FALL 2021
THE MISS PORTER’S SCHOOL MAGAZINE
Moth Design
Christina Yu
Assistant Director of Admission, Multimedia Designer
Virginia Macdonald Photography
DESIGN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Kathleen Clute Ben Gebo
Ruth E. Mendes
Associate Director of Digital Marketing and Communications
communications@ missporters.org
Diane R. Johnson, M.P.H.
www.porters.org
Chief Communications and Public Health Officer
Stephen Wang
PRINTING
Kirkwood
ILLUSTRATION
Julia Emiliani
PHOTO CREDITS
Ruth Mendes
Editor
Kathleen Clute
Richard J. Higley
Head of School
Katie Bradley
Katherine G. Windsor, Ed.D.
a gorgeous, welcoming and energyefficient space that is accessible to all,” said Head of School Katherine G. Windsor. “We are so grateful to Katie and Rich for all the hard work they did behind the scenes to reenvision our beloved Main for the next generations of girls.”
Miss Porters School
Katie Bradley, director of campus planning and design, and Richard J. Higley, director of campus safety and facilities services, were key players in the renovation of 60 Main Street. “Thanks to these two dedicated professionals, we have
60 Main Street Farmington, CT 06032
KUDOS TO KATIE AND RICH
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Letter from
Katherine G. Windsor, Ed.D. Head of School
• FALL 2021 •
Miss Porter’s Community, Success in a boarding school requires compromise, patience and resilience. It is deciding with your roommate what time to turn in for the night or waiting until everyone has been served before starting your meal at Sit-Down dinner. It is supporting your teammate when she is chosen for the starting lineup while you remain on the bench. It is having the courage to do the right thing on behalf of others and refusing to be a bystander.
It felt triumphant to gather together, despite the inconvenience of masking, social distancing and sanitizing. It felt joyful to engage in Traditions, even though they needed to be modified. And wow, did it feel satisfying to hand diplomas to the class of 2021 on Brooks Field earlier this year.
Letter from HOS
It also requires a unique level of independence and personal accountability not often granted by parents to their adolescent children. At Miss Porter’s, girls navigate their days far from the thoughtful watch of their parents. They are free to make their own choices and must live with the consequences. There is freedom with responsibility. Since 1843, for most the advantages and privileges of a Miss Porter’s education have far outweighed the sacrifices. In a recent article, however, Jon Meacham, a boarding school graduate, historian and author of “The Soul of America,” wrote, “This is a new moment. Prolonged sacrifice isn’t something we’ve been asked to do, really, since World War II.“ For the MPS community, prolonged sacrifice was not something we had faced in our lifetimes — until March 2020, that is. I could not be prouder of all the ways our community stepped up in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and “put we before me.” Because of the individual choices we made daily, we returned safely to campus in the fall of 2020.
It took courage to become a fully vaccinated community, and it takes stamina to continue to live the words of our mission — to be informed, bold, resourceful and ethical global citizens — in the face of an ongoing pandemic. Now, in the 2021-22 school year, I continue to be grounded by our mission’s call to action: that we prepare our graduates to shape a changing world. Our success as a school, country and world in this historic and unprecedented time depends on our personal and collective sacrifices. It is how we must act as a nation and how our individual decisions have a ripple effect worldwide. In closing, I ask you to join me in embracing the mission statement’s words. They could not be more relevant, more powerful or more necessary. Be safe and be well,
In this issue
People
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Donor Profile
Leaders Belong Here
Ancient Profile
Althea Beaton Ducard ’88 supports the Immediate Impact Scholarship program.
Meet our 2021-22 student leaders, the Nova Nine.
Interior Designer Anne Morton Hepfer ’91 talks about her journey as an entrepreneur.
On Campus
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A look at moments on campus.
How can our Ancient network be better?
A letter from Head of School Katherine G. Windsor.
A sampling of Ancient events.
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Seen & Heard
Miss Porter’s School
Ancient Survey
Sneak Peek
Then & Now
The Zoom classroom of Hur-shiu Webb.
Past meets present.
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Regulars
Graduation
Saluting the class of 2021.
Head of School
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Faculty News
What our faculty members have been learning, doing and presenting.
Ancient Gatherings
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Remembrances
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Class Notes
All photos featured in the Bulletin were taken either prior to the COVID-19 outbreak or in accordance with Miss Porter’s School COVID-19 protocols. MPS adheres to the strictest COVID-19 guidelines in alignment with national, state and local health department recommendations.
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The New ‘Main’ Miss Porter’s School reimagines the heart of campus.
Features
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Better Preparing Students for Life What kind of an education do girls need in order to grow and thrive?
03 In this issue
About our photography
• SEEN AND HEARD •
SPORTING SATURDAYS
Miss Porter’s School
Miss Porter’s hosted four game days in the spring, with the lacrosse teams taking on Berkshire School, softball playing Taft and golf teeing off against Williston Northampton. Track and field teams competed virtually with other Founders League schools by running meets on their own and uploading scores and times.
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Seen and Heard
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WADING INTO SCIENCE
Sometimes you have to jump right in to get the data you need, and that’s just what a group of Environmental Lab Science girls did in the Farmington River!
The Squirrels emerged triumphant from this year’s Spirit Day on May 14. Stay tuned for next year, when the Possums and Minks will try to unseat them for the top spot.
• SEEN AND HEARD •
An abundance of artistry The skills of Miss Porter’s School artists, dancers and musicians were on full display during ArtsWeek in April. Beginning with a Bowl-a-Thon workshop in the ceramics studio, the event featured live music every day, dance recitals in the amphitheater, student art exhibitions in the galleries and online, a Zoom session with Prescott Visiting Artist Tanya Aguiniga, virtual concerts, and more.
POLISHED
The Crisp Athletic Center, Mellon Gym, squash courts and Gaines Dance Barn all feature shiny new floors thanks to a June project to restore the surfaces and make them safer for students. Many of the athletic facilities had been used as temporary classrooms and gathering spaces as the school adapted to COVID-19 in 2020-21.
Miss Porter’s School
Taco tales
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Seniors dressed up and filled up — on tacos — for prom and then headed over to Ron-A-Roll in nearby Vernon for a few hours of four-wheeled fun!
Seen and Heard
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Capping the year with Capstones Seventeen students completed Advanced Interdisciplinary Seminar Capstone projects in the 2020-21 academic year, delving into topics ranging from climate change to hackathons. Among those participating were Lauren Abrahams ’21, who investigated
factors limiting U.S. women’s access to health care, Rania Notowidigdo ’21, who examined diversity of thought in the Indonesian LGBTQ+ community, and Naima Small ’21, who looked at the impacts of colorism on teen girls within the African diaspora.
ic Director Avi D ubn hlet At ov ta ke s
e on he rt fo eam. ulty t fac
Field Day fun Class bonding was the order of the day at Freshman Field Day on May 1, when ninth graders enjoyed musical chairs, a sponge relay, a water balloon toss and more. Full disclosure: Some folks got pie in their faces!
Zoe Br ow n
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New Place do into rm es . ov
Face masks and other pandemic precautions couldn’t dampen the excitement of moving into the dorms, reuniting with old friends and starting another school year in Farmington.
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A NEW YEAR BEGINS
• SEEN AND HEARD •
Miss Porter’s School
The orchestra performs outside during the spring Demonstrations of Learning.
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Seen and Heard
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New Girl Jenna Iyen
gar
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at th e
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TRADITIONS
Even a pandemic couldn’t stop spring Traditions, with the Ring Ceremony, Little Meeting, German and Singing in the Garden all accomplished safely.
Miss Porter’s School reimagines the heart of campus
The new ‘Main’
Miss Porter’s School
The $22 million renovation was completed in March 2021.
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Miss Porter bought the former hotel in 1866.
The new ‘Main’
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T
here may have been some raised eyebrows in 1850 when Sarah Porter began renting space in a
vacant hotel at the intersection of Main Street and Mountain Road. The stately Greek Revival building, which had been erected in 1831 to serve travelers on the Farmington Canal, had most recently been home to a tavern. It would have seemed an unlikely locale for the education of young ladies.
But Miss Porter was outgrowing her schoolhouse on Mountain Road, and she saw potential in the red-brick Union Hotel, with its elegant colonnade and wroughtiron balconies. She bought it for $8,000 in 1866, and it has been the beating heart of campus ever since.
Miss Porter’s School
“Sarah Porter was able to house her students in it, teach her classes in it and feed her students in it,” said Katie Bradley, director of campus planning and design. Now, thanks to a $22 million renovation, the school’s iconic front door at 60 Main Street opens into a corridor that leads to an accessible, light-filled space where the entire campus community can dine together or gather for special events. The renovation was finished in March, and members of the class of 2021 were able to enjoy it before they graduated.
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“This is the core building that’s been a part of the life of every girl who has been to Miss Porter’s,” said Michael Bergin P’19, chief financial and operating officer. “We have taken the jewel of the school and made it better while maintaining its integrity. Someone who hasn’t been to campus in 50 years will feel at home in this space.”
Generous gifts — and a diseased tree — made it possible he impetus for the project was the need to have a dining hall big enough to accommodate the 400-member school community in one sitting. Since expanding Main would have meant removing a beloved European copper beech tree that may have dated back to Miss Porter’s time, school leaders began planning for a new community life building. In 2018, after the copper beech was found to be diseased, they pivoted away from the plan for a new building and decided instead to add 6,700 square feet to the west side of Main and renovate the rest of the old hotel (an additional 25,762 square feet).
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After a farewell ceremony for the tree under which generations of graduating Old Girls had planted ivy, it was taken down in November 2018. Fittingly, the wood was salvaged and made into benches for a ground-floor lobby/art gallery that is situated exactly where the old tree used to be. The wood was also made into small bowls for each member of the 2020 graduating class.
The new ‘Main’
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Wooden boards from the hotel portion of the building were also salvaged and are being made into furniture to be used elsewhere on campus. An overarching goal of the renovation was “to make sure that it was welcoming to all — to new students, to Ancients, to faculty, to the families — but most importantly, to students,” said Associate Principal Agatha Vastakis Pestilli of Centerbrook Architects, the lead project manager. “We’ve got young girls coming at the age of 14, and we wanted to make sure that the scale of the building and the materials were welcoming and not overwhelming so they felt that it was home to them.” The renovation also offered the perfect opportunity to make significant infrastructure improvements: upgrade the campus’s power supply and infrastructure, enhance the loading dock and make Sarah Lane safer and more pedestrian friendly. The renovation was financed almost entirely by philanthropy, said Chief Advancement Officer Christine Pina. More than 40 donors gave gifts small and large — including nine principal gifts of $1 million or more — to reinvent Main for a new century.
Donor Spotlight: Mimi and Don Kirk In 2019, when Mimi Colgate Kirk ’57 turned 80, her husband, Don, gave her a most unusual gift: a $1 million donation to Miss Porter’s School.
“It was very unexpected and I was thrilled,” said Mrs. Kirk, who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. The gift is acknowledged in a window etching that reads, “Building our tomorrows from the spirit of our past. The gift of the windows in honor of Mimi Colgate Kirk ’57 from her husband, Donald J. Kirk.” “Main is really the heart of the school, physically and emotionally,” said Mrs. Kirk, a former trustee, campaign chair and volunteer who is herself one of the school’s leading donors. “But it had gotten quite dowdy. ... Now when prospective students walk in the front door, it will be welcoming, embracing
“We have taken the jewel of the school and made it better while maintaining its integrity. Someone who hasn’t been to campus in 50 years will feel at home in this space.” — Michael Bergin
and attractive. “I think Ancients who might have been nervous about any changes to Main will be totally happy,” she said.
“When we presented the idea of renovating Main to Ancients, they were thrilled,” she said. “It is a captivating building, and the most well-known and revered on our campus. We are so grateful to all of our donors who recognized the unique role Main plays in fostering community at Miss Porter’s and, because of that, gave so generously.” The project came in on time and under budget, despite all the special measures that had to be taken because of COVID-19, said Mr. Bergin.
Preserving the old, adding the new tudents and faculty now dine in an expansive new space flooded with light from the enormous west-facing windows dedicated to Ancient Mimi Kirk ’57 by her husband, Don. Soft furnishings and rocking chairs provide comfortable spots to visit and socialize. The expanded front hallway includes a new staircase trimmed with the restored hotel banister. The three parlors where Miss Porter met with her students feature the original white oak floors, comfortable furnishings and an abundance of electrical outlets for the students’ laptops and other electronics. The ground floor now has a three-season colonnade and an elevator that allows universal access to the first floor, where the dining hall, parlors, head of school’s office, reception area and other offices are located. The second floor houses offices, and the third floor will continue to be a dorm for eight New Girls.
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“We kept the function of the spaces in the front of Main, maintaining the beautiful architectural details while opening up the front entrance,” said Ms. Bradley. “It’s very much a mixture of old and new with a very fresh, bright, clean feel.”
Miss Porter’s School
Sarah Porter’s portrait now hangs in the new dining hall, positioned so she can look out the new windows and take in the view. We like to imagine that she is pleased with what she sees.
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Building sustainability into 60 Main Street
The renovated campus hub at 60 Main Street has many features that save energy and conserve natural resources. Here are just a few examples:
1.
LED lights.
2. New insulation in the walls and roof. 3. Operable windows in the dining hall
for natural ventilation.
15 The new ‘Main’
Welcoming to all The public spaces in 60 Main Street were purposefully designed to be accessible and welcoming to all. “Our goal was to make sure that a student, a parent, a grandparent, any family member, any faculty member or anybody in our community could get to the dining hall safely, to a restroom safely and to the servery safely,” said Katie Bradley, director of campus planning and design. A wheelchair lift closes the 28-inch gap in elevation between the widened front corridor and the dining hall and servery. The four restrooms on the first floor are all wheelchair accessible and are open to people of any gender identity. Centerbrook Architects went beyond the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act to embrace Universal Design principles, which promote equitable and flexible use of spaces by people of diverse abilities. “We had two major goals — to be as accessible as possible but designed in a way that was fitting for a beautiful, historic building,” said Ms. Bradley.
The dining hall furniture is arranged so aisles are wide enough for wheelchairs, even when the dining hall is at maximum capacity, and the new servery is more user friendly due to the thoughtful arrangement of food, counters and equipment. The self-service area was intentionally enlarged to allow more food options for those with dietary restrictions. Food service workers also have
To enter the new Main, someone in
a dedicated locker room and a
a wheelchair or using a walker can
temperature-controlled kitchen.
access the front door via an attractive, unobtrusive ramp that complements the original red-brick facade or take an elevator from the Sarah Lane entrance on the ground floor.
Even details as seemingly small as the position of electrical outlets and the height of the counter in the faculty mailroom have been influenced by the principles of Universal Design, said Associate Principal Agatha Vastakis Pestilli of Centerbrook Architects. “Another thing we did is take a simple and intuitive approach to all the spaces,” she said. “It’s just very easy to navigate.”
4. Water-efficient plumbing
fixtures. 5. Low-E window glazing to
reduce energy loss.
6. Automated controls for
lighting, heating and cooling. 7. Variable kitchen exhaust fans
controlled by temperature sensors.
8. Underground stormwater
retention to store and filter sediment and debris. 9. New planting beds to
minimize stormwater runoff.
10. Sustainable building materials. 11. Food-waste composting. 12. Vestibules, air locks and air
curtains at entrance.
• FACULTY NEWS •
What our faculty members have been learning, doing and presenting. Head of School Katherine G.
Windsor, Chief Academic Officer
Timothy Quinn and Porter’s Global
Director Sophie Paris presented at the virtual National Association of Independent Schools’ annual conference in February with educational thought leader Grant Lichtman. Their presentation was titled “Big Challenges/Bold Action: Pressing the Accelerator, Not the Brakes, on School Change.”
Miss Porter’s School
Teachers John Bryk, Kaitlin Cowles, Michelle Perry, Ian Rumsey and Math Department Chair Hur-shiu Webb attended the virtual annual conference of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Its theme was “Reimagining Mathematics Education: Learning From the Past in Order to Move Forward.”
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Assistant Dean of Students Michelle Coster was accepted into the University of Hartford’s master’s degree program in organizational psychology. She also completed a workshop on counseling and listening to adolescents at the Stanley H. King Institute in June.
Dance Teacher Tessa Grunwald began her studies for a Master of Fine Arts in dance at Hollins University. Chinese Teacher Miao Hwang participated in summer symposia offered by the Chinese Early Immersion Language Network and the Chinese Language Association of Secondary Schools. Sophie Paris received a grant from the Fund for North Bennington (Vermont) for the fourth time in 21 years to continue a self-portrait project of residents of the village of North Bennington. Ms. Paris is undertaking this work along with her father, Jay Paris, a photographer and filmmaker.
Director of Music Patrick Reardon attended the 2021 National Association for Music Education Annual Conference, titled “Bringing the Future Into Focus.” Science Teacher Cate Rigoulot traveled to Guyana to study tropical ecology and indigenous conservation practices as part of her master’s degree program at Miami University in Ohio.
English Teacher Elizabeth Simison earned her Doctor of Education in educational leadership from the University of Connecticut this past spring. She will also be presenting two sessions — on story slams and honoring the identities of refugees, immigrants and exiles in the English classroom — at the National Council of Teachers of English annual convention in November. She and English Teacher Nelle Andrews will also present on equitable assessment practices. Alexandra London Thompson took
a course at the Juilliard School, The Role of Theater in Time of Crisis, taught by New York University professor Carol Rocamora.
Art Department Chair Grier Torrence was a visiting artist last winter at Western Connecticut State University, where he worked with students in the Master of Fine Arts program. His work was also featured in online exhibitions presented by the Connecticut Art Education Association and the Bowery Gallery in New York City.
s Porter’s S Mis ch o
Donor Profile
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D ol
r Profile ono
“I will be forever grateful to Miss Porter’s for investing in me as a student and changing the trajectory of my life.”
Althea Beaton Ducard ’88 Forever Grateful
W
hen COVID-19 struck in the spring of 2020 and Miss Porter’s School sent all the girls home for the remainder of the academic year, Althea Beaton Ducard ’88 thought back to her time in high school. “I imagined myself back home in Irvington, New Jersey, with limited access, and what that would have meant in terms of my ability to be productive,” said Ms. Ducard, whose family immigrated from Guyana when she was 2 years old.
The pandemic prompted school leaders to begin thinking about what would be necessary to “furnish an equitable experience to our girls learning remotely in various home environments,” she said. “That really hit home to me in a very personal way, because I tried to imagine what that would have looked like had it happened during my time at Porter’s and how difficult that would have been.” That’s why Ms. Ducard, who received financial aid as a student and now serves on the Miss Porter’s School Board of Trustees, has made a five-year commitment
of $10,000 or more annually to provide support for a current student through the school’s Immediate Impact Scholarships program. She has dedicated her gift to the memory of her parents, David and Pamela Beaton. “They took a chance sending their daughter away to this foreign concept known as boarding school, with the inkling that it was really special and would serve her well.” “I will be forever grateful to Miss Porter’s for investing in me as a student and changing the trajectory of my life,” she said. “Porter’s awarded a substantial scholarship and provided a nurturing environment that opened up new worlds for me. I received an extraordinary gift from the school — my education — and I’m happy to be able to repay it.” Ms. Ducard, a real estate investor who manages a $14 million portfolio of residential property in five states, lives in the View Park neighborhood of Los Angeles with her husband and three teenage sons.
• SNEAK PEEK • 04
THE CLASSROOM OF
Hur-shiu Webb
Here are five fun things to know about incoming Math Department Chair Hur-shiu (HER-shee) Webb: She has taught math for 17 years, moved nine times before graduating from high school (in Malaysia), runs 50 miles a week, is wild about the St. Louis Cardinals and has two young daughters who call her Zebra rather than Mom.
Miss Porter’s School
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Y=693.8597-68.7672 COSH (0.0100333X)
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The Asian Student Alliance advisor and cross-country coach also teaches what has been called “a very cool” interdisciplinary seminar course somberly titled “Postcalculus Through Narrative.” The students read books like “Math Girls,” which convey complex mathematical ideas in story form. The concepts are often so abstract that students grapple with how they even qualify as math, she said. Classroom discussions are lively.
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CARDINALS CAP:
I became a fan while attending Washington University in St. Louis. The Cardinals will always be No. 1 with me!
02 FOOT FACTS:
03 MY ZOOM BACKGROUND:
Ms. Webb has also been very involved in creating standardized learning objectives for all math courses and in figuring out ways to assess quantitative reasoning. “In English and history, students have take-home assessments all the time in the form of essays,” she said. “I was wondering what that would look like in a math class.” She decided the key was to ask students to create something. One of her take-home math tests, for example, might require a student to “write a function that has certain attributes,” or “create a story that incorporates the mathematical phrase 8C3 and P(A|B).”
As a passionate Trekkie, I think it’s only fitting to Zoom from the flight deck of the Starship Enterprise.
04 “MATH GIRLS” BY HIROSHI YUKI:
“What I hope to do for my students is give them the best things I had in high school, or what I think anybody should have in high school.”
These Asics have about 250 miles on them. I’m not super fast, but I cover a lot of miles!
Amazon describes this text as “a unique introduction to advanced mathematics, delivered through the eyes of three students as they learn to deal with problems seldom found in textbooks.”
05 ZEBRA:
My kids, Beata (Bea) and Andromeda, call me Zebra because when Bea was 3 years old she decided I would be Zebra and Josh Bezdek (her dad) would be Giraffe.
06 FUN FACT:
I may be the only person to have the formula for the curve of the St. Louis Arch tattooed on my arm!
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Miss Porter’s School
Leaders belong here: The Nova Nine
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The members of the 2021–22 Nova Nine are creating moments of joy, creativity and school spirit for everyone on campus. It is no small task to balance community safety with community spirit during a pandemic, but this group is well-equipped to promote a safe return to many of the activities and traditions that make the Porter’s experience so unique.
01 HEAD OF SCHOOL ⁄ Kristabel Kenta-Bibi ’22 02 SECOND HEAD OF SCHOOL ⁄ Natalie Yarnall ’22 03 CO-HEAD OF MAIN ⁄ Zoe Kerns ’22 04 CO-HEAD OF MAIN ⁄ Bianca Sada ’22 05 CO-HEAD OF NEW GIRLS ⁄ Lauryn Holloway ’22 06 CO-HEAD OF NEW GIRLS ⁄ Sabrina Iannucci ’22 07 HEAD OF DIVERSITY ⁄ Essence Johnson ’22 08 HEAD OF ATHLETICS ⁄ Marah Deckers ’22 09 HEAD OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES ⁄ Soleil Lech ’22
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Leaders Belong Here
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HEAD OF SCHOOL
Kristabel Kenta-Bibi ’22
I am stunned and thankful that I received this position. I plan to use my love of communicating with other people to bring Porter’s closer together.
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COMPETITI VE AT E
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ON BEING HEAD OF SCHOOL
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Glastonbury, Connecticut
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HOMETOWN
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HER PORTER’S EXPERIENCE
One of the main reasons I came to Porter’s was its community and the number of opportunities it has to offer. I couldn’t see anywhere else that could provide such abundance.
SECOND HEAD OF SCHOOL
Natalie Yarnall ’22 HOMETOWN
HER PORTER’S EXPERIENCE
Avon, Connecticut
The environment here pushed me to step outside of my comfort zone and try so many new things that have helped me grow so much as a person.
Miss Porter’s School
ON BEING SECOND HEAD OF SCHOOL
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I’m very excited! I am looking forward to contributing to the school through the Senior Gift, Farmington Give Day and Senior Surprise. I also hope to improve menu options for those with dietary restrictions and to cultivate an even more inclusive community.
FAVORITE SPOT ON CAMPUS
The hot tub, the heart of the diving team!
23 CO-HEAD OF MAIN
Leaders Belong Here
Zoe Kerns ’22 HOMETOWN
North Adams, Massachusetts ON BEING A CO-HEAD OF MAIN
I am ecstatic to have the role and look forward to working with Bianca to improve the Porter’s community and experience in any way I can. We want to make sure that the art that is created every day by members of the Porter’s community is properly recognized and honored. WHAT MAKES HER HAPPY
Ralph Waldo Emerson famously wrote that “happiness is a perfume that you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.” This kind of secondhand happiness that comes with giving to others has always been the most effective and long-lasting for me. CO-HEAD OF MAIN
Bianca Sada ’22 HOMETOWN
Jakarta, Indonesia ON BEING CO-HEAD OF MAIN
I am so excited to be a head of Main, especially since my roommate is my co-head! The new Main building, right now, is a blank canvas, and Zoe and I are ready to paint. I hope to bring color to all of campus and to highlight the diversity of cultures at Porter’s through arts and events. I want to unify the community through creativity and art. FUN FACT
I’m writing a children’s book titled “One Day: Letters from Lives in Limbo.” Before coming to Porter’s, I went to a refugee center in Indonesia. By illustrating and retelling the stories of the children there, I hope to harness compassion and awareness for such a compelling issue.
CO-HEAD OF NEW GIRLS
Sabrina Iannucci ’22 HOMETOWN
Middletown, Connecticut ON BEING A CO-HEAD OF NEW GIRLS
I believe that making people feel welcome and safe with simple acts of kindness is the best thing we can do for one another. I see myself contributing to Porter’s by creating an environment where New Girls feel comfortable to be themselves and be appreciated for who they are.
CO-HEAD OF NEW GIRLS
T I T:
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I will appreciate learning about the value of being confident in knowing who I am as a person and a friend.
AT TH
WHAT SHE’LL REMEMBER 20 YEARS FROM NOW
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I see myself actively working to encourage connections between students, whether that be new and old, old and old, or old and new. I love watching as friendships
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ON BEING A CO-HEAD OF NEW GIRLS
grow, so I hope to put my joy for new connections to use throughout the school year.
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HOMETOWN
Bloomfield, Connecticut
E TO S. P O F M Y LU N G
Lauryn Holloway ’22
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OF 42 DISNEY
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HEAD OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES
Soleil Lech ’22 HOMETOWN
Stonington, Connecticut
Miss Porter’s School
ON BEING HEAD OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES
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I am looking forward to joining forces with students, the administration and other school communities to bring balance to student life. This year, more than ever, that balance will be imperative as we all find the new normal after the pandemic.
HEAD OF DIVERSITY
Essence Johnson ’22
Leaders Belong Here
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HOMETOWN
New York, New York ON BEING HEAD OF DIVERSITY
My own identity and the views of the world it creates are the biggest contribution I can share with the community. I’m very confident in myself and my opinions, but I am still open and willing to grow mentally and emotionally, and I know this is needed in this position.
FUN FACT: I WAS AN IRISH STEP DANCER WHEN I WAS YOUNG.
HEAD OF ATHLETICS
Marah Deckers ’22 HOMETOWN
Avon, Connecticut ON BEING HEAD OF ATHLETICS
School spirit creates a sense of camaraderie that sets a foundation for schoolwide successes. I hope to focus on recognition and school spirit through events such as sports banquets and pep rallies. HER PORTER’S EXPERIENCE
Some of my favorite memories at Porter’s are the times I have spent on a sports field as well as supporting my friends through their competitions. Twenty years from now, there is one big thing I will remember, and that is the community.
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Miss Porter’s School
Preparing students
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Better preparing students for life
What kind of an education do girls need in order to grow and thrive in a world of dizzying technological, environmental and social change?
Miss Porter’s School
That’s the question guiding Miss Porter’s School leaders and faculty as they create and implement a new academic program that better equips students to live out the school’s mission of preparing graduates “to shape a changing world.”
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The new program prioritizes interdisciplinary and experiential learning; deep engagement with course material; student and community wellness; equity and inclusion; and social-emotional and life skills. It has been in formal development for the past four years with roots that go back all the way to the start of the InterMission program almost a decade ago.
“Being able to cram for a test and get a good grade on it actually tells us very little about a person’s ability to thrive in today’s world,” said Timothy Quinn, chief academic officer and dean of faculty. “There’s an increasing body of research that suggests that academic skills are not as important to success as things we might call life skills — confidence, motivation, interpersonal skills, resilience and the ability to collaborate and build cross-cultural competencies.
“Our students need to know things, but in an age where all the information in the world is available with a few keystrokes, it is far more important that they learn to assess the information before them, and then use the information that is true and accurate in service of solving the world’s problems.” TIMOTHY QUINN
Ninth grade: a foundational year
Depth over breadth A curriculum committee has been meeting in various iterations since 2017 to create a more interdisciplinary and relevant academic experience, one that is global in scope yet highly personalized. It privileges depth over breadth and stresses skill development over content memorization. To that end, the school has phased out Advanced Placement (AP) courses and replaced them with Advanced Interdisciplinary Seminars (AIS). AIS courses combine intellectual rigor with interdisciplinary, experiential and project-based learning that pushes students to think more deeply, to ask questions, to evaluate information and to make connections between related topics. Rebecca Plona, director of the school’s Center for Teaching and Learning, was an early adopter of the AIS model at Miss Porter’s. She previously taught AP and International Baccalaureate (IB) psychology courses and now teaches the AIS version of the class. “I’m able to use much of the content I would have used in the old AP course,” she said. “My aim is not memorization of terms and content, but rather giving students enough of a grounding in the concepts that they can leverage them to engage in the higher-order thinking we really want from our students.” Miss Porter’s has also created an opportunity for seniors who wish to delve into a yearlong process of inquiry and research. They can undertake “Capstone” projects comparable to a small thesis, said Lesley Skenderian, director of senior programs. “They start with a central question, then they research it, practice speaking publicly about it and then present a final product,” she said.
This year, the ninth-grade experience looks a little different. Instead of being assigned to mixed-grade advisor groups as in the past, freshmen have been placed in small groups together with an adult advisor. And unlike students in the higher grades, they will not be receiving letter grades. “We want the ninth-grade year to be the foundation for the entire school experience,” said Rebecca Plona, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning. “We want them to have the skills they need to thrive in the classroom and in the community. There’s almost a hidden curriculum that some kids have never had exposure to.” To that end, an advisory curriculum for New Girls is being developed that will be more explicit about introducing them to the school’s culture, expectations and values. “This will involve teaching social skills: how to engage with adults, how to become the architect of your own learning, how to be a good member of a community as diverse as ours,” Ms. Plona said. “How do you create authentic, deep, true relationships? Even many adults don’t know how to speak to someone who believes something different from them or who has had a different life experience. We want our students to build bridges, not walls.”
Preparing students
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That final product could take almost any form: a podcast, a film, a TED-like talk or a written paper. One student even created a children’s book. Last year, 32 seniors participated in Capstone. Another way the school is preparing students for the future is by providing exposure to and expertise in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The campus’s Institute for Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship equips students for further study and careers in programming, digital literacy, global business, digital innovation, design, entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics.
Reducing stress One key change — the switch to a trimester system with fewer classes meeting for longer blocks of time each day — was implemented earlier than planned because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to allowing for a deeper engagement with the course material and more time for experiential learning, the new schedule meant that students and faculty came in contact with fewer people during the course of any given day — a plus for limiting the spread of disease. There’s now a 45-minute “X block” each day that can be used to extend class time for creative activities, for students to meet with teachers, and for faculty to plan lessons and work collaboratively.
In addition, the school day now begins at 8:45 a.m. rather than 8:00 a.m. — and it was intentionally designed, along with other components of the program, to promote well-being, said Liz Schmitt, chief enrollment and student affairs officer. “The biggest takeaway from the year of the pandemic was that we must provide our students with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and habits they need to best navigate the unique challenges in front of them.”
Mastery vs. grades While Miss Porter’s continues to award the letter grades in grades 10-12, it is basing those grades on a learning framework that reports student progress on a continuum as they move toward mastery of welldefined learning objectives. “Standards aren’t new, but being more transparent and explicit about them is,” said Elizabeth Simison, who as the school’s second Innovative Teaching Fellow is helping faculty adapt their assessment and grading practices to eliminate unconscious bias and be more equitable.
Miss Porter’s School
“Using standards and learning objectives reduces the implicit bias that all human beings have,” she said. “As does collaborating with teachers who teach the same course.”
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Clear learning objectives and feedback “give students the language to ask more than, ‘What can I do to get my grade up?’” she said. “By being explicit about the rubrics or objectives on which they will be rated, they can work toward mastering those.”
Preparing students
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“Using standards and learning objectives reduces the implicit bias that all human beings have, as does collaborating with teachers who teach the same course.” ELIZABETH SIMISON
An academic evolution The academic program will continue to evolve in the coming years, but always with one true north: to equip Miss Porter’s girls with the knowledge and skills they need to go out and change the world. Throughout its 178-year history, Miss Porter’s School has always provided a stellar education. Now it is once again choosing to grow and change. To say, “We can be even better.”
Ready for college For example, Advanced
A groundswell of change is beginning
model, embracing the experiential
to transform the educational
aspect of learning and encouraging
Interdisciplinary Seminars (AIS
landscape as colleges and universities
deep exploration of the subject matter.
classes) ask juniors and seniors to
reimagine their curricula to better
Our new academic program is
work at or beyond the traditional AP
prepare graduates for success in a
preparing future graduates well.”
rapidly changing world, said Amy Rogers, dean of college counseling at Miss Porter’s School.
While new standards-based assessment tools are making Miss Porter’s students better scholars, “the
“A crucial part of the work we are
curriculum is providing them with the
doing is researching and understanding
critical thinking and problem-solving
what is happening at the college level
skills that colleges are looking for,
to make sure our students are
along with fluency in the language
prepared for the rigors of higher
they need in order to present
education,” she said. “Like us, colleges
themselves beautifully on college
are moving to a more interdisciplinary
applications,” said Ms. Rogers.
level, but with a cross-disciplinary lens and a greater depth of exploration. “We guide our students to focus on the critical learning skills they will need to be lifelong learners and adapt to the lightning-fast pace of change in the new economy,” she said. “Our students are going to be a college professor’s dream!”
• ANCIENT PROFILE •
Anne Morton Hepfer ’91 Creating Distinctive Spaces
A
Miss Porter’s School
nne Morton Hepfer ’91 is a Toronto-based interior designer and entrepreneur who has been creating beautiful spaces for homeowners across North America since she launched Anne Hepfer Designs in 2003. Her award-winning interiors have been featured in House Beautiful, Canadian House & Home, Homes & Gardens, The Wall Street Journal and more.
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Whether she’s selecting furnishings for a Florida residence or weighing the effects of wind and waves on an Ontario boathouse, she keeps a singular focus on the people and families she’s designing for. “Every project is like having a child,” said Ms. Hepfer, who earned a degree in interior architecture and design from Parsons School of Design. “It’s creating something three-dimensional from scratch and seeing it through to completion,” she said. “But more than that, it’s building meaning into my clients’ homes by gaining a deep understanding of who they are, how they live and how they want to feel in the spaces they’re waking up, living in and going to bed in every single day.”
An early awakening Ms. Hepfer can trace her passion for design back to her years at Miss Porter’s School, where Art History Teacher Alice Delana “told stories about art and wove them into history, religion and culture, and she would always come back full circle to make every class riveting.” She also has fond memories of studying studio art with Penny Prentice. “I did a lot of sketching and painting,” she recalled of her years at Miss Porter’s. “I tapped into color at a very early age. The way I see color and light and contrast started back then.” She also interned at the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington one winter, and she recommends such real-world exposure to students today. “It starts as early as high school — having internships, having lots of experiences and not being afraid to ask questions and dig into true passions,” she said. “Finding one’s passions and fueling them in life is probably a key factor in what makes somebody successful later on.”
33 Anne Morton Hepfer ’91
Along with helping her find her own passions, Miss Porter’s School “gave me perspectives into something I hadn’t really done before and made me want to do more,” she said. “Art is something that you can just build on and build on. It was such a great gift over those years. I didn’t know who I would be or what my career would look like, but looking back, it all makes sense.”
A creative career After graduating from Miss Porter’s, Ms. Hepfer studied human and organizational development and art history at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She then moved to San Francisco to work in advertising and public relations, with a goal of joining her father’s firm, Jack Morton Worldwide. But the sale of the company prompted her to reevaluate her career path and apply to Parsons instead. She went on from Parsons to manage highend residential projects for Daniel Romualdez Architects in New York, and then struck out on her own in 2003, the same year she married Toronto native Christian Hepfer. The couple moved to Ontario, where she slowly grew her firm to a staff of 10 while raising two sets of twins, Jack and Charlie, 15, and Amelia and Alexander, 12. “Deep down, I think being an entrepreneur was always a dream for me,” she said. “I spent a lot of time processing what it would be like to run my own show rather than working for somebody else.”
“Art is something that you can just build on and build on. It was such a great gift over those years.”
The year of COVID-19 When COVID-19 struck, the Hepfer family retreated to their home on Lake Joseph, two hours north of Toronto. There, the children went to school remotely while she managed her projects via Microsoft Teams. “COVID slowed things down significantly,” she said. “We had to stagger trades, and everything got delayed. We had big issues getting product quickly enough because many places we import from had outbreaks.” However, the pandemic brought its own gift: the space and time to work on her first book, which is scheduled for release in August 2022. Titled “MOOD,” it will feature more than 400 images of Hepfer-designed spaces, meditative reflections, family recipes and candid travel shots. “I hope this book will speak to our current appetite for color, connection, change and comfort,” Ms. Hepfer said, “while becoming a trusted source of guidance and inspiration for years to come.”
Congratulations Class of 2021!
Perseverance through the pandemic “Make decisions fueled by hope, by gratitude and by love,” Head of School Katherine G. Windsor urged in her commencement address. “Be informed, take your place at the table and practice gratitude every day,” she told the graduating seniors and their families who gathered on Brooks Field on June 4 and the distance learners who participated from their home countries. The ceremony was dedicated by the senior class to Georgia Berman ’00 for “her hard work and perseverance” that made an in-person school year possible during the pandemic. Ms. Berman is the nursing supervisor at the Colgate Wellness Center and a member of the school’s
Co m
m en in 021 t2 en
Beijing.
Miss Porter’s School
m ce
34
COVID-19 task force. The class gift to the school was funding to install air conditioning and renovate rooms in the senior dorms. Commencement speaker Lauren Melman, MD, ’97, the school’s medical director, told the gathering that even though the world faces many challenges, “You’re well-positioned to be powerful, emerging leaders. ... What you may not know is that you have the foundation to thrive and make a difference, and you already have.”
Graduation
35
“You’re well-positioned to be powerful, emerging leaders.” — Lauren Melman, MD, ’97
• ANCIENT GATHERINGS •
SAVE THE DATE
Looking Forward Ancient Book Club Engage with other Ancients in literary discussions on Zoom through the MPS Ancient Book Club! Explore books from a range of global and diverse perspectives that foster belonging. Email alumnaerelations@missporters. org to register. Want to recommend a book? Contact Nicole LaMotte ’88 at nlamotte@mac.com. DECEMBER 9
“Detransition, Baby” by Torrey Peters This debut novel “is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can’t reach,” says publisher Penguin Random House. Ms. Peters is the first openly transgender person ever nominated for the prestigious Women’s Prize for Fiction. MARCH 10 AND 16
Miss Porter’s School
“Leaving Coy’s Hill” by Katherine A. Sherbrooke
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Ms. Sherbrooke will be joining the March 10 discussion of “Leaving Coy’s Hill,” a work of historical fiction about Lucy Stone, a pioneering 19th-century feminist and abolitionist. March is Women’s History Month — be sure to join us.
SPRING 2022
Worldwide Sit-Down Dinner Our hope is to gather Ancients around the world next spring for the annual Worldwide Sit-Down Dinner. This will be a chance to share a meal with other Ancients in your area and join a global movement of community, friendship and MPS connection. We will continue to monitor domestic and international health guidance as we finalize our plans.
Foundational Series Watch for invitations to upcoming gatherings. These sessions provide opportunities for Ancients to tell their own stories and enter into conversations about the role personal identity plays in shaping our understanding of ourselves and others.
Farmington Chats Accomplished Ancients lead these topical conversations that aim to inform, inspire and build community. Details will be announced in We Love Our School.
LEARN MORE AT:
porters.org/ancients-events/ #upcomingevents
IN MEMORIAM
Miss Porter’s School was very sorry to learn of the passing of these Ancients, trustees and staff, and we extend our deepest condolences to their families and friends. Ann Ellis Powel ’38 | 5/1/2021
Maude S. Davis ’52 | 3/4/2021
† Elizabeth Beardsley Havard 1957 — Niece
† Maude Bouvier Davis 1924 — Mother
† Elizabeth Ellis 1933 — Sister
† Michelle Bouvier Putnam 1924 — Aunt
Dorothy E. Beardsley 1967 — Niece
† Michelle Scott Crouse 1947 — Cousin
Marion Beardsley Alford 1961 — Niece
† Jacqueline Bouvier Onassis 1947 — Cousin
† Harriet F. Allen 1861 — Great-Grandmother
† Lee Bouvier Radziwill 1950 — Cousin
Hope Stout Connors 1955 — Cousin
† Edith Bouvier Beale 1935 — Cousin
Hope Connors 1981 — Cousin once removed
Mary Ellen Nichols Fahs ’54 | 3/20/2021
Harriet Wells Bailey ’41 | 6/18/2021
† Isabel Bruce deKay 1918 — Mother
Penn Gardner Rand 1967 — Daughter
Juliet Taylor Walsh 1963 — Niece
Emily Ridgway Crisp 1959 — Relative † Emily Parsons Ridgway 1929 — Stepsister
Anne Curtiss Mahr ’55 | 4/8/2021 † Margaret Curtiss Meadows 1934 — Aunt
Sarah Robinson McAndrew ’47 | 5/3/2021
† Sarah Cary Curtiss 1895 — Grandmother
Marion Taylor 1974 — Stepniece
Beatrice Crosby Booth ’56 | 6/8/2021
Ruth Robinson Warner 1945 — Sister Harriet Warner Jones 1977 — Niece
Judith Thompson Bradley ’57 | 3/1/2021
† Madelaine Blackburn 1942 — Sister-in-law
Jennifer Bradley ’82 — Daughter
† Elizabeth Blackburn Taylor 1944 — Stepsisterin-law Anne Gile Sennott 1964 — Stepniece Elizabeth B. Taylor 1970 — Stepniece Cecilia Taylor Bloomer 1967 — Stepniece Courtney Taylor Marsters 1966 — Stepniece Frances Griscom Brewer ’49 | 2/2/2021 † Olga Griscom Walsh 1946 — Sister Cynthia Brewer Capaci 1974 — Daughter Jane Lothrop Gardiner’49 | 4/21/2021 Phebe Thompson Burke ’50 | 3/21/2021 † Barbara Scott Elliott 1933 — Aunt Emily Thompson Walker 1952 — Sister † Anne Elliott Raynor 1926 — Mother
Letitia M. Barnes ’65 | 3/23/2021 † Virginia McDougal Barnes 1941 — Mother † Alice Beadle McDougal 1917 — Grandmother † Valette LeForgee Barnes 1917 — Grandmother Gloria Barnes Van Norden 1941 — Aunt † Julia Terry Barnes 1952 — Stepmother Julia Barnes May 1982 — Stepsister † Elizabeth Terry 1959 — Stepaunt Kelly A. Drew ’94 | 4/1/2021
Bruce B. Bates P’75 G’05 of Rochester, New York, died May 28 at the age of 89. He was a member of the school’s board of trustees from 2002 until 2010, serving as vice president in 2006-07 and as treasurer from 2007-10. He was the father of Barbara Bates Sedoric ’75 and grandfather of Holland Davis Tennent ’05.
37 Remembrances
REMEMBRANCES
Mr. Bates worked in the investment industry for 58 years, retiring from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in 2014. Described as a “passionate and active volunteer,” Mr. Bates was a civic leader in his hometown, serving as an elder at Third Presbyterian Church and as a trustee for the George Eastman Museum, the Rochester Institute of Technology and many other Rochester institutions. His service and philanthropy were recognized by the Rochester Area Community Foundation, United Way of Greater Rochester and the Rochester Rotary Club. In 2020, RIT honored him with its Lifetime Achievement in Philanthropy award. An avid hockey player who skated on high school and college teams, Mr. Bates served as a coach and referee for Rochester youth hockey until he was 58. A longtime fan of RIT hockey, he created the Bruce B. Bates Women’s Hockey Coach endowment at the university in 2015. Mr. Bates graduated from Yale University in 1953 and earned a master’s degree in industrial management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1954. He is survived by his wife of 13 years, Marcia, his son, Todd, his daughter, Barbara, and six grandchildren. He was predeceased by his first wife, Nancy Hemingray Smith Bates ’51, in 2006.
Jennifer Drew Cunningham 1985 — Sister Katie Drew Mitchell 1989 — Sister Daly E. Cunningham 2014 — Niece FORMER EMPLOYEES
Ann Elliott Blanchard 1960 — Cousin
Renee D. Howard | 6/12/21
Susan Thompson Buck 1956 — Sister
French Teacher
Suzanne Walker Buck 1989 — Niece by marriage Hannah P. Palkimas 2015 — Great-Niece
† Deceased
Mary Burke Engstrom 1953 — Sister-in-law † Julia Elliott Wells 1920 — Aunt
• CLASS NOTES •
Submitting your note!
DEADLINE
January 15, 2022 DELIVERING PHOTOS
Please submit your digital photos at the highest possible size and resolution. Photos must be sized 1 MB or larger. BY EMAIL
Share your note via email: classnotes@missporters.org THINGS TO NOTE
If emailing from your phone or computer, make sure that the software doesn’t shrink or compress your photos. Lowresolution or low-quality photos may not be included. — Digital photos are preferred. Prints may be mailed, but we cannot return them. — Please provide the full names of every Ancient in the photo (from left to right) and the date and location of the occasion. Include your name, your year and a caption for every image. —
Miss Porter’s School
Please note that Class Notes will appear in print and online versions of the magazine.
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1950s Jean McBride Greene ’51 celebrates her 88th birthday alongside her Farmington friends with one of her paintings in the background. Sarnia Hayes Hoyt ’56 writes that her memoir, “Letters From My Mother,” was published in 2018 and that copies can be ordered from Amazon.
1970s “I am retired and moved to the beautiful resort town of Park City, Utah, seven years ago,” writes Lindsay H. Bloomfield ’72. “My brother Brooks, class of ’73 at Andover, has been living here since he was 21, so it’s nice to be living just several miles away. We’ve been really close, so it’s fantastic to be close to him! For the past two years, I’ve been organizing a 45th reunion for the classmates I went to school with in Vienna for a year in college. It was a fantastic experience for all of us, and many are still close friends. We’ll be celebrating in Santa Barbara, a gorgeous Spanish architecture-style town in California, close to the beach, resembling the coast of the Mediterranean. We now have 38 people attending, more than double the amount that attended the Santa Fe and Sedona reunions I organized in my 30s. Needless to say, we are all very excited and looking forward to this fun event!”
01
1980s Ashley Jones Tagatac ’82 says she was “so glad to be in touch with so many classmates and other Ancients. While I have rolled off the Alumnae Board and board of trustees, I am thrilled to be visiting campus in October. Even more excited for our 40th reunion in 2022. Are you all ready? I can’t wait to see the renovated Main and KLG, and the other projects. I also hope we can get most of our class back! Over the summer, I saw Madeline Tagatac ’16, Liz Markham McLanahan ’81, Diana Villegas ’14 and so many more via Zoom.”
01
Left to right: Gay Moulton Georgi ’61, Jean McBride Greene ’51 (seated), Joan Pillsbury DePree ’63, Brenda Johnson Dick ’66, Kitty Hart Lansing ’67.
Class Notes
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02
2000s Pennsylvania-based teacher, entrepreneur and author Priscilla Bisnath Ramcharan ’01 is busy teaching English as a second language, managing several online businesses and transitioning the service project she started at Miss Porter’s — Project Love — to official nonprofit status. Mrs. Ramcharan is also connecting women around the globe via the West Indian Women Network, which she founded, and home-schooling her two girls at a virtual charter school. She reports that she is currently working to expand her businesses, complete her next book and launch her first online course. 03
Yani Chu-Richardson ’08 married Adrian Takyi on July 3 in Piedmont Park, California.
2010s Mary Kate Miller ’10 married Rob Konferowicz at the Owenego Inn in Branford, Connecticut, on June 26. Mary Kate met Rob during her time at Miss Porter’s, as he was a friend of her brothers’ at Avon Old Farms. “Hello, MPS Class of 2002,” writes Claire Henry Lovell ’02. “I hope everyone is well. My wife, Robin, our daughter Poppy and I welcomed baby Fallon on Monday, Aug. 2, in New York City. She is doing well and looking forward to being a future MPS girl!” Judy Joslow ’05 and Alex Quintana welcomed Ari Wesson on Jan. 18 in Seattle. Susana, age 3, is enjoying the new company.
02
Left to right: Nancy Blumenthal ’83 with her daughter, Ella, and Priscilla Bisnath Ramcharan ’01 with her daughters, Jade and Solaris.
03
Left to right: Lauren Wrotniak ’08, Michelle Lee ’08, Amy Mallozzi ’08, Della Connelly Vanko ’08 and Laura Danforth, former associate head of school (and mother of the bride).
We asked, and you answered SURVEY SHOWS ANCIENTS ARE
Miss Porter’s School
COMMITTED TO PORTER’S
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Miss Porter’s School Ancients are proud of their association with the school and are interested in becoming more engaged, according to the results of an all-Ancients survey conducted last winter by the Alumnae & Development Office.
Some 1,821 Ancients — a record-breaking 42 percent of those surveyed — took the time to respond to the school’s questions about their connection to Porter’s and ways they would like to be involved in the future. The survey found that 4 out of 5 respondents are pleased to be Ancients and that 9 out of 10 of them feel connected to the school. Nearly 70 percent make Miss Porter’s one of their philanthropic priorities, and 80 percent say they would encourage an applicant to attend. Ancients submitted more than 3,600 individual comments, which will inform future Alumnae Board programming and events. “We are so pleased by the response to this survey,” said Christine Pina, chief development officer. “Cicely Upham, our new director of alumnae and parent engagement, looks forward to working with the Alumnae Board to implement many of the recommendations that have been made and strengthen the connection that Ancients have with Miss Porter’s.”
Ancient Survey Results
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Maintain and further develop MPS regional Ancient clubs; increase and broaden event locations
Maintain and increase both local and virtual event offerings
Better demonstrate our gratitude to all donors for their genuine impact
How can we do this better? The Ancient Network makes its deepest impact by fostering a sense of community and meaningful relationships.
Increase opportunities to meet Ancients’ desire to engage with MPS through Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging efforts
Reach out to all Ancients and ask them to indicate their communication preferences
Maintain and continue to develop virtual event opportunities
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Miss Porter’s School
Then & Now
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Your very own Instagram is coming in January 2022! Keep an eye out for @MPSAncients. MAKE A GIFT TODAY!
porters.org/giving
Miss Porter’s School
60 Main Street Farmington, CT 06032
ANCIENTS, THIS ONE’S FOR YOU!
