Alumni Horae Fall 2023 by St. Paul's School

A lumni Horae ST. PAUL’S SCHOOL | ISSUE I 2023-24

IN THIS ISSUE: A new kindness curriculum Alumni return for summer school Protecting places and species with Peter Paine ’53 and Daniel Thorne ’69

Alumni Horae VOL. 103 | ISSUE I 2023-24

RECTOR

Kathleen C. Giles EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Karen Ingraham EDITOR

Kristin Duisberg DESIGNER

Cindy L. Foote

SECTION EDITOR

Kate Dunlop

SENIOR WRITER

Jacqueline Primo Lemmon PHOTOGRAPHY

Ben Flanders Michael Seamans

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

Ian Aldrich Jana F. Brown Larry Clow Jim Graham Jody Record ALUMNI ADVISORY BOARD

Elise Loehnen Fissmer ’98 David M. Foxley ’02 Dana R. Goodyear ’94 Jonathan D. Jackson ’09 Malcolm Mackay ’59 Diego H. Nuñez ’08 Published by St. Paul’s School

POSITIVE CONNECTIONS

A NEW VIEW OF MILLVILLE

IAN ALDRICH

JIM GRAHAM

Kate Daniels’ new kindness curriculum for students explores the importance and benefits of positive engagement for individuals and the SPS community.

For some alums, spending the summer at St. Paul’s School to teach at the Advanced Studies Program provides a new perspective on their old home.

ON THE COVER FPO enviro logos here

Faculty members pass between the Lindsay Center for Mathematics and Science and Schoolhouse en route to the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul on a late fall morning. PHOTO: MICHAEL SEAMANS

IN THIS ISSUE 2

FROM THE RECTOR

THE SCHOOL TODAY

REVIEWS

New Trustees; new Sixth Form officers; quotes from campus visitors and our new teachers; Latin and Greek Teacher David Camden; Associate Athletic Director Daniel Toulson and more.

“The Engineeers” Katy Lederer ’90

“The Goblin Twins” Frances Cha ’03

ALUMNI CONNECTIONS

PROFILE

ACROSS OUR CHANNELS

IN MEMORIAM

Daniel Thorne ’69 takes a creative approach to combating wildlife trafficking. Elena Foraker ’11 is in the thick of “it,” leading design for trendy BAGGU.

Did you miss the top news stories online? Catch up on Fall Term stories, videos and social media from the School.

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WHERE HIS HEART IS

"OLYMPIA" OVERSEAS

KATE DUNLOP

LARRY CLOW

Peter S. Paine Jr. ’53 has devoted decades to the protection and preservation of the Adirondack Park.

Ashley Miller Dunn ’02 played a pivotal role in bringing an iconic Manet painting to the U.S.

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ALUMNI HORAE DEADLINE Formnotes for the spring issue are due Friday, March 8. Notes and photos may be sent to alumni@ sps.edu. The minimum allowable photo size for print publication is 1MB. Photos that are smaller than 1MB do not provide the resolution necessary for print and will be included only at the discretion of Alumni Horae as space allows.

FROM THE RECTOR

Finding Gratitude and Hope in Troubled Times KATHLEEN C. GILES

October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, when she wept in my office in heartbreak and fury at what she deemed to be the massive amount of graphic, shameless misinformation she saw posted online, noting with dismay that, “My generation gets our news and information from social media.” It was difficult for her to draw any comfort from the Chapels that week where these events were addressed when so much dissonance flooded the social channels in her online life about what was happening, about the sides to be drawn, and about the social pressure to pick one, and to do so quickly. While I appreciate the urgency, I am uncertain whether the recent legal actions that state governments and As this edition of Alumni Horae goes to print in Novem- federal regulators are taking against social media giants ber, the grounds reflect the muted peace of late fall in will amount to much when we have, as a society, invested New England. Rain has fallen generously for the past so heavily in a marketplace of ideas that focuses on the several months, and autumn’s colors have combined marketability and profitability of provocation rather than the way our moral imaginations with bright green grass and starshould engage to protect truth, tlingly blue sky. In addition to all "IT IS A TIME OF TURMOIL decency, and justice. That hackthe energy our students create, neyed phrase, “it’s the Wild West nature has offered us many lovely IN OUR WORLD. ... OUR out there,” offers little to no comfort moments of beauty and clarity EMOTIONS IN RESPONSE to the student in my office, a digital over the past weeks. TO THESE UPHEAVALS native who with a good heart and a Life on the grounds always stands fine mind has come of age as an in sharp contrast to life in many RUN THE FULL RANGE innocent, unwitting, and yet willother places on the planet, particuOF HUMAN EXPERIENCE ing participant in a Wild West rolarly those torn apart by war and deo that acknowledges no moral suffering. That contrast has been … [BUT] MUST ALWAYS or ethical boundaries. We will conmade especially sharp for our stuINCLUDE EMPATHY, tinue to work with students to help dents by the images flooding their COMPASSION, HUMILITY, them understand the complexities screens since school opened in of their digital citizenship — a September. These images have inAND YES, HOPE global citizenship that has no precluded terrorist attacks, war, sufAND GRATITUDE." qualifiers other than the means to fering from natural disasters, and a procure a screen and a data plan. mass shooting in our neighboring state of Maine — all part of our national consciousness You will see invited Chapel speakers, Living in Commuand very much part of our students’ consciousness. The nity curriculum, and community conversations on this juxtaposition between the orderly, relatively peaceful rou- topic reflected in our print and digital publications. My tine of our School and the chaos around us is not an hope is that you also will see increasing recognition withexperience unique to St. Paul’s. The maxim “think globally, in our society and governments of the magnitude of the act locally” has strange resonance in this time of uber- challenge our children face in acclimating to the world media and instant commentary; social media conflates through their screen and a greater commitment to find the global and local in ways that can leave us wondering better, healthier ways for young people to engage this who and what to believe, and on that basis, who and what complex world. The Friday the student came into my office began with we can trust, globally or locally, in these turbulent times. Probably one of the most difficult conversations I have a scheduled Chapel talk by our consulting rabbi, had with a student happened on the Friday after the Rabbi Robin Nafshi, whose explanation of how we derive 2

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Science Teacher and School Verger Rick Pacelli P’13 leads the procession during Fall Convocation Sept. 5.

hope and insistence on gratitude to God are among the most important ideas I have heard, and I offer them for your consideration. In her address, Rabbi Nafshi shared: “During my now 18 years as an ordained rabbi, more than one person has told me that they can no longer pray the words of our prayer books. Prayers, they say, depict an omnipresent, all-knowing God who’s the source of peace and healing and goodness, and yet our world, they observe — and how much more so this past week — is filled with war and illness and evil. The best I can suggest is to understand that our prayers are aspirational, describing a world as it could be, not as it is. But historically prayer in Judaism has served many other functions. Prayer has provided a connection to the divine, an opportunity to express gratitude and the chance to ask for intervention. And this final purpose has sustained our people for two millenia, during all that time of evils and horrors.” It is a time of turmoil in our world. Sadly, it always will be a time of turmoil for some people in some place on this vast planet. Our emotions in response to these upheavals run the full range of human experience as situations change and evolve, but our emotions must always include empathy, compassion, humility, and yes,

hope and gratitude. Not gratitude for being sheltered by our lives and locations, but gratitude in the way that even in times of terrible suffering, spiritual traditions insist on gratitude as an expression of admiration — to God — for human resilience, courage, and fortitude in persevering. Our knowledge of and experience with that perseverance through our study of history and human experience are the basis for our gratitude, for our knowing what is possible, with and through that faith, hope and love. Here is where a liberal education and critical perspective make all the difference: We learn as much as we can to understand the human condition, and we dedicate ourselves to using that knowledge “in service to the greater good” as expressed in the School’s mission. As spiritual people, our knowledge of strength, courage, and resilience gives us hope and optimism from the goodness we know in our lives — that what is today is not what must be. Because we know goodness, we can be hopeful and optimistic about what our lives can be and what the world can be. What a gift Rabbi Nafshi gave us, in helping us understand the “why” of gratitude and hope and how to find them in times of anxiety and uncertainty. They must be practiced by each of us and be part of the foundation on which we stand, together, to help our children, communities, and each other. Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

THE SCHOOL TODAY

THE VIEW FROM HERE Through its narrow windows, the Chapel Tower offers a spectacular vista of the School's grounds — here, overlooking the Rectory and Conover 20, with the Lindsay Center and Memorial Hall in the background. 4

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THE SCHOOL TODAY

SPS BOARD UPDATE

Meet Our New Trustees

n July 1, the St. Paul’s School Board of Trustees welcomed four new members — alumni and parent volunteers who join 19 returning members serving their first, second or third three-year terms. The 23-member Board oversees the School’s management of its financial and physical assets, provides thought leadership, and helps to guide the strategic direction of the School.

WILLIAM DOYLE P’25

RAYMOND JOSEPH JR. ’90

William Doyle earned a Bachelor of Science in materials science and engineering from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Since 2004, he has served as executive chairman of the global oncology company Novocure GmbH. Previously, Doyle was chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Devices Research and Development Council, worldwide president of Biosense Webster and a member of the internal boards of directors of Cordis Corporation and Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation. Doyle serves on MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering & Science (IMES) Visiting Committee and Harvard Business School’s Healthcare Advisory Board and is an emeritus member of Harvard Business School’s Board of Dean’s Advisors. He also serves as an adviser to the Harvard joint MS/MBA program and is on the governing board of the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance.

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION VICE PRESIDENT

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Raymond Joseph Jr. ’90 earned an A.B. from Harvard University in 1994 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1999. He has been a managing director and director of research at investment advisory firm Wellington Management since 2020. Prior to that, he was a managing director at Citi Private Bank from 2018 to 2020; before Citi, he spent six years at UBS Wealth Management. For more than 20 years, Joseph has supported charter schools and educational access nonprofit organizations through board service and volunteer programs. He is currently chair of the Board of Trustees at Bold Charter School in the Bronx, New York, and served on the boards of the Odyssey Charter School in California and New York’s Future Leaders Institute Charter School as well as the Oliver Scholars program and Posse Foundation Los Angeles. At SPS, Joseph serves as chair of the BIPOC Alumni Advisory Council and as a member of the Alumni Association Executive Committee.

CAROLINE LA VOIE ’88, P’20,’21 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT

Caroline Gilman La Voie ’88, P’20,’21 earned a B.A. from Trinity College and an MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. She began her career in investment banking at JPMorgan Chase and later worked at Morgan Stanley in the M&A, Technology and High Yield groups. She then worked in admissions at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. La Voie has been a form director since 2018 and is a member of the SPS Alumni Association Executive Committee and the SPS XIX Society Steering Committee. Her daughters Agatha La Voie and Eleanor “Ellie” La Voie are members of the Forms of 2020 and 2021, respectively. While their children were at St. Paul’s School, La Voie and her husband John served on the Parent Annual Fund Committee. She also is a board member of the Tuck School of Business MBA Council and the Glenbrook Club at Lake Tahoe.

LAUREN MCKENNA SURZYN ’03 Lauren McKenna Surzyn earned a B.S.E. in operations research and financial engineering from Princeton in 2007 and an MBA with honors from Columbia in 2015. Since 2019, she has served as COO, Americas at New York-based Kirkoswald Asset Management, a global macro hedge fund with a focus on emerging markets. Prior to that, she was an executive director at UBS Investment Bank in the Prime Brokerage Division. She is the board president and a founding member of Inspiring Girls USA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising the aspirations of young girls by connecting them with women role models across industries. Surzyn co-founded the SPS XIX Society in 2016 and is the form director for 2003, a position she previously held from 2004-2008. She has served as a member of the SPS Alumni Executive Committee, on the SPS Alumni Association Nominating Committee and as a form agent (2008-13); she has been a main agent since 2013.

Members of the SPS Board of Trustees were on the St. Paul’s School grounds for their annual fall meeting, Sept. 28-30. Nineteen members of the 23-person board gathered on the Chapel Terrace with Rector Kathy Giles between Chapel and a full day of sessions on Friday, Sept. 29. Back: Tim Steinert ’78, P’21; Matthew Baird ’83, P’21; Ray Joseph Jr. ’90; Tully Friedman P’17,’17; Ben Loehnen ’96; David Fleischner ’91, P’20,’23. Middle: Julian Cheng ’92, P’27; David Scully ’79, P’21; Lauren McKenna Surzyn ’03; Chase Robinson ’81; Page Sargisson ’93; William Doyle P’25. Front: Nancy Dorn Walker ’94; Rector Giles; Amachie Ackah ’90; Candice Bednar P’18,’19,’22; Noelle Kwok ’98, P’27; Caroline La Voie ’87, P’20,’21; Lisa Hughes ’78, ‘P’17,’19; Henry Ho ’90, ‘P21,’22. 7 Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

Among her other roles, Dean of Student Support Kate Daniels also serves as head of house in Manville, where she meets weekly with the 31 boys who live there.

KINDNESS IN AND BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Positive Connections Are More Than Academic IAN ALDRICH

hat does it mean to be kind? What are the powers of compassion? How can thinking more deeply about both things help the world become a better place? These are just a few of the questions Kate Daniels, dean of student support at St. Paul’s School, is exploring in a new “kindness curriculum” she launched this year. The program, a mix of short lessons and group discussions delivered at the School’s weekly Thursday afternoon dorm meetings, delves into the importance of positively connecting with others and the reverberations those singular acts, no matter how small, can have on a relationship and a community. For Daniels, this is no academic exercise. Research has shown there’s real power in kindness, she says, and not just for those on the receiving end of it. “When we are kind — when we do something kind for someone else — it makes us feel good, happier, more optimistic,” says Daniels, who is the head of Manville House. “When people experience positive feelings like this, they are more apt to continue to be kind. And, when others are the recipients of kindness, they are more inclined to be kind to others.” Daniels draws the distinction between being kind, which is centered on others, and being nice — which is more about a person’s view of themselves and is somewhat transactional in nature. She also notes that some studies indicate that kindness also offers some protection against sadness and depression. “People

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who do regular volunteer work, for example, show that they have lower rates of depression than people who don't volunteer, which is really interesting,” she says. Spread out over the course of the year and led by dorm prefects, the curriculum consists of nearly 20 classes that Daniels has developed. Over the course of the 15-minute sessions, students share recent acts of kindness they’ve witnessed or been a part of before diving into a selected guided topic, such as online behavior, navigating unkind acts and the toxicity of gossip. Each session concludes with students discussing what they’ve learned and how they can put words into action before the next meeting. “If everything we're doing is rooted in kindness, if it becomes a litmus test that we use for any of our actions, then maybe, and I know this sounds Pollyanna-ish, it can negate a lot of the unattractive behavior we’re seeing so much of these days,” says Daniels. If there’s a person to have shepherded this program into existence, it’s Daniels, who in 2021 was named the School’s inaugural Kiril Sokoloff ’65 Chair. Established to support a faculty member who is an inspirational leader in the School community, demonstrating compassion, kindness and engagement, the position is more than just an honor for past work. At the heart of its mission is a push to shape how compassion is nurtured at the School. Daniels began laying out the frame-

work for her curriculum during a spring sabbatical this year. Daniels wasn’t alone in having kindness and compassion top of mind at SPS. Vice Rector for School Life Theresa Ferns ’84, P’19 and Dean of Students Suzanne Ellinwood P’18,’20 also had been thinking about these particular matters in relation to community life, and when Daniels approached them about her idea, they quickly signed on. As it happened, the program also dovetailed with the decision by incoming Sixth Form Officers to choose “trust” as the School’s theme for this year. “One of the reasons we were all so excited about the idea is that kindness really and truly does increase emotional intelligence, active listening and lots of other leadership qualities,” says Daniels. “So the leaders have been asked to foster a culture of trust and mutual respect here at School; to lead with kindness and curiosity, and to use kindness to create an atmosphere of safety and belonging, to be empathetic, to be approachable, and to enter each communication from a place of love and kindness. How awesome is that?” Even more awesome is how Daniels sees the work not just directly impacting the SPS community, but also the lives of its students long after they’ve graduated. Kindness builds its own kind of momentum, she says. A little can lead to a lot. And that has the power to create all kinds of good change.

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Sixth Formers Embody Theme of Trust in 2023-24 JACQUELINE PRIMO LEMMON

tudent Council Secretary Kiki Hillary ’24 describes the Sixth Form Officers (SFOs) as the link between the St. Paul’s School student body and the administration. “We work to voice the needs and wants of the students to the administration, and vice versa.” Hillary, who wanted to run for student government after witnessing the positive impact previous years’ officers had at the School, says that SFOs are like “big siblings [to] the younger students,” meeting each new student during Opening Days and establishing a positive rapport with them to build trust — the theme the four elected officers chose for the 2023-24 school year. President Cris Ramirez ’24 came to SPS as a Fifth Former last year and says that the support he received as a new student and varsity football team member inspired him to run; he wanted to help other new students feel welcomed into the community just as warmly as he was. Plus, he notes, more than one person told him he was meant for student government. He is also a member of the Latinx Society and Onyx. “I can speak for every single one of us: you can trust us with whatever you have to say, and we’re going to treat everybody with respect and have that same trust in them,” Ramirez says, a sentiment echoed by the other SFOs. In addition to serving as confidants and role models on the grounds, these officers play a pivotal role in ensuring a positive and supportive student life culture at the School. The SFOs meet on Monday mornings with Rector Kathy Giles and regularly with School administrators and deans — all in service of addressing student concerns from a unified perspective. They also meet every other week with six other form representatives (two per form) and 17 house representatives (one per house). They also represent the student body at various events throughout the year. Vice President Kaden Roy ’24, a member of the Entrepreneurship Club and self-proclaimed fan of writing and delivering speeches, echoes his fellow SFOs’ emphasis on the importance of trust at SPS. “Living at boarding school is almost like you’re living with a big

family. You’re on this campus, that’s your big “It’s really eye-opening because we get to house,” he says. Trust, he adds, is essential to see that just as much as we want the School making a family as big as SPS work. to be the very best it can be, [teachers] want Treasurer Isa Martinez ’24 had prior that as well. It’s a mutual relationship,” adds Hillary, whose addiSchool leadership expetional leadership roles rience when she ran for “WE WORK TO VOICE include founder of the office, including as a THE NEEDS AND Women in WeightliftLinC leader and Latinx ing Club and captain of Society head. She’s also WANTS OF THE the varsity soccer and captain of the varsity STUDENTS TO THE alpine ski teams. She softball and volleyball ADMINISTRATION, also notes that SFOs teams this year. “I was can help students intermotivated by the love I AND VICE VERSA.” pret the reasons behind have for this School and different School rules this community,” she — Kiki Hillary ’24 and realize their imsays. Martinez adds that one of her priorities as an SFO is to organize portance, which helps contribute to the more community events that bring the sense of community. whole School together, whether that’s a field So what do this year’s SFOs have in store day, house olympics, or pep rally before a for 2023-24? They are floating a number big game. “For example, we really liked the of ideas as the school year gets underway, idea of a teacher-versus-student basketball including many that will reinforce their match in the winter,” she says. chosen theme of trust.

Sixth Form Officers (l. to r.): Treasurer Isa Martinez, Secretary Kiki Hillary, Vice President Kaden Roy and President Cris Ramirez. Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

THE SCHOOL TODAY MEET THE OUTING CLUB

Day Hikes, Knot-tying and Self-reflection: No Experience Necessary JACQUELINE PRIMO LEMMON

Outing Club adviser Scott Betournay ASP ’96 and club heads Edie Jones ’24 (c.) and Rebecca Barnard ’24, out on the SPS trails.

ust as the outdoors has something to offer everyone — a challenging hike, a relaxing afternoon on the water or a mind-clearing walk between study sessions — the SPS Outing Club caters to students of all experience levels. Activities include day and overnight hikes, snowshoeing, canoeing and kayaking as well as workshops where students can learn skills like knot-tying and how to navigate with a map and compass. While some trips require a greater amount of skill and experience, the majority of outings are open to novices and seasoned adventurers alike. This year, the Outing Club has some 75 student members and more than 20 interested faculty and staff members

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on the chaperone list, says SPS Science Laboratory Technician and Nordic ski coach Scott Betournay ASP ’96. A registered Maine Guide for sea kayaking, experienced hiker and Nordic skier himself, Betournay has served as the Outing Club’s adviser for nearly a decade. Midway through Fall Term, he and club co-heads Becca Barnard ’24 and Edie Jones ’24 met to map out a hike up Mt. Kearsarge — weather permitting, of course. “Edie and I are on Nordic skiing and rowing together, and I feel like there’s a big Nordic skiing/Outing Club pipeline. Lots of crossover,” Barnard says. She grew up in New Hampshire, enjoying the range of outdoor activities the state offers, including skiing, biking and hiking. Her brother, Sam Barnard ’22, was an Outing Club head; this is her second year as co-head. “Having that space in Outing Club to just enjoy being outside has helped me bring that to my other sports, where if I’m not running or skiing with music, I can just appreciate being outside doing the sports I love,” she adds. Jones, who joined the club as a new Fourth Former, didn’t come to St. Paul’s School with a lifetime of outdoor experience. “I’m from New York City, so I guess I’m not in the most outdoorsy environment most of the time,” she says. Her interest in the outdoors, and specifically in survival skills, was a product of “apocalypse panic” at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. She says that being outside offers perspective and clarity, and that through the Outing Club she has been able to meet like-minded people who enjoy the outdoors and are not afraid to join a club by themselves. Barnard says the very nature of the club’s activities means that it attracts people who are eager participants. “A five-hour hike takes up a good chunk of your Sunday … it’s not like tagging along with friends to a club meeting on the grounds,” she explains. Still, all three emphasize that the Outing Club is for everyone — even those who have never set foot on a trail before. For trips that require outdoor gear, the club has equipment to borrow, including non-cotton shirts and hiking boots, which are especially handy for novice hikers. “[When we’re hiking], not everyone needs to stay all together the entire time, but we do ask students to partner up and look out for each other,” Betournay explains. “I hope that participants come away with a greater appreciation for the natural world and for being present with other people in the outdoors.”

HEARD IN CHAPEL The St. Paul’s School community heard from a variety of guest speakers during Fall Term Chapels. Here’s just a little of what some of them had to say. N. BRUCE DUTHU

Dartmouth professor speaking during the kickoff of Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month “If I approach an encounter with new people who are currently strangers but are soon to become friends … in a spirit of openness, in a spirit of what do I have, what can I learn from this encounter — you create the space for understanding. As humans, that's where the richness … takes place. It's in that — we call it the interstices, what happens in the spaces in between.”

KWOK PUI LAN

Dean’s Professor of Systematic Theology at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and 2023 Dickey visitor “We always say that history has been written from the perspective of the winners because they wrote the history and passed it on, but the Bible is not like that. It was … a book for the losers, for those who were defeated by their enemies. … It was during that time of defeat and destruction that Jewish writers fashioned a new way of thinking about who they are and formed a new concept of political community. At the heart of the Hebrew Bible … is this question: What does it mean to be a people?” ATIA ABAWI POWELL

Journalist and author speaking during the School’s early celebration of International Human Rights Day “It’s so important to educate yourself about what’s going on [in the world], especially in a world of misinformation. … As a journalist, I couldn’t just tell you what I believed in. When there was a story that broke in Afghanistan, I called the Afghan government. I called the U.S. and international military there, and I called the Taliban, because I had to get the story from all perspectives. When you’re on X, when you’re on TikTok, you have these little limited perspectives that someone’s giving you.” RICHARD BLANCO

2012 inaugural poet and National Humanities Medal recipient, speaking during Latin American Heritage Month “They say every poet is in some ways writing one poem all their life. And what that means … is there’s usually some kind of big question that takes hold of you, and in some ways, your entire body of work is an attempt to address that question. … For me, that [question] comes down to a single word and that word is home, and all that word calls into play in terms of family, in terms of community, in terms of identity, in terms of place, in terms of nationality, et cetera.”

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Latin and Greek Teacher David Camden with his 2023 book, “The Cosmological Doctors of Classical Greece: First Principles in Early Greek Medicine.”

FIFTH-CENTURY THINKING

For Latin and Greek Teacher David Camden, the Past is a Useful Guide for the Present JANA F. BROWN

n an age in which information is outdated almost as soon as it is aired, a career spent focusing on the connections between the knowledge and discoveries of the ancient world and today might seem like a purely academic exercise. But David Camden, the St. Paul’s School Alexander Smith Cochran Chair in Greek Language and Literature, says the past is one of our most valuable tools for understanding the present. The St. Paul’s School classics teacher has made a career of studying the languages and cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, and in his role as teacher of Latin and Greek and adviser to the School’s Classical Honors Program, Camden is imparting to students his expertise and excitement for our ancient predecessors. His charges often stumble into the classics, sometimes because they believe it might help them better understand the intricacies of the English language (and help them on the SAT verbal section). But Camden encourages study of the subject to help young scholars make sense of their own experiences, as well. “I tell students the classics give them insight into so many things present in the world right now,” explains Camden. “In our science program, we intentionally do physics first because it’s foundational. It’s very similar studying Greek and Latin and classical civilizations,

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because there are so many things around where you can actually see the roots of these things — in culture, political systems, literature, art. That gives you this key for unlocking the world and getting that sense of, ‘This is why things are the way they are.’ ” Camden discovered Latin as an eighth grader in his native Virginia. Fascinated by the language and its accompanying culture, he went on to graduate summa cum laude in classics from Harvard in 2005 and also earned his Ph.D. from the university in 2016. Before joining the SPS faculty in the fall of 2016, Camden was a lecturer in the Department of Classics at Emory University and spent two years teaching Latin at the Gunston School in Maryland. Though Latin was his first love, Camden says that he and his wife — SPS Latin and Greek Teacher Elizabeth Engelhardt — are primarily Hellenists: specialists in Greek language, literature and culture. The opportunity to teach Greek and guide students through the Classical Honors Program was among the things that drew them to SPS. “To have this program where we are able to teach Latin and also Greek at a high level is rare for a high school,” says Camden, noting that 34 of the School’s 87 Latin students also study Greek. “A class where you actually learn the language in depth to the point where you’re reading

FLEISCHNER FAMILY ADMISSIONS CENTER UPDATE Homer and Plato by the end is quite exceptional.” In addition to teaching classics, Camden also has written about the subject. He wrote a textbook on Latin poetry used by SPS’s Latin 4 Honors class, and earlier this year, Cambridge University Press published his book, “The Cosmological Doctors of Classical Greece: First Principles in Early Greek Medicine.” The work is a revised version of Camden’s doctoral dissertation, which focused on ancient medicine, including the works of the Hippocratic Corpus, whose “On Regimen” Camden had written about for his undergraduate senior thesis. Where many people now tend to associate ancient medicine with either the Hippocratic Oath or Galen’s theory that the human body is composed of four humors, the balance of which dictates health and illness, Camden takes on a very different question: that of why some of the physicians of antiquity were developing general theories about the cosmos — the idea of an ordered universe. His book examines the dividing line between philosophy and practical science, and the manner in which medical experts at the time were defining it. “You see some early discussions where scholars are talking about how this is detrimental to the science of medicine, as philosophy is the enemy of medicine,” Camden explains. “The argument I make in the book is that [Greek doctors’ interest in cosmology] actually is an offshoot from changes in medical thinking that were already taking place in the 5th century BC, where there was an older way of organizing medical texts by disease, symptoms, treatment and prognosis.” Camden explains in his book that doctors of that era soon began to discover that despite similar symptoms and diagnoses, patient outcomes were impacted by lifestyle variables such as age, diet, climate and other factors that made it difficult to generalize treatments. They therefore looked for principles that remained stable, even when the variables changed, ultimately spurring them to contemplate the fundamental forces that govern the universe as a whole. This interplay between theory and practice persists in medicine today, further emphasizing Camden’s assertion that his students will broaden their worldview by studying the work of their ancient ancestors. “The idea in the Western medical tradition that there’s this basic knowledge that all doctors must first acquire is an unbroken line all the way back to the Greeks,” he says. Not finished yet, Camden is at work on his next tome, which will explore “On Regimen” and its affinities with other cosmological systems from the 6th, 5th and 4th centuries BC. He also will continue to support the Classical Honors Program, noting that he thrives on the energy of his students. “The kind of students you get to teach when you’re at a school like this,” he says, “they’re enthusiastic for the subject, and it invigorates you every day.”

The summer months and the first weeks of fall marked the first visible progress on the construction of the new Fleischner Family Admissions Center, beginning with the June removal of the house that once stood on the site. Over the summer, sitework began in earnest, with site preparation, rock and ledge removal and excavation to prepare for the installation of foundations, drainage infrastructure and site utilities. By December, the building footprint will be in place and the concrete structural footings and foundations will be poured. At this point, the building’s form and placement on the site will start to become evident. “Construction is going very much according to plan, and the entire design and contracting team meets weekly to ensure smooth progress,” says Jamie Kolker, senior director of facilities and planning at SPS. “As the building’s structure begins to rise from the foundations in early 2024, we will also be busy finalizing details of the interior design, colors and graphics. These important details will all contribute to the complete welcome experience the building will support.” Even as the focus remains squarely on foundation work, Kolker and others are looking ahead to the completed building, which is slated to open early in 2025. Salvaged granite from the house that once sat on the site will be used in the landscape design, and the project, targeted for LEED silver certification, will incorporate many sustainable features. Meadow grasses will be planted to reduce the need for watering and mowing; the building’s windows and curtain walls will be triple layered for increased energy efficiency and insulation; the site will include electric vehicle charging stations to supplement those outside the Stovell Tennis Courts. Preliminary conversations also are underway about the specific manner in which Sheldon Library’s 9,000 square feet of space will be put to student and community use once the building is vacated by the Office of Admissions. — Kristin Duisberg

Watch a time-lapse of the sitework and building preparation:

Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

THE SCHOOL TODAY

EXHIBIT HIGHLIGHTS THE MILLVILLE OF YESTERYEAR

Big Study above; the Old Infirmary below.

Many alumni remember taking their science classes in the Payson Memorial Science Building, which stood from 1951 to the mid-2000s in part of the footprint that the Lindsay Center for Mathematics and Science now occupies. Some also will remember the Westinghouse Laboratory, Payson’s predecessor on Library Road, where the boys of St. Paul’s School took a science curriculum of physics and chemistry from 1902 to 1951. As is the case at any school, the SPS grounds are a dynamic environment, and over the School’s 167-year history, a significant number of buildings have come and gone to meet the ever-evolving needs of the community. During the Fall Term, an Ohrstrom Library Archives exhibit titled “The Vanished Buildings of SPS” brought back to life, at least temporarily, many of the structures that once stood in Millville — including Dr. George Shattuck’s house, Building No. 3, the Orphans Home, the Big Study, the Old Infirmary, the Old Gymnasium, the School, the Lower School and more. SPS Archivist Deanna Parsi gave a talk on the exhibit to SPS community members in October, closing her comments with a quote that came out of the 1940 dismantling of the Old Infirmary/Twenty House, built in 1876. “Such are the bare bones of its history. Would that it were possible to make the story live as the house itself has lived — to call forth the stream of vital people that have moved about its halls.” — Kristin Duisberg

FROM THE SCHOOLHOUSE

Meet Our Newest Teachers A new school year means excitement, opportunity — and new faces among our full-time faculty. Each of our five academic departments welcomed teachers this year, individuals who bring a wealth of experience and their special perspective to the SPS community. During classes and office hours, music lessons and dance rehearsals, club meetings and athletic matches and meals and more, these eight educators join nearly 100 SPS teaching veterans and four teaching fellows to guide students in the experience of living in and contributing to a community dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in character and scholarship. “I look forward to supporting students as they investigate phenomena of the natural world and pursue their own curiosities related to science.” — JASMIN BUTEAU, BIOLOGY

“I am excited to support learners to engage with the world and its many delights, challenges and curiosities. I enjoy the process of working with young learners to discover what they value, learn how to utilize their resources and know how to take action.” — LINDSAY DUNCAN, CERAMICS

“I was raised in prep schools and I have a deep passion for academics that I am excited to bring to St. Paul's School.” — WILLIAM “PRES” HAGEN, MATHEMATICS

Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

“Coming from New Orleans, I’m so happy to be starting this new adventure in beautiful New England. I’m most excited to get to know my students and advisees and find ways to really get involved with the SPS community.” — MICHAELA KAMETANI-RIDER, SPANISH

“In addition to the wonderful faculty and programs, this is a very special school for glassblowing. I am looking forward to learning about glass with my students in such a great educational environment.” — AYA OKI SALINAS, GLASS

“As a woman of color and coming from the Caribbean to teach world languages, I hope to share my culture and the cultures of the countries I teach about. I hope to show my students that different is not a bad thing and that we are more alike than we think. I feel blessed to be here and hope that my presence can be impactful.” — GIZELLE WALTER, SPANISH

“SPS [has impressed me as] an intentional, grounded community with a strong, clear, yet flexible vision for the future. I love that the community is in motion and there’s a sense of purpose that runs through both my conversations with people and the beautiful physical grounds of campus.” — DREW INZER, HUMANITIES

“For the past 16 years, I have been fortunate to teach history and economics at international schools in Costa Rica, Korea, China and Argentina. It is exciting to return to my home country and be a part of an extraordinary community that is committed to kindness, inclusivity and purpose.” — KEVIN DUNCAN, HUMANITIES

Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

New SPS Boys Soccer Coach and Associate Athletic Director Daniel Toulson (in gray) with his team before a game on Hunt Field.

ATHLETICS

Keeper of the Culture For new Associate Athletic Director and Boys Varsity Soccer Coach Daniel Toulson, sports are more about relationships than wins. JANA F. BROWN

aniel Toulson joined the St. Paul’s School community in August as the School’s new associate athletic director and boys varsity soccer head coach. But he says he’s not sure he would have pursued the opportunity anywhere else. “I think if this had come up at another school, I probably wouldn’t have said yes,” Toulson says. “St. Paul’s offers a combination of world-class academics, the student-athlete model, talented coaches and a talented faculty. Just being in this community of engaged educators was something I knew I couldn’t say no to.” A New Zealander, Toulson moved to the U.S. to study and play soccer at Kenyon College in Ohio, where he was selected to the NCAC All-Conference team, served as captain in 2011 and earned a B.A. in international relations in 2012. After a brief return to New Zealand, where he helped coach his high school soccer team, Toulson spent three years in Washington, D.C., as assistant men’s soccer coach at Catholic University. While he was there, he also earned a master’s in sociology with a focus on sport and international development.

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Coming to the U.S. at 19 was a “game changer” for Toulson, who says the experience “opened my worldview to thinking about things in a more diverse way.” He joins SPS by way of Emerson College in Boston, where he spent a year as assistant coach of the men’s soccer program before taking over as head coach in 2021. Last year, just a year after finishing in last place in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference, Emerson earned a spot in the league’s championship game. Toulson and his assistants were named regional staff of the year. As he navigates his first season with the SPS boys soccer program, Toulson considers himself a “keeper of the culture” first — someone who will observe and guide, while encouraging the players to take the lead in building community within the team. “The dream of any coach is to be able to sit on the sideline and watch your team play during a game,” Toulson says. “It means they own the process, and that’s really important. The way I approached coaching at Emerson was that it was never about, ‘can we win these games and make it to the final?’ or anything like that. It was about whether we could

leave the program in a better place than we found it.” The key to coaching, Toulson says, is the relationships with players built on mutual trust. He feels fortunate to have landed in a residential community that will allow him to get to know his charges beyond the athletic arena, whether in the dorm, in the dining hall or walking with his wife and young daughter around the grounds. As for his role as associate athletic director, Toulson is most excited about the opportunity to immerse himself in facilitating the variety of sports and wellness offerings at the School. He also hopes to introduce additional options for service learning for student-athletes, perhaps through bringing back an annual 3v3 Grassroot Soccer tournament. These studentrun events help the namesake nonprofit raise funds and awareness to support the health education of children globally through their interest in soccer. Toulson’s Emerson team raised $7,000 for the 3v3 Grassroot Soccer organization last year. “The reason I love working in sports,” he says, “is the opportunity to bring people together. I’m excited to be here.”

FORMER A.D. DICK MUTHER HONORED BY NEPSAC

FALL SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS More than half the student body — 278 student-athletes — participated on one of the School’s seven fall sports teams: boys and girls cross country, field hockey, football, boys and girls soccer and volleyball. As their seasons come to a close, here are just a few highlights from an active and exciting Fall Term: The boys and girls cross country teams, girls soccer and varsity field hockey all claimed 2023 LAKES REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS. Cross country got things started, sweeping the varsity and JV races at Holderness School on Nov. 1. Soccer and field hockey each earned their titles on accumulated points, following decisive league victories to end their seasons on Nov. 8.

On Friday, Nov. 17, St. Paul’s School Math Teacher and former Athletic Director Richard Muther was honored by the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) with the organization’s 2023 Distinguished Service Award. The award, bestowed annually to “the individual who has contributed significantly to independent school athletics and physical education through enthusiasm, dedication, leadership and vision” was given to Muther during the NEPSAC Athletic Director Annual Meeting in Boxborough, Massachusetts. Muther is the first SPS athletic director to be recognized with the award. Muther was nominated for the award by SPS Athletic Director Chris Smith, who served as his associate A.D. from 2020 to 2023, and by Tabor Academy A.D. Kelly Walker. Muther, who has been a member of the SPS faculty since 2016, came to the School from Tabor, where he taught math and served as athletic director and boys soccer, hockey and lacrosse coach. At the NEPSAC meeting, Walker shared remarks about Muther that she and Smith had co-written to capture both the achievements of the athletic programs he has overseen and his personal contributions to independent school athletics. “Under his leadership, SPS has won three Football Bowl games, two Large School girls hockey titles, two top-8 national ranked squash teams, 10 girls NEIRA rowing trophies … a couple New England alpine titles and endless other Lakes Region crowns,” Walker said. “More importantly, the level of sportsmanship and passion he built into the culture of the SPS teams is unlike anything seen before in Concord.” — Kristin Duisberg

The JV FIELD HOCKEY team finished an undefeated season on Nov. 8 with a 4-2 victory over Austin Preparatory School. The team earned 12 wins and one tie during the six-week season.

Six student-athletes signed NATIONAL LETTERS OF INTENT to participate in Division I or II college athletics during a Nov. 9 ceremony in the SPS Athletics and Fitness Center. Participating were Hadley Cepiel ’24 (lacrosse, Holy Cross); Sarah Ernst ’24 (lacrosse, Colgate); Samantha Moyer ’24 (lacrosse, Albany); Ellie Pingree ’24 (basketball, American); AJ True ’24 (lacrosse, UMass-Lowell); and Charlotte Wensley ’24 (ice hockey, RPI).

The VARSITY FOOTBALL team earned a post-season bowl selection for the second year in a row. The 2022 winners of the John Papas Bowl played in the Kevin McDonald Bowl on Nov. 18.

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A NEW VIEW OF MILLVILLE For some alums, spending the summer at St. Paul’s School to teach at the Advanced Studies Program provides a new perspective on their old home. JIM GRAHAM

Monique Schlichtman ’92 (r.) designed the popular ASP class After the Rally specifically for the School’s summer program and has taught it since 2021. Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

FEATURE | A NEW VIEW

or most of the year, Bowman Dickson ’05 lives in Washington, D.C., teaching math at a private all-boys high school adjacent to the Washington National Cathedral. In the summer, however, he trades the bustling streets of the nation’s capital for the open acres of Millville, a place he spent not just four years of high school but the balance of his childhood. The son of two longtime SPS faculty members (his father, Doug Dickson, taught math and served as dean of students; his mother, Laurie, worked in Admissions), since 2014 Dickson has served as one of the stalwart faculty members of the School’s summer Advanced Studies Program for New Hampshire public high school students. For most of those summers, Dickson has taught the ASP’s Data Driven class — an introduction to data science that he describes as equal parts computer programming and analysis and mathematical storytelling. Even as he’s surrounded by some 200 rising juniors and seniors from schools across the state who spend five weeks of their summer attending the ASP, Dickson also regularly finds himself in the company of a number of other St. Paul’s School graduates. During the 2023 session, a dozen SPS alumni who graduated as recently as 2021 and as far back as 1992 were part of the ASP, teaching classes, supporting other teachers as interns, and serving as supervisors in the dorms where they once were students. Graduates who have always appreciated the manner in which St. Paul’s School transformed the arc of their lives say the ASP adds a new dimension to their School experience, offering an opportunity to witness firsthand the profound, positive impact that learning and living in the St. Paul’s community can have on a young person’s life even over just a few intense, exhilarating weeks. Of course, for SPS graduates, part of the attraction of working at the ASP is the chance to revisit the memories and iconic campus places that defined their high school years. But Dickson and others say the ASP also finds them admiring their alma mater from a new perspective — and deepens their appreciation of the talent and work ethic of a different cohort of high school students from the one they shared classrooms and houses with during their own years in Millville. “My favorite part of working with these students is just seeing how excited they are about being here and doing real, hands-on research together,” says Dickson, who developed and designed his Data Driven class specifically for the ASP. “Growing up in Concord and attending public schools here, I feel really connected to them. They remind me a lot of the kids I grew up with.” SPS has offered the ASP since 1958 as an opportunity for academically talented, highly motivated Granite State public school students to dig in on a single subject of inter-

Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

ASP teacher Bowman Dickson ’05 designed Data Driven, the ASP class he has taught since 2016.

Zoë Dienes '20, who was a teaching intern in Writing Workshop, says the experience reinforced her interest in becoming a teacher.

Tiffany Stafford ’92 (c.) joined formmate Monique Schlichtman to co-teach After the Rally this year.

est while getting a taste of the St. Paul’s School experience. ing faculty put into their classes — and how much the stuLike SPS itself, the ASP is fully residential. Students live in dents in his class got out of it — “it’s making me realize that SPS houses, eat their meals in the Upper and avail them- teaching is something I was meant to do,” he adds. selves of the School’s athletic facilities. They take their For Anderson and others, the ASP experience underclasses in the Lindsay Center for Mathematics and Science scores how fortunate they were to attend St. Paul’s School, or the Fine Arts Building and study in Ohrstrom Library. with its commitment to teaching excellence, outstanding Four mornings a week, they attend Chapel services offi- facilities, extracurricular opportunities and a globally ciated by SPS Science Teacher Rick Pacelli P’13, who has diverse student body. The advantages are borne out by a served as the ASP’s chaplain since 2008. handful of data points: The ASP student-teacher ratio is For their five weeks in Millville, ASP students take a 6-to-1, and during the St. Paul’s academic year that ratio is single major course, with subjects ranging from Astronomy 5-to-1. In New Hampshire’s public high schools, the averto Studio Arts, as well as a writing workshop aimed at help- age student-teacher ratio is around 12-to-1. New Hamping them develop and refine their personal essay writing shire is one of the least racially and ethnically diverse states skills in advance of the college apin the nation, as well as one of the plication process. Major courses smallest geographically. St. Paul’s “WHEN YOU and writing workshops are taught School attracts students from 37 by a mix of SPS faculty members states and 24 countries — including ATTEND ST. PAUL’S, and outside teachers supported by those who return to teach at ASP. YOU’RE SURROUNDED one or more college-aged teaching “When you attend St. Paul’s, interns, who also serve as an adult you’re surrounded by students BY STUDENTS FROM presence in the houses and superfrom all around the world. And ALL AROUND vise afternoon recreation sessions you get used to that. It’s really part and weekend activities. Seven of of the culture,” says Tiffany StafTHE WORLD. AND this summer’s 22 teaching interns ford ’92, who attended SPS from YOU GET USED TO THAT. were SPS graduates. Texas and co-taught this summer’s IT’S REALLY PART For Isaac Anderson ’20, a senior social-justice-focused class After the at Colby College who interned for Rally with Monique Schlichtman OF THE CULTURE.” a section of Writing Workshop, ’92. “New Hampshire is obviously — TIFFANY STAFFORD ’92 living alongside the students of different. It’s less diverse, but these the ASP felt like a homecoming students come to ASP really openof sorts — especially the opportunity to supervise “rec” minded and ready to explore these issues, and to be more on the same fields where the 2020 Gordon Medal win- aware of other cultures and socioeconomic diversity.” ner served as captain of the SPS football and track and After the Rally, Stafford says, encourages students to field teams his Sixth Form year. But even more than lift- explore their own voices and passions around the issues ing weights in the Athletic and Fitness Center or taking of social justice. “It’s a class where we ask, ‘Now what? long runs on the wooded trails that surround the core of Once you’ve taken a stand on an issue and maybe spocampus, Anderson says the chance to work with high- ken out about it, how can you can stay engaged in ways ly motivated students in an environment largely unlike that really matter and make a positive impact?’ ” she says. their school-year classrooms is what has stayed with him “And one of the things I really love about these students is from his summer back at SPS. that it doesn’t take much to spark their curiosity and for “They’re all so self-motivated. It’s really amazing to see them to have these great conversations.” how psyched they are to be here,” he says. “It can be pretty Schlichtman, who created the After the Rally class and demanding academically, but the students who come has taught it for three summers, lives in Chicago, where here wouldn’t apply unless they’re really dedicated to she’s a program officer for a family foundation that suplearning something and getting things done.” ports the development of healthy, sustainable communiAnderson credits both his time as an SPS student and ties in east central Illinois. She convinced Stafford, who as an ASP intern with his decision to pursue teaching as a is based in Houston and works as the director of develcareer following his graduation from Colby. “A lot of opment for Humble Area Assistance Ministries, to join that has to do with the teachers I had here when I was a her in Millville for the summer when they reconnected at student,” he says. “They really worked hard to make our their 20th Reunion during Anniversary Weekend 2022. classes interesting, especially my English classes, which I “I spent four years here, during the most formadidn’t expect to like as much as I did.” After spending his tive time of my life,” Stafford says. “So, to come back to summer at the ASP and seeing how much effort the teach- campus now, and to see these students learning how they Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

Carolyn Lucey '09 started as an ASP intern in 2014. She now teaches Writing Workshop.

A teaching intern for Writing Workshop, Isaac Anderson ’20 (l.) connects with a student during afternoon rec.

Claire Bassi '19 was an intern in the Molecular Biology class co-taught by Litzrudy Justinvil (l.) and Scott Betournay ASP '96.

Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

can take concrete actions so that they can make a real difference on the issues that they’re passionate about when they go back home, it’s really wonderful to see.” Carolyn Lucey ’09 first returned to Millville in 2014 as a teaching intern for the ASP Mass Media class — an experience that confirmed her interest in a career in teaching. After earning both her undergraduate degree and her M.A. in teaching from Columbia University, she returned to the ASP virtually in the summer of 2020 to teach a two-week intensive course on the college essay during a COVID-modified version of the program. This summer, she was back in person to lead a section of Writing Workshop, and like her fellow SPS alumni, she came away from the experience marveling at the ability and drive of her summer students. “They come here hungry to learn and to grow, and are really focused on getting things done,” she says. “It’s remarkable how much they accomplish in just five weeks.” Zoë Dienes ’20, who interned for a different section of Writing Workshop this summer and is likewise interested in a career in education, agrees that the ASP offers an ideal introduction to classroom teaching. Now a junior at Harvard, Dienes says one of the most satisfying aspects of the work was mentoring students and helping them identify what experiences to write about for their college essays. “I really like working with them and helping them to see that everyone has a unique, interesting story,” Dienes says. “So, we talk a lot about what their story is and how they can own it. ‘How is this your personal story? How does it reflect you?’ I try to show them that what colleges really want is just to know who you are and how you might fit into their community.” Being at ASP, Dienes adds, is also a way to give back. “I really loved my time here as a student and I had a great experience,” she says. “So, it’s really exciting for me to be part of ASP now, and to be able to work with other New Hampshire students. It’s also a perfect way for me to explore teaching as a career.” Like Bowman Dickson, Claire Bassi ’19 grew up on campus — her father is Dr. John Bassi, SPS medical director — and attended public schools in Concord through eighth grade. With her background in both public and private schools, Bassi proved a relatable role model for the students she worked with in the ASP Molecular Biology class led by SPS Science Lab Manager Scott Betournay — himself a 1996 ASP alumnus. She says it’s a position she relished. “The students came into the classroom every day with such great questions and curiosity, so I always knew that we’d be doing something interesting and really getting into the science,” says Bassi, who graduated from Georgetown University in June and will be spending the upcoming year working as a medical assistant while she applies to medical schools. “I loved the opportunities that SPS gave me, but I also belong to New Hampshire, so this is sort of a homecoming for me, too.”

ADVANCED STUDIES PROGRAM

Meet Director Michelle Taffe ASP’85 KRISTIN DUISBERG

hen Michelle Taffe moved into her office in Schoolhouse on August 1, it was hardly the new ASP director’s first visit to that building — or her first experience with the ASP. Taffe served on the St. Paul’s School faculty from 1997 to 2013, teaching French in Schoolhouse one floor up from her current space and juggling teachingduties with her role as an associate dean of students during her last five years at the School. Her introduction to St. Paul’s School, however, dates back to the summer of 1985, when the Nashua native moved into Manville House to spend five weeks studying Advanced French at the ASP — a class she took with SPS French Teacher Jeanne Winsor. “I’d had some really good teachers in Nashua, but I’d never experienced anything like that class with Jeanne,” she says. “The depth, the pace, the energy she brought. … We read, we did grammar, we did vocabulary, we did skits. It was truly a summer, and an experience, that changed my life.” Taffe earned a B.A in French from the University of New Hampshire and an M.A. in the language at Middlebury College. After SPS, her career took her to California, where she spent four years as dean of residential life at the Woodside Priory School in Portola Valley, and then brought her back to New Hampshire to teach French at Holderness School following a two-year stint as an

admissions consultant. When the ASP position opened up, it felt like the right fit for her and for her family, which includes her husband Danny and son Liam. “Schools, and summer schools specifically, have always been a part of my experience,” Taffe says. “There’s that chance to do a deep dive on a subject, and the sense of renewal that comes with working with a new group of students every year. Having the chance to come back here, in this particular role … I knew it was something that I had to pursue.” This fall, Taffe is focusing on defining the framework for the 2024 program. She’ll also be on the road a fair bit, making school visits across the state, as will her associate director, Donald Anselmi. Taffe says she’s grateful for the energy and enthusiasm that Anselmi brings to the role, and to the institutional knowledge longtime program administrator Joyce Ashcroft offers. She’s also appreciative of the fact that the ASP operates in a very different environment from the one she knew as a student four decades ago. “New Hampshire’s demographics have changed, and the college admissions landscape has changed, and at the same time, there’s immense value to this program for the state’s high school students,” she says. “Our priority is making sure that the ASP this School offers is the ASP that families want and need.”

Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

Where His Heart Is Peter S. Paine Jr. ’53 has devoted decades to the protection and preservation of the Adirondack Park. KATE DUNLOP

Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

MICHAEL SEAMANS

orn, raised and first educated in New York City, Peter S. Paine Jr. ’53 doesn’t remember his introduction to the Adirondacks — he was just nine months old for that summer visit to Flat Rock, the Great Camp built by his grandparents in Willsboro, New York, on the shores of Lake Champlain. The region, though, is in his blood. “My heart was always here in the Adirondacks,” he says, sitting in his office at Champlain National Bank, the bank his grandfather started in Willsboro in 1921, and of which he is now chair. He’s also now known as a legendary champion of the Adirondacks, one who’s worked both to regulate the use of the land and to preserve its open spaces. Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

FEATURE | WHERE HIS HEART IS To meet Paine is to meet his family through the generations, their legacies overlapping like the waves off the point of Flat Rock on a windy day. In 1885, his great-grandfather acquired a pulp mill in Willsboro (once called Milltown) and put his son, Augustus G. Paine Jr., in charge. Augustus started acquiring land, and by the time Peter S. Paine Sr. was born at Flat Rock in 1909, essentially all of its current thousand acres was owned either by the family or by the mill. “My father was in the Pacific for two years during the war, and my mother and I spent each summer at Flat Rock Camp with my grandfather. He was a remarkable man,” Paine recalls. “He died in ’47 when I was 13, but he had an enormous attachment to this community, a sort of old-fashioned commitment to giving back to the town where the family started in the paper business. In addition to the bank, he founded the library and the golf course that the town now runs.” While both Paine’s grandfather and father had strong conservation views and were consummate outdoorsmen (as is Paine, who grew up shooting and fishing), the family had to reconcile its appreciation for nature with industry’s toll on it. “My father used to call himself Paine the Polluter because he was a chief executive officer of the paper company, but he really cared about preserving this place a great deal,” Paine says. It was that same interest in preserving land, combined with an interest in the economic well-being of the community, that set Paine on his work to protect the region in parallel to a distinguished career in international law. His education, begun at The Buckley School, continued at St. Paul’s School. In Millville, he found elements of what he loved so much in Milltown: the wetlands, ponds and woods, the skeet field on

“

Out of the controversy has come a willingness to understand the other’s point of view and work together to try to accomplish reasonable economic development that’s consistent with environmental protection.

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the Lower grounds. He excelled academically, so much so that he entered Princeton with sophomore standing and graduated as valedictorian. A Rhodes Scholar, he holds law degrees from Oxford and Harvard Law School and practiced law in New York, London and Paris. Through a particularly fruitful shooting weekend on the plain of the Rhine, Paine met members of the Peugeot family and eventually became a lawyer for the French automaker; that arrangement led both to a lifelong fondness for the vehicles and to the French government appointing him a Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite as well as a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques in recognition of his legal and cultural contributions to French businesses and institutions. It was a different weekend of hunting that set the wheels in motion for Paine’s environmental work. By the mid-1960s, the 6 million-acre Adirondack Park — an area the size of Vermont— was a mixture of some 2.2 million acres of New York State-owned Forest Preserve protected as “forever wild” under the state constitution and some 3.8 million acres of privately owned land that were not subject to any form of zoning or land use controls. In 1967, Laurance Rockefeller, the younger brother of then-New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, proposed that 1.7 million acres of the state-owned Preserve be handed over to the federal government for the creation of a national park. This proposal drew fierce opposition from local government and landowners as well as the hunting and environmental communities. Laurance, a friend and Princeton classmate of Paine’s father, visited Willsboro to hunt grouse that fall, and Paine was able to explain to him that the environmental community felt the public lands would be better protected by the State Forest Preserve than under federal ownership. Their disagreement on this issue notwithstanding, the pair shared a deep concern regarding the threat of development on the Adirondacks’ 3.8 million acres of private land, and Paine’s passion on the subject made an impression. The next year, he landed on the governor’s Temporary Study Commission on the Future of the Adirondacks as its youngest member by far. The commission’s chief recommendation was the creation of the Adirondack Park Agency, which the state legislature established in 1971 with Paine as commissioner; in that role, he was the principal author of the State Land Master Plan, which guides management of the Adirondack Forest Preserve, and New York’s Wild Recreational and Scenic Rivers Act. The agency was not without controversy; its proposed zoning and landuse restrictions didn’t sit well with everyone and someone tried to burn down its headquarters. Tires were slashed. Staff members were shot at while driving agency cars. Paine himself received warnings that ranged from inconvenient to deadly, and law enforcement suggested he carry his licensed pistol while driving in the Adirondacks (which he did, for a time) and trade his signature Peugeot for a less distinctive vehicle (which he did not). “In spite of all the controversy about the agency, it’s one of the places where land conservation and an effort to allow for appropriate economic development seem to be working out

today,” Paine says. “Out of the controversy has come a willingness to understand the other’s point of view and work together to try to accomplish reasonable economic development that’s consistent with environmental protection.” In hand with controlling development, the APA recommended the creation of an Adirondack chapter of The Nature Conservancy to buy and save land and promote conservation easements. Early supporters of the new chapter, in 1978 the Paine family donated an easement of 1,000 acres that permanently protects two miles of the Boquet River and three miles of Lake Champlain shoreline from development. Five years later, Paine and others formed the Adirondack Land Trust to help protect farmland and working forests, like those that had once fed the pulp mill. Paine, a former chair of each entity, is still an active board member for both. Since retiring as a partner from Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton in the early ’90s, Paine has focused on this environmental work, putting his legal acumen to use in a variety of land conservation projects that established Noblewood Park in Willsboro; added the Split Rock Mountain Range to the Adirondack Forest Preserve; and established the Adirondack Land Trust’s Coon Mountain Preserve. Today, about 2.6 million acres are constitutionally protected against development and about another million are protected by conservation easements. The rest of the six million acres are protected by zoning provisions put in place by the APA. “This mix of public and private land is fairly unique in the sense that they’re all interconnected,” Paine says. “It’s not like a national park where you’ve got a line around it.” And, the work continues. Paine believes that conservation is more important now than ever with climate change, and he still goes to his office at the bank every day. There, he works on a carbon sequestration project, helps to broker land conservation deals that will provide buffer strips along streams so they aren’t developed or logged; and contemplates how to address overuse in the High Peaks area, among other issues. He’s supported environmental work at SPS, as well, establishing the Paine Family Environmental Education Fund with sons Peter S. Paine III ’81 and Alexander G. Paine ’87 in 2020 to provide support for environmental education initiatives on the School’s 2,000 acres. In his office, Paine keeps a photograph of the four Peters: his father, himself, Peter III and Peter IV ’15. The past and the future weigh on him equally, and he tends to both; Flat Rock, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has passed to Peter III but is still under Paine’s watchful eye. Challenges remain in the Adirondacks, but Paine has the satisfaction of having acted on behalf of the region when the opportunity to do something presented itself on that long ago hunting weekend with his father and Laurance Rockefeller. “I’ve contributed to the world in some way other than just making money or just doing a job,” he says. “There were moments of difficulty, but things have changed, and for the better. I feel pretty good about it. It’s been an unorthodox career, but something I’m rather proud of.” It’s one that will be remembered, too — no one forgets a conservation champion with a six-million-acre heart. Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

REVIEWS echoes the Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle children’s book, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” (with thyroids, organelles, tumors and more in the place of big happy frogs, plump purple cats and their ilk); the poem “Organisms” is shaped into five clusters that evoke the five kingdoms classification system taught in high school biology. The throughline of the book is gestation — successful and not, naturally achieved and not — and what Lederer delivers is a new way of looking at the idea that we are equally engineers of our human experience and wholly subject to forces beyond our control. — Reviewed by Kristin Duisberg

THE ENGINEERS Katy Lederer ’90 Saturnalia Books, Oct. 2023 If you weren’t tipped off by the title “The Engineers” that Lederer’s fourth book of poetry was going to be an elaborate meditation on the interplay between creativity and science, the first poem in the collection will set you straight. It’s titled “Fetus Papyraceus” — the name for a rare condition in which a twin who dies in utero is compressed between the surviving fetus and the uterine wall, retaining a distinctly human form as it is delivered, like a small paper cutout of its living sibling. The slim volume itself is a fetus papyraceus of sorts, an effort to capture on paper the ineffable complexity of human experience — of life itself. “Sometimes, in the middle/ of the night, our children will/insist that we tell them a story …” Lederer writes in the poem’s opening lines. Later, she asks, “Where is the presence/and the absence in this book?/The world is full of lulls/and shocks. To describe them all/would take a million lives.” The language of medicine — diseases and diagnoses and physiological processes — has long provided fruitful metaphors for humans’ emotional experiences, but here Lerderer uses it to uncommon effect, engaging in dizzying word play (“Have we reached the site of injury?/We have been injurious./Have we served well on our jury?/We have juried. We have jured and jured”) in poems with titles like “Inflammation” and “Histology,” “Frozen Angels” (a reference, surely, to waiting embryos created through in vitro fertilization) and “Ectopic,” “Parturition” and “Acephalic.” At times in “The Engineers,” the decidedly cephalic nature of Lederer’s musings is paired with playful form; the poem “Chimeras” 28

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are disdained as “babies'' by their fellow goblins). Having heard about a land where people visit haunted houses voluntarily because they want to be scared, Kebi convinces Doki to pull up stakes and accompany him to New York City to find the perfect new home. They find it — and encounter a surprise that humorously brings together their ancient culture and a contemporary American tradition. In her author’s note, Cha, who wrote the critically acclaimed novel “If I Had Your Face,” explains that she grew up reading children’s stories about dokkaebi and was inspired to research their lore after hearing about a neighbor’s family who had supposedly realized both great wealth and calamitous ruin from serving a dokkaebi for several generations. With charming illustrations and a playful story, “The Goblin Twins” introduces young readers to an aspect of Korean culture that is not well known in the United States. — Reviewed by Kristin Duisberg

ON THE BOOKSHELF Ty’s Veggie Burger Christopher Morse ’76

THE GOBLIN TWINS Frances Cha ’03 Random House Childrens' Books, Sept. 2023 In Korean lore, dokkaebi are nature deities with powers that allow them to interact with humans — often by playing tricks on them or punishing them for evil deeds, but other times by providing assistance and enabling great good fortune. In Cha’s book for young readers, the duality of the dokkaebi is made literal: her two protagonists are twins named Doki and Kebi who have very different personalities. Doki is a helpful spirit who gives humans gifts of gold and silver, shelters them from rainstorms and even sneaks into sleeping children’s rooms to fold their clothes … and would rather curl up in his abandoned house to read a book than cause mischief. Kebi loves scaring people and has a taste for adventure — a trait that comes in handy when the twins learn they have to vacate their home of many hundreds of years (being spirits, dokkaebi are not bound by mortal timelines; at the age of 601, Doki and Kebi

“Ty” is a pet tyrannosaurus rex with a discerning palate, a ravenous appetite — and the challenges associated with satisfying both while growing up in the care of a young boy in a city apartment. When Ty’s taste for grilled steak leads to legal problems, he gets a second chance working with a vegetarian chef and opens a successful chain of restaurants featuring his namesake burger. The Civil Right to Keep and Bear Arms Royce Barondes ’77 In “The Civil Right to Keep and Bear Arms,” Barondes, who recently retired from his position as a professor of law at the University of Missouri, provides an introduction to the civil right to bear arms, emphasizing Federal law with supplementary discussion of Missouri law.

JOIN US MAY 3–4 We look forward to welcoming back form years ending in 4 and 9 for a lively weekend of reconnection and celebration in Millville. A full schedule of events will be available next month. For now, clear your calendar for a trip to Concord and visit our website for hotel information for your form. We encourage you to book your room as soon as possible — reserved blocks will likely sell out.

sps.edu/anniversary

We’re excited to welcome you back! ADVANCEMENT OFFICE | 603-229-4842 Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

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ALUMNI CONNECTIONS

LIFE WILL OFFER YOU MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO TAKE IT EASY AND SAY TO YOURSELF, ‘I KNOW ENOUGH. I’M GOOD.’ I AM STANDING HERE TO ENCOURAGE YOU TO RESIST THAT TEMPTATION. READ BOOKS. STAY CURIOUS. KEEP YOUR LEARNING CURVE STEEP. NOT JUST NOW BUT FOR THE

ALUMNI VOLUNTEER WEEKEND

Form Volunteers Gather During Alumni Volunteer Weekend Sept. 22-23, some three dozen form directors, main agents, form agents and members of the Alumni Association Executive Committee came to the grounds to connect with each other and the School. On Friday, attendees sat in on classes with students, toured the grounds, heard presentations on admissions and college advising, and enjoyed a Seated Meal with Sixth Form leaders. On Saturday, they met with Advancement Office staff, attended Chapel, and heard from Rector Kathy Giles and members of the School’s senior administrative team. During a panel conversation and Q&A session, Giles discussed the School’s focus on excellence in character and scholarship. Jamie Kolker, senior director of facilities and planning, spoke about the comprehensive campus plan and the construction of the Fleischner Family Admissions Center, scheduled to open in 2025.

REST OF YOUR LIFE. KNOWLEDGE ENDOWS US WITH STRENGTH. IT WILL HELP YOU TO BE FEARLESS IN THE EMBRACE OF FAILURE AND GIVE YOU THE RESILIENCE TO ADAPT TO CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES.” — DAVID SCULLY ’79, P’21

SPS Board of Trustees President, speaking in Chapel, Sept. 28, 2023 On Friday night in the Hockey Center Captains Room, alumni volunteers revisited a formative SPS experience: Seated Meal, enjoyed in the company of Sixth Form leaders.

Student Council President Cristopher Ramirez ‘24 (l.), visits with form director Marcy Chong ’91, P’21 30

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ST. PAUL’S SCHOOL HOSTED A NUMBER OF COMMUNITY RECEPTIONS AND COLLEGE DINNERS THIS FALL — SCAN TO SEE MORE PHOTOGRAPHS OF RECENT EVENTS.

RECENT EVENTS

Dinners and Receptions COLLEGE DINNER SERIES

Throughout the fall, undergraduate alumni from the Forms of 2020 through 2023 were invited to share dinner and conversation with Sofia Vivado ’11, the School’s young alumni relations and giving officer, to reconnect about life after SPS and hear the latest about the School. Dinners were held in Charlottesville, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; New York City; Providence, Rhode Island; New Haven, Connecticut; Hanover, New Hampshire; Boston and Chicago.

IN MILLVILLE AND BEYOND JANUARY 10 Excellence in Character and Scholarship Panel Virtual FEBRUARY 16-17 SPS BIPOC Alumni Weekend St. Paul’s School 22-29 XIX Society Global Seated Meal Various cities 28 Alumni and Parent Reception Washington, D.C. APRIL 9 Alumni and Parent Reception / Alumni Association Annual Meeting with Rector Kathy Giles New York, New York

SPS alumni gathered for dinner in Charlottesville, Virginia. Front (l. to r.): Emily Barker ’20, Maya Maloney ’21, James Shepard ’23, Achille Guest ’23, Gray Powell ’23, Serena Cody ’22, Caroline Connolly ’21; back (l. to r.): Rocco Burdge ’22, Jack Michaud ’23, Will Walton ’22, Nick Shepard ’21, Myles McIntyre ’20, Blair Belford ’21, Madeline Mitchell ’22, Reese Charron ’23 and Fisayo Odukya ’22.

COMMUNITY RECEPTIONS

SPS was on the road this fall. In September and October, Rector Kathy Giles and colleagues visited San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and Boston for alumni and parent receptions. Many thanks to our hosts who helped create memorable gatherings of connection and conversation.

MAY 3-4 Anniversary Weekend 4 Excellence in Character and Scholarship Panel JUNE 2 Graduation 15 SPS Sparks Alumni and Parent Community Service Projects Various cities 30 The SPS Fund closes with the end of the School’s fiscal year Visit sps.edu/events often as more opportunities to connect are added and to register for gatherings.

Follow us on social media StPaulsSchoolNH StPaulsSchoolAlumni @StPaulsSchoolNH Great turnout in San Francisco! Donald Sung '85, P’27 provided a heartfelt welcome, Rector Kathy Giles gave remarks and new AAEC President Caroline LaVoie ‘88 P’20’21 spoke. Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

CALL OF THE WILD

Daniel Thorne ’69 takes a creative approach to combating wildlife trafficking IAN ALDRICH

Upemba National Park is one of Africa’s natural treasures. Located in the southeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the property spans nearly 4,500 square miles and is home to a wide range of biological diversity, from prized grasslands and forests to important populations of elephants, buffalo and cheetahs. But in 2019, it stood on the brink of being devastated. At issue was a deal that was quietly being negotiated by a Congolese businessman and the government’s director of protected areas with illegal miners and Chinese developers to build a mammoth hydroelectric power plant that would have effectively flooded nearly a third of Upemba’s territory. Not only did the project violate DRC law, but when completed, it stood to wipe out precious habitat and drown six villages in the park’s flood plain. Through intelligence connections, details of the plan landed on the radar of Daniel Thorne ’69, co-founder and chairman of the International Wildlife Trust (IWT). The approach IWT takes to combating the causes and effects of wildlife tracking and habitat destruction is a novel one: By working with local governments and U.S. Justice and Treasury Departments and other intelligence groups, it aims to freeze the financial assets of the organized crime groups behind the illegal activity, stopping them in their tracks by cutting off the funding it requires. Over the next two years, the IWT worked with the U.S. Justice Department and the Congolese government 32

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to wrest control from the Congolese players who were spearheading the dam project. “The [business] guy who was trying to get this project done stood to make $40 million if it happened,” says Thorne. “We were indirectly able to get the U.S. State Department to bar him from doing any business in the United States and his money was basically frozen. Eventually, the project collapsed.” Thorne’s commitment to the cause isn’t surprising; he’s long found advantages where others have seen upheaval. In the early 1980s, Thorne recognized the coming computer age and plunged himself into the world of finance. He started his own venture capital business, then largely put Wall Street behind him just before the tech bubble burst in 2000. That only opened the door wider for Thorne’s true passions: conservation and preservation. Over the years, he’s overseen the complete renovation of several large estates, both in the United States and in Portugal, where he spends part of the year, and for a chunk of his life, Thorne served as a trustee for both the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York and the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C. Today, his philanthropic endeavor, the Daniel K. Thorne Foundation, gives grants to organizations in which preservation of built environments and the natural world are their core focus. A little more than a decade ago, Thorne began laying the groundwork for the IWT. His inspiration came from participating in an investigative company tasked with disrupting New York City’s organized crime activity in the construction business in the early 2000s. “It struck me as an approach that also could be used to protect wildlife,” says Thorne. IWT’s staff is small but includes several heavy hitters, most notably Bruce Ohr, a former associate deputy attorney general and former director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, who heads the nonprofit’s operations. Much of its work is centered on toughening local laws on criminal trafficking as well as training judges and prosecutors in the work. Currently, IWT is collaborating with governments in the Congo and Uganda, while also pursuing similar work around South America. Over the coming decade, Thorne hopes to expand IWT’s footprint even further. The responsibility, he says, is too great not to. “More species have gone extinct in the last 10 years than in the 200 years preceding them,” he says. “We have to do everything we can to save what’s there because once it’s gone, it’s never coming back. That’s a huge loss to the planet and ourselves.”

Ashley Miller Dunn ’02 played a pivotal role in bringing an iconic French painting to the U.S.

GREGG DELMAN

MANET’S “OLYMPIA” OVERSEAS

LARRY CLOW

Ashley Dunn ’02 has had plenty of “pinch me” moments since she joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s staff in 2016. An associate curator responsible for 19th century French drawings, prints and illustrated books, Dunn has delved deeply into the museum’s holdings. She was part of the curatorial team for a 2017 exhibition of sculptor Auguste Rodin’s most iconic works, including “The Thinker” and “The Hand of God,” and she curated a retrospective of Eugène Delacroix’s drawings in 2018. For Dunn, few of those moments compare to when she helped oversee the unpacking and installation of Édouard Manet’s painting “Olympia” earlier this year. The painting of a courtesan — reclining in bed, nude, and gazing frankly at the viewer — caused a scandal when it debuted in Paris in 1865. Part of the Musée d’Orsay collection, “Olympia” rarely leaves France. But Dunn was there to welcome the iconic work of art to this side of the Atlantic, the first time it has been in the United States. “As it was being unpacked and checked, and then seeing it installed on the wall, I had goosebumps,” Dunn says. The painting is on display as part of “Manet/ Degas,” an exhibit that explores the friendship, and sometimes rivalry, between Manet and Edgar Degas, both of whom shaped the course of 19th century French art. Dunn was part of the curatorial team that brought the exhibit to life — a collaboration between The Met and the Musée d’Orsay that took four years to stage. Dunn’s interest in French art, however, stretches back to her time at St. Paul’s School. “It was through French language classes with Madame Windsor that I became interested in French art,” she says. “She introduced us to some of the major literary figures, like Beaudelaire and Zola, who continue to be very present in my work on 19th century art.” While an undergraduate at Emory University, Dunn explored a variety of subjects and

career options. The only constant in her studies were French language classes. She decided to major in French, and spent her junior year studying in Paris, visiting the Musée d’Orsay and the Louvre and eventually taking an internship at the Musée d’Art Américan Giverny. “That opened my eyes to this world,” says Dunn, who went on to earn a master’s degree in art history at Oxford and a doctorate in the discipline from Northwestern. “It captured my imagination — there was the language aspect, but also the research, and the creative enterprise of mounting an exhibition and making a visual experience for people in the galleries. That was when I realized this could be a very fulfilling career.” There are few “typical” days as a curator at The Met, according to Dunn. Curating an exhibit like “Manet/Degas” is an effort that involves scores of collaborators, from the designers who lay out the exhibit’s physical space and the installers who bring it to life, to the many people behind the scenes who arrange loans from other museums and figure out the logistics of shipping. “It takes a huge team of people,” Dunn says. The exhibit debuted at The Met in September, and the response has been enthusiastic. “I’m truly enjoying having this exhibition here,” she says. “It’s a full-time job just fielding tours, and it’s a great joy to share this with so many people.” One recent tour was designed for families with children, and Dunn, who welcomed daughter Isla in February 2022 with husband Will Dunn ’02, had to rethink how she would present such a massive exhibit to a young audience: “I made it less about me talking and more about asking them questions and helping them see the distinction between the two artists. They gave me some very sophisticated observations.” “Manet/Degas” runs at the Met through Jan. 7, 2024. Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

IN THE THICK OF “IT”

Elena Foraker ’11 leads design for trendy BAGGU JODY RECORD

BAGGU is having a moment, and Elena Foraker ’11 is right in the thick of it. A San Francisco-based company that makes sustainably designed bags of all shapes and sizes, BAGGU was founded in 2007 but has become an “it” product thanks to the devoted following of customers who refer to themselves as “BAGGU girlies.” In recent months, TikTok videos posted by some of these BAGGU enthusiasts have amassed more than 130 million views, as the bags, designed to supplant single-use plastic carriers, have become a must-have accessory in certain circles. 34

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“Our bags’ appeal is that they are thoughtfully designed, have durable fabric, are affordable and practical, and have consistently fun prints and colors,” says Foraker, who joined the company as senior graphic designer in July 2022 and was promoted to art director earlier this year. While there have been some growing pains as the company has adjusted to meet surging demand, Foraker says, “we are trying to make sure everyone who wants a bag gets one, while also not creating unnecessary waste, trying to stay true to our sustainability goals.” Foraker’s path from St. Paul’s School to BAGGU wasn’t necessarily direct, but the signs — some of them literal — were there. Growing up in Keene, New Hampshire, she was “always drawing,” she says. Her parents signed her up for art lessons and she filled sketchbook upon sketchbook with her ideas. At SPS, she designed a guide of running routes around campus and downtown Concord. She also designed a logo for Eco-Fest that was put on water bottles. After SPS, Foraker studied studio art at Colorado College, served as editor for the school’s literary magazine and soon was teaching herself Adobe design programs. After a brief stint in an art gallery, she moved back East to earn her MFA in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She graduated in 2020, freelanced for two years and found her way to BAGGU through her RISD thesis adviser, Ryan Waller, who recommended her for the senior graphic designer position when it opened up. “One of the co-founders went to RISD, so when Ryan connected us, we already had that link,” she says. Foraker’s average day starts with a morning meeting with her team, which typically is working months ahead. Right now, they are planning the 2024 spring collection photo shoots and marketing campaigns — choosing the models and the styling, finding graphic examples and assessing how they will look when they launch as well as how the email campaign will look, and creating a sample homepage design. “BAGGU historically never had a set of design standards, and that is partially why I was interested in the job,” Foraker says. “Since we have been getting broader visibility and are partnering with more brands, I have been tasked with honing our brand image and voice, so we can have some more consistency as BAGGU grows. But I am also making sure we keep BAGGU weird.” Foraker credits the work ethic she developed at SPS with giving her the discipline and creativity her role requires. “The rigor at St. Paul’s made everything else I’ve done come easy,” she says. The stepdaughter of former SPS communications director Michael Matros, she always had her eye on the School: “I wanted to go to St. Paul’s where being nerdy is cool, where being smart is cool. I worked really hard; college almost felt easy compared to high school. St. Paul’s made me feel ready,” she says. “By the time I graduated, I felt like a full adult. It made a difference.” At some point, Foraker would like to have her own design studio. For now, though, she is enjoying the challenges that come with creating for an “it” company and its devoted customers.

ACROSS OUR CHANNELS DID YOU MISS . . . TOP CLICKS

In our various digital newsletters, on sps.edu and across social media, it’s been a busy fall for SPS storytelling! Here’s some of our most popular content from Fall Term as of mid-November, in case you missed it elsewhere:

@STPAULSCHOOLNH

WRITTEN IN THE STARS: SPS Launches 2023-24 Excellence in Character and Scholarship series with space experts Harry Ferguson ’77 and Alison Crocker ’02.

SIXTH FORM MOVE-IN Sept. 1 (1,103 likes)

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FAMILY WEEKEND PHOTO ALBUM Oct. 13 (896 likes)

Finding a Screen-Life Balance: FALL TERM LINC DAY focuses on health, wellness and phone use.

COLLEGE-AGE ALUMNI DINNERS Oct. 20 (896 likes)

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ANCIENT BELIEFS IN CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT: SPS welcomes feminist theologian and Emory professor Kwok Pui Lan, Ph.D., as fall Dickey Visitor. FIRST FALL TERM SEATED MEAL Sept. 20 (880 likes) FLEISCHNER FAMILY ADMISSIONS CENTER GROUNDBREAKING Sept. 27 (877 likes)

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TOP VIDEOS ON OUR INSTAGRAM CHANNELS: VISIT

CRICKET HOLIDAY Oct. 5 (17,323 views)

FOOTBALL NIGHT GAME Oct. 30 (13,689 views)

@STPAULSCHOOLNH TO VIEW THEM.

ECO FEST 2023 Oct. 10 (10,396 views)

FALL CONVOCATION Sept. Alumni 5 (8,478 views) Horae | Issue I 23/24

IN MEMORIAM The section was updated Oct. 2, 2023. Please note that deaths are reported as we receive notice of them. Therefore, alumni dates of death are not always reported chronologically. 1943 — Robert M. Pennoyer Aug. 13, 2023 1945 — Joseph W. Donner Jr. July 13, 2023 1946 — Beverly C. Duer Aug. 10, 2023 1947 — Dwight L. Degener May 26, 2023 1949 – Samuel P. Cooley Aug. 31, 2023 1950 – Roderick H. Cushman Sept. 10, 2023 1950 — Frederick H. Jones July 21, 2023 1950 — Charles R. Kinnaird March 5, 2021 1950 — Alfred N. Lawrence Jan. 7, 2023 1951 — Nicholas L. Ludington Jan. 1, 2023 1955 — E. Robert Kinnebrew III July 27, 2023 1956 — Huntington Barclay Sept. 6, 2023 1958 — Emory W. Sanders Aug. 29, 2023 1961 — Edward D. Toland III July 4, 2023 1962 — Geoffrey C. Mirantz July 26, 2023 1969 — Robert H. Rettew* July 31, 2023 1986 — Lent D. Howard Aug. 15, 2023 STAFF Mary “Claire” Arnold Aug. 7, 2023 * faculty emeriti

1945 Thomas Morton Armstrong Sr. of Scarborough, Maine, passed away peacefully on June 4, 2023, at age 96. He was born in Pittsburgh in 1927 to Mary Hilliard and Charles Dudley Armstrong; the family moved to Lancaster soon after his arrival. A 1945 graduate of St. Paul’s School, Mr. Armstrong was a Shattuck. He excelled in sports and was captain of the football team. He also was elected Sixth Form president and was awarded the President’s Medal. He joined the U.S. Navy 1945-46, then attended Yale and graduated in 1950. He had fond memories of playing ice hockey on the St. Paul’s School ponds, which sparked a lifelong passion for pond and lake skating. Mr. Armstrong made ice skating seem effortless, cutting a strong and graceful line for miles across the black ice of his beloved Squam Lake. Concerned with safety, his sound words of wisdom were “always carry a rope, never skate alone.” Mr. Armstrong married Rachel Franck of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1951 and lived first in Durham and Concord, New Hampshire, before moving to Saco, Maine, in 1955, then to Falmouth in 1960. A forester at heart, Mr. Armstrong was employed by Deering Lumber in Biddeford, Maine, in 1955 and retired as president in 1987. His two great passions were his family and the outdoors. Mr. Armstrong’s deep appreciation for the natural world included hiking all the 4,000-footers in the White Mountains, casting for trout from his canoe and catching “sunnies” from the Squam Lake dock with his grandchildren. Recognized as the Lincoln County Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year, Mr. Armstrong loved tramping through his wood lots to assess healthy tree growth, often attempting to pass the weak scraggly trees on as the family Christmas tree, though those efforts were consistently vetoed by his wife.

He was a humble and eloquent speaker, a kind and gentle soul, and a sincere and active listener. He demonstrated his interest in the lives of family and friends with frequent handwritten notes, ballads, poems and proclamations. His recall was legendary, surpassing his adult children’s memories of names, places and dates. With a twinkle in his eye and an abundant sense of humor, he enjoyed playing pranks, to the delight of family and friends. Mr. Armstrong’s love of the outdoors broadened to include land conservation as a founder of the Falmouth Land Trust and board roles with the Maine Woodland Owners Land Trust. Other boards and affiliations included the Maine Medical Center, Waynflete School, Holderness School, Chocorua Island Chapel Association and Lakes Region Conservation Trust; he was a founder of the Piper Shores Retirement Community. Mr. Armstrong is survived by four children and their spouses: Anne and Jim Cram; C.D. and Betts Armstrong; Tom and Liz Armstrong; and Virginia Armstrong. He is also survived by seven grandchildren and their spouses: Nat and Abigail Cram; Rachel and Kyle Halliday; Philip Armstrong; Katherine Armstrong and Zand Martin; Emilie Cram; Laura Armstrong and Josh Andersen; and Allie Armstrong. He also leaves six great grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his wife, Rachel, and his siblings Barbara, John, Virginia and Henry ’49.

1945 Joseph W. Donner Jr. passed away peacefully at his New York home on July 13, 2023. Born Jan. 23, 1927, to Carroll Elting and Joseph Donner in Buffalo, New York, Joe was the grandson of industrialist and philanthropist William H. Donner,

founder of Donner Steel and a close associate of Andrew Mellon. Upon the passing of Mr. Donner’s father, his grandfather founded the International Cancer Research Foundation, which was the genesis of the William H. Donner Foundation and Donner Canadian Foundation. Mr. Donner came to St. Paul’s School as a Third Former and was active in the choir and Glee Club; he played football and rowed for Shattuck. He served in the U.S. Navy before entering Princeton University, where he became a founding member of the famed a cappella group, the Tigertones. After graduation, Mr. Donner met and married the love of his life, Pamela Cushing Donner, in New York City. He joined the foreign service, and the young couple moved to their station in Athens, Greece, where they had their first two children, Alexander Brokaw and Belinda. Returning stateside, Mr. Donner forged ahead with a successful career on Wall Street at First Boston, then Cyrus J. Lawrence; meanwhile, he and Pamela added Timothy Elting and Joseph William III to their growing brood. In the late 1970s, Mr. Donner left Wall Street to pursue a Ph.D. at Columbia University while supporting several conservative causes, including his service on the board of an influential political publication. He was, in fact, a stalwart patriot and longtime philanthropist who tirelessly supported numerous public policy think tanks. Mr. Donner is survived by his wife of 72 years Pamela Cushing Donner; his sons, Alex, Tim and Joe; his grandchildren, William Henry, Timothy Joseph and Brielle Marjorie; and his daughters-in-law Leesa (Kelly) Donner and Karen (Solomon) Donner. He was predeceased by his daughter Belinda.

1949 Samuel Porter Cooley died peacefully on Aug. 31, 2023, surrounded by his wife and three children, at age 92. Mr. Cooley was born on July 7, 1931, in Hartford, Connecticut, the oldest son of Charles Parsons Cooley Jr. of Hartford and Adelaide Eberts of Montreal. He grew up in West Hartford and arrived at St. Paul’s School in 1945, where he was involved in the Glee Club and other choral groups, the Cum Laude Society and the Student Council. He also participated in baseball, crew, football and ice hockey, and he was a prefect. As an alumnus, he served the School as a regional representative, form director, main agent and member of the Alumni Association Executive Committee. Mr. Cooley went on to Yale and Columbia Business School. He married Trygve (Trig) Norstrand his senior year at Yale; they celebrated their 70th anniversary in 2022. Mr. Cooley joined Hartford National Bank and soon became a commercial loan officer. After the bank merged with Connecticut National Bank, he became chief financial officer and later chief credit officer when the bank merged with Shawmut National Bank. He retired in 1993 after 38 years with the bank. In Hartford, he was on the boards of Lydall Inc., Mt. Sinai Hospital Foundation, Watkinson School, Cedar Hill Cemetery, Greater Hartford Arts Council, the University of Hartford and the Aloha Camps Foundation. His interests included hunting and fishing at the East Haddam Fishing & Game Club. For many years, Mr. Cooley and his family had a home on Nantucket, where he enjoyed fishing expeditions on his boat and long walks on the moors with his dogs. After retiring, he and Trig moved to Naples, Florida, and spent winters in homes in Pelican Bay, later moving to Moorings Park. In Naples, he became an enthusiastic volunteer with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, serving as a boat captain.

He was predeceased by his son, Peter Alexander Cooley ’82. He is survived by his wife, Trig, and children Charlie Cooley (Grosvie) of Bratenahl, Ohio; Pam (David O’Halloran) of Bratenahl, Ohio; and John ’78 (Maggie) of Bronxville, New York; along with daughterin-law Allene Adams of Raleigh, North Carolina; 13 grandchildren, including Sam ’07, Sarah ’11, Charlotte ’13, Susannah ’13 and George ’14, as well as four great-grandchildren.

1964 David Delano Patterson of Newton and East Orleans, Massachusetts, died on April 27, 2023, of sudden cardiac arrest. Mr. Patterson was born in Philadelphia to A. Willing Patterson of the Form of 1928 and Leila Delano Patterson. He attended Episcopal Academy and came to St. Paul’s School as a Second Former, where he was active in squash and tennis. He went on to Harvard and earned a B.A. with cum laude honors as well as a M.Ed. He was there at a time of political activism, as well as the legendary 29-29 Harvard football win over Yale. He relished both. As a conscientious objector, Mr. Patterson contributed alternative service, working in a settlement house in Liverpool, England; teaching in rural Thailand; and working the vineyards in France. That last opportunity gave him a real appreciation for the rigors of agricultural labor. Watergate pushed him to law school at Northeastern, where he earned a JD. He practiced law for 40 years, with a focus on real estate. He always found time for pro bono work and was particularly proud of his many years helping a Hispanic church in Boston’s South End. Mr. Patterson played fast pitch softball into his early 50s until, as he said, they could no longer find a place to hide him. He then morphed into the role of coach for his thenyoung son, Reid. These were not highly competitive teams, but full of the simple joy of the sport, games where a bunt could — and Alumni Horae | Issue I 23/24

IN MEMORIAM did — become an inside-the-park home run. About 20 years ago, Mr. Patterson and his wife, Deborah, an architect, bought a rustic barn on the shores of Pleasant Bay on Cape Cod. He pulled out his old baseball cleats, the no-longer-allowed metal sort, and repurposed them to keep him vertical on the steep bank above the bay. There he plied his version of rural gardening, wielding his preferred tool: the chain saw. While Mr. Patterson swam with hammerheads in the Galapagos, the appearance of great whites off Nauset Beach drove him out of the surf. He relocated to ponds and protected bays and kept swimming. He had a lifelong love of racquet sports, first tennis and squash, then, as the knees gave way, pickleball, spec tennis, and finally tennis doubles on clay. Passionate about conservation, he supported organizations on the Cape and in Newton, and he was often out there tearing out invasive species. Long interested in history, Mr. Patterson founded a nonprofit to protect landmarked properties in Newton and spent long hours on the cause. For his much-delayed retirement, he had lists of things to do. His final list included “relearn French, understand electricity, teach the dog to catch a frisbee.” Mr. Patterson is survived by his wife of 32 years, Deborah Kent Allen, and their son, Reid Delano Patterson.

1958 Emory Wilson Sanders passed gracefully from this world on Aug. 29, 2023, in New London, New Hampshire, after a courageous battle with melanoma, lymphoma and coronary artery disease. Mr. Sanders was a loyal and devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle. He was a successful entrepreneur, a dedicated volunteer and an engaged community member, widely known for his adventurous spirit.

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Born on Dec. 11, 1940, in Boston, he was the son of Dr. James and Maxine (Wilson) Sanders. His journey began in Rye, New Hampshire, as the middle child of three, enjoying the New Hampshire Seacoast and working at his grandmother’s Olde Parsons Antique Shop, where he honed his appreciation for antiques and entrepreneurship. Mr. Sanders enrolled at St. Paul’s School as a First Former and was active in the choir and Glee Club, the Dramatic Club, Missionary Society and Shavian Society, and served as business manager for The Pelican. He received the Rector’s Award and exhibited entrepreneurial inklings, crafting custom stationery for fellow classmates. He enjoyed connecting with formmates all his life. Mr. Sanders attended Tufts and was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa. Following a brief enlistment in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve and a season of skiing and working in Stowe, Vermont, he began his professional career with Procter & Gamble and continued it with IBM. Mr. Sanders had a love for the outdoors that endured throughout his life, and his spirit of adventure found its home amidst the White Mountains. It was there that he encountered Susannah Gale Eynon (Susie), the woman who would stand by his side in life’s journey. Guided by his passions, Mr. Sanders established his home in the Granite State and ventured into the world of auctioneering, building an encyclopedic knowledge of antiques. Over three decades, he nurtured this endeavor into a prominent Northeast auction house, overseeing the auctions of several historic New Hampshire grand hotels. Raising his family in New London, Mr. Sanders embraced the roles of husband to Susie and father to Lydia ’88 and Emory Wilson “Sandy” Sanders Jr. ’92. The family fondly remembers shared dinners, exhilarating skiing escapades and many hikes in the White Mountains. Retirement heralded another chapter of exploration. Mr. Sanders and Susie set sail, as he learned to crew their sailboat through several Caribbean winters with Susie as captain. Later, his passion for skiing led them to the mountains of Big Sky Resort, where he embraced his role as a mountain host, logging more than 100 days and 2 million vertical feet of skiing for many seasons. Summers on Nantucket rekindled his connection to the

sea, as Mr. Sanders shared scalloping bounty with grandchildren and guests. A dedicated Rotarian, Mr. Sanders was committed to community service throughout his life. Early on, he was a volunteer for the John Hay Estate, the Ausbon Sargent Land Trust and the Kearsarge Youth Hockey Association. For St. Paul’s School, he was a dedicated form agent. His battle with cancer late in life heightened his awareness of healthcare needs, inspiring his fundraising efforts for the Dartmouth Cancer Center and establishing the Emory and Susie Sanders Scholarship for Nursing at Colby-Sawyer College. Mr. Sanders’ enduring legacy resides within the hearts of his beloved wife and children and cherished grandchildren: Kenya, August, Brewster ’24, Warren and Whitman. He also is survived by his brother Jay and Jay’s wife Carol, his brother Center and many cherished nieces and nephews.

1961 Edward D. “Ned” Toland III died peacefully at home in Summerville, South Carolina, on July 4, 2023, at 80 years of age after a long illness. He was also a longtime resident of Orleans, Massachusetts, and Indian Wells, California. Born on June 25, 1943, in Monroe, Louisiana, to Edward D. Toland Jr. ’36 and Ann Brown Toland, Mr. Toland grew up primarily in St. Louis and Milton, Massachusetts. He attended St. Paul’s School and earned a B.A. from the University of Colorado and an M.A. in history from the Kennedy School in Boston. He taught history at the Nauset Regional Middle School in Orleans, Massachusetts, for 20 years. Mr. Toland also served in the U.S. Navy from 1965 to 1968. In 1972, Ned married Karen Sue Berquist, who died in 1993.

Mr. Toland loved tennis and ran several marathons, including the Boston Marathon. He also helped organize marathons and played high-level amateur tennis after moving to Indian Wells upon his retirement from teaching. Ned is survived by son Luke Edward Toland and daughter-in-law Lacey Lynnea Toland of San Diego; daughter Sarah Rush Toland of New York City; sister Frances Kidder and brother-in-law Tracy Kidder of Williamsburg, Massachusetts; partner Sandra McDevitt and her two children and son-in-law; and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

1969 Robert H. Rettew Jr. passed away on July 31, 2023, at the age of 71, after a rapid progression of Parkinson’s disease. Known by those who loved him as Bob, Rob or R2, Mr. Rettew was born in Detroit on Aug. 3, 1951, to Robert and Phyllis (Kirkpatrick) Rettew. He was raised in Scarsdale, New York, and enrolled in St. Paul’s School as a Third Former. An Old Hundred, he competed in baseball, football and track, was part of Le Cercle Français and the Concordian and served as editor of the Horae Scholasticae. After SPS, he earned his undergraduate degree in English from Yale and worked in the publishing industry for two years before trading in the big cities for Londonderry, New Hampshire, in search of a quieter life and to focus on writing. It was there, working on a friend’s apple farm, that he met his wife, Annie. The couple worked together for another five harvests before moving to Rhode Island, where Mr. Rettew earned a Master of Library and Information Studies degree from the University of Rhode Island. He worked at

Inforonics in Littleton, Massachusetts, and at Bristol Community College in Fall River, Massachusetts, before returning to Rhode Island for a position at Salve Regina University. During their five years in Rhode Island, the Rettews’ family grew to include daughters Katherine and Elizabeth and son John. In 1993, Mr. Rettew accepted a position at St. Paul’s School as director of Ohrstrom Library and moved with his family to the School grounds. In his ensuing 22-year career with his alma mater, he served as division head for Academic Information Systems, taught in the Humanities Department, and was appointed an academic dean and later vice rector for academics before retiring as executive director of the SPS Alumni Association. He also coached a New England championship-winning girls volleyball team, advised countless students and was a member of the team that designed the Humanities V curriculum — all while completing his Master of Education degree at Harvard Graduate School of Education. His professional career was devoted to the well-being and teaching of his students. Mr. Rettew retired from SPS in 2015 following his Parkinson’s diagnosis but remained close to the School, where Annie worked as a registered nurse in the Clark House Health Center until December 2021. An avid reader, he enjoyed spending time maintaining the garden and yard at the home he and Annie shared in Concord and he remained in close contact with many of his fellow alumni and former SPS colleagues. In addition to his wife Annie and children Katie, John and Elizabeth, he leaves his sister Robin ’73 and many in-laws, nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents and brother Kirk. OBITUARY SUBMISSIONS Alumni Horae is happy to reprint obituaries that have been previously published elsewhere or written in traditional obituary format and submitted directly to us. We encourage you to reach out to alumni@sps.edu to submit an obituary but may contact you if we do not hear from you first. Obituaries may be edited for length and style and will appear in the next possible issue of Alumni Horae.

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THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE IN CHARACTER AND SCHOLARSHIP Just as you did, our students are discovering what it means to live and learn in a community that inspires intellectual curiosity, deep friendships and transformative growth in every way possible. Every day, they’re laying the foundation for purposeful lives in service to the greater good and building a community for life. The SPS Fund is how today happens. It helps to support the full student experience. Will you make today happen for our students with a gift to The SPS Fund in honor of your reunion?

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