The Saints Life, Spring 2026

The Saints Life

ST. STEPHEN'S AND ST. AGNES SCHOOL MAGAZINE

ART AND LITERARY AWARDS

Twenty-nine Saints received top honors for their artistic and literary skills in local and regional contests and exhibitions: Regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, All City High School Art Exhibition, Winter Teen Creativity Contest, and the Winter Independent Schools Juried Exhibition.

ON THE BACK COVER

Ariya Harrington '26

Mixed Media, “Collage of Those Who Came Before,” 1st Place, All City Art Exhibition

Winner of the 2026 Congressional Art Competition

Ariya's artwork will be on display in the Capitol for a year, where it will be enjoyed by thousands of visitors. In addition, Ariya will be honored at a reception for the winners on June 25.

Charlotte Barnes '27

Oil Painting, “Float,” Silver, Regional Scholastic Art Award 3rd Place, Winter Teen Creativity Art Award Selected for the marketing materials for the Independent Schools Juried Exhibition

Charlotte Barnes '27

Painting, “Wally and

Colin Adams '26

Sculpture, “Retired,” Gold, Regional Scholastic Award, 1st Place, All City Art Exhibition

Josh Bauer '26

Wood & Copper Sculpture, “Heavy Metal Bird,” 2nd Prize, Independent Schools Juried Exhibition

Kaia Corens '27

Oil Painting, “Nurse,” 3rd Prize, Independent Schools Juried Exhibition

Film &

M.E. Call '28

3D Art, “Syd,” 1st Place, Winter Teen Creativity Award

Experimental Photograph,

Ariya Harrington '26 Painting, “Portrait of Madame Maman,” Honorable Mention, Regional Scholastic Award

Vera Barker '26 Acrylic, “Her Purple Tie,” Honorable Mention, Congressional Art Competition

Caeli Boris '27

“Granddad: Unposed Angles,” Gold, Regional Scholastic Award

Grace Laha '27

Drawing, “A Burning Past,” Silver, Regional Scholastic Award

Grace Laha '27

Ceramics & Glass, “The Willa Vase,” Honorable Mention, Regional Scholastic Award

Monty in the Pink,” Silver, Regional Scholastic Award

Lucas Aronson '26

Animation, “Nine Princes Gameplay,” (Still shot) Gold, Regional Scholastic Award

Colin Adams '26

Ceramics & Glass, “Tag Dynasty,” Honorable Mention, Regional Scholastic Award

Ollie Nealon '27

Sculpture, “Consume,” 2nd Place, All City Art Exhibition

Kate McGrew '28

Star,”

Ollie Nealon '27

Mixed Media Sculpture,“Modern Muse,” 3rd Prize, Independent Schools Juried Exhibition

Georgia Neaderland '26

Mixed Media, “Medusa,”

Honorable Mention, Regional Scholastic Award

Willa Johnson '27

3D Art, “At Rest,” 2nd place, Winter Teen Creativity Award

Karen Lamson '26

2D Art, “The Closet of Yesterdays and Tomorrow,” 1st place, Winter Teen Creativity Award

WINTER TEEN CREATIVITY MIDDLE SCHOOL AWARDS

Max Gura '31, 1st Place 2D Art, “Seaside Tree” April Hernandez '30, 2nd Place 2D Art, “The Rise of the Phoenix”

Anna Razzino '32, 1st Place, 3D Art, “The Breach”

Rory Zielenbach '30, Honorable Mention, 2D Art, “The Colosseum”

Leighton Askew '32, “3rd Place, Poetry, “Anxiety”

Miriam McElroy '31, Honorable Mention, Prose, “The Hotel Mangfile”

WINTER TEEN CREATIVITY CONTEST UPPER SCHOOL AWARDS

Georgia Neaderland '26, 1st Place, Prose, “The Murder of Froggy”

Lilly Purtill '26, 3rd Place, Poetry, “The Street Corner

REGIONAL SCHOLASTIC WRITING AWARDS

Janney Cooper '26, Gold, Poetry, “Shhhh”

Janney Cooper, '26, Honorable Mention, Poetry, “America Burning”

Ariya Harrington '26, Silver, Screenplay, “All Sins Remembered”

Ariya Harrington '26, Honorable Mention, Poetry, “Snapshot, B&W”

Ariya Harrington '26, Honorable Mention, Poetry, “Thursday Afternoon When Mathu Visited Mother Prepared a Meal”

Ramtulai Jalloh '26, Honorable Mention, Screenplay, “The Beach”

Ella Schneider '27, Honorable Mention, Poetry, “My Tongue, A Foreign Country”

Jackson Sipple-Asher '27, Silver, Poetry, “A Message for Eglon”

Jackson Sipple-Asher '27, Honorable Mention, Poetry, “The Most Lamentable and Tragical History of the Wreckage and Sinking of the Titanic”

View the Upper School literary magazine, Fire & Stones, online at issuu.com/sssas/stacks

Jewelry, “Beaded

Honorable Mention, Regional Scholastic Award

Linden York-Simmons '27 Graphic Design, “CARP,” Gold, Regional Scholastic Award

Juliana Robbins '28

2D Art, “Christmas Eve in China Town” Honorable Mention, Winter Teen Creativity Award

Juliana Robbins '28

2D Art, “Pismo Silver, Regional Scholastic Award

WHAT'S INSIDE

MISSION

Saying

Yieh

John Whittington '01 on screenwriting, persistence, and the work behind the story

Eileen McNamara '11 is part of a Stanford collaboration working to create transplantable hearts in the lab

To help our students succeed in a complex and changing world, we seek to inspire a passion for learning, an enthusiasm for athletic and artistic endeavor, a striving for excellence, a celebration of diversity, and a commitment to service.

Our mission is to pursue goodness as well as knowledge and to honor the unique value of each of our members as a child of God in a caring community.

ON THE COVER COACH OF THE YEAR KINDE TAYE

Head Tennis Coach Kinde Taye is this year’s St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes Coach of the Year. Selected annually by Upper School coaches and the Athletic Department, the award recognizes a coach who goes above and beyond to create an exceptional experience for student-athletes.

Kinde’s impact can be felt throughout the Saints community—from the tennis courts to the hallways and in the lasting connections he has built with students and families. He embodies the qualities our athletics program values most: joy, consistency, connection, and excellence.

This year alone, Kinde helped lead the girls varsity tennis team to a share of the ISL regularseason championship in the fall, then guided the boys team to one of the finest seasons in program history, including the program’s first-ever No. 1 VISAA state ranking. In recognition of his extraordinary season, he was also named VISAA Division I Boys Tennis Coach of the Year.

What makes Kinde truly special, however, extends far beyond wins and rankings. Fellow coaches describe him as caring, dedicated, and deeply invested in his athletes. They point to the way he develops players at every level, his ability to connect with students, and the positive energy he brings to campus. Whether coaching middle school or varsity athletes, girls or boys teams, Kinde approaches every interaction with warmth, humility, and genuine care.

A constant source of encouragement, he helps students grow not only as athletes but as people. The relationships he builds are lasting, and the enthusiasm he brings to his teams is impossible to miss.

Coach Kinde Taye’s success this year reflects not only his knowledge of the game, but also the heart he brings to coaching every day.

A huge shout out to each member of the varsity tennis teams who contributed to this year’s success on the courts. Special recognition goes to Teddy Azer ‘28 and Grady Moldenhauer ‘29, All-IAC and VISAA All-Start 1st Team; Finn Coco ‘28, All-IAC and VISAA All-State 2nd Team; and Carolyn Schuyler ‘27, All-ISL Tennis A Division.

St. Stephen's and St. Agnes Magazine

THE SAINTS LIFE SPRING 2026

sssasmagazine.org

Head of School

KIRSTEN PRETTYMAN ADAMS

Director of Communications

JEN DESAUTELS

Magazine Editor & Designer

Director of Design & Production

MELISSA ULSAKER MAAS '76

Director of Digital Strategy and Communications

MANDI SAPP

Director of Brand Management and Marketing

MARCIA MALLETT

Alumni News

ADVANCEMENT OFFICE

Photographers

JAMESON BLOOM '13

MELISSA ULSAKER MAAS '76

MARCIA MALLETT

MANDI SAPP

JOHNNY SHRYOCK OUR EXTRAORDINARY FACULTY

Contributing Writers

JESSICA HALSTEAD

MELISSA ULSAKER MAAS '76

DAVID YEE

Questions/Comments

MELISSA ULSAKER MAAS '76 mmaas@sssas.org

To Update Your Contact Information or Mailing Preferences

Please email atoman@sssas.org or call 703-212-2720.

Published by SSSAS for alumni, current parents, friends, and other regularly supportive members of the school community. © 2025-2026

SSSAS admits students of any race, color, religion, sexual orientation, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. As a related organization of the Episcopal Church, SSSAS respects the applicable policies and governing principles of the Episcopal Church pertaining to nondiscrimination.

GABRIEL SWINTON '26 PLAYING A SOLO AT THE SPRING INSTRUMENTAL CONCERT.

ST. STEPHEN'S AND ST. AGNES

Dear Saints,

As spring settles across our campuses, it brings with it the welcome sense of that familiar momentum that always accompanies this time of year! The lengthening days and warmer light seem to mirror the energy within our community, where classrooms, fields, and performance spaces are alive with purpose and possibility. It is hard to believe that we are already approaching the final weeks of the school year.

This season is, in many ways, a celebration of the journey. Across the school, we see the culmination of months of effort and growth: concerts that reflect both discipline and artistry, athletic competitions marked by teamwork and determination, and art and academic exhibits that showcase the depth of our students' thinking and creativity. These moments are not only milestones—they are powerful expressions of who our students are becoming.

In mid-April, that same spirit was on full display as we welcomed our Saints alumni back to campus for Reunion Weekend. It was a joy to see generations of Saints reconnect—sharing stories, revisiting cherished spaces, and celebrating the relationships that continue to define their connection to the school. Weekends like these are a powerful reminder that the impact of a Saints education endures far beyond graduation. They reflect the deep sense of belonging that remains with our alumni and the lasting influence of the teachers, coaches, and friendships that shape their lives. In so many ways, our alumni embody the living legacy of this community.

Our work on the Strategic Plan continues to shape a clear and compelling vision for the future of the school—one that both honors our traditions and prepares our students to thrive in a complex and changing world. Central to this effort is the development of our Portrait of a Saint, which seeks to define the enduring qualities we hope to cultivate in every graduate. Just as important is our commitment to securing the long-term vitality of the school by expanding access and ensuring sustainability. We are focused on attracting and supporting a socio-economically diverse student body, strengthening our financial foundation, and engaging our broader community in meaningful ways. In doing so, we affirm that a Saints education must remain both excellent and accessible—rooted in equity, sustained through thoughtful stewardship, and made possible by the collective investment of those who believe in our mission. This work not only strengthens our community today, but ensures that future generations of Saints will thrive.

Even amid this forward-looking work, I am continually reminded that the true heart of our school is found in the everyday interactions that shape our students' experiences: a teacher's encouragement, a moment of intellectual discovery, the bonds formed through collaboration and shared perseverance. These are the experiences that endure.

As we move toward the close of the year, there is much to celebrate and much to anticipate. I hope you will take time to enjoy the very special rhythm of spring on campus—a season that captures both the joy of the everyday moments and the promise of what lies ahead.

Warmly, Kirsten Adams Head of School

LANDSCAPES OF LEARNING

FROM ICELAND'S TERRAIN TO THE EARLY SAINTS CLASSROOM

ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY TAYLOR HEASLEY '12

Early Saints Teacher

On one of my first days in Iceland, I walked on volcanic rock filled with layers of hardened lava. As a photographer, I was instantly drawn to the interesting lines, curves, and patterns the lava formed. As an educator, I thought of the lines and curves that guide our handwriting curriculum and imagined how our Early Saints could mold these patterns out of clay to bolster fine motor strength and spatial awareness. Each unique natural landscape inspired new learning opportunities to bring back to our classroom, coalescing into Early Geologists and Explorers, a year-long exploration inspired by the wonders of Iceland and the landscape itself.

Thanks to the Holden Summer Fellowship program, I was able to travel to Iceland to explore the wonders of geology and the natural world and learn more about the importance of play-based learning alongside educators from all over Europe. The proposal for this trip was inspired by my students' love of exploration and their innate curiosity for hands-on materials from the world around them.

Iceland boasts a beautifully diverse landscape filled with an incredible variety of geological landforms. My time there offered a first-hand opportunity to experience the wonders of glaciers, black sand dunes, basalt caves, dormant volcanic craters, lava rocks and lava tubes, mountain ranges, expansive waterfalls and so much more.

BRINGING IT BACK TO THE CLASSROOM

As an early childhood educator, I see how young children are inspired by their surroundings every day. I invite our youngest Saints to explore and collect sticks, rocks, and other found materials and integrate them into our curriculum. Through open-ended sensory play and curiosity-based units, we guide our students' foundational understanding of mathematics, language arts, and social studies, while also fostering an environment for collaboration, empathy, and wonder.

As I planned for this school year, I took inspiration from my students and my knowledge of early childhood development to explore the natural world further. I hoped they could broaden their understanding beyond the confines of the playground and draw connections between themselves and their surroundings.

At three and four years old, children are inherently intrigued by the world and are still developing an understanding of themselves and their place in this larger school community. My goal was to guide a curriculum that expands their understanding of the environment while honoring their unique perspectives and questions, leaning on the Reggio Emilia pillars of curiosity and creativity.

LEARNING THROUGH EXPLORATION

The Reggio Emilia approach sees children as capable researchers who shape their development through “one

hundred languages of learning,” the myriad media and lenses through which students' learning can be seen, expressed, and experienced. Here, the classroom is the students' third teacher catalyzing curiosity, creativity, and joy through open-ended materials, loose parts, and guided play.

The Early Saints themselves shape the curriculum while we guide the process, meaning every year looks different from the last; a single question posed by a student (“What does a caterpillar turn into?”) or a common interest amongst the class (a fascination with mythical creatures) can inspire an entire unit of study. I have the unique opportunity to learn alongside my students as we build our curriculum together as collaborative researchers.

As my students learn through handson experiences, conversations, and questions, I document their journey via photography and note-taking, capturing real-time quotes and observations that arise organically as they explore.

YOUNG GEOLOGISTS AND EXPLORERS

Throughout the course of the year, the Early Saints have brought the landforms of Iceland back to our classroom, replicating rock, sand, ice, and more through both collaborative and individual projects, engaging their senses and expressing infinite languages of learning.

What follows offers a glimpse into how that journey took shape in our classroom.

“My goal was to guide a curriculum that expands their understanding of the environment while honoring their unique perspectives and questions.”

BECOMING YOUNG GEOLOGISTS AND EXPLORERS

Knowing geology is a complex concept for our youngest learners, we began their journey by observing color in nature. Armed with color cards to match, students embarked on a “rainbow walk” around campus, noticing shades and textures in the world around them. Later, mirrors encouraged them to look upward at the fall canopy overhead—an invitation to observe their surroundings from a new perspective.

“Waterfalls have water that goes down a cliff like a mountain.”

Shapes were introduced through the study of mountain ranges and conversations that began with what they already knew. They made their own mountains using watercolor, paper, and wood.

With the colors of nature dancing in their imaginations, our scientists were introduced to landforms through colorful photographs from the Iceland trip— which prompted conversations about colors beyond their immediate environment.

“A mountain group is a mountain range. I love our mountain range.”

Mountains led us to the magic of volcanoes. Our researchers loved comparing them, making their own mini volcanoes, and creating an eruption using a large clay volcano they painted collaboratively.

“Volcanoes have big holes in them. They blast out lava. There are no volcanoes during my day.”

They were so fascinated by volcanoes, we dove deeper and learned about lava. Together sorted red, orange, and yellow beads, dyed them with watercolor and pipettes, and laced them onto fishing line to create “lava beads” that now hang and “drip” throughout the classroom.

“There's tracks! They are a little wobbly.”

Exploration shifted to where water meets land and black sand beaches and sand dunes became an entry point for studying pattern, texture, and movement. They engaged their senses with messy materials as they created their own patterns with glue, sand, and paint.

The class used markers, chalk, and water painting to study the lines and curves, connecting them to shapes of letters for a first look at handwriting.

“I do see sand! It has white and black stripes right there!”

“Glaciers are really cold water. But when it snows and gets really cold it becomes ice. Very cold water is ice.”

“Glaciers can break! They make a loud crashing sound when they break.”

As the weather turned colder, our young geologists explored glaciers and icebergs through actual snow and ice. Using clear and blue magnatiles, they tapped into their senses to construct icebergs of their own and loved transforming some of their favorite building and math materials into icebergs. A water pour station added another hands-on way to explore volume and gross motor skills.

They also enjoyed making “glaciers” out of snow on the playground and taking photos of them.

Caves presented the opportunity to examine light vs dark. Our investigators used glow in the dark materials to foster pre-handwriting and mark making.

They explored shadows and reflections. Each student took a photograph of a shadow and recreated their own “shadow painting.” Inspired by the work of American painter and sculptor Ellsworth Kelly, through the book “Up, Down, and Other Opposites,” they learned about together and apart, vertical and horizontal, up and down, and other opposites.

Dark led to light, which they explored through play! Light led to the Northern Lights. Stepping into the role of stargazer, they studied the aurora borealis through observational drawings inspired by photographs. The process encouraged close attention to detail and strengthened fine motor skills as soft pastels were smudged and blurred to mimic the movement of the lights. Each child selected an image that inspired them most.

Ultimately, the class created a collaborative Northern Lights installation to hang from the “sky” of our classroom ceiling. Painting upside down beneath tables, they imagined swirling colors and light across the night sky above them.

“You know about Rainbows and the Northern Lights? It's a natural phenomonom!” (pronounced fee-nom-o-nom)

The year culminated with the “Early Geologists and Early Explorers Showcase” on May 26. Our youngest Saints guided parents and members of the Lower School community through a morning of discovery featuring projects, activities, photographs, and documentation from throughout the year. What began with curiosity about Iceland's landscapes evolved into a year-long journey of science, mathematics, mark making, sensory exploration, creativity, and wonder—seen through the eyes of our young geologists and explorers.

TAYLOR HEASLEY ‘12

Designing a Better World, One City at a Time

Inside the Sixth Grade Green City Design Challenge

BY MELISSA ULSAKER MAAS '76

What makes a city a good place to live?

It's a deceptively simple question and one that our sixth graders spend months trying to answer. Not in theory, but in practice.

In the Green City Design Challenge, students take on the role of urban planners, designing cities set in real-world locations across the globe. Working in teams, they build from the ground up—housing, transportation systems, energy sources, public services—making hundreds of decisions along the way. Every choice has consequences. Every system is connected. And nothing is unlimited.

“It's not just about building a city,” says Middle School Science Teacher Alex Mooskin. “It's about understanding

how all the pieces work together—and what happens when they don't.”

The project has evolved significantly since its early beginnings. Alex first developed the idea in 2015 as part of a Japan-U.S. teacher exchange program focused on education for sustainable development. What began as a more contained, paper-based assignment has grown into a dynamic, tech-driven experience. Today, students design their cities digitally, using detailed maps, building systems, and budget tools that mirror real-world constraints and tradeoffs.

The premise is straightforward: each team selects a real-world location— one of 28 options spanning different climates, geographies, and resource conditions—and designs a city that

could realistically exist there. But the simplicity ends there.

Students must research their location carefully. Is solar energy viable? Are earthquakes or floods a concern? What natural resources are available and what's limited? Those answers shape everything that follows.

From there, teams begin building. They choose how to generate energy, how to manage water and waste, how people will get around, and how land will be used. They decide where to place schools, hospitals, parks, and housing. They determine how dense their city will be and who it will serve.

And then there's the budget.

Every building, system, and service comes with both upfront and ongoing costs, tracked in a shared spreadsheet.

While there's no strict cap, students know their final budget will be displayed alongside their city, so excess has consequences. The result is a constant balancing act between ambition and reality.

“Students come in with big ideas,” Alex says. “And then pretty quickly, they realize they can't do everything. They have to prioritize and justify why.”

That tension—between what's ideal and what's possible—is at the heart of the project.

Alongside cost, students are also evaluated on two key measures: a “green grade,” which reflects environmental sustainability, and an “equity score,” which measures how well their city serves its population. Are resources distributed fairly? Can residents access what they need? Are there enough schools, public services, and transportation options and are they reachable?

These aren't abstract questions. Students test their designs by stepping into the lives of fictional residents, each with different needs, incomes, and daily routines. A city that looks good on paper may not function well for everyone and students are pushed to confront that reality.

the same time,” Alex says. “A city has to work environmentally, but it also has to work for the people who live there.”

Throughout the process, students revisit and revise their work, responding to feedback from peers and teachers. They also complete individual components that deepen their thinking. Each student designs a landmark for their city—something that improves quality of life while also benefiting the environment and writes a newspaper article about a natural disaster that affects their location.

The twist: the severity of the disaster depends on how much their team chose to invest in preparedness ahead of time.

they chose to prioritize. To organize their thinking and communicate their ideas clearly, each student prepares speaking notes in advance.

It's a moment that reveals just how much they've absorbed.

“They start to realize how complex cities really are,” Alex says. “There's no perfect solution. Every decision involves tradeoffs.”

That realization may be the most important outcome of all.

“That perspective-taking piece is huge,” Alex explains. “It's one thing to say a city should be equitable. It's much harder to actually design one that is.”

At the same time, the project pushes students to think about the human side of cities. They consider access to public services, the placement of schools and hospitals, and how to support different populations—decisions that ultimately shape whether a city feels livable and equitable. It's a reminder that designing a city isn't just about systems, but about the people those systems serve.

“They're thinking about both sides at

It's another lesson in consequences, and in foresight.

By the end of the project, each team has created a fully developed city, complete with a detailed map, budget, sustainability metrics, and a clear set of priorities. But the work doesn't stay on paper (or screen).

The challenge culminates in a public exhibition for families, faculty, and staff, where students present a full display of their city. This includes their completed map, final budget, equity score and green grade, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Beyond the content knowledge— science concepts, research skills, mathematical thinking—students leave with something harder to quantify: a deeper awareness of the world around them, and their place within it.

They begin to notice the design of their own communities. The placement of roads. The availability of parks. The accessibility of services. Things that once felt invisible become visible and meaningful.

More importantly, they begin to see themselves as capable of shaping those environments.

“If they walk away understanding how their surroundings influence the way people live and feeling like they can make those systems better, then the project has done its job.”

SOCIAL IMPACT FROM SOCIAL INNOVATORS

A new partnership with Schoolyard Ventures and the University of Pennsylvania is giving Saints the tools—and confidence—to turn ideas into action.

BY DAVID YEE Director of Service Learning & Community Engagement

In July 2024, St. Stephen's and St. Agnes, Schoolyard Ventures, and the University of Pennsylvania began the process of forming a partnership to offer the Social Innovators Program to SSSAS students. This online 12-week program teaches students about the social innovation process at the confluence of entrepreneurship and the common good. Social entrepreneurship, broadly defined as the use of business-world thought processes to address social issues, is one way in which students can study the intersection of goodness as well as knowledge at our school. Students not only come away with an understanding of how they can make an impact, but also with a Certificate in Social Innovation from the University of Pennsylvania.

This opportunity was designed to provide students with education, experience, and a real credential they can use to further their journeys. Participation in this program can

count towards the Upper School Service Requirement (40 hours before senior year), and the projects they design and continue can serve as the foundation for the elevated Distinction in Service (80 hours of service) and the Community Engagement Certificate (100 hours of service and serious academic inquiry in community engagement). Most importantly, the program provides students with real-world tools to understand their complex and changing world—and how to change it for the better.

Sixteen students from grades 9-11 participated in and completed our inaugural cohort last year, and now, we have an additional 10 who are embarking upon their journey this year. As this year's cohort gets underway, I sat down with Reilly Brooks, executive director of Schoolyard Ventures, and Divyaa Srikanth '28, to hear about their experiences and lessons learned from our first cohort.

THE Q&A

REILLY BROOKS

Designing a program that turns curiosity into action

David Yee: Can you tell us who you are a bit about your background?

Reilly Brooks: My background is in educating and supporting young people who want to launch and lead ventures that solve real world problems. I'm a social entrepreneur

focusing on students, because I believe young people are some of the most curious, creative, and open minded people.

DY: What is Schoolyard Ventures?

RB: Schoolyard Ventures is a design thinking lab for teens. We help young people launch and lead projects, ventures, social enterprises, nonprofits, businesses, you name it. We started locally in Philadelphia

but have expanded to helping teens globally.

DY: What is the Social Innovators Program?

RB: The Social Innovators Program guides teams through the process of identifying problems, generating ideas, rapidly testing those ideas, and then experimenting with solutions in the real world. The program runs in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Center for Social Impact Strategy. It was inspired by their executive level programming for practitioners in this space. We took that program, boiled it down to the most useful parts, and made the models of how social entrepreneurs think and act applicable for teens. We've run the program for seven years, in partnership with over 50 independent schools across the country that are really committed to this way of thinking and learning.

DY: At the end of the 12 weeks, what do the students take away?

RB: Physically, the students take away a Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania, which signifies their commitment and contributions, and that they've spent time genuinely solving real world problems.

Intangibly, we want students to gain a newfound understanding of what they're capable of. We think entrepreneurship is a great context to build hard life skills—from cold emailing and interviewing people to running experiments, getting feedback, handling rejection and failure, and learning what works.

DY: What's an experience with a St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School student in the program that stands out to you?

RB: One of my go-to stories is about Divyaa Srikanth '28. She came into the program really wanting to solve an environmental problem, and our big challenge—especially with an issue like environmental action, which

“There are two qualities I see consistently in St. Stephen's and St. Agnes students: a deep level of empathy and an innate curiosity.”

can feel so big, systems-level, and global—was how to make it feel local and actionable.

She challenged herself to think about how the environment and AI intersect. At her school, she was on a mission to understand different opinions about the role of AI in education, how it impacts the environment, and the pros and cons. She ended up launching an education awareness campaign with the school's AI club, with a really healthy back-and-forth of different perspectives, even hosting a debate among her peers.

But what I love is that she didn't stop there. She thought it was such a fun way to explore a topic and see it through, that she wanted to solve a physical problem and create a product that's good for the environment–tackle something that individuals could actually engage with and make a better alternative.

She interviewed her friends and learned a lot about the harmful effects—on both the planet and personal health—of acrylic nails, and wondered if she could make a biodegradable option.

These were only two of the topics she explored along the way. What I love about her story is how she pivoted. She learned what worked and used that to fuel her next step.

She didn't see this as a linear path where she needed to turn something in or hit a certain goal, but rather let curiosity be her guide, leading her to take action. I think that speaks to an entrepreneurial mindset.

That's exactly what we want students to be practicing, regardless

of the social issue, whether they create a nonprofit or a for-profit, whether they create a club or just a small project for their family, that part doesn't matter. What matters is feeling like you can actually solve problems.

DY: What are your hopes for students after they finish the program?

RB: Our goal is for students to be more agentic thinkers, to realize what they're capable of, and apply what they've learned to life.

DY: What do you hope for the future of the program and how do you hope the relationship with SSSAS continues to grow and evolve?

RB: We know we're just one program in a sea of cool experiences for teens. Our goal is to contribute to a culture of student-led innovation and youth agency across campus. We want to add immense value to both students and educators to create more of this type of programming and experiences where young people and adults alike see themselves as problem solvers capable of creating change, putting their ideas into action, and fueling that culture of innovation across campus.

DY: Thank you! Do you have anything to add?

RB: There are two qualities I see consistently in St. Stephen's and St. Agnes students: a deep level of empathy and an innate curiosity. And part of that is because they really do believe they live in community with others. They value solving problems for other people. Even if it's not a community they're physically part of, they value it and want to do something for it.

And that speaks to an embedded value of service and giving back to others and being responsible for the spaces in which you live. I appreciate that every student comes in with that mindset because it's a great basis to create meaningful entrepreneurial experiences.

DIVYAA SRIKANTH '28

From idea to action: a student perspective

David Yee: Why did you want to get involved in the SIP program?

Divyaa Srikanth: When you talked about it in the Morning Meeting, I was immediately interested–because whenever I heard about entrepreneurship, community was never involved. It was always about being an aggressive business person, making money. It wasn't about helping, so I didn't know those two things, service and entrepreneurship, could go hand in hand like that. And I was excited.

And then also, it definitely helped that it was connected to UPenn, because I wanted to be able to learn entrepreneurship from UPenn-certified people.

DY: What was the process of getting started like?

DS: Like with anything that's new, it is really awkward, especially with the

“These types of opportunities result in so much growth for so many students, and without these kinds of programs, there's so much unlocked potential that students might never see.”

rejection therapy activity. I had never done anything like that in my life. As a people pleaser, it can be kind of tough, because you're actively going to people you don't know–who you're nervous to talk to–and asking them questions you know they're going to say no to.

But that's how you get further. That's how you do something of substance in this program, you have to be uncomfortable to get somewhere. Then, once you get into the rhythm, you're no longer uncomfortable. It's like practicing anything: it just gets easier, and then you like it. It's fun.

DY: That's funny! I had people asking me questions at the beginning of that program. I had no idea that the idea for some of those questions was rejection therapy. And so maybe I said, “yes” to too many things.

DS: It's crazy how many things people will say yes to. You should just ask. That's what this program taught me. Now, I'm so much more confident advocating for myself.

DY: Once you got started, how did you know if your ideas were worth developing?

DS: I would say I'm like an expert at this question because I went through so many ideas. So, you know it's worth developing if it actually solves a problem if people actually want it. You have to know what problems people are facing and interview them constantly—like what they're

irritated with, what they're annoyed about, what they need to get—to know that something is worth developing. It can't be something useless and cool. Nobody wants useless and cool. People want simple and helpful.

DY: Tell me a little bit about the simple but helpful things that you came up with by the end of the program.

DS: In the end, I had something that I was really proud of. I had these biodegradable press-on nails that I made by myself at home, and I love press-on nails. I love fashion, and all my friends do, and they also use press-on nails. But all my friends are also super eco-conscious, and they were kind of disappointed that press-on nails are all plastic–or at least the affordable ones are–and basically single-use because they fall off so easily. So I wanted to help by finding an environmentally friendly alternative. And that's how I ended up making them.

DY: Why do you think it's important for us as a school to offer these types of opportunities?

DS: These opportunities result in so much growth for so many students, and without these kinds of programs, there's so much unlocked potential that students might never see. This program is challenging, and that's the point. Deep down, students like being challenged.

Schools that don't have these kinds of programs are missing out on everything that their students could come up with that could help the world.

DY: Can you think of a moment in the program where a skill you used—like interviewing, testing ideas, or handling rejection—felt similar to something you do in your academic classes?

DS: Rejection therapy is the very first concept we were supposed to practice in the program. We were told to ask for things that would probably get no's, like asking someone you don't know for a high five, asking a stranger for a compliment, and asking your mom for $100. That was definitely an experience I won't forget. Afterwards, we started to apply this concept to the program.

I cold emailed for the first time. I emailed CEOs, researchers, NGO executive directors, and doctors for interviews, usually getting no response. Because I had already felt the embarrassment of getting a no in person, getting no response to a reasonable ask wasn't even disappointing.

I became desensitized to things I would normally be embarrassed by, and this helped with my confidence, which translated amazingly well in school. I began to voice my opinions without inhibitions in class discussions, to persevere through difficult units in hard classes, and to appreciate the struggle.

DY: How has the way you approach your schoolwork changed after going through this process—especially when something is challenging or doesn't work the first time?

DS: The program taught me to love challenges, so when things are difficult in school it's kind of thrilling for me, which is pretty nerdy, I know, but it's the truth.

I also learned to appreciate the process of struggling and processing tough concepts, and frame the experience as pushing my limits. Failure was never looked down upon. In fact, after rejection therapy we were taught to “fail forward.” This was taught in the context of testing as many product prototypes as possible,

“Failing was a crucial part of the process. As someone who used to fear failure, this shift in mentality has impacted me, and now I genuinely embrace it.”

so improvement could come faster. Failing was a crucial part of the process. As someone who used to fear failure, this shift in mentality has impacted me, and now I genuinely embrace it. In the classroom, I raise my hand even when I'm not totally sure I have the answer. I also rewrite papers I'm halfway through when I know I'm stuck, without regretting the path that took me there.

DY: Can you talk about one or two specific skills you developed in this program that you now use in your classes?

DS: The program taught us several strategies to set and achieve goals, which is so valuable in school. We were taught to create specific measurable

indicators for success, and set smaller tasks to complete, instead of tackling everything at once.

We tracked our progress in spreadsheets, which is something that I do every year now. I set goals for myself for the upcoming year, and I make slideshows, spreadsheets, and if I'm feeling lazy, I put them in my notes app.

I set academic goals, too, and create quantifiable gauges to keep track of what I complete. I set specific goals like, “study for two hours on Tuesday and spend 45 minutes writing about the Song Dynasty.” These goals are never broad like “do well in school.” This method only works if you get specific.

DY: To a student who is interested but may not make the leap and might miss out, what would you say to encourage them to go ahead and take the chance?

DS: There's nothing to be scared of! There are only positive things to come out of this program. You'll gain so much more confidence, and you'll find ideas come so much more easily to you, now that you have a whole structure you've learned that you can apply to every aspect of your life, sports, school. If you want to be an entrepreneur, really do it. It'll help you!

RETIRING IN 2026

Saying a fond farewell to Steve Ebner, Bud Garikes, and Melissa Maas '76.

STEVE EBNER

Upper School History Teacher

Working at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes was never just about the material for history teacher Steve Ebner—it was about the people.

“It's the only thing I ever really wanted to do,” Steve says. “To make a difference in young people's lives.”

Over 23 years in the classroom, that idea shaped everything from the way he taught American History to the way he showed up for the students day after day. Looking back, he frames it simply: “Have I mattered? Have I made a difference here?”

Since 2003, Steve has taught generations of students, led the History Department for 12 years, and built connections that extended far beyond any single class. He especially valued working with juniors, helping students who may not have initially enjoyed history—or felt confident in their

writing—develop both an appreciation for the subject and confidence in their skills.

In 2004, he introduced Practical Economics, a semester-long elective rooted in his experience as a financial attorney. The project-based course gives students a foundation in realworld topics such as budgeting, credit, and investing, and remains a popular offering for seniors.

That same focus on preparing students for life beyond school shaped his work across campus. Steve sponsored and coached the Model Judiciary Team for 22 years, founded the Jewish Affinity Group in 2017, coached football and lacrosse, and served as a faculty representative on the Honor and Disciplinary Board. His impact was recognized early in his career, and again this year, with Upper School yearbook

dedications, an honor that reflected the immediate connection he built with students.

“Steve has always had tremendous faith in students, caring deeply about their character and always seeing the best in each of them,” shared former history teacher Kate Hardwick. “Throughout his career, he did far more than teach history—he prepared students for life beyond school and challenged them to become thoughtful citizens.”

Looking back, what stands out most are the people he has encountered along the way.

“It is about the people that I have crossed paths with, some briefly and only tangentially, but most in a much more profound way,” he says. “Whether it's my students or colleagues or athletes that I have coached, they all had a significant impact on my life.”

“No matter how brief or small the interaction, I am a big believer that God puts us all here to be in relationship with one another,” he adds. “I have had my opportunities to be in relationships with hundreds of good people.”

This was never just a job. “It is my home,” Steve says. His family has been part of that experience as well, including his wife, Terri, and his son Dylan '15. “I wouldn't have been able to give it my all without their support,” he says.

As he reflects on his time in the classroom, Steve returns to what has guided him all along: “I hope that I have given my students the tools to be successful in college and beyond in the real world. I hope I have helped them to develop the skills and confidence to meet any challenges and champion any obstacles that they will face. Life is a lot harder, and more important, than any grade they may have earned on any assessment. That is my hope—that my time with them was meaningful and mattered.”

BUD GARIKES

Upper School History Teacher

After 25 years of service, history teacher Bud Garikes is closing a chapter defined by deep dedication to students, thoughtful leadership, and an enduring belief in the purpose of education.

Bud joined the faculty in 2001 following a 20-year career in law— work that included private practice, government service, and political campaigns—and brought that realworld perspective directly into his classroom, where AP Government became a space for thoughtful, often timely conversations about the American political system.

Over the years, he also served as History Department Chair and spent 11 years as Upper School Director, a role in which he found particular satisfaction in hiring and mentoring outstanding teachers, something he still points to as a defining part of his legacy.

While much has changed over time— students, colleagues, even the physical campus—what has stayed constant, Bud

says, is the school's commitment to its mission.

“What stands out most to me is the SSSAS community's commitment to pursuing goodness, as well as knowledge,” he reflects. “All independent schools promote a rigorous academic environment, but SSSAS strives to live its mission.”

That belief shaped not only his teaching, but also the way he approached leadership and community life. Whether coaching golf, working with the Model Judiciary team, or leading a student trip to Spain, he was fully engaged in the rhythms of school life.

“Bud takes real pride in sharing his knowledge of the law and government with generations of Saints, which he sees it as his contribution to America's ongoing experiment with democracy,” says colleague Vonnique Van Way. “Generous to a fault, he's the first to jump in—whether teaching American politics or explaining football to our

Normandy exchange students, or grilling for his AP Government classes. Bud is all in.”

At the heart of his teaching is a conviction about civic understanding. He hopes his students leave his classroom with a clear-eyed view of the American political experiment, “fragile, and at the same time magnificent,” and with a sense of responsibility to engage with it thoughtfully.

“Do not be afraid of new ideas,” he says. “Listen to the voices of people you may initially disagree with and respect each individual voice.”

He also emphasizes the value of compromise and character, urging students to “strive to be a person of honor and integrity” and to make good choices.

“Bud is the consummate educator, and his passion for the law, coupled with his ability to make meaningful connections with his students, is unparalleled,” says Tim Doyle, associate director of college counseling. “With his dynamic personality, he has made the Constitution and the complexities of our government come alive for decades of Saints. In 25 years, Bud has left an indelible mark on our school community.”

For Bud, the experience of spending so much of his life in this community has been, in his words, “invigorating, creative, fulfilling and overwhelmingly fun.” He speaks with particular appreciation for colleagues who measure success not by recognition or reward, but by a higher standard: whether they are guiding, teaching, or inspiring young people. His impact on students has been recognized in many ways over the years, including the dedication of the 2013 Traditions yearbook in his honor—a reflection of the lasting impression he has made on generations of Saints.

As he looks ahead to retirement, Bud plans to sleep until 9:00 a.m., hit some golf balls, travel, read, spend more time with his children and grandson, and volunteer with organizations that promote democracy and preserve our political system.

MELISSA ULSAKER MAAS '76

Director of Design and Production

For Melissa Maas '76, much of the work has happened behind the scenes, but its impact has shaped how a community sees itself and how its story is shared.

As a St. Agnes graduate, Melissa has a deep appreciation for the school and a different perspective. “My St. Agnes education not only prepared me academically and ethically, but also taught me that there were no limits to what we could do or who we could become,” she says. “Since returning in 2005, I've been given the space and support to grow both professionally and personally—as a designer, photographer, editor, and writer.”

That foundation carried into her work as the director of design and production, where she spent more than two decades telling and bringing the school's story to life across the community.

Melissa reimagined the school magazine, expanding it to include in-

depth stories, alumni features, and a broader reflection of the academic and spiritual experience of the school. She elevated the quality and consistency of school photography, helping to build a comprehensive visual archive of school—from classroom candids to athletics, performances, and milestone events.

At the heart of it all, what she says inspires her, are the relationships.

“The Saints community is truly amazing. I have experienced so many genuine connections with colleagues, parents, students, and alumni,” she says. “I have spent more than 50 years as a member of this community, which is most of my life! My life is a Saints life.”

Her family has been part of that experience as well, her sons, Alex Bloom '11 and Jameson Bloom '13, are both alumni. Jameson was a student photographer for the Athletics Office and remains a familiar face on campus,

covering athletics, plays, concerts, and events.

“Working together—sharing a love of photography and the school—was especially meaningful for us,” Melissa says.

In the spring of 2020 during the pandemic lockdown, Melissa and Jameson went to every senior's home to take their traditional college sweatshirt photo outside. They also offered to take family portraits as a gift to them. Driving over 400 miles in three days they gave the gift of their time and talents and warmth during a really difficult time.

Beyond her formal role, Melissa mentored student photographers and seniors completing independent projects, supporting their creative development. She also led two redesigns of the school website, created a site for the Summertimes program, and developed the digital magazine site.

Her impact is perhaps most visible in the way the community sees itself.

“One of my favorite personal Saints traditions is reading The Saints Life magazine cover to cover when it arrives in my mailbox,” says Associate Head of School Bob Weiman. “I feel informed, excited, moved, and proud when experiencing the stories told so beautifully and compellingly through text, graphics, and photographs. I am always grateful for the talented master storyteller and designer who evoked those emotions—Melissa Maas. Melissa's creativity has impacted each and every Saint—past, present, and future—through the wonderful logos, banners, calendars, brochures, and magazines that she has created.”

What's mattered most to Melissa?

“I believe my greatest contributions have been the photographs I have taken and the school magazine,” she says. “I have truly loved featuring the amazing things our alumni are doing. It has been a privilege to help tell the story of St. Stephen's and St. Agnes through seasons of growth and change, including milestone moments in our school's history. If my legacy is that I helped preserve and document it for generations to come, I feel deeply grateful.”

What's Your Story?

Calling all Saints alumni, students, parents, faculty, and staff! For 21 years, I've had the privilege of telling the stories of St. Stephen's and St. Agnes—its people, its traditions, and the moments that stay with us.

I've learned that everyone has a tale to tell and every memory shared helps shape our identity, preserves institutional legacy, and fosters the connections and sense of belonging we feel as a community.

So, Saints, my fondest wish before I go is to hear from you!

Melissa Ulsaker Maas '76 Editor

2

Have some fun!

Create this fortune teller, pick a prompt, and tell us a story— or two! Use this QR code go to sssas.org/yourstory.

1

8 Tell me your story! Aconnectionyoumadethat mattered Someonewhomadeanimpactonyou onplaceAcampus youwhyandlove experienceAnyoudidn'texpect momentAbecamethatmemorylastinga youtimeAtoproudfelt Saintabe thatAchallenge shaped your experience carrySomethingyou withyoufromSSSAS

7

3 4 5

6 5

Your Fortune Teller Folding Instructions

It's easy to make! Just follow these simple folding instructions to get started.

How to Play:

F Once you've folded your fortune teller, choose a prompt

F See where it leads you.

F Don't overthink it—sometimes the smallest memory turns into the story you didn't expect to tell.

Start with the fortune teller side up!

Use this QR code or go to sssas.org/yourstory to share your memories!

Flip it over

CROSSED PATHS .......... Puzzles by cruciverbalist Emma Oxford '09

Get our your pencil—or pen if you dare—and see where the clues lead!

peeking! But if you're a bit stuck, you can find the solution on p. 26.

RECOGNIZING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

At Academic Convocation in February, we recognized 10 Commended Merit Scholars and four National Merit Scholars. Over 1.5 million students from approximately 22,000 high schools entered the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Students scoring in the top 5% nationally, qualify as Commended Scholars. The four National Merit Finalists placed in the top 1% of all students who took the 2024 PSAT. The determination is also based on test scores, academic records, recommendations, and essays.

C ommended Merit Scholars

Healey Cross

Georgia Neaderland

Lillian Purtill

Seth Gabriel Swinton

Dillon Dreibelbis

Gavin Goldstein

Harrison Lue

Colin Adams

Vera Barker

Samuel Brock

National Merit Finalists

Janney Cooper

Ariya Harrington

Reesey Lai

Alison Rouse

BRING ON THE GOATS!

The visiting baby goats from Browsing Green Goats brought plenty of joy to campus in April— and not just for the students. Assistant Director of Annual Giving and Engagement Maya Tumiwa '18 took a few moments out of her day to enjoy some stressrelieving snuggles of her own.

FAST ACTION, BIG IMPACT

In February, all SSSAS employees gathered to work with Affordable Homes & Communities, one of the DMV's largest low-cost housing nonprofits with sites in Alexandria and Arlington. AHC provides its residents more than housing. Whether enrichment opportunities for senior residents or afterschool programs for K-12 students, they are committed to creating strong, supportive communities. Saints packed 800 snack bags (in under half an hour!) to support AHC's afterschool programs.

Solution

Here are the answers to Emma Oxford's puzzle, Summer Reading, on p. 25.

Authentic, passionate, reliable, and honest, Nasim Siddeeq brings a contagious energy to everything he does. Born in the Bronx and raised in Wawayanda (yes, really), he grew up in a hard-working, sports-driven family that showed love through humor. He has an older brother and sister, and especially misses weekends spent with his cousins.

A three-sport athlete, he credits sports with shaping his discipline, resilience, and drive. At SUNY Albany, where he studied Spanish and minored in music and secondary education, he competed in track and field, studied abroad in Chile and Puerto Rico, helped his team win the IC4A championship, and broke the AEC conference record in the triple jump. For him, there's nothing like hearing the official call, “Bring out the steel tape.”

As a child, Siddeeq dreamed of becoming a famous singer with a top-40 Billboard hit, and that dream is still alive! He was discovered at four, when his grandma heard him singing “Oh Happy Day” in the bathtub. He joined SSSAS in 2011 to teach Spanish, but left in 2016 to pursue music full time. A man who puts 100% into everything he does, Siddeeq knew he had to give music a shot.

Performing as a street and subway musician in New York City was hard work—carrying 75 pounds of equipment, staying hydrated, and hunting for restrooms. Some days he made just $20 for three hours of singing; on his best, $430 in two. He gained a following busking and learned how to ignore the unappreciative. His music journey includes two albums of original songs, performing at the Apollo Theater and the Kennedy Center, and three years as a solo guitarist and vocalist for Disney Cruise Lines. But he says his most memorable performance was when a man without a home shouted “boooo” with an endearing expression, then winked as he departed. His boos led to people leaving more generous donations!

This year, Siddeeq returned to SSSAS as a Spanish teacher and track coach. In the classroom, he sees Spanish as a way to open doors and break down barriers, and when supporting students in the Academic Center he draws on his own experience to help students build strategies, confidence, and momentum.

The best part of his day—lunch, of course! His playlist is filled with 90s R&B, rap and hip hop, dancehall reggae, and funky instrumentals—and he's still performing. Siddeeq's favorite book is “The Power of Now,” his top movie is “Major Payne,” and he just binge-watched “Godfather of Harlem.”

The perfect weekend starts with Jum'ah on Friday, and includes grilling, family, friends, guitar, a motorcycle ride, and reading. Adventurous with food, his favorite restaurants are Yechon Korean and Yamazato Sushi. Siddeeq traveled the world with Disney, but felt most loved and welcomed in Cuba.

Siddeeq always wants another five minutes of Spanish class and loves sharing a different side of himself as a coach. His fondest wish is that his students have a lifelong passion for learning, recognize we are all interconnected, and treat others with respect and kindness.

Nasim Siddeeq

What one piece of advice would you offer anyone who asks?

Peace isn't happiness. Peace is accepting what is.

What is your favorite thing in the world and why?

I love growth and progress. Growing or progressing as a person is when I feel the happiest and most alive.

What helps you persevere when you feel like giving up?

God. I have to turn to God and rely on this power that is far greater than self. I often forget that I'm not on this journey alone and that there is a power I can call on and rely on.

For what in your life do you feel most grateful?

For this moment right here right now and another opportunity to get things right.

What is the best compliment someone could give you? You changed me for the better.

What is your greatest strength? Impact/influence.

Megan Grant

What one piece of advice would you offer anyone who asks?

Start a gratitude journal—write down one or two things each day that you are thankful for.

What is the best piece of advice you received and who gave it to you?

My dad always reminds me to take things one day at a time.

What is your greatest strength?

I am incredibly patient!

What is the best compliment someone can give you? You are making a difference.

What is the biggest risk you have ever taken in your life?

Moving to Charlottesville for a teaching job- I thought I would only be there for one or two years, but ended up staying for nine!

What are you obsessed with? Orangetheory Fitness.

Megan Grant grew up in Potomac, Md., the oldest of three siblings in a family that spent summers all in at the Potomac Woods Swim Club—her siblings racing, her mom serving as team representative, and her dad on the microphone as announcer. It was a full-family operation, the kind of place where afternoons stretched into evenings and everyone had a role to play.

By 14, Megan was already coaching, which led her to teaching. She loved working with kids and helping them build confidence—an early thread that still runs through her life today. As a child, she dreamed of becoming an Olympic swimmer. Today, she dreams of watching a swimmer she coached from the stands—fingers crossed for LA 2028! She's still never far from the water. She coaches the SSSAS varsity swimming and the Army Navy Country Club summer swim team. Megan stays active year-round with running, swimming, and tennis.

She majored in English and communication at Denison University, where she enjoyed the small classes and liberal arts environment, and earned her master's in reading education from the University of Virginia.

As a Lower School teacher, reading lessons were always her favorite part of the day. She treasured the opportunity to work with striving readers and provide additional support to build their decoding, fluency, and comprehension skills, as well as their confidence. She joined SSSAS as a fourth grade teacher, later taught third grade, and now serves as a literacy specialist and instructional coach, a role that feels like a natural extension of what she loved most in the classroom.

She believes an important part of coaching is building a close-knit team and ensuring that all athletes feel a sense of belonging and that the same is true for building a strong classroom community. As both a coach and a teacher, she is a strong advocate and cheerleader for her students and often says that coaching has made her a better teacher and teaching has made her a better coach!

Outside of school, Megan is—of course—a voracious reader. The last book she couldn't put down was “Little One” by Olivia Muenter. When she isn't reading, you might catch her watching shows like “Love Story.”

Megan loves exploring new places and trying new things, like learning how to surf in Portugal last summer. Her traveling dreams are now filled with visions of Australia and New Zealand.

Closer to home, she gravitates toward Nationals Park and the Old Town waterfront in the summer, drawn to places that feel lively and connected. She's also a proud aunt to two nieces and a nephew, and she lavishes them with reading and swimming lessons, passing along the same skills and encouragement that shaped her.

At the center of it all is a simple belief—“we can do hard things”—one that shows up in the way she teaches, coaches, and lives, with a steady mix of warmth, encouragement, and quiet determination that has been there from the very beginning.

Our Middle School and Upper School communities gathered to celebrate Black History Month with assemblies titled, “The Movement Is Us: 100 Years of Black History,” offering opportunities to reflect, learn, and honor the impact of Black history and culture. The Upper School student-led assembly featured historical narration, poetry, and musical performances exploring the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and the Black Lives Matter Movement.

EXPLORING THE COMMON GOOD

In January, the Upper School held its fifth biennial Colloquium for the Common Good—a full day of learning, inquiry, and reflection centered on challenging social issues that impact our world. Through 35 different workshops, discussions, and advisory reflections, students engaged in deep thinking around some of the most important issues of our day and explored what it means to contribute to the common good.

Dr. Joshua Bennett, a professor of literature and the

Distinguished Chair of Humanities at MIT, was the keynote speaker. He is the author of five books of poetry, criticism, and narrative nonfiction: “The Sobbing School” (Penguin, 2016)—winner of the National Poetry Series and a finalist for an NAACP Image Award—”Being Property Once Myself” (Harvard University Press, 2020), winner of the MLA's William Sanders Scarborough Prize, “Owed” (Penguin, 2020), “The Study of Human Life” (Penguin, 2022), and “Spoken Word: A Cultural History” (Knopf, 2023).

SAINTS MISSION DAY

The entire school community gathered on the Upper School campus for Saints Mission Day, a day centered on connection, reflection, and shared experiences across divisions. Along with an all-school chapel and time spent building relationships in crossdivisional groups, students learned about Honor Flights, wrote thankyou notes to veterans, and enjoyed a concert featuring both the faculty band and an Upper School student group.

ARTS IN ACTION

In March, our Lower School celebrated the 23rd annual ARTStravaganza, a full day devoted to the arts featuring interactive workshops led by professional musicians, dancers, storytellers, and artists. Along with hands-on activities and demonstrations, students learned about the artists' creative journeys and dedication to their crafts. The day concluded with a performance of Taiko, Japanese ensemble drumming.

A lifelong sports fan with a soft spot for basketball and a willingness to hike up icy slopes chasing better snow, Middle School Math Teacher Dustin Jones brings a mix of easygoing energy and quiet determination to just about everything he does.

He grew up with two brothers in Charlottesville, Va., and graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelor's in history and a master's in teaching in five years. When he wasn't building LEGOs and dreaming about being an architect, he was on the lacrosse field or watching every UVA football and basketball game with his dad. Each year, he eagerly looked forward to the family ski trip to Utah. Despite a memorable bout of painful frostbite from pushing the limits, the thrill of skiing has stuck with him and the Japanese mountains are high on his bucket list.

Life today looks a little different in the best way: he and his wife, CJ—whom he's known since elementary school and started dating in high school—have built a life together that's spanned long-distance college years, a 2021 wedding, rescuing two kitties, Ghost and Uno, and the birth of their son, Asher, in October 2024.

While studying at UVA, Dustin unexpectedly discovered a genuine interest in teaching while taking an education class on a whim. After teaching history for five years, he switched to math—a subject he values for its everyday relevance. Dustin thrives on finding alternate ways to help struggling students understand how math works in the Academic Center, and spends his afternoons on the court coaching boys basketball.

Outside of school, Dustin is someone who appreciates both adventure and downtime. He's an enthusiastic traveler— including a standout trip to Thailand for the food, the culture, and how welcomed he felt there—but also looks forward to days with no plans. He's an avid reader of fantasy, currently immersed in “The Stormlight Archives,” a fan of high-energy films like “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and he and his wife just finished streaming “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” He listens to a wide variety of music—from rap to folk to rock and beyond. His playlists shift with his mood, but J. Cole is a constant. He's into cooking—and eating—especially making recipes from his grandma's cookbook. Dustin's proud of his scuba certification and loves exploring life on coral reefs. He plays video games with calming soundtracks to unwind, like “Hollow Knight: Silksong” and “Hades II.”

And while his students may know him as a patient teacher and coach, they might be surprised to learn that his most precise skill has nothing to do with math—it's choosing the perfect container for leftovers, every time, with no wasted space! Grounded, curious, and guided by a simple mantra—be kind—Dustin approaches both work and life with a steady sense of perspective, measuring success not by any single achievement, but by whether he's happy and helping others along the way.

Dustin Jones

What is the one thing in the world you would fix if you could wave a magic wand?

The discontent in the world. I wish everyone could get along and look out for each other. Right now, there's a lot of sadness, and I'd want to change that.

What one piece of advice would you offer anyone who asks?

Be kind to everyone. Kindness will always come back around to you.

What is the best compliment someone can give you?

That they like my cooking!

If you could wake up tomorrow with any super power what would it be and what would you do with it?

I'd have super speed so I can get all my chores and tasks done quickly and have more time to relax with my family.

If you had a million dollars in the bank, what would you be doing?

Relaxing somewhere!

What are you obsessed with? Mac and Cheese!

“Footloose”

In early March, Stage One and our amazing pit orchestra presented four performances of “Footloose” by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie. Nearly 90 creative students participated in the cast, crew, and pit to make audiences laugh, cry, and dance in their seats to hits like “Holding Out for a Hero,” “Let's Hear It for the Boy,” and of course, the title song!

ICE HOCKEY

DILLON DREIBELBIS '26

MAPHL A DIVISION 2ND TEAM

WINTER TRACK

FLYNN '28 | ALI ROUSE '26 | TALIYAH FIGARO '27 | MADISON

VISAA ALL-STATE

|

ALI ROUSE '26: 1000M, 3RD

TALIYAH FIGARO '27: 55M HURDLES, 3RD

HALEY GRANT '29, ELLA SCHNEIDER '27, MADISON HUGHES '26, ZEMMA FLYNN '28: GIRLS 4X200 RELAY, 3RD

CAROLINA SRAMEK '28, ZEMMA FLYNN, MADISON HUGHES, ELLA SCHNEIDER: GIRLS 4X400 RELAY, 3RD

DERRICK HAYNES '29, JACK RUTTER '26, TAWON FIGARO '26, RYAN HERRING '29: BOYS 4X400 RELAY, 3RD

ZEMMA

HUGHES '26

ELLA SCHNEIDER '27

CARSON BISHOP '27 | ALL-IAC

ANNABELLE BREMNER '27 | ALL-ISL

ETHAN THOMPSON '26 | ALL-IAC

BASKETBALL

NAHEEMA GOIN '26

ALL-ISL A DIVISION

MARCUS HANCOCK '26 | ALL-IAC

JULIAN BURGDOLF '26 | ALL-IAC

JOE GIFFORD '26 | ALL-IAC

COLTON MOORE '26 | ALL-IAC

AIDAN HALLETT, CYRUS WATERS, WALKER HARRIS, COLIN ADAMS, CONNOR HALSTED, CONALL AMUNSON

OLIVIA PLA, GIGI BARRETT, LINDSAY PARSONT, GEORGIA NEADERLAND

Reflections That Shape Us

By Ali Rouse '26

Each week during Upper School chapel, a member of the community gives the homily. These are often powerful and personal reflections on their life experiences.

Hi, my name is Ali Rouse, and I am a senior.

I have been dreaming of this moment since the sixth grade when I heard my very first chapel talk. Chapel talks have become the highlight of my week, a constant throughout my time here while so much has changed.

And along the way, as odd as this may sound, I have written my own chapel talks. Almost on a daily basis since sixth grade, I have gotten sidetracked from my work by the urge to tell myself stories from the day,

“Almost on a daily basis since sixth grade, I have gotten sidetracked from my work by the urge to tell myself stories from the day, important moments from the month, or old events that I remember for whatever reason.”

important moments from the month, or old events that I remember for whatever reason. These chapel talks are my way of reflecting and over time, they have changed a lot

In sixth grade, I told myself chapel talks about how I loved my little brother despite him always deciding what TV shows we watched. I would use these as moments to rant about how all I really wanted was to watch something, anything other than “iCarly.” But, in ranting about these challenges I ended up realizing how ridiculous it sounded. My time with my brother was more important than fighting over what we were watching.

In eighth grade, I spoke about how I could apply lessons from ballet to something new. By that time, I had danced for a little over a decade. Dance provided me with a physical and artistic outlet. Still, by the end of eighth grade I was ready to move on, but I didn't know how. So, I gave myself a chapel talk. Talking about new ideas and things that had supported me over the years gave me

“Our lives are the testaments to the stories that shape us and the stories that we shape. Our letters are ‘written on one another's hearts.’”

the strength to move on, to see myself beyond a ballet dancer. I saw that my strengths could be translated to sports: track and field hockey. This moment allowed me to find new communities outside of ballet.

In sophomore year, these chapel talks served as a lifeline, a way of seeing myself through one of the most challenging times in my life. During this time, when things got truly difficult, I would give a chapel talk like I was right here, right now, in the future, knowing that I had gotten through. By being grounded in a moment far from the one I was currently in, I could see that I would and I could recover eventually.

This big picture thinking, despite many setbacks, enabled me to truly move through the difficulty. Because I could acknowledge my hardship's profound impact on how I was engaging in the world at the time—and also know that I was one day going to be able to look back on it as merely a moment in time—I had the strength to move on. I had a chapel talk to give, after all ;) .

Which brings me to the present. As a senior, I have talked to myself about talking about a chapel talk. Say that 10 times fast! Reflecting on these reflections, these little moments of my life, has given me the ability to grow. These chapel talks have transformed the way that I engage in the world. Through these reflections and meditations, I have been able to see not only how my actions impact and influence those around me, but also to gain the ability to truly make sure that every action I take is an action that I would want to own. I would speak to you all in my little chapel talks every

day, whether you knew it or not. In the audience I would see my friends, my family, the communities I am part of, and everyone I have never met (hi by the way). I knew I wanted to make you proud. I wanted to make myself proud.

That doesn't mean that I'm proud of everything that I have done. I'm still a deeply flawed person, and I have made huge mistakes and not shown up for the people I care about in the ways that I should. And yet, my chapel talks along the way have helped me to remember that no matter how flawed a decision I might make, I can still find the strength to take another step. I could persist through difficult times— whether in recovery or compromising with my brother and watching “Jessie.”

This has allowed me to acknowledge my struggles without dismissing them, while still embracing the hope that exists. My chapel talks have enabled me to create a foundation for myself that supports me in each unique moment.

In the reading for today, 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, Paul characterizes each of us as a letter saying: “you yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.”

Each of us are known in our own ways. Our lives are the testaments to the stories that shape us and the stories that we shape. Our letters are “written on one another's hearts” — in community, we are all tied to one

another, and each of our stories makes an impression on those around us. Hearing the stories of seniors past, and having the opportunity to tell my own, has helped me connect with this community throughout the years. Each of us has this ability to connect with one another, whether through chapel talks or other ways of sharing our stories.

In our own ways, we all share our stories as we progress through life. Your stories will continue to evolve throughout high school and throughout your life. In some ways, you are the product of the things that shape you — you are special and unique and you tell your own story just by existing—but you also get to decide how to tell your story. There's more than one way to tell a good story, but ultimately only you can control how you react to circumstances, how you want to shape your story.

It is so important in our lives that we recognize that our stories are divine. In this reading, Paul says, “You are a letter from Christ.” Each message we all can share is one the world is lucky to have, and all of us have the power to shape our stories. Simply put, you are enough. Your stories, my stories, all of our stories make up the fabric of life for all of us. And each of us are actively writing our stories today. So, I now ask you: how do you want to tell your story? Amen.

Joining the Board in 2025-2026

XIAO BOYNTON Board of Governors

“Being a Saint means building strong communication and leadership skills to prepare for the outside world, while cultivating excellence in academics, athletics, and the arts”

Xiao Boynton is the associate vice president of international government affairs at Eli Lilly and Company. She was previously a partner at the Albright Stonebridge Group, where she worked for more than 12 years advising clients on navigating the policy and regulatory environment in Asian markets. Xiao also served as the lead for Asia policy at the world's largest biotechnology association based in Washington. Early on in her career, she was a fellow

at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, directing projects on U.S.-China relations and global health.

Watching her sons grow and thrive at SSSAS since their kindergarten years inspired Xiao to serve on the Board. She hopes to help sustain that sense of connection for future generations while continuing to foster an environment that is both nurturing and academically rigorous, as well as competitive in athletics. Xiao also recognizes the importance of thoughtfully navigating the role of technology in students' lives. “We also need to address the challenge of ensuring students are equipped to embrace a tech/AI-empowered world while maintaining a strong foundation in creativity and problem-solving skills.”

She is especially passionate about the inspiring and impactful Upper School project: “The renovation and expansion have greatly enhanced the learning environment for our Saints. It is invigorating to see the modernized spaces and the new baseball field, which inspires so much Saints pride!” She views having three campuses as one of the school's greatest strengths, allowing each division to provide developmentally appropriate learning environments.

Xiao holds a master's degree in international development from Brandeis University. She and her husband, Brian, are the parents of Eddie '30 and Jonny '32. Outside of work, she enjoys cheering on her sons from the pool deck, baseball field, and ice rink, and going to Camden Yards to watch the Orioles play.

STEPHANIE BEYER KIRBY '99 Board of Governors

“Our greatest strength is our sense of community. The average tenure of our faculty is more than 18 years. Our faculty and staff make SSSAS a special place!”

Stephanie Beyer Kirby '99 is vice president at Beyer Automotive Group, a Northern Virginia dealership group founded by her grandfather in 1973 and led by her family before its acquisition in 2024. During nearly two decades with the company, Stephanie has held multiple executive roles, including vice president and executive team member, general manager, and marketing director, guiding growth and customer strategy initiatives. Deeply engaged in civic leadership, she

has served as trustee and chair of governance for the National Children's Museum, on the quality and safety board of Inova Alexandria Hospital, and spent six years on the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce Board where she served as chair of the Board in 2021.

Stephanie values the qualities that defined her experience as a student. “I chose to serve on the Board because I love the school. I graduated 27 years ago and all of the things that made it wonderful then, still remain true today. We are about people, community, and raising smart, thoughtful leaders.”

Stephanie is motivated by the launch of a new Strategic Plan and Campus Master Plan and is interested in how new programs and campus improvements will enrich the student experience. Her priorities for the Board include completing the Upper School renovation and continuing to invest in campus facilities. While recent improvements have strengthened shared spaces, she acknowledges the need for continued updates to classroom and athletic facilities.

Stephanie sees the local competitive landscape of independent schools as one of the school's biggest challenges. “It's important that SSSAS continue to adapt and excel in academics, the arts, athletics, and thoughtful leadership while remaining true to its identity.”

Stephanie earned a B.A. in Communications and Commerce from the University of Pennsylvania. She and her husband, Trey, are the parents of Ava '29 and Will '32. Outside of work, she enjoys cheering on her children in their sports, as well as traveling and cooking.

V.B. “TACK”

RICHARDSON III '99 Board of Governors

“I believe the school's greatest strengths are its mission, its leadership, and its loyal and lifelong community.”

Tack Richardson '99 is a management consultant and public sector advisor at the McLeanbased MITRE Corporation, where he advises political appointees and federal leaders on the management and operations of their agencies. Previously, he was a consultant with IBM, supporting Smarter Planet and Smarter Government initiatives. Earlier in his career, Tack spent five years as a legislative aide to U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, covering energy and natural resources issues,

including land conservation and public access to the Chesapeake Bay. Tack currently serves as the gubernatorially-appointed chair of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the Commonwealth of Virginia's largest land trust, and as a trustee and active member of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria.

As a member of the SSSAS community since age six, Tack sees the school as a place that has given him far more than he has given it. “I'm excited to be part of ensuring students feel supported, challenged, and able to thrive—to help other Saints feel like they've found a home!”

Tack is energized by the school's growth, particularly in areas that weren't historic strengths and now are—a vibrant arts program, leadership in tech, robotics, and AI, and a Learning Resources program that supports its students.

Among his priorities are affordability, campus planning, and strengthening the school's position in a competitive market. He adds that schools today face broader challenges, including the impact of AI, shifting views on higher education, rising costs, and a decline in teaching professionals.

Tack earned a B.A. in political science from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. He and his wife, Catherine, are the parents of Britt '31 and Charlotte '33. Tack's sister, Esther, also attended SSSAS in the Class of 1995.

KEN WAINSTEIN Board of Governors

“In addition to providing a top-notch academic curriculum, we want to produce graduates who have an appreciation of their responsibility as citizens to help lead and contribute to their community and their nation.”

A partner at the law firm Mayer Brown, Ken Wainstein chairs the firm's Global Investigations & White Collar Defense practice and is a member of the National Security and Congressional Investigations practices. During 23 years in federal service, he held senior national security and law enforcement roles, including U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Homeland Security Advisor to

President George W. Bush, and Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security. He also served as Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and as General Counsel and Chief of Staff of the FBI.

Ken, who previously served on the Board from 2020 to 2022, became part of the SSSAS community about 25 years ago when he enrolled his daughter, Ellie. He values the opportunity to give back while gaining insight into how the school creates such an enriching student experience.

Ken applauds the school's forward-looking approach, from investment in facilities to thoughtful integration of emerging technologies. “That's important in any organization, but particularly in a school, where you want to produce graduates who are prepared to keep their eye on the future, embrace change, and seize opportunities to make a better world.” He sees major challenges for schools today, including incorporating AI into the curriculum and student life and recruiting and retaining topnotch faculty.

The school's foreign exchange program has been rewarding for Ken and his family: “Our daughters have learned so much from their time abroad and from hosting exchange students in our home.”

Ken earned a bachelor's in international relations from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He and his wife, Elizabeth, are the parents of Ellie '15, Mackie '19, Cecily '23, and Natalie '28. Outside of work, he enjoys reading historical biographies, jogging, and traveling with his family.

ANDREW RUTTER Foundation Board

“As a parent, I've seen firsthand how the school fosters not just achievement, but curiosity, empathy, and a willingness to engage with others in meaningful ways.”

Andrew Rutter is a portfolio manager for the endowment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where he manages investments in support of the hospital's longterm mission. Previously, he was a partner at a single-family office investment vehicle. Prior to working there, Andrew was a vice president in the investment banking division at Goldman Sachs, working in the Financial Institutions Group. He began his career at Towers Perrin as an actuarial consultant.

For Andrew, serving on the Foundation Board reflects gratitude and commitment. He believes one of the school's greatest strengths is the breadth of experiences across academics, arts, athletics, and service. He is eager to build on that foundation—strengthening academic excellence while allowing students to explore their interests, develop discipline, and discover where they excel.

Among his priorities are deepening the school's commitment to character and community— consistent with its mission of “goodness as well as knowledge”—as the emphasis on empathy, service, and respect for others is both distinctive and essential. He is also focused on sustaining academic excellence while adapting to a changing world, highlighting the importance of critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to navigate complexity.

Andrew sees expanding accessibility and sustaining excellence as two of the school's most significant challenges. His commitment to access and affordability is shaped in part by his own experience benefiting from financial aid during his education. “Ensuring that more students have access to a Saints education and sustaining accessibility over the long term is central to both the mission and the future strength of SSSAS.”

Andrew earned a B.A. in Mathematics and Classical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He and his wife, Margaret, are the parents of Elizabeth '24, Jack '26, and Charlotte '28. Outside of work, he enjoys cheering on his children, hiking, skiing, and reading thrillers and mysteries.

ROBERT YOUREE '85 Foundation Board

“The school's greatest strengths are its exceptional teachers and its deeply supportive community.””

Robert Youree is the chief financial officer of Phoenix Investment Adviser LLC, an institutional investment manager focused on stressed and distressed companies, where he manages various aspects of the business including the firm's finance, accounting, and portfolio management operations, legal and compliance, performance measurement, and special situations. His career spans more than two decades in investment management, including cofounding Silver Leaf Partners, a broker-dealer focused on servicing hedge funds, and holding senior roles at Orbitex Management, Fairfax Capital, and Sage

Management. With a background in security analysis, trading, and investment research, Robert is a CFA charterholder and graduate of the University of Virginia who has built investment, governance, and operational frameworks for institutional-grade asset managers.

Robert is pleased to join the Foundation Board. “Serving on the Foundation Board is a way to give back to a community that has meant so much to me and my family and to help ensure that future students have the same opportunities and support that we have experienced.”

Among his top priorities are investing in exceptional faculty, strengthening facilities, and expanding access to allow more talented young people to benefit from an SSSAS education. He believes great teachers are at the heart of a Saint's experience and that strong learning and athletic spaces are critical to supporting the needs of students today.

In Robert's view: “The most significant challenges facing SSSAS are sustaining excellence in an increasingly competitive environment and ensuring long - term affordability for our families. Together, they shape almost every strategic decision the school will face in the coming years.” He strongly supports the Saints Together Campaign, with its mission-aligned focus on faculty, access, and strengthening the school's supportive environment.

Robert earned a B.A. in History from the University of Virginia. He and his wife, Kara Delvecchio Youree, are the parents of sons Cooper '29 and Jackson, and daughter Addie. Outside of work, he enjoys tennis, biking, skiing, and spending time with family and friends.

Purpose, Passion, and Service

Donnie Chancellor Wintermute '65—a journey of dedication and lasting impact

By Melissa Ulsaker Maas '76

Each summer, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras—one of the most impoverished regions in the world—Donnie Wintermute '65 joins a small mission team at Our Little Roses orphanage, showing up with suitcases full of supplies, a head full of plans, and an open heart.

There are crafts to organize, games to play, meals to prepare, and more than 60 girls at the orphanage ready to be seen, heard, and embraced. There are soccer matches and tutoring sessions, laughter and chaos, and, last year, even a ping pong tournament—thanks to a brand new table Donnie brought down herself.

“We shower the girls with lots of love, warm hugs, and friendly smiles,” she says. “Going to Honduras every summer is the most rewarding thing I do all year.”

It's her 16th summer. And like much of what Donnie does, it's not a one-time

effort—it's a commitment, sustained year after year, rooted in relationships and a genuine sense of responsibility to others.

A Life in Motion

In Alexandria, Donnie is widely known for her distinguished 40-year career in real estate with more than $1 billion in career sales. It's the kind of success that demands constant attention, long hours, and an ability to navigate both highstakes transactions and deeply personal moments in people's lives.

And yet, she has built something just as significant: a lifelong commitment to service.

That work has never been occasional or symbolic. It has been active, hands-on, and often leadership-driven—spanning organizations that support children and

families, the elderly, the arts, education, and health care.

She serves as vice chair of the Inova Alexandria Hospital Foundation Board, helping to advance critical care initiatives and contributing to projects that have a lasting impact on patients and families. She has led Senior Services of Alexandria as president, advocating for the dignity, care, and independence of older adults. Through the Campagna Center, she has worked to expand opportunities for children and families, chairing initiatives and helping build the organization's reach and support.

Her work has extended into the cultural and spiritual life of the city as well, including leadership roles with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and the Christ Church Foundation— helping to sustain institutions that bring

both continuity and connection to the community.

And throughout it all, she has remained deeply engaged in education, serving on the trustee board of the College of William & Mary and Hampden-Sydney College, while maintaining a decadeslong commitment to St. Stephen's and St. Agnes.

“I have continued to be involved in a number of charitable organizations and boards over the years,” she says.

It's a characteristically understated way of describing a level of involvement that has helped shape the quality of life in Alexandria for decades—work she has sustained alongside a full-time career. In 2014, she was honored as an Alexandria Living Legend, a recognition of her impact across the city's civic, cultural, and philanthropic life. Additionally, Donnie was named the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year.

Why She Gives

For Donnie, the foundation for a life of service was laid early.

As a student at St. Agnes, she absorbed lessons that would stay with her long after graduation. She still remembers the St. Agnes Court ceremony each January, when Donnie and four other seniors processed in white robes, candles in hand, and were recognized for honor and integrity.

“It was more important to be a good and honorable person than a star student. Going to St. Agnes was a life-changing experience offering academic excellence, fabulous teachers, wonderful friendships, spiritual growth, and service to others.”

Those experiences didn't fade. They became foundational.

They shaped not only the way she sees the world, but the way she moves through it—consistently, generously, and with a deep sense of responsibility to others.

That perspective shows up in many places, including Honduras.

When she first began traveling to Our Little Roses, she expected to encounter sadness and hardship. Instead, she found something more complex—and more hopeful.

“Much to my surprise, they weren't sad,” she says of the girls. “When they come to the orphanage, it is a significant improvement in their lives—they are fed, clothed, educated, and sleep in bed, often for the first time.”

She returns to Honduras each year to continue spending time with the girls, sharing experiences, and small moments that build over time.

Carrying It Forward

Her connection to St. Agnes—and to St. Stephen's and St. Agnes today—has followed a similar pattern: rooted in early experience, strengthened over time, and expressed through continued involvement and support.

She also remembers the people who shaped her. Her math teacher, General Jackson, became a mentor after the loss of her father, offering guidance that extended far beyond the classroom.

“He taught me the importance of hard work, academic excellence, and kindness,” she says.

Over the years, Donnie has remained deeply engaged with the school—serving multiple terms on the Board of Governors, first as one of its youngest members, and most recently as one of its most experienced.

“I must say that our school has never been stronger,” she says.

Even after rolling off the Board, she has continued her involvement through the Governors Committee and played an active role in the school's most ambitious

“I am hopeful that I can impact future generations of Saints through my long-term giving plans as a member of the SSSAS Signet Society.”

fundraising effort to date, the Saints Together campaign. But for Donnie, staying connected has never been about titles. It's about carrying forward something that began decades ago.

“I have always thought that we were put on this earth to help others,” she says. “It was at St. Agnes that I adopted this philosophy.”

That belief has shaped not only how she serves, but how she gives.

“I derive great pleasure from contributing to SSSAS,” she says. “I am so grateful for the education I received at St. Agnes, and I am hopeful that I can impact future generations of Saints through my long-term giving plans as a member of the SSSAS Signet Society.”

Her decision to include the school in her planned giving is not a separate act. It is a continuation of a lifelong pattern— investing in people, in community, and in the future.

From an eighth grader volunteering in Washington to a community leader helping shape Alexandria, Donnie's path has never really changed direction.

It has simply expanded.

Across organizations, across decades, and across continents, her work reflects a belief that took root early and never let go: that we are here to help others—and that the most meaningful impact comes from showing up, again and again, with generosity, intention, and heart.

For more information about planned giving and the Signet Society, contact Jennie Wills, Chief Advancement Officer, 703-212-2719 or jwills@sssas.org.

WHY WE LOVE TO BE AFRAID

A conversation with Doug Clegg '76 on imagination, fear, and the psychology behind the stories that haunt us.

BY MELISSA ULSAKER MAAS '76

“All human tragedies are tragedies of innocence waking.”

~ From “Neverland” ~

Ihadn't spoken to my St. Stephen's classmate, Doug Clegg '76, in nearly 50 years. But within minutes of reconnecting, it felt like no time had passed. I was transported back to meeting him for the first time at St. Agnes during our senior year.

What was meant to be a quick, 15-minute conversation stretched into two hours. The “one-hour” interview that followed lasted three. Speaking from his Connecticut home, where he lives with his husband of 37 years, Raul, Doug caught me up on his prolific career writing bone-chilling fiction—more than 30 books—and on the ideas that have shaped it.

Doug's memory is remarkable, and his enthusiasm for storytelling unmistakable. He is witty and endlessly conversational—someone who follows an idea wherever it leads, but never loses the thread. Thoughtful and refreshingly unassuming, he has spent decades exploring not just fear, but the psychology behind it…what unsettles us, what stays with us, and why we are drawn to it in the first place.

BENEATH THE SURFACE

For Doug, fear isn't something to avoid. It's worth examining, revealing as much as it conceals.

“I think horror is the thing you don't want to face, whatever it is,” he says simply. “That's why it works. It expunges something. It's catharsis.”

Horror isn't about shock. It's about psychology. Frightening stories give readers a way to approach what might otherwise feel overwhelming—loss, uncertainty, even death—without real-world consequences. It's not a

Being a writer is like being retired—but without the retirement money. “ “

new idea. Long before horror became a defined genre, fear ran through literature.

“I can trace any story that works back 100 or 200 years or more,” Doug says. “And if I can take it all the way back to Greek myth, I know that's why it works. There's truth in it.”

Childhood tales are not as innocent as they seem. Fairy tales, he notes, often carry darker undercurrents with

lessons about danger, transformation, and survival disguised in familiar forms. The same is true in his own work, where fear often emerges not from monsters, but from what lies beneath the surface of ordinary life.

In “Nightmare House,” a home becomes more than a setting, it's a place where memory and emotion seem to hang in the air. The mansion itself is a character, filled with boardedup rooms, hidden passages, and “psychic residue” from dark occult rituals performed years prior. As in much of Doug's fiction, the fear is both external and internal—a reflection of the characters themselves.

That connection between fear and the human psyche is what makes horror endure. It's less about what startles us than what lingers.

WHERE FEAR BEGINS

Doug's sense of fear didn't arrive suddenly, he grew into it, and eventually learned to embrace it.

“My earliest memory was before I could speak,” he recalls. “Although the impression of them is shadowy, my brothers were pushing me up against a wall in a house that for some reason felt unfamiliar, and I couldn't breathe. I wanted them to stop, but I couldn't do anything. The trauma of that moment still haunts my dreams.”

Years later, fear took on a different form during an Easter trip to New York City in 1964. The streets were packed with people dressed up for the occasion. One second Doug was walking with his family; the next, they were gone.

Laughing, he says, “My parents, two brothers, and a sister were walking

with me, then suddenly I'm in this crowd and I can't see them at all. And I thought, 'I will be murdered in Manhattan.'”

He was six.

“I went to a doorman for help thinking he was a policeman—he was wearing a uniform after all—and he spotted my parents over the heads in the crowd right away.”

The panic is immediate. Reuniting brings relief, but the feeling doesn't fade.

“I do think horror and a sense of darkness can build from those experiences,” he reflects. “I started to like my nightmares. I felt like they were adventures. Compared to my writing imagination which is much darker, my nightmares actually feel very soft to me.”

That willingness to lean into uncertainty, to follow fear rather than retreat, would shape not only the stories

“ “

Sometimes I wonder if everything we struggle with starts in childhood.

he was drawn to, but the ones he would go on to tell.

THE SHADOW WITHIN

Long before horror became a defined genre, fear was embedded in the stories children were told. Looking back at what he read as a child, Doug realized that even the books he considered benign carried disquieting elements.

“When you think about it, 'Green Eggs and Ham' had a threatening aspect to it,” he observes. “Someone is trying to force someone to eat green eggs, something they clearly don't want. The Dr. Seuss illustrations were beautifully nightmarish as well.”

Even the most familiar stories, he suggests, carry an undercurrent of foreboding.

“Pinocchio is a series of horrifying tragedies. Peter Pan is really Wendy's nightmare and Alice fell down a hole into a harrowing adventure. Fairy tales are a darker psychology about how the world works—how we ignore nature at our own peril.”

Childhood literature isn't always comforting, it's instructive. These stories introduce young readers to a world where consequences are real, transformation can be perturbing, and safety is not guaranteed.

Much of Doug's thinking about fear

Doug at 12, “clearly already enjoying a nightmare mood in Virginia.”

Doug 's St. Stephen's senior portrait in “The Scroll.”

Never afraid to bite the hand that feeds him.

is influenced by Carl Jung, particularly the idea of the “Shadow”—the part of the self that holds what we suppress, ignore, or would rather not see.

“Horror hits that shadow, the dark, dream part of people,” Doug says. Fear, in this sense, isn't just about what startles us, it's about what lies beneath. “Until you face your own dark side… it comes out in bad ways.”

Rather than turning away from those darker elements, Doug sees value in confronting them—through story, imagination, and the controlled experience of fear.

FINDING HIS VOICE

Doug's mother was an artist who encouraged all her children to explore the arts. His brothers became successful opera singers, and everyone played the piano. From a young age, Doug gravitated toward storytelling,

DOUG'S ESSENTIAL HORROR READS

“I could list hundreds of books as essentials. Horror as a genre encompasses psychological fiction, thrillers, gothics, and dark fantasy and has roots in myth, legend, and fairy tale— and gatherings around ancient fires where stories were once told in the dark. These are my personal favorites.”

“Turn of the Screw” by Henry James “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson

“Don't Look Now” Collection by Daphne Du Maurier

“The Other” by Thomas Tryon

“Ghost Story” by Peter Straub

“Rosemary's Baby” by Ira Levin

“The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson

“Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll

Any collection by Edgar Allen Poe

Any collection by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I wanted to write big, epic books… but things kept going dark. “ “

and his mother recognized the positive effect writing had on him.

“When I was eight, we had a pet mockingbird we'd taken in as a fledgling and we were teaching it how to fly in the house before releasing it back into the wild,” Doug pauses, then continues with a small, knowing smile.

“I released it for a test flight and our schnauzer…did what dogs do… ran it down and… well… killed it.”

Seeing how it affected him, his mother encouraged him to create a

painting, which he enjoyed.

“Then she suggested I write a story to go with it,” he says. “She continued encouraging me, because she saw it brought me out of my grief and guilt.”

While at St. Stephen's, Doug was coeditor of the newspaper and literary magazine, a yearbook contributor, and president of the drama club. In his senior year, he was voted “most creative.” With a broad smirk, he adds that he was also voted “most demented.”

“I was a total misfit,” he says lightheartedly. “But I was good at one thing, which was writing.”

What made the difference was not simply that he could write, but that he was in an environment that valued individuality.

“Both St. Stephen's and St. Agnes encouraged students to develop their own voices and ways of thinking, rather than conform to a single mold,” Doug says.

One early moment of recognition helped bring that into focus.

“I read a lot of Daphne du Maurier when I was a teenager,” he laughs. “So, I wrote an overwrought Gothic that got me into AP English—and that shocked me.”

It was small, but meaningful: a recognition that something he created had value beyond his own imagination.

“My teachers were real champions of 'keep writing,'” he says.

For a student who had felt out of place, that validation mattered. It offered not just direction, but permission—the sense that writing was not simply an interest, but something worth pursuing.

GOING FOR BROKE

After graduating from Washington & Lee with a degree in English literature, Doug taught junior high English, lived in Paris, worked in publishing, and did freelance writing before moving to Los Angeles—without landing anywhere that felt right.

Recommended through a chance meeting at a Hollywood party, he landed a popular job at KCBS TV in the news room, but quickly realized it wasn't his future.

“I saw young people who really wanted that job,” Doug recalls. “It would have been a great job to hang on to, if I'd felt it was my future, but it wasn't. Instead, I decided to go for broke and

write my first book. I was determined to pull things out of my imagination and put them into the world.”

So, he holed up in a North Hollywood studio apartment, lived off pizza and beer, and wrote 20 pages a day using his IBM Selectric and carbon paper. Six weeks later, “Goat Dance” was done.

St. Agnes classmate Mary Connally was temping at a segment of Harlequin in New York City that was doing nonfiction, but they'd also started a line of paperback thrillers and dark thrillers.

“I thought that was my in,” Doug says, grinning. “Mary asked an editor there, Tracy Farrel, to look at my book, but I didn't hear from her. Then I realized I had moved and hadn't forwarded my mail.”

Top left: representing CBS as part of the winning team of the Dragon Boat races in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s. Top Right: 1980s—Posing by the plane Tom Fulcher '76 was taking Doug up in. Bottom left: Doug (right) with husband Raul silva in their early days. Bottom Right: Manhattan 1990— Raul (left), Doug, and Tracy Farrel (far right), the editor who read his first novel and sent it to Simon & Schuster) and her assistant.

When he finally retrieved it, Tracy's letter said she was interviewing at Simon & Schuster and she promised to take Doug's book with her, but she advised him to rewrite the last 40 pages, which he did.

Again, no response. On a trip to New York to be Tom Fulcher's '76 best man, Doug met with Tracy. During the meeting, the phone rang.

“She looked at me oddly and said, 'That was the editor at Simon & Schuster. She's been trying to call you for a month, but she keeps getting a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles.'”

Doug shakes his head. “I'd never updated my contact information on the manuscript.”

The next day he met with the Simon & Schuster editor, who offered to buy the book.

“When I left Simon & Schuster, I felt like the best day of my life had just happened! As I walked down Avenue of the Americas I was crying happy tears. One after another, strangers stopped me and asked if I was okay and I said, 'I just sold my first book!'

Today, Doug continues to write while expanding his storytelling beyond the page. He is currently developing screenplays, working with directors Josh Boone, James Ashcroft, and Laurent Bouzereau on several projects, including one that brings his novella, “Purity,” to life. Although he was reluctant at first, he now finds the shift from solitary writer to collaborating with a team of creative people exhilarating.

The medium may be changing, but the impulse remains the same. Whether on the page or on screen, Doug

continues to explore the same questions that have shaped his work from the beginning—what we fear, what we try to avoid, and what those fears reveal about us.

After hours of conversation, it's clear this is not an abstract idea for Doug—it's a way of seeing the world. In the end, it's not the shock that stays with us, but the recognition. What disturbs us most isn't distant or unknown, but closer— something human.

Doug has published more than 30 books and 40 short stories and won three awards. His publishers have included Simon & Schuster, Bantam Doubleday Dell, Penguin Berkley, Dorchester, Signet, Cemetery Dance, Subterranean Press, Deadline Press, Bloodletting Press, and Alkemara Press, with several now under the Random House umbrella.

Learn more about Doug and his work at douglasclegg.com

MEETS TOMORROW WHERE TRADITION

BY JESSICA

How Janet Yieh '11 is shaping the future of sacred music

Janet Yieh '11 shows up for people on the most joyful day of their lives—their weddings. Every detail, from flowers to outfits to chosen readings, becomes extra meaningful in the context of a wedding ceremony. And as the director of music at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in Manhattan, Janet is in charge of one huge detail, a sacred one—the music.

What will set the tone for the couple as they begin their lives together? What will bring joy, reverence, and significance to their union? Those are

the questions Janet ponders with each bride and groom as she helps them choose music for their ceremony, and she doesn't take that responsibility lightly.

While Janet gets to show up for people in joy, she also is there in grief and sadness, as families plan funerals for loved ones. She helps them decide what music can best help them honor their loved one and if they'd prefer the tone to be solemn or celebratory. Whatever ambience they'd like, Janet can match through carefully-chosen arrangements.

On the happiest days and the saddest, through joy and grief, music is the throughline, a powerful force that can communicate beyond words.

“Music sort of takes over in those sacred moments,” Janet says. “It has a really powerful way of being able to do that.”

When you think of sacred music, you may think of “church music”— traditional hymns you'd hear during Sunday services. But in reality, its definition is broad and all-

HALSTEAD

PHOTO: CARLIN MA

encompassing. While sacred music certainly has historical roots - existing as far back in time as organized religion itself—it's also contemporary worship music you'd hear tuning into a religious radio station. It's hymns sung in Latin and also gospel music. It's works composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and also those created by women like Judith Weir, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Caroline Shaw…and Janet herself. In her role as both a music director and musician, Janet is honoring the traditional roots of sacred music while also ushering it into a new and electrifying future.

Janet says sacred music is intertwined so deeply into our daily lives that we may not even realize how it's evolved. Take the hymn “Joyful, Joyful,” an instantly recognizable earworm. It was actually first composed as a piece of classical music—not religious—by Ludwig van Beethoven for his Symphony No. 9 in 1824. In 1907, Henry Van Dyke took that tune and added lyrics:

Joyful joyful, we adore Thee God of glory, Lord of love Hearts unfold like flow'rs before Thee Op'ning to the Sun above

The song has become one of the most widely-recognizable and popular pieces of sacred music. (So popular, in fact, that it arguably has a starring role in “Sister Act 2.”)

If you've attended religious services, scanned through contemporary radio stations in your car, or tuned into artists like Enya, Chance the Rapper, or Sufjan Stevens, you've experienced the power of sacred music to transcend genre and elicit spiritual reverence. And it's into this world that Janet's life seems to click like a perfect puzzle piece. These days, her Spotify playlists are full of everything from Carole King to the Cranberries to Raye to soundtracks from Broadway shows like “Maybe Happy Ending” and “Merrily We Roll Along.” But it was a tapestry of more traditional sacred music that shaped Janet's childhood. She grew up

across the street from St. Stephen's and St. Agnes on the campus of Virginia Theological Seminary, where her father worked as a professor. Janet says her exposure to sacred music between home and school was deep and impactful. A lifer at SSSAS, Janet began accompanying the school's chapel services on the piano in second grade and the school choir in fifth grade—both roles she held until she graduated.

In fifth grade, already an accomplished pianist, another instrument caught her eye—the pipe organ.

“I will always be grateful to my SSSAS teachers who pointed me in the right direction, when I was stressed and needed encouragement.”

The thrum of the pipe organ is difficult to ignore, with a rumbling that makes it seem almost like a living, breathing being. Calling it an “accompaniment” or “background”

Janet performing in the 2010-2011 Handbell Choir; playing with the orchestra during the 2003 Thanksgiving Service in the fifth grade; and playing the piano during the 2009 Spring Chorus Concert in the 10th grade.

to church hymns is something of a misnomer because it's so deeply ingrained into the music itself. It's no wonder a wide-eyed musician who'd grown up around sacred music would feel drawn to the pipe organ.

With her legs barely long enough to reach the pedals, Janet auditioned for the Potomac Organ Institute and won free organ lessons for a year. So began Janet's relationship with this behemoth of an instrument that continues to this day.

The pipe organ, to the uninitiated, may seem outdated, niche or too religious to be mainstream. But to Janet, it's powerful and reverent, a bridge between the past and the present. She fell in love with the instrument and decided to major in pipe organ. That decision brought her to Juilliard in 2011, where she enmeshed herself in the buzz of the New York City arts scene.

“We were able to go hear the New York Philharmonic and go to the Met Opera with student tickets,” she says. “And Carnegie Hall was just down the street. It's a great environment for

a young artist to really be inspired by the professional music-making around you.”

After Juilliard, Janet spent three years earning a double master's degree in both organ performance and sacred music at Yale before returning to New York.

Before joining Heavenly Rest in early 2022, Janet served in various music-related roles at notable city churches like Trinity Church on the Green and Trinity Wall Street.

Trinity Wall Street, the oldest church in Manhattan, also houses one of the city's largest professional musicmaking programs. Working there allowed Janet keen insight into how a large church music program is run. By the time she left, right before her tenure at Heavenly Rest began, she was the associate organist and the director of St. Paul's Chapel Choir.

“I got to see first-hand how to run a concert series, and practice my conducting skills,” she says, noting how supportive of her learning everyone at Trinity was.

Each of Janet's roles prior to

Heavenly Rest sharpened her skills as an organist and musical director. At Heavenly Rest, she spends her days putting those skills into action. In her role, she oversees the Episcopal church's professional and volunteer choirs. She teaches singers from pre-K to grade 12 in the church's afterschool chorister program and organizes community concerts. She designs music programs for weddings, funerals, and special services. She directs an annual Christmas pageant with hundreds of neighborhood kids and live animals. And when she's not doing all that, she's playing the church's pipe organ—one of the largest in the city.

Working at Heavenly Rest hasn't just shaped Janet's practical skills, but also her own artistic voice.

Janet's work today is not just about preserving tradition, but bringing sacred music into the future. One of her central goals has been to bring greater visibility to women composers in sacred music, a field historically dominated by men. In 2020, Janet co-founded Amplify

The Upper School welcomed Janet back to campus as this year's Academic Convocation speaker on February 10. Before convocation, Janet was a special guest in Music Teacher Jim Criswell's Religion and Music: Sacred Sound class. After convocation, students and faculty had the opportunity to continue the conversation with her at a lunch reception.

[Left photo: Janet with English Teacher Joe Wenger, French Teacher Kim Scott, and Associate Head of School Bob Weiman.]

Female Composers with fellow organist Carolyn Craig.

“There was a moment that I realized that a lot of the music we were playing and singing and programming didn't include the voices of women composers or the voices of composers of color,” Janet says.

Between 2020 and 2022, Carolyn and Janet produced 67 videos of works of sacred music by women composers. The idea was to give other church music directors a rich library of music to choose from for each church season. The response has been overwhelmingly positive; Janet describes one church community that was inspired to look back at their own previous 10 years of music programming, only to discover

that not a single piece arranged by a woman was featured. The cathedral vowed to not only rectify the issue but go one step further, asking their choirs and choristers to share their favorite works by women.

“They said, let's go the whole way, which is program the music, purchase it for our library, sing it, and then celebrate these women composer colleagues,” she says. “It was a great outcome…rather than saying no, we can't do this, they went all in.”

The power to shape the future of sacred music lies in the hands of Janet and her colleagues. Bridging the gap between a rich and storied historic tradition and a new, contemporary age of sacred music

means taking a sharp look at what music churches tend to program and challenging them to expand their horizons. It means programming works by living composers alongside centuries-old repertoire. It means introducing young singers to music that reflects a broader range of voices and experiences.

If there's a consistent thread through Janet's work, it's the notion that sacred music is not static—it evolves because people do. And as a new generation of musicians reimagines what sacred music can be, leaders like Janet are helping ensure that the tradition doesn't just endure, but grows far into the future.

Conducting at the Church of Heavenly Rest in Manhattan (Photo by Angela James)

Getting to Page 17

John Whittington '01 on screenwriting, persistence, and the work behind the story

BY MELISSA ULSAKER MAAS '76

John Whittington '01 writes stories built for wide audiences— films filled with humor, action, and familiar characters like Batman and Sonic the Hedgehog. But when he talks about storytelling, he returns again and again to something simpler: connection. Not just between characters on screen, but what audiences carry with them...where they were, who they were with, and what a story meant at a particular moment in their lives.

That perspective was shaped long before his name appeared in the credits of a major motion picture—years of writing, waiting, and trying to hold onto a path that offered no clear roadmap. When his breakthrough finally came with “The LEGO Batman Movie,” it shifted the trajectory of his career.

Today, John writes across animated films, live-action projects, and streaming series. But the throughline remains the same: stories grounded in relationships, and a belief that what matters isn't just what happens on screen, but what remains long after the credits roll.

THE FIRST DRAFT

Growing up, John was drawn to stories. Movies, TV shows, and video games were a big part of his world, but he didn't yet see storytelling as something he would pursue. In his later years at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes, that began to change when he discovered screenplays online and became fascinated with them.

“I dove into screenwriting on my own as the truest kind of amateur and just started exploring,” John says. “Eventually it got into my bloodstream and made me want to pursue it seriously in college and beyond professionally.”

In Dr. Judy Brent's AP English class, that growing interest took on a new dimension. “We read David Mamet's 'Glengarry Glen Ross' in class, and I'd seen the movie,” John recalls. “It was really eye-opening to read the original play and see how similar—but also how different—it was from the movie. The contrast was really cool and something that didn't feel like homework.”

Although a self-confessed terrible

actor, John thoroughly enjoyed Jim Marvin's drama class. “I loved his enthusiasm and the way he supported us,” he continues. “We had to write a short scene as a class, and I think that's where the itch started.” John began writing original screenplays on his own. “I thought they were high-minded, but they were just kind of cliche teen angst kind of ideas,” he laughs.

After graduating, John headed to New York City, first attending City College to “build enough credibility to transfer to NYU.” He arrived just two weeks before 9/11, an experience that intensified his focus and pushed him deeper into film and television. “New York was a big change from Northern Virginia, exiting the secure bubble and slamming into a brave new world that quickly became very scary.”

NYU was a “full-blown art school,” where he began to explore his own creativity in ways he hadn't before. He also reconnected with his Middle School

math teacher and basketball coach, Chris Mahoney, who was living in New York at the time. As John began making short films, Chris became both a source of support and friendship, even offering up his apartment as a set.

“We'd take our cameras out into the city, shooting on real film we later edited on razor blade and tape kind of cutting boards,” John says with a smile. “There were cameras that were loaned to the military during World War II, some of which had been hit by bullets. It was exciting to think that Martin Scorsese might have held that camera at some point. The whole experience was really free and fun and exciting.”

THE LONG ROAD

John had found his passion. “It can be all-consuming and I was happy to let it consume me in that way,” John says. “You learn quickly whether or not it's truly for you. If it hadn't been, I would have

“It was the fastest 'yes' of my career!”

fallen out of love very fast.” In time, he did fall out of love with some elements of filmmaking, which only deepened his commitment to writing.

He graduated in 2005 and immediately moved to Los Angeles. Breaking in wasn't easy. He took on whatever work he could, learning the rhythms of the industry while carving out time to write. His first job was as an agency reader.

“For four years I faced a mountain of scripts all day, every day as the first person to read them,” John explains. “Then I wrote coverage, basically a book report on what the script is about, who the characters are, and ultimately, a paid opinion on whether or not it's good enough for someone more senior to read.”

John read two or three a day. Most were forgettable, but some were written

by the great screenwriters of the time. “I kept a lot of them and still have them on my shelf. Occasionally, I crack one open for some inspiration when I need it.”

When he left that job, it was to write screenplays full time. It required a leap of faith—and it only got harder. For the next six years, he wrote original material and worked to land a studio rewrite or sell a pitch. All of his projects had gone nowhere.

“After a decade in LA, I was part of the union with proof that I was a professional writer, but otherwise there was nothing that bore my name and nothing of any real significance.”

Despite never being made, there were a few scripts over the years that opened the door bit by bit. “The one that was a real breakthrough for me is called 'True Fan,'” John says. Based on the story of a Chicago Cubs fan who became the target of public outrage after interfering with a foul ball during a crucial 2003 game, it explored the fallout of a single, unintended moment—and the human

THE WORK

“The LEGO Batman Movie” (Warner Bros, 2017), Co-writer

“The LEGO Ninjago Movie” (Warner Bros, 2017), Co-writer

“When We First Met” (Netflix, 2018), Writer

“Green Eggs and Ham” (Netflix, 2019), Staff Writer

“Sonic the Hedgehog 2” (Paramount, 2022), Co-writer

“DC League of Super Pets” (Warner Bros, 2022), Co-writer

“Knuckles” (Paramount Plus, 2024), Co-Creator, Executive Producer, Head Writer

“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” (Paramount, 2024), Co-writer

“Swapped” (Netflix, 2026), Co-writer

“Remarkably Bright Creatures” (Netflix, 2026), Co-writer

“Sonic the Hedgehog 4” (Paramount, 2027), Writer

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Sequel” (Paramount, 2027), Co-writer, Executive Producer

cost that followed. “I wrote the script in 2015 and it remains my dream project to this day.”

Then it happened. He landed a rewrite with screenwriter and director Jared Stern, a friend and mentor—his first produced credit, “The LEGO Batman Movie.” “I remember very clearly sitting with Jared in his office and hearing him ask if I would be interested in working with him on the movie,” John recalls. “It was the fastest 'yes' of my career!”

THE BREAKTHROUGH

From there, everything—his work, and in many ways his life—began to shift. The first decade in Los Angeles had felt like 100 years; the next seemed to pass in a blur. The work that followed, especially in family and animated films, opened doors, but just as importantly, it brought a sense of steadiness that had long felt out of reach. He finally felt like a working writer. That change extended beyond the professional. With regular work came the

freedom to think about a future outside of it. He proposed to his wife, Rhana, and began building a life that had once felt too uncertain to imagine. By the time “The LEGO Batman Movie” premiered, his wife was pregnant with their daughter, Sophia.

“This last 10 years has been a great, really fortunate ride to see the dream come true in a lot of ways. I'm so grateful for everything that's been made possible after the long slog of the first decade.”

Following that breakthrough, John has built a career writing for some of the most recognizable characters in film, from Batman to Sonic the Hedgehog. But for him, the spectacle is never the point. “For me, it all comes down to relationships,” he says. “The primary relationship in a movie—that's really what it's about.” Whether John's working within an established franchise or creating something new, he is drawn to the dynamic between characters—the thread that gives the story weight and makes it resonate with audiences.

That focus comes with its own challenges. Writing for characters audiences already know and love brings both opportunity and pressure. For John, that tension is part of the appeal. “It takes a lot of responsibility because people care so much and they come with a preinvestment in the characters,” he says. “It requires a balance between honoring what exists and finding something new within it.”

In recent years, John's work has taken on increasing scope and recognition. As a staff writer on Netflix's “Green Eggs and Ham,” he earned a nomination at the 47th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for an Animated Program, a milestone that marked both critical recognition and a turning point in his career.

From there, his role continued to expand. He went on to co-create and serve as executive producer of “Knuckles,” a spin-off in the “Sonic the Hedgehog” franchise, stepping into a leadership position while continuing to write. He has remained closely involved in shaping stories within that world, contributing to the “Sonic” films and helping define

THE INVISIBLE STAIRCASE

Unlike other professions, there is no traditional way forward in the filmmaking industry. “I feel like people outside of what I do may assume that there's a path towards a screenwriting career, but the staircase is invisible. You're hoping there's a step where you're about to put your foot, but there might also be thin air and you might fall down and have to start back over.”

In reality, there's only circumstance, timing, and luck—combined with the extraordinarily hard work that is simply the price of admission.

Progress, he has learned, is measured differently. It isn't a steady climb, but a series of small, often uncertain steps—pages written, scenes reworked, ideas tested and set aside.

the voice of a character beloved across generations. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” was the 10th highest grossing film of 2024 globally.

Last year, John took on a very different kind of project when producer Bryan Unkeless brought him the galleys of “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt before the book was published. His adaptation moves away from animation into a quieter, more intimate story—though one that does have a talking octopus. Translating the book's reflective, character-driven narrative to the screen required a shift in approach, finding a way to bring its emotional depth to life in a new way.

The project took on even greater significance with the casting of Sally Field in the lead role. “To his credit, Bryan sent me the book, thinking somebody like Sally Field would be great in the role,” John says. “So, I got to read the whole book thinking of Sally Field.” John came up with a pitch for the movie. “Not long after that, I was having breakfast with the legend herself, pitching her what I thought we should do for the movie. And thankfully, she was on board because she's the greatest possible actress to play Tova.”

John starts early, working while the house is still quiet before he takes his daughter, Sophia, to school. “If I can get from page 16 to page 17 before her alarm goes off, I feel like that's a great start,” he says. On a good day, it might be two or three pages—five, if things are really going well. But the goal isn't volume. It's simply to keep moving forward, building enough momentum to return the next day with confidence.

John feels extremely fortunate and grateful for his success. It might seem as though he simply showed up each day and, over time, earned a movie credit. The reality has been quite different.

“It's hard to describe that kind of uncertainty, what walking around in that fog in pursuit of a dream, really feels like.”

He is especially excited about his current project, which holds a special connection to his childhood, the sequel to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”

“The Ninja Turtles were my first love, going back to my earliest waking memories,” he says.

A lifelong fan, John grew up collecting the action figures, playing the games, and watching the cartoons. Now, he finds himself helping to shape its next chapter—another dream come true.

John, his wife, Rhana, and daughter, Sophia.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION

BY JESSICA HALSTEAD

RETHINKING THE HUMAN HEART

Eileen McNamara '11 is part of a Stanford collaboration working to create transplantable hearts in the lab

WHAT IF A FAILING HEART COULD BE REPLACED NOT BY A DONOR, BUT BY ONE GROWN AND PRINTED IN A LAB—MADE FROM A PATIENT'S OWN CELLS, READY WHEN THEY NEED IT?

That's the vision behind a groundbreaking project at Stanford University, where Eileen McNamara is helping coordinate one of the most ambitious efforts in modern medicine. As a Research Program Manager for the ARPA-H HEART initiative, Eileen works at the center

of a 15-lab collaboration attempting something once confined to science fiction: 3D bioprinting a functional human heart.

The project could fundamentally change the organ transplant landscape as we know it. In the current system, thousands of patients

face up to years-long waits for donor organs, and those who receive them face risks of rejection and a lifetime of immunosuppressive drugs.

But if the ARPA-H HEART initiative is successful, a simple skin swab and a few months could be all that's needed to print an on-demand heart from a patient's own cells. Wait times would be significantly reduced, and so would the likelihood of posttransplant complications.

It won't be easy—there's a reason Eileen calls it a “moonshot goal.” But that hasn't stopped her and the rest of the Stanford team from pushing forward in hopes of redefining what's possible in regenerative medicine.

From Plastic Printers to Living Tissue

Traditional 3D printing involves loading plastic filament into a machine that prints objects layer by layer. 3D bioprinting borrows from that concept—but instead of plastic filament, the “ink” is living cells that have been grown in a lab setting. While promising, the process is rife with challenges. For one, living tissue is shapeless, delicate and subject to gravity. If printed in open air, the tissues would collapse immediately. The solution? Hair gel. (Kind of.)

The bio-ink, which Eileen likens to mayonnaise, is printed directly into a substance reminiscent of hair gel,

which holds together the tissue in its final form. “That helps to be able to print softer tissues,” she explains.

Another hurdle is vasculature. Without vessels, living tissue dies quickly. But embedding vessels just so in tissue, especially if it's thick, can be complicated. Add the fact that researchers aren't working with just one cell type, but 11, and you can see why an effort like this takes immense coordination, resources, and time.

The project is about halfway through its five-year grant. Much progress has been made, with researchers successfully printing full-scale heart models, though without living cells. (That's the next step.) “It realistically will take several more years to be able

PHOTO BY TOM BALFOUR

to get this into clinical trials with humans,” she says. Before clinical trials can start, more research and development has to happen in order to strengthen the groundwork for the project's major goal—a 3D-bioprinted heart, printed on-demand in less than an hour.

A Cultivated Journey

The science itself is complex, and so is the structure behind it. The HEART project brings together 15 labs, each focused on different aspects of the heart, from cell production and printing to electrical signaling and valve design. Eileen's role is to keep all of those moving parts aligned.

Her work involves leading meetings, tracking progress, and reporting updates to ARPA-H, the federal agency funding the project. But perhaps most importantly, she acts as a bridge between disciplines, understanding the intricate details across the program.

“Sometimes there are ways that we can collaborate that don't really seem apparent at first,” she explains. “So I'm really being that bridge and

making sure people are connecting.”

Eileen's journey to the forefront of regenerative medicine has been propelled by her passion for science. It's a passion fueled, in part, by her early experiences at SSSAS. She points to Beth Barrow's EcoAdventures camp as a catalyst. “That was the start of falling in love with nature and biology,” she says.

Eileen's interest in science sharpened in courses like AP Chemistry and AP Psychology, where her fascination with the human brain—“what makes us who we are”—grew. At Wake Forest University, she designed her own neurobiology-focused major and then went on to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, where she earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience. While there, Eileen was part of a team studying how to identify biomarkers indicating traumatic brain injury. The work honed her skills in research and data analysis. “I learned what types of questions to ask and how to figure out what story is being told by the data,” she says.

Those skills served her well in her next career move, one that departed

Eileen's love of nature and biology was ignited by an SSSAS summer camp, Eco-Adventures.

from her work in neuroscience. As she wrapped up her Ph.D., the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold and food insecurity was rampant across the country. “I was looking for a way to combine my scientific background with the food space,” Eileen says, “and I stumbled upon cultivated meat.”

The cultivated meat sector, within the broader cellular agriculture industry, is doing exactly as you might expect—growing meat from cells in a lab. The practice seeks to reduce the costs and environmental impacts of raising and slaughtering animals. Potential benefits aren't just environmental; on a mass scale, cellular agriculture can be a solution for food insecurity.

HIKING MT. JADE (YUSHAN) AND DIVING AT GREEN ISLAND (LUDAO) ON A TRIP TO TAIWAN IN 2023.

Eileen “hopped around” the cultivated food space for a bit before joining the ARPA-H project at Stanford, which wasn't a far leap from her previous work in cellular agriculture. Both involve cultivating cells and scaling them up, albeit for different end goals. “The techniques that are being used to build a full-scale organ are similar to the cultivated meat space,” she says. “But here, we're making a functional organ instead of a tasty food product.”

Eyes on the Future

For Eileen, the potential impact of the work she does with the HEART project extends far beyond heart

transplants, calling the project a “game-changer.” The same technologies being developed for organs could also eventually apply to other areas, like lab-grown blood, joints, or tissues. “It opens up a whole new box of regenerative medicine,” she adds.

Reflecting on her own path, Eileen emphasizes that there is no single route into science or innovation. Her suggestion for students wanting to get involved with regenerative medicine is to “be curious and keep an open mind.” Rather than focusing on a rigid career plan, she encourages students to build foundational skills, especially the ability to think critically and ask good questions.

“Learning how to analyze data and think about the questions to ask goes a long way,” she explains. Those skills, she notes, are transferable across fields and can open unexpected doors.

The idea of printing a human heart may still sound futuristic, but at Stanford and across the broader scientific community, it is steadily becoming more real. Challenges remain—in biology, engineering, and scaling. But the foundation is being built layer by layer, and cell by cell.

And at the center of it all are researchers like Eileen, helping turn a once-impossible idea into a tangible goal.

EILEEN AND YOSHI MEG’S MARVELS PHOTOGRAPHY

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION

BY JESSICA HALSTEAD

DEMYSTIFYING DIGITAL FINANCE

A Conversation with Matthew Fisher '16 about building the infrastructure behind a new generation of global financial systems

As the CEO of financial infrastructure company Katana, Matthew Fisher '16 is no stranger to having to explain his complicated and somewhat mystifying work to others. We caught up with Matthew to ask him about Katana, what drew him to this work, and what we can expect in the future of cryptocurrency.

A finance major at Penn State, Matthew entered the industry just as blockchain technology was beginning to expand

beyond early adopters, and quickly gravitated toward a field that blends markets, technology, and global access.

Now leading a company building blockchain-based systems for decentralized finance, his work often takes him around the world—from Seoul to Hong Kong to Buenos Aires—reflecting the truly global nature of this emerging industry. We caught up with Matthew to ask him about Katana, what drew him to

this work, and what we can expect in the future of digital finance.

Q: For someone with zero technical background, how would you explain blockchain?

MF: One analogy I like is to think of it as a Google spreadsheet that tracks every financial transaction you make. But instead of Google owning it, there are thousands of computers around the world

that each hold a copy simultaneously. So it's not controlled by a single bank or institution. Many independent computers verify the data which is published and is immutable, preventing manipulation of the underlying data.

When a transaction is executed on blockchain rails, the transaction gets bundled with others to become a block of transactions. That block is verified by the network and gets permanently added to a chain of history. Once it's there, it can't be changed, which makes it transparent and trustworthy.

Q: What problem is blockchain trying to solve that traditional finance doesn't?

MF: At its core, it's trying to solve the trust problem. Blockchain technology was originally created right after the financial crisis in 2008, when a lot of people lost trust in banks.

But beyond that, it addresses issues of cost, speed, and accessibility. When I was growing up, my babysitter was from Venezuela, and she would always take us with her to Western Union to mail money back to her mom. Western Union charged pretty high fees for that. Now with blockchain, she'd be able to just send money instantly, for pennies.

There are people all over the world that have varying degrees of access to either their own brokers or financial tools or bank accounts, and providing digital assets is one way to give them more access.

And when it comes to speed, traditional systems could take days to settle transactions. With blockchain, that can happen instantly.

Q: You mentioned trust. Do people actually trust a system run by code more than traditional institutions?

MF: I think it's a mix. There's definitely been a decline in institutional trust, not just in the financial world, but in media spaces too, with disinformation and the like. It can be hard to know who to believe at times.

But at the same time, with blockchain, you don't have to put your trust in a person or an institution because you can trust the system itself. It's more practical, too. It's cheaper, faster, and operates

24/7. I think that's part of the reason it's becoming more and more popular.

Building New Financial Systems

Q: How would you describe what Katana does?

MF: Katana is a financial infrastructure platform built on the blockchain. We build tools that let people trade, earn yield, or interact with financial markets. It's like financial plumbing – it's infrastructure that people may end up using without even realizing it.

Q: What's one common misconception about blockchain or cryptocurrency?

MF: A big one is that cryptocurrency is only used for illicit activity. But in reality, it's the most transparent financial system, because everything is publicly visible and permanently recorded. Another is that crypto is only used for speculation or gambling. While that exists, that's definitely not the sole purpose of crypto.

Q: Why are traditional financial institutions starting to pay attention now to this space?

MF: It comes down to disruption. If they don't adapt, they're going to lose a lot of their core business. To go back to the Western Union example, they rely a lot on transaction fees. But if someone comes in with blockchain and says, “Hey, I can do

free transactions instantly,” that's a threat. That explains why institutions like Fidelity, BlackRock, and JP Morgan are all getting involved with cryptocurrency with investments, EFTs and tokenization.

Looking Ahead

Q: You travel a lot for work. Where are you seeing the most adoption globally?

MF: Honestly, more outside the U.S. It's taken off in places like southeast Asia. In Argentina, where it's hard to access U.S. dollars, people there are starting to use cryptocurrency for everyday payments, even at the grocery store. It's very much a global market.

Q: What initially drew you to this space?

MF: I've always been interested in startups and finance, and crypto kind of sits at the intersection of both. I saw a good opportunity to be early in an emerging industry. And because crypto is so new, there's a big opportunity to take ownership early. I'm the youngest person on my team, but in a space like this, everyone is learning at the same time.

Q: What advice would you give students interested in blockchain or digital finance?

MF: I'd tell them there is a lot you can learn on your own—there's really no limit to the amount of resources you can learn from. In terms of soft skills, being good to people and understanding what their goals are and how to meet them are important. And one final thing I'd say is to think about what you're interested in and see how you can make a job out of it. I was already using my free time to learn about crypto, and then I started getting paid for it.

Q: Do you think blockchain technology will truly reshape finance?

MF: I think it's already doing that, because it's forcing a lot of financial institutions to optimize their processes and move toward better outcomes for users. It's not like a massive shift is going to happen overnight, because shifts in financial infrastructure can take decades. But it's not a matter of if the blockchain will reshape finance, but when.

ALUMNI REUNION WEEKEND 2026

It was a full and joyous Alumni Reunion Weekend. Friday's highlights included welcoming the Class of 1976 as the newest Classic Saints, amazing displays of historical items created by Archivist Erica Williams, student-led tours of the Upper School, the opportunity to sit in on a class, watching varsity boys lacrosse take on Georgetown Prep, and, of course, the evening All Alumni Reception.

On Saturday alumni cheered on the varsity baseball team as they faced off against Flint Hill and the varsity girls lacrosse, who had an exciting win against National Cathedral. After exploring the Alumni Association Brick Walk and grabbing a bite at the Alumni Families Community Lunch, alumni gathered for the dedication of a memorial bench to Natalie Richards '09. The weekend festivities concluded on Monday, with the Alumni Association Board's “Saints Alumni Fun Day,” featuring the 34th Sleepy Thompson Memorial Golf Tournament.

CLASS NOTES

CLASS OF 1953

From the Alumni Office: Ann Parish Jackson celebrated her 90th birthday with all three of her children (including Lamar Jackson Mullis '87), all six of her grandchildren (including Taylor Jackson '13), and three great-grandchildren at her home on the Potomac River. She is still teaching ESOL in Prince William County.

CLASS OF 1955

Submitting News

Your class ambassador would love to receive your news and photos! If you submit a photo, please be sure you are in it. Photos emailed or uploaded to our website must meet the requirements below.

Submitting Photos

If you would like to submit a digital photo for the magazine, publication specifications for print require that it be the original, uncropped, full-size, jpeg file. Please do not resize, reduce, or compress photos for emailing. We cannot accept screenshots of a photo on a website, or photos that do not have alumni in them.

Get Connected!

Visit sssas.org/alumni to get the latest Reunion updates, check out our upcoming events, share your news, or update your contact information.

Join our Facebook and LinkedIn groups, and look for us on Instagram @sssasalumni

Visit Flickr.com/sssasalumni to see photos from our alumni events.

To Update Your Alumni Record

Please contact Director of Alumni Relations and Reunion Giving Allison James Schwartz at ajames@sssas.org

Mimi Niepold Horne

Last April, Ann Lanyon Kaplan, Helen Jackson Young and husband Bev Young, Beverly Hogle Smedberg, Audie Ramsey Hall, Lucy Holcomb Mustin, Doug Mustin St. Denis, Jean Androus Woodman, and Mimi Niepold Horne met for a 70th Reunion dinner at Landini's in Alexandria, Va.

CLASS OF 1957

From the Alumni Office: Teddy (Caroline) Phillips is now Caroline Phillips Bundy and has moved across the town of Abingdon, Va. She formerly lived on Oakwood Drive. Her helpful son lives with her. Both of her husbands are deceased. She retired from her position with Rite Aid pharmacy as a pharmacy manager in 2003. Lucky Teddy's son is a chef. Her daughter lives in Fancy Gap, Va. She would love to hear from classmates.

CLASS OF 1958

Julia Shields

Patty Bayliss Owens's big news was that she, Pat Lyon Dunn, and Sally Engh Reger decided to attend the SSSAS Reunion this past year. It was a great decision! All the events were held at school thanks to the new addition. The Friday night cocktail party was “popular, packed, and perfect!” according to Patty. Judy Kurtz Suor, living at Goodwin House, invited the group to dinner at her place. Patty said it was a treat, and her apartment is lovely. Sally chauffeured the group all weekend in Patty's car. They had so much fun, they may do it

again this year.

Kay Burney Butler enjoyed lots of travel this year. She went to her cabin in Utah with both daughters' families, took a cruise to Amsterdam with daughter Elizabeth, took her annual visit for Posey's birthday, took two trips to Boston to visit daughter Karen and family in Lexington, took her annual art trip to Indianapolis, took a cruise along the New England coast to Canada, took a trip to Napa Valley with her investment club, and then went to Sundance with Elizabeth and Grayson. Phew. Grandson Shelby graduated from Colgate and is awaiting news from the NFL draft. Reding is a junior in high school and also a punter. Elizabeth is studying to earn her Ayurveda certificate, among other activities. Karen and friends visited before hiking the Grand Canyon. They just returned from a sail with friends to deliver a boat from Stonington to Tortuga. Cedar (at Groton) and Posey (at Brooks) are seniors applying to colleges. Cedar has been in maintenance after three years of treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He and Posey were the 2025 National Fundraisers for Blood Cancer United. A trip to the Netherlands was the family's Make-AWish trip this summer.

Jane McPherson Jewell and Pete are doing well. They went to Kentucky for Thanksgiving and had a great time with kids and grandkids. They headed to Bluffton, S.C., to spend Christmas and New Year's with Courtney Beveridge '87 and Fitzy.

Sue Peery Moore and Bill are still thriving in North Palm Beach, Fla., with two months at dear old Bethany Beach each summer. They also took a wonderful cruise to the Mediterranean, visited their daughter Julia and her family, and rented a cottage in Watch Hill, R.I., for a week. Two of Julia's children are in New York City. Rick is an associate with Radial Equity Partners and is a frequent winner in doubles squash tournaments. Ellie is a second year analyst in Brown Brothers Harriman's Investment Research Group. Will worked at UBS, a premier Swiss multinational investment bank,

this summer in industrial investment banking and will be returning there after graduation from Georgetown University this spring. The young Moores— Tommy's family—are also thriving. Walker, elected president of his class for four straight years, has earned a football scholarship at Williams College (which my grandniece informs me is the hardest school in the country to get into). Leila, a junior, plays on the varsity field hockey team, which played in the state playoffs; she also volunteers tutoring in a refugee program. She traveled to Baja, Mexico during the summer, where her group was taught marine biology and shared their knowledge with young people in the community. Their dad is still a financial

advisor with Merrill Lynch in New York City, and Augusta is a dream mom for sports teams and class groups.

Sally Engh Reger reports that in spite of having had a fall which resulted in broken ribs, she is back to taking exercise classes and enjoying her garden club and book group. Last June she traveled with her daughter Kirsten and granddaughters Samantha and Lizzie to the south of France, and more recently returned from a warm weather trip with son Steven and his wife Stephanie to St. Martins in the Caribbean. Grandson Kessel lives in the Akron, Ohio, area, and granddaughter Samantha lives in Chicago working to complete her masters in architecture.

Lizzie is a freshman at the University of Cincinnati, studying communications. And although her back problems keep her from being as active as she would like, this year has been a busy one for Julia Shields. She joined the family for grandniece Virginia's wedding at a sweet little chapel near Charleston (the locals in typical Charleston fashion call it Punkin Chapel, though it is spelled Pompion). Another grandniece, Leidy, got married on a hillside in Greenwood, Va. And thanks to the kindness of the young folks she enjoyed a happy week at the beach, mostly admiring the two youngest members of the tribe, one aspiring ballerina (aged three) and one bulking up to earn a football scholarship (aged 10 months). Julia's house is in total disorder as she tries to get rid of stuff before moving to a retirement community, most likely in the fall. Timed nicely as one of the newly married couples just bought a house in Philadelphia.

Judy Kurtz Suor has returned home after a wonderful African safari. Unfortunately at the end of the trip she broke her leg. In spite of that injury and a diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease, Judy is cheery and full of life.

CLASS OF 1959

Mary Roberts Judkins

From Ann Manson Adair: “2025

Ann Parish Jackson '53 celebrates her 90th birthday with her family at her home on the Potomac River.

Class of 1955 St. Agnes grads Ann Lanyon Kaplan, Bev Young, Helen Jackson Young, Beverly Hogle Smedberg, Audie Ramsey Hall, Lucy Holcomb Mustin, Doug Mustin St. Denis, Jean Androus Woodman, and Mimi Niepold Horne gathered in April 2025 for a 70th Reunion dinner.

was an especially tough year for me as my beloved husband, Michael, passed away on February 28. I am still living in our sunny condo overlooking Stonington Harbor in Stonington, Conn., with family and good friends nearby. Daughter Virginia lives in Mill Valley, Calif., with three boys ages 8, 6, and 3, and we have 11 other grandchildren ranging in age from 3-28! I did have a joyful reunion with Sue Peery Moore '58.”

Judy May Zouck writes, “I travel, hike, and bike trying to keep in shape as age keeps enveloping us. My granddaughter is applying to med school. My grandson is graduating from college in the spring. My son and daughter-in-law are back in the U.S. after two and half years in Dresden. I love living in New Hampshire, but still get back to Maryland a couple times a year.”

Suzanne Spillers Reid is still in Houston. Her son Michael, his wife, and children Alexa and Ryland live nearby, and daughter Kathryn is in Denver with her husband and daughter Vivienne. She enjoys her exercise class, spending time with friends and family, and especially her cat, Sophie.

Linda Cunningham Goldstein is enjoying life in Fairfax, Va. She says, “I am still active in Historic Fairfax City serving on the board, doing research, writing, and grant writing assistance. Son Brian and wife Monica live and practice law in Manhattan. Monica represents young concert artists, bringing them to Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, etc. Brian also teaches a class at New College.

Although I have no grandchildren, I do have a 'grand cat' named Tango. My health, other than managing AFIB, appears to be hanging in there!”

From Catherine Marshall Renner: “Ed and I are still here in our home of 24 years in Pinehurst, N.C. Of course, I am playing some golf and volunteering with Girls Golf, a program for girls 5-13 (and even learning some things that help my game). Son Greg and wife Carolyn have returned to Pinehurst, which is fantastic; brother Bob and wife Stephanie are at Edisto Island, S.C.; and son Tom and Christie are in Texas. We are very happy and fortunate to be fairly healthy and with good friends around us.”

Elizabeth ''Betsy'' Shomo Brunnemer reports, “I am still in Charlotte, N.C., in a condo with a terrace for flowers to enjoy. My three children are here and the nine grands are employed around the country, in college, and two still at home. I retired from my kitchen design work last year. I continue to be involved in volunteer projects and my health is holding up.”

Beverly Edwards Pflugrath shares, “I feel so lucky to still be here and in relatively good health. My family of three children, six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren, plus volunteer activities with the local Women's Clubs, and Book Club, Bridge and a little Golf (only 9 holes) keep me busy. Fortunately, my family is close.”

In 2020, Alice Schmidt Callistro moved from Stockton, Calif., to a Quaker retirement community in State College, Penn. Her daughter and her family live

10 minutes away.

From Liz Tiedeman Wight: “My big news is that after 49 years in our same home, I have moved in with our daughter, Lora, and her husband, John Olson, in Eagle Mountain, Utah. I will be sad to leave our daughter-in-law, Emiko, and her two daughters, Elizabeth and Emma, here in Tacoma, Wash., but will see them in July. I still enjoy quilting and will attend a quilting retreat in Hamilton, Mo., in March with two of our daughters, Lora and Sarah. I'm sure there will be much laughter as quilting companionship.”

Keene Brockenbrough Bell states, “My husband and I are back in Virginia after happy years in Florida. Courtney and Jaimie are nearby and Beau is still in North Carolina. I have five grandchildren and two great-grandsons whom I see frequently, which makes me happy.”

Karen Johnson Stith writes, “Ed Flitton and I moved to Colorado Springs over 50 years ago, where we raised three daughters. After Ed passed away in 2010, I met and married science fiction writer John E. Stith. I worked as a real estate paralegal until retiring at age 70 and have spent over 25 years as a volunteer local leader for PFLAG, a national organization supporting the LGBTQIA+ community! I'm an enthusiastic gardener, working a plot at a large local community garden and becoming a Colorado Master Gardener in 2025. Daughters Jenn, Becca, and Liz live in Winchester, Va., Lafayette, Colo., and Minneapolis, Minn., respectively. Between them they

Karen Johnson Stith '59 and her family.

Beverly Edwards Pflugrath '59 with her five grandchildren.

have my four grandchildren and John has one.”

From Martha Joynt Kumar: “My husband of 55 years died in November. He was 92 years old and we had a great life together. Our son, Zal, his wife and three children live in New York, where he is a tax lawyer. I still live in D.C., continuing my data gathering and writing about presidential interchanges with reporters, including a December celebration of my 50 years at the White House.”

Dee McGowan Mathews sent the following update: “Arlington has been my home for 18 years. Two of my children live close by, one daughter in Georgetown, my son in Falls Church. My other daughter lives in Colorado. I have eight grandchildren scattered from California to New Zealand. I take courses at Encore Learning and play games online, Bridge, Wordle, and Words with Friends ('Sagebadji' if you care to join me). Oh, and I volunteer at the local food pantry.”

And Mary Roberts Judkins writes, “I moved from Alexandria to Fauquier County in 2001 with two dogs and a horse, eventually running an in-home dog boarding business! In 2016, I moved to Warrenton, Va. Rob is doing his thing in Baltimore, Md. I participate in some volunteer activities, the most important of which is trying to save democracy. Not much traveling any longer, but on December 10, 2022, 10-week-old minidachshund Colin joined me.”

CLASS OF 1961

From the Alumni Office: Anne Williams is happy to be still standing.

CLASS OF 1962

Carole Stadfield, Doug Hotchkiss, and John Williams

Robin Taylor Zoll sent the following news: “I was looking at our graduation picture and remembering the good times and close relationships we enjoyed so long ago. Hope we can get together for our 65th next year! It has been two years since my dear husband, David, passed away. I

am lucky to have good friends and many 'retirement' activities—golf, bridge, book clubs, mahjong, lunch, art seminars, and trips. My two daughters, two stepchildren, and five grandchildren are scattered. I treasure our visits and phone calls. I have decided I cannot downsize like everyone else, so plan to stay in my large, old home, with my stuff, for the duration! Lots of room for visitors, so if you're in the neighborhood, come on over! I see Jean Hoppe Hurston occasionally and speak with her often. She lives in Virginia Beach near all her children and grandchildren. Lucky girl! Sandy Kelly Spector lives in Baltimore and we have reconnected through an art group we belong to. Such fun reminiscing about St. Agnes. Would love to hear from you!”

John McRae shares, “2025 was a year to give thanks even though I joined the ranks of the millions of seniors with a-fib taking daily meds. A major highlight was helping organize an April wedding for my 30-year-old son, Duncan, in scenic Cape May. To recover, my wife, Cathy, and I took a vacation in Madrid. We spent the summer trying to get back in shape. So, we changed our annual hiking month in Chamonix to September from July. For Thanksgiving week we escaped friends and family for a visit to a country inn, but entertained everyone at our house for Christmas. My 'work' remains actively trading stocks/options.”

Ben Bryce has no news of note. He's still vertical. In 2025 there were no trips of significance, but Ben and wife Katherine held a gathering with their two children in October to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in Sonoma.

John Oberdorfer was at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes recently for a Middle School track meet. His youngest grandson is in seventh grade at Georgetown Day School and ran in the meet. It was nice to be there on a rare mild January day.

David Bill joined a board of a Texas energy company. He attended golf events at Ekwanok Country Club in Manchester, Vt.; Newport, R.I.; Winged Foot in N.Y.; Wichita, Kan.; and Pebble Beach, Calif. He visited friends in Palm Beach, Boston, Virginia, Chicago, Napa, and Palm Desert, and checked in with his brother,

Winder Bill '66, in Virginia Beach. David is working out regularly to achieve 67 pushups prior to his 60th U.S. Naval Academy reunion this fall (66 for his graduation year, plus one to beat Army)!

John Williams' daughter-in-law, Hilary, an M.D., lost her State Department as one of the key coordinators in an Africa health campaign, but her job search resulted in her being named as medical director in the Cayman Islands! He writes: “Our son, Kenton, and granddaughter, Kira, all moved down in October. Our vacation plans are settled for the next three years. Daughter Alison and son-in-law Franz are awaiting results of numerous school applications for grandson Gray, who has applied to SSSAS, among others locally. Franz works for Dun and Bradstreet, while Alison applies her talent at Aerospace Corporation. They live in the Fort Hunt area. Phylis and I are involved in the extensive renovation of my boyhood home on Queen St. in Old Town. Jumping through Board of Architectural Review hoops has been a challenge, but the restoration is by now well underway and promises to enhance the historic character of the house while modernizing key elements.”

Leo Andrews sends word that this past year has been another of travel, headed by his sidekick of 68 years, Polly. This includes Paris for the Olympics and Prague; Morocco; a 45-day cruise in the Mediterranean; Jamaica; Wisconsin for a Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson concert; Tanzania and Serengeti; Dublin to Lisbon on a cruise; and 800 miles up the Amazon. He moved into Charlottesville after 50 years on beautiful horse farms. Life is good!

Bill Hannan's wife, Lorraine, passed away in January 2025. On the bright side, his grandchildren, Ivy (age 6) and Damian (age 2), are flourishing.

Jim Howard turned 80 this year and had a wonderful birthday party with all his family.

From John “Pete” Hanes: “Due to several health issues, I have retired from full time teaching/educational research and am now in an adjunct status serving on dissertation committees. Caroline is doing well, and our five children and 22

grandchildren are a gift from the good Lord.”

George Hall notes, “We now have two great-granddaughters. Other than that, no news to report. We both are in good health. Check out the write-up on our classmate Dave Bill on Wikipedia.”

Doug Hotchkiss writes, “Not much traveling this year. However, I did get up the White Mountains for a few days. I also visited with some classmates from Bowdoin. Amazingly we're all going strong at over 80. Just shows you that a long life follows a misspent youth. We'll celebrate our 60th college reunion in May, and I am on the reunion committee. Still playing golf regularly at a local course. My handicap keeps increasing faster than my age. Stay strong my friends and I'll see you after the next trip around the sun. I read that we travel about 584 million miles a year around it. No wonder I always feel so tired.”

Landon Davis reports he and Elizabeth are doing well despite some illnesses. They're not driving far or at night, so their daughters and grandchildren visit at their place. His HO model railroad layout is usually running on schedule, and he enjoys working on structure kits and scenery.

Dick Fisher says, “We spent the spring and early summer at our Cape Cod house from just after we signed and sent our taxes off until July 15, when we returned to Ashland to visit all our doctors. We returned to the Cape until after Election Day in Virginia. I was in the Ashland Olde Time Holiday Parade on November 23 with two of my granddaughters riding in my car, an Ember Red 1964 Malibu SS convertible with a white top (327ci/300hp with 2-speed auto transmission). I also belong to a local group that sponsors Cars & Coffee and have shown it at many car shows.”

Dave Davidson and his wife are still living in Raleigh after 48 years; it seems like only yesterday that they left the Northern Virginia/Maryland area. Their three grandchildren (aged 20, 17, and 13) all live close by, making it easy to attend their year-round swimming, baseball, basketball, and school events. Says Dave, “In our spare time we have

been attempting to downsize most of our inherited antique family furniture to no avail. The market has dried up and our kids (aged 48 and 50) don't care for what they refer to as 'brown' (wood) furniture. I am still driving, but not far. Our three vehicles were driven a grand total of less than 5,000 miles this year. After having to give up my two Corvettes for married life, I refuse to part with my 2008 Sebring convertible with 143,000 miles. I did travel to D.C. for the funeral of Paul Kincheloe '60. He was my best man in 1972, and I was his in 1964.”

Mike O'Donnell states, “Nothing new. Pat and I have eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. We are in our eighth house and have been married for 63 years. The best decisions I ever made were marrying Pat and going to St. Stephen's. I have enjoyed our reunions of the class and the football team. Great memories. Our best to all.”

Nick Hoskot reports that if they don't receive any sub-zero temperatures in Texas his olive orchard should bear fruit in a couple years. That's a long time to wait for a martini.

John Caldwell got a flu shot last fall but still managed to get infected with Influenza, from which he's just recently been recovering. “Honora had her 80th birthday last June, and we drove to Steamboat Springs to celebrate. We were joined by our son, John, his wife, Kate, and their two children, Luke (12) and Ella (9). In July we flew to Los Angeles to visit our son, Bryan, and his girlfriend, Nina. Bryan owns a non-profit theater company (Arts UP! LA). It has a small theater in Culver City and works with many groups: low-income school kids, autistic musicians, blind actors, and veterans learning to act and write plays. It's funded by private and government grants. Nina is an accomplished actress from Venezuela, trying to make it in Hollywood. Our next trip was in December to visit my younger brother and his family in Honolulu. While there, Honora woke up with a hematoma and was admitted to the ER. The doctor stopped the bleeding, and she was okay. One of my pleasures is a book club membership. It is run by a federal judge, who is about to turn 89 but still very

sharp. We recently read a book by Federal Judge David Tatel. His book “Vision: A Memoir of Justice and Blindness” is excellent. He refers to Lou Oberdorfer, classmate John Oberdorfer's father. We set up a zoom call with Judge Tatel, the book club, and John, which was great fun. I'm not retired yet because I enjoy both the teaching and research at the medical school. The current administration's attempts to slash research and science was, thankfully, rescued by Congress. For months NIH staff could not communicate with us about grants. I am sure grant reviewers did a double take when they learned I'm 81. Then I look at my book club and think that I am still holding my own.”

From Randy Earnest and his wife, Gibby: “We sold the house and moved to a condo in Alexandria City. Great neighbors and easy walk to restaurants and Old Town. Our son, Kyle, and his family are close by, so we see them frequently. One morning the Buddhist monks' Walk for Peace passed by our front entrance on their way to D.C. It was very moving. We have travelled to Hilton Head and the outer banks of N.C., with friends; had get-togethers in Bethany Beach and Annapolis with extended family; and a Viking trans-Atlantic cruise with good friends Anne Hoskot Kreutzer '65 and Tom Kreutzer '64, with stops in St. Martin and Madeira. We enjoyed visiting Gaudi's Basilica de la Sagrada and Park Guell and living the good life on La Rambla.

Eric Scott states that he and Marjorie are both doing well. Their time is split between their home on Prince Street in old Alexandria and Mathews County, which is part of tidewater country in Virginia.

CLASS OF 1963

Barbara Wiles Kreutzer, Andy Kreutzer, and Thomas E.C. Margrave

There's not much going on right now with Mary Anne Smith Gertson. She's hoping this year will be great and her cancer will not return. She's also thankful all was caught early. Mary Anne plans to do lots of travel this year to Europe, Florida, and Hawaii.

Walda Cornnell Wildman says, “I and

mine are doing well. Staying too busy for somebody my age. Still doing a little CPA work, renovating my homeowner's association clubhouse, traveling to Paris and Holland, and painting landscapes and still lifes, which sell now and again.”

Joni Emerson Shoemaker reports, “I was very fortunate to be invited by a friend to attend one of the positively fabulous White House Christmas receptions. Gorgeous decorations, delicious food, impeccable service, and friendly guests provided a delightful afternoon. In April, hubby Butch and I drove to Gulf Shores, Ala., to reunite with my teacher friends from over 50 years ago on Okinawa. We stopped for quick visits with nephews in Peachtree City, Ga., and Waco, Texas, on the way to and from Alabama, making a rather large circular trip! An early, festive Christmas celebration with our son and daughter-in-law in Alexandria was very special before heading to Maine and having a wonderful “white Christmas” with our daughter and her family—a truly fantastic 2025!”

Anne Bodman writes, “Hello, Fellow Lambs! It's been a tough year. I hope we have not lost our way, or, if we have, that we're on track to get it back. Bah, bah, bah. Love, Anne.”

From Sara Jane Godshall Peterson: “I am a busy lady! My major role is to be the mom working at home that every working mom needs. My daughter and husband took in three preadoptive kids ages 1, 2, and 3 in July 2013 and adopted them in November 2015. They have multiple behavioral issues! God gave my husband, Pastor Jim, a good death in January 2020, and I moved in to be part of all the family life instead of just the daycare person! I am also active in church and do a lot of driving. God bless us each and every one.”

Margie Fifer Davenport states, “This year has not been my favorite, but to look on the bright side, I will say that I have finally been able to get back to exercising and maybe I'll be back on the pickleball court before long! I donated my sailboat and really miss being on the water, something I have done since childhood, but I still go to the marina for functions

of my fun-loving yacht club and keep in touch with my 'boating family.' Other than that, I plan to look for a new state to live in. I'm thinking, to find a place, I will ask others what they like about living where they do, and then I'll try renting a place in a couple for a month or so, to better see what living there is really like for me. Many thanks to Barbara Wiles Kreutzer for taking on the class notes and to all of you. Know that I have loved being in touch with all of you and will miss that, so please keep in touch with me too! I care very much how you are!”

There's nothing new on Carol Simon Leach's plate. Asheville, N.C., is slowly rebounding from Hurricane Helene. She's back to enjoying some hiking trails, restaurants, etc.; you know things are looking up when a totally destroyed McDonald's was rebuilt and had its grand reopening. The forest and rivers are another story—it's going to take a thousand years to regrow and get rid of water pollution.

Leslie Barnes Hagan is raising her adult autistic ADHD son in a very unfriendly world.

Polly Hagan Sandridge shares: “I still volunteer here and there, which is generally fun, and good for those important social contacts. The high point of my year was being escorted to New Orleans for a few days by my son, who is a peach. It was on his nickel (mostly) and we enjoyed ourselves immensely walking miles everywhere, from St Charles Avenue to the French Quarter, Jackson Square (where we watched a wedding), driving to City Park for the Sculpture Garden and the Museum of Art, as well as eating great food all over the place. At one point my son complimented me on my delicate flirting with the bartender over my crawfish etouffe—can't help it, friends—it's in the genes. My best to all of you everywhere, and always remember 'Laissez les bons temps rouler.'”

Susan Curry writes, “After a painful divorce fand a near-death experience, I have focused on transforming how we raise and educate children so that they grow up loving themselves and are emotionally intelligent, compassionate, and collaborative. You can read more

at TowardNewHumans.org. A strategy inside that mission is to produce and host virtual online summits; the first one being The Trauma-Free Childhood Summit was aired in April. I live near Philadelphia, Penn., with my feline companion Bucky.”

Phil Burstein and Joann continue to enjoy retirement in Rehoboth Beach, Del. This past December, they celebrated their 80th birthdays and 57 years of marriage. Their family—two children with spouses, along with six grandchildren—all gathered in Rehoboth for the occasion. Phil and Joann wish everyone a happy and healthy 2026.

Dick Dyas reports, “I live in Charlottesville, with my wife of 53 years, Norma, and I attend as many sports events as I can at the University of Virginia. That includes minor team sports, such as wrestling and women's volleyball. Our daughter and her family live in Charlottesville, and our sons live in Leesburg and Asheville, N.C. I talk occasionally with classmates Colin Campbell, Dave Speck, and Dave Veazey I hope to see old friends and classmates at our 65th Reunion.”

Brian Koepf moved recently from Wilmington, N.C, to Chapel Hill, N.C., because the health treatment that his daughter needs is superior at UNC Hospital. Leaving friends and activities at a beautiful beach town like Wilmington was difficult, but necessary. Brian hopes to find new dance and karaoke partners soon!

From Andy Kreutzer: “As we move into 2026, Barbara Wiles Kreutzer '63 and I celebrate our 60th year under the umbrella of matrimony…for me another year of celebration…for Barbara another year of endurance. We also completed our sixth year on the lake in St. Albans, Maine. Both our daughters continue to delight us and live close by in the Boston area, and our granddaughters are now a sophomore at NYU and a fresh(wo)man in high school. Our health is now positive and relatively steady. We both continue to be so grateful for the positive and caring foundation that we received at SSS and SAS over 63 years ago.”

Geoff Layton says, “I've got some

good news, and I've got some bad news. First, the good stuff: I've been accepted to present academic papers at both the College English Association in March (“Detecting Deceptive Declarations”) and the Rhetoric Society of America in May (“Privileging Plato—The Path to Rhetorical Dignity”). Now for the bad news. At the top of the list sits my diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, thanks to exposure to Agent Orange almost 60 years ago during a trip to Vietnam (see The Bellamy Brothers “Old Hippy”). Oh, well. Coming in a distant second, demand for my academic and pedagogical talents hasn't been reflected in any job offers—oh, well again.”

Tom Margrave writes, “My thanks go to Andy for pulling our submission together. Up here in Upstate New York, we are having a heck of a winter. Sunday it was 6 degrees but with the wind it was minus 6 degrees—a certain symmetry there. Max the Wonder Dog and I regularly tramp around in the snow and he likes to roll. His motto is no front yard should go unrolled in. My eldest and his wife sent a picture of themselves where they live in Carolina Beach in the snow; they looked like they were in Siberia. I'm glad they have good winter coats. I continue to serve two small rural Episcopal churches with great people. My ministry helps keep the rust down.”

Alan Taylor Rains sends this update: “We have lived in Hilton Head for 12 years and are very happy here. I used to play a lot of tennis, but two shoulder and one knee replacements have about ended that. Thankfully there is still booze and Tylenol! We used to travel twice a year, mainly cruises. However, with my wife now suffering from Alzheimer's, that is nearly a thing of the past. We are blessed with two grandchildren living in Atlanta about five hours away. Our son lives in Charleston, which is only two hours away, so we are up there frequently. Looking forward to celebrating 81 in April 2026.”

Bill Scarpino states, “On Dec. 13, 2024 (a Friday BTW!) I had shortnotice open heart surgery to repair nasty blockages. The operation went well until I pulled my repaired sternum apart by

coughing (Valley Fever) and spent NYE in the hospital (poor Diane missed the party at our club). So, the first three months of 2025 were spent recovering and enjoying Diane's TLC. The rest of the year was uneventful except Diane did throw me an 80th birthday party. It was a blast seeing everyone dressed as 8-yearolds and enjoying adult beverages!”

From David Speck: “Hello to my fellow octogenarians. Going back 60+ years, I find it hard to remember that we were once young … and foolish. I had a tour of the newly reconstructed SSSAS campus recently—the cafeteria line is now called the servery. The choices are more like a high-end restaurant buffet, but thinking back to when Mrs. Livingston was the cafeteria supervisor, we could always have anything we wanted as long as it was what she was serving—it felt like home. Sending all my classmates good karma.”

David Veazey writes,”Marie and I met in 2003 and still reside in our condo in Newport News, Va. We are grateful for our many blessings, which include Marie's four grown children, eight grandchildren, and two greatgrands, as well as my four children, five grandchildren, and our close relationships. In addition to our histories, there were other reasons to settle here, including the enjoyment of the military activity and spirit here, and the memories of visiting the historic sites and my career Navy uncle. Since 2016, I've been engaged politically and continue to enjoy my connections, almost daily online. Blessings to all my cherished classmates for our senior years. I'll do my best to stay in touch.”

And finally, from Haywood Wigglesworth: “No real news here... unless it is interesting that I got new, more comfortable, shoes last week from one of those stores where the very young salespersons are compelled to listen to music only us old geezers recall. While Mary Jo is engaged in good works and church business, I still volunteer most mornings at the Department of Historic Resources, and when I get a chance, I regale my young friends with stories like the time my mother ran me over

on Seminary Hill or the story about my grandfather healing a patient by pretending to extract a wolf tooth from him. Despite this they don't treat me as if I am delusional but rather express appreciation for what little I contribute. I guess it is also news that my knee doctor is dropping strong hints that it might be time to exchange my old ones for new ones, and consequently, I would welcome the thoughts of other classmates that have done that.”

CLASS OF 1964

Belinda Lowenhaupt Collins and Richard “Dick” Flynt

The class of '64 has continued to do periodic zoom calls just to check in with each other and remain connected. We've struggled with questions such as “Can you continue to live at home? Or is a continuing care community a wiser choice (for you)?” We remember with sadness our departed classmate, Nicki Donaldson Mitchell, who died at the end of May 2025 after fighting cancer for 16 years. As this note was being finalized, we learned that Melinda Pickett Harmon passed in August of 2025. And, on a much lighter note, some of us are exchanging information about books we've enjoyed reading and think that others might too (ranging from nonfiction to escapist…)

Louisa Stansfield Bennett and her husband, Don, have decided to sell their place in Arlington (including many dolls) and move to Boerne, Texas, to live next to family. Don is building a small suite next to the house that will allow greater independence.

Belinda Lowenhaupt Collins's husband, Tony, died on September 3, 2025. She is busy figuring out next steps in her life, as her executive coaching business has been seriously affected by government cutbacks. She became a member of the Goodwin Living at Home Community and has put down a deposit for a new property that Goodwin is building. In addition, she recently had yet another back surgery and figures she's getting tuned up for her 80's!

Lynn Davies Holbein is happily

ensconced in Chapel Hill, N.C., with her husband and nearby family. She continues to paint, read, walk, do yoga for the 40th year, engage in political action, and email one of her original paintings each Monday to over 1,000 people (lynnholbein.com). She is staving off aging with a new hip and is very grateful for modern medical care. She also has gotten excellent hearing aids and is encouraging others to do the same.

Cherry Sampson Meyers says she's continuing to enjoy life in Cary, N.C., not too far from Lynn Davies Holbein. Her daughter, grandsons (19 and 17), and granddaughter (14) live nearby.

Camille Heineck Mittelholtz is extremely busy with volunteer work, and she and her husband, Ken, often volunteer together. She's now a senior warden at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Annandale. Her daughter Elsa's family live nearby, her youngest grandchild is a year old; Camille is truly enjoying the grandchildren. Camille's daughter Julie lives in Evergreen, Colo., and visits several times a year.

Chris Crosman reports from Maine that he occasionally writes about art and artists in local publications. One example is “Chris Crosman—Museums and Other Women: A Life (With Pictures)” published in Winter 2025 in The Maine Arts Journal and the UMVA Quarterly. He has also written a piece about wellknown environmental activist and artist Donald Moffett in The Brooklyn Rail. His substack can be found at chrisryall. substack.com.

Bill Parker and Anne took a Viking River Cruise from Prague to Paris and had a wonderful time. Last year was exceptional for Bill and Anne in that there were no hurricanes for a change. They escaped last summer to Chatham, Mass. They also again escaped to Pensacola last fall, for the wedding of Anne's grandson. By decree of the bride, the guests dressed up like cowboys. Bill sat out the line dancing and was branded a party pooper. Bill is immensely proud of his daughter, Marney, who works in licensing for VISA. Her work covers three continents! She started at VISA coordinating the publishing of client

newsletters in 20 languages and has risen up the ranks quite impressively. Bill sends best wishes to us all, and hopes to get back to Northern Virginia for a visit before the next class reunion.

Jim Chambers '65 and Fiona are looking forward to another trip to Panama, a journey they have made for the past several years. One of the highlights of their year was watching all three of their granddaughters perform in The Washington Ballet's Nutcracker—a proud and joyful moment for them that never gets old.

CLASS OF 1965

Janet “Lee” Vosper Dorman

Lee Vosper Dorman writes, “I have settled into a routine with my extended family—my daughter, Liz, is the general manager of her own First Watch Restaurant. Hers is now number 7 out of 500+ stores in the nation! Her two children have been with me now for over five years and it has kept me busy and engaged! I play bridge, have season tickets to Richmond's Altria, and season tickets to Swift Creek's yearlong theatre plays. I sneak away several times a year to see my son, Phil in Charleston, S.C. He is the chef in the family. I'm in Richmond— call if you are coming through! We went out in the freezing cold to see the Monks Walking for Peace. We should all be praying for peace.”

From Sally Hines: “Husband Ron Abramson and I still live in a loft apartment in Tribeca in Manhattan. Ron's law firm, Liston Abramson (started after he retired from Hughs Hubbard & Reed), is thriving. This is mixed news. Ron's happy but very busy, and it would be nice to have more time to relax and travel. He had heart surgery in December, so maybe now we'll strike a better balance. Son Bobby is in Pittsburgh, where he landed after graduation from Carnegie Mellon University. He works for Pittsburgh Bike Share, a nonprofit very aligned with his views on urban transportation. We wish he lived closer. I retired from the NY County DA's Office. I'm working part-time as of counsel for Liston Abramson, and teaching,

including at New York Law School and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. I'm a junior warden at Grace Church on Broadway. I'm still involved in Grace Church School on the board's Long Range Planning Committee. I belong to two book clubs, sing in the Dalton Chorale, swim laps at my health club, bike in NYC and East Hampton, and ski out West. Last May's SSSAS reunion in Virginia at Donnie's house was terrific. Last fall's NY area alumni reception at the Cornell Club was also terrific. Here's to more chances for getting together!”

Liz Callar lives in Lovettsville, Va., and loves living in the country. She takes photos at fox hunts, horse shows, and steeplechasing races (lizcallar.com). She loved her time at St. Agnes School and remembers how nice everyone was.

Jane “Tinka” Adams wanted to sat how much she enjoyed seeing everyone at our 60th Reunion. “I am still working at the VA in Columbus, Ohio, as a clinical nurse specialist in oncology. As my husband says, I have to keep working so I can tell people what to do. I spent my birthday weekend in New York with my daughter and granddaughter. We had a hotel on Times Square, went to a play, visited the Twin Tower memorial, and spent lots of money. Susan Miller Ferguson and I got to continue our reunion when she stopped by to see me in Ohio on her way to California to visit her son. There's not much excitement in Columbus, but being together was special. I think a lot about my past now as the future is not going to be as exciting or as long. No major health issues if you do not count wrinkles and joint stiffness. So glad to have had the years and friends at St Agnes.”

Anne Hoskot Kreutzer sent the following: “Tom Kreutzer '64 and I enjoyed a wonderful Mediterranean cruise last fall and are looking forward to a trip to Poland this May to celebrate the grand opening of the small Tin Store Museum on the site of my father's POW camp in Szubin. For years I've worked with a group of descendants of the WWII POWs held in Oflag 64 to raise funds, gather donated camp artifacts, and help create a small museum on the grounds of

our fathers' POW camp. The museum is in the same small space where the men saved and stored the life-saving tins from their occasional Red Cross food parcels, thus the name.”

Donnie Chancellor Wintermute reports, “I am still thinking about our wonderful class reunion at my house last year. We shared lots of memories, laughs, and hugs! Attendees were Anne Hoskot Kreutzer, Ann Davis Spitler, Sally Hines, Lee Vosper Dorman, Sally Jones Brodie, Maude Williams, Ann Miller Kiplinger, Jan Reinheimer Walsh-Hohert, Susan Miller Ferguson, Tinka Adams, Jane Matthias, and myself. Our guest of honor was our wonderful head of school, Kirsten Adams. Just a bit of shocking news…I have caught a wonderful man! His name is Jim Arrison. He was my Merrill Lynch stockbroker in Washington for 20 years. He is 6'4” and a Naval Academy graduate. A wedding is in the near future. Yes, miracles do happen!”

Sally Jones Brodie writes, “It came to my attention this morning that I should have mentioned that Ann Miller Kiplinger has a place not too far away from me and we get to see each other once in a while. It has been really nice to reconnect. I continue to oversee two family real estate companies in Virginia from my home in Jensen Beach, Fla. I try to stay physically active and heart healthy. I am in good health except for a long-term, 40-year, degenerative spinal condition. My husband died six years ago, so it's a little lonely in my somewhat isolated home on almost three acres adjacent to the Indian River Lagoon. My daughter (also Sally) and two grandchildren live in Wilmington, Del. World traveler Missy Huggins sent the following: “Hugs and I continue to be in Firenze for two months in the fall and spring. We take occasional extra trips with good friends, like to Croatia and Puglia. We're determined to do it as long as we are able. The lake country and Sicily late this year. Daughter Sam is still in London doing her thing in finance and the arts. Son Drew and his beautiful wife, Alix, are here in Atlanta. He is still in the movie/tv business and she is in financial consulting. We are in the middle of a big

painting project in our house. It's killing me, so I hide out in my kitchen in the basement thinking up cooking projects.” Missy recently went to Cape Town, South Africa, with her freshman college roommate. Their adventures included Johannesburg, safari days, Table Mountain and the outskirts, the penguins down the peninsula, and then the wine country in three fast days. Missy returned home in time to celebrate turning 79 on February 5.

According to Liz Shortley Roger, “Things here in the Outer Banks are pretty much the same. We are still enjoying our location very much, especially when we hear on the news about the bad weather everywhere. I have been very busy this past year remodeling the kitchen and the living room. I had the living room, halls, and laundry room painted last August while we were away in Utah. Then I had the kitchen cabinets painted, and new quartz counter tops put in. I absolutely love the results, but it's been a long and stressful process.”

CLASS OF 1966

Carter Dudley Flemming

By the time you read this, our class will have celebrated our 60th Reunion! I am looking forward to seeing many of our classmates who are planning to attend. As hard as that is to believe, I think it is quite amazing that so many of us have managed to stay in touch for all these years. While we continue to relive our normal teenage angst over our years at St Agnes, we seem to have overcome that phase of our lives and treasure the experiences we all shared and the friendships we made then and have refreshed at our reunions. That is a positive legacy that most high schools didn't foster. In the years after St. Agnes, our classmates became artists, teachers, lawyers, photographers, doctors, architects, community volunteers, intrepid travelers, and all-around good people. While Miss McBride might not have predicted that of our class based upon some of our antics in high school, we have proven her wrong all these decades later!

Ann Martyn continues to enjoy living in Roanoke, Va., with her husband, Frank. They enjoy taking long walks and playing and listening to music. Ann spent time last summer going through her mother's extensive artifacts of their family history. She reports that she “learned so much Southern history along the way and even more about human nature.”

Gina Garrett McKinnon and Karen Bradley Vitolano both checked in to say they are doing well, but have no real news to report, other than to wish a happy 60th Reunion to all of us.

Diane Haldane and her husband, Dick, have given up spending the winters in Florida and now reside year-round in Dorr County, Wis., which she refers to as “the Cape Cod of the Midwest.” I do remember the delicious Dorr County cherries that she brought to one of our reunions. Diane's mother, age 97, is going strong and has recently moved to a retirement home in Alexandria after remaining independent in her home for so many years. Obviously, Diane comes from strong stock!

I have seen Susan Whittington often at the Old Town Farmer's Market. She and her husband continue to be enthusiastic travelers, having been to Montana, Maine, and France last year. She said she even broke down and bought a new suitcase. She advises us that “we must all cultivate our own gardens because, as Voltaire noted satirically in 'Candide,' we seem to be living in the 'best of all possible worlds.'”

Sara “Pinky” Caples continues her architectural career with husband Everado in their firm, Caples Jefferson, which focuses their work at the intersection of social equity, education, and culture. Their son, Esteban, is a professional artist and Pinky and Everado delight in going to his shows, including his one-man show in Berlin last fall.

Star Bales Alterman and her husband, Hal, continues their world travels with a cruise to South America and Antarctica, which Star says is not for the faint of heart, but was breathtaking in the enormity of that vast icy continent.

Liz Anglin Simmonds and her husband, Terry, are excited to hit the road to resume their travels after Terry was sidelined with complications from hip replacement surgery. They are no longer traveling in their famous RV, Tin Lizzie, and have upgraded to a Subaru. Liz advises all of us to “carpe diem” while we can!

Linda “Petey” Cosby enjoys not only living near her grandchildren in Annapolis, MD, but also care-free living in her retirement community.

Erica Kessler Lodish is enjoying life in California and reports that she “doesn't miss the snow and frigid weather in D.C.” And if ever there was a time to miss a winter here, this has been the one, since D.C. was snowed and iced in for two weeks with very unusual sub-zero temperatures.

Jeannette Tracy reports that she has recently taken up swimming and really enjoys it. She says she has a wide circle of friends and “tries to take advantage of the rich cultural life in Boston.” She says she is not much of a traveler, but does get to NYC a few times a year and also to Lake Placid where she has family. She sums it up by saying “life is good.”

Leslie Ferrell Kauffmann and her husband, Jose, continue to travel to many far-flung places, including Istanbul, the Canary Islands, Provence, and Maui. They visit their children and grandchildren in Florida and San Francisco. On a summer trip to San Francisco, they attended a Giants baseball game at Oracle Park and took their 5-year-old grandson, Santi, into the broadcast booth to meet Carter Dudley Flemming's son, David Flemming '94—a fun example of a small-world connection.

PJ Leary shares, “We are actively enjoying sons and grands living their best lives. Jeb and Brandon are in Philadelphia, allowing easy visits. Robby and Missy are joining for spring steeplechasing. My grandson is graduating from Chapel Hill and off to Wall Street with Morgan Stanley and he is officially engaged to Emily. My granddaughter, Bryn, is enjoying beach life and a commercial real estate career in San Diego. God bless modern medicine

and the dynamic cardiologists that keep me defying odds.”

Peggy Johnson Hayes took a trip to Cuba last year with the Tulane Alumni Association. She wanted to make an emotional connection with her Cuban grandmother, who was deceased before Peggy was born, and “emotionally claim her” for herself. She was able to visit the Calixto Lopez cigar factory, long-since shuttered, which belonged to Peggy's great-grandfather. Peggy reports that she considered the trip a success “since she got all good feelings when she stepped inside.” Peggy has also been elected to the Board of the Tulane Emeritus Club, which gives her an excuse to visit New Orleans often.

And I, Carter Dudley Flemming, am finding my way after the sudden loss of my husband, Mike, in 2024. I continue my civic involvement as chair of the Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations, and service on other volunteer boards has kept me busy. The support and kindness of my family and friends, including my St. Agnes classmates, has been so appreciated. And of course, my role as our class secretary for 60 years has allowed me to keep in touch with many of you over all these years. Thank you for allowing me to represent our class for all these decades! Onward!

CLASS OF 1967

Alice Reno Malone

Laura Hannan Price writes that she and Jim happily settled in Dallas almost 15 years ago. “We keep up with his cousins in Fort Worth and my brother, Bill Hannan '62, and visited his delightful family in San Francisco on our way to Carmel in the fall. Like his dad, my son, David, works in IT and lives in Oakland with his wife and step-children. When not gardening, a major challenge with temperatures ranging from 15 to 115 degrees, I am playing catch up on the reading front. We enjoy the Dallas Symphony and Fort Worth museums and have been traveling with Chicago friends and family here and abroad.”

Robin Coffin writes from Boulder,

where she is living on her own: “Trelsie and my two grandchildren remain in Boulder, where I also have a house. Katherine “KC” Church and I visited after I do not know how many years—thank goodness for friends! I am occupying my time buying and fixing up old houses for resale. I always needed to stay busy. Meanwhile I am trying to start life over at 76—a daunting task!”

Greetings, Class of 1967, from Jane Grenfell Duffey in beautiful Charlottesville! “Life continues at a steady but slower pace. We are very blessed to have our two daughters and five grandkids nearby, but the kids are now ages 15-23. We see them regularly for family dinners, occasions hanging out, or providing rides. Tom and I volunteer in the community and at our church. We travel as the budget allows. As far as seeing any of you, it has been fun to connect locally seeing Frances Pollak and Ernie and having a fun lunch with Frances, Alice Reno Malone, and Polly Haff Mehring in the fall. Anyone traveling to NOVA, Loudoun County has exploded. On Becky Orme Russell's advice, we visited 868 Estate Vineyards, her family's former home, now a winery. It's a great venue with excellent wine.”

Frank and Beth Grosvenor Boland are in mostly good health and still live in their home of 36 years in Fairfax County, Va. Various home projects consumed much of the last two years. She enjoys volunteering, including at various Smithsonian museums. To anyone in D.C. on a Monday morning, please come to the National Museum of American History, where she works her docent shift from 10:30-noon; she'd love to see you! They still travel. Last year's main trip was to Iceland, which they highly recommend for its beauty, friendly citizens, and unique history and geology. In May 2025 they brought home two new rescue kitties after the death of their previous beloved cat, but having to explain where the names Rachel and Carson came from has made Beth feel old. Elizabeth Herbert Cottrell and Beth still get together several times a year and Jill Strachan sometimes joins them.

Bill and Becky Orme Russell moved

Elizabeth Herbert Cottrell has big news! In January she was honored at the Shenandoah County Chamber of Commerce annual banquet as the recipient of its 2025 Citizen of the Year Award! The honor goes to a “resident who has shown extraordinary leadership in the community through professional practice and community service and inspires others to collaborate, innovate, and advocate for a thriving community.” Doesn't that sound like our Elizabeth?! Her leadership role on many boards over the years, including currently chairing two bank boards; her networking, marketing, and social media skills; and her promotion of making connections and maintaining relationships through handwritten notes (see her book, “Heartspoken”) demonstrate how richly she deserves this award. Congratulations, Elizabeth!

from their home in Roanoke into Roanoke's nicest retirement community in 2024. “We have what's humorously called here a 'double-wide' because it's

one of several one-bedroom apartments which were turned into two-bedroom apartments. He and I each have a small den (which sealed the deal for Bill). All three of our children live within a 15-minute drive. We celebrated our 54th anniversary last year. Some may remember Bill. I met him at a dinnerdance St. Agnes had with St. James (Hagerstown) on Oct. 8, 1970!”

Mary Sweeney Payne writes: ”Living in the world's largest retirement community is still terrific. I highly recommend it if you are seeking a latein-life home. Long morning walks on miles of recreation trails are the best part of my day; so are afternoon swims. Yes, summer weather gets HOT, but you can always take a little road trip north if you want. My online proofreading/editing/ writing business is doing well, after I became certified last year as a master proofreader. (Who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks?) We have amazing clubs for writers here, perfect for my interests. I'm working on a new westernthemed book of my own, and cooperating with two other people on a second. Mike is hanging in there with advanced COPD; we are lucky to have access to wonderful medical care for seniors. Love to all my SAS sisters.”

Finally, your class scribe, Alice Reno Malone, is living happily in Charlottesville with crazy golfer husband Jim—never thought anyone could play that much golf! Jim and I really love Charlottesville. You never outgrow college life—so much to do, so many new

friends, and many we have known over the years (even back to SAS/SSS days)! However, we really keep ourselves busy in the summers. Jim (and me to some extent) is involved with the Nantucket Performing Arts Center, a new theatre building in Nantucket. We use it for professional theatre performances and offer other Island groups a venue they don't have, i.e. a stage for the school recitals (they found us a Steinway!); space for conferences/lectures/special events (the Whaling Museum is next door); and flexible, retractable seating for weddings, private events, and parties. I am active with my adopted college, Dartmouth, and enjoy keeping up with SAS. 59 years have flown by since we walked down the aisle of Daniel Hall! Those were the days...

CLASS OF 1968

Barbara Butler Leonard

From Lucie Morton Garrett: “We lost our daughter, Katie, unexpectedly last August to an undiagnosed heart condition. She was in the prime of her life and passed painlessly. I'm grateful for all the outreach of love from so many. Her younger sister, Julie, is a PostAnesthesia Care Unit nurse at Stanford. She got married on February 28, 2026 in San Francisco in grand style with three Virginia wines at the wedding dinner: Chatham Vineyards Steel Chardonnay 2024, Pollak Vineyards Meritage 2021, and Early Mountain Foothills 2024. More wedding bells for Kim Koontz Nash's son, Stephen, who is marrying in

1967 classmates Frances Pollak, Jane Grenfell Duffey, Polly Haff Mehring, and Alice Reno Malone.

Clark Wadlow and Vicki Smith Wadlow '67

John and Elizabeth Herbert Cottrell '67

ELIZABETH HERBERT COTTRELL '67

April in Charlottesville. Lucie and French videographer Stéphan Balay are aiming to complete their documentary, “The Odyssey of Forbidden Wines,” this spring with distribution before the 2027 Class Notes. Retirement is not something an independent viticulturist does.

CLASS OF 1971

From the Alumni Office: Sara Charlton writes that she traveled in her RV last year around New Mexico, Arizona, and all over Texas. She still plays the guitar and stopped in Lukenbach, Texas, an international stop for country music lovers, where she was asked to join other musicians on stage for 4 hours. She loves traveling in any form!

CLASS OF 1972

Edie Beardall Weller

It's been great to hear from a number of SAS '72 classmates and get caught up on events and changes over the past year. Linda Bauknight Franklin wrote that she and Fred are thriving in retired life in Venice, Fla., where they continue to uncover new joys in that picturesque coastal town with its many outdoor and indoor treasures. After a decade there, they feel vibrant and so appreciative of their good health. They're very grateful for family and friends. This circle definitely includes their spirited chihuahua, Itty-bitty, the lively centerpiece of their life, who even at “10 years young” is calling the shots with her signature charm!

Katie Hamilton Brandy reported that she's happily settled outside Atlanta with her husband, Eliot, in their home perched above the Chattahoochee River. She finds great enjoyment in this scenic area with its beautiful wildlife and varied river activities. Last year Katie broke both legs stepping off a curb, but confirms that she's back to almost 100% after a lot of hard work with her physical therapist. Katie's retired from teaching, but she continues to stay busy with volunteer work and, of course, visiting children and grandchildren scattered from Nashville to Dallas.

Lydia Jones Nunn shared fun

memories of traveling last fall with her husband Tim, to Barcelona and Madrid, where they attended the Washington Commanders' football game against the Miami Dolphins. Looking ahead, they plan a winter getaway to the Dominican Republic (golf for Tim and some gentle beach time for Lydia). Another highpoint of the past year was Lydia's celebration of 50 years as a charter member of the Delta Sigma Theta Inc Sorority at Ithaca College Mu Gamma Chapter! She shared a different kind of celebration in Boston with her sister, Laureen Jones Mullins '74, honoring the 103rd birthday of their cousin, who was publicly acknowledged for her commitment to her community and her Episcopal church. Closer to home, Lydia looks forward to spending time at their second home in Ocean City, Md., and invites us to look her up there!

Bobbie Hauck Gribble wrote with some excitement that even she got some snow this winter in her hometown of Virginia Beach! She shared that her three children are all happily married. Two of them have children (two girls and two boys between the ages of 3 and 11), while her daughter and son-in-law love being an aunt and uncle. Bobbie thoroughly enjoys serving as a docent at the Chrysler Museum and invites us to consider a tour there if we are ever nearby. She's also involved in lots of other community endeavors and nonprofits, all of which, she says, keep her in “good trouble.”

Cindy Peake wrote from Alexandria that it's been an interesting year for her, including but not limited to dealing with all of the midwinter snow and ice! Her big news is her return to teaching parttime at Seton High School. She leads two classes for seniors in college algebra/ trig and appreciates being back in that community. After enduring chronic joint pain for some time, she shared how grateful she is for the results of two very effective procedures to address this pain and a compression fracture in her lower back following a fall. For someone who loves to play golf as much as Cindy does, these developments have really been a blessing!

Julia Kelly noted that this fall marks 20 years since she moved from New

York to Charleston, S.C.! She's taken a plethora of art classes and is about to install a mixed media piece, “Tears That Fly,” at a child advocacy center. This has proven to be quite an exciting artistic and engineering challenge. Julia gives credit to SAS as an encouraging launch pad where she took Studio Art. She's continued to be in very close touch with Patty Herter Taylor through the past year and sends her best wishes for peace and good health to all our classmates.

Patty Herter Taylor is looking forward to the arrival of her fourth grandbaby in April—it's another boy! Two of her older grandsons love life as students in the Lower School at SSSAS, and Patty is very proud that they're learning and growing there. Patty shares that she's been blessed to be in contact with many classmates from East Coast to West, North and South, and deeply appreciates all of the support from those around her, especially after the passing of her beloved husband, Brewster, in February.

Betsy Brownfield Fay continues to enjoy life from her dual home-base of Seattle and Whidbey Island just to the north. She's had some big travel opportunities this past year, including the British Virgin Islands, New York City, Secaucus, NJ (home of #2 son), Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (#3 son), Northern Virginia, and Paris (yes, France, the new home of her daughter's family!). She's also been tackling some redecorating projects with her signature flair, reading many good books, entertaining, and offering support to every generation in her wider circle.

And Edie Beardall Weller's own journey over this past year has brought some opportunities for travel. The first was to Alexandria for a conference of Episcopal chaplains, which gave her a chance to spend a lovely evening with Patty Herter Taylor, Julia Kelly, Stephanie Yeonas Ellis, Patti Lieblich, and Kathryn Manning Yarnoff, and a lunch date with Marty Weiss Hope '71 Her big adventure was a pilgrimage on a portion of the Camino de Santiago in Northwest Spain with a group of 20 people—truly, a huge learning experience in a beautiful place with fabulous people,

scenery, and food! In the fall, Edie gathered with her first cousins for a small reunion, which generated lots of family stories, laughter and a few tears also in the mix. She's happy to report that her two children are fine (one living nearby, one in Brooklyn) and that she's still fairly involved in volunteer ministry. The Class of SAS '72 is looking forward to our 55th reunion at SSSAS next year—see you there!

CLASS OF 1973

Liz Bostick

Pam Zimmerman Brislin and husband Mark welcomed a new grandson in August, Wilder Gordon, and are enjoying retired life in Sanibel, Fla. '”We play on two tennis teams and ride bikes to local shops and restaurants. Kids came in for Christmas, which was a treat as they are far-flung in California, Oregon, and Oaxaca, Mexico! We have visited each this past year and look forward to visiting Virginia this coming August, hoping to see a few of you gals then! I miss my sassy pals!'”

Leslie Treece Fairbairn lives in Oklahoma City and loves life. “It's a great place to live.”

Madeline Cooley Flagler accepted the position of site director at historic Bath, N.C., in April, where she is enjoying small-town life and her job. A highlight of 2025 was her trip with SASSY Sisters to Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer in France. She enjoys visiting with her two daughters and three grandchildren. Each daughter

is expecting a boy this spring, bringing the count to five.

Sarah Utke-Ramsing Herron is happily living in Bozeman, Mont., ''enjoying and exploring all that this part of the country has to offer.” She welcomes visits from any of her classmates anytime!

Karen Claussen Shields reports highlights from 2025 include the month of April in England, two weeks with her eldest son Andrew, his wife, and their three grandchildren; 10 days exploring Malta in October with Welsh traveling buddies; visits with her second son Ian, wife, and grandson in Phoenix; as well as her youngest two children, Struan and Mary, in Nashville! Mark stays busy with work at The Falls Church Anglican and is grateful for the gift of frequent sitting opportunities with the three grandchildren (7, 5, and 2).”

In June, Claire Fisher Stock joined Liz Bostick, Meg Babyak Tucker, Pembroke Moreau Roeder, and Madeline Cooley Flagler for a relaxing vacation in a small town on the French Riviera. ''Our home for the week was a villa overlooking the Mediterranean, where we enjoyed swimming in the infinity pool, admiring the scenery, and touring a local winery.” Claire flew from France to Budapest, joining with her husband, Bob, and daughter, Caroline, for a sunset cruise on the Danube, including tours of St. Stephen's Cathedral and many other historic sites. At the end of the summer, Claire had a happy reunion with classmate Christy Carter Sauer

Terri Shelton and her husband Arthur are both “retired.” Terri still works part-time as executive director of a nonprofit that supports the University's entrepreneurial activities, as well as some consulting regarding research administration. She also serves on and chairs several boards, plus doing volunteer work through the church dedicated to supporting children and families, particularly those facing economic or other challenges. Finally, Terri is working on some travel and, of course, enjoying the best part of retirement: being Riley's grandmother!

Jane Kincheloe Wiles is still busy with Paradise Springs Winery in Clifton, Va., as well as in Santa Barbara, Calif.. Solace Brewing continues to expand. ''I will never retire. Not traveling as much now, but I was fortunate to have just returned from epic wine adventures in Bordeaux, France. I will always attribute my French speaking abilities to Madame Strong back at SAS. Momma is 99 and looking to make it to her century mark in July! My two grandsons are lights in my life. They keep me busy! Cheers to the years!”

Mary Palmer reports the following:

“Most recently, we rejoined our family of four by visiting our younger son in Taiwan. The mountains, temples, indigenous tribes and foods offered us daily amazement. Back home, it enriches me to text regularly with my 'SASsy '73 sisters.' Ed and I are enjoying our new-old 1850 home in Upper Marlboro, Md., with our truly new 2025 greenhouse. Retiring from retirement, I am establishing a part-

Karen Shields '73 and her family.

Terri Shelton '73 and Arthur Anastopoulos with their granddaughter Riley.

time community personalized urgent care and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing practice, and I still long to continue incomplete botanical drug development.”

Meg Babyak Tucker reports, “I had a wonderful 70th birthday celebratory trip last summer to France with four of my '73 classmates: Liz Bostick, Claire Fisher Stock, Pembroke Moreau Roeder, and Madeline Cooley Flagler I'm still working full-time for a Catholic healthcare system in Central Virginia and enjoying every minute of time with my four grandchildren, ages 7 to 14.” Meg's daughter-in-law Amanda Tucker is a talented and prolific artist ( amandaryantucker.com/) and her daughter Ruth Campbell creates lovely art objects using seashells (theshellshopbyruth.com).

Marion Robinette continues to participate in competitions with her dachshunds, notably Stanley, who is a

multi-prize-winning show dog. She still resides on the Eastern Shore.

Cary Reardon Nunnally continues to reside in Newport News with her handsome dog, Junior, and she is funnier than ever!

From Christy Carter Sauer, “All is well with us. Our oldest son is in Colorado, our middle son and wife are in Richmond, and our youngest just moved back in after being in Colorado for six years. Tyler and I recently went to NOLA for John and Annie Groves Odell's daughter's wedding. It was a wonderful celebration! And I've kept up with Claire Fisher Stock. Hope everyone is well!”

Annie Groves Odell continues her craft as a New Orleans-based fiber artist, famous for creating ''Fit to Be Tied,” an amazing and unique line of wearable art and clothing made out of neckties. She is a regular vendor at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, where she showcases her unique fabric collage

portraits of musicians and Marde Gras Indians. She has a lovely assistant, her daughter, Katie, who recently got married.

Nancy Newman continues to live in Baltimore in the wonderful walkable neighborhood of Butchers Hill. She's on the board of Charm City Land Trusts, which works to develop green space and permanently affordable housing. She spends most Saturdays (during warmer weather) working in the gardens to grow food for a food pantry. She also continues fiber work, which she did while at SAS. She spins, knits, weaves, sews, and during COVID she added tapestry weaving to her repertoire.

And from Liz Bostick: “As I write this, I continue with my therapy practice in Old Town and, when I can get away, enjoy visiting my granddaughters, ages 7 and 8, in California. Looking forward to spring as another blast of winter heads our way.”

Mary Palmer '73 and her family.

Meg Babyak Tucker with her '73 classmates Liz Bostick, Claire Fisher Stock, Pembroke Moreau Roeder, and Madeline Cooley Flagler.

Marion Robinette '73 in her store at Camp Alleghany for Girls.Flagler.

Annie Groves Odell '73 and her family at daughter Katie's marriage to Andre Bienvenue.

CLASS OF 1975

Effie Cottman Dawson

Our 50th Reunion in 2025 was wonderful. We are all so thankful to the school for making us feel so welcome and loved. We are also grateful to Alex Gambal, Steve Shaw, and Susan Shaw for hosting the reunion party at the Old Dominion Boat Club.

Barbara Rooth has been retired since 2022. Her dear mom, who many of us fondly remember, is 97 and in a nursing home. Barb recently traveled to San Antonio for son Kyle's wedding. Her 14-year-old grandson, daughter, and son-in-law were also there for the family gathering. Barb has taken up pickle ball and Zumba and is a committed reader. I've already asked her for some book suggestions.

Marie Toler Raney and her husband, who were living in Mexico, spent three months traveling through France to find their next home. In January they moved to Montpellier for a year to decide if they wanted to settle there. She said they have a tiny apartment in town that reminds her of her post-college years.

Susanah Brown Howland paints full time (susanahhowland.com), shows her work at the Sloane Merrill Gallery in Boston, and Zoom teaches art to third graders in New Mexico. Her own children are spread out, but in places she loves to visit: Los Angeles, Missoula, and Maryland.

Georgia “Doty” Heard is still writing and teaching online workshops at The

Poet's Studio. She is working on a couple of books coming in 2027. She and her husband are based in Florida and are restoring an old cottage in Ireland, which she described as equal parts joy and chaos. They have a son in Austin.

Nabers Cabaniss Johnson lost her dear brother, Jelks Cabaniss III, in January. We all send our condolences. In happier news, Naber welcomed her third grandson.

Betty Boatwright Crowley has an apartment in Bronxville, N.Y., and a house in Quogue, a village on Long Island. She's working her way back to golf and yoga after breaking her wrist in the fall. Betty's younger daughter, Charlotte, got married last October.

Effie Cottman Dawson is still living outside of Annapolis and just fully retired. She and her husband did a lot of traveling in 2025 and recently welcomed their fifth grandchild. She also enjoyed a wonderful trip to Manhattan with Sharon Snow Nicholson and Leslie Holland Hecker '76. We can still make each other laugh.

CLASS OF 1976

Melissa Ulsaker Maas

Jayne Carson wrote that she took a trip to Egypt in February and was relearning some of our Ages of Man lessons!

Mary Connally was excited to share that her first grandchild was born in September 2025, Henry Hill Tenney. Mia Fryklund Lamance wrote that she is doing well in Oregon. She has a

new grandson, who joins his 5-year-old sister. She is sad to report that she lost her first husband, Charles Corbitt, with whom she remained best of friends through all the years. She's retired and looking for volunteer work.

Karen Scrivanos Oztemel wrote that she still loves being a Realtor in Greenwich, Conn. She had a wonderful family reunion at Christmas in San Francisco, visiting her daughter and grandchildren, Arthur (4) and Mable (1). Her son, Harrison, joined them from Bangkok, where he has been living for the past 11 years.

Amy Goers Rhodes wrote that she and husband Dave are loving retirement! They bought a camper four years ago and have had wonderful adventures circumnavigating Lake Superior, traveling east to visit all five of the Great Lakes, and meandering their way to Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Their biggest adventure will be this summer, a five-month journey to Alaska and back. While at home, Amy keeps busy with her Bible study group, singing in the church choir, volunteering at a soup kitchen, the Mana Food Center, and, of course, spending as much time as possible with their nine grandchildren! Three are in London, two in Lancaster, Penn., two in Baltimore, one in Arlington, and one in Tennessee. Amy saw Mary “Frizzle” Willis last summer in Boone, N.C., and it was wonderful to catch up with her.

Carolyn Schwulst wrote that she finally sold her house and moved from Colorado to Grants Pass, Ore., with five U-Haul trucks, three flights, and an

Jayne Carson '76

Amy Goers Rhodes '76 with husband Dave and their family.

Frizzle Willis '76 and Amy Goers Rhodes '76

exhausted sister-in-law! She was happy to be able to transfer her bank teller job from Pagosa to Grants Pass. She says Mia only lives an hour away and she hopes to connect with her.

Grace Tiffany wrote that she is still teaching English at Western Michigan University in chilly Kalamazoo, Mich., and writing when she can. Her novel, “The Owl Was a Baker's Daughter,” was published about a year ago and she plans to give a reading from it sometime this year at Martha MacGill's new bookstore in Cumberland, Md.! Meanwhile, her new 2026 challenge is teaching a Shakespeare class to inmates at a men's correctional facility, which she says is very interesting so far.

As for me, Melissa Ulsaker Maas, both my sons were married within nine months of each other, Jameson Bloom '13 to Katie Hull on December 7, 2024 and Alex Bloom '11 to Ankita Singh on October 18, 2025. I already reported on Jameson's wonderful wedding last spring. Alex and Ankita's wedding was a spectacular, multi-day whirlwind Indian celebration—they know how to make the couple feel like superstars in their own romantic Bollywood movie. At each event, their outfits matched the decor and every detail was thoughtful and exceptional.

My big news is that after 21 years as the director of design at SSSAS, I am retiring. I am excited to return to all the things I used to love doing, but no longer had time for while working: artistic endeavors and using my skills to help

local charitable organizations. I can't believe that 2026 is our 50th Reunion and that we are now “Classic Saints!”

CLASS OF 1977

Clara Bell “CB” Guess and Joseph Lamb

It is hard to believe that in 2027 we will celebrate our 50th Reunion! It feels as though June 1977 was just last week. We remain deeply grateful for our time at St. Agnes and the lifelong friendships formed there. Here is the latest news from our classmates:

Brenda Bertholf Charmey sends greetings from Paris. Her big news is the arrival of their grandson, Elio, in New York in 2025.

Glenis Riegert Pittman and her husband, Ken, purchased a home in Plano, Texas, last October. She shared that they enjoyed hosting Carol Erickson Saberin-Tener '76 and her husband, Kinley, while they were settling in. They are enjoying their new community and the large trees in their yard. Glenis and Ken celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last year in Oahu, Hawaii. One of their sons lives in Northern California and the other is in Northern Virginia.

Last year was significant for Tammy McCrory. She retired at the end of April and completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail from April 27 to November 11. Tammy described the hike as a grand adventure where she experienced all four seasons, all kinds of weather outdoors, and wonderful people who became her “tramily, or trail family.”

She is happy to be back home with her husband and son, who visited a few times, cheered her on, and supported her throughout the journey. Her husband, Ken, was also busy, completing solo open-water swims of the Cook Strait and Foveaux Strait in New Zealand.

Melanie McCrady Page shared that 2025 brought closure for her family. After delays caused by the pandemic, family illnesses, and a long waitlist at Arlington National Cemetery, her parents were interred in November 2025. Melanie noted that the ceremony was beautiful and a true blessing for her family.

Leesa Dinwiddie Kerns retired in October 2025, following a rewarding 40year career in the IT industry. Her work spanned the evolution of the Information Age, focusing on implementing enterprise applications for financial business processes. Whether consulting, running her own company, or working for nonprofits like AARP and the APA, she took great pride in her career—often as the only woman in the room! She is now enjoying a quieter life in Warrenton with her husband. They enjoy catching up with their son, who works for the Maryland Department of Wildlife Management, and their daughter, who is pursuing a doctor of physical therapy degree at Marymount University. Leesa writes that she's counting on her daughter's expertise to keep her moving as the years go by and is feeling incredibly blessed and grateful for every day!

Susan Hepner Siegfried and her husband, Bob, retired on January 1, 2026.

Melissa Ulsaker Maas '76 with son Jameson Bloom '13, bride to be Ankita Singh, and groom Alex Bloom '11.

Ready to rock the reception: Brent Maas, Melissa '76, Alex '11, Ankita, Jameson's wife Katie, and Jameson '13.

The wedding day: Ankita, Alex '11, and Melissa '76.

They plan to travel, visit grandchildren in Seattle, bike, and spend a lot of time at the gym. Susan is so grateful for the job she just left at the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA). She made many friends and learned so very much.

After four years, CB Bell Guess and her siblings finally emptied their parents' house, and it's on the market. CB and her husband, Keith, are enjoying their new home in Wilson, N.C., and are looking forward to getting involved in community activities.

Will Deatrick is living in Southern California and Bill Blake is living in Maryland. In 2024 they and their wives vacationed together in West Virginia.

Harold Cooley lives in Raleigh, N.C. He has been married to Kim for 36 years and they have four children: two boys and two girls, all married with more than a handful of grandchildren between them. Harold regularly keeps up Julian Burke, Joe Lamb, Bryan Lipps, Mark Hughes, Griff Thomas, Bill Perkins, David Mast, and Doug O'Brien. Julian, Joe, Bryan, Mark, Griff, and Harold have been getting together annually for a mini-reunion for about 16 years, meeting in North Carolina in May for the last dozen years as it's centrally located for most of them.

John Chace has been married to Kristin since college. They have three children. He just retired after 44 years in the insurance industry. Now he is doing theological research and genealogy for family and friends.

Doug McPherson and Julie have been married for 42 years, have two daughters

15 years apart, and split their time between Thomasville, Ga., and Deltaville, Va., depending upon the season and temperatures!

Matt Uzer and his wife have been married for 35 years and have four daughters, two of whom are married. Only one grandchild so far and she is only six months old. They are in Naples, Fla., for seven months of the year and spend the other five months in Bethany Beach, Del.

Byrne Murphy is living in the U.S. after a number of years living overseas. He is 37 years married and has four daughters: one married, one to be married autumn 2026, and a third to be married soon thereafter. He has one grandchild thus far.

Ed Wright and his wife, Diane, decamped from D.C. to Charlottesville three years ago, and are enjoying it and retirement as well.

Lloyd Mustin and his wife live in Alexandria, Va., and have three kids and six grandkids—all local as well.

CLASS OF 1978

Joy Hurst Pinto and Robert Long

From Joy Hurst Pinto, I was disappointed that our class wasn't represented in last year's SSSAS magazine, so I volunteered to serve as our class ambassador. It's been so much fun catching up and learning what the below classmates have been doing over the past 47 years. I'd love to hear from everyone! Avery Boling Bissell is fully retired after practicing as a real estate lawyer

at Dechert and later in-house at AmeriSourceBergen. Husband Rolin is still practicing law but is gradually easing into retirement. Their son, Sam, and his wife, Siobhan, are both lawyers living in Arlington, and Avery enjoys visiting them and reconnecting with familiar places in D.C. Their daughter, Tilden, works for Victoria Beckham Beauty and leads a more glamorous life. Avery remains close with Ann Morton Habliston as mutual godparents to each other's children and hopes to reconnect more with St. Agnes classmates.

Alisa “Lisa” Freeman Alvarez is doing well in Grapevine, Texas. She is still working but plans to retire in the not-too-distant future. In 2025, she became a certified professional coach and hopes to continue coaching as part of her retirement. A passionate traveler, she has visited nearly 40 countries and continues to work through her bucket list. In the past year, her travels included Iceland, Greece, Montenegro, Croatia, and Italy, and she sends warm wishes to fellow SSSAS alums for 2026.

Katie Holleder Fellows is married to Dan Fellows, whose brothers David Fellows '77, Peter Fellows '79, and Andy Fellows '82 also attended SSS. They have three children—Taylor, Ryan, and Jeanette—who are all married and have children of their own. Katie and Dan have six grandchildren, including one granddaughter and five grandsons. The couple has lived in Charlottesville, Va., for 36 years. Katie recently retired after 28 years with UVA Health System; she and

Tammy McCrory'77 on Mount Katahdin on the Appalachian Trail.

Susan Hepner Siegfried '77 and her family.

Carol Erickson Saberin-Tener '76 and Glenis Riegert Pittman '77.

Dan are enjoying retirement by spending time with family and traveling.

Betsy Ramsey married in 2022 and she and her husband, Ed, moved to Boynton Beach, Fla. She retired a little early from her job in the IT world and is happy “doing nothing” in Southern Florida. And yes, she still loves Star Trek!

Jan Strother and her wife, Lori, moved to a suburb of Syracuse, N.Y., in 2021 after 33 years in California. The move followed Jan's long career in IT and was made to be closer to Lori's family. Jan enjoys the change from California, joking that while they don't live in the boonies, they can see them from their home. She is happily retired and looks forward to getting back on her bicycle once the winter snow melts. Jan has recovered from a fall last year and is grateful for her unusually strong bone density.

Cary Brownley retired for the third time last September and, on a whim, moved to Leland, N.C. “looking for more out of life than what I had in the DMV. The move went smoothly, and I've been happily settled there since November 2024. I can honestly say I've never been happier and am truly living my best life. I stay connected with longtime friends through group texts with classmates from the SAS and SSS class of 1978, as well as a daily chat sharing Wordle, Waffle, Connections, and a bit of football. A special highlight was attending Becky Bolen Corns's son's wedding in September, where—even at the 'old people's table'—we held our own.”

Susan Hepner Siegfried (originally

in our class but officially Class of '77) retired on January 1, 2026. She and her husband, Bob, continue to live in the Richmond area. Susan stays active by going to the gym three times a week and visiting museums on Tuesdays. She recently visited her sister in Florida and has more trips to the Sunshine State planned. Susan and Bob are Nana and Papa to two grandchildren in Seattle and enjoy visiting them regularly.

Gail Carroll Graham has lived in Bluffton, S.C., since 2018 and is now moving to Easton, Md., to be closer to family and reconnect with SSSAS friends. After a career in financial services, she retired to focus on her passion for equestrian life. A serious riding accident in 2025 became a major turning point and led to significant life changes, including retiring from riding. She is deeply grateful for the support she received, including encouragement from Will Miller '78, and is happily moving forward. Gail and her husband are renovating a home on the Wye River near her siblings, while their two sons and four grandchildren live in the New York area, where she looks forward to being an active Gigi and embracing this next chapter.

Christine Rainwater reports that nothing much has changed—she's still working and enjoying it. She lives in Aldie, Va., with three pit bull rescues who keep her busy and entertained. They also regularly remind her of the importance of organic kibble, which is a strong motivator to keep working.

Leigh Leibel continues to work in

cancer care at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She has a chapter in a medical textbook set to be published soon. Alongside her professional work, she is completing a Ph.D. in Indian philosophy. Leigh is also training to trek to Everest Base Camp later this year.

Maggie Fletcher Belliel reports that life is good. She and Dan spend most of the year living in Virginia's Northern Neck and summers in Northern Michigan. They stay active by biking, hiking, and kayaking. Maggie is currently fitting in as much travel as possible. She also enjoys daily texts and lots of laughter with Cary and Becky as they share Waffle, Wordle, and Connections results.

Gina Taylor resides at Seabury's Friendship Terrace, a retirement community in Northwest D.C., with close ties to the Episcopal Church. The community offers a wide range of activities that keep her actively engaged.

Marsha Giles Hodgson has called Reston home for 33 years. Since retiring she is embracing this new chapter of life by traveling near and far with her girlfriends. In March 2024, Marsha sadly lost her husband after a courageous fouryear fight with cancer.

Diane Montllor Wright became a grandmother for the first time in January. She and Ed are living in Charlottesville, Va., but now anticipate frequent trips to Alexandria to visit.

As for me, Joy Hurst Pinto, I am essentially retired but stay busy managing our commercial rental properties. Over the past few years, I've spent time in Wyoming working on a large cattle ranch of nearly 1,000 acres, helping with everything from vaccinating and branding cattle to caring for injured horses and feeding orphaned calves—an experience that has been a true highlight for me. My husband, Chris, owns his own business and continues to work. Our daughter, Lydia, earned her master's degree in recreation science in May 2025 and now works for the Neurodiversity Alliance, a national nonprofit. I am really looking forward to our 50th Reunion in 2028! I would love to connect with classmates I haven't heard from so feel free to reach out to the Alumni Office for my contact info.

Maggie Fletcher Belliel and Molly Duncan Morris reunited at the Philadelphia Flower Show.

Michael Vaughn '22 and former SSSAS English Teacher Andy Sidle '78 reunited at Lafayette College.

From Andy Sidle: “Hi, y'all! I finally got myself to see a Michael Vaughn '22 football game—he plays defensive end for Lafayette College. Michael was one of my advisees from 2018-2022. Lafayette beat University of Richmond 35-28, and Michael had an interception—as a defensive end!

CLASS OF 1979

From Ann Hepburn Webb: Leslie Keleher Harris and Jeff divide their time between Charlottesville and Greenwich, Conn., where they have lived for over 30 years and where their two kids are now settled with their families (all the better for stalking short relatives if you live near them). Leslie has rebranded her gardening podcast—The Golden Mixer (thegardenmixer.com/)—to include a partner (gardening author and speaker Marianne Willburn) and cocktails while talking about all things gardening. Leslie gets together with pals Cate Condon Madden, Julie Conley, and Betsy Sinnott Pash for a girls' weekend every year!

CLASS OF 1980

Ann Hepburn Webb

Tracy Nelson Geschickter has retired from teaching, and she and husband Brian “Bear” Geschickter '85 enjoy living on the North Carolina coast.

Fran Toler reports that last fall she and Margaret Jones Helber visited Jane Masterson at her new home on Lake Anna. It was a beautiful fall weekend and they had a great time—going on a boat ride, having a campfire, celebrating birthdays, going to a small “No Kings” rally in Louisa, Va., and generally having a perfect girls' weekend with plenty of wine. Jane's partner, Bill Padgett '80, was a wonderful host, and it was fun to see the gorgeous spot he has developed lakeside.

Elizabeth “Puma” Bridges Cornick and husband Carter have officially joined the ranks of the empty-nesters, as their son Keene Cornick '21 graduated from college and his lacrosse career last May. Daughter Elizabeth Cornick '13 is

getting married in May to a guy whose dad is a St. Stephen's alumnus. Elizabeth remains in Miami where she's working on a Ph.D. in English—she also had Sherley Keith as one of her teachers, who helped inspire her love of literature.

CLASS OF 1981

John Leiner

From Peter Katson: “Last year I won an award. I was named the Air Force JAG Corp's Outstanding Civilian Attorney of the Year for the Air Force District Washington. Also, I was promoted to senior attorney of the Pentagon Joint Legal Assistance Office. Still plugging away at my advanced age! Michael will be graduating this May from the United States Naval Academy and will be commissioned as an ensign in the submarine community. Angela retired three years ago after 38 years in an active duty status. Let's see if Michael can beat that!”

And John Leiner reports: “I've retired from UVA after 25 years and moved to central Illinois to practice medicine near my mother's farm. I practice rural medicine in Quincy, Ill., and Mt. Sterling, Ill., (population 1300). Catherine and I maintain our home in Charlottesville. Fred Leiner '75 and I manage 700+ acres and are restoring my mother's home (built in 1858). I can walk to the Mississippi River from my new office.”

CLASS OF 1982

From the Alumni Office: Kristen Mulvaney Shipman is enjoying life in Beaufort, S.C. “While we live in the very quaint historic district, we also have a farm outside of the city with 21 Dexter cows. Green Acres, here we come! My father, Merle, lives with us and we now have 10 grandchildren, so the farm gives everyone a place to run off some of their energy!”

CLASS OF 1983

From the Alumni Office: Fred Deleyiannis reports, “The Class of 1983, including some of our former teachers (Doug Bryant '69, David Checcino, and Fred Atwood), celebrated our collective

Leslie Keleher Harris '79 with her husband Jeff and their grandchildren.

Members of the Class of 1983, including some of their former teachers, gathered at Fred Deleyiannis' home in May 2025.

60th birthdays and 40 plus years as Saint's alumni in May 2025.”

CLASS OF 1985

From the Alumni Office: Tory Heiden Kauffman left her position as the deputy associate general counsel (Contracts) at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., after 18 years at the agency. She began a new position as the deputy general counsel and acting general counsel at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, also in D.C. Scott Hurd accepted a fellowship at the University of Notre Dame's Institute for Ethics and the Common Good to prepare an ethical evaluation guide on artificial intelligence for the Catholic Charities network.

CLASS OF 1987

Anne “Shelly” Webb and Hilary Vaughn Flanagan

We'll start these notes out with a lovely report from Sarah Williams, who recently attended our dear Mrs. (Nancy) Schick's memorial service. Mrs. Schick was kind, gentle, and an expert on “Beowulf, Canterbury Tales” and “Sir Gawain.” Among the many SSSAS folks that Sarah saw at the service were: Suzanne Nuckolls, Marsha Way, Roberta Klein, Susy Wanamaker '82, Amy Argetsinger '86, Aileen Lopez Pugh '85, and Taylor Kiland '85. Thank you, Sarah, for representing all of us who benefited from Mrs. Schick's teaching, guidance, and care.

Jennifer Griffin reports: “After covering the Iran strikes in June 2025 and reporting from Israel on the release of hostages, prisoners, detainees, and the ceasefire in Gaza, my family is thriving. My husband, Greg Myre, is still reporting on national security for NPR, my eldest daughter, Annalise, is working at the New York Stock Exchange, daughter Amelia graduated from Georgetown and moved to New York to work for Radical Media (which makes documentaries), and son Luke committed to Penn to play lacrosse. We taught our eight year-old cockapoo, Cleo, to use an electric “doggy door,”

which shows you can teach an old dog new tricks! Meanwhile, I head to the Fox Bureau each morning on Capitol Hill with the St Agnes war cry: 'She who has the will to win never shall be beat.' Hail, St Agnes! Looking good at 100!”

Della Pace Patteson writes: “We moved from Denver, Colo., to Raleigh, N.C., in May 2025. I am continuing to work remotely for Denver artist, Duke Beardsley. It's great to be back on the East Coast and we are loving Raleigh! I have connected with SAS Raleigh gals Rebecca Brockman Zuvich, Melanie Bartol Jones '89, and Valerie Hillings '89—all amazing women doing amazing things, and we ALL amazingly grew up in the SSSAS neighborhood, Seminary Ridge!”

Catherine “Cathy” DuBost McCambridge and her husband. John. are still Realtors in Virginia and are a great team, doing well in the Realtor rankings. They handle a little bit of everything: residential sales, commercial properties, rentals, and managing around 40 rental properties. Also, they just opened a home remodel center in Loudon County. When they do manage to sneak away from work they love to travel—last year included Paris, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, and Hawaii. Their daughter Ashleigh works for Hilton, so her friends-andfamily discount doesn't hurt either! And rounding things out, their three labs— Kino, Marco, and Polo—keep life full and entertaining.

Malika Rasheed is considering adding “comedy writing” to her already impressive career journey. And (like the rest of us) she is aging, so she has retired her trusty tennis racket and is now focusing more on simply sitting.

Congratulations to Mary Elizabeth Paul Duke, who started out with a New Year's Day hole-in-one on the golf course!

And finally, class secretary Shelly Webb continues loving her work as a Buddhist chaplain for the unhoused and the elderly in the Bay Area of California. Thank you, St. Agnes, for all you gave each of us. We're out there in the world, living life fully.

CLASS OF 1988

Cristin Curry De Silva

Sharon Dewey Cassidy shares that she is enjoying being a groupie mom as her oldest son, Carson, is touring with country music band Jovi Greene as their lead guitarist. She, Carlin Porter Mihm, and Melissa Kuhn Cetola enjoyed a tennis trip to Italy in October and met Jennifer DePodesta Castioni in Florence for lunch!

Claire Jenkins Porter, still in Raleigh, wrote that her daughter, Grace, will graduate in May from UNC Chapel Hill and will be working in Washington, D.C. next year. Her son, Nico, is a sophomore at the University of South Carolina. Claire continues to enjoy her role as a director of compliance for an educational management organization and supports eight schools across North Carolina.

CLASS OF 1989

Amanda Edwards

The Class of 1989 offers our deepest condolences to Ashley Kincheloe Dyson and Wiley Shelor Hunnicutt . Ashley's father, Paul Kincheloe '60 , and Wiley's mother, Bonnie Shelor, both passed away last year. The Kincheloe family was always so gracious, opening up their beautiful home in McLean to host post-game pizza parties, an epic graduation night gathering, and our 15th Reunion party. And Mrs. Shelor was a super

1988 Classmates Melissa Kuhn Cetola, Carlin Porter Mihm, Jennifer DePodesta Castioni, and Sharon Dewey Cassidy met up in Florence, Italy.

enthusiastic staple on the sidelines of many lacrosse matches. What a colorful character she was. It's possible she was having more fun than the rest of us combined!

In much happier news, Wiley Shelor Hunnicutt celebrated her wedding to Allan Stoneman in October with Alexandra Woodman Johnson and Geoff Johnson there to cheer her on all weekend. Alexandra and Geoff also played host to Tanya Dobrzynski's talented musician daughter's song release party. A handful of SAS-ers were in attendance as Marina Hall debuted her new single, “Closer.” Tanya reports that it was a wonderful celebration of music, love, and friendship. For those who wish to follow along, Marina and her music can be found on Spotify.

Alexandra Woodman Johnson hosted another gathering last year, this time for Tanya Dobrzynski's birthday.

A number of classmates including Angela Miller , Kate Studeman , Jen Michael , and Ashley Hanchey Bigelow joined in the celebrations. I don't know for certain but I'm guessing they dusted off the karaoke machine and knocked out a few 80's classics!

Alexandra and Ashley also joined Gratia O'Rourke Barnett at the Cape Fear Women's Birding Festival at Wrightville Beach, N.C. Alexandra writes that it was the first official birding expedition for her and Ashley. Gratia, a more seasoned birder, was an excellent teacher and guide, helping them learn so much, along with the excellent leaders of the trip. Alexandra also happily reports that she saw 38 different types of birds during their two day trip!

Tanya Dobrzynski and Angela Miller hit the slopes again in January and spent the entire day laughing nonstop. So, nothing has changed there!

Christina Pfeffer Caporale saw Nicole Zehfuss when Lee Casselman Whelan was in town. Christina has been busy juggling work with the logistics of ferrying Emma (9th grade) and Cater (7th grade) to their various sports and clubs. Emma is a keen equestrian who currently rides on two show teams while Cater plays basketball, football, and travel team baseball. I honestly have no idea how Christina keeps up with it all.

As for me, Amanda Edwards , I feel I'm slowly inching my way towards retirement. Not from photography itself, but from the day-to-day demands of freelancing. Time will tell, I guess. For now I can report that I met up with Mridu Chandra over the summer. She's been spending some time in LA here and there, conducting research for her latest documentary. I won't give anything away, but it's fascinating.

Wiley Shelor Hunnicutt '88 (dressed in silver) holds the hand of her new husband, Allan Stoneman.

1989 classmates Alexandra Woodman Johnson, Ashley Hanchey Bigelow, Tanya Dobrzynski, Jen Michael, and Angela Miller.

1988 classmates Angela Miller (left) and Tanya Dobrzynski (right), besties since Middle School!

Geoff Johnson '89, Alexandra Woodman Johnson '89, and Angela Miller '89 joined Tanya Dobrzynski and others at a song release party for Tanya's daughter, Marina Hall.

CLASS OF 1990

Aida Longo Knowles and Sarah Goldsmith Campos

Kirsten Curtis writes that after almost 21 years “working for the federal government, I retired and started a new chapter working as a consultant, which allows more flexibility for me to travel and explore other passions. My husband and I started with a three-month RV trip across the U.S., mostly hiking at beautiful national and state parks, and visiting a few favorite cities. Next, we traveled to Turkey, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. I appreciated the opportunity to catch up with classmates at our 35th Reunion.”

Aida Longo Knowles and husband Sam are loving having Sofia Knowles '35 in third grade and Lucas Knowles '37 in first grade at SSSAS. They truly love being Saints. This past summer, they traveled to Nova Scotia to visit Susan Eady Bartelt; it was wonderful to reconnect with a former Lamb.

The past year has been busy for Lesley Tomion. “A whole bunch of our time was taken up with college visits, applications, and decision making. After a lot of careful consideration, our family compass now points to the Pacific Northwest, where our son is in his first year at the University of Washington in Seattle. It's FAR, but he loves it and, happily, we love spending time out there! In news closer to home, I'm in the midst of my 28th year teaching in Brookline, Mass.”

All of us in the Class of 1990 were saddened to hear the news of the death of Mrs. Nancy Schick. She influenced all of us in many positive and meaningful ways, and we remember her fondly. It was wonderful to hear that a few members of our class were able to go to her service.

For Sarah Goldsmith Campos, “2025-2026 was a banner year because I got to see so many of you! Not only at reunion, but in London, where Olivia Titus Dalu and her husband, David, and children Charlotte (19), Caroline (16), and Everett (13) came to visit. Over the summer and fall Kimi O'Halloran-Perez and her daughter Fiona Perez '29 also

visited. We felt honored to be included in the closing ceremonies this summer, celebrating David Dalu's silver medal representing Team USA at the World FITASC Championship in England. We also saw Eleanor Hawkins Maguire and daughter Olivia, who dropped by on their way to the airport, Eleanor coming from Barcelona and Olivia from university in Dublin. So fun to be able to keep up with all of you. As for me, I am still working at a U.S. law firm in London and chugging along! At my daughter's school the parents and alumni all plan organised trips around Europe and the U.S. with a faculty member leading the charge. I think the Class of 1990 needs to take the lead on this for SSS/SAS and persuade Ms. Klein to be our tourguide! Then, perhaps, I will have more updates to write about! Hope you are all well.”

CLASS OF 1993

Stephen Lastelic and Caroline Worsley

Craige Moore and her husband, Jeff, became parents on December 10, 2025, with the birth of their son, Ian Craige Cioletti. She says, “he has made us the happiest parents we never thought we'd be.”

Ryan Elliott finished five years at Google and is now at Apple, working in the Cloud world. His oldest child is now in college at Chico State. And his high school twins went on a three-city tour in

China with their marching band.

Stephen Pedone still lives in New York City with his family. One daughter will graduate college in spring 2026, and the other will start college in the fall at a university in the U.K.

Lisa Meltz Gumpert reports that she and her husband, George, are still in San Francisco and enjoying a quieter life as their daughter is a freshman at Tulane and their son is officially driving! They love SSSAS visitors and encourage anyone visiting the West Coast to call. She also wants to wish a happy birthday to all of those who have turned 50(?!?!) in the last year!

CLASS OF 1996

Lakesha Bankston-Glover and Yumi Rodriguez Belanga

Lela Gant writes, “I recently visited the Lower School campus and it brought back so many memories, so cool. Over the holidays, my daughter, Clark, and I went on a cruise to the Caribbean and it was amazing to say the least! She's only 3, so seeing the world through her lens is a breath of fresh air. She keeps me on my toes!”

Mark Elberfeld married his partner, Russell Winch, on their 15th anniversary on April 9, 2025 (see photo on in Milestones on p. 72). His debut essay collection, “Sour Cherries at Buc-ee's,” won Atmosphere Press' Book of the Year and features a fictionalized account of his time at SSSAS. He also received a diploma in executive coaching from the Goizueta Business School of Emory University. In October, he caught up with several members of the class of '96 at Cara Rotondaro McDonough's 20th wedding anniversary party in Shady Side, Md.

CLASS OF 1999

Hannah Prentice Traul

In October 2025, Lily Monir Matini became an assistant chief counsel supporting DHS, including their national security based initiatives. She continues to sing and has been recruited to lead a Pretenders cover band to tour, called

Jeff Cioletti and Craige Moore '93 with their newborn son Ian.

PretendHz (pretendhz.com/). Lily also played her violin with the NASA Goddard volunteer orchestra to rehearse their holiday concert. She still dances locally with her swing dance team Fidgety Feet and teaches Thursday night classes in Dupont Circle for Gottaswing. Having successfully settled a guardianship lawsuit to care for her father years before he passed, Lily taught eldercare at her law school and remains committed if anyone needs expertise or support as our elders age gracefully. In January 2026, she was hired to teach swing in Miami Beach for their first Lindy exchange, part of their 49th annual South Beach art deco weekender.

CLASS OF 2000

Elizabeth C. Donatelli and Andrew Keen

It was a year filled with celebration and sorrow for the class of 2000. First, we

want to recognize the passing of two of our classmates, Alexis Clara von SchoeningHenry and Elise Emmons Ciampitti, last fall. We also share the passing of James “Jeff” Delano, father of Steve Delano '99, Kassen Delano Gunderman '00, and Chris Delano '04. The family gathered for a small remembrance on what would have been his birthday. You and your families are in our thoughts and prayers.

It was also a year of reconnection with the class celebrating its 25th Reunion. Nearly one third of the class reunited to share stories over Alumni Reunion Weekend. Thank you to everyone who showed up!

Tyler Gray took a new job working at LSU Energy Institute as the director of energy innovation to connect energy research with real-world policy and industry needs in Louisiana.

Andrew Keen traveled to Greece, Turkey, and England during the last year.

His travel plans for 2026 include Greece, Spain, and Portugal.

On May 25, 2025, Randall Winnette married William Frank in a ceremony overlooking the New York skyline, surrounded by family and friends, including Boupha Soulatha Inskeep, Amanda Cordell Casey, Margaret Dyson, and Allison Swindell Guzman. Her best friend since high school, Elizabeth (Lizi) Donatelli, would have been standing right next to her at the altar but had to sit this one out and attend the wedding remotely as she was only a few days away from the birth of her second daughter, Madison Gillett Clark! Elizabeth also started a new job heading communications for Blue Star Families.

CLASS OF 2003

Megan Hansen, Adam Justus, and Kathleen Miller O'Gara

Mary Stewart Malone moved to London from New York City with her husband and four children. She had the pleasure of reconnecting with Alden Leonard '04 over dinner, as well as running into fellow classmate Sana Malouf on the street. If you find yourself in the U.K., please say hello!

CLASS OF 2004

Abigail Meyer and Taylor Rains III

Kendall McBrearty was inducted into the Potomac Lacrosse Association Hall of Fame in 2025. Rachel Pollard

World traveler Andrew Keen '00.

Group photo of the Class of 2000 at reunion in April 2025.

Margaret Dyson '00, Boupha Soulatha Inskeep '00, Randall Winnette '00, Alison Swindell Guzman '00 and Amanda Cordell Casey '00 reunite at Randall's wedding along with photo stand-ins of Karen Owens '00 and Elizabeth Donatelli '00.

Rodriguez, Caitlin Blair Fessler, and Kady McBrearty Paradise were there to cheer her on.

Taylor Rains and Brent Locke traveled to London, along with Ann Lefeve Snyder '03 and Julia Reeder '03, to celebrate Alden Leonard's birthday in October.

Scarlett Bermingham spent some time with her family in Canada working on a very exciting new project. Look out for movie updates coming later this year!

Megan Roberson Jennings and Sally Griffith traveled to Charleston, S.C., for Sally's birthday weekend and visited with Taylor Rains

Nate Solberg closed out the year with a December trip down to Universal Studios with his wife, Ryann, and sons Hudson and Bowen.

CLASS OF 2007

Abigail Ryan, Joe Ahdoot, Anne Teague, and Becca Devine

Big year for the Class of 2007!

Becca Devine Duffy tied the knot to Chris Duffy in Kiawah, S.C., on November 1, 2025. In a shocking turn of events, Becca managed to find someone even funnier and cooler than she is. A massive SSSAS crew was on hand to properly welcome Chris to the pack!

Allie Menchel married Hooman Saberinia in August 2025. They met while Allie was teaching a yoga class, proving that “Namaste” can actually lead to “I do.” They're living in Arlington, Va., where Allie serves as a school counselor,

likely using her Zen skills!

Look out, world! Our resident smarty-pants, Julian Wamble, has officially leveled up to associate professor at George Washington University. Julian, we're giving you an A+ for this achievement, though we're still waiting for you to grade our life choices. Way to go, Prof!

Down in Mount Vernon, Katherine Denkler White is keeping busy with Michael White and their two sons, Liam and Logan. Just across the street, Mark White and wife Katie have added a third boy to their crew! It seems the Class of '07 is well on its way to forming a future SSSAS lacrosse dynasty.

Caroline Nuckolls Lucas is working at JOOR (B2B ecommerce platform) and balancing life with husband Colin and their little girl, Flora, in Vermont.

International travel is the theme for our globetrotters: Taylor Foshee recently relocated to Hong Kong with her family for work. Abigail Holden Ryan is still residing in Switzerland and added another son to her boy gang, congrats Ab and Danny! Meanwhile, Amy McEwan is now living in Paris, where we hope she is currently eating baguettes and brie. Oui Oui!

The Denver crew (Dudley Locke, Ned Ryan, and Teddy Seifert) has welcomed two new babies this year. Dudley welcomed a little boy and Ned added a little girl to their families!

Did anyone catch Molly Millard performing the national anthem at the Atlanta Hawks game on New Year's Eve? Move over, Beyoncé—we have a superstar in our midst!

Bryant Smith and his better half, Christine, moved back to Alexandria and soon after welcomed TWINS in 2025! They're navigating parenthood with two adorable new additions. Welcome home, Bryant!

The Richmond crew (Max Brindle, Tommy Murray, Stephen Dewey, and Chris Beveridge) can be found fishing, golfing, and reminiscing about the good old “Saints Life Doc Series” days.

Chandler Rogers Habig is living in New Orleans with husband, Matt. I recently visited them and got to meet their newest little girl—Matt is officially

Saints attending the November 2025 wedding of Becca Devine '07: Maddy Devine '05, Chido Obidegwu '05, Worku Gachou '05, David “DJ” Johnson '05, Mike Teague '05, Evi Herget '07, Ryan Gribbon '08, Abigail Holden Ryan '07, Annie Culvahouse Teague '07, Kendall Davis Pessala '07, Molly Millard '07, Katherine Denkler White '07, Michael White '07, Caroline Nuckolls Lucas '07, and Micaela O'Toole Thomas '07.

Brendan O'Toole '07, Michael Tokarz '08, Tom Sherman '07, Micaela O'Toole Thomas '07, Jack Tokarz '11, and Thomas “TJ” Johnston '07 the wedding of Brendan O'Toole '07.

CLASS OF 2010

Kerrigan O'Malley and Ally Shaw

Veternarian Dr. Alexander Edwards is currently the area chief of staff at Banfield Pet Hospital. After graduating from SSSAS in 2010, he went on to graduate from the University of Virginia in 2014 and Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine in 2018. Alex, his wife, Brittany, and their one-year old twin girls, Alaya and Autumn, reside in the Mosaic District of Fairfax, Va.

Juliet Blakeslee-Carter finished her residency and is now officially a vascular surgeon in Alabama!

outnumbered! We're sending thoughts and prayers to him as he navigates a house full of fabulous women. Luckily her brother, Kip Rogers '09, lives in Del Ray, so she visits a lot.

Kevin Teague and his wife, Allie, have two little girls and are living in Mill Valley, Calif. His twin, Katie Teague, is living in Arlington, Va., and is loving the aunt-life!

In Florida, Thomas “TJ” Johnston is living with wife Analise and has opened a burrito restaurant that is reportedly super yummy. In his downtime, he's been breeding exotic lizards—he even named a new species after Mark White, the Sharka-nator!

Micaela O'Toole Thomas is a physician assistant in St. Louis, Mo., where she lives with her husband, Jared, and 3-year-old son, Tucker. Her twin, Brendan O'Toole, got married last June at a beautiful ceremony in Jackson Hole to the stunning and lovely, Catherine! Kendall Davis Pessala is working as the head of investor relations and investor operations at Fundrise. When she's not at work, she and her husband, Alex, are busy with their four little girls! They also go to Charlottesville often to see Evi Herget and DJ Johnson '05 on the weekends to let the offspring run wild on a farm.

Annie Culvahouse Teague and Mike Teague '05 and welcomed a son, George, last summer, and his big sister, Maggie,

is loving all the snuggles! Annie also has this special message for Mr. Steve Ebner: “A huge shout-out and congratulations to Mr. Ebner on his retirement! He was truly one of my favorite teachers and when I look back on my time at SSSAS, he is always front and center in those memories. Enjoy every minute of retirement, Mr. Steve!”

CLASS OF 2009

Andrew Cordia

In August 2022, after seven years at a top financial institution in New York, Virginia native Charlotte Davis Scholes took a leap of faith and moved across the Atlantic for a new chapter in London. Five weeks later, she met a Northern Irishman named Michael Scholes—and the love of her life. Nearly two years later and after many rugby matches, exercise classes, and Guinness pints, Michael proposed to Charlotte in Rome. The couple chose Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire, England, to host the wedding weekend. SSSAS Varsity Girls Lacrosse Coach Kathy Jenkins attended along with several of her former players and Charlotte's 2009 classmates: Cassie Newhouse Plattenburg, Chelsea Pasfield Cahill, and Jessie Coffield Nowak. Charlotte and Michael are enjoying married life in central London and welcome any and all visitors—if there are any Saints in town, please feel free to reach out!

Jackie Duvall Farlow is the reading specialist at her daughter's school in Chesterfield County, Va. This year, she and her husband celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary and took their two daughters on a memorable family trip to Portugal.

Peter Labovich has been living in San Diego, Calif., enjoying the weather and caring for his son.

Kerrigan O'Malley still lives in Richmond, Va., with her husband and daughter. She is still practicing civil litigation and became a partner of her law firm in 2025. Kerrigan is currently on the junior board of Children's Hospital of Richmond and also on the board of directors of the Junior League of Richmond. She also recently renewed her love for tennis and joined a couple of teams.

Taelor Salmon continues to live in Washington, D.C., still works in government contracting, and owns and manages a successful company called TJS Group. Taelor also still manages real estate properties.

Mary Utermohlen is in her last semester of graduate school and cannot wait to graduate this spring! She's enjoyed some travel and even went to her friend's wedding in Italy in October.

Nick Williams finished his doctorate and has been teaching at Virginia Commonwealth University in the School of Education. He recently changed roles from working in student engagement at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business and now he serves as

Lower School Admiistrative Assistant to the Director Marilyn Bryant ran into Robert Asmar '09 at the Flavor Hive Food Truck event in Manassas.

Alexander Edwards '10 with wife Brittany and twin daughters Alaya and Autumn.

the director of alumni engagement for the Schools of Nursing and Pharmacy. Nick has also been doing a lot of catering jobs, marketing consulting work for businesses, speaking at various conferences, and teaching at etiquette dinners at Virginia Commonwealth University and University

of Virginia. Nick has been spending time with family and friends, traveling, and exploring the food scene in Richmond, Va.

Ryan Garikes is living in Denver with his wife and their 1-year-old son. He works as an executive recruiter for venture backed start ups.

Holt Mountcastle has been busy taking care of his first child, who was born in September 2025.

CLASS OF 2011

Meredith Bentsen and Mathias Heller

After seven years asking “what's in your wallet?,” Margaret Platner was recently promoted to director and chief of staff, Premium Products and Experiences at Capital One.

Meredith Bentsen married Grant Loftesnes in May 2025. Her sister, Louise Bentsen '09, served as maid of honor, and

Mallory Bell was a bridesmaid. Fellow Saints in attendance included Victoria Adewale '09 and members of the Class of 2011: Margaret Platner, Gabrielle Gower, Sally Day MacLeod, Liz Desio, Mathias Heller, and Rebecca Dickerson Meredith also recently joined Dropbox's communications team after a decade at Brunswick Group.

In March 2025, Gabrielle Richichi Gower and her husband, Joseph, welcomed son Luca Thomas into the world. He recently celebrated his first birthday in style, and is regularly doted on by Godmother Jackie Duvall Farlow '10 and “aunts” Mallory Bell, Margaret Platner, and Meredith Bentsen

Chris Forsgren has lived in Northern Virginia since graduating from college at UVA. He now practices international trade law at a large law firm in D.C.

It's been a big year for Joe Sullivan. He got married to his partner, Ashley, in May

Margaret Platner '11 and husband Joe; Rebecca Dickerson '11 and husband Mathias Heller '11, and Liz Desio '11 and husband Justin.

Meredith with her sister and maid of honor, Louise Bentsen '09.

Meredith Bentsen '11 and Grant Loftesnes' wedding party.

Meredith with bridesmaid Mallory Bell '11.

Victoria Adewale '09 and husband Luke also attended.

with groomsmen Mathias Heller, Jack Tokarz, Stephen Secrest, and Nam-Tran Mai in tow. Ashley and Joe then returned to Costa Rica (where they met) for their honeymoon, where they saw 152 species of birds.

Ginny Cady married Kaitlyn Massa in August 2025.

Hannah Mullen and her husband, Dave, welcomed baby Maggie in January 2025. Maggie loves her toy turtle, bananas, and playing on the swings. Betty, her canine older sister, loves cleaning up after Maggie's mealtimes. All is well.

Patrick Daly continues living an adventurous lifestyle, which includes extended stays in Maine, Mexico City, Ecuador, Salt Lake City, and central New Jersey.

CLASS OF 2013

Claire Malkie, Hope Gallagher Ogden, and Brett Williams

Brett Williams continues to enjoy his “double life” as a higher-education professional and sports broadcaster. He is entering his fourth year working fulltime for his alma mater, the University of South Carolina, and his second semester as its assistant director for leadership education, planning and facilitating various leadership development programs for students across campus. He also pursues regular freelance play-by-play opportunities around the Carolinas, most notably with Gamecock volleyball and softball for SEC Network Plus and with Winthrop University men's basketball for ESPN+. A highlight of Brett's 2025 was

visiting several bucket-list amusement parks and waterparks around the country in a series he documented on Instagram as “Slide and Ride Summer.” Fellow Saint Douglas Maggs joined for the obligatory Kings Dominion stop on the tour!

Jimmy Wyrick has been thriving throughout an adventurous chapter in his life. For the last six years, he has been a fly fishing guide based out of Kalispell, Mont., and has had the privilege of guiding on premier Big Sky Country rivers such as the Flathead, Kootenai, Blackfoot, and Missouri. He loves that guiding has connected him with people from around the world and has opened doors for his own fishing travels to places such as Bermuda and Bhutan. And his greatest adventure has just begun—he got married to Los Angeles native Maggie Adair in October, with Saints classmates James

Last fall, Alex Bloom '11 married Ankita Singh in a joyous four-day Indian celebration in Leesburg, Va. Fellow Saints in attendance: Doc Jacobsen and wife Lorenza, Chris Yousef and wife Chole, Ankita and Alex, Aaron Moorefield, Katie and Jameson Bloom '13, Chris Foresgren and wife Sarah.

2011 Saints classmates at Doc's wedding: Aaron Moorefield, Jake Kerr, Leo Brody, Doc, Alex Bloom, Pat Daly, Chris Foresgren, and Chris Yousef.

During the Haldi ceremony, a pre-wedding ritual where family and friends apply a vibrant turmeric paste to the bride and groom's skin to bless them with a radiant glow and protection from evil, Alex Bloom '11 and Ankita Singh were showered with petals.

Alex and Ankita at the reception. This spring, Chris Foresgren '11 married classmate Doc Jacobsen to Lorenza Senem Lopes Cançado in Atlanta, Ga..

Bull III and Joe King in his wedding party! He sends his best to the SSSAS community and hopes to see some Saints on one of his boats soon!

CLASS OF 2014

Anissa Chams-Eddine, John Hall, Natalie Revers, and Sarah Shaw

Robert Redding left The Hill this past year and joined the American Medical Association as a lobbyist. He is an assistant director at the AMA and specializes in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Natalie Hellmann and Drew Wiseman '15 got married on January 17, 2026, in Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands, surrounded by friends and family. The couple reconnected in Alexandria in 2019 after being SSSAS homecoming dates in 2012.

Ian Shackley was recently promoted

to producer at X/AV, an entertainment marketing agency based in Los Angeles. He has worked on teasers and trailers for many TV and streaming projects, including: “House of the Dragon,” “The Last of Us,” “Hard Knocks,” “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man,” and the new season of “Ted.” He credits Mr. Wenger's Film Studies class with inspiring him to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

CLASS OF 2016

Fionn Fortune, Haley Hassell, Ja'Von Price, and Sarah Lowe

Molly Brenner writes: “I am delighted to share that on November 8, 2025, I married Patrick Crowe on a pictureperfect day in Milwaukee, Wis.! We were thrilled to be surrounded by so many family and friends, including familiar faces from SSSAS. We met at Marquette

University through a mutual friend, and it has been an adventure ever since. We have been happily settled in Milwaukee since graduating from college, where I work in brand and marketing strategy at a healthcare navigation company, and Patrick works as a product manager at Rehlko (formerly Kohler Energy).”

CLASS OF 2019

From the Alumni Office: Jacob Somer attended SSSAS from kindergarten through eighth grade with the class of 2019. He writes: “Whether it is being good to the people and animals in my life, holding a job, or learning something new, there are always moments where I want to be a perfectionist. I still live in Northern Virginia, and in my free time, you can find me playing pickleball or reading a book. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my updates with the SSSAS community.”

A large group of SSSAS guests attended the wedding of Natalie Hellmann '14 and Drew Wiseman '15.

Brett Williams '13 and Douglas Maggs '13 at Kings Dominion with friends.

Reunited at Khaamal Whitaker '13's wedding: (front row) Cathy Winbush and Rhonda Joseph. (back row) Leah Joseph '13, Areke Walcott '13, Khaamal, former Upper School Athletics Director and Varsity Football Coach Bernard Joseph, and Johnathan Winbush '13.

Jimmy Wyrick with a fly-fishing catch.

Sean Dowling '17, Carter Tyree '15, Haden Hamed, and Hayes Taibl together at Carter's wedding in August 2025.

APRIL 16-17, 2027

Weddings

(Listings received prior to March 18, 2026)

Alumni

Mark Elberfeld '96 and Russell Winch

April 9, 2025

Randall Winnette '00 and William Frank

May 25, 2025

Allison Menchel '07 and Hooman Saberinia

August 31, 2025

Charlotte Davis '09 and Michael Scholes

August 2, 2025

Joe Sullivan '11 and Ashley Stumvoll

May 4, 2025

Ginny Cady '11 and Kaitlyn

Massa

August 2025

Kendall Donohue '13 and James Markowitz

October 12, 2025

Margaret Romanin '13 and Derrick Anderson

November 22, 2025

Khaamal Whitaker '13 and Kiara Whitaker

February 15, 2025

Jimmy Wyrick '13 and Maggie Adair

October 11, 2025

and

Nailah Newsome '13 and Adam Kester

November 15, 2025

Sarah Goode '14 and James Burgoyne

February 7, 2026

Jordan Hunter '14 and Savannah Johnson

October 10, 2025

Natalie Hellmann '14 and Drew Wiseman '15

January 17, 2026

Julia Lindsey '15 and Kyle Kim

December 20, 2025

Molly Brenner '16 and Patrick Crowe

November 8, 2025

Molly Dougherty '16 and Chris Duggan

December 2025

Katie Wood '16 and Peter Burrus

September 13, 2025

Brendan Richichi '17 and Natalie Sassaman

December 12, 2025

Grayson Offutt '18 and Jeff Connor

December 6, 2025

Faculty and Staff

Paige Russell (Upper School Learning Specialist) and Nam Le

October 25, 2025

Mark Elberfeld '96

Russell Winch

William Frank and Randall Winnette '00

Ginny Cady '11 and Kaitlyn Massa

Michael Scholes and Charlotte Davis '09

Hooman Saberinia and Allison Menchel '07

Joe Sullivan '11 and Ashley Stumvoll

Natalie Hellmann '14 and Drew Wiseman '15

Kiara Whitaker and Khaamal Whitaker '13

James Markowitz and Kendall Donohue '13

Nailah Newsome '13 and Adam Kester

Jimmy Wyrick '13 and Maggie Adair

Molly Brenner '16 and Patrick Crowe

Brendan Richichi '17 and Natalie Sassaman

Sarah Goode '14 and James Burgoyne

Peter Burrus and Katie Wood '16

Nam Le and Paige Russell

New Additions

(Listings received prior to March 18, 2026)

Alumni

Craige Moore '93 and Jeff Cioletti

Ian Craige Cioletti

December 10, 2025

Elizabeth “Lizi” Donatelli '00 and Matthew Clark

Madison Gillett Clark

May 30, 2025

Annie Culvahouse Teague '07 and Michael Teague '05

George Culvahouse Teague

June 8, 2025

Zach Warder '08 and Alexis Warder

Wyatt William Warder September 2025

Katie May Simmons '09 and Tucker Simmons '11

Isobel McIntosh Simmons February 3, 2026

Emily Rhoads Moening '10 and Ryan Moening

Lila Hope Moening February 23, 2026

Hannah Mullen '11 and Dave Miller

Maggie Miller January 2025

Claire Niemann Quinn '11 and Jeffrey Quinn

Milo Taras Quinn May 2025

Courtney Johnson '12 and Aurélien Thiverny

Jude Johnson Thiverny

July 29, 2025

Layne Voorhees Rassenfoss '13 and James Rassenfoss

Henry Voorhees Rassenfoss

September 6, 2025

Wyatt Whitley Nizolek '13 and Brendan Nizolek

Coltrane “Colt” Nizolek

March 12, 2026

Faculty and Staff

Derek Sanders (Upper School English Teacher) and Nina Giorgia Carmela Sanders February 27, 2026

Madison Gillett Clark

George Culvahouse Teague Wyatt William Warder

Ian Craige Cioletti

Henry Voorhees Rassenfoss Coltrane “Colt” Nizolek

Jude Johnson Thiverny

Isobel McIntosh Simmons

Lila Hope Moening

Maggie Miller

Milo Taras Quinn

In Memoriam

(Listings received prior to March 18, 2026)

Alumni

Malcolm Matheson III '55 brother of Pinkie Roe '54 and Lidia Stifel '66, father to Malcolm Matheson IV '79

February 7, 2026

John Trueblood '58 father of Sharron Trueblood Hoffman '82 December 14, 2025

Paul Kincheloe, Jr. '60 father of Paul Kincheloe III '86, stepfather of Ashley Kincheloe Dyson '89

June 28, 2025

Susan Brewer Brandt '62 February 8, 2026

Nicki Donaldson Mitchell '64 May 2025

Jack Edsall '64 father of Allison Jesselson '85 (former faculty), Carter Edsall '91, Caroline Edsall Littleton '02, and Robert Edsall '06; grandfather of Owen Littleton '36 and Grace Littleton '38; and husband of Liz Edsall

February 20, 2026

Thomas Shomo '65 brother of Elizabeth “Betsy” Shomo Brunnemer '59 and Richard “Dick” Shomo '69 (deceased) December 1, 2025

Charlotte Bowen Hollow '67 February 22, 2026

Marian Lillian Weber '97 February 5, 2026

Faculty, Staff, and Family

David Allen Evans father of Jennifer Evans Allard '89, Sarah Evans '92, and David Evans, Jr. '95

May 13, 2025

Elizabeth “Bonnie” Shelor mother of Wiley Shelor Hunnicutt '89 and Natalie Shelor Sinclair '91

August 11, 2025

Colonel Robert B. Dail father of Robert Dail, Jr. '83 September 11, 2025

Dr. Richard Redding father of Colleen Godbout '88 October 20, 2025

Vijay Kumar husband of Martha Joynt Kumar '59 November 2025

James “Jef” Delano father of Steve Delano '99, Kassen Gunderman '00, and Chris Delano '04 December 8, 2025

Joanne Pyle mother of Bryce Pyle '05 and Cassie Pyle Veatch '08 December 15, 2025

Rev. John R. Pitts father of John Pitts, Jr. '95 December 23, 2025

Jelks Henry Cabaniss III brother of Nabers Cabaniss Johnson '75 and Ayn Cabaniss '75 (deceased) January 23, 2026

Ellen Dougherty mother of Elizabeth Dougherty '15 and Molly Dougherty '16 January 4, 2026

Nancy Soles wife of Herb Soles (former faculty & coach) January 8, 2026

Michael Durney grandfather to Brady Mason '29 and Priven Mason '31 January 10, 2026

Mike Delnegro father of John Delnegro '85 February 2, 2026

Brewster Taylor husband of Patricia Taylor '72; father of Alison Lars Henry '02, Lars Taylor '05, and Gracie Taylor '11; grandfather of Drew Henry '34 and Tommy Henry '37 February 11, 2026

James “Jim” Byrnes father of Creighton Byrnes (Buildings and Grounds) February 15, 2026

Nancy Schick joined St. Agnes in 1982 and retired after 24 years of service in June 2006. But even after retiring Nancy was a regular and sought after substitute teacher who returned several times to teach as a long-term substitute in both the Middle and Upper Schools.

Nancy was a beloved member of this community and extraordinary colleague, leaving a lasting impact on all those she met, mentored, and taught.

“In 1985, when I was a first-year teacher at St. Agnes, I was lucky enough to have Nancy Schick as my Saint,” remembered Upper School English Teacher Roberta Klein. “We bonded over our deep love of England and English literature. I found it a pleasure to teach alongside Nancy until her retirement. The soul of discretion and the source of excellent advice, Nancy helped mentor numerous faculty members besides me. She maintained the highest standards for her students, and she was such a genuinely good person that no one ever dared misbehave in her classes.”

In 1990, the editors of the “Lamb's Tale” dedicated the yearbook to her:

“Regardless of the event, maybe an unsuccessful pizza sale or a hard day at school, she made her presence known by an encouraging smile at a time when everything seemed to be going wrong… We learned more about how to be a good person [from her] than anywhere else.”

Upper School History Teacher Bud Garikes was the Upper School director when Nancy retired. “Nancy was a teacher's teacher,” Bud said. “Professional, creative, passionate about her subject and caring of her students. It was my practice as the director to give a book to a teacher when they retired and say a few words. With Nancy I shared this observation: “ All people that pursue knowledge, that cherish education sometime in their life had a great English teacher. A teacher that taught them the power of words. The inspiration of poetry. The universal truths revealed in a novel. Nancy was that teacher to generations of SSSAS students. “

Nancy Schick

400 Fontaine Street

Alexandria, Virginia 22302

If the addressee no longer lives at this address, please contact the school: 703-212-2720 or atoman@sssas.org