Laurel School's Highlights Magazine: Winter 2021

Highlights A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNAE, PARENTS AND FRIENDS OF LAUREL SCHOOL

Happy 125 ! th

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WINTER 2 021 | Laurel's Anti-Racist Task Force • 125th Celebration • A History of Senior Speeches • Annual Report

Dream. Dare. Do.

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LAUREL SCHOOL

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IN THIS ISSUE

Laurel girls today.

Rich in Hope, A Message from Ann V. Klotz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Leaders tomorrow.

DEIB Abridged Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Highlights | WINTER 2021

A Letter from the 125th Co-Chairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Laurel's Anti-Racist Task Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

125th Celebration! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 A History of Senior Speeches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Laurel Athletics Through the Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 A Letter from the Chair of the Board of Trustees . . . . . . . . . . . 23 2019-2020 LAUREL SCHOOL ANNUAL REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . 24

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MISSION STATEMENT

To inspire each girl to fulfill her promise and to better the world.

Highlights | Winter 2021 HEAD OF SCHOOL Ann V. Klotz DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Venta Cantwell EDITOR Sarah Hibshman Miller ’98 ALUMNAE EDITOR Julie Donahue ’79 DESIGN AND LAYOUT Laurel School PHOTOGRAPHY Kimberly Dailey, Downie Photography, LLC, Binnie Kurtzner Pappas ’87, Neal McDaniel PRESIDENT, ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION Kristi Anderson Horner ’80 CHAIR, BOARD OF TRUSTEES Lynnette Jackson Crenshaw ’93 Highlights is published by Laurel School for alumnae, parents and friends.

Submit address changes to the Development Office at 216.455.3096 or bGreen@LaurelSchool.org Laurel School is an independent day school for girls, Kindergarten through Grade 12, with coeducational programs for 18 months–four-yearolds. We are proud to be an inclusive and equitable school community, and we actively seek a diverse student body and faculty without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, handicap or disability or sexual orientation.

LAUREL VALUES STATEMENT: Committed to building a just and inclusive world, Laurel girls are courageous, creative, ethical and compassionate.

LAURELSCHOOL.ORG

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A MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL, ANN V. KLOTZ

RICH IN HOPE

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n this unusual school year, as we note Laurel School’s 125th birthday and our history as an all-girls’ school, we are making history, too, as we reinvent Laurel School to be as safe as possible during the coronavirus pandemic and commit to being an AntiRacist instituion in which we value and elevate every student and faculty member’s voice, regardless of race, faith, culture or socio-economic status, particularly those BIPOC members of our community. As we moved through the celebrations of late fall and winter that celebrate family, light, hope—Diwali, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa—I was grateful for our school’s ability to pivot in order to give girls the best learning experience possible during a global pandemic. I look forward to all we will continue to learn as we move into our next 125 years.

Being certain that our school is a welcoming space for all students is a priority. In post-election day programming sponsored by the Laurel Political Review, an Upper School student-run political publication, topics ranged from debriefing with the Young Republicans or Young Democrats to the intertwined history of suffrage and civil rights to the math used in polling; we are so glad to have girls deeply invested in the world involved in leading the Upper School. We offered space on the morning of January 7 for students in Grades 7-12 to meet via Zoom with teachers to process the insurrection at the Capitol and to condemn racism, white supremacy 4

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and violence. Upper School girls also joined in planning for Inauguration Day conversations and both student and faculty-led workshops. Girls of all ages celebrated the ascension of our first female Vice-President who is also a woman of color!

In a historic year of celebration, we consider our own history. What has endured for 125 years is a school that puts the well-being of girls at the center, a school that prizes both character and academic excellence.

We still have Green and White spirit teams and a love of traditions. We value athletics and the arts. We are also, fortunately, a much more diverse

school community today. Though we are not traveling these days, we are a school that is connected to the world; we strive to help girls understand they are citizens of their own communities, of Cleveland, of the Midwest, the United States and the world. Now, we are also a school that understands the critical importance of social and emotional wellbeing as a cornerstone of academic achievement.

We are a school that wants our girls to be able to be their authentic selves, to see themselves reflected in a dynamic and progressive curriculum and to have teachers who are, themselves, life-long learners, deeply curious about pedagogy, about equity and about girls.

Well-established by 1918, the School weathered the influenza epidemic, but we have found little in our archives to suggest how. Did Mrs. Lyman send the faculty and girls home? Did school continue? Did girls or teachers fall ill? In those days, on Euclid Avenue, there was little outdoor space to use. In 2020, at both the Lyman and Butler Campuses, we reap the rewards of Sarah Lyman’s vision to move the school to Shaker Heights and of a forward-thinking Board of Trustees, who acquired the Butler Campus property in the late 1990s.

I suspect since children began to go to school, they have implored their teachers to have class outside on lovely days, and for

decades, teachers have resisted. But not this year! The outdoors has allowed us to teach more safely. On the Lyman Campus, our maintenance team constructed canvas shade canopies in many locations to give girls and teachers shade through the first warm weeks of fall.

“Go outside,” I urged, and out they went, classes full of girls sitting on yoga mats (to be sure they maintained six feet between them) all over campus, in their masks, learning math and music and art and social studies. We made the decision to pod the children, PrePrimary-Eighth Grade, which means that they are with the same group all day; this makes it easier to manage contact

tracing in the event of a case of COVID. The Upper School girls came to school in person by cohort two days a week and enjoyed Enhancement Programming on Wednesdays, including a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) course and a new online health and wellness curriculum designed by the Laurel’s Center for Research on Girls’ (LCRG) team. After Spring Break, all grades were in person five days a week.

At Butler, through the generosity of Mary French Conway ’46 and Bill Conway, we were able to construct four additional yurts, one more for our Outdoor PrePrimary class and three to serve as classrooms for our Fourth and Fifth

Graders. We moved Grades Three, Four and Five to Butler this year in their own mini-division where they joined their little friends in the Outdoor Pre-Primary, who have been at Butler for the past six years.

Thus far, this innovation, which allows classes to spread out a bit more at Lyman, has been a tremendous success.

On an unseasonably warm day in November, I spent time with the Outdoor Pre-Primary thinking about leadership, shared the news of the day with Third Graders, and, surrounded by proud Fourth and Fifth Graders, watched in awe as the dock that had been constructed by last year’s Fourth Grade class as part of a unit called Power and Purpose was

installed in the pond. It was a glorious morning. As Laurel School@Butler Director Heather Diemer Havre says, “There is no bad weather, only bad gear.”

The girls are learning and living outside, relishing the natural world, and having an extraordinary experience.

We expected that keeping masks on would be a challenge; in fact, the girls and little boys have been magnificent. At both campuses, they help sanitize areas (with child-safe products), wash their hands often, and try to remember to stay six feet apart—maintaining physical distance seems to be the hardest safety protocol to remember. They are so glad to be in school and have adapted to our safety

protocols much more quickly than we imagined they might. “Don’t take risks that put others at risk” is one of our mantras.

With loving and inspirational teachers to guide them, girls in all divisions continue to flourish. I commend our faculty for their dedication: each day, they come to school because they are deeply committed to the children in their care.

While we have found ways to celebrate our 125th birthday—with delicious cookies and splendid t-shirts that every student and faculty and staff member received in the middle of October—this unusual year finds the girls living through a moment of history that I hope many of them will record in the small journals I

offered them as we broke for the winter holidays. I love the idea of students in 2120 reading what their Laurel sisters experienced during this moment in time.

A legacy of resilience, knit into the school’s DNA and history, helps us move forward in a culture that emphasizes high expectations, care for one another, and flexibility. The girls are learning new skills that none of us anticipated, but the pandemic, global and local health crisis that it is, has required us to reimagine and to create new structures to support girls and learning. We are not all the way through yet, but vaccines for our faculty and staff occured before spring break, so I am rich in hope. L Highlights

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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Abridged Timeline at Laurel School

Though Laurel has been committed to principles of equity and inclusion since 2004, in the Summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, the Board of Trustees and Head of School established an Anti-Racist Task Force comprising trustees, Laurel staff members, alumnae from a range of generations, parents and current students.

The task force is more than 50% BIPOC. As a historically white school, we acknowledge our responsibility to be certain every member of the community feels valued and respected. Much work remains to be done in our journey to become an Anti-Racist school. After a Request for Proposal process, the Board Chair, Task Force Chair, Chair of the Board Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Committee and Head of School selected consultant Erica Merritt of The Equius Group to guide our work. The Anti-Racist Task Force met for the first time in October 2020 and will present recommendations and priorities to the Board of Trustees and the Head of School to steer implementation of those priorities in 2021.

Below are highlights of the DEIB work Laurel School has done since 2004; for a more comprehensive list of accomplishments and goals, visit LaurelSchool.org/DEIB.

Hiring

2008–current: No hire until one candidate of color has been considered 2010: First coordinator of Equity & Inclusion (E&I) named 2016: Laurel sends job descriptions to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Career offices.

2017: Laurel establishes Northeast Ohio Diversity Hiring Fair with Hawken School, Cleveland Metropolitan School

District (CMSD) and Breakthrough Schools NEODiversityEvent.org

Board of Trustees and Representative Professional Development 2004: Diversity identified as key area for Trustee recruitment 2006: Board diversity identified as strategic priority

2017-18 . . . . . . . . 24% 2018-19 . . . . . . . . 25% 2019-20 . . . . . . . . 25% 2020-21 . . . . . . . . 25%

2012: Standing Board Committee on Equity and Inclusion formed 2018: Elected first African American board chair 2020: Anti-Racist Task Force formed 2020: Members of Board of Trustees participate in 21 Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge

Admissions

Works closely with schools such as Breakthrough Charter Schools, Urban Community School, Warner Girls Leadership Academy and CMSD to actively recruit students of color. In addition to racial and cultural diversity, Laurel School attracts families with a wide range of socio-economic statuses.

2018: First Look@Laurel event for Prospective African American/Black families 2020: 45% of the Laurel student body receives some type of financial assistance reinforcing our commitment to

socioeconomic diversity

Demographics In keeping with best practice, the School invites families to note their race once enrolled. Not all families choose to do so.

30% of students self-identify as students of color.

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College Placement Since 2004, 31 students have applied to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and 8 students have enrolled at HBCUs

2012-2017: Black Laurel students travel with Black students at other CCIS schools to visit HBCUs over Spring Break 2018: Laurel takes girls to visit Howard University 2020: Alumnae Panel for whole Upper School on the power of HBCUs

Faculty and Professional Staff: 2020-2021 School Year

People of Color . . . . 14.6% White . . . . . . . . . . 85.4%

Faculty/Staff Professional Development (representative sampling) 2012: DEI topics addressed in all-school faculty meetings, three times a year 2018: Faculty/Staff affinity groups formed 2019: New Faculty/Staff Orientation: New employees learn about the ways in which DEIB is taught to students at Laurel and

what DEIB PD there is for them. An overview of the DEIB curriculum as well as how DEIB is embedded in themes and courses is shared and discussed.

2020: Erica Merritt, Principal of Equius Group, works with faculty and staff on macroaggressions and microaggressions.

21-Day Race Challenge offered to white fac/staff. Stamped reading group offered to faculty, staff, alums and parents.

Curriculum 2019: Audit of Summer Reading titles, Kindergarten-Grade 12, to be certain texts better represent diverse voices 2020-2021:

Audit of entire curriculum continues, Preschool-Grade 12, for opportunities to elevate Black and Brown narratives. The current DEIB curriculum Preschool-Grade 12 can be found at LaurelSchool.org/DEIB.

Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO) Laurel has been deeply involved with FHAO since 2008. In 2016, we became part of the Northeastern Ohio network of FHAO schools, giving us access to more shared professional opportunities for our faculty.

Parents Laurel offers a number of affinity groups for parents including: • Parents of Children of Color m Student affinity groups have existed since 2012.

• Parents of Children with Learning Disabilities • Parents in Families Formed through Adoption • Laurel Men • Intersections: A Schoolwide Parent Discussion Group for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Topics

Additional Programming 2004–current: annually, members of Laurel faculty attend NAIS People of Color Conference 2004–current: annually, members of Laurel student body attend NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) 2006–current: Those students who attend NAIS SDLC plan and conduct annual Onee Bergfeld Lowe '82 Diversity Chapel

for whole Upper School

2018: Students from Middle and Upper School attend Diversity Center of NEO Spring Conference 2018: Courageous Conversations: Current Event Topics biweekly for Upper School students 2018: Young Republican and Young Democrats join to fight human trafficking 2020: LaureLeads, a formal leadership program for club leaders, begins.

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ONGOING DEIB WORK

LAUREL'S ANTI-RACIST TASK FORCE

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s Chair of Laurel’s Anti-Racist Task Force (its members listed on the following page), I am pleased to share with the community a brief update on the work of this group, which is proceeding on pace despite the very challenging environment we find ourselves in these days.

Laurel has continued to benefit from our work with Erica Merritt, a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consultant with Equius Group who has been engaged to work with the task force since August 2020. Erica launched the school year with a professional development session on microaggressions for the faculty and staff and followed that up in January with work that built on recognizing, understanding and examining implicit bias. In preparation for that, all faculty and staff completed the Ohio State University Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity Implicit Bias Modules, which aided in a very productive session.

Erica’s work with the school has also included a series of listening sessions for Upper School girls, parents, faculty and staff members. In addition, she has conducted a survey of Upper School girls. All of the data collected, along with a comprehensive review of school policies, procedures and documents, will inform the recommendations that the Equius Group makes to the Board of Trustees and Anti-Racist Task Force this spring. At that point, the Task Force will prioritize recommendations and make plans for implementation.

As we await the Equius Group’s recommendations, we continue to advance work in this area. We recently established an anonymous process for Upper School students to report racist incidents—speech and behavior. To build awareness and understanding of the new hotline, we offered a questionand-answer session and a parent focus group.

MORE INITIATIVES INCLUDE: • Training faculty and administrators in Restorative Justice, a process we began in September.

• The formation of a reading group comprising more than 30 members of the faculty and staff that have read Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste.

• The launch of two new parent groups: Intersections, hosted

by Lauren Calig, Co-Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) and parent Gina Robinson, mother of

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Kendal Harris ‘21, and Laurel Men, hosted by Bilal Akram, grandparent to Anna Akram ‘31, and parent Ben Light, father of Hannah ‘21. Both groups are committed to discussing issues of race and equity at Laurel and in the world.

In November, Laurel hosted an event for all Upper School girls focused on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The event, which featured a panel of alumnae who attended HBCUs, was a crucial first step in this area. A second HBCU panel took place on February 3 for girls who wished to continue the conversation with these alumnae. To date, Seniors have applied to two HBCUs and been admitted to Howard and Spelman.

I hope many of the alumnae reading this saw my first video update in the Laurel Alumnae Facebook Group, where I shared my belief that creating positive, sustainable change could not take place overnight. As we have gotten further into the work of the Task Force, I still believe this to be true. Change takes time but we as a Task Force—and as a strong community overall—have not shied away from hard discussions and the work that goes into taking actions that will change our school for the better by dismantling systems that privilege one student over another because of race.

In a year that has been filled with much uncertainty and challenges for everyone, I continue to be grateful to be part of a Task Force composed of so many individuals who share a commitment to positive and sustainable change. They so generously give of their time and their expertise while developing their capacity and skills in this area.

I am also grateful for my fellow alumnae who have raised their voices and shared their stories and suggestions. I appreciate all that you do, and I am confident that we can, together, help to make Laurel an Anti-Racist institution.

I look forward to sharing more updates in the future. In the interim, you can always learn more about the work our Task Force is spearheading on Laurel’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging page at LaurelSchool.org/DEIB. Sincerely,

April Hawkins ‘83 Chair of Laurel’s Anti-Racist Task Force

ANTI-RACIST TASK FORCE

April Hawkins ’83, Chair of the Task Force, Member of the Board of Trustees

Lynnette Jackson Crenshaw ’93, Chair of the Board of Trustees

Laurence Talley, Chair of the Audit Committee, Parent ’24

Eliza Hatch Saada ’84, Chair of the DEIB Committee of the Board of Trustees, Parent ‘16

Nichelle Dickerson Shaw ’86, Member of the Alumnae Board, Chair of the Alumnae of Color Committee, Parent ’16

Ann V. Klotz, Head of School, Parent ’11, '13

Kimberley Berndt, Director of the Upper School

Candace Maiden, Co-Director of DEIB, Faculty, Parent ‘35

Lauren Calig, CoDirector of DEIB, Faculty

Bill Rice, Faculty

Patricia Harpring, Faculty, Parent ’31, ’34

Elen Roberts, Faculty, Parent ’36

Ajah Hale ’18, Alumna

Ashli Pratt ’18, Alumna

Kendal Harris ’21, Diversity Fellows Co-President, Student

Ria Raj ’21, Diversity Fellows Co-President, Student

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A LETTER FROM THE 125TH CO-CHAIRS

AN ANNIVERSARY LIKE NO OTHER!

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n Spring 2019, plans were underway for the celebration of the 125th anniversary of Laurel School and by that September, a core team of alumnae, faculty, staff, and parents had developed a calendar of events for the 2020-21 school year. The theme “We Our Voices Raise,” inspired by a line from the Alma Mater, affirms the School’s call for each Laurel girl to find her voice and to use it.

Nancy Phelps Seitz ‘68

Vikki Anderson ‘82

With honorary chairs Alice Lehmann Butler ‘49, Mary French Conway ‘46 and Barbara Peterson Ruhlman ‘50 on board and a talented group of volunteers on the 125th Steering Committee, the nature of the year began taking shape. From programming for students to outreach to alums around the globe, brainstorming focused on bringing the Laurel family together to celebrate the past, the present and the vision for the future.

Inclusivity was a major goal and by February 2020, there were 23 initiatives on the calendar from award ceremonies and regional gatherings to student/alum interactions and historical references woven into school curriculum. We explored new ideas at every meeting as we partnered with the Laurel School Parents Association, Athletic Boosters and the Alumnae Association. The centerpiece of the October Founders’ Weekend with its series of anniversary events, would be “Forever Green & White” (FGW) a gala benefit dinner to be held on founder Jennie Prentiss’ 150th birthday. The FGW committee, led by Anne Mitchell (Ali ‘14) and Nicole Visconsi Mawby ‘67, was working on the budget, menu details and contracts in those first weeks of March 2020.

Yes, March 2020. Laurel is certainly not the only place where the world as we knew it came to a halt last March.

Needless to say, priorities shifted. At first the situation was viewed as a temporary, if momentous, challenge.

The School focused on reinventing itself, designing a successful model for educating on Zoom, on pivoting from being a close knit community in a small school to caring for that community spread all over the place.

Teachers made it work by sheer grit, determination and creativity. Parents picked up responsibilities they never expected. Staff became experts on COVID-19, whether from the perspective of communications, housekeeping, finance or the myriad of challenges presented by a pandemic. As the school year drew to a close, virtual celebrations and socially distant alternatives supplanted class traditions and graduation festivities. Summer at Laurel was cancelled and Ann Klotz brought together an advisory team of medical specialists to develop protocols for safely opening in the fall. During all this, you might think the entire 125th Anniversary would have fallen on the cutting room floor.

In fact, Laurel is filled with determined and resilient problem solvers. The 125th Anniversary team began the work of reimagining what was possible, turning plans that the pandemic made untenable into moments that would bring smiles and enthusiasm to this milestone year. There were some false starts and surely the need to pivot and pivot again lost its luster, but there were revelations along the way that have served us very well.

The discovery that many of our alumnae eagerly attended the 2020 Alumnae Weekend in May through Zoom inspired us to look at other opportunities for virtual sharing and celebration of “We Our Voices Raise.”

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Happy 125 ! th

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A FEW OF THE “EVENT PIVOTS” TO ACCOMMODATE CHANGING COVID PROTOCOLS:

• Founders Weekend in October became a week of student activities, both virtual and onsite, culminating in a giant “Happy Birthday” lawn installation and birthday cookies.

• The 10th Annual Sarah Lyman Day of Community Service expanded to a month giving students, families and alums time to commit individual acts of kindness thereby actually increasing the participation in this service program.

• All students in Kindergarten-Grade 5 and new girls in Grades 6-12 received a Green or White team designation and the first across-the-school Green and White Challenge to perform acts of kindness was won by the Green team.

• Archival displays transitioned to an online presence of memorabilia.

• The Journal Project arose out of the desire to capture for posterity written and artistic voices of what it is like to be a part of the Laurel community during a pandemic.

• Plans for a faculty appreciation event has become a gratitude initiative—125 Love Letters to Laurel faculty and staff. Those who wish are encouraged to write a brief letter of appreciation describing a moment or action of kindness by a member of Laurel’s faculty or staff.

• We decided that Forever Green & White, an event designed to bring the Laurel family together, could not accomplish its purpose in a virtual or socially distanced format. We are eager to make Forever Green & White come alive in the future, once we can gather in person, celebrate together and toast an aspirational future.

Laurel’s 125th Anniversary has not been what we originally envisioned. Perhaps the only plans we did not need to adapt were the wonderful avenue banners welcoming everyone at both the Lyman and Butler Campuses.

There have been sad and challenging moments mixed in with moments of laughter and joy in this unprecedented year. But just as we look back at how the school began in 1896, how it grew and thrived even in times of war, depression, and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, future generations will look back to 2020-21 and be reminded that our traditions continue. Laurel girls are courageous in challenging times, resilient in a changing world and creative in welcoming the future!

Thank you to our volunteers on the 125th Steering and Forever Green & White Committees and to the faculty and staff who continue to inspire each girl to fulfill her promise and to better the world.

Nancy Phelps Seitz ‘68 Vikki Anderson ‘82 Co-chair Co-chair

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125 YEARS!

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Celebr

ate!

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125TH CELEBRATION!

ON A CRISP FALL DAY IN OCTOBER the Laurel Community celebrated our beloved school's 125th birthday—pandemic style! Donning masks and special "We Our Voices Raise" t-shirts to commemorate the occasion, festive cookies were enjoyed by all and a fun "Happy 125th Birthday Laurel School" sign, complete with 125 Gators, welcomed everyone to Lyman Circle! L

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SENIOR SPEECHES

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WE OUR VOICES RAISE: A HISTORY OF

SENIOR SPEECHES

By Hope Ford Murphy ’73

USING HER VOICE TO BETTER THE WORLD.

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erched on an ornately carved chair on the stage, a Laurel student awaits her introduction: “Today’s Senior speaker is… ” She smiles briefly, walks to the podium, and spreads out the pages of her speech.

This is the moment that she, like most Seniors, secretly dreads. But well-rehearsed, her nervousness fades as she warms to her topic. Once the culmination of a morning Chapel program that inspired spiritual reflection, the Senior Speech is all that remains of this tradition. Now the gathering focuses entirely on student perspective. This practice above all others underscores the institution’s values: training each girl to use her voice to “better the world.”

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Since 1896, Laurel has prized the development of student voice.

The school’s founder, Jennie Prentiss, treasured “clear logical thought and a highly trained ability to express thought.” Her successor, Sarah Lyman, aspiring to educate each student in oral and written expression, recruited experts from the East Coast to teach public speaking and instituted the Essay Contest. An annual tradition from the 1910s through the 1940s, this contest laid the foundation for the Senior Speech and ultimately gave way to it during Edna Lake’s headship.

In its early iteration, the speech followed the processional, a reading usually from the Judeo-Christian tradition, a choral response, and a school song such as “Jerusalem.” While each student chose her own topic, the students’ numerous similarities, including middle class backgrounds and religious traditions, may have limited the range of subject matter. To broaden student thinking, both Edna Lake and Daniel Jennings used Chapel to introduce other traditions such as non-western religions and philosophies. However, not until the student body gained significant levels of diversity was it likely that topics would challenge the audience’s thinking.

Although religious diversity in the student body began earlier, racial diversity really started in the mid-1960s when students of color enrolled in multiple divisions of the school.

In addition, the American Field Service (AFS) Program brought international students to Laurel, one each year. In turn, one

community meetings.” Heidi Frost Heard ’60 remembers early training in Eighth and Ninth Grades when girls had to give short speeches based on articles they had read. Catherine Fullerton Stentzel ’61, who went on to get her Master’s in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and serve as a minister with the United Church of Christ, comments, “When I talk about Laurel to others, the single thing I always mention is Chapel: hymn singing, the Choir, Senior Speeches, little homilies. Participating by reading the Bible . . . on UN Day senior year. . . gave me an experience of being at a lectern I’ve never forgotten.” Even those who approached the process with trepidation, found it worthwhile. Dawn Ho Delbanco ’69 remembers her Senior Speech as a “nerve-wracking, but excellent experience.”

Many alumnae from the 1960s through the 1980s attribute the success of their delivery to speech and drama teacher Rosaneil Schenk; Mrs. Schenk assigned the memorization of poems including “My Last Duchess” and “The Destruction of Sennacherib” or monologues from plays such as A Doll’s House and St. Joan for her Upper School speech curriculum that culminated in the Senior Speech. Sandy Buchanan ’74 is grateful for learning “how to outline and prepare a presentation, how to project . . . and most importantly, to practice, practice, practice!”

For many years, Seniors wrote their speeches in English class at the beginning of the year for a grade and often chose

For Ms. Gupta '94, an attorney now working in India for the State department, “strong writing has been the core skill of everything I have done after Laurel, from coursework to civil rights litigation to (now) diplomacy.”

Laurel student per year traveled abroad and lived with a family during the summer. Both AFS students spoke about their cultural experiences in Chapel. Socio-economic diversity further expanded the perspectives of students when the dormitory closed in the mid 1970s and funds allocated to its upkeep were channeled into financial aid through the program known as A Better Chance.

Alumnae who delivered the earliest Senior Speeches express gratitude for the experience they gained. The late Mary Pfeil Lechevalier ’45 recalled both the Senior Speech and the Essay Contest as the most useful traditions from her school years. As a professor of microbiology, she used skills developed through these requirements. Mary Ann Mellen Root ’49 “never feared standing up and speaking in public again” after being selected as “one of the student speakers for the Community Fund” because she gave her “speech not only at Laurel but at two

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contemporary issues. As President of School Government, Robin Burnham Owen ’71 struggled with writing a hopeful message for the school following assassinations in the 1960s and the National Guard shooting at Kent State University in May 1970. She urged students to make the school and the world a better place. Concerned by budget cuts for NASA, Laura Barrett ’73 researched the spin-offs from the space program that improved daily lives and advocated for continued funding. Longtime Glee Club and Choir Director Charlie Carr often played a musical selection that complemented the theme of the Speech for the recessional: After Laura’s speech he played “The Impossible Dream” on the organ. Carol Madison Graham ‘74, one of Laurel’s first Black students, critiqued stereotyped depictions of Black women on television. Knowing she would be challenging her audience, Graham reflected, “in order to be effective I needed to explain the subject by using concrete examples and airtight logic. I wanted my majority

SENIOR SPEECHES

white classmates and teachers not only to understand the points I was making, but to embrace them.”

The tradition of Chapel changed as key faculty retired and the school’s enrollment broadened. When Rosaneil Schenk retired in 1990, her four-year speech program ended and, when Charlie Carr retired in 2006, the rich musical tradition of choral singing faded. Heads of School turned over presiding at Chapel to faculty and introductions of the speaker to speech advisors and then to students’ friends. Students looked to their academic classes for the skills needed for speech preparation.

Jeanne Stephens, who taught Upper School English from 19882018, created a powerful writing course for all Tenth Graders.

Learning to sharpen their focus on a topic and revise a draft through recursive writing, students improved their ability to defend a position with precise evidence. Upper School history teacher Claudia Boatright, who taught from 1976-2008, led a Controversial Topics course that immersed upper level girls in critical national and international issues. One of her students delivered “a very moving speech on the plight of Central American workers fleeing the death squads of the ruling juntas.” Another student with family in Zagreb, Croatia, during the 1990s Balkan war, delivered an “impassioned speech about what was at issue in the war: democracy vs. Tito’s Communism.” Sandhya Gupta ’94 drew inspiration from both English and history classes. Themes in novels by Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, and Zora Neale Hurston and research for a history paper on the influence of the civil rights movement on women’s rights helped shape her speech “calling on Laurel and Laurel girls to better live up to their feminist values.”

Alumnae credit Laurel with the skills they needed in writing and public speaking for their careers. Throughout her years in foreign service, Ms. Madison-Graham wrote speeches for herself and senior officials including the visiting Secretary of Energy. Rachael Bralliar ’89 employed her skills in law school and later as a Military JAG Officer and current government attorney. The research she did for her Senior Speech on the New Madrid Fault Line served her well when she joined FEMA more than thirty years after delivering her speech.

For Ms. Gupta, an attorney now working in India for the State department, “strong writing has been the core skill of everything I have done after Laurel, from coursework to civil rights litigation to (now) diplomacy.”

Today, the Senior Speech continues to be a graduation requirement while the character of the gathering in which it is delivered has changed. No longer graded, speeches have shifted as students focus on personal experiences. Concerns about quality urged faculty to establish specific guidelines and faculty member Rich Kawolics, who founded and coaches the prize-winning Speech and Debate program at Laurel, assumed the administration of the Senior Speech. He attributes “a sort of renaissance” to the reestablishment of expectations.

Leighann DeLorenzo, Dean of Students in the Upper School, has led a theater program that also has made an impact.

Kimberley Butler, Upper School English Teacher, notes that girls “develop their voices in the classroom because most classes—even lab sciences and mathematics—are discussion based, promote collaborative learning and feature assignments and assessments that require students to give presentations.”

Exposure to social justice issues within the community

Kimberley Butler...notes that girls “develop their voices in the classroom because most classes—even lab sciences and mathematics—are discussion based, promote collaborative learning and feature assignments and assessments that require students to give presentations.” through D3 (Dream. Dare. Do.) programming, Protégé Projects and service assignments have inspired girls to explore topics ranging from racism to human trafficking to women’s health.

Enrollment patterns have transformed the student body. Today, Laurel students come from 46 ZIP codes, from Avon to Perry to Akron, 45% of students receive need-based financial aid and 30% self-identify as students of color.

The Senior Speech celebrates each girl by giving her the time and audience to share her perspective, not only her journey to Laurel but also the path she has carved out at the school.

According to Kathryn Holzheimer Purcell ’91, former Associate Head and now President of St. Joseph’s Academy, Laurel girls, both speakers and audience members, discover that “their voices matter.” Preparation for this experience today includes not only hearing more than 150 speeches before Senior year but also presenting a speech during Junior year to Missy Rose, Director of College Guidance, and a small audience and receiving feedback on the delivery. Faculty and administrators alike deeply respect the tradition that the Senior Speech represents. Ms. Butler values the reverent quality of the tradition with “the student body being so respectful, supportive and appreciative of the speaker.” Faculty treasure the privilege of the opportunity to advise each Senior on writing her speech.

Bill Rice, Director of Community Engagement, concludes “it’s her speech, her story, her voice. Senior Speeches reinforce our culture in cultivating each girl’s self-awareness and selfconfidence to share her story in a community that she can trust to support her.” L

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ATHLETICS

Laurel Athletics Through LAUREL'S ATHLETICS PROGRAM has certainly evolved over 125 years (as have the uniforms!) but one thing has remained: the perseverance and tenacity of our athletes, who always work hard to earn the win!

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the Years...

GO LAUREL GATORS!

We are the Gators, that is our name!

Laurel will win, no matter the game Oh, You’ll hear us coming, and this will be our cry!

Root, root for Laurel Gators, never say die.

‘Cause, we fight ‘em hard and we fight ‘em fair.

And when we win, yeah, we’ll beat ‘em square!

So you’ll hear us day and night, oh, We are the Gators, fight, fight, fight!

LAUREL SCHOOL FIGHT SONG Highlights

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Athletic Innovation Fund Supports Laurel Athletes The Athletic Innovation Fund was established in 2019 by an anonymous alumna with a deep passion for athletics and a strong understanding of the important role team sports can play in a girl’s life. The aim of the fund is to help support a Laurel athletic team in an innovative way that promotes significant improvement and growth that might not otherwise be possible within the realities of a typical annual budget.

In the 2019-20 school year, the Athletic Innovation Fund committee awarded a grant to the Varsity Basketball team.

These additional funds allowed a talented, but young team the opportunity to attend two significant training opportunities: Summer Team Camp at The Ohio State University and the 2019 Border Battle in Pennsylvania. The confidence gained from these experiences proved to be an invaluable asset as the team battled its way to an impressive 23-4 record and ended the year as the Regional Runners-up.

For the 2020-21 school year, the Athletic Innovation Fund committee decided to direct the grant towards the funding of Hudl, a video software program that records and uploads competitions, allowing for more in-depth video breakdown and study of in-game play and execution, along with seamless stat compilation. Furthermore, especially during COVID restrictions, Hudl’s benefits extend to allowing spectators to virtually cheer on our teams, as well as offering the opportunity to scout opponents more easily.

Thanks to the generosity and forward-thinking of our alumna donor, the Athletic Innovation Fund continues to be a treasured resource to help strengthen the impact and growth of our student-athletes. Laurel coaches wishing to apply for the Athletic Innovation Fund for their own team should contact Athletic Director David Meyer at dMeyer@LaurelSchool.org for more details. L

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A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

GREETINGS LAUREL ALUMNAE, PARENTS AND FRIENDS: This is my final letter to you as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Laurel School; as I reflect, I am reminded of the following quote:

“I am still learning.”

—Seneca’s 76th Letter to Lucilius, 65AD

When I joined the Laurel Board of Trustees, I was overjoyed to be giving back to my beloved alma mater. I had high hopes of making a positive impact as part of the team helping to usher in the forward progress of Laurel. One of my life’s greatest honors is having now served in the role of Chair for the school that I love.

It was not lost on me that I was also making history as the first African American to sit in this seat. I was excitedly looking forward to celebrating the 125th Anniversary in addition to working closely with the Board in setting an agenda that would continue to propel the school onward.

Then the page on the calendar turned to March 2020 and with that, the dawn of one of the most tumultuous years in our nation’s history. Life was about to change in ways most of us had never experienced and our girls and little boys were about to have their school life upended in ways they could have never imagined.

When I reflect on 2020, we have all been AP students in the school of life and there is no doubt that we have all been tested.

The COVID-19 virus forced our students into Laurel School@Home and the suspension or disruption of most other extracurricular activities. As we were adjusting to life during a pandemic, the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd ignited racial unrest and social protests across the globe. The Presidential election resulted in fierce political divides that seem to encroach upon all areas of American life.

And, amid these things, I lost my beloved father, Leonard Jackson.

My family, including my niece, a current Laurel Middle Schooler, had watched him fight a valiant cancer battle. One of these circumstances would have been challenging but all of them happening at the same time was truly unprecedented.

The Laurel campus atmosphere has always been an integral component of our educational plan and success. As a student, I was challenged through a rigorous curriculum, inspired by outstanding faculty and pushed on the athletic fields and court.

I was extremely disheartened that our girls were denied the synergy of the shared learning that happens in the classroom and the opportunity to participate in the long-held traditions, celebrations and rituals of school life due to stay-at-home orders and physical distancing.

I am so appreciative of the patience and tenacity exhibited by the students, faculty, staff and parents as we reordered our ways of doing things to keep everyone safe. I am confident in the strength and resolve of our girls to use their disappointments to motivate them to even greater heights. I know that a Laurel

education will provide superior tools, skills and the emotional resilience needed for their journey ahead.

Another unexpected endeavor has been the need to address the grievances of numerous Black and white Laurel alumnae around issues of racism, diversity and inclusion. It was serendipitous that I happened to have been the Chair as this issue came to the forefront of American society and at Laurel School. I have been reminded of how we must continually seek feedback and have courageous conversations if we are to evolve as a school community. I encourage a more thoughtful recognition of America as the melting pot of diverse cultures that it is. Our survival is linked to our acceptance and respect of those who are not “just like us.”

It is my hope that, over time, the Board and Administration’s efforts will contribute to fostering a more inclusive climate, improve engagement with our girls and stakeholders and counter unconscious biases that negatively impact our students who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color. As we go forward, to properly serve our girls and society, Laurel must be willing to do so with a “mirror in hand” and a willingness to make necessary changes in order to live up to our expressed mission and values.

Our current political climate reinforced the long-held truth that Americans are passionate about their beliefs. It is my hope that our girls have been inspired to use their passions and voice to positively impact every place in which they find themselves.

The Laurel family grieved when we tragically lost Natalie Tobin ‘24 at the start of the school year. Our girls were given a very adult lesson we would have preferred they had not had to learn at such a young age. It is my hope that our girls and their families will seek help when and if they are ever overwhelmed by the challenges of life. These truly uncertain times have left many among us struggling.

I am profoundly grateful to have partnered with Ann V. Klotz for the past two and a half years. She is a visionary, excellent in a crisis and one of the hardest working women I know. She has done a fantastic job leading our school and has kept us at the forefront of girls’ education. We are appreciative for the generosity of all our donors. Our fund development has been a hallmark of our 125-year existence and has helped our school remain a pillar in the community. Some of our anniversary celebration may have been postponed but we look forward to an even more exciting time together in the future.

I will continue to support Laurel in whatever ways I am called upon to do so. I am very proud to be a graduate and I feel privileged to have served in this role. I am wiser and my life is richer for having had this experience. We have made meaningful progress, but we will not rest on our laurels because there is much more work to do. I offer my best wishes for the continued success and prosperity of Laurel School, our girls and their families, our remarkable teachers and staff, and our alums and stakeholders.

Sincerely,

Lynnette Jackson Crenshaw ‘93 Chair, Board of Trustees

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CONTRIBUTED INCOME

2019-2020 Contributed Income UNRESTRICTED FOR CURRENT OPERATIONS $1,322,581.64 RESTRICTED FOR CURRENT OPERATIONS $475,734.72 CAPITAL GIFTS FOR BUILDINGS & EQUIPMENT $374,804.00 ENDOWMENT $271,471.86 SPECIAL PROJECTS $17,208.20 ____________________________________________________________________________________ TOTAL $2,461,800.42

2019-2020 Laurel Fund Breakdown CONSTITUENCY AMOUNT ALUMNAE $955,529.87 PARENTS & GRANDPARENTS $173,045.12 PARENTS & GRANDPARENTS OF ALUMNAE $126,016.01 FACULTY & STAFF $24,699.19 FRIENDS, CORPORATIONS & FOUNDATIONS $43,291.45 ____________________________________________________________________________________ TOTAL $1,322,581.64

LAUREL FUND

8%

10% 8%

ENDOWMENT INCOME

OTHER

37%

OTHER

74%

63% TUITION & FEES

2019-2020 REVENUES

SALARIES & BENEFITS

2019-2020 EXPENSES

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F O R A E Y R !

OU S R E I F I L A U Q E T STA CONGRATULATIONS to the Varsity Golf, Tennis, Swimming and Basketball teams who all qualified for their respective State Tournaments during the 2020-21 school year!

GOLF Madeleine Bee ‘21 Jami Morris ‘21 Charlotte Davie ‘22 Riley Nowak ‘22 Siena Maschke ‘24 TENNIS Ellie Brotherton ‘23 SWIMMING Bella Barragate ‘21 Kali McLin ‘21 Elisabeth Woolley ‘21 Jana Gustin ‘24 BASKETBALL Haley Thierry ’21 Taylor Thierry ’21 Cherish Hayes ’22 Mari Bickley ’23 Kendall Braaten ’23 Riley Branford ’23 Margaret Jones ’23 Autumn Taylor ’23 Helen Holley ’24

GO GATORS! For more information on the renovation of the Gator's home court, please go to LaurelSchool.org/Tippit.

Laurel School One Lyman Circle Shaker Heights, Ohio 44122

LaurelSchool.org /LaurelSchool

@LaurelSchool

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED FOR PARENTS OF ALUMNAE: If this magazine is addressed to a daughter who no longer lives at home, kindly call us with the correct address: 216-464-1420

LAUREL SCHOOL'S 125TH

COLLECTION In honor of Laurel's 125th Anniversary, the School commissioned designer and artist Maddy Mavec '10 of MAVEC COLLECTIONS to custom design a silk scarf which is now available for purchase.

100% LAUREL FLORAL LEAF SILK SCARF | From her original painting capturing the floral leaf elements of Laurel's iconic stained glass window, Maddy custom designed these beautiful 60" x 42" 100% silk screened scarves. $150 each.

Limited quantities. Shipping and tax not included.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact Julie Donahue

at jDonahue@LaurelSchool.org

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID CLEVELAND, OHIO PERMIT NO. 701