOL LEARN. LIVE. GROW.

UPPER SCHOOL LEARN. LIVE. LEAD.

Through a national HeartSmarts Adventure Program, students learn to identify their emotions. They use simple “Heart Warmer” breathing techniques to manage upsetting emotions and learn emotional selfregulation. Primary School Psychologist Marie Hays helps students understand how to make friends and maintain friendships, and in second grade, students develop and sign a “friendship promise” that reminds

Cup stacking helps students improve their motor skills while staying steady and calm.

They learn techniques to stay calm and prevent cups from tipping over. Middle School Social Worker Joan Wilson P ’25 offers a virtual counseling room where students can submit questions to the Anonymous Question Box. Last year, more than 70 questions were asked on topics such as gender expression, friendships,

them to be inclusive and to respect others.

and drug awareness.

Through programming developed by Upper School Counselor Barbara Smith, students use gratitude journals to respond to weekly prompts, a practice shown to decrease stress. To improve on five areas of physical fitness identified in the Presidential Fitness Test, students take a benchmark test, analyze their results, and build personal workout programs. At the end of the trimester, they measure their progress in the areas they sought to improve.

Teachers use “goodbye lines” to help kids transition in and out of classrooms.

Students assume leadership roles as line leaders — and also cede such roles when their turn is up. Through this simple ritual, students learn about being good listeners, sharing, and being responsible.

Students learn interpersonal communication techniques, such as interpreting subtle body-language cues (like “blading,” in which someone turns their shoulders and chest away from a speaker to show lack of interest). They learn to identify their feelings (Sad? Proud? Nervous?) and ask for what they need. (“Would you be willing to help me with this project?”)

Through the “Senior Sisters” tradition, seniors are matched with ninth-graders to serve as mentors to the new Upper School students.

As part of Kent Place’s Be Ethical Everywhere programming, students in each grade create their own community rules. They work together as classes to determine how they will speak to one another, what they need to feel safe, how to ask for a moment if they’re upset, and how to get support from a friend.

Last year, Kent Place screened The Social Dilemma documentary and brought in one of the highlighted experts, Max Stossel, to talk about the dangers of social media.

Middle School students on the WellBeing Committee supported a campaign to encourage everyone to turn off their phones — and social media — for a day.

The annual Health and Wellness Summit, offered in September, gives students a sneak peek at the many offerings the school has to support well-being. Organizers requested feedback to further tailor offerings, and this year, students have been especially eager to bring back members of the larger Kent Place community — alumnae and experts — to speak to them on a range of topics.

KENT PLACE KENT WINTER/SPRING PLACE WINTER 2022

29

TRY IT YOURSELF

Cut out this page here and take our activities on the go!

HEART-WARMER TECHNIQUE. Feeling upset? Put your hand over your

CUP STACKING. Set

heart to bring attention to this area. Pretend to breathe in and out of your heart area with three slow breaths. Imagine that your body feels warm from sitting in the sunshine, and breathe in that feeling.

up three stacks of three identical plastic cups (nine in total).

As quickly as you can, stack each set of cups into a pyramid with two cups at the bottom and one cup at the top. Then return the cups to their original positions.

(Think you’re fast?

The Guinness World Record is 1.322 seconds!)

GRATITUDE

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUES. Students aren’t the only ones interested in boosting their communication skills; Ms. Stevenson has led parent workshops on this ability.

JOURNALING. Write

your answer to one of these three prompts: When was the last time you enjoyed a genuine belly laugh and what amused you so much? What have you done in the last month that you’re proud of?

What random act of kindness from another person did you benefit from?

TURN OFF YOUR PHONE. Research shows that limiting social-media

SENIOR SISTERS.

use to 30 minutes a day leads to significant improvements in mood, productivity, sleep, and anxiety.

What do you remember about your “senior sisters”?

We want to hear how yours influenced you! Please send us a note at communications@ kentplace.org.

30

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

31

32

KENT PLACE FALL 2021

Over the summer, more than a dozen students, faculty, and members of the Advancement Team tackled a complicated but fascinating project: to organize Kent Place’s vast archives. In addition to gaining an array of useful skills, they found that their discoveries illuminated how the school has changed over the years — and what connects Kent Place students from every generation.

THE THINGS THAT SHOW US WHO WE WERE AND WHO WE WOULD BECOME

BY ERIN PETERSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY WILL HAUSER

KENT PLACE KENT WINTER/SPRING PLACE WINTER 2022

33

CARGOES Yearbooks stretched back more than a century, and students were captivated by them. “I found a yearbook from 1922 and felt a connection to its graduation class as a member of the Class of 2022,” says Eirian Huang.

This past July, Gretchen Cadranell ’22 tucked herself into the Kent Place archives next to the Choral Room in Mabie House and dove into more than a century’s worth of material. She dug through decades of Ballasts. She pored through historic architectural plans for the school. She raised a skeptical eyebrow at yearbooks from the 1920s that featured students who were top vote-getters in categories both classic (best costume) and cringe-worthy (most devilish).

Certain elements published in those yearbooks felt unrecognizable to Gretchen.

But sometimes, the distance between her and her peers throughout history all but disappeared. “Looking through signatures in yearbooks brought me closest to the past,” she says. “Reading the little anecdotes and well-wishes people wrote to their friends made me realize that people really haven’t changed over the years.”

Gretchen was one of 20 students, faculty, and staff who participated in a larger project to organize more than 125 years’ worth of Kent Place archival history to make it more accessible and searchable.

This work has actually been ongoing for years, but Stewardship and Development Operations Manager Sarah Stapperfenne put a renewed emphasis on the effort as Kent Place approached its 125th anniversary, in 2019. (COVID-19 ended up slowing, but not stopping, the work.) “Kent Place has a rich history,” she says. “We have so much good material, and we had had so many people donating things over the years, that it became apparent we needed to do a full overhaul.”

In early 2021, when Upper School English teacher Lisa Cohen suggested that

WHAT WOULD YOU KEEP FOR THE FUTURE? “My phone’s camera roll.” —Gretchen Cadranell ’22 • “Masks and whatever we did to pass time at the beginning

34

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

MASCOTS Many senior mascots can be found in the archives, including this penguin from the 1950s. (To see a list of senior mascots going back to 1937, see page 44.)

Students loved looking at them — and were invested in their own class’s mascot — but also acknowledged that the animals often didn’t carry the weight of meaning in the way that other objects in the archive do, says English teacher Lisa Cohen. “Even though a mascot is supposed to reflect the character of the class, students realized that they couldn’t tell one class from another based on a name and an animal.”

students could participate in the archiving work, a two-week summer project was born. “We wanted to get students to do volunteer projects that would help their community and build this asset for the school,” she says. “We also wanted students to start to build knowledge of what kinds of things were in the archive, so they could research different questions they had about the history of the school and women in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.”

ARCHITECTURAL PLANS Gretchen Cadranell ’22 cataloged the architectural plans for all the buildings at different stages of construction, as well as photos designed to document various architectural details. “Some of the plans were just ideas that were never constructed,” she says. “One of the plans was set to be built, but then the Great Depression hit, so it was scrapped.”

THE LESSONS INSIDE THE ARCHIVES

Archival work is often a combination of simple clutter-clearing and complex, detail-oriented thinking and cataloging.

Kent Place implemented a method used by major archives such as the Library of Congress, which makes materials accessible to users while reducing total archiving time.

Sajni Shah ’24 explains how she processed stacks of newspapers, handbooks, photos, and uniforms: “I organized them into archival storage boxes and folders and

labeled each box with a detailed account of its contents,” she says. “Then I input these into a spreadsheet.”

The work turned out to be much more than a methodical process: Every newspaper headline and yearbook photo seemed to hold its own treasures.

For some students, certain objects held emotional connections. “Windward magazines resonated with me,” says Isabella Abbate ’22, the current editor of the Upper School literary magazine. “I noticed that in the past, there was a lot more writing

of COVID-19 to show how people adapted to being quarantined.” — Sajni Shah ’24 • “I want to save my lanyard with my ID tag. I also hope that course lists will

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

35

“MANNERS MAKETH MAN” The original motto of the school, used until 1993, may have originated at the Elmhurst School, a boys school in southeast England. “The original motto spoke to what the school was trying to be then,” says Ms. Cohen. By the late 1980s, many felt the motto was not a good fit for the school’s actual priorities, such as intellectual challenge and critical thinking. Those are captured in the maxim still used today: “With wisdom she lights the way.”

and sometimes a few pieces of art. Now, we mostly get photos and writing.”

Others, including Eirian Huang ’22, were surprised to find that the issues of race and identity that have been an important part of the cultural conversation today had precursors decades ago.

For example, through students’ careful work, they found course catalogs showing that a Black studies class was offered in 1970. Another course, Oriental studies, was taught during the 1960s and 1970s. “Other than its outdated name, I found the class

BLACK STUDENT UNION HISTORY In 1997, the Black Student Union (now the Black Cultural Association) published a history of the organization.

“It revealed stories about Kent Place, its founding, and integration,” says Ms. Cohen. “It goes beyond the archive materials to talk with graduates. In 2022, the BCA will celebrate an important milestone: its fiftieth anniversary.”

ahead of its time,” Eirian says. “Since we’re currently having conversations on how to further diversify our curriculum, I think it would be interesting to reflect on previous Kent Place classes such as this one.”

Some of the details illuminated by the materials felt downright puzzling. “In the 1970s, there was a smoking area on campus,” Natalie Weker ’24 says incredulously.

“It was also part of the 1954 senior privilege that they could smoke in uniform outside of Summit.” And students expressed astonishment that women faculty in 1920s year-

books, through the 1970s, were identified only by their husband’s name — some of their own names are lost to history.

Ms. Cohen made sure students viewed all of these artifacts with empathy and openness.

“This work is not about criticizing people or customs,” she says. “Instead, it’s an opportunity to see how comprehensive culture is, and how that affects lots of little things. All of that plays out in these artifacts.”

The project often extended into students’ classwork. Some wrote papers or newspaper articles about their discoveries. Another

be saved, as looking through previous course offerings was insightful about how the curriculum has changed over the years.” —Eirian Huang ’22

36

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

Y2K CENTER SPREAD IN THE BALLAST

RULE BOOKS “I liked looking at some of the past rule books,” says Sajni Shah ’24, “because many of the rules have drastically changed over the course of a couple of decades.

The differences also demonstrate how people’s opinions about certain topics changed over time.” She says she was surprised by the especially strict rules for students boarding in Mabie House.

incorporated the lessons she learned into a speech she gave to the KPS community.

One thing about the experience that stuck with many is the way traditions helped bind Kent Place girls across time. Students were delighted to see mascots from decades past. They marveled at the lyrics and music that students developed for Step Sing more than a century ago. Says Eirian, “I’ve grown to understand the importance of sustaining traditions, as events like STAR and walking down the graduation lawn not only bring together the current Kent Place community,

Not every moment that captures cultural attention makes it to the history books. When “impending doom” fizzles into “no big deal,” for example, future generations often don’t feel the impact of that history. Students saw that firsthand with a 1999 Ballast center spread on Y2K, the computer-programming shortcut that many worried would cause the world’s systems to seize on January 1, 2000. “I found the Y2K spread rather interesting because it’s hard — for me— to remember that a lot of people were concerned about the switch between 1999 and 2000,” says Eirian Huang.

but have also connected all other Kent Place students: past, present, and future.”

As the two-week project wrapped up, Ms. Cohen saw opportunities for future groups of students to take it even further. “We’d love to transcribe some of the tapes from Centennial celebrations that have audio and video,” she says. “There are also many photographs we’d like to digitize, catalog, and put in a searchable database.” The Alumnae and Advancement Team will work throughout the year to organize the archives and help the KPS community access them effectively.

Sajni Shah says the project made her feel more connected to the school she has attended for years. “Looking and sorting through the archives enabled me to get a glimpse into people’s lives,” she says. “The archives gave me a newfound appreciation for these artifacts from the school’s past.”

SHARE YOUR KENT PLACE HISTORY WITH US Do you have items you’d like to donate to the Kent Place archives? Please contact Sarah Stapperfenne, at (908) 2730900, ext. 212, or email stapperfennes@ kentplace.org. We’d love to talk with you!

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

37

IT BEGAN WITH . . .

DEAR PEN PAL

“ In one of the earlier letters we exchanged, in June 2009, I wrote, ‘Thank you for the great letter.

Whenever I read it, it makes me smile!.’ That feeling and the smile on my face whenever I received one of Mrs. Malkovich’s letters never changed throughout our almost 13 years of writing. I’m not quite sure what I expected the relationship to be when I met her in fourth grade, but I definitely didn’t expect it to last so long.

I’m so happy it did.”

—GABY BRANIN ’17

38

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

Two Kent Place “Sisters” — 60 Years Apart — Share More Than a Decade of Friendship Through Letters

Nestled among her fellow fourth-graders, Gaby Branin ’17 sat nervously in the Primary School’s Hauser Hall. It was spring 2009 and, as part of a longstanding Kent Place tradition, she and her classmates were about to be paired with pen pals, members of the Class of 1959 who had returned to campus for their 50th reunion. A special luncheon to mark the occasion would follow. Gaby anxiously clutched a bouquet of lilacs, which her grandparents had allowed her to trim from a bush in their yard earlier that morning.

As the alumnae filed into the room, beaming, Gaby was at last introduced to Catherine (O’Hara) Malkovich. Details of the lunch have since scattered in Gaby’s memory, but the warmth and brightness that radiated from the woman, 60 years her senior, forever stick with her. It was their first — and only — in-person meeting, but it sparked an epistolary friendship that would endure for more than a dozen years.

Early on, the two exchanged numerous emails. Handwritten letters were their routine later, with longer, two- or three-page notes over the holidays. (As Mrs. Malkovich’s Parkinson’s worsened, she took to typing her letters and signing her name.) “There was always just so much to update her on,” remembers Gaby, who estimates they wrote one another upwards of 50 emails and letters over the course of their 12-year friendship.

Gaby eagerly gave news of her family and pets, the classes she was taking, and her summer plans. When she reached the Upper School, she wrote about the clubs she participated in (Robotics and Yearbook), her dedication to athletics (volleyball, indoor track, and lacrosse), and her commitment to earn the school’s White Blazer Award (given to senior student-athletes who earns 12 varsity letters).

Mrs. Malkovich, who relocated a few times with her husband, Peter, ultimately landing in California to be closer to her children, often wrote about the activities she was involved in, her travels with Peter, and her children and grandchildren. She peppered her letters — frequently filled with humor — with Kent Place memories and questions, mining the six decades that separated their lives and the evolution of the school: In one letter Mrs. Malkovich wrote that

when she enrolled in KPS in her junior year, as a boarding student, “I thought I was pretty sophisticated.” She then asked, “Did you feel that way, too?” Every year, Gaby sent class and school photos to her pen pal; in return, Mrs. Malkovich sent pictures of her grandchildren.

Despite being a Kent Place student for only two years, Mrs. Malkovich’s memory was strikingly vivid. “It was so interesting not only to have a window into what Kent Place used to be like,” says Gaby, “but also to have a connection to a graduate who had such a different experience from mine.”

When she was applying to college, Gaby told Mrs. Malkovich about the schools she had been accepted to. When she decided on Yale, Mrs. Malkovich, a Tufts graduate, said she’d always wanted to go to Yale. “It was a very different world when she was in college, in terms of how women were treated and looked at and approached,” Gaby says. “When I was a junior, the school celebrated ‘50 Years of Women at Yale’ and I remember thinking, ‘Wow, it’s been only 50 years?’ Mrs. Malkovich’s generation was really leading the way.”

Part mentor, part compassionate listener, and always a dear friend, Mrs. Malkovich played a role similar to that of Gaby’s own grandparents. “She was really optimistic, even when she had hard things going on,” says Gaby. “That was good for me to learn from an older person, and encouraged me to put my best foot forward.”

Not having the chance to meet again is Gaby’s one regret. “She was such an amazing friend, mother, and wife. I have so much respect for her and all she did for her family. I really admired her.”

Mrs. Malkovich passed away last spring, just a month before Gaby received her degree in mechanical engineering from Yale.

At the heart of all epistolary friendships — particularly one of such a long duration — is reciprocity. That both correspondents were devoted to the relationship speaks volumes about the Kent Place spirit that united them.

“I was always surprised that she was happy to hear from me and eager to respond,” Gaby says. “I’m incredibly grateful for that, for how willing she was to continue this friendship, and for the impact she had on my life.”

Gaby and Catherine’s first and only in-person meeting in 2009

“ Now I’m the one to say, ‘Thank you for the wonderful letter.’ I can hardly believe you’re just 10! Since you do so well in many different subjects, you’ll have your choice of a lot of different careers. It will be so interesting to see what you decide to do.

Whatever you become, I know you’ll be outstanding.”

—CATHERINE (O’HARA) MALKOVICH ’59, IN HER JUNE 2009 REPLY TO GABY

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

39

KEEPING PACE CONNECTING THE KENT PLACE FAMILY

Classroom Building, 1961

KEEPING PACE SINCE LAST TIME

Head of School Jennifer Galambos, Director of Advancement Coral Butler Brooks, and Eileen (Conley) Schlee ’78 catch a cab in London.

Dear Alumnae, When we were involved in strategic planning, I paid particular attention to the update of the mission statement: I wanted to make sure our alumnae understood that it wasn’t changing — rather, the wording was simply being refined. It still conveys the school’s founding vision, which was to educate girls on an equal footing with boys.

Our founding families believed ardently that girls deserve to be intellectually stimulated and their curiosity to be rewarded. Our updated mission statement reflects that same commitment: Kent Place School empowers girls to be confident, intellectual, and ethical leaders who advance the world.

Recently, when Head of School Jennifer Galambos and I were in the United Kingdom to meet with alumnae now living there, these words resonated at a particularly loud volume.

Over coffee or dinner or as we strolled through Tate Britain, Jennifer and I listened with pleasure as women from classes ranging from 1940 through 2014 spoke about their KPS education. One alumna recalled a Princeton professor saying this to her: “You went to a school for girls, didn’t you? You raise your hand and don’t look around to see if anyone else might also have an answer.

Your confidence gives it away.”

Her classmates laughed, she told us, but the truth of this professor’s observation was

42

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

gratifying. The Kent Place of 2022 is delivering on the vision born in 1894: We prepare girls to be confident leaders.

Each of the alumnae we visited with said she was equipped with the grit to chase her dreams and the knowledge to attain them.

Our curriculum is demanding, but our students are up to the challenge. We prepare girls to be intellectual leaders.

Alexa Biale ’08 talked about her work on a team to bring a continent-wide healthcare system to Africa. (Iron Chef!) Judy Joo ’93 told us that the South Korean government asked her for aid in its diplomatic efforts to bring a deeper understanding of Korean culture to the world. Those are but two examples of our alumnae’s global impact. We prepare girls to be ethical leaders who advance the world.

Meeting our wonderful alumnae in Great Britain made me proud indeed of our farflung community. Wherever you call home, I can’t wait to hear your story!

Warmest wishes,

Coral Butler Brooks Director of Advancement

Crossing Paths “A highlight of residency has been crossing paths with former KPS classmates,” says Alex Agathis ’12, a first-year general surgery resident at Mount Sinai Hospital, in Manhattan. While on her vascular surgery rotation at Mount Sinai Morningside, Alex chanced upon Kristen Pacific ’10, an anesthesia resident at Mount Sinai Morningside/West, who was on general and trauma surgery rotation.

“It was such a fun coincidence and experience to work alongside each other for the month. We reminisced about our time at Kent Place and how our education had prepared us to be academic, compassionate, and confident female physicians,” says Alex.

After Kent Place, Alex went to the University of Pennsylvania.

There she took courses in classical studies, majored in biology, and played Division I field hockey. She was awarded the PNC Athlete Achiever Award and graduated magna cum laude with distinction in biology. Next, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, she conducted general surgery research and published three first-author papers, most notably a quality-of-life study centering on laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the geriatric population, which she presented at the 2019 Academic Surgical Congress in Houston.

Alex cofounded and led Mount Sinai’s COVID Workforce during the pandemic, and graduated in May with distinction in research and medical education. She was awarded the Surgery Prize for the Class of 2021.

Kristen’s path after KPS took her to Dickinson College, where she majored in philosophy, studied in Argentina and Ecuador, and graduated magna cum laude. At Cooper Medical School, Kristen says she loved everything and found it challenging to pick just one specialty, so she took a year to do clinical research in dermatology at Montefiore Medical Center, in the Bronx, and was convinced that this was what she’d pursue. Then the COVID-19 pandemic

Kristen Pacific ’10 and Alex Agathis ’12

hit. Kristen discovered that she wanted a different set of skills and switched to anesthesiology. She graduated from Cooper in May with academic distinction and induction into Chiron Academic Honor Society.

She was matched with the Mount Sinai system for a four-year anesthesiology residency, which is where she ran into Alex. “The beauty of Kent Place is that even if you didn’t know someone well, there’s this special sort of propinquity established from having the shared experience of being students there,” says Kristen.

“Kent Place was incredibly formative in my journey to physicianship. I arrived at college beyond prepared compared to my peers, and the thirst for lifelong learning, questioning, and standing up for what I believe in that was instilled at Kent Place has served me well in every phase of my life,” she says.

CELEBRATING OUR ALUMNA PARENTS

(Back, l–r) Aimee (Cullen) Reali ’91 P ’23 ’29, Christine (Matlaga) Slattery ’93 P ’28, Aimee (Bousquet) Singer ’88 P ’25, Hallee (Branin) Dangler ’96 P ’26 ’28 ’30, Cecelia Boehm ’96 P ’25, Kassandra (Coronis) Samman ’01 P ’36, and Maria (Fekete) Brugg ’98 P ’28 ’30; (front, l–r) Caitlin (Wight) Fitzsimmons ’95 P ’29, Lindsay (Mohr) Mader ’03 P ’31, Joan (Thompson) Wilson ’93 P ’25, Katie (Herbst) Machir ’95 P ’28, and Kimberly Kent-Bracci ’95 P ’29 ’31. Also in attendance, not pictured, was Susanne (Santola) Mulligan ’93 P ’27 ’29.

Whether it’s about STAR, the Daisy Chain, Step Sing, Spirit Week, or long-lasting friendships, our alumnae love to reminisce about their favorite Kent Place traditions. A unique group of KPS graduates get to partake of these same traditions with their daughters. To celebrate those alumnae who currently have students at the school, we hosted a coffee so they could meet one another and chat about some of their fondest memories from their KPS days. To commemorate their dual roles, each received a candy dish filled with green and gold M&Ms. Stay tuned for future alumna parent events.

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

43

KEEPING PACE

Llamas and Penguins and Gators, Oh My Kent Place has many traditions that bond generations of alumnae.

One of them is the selection of the class mascot. Every year, incoming seniors pick a mascot and give it a name, often after a literary character or a beloved author, and unveil it at Step Sing — another tradition — during which the Upper School faculty and students pay musical tribute to the graduating seniors.

During summer 2021, a group of Kent Place students and recent graduates, along with Upper School English teacher Lisa Cohen and Stewardship and Development Operations Manager Sarah Stapperfenne, spent weeks in the school’s archives, sorting through more than a century of Ballasts, boxes of uniforms, folders upon folders of photos, and numerous other treasures they found buried within to reorganize and refurbish the space and its contents.

Kayla Kim ’21 reviewed almost nine decades of Cargoes yearbooks to compile a comprehensive list of class mascots. “My main goal for the archives project overall was to learn about the smaller details and patterns that aren’t necessarily obvious,” she says. “After exploring the yearbooks, one such detail I unveiled was that mascots offer a unique perspective on each senior class. For example, mascots from the ’40s had eloquent poetry written about them. Pearl the Penguin, from the Class of 2010, always wore a pearl necklace as a reminder to the girls to ‘stay classy.’ Some classes created in-depth backstories about their mascots; others put multiple pictures in their yearbook.”

Now a freshman at Oberlin, Kayla has incorporated her passion for archives into her college education: A historian for the Asian Diaspora Coalition, she’s also working on a project to organize the Asian American Resource Center in Oberlin’s library.

Senior Class Mascots 1937–2022 If you have any additions or edits to our working list, please email stapperfennes@kentplace.org.

1937 Sapiens the Owl 1938 Dumnorix the Monkey 1941 Camelflage the Camel 1942 Lord Bacon the Pig 1944 Giraffe 1945 Penrod the Black Sheep 1946 Arbez the Zebra

44

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

1947 Dumbo the Elephant 1948 Alice in Wonderland 1949 Clementine the Mule 1950 Gunther the Goose 1951 Liederkrantz the Mouse 1952 Baasil the Black Sheep 1953 Margie Bowers the Gorilla 1954 Excelsior the Giraffe 1955 Beelzebub the Ocelot 1956 Pandillero the Panda 1957 Sir Cecil Dudley Puddlesby III the Dog

“ We had a class vote and the winner was Melanie Marsupial. We thought we were creative in picking an unusual animal, and maybe we thought it signified our ‘great leap forward’ from being juniors to seniors. Melanie sat atop the piano in Study Hall, proudly holding a ’61 pennant, and we each received a mini-version.

The epilogue to Melanie is that our beloved classmate Lynne (Clutsam) Buckley, the first to have a baby, had the honor of keeping her.”

—JUDY (TANSEY) HUNT ’61

“ At Step Sing, our song was Jethro Tull’s ‘Bungle in the Jungle,’ and we thought a giraffe was a nice fit.”

—KATHERINE (JOHNSON) LEWANDOWSKI ’90

1958 Admiral Bird the Penguin 1959 Tabu the Tiger 1960 Dolly Llama 1961 Melanie Marsupial 1962 Bufferin the Buffalo and Aspirin the Donkey 1963 Maximilliped the Octopus 1964 Lady Marmalada Coleopetera the Ladybug 1965 Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy 1966 HD Ostrobogulous Egg 1967 Eeyore the Donkey

1968 Heinrich Wilhelm von Streigen the Hound 1969 Baloo the Bear 1970 Sumatopoppih the Hippo 1971 Tovarich Eno Ytneves the Black Panther 1972 Nick Danaer the Penguin 1973 Tweega Gratte-Ciel Longfellow the Giraffe 1974 Curious George 1975 Ciconia the Flamingo 1976 Abigail Adams Antelope

“ We chose the elephant because of the size of our class. At the time, we were the largest senior/ graduating class at Kent Place, so our mascot slogan was LARGE AND IN CHARGE.”

“ Our class mascot was named Sumatopoppih, hippopotamus spelled backwards. We kept a large hippo in our senior lounge and we each received smaller ones. It was tradition that the first person in the class to have a baby got to keep the big one. On our 50th-reunion Zoom last spring, at least two classmates, one of them our exchange student from Norway, had theirs in view.”

—LYNN (DAESCHLER) MAGRANE ’70

—BROOKE (JACOBSEN) LESSINGER ’05

“ Most classes probably find a mascot first and then drum up a suitable name, but we did the reverse and first chose a name that was meaningful to us as a class. We were mostly in agreement that the mascot should be named after a literary character, ideally one drawn from something we had all read together. Our class had just finished Hamlet, and it occurred to me that a name containing the word ham would be perfect for a pig. I raised the idea during a meeting and my classmates agreed. “ “Hamlet the Pig served our class well, and many of us still have the little guy tucked away in a closet somewhere. I always appreciate stumbling into him during a relocation or spring cleaning.”

—ANNE (RICKERT) LIPFORD ’86

1977 EP the Mouse 1978 Winnie the Pooh 1979 Paddington Bear 1980 Babar the Elephant 1981 Cat in the Hat 1982 Yogi Bear 1983 Paddington the Bear 1984 Boswell the Bear 1985 Felix the Cat 1986 Hamlet the Pig 1987 Caliban the Gorilla 1988 Darcy and Elizabeth the Lions

1989 Emerson the Dinosaur 1990 Archer the Giraffe 1991 Sydney the Sloth 1992 Carraway the Moose 1993 Wemmick the Polar Bear 1994 Jaggers the Lion 1995 Athena the Wolf 1996 Stella the Turtle 1997 Phoebe the Hippo 1998 Emerson the Elephant 1999 Lion 2000 Gabby the Gator

“ Our mascot, Tee the Tiger, was named after the main character in the book Crick Crack, Monkey,

by Merle Hodge, which we read sophomore year.”

2001 Monty the Moose 2002 Pecola Platypus 2003 Giraffe 2004 Lennie the Lobster 2005 Elephant 2006 Toby the Toucan 2007 Mitch the Moose 2008 Leo the Lion 2009 Winston the Whale 2010 Pearl the Penguin 2011 Chilly the Cheetah 2012 Polly the Panda

—KAYLA KIM ’21

2013 Darcy the Dinosaur 2014 Jay the Jaguar 2015 Henrietta the Hippo 2016 Odysseus the Octopus 2017 Lizzy the Lion 2018 Brinkley the Beluga 2019 Grendel the Goat 2020 Connie the Cow 2021 Tee the Tiger 2022 Wiglaf the Whale

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

45

KEEPING PACE IN HER WORDS

Jamila (Bess) Caption Johnson’s senior portrait in her 1974 Kent Place yearbook and (inset) as she is today

Jamila (Bess) Johnson ’74 Jamila (Bess) Johnson ’74 holds a bachelor’s degree from Howard University’s School of Communications, her JD from Howard’s School of Law, and in 2021 earned her master’s in religious studies, with an emphasis on social justice and equity, from Howard’s Divinity School. Jamila works at the Federal Communications Commission, in Washington, D.C., as the designated federal officer of the Communications Equity and Diversity Council. She volunteers with the Potomac Valley Section of the National Council of Negro Women, which supports the educational, economic, and civic lives of women of color and their families. Jamila is a member of the Kent Place Alumnae Association Board.

I was always an avid armchair traveler.

Whether it was a good novel, an enticing Life magazine article, or an adventurous Brenda Starr comic book, if the locale was

46

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

distant, exotic, and unusual, I was interested. Ernest Hemingway’s novels were a favorite for distant settings, including two of the ones I enjoyed most — France and Spain.

Some of my curiosity about the distant world was stimulated by the Sunday School classes of my youth. Places with names such as Mesopotamia, Cyprus, and Lebanon hinted at a vast world beyond my home in northern New Jersey. My studies at Kent Place facilitated even more interest in travel.

Although I’d studied Latin before I enrolled in Kent Place, in the early 1970s, I switched my language focus to Spanish, which seemed a more practical approach.

As it turns out, language proficiency was only a part of the curriculum. Our teacher introduced us to Spanish culture.

We learned about food, music and dance, and the government. As I immersed myself in the language, I was also immersed in unique aspects of cultural Spain, such as the art of bullfighting. I finally saw this distinct (and brutal) sport in Madrid. It was unlike anything I’d ever witnessed, a combination of ballet and equestrian skill: After a brief — but spectacular — triumph over the bull (if the matador is good), almost as in a wedding ceremony, confetti-like flowers, thrown by adoring fans, stream over the matador.

I may have developed the same love for Spanish culture I have now without attending Kent Place, but it would have taken a more circuitous route. People say certain teachers have changed their life’s trajectory. I believe this is true of my Kent Place Spanish instructor. I became enthralled with all things Spain — Picasso, Don Quijote de la Mancha, the food!

Eventually, my real-life Spanish adventure launched. I’ve had the great pleasure and blessing to travel to Spain many times, visiting different regions of the country. A trip to Granada and the Alhambra stimulated my learning about the African presence in Spain and the centuries-long rule in Granada of the Moors from North Africa.

I think often about my years at Kent Place, and how that time taught me to be an independent, courageous woman, unafraid of traveling alone, meeting people unlike myself, and keeping an open mind to the cultures of the world and what they can teach me. I owe much to my Spanish teacher, who welcomed me warmly as I took my seat in her class. ¡Muchos gracias, Señora!

KEEPING PACE CLASS NOTES

1942

Emily (Churchill) Wood emily_wood46@hotmail.com

1945

Kent Place heard from Seth Heald and Caroline Emmet Heald, the son-in-law and daughter of Alan (Summersby) Emmet, that she passed away at home on October 9, 2021, of pancreatic cancer. She received the diagnosis only ten days before she died. Alan was the author of numerous books and articles on historic gardens, as well as a novel and two memoirs. She was best known for So Fine a Prospect: Historic New England Gardens (University Press of New England, 1996), a New York Times Notable Book. Alan’s family told us she was very fond of Kent Place, and we extend our condolences to them.

1946

Winifred (Sorg) Vogt passed away peacefully on October 9, 2021, at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, in Vermont, surrounded by family. Winnie was a mother, wife, teacher, and friend who was passionate about civil rights, equal rights for women, literacy, children, and charitable works. We extend our condolences to her family.

1947

Anne (Campbell) Dowell annedowell@triad.rr.com

Our class has dwindled, but I stay in touch with 11 members and love hearing from or talking to everyone.

We’re hanging in there in spite of the problems all year with COVID. It was great to talk with Ellen (McComas) Fisher. She left Maryland after her husband died and now lives in Fort Lauderdale. Her daughter and one son live nearby and her other son is still in Maryland. She has a fenced-in yard for her rescue dog. She’s in very good health and stays quite active.

Joan (Skelton) Holmes has lived at Heritage Village, in Connecticut, for 18 years. She enjoys reading outside in nice weather and plays bridge on Friday nights. She and her daughter, Trilby, may drive down to Bergen County, NJ, where she lived in her early married years, and may also get to Summit. For his 25th birthday, Trilby took her son to London, where her daughter lives. They went to Liverpool — a treat for him, as he loves the Beatles.

Evelyn (France) Kalagher will be 92 in May 2022; she may be the youngest in our class. She loves to cook, so she usually eats at home.

She has tomatoes in her garden and will soon enjoy fried green tomatoes.

She worked for many years at Wyeth, which is now Pfizer. She earned her doctorate from Boston University and conducted research in endocrinology for many years. At the beginning of her career, she worked with Dr. Gregory Pincus, who is known as the “father of the birth control pill.”

Eleanor (Rathbone) Nichols says she gets around okay — she can see and hear quite well and likes her retirement home in Charlotte, NC. Son Bill Jr. lives nearby; Henry (Chip) lives in McLean, VA; and Mark Adams recently moved.

Nancy Purdy is doing well at Fellowship Village, in Basking Ridge, NJ. She walks on her own, without a cane or walker, and generally goes to the dining room every day. She says meals are pretty good and that she likes to see people there. She still has her spaniel, Henrietta — her love.

Nancy (Vreeland) Waits and her husband, Rich, live in Winter Park, FL, and have studio apartments a few doors apart. She goes to exercise classes for about an hour each day.

Rich had a stroke a long time ago and it has taken years for him to get his voice back. They go to the dining room and enjoy programs with art slides.

Helen (Preus) Mairs lives in Saint Paul. “Things have eased up a bit here,” she says, “and I’ve been fortunate enough to attend three Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra concerts — wearing a mask. I continue exercise class, meetings about local issues, and movies (in our own theater).” Daughter Heide came from Houston in October, and she and her daughter Elizabeth supported their sister Julia when she competed in the Chattanooga Ironman race and won her age group. Helen’s son, Rob, and his wife, Aimee, have one son at Middlebury and are looking at several eastern schools for their other son, Will.

Bobbie (MacWhinney) Schneidewind says, “All is well in Atlanta. We’re

well taken care of at Canterbury Court and life is almost back to normal.

My daughter lives 20 minutes away and the family usually gather there on Sunday evenings. We talk about

the beautiful outdoor wedding of a grandson, or watch a 4-year-old learn to catch a ball. This is always followed by a delicious supper when Grandma is waited on. So life can be good in spite of the pandemic.”

Kathanne (Harter) Webster says, “We’re slowly getting back to something like normal. I’ve had my third (the booster) shot, but worry about the entire world trying to survive. My daughter who lives only an hour away visits almost weekly. My daughter Lucy lives in Brussels and plans to move close to me soon. My oldest daughter will be coming for a visit in December. We still can’t have guests in our dining rooms but I can have any guest I want in my house.” Kathanne’s health is not the greatest but she still drives and does her own errands.

Giovanna (Mancusi-Ungaro) Breu

writes, “Joe and I are fine. I’ve started back to all the cultural events we missed because of the lockdown. Went to two Lyric operas, several Chicago symphonies, two concerts at DePaul University music school, and Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons.’ We look forward to seeing our children, Eugenia and Chris, and two granddaughters, Zoe (9) and Alexis (8), for the holidays either in Chicago or in Katy, TX.” Sue (Savage) Speers had some very sad news. Her daughter, Elizabeth (Ibbit), age 59, of Acton, MA, died September 16 after a 30-year struggle with cancer. She had a gift for friendship and was loved and admired by many, including her wonderful husband and children, Sam and Ellen.

A memorial service was held in Maynard, MA, on November 14. Sue had a great-grandson born April 23, so she is now the “mother of a grandfather.”

The little boy and his parents live in Boston and spent time this summer in Center Sandwich, where Sue lives in warm weather.

I (Anne) am doing well — still enjoying going to our saltwater pool, exercise classes, and interesting programs. I retired in 1992 from Salem Academy and College in Winston-Salem, NC. The school is very similar to Kent Place. I was head of the science department for 25 years. This year is the school’s 250th anniversary. Established in 1772, it’s the oldest continuously operating girls school in the nation. In 1776 a small group walked 500 miles from their Moravian location in Bethlehem, PA, to settle Salem, NC. This fall, in hon-

or of those pioneers, five graduates of Salem Academy and College walked the same 500 miles, and others joined them along the way. I went to the celebration and saw many of my former students. It was exciting.

1948

Ann Davies, the daughter of Margery “Marnie” (Follinger) Davies, wrote, “I would like to let you know that my mom died on July 24, 2021.

She spent nine years as a Kent Place boarding school student. Kent Place was an important and influential part of her life, and we heard many stories about her time there. She loved the school and participated in most of the activities offered.” Marnie was an involved and loyal member of the Kent Place community for more than eight decades; she will be missed. We send our sympathy to her family.

1949

Joan (Lanston) McKeown passed away on October 6, 2021, and services were held November 6 at Christ Church Short Hills. Joan was an enthusiastic member of the Kent Place community for more than seven decades. She served four terms on the Alumnae Association Board, was a three-time Reunion Committee member, and spent many years as a Class Secretary and Class Agent, acting as a liaison between her classmates and the school. She was an eager ambassador for Kent Place, always encouraging young women to attend her cherished alma mater. Joan was frequently seen cheering on our athletes from the sideline at field hockey games, singing in STAR, and attending as many KPS events as she could up until the last few years. She was a recipient of our Barbara Wight Biddison ’30 Distinguished Alumna Award, bestowed on her in 1999 in recognition of her leadership and exceptional dedication to the school.

Joan will be remembered for her love of Kent Place, steadfast support, and willingness to lend a hand. She will be greatly missed by KPS, and we wish Joan’s family peace during this difficult time.

1950

Liz (Dun) Colten lizcolton@aol.com Penny (Burley) Thomas mbtedt@gmail.com

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

47

KEEPING PACE CLASS NOTES

THEN & NOW: MASCOTS

As you’ve learned from reading this issue, Kent Place class mascots have been around since the early 1900s. These days, it’s a much anticipated moment when Step Sing, our spring farewell tradition for the graduating class, comes to a close and the rising seniors take their place in the Great Room to announce their class mascot. The archive image (top) shows the Class of 1982 with its beloved Yogi Bear and we see the Class of 2022’s Wiglaf the Whale below that.

We’d love to see a picture of you with your class mascot; please email it to communications@kentplace.org.

Kent Place received word that Adrienne (Kelly) Carr passed away on November 13, 2021. Together with husband John, they launched two churches. Adrienne had a special passion for empowering women and created a novel women’s group in Indianapolis, called “The Harried Housewives,” to encourage women to step out of their traditional roles and use their voices in the congregation and at home. Above all, Adrienne was about helping people. She will be missed by so many, and we extend our sympathy to her family and friends.

Kent Place has provided me, Liz (Dun) Colten, with a 1950 class list.

Of the known names/addresses, we live in 12 states, with New Jersey — perhaps predictably — appearing most frequently. I will happily relay the list to you. I hope you’d like to see your name in print, so please check in. COVID has had an impact on everyone, so let us know how you’re faring.

Mabel (Depue) O’Brien, Karla (Hofmeister) Williams, and I managed an

outdoor Maine reunion luncheon this past August. Aileen (Black) Robertson couldn’t join us due to family visitors.

Mabel is a Maine year-rounder; Aileen winters in Florida, Karla in Manhattan, and I in northern New Jersey.

During the summer, Penny (Burley) Thomas shuttled between Sun Valley and Princeton, with one detour to Scottsdale to meet great-grandchild #4, who was visiting from North Carolina.

1951

Mary-Carey (Bachmann) Churchill mcchurchill@gmail.com Greetings, all! MJ (Cabrera) Shaw

continues to amaze us by playing golf three times a week, in the summer, in Vermont — 18 holes, of course. Her nine grandchildren are in various stages of engagements, marriages, and careers.

Joyce (Cudlipp) Wiggin and Mitch are enjoying their move to Maryland independent living near their daughter, Darby. Joyce had a slight stroke but is doing quite well. As in many other living facilities, the lack of help, Joyce says, has kept dining rooms closed, so socializing is a bit constrained.

Yours truly (Mary-Carey) had an active year after the pandemic subsided. Visited friends and family in Northern California, including a trip to Yosemite National Park

48

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

with my son, Chris, and came home to open-heart surgery in July in Florida. Feeling much better. Then I enjoyed a trip down the Mississippi River with my Urban Stages theater group from New York in November — Memphis to New Orleans, very interesting, lots of history.

May your 2022 be filled with loving-kindness and good health as much as possible at our tender age!

1954

Marianna (Ruprecht) Mitchell mariannarmitchell@gmail.com

1957

A correction to the last Class Notes — when I’m in California, I live in Woodside. In recent news, I had a hole-in-one on a 126-yard par-3 at Hayden Lake Country Club, in Idaho. It was my second, and I was wearing the same sweater I had on for my first, six years ago. Wardrobe frugality pays off.

Caroline (Spalding) Bulkeley:

1959

Ann (Kaplon) Norman: Jack and I sold our house in Coral Gables only four days after putting it on the market.

We’ve moved to Nashville, where we’re in a lovely apartment only 5–10 minutes from our daughter’s house.

Right now she and Jack are watching the UM football game on TV — a plus for them both! We chose to rent . . . a real pleasure after so many years of home ownership. I lived in Miami 59 years; hard to believe! We’re thrilled to be here with so many family members and Jack’s friends from Vanderbilt and grade school.

Kent Place is always in my thoughts.

I know what a fine education I received there. Stay safe!

Elizabeth (Morrison) Baker: John and I are doing well. We still live in the beautiful house we built in Kent, CT. Our four children are all great and so are our eight grandchildren.

We’ve been somewhat sedentary because of COVID, but we did get out to Telluride for a family wedding, followed by a short trip to the Grand Canyon. And then I spent a week on the Columbia River with six college friends. Life is good!

Kent Place received word that Cathy (O’Hara) Malkovich passed away unexpectedly in April. She was buried in a family plot in Westfield, NJ. Our condolences to her family.

1960

Anne (Sonnekalb) Iskrant anne@iskrant.com Kent Place heard from Anne (Thornton) Bridges ’58 that her longtime friend Nancy (Bigelow) Sinclair died

on December 9, 2021. She passed away peacefully, with her husband, John, by her side, after a long and courageous battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Our condolences to her sister, Barbara Bigelow Maddocks ’65, and all her family and friends.

A surprise note from Betsey (Hotchkin) Barnes: After years of going back and forth to St. Michaels, MD, with sailing, power boating, and steamed crabs, Betsey writes that her life has come full circle. She’s back in Middletown, NJ, where she lived for 50 years, again going to the beach, birthday parties, and soccer and basketball games, now with her youngest grandchildren. Her comment about our class turning 80 next year was to quote her mother: “Getting old is not for sissies.”

Jane (Boyle) Gerrish, of Kennebunk, ME, is a fan of the Canadian author Louise Penny. (I am too.) Jane is currently on a long wait list for a recent novel, The Madness of Crowds.

Her life in Huntington Common, the retirement community where she’s been for four years, is quiet, with fewer activities and masks unless eating in the dining room. She continues to work, by phone, doing Social Security disability hearings, and plays pool! In spring 2021, she took hospice training to be a certified volunteer. For 10 years, she’s done bedside singing with the group Harbor Singers. Remember her lovely voice at STAR? Lilian (Eken) Najarian, in Huntington, NY, and her family are all in relatively good health, which isn’t bad for approaching 80. She says she’s involved in the usual “mundane” events, as are we all.

Susie (Coffin) Old, in White Post, VA, is going strong. She still teaches beginners to ride and plays tennis and pickleball.

Pat (Downs) Ramsay, who lives in Maine, writes that the pandemic year was not damaging to her family but took its toll socially. She and Steve still live in rural Yarmouth, in the same house for 20 years, the longest she’s ever stayed in one place. Coffee shops and the library were closed, restaurants folded.

In spring 2021, they escaped to California to visit family and reveled in those first hugs from grandchildren and friends. Pat is growing her hair until the pandemic is over. The results are amazing!

Jeannie (Blackmar) McLerie-Keppeler, of Silver City, NM, reports

that even with booster shots, she and Ken are still very wary, masked out in the big world — to the Co-op, supermarket, car repair. They’ve played music a bit at the farmers market and at the outdoor patio of a nearby restaurant. She still teaches a few kids via Facetime. “It really irks us that some dear friends are anti-vaxxers,” she says. “But we keep our mouths shut and don’t hug.”

Sandy (Lee) Simmers, in Hillsboro, VA, has sad news: Husband Bob died last summer after a year of decline. She’s adjusting to her new status as “currently widowed.” After 58 years of marriage, Sandy has developed a heightened respect for single-person households. For now, she’ll continue to keep the farm with a small herd of cattle, two donkeys, four chickens, and a three-legged dog. She likes keeping busy with yard and tractor work. She’s project oriented and has plenty to do, working to maintain a 150-year-old farmhouse and three barns. Away from the farm, she likes pickleball, paddle tennis, and line dancing. Her children and grandchildren are on the West Coast. Sandy’s first trip was to Las Vegas to be with the whole family for Thanksgiving and a hockey tournament. What a contrast!

Your long-term scribe, Anne (Sonnekalb) Iskrant, in Ardmore, PA, broke out of the COVID cocoon in July 2021 and went to Iceland.

The natural world is astounding: the hydroelectric and geothermal energy resources and the volcanoes. When a volcano erupts, Icelanders don’t walk away; they run to be part of the experience. Mostly, I swim at the YMCA, pretend I’m a landscape architect, dragon-boat, explore with husband John, keep up with family, and help out with my grandson Lucas (age 4).

1962

Ann Franklin Ewig: We sold our house

in New Jersey and moved to our longtime home in Maine. Still getting organized. We’re closer to our daughters.

Two grandsons have graduated from college and are living and working in

New York City; two granddaughters are waiting to hear from the colleges they hope to attend; two granddaughters, a junior and a freshman, are at boarding school; and one grandson is a sophomore at Morristown Beard.

All is good.

Enid (Groeneveld) Engler: In 2001, my husband and I bought a Federal-style brick house built in the 1820s. It’s located at the border of Hague and Ticonderoga, NY, just three miles north of our summer home on Lake George. In late June, my husband, Ken, passed away from congestive heart failure brought on by a blood cancer. To say I miss him is an understatement, but I’m blessed that our daughter, Karen (Engler) Bartlett, a 1991 graduate of Kent Place, and her family live about an hour away, in Middlebury, VT. I plan to continue living in our home.

I drove the four hours it takes to visit our son, Steven, and his family in Belmont, MA. It’s also a four-hour drive to Summit, so I hope to get to New Jersey soon as well.

Barbara (Blank) Danser: Hal and I celebrated our 50th anniversary this year. We still live in Jaffrey, NH, and enjoy the great outdoors and beautiful sunsets over Mt. Monadnock. I continue to teach painting to a group of 11 artists and show paintings and sculpture in exhibitions. Hal is active in his glass-fusing studio, presenting workshops and designing jewelry.

1963

Louise (Hall) Grauer louise.a.grauer@gmail.com

1964

Gail (Giblin) Flynn gailgiblin29@gmail.com

I do hope all of you have had some well-deserved time to enjoy family and friends now that we’re finally able to emerge from the many months of quarantine. It’s been tough. Many of us keep in touch through our Facebook page, KPS ’64 — please join our group; the more, the merrier. Stay safe, be well, and continue to make memories.

I spent a wonderful month last June in Portland, OR, with my daughter Kate. The stunning coast should be on everyone’s bucket list.

Drove north to Astoria for an overnight visit with dear Susie (Blackmar) McLerie. She was singing on her autoharp within the hour — great

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

49

KEEPING PACE CLASS NOTES

ALUMNAE EVENTS

We Hope to See You Join us for various in-person and Zoom programs, or visit with us when we’re on the road in your state, for exciting and inspiring connections with the alumnae community! Please note that dates and locations are subject to change.

GREEN AND GOLD ON THE ROAD

• March 14–18: California • March 30–April 2: Florida East Coast

ALUMNAE PROGRAMMING

• Monday, April 11: Women of Wisdom Panel (virtual only) • Friday–Saturday, April 29–30: Alumnae Weekend (in person) If you have questions about any of the events, please contact Lainey Segear P ’34, Senior Director of Community Engagement, at segearl@kentplace.org or (908) 273-0900, ext. 335, or visit www.kentplace.org/alumnaeevents.

1.

2.

GREEN AND GOLD ON THE ROAD

We’re thrilled to get back to visiting our alumnae, not only in the United States but also across the pond for our first trip to London. We hope to see you at an event in your city soon!

1. KPS IN HAVERFORD, PA: (front, l–r) Alumnae Engagement Coordinator Olivia Mukherjee ’16, Alanna Butera ’05, Anne (Sonnekalb) Iskrant ’60, Head of School Dr. Jennifer Galambos, and Anne (Broughton) Duvall ’81; (back, l–r) Director of Advancement Coral Butler Brooks, Senior Director of Community Engagement Lainey Segear P ’34, and Virginia (Eldridge) Eaton ’66

50

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

2. KPS IN BETHESDA, MD: Director of Advancement Coral Butler Brooks, host Beth (Jennings) Rosenheim ’87, Kris Juncker ’93, Sarah (Casey) Otte ’89, and Head of School Dr. Jennifer Galambos KPS IN WASHINGTON, DC: 3. Kent Ravenscroft, Madison Mastrangelo ’15, and Isabelle Donatelli ’15 4. Director of Advancement Coral Butler Brooks and Kathy Prendergast ’86 5. Cathy Wiss ’65 and Courtney (Alpaugh) Simmons ’09

6. Jachele Veléz ’07, Katie (Green) Snowdon ’70, and Ellen (Leander) Morrison ’76

8. Head of School Dr. Jennifer Galambos, Eileen (Conley) Schlee ’78, and Director of Advancement Coral Butler Brooks

KPS IN LONDON

9. Judy Joo ’93 and Head of School Dr. Jennifer Galambos

Head of School Dr. Jennifer Galambos and Director of Advancement Coral Butler Brooks took Green and Gold on the Road international, meeting more than 10 alumnae, among them one from the Class of 1941!

7. Dinner in London with alumnae Lauren Brown ’08, Rachel Uhlman ’10, Alexa Biale ’08, Katie (Cummins) Dooley ’09, Paige Beaumont ’08, and Katherine Uhlman ’14

10. Head of School Dr. Jennifer Galambos and Sam Conti ’85 11. Eileen (Conley) Schlee ’78 at Brunswick House

3.

5.

8.

4.

6.

9.

7.

10.

11.

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

51

KEEPING PACE CLASS NOTES

fun and memories. Her lovely home sits on the banks of the mighty Columbia River and has magical views.

Judy (Wynn) Newhouse and hubby Steve took their three oldest grandsons to Wyoming for the boys’ first dude-ranch experience, a success for all.

Candace (Connor ) Eardley: So much fun to see some of us on our 75th-birthday Zoom. Wish more would join next time! After a four-

In Memoriam Margery (Larsen) Gori-Montanelli ’40

Date unknown

Alan (Summersby) Emmet ’45

October 9, 2021

Winifred (Sorg) Vogt ’46

October 9, 2021

Joan (Lanston) McKeown ’49

October 6, 2021

Cathy (O’Hara) Malkovich ’59

April 2021

Nancy (Bigelow) Sinclair ’60

December 9, 2021

Martha (Gordon) Santuiste ’67

August 19, 2021

Adrienne (Kelly) Carr '50

November 13, 2021 Heather Budd ’95

November 29, 2021 Laura Abrams ’12

November 2021

IN REMEMBRANCE

It is with great sadness we learned that Nancy Humick passed away at her home in Osterville, MA, on June 16, 2021. Nancy served as Kent Place’s Director of Admission and Financial Aid for 19 years and was described by her colleagues as a leader, mentor, and friend who encouraged professionalism and excellence. She is remembered fondly by the many alumnae and families she helped guide through the admission process to find their home at KPS.

52

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

month hiatus in New York City with my son, I’m back in New Jersey. Two moves in four months was a lot. I downsized yet again . . . next move may be a tiny house! I do notice I keep adding “things” . . . plan is if I bring something in, something goes out. Marc is working hard on three potential Broadway musicals.

It’s a really tough business but he’s amazingly persistent. Much love to the Class of ’64!

Phyllis (Cross) Croce: We survived COVID and are fully vaccinated with our booster. Nothing like turning 75 to bring on an existential episode. My understanding is that Gail and Dinny’s birthdays are at the end of the year, meaning they’ve been getting used to that higher number for almost a year. In August, I saw Karen (Connell) Larsen at a rug-hooking event and we laughed until I was choking. Jonn and I live in southern Indiana right across the river from Louisville. If you’re ever nearby, drop by and my ex-chef husband will fix you a meal that will knock your socks off.

1965

Dr. Janet B. W. Williams jbwwny@gmail.com Deborah Johnston: We were lucky to

have a virtual gathering, organized

by Jane (Kolarsey) Kusterer, with several classmates. It was wonderful to see faces and have a catch-up. My husband died in August after years of poor health at home and then a year in an assisted living and nursing home, so I’m finding my way into a new life. I’m relieved for him, in some ways, as he was becoming more incapacitated, but as he said, “People always say ‘He lived a good long life,’” but it’s never long enough. I’m staying put, baking my regular orders, and taking care of the farm and animals, hoping for a time with no dying dogs, horses, husband, and friends.

Candace Cushing: Status is quo and blessings are counted daily.

1966

Linda “Lindy” (Burns) Jones finallylbj@gmail.com Tricia (Hodge) Parks hit the road

as soon as she was vaccinated, until the Delta variant hit. She’s been to visit family in Mammoth Lakes, CA, twice, Florida several times, Martha’s Vineyard, and the Maryland coast.

December 2021: Caribbean cruise.

When home, she continues her pet

rescue, Pilates, and gardening, and puts in 15 hours a week at Parks Associates. Her grandchildren (three of each) are 8, 10, 12 (2), 16, and 18 and have remained healthy.

Extremely happy grandparents Beverly (Shyers) Lobo and husband Phil are full of joy at the birth of three grandchildren this year! Their daughter Tricia Havran welcomed her second daughter, Ripley Reign Havran, on July 20, and son Dave Lobo and his wife welcomed twin boys, Raphael Vann and Benjamin Amari, on September 20. Their other daughter, Kristyn, owns Karma Floral Design, in Jersey City.

Judy Small writes, “Over the summer, I began interpreting pro bono for a new asylum client from Cameroon, represented by attorneys at Centro Legal de La Raza, in Oakland. I was honored to learn that a Spanish translation of my book, Second Tongue, is in progress; I’ve been working closely with the translator. Our daughter and her family, with four daughters, are departing California’s insane housing market for Chapel Hill, NC, in the spring. Fortunately, our son and family are still very close by.”

Sonia (Leonardow) Dickinson

writes, “What a crazy year with the pandemic! I was lucky enough to became a grandmother to an adorable little girl, Djuna (pronounced JUN-a) Bo Baxter. I had to wait until she was a year old before I could meet her in person and still haven’t been able to hug and kiss her because of COVID-19 concerns and risks.

She’s a real sweetie.”

1967

Kent Place was saddened to learn the news that Martha (Gordon) Santuiste passed away peacefully on August 19, 2021. Martha was a devoted and caring educator. During her 16-year tenure as Director of the Primary School, Martha enriched the lives of hundreds of Kent Place students. We send our condolences to her sister, Sarah (Gordon) DeGiovanni ’73, and her family and friends.

Elizabeth (Wilson) Hetman, Lianne (Gerhardt) LaVoy, Patty English, Pandora Jacoubs, Jeanne (Hammond) Daraio, Phyllis (Arbesman) Berger: Another memorable Mabie Babies reunion was hosted in June by our own Patty English. Patty lives in a beautiful valley in northern Montana caring for her horse, Angel, her dogs,

cats, bees, hummingbirds, chickens, and of course all of us. What a joy to be out of pandemic detention!

Fishing, swimming, touring ancient forests and bison ranges, boating, and culinary presentations interrupted our fairly constant chatter fueled by superb wines. When the week ended, we were convinced we needed to move to northern Montana.

Perhaps we should check out those winters first? Ah, that’s the magical power of lasting friendship.

1968

Barbara Wiss barbarawiss@gmail.com

1969

Gay (Garth) Legg gaylegg@gmail.com

1970

Harty (Platt) du Pont hartleydupont@aol.com Lisa Schmucki lisaschmucki@gmail.com Liz (Allen) Post: I’m always

remembering our great class and have wonderfully fond memories. I’m in Basalt, CO, still enjoying all it has to offer 21 years later. I’m married to Bill Post, and my son, Henry, 32, lives in Aspen. If anyone is in Colorado, please stop by.

Melissa (Baker) Connelly: After 45 years in Salt Lake City, my husband, Will, and I have moved to Eagle, ID, and so have my horses.

Unpacking all those years from three houses has been a challenge, but it’s almost done. Back in the dressage saddle soon. All of our five children and their families are fine. Our older daughter is expecting twins in December, which will make six grandchildren. We’ve been well, and hope you all are, too. Stay healthy!

Joy Weiner: After 18 months living upstate in Columbia County, NY, I came back to Manhattan for a knee-replacement surgery mid-September. (Highly recommended but definitely NOT fun!)

I loved life in the country, where I swam in a beautiful, crystal-clear lake near the house and could enjoy a simpler life while still working. I often went on daylong road trips with “bubble-mates” or Sally, my trusty yellow Lab. Over the summer, we visited Sharon Springs, Windham Mountain, Woodstock, Rhinebeck, Saratoga,

THEN & NOW: OUTDOOR FUN

Kent Place’s campus may have changed from decade to decade, but there have always been outdoor spaces where students could unwind, hang out, or just have some fun between classes or during recess. At one such spot (left), students from the 1970s pose on a campus swing set. Today, there are outdoor seating options, a Gaga pit, and numerous playgrounds (right).

We’d love to hear where outdoors you used to hang out; please email your story to communications@kentplace.org.

and Delaware County. I’m looking forward to our class get-together in September ’22. Till then, stay safe!

Lis Bensley: It’s been a busy year. Had my first granddaughter in April, published a novel in June, and survived the wildfires. I’m an academic dean at my school, I hope the last full year of that job. Student and faculty stress is formidable right now. No surprise.

Judy Chamberlain: Karen and I continue to spend half the year in Maine and half in South Carolina, driving and riding our horses, gardening, and enjoying life. We had a wonderful time hosting Sticky and Patty this summer in Maine. Kate Debevoise and I are working with Lisa on a reunion in Maine next September. Hope to see many of our classmates there.

Kate Debevoise: I downsized last spring to a condo in Yarmouth, ME, which I love, and now spend November–December of each year at my home in the Meadows, in Sarasota, FL, which I also love. No problem being a snowbird. I’m working with Lisa and Judy to organize a belated 50th destination-reunion next September 7–10 at Mere Point, Maine. So far, more than 20 people from our class are hoping to attend. If you didn’t receive information about this event, please email Lisa and she’ll provide it.

1971

Deborah Besch debvettx@gmail.com

Greetings to all our classmates. We had a great virtual reunion in May and talked about doing it again next year. If you didn’t get to participate, please send me an email, at debvettx@ gmail.com, and join us in 2022.

My husband, Tyler, and I were delighted to get back to traveling this fall and enjoyed a lovely trip to visit friends in Italy in September.

Retirement is wonderful!

Jeanne (Pettit) Ferris: After 14 years of living in a condo in Bethesda, MD, I moved about half a mile to another one in the same city. My daughter, Veronica, is now living in an apartment in southwest D.C. with her boyfriend, so I no longer needed two bedrooms. My new space is considerably smaller as well as having fewer rooms, and it was very lucky that a neighbor in my old condo was opening a thrift shop and looking for donations. Lots of things I no longer needed or had room for are now brightening other people’s lives (apparently my donations were of particularly high quality!). Other than that, I’m still hoping the pandemic will end someday. Stay safe!

Janet (Yeaw) Carhart: Being a grandparent is so much fun! We just got back from a wonderful visit with

our son Jason, his wife, and our two fabulous grandbabies. Sadly, they’re in Georgia, so we don’t get to see them as much as we’d like. Thank goodness for Zoom!

Connie Murphy: How is it possible that it’s been 50 years since we graduated? I immensely enjoyed our virtual Zoom reunions. My husband, Joe Perna, and I are living in Exeter, NH. I’m studying Ayurvedic healing and restorative justice and practicing both. That love of learning KPS ignited still glows.

where or it won’t be a secret anymore!

Those who were there will remember.

1972

1980

Lili (White) Durling lilidurling@gmail.com Margi (Loughead) Brenizer: We

moved to Charleston, SC, in 2017, and are happy, healthy, and active. Our three sons live in North Carolina and California. We don’t see them often enough, but they’re doing well. My mother passed away in March 2021.

Please email me if you come through Charleston. I’d love to see you.

1973

Mary Jo Arrowsmith: I attended KPS from second through tenth grade and then moved to New Mexico. What I remember most is the wonderful musty smells and wooden stairs. We had a secret place, some of us, on campus for two years. I can’t tell you

1974

Cathy Slichter cathy.slichter@gmail.com

1975

Patti Neale-Schulz pattischulz1919@gmail.com

1978

Patricia (Friedman) Marcus balibliss@yahoo.com

Amy Miles Ziebarth and Elena (Carousis) Coniaris met up in Spring Lake with Anne (Broughton) Duvall ’81 and Lynn (Loftus) Elliott ’81. (See the photo

section at the end of Class Notes.)

1981

Kathryn (McDaniel) Nenning kathryn@nenning.com Kristin (O’Brien) Arnold: Ann (Bolger) Peruzzi ’82 and I had a wonderful

reunion here in Denver. We laughed and reminisced about all the amazing fun and wild times we had at KPS. I hope anyone traveling through Denver will please look me up.

1982

Tracey (San Filippo) Henick tahenick@aol.com

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

53

KEEPING PACE CLASS NOTES

1983

Clara A. Porter claraportermaine@gmail.com Linda (Morrison) Sherran: I’ve been

1986

Cynthia Cameron: I moved to Canada

Jennifer Thomas meezertee@gmail.com

to take a position at the University of St. Michael’s College within the University of Toronto. I’m the newly named Keenan Chair of Religious Education. I’m living in midtown Toronto and enjoying getting to know my new city and country.

Mary Madigan: I moved to Santa Fe in February 2020, after 25 years in New York City, and haven’t looked back. I’m happy to be here every day. My work situation, though, is less positive. The arts leader job that brought me here was cut as a cost-saving measure during COVID.

1985

1987

enjoying life in Seattle with my husband, David, daughter Emily, and three dogs. I’m the development officer for Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, a big-band jazz orchestra, where I just celebrated my two-year anniversary. In September, we went to Maui, where David and I were married, and renewed our vows.

1984

Karen Little rucr8tive@aol.com

Ginny (Boyer) Losito glosito@me.com

1988

Melissa (McCarthy) Madden melissamccarthy@me.com Mercer Reeves: Still holding

Marriages Emma Greenberg ’05

to Milind Nimesh September 12, 2021 Hannah Benn ’11

to Dylan Davis July 17, 2021 Births

Cynthia Keenan ’99

A daughter, Maren Joyce Maljevec June 22, 2021 Ashley (Pinakiewicz) Smallwood ’00

A daughter, Amelia (Millie) May Smallwood October 27, 2021 Amy Fellenbaum ’04

A daughter, Zoe Beth Goldman September 29, 2021 Nicole (Lamparello) Terzis ’04

A daughter, Olivia Ricki Terzis December 5, 2020 Sophia (Stewart) Anthony ’05

on to the fun of our last reunion and hoping even more can make it to the next one. Things here in Virginia are moving along. I have a sophomore and a junior in high school and am not looking forward to the empty nest heading my way. We jumped on the bandwagon and got the most adorable puppy during the lockdown, so he keeps me busy. And I’m in year two of a three-year graduate program in clinical mental health counseling at William & Mary.

Laura (Malachi Nicinski) Cotten: Sloane (Albright) Castleman and I had

planned to celebrate her birthday at Hamilton in early 2020 and finally got to see the show in October 2021. It was worth the wait! I was invited to be in an art show that opened in January 2022 at The Karpeles Manuscript Museum here in Jacksonville, FL. The theme is “lost artifacts” and my piece will be from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in Colorado. My husband and I were in Westcliffe, on the east side of the Sangres, this November to visit the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch and then to the San Luis Valley to visit friends, hot springs, and Great Sand Dunes National Park.

A son, Kingston F. Anthony September 10, 2021

1989

Michelle Manket ’06

This has definitely been a year of changes.

My eldest child, Julian, moved out

A son, Oliver William Rogol August 29, 2021

54

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

Vanessa E. King squamlake@gmail.com Laura (Ketcham) Coccimiglio:

Abbie Moore Reiter ’83 (right) flew to Los Angeles to support her daughter Olivia Reiter ’16, who was running the city’s marathon.

At breakfast the morning before the race, they snapped a selfie to send to KPS when they realized they were wearing green and gold!

of our home and is now living in Fort Worth with his boyfriend. I started working at NEXUS Specialty Hospital part time. It’s an LTAC facility specializing in treating traumatic brain injury. I also played the title role in Medea for Precinct 4’s outdoor theater program.

1990

Maren (Eisenstat) Vitali mevitali@comcast.net

As I sit here and write to you, I can’t believe that many of us turn the big 5-0 this year. Where did the time go? When I think of you, you’re all 18, walking the halls, hanging out in the lounge talking about life plans, and preparing to head off to college.

You are, and always will be, forever young in my mind. I hope you stay that way in your hearts. Let’s all take some time to get in touch with one another and embrace this age. Happy birthday to us!

This marks my 25th year of teaching. I continue to spread my love of literature and library literacy to my students and others through lessons and public speaking. Aidan is a freshman at Gettysburg College and loves it. I miss him terribly, so we try to get out there and see him as frequently as possible. Kelan is a freshman in high school and plays soccer. Greg continues to work as a construction attorney in Westfield.

In sad news, I was sorry to hear of the passing of Sarah Bunting’s mom. She was the head of the Parents’ Association while we were in Upper School. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say we send Sarah our love and heartfelt sympathy.

Kathryn (Hudaek) Harlow:

Twenty-two happy, healthy, hilarious chickens and ducks in our backyard in New Hampshire (right near

Dartmouth). Please visit; I have more eggs than I can handle!

Chantal (Kullman) Reinlieb: Well, this is the year when we all turn 50!

I was so happy to see so many KP friends this summer in New Jersey.

It felt like a massage for my soul.

Living and raising a child during this pandemic has been less than ideal, but I’m doing my part and continue to teach 3-year-olds at the JCC and sell antiaging skin products to my network. Stay healthy, and happy birthday, everyone.

Kemba Dunham: So excited to turn 50 in August! The last few years have been a lot. I’m (happily) divorced, my parents and stepmother are all deceased, and I’m raising two teenagers entirely on my own. Khaya, 17, is applying to college, and Nile, 15, is busy with sports. After eight years at the College Board, I decided to leave a comfy situation and took a role at the fin-tech company Square in August. It’s been a fun, wild ride so far. Before I started, I took a month off and traveled to Martha’s Vineyard, Jamaica, and D.C. to visit colleges with the kids. And I’m enjoying my role as vice chair of the KPS DEIB Alum Council. Please watch for our events this year.

Amie (Quivey) Quickstad: My husband, Jim, and I performed in Twelfth Night with the Chester Theatre Group this fall. We were cast in the show way back in January 2020, so on opening night, when the stage manager called “Places,” we were thrilled to finally be able to share our love of Shakespeare with a live audience. I had a small part as a soldier/servant, and Jim played the role of Sir Andrew.

Julie Goodliffe: No real news; we’re just continuing in the pandemic. We’re grateful not to have lost any family members or friends to

COVID-19. I’ve fallen in love with Instacart, and am working from home now and then. We were told to return to the office, and I think no one has done it 100 percent. Sometimes it’s nice to just roll out of bed and sit down at the computer, and most bosses feel the same. Almost all meetings are still online. We’re slowly losing our pandemic pounds, though it hasn’t been easy. It’s gone on so long that my younger kids have outgrown their masks and now one has hand-medown masks. I hope it’ll end one day.

1991

Andrea (Carson) Tanner acarsontanner@gmail.com

Our 30th reunion was a highlight of 2021. The virtual event lasted long past the official end of the Kent Place festivities. With our class spread

across the country and around the globe, we may plan unofficial Zoom reunions in the coming year and beyond. But here’s hoping that we’re able to get together in person for our 35th, in 2026.

I was campaign manager for a friend running for reelection to local office. It’s been a fulfilling volunteer role this year. I’m also PTA president at my daughter’s elementary school.

She’s in fifth grade and my twin sons are in ninth. Unfortunately, 2021 was the year I joined the sisterhood of breast cancer patients, despite no family history or risk factors (do those monthly self-exams, ladies!).

You can follow my journey at www .caringbridge.org/visit/andreatanner.

Sally (Lewis) Meisner: I love teaching math at Spence and serving as the dean for the seventh grade. I’m con-

stantly reminded of my own Middle School years at KP and of all of you who made them so memorable. This year I’m also serving as an interim cochair of the math department. If there are math teachers from my past reading this, I’m sure they’re wondering how in the world this happened; I’m wondering the same thing.

Amy Allen: I’ve loved working with the children of several KPS alumnae, some friends and some I’ve never met, thanks to a little help from Kent Place, which showcased my college-essay-support role in the interest of advertising alumna businesses during the pandemic. I’ve found it incredibly rewarding to get to know the children of my peers through the process of working on their college essays, and I encourage anyone who wants a second set of eyes on any type

of writing to visit my website, www.allofthewritewords.com.

Michelle Zeiler: The years 2020 and 2021 were exciting. I led the state’s data teams for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, then I ran the Arizona Research Consortium, which focused on state legislative and state-level polling in support of Democratic candidates in one of our newest swing states. Wanting a break, I walked the Camino de Santiago along the northern coast of Spain from Irún, to Santiago de Compostela, to Fisterra and Muxía. The 550 miles took about six weeks, including a few rest days; I walked between 10 and 18 miles a day.

Traveling by myself gave me a lot of time to reflect, and I’m grateful for it.

Bayne Gibby: I’m still in Los Angeles, making my living as an actor and writer. You likely saw me

Ties That Bind Hannah Benn ’11 met Dylan Davis on the swim team at Johns Hopkins University, and their wedding, delayed from June 2020 because of the coronavirus, took place on July 17, 2021, at the Beacon Hill Club in Summit. Hannah was joined by several members of the Class of 2011, among them bridesmaid Alex N’Diaye and me, Lizzy Miggins (maid of honor). My speech recalled fond memories of AP Chemistry, especially Hannah excelling in any and all labs, and the comforts Hannah provided us during the stressful time of applying for colleges. Our friendship has remained strong and unwavering.

Kent Place has also never been far from the minds of her parents, Jennifer and Rennie Benn, who still live across the street from campus. After retiring in fall 2020, Rennie returned to the Kent Place community, now as the assistant coach of the Middle School basketball and softball teams.

In addition to classmates, Jean (Birdsall) Ball ’61, a family friend, was at the wedding. It was fun to exchange stories of Kent Place and to marvel that everyone is still involved in the community. Jean is one of the alumnae who enthusiastically joined in singing at STAR. We enjoyed sharing memories and loved that, despite graduating years apart, we participated in the same traditions.

“It was amazing to have so many people from my Kent Place life for such an important day,” Hannah said. “With COVID and everyone spread across the country, this was the first time we had all been together in person in a long time.”

The couple are happy to be settling back into the area as Hannah, a dentist, joined a practice in Cranford. Best wishes to Hannah and Dylan, and may Kent Place be part of your life for many decades to come.

—LIZZY MIGGINS AND ALEX N’DIAYE

Lizzy Miggins ’11 helps bride Hannah Benn ’11 on her wedding day.

The wedding of Hannah Benn ’11 and Dylan Davis: (front, l–r) Jean (Birdsall) Ball ’61, Neeley Lawrence ’11, Alex N’Diaye ’11, Hannah, Dylan, and Lili Hutchison ’11; (back) Rennie Benn (KPS coach), Erin McDonnell ’11, Lizzy Miggins ’11, and Malina Welman ’11

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

55

KEEPING PACE CLASS NOTES

wearing a very large double hennin (a.k.a. the hat with two horns) on a T-Mobile commercial recently. If you find yourself in L.A., I would love to split a turkey leg with you.

Sally Herships: We had a beautiful summer in Maine and it was hard to come back to Brooklyn after pine trees, breezes, and salt air. Things are busy at Columbia. I’ve just finished fill-in hosting a Planet Money podcast called “The Indicator” and was working on the national desk at NPR covering the pandemic and Governor Cuomo during some kind of spicy months earlier this year. Fun but definitely busy.

1993

Courtney (Mead) Nagle courtney.a.mead@gmail.com

Hello, Class of 1993! I hope everyone is safe and healthy.

I’m still enjoying life in New Jersey and working at Verizon in Basking Ridge. My husband, Mike,

and I live in Madison with our 5-yearold golden retriever, Sam. I’m looking forward to the end of the pandemic so I can get back on the road and see the faces of friends I haven’t seen in way too long.

Kamilah (Ross) Heartwell: I’ve been an educator for the last 22 years and recently accepted a position as supervisor of social studies with Newark Public Schools. I’m thrilled to be working in our state’s largest urban school district and hope to be able to show our students, many of whom are students of color, the beauty in their cultural history and background.

Cherie Alcoff: Had a blast getting Gregory, my son, together with Jack, Whitney (Sayia) Reed’s son.

Gregory is in second grade at Saint David’s School and Jack just started kindergarten there. Really nice to start seeing old friends again.

Gabrielle (Costanzo) Long: I spent part of the pandemic listening to

podcasts hosted by alumnae Sarah Bunting ’90, Morra Aarons-Mele ’94, and Sally Herships ’91. I’m thankful that my resort stores in Montauk, NY, and Block Island, RI, survived another season and I’m preparing for summer 2022. My two boys are in kindergarten and second grade.

1994

Christina (Dughi) Tonzola ctonzola@gmail.com Shannon (Barry) O’Grady:

Greetings from Lehigh Valley, PA. I was very happy to spend the summer teaching classes at Northampton Community College and met up several times with Laura (Greenberg) Savarese. We went to Ringing Rocks with our kids and had a double date at Lambertville Station. And I’m thrilled to announce that as of September 2021, I’m the theater director at Salisbury High School. I couldn’t be happier at my new job. I love working with

my students and I feel supported and respected by the administration and the community. It really is a dream come true. I think often of Bob Pridham; the lessons he taught inspire me every day.

1995

Kent Place was saddened to learn of the passing of Heather Budd, on November 29, 2021, after a brave battle with cancer. Heather was living in San Francisco, and was the executive vice president of clinical transformation at Azara Healthcare. She remained a committed and involved member of the Kent Place community and served on the DEIB Alum Council. Our condolences to her husband, Robin Barooah, sister Hillary (Budd) Lockefeer ’96, sister Glynis, her parents, her aunt, Elizabeth Budd Bugliari ’59, and all her family and friends during this difficult time.

For Heather's obituary, visit tinyurl. com/HeatherBuddObituary

Pursuing Passions I often think of my time at KPS as incredibly formative, especially the impact the Music, Drama, English, and French Departments had on my life.

After I graduated from Williams College, magna cum laude, with a degree in English and French, I spent a year teaching in Andorra with a Fulbright Fellowship. I then for two years taught students with special needs in a low-income charter school in New Orleans with Teach for America, finishing as a remote teacher during the COVID lockdowns. I recently completed my master’s in education at the University of Oxford, graduating with a first-class distinction; my dissertation explored hybrid teaching/learning and inclusive special education during the pandemic.

Now, I’m continuing my research on hybrid pedagogy as an RA with the Center for Teaching and Learning at Oxford. At the same time, I’m a consultant on education policy with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), with a focus on data and information management in education systems around the world. I’m currently based in Paris, where Mme Moreau and Mme McCormack’s incredible French instruction is proving invaluable.

Kent Place cultivated my love of music, and the Music Department and Edel Thomas had a great impact on my life. I recently released a single of three original songs. At the height of the first pandemic lockdown, in May 2020, I recorded the songs in my New Orleans apartment and produced them at a distance with a fellow NOLA musician. After sitting with them for more than a year, I finally released them. You can find them on Spotify.

56

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

Juliette Norrmén-Smith ’13

The recording has been very well received: I was picked up by BBC Music Introducing, which featured my song “Mariama,” and I performed live in London on December 4. A former student contacted me to make a video of “Mr. American Dream,” which we filmed in Paris.

I’m happy to give the link to my music to anyone who’s interested. It’s been such a difficult couple of years, and I would love to spread some fun pop joy as far as possible. I first started writing music at KPS with my costar Joe Verga in the 2011 production of Rent (we were Mimi and Roger).

Many thanks to the KPS network for supporting me. I was a student on full financial aid, and without Kent Place’s belief in me, I surely wouldn’t be where I am today — able to pursue my many passions in really fulfilling ways. Sending my very best wishes to all.

—JULIETTE NORRMÉN-SMITH ’13

1996

Rachel Platt racheldplatt@gmail.com Amy (Zucker) Kohen amykohen@gmail.com

1998

KC (Anthony) Artemenko kcartemenko@gmail.com

1999

Iris Blasi iris.blasi@gmail.com Cynthia Keenan cindy.keenan@gmail.com

My husband, Ben, and I are overjoyed by the birth of our daughter. Maren Joyce Maljevec was born June 22, 2021, and is loved beyond measure! I now live in Summit and am excited to bring Maren to campus to see KPS. 2000

Christine Ryan ceryan@gmail.com

Greetings! Here’s some news to brighten your day.

A happy consequence of COVID is that I continue to connect almost daily with Ashley (Pinakiewicz) Smallwood and Danielle (Mulligan) Kinney through our now epic (never to be shared with our significant others) group chat. We’re counting down the days until we can reconnect in person, as we’re now spread across the country (Georgia, New York, and California).

Ashley (Pinakiewicz) Smallwood:

The baby is here! Amelia May Smallwood, also known as Millie, arrived October 27, 2021, and is doing great. We’re madly in love!

2001

Kimberly (Frye) Alula kfrye05@gmail.com Sara Pickett-Tucker saralizpickett@gmail.com

2002

Erin Sauchelli e.sauchelli@gmail.com

2003

Gina Ferraioli ginaferraioli@gmail.com

2004

Laura Kleinbaum lkkleinbaum@gmail.com

Hilary Sayia: In June I started working full time for Organon LLC, the first women’s healthcare company, as the media strategy director. I also moved back to New York City the same month, after spending most of COVID-19 at the Jersey Shore.

Amy Fellenbaum: In February 2021, we relocated from New York City to Bethesda, MD, and I work in D.C. doing civil rights enforcement for the US Department of Education. Our family welcomed our second baby girl (Zoe), little sister to our daughter Lila, on September 29, 2021.

Jessica Scott: I finally finished all my years of training in ophthalmology and have officially joined my dad’s practice in East Orange as a cataract and glaucoma specialist.

Nicole (Lamparello) Terzis:

Moved to New Jersey after 10 years in New York City and bought a new home in Wyckoff. Olivia Ricki Terzis joined our family in December 2020.

Michelle Manket: I’m in my second year of grad school at New York University for an MSW to become a therapist — scheduled to graduate May 2022. My husband, Josh, our pup, Arlo, and I are excited to announce the birth of our son, Oliver.

Oliver loves spending time with his KPS aunties.

2007

Nida Abdulla nida.11.abdulla@gmail.com Caitlin Black cblack@fandm.edu

moved to Short Hills in August.

Janeen Browne jb4628@nyu.edu

2014

Caroline Lewis caroline.lewis915@gmail.com

2015

2009

modeling debut in July ’21. I starred in several ads for ONE/SIZE Beauty, a makeup brand founded by makeup artist Patrick Starr. You can see me on ONE/SIZE and Sephora’s websites.

I’m represented by Innovative Artists and managed by Mara Entertainment.

Allison Oberlander oberlander.allison@gmail.com

Courtney (Alpaugh) Simmons courtney.simmons513@gmail.com

2010

Lydia Deutsch lydia.deutsch@gmail.com Katherine (O’Donnell) Lynch: We

2013

2008

Milind Nimesh in Seattle on September 12, 2021. We chose Seattle because my parents moved there. It was a small wedding with just family because of the pandemic, but we were able to livestream the event to family and friends not attending in person. I have my own architectural firm, Emma Greenberg Architects, PLLC; I design residential projects in New York and New Jersey. I give tips and provide inspiration for home design on my Instagram, @emmasarchitecture, and my YouTube channel, Emma Talks Architecture.

Sophia (Stewart) Anthony: After more than a decade living in New York City, my husband and I purchased our first home, in West Orange, NJ. We also welcomed our first child, Kingston F. Anthony, in September and I celebrated my 12th anniversary at Citigroup.

Danielle Auriemma dvauriemma@gmail.com

Kent Place was saddened to learn of the passing of Laura Abrams, in November 2021. Our thoughts are with Laura’s family and friends during this difficult time.

Isabella Smith Isabella.smith411@gmail.com

Allison Goldberg afg813@gmail.com

2006

Victoria Criscione victoriaacriscione@gmail.com

Sara Santos sarajosantos@gmail.com

2005

Cara Manket cara.manket@gmail.com Emma Greenberg: I married

2012

Sara Firkser (973) 379-5347 Rachel Landau rachelroselandau@gmail.com

2011

Lizzy Miggins lizzymiggins@gmail.com Malina Welman malinawelman@gmail.com Congratulations to Hannah Benn

on her wedding. See page 55 to read a tribute from her classmates.

Sarah Pavlak scp61@georgetown.edu Abby Espiritu: I made my professional

2016

Claire Eckles cmeckles7@gmail.com Bailey Mikytuck bmikytuc@skidmore.edu Olivia Reiter ran the Los Angeles mara-

thon. See a photo of her and her mom, Abbie Moore Reiter '83, on page 54.

2017

Julia McKay mckayjj11@gmail.com

2018

Deanna Hanchuk dchanchuk@gmail.com

CLASS NOTES DETAILS

•N otes will be collected via Google Form. You will receive a link to this form from your Class Secretary or, if your class doesn’t have a secretary, directly from the school.

•D igital photos should be a high-resolution JPEG image (1M or larger) with a caption. We request that photos include alumnae (with the exception of newborn photos).

•E ditorial staff will edit, format, and select all content based on space constraints and will work to incorporate as many notes and photos as possible.

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

57

KEEPING PACE CLASS NOTES

MOMENTS

1.

1. Anne (Sonnekalb) Iskrant

16. Mary Madigan ’86 at the

’60 and her grandson Lucas

Santa Fe Opera with a music

2. Jeannie (Blackmar)

journalist friend from New

McLerie-Keppeler ’60 and

York in August 2021

Ken playing music at the

17. Laura (Ketcham) Coc-

farmers market

cimiglio ’89 in Medea at

3. 1964 classmates Karen

Burroughs Park

(Connell) Larsen and Phyllis

18. 1990 classmates hit

(Cross) Croce

the beach 19. An Orpington hen

bellion ’64 and sister Diane

beloved by Kathryn

(Oschwald) Meisseril-Mar-

(Hudacek) Harlow ’90

quot ’67 in Nancy, France

20. Andrea (Carson)

5. Grandma Sossie (Sonia

Tanner ’91 and family at

Leonardow Dickinson ’66)

her twin sons’ middle

with son Colin Baxter

school graduation

and granddaughter Djuna

21. Michelle Zeiler ’91 at the

Bo Baxter

end of the Camino de Santia-

6. 1967 classmates Lianne

go, in Fisterra

(Gerhardt) LaVoy, Pandora

22. 1993 classmates

Jacoubs, Patty English,

Whitney (Sayia) Reed, with

Elizabeth (Wilson) Hetman,

son Jack, and Cherie Alcoff,

Jeanne (Hammond) Daraio,

with son Gregory, at Saint

and Phyllis (Arbesman) Berg-

David’s School

er in Montana

23. Kamilah (Ross)

7. Kate Debevoise ’70 and

Heartwell ’93

John McElwee

24. Shannon (Barry) O’Grady

8. Liz (Allen) Post ’70

’94 with classmate Laura

9. Melissa (Baker) Connelly

(Greenberg) Savarese and

’70’s dressage mare

her husband, Scott

10. Deborah Besch ’71

25. Maren Joyce Maljevec,

and husband Tyler Anderson

newborn daughter of Cindy

at Lago Maggiore, in

Keenan ’99

northern Italy

26. Amelia (Millie) May Small-

11. Betsy (Haas) Anderson ’73

wood, newborn daughter

visiting classmate Francine

of Ashley (Pinakiewicz)

Lynch in New York to cele-

Smallwood ’00

brate the holiday season

27. Christine Ryan ’00 with

12. “Everyone”: Jan (Yeaw)

husband Teddy Hertzberg,

Carhart ’71 and Tom with sons

Grace (4), and Maeve (2)

Tommy and Jason, Jason’s

28. Connor (4½), Olivia (8

wife, and their two children

months), and Julian (2½), the

13. Anne (Broughton) Duvall

children of Nicole (Lamparel-

31. Oliver William Rogol,

’81, Elena (Carousis) Coniaris

lo) Terzis ’04

newborn son of Michelle

’80, Lynn (Loftus) Elliott ’81,

29. Emma Greenberg ’05

Manket ’06

and Amy Miles Ziebarth ’80

on her wedding day, with

32. Abby Espiritu ’15 mod-

in Spring Lake, NJ

sisters Alice, Joanna, and

eling in ONE/SIZE Beauty’s

14. Ann (Bolger) Peruzzi ’82

Molly Greenberg

new ad for the Turn Up the

and Kristin (O’Brien) Arnold ’81

30. Kingston F. Anthony,

Base Butter Silk Concealer

15. Linda (Morrison) Sherran

newborn son of Sophia

’83, David, and Emily on a

(Stewart) Anthony ’05

58

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

3.

6.

4. Wendy (Oschwald) Bar-

recent trip to Maui

2.

4.

5.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

21.

20.

22.

23.

24.

25.

28.

26.

29.

30.

27.

31.

32.

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

59

WITH WISDOM

15 MINUTES WITH . . .

LAUREN (BOUFFARD) YOUNG ’00 Lauren (Bouffard) Young ’00 is a managing director at Advent International, a global private-equity firm, and sits on numerous boards. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your career? I invest in tech companies that are disruptors in their markets and have huge growth potential. I get to partner with visionary CEOs and amazing management teams to accelerate their growth trajectory. We help them scale their businesses by putting the right talent, systems, and processes in place and investing in new products to drive strong growth over the long term. Working to scale and build companies is the best part of the job.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect you? Public markets have taken a hit of late but tech stocks have generally performed well as COVID-19 was an accelerant to adoption for many companies. We now live and breathe Zoom, which makes connecting with management teams easier and faster, but we’re all eager to get back to in-person relationship-building. Personally, it was opportune timing, as I’d just had a daughter, and it meant less travel, which gave me more time with her.

What’s the source of your work ethic? My mother was an organic chemist who helped develop one of Merck’s blockbuster drugs. Her incredible work ethic, combined with her passion for the field, had a real impact on people’s lives. She taught me to appreciate that tech innovation can enable a small group of mission-driven people to have a transformative influence on the world.

Aside from work and family, what are your passions? I had a heart transplant at age 30. This has certainly given me a unique perspective on life. I’m grateful for my amazing care and support system and am passionate about organ-donation awareness. My other passion is supporting women, who, despite tremendous inroads in the private-equity industry, are still underrepresented among senior leadership. I chair WIN, the company’s women’s network, and am an ardent champion of female mentorship, coaching, and development.

What does KPS mean to you? I spent nine years at KPS and the academic experience, particularly the emphasis on writing, provided an incredible foundation for my successes.

I made lifelong friends, and we support one another through the ups and downs. I couldn’t imagine life without them!

60

KENT PLACE WINTER/SPRING 2022

THE KENT PLACE FUND:

INVESTING in the Power of a Kent Place Education LEARNING

With Purpose

INVESTING

In One Another

LEADING With Ethics

THRIVING

In Community Your commitment to Kent Place helps us to educate and inspire girls and young women to become the leaders, pacesetters, and visionaries of tomorrow.

THEIR IMPACT ON THE WORLD is made possible by your generous gift today.

Make a gift online at www.kentplace.org/give, or contact the Advancement Office at (908) 273-0900, ext. 212 or kpsgiving@kentplace.org.

42 NORWOOD AVENUE SUMMIT, NJ 07901 KENTPLACE.ORG Please forward any address changes to the Kent Place School Advancement Office: updateinfo@kentplace.org

“ AT KENT PLACE, WE’RE PUTTING OUR ENERGY BEHIND THE

WHOLE CHILD.”

—MICHELLE STEVENSON, HEALTH, WELLNESS, AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT CHAIR

To learn how that vision comes to life through the ambitious new Learn. Live. Health and Wellness Program, see page 28.