A G E N E RO US L I F E
Erin (Culbreth) Hotchkiss ’02 Activities at MKA: Soccer, Lacrosse, Mastersingers, co-founder of the AIDS Awareness Club College: BA from Bates College (History major, French minor) Occupation: Marketing Director at ABRAMS Books
I graduated from MKA in 2002, and frequently reflect on the education I received there and how it prepared me for both college and my career. From my first semester at Bates College, it was clear that all the late nights of homework after practice, independent study opportunities, and my May Term project, left me more than ready to take on college-level work. But it was during a recent dinner with three of my best friends from MKA, who remain my closest friends today, that I realized that MKA offered me something even more important: an encouraging environment for young women. At that dinner, while discussing the latest article about women leaning in or out (it seems there’s a new one every week), we acknowledged that at MKA, we were very lucky to be surrounded by strong, smart and ambitious women, both teachers and classmates. By pushing us to be leaders in the classroom, arts, and sports fields, MKA fostered in each of us a desire to do well and to be recognized equally for our efforts. As I looked around the table at these amazing women, three of whom now have graduate degrees, and all of whom are succeeding in their chosen fields, I felt grateful to have been educated in that environment. I donate to MKA yearly as a thank you to my teachers and coaches who remain there, and to show my support for the future of the school. Since graduation, I have watched MKA become a finer, more inclusive, and scholarly institution. I know my donations play a role in that progress. ■
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Malcolm O’Hara ’73 Malcolm O’Hara ’73 is modest about his years of loyal giving to the MKA Annual Fund. His lifelong friend and classmate, the late Rudy Schlobohm ’74, a former MKA Trustee, “hounded me into giving for many years, and in my mom’s memory I will continue to give.” While a student at Montclair Academy, he ran cross country “with some limited success” and was the number two runner to the two-time State Champ Hunt Geyer on the 1972 undefeated team coached by Doug Jennings. Nixon Bicknell selected him for Mastersingers in sophomore year. Memories of Christmas concerts off campus with the Mastersingers and a class that really seemed to come together socially in senior year are among his fondest memories. “I am in regular contact with Nixon Bicknell and his wife Saundra. He has done more for me than any man still alive.” He was in touch with Rudy Schlobohm almost daily until his death, in June 2015, and he is regularly in touch with Dave Brandley ’73 (“I was best man at his wedding, and I am godfather to his daughter”). Other Class of 1973 Montclair Academy alumni he is occasionally in touch with include Peter Redpath, Dean Paolucci and Jeff Kindler. “I was taught to write and write well at Montclair Academy. Imagine, we were even taught grammar, a big help when I went to college. I went to Colgate, where many alums of MKA followed, and then Albany Law School. I cannot recall my last visit to campus, but it would have been when my mom was still living in Montclair.” (His mother Janice passed in January 2011.) Malcolm is an attorney in Glens Falls, New York, where he has lived since 1981. He has served as President of the Warren County Bar Association and the Federation of Bar Associations for the Fourth Judicial District. He is most proud of his wife and three children, the youngest of who is at Colgate singing in The Colgate Thirteen a cappella group, as he did. “He owes it all to Nixon.” ■
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