SPA Magazine Winter 2017

WINTER 2017

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The Magazine of St. Paul Academy and Summit School

TO PARENTS OF ALUMNI/AE: If this is no longer the current mailing address for your alumni/ae child, please let us know at alumni@spa.edu or 651-696-1318.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS March 2017 Middle School Musical: The Music Man Friday, March 3, 2017, 7 p.m.

Saturday, March 4, 2017, 4 p.m.

Huss Center for the Performing Arts, Randolph Campus

May 2017 Upper School Spring Musical: Guys and Dolls Friday and Saturday, May 19 and 20, 2017, 7 p.m.

Sunday, May 21, 2017, 4 p.m.

Huss Center for Performing Arts, Randolph Campus

April 2017 Upper School Vocal/Orchestral Concert & Community Chorale Saturday, April 29, 2017, 7 p.m.

Huss Center for the Performing Arts, Randolph Campus

Middle/Upper School Jazz Band Concert Sunday, April 30, 2017, 2 p.m.

Huss Center for Performing Arts, Randolph Campus

June 2017 Commencement for the Class of 2017 Sunday, June 11, 2017, 4 p.m.

North Lawn, Randolph Campus

The Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center Opening August 2018

>> LETTER FROM THE HEAD

Scott Streble

Concert photos by Greg Helgeson | Theatrical production photos by John Severson

“EMBRACING THE UNPREDICTABLE”

The Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center

Upper School Pops Concert December 2-3, 2017

In this issue of SPA Magazine, we are pleased to share the story of the Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center. This magnificent new wing for our Upper School, which will open in the fall of 2018, is made possible by a $15 million gift from Hugh Schilling ’43.

As you’ll read in our cover story, Mr. Schilling is a proud SPA graduate as well as a successful businessman, an entrepreneur, and an industry innovator in his own right.

EMBRACING THE UNPREDICTABLE

Mr. Schilling’s extraordinary gift—the largest single gift ever made to a Minnesota independent school—provides us with the resources to begin construction on the facility, which has a total cost of $24 million. His larger gift, however, may be one of inspiration: the encouragement to be as bold as possible as we envision the future of math and science education at SPA. The profile of Mr. Schilling on page 30 will help you understand the depth of his passion for math and science education at SPA, and why he himself has been such a revolutionary in his own career. For more than six decades, he has been an innovator in his industry, growing a small regional manufacturer into a global company doing business in more than 80 countries around the world. From the first time I met with him, he has encouraged me to embrace and welcome change, and I cannot express how grateful I am to have the opportunity to work with him on this new building, which will fundamentally change the Upper School student experience at SPA. The construction of the Schilling Center is the culmination of years of conversation about how we educate our students in these disciplines. Since 2014, we have completely redesigned our Upper School schedule, made significant changes to the Upper School science curriculum, and hired eight new faculty members in Upper School science, math, engineering, and computer science. These changes were very much by design: they came out of our constantly evolving understanding of how students learn best. They were also driven by the rapid pace of change in some academic disciplines, most notably science, and the absolute necessity of integrating those changes into our academic experience. Mr. Schilling’s gift is an expression of his confidence in the changes we have made and in the ability of our students to embrace our demanding and exciting culture of exploration and experimentation.

We cannot be complacent about engaging with the scientific, technological, and engineering innovation taking place around us every day. As our students enter college and the workforce, they will encounter countless manifestations of these changes—artificial intelligence, robotics, big data—and they will need a deep understanding of those mechanisms to be successful in their work and their daily lives. It is our responsibility to prepare them for that. The construction of the Schilling Center is a fundamental piece of that preparation, along with the extraordinary curriculum and faculty that we already have at SPA. With this remarkable new space and its state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories, and learning spaces, our students will have the opportunity for learning, experimenting, and thinking that will make them not just participants but leaders in this scientific and technological revolution. We owe them nothing less.

For more photos from SPA’s student performances, visit stpaulacademy. smugmug.com/performances

Middle School Fall Play: The Secret Garden October 28-29, 2017

I look forward to keeping our entire community apprised as the Schilling Center for Math and Science breaks ground in a few months. Thank you for your continued support of our school and the extraordinary learning and teaching that takes place here.

Bryn S. Roberts, Head of School www.s p a.e d u

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The Magazine of St. Paul Academy and Summit School

2016-2017 BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFFICERS Timothy A. Welsh, President Mrunalini Parvataneni, Secretary

Contents Winter 2017

Scot W. Malloy, Treasurer

COVER STORY, PAGE 22

MEMBERS Mark W. Addicks William M. Beadie ’58 John W. Cosgriff ’93 Litton E.S. Field, Jr. ’75 Elizabeth Driscoll Hlavka Anne Larsen Hooley Frederick C. Kaemmer ’88 David W. Kansas ’85 Allan Klein ’64 David Kristal Amanda Kay Liu Tim O’Brien ’77 Thomas H. Patterson ’57 The Honorable Wilhelmina M. Wright

Features 1 Letter from the Head 22

Let’s be friends.

Join us at facebook.com.

On the cover

“EMBRACING THE UNPREDICTABLE”:

The Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center

In September 2016, SPA announced a $15 million gift from Hugh K. Schilling ’43. The gift will help fund the construction of the Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center, a reflection of the transformative role of math, science, and technology at SPA.

30 ALUMNI PROFILE: Hugh K. Schilling ’43

An outstanding education, a lifetime of industrial innovation, and good luck at cards all played a hand in Hugh K. Schilling’s $15 million gift to SPA, the largest single contribution ever made to an independent school in Minnesota.

Departments 4 Through the Doors 12 Spartan Sports 32 Alumni/ae News 34 Philanthropy 36 Class Notes 46 In Memoriam

On the cover: A rendering of the Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center shows the exterior of the building, facing southwest from the corner of Randolph and Davern.

Head of School >> Bryn S. Roberts Editor >> Ami Berger

St. Paul Academy and Summit School 1712 Randolph Avenue St. Paul, MN 55105 651-696-1366 (phone) 651-696-1380 (fax) info@spa.edu www.spa.edu

Contributing Writers >> Laura Billings Coleman, Alex Loveland Principal Photographer >> Scott Streble Contributing Photographers >> Ami Berger, Rick Dahms, Greg Helgeson, Alex Loveland, Tom Lundholm, John Severson, David Wheaton Design and Layout >> Kimberlea Weeks, Sexton Printing

Follow us on twitter.com/ StPaulAcademySS

SPA Magazine is published twice annually by St. Paul Academy and Summit School for alumni/ae, parents, and friends of the school.

We welcome your comments and thoughts. Please contact us at spamag@spa.edu with suggestions for stories, news, and photos, or write us at SPA Magazine, 1712 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul, MN, 55105.

See what we are doing at youtube.com/user/ StPaulAcademy

Check out our photo galleries at stpaulacademy. smugmug.com

Read SPA Magazine online at spa.edu/ SPA_Magazine

>> THROUGH THE DOORS

SPA Publications Take Home Regional and National Awards from the MHSPA and CSPA SPA’s student publications earned multiple awards in two different competitions in the fall of 2016. At the Minnesota High School Press Association (MHSPA) Convention, held at the University of Minnesota in October, student journalists were awarded the top prize, All State Gold, for their work on The Rubicon, RubicOnline, and Aureus, the school’s brand-new long-form magazine.

In addition, the Art & Literature magazine was awarded an All State Silver, and the IBID yearbook took home an All State Bronze. Individual students also earned several MHSPA Individual Awards, including 8 Gold Medallions for design, 10 Gold Medallions for art/illustration, and 15 Gold Medallions for writing.

Also in October, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (a subsidiary of the

Columbia University School of Journalism) announced their Crown Award finalists for 2017; Crowns are selected for overall excellence in a head-to-head comparison of all member publications. For the third year in a row, The Rubicon/RubicOnline earned a finalist honor, one of only 56 hybrid publications from U.S. and American schools internationally.

Winners will be announced in March 2017.

“As I looked through the list of Crown Award finalists, I was struck by how many of our publication idols are now our peers,” says Kathryn Campbell, Director of Student Publications.

“Winning this award three years in a row demonstrates how consistently The Rubicon/RubicOnline staffs hold themselves accountable for strong ethics, high standards, and innovative reporting.”

Les Miserables Wins Outstanding Overall Production and Thirteen Other Awards from the Hennepin Theatre Trust’s Spotlight Program SPA’s production of Les Miserables, which performed to capacity crowds May 20-22, 2016, was the recipient of fourteen awards from the Hennepin Theatre Trust’s Spotlight Program, including Outstanding Overall Production.

Spotlight is an awards program for high school musical performances; throughout the school year, Spotlight evaluators attend participating high school’s musical performances and awards honors to selected productions, ensembles, and individuals. These culminate in a showcase at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Minneapolis in early June.

The Spotlight awards for Les Miserables included Outstanding Overall Production; Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role: Jack Romans ’16 ( Jean Valjean); Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role: Ned Laird-Raylor ’18 (Enjolras); Honorable Mention for Performance in a Leading Role: Taylor Rients ’16 (Eponine), Maggie Vlietstra ’16 (Cosette), and Claire Walsh ’16 (Fantine); Honorable Mention Ensemble Performance; Honorable Mention Vocal Performance by an Ensemble; Outstanding Overall Technical Team; Outstanding Technical Crew; Honorable Mention A/V Board; Technical Leadership

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Nomination: Lea Moore ’17; Evaluator Shout-Out: Justin Zanaska ’16 and Riley Wheaton ’16.

“This was the most musically and technically challenging show we have ever done at SPA,” says Les Miserables director and Upper School English teacher Eric Severson, “but every single member of the cast and crew rose to the challenge.

I couldn’t be more proud of the amazing work they did on Les Miserables, and am glad to see that work recognized in these Spotlight awards.”

Students Collaborate with Penumbra Theatre on Powerful Performance Piece About Race, Ethnicity, and Difference In May 2016, Common Ground, SPA’s student of color affinity group, collaborated with Minneapolis’ Penumbra Theatre to perform a series of monologues for the Upper School. The 11 students who participated in the performance come from a wide range of backgrounds, races, religions, and ethnicities.

Performers included Hana Martinez ’17, Kathryn Schmechel ’17, Drew Fawcett ’18, Cara Pomerantz ’17, Ellie Findell ’18, Eva Garcia ’18, Olivia Williams Ridge ’18, Meley Akpa ’17, Lutalo Jones ’17, Amina Smaller ’18, and Isabel Saavedra-Weis ’19.

The monologues were all based on the theme of code-switching, as each performer shared his or her experience feeling the need to change who they are to conform to their immediate environment.

SPA Diversity Dean Karen Dye says the group’s goal was to

inspire a greater sense of awareness. “The students monologues were reflections on how students who haven’t traditionally been included in a school community like SPA can feel. The hope was that it will encourage thoughtful reflection and conversation on how issues of race, difference, and belonging manifest themselves at SPA,” says Dye, who also notes that the monologue project grew out of the work Penumbra was already doing with students in the Middle School. “We initially thought the Common Ground project would be a way to connect our Upper School students to our eighth-graders as a mentoring project,” Dye says, “but once the Penumbra staff saw what the students were capable of, the performance aspect took off and has developed into a highly anticipated and well-received annual performance.”

Seven Members of the Class of 2017 Named National Merit Semifinalists Seven members of SPA’s Class of 2017 have been named National Merit Semifinalists. Pictured left to right are Heba Sandozi, Raffi Toghramadjian, Shefali Bijwadia, Diane Huang, Bailey Troth, Jack Indritz, and Mari Knudson. The seven Semifinalists represent 6% of this year’s senior class; nationally, less than 1% of high school seniors are awarded Semifinalist recognition. SPA consistently ranks among the top high schools in Minnesota for percent of class recognized in the National Merit competition.

The seven will now have the opportunity to advance to the Finalist level of the competition, which requires the submission of an application and essay, an outstanding academic record, endorsement by the high school principal, and SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the PSAT. www. spa.e du

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>> THROUGH THE DOORS

New Playground Greets Students for First Day of School at Goodrich Campus A highlight of the first day back to school on SPA’s Goodrich Campus was outside the classroom: another addition to the Lower School’s new playground. The newest play structure features multiple slides, a rock climbing wall, a wooden ladder rope bridge, and a highly anticipated “monkey bar” element.

The new addition is the second phase of a multiyear project to completely renovate the play space on the Goodrich Campus.

The first phase, which was installed for the start of school in 2015, included multiple play structures primarily aimed at younger children such as smaller slides, tunnels, rope ladders, a seated spinning wheel, and plenty of room for open play. This second phase includes taller and more complex structures for older children.

The process of building a new playground began in 2014, with Lower School Principal Holly Fidler leading the initiative.

Fidler met with students, parents, faculty, staff, and the Goodrich facilities team to identify priorities and possibilities for the new space throughout the year and in fall 2015, the Lower School community was introduced to the “Phase I” playground. Throughout the 2015-16 school year, Fidler continued to meet with the Lower School community to solidify the Phase II design and ensure its alignment with the Phase I pieces as well as the historic beauty of Goodrich Campus. Construction was completed over the summer.

Fidler is very pleased with the project’s outcome. “The new space continues to build on the natural environment and urban green space theme we began in Phase I,” says Fidler, who also notes the playground’s turf surface, which is “both aesthetically pleasing and an important safety feature.”

Twenty-eight SPA students (and five SPA faculty members) traveled to Cuba in June 2016. The trip was led by Upper School Spanish teacher (and Cuban native) Rolando Castellanos, and gave students the opportunity to practice their Spanish language skills and experience Cuban culture in the cities of Havana, Santa Clara, Camagüey, and Trinidad.

The trip was such a success that Castellanos will lead a second group to Cuba during spring break of 2017.

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Fidler also notes that the new playground is not the only new space at Goodrich this fall; three indoor spaces were also renovated or repurposed over the summer. The Lower School Makerspace has moved to a larger area in the Activity Room to allow for expanded curriculum and accessibility to homeroom and specialist classes. A new art space was created in the old Makerspace and is equipped for creative exploration for K-2 students. Finally, the former art room on the main floor has been converted into the new Center for Learning and Teaching space.

Sarah Davies and her staff will use this space to provide academic enrichment and support services to Lower School students.

SPA Welcomes Thirteen New Faculty Members in Fall 2016 Adrienne Baker is an Upper School English

teacher. She holds a BA in English Literature from UCLA, and is in the process of earning her MA in English Literature from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English.

Ms. Baker has spent the past two years teaching English at The Orme School in Arizona.

Meghan Bjork is an Upper School physics teacher with a BA in Physics from Gustavus Adolphus College and an MAT in Science Education from the University of Iowa.

Prior to joining SPA, she spent four years teaching physics at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta.

Lauren Bussey is an Upper School math teacher. Ms. Bussey has a BS in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame, and an MAT in Mathematics from the University of St. Thomas. She taught math at St. Thomas Academy from 2010-2013 and served as a math consultant for Anoka-Hennepin School District.

Peter Daniels is an Upper School Spanish

teacher and an alumnus of SPA. He holds a BA in Spanish Language and Literature from Puget Sound and a MS in Education from Johns Hopkins. He taught Spanish at Langley School in Virginia for five years prior to joining SPA and also taught for three years in Ecuador.

Sara Irwin teaches Grades 1 and 2 in the

Lower School. She holds a B.S. in Education, Natural Science, and English from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Prior to joining SPA, she taught third grade in Maplewood, Minnesota and first grade at a charter school in Milwaukee.

Kimberly Laun is a Middle School social

studies teacher. She earned her BA in Sociology and her M.Ed. in Social Studies Education from the University of Minnesota.

Kim taught Grade 8 Global Studies at Valley View Middle School in Bloomington for the four years prior to joining SPA. Kate Lockwood is SPA’s first Upper

School Director of Computer Science and Engineering. Prior to joining SPA, she was an Assistant Professor in Computer and Information Sciences at the University of St. Thomas. She holds a B.S.E. in Computer Engineering

and an M.S.I. in Information, both from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Northwestern University.

Stefanie Motta teaches Upper School photography

and holds a BFA in Photography from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and an MFA in Photography from the University of Minnesota. She has taught photography at the University of Minnesota, The Art Institutes Minnesota, the Minneapolis Photo Center, Minnesota Historical Society, and the Northern Clay Center.

Molly Olguin teaches Upper School English.

She earned her BA in English from Williams College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Ohio State, and she has been teaching creative writing and literature classes at Ohio State as a Distinguished University Fellow.

Nick Palombo is a Middle School science teacher.

He holds a BA in Physics and English Literature from Colorado College and a MA in Secondary Education from the University of Missouri, St. Louis. He taught in St. Louis in both the public schools and a charter school, and is also a Teach for America alumnus.

Tiffany Reedy is a Middle School language arts

and social studies teacher. She earned a BA from the University of Iowa in Political Science and Social Studies Education, and holds a MS in Education from Bank Street College of Education in New York. She taught history in grades 5-8 at Avenues: The World School in New York City, where she served as the Head of Grade for the 8th grade team.

Avion Sookdeo teaches art in the Lower School.

She holds a B.S. in Interior Design from the Art Institutes International Minnesota and a M.A. in Education from the University of Minnesota. She taught art Pre-K through 5 at Minnewashta Elementary School in Excelsior, MN, and has also taught in Trinidad, West Indies.

Cheryl Wilgren teaches Middle School art and

holds a BS in Film and Architecture, and an MFA in Experimental and Media Arts from the University of Minnesota. She has been an educator for more than ten years, teaching courses in Film/Video, Animation, Drawing, Painting, 2D Foundations, and Art History, among others.

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>> THROUGH THE DOORS

Lower, Middle, and Upper School Robotics Teams All Among Best in State Robotics teams in all three divisions earned local, regional, and state-level honors this winter.

In its first year, SPA’s Upper School Robotics team qualified for the State Tournament in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) competition. The brand-new team is a component of the Competition Robotics computer science course taught by Dr. Kate Lockwood, the Upper School’s Director of Computer Science and Engineering, and Meghan Bjork, Upper School science teacher. The course introduces students to robotics construction, design, and programming--all skills used in the process of developing the team’s robot for the FTC competition.

The Spartans earned their spot at State as part of the winning “alliance” (a cohort of three teams) at the qualifying tournament.

The students also won the “Think” award for their engineering notebook, which described the creative process the team followed in constructing their robot.

The Middle School Lego League team, the “Yellowjackets,” has also qualified for the First Lego League (FLL) State Tournament; this is the second year in a row that the Middle School team has qualified for State in the FLL. During the qualification competition, the team not only won the right to compete at State, but earned the “Best Project” award. “With the field of

The Lower School “Friendly Eagles” show off their Best Robot Performance award.

The Lower School Wonder League teams who tied for first place in Minnesota.

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The Upper School robotics team (above) competes successfully for a spot at the State Tournament of the FIRST Tech Challenge.

The Middle School Lego League team (right) also qualified for its State Tournament for the second year in a row.

600+ teams from across the state now whittled down to the top 10%, the competition at State will be tough,” says team coach and MS science teacher Nick Palombo, “but we know our robot is strong from our top finishes in the qualifying rounds.”

The Lower School also fielded a FLL team this year for the first time, and that team, the “Friendly Eagles” (pictured at left, above) also qualified for the State Tournament. The team, made up of Grade 4 and 5 students, also earned the “Best Robot Performance Award” at its qualifying tournament. Parent leaders Thekla and Craig Polley are serving as coaches and mentors to this year’s team. In addition to the FLL team, the Lower School also sponsored a Robotics Club which competed in the Wonder League—an online league in which clubs take on a robotics challenge and video the results. SPA fielded 8 Wonder League teams of two Lower Schoolers each; two of those teams (pictured at left, below) tied for first place in Minnesota in the national competition with perfect scores. Club advisor and Lower School Technology Coordinator Chelsie Jolley reports that more than 5000 teams from around the world participated in the competition.

Historic Season for Powerhouse Debate Team SPA’s debate team built on its own legacy in 2016-17 with an historic season, which included defending the team’s Public Form State Championship title from 2016. The team of Sarah Wheaton ’17 and Adnan Askari ’18 (pictured above left) was named State Champions for the second year in a row, marking the first time in 30 years of MSHSL competition that a team has earned back-to-back State Championships. In addition to the state title, SPA also won the Governor’s Cup for its overall performance and top finishes in the 12 regular season competitions. SPA students also earned five of the eight All-State selections, which went to Shefali Bijwadia ’17, Ben Konstan ’18, Raffi Toghramadjian ’17, Adnan Askari ’18, and Sarah Wheaton ’17.

of videos, which were also featured in a story on the MPR website. A recap of the students’ work in the studio was also featured on MPR’s broadcast during drive-time the morning after the debate.

Reaction to the students’ commentary from MPR listeners was overwhelmingly positive. “I love this. Please do this for all the debates,” one commenter posted on the MPR Facebook page.

“These young people are our future and do better analysis than cable TV.”

Also honored this season was coach Tom Fones, who earned a Fourth Diamond degree of membership in the National Speech & Debate Association’s Honor Society.

Coaches earn distinction in the national honorary by amassing points through team participation, student achievement, public service, and leadership work. A coach who attains 1,500 points is awarded a first diamond; a second diamond is awarded for 3,000 points, a third for 6,000 points, and so on. Fones received a Fourth Diamond degree this month, meaning in his 20+ years as a debate coach, he has earned over 10,000 points.

An additional highlight of the season came during the election cycle: Six senior SPA debaters were featured as debate analysts on Minnesota Public Radio’s broadcast of the first Presidential debate on Monday, September 26, 2016.

The six debaters are pictured above right with their coaches: (seated left to right) Henry Ziemer ’17, Coleman Thompson ’17, Sarah Wheaton ’17; (standing, left to right) coaches Tom Fones and Heather Fairbanks, Shefali Bijwadia ’17, Raffi Toghramadjian ’17, Noor Qureishy ’17. The students appeared in a series of videos on MPR’s Facebook page throughout the evening’s debate. The six were in the studio during the MPR broadcast, and were asked to share their thoughts at various times throughout the debate. Commenting in pairs, the students analyzed both candidates’ strategies, rhetorical styles, debate goals, and overall performances in a series www. spa.e du

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2016

PHOTOS BY SCOTT STREBLE

The soggy weather did not dampen the spirits of Spartan Nation on Homecoming 2016.

The day began with a squad of Upper School students—including the Spartan—visiting the Goodrich Campus to kick off Blue and Gold Day for the Lower Schoolers. On the

Randolph Campus, the day was also filled with blue and gold, and the Pep Fest in the afternoon was a high-energy affair which included the finals of the Ping Pong Tournament, the Captains’ Challenge, and a “find-the-marshmallow-in-a-dish-of-flour” eating contest.

The Homecoming Carnival went on despite the rain, as did the boys’ varsity soccer game against Wellstone International—which ended in a 3-0 victory for the Spartans.

Other featured Homecoming games included tennis, football, girls’ soccer, girls’ swimming and diving, volleyball, and cross country.

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>> SPARTAN SPORTS | SPRING 2016 SEASON RECAP

SOFTBALL SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: The Spartans saw individual and collective development throughout the season, finishing second in the conference with an 8-7 record.

TRACK AND FIELD SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: At the IMAC championships, six individuals or teams placed in the top three: Sena Hanson ’16 placed second in the 200; Emma Hills ’18 placed second in the 400; the 4x100 team of Lauren Hansen ’17, Stephanie Frisch ’18, Adelia Bergner ’19, and Sena Hanson placed second; the 4x400 team of Lexi Hilton ’16, Greta Sirek ’18, Adelia Bergner, and Emma Hills ’18 placed third; the 4x200 team of Peter Baker ’16, Spencer Evert ’17, Matt Jaeger ’17, and Dalante Peyton ’16 placed third; and Dalante Peyton placed second in the long jump. Dalante also placed second in long jump at the Section championships, qualifying for State.

ALL-CONFERENCE: Dalante Peyton ’16, Sena Hanson ’16, and Emma Hills ’18

ALL-CONFERENCE: Vanessa Miller ’16, Ella Hommeyer ’16, Sommer Skeps ’16, and Sarah Murad ’17

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION: Elena Youngdale ’16 and Justine Miller ’17

BASEBALL SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: Spartan baseball started the season with nine letter winners from 2015 and a deep bench.

Despite injuries, the team finished third in the IMAC with a 7-12 record and posted memorable wins over Blake, Providence Academy, St. Agnes, and New Life Academy.

ALL-CONFERENCE:

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION:

Weston Lombard ’17, Riley Bowman ’17, and Michael O’Shea ’16

Peter Baker ’16, Shaymus O’Brien ’17, Stephanie Frisch ’18, Greta Sirek ’18, Lauren Hansen ’17, and Hallie Sogin ’16

Will Kelly ’17 and Patrick Commers ’16

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION:

4AA ALL SECTION TEAM: Weston Lombard ’17, Ryan Kuntz ’18, and Riley Bowman ’17

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BOYS’ GOLF SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:

BOYS’ TENNIS SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: The boys’ tennis team advanced to the State Tournament and finished second. Five individual players also went to State: Noah Keogh ’17 in singles, and Duke Nguyen ’18/George Stiffman ’16 and Jeffrey Huang ’19/Rahul Dev ’18 in doubles.

ALL-CONFERENCE: George Stiffman ’16 and Noah Keogh ’17

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION: Duke Nguyen ’18 and Jeffrey Huang ’19

Boys’ golf finished second in the conference and sent three players to the State Tournament: Drew O’Hern ’17, who finished third overall; Colin O’Hern ’17, who finished ninth overall, and Tony Morice ’17, who finished 13th overall.

ALL-CONFERENCE: Drew O’Hern ’17 and Colin O’Hern ’17

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION: Tony Morice ’17

GIRLS’ GOLF SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: As a team, girls’ golf consistently shot better scores with every match they played. The Spartans sent two players to the second round of Sections: Lily Nestor and Emilia Hoppe.

GIRLS’ LACROSSE SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: The United cooperative team between SPA and Visitation School recorded big wins over Rosemount and the Academy of Holy Angels and finished the season 9-4.

The team was seeded #3 in section play and lost a close 11-10 match to Eagan in the semifinals.

ALL-CONFERENCE: Bridget Hoffmann ’16 and Claire Ristau ’16

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION: Hayley Hoffmann ’18 and Ella Matticks ’17

BOYS’ LACROSSE SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: For the second year, SPA partnered with Concordia Academy, DeLaSalle, Minnehaha, St. Agnes, and St. Croix Lutheran for boys’ lacrosse. Injuries were a part of the team’s winless season, but the boys continued to develop their program and grow as a team.

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>> SPARTAN SPORTS | FALL 2016 SEASON RECAP

CROSS COUNTRY SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: Both the boys’ and girls’ teams competed well, pushing themselves to their highest capabilities in every practice and race. The highlight of the season was Drew O’Hern ’17 finishing ninth in the Section 4A meet and qualifying for the Class A State Championship Meet.

ALL-CONFERENCE: Drew O’Hern ’17

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION:

BOYS’ SOCCER

Emma Hills ’18, Maddy Breton ’20, and Greta Sirek ’18

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: Spartan boys’ soccer posted wins in 8 of their first 10 games, finishing the regular season 13-2. They continued their dominance in the postseason, earning the #1 seed in Sections and winning the first two rounds of playoffs, but losing a close match to Holy Angels in Section Semifinals.

ALL-CONFERENCE: Eric Lagos ’19, Eli Goldman ’18, and Ethan Maione ’17

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION: Robin Bartlett ’18, Sam Petronio ’17, and Mason Kinkead ’17

FOOTBALL SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: After another dominating 8-0 regular season, the SMB Wolfpack football team, a cooperative with Minnehaha Academy and Blake, was seeded #2 in section playoffs and earned a bye in the first found. The team advanced to Section Finals for the first time in program history before losing to the powerhouse Mahtomedi team.

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GIRLS’ SWIMMING AND DIVING SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: The Sparks, a cooperative team with Highland Park, took home the St. Paul City Conference Championship and competed in the Twin City Meet for the first time in six years. In the postseason, Abby Lanz ’19 represented the Sparks in the State Diving Meet for the second year in a row.

ALL-CONFERENCE: Mina Mandic ’21, Lauren Dieperink ’20, and Abby Lanz ’19

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION: Jasmine White ’21

VOLLEYBALL SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: The Spartans finished the season 12-19 and second in the conference (6-4) with big wins over Blake, Providence Academy, and Breck. In section play, the Spartans advanced to the second round over St. Paul Johnson before ending the year in a hard-fought loss to Hill Murray.

ALL-CONFERENCE: Blythe Rients ’19 and Kathleen Bishop ’20

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION: Sophia Rose ’18 and Emily Dieperink ’17

IMAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Blythe Rients ’19

GIRLS’ SOCCER SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: In a historic season for girls’ soccer, the Spartans went 11-2-3 and finished undefeated in conference play, winning the Section 3A tournament to qualify for the Sate Tournament. The team, which began the season unranked, finished the year #4 in Class A.

GIRLS’ TENNIS

ALL-STATE:

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION:

Lauren Hansen ’17, Kate Bond ’17

Diane Huang ’17, Oona Prozinski ’17, Amodhya Samarakoon ’17, and Shefali Bijwadia ’17

ALL-CONFERENCE:

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: Girls’ tennis posted a 4-11 season in one of the toughest conferences and sections in Class A. The team had a great year growing individually and as a team and took great pride in earning two academic awards for student-athletes.

Lauren Hansen ’17, Kate Bond ’17, Maria Perkkio ’17, Hayley Hoffmann ’18, and Kelly Fiedler ’18

TEAM HONOR:

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION:

Diane Huang ’17, Shefali Bijwadia ’17, and Shelby Tietel ’17

Gold Academic Award

ACADEMIC ALL-STATE:

Dina Moradian ’18 and Emily Carter ’18

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>> SPARTAN SPORTS

FUSION FOOTBALL TAKES MIDDLE SCHOOL BY STORM This fall’s introduction of “Fusion Football” for Middle Schoolers in the Independent Metro Athletic Conference (IMAC) has given SPA students in Grades 7-8 a new option for playing football. The IMAC Fusion league was initially created last spring by five Independent Metro Athletic Conference schools; that number grew to eight schools by the time the season started in the fall.

Fusion is a blend of flag football and tackle football that limits repeated contact while teaching participants the rules and flows of the tackle game. Players wear helmets and shoulder pads in addition to a speciallydesigned harness system called TackleBars, which uses neoprene-like bars velcroed to harnesses. There are two bars in back and one in front, and the ball carrier is ruled down whenever a bar is ripped off the harness.

The system allows a coach to emphasize the proper techniques for blocking and tackling without drills involving hard hitting.

For Middle School Athletic Director Jay Schutte, this was the most important element of the Fusion team: “It was clear to us [in the IMAC] that our Middle School kids loved playing football—it’s all they want to do at recess—but when it came time to come out for the teams, very few would sign up to play because of the fear of injury,” says Schutte, who worked with his IMAC counterparts to implement the Fusion league for Grades 7 and 8. The group also knew that flag football—which SPA still offers to students in Grades 5 and 6—wouldn’t cut it for the older Middle Schoolers. “That’s the great thing about Fusion,” says Schutte.

“The older kids can work on their skills and technique without worrying about being outsized or injured.”

Twelve SPA students played Fusion during the 2016 season (up from the two or three in Grades 7 and 8 that came out the year before) and Schutte is confident that the sport will attract even more players in the future. “Our kids just loved it,” Schutte says of the 2016 team, “and we love that we’re offering our students the chance to play a great sport in a safer environment.”

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NEW DANCE AND GYMNASTICS COOPS ADDED TO WINTER SEASON The 2016-17 winter athletic season will feature two new cooperative teams: a cooperative dance team with Minnehaha Academy; and a cooperative gymnastics team with Cretin-Derham Hall (CDH).

Upper School Athletic Director Andrea Schmidt is pleased at the development of these new partnerships. She reports that the dance team has seen an increase in both participation and enthusiasm from its members since the cooperative team started in the late fall. SPA’s gymnasts are also excited about the opportunity to compete for their school: “SPA has been thinking about a gymnastics team for a few years now, since we have a good number of girls who are competing at the club level, often from Kindergarten on, ” Schmidt says. “So when CDH approached us about a partnership, that was a perfect opportunity to offer our girls a competitive team at the high-school level.”

SPARTAN FACES IN THE CROWD DEPARTMENT OF ATHLETICS WELCOMES TWO NEW STAFF The Department of Athletics welcomed two new staff members in the fall of 2016. Andrea Schmidt joined the team as Upper School Athletic Director following the retirement of Mike Brown in the spring of 2016.

Andrea works closely with Director of Athletics Dawn Wickstrum and Middle School Athletic Director Jay Schutte, overseeing all aspects of the Upper School athletic program, including supervising coaches, and developing and supporting students, and contributing to the overall management of the department. A Twin Cities native and member of the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s Class of 2004, Andrea most recently served as the Assistant Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Prior to her tenure at UAF, Andrea spent five years as a high school Physical Education and Health teacher in Alaska and at South Minneapolis High School.

She taught grades 9-12 and also coached championship teams in both gymnastics and softball. She holds a bachelors’ degree in Community Health Education with a Coaching minor from UMD, a masters’ in School Counseling from Capella University, and a MBA from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

Julie Friend joined the department in June 2016 and serves as the Athletic Administrative Assistant. Julie holds Bachelor of Science degrees (Sports Management and Broadcast Journalism) from St. Cloud State University, where she played on the school’s Division I hockey team. She has played professional hockey in Salzburg, Austria, and serves as the goalie coach for the St. Paul United girls’ hockey team in addition to her administrative role.

LAUREN HANSEN ’17 AND KATE BOND ’17: SOCCER The partnership of Lauren Hansen and Kate Bond was a critical piece of the girls’ varsity soccer team’s exceptional season and run to the State Tournament in the postseason.

Both girls were among the State’s top players: Kate ended the season at #8 in the state in goals (22) and Lauren came in at #9 in the state for assists (12).

Both girls earned All State honors.

DREW O’HERN ’17: GOLF In 2016, Drew O’Hern qualified for the State tournament for the fifth time in his SPA golf career, having played on SPA’s varsity team since Grade 7.

He finished third in Minnesota in State, shooting a 147 and improving on his 2015 State finish in 43rd place by 10 strokes.

Drew is a three-sport athlete who also competes at the State level in fencing and cross country.

GEORGE STIFFMAN ’16 AND DUKE NGUYEN ’18: TENNIS The first doubles team of George Stiffman ’16 and Duke Nguyen ’18 was instrumental in the the boys’ varsity tennis team’s Section 4A championship win against Minnehaha Academy. Stiffman and Nguyen secured the team’s section victory with the fourth win in their third set against Minnehaha, sending the team to the State Tournament for the first time since 2008.

MINA MANDIC ’21: SWIMMING

SPA’s Grade 6 boys’ soccer team was crowned their conference’s champion on October 28, 2016. After posting a 8-1 record in the regular season, the team powered through the postseason and won the championship game 2-0 against St. Joseph’s.

As an eighth-grader, Mina Mandic is already posting impressive results on the SPARKS girls’ swim team.

She was named All Conference and was also voted “Swimmer of the Year” by her SPARKS teammates.

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Graduation Photos | Greg Helgeson

CLASS OF 2016:

COMMENCEMENT The 96 members of the Class of 2016 became the school’s newest alumni/ ae at SPA’s 116th Commencement on Sunday, June 12, 2016. Highlights of the ceremony were remarks by Senior Class Speakers Boraan Abdulkarim ’16 and Jack Romans ’16, and the Honorable Wilhelmina Wright, U.S. District Judge, who served as Commencement Speaker.

Chloe Wilkins received the 2016 Erik Flom Memorial Award, given to that member of the senior class who has demonstrated unusual courage in the face of personal hardship or, in the opinion of his or her peers, has made an exceptionally meaningful contribution to the relief of anguish in other persons either within or outside the school.

Anna Biggs received the 2016 Faculty Bowl, awarded to that senior who has shown unusual breadth and depth of intellectual interest and outstanding commitment to academic excellence.

Boraan Abdulkarim (above) and Jack Romans (below) were selected by their classmates to be this year’s Senior Class Speakers.

Boraan Abdulkarim received the 2016 Alumni/ae Bowl, which is presented to an individual elected by the faculty from nominations made by the senior class. It is given each year to that member of the class deemed to be most outstanding in many areas of school life.

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The Honorable Wilhelmina Wright addresses the Class of 2016 as Commencement speaker.

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Dalante Peyton (left) and Lucas Johnson were the recipients of the 2016 Head of School Bowls, awarded to those members of the senior class who have been recognized by their peers and teachers for significant contributions to the school.

Anne Klus directs the Summit Singers and Academy Chorale during the Commencement ceremony.

Elena Youngdale (left) and Vanessa Miller during the Processional.

Angel Smaller (center) celebrates Commencement with his family, including mother and SPA graduate Martine Smaller ’92 (second from left).

Blaire Bemel

Max Chen

Miriam Tibbetts

Rachel Hotvedt, Dhara Singh, and Minnie Arnold (left to right) and diplomas.

Alex Qin (center left) and George Stiffman (center right) with their families.

Cullen McCabe

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CLASS OF 2016 COLLEGE CHOICES

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Greg Helgeson

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In September 2016, SPA announced the largest single philanthropic donation ever received by the school or by any independent school in Minnesota: a $15 million gift from Hugh K. Schilling ’43.

The gift will help fund the construction of the Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center, a reflection of the transformative role of math, science, and technology at SPA.

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“EMBRACING THE UNPREDICTABLE”

The Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center

BY LAURA BILLINGS COLEMAN | PHOTOS BY SCOTT STREBLE | RENDERINGS COURTESY OF HGA

An interior view of the first floor of the Schilling Center, looking east towards Davern through the passageway from Old Main.

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SPA’s Class of 2017 began kindergarten in 2004, the same year that a group of students at Harvard launched a website they called “the Facebook,”— now, the world’s most popular social media platform. A few years later, smart phones hit the market, putting powerful handheld computers into the pockets of half of the world’s population in less time than it took those seniors to move from multiplication tables to algebra. As the Class of 2017 now looks forward to their final months at SPA, the driverless concept cars that seemed like science-fiction fantasy in the early 2000s are expected to be rolling into full production by the time they graduate from college.

“We’re experiencing nothing short of a technological and scientific revolution,” says Head of School Bryn Roberts, who calls this era “the age of acceleration”: “The speed with which innovation is now taking place sometimes seems abstract, but for those of us in education, that acceleration is the timetable by which we must gauge our evolution as a school.”

Roberts notes that when today’s high school students were born, the cost of mapping a single human genome was $95 million—a technological price tag that’s fallen to $1,000 in less than two decades. “What that means for schools like SPA is that experiences that used to be reserved for graduate school or very advanced fields of scientific study can now be introduced to students who are in Upper or even Middle School,” says Roberts. “Our math and science curricula at SPA have always encouraged students to think and work like scientists, but with the acceleration of technology and scientific discovery, the demands are very different now,” Roberts says. “In the future, we need to provide the facilities to support that demand.”

That vision for the future is the driving force behind the Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center, the nearly 40,000 square foot math and science wing that will be built on the northeast corner of SPA’s Randolph Campus.

The new facility is primarily funded by a $15 million gift to SPA from Hugh K. Schilling ’43, which was announced in September 2016. Designed

by HGA Architects and Engineers, the award-winning architectural firm that also designed the Huss Center for the Performing Arts, the Schilling Center will be built along Davern Street and connected to Old Main through a stunning two-story glass passageway. It will house SPA’s Upper School math, science, computer science, and engineering courses in expansive and flexible spaces that will accommodate laboratory work, collaborative learning, design thinking projects, and independent study.

Most important to Roberts is that the Schilling Center will give SPA room to grow and adapt to technological innovations that aren’t even on the horizon. “This ability to evolve with technology is the most important element of the new space,” says Roberts. “Take computing as just one example: we’ve moved from desktops to laptops to tablets more powerful than anything anyone could have imagined twenty years ago,” he notes.

“Our challenge with this project is not just supporting what our students and teachers are working on now, but what they will be working on fifteen, twenty, or thirty years down the road.” In that unknown future, Roberts says, technology “will help to solve problems we don’t even know

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about yet, with new instruments yet to be invented.

This wing will give us the space SPA needs to adapt and change to accommodate that future. The promise of the Schilling Center is not just what we’ll do today—it’s what it will make possible tomorrow.”

The construction of the Schilling Center will set in motion a complete interior renovation of Old Main, the original St. Paul Academy building built in 1916 and its 1970s-era additions. Once the Schilling Center is complete, SPA plans to completely renovate the rest of the Upper School, with an emphasis on humanities classrooms and learning spaces. But the school knew that the construction of the Schilling Center needed to come first, says Timothy Welsh, President of SPA’s Board of Trustees, and a parent of three current SPA students.

“We’re in an educational world where math and science, which have always been critical, are only going to become more front and center,” Welsh says. “The ability to analyze, sort through, and solve problems with the wealth of information that students now have available to them is an incredibly important set of intellectual capabilities that will be required in the future. I believe that the math and science training our students will be able to build on here, combined with the extraordinary liberal arts education they also receive at SPA, will allow our students to be the leaders that all of us want them to be in the decades ahead.”

The exterior of the Schilling Center, facing southwest from the corner of Randolph and Davern.

FLEXIBLE SPACES FOR “WHAT COMES NEXT” Imagining a new math and science facility for SPA has been a process years in the making—one that Roberts says started before he even was installed as Head at SPA in 2006. During Roberts’ first meeting with Hugh K. Schilling, which took place after he had accepted the job but before his tenure officially began, Schilling asked him what he would be doing to bring SPA’s math and science curriculum into the 21st century—a story Schilling shared with students during the assembly at which his gift was announced in September [read more about Hugh Schilling in our profile on page 30—Ed.].

For Roberts, that initial conversation was the beginning of a years-long process of preparing the groundwork for not just a new building, but a new approach to the Upper School experience at SPA. New faculty, the new block schedule, and fundamental shifts in the curriculum— including more science electives and independent research opportunities—were all necessary pieces to have in place well before the idea of building anything was on the table.

“This is about so much more than a building—it’s really about the curriculum, the teachers, and the students,” says Roberts, who asked the Upper School math and science faculty to start visiting state-of-the-art labs and learning centers and creating a wish list of features they’d want to see in future classrooms at the same time he was

talking with Schilling about funding a new facility.

“The faculty have played a fundamental role in shaping the designing of the Schilling Center.” Roberts says.

“We wanted to empower our faculty and have them assume intellectual and personal responsibility for what a new space might encompass. They’re the most knowledgeable, they know what our strengths and weaknesses are, and where we need to evolve and grow.”

Karissa Baker, who chairs the Department of Science, helped guide the process of gathering her faculty’s feedback about what shape the new facility might take.

Baker says the science faculty knew they needed larger classrooms with flexible areas for collaborative work and quiet study. Yet with technological advances that have made everything from robots to 3-D printers easily accessible, science teachers could also see SPA would need flexible spaces for what comes next. “That’s one of the reasons we started thinking about having these open-ended maker space labs in the Schilling Center, because we may someday need to accommodate equipment that’s not even on the market yet,” Baker says.

The finished design of the new building will create 14,000 square feet of additional space for math and science programs, including the addition of four flexible study spaces, five new hybrid labs, six project rooms for student-led small-group collaboration, seven small study rooms, and a grow room for plant specimens. The new learning suites—which will include both laboratory and

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classroom space—will provide 40 percent more room for hands-on, experiential work. “Creating space for collaborative groups and problem-solving was really on the forefront of our thinking,” says Upper School Principal Chris Hughes. “That’s really become an emphasis in industry and business, and we now have a slate of new electives that will be immeasurably better-served in these new classroom spaces.”

SPA’s mathematics department was also asked to provide ideas about what a new math space might entail, with an eye towards preserving the elements of SPA’s math culture that students and faculty value.

As an example, Math Department chair Bill Boulger points to the “math area”—a common study space where students often gather to get help from both teachers and peers—as a feature worth replicating in a new space. “That common math area is something that already works well, so we wanted to build on that,” says Boulger. “But we also knew we needed larger classrooms that will give teachers more flexibility” to work quietly in one-on-one sessions, or to regroup students for more collaborative study.

In the new addition, SPA’s math department will gain two new classrooms, and more than double its total footprint.

Embracing the Unpredictable: Laura Goetz ’14 Laura Goetz graduated from SPA in 2014 and is now studying marine biology at Northeastern University in Boston. From May to November 2016, Laura lived and worked at Palmer Station, Antarctica, doing a research co-op with Professor William Detrich from Northeastern, whose work takes a comparative approach to adaptational evolutionary biology.

During Laura’s research co-op, she worked with Professor Detrich on laboratory experiments with the Antarctic icefish, looking at the impact of water temperature on fish development.

Laura in the lab at Palmer Station, Antarctica

Now back at Northeastern, Laura spoke with SPA Magazine about her experience in Antarctica, and how SPA prepared her for the rigorous science she’s now performing in college.

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Another view of the passageway between max size of photo Old Main and the Schilling Center, with the school’s main entrance off Davern to the left.

SPA Magazine: Describe your work in Antarctica with Professor Detrich.

Laura Goetz: The main project focused on raising icefish embryos, as part of Professor Detrich’s overall research on this specific family of notothenioids—the suborder that Antarctic icefish belong to. They are white-blooded fish, meaning that they have adapted to not having hemoglobin in their blood.

They survive by a variety of adaptations coupled with the high oxygen content of the Southern Ocean waters. We raised the embryos in different temperatures and also raised a somewhat closely-related species with red blood (from a different family of icefish) to see differences in development based on water temperature. Other projects used in situ hybridization to analyze their development and typical dissections of adult fish to collect samples for other laboratory projects.

SM: Has science always been your academic passion?

LG: Not at all! Before my junior year biology class at SPA, I always envisioned myself pursuing a career in the arts.

But Mr. Nelson [Larry Nelson, who taught science in the Upper School until retiring in 2012—Ed.] really inspired a passion for biology in me that has stayed with me ever since.

The way he organized the class really helped me figure out how to best absorb scientific data, and he really encouraged me to feel good about my abilities in science—something I was always unsure about.

I started at SPA in Kindergarten, and there are so many teachers who had an impact on me, even when I was small.

I remember my Lower School science teacher, Mr. Rongstad, or not only making science exciting and fun, but for encouraging all of us to try. I will never forget the legendary game during assemblies called “Will It Float?”

This was essentially Mr. Rongstad on stage with a giant tub of water and a bunch of random objects, and he would sing a song that basically went, “will it float, will it float, will it float?” He would ask the audience if we thought the object would float or sink, then he would throw it into the water and we’d all cheer. To this day, the “will it float” song pops into my head when I’m washing beakers in the lab.

SM: Aside from the “will it float” song, are there any particular experiences at SPA that informed your pursuit of science in college?

LG: I loved my senior-year Advanced Science Research course at SPA. It really helped me see if conducting research was what I actually wanted to do. It was a lot of work: I had to develop a research question on my own, and figure out the best way to conduct research to answer my question. My teacher was Ms. Baker [Karissa Baker, Chair of SPA’s Science Department—Ed.] and she was always so encouraging and knowledgeable, and she treated bumps along the road as learning experiences and not “mistakes.” It was a great course, and a great environment in which to learn that you don’t make huge findings every day during scientific research, and the findings you do make can lead you to unexpected conclusions. u

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COMPUTER SCIENCE: “THE NEW LITERACY” The Schilling Center will open to students at the start of the 2018-19 school year—not a moment too soon for Dr. Kate Lockwood, who arrived at SPA over the summer of 2016 to take on the new role of Director of Computer Science and Engineering for the Upper School. Lockwood’s work over the summer included developing three new courses for the fall focusing on technology, robotics, and engineering. “Coding and computational skills are becoming ‘the new literacy,’” says Lockwood. “Technology is woven into nearly everything we do, every day, so learning this language and understanding how to apply these tools creatively to solve problems is a huge benefit to students in nearly any discipline.”

With a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Northwestern University, Lockwood began her academic career as an assistant professor in California’s university system, and more recently at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. But her new role working with SPA’s Upper School mirrors a growing trend in educational thinking, as experts from the late Steve Jobs to the National Science Foundation advocate for computer science to be viewed as a new liberal art,

Dr. Kate Lockwood’s computer science classroom doubles as a robotics lab for the school’s new Competition Robotics team.

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a discipline that students should begin to master long before they reach college.

“Being able to break problems down into small parts, iterative problem-solving, and testing solutions to see if they work are all computer science skills that are broadly applicable in a lot of disciplines,” Lockwood says. “That’s why you’re starting to see a big push in education toward introducing these opportunities to students much earlier in their academic careers.”

SPA students have been quick to embrace the new offerings, filling up all four sections of Lockwood’s Introduction to Computer Science course. She’s also teaching a section of Computer Science Principles and a Robotics course, the latter of which serves as training ground for SPA’s new Competition Robotics team, which began competing in fall 2016 and took fifth in the Minnesota State Robotics Competition in its debut year.

“BUILDING FUTURES,” ONE PHASE AT A TIME The Schilling Center marks the second phase of SPA’s “Building Futures” campaign, a transformational capital improvement effort that began with the Huss Center for the Performing Arts, unveiled in the fall of 2015. Hughes says that watching how students have made themselves at home in the Huss Center has

Laboratory space in the Schilling Center will be large, flexible, naturally-lit, and connected to study spaces and common areas.

HELP US BUILD OUR FUTURE offered some useful lessons that have already helped shape the design of the Schilling Center. “We know we need lots of undefined spaces where students can spill out of classrooms and work on small projects, or just hang out,” he says. “Our students now have more down time in their class schedule, so we’ve had to consistently keep adding furniture to these areas because there’s so much demand for it.”

The Huss Center has also demonstrated the value of creating inspiring spaces for learning and gathering as a community. “We’ve seen that there’s something about sitting in that auditorium that asks you to raise the bar even higher, and that’s a very clear message that students, faculty and the community all respond to when we create a beautiful shared space,” Hughes says. “Your aspirations for what should go on in this space actually rises. Like the Huss Center, this will be a building that says very clearly, this is a place where academics and the life of the mind is taken very seriously.”

Hughes has worked closely with the teams from HGA and McGough Construction (the construction company that also built the Huss Center) to create a construction timeline that aligns with SPA’s academic calendar and will disrupt life at school the least. The east wing addition, which currently houses Upper School World Language and History classes, will be demolished over spring break of 2017, and 12,000 square feet of portable classrooms will provide comfortable classroom space for those classes that will be temporarily displaced by the construction.

To contribute to the construction of the Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center, please contact Dorothy Goldie, Director of Institutional Advancement, at dgoldie@spa.edu or 651-696-1422.

“This is going to be an astounding building, but I really do hope that the message students also get from this effort is the extraordinary kindness and generosity of Mr. Schilling, and that they see him as a role model who cares about their community,” says Welsh. Schilling’s gift—the largest private contribution ever made to an independent school in Minnesota—also demonstrates a growing confidence in SPA’s capacity to take on transformative projects.

“Before the Huss Center, I’m not sure people were so sure something this aspirational could be achieved,” Welsh says. “Now that we’ve done it, and it’s so beautiful and is such a benefit to the school, it proves that we can succeed at creating something even bigger.”

Roberts says he believes the same lessons about boldness, innovation, and risk-taking will soon play out in the classrooms of the new Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center. “When students leave SPA, we want them to embrace the technological and scientific challenges that are right on the horizon,” he says. “When they leave here, we want them to be able to embrace the unpredictable.” u

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Embracing the Unpredictable:

Hugh K. Schilling ’43

Hugh Schilling addressed the Upper School on September 13, 2016, when his $15 million gift was announced to the SPA community.

During his remarks, he referenced his own iPhone as an example of the need for continued innovation in math, science, engineering, and technology. After his talk, students and faculty lined up to shake Mr. Schilling’s hand and thank him for his gift (pictured left).

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“How are you planning to bring St. Paul Academy and Summit School into the 21st century and the technology age?”

That was the question Hugh K. Schilling, class of ’43, put to Bryn Roberts when the pair met for the first time. It was 2006, and Roberts had embarked on a listening tour with St. Paul Academy and Summit School’s alumni/ae prior to beginning his new role as Head of School. It was a question not easily answered, and one the two have returned to in frequent conversations during Roberts’ tenure as Head. And last spring, Roberts presented him with the answer: A hard-bound prospectus of the Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center, the nearly 40,000 square-foot wing designed especially for SPA’s rapidly evolving Upper School programs in science, math, computer science, and engineering.

“It was a little pricier than we expected,” Schilling says about the $15 million Math and Science Center that will soon bear his name. “But we’re awfully glad to be able to do it.”

a

game broke up and you played the next payday,” he recalls.

“I was fortunate at poker, and every pay day, I’d send about 80 percent of my winnings home in a money order.”

By 1951, newly married, and with a baby on the way, Schilling turned down a job transfer with a large company in Chicago, and decided it was time “to be my own boss,” persuading two partners to help him purchase Horton, Inc., a clutch manufacturing firm with a customer list and a few active patents that was about to be liquidated. “I didn’t know a slipping clutch from a hole in the wall, but when you’ve got your last buck in it, you start learning,” he says. By listening closely to the business needs of Horton’s manufacturing customers, the company began generating new problemsolving technology, including fan clutches for diesel engines.

The energy-saving design put the company on the rise during the energy crisis of the 1970s, An outstanding education, becoming standard equipment by the 1980s. Today, the familylifetime of industrial innovation, owned, professionally-managed firm has three plants—two in and good luck at cards the U.S. and one in Germany— all played a hand in with a line of manufacturing and cooling products that are Hugh K. Schilling’s sold in more than 80 countries.

Schilling’s gift is the largest individual donation ever made to one of Minnesota’s independent $15 million gift to SPA, schools, and the latest in a long That willingness to change, history of philanthropic the largest private contribution evolve, and adapt to new commitments Hugh and his wife problems is a source of pride ever made to one of Peggy, who graduated from the for Schilling, who wants the Summit School in 1943 and Minnesota’s independent schools. teaching and learning in the passed away in early February Schilling Center to follow that 2017, have made to benefit their same model. “The business hometown of St. Paul. Long-time today is nothing like what we started in,” says Schilling, who supporters of Junior Achievement, Presbyterian Homes, and cultural institutions like the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, prides himself on being a technological “early adopter”: he the couple provided the funding for the new Schilling delights in showing off the Apple watch on his wrist and the Amphitheater at the Minnesota State Fair’s recently renovated iPhone in his pocket, both of which regulate and amplify his west end. The couple also funded the Schilling Family Plaza, hearing aid. “This is the twenty-first century. And the rate of the native plant landscape garden that frames the entrance of change is only going to pick up.” the Huss Center for the Performing Arts at SPA. Bryn Roberts says that making sure SPA’s students are ready The Hugh K. Schilling Center for Math and Science is a legacy for what comes next has been a life-long passion for Schilling, Schilling leaves to SPA for two reasons: an appreciation for the who funded a math department chairmanship in honor of his education he received at St. Paul Academy, and a desire to late brother Paul, class of ’41, and co-chaired a capital launch the next generation of technological innovators in the campaign that helped merge St. Paul Academy with the region. “I got a great education, no question,” he says, “and you Summit School in the 1970s. “He believes that you, those of want to do what you can to make sure this next generation you sitting in this auditorium, are the keys to a better future,” graduates and goes on to college with the kinds of experiences Roberts told SPA students gathered for the September 2016 that will be relevant in the real world.” assembly announcing the $15 million gift. “In funding this building, and the programs designed by our faculty, he’s Schilling himself graduated from SPA at the height of World demonstrating enormous confidence in you—faith in your War II, joining the U.S. Air Force and serving on a B29 bomber ability, faith in your power to innovate, and faith in your squadron based out of Saipan. “When we weren’t flying, imagination. u we played poker until somebody had all the money and the

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>> ALUMNI/AE NEWS

ALUMNI/AE

COUNCIL CORNER Hilary LeBon ’91 Alumni/ae Council President hilary@hilarylebon.com

Having begun my tenure as Council President in August 2016, I first want to extend a huge thank you to Lauren Nuffort ’02, who served the Council as President from 2012-2016. I’ve been shadowing Lauren in her Council duties for the last year, and a big part of our ongoing success is her leadership, hard work, and organization.

The Alumni/ae Council is currently made up of 17 members (listed at right) ranging from the classes of 1968 to 2010.

Each member serves on one of our three committees: Fundraising, Events, and Volunteerism. No matter which area of focus, the entire Council is continually working on connecting and engaging our peers in meaningful ways with each other and SPA. Perhaps you want to reconnect with alumni/ ae and the school in a new way too?

If so, consider: • Attending an SPA sporting event, play, or debate; • Spending an hour with a student doing a Student-Alumni/ae practice college interview; • Joining us at the February Alumni/ ae Council Speaker Series event in the Huss Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, February 21, 2017 featuring Sean Flahaven ’91; • Hosting a student in your workplace for a Senior Project next spring; • Volunteering to be a Class Agent; • Saving the date for Reunion 2017: September 8-10, 2017.

Watch the SPA Alumni Facebook page for alumni/ae events, updates, and opportunities.

You can also reach out to Jen Jung Lucas, Director of Alumni/ae Programs, at jlucas@spa.edu or 651-696-1302 to volunteer or to learn more about reconnecting with friends and the school.

And please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the Alumni/ae Council or alumni/ae events.

I’m looking forward to working with many of you as President of your Alumni/ae Council.

2016-2017 COUNCIL MEMBERS Hilary LeBon ’91 President David Salchow ’88 Fundraising Chair Craig Smith ’87 Volunteerism Chair Meaghan Moriarty ’99 Events Chair Joe Benson ’68 Jonathan Brenner ’92 Dan Citron ’89 Sarah Crandall ’02 Lindsay Giese ’05 Mercedes Henderson Clark ’88 Bryce Holstad ’10 Devon Holstad ’07 Steve London ’91 Alex Nemeth ’95 Lauren Nuffort ’02 Pierce Norton ’08

ALUMNI/AE EVENT CALENDAR April 2017

May 2017

Alumni/ae Day of Giving Thursday, April 27, 2017

Sponsored by the Alumni/ae Council Visit www.spa.edu > Alumni/ae for details

Vocal/Orchestral Concert & Community Chorale Saturday, April 29, 2017, 7 p.m.

Huss Center for Performing Arts, Randolph Campus All alumni/ae are invited to participate and attend!

Contact aklus@spa.edu for details.

Middle/Upper School Jazz Band Concert Sunday, April 30, 2017, 2 p.m.

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Upper School Spring Musical: Guys and Dolls Friday and Saturday, May 19 and 20, 2017, 7 p.m.

Sunday, May 21, 2017, 4 p.m.

Huss Center for Performing Arts, Randolph Campus

June 2017 Commencement for the Class of 2017 Sunday, June 11, 2017, 4 p.m.

North Lawn, Randolph Campus

Alumni/ae Council Speaker Series October 2016 Speaker Series Event

RNC Chief Operating Officer Sean Cairncross ’93

Sean Cairncross ’93, Chief Operating Officer of the Republican National Committee, was the featured speaker at the first event in the 2016-17 Alumni/ae Speaker Series on October 20. More than 70 SPA alumni/ae and other members of the SPA community gathered for Cairncross’s talk, which touched on the many aspects of political campaigning, the role of technology and “big data,” and the Electoral College. Cairncross has had a long career with the RNC, serving as Chief Counsel, Deputy Executive Director, and General Counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

February 2017 Speaker Series Event

CEO of The Musical Company Sean Flaven ’91

Sean Flahaven ’91, founding CEO of The Musical Company, and former Senior Vice President of theater and catalog development at Warner/Chappell Music, was the speaker for the Speaker Series event on February 21, 2017.

Flahaven and moderater Bryan Smith ’94 engaged in a lively conversation about Flahaven’s career in the business of Broadway musical theater, his favorite SPA memories and teachers, and the phenomenon of Hamilton, for which he served as producer of the original cast recording.

Photos of the evening are available at www.spa.edu > Alumni/ae > Speaker Series.

CONNECT Online Alumni/ae Directory Launches

SPA is pleased to announce the launch of its new online Alumni/ae Directory. After an initial “Phase I” in November 2016 during which SPA graduates were invited to view and update their own contact information, the Directory was opened fully for alumni/ae use in Janaury 2017. Users are now able to search for fellow graduates by name, class, location, industry, and other criteria, and can update their own contact and demographic information, including address, email, phone, education, profession, and industry.

SAVE THE DATE:

Reunion 2017 Mark your caledars for Reunion Weekend 2017 on September 8-10, 2017.

Reunion 2017 will include a special Summit School Centennial Celebration, honoring the 100th anniversary of the Summit School, on Sunday, September 10.

More details coming soon; save the date and plan to join us!

“We are very excited to be able to offer this functionality to our graduates, who have always been interested in connecting with their fellow SPA alums” says Director of Alumni/ae Programs Jen Jung Lucas. Lucas reports that close to 1,000 alumni/ae have logged into the new directory since the initial launch in November.

The Directory is accessible through the Alumni/ae website at www.spa.edu > Alumni/ae > Alumni/ae Directory, and is accessible only to graduates of the school. All alumni received an initial username and password via email and/or snail mail prior to the phase one launch in November; please contact Jen Jung Lucas at jlucas@spa.edu if you did not receive (or have misplaced) your username/password. www. spa.e du

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>> PHILANTHROPHY

Chair of the Leadership Giving Society Committee • Mrunalini Parvataneni

NEW LEADERSHIP GIVING SOCIETY LEVELS In 2016-17, we are excited to introduce two newly named giving levels within the Leadership Giving Society, giving further identity to the donors who lead our philanthropic efforts.

The LGS was established in 2010 to recognize those donors making gifts of $2,500 or more to the Annual Fund every year. LGS membership has grown significantly every year since then, creating a need for additional levels within that leadership. Beginning this past fall, LGS donors become part of one of three giving levels: • President’s Circle: gifts of $10,000+ • Partner’s Circle: gifts of $5,000-$9,999 • Ambassador’s Circle: gifts of $2,500-$4,999 Donors at all LGS levels are honored by the Head of School and Board of Trustees at the annual Leadership Giving Society Evening and other events throughout the year. Leadership Giving Society members also receive special recognition in the Annual Report and Honor Roll of Donors.

“We are lucky to enjoy strong support of the Annual Fund from leaders within our trustee, parent, alumni/ae, and community of friends,” says Director of Institutional Advancement Dorothy Goldie ’73. “The generosity and commitment of our LGS donors is the foundation for the future of SPA,” Goldie says, “and these new giving circles are another way to make that foundation even stronger.”

2015-16 Annual Report Corrections Please note the following correction to the 2015-16 SPA Annual Report.

We extend our apologies for these errors.

The Annual Fund gift made by William Beadle ’58 should have been listed as in memory of Jim Dickinson ’58, David Lilly, Sr. ’35, Dick Magnuson ’60, Judy Murphy ’62, John Roe ’58, Phil Roy ’58, and Norb Winter ’54.

Leadership Giving Society Committee Members • Mark Addicks • Bill Atmore • Bill Beadie ’58 • Martin A. Carlson • Kristin W. Choi • John W. Cosgriff ’93 • Lit Field ’75 • Libby Driscoll Hlavka • Anne Larsen Hooley • Shotsy Johnson ’64 • Ward Johnson ’64 • Fred Kaemmer ’88 • David Kansas ’85 • Mary L. Knoblauch • David Kristal • Amanda Liu • Tim Lynch • Sean McCauley ’85 • Tom Patterson ’57 • Ann Ruhr Pifer ’83 • Malinee Saxena • Stephanie Sommer • Laurel Stephenson • Steven Suckow • Gail Ward • Jennifer Will • Jerry Will • Ann Marie Woessner-Collins

PHASE II OF “BUILDING FUTURES” CAMPAIGN

Focuses on Schilling Center and Upper School Renovation The construction of the Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center (see cover story on page 22) is the first and signature piece of a comprehensive, multi-year renovation of SPA’s entire Upper School. The renovation will include the re-imagining of humanities classrooms, the library, faculty offices, and gathering spaces. This renovation project will begin in earnest once the Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center is complete, and will include a total interior renovation of 28,393 square feet.

The cost of the entire project, including both the Hugh K. Schilling Math and Science Center and the Upper School

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renovation, is estimated at $44 million. Phase II of the Building Futures capital campaign will raise funds for this comprehensive renovation project; Phase I of the campaign was dedicated to the funding and construction of the Huss Center for the Performing Arts, which opened in the fall of 2015.

The time has come for such a complete rethinking of the physical plant for the Upper School, says Head of School Bryn Roberts. “Our Upper School facilities were last renovated in 1975,” Roberts notes. “Classrooms are dated and cramped, and do not adequately reflect the innovative

curriculum and discussion-based learning style of the Upper School,� says Roberts, who also notes that SPA’s Upper School enrollment has grown significantly since the 1970s. In 2016-17, Upper School enrollment was 418 students, a 33% increase from enrollment in 1975.

For more information about the Building Futures campaign, contact Dorothy Goldie, Director of Institutional Advancement, at dgoldie@spa.edu.

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>> CLASS NOTES

at SPA and Si ’55 and Vicki ’56 Ford’s Decade party at the

Have news to share?

Email your news to alumni@spa.edu or send it to Class Notes: St. Paul Academy and Summit School 1712 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul, MN, 55105 We look forward to hearing from you!

Become a Class Agent!

Class Agents keep in touch with their classmates and provide updates on SPA happenings.

Class Agents also help with special events and reunions. All classes welcome additional volunteers and multiple Class Agents are encouraged.

To become a Class Agent, please contact alumni@spa.edu or 651-696-1302.

1945 Mini-Reunion

’45 CLASS AGENTS Virginia K. Stockwell

s Peter Anson and his wife Sally hosted a mini 70th reunion at their home in Minneapolis this summer. Spartans in attendance included Dick Bancroft, Al Sedgwick, Bob Mairs, Pete, and John Jackson (pictured above, left to right).

’51 CLASS AGENTS Bruce R. Monick Monick4215@aol.com

Bill Schrader celebrated

60 years of marriage and activity with his wife Carolyn this year. He also reports that his daughter Lisa and her husband are moving to Park City, Utah after successful New York careers. Additionally, their granddaughter just graduated from Columbia Law School and their grandson is a squash coach at an old New York City racquets club.

’52 CLASS AGENTS Dean W. Alexander promedica1@aol.com

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Austin Pryor says “It’s great to

be back home in Minnesota.”

Austin recently moved to Trillium Woods retirement community and says it is “like a big cruise ship with all the amenities one could ever want.” He is still playing golf, coaching “wannabe entrepreneurs,” and enjoying life, hopefully, to the fullest.

’54 CLASS AGENTS Alice L. Mairs bonnie1673@earthlink.net Walter H. Mayo mayowalter@yahoo.com

Bonnie Mairs spent the summer at her cabin in Ely and invites classmates to stop in next summer if they are in the area. She asks that classmates email her (bonnie1673@earthlink.net) with any news that they would like to share.

’55 CLASS AGENTS Kate K. Piper mintypiper@aol.com

Felicity Swayze and “T” came

to Minneapolis this fall for Reunion Weekend and to visit her daughter India and grandchildren who live here now. During their visit, they attended the Heritage Brunch

University Club. She shares that it was great to see so many familiar faces, including Minty Piper ’55 and Vicki Holmen ’55 who took her to lunch at the St. Paul Hotel Grill. The three had a delightful time, revisiting old memories. Back in Vermont, Felicity joined an all-woman choral group, which she describes as “shades of Summit Singers.” She has also recently written a memoir, which recounts the story of her wartime evacuation from Britain to America in August 1940. The book, War Torn: A Family Story, is available on Amazon.com.

’57 CLASS AGENTS Dutton Foster duttonfosters@comcast.net

Tuck Langland and his wife

recently took a six week trip from the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland, to the bottom of the UK, Southampton, and then the pair took the Queen Mary 2 home. Upon their arrival, Tuck settled into a major sculpture commission of Father Ted Hesburgh, long time president of Notre Dame, linking arms with Martin Luther King as they sang at a Civil Rights rally in Chicago’s Soldier Field June 21, 1964. These bronze figures, a little over life size, will be installed in downtown South Bend on that date in 2017.

Coming up, Tuck and his wife will go to Canterbury Cathedral to sing a series of evensongs with an English group and says “Thanks, Paul Wilkenson (former faculty)!”

changes, he offered this advice: “Consciousness is the only route to happiness.”

’70 CLASS AGENTS

The Class of 1970 is looking for Class Agents! Please contact alumni@spa.edu or 651-696-1302.

CLASS AGENTS James P. Gardner jpgmn@comcast.net

s Elizabeth Murphy had brunch with several SPA alumni/ae in Venice, Florida. Pictured below (pictured above, left to right) are Dick Diedrich, Lee Fobes Murphy, Todd Freeman ’58, Judy Diedrich ’58, Mary Lou Schreiner, and Stu Fobes.

’60 CLASS AGENTS Raleigh Ormerod raleigho@aol.com

Raleigh Ormerod is recently

retired from General Motors after an engineering career in the automotive and manufacturing industries.

’63 CLASS AGENTS Nancy Mulvey nancymulvey@gmail.com

’68 CLASS AGENTS Anne E. Cowie cowieanne@hotmail.com

Bill Bierman was honored

with the Douglas K. Amdahl Public Attorney Career Achievement Award. Bill began his career in public service in 1979 as an attorney for the Minnesota Senate, IndependentRepublican Caucus. In 1983, he left that position for private practice, but returned to public service at the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry in 1993 and has served there ever since. Bill’s nominators described his legal acumen to be unsurpassed, and nature as exceedingly respectful, kind, patient, and gentle.

’69

Sheila ffolliott was recently

CLASS AGENTS

elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a learned society founded in 1707.

Kristine L. Burton klbminn@hotmail.com

Warren Olson reports:

“After nine years, six moves, three states, two new homes constructed, and one totally renovated; we have returned to Florida. This time we are trying the Melbourne area. We endured our first hurricane, Matthew, with no problems and are enjoying 75

2016 was a big year for Liz Dow: she celebrated her 23rd year as the CEO of Leadership Philadelphia, celebrated the marriage of her son Greg, was appointed to her local Police Community Relations Board, and created a program to retain Philadelphia’s best and brightest Millenials.

A report from Peter Stryker: “Celebrating 19 years as a heart transplant recipient! Still living in retirement in South Carolina enjoying watching my granddaughter grow up.

My son is associate athletic director at Coker College and my daughter working her way up ladder at Walt Disney World.”

’77 CLASS AGENTS

Pam McInnis spent her birthday vacationing in the Gallipolis Islands.

Tim O’Brien took a dream

vacation to Tanzania and, although being on safari, said the trip was anything but hardship and discomfort. If you are thinking of going on a trip in Africa, Tim would love to talk to you about his experiences.

Chuck Strouse dropped off

Hank A. Brandtjen hbrandtjen@kluge.biz

Terry Allen found time for some R&R this year at the Kodiak Raspberry Island Lodge in remote Alaska. He enjoyed most of his time up north fishing with her son.

Jamie Forman was elected

a Life Trustee of Lewis & Clark College by their Board of Trustees.

his son at college this fall in a unique way: together, the pair peddled their bikes 440 miles in 5.5 days!

’79 CLASS AGENTS

The Class of 1979 is looking for Class Agents! Please contact alumni@spa.edu or 651-696-1302.

Julie Zelle reports that a group of women from the Class of 1979 held a mini-Renuion in the fall of 2016. “We had a wonderful weekend together in Connecticut in September.

It was just like old times!” Julie says. Pictured below, left to right are Dana Kuller Schleien, Anne Seymour, Julie Brooks Zelle, Sally Given Johnson, Laurie Johnson Cousseau, Julie Pierson Mombello, Karen Flom Holbert, Lucy Stringer, and Andrea Scott.

s

’59

degree weather here this winter.

I am now ready to find my golf swing, not sure that there is that much to find, but it will be fun.”

Anne Hodgson launched an online satirical newspaper called “The Parsnippety: Breaking news for plants & animals.

Arlys Greenberg saw Stevie

Wonder play when he was in St. Paul and said the concert was amazing.

Hank Brandtjen saw Sir Paul McCartney in Minneapolis and enjoyed the stroll down memory lane.

Tim Hartnett spent time living

in Guatemala this year learning Spanish. As he adjusted to the

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>> CLASS NOTES

>> Reunion 2016 More than 250 alumni/ae from classes ranging from 1941 to 2011 came back to SPA for Reunion Weekend 2016, held Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10.

Friday evening’s events include the All-Alumni/ae Art Show and Reception, held in the Lilly Courtyard and the Harry M. Drake Gallery. Saturday morning was the traditional Heritage Brunch for classes celebrating Reunions of 50 years or more, including the 50-year induction toast for the Class of 1966. Saturday evening featured individual Reunion gatherings for classes ending in 1 and 6. To view more photos from Reunion 2016, visit www.spa.edu > Alumni/ae > Connect > Photo Albums.

1951 | Front row, seated: Ed Emerson, Hector Rupert, Ella (Carpenter) Slade, standing: Junie (Stringer) DeCoster.

Middle row: Hugh Klein, Jane (Adams) Canby, Mike Butler, Henny (Jackson) Shoeller, Jo Jo (Millard) Chervenak, Scotty (MacGregor) Gillette. Back row: Bill Schrader, Bruce Monick, Dick Strand, Stan Hubbard.

1956 Summit School | Front row left to right: Julie Seabury, Daphne Roberts Bell, Charlotte Seymour Johnson, Sara Torrison Ewald.

Top row left to right: Gerry Kyle Bullard, Vicki Churchill Ford, Sally Emerson Ruplin.

In attendance but not pictured: Ginny Low Campbell, Brenda Raudenbush Griffin.

1956 St. Paul Academy | Front row, left to right: Bill Goldenberg, Jon Rose, Tim Ritchie, Charc Ward. Back row, left to right: John Mears, Ed Sommers, Bob Fisher, Bob Gardner, Pete Wolf.

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1961 | Front row, left to right: Diane Seldon Hill, Liz Wolff, Linda Mahood Jesmer. Second row, left to right: Linda Shoemaker Blyth, Billie MacKay, Sally Morgan Cuningham, Sandy Sweney KnoxJohnston, Joan Pedersen. Third row, left to right: Pierce MacKay, Cros Sommers, Pock Otis. Back Row, left to right: Bill Roe ’62, Wood “Chip” Foster, Dee Levin ’62, A T “Chief” Schwyzer ’62.

1966 | Front row, left to right: Binky Wood Rockwell, Ben Oehler, Tom Marver. Second row, left to right: Marcus Hilker (green sweater), Kitty Biorn Parfet, ChiChi Hannaford Steiner, Mary Davis Dewart, Judy Leslie Titcomb, Annie Lockhart Harris, Betsy Smith. Third row, left to right: Chris Cardozo, Will Eginton (partially hidden), Robert Warren, Charles Otto (beard), William Shoemaker, Fritz Magnuson, David Lilly, Mike Brown. Fourth row, left to right: William Sweeney, Lewis Griggs, Doug Peterson, Herb Ward, Lynn Lindsay, Don Lannin.

1971 | Front row, left to right: Peter Myers, Marion Warwick, Alice O’Brien Berquist, Mary Wieland Nolan, Barbara Godfrey Kuykendall, Ginny Stryker Brodeen, Sarah Felder. Second row, left to right: Molly Greenman, Sue Headley Keller, Binkie Cammack Closmore, Mary Sprafka Foshee, Third row, left to right: Chris Dozier, Bob Skinner, Nancy Mairs Daly, John Ravits, Bobby Hartzell. Fourth row, left to right: Bake Baker, Peter Gilbertson, Sharon Kennedy, Daniel Titcomb, Endel Kallas, Henry Watanabe, Paul Rogosheske. In attendance but not pictured: Jack Whitaker, Don Lewis.

1976 | Front row, left to right: Rob Ebert, Kathryn “Kakie� Kusske Floyd, Joe Kennedy, Amy Stahl, Dennis Countryman, John Jasinski, Peter Jackson.

Middle row, left to right: Laura Aronson Thrane, Nettie Magnuson, Anne Warwick, Sandra Rosenberg. Back row, left to right: Fred Harris, Doug Whitaker, Michael Orey, Prescott Bergh, Alex Lindsay, John Knox, Andrew Mohring, Trip Lund, Chris Derauf, Jeff Norton. In attendance but not pictured: Tom Braman, Frank Leslie, as well as many spouses.

1986 | Left to right: Ned Moody, Susan Dickinson Kistner, Scott Steil, Sarah Bancroft-Howard, Karen Garrett, Peter Rupert, David Gretsch, Adam Stanley, Jill Romans, Sasha Aslanian, Chris Cochran, Karen Reis, Heather Hobbs Capuano, Melissa Weisman, Lori Trent Elliott, John Patterson, Rebecca Stewart, Valerie Johnson Dean, Marc Beitz, Katherine Lewis, Bradner Smith, Molli Slade, Kevin Boeh, Ben Leadholm.

1981 | From top to bottom, left to right: Andrea Sahlin; Sarah Storvick Kunau, Annie Samson Celander; Sally Lightner, Paul Harstad; Lisa Jackson Swanson, Dan Zelle, John Lampert; Charlotte Hart, Pete Baillon, Martie Holman Herrick; Norah Shapiro, Jay Dolan (holding yearbook page of Harry Gaston); Mary Nazaire Marthaler, Sarah Scanlan Boggess; Walt Lehmann.

1991 | Front row, left to right: Carlos Adams, Alex Dashe, Alejandra Estrin Dashe, Kate Bradford Rodbro. Middle row, left to right: Steven London, Stacey Barenbaum Lanning, Hilary Le Bon, Mark Abuzzahab, Melanie Parson Short, Jennie Young Boland, Heather Zehring, Katie Barlow Shilts, Tasslyn Frame Magnusson, Bryn Kiel Hennessy, Jesse Darley. Back row, left to right: John Coughlin, Ted Tsong, Shawn Johnson, Bill Beadie, Sean Forner. In attendance but not pictured: Dan Satran.

1996 | Front row, left to right: Minette Loula, Jennifer Coates, Jean Kang, Hanna Meyers Mody, Jolie Chehadeh, Anne Cammack, Jennifer Laine, Paul Ginder, Owen Moldow.

Back row, left to right: Spencer Gerberding, Carly Androff Paz, Kari Chester Trueger, Michael Rucker, Adair Davis Jacobson, Tom Nelson, Matt Gollinger, Ben Polk, Dan May, Ben Yonas, Luke Ballman, Adam Graham-Silverman. In attendance but not pictured: Gene Suh, Rob Pottle, Ravi Ramalingam, Greg Gellar, Travis Prunty.

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>> CLASS NOTES

’85 CLASS AGENTS Dave W. Kansas dkansas@gmail.com

Sean Gilshannon shares that he

Tim Miner ’83, Ann, Todd Johnson ’83, Eric Dieperink ’83, John Seymour ’83, Kirsten Hall Long ’84, and Annie Alcott ’83.

’83 CLASS AGENTS Tracy Cosgrove tlakatua@mac.com

s Ann Ruhr Pifer married Steve Wilmot in Lutsen, Minnesota on August 13, 2016.

The SPA contingent at the wedding spanned almost 40 class years! Pictured above, left to right are Emma Truman ’18, Benita Schnasse Dieperink ’84, Chris Pifer ’14, Nate Truman ’14, Julie McGlincey McGirl ’84, Susan Bagnoli Truman ’85, Owen Pifer ’22,

’84 CLASS AGENTS Thomas Guyer tom.guyer@winsorlearning.com

Jacob Rahiman reports on

his son and namesake, Jacob, age 12. “Jacob plays on two select teams here in New Jersey while balancing a 7th grader’s schedule,” his dad says.

Sheila Desai, Ph.D. ’85 and Didi Cass ’87 bumped into each other in October 2016 in Kampala, Uganda at USAID Uganda Mission, where Sheila is the Director of Economic Growth. Didi is USAID’s Silicon Valley-based technology sector liaison and was working in Uganda for three weeks. The two SPA alums had fun catching up, reminiscing about SPA and collaborating on a USAID project focused on agriculture technology to help smallholder farmers in rural Uganda.

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and his family are doing well in Connecticut. His daughter Emma is engaged in the college search and is considering Macalester. Additionally, she recently saw Hamiliton, which she enjoyed thoroughly. Sean also reports that his son Henry is diving headlong into the electric bass and computer science and his youngest, Maria, is playing hockey at Yale’s Whale and throughout New England. Sean and his wife enjoy living in the Connecticut woods, but cherish the ability to get to New York City in less than 90 minutes.

He also shares that he has started playing hockey again and that “what [he] has lost in strength and speed, [he has] gained in brains.” Recently, the Gilshannons enjoyed a great New Haven pizza dinner with Geoff Buscher ’80 and his family. He extends the invitation for “the best pizza on earth” to all his classmates and fellow alumni/ae if you ever in the area!

Emily Greenberg, usually found in Chicago, writes that she celebrated her 50th birthday with a trip to South Africa.

Julia Jordan’s play, “Murder

Ballad,” started a run in October in the West End of London. Before heading to the UK, the show ran in South Korea where it was a cult hit and, subsequently, featured on the front page of the New York Times. If you’re in London, Julia invites everyone to the Arts Theatre near Leicester Square to see the show.

David Kansas shares that his son Henry is enjoying first grade at SPA and his daughter Mary is in preschool at St. Thomas More (formerly St. Luke’s). David still works at Minnesota Public Radio | American Public Media and is enjoying life in the media world.

Sean McCauley moved with his

family to Rochester, Minnesota three years ago to follow the launch of his wife Joselyn’s speciality pharmacy business that serves patients as they leave Mayo Clinic. In addition to the work he does with TPG, a private-equity firm, he shares that the pharmacy business is doing well and the pair is actively looking to open the next branch in St. Paul next year.

The McCauleys also recently bought a 14-acre farm that was previously owned by the Mayo family. Finally, Sean’s daughter Olivia missed SPA so much when the family moved to Rochester that she returned to the Upper School this year and is living with her grandma in St. Paul.

Cathy Paper has enjoyed being active in the SPA community this last year. She reports seeing several SPA alumni/ae, including David ‘Doc’ Ellis ’84, Julie McGirl McGlincey ’84, Sara Mairs ’84, at her son’s Grade 9 baseball or soccer games. She also crossed paths with Joe Bagnoli ’84 while working with the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library.

Daisy (Fang) Pellant returned to the Twin Cities after some interesting travels. After three years at the international school in the Republic of Georgia, Daisy and RM, her husband, spent four years in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, they worked at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School and Daisey taught at Harvard’s Graduate

School of Education where she had completed her graduate degree in educational neuroscience. Returning to Minnesota was not in the plans for the pair, but the opportunity to be the Director of the Peter Clark Center for Teaching & Learning at Breck couldn’t be passed up! She is excited about the work and is sure it will keep her busy.

RM is also at Breck, serving as the Upper School Technology Coordinator. She also has three school-aged kids there who are in eleventh, eighth, and sixth grade. She also says it is fun to see Julie Silverman Burton, Pam Ross Weinstein ’87, and Howard Paster ’87 as part of the Breck school community.

Finally, Daisy’s eldest child, Ruby-Kate, is off to college at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She credits the SPA Lower School art program with sparking her deep passion for art and illustration.

David Robin’s architectural

studio, robinsalliance, launched a new website and opened its first public building with the start of the Israeli academic year. The building is the 6,500 sm new School of Entrepreneurship at the Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya, Israel’s leading private college. David started the office three years ago, specializing in complex institutional and commercial projects for clients in Israel and abroad who have an appreciation for buildings that are well-made and share a commitment to the public realm.

Jeff Robinson, class of

1985 through Grade 8, is a professional scout working in the Minnesota Vikings front office.

Julie Silverman Burton has published a book called The Self-Care Solution, written to help empower mothers to be intentional about self-care.

The book is available online.

Nicole Winter Tietel hosted the

class of 1985 at her house last fall for the class’ 30th reunion and says, “I hope everyone is doing well as we reach age 50!” She also shares that her daughter is a senior at SPA and her son is a sophomore.

In the spirit of moving towards becoming an empty nester, Nicole is excited to announce that her book, “Riley’s Pockets,” was published and launched.

The book details how she learned about my son’s day by emptying his pockets before doing the wash and how the mundane task became a sweet moment of insight as his random collection was transformed into treasure.

The book is available online.

John Wolf was spotted by David Kansas in the Lower

School drop off line; he is thriving in his work with Chicago-Lake Liquors and Liquor Boy in St. Louis Park.

’88 CLASS AGENTS Daniel H. Deuel dhd823@comcast.net

Richard Barlow took part in a

group exhibition at the Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute in Utica, New York this year where he created a room-sized, 1000 square foot temporary, site specific, chalk wall drawing. After he finished that exhibition, Richard took part in an international artist resident program called The Arctic Circle where artists and writers sail around the archipelago of Svalbard in a three masted

barquentine. Richard reports that the group made it as far north as 81 degrees before they hit the pack ice. Richard’s work is also part of an exhibition at the Elmhurst Art Museum outside of Chicago called “Sense of Place,” which features 39 international artists, all dealing with the idea of place.

’97 CLASS AGENTS Dena C. Larson denacitronlarson@gmail.com Jeff Jarosch jeff.jarosch@gmail.com

was featured in MinnPost’s “Politics & Policy” section this fall in a lengthy profile entitled “A ‘Minnesota temperament’ in DC: The St. Paul Academy grad hoping to shape postTrump politics.” The article traces Conant’s political career from work for Norm Coleman while still a student at SPA to the present day: “Conant… is now one of the GOP’s best-connected operatives in Washington and a familiar face on talk shows,” the article reports.

’99 CLASS AGENTS Lisa Stein lisaannestein@gmail.com

s Theodora Potretzke is currently living in Rochester, Minnesota with her husband Aaron where they are both physicians at the Mayo Clinic.

She shares that their son Frank is 5 years old and recently started kindergarten.

They also recently added a second to their family: Pauline was born October 1, 2016.

’98 CLASS AGENTS Mara R. Schanfield maraschanfield@gmail.com

s May Bend reports: “After 17 years out east (NY, DC) and abroad (South America), I’ve returned to the Twin Cities.

Living on 30 acres in Afton, I’ve gotten involved in local water and land management projects through the City of Afton and EPA/St. Croix Watershed Association. I’d love to reconnect with SPA alumni— drop me a line if you’d like to meet up for lunch or coffee Dru Donovan was named a 2016-17 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow in photography and spent the fall as a visiting faculty member at Harvard University.

s Alex Conant, former communications director for Florida Senator Marco Rubio, www. spa.e du

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Sam McVeety ’04 A $25,000 gift from Sam McVeety, now an engineer at Google, will keep Bill Boulger’s spirit of inquiry alive in the next generation of SPA faculty

Rick Dahms

“The ability to take risks and try new things and travel is an essential part of learning at every age, and it’s something that I believe SPA really values in its faculty, and it’s one of the things that made being a student there such a privilege.”

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With nearly fifty years of teaching tenure, and a track record of success with thousands of students, it would be easy for SPA mathematics teacher Bill Boulger to fall back on familiar lesson plans. “But like so many great faculty members at SPA, he’s always learning himself, and looking for ways to tweak the experience and keep it fresh and exciting for his students,” says Sam McVeety ’04. “The ability to take risks and try new things and travel is an essential part of learning at every age, and it’s something that I believe SPA really values in its faculty, and it’s one of the things that made being a student there such a privilege.”

Making sure the next generation of SPA faculty have the funding and the support to take the same risks is the reason why McVeety, 30, now a Senior Staff Engineer at Google, recently made a generous donation to launch The Bill Boulger Fund for Teaching Excellence. McVeety’s $25,000 gift will be dedicated exclusively toward supporting faculty members pursuing professional development, travel opportunities, and other off-campus experiences that can enrich SPA’s classrooms

joined the emergency medicine team at Dartmouth as a faculty physician and assistant professor at the Geisel School of Medicine.

At Dartmouth, Anne will teach residents and students in health economics, medical decision making, and wilderness and austere medicine. She will also further develop Project ADAPT, an international nonprofit dedicated to pediatric critical care training in resource-poor environments.

’00 CLASS AGENTS

and curriculum for years to come. “As a student, it was such a privilege to spend one period learning ceramics with an outstanding artist, and then to be part of an orchestra preparing for a concert, or then to be learning mathematics with an amazing teacher,” McVeety says.

“The passion and skill that these teachers brought to their respective classrooms was so impressive, and I wanted my gift to the school to reflect that. These are the people who are my heroes.”

A 2008 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, McVeety lives in the Seattle area with his husband, Jordan, and serves as technical lead on Cloud Dataflow, a platform that aims to democratize the field of large-scale data processing. The son of SPA math teacher Jim McVeety, Sam says his family connections allowed for an even greater understanding of Boulger’s positive influence on the school community, both as a beloved and life-changing teacher, and a respected friend and mentor to many other faculty members. “He has a demeanor of inquiry that is so inspiring,” McVeety says. “Almost anytime you’d walk in to the math area he’d be working with a student and his mechanical pencil. There is never a moment when he doesn’t have time for a student, meeting them where they are with a tremendous ability to teach and reteach something to so many different minds.”

McVeety’s $25,000 gift will provide $2,500 per fiscal year toward teacher development projects, until the balance is extinguished. If the size of the restricted gift reaches $100,000 through additional donations, St. Paul Academy and Summit School can establish the fund as a permanent endowment supporting teacher professional development.

It’s an effort McVeety hopes other SPA alums will support through additional gifts. “Think how easy that would be,” he says. “Through relatively small collective action, we could all do something permanent to honor this fantastic teacher, together.” u Alumni/ae interested in supporting The Bill Boulger Fund for Teaching Excellence may contact Sarah Johnson at 651-696-1320 or sjohnson@spa.edu.

Jessie Markman markman.jesse@gmail.com Noah Mehlan nmehlan@hotmail.com Megan Sullivan Ann Marie Winskowski winskowski@gmail.com

’03 CLASS AGENTS s Brendan Moriarty and wife Elissa ’99 welcomed their son, Avery Hewitt Moriarty, in December 2015. The pair is delighted in his friendly, happy nature, and love taking him on adventures in the mountains.

Avery loves spending time with his family, including “Grandpapa” Chuck Fisher, former SPA Psychologist, and his aunts Carrie (Fisher) Childs ’97 and Meaghan Moriarty ’99.

The family is currently living in Berkeley, California.

Thomas Christ kiselblat@gmail.com Aleksander K. Sims aleksander.sims@gmail.com Kendra Ackland Jillian Degerness Brenden Goetz brendengoetz@gmail.com

s Max Lipset and Jill Stein Lipset welcomed Erica Hope

’01 CLASS AGENTS Aram V. Desteian desteian@gmail.com

Anne O’Connor completed

her emergency medicine residency at the University of North Carolina and her pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and recently

Lipset to the world in November of 2016. Max reports that Baby Erica shares the exact same birthday with older sister Sasha, as well as the same birth weight and length.

Everyone is adjusting well to the new baby, Max says, including Cal the dog.

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s Anja Crowder and Peter Morice attended the final “Best Places to Work” in Minnesota

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Andria Mann andria.m.cornell@gmail.com Tyler M. Olson tolson@smcpros.com Ashley Anton antonashley@gmail.com Sarah M. Raisch sarah.m.raisch@gmail.com

Derek A. Schaible derek.schaible@gmail.com

s The primary company of Tyler Olson ’04, SMCpros, was recognized as one of the top three “Best Places to Work” in Minnesota by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Tyler is pictured third from right with his SMCpros staff.

’05 CLASS AGENTS Sarah K. Wald skwald@gmail.com John C. Adams adamsjackc@gmail.com Nicole James nstennes@gmail.com Lindsay Giese nstennes@gmail.com

Eric Callahan completed

his Master of Business Administration at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in spring of 2016. He is now a private aviation advisor with XOJET and lives in New York City.

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s Devon Holstad married Alyssa Pronley on November 14, 2016 at St. Michael in Old Town, Chicago. The two met during college at Loyola University Chicago where they both competed on and captained the top ten ranked mock trial team. Many Spartans joined in the celebration, including Danny Elchert, Sam Fellman, Fred Gehrig, Boris Glazman, Michael Halvorson, Peter Labuza, Ian Middlebrook ’10, John Tocho ’10, Anne Walli ’10, and Wyatt Wenzel ’10.

’08 CLASS AGENTS Vanessa Levy need email address Nolan Filter nolan.f.filter@gmail.com Jessica Garretson jessiepiper@gmail.com Ariella Rotenberg rotenberg.ariella@gmail.com www.s p a .ed u

White House holiday party hosted by President Obama and Mrs. Obama on December 12, 2016. Peter and Anja live and work in Washington D.C., Anja as a producer at ABC News and Peter as an engineer for Northrup Grumman.

Kenzie O’Keefe works for

Pillsbury Communities, which recently acquired the North News, a local community newspaper in North Minneapolis. Kenzie produces the 11x11 monthly paper along with her students at North High, where she teaches journalism.

s Rachel Rongstad married Jesse Hylton on September 10, 2016.

’09 CLASS AGENTS Grace Ferrara graceferrara2@gmail.com Elizabeth Moertel lizmoertel@yahoo.com Atsuko A. Fukushi ashleefukushi@gmail.com Andrew Magne andrew.magne@ordergroove.com

Colin Cowles graduated with a BA from Colgate University in 2013 and his MA from Columbia University in 2015. He now works at Raytheon in Tucson, Arizona. Older sister, Lucia ’07 is still in the Twin Cities and younger brother Max ’11 is in Denver, Colorado. Colin is still playing rugby and cannot keep from tinkering with cars and motorcycles. This fall, Colin visited family in St. Paul and reconnected with several Spartans from 2009, including Ryan Dowdle, Niambi Mitchell, Priya Jain, Colin Wymore, Conor Dowdle, and Mike Falvey to celebrate Mike’s birthday.

He shared the following report about classmates: Ryan Dowdle is back in MN after a stint in Los Angeles and is finishing his degree at Augsburg; Niambi Mitchell is teaching elementary school in Minneapolis and changing lives every day; Priya Jain lives with her sister Sonali in St. Paul, works for her family, and continues to love dance; Colin Wymore is pursuing his dream of being a rock musician, playing guitar for a local band and growing his beard out to match his blues guitar skills; Conor Dowdle is an artist in the Twin Cities, working primarily in painting and drawing. In addition to his personal art practice, Conor organizes and curates shows, currently working as co-curator of the Yeah Maybe gallery in Minneapolis; Mike Falvey is in nursing school and working in Region’s hospital in downtown St. Paul. He’s still the life of the party; Austin Lily is in San Francisco. Austin has left the finance world and is pursuing beer brewing on a mass production scale after a stint in the finance world. He is now working for Speakeasy brewing company in the bay area;

Dillon Titcomb is working with Joseph Merrill for Lendeavor, a

finance company founded and run by Daniel Titcomb ’04, his older brother. They have been incredibly successful and are growing quickly. Joe is now back in St. Paul and working remotely; Matthew Pichert is also in the bay area doing clinical rotations for medical school. He is interested in cardiovascular surgery; Hubert Li and Jillian Ashenbrener are living in New York; Chelsea Hobert is now living in Australia, as is her brother Ryan Hobert ’12; and Karin Obaid is in Portland, Oregon.

’11 CLASS AGENTS Taylor R. Billeadeau shootingstars262@hotmail.com Kaia Wahmanholm kwahmanholm@gmail.com

wonderfully crafted. Writer Leonhard-Hooper gives life to each with excellent phrasing and strange pasts.”

Nadja credits SPA English and theater teacher Eric Severson with much of her success as an actress.

The Classes of 2001, 2006, and 2011 celebrated their Reunions at Class Parties on Friday, November 25. Many thanks to all our young alums for joining us!

Conor Dowdle is an artist in the Twin Cities, working primarily in painting and drawing. In addition to his personal art practice, Conor organizes and curates shows, currently working as co-curator of the Yeah Maybe gallery in Minneapolis.

’12 Class of 2001

CLASS AGENTS

The Class of 2012 is looking for Class Agents! Please contact alumni@spa.edu or 651-696-1302.

Jenny Niedenfuehr

recently received a culinary foundation certificate from the Leiths School of Food and Wine in London.

’13 CLASS AGENTS Sophia Myers-Kelley smyerskelley@gmail.com

s Nadja Leonhard-Hooper wrote, co-directed, and acted in her original show “Vera and Valya and the Magical OneCat Circus” in Manhattan and Brooklyn this year. The show is a farce told in the style of a russian folktale about two eccentric sisters who train cats with the hopes of one day performing at the Moscow Cat Theater.

The show has received excellent reviews; New York theater blog theasy.com calls the show “A topquality farce about two Russian sisters and their strange magical cat Skazka, played by an amazing trio of actors,” and notes that “the three main characters…are

Class of 2006

s Sophia Myers-Kelley studied abroad in Japan for one semester and is now taking a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course in order to return to Japan to teach English.

Class of 2011

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Tom Doar passed away on June 20, 2016. He was 95. Tom was born and raised in New Richmond, Wisconsin, and educated at St. Paul Academy, the University of Colorado and the University of Wisconsin Law School. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II between 1943 and 1946, and joined his father’s law practice in 1947. His marriage to his first wife, Patricia, in 1948 lasted 59 years until her death.

By marriage, he joined the Murphy family that owned part of the Minneapolis Tribune and part of Midwest Radio Television Inc., license holder for WCCO radio and television.

Tom loved to pretend he was a country bumpkin lawyer from rural Wisconsin, but he was a savvy businessman who played a key role in helping WCCO-TV become a nationally recognized powerhouse of public affairs journalism in the 1970s and 1980s. He served as president of the family’s holding company from 1969 to1980 and became chairman of the newly formed MTC Properties Inc. in 1980 that owned 100 percent of WCCO until after he retired in 1990.

Doar is survived by his second wife, Jean Selvig of Naples, Fla.; daughter Kathleen ’66 and sons Tom ’69 of Chicago and Patrick ’83 of New Richmond, Wis.; six grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren.

Thomas Gardner Mairs died peacefully on August 6, 2016.

Tom graduated from St. Paul Academy in 1940 and attended Yale University prior to serving in the Armed Forces during World War ll. He worked all his life as an administrative manager at Champion International Paper retiring in 1982 from his position as an administrative manager of R & D. He served as a Trustee or Director of multiple organizations including the Mardag Foundation, Saint Paul Philharmonic, United Theological Seminary, Dodge Nature Center, and as an Elder and Deacon in the Presbyterian Church, among many others.

The accomplishments he was most proud of, however, were his four children, taking care of his home, the biographies of his parents, and being the Junior MN State Trapshooting Champion at age 15. Thomas is preceded in death by his wife Marjorie P., son Thomas S., parents Mary G. and Samuel Mairs, brothers Samuel Gardner, George Goodell and Robert Whitaker, sister Mary Anne Ober, several nieces and nephews and many dear friends. He is survived by daughter Nancy Mairs Daly (Peter) and grandchildren Sam and Mary Daly, son Robert G. ( Jill) and step-granddaughter Natalie Smith, and son Peter E. (Cheryl), and several nieces and nephews.

Sarah Elizabeth “Sally” Beals Holzbach, 91, died peacefully in her home Monday, July 25, 2016. She was born to Dr. Hugh and Kate Beals in St. Paul, Minnesota and attended Summit School.

She went to Mary Baldwin College in Virginia for two years, returning home to complete her studies at the University of Minnesota.

Discovering that she preferred Virginia winters over Minnesota’s, Sally set about to find herself a Virginian.

Through a mutual friend, Sally met Henry, who was the youngest Major in the Army at the time...and a Virginian!

They raised four children and when the nest began to empty, Sally pursued nursing and became an LPN, working at Eastern State Hospital for a number of years. Sally was a lively, outgoing, seemingly ageless soul who was always up for an adventure. She was an expert photographer, avid bridge player, world traveler, and philanthropist. Sally also was involved in theatre since her youth and maintained that interest throughout her life. For the past twenty years, she photographed hundreds of rehearsals, and created customized portfolios for all the cast members. Sally was preceded in death by her brother, Robert Beals; husband of 67 years, Lt. Col. Henry Holzbach, Jr.; and son, Robert “Windy” Holzbach. She is survived by her son, Charles Holzbach; her daughters, Sarah Starr (Allan), and Kate Holzback; her granddaughter, Kelly Hamilton (Keith); and

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her three great-grandchildren, Keith, Keenan and Kendrick.

The family wishes to express their sincere appreciation to Sally’s many friends and extended family members for their love and support.

’45 James Bierman died peacefully at the age of 90 at his home in Los Angeles on September 20. Born in West Point, Mississippi on June 21, 1926 to Clara and Bernie Bierman, Jim grew up in Minnesota. After serving in the US Navy during WWII, he earned a degree in Chemistry from the U of M, was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, and won a letter in football in 1947 and 1948.

He worked as a Material and Process engineer, first for Honeywell and then 30 years for Litton Aerospace. Among the things he enjoyed most were volunteer work, canoeing, camping and anything outdoors, traveling, especially by car, spending time with his friends, dancing and listening to Big Band music, and hanging out at home with his family. Jim was preceded in death by his brother, Bill Bierman ’42, and is survived

by Ingred Kelley, his wife of 60 years; son, Michael James; and daughter, Joan Kelley and sonin-law, Matthew Diezel.

Margaret Barber Feld died peacefully at home on September 24, 2016 surrounded by family, just shy of her 90th birthday. Born and raised in Minnesota, Maggie attended Summit School, where she made friends she

would treasure for the next 85 years. She attended Vassar College during the war, then married and started her family, placing roots in Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco before settling in Mill Valley in 1970. Once rooted in Mill Valley, she worked as a medical secretary before retiring in the late 1970s. She volunteered regularly at The Family Store thrift shop to support the Family Service Agency of Marin. She remained strong in her Episcopal faith throughout her years, and was active at the Church of Our Saviour.

Maggie is survived by her children, John O. Merrill III (Kay); Alison Doughty (Bill); Jennifer Martin (Fred); Lindsey Kauffman (Kevin); Charles Merrill (Karrie); and Katherine Alvarez (Bob). She treasured her grandchildren: Rachel Rosales (Carlos); Jake Merrill; Austin Martin; Bill Doughty, Jr. (Stephanie); Patrick Kauffman; Daniel Alvarez (Brooke); and Bradley Alvarez. More recently, she delighted in visits from her great-grandchildren: Chloe, Carlitos, Landon and Samaira.

Maggie was preceded in death by her husband, Irving Feld, and grandchildren Kevin and Cameron.

’46 Neal W. Sedgwick of Minnetonka passed away at the age of 87 on July 30, 2016.

Neal was born January 24, 1929 in Fall River, MA. He moved to St. Paul early in life where he attended St. Paul Academy and Macalester College. Neal worked for Great Northern Railroad as an accountant. He retired in 1968 and followed

his passions of mountain climbing, history, science, astronomy and investing. His climbing accomplishments include summiting Mt. Rainier.

Neal had an encyclopedic mind and everyone enjoyed conversation with him. Neal was a wonderful brother, uncle and friend. He is preceded in death by his parents Alfred and Mabel Sedgwick and survived by brother, Al ’45; nieces and nephews, Ann and JC Savage, Elizabeth Sedgwick and Ken Bechler, Sara Sedgwick, and Richard and Linda Sedgwick; grand nephews and nieces; one great nephew; sister in law Lynn Carroll; and, special friend Rose Braden.

’48 Charles Morrison died on July 15, 2016. He was born September 7, 1929 in London, England. During World War II, Charles and his sisters were evacuated from London for safety; in 1940, he crossed the Atlantic on the RMS Antonia in the last convoy of ships evacuating children. Charles then traveled by train to St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended St. Paul Academy and in 1945 returned to England, where he completed his national service, working for the Army Public Relations Office in Trieste, Italy.

From 1950-1956, he worked as a reporter and feature writer for the Lincolnshire Echo and the Birmingham Gazette in England. In 1956, returned to Minnesota and settled permanently in the United States, becoming a citizen in 1962. He received his BA, magna cum laude, from the University of Minnesota in

1960, and his MA and PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago in 1962 and 1965. He met his wife Mary at International House at the University of Chicago in 1961 and they were married in 1962.

Charles was a professor of anthropology and associate dean at Michigan State University, in East Lansing, from 1972-1999, and was part of the anthropology faculty at the University of Rochester, New York, from 1965-1972.

Charles enjoyed sailing and was also a talented artist, working in watercolor and mixed media and exhibiting work with the Mid Michigan Art Guild and in several private collections. Charles is survived by his wife Mary, son Ian, daughter-in-law, Jules Eckersley, and grandchildren Amelia and Jasper, all of Oak Park, Illinois, and daughter, Leila, of Arlington, Virginia.

Sarah “Sallie” Ward Stoltze O’Brien, a lifelong adventurer, artist and athlete born February 19, 1930, died suddenly in an accident on July 9, 2015 while hiking on the North Shore of Lake Superior at the age of 85. Growing up in Afton, Minnesota she attended Summit School in Saint Paul, and later Smith College and the University of Minnesota, graduating in physical therapy.

Sallie moved to Saint Paul with her husband and later to White Bear Lake, wintering in Green Valley, Arizona. Sallie and Dan loved to travel, visiting all seven continents and taking their children on annual trips across the lower 48 states.

They started a tradition of travel with their grandchildren, taking the extended family on trips to Arizona, Mexico, Costa Rica and Lake Powell. Sallie was an exceptional singles and doubles tennis player, scuba diver, horseback rider and skier. Known by many in the local arts community, Sallie was a potter whose wares and ceramic pieces can be found around the country.

She enjoyed singing choral music, and supported local arts organizations, including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Schubert Club, Minnesota Orchestra, and Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, Daniel William O’Brien, her parents John Robert Stoltze ’1913 and Grace Bulkley Stoltze, her sister Elizabeth Bigelow Guthrie ’40, brother Robert Bulkley Stoltze ’42, and sister Louise “Lesser” Stoltze ’49. She is survived by her sister Carolyn Stoltze Benepe ’44, her children, Bridget O’Brien ’72 (Mark Nelson), D. William “Bill” O’Brien ’74

( Julie Smendzuik O’Brien), Kevin Charles “KC” O’Brien (Mary O’Brien), Timothy John O’Brien, and daughter in-law, Christine Anning. Known as Waggie to her five beloved grandchildren, Peter and Katy Nelson, Stephanie O’Brien, and Maureen and Connor O’Brien ’09, Sallie leaves a great void with her passing.

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’50 Grace (Marly) Haskins was born on October 8, 1932 and passed away on July 26, 2016 at the age of 83. Born in New York City, Marly moved with her family at an early age to St. Paul, Minnesota, where her father was an interior decorator and her mother taught high school English. After grade school, Marly attended Summit School and earned her BA degree in English at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, later earning an MA in school administration from UW-Madison. She returned to Minnesota after Skidmore and became a school teacher in Pine City. In 1955, through a mutual acquaintance, she met an Air Force officer stationed at Chamberlain Field in St. Paul, the man who would become the love of her life and future husband. After she and Darrel married October 28, 1957, they moved to Darrel’s hometown of Lancaster, Wisconsin. Marly was preceded in death by her parents, Dorothy ’1924 (Dunn) and Clarence Deutsch, her grandparents Evaline and William W (Billy) Dunn, and her favorite aunt Jane Graw.

She is survived by her four grandchildren Amelia Rolf and Nolan Rolf of Plymouth, MN, and Alex Haskins, Carl (Laura) Geczy-Haskins; her children Sheila (Troy) Rolf and Bill (Lisa Swanson) Haskins; and, her loving husband of almost 59 years, Darrel.

Polly Bancroft Hebble died at the age of 84 on December 4, 2016. Polly was born in St Paul, Minn., where she attended Summit 48

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School. She spent two years at Connecticut College and in 1954 graduated from the University of Minnesota. While attending Connecticut College, she met Charles “Chuck” M. Hebble, Jr. and they were married on Sept 2, 1954. While raising her four children, Polly was an active member of The Junior League of St. Paul and often volunteered for the Children’s Hospital Association.

In 1970, Chuck’s career brought the family to Hanover, New Hampshire; prior to moving to Kendal at Hanover, Polly and Chuck divided their time between Ticklenaked Pond in Ryegate, Vt. and Palm Island, Fla. Polly and Chuck were active travelers, whether it was driving to visit their children and grandchildren (as they hated to miss any activity, game or recital) or exploring the world together. They enjoyed skiing, sailing, summers at Hiawatha, and jaunts worldwide. Bible study was important to Polly throughout her life.

Her faith was ever present and helped sustain both her and her family and friends.

Polly is survived by Chuck, her husband of 62 years; and four children: Mary Ryder ’73 and husband, David; Charles III and his wife, Lou Ann; John and his wife, Julie; and Thomas and his wife, Kelly; ten grandchildren, and many loved nieces and nephews.

’51 Frank Hilton passed away peacefully on August 19, 2016 at the age of 85. Frank was a member of St. Paul Pass and Heron Lake Gun Clubs and was a longtime owner of Goldwood Boarding Kennels. Among his

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many passions were training Hunting and Field Trial dogs, and raising pure bred Golden Retrievers. He will be sadly missed by his wife of 64 years, Peggy ’50; children, Cliff ( Joan) and Bonnie (Matt) Burks; grandchildren, Elliot and Tony (Erin); greatgrandchildren, Audrey and Brianna; brother, Tom ( Jan); sister, Betty (Don) Dawson; and, many nieces, nephews, other family and friends.

’53 John Marshall Budd, Jr. passed away on November 15, 2016 in Colorado Springs.

As the son of a railroad man, John lived in many locations before the family settled in St. Paul, MN in 1949. John graduated from St. Paul Academy and Yale University, earning a master’s in electrical engineering.

He married Smith College graduate Barbara Tews in 1957, soon relocating to Minneapolis and joining Honeywell as an engineer.

In 1973 he moved his family to Colorado Springs, again with Honeywell. John served on several community boards while at Honeywell including many years as president of Pikes Peak United Way. After 35 years of distinguished service, he retired from Honeywell but not from community leadership.

Inspired by friends and leaders in cultural and social service, John started Budd Management Consulting with a mission to improve care for developmentally disabled adults. It became a passion for the remainder of his life.

Other passions included

camping, dogs, bluegrass, and beach picnics. In 2014, John lost his wife of 57 years. Yet he never stopped working with disabled adults, appreciating the arts, delving into diverse studies, tinkering to improve things, and enjoying friends and family. He is survived by his daughter Elizabeth B. Ellmann (Stephen), sons John M. Budd III, Peter B. Budd ( Jenna Zark), Benjamin B. Budd, grandsons Noah Budd, Jack Budd and step-grandson Joshua Kowitz.

’57 James Mairs died recently in Westhampton, New York. He was born in St. Paul and lived in NYC since graduating from college. Following the early passing of his father, James L. Mairs, Jim’s mother Alice Klein Mairs ’29 married Frederick Bradford of St. Paul. Jim and his sister Bonnie (Alice) grew up in Mendota Heights.

He graduated from St. Paul Academy and Dartmouth.

His career in publishing included senior positions and editor with W.W. Norton Publishing & Company, a privately held mostly employee-owned house supporting respected academic, non-fiction, and fictional works. Jim followed his “retirement” by forming a private press, Quantuck Lane Press. He assisted hundreds of authors including Pete Seeger (folksinger), John Silber (Boston University), Bruce Catton, and several celebrated historical, non-fiction, and graphic originators. Jim leaves his family including his wife Gina Webster and four children: Nina Mairs, Alexandra

Tart, Anna Mairs, and Will Mairs plus four splendid grandchildren. His sister Bonnie ’54, and brothers, Fred ’63 and John ’64, live in New York City, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis.

’60 John “Jock” Irivine passed away on October 1, 2016; he will be remembered as an honorable gentleman, known for his kindness, generosity, and love of a practical joke.

Jock Irvine was born February 16, 1941, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

He was the son of Thomas E. Irvine ’29 and Sally Ordway Irvine ’29. He was educated at St. Paul Academy and Hobart College, and was a longtime resident of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and Stuart, Florida.

John’s life was marked throughout by service and philanthropy, including a seat on the boards of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the United Hospital Foundation, Hazelden, and Camp Widjiwagan. He was co-founder of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, as well as an avid sports fan, especially in his support of University of Minnesota Gopher athletics and as part owner of the Minnesota Fighting Saints. Jock was also an avid hunter and fisherman, having been named angler of the year at Sailfish Point. Jock’s greatest passion, however, was sailing, where his talent and dedication to yacht race management earned him national recognition and many local honors. Jock is survived by his loving wife of 50 years, Harriette “Twinks” Irvine; their daughter, Heather Irvine Capuano ’86, and son,

Roger ’89 (Teri) Irvine; their grandchildren Will and Angie Capuano and Chloe, Carter, and Charlotte Irvine; and sister Jill Crow ’61 and brothers William Irvine ’67 and Horace “Hod” Irvine ’55.

He is preceded in death by his brother Thomas E. Irvine ’53.

’62 Constance Shepard Walsh died on September 12, 2016, at home surrounded by her loving family after a four year battle with cancer. Born in Bronxville, New York and a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, she was one of five children of Blake and Nancy Shepard. She moved to Buffalo in 1973. She is survived by her husband of 45 years, John N. Walsh, III; her daughter, Kyle, and son, Blake; her sisters Nan ’60, Christy and Alison ( Jeff); her brother, Blake ’76 (Ann); her sisters-inlaw Demi (Rob), Debbie (Mike) and Amy (Barney); her motherin-law, Sally Keating Walsh, and by the fourteen nephews and nieces she so loved.

’63 Channing Donahower passed away after a brief illness on October 12 at the Golden Living Center in Roseville, Minnesota. Chan was born in Springfield, Missouri on April 27, 1945. He was a graduate of St. Paul Academy and of Colorado College and worked for Standard Conveyor Company and later for Michael Sales in St. Paul. He is survived by his sisters, Lynn Levine ’61 of New York and Deborah Donahower of Napa, California; stepsisters Perry Clark Perry ’59 of British Columbia and Linsay Clark Meisner-Jensen

of Switzerland; and, eight nieces and nephews, a great nephew and a great niece. He was an active member of the White Bear Lake Unitarian-Universalist Church.

’66 Joan Trenerry passed away on Friday, December 30, 2016. Born in April 1948, Joan is a graduate of Summit School, and St. Catherine’s University. Joan was a bowler extraordinaire, and a lifelong tennis player. She loved animals and art and turned that enthusiasm into an animal portrait business. She had a thriving sweater business, creating beautiful patterns and designs. She doted on her pug, Arni. She was rich in her friends, who made her final days filled with care and love.

Joan is survived by her sister, Kitty Reveal, brother-in-law, Chip Reveal, nieces, Genna, Adri and Danielle. She was preceded in death by her son Andrew Mathos.

’87 Amy Tobin died on January 14, 2017 at the age of 47 after a long and valiant battle with breast cancer. Amy’s musical gifts were discovered at age 3 when sat down at the piano and began

playing shortly thereafter. As she developed her musical talent she discovered her true joy was the violin. Amy was a graduate of St. Paul Academy & Summit School and Boston University. She served as the concertmaster of the St. Paul Civic Symphony and played with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. She will be missed by her tango group. Those that have heard Amy perform have been moved and inspired and are grateful to her for making the world a more harmonious place in which to live. After the unexpected death of her favorite brother, James, she chose to embark on a new course of study and graduated summa cum laude as a medical technician and has thoroughly enjoyed her team at Allina Health Systems. Living with an incurable disease like cancer is challenging at best. Amy did it with style, grace, a ready smile and kindness toward others even when she was losing her battle.

Her greatest joy was watching her son grow and realize his own personal gifts and talents. He has begun his own musical journey on both the cello and French horn.

She leaves behind her beloved son, Liam Tobin; parents, John and Marie Tobin; sister, Lisa Tobin ’78; nephew, Ian Tennant; and many wonderful relatives and countless friends. She was pre-deceased by her much-loved brother, James ’77, and her grandparents.

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>> PERFORMANCES

Upper School Fall Play: As You Like It November 18-19, 2017

Middle School Winter Orchestra Concert December 14, 2016

Middle School Winter Choral Concert December 15, 2016

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Middle School Winter Band Concert December 14, 2016