Fall 2021: Bulletin

RCDS Fall 2021 • The Magazine for the Rye Country Day School Community

BULLE TI N

Inside: Spring/Summer ’21 Moments | Community | STEAM | Alumni Profiles

RYE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL 2021-2022 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

ALUMNI EXECUTIVE BOARD

Leigh Dyson Geller President

Scott Weiss ’96 President

Elizabeth Shah-Hosseini Vice President

Thomas Alston ’05 Joshua Bennett ’06 Melanie Baevsky Besvinick ’07 Jonathan Goldstein ’99 Andrew Nathason ’09 Robin Quittell Ponticelli ’94 Zachary Tax ’10 Daniel Wallance ’00

Fernando Rivas Treasurer Blanca Hirani Secretary Andrew Adams Susan Bao Jennifer Blake Thomas Davidson Tyler Dickson Sarah Dodds-Brown ’91 William Featherston Amy Chen Fisch Eric Geveda Alison Hinds-Pearl Jennifer Kherani Michael Lazar ’87 Tina Mathias Blair Endresen Metrailler ’96 Ben Moss ’93 Patty Perez Cindy Ganis Roskind ’90 Jeffrey Talpins Susheel Torgalkar Andrew Wallach Jinghua Yan

EX OFFICIO: HONORARY FACULTY Gil A. Castagna, Jr. EX OFFICIO: ALUMNI TRUSTEES Sarah Dodds-Brown ’91 Michael B. Lazar ’87 Blair Endresen Metrailler ’96 Ben Moss ’93 Cindy Ganis Roskind ’90 EX OFFICIO: MEMBERS Scott A. Nelson Head of School Lynette Gioffre Director of Advancement Melissa Mahoney Wirth ’97 Manager of Alumni Relations

Scott Weiss ’96 Alumni Executive Board President Victoria Maggard Parents Association President TRUSTEES EMERITI Frederick A. Klingenstein♦ Carmen Ribera-Thain ’75 Edward B. Dunn Michael C. Murr Edgar Wachenheim III ♦ Deceased

CREDITS On the Cover: 2021 RCDS Block Party, photo by Dana Maxson Photography Editor: Dania Abu-Shaheen Alumni Content Editor: Melissa Mahoney Wirth ’97 Photography: RCDS staff photographers and Dana Maxson Photography Design: Rose Creative Group  ryecountryday @ryecountryday  @ryecountryday  @willythewildcat for athletic updates

CONTENTS UP FRONT

2 From the Head of School 4 Graduations 7 2021 College Choices INTRODUCTIONS

8 New Employees 10 New Trustees 11 Next Head of School Announcement: Randall Dunn

FEATURES

32 COMMUNITY Back-to-School Block Party Opening Ceremonies & Spirit Day 36 Innovation Week 38 Q&A: English Department Chair Iain Pollock 40 Summer of Service: 2021 Community Engagement Fellows PARENTS ASSOCIATION

42 Greetings from the Parents Association EVENTS

ON CAMPUS

43 Blue & Gold Formal

12 Spring and Summer Highlights from Rye Country Day

44 Class of 2021 BBQ & Pennant Signing Class of 2020 Returns to Campus

ATHLETICS

24 Spring Sports

ALUMNI

45 Alumni Profiles:

ARTS

Chris Britt ’91

28 Art Week

Ashley Richardson-George ’04, P’33

30 One-Acts Festival 31 Cedar Street Dance Company Outdoor Student Performances Virtual Festival Chorus

47 Class Notes 52 In Memoriam

FROM THE

HEAD of SCHOOL

Dear RCDS Community, Since the last issue of the RCDS Bulletin, we proudly bid farewell to the members of the Class of 2021; completed our summer programming of camps, retreats, extracurricular work, and community engagement projects; and happily began a new school year with all of our students learning in person.

The summer months for Rye Country Day proved to be generative on a number of levels. In addition to the academic work of Summer Session, RCDS Middle and Lower School students were on campus for Wildcat Mini-Camps, Upper and Middle School students enjoyed June Sports Camps, and Upper School students participated in the annual Ethics Retreat, the newly launched Computer Science Independent projects, Community Engagement Fellowships, and Preseason. We also marked 35 years of the Academic ACTION enrichment program for local middle school students. We all welcomed the return of a more normal summer, complete with in-person activities on campus.

We began the fall with the spring and summer’s momentum. Our first week of classes was a joyous occasion and an important milestone—the first in-person back-to-school experience for our full community since 2019! Schools should be bustling with students, and we are so glad that RCDS is so once again. It is profoundly inspiring to watch the transformative power of learning and community, right here on Rye Country Day’s beautiful campus.

Having a more familiar return to school informed the selection of the 2021-22 school-wide theme of COMMUNITY, which encourages us all to prioritize and celebrate the bonds we share. In a fitting and festive nod to this theme, the return of the Back-to-School Block Party for students, families, and employees made the start of our year together official and joyful.

I am so proud of all that we have accomplished together as members of this outstanding learning community—both during and before the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether it is their commitment to purposedriven citizenship, their dedication to academic excellence, or their signature energy and enthusiasm, Rye Country Day students, families, faculty, and staff always impress and inspire.

In this issue of the Bulletin, you will get a look back at some meaningful moments from the spring and summer, and part of the fall. Excellence happens every day at Rye Country Day because of the collaboration that characterizes our community—students, employees, families, and alumni alike. It is my greatest honor to serve as your Head of School and witness this collaboration firsthand.

Sincerely, Scott A. Nelson Head of School 2

Fall 2021

From top: Scenes from the Back-to-School Block Party and Opening Ceremonies.

Read about the return of these community events on page 32.

CORE VALUES

R C D S

RESPECT AND RESPONSIBILITY

COMMITMENT TO PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

DIVERSITY WITHIN AN INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY

SERVICE

2021- 22 T HEM E: COMM UN I TY As part of the 2021-22 school-wide theme of COMMUNITY, Rye Country Day students, families, and employees are prioritizing and strengthening relationships with each other as members of an outstanding and supportive learning community. Building on the RCDS motto, Not for Self, but for Service, and the School’s core values, this theme encourages empathy and purpose-driven actions.

It also serves as a reminder that when it is united, collaborative, and compassionate, the RCDS community achieves incredible results.

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GRADUATIONS

GRADUATIONS Rye Country Day School was thrilled to recognize milestone student achievements during three in-person graduation ceremonies, which were held at Manhattanville College.

Congratulations to all of our graduates!

2021 Grade 4 Moving-Up Ceremony June 8, 2021

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Fall 2021

2021 Middle School Graduation June 9, 2021

GRADUATIONS

2021 Upper School Graduation June 11, 2021

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Fall 2021

2021 College Choices

Our newest alumni, the RCDS Class of 2021, are equipped with character, knowledge, and skills, and they are ready to make their marks as contributing citizens of their communities large and small. While at RCDS, they impressed us with their curiosity and passion, their inclusive and kind approach, their skills on the field, on the stage, and beyond, and their dedication to the School’s motto, Not for Self, but for Service. They continue their outstanding track records at some of the finest colleges and universities.

American University (2) Bates College (2) Boston University Bowdoin College (2) Brandeis University Brown University Bryn Mawr College Bucknell University (2) Carleton College Carnegie Mellon University (3) Colby College Colgate University (3) College of the Holy Cross Columbia University Cornell University (3) Drexel University Duke University (2) Emory University (3) George Washington University Georgetown University (3) Georgia Institute of Technology Harvard University (3)

Howard University Indiana University Bloomington Kalamazoo College Lehigh University (2) Massachusetts Institute of Technology Middlebury College Muhlenberg College New York University (2) Northeastern University (2) Northwestern University (3) Pomfret School Pomona College Princeton University (2) Purchase College, SUNY Purdue University Rice University Skidmore College Southern Methodist University Stanford University Tufts University (2) Union College University at Buffalo, SUNY

University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Santa Barbara (3) University of Chicago (2) University of Georgia University of Massachusetts, Amherst University of Miami (3) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor University of Notre Dame (2) University of Pennsylvania (3) University of Richmond University of St. Andrews, UK (2) University of Southern California University of Virginia University of Wisconsin, Madison Vanderbilt University Wake Forest University (3) Washington and Lee University Wellesley College Williams College (3) Yale University (2) (One attendee unless otherwise indicated)

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INTRODUCTIONS

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6 16

2

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3

12 22

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4

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2021-22 NEW EMPLOYEES RCDS welcomes an accomplished and impressive new cohort of faculty and staff.

1. Sonya Amon Upper School Administrative Assistant for Attendance

Joins us from Packer Collegiate Institute, where she was the Upper School Attendance Monitor.

Studied at St. Francis College, where she received her BA in communications.

2. Dr. Kelly Ann Barker Lower School Psychologist

Joins us from Westport, CT, Public Schools, where she was a school psychologist.

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Studied at Gettysburg College, where she received her BA and St. John’s University, where she received her Master of Science and Doctor of Psychology.

3. Danielle (Dani) Bensky Dance Teacher

Joins us from Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, where she was the Director of Upper School Dance.

Studied at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre conservatory in New York City.

4. Dr. Angelo Bove Upper School Science Teacher (Physics)

Joins us from the Dalton School in New York City, where he taught a variety of physics, engineering, and computer programming courses.

Studied at Università di Salerno, where he received his BS, and Purdue University, where he received his PhD in physics.

5. Pilar Bustamante Middle School Spanish Teacher

Joins us from Whitby School and KEIO Academy. Since 2018, she has taught RCDS Spanish classes

across many levels as a trusted substitute teacher.

Studied at Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia, where she received her BA in communications and human resources, and Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she received her Master of Administrative Science, Diplomacy, and International Relations.

6. Dr. Patrick Cahill Upper School Math Teacher

Joins us from SUNY Oenonta, where he was a mathematics lecturer.

Studied at University at Albany, where he received his PhD and

MA in mathematics, and SUNY Oneonta, where he received his BS in mathematics and adolescent education.

7. Elizabeth Chirls Lower School Assistant Teacher

Joins us from Bloomington, IN, where she was a student teacher in fourth grade and kindergarten classes.

Studied at Indiana University, where she received her BA in elementary and special education.

8. Andrés Cerpa Upper School English Teacher

Joins us from the College of Staten Island (CUNY), where he was an adjunct associate professor and visiting lecturer in creative writing, and Pace University, Pleasantville, where he was an adjunct associate professor of creative writing and literature.

Studied at Rutgers University, where he received his MFA in creative writing, the University of Delaware, where he received his BA in English literature with a minor in philosophy.

9. Stewart Ebersole Upper School Science (Maternity Leave Replacement); STEAM Fellow

Joins us from EF International Academy and Garfield High School, where he taught environmental science.

Studied at University of Delaware, where he received his BA in geology, and the University of Cincinnati, where he received his MS in geology.

10. Dr. Carla España Dean of Grades 7 & 8; Middle School Language Arts Teacher

Joins us from Bank Street Graduate School of Education, where she was an instructor, and De La Salle Academy, where she was the Middle Grade Summer Program Director.

Studied at the City University of New York, where she received her PhD in urban education and her MS in elementary childhood education with a bilingual extension; Princeton Theological Seminary, where she received her MDiv in religion and society; and New York University, where she received her BS in media, culture, and communication.

11. Jessica Flaxman Dean of Faculty & Employees

Joins us from Nashoba Brooks School in Concord, MA, where she was the Assistant Head of School and Middle School Head.

Studied at Teachers College, where she received her EdM in organizational leadership; Columbia University, where she received her MA in English; and Wesleyan University, where she received her BA in English. She is currently completing her EdD at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.

12. Sukie Flinn Director of Facilities

Joins us from JCC Mid-Westchester, where she was the Chief Operating Officer.

Studied at Springfield College, where she received her BS in health fitness.

13. Holly Hutcheson Middle School Science Teacher

Joins us from Nightingale Bamford, where she was a faculty fellow.

Studied at University of Georgia, where she received her MS in geology, and Occidental College, where she received her BA in geology with an environmental science emphasis.

14. Dr. Kamauru Johnson Director of Counseling Support Services (Pre-K – Gr. 12); Upper School Psychologist

Joins us from Brooklyn Friends School, where he served as the Upper School Psychologist, Clerk of the All-School Guidance Committee, Director of the Horizons Program, and Middle and Upper School Learning Specialist.

Studied at Teachers College, where he received his PhD in applied educational psychology (school psychology), his EdM in applied developmental and learning psychology, and his MPhil in applied educational psychology (school psychology).

He received his BA in psychology and graduated summa cum laude from Morehouse College.

15. Dr. Kelly Jones Middle School History Teacher (Leave Replacement)

Joins us from Texas A&M UniversityCorpus Christi, where she was a professor of history, and Baruch College (CUNY) where she was a professor of American Studies.

Studied at Stony Brook University (SUNY), where she received her PhD in history, and Ball State University, where she received her MA in history and BA in political science and international relations.

16. Michael Kenny Director of Security

Joins us from the Rye Police Department, from which he retired after 22 years service.

Studied at Iona College, where he received his BA. 17. Leiat Klarfeld Coordinator of Human Development Programs and School Counselor

Joins us from Martin Van Buren High School in Queens, Mahopac High School, and the High School for Language and Innovation in the Bronx, where she was a counselor.

Studied at Alfred University, where she received a Certificate of Advanced Study in Mental Health Counseling; Lehman College, where she received her MSEd in counselor education; Hunter College where she received her Master of Public Health and Community Organizing; and the University of Oregon, where she received her BA in international relations.

18. Dr. Rachel Levey Upper School Psychologist

Joins us from the Fox Lane High School in the Bedford School District, Harrison High School, and The Lang School in Manhattan, where she was a school psychologist.

Studied at Rutgers University, where she received her PsyD in school psychology, and Colgate University, where she received her BA in sociology with a minor in Jewish studies.

19. Pam MacAffer Assistant Head of School for Finance & Operations

Joins us from The Albany

Academies (The Albany Academy and Albany Academy for Girls), where she was the Chief Financial and Operations Officer.

Studied at Hamilton College, where she earned her BA in philosophy, and Boston University, where she received her MBA. She also attended RCDS from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 9, before leaving for boarding school.

20. Amy Man Middle School Social Studies Teacher

Joins us from The Elisabeth Morrow School, where she was the Social Studies Department Chair.

Studied at Stanford University, where she received her MA in education, and Wellesley College, where she received her BA in history and Chinese language and literature.

21. Meaghan O’Brien-Pollice Upper School Science Teacher (Biology and Chemistry)

Joins us from The Garrison School, Valhalla Middle and High Schools, and Fox Lane High School, where she taught science.

Studied at University of Colorado, where she received her BA in environmental, population, and organismic biology, and Touro College, where she received her MA in biology education.

22. Rachel Schulte Drama & Dance Department Chair; Drama Teacher

Joins us from Greenwich Academy, where she was a drama teaching fellow.

Studied at Emerson College, where she received her BFA with a concentration in musical theater.

23. Dr. Stacey Sotirhos Lower School Principal

Joins us from Avenues: The World School in New York City, where she was Associate Division Head of the Lower Division.

Studied at Rollins College in Florida, where she earned her BA in early childhood and elementary education, and New York University, where she completed her MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and her PhD in early childhood and elementary education. ryecountryday.org

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NEW TRUSTEES RCDS welcomed these new board members in July 2021.

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➋ Dr. Jennifer Kherani is Head of Clinical Safety of Loxo Oncology at Lilly. She leads the clinical safety program across all oncology molecules and is also the medical lead for a Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating LOXO-305, a non-covalent BTK inhibitor therapy, in patients with relapsed/refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL). Additionally, Dr. Kherani also manages the Loxo Oncology at Lilly patient engagement hotline. She currently serves on the DukeNY Board and has previously served on the Rye Presbyterian Nursery School (RPNS) Board. She has been involved in various Parents Association roles at Rye Country Day School, serving as a class liaison, co-chair of the Lower School Photobook program, and a member of the 150th RCDS Blue and Gold Ball Planning Committee. Dr. Kherani completed her undergraduate studies at Colgate University, and received her medical degree at Duke University. She is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and served as chief resident in her final year of training at NYP (combined program of Columbia and Cornell). She lives in Rye with her husband, Aftab, and their two sons, Zayd (Class of 2030) and Rizq (Class of 2032).

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❶ Eric Geveda is a managing director at Leeds Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on the Knowledge Industries (Education, Training and Information Services). Prior to joining Leeds Equity in 2011, he worked at Arsenal Capital Partners, Lightyear Capital, and at Credit Suisse First Boston. He currently serves on the board of several companies, including the Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists, BARBRI, Bionic Turtle, CeriFi, CPMI Professional Development, Dalton Education, Keir Financial Education, Knowledge Factor, Money Education, Pass Perfect, and VitalSmarts. He previously served as a Board Member of Campus Labs, iModules Software, and Friends of the Children New York. He received his BBA in Finance and Economics from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Mr. Geveda and his wife, Stephanie, live in Rye with their four children, Alexis and Elise (Class of 2031), Chase (Class of 2034), and three-year-old Connor.

➌ Ben Moss ’93 is the Owner and Chief Executive Officer of Bow Tie Partners and Bow Tie Cinemas. Bow Tie Partners owns and operates a commercial real estate portfolio in multiple states including the Tri-State Area. Bow Tie Cinemas owns and operates motion picture theaters in multiple states including the Tri-State Area. Both are multi-generational family businesses.

He currently serves on the boards of Challenge Aspen, The Challenge Aspen Endowment Fund, The Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, and the Calhoun Drive Association. He has previously served on various commercial and residential condominium boards in New York, Connecticut, and Colorado. Mr. Moss has been actively involved at RCDS as a parent and alumnus and has attended numerous parent and alumni events. He and his wife, Ellen-Jane, live in Greenwich, CT, with their two sons, Harrison (Class of 2026) and Jack (Class of 2028). ➍ Susheel Torgalkar is a founding partner of Sage Hall Partners, a privately owned, real estate investment firm. Founded in 2020, Sage Hall Partners focuses on investing in real estate throughout the New York City area and across asset classes, including apartment, for-sale residential, office, hotel, retail, and industrial properties. Prior to founding Sage Hall Partners, he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Extell Development Company.

Prior to joining Extell, he served as a managing principal and the Chief Operating Officer of Westbrook Partners, a private real estate investment company. He received his BS from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. He currently serves as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at Cornell’s Hotel School and is on the Board of Trustees for St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio. Mr. Torgalkar and his wife, Sohita, live in Mamaroneck with their three children, Milin (Class of 2026), Maya (Class of 2027), and Leela (Class of 2029). ➎ Jinghua Yan is Founder and Managing Partner at TwinBeech Capital, a New York-based hedge fund founded in 2018. Prior, he worked at Cubist Systematic Strategies, the quantitative division of Point72. He immigrated to the United States to study computer science at Columbia University. He then received his PhD in finance from the Wharton School University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Yan and his wife, Ding Wu, have enjoyed attending many Rye Country Day events.

They live in Rye with their daughter, Ellen (Class of 2031).

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LOOKING AHEAD

RANDALL DUNN NAMED NEXT HEAD OF SCHOOL Chair of the RCDS Board of Trustees Leigh Geller announced on October 5, 2021, that Randall Dunn will be Rye Country Day’s next Head of School. Mr. Dunn, who is currently the Head of Latin School of Chicago, will begin his tenure on July 1, 2022, following Scott Nelson’s planned retirement.

In her letter to the RCDS community, Ms. Geller wrote, “Mr. Dunn has impressed all of us on the Search Committee as a dynamic and experienced educator who will respect and build upon the solid foundation and traditions of our school while leading us into the future.” Below is an excerpt from Ms. Geller’s letter to the RCDS Community.

Mr. Dunn has enjoyed an outstanding career as a classroom teacher, coach, dormitory advisor, and senior administrator. He has held the position of Head of Latin School of Chicago since 2011, and he has an exemplary record of leadership, a deep commitment to students and academic excellence, and extensive experience in top independent and public schools.

After graduating from Milton Academy, Mr. Dunn earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Brown University in 1987. He then began his first teaching job at the Potomac School, before going on to complete a Master of Education degree in human development and psychology from Harvard University in 1992. Earlier in his career, he was a coach, dorm parent, and advisor at Milton Academy, and he taught in the Brookline, Massachusetts, public school system; at Concord Academy; and at Derby Academy, where he was also the Upper School Director. Prior to his current position as the Head of Latin School, an independent Pre-K–12 school with 1,200 students, Mr. Dunn served as Head of School at The Roeper School in suburban Detroit for seven years. He also served as Head of the Middle School at the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, for seven years.

Under Mr. Dunn’s distinguished leadership, Latin School of Chicago improved its college admissions significantly, quadrupled its endowment, and substantially improved its facilities through the acquisition of neighboring properties and major renovations across the school.

During his tenure, Latin School has also become a leader in utilizing educational technologies, and it launched Uptown Partnership, a community service program that partners with charitable and educational organizations throughout Chicago.

From left: Elizabeth (Liz) and A well-respected leader in education both nationwide and in his immediate communities, Randall Dunn.

Mr. Dunn was recently named Chair of the Board of Trustees of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), of which RCDS is one of over 1,615 member schools. He has also served as a member of the boards of Milton Academy, the Norwood School in Bethesda, the Association of Independent Maryland Schools, and the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, as well as co-chair of the National Advisory Board of the Principals’ Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Mr. Dunn will be joined in Rye by his wife, Elizabeth (Liz) Hopkins Dunn. He and Mrs. Dunn have two adult daughters, Hunter and Chasey.

With the prospect of exciting new leadership after the completion of Scott Nelson’s distinguished tenure, and the continuing dedication of our employees, the Board of Trustees looks forward to a bright future for Rye Country Day School.

Read the full announcement at ryecountryday.org/randalldunn

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NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights from Rye Country Day SUMMER LEARNING

2021 ETHICS PROJECT FACULTY

SIXTH ANNUAL ETHICS PROJECT

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Cathie Bischoff, STEAM Director; US Science Teacher Clemmie Everett, Grade 9 Dean; US Humanities Teacher Jenny Heath, Grade 11 Dean; US English Teacher

2021 GUEST SPEAKERS

Kasey Luo ’17, RCDS alumna and undergraduate student at Stanford University concentrating on computer science, arts, and psychology. She worked for Google Health on projects that use AI models for diagnosing Diabetic Retinopathy.

At its core, the purpose of the Ethics Project is to foster curiosity among participants. Everyone asked thoughtful questions, made insightful connections, and brought their individual passions to the table.

— Jenny Heath, Grade 11 Dean; Upper School English Teacher This past summer, 22 Upper School students gathered for the sixth annual RCDS Ethics Project, an interdisciplinary faculty-led retreat aimed at expanding students’ knowledge and analytical skills around matters pertaining to ethical awareness and active, purpose-driven engagement.

The retreat examined ethical issues and questions surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI). Students reviewed case studies that shed light on the ethical implications of data collection and privacy, bias, and the degree to which AI can or should make

decisions for humans. They unpacked the interplay between technology and humans, delving into machine learning, algorithms, automated decisions, and due process in the context of AI systems.

A set of framing questions guided the students’ collaborative work, prompting them to identify in each case the various stakeholders and constituencies, their concerns, and the “competing goods.”

Dr. Chitra Dorai, globally renowned AI scientist and thought leader, focused on bringing the power of AI to tackle some of the most important societal problems at the intersection of healthcare and financial services.

She is known as a ‘Force for Good’ who prioritizes advancing AI research and practice with accountability, responsibility, and transparency for the benefit of humanity.

Dr. Mercy Nyamewaa Asiedu, biomedical engineer who studies disparities in healthcare around the globe and how they might be addressed through advancements and innovations in technology and machine learning.

G.W. Constable, author who also has an established career in software startups as a product leader and entrepreneur, building many internet marketplaces and, in the mid-2000s, virtual worlds and economies.

With each case, students considered what the relationship between humans and machines ought to be and what decision-making approaches would be the most ethical.

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SUMMER LEARNING

35 YEARS OF ACADEMIC ACTION In July, Rye Country Day’s Academic ACTION program marked 35 years of community enrichment. The four-week summer program for highly motivated students from local middle schools returned to its traditional in-person format, thanks to RCDS’s weekly pool testing program and daily health screening protocols. Over 60 students (rising seventh, eighth, and ninth graders) from nearby communities, including Port Chester, New Rochelle, and Yonkers, participated in engaging, project-based enrichment activities and classes in STEAM, leadership, robotics, playwriting, and more.

ACTION’s mission is to expand students’ academic and intellectual horizons by introducing interesting courses, new material, and engaging challenges. The program promotes confidence and strength of character while helping students grow academically and develop as leaders.

SUMMER LEARNING

INDEPENDENT COMPUTER SCIENCE PROJECTS

INDEPENDENT CS PROJECTS ● Investigation of AI and Bias (Amitav Nott ’22) ● Study of Audio Signal Processing for Musical Applications (Yana Jayampathy ’22) ● Study of Several Complex CS Algorithms (Sofia Medina ’22) ● Creation of a CS Camp Website (Scarlett Crakes ’22) ● Development of a Mobile Application (Marin Yearley ’22, Reese Wolfe ’22, and Natasha Gilman ’22)

Senior software engineer David Baskin joined the RCDS faculty to support students’ summer work in Computer Science (CS).

Mr. Baskin, who holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University, has been a lead software engineer at Signpost, Newport Health Solutions, and S&P Capital IQ. Mr. Baskin’s position was funded by a generous donation from a member of the RCDS community.

Students who have taken the highest level Computer Science courses at RCDS were eligible to apply for the ten-week summer independent CS project program, and seven rising seniors were admitted. They met weekly with Mr. Baskin to discuss their projects, which helped them expand their computer science knowledge and skill sets. They learned how to define a project with a scope that is feasible, how to set up a development environment, how to organize code, and how to find answers to challenging coding questions—all critical programming skills.

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SPRING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

GRADE 4 INSPIRATIONAL FIGURES UNIT CONNECTING IDEAS, DISCIPLINES, AND SKILLS As part of the cross-curricular Inspirational Figures unit, each student in Grade 4 selected, researched, and presented a person who has made meaningful and inspiring contributions to the world. They based their research in reading non-fiction books, and they practiced their writing skills to craft persuasive paragraphs about their chosen inspirational figures. In addition to comprehension and reading, the students applied new writing skills, including appositives, coordinating conjunctions, and transition words. Connecting research and writing with the creative arts, students also created sculpted busts and portraits of their inspirational figures. The culminating activity was the “Wax Museum” presentation for which students attended school as their selected person. Each fourth grader wrote their own script, practiced their public speaking skills, and proudly presented their costumes, which they created.

LOWER SCHOOL DAY OF IMPACT Last May, LS families and faculty put the RCDS motto, Not for Self, but for Service, into action at Our New Way Garden (ONWG), an organization in White Plains that educates the public about locally and naturally grown food and increases community access to healthy organic produce. As part of the day, members of the RCDS community helped prepare the grounds at ONWG by weeding, spreading wood chips, watering plants, sorting seeds, and planting vegetables. It was a wonderful opportunity for our Lower School students to practice public purpose.

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EIGHTH RCDS GREEN SCREEN EXAMINES FOOD WASTE

IN THE MAKERSPACE

The 2021 Green Screen, the flagship event of the longstanding community partnership between RCDS and the Rye Sustainability Committee, featured the film Just Eat It and examined food waste and its impact on communities and the environment. The film chronicles the experiences of directors Jen Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin who, after learning that billions of dollars of food are tossed every year in North America, pledge to quit grocery shopping and survive on only discarded food.

The Green Screen panel included Jen Rustemeyer, Tina Connelly, Chef of Tina’s Gourmet Kitchen, and Anne Bradner, CEO of the Carver Center, which coordinates a number of programs to combat food insecurity. The panelists provided perspectives that distilled the impacts of food waste at the individual, local, national, and global levels. Attendees left the virtual screening with advice on how to play a role in the movement against food waste, be it donating food, making mindful choices about their own food use, or supporting and volunteering for organizations providing meals to those in need.

Thank you to our panelists and to the Rye Sustainability Committee and the RCDS PA Environmental and Wellness Committee for this meaningful discussion.

“It was wonderful to see so many members of the RCDS community and the general public come together to participate in our eighth Green Screen event. The virtual format afforded us the opportunity to have Jen Rustemeyer join us from Canada, and Tina Connelly from her very own kitchen! It is clear that many are passionate about the topic of food waste, and we hope this event inspired the community to take action in their everyday lives.”

— Kerry Linderoth, Director of Sustainability

RCDS CELEBRATES ASIAN-AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH In May, RCDS celebrated Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month through daily communitywide announcements highlighting AAPI leaders. Advisors and teachers discussed the featured leaders and their impact on American history, politics, science, education, art, and culture in homerooms and advisories.

AP BIOLOGY STUDENTS CREATE GLOWING BACTERIA Following the AP Biology exam, students visited the RCDS Makerspace to participate in one of three biotech labs exploring how to: ● Transform regular (non-harmful) bacteria into glowing bacteria by adding a gene from jellyfish. ● Use a cell-free technique to observe the transcription and translation process, which uses the information in DNA to produce proteins. ● Identify different sharks using DNA fingerprinting and gel electrophoresis.

HISTORICAL FICTION MEETS THE MAKERSPACE As part of their reading of Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor Was Divine, Upper School students in Dr. Freitas’s English class visited the RCDS Makerspace to further explore the historical fiction novel’s narrative, themes, and characters. Otsuka’s book chronicles the experiences of four family members who were forced to move from Berkeley, California, to the Utah desert to live in a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War. In the Makerspace, students completed hands-on creative artifacts that display some of the complexities and difficulties of the novel and its historical context. ryecountryday.org 15

SPRING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

SPRING 2021 INDEPENDENT STUDY PROJECTS

2021 INDEPENDENT STUDY PROJECTS

• Iranian Foreign Affairs Since the Start of the 20th Century • The Role Art and Design Played in This Century’s Major Social Justice Movements • Astrophysics • Computing Hardware and Logic in Electronics • Number Theory • Advanced Topics in Environmental Science (Sustainable Energy) • Advanced Topics in Physics (Circuits) • Advanced Study in Musical Theatre • Study of Modern Hebrew • Black Feminism and Ecofeminism • Poker Math and Game Theory • Writing a Novella: A Story of Roots and Cultural Transition • Contemporary Black and Indigenous Poetry • Literature of the Latin American Boom • Advanced Study in Producing and Directing a Production • The Theory and Practice of Public Purpose in Bolivia and Kenya • Marketing Strategies in Graphic Design • An In-Depth Study of Contemporary Art Read more about each project at ryecountryday.org/independentstudy

AN INSPIRING RANGE OF INTERESTS

Last spring, 18 RCDS juniors and seniors completed impressive independent study projects. The studentdefined and student-directed projects spanned a variety of topics and demonstrated outstanding skills in research, interdisciplinary thinking, and project management. As part of defining their project goals and developing their course of study, students submitted Independent Study proposals for review and approval to the Independent Study Committee.

From there, they worked under the supervision of RCDS faculty members who are qualified in the relevant area of investigation.

“Being a member of the Independent Study Committee is a joy because I get to see firsthand the amazing work being done by students in all RCDS departments. The breadth of topics is astounding, and the projects illustrate the passion of our students, as well as the expertise of our faculty.”

— Dr. Mary Krasovec, Upper School Science Teacher 16 Fall 2021

DISCUSSING THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA Max Stossel, Youth & Education Advisor for the Center for Humane Technology (CHT), led a presentation on social media use for students in Grades 6 through 12. He discussed some of the ways technology is designed to be addictive and distracting and provided tools and tips for combating these designs. After the presentation, there was a thoughtful discussion driven by students’ curiosity and questions about the impact of social media and mobile devices on our lives.

The conversation covered ways to create healthier tech use, including being aware of our intentions using technology, evaluating the nuances of engaging via virtual platforms, and being informed about alternatives to social media. Middle School students continued the conversation in SEEK and Study Skills, and Upper School students did so in advisory. Families were also encouraged to talk about the topic at home, guided by questions provided by the division principals. Prior to meeting with the students, Mr. Stossel led a discussion for parents and guardians entitled Social Media and Your Kids during which he shared tools and resources for managing the impact of social media, and how parents and guardians can be models of healthy technology use.

● Move your conversations off social media and into texts (where companies are less likely to be collecting data).

● Use a physical alarm clock (so you are not going to bed with your phone!).

Through the Middle School Social Impact Projects, students in Grades 7 and 8 put the RCDS motto, Not for Self, but for Service, into action by spending the year examining the ethics of service and the role of youth as change agents in their communities. The students identified organizations of interest and learned more about their mission, work, and needs. Then, guided by advisors, they partnered on teams that researched, planned, and implemented service projects that support the selected community organizations.

● Reframe “Do I like this app?” and ask, “How does this app make me feel after using it?”

● Turn off autoplay on YouTube, Netflix, Instagram, Facebook, and other video streaming services.

GRADES 7 & 8 SOCIAL IMPACT FAIR

In a culmination of their year-long efforts during 2020-21, the students showcased their purpose-driven projects at the virtual Social Impact Fair. The event included studentled presentations about their selected organizations, advocating for support through creative fundraising activities and/or drives. For the full list of Social Impact Project organizations, visit ryecountryday.org/socialimpactfair.

TOP TIPS FOR MAKING MORE MEANINGFUL USE OF TECH

● Study and focus with your phone outside the room. Research shows that simply having the phone nearby reduces concentration significantly. ● Turn off all notifications except from human beings (notifications appear in red to grab our attention and sound our bodies’ fight-or-flight response).

“I am so proud of the thorough and purposedriven work of our students. In collaboration, they conducted their research and identified their selected organizations’ needs, as well as unique support initiatives. They have learned about the importance of advocacy as a facet of service and practiced raising awareness about the issues they care about.”

— Rebecca Drago, Director of Public Purpose

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SPRING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Thinking Globally:

Sustainable economic growth and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

E

lliott Harris, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, joined Upper School students in Ms. Everett’s Economics and Politics class via Zoom to discuss complex global issues, namely the intersection of climate change and sustainable economic growth and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Harris outlined the different organizations and programs that carry out the UN’s mission of maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among

nations, and promoting social progress, better living standards, and human rights. He underscored the importance of collaboration for the greater benefit of people around the world, and highlighted the ways the COVID-19 pandemic illuminated and intensified inequality. He described the different efforts around the globe to respond to the pandemic and clarified that recovery will be a longer, harder road for countries at an economic disadvantage. “This is a crisis that shows us how much we depend on each other … as long as there is any place that is still vulnerable, we’re all still vulnerable, ” explained Mr. Harris.

He went on to share that we must think of global problems as problems we all share and that their solutions require collective action, which is the UN’s approach through programs like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He closed his remarks with the observation that the COVID-19 crisis has shown that when under pressure, nations can achieve remarkable goals, and he stressed that nations must collaborate under a new social contract to ensure that all people around the world can have their human rights safeguarded and experience a healthy and safe standard of living. It was a thought-provoking talk that encouraged students to think about the ways they can be agents of global change and advocates for the greater good.

“The need for collective action that Mr. Harris spoke of challenges our students to broaden their perspectives.

He explained just how the economy and the environment continuously interconnect with political and social issues, and how each of us, working together, can become a part of the solution to these problems that are both local and global.”

— Daniel Murray, Coordinator of Global Studies

18 Fall 2021

Ecology Talk: Climate Change Science and Communication Dr. Dominique Bachelet, an ecologist and associate professor at Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, spoke to 35 Upper School students about her experiences as a climate scientist and the role that art can play in communicating scientific findings. Dr. Bachelet, whose research has focused on global climate change impacts, has been involved in several IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports and was elected to AAAS (American Association for

Virtual Exchange Program: Colombia Fostering Global Citizenship and Connection “This virtual exchange helped support the evolution of our students into true global citizens, fostering mutual understanding, respect, and connection across cultures.”

— Lizanne Rosenzweig, Middle School Spanish Teacher

Virtual Trip: Washington, DC Landmarks of American History and Democracy

the Advancement of Science) in recognition of her climate change science contributions.

During her presentation, Dr. Bachelet described her work with various NGOs on climate change science information delivery and communication. After distinguishing between the work of data scientists (researchers who gather and analyze information) and model scientists (experts who utilize research to build models to further test and understand data), she articulated the importance of communicating research findings to the public. She cited art as an effective method of building awareness around urgent scientific issues like climate

Twenty RCDS seventh and eighth grade students participated in a virtual exchange program with peers at Colegio Clara Casas in Bogotá, Colombia. Hosted by the experiential education company Envoys, the program consisted of two 90-minute exchanges, conducted solely in Spanish.

The students described their lives and cultural traditions in the United States and Colombia and asked their counterparts about theirs. Both sessions were facilitated by a bilingual Envoys facilitator.

Following Spring Break, ninth grade students participated in a virtual journey to Washington, DC, facilitated

by Envoys. During the program, students explored leaders, events, and landmarks of American history and democracy. Guest speakers, virtual tours, simulations, design challenges, and thought-provoking assignments created an experience that promotes critical thinking and civic engagement.

The program consisted of six modules featuring a balance of interactive synchronous content and creative small group activities. The modules covered U.S. History with a critical eye

change. As a scientist and member of the Oregon Watercolor Society and the Corvallis Art Guild, Dr. Bachelet provided an example of the power of interdisciplinary work and thought.

“Hearing a group of students chatting away with their peers in Spanish about topics of interest was very inspiring. It was wonderful to see the cross-cultural connections that were being made. I am confident that our students will remember this experience and continue to connect with their peers in Colombia.”

— Dr. Maggie Parker, Chair of Modern Languages

towards missing memorials and untold stories; the democratic process; the media and bias; civic engagement and the work of NGOs and non-profits; the strength in our nation’s diversity; and international relations. “ The virtual Washington, DC, program offers relevant content that engages students in the complex issues of our times. I know this experience will have an impact on how our students think about what it means to be a citizen in America today.”

— Daniel Murray, Coordinator of Global Studies

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NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

CONGRATULATIONS!

Kristina (Kiki) Montgomery ’22 received the John Jay History Award from the Jay Heritage Center (JHC) in Rye. The award is given to an outstanding volunteer and high school intern who demonstrates a passion for environmental history and a talent for research, writing, and analysis. As a JHC intern, Kiki transcribed and analyzed primary documents and studied the natural flora at the Jay Estate. She also gathered data about the more than 300 historic trees that have at one time or another been on the property, studying which are extant and which have been lost for various environmental reasons, including disease, storm damage, or invasive species encroachment.

Katia Soares dos Santos ’21 received a scholarship from the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) Westchester Chapter. The Anita and Blair Mazin Scholarships are awarded by HLAA Westchester to outstanding high school seniors and adults with hearing loss for the pursuit of a college degree or vocational training. Katia was one of three Westchester high school students who received a scholarship.

Jackson Merrill ’22, Lior Gurion ’22, Lucas Oddi ’22, Leah Colin ’22, and Grace Casale ’22 were named semifinalists in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program. Across the nation, only one percent of students who take the PSAT qualify for this honor. The National Merit Scholarship Program, which

20 Fall 2021

celebrates academic achievement in high school students, selects 16,000 high school seniors from across the country as semifinalists based on their PSAT/NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) scores.

Approximately 1.5 million high school students enter the program each year.

Sasha Leonard ’21 and Amitav Nott ’22 were recognized as “Teens to Watch” in Stamford and New Canaan/Darien Magazines, respectively. The articles featured interviews with Sasha and Amitav, covering everything from their favorite classes at Rye Country Day to their college and career plans.

Sasha touched on her love of English, Economics, and Politics courses, as well as her proudest accomplishment of completing her first poetry chapbook during her senior year at RCDS. Amitav discussed how his interest in the intersection between artificial intelligence and ethics will help change the world, and shared that his dream job is researching and developing algorithms for quantum computers.

Ellen Chen ’24 received a Special Recognition Award in the 2021 Congressional Arts Competition for her painting, Fragile, depicting a girl rescuing piglets from rising flood waters. The painting will be displayed for one year in the office of Congressman Jim Himes. The annual Congressional Arts Competition recognizes and encourages artistic talent in high school students across the nation in each congressional district. Describing her award-winning piece, Ellen shared, “This painting expresses the fragility of life. It brings attention to the small isolated villages that can be easily devastated by natural disasters.”

Lior Gurion ’22 was named a Coolidge Senator by the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation. The Coolidge Senators Program recognizes the top 100 Coolidge Scholarship applicants, out of a national pool of almost 5,000, who demonstrate exceptional academic accomplishments, an interest in public policy, and a commitment to public service. As a Coolidge Senator, Lior received a one-time college scholarship award and participated in the annual Coolidge Senators Summit in Washington, DC, this past summer. During the Summit, Coolidge Senators tour the nation’s capital, discuss pressing issues in policy and

business with renowned experts, and engage in formal debates on issues of national importance. Lior and his fellow Senators stayed just a block from the White House at the Willard Hotel, where Calvin Coolidge resided during his vice presidency.

RCDS recently learned that a sixth member of the Class of 2021 was named a Presidential Scholar Candidate. Congratulations to Matthew Harkness ’21, who in this recognition of the nation’s most distinguished graduating high school seniors, joins our previously-announced 2021

Presidential Scholar Candidates, Campbell Babiarz ’21, Katie Farrell ’21, Andrew Felton ’21, Francisco Gonzalez ’21, and Matthew Mandell ’21.

They are six of approximately 4,000 candidates selected from millions of U.S. high school seniors.

Nolan James ’22 received the 2021 J.R. Tesone Youth Public Health Service Award, a special student recognition from the Westchester County Board of Health for his volunteer efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nolan organized a meal delivery program for Meals on Main Street in Port Chester (formerly Caritas of Port Chester).

Jackson Stein ’22 was awarded a scholarship to attend the California Wing Cadet Conference, a national Civil Air Patrol (CAP) cadet gathering held annually. Jackson, who is currently a CAP Cadet Staff Sergeant, served as a representative of the New York Cadet Wing in the NY-048 delegation. The CAP cadet program creates young aerospace leaders through a curriculum that focuses on leadership, aerospace, fitness, and character.

Elizabeth Lee ’23 and Anya Khemlani ’23 placed second in the Bedford 2030 Greenlight Award competition’s Innovation Category.

Their project, Eco Assist, is a Google Chrome extension created to increase environmental awareness. The extension updates the user’s browser tab or window with an environmental fact, a relevant organization, and suggested actions that can be taken to help the planet. Eco Assist is available on the Chrome Web Store.

Two other RCDS teams received Honorable Mentions in the competition’s Advocacy Category.

Brainiac, the team comprising Charles Gao ’24, Arthur Wang ’23 and Matthew Liew ’23, received recognition

for creative use of video. Charles, Arthur, and Matthew created videos and a YouTube channel dedicated to various environmental topics, including deforestation and water scarcity, among others.

The second team, Take Responsibility, Not Plastic, was awarded an Honorable Mention for outstanding school community engagement. Their project focused on reducing the amount of plastic water bottles RCDS has been using at lunch due to the COVID-19 pandemic by encouraging members of the community to bring their own reusable bottles to school. The team included the RCDS Environmental Club, and the presenters were co-presidents Phoebe Shapiro ’21 and Ashley Hatstadt ’21 and co-vice presidents Gabriella Jolly ’22 and Ella Weinstein ’22.

Eesha Narain ’21 was honored with a Certificate of Accomplishment by the Connecticut Committee for the Princeton Prize in Race Relations for her demonstrated commitment to advancing race equity and fostering positive race relations within the greater RCDS community.

Eesha’s leadership, through her program the Coalition of Differences, earned her this prestigious honor.

The student-led initiative, which Eesha developed in her junior year, promotes civil discourse and diversity of thought through facilitating

conversations around complex and charged topics. The idea behind the Coalition is to provide students with space to practice engaging respectfully across differences and around complex topics characterized by debate and disagreement. Eesha is the fourth Rye Country Day student to be awarded the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, joining Ami Diane ’17, Patricia Bautista ’19, and Faith Hardy ’19.

Jack de Haan ’24 won third place out of 235 students from the United States and China who competed in the International Saturnalia 2020 Kahoot hosted by Excellence Through Classics, a standing committee of the American Classical League. The trivia contest focused on the Saturnalia festival, an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honor of the god Saturn.

Upper School English Teacher Andrés Cerpa was longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Poetry for his sophomore book, The Vault (Alice James Books 2021).

His book was one of just 10 longlisted titles that were selected from 290 publisher-submitted books in the poetry category of this renowned literary award.

HIGH MARKS FOR RCDS!

Niche, a leading resource for researching U.S. colleges, schools, neighborhoods, and companies, named Rye Country Day School among its 2022 Best Schools.

NATIONAL/REGIONAL

• #8 Best Private K-12 School in America • #6 Best Private K-12 School in New York State and the New York City area

WESTCHESTER COUNTY

• #1 Best Private K-12 School

• #1 Best Private High School • #1 Best High School for STEM •# 1 Best College Prep Private High School

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SPRING SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

 Lower Schoolers enjoyed some hands-on learning in the garden.

After hearing about seeds and practicing planting methods, the little gardeners planted sunflowers (Pre-K); peas and carrots (K); tomatoes, brussels sprouts, and onions (Gr. 1); dill, radishes, and kale (Gr. 2); and corn, beans, and squash (Gr. 3).

 L ast spring’s Lower School Field Day festivities included fun in the sun and a special tribute to now-retired Lower School Principal Barbara Shea.

 Rehearsals for the OneActs Festival, an entirely student-produced set of theatrical performances concluding Upper School students’ work in the Advanced Topics in Theatre/Dance class.

 D uring their study of plastic pollution, Grade 5 students in

the Bortner/Rose homeroom elected to stop receiving singleuse plastic water bottles during lunch. Integrating public purpose and advocacy into their study of pollution, students collaborated on a culminating project, a Reduce Your Use of Plastics poster to help spread awareness about plastic waste.

 R ye Country Day students participated

in Jump Rope For Heart, a community service learning program of the American Heart Association. Through fun activities on the field, students learned the importance of heart health, nutrition, and physical activity.

22 Fall 2021

 M iddle School Chinese classes celebrated Earth Day by dressing in green, discussing the holiday’s origins, and learning how it is celebrated in China.

 In April, Grade 2 students

learned about the engineering design process, as well as physical and chemical changes. Using their knowledge, they worked to determine the difference between high quality and low quality play dough. Then, they shared the best recipe to create at home.

 S pring brought

beautiful weather for outdoor Middle School art classes.

 Th e Class of 2021 enjoyed a special senior tent decked out with lounge furniture, lawn games, and a whole lot of BLUE & GOLD spirit.

 L ast spring, Kindergarten students gathered  In early April, RCDS was thrilled to welcome 100% of students back to in-person learning! The Upper School Peer Leaders made the already-happy occasion especially festive by sharing school spirit, waving welcome signs, and handing out sweet treats.

on the lawn to present their Reader’s Theater plays. Leading up to their performances, students practiced reading aloud and created costumes for their characters. They loved performing for their classmates!

 During Earth Month

 ryecountryday @ryecountryday  @ryecountryday  @willythewildcat for athletic updates

last April, the Rye Nature Center’s Nature Station visited campus for all to enjoy, in addition to scheduled programming for Grades 5 and 7.

Students rolled up their sleeves and learned and explored in the mobile environmental education classroom and exhibit.

 AP Biology students participated in end-of-year biotech labs in the Makerspace to create glowing bacteria. Read more on page 15.

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ATHLETICS

SPRING SPORTS DURING THE SPRING SEASON,

student-athletes were able to return to interscholastic competition, and the Wildcats were ready to shine. Impressing us with their leadership and skills in their various sports, they made RCDS proud.

24 Fall 2021

OUR E! Y W SHO AT PRID C WILD S apparel an/dshmoopre D rg day.o for RC Shop yecountry at r

I feel a great sense of appreciation and admiration for the student-athletes and coaches who participated in the spring. We all approached the season wondering if we would finally get to have interscholastic competition. We did it! The Wildcats played, and spectators watched contests at home and on the road. Everyone was grateful to hear the sound of the bat cracking, tennis balls bouncing, goals scored, runners, jumpers, and throwers giving their all, sailing on the Sound, and tee shots on the first hole. Led by the seniors, the Wildcats prepared, practiced, and competed with heads held high and spirited enthusiasm.

— Wendy Jo Haft, Director of Athletics

27 ryecountryday.org 25

ATHLETICS

26 Fall 2021

2021 VARSITY SPRING SPORTS AWARDS NIGHT Congratulations to the RCDS Wildcats on an outstanding spring season!

AWARD RECIPIENTS BASEBALL • FAA All-League: Christopher Suter ’21, R.J. Thalheimer-Santamaria ’21 • FAA Honorable Mention: Henry Geller ’22 • Coaches Award: R.J. Thalheimer-Santamaria ’21 • Wildcat Award: Christopher Suter ’21 • 2022 Captains: Henry Geller ’22, Kevin Francella ’23 BOYS’ GOLF • FAA All-League: Charlie Smilovic ’21 • FAA Honorable Mention: Sebastian Jolly ’21 • Coaches Award: Charlie Smilovic ’21 • Wildcat Award: Liam Bieber ’21 • 2022 Captains: Sinclair Kennedy-Nolle ’22, Ryan Brush ’22, Jackson Stein ’22 GIRLS’ GOLF • FAA All-League: Kate Burdick ’24 • FAA Honorable Mention: Claire Yu ’25 • Coaches Award: Gabriella Jolly ’22 • Wildcat Award: Kate Burdick ’24 • 2022 Captains: Gabriella Jolly ’22, Kate Burdick ’24 BOYS’ LACROSSE • FAA All-League: Charlie Keating ’21, Oliver Kies ’21 • FAA Honorable Mention: Colin McLane ’22 • Frank Effinger Award: Oliver Kies ’21 • Ray Konopka Award: Charlie Keating ’21 • 2022 Captains: Braden Bass ’23, Sean Smith ’22, Jock Maggard ’22 GIRLS’ LACROSSE • FAA All-League: Katharine Brydson ’21, Caroline Keating ’22 • FAA Honorable Mention: Alik Shehadeh ’21 • WNEPSWLA All-Star: Caroline Keating ’22

• WNEPSWLA Honorable Mention: Olivia Lauri ’21 • Denise Francella Coaches Award: Olivia Lauri ’21 • Wildcat Award: Caroline Keating ’22 • 2022 Captains: Caroline Keating ’22, Nina Paganelli ’22 SAILING • Coaches Award: Luke Sullivan ’23 • Ryan B. Mahoney ’98 Award: Alexa Shea ’22 • 2022 Captains: Alexa Shea ’22, Reece Haft-Abromovitch ’22 SOFTBALL • FAA All-League: Willow Edwards ’25, Reina Thalheimer-Santamaria ’23 • FAA Honorable Mention: Annie Suter ’23 • Coaches Award: Bella Andrade ’23 • Wildcat Award: Willow Edwards ’25 • 2022 Captains: Caroline Harkness ’22, Reina Thalheimer-Santamaria ’23

BOYS’ TRACK • FAA All-League: Gideon Prempeh ’21 (Long Jump & Triple Jump), Alexander Nichols ’22 (100 Meters), William Schnall ’21 (Pole Vault), Charles Allen ’21 (Discus) • FAA Honorable Mention: William Murphy ’21 (1500 Meters) • Coaches Award: William Murphy ’21 • Wildcat Award: Gideon Prempeh ’21 • 2022 Captains: Michael McGhee ’23, Alexander Nichols ’22, Yuto Abe ’22 GIRLS’ TRACK • FAA All-League: Rowan Houston ’23 (High Jump & 300 Hurdles), Isabel Slippen ’23 (1500 Meters), Arly Rodriguez ’21 (200 & 400 Meters) • FAA Honorable Mention: Cleo Saltz ’24 (800 Meters) • Coaches Award: Jordan Miller ’21 • Wildcat Award: Arly Rodriguez ’21 • 2022 Captains: Ellie Stevens ’22, Leah Colin ’22, Marin Yearley ’22

BOYS’ TENNIS • FAA All-League: J.B. Russo ’21 • FAA Honorable Mention: Max Weinstein ’21 • Coaches Award: Max Weinstein ’21 • Wildcat Award: J.B. Russo ’21 • 2022 Captains: Ami Suchdev ’22, Andrew Cheigh ’23 GIRLS’ TENNIS • FAA All-League: Sriya Krishnan ’22 • FAA Honorable Mention: Samantha Roskind ’21 • Coaches Award: Samantha Roskind ’21 • Wildcat Award: Sriya Krishnan ’22 • 2022 Captains: Sriya Krishnan ’22, Kiki Montgomery ’22, Ella Weinstein ’22

GO, WILDCATS!

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ARTS

Art Week 2021 As the 2020-21 school year neared its conclusion, Rye Country Day students across the divisions shared their creative work in the second annual all-school Art Week. The student work was displayed in a virtual gallery of signature end-of-year exhibitions.

Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School Art Exhibits

featured work from students in all grades from spring and year-long art courses.

28 Fall 2021

AP Studio Art and Photography Portfolios shared inspiring artwork from

members of the Class of 2021, marking the conclusion of their RCDS careers.

The RCDS Film Festival

showcased the directing, acting, editing, cinematography, and screenwriting talent in the RCDS community.

View the 2021 Art Week virtual galleries at ryecountryday.org/artweek

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ARTS

2021 One-Acts Festival

In May, the Drama and Dance Department was thrilled to produce the first in-person performance of the 2020-21 school year with the student-directed One-Acts Festival. As a culmination of their work in the Advanced Topics in Theatre class, Upper School students produce, direct, and, sometimes even star in one-act plays as part of an entirely student-led set of theatrical performances. Working under the theme of Masked/Unmasked, seven student directors selected pieces, ran auditions and rehearsals, and produced a performance that showcased a wide variety of Upper School actors. Congratulations to our student directors, actors, and crew!

Congratulations to the 2021 One-Act Play Directors: Carter Appleyard ’23, Charlotte Ballantoni ’22, Julia Eason ’23, Haley Herman ’21, Eesha Narain ’21, Kyle Mandell ’21, and Allison Pearle ’21.

Performing

30 Fall 2021

Cedar Street Dance Company

In their first in-person performance since the pandemic began, the Cedar Street Company dancers took the Performing Arts Center stage last May to share their dance pieces featuring original choreography. Perseverance was a common theme among the solo and group performances. Each piece showcased the power of dance as a form of expression and an emotional outlet. It was a powerful performance that received enthusiastic applause from a warm and joyful audience of RCDS students, faculty, and staff.

Congratulations to the dancers: Sydney Coffield ’21, Haley Herman ’21, Anya Khemlani ’23, Lauren Kim ’23, and Chidi Olewuenyi ’22.

Arts

Outdoor Performances

In May, the RCDS Choirs, Bands, and Chamber Ensemble made campus their stage. Setting up in the underpass between the Middle and Upper School buildings, they treated the school community to a number of lunchtime performances. Congratulations and thank you to our talented student musicians!

Virtual Festival Chorus

Festival Chorus continued in 2021 in a virtual format. As is the tradition, the Upper School Concert Choir joined with an adult choir of RCDS family members, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends to create a joint community performance. The deeply moving video marked 26 years of this beloved RCDS community concert.

How did they do it?! Over 110 adults from around the world spent Monday evenings last winter on Zoom rehearsing the Simon and Garfunkel hit Bridge Over Troubled Water as arranged by Kirby Shaw. Each person recorded their audio on a solo track, and the complete audio tracks were combined with each other and with the instrumental tracks to create the final performance. Participants also submitted video recordings to create a video that was synched with the audio track.

“The 2021 Festival Chorus Concert is an expression and celebration of how we have all been there for each other during the many challenges of this past year. It is also a testament to the desire of this group to continue making music despite the hurdles and the many miles between us. (Thanks to technology, we had singers from California to Ghana and many states and countries in between!)”

— Mary Marcell, Music Department Chair 2021 Festival Chorus Credits Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel, arr. Shaw) Music Direction by Mary Marcell Instrumental Tracks by Keith Burton Audio Production by Don Fitz-Roy and Mary Marcell Video Production by Don Fitz-Roy

Watch it online at ryecountryday.org/festivalchorus

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Reunited and it feels so good!

COMMUNITY The start of the 2021-22 school year marked the return of beloved Rye Country Day community events, which were put on hold last year due to the pandemic. There is nothing better than having the RCDS community back together again!

32 Fall 2021

BACK-TO-SCHOOL BLOCK PARTY September 19, 2021 Hundreds of members of the RCDS community attended the Back-to-School Block Party, welcoming new and returning students, families, and employees to the new year. The energy was high and community spirit was all around as attendees participated in fun activities, enjoyed delicious food from FLIK and several local vendors and food trucks, and danced to favorite songs. Willy the Wildcat was also there giving his sought-after high fives, and one group collaborated on a beautiful COMMUNITY sidewalk mural (pictured on the cover). Special thanks to our incredible Parents Association volunteers led by the Event Chairs (Danielle Eason P’23, P’26; Deborah Katz P’29, P’30; Victoria Maggard P’22, P’25, P’27, P’30; and Vera Merrill P’22, P’23) and to our dedicated employees for making the Block Party such a success.

READY, SET, SPIRIT!

Opening Ceremonies & Spirit Day September 30, 2021 At Opening Ceremonies & Spirit Day, all students, faculty, and staff congregated on the South Field to kick off the School’s 153rd year with Blue & Gold spirit. Resuming this all-school tradition, which was put on hold last year due to the pandemic, was an important milestone and a special opportunity to celebrate community.

The Upper School Wind Ensemble supplied a rousing soundtrack as students arrived, and they performed The StarSpangled Banner to mark the beginning of the ceremony.

Head of School Scott Nelson welcomed the energetic crowd, acknowledging how special it was for the full school community to gather in person. “939 students (the most ever), 200 employees, and one Wildcat,” he clarified. He gave a special welcome to our newest Wildcats, the PreKindergarten Class of 2035, and the Kindergarten Class of 2034, who did not have the chance to experience Opening 34 Fall 2021

Ceremonies last year. He also acknowledged all new students and employees and took a moment to recognize the senior Wildcats, the Class of 2022, highlighting the excitement of preparing to go off to college next year.

Touching on the 2021-22 theme of COMMUNITY, Mr. Nelson reminded the students and employees to be compassionate and to embody the RCDS motto, Not for Self, but for Service, at school and beyond. He then shared his words of advice on what each student and employee can do to help build a stronger sense of community at RCDS: “Be kind and friendly to one another; Make sure everyone has a sense of belonging in our community; Cooperate, support, and include one another; Contribute to your classes, teams, and performances; Find ways to serve our broader community.”

Student Body President Maya Hirani ’22 then addressed the community. “Good morning, Wildcats. Welcome home,” she began. She thanked the teachers, staff, and administration for all their hard work in making it possible for the whole school to assemble once again. She celebrated her fellow students’ resilience over the last 18 months and thanked them for their continued vigilance in the pandemic environment. “Being here today all together is a gift that should never be taken for granted,” she remarked.

Maya then recalled the symbiotic relationship between the three sisters, corn, beans and squash, which she studied in Grade 4 (and Ms. Simpson cheered enthusiastically).

Maya recognized a similar collaborative, interconnected dynamic within the RCDS community and highlighted the unique attributes that each and every individual brings to the School, making Rye Country Day beautifully diverse and strong. To close her remarks, Maya invited the Senior Class Officers to the stage to present the Class of 2022 Senior Flag.

Closing the ceremony, Dr. deChabert took to the podium to share a special surprise in honor of Mr. Nelson’s 29th and culminating year at Rye Country Day School. In a touching community moment, the Kindergarten students displayed letter cards that read “Thank you, Mr. Nelson,” and the entire crowd cheered, “Thank you!!” It was a wonderful gesture honoring Mr. Nelson’s outstanding leadership and dedication.

A great day to be a Wildcat!

INNOVATION WEEK All-school STEAM showcase demonstrates interdisciplinary work from each division Last Spring, Rye Country Day School hosted INNOVATION WEEK, a STEAM showcase of exciting interdisciplinary work from each division. The three-day virtual program included student presentations, a keynote by engineer and author Gladys Chepkirui Ngetich, innovation trivia, and a Marble Run family STEAM activity during which students showed off their creative contraptions.

LOWER SCHOOL students shared a sampling of STEAM projects and units from each grade.

Projects & Units ■ Kindergarten: Trees ■ Grade 1: All About Birds ■ Grade 2: Cityscape Coding to Create Mazes ■ Grade 3: Probably Probability ■ Grade 4: The Scientific Method & The Worldwide Web and Databases

Scan this code to read more and watch Innovation Week videos.

38 Fall 2021 36

MIDDLE SCHOOL students showcased projects, ranging from classroom coding and design to Rube Goldberg machines created at home.

Individual students also shared their at-home coding work using languages like Swift, Objective-C, Scratch, Python, and JSON. After-school STEAM club leaders and participants also presented their work.

Classroom Projects ■ Microbit Coding: Space Invaders – Connor Rusch ‘25 ■ Newton’s Laws of Motion – Maggie Nichols ‘25 ■ Rube Goldberg Chain Reaction – Jude Sadler ‘25 Individual Coding Work ■ Cloud Hanger iPhone App – Jaymin Ding ‘25 ■ Jet Pack Fun – Scratch Coding Nico Stefanoni ‘25 ■ JSON Configurations/Flight Sim Coding and Development – James Song ‘25

After-School Adventures ■ SWAT (Students Working to Advance Technology) is a student-run afterschool computer coding program for both RCDS Middle School students and students from local public schools.

■ Women in Science and Engineering

(WISE) is an after-school program designed to expose Middle School girls to science through intriguing experiments. Led by Upper School students and faculty, the experiments target various STEM fields, such as cosmetic chemistry, DNA extraction, muscle physiology using electromyograms (EMGs), topics in neuroscience, etc.

■ Code Like A Girl is an Upper School

club that encourages girls to enroll in computer science classes starting in Middle School. The meetings focus on expanding participants’ coding “toolbox” to help them create interesting computer programs while building awareness about the endless possibilities of the computer science field.

Science Research ■ Exploring the High-Energy GammaRay Emission from Neutrino Blazar Candidate Source TXS 0606+056 – Deepta Gupta ‘21 Under the guidance of a physics/ astronomy professor at Columbia University ■ Identification of Factors Contributing to Variability in Concentration of a Monoclonal Antibody in Patients with Cancer – Lior Gurion ‘22 High School Research Internship at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals as part of the quantitative pharmacology team ■ Biomonitoring: Lichens as Bioindicators of Air Pollution in Urban & Suburban Areas – Olivia Craig ‘23 & Jonah Gurion ‘24 Funded by the Urban Barcode Project ■ Mosquito Diversity: An Urban & Suburban Cross Section – Arly Rodriguez ‘21 Funded by the Urban Barcode Project

2021 U.S. Invitational Young Physicists Tournament (YPT) Twenty-two RCDS students competed in the 2021 U.S. Invitational Young Physicists Tournament (YPT), an annual physics research and debate tournament for high school students.

Students spent the year leading up to the tournament experimentally and theoretically investigating the tournament problems in the “Advanced Topics in Physics - YPT” course.

■ Turbulence – Sofia Medina ’22 & Lior Gurion ’22 ■ Chatter Ring – Max Hines ’21 ■ Crater – Allen Dong ’21 ■ Henry’s Motor – Matthew Harkness ’21 Makerspace Apprentice Work A filabot is a machine used to repurpose 3D printing scraps and discarded plastic.

The students presented their efforts to optimize use of this machine in the interest of sustainability.

■ Filabot Project – Kelly Falcon ’22 & Sofia Medina ’22

Coding for a Cause (CFC) Coursework This upper-level RCDS computer science course allows student coders to partner with community organizations to design and develop real-life applications that have a positive impact on others.

■ Calendar Integration for RCDS Day Cycle – Amitav Nott ’22 ■ Circuits & Electrical Engineering – Matthew Harkness ’21 & Deepta Gupta ’21 ■ How Computers Think – Katie Farrell ’21 Independent Study ■ AI Bias in Policing and Surveillance – Sofia Rodriguez ’22 Independent Study, in collaboration with Encode Justice

KEYNOTE SPEAKER A special highlight of Innovation Week was the keynote delivered by engineer Gladys Chepkirui Ngetich, a Rhodes Scholar and Schmidt Science Fellow. Dr. Ngetich, who is currently completing her postdoctoral research at Space Enabled at MIT, earned her PhD in Engineering Science (Aerospace) at Oxford Thermofluids Institute at the University of Oxford.

She completed her undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya.

Dr. Ngetich, who also heads Iluu, an organization dedicated to girls’ mentorship and empowerment in Kenya, spoke about her personal path to becoming an engineer and her PhD work on aerospace engineering. After sharing her current work on in-space propulsion, she left the audience with the following words of advice: “Whatever your bold dream is, keep it alive” and “be you.”

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PHOTO: GLADYSCHEPKIRUI.COM

UPPER SCHOOL presentations included science research projects from students who have done lab work with various organizations, Makerspace apprentice work, Coding for a Cause coursework, and the YPT participants’ experimental and theoretical investigations of undergraduate-level physics problems.

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

Q&A

with RCDS English Department Chair Iain Pollock

38 Fall 2021

n In 2019, you were appointed Chair of the RCDS English Department. What can you tell us about your experience in this role so far?

English Department members teach powerful and enduring lessons while bringing contagious joy and creativity to their work.

I’ve had a great initial run as Department Chair. Being chair has allowed me to be more social—in addition to meeting with my own students, I now also have more cause and opportunity to speak with my English Department colleagues, my fellow department chairs, students whom I do not teach, and administrators. I get out from behind my desk, heaped as it is with a mountain of grading, and have exciting conversations. I also feel more invested in the institution because I work in two divisions, the Middle School and the Upper School. In this vein, I’m also enjoying planning for the future of the department and the School even as I attend to daily teaching and department business. Perhaps one of the greatest joys of the position so far has been the opportunity, during my classroom observations, to see my departmental colleagues in action. More so than I imagined as a rank-and-file teacher,

n Can you share any exciting plans you and your colleagues have for the English Department?

The big source of excitement in the English Department is the Honors Seminar Program that we are piloting in the Upper School. This program features a series of semester-long, seminar-style English classes for juniors and seniors, with topics ranging from American short fiction to Asian American literature to the literature of New York City to the influence of magical realism on African American fiction. This program will amplify student choice while bringing the department closer in line with college-level literature departments.

While allowing us to dial up the rigor by drilling more deeply into genres or thematic concerns, the slate of seminars will also allow us to expand our range so that we cover ground from Sophocles to contemporary writers such as Imbolo Mbue and Charles Yu. To get the program off the ground, English teachers developed seminars that catered to their

teaching interests, but this program is built on a desire to expand student choice. As the pilot continues, we look forward to partnering with students to craft courses that speak to their literary interests and fire their passions. n Do you have a standout moment that informed your views on teaching and education?

During my first year at RCDS, Thomas Moysak ’17 told me that he appreciated that, whenever we met, I always asked how he was doing. I was initially surprised by this because it seemed a matter of course for me. But later I realized that a danger for a teacher to avoid is becoming too narrowly focused on the academic side of a student. As much as we teach hard intellectual skills, all teachers—but particularly English teachers—must teach students some “soft,” non-cognitive skills, and no such skill seems more important than compassion, how to care for one another.

At a critical juncture in my career, Thomas reminded me that even as I push them toward more rigorous thinking and greater academic achievement, I cannot lose sight of my students’ well-being and essential humanity.

n You’re an accomplished poet. How does poetry figure into the study of English?

A certain utilitarian view of education is pushing poetry to the fringes, which is a loss. As William Carlos Williams points out in “Asphodel, That Greeny Flower”: It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.

Perhaps poetry is not useful, in the practical, quotidian sense, but the reading and writing of poetry allows for an emotional engagement that is essential to our individual and collective health. We are actively teaching more poets who are alive and kicking, which I think helps our students see poetry as more relevant to them. We live in what future scholars will see, in all likelihood, as a golden age of American poetry, but I suspect few are aware of the art’s contemporary burgeoning. Having students interacting with this living, breathing art form, both as critics and practitioners, will surely benefit and deepen their study of English. n What do you want students to take away from studying English?

I have all of these lofty goals—I want our students to walk away with a deeper understanding of what it means to be human; with the capacity for paying close attention to language and taking joy in language; with the moral reasoning skills necessary to navigate the murky dilemmas they will undoubtedly encounter in their lives; with a capacious sense of empathy that allows them to see that their lives are inextricably linked with the lives of their fellow humans; with the understanding and ability necessary to participate positively, thoughtfully, and full-throatedly in American democratic life. But ultimately, when our

“ When our students become passionate about an idea, a vocation, or a cause, I want to be sure that we have equipped them with the perspective and skills necessary to pursue that passion and find happiness on their own terms.” students become passionate about an idea, a vocation, or a cause, I want to be sure that we have equipped them with the perspective and skills necessary to pursue that passion and find happiness on their own terms. n You have taken a leadership role in coordinating Upper School Community Meetings since 2020-21. What has been the most rewarding part of this experience?

Community Meetings seem to have brought joy during a difficult time in our lives, but ultimately providing a venue for student voices

and performances has been most rewarding.

No one will be surprised to hear that I think that narrative has the power to bind together a community, and the stories that were told through prose and poetry and song last year helped us remember our shared humanity and stay connected despite the dislocation and disconnection of last school year’s COVID environment. Now as we (fingers-crossed) start to emerge from the pandemic and start moving at a faster pace, I hope that our students’ wisdom and talent can help us stay grounded and keep perspective.

ryecountryday.org 39

SUMMER of SERVICE

In the summer of 2021, 15 Upper School students participated in Rye Country Day’s Community Engagement Fellowship program. Exemplifying the RCDS motto, Not for Self, but for Service, they partnered with various community organizations to develop and implement innovative projects that address each organization’s needs. The fellows presented their projects at the Community Engagement Symposium in late September.

Community Engagement Fellows complete summer service projects with funding provided by the Rye Country Day community, allowing partner organizations to benefit from students’ enthusiasm and passion at no cost, and enabling Upper School students from all socioeconomic backgrounds to participate. Community and academic partnerships are at the heart of this program, and a commitment to service is the fellows’ guiding principle as they bring together innovation, hard work, interdisciplinary thought, awareness, empathy, and decision-making skills to complete impressive purpose-driven projects.

40 Fall 2021

2021 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FELLOWSHIP PROJECTS  FELLOW: Carter Appleyard ’23 PARTNER: Gigi’s Playhouse (Ardsley, NY) PROJECT: Taught a theater and dance class to students with different abilities, which included weekly theme-based short play performances.  FELLOW: Sofía Castañeda ’24 PARTNER: Kids Helping Kids (Stamford, CT) PROJECT: Facilitated a writing course and subsequent competition to support the education of students in the Kids Helping Kids summer program.  FELLOW: Felix Dosmond ’23 PARTNER: Pollinator Pathways (Greenwich, CT) PROJECT: Planted pollinator gardens in Greenwich, CT, and created signage to educate the public about the importance of pollinators.  FELLOW: Allison Duffy ’23 PARTNER: Girls Inc. (White Plains, NY) PROJECT: Collected stories from program participants in the form of film, art, photos, and cultural content to create a storybook for fundraising and outreach.  FELLOW: Nolan James ’22 PARTNER: Meals on Main Street (Port Chester, NY) PROJECT: Built logistical bridges to allow grocery stores in the area to donate food to the Meals on Main Street pantry.  FELLOW: Gabriella Jolly ’22 PARTNER: Our New Way Garden (West Harrison, NY) PROJECT: Developed a flower business through planting a new garden and creating a market to sell its products; and taught REACH students how to grow a garden.  FELLOW: Peter Nicholas ’22 PARTNER: Save the Sound (Mamaroneck, NY) PROJECT: Monitored the water quality at Beaver Street Brook and planted species that support natural filtration to help purify the water.

 FELLOW: Devan Phelan ’22 PARTNER: Horizons at Norwalk Community College (Norwalk, CT) PROJECT: Planned a service learning day for Pre-K through Middle School students, created a yearbook for the program, and helped with general logistics.  FELLOW: Jordyn Roskind ’23 PARTNER: Children’s Hearing Institute (New York, NY) PROJECT: Developed a mentoring and enrichment program for children with hearing impairments, focusing on art, sports, and other activities.  FELLOW: Ana Wilmer ’22 PARTNER: Community Resource Center (Mamaroneck, NY) PROJECT: Redesigned CRC’s multi-purpose room, which is used for important community training, learning, organizing, and other projects.  FELLOW: Marin Yearley ’22 PARTNER: Westchester Jewish Community Services (White Plains, NY) PROJECT: Built a literacy program for young children to support their early development and engagement.  FELLOWS: Jahan Arjomand ’22 & Hudson Friedman ’22 PARTNER: Arc Westchester (Hawthorne, NY) & Pelham Library (Pelham, NY) PROJECT: Developed a Renaissance Camp as a fun, engaging way to teach children humanities.  FELLOWS: Julia Carroll ’22 & Natasha Gilman ’22 PARTNER: Boys and Girls Club of New Rochelle (New Rochelle, NY) PROJECT: Coordinated and ran a STEM-based enrichment class for students of all ages.

WITH GRATITUDE

• Community partners and RCDS faculty mentors (Rebecca Drago, Joshua Noel Rivera ’15, and Tatum Bell) made these meaningful experiences possible for our students. Thank you!

• The Community Engagement Fellowship Program was launched in 2016 with a $50,000 grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation, which was matched by donations from the RCDS community. The foundation grant funded the program for four successful years, concluding in the summer of 2019, and generous support of anonymous donors has enabled Rye Country Day to continue the program.

Thank you to our donors!

ryecountryday.org 41

PARENTS ASSOCIATION

RCDS PA

BY THE NUMBERS

5

Executive Committee Members

43 70 54 21 150+ Liaisons

Host Families

Committee Chairs

Committees

Committee Volunteers

42 Fall 2021

GREETINGS FROM THE PARENTS ASSOCIATION

The Excitement and Promise of a New Year!

The Rye Country Day School Parents Association is dedicated to partnering with the School in support of the 2021-22 theme of COMMUNITY. This year, we are thrilled to have hundreds of enthusiastic Parents Association volunteers dedicated to fulfilling our mission.

The school year kicked off with the tremendous success of the Back-to-School Block Party, welcoming our community back to campus! This joint venture between the Parents Association and administration provided a wonderful opportunity to reconnect and celebrate together! Read more about the Block Party on page 32.

The start-of-year Lower, Middle, and Upper School Host Family Coffees provided an opportunity for our new parents and guardians to connect with each other and school administrators. Held in the “Athletic Tent” on three glorious mornings in September with views of our beautiful campus and the Lower Schoolers thoroughly enjoying P.E. class on the fields, these events showcased the strength of the RCDS community, as well as the excitement for the year ahead.

Our liaisons network is hard at work planning opportunities for grade-level connections.

The fall events were appreciated and very well attended, and there is more community building to come.

Looking ahead, the 21 Parents Association Committees, which are composed of talented and dedicated leadership teams and over 150 committee volunteers, are excited to be bringing back our traditional Parents Association events and introducing some fresh, new initiatives.

With such tremendous support from our parents and guardians and enthusiastic encouragement from the RCDS administration, the year ahead is sure to be filled with numerous opportunities to both foster and celebrate community.

As RCDS parents and guardians, our bonds are lifelong. I am grateful to all the current and former parents and guardians who have been so engaged with and dedicated to our school, supporting our students, our alumni, and future generations of RCDS learners. Our collective commitment makes us a strong and joyful community.

I look forward to connecting with you.

Victoria Maggard Victoria Maggard P’22, P’25, P’27, P’30 Parents Association President

PA Executive Committee (from left): Kelly Mulderry P’25, P’26, P’31; Susan Cohen P’21, P’24; Victoria Maggard P’22, P’25, P’27, P’30; Vera Merrill P’22, P’23; and Rebecca Brown P’27, P’29, P’32.

EVENTS

Senior Class President Kyle Mandell ’21 and Student Body President Liam Bieber ’21 led a heartfelt toast to their class.

Blue& Gold The

Formal

Welcoming the Class of 2021 into the RCDS Alumni Association

Head of School Scott Nelson opened the evening and shared, “The Class of 2021 will be remembered and admired for your strength of character and resilience. Even before the unprecedented disruption and difficulty brought about by the pandemic, you have been an outstanding group of students and leaders.” Mr. Nelson reminded students to stay in touch with their teachers and to return to the School often as alumni. “The RCDS family is and always will be here for you and proud of you,” he emphasized.

Manager of Alumni Relations Melissa Mahoney Wirth ’97 officially announced alumni status for the seniors.

O

n Thursday, May 20, 2021, Rye Country Day School hosted the Blue & Gold Formal to officially welcome the Class of 2021 into the Alumni Association. Seniors, alumni, administrators, faculty, and staff participated in the festive in-person event that combined elements of the traditional Blue & Gold Dinner and prom.

Eesha Narain ’21, Kyle Mandell ’21, Liam Bieber ’21, and R.J. Thalheimer-Santamaria ’21 were announced as Class Agents.

They will represent the Class of 2021 and facilitate their meaningful engagement with the School, their peers, and other alumni.

Director of Public Purpose Rebecca Drago was the evening’s studentnominated keynote speaker. She urged the students to pursue their passions and continue their already-proven commitment to community and the greater good.

ryecountryday.org 43

EVENTS

Tradition 2021 SENIOR BBQ & PENNANT SIGNING In May, the Class of 2021 enjoyed the RCDS tradition of signing their college pennants during the senior BBQ. Each year, the College Counseling Office invites members of the graduating class to sign the pennants of the colleges for which they are bound. The pennants are saved in the College Counseling Office as a keepsake and a reminder of the amazing paths our seniors have taken through the years!

CLASS OF 2020 RETURNS In June, the Class of 2020 returned to campus to catch up and reconnect with RCDS friends, teachers, and coaches. They were also invited to sign their college pennants, a tradition that was put on hold by the pandemic in the spring of 2020.

It was wonderful to have the Class of 2020 back on campus and to celebrate with them in person!

Shout out to Class Agents Tess Asness ’20 and Sabrina Reznik ’20 for helping to make this special gathering happen!

44 Fall 2021

ALUMNI

Alumni Profiles

By Lori Ferguson

“The day we delivered early stimulus payments was one of the biggest enrollment days in the company’s history,” he notes.

CHRIS BRITT ’91

Making Banking Better for Everyday Consumers When Chris Britt co-founded Chime in 2012, he had a singular, audacious goal in mind: make banking better for mainstream Americans. An industry veteran—he previously served as Senior Product Leader at Visa and Chief Product Officer at Green Dot— Chris believed that banking could be improved and was convinced he had the skills and experience to make his vision a reality.

“I had worked in payments for more than a decade and also had start-up experience,” he explains. “I always knew I wanted to start my own company, and I saw that too often in financial services, banks relied heavily on fees and didn’t always have their customer’s best interests in mind. I saw the opportunity to create a new approach that was more aligned with the needs of everyday people,” he continues.

That idea coalesced in Chime, a mobile banking app and debit card that’s laser-focused on helping users achieve financial peace of mind. And the public is responding. Today, the app-based banking service boasts millions of active members and is now the most highly valued private consumer fintech

in America. “Referrals from our existing members are our largest source of new accounts every month, and we recently hired our one-thousandth employee,” Chris shares.

As Chime’s founder and CEO, Chris maintains the company is thriving because it relies on a solid set of core values. “We’re committed to being human and member-obsessed.

Like most Americans, many of our customers live paycheck to paycheck.

We work hard to understand their needs and do our best to provide services to make their lives a little easier,” he explains.

Among Chime’s member-focused features are: free overdraft protection; early delivery of paychecks; a card that builds your credit score; and, during the pandemic, a fee-free advance on $1,200 government stimulus checks.

“We garnered a ton of good will from that gesture,” says Chris. “We knew a lot of people were struggling and thought that bumping the delivery of their stimulus payment up by a few days would be a meaningful way to help.” As it turns out, the move also created tremendous positive buzz.

And his experiences at Rye Country Day inform this deep-seated commitment to paying it forward, Chris observes. “Attending Rye Country Day was a life-altering experience for me,” he says. “I grew up in Mount Vernon, NY, and attended RCDS on scholarship.

Rye Country Day offered me amazing opportunities for community, connection, and friendships. My experience set me on a path in life that would have certainly been different if I hadn’t had the opportunity. I’m forever grateful and my family and I are very focused on creating educational opportunities for more people.”

Indeed, Chris feels the experience continues to inform his outlook on the importance of giving back.

“Throughout my years at Rye Country Day, the School’s motto, Not for Self, but for Service was emphasized. It’s a philosophy that informs the way I think about Chime’s role within the communities we serve. For example, Chime has taken the 1% pledge and gives all employees the opportunity to allocate one percent of their time volunteering in the community. “Our employees (a.k.a. “Chimers”) love getting involved in the community, and it helps us remain connected to the people we’re in business to support.”

Chime’s mission is perfectly in step with Rye Country Day’s ongoing emphasis on community—which is, in fact, the theme of the 2021-22 school year.

At this year’s Opening Ceremonies, Head of School Scott Nelson exhorted students to “find ways to serve our broader community.” With Chime, Chris Britt is carrying this philosophy forward and demonstrating how Rye Country Day’s motto and community spirit can extend beyond school years and classroom walls. ryecountryday.org 45

ALUMNI

Alumni Profiles

By Lori Ferguson

And she’s still embracing—and helping to solve—problems.

“I’m always creating my own lanes,” she observes. “At Circus Maximus, we have lots of clients with many different problems, and I really like problem solving,” she says with a laugh. “I didn’t choose my profession, I just discovered problems I like to solve, and they led me here.”

Despite this circuitous path, Ashley maintains that her anthropology degree still serves her well. “In my role as Chief Content Officer, I bridge the gap between strategy and creative, which means I ensure that creative is speaking to our audience. To achieve this end, we must look at the communities we serve and converse with them. My anthropology background definitely informs how I approach strategy and create rapport with the audience.”

ASHLEY RICHARDSON-GEORGE ’04, P’33 A Problem Solver’s Path

While Ashley Richardson-George’s official title is Chief Content Officer and Partner at the New York City-based advertising agency Circus Maximus, the moniker she most readily embraces is problem solver. As an undergraduate in the honors program at Skidmore College, Ashley decided she wanted to be a documentary filmmaker—someone who traveled the world, studied different cultures, and told their stories. Discovering that no existing major met her needs, she designed her own. She took a full course load in anthropology, supplemented by classes in communication and filmmaking, and even completed a semester of intensive film studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

In 2008, she graduated with a custom degree in visual anthropology.

Then the recession hit, and suddenly everything changed. “It wasn’t a great time to be traveling, and I realized the career I had chosen was probably not economically feasible,” Ashley says.

In typical fashion, she pivoted. She earned a master’s degree in public communications from Fordham Graduate School, interned briefly at NBC Universal, and then created a job for herself at MSNBC as a social media analyst, leveraging the network’s digital platforms to enhance audience interactions. In 2011, she was hired away by PR startup Brigade Marketing as a social media manager and quickly helped the firm transform into a digital marketing agency. “I was head of my own department by age 25,” she says.

In 2018, Ashley shifted gears again, joining the ad agency Circus Maximus as Director of Content Strategy. “After one year, I had increased business at the agency by 60 percent and at the end of my second year, I had increased it by another 40 percent.” In March of this year, she was named Chief Content Officer and made a partner.

46 Fall 2021

Asked whether she attributes her interests or career path to a specific RCDS course or instructor, Ashley answers after a thoughtful pause. “There was no one class or teacher, but rather the entire Rye Country Day experience,” she observes. “We learned to be ready for anything and question everything—it’s a mindset that I carry with me to this day. Colleagues and clients frequently remark that I’m both analytical and creative, and I attribute these skills to Rye Country Day’s emphasis on developing well-rounded individuals.”

Ashley does not confine her skills to the business arena. She remains actively committed to RCDS, sharing her knowledge and experience as a mentor in the Resilience in Alumni Mentorships Program (RAMP), an initiative designed to connect students of color with alumni of color. “I think it’s important to let students know that there are adults who will support them. BIPOC alumni have been in the students’ shoes—they’re empathetic to the issues they may be facing on a day-to-day basis, and they are living proof of where an RCDS education can take you.”

Such willingness to step forward and help others is a perfect illustration of Rye Country Day’s motto, Not for Self, but for Service, a mindset that Ashley recalls from her time at the School.

Now, her daughter, Andrea, is enrolled in the Lower School, and Ashely is delighted that the RCDS community continues to model and live its meaningful founding motto. “Andrea is only a first grader, but she’s an old soul … she’s inquisitive and needs to be challenged academically, which I know she will be at Rye Country Day,” Ashley says. “I also talk to her a lot about what it means to be a good person. I tell her that the only way to make a community better is to be active,” she continues. With such dedication to having a positive impact, it’s clear that problems, small or large, are not daunting for Ashley. They are a source of purpose, and she’s ready to do her part in solving them. “Working for the greater good is just part of my DNA. I try to be the person that I want the world to be.”

Class News & Notes Trust’s pension for longer than I worked there. Ninety-eight and a half, here I come! By the way, I am HUGELY impressed by all the facets of diversity RCDS is achieving compared to the near zero diversity of the 1940s.”

1951

Raymond D. Smith, Jr. ’51 writes, “In the seventy-four years since leaving RCDS ... college; a Fulbright to France; two years in the Army in Germany; thirty-sevenand-a-half years at Bankers Trust Company, NYC (since swallowed by Deutsche Bank); ten marathons starting at age fifty; sixty plus years of marriage to Anne Allbright Smith until her death in 2020 from corticobasal syndrome; a son, Randy, and a daughter, Becca; and in twenty-six years of retirement: I managed two successful open space bond propositions, one in Pound Ridge, NY, and the other in Gardiner, NY; hiked and tracked with Anne and our two Australian cattle dog members of the family, Anzac and Diggy; was elected as one of two residents to the corporate board of Woodland Pond at New Paltz (NY), the continuing care retirement community (CCRC) where I live; immediately after Anne’s death last November, wrote Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking: My Wife’s Ordeal (Amazon); and serve as Treasurer of our CCRC’s Employee Appreciation Fund (EAF), which raises money from residents to distribute at holiday time to hourlypaid employees of Woodland Pond who have kept us so safe from the pandemic from which only one single Woodland Pond resident has died.

This year, we’ll have over $200,000 to distribute.

I also read a lot of books, The Times, and The Economist, and I still love The New Yorker’s cartoons. One retirement goal is to collect Bankers

1952

Robert McCabe ’52 has two grandchildren ages four and eight who are just starting a new school.

He is completing a book about the Greek island of Kasos with two collaborators, Nikos Mastropavlos and Marilena Kedros that will be out in spring entitled A Postcard from Kasos. In September, he opened an exhibition at the Cambridge Museum, which was based on his book with Athina Cacouri and John Guare. He also has an exhibition about Mykonos based on his book Mykonos: Portrait of a Vanished Era. The exhibition opened officially on October 20 with the President of Greece.

1954

W. Britton Stitt ’54 writes, “I attended RCDS from third grade through ninth before moving through Exeter, Cornell Engineering, Columbia—this last, finally, some liberal education in the form of English, Philosophy, Comparative Literature and History.

Fun stuff. After OCS and four years of interesting responsibilities in the Navy, I finished an MS (Civil Engineering) at Stanford and launched off into 50 years of Marine and Heavy Engineering construction work. This included starting Power Engineering Construction in Alameda, CA. I have been busy with consulting assignments in the US, Canada, Europe, Saudi, UAE, and Egypt and have over the past 10 years finally cut back. What’s left? I

want to teach kids how to build furniture once I get better at it myself. The traveling bug still lives after 47 countries, but at a greatly reduced rate now-a-days. Serving on the board of Engineers Without Borders based in Boulder was my most interesting volunteer activity through these years.

My wife of 60 years, Susie Keene— Scarsdale HS, Wheaton, UCLA, dancer, choreographer, loyal wife, mother, grandmother and uber hardworking volunteer all our lives—shall always continue as the locus of my life. Without having been to the RCDS ‘finishing school’ we’d have never met.”

1959

Pamela Biggar Cobb ’59 writes, “Well, I made it to age 80—something I never expected. After graduating from the University of Kansas in 1965, I moved to San Francisco with the primary goal of traveling as much as I could. This I managed by working in various law firms and art galleries until I went commercial salmon fishing one summer and ended up buying my own boat and fishing commercially for most of my life. I was one of the first female captains in that area at the time. My last ten years before retiring were spent as a paralegal in estate planning.

I married John Holmes, an artist, musician, and fellow KU graduate, and we moved to Todos Santos, Mexico BCS, and bought a home.

We have lived here 18 years, an experience as incredible as salmon fishing, although by 65, I could no longer kill another fish or any other living thing. My years here have been spent in cat and dog rescue. I wrote a book about my life here called Tales of Tiny Town, but like all good places, it has become a very popular spot for artists, writers, surfers, and rich people with second homes, also attracting many younger people who can work remotely. It is of course

no longer the small fishing village I moved to, and I will be returning to Petaluma, CA, for the remainder of my senior years, as Bodega Bay, Petaluma, and Sebastopol are where I spent most of my adult years. It has been a great life, and I appreciate every single thing I learned at RCDS, especially good grammar and spelling, which I notice on Facebook is a rarity. And of course French, which was of great help in learning Spanish, a necessity if you want to live in a Spanish speaking culture, although that does not seem to be the case with the new residents moving here. I have not seen any of my classmates other than Linda Kwasha, who found me in Todos Santos while here on a cruise she took to Cabo. The following year, she and I and our partners took a cruise together to the Panama Canal.”

1962

Marguerite (Mims) Agathon Cushing ’62 shares, “Writing book reviews for The Florida Times Union has kept me alive during this pandemic. I’ve written 30 reviews since January 2021 and 35 in 2020.

I’ve been happily living in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, for 30 years and enjoy having my two children and three granddaughters visit me when they can. Hoping to get back to Singers by the Sea after the long COVID-caused hiatus. Cheers to all of us Golden Oldies!”

Lynn Hammond ’62 shares, “I am very grateful that the forest fires in California have been contained more skillfully this year than last year—and that I’ve been able to walk outside without worrying about my lungs. I am very grateful that no one I know has died of COVID and that I live in the only state that has a yellow (moderate) rating for COVID infections. Every other state is in the red (high) zone, except for Connecticut, which is orange (better than red). I thank Governor Newsom,

Stay connected to RCDS!

• Send class notes to alumnirelations@ryecountryday.org • Join the alumni Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/rcdsalumni • Visit the alumni website: ryecountryday.org/alumni ryecountryday.org 47

ALUMNI

Class News & Notes who went through a possible recall election this fall, for standing firm on closures, which I think saved many lives. I’m grateful that although my body becomes creakier every year, my mind is holding on and that I’ve been editing books long enough to create a reputation. I’ve received two new book contracts in the last month, both of which are on topics I’m interested in. I’ve learned that if I’m not contributing in some way, not helping someone, my life feels flat, so I’m glad to be contributing via these books. I was very careful for the first year of COVID, then greatly enjoyed my summer respite, and I am having a hard time returning to seclusion, as are, I think, many of us. Thus the big upsurge in infections. Please take care of yourselves”

1963

Dick Pinkham ’63, Robert (Bob) Leith ’63, Bill Post ’63, and Whitney (Sandy) Burr ’63 held a Zoom minireunion, on September 14, of the class of 1963. Dick shared that Robert Leith and he met in Kindergarten in 1949 and have remained friends for 72 years.

1964

Bruce Fenton ’64 shares, “I would have graduated in the class of 1964 if I had not gone on to prep school. I raised my three children in Greenwich; they went to Brunswick and Greenwich Academy. I moved into Manhattan, living and working there for close to 50 years (law firm securities attorney, general counsel of Merrill Lynch real estate subsidiary, and on my own as attorney/venture capitalist and businessman). Then I retired.

My wife was heavily involved at a mental health hospital part of New York Presbyterian as the volunteer director but the pandemic and promotions to her close associate ended that. My wife, Susan, and I moved this past April to Los Gatos, CA. We love it. Near two of our three children and three of our four grandchildren. Wonderful climate.

Beautiful at our house. It is like living in a resort. Anyone in the area is welcome to contact me.”

Thomas Gardner ’64 writes, “Hey y’all, if you’re vacationing in or near Palm Springs, CA, give me a ring. I have recently finished the complete renovation of a transitional 1935 mid-century Spanish house, known as ’Sao Simio,’ located in The Movie Colony. Have casita, will host!”

1965

Somerset R. Waters III ’65 shares, “We Celebrated our 50th anniversary of our Boat Race victory over Oxford at Eastnor Castle in England”’

1968

Eric Miller ’68 writes, “Married in 2020. Published my seventh book: Tending the Perennials. Founded the International Teaching Artist Collaborative (the first global network of artists working in communities and schools) and the ITAC Climate initiative—a global network of activist artists working to address climate change.”

1969 1967

Camilla (Minna) Cook Blair ’67 shares, “I was actually in England when the pandemic hit. I arrived home two days before the shutdown. Only place I have gone is Florida after my second shot.

I visited my still best friend from RCDS, Kathie Albert Westpheling ’67, and her husband, Paul, in Sarasota.

Otherwise just spending time with my seven grandchildren: six boys and finally a little girl born during the pandemic, Lizzie 7/12/20. I am retired but finally able to do some volunteer work.”

With the extreme weather consequences of climate change ever more apparent, David Doniger ’69 keeps working at the Natural Resources Defense Council for laws and actions to curb the heat-trapping pollution that’s driving the damage. He writes, “Moving cars to electricity, and electricity to renewable power; moving air conditioners and fridges to safer refrigerants, curbing leaks from gas pipelines—you get the picture. On the softer side, here in Washington, DC, my wife, Lisa, and I enjoy our three thriving kids and our first grandson.

And, golden or not, I am out there every Sunday morning in a pick-up soccer game. We hope everyone comes safe and sound through the pandemic to the other side.”

2021-22 marks the conclusion of Scott Nelson's transformative twenty-nine-year tenure as Head of School. The Rye Country Day community is celebrating Mr. Nelson by supporting the Scott A. Nelson Scholarship Fund to honor and continue his legacy of excellence and his commitment to making the RCDS experience possible for dedicated, capable students who could otherwise not afford it.

We hope you will join us in thanking Mr. Nelson for all that he has done for Rye Country Day! If you would also like to contribute to the Scott A. Nelson Scholarship Fund, please visit ryecountryday.org/give

48 Fall 2021

Ann Haralambie ’69 shares, “Although I will be 70 in November, Arizona continues to charge bar dues to lawyers who retire or are inactive, so I don’t plan on retiring (and I do enjoy being a trial and appellate lawyer). But I have cut down on my number of cases and do a lot of my work remotely, especially made easier in these pandemic times. Since 2019, I have been a legal resident of New Hampshire but spend about six months in Tucson, where I practice law. I continue to update my threevolume legal treatise every year (Handling Child Custody, Abuse and Adoption Cases 3d, Thomson Reuters) and am updating a chapter this fall for Child Welfare Law and Practice 4th. I am getting closer to finishing my adoption search and reunion memoir, Not Nicholson: The Story of a First Daughter, hopefully by the end of the year, so I will soon be looking for an agent or publisher.

For all the books I have written or contributed to in the past, the publishers have always come to me, so this will be a new experience! My Bachelor’s degree was in creative writing, but what I learned 50 years ago about selling one’s writing is pretty out of date now. I’m happy to hear any suggestions from any RCDS alums.”

1976

Nicole (Niki) Mock ’76 was recently featured in Bethesda Magazine. Niki, a freelance video producer, put her work on hold during the pandemic and dedicated her time to collecting and personally delivering used bikes, furniture, household items, and food to District Wards 7 and 8 in Montgomery County.

1978

Stuart Fischbach ’78 shares, “I’m doing cybersecurity for a government contractor and traveling tons this year (staying safe, so far). I’m moving to Whitney, TX, in October. My oldest daughter, Cassidy, is getting married at my SC house on 9/11 (my bday). I’ll be nearer to my daughters, Chelsea and Chloe, who moved from CA to Neo-California (Denver area) this past summer.”

Caroline Wiesenthal Lion ’78 shares, “I am now in Banner Elk, North Carolina. I am a professor at Lees McRae College. It happened very fast. Oregon won’t stop burning and my third child (my second son) is in Asheville. So I applied for the position, and they offered it to me.

I’m the program coordinator for the English Department and teaching English literature classes and also the director for the Center for Women.

The Center helps underprivileged Appalachian women find success. So, I have just started and am very happy to be here!”

1980

Jamie Adams ’80 and Andrea Adams ’80 write, “We have enjoyed a unique first year of living together à la COVID. Fortunately, we enjoy spending time with each other more than anything else, so quarantining was not a problem. The premiere of Jamie’s Nightingale Concerto, for orchestra and recorder, enjoyed a fabulous performance and recording by the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra in May. People from Alaska to Scotland have now seen it, and a full live performance is scheduled by the Philadelphia Sinfonia in their 2022-23 season.”

1981

On Sunday, September 26th, Andrea Siegel ’81 presented a TEDx talk on the TEDxBergenCommunityCollege channel about how her Foundation Art Collection at HCCC can serve as a national model for community college art collections.

Michelle Sands Juarez ’85 is a proud mom of five wonderful boys, ages 16 to 29, and three adorable grandchildren.

1990

In an article entitled Wall Street VP: My Disability Is My Superpower, Carolyn Cannistraro ’90 speaks about being diagnosed with MS at the age of 22, her passion as a disabilities advocate, and her mission to change how companies see and treat differently abled employees.

Barbara Saunders ’84 and Crispin Spaeth ’85 teamed up for a third time to offer a short course for writers titled Moving Words.

Rene Lumley-Hall ’96 shared “It’s a dream come true to be featured by The Network Journal Communications, Inc. and Morgan Stanley as one of 25 Influential Black Women in Business. This annual list is one that I have aspired to since I was early in my career as I sought out #purpose and #passion, looking for inspiration from other women who had impact in their professions, in the boardroom as well as in their communities.”

John Wildermann ’90 was promoted to Colonel in the United States Army on February 1, 2021.

1994

Vanessa Kroll Bennett ’94 and her brother, Nick Kroll ’96, alongside Dr. Cara Natterson, co-hosted one of the launch episodes of Vanessa’s new podcast, The Puberty Podcast. Follow the podcast here: https://linktr.ee/ Thepubertypodcast

1995

Ellen Sluder ’95 was featured in a Wall Street Journal article about working moms in the pandemic.

Colby Tofel-Grehl ’95 published a book titled Awesome Electronic Projects for Kids. It is available on Amazon.

1984/1985

John Carlin ’84 made a guest appearance on FBI: Most Wanted, season 2, episode 11 (Obstruction), on CBS/Paramount+, which aired on April 27, 2021.

Jocelyn Friedman Chase ’96 joined the Women in Business Initiative Board at George Mason University.

1996

Nicole Granston ’96 was officially elected a Director-at-Large for Temple University’s Fox School of Business Alumni Association.

THANKS!

Former Peer Leaders Nicole Granston ’96, Vanessa Kroll Bennett ’94, and Kenny Rosenzweig ’06 Zoomed with our student Peer Leaders last spring.

Nicole, Vanessa, and Kenny each shared how their student leadership roles at RCDS led them to leadership opportunities in college and beyond.

They also shared anecdotes about their personal successes and failures and encouraged our Peer Leaders to think outside the box when facing exciting or challenging experiences.

Thank you, Nicole, Vanessa, and Kenny. ryecountryday.org 49

ALUMNI

Class News & Notes 1997

Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) recently added Russell Dritz ’97 to the Ones to Watch list for his song #WhereHeavenAndEarthMeet.

Congratulations to Rob Freilich ’97 and Marga Leah on their marriage on June 13, 2021.

1998

2001

Courtney (Hannans) Ragsdale ’98 owner of @courtneymichellerose designed unique handbags as gifts for my wedding party.”

2001

Kent Moran ’01 writes,“August has been an exciting month! One of my movies, The Challenger, just got picked up by SHOWTIME. I shot a new movie for Hallmark that was released in September, and my wife just released her first single!”

Congratulations to Halie Rosenberg ’98 and Chet Parsons who were married on September 4, 2021.

Shayla Titley ’98 writes, “I had a busy summer and August was particularly fun. I was on a panel discussing ’Fundraising and Communications’ for the Columbia University SPS Virtual Summer Symposium #ANewEraforNonprofits, then attended my first in-person conference since the pandemic, the 2021 ANA Nonprofit Federation Summer Conference in Chicago as a co-presenter on the topic ’Fire Up Your Email Program: Automation, Strategy, Creative.’ But the biggest activity was getting married! On August 15, 2021, surrounded by a small group of family and friends inperson and on Zoom, I married Isaac Sawyer at The Factoria in Peekskill, NY. Maya Rock ’98, Rita Colimon ’98 and Dr. Carla (LoPinto) Khoury ’98 were my honored guests, Rev. Donna (Powell) Owusu-Ansah ’94 was our officiant, and Rev. Dr. Courtney Bryant ’94 was our premarital counselor.

50 Fall 2021

Congratulations to Kody Gurfein ’01 and David Pessah who were married on August 28, 2021 at Palma in the West Village with 47 friends and family and a lot on live stream.

Kody writes, “My mom Kathy Gurfein officiated. We opened up the weekend with a private concert from Hello Brooklyn on Friday night at The Cutting

To help Rye Country Day kick off Earth Month last spring, Conor Hartman ’01 spoke to Upper School students about sustainable fashion. Conor is Chief Operating Officer at Circ, a company that is transforming the fashion industry through its recycling technology for textiles and consumer goods. He touched on the unsustainable nature of the fashion industry—clothes are largely discarded after short-term use and the most used raw material in clothing is polyester, which is plastic (each t-shirt is the equivalent of 5 plastic bottles!).

He described the process and technology that enable his company to resource or recycle textiles by separating the dyes and synthetic (such as polyester) and natural fibers (such as cotton) and putting those materials back into the market.

Conor encouraged the students to become knowledgeable about what goes into the clothes they wear and how they can become responsible consumers. Thank you, Conor, for sharing your knowledge and expertise during this informative session!

Room. Vanessa Burns ’01, David Boillot ’01 and Aaron Krieger ’01 were there.

David Boillot walked my mom down the aisle :) What a dream to have something nice to announce at RCDS!”

2004

Renee Wardlaw ’04 was named

by Alaska Journal of Commerce and the Anchorage Daily News to the 2021 Top Forty under 40 list of outstanding young professionals.

2006/2007

American Legacy founder and past parent Rodney J. Reynolds announced the launch of ALN Productions with his sons

1997

JP Reynolds ’06, Chief Content Officer, and R. Joshua Reynolds ’07, Chief Marketing Officer, at the helm. The new production company will focus on developing new and engaging content utilizing the magazine’s extensive archives and on the nooks and crannies of Black history and culture.

Lindsay Marcus ’97 composed the score for If Anything Happens I Love You, which took home the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film at the 2021 Academy Awards. The 12-minute film, which was written and directed

by Will McCormack and Michael Govier, portrays a couple’s struggle after losing a child in a school shooting. Since the film does not feature dialogue, the score plays a central role in conveying its theme and emotion. Lindsay wrote over eight minutes of original music for the film, and the directors have described her work as genius. If Anything Happens I Love You is available to stream on Netflix.

2006

Dr. Joshua Bennett ’06 received the distinguished Guggenheim Fellowship for 2021 in the American Literature category. Dr. Bennett, who is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College, is one of 184 writers, scholars, artists, and scientists who were selected from nearly 3,000 applicants. Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. He was also one of ten 2021 Whiting Award recipients, which are given annually to emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. He received the award for poetry and nonfiction.

PHOTO: KATHY RYAN

Dr. Bennett is the author of The Sobbing School (Penguin, 2016), Being Property Once Myself (Harvard University Press, 2020), Owed (Penguin, 2020), and Spoken Word: A Cultural History (Knopf, forthcoming). His work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, and Poetry, among others.

2008

2012

2010

2013

Liz Seter Bradly ’08 and husband Jon welcomed their second child, a girl named Quinn, in February 2021. Big brother JJ is two years old.

Alexander Zavoluk ’10 writes, “I recently started a new job as a data scientist at the knowledge base and Q&A website Quora. I’ll be helping to optimize how we prioritize and show information to users. It’s fully remote, so I’ll be staying in Austin for now, but I’m going to take the opportunity to work in other locations this coming year.”

2011

Paul Fanto ’11 recently completed his Ph.D. in Physics at Yale University.

Taylor Washington ’11, who has been one of the most reliable players for Gary Smith over the last four seasons, became the first @NashvilleSC player with 100 appearances for the club.

Taylor has made the transition from USL to MLS look seamless.

Good luck to Andrew Mollerus ‘12 and his crew who are just beginning their 49er Olympic sailing campaign for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.

UConn Women’s hockey announced Elizabeth Wulf ’13 as the new assistant hockey coach. Go, Huskies!

2014

Mimi Chiquet ’14 writes, “As a small update: I have been working at Rice University in development as a writer for over a year now and was at a local Houston non-profit before. I’m currently planning on pivoting careers to get my doctorate in physical therapy after a sports injury allowed me more insight on PT! It’ll be a while before I’m applying to schools, but I look forward to being back in class after working for a few years after graduation.”

2016

Madeliene Cooper ’16 shares, “After officially wrapping up my time with Hearts & Science, I am so grateful for the incredible learning experience and guidance I received from the HBO Max Brand team. I truly could not have asked for a better way to start my professional career in media or a better team to welcome me with open arms in the midst of a pandemic. That being said, I am incredibly excited to continue my career in media

and build on my lifelong passion for sports at ESPN as I take on a new role as the NHL Marketing Coordinator. A huge thank you to Ruba Sbeah and Lucas Ferraro for making my dream a reality, and I am incredibly excited to take on the challenge of bringing the National Hockey League (NHL) to its new home with The Walt Disney Company.”

2017

Seeking internship opportunities, Evander Jackson ’17 reached out to the RCDS Office of Alumni Relations. He was connected with Ashley Richardson-George ’04, and later interned at her company Circus Maximus, during the spring semester of his senior year of college.

After starting on the strategy team, he realized he was interested in production. Ashley recalls, “There are so many roles involved in bringing creative to life that it can be hard to find out which one matches your work style and personality style. Internships are a great way to test the waters and find your place in the churnings of a fast-paced agency.” For Black History month, Ashley was asked to pen a poem about what it means to be a Strong Black Human. Evander assisted on this project and was able to see the scriptwriting process, move to mood boarding and storyboarding, and participate in the video shoot as a behind-the-scenes photographer.

Commenting on the experience, Evander shared, “My time as an intern with Circus Maximus provided me with so much knowledge, opportunity, and experience. I appreciate Ashley

2014 Jack Benjamin ’14 was a playby-play announcer for several events representing NBC Sports during the Tokyo Olympics.

One of the youngest play-byplay announcers at NBC, Jack is also the voice of Nicholls State on ESPN Radio-New Orleans and calls various sports on Cox Sports Television and ESPN platforms.

for allowing me to join the team and providing me with tools that I could carry on into the next stage of my life into the working field.”

Congratulations to Cate Mollerus ’17 who was selected as an honoree for the 2021 Academic All-Ivy At-Large Teams for sailing at Yale University.

2018

Congratulations to Clayton Bass ’18 who along with 22 members of the Dartmouth Class of 2022 was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society for academic excellence.

2020

Congratulations to Laura Baine ’20 who was selected by NESCAC as Rookie of the Year for the 2021 women’s lacrosse season. Laura plays attack for Wesleyan College.

ryecountryday.org 51

ALUMNI

In Memoriam Rye Country Day School expresses its deepest condolences to the families and friends of the following members of our community who passed away since the last publication of the RCDS Bulletin.

Alumni Doris Hughes Reade ’36, P’67, P’69, P’72 Janet S. Howard ’45 Michael Gellert ‘49 Carol Kraemer Santoro ’60 Lauren Meren Kaufman ’75, P’06, P’07 David Boone ’78 Amy Pearlman-Capell ’88 John Yarmy ’88 Kevin Gerleit ’97

Parents & Grandparents Frank Hearn P’82, P’84, P’86 William James GP’22, GP’25 Barry Solowey GP’28, GP’31

L E AV I N G A L E G A C Y

Remembrances George Robert Hammel P’87, GP’20, GP’22 George Robert Hammel passed away on October 18, 2021, at the age of 87.

George was born on August 31, 1934, to Wilbert and Anna Marie (Zilliox) Hammel. He enjoyed his childhood in Scarsdale, New York, with older brothers Bert Jr., Ray, and Al. George attended Iona Preparatory School and graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School, where he was a standout basketball and baseball player. He was named to the Rhode Island All-State basketball team his senior year at Portsmouth. George went on to graduate from Dartmouth College in 1958. Like his three older brothers, George served in the military, taking a break from college to enlist in the US Army during the Korean War. It was through one of his brothers that George was introduced to Judith Catherine Wenderoth, the love of his life, leading to a wonderful 60-year marriage and three children. Shortly after marriage, George embarked on a 30+ year successful career with McGraw-Hill, publisher of The Physician and Sportsmedicine magazine, where he was head of advertising sales. George loved McGraw-Hill and cherished his decades-long friendships there. George and Sportsmedicine became almost synonymous, down to his booming voice answering his phone always the same way: “Sportsmedicine, George Hammel.” On his 20th anniversary at McGraw-Hill he was given a framed picture of the company headquarters at 1221 Avenue of the Americas, reading (perhaps partly in jest): “The House That Hammel Built.”

Former colleagues recall George’s outgoing personality, engaging sense of humor, and easy, infectious laugh. Holding court with friends and entertaining clients in New York City, he was a fixture at Palm Too restaurant on Second Avenue, which painted his portrait on the wall, and at the former Christ Cella and Giambelli’s restaurants, as well as at New York Rangers hockey games, where he was a season ticket-holder for decades.

George was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and sports fanatic. One of his greatest pleasures was watching his kids’ and grandkids’ sports; and he was always happy to play ball and give coaching tips. He also introduced his wife and kids to skiing, which became a lifelong family activity, as well as summers spent at their beloved family beach home in Milford, CT. Family, church, sports, and education exemplified George’s core values: 1) Do your best, always. 2) Act with integrity, honesty and fairness. George lived by the words of basketball coach John Wooden, “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” 3) Be equally gracious in victory and in defeat. 4) Work hard, play hard. George did all of these.

George is now reunited with his beloved wife, Judy, who passed away in 2020, and for whom he cared over her last years with unwavering devotion. He will be greatly missed by his children and grandchildren: Karen Ruge, married to Richard; Jeff Hammel ‘87, married to Yvette (Mercado); and their children, Ryan Hammel ’20 and Jack Hammel ’22; and Jean Hammel, married to Doodnauth Hiraman; and their children, Michael (13), Scott (12), John (9), and Kelly (7).

Mary Elizabeth MacDonald H’02

Middle School Math Teacher (1979 - 1998)

The Susan J. Life Society recognizes and honors the generosity of those who have made provisions for the School in their wills or estate plans.

For more information on ways to combine planning for the future and support of Rye Country Day School, please contact Julie McCrory ’03, Manager of Stewardship and Engagement, at (914) 925-4526 or julie_mccrory@ryecountryday.org

52 Fall 2021

Mary Elizabeth MacDonald, 87, formerly of Middleton Road, Bristol, Rl, passed away peacefully at Dawn Hill Manor on October 1, 2021. Born in Mount Vernon, and raised in Hartsdale, NY, she was the daughter of the late May (Broderick) and Joseph MacDonald. She is survived by her nephew, Gregory MacDonald, and his wife, Amal, of CT; her niece, Jennifer MacDonald, and her husband, Tom Peterson, of GA; her two grand-nieces, Lena MacDonald, and Zoe Peterson; and her grand-nephew, Anthony Peterson.

She was predeceased by her brother, Robert MacDonald, publisher of the International Herald Tribune, France, and her nephew, Michael MacDonald.

After graduating from Good Counsel High School in 1951, she entered the Religious of Divine Compassion, where she devoted herself to the service of the poor and the education of Christian children for 28 years. In 1979, she took a teaching job at Rye Country Day School until she retired in 1998.

It was during those years that she and a colleague, Diane Summa, started the associate program for the Daughters of the Holy Spirit. She was the lay director of this group for nine years. In 1998, she moved to Bristol, Rl, where she lived on Middleton Road for 18 years before moving to Franklin Court Assisted Living in Bristol.

2021-2022

LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE Annual Giving Campaign

This year’s Annual Giving campaign honors Head of School Scott Nelson’s visionary, transformative leadership, which has evolved RCDS into one of the most highly regarded independent schools both locally and nationally.

SUPPORT A LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE. Make Your Gift or Pledge to THE RCDS ANNUAL FUND Covering the day-to-day operation of the School.

THE SCOTT A. NELSON SCHOLARSHIP FUND Honoring Mr. Nelson’s retirement after 29 outstanding years by supporting endowed need-based scholarships to make the RCDS experience accessible to dedicated, capable students regardless of their financial status.

RYECOUNTRYDAY.ORG/GIVE 914.925.4523 OR USE THE ENCLOSED ENVELOPE

ryecountryday.org 55

Non-profit U.S. postage PAID White Plains, NY Permit #1782

SAVE THE DATE SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2022

We are excited to welcome you back to campus!

Alumni Day & Reunion

On May 14, all RCDS alumni are invited to reconnect with each other and the School at a festive all-community BBQ. Later that evening, alumni with graduation years ending in 0, 1, 5, and 6 will enjoy a special Reunion Cocktail Reception, packing two years of postponed fun into one big, fantastic Reunion! 50th Reunion celebrations for the classes of 1970 and 1971 will also be held on campus on May 14, a unique opportunity to celebrate a landmark Reunion with friends across two class years.

Return to campus Connect with friends and faculty Discover what’s new at the School Share Wildcat pride across the generations 56 Fall today 2021 Register at ryecountryday.org/reunion