Shore Country Day School: Bulletin - Fall 2015

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SHORE

1936

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SHORE BULLETIN • FALL 2015

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TEACHING AT SHORE |

Student-centered meets hands-on

2015-2016 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Executive Committee

Jennifer M. Borggaard ’84 President Joshua A. Webber Vice President Duncan B. Wilkinson Treasurer William M. Shields ’84 Secretary

Committee Members Martha B. Bacigalupo William O. Charman John Collins Robert J. Duffy Robin Ellis Susan Fortin Amy Foster James A. Hamilton Julia Hesse Courtney Kagan Cynthia T. Mazareas Ledyard H. McFadden John J. Meany Fiona Minney Santo Politi Nicola C.G. Savignano ’84 Elizabeth Skates Richard Toran, Jr. Patrick A. Wilson

MUSIC MAN triumphs over winter of the century.

Photo by Paul Pelletier

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SHORE BULLETIN • FALL 2015

CONTENTS

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SHORE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

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Established 1936 545 Cabot Street Beverly, Massachusetts 01915 (978) 927-1700 www.ShoreSchool.org

Teaching

ADMINISTRATION Head of School Lawrence A. Griffin Head of Upper School and Assistant Head of School Benjamin G. Kennedy Head of Lower School Sara Knox Co-Director of Admissions Lilia N. Carey Co-Director of Admissions Daphne Clark Faldi ‘89 Director of Marketing and Communications William R. Fisher Director of Advancement Jody M. Johnson Chief Financial Officer Roberta B. Whiting EDITORIAL Brooke C. Booth Lilia N. Carey Sarah Carlin Noah Clarke William R. Fisher Linda M. Grodberg Jody M. Johnson Benjamin G. Kennedy Gwen Sneeden PHOTOGRAPHY William R. Fisher Linda M. Grodberg Paul Pelletier DESIGN Jeanne Abboud Design

ON THE COVER: Lower School students stop by the Innovation Lab to lend a hand during Upper School Project Week in the spring.

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04 07 09 11 14

From the Head of School

History of Harkness at Shore Harkness Hybrid Harkness is for Everyone No Limits: Emily Melden ’06 Fifth Grade Grows Up

Community

18 23 26

Fifty Points for Gryffindor … and Shore Ready to Lead: New Lower School Head Sara Knox Shore is United in Service

News

29 30 33 34 35 38

Estate Gift of Caleb Loring, Jr. Closing Ceremonies and Graduate Lists Class of 2012 Goes to College Recognition Night Board President Jennifer M. Borggaard ‘84 New Trustees

Excellence & Inspiration

39 41 42 44 46

Discovering the Dolomites Managing Scarce Resources One Very Creative Year Music Man Triumphs An Excellent Legacy

Alumni 50 52

A Gathering at Larch Farm Class Notes

In Memoriam

53

Remembering Joe and Anna Trustey

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FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

The Shore Advantage Lawrence A. Griffin

When new teachers arrive at Shore, one of the first discoveries they will make is the willingness of their colleagues to go the extra mile in designing the most effective learning strategies for their students. They will find that the efforts of their colleagues don’t stop at the classroom door.

Shore teachers collaborate and create new curriculum; they mentor one another; they seek further education and new methods of teaching; they look both in and outside of Shore for inspiration and professional growth. In the most competitive market on the North Shore since Shore’s founding, we stand as the academic and innovative leader. The Shore advantage lies in the people who make it a dynamic place.

My primary role as the Head of School is to attract, mentor, encourage, and retain the finest educational team possible. One of the most important factors in maintaining the strength of this team is a commitment to professional and curricular development.

On an annual basis individual teachers may apply for support in attending graduate courses and workshops or in traveling to other schools to investigate teaching methods and programs. In addition, individuals or groups of teachers may apply for a Focus Grant

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based on an innovative proposition.

By way of a Focus Grant our Math Department explored ways of enhancing an already strong curriculum to better meet the needs of all learners. Math in Focus, a program based on Singapore Math, has now been fully integrated into our Lower School curriculum. Teachers have been given access to workshops and one-on-one consultation in their classrooms. As a result, three years into the program, our Upper School teachers already notice the difference in the preparation of incoming sixth grade classes, especially in their willingness to explore challenging problems.

A more recent Focus Grant grew out of our Strategic Plan.

Under the leadership of Assistant Head of School and history teacher Ben Kennedy, we have embarked upon a groundbreaking initiative in curriculum assessment. Dr. Joel Breakstone, Director of the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) at Stanford University, was contracted to provide an in-depth review of our eighth grade history course. This course has undergone significant changes in the last five years.

Most significantly, a course reader of primary documents formally replaced a textbook in 2011.

These changes were supported and informed by the educational philosophy of Dr. Sam Wineburg, founder of SHEG and leading expert in middle and secondary school history education. Dr. Wineburg sees the study of history as more than a set of dates and names for students

to memorize; he sees it as a way to combat narcissism and encourage empathy. By learning how to question the motives, backgrounds, and purposes revealed in the letters, stories, and speeches of women and men from the past, students today can become critical readers and thinkers. What is more, they can step outside of their own lived experience to see the world as others might have seen it or might see it now.

In looking for feedback on the changes to the eighth grade history course, then, it made sense to partner with the SHEG and their new director. Recent graduates have already demonstrated their strong preparation for historical analysis based on their ability to read and analyze primary documents in challenging secondary school courses, but the glowing reviews provided by Dr. Breakstone have given us further confirmation that our methods are working. The greatest bonus is that we have developed a model for curricular review that can be applied cross-curriculum. It is our goal to provide this exciting form of evaluation and verification in all departments.

As our teachers embark on new initiatives this year, they will continue to strengthen and enhance the foundational education for which Shore has always been known. They understand that the best educational practices always involve a blend of old and new, traditional and innovative. With change as a constant at Shore, it is easy to get excited as a teacher.

“One could argue that Shore’s founding is intertwined with Harkness. Lewis Perry was the Phillips Exeter Academy Principal who collaborated with philanthropist Edward Harkness in the early 1930s to revolutionize teaching at Phillips Exeter. It was the same Mr. Perry, along with three other secondary school principals, who advised Shore’s founders in 1936.”

BEN KENNEDY

The

Harkness Method at Shore 3

T E ACHING

History of Harkness at Shore Country Day School

By Ben Kennedy

It was in the midst of a discussion of animal rights this May—in between Sanjna Patel’s connection between the philosopher Peter Singer and Thomas Jefferson and Ibraheem Sayed’s taking the class to explore the oxymoron of “humane meat”—that a smile formed in the corners of my mouth.

I found myself thinking back not just over the course of this year but over the past four years. I pondered the arc of this group as they have grown and developed into a thoughtful team over the course of their Upper School years, comfortable with complexity and ambiguity. In addition, since this class had been the first sixth grade introduced to discussion, I also reflected on the four-year arc of Harkness at Shore.

To find the roots of Harkness at Shore, we actually need to travel deep into our past. One could argue that Shore’s founding is intertwined with Harkness. Lewis Perry was the Phillips Exeter Academy Principal who collaborated with philanthropist Edward Harkness in the early 1930s to revolutionize teaching at Phillips Exeter Academy. It was the same Mr. Perry, along with three other secondary school principals, who advised Shore’s founders during the merger of North Shore Country Day School and Shore School in 1936.

Although one might assume that Lewis Perry and Edward Harkness were after something that might only apply to the cream of the academic crop, nothing could be further from the truth. In

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a December 10, 1925 article in The Boston Globe, Mr. Perry’s academic philosophy is surprising both for its directness and its content: “I have lost all idea that one boy [Phillips Exeter Academy was all boys at this point] is very bright, another fairly bright, another somewhat dull, and a fourth stupid. I don’t regard intellect any more as a gift of the gods.

I think that’s bosh. Nearly every boy, if he would only learn to use the brain that has been given to him, has ample equipment to master all that Phillips Exeter Academy or any similar institution will require of him.” Candid though he is, it is clear that Perry is interested not in intellect for intellect’s sake but rather in the habits of mind that lead to success at Phillips Exeter Academy and beyond.

When Edward Harkness— himself a modest student—later approached Lewis Perry, the two formed a partnership designed to help each student at Phillips Exeter be their best. Speaking of how he hoped to see his alma mater evolve as a result of his significant donation, Harkness says, “What I have in mind is teaching boys in sections of about eight in a section . . . where boys could sit around a table with a teacher who would talk with

them and instruct them by a sort of tutorial or conference method, where the average or below average boy would feel encouraged to speak up, present his difficulties, and the teacher would know … what his difficulties were. This would be a real revolution in methods.” This vision ultimately becomes the genesis for a particular form of discussion that will bear the Harkness name.

While all this is undeniably interesting history, the true roots of Harkness at Shore are considerably more contemporary than Lewis Perry’s involvement with our founding. Approximately ten years ago, the History Department, under then Department Chair Tung Trinh, began the move away from traditional textbooks and traditional conceptions of middle school history. The most significant of these changes came five years ago in eighth grade United States History where Noah Clarke and I—then the eighth grade history team—partnered to bring a primary documents curriculum taught through discussion to our students.

I contributed the curricular experience of teaching history through primary documents from my time at St. Andrew’s School in Delaware.

As a former teacher at Exeter, Noah

TH E H ISTO RY O F H A RKN ESS

brought us his experience with Harkness.

Studying history through documents and Harkness go hand in hand. Documents expose students to contradictory material and to competing narratives. They force students to make choices and to value certain voices and experiences over others. Documents inspire questions. They ask students to put forth arguments for why they think what they think.

These arguments in turn force students to go back to the text in order to explain in even greater detail the strengths and limitations of their reasoning. Doing this work in an environment where students work together to explore and unpack documents, to listen to and answer one another’s questions, and to problematize arguments has both significantly enhanced the experience of our students and deepened their understanding of the past.

Building off of the combined vision of Edward Harkness and Lewis Perry, as well as the evolution of this particular pedagogy over the last 80 years, Harkness at Shore stems from the central belief that children should be at the center of their own learning. We believe that teachers are guides and coaches in the process of student exploration.

We believe that school is social and communal rather than solitary. We believe that time at school should capitalize on the interactions between the talented and diverse group of people in our community.

We believe in the power of questions and in empowering children to ask their questions and to help one another to find answers. Just as soccer and musical theater ask individuals to come together and share their individual talents in order to create a performance that is more than the sum of the parts, so too does Harkness seek to take advantage of a wide variety of student strengths, thereby creating a

At Shore’s May 2 Parents Association Spring Benefit, held at 1936

SHORE

Ipswich’s Turner Hill, families donated more than $100,000 toward the purchase of authentic Harkness discussion tables for eight Shore classrooms.

Hand-built by D.R. Dimes & Company of Northwood, NH, the tables will bolster Shore’s unique style of discussion-based teaching and learning schoolwide. The Harkness Table by D.R. Dimes is a faithful reproduction of the original and is made from locally-grown hardwoods and finished in an environmentally friendly, yet extremely durable, coating.

In anticipation of the new tables’ arrival in the fall, faculty members met over the summer around Shore’s existing discussion table to participate in a Harkness learning and teaching workshop led by Phillips Exeter’s Ralph Sneeden.

Harkness at Shore stems from the central belief that students should be at the center of their own learning, says Kennedy.

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Grade 9 students discussed issues such as poverty and animal rights around the Harkness table this spring.

depth of both understanding and complexity that no one student could achieve individually.

Now years into this work, the History Department is excited to partner with other departments at Shore as well as with middle schools around North America who are showing interest in exploring Harkness. The growth of Harkness in Shore’s Science Department, for example, grew out of cross-curricular work between the two departments and was further fueled by Jake Ahern, Oliver Hay, and Robin Koval’s visit to Phillips Exeter Academy last fall. So positive was their experience that, shortly after their visit, they transformed the trapezoidal tables in their rooms, somewhat abstractly, into the ovoid form of a Harkness table.

The introduction of eight new Harkness tables into science, history, and English classrooms this fall further cements Shore’s place as a leader in Harkness education at the middle school level.

Just as computers, calculators, SmartBoards, and spaces such as

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the iLab are tools that facilitate learning, so too is the distinctive oval table, with its carefully calibrated proportions to promote eye contact and human interaction, a transformational piece of technology.

Around the table in Room 15 this May, the ninth grade availed themselves of this technology as they questioned, challenged, listened, analyzed, and explored the sources to expose and deal with the complexities of animal rights.

While individuals with strong

Diagram of the Harkness Table

points of view on whether one could actually be a “conscientious carnivore” and the like, they were also a team. They built off of one another’s ideas. They pointed out passages when their classmates needed help supporting their points. They created space for one another to contribute. Harkness has given them these skills – skills which they will need for the rest of their lives and perhaps most importantly, the skill of knowing, as Lewis Perry put it, how “to use the brain that had been given” to them.

H ARKN ESS H Y BRI D

Harkness hybrid: Letting Go the Reins at the Middle School Harkness Table

By Gwen Evans-Sneeden Editor’s Note: Shore history teacher Gwen Sneeden teaches a workshop for secondary school English and history teachers in Phillips Exeter’s summer Exeter Humanities Institute. This essay appeared in the booklet for participants.

A friend’s father once told me that “hybrid vigor” was the best way to produce intelligent, curious children.

When I transfer this genetic reasoning to my teaching philosophy, I find I agree with his sentiment. Middle school students have always been a perplexing lot to the rest of us, and they require a variety of strategies and activities to learn effectively and enduringly. Most importantly, they need to be at the center of their learning. The Harkness approach puts them there.

Five years ago the department where I teach history decided to embrace the Harkness pedagogy as a way to teach primary sources in our Grade 8 history curriculum. It has been so successful that we have incorporated elements of it down into the lower grades. Developing a classroom of fully engaged middle schoolers makes a lot of sense: it integrates fully with their state of being, especially social and cognitive development. Sitting 12 to 14 young people around a table and asking them to think and talk combines the very best of what this age group wants: to be treated with respect, to be in charge, and to talk.

Middle schoolers have certain characteristics unique to their tribe. Not only are they growing physically, they also have a strong need to belong to a group. The Harkness pedagogy interacts fluidly with the cognitive growth spurts and the need for energy

release that middle schoolers are experiencing. When my students gather at the Harkness table for a discussion, each of them knows that his or her voice matters. They are part of a collaborative dynamic that uses extended conversations, which help them understand their ideas are real, valued, and meaningful. As the Ancient Greeks knew millennia ago, early adolescence was the time when reason first developed, but it was always tainted by a lack of impulse control. Since middle schoolers are challenged by self-regulation, the best learning environment for them is one that requires them to practice that important skill, and blends it with opportunities for movement. It’s part of the use-it-or-lose-it principle of brain development. If they are encouraged to be held accountable for their own learning, and the classroom environment is one that (from the start) establishes

an atmosphere of trust, as well as one that respects where they are in their personal development, the measurable results by mid-year are impressive. This is active learning at its finest.

This style of learning is flexible and authentic, and it has the potential to reach all types of learners, from the most socially immature to the strongest abstract thinker.

Middle school is a critical stage of learning, in which students begin shifting to higher order thinking ability, and getting students to work in a socially integrative environment not only strengthens peer relationships, it also allows them to enjoy the intellectual pull and push from each other without a teacher standing in their way. When I ask my students what they like about this type of learning, their answers reflect the genuine nature of the class; nothing feels fake or irrelevant, so they don’t consider the

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study of history to be a waste of time. They appreciate that it is not memorization, though they see the value in remembering certain facts in order to have an intelligent conversation on, say, the apathy of many colonists at the time of the American Revolution. They enjoy hearing each other’s opinions, and they understand that the long-term results of this class help them build confidence in expressing their own ideas. They also like to challenge each other, teasing out a topic or theme to get at the core of some-

integration of knowledge and skills, including empathic understanding.

Students are interested in each other, they learn to work effectively together, they make the decisions about what to discuss, and they are integral to the outcome. There is lots of room for student initiative, and the sense of optimism is palpable whenever you enter a discussion-based classroom. This is a very satisfying experience for everyone, students and teacher alike.

But, still, they are middle schoolers, and not everything

Harkness-style learning is flexible and authentic, and has the potential to reach all types of learners, says Sneeden.

one’s opinion. My students demand fair treatment, and they are often outraged at rules, regulations, or interactions that they deem unfair and belittling. The balance between challenging each other respectfully on the one hand, and being perceived as antagonistic on the other is a delicate one, and it needs careful cultivation and attention.

The goal is for students to develop learning attitudes and behaviors that set the stage for them to pursue curiosity whenever they feel like it.

In a Harkness classroom, students learn to ask hard questions of themselves and others, and they develop the capacity to observe, listen, and, usually, not interrupt. It’s a full

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has to be treated with intellectual gravitas. Besides the need to talk, middle schoolers need to move, as well. They need the space to be a little bit silly sometimes. I used to teach modern languages and ESL, and I have borrowed heavily from the activities in those classes and tweaked them for use in my history classes. I have a bank of activities to draw on when I sense the class needs to re-focus. This combination of strategies and activities enhances and increases the vitality of the learning experience. It doesn’t always have to be discussion, but it does always have to be student-centered and student-driven. While I am sure

there are purists who would balk at the notion of games and playful interactions in a classroom with a big, imposing Harkness table, I have a hunch that Edward Harkness might have enjoyed some of these activities as a middle schooler, not just as a self-described “middling” student, which he specified in his original proposal. These activities serve to make the class more of a hybrid, where students can engage in both child-like and young adultlike behavior and learning experiences, and students of any skill level can participate comfortably.

The purpose is to change the pace for my students, but to keep the learning process invigorating and intellectual. It in no way diminishes their interest in discussions, but it does give them the opportunity to work together in a different way while still being true to the philosophy of engaging all students at all times, and for those students to have a personal stake in their environment.

I love this style of teaching because it allows for flexibility, fluidity, and experimentation.

There is no rigid code to it. My classroom embraces—first and foremost—trust, and then surprise and divergent thinking to generate real discussion. Students feel successful because they drive the learning and they know this. They know they are not restricted to a definitive answer—there is no right and wrong—and they work hard to probe and discover deeper understanding to which they themselves guide each other. This is not about best practices; it’s about building real relationships between students and knowledge, and it’s about a commitment to deep principles of unquestionable learning. When you let go the reins as a middle school teacher, you promote broad-ranging learning that has a positive effect on students’ motivation to learn that will last a lifetime.

H A R K N ESS IS FO R EV ERYO N E

Faculty members participated in a summer workshop on Harkness led by Ralph Sneeden, one of the founding leaders of the Exeter Humanities Institute. Ralph is the husband of History Department Chair Gwen Sneeden and father of Shore graduate Eliza Sneeden ‘10.

Harkness is for Everyone

By Noah Clarke

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C L A S S R O O M

rEVoLUTIoN: R E F L E C T I O N S

O N

HARKnESS L E A R N I N G

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T E AC H I N G

Silence. That is unusual in a middle school classroom.

A recent New York Times article by Elissa Gootman put it this way: in middle school, “twice as much time [is] spent on putting out fires; twice as much time [is] spent getting the class quiet. Twice as much time [is] spent on defusing anger in the kids.” And yet that is exactly what was happening.

John W. Tyler, editor Elizabeth Dubrulle, associate editor W i t h a F o r e wo r d by E x e t e r ’s 1 4 t h P r i n c i pa l

THomAs E. HAssan

(Excerpted, in slightly modified form, from A Classroom Revolution: Reflections on Harkness Learning and Teaching, copyright 2015 by the Trustees of Phillips Exeter Academy)

Fourteen 13-year-olds sat in my United States History class looking at one another across a large hexagon-shaped, grey table. After about 10 seconds, a few giggles. After 30 or 40 seconds, someone whispered “awkward.” Almost a minute and a half of silence had passed, and their eyes turned to me, hoping I would ask a question or point them to an interesting passage in the previous night’s reading, anything. But I kept my head buried in my notes,

resisting the urge to rescue my students.

Then, at the two-minute-and-45second mark, one of the quieter students leaned forward in his chair and, somewhat uneasily, asked, “Well…I was wondering what is ‘Job?’” The class turned its attention to where Mary Rowlandson, writing in the late 17th century about her experience as a captive of Native Americans, kept referring to “Job.” Based on the context, a

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Student-led discussions are a Shore staple beginning in fourth and fifth grade homerooms.

number of students suggested that the questions should be “Who is Job?” not “What?” From there, another student grabbed a dictionary and looked up “Job.” The definition read: “Job [job] (in the Bible) a prosperous man whose patience and piety were tried by undeserved misfortunes, and who, in spite of his bitter lamentations, remained confident in the goodness and justice of God.” The class spent a bit more time digging into the story of Job before moving on to explore its similarities to Mary Rowlandson’s plight.

This was a small moment, probably no more than 10 to 15 minutes of a single class, but it illustrates the power of turning the responsibility for learning over to students.

Had I designed the lesson, it would not necessarily have occurred to me that the students were unfamiliar with, and interested in, the story of Job. Instead of my directing them through a difficult reading, the students managed to find their own window from which to enter the text. In essence, they made

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Rowlandson’s story their own. And that is what makes Harkness for everyone.

The notion that Harkness is only for the best and brightest misunderstands what a discussion can look like. Any middle school class necessarily contains students at various levels of development.

Some students are quick to understand abstraction; others continue to pay close attention to concrete details; while still others might be somewhere in the middle. One of the toughest tasks for the teacher is to show the students how each individual can contribute to the learning of classmates regardless of where each student might be on that spectrum. For instance, the question that started the discussion on Mary Rowlandson was straightforward. Any eighth grader reading that text might have been confused about who or what “Job” was. As the class rallied to address that student’s question, other students began to contribute thoughts on why Job was mentioned in the text.

That eventually led another student

to connect Job and Rowlandson back to a previous reading on Puritans. In each of these steps, the mixed levels in the class worked to expand everyone’s understanding of the material.

Toward the end of the discussion, I asked the class to write a short summary of what they had learned and to jot down any lingering questions they might want to address the following day. The students left class with a picture of Mary Rowlandson that they had developed. Was it the entire picture? Yes and No. Their picture reflected where their understanding was at that specific moment in the year. It grew and changed as the year continued.

But the importance of the sense of ownership they felt in having developed that picture without my direction should not be underestimated. Seeing learning as a personal responsibility, something a student controls and has agency over, is among the most important aspects of Harkness, especially for middle schoolers.

No Limits for Melden Emily Melden ’06 Founder of Don’t Know Your Limit (DNTUlimit.com)

By Linda Grodberg

Spend a few minutes with Emily Melden and you immediately feel her passion for living in a more sustainable world. Her mission and that of her company, Don’t Know Your Limit (DNTUlimit), is “to educate and motivate students to grow personally while taking responsibility for their place in the environment.”

Due to the opposite growing seasons in North and South America, Melden follows the spring and summer seasons and splits her time equally between Lima, Peru, and the North Shore of Boston.

When in the city of Lima, Melden partners with various Peruvian organizations and also runs experiential travel programs and personal development leadership programs for people eighteen and older. Excitedly, Melden says “In October 2014, Don’t Know Your Limit expanded beyond Peru and we held our first program in Columbia, South America.”

According to Melden, there is a lot more variation in the climate in Peru than in the United States; in Peru, there is tropical permaculture on one hand or the challenge of getting something to grow at high altitudes on the other. “Overall,” Melden states, “the Peruvians are doing a much better job; they have more sustainable farms and tend to use less chemicals on their crops. In the U.S., much of the heartland has turned to monoculture, which depletes the soil of the necessary vitamins and minerals.” In addition to monoculture in the United States, Melden emphasizes “how heartbreaking it is to fly over the Amazon and see the swath of earth that has been ravaged from fires and stripping the land of trees.”

While on the North Shore, Melden runs permaculture and leadership coaching programs with her business partner, Sam. “Due to a high

T E ACHING

Melden splits her time between Peru and the North Shore.

demand,” she says, “restorative agriculture workshops and community coaching sessions are open to the public and scheduled for two hours every Saturday in the spring. We were quite pleased. The workshops, primarily held in our Manchester, Massachusetts location, were well-attended.”

Earlier this year, Melden brought the DNTUlimit leadership program to Shore. As part of Shore’s Upper School project week, they worked with three separate groups of sixth graders and challenged them with numerous problematic scenarios. It was up to the group to figure out the solution together, trust each other, and complete the challenges. “It was thrilling to work together with these students. I’m so proud! They worked together, figured things out, and had lots of fun doing it.”

In Peru, Melden runs experiential travel programs and personal development leadership programs.

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Outside of the main DNTUlimit projects, there are numerous private parallel projects that keep Melden busy. “We are helping a home-schooling family in Portsmouth, NH, create an edible garden that will be turned into curriculum about ecology. I have been contacted by local organizations and by different schools inquiring about food projects and private coaching dynamics, and I have continued my partnership with the non-profit organization Spark 540 in Salem, MA, an afterschool program for local teens in Salem and Rockport.” The teens from Spark 540 work alongside Melden in the greenhouse, and also take part in various outdoor coaching dynamics designed to build their confidence and stimulate their motivation.

Melden was always drawn to the Spanish language, but her love for it deepened in 7th grade with Shore teacher Pamela Braverman Torres. In Mrs. Torres’s classroom, English was not spoken. According to Melden, “This was the best way to jumpstart learning a foreign language. I continued my Spanish studies in high school and college, and solidified my Spanish grammar knowledge while I studied abroad.”

Recalling having a substitute from Argentina in her Shore Spanish class for a few months, Melden remembers how challenging it was to understand the different accent. Although she has no difficulty understanding the differences now, she remembers the panic she and her classmates felt when faced with this learning challenge as their final test drew near.

E M I LY M ELD EN ‘0 6

Founder Emily Melden graduated from George Washington University in 2013 with a BA in Spanish Language Studies and Public Health. Her mission, and that of Don’t Know Your Limit, is to educate and motivate students to grow personally while taking responsibility for their place in the environment. To learn more about Emily’s passion and work, visit: www.dntulimit.com.

Melden brought her leadership program to Shore last spring.

When asked who else impacted her life, Melden fondly recalls her Honors English teacher and basketball coach, Walter Morris. “Mr. Morris had such an impact on my vocabulary that, in fact, I still remembers to this day the meaning of the word ‘ostensibly.’”

She exclaims, “Mr. Morris is the one who taught me how to write!” Through his constant, yet gentle, corrections, he taught her how to find her voice and guided her to become a much better writer. Melden states, “Because Mr. Morris was so nice, I vowed to do my best.” By pushing her own boundaries, she eventually obtained the “A” she was striving towards.

Another Shore teacher who impacted her life is former History teacher, Pam Deschamps. Melden recalls, “Ms. Deschamps always had the class doing projects. I remember learning lots of ‘cool’ things, much of it hands-on in the classroom, which I feel is how I learned the most: hands-on.” Ms. Deschamps knew the importance of the hands-on experience and combined it with guidance for her students to expand their knowledge and think critically about their world and beyond.

Today, Melden is engrossed in her growing business. Word-ofmouth marketing has resulted in more and more people reaching out to her and DNTUlimit. A typical day in Melden’s life involves spending lots of time on the phone planning and scheduling the

upcoming growing season. Although she has a business plan in place, the plan already feels outdated to her.

The business that she started with her boyfriend has expanded to include two other employees, which balances with their new model for growth—step by step.

“All four of us strive to reduce our personal waste and expenses, and live debt-free and trash-free lifestyles; we want to actually live by what we preach.” With this focus, Melden hopes to accomplish her goal of building an “off-the-grid” office on the North Shore during the summer of 2015.

Under Melden’s watchful eye, Don’t Know Your Limit continues to grow and expand on both continents.

She knows, “the more I educate individuals and small community groups, the better this world will become.”

With Melden’s guidance, Shore students collaborated to tackle challenges and navigate obstacles.

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1. Fifth grade teachers Mullery Doar, David Lund, and Louis Frank gather in Frank’s classroom. 2. Lund reviews a math problem-set with his students. 3. The “Unsung American Heroes” project encouraged fifth graders to think critically about historical figures. 4. Students examined gender stereotypes in advertising. 5. Frank and Doar are attired for “Crazy Sock Day.” 6. Frank’s trademark sense of humor and pop-culture knowledge lighten the mood. 7. Doar listens in on her students’ soundtrack-in-progress, part of their Mystic Seaport documentary project. 8. Words of wisdom and inspiration are on display in Lund’s classroom. 9. Frank works one-on-one. 10. The words “Be nice. Work Hard.” are a fifth grade mantra.

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On any given day in Shore’s three Grade 5 homerooms, you might find students leading a lively class discussion about a central figure in American history, planning the smallest details of a “crazy sock day,” or recording music and narration for a documentary created on an iPad during an overnight trip to the coast.

By Bill Fisher And off to one side, you might catch a teacher with an iPhone snapping a photo of the action to post to the class’s private Instagram or Twitter account.

Noisy, exciting, and natively digital, Grade 5 at Shore is a thrilling experience for the students who see themselves as the leaders of the Lower School. And

fun, and they’re not really learning anything; it’s just facts. That’s what’s so challenging: We have kids who say, ‘Well, I agree with what you said about this, but I don’t agree with what you said about something else.’

You have all these conflicting ideas in the room that require a lot of thinking that’s very abstract.”

Fifth Grade Grows Up Three Teachers Remix This Transitional Year

that’s just how fifth grade homeroom teachers Mullery Doar, Louis Frank, and David Lund like it.

“It’s almost as if the world opens up,” says Lund.

“Their eyes are uncovered and they’re no longer children, but they’re not quite adults, or even teenagers yet.

They start seeing the complexity in things.”

Lund, Doar, and Frank take it as their personal mission to celebrate the world’s complexity in every lesson, every discussion, and every trip or activity they plan for their students, from researching unsung American heroes to tracing the food chain in and around tidepools on Salem Sound.

“We take all the skills that they’ve learned in the lower grades,” says Doar, “and we encourage them to use them across the board to think more critically about source documents, discuss ideas, and form opinions based on facts and evidence about what they’re learning.”

During the spring 2015 term, students were asked to question the conventional wisdom about the significance of the achievements of some key individuals in American history. For example, they read source documents about Harriet Tubman, and had to decide whether the risks Tubman took in helping to free fellow slaves and family members by way of the Underground Railroad were outweighed by the number of people she actually saved.

“What we do is very provocative,” admits Frank, “but for us, the worst thing that could happen in the classroom is that everyone agrees. Because then it’s not

Shore introduces student-centered teaching and learning through discussion—often referred to as the Harkness method—in the fifth grade.

“We use a modified version [of the Harkness method],” explains Doar. “We have rules and you raise your hand, but you’re called on by the previous speaker, as opposed to being called on by a teacher. That really fosters discussion and requires you to reference what your classmates have said, to agree or disagree politely and respectfully, and to provide your rationale, your evidence, for your thoughts and opinions. It helps deepen their thinking and understanding.”

Adds Frank, “A lot of what we do is actually so-called ‘life skills,’ like listening to each other. It’s character education, and it’s very much related to empathy and, ultimately, understanding other people.”

“At this age,” Frank continues, “there’s a heightened sense of self-awareness, and we have to reconcile that with the fact that so much of what we do academically requires discomfort: the idea of taking a risk and potentially saying something that someone might not agree with, or saying something that might be perceived as incorrect. So there are two competing impulses: keeping it intellectually rigorous, but also making it socially and emotionally comfortable for them in their heightened sense of self-awareness and self-consciousness.”

“Puberty—and all the emotional and physical changes that come with it—is a very real challenge

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T E ACHING

for us,” admits Doar. “In so many ways, fifth graders are beginning to figure out who they are, and where they fall in the world. They start to grow up a little more, and they want more independence. But on the other hand, they don’t always quite know what to do with that independence, so we’re constantly teaching and reinforcing that they need to think before they act, and understand how their actions affect others, both positively and negatively.”

But most importantly, says Doar, “We show them it’s okay to be wrong. It’s okay to be confused. That’s normal, and everyone experiences that at some point in time. Asking for help is a good thing, not a sign of weakness.”

For Doar, Frank, and Lund, just as important as helping students grow up—both intellectually and emotionally— is celebrating their discoveries and achievements, often through digital means.

“Social media is a very easy way for us to showcase our students and what they’re capable of,” says Doar. “We’re proud of them. They accomplish a lot, and we’re proud of the curriculum we’ve built, and the projects, and the field trips we’ve gone on. We put two new field trips on the calendar this past school year that I think have been some of our best yet, so why not showcase those if it only takes 15 seconds on my iPhone?”

While undeniably rich opportunities for Instagram posts and Twitter hashtags, those field trips are also an increasingly important part of Shore’s curriculum, especially in Grade 5.

“Studying branches of government—it’s a hard concept for fifth grade,” explains Lund. “It didn’t really become real until the trip to the new Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston. We were the first school group to visit this amazing place. And when they went into the replica of the Senate chamber and sat there and voted, they immediately understood how legislation is made. It was just really important to get out and experience that; otherwise the government unit could be dry for kids.”

The Mystic Seaport overnight trip also made an impact.

“There’s real value in being taught something by someone new who is a subject-matter expert,” asserts Frank. “To hear about blacksmithing or whaling culture from us doesn’t pack the same punch as when you go somewhere and experience it first-hand. Beyond that, the overnight stay provides a huge growing experience for kids who have not slept away from home before, and also a great bonding experience for the class as a whole.”

“The overnight is special,” adds Lund. “They’re really psyched about going away from home, but also nervous and scared. For some, it could be their first time away. When those kids return home after a great trip, they feel so proud of themselves.”

Planning new field trips around key curriculum areas is just one way Lund, Frank, and Doar are changing the fifth grade experience. They say faculty collaboration will

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F IFTH G RA D E GROWS U P

Noisy, exciting, and natively digital, Grade 5 at Shore is a thrilling experience for the students who see themselves as the leaders of the Lower School.

And that’s just how fifth grade homeroom teachers Mullery Doar, Louis Frank, and David Lund like it. continue to be a huge driver of innovation in their classrooms, and across the entire school. Technology is one area that’s advancing rapidly.

“We use technology very well,” says Doar, pointing to the iPad documentary project from the Mystic Seaport trip as an example. “But there are so many more ways it can further the students’ learning. This year they did a lot of vocabulary study through online programs. But we’re looking into other offerings that can strengthen math skills and grammar skills through online applications that look and feel like games to the kids.”

“We’re always talking and thinking of things,” Frank confirms. “There’s a lot of confidence in the faculty as a whole. I think, too, our collective curiosity is great. We’re all really passionate about education; we like to learn and read.”

Adds Doar, “I don’t think any of us is satisfied with the response, ‘That’s how it’s always been done.’ We like to continue to change things and mix it up, see what is best.”

Frank describes this as a kind of remixing. “The so-called ‘inspiration’ for what we do, it’s not static;

it’s always sort of evolving based on new ideas we encounter, or best practices we see put in place down the hall. Anything we do, it might be based on a book that David read over the summer, or a suggestion that Mullery found on Twitter, or something new down the hall in the first grade or the fourth. If there’s a good idea, we know we can just run with it. We have no shame about stealing—what we’re really doing is remixing. The fact that we’re always working to make it better and always working to learn ourselves makes it more exciting for us and engaging for the kids, ultimately.”

To an outsider, that kind of passion for an already tough job might seem extraordinary—an example of going well above and beyond the call of duty. But Shore faculty like Frank, Doar, and Lund see it differently.

“You’re not really thinking about it like a job,” Lund says. “You’re doing it because you enjoy teaching, you enjoy working with kids. You’re thinking about doing the best you can and doing what seems exciting to you as a teacher. All of us go above and beyond in our own way; we’re people who really feel called to be teachers. ”

Brooke Schatz ’19 looking ahead to Grade 6

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Fifty Points for Gryffindor ... and Shore: Creating the New House System

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FIFTY PO IN TS FOR GRY F F I N D O R

By Noah Clarke

With his long, grey beard brushing the food and drink on the table below, Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, addressed the student body gathered for the end of the year dinner. After tallying up the points students had won for their good deeds, Dumbledore took a deep breath and informed the school, “Gryffindor wins the House Cup.” Immediately, the scarlet and gold flag of Gryffindor house appeared floating from the ceiling.

Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The Harry Potter book series made these house names into household names. But what is a house and why have it?

The house system began at English boarding schools like Eton and Winchester during the first part of the eighteenth century. About fifty students lived in a single house together. A housemaster took care to feed, counsel, and guide them through their time at school. The idea behind the system was to break down a large school into smaller, more manageable units for the students. Just as important, older students had a responsibility to care for and instruct younger students in their houses about how to become thoughtful, caring members of the community. Houses also aimed to foster cooperation and school spirit.

Quite quickly, the house system spread to the United States and Canada. Both high schools, like the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, and middle schools, like Harding Academy in Nashville, have houses to build a sense of belonging among their students. Over the years, houses developed traditions, insignias, and, as with Harry Potter, flags. For instance, Frances Ridley House at Havergal College in Toronto, Canada has a house mascot, the penguin, which matches the house colors, white and black. The Ridley House motto is “Fluctus beneficii mare amoris offer” or “Waves of kindness bring a sea of love.” It even chose a house characteristic, a specific value students should be sure to uphold: honesty.

For years, Shore had a Big Brother/Big Sister program pairing younger students with older students. With a revamped schedule, however, that design fell through the cracks as meeting times disappeared. The faculty also wanted a more comprehensive way to integrate students and teachers. It felt as though Shore had become two separate schools, one lower and one upper. Rarely, if ever, did the entire school come together. While the Big Brother/Big Sister program went some way to alleviate these issues, it did not go far enough. As a result, in the spring of 2014, a committee of four faculty members, two from both the upper and lower schools, formed to research new possibilities.

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The committee defined three goals for a new program.

First, it needed to create the time and place for young students to interact with older students. A number of recent studies describe the benefits of such mentoring moments.

The younger students feel connected to the wider school community and feel more competent in their work. The older students are forced to step outside themselves and demonstrate a greater ability to empathize and resolve conflicts. Furthering the aim of a single school, the committee wanted the program to allow Lower School faculty to work with Upper School faculty. Second, the committee wanted any program to be student led. Providing students with autonomy to direct the program seemed to fit with the way Shore instructs its students in class. Finally, any new program needed to emphasize the importance of service to the community, whether on Shore’s campus or in the greater North Shore area.

While there were a number of variations on the Big Brother/Big Sister program in neighboring schools, none of the ones the committee explored met all the goals or felt sufficiently different to generate excitement. The house system, however, kept popping up in a number of peer schools around the country. When the committee visited these schools, the praise for houses was overwhelming. Many of the people the committee interviewed noted that getting the house system off the ground was rough at times, but they raved about the “continuity of care” that allowed teachers and students in each house to get to know one another over a longer time span, sometimes eight to ten years. Just as important to these schools was the way houses generated fun competition and school spirit. Germantown Academy, for one, has a house “Olympics” on a beautiful Friday to wrap up the school year.

Heritage Oak, in California, has its houses “play a game that focuses on team-building and community involvement. The winner of each house activity wins the ‘Husky Cup’ until the next activity.” In the end, the committee opted to try to create a house system at Shore.

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As Albus Dumbledore said, “Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts open.”

FIFTY PO IN TS FOR GRY F F I N D O R

One of the first tasks was to come up with names for the houses. For this, the committee turned to the students. Any parent who has lent a hand to Shore’s wonderful theater program knows that the attic in the Winslow Building is stuffed to the gills with feathery boas, strange hats, and just about any other imaginable prop or costume. What most have not seen are the file cabinets tucked into a corner of the back room. Inside are packs of yearbooks, student magazines, and general Shore publications dating back to before the founding of the school in May of 1936. To help discover possible house names, two eighth grade history classes and one ninth grade class got to do some serious primary source research for two days in February 2015. Spread throughout the halls and steps of Winslow, students pored over the documents in the file cabinets searching for individuals who had contributed to Shore’s rise as an institution dedicated to the growth, goodness, and knowledge of young people. And, just like in class, they had to keep track of sources and begin to draw conclusions about the history of Shore from the evidence they discovered.

A few highlights from the students digging into the archives paint a fascinating picture of Shore’s past. Lizzie McGarry found former English teacher Eleanor Holden Ingelfinger. She taught from 1922 to 1936 at North Shore Country Day School and, after the merger with Shore School, continued work for Shore Country Day School until 1954.

The school named the Winslow attic, which was the old library, after her and, as Lizzie noted, Ingelfinger House “certainly has a nice ring to it.” Mark Bedetti stumbled across Willie Lewis, one of the first African-American

Top left: Grade 9’s Ibraheem Sayed consults documents from the archives. Center: Grade 8 students page through yearbooks, photos, and newsletters in the archives in the attic of the Winslow Building. Bottom right: Grade 9’s Grace Stevenson crosschecks references and makes notes on her laptop.

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There will be six houses and every member of the community from students and faculty to maintenance and advancement will belong to one of those houses. employees at Shore. He served in the maintenance department from at least 1966 (Mark could not pin down Mr. Lewis’s exact start date) to 1968. Caroline Pratt and Cecily Bradley quickly realized that a number of families have been connected to Shore for decades.

They noted that names like Cabot, Pruett, Lockwood, Abbot, and Corning appeared in the yearbooks generation after generation. And Owen Rourke-Nicholas learned that Gerda Berry, who worked in Shore’s dining services for over thirty years, used to make students special cakes on their birthdays—of course, Shore was a much smaller school in the 1950s.

While the final house names weren’t decided in time for publication, the system’s general structure had taken form. There will be six houses and every member of the community from students and faculty to maintenance and advancement will belong to one of those houses. That means about 70 students and 15 to 18 adults in each house. All family members will belong to the same house. Each house will also have a designated meeting area in the school; one might meet in the Theatre, another in the Dining Hall. That is where the entire house will gather before attending an all-school meeting once a week and participating in a once-a-month house activity. The meetings and

Grade 8 students compare their findings.

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activities will center on strengthening the ties among Shore community members. Shore already has many special activities that the houses will continue, like the Halloween parade and the food drive.

But perhaps the most exciting part of starting something new is that nobody is exactly sure where it will go or what it will look like in ten years. There are all sorts of possibilities. Students might want to write a house motto or poem, establish house traditions (maybe an end-of-term scream to let off steam and see which house is the loudest), or design a house flag to hang in the Kiva and carry forth for field day competitions. Who knows? Part of the open-ended, student-driven approach to the house system is that it will certainly go places no one has imagined yet.

As Albus Dumbledore said, “Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts open.” Ideally, the new house system helps younger and older students, Lower and Upper School faculty, administrators, and staff bridge whatever differences of habit and language they might have and work together toward building an even stronger, more open Shore Country Day School. If that can happen, then Dumbledore would no doubt award 50 points to Shore.

Ready to Lead Sara Knox is Shore’s New Head of the Lower

School

By Lee Carey

Returning to the Boston region with a rich professional background as a classroom teacher, Language and Literacy specialist, and school administrator, Sara Knox joins Shore this fall as the school’s new Lower School Head.

While Sara’s primary administrative title at the JK-12 Francis Parker School in San Diego was Lower School Director of Admissions, her daily regimen included tapping into her curricular expertise as Literary Specialist for curriculum implementation, partnering with the Communications Office to showcase the strengths of her Lower School division, and working as chief supporter of her division administrator. Shore and Sara have weighed the prowess and potential of each other in thorough measure, and with mutual excitement, Shore is thrilled to be the match for Sara’s next administrative step. In both interviews and writing, Sara delights in sharing her enthusiasm for her move to Shore first hand.

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Why choose Shore?

Though I’ve been involved in admissions and curriculum development for the past handful of years, I’ve worked closely with my LS Head at Parker and have grown increasingly interested in the ins and outs of the LS Head’s responsibilities. I have a strong background in curriculum and teacher coaching, I have an innate ability to work with and understand children’s learning styles and differences, and I have had the experience of working with hundreds of parents in an independent school community. I’m ready for the LS Head position, and I look forward to expanding my scope as an independent school administrator. I began researching Shore as soon as I came across the position, and I was absolutely thrilled by what I discovered. First, I was delighted to find that the school has a Community Code that offers expectations for all constituencies of the school. I believe the focus on the Code exemplifies the commitment to character and identity. Second, the curriculum that is at the heart of a Shore experience

(e.g., workshop-style instruction for Reading and Writing, concept-based learning through literature, Math in Focus) is near and dear to my heart, and I can support it with experience, knowledge, and passion for what it offers to individual learners.

In addition to specific curriculum, I was also struck

by Shore’s Strategic Plan and the particular goals it outlines. The dedication to building a space for innovation and creativity is impressive, and the space itself was truly awesome when I had the chance to see it in person. Additionally, I recognize the need for a welldeveloped and executed early education experience, and I’m thrilled to see that the youngest years have been highlighted in the plan.

What parts of your personal experience with education have informed or influenced your career path?

Even as a high school student, I had an interest in teaching. I used to help my younger brother with his homework, and something about finding an approach that worked for him really fascinated me. I worked as a tutor for several years and spent my entire college experience working with children and working towards a degree in Education and Human Development. I’m of the mindset that, when possible, people should choose a profession based on something they love. As cliché as it sounds, I love working with and being with children, and that is the reason I’ve devoted my career to working in schools. In the last handful of years, I’ve also recognized my ability to work with teachers to collaboratively build the best educational experience possible. Similarly, I really appreciate opportunities to work with parents and to be there for parents as an educational support and resource.

Of your talents/experiences, which are the most influential as you step into your position?

Lower School students visit the iLab.

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I imagine that my knowledge of curriculum, particularly at the Lower School level, will be influential in my new role. And while I “know” curriculum, I certainly don’t know everything, and I look forward to learning alongside teachers and working with them to put the absolute best program in place. Additionally, I am a people person. I listen before making major decisions, and I think my thoughtful approach to decisionmaking will serve me well as the LS Head at Shore. I have had lots of experience with implementing new curriculum as a literary specialist. I have added reading and writing workshops and whole scale changes, too. Administratively, everyone needs to be on the

REA DY TO LEA D

same page before asking faculty to embrace change. Time for change needs to be planned for and given.

New curriculum is not a perfect science and is different for each grade.

Transitions to new curriculum are successfully and enthusiastically set in motion by engaging with each grade level in advance of implementation, understanding and tapping teachers as current resources, and understanding that even within a single grade level, new methods can be sampled gradually.

What are your hopes for students, faculty, and parents over the years?

My hope for students and faculty is that they love school, and I want all Knox settled in to her new office this summer. groups to feel excited to be at Shore and happy to be a part of such a speand ears to the way things have always been done, and cial place. My additional hope for faculty is that they perhaps I’ll be able to offer suggestions that haven’t continue to be dedicated and devoted to their probeen considered before because of this. Without a fession. In my role, I hope to build a network of trust doubt, I’ll put focus and attention on ensuring that we and collaboration with faculty, and I hope teachers meet the major goals of the current Strategic Plan by will feel that they can come to me to work through any the deadline. Additionally, my primary focus in my challenge, no matter how big or small. Similarly, my first year will be to get to know the community. I want hope for students is that they continue to work hard to better understand what makes it tick, and I want to to be the best they can be. In my role, I hope to get to gain a true understanding of the strengths and chalknow students as individuals, and I hope to offer them lenges of the school so that I can work with teachers to opportunities to grow into kind, curious, and creative create a vision for the future. people. For parents, I have always had an open door policy. I invite parents to be part of their child’s experiWhat excites you about Shore for your own ence and to be included in all aspects of conversations children? about their child. I also look forward to using tech news mechanisms to pass along news. I like to create my own So much! It’s exciting to me that my children will be writing and foresee using a blog to keep parents in the a part of a school that is committed to excellence and loop. My sense is that Shore parents are very involved. academics. But if I had to choose just one thing above When I was visiting, I loved seeing them in the halls at all the others, I think it would be the commitment the dismissal and understanding their involvement in the school places on art and creativity. I was stunned by life of the school. the facilities; the art room, the Innovation Lab, and a theater that is over the top. I am very excited to be How has your current administrative expericoming to Shore. I feel very happy about this decision. ence shaped your hopes and expectations for The reception I have been given by the Shore commujoining the Shore administrative team? nity has been so warm and welcoming. When I was a candidate for the position this past spring, my visit I’m a team player. I appreciate multiple perspectives to Shore in April solidified everything I had learned on any issue, and I hope to bring a listening ear and through research. I was welcomed with open arms by a thoughtful approach to making major, school-wide the faculty, administration, students, parents, and decisions. Furthermore, I’ll be an “outsider” for at least Board members, and I knew without a doubt that Shore the first year, and I see this as a benefit in certain ways. was a school that I would feel lucky to be a part of.

I’ll bring an outside perspective and a fresh set of eyes

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U N I T ED I N SERV I C E

Shore is UNITED IN SERVICE

By Bill Fisher A partnership between the school and the North Shore United Way, the service event generated more than 800 hours of volunteer work on behalf of local organizations Beverly Bootstraps, the Beverly Children’s Learning Center, Beverly Hospital, Change is Simple, Family Promise, the Food Project at Long Hill Farm, Gloucester’s Backyard Growers, Meals on Wheels, Northeast Arc, Open Door and Acord food pantries, Plummer Home, River House Shelter, and Windrush Farm.

“It was a pleasure to find creative ways to get parents and kids of all ages serving together,” said North Shore United Way Project Manager Sarah Bartley, “and to see the impact of the service day improving the lives of their neighbors in so many different ways.”

On Saturday, April 18, nearly 300 Shore Country Day School volunteers including students, parents, teachers, staff, and administrators joined together for Shore’s first annual United in Service day in Beverly and surrounding communities.

Added Shore’s Director of Advancement Jody Johnson, “With Sarah’s help, our volunteer leaders—parents Whitney Savignano and Nina Wilson—were able to put together an energizing and productive day for all. The students had a great time, parents recognized this as worthwhile and fun, and the organizations were delighted with the practical help they received. I’m so proud of what we were able to accomplish.”

Shore teacher and event co-organizer Doug Lucey said, “I had a blast with Northeast Arc

OPPOSITE PAGE: Faculty and staff worked with Change is Simple to clean up Beverly streets; families held food drives to benefit local pantries; students helped sort at the Acord Food Pantry; families planted at the Beverly Children’s Learning Center; students created cards for patients at Beverly Hospital; a Post-It note captured the spirit; faculty and staff collected trash; families created care packages of toiletries in the Dining Hall.

BELOW: United in Service organizers Nina Wilson, Whitney Savignano, Doug Lucey, and Bill Eaton with North Shore United Way Project Manager Sarah Bartley

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Faculty and staff prepared for the service day outside the Winslow Building.

families at Shore’s gym day on campus, and I was overwhelmed by the notion that similar experiences were taking place at the same time all over the North Shore: our families interacting with members of the larger community, working side-by-side to do good and have fun, and making connections which, for some, will last much longer than a day. We were lucky to have found such phenomenal partners in Sarah and the United Way.” One United in Service beneficiary was literally a stone’s throw from Shore’s campus: Beverly Children’s Learning Center has moved to a new location on Cabot Street across from the school. “Family volunteers generously donated their time to an afternoon of building garden boxes, planting seeds, and creating garden signs for the outdoor space in our new home,” said Lisa King, Director of Education & Children’s Services.

Farther afield at The Open Door pantry in Gloucester, Shore students and parents worked in the warehouse to sort incoming donations, and then staffed the kitchen to prepare and serve the evening community meal. Open Door Volunteer Coordinator Beth Klinefelter reminded us, “In our state, one in four working families still struggles to meet all of their own basic needs, and many rely on pantries to put enough food on the table. Interacting over dinner was a rewarding and eye-opening experience for the volunteers and guests alike.”

In Salem, Shore volunteers helped get the large garden in shape at the Plummer Home for boys ages 13-18. “The Home has its own vegetable garden,” said Volunteer Coordinator Candice McLaughlin, “where the boys take responsibility for growing and harvesting a considerable amount of our own food. The volunteer families did a wonderful job getting us ready for spring.”

And back home, in Shore’s own Dining Hall, a large group of the youngest volunteers helped create hundreds of “get well” and “happy spring” cards for patients at Beverly Hospital and Addison Gilbert

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Hospital. “The students were thrilled that their work could brighten our patients’ day; the amount of creativity and care they put into the cards was amazing to see,” admitted Jane Karaman, Manager of Volunteer Services at Beverly Hospital.

Other service projects yielded 17 full grocery bags from Crosby’s Market in Manchester for Beverly Bootstraps; 225 toiletries kits assembled for local shelters; 150 Meals on Wheels baskets prepared for vulnerable local seniors; nearly 200 pounds of trash and recyclables collected on the two-mile route from the Salem-Beverly Bridge to Shore; and, proudly noted event co-organizer Lucey, “zero pounds of waste from the on-campus picnic lunch for participants.”

Added Lucey, “With the success of this inaugural service day, we’re already working with the United Way on the planning for next year’s event.” Shore’s second United in Service day will be held this fall on September 26.

Creating get-well cards for Beverly Hospital patients

N EWS

Estate Gift of Caleb Loring, Jr., Boosts Shore’s Endowment and At Our Finest Campaign

Caleb and wife Rosemary with their four children, all of whom attended Shore in the 1950s and 1960s

Caleb Loring, Jr., who passed away on November 24, 2013, at the age of 92, is remembered as a gentleman, known for his generosity, honesty, and kindness to others–as well as his family’s longtime connection to Shore. Over 25 years ago, members of the Board of Trustees established the Loring Award in honor of Caleb’s service and leadership as President of the Board of Trustees, from 1961 to 1964. Since then, Loring and his son, Caleb Loring III, augmented the Loring Fund at Shore, a professional development travel grant awarded annually to a faculty member.

Recently Shore received a generous leadership gift of $100,000 from the Caleb Loring, Jr. Fund for the endowment, bringing Shore’s total endowment to exceed $13 million. This gift is a boost for the At Our Finest Campaign, which set out to raise funds for the endowment and build The Lawrence A. Griffin Center for Creativity.

As stated in his obituary, Caleb Jr. was born in 1921 in Boston and educated at Dexter School, Milton Academy, Harvard College, and Harvard Law School. He served in World War II as a commissioned line officer and saw battle in Normandy, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

Upon his return to the States, Caleb worked as a litigator and corporate attorney. Ultimately he was hired by Fidelity Management Trust Company, and maintained an office as a trustee with Loring, Wolcott & Coolidge.

As a philanthropist in the Boston area with the Museum of Fine Arts, the Salvation Army, and the

Rosemary and Caleb on a stroll

Boston Athenaeum, Caleb was well-known for his extensive involvement and humble leadership. On the North Shore, several non-profit organizations benefitted from his leadership and generosity, including: Beverly Historical Society, Beverly Hospital, Hospice of the North Shore, North Shore United Way, North Shore YMCA, Project Adventure, St. John’s Episcopal Church, and Wenham Museum.

Caleb and Rosemary Loring spent many happy years involved at Shore in the 1950s and 1960s when their four children Caleb III ’59, David ’61, Rosemary ’63, and Keith ’67 were students. Active in the community, Caleb served as President of the Board of Trustees from 1961-1964.

Of the Loring family’s contributions to the school, Head of School Larry Griffin says, “The Shore community is indebted to the Loring family for their leadership, generosity, and friendship for over sixty years.

We would not be the school we are today without Caleb Loring, Jr. and his family. They have made a lasting impact in the life of our school.”

Shore Country Day School is indebted to the members of the Semper Optimum Society who have made a bequest intention for Shore through their estate plans. If you have included Shore in your charitable estate planning or for more information about making a bequest provision for Shore, please contact Jody Johnson, Director of Advancement, at 978-402-3816.

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Closing Ceremonies 2015 On Wednesday, June 10, fifty-eight Grade 8 and 9 graduates accepted their diplomas, along with handshakes and hugs from longtime Head of School Larry Griffin, during Shore’s Closing Ceremonies in the Howard Gymnasium.

Said an emotional Griffin during his address to the assembled audience of family members, alumni, trustees, and parents of alumni, “It is always difficult to say good-bye. Cherish these days and memories; you have formed bonds with classmates that may last a lifetime, and you have formed relationships with your teachers that transcend time.”

Graduation Student Speaker Owen RourkeNicholas, a Grade 9 high honors achiever and varsity baseball competitor whose younger sister, Chloe, graduated with

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him as an eighth grader, also spoke of connections. “Alumni frequently return for concerts, plays, and even this graduation,” he said. “This community is what is most important to me, and I hope the future eighth and seventh graders in the room carry on this aspect of Shore.”

Rourke-Nicholas attempted to define what makes Shore students,

and the Shore community, unique, coining the term “Shore-inian.”

“Shore-inian, adjective, meaning ‘like a Shore student.’ Shore students are curious and go out and find out something they are interested in. I know a student who, when he has a moment to spare during the day, looks up things that interest him, from the Loch

Ness monster to different types of poisons. He is Shore-inian.” Continued Rourke-Nicholas, “I knew another student who was very good at drawing fish. He knew facts about nearly every species in the North Shore. I challenged him. I gave him the name of a false fish and asked him if he knew about it. Rather than saying no and giving up, I watched him spend an entire study hall trying to learn about it. I came clean after a few minutes, but he said he wanted to keep looking because he was having fun learning.

He was Shore-inian. I hope to be Shore-inian for the rest of my life, and to pass this trait on to my kids.”

Head of School Griffin recounted highlights of Rourke-Nicholas’s character and school career, as he did for each and every one of the 58 graduates.

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These carefully crafted tributes from Griffin, a hallmark of Shore’s Closing Ceremonies, were complemented by other traditions, some traceable to Shore’s founding in 1936. Invited to present roses to their parents, graduates broke ranks during the event to walk into the audience to share a moment with family, and some longtime Shore community members were acknowledged with bouquets.

Head of School Griffin looked ahead in his closing advice to graduates.

“You live in one of the most remarkable times for communication in the history of mankind.

Technologies change

as quickly as they are adopted. You are maturing in a time when information is shared instantaneously, and every digital reference to you becomes a part of your biography. … When I Google you ten years from now, I want to see the celebratory moments in your life yet to come. I want to read about your accomplishments and your contributions to

service of others. I want to be as proud of you in 2025 as I am of you today as you proudly graduate from Shore.”

Following Griffin’s address, the moving ceremony concluded with the traditional benediction, sung beautifully by the graduates, who were joined by many alumni and faculty and staff singers present in the audience. Earlier, eighth and ninth grade students had performed a graduation song of their own choosing, paying tribute to Shore’s vibrant culture of music, drama, and public performance. As graduates recessed, they each leaped to slap a painted hand above the gymnasium doorway, receiving a symbolic “high-five” from graduates before them.

Students and their families then gathered for congratulations from faculty, who shared reminiscences and well wishes for next fall and beyond.

A number of this year’s eighth grade graduates will return in September

for Shore’s signature ninth grade program, which offers a level of individualized study and experiential learning that is unavailable elsewhere on the North Shore. Graduating ninth grade and many eighth grade students move on to high schools and college preparatory schools including: Brooks School, The Governor’s Academy, Middlesex School, Milton Academy, Phillips Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, Pingree School,

OPPOSITE PAGE Top left, Director of Annual Giving Brooke Booth helps Grade 8 graduate Alexander Schwartz with his boutonniere.

Left, Grade 9 graduates of the Class of 2015 THIS PAGE Top right, Grade 8 graduates pose for a photo Left, Graduation Student Speaker Owen Rourke-Nicholas coined the term “Shore-inian.”

Bottom, a high-five from the painted hand symbolizing alumni

St. John’s Preparatory School, and St. Mark’s School.

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Class of 2016 GRADE EIGHT GRADUATES Nicholas David Whipple Anastas Mark Anthony Bedetti

Jonathan MacMillan Bolland Cecily Moors Bradley Brendan Charles Callahan Victoria Adele Carlson Michael Charles Carroll Catrina Rose Caruso Elise Morgan Costello Samuel Perkins Crocker Nicholas Peter Demetroulakos Brian Mark DiGiovanni Jacob Loring Doggett Corinna Prichard Dorr Alexandra Perry Fehnel Alexander Samuel Finer John Hanley Flynn Evan James Gouveia Martin Nicholas Graham Camden Zina Greenwood Eleanor Anne Greer

Cameron Drew Hoffman Lilia Tenbroeck Manée Hutchins Riti Kalra Simon Francis Keough Jacklyn Sarah Lappin Alexandra Lew Leach James Storm Little John Demetrios Makowski Charlotte Jane Marks Bridget Elisabeth Marshall Elizabeth Frances McGarry Jennifer Catherine Minney Michael Zhang Pisanelli Madeleine Briggs Potter Caroline Wilder Pratt Rhea Prem Lars Michael Purcell Zachary William Rogers Chloe Elizabeth Rourke-Nicholas Alexander Goldsmith Schwartz Jacob Emile Silacci

Grade 7 Class Marshals Harrison Wilson and Meredyth Worden prepared to lead the processional.

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William Carr St. John Samuel James Timms Claire Olivia Trustey Lily Parsons Wainwright Sophie Holbrook Ward Caroline Schoolfield Yonce Isabelle Vogel Yonce

Class of 2015 GRADE NINE GRADUATES Andrew Joseph D’Ambrosio Abraham Andrés Figueroa Grace Elizabeth MacCurrach Casey Bryant Nardone Sanjna S. Patel Owen Thomas Rourke-Nicholas Ibraheem Abdullah Sayed Grace Dwight Stevenson Dylan Elijah Vienot

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The Class of 2012 Goes to College Congratulations to these Shore alumni on their acceptances!

Missing or incorrect information? E-mail alumni@shoreschool.org and send us an update.

Aisling Batchelder University of South Carolina

Melissa Hollis Boston University

Emma Wilder University of California, Santa Barbara

Gus Bowder-Newton UMass Amherst

Tyson Johnson University of Rhode Island

Ali Wilder University of Vermont

Samantha Brainard University of Virginia

Nate Kettner University of Rhode Island

Sam Yonce Harvard University

James Burr Boston University

Brice Koval Kenyon College

Sophie Zmetrovich University of Delaware

Laura Caruso University of Kent, UK

Lily Lake Colby College

Christopher Cervizzi Colgate University

Duncan Lechner Harvard University

Kimberly Dawes Villanova University

William Li Harvard University

Louis Demetroulakos New York University

Stephanie Longmuir University of Miami

Michael Dik Washington & Lee

Charlotte Pruett University of Southern CA

Yvonne Do Suffolk University

Carter Rossano Hobart College

Grace Eagan Colby College

Henry Scharfe University of Rochester

Ellen Enright Tulane University

Ethan Schutzman Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Lizzy Finer University of Rochester

Robby Schwartz Amherst College

Lizzie Flynn College of Holy Cross

Matt Sheridan Syracuse University

Elise Friedman Clark University

Aly Sledge Northwestern University

Richard Goldstein Elon University

John Stark Loyola University

Nathaniel Goodhue Ohio University

Amy Torchiana Northwestern University

Jaime Greenwood Northeastern University

Jackson Trkla Lake Forest College

Codi Haight Lewis & Clark College

Brooks Tyrrell University of Notre Dame

Pennie Herring Lehigh University

Michelina Vesprini University of Alabama

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Recognition Night 2015 On the evening of May 7, faculty and staff, family and friends filled Shore’s Theatre

for a special event not only to recognize departing members of the school community, but also to celebrate faculty award winners, to acknowledge employees marking their five year anniversaries with Shore, and to pay tribute to individuals with decades of service to their credit.

Before beginning his remarks, Master of Ceremonies Larry Griffin offered praise for departing President of the Board of Trustees, Joe Trustey. Incoming Board President Jenn Borggaard is profiled in this edition of the Bulletin.

Loring Award

Five Years

Robin Koval

Noah Clarke Alyssa Freda Robin Koval

Parents of Graduates Award Anneke Chang Departing Teacher Assistants Heidi Dearborn Dee Dee DeVore Maddie Loughridge Kristen Murphy Erin O’Conner Mallie Pratt Stacey Tell

Ten Years Jill Bonina Marilyn Herrick Fifteen Years Pamela Torres Ellen Wright Twenty-Five Years Debbie Coates Nancy McNall Kim Pedersen

Departing Lead Teachers Tim McAuliffe Colleen Parenteau Erica Puccetti Sue Smith

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Thirty Years Lee Carey Loretta Stokes Bobbi Whiting

FROM TOP: Head of School Larry Griffin recognized Marilyn Herrick; Bobbi Whiting was honored; Alyssa Freda marked five years; Lee Carey was celebrated.

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Jennifer M. Borggaard ’84 Takes the Helm

By Linda Grodberg In March, Shore announced the election of Marblehead’s Jennifer (Motley) Borggaard as the next President of the Board of Trustees. A Shore alumna, Borggaard has a long-standing relationship with the school and brings the highest level of dedication to Shore and its mission.

She joined the Board in 2013 and has served on its Education, Finance, and Investment Committees. Known for her insight, she pushes the Board to think strategically about the school’s long-term interests. Head of School Larry Griffin has said, “We couldn’t be more fortunate than to have Jenn stepping into this role; she’ll be a stellar Board President.” With a reputation as a critical and forward thinker, she is an ideal choice to lead the school through the implementation of Shore’s Strategic Plan 2014-19 and to complete the At Our Finest capital campaign.

Borggaard is a Senior Vice President with Affiliated Managers Group, Inc., where she has worked for 14 years, first as Senior Counsel and now leading AMG’s Affiliate Development Group on operational and strategic matters. Borggaard earned an A.B. from Harvard College and a J.D. from Boston College Law School. She and her husband, Andy, have three children at Shore: Sam, Emma, and Abi. As her term as President was set to begin, we spoke with her about the Board, her family, and the future of Shore.

Q: What influenced your decision about taking on this leadership role?

It is an honor to be asked to serve in such an important role. I have been on the Board for a year, which has given me a good sense of the strong position of the school, with a great administrative leadership team, but also a vibrant, wellrun Board of Trustees. I am enthusiastic about helping to shape the next few years at Shore; it certainly is an exciting opportunity for me.

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Q: What perspective will you bring to this role?

As an alumna, I have the perspective of the past but also the vision to look towards the future. Having my children at Shore has enabled me to see the changes that have occurred since I was a student here. It is with that vantage point that I feel confident about guiding Shore to the next level.

Q: Can you paint a picture of Shore before and after Head of School Larry Griffin arrived?

What’s different?

I was a student here before Larry was the Head of School, so I have the perspective to appreciate Shore from both angles. While many of the strengths of the school from my student days remain, during his tenure Larry has built on that solid foundation. Shore was always known for being academically rigorous, but he began to develop an openness to the different learning styles of students. The school has made exceptional progress in this area during his tenure.

Beyond that, Larry came to Shore with a vision that he put into motion immediately, which led to the complete revitalization of the physical plant of the school: construction of the Brian R. Walsh Science Center; relocation of the Head of School’s office to the center of campus; construction of the Dining Hall and Rock Gym; and most recently, the construction of the Center for Creativity.

Q: What do you see as different in the marketplace of independent schools on the North Shore today?

I would say that parents today are more demanding of a great education for their children. Families are trying to balance when they can afford to send their children to an independent school, and whether to choose a more nurturing or more challenging environment.

The North Shore has a history and tradition of independent schools. Many families living on the North Shore have historically sent their children to independent schools, but some of those family dynamics are changing. New families moving into the area certainly have the desire to send their children to these schools, but the economics are such that it’s challenging. They have to make tough decisions about where and when to send their children. It’s more competitive to fill Shore’s classrooms with the most talented students.

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Q: Where do you think the Board’s focus will be over the next five years?

We need to think about the areas where we can build interest in the community for our school and, recently, the challenge has been in the lower grades. Most importantly we need to help prospective families understand the benefits of starting the independent school education at an early age.

We need to better demonstrate what we do here and how important it is, even in those early years, to bring to them the best that Shore has to offer. The Strategic Plan is designed around that thinking and one of the key aspects of the plan is to focus on education in the early years.

The second part of the Strategic Plan is thinking about the ways children learn. Shore has a reputation of being academically rigorous. Many may not see Shore as the right fit for a child who may be more artistic, less structured in learning, or less self-motivated. It’s important for us to change the way people perceive the product that we serve up, as one of Shore’s strengths is our faculty’s ability to know our children as individuals and help them learn in their own way.

One of the things I think we can do, now that we have this beautiful Center for Creativity, is to expand and build on our arts programs, while improving the awareness of these programs. The perception in our community is that Shore is not as focused on the arts and music. Building the 30,000-square-foot Center for Creativity was a first terrific step, and now we can further strengthen the programming to support it.

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Borggaard Gets Personal FAVORITE CAUSES OUTSIDE OF SHORE: I’ve been involved with the Peabody Essex Museum for many years; I’m a member of the Board of Overseers and also sit on the finance committee. I am also a long-standing member of their East India Marine Associates Leadership Committee.

My father is a big maritime enthusiast so I spent a lot of time there as a child. It’s an amazing museum, and we are so fortunate to have this resource on the North Shore.

I have also been involved for over seven years in My Life My Choice, a Boston-based organization that works to end commercial sexual exploitation of girls.

I also sat on the board of the Friends of Marblehead Public Schools for a number of years; they raise money

Q: Would you tell us a little bit about your children’s experiences at Shore?

As of the first day of school this year, my children are all in the Upper School. We were so pleased with the experience that Sam had in second grade at Shore that it seemed unfair not to bring our daughters along for the Shore experience, so they joined him the following year in fifth grade. It has been the best decision for our family.

We selected Shore not because I am an alum, but because the teachers here were so impressive. In Lower School, Sam had a great experience. All of his homeroom teachers were terrific, but one of the highlights for him was working closely with Mardi Lowery in the Math Olympics program. Emma had an incredible time this past spring working with [Co-Director of Admissions] Daphne Faldi on the lacrosse field. She is truly an amazing coach who inspires each athlete to be her best.. Abi enjoyed performing in the annual musical The Music Man last winter with drama teacher Sarah Carlin. Abi loves the musical theater program, which is very close to my heart because I enjoyed performing in the musical productions when I was a student at Shore with Diana Hoyt.

Being on the stage really is a key part of the development of students here at Shore, even outside the theater program. It’s one of the ways the school has continued to transform learning since I was here: much more focused on public speaking, being comfortable on your feet, and talking about your ideas—the skills you’re going to need in the twenty-first century.

to supplement the public school budget primarily for enrichment programs that aren’t covered in the school budget.

ENTERTAINMENT PICKS: Musically, my interests are pretty diverse. I listen to pop music in the car with my kids; we have a big Taylor Swift following in our house. Currently, I’m reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand in hopes of finishing it before seeing the movie.

And over the last decade, one of my favorite family activities has been reading each Harry Potter book together and then watching the movie. Good, clean family fun, but also a lot of interesting messages.

THE SPORTING LIFE: Skiing is a big part of my family’s life. All three of my children are ski racers, therefore we spend every weekend from Thanksgiving until March break in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire. We have a great time downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and winter hiking. We love being outdoors in the winter! In the summer, we like to get out on the water. My children are big sailors so we spend lots of time on the water in Marblehead.

SECRET TALENTS: Even though I have a crazy schedule, I love to cook, because I love to eat. I keep a well-stocked pantry so it’s fairly easy for me to prepare quick, yet healthy, meals for my family. I always am looking to try new recipes, despite the picky eaters in my house. My secret skill, which most people would not guess, is that I am a technology junkie—I like to try new technology and am often the resident IT or AV expert in my house.

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Welcome New Trustees Amy Foster

Ann YMCA; enjoys golfing, walking, swimming, skiing, biking, reading, and all sports.

Santo Politi

Family: Franklin, husband; Henry, son, Grade 3; Sam, son, Grade 1; Jack, son. Residence: Hamilton. Education: Middlebury College; Middlesex School; Pike School. Professional Background: Consultant, Jacques, Co.; former Director of Alumni, Park School; formerly oversaw clerkship program at Harvard Medical School.

Community and Interests: Former chair of Middlebury College’s North Shore Alumni Admissions Program; Head of Ladies Golf at Myopia Hunt Club; avid golfer, skier and hiker.

Family: Gray, wife; Addie, daughter, Grade 6; Loulou, daughter, Grade 3. Residence: Manchester. Education: BS, Electrical Engineering; BS, Physics; MS, Electrical Engineering; MBA, Finance. Professional Background: Founder and General Partner of Spark Capital. Community and Interests: Music, tennis, travel.

Elizabeth Skates

Jack Meany

Family: Cathy, wife; Erika ‘91, daughter; Patrick, son; Maeve, granddaughter, Grade 2; Brynn, granddaughter, Kindergarten. Residence: Rockport. Education: BA, Oswego State University; MS, Cortland State University. Professional Background: CEO Emeritus, YMCA of the North Shore; former CEO, Cape Ann YMCA; former Executive Director, Oswego YMCA. Community and Interests: Trustee, Institution for Savings; involved with YMCA of the North Shore and Cape

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Family: James Maccarone, husband; Camille, daughter, Grade 3. Residence: Manchester. Education: Ph.D., University of Cambridge; M.Phil., University of Cambridge; Harvard College; Winsor School. Professional Background: Museum collection management with a focus on archaeological objects. Community and Interests: Trustee, Wenham Museum; Docent, Peabody Essex Museum; Alumnae Board, Winsor School; improving golf game, working at various museums, and spending time with daughter, Camille.

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Discovering the Dolomites

By Parents of Graduates Award Recipient Oliver Hay

The Parents of Graduates Award, or POG, is an incredible professional development opportunity.

Whenever I tell people outside of Shore about the POG they are astounded that Shore has such a terrific opportunity for its teachers.

The generosity of Shore parents is incredible.

The history and culture of this area are so fascinating because the Tyrol region has been influenced by Italian and German cultures. In fact, the city of Bolzano has only been part of Italy since WWI. But because Italy has worked hard to provide the region with a lot of autonomy, the Italian government has been able to keep people happy. It’s a unique area, and the end result is that the quality of life in this area of Italy is consistently ranked very high.

Sixth graders study biomes in connection with their annual Chewonki trip. We also spend time learning about other biomes throughout the world and considering how biomes affect human culture. Spending time in the Dolomites was for me a biome project. I was able to learn about the natural environment there and about the cultures of people living and who have lived in this region of Italy.

Oliver and Sarah Hay in Italy

I’m thankful to have had the chance to use the award to travel to Italy with my wife during spring break of last year. During our trip we had an incredible time, learned a lot, and I returned to school energized and excited.

However, the trip began with a little bit of a surprise. A few days before we left for Italy we found out that my wife was pregnant with our son, Theo, who was born in November. Fortunately, during our time in Italy my wife felt pretty good and we didn’t have to change too many of our plans. In fact, on the multiple days when she managed to find something incredibly tall for us to climb up, I wished that at that moment she wasn’t feeling up to it.

During the trip, we enjoyed exploring several parts of Italy, including Rome, Florence, and Venice.

Then we arrived to Bolzano in the Dolomites, where we were struck by so many different wonderful things all in one place, such as the incredible hiking, the ability to ski on a nearby glacier, the vineyards, and forts.

It’s considered one of the best places to live in Italy.

The close proximity of so many different things was striking.

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Studying the region’s glacial valleys was fascinating.

Studying the geology of this region was just as interesting. The mountains were formed during the Triassic period by reefs, but there was an intense period of volcanic activity as well. Glaciers filled in the valleys, and in the 12,000 years since they retreated, the sides of the mountains have been filled in somewhat from the upper parts of the mountains eroding. The erosion has also created what are called “earth pyramids,” which are similar to the “hoodoos” found in Bryce Canyon and other places throughout the world. Glaciers remain at the top of some of the mountains, and some have ski lifts on them.

My time in Italy has influenced my teaching in multiple ways. Sometimes it impacts specific lessons and at other times it’s an overall emphasis on new or different topics and issues. For example, being near the glaciers gave me a fresh perspective on how they are changing

Spending time in Italy yielded fresh perspectives on teaching.

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due to the impacts of climate change. One glacier that is melting in this region of Italy led to the incredible discovery of Otzi.

Otzi is a natural ice mummy who lived during the Copper Age, 5,300 years ago, and one of the highlights of the trip was being able to visit the museum in Bolzano built to preserve him. Otzi’s story, including his murder, has been studied extensively. Because of the way he was preserved, in the ice, he provides scientists with many clues for how he lived. For example, based on the pollen grains found in his stomach, it has been determined that he died in the spring or early summer.

One of the best parts about Otzi for me is that he brings to life the geologic timescale, something that Shore students study at various grades. Seeing such an old version of an anatomically similar human and to also see so much of his belongings, such as his clothes and backpack, which were also preserved in the ice, brought to life this time period for me. One of the things I try to do in my classes is to provide students with an understanding of our use of resources. Given that the current state of the world is all we know, it’s easy to think that things have always been this way: that having the ability to so simply heat and cool our houses to a comfortable temperature is just the way it’s always been; that the ability to purchase inexpensive clothing and to replace needed supplies so easily is normal. Seeing and learning about Otzi helps me gain an appreciation for all of the advances that humans have made. It also gives me hope that we can continue to make the necessary advances in order to tackle current environmental issues.

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Managing Scarce Resources This spring, Grade 9 students worked with Noah Clarke and Ben Kennedy to study the history and ethics of managing scarce resources, in particular, how the United States has dealt with the issue of access to water.

To bring that discussion out of the classroom and make it hands-on, they worked with Innovation Lab Manager Cam McNall to develop a strategy game using a fourfoot-wide, 12-foot-long river board built in the iLab. A few of the students explained the project this way: “This cleverly designed ‘water board’ (not the CIA kind) that Mr. McNall made featured a river running down the middle. The flow could be controlled using various valves, and there also was easily manipulated terrain all around to provide another element to our games. The board changed frequently.”

They added, “The purpose of the board game was to teach us how to problem solve, think on the spot, and consider real problems around the world such as the water crisis in California. In life we have to problem solve and figure out solutions without people guiding us all of the time, and this is exactly what Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Clarke did: they had us figure out on our own how to design a game that incorporated the idea of allocating resources. We worked on this project during class periods for two weeks and came up with numerous ways to design our game.”

After designing multiple versions, Grade 9 invited 12 sixth-grade students to the iLab to play the games and offer feedback. Lower School students used the water table to explore ecosystems and natural resources.

The ninth grade then considered the lessons they had learned from the project. One student noted, “As cliché as it sounds, teamwork was the thing that helped us create such a well-thought-out board game, and even if there were some arguments and fights, in the end it is really what helped us out. Our arguments led us to try to find solutions to our problems; as a group we solved all the issues facing our board game.”

Another student observed, “The main thing that went well in my group’s game was the reaction some of the sixth graders had when they played it. Our aim was to get them thinking about water infrastructure and the future of water. While playing the game, one student asked, ‘Why does the higher class section of the board get more water?’ When I replied, ‘What do you think?’ another student jumped in the conversation with, ‘Because they take longer showers.’ This conversation made me very happy. I realized that I actually got some students to start thinking about why certain people get more water than others.”

To bring that discussion out of the classroom and make it more hands-on, ninth grade students developed a strategy game using a four-foot-wide, 12-foot-long river board built in the iLab.

CAPTIONS: Grade 9 students work out the details of their game; the class discusses game mechanics with Cam McNall and Noah Clarke; Pre-K students go hands-on with the water table project and add their own beaver dam.

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One Very

Creative Year Muhammed Sayed

By Linda Grodberg

By June 2015, at the end of his first year at Shore, Muhammed Sayed had already left his mark on Lower School and in Mr. Melia’s fourth grade class. With his magnetic personality, Muhammed fit right in and was always surrounded by friends at recess and lunch. It was no surprise that he jumped at the opportunity to participate in the solo storytelling on the Theatre stage, and took great delight in publishing his own byline in The Beaver Bugle that included a fun story from Head of School Mr. Griffin.

Having followed his older brother, Ibraheem, to Shore, Muhammed admits that Shore, with its extensive music and arts offerings, was “way different” than his previous school. He especially liked his music classes with Mrs. Lienhard where he played the soprano and baritone Marimbas. He was also a fan of playing Wiffle ball games in P.E. class with Mr. Koval.

As an avid storyteller, Muhammed had no trouble presenting a tale at the inaugural presentation of Mini-Moth, Shore’s storytelling event based on the public radio program, The Moth.

When asked about why he wanted to be a part of the first Lower School Mini-Moth event, Muhammed enthusiastically replies, “Because I like to make people laugh. And, because I wanted to set a good standard for others.” Muhammed certainly set the bar high for his peers, as he had the entire Lower School audience enthralled by his escapades with friends at Canobie Lake Park.

His colorful personality shone just as bright in his “Real Talk with Muhammed Sayed” column in February’s edition of the Lower School online publication, The Beaver Bugle.

In Mr. Melia’s fourth grade class, Muhammed worked steadily on his writing skills, posted his New Year’s resolution to the classroom’s Pride Spot, and “learned more math than he ever knew!”

He observes, “Mr. Melia is a fan of Shore’s Community Code.”

Mr. Melia adds, “During morning meetings, the class discussed a quote of the day. These quotes helped us talk about the tenets of the Community Code in a real and concrete way. Students

This page: commanding the stage during the Mini-Moth storytelling event. Opposite page: listening to Colleen Parenteau during the Garden Celebration; posing outside the Innovation Lab.

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When asked about why he wanted to be a part of the first Lower School Mini-Moth event, Muhammed enthusiastically replies, “Because I like to make people laugh. And, because I wanted to set a good standard for others.”

told personal stories centered around owning their mistakes, giving their best, and respecting others. These helped us all connect with each other and they provided great teachable moments throughout the year.”

The Innovation Lab was a favorite place of Muhammed’s as it was where he could let his creativity blossom. Throughout the school year, he built a tin boat and an mbira box (an African musical instrument), but most recently he completed a catapult with the help of Mr. McNall, Shore’s Innovation Lab manager. Of course, while in the midst of each project that required saws, drills and a blowtorch, he always wore a protective helmet and eyewear for safety.

In his world outside of Shore, Muhammed’s family includes his parents, two brothers, and one sister. He stays physically active playing basketball and soccer in his neighborhood, but also enjoys the challenges of browser-based games accessed from the cloud.

As Muhammed reflects on his first year, he says he feels special because he was part of the last fourth grade science classes taught

by Mrs. Parenteau at Shore. She truly brought science to life for him, and Muhammed’s words pay tribute to a wonderful teacher.

From science to stage, from Innovation Lab to Community Code, there’s no doubt Muhammed had a most excellent year.

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‘Music Man’

Triumphs Over Winter of the Century

By Sarah Carlin. Photos by Paul Pelletier A wonderfully talented, spirited group of students staged a stunning Music Man this spring, despite the “winter of the century” that frequently interrupted rehearsals.

From the onset, when cast members came excitedly bounding into the theater saying, “It’s musical time again!” we knew this was going to be a fun production. There was a handful of veteran 8th graders from last year’s show, plus a slew of new kids in 7th grade joining us, and the energy was infectious. The day after teaching the cast the audition choreography, I remember coming into the theater

and looking at Mrs. Sklarsky and Ms. Boyum with delight because cast members were already hard at work reviewing the dance and helping each other get it down—on their own!

With Mr. Hamlin’s and Ms. Salfity’s guidance, the crew took on the monumental task of constructing the sets for this classic American musical. And what amazing sets they were! River City, Iowa came to life in our Theatre. This was especially impressive considering that not one of the members of the crew had previous experience. We were fortunate to have Mrs. Mosse design our costumes

again this year, and the expertise of Ms. Bonina on sound and Mr. McNall on lights brought the show to new levels.

Now, I look back on our show with pride and gratitude for the tremendous support that surrounds the process. While we’re so fortunate to have an amazing facility to create in, it’s the people who make theater come alive and bring our community together.

We cannot wait to do it all over again in spring, 2016, when we’ll present the ever-popular Disney musical of Mary Poppins for our mainstage production March 3-5!

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An Excellent Legacy 25 Years of ‘The Team’

Former Trustee Carroll Taylor Clark ‘55–parent of Daphne Clark Faldi ’89 and grandparent of Charlie ’19, Owen ’21, and Reid ’24–volunteered as lacrosse and field hockey coach for many years.

By Bill Fisher

At Shore, sports are a part of the package, right alongside the exceptional academics and arts programs.

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In the 1970s and 1980s, before the “modern” era of Shore athletics, things were starkly different from today’s phenomenal program, which began to take shape when Athletic Director Nancy McNall joined Shore twenty-five years ago.

In the 1970s, the school fielded boys’ varsity football and hockey squads, and through the 1980s, girls wore tunics with sashes— some would call them smocks—to play field hockey and lacrosse. Sometimes, the girls played alongside their mothers, who would stop by with their own sticks to scrimmage.

Today, tunics and kilts have been replaced by high-performance fabrics, the moms (and dads) now cheer from the sidelines, and football and hockey have faded away; yet, fundamentally, perhaps not so much has changed after all. Then, as now, athletics at Shore were required for all students, and most importantly, play was about celebrating peers and cherishing the resilience of the team, not about wins and losses.

SHOR E BU L L E TIN FALL 2015

Girls took to the field in tunics until the 1990s.

E XC E L L E N C E & I N SPI RAT I O N

Sports are a Shore staple for girls and boys.

While it just so happens that the eighth grader, sometimes even a ninth school’s perennial focus on team has grader—and all of a sudden they realize, resulted in notable successes and even a ‘I can do this.’ They might not be the star dynasty or two throughout the the years, player but they realize there is an athlete that was really never the point. As Pam deep inside that was just waiting to come Deschamps—coach, teacher, and girls’ athout.” letic director prior to McNall’s arrival—has Still, while the fundamentals may have said, “The value for our kids was the confiremained intact over the years, large culdence, believing in themselves, the camatural shifts in the way children, and society raderie, the responsibility of having to keep as a whole, view sports have required signiftheir equipment together. … At Shore, there icant philosophical adjustments in Shore’s was always value placed on whatever you program. McNall observes, “There is a new could contribute, wherever. Sure, we had professionalism in sports, so that if a child the superstars—academic, athletic, you name it; every school does. But even the superstars, when the kids who weren’t quite as good had the success, when they set a classmate up to score that first goal ever, it brought tears to my eyes to see that—how they would lift their classmate up, and how proud they were of them. It was wonderful.”

“At Shore, sports are, ultimately, a part of the package, right alongside the exceptional academics and arts programs,” says McNall.

“Having my daughter here now, that’s one of the things I like best at Shore. She will be in middle school at a time when studies show girls typically drop sports, but she’s going to have to play. She’s going to have to stay involved. I’ve seen so many girls over the years that we’ve taken onto a team for the first time—an Head of School Larry Griffin with his baseball players, 1990

Sometimes, the girls played alongside their mothers, who would stop by with their own sticks to scrimmage.

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E XCELLENC E & INSPI RAT I ON

David Lund with the boys’ basektball team, 2001

Then, as now, athletics at Shore were required for all students, and most importantly, play was about celebrating peers and cherishing the resilience of the team, not about wins and losses.

hasn’t been playing lacrosse since they were in second grade, by the time they’re in seventh grade they think, ‘I stink.’ So we have to work on convincing kids that in the middle school years, it’s still okay to try a sport for the first time. It’s okay. You probably will make a team at some point; you just might not make it that first year. I think it’s important for us to provide these opportunities where they feel safe to take

Walter Morris with the girls’ basketball team, 1990s

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these risks and try these things they’re not feeling so good about. Middle schoolers can be their own worst critics.”

At the same time, says McNall, “We’ve realized that not everybody is the teamsport child, and we’ve focused on promoting being physically active. For example, in the winter, with drama having been introduced as a sports option, we’re able to offer those kids a physical, team-like experience. And now we’ve added conditioning, which has four strands: yoga, spinning, crossfit, and traditional running. We’ve got squash, which is a very popular offering in the winter. And adding track as a varsity program has really rounded out our spring offerings alongside lacrosse and baseball.

I feel like we’re doing so much more now to meet the needs of a variety of kids, and I feel like we have to continue doing that.”

One thing has remained a constant in Shore’s program: the large number of teachers who are coaches. Head of the Upper School Ben Kennedy often describes the discussion-based learning style practiced in Shore’s history classes as possessing a team dynamic: “We harness our collective strengths, and compensate for our collective weaknesses,” he has observed.

E XC E L L E N C E & I N SPI RAT I O N

Deschamps has recalled, “Sometimes if a kid was struggling in the classroom and they could go out and be successful on the field, then they felt they proved something.

It was a great perspective to have.”

“I think it’s a strength when our kids see the connection between the classroom and the field every day,” agrees McNall. The fundamental connection McNall describes may be the truest legacy of Shore athletics.

“The value for our kids is the confidence, believing in themselves, the camaraderie, the responsibility of having to keep their equipment together.”

ABOVE: McNall watching the action; students during a spring track meet. Adding track as a spring varsity sport, alongside other new programs such as conditioning and squash, means Shore can offer something for every student, says McNall.

BELOW LEFT: Ninth graders Jessica Smith and Anne Hewson and Carroll Taylor Clarke ‘55 prepare for battle. RIGHT: In the 1980s, under coach and girls’ athletic director Pam Deschamps, field hockey and lacrosse squads were known as the “Blue Machine.”

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ALUMNI

A Gathering at Larch Farm On a splendid spring afternoon in May, nearly 30 Shore Country Day School alumni gathered together in Wenham on the grounds of the original Reynolds Farm, now known as Larch Farm and the home of Shore parents Patrick and Nina Colhoun Wilson. Hosted by alumnae sisters, Patsy Reynolds Colhoun ’51 and Buffy Reynolds Colt ’54, Shore alumni

Top: balloons in Shore Blue and White; “The Pioneer,” 1950; Shore parents Patrick and Nina Wilson with sons Harrison ’17 and Leverett ’20 and co-host Patsy Reynolds Colhoun ’51.

Middle: co-host Buffy Reynolds Colt ’54 reminiscing with Harriet Davis ’56; the gardens; welcoming Head of School Larry Griffin. Bottom: greeting Mary Louise (Ward) Ryus ’40; Griffin thanking guests; memorabilia from an earlier time.

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A LU M N I

Alumni guests are joined by Larry Griffin, Director of Annual Giving Brooke Booth, and Director of Advancement Jody Johnson.

from the 1940s and 1950s caught up with each other, reminisced about their time as Shore students, and looked through pictures and newsletters from Shore’s archives. Guests were treated to a cocktail gathering with spectacular views of the gardens and enjoyed a special performance by Shore students, the two Wilson grandchildren of Patsy Colhoun, violinist Harrison ’17 and flutist Leverett ’20.

Near the end of the reception, guests listened to remarks from Trustee Patrick Wilson and Head of School Larry Griffin. Griffin provided an update about the At Our Finest campaign, invited guests back to campus to tour the new Center for Creativity, and discussed what is quickly becoming a hallmark of a Shore education, the Harkness method, a discussion-based learning style centered around a large oval table.

“Education today is changing and becoming more hands-on than it ever has been before,” said Griffin.

“Many of you may have experienced the Harkness table at Phillips Exeter or elsewhere, which puts children, not the teacher, at the center of discussions about primary sources. We have been doing this kind of discussion for five years, but two weeks ago at our Parents Association fundraiser when we asked parents to help us purchase authentic Harkness tables for our Upper School classrooms, they came through with

enough donations to let us purchase eight. So in the fall when students return, the Upper School will have an entirely changed teaching dynamic.”

Griffin also compared the Shore of today to the school as it was recalled by alumni at the gathering: “The respect and affection for your teachers that you’ve expressed to me here,” Griffin said, “is the same respect and affection students feel for our faculty today. If there’s one thing I’m most proud of at Shore, it is the faculty that we’ve assembled, and if there is one thing that is distinct about Shore, it is that it has held on to academic integrity, and isn’t afraid to challenge kids. Grades mean what they say at Shore. That’s one reason secondary schools love us - when our kids come to them, they know they will do as well or better than they did at Shore because of the preparation they have had.”

Griffin talked about one aspect of the school that is dramatically changed from the Shore these alumni attended - the Center for Creativity, and in particular the Innovation Lab. “We wanted to be able to build anything that can be built out of wood, metal, electronics, robotics, computer technology - and we wanted one space to do it all. The result, the Innovation Lab, is now the model that other schools like ours are coming to see.”

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CLASS NOTES

Architect Kirsten Thoft ’79 was featured on ApartmentTherapy.com for her “Green Dream” home remodel in Princeton, NJ: www.apartmenttherapy.com/kirsten-andted-s-green-dream-house-tour-220173

Learn what’s happening with your classmates and other Shore friends by browsing the Class Notes here.

Please also take a moment to share the latest events and achievements in your life. You may submit your own class notes by sending an e-mail to alumni@shoreschool.org or calling the Advancement Office at 978.402.3818. We look forward to hearing from you!

Emily Buchanan ’81 was commissioned to paint the 2014 White House Holiday Card. You can see more of her work on her website www.emilybuchanan.com Chris Davenport ’86 was called “the best athlete you’ve never heard of” by Outside Magazine. Check out his story: www.outsideonline.com/1974671/peak-his-game Crime novelist Ingrid Thoft ’86 released the third title in her Fina Ludlow series, Brutality, on June 23.

Fred Bush ’88 recently received the Achievement Award from UCLA’s Office of External Affairs in recognition of his exceptional leadership.

Willoughby Britton ’89 was featured in Brown University’s Brown Medicine Magazine regarding her work with “mindful meditation.”

Jenna Caiazzo ’99 recently joined the Fox 46 television station in Charlotte, NC as a news anchor/reporter.

In May, Lauren Henderson ’02, a jazz and latin jazz vocalist and composer, celebrated the release of her second jazz album “A La Madrugada” with her first-ever headlining Boston-area show, at The Regattabar in Harvard Square.

Alexandra Moore ’04 and her husband Linton Judycki settled in the tiny town of Red River, New Mexico, where Alex teaches in the elementary school and spends weekends “enjoying all that the mountains bring us.” Read more from Alex in Shore’s 545 Cabot blog.

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Allie O’Hanley ’06 has launched the arts organization, Rxhibition (Rxhibition.org).

The organization works in collaboration with host hospitals to curate and design exhibitions inside patient treatment areas.

Meredith Bird ’08, a 2015 graduate of Colorado College, was recently awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for her project, titled “Hungering to Feed” (www. hungeringtofeed.blogspot.com). Bird will head to Spain, India, Tanzania, and Uganda for a year to explore the different facets of food inequality and how they are dealt with, or not dealt with, in different countries across the globe.

Jake Stokes ’09, a senior at St. Anselm College, was named to the Northeast-10 Men’s Lacrosse Academic All-Conference Team for the 2015 season.

Anthony D’Ambrosio ’11 spent the summer working in D.C. for Senator Ed Markey; he also had the opportunity to work closely with Senator Elizabeth Warren and her team. Most of his work focused on healthcare reform and disability issues.

Eliza Dorsey ’11, a first-year student at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, joined the women’s lacrosse team as a midfielder this past spring.

Gus Bowder-Newton ’11 and Georgia Bowder-Newton ’13 served as the opening act for the annual Greater Boston PFLAG Pride and Passion benefit at the Seaport World Trade Center in May. Brooks Tyrrell ’12 was awarded the Will McDonough Scholars Athlete of the Year award for public schools as a Marblehead High School student.

Emily French ’05 completed the 2015 Boston Marathon in April, raising funds for the Charlestown Lacrosse and Learning Center.

Henry Scharfe ’12 graduated Cum Laude with High Distinction from Pingree School and will attend University of Rochester in the fall. The University awarded Henry its “7th Generation” academic scholarship for environmental stewardship.

Thomas Lampert ’05 is a third grade teacher at KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy in Helena, Arkansas, in the Mississippi River Delta region. Read more from Thomas in Shore’s 545 Cabot blog.

Maxx Trotsky ’13 was recently named a US Lacrosse All-American. Maxx is currently a three sport athlete at Pingree School participating in football, hockey, and lacrosse.

I N M EM O RI A M

Remembering Joe and Anna On July 29, 2015, a beloved Shore family suffered the unfathomable loss of father and daughter, Joe and Anna Trustey. Tragically, they died in a plane crash near Milwaukee while making a college visit for Anna, a rising senior at the Brooks School and eighth grade Shore graduate of the Class of 2013. Joe had recently completed three distinguished years of service as President of the Board of Trustees at Shore.

Although private in their philanthropy, Kris’ and Joe’s generosity is impactful nationally, including, among countless other causes, a lead role in Team Daisy/Summit Partners’ participation in the

Reeling from the loss, hundreds of Shore students, alums, current and past parents, staff and faculty, and close family friends gathered for a moving candlelight vigil at Shore just twenty-four hours after the crash.

“The tragic accident that took the lives of Joe and Anna is a shocking and profound loss for our school and the region,” shared Head of School Larry Griffin.

In an emotional tribute, he spoke reflectively about his partnership with Joe as President of the Board.

“In my lifetime, I have met just a few truly visionary leaders with the confidence, the charisma, and the bravado to literally turn the tide of a group and raise

Joe and Anna Trustey on the day of her school prom in April

Pan-Mass Challenge; Hannah and Friends, a nonprofit organization improving the quality of life for adults and children with special needs; and the Veterans Airlift Command, where Joe volunteered his time to enable veterans to travel long distances when they otherwise wouldn’t be able to do so. Joe and Kris also established the A.J. Trustey Epilepsy Research Fund at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Joe served on the Board of Trustees at St. John’s Preparatory School in Danvers, the Brooks School in North Andover, and advisory boards at Notre Dame; and was actively involved in the Essex County Community Foundation, the Citi Performing Arts Center, and Father Flanagan’s Fund and others.

expectations. This is Joe Trustey. We are a far better school today than we were just a few years ago, and much of the credit for this vision and accomplishment is due to the sacrifice and efforts of Joe Trustey.”

Griffin spoke of Anna with the same admiration for her sterling character and charisma. “Anna Trustey’s devotion, focus, and desire for learning were second to none. Each stage of the journey became important: practicing, questioning, and responding to guidance.

If Anna was a model student in the classroom, she was an exemplar on the playing field. She did not just know her role; she knew how it connected to others and how it created greater success for all. Energized and upbeat, Anna’s personality attracted strong

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I N MEMO RIAM

“In my lifetime, I have met just a few truly visionary leaders with the confidence, the charisma, and the bravado to literally turn the tide of a group and raise expectations. This is Joe Trustey. We are a far better school today than we were just a few years ago, and much of the credit for this vision and accomplishment is due to the sacrifice and efforts of Joe Trustey.”

friendships. Anna’s grounded and positive outlook propelled her forward as a community force for good.

Artist, actor, dancer, athlete, and peer-elected senator, Anna’s pursuits were deep and purposeful. Her leadership and influence continued to grow at the Brooks School where she was selected as the varsity soccer and lacrosse teams’ captain for her senior year and as a prefect, one of the school’s most prestigious honors.”

We were honored on Tuesday, August 4, to host the visitation for Joe and Anna, as over 2,000 guests paid their respects during the afternoon and evening. The gathering culminated with a beautiful prayer service and the sharing of tributes by family and close friends. Friends, business associates, classmates, teammates, colleagues, coaches, and acquaintances from across the region and across the country universally described the father and daughter in nearly identical terms: selfless, generous, compassionate, full of life and love and humor.

Larry Griffin addressing the community at the candlelight vigil

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Sadly, many of the same visitors had come together to mourn almost a year earlier when the Trusteys’ only son, Andrew “A.J.” Trustey, died in the fall of 2014.

While delivering his eulogy, Joe shared that his mission was to advance epilepsy research in hopes of finding a cure. Soon thereafter, he and his wife established the A.J. Trustey Epilepsy Research Fund at Brigham and Women’s Hospital to help in the research and treatment for the many people afflicted with epilepsy.

Kris, Caroline, and Claire, joined by extended family, received each and every one of the thousands of mourners who filled the Dining Hall, the entire first floor of the Science Center and Upper School hallways, and the sidewalk all the way to the front of the Winslow Building. Countless close friends supported the Trusteys throughout the afternoon and evening.

Reverend Timothy Scully, CSC, from the University of Notre Dame, led the prayer service followed by the tributes shared with the overflow crowd filling the

I N M EM O RI A M

Anna’s grounded and positive outlook propelled her forward as a community force for good. Artist, actor, dancer, athlete, and peer-elected senator, Anna’s pursuits were deep and purposeful.

Dining Hall, while hundreds of others spilled out onto the Inspiration Garden patio to listen by remote loudspeaker. A few words of these tributes help illuminate the extraordinary spirit that defined both Joe and Anna.

Youngest daughter Claire, who graduated from Shore this June, acknowledged that she knew recalling a few funny stories would help. She then shared a memory of Anna from just this summer. “Anna had a love for blasting country music in the car at 11 o’clock, just the two of us driving without a purpose. On at

least eight nights this summer, that was our agenda.

We would tuck mom and dad into bed and off we’d go, driving for ice cream, milkshakes, candy, or just to bond. Anna had a way of making any boring old night into one to remember.” And of her sister and father together, Claire stated, “With my dad and Anna around, there was no such thing as typical.”

Joe’s Summit Partners colleague, Martin Mannion, spoke next, saying that his friend “oozed life.” “You never heard the word ‘never’ or ‘can’t.’ … You never heard ‘I can’t learn to snowboard.’ You never heard, ‘I can’t do a marathon.’ You never heard, ‘I can’t dress up like a nun. I can’t wear an elf costume.’ Joe did all of this, and lots more.” Mannion reflected on the many lives that the Trusteys touched. “People like Joe and Anna don’t get placed on Earth by accident.”

Anna’s best friend, Kyle Kingston, shared her “Letter to Anna,” in which she recalled their first meeting at Shore seven years earlier, and said that witnessing her friend’s spirited determination and ability to love changed her own life. As an example, she told the story of Anna’s attempt to place flowers at her brother A.J.’s grave during the “Winter of the Century,” when the cemetery was still covered in feet of snow, and Anna was dressed only in “cropped leggings and Converse.”

ABOVE: A student holding a memorial candle at the vigil LEFT: Shore’s Inspiration Garden, where Anna’s name will be inscribed alongside those of other students who have passed away

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Joe, Kris and Claire ’16 at Celebration Night on the eve of Claire’s 8th grade graduation

“You didn’t turn back, though,” Kingston recounted.

“You waded through the snow to reach A.J., but you couldn’t exactly find where he was, and instead found yourself standing thigh-deep in snow. But you still didn’t turn back. You trudged a little farther, separated the bouquet, and began to throw flowers in all directions. You hoped some would land in the right spot, and if not, others would receive your love that day.”

Harvard Business School classmate Shane Kim knew Joe for 27 years. “There are three men in my life that I say I love you to: my father, my son, and Joe. And if I’m honest, I probably said it more to Joe than anybody else … Joe was my brother.”

Anna’s Brooks School advisor, John McVeigh, recalled, “She was just so comfortable in her own skin.

It was the kind of comfort that made people feel good about themselves when they were with her. … When Anna was happy, she had that good news right behind her smile; it was ready to burst out. I think it was because she was so excited to make you as happy as she already was.”

A mass of Resurrection, celebrated by priests from Notre Dame, the Boston Archdiocese, and the Church of St. Paul in Hamilton, was held on Wednesday,

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August 5, in the chapel on the Gordon College campus to accommodate the multitude of mourners. Reverend Sean McGraw’s homily captured the spirits of Joe and Anna in a personal message that resonated with all who knew them. Quoting the words “but even now” from Scripture, he exhorted us to even now look to the example of Joe’s and Anna’s love, generosity, and faith to do good in the world.

Kris Trustey spoke from her heart when she acknowledged the pain of personal loss, but she implored us to embrace both our grief and faith and to join her on the path of healing. “We can choose to avoid all that reminds us of the person we lost,” she said, “or we can embrace. I found embracing much easier than avoiding, and I hope that you, if you are able, embrace Joe and Anna in your grief.”

Joe and Kris’s eldest daughter, Caroline, captured the hearts of every soul in attendance with her words of remembrance capped by moving personal messages to each of the Trustey family members. Of her father and sister, she said, “I cannot think of a better duo to be together on their last day.”

The thoughts and prayers of the entire Shore community are with the Trustey family now and forever.

2015-2016 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Executive Committee

Jennifer M. Borggaard ’84 President Joshua A. Webber Vice President Duncan B. Wilkinson Treasurer William M. Shields ’84 Secretary

Committee Members Martha B. Bacigalupo William O. Charman John Collins Robert J. Duffy Robin Ellis Susan Fortin Amy Foster James A. Hamilton Julia Hesse Courtney Kagan Cynthia T. Mazareas Ledyard H. McFadden John J. Meany Fiona Minney Santo Politi Nicola C.G. Savignano ’84 Elizabeth Skates Richard Toran, Jr. Patrick A. Wilson

MUSIC MAN triumphs over winter of the century.

Photo by Paul Pelletier

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TEACHING AT SHORE |

Student-centered meets hands-on