Bulletin: The Miss Porter's School Magazine, Spring 2022

SPRING 2022

THE MISS PORTER’S SCHOOL MAGAZINE

COVER IMAGE

Glenda Newell-Harris ’71.

Photo by Ben Gebo.

Kirkwood

PRINTING

Ruth Mendes

Ruth E. Mendes

Associate Director of Digital Marketing and Communications

Diane R. Johnson, M.P.H.

communications@ missporters.org

Chief Communications and Public Health Officer

www.porters.org

Katie Bradley, director of campus planning and design, is retiring in June after 25 years of service to Miss Porter’s School. Her contributions include founding and directing the campus child care center, managing special projects and—most recently—overseeing the campus improvement plan.

Stephen Wang

DESIGN

Moth Design

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Kathleen Clute

PHOTO CREDITS

Ben Gebo

Editor Head of School

Miss Porter’s School

Kathleen Clute Katherine G. Windsor, Ed.D. Miss Porter’s School

—Michael A. Bergin P’19, chief financial and operating officer

60 Main Street Farmington, CT 06032

“Katie Bradley is a treasure, and she has contributed mightily to our school. Her unique blend of design expertise, teaching experience and passion for creating and sustaining community have made her a remarkable leader. While it’s impossible to measure her true impact, it’s clear we are a much stronger school because of her.”

01

Letter from

Katherine G. Windsor, Ed.D. Head of School

Spring 2022 Miss Porter’s Community, As I write, I see our mission statement propped up on the bookshelf: Miss Porter’s School educates young women to be informed, bold, resourceful, ethical global citizens.

We expect our graduates to shape a changing world.

I look to the right and see the number 72 posted in the windows of Colony. I look to the left and see a green pennant and the Black Lives Matters and Progress flags.

The numbers in the windows of Colony represent the countdown until graduation and the last demonstration of learning! Traditions like this one have evolved, yet they remain central to the rhythm of the year.

The flagpole sits at the edge of the patio with sculptures of a Mink, a Possum and a Squirrel as well as the victory bell, which was used repeatedly this year as the soccer team won Founders (again!) and the swimming and diving team won New Englands (again!).

The patio surrounds the hugely popular Glenda Newell-Harris ’71 Student Center, named for our first Black student.

The green pennant signals our COVID-19 operating status, indicating that for the first time since 2020, we are in community without mandatory masks, social distancing and testing.

The BLM flag and the Progress flag signal that identity matters. The flags are emblematic of school as the living legacy of Sarah Porter. After all, our founder was radically brave when she said that gender matters and created an intentional community with personal identity as the organizing principle and call to action.

Each of these visuals provides an introduction to campus today and to some of the ways we keep the mission statement’s promise, which is simultaneously enduring, relevant and necessary.

I want to thank our community for challenging itself and our beloved school to be the best it can be at creating and sustaining the most powerful all-women network in the world!

Thank you,

In this issue

People

19

28

33

Donor Profile

Ancient Profile

In Memoriam

Giving is a family affair for Julia Eddy ’12 and her parents.

Ana Graciela Mendez ’07 helps reinvent local news.

Richard Warren Davis, head of school from 1966 to 1975.

On Campus

04

20

Sneak Peek

Then & Now

A look at moments on campus.

The coaching life of Avi Dubnov.

Past meets present.

01

18

30

A letter from Head of School Katherine G. Windsor.

What our faculty members have been learning, doing and presenting.

A sampling of Ancient events.

Seen & Heard

38

Regulars

Miss Porter’s School

Head of School

02

Faculty News

Ancient Gatherings

32

Remembrances

34

Class Notes

Some photos in this edition were taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, when members of the Miss Porter’s School community were masked in accordance with health protocols and national, state and local guidelines.

Mandatory masking was discontinued in March 2022.

10

What it was like to be the first Dr. Glenda NewellHarris ’71 reflects on breaking the color barrier at Porter’s.

Features

22

Girls win here Avi Dubnov transforms the school’s athletic program.

03 In this issue

About our photography

• SEEN & HEARD •

FALL PLAY

The fall play, performed in November, was “Peter and the Starcatcher,” which explores the backstory of Peter Pan, Captain Hook and the Lost Boys through the immersive and energetic work

by Rick Elice.

ngu La

ud age st ents mad

et he ir

o n

m

Mardi Gras. for ks as

Miss Porter’s School

w

04

C

Kate. ith

Vale nti ne ’s

ay

on the m were en ts uf a or tre

W oa oc

D

Seen & Heard

05

DIVING

Jaya Magavi ’23 broke the school record for diving for a second time in December with a score of 245.3. Ella Warner ’20 was the previous record holder, with a score of 224.5 in 2020.

Paintings by eight members of the Art Club brightened the cafe at Hands On Hartford, a social services agency, last winter. Cafe patrons not only enjoyed the art — they went home with holiday cards made by Angel Shi ’24, who organized the exhibition with help from Art Department Head Grier Torrence P’21, ’23 and hopes it will become an annual event.

s ld

a es giv

b thum

s up.

Cafe manager M olly Re yn

Holiday cheer

o

• SEEN & HEARD •

LUNAR NEW YEAR

Students in the Chinese Advanced Interdisciplinary Seminar staged a colorful lion dance in celebration of the Lunar New Year.

Miss Porter’s School

Trick or treat!

06

Candy, anyone? Little ghouls, goblins, witches and pirates gathered with the head of school before making the rounds on campus.

Seen & Heard

07

ON THE PROWL

Humans aren’t the only ones who call Farmington home. For several years, Cate Rigolout’s environmental science students have been “trapping” wildlife along the Farmington River with a motion-activated, heat-sensing camera. This bear family was among dozens of species documented by the students, including bobcats, hawks, foxes and turkeys.

MLK Jr. Day of Service

pe. co

El la

CSI Farmington? Criminals leave lots of evidence behind for investigators to analyze, and students in Lesley Skendarian’s forensics class are learning how the pros use it to track down their suspects.

th e s ro ic

WHODUNIT?

an gi bi

Kathryn Ausere and ’24 ’24 at

m

Ba

Visiting artists Gené Jones and Regie Gibson were among the highlights of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Jan. 17.

• SEEN & HEARD •

FAMILY WEEKEND

Miss Porter’s School

Family Weekend in October was packed with activities, including an in-the-round performance of “The Children’s Hour” in The Grist Mill by the play production class. Music and dance offerings rounded out the weekend.

08

THE WOLVES

Two exceptional casts staged Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves,” a Pulitzernominated play about a girls soccer team that New Play Exchange says “navigates big questions and wages tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors.”

09 Seen & Heard

Spectacular views, cider doughnuts and apple cider — what better way to top off your first Mountain Day Tradition? The freshman class climbed Talcott Mountain on a beautiful October morning and later enjoyed a relaxing afternoon with no classes, activities or study halls.

10

Miss Porter’s School

WHAT IT WAS LIKE

Dr. Glenda Newell-Harris ’71

TO BE THE FIRST

What it was like to be the first

11

WHEN

Glenda Newell-Harris, M.D., was a child, she attended an all-Black segregated elementary school in Raleigh, North Carolina.

At the Crosby-Garfield School, “I had all Black teachers, all Black classmates, and it was literally about two or three blocks from the high school where my parents taught, which was also a segregated school,” she said.

“The teachers knew my parents stood for academic excellence, and so there was never an opportunity to slouch or not do your work or not show up.”

But when her parents moved the family to WinstonSalem in order to take faculty positions at the state university there, her world changed. After researching the local public schools, her mother enrolled her in a predominantly white middle school across town that had a reputation for excellence. “It wasn’t as traumatic as you might think,” Dr. Newell-Harris recalled, noting that she’d already left all her friends behind in Raleigh.

“I just kind of went about my business of getting my work done, taking the classes that I needed to

Miss Porter’s School

take, getting coaching from

12

my mother, who always really encouraged me to stretch myself.”

13

While Virginia Kimbrough Newell was coaching, she was also searching—hunting for ways her younger daughter could get the rigorous education she would need to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor. A chance conversation with a colleague at the Yale Summer High School, where Dr. Newell taught math, led to a day of interviews for Glenda at Miss Porter’s School and an offer of admission to the class of 1971.

She started that fall as a sophomore, becoming the first Black student to attend, and she went on to earn degrees from Tufts University and the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine.

Fifty years later, in 2021, Miss Porter’s School announced that its new student center would be called the Dr. Glenda Newell-Harris ’71 Student Center.

Naming the renovated wood-shingled cottage at 62 Main Street for the school’s first Black student—who also is believed to be the first Black Ancient to serve as a trustee—was not just a way of honoring a distinguished alumna, said Head of School Katherine G. Windsor. It is also “a visible demonstration of our community’s commitment to belonging and inclusion,” she said, noting that “Glenda has been a leader and champion of Miss Porter’s School, and we are a better school because of her.” The new building opened to students on Jan. 13.

Glenda in a 1971 yearbook photo.

What it was like to be the first

The new Dr. Glenda Newell-Harris ’71 Student Center.

BLAZING A PATH oving into Gay dorm in the fall of 1968, Dr. Newell-Harris wasn’t sure what to expect. “You would think that I should have been wondering if I could academically compete,” she said, “but that wasn’t as much of an issue for me as being accepted.

Was I going to be? And how was it going to work out?”

M

She was pleasantly surprised when “it appeared I was just one of the group” in the small dorm and the faculty were mostly supportive, with the exception of “two faculty members that I felt really had issues with me being there.”

Since her goal for the first year on campus was to be accepted, she said she spent a lot of time “what I’m going to call miscegenating—doing what they did, which was different from what I did, and not caring that what they were doing wasn’t like what I was doing.”

It helped that Dr. Newell-Harris had received some coaching on the difficulties she might face in Farmington. “My mother, I believe, was visionary because she told me exactly what I was going to run into there in terms of engaging with the girls, engaging with their families, what I was going to be invited to do, what I was not going to be invited to do,” she said.

So when unpleasant things happened, “instead of me being upset about them, I was just so fascinated by how smart she was.”

Being in an overwhelmingly white environment wasn’t new, but being in a wealthy white environment was.

There were girls who got BMWs as birthday presents, girls who had Black maids at home, girls whose fathers were captains of industry, girls whose families had homes in other countries, girls who hopped on airplanes the way other people took taxis.

“How do you adjust to that?” she reflected. “You just try to keep your mouth closed. ... I never felt that not being able to fly to a wedding in another country, or not having a second home … was taking away from who I was, nor my family. My family was intact; my family was loving and caring. This was just extravagance for me, and exposure to it was like, ‘Wow, people live like this?’”

THE PRESSURE OF BEING FIRST ut while Dr. Newell-Harris was concentrating on fitting in, then-Head of School Richard Davis was focused on her grades. He had admitted her despite test scores lower than were typical for a Miss Porter’s student (she had taken the SSAT in seventh grade with no preparation), and he was monitoring her performance. “I was told,” she said of Dr. Davis, “‘if you do well with these test scores, we’re going to take more Black students with a similar profile, but if you don’t do well, then maybe what they say is true—that if you don’t test well, then you can’t be successful here.”

Miss Porter’s School

B

14

When she made Dean’s List her first semester, Dr. Davis visited her dorm to congratulate her and “to apologize for … the pressure, and the undue pressure that he felt that he had placed upon me.” That, she said, felt great.

“I remember picking up the telephone and calling my mother. … Not only was it an adult talking to a minor, but it was a white male talking to a Black kid to say, ‘I’m sorry.’ That was huge.”

While the good grades relieved some academic pressure, the cultural distance was real. “There were no Black faculty, no Black adults, no adults of color, no place I could go to share concerns or thoughts.

I just had to save it up for when I had a phone call with my mom and dad,” she remembered, grateful to have had such supportive parents. Her father, the late George F. Newell, had been apprehensive about her leaving home so young, but he “was a wonderful dad and always wanted me to have a better experience and a better education,” Dr. Newell-Harris said.

With regard to academics, she said, “I just don’t remember waking up every day being stressed out.

I don’t have resentful memories of being under that kind of pressure. I feel really good about what happened, and I do want to take some credit for helping the school to understand that test scores should not be a barrier to admission for Blacks or other underrepresented minorities. We’ve learned that test scores are biased and are not the best barometer of professional success and achievement.”

In her junior year, when Dr. Newell-Harris was tapped for the Perilhettes and elected senior class president, she thought, “Oh, my God, I’ve made it. They’re trusting me with two of the school’s highest honors.”

ABOUT DR. NEWELL-HARRIS “I feel really good about what happened, and I do want to take some credit for helping the school to understand that test scores should not be a barrier to admission for Blacks or other underrepresented minorities.”

Glenda Newell-Harris earned her bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and her medical degree from the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine. She went on to have a distinguished career as an internal medicine physician, a speaker and an author, winning numerous professional and personal accolades.

Dr. Newell-Harris is now the western regional medical director for Corizon Health Inc. Serving on the Miss Porter’s School Board of Trustees from 1993 to 1999, she is believed to be the first Black Ancient to do so. She is a past national president of The Links, Incorporated, a nonprofit service organization composed of more than 16,000 professional women

SKILLS FOR LIFE ooking back, she credits her time at Miss Porter’s for giving her the interpersonal and leadership skills to have a successful career as an internal medicine physician, speaker, author and volunteer leader. The school “was a great platform, despite the fact that I was the only,” she said. “I was given that opportunity to engage in a way that just really helped me grow up and learn leadership.”

L

She described having the new student center named for her as “a most incredible honor. I’m not even sure words can adequately express the emotion that’s attached to this honor.

“It’s a huge statement,” she continued. She hopes that African American students will see the decision to name the student center after her as “a firm demonstration of Farmington’s commitment to recognize and honor any and all who have contributed to the school, no matter what their color,” and that it will reinforce their pride in their decision to attend Miss Porter’s.

“I hope that in doing this while I’m alive that there will still be opportunities for me to engage with the students so that they can say, ‘Well, not only is [her] name on a building, but I met her; I know her. We had coffee. I talked to her. She told me about her experiences. She was real.’”

of African descent who are committed to serving and strengthening their communities. Dr. Newell-Harris is also a 50-year member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Married to Robert L. Harris, she is the mother of four grown children and revels in spending time with a new granddaughter.

LEFT TO RIGHT:

George F. Newell, Virginia Kimbrough Newell, Glenda Newell-Harris.

What it was like to be the first

15

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING “The student center has brought a lot of joy to our community and provides a common space that we had been missing since the start of the pandemic.”

LUCY NEWMYER ’23

“The student center is a muchneeded common space on campus, where you can always find someone to hang out with whether it’s planned or not.”

ISABEL MENDES ’23

“This signals to prospective and current families that the contributions of Black Ancients are a valued and essential part of Miss Porter’s School’s history.”

PAT MUELLER AND SHARIFAH HOLDER

Miss Porter’s School

Alumnae Board Co-Chairs

“Miss Porter’s School was founded on a social justice mission, and social justice has never been more important to our students than it is today. For our Black students to see themselves reflected in the naming of that building is incredibly powerful.”

LIZ SCHMITT

16

Chief Enrollment and Student Affairs Officer

“I love how open and welcoming the student center feels. There are so many fun things to do with your friends, but it is also one of my favorite places to go study and relax by myself.”

MAGGIE MAAS ’25

EMMY WILLIS ’25

“It’s so open and bright. I love to go in on the weekends when it’s less crowded and read a book in front of the fireplace.”

“It was so much fun going over there and watching a movie upstairs.”

MIA MCINTOSH ’23

MOLLY GRANT ’24

“I love the student center. It’s a great space for people to go talk, do homework or play a game of foosball during free time.”

PIPER HUNT ’24

“I love spending time in the new Dr. Glenda Newell-Harris ’71 Student Center. It is the perfect place to study during my free time and on the weekend. I also enjoy spending time there with friends, celebrating birthdays and playing games.”

LAUREL BENSON ’24

“I love going to the student center to get all my work done!”

SARA OMAR ’25 “This is a moment of great historical significance for Miss Porter’s School. Dr. Glenda NewellHarris was the first Black student to come to Miss Porter’s, and she has been an incredible advocate for this school. She has a remarkable story, and she looks forward to telling students that story.”

CHRISTINE PINA Chief Advancement Officer

17 What it was like to be the first

“The student center is one of my favorite places to do homework, hang out with friends, play games and listen to music. It is so cozy, and it’s great to go to when I don’t want to walk back to my dorm!”

• FACULTY NEWS •

What our faculty members have been learning, doing and presenting All members of the English Department attended the National Council of English Teachers Annual Conference in November. The online conference’s speakers included Michelle Obama, Colson Whitehead and Amanda Gorman.

Sophie Paris, director of the Institute for Global Education, was selected to be a Global Education Benchmark Group Action Research Fellow for the 2021–2022 school year. She will research and develop tools to best assess global competencies.

Nelle Andrews P’22, English teacher

In October, Math Teacher and Instructional Coach Michelle Perry and College Counselor Ericka Alschuler P’24 attended “Let’s Start

by Listening,” a workshop offered by the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools. The workshop was designed to help school staff support students and colleagues as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

and director of faculty growth, participated in a “Parent Talkback” webinar series for the Mastery Transcript Consortium last December.

History Teacher Ernie Beaulieu took a course titled “Women of the Americas: Early Encounters and Entangled Histories” through the National Humanities Center.

Miss Porter’s School

Language Teacher Kelly Block participated in a workshop titled “Regroup, Reevaluate, Refresh: Moving Forward in the 21st-Century Latin Classroom.”

18

Dance Teacher Tessa Grunwald completed her first two semesters of Master of Fine Art studies in dance at Hollins University, Virginia, and took a weeklong intensive virtual course called “Contemporary Body Practices II.”

Chief Academic Officer and Dean of Faculty Timothy Quinn received a 2021 Outstanding Educator Award from the University of Chicago.

He was nominated for the honor by former advisee Yunwei “Miki” Yang ’21, who is a freshman at the university.

Science Teacher Cate Rigolout published an article in Green Teacher magazine about the hands-on “camera trapping” project she does with her ninth-grade environmental lab science students. The students position motion- and heat-sensing

cameras along the Farmington River to capture several weeks’ worth of images of local wildlife and then download, identify and analyze the images.

Art Department Chair Grier Torrence

P’21, ’23 exhibited recent landscape paintings of Plainville, Connecticut, in the New Britain Art League’s “Small Works” show last November. He was also active in creating other exhibitions, including a Porter’s Art Club show at Hands On Hartford and a student show of Scholastic Art Award recipients’ work in the Silpe Gallery at Hartford Art School. Mr. Torrence has been involved with the Scholastic Arts Awards for 20 years.

History Teacher Lisa-Brit Wahlberg P’23 was one of four Connecticut teachers invited to participate in a National History Day online workshop on using primary and secondary sources at the Library of Congress to develop and support student research skills.

s Porter’s S Mis ch o

D ol

r Profile ono

“My parents give that money because I had such a positive experience at Miss Porter’s, and they want that to continue to be available to other people.”

—Julia Eddy ’12

The Eddy-Normen Family Forever Grateful

G

iving to Miss Porter’s School is a family affair for Julia Eddy ’12 and her parents, Paul Eddy and Elizabeth Normen. Each year, Mr. Eddy and Ms. Normen make a gift in Julia’s name from their donor-advised fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

“My parents give that money because I had such a positive experience at Miss Porter’s, and they want that to continue to be available to other people,” said Ms. Eddy, who graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2016. She now works as a director of fundraising for Left Rising, a Washington, D.C.-based consultancy that raises money for progressive campaigns and causes.

Ms. Normen, publisher of Connecticut Explored magazine, is clear that the gift is a family affair. She and Mr. Eddy, group general counsel at Travelers Insurance, collaborate with both of their daughters on philanthropy, and the annual gifts to Miss Porter’s School are no exception. For the past two years, Ms. Eddy has asked that they be directed toward the school’s diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) efforts.

The death of George Floyd in 2020 sparked conversations about race and racism among Ms. Eddy and her classmates, who discussed ways they could encourage Miss Porter’s to do more to support students of color.

Directing the family’s annual gift to DEIB felt like a way of showing the school that its efforts to be more inclusive and supportive of all students were important to Ancients, Ms. Eddy explained. Her parents agreed.

“Once you get students on campus, there’s a lot more that has to happen on a day-to-day basis to support students,” said Ms. Normen. “We see our gift as helping the school continue that. It’s a small signal, but it’s a little voice that says, ‘Yes, keep working on this.’”

Annual fund gifts directed to DEIB help finance educational opportunities and offerings for students, faculty and Ancients. These include the Alumnae Board’s multiyear DEIB initiative, facilitated by the Disruptive Equity Education Project, as well as student and faculty participation in the annual People of Color Conference offered by the National Association of Independent Schools.

Donor Profile

19

• SNEAK PEEK •

THE COACHING LIFE OF

Avi Dubnov

02

When he’s not working or spending time with his wife and two children, Athletic Director Avi Dubnov is “watching soccer, playing soccer or thinking about soccer.”

04

Miss Porter’s School

A native of England, Mr. Dubnov played soccer for the University of Bolton and then came to the United States in 2004. Since then, he has coached teams in more than 20 states for Major League Soccer. He came to Miss Porter’s School in 2013 as varsity soccer coach after coaching at Central Connecticut State University and Trinity College, and became athletic director at Porter’s in 2018.

20

“We wanted to elevate our teams, our programs, the quality of coaching, the facilities and the opportunities to mirror the next level,” he said, noting that the varsity soccer, swimming and basketball teams all won Founders League championships in the 2019-20 school year.

Soccer took top honors four of the past five seasons.

05

Famous for the Moleskine notebooks he stuffs into all his stadium coats, he’s always on the lookout for new ideas. “The team makes fun of me that I have a different notebook every game,” said Mr. Dubnov, who holds a master’s degree in organizational psychology from the University of Hartford. “If I hear something, I need a place to jot it down so in the rare moment when I’m not multitasking, I can absorb it and use it at the right time in the right moment with the right people.”

Sneak Peek

21

01

MOLESKINE NOTEBOOKS:

I’m never without one!

02

PLAY NOTES:

My coaching notebook is where I sketch out plans for practices.

03

SUPER FAN:

I have more than 40 jerseys from my favorite team, West Ham United in Stratford, East London.

I lived close to the stadium while growing up and had a season ticket for 20 years.

01

04

CHILD’S DRAWING:

Artistic scribbles by my 3-year-old daughter, Darcie.

05

KIND WORDS:

As a coach, I treasure notes like this!

03

Miss Porter’s School

GIRLS WIN

22

Avi Dubnov elevates Miss Porter’s School athletics The Founders League has awarded Athletic Director Avi Dubnov its prestigious M.D. Nadal Sportsmanship Award, which honors a coach who “play(s) by the rules, accept(s) victory or defeat graciously and respect(s) all who assemble and participate.”

It was a fitting tribute to the man who—50 years after Title IX gave female athletes the right to equal opportunity in school sports—has transformed the Miss Porter’s School athletic program. Mr. Dubnov arrived on campus in 2013 to coach varsity soccer and has been the athletic director since 2018.

Girls win here

HERE

23

Miss Porter’s School 24

“The school has celebrated three All-American, five All-New England and 19 All-State player awards in nine seasons,” said Head of School Katherine G. Windsor. “But Avi’s investment in his players extends beyond the wins and losses of the team and includes the future of each athlete and, in doing so, the future of women’s athletics.”

esteemed coach and administrator who has systematically improved opportunities for girls and women and uplifted and inspired them at every level,” said Dr. Windsor.

The Nadal Sportsmanship Award recipient is chosen each year by heads of school and athletic directors at the 11 highly selective independent schools in the Founders League, which is part of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Conference. Many of the schools in the league are much larger than Porter’s and are coeducational.

When Mr. Dubnov first came to Farmington, other independent school coaches took notice. He was well known in the Connecticut soccer world, having been the academy director for Tony DiCicco’s SoccerPlus Premier Club for six years. He had also coached at two area colleges, in the Farmington Sports Arena ECNL program and for Major League Soccer teams across the United States.

In selecting Mr. Dubnov for the honor, the Founders League chose someone who is “an

A NEW COACH IN TOWN

“We knew right away that he was going to transform the program, which had experienced success in the past, but he brought a different level of coaching and recruiting,” said Michael Smith, assistant athletic director at the Ethel Walker School. “His ability to create a culture of excellence within his programs that his players buy into is exceptional.”

The 2021 Hall of Fame

‘EXCELLENCE IS A HABIT’ “We wanted to elevate our teams, our programs, the quality of coaching, the facilities and the opportunity to play at the next level,” Mr. Dubnov said of the school’s ambitions for the athletic program.

The soccer team, which has won three consecutive Founders League titles, gave Mr. Dubnov his 100th career win last fall. The 2019–2020 academic year was a league trifecta for Porter’s, with soccer, swimming and diving, and basketball all winning their respective championships.

Two Ancients were selected as the school’s 2021 Athletics Hall of Fame honorees.

The late Dorothea “Dotty” Morrell

Coleman ’26, an avid sportswoman

who excelled in tennis, skiing, fishing and sailing, was inducted posthumously. While at Miss Porter’s School, she established the Minks and Possums (Squirrels were later added) and captained several teams. The annual Dotty Morrell Coleman Award for Special Achievement in Athletics is

“But Avi’s investment in his players extends beyond the wins and losses of the team and includes the future of each athlete and, in doing so, the future of women’s athletics.”

—Katherine G. Windsor

given every year to a senior who most typifies Ms. Coleman’s winning spirit.

Growing up at a time when there were few opportunities for girls and women to participate in sports, Ms. Coleman once disguised herself as a boy to play in an ice hockey competition, scoring the winning goal before anyone learned she was a girl. Later in life, she concentrated on sharing her love of

His formula for success? “Winning is the result of development. If the journey is done correctly, the winning will come. That’s our philosophy in the classroom and in athletics as well—it’s a growth mindset. Excellence is a habit.”

Liz Schmitt, who oversees student life and athletics at Porter’s, said that Mr. Dubnov is working to replicate his success in the soccer program in other sports.

sports with family and friends.

Mercedes Ellie Large ’81 was an AllAmerican athlete at Tufts University, co-captaining the women’s lacrosse team to an undefeated season in 1985, which resulted in the team’s induction into the Tufts Hall of Fame in 2019. She was also on the soccer, squash and track-and-field teams.

Ms. Large is now an accomplished amateur golfer who ranks highly on the women’s masters circuit in New England. Throughout her life, she has personified strength during adversity, freely shared her love of sports with others, and overcome injury and personal tragedy with grace.

Girls win here

25

“He’s focusing on one or two programs at a time and ensuring that environment meets opportunity—that we have the right facilities, that we’ve hired the right coaches, and that we are recruiting the players we need to have successful programs and programs that also have depth at all levels,” she said. The school fields 33 teams in 18 different sports.

Mr. Dubnov said his goal is an environment that is “dynamic, evolving and competitive while still being fun. The worst thing you can say is, ‘We’ve always done it like this.’ I’m truly empowered here because when we need to evolve, it’s embraced.”

The approach has paid off. Porter’s now routinely sends graduates off to postsecondary athletic programs. Since 2016, 19 student-athletes (including eight varsity soccer players in Division I and five in Division III) have gone on to play at the college level.

Along with soccer, athletes from crew (4), basketball (3), swimming (3), diving (1), track (2), field hockey (2), squash (2), lacrosse (2), tennis (1), golf (1), softball (1) and volleyball (1) have been admitted to college play.

“He’s set the tone in terms of ‘Girls win here,’” said Maggie Coyne ’22, who will be rowing for Villanova in the fall. “It’s a strong atmosphere and a positive atmosphere. The coaches are really there to help you; they care about you and they want you to succeed.”

Miss Porter’s School

COACHING FOR LIFE

26

Erin Fisher, who coaches soccer at Pomfret School, knows Mr. Dubnov’s work professionally and personally, since her daughters played for him on club teams. “He instills a love of the game and respect for opponents and officials,” she said. “In that way, he has done a really nice job of role modeling for his players. … You’re not only coaching them in the game—you’re coaching them in life.”

“The worst thing you can say is, ‘We’ve always done it like this.’ I’m truly empowered here because when we need to evolve, it’s embraced.”

—Avi Dubnov

Girls win here

27

Title IX turns 50 In 1972, there were just under 300,000 girls and

the school offers those sports and 13 others, including

women playing sports in high school. Today there are

swimming and diving, crew, squash, and equitation.

3.4 million. At the college level, there were 30,000

There are 33 teams in all.

female athletes in the NCAA in 1972—today there are 215,486.

Molly Andrews ’22, who will play Division I soccer at Quinnipiac University this fall, points out that attending

That’s largely thanks to Title IX of the Educational

a single-sex school means never having to feel like

Amendment of 1972, which prohibits discrimination

a second-class athlete. “I have friends [at coed high

on the basis of sex in any federally funded education

schools] who have to share fields with the boys,” she

program or activity. It applies to any institution from

said. “The boys get the nicer fields; they get prioritized

elementary school through university that receives

for night games. We have two beautiful turf fields and

federal money.

they’re just for us. We have practice every day at the

“The opportunities that the passage of Title IX afforded millions of girls to be involved in interscholastic sports and activities have been life-changing,” Karissa Niehoff,

same place at the same time, and we don’t have to worry about shifting that schedule due to a boys team.”

Despite the gains that have been made under Title IX,

executive director of the National Federation of State

more progress is needed. Billie Jean King, the tennis

High School Associations, said in a video made for the

legend who founded the Women’s Sports Foundation,

organization’s #TitleIXat50 campaign. “We have all

has pointed out that girls of color “continue to be

seen the impact of Title IX through tremendous growth

underserved and overlooked.” And the percentage

in opportunities for girls and women on the courts and

of women’s teams coached by women has actually

in the field.”

declined from 90 in 1971 to 43 today, according to the

The 1972 Miss Porter’s School yearbook records nine sports-related offerings, with field hockey, volleyball, basketball, soccer and skiing predominating. This year,

foundation.

• ANCIENT PROFILE •

Ana Graciela Mendez ’07 Reinventing local news

I

Miss Porter’s School

n the years since Ana “Annie” Graciela Mendez graduated from Miss Porter’s School in 2007, she has co-founded a data journalism company and worked as a journalist in her native Panama, earned two master’s degrees, done freelance investigative reporting for The New York Times, and held a fellowship at the Brown Institute for Media Innovation.

28

Now she is the special projects editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Lenfest Local Lab, where she leads strategy for a team tasked with finding new ways of doing local journalism. “New and better ways, and ways that better serve residents,” said Ms. Mendez, who also oversees the lab’s Spanish translations. “Not everyone will sit for an hour reading a newspaper from front to back. Not everyone has the technology to scroll through a front page on a website.”

With financing from the Inquirer’s nonprofit owner, the Lenfest Institute, the Local Lab team is an incubator of sorts, experimenting with technology and product design

to connect with readers and communities that have traditionally been under- or ill-served by Philadelphia’s paper of record in the past.

“In a city like Philadelphia, the news has played a role, unfortunately, in causing harm in different communities— systematically excluding them from coverage or covering them in one specific way,” said Ms. Mendez.

“Reversing that, and taking a hard look at what we can do better to cultivate trust, looks a lot different from day-to-day reporting.”

Her work wins high praise from Michael Krisch, deputy director of the Brown Institute for Media Innovation at Columbia University. The institute collaborated with the Local Lab to develop an automated tool that identified and mapped locations in the Inquirer’s news stories for a diversity and inclusion audit. “Bringing trusted journalism to communities that have long been ignored or misrepresented is just the first step to a more equitable journalism, and I cannot imagine a better person than Annie for the job,” said Mr. Krisch.

Ancient Profile

29

The road from Panama Ms. Mendez was born in Panama to an American mother and a Panamanian father who had attended Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. “Because of my dad and his family, I had grown up with prep school in the back of my head,” she said. Her paternal aunt, Sandra Kardonski de Mendez ’77, shared fond stories about her time at Miss Porter’s. Ms. Mendez gave the school a look, and she enrolled as a rising junior.

The assimilation process “wasn’t seamless,” she remembers. But there was a handful of girls who were new juniors, and they leaned on each other. Her roommate, Natasha Flagg ’07, became a lifelong friend.

Reflecting on her years in Farmington, Ms. Mendez feels the school’s emphasis on critical thinking and strong writing skills was foundational to her future success. “In my chosen professional path, you have to question things, you have to use critical thinking skills,” she said. “Miss Porter’s provides an education that forces you to question things, that forces you to be very thorough.”

This served her well as she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Haverford College, where research for her senior thesis on the 1990 U.S. invasion of Panama led to an internship and then a reporting job at La Prensa in Panama City.

“I confronted how hard it can be to do journalism in a country like Panama, where there are a lot of competing interests and corruption,” she said, a realization that prompted her to team up with a colleague, Alfonso Grimaldo, to create a web-based digital voting guide in advance of the 2014 election. With a grant from the Brown Institute, the two went on to found the digital journalism company Nueva Nacion (New Nation), which built El Tabulario, the first accessible public data repository in Panama.

She also became a freelancer for The New York Times, working on a team that won a 2017 Gerald Loeb Award for an investigation into the $3.1 billion expansion of the Panama Canal.

“I do miss home, but being here and being able to work with communities that speak Spanish and are also far from home, and being able to meet their needs, are important to me.”

Now with a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia and another in nonprofit management from the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Mendez is happily ensconced at the Local Lab. “It really is amazing to get to do this work, and to be able to work in Spanish as well is just such a privilege. I do miss home, but being here and being able to work with communities that speak Spanish and are also far from home, and being able to meet their needs, are important to me.”

Ms. Mendez is based in Wayne, Pennsylvania, where she and her husband, Stephen Driscoll (Avon Old Farms ’06), live with Eddie, the golden Labrador retriever they adopted just before COVID-19 changed the world.

• ANCIENT GATHERINGS •

A SAMPLING OF ANCIENT EVENTS

Looking Back (Virtual) Reunion 2021 Class years ending in 1 and 6 Some 350 Ancients participated in the school’s second virtual Reunion last October. Zooming in from around the globe, Ancients connected with classmates and learned what’s new from Head of School Katherine G. Windsor and senior leaders. A panel on climate change was featured, and other activities included a Service of Remembrance and class meetings.

The class of 1976 earned the Class of 1947 Bowl for the highest level of participation in the Annual Fund (35 percent), while the class of 1986 achieved the highest gift total across all priorities: $320,150. Olivia Coleon ’06, of Singapore, participated from the greatest distance, while Ella Hough ’21 and Joan Tilney ’46 took honors as the youngest and oldest Ancients attending.

DEIB The Alumnae Board’s Foundational Series— workshops and discussions on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging—continued with six sessions between November 2021 and April 2022. Feedback from Ancients included these comments:

“A deeply moving and heartwarming event.”

— “The facilitator was phenomenal and the activity was very powerful.”

— “Everyone was heard and respected.”

— “This work is imperative. Long overdue.”

Imagining Life Ancients and seniors gathered online in January for the Obidimma Olga Ibimina Okobi ’94 Imagining Life event. Twelve Ancients shared stories with the class of 2022 about overcoming challenges, shifting gears and life beyond Farmington.

Miss Porter’s School

Lunch and Learn

30

Isabel Charlotte “Downie” Church, who attended Miss Porter’s School from 1886 to 1889 and became a talented botanical artist, was the subject of last fall’s online Lunch and Learn.

Ancients enjoyed a presentation by William L. Coleman of the Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, New York, where Ms. Church grew up and where her art was on public display for the first time since her death in 1935. Ms. Church was the daughter of famous 19th-century landscape artist Frederic Church.

Ancient Gatherings

31

LOOKING FORWARD

Meet us in Farmington this fall! All-School Reunion is Sept. 30-Oct. 2 Since we have been unable to celebrate two cycles of Reunion classes, we are excited to welcome all Ancients back to Farmington this fall, especially class years ending in 2 and 7! Registration opens this summer. Watch your email and @mpsancients on Instagram for more information.

Calling all volunteers Are you a member of a class year that ends in a 2 or a 7? Interested in helping make this year’s Reunion a great success as we gather in person for the first time since the pandemic began? Contact Cicely Upham, director of alumnae and parent engagement, to learn more: cupham@missporters.org.

LEARN MORE AT:

porters.org/ancients-events/ #UpcomingEvents

REMEMBRANCES

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 Beatrice Seabury Acton ’42 | 10/13/2021

Joan Eaton Mauk ’48 | 7/23/2021

† Elsie Johnson Mitchell 1944 — Cousin

† Jean Ganong Eaton 1924 — Mother

† Georgia Johnson Pooley 1947 — Cousin

† Muriel Eaton Mixter 1910 — Aunt

Isabel P. S. Ryde 2015 — Great Niece

† Mary Ann Riegel Lockhart 1941 — Cousin

† Katherine Pomeroy Oakes 1917 — Mother

Cornelia Ladd O’Grady ’53 | 8/9/2021

† Theodora A. O’Hara 1971 — Daughter

† Caroline Heminway Ladd 1919 — Mother

† Louise C. Pomeroy 1879 — Grandmother † Theodora Pomeroy Weston 1908 — Aunt † Eleanor Pomeroy Washburne 1911 — Aunt † Katharine Weston Crane 1930 — Cousin

Emily Symington Filer ’54 | 11/4/2021 † Grace Cover Symington 1923 — Mother † Jane Cover Piper 1926 — Aunt † Grace Symington Rienhoff 1947 — Sister

† Anne Weston Brownell 1932 — Cousin

Susan D. Thomas ’54 | 11/10/2021

Eleanor Washburne Talburtt 1976 — Cousin

† Jean French Thomas 1930 — Mother

Ashley Heyer Casey 1989 — Cousin

Rebecca P. Sewall 1982 — Daughter

Elizabeth O’Hara Watson 1998—Granddaughter Caroline O’Hara Foster 2002 — Granddaughter Laura P. O’Hara 2004 — Granddaughter Barbara Priebe Seaman ’45 | 6/16/2021 † Helen Priebe Bent 1943 — Sister

Miss Porter’s School

† Alice Eaton Schernthanner 1957 — Sister

† Helen Oakes Kerr 1942 — Sister Katharine O’Hara Newman 1973 — Daughter

32

† Muriel Eaton Whitlock 1946 — Sister

Katharine Gardner Roach 1967 — Daughter Deborah Gardner Jacobson 1976 — Daughter Georgia Johnson Pooley ’47 | 6/26/2021 † Beatrice Seabury Acton 1942 — Cousin

Annie H. Botzow ’59 | 12/29/2021 † Stephanie E. Botzow 1957 — Sister Ellyn Childs Allison 1956 — Cousin

Hilary Cairns ’77 | 7/6/2021 Shauna Cairns Gundy 1970 — Sister Megan Cairns Sampson 1974 — Sister Averil Cairns Porcaro 1975 — Sister Elizabeth E. Dance ’79 | 7/31/2021 Eleanor Leggett Sweeney ’85 | 11/1/2021 Caroline W. Leggett 1982 — Sister Elizabeth Leggett Williams 1955 — Aunt Nancy Leggett Pitarys 1961 — Aunt Sue J. Lowe 1964 — Aunt Serena Totman Bechtel ’87 | 7/13/2021 Lisa Farrel Totman 1960 — Mother † Sallie Farrel Brown 1953 — Aunt FORMER EMPLOYEES

Melissa Arnold | 9/9/2021 Music Director, 2013–2017

Patricia Bickford Donnelly ’59 | 11/5/2021 Mary Ann Bickford Casey 1956 — Sister † Susan Bickford Thomas 1962 — Sister Anne McCurdy Cunningham ’66 | 1/20/2021 Marguerite Cunningham Wilson ’66 | 11/8/2021

† Deceased

Theodora Oakes O’Hara ’43 | 8/11/2021

Jennifer O’Connor Wright ’76 | 11/24/2021

Remembrances

33

Richard “Dick” Warren Davis, head of Miss Porter’s School from 1966 to 1975, passed away on Dec. 27, 2021, in Princeton, New Jersey. He was 100 years old.

Richard Warren Davis Head of School 1966 to 1975

Dr. Davis, a native of Yonkers, New York, arrived in Farmington in the summer of 1966 with his wife, Nancy Mynott Davis, and their four children after serving as head of the all-girls Buffalo Seminary for seven years.

Feeling that Miss Porter’s was “being hurt by having the reputation of being too restrictive and too conservative,” the trustees “gave him a mandate for change,” according to “Miss Porter’s School: A History,” published in 1992. The book was co-authored by the late Nancy Davis, who worked for the school until 1988.

Changes began almost immediately. Dr. Davis, who believed in choosing students based on their “intellectual ability, character and emotional stability” rather than race or religion, had taken the job in Farmington on the condition that the school would become integrated. In 1968, he admitted the first Black student, North Carolina native Glenda Newell (see p. 11). By 1973, the school had 10 Black students, The New York Times reported, noting that “Dr. Davis, although he is not unaware that a few of the alumnae have emitted squawks over the ones who are here, plans to have more.” Today there are 32 students who are African, African American or Black, while girls of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds make up 46 percent of the 333-member student body.

Dr. Davis presided over many other transformations during his tenure. The school began admitting day students and adopted an advisory system that paired each New Girl with a faculty or

staff member for the duration of her time at school. Winterim turned January into a month of ungraded learning and internships. Curricula expanded and changed — the first course on human sexuality was taught in 1973 — and an elected student council was created to give students a greater voice in school affairs.

Dress codes changed with the times — girls were no longer required to cover their heads in bad weather, and they could wear pants to classes (but not the dining room). Dr. Davis brought consumer advocate Ralph Nader to campus in 1970, accompanied students to rallies opposing the Vietnam War, and was supportive of a petition drive in which 40 students went door-to-door in the village collecting signatures against the war.

Dr. Davis, who graduated from the Taft School and Princeton University, earned a doctorate in education from Yale University in 1944. He was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Field Artillery in Europe during World War II, receiving the Air Medal for his service as a forward air observer.

After the war, he became an educator, teaching history at Syracuse University before going on to lead Buffalo Seminary, Miss Porter’s and the Renbrook School.

Dr. Davis is survived by his children, Deborah Payne Davis ’67, Christine Davis Rubino ’70, Margaret Mynott Davis and Richard Tucker Davis, along with many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

• CLASS NOTES •

Submitting your note!

1956

1986

Jeanie Chapin ’56 sports her MPS Reunion tote at the local farmers market.

Gregg Renfrew Hancock ’86, Kitty Hart Lansing ’67 and current student Helen Sharp ’24 (pictured in the navy dress) enjoyed a New Year’s Eve party together in the Bahamas on a tiny island off Eleuthera called Windermere Island.

DEADLINE

Aug. 1, 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.

— Please note that Class Notes will appear in print and online versions of the magazine.

1977 Faith Wilcox ’77 published a memoir, “Hope Is a Bright Star: A Mother’s Memoir of Love, Loss, and Learning to Live Again,” in June 2021. The book is about Elizabeth, Faith’s 13-year-old child, and the lessons of courage, wisdom and hope that she shared with her family and friends as she battled a rare bone cancer.

The story reveals how, after Elizabeth’s death, Faith evolved from a mother in a maelstrom of grief to a woman with hope for the future.

Left to right: Helen, Gregg and Kitty.

1993 “In October we had a very fun Chicago Ancients meetup in my building’s backyard,” writes Chrissy Cox ’93. “There were 12 of us — seven Ancients plus spouses as well as one current parent.”

1978 Members of the Alumnae Board gathered in late September for dinner in New York City.

Miss Porter’s School

Left to right: Michelle Lee ’08, Tish Roberts ’60, Anne Patterson ’78, Caroline Dean ’07, Deana Jones Jean ’99.

34

Left to right: Lindsay Angyus ’02, Sophie du Brul ’86, Chrissy Cox ’93 (rear), Casey Boll ’03 (front), Jennifer Etienne ’08, Clarissa Cutler ’75, Kate Rutledge P’20 & 22, Angela Lu ’05.

Class Notes

35

1997

2000

Christine Lange ’97 and her husband, Josh Lampi, welcomed 8-pound, 3-ounce Margaret Judith to their family on Dec. 13, 2021. Big sisters Sienna (13), Noelle (10) and Eleanor (almost 2) were thrilled to meet her! Christine is a cardiologist at M Health Fairview in Minnesota.

May Okada Gianoli ’00 says that she and her “adopted Old Girl,” Elizabeth Olear ’97, recently got together for lunch at Yale, where they both work. “I was recently promoted to assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine!”

Alexandra Terhalle ’97 writes that “it was wonderful meeting up with Kee Tilghman Rabb ’97 in Berlin! I introduced her to a Bavarian biergarten the day before she ran the Berlin Marathon. Cheers to Kee who finished in excellent time. It’s always such fun meeting up with Ancients abroad — please contact me if you find yourself in Berlin.”

Elizabeth, left, and May.

Imani Brown ’00 writes, “It was a pleasure to recently meet up with Kate McSpadden ’00 here in San Francisco” and spend time with visiting retired faculty member Alan Sherman. While in New York last December, she got to see Hillary Kane, the Miss Porter’s School art intern in 1997 – 98, and Benaifer Bhadha ’00.

Im a ni t, ef ,l

ate. dK an

Kee (left) and Alexandra raise a glass in Berlin.

• CLASS NOTES •

2001 Ellie Lindenmayer ’01 is overjoyed to announce the arrival of Luciana (Lucy) Eleanor Lindenmayer, who was born at home on Sept. 14, 2021. “Our hearts are so full!!” writes Ellie.

Mei-Ling Wong ’05 writes, “After an intimate COVID wedding in 2020, Lane Compton and I were finally able to safely celebrate our new marriage with our friends and family in an anniversary party do-over this past September in Pasadena, California.”

2004 Olivia West ’04 announces the birth of Caleb Joshua Martinez, on July 30, 2021. She writes that she and husband Matthew “are so in love and absolutely smitten!”

Left to right: Adriana Valenciano ’05, Kelly Dziegielewski (O’Brien) ’05, Addie Gundry (Benson) ’05, Mei-Ling Wong ’05, Peggy Cadbury ’66, Kelly Norsworthy ’04, Emily Griggs (Maguire) ’05.

2006 Alexandra Patterson ’06 married Eric Clark on Aug. 28, 2021, in Concord, Massachusetts. Adriana Valenciano ’05 attended.

2005

Miss Porter’s School

From Erica Dressler ’05: “My husband, Brian; daughter, Emiko; and I are thrilled to welcome Maxwell Richard Ellixson, who arrived on Oct. 28, 2021, at 2:21 a.m. at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania! We are enjoying every second of being a family of four!”

36

Class Notes

37

2007

2010

Laura Bibby (Moeller) ’07 sends word: “My husband, Andrew, and I joyfully welcomed our daughter, Anne Marie Bibby, on Aug. 22, 2021. Our family is currently living in Edmonton, Canada, but Anne was able to meet a few of her Porter’s aunts during a visit to Farmington in the fall!”

Edward Abbott Biddle Crowe Davidson, or Crowe, was born Aug. 9, 2021, to Pippa Biddle ’10 and Benjamin Davidson. Montana Ortel ’11, at left, is a godparent.

2014 Left to right: Kaitlin Faticoni ’07, Laura Bibby (Moeller) ’07, Anne Bibby, Ana Pratt (Calciano) ’07, Nisha Siedor (Kapur) ’07

2008 After Paula Fernández-Baca ’08 completed her MBA at the University of California, Berkeley, in the summer of 2021 and moved to Texas, she took a trip to visit some of her best Miss Porter’s friends in New York City. The Harlem get-together included Michelle Lee ’08, Ariana Baldomero ’08 and Maritza Barcelona ’08.

Susannah Davies ’14 logged a personal record and raised money for the Literacy Partners charity when she ran the 50th New York City Marathon in 3:22:17. “I had a lot of fun!” she writes. “I really found my love of running at Porter’s.

Literacy Partners is an amazing organization that provides literacy classes to low-income and immigrant parents who can then teach their kids to read and—like most Porter’s girls/ Ancients—I love to read and also want to give back to the community.”

2016 Callie Brzezinski ’16, at right, and Michelle Lee ’08 both serve on the Connections and Events Committee of the Alumnae Board and met up in New York City for a working lunch!

Left to right: Michelle, Ariana and Paula. Standing: Maritza.

Miss Porter’s School

1940s

38

Then & Now

39

We are excited to welcome all Ancients back to Farmington this fall, especially class years ending in 2 and 7!

Sept. 30–Oct. 2, 2022 LEARN MORE AT

MAKE A GIFT TODAY

porters.org/reunion

porters.org/giving

Miss Porter’s School

60 Main Street Farmington, CT 06032

ALL-SCHOOL REUNION | SAVE THE DATE