Academy Journal, Spring 2023

The Academy Journal LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2023

Building the “Happiness of Community” The Plans Behind Our Community Commons Project See page 6.

Inside: Remembering Ben Williams. See pages 2-5.

Board of Trustees of Lawrence Academy • 2023 Jason Saghir P’19, President Phyllis Rothschild P’20, Vice President Karen Mitchell Brandvold ’82; P’16, ’17, Secretary David Stone ’76, Treasurer Robert Achtmeyer ’97 Pamela Amusa ’06 Ronald Ansin P’80, ’83, ’85, ’87; GP’03, ’05, ’14 Katherine Beede P’16 Melissa Bois P’22 G. Randall Chamberlain ’79 Cyrus Daftary P’25 Susanna Gallant P’20, ’24 Hise Gibson P’24 Courtney Cox Harrison ’83 Kiyohiko Hirose ’94; P’22 Bradford Hobbs ’82 Robin Jones P’25 Samuel Liang P’18, ’19 Douglas Long P’15, ’18 Bruce MacNeil ’70; P’04 David Mazza ’01 Michael McLaughlin P’23, ’23, ’25 Peter Myette P’00, ’03 Devin O’Reilly P’24 Taylor Sele ’02 Gordon Sewall ’67 Edward Steinborn P’23 Alex Sugar P’19 Richard Tyson, Jr. ’87 Stephen Wilkins HONORARY TRUSTEES Lucy Crocker Abisalih ’76 George Chamberlain III P’79, ’81 Albert Gordon, Jr. ’59 Albert Stone P’74, ’76; GP’15

Contents Around LA 1

From Head of School Dan Scheibe

2

Remembering Ben Williams, Lawrence Academy’s 42nd Headmaster

6

Our Community Commons Project

10 LA at a Glance 14 Spartan Highlights (Fall and Winter Seasons) 18 Arts at LA 20 A Conversation with Director of Theatre Dennis Canty 24 Theatre at LA 26 Giving Back: Faculty and Staff in Service 30 The Impact of the J. William Mees Visiting Scholar Program 34 LA Parents 36 Budding LA Journalist (Emma Zhou ’24) Spends Winterim at the Groton Herald Alumni 38 Mark Phelps ’78 on his 45-plus years connection with LA 42 Diana Rhoten ’84, Finding Purpose Beyond Profit 48 Alumni Class Notes 58 Obituaries 60 The Amos and William Lawrence Society – A Gift of a Lifetime: Jay Gibson ’68

Alumni Council 2023 Pat Donoghue ’06, President Carolyn Balas-Zaleski ’84; P’17, Past President Victor Howell ’08, Vice President Marianne Crescenzi Balfour ’88 Victoria Wellington Hanna ’97 Christopher Hazzard ’03 Lindsay Latuga Howard ’00 Paul Husted ’64 Ann Steward McGuire ’03 Clare Noone ’14 Ben Stone ’15

Frances Chaves

Prudence Glover, manager of advancement administration

Beth Crutcher, director of development

Jo-Ann Lovejoy, chief advancement officer

Editorial Team

Kate Engstrom, faculty – learning coach Caitlin O’Brien, director of advancement communications and special projects Anne O’Connor ’78 Joseph Sheppard, retired faculty

Editorial Council

Angela Stefano, editorial consultant

Layout/Design/Production Dale Cunningham, graphic designer

Photography John Chase

John Bishop, director of communications

Jonathan Gotlib, associate director of communications

Chris Davey, assistant head of school for institutional strategy and advancement

Bob Perachio Adam Richins

Centering Community Why does Lawrence Academy need a nice, new dining hall with a student center right in the middle of campus right now?

In addition to the visual case made by the renderings presented later in this Academy Journal, here are a couple of answers from the past that look to the future.

The first buildings and grounds effort of Lawrence Academy, dating to 1792, was to purchase some land (only about an acre, in the northwestern corner of our present +/- 150 acres) and then to build a schoolhouse on it. The area needed a place of learning, and the school’s founders materialized it.

Later in the 1850s, on a campus that had grown modestly over the decades from its original footprint, the school decided it needed boarding space for students. Though the Academy had acquired several buildings adjacent to the first Schoolhouse, it had never taken on another major building project. The construction of Bigelow Hall committed to the fullest sense of campus: a place to both live and learn.

The Commons, above all, will reinforce “The Happiness of Community,” which our founders believed would underly “the dissemination of knowledge and learning amongst all classes of citizens.” While we do want to build an extraordinary (perhaps THE MOST extraordinary) dining and student life experience in independent schools, what we really want to do is provide a space for LA to be LA at its very best: shining for all.

Representing the most significant investment in the school’s physical plant in LA history, the Community Commons builds and strengthens community by design, uniting day students and boarders, exponentially increasing personal interaction and facilitating constant student-faculty connection.

We are investing in the principle that personal connection (“The Happiness of Community”) makes great education.

The Community Commons will be our generation’s contribution to the phenomenal educational landscape that is Lawrence Academy. On this point it is apt to recognize Ben Williams, who passed Over the decades and away right at the beginning of centuries since, Lawrence Winterim and while this Academy has continued, opening was being written deliberately, to grow and (See tributes on the following build, claiming its gracious pages). Ben identified with the space in town atop its hillside: LA environment in ways no centered on the Quad, other person has: “my kind of flowing to the fields to the territory,” in his words. Ben east and west below. As time was himself a centering force and space would have it, the on the LA campus and in the crest and center of the Head of School Dan Scheibe with Class of 2023 cabinet members Tommy LA experience during his Whitlock, CJ Schuster, Jinny Buranasombati, and Ruona Ewhrudjakpor. campus (in fact, a division distinguished watch. With between watersheds) is Ben as a generous example, located somewhere right near the doors of the Gray Building we acknowledge centuries of watchful custodians and — where this photo with the 2022-2023 Cabinet was taken. engineers of our shared hillside “territory.”

Here we will re-center our community and renew the vows our founders made. The Community Commons creates a meeting point between the functional parts of LA: athletics, academics, arts, advisory, and the day and boarding experiences — ALL of it. In the language of our architects, it connects the centrality of the Quad to the landscape beyond while connecting people to each other. It is the place of belonging where we will live our mission: recognizing you while empowering you to look beyond.

It is time for us to do our part. We will bring foresight and wise planning into the process of designing the student experience, as Ben did. When we finish construction of the Community Commons, I will imagine — rightly, I believe — our founders, Ben, and generations of students and faculty smiling. Smiling because we got it right, grounding and elevating ourselves just from this spot amongst the hills of Groton.

From Head of School Dan Scheibe P’23, ’24

Remembering Ben Williams, Lawrence Academy’s 42nd Headmaster Ben Williams was the Headmaster at Lawrence Academy from 1969 to 1984, a friend and a legend to generations of students and faculty, and ever a bright example of uncommon humanity.

The love of family and of place was central to Ben’s being.

Ben transformed Lawrence Academy. The programs and activities of the school today are grounded in the care and creativity he invested in the school over his tenure. Lawrence Academy became coeducational through his lead (rediscovering its founding composition and spirit from 1793). Winterim came into being through his lead. The school became a member of the ISL through his lead.

compassion. And from both he acquired his love of wild things and wild places. Avid outdoorspeople, they taught Ben to respect all life and the land on which we all depend.

Ben lived a life of service to aspirations and intentions, communities and relationships that he believed were greater by far than himself. He learned of such commitments not solely from his parents but from the communities he joined: St. Paul’s School, Princeton University, the United States Marine Corps, Pomfret School, Lawrence Academy, Robert College, The Rivers School, the Wyndham Land Trust, and Connecticut Audubon.

“Ben lived a life of

The school acquired its modern, familiar, supportive character through Ben Williams’ lead, through his sense of purpose and humanity.

service to aspirations and

— Dan Scheibe, head of school

and relationships that he

Ben’s oldest son, Benjamin D. Williams IV, with support from brothers Joe and Fred, wrote a wonderful obituary for their dad.

Here are some excerpts:

believed were greater by

intentions, communities

far than himself. “

Ben Williams died on Tuesday, March 7, one day shy of his 87th birthday. “I know what’s coming,” he wrote recently, “and I have no regrets. Do I want to leave my family and all that means so much to me? Hell no … but I have had more than my share of the best that life has to offer.” Speaking of the love of his life, who passed away in 2007, Ben wrote, “When the lights go out, I’m going to find Nan. We’ve been apart too long.”

Born in 1936, Ben was the oldest of three children who would remain incredibly close throughout their long lives. Said Ben’s brother Rodney, “I miss my sister Isobel every day.” She passed in 2013. “And now I will miss my brother every day. They were my best friends on this earth.”

Ben, Rod, and Isie were raised by parents who were “the best possible examples of how to build a contributing and meaningful life.” Ben took their lessons to heart. From his father, who was in the brokerage business but was first and foremost a soldier and a veteran of both World Wars, Ben learned the importance of discipline, principle, and commitment. From his mother he gained patience, an agile and inquisitive mind, empathy, and

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In each place he found not just purpose and passion but friendships that would define his life, meaning in learning, and a fundamental appreciation of the unique talents and aptitudes that distinguish every person. Such insights are not easily won, and Ben was fond of pointing out that his entrance into the world of scholarship and human endeavor was auspicious in all the wrong ways.

Ben did his undergraduate work at Princeton in sociology, showing even as a student a keen interest in the construction of culture and the manner in which communities build common purpose. He joined the Ivy Club and became a standout oarsman for the men’s heavyweight crew, ultimately rowing for the Department of the Navy after earning his degree in 1957. He competed in the U.S. Olympic trials in 1960, losing with his mates by mere inches to a University of Washington crew that went on to win the gold medal.

As a Marine Corps officer after college, Ben served for a time as a drill instructor at Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va. Though he held other posts in the Corps, including serving as a captain in the Ceremonial Guard Company in Washington, D.C., charged with protecting the president of the United States, his work with officer candidates gave Ben an inkling that education might well be his calling.

But Ben’s life was about far more than his vocation. “I have so many interests,” he was fond of saying. “I am never bored.”

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Moths attracted the lion’s share of Ben’s attention, so much so that he awoke in the wee hours of each morning to check lights he had set up to attract the night-flying insects. Everywhere he went, nationally and internationally, Ben carried his trademark butterfly net and collecting equipment. He was published in the Lepidopterist’s Journal on more than one occasion and was connected to a huge network of entomologists around the country.

Asked not long before his passing how he would like to be remembered, Ben answered with his typical humble candor, “I love life and embrace its adventures. The better ones I celebrate, the less so were lessons learned. I hope I qualify as a good friend and someone who may be counted on. I’d like to think that my shortcomings were not excessive and that my mistakes were forgivable. Given the qualities which I have so admired, respected, and valued in the four-legged members of our family over the years, I’d like to be remembered as a good old dog.”

In truth, Ben Williams was so much more. He was the center around which his family revolved; an inspiration to his three sons, all of whom currently lead boarding schools; a vibrant presence in the lives of his nine grandchildren; and the living embodiment of kindness, care, and hope. To borrow from poets Raymond Carver and Wendell Berry, Ben was “beloved on the earth.” And though he has now left it, may he come into the peace of wild things … and the presence of still water. May he

L-R: Nan, Joe ’84, Ben, Ben IV, and Fred ’82 Williams

feel above the day-blind stars waiting with their light and for all time rest in the grace of the world, and be free.

A celebration of Ben’s life will be held on Aug. 27, 2023, at the Connecticut Audubon Society in Pomfret. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ben’s memory to the Connecticut Audubon Society at P.O. Box 11, Pomfret Center, CT 06259 or the Wyndham Land Trust at P.O. Box 302, Pomfret Center, CT 06259.

A tribute written by retired faculty member Joe Sheppard: Arriving at Lawrence in 1969 as a young teacher of 33, Ben Williams had no idea of the turbulence that lay ahead as he sought to rejuvenate a venerable school that had become set in its ways.

Some of the turmoil was of his own making, as hallowed hallmarks of LA life — required bedtime, demerits, even coats and ties — disappeared, to be replaced, not always smoothly, by a new order.

Other upheavals came from without: the Vietnam War, drugs, worldwide student unrest. Through it all, Ben kept the courage of his convictions. Especially in the first few years, the task was not easy: Faculty were divided, sometimes bitterly, and many of the old guard moved on; students clamored for more control over their education.

Ben was a good listener who believed strongly in democratic government and in the importance of community — a word he

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used often. Being human, he made mistakes; when he did, he always owned up to them and did his best to make things right.

After 15 years, Ben understood that there wasn’t much more he could do for LA, and he and Nan moved on to other pursuits.

He announced his departure in a morning assembly one winter day. “There’ll never be another Lawrence,” he told the students, his voice cracking.

The Academy remained close to Ben’s heart for the rest of his life. He served on the Board of Trustees for a number of years and was a regular presence at Reunion and other school functions, right up to last June’s celebration of 50 years of Winterim, a program whose genesis he oversaw. The campus changed over the more than 50 years since Ben first set foot on the hillside, but the heart and soul of the school he loved, and which he re-made, are the same as ever.

There’ll never be another Ben Williams.

Many members of the larger Lawrence community — alumni, present and former faculty, friends — have written notes of condolence, both on the LA website and on the website of the Tillinghast Funeral Home. We offer a sampling here, leaving the writers anonymous: Graduate: Ben was the epitome of what a headmaster should be. He had such a presence; you were almost a little nervous around him and weren’t sure you wanted him to notice you. But when you got to know him, you realized how incredibly caring and warm he was.

Graduate: I have one incredibly clear moment of interaction with Ben when I was at LA. I was sitting on a hill overlooking the sports fields, just taking a moment.

Ben came over and sat down next to me.

I wondered what I had done ... if I was in trouble, perhaps. Why else would the Headmaster come find you? But no ... he came to tell me that I had made the honor roll! I was blown away. The fact that this large-looming man of such great importance, with so many other things on his plate, took the time to come tell me, in person, that I had done well in my studies.

I will never ever forget it. And I will never forget how wonderful it made me feel.

Former faculty: Ben Williams was the reason I chose to spend my life at Lawrence Academy. I had grown to love the school before he came, but his inspiring leadership through some difficult years, his honesty, approachability, decency, and great kindness towards everyone, along with his clear vision for Lawrence’s future, clinched the deal for me. Thank you, Ben. Graduate: I remember him as a perfect gentleman with a great heart, who could get tough when necessary but always seemed to have that great ability to handle any situation with compassion. He seemed to know every student’s name immediately, and he had an almost uncanny ability to sense each one’s individual needs. Everyone was always treated with dignity and a

definite feeling that you were valued and were going to go out in the world and do good things … I feel lucky to have been a student at LA during Mr. Williams’ tenure.

Former faculty: In his lifetime, Ben touched lives of thousands. In our sadness, we can only take comfort in the privilege of having known him.

Graduate: Mr. Williams’ influence on the ethos of LA cannot be overstated, and I know his impact lives on at the school to this day. I often say that LA changed the course of my life for the better, and standing above the many teachers and peers, who I remember so fondly, is Mr. Williams. I point to him as one of the most influential people in my life.

Ben’s full obituary can be found at www.lacademy.edu/rememberingben.

View and share your own of memories and notes of condolence from members of the Lawrence community at www.lacademy.edu/benwilliams.

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Here, the light shines for all: Our Community Commons Project

O

ver the last several years, and particularly as we have between all of the activities of the school: a crossroads bringing rediscovered the importance of on-campus, in-person together the literal and figurative pathways of arts, athletics, education around the pandemic, Lawrence Academy has academics, and extracurricular activities. And any wisely identified the Community Commons project as the most constructed building in a school setting naturally brings important strategic building priority for the school. As such, students and adults together to create and appreciate a it will also be the leading fundraising initiative of Lawrence supportive (and well-supervised!) environment.

Academy’s next capital campaign, which is important of all, this project aims to in active development.

“You want to bring people Most house the social and emotional elements The Commons integrates a gracious, so critical to success in schools. As one of physically into the same extraordinary dining experience with a our conceptual collaborators, Professor location … you need to have student center on the existing footprint Emeritus of Sociology at Hamilton of the dining hall. Beyond a simple College Dan Chambliss, noted, “You settings that make everyone want to bring people physically into the renovation and expansion, the full scope of the project reimagines and reengineers feel that they naturally meet same location … you need to have both the physical and the social experience settings that make everyone feel that they of the entire campus — it is an architectural people and make friends.” naturally meet people and make friends.” rendering of our purpose and practice, Such connection creates empowerment reinforcing and making concrete the core principles of our and great outcomes. Or as one of our students noted when mission: recognizing, inspiring, supporting, and empowering seeing the plans, “You can do everything there!” student experience.

The following renderings and notes will provide a glimpse into Primary to this experience is leveraging (and building a space what we aim to create through the Commons. Read on to see to support) Lawrence Academy’s strength as a school that how we are planning to get to the construction starting line by invests equal value in the day and boarding experience. running through the fundraising finish line.

Simultaneously, the Commons will serve as a meeting point

Bird’s-eye view of Commons and campus

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The Community Commons is stunning not only in the architecture of the building — the way it confidently presents the school from its eastern vista — but in the way it will transform the pathways and patterns of campus, connecting people, programs, and places in ways that simply do not happen today. Lawrence Academy’s landscape has always been beautiful — now the architecture built in and by that landscape will bring a grace and flow to our everyday interactions, unusual in the independent school world.

A spacious, gracious dining experience As we create a two-story area where there is now a basement kitchen under a cramped dining hall, we also open up the best view in the region. The openness of the interior complements the connection to the exterior and reinforces our sense of connectedness: This is where students and faculty, day and boarding, gather (at least) three times a day. Whereas currently this area is only open for dining, we now see it as an interior crossroads — both passage and gathering for the entire community. Come inside and stay awhile. There’s no better place to be.

Completely new view on food service

Yes, we will have delicious food, great delivery, and convenient service in this beautiful new dining hall. This rendering of the servery also communicates the quality of the experience as a whole: sensibly designed for preparation, presentation, and flow and stunningly integrated and connected to the views beyond. Groton already has a number of dining establishments built substantially on the quality of the local topography.

Our aim is to provide some of the finest food options — in one of the most beautiful places — in the ISL.

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Rear facade looking over Murbach Field and Gibbett Hill

O This rendering dramatizes things that can’t happen today but that we dream for in the future: an access point into the heart of campus, a place for day students to enter at the beginning of the day and exit at the end of the day, and an interior place of meeting and gathering at all hours of the day and week for boarders. Instead of parking and asphalt, we will create an architectural statement of belonging: You are warmly welcome at Lawrence Academy. Here, the light shines for all. Here, we are built on the Happiness of Community.

A student center in the community center

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Intimately connected to the dining hall and servery below (as well as meeting rooms on the other side), the built-in student center acts as a family room, a hub of activity at all times of the day and week. Whether a day student chooses to wait for a ride, a boarder lounges with friends over a quiet long weekend, or a mixed group of students (and maybe even parents) warms up between halves of a game in the spring or fall, the place to be is under this roof, never losing sight of the view!

Here, we recognize you for who you are.

Here, we build on the Happiness of Community. s noted in the opening letter of this Journal, this will be a building project greater in scope than any other in the history of Lawrence Academy — both in square footage and in fundraising. Understanding the importance of this investment for LA at this critical time, we have been working with determination and ambition to raise the necessary funds to authorize construction and fund the project as a whole.

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said, “The great thing about creating good buildings is they last. And if a building works well the users of it develop an attachment to that space.” We believe the impact of this building will transform and connect Lawrence Academy in lasting and inspiring ways that many generations will feel.

From Head of School Dan Scheibe P’23, ’24

Providing this exceptional experience to our students will require approximately $20 million in contributions. We can authorize construction once we reach $16 million, or 80 percent of our goal. Our plans and systems are ready architecturally and operationally, and our generous community has already provided great momentum with almost $11 million in gifts and pledges to date. We are already over halfway along! These coming months will be critical as we seek an additional $10 million in contributions toward this project.

We are very fortunate to have a matching gift in place that is providing a 15 percent match on new monies raised — up to $2 million of additional matching funding. We look to inspire many others to join the cause just as the community has come together in the past to build Lawrence Academy. You can see in the accompanying image how our original “subscribers” from 1792 came together to make vision reality. Perhaps the currencies have changed, but the founding vision has not.

We are so grateful to all of those who have committed their support to helping make this project a reality — a reality built into LA’s mission, its motto, and its very foundation — an academy built on the proposition that “the Happiness of Community requires the dissemination of knowledge and learning amongst all classes of citizens.” As Dan Chambliss

The School’s founding required the support of nearly 50 original “subscribers”.

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LA at a Glance September 8

October 5

Meet the Senior Cabinet

Special Guest Visits Class

On the first day of classes of the 2022–2023 school year, the community gathered on the Quad for assembly and got to know the Senior Cabinet of CJ Schuster, Jinny Buranasombati, Ruona Ewhrudjakpor, and Tommy Whitlock.

Mr. Wiercinski’s honors-level Terrorism, Extremism, and Radicalism class had the opportunity to hear from a special guest: retired New York firefighter and 9/11 first responder Kevin Hogan (parent of Lily ’26). He told the students his story and recalled memories from that fateful day.

September 21

October 31

Groton Hill Music and LA

Spirit Week

The partnership between Groton Hill Music and Lawrence Academy officially began with the first group of Spartans taking music classes and joining various ensembles.

The last week of October marked the beginning of Spirit Week and Spoon Hunt. Members of Mr. Hawgood’s advisory took the opportunity to dress like Mr. Barker!

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Zahria Huggins ’23

November 4

Founders’ Day Each year, Lawrence Academy celebrates Founders’ Day, which is more than a birthday or anniversary celebration for the school; it celebrates community, the school’s motto, and those who allow LA’s “light to shine for all.” Congratulations to this year’s award recipients!

Past Founders’ Day Award for Service to Lawrence Academy winners Charlotte Floyd P’95, ’97, ’01 and Catherine Frissora P’95, ’96 with present winner Ruth White ’76 (center)

Cindy Blood, winner of the Departmental Chair for Excellence in Teaching Winner of the Kathy Peabody Memorial Book Award, Jonny Gotlib (center), with Mark Peabody ‘86 and Kevin McDonald ’70

At left: Winner of the Greater Good Award, Alex Kelly ’23, with parents Amy and John Kelly

November 7

December 14

ISL Changemakers Conference

Holiday Concert

Ms. Majeski, Ms. Schulze, and Mr. Potter took a group of Spartans to the inaugural ISL Changemakers Conference, hosted by Milton Academy. Each ISL school chose six students, along with their athletic directors and diversity practitioners, to participate in workshops and affinity spaces.

LA’s holiday concert was filled with light and excitement. Music and dance performances, paired with a special holiday meal created by our dining hall staff, set the warm tone for the evening. The entire community then met on the Quad to form a literal circle of light — either with candles or phones — and joined together to sing “This Little Light of Mine.”

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LA at a Glance, continued December 15

January 7

Live Action Leader – Alumni Series Talk

Casino Night

Dr. Nazanin Zadeh-Cummings ’07 returned to campus for our first “Live Action Leader – Alumni Series” talk and spoke to our Spartan Leaders about her journey after graduating from LA. Nazanin has lived in five different countries and has visited 50.

A native of Westford, Mass., she now lives in Australia with her husband, where she is the associate director of research at the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership.

Students made their way to the Gray Building for LA’s annual Casino Night. Complete with blackjack, roulette, Texas Hold’em, speed bingo, and more, Spartans had the opportunity to gamble — with fake money — and win raffle prizes.

January 6

January 9

Spartans Talent Show

Second Live Action Leader – Alumni Series Talk

There was no lack of talent at LA’s fifth annual “Spartans Got Talent” show. Whether it was a stand-up routine, singing duets, group choreography, or a performance with light-up nunchucks, our students showed their stuff onstage.

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In our second “Live Action Leader — Alumni Series” talk, several alumni returned to campus and spoke to our Spartan Leaders about life after LA. These former Spartans discussed college, finding their first job, and navigating the world post-Lawrence Academy. The students learned so much and got some great advice. Thank you to Nate Althoff ’18, Matt Baldino ’12, Adam Dutton ’18, McKenzie Melvin ’17, and Sam Rosenstein ’17 for making the trip back to the elm tree–shaded hillside and speaking to our students.

January 19

February 7

DEI Special Virtual Event

Skiing at Ragged Mountain

LA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office presented a special virtual event to the Lawrence Academy community. Dr. Trinidad Tellez P’23 (New Hampshire state representative, health equity strategist) and Alumna Trustee Taylor Selé ’02 (professional television and movie actor) discussed the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quote: “What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.

And this is what we must see as we move on.”

International students traveled up to Ragged Mountain for their annual ski trip. This year, students had the option to share in the fun by bringing along a “plus one” from school.

February 1

February 15

Rise Against Hunger

FBI Visits Campus

Spartans participated (alongside students from Groton School) in Lawrence Academy’s ninth Rise Against Hunger mealpackaging event. With 36 total volunteers for the day, the meals-packaged total was 11,664, which brings the nine-year totals to just over 154,000 meals.

FBI Special Agent Courtney Pillsbury of the Boston Field Office visited campus and spoke to our Spartans (and the community) about her career and how forensics at the FBI operates.

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Spartan Highlights Fall Season LA Football Held on for NEPSAC, ISL Titles Spartans sowed the seeds of victory in the fall

by John Bishop

LA Football Held on for NEPSAC, ISL Titles Spartans sowed the seeds of victory in the fall

by John Bishop

Groton, Mass. — Given some time to think about his championship season during a traffic-lengthened bus drive home, Head Coach Jason Swepson’s mind drifted to early fall 2022.

After earning a share of the regular season ISL title, Swepson and his team garnered a frenetic 21-20 win over Dexter Southfield in the NEPSAC Todd Marble Bowl in Brookline on Nov. 19. In Lawrence Academy’s first bowl victory since 2017, quarterback Michael Landolfi ’24 scrambled to earn the game-winning score after throwing for two touchdowns (to Jovon Mobley ’24 and Michael Gregoire ’24).

Coach Swepson often quotes legendary Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler, who once said, “Those who stay

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will be champions.” Schembechler remained in the front of Swepson’s mind postgame.

“Wow,” he said, wide-eyed, still holding the championship trophy (if not his breath) while exiting the team bus after the nail-biter. “You know, we had to bring the team together, and we had a lot of new faces join the program.

“They came in and had instant success,” he added. “And you know what? I’m so proud of our seniors, especially our four-year players here during the lean years. They believed in the program and stayed!”

Some of that tenacity showed up throughout the championship game. “Yeah, we jumped out early,” said Swepson, his smile shortening. “And we had a good defensive plan by putting some pressure on their quarterback. Then we came out after halftime, and they

turned the ball over, but we did not take advantage. They capitalized on our mistakes and put themselves back in the game. But in the end, the boys wanted it — they wanted this one. They dug down deep, and we played as a team.”

That kind of character-driven team play has long been a hallmark of Lawrence Academy football, particularly under former head coach Paul Zukauskas and fellow Boston College alumnus Swepson, whose lengthy gridiron resume now includes ISL and NEPSAC titles. Of course, that team character is a facet of the program that makes Coach Swepson very proud, particularly after several challenging years for the Spartans.

“They wanted to be coached,” he explained.

“They took coaching from day one until Friday afternoon, the last practice before the championship. Then, it was just a great bunch of kids wanting a bowl championship.

They accomplished a goal, becoming an ISL champion, and they wanted to cap off the season the right way.”

Thinking of his seniors, including Gavin Hatfield, William Moriarty, Dash Dunlea, Denzel Khasabo, Stanley Peat, Jake Ward, Luke Miller, Auggie Swartwood, Bryce Thomas, Zain Chaudhry, C.J. Schuster, and Cam Green, Coach Swepson repeated, “I’m just so happy for those guys that believed in Lawrence Academy.

More Fall Season Highlights Boys’ cross country runner Alex Colangelo ’25 took fourth overall with a time of 17:41 at the New England championship, while the boys’ varsity team earned eighth overall. Earlier in the season, girls’ cross country runner Amber Banks ’23 earned a victory over Roxbury Latin, taking first place at home on the “elm tree–shaded hillside.”

The varsity girls’ soccer team earned a second-place finish in the NEPSAC Class B Soccer Tournament. Coach Kimberly Bohlin Healy’s squad defeated Suffield Academy (4-2) and Brooks School (also 4-2) before falling to Pingree School (3-0) in the tournament final, held at the Rivers School. Se-Hanna Mars ’24 topped the LA scoring chart with 16 goals and five assists for 37 points — good for second in the ISL.

“And having Dom Selvitelli ’24 block a field goal to ice the game never hurts,” he added.

Scan the code to see photos from the championship game!

#GoLASpartans

Congratulations to the many Spartan seniors set to pursue their sport in college after the fall’s National Letter of Intent signing day: Paige Anastasi, Brian Downing, Justin Morris, Genesis Garcia, Tegan Young, Taylor Wiercinski, Carina Liberatore, Janayah Body, Ella Rago, and Katelyn Michals.

SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 15

Spartan Highlights Winter Season Lawrence Academy Takes NEPSAC Title Spartans are 2023 Boys Piatelli/Simmons (Small School) Bracket Ice Hockey Champions

by John Bishop

Goffstown, N.H. — “Never a doubt!” Yeah, right.

But postgame, the coach and his student-athletes said the same thing outside the victorious Lawrence Academy locker room.

For the NEPSAC Piatelli/Simmons (Small School) Bracket Champions, belief and reality combined following an improbable 4-3 overtime victory over the Frederick Gunn School (FGS) in Saint Anselm’s Sullivan Rink near Manchester, N.H. “It was definitely an emotional experience,” said senior goalie Vincent Lamberti. “Being here for three years through some tough seasons I’m happy about it,” he said, grinning ear to ear.

Happiness wasn’t an emotion most LA fans were experiencing for much of the afternoon. Strong play by FGS kept the game in doubt, particularly for the rowdy LA fandom who packed the D-II college rink. Despite the Spartans opening the scoring with Marek Thompson ’23 fed Clarence Beltz ’23 to put LA up 1-0 at 5:03 of the second period, the Gunn School quickly countered, knotting the game at 1-1 going into the third period and then added two more in the third to go up to 3-1.

“At the beginning of February, the guys started to believe in each other and believe in themselves,” said Head Coach Robbie Barker ’00. “I thought we got a good jump on them today, and then things went awry. But the guys played with poise, and it came down to the last minute there in regulation — not a position that we haven’t been in before.”

Meanwhile, FGS made the road to victory treacherous for LA, whose NEPSAC Championship hopes teetered precariously throughout the third period. But 1 6 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2023

the scrappy Spartans would not quit, even after Gunn dented the LA crossbar, almost making the game 4-1. Seconds later, and working from his knees, Owen Leahy ’24, with some help from Josh Erickson ’23 and Brendan Hirsch ’24, muscled the puck past the prone Gunn goalie to bring the deficit down to one with just over eight minutes remaining.

The game stayed that way until LA, shorthanded but with the goalie pulled, pulled off a minor miracle. Coach Barker called a timeout with 1:01 remaining and an LA player in the penalty box. Lawrence Academy then controlled the puck off a faceoff in the Spartan zone, and Lamberti skated to the bench. After controlling the puck in the Gunn zone, LA nearly saw the puck float into an open LA net. But, on the subsequent breakout, Thompson passed the puck to Shawn White Leary ’24, whose deflected shot fluttered to a waiting Erickson. He tied the game with just 22.1 seconds to spare. The period ended tied 3-3.

After several long minutes of back-and-forth play and taking advantage of a three-on-two breakaway, Leahy finally snuck the puck between the left arm and the body of the Gunn goalie.

Pandemonium ensued on and off the ice; the improbable playoff run dramatically ended.

“Through practicing and buying into a system and sticking to a game plan, I told them that we could skate with anybody,” said Coach Barker of his team’s poise and discipline down the stretch. “If you guys just stick to that game plan, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to pull off some great things.”

And they did. Never a doubt, indeed.

More Winter Season Highlights Lawrence Academy celebrated and recognized even more student-athletes who will play in the NCAA on Winter Term’s NLI signing day.

Congratulations to Jenna Gagnon, CJ Jahnle, Gavin Hatfield, Alex Karibian, Denzel Khasabo, Grace Joscelyn, Cam McGinty, Anya Nichipor, Ally Prentice, Keagan Ryan, Peter Scheibe, Morgan Schultz, CJ Schuster, Bryce Thomas, and Thomas Whitlock.

In February, the Spartan wrestling team competed in the NEPSAC wrestling championships at Phillips Academy, and Charlotte Lokere ’23 placed third in her weight class. Charlotte then went on to compete at Nationals in Maryland. The LA grapplers also traveled to Bath, Maine, and competed in the Northern New England Wrestling Tournament at the Hyde School. Four Spartans placed: Michael Gregoire ’24 at 190 finished second, Zaiden Huggins ’24 at 175 finished fourth, Bhavya Sharma ’23 at 165 finished sixth, and Connor Hogan ’26 at 190 finished sixth. Congrats, team!

The varsity boys’ ski team, coached by Mia Ritter, finished fourth in the NEPSAC Class C Skiing Championships at Crotched Mountain in February.

After two seasons, boys’ basketball forward Sebastian Wilkins ’25 added his name to the team’s 1,000-point scorers list versus BBN, an 84-52 victory.

Additionally, Kevin Wiercinski earned his 400th win as head coach of the varsity cagers.

The varsity girls’ basketball team earned the No. 8 seed in the New England Class B Basketball Tournament. The Spartans fell 68-50 to the top seed, St. Luke’s School, in New Canaan, Connecticut.

The varsity girls’ hockey team earned the No. 5 seed in the New England Small School Hockey Tournament. The squad fell to the No. 4 seed, The Millbrook School (4-1), in the NEPSAC quarterfinals, held at Loomis Chaffee.

SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 17

#ArtsAtLA

Stanley Peat ’23

Chelsea Fernandez ’23

Ella Luo ’23

Emmy Graf ’23

Nicholas Desrochers ’25 Zahria Huggins ’23

Janna Hindawi ’24

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Zaiden Huggins ’24

Sophie Zimmerman ’25

Front, L-R: Sky Lokere ’26 and Gwenyth Dahl ’26 Standing behind: Paloma Harker ’23

Dillan Strimatis ’24

L-R: Alex Kelly ’23, Liv Ristaino ’23, and Isabella (Bella) Levin ’25

Morgan Soule ’25 SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 19

A conversation with Director of Theatre Dennis Canty

“This is work that brings me so much joy!”

A c onversa t i on wi t h Di re ct o r of Th ea t re De nni s Ca nt y

2 0 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2023

by Joe Sheppard

“Almost everything I’ve learned that I feel has enabled my success in life, I’ve learned inside of the four walls of a theatre,” says Dennis Canty, now in his second year as Lawrence Academy’s director of theatre. “How to speak, how to listen, how to express my emotions. Empathy. Putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes. Seeing the world through somebody else’s eyes.”

Choosing his words thoughtfully, his reverence for the subject evident in his tone, Dennis continues: “I say to my students all the time, ‘Forget everything you think you know about a theatre classroom. This is not that classroom. This is a classroom where you’re going to learn that risktaking and failure are the two most important things that we can do to be successful. Learning how to make mistakes; learning how to think about what went wrong and trying something different. Taking a different risk; taking a bigger risk, perhaps.’

She Kills Monsters Maggie Lavoie ’24

“If they can really wrap their heads, hearts and minds around that, I think they really feel successful in the space,” he adds. “And it becomes a place of safety. For some of my students, this is a place where they feel they can be themselves, more than any other place on campus. That’s a privilege — and it’s a privilege I don’t take lightly, that this is the place they feel most safe and connected to themselves. So, it’s my responsibility to ensure that the space feels that way, and that everyone else in the space rises up to meet these people. It’s the greatest job in the world!”

Theatre has been part of Dennis’ life since childhood, but Lawrence is the first place he has actually made his living at it.

His first career, one that he “absolutely loved,” was in public health. A gender studies major in college, he found his first job running a men’s health program in western Massachusetts. “After a few years of that,” he explains, “I transitioned to working for the state, and over a 10-year career, I filled a variety of different roles.”

When the pandemic came, Dennis joined the millions of people who were forced to work at home, separated from colleagues. “I was a bureaucrat, but the work brought me a lot of joy … I was really trying to make a difference for people, even though they had no idea who I was,” he reflects. “But it stopped being joyful. I felt connected to something bigger than myself, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I had gone back to graduate school. And so, long story short, someone pointed me in the direction of this opening at Lawrence Academy … “… and here I am,” Dennis says with a smile. “It’s hard for me to imagine doing anything different now after a year and a half. I am busier than I’ve ever been. And I feel like there's more work than I’ve ever had before. But it’s work that brings me so much joy.”

She Kills Monsters Phoebe Wachira ’23

Dennis is nothing if not busy. His class load includes a section of Artistic Expression, LA’s ninth-grade arts program; two levels of acting classes, where more advanced students partner with beginners to act as peer leaders (an

SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 21

Cast of Mean Girls

arrangement Dennis values greatly); improv classes; and the “premier” course, the venerable, year-long Honors Theatre Ensemble. He explains: “The fall term [of Honors Theatre] is really about understanding the role of the actor. The winter is about the role of the director and also the playwright, because we’re preparing to write and direct the spring One-Acts. So, the spring is about production and ‘How do I get my One-Act produced?’”

Mean Girls L-R: Sally Hu ’25, Lexi Olander ’24, and Chad Billingsley ’26

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Continuing a long Lawrence Academy tradition, students in Honors Theatre either write an original ten-minute, one-act play or find a previously written work they’re interested in exploring. “What I love about the 10-minute format,” Dennis notes, “is that it’s often about chewing on a really important or essential question. Some students are exploring: ‘Why do I feel invisible?’ Or, ‘Can you love someone even though you’ve had a really tough relationship with them?’ It’s about two or three characters talking directly to each other without any bells or whistles. I'm so much more interested in storytelling than I am in flash and spectacle. Let’s just talk to each other … understand each other. Let’s get in there and talk about the human condition.”

For Dennis, choosing Mean Girls as this year’s musical was easy: “It’s a great story for a school — answering good questions about our responsibility to put kindness in the world, versus meanness,” he explains, “and about standing up for each other, and to what lengths we will go to fit in and not be our authentic selves. This is the kind of theatre I like to do: theatre that really asks us to think about who we are and what impact we can have on the world.”

Dennis describes Mean Girls, which ran in February, as “massive … a full Broadway musical.” Consistent with his priorities as a director, he “drilled it down to the simplest version of telling a story,” even though there are “a lot of moving parts: projection, lighting, sound.” The show was recently released to high schools — and only high schools — and Lawrence was the first school in Massachusetts to produce it.

“This is the kind of theatre I like to do: theatre that really asks us to think about who we are and what impact we can have on the world.”

“A friend of mine alerted me to the release,” Dennis recalls.

“They gave us the rights. We kept it secret for a few weeks and then announced it to the kids. They were ecstatic.”

Almost 50 students were involved in the production, about 40 of them onstage, with music direction by Jenny Cooper. “We can proudly say that more than ten percent of our school was involved in our musical!” Dennis shared excitedly.

And what an impact Dennis is having on LA’s students! “The work here is so powerful and so special and so life-changing,” he says enthusiastically. “What I remember most about high school is what I did in a theatre. I couldn’t tell you what math classes I took, but I remember my theatre classroom” — as will every LA student who treads the boards under Dennis’ caring guidance.

Mean Girls Paloma Harker ’23 and Eric Fish ’23

Mean Girls Abby Remis ’23 and Alex Kelly ’23 SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 23

Theatre at LA FROM ONE A YEAR TO ONE-ACTS

by Joe Sheppard

modern-day America … featuring six-foot dancing hot dogs. Our swan song the Until about a half-century ago, Lawrence following year, The Best of Both Worlds, was Academy’s theatre department followed doubtless the inspiration for the series the model of many of its sister schools: Lucifer on Netflix. In the climactic scene, one “big production” a year, in the spring, Satan, who has come to earth as Benjamin performed for one night only. These were L. Z. Bubbe (get it?) to run for mayor of a usually “serious” plays — no musicals; That school year was the Academy’s 175th small town in Nebraska, disappeared in a nothing too controversial. A musical revue anniversary, and Whipple, together with puff of smoke as he was forced to put his called the Autumn Frolic, directed by two colleagues, co-wrote and produced a hand on the Bible while taking the oath of English and music teacher (and, later, pageant-type musical show for the occasion, office. The stage extension we built for that Headmaster) Arthur Ferguson, went up, entitled Days of Our Years, to be the first show, to accommodate the trap door to as its title implies, at some point in the fall. production in the new facility. Narrative Hell, stayed there until the building was The last one was presented in 1958; the continuity was provided by the “marble” remodeled in 2006. That door was actually picture below, with boys in blazers and busts of brothers Amos and William the first thing to be demolished for the “girls” in bobby sox, tells it all.

Lawrence, ably portrayed by classmates renovation. During the final performance and best friends Rob Bradley and Ken of Pippin, the last show in the “old” The late Alan Whipple, who taught at LA Brighton ’68, both of whom could do a theatre, it was enthusiastically destroyed from 1955 until his death in 1988, was the wicked Maine accent. with a sledgehammer! last of the school’s old-time theatre directors: a classroom teacher who directed plays Days of Our Years was the only musical to The “modern” era of LA theatre started on the side. Whipple taught history be performed on LA’s stage until the fall of with the hiring of Brian Smiar in the fall and French, both of which he loved (he 1970, when English teacher and playwright of 1972. The school’s first full-time theatre completed the first volume of a history of David Smith and I decided it would be fun teacher, he mounted three productions per the Academy before he died), but many to write a musical comedy. We toiled all year, one each term. Smiar’s shows were the of his happiest hours were spent in the fall and winter; the result, a Rip Van first to run for several successive nights, theatre. He was a talented director with a Winkle school story called That Osgood Wednesday through Saturday. (The strong sense of character and, when he Style, premiered and closed on one Wednesday performance was dropped needed it, a gift for comic timing.

Saturday night in May. It featured the after a few years for lack of an audience.) angelic ghost of a lost boy floating across Multiple performances taught the actors Before the Ferguson Building opened the stage on a wood-and-cotton cloud. the importance of sustaining the energy during the 1967-’68 school year, shows The crowd went wild. and focus of a play, something they had were produced in the Gray Building, on the cramped stage at the north end of the Undeterred, we wrote two more: In 1972, never had to think about before, as shows in the old days were literally one-night stands. basketball court — where the music we wrote Three Sheets to the Wind, which was the story of Columbus landing in Autumn Frolic

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practice rooms are today. (Some older alumni may remember the chain-gang procedure for lifting those steel folding chairs out of the pit where they were stored and setting them up under Norm Grant’s stern supervision.)

Quartet from Days of Our Years

The Big Musicals Even though Smiar professed to hate musicals, his arrival heralded — or at least coincided with — the start of the big Broadway musical era at LA. Fall productions were usually “straight” plays, and talent shows and the like occupied the winter, but the spring was reserved for the musical. Starting with Little Mary Sunshine in 1975 and Fiddler on the Roof the following year, which starred bearded faculty member Bill Harman as Tevye, these plays were among the biggest events of the year. The LA band, supplemented by a few adult professionals, became the pit orchestra, reading the original, unedited scores. The musicians started working on the show after winter vacation, and it occupied their entire spring. It was hard and exhausting work, but all agreed the experience was worth every minute.

More than once, Winterim courses provided a head start on some aspect of a show. The first one, in 1976, was Fiddler Workshop, in preparation for the spring production of that show. In 1990, a puppet-building Winterim made the “Audrey” plants for Little Shop of Horrors; six years later, in preparation for Forty-Second Street, the cast spent the two weeks of Winterim learning to tap dance their way through the show’s long dance numbers.

The 1992-’93 school year was Lawrence Academy’s bicentennial. In honor of the occasion, just as happened 25 years before, a group of faculty and students created Almost Out of Time, an original musical set in 2043, when all learning is accomplished through virtual-reality goggles. Determined to return the Academy to its traditional, “human” way of doing things, an intrepid group of students sets out to rescue the school’s past, most of which is stored in the Waters House basement, before all is destroyed and virtual learning takes over forever.

Since the story spanned two centuries, the large cast included characters from different periods in the school’s history: The marble busts of the Lawrence brothers, familiar to generations of students, served as commentators, as they had in 1967, while their “living” counterparts appeared in many scenes set in the past.

LA Theatre in the 21st Century In 1993, not long after Almost Out of Time, the spring musical was moved to the fall, and then to the winter, where it remains today. As it moved around in the school year, the musical also took on some new and different forms: Joel Sugerman, who directed the theatre program from 2005 to 2021, started his LA career by calling on students to create more original work. His first production was an adaptation, created by the cast during rehearsals, of Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial; his favorite, however, was a production of An Iliad, a play that was written for one actor but performed at LA by 11!

Theatre in the Curriculum Since the turn of the 21st century, the spring term has brought with it the LA One-Acts, performed in a three-quarter thrust, built on the stage and bringing the audience into close proximity with the actors. These evenings of student-directed plays are the culminating projects of the Honors Theatre Ensemble class. Each student chooses, adapts, writes, or creates a one-act play, which they direct in a fully realized production.

Theatre had entered Lawrence Academy’s regular curriculum by the mid-1970s, with courses such as Introduction to Drama and School in Theatre. The latter was an English course, but students in those years could also earn an academic credit for a major role in the spring musical. Theatre on Tour and a mime course were popular back then, and the Something for Nothing Players delighted young audiences across the Northeast

for many years during the two weeks of Winterim.

In the years since, the theatre curriculum has matured into a full menu of courses.

Currently, Director of Theatre Dennis Canty teaches Improv, Acting, and the theatre segment of Artistic Expression, the required ninth-grade arts course, as well as the venerable, year-long Honors Theatre Ensemble. Once dark for much of the year, Lawrence’s theatre is now one of the busiest places on campus.

SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 25

Giving Back Faculty and Staff Serve the Greater Good of the local community

by Anne O’Connor ’78

Each school year, Lawrence Academy Spartans give back to the greater community. Students participate in community service projects, often on weekends, and faculty and staff lead by example, carving out time from their busy schedules to contribute in ways that extend and complement their careers and life experiences. These activities are varied, but they all contribute to the greater good.

“We don’t have cookie-cutter kids, and we don’t have cookie-cutter adults,” says Raquel Majeski, assistant head of equity and community life. “It’s a beautiful thing. There’s a space for every kid, and there’s a space for every adult.”

Volunteering is an important part of life for the faculty and staff members who chose to share their experiences. Spoiler alert: Some met their life partners while taking action for the greater good.

Kate Engstrom, English teacher, learning coach, Academy Journal contributor “People have given their time freely to you during your life, not to make money or with a commercial goal to support you. It’s important to give back.”

Kate rolls her enjoyment of spending time with her daughter into service to the greater community. She’s one of four leaders of a second-grade Brownies troop and works collectively with the other leaders to communicate with the troop and their families, design activities for earning Girl Scout badges, and enable the girls to be kind, caring, and welcoming. It’s important to Kate to serve as a positive role model both in her life and as a troop leader.

Leading the troop and being part of the larger Groton community was especially important, and difficult, during the pandemic. One troop member died of COVID, and the other members worked through their feelings together.

They ran a food drive in her memory, hung pink ribbons around town in mourning, and supported the young girl’s mother. LA also participated in their efforts: The school hung a large banner on Route 119 to honor the girl.

Rob Olsen, associate director of admissions “It’s always nice to give back, especially to someone that’s giving back to the community. That’s why I do it.”

Rob volunteers at Top Secret Orchard, a Groton business just getting off the ground. He wrote to the farmers (who donate half their apple crops to the food bank in Lowell) last summer, knowing they needed help. For him, the position checks off two important boxes: “I love the fact that they donate,” he says, and he thoroughly enjoys the manual labor, whether he’s mowing or running a chainsaw to cut wood to heat the house and barn.

Helping at the orchard has become an important part of some student’s lives, too. “I take kids up there all the time,” Rob says, “and they stay six or seven hours per day.” In the fall, LA’s athletic teams go to the orchard and pick apples.

Kate Engstrom (on left) with two of her fellow troop leaders

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Tony Hawgood, science teacher, director of Winterim “Part of being in a community is being involved with it. There are a lot of things that need to be done in a community that are nobody’s job.”

Tony is an on-call emergency medical technician and firefighter in Groton.

After witnessing an accident in which people were badly injured, he realized he desperately wanted to be able to help. When he arrived at LA years later with EMT training under his belt, Tony joined Groton’s EMT force, and when the service merged with the town’s fire department, he took firefighter training so he could fill both roles.

When Tony gets calls on nights and weekends, he rushes to the fire station to don his gear, then heads out with other team members to the emergency scene. Even if he’s been out all night assisting people during some of their worst times, he heads to LA the next morning to teach. It’s good to have him on campus, Tony points out, because if something happens, he’s right there to help.

L-R: Tony Hawgood, Alex Scliris ’19, and Mike Poulin

Tony’s work with the department also kindled another sort of fire: He met his wife, also an EMT at the time, while volunteering.

Clint Huff, math teacher “It should be part of your life to give.”

Inspired by a neighbor’s son and confident in his teaching and skiing abilities, Clint began volunteering as a ski buddy for Nashoba Valley Shooting Stars, supporting developmentally challenged athletes who race and compete by watching over them and offering pointers. The group skis at Wachusett, Gunstock, and Butternut; when there is no snow, they sometimes meet with a trainer via Zoom for a workshop.

“You get what you give,” says Clint, who finds joy in chit-chatting with the skiers on the slopes and seeing their moments of happiness.” It seems as though everyone is in a silo these days,” he says, “but when you’re volunteering, you feel like you’re involved, even if it seems like a little thing.”

Raquel Majeski, assistant head for equity and community life “You can make a difference in your community and not have to be president or super-wealthy to do it.”

Raquel uses her skills, knowledge, and training both in her job at LA and as the chair of Groton’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Town officials asked her to join the committee — a conduit between Groton residents and the Select Board and town manager — when it formed in 2020.

Raquel fell into diversity work at other independent schools. Because she was often the only Black person in the community, people would come to her with questions, and that inspired her to learn more. Raquel’s work is her passion. “I’m called to community: to walk in love, activate my faith, and be patient,” she said. “We can be our best selves for our community. The more we can do that work together, the stronger our community can be.”

SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 27

Michelle Ruby ’98, science teacher, JV girls’ hockey coach “Giving back to the community is important. Groton is my home.”

Photo by Steve Lieman; courtesy of The Groton Herald. Natasha Huggins on far right.

Natasha Huggins, learning specialist, history teacher “I love advocating for justice. According to my faith tradition, God loves justice; my joy comes from knowing I am doing work that aligns with my core beliefs.”

When Natasha’s son was the victim of a racial slur, his middle school did not offer dignity or reconciliation to her family, and she felt powerless to advocate for him. So, in 2020, Natasha joined forces with an outraged parent whose child was also affected by the incident to found the Racial Social Justice Group, which has presented to the Groton-Dunstable School Committee and organizes networks and resources to address racial and social justice issues within the community.

Several LA community members have been active RSJG members or have been a part of other diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives around town, inspired by the work of Natasha’s organization.

“When people see LA members volunteering in the community, a bridge of mutual respect and trust is created,” Natasha writes.

Following an interest developed during her freshman year at LA, Michelle volunteers for a number of environmental causes that get her outside and allow her to share her passion without worrying about needing to grade anyone. She is a Groton Conservation Trust trustee and a water monitor for the Nashua River Watershed; she also goes on water chestnut pulls.

Born and raised in Groton, Michelle finds that her non-school roles in town help foster good relationships between LA and the greater community. “Locals sometimes resent that private schools do not pay property taxes,” she explains, “but when LA community members help out within the Groton community, people see we’re not a separate entity and we’re giving back.”

Kimberly Poulin, assistant dean of students, director of community engagement “It isn’t about you. It’s about everyone in a space.”

The pandemic put an end to Groton Community Dinners so abruptly in 2020 that the linens Kimberly washed following the last dinner remained in her house for years.

Finally, this past August, she reached out to her fellow organizers, and they got busy planning their first meal in three years, held in January. The monthly dinners are a great fit for Kimberly, whose kids call her a “party planner.” Between organizing the meals — supplied by LA, Groton School, and the Groton Pepperell Rotary — decorating, and arranging entertainment, she has her hands full, but she feels as though she is part of something bigger than herself.

“Despite the name of the act, volunteering is a selfish decision,” Kimberly thinks, “because the volunteer gets more out of it than the anticipated feeling of happiness that comes from knowing they’ve done something good.”

Groton Community Dinners are open to all and are held on the third Friday of the month, September through May (excluding December), 5:45 p.m.-7:00 p.m.

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Mike Poulin in front row, third from left

Mike Poulin, director of strength and conditioning, equipment room manager “When the team comes together to help the community, it puts a smile on your face.”

When people need help, the fire station provides, no matter who you are. But helping people is only part of the value Mike, an on-call firefighter, gets from volunteering — the team camaraderie at the station is important, too. Every firefighter can trust the others with their life.

Mike was drawn to firefighting because his dad was a full-time firefighter in Lawrence. With no experience, but inspired by Tony Hawgood, Mike started on the first rung of the ladder and trained over time. Along the way, he learned to think calmly and overcome his fear of heights. He also has had fun — like when his team brought the ladder truck with Santa to campus.

Mike’s commitment to volunteering made a big difference in his personal life, too. At an earlier volunteer gig at a senior center, one of the women there fixed him up with her niece, Kimberly. They’re now married.

Meghan Smith, director of DEI professional growth and practice “The more we know each other, the more we can become a cohesive community.”

Meghan puts the experience and training she’s gained at LA to good use in Groton by serving on the Groton-Dunstable School District’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. The group advises Groton-Dunstable schools on how better to align these policies, educational goals, and budget priorities to achieve the district’s DEI and educational goals.

As the parent of a Groton-Dunstable student and community member, Meghan felt it important to put her skills to work following a number of hateful incidents in town and in the school district. She and other LA community members work together with others in the Groton community, including those in Natasha Huggins’ Racial Social Justice Group.

“LA is not a little island within the town,” Meghan writes, “so when members of the LA community volunteer, Groton becomes more of a home and less of a location for the school.”

SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 29

Inspiring a Community for More Than a Decade The Impact of the J. William Mees Visiting Scholar Program

by Kate Engstrom

New Lawrence Academy faculty member Camille Lacroix was moved to poetry this winter after participating in a session with Shaun Leonardo, a Brooklyn-based multi-disciplinary artist and the 2022-2023 J. William Mees Visiting Scholar. “I rejoin community more open to seeing the light of love inside every body, the light we need to shine for the happiness, for the good of all,” she wrote.

Shaun Leonardo

“My time with Shaun was time well spent. I really enjoyed getting to work with an artist whose art form is very different from anything else I’ve ever tried. I think his ability to talk about power and proximity is something very unique to him and his artistic ability,” Paloma Harker ’23 commented. “When I worked with him at the beginning of January, I got the chance to know him and for him to get to know me, and I really value that experience.” As has been the case with many of these scholars, the lessons Camille and Paloma learned were not meant to be stored away, but shared and drawn upon daily in the LA community.

2012

2013

Andre Dubus III: professor, novelist, and short-story writer: English

Taylor Mali: artist, educator, and spoken-word poet: English and Arts

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2014

Dar Williams: folk singer and songwriter: English and Arts

I rejoin community more open to seeing the light of love inside every body, the light we need to shine for the happiness, for the good of all.

Established in 2010 and named in honor of longtime former faculty member Bill Mees, the J. William Mees Visiting Scholar Program provides the means for Lawrence Academy students to learn firsthand what professionals do in their fields, how they go about their work, and what makes them successful by bringing noted professionals to campus to provide a multi-day program in whatever manner they wish. The program felt particularly poignant this year following Mr. Mees’ death in 2022.

the conversations and interactions with our scholars to the greater community has made their visits even richer.”

Bill Mees

According to the program’s steward, Associate Head of School Rob Moore, Bill’s vision was to “lift the intellectual, scholarly attitude of LA — give the students role models.” To that end, each visiting scholar spends a few days on campus working with students in classes, offering workshops for students and faculty, and making an evening presentation to the public. Rob notes that including the community was “not necessarily in the program’s charge, but we have added that component over the years, and broadening

2014

Adam Boucher and Tim FukawaConnelly: college professors: Math

Thanks to a year in which there were multiple visitors, LA has hosted a total of 14 scholars over 12 years. Each year, faculty are invited to nominate the individuals they think would bring an exciting and enriching set of experiences to the school community.

A committee then meets in the spring to select the next scholar with a goal of balancing visitors across disciplines: art, science, history, English, world language, and mathematics.

From journalists and scientists to artists and authors, these successful experts are aspirational models of intellectual curiosity: real-world examples of what can await after graduation. “Faculty and students witness passion in practice and have a chance for hands-on experiences interacting with committed and successful professionals,” Rob remarks.

2015

Lin-Manuel Miranda: actor, composer, lyricist, and writer: Arts and English

2016

Dr. Peter Groffman: environmental scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies: Science

SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 31

2017

2018

2019

Francis Gary Powers, Jr.: Cold War specialist: History

Irshad Manji: educator, author, and founder of the Moral Courage Project: Language and DEI

John Hunter: teacher and inventor of the World Peace Game: Teaching and History

As Shaun’s inspiration lingers in words of poetry and a renewed appreciation for one another among members of the community, the impact of this year’s scholar is a fitting tribute to Mr. Mees’ legacy. In a final conversation about the program with Rob, Mr. Mees shared, “The program has grown and developed and is doing what I, and all the generous donors to the fund, envisioned.” The LA community will continue to recognize and celebrate Mr. Mees’ many contributions, especially as the well-loved tradition of the Visiting Scholar Program lives on.

Lin Manuel-Miranda

After playwright, composer, and actor Lin Manuel-Miranda’s visit during the 2014-2015 school year, just before the Broadway debut of his hit musical Hamilton, Head of School Dan Scheibe commented how that year’s program “exceeded expectations because what we most dream about is pure inspiration.”

Shaun Leonardo continued to inspire the community this year as he encouraged students and faculty alike to “see the world they live in in a completely different way,” another aspect of the program Mr. Scheibe values highly.

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Irshad Manji

2020

2021

Jamie Ducharme: journalist for Time: English, History, and Science

Matthew R. Kay: teacher and author of Not Light, but Fire: Student and Faculty DEI Initiatives

2023

2022

Carrie Nugent: professor, asteroid expert, and author of Asteroid Hunters: Science

Shaun Leonardo: multimedia visual and performing artist: Student and Faculty DEI Initiatives and Arts

“My time with Shaun was time well spent. I really enjoyed getting to work with an artist whose art form is very different from anything else I’ve ever tried ...”

Rob Moore and Shaun Leonardo

SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 33

LA Parents Senior Family Lunch On the Friday of Fall Family Weekend, senior students and their families were treated to a catered lunch from Pressed Cafe and the Cookie Monstah truck at Park House. This was the first senior family event of the year, and everyone had a great time.

The food was delicious, and the excitement of the senior families together with the perfect fall weather helped make this event a huge success.

Fall Family Weekend During this year’s Fall Family Weekend, LA Parent’s Association Chair Amy Kelly and Vice Chair Jeana Colangelo organized a table of parent and student volunteers to sell exclusive Lawrence Academy merchandise. Throughout the weekend, families could purchase car decals, LA hats, scarves, and plush blankets.

With the school store once selling merchandise online, these items were extremely popular with the families who attended the weekend.

Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day Feb. 23 was this year’s Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day, and the campus was buzzing with excitement. Each faculty and staff member was greeted by a stunning table filled with individual bouquets to take home. In addition to the flower arrangements, each person received a hand-written card from a student, a gift card to a local Groton business, three raffle tickets to enter for one of the many raffle prizes, and a cookie from Dolce Amar.

Holiday Party Committee

Holiday Party On Dec. 8, parents were thrilled to join us for our first inperson Holiday Party since 2019. This gathering provided an opportunity for parents to come together for a night to socialize and join in the holiday spirit. Our parent volunteers worked hard to ensure it was a warm and festive event enjoyable for all.

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Emma Zhou ’24

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Budding LA Journalist Spends Winterim at The Groton Herald

By Emma Zihan Zhou ‘24

T

he Groton Herald is located in a small office in the basement of the Prescott School Community Center. Unless you’re given specific instructions on where it is, the office is quite difficult to find. Filled with the fresh smell of printed paper and the editors’ dogs running around, it is indeed a special place to put together a whole newspaper every single week with only three full-time staff. This is where I worked as an intern for two weeks as part of the Winterim program here at Lawrence Academy.

I still remember my first day at the job, nervous to make an impression. I’ve always known that interns shouldn’t expect to get too many things done. However, Deb, one of the editors, walked in, and the first thing she said to me was, “Emma, I want you to cover the Groton Reads and Gardens event.” Just like that, I had my first assignment. Deb is one of those editors who is organized and quite strict. When she speaks, her words are always on point, and she expresses herself well.

She is one of the reasons I felt motivated to write for the town’s paper and decided to stay on as an intern even after my Winterim was over.

For the next two weeks, I wrote stories ranging from opinion pieces to traditional Q&A. The point of my Winterim Professional was for me to train and learn the skills I need for a real profession; in this case, I was practicing being a journalist. The responsibilities I undertook were big, such as remembering to cover a live event well past my working hours, taking initiative to ask for new assignments (they sometimes were so busy that they didn’t notice that I had nothing to do), finishing stories within a deadline, and even learning to lay out my own story on the computer.

The first story I wrote that got published on page 3 of the paper (quite a big deal) was an opinion piece that I had planned with another editor, Russ, when I first met him in January to plan the internship. It was about how the international students at LA viewed the town, and it required me to interview a few students on campus and to find a common theme within their answers. It was a topic that I had worked on for a while, so I could not hide my smile when I saw it printed over and over again to the readers. Those in the College Counseling Office who read the journals I was required to write for the “Professionals” internship really know how excited I was when it was Thursday. That’s when the papers had been printed and were out for delivery.

My love for journalism started early in my time at LA, and through the connections I’ve made with the communications office, the faculty were able to introduce me to this internship. This again just goes to show that the interactions students have with members of the LA community go far beyond the classroom. My Winterim Professional at The Groton Herald taught me that there is little doubt that I want to pursue a career in journalism in the future.

ALUMNI PROFILE

Mark Phelps ’78

Lawrence Academy: A Community and a Family Mark Phelps ’78 on his 45-plus years of connections with LA 3 8 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2023

by Frances Chaves

The education and values Mark Phelps ’78 took with him from Lawrence Academy have taken him from a successful business career to even greater achievements as an entrepreneur, then to volunteering his business acumen to help African and Indian businesses thrive. “Lawrence had such an extreme impact on my life — to point me in the right direction, as a stepping stone for me to achieve my wildest dreams,” says Mark, also the proud father of Austin Phelps ’13 (in photo on right).

When Mark was a public high school student in Leominster, Mass., his father’s employer, Ronald Ansin, suggested that Lawrence Academy would be a better fit for Mark. “I was a kid born on the wrong side of the tracks in a blue-collar neighborhood,” Mark notes. “My dad wasn’t impressed with the effort I was putting forward, so he challenged me to apply to LA.” Mark was accepted as a sophomore boarding student and was offered financial aid.

Mark completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of New Hampshire, where he was eligible for in-state tuition and tended bar 25-30 hours each week to help pay the remaining costs. After graduation, he applied for jobs in Minneapolis, Minn., where his parents had relocated. There he took a job with Land O’Lakes, Inc., launching Mark’s lifelong career in the food industry — or, rather, as Mark puts it, “I parlayed my college bartending into experience in the food industry!”

After multiple promotions, Mark moved to Quaker Oats in Hartford, Conn. Noticing that “most of what was happening at consumer product companies was driven by marketers,” he started an executive MBA program at the nearby University of Hartford, concentrating on marketing. After being promoted

by Quaker and sent to Chicago halfway through the program, Mark completed his MBA coursework at Northwestern and transferred the credits back to Hartford. He would later attend Harvard Business School’s intensive management program for company owners and presidents, creating lifelong friendships with professional peers around the world.

“I was influenced by the teachers’ love and care and stimulated by students from around the world. It opened options and possibilities in life that I didn’t know existed for me. It helped define who I am and what I’ve become.”

“Lawrence was a wonderful opportunity,” Mark reflects.

“Before LA, college wasn’t even an option. At LA, it wasn’t, ‘Are you going?’ It was, ‘Where are you going?’

Before, I ‘had’ to do the work; at LA, I ‘wanted’ to do it. I was influenced by the teachers’ love and care and stimulated by students from around the world.

It opened options and possibilities in life that I didn’t know existed for me. It helped define who I am and what I've become.”

Indeed, Mark’s teachers made a big impact on him. “At my former school, I was just a number,” Mark remembers, but “LA faculty were on campus and more available. My advisor, Dick Jeffers, helped guide and teach me. When I struggled with calculus, Mr. Holmes’ door was always open.” Mark’s family, too, was important: His mom drove 20 miles to pick up his dirty clothes every week and drop off clean ones!

In 1993, Mark joined Nichirei Foods, Inc., a Seattle-based Japanese frozen food company, as vice president of sales and marketing. When the company decided to close their Washington State operations, Mark and a partner purchased the company with capital raised from angel investors, rebranded it as InnovAsian, and built it into a $40 million company.

From there, Mark explains, “In 2012, Nichirei came back and purchased a 51 percent stake in InnovAsian. I stayed on for seven years, then sold the rest of the shares and retired.

When I left, the company was doing about $150 million; today the team that I built — and am still friends with — has brought it to over $300 million.”

Although Mark was fortunate to be able to retire at 58, he stresses that he’s “not one of those overthinkers or over-planners.” Rather, he adds, “I retired fairly quickly, SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 39

which terrified my wife, Susan. I am not good at golf, and I don’t have any hobbies.” She asked, ‘What are you going to do now? Your career and company were your total identity.

You have no other skills. You can’t run the dishwasher; you can’t use a screwdriver.’”

Fortunately, his research of possible next steps brought Mark to the Stanford Seed Transformation Program, where he feels he can still “give back and add value.” The organization “ships seasoned businesspeople like me to India and Africa to work directly with small and mid-sized enterprise CEOs and founders of established businesses,” Mark explains, and “when their business plans are complete, they can opt to hire their coach for six months.”

In June, Mark will attend a “pretty special occasion” — his 45th Lawrence Academy reunion, and his daughter Austin’s 10th LA reunion. She is his youngest daughter and, in high school, “needed some guidance and care,” Mark describes — so, she decided to leave her high school in Seattle and move across the country to attend LA. “She and her mother visited the school and sat for three hours on a Sunday talking with John Curran. It blew them away!” Mark remembers, “attending LA was a wonderful experience for her. She learned how to learn.” After she graduated, Austin enrolled at Loyola University, then went on to nursing school; she is now an RN in the ER of a Chicago-area hospital.

Mark has continued his support of Lawrence Academy since his own graduation. “I stick with stuff that works, and I appreciate what LA did for me,” he reflects.

“The school’s environment was a safe haven, where I could take risks. There was loving support. I remember I was in geometry class and the teacher asked where a missing student was. Someone answered, ‘He’s still sleeping.’

The professor said, ‘We’ll wait — go get him out of bed.’

The missing student arrived, and class started.

“I stick with stuff that works, and I appreciate what LA did for me.”

“I worked with a healthcare company in Nigeria, where it’s very ‘top down.’ Their mission wasn’t clear. On the last training session day, I challenged the CEO that it wasn’t good enough,” Mark shares. “We kept working, and they came up with a solution and very simple mission statement: ‘We provide outstanding care in a friendly environment.’ Everybody understood it, from top management to the janitor. Seeing them have the ‘lightbulb moment’ and change from their tough-guy mentality to employee-based open communication — that’s so rewarding!”

Mark’s work with one of the companies he coached in India has continued. He is the co-founder and head of strategy for Sattvico, a company that makes snacks and meals with yogis and their nutritional needs in mind.

Stanford Seed Team T-Plan reviews Lagos Nigeria

340 4 LAWRENCE ACADEMY WINTER 2022 SPRING 2023

“That’s how the school works,” Mark adds. “There was accountability, and there were clear guidelines. If a student got into trouble and had to leave the school, there were repercussions, but it was talked about at assemblies. It is a community.”

James and Mark meets with the Peco Energy team and his royal highness, King Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II of Ghana

LA Connect When you can’t be with us in person, here’s a great way to stay connected with LA friends and community afar!

Lawrence Academy’s alumni community is accomplished, diverse, and vibrant. Regardless of when you graduated, we want you to feel connected to each other and to the school. An easy way to build those relationships is through LA Connect, our exclusive, online alumni networking community.

You can locate old friends and classmates or look for a mentor or a new professional connection by searching by name, class year, college, or industry in the alumni directory. You can also view photos, search the job board and business directory, and get important updates from the school and fellow alumni. LA Connect is also a great place to share your experience, expertise, and wisdom; volunteer to be a mentor; or provide professional advice.

Visit lacademyconnect.com to register using LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, or your email address. LA Connect also has a mobile option: For iOS devices, download “Graduway Community” from the App Store, and for Androids, download “LA Alumni” from Google Play.

FALL 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 35

ALUMNI PROFILE

Diana Rhoten ’84

Finding Purpose Beyond Profit LA alumna helps companies work for the greater good

by Joe Sheppard

4 2 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2023

Fighting climate change and helping people and corporations find ways and the financial means to meet that challenge is Diana’s passion.

Diana Rhoten ’84

An international development major at Brown, Diana recalls, “After graduation I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I had this idea of international development.

I wanted to be in youth programs. I wanted to help kids who didn’t have traditional learning skills. And I wanted to do it in South America. Don’t ask me why!” (Diana took four years of French at LA.) So, she went — to Japan. “I was very logical,” Diana reflects. “I figured, ‘I don’t know what I want to do. I want to be in international development, and I want to do it in Latin America.’ But to be in this field, you have to have two areas of expertise. So, I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll live in Asia for a couple of years, then I’ll go to grad school.’

And off I went to Tokyo. It was amazing, and I loved it for two years. Then I went to Harvard for my master’s in education.”

“Some things that have happened in my life have really led me to be driven by empathy,” says Diana Rhoten ’84, currently the managing director of Purpose Venture Group, a company that “advises, scales, and incubates ventures tackling the climate crisis and economic inequality,” according to their website. Fighting climate change and helping people and corporations find ways and the financial means to meet that challenge has been Diana’s passion throughout a thirty-year career that has taken her to Japan, Latin America, and all over the United States.

Diana focused on Latin America at Harvard and planned to go to Costa Rica, but sadly, a family tragedy kept her home in Massachusetts for a while. Fortune smiled, however, and a state senator who had been her summer camp counselor “came out of nowhere and fabricated this incredible job working for [then-Gov.] Bill Weld,” Diana explains. “I was traveling to Latin America with him and doing all these trade missions while at the same time helping to build programs like City Year in Boston.

Somehow, all these random career dreams were just all coming together, really by fate.”

After a couple of years, Gov. Weld “did the parental thing and kicked me gently out of the nest,” Diana remembers, advising her that if she wanted to be in policy and politics as a woman in those days (the mid-1990s), she “needed extra letters after her name.” Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education offered Diana a full

FALL 2023 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 43 37 SPRING

Diane credits Bill Mees and John Curran with developing her “ability to think differently but to then also actually better express my complicated thoughts”

scholarship. She thought she would focus on education technology programs for kids, but, as she recalls with a laugh, “This was 1995, pre-Google. They were like, ‘Nope, education technology’s not going to be a big thing.’ So I said, ‘Okay, I’ll just continue my youth programs in Latin America.’”

Five years later, Diana earned a Ph.D. in education with joint master’s degrees in Latin American studies and sociology after conducting her Fulbright-funded dissertation on education reform in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay — and teaching herself Spanish along the way.

The problem was, when Diana finished her doctorate, she didn’t want to be an academic focused on only sociology or education or Latin America. “I kind of wanted to do it all,” she says, “but people were like, ‘You can’t do that in the university.’ This was very frustrating given the way my

brain works. I’m not a specialist, I’m a problem-solver, and that’s just inherently messy.”

For a long time, Diana had been “really concerned about climate.” So, in 2000, forging ahead at full speed despite the proverbial torpedoes, she and a New York Times journalist started a nonprofit focused on interdisciplinary collaboration to solve big problems. “We were a little bit before our time,” she explains, “but we raised some money.

Then we got a very large grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help ask the question: ‘How do you bring together physical scientists, social scientists, designers, engineers, and artists to address questions of climate and climate change?’ And I was off again, traveling all around the country, helping these scientists build new labs.”

Riding at the White Stallion Ranch in Arizona. The ranch has the largest onsite solar system in southern Arizona, which now powers 70 percent of the ranch’s electricity!

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“I’m just now trying to save the world, one solar panel at a time.”

Diana’s work with climate scientists lasted five years, after which the NSF invited her to help create the Office of Cyberinfrastructure. As a program officer, she “was investing a lot of money in large-scale technologies to help people collaborate” and eventually realized “there’s a way to do this that’s cheaper and easier if we use consumer technologies.” So, when her government work was over, Diana started her first “incubator,” which focused on building digital tools for student-centered learning and teaching. She convinced six foundations it was a market worth creating — this was 2009, when digital learning had yet to reach our smartphones and tablets — and would improve both the way kids learn and the way teachers teach. “And so we did that and we were pretty successful,” she says, a note of pride in her voice.

A move into the corporate world was natural for Diana at this point, so when she was asked to help launch a billion-dollar company focused on building educational technology, she said yes. But when she realized after three years that she “didn’t want to be corporate forever,” she moved to IDEO, a global design and innovation company, where she started working on organization design. “I wanted to help other companies figure out how to find their purpose beyond profit,” she explains. “How do you help a company like Unilever, who’s already driven by purpose, to be even more purpose-oriented in the types of products it builds, the services it offers, the way it treats its employees? … As companies, we’re responsible to investors and shareholders, but we also need to be responsible to our stakeholders. So the real challenge is how to build products that are trying to do more than just earn money — like creating products that are sustainable, renewable.”

Diana loved her job at IDEO, where she stayed for several years, but a hiatus that happened to align with the pandemic gave her another unplanned chance to regroup while she did a bit of independent consulting and “served

on a couple of boards.” Then, last summer, her dream job — “I want to dedicate the next ten years of my life to this,” she says — came along, at Purpose Venture Group, a small firm made up of “interesting people who are really focused on the intersection of tackling the climate crisis and solving for financial inequalities within that space.”

Smiling, Diana adds, “I met the team and just thought, ‘This is where I want to be.’”

An example of PVG’s work, close to home, stems from the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last summer. One provision of the act funnels money toward incentives to help people electrify their homes. Diana explains, “We are really focused on trying to help people electrify their homes, to make the transition to cleaner, healthier, and more efficient energy sources.”

Diana’s years at Lawrence did much to develop her passion for making the world a better place to live. She credits Bill Mees and John Curran with developing her “ability to think differently but to then also actually better express my complicated thoughts,” and a 1983 Winterim trip to Russia with Tanya Sheppard was a “life-changing” event. “I have very vivid, powerful memories from that experience,” Diana states. “It was [the basis of ] my college essay, which was a photo essay from that trip. It opened my eyes to so many things that I didn’t even know existed in the world.

It was the thing that set me on a career path that I didn’t even really know I was on.”

On the Winterim trip to the grim Soviet Union of the 1980s, Diana confirmed her passion: to help people — and, she would soon discover, companies — make the world a better place to live. “I’m just now trying to save the world, one solar panel at a time,” she reflects. “Driven by empathy, so much of my life has been about fate — and determination.”

SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 45

We are thrilled to welcome back all alumni from classes ending in 3 and 8 for Reunion Weekend, June 9-10, 2023.

The LA 2023 Reunion Challenge promotes friendly competition among the decades.

To participate, scan the code below.

LA

R EUNION C HALLENGE 4 2022 40 6 LAWRENCE LAWRENCE ACADEMY ACADEMY FALL SPRING 2023

Support LA — Support YOUR School!

But where does the money go?

My young daughter stared with fascination as — woosh! — the pneumatic tube at the drive-thru bank window carried my paycheck up and away.

“Mommy,” she wailed, “where did your money go?!”

Our money was safe at the bank, I explained. From that account, I said, we paid for her allowance, the house, lights to see by, and heat to keep us warm.

Nearly everything in her little life, every day, was funded by our salaries.

The answer to the question “Where does my LA Fund gift go?” is similar.

These gifts are put to immediate use, helping to pay for the programs, people, and facilities that allow us to provide such an outstanding education to our students. Tuition alone isn’t enough.

Together with hundreds of other donors, your gifts make possible the margin of excellence that helps us recognize, inspire, support, and empower every student, every day. We are immensely grateful.

Have other questions about the LA Fund or want to share a story about why you give? Please call me, Beth Crutcher, director of development, at 978-448-1566, or email me at bcrutcher@lacademy.edu.

Alumni Class Notes 1960 Buck Davis ’60 updated us on himself and some of his classmates: • Don Beck recently had major surgery and is recovering very well. We expect to see him back visiting Florida again soon.

• Elliott Zide and Dick Weden both spend their winters in the same beautiful waterfront complex on the barrier island of Fort Pierce.

• I am in regular contact with Jim Gurry (Gulfstream, Fla.), Jon Alexander (Marblehead, Mass.), and Henry Katz (Sharon, Mass.). All seem to be in good health and doing well.

• Myself? I am alive and well and happy to be living with my wife, Megan, in wonderful, quiet, laid-back Vero Beach, Fla. Several weeks ago Jo-Ann Lovejoy and I were guests of John Lobsitz ’68 at John’s beautiful club, the Vero Beach Country Club, which is one of the oldest and prettiest clubs in all of Florida.

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Reunion

• We all share extremely fond memories of [faculty members] Rich and Edi Baker, Bob and Peg Shepherd, Don and Martha Morse, Jack and Peg Burckes, Bitsy Grant, Bob Volante, and many more guiding lights who kept us on the straight and narrow.

1963 Les Meyer ’63 tells us, “I’m now fully retired, and my wife and I moved in 2021 from Connecticut to Burlington, Vt. We’re getting to know the community here. We enjoy spending time with our two married daughters and four grandchildren.”

60th

Reunion

Class of 1963

Class of 1958

Have a note to share in the Fall 2023 Academy Journal?

Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.

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1964

1967

We received this note from Gershon Eigner ’64: “Feeling moved to write because the latest film I’m in, Lil’ Balzac 2, has become available online.

Gershon Eigner It’s 45 minutes of overthe-top comedy, and it was locally produced in Brattleboro, Vt., and shot there. Lil’ Balzac unwittingly joins my bank robbery gang. There was a long hiatus for me between The Spirit of Youth at LA and getting back onstage in the ’90s after I moved to western Massachusetts from New Jersey where I was employed, and retired, as an INS special agent in the pre-Homeland Security days. I began in community theater, and later joined Actors’ Equity. In the last few years, I’ve had the good fortune to play Pirelli in Sweeney Todd, and I started a cover band, Supervised Clinical Trial, now defunct. Now I’m in another, Shenanigans. During my time at BU the band I sang in, Catharsis, opened for The Lost at the Boston Tea Party and for Cream and the Grateful Dead at the Psychedelic Supermarket. I was surprised to find out that the undistributed record that my first band, The Minutemen — later called The Grenadiers — made can be listened to on YouTube and has interest from collectors.”

Raymond Cioci ’67 is “planning on attending the 60th reunion to say hello to a number of classmates and teachers that made my years at Lawrence so amazing. Life has been wonderful because of a number of people I met and experiences I had there. Still doing things like climbing the Inca Trail four days to Machu Picchu in 2018, rafting down the Colorado for two weeks, kayaking in 2021, and, this July, going on a 10-day safari (pictures only) in Kenya. There are so many interesting things to still do, and one of the best is to periodically go back to LA.”

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Reunion

1968 Steve Bradley ’68 sent this note: “Still living with Lynn in Casselman, Ontario, 30 miles from Ottawa. Still going to CrossFit NCR in Ottawa five or six times a week, and basking in the rarefied atmosphere of a hugely supportive community of about 250 who overwhelmingly are 30-50 years younger than I am. Although I get my tuchus kicked every class, these have been seven glorious years so far of pushing limits — even in the face of only moderate “gains.” And, I’m still deeply involved in Alternatives to Violence Project, where, strictly as a volunteer, I coordinate AVP at two prisons in upstate New York: a medium-security federal institution in Ray Brook, a bit north of Lake Placid, and a maximum-security prison in the New York system, just west of Plattsburgh. I have now conducted about 70 three-day workshops

Class of 1968

SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 49

Alumni Class Notes

Steve Bradley

in eight or so different facilities (but the majority in the two above), and AVP continues to be the most powerful work I have ever done. Although I was a career teacher, that was only a slight springboard as preparation for running experiential workshops with incarcerated individuals for a total of 18-22 hours over any given three-day period. A common AVP line is “the wisdom is in the room,” and it is immeasurable what I have learned from the hundreds of men with whom I have shared countless hours in the AVP “circle”; what a blessing! Beyond this, Jane, 39, lives in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., with her husband and two boys, and Peter, 36, lives in Tahsis, British Columbia, with neither spouse nor kids. All is well and life is grand!”

From Andy Franklin ’68: “Audrey and I will be celebrating our 45th anniversary in June. We continue to be active; skiing, hiking, cycling, and traveling. Our son and his family live in Den Haag, Netherlands, with our three-year-old granddaughter and a second grandchild due in April. We luckily survived two bouts of COVID-19 during the pandemic with little to no symptoms.

I retired from my career designing computers and business telephone systems for HP and Bell Labs in 2001, and have stayed busy with volunteer work and recreation in the years since.”

1970

Andy Franklin

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Lou Curran ’70 enjoyed a return to Tanzania for two weeks with his partner, Rebecca, and her family in August 2022.

Lou and Rebecca met in

Dar es Salaam as teens while their parents held U.S. Embassy and U.S. AID jobs there. They split their time between Paris, France, and Baltimore, Md., when they’re not traveling. Lou, a retired career Baltimore public defender, thanks classmates Kevin McDonald and Steve Bull for joining Veteran for Peace Boat picture from him in supporting the u Colorado AIDS Walk, where Lou Curren Lou’s sister, Sarah C. Annecone, has walked for 31 years, commemorating the loss of Matthew Curran ’74 and other HIV/AIDS victims. Lou volunteers his time promoting ratification of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons: “No Nukes is Good Nukes!” and “Better Active Today Than Radioactive Tomorrow!”

Recently Lou sent us this update: “Splitting time between living in Paris, France, and thinning out my Baltimore house full of postponed projects and unread books. Since retiring from a public defender career, have rejoined peace activist community, working mostly on advocating for the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and related U.S. House Resolution 77 and facilitating the “Golden Rule Great Loop Tour” — original anti-nuke protest sailboat is coming up the East Coast and should be in Boston around June 17-20. Check it out at www.VFPGoldenRuleProject.org. “Better Active Today Than Radioactive Tomorrow” — never truer! LA visitors to Paris, hit bmoreloulou@gmail.com for help, suggestions while here.”

Kevin McDonald ’70 sent us this note: “Had a wonderful visit last Sept. 5 with LA Sports Hall of Famer and loyal LA alumnus Guy Marcotte ’56 and his lovely, Barbara, at their home in Kennebunk, Maine.

Guy played in the backfield on the undefeated 1955 football team. He shared a lot of great stories with us. He fondly remembers his L-R: Kevin McDonald ’70, Guy Marcotte ’56, Barbara Marcotte, and Steve Bull ’70 time at LA.”

50th

Reunion

Class of 1973

1972 Reginald Sledge ’72 sent this note: “I currently work as a VP and business resiliency manager at US Bank. I reside in the San Diego, Calif. area. I recently completed the Certificate of Readiness at Harvard Business School, the Project Management Program at Cornell University, and the Advanced Management Program at Yale University. Attending Lawrence Academy was a great experience.”

1973 Photographer Barbara (Pallian) Peacock ’73’s project American Bedroom will be published by the German publisher Kehrer Verlag. This anthropological study of human nature has been a six-year project, with Barbara traveling to every state in the country. U.S. distribution will be in Spring 2024. A small number of books were pre-sold on an Indiegogo in April 2022.

Have a note to share in the Fall 2023 Academy Journal?

Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.

Barbara Peacock

1975 Steven Mulcahy ’75 tells us, “After 39 years as an Army aviator, I am happily retired in Florida. My career took me all over the world, exposed me to many cultures, and introduced me to many people. Now I get to reflect on all the fun I had.”

Steven Mulcahy

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Alumni Class Notes 45th

Reunion

Class of 1978

1983 Proud DoD Dad. Having served over 35 years with the Department of Defense, Sam Pelham ’83’s children have all committed to do Sam Pelham their part to offer “service over self.”

The retired lieutanant colonel had the privilege of promoting his eldest son, Samuel, to 1st lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, in their backyard aboard Camp Pendleton. His daughter, Cameron, attends Cal Poly Humboldt and works in the Veterans Resource Center, providing transition assistance to veterans and leading outdoor programs. His youngest son, Malcolm, recently

graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard’s Aviation Survival Technician course in Petaluma, Calif., to become a helicopter rescue swimmer. He will be stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas next.

He’s looking forward to a great gathering on the Quad come June to celebrate their 40th!

Ken Ansin ’83 writes: “We are currently on our first family trip since before COVID, to southern Portugal and southern Spain.

Eleven of us in all, ages one to 58, and having a blast!”

Denise Korn ’83 “had the chance to visit with the fabulous Ainslie Wallace in her new pad.

“Gearing up for the big reunion coming up in June!”

1985

Denise Korn

Sheila Nugent ’85 and classmate Cindy (Sherman) Parkin got to hang out in February in Seattle, Wash. Sheila writes, “We laughed and laughed looking at old yearbooks and the pics I have of all of you! I can’t wait to visit her on Friday Harbor soon. I can’t wait to see Ann Rogers Cabot ’85 and her crew on Martha’s Vineyard this summer. The coolest thing ever is that our daughters are best friends. LA … a lifetime of friendships. If you are in Seattle, look me up!”

Ken Ansin

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Have a note to share in the Fall 2023 Academy Journal?

Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.

40th

Class of 1983

35th

Class of 1988

Reunion

Reunion

Front row: Jeff Rubens (teacher), Karen McAnn ’88, Nicky Moran-Larkin ’88, Marianne Crescenzi Balfour ’88, Budd ’88, and Dr. Mark Haman (teacher) Second row: Julie Slade ’87, KC Gagne ’85, Karyn Bryant ’86, and Sheila Riordan ’85 Inside porto: In front: Lara Conforti ’86 Row 1: Naomi Schatz ’85, Becky Marquis ’85, and Laurie Randazzo ’86 Row 2: Katie Hendrie ’87, Sue Meenan Barron ’86, Jen Lee (co-capt.) ’85, and Ann Rogers (co-capt.) ’85 On top: Heather Quinn ’86 Missing from this photo is Dee-Dee Kane ’85, our awesome manager!

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Alumni Class Notes 30th

Reunion

Class of 1993

1986 Erik Baker ’86 retired from the Maine State Police on Feb. 28, 2022, after 26 1/2 years. He then was sworn in as the chief of police for the Sabattus, Maine, police department. He adds, “Hope all is well with LA.”

1989 Val (Campolieto) Templeton ’89 writes, “I am getting excited for my 35th reunion in 2024! Let’s see, what have I been up to? Well, I have been working at LA since 2008. I love what I do here in my current job as senior associate director and director of campus programing in the Admissions Office! My husband, John, and I love to travel in our Sprinter van and spend time on Cape Cod in the summer.

My dad, Robert Campolieto, is enjoying his retirement on Cape Cod, too! Our sons, Jack ’16 and Mike ’19, are living their best lives.

Jack is in Shelburne, Vt., and is pursuing a career in Val (Campolieto) Templeton with Jack and Mike

54

LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2023

outdoor education and as a rock-climbing guide. Mike will be finishing up college in December and wants to work in radio or TV broadcasting. If anyone has any connections in this field, please reach out to me! Class of 1989, PLEASE come to our 35th reunion in 2024!”

1998 Rhianna Cohen ’98 writes: “My partner Jeremiah and I welcomed Victoria Annette Owen to the family on July 29, 2022.

We are all learning how to live with no sleep, and her big brother, Albert, is incredibly excited for his new role.”

2003 Kris Ansin ’03 moved to Nairobi, Kenya, in 2022 for a job as country director for TechnoServe, an NGO that uses business solutions to address poverty and climate challenges. In November, Kris and his partner, Julie, got engaged on top of Mt. Kenya!

Kris and Julie

25th

Class of 1998

Reunion

2008

2018

Leigha MacNeill ’08 and her husband, Ricky Groner, welcomed a baby boy in October 2022, Casey George Groner.

Victoria Hodgkinson ’18 is graduating from Connecticut College this spring with a B.A. in economics and international relations and a minor in Hispanic studies. She served on Conn’s Peggotty Investment Club Executive Board as vice-president of education and helped restart the Women in Finance Club. She was also a student ambassador with the Loomis Sayles Undergraduate Women’s Investment Networking Program in Boston after completing their mentorship program. She accepted a position with Bank of America in New York City as a global rates and currencies solutions analyst after completing a junior year internship and is looking forward to moving there this summer. She hopes to connect Victoria Hodgkinson with other LA alumni in NYC.

Amanda Kressler ’08 and Brenna Morrissey ’09 welcomed their first child, a baby boy, Bennett Rae Kressler, on March 11!

Lei and Casey

Brenna Morrissey and Amanda Kressler with baby Bennett

Have a note to share in the Fall 2023 Academy Journal?

Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.

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Alumni Class Notes 20th

Class of 2003

15th

Class of 2008

Reunion

Reunion

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10th

Class of 2013

5th

Class of 2018

Reunion

Reunion

Have a note to share in the Fall 2023 Academy Journal? Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.

SPRING 2023 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 57

In Memoriam Charles A. LaMarca ’47 of Barnstable and Falmouth, Mass., died peacefully after a long battle with dementia on Sept. 1, 2021. He was 92 years old. An accomplished athlete who graduated from Boston Latin before taking a post-graduate year at LA, he supported his father in the family's Italian wholesale grocery business throughout his early years before enlisting in the Marines in 1951 to serve as a Marine corporal and rifleman in the Korean War until 1953. He was a successful entrepreneur and businessman in the Boston area throughout his life before retiring to the Cape.

Charlie is survived by a sister, two daughters, and his dedicated partner, Elaine Joseph. His wife, Betty (Dobbie), predeceased him.

Terry Marinos ’54 passed away peacefully at his home in Hampton, N.H., on Feb. 23, 2023, at the age of 86. A 1958 graduate of Boston University, he enjoyed a career of more than 30 years as a teaching principal, first in New Durham, then in South Hampton, N.H. He also remained active as an antique dealer until his passing. It was Terry who suggested to South Hampton native Jay Gibson ’68 that he apply to Lawrence (see inside back cover).

Terry is survived by one son, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren, as well as a sister, a niece, and two nephews.

He was predeceased by his wife of 38 years, Helen (Stevens), and by a daughter, Jeanne Mann.

Charles Richard (Dick) Murdoch ’58, of Hampton, N.H., died on Nov. 5, 2022, after a sudden illness. After LA, Dick attended Colby College and earned a bachelor’s degree from Babson College and an M.Ed. from Salem (Mass.) State University.

From 1966 to 2000, he taught at Robin Hood Elementary and Central and Stoneham Middle School in Stoneham, Mass.

A defining quality in Dick’s nature was his love for people. He made friends everywhere he went. He volunteered for many different organizations, from Parks and Recreation in Stoneham to coaching JV and varsity baseball in Reading. He served as the Booster Club president, volunteered at Portsmouth Regional Hospital, and coached his three sons in several sports. After a long day teaching, Dick had various side jobs, from a rug-cleaning business to a chain of laundromats. He was a voracious reader and an avid runner. Dick could never sit still; everything he did was in service to others and to his family.

Dick leaves Pamela, his wife of 61 years, as well as three sons and their families, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, and two brothers.

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Dick Pleasants ’65 died on Nov. 8, 2022, after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. A native of Groton, Dick was a gifted three-season athlete at LA, where he played football, hockey, and baseball. When he was 10 years old, he discovered his passion for radio. With a friend who owned a small transmitter with a range of about a mile, he began what would become a 40-year career as the premier folk radio host in New England. Dick graduated from Emerson College in 1970 and began hosting folk radio programs on the South Shore. In 1978 he joined WGBH, where he hosted and produced the Folk Heritage show for more than 25 years. The last 15 years of his broadcasting career were spent at WUMB, the public radio station at UMass-Boston.

Moonlighting as a concert promoter through his production company, Ear to the Ground Productions, Dick launched the careers of many prominent folk singers, as well as numerous folk festivals, music stores, societies, and all manner of organizations to promote the art of folk music. He was the founding executive director of Summer Acoustic Music Week camp on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, where aspiring musicians take classes with established folk singers.

Dick is survived by his former wife, Kathleen Shugrue, a daughter, a step-daughter, and two sisters. He was predeceased by a third sister.

Will Baker ’69 died on Nov. 20, 2022, after a battle with cancer.

At LA, he was co-captain of varsity soccer and captain of the tennis team, as well as a student councilor and president of the Glee Club. Will went on to Boston University, where he captained the soccer team, then to the physician’s assistant graduate program at Duke, where he discovered that his academic difficulties were the result of dyslexia, which was still not widely recognized as a legitimate learning disability. This knowledge led Will to his life’s work: He wanted to prove definitively that dyslexia was indeed a condition that could be attended to through research, awareness, and appropriate teaching methods. After working with several distinguished people in the field, he formed what is now known as The Dyslexia Foundation. Under Will’s leadership for over 35 years, TDF brought together more than 150 researchers from various disciplines, inspiring new ideas and new research projects and programs. TDF remains the first and leading non-profit organization in the field of dyslexia research.

Will was an avid sailor, tennis player, and Red Sox fan. In the winter, he would often be found on the slopes enjoying the pastime of skiing. Family was dearest to Will’s heart, though, and he spent as much time as he could with all of them.

In addition to his wife, Deborah, Will leaves three children, two grandchildren, a brother and two sisters, and many nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

Katherine Stetson ’74 died in Cuenca, Ecuador, on Aug. 15, 2022, after a long illness. Her brother, Phil Stetson ’73 and classmate Rich Johnson sent us this note in commemoration: “Katherine was a true free spirit. She thought and acted outside the proverbial box, from running cross-country barefoot at LA to playing men’s soccer at Virginia Wesleyan University. She was a world traveler, visiting and living in many different places and countries, including Brazil, Russia, Korea, and finally Ecuador.

She also lived all over the United States, including Massachusetts, Virginia, New Hampshire, and California … She was uniquely gifted in the creative arts. She combined her biggest passions of photography and writing by creating a blog (or two) and sharing posts on Facebook. Her other creative endeavors included painting and playing or dancing to music.”

Besides her brother, Kathy leaves her sister, Martha (Stetson) Clarke ’79, and other family members.

Former LA Trustee Henry (Harry) Russell died peacefully in his sleep in Dec. 21, 2019. A native of California, he graduated from the Cate School and, in 1950, from Harvard College, which he attended after serving in the U.S. Navy. In that same year Mr. Russell married his wife, Patty Jewell, and the couple settled in Stow, Mass., where they lived fo 40 years. After retiring from Waltham Bag and Paper, he became dean of admissions at Chapel Hill Chauncy Hall School in Waltham, Mass. For 12 years, from 1974 to 1986, he was a trustee of Lawrence Academy, serving as chairman for much of that time. In 1993 the Russells moved to Green Valley, Ariz., where he sang in the community chorus — a love he passed down to several family members — and served as senior warden and vestry member of the local Episcopal church.

Besides being a passionate reader and crossword puzzler, Mr. Russell had a love of travel, good wines, and music, but above all he was a devoted family man. He leaves his wife, Patty, daughter Sally, and sons Sandy ’70 and Ted ’75, as well as seven grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and his sister Susan. He was predeceased by his brother, Col. Howland S. Russell, father of Howdy Russell ’78.

We learned of the death of George Carter ’73 just after the deadline for submissions to the Fall 2022 Journal, so we were able to include only a relatively short obituary.

Since this year marks the 50th reunion of George’s class, we wanted to honor his memory by telling you a bit more about his achievements and the trail George Carter IV ’73 and his Saddlebred, Will Rogers that was named for him — and to include the photo that we didn’t have room for last fall! We thank George’s family for this information.

In honor of George and his exceptional achievements, the County of San Diego Department of Parks and Recreation held a special ribbon-cutting event on April 27, 2022, complete with discovery table and guided tour of the newly named George Carter Will Rogers Trail. Named after George and his Saddlebred horse, Will Rogers, The trail is a half-mile stretch within the 12 miles of Los Penasquitos Canyon County Preserve, the largest urban park in the United States, located in San Diego, Calif.

George earned a well-known reputation in the horse community for his unique, marathon trail rides and adventures riding his horse. He was the first and only person to travel entirely by horseback from the beach in Del Mar, Calif. to Cuyamaca State Park Group Horse Camp, a rigorous and unchartered journey through desolate mountain terrain that would take 4-6 days, depending on the route. This feat, which he achieved five times in his lifetime, took him through Los Penasquitos Canyon County Preserve, where he also volunteered as a mounted equestrian patrol.

George’s partner, Karen Harrison, wrote of George’s experience at Lawrence, “George frequently talked about the incredible experiences he had while attending Lawrence Academy, especially his teachers and the culture … He attended Lawrence during those critical development years, and the man he became is, in large part, due to the influences he received while attending the Lawrence Academy.”

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The Amos and William Lawrence Society

A Gift of a Lifetime Following graduation from the University of New Hampshire and completion of studies at the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, in 1972, Jay Gibson ’68 started his banking career at a single-office bank in Portsmouth, N.H. Throughout his 40 year career, he held most positions at the bank, including president/CEO for his last 12 years.

Jay and his wife, MaryPat, live in New Castle, N.H. They enjoy an active life traveling, volunteering, and spending time with family.

Arriving at Lawrence Academy in September of 1964 happened quite unexpectedly for me. I lived in the small town of South Hampton, N.H., attending Barnard Elementary School. There were four teachers for eight grades, one of whom, the late Terry Marinos ’54, was also principal. Terry encouraged my parents to have me apply to Lawrence. Financially, my parents had never contemplated private school as an option, but I applied and was offered a working scholarship.

Attending Lawrence was the best thing that could have happened to me. We could not have predicted that the high school I would have attended would burn flat to the ground that summer. My public school option would have been 45 minutes away, at the recently vacated old Haverhill High School. LA instilled study and reading skills, plus a work ethic that prepared me so well for college and beyond. Academically, Joe Sheppard, Dick Gagné, and Hal Sheets sparked my love for foreign languages. Dick Pickering developed my writing skills, and Bob Shepherd drilled us on vocabulary and public speaking (and don’t forget impeccable manners at the dinner table!).

My years at LA offered me a foundation of experiences and values that gave me a future with purpose and satisfaction in my career, family life, and community service. The one experience I missed was Winterim. It has been transformative for students, going beyond the education my classmates and I received in the 1960s. My wife and I have chosen to focus our charitable giving to support financial aid for Winterim and the endless opportunities it provides.

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Jay Gibson ’68, member of the Amos and William Lawrence Society The Amos and William Lawrence Society was established to recognize those individuals who have made a charitable planned gift to Lawrence Academy or have made known their intentions to include Lawrence Academy in their wills or estate plans. Donors who have made financial or estate plans of any size through wills, trusts, and other planned gifts are recognized for their loyal and lasting support of the school.

For more information about The Amos and William Lawrence Society:

contact Jo-Ann Lovejoy, chief advancement officer, at jlovejoy@lacademy.edu or visit www.lacademy.planningyourlegacy.org.

SPRING 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY X X

NON-PROFIT ORG. US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #???

NASHUA, NH

“It was my kind of territory.”

Remembering Ben Williams (1936-2023) Lawrence Academy Head of School, 1969-1984 See pages 2-5 for a tribute to Ben.