Fall Bulletin 2009

The Park School Fall Bulletin 2009 Annual Report Issue

Board of Trustees 2008–09

Alumni Committee 2008–09

Officers

Minnie Ames ’86 Co-Chair Ali Epker Ruch ’89 Co-Chair

Kevin J. Maroni Chair Paula A. Johnson Vice Chair Richard Banks ’74 Secretary Lisa Black Franks ’78 Treasurer Marcus Cherry Teresa Chope John Connaughton William B. Drucker Richard Edie Abigail Johnson Brian Kavoogian William H. Kremer Martin J. Mannion Anne Punzak Marcus Stuart Mathews Amy Lloyd McCarthy ’86 Pamela McLaurin Nicole Murray Happy Rowe Carmel Shields Garrett Solomon ’86 Harold Sparrow Suzie Tapson Lanny Thorndike ’81 Ralph L. Wales Ex Officio

Jerrold I. Katz Head of School Cynthia A. Harmon Assistant Head for Program & Professional Development Jane H. Carney Assistant Head for Finance & Operations Board Chairs Emeriti

Kennett F. Burnes David D. Croll Charles C. Cunningham, Jr. George P. Denny III David G. Fubini M. Dozier Gardner John L. Hall II J. Michael Maynard Anne Worthington Prescott Deborah Jackson Weiss Headmaster Emeritus

John Barkan ’85 Peter Barkan ’86 Bob Bray ’53 Lisa Amick DiAdamo ’86 Mark Epker ’86 Rachel Levine Foley ’85 Abigail Ross Goodman ’91 Anne Collins Goodyear ’84 Jennifer Segal Herman ’82 Jeff Jackson ’95 Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’93 Greg Kadetsky ’96 Rich Knapp ’80 Amy S. Lampert ’63 Abbott Lawrence ’85 Nia Lutch ’97 Melissa Daniels Madden ’85 Allison Morse ’89 Chip Pierce ’81 Meredith Ross ’86 Jordan Scott ’89 Rebecca Lewin Scott ’89 Garrett Solomon ’86 Kathrene Tiffany ’96 Anna Sullivan ’95 Eve Wadsworth ’95 Diana Walcott ’85 Phoebe Gallagher Winder ’84

Fall Bulletin 2009 Annual Report of Giving 2008–09 Editor

Kate LaPine Design

Irene Chu Photography

Coffee Pond Photography Kate LaPine Jerilyn Willig Printing

Jaguar Press The Bulletin is published twice yearly for the alumni, parents, and friends of The Park School. We welcome your comments and ideas.

The Park School 171 Goddard Avenue Brookline, Massachusetts 02445 To contact the Bulletin: Kate LaPine Director of Communications 617-274-6009 kate_lapine@parkschool.org To report alumni news: Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98 Director of Alumni Relations 617-274-6022 alumni@parkschool.org To support Park: Rob Crawford Director of Development 617-274-6020 rob_crawford@parkschool.org To report address changes: Sarah Braga Development Office Manager 617-274-6018 development@parkschool.org

Park is a coeducational school that admits qualified students without regard to race, religion, national origin, disabilities, sexual orientation, or family composition.

Our educational policies, financial aid, and other school-sponsored programs are administered in a nondiscriminatory manner in conformance with applicable law.

Robert S. Hurlbut, Jr. Third graders spend an entire term learning about color. To create these small landscape paintings, they think about mood, season, and color. All paintings are tempera on canvas, 6”x 8” Front Cover: Matt Kaufman ’15; Inside Back Cover: David Tsai ’15; Back Cover: Caroline Collins-Pisano ’15

The Park School Fall Bulletin 2009

In this issue: 2

Around Park

Irish Fiddling Ruby Bridges Visits Park Math Carnival Nancy Faulkner Retires 6

New Trustees

Heidi Johnson Patti Kraft Peter Riehl 8

Graduation 2009

Graduation Address: Andrew Ostroff ’03 Class of 2009 Graduation Speakers: Josh Ruder and Carter Smith 16

Reunion 2009

Class of 1984 25th Reunion Biographies 22

Summer Reading

Community Read Teachers’ Summer Reading War and Peace on Bread Loaf Mountain 36

Alumni Notes

Alumni Achievement Award 2009: Michael R. Deland ’56

around Ruby Bridges Visits Park

I

n May, Park students in Grades VI – IX met a living legend. Ruby Bridges, the little girl immortalized in the Norman Rockwell painting (below), walked up the steps of the William Frantz Public School in 1960 to become the first black student at the formerly all-white elementary school in New Orleans.

Now, she spends much of her time visiting school children across the country, speaking with students about her story and the many lessons to be learned from her experiences.

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The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

Musical Horizons

M

aking good use of the 2009 Horizon Fund grant he was awarded, Adam Young (math and social studies 2006– ) spent a week at a fiddle camp on Thompson Island in Boston Harbor. Next summer, he’s planning a trip to the Emerald Isle to refine his fiddling skills and jam with experienced Irish musicians. (Former parent and trustee, Nel Stoia, established The Horizon Fund to provide faculty members with special opportunities for personal enrichment, travel and professional development.)

High Stakes

P

robability theory came to life for Dr. Chris Hartmann’s Grade VII math class in February. Upon entering the classroom, visiting second graders each received ten tickets that they could use at the Math Carnival. The older students

had designed and created presidential probability games that cost one to three tickets to play, based on the chances of winning.

Everyone really was a winner at this event!

Faculty Updates 2009 RETIREMENTS :

S ABBATI CALS:

APPO INTMENTS:

Nancy Faulkner Archivist 1972–2009

Marshall Neilson technology specialist

Irza Almonor-Collinson controller BA Mercy College

Alan Rivera French & Spanish teacher

Scott Fries After-School Program teacher BS Springfield College

DEPART URES :

Nell Broley Grade IV teacher

CHANGES:

Mary Carpenter Grade IV teacher

Rebecca Abrams Grade I teacher — returning from parental leave

Christine Lindsay technology specialist BA Trinity College; MS University of Hartford; MEd Framingham State College

Alison Connolly math teacher and secondary school counselor — previously Upper Division head

Meg Lloyd ’98 Kindergarten assistant BA Union College

Deborah Dean Kindergarten assistant Garbielle Kyriakides Grade I teacher Quiana Rudek Kindergarten assistant Janet Wasserman business office

Alice Perera Lucey ’77, Upper Division head — previously English/social studies teacher and secondary school counselor

Shalini Rao Grade IV teacher BS University of Connecticut; MA University of Connecticut

Jessica Niebuhr, Grade II teacher — was intern in 2008–09 Amy Salomon Grade II teacher — on parental leave from 2009–10

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

3

Nancy Faulkner Bids Adieu to Park

A

fter six different job titles and at least seven assorted office locations around the Park School campus (including the projection booth and the faculty room), Nancy Faulkner retired in June.

“Park has been part of my life for over 45 years, I’m astonished to realize,” Nancy admits. “I’m a New Jersey public school girl myself, but my husband, Kim (Park ’45), was one of seven Faulkner siblings who attended Park.

Emily (Molly), the eldest of our three daughters, started in Park’s three-year-old Nursery class over on Kennard Road in the fall of 1964. I could hardly have foreseen the many ways in which the School would come to mean so much to me as a parent, a volunteer, and as a long-time employee.”

Recently, Nancy has spent much of her time underground, managing the Park School Archives, which resides, in part, in the old female coaches’ office near the big gym in the main building. In this and a couple of other makeshift hideaways, Nancy dealt with all sorts of Park treasures that have been squirreled away: antique photographs, samples of student work, anthologies from the 1920s on, trustee records, catalogs, Educational Policy Committee reports, and even a rather fragrant old football helmet! But the real treasure-trove of knowledge and school lore is Nancy herself.

It was the summer of 1972, just after Park’s first year at the Goddard Avenue campus. Headmaster Bob Hurlbut took up an offer from Park parent and neighbor Nancy Faulkner to help in the office with some of the School’s summer chores. “What serendipity!” she remembers. “The admissions person left, and Bob offered me the job, curiously expanded and replete with a very fancy title: ‘Executive Coordinator of Development, Alumni, Public Relations, and Admissions!’” Back then, Park used a consulting group to plan the Annual Fund and create materials, but Nancy made reports, organized volunteers, generated thank-you notes (“pre-computers; lots of carbon paper”) as well as interviewed prospective Park families, arranged applicants’ visits, and took on the myriad tasks associated with developing an admission program.

“There wasn’t a minute to do anything at all about our alumni,” she adds with chagrin.

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The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

“So, even though I’m not a Park alum myself, you might say that I’ve been an enthusiastic adult student here. As admission director, I had great fun learning that role.” Her challenge was to fill the school with new students. There were 385 kids who moved into the Goddard Avenue campus, but the new building was designed to hold 450, so Nancy set to work — bringing new families to Park, reading applications, and figuring financial aid grant formulas. “Early on, I went to a weeklong conference for admission directors. I jotted down 32 interesting ideas, and it took years to finally tick off most items. Later, when I put on Park’s development hat, I had to learn additional sets of skills. Expand the Annual Fund, coordinate Park’s Centennial Campaign, help plan the year-long celebration of the School’s first 100 years. All wonderful fun! As was becoming Park’s publications director. I loved going over to Radcliffe Seminars and learning desktop publishing, for instance, and getting a dose of layout and design. Even my part-time archives work was enhanced by a week-long workshop at Taft School one summer. My mom always said I was eager and loved heading off to school every

Nancy said farewell to her Park School friends in June, and some of her family attended the small gathering in Park's library, as well.

L-R: Nancy's sister Susan Goodridge, daughter Apple Faulkner '80, husband Kim Faulkner '45, Nancy, and Annie Faulkner '78.

morning. I guess ‘going to school’ has continued to stimulate me, keep me learning and excited about life.”

Nancy spent just a brief period of time away from Park, working at Milton Academy as admission director of the (former) Girls’ School for three years. A hiatus from full-time employment followed, and she redirected some of her boundless energy into volunteer posts at a few of her other favorite schools, serving as president of the Middlebury College Alumni Association, board member of Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont, and member of the Board of Advisors of The Mountain School Program of Milton Academy.

She also served on the Park School Board of Trustees from 1980–85, chairing the Nominating Committee and working on the Tuition Aid, Long-Range Planning, Summer Program, and Development Committees. “Another great experience,” she recalls. During this time, the Board

Nancy’s Many Roles at Park School Secretary

Summer 1972

Coordinator of Development, Alumni, Public Relations, and Admissions

1972 – 1974

Director of Admission

1972 – 1977

Director of Development

1985 – 1992

Director of Publications

1993 – 1996

Archivist

1997 – 2009

developed headmaster and Board evaluations and welcomed Creative Arts at Park to the campus.

A great believer in professional development, Nancy became a leader in several organizations. She started an inter-school admission group that continues today, served as a behind-the-scenes director of several NAIS admission workshops, and was very active in a group of development professionals from Boston-area independent schools. Here at Park, we’ve enjoyed her skills as a writer, proofreader, and editor. She takes an interest in design and aesthetics throughout the School and, ever the loving critic, she has helped raise our standards in several areas.

“Park continues to be an amazing community,” Nancy explains. “I’ve developed personal relationships with terrific people over the years. The kids’ Kindergarten teacher is still a great friend as are so many parents of our girls’ classmates. I’ve really enjoyed working with parent volunteers and school leaders as well as with my wonderful faculty and staff colleagues. I feel so lucky to have been associated with such a yeasty, bright, articulate bunch of people.

I feel pleased that my efforts, along with those of so many others, have contributed to supporting our outstanding faculty and staff. To have been a small part of this exceptionally fine school…what could be more satisfying?”

So, what’s next for Nancy Faulkner? “I’ll try not to get involved in too many projects,” she says. “I envision more time for reading, painting watercolors, improving at bridge, keeping up with old friends, and visiting Molly ’76, Annie ’78, Apple ’80, and their families, including our six grandchildren who live in north Idaho, New Hampshire, and Vermont.”

We are assembling a farewell album to commemorate Nancy Faulkner’s remarkable career at Park. Please send a note with your reflections and recollections about Nancy

by November 1, 2009. Pictures are welcome, too. Thank you!

Album for Nancy Faulkner The Park School, 171 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA 02445

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

5

NEW

T R U S T E E S where she attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. As a young person she had the opportunity to live on a Navajo reservation in Arizona. After graduating from the University of Colorado (Boulder) with degrees in early childhood education and environmental design, she received her Master of Architecture from M.I.T., which included a fellowship at the Kunstakademi in Copenhagen. As an architect at BTA (Ben Thompson Associates), she worked on large “festival marketplaces” including South Street Seaport in New York, Navy Pier in Chicago and projects in London, Singapore, and Tokyo.

A major focus of her professional work has been to translate the mission and values of organizations into experiential

Heidi Johnson

environments, events, and communication

Patti Kraft

tools — through architecture and graphic design. Heidi has worked with many social

W

hen Heidi Johnson, her husband

sector organizations, such as Citizen

Jeff Paquette, and their children

Schools, Oxfam America, and City Year,

School campus as a parent in the fall

returned from Johannesburg having

where she has served as the founding cre-

helped found City Year South Africa, the

ative director for the past 20 years. Addi-

tently contributed to the community. Serv-

family wanted to be part of a vibrant edu-

tionally, she has taught at Rhode Island

ing as a class representative, library

cational community that would embrace

School of Design and served on architec-

volunteer, faculty/staff appreciation com-

their varied experiences. In 2006, their

tural juries at both Harvard and M.I.T. In

mittee co-chair, and as the co-chair of

daughter, Mikayla Paquette ’17, entered

the past two years, Heidi has served as

Springfest for two years, Patti has woven

Park’s Pre-Kindergarten, followed by their

creative strategist for ServiceNation, work-

herself into the School’s fabric. “I’ve come

son, Jonah Paquette ’19, two years later.

ing on the live broadcast of the Obama-

to appreciate what a special place Park

“We value the teachers, staff, and par-

McCain Presidential Candidate Forum on

is,” Patti says. “Everyone has similar val-

ents, all of whom openly share their

Service and the MTV/ServiceNation Presi-

ues and wants the same things for their

unique skills and extremely interesting

dential Inaugural Youth Ball & Service Day.

kids — and I want to contribute in any way

experiences with the children of Park. It

Heidi is in the process of launching a

of 2001, Patti Kraft has quietly and consis-

I can.”

continues to be a wonderful ride for our

new venture: Purple Suitcase, an interac-

whole family.” During their first three

tive discovery center and curriculum that

to work at Bain & Co. after graduating

years at Park, Heidi has been an active

explores the diverse cultures of the world

from Rice University in Houston. While

member of the Parents’ Association and

through craft, cuisine, and music. Purple

serving as an associate consultant at Bain,

this year will also serve as Co-Volunteer

Suitcase encourages children to seek

she hit it off with another young associate

Engagement Coordinator.

broader cultural understanding so they can

assigned to the same case team. After

thrive in our complex global community.

three years, her soon-to-be husband,

Heidi grew up in New York City,

6

S

ince she first stepped onto the Park

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

A native Texan, Patti moved to Boston

Jonathan Kraft (Park ’79) went to business

public equity affiliate, Brookside Capital.

school, and Patti left Bain to attend

Peter is involved with a number of

Harvard Law School. Upon graduating in

local organizations dedicated to improving

1993, she became a litigation associate at

the lives of children. He is on the Board of

Goodwin Procter and then went to work

Overseers of Children’s Hospital and is a

for Governor Weld’s Legal Office as a

frequent participant in the Children’s Miles

deputy legal counsel.

for Miracles Marathon Program. Addition-

In 1996, when their oldest child,

ally, he and his wife are supporters and

Harry ’12, was born, Patti stayed home to

volunteers for Horizons for Homeless Chil-

raise him. Sadie ’14 and Jacob ’17 joined

dren, Stand for Children (a public school

the family soon afterwards. Ten years

advocacy group) and the Boston Chil-

later, Patti opened Bellezza Home & Gar-

dren’s Museum.

den, a retail store selling Italian ceramics.

Peter and Allison found Park’s diverse

Now she takes annual buying trips to

and active community, committed and

ceramic studios in Umbria and Tuscany to

enthusiastic faculty, rigorous academics,

place custom orders for the shop.

and spacious campus very attractive and

Patti is active in various organizations

were thrilled when the opportunity arose

in Boston and Brookline. She serves on the advisory committee of Gateway Arts,

to become part of the School last year.

Peter Riehl

the Brookline Public Library Foundation

unbelievably well for our whole family,”

Board, the Brookline Community Mental Health Center Community Council, and is a member of the Ethics Committee, the

“The transition to Park last year went Peter explains, “thanks to the genuine

P

eter and his wife, Allison Horne, live

friendliness, openness, and spirit exhibited

in Brookline — around the corner

everyday by the faculty, students, and par-

from Park — with their four children, Lilly

ents.” Peter looks forward to helping to

and the Patient Care Assessment Commit-

’18, Myles ’16, Isabella ’15, and Madeline

make a positive impact at Park through

tee at Children’s Hospital. A longtime pro-

(age 16). As a child, Peter attended public

his service on the Board of Trustees.

ponent of education, Patti also served on

schools in New Jersey, and graduated

Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee,

the Rashi School’s board from 1999–2002

from the University of Michigan majoring

and on the board of Citizens United for

in economics and history. He was involved

Charter Schools from 1999–2008. She

with the Navy ROTC program and after

looks forward to increasing her involve-

graduation, Peter served four years

ment at Park by serving on the Board of

aboard a Navy destroyer on the West

Trustees.

Coast. After his service, he received an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago.

Shortly after business school, fate and a job with Bain Capital brought Peter to Boston for the very first time. While purchasing a condo, he met Allison, the owner of a mortgage lending company.

Peter is a managing director at Bain Capital and is the head trader for their global

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

7

— Class of 2009 —

GRADUATION 2009 8

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

Each year, an alumnus/a with six years of post-Park experience addresses the graduating class. Although Andrew Ostroff came to Park somewhat reluctantly as a sixth grader, he was eager to return as the graduation speaker this June.

Andrew received The Ellen Fowler Award for his good citizenship at his graduation in 2003 and continued to stand out at Phillips Academy, Andover. Now a double major in Spanish and economics at Middlebury College, he spent the spring semester in Madrid as part of the college’s study abroad program, and he looks forward to returning to Vermont in the fall.

2009 GRADUATION ADDRESS

by Andrew Ostroff, Class of 2003

G

ood morning, everyone: members of the Board, Mr. Katz, faculty, staff, students, alums, current and former families, friends, and especially to the Class of 2009. Congratulations! You have successfully survived the most difficult years of adolescence, and that in itself is worth celebrating. I promise that the hard work is over. . . until, of course, you get to college applications.

When Mr. Katz invited me to speak at this year’s graduation ceremony, I breathed a sigh of relief. Many people dread public speaking, but the truth of the matter is that I have been secretly hoping to give this speech for nearly six years. Why, you may ask?

Because The Park School instilled in me certain values that are central to my core beliefs, values that shape the person I am today and how I view the world. I am a firm believer in paying homage to those that have helped me along the way, and although my remarks and advice are directed primarily towards the Class of 2009 this morning, I must admit that I approached this speech with a second agenda: to thank the Park School family for welcoming me with open arms nearly ten years ago, for embracing my curious intellect, and most importantly, for helping me to find my moral compass.

I am certain that my life would be quite different had I not attended Park, and in considering this reality, I hope to use these next few minutes to share with you how my Park education continues to help me tackle the most difficult of hurdles even today, but more importantly, to articulate how your experiences here have prepared you for the years ahead and the responsibilities you must, therefore, undertake.

My Park School career began in the fall of 1999 – a timid, redheaded boy with a face full of freckles and an oversized backpack unhappily trudged up the steps to the Upper Division. Don’t get me wrong; I was excited and ready to begin a new chapter in my life, but I desperately wanted to follow in the footsteps of my family by attending a school not too far from here that had welcomed my sister four years prior, both of my parents in the 1970s, and each of my grandmothers nearly sixty years ago. Little did I know at that time that the educational path I would choose was unique and truly my own – something I am grateful for today because one attaches a certain degree of pride to his school mascot, and after four years as an oak tree, I much prefer being a panther today than a camel, like my father was thirty years ago. I eventually got over the oak tree situation, and although I did not understand my parents’ sound reasoning for choosing Park for me ten years ago, I have long been able to appreciate the benefits of a Park education.

Life after Park is a gift: students leave this school with an appreciation for the world far more advanced than others their age.

I know this is a big statement, but my experiences in high school and college have allowed me to view different cultures, to be a member of various communities, and to meet a fascinating cross-section of our world, all opportunities that warrant my arriving at such a conclusion. One of the cornerstones of a Park School education is, undoubtedly, a respect of, and appreciation for, diversity. Students here learn to make friends regardless of our differences, which are known to divide us later in life. That said, the ease with which we coexist at Park is something I took for granted in my four years at this school.

➢ The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

9

What the Ninth Grade will Take and Leave Behind

My journey after Park took me to Phillips Academy, Andover, an institution that holds diversity to be of great importance, and whose mission calls for a student body comprised of “youth from every quarter.”

Andover is undoubtedly able to achieve this goal thanks to a rich history, many generous donors, and throngs of alumni living all across the world. Its pool of applicants comes from every walk of life, and Phillips Academy is fortunate enough to have many resources to allow it to select a well-rounded, incoming class every year. I offer this background because the reality of the situation is surprising. Yes, Phillips Academy brings “youth from every quarter” year after year; the student body is socially, economically and racially diverse, coming from 50 states and territories and 37 countries; 37 percent of students are self-identified students of color, and 42 percent receive some form of financial aid.

While such a global reach is impossible for an elementary school like Park, its other admis-

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Alex Barden

Sam Bloch

I will take friendship and self-confidence.

I will take leadership experience.

I am leaving the best four years of my life.

I will leave an aura of diligence and a willingness to do everything the way it is supposed to be done.

sions statistics are strikingly similar to those of Andover. So what is the takeaway from all of this? Simply stated, the Park School achieves admissions statistics not far off from those of an internationally known boarding school twice its size, one that highlights its diverse student body as both a unique asset that separates it from its competition, but also as a selling point to prospective students.

In other words, the Park School experience, in various ways, is something many of the next schools you will attend strive to achieve.

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

You will move on to those schools, and what appears as a simple continuation of your Park education is, in reality, a totally new experience for many of your peers. Diversity is commonplace at Park because we understand its role in promoting a just society. This, in itself, allows each of you the opportunity to be a leader in your new communities next fall because not only does each or you understand the merits of diversity, but more importantly, you appreciate the rewards of a community that values and celebrates our differences.

Many of your future classmates will be charting new territories. Class of 2009, lead by example: you are now the experts.

The truth of the matter is that a Park School education is much more than meets the eye; students here graduate with a skill set far more advanced than that of other students their age. I invite students, faculty and parents to reflect upon and consider some of the simplest, yet most important aspects of your own, your students’ or your child’s Upper Division education. I draw upon a daily tradition, one that for many students (myself included) was a mere formality, and in my situation, often made me late for soccer practice, drama, or the bus to the Green Line: afternoon shake-out. At this point in my speech, I must recognize Ms. Studley [Dana Welshman-Studely ’85], my sixth grade advisor, for crushing my hand on a daily basis.

Thanks to her, I understood the importance of a firm handshake and eye contact following my first week at Park. She never allowed me to skip out on shake-out, and on the rare occasion that I failed to make it up to the fourth floor, I could always count on her asking where I had been the previous day.

Shake-out, as far as I am concerned, serves a number of purposes. In its simplest form, students learn how to properly shake hands, something I promise helped you as

Allegra Borak

Nikoi Coley-Ribeiro

Eliza Cover

I’ll take a strong sense of self.

I will take away a higher dedication to bettering myself.

I’ll take my amazing memories.

I’ll leave behind four years of my life, and what I’ve done with them.

I will leave behind my inhibitions that held me back.

I’ll leave behind a closed-minded way of thinking.

you interviewed with secondary school admissions officers earlier this year. I cannot stress how important a firm handshake is, and the number of times the person with whom I shake hands has complimented me on my ability to do so. Shake-out, however, in a more general form, to me speaks of maturity.

Park students learn to interact with teachers not only on an academic level, but on a personal level as well. Said differently, students here are incredibly fortunate to develop relationships with faculty members that extend beyond the classroom, relationships that, for example, encouraged me to spend four summers working in Park’s Summer Programs to continue learning from my academic mentors here. I realized how much I could learn outside of the classroom, and the ability to interact with faculty members in a different context is an asset to any student because it extends one’s education in unconventional ways. Teachers assume additional roles in your life, and it is these relationships throughout my education that I believe have propelled me to succeed. None of my friends had a middle school math teacher who came to their high school soccer games, nor can they maintain an hour long conversation at Starbucks with a former teacher even though six years have passed since they last worked together. I implore you: recognize the efforts of your teachers and how they have prepared you for life beyond Park, both in and outside of the classroom.

I speak as if my four years here were nothing short of bliss, but life at Park was by no means easy for me when I arrived in the sixth grade. My first two years here were an emotional challenge, and there were many days when my alarm would sound and I wanted nothing more than to roll over and fall back asleep. I feared that I was at the wrong school, but the truth of the matter is

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

11

Tyler Dillard

Jess Franks

Mary Fulham

I’m taking the early mornings and unexpected friends.

I will take with me my leadership experience that I gained through my role as leader of Helping Hand.

I will take with me all of the good times and new things I learned about my classmates on Park bus rides.

I will leave behind my two little sisters.

I hope that I will leave behind the message to younger students that the best way to have fun is to be yourself and to take risks because you can’t lose anything by just being who you really are.

I’m leaving the excellent teachers that made my Park experience so great.

that I was just where I needed to be. A dear friend, Ms. Wanda Holland Greene, who relocated to San Francisco last summer, was always there for me, and when times were hard, she proved to be my greatest fan and loudest cheerleader. Her exemplary morals, winning spirit and concern for my overall happiness willed me through some very difficult days. I would imagine many of you sitting in the audience right now could think of a similar person from your school days.

Apart from my parents, she taught me more about life then anyone I know, but I only recently realized the most important takeaway from our time together: she taught me to be a good listener.

We all love to talk, some more than others, and our words naturally serve a myriad of purposes: to teach, to call to action and to vent, among others. Listening, simply stated, is an art, and also an asset to those capable of offering their undivided attention to those with something to say. On an individual level, my closest friends are those that know how to listen, and our friendship is a two-way street, a mutual relationship in which we are always available for each other.

Listening, to me, symbolizes respect, and respect is a black-and-white concept, one that requires no formal definition because the theory of respect is ingrained in a child’s

12

mind in his formative years. With time, one grows to realize, as I have, that the most important things we learn come from other people, and that we attain these pearls of wisdom through listening to others. A keen listener will earn the respect of his peers, but more importantly, will gain knowledge many others might overlook. Our vocabulary is an indicator of our own character; we learn each other’s tendencies by internalizing their words. Parents, friends and teachers speak to disseminate information and advice, and listening allows us to identify with their words, but it also shows the respect one holds for his speaker and allows for one to better understand that person as well. A good listener will not only gain knowledge, but also will better appreciate a person’s character, and ultimately, always be one step ahead of everybody else. So, if you haven’t really been listening up to this point, start now, because my last piece of advice this morning is the most important.

My life to date has been a series of curve balls, one after the next. I take a few practice swings, step up to the plate, take a good stance, and prepare for the pitch. Far too often I begin my swing, ready to crush the ball out of the park, but then the ball begins to curve, and I am forced to adjust at the last second. Instead of the home run, I settle for a single, or find a gap and manage a double. Yes, at first I am disappointed because, let’s be honest, a home run feels so much better than a base hit; but, as baseball fans are well aware, a base hit is often more effective than a solo shot in that my reaching first requires the team in the field to change its position. If the next batter gets on base thanks to gaps that otherwise would not have been created, and this, in turn, leads to a string of successful hits, my first single is ultimately more effective than a solo home run.

So here’s the question: why is this base-

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

ball analogy the most important advice I can share with you this morning? Because the most difficult decisions I have had to make in life have come after being repeatedly thrown curve balls. I am disappointed at first because, at crucial points in my life, I wanted the fastball, but was forced to adapt and adjust to the pitch I received. I only reached first base when, in reality, I wanted to touch all four. I had no control of the pitch, and settled for what I considered to be, at that time, second best. Fortunately, a teammate has always managed to drive me home, and my team tends to win the game. Don’t be afraid of curve balls – they make you stronger and you will be faced with many of them in the years to come. Try not to be disappointed if you find yourself settling for what you believe to be second best. When something is out of our control, how we approach a seemingly undesireable situation will, in the long run, build character. And in

Andrea Galligan

Mercedes Garcia-Orozco

Anna Rose Hale

I will take the compassion and patience Park has taught me.

I will take away the experience of coming as a shy girl and leaving as a proud and confident individual, along with the self esteem I’ve created in my five years here.

I’m going to take my voice.

I will leave the hope that other students will experience the same wonderful things.

I’m going to leave running down the hallways singing.

I am leaving the hope that more kids will stay for ninth grade because it is an AMAZING opportunity and experience.

2 0 0 9 G R A D U AT I O N A W A R D S TH E EL LEN FOWL ER AWARD FOR CITIZEN SH IP

Mary Olney Fulham Julian Anthony Sayhoun TH E ISABELLA T. G ROBLEWSKI ARTS AWA RD

Tyler Sheridan Dillard my experiences, these curve balls have rewards far greater than those that would have come from hitting a solo home run earlier in the game.

I close this morning with the following: your Park School education, both inside and outside of the classroom, has positioned each of you to be leaders in your new communities next fall. Much of the advice I have shared with you this morning, like that of former graduation speakers, is intended to provide you with a head start, and I ask that you take my words to heart, apply it towards future endeavors, and in the years to come, use it to think not only of yourselves, but of others as well. You graduate this morning overcome with enthusiasm, and everybody here celebrates your accomplishments to date.

I ask of you but one thing: do not forget your roots. Remember the role that Park has played in your development and how the core values of this school have contributed to your own personal character. To the Class of 2009, I speak for everybody this morning when I say how thrilled we are to be able to share this day with you. Congratulations on a job well done, and we wish you nothing but the very best as you move forward, and bring a little piece of the Park School to your new communities next fall. Thank you.

THE HEA D OF SCHOOL’S AWA RD FOR ACAD EMIC EXCEL LEN CE

Cary Allain Williams THE CU RTIS E. SMITH ATH L ETIC AWARD

Samuel Bendit Bloch Nzingha Emmani Rawlins TH E JOH N T. SPICER AWA RD FOR UN IQU E SERV ICE

Maria Mercedes Garcia Orozco

The Joan Crocker Award for Community Service

Terry Hamilton EACH YEAR, the Parents’ Association presents this award in honor of former Park parent Joan Crocker, who exemplified the kind of devotion and steadfast zeal this award recognizes in its recipients.

< Terry Hamilton (left) with P.A. President Teresa Chope.

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

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Ben Logan

Henry Lucey

Isa Moss

I will take away my confidence in my opinions.

I’m taking my self-knowledge.

I’m taking the kind words I received from my teachers and classmates.

I’m leaving my teachers.

I will leave a tight-knit community.

Class Graduation Speaker: Josh Ruder

W

I’m leaving my childhood experiences in my nursery to fifth grade classes.

how lucky we are to come here each and every day. You might think that school is boring or not fun, but here you are surrounded by adults who want to help you enjoy school as much as possible while also teaching you things that will remain part of who you are forever. At many other schools, there is more emphasis on work, work, and more work, and not on using effective and interesting methods of teaching. Park does its best to make school engaging for everyone and is open to new ideas. I can tell you from experience that at other schools, students have virtually no say in what they would like to learn or what would be good ways to keep class interesting.

Entering Park after a terrible sixth grade year in public school, I was so glad to get away from that school, and I immediately fell in love with this one. Project R.E.A.S.O.N. is probably my best memory of my first year at Park, because it allowed me to connect with and learn more about my sensational classmates. Project

R.E.A.S.O.N. is a trip that the seventh grade takes to a camp in New Hampshire; they climb Mt. Monadnock, play games, and do group bonding activities. There are countless other memories that I have of this school that give it a special place in my heart: Stump Sprouts and the trip to Spain, to name a few. For both of these events, I have amazing memories of hanging out with everyone in our class and doing funny and sometimes stupid things.

At Stump Sprouts, we would all go lie down in the field and just stare up at the sky and the stars.

We played manhunt in the complete dark, played tons of “catchphrase,” and so many other things that brought us closer as a class. In Spain, I remember sitting in the plaza in Salamanca, drinking Fanta and eating ice cream, talking and laughing, and all of the people who lived there were walking by probably thinking that we were crazy Americans, but we didn’t care, because we were enjoying spending time together.

hen Mrs. Connolly asked me to come into her office this spring, my first reaction was to think, what did I do wrong? As I was walking in, I realized that there was nothing that I had done wrong, so I was wondering why she wanted to talk to me. I was utterly shocked and honored when she asked me to speak on behalf of my amazing class at graduation. I didn’t even have to think before I answered that I would of course accept. Leaving the office and for the rest of the day, I spent every free moment that I had thinking about what to speak about. I came up with appreciation.

I think that sometimes the students who go to Park don’t appreciate how special a place this is, and

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The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

It’s not only the trips and bonding time I spent with my classmates that I will remember, but also the big projects that I did and other significant pieces of my learning experience at Park. One project that I remember was the poetry anthology that I did in eighth grade. A memory that stands out is, the night before it was due, I stayed up until about midnight putting the finishing touches on it, gluing things together and making the cover. It’s these moments that we will remember, not what we did in math class on April 15th, and they are also what make Park such a special place. Park gives us all a unique experience that we would not have at any other school, and it is important to appreciate everything that the faculty, other staff members, and parents do to make every moment that we spend here fantastic. For all of the effort and time that they put into organizing events for us, I think that we have to give them a hand for doing everything in their power on our behalf.

Park does its very best to instill its values in each and every one of its students, whether your first year is in Nursery, eighth grade, or anywhere in between. These values include that friendships should not be affected by racial, economic, or religious differences, a love of learning, being yourself, taking risks; I could go on for much longer, but I won’t. Park has left its mark on all of us, and once we realize how much it has done to make us who we are, we will fully appreciate its impact on our lives. Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has made it possible for me to be here speaking in front of all of you: my parents, grandparents, other family members, teachers, friends, and the phenomenal Class of 2009.

Sophie Moss

Emmani Rawlins

Josh Ruder

I will take with me memories of singing and dancing down the hallway.

I will take my ever-growing sense of self that Park has helped me establish in my seven years here.

I will take with me all of my incredible memories and friends.

I will leave my childhood memories.

I hope to leave behind an image of myself as a decent human being.

I will leave behind the adults who have taught me so much.

S E C O N D A RY S C H O O L S F OR T HE CLA SS OF 2009 Alex Barden Boston University Academy Sam Bloch Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Allegra Borak Newton South High School Nikoi Coley-Ribeiro Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Eliza Cover St. Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s School Tyler Dillard Phillips Academy, Andover Jess Franks Concord Academy Mary Fulham Newton Country Day School Andrea Galligan Cambridge Rindge & Latin School Mercedes Garcia-Orozco Lincoln-Sudbury High School Anna Rose Hale Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall School Ben Logan Beaver Country Day School Henry Lucey Brookline High School Isa Moss Brookline High School Sophie Moss Brookline High School Emmani Rawlins Milton Academy Josh Ruder Milton Academy Julian Sahyoun Concord Academy Carter Smith St. Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s School Lexie Sparrow Beaver Country Day School Lily Steig Milton Academy Cary Williams Milton Academy

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Julian Sahyoun

Carter Smith

Lexie Sparrow

I will take lifelong friendships and unforgettable experiences.

I will take with me eleven years of memories and complete confidence in myself.

I will take the confidence that Park has given me to act as an individual.

I will leave teachers who have taught me more than just curriculum.

Class Graduation Speaker: Carter Smith

W

hen I sat down to write this speech, the first thing that came to mind was how much I have changed since entering in Nursery [now Pre-Kindergarten], eleven years ago. If you didn’t know me as a six-year-old, you just have to ask any teacher in this school. They all seem to have an infamous “Carter story” about my, let’s say, demanding personality that they love to tell. I can’t count how many times I have heard, “Oh, I remember....” Many love to reminisce about the smocked dresses and signature Smith family bow, which I wore everyday to school.

Mind you, these bows were probably the same size as my head. I think the reason people found my outfits so amusing is because they created a sweet, innocent facade that I must say was very deceiving.

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I will be leaving the comfortable Park environment that I have become so accustomed to and venture out into something new.

For example, when I was in Kindergarten, we were asked to jump rope in P.E. and I didn’t want to, so I went up to Ms. Knight and said, “ I don’t want to jump rope and you can’t make me!” and then I proceeded to stomp out of the gym.

Another one of my favorites is when I was in music class with Mrs. Allen and I started to cry. When Mrs. Allen asked me what was wrong, I said, “I just want my way Mrs. Allen. Why can’t I just get my way?”

These were trying times for my teachers, as well as for me. The reason I am sharing these stories with you is because over my years at Park, they have dwindled and have gradually transformed into more positive ones, and I can tell you that it never would have happened if it weren’t for the faculty who believed in me and worked so hard to help me reach my full potential. I credit so much of who I am today to these men and women who shaped me and became my role models and friends.

It was seven years ago, but I still remember every detail of my oldest sister, Pearson’s, graduation.

I was in the second grade at the time, and I remember her wet face and red eyes as she sobbed on the same risers up behind me. I remember so clearly someone next to me handing me a tissue and telling me to go give it to Pearson in the middle of the ceremony. As a second grader, I didn’t really understand that I was interrupting anything.

Then something happened that I have never forgotten. As I turned to go back to my seat after the laughter had died down, Mr. Katz went to the podium and said, “I can’t wait ’til you graduate, Carter.”

Me, graduate? This was something my second grade mind couldn’t really comprehend, but now here it

is today, and to tell you the truth, I am still not quite sure if I fully comprehend it. It is so crazy to think that after this day, I will no longer be a Park student. Park has always been my little stage and I have always felt comfortable being exactly who I am on it. I am looking forward to the adventures ahead of me at my next school, but this day is very bittersweet. I am excited but nervous to have to go on without my little support system, my home away from home, which has always been there, backing me up every step of the way.

It is impossible to choose what I will miss the most, because I will miss it all. Walking down the hall dying of laughter due to one of Lexie’s ridiculous inside jokes, acting like a total fool on T.O.T.A.L. Day, even our random conversations in English class prompted by an “out of the blue” Mary comment.

Over this past year, our grade has bonded more than I ever thought possible. Our class has been through a lot this year, but we have always come out stronger, proving our compassion for each other and tight knit grade. So, as our time of being Park students winds down and our paths begin to split and lead us in different directions, I am realizing how much I am going to miss every single one of you. Many of you I have been with since Nursery or Kindergarten, and we have spent basically our whole lives together.

So much of our past is this school, and there are memories in every single nook and cranny of every single room. During our trip to Stump Sprouts in the fall, the most enthusiastic event was definitely figuring out what we were going to put on the memories page in the yearbook.

We all sat together in the living room and talked about all the

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

I will leave behind the laughs on and off stage.

things we remembered throughout the years. This event was very adrenalized and very loud, and it took a very long time since our escalating volume made it very hard for anybody to explain or hear anything clearly over our excited shouts. Even though we will all be moving on, I will always look back and picture those fond memories and all of my amazing classmates who I shared them with.

And to the faculty, who have helped mold me and the rest of my class into the people we are today, all I can say is no matter how many years go by, you will always be an important part of why I am who I am, and you will never ever be forgotten. Now, I will end with a quote from the wise philosopher, Hannah Montana, who once said, “Life is a climb, but the view is great.”

Lily Steig

Cary Williams

I will take a strong sense of intimate community.

I will take with me my passion for literature and theater that I have acquired over my decade at Park.

I will leave half a bottle of spilled glitter that remains on the floor of the costume shop.

I will leave behind my childish immaturity that Park has helped me to outgrow.

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

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A

Class of 1974 — 35th Reunion Top (L-R) Alex Bok, Kitta Frost, Sarah Henry Lederman, Margaret Smith Bell, Chris Randolph, Rodger Cohen, Heather Crocker Faris Bottom (L-R) Tina McVeigh, Polly Hoppin, Beth Haffenreffer Scholle, Shady Hartshorne, Jim Bynoe

Class of 1979 — 30th Reunion Top (L-R) Nadia Belash McKay, Cary Godbey Turner; Middle (L-R) Sally Solomon, Wendi Daniels, Madeleine Rains; Bottom (L-R) Tony Mack, Lalla Carothers, Holly Dando, Steve Georgaklis

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The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

lumni from the classes ending in “4” and “9” came back to Park from far and wide on the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend. This year, Reunion took place in the newly-renovated library, which turned out to be a wonderful party-central.

Early birds were treated to a campus tour around the building’s old and new spaces.

Head of School Jerry Katz, Alumni Committee member Ali Epker Ruch ’89, and Director of Alumni Relations Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98 all spoke briefly to the assembled crowd before Reunion photos commenced. The party finally broke up when the different classes departed for further revelry at their class-specific reunion dinners.

Many thanks to the dozens of reunion volunteers who helped to make Reunion 2009 a memorable event for all who attended.

We look forward to seeing the “5s” and “0s” next spring!

Class of 1984 — 25th Reunion Top (L-R) Caron Lipsky Savenor, Kate McNay Koch, Laura Church Wilmerding, Tara Albright Robinson; Bottom (L-R) Phoebe Gallagher Winder, Adam Weitzman, Anne Collins Goodyear

Top to bottom: Bizzy Glasser Riley, Emma Jacobson-Sive, Sara Langelier — all Class of 1989; Brian Swett ’94, Ed Downes ’59, Hilary Sargent ’94, and Jenny Shoukimas ’94; Julie Henry, mother of Sarah Henry Lederman ’74 enjoyed catching up at the party in the library Top to bottom: Jim Bynoe ’74; The women of 1979: Nadia Belash McKay, Sally Solomon, Wendi Daniels, Madeleine Rains, Holly Dando, Cary Godbey Turner; Grace Faturoti ’99 and Carrie Pierce ’99 check out some clay masks in the art studio

Opposite page (L-R): 1999 classmates Grace Faturoti, Sam Oates, and Ben Hindman; Shady Hartshorne ’74 embracing a classmate at Reunion

Class of 1989 — 20th Reunion Top (L-R): Sara Langelier, Adria Linder, Kate Westgate, Allison Morse, Ali Epker Ruch and Bizzy Glasser Riley.

Bottom: Jonathan Mitchell, Emma Jacobson-Sive, Jacob Freifeld, Cate O’Connell and Jason Spingarn-Koff The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

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roline nd Ca ’74, a oung ’74 h lp o Y d is Ran nningham 4, Chr Cu pin ’7 p o H Polly

Class of 1994 — 15th Reunion Hilary Sargent, Jenny Shoukimas, Brian Swett, Zach Stuart

sa njoy ’99 e n a m Hind Ben

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h laug

Class of 1999 — 10th Reunion Top (L-R) Lindsey Segar, Caitlin Tierney, Liz Weyman, Cat Foley, Carrie Pierce, Jessica Freeman-Slade, Sam Oates, and David Kenner; Bottom (L-R) Alex Goldstein, Grace Faturoti, Ben Hindman, and David Cavell

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

The Park School Class of 1984 Twenty-Fifth Reunion Biographies

Natascha Geilich Armleder

I went to Nobles, then UVM, and upon graduation, I moved to Geneva, Switzerland (my mother is Swiss and I have a passport). All of those years of suffering under Monsieur Planchon finally paid off and I actually do speak French!

After working in finance for a long time, I moved to Sotheby’s auction house where I enjoyed a saner pace of life working with collectors and dealers from all over the world. Currently, I am doing my master’s in counseling psychology. In 2003, I married Sébastien Armleder, who is from Geneva, (Laura Church Wilmerding actually made it over to the wedding despite her son’s first day of school!) and had my son, Tassilo, in 2004 and my daughter, Cosima, in 2006.

We try to get to the States as often as possible (thus a recent Easter trip to Miami/Palm Beach) but sadly I don’t think I will make it back for the Reunion as I will just have returned from Florida on April 15. I have enjoyed chatting with some of you on Facebook and hope, if I do not make it, that someone will send me photos of the Reunion! I am in the Boston area every summer and would love to catch up.

Sarah Kennedy Flott

Can it really be 25 years?! I can’t believe I am old enough to have a 25th Reunion from anything. I am currently living near Frankfurt, Germany with my husband, Jon, and three children, Thomas (13), Sophie (9), and Noah (7). The three children and I all go to the International School of Frankfurt; they are students and I teach 3rd to 5th grade English. We have lived overseas for a few years now both here in Germany and in Shanghai, China. We love the traveling it allows us to do and hopefully our children will become “Global Citizens.”

I received my master’s degree in teaching from Lesley University in 1999 after completing three years with the Teach for America teaching corps in rural Louisiana. Unfortunately, I will be

Top: Andre Netter, Tim Friedman Bottom: Hannah Swett, Robbie Sprill, Natascha Geilich, Dan Kornfeld.

unable to attend the Reunion in person but look forward to reading about what my classmates have been up to.

Tim Friedman

Hello to everyone from Chicago! 25 is just too many years to write (or think) about so I’ll keep it to the most important recent ones! My wife, Paula, and I are living in Chicago with our nineyear-old son, Cameron, and our seven-year-old daughter, Madeline. After graduating from Lehigh in 1991, I went to George Washington Law School and worked as a lawyer long enough to realize it wasn’t for me. In 1996, shortly after Paula and I married, I dragged her out to Chicago so I could go to Northwestern University for my MBA. Although I promised her that

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

we could come back to the East Coast, Chicago ended up being a perfect fit for us and we have been here ever since. After business school, I worked as an investment banker for 7 years and then set out on my own with my own small investment company, Heracles Holdings. I guess Greek mythology stuck with me after all these years. Our kids go to Francis Parker School in Chicago. It really reminds me of Park, and as I wander the halls at drop-off I reminisce about our years together in Brookline.

Anne Collins Goodyear

At the time of our twenty-fifth reunion, I am living with my husband, Frank, outside of Washington, DC. We both work at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. (We didn’t meet there,

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PA R K S C H O O L C L A S S O F 19 8 4

25TH REUNION BIOGRAPHIES

however. We met in graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin.) The past five years since our last reunion have been busy. During that period, I co-organized two substantial exhibitions with catalogues. One, “Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture,” focuses on Duchamp’s important role in modern and contemporary art and his impact on the construction of self and other; the other exhibition, “Reflections/Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century,” looks at the changing idioms of self-representation during the past century.

These projects and many others repeatedly cause me to think back on my years at Park.

Travel to Paris to organize the Duchamp show brought back fond memories of the 1983 trip to France made by those of us in the eighth grade studying French as well as the rigorous ongoing study of the French language through our acquaintance with M. Thibaut and his family!

I also think back frequently to the special trips several of us had a chance to make to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts on Tuesday afternoons once a month when we had half-days so that our teachers could pursue their professional development. What magical afternoons! I particularly recall those spent in the company of the Egyptian antiquities.

It’s amazing to think how much impact those ten years at Park had and continue to have, especially twenty-five years after we received our diplomas. “There are places I remember...”

Looking forward to catching up with everyone!!

Top: Cam Naimi, Noah Herzog Bottom: Phoebe Gallagher, Joshua Dalsimer, Dwight Dunne, Nancy Venator, Mary Kay Beuntan, Music Teacher.

Brad Moriarty

My memories of Park go from racing around at recess in grade two to foursquare in the covered back entryway past the old woodshop. Since then I’ve done a number of things, rowing competitions in school and out, working for and starting up small businesses and, finally, back to teaching.

I married a woman I met in high school (she would be quick to point out we were not high school sweethearts) and watched with awe as she gave birth to our two boys, Tucker (4.5) and Silas (1). When Tucker was born we moved to Milton Academy to live and work in a girl’s dormitory. I teach physics and engineering and am part of the faculty governance committee.

I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar Park faces this spring.

school students for eight years, undoubtedly subconsciously inspired by ten formative and happy years spent at Park. I do come “home” to Boston for the summer, which is just one of many aspects of teaching I enjoy. In fact, I ran into Alex Heard on the way to Nantucket not too long ago. It was a brief reunion as the threat of fog had him (being the seasoned Nantucket traveler) heading for the reliable ferry, while I risked the puddle jumper. Hope this message finds you all well.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make the Reunion, but I hope to run into more of you in the future.

Cam Naimi

• The fish wall sculpture in the dining room, and all those wonderful wooden chairs — where are they now?

The 25th Reunion? Wow! It makes me think I’m getting soft, because I have been living in San Diego for almost seven years now. I have been teaching math and science to middle and high

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Lucy Perera Adams

Some Park School Memories:

• The fish tank in the lobby • The smell of curing concrete in the stairwells

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

• The brushed metal door handle, purple and red doors with the safety glass • The ceilings, which looked like string, set in papier mâché • The classes: Mr. Bourne’s Latin with lights out • The wall of cut out magazine photos in the ceramics studio • The skeleton hanging in the science room — what was his/her name?

• See-more-show body • Loving to watch filmstrips • The closets (were they red?) of costumes in drama room • The race around — and the odd end to it — with stairs that seemed to lead nowhere • The courtyard and the cooking from Asian fair — seemed to always be the older students who did that • Banjo playing and folk songs during Morning Meeting — Mr. Smith?

PA R K S C H O O L C L A S S O F 19 8 4

After graduating from Boston University in art history, I worked as an intern at Park School, where I learned that the teachers I once had were indeed regular people. After a year interning with the delightful Ms. Fabre and Mrs. Platt, I returned to Park for my first official paid job as a Nursery School Assistant. I then went on to teach at a Montessori school in Aspen, Colorado.

Two years followed in Providence, while my husband, whom I met in Colorado, completed his master’s at RISD. Then on to my own graduate study in art history in Denver followed by a move to Taos, N.M., where I work as curator of education and public relations at a small university art museum. I have been at the Harwood Museum of Art for 11 years, and during this time had two wonderful children, Maia (2001) and Skyler (2007), names I pinched from students I taught while at Park. In addition to my human family, I have a horse, three dogs, two cats, and enjoy returning to Boston and Cape Cod twice a year to visit family, see how fancy Boston has become, and stock up on shoes and clothing from a place other than Wal-Mart or Target.

Hannah Swett

I am living in New York City with my husband, Mark Brookes. We are expecting a child in July.

I am working in the family real estate business.

We own and operate mostly commercial and industrial space in Harlem and South Bronx with some residential in Manhattan.

After leaving Park, I went on to graduate from St. George’s School and Brown University.

After leaving Brown, I spent the majority of my time competitive sailing around the world. Most notably, I sailed the 1995 America’s Cup with the Women’s Team and launched two Olympic campaigns. Mark and I are based in NYC, but spend as much time skiing in Jackson, Wyoming, and biking in Jamestown, Rhode Island, as possible!

Elena Wethers Thompson

Hello to all my Park classmates. I hope everyone is doing well and is happy. I left Park at the end of 8th grade and went to Winsor for high school — along with a bunch of other former Parkites — Kate Sullivan, Margie O’Brien, Nancy Venator. After Winsor, I went to Wesleyan University and majored in English. After graduation I worked at the Boston Foundation but ultimately went back to work at Wesleyan in Alumni Relations, which is what I have been doing professionally ever since 1992. I moved back to

25TH REUNION BIOGRAPHIES

Boston in 1998 and met my husband. He moved up from Baltimore, and we married in October 2001. We have two beautiful, fun, and challenging children, Tessa (4) and Ellis (2). We picked up and moved back to Baltimore, my husband’s hometown, in 2007 and are living just outside of the city in a suburb called Owings Mills. My husband is a teacher and director of service learning for the Gilman School and I am the director of alumni relations for the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. Life is full and busy. Baltimore has been a big adjustment from Boston but slowly I am settling in, but I still miss Boston and Brookline!

I have been lucky to keep in touch with quite a few old friends from Park (I see and talk to Alicia Lancaster Silva and Jessica Pearlman most, but also have stayed in touch with Kate Sullivan, Nancy Venator, Margie O’Brien and Caron Lipsky Savenor) and to have served on the Board at Wesleyan and the Alumnae Board at Winsor, which helps me stay connected to my former New England life. Maybe it’s my professional life seeping into my personal life, but I would LOVE to see so many of you in person this spring! We all spent so much time together and it has been far too long since most of us have seen each other or connected. It would be great to meet your significant others and families too. I hope to see many of you at our upcoming reunion. If not, we’ve started a Park Class of 1984 group on Facebook – it would be great to have others join and reconnect virtually.

Laura Church Wilmerding

After graduating from Park in 1984, I attended Pomfret School and St. Lawrence University. I continued to play field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and majored in French and art history.

I spent my junior year in Paris, where I lived with an incredible French family. They had three children close to me in age, which made it especially fun and good for my French. Studying art history in Paris was a memorable experience. I fell in love with city living in Paris. It gave me a strong sense of independence.

After college, I moved to New York City and worked in the decorating department of House Beautiful and Country Living magazines. While at House Beautiful, I developed an appreciation for modern decorating and architecture. For eight years, I loved living in New York, a wonderfully diverse city rich in history and culture.

In 1996, I met my husband, Michael Wilmerding. We married in 1999 and have two wonderful children, Ben (8) and Sophie (6), both of whom are at Park. It has been so much fun to relive the Park School experience through their

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

eyes. We live in Chestnut Hill on the street where my husband grew up. Michael is the owner of Firefly Outfitters, a fly-fishing shop in downtown Boston. Michael sells outdoor clothing, fly-fishing equipment, and guides trips in Boston Harbor and other destinations.

It has been 25 years since I graduated from Park! My Park School memories include: making a map of Africa out of oatmeal cookie dough and decorating it with chocolate kisses for a social studies project; passing notes and spending too much time in the bathroom talking to friends in 7th grade; learning and loving the French language; Mr. and Mme. Thibault; gymnastics with Ms. Zifcak and participating in lots of sports with Ms. Knight; Wordly Wise; Snack time being held in the dining room with tons of Ritz crackers spread out on the table for all; playing the recorder in Morning Meeting; assigned seating in the classroom by last name; Mr. Bourne and Project R.E.A.S.O.N. in the rain; playing Fessenden in ice hockey; lots of friends and supportive teachers for 11 years! The friendships and memories will last a lifetime.

Phoebe Gallagher Winder

A lot has happened in 25 years! After leaving Park in the 8th grade, I went to Exeter, Vanderbilt, then on to University of Michigan Law School. So for about 11 years or so, I didn’t spend a lot of time in Boston, and I lost touch with many of my Park friends. In 1994, I finally moved back to Boston to work at the law firm of K&L Gates, where I’ve been for 15 years. I’m a partner there, and I practice in the area of financial services litigation, which, as you can imagine in this day and age, keeps me really busy.

On the home front, I got married to Caleb Winder six years ago. (He went to BB&N, and he gets slightly miffed when I tell him Park is far superior to BB&N). He works in venture capital in the health sciences and medical area. We live in Jamaica Plain – our house abuts Hellenic College, near Jamaica Pond, so we live pretty close to Park. We have two children, Avery (age 2.5) and Charlie (9 months). Having two kids under the age of three and working full time means our lives are pretty insane at the moment, but we’re really fortunate to have all of our parents living close by to lend a hand.

I’m looking forward to our 25th Reunion.

Since most of us spent many years at Park, I feel we got to know each other’s strengths and foibles so well. Perhaps no one knows you as well as your 6th grade classmate? It will be great to see where everyone’s landed, and how their lives are going.

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I

Summer reading.

n our modern era of 24/7 technology, Twitter

blasts, Facebook, instant messaging, Xbox

360, and all the rest, sitting down with a good

For me, the words conjure up

book may seem archaic and passé. Yet, Park is

images of relaxing in a hammock with a thick book and a glass of

charged with teaching students about the English language, celebrating learning, and — possibly — inculcating a love of reading.

Park students are expected to read over the

iced tea. Or, maybe sitting in a

summer, even though kids’ summer lives have

beach chair with my toes in the

changed over the decades. “They don’t have as much free time now,” clarifies English

sand. It’s summer and the reading

Department Chair Kathy Coen. “It seems that, as a whole, kids aren’t that comfortable with

is easy.

reading — they see it as a chore. With camps and

In this issue, we look at what people are reading at Park in the summer of 2009. What do students

sports and other sorts of commitments, parents started complaining about how much time summer reading was taking. So, we’ve made some accommodations.” Instead of requiring students to complete scores of books each summer, the English Department, working closely

read over summer vacation? And

with the School’s librarians, have compiled annotated lists of books that are sorted by genre

what about their teachers? We

and grade level. Students must read two books,

even hear from an English teacher

and are encouraged to read more.

who tackled War and Peace for

opportunity to have a common conversation in

Summer reading provides a wonderful the first week of school. The assignments are

graduate school.

designed to be a fun way to talk — and get the

Perhaps you’ll tuck away some of these titles for next summer — or perhaps you’ll find some time

kids talking — about reading. “It’s a good way for us to assess the students,” Kathy says. “Did they read the book? Did they get it?” The discussions and activities analyze the material in ways that are appropriate for each grade level.

this fall. . . .

Kate LaPine editor

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The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

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GRADE VI:

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BOOK COVERS

Juliet Baker, a legendary English teacher at Park, initiated this project

BOOK COVER ASSIGNMENT:

nearly 20 years ago for all students in Grades VI – IX. In time, the

1. choose one book to promote

project has evolved into an exclusively sixth grade undertaking. “This assignment is developmentally appropriate for the newest students

2. brainstorm reasons why you enjoyed reading it

taught English and social studies to sixth graders for many years.

3. write a well-organized paragraph that gives potential readers a general overview and entices them to read the book

(This year she assumes a new role as Head of the Upper Division.)

4. select a compelling quote from your book; cite page number

Without requiring deep analysis of passages, students create beautiful

5. compose 3 “blurbs” from invented reviewers

in the Upper Division,” explains Alice Perera Lucey ’77, who has

and compelling covers of their favorite summer reads, which are displayed in the halls.

6. design your book cover following template provided Because the Grade VI curriculum exposes students to a variety of literary genres and styles, rising sixth graders are given no restrictions in choosing books for summer reading, as their resulting book covers demonstrate.

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GRADE VII:

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CLUE

In anticipation of studying Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of

Kyra Fries, who helped design this assignment, explains, “We wanted

the Baskervilles and selections from Edgar Allan Poe in class, rising

to get students thinking about all the elements of a mystery story, and

seventh graders are required to read a mystery over the summer.

who doesn’t like playing Clue?” On the second day, students create

The sixth grade English teachers invite librarian Dorothea Black to

six clue cards about their mysteries with these instructions:

review the 35 mystery and suspense titles on the summer reading list. “I have to remind them that not all mysteries are bloody,”

• Make them colorful and bold • Spell correctly

Dorothea explains. “That is a relief for some kids!”

• Make sure it’s legible On the first day of class in the fall, seventh graders receive this assignment:

Your homework tonight requires that you dust off your MYSTERY book you read over the summer. Take some time to flip through and remind yourself of the (following) details.

Write the information in note form.

Check your spelling!

Title, Author, Sleuth, Who Done It, Crime Scene, Significant Object

• Do NOT write your name on it • Make each one significantly different — in other words, it should not look like it belongs with the others. Change colors, handwriting, etc… try to be mysterious! Add designs if you want!

What’s different about reading in the summer is that I am constantly outdoors playing sports, so I don’t read during the day.

Whenever I get a chance to read before bed, I do, and since it’s summer, I can stay up late and read.

— Oliver Kendall (Grade VII)

READING LISTS GRADE VI Summer Reading Choices:

The lists on the Park School library website (www.parkschool.org/library) — far too long to reprint here — allow students and their parents to browse titles appropriate for grade levels V–IX. The comprehensive booklists, which suggest hundreds of titles, are created with different kinds of readers in mind. A few samples, based on the genre required by grade, follow:

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Any book from this list and one book from any source (including this list, which features popular favorites, classics, and books that will enliven and extend your school studies. (Grade levels are suggestions, not limits).

Crispin: The Cross of Lead

by Avi (Historical Fiction) For Grades V and VI In this adventure story set in the Middle Ages, an orphaned boy flees his tiny village when he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit. As he is leaving, he discovers his real name and some mysterious information about his parents.

George Washington, Spymaster

by Thomas B. Allen (Non-Fiction) For Grades V and VI George Washington was the secret spymaster of the Revolutionary War and delighted in espionage tricks such as planting false information for the enemy to discover. Read about spies, counter spies, double agents, codes and ciphers, and other tools and tricks of the trade.

Helen’s Eyes: A Photobiography of Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller’s Teacher by Marfe Ferguson Delano (Autobiography/Biography) For Grades V, VI, and VII Annie Sullivan’s early life gave no indication that she would become famous. She was wild tempered and almost blind. Her father abandoned her when her mother died, and she spent much of her childhood in a grim

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

institute for the poor. Determined to get an education, she eventually found a place at the prestigious Perkins Institute. At the age of twenty, she took on the almost impossible challenge of teaching Helen Keller, then six years old.

Into the Volcano by Don Wood (Graphic Novel) For Grades VI, VII, VIII, and IX Two brothers travel to the island of Kocalaha to visit family and end up on a harrowing adventure inside an erupting volcano.

Last Shot by John Feinstein (Mystery/Suspense) For Grades VI, VII, and VIII Aspiring journalists Steven and Carol discover a conspiracy to “fix” the last game of the NCAA Final Four men’s basketball tournament.

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GRADE VIII:

SHORT ESSAY

As students mature, their summer reading assignments become

Reading in the summer is great because it’s more of your own choice. You can pick up

increasingly difficult. Knowing that they will begin the year reading John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Park’s newest eighth graders are required to read a historical novel over the summer. Upon their

any old book and if you don’t like it

return to school, they must write a short essay for homework in

you don’t have to finish it.

the first week.

I can’t read as much during the school year because of sports and homework.

— Matt Johnson (Grade VIII)

Five girls in my class started a

Over the summer, each of you read a novel, which can be categorized as HISTORICAL FICTION. Tonight, write a paragraph in which you explain WHY your book qualifies as a piece of historical fiction. First you need to define historical fiction for yourself and your reader and then explain with examples from the text why your book falls under that category. Be sure to: • Grab the reader with your first sentence

book group last year. Its fun to discuss books

• Have a clear, compelling topic sentence

with your friends, but we don’t do it

• Cite the title and author of the book you read

over the summer.

• Give three or four specific examples from your book • Conclude your paragraph in a thoughtful manner

— Catherine Hemp (Grade VIII)

This is NOT a standard book report; take care not to oversummarize. This can be hand-written or typed. Be sure to closely proofread for correct spelling, punctuation, diction, and syntax.

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup

by Ron Koertge (Poetry) For Grades VI, VII, and VIII Prevented by a case of mononucleosis from pursuing his passion, baseball, Kevin reluctantly starts a poetry journal with the encouragement of his father, who is an English teacher. In free verse, with occasional excursions into haiku, sonnet, and ballad form, he writes about family, school, girls, and, of course, baseball.

GRADE VII Summer Reading Choices: One mystery from this list and one book from any source (including this list, which features popular favorites, classics, and books that will enliven and extend your school studies).

A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman (Mystery/Suspense) For Grades VIII and IX Navajo Tribal Policemen Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee solve the mystery surrounding murders at an ancient Indian burial site.

Beautiful, valuable Anasazi clay pots are among the few clues.

Behind the Curtain by Peter Abrahams (Mystery/Suspense)

For Grades VI and VII Eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill, who has practically memorized all the Sherlock Holmes stories, uses observation and logic to solve crime cases in her hometown of Echo Falls. In this page-turning adventure, she discovers a steroid selling ring, but can’t tell the police because her brother might be involved.

Half-Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer (Mystery/Suspense) For Grades V, VI, and VII Fletcher Moon, after he earns a real detective’s badge from an Internet course, is passionate about solving criminal cases. When the head of a girl’s clique hires him to investigate a theft at school, he finds himself far too involved in the business of the town’s notorious crime family.

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd (Mystery/Suspense) For Grades VI, VII, VIII, and IX Two siblings take their visiting cousin sightseeing to the London Eye. They watch him go into the ride, and they watch all the passengers leave, but their cousin has disappeared.

Montmorency by Eleanor Updale (Mystery/Suspense) For Grades VI and VII Montmorency is a small time thief until he discovers the possibilities of London’s new underground sewer system. He develops a split identity: Scarper, the virtuoso thief who escapes crime scenes through the sewers; and Montmorency, a gentleman with fine taste and a betterdeveloped sense of honor. This is the first of four books in a popular mystery/spy series.

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GRADE IX:

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PASSAGE ANALYSIS

Reading requirements for ninth graders

For their first assignment in the fall, ninth graders are asked to write a

are more traditional and are designed

passage analysis about The Book Thief.

to push adolescents into adult literature. In the summer before their

A “passage analysis” is a paragraph that focuses on a passage extrapolated from a text. It is a close examination! The passage usually has a good deal of importance when looked at on its own and can shed light on the text as a whole, as well.

Some tips:

ninth grade year, every student reads The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and Latin students read Virgil’s Aeneid (in translation!), which is supplied for them by Latin teacher Greg Grote.

1. Convey immediately why you chose your passage and make this a creative and energetic sentence.

In addition to tying into the

2. Use compelling phrases and words right from the passage in your paragraph.

ninth grade English curriculum, which examines the style and

3. Type out your passage and them skip some lines and write your analysis. This way you can keep looking at it closely as you write!

structure of the memoir, The Book Thief, a multi-award winning book that is set in Nazi Germany and narrated by Death, also has direct links to the social studies curriculum. The ninth grade course, which is based on

4. Think of this as a paragraph that digs down deep and presents this passage under a microscope. You are the expert!

the materials and methods of Facing History and Ourselves, uses the rise of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust as a springboard to confront the origins and persistence of anti-democratic ideas and events in Europe.

I find reading in the summer much easier than during the school year.

There is a lot more free time to sit down in the sun and read in the summer because there is much less work and pressure. Summer is a great opportunity to read some amazing books.

— Emily Hoyt (Grade IX)

RGRADE E AVIIID I N G L I SEagle T Sof the(continued) Ninth by Rosemary Summer Reading Choices: One historical novel from this list and one book from any source (including this list, which features popular favorites, classics, and books that will enliven and extend your school studies.)

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (Historical Fiction) For Grades VIII and IX Mattie has a talent for writing and has won a scholarship to Barnard, but her ambition conflicts with loyalty to family and courtship with the boy next door. Mattie’s African-American friend, Weaver, has similar ambitions and faces different challenges. Their story is interwoven with a celebrated murder case of 1906.

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Sutcliffe (Historical Fiction) For Grades VII, VIII, and IX Roman Centurion Marcus Flavius Aquila tries to solve the mystery of the disappearance in Britain of his father and the Ninth Legion Hispana, last heard from near Hadrian’s Wall. Aquila also hopes to locate the Ninth Legion’s military standard, the missing Eagle, and return it safely to Rome.

My Mother the Cheerleader by Robert Sharenow (Historical Fiction) For Grades VIII and IX Every morning Louise’s mother dresses up and goes to stand with a group of neighborhood women known as the Cheerleaders, who taunt sixyear old Ruby Bridges as she enters the elementary school. Louise never questions the situation in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans until a likable

New Yorker with radical views becomes a boarder in their house.

Revolution is Not a Dinner Party

by Ying Chang Compestine (Historical Fiction) For Grades VI, VII, and VIII Ling, the only daughter of two doctors, leads a happy and comfortable life in the city of Wuhan until the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1972. The family is forced to share their apartment with an official of the Communist Party, food and supplies become scarce, and worse hardships follow.

The Snows by Sharelle Byars Moranville (Historical Fiction) For Grades VII, VIII, and IX In each of these four interwoven stories, a member of the Snow family of Jefferson, Iowa, makes a pivotal

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

decision at the age of sixteen. The events take place over four generations, spanning the Great Depression, the World War II and Vietnam War eras, and a time close to the present.

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The Informed Teacher Reading List 2008– 09 The White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation. Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves by M. T. Anderson A Universal History of the Destruction of Books: from Ancient Sumer to Modern Iraq by Fernando Báez What It Is by Lynda Barry 2666 by Roberto Bolaño The Year We Disappeared: a Father-Daughter Memoir by Cylin Busby The Taste of Sweet: Our Complicated Love Affair with our Favorite Treats by Joanne Chen The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust

Teachers’ Summer Reading

The Forever War by Dexter Filkins The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America by Donna Foote In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past by Henry Louis Gates The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession n the Amazon by David Grann Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessey The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire by Joe Jackson Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham Twilight by Stephenie Meyer A Mercy by Toni Morrison The Life of the Skies by Jonathan Rosen Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff American Wife: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout Note by Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson

by Tricia Tunstall Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love by Myron Uhlberg Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt How Fiction Works by James Wood The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski

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hat do you read?” That’s what Christian Porter’s colleague, Alison Webster (English and social studies 2001–2006) asked a few years ago. Christian and the other librarians were busily preparing summer reading lists for students when Alison planted the seed about adult reading. She said, “Christian, you should read for you,” he explained. “I started thinking about what all the teachers would like to read.”

As a librarian, Christian has to read what’s just been published, what’s getting a lot of buzz, and know what’s on the back list in order to put the new books into context. In November, the National Book Award winners are announced, along with the Pulitzer, and the Booker Prize. “I tracked every single list I could find,” Christian says. The same books would keep coming up — appearing on multiple lists — and Christian began narrowing them down. “Every year,” he says, “there are about 50-75 books that are being talked about. I know that Park’s library can’t purchase that many, so I try to pick the best in poetry, biography, fiction, and non-fiction for our collection.” His selections are based on the titles that make multiple lists as well as ones that relate to the curriculum. “I know second graders study Colonial America, so we ordered this fabulous graphic adaptation of the Constitution.”

Before the faculty left for the summer, the library hosted its third annual “Informed Teacher” event. This year, Christian put together a slide show that featured a variety of the 36 titles chosen for 2008 – 09. After scanning book covers, Christian asked a few colleagues to help with the presentation. Alison Connolly, who worked with deaf students before teaching math at Park, read and signed an excerpt from Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love by Myron Uhlberg. Likewise, Brian Cassie, who now teaches science to students in Grades I-III, has led dozens of Audubon trips to far flung places in search of birds. He was the perfect pick to read from The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann.

“Now, people come to me during the year with recommendations,” Christian says. “They look forward to the presentation — I’m so glad that I’ve been able to do something for my colleagues. I know this is a tradition that can go on without me.”

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Christian Porter’s Bookshelf (Librarian, 2002– ) 50 picture books 5 young adult chapter books 1 adult novel I’M A HUGE FAN of Stephen McCauley (Alternatives

to Sex), and Elinor Lipman was mentioned in several of his reviews. So this summer I’ve read The Family Man and The Inn at Lake Devine.

Steve Kellogg’ Bookshelf (Math, 1983– ) I’VE ALWAYS LOVED to read and I look at summer as

Other books on Steve’s bookshelf

my chance. When I’m not traveling, tutoring, or watching the Red Sox, I’m out on my screened porch with a book.

Emily* and I have been in a book group for 22 years.

I get told what to read. The last choice for the group was a book of short stories, Oblivion, by David Foster Wallace (who committed suicide this year). That led me to read another book of his: Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity. This is a really complex, really hard math book. I have to intersperse it with others. It’s part of a series of nonfiction books written by non-scientists called Great Discoveries. Another book in the series is Uncentering the Earth: Copernicus and The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by William T. Vollmann, in which the author explains Copernicus’ great work with some tangents about Ptolemy and others.

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The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich The Color of Lightning by Paulette Giles Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock Netherland by Joseph O’Neill The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

* Emily Kellogg, Steve’s wife, is also a librarian at Park.

ho’s ever judged a book by its cover? Really, the question is, who hasn’t? Dan Eberle, a 29-year-old English teacher holds up a dog-eared copy of The Dark is Rising. He stands on the stage of the Park School theater and addresses 250 students in Grades V-IX at a Morning Meeting in May. “I noticed this book on my mom’s bookshelf,” he says, pointing out a drawing with dark, creepy eyes.

“Do you dare read it?”

Susan’s Cooper’s classic The Dark is Rising is one of five books chosen for the 2009 Community Read. The titles are compiled, not

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by the English Department, but by an ad hoc committee that includes English teachers, librarians, and math teachers, among others. “It’s a heated debate each spring,” admits Alice Perera Lucey ’77.

“We argue about what is classic and what is dated. The books have to be appropriate for sixth through ninth graders in terms of language and content.” The committee tries to choose books that students wouldn’t read on their own. This year’s final list includes fiction, non-fiction, historical fiction, and poetry.

In the spring, different teachers

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

present each book at Morning Meeting. “I love the idea of giving five choices to the kids and making them pick one,” says Steve Kellogg, who presented The Wednesday Wars, a novel by Gary D. Schmidt about a seventh grade boy reading Shakespeare in the Vietnam era. “It says a lot that the School buys these books for everyone — it shows we really value reading as a community.”

On the first Friday afternoon in September, every student in the Upper Division gathers to discuss the book he or she has chosen.

The groups that span ages 11–15

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Alice Perera Lucey ’77’s Bookshelf (Upper Division Head, 1984– )

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R E A D I N G

Some adult books in no particular order: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

BASICALLY, I LOVE TO READ . If I weren’t a teacher,

I’d want to work in a bookstore – preferably a children’s bookstore. Here’s what I love about summer reading: Getting up early and reading when no one else is awake; Reading at the beach (later my book smells of sunscreen and has sand between the pages); Being able to read in the evening when during the school year I’d be correcting papers; Having the time to think about something I might not have thought about before as I journey along with a character; Having the time to marvel at good writing and to wonder how on earth the author thought of “that”! I treasure the time I get to read.

The Guernesy Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese Beginner’s Greek by James Collins The Color of Lightning by Paulette Giles The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich The Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Alice’s favorite books for kids from the summer: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin Folk tale/adventure story of a girl in China on a journey to find the place where the moon lives. BEAUTIFUL color illustrations.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly Story of a girl in Texas in the late 1800’s who spends a summer learning about Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (and more!) with her eccentric science-loving grandfather.

are organized around the titles: in addition to the books by Cooper and Schmidt, students can choose Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock (a 16-year-old farm girl trains for football), Diamond Willow by Helen Frost (poetic story of an Alaskan girl and her sled dog), or Escape!: The Story of The Great Houdini by Sid Fleischman (biography).

As its name suggests, the afternoon is intended to serve as a community building exercise, helping to “break the ice” and get students back into the swing of things at school. “They’re also

learning a great life skill,” says English Department Chair Kathy Coen, “Learning to talk about a book intelligently.” Students benefit from meeting in groups; the incoming sixth graders love to be with the older students, she says. “We suggest that everyone have a question to raise or an inspiring passage to discuss. The moderator (a teacher) ensures that everyone gets a turn, and the cookies and lemonade really help, as well.”

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Kathy Coen’s Bookshelf (English, 1986– ) 1. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein This is my number-one pick for the beauty and artfulness of the narrator — a dog! I have not, for many years, read such a compelling novel in terms of the narrator. Stein took his opportunity with “Enzo,” a loyal lab, and gave us an amazing perspective on human behavior as well as the inner workings of a dog’s mind and wisdom. Enzo’s thoughts are so simple that they are complex and close to a real philosophy of life — and the synergy when Enzo and his master understand each other produces remarkable literary moments.

2. Autobiography of a Wardrobe by Elizabeth Kendall Here too, another unbelievable idea for a narrator — a wardrobe! Kendall uses this narrator to look back upon herself and it is a wonderful writer’s exercise! This book took me back all the way to my first memory of a lavender robe when I was seven and my favorite onepiece bathing suit with a rose on it when I was five...even my purple suede ankle boots in college, or my trusty Doc Martens when I was in my 30’s. This is a memoir that highlights the way we find ourselves, define ourselves, and even lose ourselves through specific items of clothing. Kendall unravels a memoir of her life through short chapters highlighting these memories. A skilled writer and a fabulous way to look at one’s own “clothesline” and remember. . . .

4. The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin This collection, named after the brightest star in the sky, also called the dog star, was published in April of 2009 and won the Pulitzer Prize. Merwin is a master of brevity and a zen-like compression of language. I have followed him for my adult life and he is one of my free verse role models. He is in his 80’s, he is sage, and we should listen to him. In keeping with an emerging theme this summer, he has a section of poems dedicated to his many dogs that have died, and they are the most lyrical and beautiful love poems I have read in decades.

5. Ballistics by Billy Collins I guess I just love Collins for not only his readability, but for the way he eases you into a conversational poem, as if it was just that easy to write. In fact, I used this book all summer as a catalyst before I wrote – kind of like stretching before a game of tennis with my son!

I heard him read this year and was taken by his erudition. This collection references all the shadows of poetry including Ovid, Dante, and Valery. Collins is a brand unto his own and smartly American. From August in Paris, he asks the reader: But where are you, reader, who have not paused in your walk to look over my shoulder to see what I am jotting in this notebook?

This summer, Kathy has been walking along the shores of Jamaica Pond with her own notebook. This is an excerpt from a poem entitled, June on Jamaica Pond.

The surface of the pond, like the summer itself is as new tonight, as the idea of the first circle is perfect as if the three sailboats discovered themselves upon this water the way they stroke it, so delicately parting

3. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga I loved this novel because of its guts and courage and because — yes — the narrator could barely contain himself and stay on the page! The inner workings of his mind and the sensory-rich mine of his language make for an unbelievable psychological and physical journey.

Mired in the often putrid “darkness,” the underbelly of India, our narrator writes about his rise to the top — from chauffeur to entrepreneur, and about an act of murder that allowed him a moment of freedom and turned his life right-side-up. A novel of ironic perspectives and choices. Reminds me of the narrator in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

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what they love a thin wake opens and closes as if never there I know something deeper is below but not what darkness, or just how thick their white sails so pure, like the people on the boats who live forever in this silhouette as if their thoughts have never been thought like the summer itself, lost in a blue day signaling something that is here, then gone hold onto this edge this hint of you.

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War and Peace on Bread Loaf Mountain

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hen I started working on this issue of the Bulletin, and it became clear that I would look at summer reading, a

chorus of voices cried, “You have to talk with Kyra — she’s reading War and Peace this summer!” Kyra Fries first came to Park in 2001 as an intern. During that year and the next, she became a fixture in the English Department, working closely with Juliet Baker and Curt Miller in the English and Drama Departments.

After teaching high school students at Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, Kyra returned to Park in 2006.

She teaches English to Grades VII, VIII, and IX, and co-directs Park’s drama program with Curt Miller.

This summer, Kyra Fries completed her fourth year at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. In August, I traveled up to the idyllic mountain campus to ask Kyra about her experiences at graduate school. In particular, I wanted to learn more about her course on Tolstoy’s War and Peace, which seemed to take summer reading up several notches.

— Kate LaPine, editor

Tell me about War and Peace I signed up for the course, a close reading of Tolstoy’s masterpiece, in February and bought the book the day after. The course description in the catalogue said, “It is important to have read the whole novel before the class begins,” and besides, I wanted to be able to do the work of the class rather than simply keeping up with the reading. So I got to work. The new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky has 1,215 pages.

On a normal day in Boston, my alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m. I press snooze a few times before getting up to walk my dog, Basket, and get home in time to eat

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

breakfast before heading off to Park. But I had to adjust my morning routine to accommodate the reading. All spring, I got up at 5:15 and read for 30 minutes.

I figured out that I could read ten pages in that time — with my pen, of course.

After teaching the skill to students for so long, I think I’m a pretty good active reader. I knew I had to mark passages, note events, circle characters — how else would I be able to remember what I’d read in June? On weekends I’d try to read more, but by graduation I still had about 500 pages left! Obviously, I had to change my schedule slightly . . . with a simple division problem I discovered that in the

33

S U M M E R

six days between Park meetings and Bread Loaf classes I had to read 83 pages a day. Minimum. I am proud to say that I arrived having finished the book.

The Bread Loaf program is very intense. You have two classes everyday and it feels as if the whole world goes away while you’re here. My two classes started at 10:00 a.m. So I’d wake up at 6:00 and read what I needed for classes: whatever chapters I needed to be ready to discuss in War and Peace and whatever was on the agenda for my other class.

I also had writing to keep up with; both of my professors wanted a short paper each week, and both had major projects due at the end of the term.

What course did you pair with War and Peace?

My other class, a seminar called “The Language Wars,” examined the struggle about linguistic power and how gender, race, and class have shaped and responded to the English language in

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3

R E A D I N G

recent years. It was equally amazing in terms of content — although much more varied. We read everything from heady linguistic theory to Junot Diaz’s Nobel Prize winning novel, The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao.

Describe the Bread Loaf program.

How did you choose it?

Initially, I was undecided about whether I should pursue a master’s in English or drama. I wasn’t all that interested in going to ed school — I really wanted to learn the material that I was teaching.

One of my mentors at Gould Academy, who is a Bread Loaf graduate, suggested that I look into this program. The sixweek summer term enables students to earn a degree over five years, which works well for those of us who are teachers. While the main campus is in Vermont, there are also locations in Asheville (North Carolina), Santa Fe (New Mexico), and Oxford (England). I actually spent my first summer in Juneau, Alaska; now they’ve

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

discontinued that one. Some of my peers spend a summer in each place, but I’ve stayed in Vermont both for its incredible professors and the special addition of theater.

The professors here are truly masters in their fields. With no undergrads, and an idyllic setting, the program attracts a lot of high caliber scholars. The curriculum is divided into five groups: 1) Writing and the Teaching of Writing; 2) English Literature Through the 17th Century; 3) English Literature Since the 17th Century; 4) American Literature; and 5) World Literature. Courses range from “Poetry Writing” (with Paul Muldoon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet!) to “Metaphysical and Cavalier: Poetics and Politics in 17th Century England.”

Up here in Vermont, Bread Loaf has an acting ensemble that joins the campus. The company is made up of professional, equity actors who put on a full-scale production each summer for the Bread Loaf and Middlebury communities.

They also work with professors to do dramatic readings and performances of the material in our courses. I love how English and drama coincide here; it really appeals to my interest at Park.

S U M M E R

What has been your favorite course?

I love War and Peace. But another course that springs to mind is one I took two years ago called “19th Century Fiction and the Meaning of Space.” It was taught by the wife of my War and Peace professor, Isobel Armstrong, and it blew my mind. The reading list was intense — Charles Dickens, Joseph Conrad, Mary Shelley, all three Brontës, George Eliot, Jane Austen, to list just a few. We also read lots of critical theorists. We did close reading, specifically thinking about how details in the physical space can inform an interpretation of the text.

How do you apply what you’re learning to your own teaching?

This is a great question — it’s amazing how frequently my experiences up here “on the mountain” come to mind as I teach my Park students during the year.

Simply put, being a graduate student helps me understand better what my students are experiencing. I turn papers in and feel the same expectation that they do in waiting to get them back. I have to craft thesis statements and close read — two truly tough but thoroughly enjoyable skills I get to teach my ninth graders.

It’s also fun to hang out with a bunch of English teachers all summer — we share ideas all the time. Walking to

3

R E A D I N G

lunch, we might plan a lesson on Romeo and Juliet. After class, we might discuss whether English curricula could become less canonical and start teaching lesserknown world literature. I keep a list at the front of my notebook about any ideas that stir in my brain as I attend class every day — I am, after all, in the presence of greatness!

Do you remember your own summer reading as a kid? Any favorites?

I went to a Waldorf School and we didn’t have specific requirements. I remember getting ahold of another school’s list and making my way through it. I read a lot of Newbury Award winners, all the Nancy Drew mysteries and, I have to admit, lots of The Babysitter’s Club series.

What’s your next book?

I think I need to re-read Anna Karenina.

The last time I read it, I had just graduated from college so I need a refresher.

Tolstoy wrote the book five years after he finished War and Peace and the final epilogues set the scene for the familial struggle in Anna K. But, before that, I’m

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

making my way through Gone with the Wind. Somehow I’ve never read the book OR seen the movie. I’m 300 pages in (another long one!), and loving it in a vacationy-summer-reading kind of way. I think Margaret Mitchell must have also been reading Tolstoy when she wrote it.

It’s like her response to War and Peace — but in America.

By the way — I think I might try to keep up the 5:15 a.m. reading schedule, at least during the fall and spring. I love starting the day with a bit of literature.

Here’s to another year of reading!

. . . it’s amazing how frequently my experiences up here “on the mountain” come to mind as I teach my Park students during the year.

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Alumni Notes

1933

2008 – 09 Park Alumni

Bruce Ehrmann writes that he and his wife, Nancy, “were blessed with the birth of a great-grandson, Isaac Solomon Ehrmann, in January 2009.”

(Isaac is the son of Benjamin Ehrmann, Park Class of 1996.)

Michael R. Deland ’56

1938 Class Representative: Putty McDowell 781-320-1960 Pbmcd2@verizon.net

This award is to be given to the alumnus/alumna who exemplifies The Park School’s values and

1948

educational mission through

Warren “Renny” Little had the pleasure of serving on the committee for the 50th anniversary of lacrosse at the Rivers School, where he taught and coached Varsity and J.V. lacrosse for six years. “Over 80 graduates showed up for the Alumni Game, a BBQ, and then watched the men’s Varsity team beat Belmont Hill.”

distinctive achievement in his or her community or field of endeavor. This person’s leadership and contributions have made a meaningful impact and inspire our current students and alumni.

1950 Class Representative: Galen Clough 812-477-2454

1953

1955

Class Representative: Bob Bray 617-696-8673 rbray@thebraygroup.com

Elizabeth Dane writes, “We are snowbirds between Tucson and Red Lodge, Montana, where four grandchildren live. I am having a wonderful time playing the recorder with several early music groups and an old time band. Music has opened up some delightful new worlds.” Her husband, Patrick Clinton, collects Mexican and South American folk art.

BECOME A

1956

Class Representative Stay in touch with old friends!

Gather class news for the Bulletin!

Help plan your reunion!

Want to learn more?

Please contact Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98 Director of Alumni Relations 617-274-6022 or alumni@parkschool.org

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Achievement Award

Nathalie Hubbard Bramson let us know that her son, Samuel Appleton Bramson, will be a senior this coming year at Carnegie Mellon University.

Nathalie’s husband, Lee, recently retired from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Roger Brown writes, “I attended Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge right after Park School, and we had our 50th reunion this June. It was a great time and a lot of fun...some classmates I had not seen for 50 years, but we all related quite well, sharing experiences and memories from the ‘old days.’ When I first arrived at B & N as a ninth grader, I was welcomed by Gerry “Tish” Tishler and Bill Bazley ’55 who were with

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

me at Park. We covered both schools in our stories.”

1963 Class Representative: Amy Lampert 617-232-4595 aslampert@gis.net

1966 Class Representative: Wigs Frank 610-964-8057 Emily Burr and her husband and have been working at The Meeting School, a small Quaker boarding school in Rindge, New Hampshire.

Emily is the lead science teacher, a houseparent, and admissions director.

She tells us, “Our school is also a working organic farm. If you want to know more, check out our website www.meetingschool.org.”

1967 Class Representative Needed Heidi Ravven is a professor of religious studies at Hamilton College and is working on her book, Searching for

FOR MIKE DELAND , the paths that have

A lifelong public servant, Mike Deland is both an environmentalist and an advocate for people with disabilities. Under his leadership as the New England Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency from ‒, the Agency filed the landmark federal lawsuit to clean-up Boston Harbor, as well as precedentsetting wetlands protection and hazardous waste litigation. In , Mike was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to serve as the Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In , with President Bush’s encouragement, Mike Deland began working with the National Organization on Disability, which represents  million disabled Americans. Over six years, he spearheaded the successful campaign to add a statue of President Roosevelt in his wheelchair at the FDR Memorial.

From ‒, he worked in the energy and power distribution field at American Flywheel Systems, Inc (now AFSTrinity Power). More recently, Mike has worked with Robert and Jonathan Kraft ’ to make Gillette Stadium the most accessible venue in the NFL. Mike and his wife, Jane, live in Washington, D.C. However, the Delands lived in Boston for many years, and their twin daughters, Holly and Melissa are members of the Park School Class of .

shaped his career are easy to trace. “I’ve spent a lifetime in public service — a commitment that was instilled at home.” Growing up in Brookline, Mike remembers his father, an attorney, attending the weekly meetings of the Brookline Town Meeting and the Planning Committee. “From an early age, I admired his service to the Town.

Later, as the Board Chair of Affiliated Hospitals, he was patient and tenacious in merging four hospitals into what is now Brigham and Women’s.”

“We were brought up in the out-of-doors; sailing in Marion and subsequently hiking and skiing. Looking back, I know that fostered my interest in the environment.” Mike spent Kindergarten through Grade III at Park’s Kennard Road campus before going on to Dexter. He graduated from Noble & Greenough School and Harvard, and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy before obtaining his law degree from Boston College in . In , Mike’s life changed drastically when he severely injured his back while playing football in the Navy. For nearly  years, he has used a wheelchair, but that hasn’t slowed him down a bit. “I still love sailing and until recently, raced competitively against world-class sailors,” Mike says. (Twice, he won the national championship in the Shields Class.) “Now, I have special winch that lifts me onto the boat.”

Following law school, Mike served in the enforcement division of the newly formed Environmental Protection Agency, fighting to clean up New England’s air, water, and land. After working at a private environmental consulting company, he received a call from William Ruckelshaus in . Mike recalls, “The EPA was in crisis due to mass resignations over the mishandling of the Superfund clean-ups, and President Reagan had appointed Ruckelshaus to restore public trust in the Agency. I knew we had to do something to stimulate morale in a hurry – the Agency needed to be resuscitated.” Mike’s first move was to file a criminal action against the

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

City of Boston and the Archdiocese for asbestos in the schools. Then, working with Doug Foy of the Conservation Law Foundation, the EPA took on the mammoth task of cleaning up Boston Harbor. “It’s wonderful that people are fishing and swimming again in the Harbor,” Mike remarks. “Winning that battle was tremendous and I’m proud to say that, unlike the Big Dig, it was the largest public works project to be completed ahead of schedule and under budget!”

“But likely my most far-reaching endeavor,” he continues, “Was adding the statue of President Roosevelt in a wheelchair at his memorial in Washington.” The original, .-acre memorial dedicated in  omitted any depiction of President Roosevelt’s disability. Mike credits President Bush for re-kindling his interest in disability issues. In January 1993, Mike went into the Oval Office to say goodbye to the President at the end of his term. Mr. Bush said, “Mike, you have a responsibility to do something for people with disabilities.” He replied, “I know, Mr. President, but you have to get involved, too.” The former President did assume a lead role in the FDR Wheelchair statue campaign. “I’ve been blessed to work with caring and committed leaders like Elliot Richardson ’, George H.W. Bush, and Christopher Reeve,” Mike comments.

Upon reflection, Mike remembered speaking up for a Park School classmate who had polio and had a difficult time getting around the playground. “Even then, I knew that it was important to treat all people equally. Some of the other kids in my class were picking on him because he couldn’t run. Intuitively, I understood that equality applied to everyone – able-bodied or disabled.” Years later, he initiated and led a six-year battle to add the statue because he believed “It would be unconscionable for children not to know that FDR had led this country through the Depression and World War II from his wheelchair.”

Mike Deland ’ will speak with Park’s current ninth graders on Friday, October , .

37

Josh David ’78 celebrates the opening of the High Line park in New York City.

1977 Park friends hiked on Franconia Ridge this year. L-R: Lisa Frost ’72, Nina Bramhall, Ginny Maynard Swain ’74, Kitta Frost ’74, Sarah Henry Lederman ’74, and Margaret Smith Bell ’74

Ethics. She writes, “My daughter, Simha (an only child), finished medical school and is back in Boston and doing her residency at the Cambridge Health Alliance Adult Psychiatry Residency Program of Harvard Medical School. She is married and is 32 years old.”

1968 Class Representative: Vicky Hall Kehlenbeck 781-235-2990 vkehlenbeck@rc.com

1973 Class Representative: Rick Berenson 617-969-0523 Barbara@berenson.info

1974 Class Representatives: Margaret Smith Bell 617-267-4141 James_bell65@msn.com Rodger Cohen 508-651-3981 skiboy@mindspring.com

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Beth Haffenreffer Scholle tells us that, “After 19 years at Park School (ten for me and nine for Liza ’10), Park has become an important part of me. I know I’ll really miss being a ‘current parent’ next year! Well, at least we can all still call ourselves ‘ALUMNI.’” Shady Hartshorne and his wife, Laurie Ellis, took a road trip through Alabama. “We went to Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile and took in a AA baseball game in each city. I got to throw out one of the first pitches for the Huntsville Stars’ game.”

Shady and Laurie write articles for GoNomad.com. Take a look at this one on Huntsville, Alabama: http://www.gonomad.com/destinations/0907/alabama-huntsville.html

1975

35th Reunion

Class Representatives: Colin McNay 617-731-1746 fivebear@mac.com Bill Sullivan 978-568-1303 Nancy Nayor Battino enjoyed a quiet summer in Los Angeles. She had a wonderful reunion dinner in L.A. a few months ago with Pharibe

Wise and Didi Belash. Nancy says that her “latest casting project, BANDSLAM, a musical film starring Vanessa Hudgens (of High School Musical fame) and Lisa Kudrow, opened August 14th. An adorable film that’s perfect for a teen audience — enjoy!”

1976 Class Representative: Tenney Mead Cover 781-329-5449 Tenney.cover@verizon.net After six years at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, Barbara Talcott loves her career as a school chaplain and teacher and her family loves the boarding school lifestyle. “I was ordained by the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire in February, so my family and I will be moving to St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Mass., where I will take on the job of head chaplain and chair of the Religion Department. It’s a far better commute for my husband, Doug, who has been driving to Cambridge.

All is well with our children, now aged 21 to 12, as well as with our parents. We are truly blessed.”

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Class Representative: Sam Solomon 781-784-0385 sa.solomon@verizon.net Marshall Berenson and his wife, Kathy, sold their floral and event design business of 18 years. “We are both studying acting now,” Marshall writes. “A salute to Ms. Marmarchev (I think I spelled her name right!). It was huge fun and very challenging.”

Juliet Lamont reports that her watershed restoration/protection work in Berkeley is still going strong. “It is even more compelling with the focus on climate change, and (thankfully!) a new federal administration.” Juliet traveled to Yellowstone in the winter for outdoors & wolves, and Panama in the spring for birds, marine wildlife, and rainforests. Congratulations to Stephen Thomas and his partner, Holli Lopatowski, on the birth of their son, Kaden Allen Thomas on June 23, 2009.

1978 Class Representative Needed Josh David writes, “After ten years of work, I opened the High Line, a great new park on top of an elevated rail viaduct in Manhattan, in June.” He started the High Line project with a neighbor, Robert Hammond, back in 1999, when the historic structure was going to be torn down. Since June, half a million people have already been up to visit. “The critical and public feedback have been

tremendous — it’s a wonderful place!

I urge Park alumni to check it out” www.thehighline.org

1979 Class Representatives: Lalla Carothers 207-829-2283 lacaro@maine.rr.com Sally Solomon 617-354-5951 sallysolomon@alumni.neu.edu

1979 Classmates Nadia Belash McKay Wendi Daniels, Lalla Carothers, and Madeline Rains

In honor of their 30th Reunion, the Class of 1979 wrote many haikus, remembering their days at Park. Here is just a sampling of their creativity:

Children on an old porch Dark wooden churns Cream to butter, dreams to life

Grape yellow sunset Red so bright it stings Her Marimeko outfit

Kindergarten fingers Smoothing the secret stone Conjuring a life

Tepid milk at lunch Watching the cartons perspire Why can’t we get juice?

Our gymnastics show Young girls yank on leotards Flipping over bars

Reading, writing, math Fluorescent lights blaze downward Our little eyes strain

Sicky sweets slide on Lip Smackers circle classrooms Sharing smiles and germs

Gallantly in snow Bill Satterthwaite bikes to school Steady as he goes

Project R.E.A.S.O.N. tales Everyone’s back from hiking Where are those three boys?

Dance in the small gym Air guitars reverberate “More Than A Feeling”

Whisper, titter, blush.

Monsieur Planchon hears it all Chalk flies out. Busted!

Snickers rise and fall Spears launch from a thousand stares I’m on the Black Bench

Winter at Park School We trudge our feet on carpet Look; our hair stands up!

Deep stairwell beckons Loose dimes clatter down The noise of swift expulsion Metal spoon scrapes bowl Today, vanilla pudding The top part is gross

“We had a fab reunion!” says Wendi Daniels. “Thank you Kevin McCarthy and Amy Lloyd McCarthy ’86 for hosting us — it rocked! Some memorable moments: Margie Talcott remembered the entire May Pole dance and brought music to show her prowess; Cary Godbey Turner shared her diary and opened up her historic love life from the 70’s! Sally Solomon, Madeline Rains (nee Barbara Roberts) and others showed us they are still the Haiku queens! (left) Hilary Hart, we read a few of yours too! There is truly something magical about the friendships we have created at Park — it was great to see all of you!” Nina Frusztajer reports that she is enjoying practicing medicine again, and that the 30th Reunion was a blast. “I’m so glad I went (what fun reminiscing about spin the bottle at Nadia’s house!)” Nina recently returned from visiting Linda Runyon Mutschler at her lake house in Milwaukee. “Our kids all had fun together and, of course, I always love spending time with Linda. She is training for a marathon and so our 6.3 mile run was at a pace I’m not sure I’ve ever run!” Linda is also the author of Fast Track to Fine Dining: A Step-By-Step Guide to Planning a Dinner Party. Cary Godbey Turner also shared her thoughts about the 30th Reunion celebration at Park. “Our 30th Reunion, hosted by Kevin and Amy McCarthy in their spectacular home around the corner from Park, was an evening full of sharing old photos, diaries, yearbooks and some hilarious stories. We didn’t realize until now how much our Park years were a “coming of age” period in all our lives that involved our parents and our siblings.

The highlight for me was reconnecting with Barbara Roberts (Madeline Rains, now) after 30 years of losing touch — we couldn’t stop smiling and staring at each other. I did remember the camera and have included some fun shots of the evening. Everyone looked exactly the same, actually better! Glad we had a few patient hus-

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

bands along (mine and Nadia Belash’s) to help with the lack of male turnout. The next day was Mother’s Day, and for a treat to ourselves, Barbara and I found the courage to visit our old apartments in Back Bay, and the current owners were nice enough to let us in for a nostalgic tour!” Cary also updated us on what she is up to in Vermont. “My husband Jeff and I still live on Nantucket year-round with our two kids, Alden and Jackson, ages 5 and 6, but we own and operate McAdoo Rugs in North Bennington, Vermont. With the help of our operations manager and a devoted and talented staff of ladies, our travels back and forth are more of a vacation than a necessity! I did take an order online the other day from the Park librarian — what a small world! McAdoo Rugs makes the finest hand hooked wool rugs in the world and has existed to help local artisans since 1972. In this recent economic downturn, it’s been a challenging few years, but we hope to hang on and keep this cottage industry alive for years to come.” Sally Solomon writes, “We really did have a great class!” Sally’s work is a lot of fun these days, more academic advising for college students. “I am enjoying the fruits of our technology revolution by keeping in touch with Park classmates on Facebook. Nothing else new. Looking forward to reading the Bulletin to learn what’s up with more Park folks.”

1980

30th Reunion

Class Representative: Andrew Hurwitz 323-468-9276 andreshurwitz@yahoo.com In March, Sloan Wagstaff-Calahan Gallipeo and her husband traveled to Antarctica with Marathon Tours and Travel, a trip about two years in the making. Sloan writes, “We had a great time — my husband ran the full marathon and I ended up running the half marathon. It was a brutal course, having only trained on the flat lands in Huntington Beach — lots of mud, rocks, hills, some ice. . . but an amazing and fun experience. People on the trip running were anywhere from in their 20’s to 75-years-old. So I figure I have a few more years of running in me! Since I didn’t run the full marathon I had to make up for it by running the Eugene Oregon marathon in early May. I lined up at the start with one of the “Marathon Maniacs” who was working his way up to his 100th marathon. He was

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arts, moving pictures, etc. Other than that I send a big hello to everybody. I hope you’re enjoying life.”

Classes of 1980–1986 Reception March 4, 2009

1981 Class Representatives: Matt Carothers 508-785-0770 Mcarothers88@yahoo.com Alex Melhman 781-461-8510 amehlman@yahoo.com

REUNION

Stephen Kelly and Joanie Amick Kelly ’83 hosted a festive gathering of alumni from the Classes of 1980– 86 at their home.

Everyone was thrilled to be together again and enjoyed hearing Jerry Katz’s highlights about Park School today.

Howard Chaffey writes, “I am gambling with baby ruminids (a.k.a. cows) on our organic farm in the Catskills.” It was good to hear from Beth Wheeler. For an update, go to her website: www.emmyandbethadopt.com.

2010

65-years-old and had just run the Big Sur marathon the weekend before.”

Sloane and her husband are planning on heading to Japan in November to run a marathon near Mt. Fuji with some people they met on the Antartica trip. Should be another great adventure! This summer, Sabrina Mott drove across the country from Dana Point, California to Maine. “It was lots of fun. My kids and dog all survived. I enjoyed family and tried to relax a bit before heading West again in August. I am enjoying being connected to Park friends on Facebook!” Check out Myra Paci’s new blog, www.myrapaci.com/blog. “It’s called The Myra Show and features my ‘undiluted writings, pics and video’ as opposed to the video production work I do for hire, viewable at www.casamadrefilms.com. With three other women I’m in the early stages of starting an online artists’ salon for all kinds of writing, fine

1982 classmates Jen Segal Herman and Allison Nash Mael

CELEBRATE! CELEBRATE! REUNION 2010 Saturday, May 8

10th 15th 20th 25th

2000 1995 1990 1985

30th 35th 40th 50th

1980 1975 1970 1955

John Koltun ’81, Diana Walcott ’85 and Jerry Katz

If you are interested in helping to plan your reunion, please contact Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98 Director of Alumni Relations 617-274-6022 or alumni@parkschool.org

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The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

Longtime friends Jennifer Nadelson Gleba ’83, Rob Ball ’83, and Martina Albright ’83 caught up and reminisced about their years at Park.

1982

1986

Class Representative: Allison Nash Mael 617-332-0925 emael@msn.com

Class Representatives: Mark Epker 781-326-4299 mepker@beaconcommunitiesllc.com

1983

Jay Livens 978-318-0866 jlivens@sloan.mit.edu

Class Representatives: Lisa Livens Freeman llivens@hotmail.com 508-878-2953 Elise Mott 978-368-6009 emott@fenn.org

This spring, several members of the Class of 1986 gathered for a minireunion at the home of Becky and Garrett Solomon. See page 42.

1987

Juliet Siler Eastland is back in Brookline with her husband, raising my two lovely daughters (four and a half and 11 months) and doing some occasional freelance writing and even more occasional jazz pianoplaying. Juliet tells us that she just had her first gig in years! “After several peripatetic decades, it feels wonderful to be finally settled.” Josh Wolman left Tulsa, Oklahoma and returned to Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., where he is director of admission and associate head of school.

Class Representative: Mary Sarah Baker Mary.sarah.baker@gmail.com Hannah gives a squeeze to new brother Jack Wolman Levine, children of Sarah Wolman ’84

1988 Class Representative: Liza Cohen Gates 617-267-6184 lagtes@digitas.com In April, Andrew and Liza Cohen Gates welcomed twins Oliver and Isabelle Gates.

1989 1984 Class Representative: Anne Collins Goodyear 703-931-9016 Acg10@gmail.com A belated congratulations to Cynthia Pierce who had a baby last August.

Cynthia writes, “Alison Ginger McNally, her father, and I currently live in Bed-Stuy – Brooklyn, New York.” Classmate Sarah Wolman gave birth to Jack Benjamin Wolman Levine on April 16! “Big brother Sam and big sister Hannah (pictured) are very proud,” Sarah writes. “I am currently on maternity leave from my role as Executive Director of Family Service League, a community-based non-profit in Montclair, New Jersey, which is where we live.”

1985

25th Reunion

Class Representatives: Rachel Levine Foley 781-559-8148 rlfoles@aol.com Missy Daniels Madden 781-237-4959 melissadmadden@comcast.net Jessie Howland Cahill gave birth to Sarah Louise Cahill on December 10, 2008.

Class Representatives: Dahlia Aronson 617-734-3026 dahliabeth@yahoo.com Ian Glick 617-264-7198 ibglick@aol.com Rebecca Lewin Scott 781-722-1946 Rebecca.scott@earthlink.net

Liza Cohen Gates ’88 has newborn twins, Oliver and Isabelle Gates

Robert Colby recently moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to start a new job at UNC’s Ackland Art Museum. He is working with faculty to integrate the museum into the academic life of the university. “I was glad to see everyone at the 20th Reunion before making the big move. Thanks to Ali Epker Ruch, Alison Morse, Jordan Scott and Rebecca Lewin Scott and everyone who helped organize a brilliant weekend!” Rebecca Lewin Scott and Jordan Scott welcomed their second daughter, Charlotte Eloise, in April. She was two and a half weeks early but nearly nine pounds! Rebecca writes, “You can only imagine how big she would have been if she had been born at term. Big sister Abby loves having a little sister.

She told me the other day that Charlotte is the best gift she has ever received. Something tells me I am

Rebecca Lewin Scott ’89, Jordan Scott ’89, Abby Scott and Charlotte Eloise Scott

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

41

going to need to try to remember these days when they are feuding teenagers.” (photo or in babies) Hats off to David Wolman on the publication of his new book, Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling.

1990

20th Reunion

Class Representatives: Zach Cherry 212-863-3339 Alex Rabinksy 773-645-4381 arabinsky@hotmail.com Mark Epker ’86, Lisa Amick DiAdamo ’86, Minnie Ames ’86, Meredith Ross ’86, Amy Lloyd McCarthy ’86, host Garrett Solomon ’86 and Jay Livens ’86

Class of 1986 Reception

Sadia Shepard’s book, The Girl from Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Forgotten Histories, and a Sense of Home, has received rave reviews.

1991

AP R I L 2 , 2 0 0 9

Class Representative Needed

B

ecky and Garrett Solomon ’86 hosted the Class of 1986 at their home for a wonderful evening of fun, food and friendship. Head of School Jerry Katz provided the group with an informative update on the School today. The highlight was everyone recalling their favorite Park School memories.

After receiving her PhD from Harvard in 2008, Ally Field moved to Los Angeles where she is now an assistant professor of cinema and media studies at UCLA’s film school.

“I live in Santa Monica, not too far from the beach, and I love it so far!”

1993 Class Representatives: Jessica Ko Beck 917-691-3540 jessicako@gmail.com Jamie Quiros 617-522-3622 qstips@yahoo.com Ali Ross 646-528-4248 alross@gmail.com Jessica Naddaff recently launched her own business, Bite Size Marketing. “A passionate ally for small business, new products, and start ups, Bite Size Marketing is an alternative to the traditional marketing agency,” says Jessica. The company’s website, bitesizemarketing.com, is up and running. That WAS David Walton you saw on T.V! David was in the television show “Quarterlife, ”and recently appeared in episode of the USA Network’s “In Plain Sight,” where he played the role of a comedian who had witnessed a murder and as a result had to enter the witness protection program. This fall, you can see him in a new NBC comedy called “100 Questions.”

THE ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD

Established in 1999, the Alumni Award for Distinguished Service is presented annually at graduation to an alumna or alumnus of The Park School for dedicated service to the Park community.

Board Chair Kevin Maroni presented the award on behalf of the Alumni Committee.

Minnie Ames, Class of 1986

I

t is hard to imagine Park School’s alumni community and not think of Minnie Ames. A dedicated and loyal leader, Minnie has consistently demonstrated the power of the strong connection among our alumni, and between our alumni and the School. In the twenty-three years since Minnie Ames graduated

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from Park School’s Grade IX, she has remained an integral part of the alumni community.

Minnie has been a very active member of the Alumni Committee since 2001, including service as the Committee’s Co-Chair from 2007–2009. During this time, Minnie played a key role in determining ways to improve the Alumni section of the Park website, rallied support among classmates and friends at a variety of Alumni events, and led the Committee through two very successful years of Alumni outreach, programming and fundraising. In the fall of 2006, Minnie stepped in to help Park’s Alumni Relations Office when the former director for alumni relations was on maternity leave. During this time, Minnie spent countless volunteer hours planning the Alumni holiday party and taking

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

on many additional responsibilities.

Minnie played a key role in establishing the Class of 1986 Financial Aid Fund, which supports Steppingstone Scholars at Park. Minnie’s dedication to Park extends beyond the campus. As a former co-chair of the Alumni Committee’s Volunteerism Sub-Committee, Minnie organized a volunteer event for alumni at the Food Project in Lincoln and helped to facilitate outreach at the Women’s Lunch Place in Boston.

Now that Minnie’s daughter, Lucy, is a member of Park’s Class of 2018, Minnie’s legacy at Park School carries on in a multi-layered way. We are grateful for Minnie’s many years of thoughtful and dedicated service to both Alumni and the greater School community, and we know her future service to Park will continue to be an inspiration to us all.

1994

1997

Class Representatives: Alan Bern 781-326-8091 alanbern@tulanealumni.net

Class Representatives: Suzy McManmon smcmanmon@svip.com 919-949-8262

Aba Taylor 617-361-6370 Abtaylor829@gmail.com

Sarah Conway Sarah.r.conway@gmail.com 617-501-5837

Upon graduating from Harvard Business School, Alexander Ellis and his wife, Sarah, moved to Portland, Oregon where he accepted a job with a start-up wind/solar project development and operating company. “We’re spending our free time biking, fishing and exploring our new city.” In July, Meryl Glassman married Peter Farland in Wellesley. “This fall, we’ll move to San Francisco, where Peter will work as a software manager for Adobe and I’ll be fundraising for a hospital.” Jake Peters has been living in London for the past year after joining an air taxi service start-up called Blink (www.flyblink.com). He writes, “I love living in London. I am enjoying traveling for fun much more than when I had to travel for work as a consultant.”

1995

15th Reunion

Class Representatives: Lilla Curran lillacurran@gmail.com Matt Stahl 617-353-0961 Matt.stahl@mtvnmix.com

NOMINATIONS SOUGHT FOR

Severine Fleming is merrily farming herbs, rabbits, pigs, chickens, goats and vegetables in the Hudson Valley of New York. Her first documentary film, The Greenhorns, will be released in December. Apart from the filming and the farming, she directs a nonprofit advocacy group for young farmers and consults on new media.

If you have land in your family and are looking for young farmers to steward it, she can help you with that process. If you have a kid sister who wants to be a farmer, have her visit www.thegreenhorns.net. Crystal Jones writes that she has been just doing the mommy thing. “I have been blessed with a four-year-old daughter, one-year-old twins (a girl and a boy), and I am expecting a little boy some time late fall. So, I’ve been really busy, trying to maintain and build my own business.” Crystal misses her Park buddies and wishes everyone well. Katherine Jose tells us that she is living in Brooklyn and working as managing editor of the New York Observer, a salmon-colored weekly.

Paul Naddaff is engaged to Ursula Joy August. “We met while I was traveling in South Africa five years ago, she was my waitress. We’ve been going strong ever since.”

THE PARK ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD This award is to be given to the Park alumnus/alumna who exemplifies the School’s values and educational mission through distinctive achievement in their community or field of endeavor. This person’s leadership and contributions have made a meaningful impact and inspire our current students and alumni.

The Alumni Achievement Award will be presented at Reunion (May 8, 2010).

To nominate a Park alumnus/a for this award, please include your nominee’s name, class year, profession, and reason for nomination. All submissions must be received

by Monday, December 1st, to be considered for the 2010 award. alumni@parkschool.org or The Park School Alumni Office 171 Goddard Avenue Brookline, MA 02445

WANTED

1996 Class Representatives: Nick Brescia nick_e_pockets@hotmail.com Merrill Hawkins merrillhawkins@gmail.com Katayoun Shahroki Katayoun_shahrokhi@yahoo.com Kathrene Tiffany ktiffany@gmail.com Liz Prives says, “Shalom from Jerusalem!” She spent three weeks studying and traveling there. “Before the trip, I moved to San Francisco from Menlo Park and celebrated my 29th birthday with Julia Kung and her brother, Calvin ’99. Gavi Kohlberg couldn’t make it because he was on rotation, but hopefully he will make a cameo at Julia’s birthday in July.”

1998

News From Park Alumni

Class Representatives: Lydia Hawkins lydiahawk@hotmail.com Meg Lloyd Buggs6@gmail.com

We LOVE hearing from our alumni and know that classmates are waiting to

Sarah Swett Swett.sarah@gmail.com

learn about their Park School friends.

Daphne Johnson and Brandon Berger were married on June 6 on her father’s horse farm in Zionsville, Indiana. 320 guests attended, including Park alums Jonathan Tucker and Julia Rosenthal ’01, who was the maid of honor. After honeymooning in the South of France and Lake Como, Italy, the couple is now living in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Since the presidential election, Ashley White-Stern has been keeping busy in Northern California, including co-founding Citizen Hope

SEND IN CLASS NOTES and PHOTOS to:

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

Alumni Office The Park School

171 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA 02445 ℡ 617-274-6022 alumni@parkschool.org

43

(http://citizenhope.org), to promote progressive politics and civic engagement at the local level. She writes, “The idea behind starting the group was: ‘Great, we got our President, but the work can’t stop now.’ ‘Keep it moving’ is more or less our motto, and we have had a number of events since launching.” Ashley has also been peripherally involved in Kamala Harris’s campaign for Attorney General of California. “In June, we had a big fundraiser for her in Oakland.

Wanda Holland Greene came with her husband, Robert, so I got to spend some quality time with them both, which was totally delightful!”

In her spare time, Ashley is pursuing her PhD in film studies at Berkeley, is committed to doing social justice work, and is helping out part-time at a legal services nonprofit organization in San Francisco.

1999 Class Representatives: Colin Arnold tanker223@gmail.com Alex Goldstein alexjgoldstein@gmail.com

Left: Daphne Johnson Berger ’98 and maid of honor Julia Rosenthal ’01; Right: 1998 classmate Jonathan Tucker attended Daphne Johnson’s wedding in June

Elizabeth Weyman weymane@gmail.com Susanna Whitaker-Rahilly Smwhit02@stlawu.edu David Cavell continues to enjoy speechwriting for Governor Deval Patrick. “If you want me to continue to enjoy my job, please vote for Governor Patrick next year,” David suggests. Fellow politico Alex Gold-

stein is currently working as press secretary for the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development in Massachusetts. He spends his free time playing rugby and dabbling in various political adventures, and had a terrific time at the 10th Reunion.

Congratulations, Emmy Grote! In August 2009, she completed her master’s in medical science as a physician assistant from Midwestern University

HT G I N I ALUMFNENWAY AT 09 9, 20 M AY 1 , Y A ESD

ni and k A lu m r a P y t f for the over fi ay Park ening, v w e n e y F a t a isk M ith Tim gether On a br way. W ame to n c e s F t s t e a t the u t Sox bea their g ni Nigh d e m R u l e A h l Annua njoyed ound, t group e n the m o r u d l O e . i layed 2–1 Wakef i” disp e Jays n u l Clockwise from top left: m B u l o t Toron n Park A Diana Walcott ’85, Allison ching o elcome W “ g n i Morse ’89 and Dahlia Aronson n, mun o r t see o n b i ect g Jum ’89; Sarah Swett ’98 and Meg reconn on the d n a s Lloyd ’98; Todd Larson ’77, r Jack ds.

Cracke Heather Crocker Faris ’74, d frien with ol Robert Faris TU

44

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

in Glendale, Arizona. She’ll move back east to work at Rhode Island Hospital in neuro-critical care. Joy Kogut teaches Algebra 1 at the Boston Community Leadership Academy. She fondly recalls her math classes with her peers and teachers at Park and hopes “to bring the same flavors of projects, rigor, laughter, and all around fun and shenanigans to my students so they may also find math too fun to ignore.”

Mira Mehta is living in Abuja, Nigeria, where she works for the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative.

“My work is primarily focused on national policy reform and increasing access to high quality care and treatment for HIV-positive children across the country.” Susanna WhitakerRahilly writes, “I had a terrific year teaching and coaching at the Holderness School in New Hampshire.

The highlight was leading students on a community service trip through Sustainable Harvest International in rural Honduras. I slept through all of the earthquakes and avoided the military coup, what a summer down there! This fall, I will assume a new position at the Brooks School in North Andover, where I will teach

T N E V E E C I V R E S Y T I N U M M D N CO U O R G G N I N I A G T A

O

April 25, 2009 n an unseasonably sunny, warm day

in April, twenty Alumni and friends gathered

Frances Denny ’00 is a photographer in New York City. This is a piece called, “Self Portrait with Nun’s Chest”

at Gaining Ground in

Planting: Deon Wolpowitz P ’18 and Minnie Ames ‘86

Concord, Massachusetts for a day of community service. Together, they planted, tilled, pre-modern world and United States history in addition to coaching basketball and lacrosse.”

2000

10th Reunion

Class Representative: Jessica Whitman Whitman.jessica@gmail.com Frances Denny writes that she is “happily working as a fine art and portrait photographer in New York City. My website is www.francesdennyphoto.com — take a look at some of my work. I would love to hear what you think.” Frances took this past summer off to assist photographer Joyce Tenneson in mid-coast Maine.

Fellow New Yorker Caroline Goldsmith is teaching three- and fouryear-olds at a nursery school on the Upper East Side.

2001 Class Representatives: Diego Alvarado Daalvarado@suffolk.edu Ben Bullitt bbullit@gmail.com Becca Spiro, who will be an intern at Park during the 2009-10 school year, writes that during the summer she was in Chicago, interning for the education department at the Art Institute.

“Since my internship was paid, it was very time intensive and involved giv-

ing tours to visitors ranging from kindergarten students to senior citizens. I felt challenged and rewarded every day. There were seven other interns like me and we were each responsible for doing research on the objects we presented and creating lesson plans and/or presentations that were age-appropriate.” For Becca, one of the best parts of the job was walking around the museum before it opened to the public. “It was such a privilege to be in an empty gallery and have priceless artwork all to yourself!” Becca is very excited to return to Park for the school year.

2002 Class Representatives: Alex Lebow alexlebow@gmail.com Alejandro Alvarado aalvarado@wesleyan.edu

and watered over 100 vegetables plants that will ultimately be given to food pantries in the area. It was great day of fun, sun, and giving back to the community.

Cope Crew: David Wilson ’06, Eliza Cope ’04, Comfort Halsey Cope, and a college friend of Eliza’s.

Top Row: Peter Johannsen, Eliza Drachman-Jones ’98, Allison Morse ’89, Minnie Ames ’86, Amy Lampert ’63, Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’93, Kathrene Tiffany ’96, Katherine McManmon ’94, Eliza Cope ’04, David Wilson ’06, Eliza’s college friend, Shanti Serdy ’87 and her two children, Shira ’18, and Seth. Bottom row: Nina Frusztajer ’79 and her three children, Hugo, Camilla, and Zeno.

Katherine Brustowicz graduated from Bates College in May 2009. She is now working at Children’s Hospital in Boston as the data research coordinator for the Orthopaedics Department with the upper extremities unit. In May, Will Faulkner graduated from Tulane, Phi Beta Kappa, with honors in linguistics and Latin American studies. In the summer of 2008, Will spent a month in Rio de Janeiro, taking Portuguese in the mornings and teaching English in a favela (slum) in the afternoons.

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

45

This fall, he will start a two-year master’s program in New Orleans at the Stone Center, one of the top Latin American Studies centers in the U.S., where he received a Dept. of Education Foreign Language Area Studies grant. Alex Lebow wrote to let us know that he is spending the next two years in New Orleans teaching high school English through Teach for America. We learned that Dan Resnick Ault graduated from Brown this spring with honors in his two majors: Hispanic studies and human biology. After taking a year off, he will stay in Providence for medical school as part of Brown’s Program in Liberal Medical Education. Pearson Smith recently moved to Lander, Wyoming, and is working in the marketing department at the National Outdoor Leadership School. Pearson says, “Having entered one of the most beautiful towns bordered by the Wind River Range, I have taken to

rock climbing and spend most weekends at the endless rock climbing walls that Lander provides.” Julia Spiro spent the summer in Los Angeles, where she interned at New Line Cinema and at a production company called Temple Hill Entertainment.

“I’m working really hard and so far it’s been a challenging and rewarding experience.” Julia loves California and plans on moving there after graduating from Harvard next year. “I hope to pursue a career in film production and development.”

2003 Class Representative: Diana Rutherford drutherford@berklee.net Dan Resnick Ault spent the fall of his junior year in Madrid, where, in addition to courses, he interned in the neonatal intensive care unit of El Hospital La Moraleja in Madrid.

C O L L E G E

2004 Class Representatives: Steven Fox Steven.fox@richmond.edu Molly Lebow mlebow@tulane.edu

2005 Class Representatives: Lily Bullitt Lily_bullitt@yahoo.com Ashley Sharp asharp@deerfield.edu

2006 Class Representative: McCall Cruz Mccall_cruz@yahoo.com

C H O I C E S

Daphne Johnson wedding photos Felicia Aikens

University of Pennsylvania

Linda Li

Princeton University

Hanna Atwood

Colgate University (Fall 2010)

Rebecca MacRae

University of Michigan

Daniel Berenson

Yale University

Scott Martin

Abigail Bok

Yale University

Alexander Melas-Kyriazi

Harvard College

Andrew Canniff

Massachusetts Maritime Academy

Elizabeth Mitchell

Williams College

CLASS OF

Claremont McKenna College

Dylan Coburn

Bard College

Kevin O’Block

Boston College

Anneliese Cooper

Columbia University

Irene Pasquale

Skidmore College

Nicholas Cox

University of Maine

Samuel Platt

Northeastern University

Camilla de Braganca

George Washington University

Elizabeth Rappaport

George Washington University

Jolie Demuth

Tulane University

Samson Resnicow

University of Vermont

Claire DiSalvo

Boston University

Charles Rugg

Boston College

Noah Donnell-Kilmer

Occidental College

Jessica Schlundt

Muhlenberg College

Simon Ebbott-Burg

College of Wooster

Alexandra Shalom

University of Rochester

Chantal Ferguson

Wesleyan University

Daniel Shoukimas

Connecticut College

2006

Jason Forsyth

New York University

Libby Shrobe

Tufts University

Michael Fubini

Vassar College

Monica Stadecker

Tufts University

David Fuller

Harvard College

Emma Thomas

Swarthmore College

Jonathan Getz

Bryant University

Amelia Walske

Hobart William Smith

Matthew Gorski

Haverford College

Tyler Wilson

Tufts University

Catherine Hoyt

Davidson College

David Wilson

University of Virginia

Louise Ireland

Brown University

Evan Winter

Tufts University

Kevin Jiang

University of Chicago

Georgina Winthrop

Harvard College

Rachel Langer

Denison University

Christopher Zarins

Washington University, St. Louis

Susan Langer

Cornell University

Madeline Zoller

New York University

Madeline Levitt

Bates College

Please note that the above list, compiled by the Alumni Office, does not include all members of the Class of 2006. Alumni not appearing on this list are either postponing attending a college or university in the fall, or have not submitted their information to our office. Please call the Alumni Office at 617-274-6022 or email alumni@parkschool.org with any changes or additional information. Thank you.

46

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

2007

NEXT SCHOOLS FOR GRADE VIII CLASS OF 2010

Class Representatives: Thomas Cope thcope@mxschool.edu Ben Schwartz bschwartz@benlampert.com We learned that Harris Williams, a senior at Proctor Academy, has verbally committed to Stanford. The 6-foot-4, 291-pounder from Lynn helped lead Proctor’s football team to an 8-1 season and a berth in the DelPrete-Theobold Bowl. “A lot of schools were interested in him,” said coach Chuck Reid. “But to be perfectly honest, Stanford was his dream school.”

Departing members of the Class of 2009

2008 Class Representatives: Manizeh Afridi Manizeh252@yahoo.com Marielle Rabins Marielle_swin@yahoo.com

2009 Caroline Ames Noah Benjamin Tyler Billman Oliver Bok Ginger Brostowski Katie Cohen Chimene Cooper Austin Drucker Charlie Feinberg Daniel Fine Vicki Garcia-Orozco Danny Getz Sage Hamilton Daniel Harris William Jundanian Tyler Kavoogian Henry Kennedy Eadie Kremer Kate Maroni Erica Mathews Luke Mathison Julia McKown Tyler Myrick Olivia Pincince Daniel Rubenstein Jonathan Sands Liza Scholle Ryan Simshauser Eve Wetlaufer Peter Woolverton Carina Young Brendan Yucel Simon Yucel

Dana Hall School Brookline High School Milton Academy Milton Academy Dana Hall School Newton North High School Milton Academy The Rivers School Belmont Hill School Noble and Greenough School Lincoln-Sudbury High School Beaver Country Day School Beaver Country Day School Brookline High School St. Sebastian’s School Beaver Country Day School St. Sebastian’s School St. George’s School Noble and Greenough School Milton Academy Brookline High School Milton Academy Beaver Country Day School Milton Academy Milton Academy Noble and Greenough School St. George’s School Noble and Greenough School The Masters School Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Milton Academy Noble and Greenough School Noble and Greenough School

Class Representatives: Mercedes Garcia-Orozco Benzgirl727@aol.com

Current and Former Faculty News Amy Salomon (Grade II 2001– ) and her husband, Matt Deninger, welcomed daughter Norah deVore Deninger on July 10, 2009.

Congratulations to Liza Talusan and Jorge Vega (Technology Specialist 2005– ) on the birth of their son, Evan Eduardo Talusan Vega, born March 24, 2009.

Peter Bown (Grade III 2005– ) will marry Paige Largay (sister of Brendan Largay who taught English, social studies, and drama at Park from 2000–2004) on October 19, 2009 in Hyannisport.

Proud grandma, Emily Tucker (Math 1979–2007 and currently a tutor), happily announced the birth of her granddaughter, Delphine Virginia Tucker-Raymond, on Saturday, March 21.

Former math teacher Bill Walsh’s CDs are now available on iTunes and other internet outlets. Look under Billy Walsh for some great music.

Cary Williams Zocarebearzo327@aim.com

Classes of 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 Save The Date!

Yule Festival and

Bagel Breakfast Friday, December 18, 2009 9:00 a.m.– 10:00 a.m.

The Park School dining room

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

47

Braydon McEvoy Khanna, son of Victoria McEvoy Khanna ’89

Second grade teacher Amy Salomon and husband Matt Deninger with baby Norah

Weddings 1994 Meryl Glassman and Peter Farland July 18, 2009 1998 Daphne Johnson and Brandon Berger June 6, 2009

Arrivals 1977 Holli Lopatowski and Stephen Thomas Kaden Allen Thomas June 23, 2009 1984 David McNally and Cynthia Pierce Alison Ginger McNally August 6, 2008

Kathryn Lee Calderwood, daughter of Audrey Hong Calderwood ’92

1989 Gautam Khanna and Victoria McEvoy Khanna Braydon McEvoy Khanna Rebecca Lewin Scott and Jordan Scott Charlotte Eloise Scott April 22, 2009 1992 Michael Calderwood and Audrey Hong Calderwood Kathryn Lee Calderwood June 23, 2009

In Memoriam Joan Ryerson Brewster July 22, 2009 Mother of Galen Brewster ’59 and Donald Brewster ’60 Jonathan K. Bynoe August 13, 2009 Father of Jim Bynoe ’74 and Kevin Bynoe ’77 Gabriel Feld ’00 April 24, 2009 Peter P. Gudas, Jr. July 17, 2009 Father of Christopher Gudas ’94 Bill McCarthy September 15, 2009 Husband of former Lower Division teacher Heather McCarthy Jim McDonald September 13, 2009 Father of Isabel McDonald ’09

Kenneth Wolman and Sarah Wolman Jack Benjamin Wolman Levine April 16, 2009

Mary Greene Nelson April 15, 2009 Faulkner Society member and Grandmother of Mollie Nelson Webster ’91

1985 John and Jessie Howland Cahill Sarah Louise Cahill December 10, 2008

Ellen Revelle May 6, 2009 Mother of former Parents’ Association president Mary Revelle Paci and grandmother of Christopher Paci ’74, Stefano Paci ’77, and Myra Paci ’80

1988 Andrew and Liza Cohen Gates Oliver and Isabelle Gates April 1, 2009

48

George Rowe February 12, 2009 Grandfather of George Rowe ’16

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009

Anne Shepley ’45 July 16, 2009 Sister of Henry “Dick” Shepley ’33, Hayden Shepley ’36, the late Robert Shepley ’39, and Hugh Shepley ’42.

Cousin of Joan Dunphy ’44, aunt of Julia Shepley Cohen ’69, and great aunt of Eleanor Shepley ’05 and Julia Shepley ’07 Bob Sturgis ’53 February 13, 2009 Charlie Thomas March 10, 2009 Father of Linda Thomas Terhune ’76 and Steven Thomas ’76 William Wolbach June 23, 2009 Father of “B” Wolbach ’61, and Josephine W. Devlin ’65, and grandfather of Luke Wolbach ’85, Ben Wolbach ’90, and Anna Wolbach ’93

We are assembling a farewell album to commemorate Nancy Faulknerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remarkable career at Park. Please send a note with your reflections and recollections about Nancy

by November 1, 2009. Pictures are welcome, too. Thank you!

Album for Nancy Faulkner The Park School, 171 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA 02445

The Park School 171 Goddard Avenue Brookline, Massachusetts 02445

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