Fall Bulletin 2014

The Park School Fall Bulletin 2014

BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2014–15

ALUMNI COMMITTEE 2014–15

Fall Bulletin 2014

Officers Vincent Chiang Chair Lanny Thorndike ’81 Vice Chair Peter Riehl Vice Chair Lee Englert Secretary Sam Wilderman Treasurer

Lilla Curran ’95 Co-Chair Abbott Lawrence ’85 Co-Chair

Editor Kate LaPine

John Barkan ’85 Peter Barkan ’86 Kathrene Tiffany Bell ’96 Jennifer Berylson Block ’94 Bob Bray ’53 Emily Potts Callejas ’89 Carlos Castillo ’97 Greg Cope ’71 Melissa Deland ’95 Sara Leventhal Fleiss ’95 David Glynn ’91 Abigail Ross Goodman ’91 Anne Collins Goodyear ’84 Jennifer Segal Herman ’82 Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’93 Greg Kadetsky ’96 Joanie Amick Kelly ’83 Bob Kenerson ’53 Amy Lampert ’63 Eve Wadsworth Lehrman ’95 Nia Lutch ’97 Melissa Daniels Madden ’85 Amy Lloyd McCarthy ’86 Eliza Drachman-Jones Quincy ’98 Katharine Burrage Schmitt ’95 Alyssa Burrage Scott ’92 Jordan Scott ’89 Rebecca Lewin Scott ’89 Sarah Shoukimas ’97 Garrett Solomon ’86 Diana Walcott ’85 Laura Church Wilmerding ’84 Rebecca Wilsker ’00

Design Irene Chu

David Ball ’85 John Barkan ’85* Margaret Boasberg Seth Brennan* Denise Jefferson Casper* Polly Crozier Laura DeBonis* Atul Dhir Shannon Falkson* Heidi Johnson Conan Laughlin Amy Lloyd McCarthy ’86* Katie McWeeny* Anne Mitchell Stephanie Neal-Johnson Nikki Nudelman* Kate Olmsted Peter Philip Peter Riehl Garrett Solomon ’86 Kerry Noone Swords Edward “EJ” Whelan Emily Lubin Woods* *nominated for election September 2014 and profiled in this issue Ex Officio Michael Robinson Head of School Kimberly Boyd Assistant Head for Finance & Operations Cynthia Harmon Assistant Head for Program & Professional Development 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 Kevin J. Maroni J. Michael Maynard Anne Worthington Prescott Suzie Tapson Deborah Jackson Weiss Headmaster Emeritus Robert S. Hurlbut, Jr.

Cover Artwork

“Celebrating the Year of the Horse!” Mural painted

by Betsy Platt’s Pre-Kindergarten students, members of the Park School Class of 2024.

Photography Coffee Pond Photography Flo Farrell Kate LaPine Karen Manning Miguel Morales Printing Universal Wilde 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 lapinek@parkschool.org To report alumni news: Rena LaRusso ’04 Director of Alumni Relations 617-274-6022 alumni@parkschool.org To make a gift to Park: Beatrix Sanders Director of Development 617-274-6020 sandersb@parkschool.org To report address changes: Peter Steinmetz 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 schoolsponsored programs are administered in a nondiscriminatory manner in conformance with applicable law.

The Park School Fall Bulletin 2014

In this issue:

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Around Park A Word from Michael Robinson Faculty & Staff Updates for 2014 –15 Park Says Farewell to Peggy Blumenreich and Raine Miller

10 New Trustees

John Barkan ‘85 Seth Brennan

Denise Jefferson Casper Laura DeBonis Shannon Falkson

Amy Lloyd McCarthy ‘86 Katie McWeeny Nikki Nudelman

Emily Lubin Woods

14 Community Service at Park

125 Trees, Snoopy Pajamas, and the Lessons of Giving

Making a Difference in the World: Park Students in Costa Rica

24 Park Alumni Who Serve

Renny Little ‘48

Emily Burr ‘66

Hilary Hart ‘79

Laurie Kohn ‘83

Eloise Lawrence ‘88

Fred Papali ‘95

Liz Prives ‘96

Amy Simpson ‘11

36 Graduation 2014

Graduation Address: Sofia Silverglass ‘08

Class of 2014 Graduation Speakers:

Ramadani Abdul-Aziz

Ian Brostowski

46 Reunion 2014

49 Alumni Notes

Alumni Service Award 2014: Abbott Lawrence ‘85

Alumni Achievement Award 2014: Sadia Shepard ‘90

»around park Dear Park School Friends,

I

t has been an honor and a pleasure to serve my first year as Park’s Head of School during a fabulous yearlong 125th celebration. I will always remember the allschool photo taken in September, seated alongside Betsy Ball, where I joined 560 students to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Park School. The photo captured one of the great gifts of leading a school — to be present with the students, faculty, and staff in an incredible array of diversity — sharing a common experience. Similarly, the School in all its diversity is unified around our mission to encourage each child to develop curiosity, express creativity, appreciate the value of hard work and discipline, and experience the joy of learning. All around Park and throughout the year, Park is an energetic, deeply engaged, and celebratory community.

This issue of the Bulletin

The entire school gathered for a photo last September to commemorate the School’s 125th anniversary. Michael Robinson and Betsy Perry Ball are seated in the center of the second row.

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features Park’s ethic of giving and giving back: values we treasure as a community and values we strive to foster in our students.

Specifically, we look at two significant community service projects — our Grade VIII trip to Costa Rica and a unique celebration of our 125th birthday — worldwide tree planting. We also meet seven alumni who live out this ethic by continuing to give back around the world. Indeed, giving is at the core of Park’s community life. From the appreciative note a teacher receives from a parent, to the grandparent who volunteers in the classroom, to the trustee who gives countless hours to the long term stewardship needs of the school, Park’s mission is made possible by devoted individuals who give of their time, talent, and resources to support the life-long learning goals of every child. As part of

the School’s curriculum, Service Learning provides a hands-on application of knowledge and skills to real-life community needs, lifelong lessons for our children that connect what we learn with being a contributing member of our local, national, and global community.

The spirit of giving and giving back is further in evidence in the fact that Park is a gift-supported institution. Nearly 20 percent of our $20 million budget comes from gifts to the Annual Fund and endowment income, money that supports the learning experience of every Park student. I am so impressed by this community’s tremendous support for the Annual Fund and my thanks go out to the more than 900 individuals who supported the School this year. This number represents an amazing 96% of current parents, 16% of alumni, and 91% of faculty and staff — levels

Want to hear from Michael on a more regular basis? He will be sharing his thoughts on leading and learning at Park in a weekly post called Headlines. Please visit our website, www.parkschool.org to read them.

of participation that are simply extraordinary.

Similarly, the School is unified around supporting the goals of our strategic plan, Park21. It has been thrilling to join the Park community as these strategic initiatives continue to develop and become implemented. Generous capital giving to Park21 has made an amazing difference in the landscape of teaching and learning at Park, and increasingly, one Park21 innovation becomes a catalyst for other innovations; for example, as grade-level teaching assistants in Kindergarten through Grade V realize the goal of creating time within the fully scheduled school day for teachers to collaborate with one another, the assistants have the additional impact of being an integral part of another Park21 innovation — the rich, interdisciplinary, projectbased curricular units created by

PSite (Park School Institute for Transformative Education.) Thanks to your generous support, the impact of Park21 is exponential as the capacity to experiment and innovate gains momentum. You can read more about philanthropy at Park School at the back of this magazine in the 2013–14 Annual Report.

A great pleasure of my first year at Park was working side-by-side with Board Chair Suzie Tapson.

Having led the long-range strategic planning efforts that laid the groundwork for Park21, the legacy of Suzie’s leadership will endure for generations. Suzie also led the Board during these recent years of leadership transition and I am deeply indebted to her for helping me become oriented to Park’s strategic leadership priorities and unique culture. And I am delighted that Dr. Vinny Chiang has agreed to

step into the role of Board Chair.

As a member of the Board of Trustees, Vinny has been a staunch advocate for Park’s diversity efforts as well as serving on the Educational Program Committee, Finance Committee, and Committee on Trustees. As a member of the Head of School search committee, I enjoyed getting to know Vinny from my earliest encounters with the School and I look forward to continuing our collaboration in the coming years.

As I begin my sixteenth year as a Head of School, I remain convinced that my most important responsibility — and greatest joy — is to know, support, and be present with the members of the community. From welcoming students in the Front Circle in the morning, to strolling the sidelines with my dog, Bear, at an afternoon game, to hosting monthly birthday

parties for students in my office, the work of the Head of School is all about the people. Having my first year be Park’s 125th provided a special celebratory theme of recognizing the contributions and devotion of generations to the ideals of Park School. As we move into the 126th year and beyond, I am committed to continuing this spirit of gratitude and dedication to excellence.

Best wishes,

Michael Robinson Head of School

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Faculty & Staff Updates for 2014 APPOINTMENTS

D E PART U R E S

Andrew Bauld Grade V Teacher BA Tufts University MEd Lesley University

Peggy Blumenreich Director of Academic Support

Katie Carr Grade I Teacher BA College of the Holy Cross MEd Lesley University Caroline Collins Grade II Teaching Assistant BS Boston University Kathleen Earley BA Stonehill College MEd Lesley University Cailin Eaton Grade I Teacher BS SUNY Oneonta MS Long Island University Sarah Hyslop Grade V Teacher BA Dickinson College MA University of Richmond Megan McLean Lower Division Science Teacher BA Colgate University MA Antioch University Liz Neilson Academic Support Services Tutor BA Connecticut College MA Northeastern University Katie Reardon Latin Teacher BA College of the Holy Cross JD Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America Alisha Saini Grade IV Assistant BA Bucknell University Jorge Vega Director of Technology BA Connecticut College Mark Vialva Music Teacher BM Berklee College

Dan Eberle Grade VI English/Social Studies Teacher Liesl Gilman Grade V Teacher Mindy Lawrence Librarian Greg Lyons Music Teacher Raine Miller Kindergarten Teacher Sarah Rose Grade I Teacher Ritu Singh Pre-Kindergarten Associate Carolyn Snook Grade V Teacher Raymond Stewart Director of Technology

Middle row, left to right: Sarah Hyslop, Megan McLean, Liz Neilson, Katie Reardon Bottom row, left to right: Alisha Saini, Jorge Vega, Mark Vialva

Susannah Wales Teaching Intern Corbett Wicks Teaching Intern * Please see pages 5–8 for profiles of Peggy and Raine.

S ABBATI C ALS (DU R I N G 2014 -15 )

Andrea Sparks Art Teacher (full-year sabbatical) Brian Cassie Lower Division Science Teacher (spring 2015 sabbatical) Emily Cause Grade V Teacher (full year maternal leave) Alli Smith Grade III Teacher (full year maternal leave) Eliza Botsford Grade IV Teacher (fall 2014 maternal leave)

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Top row, left to right: Andrew Bauld, Katie Carr, Kathleen Earley, Cailin Eaton

CHANGES

Maria Fleming Alvarez ’81 Co-chair AISNE self-study in addition to Secondary School Counselor and Spanish Teacher Melody Bartlett Art Teacher previously ASP Teacher Chris Beeson Upper Division English & Social Studies previously Teaching Intern Dorothea Black Library returns from sabbatical Gio Bradley-Campbell Teaching Assistant Intern previously Pre-K Associate Ellen Desmond Upper Division English Teacher previously Teaching Intern Patricia Espinosa Pre-K Associate in addition to working at ASP

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

Flo Farrell Communications Associate for Social Media in addition to Director of Stewardship Kimberly Formisano Co-chair AISNE self-study in addition to Director of Interns and Park21 Implementation Kyra Fries After-School Drama Program Director previously Upper Division English Teacher Jeannie Hahn Kindergarten Teacher previously Grade I Teacher Debby Henry Academic Support Services Department Head previously Academic Support Services Tutor Elizabeth Jansen Pre-K Associate previously Teaching Intern

Holly Mawn Grade V Teaching Assistant previously Teaching Intern Amy Saltonstall ’87 Permanent Substitute previously Grade IV Assistant Steve Savage PE Teacher returns from sabbatical Ellen Thomas Grade IV Teacher previously Teaching Intern Paul Toussaint PE Teacher previously Permanent Substitute

Peggy Blumenreich Academic Support Services Department Head (1971–2014)

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EGGY BLUMENREICH’S 43-year

career at Park began with a phone call. One day in September 1971, her aunt, Toby Rudginsky, called in a panic. Toby was the head of the small tutoring department and a part-time tutor had failed to show up for work! Could Peggy help out a few hours each week? “I wanted to work and it was a schedule that suited me and my two very young children at the time.

So I said yes.”

Peggy, a Swampscott native, attended Wheaton College, where she majored in art history, but also took two courses in education and psychology. After she married her husband, Gene, they moved to Washington, D.C. There, she took a course at the Kingsbury School where she learned to teach reading. “That really whetted my appetite for this kind of work,” Peggy says. Upon returning to Boston, Peggy enrolled in a one-year seminar and practicum with Alice Garside and Dr. Edwin Cole at Massachusetts

I really love working at Park School, the bright students, the committed faculty and staff, but, especially, the group of tutors I work with.

General Hospital (MGH). Unintentionally, Peggy had entered into the nascent field of helping children with dyslexia and language-based learning differences.

Peggy’s course at MGH coincided with Dr. Cole’s founding of The Carroll School for children with learning differences. “I loved this new field. Here were bright kids who were having trouble learning how to

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

read and were falling through the cracks. I wanted to help them.”

Over the years, Park’s Academic Support Services has grown with the School.

When Peggy began as a part-time tutor, the department was only two full-time people: her aunt Toby (who worked at Park from 1962–1992) and, Betty Haskell.

Slowly, it added staff to keep up with the growing student population. Now, approximately 15–17 percent of Park students receive services from the department.

In 1985, Headmaster Bob Hurlbut made Peggy the head of the department. It’s important for Park’s tutors to stay current with the latest research and educational theory. Peggy took a leave of absence in 1988–1989 to earn her master’s in the theory of reading and education at Harvard. “It was an intense and fantastic experience that really helped me as the Department Head, but I missed Park’s 100th anniversary photo!” Since then, Peggy has led the group of seven tutors as they work one-on-one with Park students. “I really love working at Park School, the bright students, the committed faculty and staff but, especially, the group of tutors I work with. They are, as a group — cohesive, fun, and intelligent — a wonderful combination. In fact, I often felt like coming to work at Park was like taking a break from my regular life.

We have really had a good time together and I think it’s made for both a rewarding work and personal life.”

Even as she leaves, Peggy expresses her appreciation for and confidence in Park. For the past year and a half, Peggy has been working with Anita Brush and Sarah Rose on a Park21 Peter Amershadian Grant looking at best practices and models of academic support services

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in independent schools. They visited schools in the Boston area and around the country to view a variety of delivery models. While our one-on-one tutoring has been enormously successful, Peggy hopes this survey of current trends will ensure that Park will become be a leader in providing outstanding services to meet the needs of all its students.

What’s next for Peggy? She’s looking forward to calling upon her early

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training in art history and working in one of Boston’s museums. Gene, a lawyer, isn’t ready to retire yet, but he is slowing down, which for him means working only three or four days a week! Luckily, his work schedule is more flexible than in the past, leaving time for travel and new ventures. Peggy and Gene live in Cambridge and try to visit their New Hampshire home as often as they can. There will be more time for antiquing (she and

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Gene collect Americana) and for visiting family. They have seven grandchildren ages 4–14. “Our daughter Megan lives in New Jersey with two children, Stephen is in Bronxville, New York, with three boys, and our youngest, Kate (Park Class of 1988), lives in Belmont with her two girls.”

Enjoy your retirement, Peggy, you deserve it!

Raine Miller Grade IV (1967–1970), Kindergarten (1990 –2014)

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AINE MILLER is a true Renaissance woman and her classroom shows it. “She knows a little something about everything,” says an admiring colleague, “and if you need anything — anything — you should ask Raine.” Need a magnifying glass? Velcro? Cuisinaire rods?

A pair of pliers? A speaker cone? Any miscellaneous item that you can’t imagine anyone else would have? Raine holds onto everything, because she sees every item as a potential spark for her students.

Back in 1967, Raine was unsatisfied teaching fourth grade in Wakefield. “It was something out of the dark ages: 30 kids in rows, creativity and project-based learning were frowned upon. I thought I had made a mistake about teaching.” At a party, someone suggested that Raine should look at The Park School before giving up entirely. “I called and made an appointment to see Headmaster Harry Groblewski when Park was located on

Curious to her core, Raine provides all sorts of treasures and is known for letting kids take apart radios, VCRs, and other machines to let them figure out how things work and invent their own contraptions.

Kennard Road. It was a snow-day, but Harry met me and we walked around the empty building. I could tell this would be different. He asked me if I’d like to come back, and I said ‘Yes!’” Raine taught Grade IV in the classroom next to Ruth Williams until 1970. “It was exhilarating,” she recalls. “I really loved the close-knit

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

school. In fact our close quarters made for easy collaboration because you were bumping into faculty all the time.”

She left Park to teach third grade at Shady Hill for a few years, where she met John Langstaff, who taught music there. She became friendly with his daughter, Carol, and became part of the core group who pulled together a large group of performers and staged three performances of The Christmas Revels at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre in 1971. For a while, Raine balanced teaching and Revels. But her responsibilities grew with the Revels organization, and soon were all-encompassing. Raine managed all the costumes and props for hundreds of actors in dozens of performances and launched Revels Records. “I was in charge of scheduling all the recording sessions with musicians and performers, shipping, distribution, and I had to work with the union!”

When Raine was ready to return to teaching in 1990, she heard that there was an opening at Park. Headmaster Bob Hurlbut called and explained that the opening was in Kindergarten. “I thought: I’d love to work with five- and six-year-olds where it all begins. They are so interesting and curious, and they love learning.” Little did she know that she would be able to use some of her ‘real-world’ experience in the Kindergarten room. “Being able to think on my feet has been an invaluable skill, and I’ve even used some labornegotiation skills with them too!”

Raine’s Kindergarten classroom embodies the “joy of learning.” Curious to her core, she provides all sorts of treasures and is known for letting kids take apart radios, VCRs, and other machines to let them figure out how things work

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and invent their own contraptions. “It’s been a real treat teaming up with Director of Operations Mike Massauro who is incredibly patient and creative.” Together they built the windmill on the Pre-K/K playground. “There are so many interesting things out there — I love integrating different disciplines.”

“These last 24 years have just flown by. I’ve loved all the children and parents

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who’ve come through my classroom — it’s been really wonderful.” She makes lifelong connections with her students; many former students drop by in the morning just to say hello. Some have even come back on a more permanent basis. Former Kindergartener India Davis ’03 is Raine’s classroom assistant this year, and Mally Smith ’01 worked with her former teacher from 2010–2013.

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

Raine has been spending the summers in Eastport, Maine, since 1989.

Her house isn’t winterized yet, but she expects to spend a little more time there this year. Not surprisingly, Raine’s dream is to open an architectural salvage business. “I’d love to hear from anyone who would like to go into business with me,” she says. “I just need capital and a really big space!”

Retirement Party Raine and Peggy’s colleagues — past and present — gathered to send off these stalwart members of the Park School faculty.

1. Michael Robinson, Peggy Blumenreich, Raine Miller, and Bob Hurlbut; 2. Peggy Blumenreich with some of her grandchildren 3. Jonathan Sands ’10 spoke fondly about his teacher, Raine; 4. Bob Tisi, Raine Miller, and Mike Massauro; 5. Marti Katz, Emily Kellogg, and Marianne Miller; 6. Maureen Cleary Parsons, Bob Hurlbut, Comfort Halsey Cope, and Nancy Hurlbut; 7. Peggy’s grandchildren made themselves at home in the library 8. Raine tries out her new retirement-ready Adirondack chair; 9. Lynne Dichter and Dita Henderson; 10. Raine Miller and Paula Johnson; 11. Peggy Blumenreich and Roma Hoyt; 12. Joanne Caufield, Betty Haskell, and Laurie Turner; 13. Jen Lindstrom, Jerry Katz, Andrea Sparks, and Maria Fleming Alvarez ’81 1

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assignments that are due on that day.

“We immediately fell in love with Park as soon as we stepped on campus. The warm and inclusive environment felt like it would offer a special experience for each one of our children.” Seth and Elizabeth also appreciate that the School encourages community service, character development, and strong values in addition to excellent academics. The incredible sense of community was also very appealing. “We felt that Park was welcoming to families responsibility of giving back all began and children of all backgrounds and during my time at Park.” interests—and believed that since we

Two years ago, John, Laura, Jacob (entering Grade VII) and Oliver (enter- couldn’t anticipate where our children’s passions would lead them as ing Grade IV) began another importhey matured, each would thrive at tant family initiative to give back — this Park because the school offers such a time to a school in an impoverished well-rounded program. Also, seeing Kenyan village. Struck by how the Park students treat each other with children were not given anything to such appreciation and respect, and eat throughout the entire school day, they returned home determined to their polite confidence — speaking at make a difference. Within a year, they Morning Meeting, collaborating on established a lunch program feeding projects, interacting with adults, even more than 600 children at the school sprinting to hold the door for us the every day of the academic year. Most first time we walked in — we just knew recently, the family sponsored two US this would be a special place for our teachers to travel with them to teach family.” and volunteer at the school, including

A New Englander through and Park’s Grade VI teacher and fellow through, Seth grew up in Granby, alum, Merrill Hawkins ’96.

Connecticut and moved to Brunswick, Maine in high school. He attended

John and his family live in public elementary schools, The Fay Newton. They are all avid skiers and School for middle school, and then spend as much time as possible on the Deerfield Academy for high school. slopes and outdoors in Vermont and Seth obtained his BA in History from Colorado.

Hamilton College, then worked in New York City for three years before moving to Boston in 1995 to join a start-up seeking to consolidate firms Seth Brennan in the asset management industry. As good fortune would have it, he reconvery morning nected in Boston with Elizabeth, an old at drop-off, friend from college, and they married Seth Brennan in 2003. Over the next seven years and his wife came four happy additions: Annabelle Elizabeth smile (Grade IV), Jack (Grade II), Sophie as they watch their children (Kindergarten) and Nate (nursery run inside lugschool). ging backpacks

Seth is a co-founder of Lincoln festooned with Peak Capital, which makes private key chains and equity investments in asset managefull of rock collections, overdue library ment companies. At Park, Seth has books, and hopefully any homework been pleased to get involved on the

NEW TRUSTEES John Barkan ’85

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ohn graduated from Park in 1985 and has kept the school close to his heart ever since. After graduating from Hobart College, John returned to Boston and joined the school’s Alumni Committee as a way to reconnect. He went on to co-chair the Alumni Annual Fund for two consecutive terms and to co-chair the Alumni Committee. He is a recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award and also sits on the School’s Audit Committee. “Joining the Board of Trustees is an honor — I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the continued success of the school in a new way. I remember the meeting that took place [in 2005] at my office when a group of dedicated alumni and David McCusker, then Director of Development, huddled to think of ways that alumni could have a greater impact at Park. It was that very night that we set the goal to have a member of the Alumni Committee on the Board of Trustees.”

John works for The Barkan Companies, a real estate management and development firm with both his brother Peter ’86 and father Mel (a former Park Trustee). “Park has always been a big part of our family and a place we have all cherished. For me, the importance of being an active part of a community and understanding the 10

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The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

Major Gifts Committee in helping Park achieve its important goals toward the Annual Fund as well as the Park21 Campaign. “I am thrilled to be joining the Board at what is a very exciting time for the School and as our children continue their Park journey. I’ve enjoyed working with the Major Gifts Committee and Elizabeth has loved the opportunity to serve as a Class Rep. We feel fortunate to be a Park family and look forward to many more years of involvement with the School.”

Denise Jefferson Casper

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orn and bred in New York, Denise Jefferson Casper has made Massachusetts her home for the past 24 years. “I attended the same public school system on Long Island from kindergarten through twelfth grade. There, I had the benefit of great teachers and a long-standing connection to the community as I graduated from the same high school that my grandfather had 58 years before I did.”

Denise headed north to Wesleyan University and, after a year working for a non-profit organization in Cambridge, attended Harvard Law School. “I fell in love with New England and never left.” After sixteen years as an attorney, most of them as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston and the Deputy District Attorney for Middlesex County, Denise was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts at the end of 2010. “I am honored to serve as a federal district judge in the court in which I got my start as a trial attorney and within this Commonwealth, a place of rich history, innovation, and community engagement.”

Before her children reached

school age, Denise heard about Park from a number of friends and was attracted to its dedication to academic excellence, promotion of creative thinking and commitment to diversity.

“Education is very important to our family, in all of its forms and settings, and Park is a very special place.”

Denise’s commitment to education is demonstrated by her longtime involvement with the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, her work with the Nelson and Lindsay Fellowships (two summer fellowships for promising high school and college students from the Greater Boston area) and her recent involvement with the Steppingstone Foundation. Denise and her 10-year-old sons, Harry (a fifth grader at the Heath School) and Jacob (in Grade V at Park), live in Brookline.

Laura DeBonis

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aura graduated from Harvard College and remained in Cambridge to work in documentary film and public media before attending Harvard Business School.

After business school, she started working in the area of consumer Internet technology, ultimately joining the business management team at Google where she helped launch and grow the AdSense and BookSearch products. Since leaving Google, Laura has worked on two teams at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society: first, assessing child safety on social networks as part of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force and, second, helping to launch the Digital Public Library of America.

Laura and her husband, Scott Nathan, live in Boston with their two children, Asher (Pre-K) and Lia

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

(Grade II). For Laura and Scott, finding the right school for their children had many facets. “Park clearly has fantastic teachers and facilities but what really struck us was how the environment cultivates curiosity and creativity along with respect and friendship.”

Laura currently serves on the boards of the Boston Public Library and WGBH and is looking forward to joining Park’s Board as well.

Amelia Lloyd McCarthy ’86

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my is thrilled to be coming back to Park.

She started her relationship with Park School in Mrs. Crichton’s Kindergarten class in 1976.

After graduating from Park, Amy attended Concord Academy and subsequently studied international relations at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She worked briefly at Putnam Investments, went on to earn a degree in library science from Simmons College, and began focusing her career in education, first at the Roxbury Latin School library and then at the National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C.

After guiding her family’s real estate business through a generational transition, Amy redirected her focus back to education and to her community, this time as a volunteer. She served on the Park Board of Trustees 2006 –12, the Brookline Music School, and the Brookline Library Foundation. Amy currently sits on the Board at Beacon Academy, serves as First Vice President of Concord Academy’s Board of Trustees, and is a member of Park’s Alumni Committee. She was the 2012 recipient of Park’s Alumni Service Award.

Amy is happy to be back at Park 11

this time as an alumna and parent of an alumna, her daughter, Lilian ’14.

“Several teachers remember me, my brothers (Ben Lloyd ’78 and Nick Lloyd ’90) and sister ( Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’93). Personal responsibility, respect for oneself and others, and an emphasis on values have been constant during my family’s 40-year relationship with the school. I witnessed this during the decades that I was a student and a parent at the School.

Being back on campus is always a treat: it feels like a homecoming.”

Currently living in the Back Bay, during Amy’s free time she enjoys walking her dogs, playing tennis, reading and spending time with her ever growing family.

She is thrilled to be President of the Park School Parents’ Association for the next two years. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to engage more deeply in the community and gain a broader understanding of the many components that work together to make Park a truly special place,” she said.

Shannon has served on the board directors of the Newton Community Services Center and will be a coach at Beacon Academy starting this fall.

When she is not shuffling her children to and from Park, she enjoys writing, skiing, hiking and family game nights.

Shannon, Peter, Zoe, Eli, and Jed live in Chestnut Hill.

Katie McWeeny Shannon Falkson

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ow in her ninth year as a Park parent, Shannon has an ever-expanding affection for the depth and quality of education her children Zoe (Grade VII) and Eli (Grade III) are receiving at Park. By the time her youngest ( Jed, 2 years old) finishes Park, she will have been a Park parent for 20 years. “I feel so fortunate that my children are able to spend their formative years in such a nurturing and stimulating environment. For me, it’s a privilege and a pleasure to be a part of this warm and welcoming community,” she said.

After finishing joint JD and MBA degrees from Boston University, Shannon practiced law as in in-house attorney for companies such as Art Technology Group and Hologic. A few years back she became a life coach, a practice she finds exciting and rewarding. She’s also working on her first novel, which she hopes to finish in the next decade… or two.

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“M

y commitment to Park is rather selfish.

I genuinely enjoy spending time with the great people I’ve met. The combination of academic excellence, world-class teachers and dedicated parents creates a truly unique experience and community. I feel very lucky to be part of such an intelligent, vibrant, and diverse group of people.”

The McWeenys moved to Boston from Chicago in 2003. They were so impressed by the independent schools in the area, but immediately felt a connection to Park. “Though we were Midwesterners, Park felt like the schools we attended as children, and I’m not just talking about the cinder block walls from the ’70s. Park instantly came across as warm and sincere.”

Katie and Mark have three children at Park, Jack entering Grade III, Anna entering Grade V and Gage entering Grade VII. Katie remembered, “When we applied to

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Park, our children were so young. We didn’t really know who they would be. Park’s dedication to helping each child reach their full potential, no matter how different, has made Park the perfect school for our children.”

Katie McWeeny was born in Ohio, then spent her early elementary years in Chicago. She spent fourth grade living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

They returned to Richardson, Texas, where Katie went to junior high and high school. Katie attended Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where she also met her husband. She embarked on a career in marketing and advertising. After spending several years at Leo Burnett Advertising in Chicago in account management working on Kellogg’s and McDonald’s, Katie and Mark moved to Boulder, Colorado. Katie finally learned to ski, though not very well, and worked as a marketing director for the quickly growing Boston Market brand. Katie and Mark then returned to Chicago. Katie resumed her career at Leo Burnett working as a vice president, account director for Delta Airlines, Pillsbury, Hallmark and several pro bono clients.

Before coming to Park, Katie also served on the Board of Hill House for several years, first as chair of marketing, then as vice president of the Board. The McWeeny family currently lives in Jamaica Plain.

Katie has clearly thrown herself into the school. During her children’s time at Park, she has served as a Class Rep, Art Cards co-chair, Springfest co-chair, Secretary of the PA Board and as President of the Parents’ Association from 2012 – 14. “The first year we had a child at Park I was struck by how the faculty and staff engage parents to actively, intelligently participate in the school. You can have an impact here.”

Katie’s husband, Mark, is an entrepreneur. He is a founder of RueLaLa, an online fashion retailer, and currently serves as president of new ventures.

Nikki Nudelman

W

hen Nikki and her husband, Harry Nudelman, were looking at schools for their daughters, Park’s motto “simplicity and sincerity” struck a chord.

“It’s very similar to values that I was taught at the Elizabeth Morrow School in Englewood, New Jersey,” Nikki explains. “The 4 C’s — cooperation, consideration, compassion, and courtesy — were an integral part of that curriculum and I still hold those values in the highest regard. Walking through the halls of Park I know those values are woven into the fabric of our children’s school too, and it makes me proud to be a part of this community. Park emphasizes the importance of respecting the needs and feelings of others which will help take our children on their journey through life.”

After attending elementary school in New Jersey, Nikki graduated from the Horace Mann School in New York.

She studied international relations at Lehigh University, and then returned to Manhattan to earn her MPA in public and non-profit management from New York University. Nikki was able to combine her academic interests as a fundraiser for several Jewish organizations, traveling with donors to Poland, Cuba, Jordan, the former Soviet Union, Israel, Eastern Europe, and Ethiopia. “The highlight of my career at both the Museum of Jewish Heritage and UJA-Federation of New York was being able to provide people the opportunity to learn about and give to causes that were meaningful to them.”

Nikki met Harry Nudelman while living in New York and subsequently moved to Boston where they settled in the Back Bay and now make a home with their daughters Samantha (Grade II) and Rachel (Grade I). Since

becoming a Park School parent in 2012, Nikki has been an active volunteer — serving on the PA Community Service Committee, helping at Grandparents’ and Special Friends’ Day, organizing the prize table at Springfest, and giving tours to prospective parents. In addition to serving on the Park School Board, Nikki sits on the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children Advisory Board (MGHFC), the Storybook Ball Committee (MGHFC), is an overseer at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), is a member of the ICA Education Committee, and is a former board member of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Boston.

“I feel honored to have been chosen to serve on the Board at Park,” Nikki says, “and hope I can help emulate the values and good work of others that have created the traditions, academic excellence, and compassion for life that Park stands for.”

Emily Lubin Woods

E

mily brings extensive knowledge of schools from years as a teacher and a trainer of teachers. She began her teaching career at the Fessenden School in 1997 and joined the Boston Public Schools in 2004 as a seventh grade English teacher in Roxbury. She then went on to participate in the pilot study of a New Teacher Development program and helped launch and ultimately scale the program district-wide.

As a senior co-trainer, she designed and facilitated professional development for principals and teachers of all levels, specializing in differentiated instruction, analyzing student work to address the needs of students with disabilities, and instructional mentoring for novice teachers. She currently

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spends the bulk of her professional time assisting non-profit organizations with strategic thinking and planning professional development around teacher leadership and teacher induction in high-need school systems.

Emily holds a master’s from Boston University’s School of Education and earned her AB in French with a concentration in music at Bowdoin College, where she was a two-sport varsity captain. An active and loyal alumna of The Winsor School, Emily serves on Winsor’s Board of Trustees as well as on the advisory board of Teach Plus. She lives in Boston with her husband, Greg, and their three daughters, Millie (Grade I), Lizzie, (Pre-K), and Gracie.

Emily gives Park high marks when it comes to differentiated instruction. When the Woods were considering schools for their daughters, Emily probed Merle Jacobs, director of admission, on the subject. “Merle showed a deep understanding of the ways in which teachers were working in the classroom to meet the needs of diverse learners, as well as the ways in which Park was supporting its teachers’ professional development,” Emily recalls. “It was a great example of Park’s abiding commitment to both its students and teachers. That commitment cinched Park as the right school for our family and will inspire and guide me as a new member of the Board.”

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125 Trees, Snoopy Pajamas, and the Lessons of Giving

“A tree, whether planted as a seed or a sapling, is an outward and visible sign of hope — hope that draws nourishment and stability from its deep roots — hope that reaches confidently upward and outward in search of all things new and possible.“ — Michael Robinson

by Ted Wells, Grade IV Teacher

Faculty chaperones Corbett Wicks and Steve Kellogg holding 12 pairs of ‘Camping Snoopy’ pajamas for Park seventh graders.

H

ad you been at the trailhead of the Grand Canyon’s famous Bright Angel Trial on June 19th, you would have seen a strange sight: 36 Massachusetts teenagers planting piñon pine and gambel oak trees while wearing hot, flannel, “Camping Snoopy” pajama pants.

You probably would have wondered, “Why are Park School students here? Doing this?

Wearing that?!”

Each year, after studying the geologic processes that shaped the Grand Canyon, Grade VII students travel there in June with science teacher Karen Manning. “The Grand Canyon has given us so much over the years, it was time for us to give back,” Karen explains. This year, alongside many great experiences, they planted fourteen trees. “Planting trees in the Grand Canyon National Park was unforgettable. Not many

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people can say that they have done that.

These students will be able to go back to the park in the future and see the trees that they helped plant!”

The pajamas were a result of filling out paperwork with Sarah, an official from the Vegetation Office. “She reminded me that everyone was supposed to be wearing closed-toed shoes — check. And long pants.”

The temperature was over 90 degrees, of course they didn’t have long pants on!

“Somehow the long pants thing must have escaped me,” Karen continued. “Sarah informed us that it was a firm regulation of the National Park Service that all workers and volunteers wear long pants.” No long pants, no tree planting. Now what? “We all had our hearts set on planting these trees.

We had come so far and had gotten everything in place — we were not going to leave without planting those trees! Our school

was counting on it! So, I did what any sane chaperone would do, I whipped out the credit card and said to the other chaperones, ‘Go buy pants!’”

Turns out there aren’t a lot of shopping options in the Grand Canyon National Park, especially if you’re looking for long pants in June. ‘Camping Snoopy’ pajama pants to the rescue! Now Park’s seventh graders could plant trees in style.

Buying pajamas for everyone was expensive, so faculty chaperones Steve Kellogg and Corbett Wicks purchased twelve pairs and split the kids into three groups so they could take turns wearing the pants.

The first group prepared the area for digging by sizing the holes and removing the overlying material. The second group dug holes with pick axes. And the third group put the young trees in the ground. Ms. Manning said that, “It took a long time to

dig the holes since there were a lot of rocks in the way, but we did it. We ended up planting 14 trees: eight piñon pines and six gambel oaks.” In the middle of the project, the President of the Grand Canyon Association came to the trailhead so that the Park students could present her with the donation check for the trees. It was a proud moment for the group.

Besides the notion of “giving back” to the Grand Canyon, why did these seventh grade students plant trees? And why did eighth graders plant one hundred avocado trees in Costa Rica that same week? Why did ninth graders from Park plant an acanthus tree at The Hangzhou Greentown School in China in March and students from the Hangzhou Greentown School plant a cherry tree on the Park campus in May? Why, too, were Pre-K and K students planting spruce, pine, and apple trees on campus

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this spring? Why were second through sixth graders sponsoring tree plantings in Haiti, Brazil, Kenya, Zambia, and South Africa?

What’s with all the trees?!

There are many worthy answers to this question, but the first one I proudly share is that, with tremendous support from the Parents’ Association, for Park’s 125th birthday, we chose to plant 125 trees around the world! The PA provided $100 for each grade to spend on planting or sponsorship.

Twelve planting projects — one for each of our eleven grades, Pre-K through Grade IX, and a final planting project and celebration on campus to wrap it all up.

It’s easy to say that Park is a “green school” with our color forest green, our mascot the Charter Oak tree, our Earth Day theme Johnny Appleseed, and most importantly, our student body that regularly and passionately engages in learning and

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Be sure to watch Alumna Becky Kendall’s culminating video of the 125 Tree Project. The video was shared projects that directly help the environment and community. Park’s “125 Tree Project” quickly became much more than a “project.” It became a series of moving stories of service, connection, community, and memorable hands-on learning.

Consider the group of Grade IV students who chose to spend their grade’s $100 to help plant trees at the Matènwa Learning Center in the poorest region of Haiti. The families at this school have no running water or electricity, yet, it is a leader in grassroots education reform. Building on Park’s connection with Haiti after the devastating earthquakes of 2010, librarian Tory Lane connected Park students with

Students and teachers tending saplings at the Matènwa Learning Center (http://matenwaclc.org).

Matènwa through their Mother Tongue book project. Third graders wrote books about snow that were translated into Creole for teaching purposes. “The 125th Tree Project allowed our students to reconnect with the people of Matènwa,” Tory says. “The opportunity is particularly meaningful in that we are fostering a connection with this community over time and sharing knowledge and understanding of each others schools and lives.”

In May three teachers from Matènwa came to Park School to observe for a day and learn more about our teaching methods. When they came to my class, student Will Kelly presented them with Grade IV’s $100 check to sponsor the planting of fruit trees. They were touched by Will’s comments and the kids’ generosity. In a country where most people live on less than $2 per day, our gift was substantial. Discussing this with the kids was our first of several important learning moments about the extreme contrast between our lives and theirs.

We then had an open-hearted conversation with the teachers about schools in Haiti. We discussed the joys as well as the challenges of their community. Upon learning that most of their students awake at 5 a.m. to walk an hour to collect their

family’s water in a five gallon bucket for the day, and then walk another hour to school, my students were saddened to learn the specifics of such poverty, but were even prouder to be supporting them.

My students took turns carrying a fivegallon bucket of water down the hall to imagine this daily challenge. When I asked, “Why did I have you carry this bucket?” One student replied, “So that we understand our own privilege.” Others added how they would now look at water faucets and light switches with more appreciation. We kept that bucket of water in our room for the rest of the year as a symbol of the strength of our friends in Haiti and as a reminder of our own privilege.

In Library classes in following weeks with Ms. Lane, we read and viewed videos to learn more about this amazing school and community. We also interviewed Park kitchen staff member Jean Jacques Cornely who grew up and taught French in Haiti and who now works not only at Park but also at a nightshift job earning extra money to support eight Haitian orphans whose parents were killed in the 2010 earthquake.

This man, whom we barely knew, is a quiet hero amongst us and now stands in my mind as another of Park’s special teachers… all because we decided to help plant some trees. We’ve invited Jean Jacques to do a Morning Meeting this fall to tell us more of his story.

The stories above are just two of the twelve planting projects. Other stories are hinted at in the full list of projects on pages 18–19. In these two, as in all of them,

“Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt With the help of a translator, three teachers from the Matènwa Learning Center in Haiti visit with Ted Wells’ class.

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on Earth Day and in a Morning Meeting this spring. www.parkschool.org/page/Home?#video/341298

“When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and hope.”

— Wangari Maathai

students and teachers alike learned lessons of teamwork, community, kindness, appreciation of the natural world, giving back, growing perspective, and so much more.

Park parent Emilie Kendall, who led this entire planting endeavor told me, “A wonderful aspect of the 125 Trees Project was that it incorporated so many tenets of Park’s guiding principles.” Indeed, when you look at this project it teaches very important concepts to students: giving and respect, community spirit, land stewardship, environmental protection, teamwork, thinking globally and locally. Another benefit of the 125 Trees Project was that it fit so seamlessly with the curriculum. In so many grades it was a complement to what was going on the classroom, so it was not too challenging to integrate. We could not have succeeded, however, without Mike Massauro, Park’s Director of Operations, who became a champion of the 125 Trees Project as soon as the idea germinated.

Mike selected a gracious beech to serve as the School’s 125th Anniversary Tree planted on Arbor Day, and his team supported all of the on-campus plantings.

I’ve always been thoroughly impressed

by Park’s commitment to service and the lessons it teaches our kids. According to Park’s Service Learning Director Comfort Halsey-Cope, “Our goal is to instill the ‘habit of service’ in our children’s lives so that by the time they go on to secondary

school they will look for opportunities in an area of their interest, based on experience at Park. I personally value service at Park because I have had the privilege, over and over, of seeing the difference it can make to a young person’s sense of empowerment and efficacy. In working to improve someone else’s life, serving nurtures self-confidence, leadership skills, team work and optimism.” I couldn’t agree more. One of the great joys of teaching is seeing a child recognize the power of their hands and mind during a specific moment of service and learning. Emilie Kendall adds to our list of lessons learned in saying, “Experiential learning through service opens students’ eyes to how they can contribute to the world. It increases their self-awareness and develops their sense of empathy.”

Karen Manning tells me that planting trees at the Grand Canyon was a chance for her students to make a difference by planting native species in an area that has been overrun by invasive species. “They had to work hard to accomplish this. They dug and raked and dug some more. It was hard and took a lot of physical effort to get these trees in the ground. Being able to give something back to the Canyon felt really good for all of us. So good in fact that we plan to do some type of service project again next year. It may not be planting trees, but even if it is hauling rocks or clearing invasive species from the trails,

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we will be there to say ‘thank you’ to the Canyon for giving us such a wonderful experience.”

So there it is, service as a thank you note, a connection, and a way of thinking ahead. We planted 125 trees (the final number was closer to 300!) on five continents, we helped other communities, and we taught our students to give, to connect, to grow new life, and to love. Some say that planting a tree is the most selfless gift one can give as it is not for us, but for future generations to enjoy. So to celebrate Park’s history we give 125 gifts to the future. B

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Grade III Planted a river birch tree near the carpool area on the Park campus.

This highly visible tree was selected because the birch tree holds special significance for the Wampanoag in Massachusetts, tying the tree planting to Grade III’s yearlong study of Native Americans.

Each student added a stone border and a reflection on the Wampanoag as they planted the tree.

Pre-K Planted 28 spruce and pine saplings on the Park campus. Since these students have 13 years to see their seedling grow, it made sense to have them plant the youngest plants. Students understood and were able to communicate what the benefits of trees were to our planet’s air supply using the analogy lungs of the earth.

Kindergarten Planted 2 red delicious apple trees near 133 Goddard Avenue, Frances & Michael Robinson’s home. Fruit trees — like the orchard by Faulkner House — provide an opportunity for students to enjoy the harvest. Once the students planted the apple trees, they discussed how there may be the first crop of red delicious apples on the tree in the fall.

One boy asked, “Could we actually eat an apple from the tree?” They then discussed what it would taste like and when they could pick the apples. There certainly will be visits to see how the apple crop is faring this fall!

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Grade II Sponsored planting a tree in Kenya. To complement their study of globalism, second graders selected the Green Belt Movement, which has planted over 51 million trees in Kenya. Founded by Wangari Maathai, the organization works with rural communities to build a healthy ecosystem through planting trees on critical watersheds.

In addition to this planting in Africa, every Grade II member took a seedling home to plant near their homes.

Grade I Sponsored planting 212 trees in the Brazilian Rain Forest. Students made beaded bracelets, sold them to the Park community, and contributed the funds to Plantabillion, The Nature Conservancy’s reforestation project in Brazil.

First graders study the rain forest every year and were very proud that they raised funds to plant 212 trees!

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Grade IV Donated fruit trees to the Matènwa Learning Center in Haiti.

This spring, fourth graders interviewed three teachers from Matènwa, a Haitian school Park has supported in past service projects. Their visit sparked the children’s interest in Haiti and Grade IV decided to donate trees to Matènwa.

Grade V Each student made their own bonsai.

In Grade V social studies, students learn about Japan and the significance of bonsai trees. One bonsai will be proudly displayed in the Park School lobby next year.

Grade VI Donated 10 fruit trees in Zambia and South Africa. Grade VI social studies provided the inspiration for this tree donation.

Green Pop plants fruit trees at schools for kids to eat at breakfast or lunch in reforestation projects in Zambia and South Africa.

Grade VII Planted 14 trees at the Grand Canyon.

While on their optional trip to Grand Canyon National Park in June, seventh graders planted 8 indigenous piñon pines and 6 gambel oak trees by the centrally located Bright Angel Trail trailhead.

Grade IX Sponsored planting of a chestnut tree sapling from the Anne Frank Sapling Project. Grade IX supported the planting of chestnut tree saplings through the Anne Frank Sapling Project based in Amsterdam. This supported grade IX Facing History and Ourselves holocaust studies.

Grade VIII (Part One) Planted an acanthus tree at the Hangzhou Greentown School in China and a weeping cherry at The Park School in Brookline.

China studies provided the platform for a reciprocal tree exchange between Park School and the Hangzhou Greentown School. To formalize Park’s connection to our sister school, Grade IX Mandarin students served as eighth grade surrogates, planting an acanthus tree on the Hangzhou Greentown School campus during their visit to China in March. Then in May, Greentown students planted a cherry tree on the Park campus with their American host students. A part of each group now lives and grows on the other side of the world reaching out and making our partnership more and more real.

125th Anniversary Tree On April 25, 2014, the community celebrated the planting of a beech tree on Park’s new 8-acre parcel. One-hundred and fifty Park faculty, staff, parents, and students attended the event, led by Head of School Michael Robinson, Grade IV teacher Ted Wells, and Director of Operations Mike Massauro, to celebrate Park’s 125 Tree Project, Earth Week, and Arbor Day. Students helped plant the tree, arrange natural art, place stones celebrating and writing out “125” years, planted pansies and vegetables, and came together as a community. It was, as Michael Robinson put it best, “A tree-mendous day!”

Grade VIII (Part Two) Planted 100 miniature avocado trees in Costa Rica. As Grade IX planted the Grade VIII tree, it’s fitting that Grade VIII got to do some planting of their own on their Costa Rica service trip in June. Twenty-one eighth graders planted 100 miniature avocado trees on a hillside that is part of a reforested corridor extending from Monteverde to the Nicoya Peninsula on the Pacific coast. These fruitbearing trees will provide needed habitat for the three-wattled bellbird, native to this region.

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19

Making a Difference in the World: Park Students in Costa Rica

By Comfort Halsey Cope, Director of Service Learning

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“I really got to know myself on this trip because I was asked to go outside my comfort zone.”

“H

OW ARE YOU going to

make a difference in the world?” is a question many service opportunities at Park help to answer. “How is experiencing a different part of the world going to make a difference to you?” is another important question that is best answered when our students venture off campus to neighborhoods beyond Goddard Avenue.

In June, 21 eighth graders, accompanied by chaperones Susan Bogue Myslik (Upper Division English), Miguel Morales (Maintenance and native Costa Rican), Jonathan Prosky (Associate Director of Admission), and me, traveled far from campus to work and learn in the Monte Verde region of Costa Rica.

“How was the trip?” we asked them at the end of our week together. “Exhilarating.

“The Costa Rican kids were so happy to see us that it motivated us to help them even more.

It was really sad when we had to say good-bye!”

Amazing. Life-changing. Fascinating.

Eye-opening. Fun. New. Meaningful.

Inspiring. Exhausting. Educational,” they replied.

Everyone agreed that the days we spent working at Los Llanos School, an elementary school serving 120 students from Santa Elena and the surrounding area, were the highlight of the week. We sanded and painted classroom furniture to bring it back to life, created a flower garden in the school yard, built a recycling system, painted the wall surrounding the school, installed basketball hoops, and put up an entire wall with sheet rock.

Once completed, these projects started from scratch offered a satisfying sense of accomplishment to students who learned new skills and discovered new muscles! Grit and positive attitudes were

ubiquitous as we mixed cement, hauled wheelbarrows of dirt, cut and sanded wood, chiseled concrete and painted, painted, painted.

Meaningful service partnerships are about relationships: they include receiving as well as giving. We were delighted when children from the school and several parents joined us in our efforts, even though two of our workdays fell on the weekend. Park students who study Spanish had the thrill of using their language skills to communicate with their pen pals, as well as helping those of us who do not hablamos Español. And, of course, impromptu soccer, songs, and basketball united students of all ages. As one-eighth grader noted, “All week I was receiving more than I was giving. I did not expect that.”

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What is

Service Learning?

Service learning provides a hands-on application of knowledge and skills to real-life community needs.

In the case of the recent trip to Costa Rica, some students used their Spanish language background, some used what they knew about how to help plants grow, while others drew on their experience with hand tools. At the same time, everyone filled in any gaps in these areas as they benefited from experience in the field.

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In addition to our work at Los Llanos, another highlight was the day we planted miniature avocado trees as part of a reforestation project sponsored by the Bellbird Foundation and Park’s 125 Tree Project (see page 19). The hillside where we worked was located in a corridor designed to connect protected areas for the three-wattled bellbird, from Monteverde to the Nicoyan Peninsula.

“What is a bellbird?” we wondered.

We learned from the scientist who visited us the evening before our day of work with saplings and soil, that a bellbird is a large brown and white bird, whose habitat ranges from Panama, to the south of Costa Rica, to Nicaragua in the north. It’s distinctive “bong” or bell-like call can be heard up to a kilometer away, making it one of the

loudest birds on earth! We were thrilled when we heard the call on occasion, and considered it a thank you from a grateful bellbird who was going to have a more plentiful diet thanks to the newly planted avocado trees. (Have a look and a listen at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Gnu8QbpImWw)

At the end of each day of service we piled back on our bus for a field trip to a place of local interest. Ask one of our young travelers to Monteverde about the cheese factory founded in the 1950’s by Quakers from Georgia, or the many varieties of butterflies found in the area, or the importance to the local economy of the women’s craft cooperative, or how we encountered tarantulas on a night hike, or the hushed awe of our walk through the rainforest

What is

Global Citizenship? to a waterfall in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, or watching Costa Rica beat Italy in the World Cup at a packed local restaurant! And everyone would include zip lining as a breathtaking adventure that helped to bond the group before we got to work on our service goals.

Here is one student’s answer to how this trip made a difference to him, “Costa Rica was life-changing because it taught me I could fend for myself and for others.” Another concluded, “ I loved everything about this trip. I got to help the environment, change a school, and make new friends. I loved waking up, knowing I was going to be doing something that improved the community.” I don’t think we could hope for much more than that. B

Top row, left to right: Bringing an armful of avocado saplings for planting; Transplanting saplings called for our handy-dandy work gloves! A classroom in the Los Llanos School; Digging up avocado saplings.

Bottom row, left to right: After sanding classroom desks, Park students painted them; Thinking inside the box; Hard at work in the field; New friends painting the school blue; Pouring cement to improve the school’s drainage system.

This service trip to Costa Rica clearly required students to draw on and develop global citizenship skills, widely recognized as important for navigating the world in the 21st century and a major tenet of the Park21 strategic plan. In preparation for the trip, the travelers defined a global citizen as someone who was respectful, open-minded, positive, flexible, cooperative, enthusiastic, and curious.

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PA

CHOOL ALUM RK S NI

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9 9 9 9 9 g Warren M. Little ’48

g Eloise Lawrence ’88

g Hilary Hart ’79

g Liz Prives ’96

g Emily Burr ’66

g Laurie Kohn ’83

g Fred Papali ’95

PA

g Amy Simpson ’11

CHOOL ALUM RK S NI in

community

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community

service

-----

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Warren M. Little ’48

Renny attended Park in Kindergarten and “Connecting Class” under the watchful eyes of Miss Judkins. He then went on to Rivers, Middlesex, and Harvard, followed by a couple of years jumping out of airplanes, getting married, and raising three children (including son Bob, who is Park’s Athletic Director) while fulfilling an eclectic career in formal and nonformal education and community activities.

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I

received excellent advice from Park’s Headmaster James R. Lowell (1948 –59). My first job was in the education department of Boston’s Museum of Science. This learning experience led to eight years teaching at the Rivers School and then on to three years with the Liberty Council of Schools —11 school districts and four regional high schools — teaching teachers environmental education. My next job was at the New England Aquarium as director of education. I initiated an Aquarium Explorer Career Post in Marine Biology and helped found the Massachusetts Marine Educators and the National Marine Educators Association. I also represented the Aquarium on the Massachusetts Conservation Council. Living in Wellesley at that time, I was an elected Town Meeting member for over 20 years, and served on the Town’s Conservation and Historical Commissions and the Park & Tree Board.

Anxious to run my own show, I became the executive director of the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester. It needed an educatoradministrator, not a curator. Long days expanding “crusades” into the schools and explaining the role of medieval women included late nights hosting medieval feasts in costume. The

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job finally wore me down, and I left to take the executive director’s position at the Cambridge Historical Society. We moved to Cambridge where community efforts included pro bono positions with Cambridge Discovery and the Cambridge African American Heritage Alliance.

I continue a lifelong involvement with Harvard serving on various alumni committees, the board of the Harvard Varsity Club, secretary for the Class of 1955, and, upon retirement, as the pro bono curator of the Lee Family Hall of Athletic History. I am now busy initiating efforts to bring all of the organizations in Massachusetts involved with the American Revolution together. Currently called the “Museum Muster,” the idea comes from Benjamin Franklin, who exclaimed, “We must hang together or we most assuredly will hang separately.”

My involvement comes from funding these organizations for many years with grants from the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, another interest in which I have been involved for over 40 years.

Emily Burr ’66 In April, Emily and her husband Richard returned to New Hampshire after spending 3+ years teaching in South Africa in the Peace Corps. Emily spent her formative years at Park, entering Miss Perry’s 3-yearold class in the fall of 1954 and graduating from Grade VIII in the spring of 1965. At Park, Emily acquired a joy of learning and discovery. “There were

many wonderful teachers at Park, but I will never forget an afternoon in sixth or seventh grade when Bill Meadows, the science teacher, let me run an experiment over and over and over and over. He may have asked some helpful questions, but he would not give me the answer. When I finally did figure out what was going on I was delighted, with myself

and the orderliness of the universe.” Emily’s mother was Marjorie Burr Rowell, Park’s comptroller in the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Emily recalls watching her mother, as well as her friends’ mothers, volunteering for the Parents’ Association, spending weeks working on the clothing sale, and driving kids to away games. After Park, Emily attended Milton

Academy where she volunteered as a candy striper at a hospital and volunteered with the children at a settlement house in Dorchester. At Vassar College, she majored in physics and went on to teach high school science, later getting an elementary teaching certificate to teach primary grades.

T

hroughout my adult life I have volunteered with many organizations in a variety of roles: staffing a problem pregnancy hot line to help women learn all the options they have available, serving as a Girl Scout leader, teaching Sunday school, and acting as a lay leader in my Unitarian Universalist congregation.

Five or so years ago, my husband and I realized our children were grown and on their own, we no longer had elderly parents to care for and none of our children had graced us with grandchildren so when we saw the notice for a Peace Corps information session in Boston, we decided to go and find out if joining was still a possibility at our age. We discovered that not only was it still possible but that Peace Corps is actively recruiting “experienced Americans.” In fact, the oldest person in our group turned 80 while we were in country. In January 2011 we flew to South Africa with 41 other Americans to begin our adventure. We trained as a group for two months, learning about the cultural differences and a tribal language. Then we were placed in Bochebelo, a village of about two thousand people where we spent two years. I taught English and math in the elementary school and Richard taught math in the high school. We had electricity most of the time and were glad to have a water tap in our yard that came on several times a week. I was surprised how easily we adapted to the more rustic conditions. That was made easier because of the warm welcome we received from everyone in

the village. It was an amazing experience!

After our initial two-year commitment was up we were offered a chance to continue for another year. We felt we had much to offer and had gotten to know many of our fellow teachers, so we stayed. I think the third year was the most rewarding. During my time in Africa I not only passed on some English, math and teaching skills, but I learned a lot about myself

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and how I have far more in common with people in other places in the world than I have differences.

I consider myself to have had a privileged childhood and fortunate life. I find enjoyment and satisfaction when I am able to do something to help others who may not have had the advantages I have and I always get back more than I give.

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Hilary Hart ’79 PA

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mmuni ty Joy, creativity, curiosity, and lovec oare servi c e the foundation of a life of giving back, ----of not taking too much, or striving to stay open and curious…

Hilary attended Park from Kindergarten at the old Walnut Street building through Grade VIII, and then went to Nobles. She received a BA from Yale and an MA in philosophy from Colorado University, Boulder. She has worked in conservation non-profits and in the field of social services, most recently as the CASA Coordinator in Taos, New Mexco. Hilary is also the author of three books on women’s spirituality including Body of Wisdom: Women’s Spiritual Power and How it Serves. She currently lives in a beautiful home in Taos, which — serendipitously — belongs to Lucy Perera, Park alumna (Class of 1984) and sister of her Park friend and classmate, Caroline!

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in t was my turn to be upset at “the system.” c o mmuni ty As the Volunteer Coordinator for the Taos servi c e Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program I was used to bolstering volunteers as they inevitably became discouraged by the roadblocks to helping children in a state ranked 50th — just behind Mississippi — in child welfare.

Poverty, poor schools, lack of healthcare, unemployment, the top state for alcohol-related deaths — all were factors in why New Mexico’s children were at risk, and why those who try to help them are often frustrated.

CASA volunteers are community members who have undergone training to advocate for children who have been removed from their homes due to neglect or abuse. It’s not easy work. As advocates, we support children who have been harmed by their parents, but there is really no one to blame, as most parents of abused children were themselves abused. But these kids have a tough road ahead and sometimes immense obstacles to overcome, ranging from brain damage caused by alcohol or drug exposure in utero and PTSD from trauma to any number of behavioral or learning challenges.

So as Volunteer Coordinator, I work to help volunteers stay positive, compassionate, and committed despite a certain unavoidable sense of helplessness natural to the work.

Now it was my turn to be discouraged. I had just visited a couple — two women — who were fostering a 3-year-old boy. It was a great

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Hilary with Lucy Perera ’84

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home. The boy was loved, cared for, lived in a clean little house with a backyard with a dog.

The couple wanted to adopt him.

But in the child welfare world, there are a few givens that are part of the legal foundation of how we — as a national community — care for children. One of which is that the system requires what’s called a “minimum sufficient level of care” by biological parents when considering returning children to their original homes. This means in order to get their kids back, parents have to provide a safe home — not much else.

But I wanted this sweet little boy to stay in this loving foster home. I wanted the kindness, the play-dough, the reading of books, the summer camping, and the dogs in the back yard. It was not easy facing the future for this child, which is a future like many other children we work with — returning to parents who love their children but usually have few skills to truly care for them.

I am not sure I would be able to do this work without the experiences that Park gave me.

Park in the seventies was a fabulous place to be, and I learned many key life lessons there. (Sometimes I wish I learned a bit more history!) From watching films of Inuit families eating seal with Mrs. Robb in fourth grade and reading about African Bushmen with Miss Budd in sixth grade, to discovering the spiritual traditions of Asia with Mr. Bentink-Smith in eighth grade, I was given opportunity after opportunity to relate to a very big world that might seem different than my own, but really wasn’t. Who wouldn’t want to use a seal bladder for a balloon?

At Park, I connected to others across the world and I connected to myself. In those days, our teachers were re-evaluating life on every level, and they assumed that young people had the same capacity for genuine wisdom and to participate in building a new world.

Park provided ongoing encouragement to explore and decide for myself what was meaningful and real in life. And as it turns out — so many years later — what’s been important has been working towards this new

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world, promised during the seventies, and still, maybe, possible.

In an “outer” sense, the common thread of my career has been a commitment to making things better, whether through conservation work or social services. And whatever the outer job, all the while I have committed to exploring the big inner questions of life’s meaning through meditation and other spiritual practices, never forgetting the first meditation circle on the floor of our eighth grade Asian Studies class.

Today, supervising over 20 volunteers as they do their advocacy work for foster kids and working on my own case, I often touch into these gifts of my time at Park: the joy and creativity, the curiosity and the love. These are the foundations of a life of giving back, of not taking too much, of striving to stay open and curious, and of working to ensure that the darkness of life won’t block out the sun either for others or myself.

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Laurie Kohn ’83 PA

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After moving from New York, Laurie Kohn came to Park in fourth grade and stayed through Grade VIII. “It’s amazing to me that I spent just four years at Park since — of all the schools I attended from grade school through law school — it’s the institution that had the most impact on who I am today.” In ninth grade, Laurie

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c o mmuni ty the legislation became went to Milton Academy and When 24inyears, Laurie still lives in D.C. c o mmuni ty servi law, c e Laurie went to work for then on to Harvard, where she along with her husband, Chris servi c e majored in history and literathe U.S. Department of Justice Murphy, and their children ture and also did some acting to help write regulations to Aidan Kohn Murphy (10) and when she had the chance. After implement it. After a few years, Caleb Kohn Murphy (7). college, she moved to Washshe attended Georgetown Law ington, D.C. to work for SenaSchool, earning her JD and tor Ted Kennedy and focus on later an LLM in Advocacy. Since civil rights and disability rights, then, she’s taught at Georgeprimarily working on the town Law School and George Americans with Disabilities Act. Washington Law School. After

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have a vivid memory from my sixth grade classroom at Park. My head is down on the desk and our class is voting for class representatives to the Student Council and to Helping Hand, the community service board. I can hear fabric shifting as my classmates raise and lower their hands as they vote. I’m so nervous and I want to peek. But I know I can’t. I just have to wait. When Mr. Cunningham tells us we can open our eyes, I see my name written on the chalkboard as the Helping Hand Representative. I’ve won — of course, I later realized that I was the only one who ran — but I’m thrilled nonetheless!

Since that day, service has been a part of my life. For most of my career, I’ve been a law school professor running legal clinics that represent indigent clients. I train my students in the classroom and then supervise them in court as

My time at Park convinced me of the value of community service and that it should be woven deeply into the fabric of the school. they represent clients in domestic violence and family law cases. For the most part, we seek court orders to protect our clients from abuse or to grant custody, visitation, and child support

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to parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles.

Through the clinic, law students get to step into the role of the lawyer and experience what it feels like to cross-examine a witness and to provide a client with legal and other advice.

Clients, in return, get free legal assistance and the services of a team of law students working exclusively on their case and offering extensive legal and social services support. This work can be intense, complicated, rewarding, and heart breaking (both when we win and when we lose), but it is always interesting. Some of our cases last only two weeks from start to finish while others have been pending in the courts for years.

How did I decide to take this path? When I was a student at Georgetown Law, I wanted to take a clinic that allowed me to work with clients who could not afford lawyers (my noble side) and to appear in court (my performer side) — a lot. I enrolled in the Domestic Violence Clinic because it allowed me to do both. It was that seemingly haphazard decision that set the course of my professional life. After a few years in private practice, I returned to the Domestic Violence Clinic to help run it as a professor.

After twelve years at Georgetown Law School, I decided to move to George Washington Law School where I run a clinic that is very much like the one I enrolled in way back in law school.

This work is challenging. Judges don’t rule

always rule the way we want them to (or the way they should!). Clients may change their minds about leaving their abusive partners. And we may spend months preparing for a case that gets dismissed on procedural grounds.

But, it’s also unbelievably fulfilling. My clients — both the women who have endured years of violence and yet have retained their hopefulness and spirit, and the men who fight year after year for the right to spend time with their children — inspire and compel me to continue this work. I also love working with law students, who inspire me with their commitment to these difficult cases.

Working within the system makes one realize how much work the system needs. So I end up serving on court committees involved in rewriting rules, planning judicial trainings, and assessing and improving the way the legal system works. In addition to serving on the boards of several legal services organizations, I was recently appointed to serve on the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board. This Board reviews all domestic violence fatalities in D.C. to determine where our social service and legal system may have fallen short and how we can better protect future domestic violence victims.

Our family is regularly involved with City Year in Washington, D.C. (which also allows us to feel tied to our hometown of Boston where City Year started!). We do service days with City Year as a family and our children dream of some day having their own red City Year jackets!

Although both of my parents were committed to giving back to the community, it was at Park that I came to think of community service as an integral aspect of life. At Park, community service was talked about and presented to the students in a way that made it clear it was just as important as any academic subject, student government, or sport. Through Helping Hand, I volunteered at the Armenian Nursing Home in Brookline. Each week, a small group of students were driven over to the home to visit with seniors and to help out however we could.

When I got to Milton, I replicated the initiative by establishing an Adopt-a-Grandparent program at a nearby retirement community.

Another thread of my current life that I trace directly back to Park is the importance of community service in schools. My time at Park convinced me of the value of community service and that it should be woven deeply into the fabric of the school. As a Pre-K student, my

Top: Laurie and her family with Vincent C. Gray, the mayor of Washington, DC, at a City Year Service Day. Bottom: Laurie at court with a few of her law students.

son made an appointment with the principal of the school to ask about community service and pitch starting some volunteer programs.

Unsatisfied with the answer he got, he went rogue, founding a candy and bake shop in his aftercare program in which he employed classmates and held raffles to raise money to help endangered animals.

I have so many fond memories of my time at Park and the wonderful teachers who showed up every day full of patience, warmth, and fun — Mrs. C and Mr. C (Cunningham), Mademoiselle Fertig, Monsieur Planchon, and Mrs. Emmons. But I think my most enduring memory — the one I think back on as a life

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lesson frequently — is something that happened every day. Mr. Hurlbut greeted every student, insisting on a firm handshake and full eye contact. From Mr. Hurlbut, I learned the importance of human connection and respect. I’m so grateful to Park for launching me on this path and for all it taught me.

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Eloise Lawrence ’88 PA

Eloise attended The Park School for 9 years from Kindergarten in 1978 through Grade VIII in 1987, and is a member of the Centennial Class of 1988. After graduating from Groton School, she attended Stanford University and earned her JD from Northwestern University Law School. She now works at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau at Harvard Law School and lives with her wife and sons Theo and Silas (Class of 2022) in the same house she grew up in — less than two miles from Park.

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o mmunithe ty moment I can remembercdistinctly servi c e of homelessbecame aware of the issue ness — it was our Grade III class trip to the North End (I was in Ms. Halsey’s (now Cope) class), and we walked by a homeless man sitting on the street. His hair was matted and seemed green to my 8-year-old self and I couldn’t believe that he actually lived on the street. While I am sure I would have had difficulty then articulating my thoughts, his image and the undeniable “wrongness” of his situation were imprinted upon me. As a result in the fourth grade, I decided to serve as one of my class representatives to Helping Hand (now Service Council). While I can no longer remember my exact “tenure” on Helping Hand or all our projects, I believe I served for most of my fourth through eighth grade years and I do clearly recall our visits to the Pine Street Inn and our efforts to raise a mile of pennies (placed in giant fishbowl in the school lobby) to support the Inn.

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I took the lessons and awareness gained at c o mmuni ty Park with me to high school and participated in servi c e community service during the school year and in the summers. I spent one summer working at the St. Francis House homeless day shelter in the Combat Zone, and another summer starting a pilot recycling program on Beacon Hill with my best friend from Park, Alex Kerry.

I am not sure how much we actually recycled that summer, but I did enjoy throwing Alex around in the back of the pick-up truck on Storrow Drive at 5 o’clock in the morning during our collection drives! Upon matriculation at Stanford University, I took every urban history, housing, and homelessness policy class available. In my senior year, another student and I ran the Stanford Housing Action Coalition with homeless men and women in Palo Alto many of whom lived on edges of Stanford’s extensive campus in tents and other make-shift shelters. I realized in the midst of our fight against a proposed panhandling ordinance in Palo Alto, that I needed to go to law school to fully advocate for people and families in poverty.

But, before I went to law school, I wanted to teach history and make students aware of social justice issues as I had been at Park. In addition to engendering a love of learning, my teachers at Park taught me to question, to contribute, and to want to participate in change.

I have so many formative memories of some of the best teachers of my life including Ms. Halsey, Mr. Cope, and Ms. Baker. Mr. Cope was incredibly creative — I remember in particular a play he had us write and perform about a drinking well proposed for a village in Africa, and the tensions between the different interests of the residents and the American businessman. In seventh grade social studies, Mr. Cunningham brought in Mao’s Red Book and explained that it had been banned only decades earlier — it seemed scandalous and exciting that he dared to own it and bring it into our classroom! All of the teachers taught us the skills we needed to thrive at the next stage of our education, but more importantly how to

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I wanted to teach history and make students aware of social justice issues as I had been at Park. In addition to engendering a love of learning, my teachers at Park taught me to question, to contribute, and to want to participate in change.

ask the questions needed to become citizens of our communities and our country.

After my own stint in teaching at Governor’s Academy and Concord Academy, I went to Chicago for law school because the city has been not only the site of critical events in urban history and race relations, but also the subject of some of the most important scholarship about public housing, integration and poverty.

Upon graduation, I started a two-year Skadden Fellowship where I worked on two large class action suits against the Chicago Housing Authority for racial discrimination — one very long standing, and one initiated during my fellowship — both on behalf of the thousands of African -American residents. Like my experience as a third grader at Park, I saw unforgettable and unforgiveable conditions that people were living in: crumbling, segregated, violent public housing and the equally unsafe private housing residents were forced to move into as their public housing was demolished. I also saw the possibilities and limits of large class action lawsuits litigated apart from the people that they were designed to benefit.

As a result of this experience and my subsequent jobs at the Conservation Law Foundation and Greater Boston Legal Services, I have come to believe that one of most effective ways to achieve long-term social change is as a “community lawyer.” I define this as an attorney who works with community organizers, community groups, and individuals in their broader fight for equality and social justice, not just focusing on the individual litigation at hand. Specifically, for the last three years, I have worked with Harvard law students at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau representing individuals and families in eviction court after a foreclosure has occurred on their home. But, we do not simply represent defendants in court.

Rather, we connect people to a movement to change the systemic forces at work that contributed to their foreclosure, and we work to create understanding that it is not their moral failure to be poor or to lose a job or to receive a predatory loan.

Community lawyering is a model and approach to advocacy that can address a myriad of issues and challenges facing

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under-represented individuals and communities. For example, I have worked with a community group in Chelsea to defeat a proposed coal-fired power plant across the street from an elementary school, and have advocated for new and improved public transportation for Roxbury residents. I believe it is not only more effective to promote change, but it is more sustainable personally. As an advocate, individual legal setbacks are not as debilitating — in other words, it helps prevent “burn out,” and keeps me mindful of what drives and inspires me.

In sum, I am still driven by the “wrongness” of a man calling the streets of Boston his bed and his home. I am still inspired by my experience at The Park School to dig to the bottom of a problem, to ask questions of authority, to work hard and to never underestimate the importance of community. And, I am incredibly grateful that my son is learning the same lessons thirty years later.

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Fred Papali ’95 PA

Fred Papali is a senior fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Now in his 12th (and final!) year of medical training, he plans to pursue an academic career with a focus in global health. After spending fourth through ninth grades at Park, he attended Phillips Academy, Andover. He graduated magna cum laude in political science from Union College, and then attended medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He currently lives in Baltimore with his wife, Tanu, and their 16-month-old son, Liam.

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o mmuni ty y initialcimpression of A.W. was pretty servi c e I assumed, a unexciting.

He was, 30-something year-old Eritrean man seeking asylum due to political persecution, a common theme amongst asylum seekers from East Africa. This was to be my fourth forensic medical evaluation as a volunteer with Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), a New York-based non-profit whose Asylum Network pairs physicians with victims of torture applying for asylum in the United States. As part of their asylum applications, applicants typically undergo a thorough medical evaluation to document any physical scars or psychological ailments stemming from their alleged torture.

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Previously, I hadinprepared medical affidavits c o mmuni ty for a Cameroonian man abused by the police servi c e due to his involvement in opposition politics, a Rwandan woman physically and sexually assaulted by several family members for marrying the man that she loved, and a young, gay man from Burkina Faso starved by his own father nearly to the point of death when his sexual orientation was discovered. As I talked with A.W., I quickly realized that his story was in no way typical. In fact, it was unlike anything I ever could have imagined.

Due to years of government harassment after converting to Pentecostal Christianity, A.W. decided to flee his native country of

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I learned the importance of citizenship in my community. Before I could read it on a bumper sticker, my experiences at Park taught me to think globally while acting locally.

Eritrea so that he could practice his religion freely. In the mountains separating Eritrea and Sudan, he was abducted for ransom by nomads, tortured for three weeks with burning hot iron rods, had his throat slit after trying to escape and was left for dead in the desert.

He was found and resuscitated in a remote village, spent time in a refugee camp, then worked under the table for two years in various cities in East Africa to save up enough money for a flight to the Americas. After landing in Bolivia, he literally walked over the course of five months — almost drowning in Panama and being abducted again, this time by narcotraffickers in Columbia — to the Texas border.

While A.W.’s story demonstrates the bravery and sometimes inconceivable difficulties that asylees face during their journeys to the United States, it also elucidates a theme common amongst most of the torture survivors

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I have encountered while volunteering for PHR. Despite their mental and physical anguish, they somehow maintain an incredible sense of resilience that keeps them moving forward. While their bodies may be broken, their spirit is not. After the unspeakable horrors that many of them have experienced, most want nothing more than to live their lives quietly and peaceably, free from harassment and free to express themselves as unique individuals. They want the very freedoms that we often take for granted in our daily lives. In volunteering with PHR, each time I have the privilege of assessing another torture survivor, I am reminded of how lucky I am to be able to live the life that I choose.

This humbling understanding did not come naturally; rather, it was something that was nurtured during my schooling at Park.

I fondly recall Morning Meeting updates on Jarra Bojang, a schoolgirl in The Gambia (West Africa) whom Park had sponsored financially for many years. Her seasonal, hand-written letters of appreciation, read aloud to the School, instilled in me a sense of global citizenship, one that enabled me to understand the interconnectedness of different peoples living in different societies. As co-head of Helping Hand (now Service Council) in the ninth grade, moreover, I remember helping to organize the “Pennies for Pine Street� drive. Actually going to the Pine Street Inn to interact with their clients, however, to laugh and smile with them while serving their dinner, helped me to dispel the insular mentality I had of homelessness. Through that experience, I learned the importance of citizenship in my community.

Before I could read it on a bumper sticker, my experiences at Park taught me to think globally while acting locally.

I was thrilled when I learned that A.W. won his asylum case and felt great pride knowing that I could play a role in helping him move toward the next phase of his life. I hope that the positive values I learned at Park will remain with me not only as a volunteer, but also in all aspects of my day-to-day activities.

With luck, I will be able to instill these same values in my own son as he embarks upon his life’s journey.

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Liz Prives ’96 PA

Reflecting on her ten-year education at Park, Liz recognizes that social justice and community service were part of the curriculum. “My favorite Park memories include learning about Greek Gods in Mrs. Lucey’s fourth grade class, trick or treating for UNICEF, Project Reason in Grade VII, writing letters to Jarra Bojang (the student Helping Hand sponsored in Africa), and serving a meal with Helping Hand at the Pine Street Inn.” She was first elected to Helping Hand in middle school and was co-President of the community service organization by ninth grade. At graduation, Liz received the John T. Spicer award for unique service to the school community. After Park, she attended Concord Academy and Sarah Lawrence College where she focused on creative writing and aspired to be a comedy writer.

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o mmuni ty hile in ccollege, I interned at WNET c eYork and the Channelservi 13 New Daily Show with Jon Stewart. One of my first jobs after college was working in the production office of the “Will and Grace” show in Studio City, California. I felt proud to be part of a television program that depicted a minority on network television. After Will & Grace ended I went to work in-house for NBC Universal on daytime, primetime, and late night television programming. About a year into my new job, I reflected on my work and its impact on the larger community. My Park experience instilled in me the concept of a “day of accomplishment,” and the notion that at the end of each day you should feel proud of your personal and professional work.

I yearned to do more and researched volunteer opportunities within the community. Through my research, I discover the Wonder of Reading Program, a nonprofit that helps to improve the reading skills of children in the LA public schools. I started volunteering in a North Hollywood public school a few miles up the street from the glitz and glamour of the Universal Studios Lot. Once a week, I worked with a young girl who was struggling to read. Sitting

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in in the library, sharing one of my favorite childc o mmuni ty hood books, I fondly recalled my library days at servi c e Park with Ms. Ambrose who would introduce us to new authors and their books. After a few months volunteering, I found that I looked forward to my volunteer job more than my real job and decided to make a career switch.

A friend told me about Bing Nursery School at Stanford University. I had always loved the Bay Area and applied for a position. And the rest, as they say, is history!

For the last seven years, I have been an early childhood educator at Bing. Bing is a play-based laboratory school run by the Psychology department at Stanford. At Bing, I teach a class of two-years-olds and a mixed age class of three- and four-years-olds. In addition to teaching young children, I also mentor and train Stanford students. I love going to school everyday and working with children and their families. Research shows that the early childhood years are the most important years in a child’s development. I feel lucky to do work I love and be able to give children the gift of a high quality education.

In my free time, I also volunteer with Jewish Family and Children’s Services. I started dropping off holiday bags and visiting with seniors who live alone during the Jewish Holidays. After my dad passed away, I decided to become more involved. For the last year, I have been visiting a spunky, 90-year-old woman named Rosalie every Sunday.

Many times in my adult life my dad reminded me of my volunteer work at Park. He helped me remember my visits with Park to see Norman at the Armenian Nursing Home and the joy it brought the elderly man. In many ways, I feel visiting seniors at home connects me to my dad and Park, two of my greatest loves.

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Amy Simpson ’11

Amy started Kindergarten at Park in 2001 and graduated from Grade XI in 2011. This spring she graduated from Tilton School in Tilton, New Hampshire and is now starting her college journey at Connecticut College in New London. When she’s home from school, she lives with my family in Charlestown, and frequently visits her sister Corey Simpson ’05, who lives in Brookline.

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t was a brisk March evening as twenty students and three teachers loaded luggage and piled onto buses bound for Logan Airport. Sunny skies and boiling temperatures awaited us in the Dominican Republic, but such weather was hard to imagine coming off of a long, cold New Hampshire winter. Now, the only other time I had ever been out of the country was on my Grade IX language trip to Italy, so I had absolutely no idea what to expect.

Little did I know, the next eight days were going to entirely change my perspective on the world (for the better, of course).

We spent our week working with The Batey Foundation, a non-profit organization aiming to improve the living conditions of bateys: small, poverty-stricken Haitian communities in the Dominican Republic. Our days consisted of digging and building the foundation for dugouts at the community’s baseball field. Baseball is a vital hobby of the local children; although a seemingly simple past time, the sport is a passion of the people and, most importantly, keeps the children off the streets.

We also taught English to the children in a small building across the way from our worksite. I

can say with conviction that I have never seen anyone so eager to learn. Every morning, the kids ran to the bench and instantly started banging on the board mounted on cinder blocks that acted as their desk. Excitement filled their eyes and voices as they awaited our lessons. Several of my friends who were on the trip are from other countries, so the kids even got to learn phrases in Chinese, Japanese, and French alongside English.

At our home base in Santo Domingo, we helped the native members of the foundation prepare meals and clean our quarters, and we got to know our neighbors from surrounding houses. With only a low level of Spanish under my belt, I was still able to connect and learn about the lives of these incredible people. I even keep in contact with one of the women to this day (with a little help from Google Translate every now and then).

Those eight days flew by faster than I would have liked, but in such a short period of time, this little country became our home away from home. As our new friends dropped us at the airport on our final night, the abundance of tears shed could have made you believe we had

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know each other a lifetime. The poverty we witnessed and the people we met influenced us in so many ways, giving us a new perspective on the types of living conditions so many countries outside the US live in. I continuously reflect on the fantastic memories and lessons of that trip, and I fully intend to return to the Dominican Republic and volunteer for The Batey Foundation again as soon as I get the chance.

Park Post Script: I’m always surprised at how often I’m reminded of my time at Park by simple, everyday life. I didn’t entirely realize it then, but Park gave me such a unique and compelling sense of community and the greater good of the world around us. Whether it was taking action for the environment in fourth grade (and our grade’s claim to fame as the first Recycling Boy), all the food and toy drives, or trips to the food pantry, there was never a day that went by that we weren’t reminded of something bigger than ourselves.

Frankly, it’s a mindset that has stuck with me since — as one I will always treasure — and I have Park to thank.

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Each year, a Park School alum with six years of post-Park experience is the featured speaker at Graduation.

At the School’s 126th graduation exercises in June, Sofia Silverglass delivered the address. After graduating from Park in 2008, Sofia moved on to Milton Academy, and spent the fall of her junior year at The Mountain School (TMS) in Vershire, Vermont. At TMS, Sofia learned to know a place, take care of it, and work for a common good. Farm work and travel called Sofia after graduating from Milton. Before beginning college at Middlebury, she spent three months “WWOOF-ing” (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) on seven different organic farms in England, France, Spain, Italy, and Greece. At Middlebury, Sofia has chosen geography as her major, with a minor in elementary education studies. She is also the co-president of the Middlebury Ceramics Club. Shortly after addressing the Park School community at Graduation in June, Sofia flew to New Zealand’s South Island to begin her sixth semester of college at the University of Otago.

PARK GRADUATION 2014 Sofia Silverglass, Class of 2008

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OOD MORNING Mr.

Robinson, trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni, families, and special guests; and, of course, good morning Class of 2014! Thank you for inviting me here today!

Most of you do not know me; except for a brief meeting last week, I am a stranger. I could never tell each one of you Grade IX students how to succeed in high school and college, how to both study hard and play hard, or how to balance friends, sleep, and school; these are things I am still working on myself. So what do I say to you this morning? I could offer clichés—be yourself, don’t fear failure, find your happy place—or recite quotes from past graduation speeches—in 1838 Ralph Waldo Emerson cautioned that “the imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity;” or to quote JK Rowling, “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case you fail by default.” Instead, I will offer my own experiences and do my best to communicate the things that I have learned since graduating from Park, exactly six years ago on Friday, June 13th, 2008.

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

Yet to be honest, in light of all of the incredible things you ninth graders have accomplished this year, and especially in the past few weeks, I hope you barely remember me or what I have to say. As I told Grade IX during my visit last week, I barely remember my own Park School graduation. I still know most of the words to “World’s Greatest”

by R. Kelly, our graduation song, but my memories of the day itself are rather blurry.

The images that are carefully filed away are the day-to-day lessons from the classroom, the crazy things that I did with my friends, and the unusual projects that somehow came to fruition in the shade of the Charter Oak.

I remember Gordon Santry’s green dinosaur cast in Mrs. Platt’s nursery classroom, and I remember hanging flower paintings all over Ms. Miller’s walls after our kindergarten trip to the Museum of Fine Arts. I remember spending every recess in first grade chasing Andrew Zarins and Brett Drucker across the playground, just because they were boys. I remember crafting my own autobiography. I remember the steps to the stick dance and my partners from the May Pole. I remember gym dollies and Spies R Us and Handball. I remember 37

Rami Abdul-Aziz I’m taking with me the many water bottles I accumulated from the lost and found, and I am leaving behind the many extra pieces of glass I cut in Mr. Laabs’ class.

Charlotte Blum I’m taking with me the dream of one day having a grade with a class cat. I’m leaving behind Ernie Boch, Jr., the twins, and Eileen — all of the plants I’ve taken the time to name.

Ian Brostowski I’m taking with me my first-ever completed art project. I’m leaving behind my endless supply of Fiji water.

C L A SS Q U OT ES 2014 Over this year, as ninth graders, we have thought about what memories we’ll carry with us when we graduate and what part of ourselves we hope to leave with the community.

when Mr. Eberle was an intern and Mrs. Formisano was on maternity leave (with Ellie, I might add). I remember Mr. Wells’ first year at Park – we made a movie of the Odyssey and, as a class, read enough books as a class to give our willing teacher a threecolored Mohawk. As Grade IX can attest, I remember the cheer from my first TOTAL Day team, and I remember my distinguished role as Robber #2 in our fifth grade play. I remember when Trace Smith leaned back a bit too far in his chair, fell over, and Mr. Amershadian marched us all downstairs to apologize to the teacher below. I remember getting in trouble for staying up too late during Project REASON. I remember the Pip diagram in Ms. Fries’ eighth grade English class, and I remember (and still have) all of my stickers from geometry with

Mr. Kellogg. I remember my language trip to France—making chocolate, tasting olive oil, and getting lost on the bus almost every day.

I have more memories from my eleven years at Park than a ten-minute speech will allow.

These days I am a geography major at Middlebury College. The classes that I take do not teach me to name world capitals or to identify rivers and mountain ranges – what we call the vocabulary of geography.

Instead, the courses I have taken focus more broadly on the interactions between humans and their environment—the grammar. I would like to invoke one bit of geographical grammar here today. In looking at different human phenomena, we often employ the concept of proximity, and its contrast to distance. While in everyday language these two can be used almost interchangeably, as worded by geographer Peter Jackson, proximity is “about perceptions of social or imagined distance” as altered by emotional, familial, or technological connections, whereas distance remains the physical space separating one person from another as written in miles, leagues, or even lightyears. Class of 2014, as you move away from Park, remember that no matter the physical

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

distance between you and this school, the friends you have made here will never be very far away. My own friends from Park are still family. It never matters how long we’ve been apart or how poorly we’ve kept in touch, as soon as we get back together we always seem to be able to pick up right where we’ve left off, J.P. Licks ice cream still in hand.

As you move out of Park into high school and beyond, my advice to you is not to work hard, or get good grades, or get into a good college, or eventually get a good job, but to slack. Class of 2014, I am telling you to work less hard. All too often we move through life with our eyes always on the next goal, but as I have learned, few ends are worth ignoring your own present well being.

Don’t let yourself forget what it is that you love to do. Pursue it. Build time into your day to do what you love, what makes you happy, whether that’s painting or running, playing basketball with friends or hiking alone. Give yourself the chance to recharge.

When schoolwork and relationships and extracurricular activities threaten to become overwhelming, give yourself the space to step back, to clear your head, to look at the stars, to call the one person you really want to talk

Jamie Carroll I’m taking with me the interesting sense of humor I’ve acquired this year, examples of which are Patrick’s “leedle leedle lees” and the Ikea jokes. I’m leaving behind the 11 years I’ve spent at Park.

Robert Crawford I’m taking with me my love and appreciation for new cultures, which was enhanced while traveling with my class to Spain. I’m leaving behind my sixth grade brother Benjamin.

Addie Daly I’m taking with me a newfound love of roller coasters. I’m leaving behind my sister so she can continue the Daly family’s legacy.

to. Having a meaningful conversation can be as productive as finishing a problem set. I promise that the work that needs doing will always get done. It can wait for you.

In essence, I want to remind you to strive for happiness. Find the tricks and quirks that work for you, whatever they are.

Even when you’re stuck in the library for hours on end, find the humor in what you do. After thousands of pages of reading for different classes, I can promise you that you will not enjoy all of it. So when you’re falling asleep on page 10 of a 30-page article about linguistic trends in Ancient Greece, look for something to laugh at in the writing itself. Make yourself smile for no reason whatsoever. Sometimes I promise myself one M&M every time I turn a page; sometimes, when things are really looking bad, I read in ridiculous half-British accents (it’s weird, I know, but it worked for Pride and Prejudice).

Find the things that make you laugh out loud when it may seem that there’s no real reason to do so.

Three years ago, I was accepted as a “Feb” at Middlebury College, meaning that I would have half of a gap year away from academia before beginning my freshman year in February at the start of the spring semester. I had asked to be a Feb, knowing that I needed time away from school in order to regain excitement for learning; however, as summer gradually turned into fall and most of my friends disappeared for their various collegiate adventures, I was still waiting for

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

mine to begin. While my friends were experiencing new and different, my life was still following the same old patterns as always.

Then, one afternoon while in Cape Cod, I bent down to pick up what I thought was a dime from the sidewalk. The coin, which I now wear around my neck, was surprisingly not from the US but from Panama. I wear this coin every day not because it brings me some sort of luck, but because it reminds me both that the world is a huge place, filled with countries I don’t know, things I have yet to explore; and that this same world is small, that I can reach out and touch it and 39

Rohan Dhir I am taking Mr. Kellogg’s valuable lessons about how to be a better student. I am leaving my best friend Ms. Coen.

be somewhere different and see something new, that there are surprises around every corner if only I watch closely.

This past fall at Middlebury, I took a class for which I read Into the Wild, the non-fictional tale of Chris McCandless, a college graduate who made his way across the US, south to Mexico, and north to Alaska, leaving his old life behind – family, money, possessions, even his name. While I do not plan on following his lead in these actions, and do not suggest that any of you do, either, I would like to present a quote as written in a letter from Chris to an older man he befriended during his travels. “There is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” Class of 2014, do not go into the Alaskan bush on an ill-fated survival adventure, but do strike out on your own, do something weird, get off of the train at a new stop. Be unusual; be different; be unexpected. Find what you love and go for it! As I have learned, your teachers and friends from Park will be here to listen to and enjoy the tales of your adventures when you return. Don’t let convention hold you down. Slack in school; be happy.

Shel Silverstein has been one of my favorite poets since third or fourth grade. I have read Where the Sidewalk Ends from cover to cover, and over the years, I have committed to memory an almost embarrassing number of his poems. Now back where I first discovered this author, it seems appropriate to end with some of Shel Silverstein’s words.

Ellie Formisano I’m taking with me memories of riding with my mother and Thacher to this very place for eleven years. I’m leaving locker #33, the one I used for all 12 of my Park sports seasons.

Eliza Grossman Both literally and figuratively, I’m taking with me Great Expectations. I’m leaving behind the dent in the fence by the lower north field from the PE biking unit.

2 0 1 4 G R A D U AT I O N A W A R D S TH E ELLEN FOWLER AWA RD FOR CITIZEN SH IP

Robert Crawford Simone Henry TH E ISA BELLA T. G ROBLEWSKI A RTS AWA RD

Ellie Laabs H EA D OF SCH OOL’S AWA RD FOR A CA D EMIC E X CEL L EN CE

Danny Little TH E JOH N SPICER AWA RD FOR U N IQU E SERV ICE

Eliza Grossman TH E CU RTIS E. SMITH ATH LETIC AWA RD

Jamie Carroll Ellie Formisano

The Joan Crocker Award for Community Service

EMILIE KENDALL

Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child, Listen to the DON’TS Listen to the SHOULDN’TS The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS Listen to the NEVER HAVES Then listen close to me — Anything can happen, child, ANYTHING can be.

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.

As promised when I visited you last week, I must mention that you, Grade IX, are totally the most fabulous, stylish, and attractive class ever (since the Class of ’08, of course). Congratulations Class of 2014!

PA President Katie McWeeny (left) presents this year’s prize to Emilie Kendall (right).

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The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

Pen Hallowell I am taking with me the memory of a campus filled with huge, beautiful trees. I am leaving ten years of walking from my house to school.

H

Class Graduation Speaker: Rami Abdul-Aziz

Simone Henry I am taking with me the experiences in China, the friends I’ve made here and abroad, and my forever-growing curiosity of language. I am leaving behind all of my wonderful teachers who taught and guided me for eleven years.

ello, I am Ramadani Akbar Abizdul-Aziz, and I have been at The Park School for almost ten years, ten Yule Fests, ten May Days, ten first days of school, one long journey. This has been a long journey – not a trip, but a journey. With trips, you usually know where you’re going, but a journey isn’t about the destination, instead it is about the time it takes to reach that final point. My time at Park has been a journey because it has been about the experiences and the details and not simply about one final big moment.

Sometimes the beginning of a voyage is hard to remember and seems so distant. When I began Park I was five. I had a Thomas the Tank Engine backpack, and I was proud that I knew the entire alphabet. Being fifteen seemed so far away and unreachable.

From the base of a mountain journey it may seem impossible to climb all the way to the top, but once you start it doesn’t seem so hard after all. I started my journey at Park by learning how to share, by remembering to follow the golden rule, and even learning how to whistle. As I got older, I learned how to read a chapter book, how to write a paragraph like a hamburger with a beginning, middle, and end, and how to multiply really big numbers.

Fourth Grade was when many things changed. The scenery changed as we moved to the North Building, the first class to be in those classrooms for two years I might add. In the middle of the journey, you look back at

where you came from there are only misty shadowy figures and ahead it is even more foggy. So at times, it felt like we were getting nowhere and there was so much school ahead of us. But then looking back we saw how far we actually had come. In the fourth grade, we were in the middle of the journey; we had reached gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, after school sports, and the catalog cancelling challenge. We had done all these things and were halfway through our journey.

Sixth Grade and the beginning of the Upper Division seemed really grown up and serious, and we were getting closer to the end of the journey. I remember learning about the Triangle Trade and reading The Giver in Mr. Eberle’s sixth grade class. When I was in sixth grade the older kids looked so big to me. As we passed through the years, the Upper Division started to feel not so overwhelming, and we realized that it was manageable after all.

Seventh Grade was when we were even closer to the end of the journey. This year we could earn varsity jackets and travel to Project R.E.A.S.O.N. We had the Probability Carnival and we became civil war generals and abolitionists after our social studies biography papers and we wrote English paper after English paper. This year was packed with a lot of activities, and everyone was able to develop connections and friendships that we still keep and will continue in our life after Park.

It’s important not to stay by yourself on your journey. At

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

Ellie Laabs I’m taking with me the footprints I’ve made on the path I’ve traveled from kindergarten all the way to ninth grade.

I’m leaving behind the road not taken, both the metaphorical one and the copy of the poem by Robert Frost, which I artfully hid somewhere in the building during my sixth grade unit on poetry.

some points you need to share the moments of the journey with others as you move along. In other words, it’s important to have friends because they help you and create the pieces of the journey with you.

Ninth Grade. Oh so close. Oh so close to your next school, oh so close to your next experience, and oh so close to the next cluster of people you will make connections with. In our ninth grade year, we realized that there wasn’t much time left to be together, and we learned to relish each individual moment. For example, the pyramid that Mr. Young orchestrated at the top of Mount Vesuvius, or the Ouija board and corn maze at Stump Sprouts.

In conclusion, the sum of a journey is not each pivotal turning point that takes your life to a whole new level but is, in fact, the small pieces that synergistically assemble and make the collage of our lives. The small details turn out to be the most important and enlightening ones. Remember that the pieces of Park that seemed miniscule are the ones that will be remembered fifty years from now. To quote Ms. Bogue Myslik’s words of wisdom in our eighth grade English class, “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” What a journey it’s been.

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Danny Little I’m taking with me the memories of drinking tea in Hangzhou, China, and leaving behind my enjoyable experiences in music here.

Class Graduation Speaker: Ian Brostowski

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Olivia Mills I’m taking with me the new person I have become after two amazing years at Park.

I’m leaving behind and passing along the nickname “Olive” to Ms. Fries’ newborn baby.

Sophie Perry I am taking with me all of the strong opinions I hold after five years at Park. I am leaving behind memories of a wonderful concussion!

P

arents, teachers, students, and alumni, my name is Ian Brostowski and I would like to welcome you to The Park School’s 126th Graduation, and more importantly the graduation of the synergetic class of ninth graders sitting beside me. Who would have thought that just ten years ago, when I was just a kindergartener; sitting in the corner of Ms. Gilligan’s class with a thumb in my mouth and my eyes glued to a book I could barely read, that I would have the honor of being one of this year’s graduation speakers.

Many people throughout my life, both in and out of Park, are responsible for making me who I am today. I know that it is the little things that my teachers and mentors have done that have made the biggest difference. And

I would like to thank some of these teachers. To Ms. Gilligan, my kindergarten teacher, I thank you for teaching me everything I need to know about manners and how to carry myself like a true gentleman.

Mrs. Rose, today I can attribute the foundation of my math and spelling skills to your first grade class. Ms. Solomon, I appreciate the important lessons we learned about social studies, by becoming class dunces in the colonial classroom at the Putterham School. Ms. Riley, your Dare to Care puppet shows taught me empathy and kindness.

These lessons and many others that I learned in the Lower and Middle Divisions are the roots that gave me the foundation to succeed in the Upper Division, and although I couldn’t understand the importance of them fully when I was younger, I now have a better appreciation for all of these things.

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

At the start of our ninth grade year, we were told that our class word was going to be synergy, although most of us were saddened that the word wasn’t saucy. Given some time, the word grew on us, because we are a team, we are always willing to go the extra mile for a classmate, and although, individually we may seem strong, when we all come together we make a class that is even stronger and is both saucy and synergetic.

Over the years I have come to the notion that Park is a home away from home because the teachers are always there for you.

They want you to learn — but still have fun, like a science related conversation on where the best place to hide pine tar is, or a game of codon bingo in science gone horribly wrong when yours truly got four in a row and shouted out the wrong name, mixing up

Kevin Rojas I’m taking with me the green thebomb. com bracelet from the Students of Color conference. And I’m leaving behind my Park varsity jacket that I lost the day I got it.

biology with growth ed. Or an English class spent trying to guess the name, date of birth, and weight of Ms. Fries’ baby. Did anyone guess Olive, born on June 7th?

At Park, I am comfortable making mistakes — well maybe a little too comfortable, but I know that if my classmates or I ever crosses the line our teachers will be there to nudge us in the right direction.

Sorry, Mr. Beaver, and thank you for the patience you showed when I pushed the line maybe a little too much. I’ll do my best to work on my filter for next year.

I would also like to think that throughout the years my classmates and I have imparted some wisdom and knowledge that has somehow touched your lives too. Ms. Chen, I know that you have learned not to drink coffee when Danny and I are in an especially joking mood.

Ms. Fries, we did our best to teach

Patrick Rose I am taking my terrible comedy, exemplified every Friday at lunch until I got booed offstage. I’m leaving behind the thousands of pens and pencils I have lost.

you to stay away from Comic Sans, because it is the worst font. Mr. Tisi, I think you have learned to let the sixth grade angry birds do their own thing and that it is best not to intervene. To all of our teachers, I hope that you have learned that if you give us the chance, we are capable of amazing things.

I know that I will never forget some of the experiences I have had at Park School, from a “friendly” game of basketball at recess with the seventh graders, to the lengthy yet, somewhat “rewarding” exams, that no matter how long I studied for, I still cried a little on the inside when I saw them, I’m looking at you English teachers.

Although I have treasured each of these moments and will miss them dearly, what I will miss the most are the friendships that have been in the making for the majority of my life with teachers, mentors, and peers. It is crazy that just last year we were eagerly counting down the minutes to summer, and another upcoming year at the same school with the same people. Now we are counting down the minutes, holding on to each second, until we have to say goodbye. However, I assure you, that despite our bittersweet splitting of branches, our roots still are connected to the same tree, the Park Oak. So I wish you all good luck as you move on to your next schools, and to your futures. I know that we all will succeed, and go forward with the tools to be saucy and synergetic. Thank you.

Brianna Silva I’m taking with me my quiet and creative personality. I’m leaving my younger brother Brandon.

NEXT SCHOOLS FOR THE CLASS OF 2014

Ramadani Abdul-Aziz Boston Trinity Academy Charlotte Blum

The Cambridge School of Weston

Ian Brostowski

The Rivers School

James Carroll

The Rivers School

Robert Crawford

The Roxbury Latin School

Adelaide Daly

Dana Hall School

Rohan Dhir

Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Eleanor Formisano

Phillips Academy, Andover

Eliza Grossman

Concord Academy

Penrose Hallowell

Dexter School

Simone Henry

The Cambridge School of Weston

Ellie Laabs

Commonwealth School

Daniel Little

Milton Academy

Olivia Mills

Boston Latin School

Sophia Perry

Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Kevin Rojas

Boston Trinity Academy

Patrick Rose

Portsmouth Abbey School

Brianna Silva

The Ethel Walker School

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

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“The sum of each journey is . . . the small pieces that synergistically assemble and make the collage of our lives.”

— Rami Abdul-Aziz

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“What I will miss most are the friendships that have been in the making for most of my life with teachers, mentors, and peers.”

— Ian Brostowski

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REUNION2014

A

lumni from the classes ending in ‘4’ and ‘9’ returned to Park on a Saturday in mid-May to celebrate their Reunion!

The festivities took place in Park’s Library where Alumni had the chance to reminisce and reconnect over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Alumni were joined by present and former Park faculty and staff, and Lower Division Head Andrew Segar briefly addressed the group with some snapshots of life at Park today. The party continued around the Boston area at individual class dinners off campus. Many thanks to the dozens of Reunion volunteers who helped to make Reunion 2014 a memorable event for everyone who attended.

We look forward to seeing the ‘5s’ and ‘0s’ next spring!

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At right, top to bottom: Andrew Grandin ’04, Rena LaRusso ’04, and Andrew Koris ’04; Bob Thomas, Polly Hoppin ’74, and Kenzie Bok ’04; Caron Lipsky Savenor ’84, Laura Church Wilmerding ’84, and Phoebe Gallagher Winder ’84

Right: Will Driscoll ’04 checks out some old class photos

Below, left to right: Guests enjoy the cocktail reception at Reunion; Lindsay Segar ’99, Caitlin Tierney ’99, and Susanna Whitaker-Waters ’99; Charles Li, Andrew Koris, and Will Driscoll (all Class of 2004) reminisce over their yearbook.

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

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Class of 1974 Back L-R: Heather Crocker, Stephen Villee, George Schuller, Beth Haffenreffer Scholle, Chris Paci, Polly Hoppin, Christopher Randolph, Rodger Cohen Class of 1979 Back L-R: Margie Talcott, Nina Frusztajer, Ruth Carroll Flanagan, Holly Dando, Steven Gaklis, Headmaster Emeritus Bob Hurlbut, Lalla Carothers, Nadia Belash McKay Class of 1984 Alex Heard, Laura Church Wilmerding, Anne Collins Goodyear, Caron Lipsky Savenor, Phoebe Gallagher Winder, Brad Moriarty Class of 1989 back row left to right: Jonathan Mitchell, Catherine Rowbotham, Libby Dunphy, Robert Colby, Allison Morse, front row L to R: Jessica Stone Baker, Emily Potts Callejas, Ali Epker Ruch, Jordan Scott

1974

1984

1979

1989

1999 Class of 1994 Back row L to R: Hilary Sargent, Joanna Bengel, Yanni Tsipis, Celeste Schmid, Alan Bern, Jennifer Berylson Block, Jenny Shoukimas, Elizabeth Mayer, Brian Swett Class of 1999 Susanna Whitaker-Waters, Lindsay Segar, Caitlin Tierney

1994

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Class of 2004 Back left to right: Andrew Grandin, Andrew Koris, Kenzie Bok, Rena LaRusso, Liz Wilsker, Charles Li, Will Driscoll

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

2004

SAVEE TH DATE

S AT U R D AY

MAY

1938

19

Class Representative Putty McDowell

1945 Class Representative Natalie Park Shutz

1948

Alumni Notes

Class Representative Renny Little Renny Little writes, “My news is that my son Bob (Park School Athletic Director) rode his bike in the Pan-Mass Challenge in August with three of his close friends to raise funds for a Dana Farber Mammography Van in memory of the wife of one his college classmates.

As for me, I am busy helping to found (and fund) a group of organizations currently called the ‘Museum Muster.’ Located primarily in the Boston area, the Muster educates citizens of all ages about the American Revolution.”

S A T U R D AY

MAY

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REUNION2015 If you are interested in helping to plan your reunion, please contact Rena LaRusso ’04, Director of Alumni Relations 617-274-6022 or alumni@parkschool.org 10TH REUNION: 15TH REUNION: 20TH REUNION: 25TH REUNION: 30TH REUNION: 35TH REUNION:

Read about Renny Little’s other good works on p. 24.

40TH REUNION: 45TH REUNION:

1953

Class of 2005 Class of 2000 Class of 1995 Class of 1990 Class of 1985 Class of 1980 Class of 1975 Class of 1970

Class Representative Bob Bray

1965

1955 Class Representative Needed!

After reading the Spring Bulletin filled with Park history, Jerry Wigglesworth wrote that he remembers a Park song that goes: March along together, mile after mile.

The road lies before us, Greet it with a smile . . .

“I don’t recall the rest, but when I sang it for my father, he said that the last line wasn’t the one I knew but ‘Three cheers for Harvard and down with Yale.’” Jerry continues, “We raise Border Leicesters, Elizabeth Eakins and I, and she makes carpets. There’s plenty of grass in the Flint Hills and we don’t need or use chemicals for oats and alfalfa and prairie hay.”

1963 Class Representative Amy Lampert

“Hello to many classmates in this or surrounding years: Dick Porter, Steve Gabriel, Andrew Barron, Chip Morre, Peter Dean, Jennifer Watts, and Eleanor Burnham.

Hope all is well. You can email me at w1sgt@yahoo.com.”

Hammond Residential Real Estate in Chestnut Hill as a senior VP of branch operations and I LOVE IT! My wife of 30+ years is doing well with her men’s clothing line called J. Hilburn and our daughter Catharine is headed to the DAVE School in September to study and learn more about animation, design and visual effects. She graduated from Mount Holyoke a year ago.

1966

1968

Class Representative Wigs Frank

Class Representative Vicky Hall Kehlenbeck

Read about Emily Burr’s work as a Peace Corps volunteer on p. 25.

1970

50th Reunion

Class Representative Needed!

William Whittemore wrote to say,

1967 Class Representative Davis Rowley Denny Jacobs just got a new puppy and his daughter, Sophie, is at Lehigh University. Davis Rowley’s news is that he is “now working for

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

45th Reunion

Class Representative Needed!

Nick Nyhart loves being back in Boston after 33 years in Connecticut.

“Our youngest, Maris, is nearby at Tufts, while Hannah is at the University of Chicago with our oldest, Sam, also in Chicago, pursuing an acting career.”

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Clockwise from top left: Annie Lloyd Witte ’74 sent in this photo of her family, husband Nick and sons Jarvis and Paul; Tiina Bougas Smith ’76 married Lawrence Rand on December 30, 2013; Wendi Daniels ’79, wearing a beautiful kimono, demonstrates origami with her nephew’s Grade II class at Park; 1984 classmates Brad Moriarity, Kate McNay, Alex Heard, Caron Lipsky Savenor, Phoebe Gallagher Winder and Anne Collins Goodyear at their 25th reunion dinner.

1973

1974

Class Representative Rick Berenson

Class Representatives Margaret Smith Bell Rodger Cohen

Anne Phillips Ogilby is “still busy

practicing law at Ropes & Gray, working on health care/genomics/ higher ed. My daughter is a senate staffer in D.C., and my son is a sophomore at Princeton. Best to all!”

Macy Ratliff is working as an ESL teacher, kids’ yoga instructor, and after school tutor in the beautiful Northwest. “In my free time I love to practice yoga, run, kayak, swim and cross country ski. My daughter Katherine is starting a MS in nutrition at Bastyr University and Hilary studies landscape architecture at the University of Washington.” Macy reports that she has many fond memories of her Park years including: May Pole Dances to Rocket Club to Man A Course of Study and most importantly the incredible teachers!

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1975

40th Reunion

Class Representatives Colin McNay Bill Sullivan

1976 Class Representative Tenney Mead Cover

1977 Class Representative Sam Solomon

1979 Class Representatives Sally Solomon Lalla Carothers

Holly Dando recently completed the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy’s Integrated Trauma Studies program, and completed training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).

“I’m using all these new skills in my work in HIV/AIDS and in my new role as a clinician for Cornell’s Headstrong Project providing psychotherapy to veterans with PTSD.” Wendi Daniels tells us that her nephew, Ben Madden, was in Kat Callard’s Grade II class at Park last year. Wendi came to teach kids more about games and toys in Japan as part of their social studies global studies unit. “Everyone had a lot of fun!”

Read about Hilary Hart’s work as a court appointed special advocate in Taos, New Mexico on p. 26.

1980

35th Reunion

Class Representative Susan Schorr

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

1981 Class Representatives Matt Carothers Alex Mehlman

1982 Class Representative Allison Nash Mael

1983 Class Representatives Lisa Livens Freeman Elise Mott In July, Josh Wolman and his family moved from Washington, D.C. to Aspen, Colorado where he will be the Head of Aspen Country Day School. “Please don’t hesitate to be in touch if you are in the area.”

Read about Laurie Kohn’s work as helping victims of domestic violence in Washington, DC on p. 28.

The Alumni Award for Distinguished Service to The Park School

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 Suzie Tapson presented the award on behalf of the Alumni Committee.

Abbott Lawrence, Class of 1985 Since graduating from Grade IX in 1985, Abbott Lawrence has epitomized the “active Park alumnus.” Always a champion of the alumni program, Abbott helped found Park’s Alumni Committee in 1998. He now co-chairs the Committee and continues to support Park as both a parent and an alumnus through his dedicated service to and involvement with the School.

Abbott is a tenacious fundraiser who helped launch the School’s first Alumni Annual Fund, and then chaired it single-handedly for over five years.

In 2009, Abbott served as a Co-chair of the Alumni Challenge Committee, which successfully raised $500,000 for the School’s Foundations for the Future capital campaign, earning a $500,000 matching gift by an anonymous Park graduate. More recently in 2012 and 2013, Abbott co-chaired the Alumni Annual Fund yet again.

In addition to his work with alumni fundraising, Abbott is an outspoken proponent of the overall alumni program and has strategized ways for alumni to remain connected to Park. In 2009 and 2010, Abbott served on the Alumni Engagement Task Force, a group of 16 alumni who developed a comprehensive Engagement Plan for alumni of the School. From this task force came the establishment of the ‘February Fete,’ an evening in downtown Boston for alumni which celebrated its fifth anniversary this year with more than

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

100 attendees. Most recently, Abbott helped organize his own 25th reunion, using his natural proficiency as a leader and organizer to galvanize his classmates.

Abbott’s connections to Park run deep. Since his great-grandmother, Mrs. Edward D. Brandegee, was tutored by Miss Caroline Pierce in the late 19th century, generations of the Brandegee-Lawrence-Albright family have attended The Park School.

Abbott’s father Edward Lawrence (Class of 1956), his aunt Lee Lawrence Albright (Class of 1954), and his uncles James and Robert Lawrence (Classes of 1951 and 1965 respectively), attended the “old” school on Kennard Road. In the 1980s, Abbott and his sister Eloise (Class of 1988), and their cousins Martina (Class of 1983), Tara (Class of 1984), and Lars (Class of 1990) Albright attended the “new” school on Goddard Avenue. Now, a fourth generation is at Park: Abbott’s son, Amos, is in the Class of 2021, and his daughter, Estelle, joined the Class of 2024 in September.

Abbott continually thinks of ways to promote and expand meaningful alumni involvement, and we are extremely fortunate to have him as a dedicated volunteer at Park. We are deeply grateful for Abbott’s leadership, time, and commitment to the School.

His passionate service to Park will continue to inspire others to stay connected and give back.

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laugh, but the education I was fortunate enough to receive at Park speaks for itself.”

1984

1988

Class Representative Anne Collins Goodyear

Class Representative Liza Cohen Gates

Anne Collins Goodyear enjoyed

David Robinson graduated from USC Medical School at in May. He will be in Boston next to do his residency in psychiatry. Way to go, Dave!

attending her 30th Park Reunion this spring. She and her husband, Frank Goodyear, now co-direct the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Bruswick, Maine. “Please come visit us!”

1985

30th Reunion

Class Representative Rachel Levine Foley

1986 Class Representatives Mark Epker Jay Livens

1987 Class Representatives Mary Sarah Baker Fairweather Geoffrey Glick Geoff Glick’s two children, Jason (8) and Alexa (5) are having fantastic summers at camp “and they keep my wife Nikki and me very busy.

My orthodontics practice in Medfield is thriving and my career as an orthodontist has helped me stay in touch with a number of my Park classmates seeking dental advice or treatment. I see my old Park hockey and soccer teammate Josh Dunsky from time to time and I have had nice conversations with Kate Milliken and Natalie Coggeshall in the past year. They all seem to be doing very well!”

Read about Eloise Lawrence’s work with the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau on p. 30.

1989 Class Representatives Dahlia Aronson Ian Glick Rebecca Lewin Scott

1990

1992

25 Reunion

Class Representatives Zachary Cherry Alexander Rabinsky Congratulations to Christina DeVaughn who began a new position at Facing History and Ourselves as the coordinator of the office of the executive director. Christina writes, “I know that Park uses Facing History, and I’m very proud to be working for such a wonderful organization. I am also proud to be able to say that my affiliation with Park was a factor in my being offered this position. Just today I was editing a document for the Executive Director, who was struggling with the placement of a comma. She decided to defer to my suggestion since I ‘was educated at THE Park School!’

She was joking and we had a good

1995

Elizabeth Sandman writes, “I just got engaged! Working at the VA Medical Center in West Roxbury in primary care and teaching medical students and residents at Harvard and Boston University.” “Congratulations to Todd Prives, whose company, Zync Render, was acquired

by Google this fall. Todd is the vice president of marketing and business development.

Class Representative Lilla Curran

Class Representatives Jessica Ko Beck Jaime Quiros Alison Ross Jaime Quiros and his wife are

expecting their first child, who is due in late December. They are living in Rockville, Maryland. Jessica Ko Beck lives in Lincoln and works at the family car business (Wellesley Toyota and Lev Kia of Framingham). She writes, “I am expecting my fourth child in September!”

Dave Robinson ’88 and his Park classmate, Nick Tarlov, on Dave’s medical school graduation day.

Phil Gambone and Melissa Rubin ’88, who now helps out with academic support services at Boston University Academy, where Phil (former Park faculty) teaches.

Phil just finished his 40th year in education!

Stay connected with Park online by following us at “Park School Alums” Facebook www.facebook.com/ParkSchoolAlums Instagram Follow us @ParkSchoolAlums LinkedIn Request to join our group “Park School Alums” Twitter www.twitter.com/ParkSchoolAlums

FOL L O W U S A N D STAY CONNECTED W ITH PAR K!

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Class Representatives Alan Bern Aba Taylor

Class Representative Needed!

1993 th

1994

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

20th Reunion

Read about Fred Papali’s work as a volunteer with Physicians for Human Rights on p. 32.

1996 Class Representatives Kathrene Tiffany Bell Nick Brescia Merrill Hawkins Katayoun Shahroki Read about Liz Prives’s work as an early childhood educator on p. 34.

1997 Class Representatives Sarah Conway Suzy McManmon Sarah Robbat Jennifer Goldstein is an Assistant Attorney General for Massachusetts and lives in the North End of Boston with her husband David.

Clockwise from top left: Chris Burrage ’01 (left) celebrates with Park classmates George Denny and Caitlin Taylor on the evening before Chris’s wedding; At Springfest in May, Greg Cope ’71 and Rena LaRusso ’04 staffed the Alumni table; Emma Thomas ’06 and Eliza Thomas ’11 on the last day of their hike in Spain this summer; Former Park teacher Phil Gambone with Park alumni Ariane CurtinBowen ‘11 and Ben Palmere ‘11.

They are pictured at the BUA graduation, where Phil now teaches

1998

2000

Class Representatives Lydia Hawkins Meg Lloyd Sarah Swettberg

1999 Class Representatives Colin Arnold Elizabeth Weyman Susanna Whitaker Waters Susanna Whitaker Waters writes,

“My husband Willie and I welcomed our daughter Ainsley Whitaker Waters on September 1, 2013. It was fun to hear the latest at Park through my sister-in-law, Jessica Waters, who served as a second grade teaching assistant this year. I also enjoyed seeing lots of Lindsay Segar, Caitlin Tierney, and Margaret Gormley at reunion and on the wedding circuit! I look forward to seeing Liz Stahl soon who is busy as the director of social media for Beats Music out in LA.”

2001

2005

Class Representative Jessica Whitman

Class Representative Ben Bullit

Class Representative Lily Bullit

Sarah Redd is the new coordinator for adult tennis at Sportsmen’s Tennis Club in Dorchester. The Club’s announcement says, “If you’ve been at Sportsmen’s for a while, you HAVE to know Coach Sara. She grew up as a high performing junior at Sportsmen’s, went off to Spelman College (where she later became the Head Tennis Coach), and came back to Sportsmen’s after returning to Boston for grad school. Since then, she’s played on the Women’s A team, and coaches at every junior program level that we offer. Sara’s enthusiasm is palpable, and while she has great ideas for growing and supporting our adult tennis programs, she’s also anxious to hear from those of you who have been playing with us for a while about what else you would like to see.”

Many Park friends gathered to celebrate the wedding of Chris Burrage and Lindsey Bruett in June. Unfortunately, they didn’t take a big Park picture! But if they had it would include: George Denny, Caitlin

15th Reunion

Taylor, Rebecca Spiro, Alyssa Burrage Scott ’92, Katharine Burrage Schmitt ’95, Amanda Burrage ’97, Susannah Burrage ’04, and Buzz Burrage ’57.

2003 Class Representative Diana Rutherford

2004 Class Representative Steven Fox

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

10th Reunion

2006 Class Representative McCall Cruz

2007 Class Representatives Thomas Cope Benjamin Schwartz

2008 Class Representatives Manizeh Afridi Marielle Rabins

2009 Class Representatives Mercedes Garcia-Orozco Cary Williams

53

2010

2012

Class Representatives Annie Goodridge Gilad Seckler Michela Thomsen

Class Representatives Enya Meade Jaleel Williams

2011 Class Representatives Grace Donnell-Kilmer Eliza Thomas “I’m currently in Barcelona,” Eliza Thomas writes, “but the majority of my time abroad has been spent with my sister (Emma Thomas ’06) hiking the Camino de Santiago, a 790-kilometer hiking path across the northern part of Spain. It’s been wonderful to have this chunk of time together amidst a time of transition for both of us; she’s starting a new job in Rhode Island and I’m heading off to Carleton College in the fall. No better way to spend time with someone than to take a really long walk together!”

2013 Class Representatives Maddie Hurley Kat Mitchell

2014 Class Representatives Ellie Formisano Olivia Mills

Read about Amy Simpson’s volunteer work in Haiti on p. 35.

Summer at Park keeps the campus humming in the summer with 25+ specialty and general camps. Many counselors and lifeguards are Park alumni: Row 1 (seated) Maddie Cary ’11, India Davis ’03, Mercedes Garcia-Orozco ’09, Sarah Bowers ’08, Sylvie Florman ’11, Meg Lloyd ’98 and Anna Porter ’07; Row 2 (standing) Will Cary ’11, Henry Lucey ’09, Connor Woods ’09, Julian Sahyoun ’09, Nick Cary ’09, Brendan Yucel ’10, Nina Levine ’13, Chloe Sahyoun ’11, Enya Meade ’12 and Sarah Power ’14. Missing from photo: Dana Welshman-Studley ’85 and George Lucey ’11, along with Counselors in Training Brianna Silva ’14, Charlie and Chris Mathews ’14, Chris Marcus ’14 and Kevin Rojas ’14.

COLLEGE CHOICES FO R THE

CLASS OF 2011

Chapin Atwood Bassil Bacare Quinn Beaver Sarah Bell Daniel Benett Zachary Bennett-Engler Lucas Black Adam Carlson William Cary Madeleine Cary Tarin Chally Morgan Cheek Diana Chin Sarah Clavijo Daniel Colombo Ariane Curtin-Bowen Benjamin Daly Grace Donnell-Kilmer Hadley Edie Simon English Sylvie Florman Anna Fubini Sophia Griffith-Gorgati James Haviland Hannah Hecht Catharine Hemp Michael Herring Miranda Hunter Miles Hunter Jennifer Isaacson Matthew Johnson Troy Casson Joseph Isabella Julian Alexis M. Kelly Danielle Kim Gohtaro Kobata Elizabeth Koris George Lucey Lilah Davison Lutes Emma Mehlman Isabel Meltzer Katherine Mentzer Paul Mitchell Henry Muggia Caroline Muggia Bernardo Pacini Jacob Pagano Benjamin Palmere Jacob Philbin-Cross Erik Reed Oliver Albert Rordorf Carter Rose Ethan Ruder Chloe Sahyoun Arielle Silbersweig Amy Simpson Anika Singh Noa Sklar Ryan Smith Allison Tearney Tenzin Thargay Eliza Thomas Michelle Tsai

Gap year — City Year then Colby College Trinity College Northeastern University Stanford University Columbia University Georgetown University Rochester Institute of Technology Colby College Harvard University University of Vermont Washington University in St. Louis Harvard University Princeton University Boston College Curry College Bennington College Boston College Loyola University Maryland University of Wisconsin, Madison Eugene Lang College, The New School Oberlin College Dana Hall, Class of 2015 University of Pennsylvannia Rochester Institute of Technology Pomona College Wellesley College University of Virginia (fall 2015) Franklin & Marshall College Union College Colby College Northwestern University Cornell University Gap year University of Vermont Georgetown University Bates College Trinity College Colby College University of Southern California Washington University in St. Louis Syracuse University Dartmouth College Tabor Academy, Class of 2015 Brown University Middlebury College Princeton University Amherst College Brandeis University Connecticut College Skidmore College Milton Academy, Class of 2015 Dover-Sherborn High School, Class of 2015 Washington University in St. Louis Concord Academy, Class of 2015 Amherst College Connecticut College University College Dublin Medical School University of Miami, Florida Harvard University Vanderbilt University University of Massachusetts, Amherst Carleton College New York University

Please note that the above list, compiled by the Alumni Office, does not include all members of the Class of 2011. Alumni not appearing on this list have not submitted their information to our office. Please call the Alumni Office at 617-274-6022 or email at alumni@parkschool.org with any changes or additional information. Thank you.

54

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

Clockwise from top left: Chris Burrage ’01 and his new wife, Lindsey Bruett, celebrating with their dog, Ellie; Anna Sullivan’s baby Maxilien sporting his new Park School bib; Astrid Peterson Burns’s baby Sigrid was born last October; Elizabeth Berylson Katz’s baby Thomas was born in June.

Weddings

In Memoriam

Richard E. Murray

1976

Katharine V. Belash

Tiina Bougas Smith and

October 7, 2013 Mother of Renata Belash ’75 and Nadia Belash McKay ’79

Lawrence A. Rand December 30, 2013 2001

Warren Burroughs

Christopher Burrage and

May 27, 2014 Grandfather of Tess Batchelder ’22, Christopher Batchelder ’22, and Elizabeth Batchelder ’21

Lindsey Diesl Bruett June 7, 2014

Arrivals 1995 Anna Sullivan

Nicholas Frost ’82

1998 Astrid Peterson Burns and

Robert Katz Thomas Joseph Katz June 4, 2014

David Lawton 44 Lewis Avenue Arlington, MA 02474 Dr. Herbert J. Levine

July 11, 2014 Father of Andrew Levine ’81 and Rachel Levine Foley ’85

Robert Gardner ’41

June 21, 2014 Carole Lawton

Elizabeth Berylson Katz and

Carole and David Lawton with their grandson, Ollie.

colleagues. Please send your correspondence to:

September 25, 2014 Brother of Kitta Frost Friar ’74

2001

Christine McNutt Oates

April 30, 2014 Grandmother of Sam Oates ’99 and Christopher Oates ’05

Julie Miller Felty

October 4, 2013 Mother of Nancy Felty McKinney ’90

Maximilien Buckley Reiser May 28, 2014

Thomas Burns Sigrid Burns October 10, 2013

May 17, 2014 Father of Carole Murray Bonpun ’80

August 14, 2014 Wife of former Grade IV and music teacher David Lawton David would enjoy hearing from former students, families, and

Lisa Simonds Maynard

August 8, 2014 Trustee 1961–67; President of the Parents’ Association 1965–66 Sister of Ted Maynard ’71, Elizabeth Maynard Gordon ’72, Ginny Maynard Gordon ’74, and Daniel Maynard ’76

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

Anne Godley St. Goar

July 23, 2014 Mother of Anne St. Goar ’66, Elizabeth St. Goar ’68, Janet St. Goar ’69, and Frederick St. Goar ’71 Donald F. Winter

April 5, 2014 Father of Andrew Winter ’82, Matthew Winter ’83, and Anthony Winter ’86 Grandfather of Ethan Winter ’12 and Reed Winter ’14 Caroline M. Wright ’60

May 25, 2014 Sister of Rosamond Wright Reiber ’58 and Louise Wright Huntoon ’64

55

NEXT SCHOOLS FOR THE CLASS OF 2015

Isabelle Antonelli Eloise Baker Isabelle Balson Evelyn Baranski Molly Chiang Adam Cohen Neila Connaughton William Connaughton Tristan Edwards Constance Faling Serey Flanagan Charlotte Fox Lily Franks Jeremy Freedman Annabelle Fulton Dahlia Gordon Isabella Hartshorn Timothy Hartshorn

Newton North High School Milton Academy Concord Academy Beaver Country Day School Milton Academy Beaver Country Day School Noble and Greenough School The Roxbury Latin School Commonwealth School Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Concord Academy Noble and Greenough School Newton Public School Beaver Country Day School Beaver Country Day School Brookline High School Brookline High School

Grady Hayes Priscilla Hodgkins Jordan Hurley Rebecca Isaacson Evan Jacobson Matthew Kaufman Rebecca Kendall Alexander Ketterson Anna Kraft Madeline Mills Lucas Mueller Nihal Raman Annabel Reay Isabella Riehl Joshua Silbersweig Jessica Smith David Tsai

Save the Date Yule Festival and Bagel Breakfast

BECOME A

Class Representative Stay in touch with friends!

Gather class news for the Bulletin!

Help plan your reunion!

Want to learn more?

Classes of 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 Friday, December 19

Please contact Rena LaRusso ’04 Director of Alumni Relations 617-274-6022 or alumni@parkschool.org

56

The Roxbury Latin School Roland Hall School (Utah) Concord Academy Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Brookline High School Concord Academy Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Concord Academy Beaver Country Day School Noble and Greenough School Brookline High School Milton Academy Newton Public School Noble and Greenough School Beaver Country Day School Milton Academy Phillips Academy Andover

The Park Bulletin | Fall 2014

Breakfast 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

The Park School Dining Room Yule Festival 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

The West Gymnasium

2014 Alumni Achievement Award:

Sadia Shepard ’90 Park is proud to honor writer and documentary filmmaker Sadia Shepard ’90 as the 2014 recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award.

S

adia Shepard is a writer and documentary filmmaker based in New York City. Sadia grew up in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, the daughter of a Muslim mother, Christian father, and Jewish grandmother.

Her critically acclaimed first book, The Girl from Foreign: A Memoir, was published by The Penguin Press in 2008 and traces the two years she spent in India uncovering her complicated family legacy.

As described by The Washington Post: “As our personal memories turn into history, all too often the colors are leached from them. But Sadia Shepard tints the colors back in. We see lavish Muslim weddings, Jewish villages hidden in Indian jungles,

earnest lovers reaching across religion and culture. The author’s laudable accomplishment is that she yanks her grandmother’s story from the coffin of forgetfulness and breathes it back into life.”

In addition to writing, Sadia produces documentary films. Her current project, The Other Half of Tomorrow, features stories of dynamic Pakistani women working to change their country. Previously, Sadia produced The Education of Mohammed Hussain for HBO Films, which was nominated for a 2014 Independent Documentary Association Award. She also produced The September Issue, a behind the scenes portrait of the making of Vogue, which won the Excellence

in Cinematography Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Sadia attended Park for six years, where she became interested in visual art, theater, and creative writing. She graduated from Milton Academy in 1993, and received her BA in Film Studies from Wesleyan University, and an MA in Communication from Stanford University. In 2001, Sadia was a Fulbright Scholar to India. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Wall Street Journal Magazine. Sadia teaches creative writing at Hunter College in New York City and lectures widely about Pakistan and about growing up in a multifaith home.

N O M I N AT I O N S S O U G H T F O R :

THE PARK A L UMNI AC HI E V ME NT AWAR D This award is given to the Park alumnus/ alumna who exemplifies the School’s values and educational mission through 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.

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

by December 1, 2014 to be considered for the 2015 award.

Send nominations to alumni@ parkschool.org or The Park School Alumni Office, 171 Goddard Ave., Brookline, MA 02115

The Park School 171 Goddard Avenue Brookline, Massachusetts 02445

Change service requested

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Boston, Massachusetts Permit No. 55643

Parents of Alumni If this publication is addressed to your child and he or she no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please notify the Alumni Office of the new mailing address. 617.274.6022 or alumni@parkschool.org. Thank you!