Grade Lead Us Out 2
celebration: Grade IX Lead Us Out
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The Grade IX program holds a special place in the fabric of school life and it has made a transformational difference in the lives of many Park students, faculty, and families. For 49 years,
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Park’s oldest students were asked to lead—both 4
literally and figuratively—on a daily basis. And, at the end of every Morning Meeting, following the moment of silence, the speaker at the podium would close by saying, “Ninth Grade, Lead Us Out.” That phrase seemed like a fitting title for an event designed to celebrate, remember, and say goodbye to the Grade IX program. On the evening of September 29, hundreds of former ninth grade students (from the 1970s to the very last ninth grade graduates of 2016), parents of alumni, and current and former faculty gathered first in the library, and then filled the theater for an informative and moving evening of reflections and a video presentation that is posted on Park’s website. In the following pages, we present some highlights.
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The Park School Bulletin
fall 2016
5 1 Julia Holton ’15 reads her poem, “Imagining the Gold of Graduation Day,” a response poem to Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” 2 Olivia Moorehead-Slaughter and Olamide Olatunji ’07 3 Kay Peterson and Merle Jacobs 4 Wanda Holland Greene 5 Diane Wright and Brandon Johnson 6 Colin McNay ’75 and Toni Gilligan 7 Charles Li ’04 and Dana Welshman-Studley ’85 8 Michael Maynard, Annabelle Ambrose, and Jerry Cathey 9 Alice Perera Lucey ’77, Jerry Katz, and Wanda Holland Greene 10 Chloe Page ’15, Kym Morris ’15, and Moni Sparrow ’15 11 Eliza Drachman-Jones Quincy ’98, and John Rich, creator of the Grade IX Lead Us Out video. 12 Cynthia A. Harmon
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13 Diana Walcott ’85 and Ben Lampert ’07 14 David Ball ’85, Betsy Ball, and Vinny Chiang 15 Emma Tiedemann ’08 and Olivia Cinquegrana ’08 16 Rodger Cohen ’74 and Polly Hoppin ’74 17 Bob Hurlbut 18 Miriam Posner ’03 and Laneisha Gray ’03 19 Jerry Katz 20 Curt Miller and Elizabeth Sandman Norian ’92 21 Emilia “Mimi” Stubbe ’03 and Judy Hale 22 Janina Galler, Elizabeth Sandman Norian ’92, and Alexis Lelon 23 Merle Jacobs, Ira Wilson, and Kevin Maroni 24 Mikayla Paquette ’16, Orly Burnes ’16, and Natalie Hatton ’16 25 Fred Hoppin, Tom Smith, and Snowden Henry ’80 26 Lynn Prives and Helen Burrage 27 Cary Williams ’09 and Sophie Moss ’09