Loomis Chaffee Spring 2016

Spring 2016 VOLUME 78 |

NO. 2

In Her Natural Element

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Senior Samantha Roy, Student Council president, athlete, admissions tour guide Photo by junior Anna Meyer

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DEPARTMENTS

2 | HEADLINES | Our Daily Schedule

22 | Cultivating Qualities of Mind

3 | AROUND THE QUADS

10 | THE BIG PICTURE

18 | OF NOTE | FACULTY & STAFF

18 | READERS' VOICES

19 | ATHLETICS 46 | OBJECT LESSONS | Home of the Bard 48 | THE WRITE STUFF 49 | ALUMNI NEWS 57 | IN MEMORIAM 64 | THE LAST WORD | Arbor Day

A curriculum review over the last two years identified the essential outcomes of a Loomis Chaffee education and ways the school can best continue to foster these skills.

28 | Journeys

International education programs give an increasing number of Loomis students the chance to broaden their world views.

36 | Neighborhood Storyline

A documentary directed by Betsy Kalin ’87 chronicles the history and resilience of the East L.A. neighborhood of Boyle Heights.

40 | Political Coming-of-Age Author Daniel Oppenheimer ’94 interviews classmate Eli Lehrer about the evolution of his political views.

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44 | In Their Natural Element A student's photographic essay highlights the individuality of her Loomis peers.

Loomis Chaffee Magazine, Spring 2016

ON THE COVER | Senior Roberto Clavijo, junior Grace Donegan, sophomore Ian Mann, and junior Alexandra Walen explore Machu Picchu during an educational travel program last summer in Peru. Photo: Marley Aloe Matlack DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS SUBMISSIONS/STORIES AND NEWS Visit Loomis Chaffee online at www.loomischaffee.org & MARKETING | Lynn A. Petrillo ’86 Alumni may contribute items of interest to: for the latest school news, sports scores, and galleries MANAGING EDITOR | Becky Purdy Loomis Chaffee Editors of recent photos. You also will find direct links to all DESIGNER | Patricia J. Cousins The Loomis Chaffee School of our social networking communities. For an online CLASS NOTES | Madison Neal 4 Batchelder Road, Windsor CT 06095 version of the magazine, go to www.loomischaffee.org/ OBITUARIES | Christine Coyle 860 687 6811 / magazine@loomis.org magazine.

CONTRIBUTORS | Christine Coyle, Alexandra Muchura, Lisa Salinetti Ross, Fred J. Kuo, Katherine Langmaid, Timothy PRINTED AT LANE PRESS | Burlington, Vermont Struthers ’85, and Karen Parsons Printed on 70# Sterling Matte, an SFI sheet SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY INITIATIVE

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HEADLINES | BY SHEILA CULBERT

Our Daily Schedule

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OODROW WILSON, when he was president of Princeton, once quipped that the only thing more difficult than changing an academic schedule was moving a graveyard. Nonetheless, undaunted by the challenge and after several years of discussion, Loomis will adopt a new daily schedule next year. Why did we decide to do this, and what will the new schedule look like?

The current schedule is designed around an 11-day, two-week cycle of classes. Each class meets eight periods in the cycle—six of those are 45-minute class periods and two are 80-minute class periods. The schedule also includes eight to nine Saturdays a year. Each day of the cycle includes five to six class periods, with the exception of Wednesday, which has four class periods.

An iteration of this Week I and Week II schedule has been in existence since the 1970s but increasingly has become a source of frustration for both students and faculty. Many faculty have wanted to go to longer classes because they allow for more varied class activities and better learning outcomes; students and faculty thought the pace of the day was too stressful as every 45 minutes students switched courses; and we have had a particular crunch at lunch time with many community members either having to grab something to eat and run, skip lunch altogether, or wait until 1:20 p.m. Finally, because of the way our annual calendar has worked and the sporadic use of Saturday classes, some time blocks have met significantly more often than others.

This time block inequity has been particularly problematic for those faculty who were teaching the same course in different time blocks.

After several years of faculty conversation without being able to reach consensus, we decided to bring in a consultant who specializes in daily schedules. We chose Bryan Smyth of Independent School Management.

Before Bryan even came to campus in January, he did a great deal of research on us; he then spent a week on campus observing the 2 |

Head of School Sheila Culbert

Photo: John Groo

course of the day and interviewing teachers, students, and parents. At the end of the week Bryan presented us with a series of recommendations and schedule options.

The advantages of using a consultant are that they have seen it all and they have a wealth of research upon which to draw concerning the advantages and disadvantages of different schedules.

Ultimately we settled on a modified block schedule with four 75-minute classes on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and four 50-minute classes on Wednesdays. Courses will now generally meet three times a week, and each day has a longer lunch period as well as a built-in community time when students and faculty can meet outside of the regular class day, can catch up on homework, or can relax and catch their breath. And, in what is perhaps the most imaginative aspect, there will be seven iterations of the daily schedule (A-G) that are rotated over the course of seven class days. On day one of the rotation we SCHEDULE | continued 4

“

The new schedule has several advantages.

First, and most important, the schedule increases quality learning time.

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AROUND THE QUADS

Life Inside the Hermit Kingdom 

SCHOOL THEME FOR 2015–16 

THE CHANGING NATURE OF JOURNALISM

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shroud of secrecy has hidden North Korea from the eyes of the world for 70 years, and South Korea-born journalist Suki Kim wanted to learn about and try to understand the mysterious country, its enigmatic leadership, and the mindset of its people. The only way to gain access to this information was to go under cover, so she did.

Under the guise of a teacher, Ms. Kim worked for six months in 2011 at a school located inside a military compound near Pyongyang, North Korea. The school sheltered 270 sons of the country’s elite from doing a period of forced labor imposed on university students. She taught essay writing to the students, young men aged 19–21, who she said were studying computer technology but were so cut off from the world that they didn’t know what the Internet was.

During a visit to Loomis Chaffee in February, Ms. Kim, author of the bestselling book Without You There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite, related stories from her undercover experience and shared her perspective on the country known as the Hermit Kingdom.

Even the worldwide media has failed to shed light on the country, said Ms. Kim, because the regime in power has isolated itself from the outside world; has controlled all forms of communication, education, and travel in and out of the country; and has stifled individual

Author Suki Kim on Grubbs Quadrangle Photo: Patricia Cousins

KIM | continued next page

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AROUND THE QUADS

expression within its borders, ensuring a cult-like devotion to its patriarchal supreme leader, currently Kim Jong Un. Human rights violations in North Korea affect large swaths of its citizenry, she said. During the famine of the 1990s, nearly one-tenth of the population died from starvation, and untold numbers of the country’s 25 million people are detained in violent gulags.

The absolute control of the regime over its citizenry permeated every aspect of life for the students with whom Ms. Kim was embedded, she said. Every room had a picture of the supreme leader. Everyone was required to wear an emblem of the supreme leader. Television programming was all about the supreme leader. The one newspaper had stories only about the supreme leader, and all books were either

written by or about the supreme leader. The only holiday was the supreme leader’s birthday.

Surveillance played a large part in maintaining control, she explained.

Every class in the school was observed and recorded, and students and teachers were never alone. Students were assigned to watch each other and regularly report transgressions at weekly “unity critique” meetings. Students marched to and from meals chanting military songs with lyrics that spoke of violence to Americans and South Koreans.

The regime maintains a system of control based on fear and designed to quash independent thinking, said Ms. Kim. “When you can’t think individually,” she said, “you can’t rise up.”

After the convocation, Ms. Kim met with several classes and smaller groups of students. Her visit to

SCHEDULE | continued from 2

will run schedule A, on day two we will run schedule B, and so on through the seventh day, when we run schedule G. On day eight we will begin the rotation again with schedule A. This model beautifully resolves the problem of time block inequity because a particular schedule of class periods is not tied to a particular day of the week. We can work easily around holidays and vacations regardless of when they fall in the calendar.

The class day will continue to start at 8:30 a.m. and to end at 3:20 p.m., in time for athletics and other after-school activities, and we will continue to have half-day Wednesday classes. But there will be no more Saturday classes—we will instead use a couple of Saturdays each term for special events and different sorts of learn-

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Students gather around Suki Kim after her all-school address. Photo: Patricia Cousins

campus was organized by the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies with financial support from the Bussel Family International Lecture Series and the Hubbard Speakers Series. Ms. Kim also delivered a Bussel Lecture, which was open to the public, on campus the evening before her convocation.

Ms. Kim’s essays and articles have appeared in The New York

ing opportunities—and the distribution of time across the day and week will change.

Students will have no more than two classes in a row without a break, except on Wednesdays.

The new schedule has several advantages.

First, and most important, the schedule increases quality learning time. Students generally take a few minutes at the beginning of class to settle down and to switch their brains to the appropriate class channel, and before the end of the period, their minds begin to wander to whatever comes next and where they need to go, if they need to pick something up before that class, if they have time to grab something to eat, or if they have completed their homework. So a 45-minute class is quickly reduced to just 30 minutes of actual quality learning time. Longer periods don’t change the time needed to settle at the beginning of class or the distraction at

Times, Harper’s, and The New York Review of Books, and she has been featured on NPR and CNN. Her 2015 TED Talk has been seen by millions of viewers online. The recipient of Fulbright, Guggenheim, and George Soros’ Open Society fellowships, she also is a fiction writer whose first novel, The Interpreter, published in 2003, was a finalist for a PEN Hemingway Prize.

the end, but they do leave more time in the middle for focused learning. Longer periods also reduce time lost passing from one class to the next as there are fewer classes to travel between in a day. The longer periods also will afford faculty the opportunity to vary the type of activities they do in class and should lead to a more interactive classroom.

A number of still open questions regarding the implementation of the new schedule exist, including the impact it will have on homework load and how we might use Saturday mornings; but we are all excited about the possibilities. The faculty working with Scott MacClintic ’82 in the Henry R. Kravis ’63 Center for Excellence in Teaching have embraced this challenge, and many good conversations are taking place across campus. Sometimes, moving the graveyard is just what is needed to open up exciting new opportunities. ©

Hannah Giorgis on Huntington Wall Photo: Patricia Cousins

The Many Voices of Social Media

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SCHOOL THEME FOR 2015–16 

community activism: reflection, recognition, and resistance. She asked the audience to break into THE CHANGING NATURE OF JOURNALISM small discussion groups to consider the questions, Seeing oneself represented in the media affirms a which included: “Do you see yourself represented OCIAL MEDIA has had a profound, democperson’s humanity, she said, sharing a quote from in social media?” “Do you feel when you interact ratizing effect on the world of informationPulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz: “There’s with others that they understand you as a whole sharing, said writer, organizer, and media person?” And “have hashtags and social media this idea that monsters don’t have reflections in specialist Hannah Giorgis during an all-school campaigns informed you of issues that you were a mirror. And what I’ve always thought isn’t that convocation in the Olcott Center in February. monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. It’s that not aware of before?” if you want to make a human being into a monster, Means of communication like Tumblr, Twitter, After each five-minute discussion break, Ms. Giorgis deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of Facebook, and even texting have enabled many invited audience members to volunteer their disthemselves. And growing up, I felt like a monster in more voices and a greater variety of people to coveries and opinions. Several students stood up communicate with the world, to share their experi- some ways. I didn’t see myself reflected at all.” or came to the podium to voice their perspectives ences, and to compel each other to action, said Diaz’s observation resonated with Ms. Gioris as she as the audience listened and offered support.

Ms. Giorgis, a culture and lifestyle writer for the Inencountered the under-representation or stereoAfter the convocation, students said they were ternet media company BuzzFeed. These changes typical representation of black women in news and inspired by Ms. Giorgis’ focus on the positives of also have helped to connect people who once felt entertainment media. She said she felt these repsocial media and encouraged by the opportunity voiceless, marginalized, and pigeon-holed by their resentations did not reflect her individuality and to express their opinions and be acknowledged. backgrounds or appearances. led others to make assumptions about her based solely on appearance. With the democratization Ms. Giorgis earned her bachelor’s degree in English Ms. Giorgis visited Loomis Chaffee as part of the of information-sharing, through blogs and social with a concentration in African and African AmeriHubbard Speakers Series addressing this year’s media, people have the power and platforms to can studies from Dartmouth College. In addition to school theme, “The Changing Nature of Journaltell their own stories and influence others to look her writing for BuzzFeed, her work has appeared ism.” Her work explores the intersection of race, and think beyond stereotypes. in The New Yorker, Pitchfork, The Guardian, The class, gender, and pop culture, and her convocaNew Republic, and other media outlets. She also is tion talk touched on these themes in the context Ms. Giorgis posed three sets of questions based on involved in the New York City Chapter of the Black of social media’s expanding role in informationwhat she called the three “R’s” of storytelling and Youth Project 100. sharing.

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Walking tour of Charleston with guide Mary Helen Dantzler of Two Sisters Tours Photo: J.R. Zavisza

Sense of Place: Students Explore History in Charleston, S.C.

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IFTEEN juniors, accompanied by history teachers J.R. Zavisza and Karen Parsons, traveled to South Carolina in December to investigate the economic, social, and political issues that existed in Charleston before the start of the American Civil War. The trip was part of “History on the Road,” a series of field trips created to move students beyond what they learn from their textbooks and examine the role of place in the study of history — to stand where people stood before and to consider the human experience of events that happened in that place and time.

Two other student groups from Loomis, studying history of the same era, traveled to Mystic, Connecticut, and Lowell, Massachusetts, to investigate the same issues. The three tour groups gathered on the

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Island afterwards to compare and contrast their findings.

The Charleston trip was a new addition to “History on the Road.”

The group’s three-day itinerary included stops at sites of historical significance, with tours led by local guides of differing backgrounds and diverse perspectives on both the history and culture of the area, which, according to J.R., gave context to how history is shaped. The travelers visited several elaborate homes of the merchant and plantation-owning elite, and toured the city on foot. Author and guide Alfonso Brown shared his knowledge of the history, culture, and living conditions of the Gullah people, descendants of enslaved Africans who lived in the Lowcountry regions of coastal Georgia and South Carolina. A highlight of the

Slave cabin on the McLeod Plantation Photo: Junior Alexander Scott

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History on the Road is a series of field trips created to examine the role of place in the study of history.

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History Through Their Eyes Juniors on the Charleston trip kept journals about their experiences.

Here are some of their reflections: “The trip to Charleston helped me understand the South of the past and the South of the present and how the two intertwine. Hearing what each guide said and how each chose to present it differently … helped portray the different perspectives of the city. Each place we visited held a different philosophy on how to tell the story.”

— Elizabeth Herman “When the Aiken-Rhett mansion appeared in sight, you immediately got a glimpse of what wealth could get you in the 1800s. Gov. William Aiken was president of the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company and owner of about 850 slaves on many different sites and plantations. The backyard [of this town house] was a huge lot with what looks like two barns. We later found out that they were housing for the slaves upstairs, and stables and a kitchen downstairs.”

— Graham Struthers

Traditional basket maker Photo: J.R. Zavisza

Defenders of Charleston Monument, erected in 1932 in Battery Park Photo: J.R. Zavisza

visit was a traditional Gullah meal served at the home of local resident Charlotte Jenkins.

The group paused to reflect at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, which has a history of civil rights activism and was the site of a racially-charged mass shooting last June. The stop served as a poignant reminder that history remains relevant today and society bears the influence of the past.

Karen summarizes the central questions underlying the group’s observations and discussions: “When thinking about diversity and how it defines a historical time period, do we overlay our modern definitions of diversity? Or do we try to identify how diversity was defined in that time period? What conclusions could we draw from each of these ways of thinking?”

“Before our tour of the Nathaniel Russell house, built in 1808, we analyzed political cartoons of the period. My cartoon … represented the social movements of the antebellum period [in which] Nathaniel Russell, a successful merchant from Rhode Island, lived. I was shocked to learn that even though Russell was wealthier than many, he was considered middle class because he was not a plantation owner.”

— Sarah Mendelsohn “We visited a slave mart opened

by Thomas Ryan in 1856 after the Charleston ordinance prohibited the sale of slaves outdoors. Even though international slave trade was banned during the mart’s existence, domestic trade flourished. Owners would have their slaves well-fed for days, their hair dyed, and their skin oiled to make them appear tougher and better workers. Slavery was brutal, not [just] because of the physical punishment, but for the emotional trauma inflicted when slave families were sold apart.”

— Ryan Dailey “We stopped at a monument dedicated to the Confederate soldiers of Charleston. Should this statue honoring the side who fought for slavery be kept up? Is it still relevant in the 21st century? If the statue was taken down, would the conversation still take place, or would we all try to forget the fact that the Civil War was fought for slavery?”

— Erika Herman “The homemade collard greens, bread pudding, turkey, and Gullah rice were amazing, but what struck me about Gullah food was that they could grow and kill everything in their own backyards. [The food] had a unique flavor, and recipes were passed down from generation to generation.”

— Bryson Carter “It’s one thing to read and learn about history in a textbook or through a primary source. However, there is no better way to learn than experiencing and ‘seeing’ history with your own eyes.”

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Centennial Campaign Advances Strategic Priorities

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s of March 31, alumni, parents, and friends have contributed $83.6 million toward the $100 million goal for Our Time Is Now: The Centennial Campaign for Loomis Chaffee.

“The remarkable generosity of the Loomis Chaffee community is truly inspiring, and we are so grateful for the outpouring of support for this campaign,” remarked Nathan Follansbee, associate head for external relations. “The school’s mission and strategic priorities are resonating with donors. If we can sustain our current momentum, we are optimistic that we can achieve our goals, which in turn will position the school to offer the best education to this next generation of students.”

Chief among the school’s priorities is the enrollment of a diverse and talented student body, and financial aid is critical to that endeavor. To date, donors have given $21.5 million for financial aid, establishing 32 scholarships, including the Kravis Scholars Program, which provides life-changing opportunities for students with significant financial need from underrepresented backgrounds.

Approximately $30 million in campaign gifts have enabled the school to address several facilities needs in support of both enrollment and program priorities. With the addition of Richmond and Cutler dormitories, 70 percent of students will live on campus. The renovations of Founders Hall and the Katharine Brush Library have added new classrooms and group study spaces, and support for the athletics program has resulted in new Sellers Field dugouts, a second turf field, and the anticipated funding needed for renovation of the tennis courts.

To date, donors have committed $11 million toward the school’s academic programs and faculty support. Their generosity has enabled the school to establish the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies and the

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A Record-Smashing Success

T Norton Family Center for the Common Good and to enhance the Henry R. Kravis ’63 Center for Excellence in Teaching. Donors also have endowed six new faculty support funds.

Finally, one of the greatest successes of Our Time Is Now has been the growth of the Annual Fund. Since the beginning of the campaign on July 1, 2011, the Annual Fund has grown from $2.82 million to $4.13 million, with this fiscal year’s goal set at $4.25 million.

Looking ahead, two major campaign initiatives remain, according to Nat. The first is to meet this year’s and next year’s Annual Fund goals. The second is to complete funding for the construction of a campus center and innovation lab.

With regard to the second goal, Nat explains that the school’s limited and outdated facilities for dining and socializing have diminished the student experience and put Loomis at a competitive disadvantage with peer boarding schools. A new campus center will address these issues and result in a stronger campus community. The center also will house the innovation lab, a space where students and faculty from various disciplines — including computer science, multimedia arts, engineering, and robotics — will collaborate and tap into their creativity in new and exciting ways.

For more information about these initiatives and the campaign, please visit www.loomischaffee.org/campaign.

HE school declared February 29 Philanthropy Day this year, and the Loomis Chaffee community responded in record numbers. In one 24-hour period, more than 1,200 people made gifts to the Annual Fund, smashing the previous record for gifts in a single day — and on that rarest of days, Leap Day. The Philanthropy Day goal was 675 gifts, one representing every current student at the school, and an anonymous donor pledged to give $100,000 to Loomis for financial aid if the school reached this one-day participation goal.

“It is striking that with 1,227 donations totaling $401,791, we not only surpassed our goal of 675 donations by nearly double, but our wonderful community gave nearly double the amount raised during Philanthropy Day last year,” says Cara Woods, director of the Annual Fund.

The Annual Fund provides the resources necessary to deliver on the promise of a Loomis Chaffee education beyond what tuition alone is able to meet. The day’s total not only will help achieve this year’s Annual Fund goal of $4.25 million, but also will count toward the Our Time Is Now campaign goal of raising $100 million by June 2017.

Cara credits the commitments of alumni, parents, parents of alumni, faculty and staff, friends of the school, volunteers, and her Annual Fund team for the day’s remarkable success.

She says the entire community generated a surge of energy that carried throughout the day as people connected with the school and encouraged each other to participate.

“It was a feel-good day all-around,” she says.

Students gather in Katharine Brush Library to write thank you notes to Philanthropy Day donors. Photo: Madison Neal

Participants in a post-convocation discussion pose with diversity expert Maura Cullen: (back) Spanish teacher Kitty Peterson ’72, senior Mary Morris Evans, and Ms. Cullen; and (front) seniors Joseph Hinton, Ellen O'Brien, Anita Richmond, and Alice Jiang. Photo: Patricia Cousins

MLK Week Speaker Examines the Power and Perils of Good Intentions

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HERE is nothing wrong with recognizing our differences.

We just shouldn't use that information to put down or exclude others. And kindness, even in small gestures, goes a long way toward making others feel validated and included. Those were the central messages in a special MLK Week convocation in January featuring author, educator, and diversity expert Maura Cullen.

Her appearance was part of Loomis Chaffee’s week-long celebration honoring Martin Luther King Jr., which included performances by students and faculty, a Hot Topics Discussion about migration and immigration, and a poetry slam.

As humans, we see our differences before we see our similarities, said Ms. Cullen. These differences can include race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and cultural background.

“Noticing differences is never the problem,” stressed Ms. Cullen, who

holds a doctorate in social justice and diversity education from the University of Massachusetts. “It’s what we do when we notice that renders the other invisible.”

Ms. Cullen shed light on some truisms about humans and behaviors that act as barriers to inclusion and diversity. Through group exercises, she exposed the universal desire to be liked, the tendency to believe what a group recognizes as truth, the propensity to “clump” into groups with others similar to ourselves, and the likelihood of a heightened awareness when we stand out in a crowd.

Ms. Cullen, author of the book 35 Dumb Things Well-Intentioned People Say, also discussed important concepts to keep in mind when speaking to others about differences. She delineated the relationship between intent and impact, noting that well-intentioned people can cause negative impact. For example, she said, when someone says they “don’t see color” to a

person of color, they are denying the obvious and rendering the other invisible.

Junior Justin McIntosh with slam poet Sharmont "Influence" Little.

Photo: Mary Coleman Forrester

After the convocation, Ms. Cullen met with students and faculty to share her experiences and offer advice for ways to ensure and maintain the welcoming community that Loomis values.

For more information about MLK Week programs, go to www.loomischaffee.org/magazine. loomischaffee.org | 9

AROUND QUADS AROUNDTHE THE QUADS | THE BIG PICTURE

It’s Franken-SHTEEN The hit Broadway musical Young Frankenstein came to life this winter in a monster-sized production in the Norris Ely Orchard Theater. The show’s cast, technical crew, pit orchestra, and production team numbered nearly 50 students, and the musical sold out for all four shows, including a standing-room-only matinee on closing day. To see cast and crew bios and more about the production in the Playbill, and to view a gallery of photos from the show and the Loomis Chaffee Parents Association’s pre-theater reception and lunch, go to www.loomischaffee.org/magazine. Photo: Anna Zuckerman-Vdovenko

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Masterful Music

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UEST musicians Bill Solomon (percussion), Dave Friend (piano), and Elizabeth Chang (violin) visited the Island and conducted master classes during the winter term.

Mr. Solomon and Mr. Friend, both versatile and accomplished professional musicians, performed together in February in the Hubbard Performance Hall as the musical group Vigil. The concert featured an unusual program of works for piano and percussion composed by colleagues of the band members, including a percussion solo performed by Mr. Solomon using both arms and both legs in complex repeated rhythms. Mr. Friend performed a solo for piano that made use of electronics to create quickly-repeated chords and dense textures.

Vigil was co-founded by Mr. Solomon and flutist Kelli Kathman, who was on maternity leave and unavailable for the visit to Loomis. The group’s music is influenced by the “minimalist” music of contemporary American composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass, according to Mr. Solomon, a former music teacher at Loomis.

After the concert, Mr. Solomon and Mr. Friend welcomed music students to the stage for an interactive master class covering topics of contemporary music and rhythms.

In early March, violinist Elizabeth Chang worked with students in the Chamber Music program. During a master class, she shared her wisdom along with her technical skill. “You have to be whole-hearted to make the music interesting to the audience,” she said. “You have to be fully engaged.”

Ms. Chang listened to the chamber ensembles perform their pieces,

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then offered advice on making each piece more cohesive and expressive. She also suggested ways to make the music more vivid for the audience.

Guest musicians David Friend and Bill Solomon explain a concept during a master class for Loomis Chaffee students. Photo: Patricia Cousins

A performer, instructor, and arts administrator, Ms. Chang, whose son is Loomis junior Ilya Yudkovsky, teaches at University of Massachusetts Amherst and in the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School. She said she is grateful to have taken part in strong musical programs in her youth, and she benefitted from the expertise and direction of dedicated teachers. She told students that she continues to enjoy learning challenging music and sharing it with audiences, and she especially likes teaching.

Chamber musicians from the Hartt School of Music of the University of Hartford also spent time on campus during the winter term. In an evening concert in the Hubbard Performance Hall on December 3, three Hartt chamber groups performed works by Beethoven, Gabriel Fauré, and Eric Ewazen.

The master classes and performances by the guest musicians were made possible with financial support from the Stookins Lecture Fund.

To read more about the guest musicians and their campus visits, go to www.loomischaffee.org/ magazine.

Elizabeth Chang works with student chamber musicians in the Hubbard Performance Hall. Photo: Christine Coyle

Sustainable Art on a “Continuum”

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ISITING Artists Margaret Coleman and Liz Ensz worked in residence in the Richmond Art Center during the week of January 18 in conjunction with their collaborative large-scale installation “Continuum,” which was exhibited in the Sue and Eugene Mercy Jr. Gallery.

“I like to tell a story,” Ms. Ensz told advanced art students as they discussed one of her exhibited works in the gallery. The piece was created from discarded items she had found around the Loomis campus.

“Everything here has a relationship to Loomis,” she remarked.

The artists used mostly found or repurposed articles in “Continuum,” and they encouraged students to consider using readily available materials in producing art. Ms. Coleman noted that their art shares an “overlapping theme of sustainabil-

ity” and the efficient use of space.

She added that collaborating with Ms. Ensz to create a gallery show strengthened the work of both artists. “It is important that we shift our perspective away from the individual into what people can achieve together as a group,” she said.

To practice art as a profession, the artists recommended that students develop proficient writing skills and resourcefulness. Writing well helps in securing funding for projects and travel, Ms. Ensz explained.

“If you really want to do something,” added Ms. Coleman, “don’t let money stop you from pursuing it. Visiting Artists Liz Ensz (top photo) and Margaret Coleman had a joint exhibition at the Mercy Gallery. Photos: Patricia Cousins You can always figure out a way to do something if you are resourceful.”

For more information about the artists and their exhibit, go to www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.

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Ludmila Zamah and seniors Habiba Hopson and Lydia Masri. (It was senior "Ugly Sweater" Day.) Photo: Mary Coleman Forrester

“Being Muslim Does Not Make One Any Less American or Human”

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RABIC language teacher Ludmila Zamah spoke about “Islamophobia and the Media” at an all-school convocation in December in the Olcott Center.

A Muslim, Ludmila wears a hijab, and she began her talk by recounting a recent personal experience with Islamophobia: While walking in a town near Loomis Chaffee, someone yelled a derogatory anti-Muslim epithet at her from a passing car.

“That man never gave me a chance to become known to him,” said Ludmila of the aggressor. If he had, she went on, he might have discovered her to be “a prairie girl at heart, a classic Indian dancer, a cat lover, an Arabic teacher, and JV volleyball’s biggest fan.” A Canadian-born naturalized American citizen of Indo-Caribbean descent, Ludmila grew up in Kansas City and, through her education, developed a deep appreciation for the Arabic language and culture.

Because of her head scarf, the man guessed correctly that Ludmila was Muslim, she said, but he probably also assumed, incorrectly, that the hijab meant she was foreign and that she was oppressed and yet somehow dangerous.

“How did we get here?” she asked her audience.

Wrong and hurtful assumptions like these result, at least in part, from the fact that many Americans know little about Muslims living here and

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SCHOOL THEME FOR 2015–16 

THE CHANGING NATURE OF JOURNALISM

abroad, Ludmila indicated. People buy into negative stereotypes prevalent in the media, popular culture, and the political arena.

Pointing out that Muslims are often conflated with Arabs, even though by far the largest Muslim populations live in Southeast Asia, not the Middle East, Ludmila referenced the numerous negative depictions of Arabs in popular culture. Even in some media intended for children, Arabs are shown to be “dangerous, bloodthirsty, backward, and unintelligent — the enemy,” she said.

Coverage of Muslims and Arabs in the news also is slanted toward suspicion and is associated with terrorism and violence, she said, even though groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda represent only a fraction of 1 percent of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims and their radical ideologies do not represent the majority.

“To the majority of Muslims ‘Allahu Akbar’ is not a battle cry,” explained Ludmila, but rather a call to be mindful of God’s presence in their daily lives.

For most Muslims, she continued, “jihad” is not a holy war, but rather an internal struggle to remain committed to doing the right thing by way of Islamic teachings.

Ludmila shared facts to dispel some common misconceptions about Islam, and she described some ways Muslims are trying to break the stereotypes, including through humor and social media. She also showed an excerpt from an ABC program called “What Would You Do?” in which an actor posing as a shop clerk refused service to and used insulting and inflammatory speech toward a female actor wearing a hijab. Witnesses, who were not aware that the clerk and customer were actors, responded in varying ways: Six people sided with the shop clerk, 13 people vocalized their objections to the injustice, and 22 bystanders said nothing.

Whether you are Muslim or not, it is important to speak out against Islamophobic behavior, Ludmila said after showing the video. Freedom of worship is an American ideal, and “being a Muslim does not make one any less American or human,” she said.

Ludmila joined the Loomis faculty in 2013. She previously served as a lecturer for five years at the University of Winnipeg in Canada. She earned graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and lived in Cairo, Egypt, during a year-long graduate fellowship at the American University Center for Arabic Study Abroad.

brilliant!

Sloan Scientist Presents Brain Cancer Research

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HE director of the Brain Tumor Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City presented an overview of his lab’s front-line research to advanced biology students during a lecture and class visits in February.

In his talk, “How Does Cancer Begin,” developmental biologist Luis Parada explained that his lab is pursuing an alternative theory to commonly-held beliefs about how cancer cells form tumors. He believes that there is a hierarchy of cancer cells in tumors, that only certain cells — stem cells — in an organ have the capacity to become a tumor, and that treatments should target these particular origin cells in a tumor.

More traditional chemotherapy and radiation treatments are indiscriminate in killing the cells of a tumor and do not kill the stem cells from which the tumor arose. These treatments can shrink a cancerous growth, he explained, but unless they eradicate the cancerous stem cells, the tumor will recur.

“Most tumors are as incurable today as they were 30 years ago,” he said. Most of the progress in treating cancer and prolonging the lives of cancer patients in recent decades has resulted from improved surgical techniques to remove tumors, not the use of “anti-cancer” drugs, which, he added, can make patients very sick.

Dr. Parada and his colleagues, who focus primarily on several aggressive forms of brain cancer, are studying compounds that single out and attack cancer stem cells, with promising results. “We believe that these are the beginning of a new generation of anti-cancer drug,” he said. “Of course I could be wrong,” he added, noting that he is in the minority in this belief among cancer researchers, but it’s less of a minority than a few years ago.

Dr. Parada's sister is Loomis Spanish teacher and Director of Multicultural Affairs Elizabeth Parada.

 Junior Adriana Maria Gonzalez has written a book, Yo Soy La Monarca, El Dolor Ignorado De Los Niños Con TDAH (Translation: I Am the Monarch [butterfly], the Ignored Pain of Children with ADHD), published in March by Psyconeurotraining, an organization that raises awareness about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adri’s home country of Mexico. Adri based her book on experiences she has shared with her parents through their work with people, especially children, with ADHD. Loomis English teacher Geoff Silver wrote the foreword for the book, and Adri dedicated the book to Geoff and several other faculty members, among other important people in her life.  Twelve Loomis students earned awards for outstanding participation in Model United Nations conferences sponsored by Yale University and Boston University this winter. In all, 30 Loomis students participated in the Yale conference, and 20 students were part of the Loomis delegation at the Boston conference.  The Student Council Benefit Concert in February, featuring student and faculty performances, raised more than $4,000 for Home of Hope for Girls, an organization in South Africa that shelters and nurtures girls who have been abused and exploited.  Loomis Student Council leaders hosted their counterparts from nine other independent schools in February for an “unconference.” Organized and directed by students, the event enabled student leaders to connect to peers at other schools, share student government best practices, and compare their efforts to influence decision-making at their schools.  The robotics team placed fourth overall in the qualifying rounds at the Connecticut FIRST Robotics Tournament in February and received the Finalist Award and Control Award.  The senior class reached 100 percent participation in the Annual Fund this winter.  In recognition of outstanding aptitude in information technology and computing, junior Ifteda Ahmed-Syed received a 2016 Aspirations in Computing Award from the Connecticut affiliate of the National Center for Women & Information Technology.  The school reduced its electrical consumption by 2.6 percent during this winter’s four-week Green Cup Challenge, compared to the same period last year. The competition among schools across the country aims to reduce energy use and raise awareness of sustainable conservation.  The art works of four Loomis students were selected for the 27th Annual Connecticut Regional Scholastic Art Awards and Exhibit sponsored by the Connecticut Art Educators Association and the Hartford Art School. Loomis honorees were junior Claudia Liu and seniors Nolwenn Robison, Kendra Offiaeli, and Jordan Larsen.  Sophomore Bill Pieroni placed third in an essay contest sponsored by Yale’s William F. Buckley Jr. Program, which promotes intellectual diversity. The contest asked entrants to write an opinion essay about the greatest challenge currently facing the U.S. economy. Bill wrote about the importance of sustaining worker productivity for continued improvement of the U.S. economy..  Forty teams from 13 schools competed in the 34th Annual Loomis Chaffee Debate Tournament in January. Debaters considered both sides of the resolution: “The Paris Climate Conference should be considered a failure.” Several teams of Loomis debaters placed in their divisions, and Loomis placed second in the category for combined advanced and novice four-person teams.  Freshman Nabeel Kemal’s invention, the MediTracker app, was displayed at the Connecticut Science Center Invention Convention in March.

Read more about these brilliant accomplishments at www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.

loomischaffee.org | 15

Social Courage and Healthy Decision-Making

Helping Students To Make a Positive, Local Difference

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HE Norton Family Center for the Common Good has launched a new fellowship program for students seeking to initiate and lead service efforts in their communities.

The Norton Fellows Program is a summer opportunity for rising juniors and seniors to make connections in their local communities and identify needs that spark their personal interests or concerns. Working with mentors, and with financial support from Loomis Chaffee, Norton Fellows will design their own projects to address a local need they have identified and to make a positive impact through outreach, action, and engagement. Upon returning to the Island in the fall, Norton Fellows will adapt their projects to continue them at Loomis.

“Our hope is that the Norton Fellows Program will plant a seed for future leadership in service and social justice,” says Eric LaForest, director of the Norton Center. Although volunteering time to community organizations is worthwhile, Eric acknowledges, the Norton Fellows Program seeks to take that commitment a step further into the grass-roots development of projects.

A

UTHOR, sexuality educator, speaker, and comic storyteller Cindy Pierce spent two days on campus in January talking with students about sound decisionmaking and developing healthy relationships.

During her visit, organized by the Office of the Deans of Students, Ms. Pierce shared information and her perspectives gleaned over more than a decade working with high school and college students on these issues. She met with the school community in several forums with a message tailored for each group and delivered in a humorous, no-nonsense style that was well-received by students and faculty.

“Trust your gut. Trust time,” Ms. Pierce said, appealing to students to develop the “social courage” to follow their own compasses, rather than succumbing to the pressure they may feel from peers, social media, and a “hook-up culture” to engage in sexual relationships before they are ready. Relationships and sex are much more fulfilling, both emotionally and physically, among partners who choose each other carefully, who respect each other, and who are not under the influence of alcohol, Ms. Pierce stressed.

Citing a comprehensive study, she shared that 53 percent of boys and 67 percent of girls who are sexually active and between the ages of 12 and 19 wish they had waited longer for their

Students applied for the inaugural fellowships

by April 1, and a selection committee plans to announce recipients in May. Interested candidates were encouraged to propose projects that “explore the intersection between the best self and the common good,” according to Molly Pond, associate director of the Norton Center.

Recipients should pursue their interests in ways that help solve local problems or bring positive change in their communities, she says.

“Knowing how much our students welcome a challenge, and seeing how creative they can be, Molly and I are excited to see what kinds of interesting opportunities they will propose in this inaugural year of the fellowship,” Eric says.

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Seniors Xana Pierone and Anita Richmond pose with Cindy Pierce after her talk with sophomores, juniors, and seniors in the Olcott Center. Photo: Patricia Cousins

first sexual experience. The vast majority of boys and girls express a deep desire for an emotional connection with a romantic partner rather than a “hook-up,” she said. But the realities of the technological age, including texting, social media, and Internet pornography, disconnect young people, making forging emotional connections more difficult and resulting in skewed expectations for social and sexual interactions.

Ms. Pierce shared with students some tactics for countering the pressure, staying true to their values, and developing the social courage to make healthy life choices. She talked about the need for identifying a “healthy crew” of peers for emotional support and adults who will serve as anchors and reliable sources of information.

“Take a break from the screen,” she also encouraged. Young people need to spend time talking to one another and interacting in person to learn to read social cues. This ability is especially important in sexual situations, where both partners should express affirmative consent before moving forward.

Ms. Pierce is the author of SEXPLOITATION: Helping Kids Develop Healthy Sexuality in a Porn Driven World and is co-author of Finding the Doorbell.

1000s of lbs of food waste composted

Counting Bushels, Pecks, and Potatoes

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HE campus Agriculture Program is flourishing. To help tell the story, Ag Program Coodinator Gratia Lee tallied amounts of produce harvested and food waste composted since the beginning of the school year. With spring sprouts pushing their way skyward, much more is on its way.

100 bunches

ka e harvested

80 dozen eggscollected

1tomatoeslbs picked

2 0 0 lbs potatoes unearthed loomischaffee.org | 17

AROUND THE QUADS OF NOTE | FACULTY & STAFF  Dean of Students Michael Donegan completed a master’s degree in leadership last summer at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated with honors.  English teacher William Eggers was awarded a Ph.D. in English Literature last summer from University of Connecticut. His dissertation is titled “‘Misticall Unions’: Clandestine Communications from Tristan to Twelfth Night.”  Arabic teacher Ludmila Zamah and her husband, residential faculty member Kasumu Usman, welcomed twin boys, Saleem Abraham Zamah Usman and Yaseen Solomon Zamah Usman, on January 7.  Sculptor Jennifer McCandless, head of the Visual Arts Department, was one of six artists featured in “The Art Educators Show: Inspiring the Next Generation of Artists” at the Windsor Art Center in January and February.  Scott MacClintic ’82 (below), director of the Henry R. Kravis ’63 Center for Excellence in Teaching, and history teacher J.R. Zavisza presented at a Connecticut Association of Independent Schools conference in January. Scott’s presentation, “Professional Development in the Twittersphere,” taught attendees how to use Twitter to enhance their professional knowlScott McClintic Photo: John Groo edge and skills. J.R. shared his experience with an open-ended project on 9/11 that he assigned to juniors in his American Civilization class last spring.  William J. Hoppe, business manager at Loomis from 1958 to 1973, reports that he and his wife, Margaret, became great-grandparents in September, when their granddaughter gave birth to twin girls in Delaware.  Chief Philanthropic Officer Timothy Struthers ’85 was a panelist at a conference on international fundraising sponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education in February. Speaking on the topic “Being All Things to All People: The Challenges and Rewards of Wearing Multiple Hats in International Fundraising,” Tim and panelists from University of California-Berkeley and Amherst College discussed their varied roles as the primary faces of their institutions overseas.

READERS’ VOICES Equestrian Message

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was surprised and disappointed to see the cover and 12 inside pages of the winter issue of Loomis Chaffee ("At the Barn," page 36) devoted to the equestrian program. Now I have nothing against horses that, after all, were partners to human endeavor for millennia. And I know that horses can be important to young people who may be struggling to find their way. What I do find surprising is that an academic powerhouse would chose to showcase its equestrian activities in its primary alumni fundraising vehicle. Really, is this the image school leaders wish to project?

For me, the story reinforces my suspicion that the little school I joined as a 5-year-old in Mr. B’s final years, which my two brothers and I attended and where our father taught for 25 years, has become largely a place for the wealthy and the privileged. The school always had its very wealthy, of course, but I don’t remember them ever being headlined. Despite my many years in the corporate world I remain an unreconstructed progressive democrat and I like to think that some of the idealism still pumping through these septuagenarian veins was instilled in the Loomis classroom.

I suppose the Loomis constitution, as represented in the words of the founding fathers, is a living document, but I have always liked the notion that boys and girls could originally attend tuition-free and that there were special places for local day girls and boys. I always liked being different and I thought more egalitarian than Hotchkiss, or Taft, or Choate, though maybe not than Mt. Hermon.

—John H. Howard ’56 with Peter B. Howard ’54

The Mason Name

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t was hardly a surprise to read that some current students were having qualms about John Mason, on account of his leadership role in the “Pequot Massacre.” (Loomis Chaffee Magazine, Winter 2016, "When a Hero Falls from

Grace," page 15) After all, much better known early Americans such as Robert E. Lee and even Presidents Washington, Jefferson and Jackson have come under attack of late. It seems that hardly a week goes by when a statue is not pulled down, or a street, mountain or building renamed.

It might be valuable to consider that John Mason did not act alone. He had the support not only of the nascent Connecticut settlements but of Uncas and most of the native inhabitants.

For his success, Mason was not only rewarded with honors and financial remunerations, but later became governor of the colony. I would suspect, absent evidence to the contrary, that his actions were supported by the Rev. John Warham, the Loomis family, and my ancestor John Porter, whose home was a stone’s throw from the old Chaffee campus.

Furthermore, the Pequot had earned a reputation as fierce fighters and oppressors of other native groups within present-day Connecticut. This does not justify their massacre, but it should give us pause. Young people always suppose they are more enlightened than those who came before us. Later generations may find in them flaws of which they are not now even aware.

Knocking historical figures off of their pedestals is heady stuff, and allows us to feel so, so superior. The problem is, like Pandora’s box, once you open this process it is hard to stop. It is instructive to understand the flaws of historical personages. That doesn’t necessarily mean we banish them to the “outer darkness.”

—the Rev. Alan B. Hooker ’68 To read more letters to the editor, go to www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.

We welcome and encourage your opinions and reactions. Although letters may be edited for clarity, length, and accuracy, they always reflect the opinion of the writer and not necessarily that of the school. Please submit comments to Loomis Chaffee Magazine Editors, The Loomis Chaffee School, 4 Batchelder Road, Windsor CT 06095; or magazine@loomis.org.

AROUND THE QUADS | ATHLETICS | BY BOB HOWE ’80

The Long Reach of a Community Builder

F

couple. From there I would get from him the following:

OR the 48 years since his arrival on the Island, Chuck Vernon has lived the life of a true Pelican as a valued member of our school community. My personal experience with “Bruno,” as he’s fondly called, covers this entire span of time, from my years growing up on campus and attending school here through my time at college and my early career elsewhere to my return for the last 12 years as Loomis Chaffee director of athletics. Even though I was away from campus for 25 of those years, my relationship with Bruno never changed. It only grew, and this is the magic of this man.

By no means am I the only person associated with Loomis who feels this way. There are many others who consider him a large influence from their school experience. The man builds community wherever he goes. This highly valued skill is hard to make a priority, but it has always come naturally to Chuck. The Bruno stories that I share here are great reminders of why we are in the business we are in.

Bruno was my advisor while I was a student attending Loomis.

I quickly learned that he would always know the truth about what was happening in my life.

He had the uncanny ability to know how I had done on any test before I received the results from my teacher and what prank I had tried to pull before my parents found out. How he did this was just part of the Bruno magic.

There are lots of great advisors at Loomis, so this story doesn’t

“Peck-a-matic” handles for pushups (He has made at least 400 of these over the years for students he deemed in need of greater strength.)

Coffee table for my college room (a Loomis graduation gift) Kitchen dining table (wedding gift for me and my wife, Amanda) Four rocking horses (one for each of our children) A TV bookcase console

Chuck Vernon Photo: John Groo

stand out by itself. But when you realize how many students, faculty, staff, faculty children, and alumni have been recipients of some kind of gesture from the man, you begin to understand the extent of his reach. What really makes Chuck special is that his influence over the years, his giving and creating traditions, has always been about fun. He doesn't take things too seriously, and he never stays around to take credit.

Let’s consider Chuck the wood-

worker. He started this hobby early in his Loomis career and continues to this day in his workshop less than a half mile from the school. There are countless members of the Loomis community who have some kind of wooden furniture that Bruno made. I received my first piece of wood from Chuck as a ninth grader playing JV hockey for him. Every postseason accolade given to team members that year was made of wood, and I was lucky to receive a

My parents and three siblings each have received at least as much from Bruno over the years. My sisters, who never played a minute for Bruno, both received beautiful wedding gift furniture. How many other families have been recipents?

The short answer is an astonishing number. Some quick figuring estimates that Chuck has made more than 60 dining room tables (my mom and dad, who were faculty members, receiving his first). He makes rocking horses for nearly every newborn member of the community starting with Amanda Hanlon ’04 three decades ago.

There have been kids’ tables, ping pong tables, picnic tables, seminar tables, and coffee tables.

It’s never mattered whether you were his advisee, player, dorm resident, friend, colleague, or friend of a friend. If you have an interest in Loomis, he has an interest in you. Community doesn’t speak louder than that.

Many of us remember the days loomischaffee.org | 19

Freshmen Emma Glezen and Madison Stevens Freshman Georgia Kraus

of Bruno’s Burgers. Every evening right after study hall, which ended at 9:30 p.m., students found their way over to Flagg Hall to purchase their evening snacks. There was no food delivery back then, and Bruno’s Burgers became a school institution. Even today it ranks high on the favorite activity list with alumni returning for Reunion Weekend, when Chuck flips the same kind of burgers and remembers everyone’s name like it was yesterday.

When Chuck worked full-time at the school, he started and ran the work program. Beyond the usual weekday “work jobs,” there was a special Sunday Morning Work Squad when we’d do two hours of various chores around campus. Students made reservations with this exclusive club by missing class during the previous week or through some other below-par performance in other areas of school life. I was a frequent flyer with this club, and Bruno always made us feel we were doing something worthwhile for the school. He never allowed us to just put in our time. He wouldn’t allow that kind of thinking. We did something constructive, and often we went over the time limit set by the dean.

Throughout his years as a full-time faculty member, Chuck coached three sports every year, and he has coached at every level from varsity to III. He also has coached many different sports and later in his career switched from coaching boys teams to coaching girls. His first venture with coaching girls was with the varsity soccer team, and it didn’t take long before that program was winning New England championships. Bruno has always been, and still is, an amazing coach and motivator of young people.

Liz Leyden, head coach of our girls varsity hockey team, with whom Bruno currently coaches, shared this: “I’ve never worked with someone who was so good at teaching basic skills. He has a way of watching some20 |

Senior Traken Sutton

thing, breaking it down to its most basic elements and then teaching it step by step.

He makes up drills by figuring out what he wants to teach, and then creating a drill for it. Working with Bruno has been vital in my development as a coach.” Coaching has given Chuck another platform to reach students and influence a greater percentage of our community.

Chuck’s name is on the award given annually to the most valuable player in the New England Girls Hockey Division I Tournament. And a new award at Loomis, called simply The Chuck Vernon Award, will be given each year to a girls varsity hockey player who best demonstrates high character, commitment to team values, and leadership.

Bruno pays attention to all regardless of sport or level. Many of us have arrived to practice the day after a particularly satisfying win to find a five-gallon bucket of juice, paper cups, and a makeshift ladel with a short note from Bruno congratulating the team for the win. The juice usually has a fitting name —Westy Whumpum, Salisbury Stew, and Berkshire Broth, to name just a few.

Back in the mid 1970s, Bruno organized a “fac brat” hockey team, the Pelican Pucksters. He arranged some games with local high schools so we could occasionally have competition other than each other. More recently he organized a Fac Brat Skate program to help teach the youngest faculty children how to ice skate, but mostly how to have fun at the rink.

And Chuck never forgets about you once you leave the Island. Just check out the number of friends he has on Facebook. His

Sophomore Nelson Boachie-Yiadom

network is nearly as large as our Alumni Office’s. This winter the girls varsity hockey team played in the New England Championship game against Nobles. Thanks to Bruno’s outreach, at least seven former captains of the girls team came to the game.

And Chuck handed out “Property of Loomis” T-shirts to the children of each of his former players at the game.

For me and many others, Chuck represents all the good that can happen at our schools.

He represents tradition and has established small but meaningful legacies that will no doubt stand the test of time because they remind us of our past.

Whether you know Bruno or not, there are undoubtedly people in your life who similarly represent the good that comes from community-building at its best, putting others first and taking the time to remember, to anticipate, and to celebrate lives other than our own. We all can do a better job of it by following Bruno’s example. ©

VARSITY SCOREBOARD SPORT

Junior Madison Perry

RECORD ACCOLADES

Boys Basketball 12-13 Girls Basketball 16-6

Skiing 5-4 Boys Squash 6-12 Girls Squash 8-8 Boys Hockey 19-7-3 Girls Hockey 22-4-1 Boys Swimming & Diving 10-2 Girls Swimming & Diving 6-5

Wrestling 11-8

* New England Class A Tournament Quarterfinalist * New England Class A Tournament Quarterfinalist * Founders League Champion

* New England Elite Division Tournament Quarterfinalist * New England Division 1 Finalist * Founders League, 2nd place * Founders League Champion * Diver Madison Perry: Founders League and New England Division 1 Champion

Photo below, sophomore Kimberly Ma Photos: Tom Honan

loomischaffee.org | 21

Cultivating Qualities MIND { W of

CREATIVITY COLLABORATION CRITICAL THINKING COMMUNICATION

By Becky Purdy

HAT abilities should Loomis Chaffee students attain by the time they graduate so that they can thrive in college and in their subsequent lives? And how can the school most effectively help students to develop these skills? These are the questions that a group of faculty members has examined for the last two years.

They were heady topics for a group named, innocently enough, the Curriculum Review Committee, but the time was ripe for a paradigm shift. The school completed a comprehensive and detailed review of its curriculum several years ago — the first fullfledged curriculum review in 30 years — and the next step was to consider the philosophical underpinnings of Loomis Chaffee’s academic mission against the backdrop of the broader education picture and the wider world.

Simply put, the latest curriculum review has sought to ensure “that the teaching and learning that goes on here is relevant in this rapidly changing world,” says Dean of Aca-

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demic Affairs Webb Trenchard, who chaired the committee.

After extensive research, discussion, and input from the teaching faculty and departments, the committee identified four key “competencies” as the essential outcomes of a Loomis Chaffee education, areas in which the Loomis experience, across disciplines, should help every student to become a skilled practitioner: creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication.

Emphasizing the importance of developing competencies across disciplines fits in well with broader changes in education, Webb says. It has become a truism that schools are preparing students today for jobs that do not yet exist and fields that have not yet been imagined. The world and the global economy are changing too fast for educators to anticipate the specific skills their students will need. Instead, students must learn to be thinkers, doers, problem-solvers, adapters.

They must be able to collaborate, to think critically, to create, and to communicate.

Around a Harkness table, freshmen work on a vocabulary lesson with English teacher and Dean of Academic Affairs Webb Trenchard. Photos: John Groo

www.loomischaffee.org | 23

COMMUNICATION Language teacher Sabine Giannamore helps French III Advanced students sophomore Ruby Schiller and freshman Liam Scott during class.

After identifying the key competencies, the committee looked at ways that the school’s curriculum achieves these standards and how it could do better. Specific outcomes of the curriculum review include a change in the school’s designation of its most advanced courses, a coordinated emphasis on writing across disciplines, plans for an innovation lab on campus, and some department-level changes that promote collaboration among students and faculty.

COLLEGE-LEVEL COURSES Beginning next fall, 41 of the school’s courses will be designated “College-Level.” These include courses previously labeled “Advanced Placement,” or AP, as well as other courses that are as advanced as, if not more than, the AP classes.

The change represents more than semantics. It marks a recognition that the school’s most advanced courses teach at a pace, a depth, and a level of sophistication that one would find in a firstor second-year college or university course. And even though a number of courses will continue to prepare students to sit for AP exams, the change in designation will free Loomis courses from the restrictions of the AP curriculum, set by committees appointed by the College Board.

Sabine Giannamore, a French teacher and member of the Curriculum Review Committee, greets the change as a victory for more in-depth and creative learning. “I feel liberated. I feel extremely excited, energized,” says Sabine, who has taught AP French for 20 years. “I have felt more and more hindered by the AP.” Over the next school year, the Modern and Classical Languages Department will re-examine its AP courses and decide what changes to make for the 2017–18 school year.

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The AP language curriculum identifies six themes that will be covered on the national AP exam in each language in May, and teachers must make sure they cover all of those themes. Freed from these restrictions, Sabine says, she might choose to include three themes in her lessons and delve deeper into each area. She also would reduce her use of multiple-choice quiz and test questions in favor of written responses because, she notes, students must think more deeply and compose answers in French in order to respond to the short-answer questions, rather than just looking for the correct answer on a multiple choice list.

Sabine also would like to assign some longer, more intensive projects, assignments that tie in with the school’s emphasis on writing.

She envisions some of these projects would include multimedia presentations. With a master’s degree in communications and experience as a print and broadcast journalism in France and the United States (in addition to her Sorbonne studies in literature and years of experience as a teacher), Sabine is particularly suited to helping students create these kinds of projects.

“College-Level” courses will have to live up to high standards, based on guidelines created by the Curriculum Review Committee, but the idea behind the move away from the AP label was to give teachers more freedom to be creative, comments Adnan Rubai, a member of the committee and assistant head of the Math Department. Not every course previously carrying the AP label will make this shift, however. The Math Department will continue to prepare students for AP exams in Calculus AB, Calculus BC, and statistics, so students in those courses will not encounter much, if any, change in the course material. Other courses, like those in the languages department, may change after a year or two of consideration and redesign. Three courses — year-long courses in environmental science, computer science, and European history — will shift away

CRITICAL THINKING

Math teacher Adnan Rubai works with junior Taseen Anwar, a student in Adnan's Advanced Placement Calculus AB class.

from the AP curriculum next year in favor of delving into material that the AP curriculum does not cover or only touches upon. The courses still will cover most of the AP material, but their students who wish to sit for AP computer science, environmental science, or European history exams will need to do some supplemental preparation, with guidance from their teachers.

The AP Computer Science “A” curriculum (the College Board is launching a second AP curriculum and exam in computer science next fall) trains students in the programming language Java, and the exam tests for industry-level proficiency in the language, explains computer science and math teacher Amanda Holland.

“While there are some benefits to this, of course, it doesn’t allow students to explore the different facets of the computer science field,” she says. There also is no single language, Java or any other, that is universally accepted in the field of computer science.

“It is beneficial to know many languages and more importantly to have the ability to learn a new language quickly. In a job, one week might require one language and the next week might require another one,” Amanda says.

In the revamped computer science course, College-Level Principles and Practice of Computer Science, students will learn several programming languages, explore the field of computer science beyond programming, and exercise their creativity. Amanda says the new curriculum will allow students to “explore projects that require different languages, different strategies, and skills from different subject areas. … If we were to continue with the same AP curriculum, we wouldn’t have the luxury to create these mini-projects that will be more reflective of what they would see in the CS field.”

Under the curriculum review’s guidance, greater emphasis on project-based learning and cross-disciplinary creativity will gradu-

ally become more prevalent throughout the Loomis curriculum, not just in the school’s College-Level courses.

Coinciding with these changes is a new school schedule, which will take effect in the fall. All classes will meet for 75 minutes (except on Wednesdays, when they will meet for 50 minutes), and fewer classes will convene on any given day of the week, giving students and teachers more learning time and fewer disruptive transitions.

(See HeadLines, page 2.) The school, which developed the schedule with help from Bryan Smyth, a scheduling consultant with Independent School Management, hopes the new schedule will not only calm the current frenetic pace of class days, but also give teachers and their students more time and flexibility to think and work creativity, collaboratively, and experientially.

WRITING AND INNOVATION One of the earliest outcomes of the curriculum review was the creation of a new position at the school, a director of writing initiatives. Longtime English teacher Sally Knight was appointed to the post, and she is charged with developing a writing initiatives program at Loomis. Or, as Sally says, “the charge is to figure out how we support teachers and students as we encourage and teach and promote effective communication through writing” and help students recognize and have confidence in their writing skills.

The creation of the position and the program grew out of “a desire to double down on a strength” of the school, Webb explains. Loomis Chaffee is known for developing strong writing in all of its students.

College professors regularly praise the essays and writing ability of Loomis graduates in their classes.

One of the aims of the writing initiatives program is to coordinate the department-by-department teaching of writing, Sally says. She www.loomischaffee.org | 25

CREATIVITY With a thought-provoking question, English teacher Sally Knight prompts class discussion among juniors Huy Pham, Ilya Yudkovsky, and classmates in Advanced English III Seminar.

has met with department heads; the directors of the school’s Henry R. Kravis ’63 Center for Excellence in Teaching, Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies, and Norton Family Center for the Common Good; and a wide swath of teaching faculty, and she will survey all teaching faculty this spring to find out about writing assignments and the instruction of writing in all departments. Later this year she plans to assemble a “think tank” of advisory faculty members so that the writing initiatives program continues to be a collaboration and a program that the whole school owns.

Sally’s ultimate proposal for the program is likely to include a writing studio, a dedicated space on campus for the craft of writing.

Sally envisions a creative and collegial atmosphere at the studio.

Staffed by faculty from various disciplines, the studio would be enriched by a collection of instructional mini-lessons and a library of good models of writing for particular types of assignments. Student writing tutors also would be trained in the studio. The studio’s faculty and student tutors would function as writing coaches or writing counselors. When you are thinking through an idea, Sally says, “sometimes you need a place to go and a person to talk to in order to get your thoughts together and know what questions to ask.”

The same is true for the writing process, which is itself a thinking process.

As with the writing studio idea, the conception of an innovation lab grew out of the curriculum review. The lab would be a nexus for design thinking and project-based learning, a space for making and inventing, for robotics and computer programming, for technological resources, experiential learning, collaboration, and experimentation. “Effective 21st century leaders who want to make a positive difference in the world must be innovative and creative problemsolvers,” explains a preliminary description of the lab. “. . . The lab’s programming will bridge disciplines and curricula across campus, 26 |

inform pedagogy, and, most importantly, give students the freedom to explore, design, and invent.”

Although not yet in place, the innovation lab idea is gathering steam quickly. The school hopes to hire a director of innovation this spring so that person can take part in the planning for the physical space on campus as well as the program itself.

The writing initiatives and innovation lab programs tie in with all of the four key competencies — communication through the written word and presentation; creativity in original composition and innovative concepts; critical thinking in the process of building a convincing argument, telling a compelling story, and constructing a workable robot; collaboration in the act of working with others to improve one’s writing and to advance one’s ideas.

COLLABORATION ON A MACRO SCALE As the writing and innovation initiatives illustrate, increased collaboration is a broader goal of the curriculum review — collaboration not just as an individual skill, but also as a campus-wide practice. Several recent changes in departments reflect this greater emphasis on collaboration at Loomis.

This fall the Philosophy, Psychology & Religious Studies Department and the History Department merged into one academic department with many facets. The new department name is a mouthful: the History, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Social Science Department, but the merger pulled together fields of study that foster similar kinds of critical thinking, discussion, and collaboration. The department describes itself as “bring[ing] together talented faculty to share, collaborate, and innovate in the instruction of our students as they explore different historic and contemporary societies, cultures, philosophies, political systems, religions,

COLLABORATION

Junior Sophie Elgamal and senior Alexander Cohen work together in Advanced Placement Calculus AB.

economies, and more. While studying in this department you will look within and without, gaining an appreciation of the past and present through multiple perspectives, developing a greater understanding of yourself and others, deepening your understanding of our interdependent and complex world, and growing toward a more meaningful and integrated experience of the world.”

The school’s global and environmental initiatives also merged this year under the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies.

These two areas of study, awareness, and action are interconnected in many ways, and combining them in the Alvord Center created a structure for natural collaboration. Among the programs under its umbrella are international education ventures, sustainability initiatives, the Bussel Family International Lecture Series, Global & Environmental Studies Certificate, Gilchrist Environmental Fellowships, and the on-campus agriculture program.

From a writing studio and an innovation lab to a focus on key competencies and a new designation for the most advanced courses, the curriculum review has produced a wide range of outcomes, but they share the same philosophical underpinning — a desire to give students what they need most from their Loomis experience.

Until now, the school defined its academic philosophy by the knowledge students should acquire in the course of their Loomis education. In order to graduate, students must meet minimum course requirements in all the school’s disciplines, requirements that have been in place for years: Four-year Loomis students must take four years of English; gain or exceed third-year proficiency in a foreign language; complete a minimum of two years of science, including a physical science and a life science; complete a minimum of two years of history, including world history and United States history; take at least two philosophy, psychology, or religious studies

courses; take the equivalent of three or more terms of instruction in the arts; and meet several other requirements. The latest curriculum review does not change these diploma requirements, but rather adds a wider framework that is intentional and cross-disciplinary in its emphasis on broad skills and qualities of mind.

“Our diploma requirements are based on disciplines — you need this much English, math, foreign language, etcetera, in order to graduate,” Webb explains. “Once you take all of those courses, you will have met our graduation requirements. We do not say, ‘Once you have proven yourself to be proficient in analytical thinking, or creativity, or communicating your ideas, then you can graduate.’ Of course, we hope that our discipline-specific graduation requirements do emphasize all of these skills, and I think that they do, but in this curriculum review process, we have begun to look at the competencies first and the discipline second.”

As the changes and new initiatives resulting from the curriculum review continue to take shape, the academic atmosphere is likely to evolve in subtle but significant ways, according to members of the Curriculum Review Committee and school administrators. Because of the focus on key competencies, the Loomis curriculum will feel continually fresh and relevant, Webb says, while the school retains the qualities that are central to its identity — the close-knit community of students and faculty and the emphasis on the best self and the common good, for instance.

“I think that there’s a good chance that this might be our last formal curriculum review, not because we’re done and we think we’ve got it right, but because we’re at a point where the review will be ongoing and constant,” Webb says. ©

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Michael Wang bonds with school children at the Fabindia School in rural India.

All photos: Loomis Chaffee Archives

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JOURNEYS Educational Travel Widens Students’ Global Views Story by Christine Coyle “HAVING A GLOBAL EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT for understanding that differences in language, culture, and religion aren’t barriers; they are opportunities to think about your own traditions and habits from another perspective — maybe even to question them,” says junior Sophie Christiano, a member of the LC Scholars program at Loomis.

Pursuing an interest in emergency medicine, Sophie joined an educational travel experience last summer in Belize, where she trained as a Wilderness First Responder — learning how to administer first aid in an area where medical care is not easily accessible. With a group from BroadSophie Christiano takes a Belezean woman's blood pressure. reach Global Adventures, Sophie shadowed doctors in public health clinics and participated in hands-on mock rescue simulations, where she learned to stabilize injured patients, check vital signs, perform CPR, and assist in an evacuation. At the end of the three-week program, Sophie earned her Wilderness First Responder certification.

A morning boat ride takes students to the Tres Chimbadas Oxbow on the Tambopata River in the Amazon Rainforest.

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Above: Nancy Coulverson looks down at Cape Town, South Africa, from the top of Table Mountain. Far left: South Africans in the Kliptown Youth Project present a dance performance in Johannesburg. Near left: A sign in South Africa.

On her last day working at a temporary community clinic set up in the town of San Ignacio, where the students assisted doctors by taking blood pressure and listening to patients explain their medical needs, Sophie says a local woman asked if the group would be returning.

“It was difficult to tell [her] that we weren’t coming back, and to walk away knowing that our clinic was probably one of her only chances at some kind of healthcare … minimal as it was,” says Sophie. “My experience helped me understand, beyond 30 |

the science of medicine, what it is like to work in the medical field … and increased my interest in pursuing a medical profession.”

Global citizenship plays a large part in Loomis Chaffee students’ quest to become their best selves and advance the common good, and their efforts are both supported and enhanced through international travel learning opportunities offered through the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies and through study abroad programs in

Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Loomis’ commitment to a globally-focused education also is reflected in the inclusion of an international experience for students in both the LC

The South Africa educational program included a visit to the Hector Peterson Museum in Johannesburg, Julien Zubkov learns about one of the exhibits.

Above: History teacher Elliott Dial, a faculty chaperone on an Alvord Center trip to the Dominican Republic, poses with two of his new friends at the home construction site — a young member of the family that would move into the new house and a local boy who was learning artisan skills from the masons on the job site. Far right: Eisuke Tanioke, a member of Loomis Chaffee's varsity baseball team, plays ball with community members in the Dominican Republic.

Scholars and Kravis Scholars programs.

Kravis Scholars, students with leadership and academic potential who are from culturally, geographically, and ethnically under-represented backgrounds, receive financial, academic, and mentoring support while at Loomis. In addition, travel expenses to join an Alvord Center-sponsored international travel program is included in their scholarships.

Senior Nancy Coulverson, a Kravis Scholar, traveled to South Africa on a trip organized by the Alvord Center in June 2015. There, Loomis students met with young South Africans of the Kliptown Youth Project (KYP), an organization seeking to provide educational opportunities and end poverty in their township, and joined in a traditional barbecue.

Loomis students help to build a house for a family in the Dominican Republic, a "learning service" aspect of the Alvord Center's international education program.

Anh Nguyen, Margo Rybeck, Rachel Walsh, and Sasha Mesmain take pictures with the matriarch of the family moving into the house that students built with the organization Cambiando Vidas in the Dominican Republic.

“We saw one of 50 water taps that the 50,000 people in the town use and learned about the uses and the good quality of the water,” wrote Nancy in a student blog post about the journey. “After helping [prepare the barbecue] we got time to mingle with the KYP kids. We played soccer, taught each other dances, and even exchanged www.loomischaffee.org | 31

contact information with the older students. We had a great time and loved interacting with the kids.” Upon reflection about her trip, Nancy says she realized that people living in poverty in the United States, though different from those in South Africa in many ways, share some of the same challenges.

mersed in a culture so different from their own — one they may not have experienced before Loomis,” says Elliott. “Through travel they make new connections with people from another culture as well as with some of their fellow students they may not have shared interests or classes with on campus.”

History teacher Elliott Dial serves as director of the Kravis Scholars program, and he chaperoned Alvord Center trips to the Dominican Republic in 2014 and 2015.

Beyond tourism and language learning, Loomis’ programs are integrated learning experiences that challenge students to stretch themselves both academically and personally, says Marley Aloe Matlack, director of international education programs and associate director of

“It’s a key growth opportunity for the Kravis Scholars to be im32 |

the Alvord Center. Participants are encouraged to take risks, to examine and ask questions of their observations, and then to reflect upon their travel discoveries.

“Unlike other schools, we organize travel programs inhouse, so we can tailor them to inform and enrich what Loomis students are learning across the curriculum and in their

Clockwise from top left: Kiyiana Downer interacts with local students at a community fair that the Loomis group helped to coordinate at the Fabindia School in Bali, India; Jason Liu revels in a colorful welcoming ceremony; Loomis faculty member Molly Pond shares a laugh with a local community member at the Fabindia School; and students learn about sustainable resources in rural India.

Taking a break from Model Europe conference activities in Budapest, Hungary, the Loomis delegation visits the Parliament Building: (back) Cynthia Hui, Minh Nguyen, Nathaniel Lyons, and Guarang Goel; and (front) Lily Maris, Ilya Yudkovsky, Derek Pang, Rikuo Miura, Sami Agadi, and Gloria Yi.

Students Samir Agadi, Ilya Yudkovsky, and Derek Pang and history teacher Thomas Pipoli take a cooking class in Hungary, one of the cultural activities during the international education program in Budapest.

The Chain Bridge in Budapest at night.

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Above: The Arctic Circle group takes a break from their Earthwatch research to go dogsledding. At left: Students measure snow pack for signs of climate change in the Arctic Circle.

understand their place in the world and their connection to others and the environment.

“The world we live in today is interconnected in so many ways,” says Marley. “Issues of concern about climate and the environment, and humanitarian concerns like public health, education, migration, and poverty, are not [just] local — they’re worldwide.”

extracurricular activities,” adds Marley.

Each itinerary is planned around themes for investigation and discussion. For example, in addition to exploring the natural wonders of Peru on a journey last summer, students and faculty chaperones also examined issues of sustainability.

The group met with local coffee 34 |

farmers and other people in organizations dedicated to preserving the traditional way of life for Andean people. In consideration of tourism’s impact, the group reflected on ways to respectfully communicate with others while abroad.

The international education programs foster global citizenship by helping students

Recent international programs in India, in partnership with the Fabindia School in the village of Bali, considered access to education in a rural society and the impact of gender norms on the lives of Indian people. Given India’s population growth and its position as an imminent global power, the Loomis travel groups also examined the impact and challenges of globalization on India.

Junior Jason Liu was among the travel group to India in March 2015.

“Many of us faced many challenges, such as the new experience of touching cow dung and using a scythe, but ultimately we bonded with the Fabindia students and learned more about their [rural lifestyle.]

After our activities, we were aggressively thanked by a woman splattering our faces with bright magenta Holi paint. It was a very honoring experience,” wrote Jason with his travel blog partners in a post about their experience.

“In a world where more and more people sit behind a screen to ‘see’ other places, going on a trip abroad allows us to experience something genuine and unique, something a laptop or cellphone cannot provide,” reflects Jason. “I was fortunate to be selected to go.”

Described as “learning service” more than “service learning” according to Marley, the trips to the Dominican Republic engage students in community projects

Students hike to Machu Picchu on the Salkanay Trail.

ing school, and students take traditional high school classes along with a unique program of study emphasizing spoken and classical Arabic language, or a continuation of a student’s Arabic studies begun at Loomis.

that examine the relationships between wealth, community, lifestyle, and contentment.

An Alvord Center trip to Hungary last winter involved students in a different kind of experiential learning abroad. The group of Model United Nations students traveled to Budapest for the Yale Model Government Europe conference. The group spent the initial part of the journey exploring Budapest, the economic, political, and cultural hub of Hungary, which gave the Loomis contingent context for the conference. The simulated European political and diplomatic interactions revolved largely around the refugee crisis in Europe.

Loomis also has sent students and faculty on recent international education programs in China, France, Italy, Spain, and the provinces of Quebec and Manitoba near the Arctic Circle in Canada. With the expanded mission of the Alvord Center last year to include both global and environmental studies, the school recognizes the connection between the two, and their impact on the world that Loo-

mis students are poised to lead.

“Interest in the international programs has grown considerably over the last few years,” notes Marley. “We will continue to present new and unique international opportunities that will help our students make connections to the world around them and enhance what they learn here on the Island.”

LC Scholars receive funding from Loomis for an international travel experience during the summer between the sophomore and junior year. They may choose to join one of the Alvord Center programs or embark on an experience of their own choosing. All incoming ninthgrade applicants to Loomis are considered for inclusion in the LC Scholars program. Students are selected for the program based on demonstrated exceptional leadership and academic potential.

“The summer travel has been a significant experience for our LC Scholars,” says Nancy Cleary, senior associate director of admissions. “While we encourage them to consider ser-

vice, education, and leadership when choosing their program, there are very few restrictions placed on what they can pursue.

We want them to explore something they have a passion for, and the variety of their choices has been really interesting.”

In addition to the adventurous destinations of Morocco, Thailand, Belize, and Ecuador, LC Scholars have recently traveled to the United Kingdom for an Oxbridge summer academic program and to Costa Rica on a service experience, among other international programs.

Upon returning to the Island, LC Scholars each make a formal presentation to the school community to share their discoveries, which, Nancy Cleary points out, aids in the further development of their leadership skills.

Loomis also offers all students a variety of options for study abroad. One of the most popular programs is a study of Middle Eastern culture and Arabic language at the Kings Academy near Amman, Jordan, for one term or a full school year.

King’s Academy is modeled after an American-style board-

Junior Anika Bhargava, an LC Scholar, spent fall term 2015 studying at King’s Academy.

The experience allowed her to interact with people from all over the world and gain new perspectives, she says. As a member of a student club at King’s Academy that tutored adult Syrian refugees in English, Anika says she observed “the reality of the plight of people in the region” juxtaposed against the security of life on the school’s campus.

“I realized that the issues we hear about on the news such as refugee crises, extremist groups, and dire poverty are not just distant topics that others should be concerned with — these are real problems that affect kids our age and that hold them back from achieving their true potentials,” remarks Anika.

She says her term in Jordan has inspired her to continue her study of languages, and possibly pursue a career in international diplomacy.

At journey’s end, says Marley, the ultimate goal of experiential travel is for all Loomis students to ask themselves the questions: “So what?” “Why does that matter?” And most especially, “Now what?” ©

www.loomischaffee.org | 35

East LA Interchange cinematographer Gretchen Warthen and director Betsy Kalin ’87 © 2015 Chris Chew/Bluewater Media.

Neighborhood F Storyline

ILMMAKER Betsy Kalin ’87 combined her passion for storytelling with her commitment to activism and social justice in last summer’s release of her feature-length documentary East L.A. Interchange, a nine-year project that has garnered acclaim at film festivals nationwide.

In the documentary East L.A. Interchange, director Betsy Kalin ’87 chronicles the history and resilience of Boyle Heights.

By Christine Coyle

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“I really enjoy being able to be entertaining and make a difference,” says Betsy. “Documentary films are uniquely positioned to do just that.”

East L.A. Interchange follows the history of diverse immigrant populations who came to California in large numbers beginning around the 1920s. Drawn to the area because of its affordability and ethnic diversity, they settled in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of eastern Los Angeles. Mexican, Japanese, and Jewish populations from Russia and Eastern Europe settled in the area, forming community bonds over their shared immigrant experience. Eventually Boyle Heights’s multicultural population

shifted to being predominantly low-income Latino. Residents left for various reasons — the Japanese were sent to internment camps during World War II, and Jewish and other white residents who were able to establish financial footing, often through small business ownership, relocated to more desirable neighborhoods.

The film’s story highlights how the East L.A. neighborhood drew upon its tight-knit bonds to organize and oppose the land acquisition and construction of one of the largest and busiest interstate interchanges in California’s extensive highway plan from the 1940s through the 1960s. Without the political and financial power to minimize development, underrepresented neighborhoods like Boyle Heights were carved up to make way for construction — destroying homes and displacing residents in the thousands and furthering the dissection of the community. It’s a cautionary, but hopeful, tale about how migration and displacement can adversely affect a community.

Despite substantial activism efforts, says Betsy, the residents of Boyle Heights were unable to stop the progress of the interchange, but triumphed in remaining bonded as a community.

Betsy's time on the Island had an impact on her choice of vocation and subsequent career in documentary filmmaking.

“Photography class with Mr. [Walter] Rabetz changed my life. I knew after that experience that I definitely wanted to go into the visual arts,” she says. Betsy loved English class with Frank House, with whom she remained in contact for many years after graduation. A class covering Hitchcock films, a course on the psychology of death and dying, Satire with Samuel Pierson, and Spanish with Kitty Peterson ’72

Boyle Heights native Xavi Moreno, who is featured in the documentary, stands above an East L.A. freeway.

influenced her desire to tell an engaging visual story — with a purpose.

“But I really struggled in Mr. [David] Haller’s calculus class,” she admits.

Co-founding a student-run service club with Tom Foster ’87 also stands out as an important experience for Betsy. Club members, including many of her classmates, endeavored to help the local community by organizing fundraising activities for March of Dimes and the AIDS Project of Hartford; organizing holiday toy drives; and visiting residents in Windsor nursing homes.

Betsy attended Columbia College at Columbia University of

New York, where she focused on women’s studies and film. At the time, there was no undergraduate film major, so her courses were English classes about film. As luck would have it, undergrads were able to take classes at Columbia’s graduate film school, where Betsy says the professors were outstanding. While at Columbia, Betsy interned with Women Make Movies, a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to supporting women in the industry.

The experience exposed her to independent documentary work by women — a rarity at the time.

After graduation, Betsy took a job in management consulting in San Francisco, but finding the work unfulfilling, she

“

Photography class with Mr. Rabetz changed my life. I knew after that experience that I definitely wanted to go into the visual arts.

”

— Betsy Kalin

www.loomischaffee.org | 37

decided to change course and began working for filmmakers.

The work inspired her to pursue a master’s degree of fine arts in motion picture directing at the University of Miami in Florida.

Betsy’s thesis film premiered at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art as part of a New Directors/New Films series and launched her professional career.

After her graduate work, Betsy was inspired to get involved in the Boyle Heights film project through her colleague Eric Waterman, an executive producer of the film whose extended family lived in the area at one time.

Betsy says she became fascinated with the history of the area’s dynamic multicultural populations and its community activism. Residents of Boyle Heights, according to Betsy, are uniquely passionate about their neighborhood and are invested in celebrating its history and its preservation even as gentrification threatens the way of life for its working-class residents.

Richard Wright, the Orvil Dryfoos Professor of Public Affairs and geography professor at Dartmouth College, and husband to Loomis Head of School Sheila Culbert, conducted research on populations in the L.A. area for the project, which he shares in an appearance in the film. All of the graphs in the film, says Betsy, are drawn from the historical data that Richard and his colleagues uncovered as a part of his MixedMetro project examining racial and ethnic diversity of U.S. metropolitan areas. Betsy had been searching for someone with expertise in the area of populations and migration when she was seren38 |

dipitously introduced to Richard at a Loomis Chaffee alumni reception in L.A. “It was fortuitous,” says Betsy, “and Richard was wonderfully supportive.”

Other notable contributors to the film are FaPhoto: 2015 Eric Waterman/Bluewater Media ther Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, an outreach program for at-risk youth that originated in Boyle Heights; and entertainer and philanthropist will. i. am, front-man of The Black Eyed Peas, who at one time lived in the area. Actor Danny Trejo, star of the film Machete, narrates the documentary.

“

Producing and directing a feature-length documentary has many complexities and challenges, says Betsy, the biggest of which is acquiring funding.

Even after all the money has been raised to bring the film to completion, there is still a major fundraising effort needed to distribute the film widely, she says.

“Our ultimate goal for East L.A. Interchange is to promote outreach and engagement in schools, universities, and community groups in L.A. neighborhoods,” explains Betsy. “We need money to do that because schools and community groups don’t have budgets in place to rent films. Also, many of the residents speak Spanish, and unfortunately, we don’t have money to pay for closed captioning and Spanish subtitles, which is frustrating,” she says.

The process for producing and then distributing a film like East L.A. Interchange involves myr-

Many of the problems faced in society today are, at least in part, due to a disconnection of people within communities, says Betsy.

”

iad financial details pertaining to research, insurance costs, licensing, employment concerns, legal fees, and marketing costs.

“I must say Mr. Haller would probably be proud of me for learning how to deal with spreadsheets,” jokes Betsy.

The rewards for Betsy go well beyond mastering the numbers, though. She hopes the film’s audiences will make an emotional connection to the people of Boyle Heights, as she has, and will be inspired to

become active in their own neighborhoods — or just to talk with their neighbors. Many of the problems faced in society today are, at least in part, due to a disconnection of people within communities, says Betsy.

Industry recognition for the film in 2015 included an Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Highland Park Independent Film Festival; an Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Downtown L.A. Film Festival; and an award for Best Feature Film at L.A.’s New Urbanism Film Festival. The film also has received a warm reception from the media, says Betsy, with positive reviews in The Huffington Post and L.A. Weekly.

Betsy continues her fundraising efforts to provide outreach and educational screenings of East L.A. Interchange, and she has begun work on a new documentary series with her wife, Chris Chew. Though firmly planted in California for now, Betsy still remains connected to Loomis and her hometown of Windsor.

“Loomis Chaffee was the best experience for me,” says Betsy, who remains close to friends, teachers, and mentors whom she met on the Island. “I love to come back and visit whenever I can.”

To read more about East L.A. Interchange, view a list of public screenings, or find out about supporting its public outreach, connect to the film’s website at www.bluewatermedia.org ©

Expert on Immigration Data Leads Discussion

R

asked how the country should manage the influx. He suggested that Americans need to examine the available data and put the risks into perspective. We should “regulate rather than criminalize” population flows, he said.

ICHARD WRIGHT, the Orvil Dryfoos Professor of Public Affairs and geography professor at Dartmouth College, led an evening discussion on campus in December about U.S. immigration and its impact on society.

Using statistical data gathered from the early 1800s to the present day, Richard, a self-professed “numbers guy,” interpreted the story that could be told in those numbers from a historical and sociological perspective, and he challenged the group of about 40 students and faculty gathered in the Burton Room to consider what is at stake for the future of society based on the immigrant experience. Citing research and data from the Migration Policy Institute and the Pew Research Center as well as his own professional study of race and ethnicity in the context of immigration and 10 U.S. STATES WITH THE HIGHEST IMMIGRANT POPULATIONS, 2014          

California 10,512,000 Texas 4,522,000 New York 4,465,000 Florida 3,974,000 New Jersey 1,961,000 Illinois

1,784,000 Massachusetts 1,060,000 Virginia 1,006,000 Georgia 995,000 Washington 945,000

Graphic: Patricia Cousins Source: Migration Policy Institute Data Hub

Richard Wright

economic geography, he shared his analysis and invited the audience to participate in the discussion by raising questions during the presentation.

Richard, who is himself an immigrant to the United States, offered an overview of the historical change in the number and make-up of immigrant populations coming to the country and how those changes have shaped immigration policies over the years. According to the data, the number of foreign-born people living in the United States hit a peak of 14.2 million just before the Great Depression. In 1980, that number was 10 million but since then has quadrupled to 45 million. Today, about one-quarter of the U.S. population is made up of first- or second-generation immigrants. And the make-up of the immigrant population has shifted from being predominantly from Europe to being largely from the Americas and Asia.

In considering this data, Richard turned the conversation to how immigrant populations integrate into society. He noted that migration is “channelized” and that patterns of settlement can be observed in incoming populations, and he discussed the difference in the connotations of “integration” and “assimilation.” Audience questions about the impact of refugees and undocumented immigrants on employment, social services, and terrorism highlighted the complexity of formulating effective, compassionate policies in a balanced and manageable way.

“Any regulation of immigrants is going to be imperfect,” Richard offered when

Richard, husband of Head of School Sheila Culbert, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom and a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Indiana in the United States. His work has been published in numerous professional journals. Some of his contributions in the area of migration study are available on the website mixedmetro.com. The event was co-sponsored by the Norton Family Center for the Common Good and the student multicultural organization PRISM. ©

U.S. foreign-born population reached 45 million in 2015 and is projected to reach 78 million by 2065.

Graphic: Patricia Cousins Source: Gibson and Jung (2006) for 1850 to 1890.

Edmonston and Passel (1994) estimates for 1900–1955; Pew Research Center estimates for 1960–2015 based on adjusted census data; Pew Research Center projections for 2015–2065 PEW RESEARCH CENTER

www.loomischaffee.org | 39

Eli Lehrer ’94 in his office at The R Street Institute in Washington, D.C. Photo: Matt McCain

Political Coming-of-Age An interview with Eli Lehrer ’94 by classmate and author Daniel Oppenheimer Editors’ Note: The best education teaches students to approach all issues with an open mind, to question their own assumptions and beliefs as well as those of others, to form their own opinions, and to question again. These skills are critical to our roles as engaged citizens in a diverse democracy. In this, a presidential election year, we thought it would be interesting to share one alumnus’ personal political journey.

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Daniel Oppenheimer ’94

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LI LEHRER ’94, president and co-founder of the free-market think tank The R Street Institute, wasn’t always a political conservative. In fact, many of his Loomis Chaffee contemporaries may remember that he played the role of Bill Clinton in the 1992 mock presidential campaign on campus. His Loomis years were significant, however, in Eli’s political coming-of-age. It was on the Island that he was first exposed to a range of views and where he began to develop his personal political beliefs, as he relates in this interview by classmate Daniel Oppenheimer. A writer and short documentary filmmaker, Dan conducted the interview in connection with his new book, Exit Right: The People Who Left the Left and Reshaped the American Century, published in February, and Dan shared the interview with Loomis Chaffee Magazine.

Q: T ell me your origin story.

Where did you grow up?

What were your parents’ politics? What was your pre-Loomis life like?

A: I grew up on the north

side of Chicago, and my parents were both liberal activists. Both, for instance, were at different points on the Board of the Illinois ACLU. My father was for all of my childhood in a variety of positions at Legal Services, doing legal work for the poor. Mostly he was involved in welfare-related cases, trying to get people more welfare. I believe he did some black lung litigation, and child custody stuff. Even though our politics are pretty different now, some of what he did I still think is good work.

Certainly there was no question at all that the left was right about just about everything when I was growing up. I remember we had a Ronald Reagan doormat, which I believe was a subscription gift from Mother Jones magazine. I distinctly remember my father [saying] when I was 4 or 5 and Reagan was running for president, that if Reagan was elected, he would cancel Sesame Street and start a nuclear war.

The nuclear war I didn’t worry about too much, but the day after Reagan was elected, I ran upstairs and turned on the TV and was so relieved that Sesame Street was still on.

Q: S o your parents were part of the Chicago-area left.

Did they know Bill Ayers?

A: Y es. They were friends

with Bill and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn. Bernadine actually worked for my father for some years, directly for him. They were and are good social friends of my parents, and were over at our house any number of times when I was growing up. I hung out with their kids. I liked them quite a lot as people, and still do. And I’ve deliberately avoided reading Bill’s writings as a political person because I like them so much as family friends.

Q: W hat about your mom?

What did she do? What were her politics?

A: M y mom was the first

female partner at a big law firm, where she did some women’s rights stuff for the ACLU and other groups. Unlike my father, she certainly had friends

who were not hard left. I’m sure they were liberals or Democrats, but my father’s good friends were virtually all hard left. His best friend to this day is Tom Geoghegan, who is reasonably well known as a labor writer.

Until high school I never thought anything of it. It was just the way things were. I don’t think I knew anybody who was a Republican. I went to this very, very liberal private school in Chicago, the Francis W. Parker School. It’s basically where the left-wing elite of Chicago send their children. It’s become more traditional since I was there, but in my time it was pretty progressive. I didn’t know until years later, but a lot of it was taken from Rudolph Steiner’s philosophy. I remember in gym class, for instance, we spent a lot of time tapping brightly colored sticks together and playing with streamers.

Q: So why Loomis?

A: I t was my decision. My

father [Robert Lehrer ’63] is a Loomis grad, so there was a family tradition, but I was the one who brought it up and pushed for it. And at first my parents were very much against it. But I didn’t like the school I was at in Chicago, and I liked the idea of going away to school, probably in no small part because I had liked going away to summer camp.

Q: D o you think politics were involved at all in why you didn’t like the Francis Parker School?

A: I n hindsight probably

some of it was political, though I didn’t think of it that way at the time. There were certain things that I would question about the school’s world view. The fact that they talked all the time about the importance of diversity, for instance, but had no diversity of opinion, nor any ethnic or racial diversity, bothered me. And they had all these progressive educational ideas, but then as soon as you wanted to challenge authority in any way, it was a big problem.

Q: S o what was the adjustment to Loomis like?

A: B eing away from home

was different. Having a more genuinely diverse class of classmates was different. In objective standards, Loomis wasn’t terribly diverse then, and is not terribly diverse now.

But compared to where I was coming from, it was more diverse in every respect. Socioeconomically, racially, politically. What struck me the most was the political diversity. People had different opinions.

It struck me right away, because I think that before I went to summer camp, in between eighth and ninth grades, I literally hadn’t met anyone who was a Republican. I might not have known a single person who was a Republican, before summer camp.

That was how politically homogenous my world was. And then at Loomis there were so many people who weren’t on the left.

I remember, for example, that the Gulf War hap-

pened during our freshman year. It was widely popular with the public, and I had the sense that most people at Loomis supported it, like most of the American public. That was surprising to me. I was reflexively anti-war myself. It was just obviously wrong.

Q: W as it in high school, then, that you began to question your left-wing beliefs?

A: V ery much so. I remained

a liberal in high school. I played Bill Clinton in the mock campaign the school put on in 1992. But I did begin to explore other ideas. I remember reading National Review in the Loomis library. I read The Nation more often, but I remember reading National Review and thinking there were some smart articles though I also disagreed with almost all of them.

I read National Review the same way that another kid might look at Playboy. Seriously. It was the lure of the forbidden. It was an evil magazine.

I’ve always been a free speech extremist. For me free speech is the beginning and end of everything. As long as you’re not literally shouting fire in a crowded theater, you should be entitled to say it, and while I was at Loomis, I began to see some ways in which values of the left could come into conflict with the value of free speech. I’m thinking of values like diversity and equality, which are values that I was sympathetic to, and remain sympathetic to, but I have issues when they become the justificawww.loomischaffee.org | 41

“ I’m a mainstream conservative with libertarian leanings.”

—Eli Lehrer '94

tion for denying people the right to say what they feel and believe.

Q: W hat’s an example, from your time at Loomis?

A: T ake these details with

a grain of salt because it was 20 years ago, but one memory I have is of a ridiculously broad sexual harassment policy that the school was thinking about implementing, or had implemented. Sexual harassment is wrong, of course, but what I remember is that the policy construed it in this very broad way so that behavior that was simply rude or obnoxious was severely punishable. Obviously you want to stop harassment, but that’s different from stopping people from being rude to each other. I didn’t want people to be kicked out of Loomis for being a jerk or for being rude.

I remember a discussion in an ethics class where the consensus in the class was that in a just society hurtful speech would be banned. That’s the sort of thing that I remember going on. When I graduated, I was pretty liberal on economic issues, but I was beginning to become sensitized to ways that the left could be hostile to free speech.

42 |

Q: W hat I remember of you,

from high school, is that you seemed compelled, or driven, to question the conventional wisdom.

Not necessarily with a particular political slant, just a general aversion to orthodoxy.

A: T hat’s probably a very

accurate summary of my personal predilections. I hope I’m not a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian.

Q: I remember when I was

elected Student Council president, you came to me with this very elaborate plan for abolishing the Student Council and replacing it with a Council of Ombudsmen. I was pretty dismissive. It seemed rather grandiose.

But later on, after spending the year as council president, I came to the conclusion that the core insight you’d had, which was that the council was a sham, was right. It was a way for the administration to pretend students had a voice, when the truth was that we didn’t, and they didn’t want us to. I think you sensed that. It took me a year of being patronized by the deans and the headmaster to figure it out.

A: I don’t remember the specific plan, but that sounds like something I would have done.

Q: T ell me about your alternative newspaper. What was it called?

A: T he Pelican. It mostly came out of censorship of The Log, where I think I’d been news editor.

Q: W hat censorship? From whom?

A: I t was more the advisor

than the administration, I think, though I guess the advisor could have been getting direction from the administration.

She had some particular ideas about what the paper should and shouldn’t include, and it bothered me. I remember one time I got what was a pretty big scoop for the paper.

It was about a large gift to Loomis, and I got the information through a lot of chasing down rumors, real shoe leather reporting, and even got someone from the Alumni Office to confirm it on the record.

The advisor for some reason didn’t want to print it. There were some op-eds that were rejected, and there was also an ongoing dispute about salaries, between the faculty reps [and] the Board of Trustees and … administration, that I wanted to cover for The Log. Again the advisor didn’t want that.

So I started The Pelican.

It actually wasn’t the first incarnation of The Pelican.

This was maybe the third time there had been an

alternative paper called that. It wasn’t a truly underground paper. It wasn’t against school rules, but I received no funding from the school, and we were much more independent.

We had a faculty advisor, but we made him agree to be advisor only at the pleasure of the editorial board, and his role wasn’t to control the content.

Q: Who was the advisor?

A: M r. [Richard] Venable. I

think he saw his role as one of protecting us, keeping us out of trouble with the administration. I wrote one of my college essays about a person I admire greatly, and I wrote it about him. He was a really interesting, iconoclastic guy. My memory is that when we were at Loomis, it became the first significant prep school to distribute condoms, and my understanding is that he was the driving force for that.

Q: S o was it in college when

you really began your turn to the right?

A: Y es, although even when I

graduated from Cornell, I was still a registered Democrat though I certainly had become significantly more conservative on a lot of issues.

Q: So what happened?

A: T here were a number of

things that happened. The most significant was probably a newspaper-burning incident that happened my freshman year [at Cornell] after I was elected to the student assembly. A conservative newspaper printed an article that was by any reasonable standards racist and offensive. The question wasn’t whether it was racist and offensive. It most obviously was. The question was what was to be done. My view was nothing. Say that it was racist and offensive and move on. The view of the campus left, including I believe the president of the student assembly, was much more punitive. They gathered all the copies of the newspaper and burned them in the middle of an intersection in the middle of campus.

There was an assembly proposition that would have recommended some serious sanctions for the newspaper and the columnist, and I managed to defeat that by putting forth another proposition, which passed, that required that whatever we recommended had to comply with the First Amendment.

I was part of the liberal faction of the student assembly, but after that I really began to re-analyze the things I had believed and whether I should really consider myself a left-winger any more.

It was also at Cornell that I met Karl Zinsmeister, who was later chief domestic

policy advisor to George W. Bush. He had a big influence on me. He lived in Ithaca and at the time worked for the American Enterprise Institute, editing their magazine.

I wanted to profile him, actually, for a campus publication. He said no, but he told me he admired my writing, and said, “Why don’t you try writing for us?” And I did. I wrote two articles for them. One was a book review, and the other was a defense of chain bookstores. I loved Barnes & Noble.

Q: T hat’s funny. One of the

first things I ever published was an essay on independent bookstores in which I mentioned my love of Barnes & Noble.

You grew up in Chicago, where they actually had real independent bookstores, but where I grew up, in Springfield, Massachusetts, we had B. Daltons and “independent” bookstores that were glorified gift shops and generally pretty hostile to kids.

When Barnes & Noble first opened in Enfield, it was a revelation for me.

A: E ven in Chicago, it was the

same for me. I remember the Barnes & Noble in Evanston, near my parents’ house, and how incredible it was. It was this big wonderland of books.

Which reminds me of another thing that happened in college that had an influence on me. There was an effort to stop a Wal-Mart from being built in Ithaca.

I covered it. I opposed the store, but still, I questioned the logic. If you really be-

lieve in democracy, should you be opposed to letting people choose where they shop?

Q: S o what happened after college?

A: I was planning to go to

graduate school in medieval studies at the University of Chicago. Then I got the job at The Washington Times, and then the Heritage Foundation, and here I am 18 years later.

Q: H ow would you charac-

terize your politics now?

And how does The R Street Institute, which you founded, fit into the larger conservative ecosystem?

A: I ’m a mainstream con-

servative with libertarian leanings. R Street’s overall politics are pretty much the same on most issues as those of organizations like the American Enterprise Institute, The Cato Institute, and Americans for Tax Reform. We’re part of the same world, attend the same meetings, and join the same coalitions.

We’re different, however, in the way we approach issues. First, we seek to work with people on the left and in the center even when we may agree with them on only one issue. Second, we’re more interested in “real solutions” (it’s part of our motto) than having the most ideologically pure approach to public policy. As such, we’re happy to take victories for free markets on the margin and watch them add up.

Q: I t seems to me that some

of your turn away from the left was driven by frustration with what you saw as intolerance, on the left, for dissenting views. I know you have frustrations with the right. Why don’t they drive you away in the same way?

A: G ood question. Because

the right is right. Okay, that’s too simple an answer. While I disagree with some conservatives on some issues, I can think of very few cases where I disagree with the fundamental premises from which most conservatives reason most of the time.

While there are certainly individuals who have challenged me on specific positions I’ve taken as a conservative, I’ve almost always found that conservatives are open to talking about different views within the conservative tradition and to being challenged. I’ve found the intellectual right to be FAR more tolerant in general of internal disagreements.

Q: A ny thoughts on Donald Trump?

A: I don’t see him as a

conservative, but I do see why and how he speaks to many people’s frustrations.

He also has tremendous personal charisma. That said, there are very, very few issues on which my positions are the same as his. ©

www.loomischaffee.org | 43

In Their Natural Element Photos by junior Anna Meyer Text by Madison Neal

W

HAT does it mean to be in a community where individuality thrives? For junior Anna Meyer, head captain of the Loomis Chaffee Social Media Team, it means seeing people in their natural element. She used her camera and her eclectic group of friends this year to construct a narrative about the Loomis Chaffee experience. Anna’s project — which began as a social media campaign and quickly evolved into a photographic essay — highlights each student’s unique combination of interests and their freedom to pursue multiple passions. Her pictures articulate Anna’s perspective: “Loomis Chaffee is a school where individuality is encouraged and students can be their true selves.” ©

Junior Justin McIntosh, athlete, class president, dancer

44 |

”Loomis Chaffee is a school where individuality is encouraged and students can be their true selves.“ — Anna Meyer

Top: Junior Emma Flynn, math scholar, dorm prefect, athlete Bottom: Senior Abagail Sotomayor, athlete, musician, peer counselor

Top: Sophomore Aaron “Deuce” Ford, environmental proctor, athlete, musician,

Top: Senior Isabella Epstein, Log editor, Jewish Student Union president, Global Studies Certificate candidate

Bottom: Junior Isaac Guzman, PRISM co-president, sculptor, dorm prefect

Bottom: Junior Cynthia Hui, dancer, Pelican Service Organization secretary, international student ambassador

loomischaffee.org | 45

OBJECT LESSONS | BY KAREN PARSONS

Home of the Bard

W

HILE 2016 marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and a multitude of celebrations honoring the Bard’s life and writing, Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, the village where Shakespeare was born and died, has long been a fascination for travelers. Osbert Burr Loomis, one of the Founders of the Loomis Institute, made an overnight stop there during his 1871 Grand Tour of the United Kingdom and Europe. He documented this journey through the English Midlands in a humorous and detailed diary.

Arriving in the village, he and his fellow traveler, Henry Morford, stayed at the Red Horse Inn and in the very room where the American writer Washington Irving had composed his tribute to Shakespeare, later published in 1820 as part of Irving’s serialized The Sketch Book.

Osbert noted that after enjoying an afternoon meal, the two “hasten[ed] to the house where the immortal Shakespear [sic] was born.” The building, by then restored to its 16th-century appearance, had opened as an historic house in the 1860s (after P.T. Barnum’s attempt to purchase the structure with plans to move it to New York and reconstruct it there). Loomis and Morford were the last two to sign the museum’s Visitors Book on July 1, 1871, with Osbert designating himself an artist from New York City.

Osbert’s Grand Tour was influenced by romantic notions about the English past — and his experiences seemed to only confirm these ideals. The Midlands had provided the two travelers with visits to castles in the English countryside, glimpses of great art and archaeological finds collected from the ancient world during the previous century, and more intimate encounters with the folklore and stories of days gone by. While Osbert might have hoped to experience the past in a figurative sense at Shakespeare’s birthplace, he noted another, apparently spontaneous, feeling that came over him during the visit: “How closely they watch every one lest they attempt to carry away some memorial!

Tis right, for if others feel the same immotions [sic] as myself, the wish to carry away a little piece, soon there would not remain the slightest trace of its existence.”

But Osbert had with him both a helpful companion and a gift. He continued, “My curiosity was however gratified without the slightest infraction of any rule. Mr

THE BARD | continued 48

46 |

Osbert Loomis made the visit to Shakespeare’s Birthplace in 1871. Photo: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

www.loomischaffee.org | 47

THE WRITE STUFF

RECENT BOOKS BY ALUMNI AUTHORS These books have been published or have been brought to our attention in the last year. The editors ask alumni to send updates and corrections to magazine@loomis.org for inclusion in this annual list.

F. VanGorder Parker ’47

Connected (book of poems) Richard Adams Carey ’69

In the Evil Day: Violence Comes to One Small Town Peter Samis ’73 and Mimi Michaelson

Creating the Visitor-Centered Museum Bruce Johnson ’75

Helping Your Child Become Successful in School: A Guide for Parents Matt Henderson Ellis ’87

Translation of Sándor Jászberényi’s short story collection The Devil is a Black Dog Cathryn J. Prince ’87

American Daredevil: The Extraordinary Life of Richard Halliburton, the World’s First Celebrity Travel Writer (estimated release June 2016) Peter J. Capuano ’93

Changing Hands: Industry, Evolution, and the Reconfiguration of the Victorian Body Daniel Oppenheimer ’94

Exit Right: The People Who Left the Left and Reshaped the American Century

THE BARD | continued from 46

M[orford] is an old acquaintance of Miss who is the guardian & thus I found favor in her sight, not only to get a few flowers from the garden, but by giving a piece of the Charter Oak of Hartford Conn, to get a piece of the veritable birth chamber of the greatest of Poets.”

The Charter Oak — called by some the most famous tree in all of American history — acquired legendary status about 70 years after Shakespeare died. In 1687,

“

How closely they watch every one lest they attempt to carry away some memorial!

Tis right, for if others feel the same immotions [sic] as myself, the wish to carry away a little piece, soon there would not remain the slightest trace of its existence.

­ ”

— Osbert Loomis

Hartford resident Joseph Wadsworth hid Connecticut’s liberal King Charles-era charter in the hollow of the tree, saving the document from confiscation by Sir Edmund Andros, governor of New England under James II. Over the next two centuries, the tree was memorialized in art, poetry, and histories; an August 1856 wind storm took down the ancient tree. While bells around the city tolled to mark the tree’s passing, The Hartford Courant noted, “one of the most sacred links that binds these modern days to the irrevocable past has been suddenly parted.” Countless objects are said to have been made from the wood of the Charter Oak. Evidence explaining why Osbert had a piece of the famous Hartford tree with him 15 years after its demise continues to elude historians, and recent communication with the curatorial staff at Shakespeare’s Birthplace reveal that this relic most likely has not survived in the museum’s collection. The whereabouts of Osbert’s souvenir from the Bard’s home are also unknown. Despite these lost objects, the significance of legend and legacy — embodied in two slivers of wood grown and hewn on opposites sides of the Atlantic — remain in Osbert Loomis’s travel account. © Karen Parsons is archivist and teaches history.

48 |

ALUMNI NEWS | EDITED BY MADISON NEAL

Connect!

Please send your news to us!

Email Alumni Newsnotes Editor Madison Neal at magazine@loomis.org to share news with classmates and friends. Highresolution photographs are welcome; please clearly identify all people.

1939

John A. Benson Jr. reports, “I am still fortunately quite healthy and active.” He spends some time teaching at Oregon Health and Science University, “oscillating between houses in Portland and the Napa Valley, serving on an editorial board of a medical journal, enjoying the next generations of offspring, and very happily married to an academic nurse educator/ researcher.”

Nan Christensen Carmon writes, “I’m still going strong at 92 years! I am blessed with good health and a wonderful caring family.”

1943

Steele A. Taylor writes, “I always remember what my years at Loomis did for me. Great school!”

1949

Janet McNeill Hively writes, “My global network of innovative advocates for active, positive aging is growing.” Check it out at www.passitonnetwork.org.

1950

Bert Engelhardt reports that he and his wife, Claire, are both living in the Village at Orchard Ridge retirement home in Winchester, Va. Claire, who was diagnosed with aphasia and dementia, is in the skilled nursing facility, which is only a five-minute walk from the main apartment where Bert resides.

Sarah “Sally” S. Martin recently moved to Connecticut to be closer to her daugh-

R EUNIO N

ter. She writes, “I’ve moved to a wonderful community at Whitney Center in New Haven.”

1951

John F. Foster is looking forward to the 65th Reunion in June, when he says he “will have the privilege of sharing some of my work in a PowerPoint program titled ‘The Funny Bone in Poetry — or — Probing for the Humerus.’” One of his most memorable moments of the past year was his appointment as a national poetry judge by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies.

1953

Michael D. Klein organized a February 2016 medical educational conference in Dubai.

Yona Donner Hermann is proud of her granddaughters Ally and Lexi Russell (daughters of Sarah Hermann Russell ’82), both of whom were accepted for early admission to the colleges of their choices. Ally is off to Kenyon and Lexi to the University of Richmond.

1954

Jim Loomis is spending a great amount of time serving as the vice chair of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Railroad Passengers. His book, All Aboard: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide, is now in its fourth edition and continues to do well, he reports.

1956

After losing his wife of 52 years in 2012, Allen Whitaker found love again in Ingeborg “Inge,” married in 2014, and “has been on a nonstop roll ever since.”

Allen enjoyed international travels with his children and grandchildren to Spain, Morocco, Germany, France, and Switzerland. He also plans to travel to New Zealand in April 2016. He notes that he is still helping to lead the Alewerks Brewery to expansion (www.alewerks.com).

June 10–12,

2016

CLASSES ENDING IN 1s AND 6s!

Come home and celebrate with classmates, friends, and faculty at Reunion 2016. Enjoy alumni presentations, live music and dancing, poetry, food, wine, and much more.

Register today!

Be sure to receive electronic updates by sharing your email address with the school.

Update your information and find out more about the weekend at www.loomischaffee.org/reunion or call 860.687.6815.

loomischaffee.org | 49

CHAFFEE BOOK CLUB SAVE THE DATE Wednesday, May 4 6 p.m. dinner followed by discussion Burton Room, Athletics Complex The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery Discussion leader: Betsy Conger, head of Science Department

The winter gathering of the Chaffee Book Club featured discussion of the story of a friendship between Loomis Chaffee teacher Donald Joffray and one of his students, Steven Strogatz ’76: The Calculus of Friendship. Math teacher and Associate Dean of Faculty Andrew Matlack facilitated the conversation.

Attendees were: (front) Betsy Mallory MacDermid ’66, Mims Brooks Butterworth ’36, Jane Dewitt Torrey ’67, and Evelyn Smith ’50; and (back) Andrew, Anne Schneider McNulty ’72, Jean Sanderson ’67, Kate Butterworth de Valdez ’67, and Priscilla Ransom Marks ’66.

1957

Peter Kennedy recently moved to Asheville, N.C., which he describes as “home of great art, music, and food!”

1959

Hartley “Lee” Bingham enjoys spending time at his family’s house in Santa Fe, N.M., where he notices there are “many ‘Loomies’ in the area.” He also writes that playing golf and medical treatments consume most of his time.

Debbie Savitt First writes, “Life is full. Bob and I are enjoying our kids and grandchildren, now 5 through 15 years of age.” Debbie is still working as an independent PR/communications consultant with a focus on the arts. Her biggest project in 2015 was a 600-foot aerial art installation by Janet Echelman that floated over Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway. She writes that she is enjoying the volunteer work of serving on the Loomis Chaffee Head’s Council with classmates Dean Brown and Chuck Whelan. Debbie is still planning to do the 2016 Pan-Massachusetts Challenge bike ride, making this her 21st.

No matter where life takes you… stay connected (you’re always connected) to the Island www.facebook.com/groups/loomischaffeealumni www.linkedin.com/groups/68181 www.loomischaffee.org/mobileapp

50 |

1960

Marshall Hoke writes, “Happy to be healthy at home! We continue to enjoy outdoor activities and traveling.” Marshall encourages, “Any Loomis/ Chaffees passing by (Alberta, Canada) would be welcome to stay with us!”

1962

Barbara J. Brown and Linda Brondsted enjoyed a brief reunion in Williamsburg, Va., in December 2015.

1963

Stephen Dahl informed many in the class about Morris Nelson "Rusty" Hughes's passing in January. (See "In Memoriam," page 62.) Stephen received a number of replies from classmates who fondly remembered Rusty, and Stephen shared several of their comments.

Dexter Bullard: “This is a sad day indeed.” Tom Engel: "Let us thank the Lord for every day He brings us.” Etienne Totti: “Perhaps the sorrow we all feel may be tempered by the thought that Rusty should be navigating peaceful seas, free from the grief and torment he endured.”

Peter Bingenheimer, Jay Boak, Steve Roos, and Judd Welch also sent regrets.

“Finally considering retirement, but waiting for my brother Larry Katz ’60 to lead the way,” writes Gerry Katz.

1968

Douglass M. Stewart Jr. is busy producing and directing a feature-length documentary on the legendary space artist Chesley Bonestell. The film is titled Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future.

1969

John Jenkins is still working as an IT manager for General Dynamics Information Technology. His wife, Nancy, is a partner in a Washington, D.C., law firm dealing with financial institution regulation. John also reports that his three sons

live happily in Houston, Texas; Guatemala City, Guatemala; and Tacoma, Wash.; and two of his sons are married.

1970

Skip Spaulding reports that he continues as a partner in the environmental practice at Farella Braun & Martel in San Francisco, Calif., and is the chair of the board of San Domenico School (K-12) in Marin County, Calif.

Charitable IRA Rollover Signed into Law

1971

William T. Bernhart retired from Pratt and Whitney in October 2014 after 38 years. In July 2015, William started a small alpaca farm that he calls Chakana Sky Alpacas.

1973

William “Scott” MacLachlan writes, “Now 30 years in practice in little Poultney, Vt. Great people, great place.”

1977

After 13 years as a faculty member at the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Natasha K. Bowen moved to the College of Social Work at Ohio State University. She is a full professor who studies social environmental factors that contribute to school success and educational disparities. She also focuses on statistical methods and recently co-authored a book on structural equation modeling for social scientists.

1980

Mark D. Nathan recently was named the chief executive officer and president of Tucker International after successfully leading the team in restructuring the company. Mark grew the company by nearly 50 percent in 2014, and by more than 60 percent in 2015. He writes that he is “looking forward to soon becoming the No. 1 sports toy company worldwide!”

1982

David Stein recently joined Digi-Key Electronics and

I

N December, the Congress passed and the President signed into law the Charitable IRA Rollover. Going forward, an individual age 70 ½ or older can make a direct transfer from a traditional or Roth IRA to a public charity, including Loomis Chaffee, of up to $100,000 per year. Though the gift is not tax-deductible, it counts towards one’s minimum required distribution and is not included as part of one’s taxable income.

At the end of the calendar year, a number of Loomis and Chaffee graduates took advantage of this opportunity, including Peggy Hale Towson ’58.

Peggy made a career as an artist and potter, inspired in part by the art classes of Sanford Low on the Loomis campus during her Chaffee experience. She has been one of the school’s most loyal supporters over the years.

She reflects: “The IRA Charitable rollover is a wonderful opportunity to give charitably and tax-free from my IRA. Loomis Chaffee Magazine, illustrating bright, eager young people at the start of their journey, is a constant reminder to me of the importance of giving back to the institution that sent me on my own journey! Reflecting on time at Chaffee, I am amazed at the deep impact the school and its teachers had on me and the ultimate direction of my life. I am most grateful for the experience and wish to demonstrate that. Keep it going!”

For more information on how you can make a gift like Peggy’s to Loomis Chaffee, please contact Chief Philanthropic Officer Timothy Struthers ’85 at 860.687.6221 or tim_struthers@loomis.org, or Associate Director of Development Katherine Langmaid at 860.

687.6822 or katherine_langmaid@loomis.org.

loomischaffee.org | 51

Trustee Reed Harman ’64 ALUMNI NEWS | EDITEDFormer

BY MADISON NEAL

and his wife, Nan, recently had dinner with Henry Smith ’64 and his wife, Pam. Henry and Reed have become shooting buddies since reconnecting at their 50th Reunion in June 2014.

’64

’00

Britt-Marie K. Cole-Johnson ’00 was elected a partner at Robinson & Cole LLP, effective January 1. BrittMarie counsels boards of directors, senior management, and human resource professionals in all areas of employment law, with a focus on sensitive, high-risk personnel issues and investigations as well as compliance and training. She regularly advises clients regarding personnel policies, affirmative action compliance, pay equity, discipline and terminations, wage and hour issues, disability and reasonable accommodations, leaves of absence, employment contracts, separation agreements, and reductions in force. Britt-Marie also represents employers across various industries in litigation involving discrimination, wrongful termination, workers’ compensation retaliation, and other employment claims before state and federal administrative agencies and courts.

’69

’69 ’61

’85

Peter Kahn ’69, Ken Hubbard ’61, and Stephen Bayer ’85 met at the Duke Hotel in Durham, N.C., in December 2015. Peter serves as a trustee for Duke, Ken is a former Duke trustee, and Stephen is the associate vice president in the Office of University Development.

Richard Adams Carey ’69 published his fourth book last fall with the University of New England Press. The book, titled In the Evil Day: Violence Comes to One Small Town, received great reviews. From New Hampshire Magazine: “fine writing, great storytelling, and incredible research.”

’04

Kristen Ward ’04 and Peter Wenstrop were married in New Orleans on October 10, 2015, surrounded by family and friends, including many Loomis alumni. Kristen and Peter are both teachers in New Orleans.

52 |

’06 Leslie Buller ’06 met Jeff Hoffman in 2010 while working together at Target’s headquarters in Minnesota.

The couple moved to New York City in 2012 to be closer to family and friends and married on August 15, 2015.

loomischaffee.org | 52

encourages classmates visiting Northern Minnesota to “please stop in — would love to say, ‘hello!’”

1983

Amanda Gibson writes, “I try to appreciate each day, but I’m still amazed at how quickly time passes. Our son is 15 and our daughter is 11 — how did that happen?” Amanda says she still thinks of her classmates often and was happy to hear that Thora Geetter Pomicter and her husband recently moved from Vermont to Western Virginia. “So she’s now just three hours away! I’ll visit her in the spring. We haven’t seen each other in 25 years,” Amanda exclaims.

1984

Tess Jackson Albert reports, “I will have a college graduate and a high school graduate this spring! Our daughter will graduate from Wheaton College in Massachusetts, and our son will begin his freshman year at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md.” She and her husband, Charles, also will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. “Big happenings at the Albert house in 2016!”

1987

Cathryn J. Prince is happy to announce that her forthcoming book, American Daredevil: The Extraordinary Life of the World’s First Celebrity Travel Writer, will be published this spring by the Chicago Review Press.

1993

In 2015 Peter Capuano, an associate professor of English at the University of Nebraska and faculty member of the University of California’s Dickens Project, published an academic book through the University of Michigan Press titled Changed Hands: Industry, Evolution and the Reconfiguration of the Victorian Body. After graduating from Loomis Chaffee, Peter matriculated at the College of Holy Cross and graduated

in 1997. Before becoming a university professor, he taught English and coached at Cushing Academy and Choate Rosemary.

He earned his Ph.D from the University of Virginia.

1996

Jen Podurgiel joined a panel of alumnae who spoke to students in February about careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Jen has worked at Citigroup for 15 years, holding positions in both technology and business for the company over the years.

She is currently the senior vice president in mortgage bond trading. She enjoys life in New York City with her husband and 2-year-old son.

1997

Emily Hager visited the Island in January to discuss her work in journalism with students in the Freshman Seminar for the Common Good and in a film and video production class. As a former journalist for The New York Times, Emily discussed this year’s school theme, "The Changing Nature of Journalism," and the new ways that consumers obtain news and information.

1999

Quin Breland and his wife, Martha Claire, welcomed their second daughter, Marjorie Claire Breland, on February 3.

She joins big sister McCadden.

After 10 years as the head coach for the boys soccer team at Windsor High School, Peter Lepak moved across the river last fall to coach the South Windsor High School boys soccer team. His team finished 15-4-1 and was ranked as high as eighth in the state in addition to winning its division. Pete also was named the Central Connecticut Conference North Coach of the Year.

2001

Sam Hines welcomed daughter Isabelle Hines in October 2015.

WHAT IS ExCEL? The ExCEL network helps students to explore their passions and interests through experiential learning opportunities.

Alumni and parents make it happen.

Here’s how:  P rovide an internship or shadowing opportunity at your place of work  Be a guest speaker for a class  Participate in a career panel  T alk one to one with a student in person or via Skype to discuss your career

WHY PARTICIPATE IN EXCEL? For alumni, ExCEL is a great way to get involved and give back by sharing your professional expertise with today’s Loomis Chaffee students. For parents, ExCEL is another opportunity to be engaged in your student’s Loomis Chaffee experience.

For more information, contact Fred J. Kuo Director of Experiential Learning fred_kuo@loomis.org or 860.687.6091 www.loomischaffee.org/excel

loomischaffee.org | 53

ALUMNI GATHERIN GS

H

EADS Holiday receptions and several gatherings of Loomis Chaffee alumni, parents, and friends took place over the winter in Chicago; New York; Washington, D.C., and West Hartford, Conn.

Mary Struthers and Trustee Harvey Struthers Jr. ’60 (parents of alumni and grandparents of current students) with Head of School Sheila Culbert and current parent Gregory Barr at the Chicago reception

Andrew D’Ambrosio ’06, Chris Gallerani ’11, Associate Director of Development Meret Nahas, and Betty Stolpen ’04 at the Leadership Reception in New York, held at the Hudson Hotel

Julia Thompson ’06, Elliot Creem ’06, Eli Lehrer ’94, Cary Devorsetz ’92, and Jason Mulvihill ’95 at the Head's Holiday Reception in Washington, D.C., held at the City Tap House

Sara Chynoweth ’11 and Zoe Zachs ’11 at the Head’s Holiday Reception in New York, held at PS450

Erin Champlin Barringer ’96, Moriah Moriarty ’94, Stephen Roth ’09, Brandy Little ’96, and Loomis science teacher Ewen Ross at the Head’s Holiday Reception in West Hartford, Conn., held at the Elbow Room

Former Trustees Ned Babbitt ’61 and Sarah Lutz ’85, co-hosts of the Leadership Reception in New York, with Head of School Sheila Culbert (center)

54 |

ALUMNI GATHERIN GS

Kate Fotos ’13, Adrina Thompson ’14, and the Pelican enjoy a festive and well-attended Young Alumni Brunch in January in the Loomis Dining Hall.

Photo: Fred Kuo

In January 2016 Michael D. Klett and Nitin Sacheti launched Papyrus Capital LP, a New York City-based investment fund. The pair developed an interest in investing while at Loomis and were founding members of the Pelican Investment Club, which was active during their time on the Island.

Michael writes, “During many frequent meals of baked ziti and Oreo cheesecake in the dining hall, we made a plan to someday partner together to launch our own fund; I’m proud to say Papyrus is the result!” Nitin has spent the last several years managing money at well-known funds in New York, and Michael has been a member of the receivership team responsible for returning funds to victims of Bernie Madoff. Michael reports, “It’s been an interesting journey, and I find we frequently draw upon the many lessons learned while on the Island.”

Artist Jason Kraus lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. He recently had

a show at Redling Fine Arts in Los Angeles, Calif. Jason’s New York exhibition at Algus Greenspon Gallery was reviewed in Art Forum Magazine. He will teach at Yale in the spring 2016 semester.

LOOMIS CHAFFEE SUMMER PROGRAM

Where the wonders of summer meet the joys of learning

2003

JUNE 27–JULY 30, 2016

For girls and boys grades 7–12 Courses include: Art, Coding, Ethics, History, Leadership, Math, Robotics, Science, Writing, and more.

John H. Clark welcomed daughter Victoria Adams Clark on January 9.

2004

Steven Caron married Kathryn Theis on August 8, 2015. The couple lives in San Francisco, Calif. Classmates Johnathan Joseph and Jameson Lyons were in the wedding party.

The couple honeymooned in Thailand.

2007

Benjamin Kraus is living in New York and working as an equity trader at Morgan Stanley.

In February Kinneri Mehta joined a panel of alumnae who

S

P

U M M E R

M R O G R A

Learn more today at www.loomischaffee.org/summer 860.687.6800

loomischaffee.org | 55

spoke to students about their careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Kinneri earned a medical degree in fall 2015 and is a first-year otolaryngology-head and neck surgery resident at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

Kate Rossi and Maggie Trautman spent from January 2015 to June 2015 living and working in Nagarote, Nicaragua. During that time, they taught English and set up a microloan program. Although Maggie and Kate are back home, the microloan program continues, and the two look forward to returning to Nicaragua soon.

Corey Stewart is back from his travels abroad after two years in 11 countries in the South Pacific and Asia. “Who wants to go adventure?” he asks.

2010

Melanie Grover-Schwartz is living and working in Seattle, Wash. She loves Seattle and enjoys running half marathons.

Two Alumni Included in “Forbes 30 Under 30” Forbes Magazine featured two Loomis Chaffee graduates in this year’s “Forbes 30 Under 30,” which highlights important young “entrepreneurs, breakout talents and change agents” in 20 professional sectors.

In the Art & Style sector, handbag designer Sarah Law ’04 was recognized for her KARA bags, launched in 2013. The designer bags are sold in 50 different stores in 15 countries, including Barneys New York. “Her signature piece is a simple, boxy leather backpack with a heavy zipper across the middle, which sells for $500,” the magazine wrote.

In healthcare, Gil Addo ’03 was chosen for the work of his company, RubiconMD, a service that helps primary-care doctors to consult online with specialists. “He says his clients, who are employers, see a 40 percent reduction in referrals to specialists,” according to Forbes.

2011

Darren Ting is proud to announce that his work over the past two and a half years at the tech start-up Everkey Inc. has secured $1.1 million in funding and is supported by the CEO of Mercedes, the former CEO of Chrysler, chairman of Penske, founder of McAfee Antivirus, and many more.

2012 Jay Spector is a senior at George Washington University. He is captain of the university’s sailing team and serves as the MidAtlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association South representative, voting nationally on behalf of hundreds of college sailors from more than 20 teams. ©

A Time of Purpose At Loomis Chaffee our promise to students is to provide them with the best education and inspire in them a commitment to the best self and the common good. It’s an endeavor we proudly share with our generous alumni, parents, and friends who help open a world of opportunities to our students.

Please join our Annual Fund efforts this year. Make your gift today at www.loomischaffee.org/giving 56 |

“

It is really nice to be able to do something that’s fun ... but actually know that you’re doing something for the land as well. It’s a nice intersection between pleasure and responsibility.

”

— senior Laurie Zielinski, AgProctor (student leader in sustainability), reflecting on her work in the Loomis Agriculture Program

IN MEMORIAM | BY CHRISTINE COYLE

1940 James McConnell Clark, on Saturday, October 24, 2015. A member of the Clark family for whom the Clark Center for Science & Mathematics is named, Jim was a four-year student from Suffern, N.Y. He was involved in the Nautical Club, Glee Club, Choir, Batchelder Dormitory Committee, Endowment Fund Working Committee, and Activities Committee, and he served as circulation manager for The Log. He was active in varsity football, varsity fencing, and tennis. Predeceased by his brothers Hays Clark ’37 and W. Van Alan Clark ’37, Jim is survived by his wife, Ruth P. Clark; his son, James M. Clark Jr. and wife Kathy; his nephew H. Lawrence Clark ’64; and his grandchildren, including Aidan Keegan ’09. A funeral service was held on October 30, 2015, at the Church of the Messiah in Woods Hole, Mass.

Robert Horace Earle, on November 6, 2015. A four-year student from Plainfield, N.J., Rob served as president of the Junior French Club, chairman of the Sophomore Reception Committee, chairman of the Fall Dance Committee, and vice chairman of the Allyn Club. He was also involved in Student Council, the

Junto Committee, the Executive Committee, the Spring Dance Committee, and the Grounds Committee. He was active in varsity football, JV baseball, and golf. Rob was the recipient of a Commencement Special Citation. Rob was a member of the Williams College Class of 1945, known as the “class that went to war” because all members of the class served the country during World War II. As master sergeant of artillery in the 35th Division of Patton’s army, Rob and his division were attacked on 35 of their 45 days in action, and were recognized as playing a “brilliant and effective role in the liberation of France.” When he spoke of the war, he liked to tell of discovering a German soldier, described as “just a young lad,” hiding in a farmer’s home in Belgium. Rob and his fellow soldiers gave the young man chocolate and a cigarette, and they let him warm up on the hood of the jeep. Rob’s division was the first to come upon one of Hitler’s concentration camps. Returning home to New Jersey after the war, Rob was employed by American Optical as an industrial engineer. On November 26, 1951, he married Gladys Raithel. Rob had a wide variety of interests, including fly fishing, which he enjoyed on trips to Canada and as a member of the Wantas-

tiquet Trout Club in Weston, Vt. He was a voracious reader with an ever-curious mind. A fun “Grandad,” he hoisted a grandson up a flagpole for a bird’s eye view of the neighborhood; set off the old cannon in the driveway; and lit the kitchen on fire while mixing chemicals — all to the delight of his grandchildren and dismay of his wife, according to his obituary in The Brattleboro (Vermont) Reformer. His life and legacy were of deep integrity, contentment, and appreciation for a simple life. Predeceased by his brother Roger Earle ’37 and his wife, Gladys, Rob is survived by his two daughters, Jan Brown and Sue Coleman, and their spouses; six grandchildren; a great-granddaughter; and many dear friends.

Clara “June” Eyers Sanford, on January 10, at home. A lifelong resident of Farmington, Conn., June was involved with The Epilogue, serving as business manager in her senior year. After Chaffee, June earned a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University. She was a supervisor of volunteers for the Home Service Department of the American Red Cross during World War II and worked for several years as a medical social worker at Hartford Hos-

Photo: John Groo | 57 loomischaffee.org

IN MEMORIAM

pital and Newington Children’s Hospital. In 2015, June retired after 55 years of serving as secretary of her family’s business, Sanford and Hawley. A member since 1936 of First Church of Christ, Congregational, 1652, in Farmington, June served the church in a myriad of ways, including as an officer of the Woman’s Association, Christian Education, Library, Stewardship, and Village Traders committees. She was a longtime member and former president of the Farmington Garden Club. She also was active in the Junior League, Ruth Wyllys Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Town and County Club.

A devoted wife and mother, June was predeceased by her husband of 58 years, Robert W. Sanford; and her brother William Walter Eyers ’37. She is survived by her three children and their spouses, Frank and Ann Sanford, Edmund and Elizabeth Sanford, and Robert and Emily Sanford; six grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

At June’s request, her funeral services were held privately.

The family requests that memorial donations be made to the First Church of Christ, Congregational, 1652, in Farmington, or to Loomis Chaffee.

1941 Patricia McCallum Dahill, on January 13, peacefully at home.

A lifelong resident of West Hartford, Pat attended Chaffee for four years. She earned a degree from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. Pat worked at the Junior School, now Renbrook School, as an 58 |

assistant to headmistress Florence Greene, whom she greatly admired. Pat served on the board of directors at Renbrook and remained devoted to the school, which her four children and two of her grandchildren attended. A fine athlete, Pat found great joy in sports and excelled in many, including tennis, paddle tennis, and skiing. Pat enjoyed family ski trips to Vermont. Playing duplicate bridge at the Hartford Golf Club and attending weekly lunches with her lifelong friends known as the “The Mondays” were a great source of pleasure for Pat, as was her service for many years with the Junior League of Hartford. Pat leaves her beloved husband of nearly 60 years, Edwin M. Dahill Jr. She is also survived by her four children, Sara Dahill O’Connell ’75, Edwin M. Dahill III, Kenneth L.M. Dahill, and John J.T. Dahill, and their spouses; and six grandchildren. Pat was predeceased by her sister Lee Farr McCallum. A memorial service took place at the Church of St. Timothy, West Hartford, on January 23, followed by a private burial.

1942 Douglas Freese Dorchester, on November 1, 2015, at Thirwood Place Retirement Community in South Yarmouth, Mass. A four-year student from Windsor, Conn., Douglas was involved in the Junior French Club, Work Program, Student Council, Committee of Review, and Scholarship Committee. He served as supervisor and tutor in Study Club, was on the crew of H.M.S. Pinafore, and was

associate editor and “heeler” of The Log. Douglas was active in Ludlow senior football, JV soccer, JV track, varsity track, and Ludlow senior basketball, and he served as captain of Ludlow club soccer. A four-year Honor Roll student, Douglas was awarded the Mrs. Thomas Warham Loomis Memorial Prize for Highest Scholarship of the Senior Class at Commencement.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University, where he was Phi Beta Kappa, and a graduate degree from Yale Divinity School. Douglas also served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He and his wife of nearly 70 years, Janice Potter Dorchester, spent many happy retirement years in their home on the Lagoon Pond on Martha’s Vineyard, which they had built in 1963. They moved to Monument Beach in Bourne in 2002 for health-related reasons, and later to Thirwood Place.

Douglas’s career featured a wide range of ministries from the local parish to the denominational level. For more than 20 years, he served as executive secretary of the Board of Education in Southern New England and Northern New Jersey as well as in a variety of ecumenical positions. While on Martha’s Vineyard, Douglas served as president of the interdenominational Neighborhood Convention; as president of the Lagoon Pond Association; as president of the Scottish Society of Martha’s Vineyard; and as clerk of the Vineyard Nursing Association. Affiliated with Trinity United Methodist Church in the Oak Bluffs Campground, he and his wife sang faithfully in the choir, and he also served as cochairman for the Capital Needs

Campaign to renovate the historic church. Predeceased by his brother John W. Dorchester ’40, his cousin Paul Liscord ’42, and his son James A. Dorchester, Douglas is survived by his wife, Janice; his brother Charles D. Dorchester; his four children, Diane D. Engley, Ellen D. Langwig, Marcia L. Dorchester, and Donald W. Dorchester; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. A private burial service took place in the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.

1943 Dorothy Wells Schoenfuss Howell, on November 13, 2015, surrounded by her loving family. A four-year student from Hartford, Conn., Dot served as Chaffee School Junior Class secretary-treasurer and as chairman of Chaffee Chest.

After graduation Dot earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Wellesley College, where she was a member of Sigma Xi, a national honorary scientific society, and a member of the crew team. Dot returned to Wellesley regularly to attend reunions. She also remained in close touch with her many friends in the Loomis Chaffee community, having served as class agent and reunion leader in years past. A photo of Dot with classmates Mary Jane Halsey Small ’43 and Janice A. Falkin ’43 at Dot’s 90th birthday celebration appeared in the Class Notes section of Loomis Chaffee Magazine, Winter 2016. Following her graduation from Wellesley, Dot worked for six years at United Aircraft Corporation in East Hartford,

Conn., as an engineering aide and mathematician in support of the World War II recovery effort. She moved to Maine in 1953 with her husband, Julian F. Howell, known as Jay, where they started Feather and Fleece Farm. Over the years, Dot volunteered for the Whitefield Fire Department, in local schools, and for other organizations. She enjoyed working for the U.S. Census Bureau for 36 years, starting in 1975 as a field representative and advancing to a supervisory capacity. Dot traveled frequently throughout Maine for her work and made many friends along the way. She retired in 2011 at the age of 85. Dot enjoyed corresponding with her numerous friends. She wrote letters daily and looked forward to the mail carrier’s car coming down the road. Her proudest accomplishment was being a mother of five, grandmother of eight, and great-grandmother of three. Predeceased by Jay, her husband of 59 years, Dot is survived by her siblings Arthur Schoenfuss ’35 and Emily Schoenfuss Smith ’40; her five children, Wendy Stanley, Heidi Gotlib, Jef Howell, Dick Howell, and Dolly Burns, and their spouses; her grandchildren; and her great-grandchildren. The family held a graveside service on November 21, 2015, and afterwards welcomed friends to a reception celebrating Dot’s life at Sheepscot General Store.

1944 Frank Knell, on June 4, 2014, on Johns Island, S.C., surrounded by his friends and family. A four-year student from Manhasset, N.Y., Bud, as he was

known, was involved in many activities at Loomis. He served as Student Council president and vice president of the junior class and was involved in the Glee Club, Debating Club, and Junior French Club. Bud served on the Sophomore Reception Committee, Senior Advisory Committee, and Committee of Review. He was in the cast of Green Pastures and was active in Ludlow senior hockey, Ludlow senior tennis, and Ludlow senior baseball and was captain of the Ludlow senior soccer and second soccer teams. Bud was awarded the Council President Gavel at a special January Commencement held to accommodate his participation in the war effort. A successful broker for more than 40 years, Bud served as president of the New York Cotton Exchange. He enjoyed sailing and was well known for his culinary talents. Bud is survived by his wife, Wyn “Lisa” Knell; his two children, Tina Saller and James Michael Knell, and their spouses; two grandchildren; and many friends and extended family members.

1946 John Lawrensen Hayden, on December 8, 2015. A two-year student from Longmeadow, Mass., John was involved in the Stamp Club, Debating Club, and Senior Dining Hall Committee. He was active in Allyn intermediate football, Allyn senior hockey, and Allyn track. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity at Bowdoin College, John earned a bachelor’s degree in 1950 and married Suzanne White in the Bowdoin Chapel in that same year. The couple

relocated to Illinois, where John worked in the insurance field. Later, the family moved to Maine, where John worked in personal lines underwriting and marine and flood insurance, retiring from Commercial Union Insurance Company in 1991. He was a volunteer fireman for the City of South Portland and a member of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Cape Elizabeth, serving for a time as president of Church Council. A 24-year member of the First Lutheran Church in Portland, John helped in various church activities. A boating enthusiast, John was a 33-year member of the Centerboard Yacht Club, which he served as secretary and club commander. His passion was with the U.S. Power Squadron, of which he was a member on the local and national level. His dedication to the organization resulted in a lifetime membership based upon merits. Earning 50 merits in 2011, John was past district commander of District 19 Casco Bay Squadron, education commander of the Portland Head Sail and Power Squadron, and recently a member of the Wawenock Power Squadron.

He was a member of the Boston Navigators Society, attaining the rank of senior navigator, and a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, and he taught boating for many years. John is predeceased by his sister Nancy Hayden Waters. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Suzanne; his two children, Frank Hayden and Mariella Hayden Curtis, and their spouses; four grandchildren; and three greatgrandchildren. A funeral service was held on December 12, 2015, at First Lutheran Church in Portland, Maine, with burial

at Brooklawn Cemetery in Portland.

1947 Donald H. Kaplan, on October 31, 2015, surrounded by his family at his home in Andover, N.H. A four-year student from Long Island, N.Y., Don was an Honor Roll student in 1945–46 and 1946–47. He was involved in the Glee Club, the Debating Club, the Political Club, the Bridge Club, and Le Cercle Français, and he was in the cast of several stage productions. Don served on the Batchelder Dorm Committee and Student Endowment Fund. A talented athlete, Don lettered in first team football and first team wrestling and was active on first team track, Wolcott junior football, basketball, and tennis. Don graduated from Harvard University in 1951, and he earned a medical degree at New York Medical College in 1955. Don met his wife of more than 58 years, Nancy Wilkins Kaplan, as an intern at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Mich. He served as a physician in the U.S. Navy from 1956 to 1958. Afterwards, Don fulfilled his residency at Yale New Haven Hospital and established the Thames Eye Group in New London, Conn., practicing as an ophthalmologist in New London and Mystic, Conn., and Westerly, R.I., from 1960 to 1996. An avid sailor, Don completed four Newport-Bermuda races, four MarbleheadHalifax races, and a transAtlantic crossing. He was a member of the Cruising Club of America, Ocean Cruising Club, and Ram Island Yacht Club. His other favorite pastimes included loomischaffee.org | 59

IN MEMORIAM

tennis, skiing, camping, and hiking. Active in civic activities, Don was president of Temple Emanu-El at its former home in Groton, Conn., and president of the staff at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital. He was a longtime member of the Ragged Mountain Fish & Game Club in Andover, for which he served as president and created an endowment fund. In retirement, Don became active in the Andover Lions Club and served as president. Additionally, Don served on the board of the New Hampshire Association for the Blind and as president of the Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation of New Hampshire. He will be remembered for his leadership, his dedication to community service, and his love of learning, travel, and sports. Predeceased by his brother Robert F. Kaplan ’43, Don is survived by his wife, Nancy; his three children, Lawrence Kaplan, Susan Kaplan, and Elizabeth Kaplan Rusconi ’82, and their spouses; six grandchildren; and innumerable friends.

1948 John Randall Knox, on October 18, 2015. A three-year student from Irvington, N.Y., John was involved in the Radio Club, Ski Club, Endowment Fund, Bridge Club, Glee Club, and Nautical Club. He was also head electrician in the Stagehands Union, a volunteer medical aide, and a dining hall supervisor. John was active in Wolcott senior football and fencing and lettered in varsity hockey and varsity track. After Loomis, John earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and 60 |

a master’s degree in structural engineering from Yale University. He was a middle crew rower for Yale as well as a member of the Yale hockey team. After 21 years serving in the U.S. Navy Seabees unit, including active duty stationed at the Panama Canal Zone and at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, John retired with the rank of commander.

As executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Industrial Sand Division at Martin Marietta Aggregates, John relocated to the Midwest.

After leaving Martin Marietta, he started a successful business selling farm equipment and implements. He returned to the engineering field, retiring from Hydro Environmental Technologies in Syracuse, N.Y., and moved to southern Michigan.

An avid sailor, John enjoyed sailing on Long Island Sound and the Atlantic aboard his 42foot yawl, Corinthia. John also excelled as an equestrian and skier into the later years of his life. John is said to have valued hard work, and he remained busy working on his small horse farm and volunteering his time. John was involved with Shepard’s Center of Kalamazoo, his church, and the Battle Creek Hunt Club. Predeceased by his sister Alison, and his granddaughter Alison, John is survived by Susan, his wife of 43 years; his sister Ellen; his four children, Beth, Randy, Kay, and Sam, and their spouses; his five step-children, Mark, Lisa, Paige, Wendy, and Curtis, and their spouses; five grandchildren; and five step-grandchildren.

1949 Charles George Siggins, peacefully on November 23, 2015. A three-year student from Scarsdale, N.Y., Chuck, as he was known, was involved in the Bridge Club, Jazz Club, Glee Club, and Chemistry Club. He served on the Log Board, the Loomiscellany Business Board, the Study Hall Committee, and the Library Committee, where he was supervisor. He was active in Ludlow intermediate football, Ludlow junior and senior basketball, Ludlow junior baseball, varsity tennis, and ping pong. After Loomis Commencement, Chuck matriculated at Amherst College.

In 1951, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he served as flight radio operator in the Mobile Air Transport Service during the Korean War. Chuck earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in 1957 while he was employed as a bartender to support his wife and three children. Enjoying life out West, Chuck joined IBM as a systems engineer in San Francisco, and he subsequently switched to a sales role. He relocated for work to Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and finally Phoenix in 1968, where he was branch manager of the Data Processing Division.

He left IBM in 1971 for a position at Sun Control Tile Company and Baker Bros Flooring, which he expanded and then sold in 1997 to Shaw Industries.

A world traveler who was full of life, Chuck enjoyed golf and bridge at the Arizona Country Club, Forest Highlands, and Solana Beach. Predeceased by his brother James Siggins ’46, Chuck is survived by his four children, Nan, Scott, Peter,

and Kevin, and their spouses; five grandchildren; two greatgrandchildren; and his dear friend Jeanette Bengley. A private memorial service was held by the family.

1951 McNeil Seymour Fiske, on September 30, 2015, in Lake Forest, Ill., from pancreatic cancer. A three-year student from Darien, Conn., Mac, as he was known, was involved in Student Council, the Glee Club, and musical and theater productions. He served as Political Club president, Wolcott Club president on Athletic Council, and Nautical Club secretarytreasurer, and on the reportorial board of The Log. Mac was co-captain and lettered in varsity tennis and was active in Wolcott senior basketball and football. Mac kept in touch with Loomis and served as a reunion volunteer. After graduating from Williams College in 1955, Mac served in the Air Force until 1958. While stationed in Savannah, Ga., he met Ruth Pietertien Van Puffelen, known as Tiena, whom he married in 1959. Mac and Tiena moved to a tiny farmhouse in Greenwood Village, Colo., where they lived for many years as their family grew and where they undertook multiple home and barn improvements. Mac began his career at the First National Bank of Denver, where he pioneered one of the country’s first minority lending programs and later earned national recognition and commendation from President Richard M. Nixon. An admirer of Martin Luther King Jr., he

committed himself to making a positive and lasting difference, resolving conflict, and giving others the opportunity to grow and succeed. Mac went on to serve as the financial officer for Motor Cargo and was a partner in several entrepreneurial ventures, most notably ITGM (Isn’t This Great Mate?) and MacCourt products. He did community service work at the Conflict Center in Denver, Interfaith Community Services in Tucson, and the Arizona Chapter of the Parkinson’s Disease Association. Mac is said to have told his grandchildren, “Whatever you decide to be when you grow up, be a peacemaker.” With an appreciation for the outdoors, Mac was passionate about fly fishing, sailing, tennis, paddle tennis, skiing, camping, bike riding, and sunset watching. He enjoyed performing in community plays and in impromptu music duets with family and friends.

Mac’s favorite music included Broadway musicals, with The Music Man and Guys & Dolls topping the list; classical music; and the music of Jimmy Buffet.

A passage from the family’s obituary printed in The Chicago Tribune Media reads, “With disarming humility and a big heart, Mac had the gift for bringing people together and drawing out the best in them. A bright smile, a twinkle in his eyes, and a set [of] bushy eyebrows animated his charming, endearing expressions. Reflecting on his life shortly before passing, he said simply, ‘It all worked out so well.’” Mac is survived by his three children, Julia Fiske Parker, Lucy Carson, and Neil Fiske, and their spouses; and 10 grandchildren. A celebration of Mac’s life was held at

the Arapahoe Tennis Club in Englewood, Colo., on November 14, 2015.

1952 William George Horton, on April 3, 2015, peacefully at his home in Bellevue, Wash. A two-year student from Oneonta, N.Y., Bill was a cast member in a production of Julius Caesar.

He was active in Ludlow soccer, winter track, and Ludlow tennis. Bill had an early interest in science, and at age 15, his research project on antibiotics was one of four winners of the first National Science Fair in 1950. He earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 1956 and his medical degree from NYU Medical School in 1961. From 1961 to 1966 he completed his surgical residency at Bellevue Hospital Center, New York City. He then served as chief of surgery at the 51st/3rd Field Hospital in Vietnam from 1966 to 1967.

There he met Marlene, the U.S. Army nurse whom he would marry. On his return to the United States, he completed a second residency in anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. Recruited to establish a multidisciplinary intensive care service at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Wash., Bill served as an assistant professor of anesthesiology and medicine from 1970 to 1975.

Afterwards, he joined the Department of Anesthesiology at Virginia Mason Medical Center, where he remained until retirement. Bill passionately cared for his patients and challenged the next generation of physicians to strive for excellence. Persis-

tence, precision, and a methodical manner were principles that guided his career. Bill’s keen interest in politics led him to serve as leader in the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and participate in local and national elections. In 2005, he was the first recipient of the ASA Lansdale Public Policy Fellowship and spent a year in Washington, D.C. In his free time Bill enjoyed spending time with his family, fishing, listening to jazz, cooking, and feeding his curiosity. Bill is survived by his wife of 47 years, Marlene; his four children, Christopher, Tracey, Erica, and Marc; and three grandchildren.

1957 George Brendan Odlum Jr., on November 26, 2015, peacefully at his home in West Simsbury, Conn., surrounded by family.

A four-year student from West Hartford, Conn., George was involved in the Political Club, Classics Club, Dining Hall Committee, Chapel and Assembly Committee, and Study Hall Committee. He was active in Ludlow tennis, Ludlow intermediate basketball, and track.

George was named to the Honor Roll in 1953–54. After Loomis, George attended Trinity College and Tufts Dental School, and he served in the U.S. Army in Alaska for three years. He established a successful dental practice in Simsbury, where he worked from 1968 until his retirement in 2007. Active in local affairs, George was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Health and Welfare Commission, and the Beautification Committee of Simsbury. He

served on the board of directors of the Village Water Company and more recently the Farmington Valley Visiting Nurse Association. George was a founder of The Simsbury Bank, and served on its board of directors for more than 20 years. George’s family and friends will remember him for his creative imagination, his delightful sense of humor, and his jovial whistling. In his youth, George created and made himself Emperor of “Eistlisia,” an imaginary kingdom with maps, territories, and its own currency. “Eistlisia” remains a significant part of family culture, especially with his grandchildren. George never lost his whimsical nature, his youthful spirit, or his gentle kindness.

In addition to his five siblings, George is survived by his devoted wife of 51 years, Harriet Davenport Odlum; his three children, George, Geoffrey, and Jessica, and their spouses; seven grandchildren; and many extended family members in Ireland and St. Lucia. A Mass of Christian Burial was held on December 1, 2015, at St. Catherine of Sienna Church in West Simsbury.

1960 Myra Yellin Outwater, on November 2, 2015, peacefully at home in Pennsylvania. A three-year student, Myra was involved in the Library Committee and Chapel Committee and served as president of the Political Club. Myra attended Smith College and moved to New York after graduation. She married Harold J. Goldfarb of Allentown, Pa., with whom she had three sons and whom loomischaffee.org | 61

IN MEMORIAM

she later divorced. Afterwards, Myra met and married Eric Boe Outwater, who passed away in 2014. Myra was an active member of the Lehigh Valley arts scene and wrote for The Morning Call from the mid1970s until recently. Known for her critiques of theater and art, Myra’s energetic style and sharp opinions resonated with her readers. A member of Drama Desk and the New York Theater Society, Myra’s reviews were instrumental in bringing Broadway musicals to Allentown, according to The Morning Call obituary published on November 4, 2015. A dedicated mother, Myra imparted her love of Broadway musicals, travel, the arts, and cooking to her children. Passionate about birds and bird watching, Myra kept a pair of binoculars in her car and participated in the World Series of Birding. She traveled extensively around the globe by land, air, and sea, and she shared her adventures in her column and in books she and her husband wrote together. Myra is survived by her sister Bobby; her three sons, Laurence, Andy, and Alex, and their spouses; and six grandchildren. A service was held on November 5, 2015, at the J.S. Burkholder Funeral Home in Allentown with burial the following day in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.

1961 William Page Thompson, on June 6, 2015. A three-year student from Burlington, Vt., Bill was involved in the 5:10 Club, Sailing Club, Student Council, Dance Committee, and Student Endowment Fund, and 62 |

he served as vice president of the Ski Club. He was active in Ludlow senior football and lettered in both varsity cross country and varsity track. After graduating from Middlebury College in 1965, Bill served two years in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. He then returned to Burlington to work in the family business, Vermont Transit Company. He worked as traffic manager and served as vice president of the company until 1975, when he purchased Vermont Transit Travel Inc., which he owned and operated until he sold it in 1999. Active in civic affairs, Bill served as president of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, president of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, president of Cynosure Inc., and chairman of the Burlington International Airport Commission. Bill also served as a director of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation and a director of the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. Predeceased by his step-son Thomas R. Senesac, Bill is survived by his wife, Mary Pat McGowan Thompson; his daughter Molly and her spouse, Thomas Baffa; his sister Sharon Thompson; and many extended family members. Burial took place at Lakeview Cemetery in Burlington in August 2015.

1963 Morris Nelson Hughes Jr., on January 9, after a long and courageous battle against cancer.

A one-year student originally from Humboldt, Neb., Rusty, as he was known, lived with his family in Cuba, Switzerland, Tunisia, Iceland, and France be-

fore joining Loomis as a senior.

An Honor Roll student, Rusty was involved in the French Club, Key Society, Photography Club, and Senior Scholarship Committee, and he served as president of the Glee Club.

He was active in Allyn senior football, Allyn senior hockey, and Allyn tennis. Rusty was greatly admired by his Loomis classmates. After Loomis, Rusty went on to earn a bachelor’s degree at the University of Nebraska. Afterwards, he served as a U.S. Marine Corps platoon commander in Vietnam, where he received two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and the Navy Commendation Medal, both with Combat V designation.

Like his father, Rusty joined the Department of State in 1970 as a career foreign service officer. After a 35-year career, he retired with the senior rank of minister counselor. Rusty served as the U.S. ambassador to Burundi and the consul general to St. Petersburg, Russia, as well as in diplomatic posts in Cameroon, France, Belgium, the former Soviet Union, and Mexico. He also served as diplomat-in-residence at Tulane University in New Orleans, La. Rusty was able to speak French, Russian, and Spanish.

Upon semi-retirement in 2005, Rusty worked for the Office of Inspector General inspecting U.S. embassies and consulates in Senegal, Mexico, China, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In 2010, Rusty became captain of his own trawler, The Cooper, and with his wife spent four years cruising and having adventures.

Together, they completed the Great Loop, cruised to Montreal and Maine, and circumnavigated Lake Superior. He enjoyed

skeet and pistol shooting, fishing, his daily cigar, and his drink of choice — a Manhattan.

A combat veteran, diplomat, husband, father, grandfather, and gentleman, Rusty is survived by his wife, Betty de Jong Hughes; his two children, Guy and Cassie, and their spouses; his three step-children, James, Joanna, and Jason, and their spouses; a grandson; and five step-grandchildren. A celebration of Rusty’s life was planned for a later date. Interment was to be at Arlington National Cemetery.

1971 Deborah Susan Dunn, on December 28, 2015. A fouryear student from Farmington, Conn., Deborah went on to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania. She worked as an architect and designer in both Texas and New York. She is survived by her cousins James Clevenger of West Hartford, Conn.; Ann and Howard Whitford of Newington, Conn.; and Jack, Peter, Dennis, and Rick Maradie of Florida; as well as her dear friend Carol Hasnosi of Meriden, Conn.

1994 Aaron Mann Hess, on December 27, 2015. A four-year student from Windsor, Conn., Aaron was active in wrestling, track, and football. He earned a Class Night Award and the Norris Ely Orchard Prize in English.

Aaron continued his education at Columbia University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history. After living and working in New York

for 10 years, Aaron moved to Chicago, where he worked for Haymarket Press as an editor. He later returned to New England. Aaron was a compassionate and dedicated activist, advocating for social equity and human rights. He was an avid reader who also enjoyed writing poetry, making and listening to music, and cooking for people he loved. Aaron’s deep understanding and interest in others made him a generous friend and a joy to his family. He leaves his parents, Associate Head of School Aaron “Woody” Hess Jr. and former faculty member Martha Mann Hess; his sister, Anna Hess Barresi ’97, and her husband, John; his niece, Sylvia Pacheco Barresi; and many relatives and friends.

Former Faculty James J. Shea Jr., on December 20, 2015, in Windsor, Conn., after a long illness. Originally from Hartford, Jim attended Wilbraham Academy and Lehigh University. During World War II Jim enlisted in the U.S. Navy ROTC, but the war ended while he was still at Lehigh. He transferred to the Connecticut Air National Guard at Bradley Field. He married Margaret “Peg” O’Neill in 1953. Jim’s civilian career began at Arrow Hart and the family-owned business of the J. M. Craig foundry located on Arch Street in Hartford. Afterwards, Jim enjoyed a long and successful career at Loomis, from 1965 until his retirement in 1993.

As Physical Plant director, Jim and his team earned praise for their hard work and dedication.

Many campus improvements

took place under his watch, including the construction of the Katharine Brush Library, among other projects. Former Loomis business manager Aubrey Loomis, Jim’s longtime colleague, described him as a “faithful friend” and said he “tended to the structure of the school buildings with an eye to maintaining the beauty of the campus.” Aubrey also said Jim was highly respected by everyone who worked with him. With the help of family and friends, Jim built a cottage in Tolland, Mass., as an escape to enjoy with Peg. After retirement, the two traveled extensively, often with friends, and enjoyed visiting family on Cape Cod. Predeceased by his siblings Lorna Shea Luby and Craig Shea, Jim is survived by Peg, his wife of 62 years; his three children, James. J. Shea, Sarah “Sally” Shea Smith ’74, and Jane S. Simpkins, and their spouses; two grandchildren; and many extended family members and friends. A Mass of Christian Burial was held on December 28, 2015, at St. Gabriel Church in Windsor, followed by a private burial at Riverside Cemetery.

Marilyn Brett Shaughnessy Davis, on October 2, 2015.

Originally from Warehouse Point, Conn., Marilyn graduated from Ellsworth High School and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the University of Connecticut in 1953. There, she met her future husband, Donald Davis; joined Kappa Kappa Gamma; and made many lifelong friends.

After marrying in 1954, Marilyn and Don settled in Windsor, where together they added to

their already extensive circle of friends and welcomed their two daughters, Susan and Allison. After several work-related moves in the Northeast, the family returned to Windsor, where Marilyn began teaching at Loomis Chaffee. During her years at the school, from 1971 to 1985, Marilyn developed an enduring friendship with Evie Smith ’50. Marilyn enjoyed Mother’s Day trips to Boston and fall trips to Maine and Vermont with family and friends.

She played golf and enjoyed time spent on the course at Suffield Country Club and others across the state. A member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Founding Fathers of Hartford, Marilyn was interested in genealogy. A committed fan of the UConn women’s basketball team, Marilyn shared her passion and season tickets with a group of close friends who called themselves the “Senior Cheerleaders” and attended many Final Fours together. Committed to the needs of others, Marilyn spent many hours delivering Meals on Wheels to Windsor residents, and she kept track of her inlaws throughout all her years.

Marilyn found comfort in her final years with her daughter and son-in-law Allison and David in Titusville, Fla. Preceded in death by her husband, Don, Marilyn is survived by her two daughters, Susan B. Davis ’75 and her spouse, Wayne Budney, and Allison Davis ’81 and her spouse, David Hart; four grandchildren; and countless friends. A service in celebration of Marilyn’s life was held at the First Congregational Church in Windsor, Conn., on November 13, 2015, followed by private

burial in Springdale Cemetery.

More News The Alumni Office has learned of the passing of Everett Burton Miller ’34 on February 9, 2015; Joseph R. Proctor Jr. ’42 on February 5, 2016; Jean Blease May ’43 on February 19, 2016; William H. Flammer Jr. ’43 on April 7, 2016; Robert Philip Follert ’49 on August 24, 2013; William Sills Carpenter ’50 on January 1, 2016; Richard J. O’Mara ’51 on February 4, 2016; Richard L. Follert ’52 on January 21, 2016; Robert N. Little ’52 on February 10, 2016; Sam B. Nadler, Jr. ’57 on February 4. 2016; Stephen Street Carter ’64 on July 3, 2015; and former staff member Barbara Milling on March 13, 2016.

More information, as available, will be printed in future editions. ©

loomischaffee.org | 63

THE LAST WORD | BY THE LOOMIS LOG

A Holiday for Spring Plantings During the school’s early years, agriculture teacher Joseph Goodrich organized Loomis’s annual Arbor Day celebration. The Loomis LOG reported on the exuberant nature of the 1920 observance.

“

Joseph Goodrich, The Loomiscellany, 1920 Photo: Loomis Chaffee Archives

Last Friday, Arbor Day was celebrated with unprecedented enthusiasm. Under the spell of Mr. Goodrich’s eloquent talk, an arboriculture revival was held in study hall after the planting of the Senior tree — a tulip tree at the south corner of Chapel. Every division and organization of school agreed to buy and plant a tree, so a holiday was granted in which to do the good work.

The walk from Founders to the Athletic Field was lined with maples … those on the right presented by the Choir, Glee Club, Mandolin Club, and Cercle Français; those on the left by the Juniors, Sophomores, Freshmen, Day Fellows, Masters and Student Council. … In this way the beautifying of the grounds has been joined to the erection of memorials to those who have helped the school, as was Mr. Goodrich’s plan, and his further suggestion that Freshmen instead of Seniors plant the yearly tree is worthy of serious consideration.

”

— “Arbor Day,” The Loomis LOG, May 12, 1920

64 |

Planting the Senior Tree, 1920 Photo: Loomis Chaffee Archives

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Photo: Mary Coleman Forrester