SHS 2016 Fall

fall 2016 5

Picking Up the Baton

8 Growing Our Students’ Voices 11 Building a Better Community 14 Notes from the Field: Act III 16 Campus Events 19 Dreams and Difficult Conversations

Leaning into Discomfort

Shady Hill School | 178 Coolidge Hill | Cambridge, MA 02138 www.shs.org 617–520–5260

2 Two Perspectives Are Better than One

Middle School students show their appreciation for Tahira Wilson-Guillermo.

BOA R D OF TRUSTEES 2016–2017

Nima Eshghi, Chair Bob Crowley, Treasurer and Finance Chair Suzanne Siner ’83, Clerk Carita Anderson David Brewster ’86 Holly Edmonds ’84 Jeanne Fitzgibbon Melissa Hanenberger Alyssa Haywoode Keri Hughes Hilary Johnston Christopher Lee Arthur D. Little ’59 Jeita Phillips ’94 Erik Ramanathan Alex Sacerdote Anne Scribner Mark Stanek, Head of School SHADY HILL SCHOOL FALL 2016

Ralph Wales Sarah Wasserman, Parents’ Council

BY INVITATION: James Greenwood, Director of Inclusion and Multicultural Practice Kimberly Kubik, Director of Advancement Maureen Nunez, Chief Financial Officer/ Chief Operating Officer Kim Walker, Director of Special Projects

COMMUNIC ATIONS OFFICE

Christopher Randall, Director of Communications Kathy Breen, Systems Specialist A LUMNI OFFICE

Abbey Leaman, Director of Alumni and Community Relations

PHOTOGR A PH Y

Staff and Porter Gifford ’79, Porter Gifford Photography L AYOUT

Boynton Hue Studio

COV ER PHOTO

In their class play True Courage, third graders face seemingly intractable tensions on a whaling voyage. Through compromise, students resolve their differences and come to respect one another’s views.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

EFFEC TIVE C O MMUNITIES ARE N OT AC CIDENTS. Nor are they a

given. They are built through deliberate, intentional, collective action. They also evolve, absorbing new ideas, members, and values. A sign of a healthy community is when it can examine the status quo and advance its practices. As the School’s Diversity Mission Statement says, “It is our diversity—in ethnicity, family structure, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socio-economic background—that makes us a wiser and stronger community.”

As an institution committed to preparing students to be contributing members of society, our community must respond to the issues that define our time.

This is the idea behind this issue’s title, Leaning into Discomfort—examining topics that provoke a multitude of strong views. The resulting evolution means change, and change can be hard. But standing still is a sign of stagnation.

Staying relevant is but one reason to lean into discomfort. Another is developing an appreciation other community members’ experiences. When we step into the shoes of others to understand their experience, it provides an opening to think through the web of connections that hold certain attitudes, values, and practices in place. In the long run, everyone benefits from this examination that is designed to build a closer, more inclusive community.

Shady Hill has a proud history of reflective practice and a strong mandate to ensure that our students are prepared for the future’s uncharted waters. This issue offers a sampling of questions that our community is discussing and provides insight into the importance and value of difficult conversations.

I firmly believe that a sign of a healthy, dynamic community is when we are all engaging in this kind of meaningful discourse.

Mark J. Stanek, Head of School

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Two perspectives are better than one Mark J. Stanek HE AD OF SCHOOL

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THIS HAS BEEN AN E XCITING YE AR

with the opening of our new math and science building, the Hub, on the first day of school. As I walked through the makerspace during the first week, I saw eighth graders tackling a design challenge — building a tall tower that could support a marshmallow.

Each group had 20 sticks of dry spaghetti, a marshmallow, a meter of string, and a meter of tape. The teams were brainstorming, communicating, disagreeing, negotiating, experimenting, and testing. Some group members thought a triangular base would be most stable while others argued for a square base. In the end, students agreed on a plan that combined the best thinking of the group.

Activities like this enable students to practice being an effective group member, and the communication and teamwork skills serve as a foundation for their work this year as well as far into the future.

We know from Scott Page, professor at the University of Michigan and author of The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies, that groups with diverse identities consistently outperform the best and brightest homogenous groups. Why? It is because diverse groups are able to bring different perspectives and experiences to tackling a challenge. Shady Hill has long understood

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the power that a diverse group offers and has an ongoing tradition of diverse groups of students and adults working, playing, and interacting together.

Diversity reflects the composition of a community — who is represented and their diverse identities. Meanwhile, an inclusive community is the outgrowth of institutional policies and practices that are implemented over time to ensure everyone is included. Inclusion is the operating principle that ultimately leads to a vibrant multicultural community where everyone feels valued. Shady Hill has a proud tradition of striving for inclusion.

Kim Walker’s and Tahira Wilson-Guillermo’s article in this issue (page 11) details many of the recent steps we have taken to implement inclusive procedures and systems. As these practices continue to increase our community’s diversity, we reap the many benefits that multiple perspectives, civil discourse, and an appreciation of difference bring.

Another tradition that fosters broadmindedness and is at the core of Shady Hill’s mission is that we ask our students to challenge prejudice, respect difference, and recognize that multiple perspectives inform the human experience. Since its earliest days, the School has institutionalized this approach by immersing students in Thematic and Central Subject studies. Each year, students “become” the people they study and inhabit the problems they faced.

hierarchical dilemmas related to difference, equality, and fairness. In Grade V, students study life in ancient and modern China and explore how belief systems within a culture emerge and evolve over time — an unfamiliar idea to many students who typically see culture as fixed. Sixth graders focus on the diversity of the African continent, with a particular emphasis on dispelling stereotypes. In the

Our curriculum constantly asks students to put themselves in someone else’s shoes. This new vantage challenges students’ assumptions and helps foster empathy. For instance, Grade I students study community by examining members’ needs and identifying changemakers who effectively address those needs. In Grade III, students create their own identities, often connected to their ancestry, as they prepare for life on a whaling ship. Once assigned their roles on the ship, they grapple with the

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Teachers create safe spaces to encourage voicing of multiple perspectives by developing norms at the beginning of the year.

Grade VIII Central Subject, Democracy and Immigration in the United States, students study immigration and explore questions, such as “How has the ‘We’ in ‘We the People’ changed through history?” and “What is it like to be an outsider?”

History offers a mirror to our times, and by raising questions about privilege, power, gender roles, and individual and collective rights, Thematic and Central Subject studies often spark challenging conversations related to contemporary issues and students’ personal experiences. Gradeheads serve as guides while students engage in challenging discourse, analyze assumptions, and broaden their critical-thinking skills. Our teachers also create safe spaces to encourage voicing of multiple perspectives. To facilitate this, each class develops norms and guidelines at the beginning of the year that promote honest, civil discourse and create environments that support our students’ best learning. These agreements help students feel comfortable discussing sensitive topics, such as prejudice, difference, stereotypes, and beliefs.

To equip our students with cross-cultural communication skills, the adults in the community need to consider their own unconscious biases. Over the past year,

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parents, faculty, and staff have participated in workshops to better understand institutionalized racism and white privilege. We have had honest dialogues about privilege and how unconscious bias impacts our practice. This year, our adult community will continue this work, working to understand our role in creating equitable, inclusive classroom environments. Under the leadership of new Board Chair Nima Eshghi, the Board of Trustees will also examine how issues of diversity and inclusion pertain to Shady Hill’s mission.

By analyzing demographic shifts and cultural changes, they will consider policy changes and business implications that reflect this changing landscape.

Shady Hill has always been a community dedicated to social justice and developing ethical citizens. I am proud to lead a school with a deep commitment to these values.

I also admire the challenging work that the Board, faculty, staff, and parents are engaged in to develop inclusive policies and procedures while embracing a diversity of voices.

It is imperative that we model civil discourse and equitable practices for our students as well as prepare them with the skills to thrive in the vibrant multicultural world they will inherit. _

Picking Up the Baton BEING CLEAR ON THE “WHY” OF MY WORK In his noted book, Start With Why, author Simon Sinek encourages leaders to do just that when thinking about their work and their organizations — start with “Why.” Sinek defines the “why” as the purpose, cause, or belief that inspires you to do what you do.

Why is it that we do a certain thing? Why do we do it in a particular way? Sinek argues that being clear on the “why” helps organizations build trust and connection, ensures clarity, and inspires action. As I think about what we aim to do in education, I think Sinek’s outcomes capture our institutional goals: encouraging trust and belonging, seeking clarity of understanding, and, ultimately, inspiring action in our students to bring about positive change.

James J. Greenwood DIRECTOR OF INCLUSION AND MULTICULTURAL PRACTICE

Why do I do what I do?

To understand why I’ve chosen this work (or perhaps why it has chosen me), it is important to understand who I am and where I come from. I’ll start with my full name, James Jason Greenwood.

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the second of three sons. As with most expectant parents, there was much discussion about what to name me. My mother wanted to name me “Jason” after a boy she used to babysit. My father, however, wanted to name me after his father, James Grady Greenwood.

So after long debates (as the story is told at Thanks­ giving), my grandmother stepped in. “Let go of the middle name, Grady,” she suggested, “and simply make Jason his middle name.” And that was what happened. However, as was the case in most things, my mother ultimately won out. Although my official first name is “James,” no one in my family ever calls me that. At home, I am “Jason,” while at school and in my professional life, I am “James.”

I think the experience of having one identity at home and another outside the home is one that many of our students find familiar, perhaps

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It is important to have teachers and mentors of color as role models.

especially those coming from historically marginalized or underrepresented backgrounds. This bifurcation of identity can be tricky for young people, and I owe much of my development to the dedicated teachers and mentors — from a wide variety of backgrounds — who, over the years, helped me navigate that unfamiliar terrain. This is also part of what calls me to do this work. I know how important it was for me to have these guides along the way, so I aspire to give back to young people in similar ways. Moreover, as a student of color, it was important for me to have teachers and mentors of color as role models. They served as visible examples that it was possible to succeed academically.

This continues to be important for students of color. But it is also equally important for majority students to see that leadership comes in multiple colors and from different backgrounds.

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Why is this work important?

Diversity work and multicultural practice are critical components of a school environment.

With the country’s ever-shifting demographics, we are becoming an increasingly pluralistic society. A recent article in Education Week reported that, in 2014, the number of Latino, African-American, and Asian students in public K-12 schools surpassed the number of white students.1 As our demographics change, so too must our teaching practices in order to best serve our increasingly diverse student body. Moreover, all students — not just those from underrepresented backgrounds — require the skills necessary to engage effectively and confidently across lines of difference. They also benefit from the multiple perspectives that diversity makes possible. Several studies have demonstrated the educational benefit of diversity. As cited in a recent Scientific

American article: “Decades of research by organizational scientists, psychologists, sociologists, economists, and demographers show that socially diverse groups (i.e., a diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation) are more innovative than homogeneous groups.”2 If these quantitative rationalizations weren’t enough, simply put, it’s the right thing to do. As we watch the news and see what is happening across the country and around the world, many of today’s conflicts are rooted in tensions that cross lines of difference and reveal a profound lack of understanding and empathy. Our children have inherited this world and will have to address these problems. As stated in Shady Hill’s mission statement, we want our students to be active and ethical citizens. Ethical citizens actively demand a more socially just world.

Students benefit from the multiple perspectives that diversity makes possible.

Why Shady Hill?

At Shady Hill, this commitment to creating a more socially just world has long been a part of our philosophy and tradition. The School’s reputation for progressive education and commitment to equity and social justice is also what attracted me here. The fact that our Head of School serves on the faculty of the Diversity Directions Independent School Summer Seminar indicates that support for diversity and inclusion efforts are an institutional commitment at the highest levels. As a diversity practitioner, this support is both compelling and critical. More than just symbolic, it is sustaining.

As I learn more about this joyful and active community, I hope to contribute in meaningful ways. Tahira Wilson-Guillermo and others have done transformative work at Shady Hill, and I am honored to take up the baton and advance this imperative work. I look forward to working together and building on your own “whys” to make our community an even more inclusive one. _

Shady Hill’s Directors of Inclusion and Multicultural Practice, James Greenwood, Tahira Wilson-Guillermo, and Sharon Jones Phinney.

1. Maxwell, Leslie A. “U.S. School Enrollment Hits Majority-Minority Milestone.” Education Week. Editorial Projects in Education, 19 Apr. 2014.

2. Phillips, Katherine W. “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.” Scientific American. 1 Oct. 2014.

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Growing Our Students’ Voices SHADY HILL’S GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE ENHANCES UNDERSTANDING AND BUILDS A SUPPORTIVE CULTURE

Marta Rivas GRADE VI GRADEHE AD

MID D LE SCHO O L STUD ENTS NATUR ALLY WANT TO SUPP O RT one another.

Our experience is that young adolescents long for opportunities to connect in positive ways, to laugh together, and to challenge one another’s ideas about the ways the world works. We have found middle school students to be empathetic, thoughtful, and capable of engaging in passionate conversations in which they push their own and one another’s ideas of what social justice and community caretaking mean.

Three years ago, we held a meeting for middle school students interested in starting a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA). Much to our surprise, over 70 students came, including members of each of the Middle School grades. Students talked about why they felt it was important to have a GSA at Shady Hill. Their reasons ranged from the personal, “I love my two moms,” and “My uncle is gay, and he can’t marry his partner” to the political, “It’s wrong that any group of people feels left out or unprotected in this country” to the philosophical, “I know adults who are gay, and I was wondering what we

Faculty leads of Shady Hill’s Gay-Straight Alliance (Left to right): James Greenwood, Louis Caldarella TTC ’00, Marta Rivas, Kirk Goetchius ’76 TTC ’86, Aneesa Sen, Mellisha Culpepper, Tracy Eisenberg.

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could do as kids to make the world better for gay people and, actually, for all people.” This last sentiment — making the little piece of the world that is Shady Hill safer for all students — is a driving force behind my involvement in the GSA. When students feel empowered to speak up for the most vulnerable members of the community, all students feel safer, regardless of their social status, gender identity, race, religion, or sexual orientation. In short, while we teachers try to set a tone of kindness and inclusion, students are often the ones who most effectively maintain an environment of emotional safety.

The power of student voices crystalized in the GSA’s second year. For example, in the winter we announced in a Middle School Morning Meeting that the week’s GSA topic would be how to address homophobic comments made online and outside of adult earshot.

Midway through our usual GSA gathering, a group of at least 12 seventh graders bounded into the meeting, declaring that they wanted to talk about homophobia and how it related to what was being said in the locker

When students speak up for vulnerable members of the community, all students feel safer.

rooms. In that meeting, we practiced realistic phrases students could use in response to homophobic language.

In addition, students participated in role plays in which they used their bodies to protect anyone who might feel targeted as well as to feel stronger as a cohort. While students are never expected to address cruel behavior without adult intervention, the reality is that adults are not always present in adolescent interactions. These students wanted tools they could use to feel both safe and empowered to speak up when hurtful comments were made. Usually these remarks were not directed at individuals, but rather consisted of swearing and other terms of bravado, which included calling members of opposing teams derogatory terms for being gay or “unmanly.”

We ended the meeting with a commitment from students to try to use their voices, or even their bodies, to send a message that “swearing and just plain mean comments” were not acceptable in the locker room, and students made an agreement to return to the GSA the

following week to share how they worked together to build a more positive environment. In the weeks that followed, students reported on the steps they were taking to let friends know that certain types of teasing or mean comments could not be excused with, “I was just kidding.” Though we had started this conversation around homophobic comments, members of the GSA came to identify all sorts of interactions that were potentially hurtful, including comments about body size, eating habits, and gender stereotypes. Over time, many people have worked to advance the idea of “being an ally,” and it is a concept now fully embraced by our middle-school students. Irrespective of their own situations, students know that speaking up and acting on behalf of the vulnerable members of the community helps build the school culture they value and a world they want to live in.

Our “Morning of Silence” is a time when being an ally is on full view in the Middle School. During this event, volunteers choose to remain silent in solidarity

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with those who have been attacked or forced to remain silent because speaking about their gender identity or sexual orientation put them at physical and emotional risk. Shady Hill has had two Mornings of Silence, and we will continue this tradition the Friday after May Day. As an adult, I have been struck by the care with which students thought about those who would feel uncomfortable participating and how to make sure these students did not feel pressured to remain mute. Students were also quick to remind one another that some students who might support gay and transgender rights would find it hard to remain silent for four hours, such as at recess. In short, students tried to take a stand for themselves without inadvertently shaming friends or making assumptions about their beliefs. Kids who feel passionately about gay rights wanted to be sure those whose religious or other beliefs made being gay unacceptable did not feel bullied. This, to me, was a true testament of the power of empathy in shaping human interactions that are civil and respectful, the kind that is needed in any democracy.

During our “Morning of Silence,” volunteers choose to remain silent in solidarity with those who have been forced to remain silent due to gender identity or sexual orientation.

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Shady Hill is a mission-driven school that supports LGBTQ rights. But we are also an educational institution that strives to model ways that people can engage in respectful conversations in order to better understand ourselves and others and to build a supportive culture.

To this end, the GSA offers students a forum to discuss differences among people and find support for the complex questions they are asking about themselves, their peers, and their society. _

Building a Better Community

Kim Walker DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PROJECTS

Tahira Wilson-Guillermo FORMER DIRECTOR OF INCLUSION & MULTICULTURAL PRACTICE

THE DIVERSITY DIRECTIONS REPORT LAUNCHES A PRODUCTIVE YEAR

Shady Hill remains deeply committed to building a community that understands and values our diverse world and we actively seek students, parents, faculty, and staff from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives.

We must ensure that Shady Hill attracts families of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and equips our graduates with the tools to be successful in a multicultural society.

Strategic Area III of Shady Hill’s 2013 Strategic Plan

BUILDING A VIBR ANT, MULTICULTUR AL C O MMUNIT Y takes an institutional commitment, and Shady Hill has a proud tradition of implementing inclusive policies and practices. A recent major initiative, born of the 2013 Strategic Plan (see above), has guided our work over the past year. Entitled The Diversity Directions Report, it offers commendations for our work around inclusion and multicultural practice as well as recommendations to make us a more inclusive, responsive, culturally fluent community where adults model the values we espouse to students.

One of the report’s first recommendations was to appoint an inclusive Strategic Planning Council (see page 13). The report advised that representatives possess previous diversity training and represent Lower and Middle Schools, afterschool, facilities, parents, and the Board. James Greenwood shared in all communications, met with the Council, and attended most diversity events during the year.

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The Council’s role was to make recommendations to the Head of School on how to prioritize the report, and we began by assessing our top priorities. One goal that shaped our early work was to create Diversity Liaison positions for the Lower and Middle Schools and the Co-Curricular Program. After discussions about how the liaisons would support faculty, students, and families, the School posted the positions internally. This year, our Diversity Liaisons–Erica Rogers-Jensen (Lower School), Mellisha Culpepper (Middle School), and Alex Underwood (Co-Curricular Programs) — will join James in leading our continued inclusion efforts.

The Council also dedicated itself to implementing the recommendations focused on faculty and Board professional development and parent training.

The follow-throughs include: • In March, the Council, with the support of the Academic Administrative Team, welcomed Dr. Eddie Moore and Debbie Irving to campus for a full-day training for all faculty and staff that examined white privilege.

• The Parents’ Council coordinated an evening event for parents with Dr. Moore and Debbie Irving, aligning the work of all adult members of the community.

• The Council asked for an increased footprint for professional development in the 2016–2017 calendar, including an annual multicultural training to open each school year.

• During our September Opening Faculty Meetings, Dr. Mary Gannon led a workshop on implicit bias and set a challenge for faculty to notice their own assumptions.

• For October’s professional development day, educator Rosetta Lee led the full faculty and staff in a workshop focused on ways to counter the negative impact of microaggressions.

Dr. Eddie Moore and Debbie Irving conducted a professional-development day on white privilege.

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Dr. Mary Gannon (center) led a faculty workshop on implicit bias.

THE 2015–2016 STRATEGIC PLANNING COUNCIL FOR INCLUSION & MULTICULTURAL PRACTICE Kim Walker, D irector of Special Projects, Co-Chair Tahira Wilson-Guillermo, D irector of Inclusion & Multicultural Practice, Co-Chair Carita Anderson, B oard Member, Current Parent Maggie Beasley, L ower School Faculty Robel Bonilla, N ight Supervisor, Facilities Mellisha Culpepper, M iddle School Faculty James Greenwood, I ncoming Director of Inclusion & Multicultural Practice Sharon Jones Phinney, Middle School Faculty Amine Lahmeur, Afterschool Program Betsy Leahy, L ower School Faculty Marta Rivas, M iddle School Faculty John Segar, Middle School Faculty Rebecca Yacono, M iddle School Faculty

In the spring of 2016, the Council explored additional ideas. Every aspect of the Diversity Direction Report was considered, with the lens of what best fit the Council’s six-month purview and, strategically, what could lay the groundwork for the following years. For example, they discussed faculty evaluation, parent education, class potlucks on campus, curriculum reviews, the reinvigoration of the employee SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) group, the affective-education program, student affinity groups, and the goal of further diversifying our faculty, staff, and administration.

The Council also advocated having a Diversity Directions consultant return to campus to interview our Buildings and Grounds team, since many members did not participate in the original report interviews. This resulted in an addendum to the original report that included these important community voices.

The Council will continue to serve in an advisory capacity at James’ discretion, offering input when requested over the course of the year. It was an honor for both of us to serve on a council that represented every facet of our community in work that is essential to our mission and to our future. _ Rosetta Lee’s workshop addressed ways to counter microaggressions.

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Notes from the Field: Act III Desirée Ivey

THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF “LEANING INTO DISCOMFORT”

E XECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF TE ACHER TRAINING

Children are not born racist, classist, sexist, or homophobic. They have to be taught. They pick up attitudes and biases from adults they watch and emulate.

We all have our share of prejudices and biases. However, empathy is the great interrupter.

Heather Woodcock AS SISTANT DIRECTOR, TE ACHER TRAINING

For the past few weeks, teachers, parents, and former Shady Hill students have joined hundreds of theater-goers at the American Repertory Theater to witness Anna Deveare Smith perform Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education.

The play highlights disturbing examples of injustice and courageous activism in this country.

Smith is a master storyteller who captures the voice, physicality, and essence of those she portrays on stage. She models the empathy that she challenges others to embrace. In scene after scene, a captivated audience listens and watches her transform into an A.M.E. minister who gave the eulogy for Freddie Gray; a committed principal of a Philadelphia public school, a high school student who used her iPhone to film the unjust, violent treatment of a black classmate by a white police officer; and Senator John Lewis who forgave an officer who assaulted him as he crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965. If one pays attention to the news, these incidents are unsettlingly familiar.

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Smith ends Act III with a question: “What will you do to make a difference?” Initially, it is hard to imagine what one might do to change the course of events portrayed by Smith in her play. In Why Do All the Black Kids Sit Together in the Cafeteria?, Beverly Tatum says the “task for each of us, white and of color, is to identify what our own sphere of influence is (however large or small) and to consider how it might be used to interrupt the cycle of racism.”

Here at Shady Hill, we are confronting bias and prejudice. While prejudice is inevitable, its ugly consequences are not. Disrupting the cycle demands attention and work and this work is happening at all levels — student, apprentice, faculty, staff, parent, and Board. Though the work is uncomfortable at times, the results are transformative for adults, children, and the community alike.

Strategically diversifying and training a cohort of apprentice-teachers is making a difference at Shady Hill. Before they step into the classroom, we require our apprentices to get in touch with their bias, the core of their prejudices, and unearned privilege. For example, we ask them to engage in difficult conversations, learn how to get comfortable with discomfort, and grow from these experiences. They bring that perspective to their teaching, which, in turn, challenges their Directing Teachers to examine what they teach and how and why they teach it.

Shady Hill’s faculty and administrators also facilitate graduate courses for Lesley University. In addition to learning pedagogical practices that honor children’s voices, they require apprentices to get to know themselves as well as children and their context, keeping students in the center of the decisions made about curriculum. Assumptions and biases are examined by having apprentices lean into discomfort. The goal is to have them return to their classrooms with new understanding about themselves and consequently implement strategies that will enable them to meet their students where they are.

whales and send them to children in Haiti to replenish depleted libraries. Fifth graders write letters to the Boston City Council advocating for equitable opportunities to ride on well-maintained bike paths in Roxbury, while eighth graders interview family members and discover heroes and heroines who never made the history books.

Affinity groups for children of color, for children with two moms and two dads, and for middle school allies of the Gay-Straight Alliance are learning empathy and activism. We want each child to internalize that knowing is not enough. When it comes to issues of social justice and equity, action is required as well.

Our four-year-old children eventually grow up. They become teachers, judges, police officers, attorneys, city planners, grocery store clerks, mayors, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and presidents. We play a significant role in shaping the adults that children become. It is our moral obligation to discover our own spheres of influence so that we can contribute to finding solutions and connections that move us forward. _

A central ambition of our work at Shady Hill is to nurture empathy. A budding four-year-old artist lights up when she hears celebrated artist and activist, Ekua Holmes ’70 read from her award-winning book about Fannie Lou Hamer. Second graders, who presumably have never experienced a homeless child’s hunger, run laps around the gym to raise money for Project Bread.

Third graders illustrate books about dolphins and

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Campus Events ARE THE COSTS WORTH THE PRICE?

The Colonial Fair caps seventh graders’ exploration of events leading up to the American Revolution. They look at historical questions from the loyalist, colonist, Native American, and parent-child perspective, lending a human face to the toll that oppression, rebellion, and choosing sides can have. They also see how history can help us better understand current events.

THE STARS ARE THE LIMIT

Dr. Phillip Rosenfield from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics promotes astronomy using his inflatable mobile star lab. Students crawled inside and enjoyed learning about constellations, the solar system, and our galaxy. Students then built a planetarium of their own!

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GOOGLE PILOTS EXPEDITION TOOL AT SHADY HILL

In March, some students went to China. Others explored the Great Barrier Reef. A few climbed Aztec ruins. Virtually. About its expeditions, Google says “We created over 100 journeys built around virtual-reality panoramas, making it easy to immerse students in entirely new experiences.”

Understanding geography is a core component of Central Subject. This kind of experience helps students develop a connection to other times, places, and people.

PIRATES BACK ON CAMPUS

Reviving a Shady Hill tradition of performing Gilbert and Sullivan plays, eighth graders put on an immensely enjoyable Pirates of Penzance. It was a hilarious collision of honor, duty, social distinction, cronyism, chauvinism, and devotion to the Queen. Tenderhearted pirates vacillated delightfully between fierce and timid. The Major General’s daughters whirled from rapture to alarm. The Keystone Cop-like police fell all over themselves as they alternately carried out and fled from their duty. Everyone agreed—a hit performance!

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Campus Events OLYMPIC GAMES: SHADY HILL’S OLDEST TRADITION

The weather gods served up a beautiful day. The Olympics began on the Green, with odes to Zeus and victory. The action moved to the playing fields—javelin, discus, high jump, long jump, and foot races. After an afternoon of energetic performances, the competitors headed back to the Green for the wreathing and closing ceremonies and, of course, some ambrosia.

MAY DAY, A CELEBRATION OF SPRING AND COMMUNITY

The Green was transformed into a stage for this beloved and time-honored tradition. Each grade performed, and the day was a satisfying blend of song, dance, and joy.

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Dreams and Difficult Conversations Kimberly Kubik DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

“I could never do what you do. I could never ask people for money!” When people think of fundraising, most share a thought along these lines. But, believe it or not, the most difficult part of my conversations around supporting Shady Hill is not the part about asking for a gift of support. Or even asking for a specific dollar amount.

This is because each and every gift conversation is based on a shared vision — a shared belief in the power of education, in the importance of play, in the value of trying and failing, and in developing children’s thinking and problem-solving skills.

In short, a vision of helping children grow into themselves. Over the course of each year, I ask many members of our school community to give, and, when they can, to “stretch” to help cover the 26% gap between tuition and the actual cost of a year at Shady Hill. The amount asked for varies. But all gifts, taken together, have an incredible impact.

Each gift affirms community, possibility, and inclusivity. Each year, donors at every level embrace a vision of what a Shady Hill education provides students, they are inspired to fund that vision and gratified to be part of our community of donors.

No, the difficult part of these conversations is not the asking. Instead, it is how to say thank you properly — how to acknowledge the incredible power of each gift; how to explain that each and every gift each and every year is truly extraordinary in its scope and impact — in the difference it makes. For me, the struggle is to adequately express the power of your giving, caring, and sharing.

So to that end, and with much gratitude for this somewhat paradoxical dilemma, I say thank you for making my work so “difficult.” _ 19

JUNE 10 WAS A DAY O F CELEBR ATIO N

for the 59 graduating eighth graders. The day’s events began with an Alumni Breakfast and continued with the graduation ceremony on the Green. Grade VI drummed while the eighth graders took their seats on the stage. The class recited its “Found Poem” and heard poignant speeches from Mark Stanek and Krista Demas. Grade V imparted words of wisdom to the graduates, and Grade VII spoke of what they appreciated about each eighth grader. It was a day to remember and a wonderful way to celebrate the students’ achievement. Congratulations to the Class of 2016 — our centennial class, no less! _

Congratulations

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class

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2016

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1915 2015 Gala Crowns Centennial Year Great food, company, music, and décor made for a great evening. The celebration capped our centennial year, which started in May 2015 with a plaque dedication at the site of the original school on Quincy Street. The salute continued throughout the year with an alumni panel celebrating creativity, a “hundredth-day-of-the-hundredth-year” event, regional gatherings, a centennial issue of the magazine, and the Art Show.

At the gala, one could reasonably ask, “Is this really a gym?” Between the carpeted floor, walls bathed in gentle aqua light, and a canopy of white lights overhead, the Gold Gym was transformed.

After welcoming everyone, Mark Stanek highlighted notable aspects of the School’s history and showed a video specially produced for the Centennial. Next, parent Tanya Donnelly and her band performed A Porch on Quincy Street, a song she wrote in honor of the Centennial. Guests enjoyed a delicious Central Subject-inspired menu served from tables decorated with student artwork. After dinner, a DJ spun tunes, and the dance floor came alive.

In his gala follow-up note, Mark wrote, “The celebration was made possible by so many incredibly committed and hard-working volunteers. A school is a labor of love, and we saw many ‘labors of loves’ that made the evening so memorable.”

It took a full year to celebrate 100 years. The year offered a tremendous opportunity to reflect on where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going. Here’s to another 100 fantastic years!

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Campus Improvements THE HUB Meet “the Hub,” Shady Hill’s new integrated

learning center. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony in September, Mark Stanek described how the state-of-theart teaching and learning spaces will spark curricular innovation. “The Hub brings math, science, and engineering together under one roof. By fostering creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration, it will enrich their connections to Central Subject and to the humanities, arts, and movement programs.”

The Hub houses six labs, four classrooms, a community-meeting space, an outdoor classroom, a rooftop garden, a “makerspace” for hands-on projects, and a fabrication lab for creating with innovative technologies, such as 3-D printers. As Science Department Chair Tracy Polte sees it, “This is an opportunity to have a

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community around building and making things in new ways.” Mark Stanek reflected, “We will continue to build on our tradition of integrated learning while at the same time open new possibilities for students and faculty.”

BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS Nearly every building on

campus received some TLC this summer. In addition to a long list of carpentry, plumbing, and painting projects, we undertook several major projects as well — upgrades to the security system, new porches, a rebuild of a twostory window bay, and a sizable canopy added to the eighth-grade building. And over 700 perennials, shrubs, and trees got planted. Students returned to a ship-shape campus.

BOAT DECK Ahoy! A small ramp into the Grade III building was replaced by an elegant and sizable porch, which was fashioned after a whaling ship. (The Grade III Central Subject topic is Whales and Whaling.) Students use the deck as an outdoor classroom space. It also serves as a ramp that brings the building into ADA compliance.

NATURE AREA Restored to new glory,

the Nature Area now houses, among other things, raised planting beds, a water table with running water, and a “sound garden” with large xylophones and gongs. In addition to class visits, students spend their recesses exploring the Nature Area’s possibilities.

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Class Notes Last spring, members of the classes of 1944, 1948, and 1952 faithfully sent us their class notes on time. In the process of assembling the magazine, these particular class notes were inadvertently not included with the rest. Our apologies!

Departing from our tradition of printing class notes in the spring issue of the Shady Hill Magazine, we print them in this edition.

This spring, we will be back on track and will have a full set of class notes. Your class correspondents will be in touch with you soon. Please plan to share your news.

Hearing from you brings great joy to not only those who knew you but to the full community as we learn interesting tidbits of Shady Hill lore and gain insight into the many wonderful ways a Shady Hill education has played out.

1944

JAMIE GOODALE 45 EAST 80TH STREET, APT. 9B NEW YORK, NY 10021

biz @ paynter.net

jcgoodal @ debevoise.com

Leo Opdycke and his wife Sandy have become increasingly aware of their affection for and reliance on their house in Poughkeepsie. In the winter they had an electric lift installed in their home, to many warm approvals from their children!

Mary Prince writes, “I am still living in my house in Ocean Grove, NJ. My children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren are nearby, which is a joy to me.

Although I am somewhat creaky, I still enjoy seeing friends and doing what I can for the community. I think of Shady Hill often, and I am grateful for all I learned there. I think I have put it to good use.

To submit a class note, please contact your Class Correspondent or visit www.shs.org/classnotes. We welcome photos of alumni and will publish as many as space allows. Please submit high resolution photos. Submissions may be edited.

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1948

BIZ PAYNTER P.O. BOX 184 WESTON, MA 02493

Steve Bolster writes: Donna and I have five children and we now have 11 grandkids! That takes a lot of time with getting together for birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

But we do what we can do, and it makes our lives BUSY! I’m still running my small business, Your Car – We’ll Drive Inc., and probably will until they put me in the ground! We have five to six drivers.

Because we are all getting older, some of my 90-year-old clients are calling for daily trips for shopping, banking, etc., which has boosted my weekly salary. My Donna retires in 18 more months, and we think we have our retirement years figured out, barring another recession! I’m still dancing on stages with musicals in community theaters. North Haledon Community Theater started up last year with two musicals: Cinderella’s Glass Slipper in which I played the Majordomo of the Queen’s palace; and Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs where I was the evil Huntsman.

Fun stuff! Donna and I are very busy with our church, High Mountain Church of the Nazarene, and we serve the Lord in many different capacities. Life is very full and rewarding.

Anne Carpenter Bruce visited her son, David, in June 2015, who teaches genetics and bio-informatics at the

University of Minnesota. David teaches cell biology in the summer and Deva, his wife, teaches an immunology course at Macalester College. Both of Anne’s grandchildren, Luke Gehman and Rachel Gehman, attend Macalester College.

Their studies will help them define a major. Luke is interested in neurobiology.

Anne is interested in Alzheimer’s disease because Downs Syndrome adults seem to get AD frequently. She accompanied David to the Minnesota neuro-generative building associated with the University of Minnesota, where they met with Samantha Shapiro who showed them amyloid plaque cells on glass slides. Anne would like to volunteer at Kainos, Home and Training center.

Peter Castle writes: We live in strange times. Strange because we take them for granted: science, technology, medicine, and affluence. True, life will still end, but for more comfortably on average than ever before, notably in the developed West. It is not clear that this can or will continue; much hangs in the balance.

My life has always included and even necessitated books. Literacy and libraries (never mind Amazon) are the great civic engines of work, pleasure, and freedom.

Being surrounded by too many books is my greatest luxury. Next come friends.

My iPhone is an intruder, albeit a perniciously tempting one. Keep it in its place, facedown, or the tyranny of the controlled image may destroy us, politics and all.

Google is not our liberator; it lacks all imagination and speaks only to itself.

As SHS classmates, we are now all old, a puzzling but time-honored development. Oldness is an elusive quality, one that calls for understanding and appreciation. Growing up may be essential, but growing down is also of great interest.

I now spend more time trying to watch and listen to myself, a new task in a new world.

Freddy Churchill writes: I have had much fun this fall walking the dog (appropriately named “Snow”), visiting weekly a group of former colleagues. My

biography of the German nineteenth century zoologist, August Weismann, came out in June 2015. Harvard University Press did a nice job of publishing both words and photographs. Now it is up to me to see if I can entice some buyers. I modestly say it is not at all a bad book!

We will see if there are enough buyers to warrant the effort on the part of the press!

Eddie Ginsburg reports: Life goes on and I have no complaints. I am still working with volunteer lawyers to represent the indigent in a number of contexts, mainly the family court. My wife Julie retired from the practice of law in July 2015, tired of dealing with angry people.

She will now concentrate on photography as pictures make people happy. She will also be a patient advocate one day a week at the Newton Wellesley Hospital.

I have a fourteen your old grandson who is almost six foot three inches. Our two daughters are doing fine.

Jamie Goodale reports that he was surprised to be honored as a scholar-athlete by Yale before this year’s HarvardYale game. He attributes this honor (The George H.W. Bush Award) to a progressive education. He laments the fact that SHS does not mention its progressive roots in its literature including its recent “then and now” video, which features our famous undefeated 1948 SHS football team. He thinks it is too bad that SHS does not proclaim its roots as do the other John Dewey schools such as the Lab School (Chi.), Francis Parker School (Chi.), Fieldston (NYC) and Putney.

He says that he and his classmates liked

being different from the other kids in Cambridge or even odd by their standards. “We loved our independence, the lack of grades and, above all, the ability to think independently and to be contrarian.

Can you believe it’s been 67 years or so since the date of our famous football team and our graduation?”

Esther Goudsmit shares these words: My four contented years at Silver Maples in Chelsea, MI have sped by. I’m outdoors hiking and walking in every season and even while in my home the views, sights and sounds are of the outdoors. Friends near and far bring joy. These years are going by too fast.

Emily Putney Link writes: I live in Madison, WI, where I work part time at Gilda’s Club, part of the Cancer Support Community. I facilitate support groups.

I retired some seven years ago from the local hospice where I was a grief counselor on the inpatient unit. I also play my clarinet in the local New Horizons Band; I bike, bird, and kayak in season. Life is good!

Sandy Weille Maccoby says: This year in our family, we had two books completed: my novel about a made-up Washington school and Michael’s very scholarly book, Strategic Intelligence (Oxford Press). His book is about leadership and the “young people” (that means anyone under 50) out there in the world of work should find it very helpful. He is an expert on leadership and was the President of the Crimson in 1954, the year he graduated from Harvard. More useful information can be found on his

web page at maccoby.com. He is the author of fifteen books. I taught French and Spanish for eighteen years here in Washington at a liberal private school. I majored in French at Smith and spent my Junior Year in Paris. I learned Spanish living in Mexico for nearly nine years. If any of our class happens to be in Washington this year, please give us a ring. It would be really fantastic to see you after all these years! I guess some of those years as a teacher rub off in my novel but the book is really a mix of observation and invention involving several elite private schools here.

Kathryn Shohl Scott writes: The basic news is that I have enjoyed another year of retirement without much Sturm und Drang. I made 3 fabulous trips abroad: Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in February 2015; Norwegian fjords in July 2015; and northern Pacific (Alaska; Kamchatka, Russia; and Hokkaido, Japan) in September 2015. Two grandkids graduated from college (two more are currently enrolled). I see extended family both in New Hampshire in August and here in Bethesda in December. Yoga and swimming keep me more or less fit, and concerts and plays enrich my life. I also sing with a World Bank choral group, and with the non-performing Bach and Beer Society.

Anne Eiseman Walker and Tom Walker ’47 enjoyed a yacht club cruise to Cape Cod and the islands in the summer of 2015. They still live in a house in Manchester, and have three children and 6 grandchildren ranging in age from 10

ALUMNI WEEKEND 2016 Alumni sing the Shady Hill repertoire at the All Sing.

On the Friday of Alumni Weekend, alumni join Head of School Mark Stanek for lunch on his patio.

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MEET SOME CLASS CORRESPONDENTS MARGARET BULLITT-JONAS ’66

I am a class correspondent because it is an ongoing pleasure to find out what my classmates are up to, year after year. Because the friendships we made when we were young have a lasting resonance. Because it’s fascinating to see how all of us change and yet stay completely ourselves as we grow older. Because I’m grateful to Shady Hill for giving me a place to learn and grow.

RICK JARVIS ’78

I love Shady Hill and volunteer because I believe this community is a great place to grow into an incredible student. Shady Hill gives students the opportunity to learn through experiencing and experimenting with a mind open to different possibilities. It develops individuals who are comfortable in their own skin and understand their unique learning style. I am proud to be a Shady Hill alumnus and parent!

ANJALI LAPPIN ’06

I’ve loved Shady Hill ever since I started as a Beginner.

These years helped me overcome my shyness, especially around adults. I made strong connections with my teachers, some of whom I still keep in touch with.

One reason I volunteer as an alum is because I feel it’s important to stay connected with communities that have shaped one’s life in big ways.

to a freshman at Maine Maritime. All attended Thanksgiving 2015 festivities.

Their son Nat lives in Burlington, CT, which is out past Farmington. Nat has chickens and bees and until recently, pigs.

1952 ANNE WATT 15 R SARGENT STREET CAMBRIDGE, MA 02140

annewat t99 @ gmail.com

Jerry Churchill remembers his teacher fondly: I was never a strong student in math, but Mr. McCarthy was certain that I was ready for the 10th grade math curriculum at the boarding school I was to attend. When I all but failed 10th grade math, Mr. McCarthy was furious,

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in part with me, but mostly with my new math teacher. Before the dust had settled, the Assistant Headmaster and the teacher had both received the full headwind of Mr. McCarthy’s ire. To be sure I would pass a qualifying math test for 11th grade, Mr. McCarthy agreed to tutor me for three weeks during the summer at his vacation home in Westport, MA. Every morning for two hours, he would review my homework, and then move on to new material. When I had completed the next day’s homework, I was free to enjoy the local activities. It was an extraordinary three weeks, and I like to think that Mr. McCarthy might actually have enjoyed my addition to an otherwise calm and quiet household. But I do not like to dwell on what might have happened had I not passed the qualifying exam.

Dennis Corcoran reflects: I joined the class of 1952 to begin the 7th grade, better late than never. I have always like this quote from John Brown’s Body: “And the long roof-beams are chiseled and split From hickory tough as Jackson’s wit.

(Bones in the dust, my son.)

The trees in the garden are fair and fine.

(Trees blow down, my son.)

Connecticut elm and Georgia pine.

The warehouse groans with cotton and swine.

The cellar is full of scuppernong-wine.

(Wine turns sour, my son.)”

Scuppernong-wine, who knew what it was back then and why did that snippet stay with me from 1950 to today? Edie Caudill, you taught me how to learn.

From another class: “Jules, As tu vu la Mule,” “Aroser la Rose Ce Soir,” and “Donc, je m’ eleve.” In song: Away, Rio, The Heavens are Telling…The Epilogue to the Tempest has these lines, preceded by these notes in my script: Curtain behind Nick Welchman— sadly missing from this retrospective— (AKA Prospero), to front of stage and says: “Now all my charms are all o’erthrown, And what strength I have’s mine own, Which is most faint . . .”

With this uncertain note penciled in my script at the bottom of the Epilogue: Curtain call (we hope). And there was a curtain call. After three years it was time to move on with regret but enthusiasm for the next act. Thank you, Shady Hill classmates and faculty, it was a marvelous time of learning and growing.

Happy Barker Esty writes: My mother Athalia Ogden Barker, one of the first in her family to attend college, taught me that education is an immeasurable gift.

Following her graduation from Smith College in 1932 she became an apprentice at Shady Hill and later taught second grade. She married my father in February 1937 and I was born a year later, the first of her five children, four of whom would attend SHS. During World War II we followed my father, a doctor, to several navy bases around the country (VA, TN, MI, CA and RI) and I had attended seven schools by the time I entered Shady Hill and Smitty’s Grade V in 1947.

Shady Hill not only allowed me to stay in one school for the next five years, it immersed me in incredible, stimulating

projects and learning experiences: memory maps, book binding, global explorers, Edie Caudill’s Civil War, Latin, French, and Mac’s Peloponnesian War. Plus, the wonderful art, shop, and music classes (the latter still part of my life blood) and playing the part of Ariel in The Tempest (I could go on and on…and of course there are also the life-long friends!) All together, it was an exciting and stimulating education of the best kind and gave me an ideal foundation to pursue further learning, travel and adventure throughout my life. I will always be grateful to my mother for the gift of a Shady Hill education. All three of our children plus two spouses and a new female interest for our unmarried second son, plus five grandchildren, will be here with us in Santa Rosa, CA for a week including Christmas.

To add to the bedlam, we also have a new 3-month old Dachshund puppy. Crazy?

Yes. But also lots of fun.

Anne Wallace Elvins reports: My time at Shady Hill was one of the happiest times of my life. The teaching was thrilling, the place was a haven, and my closest friends today are those from Shady Hill, especially my beloved partner, John Grace. Smitty, Edie Caudill, Mac and Abbie (Ruth Abbot) were inspirational to me, and Abbie set me off on my career as a singer. I also remember fondly Charlie Rockwell and Gerry Warburg in our studies of Shakespeare and those glorious performances at the Brattle Theater! Happy 100th Anniversary, Shady Hill! May you thrive for another 100 years! On a more

recent note, my brother, Jim Wallace ’56, died on August 20, 2015 after a long decline. I had been in charge of his care for four years. Life goes on, however: I have a new great-grandson, Jude Oscar Davis, born on November 15, 2015.

Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski writes: I have only little time to write to you, because I have two big conferences in the coming week. Shady Hill School will be 100 years old this year! This is really remarkable. In my life this school was very important, especially the first day, when we plaid cocker with the girls. With Edie and Betzy! This was so remarkable, because only a few years before, I visited the school in a little village in the Alps in Gortipohl, Austria. At that time it was the highest punishment to be forced to sit in a row with the girls. The cocker game with girls was a very new and great experience for me, and the foundation of a long lasting friendship.

Edie Churchill Hartshorne writes: As I reflect on Shady Hill’s 100th Anniversary, and our class’s 65th reunion, I’m aware that my eleven years at Shady Hill have provided a template for the rest of my life, nurturing my essence and the root values I’ve tried to express for over half a century: commitment to service, and satisfaction in helping others; love of the natural world; delight, curiosity, and ease when experiencing other cultures; reverence for art, ceremony and beauty, woven into every day life; and most important of all, an embodied experience and belief in the mysteries of life: the numinous, that

which is beyond naming—the greatest gift of all connecting me to all life.

Service to others: I recall Katherine Taylor telling us of the refugee children, of victims of World War II in France, and our Thanksgiving offerings filling the Assembly hall with food and messages to be sent to these kids my own age! And then in the sixth grade Klaus FuchsKittowski joined our class. Later I learned he had hidden out in the mountains of Switzerland during the war with his Quaker grandfather, a good friend of Miss Thorpe. When he came back to the US as one of the first invited scientists from East Germany, he got my telephone number from SHS, came to visit us in Berkeley and reminded me: “When I was still totally disoriented from living in bombed out Germany, I came to the US, into your sixth grade class. I wanted to play soccer, and you immediately said: You can join our team!” I’ve continued inclusive team building ever since, while living in other countries: Switzerland, France, Japan, Uruguay, Ecuador and Costa Rica.

Most recently I worked with indigenous peoples in the Ecuadorian Amazon with a shamanic tribe; in the Andes, and with village women in Senegal where I created a project called: “Femmes au Puits, L’eau C’est la Vie,” assisting women to build wells. (Thank you Mr. Vincent!)

Love of the natural world: The child-centered approach of SHS offered me a sense of security and deep connection with nature. This nurturance of young sensibilities was reflected in the campus as well as

ALUMNI WEEKEND 2016 Tink Davis moderated a Q&A with eighth graders during the Shady Hill Today panel discussion.

At the Alumni Lunch (from left) Peter Deutsch ’61, Fred Bump ’61, Vera Garibaldi ’91, Tom Bator ’76, Margaret Loss ’61.

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MEET SOME MEMBERS OF THE ALUMNI BOARD KATHRYN BAILIS PHILLIPS ’90, TTC ’98

I am who I am in large part because of Shady Hill. My love and appreciation for the School runs deep. I like staying connected to this place that I care about so much and want to do what I can to support it. I am honored and grateful to serve Shady Hill and stay connected to this community that means so much to me.

FRED WANG ’65

Ever since I left for my ‘next school,’ Shady Hill has felt like my second home and my classmates like my extended family. Shady Hill creates a culture that emphasizes each person’s strengths and helps students build the confidence to take initiative. The skills I use every day trace back to Shady Hill. As I look back on the influences of my success, it is to Shady Hill that I owe the most. That is why I help the School — to help others have opportunities like those I cherish so much.

ABBY WRIGHT ’00

I joined the Alumni Board because attending Shady Hill was a formative experience in my life. At Shady Hill I learned the importance of being curious, analytical, creative, and kind. Just as importantly, I met some of my very best friends (and their families) with whom I had the privilege to learn from over the last 26 years. Serving on the Alumni Board lets me strengthen the ties between the School, alumni, and alumni families, enriching the overall Shady Hill community.

the curriculum. The small separate buildings, the pathways, creek and green playing fields—the entire environment created a feeling of self reliance and confidence in the physical world which I experience today whether while sailing on the open seas or skiing in the wilderness. I recall in an 8th grade botany class, that my project to plant, care for and draw a bleeding heart plant was accepted as a legitimate project. I laugh now, as I’m aware—that was emblematic of my interest in science.

Beauty and the mystery of going from seed to flower interested me more than rational inquiry. In retrospect I see what a gift Shady Hill gave in recognizing the core interests and qualities in each child.

Fascination with other cultures: In the fourth grade, immersed in the study of ancient Greece, I painted a golden

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lion’s head, mouth open and roaring as my shield – protection of sunlight and fierceness. I also cried out to the heavens as Iphigenia, in our fourth grade play, imploring the Gods to save my life. At the end of the year I proudly recited the Olympic Oath in Greek, wore my olive wreath and home made chiton to receive the medal I’d won in the high jump at the Games.

With the same passion and utter conviction, I danced as a Kachina doll in the sixth grade—hoping our sacred dance would bring the rain to a parched earth, and I became fascinated with exploring the world of indigenous peoples. In the seventh grade, with Edie Caudill, I wept while singing ‘A Lonesome Train, on a lonesome track, seven coaches painted black; a slow train, a quiet train, carrying

Lincoln home again.’ Those same words and music sustained me when I shared the collective sorrow of Kennedy’s assassination, while living in Washington, DC. Music poetry, compelling narratives and theater all fuelled my sense of belonging to the world beyond Cambridge.

Art and Ceremony, an integral part of my life: In the third grade, during the Christmas season, I held my breath in awe, in the darkened Assembly Hall, as the Angel Gabriel magically appeared, announcing a great mystery. And lo the shepherds and wise men arrived at the manger. I couldn’t wait until I would be in the fourth grade. Maybe I’d be chosen as Mary. In springtime, we all gathered around the May Pole to enact rites of spring: in the first grade I was a rabbit, hopping high into the air, nibbling grass between hops; in the third grade, I became a sailing skiff, skimming the warm waters with my golden silken sale, billowing behind me as I circled the May Pole. Art and ceremony transformed my reality.

For two decades of peace work, I have combined my life as a musician with social action. I performed at many peace events, including in Hiroshima during the 50th anniversary of the Bomb, and in Sarajevo during that more recent war.

Currently I use music as an integral part of my therapeutic practice. In the last few years I’ve been exploring the integration of music, painting and poetry in my work with ninety Buddhist practitioners around the country, in a program called “The Heavenly Messengers: Awaking through Aging, Illness & Death.” Within the framework of Buddhist understanding these often-fearful realities can be experienced with compassion as messengers – reminding us of the preciousness of each moment. Last year with three other artists, I created a Death Café: “An environment where the arts invite a deeper conversation about death”, where anyone can come and share personal reflections in a safe environment.

Belief in the sacred and mysteries of life: In the sixth grade I heard Robert Frost tell us of his little horse, “stopping by woods on a snowy evening.” I longed to know the mystery within those silent snow covered pines. Mesmerized by his presence, his blue eyes, white hair and sonorous deep voice, my young New England soul

ALUMNI WEEKEND 2016 Gradehead Anne Scribner describes several of the Grade IV projects that integrate science, math, and the arts and humanities.

Jane Selverstone ’71 constructs a Roman arch for an activity drawing on history, engineering, and math.

resonated with the truth of his words.

One morning he leaned forward and said, “We dance around in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows.” This knowledge grew like a secret garden within me for many years.

Each of these experiences was as real to me as a child, as is the TV terror of imminent evil and danger that saturates the media today. And each imbued me with an irrational belief in goodness, in the potential for love and concern for others to prevail—despite all evidence to the contrary. During the most intense experience of my own personal suffering as an adult, these Shady Hill experiences and values of my childhood held me afloat, like a life raft: After my oldest son died, I wrote a book: Light in Blue Shadows, chronicling my journey from grief to gratitude. The book includes poetry, music, my involvement in peace work and the blessings of family and community. I end the book with a verse from the Psalms, exclaiming my gratitude, my continuing belief in the luminous nature of creation, and my conviction that love is more powerful than hatred, more enduring than death.

“You have changed my grieving into dancing!

Thrown off my mourning clothes and dressed me in joy So that my whole being might sing out to you Pouring out my gratitude without end.”

Meanwhile, life goes on: Intrigued by Robin’s plein air paintings, I too started to paint, exploring ways to express my

interest in transformation and the numinous. My trio (piano, koto and voice) recently released a new CD, Audible Light, putting to music poems of Rumi. I still enjoy travelling. Last October I had the pleasure of attending Robin’s lecture at the Ecole Normale Superieur in Paris, and we hunted for the restaurant where he and I had dinner 60 years ago! Then I joined Andy and John Watt at a painting workshop in Tuscany. Last summer I went with colleagues to Bali, continuing my study of indigenous healing modalities.

This year I am experiencing the greatest of all miracles—the birth of our first grandchild, Clara Iona Hartshorne, Ben’s daughter, and we are expecting another soon from our daughter Joemy. Becoming a grandmother opens yet another period of joy and discovery.

Robin Hartshorne sends this report: Looking back on my time at Shady Hill, I am struck by what amazing teachers we had. They encouraged us to think for ourselves, and they supported each individual’s particular interests. I recently found a report from my teacher in the 5-year-old beginners, ”Robin does not play with the other children so much, but he loves numbers.” What perceptive! My second grade teacher, Anne Hale, Jr. reports on composition, “His stories are more often scientific treatises than tales.” On painting and shop: “His work is not really the production of pictures, but a matter of scientific experiment in mixing colors, and occasionally in design. “

In fourth grade, I remember Miss Muller giving me square roots of fractions when I got bored in the math class.

My shield for the Olympic games was Perseus’s head of Medusa. I remember loving the mechanical drawing in 5th grade; perhaps that was the origin of my interest in ruler and compass constructions, which I emphasize in my geometry courses. I missed sixth and seventh grade. Coming back in the eighth grade, even though I now consider French my second language, I still remember the very beginning, with Frank Vincent intoning the opening lines of Dondo’s text: “J’entre dans la salle de classe. Je regarde autour de moi. Je vois le professeur et les élèves.” Then came the glorious ninth grade when we were the senior students at the school. We had Latin (which I now wish I had taken more seriously), and the production of the Tempest as our school play, for which Edie and I played the London trios with Ed Yeomans on cello. And our graduation papers which we each presented to the whole class. My paper was on “Gauss and the construction of regular polygons by means of ruler and compass.” It was way over my head at the time. I only understood this material properly when I taught it in my geometry class at Berkeley in the 90’s.

Finally, I would like to include a tribute to our amazing teacher James P. McCarthy, known as “Mac.” For some of us, he kept on teaching us after our graduation from Shady Hill. For me and Hal and Nicky and Lenny, he prepared

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a detailed plan of math study over the summer, with exercises to be returned to him and corrected. I still have his letters of July, August, and September 1952. He was concerned about which math class we should go to, and called Mr. Rounds at Exeter to discuss this with him.

For me at least, Shady Hill laid the foundation for a life of inquiry, discovery, and learning, which is still with me today as I struggle to solve another one of those abstract problems in algebraic geometry that have been on my mind all my adult life.

Alan Morse writes: Cecily and I wish you all a Happy Holidays and above all good health. Fortunately we remain in this category. We have a grandson now in college and a granddaughter in high school, and for a short period two additional grandsons still in grammar school.

I remain the family driving teacher, which keeps me in touch more intensively with each grandchild as they emerge from childhood. One problem with our grandson in college is that he will not be here to do any shoveling if we have another rough winter.

We traveled to Canada twice this year, once to Nova Scotia with family and once to Quebec City with two other couples.

The Canadians seem to us to be uniformly civilized. We also visited my “little” now 60-year-old niece and her husband in Thailand after which we traveled to Indonesia. It was a long ride to get there, but well worth the effort. We wish Shady Hill a happy 100th birthday. The school appears to be thriving. We hope that it continues to produce uniformly responsible and creative citizens.

Nancy Proger Kaplan says: Shady Hill provided us lucky children with great

Pirates of Penzance, 1980s

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teachers and an exceptional curriculum, much enjoyed and appreciated. What remains sixty to seventy years later is its influence on my value system and lasting friendships with my classmates.

Tom Plaut writes: In the 7th grade with Edie Caudill, we lived in the South, studying the Civil War and the idea of justice through an integrative process of song, mural painting, reading, writing and research. That year called and sensitized me to later work as a police reporter in Baltimore, the Peace Corps, inner city teaching in Washington, and finally, forty years as a sociologist focusing on public health and poverty in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Ms. Caudill was largely responsible for creating a compelling interest in ongoing critical analysis and action. Mr. Smith also helped; bookbinding led to the appreciation of hands-on, nuts-and-bolts skills, which, for me, morphed into the mechanics of social research, grant writing and amateur photography to have a couple of one-man shows. The inspiration of Ms. Caudill, Mr. Smith and their colleagues at Shady Hill has been a lot to live up to, but it has contributed to a challenging and meaningful life. Thank you.

Betsy (Moizeau) Shima writes: As I entered Shady Hill in the first grade, I was well aware of the fact that several of my aunts and uncles were Shady Hillers.

First grade presented many challenges: learning classroom decorum and how to make ones’ needs known, which were often urgent. By third grade there were the competitive spelling bees and foot races. Each year there was the drive to look ahead with the goal of advancing towards the upper school and all that seemed so special. By the time I was in Smitty’s class (Mr. Smith), I felt a certain sense of accomplishment and surely this was due to our wonderful teacher’s sincere concern for my learning and understanding. He made sure that tasks like map drawing and following lengthy instructions on such things as how to tie a bow tie or to get to a certain place had meaning. These lessons I would carry with me. Bookbinding became a marvelous challenge and the demanding task came along with a history lesson and the desire to sew the pages together smoothly and securely. It was about this time that I had taken up playing baseball with cousins

and was proud of my well broken-in mitt. With delight I joined in, when asked, some of my classmates to play hard ball baseball out on the wonderful large playing fields of Shady Hill. I do not recall much about our games but only the rewarding experience of being with the team as we marched out to the field.

These are all fond memories of Shady Hill, which are embedded with the memories of special friendships and time spent with classmates.

Anne Sturgis Watt writes: My early memories of SHS include building and playing in the Wampanoag long house in Mrs. Dudley’s first grade, then sneaking along the top of the lockers in the hall during second grade (was it too much freedom?), and intently designing my fourth grade shield and playing Medusa in the play before racing full force in every event of the Olympic Games. I loved the mapping, especially the memory map of the world in Smitty’s 5th, which I still have and have used in my own teaching of mapping. Smitty thought I asked too many questions and once said, “try to figure out the answer yourself before raising your hand.” But I loved and respected him. Though I felt Miss Caudill favored the boys, I was totally immersed in the Civil War through John Brown’s Body. In 8th grade Gerry Warburg (Kohlenburg, Zetzel) gave me the most guidance and confidence through her support and teaching of writing and her gentle manner. I was awed and somewhat fearful of Mac in 9th. In the Tempest I remember reluctantly playing Antonio (or was it Sebastian?) with Judy Grace I think. Going to school was always FUN. I loved it, even feeling free to be naughty at times, as with Alan in and outside of Latin class after which I had to visit Mr. Yeomans in his house one time! Another great lesson learned.

I must mention studio art and Abby for music, two wonderful aspects of my life at SHS that are central to my late 70s today.

I was encouraged to think outside of the box, and still do so. As an educator all my life, I know that I gained clear values about creating a vision and following it, guidance of others and learning through all the senses at Shady Hill, which I have applied in teaching kids and then teachers, at Primary Source. Thank you to my parents for sending me to SHS!

It Takes a Village VISITING LUMINARIES ENRICH SHADY HILL’S PRO GR AM

Each year, artists, writers, musicians, athletes, scientists, and other talented professionals visit campus to work with students. As Art teacher Aparna Agrawal notes, “These are the kinds of ‘rich hits’ that students here get all the time. They are experiences that can change a student’s thinking forever.”

STO RY TELLER. Using puppetry, song, poetry, story-

telling, and creative writing, Willy Clafin worked with nearly every grade to show how story and performance convey meaning and facilitate understanding.

WELLNESS SPECIALIST. Will Slotnick led a week-

long wellness program for our Middle School students.

He focused on mindfulness, stress management, addiction prevention, and lifestyle and life choices.

C ALLIGR A PHER. In China, Wen-hao Tien told

students, writing is considered an art form strongly connected to painting. After viewing her demonstration, students drew their own Chinese characters and landscapes.

BIONIC S D ESIGNER. Hugh Herr spoke about how

today’s prosthetics integrate physics, biology, and engineering and how engineering can improve people’s lives.

AUTHO R. With his wildly entertaining stories, deep

passion for writing, and insightful advice, Jack Gantos gave students a powerful framework for developing interesting, meaningful stories.

O RG ANIC FARMER. Craig Jensen talked with first

graders about seeds, hand tools, cultivating crops, and healthy diets. They then feasted on an assortment of produce, fresh from the farm.

FILMMAKER AND JOURNALIST. Clennon King

showed and discussed his award-winning Passage at St. Augustine. The documentary profiles the Civil Rights Movement’s bloodiest campaign, one that prompted many lawmakers to vote in favor of the law. Joining him was civil-rights veteran Mimi Jones, who appears in the film. At age 17, she was arrested during this campaign.

JA Z Z GROUP. Through the Celebrity Series of Boston,

the Quartet of Happiness visited Shady Hill and used virtuosity, humor, and high energy to give students insight into jazz and ensemble music.

THE SHADY HILL ART SHOW. The annual show cel-

ebrates the creative talents of Shady Hill artists. Many alumni credit Shady Hill with igniting their passion for art. Students visited the show with their art classes.

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Upcoming Events GRANDPARENTS & SPECIAL FRIENDS DAY YOUNG ALUMNI REUNION

STUDENT CONCERT & ART SHOW PARENTS’ COUNCIL EVENING : MULTICULTURAL PRACTICE AT SHS JAZZ BAND CONCERT SHADY HILL ART SHOW 2017 OPENING RECEPTION REUNION WEEKEND

Wednesday, November 23 at 8:15 AM To register, visit www.shs.org/gpday Wednesday, November 23 at 12:00 PM For SHS classes of 2013–2016. Join us for a pizza lunch following the Thanksgiving Assembly. To register, visit www.shs.org/YAreunion.

Tuesday, December 13 at 6:00 PM Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 6:30 PM Join in a conversation with James Greenwood.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017 at 6:00 PM Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 7:00 PM The show will be on display from March 20–24 in the Assembly Hall.

Friday, June 2 and Saturday, June 3, 2017 This year, we are celebrating classes ending in “2” and “7.”

Make a gift in honor of your Reunion at www.shs.org/onlinegiving.

To volunteer, or for more information, contact Abbey Leaman at 617-520-5255 or abigail.leaman@shs.org

Please go to www.shs.org/alumnievents for more information about these and other upcoming events.