despite losing its opening tournament game. New York Times reporter Jason Blair was busted for fabricating entire stories during his time at the paper. English teacher David Kahn was quoted as saying, “If he had just taken my Ethics class instead of some silly poetry class this would have never happened.” Later that year country singer Johnny Cash died, temporarily sending Ken into a deep funk. The year 2004 saw the Boston Red Sox win a World Series for the first time since before the birth of Christ, thus sending Ben McClellan into a deep funk. The year 2005 began with news that a 640 pound catfish had been caught off the coast of Thailand, causing noted SSFS fisherman and camp director Francis Zell to organize a summer camp to travel to Southeast Asia. Also that year, former assistant director of the FBI Mark Felt revealed that he in fact was “Deep Throat,” the key figure in the Watergate Scandal. (Good taste and a rare attack of good sense prevent me from commenting on this development, but it’s not easy!) Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans. SSFS took in a displaced student on dorm, and students rallied around with several fundraisers. Iconic civil rights leader Rosa Parks died.
Spring 2010
The Enron scandal, followed by the revelation of steroid use in sports, shook America’s faith in two of our most powerful institutions as 2006 began. On a lighter note, Pluto was demoted from a planet to an assistant PE teacher. In the world of music, aging rockers the Rolling Stones completed the highest earning tour in music history. Coming in a close second was the SSFS Handbell Choir led by Bryan Seith. James Brown died. In 2007 Bob Barker, at age 73, stepped down as host of the “Price is Right.” He was replaced by Karl Gedge. Apple began sales of its iPhone, causing the formation of no less than seven SSFS committees on the impact this would have on education and discipline. Former Vice-President Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Ken announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2009-2010 school year. The year 2008 brought in a flurry of activity surrounding the selection of a new Head of School. Several thousand more committees were formed populated by faculty, administrators, alumni, students, parents, four of the seven dwarves and several people not yet conceived but needed to
be represented, just in case. There also seemed to be a presidential election going on. November saw the election of Barack Obama, the nation’s first African American president. Republican Senator John McCain conceded the election but announced that he would be a candidate for Head of School along with the 50,000 others who applied. Fidel Castro, following Ken’s example, announced his retirement and his intention to move to Colorado. Michael Phelps won eight gold medals at the summer Olympics. The fall of 2009 brought the announcement that Tom Giban, a long-time community member and former Head of the Board of Trustees, would become the new Head of School. Along with the departure of Ken, longtime coach and history teacher Ari Preuss decided to retire after 261 years of teaching at SSFS to become the new head of Cuba. The year 2010 will have to be evaluated at a later date because the entire year up to this point has been buried under eight feet of snow.
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