Brewster, Spring 2016

BREWSTER THE MAGAZINE OF

BREWSTER

ACADEMY SPRING 2016

THE MAGAZINE OF

BREWSTER

ACADEMY SPRING 2016 H EA D O F S CHO O L Craig N. Gemmell, Ph.D. DIRECTO R O F ADMISS I O N S & EX TER NA L A FFA I R S Lynne M. Palmer EDITOR , DIRECTO R O F CO MMUNICAT IONS Marcia Eldredge CO N TR IBUTO RS Alana Albee, Craig Gemmell, Beth Hayes ’81, Matt Hoopes, Kristy Kerin, Danielle Krause, Yu Lui, T.J. Palmer, Shirley Richardson

PH OTOG R A PHY Steve Allen, Steve Burgess, Tawna Callahan, Michelle Dodge, Marcia Eldredge, Maria Found, Ellissa Popoff, Paul Rutherford, Phil Stiles, Sarah Tierney

FOLLOW US O N S O C I A L M E D I A

D ES IGN Lilly Pereira Brewster, The Magazine of Brewster Academy, is published twice a year and mailed to alumni, parents, and friends of Brewster Academy.

Brewster Academy 80 Academy Drive Wolfeboro, NH 03894

brewsteracademy.org © 2016 Brewster Academy. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

NEW LO O K: With a desire to deliver the ongoing Brewster story in a fresh and lively format, our marketing team recently engaged in a redesign of this magazine. This debut issue of Brewster features more campus and alumni news in shorter formats while offering a few in-depth features that delve into mission relevant topics. We hope you enjoy the new look and feel.

Do let us know.

BOA R D O F T RU ST E E S 2 0 1 5 – 2 0 1 6 Roy C. Ballentine, Chair (Brian ’97, Susan ’94) Arthur W. Coviello Jr., Vice Chair David E. Hadley, Treasurer (Olivia ’12, Juliet ’15) Ronn Bronzetti ’92, Secretary Karen Boykin-Towns (Trinity ’19, Jasmine ’13) Beverly Bruce C. Richard Carlson Estate Trustee

David L. Carlson ’54 Candace A. Crawshaw ’64 James C. Curvey George J. Dohrmann III (George ’05, Geoffrey ’12) Karen W. Fix (Will ’11, Keenan ’13) Gabrielle J. Gatta ’05 President, Alumni Association Michael Keys (Matthew ’04)

Robert J. Mueller Barbara Naramore (Maya ’16) Carlos Noble ’70 Arthur O. Ricci Estate Trustee The Reverend Nancy Spencer Smith Estate Trustee Steven R. Webster (Brooke ’08, Tori ’11) Dr. Craig N. Gemmell, Ex Officio

TRUSTEES EMERITI P. Fred Gridley ’53 (Deborah ’81) Daniel T. Mudge (Ashley ’02, Tapley-Ann ’98)

02 HEAD LINES 03 CAMPUS NEWS 36 A LOOK BACK 38 ALUMNI NEWS 43 CLASS NOTES 48 REMEMBER WHEN?

FEATURES

18 A Primary Opportunity

24 Cataloging & Unearthing

A parade of candidates with presidential promises offers students a real world glimpse into American politics.

A new campus group is digging into the archives, unearthing nearly two centuries of riches.

28 Inquiring Minds Inquiry-based learning allows students to take even more control of their learning.

CONTENTS

DEPARTMENTS

02 CR A IG G E MMELL HE A D O F SCHO O L craig_gemmell@brewsteracademy.org

Head Lines

CULTURE OF COLLABORATION The Brewster Culture: In this, my first year at Brewster, I’ve quickly become steeped in a professional culture long shaped by profound and unwavering collaboration. I sit in meetings where time-tested methodologies are employed intuitively by all involved (excepting me: I’m trying to un-learn engrained habits still), and problems are solved effectively because the very means of introducing and deliberating on the topic of the day — shuffling the schedule to accommodate a special event or changing a policy to make expectations of students clearer, more appropriate — leverage individual strengths within a group in order to advance institutional needs. Consequently, our capacity to evolve while holding firm to abiding values is stunning, and I have come to believe that any challenge is not insurmountable given how our innovation is supported by the collaborative culture we work to support and augment daily.

This culture did not emerge by accident. In fact many schools and many other organizations, suffer from “siloism” in which stakeholders defend areas of interest and institution-wide decisions are slow to happen and change is both halting and painful. Here, teachers and administrators alike have had to figure out how to develop structures to enable systemic collaboration and new teachers systematically learn how to collaborate. These coherent institutional practices are critical because they allow us to serve our students powerfully.

Our Students: Our mode of collaboration about policy and practice informs us in our most important work: how we meet kids where they are and narrow the gap between present performance and promise. Instead of a single advisor trying to move the dial on student performance in isolation, teams collaborate regularly to share information, develop consensus about action plans, and ensure that those action plans for changing student trajectory are monitored through time closely. I knew I wanted to work for this school when I saw my first team meeting on a beautiful fall day in 2014 during several days of on-campus interviews, and I’ve come to realize that this practice of planning broadly agreed upon strategies in support of students is a cornerstone practice of all we do so well.

In the Classroom: After my fall and early winter of immersion in administrative processes, I’ve started spending time with the six academic teams and, in

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so doing, I’ve come to see that the wellevolved modes of collaboration that were long ago developed in service to institution and students alike are also taught in extremely effective ways. Students learn how to collaborate through leveled learning groups, through group projects, and through our Project-Based Learning program. They come to understand quickly how to play an assigned role in a group effectively: how to be a leader, a collaborator, and a follower. They learn to leverage each other’s capacities in service to shared goals. And, perhaps most importantly, they learn to leverage the cognitive diversity inherent in any group to produce results that are greater than the sum of the parts.

Beyond Brewster: Our students will graduate and enter a world in which collaboration is happening in colleges at an unprecedented rate. That our students are skilled in this mode of learning upon matriculation both places them in an advantageous position and renders them more likely to both lead and thrive in the classroom, and I conjecture that Brewster students’ impressively high retention rate in colleges (96 percent matriculate to their sophomore year whereas the national average is about 70 percent) is one of the many drivers behind this. And that our students are armed with collaborative abilities also positions them well beyond college for companies that seek collaboration as a central “soft skill” in the workplace.

The Upshot: I’ve come to realize just how fortunate I am to be at this fine school because of its purposefulness, and key to its purpose is to force evolution in all dimensions — complex work.

A culture in which collaboration is both practiced and taught is just one facet in the wonderful complexity I’m encountering, appreciating, reflecting upon. Of this I’m sure: the degree of intentionality with which we prepare students to live great lives of meaning and purpose, accomplishment and commitment to that which is larger than the self is the end game, and I’m confident that we are delivering, and such is the greatest feeling one could have as a first year head. / BA /

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CAMPUS NEWS

IN THIS SECTION: 04 NEWS 09 ARTS 14 FIELD & GOALS

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04 Our Brewster Best Buddies Club has grown to

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Brewster BEST Buddies The Brewster Academy chapter of Best Buddies New Hampshire recently hosted children from around the region who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Brewster students are part of a larger charge to help end the social isolation that people with intellectual disabilities so often experience.

The Brewster students and their young visitors learned about each other through group and individual games, one-on-one interaction, and even through dressing up for a photo opp in a pretend photo booth.

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Respect, Integrity, &

SERVICE During one mid-winter week, the school calendar was packed with club meetings. Hour time slots were blocked out, usually around dinner time, for clubs with names like Global Action, Environmental Club, Best Buddies NH, Math Club, PEEPS (peer counselors), RAK (Random Acts of Kindness), GSA (Gay Straight Alliance), International Student Organization, and O.N.E. (One Nationality and Ethnicity).

The previous week, while most students chose to cheer on the prep basketball team playing in a Boston TD Garden fundraising event, the few dozen students who stayed behind played bingo with residents of a nearby nursing home or prepared homemade lasagna and chicken noodle soup, with personal notes added, for elderly neighbors of a faculty member.

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THE BREWSTER PRINCIPLE: R E S P E C T, I N T E G R I T Y A N D S E RV I C E : S E RV E YO U R S E L F A N D OT H E R S W I T H YO U R B E S T I N A L L T H AT YO U D O .

Here’s a snapshot at how SERVICE Clubs at Brewster translate into action. ● Children with intellectual and developmental delays participate in an afternoon of games with their Best Buddies at Brewster. ● The annual ski and skate sale to benefit the Wolfeboro Area Children’s Center gets a lift from students across campus who help with the organization and sale of recreational equipment. ● Wolfeboro children in need were recipients of nearly 200 teddy bears and stuffed animals tossed onto Radley Court during the first timeout of the Trey Whitifield Invitational Tournament. (Sargent 3 boys). ● Elementary school children interact with international students and learn about foreign cultures from members of the International Student Organization. ● Area families are nourished through food collections by academic teams and dorms delivered to L.I.F.E. Ministries Food Pantry and End 68 Hours of Hunger organizations. ● The Jimmy Fund is the recipient of funds raised by the lacrosse teams in the spring.

This is just a sampling of how Brewster students make an impact beyond campus. Most clubs are service driven and although there is a core group of established clubs, students also drive the creation of new clubs based on individual interest. At Brewster, all students need to start a club is a vision, enthusiasm, energy, and an active advisor to help guide the club into action.

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MEET… Y U LU I

Calculus, physics teacher; CLP; emcee of the Game Show Club; Spiderman Fanatic What appeals to you about Spider-Man? His personality.

He is always able to keep his sense of humor in the most dire situation when he is fighting his arch nemeses.

Have you ever been bitten by a spider? Not that I remember. But I did suddenly become very good at math and science after I found a mysterious bite mark on my hand.

What qualities do Yu Lui and Spider-Man share? We are both science geeks, but we may or may not share the Spidey Sense Superpower.

Favorite Spider-Man actor?

Christopher Daniel Barnes.

He provided the perfect Peter Parker voice in the 90s animated series.

Any other Super Heroes in your life? As a character, Batman always gets the love from people and Superman always gets kicked to the curb. I am giving a shout out to Superman here. The life of being Superman is just as hard as being Batman.

Any chance of a Spider-Manadapted game for the Game Show Club in the future? I will need character use approval from Disney first. Which will probably cost me a few million.

Favorite teaching moment?

Pretending to be Spider-Man and doing crawling motions on the wall and the whole class was rolling on the floor laughing.

Student most likely to surpass your enthusiasm for Spider-Man: Oliver McCabe ’15

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N E W S MA KE R S

BO O K SHELF David and Goliath

By Malcolm Gladwell Brewster’s Lane is Boston Globe MVP For the second consecutive year the Boston Globe NEPSAC Class C/D soccer MVP honors went to Brewster Academy senior Elizabeth Lane (Parsonsfield, Maine).

In 2015 Liz helped the Bobcats earn a New England championship for the second time in her Brewster career, the first during her freshman season. During three of her four seasons with the Bobcats, the team captured the Lakes Region League title. A prolific scorer, Liz ended her Brewster career with 111 goals and 45 assists, both school records.

Next year, Liz will play for the University of New Hampshire.

Jozokos Named to All-Region Team Harrow Sports and the National Field Hockey Coaches Association named Brewster Academy senior Marina Jozokos (Wolfeboro) to its All-Region Team. The NFHCA selects All-Region teams that represent the highest level of high school field hockey during the current season.

Marina contributed 15 goals, eight first assists, and seven second assists during the 2015

season. She also was named the MVP for the Brewster team.

A four-year varsity player for Brewster, Marina will play field hockey and lacrosse at Limestone College next year.

Gold Key Portfolio Senior Yewon Kim (Seoul, Korea) earned a Gold Key award in the College Portfolio category of the 2016 Scholastic Art Awards contest. Of the 127 portfolio’s submitted, 30 won Gold Key awards. This may be the first time that a Brewster student has won a Gold Key for his or her entire portfolio.

Yewon plans to study computer arts next year at university. (see page 9 for more art award winners)

See all our Newsmakers online at brewsteracademy.org/news

Primary Feedback Following a Donald Trump rally in nearby Farmington, students shared their thoughts on his remarks with a Foster’s Daily Democrat reporter. Arturo Olivera Farill ’18 (Mexico City) offered that Trump seems to say anything to appeal to voters but his information is not always accurate. “For example, what he’s saying about rapists being immigrants: he doesn’t have the whole story. We know some immigrants are not doing what they’re supposed to, but rapists are not exclusively immigrants, they’re Americans too. And the murderers in this country are not just immigrants, but also Americans. He’s not including the others,” Olivera Farill said.

In early December about 20 faculty and staff gathered at Lord House to discuss Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. Head of School Craig Gemmell, who hosted the discussion wrote in his blog, “To scholars, Goliath presents as a diseased, myopic target for an intrepid and ultimately far more deadly David. The scholarly take thus disabuses us of the easy narrative of David as underdog who gets lucky and prevails; and it thus complicates our sense of what distinguishes a winner from a loser. In the process, scholars morph the tale of David and Goliath from trite allegory into full-on metaphor, one that helps us understand more fully the power of apparent disadvantage in giving shape to a meaningful life.”

The small group discussions quickly veered to the topic’s implications for teaching and learning and the culture of a school … “it was not surprising that a battle between two very different sorts … informed quickly how we are thinking about Brewster Academy in 2015,” Gemmell noted.

For more visit: brewsteracademyblogs.org/ category/craigs-blog/

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Taking the Lead S T U D E N T S C R E AT E D I V E R S I T Y D I A L O G U E

In December, seniors Abdullah Al-Farsi (Muscat, Oman) and Issac Weiss-Meyer (New York, New York) attended the Student Leadership Diversity Conference (SDLC) in Tampa, Florida. The boys are co-leaders of One Nationality and Ethnicity, O.N.E. at Brewster. Al-Farsi described the conference, which attracted 1,600 students from around the country, as a “life changing experience.”

Here he tells why.

“It was fascinating to see diversity come to reality, where students from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions have a healthy conversation and expand social networks. I enjoyed the activities and discussions because I got exposed to many incredible opinions, ideas, and stories, which built my knowledge about social identifiers – ability, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, age, gender, race/ ethnicity, religion, and family structure – and made me aware of many issues that the American society faces, such as defining the standard of beauty and sexism; acknowledgement of white privilege; racism; defining gender; cultural appropriation, and microaggressions.

“I made so many friends and expanded my social network, which was one of the greatest benefits. The experience I gained from the conference, especially from the different activities I participated in, has allowed me to bring ideas to Brewster. Isaac and I plan to expand the role of O.N.E in promoting diversity and improving our safe space meetings. We hope to make Brewster a great place for everyone, no matter of race, ethnicity, religion, and gender.”

O.N.E. hosts discussions for students to gather and share thoughts on the social identifiers that Al-Farsi refers to above. These dialogues allow for open, non-judgmental opinions to be shared among attendees in a respectful environment.

Q+A WE ASKED :

What do you plan to study in college?

ALEXA SIDO (Wolfeboro): Emory University

I plan to study nursing in hopes to become a nurse practitioner. Emory has a great nursing school and is right next to the CDC and Emory University Hospital.

Emory also has a a simulation NICU, which no other school on my list offered.

AHMED ALMANSOORI (Abu Dhabi): Duke University

I am most interested in economics and minoring in finance. In the long run, I would like to go into either commercial law or public policy.

Aduallah Al-Farsi (left) and Issac Weiss-Meyer

SKYLAR TERRANA (Boston): Chapman University

I plan to study communications. I wanted a medium-sized liberal arts school, and I really wanted to be on the west coast.

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The ARTS

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Brewster Academy had 11 students earn awards in the 20 16 SCHOLASTIC ART AWARDS OF N EW HA M PS HIR E competition.

Congratulations to our talented students.

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G O LD KEY WINNER S Saige Buffington ’18 Hailey Buffington ’18 Jenna Burgess ’17 Lily Wang ’16 Yewon Kim ’16 (2)

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SILV ER KEY WINNER S Erika Burgess ’19 Hunter Proulx ’19 Yewon Kim ’16 Lily Wang ’16 Isabella Valinoti ’18 (2)

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HONORABLE MENTIONS Saige Buffington ’18 (2) Erika Burgess ’19 Hunter Proulx ’19 Elizabeth Wadlinger ’16 Natalie Holmberg ’16 Michelle Su ’19 See more art on the next page...

Father’s Meal

by Yewon Kim

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HIGH M ARKS

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Yewon Kim

Lily Wang

Saige Buffington

Hailey Buffington

Michelle Su

2016 SCHOLASTIC ART AWARDS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

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Elizabeth Wadlinger

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Yewon Kim

Isabella Valinoti

Hunter Proulx

Jenna Burgess

Erika Burgess

Yewon Kim

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“Thank you for supporting the Lakes Region Humane Society by hosting a Doggie Decompression Day. We are so appreciative of your invitation for Zeus and I to join you. F.Y.I. Zeus was adopted today!”

BA Social TWITTER Guess what these two international students are up to this afternoon @brewsteracademy?

Sledding conditions couldn't be better!

MEGAN FICHTER, managing director of the Lakes Region Humane Society, is grateful for funds raised for the Society. Last spring, the John Brewster Chapter of the National Honor Society invited four-legged friends to help students decompress in the middle of finals week. There was a lot of puppy love to go around.

Photo above: Andrew Larocque ’15 with Zeus.

FACEBOOK Mrs. Found’s AP Calculus BC class is sporting new math shirts this year! #brewsteracademy #mathrocks #mf4ba

FLICKR

O N V IE W TECH OVERLOAD

by Natalie Holmberg ’16 (Tuftonboro, New Hampshire) I decided to create this piece because I noticed how everyone is always connected to technology. When I started the afternoon art class, I was thinking about a project I would find fun and that would send a message. My first idea was to make something using recycled items, and my next was to have it connect to Brewster. The Academic Building is a place everyone knows and a place I see technology used most. Nowadays we can't "unplug" from technology. To me, my piece makes me think of how technologically powerful we are, and how everywhere we go, we can't escape technology. It is taking over our community, our country, and our world.

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Spirit Club: Bry Clark ’17 (Hampton, New Hampshire) puts the finishing touches on a friend from the Trey Whitfield School just before the Trey Whitfield Invitational tournament and the teddy bear toss.

FOLLOW Brewster Academy on faceook, twitter, flickr, instagram, and vimeo.

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NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY

Induction Ceremony In a late January ceremony, 20 students became members of the John Brewster Chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS). As students stood with gold cords draped over their shoulders and candles alight representing the four pillars of the NHS — scholarship, leadership, service, and character — they were reminded to continue upholding their exceptional commitment to these pillars. Election to the John Brewster Chapter of The National Honor Society reflects a distinguished academic record and exceptional contributions of service and leadership.

MEMBERS: Alexa Sido (Wolfeboro), president; and Mike Tan (Beijing), vice president. SENIOR INDUCTEES: Chelsea De Luca (Nepean, Ontario), treasurer; Jack Lieb (Deerfield, Illinois), Alexandros Reissis (Arlington, Massachusetts), Abdullah Al-Farsi (Muscat, Oman), Peter Caffrey (Larchmont, New York), Hannah Coulter (Mirror Lake, New Hampshire), Sam Kiley (Wolfeboro), Albert Kim (Paramus, New Jersey), Maddie Mahoney (Kingston, New Hampshire), Jill O’Leary (Wolfeboro), Ali Reed (Melvin Village, New Hampshire), and Isaac WeissMeyer (New York, New York). JUNIOR INDUCTEES: Kyla Gardiola (Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia), secretary; Allison Caravella (Wolfeboro), Angela First (Houston), Catriona Lennon (Wolfeboro), Lucy Liautaud (Champaign, Illinois), Bridget McDonald (Beverly, Massachusetts), Julia Sledzik (Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida), and Hanyue Zheng (Beijing).

For more photos go to our flickr page: flickr.com/photos/ brewster_academy and look for our National Honor Society Induction photo album.

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Field & Goals

INTERSCHOLASTIC WINT E R S P O RTS

SIX THREE TWO ONE BASKETBALL TEAMS

ICE HOCKEY TEAMS

ALPINE SKI TEAMS

SNOWBOARDING TEAM

NO N INTERSCHOLASTIC S P O RT S ADVANCED STRENGTH TRAINING CONDITIONING RECREATIONAL SNOW SPORTS YOGA ZUMBA

See all the latest on our sports teams at brewsteracademy.org/ athletics

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PEP R ALLEYERS On the eve of long weekend break, senior prefects Hannah Coulter (Tuftonboro, New Hampshire) and Sam Kiley (Wolfeboro) organized a mid-winter pep rally for sports teams. One by one each winter team descended the Smith Center bleachers for a one-minute introduction with their “team” song blaring. Next, winter coaches had a dance-off. Winners: girls’ varsity basketball coaches Kara McDuffee and Peter Hess.

The final act was an intense game of Dizzy Lizzy. And, for being the most adept at getting dizzy and running from one end of Radley Court to the other, the boys’ varsity ice hockey team won themselves a pizza party.

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Lakes Region Champs The girls’ snowboard team won the Lakes Region slopestyle event. In the same event, the boys took sixth place out of eight schools. In the afternoon giant slalom (GS) event, Camillo Santomero ’16 (Bedford, New York) took first place out of about 70 boys, which helped the Brewster boys to a respectable third place out of eight schools. The girls initially tied for second place in GS but were pushed to third place with the tie breaker going to the team with the highest placing rider.

Bobcat Nation in the Garden The prep basketball team was invited to play at the historic TD Garden in Boston in January.

The occasion was The Hoop Mountain & The Arc of Mass Holiday Challenge. In an effort to support our players in this once in a lifetime opportunity for a high school sports team, most of Bobcat Nation travelled to Boston to cheer on the team.

NEPSAC Ski Champs Both the boys and girls’ alpine ski teams won the 2016 NEPSAC Championships.

For the girls it was the third consecutive title while the boys improved on their second place finish from last season. The girls competed in a 12-school field with the boys competing against 10 schools; both the boys and girls raced giant slalom and slalom events.

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W IN T E R RO U N D - U P

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE: DENNIS MCNALLY On a chilly night at The Pop in February, Dennis McNally ’00 became the newest member of Brewster Academy’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Dennis was a two-year, three-sport athlete at Brewster who then took his talents to Manhattanville College first as a student and then as a coach.

“Dennis was a tremendous player for our hockey team in those two years. He was a fantastic leader and was able to get his peers to follow on one of the best hockey teams we’ve had here at BA,” said former coach T.J. Palmer.

Dennis talked about the passionate community that is Brewster and among those he thanked was teacher Peter Mann who was in attendance.

“Mr. Mann guided a foreign strawberry picking man from PEI through Brewster Academy and showed me that homework was the way to graduation, not sports.”

To read the full story of Dennis’ induction or to nominate a former coach, player, or team, visit: brewsteracademy.org/halloffame

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SCHOOL SPIRIT 17

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BY T. J. PALMER

NEW HAMPSHIRE IS UNIQUELY POSITIONED AS THE FIRST-IN-THE-NATION PRIMARY GIVING BREWSTER STUDENTS …

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n my history class, the homework assignment in late January was a Washington Post article titled, “Everything You Need to Know About How the Presidential Primary Works.” With the New Hampshire presidential primary fast approaching on February 9, there was a lot to learn. To be honest, most U.S. high school students might just stumble on a question about how often do presidential elections occur — in what month that election takes place probably would produce a blank stare. Unfortunately, these students haven’t been taught even the most rudimentary language of politics, so to ask what a primary is would be patently unfair for most. Introducing this topic to a class, the students typically ask, “Why would the next leader of the free world even bother coming to tiny New Hampshire to campaign?”

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Of course, the reason is a home run for any teacher trying to generate student interest in the topic — New Hampshire is uniquely positioned as the first-in-the-nation primary and exerts enormous influence on the eventual outcome of the presidential race.

Candidates can be born in the New Hampshire primary such as Ronald Reagan, who acted tough in a Nashua debate and cruised to an easy victory in 1980. They can rebound here, as Bill the “Comeback Kid” Clinton discovered in Dover in 1992, but they also can die here as Edmund Muskie found out in 1972 with tears streaming down his cheeks in Manchester — or was that melting snow on his face?

The primary in New Hampshire began back in the Progressive-era exactly a hundred years ago (March 14, 1916) and so much of New Hampshire’s position in the number one slot can be chalked up to tradition. Back in those early days there wasn’t much credence placed

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1 Mia Ventola ’19 (on the left) will Hillary Clinton. 2 TJ Palmer (on the right) at a local gathering for Chris Christie. 3 Students at a Donald Trump rally in January. 4 Brewster trustee Beverly Bruce at the July Fourth parade with Mitt Romney and his grandson. 5 Jacobo Cohen Mann ’18 had a selfie moment with Bernie Sanders.

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Q&A

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WITH FUTURE VOTERS A RTU RO O L I VERO FA R I L L ’ 18 Mexico City If you had the chance to ask a candidate one question, what would it be? I would like to ask Donald Trump why is he destroying the relationship with Mexico. Being a financial genius he should be aware of the repercussions it is going to have. … I think that especially these elections are important to Mexico because of the danger Donald Trump represents to the relationship between the countries.

M O H A M ED A L KH O O R I ’16 , Abu Dhabi You attended the events of three presidential candidates, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump. What impressions did you walk away with? Jeb’s debate was interesting, maybe because he had a small crowd and it was more focused on the people that were there. He focused more on the economy and education and making the lives of the American veterans better. Bernie’s debate was the same as Jeb’s, but his focused more on taxes and wages for middle class families. It is interesting how the candidates consider themselves by conservatives and democrats. They are similar in some way, yet they still go hard against each other. It was a shock to see how Trump kept mentioning Jeb in his debate and going hard against him.

Making fun of other candidates is arrogant. …

I’m curious to know more about people who were nominated and elected themselves to run the strongest country in the world.

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M I A VENTO L A ’1 9 Marblehead, Massachusetts Why did you get involved in a campaign? I have been a big fan of Hillary for a while. I think that right now is a very special time in history in terms of the presidential race, so I wanted to get involved right away. I registered as a volunteer and I make calls on the weekends to potential voters about Hillary, and I go canvassing when I can. I strongly believe that Hillary Clinton is the most experienced and equipped candidate.

She is one of my biggest role models, and for me it is nice to know there is someone out there working for me and my fellow young women of this generation.

JACOBO COH EN M ANN ’ 18 , Mexico City How do you participate in the political process in Mexico? Mexico has a direct democracy and the elections are not divided by states so to participate you just have to show yourself with your elector Id and vote for whomever you like.

In Mexico you can’t volunteer for someone’s campaign unless he chooses you.

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on the primary process and there wasn’t much of a connection between the rank-and-file voter and who won each party’s nomination. In 1968, the “modern” presidential nominating process was introduced and, in a nutshell, this put John Q. Public in the spotlight. This change set the political wheels in motion, giving significant political clout to the state that goes first. Winning the first primary creates tremendous political momentum for a candidate, as voters tend to jump on the “bandwagon” of what they see as a “winner.” No one wants to “waste a vote” using their ballot to vote for a candidate who doesn’t have a real shot at winning.

Thus, New Hampshire is a reliable gauge as to how a candidate will do in future primaries. There wasn’t a New Hampshire primary winner who didn’t win the presidency before Clinton broke the tradition in 1992.

Astutely, New Hampshire realized the political power of being first, while not losing sight of the millions of dollars that were pumped into the state’s economy.

To guarantee their first-in-thenation status, New Hampshire even passed a state law that stipulates the state must be first. That is why the coveted position has been protected as the New Hampshire primary has moved earlier and earlier on the calendar, gobbling up a week of the calendar for each four-year primary cycle (states who move their primaries earlier, risk losing delegates to national conventions). In 1972 it was the first Tuesday in March, then the fourth Tuesday in February, and on and on until for 2008 and 2012 the primary was held on the second Tuesday in January. Interestingly, this early-bird trend has been broken this centennial year, as the February 9 date for 2016 was the latest since the 1990s.

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STUDENTS WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING A PART OF THE CAMPAIGN IN THE EARLY STAGES AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL — LISTENING TO THE CANDIDATES, THINKING ABOUT THE ISSUES, AND BRINGING THEIR IDEAS AND OPINIONS INTO THE CLASSROOM TO BE DISCUSSED, CRITICIZED, AND APPLAUDED. MY FIRST PRIMARY

Having arrived at Brewster Academy back when George H.W. Bush was campaigning for president in 1987, I have to admit I really didn’t know much about presidential campaigning, the history or importance of the New Hampshire primary, or how Wolfeboro fit into the picture. I certainly shared many of the qualities of that unknowing high-schooler mentioned above; however, I was a college graduate and my occupation

did hint toward the fact I should know politics. As a life-long Red Sox fan, I won’t deny that the presence of Ted Williams at Bush’s side might have been a major factor in my bringing a handful of students to that first candidate speech. We stood in the bleachers of a gym less than a mile away from Brewster without a clue as to what to expect.

From the first moment of that event, it wasn’t hard to be swept up in the excitement of it all. The media presence was a spectacle all by itself, as well-groomed, stylish news anchors gabbed about this indicator and that indicator, while the public stood and stared. Every so often, one of these sound bite-searching sycophants grabbed someone important and you could feel that part of the crowd strain forward in a collective attempt to figure out who was being interviewed — is that the governor? a state senator? Often, it was simply the local hardware store owner but that never dampened anyone’s spirits.

We all stood shoulder-to-shoulder in packed bleachers attempting to get a glimpse of the man who could be the next president of the United States.

If my memory serves me correctly, several students were lucky enough to be interviewed on local television, offering their opinions on that first Bush event.

Beyond the actual candidate, the banners, buttons, and bumper stickers were incredibly fun to collect.

The students and I always grabbed as much of the free stuff as we could and plastered it all over my classroom and their dorm rooms. It didn’t matter that we didn’t support Paul Tsongas, Ross Perot, or Gary Hart (remember them?) — it was just fun to collect.

The candidate, the media, the possibility of being on television, and the bumper stickers all combined to turn a “who cares” mentality into excitement and learning.

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WOLFEBORO HOLDS SWAY

So, New Hampshire is special, but it turns out the little hamlet of Wolfeboro is on the political map, too, because of two presidential bids by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and this bodes well for Brewster Academy. Having lost the Republican primary to John McCain in 2008, Romney returned in 2012 to win the primary and then the nomination. Romney has deep connections to Wolfeboro given his summer home just a quarter mile from Brewster’s campus. He used Brewster’s Smith Center to prepare for his speech accepting the Republican nomination that summer. My wife Lynne and I even scrawled “Good Luck in Florida” on a giant chalkboard at the end of our driveway, and right on cue Romney and his entourage waved as they passed by on their way to the airport.

We were convinced it was the good luck charm he needed, but alas, history wrote a different story that year.

Furthering Romney’s influence in Wolfeboro is the town’s Fourth of July parade, which the Romney clan always attends. They draw candidates every year, especially near elections and this past summer was no different with both New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Marco Rubio pressing-the-flesh down Main Street.

These presidential wannabes always stop in front of Brewster’s Admissions Office and hug Romney amid locals straining for a look.

I suspect the draw to the Wolfeboro area is also from a member of Brewster’s board of trustees, Beverly Bruce, who was Romney’s state finance chair for New Hampshire in that 2012 bid for the White House.

Beverly has numerous candidates visit her “barn” in nearby Tuftonboro for meet-and-greet, photo-op, question-and-answer type events. This fall included former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Beverly graciously sat our

Brewster contingent in the front row offering postgraduate Muhamed Alkhoori from the United Arab Emirates, the opportunity to ask a great question about Bush’s view toward the Middle East. We personally talked with the candidate and took photos at the end of the event.

On the Brewster campus itself, Ohio Gov. John Kasich brought his independent-style Republicanism to a packed Pinckney Boathouse.

Toward the end of January, with the primary date a little more than a week away, Brewster students attended a Bernie Sanders’ speech in Wolfeboro at the regional high school. This launched a great class discussion the next day around senator Sanders’s belief that all state universities in America should be free.

Following that event, students attended a Donald Trump rally in nearby Farmington. With 1980s rock and roll blaring during his entrance, Trump ignited a Republican crowd with his belief in a “wall that the Mexican president would build” and the need to “keep Muslims out.”

Ironically, several of the Brewster students attending were from Mexico City and the Middle East!

Following the Iowa caucus on February 1, the New Hampshire first-in-the-nation primary on the ninth drew national attention again.

In all likelihood, it will mean the “beginning of the end” for many of the Republican candidates and set the stage for a showdown between a winnowed-down field of hopefuls.

On the Democratic side, will the polls prove trustworthy with their prediction of a Bernie Sanders victory over Hillary Clinton? Only time will tell as the political fog begins to lift.

Although whomever ultimately makes it to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will remain undecided until November, at 80 Academy Drive, Brewster Academy students will always have the experience of being a part of the campaign in the early stages at the grass-roots level — listening to the candidates, thinking about the issues, and bringing their ideas and opinions into the Brewster classroom to be discussed, to be criticized, to be applauded. That’s engagement. That’s a primary learning opportunity. / BA / T.J. Palmer has been teaching history at Brewster since 1987. Last year he introduced the Academy's newest history class, America Since 1945.

MR. PALMER’S FAVORITE PRIMARY STORIES

My favorite primary story I’ve read (but one that doesn’t reflect the typical political acumen of a granite-stater) is the one that took place in Robie’s Country Store in Hooksett in 1975 when owner Lloyd Robie was introduced to candidate Jimmy Carter. He unabashedly replied, “Jimmy who?” Carter went on to win the New Hampshire primary, the nomination, and the presidency. ¶ In 1987, on the way to a meet-and-greet with presidential hopeful Bob Dole, Brewster students worried how they would greet Dole given the combat injuries to his hands; Dole removed any awkwardness by confidently squeezing the students’ right hands with his left. ¶ Without exception, students at these events have always been curious if they could get on television somehow. Some believe close proximity is the key and squirm and wedge their way to the stage. Others have preferred elevation and eye contact, seeking the highest point in the venue in order to make some type of mesmerizing visual connection with the candidate. At a Trump event this year, just prior to the Iowa Caucus, a Brewster student from Mexico City thought waving the Mexican flag might have been a good idea. I didn’t disagree about this flag’s potential, but in the middle of Trump’s pronouncements about border walls and deporting “illegals,” I had to put the kibosh on the idea in the name of personal safety.

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Natural History of 48 Birds. With Elegant Engravings is among William Brewster’s collection of reference books at Brewster.

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BY A LA N A AL BE E

Cataloguing Unearthing Restoring the Academy’s History Item by Item

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Academy’s archives provide irreplaceable evidence of the school’s development over more than a century. Antiquities and memorabilia have been donated and gathered since its founding in 1820 as the Wolfeborough-Tuftonborough Academy. Honoring the Academy’s legacy by preserving and presenting these items is now a priority. What better way than this, to prepare for the school’s 200th anniversary in 2020?

Cataloguing and unearthing items began in earnest in early 2015, and staff members and alumni have discovered a plethora of items ranging from founding documents, portraits, rare maps, and antique book collections, to yearbooks and photographs from every graduating class since the late 1800s. The oldest item found so far is an original letter from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, along with a signed book of his poetry, to John Brewster’s wife, Rebecca. Longfellow wrote her a note of condolence and a poem (“The Open Window”) in remembrance of her young children, who died of illnesses at very young ages.

Head of School Dr. Craig Gemmell has made it a priority to form an archives committee, of which he is a member. Just 20 days into his tenure, he re-covered the bust of John Brewster and the prized bird collection of John’s son William Brewster, an eminent naturalist and ornithologist, from storage.

FIRST PRESERVATION The first preservation effort took advantage of the opportunity to coordinate with the Wolfeboro Town Hall renovation project. Together, the Friends of the Wolfeboro Town Hall and the Academy organized for original portraits to be restored of John and William Brewster. The portraits, dating from the early 1900s, were inherently fragile yet caringly restored by Anthony Moore Painting Conservation in York, Maine. Thanks to 1964 graduate and trustee Candace Crawshaw, the portraits and their frames have been restored; the latter was done with help from The Art Place in Wolfeboro.

In the fall, the newly restored portraits were presented to the Academy’s trustees, as well as revealed at a special breakfast of the Lakes Region Alumni Association.

Brewster trustee C. Richard Carlson, former chair and current treasurer of

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the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, invited Brewster advancement officers for a private tour of the Peabody Essex to learn about the innovative displays and meet talented curators and specialists who remain an important resource and inspiration in evolving Brewster’s archive project.

Linking with networks of experts, such as those at the Peabody Essex, is proving fundamental in the archive efforts. This recently included welcoming Barbara Moore, retired object curator from Yale University’s Peabody Museum, to campus for a voluntary assessment of the condition of the John Brewster bust sculpted

by Daniel Chester French as well as an assessment of the condition of William Brewster’s bird collection, housed until the 1990s in special exhibit space on campus.

Moore’s assessment led the archives committee to its second

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Cataloguing and unearthing items began in earnest in early 2015, and staff members and alumni have discovered a plethora of items ranging from founding documents, portraits, rare maps, and antique book collections, to yearbooks and photographs …

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Conservator Barbara Mangum was on campus in January to begin initial assessment of the John Brewster bust for restoration. Here she analyzes the sculpture in hopes of determining what types of materials are contained within the bust.

preservation effort, to restore the bust of John Brewster. Sculpted as a memorial gift from French for his childhood friend William Brewster, some alumni from the 1940s to 1960s may remember it on display near the library. Of note is that French, a prolific sculptor, is the designer and sculptor of the marble statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., as well as the Minute Man statue at the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts, and numerous other public monuments throughout the country.

As we went to press, its restoration was underway by Barbara Mangum, Lead Conservator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts Conservation Services in Somerville, Massachusetts. Mangum is performing the restoration on campus, allowing students and staff to learn from her expertise. During the

initial assessment meeting she highlighted both her studies in chemistry and art as fundamental to her expertise. As a conservator for the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University and the Fogg Museum, also at Harvard, she will share her expertise as she fully restores the bust this spring.

Ultimately, it will return to its plinth on display outside the Kenison Library later this year.

Meanwhile, the archives committee is working on a plan that will ensure suitable storage and recording of the Academy’s rare books and maps, as well as cataloguing numerous yearbooks and photographs. This plan includes setting out a vision for refreshing the entry area of the main Academic Building with visuals and plaques honoring the school’s history. Doing so will help bring the Academy’s history to life ultimately through the use of modern technology, if resources allow. This could enable us to link the Brewster Academy legacy to the wider revival of Wolfeboro, as well as the history of surrounding communities. / BA / Alana Albee is a major gifts officer and chair of the Brewster Academy Archive Committee.

1820 * 1887

WHY TWO DATES? Anyone who has looked closely at the Brewster seal may have noticed the dates 1820 and 1887. The original school — Wolfeborough and Tuftonborough Academy — was constructed in 1820 and born out of a necessity to educate children who “would either achieve the learning they required to enter local trades or qualify for entrance into leading colleges.”

It officially opened in September 1821 behind where the current Wolfeboro Town Hall is located, and within a year the Academy had drawn boarding students from around the region. These first students rented rooms from Samuel Avery, one of the original grantees and organizers of the school project, whose home was across the street from town hall.

Eight years before the WolfeboroughTuftonborough Academy became a reality, a young man named John Brewster was born (December 14, 1812) about a mile from today’s campus. Eventually, he would attend Wolfeborough-Tuftonborough Academy for a few terms. After working briefly as a teacher, in West Milton, New Hampshire, and with savings from work in the dry goods business, he moved to Boston. He eventually established a banking house on State Street, which prospered into one of the leading banking firms on the east coast.

John understood the value of an education and how important it was for young people to attend school and gain the skills and knowledge for a vocation. “He was reminded of the village in which he grew up and the lack of opportunity for the youth. He was determined to make a difference in their lives and offer them a chance to profit from formal schooling.”

Although John Brewster died in 1886 at age 73, his wish to give back to his childhood community was realized with a significant bequest to establish Brewster Free Academy.

At the time, it was the largest gift to any secondary school endowment in the country.

One year after his passing the State of New Hampshire agreed to the re-chartering of the Academy in his name. Thus, the Brewster seal boasts two dates: 1820 and 1887.

From The Brewster Story, 2011

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INQUIRING MINDS Inquiry-Based Learning Makes Students Take More Ownership of How They Learn

BY MA RC IA E L DR E DG E

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EST PRACTICES ARE DEFINED by those practices or methods that are both backed by proven, credible research and that consistently yield high quality results. Best practices in education hold those responsible for delivering the practices — teachers, administrators, and all those invested in a particular learning community — to a set of common standards that ultimately provide students the most effective learning environment with high quality results. Inquiry-based learning is one such practice and while it’s certainly not new, it’s gaining more traction in learning environments that are truly student centered, like at Brewster. The skills it develops in learners — problem solving, critical thinking, group collaboration — are on the short list of what Brewster has identified as “Essential Abilities” for what students need to master and bring to the table in college and professional endeavors to meet with success.

While best practices in education have long been in place at Brewster (www.brewsteracademy.org/bestpractices), they are continuously examined and enhanced when needed to ensure the focus remains on student-centeredness in learning. Inquiry-based learning strategies, which are emerging in the Brewster curriculum, are one such enhancement.

“In our efforts to continually look for ways to improve and evolve our academic program, we must ask ourselves if this is the best we can do?” explains Brewster’s Dean of Studies Peter Hess.

“Are there opportunities to better serve students if we consider the advantageous principles contained in inquiry-based learning? Can our students be something other than passengers in a car driven by their teacher to a destination? Can they have some say in — not what the destination will be — but in how they arrive at the destination? Can such a process set students up to be curious seekers of knowledge that makes them eager to receive instruction from their teachers?”

WHAT IS INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING? Inquiry-based learning (IBL) allows students to take even further ownership of their learning by constructing meaning of the subject content by bringing in their own experiences, knowledge, and past histories in education, asserts Tom Owen, chair of Brewster’s science department and one of the teachers taking a lead role in implementing IBL. “It’s very question driven, so instead of the centeredness of the classroom being

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driven by the teacher, the student has a greater responsibility for the learning process. It’s an approach where students construct their own meaning of some sort of phenomenon occurring in the curriculum, and it’s in contrast to more traditional teaching methods, which are direct transmission models where teachers profess their own knowledge to the students.”

Owen continues, “The idea is to flip that so the teacher is now the facilitator

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and the students are really constructing their own knowledge of the subject matter. Students are figuring out the right questions to get to the answers. And that’s really the basis of what inquiry is.”

WHY NOW AT BREWSTER? This teaching method has been around for decades, and its efficacy is well known in the literature, Owen says. “So the question is, why is it not

implemented widespread? I think the answer is because it’s hard. It’s hard to do in most other learning environments.

“We are in an optimal place here at Brewster. We have the support of the administration, the flexibility in our curriculum to make changes like this, and best of all it fits in so nicely with what Brewster is trying to accomplish, which is to create a community of engaged,

life-long learners. We have PBL [project-based learning]. We have the Essential Abilities. Inquiry is all of that. It’s not just learning the content. It’s about the learning process.

It’s about analyzing data. It’s about presenting data in a logical fashion and then revisiting it and looking at possible ways of making it better and learning more. It’s this constant learning cycle and that fits in so beautifully with Brewster’s mission.”

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“ The idea is to flip that so the teacher is now the facilitator and the students are really constructing their own knowledge of the subject matter.”

INQUIRY-BASED VS. PROJECT-BASED LEARNING All students participate in a yearend project period where groups of one to four students select a guiding question of their choice, research the topic or design a solution, develop a presentation, and share their findings in an engaging presentation delivered to their team of students, faculty, and administrators.

In comparison, inquiry-based learning is part of an ongoing learning cycle. “The idea is not to stop after one thing,” says Owen. “When we did the egg lab [see Inquiry-based Osmosis and Diffusion on page 33] it was a progression of steps to gain an understanding of a certain scientific principle. Whereas project based-learning is a learning experience anchored in an isolated project,” Owen explains.

“Yet there are lots of overlapping skills involved in both, which is why inquiry is a nice fit for Brewster. The students learn and use the Essential Abilities rubric that we have here, and those skills transfer right into the project-based learning period.”

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Both Owen’s experience working with students and studies through his doctoral coursework attest to his belief that inquiry-based learning increases student interest and motivation while nearly leveling the playing field between a span of student abilities, an expectation of Brewster’s educational

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33 approach. “According to research, when IBL is implemented in classrooms, it has the ability to level the playing field in terms of content acquisition and understanding between accelerated students and those who are standard and foundational. Some researchers suggest that it is due to the reflective/cyclical nature of IBL, and the social interactions involved in the learning process if IBL is done correctly,” he says. “All of this is of course especially important in Brewster’s inclusive classrooms.”

According to constructivist learning principles, students learn better when they bring in their own background knowledge to try and make sense of material. “Studies show that kids will actually learn better if they are able to construct their own knowledge, which leads to better retention, and then ideally they will be able to transfer that knowledge to different contexts and across disciplines,” Owen says.

“From a cognitive perspective, kids learn best when they construct their own knowledge rather than when teachers direct it,” he added.

A significant body of research points to the positive effects of inquiry approaches. In fact, a meta-analysis of 105 research studies, published in the Journal of Research in Science in 1983, found substantial impact for student learning in favor of an inquiry-based approach in science classrooms.

A review of the literature on this meta-analysis by Alan Colburn, professor of science education at California State University, Long Beach, who has spent decades researching inquiry-based teaching in science, concluded in a 2008 paper “that inquiry-based instruction was equal or superior to other instructional modes for students producing higher scores on content achievement tests.” Colburn also pointed out that students learn observable ideas better through

INQUIRY-BASED

OSMOSIS + DIFFUSION Here is a simple example of inquiry-based learning in a sophomore biology class. The objective of the lesson was to teach both osmosis and diffusion and scientific experimental design and data analysis, how to communicate findings, and then produce a video lab report in an iMovie.

WELCOME BACK To introduce the lesson, Owen, along with science Science department chair Tom teacher Michelle Rafalowski-Houseman, began by introducOwen was a science teacher at ing the phenomena that occur when decalcifying an egg.

Brewster from 2008–2010 before Students first observed what happened to an egg after it was leaving to pursue a doctoral degree immersed in vinegar; eventually the egg was left without a in mathematics, science, and learnshell, with just a fine, translucent membrane. “The students ing technologies at the University of could see into the egg; they could see the yolk. That’s an Massachusetts, Amherst. Although attention grabber right there,” Owen shared. he was working in education, Next, with no background information, they observed teaching and mentoring graduate what happened to the decalcified egg when immersed in students, he missed the classdifferent solutions; patterns were revealed. “What they are room, especially at the secondary doing at this point is they are looking at something that is level, and was eager to share familiar to them, there is this engagement because it’s this newly obtained experiences and attention-grabbing thing, and they are observing a phenomknowledge in a supportive enon. They are making sense of the phenomenon; we are not teaching and learnteaching them, we are not telling them ‘if you put it in here ing environment. and here, here’s what happens.’ They are figuring this out.”

Although he had With this experiential assignment added to their toolbox, other teaching offers, subsequent lessons will be grounded in this phenomenon his decision to return that they have observed and made sense of. to Brewster was both “What we do now, after they have had time to explore personal and professional. On the this, is we talk and introduce some of the content on osmosis personal side, the Owens family has and diffusion,” Owen noted. “By this point some of the condoubled since he and wife Rebecca tent is anchored to the decalcification experiment that they left; they now have two daughters have observed and already processed. We didn’t introduce and they wanted to raise them in an the associated vocabulary at that first step but now that area that they love. Professionally, they have seen the phenomenon and worked with it, stuOwen says, “I love the type of students attach that content knowledge, including vocabulary, dents we serve at Brewster. These to the lesson.” are students who are hard working Students begin to understand the principles and attach the and of great character, which once abstract concept to a tangible outcome. This is where makes my job here unbelievably the inquiry level increases. To continue the lesson, students enjoyable. I also wanted to work at were next asked a simple question: how would your cells be a place that was in alignment with affected by coming in contact with your favorite beverage? my educational philosophy and With no instruction, they then designed their own experisupports my teaching style. I have ment to answer the question. Using artificial cells, previously always felt supported in that regard created by the students, they went to work observing what here at Brewster.” Recently, Owen’s happens to those cells from an osmotic perspective when dissertation work was accepted to immersed in their favorite beverages. present at the Learning Disability “Ultimately the experiments looked quite similar to the Association Conference in Florida in way that we [Owen and Rafalowski-Houseman] would have February 2016. set them up but a few looked quite different.

Most students found that the cells did lose mass, and they could explain why logically, without us having to prompt them, because they were able to make that transfer of the egg experience to their own experiment. The engagement level was very high. They were very interested because it was unknown. It was novel to them, and they knew that we didn’t have the answers.”

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“ Of course the teacher plays a major role in guiding the students in the right directions, but in IBL, students truly take control of the learning process.”

inquiry-based approaches rather than ideas considered theoretical.

He also noted that student achievement tends to be higher when a more guided ‘learning cycle’ form of inquiry is employed.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR TEACHERS? “I believe the teachers who excel at facilitating IBL are either experienced teachers or teachers who have extensive content knowledge.

If a teacher doesn't have to focus on learning the content to teach, time is freed up to focus on the pedagogy.

“It can still be challenging for teachers, though, simply because we love our disciplines so much that it’s hard for us to take a back seat to the learning process. It’s difficult to sit back and relinquish control of the

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content, as the students discover and construct an understanding of concepts on their own. Of course the teacher plays a major role in guiding the students in the right directions, but in IBL, students truly take control of the learning process.

“I feel very fortunate to be working at a school that not just allows it but encourages teachers to explore inquiry, because not a lot of places will do that,” Owen says.

According to Hess, for inquiry to be effective it requires significant intellectual investment on the part of teachers to design learning tasks that are connected to the disciplines, to their students’ lives, and to the world, while focused toward clear and achievable learning targets. “Students are still expected to demonstrate certain skills and knowledge as a

result of their academic experiences.

Inquiry approaches will just help us achieve those objectives more deeply and successfully,” he explains.

"While inquiry learning has its origins in science education, it has applications to all disciplines. Department heads have been actively researching how inquiry has been shown to play a role in their disciplines with promising results. Once people understand the goals that inquiry-based learning is trying to accomplish, the possibilities for using it to engage students more deeply in a topic are limitless and exciting," Hess adds.

35 WHAT STUDENTS SAY For more than two decades, Brewster students have been formally evaluating their teachers (as well as coaches and community life parents) as a way to ensure authentic assessment regarding their whole school experience. In reviewing student surveys, Owen gets high marks in all categories with comments such as: “My biology class has a positive and curious learning environment.”

“I feel as though I am always interested in what’s going on. I learn best with hands on stuff.”

“I really love the way you teach Bio. Science has always been one of the toughest subjects for me to get into but you’ve made it fun for me.”

“He keeps the class focused and attentive and makes science interesting.”

“I can’t explain how much I love this class with the amount of space given.

I entered this class knowing that I was extremely passionate about it and I leave class every day even more interested in it than when I entered. …

It’s nearly impossible to get distracted in his class.”

He attributes this positive feedback to the amount of time dedicated to inquiry-based learning.

And, full disclosure, he did not offer up these specific comments beyond the mention that the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. But a quick review of surveys confirmed such feedback.

Owen is a firm believer in the self-determination theory and that individuals are motivated to do certain activities based on the psychological needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Inquiry-based learning provides a foundation for all three, he says. “Inquiry provides a foundation for students to be autonomous in their learning; relatedness

because we’ve scaffolded some of the learning so they can relate to the content; and competence is what they are building and what they see emerging within themselves so they are highly motivated to go through the learning process.”

SCHOOL WIDE: WHERE WE ARE As a whole school, Brewster is working toward a common framework that will allow all departments to implement an inquiry-based approach with integrity. While there are numerous frameworks for implementing inquiry in the classroom and all disciplines at Brewster have some sort of framework in place, the teacher and learning team, along with department heads, are working toward aligning them directly with each other.

“Brewster demands intentionality in what we do. We don’t want to implement something that doesn’t have the empirical background to support what goes on in our classrooms. If there is no single framework that exists for all disciplines, we want to be very careful about what we implement so that we ensure that it is effective for the students,” Owen says.

“Brewster is able to accomplish such a shift in its pedagogical thinking much more effectively and efficiently than most schools,” Hess adds, explaining that there are some significant programmatic reasons for this.

“Brewster’s teachers are used to working in an environment where there is a school-wide implementation of teaching practices; teachers are comfortable using a common language and having the same philosophical approach to working with students; and our summer training institute helps ensure all faculty, new or experienced, develop this common understanding.”

Brewster has a very collegial faculty where collaboration is expected,

Hess says. “The team structure supports and promotes this collegial atmosphere where teachers are working together as part of a professional learning community. A culture of research supported practices and information about effective educational strategies permeate these small communities. This unified mindset makes evolutionary change a more smooth and complete prospect than most schools are in position to accomplish.” / BA / For a more in-depth look at inquiry-based learning at Brewster, we encourage you to read the Academy’s white paper (www.brewsteracademy.org/ inquirylearning).

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A LOOK BACK

BY SHIRLEY RICHAR DS O N

THE PINCKNEY FAMILY The history of the Boathouse begins with Jonathan Pinckney ’84 who arrived on campus from Newport Beach, California, in January 1982 as a Brewster sophomore. Father Jim Pinckney had California roots, but his mother Betty was a New England native who wanted to find a school with what she called “rock hard New England values” but also one that had a competitive sailing program because Jon had been racing since his early childhood.

Soon the competitive sailor from southern California would lead Brewster’s team to its first invitation to the fabled New England Championships. Before he graduated, Jon as skipper, and Bermudian Ray Lambert ’83 as crew, would bring home the championship banner that hangs in the Boathouse today.

After three years of sailing on New Hampshire’s largest lake, the California native returned to his roots as a student at the University of California, Irvine. There he became a three-time All American (and an honorable mention All-America as a freshman) and captained his team to two national championships and a Pacific coast championship.

Upon graduation Jon was named the UC Irvine Anteaters’ head coach and in his new role, led the team to a national championship. The championship race was held on the Charles River, flowing between Cambridge and Boston, with sailors racing Tech dinghies, the same type of dinghies that comprised Brewster’s fleet. Jon requested permission to return to the Academy with his UC Irvine team for a week of practice before the championships. Needless to say, that permission was granted with enthusiasm, and the Anteaters trained in the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee during the day while bunking in the Boathouse at night.

While in Wolfeboro to celebrate his 25th reunion, on June 7, 2009, Jon became the fifth inductee into the Brewster Academy Athletic Hall of Fame.

While that’s Jon Pinckney’s story, the Boathouse has its own storied tale.

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BOATHOUSE PLANNING BEGINS The birth of the Pinckney Boathouse began at a Parents’ Weekend during Jon’s senior year. After listening to David Smith’s presentation about the newly developed Master Plan for the school’s future, Betty Pinckney approached the headmaster saying, “David, the school should get the sailboats out from under the snow and ice.” For lack of a better alternative, the sailboats were simply flipped over and stored outdoors during the winter months.

Betty went on to suggest that Jon’s grandfather Delmar Pinckney might contribute $15,000 toward the building of a lean-to for boat storage if the trustees would match it. That

conversation led to others and soon a waterfront location was selected for a boathouse.

THE LITTLE BOATHOUSE THAT GREW It might well be emphasized here that the original intent for a boathouse was small and limited, just a barebones facility to shelter the school’s small fleet of boats from winter’s snow and ice.

Yet this indeed is “the little boathouse that grew.” Simple docking space within the boat basin evolved into a lagoon while the initial visionary lean-to became an architectural masterpiece as well as the cornerstone of not just the Academy’s waterfront program, but a waterfront facility for

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Excellence by the New Hampshire Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

With its shorefront location, expansive views, wide decks, and large, abundant windows, the Boathouse is a local attraction that is shared with the greater Wolfeboro community for social and formal events. It’s not uncommon for brides and grooms to arrive or depart for their special day via watercraft. The initial outside function held at the Boathouse was a combined meeting of the New Hampshire and Massachusetts Governor’s Councils. Their featured speaker was a young Ken Burns, who had recently achieved fame for his Civil War documentary. And, of course, many U.S. presidential hopefuls have offered a stump speech within the Boathouse.

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myriad community activities and events. In short, the $30,000 lean-to evolved into an expansive project with docks and a mooring cove at an overall cost of nearly one million dollars.

Inside, a massive rock wall fireplace and chimney rise up to the vaulted ceiling. Crafting this showcase fireplace was a gentleman stonemason who came to work each day dressed in a white shirt with armbands and sporting a black bow tie. The final product is a display of artwork that has earned the praise and admiration of all who see it.

The multi-functional building has assumed permanence on the Wolfeboro landscape as well as earned its place on the pages of several historical and architectural books about New Hampshire.

In 1992, it earned the Award for

A LOOK BACK

The Pinckney Boathouse

THE PINCKNEY BOATHOUSE On Friday, October 21, 1988, barely 12 months after the groundbreaking ceremony, a large gathering from Brewster and the town assembled to dedicate the architectural wonder — a place that would come to serve so much more than a lean-to for Brewster’s sailing fleet — in honor of the Pinckney family. The Pinckney Boathouse is a spectacular exclamation point to the Academy’s unique and extraordinary physical asset — its half mile of shoreline on Lake Winnipesaukee. / BA / Shirley Richardson, along with her late husband Bob, are the authors of The Brewster Story: A Definitive History of Brewster Academy (2011).

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IN THIS SECTION: 39 ALUMNI NEWS 41 HOOPLA 43 CLASS NOTES 48 REMEMBER WHEN?

It was a premiere night for Bobcat Nation on the parquet and in the stands at TD Garden where the prep basketball team earned a W against Lawrence Academy during a January fundraiser.

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F IN A N CIA L A ID + S C H O LA R S H I PS

BY T H E N U MBE R S

In 2015-2016, Brewster awarded financial aid scholarships to one third of its student body, providing the opportunity of a lifetime to students who otherwise would not be able to attend. Support for scholarships comes from a variety of sources, including Annual Fund contributions, the Fall Family Weekend auctions, endowed scholarship funds, and operational funding. Increasing access and opportunity for students is a top goal of the Academy.

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New endowed scholarship funds over the past five years

Richardson Scholarship Launched

The Burtis Vaughan Scholarship The Class of 2014 Scholarship The Erick K. Faul Endowed Scholarship The Peter and Lani Ford Scholarship The Fund for Individual Potential The Hayes Family Scholarship The Walter P. Hertz Memorial Fund Mary Stuart Rogers Endowed Scholarship The Robert and Shirley Richardson Scholarship The Simon Family Scholarship The Stine Family Scholarship

$125,000 Raised for current-use financial aid during this year’s Fall Family Weekend auctions

12 121 Students receiving financial aid this year

Local students supported each year by the Curvey Scholar Program

$5,000

Minimum to fund an annual current-use named scholarship

Brewster Academy honored the legacy of two beloved and influential former faculty members on January 29 with a celebration of the newly formed Richardson Scholarship, in honor of Bob and Shirley Richardson. Although Bob passed away at age 83 in 2014, Shirley, surrounded by the couple’s three daughters — Lauren Hammond ’77, Andrea Nugent ’84, and Susan Richardson Shaw ’81 and grandchildren — was part of the celebration at the Pinckney Boathouse.

Current trustee and former student Ronn Bronzetti ’92 opened the evening saying that Bob and Shirley truly embodied the model of focusing on the positive in students. They focused on what kids did right, instead of what they did wrong. Even when students made a mistake, they didn’t focus on the mistake, but on what they had done right, what they did well, he said.

Craig Gemmell offered that in his new role as head he really appreciated getting to know really “authentic people” like Shirley.

He recalled his first visit from Shirley. As she was getting ready to leave, she looked at the new head of school and with all her self-assuredness and confidence in the community that she continues to help shape, she said, “This is a wonderful community. Don’t screw it up,” which elicited much laughter from those gathered.

Shirley then recalled the couple’s first trip to campus in 1965, a long trip from their home in New York along country roads in their continued >>

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BY ALANA ALBEE

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Together, Bob and Shirley have inspired students both in and out of the classroom …

Testimony of their devotion to Brewster is the generations of their own children and grandchildren educated here. dark green Oldsmobile sedan. We looked at each other and knew almost immediately that this place, this community was where we wanted to put down roots, raise our family, and make a difference, she said.

Bob and Shirley Richardson influenced the lives of hundreds of students, faculty, and Wolfeboro community residents. For more than five decades, they dedicated their lives to strengthening the Academy and broader community. Their love of Wolfeboro and the Lakes Region is captured in Bob’s description of campus as “the most beautiful spot in the Western world.”

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Bob wore many hats at Brewster, as academic dean, history department chair, college admissions director, dorm parent, and coach of football and tennis. He was one of the longest serving faculty members, and in 1993 became the first team leader to sign up for The Brewster Model. During the first years of The Model, Bob’s steady, quiet manner embodied reassurance. A natural at student-centered and project-based learning techniques, he received the Teacher of the Year Award for American History from the State of New Hampshire in 1986.

Shirley brought panache to campus in 1974. She had a gift for recognizing the best in every student and honoring their individuality. In addition to her role as dean of college placement for 15 years as well as her roles as English and instruction support teacher, she has been the campus conscience that “appearances matter.” She appreciates that Brewster looks good to all who pass by and she embodies the spirit of Christmas, hanging wreaths on all the campus doors each December. Shirley knows this matters to Wolfeboro, and it matters to her. Much loved beyond the campus, Shirley has been a dedicated leader of the area Hospice organization and devoted countless hours to the Huggins Hospital Street Fair and Wolfeboro Friends of Music.

Together, Bob and Shirley have inspired students both in and out of the classroom by bringing history and culture alive through study trips abroad. Testimony of their devotion to Brewster is the generations of their own children and grandchildren educated here. The board of trustees recognized their dedication in 1997 by naming Richardson House in their honor.

Bob and Shirley never really retired. They replaced classroom and office with writing the Academy’s history. They tackled the task of scouring hundreds of documents and photos to capture each generation’s efforts in building the Academy into

the school it is today. Published in 2011, The Brewster Story honors those who have passed through its doors. Brewster remains indebted to the Richardson’s insightfulness in recording the Academy’s history for the benefit of future generations.

Bob and Shirley’s passion for life and for serving and building a better tomorrow continues to inspire us. Please join WANT TO HELP? us to celebrate To help endow the Richardson their contribuScholarship, you tions through can make a gift the Richardson at: fundraise. brewsteracademy.

Scholarship fund org/bob-and-shirley in support of a student with demonstrated financial need, who has a family legacy at the Academy and is preferably from New Hampshire. / BA /

ENDOWED: The Walter P. Hertz Memorial Scholarship Thanks to the generosity of nearly 100 alumni, faculty, and family members, we are pleased to announce our latest endowed scholarship in honor of Walter P. Hertz. A teacher of economics and foreign languages for more than 20 years, Hertz was one of Brewster’s most inspiring personalities. The scholarship will ensure his legacy is known to students for generations to come.

If you would like to know more, or help build this fund further, visit fundraise.brewsteracademy.org/ walter-p-hertz-scholarship

41 Jalen Adams ’15 was featured in Sports Illustrated in December 2015. Jalen is a freshman at the University of Connecticut.

Sports Illustrated showcased Jalen’s adeptness as a point guard and contributions to the Huskies as his freshman season was getting underway.

Although former girls’ ice hockey coach Kiira Dosdall and Kate Buesser ’07 did not share ice in Bobcat Nation, both are now playing in the inaugural season of the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL). Kiira plays for the New York Riveters while Kate is a sub for the Connecticut Whale team whenever she can take a break from her full-times studies at the Yale School of Medicine.

Wonolo, an on-demand staffing platform, is getting its share of news in business, employment, and tech media lately. Cofounders are AJ Brustein ’98, COO, and Yong Kim ’96. In brief the San Francisco-based company “powers the frontline workforce, with a B2B marketplace that allows businesses to find vetted talent immediately.” Check out AJ and Yong’s company at wonolo.com.

Hannah Pope ’11 is joining the Peace Corps. Hannah, who studied at Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands, will work in Ethiopia as a secondary school English teacher. She will spend three months training on Peace Corps protocol, safety, local customs, and languages in Ethiopia this summer before being assigned to a specific locale in the country.

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A LU MN I IN T H E N E W S HO O P LA A note from MATT HOOPES, former faculty member and alumni correspondent, helping keep alumni connections alive from his home in Eleuthera Bahamas.

STAY IN TOUCH: Contact Matt Hoopes via email at islesman@batelnet.bs

Hoopla recently caught up with Krista Magnifico ’87, who is nearing her 30th Brewster reunion. Formerly a lieutenant commander in the merchant marines, Krista has been a veterinarian for 25 years and owns Jarrettsville Veterinary Center in Jarrettsville, Maryland. She reminisces on lessons learned at Brewster and how they affected her career decisions.

Krista writes: The four years I spent at Brewster allowed me to be inquisitive, courageous, and compassionate. Of all the personal traits we carry, these have served me the best. Brewster was a place of culture, diversity, and acceptance. For as much as we were not alike, we all lived together, studied together, cheered together. Even almost 30 years later, we still love to get together. Our differences made us stronger and taught us to not judge others.

As adults who live in an all too often tumultuous and angry world, we learned, because we lived, to welcome differences instead of fearing them.

Why did I choose to become a vet after I had worked my way up to the top of the seafaring ladder? Well, I am still an inquisitive and compassionate person. I needed to follow my heart.

There was a calling to pursue a profession that I could spend the rest of my life enjoying and being proud of. At sea, day after day, I was away from life and the world. It is a nice escape for a week, but it is abysmal for four to six months. It took a bit of courage to depart from a career of which I was at the highest level, but I had to change. Everyone told me I was crazy. Brewster is a place that reminds you that ‘today is the first day of the rest of your life.’ I can walk into every unknown and every challenge feeling optimistic about the future without being afraid of change.

What do I look forward to most about Brewster reunions? I enjoy seeing people who time has molded, shaped and yet knowing that we are all a part of something that keeps us a family. We may grow old, experience new chapters in life, but we are part of a community few will ever understand or appreciate. We always have each other. It is camaraderie where I know our teachers, dorm parents, and administrators feel their desires were fulfilled.

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BY MAT T HOOPES

enhanced our ability to catalog books and research topics. I brought in databases for students to do research, and I created a library webpage for easy access to our online catalog.

What other hats did you most enjoy wearing? I loved to interact with the students through sports. I headed the recreational ski program for 11 years and enjoyed seeing students in another venue. I also ran the laundry service with students, stressing customer service skills as students dispensed clothes. I also loved helping during the opening weekend swim tests. And I really enjoyed being a “Mom” to all the students and especially to the prep basketball team.

Librarian Shadow Gorrill Readies for New Chapter: Retirement

A New Chapter Shadow Gorrill’s tenure at Brewster began in 1989 when she arrived with husband Bruce and son Chris ’94.

While Bruce was chair of the science department until his retirement in June 2015, Shadow became an assistant in the library and since 2004 has served as head librarian. She also has been a dorm parent and coach. In June she will join Bruce in retirement.

How has the library and your work as a librarian changed over nearly three decades? I worked as an assistant under Libby Sanders, John Sandeen, Jane Varney, and Jean Bruce prior to my appointment as head librarian. During those years I took courses to gain a certificate in library

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science from the New Hampshire State Library. When I took the helm I started moving from the standard formal library structure of study carrels, designed for individual study rather than group collaboration, with little open space and created a more inviting atmosphere. The library was painted, unneeded shelves were removed, and sofas and matching chairs replaced the study carrels to make a big study space. We wanted a place where students could unwind without denying others quiet spaces to work. The result was a learning commons where students now study, socialize, and work on projects together.

Technology did not arrive in the library until 1991 but it greatly

Any amusing library tales to share?

Once when I was the assistant librarian I went into a closet and a stack of books fell over and pinned me for half an hour. The kids kept trying to get help, but everyone thought they were joking. Another time, during the Gulf War, a student asked for information on scuds. I gave him several references for missiles, but he returned shortly from his biology class and told me he actually needed information on aquatic scuds.

You are active. What are your plans for fun in retirement? I will continue to teach swim lessons year round and lifeguard in the summer and may continue to offer a lifeguard class at Brewster. I’ve gotten back into golf, and Bruce and I will hike and spend more time at our cabin in Maine. We also hope to spend a winter out west as snowboard bums!

The most important part of Brewster has been the relationships developed with students, faculty, and parents. I’ve maintained great friendships with so many students, and I love them all. They will keep me connected to Brewster for years to come. / BA /

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WAYS TO CONNECT There are so many ways to connect with Brewster Academy, here are a few online options: FACEBOOK facebook.com/ BrewsterAdmissions TWITTER @BrewsterAcademy INSTAGRAM @BrewsterAcademy FLICKR flickr.com/photos/ brewster_academy VIMEO vimeo.com/ brewsteracademy

Class Notes SUBMIT A NOTE! We’d love to hear from you. Send a note and/or a photo to alumninews@brewsteracademy.org and we will do our best to include it in the next issue of Brewster.

E-MAIL alumninews@ brewsteracademy.org MAIL 80 Academy Drive Wolfeboro, NH 03894

UPDATE INFO Make sure we have your most recent address and e-mail at alumninews@brewsteracademy.org

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CHAMPIONSHIP DEBATE (LYCEUM) TEAM

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1917–1918

REM EM BER WH EN ?

Clockwise from top left: Francis Sargent ’18, David Thomas ’20, Nichola Tulia Steffens ’18, Edward J. Storey ’18, and coach Harold W. Melvin

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Smiles of Gratitude Each year one third of students receive scholarship support to attend Brewster. By accepting students from across the country and around the world — from all socio-economic backgrounds — we are preparing all students for success in a diverse, global society. Thanks to financial aid, Brewster is a more dynamic community.

This diversity of thoughts, experiences, beliefs, and goals enriches the academic experience for everyone.

YOUR GIFT to Brewster’s Annual Fund in support of financial aid is life changing. Support Brewster students today at www.brewsteracademy.org/givenow

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I came to Brewster because I wanted smaller class sizes, a chance to have a better relationship with my teachers, and lastly to play hockey, but I found so much more. Brewster is a place that lets you be the person you want to be. Each day I woke up with a smile on my face, knowing how lucky I was to have been given the opportunity to attend Brewster.”

MEAGHAN SPURLING ’13 Byfield, Massachusetts, Saint Anslem College (on the left) with Kate Buesser ’07, Harvard University ’11

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