Shore Country Day School Bulletin - Fall 2016

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SHORE BULLETIN • FALL 2016

CHANGE AT SHORE

Larry Griffin’s legacy in motion

2016-2017 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Jennifer Borggaard ’84 President Joshua Webber Vice President Duncan Wilkinson Treasurer William Shields ’84 Secretary Martha Bacigalupo William Charman John Collins Khoa Do ’86 Robin Ellis Amy Foster Hugh Foster Daan Goedkoop James Hamilton Rayna Hannaway Julia Hesse Courtney Kagan Elizabeth Mallon Denise Marks Cynthia Mazareas John Meany Fiona Minney Santo Politi Elizabeth Skates Richard Toran, Jr. Patrick Wilson

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SHORE BULLETIN • FALL 2016

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

ADMINISTRATION Head of School Lawrence A. Griffin Head of Upper School and Assistant Head of School Benjamin G. Kennedy Head of Lower School Sara L. Knox Director of Admissions Daphne Clark Faldi ’89 Director of Finance and Operations Ann-Marie Flynn Director of Advancement Jody M. Johnson Director of Marketing and Communications William R. Fisher Editorial Jake Ahern Brooke Booth Sarah Carlin William Fisher Linda Grodberg Jody Johnson Nancy McNall Sean Melia Gwen Sneeden Photography William Fisher Alyse Gause Linda Grodberg Paul Pelletier Design Jeanne Abboud Design

ON THE COVER: Coach Larry Griffin encouraging his Varsity Baseball squad, spring 2016.

CONTENTS

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20 02 From the Head of School

Change 05 17 20 23

His Legacy, Our Shore: Larry Griffin House Rules: The First Year of the House System Middlebury President Laurie Patton ’76 The Art of ‘Fit’: Sander van Otterloo ’91 on Secondary Placement

Community 27 32 34 36

Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night: Lee Carey, Bobbi Whiting, Marilyn Herrick Retire Honoring Our Finest Dedication of the Trustey Family Theatre United in Service x 2

News 40 42 43 44

79th Closing Exercises 2016 Graduates Class of 2013 Goes to College New Trustees

Inspiration 46 48 50 53 56 58

A Magical Poppins Celebrating Kindness Concrete Science Exploring the Great War’s Europe: The Loring Award Sports in Review: 2015-2016 Reaching Shore: The Driscoll Family

Past & Present 61 62 64 65

In Memoriam Class Notes Save the Date The Shore Fund

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From the Head of School Do What is Best for the Child Lawrence A. Griffin

I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world today— to have been given the honor to serve as Shore’s Head of School for three decades, surrounded by friends and colleagues focused on making the world a better place for children. As members of an independent school community, we have been granted the liberty to create a unique educational vision and environment. I am proud of the school we have created together.

As I focus on ensuring a smooth transition to new, dynamic leadership from Shore’s seventh Head of School, I am moved to share a few words and thoughts about what I have learned in my time at Shore.

For my colleagues, I offer my mantra about teaching and learning: do what is best for children.

We are not teaching content; we are teaching children. We have the liberty to design our lessons for the students currently in our class. It is as important that we embrace and support the development of their

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character, as it is that we create a truly rich and dynamic curriculum.

While the fundamentals of learning remain constant, our approach and methodology must adapt as the world around us evolves. We need to stay fresh—get out beyond Shore and learn from others. To stay ahead of the curve requires that we know what is out there and embrace change. Our best ideas evolve when we collaborate—when we share, talk, and reflect. Remember you won’t be the final word in a student’s life, but you can make an indelible impression. Our responsibility is to inspire curiosity in our children to get them to want to learn more. Our charge is to help children become effective learners. Our privilege is to play a role in children’s lives.

Always, always—do what is best for children.

For parents, I offer my mantra for parenting: do what is best for your child. Understand that learning is hard work and growing up is not easy. There will be disappointments along the way. We always say that we want our children to learn from their mistakes, but all too often, parents want their children to grow up free of any disappointment. We want our children to thrive happily and grow to be resilient, responsible adults. This growth only happens when we allow our children to experience failure. When I advise a child how to approach a teacher when he has earned a mark that is less than he expected or hoped to achieve, my counsel is always the same: “Your goal needs to focus on the difference between what you learned and

what you needed to learn to achieve your goal, not on the mark itself or how you may raise the mark.” The concept is critical, not the mark.

Whether in the classroom or on the playground, learning to take a setback in stride and grow from the experience is one of the most important lessons for a happy life.

We must do what is best for the child in the long run.

Set your child up for success; keep expectations realistic and achievable. Children develop at astoundingly different rates along divergent paths. Be careful not to fall prey to believing that because your child was the first to read in her age group, that she is destined to excel and outpace her peers for her entire career. Conversely, do not fall prey to believing that your child is a “finished product” at any point in his education. Grades, test scores, and evaluations are a “snapshot” of a moment in time.

Annually, I learn of graduates who have gone on to distinguished doctoral work and major career achievements whose Shore transcripts were modest by comparison.

Hold the long perspective. Focus on instilling passion for learning and finding areas of particular interest.

Work with your child’s teachers to mutually plan how to best inspire, challenge, and support your child.

Celebrate genuine accomplishment, and give praise with purpose.

We have become a society with the expectation that all children will experience success in all they undertake. Resist the temptation to equate participation with achievement, and don’t expect your child to

be ready or able to participate in all activities at all levels. It is okay for a child to try out for a team, a musical ensemble, a part in the play, or a Senate role and not get chosen. She will learn resilience in the process.

Acknowledge her disappointment and even pain in being let down.

Listen. Reflect. Talk; do not lecture.

When she knows you have heard her, share your genuine appreciation, and give praise for her willingness to take the risk of trying out.

When she knows you have her back, she will continue to take appropriate risks, and she will find her own areas of interest and success.

Ultimately, she will become more confident and successful, and you may celebrate her authentic accomplishments together.

Give children the time and space to think independently and creatively. Resist the temptation to schedule every minute of every day. Allow time for free play from the earliest ages right through to adulthood. Let your children learn to cope by navigating peer relationships without always having adults organize their activities. Allow children time to make up games and rules for themselves. They need to learn negotiation skills early, and we deprive them when we create “no fail” environments in everything from playtime to organized sports. A neighborhood game of “Kick the Can” is great therapy!

Model reverence for learning.

Your child will follow your lead far more than your instructions.

Respect your child’s teachers and genuinely believe their motivation is to provide your child with the best experience possible. Suspend judgment. Get to know your child’s teachers and build a true partnership. Share your appreciation often by writing notes or speaking a word of encouragement to teachers. Let your teachers know what excites and motivates your child. Ask questions. Ask how you may work

Griffin congratulating graduates at Shore’s 79th Closing Exercises, June 15, 2016.

at home to best support your child’s classroom learning. Listen actively.

Your child will learn the most as a student and person when he knows you and his teachers are working together.

Give children the time and space to read independently. Our finest scholars are almost always eager readers. The deepest thinkers and best communicators are those who have learned to love to read. Read to your children; have your children read to you; read as a family and never stop reading. Talk about what you read over a meal. Demonstrate your own passion for reading.

Listen. Affirm. Debate ideas. Do what is best for your child.

Finally, relax and enjoy the moment! Laugh often. Education is a continuum—a compendium of experiences, a process—not a solitary event. Remind yourself of the most joyful moments by writing them down. Keep a journal; include the cute and funny expressions you hear your child voice. Document those hysterical stories, interpretations, and misinterpretations your child offers up spontaneously. See the humor in situations. Share your joy and humor with your child. This will be great for your child.

For teachers and parents together, my key word is respect.

Respect one another, respect the child, and respect yourselves.

Celebrate successes by highlighting acts of kindness, acceptance, thoughtfulness, honesty, and responsibility that are the bedrock of our Community Code. Our time together is fleeting; let’s make it fun! We have a shared objective and ultimate goal for your child: to love learning and to grow into a happy, healthy, productive adult with a sense of purpose and direction.

We have the greatest likelihood of success working collaboratively, sharing insight, learning from one another’s perspective. Do what is best for the child.

For the next Head of School, I offer just a few thoughts. Focus on the children. Listen. Reflect.

Accept and enjoy change. You have joined a community that truly cares about you and your family, and they are ready to encourage, support, and follow your lead. You have an amazing, impassioned faculty and staff, devoted parents, and phenomenal students. Think big and have fun, always doing what is best for children. You are one of the luckiest people in the world today.

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Preparing to depart with Grade 5 for the trip to Mystic Seaport, spring 2016.

“I was absolutely sure that if I applied for the head position, there was no way that I was going to get this job.”

— Larry Griffin Sharing words of advice, 1995.

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His Legacy, Our Shore: Larry Griffin

By Bill Fisher Three decades ago, a series of improbable events brought a young and energetic school administrator in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to the attention of a committee of Shore’s Board of Trustees. Today, that same administrator, Larry Griffin—Shore’s sixth Head of School—has, through a series of extraordinary, if at times improbable, successes utterly transformed an institution and helped to secure its future.

It was 1986; Griffin was the Middle School Head at University Liggett School. “It was my eleventh year at the school,” recalls Griffin, “and I loved where I was.

Michigan was where I grew up. I was at the top of my game. I had my own campus and my own faculty. I had everything.” Griffin and his wife, Cathy, an English and Latin teacher at Liggett, had one child, David, who was almost two years old, and a second child due in the fall of that year.

Meanwhile, with Shore’s Head of School planning to depart in July of 1987, the Board of Trustees had

mailed a letter to school administrators far and wide announcing the search for a new head. But it was only by chance that Griffin ever saw this letter: a parent from Marblehead, Frank Thorn—who had sent two children to Shore in the 1980s—received a copy and playfully sent it to his sister, Mary, who happened to be the Head of the Lower School at Liggett. Griffin relates that Frank told her, “This is your next job.

We’ve already picked out your condo on the harbor in Marblehead.”

“Of course,” Griffin notes, “she was just a few years away from retirement when she received the letter, and she laughed about it. But she walked into my office on the middle school campus and proceeded to tell me the same thing: ‘This is your next job.’” Thorn assured Griffin it was the right kind of school for him, and he called to request an admissions brochure.

Until then, Griffin had thought only casually of searching for a new position; now he started looking

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Welcoming students and their families before the flag-raising ceremony on the first day of school, September 9, 2015.

on education, and at the time, Griffin admits, while it may have been accented with youthful naiveté, his letter reflected views that aren’t much different from those he holds now.

“I’ve always been a person who cares about academics and challenging people,” he says, “but in a very child-centered way. You’ve got to know children, give them something to feel good about, and create an environment where they feel affirmed. The best teachers, I’ve always said, are those who form a relationship with each child. Look out for the person first; every“They wrote about appreciating the many hats he wore at thing else follows.” the school literally and figuratively, and the parent delivering Griffin met with the search consultant over the tribute used some of his actual hats that I had secretly the summer and left the provided. It was very clever—Larry as teacher, administrator, meeting sure he would not be amongst the camper, jokester, spirit master…” candidates invited to — Cathy Griffin campus; the consultant felt he was just too young and inexperienced for the job. “Come back in about the wall. I’ve never even taken mine out of the cardfive years and I will help you find a job,” Griffin recalls board tube,” Griffin offers as clarification. him saying. But while it may have seemed like the end, But Griffin did apply for the position at Shore. With Shore Trustees were just getting started. his application, he sent a letter outlining his thoughts toward the future in earnest. However, when he received Shore’s admissions materials, he kept his hopes in check. “I was absolutely sure that if I applied for the head position, there was no way that I was going to get this job. Everything about the school seemed a complete mismatch for me. I just laughed about it.” In describing what made him so sure Shore wasn’t a fit, Griffin paints a picture of what must have appeared to him an exceedingly formal and traditional institution.

“Some people put their diplomas and certificates on

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H IS L EG ACY, O U R SH O RE

The Board Search Committee, which had considered dozens of candidates vetted and promoted by the consultant, asked to see all of the résumés received to be sure they did not overlook any possibility for a good match. Among the application materials of Larry Griffin, they found a tenth year tribute written by the Parents’ Association at Liggett that caught their eye, says Cathy Griffin. “They wrote about appreciating the many hats he wore at the school literally and figuratively, and the parent delivering the tribute used some of his actual hats that I had secretly provided. It was very clever—Larry as teacher, administrator, camper, jokester, spirit master….”

In October, having discovered this promising young candidate, the Board made an unexpected call to Griffin and asked if he would fly to Boston the following Sunday for a one-hour interview in the city with the search committee. “Super Sunday,” as Cathy calls it, proved to be the start of a series of dynamic conversations. About a week later, the Board called him again, this time for an official candidate visit, where he finally met faculty and administrators on campus. It was Halloween. “That’s when I got to the know the place, and even though I was still convinced it would never happen, I actually started to get interested.” Griffin returned home just in time for the birth of his second son, Robby, on the first of November.

Time felt compressed for the Griffin family as they rushed back to Boston for the final interview with both boys in tow, and the search proceeded happily and unabated. And then, the final call came, this time from the Search Team Co-Chairs, Carroll Clark ’55 (P ’79, ’81, ’85, ’89, GP ’11, ’15, ’19, ’21, ’24) and Dr. Ralph Sweetland (P ’84, ’87, ’91). “They were actually nervous,” Griffin recalls. “They were so nervous they had to flip a coin to see who would make the call. They were somehow convinced I would decline the offer, and neither one wanted to be responsible for failing to secure the ‘Yes.’” Ralph made the offer and received an instantaneous and resounding, “Yes.” “Cathy and I were convinced it was Robby’s baby charm during the campus visit and Board of Trustees’ interview that sealed the deal.”

“The real clincher for us,” says Griffin, “was meeting the families of the Co-Chairs, the Clarks and the Sweetlands, and the next Chair of the Board of Trustees, Eijk van Otterloo (P ’90, ’91, GP ’22, ’23, ’25), and his family. We visited with them in their homes, and Cathy and I decided that if other Shore families were anything like these people, then we felt good about taking a shot at the job. Turns out, it was the Top: Wearing one of his many hats, 1989-90.

Bottom: Halloween, 1988; the announcement of Griffin’s hiring described his “pied piper” quality.

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Observing from the sidelines, 1999-2000.

right school, and absolutely the right decision!” Says Cathy, “All of these families just immediately reached out to us and made us feel welcome—completely down to earth. We felt very lucky.”

Accepting the offer, however, was just the beginning of a whirlwind transition that would come to a climax the following summer as Griffin and his wife moved half-way across the country with the boys. “It was the height of the real estate market,” recalls Griffin, “and there were no homes available.” Unable to find anything suitable, in April he appealed to the Board to negotiate something on their behalf—because one way or another, they were moving that July, and needed somewhere, anywhere, to live. The house they ultimately found in South Hamilton belonged to Renato and Michela Savignano, whose children attended the school, and whose son, Nicola ’84, went on to send his own children to Shore, where he just completed seven years on the Board, including serving as the At Our Finest Campaign Chair.

“It must have been 100 degrees on move-in day in July when we showed up,” Griffin recounts, “and

we hadn’t had a moment to prep the house. On top of that, we had almost no furniture, because our house in Michigan had been so much smaller.” Fortuitously, on that sweltering day in July, the Griffins were greeted by the families of at least five Board members hard at work mowing the lawn, washing windows, cleaning inside from top to bottom, and dropping off lightly used furniture for the boys’ rooms. The van Otterloo family even had relatives visiting from Europe busy at work on the windows. “It was really something. We couldn’t have felt more welcome,” Griffin says.

At the start of the school year in September, the first order of business was to observe. “I promised the faculty I would take a year to just learn as much as I could before I started to say anything. I didn’t live up to that very well,” Griffin admits. He immediately began to focus on two major areas of the school: curriculum and faculty evaluation. “There was none,” says Griffin of the evaluation model he found in place when he arrived.

“When I learned that, I said to the faculty, ‘This is not going to work.’”

Nonetheless, he softened the blow significantly by teaming closely with the Board of Trustees and Shore’s renowned Chief Financial Officer, Bobbi Whiting, for an early decision that seems perfectly characteristic.

“It was just mid-year,” recounts Cathy. “Larry pulled the faculty and staff together and announced that the Board of Trustees had generously approved a retroactive salary increase to demonstrate their commitment to assembling the best faculty possible.” Larry made people his priority, and he convinced the Board that Shore had to become a leader in the field. “He was adamant about showing faculty and staff they were valued!”

Cathy adds.

“Thirty years later,” says Lee Carey, who for three decades served as Shore’s Director of Admissions and Secondary School Counseling, “and Larry has never paused. Starting that very first fall, when we so quickly began to understand his insatiable need for action, Larry got us all thinking about where we’d go next. To his enduring credit, he refused to administer from the top down, instead elevating faculty leadership on the weightiest issues facing the school. He loved nothing better than to rally support for someone else’s great idea.”

Near the end of his first year as Head, Griffin told the faculty that if they had signed a contract to teach

“I was always amazed at his energy. Whether it was coaching baseball, explaining a ninth grade prank he foiled, or eating lunch with the kids, he had this incredible boyish enthusiasm. And that’s exactly the same today as when he started.”

—Nancy McNall 8

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H IS L EG ACY, O U R SH O RE

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua

Robby, Larry, Cathy, and David Griffin outside the Head of School’s office, 2002.

the following year, they’d be expected to stay an extra week after graduation in June to help envision the best school possible. “That was my stroke of genius, one of the best decisions of my career,” Griffin believes.

During that week, “First, I asked them to tell me what it would take for us to become the best pre-kindergarten to grade nine school in the world. It was wide open.

Second, I asked them to come up with a plan for evaluating each other and being happy about it. I wasn’t used to being in a school without regular evaluations, and some of these teachers had been here 20 years or more and never been formally evaluated. I told them, ‘That’s just not my style. I will be in everyone’s classroom. I’ll be all over the place.’”

One teacher who’s been at Shore nearly as long as Griffin, Athletic Director Nancy McNall, can attest to

the invigorating effect that the new Head of School had around campus. “I was always amazed at his energy.

Whether it was coaching baseball, explaining a ninth grade prank he foiled, or eating lunch with the kids, he had this incredible boyish enthusiasm. And that’s exactly the same today as when he started.”

The most significant change that came out of the June meetings at the end of his first year, however, was the decision to reorient the school as two divisions instead of three, insists Griffin. At the time, Shore had Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools. “The most important request of the faculty was for division heads who had time to lead,” says Griffin. “The Lower School Head was a kindergarten teacher. The Upper School Division Head was a history teacher with two full sections. And the Head of the Middle School taught sixth grade full-time.

None of them had enough hours in the day. But because I knew the money wasn’t there for three fulltime division heads, I offered the faculty a deal. I asked, ‘Would you consider going to two divisions instead of three?’ They all went, ‘Oh…’ They had never considered this option, but they agreed on the consolidation, as long as I could promise they’d get full division heads. I did, and that was it.”

When the Board began its strategic planning process that year, they asked, “How fast can we do this?” “How fast can you During construction of the Walsh Science Center and Library Resource Center, 1990.

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Head’s Holiday, 1999; Griffin instituted the annual tradition early in his tenure.

build?” was his reply, recalls Griffin. Shore set out to add much-needed classroom space to the Lower School within twelve months. Also included in the new master plan were science labs, the library, a new theater, art and music classrooms, and much more—a visionary blueprint whose final piece, the Lawrence A. Griffin Center for Creativity, was finally completed in 2012.

According to longtime third grade teacher Sam Hamlin, who was part of the committee that hired Griffin, “He lived up to everything we could have hoped for, and a million times more. Since he first set foot on campus, everything had begun to change.”

The following fall, the start of his second year at Shore, the pace picked up. “Almost every week,” recalls Cathy, “either we were having people for dinner at our house, or we were out at another family’s.” A major capital campaign had begun, and the Board wanted to hear everything the Griffins had to say about Shore.

“Maybe we were young and foolish, but we just said what we thought. Larry had looked at the school, and he told them what he liked, and what he thought had to change. He didn’t filter himself at all.”

The meetings, dinners, and work at school were 24/7 for the first few years, says Cathy. “In the

beginning, it was not easy with the baby and toddler in a new place. But so many people reached out to help, and we created our own traditions to make sure there was always something to look forward to—special nights when daddy would be home or evenings when we brought picnics to daddy’s office.” Eventually, both boys would attend Shore, going all the way from Pre-K to Grade 9 at “daddy’s place.”

“David, our older son, was shy and a little scared about going,” Cathy admits. “He mostly saw the older children, and thought it must be a place where really important stuff happened. But once he reached kindergarten, a wonderful teacher who really ‘got’ David helped him start making connections, one friend at a time, and he was on his way.” Little brother, Robby, was exactly the opposite—he couldn’t wait to go, and he was so impatient he actually started a year earlier than expected. “They think of Shore as their second home,” says Cathy. “They’re amazed at the education they got, and the community.” It’s no wonder both David and Robby are teachers today.

Cathy herself was closely involved day-to-day at the school from the very beginning. “The Board really wanted me to participate in their meetings, and they

“Maybe we were young and foolish, but we just said what we thought.

Larry had looked at the school, and he told them what he liked, and what he thought had to change. He didn’t filter himself at all.”

—Cathy Griffin 10

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H IS L EG ACY, O U R SH O RE

“You’ve got to know children, give them something to feel good about, and create an environment where they feel affirmed. The best teachers, I’ve always said, are those who form a relationship with each child.

Look out for the person first; everything else follows.”

—Larry Griffin welcomed my perspective as a teacher. In fact, they wanted me to continue teaching as soon as I could go back to work, which I did as soon as both boys were in school. It was incredibly helpful for me to understand the issues the Board was dealing with first-hand, so I’d be able to discuss them with Larry at home. I know it was valuable for him to have another set of eyes and ears, which might pick up on something that he didn’t.”

Of those busy early years full of discussions and decision-making, Lee Carey says, “What was most striking at the time was his incredible gift for attaching us all to the journey that Shore represents. To be sure, he is a man of ideas and a man of action, but he wins us over because he values equally the ideas and initiative of others. He looks ahead, and he makes the rest of us do the same. He doesn’t shy from the hard parts, and he coaxes the rest of us along with him. Then, as now, he guides us all to live by his mantra: evaluating every action at Shore according to what is best for children.”

In the first years of the master plan, what was best for children was clear to all: Griffin, the Board, and the faculty agreed that science labs and a library couldn’t come soon enough. “The school had a single science lab,” Griffin remembers, “and every science class would get to use it just once a week.” The vision called for a centralized facility with five labs designed for the specific ages of the children and nature of sciences that would be offered in them. “Conceptually, we were way ahead of our time. Our teachers envisioned labs with two distinct spaces, one for discussion-based learning and data and lab presentation, and the other for hands-on experimentation.

Everything from state-of-the-art scientific equipment to classroom technology was designed into the plan. Now more than 25 years later, we have updated the discussion areas with Harkness tables to facilitate even greater student-to-student learning, but the overall design is perfectly in line with the newest facilities being built today.”

When teachers came forth with a concept for blending studio

art and science in the earliest years of a child’s learning at Shore, Griffin jumped at the opportunity, and S.A.I.L. (Science and Art Integrated Learning) was born. Nationally recognized for this interdisciplinary offering, Shore set the standard for introducing lab sciences to children from pre-kindergarten to grade three. The school set itself apart from peers by devoting more time and emphasis to science and art for children in their earliest years of elementary school.

Simultaneously, the science department accelerated the challenge within the curriculum by taking the traditional ninth grade Introductory Physical Science course and shifting it to become the eighth grade science offering. This allowed for the bold move of enrolling all ninth grade students in biology and putting them all on an Advanced Placement science track.

Similarly with math, Griffin became curious about the possibilities of tweaking the curriculum to advance teaching. Early comparisons to international students had revealed that students in the United States were already behind European and Asian counterparts.

Research based on the work of Professor James Stigler of the University of Michigan caught Griffin’s attention, and two dramatic changes ensued. “We began to teach the equivalent amount of time for six classes weekly instead of the traditional five classes in grade four through seven,” he explains. “Our studies showed

With Lower School students, 2000s.

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Calling the official close of the school year, June 14, 2016.

that one of the primary reasons for the discrepancy in math between students of different nations was simply the amount of time devoted to it. The second factor was the early introduction of ‘math lab’ periods in which students could wrestle with ideas in mathematics around solving real life problems collaboratively. These early adjustments gave all students the boost and readiness to tackle algebra in the eighth grade and geometry in the ninth, where previously these courses were reserved solely for the honors section.” Again, Shore students were all on track for Advanced Placement in mathematics if they so chose at the secondary level.

As for the library, located at the time on the second floor of the Winslow Building, Griffin and the Board were determined: “No middle school child in his right mind goes to a library that is not directly in his path.

He practically has to fall on it. We knew it had to be the hub of the campus.” But when the Board began planning for the campaign that would pay for the facilities, which were originally envisioned as two new separate buildings, fundraisers feared they wouldn’t be able to raise enough capital for both. Griffin is still amazed by the power of collective belief and confidence from the Board in his earliest years. When it was clear a single building was far preferable to two, the Board instantaneously met a challenge grant to proceed with the transformational Walsh Science Center/Library and Information Technology Center. With just the

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one building, the vista between the new facility and the future location of the Center for Creativity was preserved.

Everyone imagined that a new theater would follow, but that was before assessing the effect of overcrowded dining facilities on the quality of life in the school.

“What is now our Dining Hall used to be the Ayer Gymnasium. At that time, we fed everyone lunch in the space of our current servery. We had to have five lunch seatings, with 100 people packed in each shift, so it was just one lunch after another after another.”

Taking over the old gym space to create a larger dining area and constructing the Rock Gym to replace the lost gymnasium space meant that theater and the arts would have to wait. But opportunity often arises from adversity. “When we realized it could be another decade before we embarked on an arts center,” recounts Griffin, “we thought creatively about making the Dining Hall a community gathering and learning space outside of the lunch hour. From the media presentation equipment in the built-in console, to the drop-down wall curtains hidden in the ceiling, to the tile dance floor in the center of the room, we envisioned everything—meals, performances, lectures, workshops, and dances—in this one space.” The new Dining Hall, which today easily serves some 500 people in just two shifts, exceeded all expectations.

With the increased emphasis on community and

H IS L EG ACY, O U R SH O RE

collaboration, the birth of the Community Code was perhaps inevitable. Like many of the most important aspects of the Shore program—from student-centered, discussion-based teaching and learning around the Harkness table, to the integration of the arts in Lower School science classes—Shore’s Community Code grew from the ground up. “The faculty was looking for a way to handle discipline in a consistent way,” says Griffin. “And the great idea they came up with was, instead of making a big set of rules about what not to do, create a code of aspirations for what you do want to do if you’re trying to be the best version of yourself. A group of faculty spent extra time working to come up with the gist of it, and then the whole faculty met and agreed on it. It gave us this incredible license to hold kids accountable to these really positive values, like integrity and kindness.”

Of course, reminds Carey, “Larry is Shore’s finest role model. The values in the Community Code are a virtual match to the personal aspirations he holds out for every member of the school. Indeed, Larry is kind, truthful, respectful, open, dependable, and at his best; and without question the school strives every day to rise to the example he sets.”

Delayed planning for the theater turned out to be fortuitous. Early designs would have picked up and relocated the entire Winslow Building closer to what is now the Walsh Science Center, rotated on an angle so that it faced the Oval. “You’d walk up to the second floor of Winslow,” says Griffin, “and you’d be in the balcony of the theater, which was going to be built right behind it.” That incredible-sounding concept never came to be; during planning for the new dining hall, designers informed the school that relocating the existing kitchen to accommodate the theater would have cost nearly a million dollars by itself. Fortunately for Shore, the kitchen remained where it was (and where it still is today), Winslow stayed put, and the theater was redesigned to fit a space on the opposite side of campus.

There was another benefit to the delay. “If we had gone forward with building a theater and arts spaces early on,” reflects Griffin, “I think we would have ended up with a facility very typical of independent schools, with rooms that do the one thing you want them to do.

Instead, our idea of the Center for Creativity had time to evolve and grow into something far beyond that.

As our vision developed, we realized that we couldn’t afford to build something that was just for performances. We knew we needed it to be community space, as well. We wanted a hub that could pull the whole school together, and this was the place to do it.”

That visionary thinking surely influenced the design of the Innovation Lab. “The makerspace is a concept that many schools play with,” says Griffin, “but those tend to be limited, small spaces, very oriented around computers. In our planning we asked ourselves, ‘What would it take to enable a student or teacher to build whatever they could imagine, now or in the future?’ We didn’t want to limit it to just wood, metal, or computers. We had seen some schools put all their

Speaking at the dedication of the Walsh Science Center/Library and Information Technology Center, 1992; seated, left to right: Board President Neal Ryland, past Board President Joe Lovejoy, and former Head of School Brian Walsh.

energy into 3D printing, when that was just a small piece of what we wanted to do. And we needed real space to think big, not just a workbench in the corner of a room.”

Griffin shares proudly, “It was a risk: we built the expansive, ambitious space we envisioned and

“And the great idea they came up with was, instead of making a big set of rules about what not to do, create a code of aspirations for what you do want to do if you’re trying to be the best version of yourself.”

—Larry Griffin 13

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According to Cathy, when they arrived at Shore they found a school with a deserved reputation for academics and sports. But, she says, “We wanted to be a place where families felt good leaving their children in the morning, where the whole child’s needs were being addressed. As Larry made his hiring decisions about who was going to be in charge, bringing in new teachers, he looked for people who loved children and enjoyed spending their time with children. He wanted teachers who appreciated kids not only for how they achieved as students, or by how well they performed on the athletic field, but above all by who they were inside. We knew there were children who had gifts that weren’t easily measured. It’s their spirit that makes the place, and the friendship they “Larry is well known for getting emotional when speaking to an offer.” Cathy reveals that that concern for audience about the accomplishments of students, faculty, and the whole child is why staff; I think his willingness to reveal that depth of feeling, and Griffin began the tradition—for which he’s even vulnerability, is such a great lesson for all of us.” now well known—of making tributes to —Ruth Bauer every graduating student at Shore’s closing exercises. became vital for our community. We made sure the idea Adds Carey, “He always looked for ways to connect of the Big Room was preserved in our new Kiva, which with students: teaching, trips, coaching. He believed was really designed as the same kind of multi-purpose there was as much for students to learn about the world area, only better. Now, the Kiva is the new gathering and themselves outside of the classroom as in.” place for the entire community. That space and the When Griffin first arrived at the school, overnight Center as a whole have changed life at our school. trips were just an afterthought in the curriculum. Very When we walk into those doors, we know who we are.” quickly, he began casting about among faculty and Agrees Fine Arts Department Chair Ruth Bauer, alumni for leads on off-campus destinations. “I’m an “Entering this gorgeous building where the aesthetics outdoor trips kind of guy,” he says. He scored his first and the function all come together in such a beautiful connection when he received a call from Nat Pulsifer way—it’s a huge statement about the importance of cre(former Trustee and P ’85, ’89) of Ipswich. ativity and of community gathering together. On con“He simply said, ‘I have an island off the coast of cert nights and at community events, the atmosphere Maine. Would you like to see it?’” recalls Griffin. In is simply vibrant.”

December of his first year at Shore, he and his family Griffin has left his mark on Shore in ways that spent a weekend at Pulsifer’s house on the mainland, go beyond the physical campus. “Far more than the just across from the island. “We went across in a little changes in our physical plant or our programs,” says 10-foot boat to find a Christmas tree to cut down and Carey, “Larry changed the tone and the character of take home for the holiday. We walked out into this field the school. As a new presence at Shore, we knew him that was two-and-a-half feet deep in snow. I looked by his laugh in the hallways. His joy in the quirks and at the meadow. I said, ‘This is going to be perfect.’” foibles of his own making and of human nature is That was the genesis of the now legendary Yarmouth renowned. Adventure and delight collide when Larry is Island trip, which brings the entire eighth grade class involved. In spirit and in heart, Larry is generous and together in the first weeks of school to bond, work, deeply caring.” and play together, conquer wilderness challenges, and Ruth Bauer emphasizes, “Larry is well known for getenjoy the last warm days of September. ting emotional when speaking to an audience about the The vision for the ninth grade’s winter trip to accomplishments of students, faculty, and staff; I think Milton Academy’s Mountain School in Vershire, his willingness to reveal that depth of feeling, and even Vermont, evolved in similar fashion. Shore teacher vulnerability, is such a great lesson for all of us.” hired the teacher, all without having a formal curriculum or plan. But the risk paid off: the iLab has changed how we think about education. Our faculty has adopted this throughout the curriculum—from hands-on science to investigations of American history. It’s a flexible space, a creative space, that will never be outdated.”

Yet despite this forward thinking, there’s one aspect of the facility that deliberately harkens back to a beloved part of Shore’s past. To accommodate the Center, another building had to come down: the “Big Room.” Recalls Griffin, “It was a single large communal space with carpeted walls, a temporary stage, refrigerators for lunchtime, kindergarten cubbies, and much more. It was multi-purpose, but we made it work, and it

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H IS L EG ACY, O U R SH O RE

and Middle School Division Head John Bowden had attended Milton, and noted an article in their magazine about the Mountain School program. He arranged a visit to Vermont for his and Griffin’s families over one winter break. The idea germinated, and the week of interdisciplinary classes designed and taught by Shore faculty became one of the signature experiences of the ninth grade program.

As he moves into his final year as Head of School, Griffin is proud that Shore offers one of the most extensive travel programs anywhere. Fifth grade students embark on a three-day study of early sea life through hands-on workshops at the Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. For more than three decades, sixth grade students camped for most of a week on peninsulas at the Chewonki Foundation in Casco Bay. Just last April they inaugurated a new tradition of outdoor study at the Hulbert Outdoor Center in Fairlee, Vermont. Seventh grade students are treated to a week at Hosmer Point for environmental study. Eighth grade students start the year at Yarmouth Island and end in June with a combined arts/history trip in New York City. And our senior ninth grade class starts at Squam Lake in New Hampshire, flies to Mississippi for a week with Partners in Development to build a house for the underserved, then treks to Mountain School in Vershire in January, and in early spring flies west to San Francisco to study resources and urban planning.

Still, looking back, Griffin reflects, the biggest change to Shore during his years as Head wasn’t the addition of one particular building or the discovery

of a new overnight destination. It was the teachers.

“The quality of the faculty just kept getting better.

The teachers I wanted us to have are the kind of people who just keep looking at what they’re doing, looking for ways to do it better, constantly improving their curriculum, and always expecting more from themselves and each other.” Shore has always taken a serious, collaborative approach to hiring; a search team is assembled for every opening. “When teachers and administrators collaboratively vet the prospects and make a recommendation, they are vested in the success of the teacher appointed. And quite candidly,” cites Griffin, “there is no substitute for turning teachers loose in conversation with prospects to share what makes them most proud. Our faculty’s energy, joy in working with our students, and excitement about the responsibility that comes with designing truly transformative curriculum shine through and draw the best candidates into Shore.”

And once they are here, he says, “The faculty evaluation model, which has been in place since my second year here, keeps them motivated, current, and vibrant in their teaching. Every five years, an entire team of teachers and administrators visits classes over three weeks, evaluating every facet of one’s teaching, from communications to assessments and professional development. We do it better than almost any school I’ve ever seen. Sure, it’s a lot of work, but it means we end up with faculty and staff who are just unmatched, in my opinion.”

“Larry was a true mentor to faculty and staff,”

The Griffin family, 1993.

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“Shore has learned to embrace the energy of change, and it gives us joy.”

—Lee Carey A related challenge is decidedly non-technological.

“Looking ahead,” Griffin says, “I believe one of the hardest things schools will need to do is hold on to the fundamentals—reading, writing, communication. That’s not because schools aren’t good at them; it’s because the world has changed, and children just don’t read as much anymore. If somebody doesn’t figure out how to get children to start reading again at earlier ages, more frequently and more regularly, we are going to see a generation that is less skilled as communicators.

I am really convinced of that.”

As Griffin prepares to As Zeus in the annual Grade 3 Olympic Festival, 1993, with Walter and Kathleen Morris; Geoffrey and Fiona Lubbock; and Anita Barbato. depart his formal role at Shore, the concern closest to his heart emphasizes former English teacher Joanne Harder, seems to remain much the same as it was when he first whose time at Shore began a few years before Griffin’s. arrived: the well-being of children. Pre-K teacher Beth “He encouraged the faculty to collaborate as we creWhite recounts as illustration, “Larry always liked to ated Coherent Curriculum units, and he consistently wander into my classroom just to see what was hapsupported professional improvement. As a result, I pening with our youngest students. Many times they’d was part of a team of lifelong learners who, in turn, ask questions like, ‘And what do YOU do at this school? served as role models for our students. Larry dreamed Can I feel your necktie? Did you come to play with us?’ big, and he encouraged the faculty and staff members On one visit, Larry brought a book to read; at the end of to do the same.” the story, one of the children decided it was time for a With a stellar faculty in place and a future-ready ‘group hug with Mr. Griffin.’ When they piled all around campus now complete, it almost feels as if the school’s and on top of Larry, hugging him from all angles and work is done. Except, warns Cathy, “If you think that, ruffling up his hair, he laughed so genuinely, clearly then you lose. The physical campus may be in great loving every minute of it!” shape, but kids’ needs are changing so much, and I Perhaps Griffin’s greatest legacy in years to come think that’s where we’re going to have to keep adapting will be having succeeded in impressing upon all of and learning. The next ten years are going to be a chalShore the critical importance of what that group hug lenging time for teaching. We are being called upon to symbolizes—joyful connections with children, which differentiate more and more for children, and yet we he modeled for all, and which inspired generations of also don’t want to lose the value in group experiences students during his tenure. Perhaps it is those connecand shared learning. As Shore continues to change, it tions which are the school’s strength as it prepares to will be about finding the balance.” tackle future challenges known and unknown.

Griffin has his own thoughts on the future. “If I were “Larry taught us to look forward, remain optimisstarting over and had the next 30 years as Head, the tic, and always consider the best for children,” reflects place I would want to start is technology. Our tech team Carey. “We share his pride in our campus and programs. itself is phenomenal, but I don’t think the school is at We construct our teaching more broadly and more crethe point yet of having the full technology integration atively. Children participate with their hearts as much we need to be the school of the future. I think someone as with their minds. Along the way, Shore has learned to will need to look very carefully at that.” embrace the energy of change, and it gives us joy.”

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HOUSE RULES:

The First Year of the House System

By Sean Melia

House buddies enjoying Field Day.

Houses come in all different shapes and sizes. Big, small, rectangular, circular, and everything in between. Houses conjure up images of family dinners, backyard barbecues, putting your feet up after a long day, and family.

This past year at Shore, we took the idea of houses and used it to create something new, exciting, and different. After a year of researching and visiting schools, Shore’s House System was born.

At the start of the school year, students had a lot of questions about the House System and what it was going to look like.

Will I be with my friends?

Maybe.

Am I always going to be in the same house?

Yes.

How often will we be meeting in houses?

Once a week, on Friday mornings.

Why are we doing this?

To build community among all the students, faculty, and staff.

This past year at Shore, we took the idea of houses and used it to create something new, exciting, and different.

After a year of researching and visiting schools, Shore’s House System was born.

That last question was the most important.

Students love to ask why. They want to know why so they can start to feel invested. They want to know why, because change and new things, especially at school, can be hard.

The tough part about change is it takes time, especially when it’s important and meaningful change. This is something I even had to remind myself of throughout the year.

At our first House meeting in September, the goal was to get kids talking to one another—interacting in as many fun ways as possible. We needed to help 70 students break the ice. This was a grueling task, to be

Members of Cove House assembling in the Kiva before morning meeting.

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Some of Marsh House’s founding members signing their scroll.

honest. Eighth graders and first graders, face to face, trying to share their favorite ice cream flavor, what town they lived in, or whether they had any siblings.

It was a tough transition for many of the students and adults who were so used to dealing with certain ages during the rest of the school week.

Kindergarteners probably felt like they were among giants every Friday morning.

As September progressed, students became more and more comfortable with the people in their houses.

A sidewalk drawing activity had younger and older students working shoulder to shoulder instead of face to face, writing supportive messages to the interscholastic teams on campus. They were drawing soccer balls and soccer goals, writing names of players, and taking pictures. It was the first moment I stepped back and thought,

It’s working!

As the fall turned into winter, I noticed students recognizing other house members in the hallways. Bruce Wright, an Upper School math teacher, told me that a fourth grader in his house saw him at the grocery store, said hello, and introduced him to his dad.

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It’s working!

In January, we decided it was time to give the students a bit of ownership over their house. After all, they didn’t get to pick their house, the name of their house, or the color of their house. Now, they were going to get to choose their house mascot.

Placing our trust in students is one of the greatest things about Shore. They didn’t disappoint. The process we used to generate mascot ideas was nearly 100% student driven. Each house brainstormed 20-30 ideas that were whittled down to five. Those five nominees had small campaign teams that created a “pitch,” which they delivered to their entire house. Students in every grade stood stood up and presented their reasons why their nominee should be chosen.

In the end, these mascots were chosen: Marsh House became the Moose. Dune House became the Unicorns. Shoal House became the Rays. Harbor House became the Blue Claws. Jetty House became the Rocks.

Cove House became the Sea Stars.

All of this was announced at a raucous All-School Meeting before Spring Break. Many of the houses had created motions and calls to go along with their mascot before they even left the meeting.

H O USE RU LES

Marsh House became the Moose.

Shoal House became the Rays.

Jetty House became the Rocks.

Dune House became the Unicorns.

Harbor House became the Blue Claws.

Cove House became the Sea Stars.

It’s working!

It’s working!

As the spring came, small things started to happen more organically. You had to look closely to see them, but they were there.

The last day of school was the perfect bookend to that first house meeting. As a house we met for about 10 minutes to honor those 8th and 9th graders that would be graduating the next day. Marsh House graduates did the first ever “Moose March,” high-fiving all the members of the house. Even though they are leaving campus, they will always be Marsh Moose, always.

Following our mini-celebration, the school piled into the Theatre for a song. Third grade teacher and renaissance man, Sam Hamlin, has a song he always plays at the end of the school year for the Lower School.

This year, he wrote a new version for the entire school.

Each verse was written to highlight each house. As he sang, the specific houses joined in, belting out Sam’s lyrics with pride. It was truly an incredible sight and one I will not forget.

We rarely have time to reflect due to our busy lives.

As I stood up on the balcony with the rest of Marsh House that day I was left thinking back to those first few meetings where kids weren’t quite sure what this whole House System thing was and why we were doing it.

I realized the best way to answer to the “Why are we doing this?” question back in September would have been to simply say, “Just wait until the last day of school.”

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Seventh grade boys were holding hands with second graders and leading them across campus to AllSchool Meeting.

Kindergarteners were sitting on the laps of Upper Schoolers during All-School Meetings.

Students in different grades were interacting without even really thinking about it.

Each house was developing its own identity and its own sense of pride.

It’s working!

As the end of the year neared we wanted to commemorate the inaugural year of the House System. Each house signed a scroll, recognizing the founding members of the house. The kids took this very seriously and understood the historical significance of the moment.

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Middlebury College President

Laurie Patton ’76

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L AU RI E PAT TO N ’76

Laurie L. Patton, a Shore alumna of the Class of 1976, was inaugurated October 11, 2015, as the 17th President of Middlebury College. More than 1,000 people gathered to celebrate Patton and listen to her inaugural address on the College’s Vermont campus, in which she noted Middlebury’s “determined, engaged optimism” and presented her vision for the future of the 215-year-old institution.

A Danvers native, Patton is a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall, Harvard College, and the University of Chicago. Prior to Middlebury, she had held the position of Durden Professor of Religion at Duke University, and had served as Dean of Arts & Sciences at Duke since 2011.

Here, she reflects on her first year as Middlebury’s president, shares her thoughts on the future of education, and traces Shore’s influence on her career.

My advice for young leaders is about authenticity. It’s important to be true to your values in whatever you do, and not get caught up in the role or the position.

Then you will be grounded, morally and spiritually, as you make the difficult decisions that will always come your way. n

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commitment, and language learning, as well as developing our new strength in entrepreneurship.

How has your year of major change—becoming President of Middlebury College—gone?

The transition has gone really well! I am impressed by the can-do spirit of both the College and the town. The welcome has been heartfelt! It is an honor to be leading a community whose values I so deeply share.

The most challenging aspect is probably what all presidents face—how Middlebury can remain a vibrant leader in the face of the twin challenges of financial sustainability and larger public debates about the role of liberal arts learning.

Middlebury is at the start of its own cycle of selfevaluation and change. How has the college changed in recent decades, and what are some of the major realizations and priorities emerging, not only at liberal arts institutions but for all educators?

Brett Simison

Our main goal is to “make Middlebury more Middlebury.” I am excited about our strategic planning process because it will give us more data than we have ever had before about our community. And our community has become newly complex, with vibrant graduate offerings at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey as well as the Bread Loaf School of English and the summer Language Schools. I think of that complexity as a kind of ecosystem where the relationships between units are nurtured but individual identities are not erased.

What are you most excited about in the future?

I am excited about how we can lead in our traditional strengths in global liberal arts, environmental

Thinking back over your own education and career path, what are some of the big moments that have stuck with you and brought you where you are today?

Can you trace any of who you are now back to any experiences or people at Shore?

Shore was incredibly influential. I was able to gain the confidence to be a leader at Shore. All of my teachers and coaches had a real interest in each student. And after being pushed on the lacrosse field I was able to stay long hours after school and read Virginia Woolf with my teachers. It doesn’t get better than that! I think about and am grateful for those teachers all the time.

Religion and South Asia are two areas in which you have extensive academic experience. How did you arrive at those, and are there other interests of yours that are particularly important to you today?

I lived for a year in India on a Harvard travel fellowship in 1983-84. I was studying pilgrimage to sacred water sources and India was a perfect place to conduct that research. I became interested in the ancient Sanskrit poetry that described these sacred water sources. And once you develop an interest in Indian religion and literature, it’s hard to let it go.

I’ve since branched out into the contemporary ethnography of women teachers of Sanskrit— collating their life stories. And I have lectured widely and written about inter-religious dialogues and how we take that forward in the 21st century. It’s incredibly helpful to be doing that work in this age of debate about diversity. In addition to the scholarly work of writing and translation, I have continued to publish poetry—a first love! One book of poems came out in 2003 and the other in 2011.

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With the changes that have come to Shore over the past several decades, do you have any thoughts on how your elementary/middle school has changed, or on Larry Griffin, who’s led the community in envisioning all of these changes?

Larry has done a fantastic job! The Harkness method is needed now more than ever, to help students develop the skills of civil debate. That’s a skill that’s more needed than ever before, and we need to encourage it at all levels of education. I doubt I would recognize much of the Shore campus now, but what a testimony to its vitality that it has thrived with these changes.

What advice would you give Shore students as they look ahead to secondary school, college, and career?

My three words for the 21st century are authenticity, accessibility, and vision. n

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My advice for young leaders is about authenticity. It’s important to be true to your values in whatever you do, and not get caught up in the role or the position.

Then you will be grounded, morally and spiritually, as you make the difficult decisions that will always come your way.

Try to stay connected and accessible so people know you’re with them in their daily lives.

And always remind people of the larger vision, so you can look forward together.

Patton with her husband, Shalom Goldman, professor of history, philosophy, and religion; and their two Great Pyrenees, Padma and Suka.

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Brett Simison

Learn more about Laurie Patton on Middlebury College’s website: www.middlebury.edu/about/president.

The

Art of ‘Fit’

By Bill Fisher

The 2015-16 application season was a remarkable success for Shore students, according to English teacher and Director of Secondary School Counseling Sander van Otterloo. To be sure, “success” in this case means not only the numbers, which were historically strong, but also, and just as importantly, the degree of “fit” they reflect.

Van Otterloo explains, “I was really pleased this year that we had students apply to a lot of excellent schools— and a lot of different styles of schools. At the same time, what’s even more satisfying is seeing a good number of our students actually decide to go to the school where they felt they would be happiest, rather than the school that perhaps was the ‘best’ on paper. That’s something I always encourage families and students to think about: where they’re going to find balance, where they’re going to have the opportunity to blossom.”

Historically, Shore students have gained acceptances at 60-65% of the secondary schools to which they submit applications—an enviable track record. Under the guidance of former Director of Admissions and Secondary School Counseling Lee Carey, a generation of Shore students enjoyed success year after year in gaining entry to some of the most respected secondary schools in the country.

In this most recent year, reports van Otterloo, “we saw the strongest application season for Shore students in a long time, with an acceptance rate of 72% [a number that does not include students for whom public high school was their first and only interest].” Even more striking, he admits, is that Shore seems to be bucking a national trend: “Most of the top secondary schools are reporting record application numbers and narrower rates of acceptance, yet Shore’s acceptances are up significantly.”

What could account for such a rosy picture? To hear van Otterloo tell it, Shore’s deeply individualized counseling process plays a large role, as does the tremendous involvement of faculty throughout the advising and application stages.

“I feel like my job is to find a happy fit for every single Shore student,” he says. “After discussing goals with the family, we spend a lot of time with faculty and administrators to customize each student’s search list, making sure it both has appropriate risk, and gives us confidence that the student will find a happy home.

Sometimes I have to make my case more strongly than in other situations, but really my goal is to give Shore families as many options as possible.”

Leading into this process are years spent observing

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Reviewing work with seventh grade English students, spring 2016.

students and getting to know their strengths and quirks. “One of the benefits of being a seventh and eighth grade teacher is that I get to spend time with students every day. Even if they’re not in my class, I see them in the halls, I see them out on the fields.”

Van Otterloo continues, “That’s also something really wonderful about the Upper School overnight trips, which begin in sixth grade: they’re great opportunities to discern where a student might flourish later on. [Assistant Head of School and Head of Upper School] Ben Kennedy goes on a number of trips, [Head of School] Larry Griffin goes on many of them, and I try to go on several, as well. All of us being able to see students outside the classroom is a real benefit of the Shore program. I think it gives us a window into a student, through which we can glimpse his or her true personality. When you see a student who is wet and cold, or is pushing her way through a ropes course, or needing to trust in his classmates, or who is just so full of joy being in the great outdoors—that reveals a lot about our students, and what type of person they are, the ways they dig in, the kind of support they may need. We can glean so many of those critical character pieces on the trips, which is hugely helpful in developing the school list with families.”

Once applications have been sent, van Otterloo explains, communication ramps up. “I have a sense many parents may not be aware of how much I and my

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colleagues speak with secondary schools about every single Shore child. It’s a major part of my role: I have at least one conversation with admissions officers about every single student who is applying, at every single one of their schools. Larry Griffin, Ben Kennedy, and I are in constant communication, and if it’s appropriate, I’ll call on one of them to lead the conversation in a given situation. In the case of a school that we’re very familiar with locally, such as Brooks, Larry and I sit down with their admissions staff on campus and have a conversation about all of our students. In any event, we spend hours just trying to make schools aware of anything that they may have missed in the recommendations, or if they have questions about a recommendation.”

Often, says van Otterloo, those conversations can be straightforward, but in many cases subtle nuances can make a big difference. “For example,” he says, “an admissions person might detect that a student perhaps is a little quirky, and he or she may wonder, ‘Is this student going to do okay in our dorms? We’re comfortable about the academic fit, but is it going to be easy for the student to find a friend?’ It’s then I’ll call on those experiences I’ve had with the student over the years. I might say, ‘Yes, this student may be a little bit different than some other people in their class, but they’ve proven at Shore that they make a lot of great connections with their classmates and with teachers. I would

TH E A RT O F ‘F I T ’

“We saw the strongest application season for Shore students in a long time, with an acceptance rate of 72% … Even more striking is that Shore seems to be bucking a national trend … Shore’s acceptances are up significantly.” have every confidence that they would be able to do the same thing beyond Shore’s walls.’”

This year’s exceptional results seem to show that Shore’s deeply personal, high-touch approach is the right one. But this year, like every other, the numbers tell stories that differ from season to season. Van Otterloo calls out the particular success of Shore’s 9th grade applicants as the standout. “Two of our ninth grade students who had little success with their applications last year had incredible results this year. These two applied to a combined total of 10 schools, and were accepted at nine out of the 10.” Worthy of note, he says, is that these students applied to and were accepted by many of the same schools where they were less well received the year before. “This proves the strength of

Mapping the “backyard boarding” trend among the schools chosen by the Classes of 2016 and 2017.

our 9th grade program and the opportunities it affords for academic, social, athletic, and emotional growth.”

No wonder, then, that the ninth grade Class of 2017 at Shore looks to be larger than it has been in years, says van Otterloo. “During the 2015-16 school year, there was clearly a core of students who, from very early on in the process, decided with confidence that they were going to attend the ninth grade at Shore.

Some years you have an eighth grade in which everyone starts very quickly talking about how they’re moving beyond Shore, and that can create a wave out the door.

This year, there was a counter-wave of students who were very much committed.”

Of Shore’s unique ninth grade year, van Otterloo admits, “There are always students that I strongly believe, personally, would benefit from coming back for a ninth grade year at Shore. While we always listen to what the family is looking for, it’s clear that there’s a group of students each year that is either young calendar-wise, or young developmentally. In the classroom and in the hallways, you can very much identify the ones who are kind of kicking down the door, ready to head out, and you can also observe the ones who still have what I would describe as a really pleasant youngness to them, and who would definitely benefit from a year of physical growth, emotional growth, and intellectual growth.”

“The program is so strong at Shore that it’s easy to promote,” van Otterloo attests. “In other words, a lot can be said for the fact that ninth grade at Shore just forges on, whereas freshman year at a lot of high schools—for Shore students anyway—can be a bit of a holding pattern, in that students arrive and schools are trying to figure out, ‘Who can write? Who knows how to create a lab report? Who has basic study skills in place?’ These are things that Shore students have in spades, and so sometimes I promote the Shore program because I appreciate the advantages of a student just forging ever onward, and then having the chance to launch into high school at the tenth grade year.”

Besides the resurgence in the proportion of eighth graders returning to Shore for ninth, this year’s numbers revealed another intriguing pattern. There were several other schools that attracted, and accepted, a higher-than-expected number of Shore students, including Phillips Andover and Phillips Exeter. “In an environment where schools such as Andover and Exeter are drawing an unprecedented number of

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“When Lee handed me the counseling reigns, the most important legacy she left for me was the relationships with secondary schools that she had built over many years. I was fortunate that she was able to transfer these relationships to me in a very personal way.” applicants from around the world, it’s extraordinary that four of our eighth graders will attend Andover in the fall, and three will be at Exeter.”

Proctor Academy, too, will be home to a surprising number of Shore grads in the fall. “Proctor is this incredible school in New Hampshire that offers more experiential learning. It can be a great fit both for a really bright Shore student—a top 10% scholar looking for challenge—and also for somebody with very individual learning needs. Proctor has an incredible learning center with a lot of customized help for students.

It’s great to see what I think is a wonderful school attracting a really neat mix of Shore students this year; it’s a school that is deservedly getting a lot of attention.”

Another trend van Otterloo has noted this year is something he calls “backyard boarding.” He explains, “On the one hand, the number of our students who will be going to boarding schools is up this year. Where we typically have about 50% of families deciding on boarding, this year it was 57%. But on the other hand, I would say we have a smaller percentage of students heading

out of state, and a larger number tending to stay a little closer to home. I think that has to do with families placing real importance on the fact that they’re able to go watch their child in a performance, or an athletic competition, or have dinner on a random weeknight.”

Van Otterloo has one last story to share about secondary school counseling at Shore. It is about Lee Carey, Shore’s legendary admissions director and former secondary school counselor, who retired in 2016 after a 30-year career. “When Lee handed me the counseling reigns, the most important legacy she left for me was the relationships with secondary schools that she had built over many years. I was fortunate that she was able to transfer these relationships to me in a very personal way, so that after a year or so of having conversations with admissions offices, I was seen as continuing the Shore tradition. Secondary admissions officers feel like it’s the same Shore ‘product,’ it’s the same Shore professionalism, and it’s the same type of phenomenal Shore student that is being provided to them today as it has been in the past.”

Talking poetry with his seventh graders; seeing students as they mature aids in finding them the right secondary school fit.

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:

A Very SPECIAL Appreciation Night:

Lee Carey,

Bobbi Whiting,

Marilyn Herrick

RETIRE 27

COMMU NITY

Whiting with Karen and John Drislane P ’87, ’98, Former Trustee and Board Treasurer.

During Shore’s Honoring Our Finest celebration the evening of May 5, several retiring and departing staff members received special tributes, and milestone faculty and staff anniversaries were recognized.

Traditionally presented at the annual Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night, this year the honors were part of a gala evening that also included the dedication of the Trustey Family Theatre, and a reception to celebrate highlights of the At Our Finest campaign.

The retirements of Upper School Assistant Marilyn Herrick, Chief Financial Officer Bobbi Whiting, and Co-Director of Admissions Lee Carey were cause for special tributes from invited guests and Head of School Larry Griffin.

Praising the service of Herrick, Griffin called her “one of the most beloved and respected figures in our school for the past eleven years.” He observed that she

Carey with her family.

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“earned the respect of the community for her superb organizational ability and profound knowledge of the people with whom she worked and served. ... Marilyn’s true gift is her empathy and connection with her peers just as with our students. Whether it is for a quick check on schedule changes, a simple cheerful morning greeting, or a sit down from across her desk, there is a constant flow of visitors looking for a good word and sympathetic ear. Marilyn knows the pulse of the day, and how to raise spirits. Quite simply put, Marilyn is a class act, and she has set the bar high for her successor.”

Following recollections by close colleague Judy Beams, retired Director of Admissions for the Brooks School in Andover, Lee Carey received this tribute from Griffin: Lee, in recognizing your professional commitment to Shore for more than three decades, we want those who come years afterward to know of your accomplishment and commitment. Amongst your many exceptional attributes, you demonstrated indefatigable support and encouragement for children whose family means were stretched to capacity to afford a Shore education. You helped us conceive of a fund that would allow children of families receiving financial assistance to receive access funds to allow them to participate in activities and programs that had costs above and beyond tuition.

Today, these Access Funds allow children to benefit from academic support services, utilize our bus transportation, participate in SEA Shore and join enrichment activities. ... It is my honor on behalf of the entire Shore community to announce that our budgeted access funds shall formally and forever be recognized as the Lilia (Lee) Carey Access Fund.

A P P R EC I AT I O N N I GH T

Griffin had celebrated Carey’s impact at Shore one year ago on this same night, recognizing her 30 years of service to Shore: Lee Carey has earned legendary status amongst her Admission Director peers nationwide. Ten years ago, she was named the recipient of the Gourley Award by the S.S.A.T.B., the Board of the Secondary School Admission Test. The award is presented to an educator whose interest in students and concern for colleagues is an inspiration to those who serve in admission.

Nationally and locally, Lee is respected for having successfully combined dual roles at Shore, that of the Director of Admission and as Director of Secondary School Counseling. In the field of admissions, Lee is a pioneer in defining developmental screening for our youngest candidates. For our soon-to-be graduates, Lee has deftly interpreted scores and grades along with personal knowledge of the individual student, providing guidance that has allowed an entire generation of Shore graduates to successfully matriculate in appropriate schools. … Lee’s legacy is defined by her integrity and compassion in meeting the needs of individuals equally.

Bobbi Whiting, as well, had been celebrated by Griffin one year ago on the occasion of her own 30th anniversary at Shore: When my predecessor hired Bobbi Whiting as Shore’s Business Manager in 1985, he secured the future of the school for an entire generation. One of the most selfless colleagues I have known in my career, Bobbi dedicates every moment of every day to assuring our community success. In the ranks of Business Office leaders nationwide, Bobbi is respected as one of an elite few.

When Bobbi and I started out, we built a team dedicated to efficient, effective management of resources with personal attention to individuals. With visionary Board leadership we were able to articulate the needs of a truly remarkable independent elementary and middle school program. Bobbi’s management responsibilities accelerated as we envisioned repurposing and rebuilding our campus. … Construction alone could have consumed an administrator full time. Bobbi somehow balanced supervision and evaluation of the entire staff side of the professional team.

She helped us manage an endowment that began with less than a million dollars and now exceeds thirteen million. She managed resources, events, and people to earn Shore the reputation of a well-oiled machine.

Bobbi has truly given us her lifeblood and given Shore its luster in Royal Blue.

Head of School Larry Griffin

This year, Whiting was feted by Past Treasurer and Past President of the Board of Trustees, Neil Ryland, and received warm praise from Griffin: It was my good fortune to inherit an administrative team with Bobbi at the helm as Director of Finance and Operations. Bobbi’s greatest strength was and still is her desire to serve by giving one’s best. I have said it often about Bobbi—no one works harder, longer, or cares more deeply than does she.

I could never have asked for a better financial manager and friend. You have had my back every day even when I was wrong once. You are revered for your commitment, your loyalty, your work ethic, your management, and your friendship. Shore will never be the same without you; we all owe you a debt of gratitude for serving so nobly for the past thirty-one years!

Following Griffin’s tribute to Whiting, a video featuring past Shore parent and member of the Board of Trustees Kathy Harris announced the establishment of the Roberta “Bobbi” Whiting Endowed Fund, one of the school’s largest such funds. The proceeds from this investment will go to support three areas of great significance to Whiting: financial aid, professional development, and mitigation of tuition increases.

Griffin also reserved special praise for Early Learning Coordinator and former Head of the Lower School Elizabeth MacCurrach, who departs Shore after 27 years to enter private practice in counseling.

“Elizabeth used her innate connection with people to foster growth and community,” Griffin said. “No one is more sincere or compassionate than Elizabeth. She truly wears her heart on her sleeve.”

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COMMU CH ANGENITY

A Tribute to Lee Carey

by Chantha Kem ’97

Kem with her brother Chanthy ’98 at his graduation from Shore in 1998.

I started at Shore in the sixth grade in the fall of 1993.

One of the first people I met during the interview process was Mrs. Lee Carey. Immediately, I was met with a warm smile. She engaged me in conversation and wanted to learn more about me.

My family and I came from a difficult background.

We were Cambodian political refugees. At the time, my family and I were living in Lynn, Massachusetts.

My brother, Chanthy, and I attended Lynn Woods Elementary School. My parents did not speak English and had never had a formal education. In the third grade, my mentor, advocate, and lifelong friend Ms. Marge Callahan encouraged my parents to allow us to apply to Shore. We were both admitted on full scholarships.

My time at Shore was very enriching and challenging. I dealt with a tremendous learning curve in a very intense academic environment coupled with social and cultural issues. But the faculty members always made me feel comfortable and made time to speak to me about any issues I was having both academically and personally. Mrs. Carey and many faculty members sought me out and made me feel a part of the Shore family.

In particular, during my 9th grade year, Mrs. Carey helped prepare me for interviews with potential boarding schools. She worked tirelessly to match me with the schools that fit me academically and socially. She drove me to all my interviews. This was a true testament to

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how devoted she was to my academic journey and personal success. In the end, I accepted an offer to attend Northfield Mount Hermon School.

Simply put, Mrs. Carey was more than the Director of Admissions. She was a committed, kind, and caring mentor. This was true about many at Shore: Mrs. Harder, Mrs. Griffin, Mrs. Drummond, Mrs. Meany, Mrs. Hoyt, and Mr. Morris, just to name a few.

As I write this, I feel a surge of overwhelming emotions, a sense of indebtedness to those who have impacted my life in the most positive ways.

I have just begun a new professional journey with a litigation consulting firm in Philadelphia as a member of their sales team. I know I would not have had this opportunity and many others in my past if it were not for my experiences at Shore and the wonderful mentors, teachers, and friends that left such a huge imprint on my heart.

Also recognized for their service to Shore:

5 Years

Darcy Bailey Laura Bell Mary Kinahan Carol Porter Sarah Sklarsky

10 Years

Gretchen Bowder Sean Melia Susan Morgan Betsy Smith

15 Years

Linda Grodberg David Poulo

20 Years

Sue Cronin Lynn Pisanelli

A P P R EC I AT I O N N I GH T

NBOA Honors Bobbi Whiting Bobbi Whiting was the recipient of the 2016 NBOA (National Business Officers Association) Ken White Distinguished Business Officer Award.

She accepted the award February 23 at the NBOA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

According to Jeff Shields, President and CEO of the NBOA: “With a respected 30-year career as a business officer at Shore, Whiting is also one of NBOA’s 23 founding members and served on the NBOA Board of Directors for 12 years over two terms. She has been a leader and mentor to colleagues on a regional and national level. One of her nominators said, ‘When Bobbi speaks, people listen.’

“I met Bobbi in 2009, when she co-chaired the search committee for the NBOA executive director. My first in-person interview with the committee was early in the morning, and I kept drinking coffee—making me warmer and warmer as the discussion continued. To this day, I remember Bobbi’s reassuring face despite her possible concern that I would sweat right through my interview suit. (My interview tip now: No matter how much you love coffee, drink ice water instead!) Bobbi was professional, attentive, smart, and supportive during that first meeting and has remained so every day since.”

Above: Receiving the NBOA’s Ken White Distinguished Business Officer Award, February 23, 2016.

Below: Cutting the ribbon at the dedication of the Lawrence A. Griffin Center for Creativity, September 6, 2013.

Prior to joining Shore, Whiting worked in banking and began her decades-long volunteer service to nonprofit boards and her alma mater.

Her proudest professional achievement extends to NBOA’s beginning in 1998, when Shore was one of the 23 originating member schools. She served on the original NBOA board for six years and was reappointed in 2007 for another six years. During her board tenure, she was active on the Finance Committee and co-chaired the search committee that identified Jeff Shields as NBOA’s president and CEO.

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Honoring Our

Finest

By Jody Johnson

Over 400 guests joined faculty and staff in the Center for Creativity on May 5 for a celebration of the At Our Finest Campaign. The elegant evening gathering was an opportunity to thank donors and celebrate the accomplishments of this transformational campaign. Friends from near and far came together to honor Shore’s finest, and to celebrate the outstanding dedication, leadership, and service that are the foundation of the school.

The gala event, which occupied both floors of the Kiva and filled the Theatre to capacity, served as the backdrop for the dedication of the Trustey Family Theatre and for the annual Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night, honoring excellence in teaching and service at Shore.

The program also included the Annual Meeting of the Corporation and the election of new Trustees.

During the evening’s festivities and Larry Griffin’s tributes to distinguished colleagues, Shore pride was abundant. Griffin and President of the Board of Trustees Jennifer Borggaard ’84 P’17, ’17, ’19 recognized Campaign Chair and Trustee Nicola Savignano ’84 P’15, ’17 for his dedication, leadership, and generosity, and surprised him by naming the flowering tree in front of the Winslow Building in his honor. “Together with his wife Whitney,” Griffin said, “Nicola has inspired giving and giving back to Shore. We thank you both for your leadership, your generosity, and your friendship.”

The At Our Finest Campaign, launched in 2011, has raised in excess of $15 million for construction of the Lawrence A. Griffin Center for Creativity and new endowment support. These capital initiatives, along with monies raised for The Shore Fund, exceed $20 million, an historic first for any independent day school on the North Shore.

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SHOR E BU L L E TIN FALL 2016

Clockwise from top left: President of the Board of Trustees Jennifer and Andy Borggaard; the Upper School cast of Mary Poppins entertaining the crowd with “Anything Can Happen”; Rayna Hannaway, Sarah Wolfgang, Shari Card, and Carolyn Slocum; Sean Melia and Keisha Myrie with Kate Hoffman; Lee Carey and Bobbi Whiting; Drew Hoffman and Dan Hamm; Judy and Bob Gore; Erin van Otterloo and Carol Porter.

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CO MMU N I TY

Head of School Larry Griffin with Claire ’16 and Kris Trustey.

Dedication of The Trustey Family Theatre

By Bill Fisher On the rainy Thursday evening of May 5, a community came together for the dedication of the Trustey Family Theatre. Situated inside the Lawrence A. Griffin Center for Creativity—the namesake of Shore’s longtime Head of School—the dedication of the Theatre honored another important name, that of a special family that has been a great friend to Griffin’s own, to Shore, and to causes across the region.

Joe Trustey served as a member of and then President of Shore’s Board of Trustees from 2011 until 2015. His daughters Claire and Anna were exemplary scholars, athletes, artists, and performers while students at Shore. Mother Kris was their biggest supporter, a tireless fundraiser, and friend to countless students, parents, faculty, and staff. Then as now, the Trustey family was known well beyond the Shore community for their significant presence and selfless generosity in North Shore educational, philanthropic, artistic, and social causes.

In the summer of 2015, this beloved family suffered the loss of father and daughter, Joe and Anna. Tragically, the two died in a plane crash near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, while making a college visit for Anna, who was a rising senior at the Brooks School and a Shore graduate of the Class of 2013.

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Thousands attended services for Joe and Anna at Gordon College and at Shore, where many spoke of the the impact the family’s generosity has made across the region. Head of School Larry Griffin also praised Joe Trustey’s leadership as Shore’s Board President: Trustey’s strategic vision, he said, became the driving force behind the launch of the $20 million campaign that built the Center for Creativity.

Former Parents Association Chair Bobbye Lou Sims paying tribute to the Trustey family.

D ED I CAT I O N

May 5, nearly one year later, in the magnificent Center that is in many ways Joe Trustey’s legacy at Shore, Griffin joined current Board President Jennifer Borggaard ’84 in speaking again about the family’s impact on the school. In attendance were Kris and Claire Trustey, who were surrounded by many friends and hundreds of guests who were present for the dedication.

“Kris and Joe led the way for our community in making a major commitment that would build momentum for the largest campaign in the history of Shore,” Griffin said. “Their gift was from the heart, and it has forever transformed the life of our school.” The Center’s state-of-the-art 375-seat Theatre, visual arts studios, music rooms, gallery space, and Innovation Lab have indeed made Shore a leader in creative education on the North Shore.”

Past Shore parent Bobbye Lou Sims, a longtime friend of the Trusteys, presented flowers to Claire and Kris, and shared her thoughts on this special occasion. “Both Kris and Joe unassumingly leveraged their extraordinary generosity to inspire many others. Just as impressive was that their support was not just financial; they always gave of themselves—their truly good selves—to make Shore a better place.”

It seems only fitting that the Trustey name is now prominent at the entrance to the stunning Theatre, recognizing the family’s leadership and philanthropy

“Kris and Joe led the way for our community in making a major commitment that would build momentum for the largest campaign in the history of Shore,” Griffin said. “Their gift was from the heart, and it has forever transformed the life of our school.” The Center’s state-of-theart 375-seat Theatre, visual arts studios, music rooms, gallery space, and Innovation Lab have indeed made Shore a leader in creative education on the North Shore. where their impact is most evident. As Griffin explained, Shore’s Theatre facility not only makes possible the professional-quality stage productions for which the school is known, but also elevates school meetings, rehearsals, academic presentations, holiday concerts, and guest performances and lectures.

“The Trusteys’ real legacy,” said Griffin, “is the gift of togetherness, allowing our school to join in celebrating creative aspiration and achievement like never before. Countless children and their families will benefit from the Trusteys’ generosity for decades to come.”

Guests looking up as “Trustey Family Theatre” is unveiled over the second floor Theatre entrance.

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UNITED IN SERVICE

This past school year, the parent-driven United in Service initiative grew in ambition, scope, and reach. Led by Co-Chairs Whitney Savignano and Nina Wilson, two separate service projects— one in the fall and one in the spring—brought together hundreds of Shore families to benefit local community members in need.

Kindergartners working on get-well cards for patients at Beverly Hospital.

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x2

FALL On Saturday, September 26, 2015, more than 250 Shore volunteers including students, parents, teachers, staff, and administrators came together for United in Service, a partnership with the North Shore United Way that benefited 15 community organizations in Beverly and surrounding areas.

U N I T ED I N SERV I C E

Tired but cheerful Shore families after the top-to-bottom cleanup of the indoor riding area at Windrush Farm.

The service day was the second such event in 2015.

The previous spring, hundreds of Shore volunteers had participated in the first-ever United in Service day, providing valuable assistance to some of the same local organizations who benefited last fall.

“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.

“Kudos for the spirit of service learning that Shore embraces.”

Added Shore parent, event co-organizer, and United Way Board member Bill Eaton, “As someone with experience on both sides of this remarkable partnership, seeing the impact of the service day improving the lives of our neighbors in so many different ways was extraordinarily gratifying.”

The fall event generated over 750 hours of labor on behalf of a number of new agencies in addition to many repeat beneficiaries. Shore volunteers collected more than 1,400 pounds of donated food for Beverly Bootstraps, Acord Food Pantry, and the Open Door; created more than 200 get-well cards for Beverly Hospital; prepared 56 meals at Family Promise Shelters; and made many other contributions with

Backyard Growers, Community Giving Tree, the Food Project at Long Hill Farm, Northeast Arc, North Shore United Way, Partners in Development, Pathways for Children, Plummer Home, and Windrush Farm.

The fall event generated over 750 hours of labor on behalf of a number of new agencies in addition to many repeat beneficiaries.

Providing raised bed gardens and educational programs in Gloucester, first-time United in Service beneficiary Backyard Growers had Shore families helping prepare plots at O’Maley Middle School for the winter.

Just to the north in Ipswich, volunteers for the first time worked with Partners in Development to help sort and pack shipments of vital supplies for severely impoverished families in Haiti. And closer to home in Shore’s own Dining Hall, even the youngest volunteers

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COMMU NITY

Caroline Kagan ’17, Tessa Shields ’18, and sisters-in-law Courtney and Gatey Kagan working on a fleece blanket creation along with Tenny Kagan ’24 and Esme Shields ’21.

were able to make a difference for Community Giving Tree, another new beneficiary, by decorating dozens of cheerful blankets for families served by the organization.

Windrush Farm’s Rachel Bernstein had this praise for efforts of volunteers: “Without groups like Shore and the North Shore United Way, we would not be able to keep up with all that needs to be done on our 38-acre farm. The impact they were able to make in just one day amazes me.” Agreed Northeast Arc’s Suzanne Ryan, “We had a wonderful group of volunteers at our third Annual Fall Family Harvest Festival at Endicott Park on Saturday, and we know that all of our families had a great time.”

Said Whitney Savignano, Shore parent and co-organizer of the September 26 event, “United in Service was a totally new event for Shore last spring, and we were not sure what to expect this fall. The response was tremendous. Shore families were thrilled to be doing meaningful work for local agencies, and the agencies

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were impressed with the commitment and hard work of the Shore volunteers.”

Fellow co-organizer and Shore parent Nina Wilson explained, “The partnership between Shore, the United Way, and the local agencies is unique in this area, and the fact that we had so many groups partnering with us again is a sign that United in Service is a concept that works.”

Added Shore’s Director of Advancement Jody Johnson, “Together, Shore and the United Way made this an energizing and productive day for all. Students had a great time, parents felt their contributions were genuinely worthwhile, and the organizations were delighted with the practical help they received. I’m proud of all we accomplished on this second United in Service Day.” Shore teacher and event co-organizer Doug Lucey agreed. “Witnessing Shore families engaging with organizations all over the North Shore was truly invigorating. Our partnership with the United Way has gelled

U N I T ED I N SERV I C E

so well over the last two years, and Sarah Bartley continues to be a vital force of organization and efficiency for the project.”

Continued Lucey, “This year, we were excited to expand the impact of the event beyond one day in September, and we’re thrilled to see our community building lasting relationships with the volunteer groups. I foresee students, teachers, and families participating on other occasions throughout the year, and I can even see that involvement making an impact on our curriculum as our students develop a deeper understanding of what it takes to make a difference in their community and in their world.”

The North Shore United Way invests almost $1M each year in local causes to transform lives and improve communities now and for future generations. NSUW rigorously vets and supports dozens of programs that serve children, families, and seniors in eight North Shore communities.

Rachel Ruben ’21 preparing donations for Cradles to Crayons.

SPRING

Gian Perullo ’20 helping prepare a plot for Gloucester’s Backyard Growers.

Shore’s spring United in Service event on April 1 brought together more than 100 parents, children, and faculty to support local community members in need.

Participants created hundreds of get-well cards for Beverly Hospital, crafted dozens of no-sew blankets for Community Giving Tree, and sorted items donated in Shore’s month-long baby gear drive to support the Boston Cradles to Crayons organization.

The drive asked families to donate new baby hygiene and feeding items, bedding, and gently used essentials such as baby seats and strollers. “It was great to see the community so motivated to support this cause,” said faculty coordinator Doug Lucey. “The results were impressive.”

Lucey said that families donated thousands of diapers and wipes, hundreds of pounds of hygiene products and clothing, several strollers, car seats, and carriers, and many other items. During the United in Service event, families sorted and packaged items for delivery to Cradles to Crayons.

According to the organization’s Community Engagement Coordinator Olivia Davis Wilson, since it was founded in 2002, Cradles to Crayons has assisted 74,760 Massachusetts children by providing them with essential items.

“The cause is an important one,” said Davis Wilson, “because there are over 300,000 families in Massachusetts living in low-income situations. Our goal is to help the most vulnerable part of that population, which is kids,” she said.

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NEWS

79th Closing Exercises On Wednesday, June 15, 64 eighth and ninth grade graduates accepted diplomas, along with hugs and handshakes from Head of School Larry Griffin, during Shore’s 79th Closing Exercises.

In his address to the assembled audience of family members, alumni, trustees, and parents of alumni, Griffin said, “Graduates, you have amazing opportunities before you—you may achieve greatness and recognition in the field and profession of your choice; you may even become a world leader.”

Graduation Student Speaker Catrina Caruso, a varsity athlete, scholar, and member of this year’s close-knit seven-student ninth grade, echoed Griffin’s hopes: “We are about to depart on new adventures, heading out to new schools, to meet new people. It is fun to think of where we will be 15 years from now. In 15 years perhaps one of us will be a successful hedge fund manager, a second will be an award-winning biotech researcher and robotics designer; perhaps another will be a successful entrepreneur, or designer or architect or

Grade 9 graduates

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School Nurse Sue Cronin adjusting a boutonniere for TJ Hamilton ’17.

the next Xander Bogaerts. Maybe I’ll be on my way to finishing my residency in pediatric care at my dream school, Stanford. Whatever we become and wherever we go, I know that some part of it will be the result of our challenging and rewarding ninth grade year together. I can’t wait to see where life takes everybody.”

And yet, Caruso reflected, the most important part of Shore she’ll

take with her is having learned “so much about what makes a group work well… and what gets in the way. As a class of seven people, we learned quickly that there’s nothing that can be kept a secret. If one person knows something, then everybody knows it. If one person is having a bad day, we all have a bad day. It was challenging at times to be our best and to stay on good terms, but as our journey is ending, we all realize what we have learned about acceptance, forgiveness, and friendship.”

Head of School Griffin acknowledged the same sentiment in his own closing remarks, when he urged students to think not just of their next step, but of their entire lives; he referred to the school’s Community Code, which holds every member of the community to values such as honesty, openness, and respect: “I hope your legacy is based upon the tenets of the Shore Community Code, and especially on our commitment to be kind.

When we say ‘I will be caring and thoughtful of others in my words

C LOSI N G EXERC I SES

and actions,’ it is my fervent hope that we mean this sincerely and that we will set the standard for treating everyone in this world the way we wish to be treated by others.

There is no substitute for kindness.

Let kindness guide your thinking and your actions, and the world will be a better place.”

Throughout the ceremony in Shore’s Howard Gymnasium, Griffin recounted highlights of each and every one of the 57 eighth grade graduates’ character and school career. These carefully crafted tributes, a hallmark of Shore’s Closing Exercises, 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 longtime Shore community members were acknowledged with bouquets.

New traditions mingled with the time-honored on Shore’s graduation day this year. For the first time, the ninth grade graduates were honored as a group on stage together.

They had been recognized with individual tributes from Griffin at 2015’s Closing Exercises as eighth graders—the first time the entire eighth grade class, including those returning to Shore for ninth grade, was graduated together.

For their part, this year’s eighth grade graduates—girls attired in white lace dresses and boys in blue blazers—held to tradition by arriving well before the ceremonies to receive white flowers: each girl chose a long-stemmed white calla lily, while each boy accepted a white rose boutonniere.

But in a brand-new Shore tradition, ninth grade graduates wore pale blue; delicate blue delphiniums were held by each girl, and a blue pocket square was worn by each boy. Blue was also added to the closing ceremony to distinguish eighth grade graduates who would

Grade 8 graduates

return in the fall as Shore ninth graders. Many students choose Shore’s signature ninth grade program seeking a level of individualized study and experiential learning unavailable elsewhere in the region.

The Closing Exercises concluded with the traditional benediction, sung beautifully by the graduates, who were joined by many alumni, 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. Graduating ninth grade and many eighth grade students will move on to high schools and college preparatory schools including Brooks School, The Governor’s Academy, Middlesex School, Phillips Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, Pingree School, Proctor Academy, and St. John’s Preparatory School.

Graduation Student Speaker Catrina Caruso ’16

Michael Carroll ’16 presenting Daniel Blundin ’17 with a blue pocket square.

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NEWS

Class of 2016 GRADE NINE GRADUATES Victoria Adele Carlson Michael Charles Carroll Catrina Rose Caruso Camden Zina Greenwood Eleanor Anne Greer John Demetrios Makowski Zachary William Rogers

Class of 2017 GRADE EIGHT GRADUATES Ethan Edward Ambrosh Pedro Liam Arce Elizabeth Robinson Ayer Kate Low Bacigalupo Anoosha Barua Daniel McGuire Blundin Abigail Bates Borggaard Emma Catharine Borggaard Josiah William Brown Juliana Antonetta Cervizzi Alba Clarke

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Guy Marcus Collison Matthew Christopher Dearborn Gabriel McCormick Driscoll Leonardo Wilson Edo Jane Cushman Ellis Jeffrey Ruan Feng Erik Chase Fotta Phoebe Livingston Goltra Alexandra June Wright Graham Jared Huntly Haight Theodore James Hamilton Lillie Elizabeth Harrison Ilana Alexis Hayes Ryan Allen Hayes

Ryan Matthew Lynch Sofia Makowska Maxwell Joseph Murray Alexandria Jade Nunes Claudia Adams Pollock Costantino Renato Roberto Savignano Alexander Hayden Sawhney Gwen Elizabeth Schatz John Phillip Schimmel Ethan Hugh Smith Sarah Anne Smith John Ian Tilzey Isabella Grace Toran Joshua Frederick Tripp

Geoffrey Rossmann Herring Madeline Stone Hesse Adin Ryan Horrocks Garrett Russell Hughey Garrison Jorge Virginia Madeline Joyce Caroline Terrien Kagan Anders Christian Kearney Helen Ruyi Langer

Hadley Vareschi-Woelfel Eleanor Claire McLaughlin Waxman Oliver Ralph Weissleder Robert Gabriel West Harrison Saunders Wilson Kiara Wilson Samuel Carlson Winchester Meredyth Williams Worden Evan Homer Ypsilantis II

C LASS O F 2013

The Class of 2013 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.

Benjamin Albright University of Virginia

William Fitzpatrick Hamilton College

Kendall Kuzminskas Northwestern University

Malcolm Purinton Lewis and Clark College

James Allan Harvard University

Bryn Gough Furman University

Joel Rothenberg Boston University

Tate Allen Southern Methodist University

Will Haering University of Chicago

Jessica Lee University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Ingrid Apgar New York University Hannah Benson College of the Holy Cross Cam Bouthot Brooks School Ryan Bowe Worcester Polytechnic Institute Talia Carbone Chapman University Jenn Casey Clemson University Drew Cioffi University of Vermont Barrett Coke Southern Methodist University Sophia Corning Information not provided Callie Costello Colby College

Emily Heng Bryant College Eleanor Herring University of Pennsylvania Jacob Hesse Tulane University Sydney Hoffman Connecticut College Isabelle Hoffman University of Rochester Ted Izzo Boston College Will Jaekle Phillips Academy Joslyn Jenkins Tabor Academy Kyle Kingston Brown University Michael Kouroubacalis Berklee College of Music

Donald Little Information not provided Peter Mansfield Bowdoin College Andrew Mastrocola Boston College Declan McGorray Hofstra University Brett McNiff St. John’s Prep Katie Moran Trinity College Abby Mosse Drexel University Curtis Oliver Syracuse University Lydia Parker Information not provided Michael Pelletier Merrimack College Sara Pisanelli University of Michigan

Matthew Safford Bowdoin College Gracie Schylling University of Denver Michael Terranova University of Notre Dame Peter Thibodeau Information not provided Morgan Tilson University of New Hampshire Maxx Trotsky Connecticut College Owen Ward Wesleyan University Maddy Werner Boston College Jarrod Young University of Rochester Andrew Youngman Information not provided Cole Zieff Information not provided

Isabella Cruz-Nascimento Information not provided Hannah Davis Smith College Gordon Ehrlich George Washington University Ben Evans Colorado College Emily Figueroa Information not provided

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NEWS

Welcome New Trustees Khoa Do ’86 Family: Thuy, wife; Mai, daughter, Grade 4; Tien, daughter, Grade 2; Khoi, son. Residence: Lynnfield.

Education: University of Massachusetts Medical School; Brown University; Phillips Academy; Shore Country Day School. Professional Background: Gastroenterologist, North Shore Medical Center.

Community and Interests: Dien Hong Foundation, fly fishing, playing soccer, and spending time with family.

Hugo Foster

The Do family

Family: Elena, wife; Hugh, son, Grade 4; Catherine, daughter, Grade 2; Charlie, son. Residence: South Hamilton. Education: Brown University; Brooks School; Fessenden School. Professional Background: Independent marketing and advertising writer and consultant; Lapham-Miller and LaphamMiller Interactive, senior copywriter; International Management Group, Director of Merchandising.

Community and Interests: President, Pacer Foundation; Board member, Hixon Properties; involved with Plummer Home, The United Way, RAW Art Works, Direct Relief International, Beverly Hospital, and Boston Children’s Hospital; co-coaching Hamilton-Wenham U10 Infantry soccer and U7 Pink Cotton Candy girls’ soccer team; reading, traveling, fly fishing, skiing, playing all racket sports, and spending time with family and dogs.

Denise Marks Family: Graham, husband; Sylvia, daughter, Grade 5; Charlotte, daughter, ’16. Residence: Manchester.

Education: Pennsylvania State University; Northeastern University, Graduate School of Professional Accounting. Professional Background: SV Life Sciences Advisers, Partner and CFO; PwC, public accounting; over 25 years in the financial services industry, including 20 years in venture capital; Fleet Bank/Bank of America, commercial banking.

Community and Interests: Board member, Dress for Success; CFO Task Force member, National Venture Capital Association; Board member, Women in Alternative Assets; Past Board member, Private Equity CFO Association; skiing, cooking, golfing, and traveling.

The Foster family

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N EW T RUST EES

Rayna Lesser Hannaway Family: Kevin, husband; Charlie, son, Grade 1; Sam, son.

Residence: Prides Crossing. Education: Columbia University; Barnard College. Professional Background: Fidelity Investments.

Community and Interests: Treasurer, North Shore Nursery School; Board member, Beverly Farms Improvement Society; yoga, hiking, and skiing.

The Goedkoop family

Daan Goedkoop Family: Kristin, wife; Eloise, daughter, Grade 6; William, son, Grade 4.

Residence: Marblehead. Education: The Darden School of Business; Thayer School of Engineering; Dartmouth College. Professional Background: New Generation Advisors, Partner; Zolfo Cooper, Associate. Community and Interests: Sailing Committee, Eastern Yacht Club; Program Committee, Equipment Committee, Pleon Yacht Club; sailing, skiing, cooking, and reading.

The Hannaway family

Libby Mallon Family: Amelia, daughter, Grade 7; Lila, daughter, Grade 3; Ruby, daughter.

Residence: Rockport.

Education: Boston University School of Law; University of Wisconsin; Concord Academy.

Community and Interests: Reading avidly, traveling with family.

The Marks family

The Mallon family

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A Magical Poppins

By Bill Fisher

T

he Upper School winter musical production of Disney’s Mary Poppins thrilled audiences with sparkling song and dance numbers like “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “Brimstone and Treacle,” “Spoonful of Sugar,” and “Step in Time” ... magical special effects including a flying Mary Poppins ... stunning lighting and staging managed by a student crew ... detailed costumes created with the help of parents and volunteers ... and elaborate moving sets constructed by the students themselves.

Presented for family, friends, and the general public from March 3–5, 2016, the musical was directed and choreographed by Shore theater arts teacher Sarah Carlin. She said that while it’s not unusual for Shore’s annual mainstage musical productions to be large, ambitious enterprises, this year’s two-hour Broadway-style musical, based on the Disney film version and co-created by British theater legend Cameron Mackintosh, “was a huge undertaking—we definitely bit off a lot in choosing this show.”

“As the director,” Carlin confessed, “I didn’t realize the sheer magnitude of this show before I decided upon it. But the more I delved into the script with my production team—months before rehearsals began—the more we discovered the large number of creative and logistical problems to be solved, the many intricacies of staging to work out, and the multitude of sets, props, and costume changes that would be needed. And, as we

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TJ Hamilton ’17 as Bert, Claudia Pollock ’17 as Mary Poppins, and the cast performing “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

all know, there is a lot of ‘magic’ when Mary Poppins is around.”

Still, Carlin said, “We all ended up immensely proud of the banquet of delicious moments we created.

It took incredible levels of creativity and collaboration to pull it off, but we did.”

Emphasized eighth grader Daniel Blundin, who played one of the servants in the household Mary Poppins comes to visit, “If you asked me a week ago whether the musical was performable, I would have said absolutely not. The fact that we pulled together so many pieces and created such a magnificent show is amazing to me. It is equally astounding that for many in the cast, this was their first musical.”

Students were essential not just on stage, but behind the scenes, as well. They worked with faculty members and parents before and during the show to accomplish everything from building and painting sets, to operating the computer lighting setup and aiming spotlights, to managing the flow of talent, props, and sets backstage during the performances.

Stage manager and eighth grader Ella Waxman orchestrated many of those details, whether replacing a missing prop or preparing Mary Poppins for flight.

“Being able to watch from the catwalk as the faces of children in the audience lit up to see Mary Poppins flying overhead—it took my breath away,” she said.

Shore’s Innovation Lab Manager Cam McNall devised Mary’s flying apparatus and supervised the

Paul Pelletier

I N S PIRATIO N

A M AGI CA L PO PPI N S

many lighting changes and technical aspects of the show, while third grade teacher Sam Hamlin oversaw the students and volunteers who created the ingenious moving sets, many featuring “trick” components such as a collapsing table. Upper School music teacher Jenn Boyum conducted the ensemble of local musicians providing accompaniment to the many familiar song-anddance pieces, and Linda Ross Girard created costumes.

“We were in good hands,” said Carlin. “Between flying Mary Poppins onto the stage, sending numerous kites in the air, and having kitchen furniture get broken and restored, magic happened indeed!”

“There really was something magical about the musical,” said Gwen Schatz, who portrayed Mary Poppins’ young charge, Jane Banks. “When I meet my peers in the hallways or my classes, I no longer see them in a polo and khakis; they’ve been magically transformed into chimney sweeps, kite flyers, and dream chasers.”

Carlin said that the work required to master the many complicated choreographed moments, on-stage sleight of hand, and scene-to-scene transitions with the moving sets continued up until the last moment.

“It took until four days before opening night to pull together all the elements of the production, but the

Claudia Pollock ’17 flying over the stage as Mary Poppins, secure in a rig created

by Cam McNall.

Alba Clarke ’17 as Winifred Banks, with Alex Oder ’18 and Gwen Schatz ’17 as Michael and Jane Banks.

students had done their work and were prepared to put on the best show possible. And they did! It’s a testament to the caliber and excellence of this cast and crew that many audience members commented after our performances that this far exceeded any middle school production they had seen before.”

“Being in this show is something I will never forget,” said Claudia Pollock, who played the role of Mary Poppins. “I will probably remember the experience of flying across Shore’s stage for the rest of my life.”

Carlin emphasizes the extraordinary commitment of all the students involved. “This year, we were fortunate to have a fabulous group of students involved in the production. Not only were they some of the most talented students I have had the pleasure of working with, but also their discipline, dedication, and positive attitudes brought the show to a new level. We set our sights high with this one, and we all supported each other in achieving our goals.”

TJ Hamilton, who played the wise chimney sweep Bert, agreed, quoting one of Mary Poppins’ most famous pieces of advice: “Anything can happen if you let it.”

Now, as the sets have been dismantled and the costumes put away, the work of finding the right show for next year’s musical at Shore begins. And, says Carlin, “While we’re looking forward to what’s next, we are all missing the magic of Mary Poppins just a little.”

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Celebrating Kindness Early in 2016, the fifth grade Junior Senate called on all Shore students to join in the Great Kindness Challenge, one full week devoted to performing as many acts of kindness as possible on campus and in the community.

Using a checklist of 50 kind acts, students accepted the challenge and proved that kindness is strength.

Created by the organization Kids for Peace, the Challenge ran January 25–29. Well over 4,000,000 students in close to 7,000 schools all over the world participated in this event. While Shore is already known as an overwhelmingly kind and supportive community, participating in the challenge made kindness a true focus in and around campus for the week.

Explains Dean of Students Sean Melia, “Shore is a place that is oozing with kind acts. Slowing down to recognize them, or even notice them at all, can be hard.

The Great Kindness Challenge was a great opportunity to do that.” Melia helped create the “Caught in the Act” program earlier this year to further underscore the importance of acts of kindness at Shore.

Kindness—the first pledge of Shore’s Community Code—is more than a behavioral aspiration. Studies show that the experience of kindness actually changes the brain. “The good feelings that we experience when being kind are produced by endorphins,” writes school psychology expert Lisa Currie. “They activate areas of the brain that are associated with pleasure, social connection, and trust. These feelings of joyfulness are proven to be contagious, encouraging more kind behavior (also known as altruism) by the giver and recipient.

Acts of kindness help us form connections with others

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which are reported to be a strong factor in increasing happiness.”

Kindness is critical in creating a sense of personal connectedness, encouraging gratitude, and reducing stress—all important goals in building the kind of caring community that’s so characteristic of Shore’s culture. Head of School Larry Griffin has always been a champion of kindness at the school. Most recently, at 2016’s Closing Exercises, he exhorted graduates, “When we say ‘I will be caring and thoughtful of others in my words and actions,’ it is my fervent hope that we mean this sincerely and that we will set the standard for treating everyone in this world the way we wish to be treated by others. There is no substitute for kindness. Let kindness guide your thinking and your actions, and the world will be a better place.”

According to Shore’s Head of the Lower School, Sara Knox, “In addition to completing acts of kindness from the checklist, all homeroom classes participated in a Door Decorating Challenge.” Junior Senate provided the parameters for this challenge, which asked each class to work together to come up with an idea for decorating their door with a kindness theme in mind.

Knox also created a “Wall of Kindness” in Shore’s Dining Hall, where students of all ages recorded their reflections on what it means to be kind. The interactive display was a focal point during the week; children stopped at the giant, smiling banner throughout the Challenge to write down their thoughts, read what others had written, and devote a moment in their busy days to thinking and acting with kindness.

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Ahern discussing their breaking mechanism with a group of eighth graders.

Eighth grade physical science is a fantastic course to teach. Labs, hands-on activities, projects, and discussions make the class fun, interactive, and accessible for students of all backgrounds, interests, and abilities.

The main focus of the course is the exploration of matter—types of matter, their characteristic properties, chemical reactions, and the like. The concepts explored are always engaging, and provide a solid

CONCRETE SCIENCE

By Jake Ahern

Determining a cement sample’s breaking weight.

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framework for our students moving into high school science courses.

Three years ago, the Upper School science department had a series of conversations examining ways to improve the eighth grade curriculum, specifically how to engage more of our students while increasing both curricular and non-academic connections. As a result of those conversations, we have made many exciting changes to the physical science curriculum. While retaining the same concepts and hands-on approach that the students love, we have incorporated new labs, projects, and discussions to showcase the relevance of the science from a local to global scale. For instance, instead of simply looking at how to separate a mixture of two substances, we focus on how this skill could be applied to water treatment (which we then do in class!). Rather than just calculating the solubility of carbon dioxide in water, students are asked to research how this is relevant to energy production and climate change. These are just two examples of how our curriculum is making science “real” and relevant to life outside of the classroom.

CO N C RET E SC I EN C E

Prior to my arrival at Shore in 2013, I taught science at a private school in Manhattan. My eighth grade course was similar to Shore’s; it focused on much of the same content and incorporated hands-on labs and projects. One of the most popular and memorable labs examined concrete, a substance that is somewhat ubiquitous in New York. The goal of the lab was to examine the effect that different materials and ratios of those materials might have on the strength of concrete.

Groups of students were provided with specific recipes to make a concrete bar, which was then broken by applying weights to a hanging platform.

For the eight years that I had students conduct this lab, I dreamed of expanding its focus. The possibilities of incorporating the fields of math, engineering, and environmental science were endless if only I had the means to do so. But as one can imagine, space in a New York classroom is limited.

Enter Shore and its wonderful Innovation Lab. The iLab allowed us to make these ideas a reality. This year, students were not only asked to make a specific concrete bar, but they were also challenged to design

Assembling the breaking mechanism.

and build a contraption that could be used to test the strength needed to break it. They were allowed to use a multitude of materials and encouraged to think outside the box. The final products were a literal smorgasbord

of engineering concepts utilizing counterweights, levers, wedges, etc.

Concrete “breaking day� arrived with anticipation and excitement and concluded with many smiles,

Preparing to apply weight to a cement sample.

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Dust rising from the sand and gravel weighing down the concrete.

laughs, shocks, and oodles of great science. It’s not often that students are asked to physically break something for the sake of science. They loved the thrill and anticipation of waiting for their bar to break, while I never grew tired of watching them jump every time the concrete broke. Some of the groups’ contraptions performed as expected, while others collapsed in the process. No matter the outcome, each and every result was a learning point, raising new and interesting questions to be explored.

Once the data was collected, each group watched as a clone of their concrete bar was then broken with a contraption designed by Innovation Lab Manager Cam McNall in an attempt to eliminate the inevitable

Gathering data in Ahern’s lab.

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variation produced by using so many unique breaking methods.

Ultimately, students were asked to analyze observed and quantitative data gathered during the lab. They identified the variables, constants, controls, and errors (both hidden and obvious). Using this data, they were tasked with identifying the strongest recipe for concrete and to propose future experiments. Some classes even found the time to redesign their contraptions.

Although the data was quite “messy,” it gave rise to some amazing student-driven discussions on how to sort, graph, and interpret the data.

The students discovered that mixtures of different types of matter with their own distinct properties can produce some exciting and unexpected new properties. There was no clear answer to which mixture was the strongest or which contraption was the most successful, but the lab surely gave rise to some passionate discussions and opinions about matter, experimental design, and the various uses of concrete. It was wonderful to watch our students so driven, focused, and curious, all while having fun with classmates engaged in such a compelling lab.

Though the Upper School science team will surely continue to refine the concrete study in the years to come, even at this early stage, it’s clear that we’ve hit on a concept that represents the cross-disciplinary learning model—rooted in design thinking, science, math, and art—all of us aspire to here at Shore.

Exploring the Great War’s Europe: The Loring Award

By Gwen Sneeden

Caleb Loring, Jr., and his son, Caleb Loring III ’59, endowed the Loring Fund 25 years ago to award an annual professional development travel grant to a faculty member.

Sneeden exploring “Devonshire Cemetery.”

A few years ago I asked my Grade 7 student experts (Class of ’13) where they would send me to study something relevant to our European history class.

They recognized the critical importance of two significant historical eras as a hinge for humanity: the Industrial Revolution and World War I. These two eras are inextricably linked, and to study one without a close investigation of the other leaves a learner with a lopsided view of history. My newest experts (Class of ’17) recently completed a broad unit of study spanning pre-WWI, WWI, and In Between the World Wars, culminating with a digital classroom discussion exchange with St. Matthew’s School in Pacific Palisades, CA. This panorama is the result of the exploratory trip I was able to make, thanks to being the fortunate recipient of the Loring Award.

Last summer I traced the Western Front in France in a tiny Renault Twingo that probably had less horsepower than the horse-drawn artillery guns of WWI. The 100-degree heat mirrored the summer of 1916.

A trench along the Western Front

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A gravestone of an unknown solder, one of many such monuments throughout Europe.

From France, I took the ferry to Dover, in “Blighty” (a WWI nickname for England), and made my way to the Big Pit National Coal Museum in Blaenavon, Wales, searching for the origin of the steel that fueled the Industrial Revolution and led to the mass-production of weapons that turned the world upside down in WWI. One of the most compelling reasons to study history is to learn how small historical events shape larger outcomes. Coal changed society from agrarian to industrial, and almost destroyed humanity. To learn more about this substance that provided gas for lights, turned ore into iron and steel, provided power for factories, fueled trains, and generated electricity, I descended 250 meters into the earth with a miner’s helmet, lamp, and belt with a re-breather. I had to remind myself to inhale (that was nerves, not lack of oxygen). As we stepped into the seam of coal, bent double, our guide casually told us about “Black Damp,” a term used to describe an atmosphere lacking oxygen.

I could feel my lungs being squeezed, until the guide reassured us by pointing to a narrow airshaft with a fan. There were “cribs,” timbers stacked in cross layers log cabin style, but these trusses did not inspire confidence when considering the pressure from above, nor did the faint gurgle of water from aquifers. But the crowning moment was when our guide brought us into

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a tight section, closed the doors, asked us to turn off our lamps and be silent. Usually, I love the darkness, but I have never known such deep darkness as this. To understand where coal comes from, and the havoc and darkness it wrought, is to see the arc of history and to know the destructive capacity an organic substance can impose on mankind.

Poets and writers of WWI used the metaphor of darkness to capture the horror and sorrow of war.

Novelist Henry James wrote that the war was the “plunge of civilization into this abyss of blood and darkness.” If you trace the route that the average citizen-turned-soldier made in 1914-1918, the feeling of sadness and darkness is palpable. One unbearably hot evening, uncannily similar to what WWI poet Edmund Blunden called the “golden dusty summer,” I ventured into the countryside near the River Somme. As the sun set, I drove past a small sign that read “Devonshire Cemetery.” I parked, then clambered up an overgrown path which ended at a tiny manicured cemetery. There was nothing around except a grove of trees that cast a faint shadow, hectares of undulating yellow wheat, and another sign: “The Devonshires held this trench.

The Devonshires hold it still.” The date of this massacre of mostly twenty-year old boys, all from the same region in England, was July 1, 1916. And there I was, by chance, ninety-nine years later: July 1, 2015. I had to remind myself to breathe.

Poppies in a Belgian field

TH E LO RI N G AWA RD

Even during the war, the fields were tranquil, birds sang, sunsets were otherworldly. Until the shelling began. The fields became crisscrossed with jigsaw patterns of trenches. Looking over the parapet at a sunset in the West meant turning your back to the enemy in the East, and becoming a target silhouetted against the sun. When night came, darkness hid the mud and filth of the trenches, and soldiers could crawl into “dugouts,” the deepest and darkest recesses, for rest.

Unless the moon was out, there was no light. The glow of a cigarette was a certain target for the enemy. But darkness had other manifestations; many soldiers on both sides became the first clinical cases for what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder. And there were other effects. My own grandfather, Ambrose Sloan, was in the 23rd Artillery Brigade, Canadian Expeditionary Force. Living in crowded and unsanitary conditions in the trenches, he contracted the Spanish flu. Once home in Vinton, Quebec, he descended into his own personal darkness when he discovered that many members of his family had succumbed to the same epidemic.

Blaenavon, the mining town in Wales, is in a dark place of its own, given the decline of coal. I was the only guest at the inn, and a visit to a local pub for a bite to eat offered old baloney sandwiches on white bread, wilting under a plastic dome. When I asked the young barman where I might find the town’s WWI monument, he assured me there wasn’t one. But the next morning, under a grey sky, I walked past it: substantial, latticed with the names of the dead. The irony of being a Welshman from a town whose livelihood was coal, and from which many boys were sent from the darkness of mines to the darkness of trenches, was not lost on me, even if it was on the young barman.

The whole region from the Département de la Somme, to Picardie, and north into Belgium, feels like a monument to the dead, to the hell that was war, and

Sunset in the valley of the Somme River

Flowers and barbed wire at Verdun

to the darkness that enveloped humanity for four years, three months, and one week. The pocked landscape, its velvety green craters and danger signs for unexploded ordinance (forged, no doubt, with the help of coal) are what Paul Fussell called “a reminder of the appalling persistence of the Great War.” There’s no pulling aside the veil of darkness shared by places like Blaenavon and the Somme, and, for the sake of humanity, this era demands examination, the scrutiny of learning.

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Sports in Review: 2015-16

By Nancy McNall

Fall As Shore students returned to school last September, the fall season was soon was underway with optimism and energy. JV Soccer had one of its strongest squads in recent years while nearly pulling off an undefeated season. Varsity Field Hockey continued its tradition of strength while Boys Varsity Soccer eagerly took on the challenge of the Eaglebrook Tournament. Girls Varsity Soccer played with pride as they battled illnesses and injuries of some key players. Cross Country had a veteran squad of strong, fast runners. Shore teams combined to have a winning record of 26 wins, 12 losses, and 5 ties.

Winter Winter teams went to work in early December. Shore enjoyed hosting numerous home games in its two gyms. Boys Varsity Basketball started their season with a double-overtime win at Brookwood and closed out the season with a robust victory over Tower. A young Girls Varsity Basketball squad won their final two games and finished with a .500 record, while Boys JV B won five of its final six games to complete their schedule with a winning record. Boys JV A was full of talent and made noticeable leaps in ability and teamwork. Conditioning earned respect for their focus

and motivation during sessions of crossfit, spinning, and yoga. Squash enjoyed its largest enrollment to date while utilizing courts at the Beverly YMCA and Myopia. A meet versus Meadowbrook at Brandeis University highlighted their experience.

Spring Spring weather arrived on time, and Shore’s season was full of highlights. Varsity Baseball pulled out victories and competed in closely contested games against their most challenging opponents. Varsity Softball was undefeated heading into its final game of the season, only to be outscored in the final inning of the final game. With a healthy sign-up for girls lacrosse, Shore was happy to welcome back Girls JV Lacrosse. Girls Varsity Lacrosse demonstrated a cohesive effort punctuated by victories over challenging opponents such as Middlesex and Exeter. Boys Varsity Lacrosse worked hard to complete a challenging schedule with a young team while earning rewarding wins versus Brookwood and Pike. Shore Track, bolstered by a large squad of 28 athletes, enjoyed setting new records. The boys relay team was unstoppable, and the team finished its season with several athletes competing at the Massachusetts Middle School Championship Track Meet.

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Reaching SHORE: The Driscoll Family

By Bill Fisher The path to Shore was far from a straight line, says Tara Driscoll, mother of four boys ages 8–14. “This is our seventh school,” she says. “Public, private, Montessori, international—over the years we’ve spent time at all of them.”

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Before discovering Shore, the West Newbury family of six had lived for a handful of years in Munich, where father Jamus was a senior vice president with Burlington-based e-commerce firm Demandware. Tara had been a Montessori teacher for many years, and

TH E D RI SCO LL FA M I LY

was now the self-described CEO of the Driscoll family.

Their four boys—Gabe ’17, Ethan ’20, Grayson ’22, and Ben ’24—attended international school in Germany.

But with a more senior position at Demandware bringing the family back to the U.S. in 2013, the Driscolls were again in the market for a new school … or three.

“We really wanted to be in the public schools,” says Tara. “Even though my husband and I had gone to private schools, we both wanted to be really invested in our town and part of the public system. But it was clear in the first few months after we returned that public was no longer the right fit for the boys. So we started looking— at first just for the middle two kids. I never intended to find one school that would serve all four boys: they are so different socially, academically, in every way.”

But when they visited Shore, something happened.

“I started by bringing just the two boys, but then the third became interested, and finally on an Open House tour my oldest asked me, ‘Is it too late for me to apply, too?’”

Early on, what struck Tara was how welcomed her family felt at Shore. “In the fall, my oldest, Gabe, was playing soccer, so sometimes I’d hang out on the playground until the game started. And people would come over and say, ‘You’re Ben’s mom, right? Let me tell you

this great thing that happened today…’ They all knew who my kids were!”

Tara made the most of being immediately a part of the Shore community. “I love to come in and do flashlight reading with the first graders. To visit in the morning, read for a little while, and then get on with my to-do list—it’s a great way to start the day.”

Now that the boys have finished their first year at Shore, Tara says she’s seen each one grow and change in his own way. “As a parent, you just know some things are going to be more challenging for your child than others; and some things will be really natural. And so it’s been tremendous this year to watch Gabe, my oldest, learn how to take risks—and maybe not be good at something. His trying out for drama for the first time was the cherry on top; he would never have done that before. To have an environment where it’s safe for a 13-year-old boy who’s new at school to try something like that is amazing.”

In her fifth grader, Ethan, Tara noticed something else: “He’s getting turned on to things he didn’t know he was interested in, because no one before this ever said, ‘You have to try.’ When I asked him earlier this year what his favorite thing at school was these days, he said, ‘Writing.’ And I said, ‘Writing?’ And he said, ‘Yes, writing, mom. You know, writing? It’s my favorite

Tara Driscoll at pickup with Grayson ’22 and Ben ’24.

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thing; I love it.’ For Christmas I gave him a book of writing prompts, and it was his favorite present.”

Grayson had his own breakthrough in Sam Hamlin’s third grade classroom. “Grayson’s pretty shy, even though our family and close friends know he has a great, quirky sense of humor. But in the past, a lot of people never got to that point; they just saw him as quiet. Here, though, I found out all the kids know him for his humor. That made me think, wow, what that classroom must be like for him to show that side of himself. Because he normally doesn’t. Mr. Hamlin’s done something in that room to make it okay.”

Just down the hall in Mary Kinahan’s first grade, Ben made his own huge strides. “He came into the year reluctant about reading,” says Tara. “But Mrs. Kinahan has this amazing ability to build children’s confidence, and somehow she’s helped Ben become an avid reader.”

There’s one aspect of Shore that will likely turn out the same for all four of the Driscoll boys: the outdoor trips. “We do outdoor things all the time as a family. So when Gabe went to Yarmouth at the beginning of his eighth grade year, his first year here, it wasn’t the trip that intimidated him; it was going on a camping trip with a bunch of people you don’t know. But while there

Gabe ’17 as a living statue in Mary Poppins.

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he really connected with Mr. Griffin and Mr. Morris, and he came back just raving about it.”

The trips are also a big part of what’s keeping Gabe at Shore for ninth grade, even when many eighth grade classmates decided to apply elsewhere for their first year of high school.

“In the fall, he had started hearing all his new friends talking about where they were looking, so we looked at a couple of schools, and he was all set on applying…. So one day I came in and talked about it with Larry, who was a terrific resource. And then, that same day, in a bizarre coincidence, we were in the car, just my oldest and me, and he said, ‘Hey, just to let you know, I’ve been thinking a lot about ninth grade.

It’s not 100%, but I’m getting a lot more comfortable with the idea of staying.’ Then the next day, he said, ‘Ok, I’m 100%.’ I think a huge influence on his decision was hearing about the Mississippi service trip, and knowing about the Mountain School. Those things are the type of education that you don’t get anywhere else.

Even though they may just be week-long experiences, those are the weeks you remember.”

Ninth grade holds another bonus for the Driscolls: “I’m so happy we’re going to have all four boys in the same place for another year.”

I N M EM O RI A M

In Memoriam

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Shirley Creesy, 91, of Peabody, beloved mother and grandmother, died July 22, 2016. Many will remember her as the long-time first grade teacher at Shore Country Day School. Born and raised in Salem, Shirley spent most of her years living in Salem and Marblehead. She graduated from Wheelock College in 1946 and began a long and rewarding career as a teacher beginning at the Moses Brown School in Rhode Island. For 34 years, she gave her all to each of her students and started them on their educational careers with a strong foundation and loving touch.

Married to William Nickerson Creesy in 1948, she took time off from teaching to begin her family and was an active member of many organizations in Marblehead, including the Corinthian Yacht Club, the Gut ’n Feathers badminton club, and Sewing Club.

She returned to teaching in 1959 when she began the nursery school at the Old North Church. Upon her retirement from Shore in 1996, Shirley continued her work with children as a substitute teacher at Brookwood School in Manchester. Retirement allowed her to dedicate her time to her two greatest passions, her family and Old North Church, where she served as Chair of the Flower Committee and as a Deacon. Shirley is survived by her children, Stephen Creesy ’66 and his wife Dian of Danvers, Brad Creesy ’70 and his spouse David Gibbs of WA, and Pam Hawes ’79 and her husband Lawrence of Ipswich; two grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. Her son was the late Peter K. Creesy ’68.

Lindsey Huntoon ’94 Rosamond Leslie Lindsey Huntoon died August 1, 2016, at Frisbie Memorial Hospital in NH. She was born in Boston and was the beloved daughter of Louise (Wright) Huntoon and the late Christopher Huntoon ’63. She was a graduate of Shore Country Day School in Beverly, MA, and of Groton School in Groton, MA. She enjoyed sailing, playing rugby, working with children, and traveling. Surviving her in addition to her mother are two sisters, Annie Huntoon ’97 and Emily Huntoon ’02; an uncle, Daniel Huntoon ’61 and his wife Mary of Wenham; and an uncle, Richard Reiber and his wife Rusty of Dover. She is also survived by many dear friends and cousins.

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Shirley Creesy, Beloved Teacher

Frederick Thorne P ’73, ’75, ’77, GP ’19, ’20 Frederick Gordon Potter Thorne died peacefully on August 13, 2016, at Kaplan House in Danvers, MA. Born in 1935 in London, England, he came to the United States in 1941 to live with his grandmother, mother, and sister.

Fred attended the Peck School in Morristown, New Jersey, and graduated from South Kent School in 1953, and Bowdoin College in 1957.

He started a career in finance at the State Street Bank from 1957 to 1960. He joined John P. Chase, Inc., in 1961, becoming president in 1974. He then served as president, chief executive officer, and director of the Phoenix Investment Counsel of Boston, Inc., before founding Harbor Capital Management Company, Inc., in 1979. He was the firm’s president and chief executive officer until 1993, when he assumed the positions of chairman and chief investments officer (1993 to 2001). He subsequently held the position of senior advisor. In his “retirement,” he was an investment consultant as the principal of Frederick Thorne, LLC. Fred was active in many philanthropic endeavors, and served as a member of the investment committee at Shore. At Bowdoin College, Fred served in numerous leadership roles including Chair of the Board of Trustees.

In 2005, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Humane Letters. Organizations where he served in leadership roles include: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Beverly Hospital, Northeast Health System, World Peace Foundation, Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, and the Quebec Labrador Foundation.

For a number of years he was a Governor of the Essex County Club, including serving as its President.

Fred is survived by his wife of 59 years, Susan (Whittlesey); sons Gordon ’73 (Barb) of Finland, MN, David ’75 (Julia) of Los Angeles, CA, and Stuart ’77 (Emily ’81) of Wenham, MA; grandchildren Desiree, Kyla, Walker ’19, Phoebe ’20, and Amina; and great-grandchildren Addison and Huxley. He is also survived by his sister Jennifer Hayden, step-sister Ann Catherine Menninger, step-brother David Colwell, and several American and English cousins, nieces, and nephews.

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PAST & PRESENT

CLASS NOTES Gilbert Campbell ’60 and his wife, after returning from a family reunion with their four children and nine grandchildren in Newport Beach, CA, and Disneyland, reported, “Happiness is family and grandchildren!”

Lucy Sprague Frederiksen ’68 is married with two daughters and lives on the North Shore. She works with the elderly to assist with outreach services and Medicare counseling, and writes for her local paper. She continues to sing in her church choir, where she has sung since 1976.

Chris Abbott ’72 continues to work in the private equity business in New York City and regularly gets back to Manchester, MA, where he still owns a house. His daughter, Lowell Abbott ’07, works for Spencer Stuart in Boston and his son, Gordon Abbott ’11, is a sophomore at Colgate University. Both are graduates of Shore and Brooks School.

In the Boston Globe, Victoria Abbott Riccardi ’76 chronicled the history of the Abbott family’s involvement in The Trustees of Reservations, which celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2016. Her

father, Gordon Abbott, Jr., was director of The Trustees of Reservations from 1966 to 1984.

distributor of naturally-raised, grass-fed meats. The company sold 10.1 million pounds of grass-fed beef in 2015.

Laurie Patton ’76 was inaugurated October 11, 2015, as the 17th president of Middlebury College. In her inaugural address, Patton noted Middlebury’s “determined, engaged optimism” and presented her vision for the future of the 215-year-old institution.

Barbara Wilcox DiLorenzo ’90, an author and illustrator, recently won first place and the Domenic DiStefano Memorial Award with her painting Moment Before Opening (watercolor) in the Philadelphia Sketch Club’s 2016 Annual Domenic DiStefano Memorial Works on Paper Exhibition.

Two-time World Champion skier Chris Davenport ’86, widely regarded as one of the premier big mountain skiers in the world, is currently a TV commentator for ESPN, ABC sports, and Outside Television, and is an Olympic and World Cup announcer for ski racing events. As a professional speaker, he often lectures on risk management as it relates to business and mountain sports.

Dinah Steward ’86 is a singer, songwriter, and creator living in Los Angeles, CA. She specializes in the music of the 1930s and 1940s. Her love of classic American songs inspired the writing of Yankee Doodle Doll, Dinah’s original one-woman show telling the story of a female WWII pilot.

Dana Erlich ’89 is the founder of Woburn-based Verde Farms, a wholesale

Jake Kheel ’92 serves as Environmental Director for Puntacana Resort & Club in the eastern Dominican Republic, and directs the not-for-profit PUNTACANA Ecological Foundation. He is the Co-Director/Producer of Death by a Thousand Cuts, which explores the changing reality of communities along the Dominican and Haitian border, and how deforestation cuts across the economic and social fabric of both countries.

Elaine Dimopoulos ’93 is the author of Material Girls, a young adult novel that questions the corporate control behind consumer culture and “the cult-like mentality of fame and fashion.”

Chantha Kem ’97 has joined a litigation consulting firm in Philadelphia as a member of their sales team.

Marisa Jaffe Gelfand ’98 has two sons, Chase and Dylan, and is a therapist with her own practice in St. Louis, MO. Dennis Fantone ’01 and Danielle D’Alfonzo were married on September 6, 2015 at the summer home of Stephen and Elizabeth Fantone on Cayuga Lake in Seneca Falls, NY. Kate Harris Lucey ’01 and her husband Pat welcomed their first child, William Houghton Lucey, on March 24, 2016.

Andres Navas ’01 recently completed his MBA at Columbia Business School and moved to Boston in June.

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SHOR E BU L L E TIN FALL 2016

C LASS N OT ES

Annie Cameron Zgrablich ’02 and her husband, Andrew, recently welcomed their daughter, Grace James, into the world with great joy. They dream of one day sending sweet Gracie to Shore too!

Jazz vocalist Lauren Henderson ’02 and her Quartet drew a sizable crowd of Shore faculty, staff, and alumni for a February performance at Cambridge’s Regattabar.

Mallory Jaffe ’02 works at Disney Channel in Burbank, CA. Harry O’Hanley ’03 is an engineer with the SpaceX team that launched and, for the first time in history, landed a reusable rocket returning from space.

O’Hanley works with designers, engineers, and fabrication specialists at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, CA, on the design and operations of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

Juan-Carlos O’Donnell ’04 received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Endicott College, and is teaching physical education and coaching football, basketball, and baseball at St. John’s Preparatory School in Danvers, MA. Angela Sun ’04 is a marketing manager for a high tech company in Atlanta, GA. Lily Carey ’05 was chosen as Cum Laude Speaker for the Pingree School graduation this spring.

Morgan Jaffe ’05 is the Director of Operations and Training for the KAOS radio station in Olympia, WA. Wes Bernier ’07 graduated with his Master’s Degree in biomedical engineering and took a job with Codman Neurovascular, a Johnson & Johnson company, in Miami, FL. Amelia Brown ’07 received her BFA from Syracuse University and her MA in Renaissance art history from The Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Currently, Amelia is working in the Costume and Textiles Curatorial Department at the Los Angeles

County Museum of Art on a project to catalogue and rehouse the Renaissance textile collection.

Before studying English and art history at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Christian Heath ’07 graduated from Lawrenceville School. He is now living in Boston and working as an interior designer and high end furniture salesman.

Erick Sun ’07 is a first-year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

in this year’s East-West Senior All Star Game on June 3rd.

Jake Stokes ’09 graduated from Saint Anselm College in May and was named the Men’s Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Stokes, a biochemistry major, was named to the Saint Anselm Dean’s List and Northeast-10 Conference Honor Roll in all eight of his completed semesters.

Mikhaila Waldman ’09 is a senior at Wheaton College in Norton, MA, majoring in business and minoring in religion.

Meredith Bird ’08, a 2015 graduate of Colorado College, was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for her project Hungering to Feed, which will take her to Spain, India, Tanzania, and Uganda to study food inequality.

Miranda Bakos ’11 is currently studying systems engineering and computer science at George Washington University. She also sails for the University and was recently awarded the Mid Atlantic Division’s All MAISA Top Skipper in A Division; the University selected her MVP for the second year in a row.

Hadley Brooke ’08 graduated from Northwestern University in May. She spent four years playing lacrosse for the school and has returned to Boston to work for the Chicago investment bank, William Blair & Company.

Anthony D’Ambrosio ’11, recently chosen to head Yale’s Dwight Hall, has received a Newman Civic Fellow Award, which honors inspiring student leaders.

Elliott Burr ’09 of Boston University and Jake Stokes ’09 of Saint Anselm College were named New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) 2016 All Stars, and competed

Ted Izzo ’13 was nominated for the Salem News Student-Athlete Award as a standout scholar, accomplished golfer, and prolific performer in his senior year at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School.

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PAST & PRESENT

Save the Date Join the Shore community in 2016-2017 for these beloved traditions, service opportunities, and memorable special occasions.

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September 24

Shore Family Safari

September 29

Back-to-School Night

October 1

United in Service

October 15

Apple Picking Family Social

October 28-29

Rummage

November 9

Middle School Admissions Open House

November 22

Young Alumni Gathering

November 23

Grandfriends’ Visiting Day & Thanksgiving Assembly

December 15

Holiday Concert

January 22

All Grades Admissions Open House

January 28

Family Ski Weekend

February 10

Acapalooza

March 2-4

Upper School Winter Musical

April 7

Math + Families = Fun!

April 8

Parents Association Spring Benefit

April 28

Lower School World Music Concert & Art Show

May 4

Faculty & Staff Appreciation Night

May 17

Upper School Spring Concert & Art Show

June 14

80th Closing Exercises

SHOR E BU L L E TIN FALL 2016

Farewell Celebration in Honor of

Larry Griffin Saturday, June 17, 2017 All members of the Shore community, past and present, are invited to join in celebrating Head of School Larry Griffin’s 30-year legacy.

He retires on June 30, 2017.

THE SHORE FUND The Shore Fund provides the spark of inspiration and margin of excellence for every Shore student.

The Shore Fund is the cornerstone of all fundraising programs at Shore. The cost of educating each student is not fully covered by tuition, making The Shore Fund critical to day-to-day operations. Annual support from all members of the Shore community helps to continue the tradition of inspiring Shore students to embrace academic challenge with character and compassion.

“Community support of The Shore Fund each year provides the margin of excellence and quality of programming and facilities that are paramount to a Shore education.” ~ Robin Ellis P ’21, The Shore Fund Co-Chair; Chair, Advancement Committee; Trustee

Brooke Booth P ’24, ’26 Director of Annual Giving bbooth@shoreschool.org (978) 402-3818

Jody Johnson P ’19, ’21 Director of Advancement jjohnson@shoreschool.org (978) 402-3816

www.shoreschool.org/givenow ii

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