A group of the visiting students and teacher Michael Murphy at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. Photo: Timothy Struthers ’85
Experiential Learning: Students Visit Investment Bank and 9/11 Museum
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CONOMICS and history teacher Michael Murphy and 57 of his students spent a day in New York City this spring, visiting an investment bank as guests of two Loomis alumni and touring the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Mike, who worked in investment banking and management consulting for 20 years before transitioning to teaching at Loomis four years ago, arranged the trip for his Applied Economics, Macroeconomics, Contemporary Economic Perspectives, and U.S. History classes.
At the invitation of Ben DiFabio ’94 and Jen Podurgiel ’96, the students began their day at Citigroup on Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan. Ben, a managing director in the Global Industrials Group with responsibility for global sector coverage in paper & packaging, gave the students an overview of Citigroup’s investment banking group and a case study of some of his clients. Jen, a senior vice president who trades Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae bonds, led group tours of her trading floor.
Students asked questions of both alumni while also witnessing a Wall Street trading floor first-hand. After a lunch at City Hall Park, the group proceeded to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. The students, who were toddlers in 2001, visited the two pool memorials at Ground Zero and took a two-hour self-guided tour of the museum, absorbing the displays and audio/visual reflections related to 9/11. The day was a stimulating and moving experiential learning opportu-
nity for all. Mike says the interaction with Ben and Jen at Citi “was an incredible experience for our students to learn about how hard work and lifelong learning are keys to success in a dynamic world no matter what you do and also how finance plays into for-profit companies, governments, and even non-profits.” The visit to Ground Zero and the museum offered an opportunity for students too young to remember 9/11 to learn about the important historical event and reflect on its human toll, Mike says.
Art Student and Teacher Co-Curate Sculpture Exhibit in Mercy Gallery
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ENIOR Abby Wade, an Advanced Placement art student, was interested in learning how to manage an art gallery, so Visual Arts Department Head Jennifer McCandless invited Abby to help curate a show. Together, they organized the Ceramic Sculpture Invitational, an exhibit of diverse works by 15 artists throughout the Northeast, in the Sue and Eugene Mercy Jr. Gallery in April and May. Abby helped curate the show from inception to installation.
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Jennifer, who is director of the gallery, began working on the project with Abby her sophomore year. Jennifer first instructed Abby to research artists whose work piqued her interest. When the artists were identified, Jennifer and Abby collaborated to formulate the show, invite the artists, and coordinate the display in the gallery. “Abby made some great new connections with artists that have not previously had a relationship with Loomis,” Jennifer says.
While laying out the show on paper was one-dimensional, Abby says she was fascinated to see the exhibit come to life in the gallery, and she found herself visiting the gallery repeatedly to experience the show in three dimensions. The exhibit was particularly interesting, she says, because it revealed how artists with the “same curriculum and medium all have different ideas — from robots to dish wear.” Senior Abby Wade and Head of the Visual Arts Department Jennifer McCandless in the gallery Photo: Patricia Cousins