Pomfret Magazine — Winter 2022 by Pomfret School

BRAIN BRAIN BRAIN CHANGER CHANGER CHANGER BRAIN BRAIN BRAIN BRAIN POMFRET MAGAZINE

How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching at Pomfret Fret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at neuroscience is changing Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing How the way we think about teaching the and learning Pomfret. How neuroscience is at changing the way we think way we thinkatabout teaching and learning Pomfret. about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How neuroscience is changing the way we thinkIn Conversation about teaching and learningBreaking at Pomfret. How neuroscience is with Zenab Keita ’10 New Ground Chapel Talk Inside: changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. How WINTER 2022

CHANGER CHANGER CHANGER CHANGER

BRAIN BRAIN BRAIN CHANGER

CHANGER CHANGER The Athletic partnerships manager speaks up.

A flurry of capital improvements.

Pet Peeves & Baby Lions.

Contents 02

TIM TALK

CHAPEL TALK

ON THE HILLTOP

CLASS NOTES

IN MEMORIAM

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

ICONOGRAPHY

Head of School Tim Richards takes delight in the small things

New Wellbeing Department, Millbrook rivalry, and feeding the Quiet Corner

Javier Alonso Valcarcel ’22

Josh Lake, Science Department Head

Pomfret School 398 Pomfret Street • PO Box 128 Pomfret, CT 06258-0128 860.963.6100 www.pomfret.org Editor Garry Dow gdow@pomfret.org Proofreaders Corrine King Tina Lefevre P ’21 Class Notes Editor Deb Thurston dthurston@pomfret.org

Bridget Horst ’22 on pet peeves and baby lions

Book corner, new alumni association president, and New Canaan tennis

Remembering those we lost

The Tuck

We Want to Hear from You Really, we do. These are your stories and this is your magazine. If we’ve inspired, challenged, or disappointed you, please tell us about it. Our Mission Pomfret School empowers students to pursue lives of purpose and meaning. Pomfret Magazine is published by Pomfret’s Communications Office © 2022 Printed on recycled stock by a facility that is both certified by the FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council) and is an EPA Green Power partner.

Design Jordan Kempain Contributing Writers Tim Richards P ’15 Josh Lake Chip Lamb P ’09, ’11 Photographers Jim Gipe (Pivot Media) Corrine King Tina Lefevre P ’21 Lindsay Lehmann P ’24 Jamey McSweeney

Pomfret School does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, handicap, gender, sexual orientation, age, or national origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, financial aid, or other programs administered by the School.

features 30

Brainchanger

How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret.

34 38

In Conversation with Zenab Keita ’10 The Athletic partnerships manager speaks up.

Breaking New Ground

Pomfret has embarked on a flurry of capital improvement projects.

TIM TALK

Watch the Chapel Talk

Small Delights By Tim Richards, Head of School

n a recent Netflix special, comedian Aziz Ansari, commenting on the state of the world today, opined "Everything is a little bit lousier.” Though his actual word choice was somewhat more profane than “lousier.” He was speaking to a widespread weariness that people everywhere are experiencing as a function of the disruption to our lives foisted upon us by Covid-19. Even here at Pomfret, a very cheerful place, things still occasionally feel a bit off. We are at last no longer wearing masks — and are happy for it — and we are working really hard to make things feel “right,” even as we accept every day that life isn’t quite back to where we would like it to be. Back on February 25, I spoke in Chapel to our community about a tool I’ve recently added to my Covid-malaisefighting toolbox. This is no new fangled device; it is no more revolutionary than a Phillips head screwdriver. It is also something that each of us has at our disposal, but whose power to lift us up at difficult moments we sometimes simply forget. Last summer I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and, after a mostly successful surgery in September, I learned late this fall that further treatments would be necessary, which are underway. Motivated by two thoughtful and generous gifts I recently received on the heels of my most recent (post-surgery) news, I have been making daily use of this tool, and the impact has been amazing. The first gift was a journal I received from colleague Katie Duglin, herself a cancer survivor, who thought I might like to have a place to jot down my thoughts as I continue my journey to full health. The second gift came from a parent, herself also a cancer patient, who presented me with a beautiful book written by poet Ross Gay entitled The Book of Delights, a collection of

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essays about the author’s daily (or almost daily) chronicling of the small things in life that delight and often surprise him over the course of a single calendar year. It is a powerful testament to the importance of being mindful, of being present, of living in the moment so that life’s little joys don’t pass us by without notice or impact. And so with inspiration from this caring colleague and a poet via a Pomfret parent, I set out to be a more mindful observer of my world — not so much seeking out delights, but being more intentional about noticing, acknowledging, and appreciating those delights that present themselves spontaneously every day. This short partial list of the small delights I have observed over just the past six weeks has taken on a new level of meaning for me as I try to be more mindful and appreciative of the little things that have the power to improve our mindsets and lives. Every single day at Pomfret School, we have the opportunity to benefit from these moments, many of which have been present on this campus for decades or longer. I share my personal moments of delight hoping that some of them may be familiar to you, but also to encourage us all to allow those small delightful moments to lift us up, no matter where we are, no matter how busy and challenging our lives may be at any particular moment. Being more deliberate about attending to these little joys, letting them permeate us, has the power to brighten the rather overcast skies above. Happily, Pomfret remains a place where, if you allow them to, unexpected and almost endless little events occur every single day that can raise our spirits and beat back the malaise du jour. What could be more delightful?

ON THE HILLTOP

Hilltop

ON THE

CAMPUS NEWS MAY 2021 THROUGH DECEMBER 2021

CRATIA DEI MECUM

Felt Like Normal Back in May, Members of the Class of 2021 gathered with friends, family, and faculty to celebrate the 127th Commencement of Pomfret School. It was the culmination of a weeklong celebration that one senior described as “the first time it felt like normal.” Head of School Tim Richards announced the top scholars in the class. Anya Button earned the distinction of second in class, and Shawn Zhu was honored as the sixth form's top scholar. The Wendell D. Mansfield Cup was awarded to Lance Martineau for his desire, drive, and determination. The School’s highest honor, the Founder’s Medal, was awarded to Student Body President Michaela Nsubuga for her deep engagement with the School and her outstanding qualities of scholarship, leadership, and determination.

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Senior Traditions During an Untraditional Year In a year filled with unexpected twists and turns, it was only fitting that the senior class should end their high school journey whitewater rafting. Since 2004, the senior class has paddled down the Deerfield River. This year most students participated, almost as if they had built up their resilience after the bumps over the unprecedented eighteen months. In keeping with tradition, the seniors gathered atop the Sundial and collectively cheered for all that they had accomplished during their time on the Hilltop. Their celebration continued at the final bonfire and prom. When the last song of the dance had been played, students gathered for the final Form Meeting of their Pomfret careers. During the emotional meeting held under the stars, students and faculty took turns sharing stories of what they had learned, what they would miss, and what lessons they would take with them.

First Female With an emotional standing ovation, the Pomfret community celebrated Olivia Raykhman’s appointment to the United States Military Academy. Olivia is the first female Griffin to receive an appointment to West Point and is motivated to serve the country that has done so much for her parents, who immigrated from Russia. Second Lieutenant Bridget Matsas presented her appointment during the Commencement ceremony.

ON THE HILLTOP

Group Hug Student Body President Javier Alonso Valcarcel ’22 proudly declared “We are one,” as the theme for the year. That spirit of unity was felt throughout the three arrival days in which students and their families ascended onto the Hilltop. The Pomfret community welcomed 137 new Griffins and embraced old familiar faces, some of whom they had not seen in person since the close of campus in 2020, as they spent last year at home as distance learners. The seniors were excited to return to a sense of normalcy and for the annual start-of-school traditions. They posed for photos and took their long-awaited first steps atop the Sundial. Faculty in an inner circle and underclassmen in an outer circle embraced them in a big “group hug.” After the ceremony, the School gathered indoors for an all-school sit-down dinner for the first time in almost eighteen months. Everyone then made their way into Clark Memorial Chapel for the Opening Chapel Talk.

Right as Rain Cold temperatures and pouring rain did not stop more than 300 family members and guests from attending this year’s Family Weekend. Families reunited on the Hilltop and had the opportunity to connect with faculty. UCONN Director of Undergraduate Admissions Vern Granger and WPI Vice President of Enrollment Management Andrew Palumbo provided an interactive update on higher education during the College Counseling Workshop. Head of School Tim Richards and his leadership team shared the latest news and information about Pomfret School during the State of the School address. They discussed recent capital improvements, the development of a new Science Center, the creation of the Wellbeing Department, and Pomfret’s dedication to embracing diversity. Pomfret’s new mission and vision were also shared with parents for the first time. The rain was on and off for the majority of the day. Parents huddled under umbrellas and in cars while the Griffins played and ran their hearts out on the athletic fields and cross country courses.

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The 99 Percent Club In May, Head of School Tim Richards announced that all faculty and students would be required to be vaccinated. Every student not granted an exemption did their part over the summer to get the shot to keep their fellow Griffins safe. For those students who were unable to complete their vaccine series before arriving on campus, the Northeast District Department of Health helped immunize students at on-campus vaccination clinics. Together we earned a 99 percent — a nearly perfect score on the group project of keeping everyone safe from the virus that has disrupted life on the Hilltop and across the globe.

Off the Grid Fifteen Pomfret students spent the final days of summer at Hurricane Island in Maine’s Penobscot Bay. Off the grid, on the beautiful 125-acre island, they studied marine ecology and climate change for ten days as a part of Pomfret’s travel-based experiential learning program. They earned a one-term science credit before the fall term even began. Learning, like nature, was all around them on the island. They designed and competed in a raft building challenge to cross a pond, found constellations in the night sky, and collected kale seeds to bring back and grow in the Helios Greenhouse.

A Calling Together During this year’s convocation, Director of Spiritual Life Bobby Fisher began the ceremony with an invocation while honoring the memory of Janet Stebbins. The former academic dean and founder of the convocation ceremony had recently passed away. See page 63 for more. Head of School Tim Richards concluded the ceremony by saying, “Congratulations to our award winners today. During a tumultuous year, you consistently rose to the occasion. You persevered through times of unparalleled difficulty for both students and schools, and your accomplishments are truly worthy of our praise. This success is important for us to recognize.”

Class of ON THE HILLTOP

Until We Meet Again It took more than a year, but in June, members of the Class of 2020 finally made their joyous return to the Hilltop, after Covid put the kibosh on their Senior Spring. The festivities kicked off in the early evening with a variation on one of our most beloved traditions, the Senior Sundial and Moving Out Ceremony. At the conclusion of the ceremony, they headed across the street to Campbell House for a delicious dinner and time in the pool.

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2020 9

ON THE HILLTOP

The Way Back Pomfret is student-centered. So what happens when a kid happens to be a kid and makes a mistake? Shouldn’t the response to correct the action be student-focused as well? Pomfret thinks so. This is why the Dean of Students Office has revised the disciplinary process from a previously faculty-led Disciplinary Committee to a newly developed Honor Board primarily made up of students. “I am excited about this new Honor Board process,” expressed Dean of Students Wes Jenkins. “Students see the world through the eyes of a teenager. They can identify ways through restorative justice to help their peers find their way back. They speak to the culture and what they want the School to be.”

Get Over It On the first QUEST Saturday of the fall, freshmen pushed and pulled each other to succeed in the Facing the Wall challenge. They worked together to get members of the class from one side of the fifteen-foot wall to the other. One by one new Griffins stepped off the ground, trusting in their classmates to raise them up, while other members of the class helped them up and over the wall. The wall is an obstacle that the freshmen class takes part in each year. It is a key component of the Community Pillar — one of the four QUEST pillars. Freshmen will continue to focus on community before moving on to the Character Pillar. When they become upperclassmen they will shift to the pillars of Health and Wellness and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Emotional

Physical

Social

Six Dimensions of Wellbeing

Be Well Intellectual

Spiritual nal/ Occupatio l Financia 10

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Stress and anxiety among high school students is nothing new, but the way Pomfret is equipping our students with the tools to address these feelings is. The newly created Wellbeing Department will help to meet the needs of our students today, and in the future. The department uses the Six Dimensions of Wellbeing as the framework for teaching and learning. Students are required to take a Foundations of Wellbeing course in their sophomore or junior year. The course covers nutrition and sleep, mental health and stress management, healthy relationships and sex education, and substance use and dependency. In addition to the Foundation of Wellbeing course, students are required to take one wellbeing elective in their junior or senior year.

Reviving the Rivalry Student Body President Javier Alonso Valcarcel ’22, an Achaean, and Student Body Vice President Cate Gallagher ’22, an Ionian, reignited the more-than-a-century-old, yearlong tradition of Achaeans versus Ionians. While in recent years the rivalry has been reserved for Mashamoquet Day, this year the teams face off on the first Friday of each month. In October, the first night of competition had teams going head to head in chariot racing (with student horses and sleeping-bag chariots), Javelin throw (with pool-noodles), and the Atlas Challenge (which required students to balance a stack of cups while racing across a “field of lava”). In November, students competed in a dodgeball tournament, and in December, they took part in a gingerbread house building contest.

Spirit on Display Students and faculty got into the spirit of Spirit Week, forgoing their usual attire and opting instead for their coziest pajamas, favorite jerseys, peppiest Griffin gear, and preppiest outfits. “Spirit Week is such a great way to bring the community together! Pajama day was definitely my favorite, but seeing different outfits throughout the week is so exciting,” said Lynette Leelasumpan ’23. “I wore my Eeyore onesie all day and, although it felt extremely weird walking into Chapel, seeing other onesies and pajamas was comforting.”

Pulling the Community Together During Pomfret’s annual field day tradition — Mashamoquet Day — the Griffins came together for competitions of strength and agility. Some of the activities, such as fruit bowling and chubby bunny, were less about competition and more about having a good time. Things got serious in the tug of war competition. First up, the seniors took on the freshmen and faculty. The upperclassmen put up a good fight but the strength of the young and old(er) got the best of them and the freshmen and faculty came out on top. “The tug of war is always the highlight of Mashamoquet Day,” said Geno Rovero ’23. “The whole day is something we all look forward to. It’s a break from the regular schedule and really brings the community together.”

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ON THE HILLTOP

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The Battle for RT 44

s the final seconds ticked down, Pomfret fans let out a collective cheer knowing that the Griffin win on the gridiron sealed the victory of the first Battle for Route 44 — a new rivalry with Millbrook School years in the making. When Millbrook Head of School Jon Downs was student body president at Millbrook, he attempted to start a rivalry with Pomfret School. Years later, the former Millbrook Head of School Drew Casertano met Pomfret’s Head of School Tim Richards in Hartford — “the middle” of Route 44 — to finalize plans for a friendly rivalry between the evenly matched schools. On game day, students, faculty, and families lined the sidelines of every field as each team faced off against the Millbrook Mustangs. In the end, Pomfret won the first year of the rivalry —

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besting Millbrook in seven games to three and beating their cross country teams at the NEPSTA Division III Championships. At the closing ceremony, after accepting the “Better Luck Next Time” consolation plaque, Downs presented Richards and Pomfret with The William Peck / Edward Pulling Trophy. He did so wearing a Pomfret sweatshirt and hat, having lost a bet with Richards. “There was so much school spirit on campus — it made me really proud to be a Griffin. The hard work our athletes put in all season was on display, allowing us to come away with the win,” exclaimed Student Body Vice President Cate Gallagher ’22. “We're so excited to finally have a rival like many other boarding schools, and it was so amazing to kick it off this year.”

A Good Run After their final regular season win over the Millbrook Mustangs, the Boys Varsity Soccer team learned they had earned the eighth spot in the NEPSAC Class B Playoffs against Brooks School. While the Griffins had strong moments in goal, on defense, and on attack, Brooks came out on top — winning 3-0. The team has much to be proud of after a very successful season with ten wins (the most since 2012), six losses, and two ties. They were undefeated at home and won their last five regular season games. Great job Griffins!

Photo by Sofia Liu ’24

A Whole New Ballgame Surrounded by family, friends, teammates, and coaches, two Pomfret seniors signed National Letters of Intent (NLI) to continue their athletic careers at Division I and II levels. The ceremonies celebrated the athletes’ years of hard work and dedication. Shane McDonough will play Division I lacrosse at Canisius College, while Mia Fuller will play Division II basketball at Wilmington University. Future NLI signings are possible this year as students and college recruiters recover from the disruptions in sports during the pandemic. Additionally, several Griffins have been recruited to play sports at Division III schools.

Almost Perfect For the first time since 2017, Pomfret’s football team had an undefeated season. Early in the season, they beat Harvey, Forman, Frederic Gunn, and Hebron teams each by more than thirty points. They also came up on top against tougher opponents Holderness and Millbrook. Despite scoring first and despite adding two touchdowns in the final quarter, the Griffins were defeated by the Millbrook Mustangs 28-26 in the New England EightPlayer Football Championship. Even with the tough loss, it was a great season after the yearlong-Covid-induced hiatus.

ON THE HILLTOP

The Beloved Community “To say ‘Griot B is amazing’ is an understatement,” says Dr. Cory McCarter, Pomfret’s dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “He’s the Bill Nye of history. His songs are so much fun and catchy that you don’t realize that you are learning.” In January, Pomfret welcomed Brandon Brown (aka Griot B) to the Hilltop as this year’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day keynote speaker. His performance was full of positive messages that provided a foundation for the day’s theme: the Beloved Community — a global vision for a society based on freedom, justice, equal opportunity, and love. The School Yard Rap founder got students and faculty on their feet, singing and dancing, while he performed raps with historical themes. “This was not your typical Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event,” said McCarter. “Our students left feeling uplifted, understanding that representation matters.”

CelebraciÓn Celebrations were held throughout Hispanic Heritage Month on the Hilltop. Spanish classes made murals detailing significant historical events. Student Activities hosted numerous events with music, dancing, food, arts and crafts, and movies. To close out the month, a special Chapel Talk featured students and faculty who shared their culture, and the dining hall held a festive feast.

Purple Pride The Hilltop was a sea of purple on Spirit Day. Students, faculty, and staff were decked out from head to toe in purple to show their allyship with the LGBTQ+ community and take a stand against bullying. The Gender and Sexuality Alliance handed out purple ribbons and the Girls Lowers and Girls Uppers dorms won pizza parties for their display of purple pride.

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Ready, AIM, Fire Pomfret is teaming up with the National Association of Independent Schools to undertake an Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism (AIM). For more than ten years, AIM has been helping independent schools gain a deeper understanding of themselves. Undertaking an AIM survey was one of the primary recommendations of Pomfret’s Task Force on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The goal is to unearth the particular needs and vulnerabilities of our campus community. To achieve this goal, the DEI Office will conduct a Self-Assessment and Climate Assessment. The Climate Assessment is an online survey that will be sent to every member of the Pomfret community — including alumni. This confidential analysis will help inform our strategy and tactics moving forward. “Pomfret has been doing DEI work for a long time,” said Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dr. Cory McCarter. “AIM is just the next step in a journey of empathy and self-discovery that never ends.”

Jugar Fútbol What happens when your Spanish teacher is also a soccer coach? That’s an easy one — you play soccer while practicing your Spanish! On Fridays or when her class is the first block of the day, Sara Villalba takes her students outside, and wakes them up by passing a soccer ball around while they practice their vocabulary words. “When I see that the students are tired and need a refresher and I have a heavy grammar lesson coming up, I take them outside to play soccer,” said Villalba. “Once they wake up, we go back to class, and they are ready to learn.”

Food Insecurity

FOOD ASSISTANCE FOR LOCAL CHILDREN

“There are over 400,000 food-insecure people in Windham County,” says Tim Richards. For the students in the new Topics in Food Insecurities class they are doing more than caring about the hungry families in the surrounding Pomfret community — they are doing something about it. Created by co-teachers Anne Richards and Brenda Bullied, the course is supported by The Rev. Dr. Thomas L. Hanson Jr. Fund, which supports the implementation and execution of academic courses that instill a sense of social responsibility while honing creative problemsolving and critical thinking skills. The cornerstone of the food insecurities class is the Power Packs Program, which began in 2018. This initiative provides a bag of groceries each Friday to Pomfret Community School families experiencing food insecurity. As their fall project, they designed and built a food pantry on campus to meet the needs of the program. The pantry opened in February. “This class has been an awesome opportunity to learn about a major problem that is going on in the whole world — food insecurity,” said Alba Samu Rodriguez ’22.

ON THE HILLTOP

Java for Java Thanks to Rishi Sura-Collins ’23, Pomfret students will soon be able to store their PomfretCard — which works like a debit card — in their Apple Wallet to quickly purchase snacks in the Tuck Shop and apparel in the School Store. When designing his fall signature assessment in his Advanced Computer Coding class, Rishi wanted to create an application that would benefit the community. After noticing the barcode on his PomfretCard, he got the idea of adding it to his Apple Wallet. Rishi is in the final stages of his project and soon will be able to purchase his favorite bacon, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel at the Tuck Shop without ever having to pull out his PomfretCard.

Harnessing Energy Freshmen in Engineering: Science by Design classes made s’mores! But they didn't use a campfire or Bunsen burners to heat the marshmallows and melt the chocolate — they used the sun! They began conceptualizing how to design and build their solar ovens on their own, before receiving feedback from their fellow student engineers. They put marker to paper to draw their concepts and then turned to their computers to digitally illustrate their potential product. They used the laser cutter to cut their materials to their exact specifications. After assembling their ovens with a s’more inside, they added the thermometer that they made during the fall term. They positioned their products near the classroom windows and under grow lamps, and patiently watched as light energy was converted into heat energy, melting their marshmallow and chocolate into a rewarding and tasty treat.

Unplug Yourself Along with Dean of Students Wes Jenkins and Photography Teacher Lindsay Lehmann, the freshman class challenged all Pomfret students and faculty to participate in a social media detox at the start of the winter term. “The social media detox helped us learn what life is like without social media, and the mental health benefits of not being on social media all of the time,” said Izzy Makatura ’25. “Last month, I went without social media for a few weeks and I felt free! I didn’t feel the need to keep up with what people were doing. It helped me not be anxious all of the time.”

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Sauce Boss Van’s Hot Sauce spices up any dish — including the food served in the dining hall, where the sauce creator Van Horvath ’24 eats most of his meals. He was inspired to start making the sauce after experiencing a similar sweetheat and curry-flavored sauce while on vacation. Initially, Van only wanted to recreate the sauce for his family, but the results were so good it was not long before he decided to share it with others. Van quickly found out that starting a small condiment business would not be easy. When he finally got his sauce in his local grocery store, they could not keep it on the shelf. Van’s Hot Sauce was introduced in the dining hall this fall and it too was flying off the counter. “Just about everyone who tries it loves it,” said Van, including celebrity chef and recent Schwartz Visting Fellow Ming Tsai. “Well, maybe everyone — except for my brother Kaya Horvath ’22 — but I don’t think he has actually tried it.”

Radio Bound The Pomfret community’s ears were abuzz as they heard “Run to You,” senior Austin Kendig’s original song for the first time. The song is one of eight numbers he is perfecting in his Honors Songwriting class. With the assistance of Samuel Beckwith, director of instrumental music, and Mackenzie Christensen, audio-visual specialist, Austin recently produced his first single. When it came to artwork for the album cover, he turned to Photography Teacher Lindsay Lehmann’s Honors and Advanced Photography class for help. He met with the class to go over design concepts and posed for photos. Ultimately, Austin selected the album cover designed by Mer Bergendahl ’23. Austin’s song, with Mer’s album cover, is now available on Apple Music, Amazon, iTunes, and most anywhere you find your music. Album Artwork by Mer Bergendahl ’23

ON THE HILLTOP

In Stitches In three one-act comedies, Pomfret thespians had audiences laughing in their seats during the fall production of Laugh Lines. The first act, “Miss You,” was a telephone play and used call waiting to portray two couples involved in intertwining love triangles. “The Spot” was the second short play performed and had a political focus. The final act, “Check, Please,” featured nearly every member of the thirteen-student production. In the same restaurant, tables away from each other, couples go on a series of horrible blind dates. They are set up with a range of wild characters, including a grandmother, a child, a mime, an overzealous sports fanatic, a terrible listener, and a kleptomaniac.

Light in the Darkness Hundreds of people from across the world virtually joined the Pomfret School community in Clark Memorial Chapel for a celebration of light — Candlelight. Honoring the spirit of Pomfret’s mission, the program brought together students, employees, and community members to celebrate the season through beautiful music, inspiring words, the lighting of candles, and gathering again around the common wish for peace on earth and an offering of goodwill to all peoples. Pomfret’s vocal ensemble — the GriffTones, the Chamber Ensemble, and the Festival Chorus and Orchestra performed musical numbers with the common themes of light, candles, and peace. Head of School Tim Richards delivered warm, welcoming remarks of hope and peace, and reminded those in attendance that “all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” He went on to say “Tonight, we will light our candles as a powerful symbol of the light within us and the light we may offer one another.”

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An Open Book The du Pont Library welcomed author Jotham Burrello P ’23 as its first Sunday Speaker Series guest. He discussed the writing and revision process and shared an excerpt from his first book Spindle City. The goal of the speaker series is to inspire the next generation of library patrons. “As we prepare our students for the future, I’m often thinking about what we teach them about the purpose of a library,” said Library Director Beth Jacquet. “Libraries are spaces where communities meet and learn together and access all sorts of wonderful programming from lectures and book talks, to workshops and even small concerts — a common space for literacy and cultural opportunity.”

X-Ray Vision The fall signature assessment in the Honors Painting and Drawing class was a self-portrait that was more than skin deep — it got down to the bone. The mixed-media pieces were created using pencil, charcoal, pastels, and paints; and incorporated elements of figure drawing, anatomy, the use of projection, and — skeletons! Students drew what they imagined their bone structure looked like in their selected poses. One of the most challenging elements of the assignment was drawing the rib cage, because they had to illustrate the ribs wrapping around and attaching to the spine. “The assignment was given the nickname of X-ray by the students,” said Painting and Drawing Teacher JP Jacquet, who also serves as Pomfret’s artist-in-residence. “We had skeletons in the room for reference, and students positioned the skeleton to see how the bones should look in his pose.”

Starcatcher In the first of several trips planned for this academic year, coauthor of the award-winning Peter and the Starcatcher series Ridley Pearson ’71 returned to the Hilltop for a table read of the spring musical — The Academy. Since early last year, Pearson and Theater Director Chip Lamb, with support from The Class of 1967 Faculty Impact Award, have been co-writing the twoact mystery musical loosely based on Pearson’s book of the same name in the Steel Trapp series. “The entire table-read experience was amazing! Working on an original show with a cast this incredible is any performer’s dream,” said Maya Bullied ’23. “The show is filled with action and drama. I didn’t stop laughing during the whole read through! I’m so excited for what the future holds for this show and look forward to the work ahead.”

ON THE HILLTOP

FACULTY & STAFF NEWS TO READ ALL ABOUT THESE FINE FOLKS, VISIT

pomfret.org/employee-directory

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WELCOME NEW FACULTY! This fall has brought a bumper crop of new faculty to the Hilltop after last year’s hiring freeze.

Front Row, l-r: Annie O’Sullivan, Science Teacher Tanya Nongera-Nickerson, Mathematics Teacher Caroline “Cazzie” English, Learning Specialist Kelsey Mumford, Mathematics Teacher, Learning Specialist

Second Row, l-r: Amy VanHoesen, Science Teacher Steven VanHoesen, Science Teacher Brittney Stanley, School Counselor Paul Gray, History Teacher, Mount Holyoke Teaching Fellow Dr. Christopher Chuckran, Science Teacher Susan Mantilla-Goin, Dean of Enrollment Management Dr. Coretta “Cory” McCarter, Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Peter Anderson, Director of Admissions Operations

Back Row, l-r: Dr. Alyssa Walker, English Teacher Sebastian “Seb” Salvo, Mathematics Teacher Jeremy Irzyk, History Intern Sara Villalba, Spanish Teacher Jackson Lyon ’17, Science Teacher Not Pictured: Melissa Prendergast, Mathematics Teacher

ON THE HILLTOP

BABIES “ “ US

NEW STAFF

Emily Carr (Nurse, 2019 - present) and her husband Andrew Senecal became the proud parents of Ella Mae Senecal on April 13, 2021.

In addition to the bumper crop of new faculty, Pomfret also welcomed new staff members: Kerry Anderson Stewardship and Donor Relations Manager

Dan Freije (English, 2018 - present) and Nina Joly (Dance, 2016 - present) welcomed their son Moses Lee Freije on April 21, 2021.

Stacey Benoit Staff Accountant Ashley Goethals Associate Director of Advancement Kelly Hill Senior Administrative Assistant Linda Kerrigan Admissions Guest Specialist Corrine King Assistant Director of Story and Content Development

Ella Mae Senecal

Kathryn Mitchell Director of Events

Moses Lee Freije NEW ROLES

The following faculty and staff members stepped into new roles this year: Berlynda Geragotelis, Business Office Coordinator Bobby Fisher, Director of Spiritual Life Erin Fisher, Director of Wellbeing Elizabeth Jacquet, Library Director Jordan Kempain, Associate Director of Design and Publications Tina Lefevre, Assistant Director of Digital Communications Doug Litowitz, History Teacher, Experiential Travel Coordinator Joanne Mann, Payroll and HRIS Manager Dave Ring, English Teacher Katie Watkins, Adjunct Instructor Amber Wildes, Equipment Room Manager RETIREMENTS

After nearly 100 years of collective service, Director of Reunion Engagement Tammie LaBonte, Director of Donor Relations & Constituent Programming Judith Wong, Mail Room Clerk Deb Daigle, Student Accounts Specialist Debbie Favreau, and Groundskeeper Denis Moreau retired from Pomfret School.

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PomCon Pomfret teachers began the 2021-2022 academic year with PomCon — the annual professional development conference created by faculty, for faculty. During the three-day event, more than twenty sessions in five tracks were held, ranging from wellbeing and diversity to athletics and student life. Participants in Math and Science Teacher Ellen Browne’s session on the engineering design process built working automated dispensers out of recycled items, and calculators that dispensed items such as ping pong balls and business cards. Others created dynamic music in Director of Instrumental Music Samuel Beckwith’s session that utilized collaborative bucket drumming improvisation as a tool to build connection, empathy, and personal creative confidence. “PomCon was a great success,” said Dean of Faculty Martha Horst, who organized the event. “Faculty members were able to select the sessions that aligned with their professional development goals, and the sessions modeled excellent teaching by our faculty.”

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

STORY BY

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Corrine King

“We Are One” This year’s student body president is building community and consensus wherever he goes.

Javier Alonso Valcarcel ’22

rom the first moment Javi stepped foot on the Hilltop for his tour and interview, Pomfret felt like a second home. It had everything he was looking for — a friendly atmosphere, wonderful academic opportunities, and a great soccer program. “Pomfret is such an amazing place. After speaking with some of the students, I knew that this is where I wanted to spend my last two years of high school,” said Javi. “I knew I was going to meet people that I was going to connect with, and that I would be challenged and have the opportunity to grow academically and in soccer.” When he returned to the Hilltop as a Griffin, he immediately began connecting with people. “It’s natural for everyone at Pomfret to be so accepting and have each other’s back,” said Javi. He soon formed close connections and made a second family with students and faculty at Pomfret. “I tell my parents when they come to visit me — don’t get jealous! I have a lot of Pomfret parents,” he jokes, having formed a special bond with his dorm parents, advisors, and soccer coaches. Javi made the most of his first year at Pomfret, volunteering to help the School in every way possible and joining many clubs. Wherever he goes, he tries to build a community. He always has a smile on his face and greets his peers and faculty by name. “When I see someone with their head down walking on the quad, I have to stop them and ask them what is wrong,” said Javi. “I don’t feel good until everyone feels good.” It should come as no surprise that Javi wants to be a politician — to better the community of which he is a part. Before he came to Pomfret, he had dreams of running for president in the Dominican Republic. He got a jump on his political dreams by

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running and winning the election for student body president. Motivated by giving back to the community that supported him when he first arrived, he wants to make sure everyone feels welcome and like they belong. One way he is doing that is by establishing his theme — “We Are One” — for his year as president. Those words — “we are one” or rather “somos uno” — is something that Javi heard growing up from a mentor and fellow goalkeeper on and off the soccer field. “He was like a big brother to me. Whenever he would see me he would always say ‘we are one.’ I think that is something we need to hear here at Pomfret — especially after a year of Covid. Last year was such a difficult year for so many people. Some of my classmates didn’t even get to come to campus. The theme is something we all need to be reminded of each week.” He is using more than words to bring this community together. His favorite school traditions include Airbands and Form Olympics because he loves competition and believes it is a bonding opportunity. Because of this belief, Javi — an Achaean — and the Student Body Vice President Cate Gallagher ’22 — an Ionian — have reinstituted the yearlong Achaean vs. Ionian rivalry. Friendly competitions take place on the first Friday of each month. “It is great to cheer one another on and confront each challenge like a family,” says Javi. As he completes his final year at Pomfret and decides where he would like to go to college, we have no doubt he will continue to bring people together. “I want to help a lot of people — whether that is by working for an international organization or running for a senator or congressman office in my country. One of my life goals is to bring educational opportunities to people who do not have them. It’s one of my motivations every day — to try and help people feel as blessed as I do.”

“One of my life goals is to bring educational opportunities to people who do not have them.”

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

The Truth Is Out There By Josh Lake, Science Department Chair

hen I was the age of my students, I passionately believed in aliens. I was an astronomy nerd, constantly looking at the night sky, desperately hoping to see a UFO or have a peaceful alien encounter. I watched The X-Files; I knew that The Truth Is Out There! Yet during my nearly twenty years of teaching at Pomfret, my personal pendulum has swung the other way. My students frequently ask about my own views on extraterrestrial life, and we spend nearly a week studying astrobiology and considering the options each spring in my Cosmology elective. While I’m very familiar with the classic arguments — with billions of stars in our galaxy alone, most with planets circling them, how can there not be other life out there? — my view has cooled to “I’m open to it… let’s wait and see… I’m skeptical.” Such is Science, or should be. “Science” has been personified in these Covid-times, as we’ve all heard (or said) statements like “Trust the Science,” “Science says…,” and “The Science is settled.” In my role as chair of the Science Department, I feel the need to defend our methods and practices from such monolithic blanket statements. Indeed, it’s very dangerous to turn scientific conclusions of any stripe into a belief system or pronouncements of faith. “Science” doesn’t need to be believed or trusted because if it is legitimate,

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it can be verified, tested, and stand on its own — a collection of naked truths about the way things are. Scientific conclusions can and should inform our beliefs and ideas, but we should always take what we learn from scientific studies with a grain or spoonful of NaCl, lest we repeat frequent missteps of the past. The history of science is a history of failure, one after another, and that’s a good thing. It’s not failing and giving up, it’s failing forward, replacing old understandings with new ones that better reflect reality. The mighty Isaac Newton, father of the field of physics and coinventor of calculus, had his incredible body of work corrected by future scientists, notably Albert Einstein, upon further discoveries. But Einstein, in turn, was wrong about universal expansion, quantum physics, and the Big Bang. Thanks to new discoveries by scientists since his time, students in my classes know more about galaxies than Einstein did. Fred Hoyle, the authoritative astronomer who sarcastically coined the term “Big Bang” because of his beliefs, went to his death bed believing the universe was static and eternal because he had closed his mind to new evidence. You probably don’t know the name of German scientist Alfred Wegener, but you certainly know of his theory; you were likely taught about it in elementary school as a scientific truth.

Photos courtesy of Josh Lake

In his time, he was mocked by the scientific community, rightly called an outsider to the field, dismissed without time to speak during scientific conferences, and considered the butt of easy jokes among the top scientists in the field. Politics got mixed into the science arguments, as he was a German in the early 1900s and American and British scientists were the reigning scientific authorities. He died in the harsh snows of Greenland attempting to find more evidence of his simple idea: coastlines fit together because the continents have moved over time. Yes, the one who correctly saw what we all now so easily believe in never lived to see his correct ideas about plate tectonics become the accepted worldview. It’s so uncontroversial to us now because modern scientists know what’s happening on the seafloor and can measure seismic shifts in real time. Last summer, I had an alien encounter. No, it wasn’t the meeting from a sci-fi movie that I hoped for as a teen; it was a giant, alien-faced hot air balloon landing on campus as I walked my dog. I later reached out to the company, CT Voyager Balloons, and found that they were looking for someone to help with setup, chasing, and packing the balloon. Several days later, I was aloft over campus, acting as ballast as skydivers jumped out of the basket while I filmed them! Over the summer, I learned so much more about weather, thermodynamics, balancing forces,

and engineering than I ever could have by reading textbooks or watching videos. The safety of our crew and passengers required constant measuring, double checking, and a deep understanding of the principles in action… and even still, every flight was an adventure. Our pilot, with over a decade of experience, constantly told our crew that new things happened on every single flight and he was in a permanent mode of learning new things — a student of the skies and winds. The pursuit of truth through science has opened our eyes, brought us farther and faster than we could have imagined, and we now have so much power to make people’s lives better through the applications of science. More than ever, we need to put the prefix Con in front of Science to develop our conscience, a humble acknowledgement that we do not have it all figured out, that reality is less certain than our assertions imply, that it is always worth asking how we know what we think we know. That is critical thinking, one of the core skills we strive to teach at Pomfret, and I urge my students to bring a spirit of curiosity and healthy skepticism to all of their classes. Science is not the only thing, as my colleagues in the arts, humanities, and pure mathematics correctly tell us, but science is indeed a noble endeavor, one that we should strive to improve, protect, and practice honestly.

CHAPEL TALK

Read along while you watch this chapel talk.

CHAPEL TALK

Pet Peeves & Baby Lions Bridget Horst ’22

Delivered November 5, 2021 in Clark Memorial Chapel

y oldest sister Alison’s biggest pet peeve is the misuse of grammar. If someone says “I” when they should have said “me,” she freaks out! She always made it clear to her younger siblings (all four of us) that if we used the word “good” instead of “well,” that there was something wrong with us. When I asked Mr. Richards what his biggest pet peeve was, it took him a tenth of a second to say it was the misuse of pronouns, similar to Alison’s. One of JP’s pet peeves is when students have their hats on inside. In my family, collectively, we have this pet peeve where we don’t like when someone turns a conversation into a story about themself. My family gets so annoyed by this that we even gave it a code name. Someone in my family will scream out “baby lion” so the person is aware they are refocusing the conversation on themself.

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I could go on for hours about different people’s pet peeves because everyone has at least one. I think I pay more attention to other people’s pet peeves because I am very cognizant of the fact that I have too many myself. I get frustrated at the most ridiculous things that a person should not get annoyed with. One of my absurd pet peeves is that I freak out when people put their feet on my chair. All of my friends know this about me, which of course leads to them going out of their way to put their feet on my chair, just to bother me. When it’s bright and sunny out, leading to lots of natural light in a space, but someone turns on the lights, I get irritated. When my twin brother Kellen and I were freshmen in high school at our public school, I would have to get up extremely early. I didn’t like being up and definitely wasn’t pleasant to be around. Everything irritated me, especially Kellen. Kellen and I would get into the same argument every day throughout the

entire year. I hated the overhead lights, and he couldn’t see his breakfast at the kitchen table. So he would turn the light on, then I would turn the light off, then he would turn it back on, and that’s where the fight would erupt. As silly as pet peeves are, they often signify something bigger. Maybe not the small frivolous pet peeves, like my issue with people putting their feet on my chair, but the bigger ones. There is a connection between beliefs and pet peeves. My dad, for example, gets annoyed when people take the closest parking spot to the door or don’t put their shopping cart back, and there is a reason for that. Although my mom often gets the credit for being such a caring person, my dad is always thinking about other people. He always wants to make sure there is a spot for people who actually need that closer parking spot. His biggest pet peeve might seem like it’s about parking lots, but it’s actually reflective of his values of seeing beyond yourself and caring for others. One pet peeve of mine has been steadily moving into first place for about a year now. It’s the saying “everything happens for a reason.” I logically understand why people say it. They are trying to rationalize why bad things happen. Maybe the phrase brings them comfort when nothing else makes sense. But this phrase that I have heard so many times over the past year really gets under my skin. I am not trying to tell people that life is without purpose, but constantly putting a positive spin on difficult moments in life isn’t always the right thing to do. On January 8, 2021, many of us lost our friend Zach to cancer. Zach was an amazing baseball player. He was a classmate, a teammate, a student, a brother, a protector, and a friend to a lot of us. In reflecting on who Zach was, the word I describe him most with is selfless. When he was going through treatment, I would text him to see how he was doing and he would always answer with, “I’m doing well” or “getting through this!” — just to reassure me everything was gonna be alright. He never wanted any of us to worry about him, and a lot of the

time, he would flip the question and ask us what was new in our lives. Despite all the pain he was going through, he would never make things about himself. Instead, he constantly let his close friends know that he loved them, especially at the end. As my family would describe it, Zach never had a baby lion moment. In contrast, I see the phrase “everything happens for a reason” as selfish. It’s almost like saying everything is happening for me and for me to learn from. You do learn from hard things, but that does not make those hard things purposeful. Just because you learn something does not make anything “meant to be.” Sure, did I learn a ton about life through Zach’s cancer and death? Yes. Would I trade all that life experience for one more day with him? In a heartbeat. No reason can justify what happened to him, and nothing is bringing him back. We do not need to rationalize why everything happens. We don’t need to make ourselves feel better and neatly find closure so we can proceed with the rest of our lives. Sometimes things just suck. However, we can embrace our grief and emptiness and learn to live with these new feelings. Instead of rationalizing tragedy, I do believe that we can create meaning out of things like Zach’s death. Creating meaning for me is living for him every day. It’s choosing to be selfless; it’s asking your friends how they are and telling them you love them. Creating meaning is knowing he lives on in a different way now. He lives on through everything at Pomfret. He is that gust of wind that helps me breathe through a soccer game, the pretty sunset that we look out from on the quad every night, and in every number seven you see on a field. Pet peeves, at first glance, can seem pretty shallow. But they often signify a deeper belief. Everything I believe in means something and is worthy. Everything you believe, means something and is worthy. So slow down, ask people about their pet peeves, and listen. Ask them about what they believe in — and listen.

BRAIN BRAIN BRAIN CHANGER CHANGER CHANGER BRAIN BRAIN BRAIN COVER STORY

When you’re awake, the tangled forest of nerve cells in your brain generates enough electricity to power a small light bulb.

CHANGER CHANGER CHANGER

BRAIN BRAIN BRAIN CHANGER

CHANGER CHANGER 30

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RBRAIN

How neuroscience is changing the way we think about teaching and learning at Pomfret. BY GARRY DOW

Think about it.

ight now, as you read this line, eighty-six billion neurons are firing inside your brain. Nobody knows how many synapses connect them. The number is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.15 quadrillion, or 150,000,000,000,000. When you’re awake, this tangled forest of nerve cells generates enough electricity to power a small light bulb. What’s more, these neural pathways — a delicate latticework of branchlike dendrites and trunklike axons — are malleable. The pathways that go unused are pruned away. The rest grow faster, stronger, more tangled, as the brain develops. Neurons are responsible for everything you think, see, and do. They are what make it possible for you to pick up a fork or wiggle your toe. They are what make it possible to read the words on this page and understand what they mean. They are what make it possible to remember the past and anticipate the future. To feel anger and joy. To learn and grow. To imagine and dream. To love. They are what make it possible for you to be, well, you.

COVER STORY

Aristotle famously described the brain as an “organ where spirits come together,” what he described as the sensus communis. His insight lives on today in the phrase common sense.

Thinking about Thinking For almost as long as people have had brains, they have been using them to understand how the brain works. Aristotle famously described the brain as an “organ where spirits come together,” the sensus communis. His insight lives on today in our use of the phrase common sense. By the first century AD, Alexandrian anatomists had more or less figured out the basic parts of the brain, but it would take until the Renaissance, another 1,400 years later, for a man named Andreas Vesalius to publish a text called De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (Seven Books on the Fabric of the Human Body), arguably the most famous book in the history of human anatomy. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century anatomists contributed a great deal to the physical description of the brain (this is when terms such as cerebrum, cerebellum and medulla first came into use), but they understood next to nothing about how the brain actually works. The seeds of modern learning theory can be traced back to the research of famed Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, who, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, proposed a radical new vision for how the mind absorbs and retains information. According to Piaget, learning takes place when the individual recognizes that there is something they want to know or do, which they are currently not capable of knowing or

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doing. He called his idea “constructivism,” arguing that people construct knowledge through experience, not memorization. “Learning sticks in your brain a lot better if you can give it meaning by attaching it to something that was already there,” says Gwyneth Connell, director of the Grauer Family Institute for Excellence and Innovation in Education, who is leading the charge on brain science at Pomfret. “That something can be very different for each learner.” Central to constructivist theory are the twin concepts of assimilation and accommodation. When a young child encounters a horse for the first time, they might call it a dog — that’s assimilation. When the child finally realizes that different fourlegged animals have different names, and that some of those animals are called horses — that’s accommodation. Assimilation says, “This will fit nicely into the existing framework.” Accommodation says, “It’s time to change the framework.” People use these twin processes simultaneously and alternately throughout their lives. It is the healthy tension between the two, the push and pull, that creates knowledge. “No two kids assimilate or accommodate information in exactly the same way, but when we create opportunities for them to reflect on their unique approach — what we call metacognition, or thinking about thinking — we help them harness their strengths and take charge of their learning in really empowering ways,” says Connell.

“Scientists have understood how the brain learns for decades,” says author Glenn Whitman, “and yet, aspiring educators are not required to take a single course on the brain.”

Constructivist classrooms, including the classrooms at Pomfret, can often feel very different from traditional classrooms. Sometimes described as “inside-out,” they are highly collaborative learning environments anchored by small groups where students and teachers share knowledge and authority. “At Pomfret,” says Connell, “we spend as much time talking about learning as we do about teaching. That’s an important distinction.”

Neuroteach “Scientists have understood how the brain learns for decades,” says author Glenn Whitman, “and yet, aspiring educators are not required to take a single course on the brain.” Whitman, who directs the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning near Washington DC, visited Pomfret earlier this year to discuss his 2016 book Neuroteach: Brain Science and the Future of Education. In the book, he and co-author Ian Kelleher argue that teachers are brainchangers. Unfortunately, according to Whitman and Kelleher, most teachers don’t understand how the brain receives, filters, consolidates, and applies learning. “Neuroteach was written to help bring a growing body of educational research into the everyday design of schools and classrooms,” they say. “It is our hope that this book will help

ensure that one day, every student — regardless of zip code or school type — will learn and develop with the guidance of a teacher who knows the research behind how his or her brain works and learns.” Brain science also has the power to transform classrooms in another important way. In her landmark book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, author and teacher Zaretta Hammond examines the relationship between culture and cognition. “Cultural values and learning practices transmitted from our parents and community guide how the brain wires itself to process information and handle relationships, but there isn't much guidance out there to help teachers,” Hammond says. In the book, she offers up a treasure trove of strategies and practices that educators can use to harness the power of culture in teaching and learning. “Neural pathways are over-developed around one’s cultural ways of learning. Culturally responsive teachers know this and piggyback on these well-developed neural pathways with similar types of instruction.” She says when teachers are able to build trusting relationships with kids who feel marginalized or misunderstood, student engagement increases. Referencing the African philosophy of ubuntu, Hammond sums it up this way: “I am because we are.”

FEATURE

Photos courtesy of Zenab Keita

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INTERVIEW BY

Corrine King

ALUMNI PROFILE

In Conversation with Zenab Keita ’10 The Athletic partnerships manager speaks up.

or as long as she can remember, Zenab Keita ’10 (Zee-na Kay-ta) says she has suffered from imposter syndrome, wondering if she was where she should be, doing what she should be doing. It didn’t matter that she had graduated from Yale with a BA in anthropology, or that she had played college basketball for the Bulldogs (appearing in 88 games), or that she earned a master's degree in business management from Wake Forest, or that she was killing it at work, or even that the Sports Business Journal had named her one of its New Voices Under 30. “As a Black kid, with African roots, born in France, growing up in the American South, you are always gonna have a little bit of imposter syndrome,” she says. “I was always thinking, ‘Should I be here?’ But every time — I dug in, I did the work, and I proved to myself that I belonged.” In October, we sat down with Zenab to discuss where confidence comes from, why she chose to leave the Golden State Warriors, what she misses most about Pomfret, and how she is using her seat at the table to empower others.

FEATURE

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED WITH THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS?

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR JOB AT THE ATHLETIC, WHAT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT?

I joined the Golden State Warriors in 2018, as they were opening the brand-new arena — Chase Center. They needed to outfit a team that could handle growing their existing partnerships and manage new ones brought on board. The CMO at the time reached out looking for someone who could learn quickly and jump right in, and I was sold. I was excited to bring an elevated level of sports business and partnerships into my day-to-day, and being able to do this with the Golden State Warriors was a no-brainer.

It’s cool because the job is all about getting to set the strategy for our partnership plan. I get to work with a team and figure out what we are going to do to get our brand out there and do something different that helps people choose The Athletic over other media platforms. I get to use the tools and knowledge that I developed in my two previous roles and now set a strategy for a brand, which is amazing. Early on in my career, I experienced some imposter syndrome. I used to wonder if I should be at the table — especially with senior leaders — having a say in the strategy and the decisions. So earning this new job and being in my role is great validation that I'm supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be at this table, and I'm supposed to be involved in these types of conversations. I'm excited to get going on that.

WHAT DOES A PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT MANAGER FOR A PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM DO?

My responsibilities have varied based on the team and the partners they have, but essentially, brands are looking to partner with a sports team in order to use that team’s cache to help sell their service and products. It is my responsibility to act as the face of the team for that partner, helping to execute their agreements with the team by activating our contracts. This includes providing them with contractual assets, such as access to our players and fan database, our special gameday experiences, hospitality at games and concerts, and things of that sort. I was also involved with significant community programs put on with these partners, such as turkey giveaways, court refurbishments in under-resourced neighborhoods, and food drives. HOW DID COVID CHANGE YOUR WORK?

Since we didn’t have assets like tickets or in-arena activations to rely on, I had to come up with new and different kinds of partnerships and community programs. One project that I am particularly proud of was a partnership with Nike to celebrate National Girls & Women in Sports Day. A co-worker and I created an all-day celebration that ultimately culminated with us featuring some WNBA players and putting on a virtual clinic for young girls to participate in. What was most rewarding was when Natasha Cloud, a known activist and WNBA champion, posted on Twitter a shout-out to the Warriors for actually doing something tangible and creating a space in which women and young girls could be celebrated. It felt good to be able to create that experience for our community, our partner, and our organization. IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAD A GREAT TIME WITH THE WARRIORS. WHY DID YOU LEAVE?

After seven years on the team side, I wanted to do something new, especially after the Covid year. I had a thirst for being on the brand side and thinking of ideas and strategies on how to use partnership funds to sell products and build brand equity. The unique opportunity with The Athletic came up, and it was not only on the brand side, but also in the media and tech industries, both of which I wanted to get involved in — especially being in the Bay Area. It was a perfect little launchpad.

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YOU TALK ABOUT IMPOSTER SYNDROME, WHERE DOES THAT COME FROM AND HOW HAVE YOU OVERCOME IT?

I think I have experienced imposter syndrome since I came to the United States as a child. Now, I think my imposter syndrome is creeping back because I’m in this brand-new space in my career. I’m in tech and media, two new industries for me. And everyone at The Athletic is incredibly talented, so I feel a bit of pressure to perform exceedingly well. However, I continue to remind myself, as I have in my other roles, you have to be confident in your skills and what you uniquely bring to the table in order to perform and excel in unfamiliar environments. I affirm myself every morning, “You’re here for a reason. You’re doing a good job.” Then I do the work. YOU WERE RECENTLY HONORED AS ONE OF SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL’S 2020 NEW VOICES UNDER 30. HOW HAVE YOU USED THAT VOICE IN THE SPORTS INDUSTRY?

I think I was selected for that award because I use my voice to say the things others may not want to say aloud, to encourage dialogue, and hopefully to educate others. That is how I disrupt spaces — I speak up. For example, with the social and racial injustice events of 2020, I used social media to express my opinion and it encouraged other people in my organization (even some of our players) to share their own opinions and thoughts on their platforms. Sometimes they reshared my content and sometimes they shared their own, but in all cases, it was good to have people feel empowered to discuss. I had co-workers, classmates, and mentors all calling me to talk about what was going on in the world because they saw me being vocal. I think people felt comfortable coming to me because they knew I was not going to judge them and I was open to the conversation. So in that situation and in my life and sports career thus far, I’ve always tried to use my voice and empathy to empower others and ensure people feel heard. Whether it’s speaking

up for women, for younger employees, for underrepresented people, or anyone who feels like they can’t speak up themselves, it is important to me to make sure people feel validated and can trust me to be a vocal leader. WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES OR MISCONCEPTIONS YOU’VE FACED AS A BLACK WOMAN WORKING IN SPORTS?

Due to generalizations created by reality TV or the media in general about the tie between Black women and athletes and sports, I sometimes feel a pressure to expand upon the roles Black women play when it comes to being involved with sports. I sometimes feel a need to represent Black women in those business settings — to demonstrate our intelligence, to display how nuanced we can be in sports business, and more generally, to provide examples of how we, too, can highly contribute in Corporate America. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OTHER WOMEN ASPIRING FOR A SENIOR ROLE WITHIN A SPORTS ORGANIZATION?

Be authentic in everything you do, whether it’s networking across the league or just working across the organization. The field of sports and entertainment is filled with enough people forcing or faking their influence, authority, and worth. Don’t be one of them. Trying to subscribe to a version of you that you think other people will accept, respect, and promote is exhausting, and it’s likely to be exposed eventually. People respect authenticity, and they appreciate it. If you can be trusted to be authentic when working alongside your team and trusted to get your work done in a way that’s true to you and the values of your team, you’ll get the role you want. IF YOU HAD TO GIVE A CHAPEL TALK NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?

WHO WERE SOME OF THE PEOPLE AT POMFRET WHO LEFT A LASTING IMPRESSION?

Shout out to my basketball coach Rebecca Brooks, who was also my advisor. I have never seen a more poised, calm individual, ever. She was also always a person that you could count on and she was consistent — she was a great role model in that aspect. Even now, to this day, wanting to be a consistent person at work or for friends, I am so thankful for her. Also Bruce Wolanin, my college counselor, I am so grateful for him. He always believed in me and my ability to get into Yale. Also grateful to Johára Tucker, Bobby Fisher, and Sharon Gaudreau for making Pomfret feel like home. I appreciate them being unofficial aunts and uncles. Lastly, my classmates, many of whom I’m still friends with to this day, made a huge impact on me. I came to Pomfret having been one person my entire young life and they took me into their world and allowed me to explore myself and my interests. I think my time with them was a perfect segue into Yale and my college experience. HOW HAS THE NEW OPPORTUNITY WITH THE ATHLETIC CHANGED YOUR WORK-LIFE BALANCE?

At The Athletic, I get to work from home. During the pandemic, I rescued a dog, Remy, so I get to be home with him. I hope to get him a French passport soon, so he can travel throughout the European Union with me. My family lives overseas, and being able to go visit them is a blessing. I really couldn’t do that during basketball season — especially when you work for a team as good as the Warriors — their season was always two months longer than everyone else’s! Overall, I’m just happy to have flexibility in my life to work anywhere and work on a schedule that is more accommodating to my lifestyle, while still getting to work in and around sports. Quarantine helped illuminate what was really important in life, and I’m grateful this new role gives me the time, resources, and inspiration to go after those things.

It would have to be around the concept of you belong here and you have a seat at the table. You were driven to this place. There is a purpose that you are supposed to fulfill by being here. So whether it is a short time or a long time, live in this space. Be in this space and take up space. Have a seat, not on the outside, but at the table. Say your piece, but come prepared. Having a seat doesn’t give you an excuse to be uninformed and ignorant. The worst that can happen is that someone can correct you, you can learn something new, or you could realize this table is not for me.

FEATURE

Breaking New Ground This year, Pomfret has embarked on a flurry of capital improvement projects.

hen Harold Harvey ’12 arrived as a wide-eyed first former in 1906, Pomfret was a campus of cottages. There wasn’t a single stone or brick building anywhere. When he graduated six years later, the physical plant had been utterly transformed. Between 1907 and 1912, Pomfret erected eight new buildings, seven of which were paid for entirely by donors. These included the School Building, the four Bricks (Dunworth, Pontefract, Plant, and Bourne), Pyne Infirmary, Clark Memorial Chapel, and Lewis Gymnasium. It also included our most iconic monument, the Proctor Sundial, donated by William Ross Proctor. With the exception of the headmaster’s house, and one or two less conspicuous structures, the old frame buildings Harold Harvey knew and loved were gone. The pace of change must have felt exhilarating, if not a little dizzying. In the decades since, the School has continued to add new buildings to the original campus core: Hard Auditorium in 1928, the Main House in 1956, Monell Science Building in 1958, Brown Rink in 1963, du Pont Library in 1969, Strong Field House in 1983, Centennial Center for Arts

POMFRET WINTER 2022

and Academics in 2000, Lasell Alumni House in 2001, Olmsted Student Union and Corzine Athletic Center in 2004, Jahn Rink and Blodgett Boathouse in 2005, Blodgett Tennis Center in 2007, Parsons Lodge in 2010, Campbell House in 2017, and our newest building, the Health and Wellness Center, in 2018. Of course, with any kind of progress, there also comes a certain kind of loss. “I miss them, in spite of my respectful admiration for their more efficient and solid successors,” wrote the author Edward Streeter, Class of 1910, referring to the original cottages. “Each of those old buildings had a character of its own. The floor and stair treads creaked, but each in their own individual way. Each house had its own aroma. These are things no architect and no Board of Trustees can ever reproduce. Only the Old Timers know this and it is, perhaps, the core of their nostalgia.” Ironically, it is these “more efficient and solid successors” which today kindle feelings of nostalgia in us. This Hilltop — sculpted by nature and shaped with human hands — is an essential part of our identity. It is virtually impossible to imagine Pomfret School located anywhere else, looking like anything else. And yet, things change. The trick is to honor the past without becoming beholden to it. To keep breaking new ground.

FEATURE

Blank Slate

SCHOOL BUILDING For more than a hundred years, the slate tiles adorning the top of this national historic landmark have withstood the worst weather New England has to offer, everything from lashing rain and driving snow to hurricane force gales and lightning strikes. This summer, Mahan Slate Roofing Company expertly removed and replaced the century-old stone shingles, guaranteeing that the School Building will stand the test of time. This project also included a full rehab of the building’s iconic clock tower, last restored by beloved faculty member Ben Morgan ’53 in 1988.

INVESTMENT: $1.1 M COMPLETION: SEPTEMBER 2021 BUILDER: MAHAN SLATE ROOFING COMPANY

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Surprise

OLMSTED STUDENT UNION When students returned from Spring Break last year, they found a bright, colorful space waiting for them. The crown jewel of this “surprise” renovation was a revamped Tuck Shop made possible with support from the Class of 1995. Today, this reimagined two-level space (See page 64) sports comfy booths and sleek hightops, a perfect compliment to the core architectural features of the former gymnasium. “I absolutely love it,” said Jackson Partilla ’21, who was one of the first students to visit the space when it opened last year. “It's a place where students can just be students.”

INVESTMENT: $250,000 COMPLETION: MARCH 2021 BUILDER: POMFRET FACILITIES

Chill Out JAHN RINK

The most significant upgrade to this sixteen-yearold rink is the one you can’t see. Hidden away behind closed doors is a sophisticated mechanical room, driven by a powerful chiller, which has extended Pomfret’s ice season by several months. In addition, a large glass wall now separates the lobby from the rink, giving spectators a warm place to take the chill out between periods. “The new ice at its worst is better than the old ice at its best,” says Charlie Fok ’22, who plays hockey for the Griffins. “It has made a huge difference.”

INVESTMENT: $3.6 M COMPLETION: AUGUST 2021 ARCHITECT: CENTERBROOK ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS BUILDER: SHAWMUT

Photos courtesy of J. Klebeck/Centerbrook Architects

FEATURE

Cause for Celebration By Chip Lamb P ’09, ’11

n the darkness, you wait. Your heart is pounding, your mouth is dry. The anticipation grows as you strain to hear those all-important words, those particular notes of music. That is the moment. Your moment. You must act. You look up and your eyes focus on the walls around you. And there they are. The names. The names of hundreds of Pomfret students who have gone before you. They have all waited here too. Just like you. Now the moment is very close. You breathe deeply and then notice something else. A calm. A resolve. You know your lines, you have rehearsed your song. You are ready. There it is. Your cue. There is nothing else to do but to take the plunge. And you step into the light. So many voices have been heard over the years in the lovely room known as Hard Auditorium. For over 90 years, this theater has been the home for the performing arts here at Pomfret. By the late 1920s, the School was in desperate need of more classrooms as well as a place for assemblies, concerts, films, and plays. The old gymnasium that stood to the north of the Main House had at last reached its limit as a useful venue. Pomfret was fortunate enough to have a trustee who answered the call of need, and on Easter in 1928, Anson

W. Hard gave a gift to the School — the funds for a new auditorium with science laboratories in the basement. At a feverish pace, Hard Auditorium was built brick by brick. On February 8, 1929, Pomfret celebrated this lovely addition to its impressive campus. The evening began with a farce called The Dictator by Richard Harding Davis in which a young American is forced into becoming the surprising leader of a South American republic. At the intermission, both the Mandolin and the Glee clubs performed. Following the performance, at midnight, dinner was served in the Main House. I hope all those Pomfret students had eaten a big lunch! This year, Hard Auditorium will be reimagined. With the expertise of engineers, architects, builders, administrators, and faculty, a new version of this important facility will come to life. Updated sound and lighting systems will support a new stage and audience configuration — including a wrap-around balcony that expands seating capacity to five hundred. Hard Auditorium, at the very heart of our campus, will continue to serve the School as an important performance space where students can raise their voice and share their ability in the performing arts. Now that is a cause for celebration!

Theater Director Chip Lamb P ’09, ’11 holds the Scripps Endowed Chair for the Arts. He is collaborating with Ridley Pearson ’71 on a new musical based on Pearson’s novel, The Academy. The production, with support from The Class of 1967 Faculty Impact Award, is slated to debut this May in the newly renovated Hard Auditorium.

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State of the Art(s) HARD AUDITORIUM

When it reopens later this spring, Hard Auditorium will be home to a new state-of-the-art theater with enough telescoping stadium seating to fit the entire Pomfret community. The gut renovation will also include new air conditioning, heating, electrical, water, and drainage systems. As part of the project, the old breezeway connecting Hard Auditorium to the School Building will be dismantled and replaced with a new three-story connector housing an elevator.

INVESTMENT: $6.8 M COMPLETION: MAY 2022 ARCHITECT: CENTERBROOK ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS BUILDER: SHAWMUT

FEATURE

Home Sweet Home FACULTY HOUSING

In September, Wolchesky Builders broke ground on three new faculty houses. The stick-built construction, located near the facilities barn on the southside of campus, includes two three-bedroom homes and one four-bedroom home.

INVESTMENT: $1.3 M COMPLETION: MAY 2022 ARCHITECT: NEW ENGLAND DESIGN BUILDER: DUGAN CUSTOM BUILDERS, MICHAEL “DUGAN” WOLCHESKY

WEST ELEVATION — VIEW FROM BARN STREET

EAST ELEVATION

NORTH ELEVATION — UNIT A

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A Steward in Action

ou think it takes a lot to maintain your property? Try caring for a place with 50 buildings, connected by a labyrinth of underground wires and pipes, fed by a central power plant that produces electricity, heat, and coolant simultaneously. Then add 200 acres of impeccably manicured lawns, pathways, and terraces. Surround that stunning landscape with several hundred more acres of riparian lowland, forested upland, and hilltop meadow. Oh, and don’t forget about the 600 people who live, work, study, and play here. As the director of facilities, Brenda Bullied is responsible for it all. An interior designer by training, she says, “The weight and responsibility of caring for this incredible place is not lost on me. It truly is a team effort. It takes the whole community — different people with different skills, all working together — to keep this place running. I feel fortunate to play some small role in stewarding a place that means so much to so many.”

CLASS NOTES

1938-2021

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50s 60s 1963

’54 (L-R) Marshall Eaton '70, Brad Straus '54, former headmaster Jay Milnor, and Ginny Eaton got together for lunch on June 29, 2021 to celebrate Jay’s 98th birthday (which was July 11th).

1955 Brooks Robbins reported, “Our class had the good fortune to be treated to two Zoom calls arranged by Gordie Fales and Tammie LaBonte – very special to see about twelve members, and in some cases their spouses. I often have lunch with Jay Milnor, though there has been a hiatus during Covid.”

Ted Lingenheld wrote, “At the end of 2020 my partners and I closed the door on the independent school consulting firm that I had created in 2010, and which had more recently morphed into a three-way partnership with two fellow former school heads. The pandemic created such chaos in schools that few heads were departing and fewer schools were doing strategic planning, so our head search and planning facilitation services were in limbo. We were all still active in our 70s with grandchildren needing attention, so it seemed like a good time to say, ‘It was a great ride; it’s time to do other things.’ My wife of 47 years, Betsy, and I now live a bi-coastal life: Sarasota, Florida from October to May, and Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania from May to October. Our small lake in EM offers different rewards than the Gulf of Mexico and is equally satisfying. At 2100 feet above sea level, it is also considerably cooler than life on the flatlands. We read; play golf (always walking our hilly course); play tennis, POP tennis and pickle ball; fish for trout on our backyard lake; walk the dogs; and see dear friends with whom we have spent every summer together here since the early 1970s! Each of us serves on several committees/boards that provide our historic and charming summer community with the vitality that attracts and sustains families each season. Our three kids are in Asheville, Raleigh, and Danbury. They all usually visit us in each location, and we see them en route to and from Florida. Our three grandchildren are all aged eight or younger, and each provides a special reason to get together. My 54 years in education as a teacher, college admissions director, high school principal, head of school (at three day schools), and consultant to school leaders for the last 24 years kept me focused on finding ways to deliver the best possible education for young people. I got up every morning looking forward to the day ahead. Lots of adults can’t say that. It has been a good run, and now I can concentrate on shooting my age in golf ! Warm regards to ’63 classmates.”

Class notes featured in this issue were received prior to July 26, 2021. Notes received after this date will be published in the next issue. Class notes are appreciated and may be submitted via your Class Agent, the Pomfret School website, or by e-mail to: Debby Thurston, class notes editor, at dthurston@pomfret.org. We encourage and welcome appropriate news items and photographs from all alumni and friends. Please note that not all submissions are guaranteed to appear based upon subject matter, photo reproduction quality, and space availability. Also, we reserve the right to edit for consistency and style but we will give every consideration to each author’s individual writing style.

CLASS NOTES

BOOK CORNER WEST SIDE RISING Char Miller

Char Miller ’70 has published West Side Rising: How San Antonio's 1921 Flood Devastated a City and Sparked a Latino Environmental Justice Movement. Writing about the book in the Huffington Post, Alexander C. Kaufman says, “It’s a relevant story today. More than half of Latino Americans live in California, Texas, and Florida, three states struggling to beat back the record-breaking droughts, heat, and flooding scientists say are just a taste of the warming to come.” The book has been featured in the Sierra Club Magazine, Texas Monthly, as well as NPR and other media outlets. Miller is the W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis at Pomona College.

GHOSTING

Barbara Lazear Ascher In this spellbinding examination of grief and love, Barbara Lazear Ascher ’64 chronicles her widowhood after her husband died of pancreatic cancer. An avid sailor, she looks to the nautical term ghosting — used to describe when a ship makes gradual headway with an imperceptible wind — as a metaphor for her own drift after her husband was diagnosed with a disease that moved “as quickly and intensely as our falling in love.” Ascher is a former attorney and the author of four books of non-fiction, including Playing After Dark from Doubleday.

TRESPASSING ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES Brad Davis

Former chaplain (1987–2002) Brad Davis is out with a new book, Trespassing on the Mount of Olives: poems in conversation with the Gospels — the follow-up to Opening King David: poems in conversation with the Psalms. Together they represent his engagement with the sacred texts of his childhood. The new book is in the Poiema Poetry Series of Cascade Books.

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Benson ("Barry") Bobrick wrote: "While my literary work of late has been slight – the foreword to a study of Shakespeare's plays, the introduction to a book funded by the NEH – my domestic life has been happily upended by the adoption of a Norwich Terrier puppy, named Samson, whom my wife and I acquired last November. Over the years we've cared for a host of pets, with more or less equal devotion, but Samson may be the most endearing of them all. In other news, two more of my books, Angel in the Whirlwind and Wide As the Waters, will soon be available in audio format. Regards to all."

1968 ’63 Phoebe Hager '21 and Dan Poor '63 got a chance to meet at a family wedding party in July 2021. They enjoyed talking about their time on the Hilltop, with Dan recalling that he was a prefect for freshmen in the Bricks, as well as modestly sharing that he was school president. Griffins for life!!

1965 Ted Seacrest wrote, “In 2012 I retired from my twin careers of health care consulting and selling Rock & Roll oldies music and memorabilia. Since retirement, I spend six months (spring and summer) living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and six months (fall and winter) living in Lincoln, Nebraska each year. I am now working part-time and for ‘free’ for the J.C. & Jessie Seacrest Family Foundation in Lincoln, Nebraska (i.e. my extended family's foundation).”

’65 Benson Bobrick '65 with his dog, Samson, by a statue of St. Francis and the Birds on the Smith College campus in early June 2021.

Joel Rathbone wrote, “As we continue to age, we need to count, and share, our blessings. Far better that we share the small things together on Class Notes than we appear in the next section of the class information (the obits). But mostly gone are the days we can share professional and career achievements. So I propose that we, as classmates, start sharing ‘feel good’ moments in the class notes. Here is one of my small ‘feel good’ stories. In August 2021 I entered a USTA grass court mixed doubles tennis tournament. My partner was my 15-year-old granddaughter whom I took to tennis lessons starting at five years old. She played until she was 11, then gave up the sport. Last year, at 14, she entered high school as a freshman and decided to take up tennis and softball. In tennis, as a freshman, she became the #2 singles on the varsity team. Yet she had never played on grass courts and never played doubles. I had played plenty of doubles, but not much on grass courts. Needless to say, we did not win. But it is an event that neither she nor I will forget for the rest of our lives. What absolute fun!!! I certainly hope to be able to do it again in the future.”

70s

’70 Ben Bensen '70 (left) and Marshall Eaton '70 hiking The Long Trail in Vermont.

CLASS NOTES

1970

1987

Ben Bensen wrote, “‘Vintage’ Marshall Eaton and I took another bite out of the Long Trail early in July, with a soggy three-day ramble. Though I tend to like the latest widgets and gizmos, he’s a latter-day Earl Schaefer, most of his gear being state of the art for 1981. Still, we seem to work well together; further trips are being dreamed of. We try to get at least one hike per year together, and with this sojourn I’ve completed 54% of the LT, having started in 1965 – before I enrolled at Pomfret! I also completed the Appalachian Trail in Vermont, my fourth state, with ten to go. Planning a bigger slab of miles this fall, and should complete both trails as a section hiker by the time my grandchildren can retire!”

Dan Becker announced, “I got married to Minh Vo of Virginia last year in the city hall of our new home town of Amsterdam, Netherlands. I had to switch position with her after our oaths, as Dutch custom requires the husband to be on the right of his wife to protect her against sword strikes! Fortunately, the ceremony was in English.”

1971 Steven Shwartz announced, “My book, Evil Robots, Killer Computers, and Other Myths: The Truth About AI and the Future of Humanity, was published in February 2021 by Fast Company Press. It explains why AI will not take over the world or take all our jobs, why self-driving vehicles won’t dominate our roads for a long time, and other topics. More information can be found at www.AIPerspectives.com/evil-robots.”

1973 Rob Michaels reported, “After living and working in Andover, Massachusetts for 37 years, we have made a lifestyle change and moved to Cape Cod. I have not retired yet but am thinking about it more and more.”

’87

1975 Amy Cohen wrote, “My daughter, Emma Rose, was married on June 11, 2021 after a yearlong delay!!”

80s 1983 Beth Corcoran Crompton and Dave Crompton '84 announced the birth of their second granddaughter, Adeline Talulah Johnson. Addie joins big sister Quinn, 2 1/2. Courtney (their daughter) and Nick Johnson, the baby’s parents, are doing well.

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Dan Becker '87 and his new wife, Minh Vo

1988 Caitlin Hills reported, “I am the proud parent of Cole Castro, Pomfret class of 2024! We live in mid-coast Maine and have two rescue pups named BeLaKe and DeNice (Key and Peele fans will recognize). I am so grateful to the class of 1988 showing up for annual giving and absolutely crushing it!!” Sarah Chappell Armentrout wrote, “Our life is busy and full with our riding academy of 23 years (www.carlisleacademymaine. com) and the farm itself (www.springcreekme.com). Never a dull moment, but rewarding nonetheless. It’s pretty horse-centric much of the time for better or worse, but I still find time to play, serve on some boards, and even see some Pomfret friends from time to time. I have so many fond memories of my time at Pomfret moons ago, and have returned for a few reunions. Life does go by so fast, especially these years with our kids.”

NEW CANAAN TENNIS Pomfret alumni and parents gathered in New Canaan, Connecticut for the sixth annual Fairfield County Tennis Event on August 11, 2021. First row, l-r: David '99 and Christine Marks, Joey Moffitt '82, Max Freeman '21, Andrew '67 and Joan Sereysky. Middle row, l-r: Mary Kroll P '20, Colin Kroll '20, Cooper Lee '21, Etienne '04 and Sarah '03 Vazquez. Back row, l-r: Paul Healy '05, Aidan Rosen '20, Greg Still P '05, David Still '05, Paul Fowler '64, Director of Admissions Operations Pete Anderson, Katie Bell Bues '03, Ed Chow '75, Cheryl Bundy P '23, Alex Bues, Jean Sinica Still '73, P '05

CLASS NOTES

REUNION

2022

JUNE 10-12 WORTH THE WAIT Come back to the place where it all began...and stay! This year, we are moving Reunion to June. Which means — for the first time in decades — WE ARE OPENING OUR DORMS for you to stay over! FOR CLASSES ENDING IN 0, 1, 2, 5, 6, 7

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Adair Byers Scott wrote, “[My husband] Simon and I live in Naples, Florida with our three kids, Annabelle (13), Schyler (12), and Jack (9). I am actually married to Katherine Scott Pilkington’s brother — how funny is that! We met on a blind date 17 plus years ago. I had no idea who his sister was until the third or fourth date! We’ve now been married a little over 15 years. My kids think it's hysterical that my husband was at my high school graduation. I am teaching second grade at a private school called the Community School of Naples and all my kids go there (which makes life super easy). We live in Florida but spend our summers up north, as well as Christmas, Easter etc. It's a really nice balance.”

90s 1993 Jack Howard-Potter has been hard at work since November 2020 on his latest commission, “1958 Championship Game.” The thirty-foottall steel sculpture has been a labor of love for Jack and was unveiled on August 6, 2021 during the NFL Hall of Fame Induction Weekend. The sculpture will be permanently displayed at 900 Cleveland Avenue NW in Canton, Ohio.

the lives of the people throughout their communities. Monique then went on to be named one of Harford Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 top up-and-coming young professionals for 2021 in August. Joe Horton recently received the 2021 Naval War College's (NWC) McGinnis Family Award for Outstanding Performance in the Fleet Seminar Program on June 11, 2021. This annual award is given to the NWC's most outstanding Fleet Seminar Program graduate of the Joint Professional Military Education Program ( JPME) Phase I. Awardees are considered on the merits of GPA, professional accomplishments, and community service over their academic tenure. Joe beat out 270 other graduates to win this distinction. He completed the JPME course in two years while serving as the sole legal counsel to Joint Interagency Task Force ( JIATF) West at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii. JIATF-West is the Department of Defense's lead counterdrug task force in the Indo-Pacific Region. In August 2021, Joe headed to the University of Hawaii at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law to obtain his LL.M. in Environmental Law & Policy. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii with his amazing wife, Commander Francine Segovia, PhD, MSC, USN. Joe was also pleased to report that classmate Justin Pizzoferrato was promoted to Sergeant Major in the U.S. Army on June 10, 2021. This is the highest enlisted pay grade in the Army and came after multiple tours to Afghanistan and Iraq and 17 years of dedicated service to our Nation. “Hooah Sergeant Major Pizzoferrato! You do our nation and our Hilltop proud!”

1995 Harry Neumann wrote, “I have been married for 22 years to my wife, Jennifer. We were dating while I was a student at Pomfret; she went to Griswold High School. We have three biological children ( Jonathon, Kaitlyn, and Victoria) and became foster parents to three children (Lila, Jaxson, and Lila). I am a Program Director for a residential program for people living with medical/physical disabilities. I own a custom guitar shop and donate some of my guitars to local school music programs. In June, I made a custom guitar for a nonprofit organization, Guitars4Vets, which will be auctioned off and the proceeds will benefit US veterans suffering from PTSD by purchasing a guitar and providing a year of free guitar lessons.”

00s

1998 Virginia and John “Buzz” Evans continue to grow their Newburgh, New York-based environmental consulting firm, Air Guys. The Air Guys traveled to Texas in February and March 2021 to assist with the unprecedented Arctic freeze. They also continue to operate Air Masks, a PPE manufacturing and distribution operation, as well as their new start-up, Air Cars, which will partner with Turo to offer Tesla EVs exclusively for rent utilizing a peer-to-peer network. Their children, John IV (2) and Giavanna (3), continue to grow every day and bring joy to both parents. Both will likely be better athletes than Buzz. Buzz plans a visit to the Pomfret Hilltop in the fall, where he will encourage and support the installation of zero impact EV charging infrastructure for the use of campus residents, staff, and guests.

1999 Congratulations to Monique Biggs, who was honored at the 100 Women of Color Gala & Awards on May 21, 2021 in Simsbury, Connecticut. The mission of 100 Women of Color is to recognize women of color in business, education, entrepreneurship, government, entertainment, sports, and public service, and the impact they have on

’00 Brian and Heidi Ruggeri Umansky '02 announced the birth of their third child, Nevin Joseph Bass Umansky, on July 18, 2021.

CLASS CLASSNOTES NOTES

2002 Tamara Froebel Salkin wrote, “After the company I co-founded, South Fork Performing Arts, received our 501(c)3 status in February 2020, we had to suspend our 2020 in-person workshops and performances shortly after in March due to Covid. We shifted focus to a virtual platform for the year and you can listen to our familyfriendly, student-performed radio theater podcasts on most streaming services by searching ‘WSFPA.’ We recently returned to live and inperson workshops and performances for our Garden Performance Project summer camp, and are thrilled to offer this experience to our students and their families again, as well as provide free to the public performances all summer long. I have also accepted a promotion from my position as the Elementary School Musical Theatre Director at East Hampton, New York schools to the District Musical Theatre Director, producing and directing four musicals throughout the school year working with fourth through twelfth grade students. Overall, I am very excited to be back to creating live theatre, and encourage everyone to support their local theatres and performing arts organizations extra hard as we all try to bounce back after a difficult year.”

’04

’06

Natasha Blodgett '06 and Luke Paskevich '04 on their wedding day, September 18, 2021.

2005 Congratulations to Sarah Sweet and Andrew Roberson, who welcomed their second child, Henry Sweet Roberson, on May 9, 2021. Also congratulations to Mallory Jaffe Sorkin, who announced she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on May 4, 2020.

2006

’06

Caroline McLoughlin Davis and her husband, Peter, were delighted to announce the birth of their daughter, Caroline Croft Davis, on April 20, 2021. Baby Caroline is the 7th Caroline in a line of mothers naming their daughters Caroline. She shares a birthday with her great grandfather, Harry Croft Bickel, who was born exactly 100 years before her on 4/20/21.

’04

’06

Pomfret alumni celebrating the wedding of Luke Paskevich '04 and Natasha Blodgett '06 on September 18, 2021 are l-r: Paul Cooley '04, Nick Nardiello '06, Nick Walker '04, Emily Hardej '04, Marjorie Mayrock '07, Nick Gaube '04, Dan Stipanuk '04, Natasha, Luke, Taylor Chalmers '04, Sarah '03 and Etienne Vasquez '04, Oliver Blodgett '04, Mark Blodgett '75.

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Caroline Croft Davis, daughter of Peter & Caroline McLoughlin Davis '06

’06

Michelle Gilmore Castiglione '06 (left) and Olivia Gray Konrath '06 met at the zoo on the campus of Millbrook School (New York) with their children in February 2021.

10s 2014 Madeleine Hutchins recently had her essay "At Shantok" published in issue 10 of Dawnland Voices 2.0. In August of 2021, her short story "The Tower" was published in an anthology of pieces by young Indigenous writers produced by the West Warwick Public Library.

’06

2018

Silvia Joy, daughter of Carlos and Amy Smith Hernández Gamboa '06, welcomed her baby brother, Carlos Paul, into the world on June 30, 2021.

Hayden Galusza has been elected captain of the men’s varsity crew team at Wesleyan University, and in June 2021 was named to Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association’s All-American First Team for men’s crew. He will graduate in May 2022 with a degree in economics and minor in data analytics. Hayden interned this past summer with Invesco in their Equity ETF office in Chicago, Illinois.

2019 Following his graduation from Pomfret, William Gould took a gap year and played junior hockey in the Eastern Hockey League (EHL) with the New Jersey 87's hockey team in Middletown, New Jersey. In the spring of 2020, he received a NCAA commitment to play Division III level ice hockey at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) for the 2020-2021 season. William is majoring in Business Administration and has earned a place on the Honors List for the fall 2021 semester.

’07 Julia Field Driscoll ’07 and her husband, Sean '06, welcomed the birth of their first child and future Griffin, John “Jack” Powel Driscoll, on April 6, 2021. Julia is looking forward to visiting campus in June as a family for her 15-year reunion!

’10 Pomfret family and friends sharing in the wedding of Corey Gingras '09 and Brittany Zulkiewicz '10 in 2020. The couple celebrated their first anniversary on July 25, 2021. L-R: Dan Feller '06, Emily Mooney '10, Bekim Cela '10, Zach Golden '09, Nancy Gingras P ’09, ’12, Corey, Brittany, Kenzie Deary '10, Samantha Slotnick Stanton '10, and Shay Gingras '12.

CLASS CLASSNOTES NOTES

11.5.21

New Canaan Paddle Event

New Canaan, CT , hosted by Joey Moffitt '82 and Paul Fowler '64 Front row, l-r: Director of Admissions Operations Peter Anderson, David '99 and Christine Marks, Joey Moffitt '82, Lisa Walsh '87, Paul Fowler '64, Laura (Dunn) Cona '05, Mackie (Pilsbury) Spadaccini '03, Kenyon Clark '67; back row, l-r: Katie (Bell) Bues '03 and Alex Bues, Greg Still P '05, Kevin Gildea '07, David Still '05, Michael Weaver '14, Mary Kroll P '20, Art Crabtree, Jeff Kroll P '20.

11.7. 21

Myopia Paddle Event

South Hamilton, MA, hosted by Dick Fates '63 L-R: Linda Fates, Bob Lockwood P '22, Dick Fates '63, Julee and Brad Haley P '23, Joan Lockwood P '22, Brett Perryman P '23, Mike Newton '96, Chad Cooper '96, Lisa (Noble) Kaneb '86, Director of Constituent Engagement Louisa Jones P '04, Trevor Reid '06, Mary Catherine Pflug, Chris Kaneb, Liz (Sadler) Loring '05, Will Loring, Jen Loring.

New Alumni Association President

arah Howie ’09 is currently an MBA candidate at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Previously, Sarah spent three years as an Investment Manager within

POMFRET WINTER 2022

the Investment Office of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, an Atlanta-based Pediatric Healthcare System. Prior to joining Children’s, Sarah worked for Gulfstream Alternative Capital, a healthcare-focused private equity firm, and Quadriga Partners, an investment bank offering M&A and capital raising advisory services to healthcare companies. Sarah earned a bachelor’s in anthropology and political science from Emory University. While at Pomfret, Sarah participated in the Pomfret Dance Company, in addition to playing tennis and squash. She was also a prefect, dean’s assistant, head waiter, and tour guide during her four years.

In addition to the Alumni Association Executive Council (AAEC), Sarah serves on both the Young Professionals Board of Foreverfamily, a nonprofit supporting children of incarcerated parents, and the Future Leaders Board of Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities. Sarah grew up in Amagansett, New York, spent twelve years in Atlanta, Georgia, and now resides in Evanston, Illinois. In addition to Sarah, other members of the AAEC leadership team include Co-Vice Presidents Jim Seymour ’65, Etienne Vazquez ’04, and Toyin Moses ’98, and Secretary Hadley Rosen ’97.

G N I V I G F Y DA O

APRIL 26, 2022

Save the Date No one can say where the journey will end. But one thing is for certain. It started here.

CLASS NOTES

CLASS AGENTS & SECRETARIES Classes not listed do not have a class agent at present. If interested in volunteering, contact Louisa Jones, Director of Constituent Engagement, at 860.963.5295 or ljones@pomfret.org.

1949 Tony LaPalme 1952 Chuck Henry 1953 Fred Gaston 1954 Bill O’Brien 1955 John Huss Brooks Robbins Will Stewart 1956 Tony Hoyt 1957 Dan Fales 1958 Ed Johnson George Shaw 1959 Jeb Embree 1960 Ben Fairbank

1961 Tim Carey Steve Dexter Clark Groome Richard Jackson George Morgan George Walker

1973 Pete de Treville John Matthews Andy Teichner

1962 Howie Mallory

1975 Andre Burgess

1963 Dick Fates John Griswold Ted Swenson

1977 John Leeming

1964 Peter Clement 1965 Donald Gibbs 1967 Kenyon Clark Michael Petty 1968 Greg Melville 1969 Rick Levin 1970 Ben Bensen 1972 Milton Butts

POMFRET WINTER 2022

1974 David Dixon

1978 Mark Breen 1979 Brad Painter 1980 Rachel Kamen 1981 Eric Foster 1982 Luis Cruz Joey Moffitt 1983 Wendy (Reeder) Enelow Tim Robinson 1984 Jeff Curran

1985 Chris Berl 1987 Kay Cowperthwait 1988 Caitlin Hills 1989 Katie (Moriarty) Whittier 1990 Rachel Baime 1992 Dolph Clinton 1993 Elisabeth Costa de Beauregard 1994 Karrie Amsler Daniel Levin Ed Wartels 1995 Carson Baker Whitney Cook Allison (Glasmann) Reiner Robin Thebault Dan Thompson 1996 Anderson Bottomy Hillary Lewis Mike Newton Rebecca (Holt) Squires

1997 Miriam (Jamron) Baskies Wheeler (Simmons) Griffith Katharine (Carnes) Petrycki Hadley (Weiss) Rosen 1998 Buzz Evans Kip Hale Toyin Moses Livia (Skelly-Dorn) Roustan 1999 Lindsey (Boardman) Duerr TJ Patrick 2000 Hilary (Gerson) Axtmayer 2001 Caitlin (Rogers) Connelly Cooper Hastings Wendy (Smith) Scarisbrick 2002 Christina (Galanti) Dickson Jo Anna (Galanti) Fellon John Lindsey Colton Riley Chris Watkins Bill Wentworth 2003 Saleem Ahmed Chelsea (Weiss) Baum Laura (Keeler) Pierce Chris Pike Mackie (Pilsbury) Spadaccini Poon Watchara-Amphaiwan 2004 Bob Saunders Etienne Vazquez

2005 Laura (Dunn) Cona Tim Deary Alysia LaBonte-Campbell Josh Rich Davinia Buckley Selfridge Bona Yoo 2006 Michelle (Gilmore) Castiglione Hillary (Ross) Charalambous Caroline (McLoughlin) Davis Young Hoon Hahn Maryam Hayatu-Deen Greg Jones Katy (Winogradow) Munno James Pinkham Erin (Wolchesky) Schnare 2007 Chris Golden Else (Ross) Griffin Travis Holloway Holly Lorms Shawn McCloud Melissa (Stuart) Rogalski Darren Small Emily (Detmer) Taylor 2008 Alexandra D’Agostino Steve Harkey Emily Johnson Joanna (Gaube) Nemeskal 2009 Molly Downey Katie Kramer Sam St. Lawrence 2010 Maura Hall Kayla Sheehan Samantha (Slotnick) Stanton Ryan Wainwright

2011 Matthew Bourdeau Kenri Ferre Daniel Palumbo Margaret (Thompson) Stevens Ray Zeek 2012 Allie Bohan Helen Day Moira MacArthur Jack Nicholson Georgia Paige Sorrel Perka 2013 Alex Adams Lindsay Barber Alyson Chase Hayden Clarkin Jordan Ginsberg Lexi Gulino Dan Kellaway Dylan O’Hara Izzie Tropnasse 2014 Isaiah Henderson Meghan MacArthur Annie Zalon 2015 K.C. O’Hara 2016 Madison Dean Abby McThomas Caelan Meggs Sofie Melian-Morse Rhone O’Hara Chloe Saad Dave Samberg Sam Skinner

2017 Olivia Kremer Mallory McArdle Brandon Mitchell Sophie Nick 2018 Abby Conway Taylor Ettore Henry Linhares Nia Medina-Orrantia 2019 Komi Alasse Jahneh Haylett Maddy Metcalf Rory Schauder Brinton Thomas Caroline Woodard Sawyer Zimmerman 2020 Tyler Bourque Nisan Korkmaz Colin Kroll Trina Madziwa Sarah Miller Teagan O’Hara Marcus von Recklinghausen Candy Vorasadhit 2021 Emmy Gengras Cooper Lee Jade Ly Michaela Nsubuga Samia Segal Molly Sullivan Kevin Wang David Zhang Shawn Zhu

IN MEMORIAM CLASS NOTES

IN MEMORIAM

We lost the following members of our community between February 1, 2021 - October 31, 2021. If an individual has an asterisk, it means they should have appeared in our last issue, but we did not learn of their passing until after that magazine had published.

’45

’46

’49

’50

Wallace B. Goodwin II ’45 July 19, 2021

Donald M. Leavitt ’46 May 2, 2020 *

Vincent C. Banker ’49 July 6, 2021

Wendell Davis, Jr. ’50 February 27, 2021

’51

’55

Markley H. Boyer ’51 March 14, 2021

Harald Lang ’51 July 25, 2020 *

Michael W. Hard ’55 February 28, 2021

Anthony Pratt ’55 July 3, 2021

’55

’57

’58

James D. Weaver ’55 June 26, 2021

Robert M. Young ’55 October 30, 2021

Frederick L. Rhodes ’57 September 18, 2021

Peter Moller ’58 May 6, 2020 *

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’63

’64

Andrew D. Cook ’63 September 29, 2021

William H. Case ’64 February 7, 2021

Timothy Fleming ’64 March 2021

Francis Paine ’64 June 30, 2021

’68

’69

’70

’71

Robert R. Rich ’68 July 31, 2021

Myron Kellogg ’69 December 26, 2020 *

Michael B. Wood ’70 April 2, 2021

Peter D. Wormser ’71 July 13, 2021

’80

’85

’91

Cory E. Fiteni ’80 December 21, 2020 *

Alison C. Church ’85 February 15, 2021

Patrick J. Madden ’85 October 13, 2021

Tirik Spencer ’91 May 6, 2021

To request a printed copy of full-detail alumni obituaries, call the Advancement Office at 860.963.6127.

’18

Matthew G. Baldwin ’18 July 6, 2021

Theodore Danzig ’18 October 30, 2021

IN MEMORIAM CLASS NOTES

Former Faculty

Past Parent

Jim Birdsall February 23, 2021

Helmut Jahn May 8, 2021

Former faculty member Jim Birdsall, who passed away on February 23, 2021, in Signal Mountain, Tennessee was chaplain at Pomfret School’s Clark Memorial Chapel from 1975 to 1976 and again from 1978 through 1986. In addition to his chaplaincy, Jim taught a religion class and coached girls varsity basketball. He is survived by his sons Timothy and Jeremy and daughters Jessica ’77 and Priscilla ’78.

We were saddened to learn that world-renowned architect Helmut Jahn, father of Evan ’97, passed away unexpectedly on May 8, 2021. Two campus spaces — Jahn Hockey Rink and Jahn Reading Room — bear his name. He was a great friend of the School and he will be sorely missed.

Former Faculty Widow Barbara Geissinger June 15, 2021

Barbara died peacefully on June 15, 2021 with her daughters Annie ’74 and Katie ’76 at her side. She was 98 years old. Barbara was predeceased by her daughter Eve Geissinger ’72 in 1992 and her husband and former faculty member Warren Geissinger in 2020.

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“Life is short. We don't have much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk this way with us. So, be swift to love and make haste to be kind.” — Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Former Faculty

Chris Atwood September 2, 2021

Janet Stebbins September 8, 2021

Longtime faculty member Chris Atwood passed away on September 2, 2021. Chris began his career at Pomfret in 1980 and served in many capacities until his retirement in 2015. Starting as the director of athletics, he moved on to be the director of student services, and later the director of digital arts and computer science. With his quiet demeanor and heart of gold, Chris faithfully dedicated himself to the development and education of students during his tenure at Pomfret. The mark he left on the School and countless students and faculty through his thirty-five years is indelible. Chris is survived by his wife and longtime former Pomfret faculty member, Kathe.

Dedicated Alumnus, Past Parent, and Trustee Chet Lasell September 12, 2021

Janet Stebbins, academic dean and English teacher from 1994 to 2005, passed away on September 8, 2021. Along with her buoyant personality, Janet’s reputation amongst her students and colleagues was one as a wise school leader and generous champion of student growth; the bottomless jar of jellybeans that graced her desk sparked many a conversation, as well as a bridge to deeper discussions. She also introduced Pomfret’s Academic Convocation, an annual tradition that continues to this day. Janet was predeceased by her husband, John, in 2013.

On September 12, the Pomfret community lost Chet Lasell ’54, a dedicated alumnus, past parent, and trustee. He served the School with sincere devotion for over eighty cumulative years – sixty-seven as class agent for the Class of 1954, ten years as a trustee, and five years on the Alumni Association Executive Council, with two of those as President. He was honored with the William Beach Olmsted Distinguished Service Award in 2008, and in 2009, Chet was named an honorary life trustee. He established the groundwork to keep Pomfret alumni well informed, well connected, and more involved in their alma mater. Chet’s commitment to the School was not only evident in his volunteer activities, but also through his generous philanthropy. Chet’s father, Pomfret Class of 1926 and also a trustee, was Chet’s inspiration for leading and supporting the effort to build the Lasell Alumni House on the Pomfret School campus. He was instrumental in starting the Lasell Visiting Alumni Program, which brings prominent alumni back to Pomfret to interact with students and faculty in the classroom. He also established the Lasell Family Scholarship Fund to financially assist a deserving student to attend the School, taking great joy in keeping in touch with each recipient of the scholarship. Chet also hosted many receptions at his home in Vero Beach, Florida, bringing together alumni, parents, and trustees in their shared connection with Pomfret. Chet’s wonderful spirit, kindness, loyalty, and generosity will be missed by so many. He leaves behind his wife, Kate, and sons Chet, John ’82, and Jeff ’86.

ICONOGRAPHY

Old School W hat ’s in a Name? Some might think the name “Tuck Shop” was given to the school canteen because it is “tucked” between the Lewis Gymnasium and the Corzine Athletic Center. But the term “Tuck Shop” is actually a British term for a store located in or near a school that sells food and treats.

The Tuck was previously the School gymnasium. Look closely — the arches and beams were preserved from the former structure, the lower floor was the basketball court, and the upper floor was the floating track.

— ICONOGRAPHY —

THE TUCK Starbucks Meets Johnny Rockets

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Big Moves The Tuck was previously in Strong Field House in what is now the yoga studio. Just ask Tuck Shop Manager Matt Rodman who has run The Tuck since Day One — he’ll tell you all about it. He used to cook on a table top griddle and was limited in what fresh food he could sell.

P uc k

s, Pockets, and Paddles

In between classes and activities, and sometimes during free blocks, students can be found playing pool or ping pong on the tables found on the lower floor or air hockey on the upper level.

Student Designed Last spring, the Olmsted Student Union got a facelift. Students in the Commercial Design course presented plans for the renovation as their final project. They offered suggestions on everything from seating design to fabric choices to food offerings. Many of the ideas they presented made it into the final design.

Six Dozen Cookies Each day, six dozen cookies are made in the Tuck Shop. In addition to cookies, students enjoy chicken fingers, hamburgers, fries, popovers, and milkshakes — Oreo being the most popular milkshake flavor served.

Work of Art In between the upper and lower levels is a mural entitled “Calm Seas Make Poor Sailors” by Chris Rogers ’01, an acrylic and mixed media artist who specializes in abstract impressions and figurative art. His masterpiece captures the diverse student body and includes a Griffin that is protecting the current and tide of life.

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Pomfret Magazine — Winter 2022

Articles inside

The Truth Is Out There

In Conversation with Zenab Keita ’10

Breaking New Ground

Brain Changer