ALUMNAE STORIES

ALUMNAE PROFILES

Regina H. Boone, 1988

Growing up, Regina Boone’s home was filled with newspapers, magazines and books. Incredible visual storytelling was all around her. Her father, a journalist, instilled in her the critical thinking skills she would need for the world of journalism, and he also emphasized the importance of seeing things from all perspectives. Regina unconsciously applied this nascent photojournalism education to her time at RPCS, where she attended from grades 7-12, and documented her life and classmates in the medium of photography. “My understanding of locking in the everyday moments was totally in my DNA, even though I was not in tune as to why I actually did this.” Even at an early age, Regina’s passion for seeing the humanity embedded in the ordinary moments of life was hardwired into her.

Today, Regina is an award-winning photojournalist, who has spent more than 20 years documenting human resiliency. In 2016, Time magazine chose a portrait of hers as its cover image documenting the Flint water crisis, which also made CNN’s 2020 list of “100 Photos that Defined the Decade.” She was also the keynote speaker at Roland Park Country School’s Commencement this past June. After graduating from RPCS, Regina attended Spelman College, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science in 1992. Regina taught English on the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program, while living in Osaka for three years. After four years of living abroad, she moved to Richmond, Virginia to work for her family’s weekly newspaper, the Richmond Free Press. Four years later, she completed a two-year graduate program at Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication and was then hired to join the photojournalism staff of the Detroit Free Press, where she worked for nearly 14 years. In 2018, Regina completed the Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan, and three years ago she rejoined the staff at the Richmond Free Press. When Regina was a student at RPCS, the school provided a solid foundation of academics and independent thinking that prepared her for college. But RPCS is also where she learned firsthand about racism, wealth and privilege, and inequities of all kinds. She credits the school and her parents with opening her eyes from a very young age to the gross imbalance of the playing field between white people and people of color. She learned how to study, think critically and to maneuver in spaces with people who didn’t look like her and oftentimes did not respect her or her background. Teamwork as a lacrosse and field hockey player helped to build Regina’s character to be outspoken and fearless and being a teenager dealing with microaggressions and racism made her stronger, but her struggles were often lonely. “I value all that I learned, even the bad and hurtful things,” said Regina. “I cherish many memories with my classmates and teachers. The good and the bad made it all a very rich experience that I actually would not change.” Regina especially values the friendships she has made at RPCS, including her best friend Nikki Parker, 1988. She is also still in touch with Mrs. Anne Heuisler, who understood her deeply and challenged her personally and academically. “I truly cherish her and I am immensely grateful to have someone like her who knew me then, knows me now and understands both versions of me.” As a student, Regina was inspired by her classmates and the other intelligent, fierce and talented young women of RPCS. “I was often in awe of the thinkers we were surrounded by at such a young age and am still inspired by creative minds and those who are fearless and those who lead the way,” Regina said. “The school taught me to lead and not to back down, even when the majority was against me sometimes.” Over the past year, Regina has felt the heavy load of the pandemic and the reckoning surrounding ongoing racism. But she has learned that giving up is not an option. “As my dad used to remind my family many mornings growing up and into adulthood, he’d say, ‘It’s opportunity time.’ Yes, it is.”

“The school taught me to lead and not to back down, even when the majority was against me sometimes.”

“I feel so lucky for our crew of strong, incredible women. Even though we’ve all taken different paths, we’ve always found our way back to each other.”

Morgan Katz, M.D., MHS, 2002

As an Assistant Professor of Infectious Disease at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, this past year has been busier than ever for Morgan Katz, M.D., MHS, 2002. In addition to serving as the long-term care incident commander for the Johns Hopkins Health System COVID-19 response, assisting with the stabilization and infection prevention guidance for nursing homes across Maryland, she was also a developing member of the Maryland state strike teams and served on the White House nursing home commission to guide the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in protecting residents and staff in nursing homes during COVID-19. Morgan acknowledges it has been a challenging year, juggling an increasingly demanding career and two young children, ages 2 and 4, during a pandemic. “This year, we have all learned that we can do really hard things and survive,” Morgan said. “We are resilient.” Morgan’s interest in medicine began when she was an Upper School student of Mr. Brock’s, learning about biology and the human body. After graduating from RPCS in 2002, Morgan attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience. She went on to earn her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, before completing a residency in Internal Medicine at Tulane University Hospital and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She also earned a Master of Health Science (MHS) degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Morgan is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease.

Growing up in a supportive environment at RPCS surrounded by strong women gave Morgan confidence to speak up and voice her opinions throughout her career. She also credits her close group of friends from the Class of 2002 for inspiring and encouraging her dreams. “I feel so lucky for our crew of strong, incredible women. Even though we’ve all taken different paths, we’ve always found our way back to each other.” Some of Morgan’s favorite memories of RPCS include the Halloween parades and singing “Hodge Podge Halloween” with Mr. Forbes, spirit days, and her early morning crew practices (at 5:30 a.m.!), followed by bagels before school started. She also recalls how her class would all sit on top of each other in the student lounges, even though there were plenty of couches to sit on, prompting her parents to refer to the Class of 2002 as “Roland Park Sitting!” “I owe a lot to RPCS,” Morgan said. “I always felt like I had a safe space, an outlet and supportive friends, which has had a significant and positive impact on my life.”

Distinguished Rising REDS Award

Earlier this year during Alumnae Weekend, Morgan was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Rising REDS Award! This award celebrates an alumna under the age of 40 who has enhanced the reputation of Roland Park Country School through outstanding professional achievements, personal accomplishments, significant contributions to their community and/or engagement with RPCS. Morgan shows distinction as a leader in her field and actively embodies the spirit, leadership, and integrity of our REDS community!

ALUMNAE PROFILES

Adrienne Rich, 1947

In The Power of Adrienne Rich, the first comprehensive biography published last year about the internationally acclaimed poet, essayist and RPCS alumna, author Hilary Holladay provides a detailed account into her complicated and extraordinary life. Described as “one of the most prominent and influential intellectuals of the latter half of the twentieth century,” Adrienne’s personal life was one of transformations, from a gifted student to a dutiful wife and mother of three, to a feminist, activist and queer icon, and always an artist. Adrienne grew up in Roland Park and after being tutored at home as a young child, enrolled at RPCS with her sister Cynthia Rich, 1951. According to Holladay, her teachers quickly realized that she was a gifted student and encouraged her academic pursuits. Adrienne loved learning and spent her free time playing the piano and writing. In fact, she produced her first book of poetry at age 6 and then wrote a 50-page play about the Trojan War when she was 7. “Adrienne Rich was on a lifelong quest to know herself and the world,” Holladay wrote. “The process of discovery always motivated and energized her.” While at RPCS, Adrienne admired her French teacher Miss Emerson Lamb and developed a close relationship with Miss Margareta Faissler, who taught European History at the school for more than 30 years. According to the biography, Miss Faissler taught Adrienne the principles of social justice and inspired her “to read widely and think deeply about the human dimensions of history.” Adrienne also credited Miss Faissler for helping her see herself as someone who should help those less privileged than she was, which she was grateful for. They kept in touch throughout the rest of Miss Faissler’s life.

Adrienne sang in the glee club, starred as Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet”, wrote for the Quid Nunc yearbook and was the literary editor of the school’s newspaper, The Red and White. She was also voted most intelligent and wittiest in her senior class (tied with another classmate in both categories), but she never considered herself popular. Adrienne graduated high school on June 3, 1947, and the next evening, June 4, Roland Park Country School caught on fire and most of the school burned down.

In 1950, Adrienne was awarded the Yale Younger Poets Prize for her first book of poetry, A Change of World and graduated from Radcliffe College the following year. Two years later, she married and had three sons. Throughout the 1960s, Adrienne’s poetry evolved to focus more on racism and civil rights, sexism and the Vietnam War. She left her husband and “successfully embraced feminism, lesbianism, and her ancestral Judaism,” according to the biography. Throughout her life, Adrienne published more than 12 volumes of poetry and several collections of nonfiction. Her work received global recognition, including the National Book Award, Book Critics Circle Award, the Bollingen Prize, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a MacArthur Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and the Academy of American Poet’s Wallace Stevens Award for outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry. Adrienne passed away on March 27, 2012 at the age of 82 from complications of rheumatoid arthritis. Her work lives on and according to Holladay, this is the power of Adrienne Rich – her art. “Poetry has the capacity – in its own ways and by its own means – to remind us of something we are forbidden to see,” Adrienne said in a speech she gave when she was 77. “A forgotten future…this ongoing future, written off over and over, is still within view.”