The Summit Magazine Spring 2020

Spring 2020 Magazine

In this issue:Â Brand Refresh Strategic Initiatives XC Team Wins State

The magazine of The Summit Country Day School Spring Magazine 2020 EDITOR Nancy Berlier ASSOCIATE EDITOR Nick Robbe ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER Kathy (Hilsinger) Penote ’93 PHOTOGRAPHY Nancy Berlier, Jolene Barton, Lisa Cox, Robert A. Flischel, Jacob Locke ’21, Hannah Michels, Kathy (Hilsinger) Penote ’93, Nick Robbe, Sharpshooter Services, Joe Simon, Leigh Taylor.

CONTRIBUTORS Matt Carcieri, Lauren Guip, Jessica Huber, Tracy Law ’85, Tanya Bricking Leach, Kirstin Pesola McEachern, Kathy (Hilsinger) Penote ’93, Mark Osborne, Nick Robbe, Shannon Smyth, Rebecca Sontag/The Catholic Telegraph, Special thanks: Sandy Champlin, Lisa Cox, Lauren Flowers-Neal, Laura Johnson, Nancy Snow.

PRINTING Arnold Printing ©

2020 The Summit Country Day School, Cincinnati, OH.

The Summit magazine is published by the Communications Department of The Summit Country Day School.

Direct address changes to 2161 Grandin Road, Cincinnati, OH 45208.

Summit News Phone: (513) 871-4700 ext. 291 Email: communications@summitcds.org

Alumni News Please submit news about degrees, jobs, marriages, births and other notable passages in your life.

Go to www.summitcds.org/submityournews

Summit Magazine Online Archive www.summitcds.org/magazine

The Summit Country Day School serves students from age 18 months through grade 12 in a coeducational setting.

The Summit combines the academic excellence and one-on-one guidance of a top-tier independent school with the servant leadership and character-building environment that are hallmarks of a Catholic education.

2 Spring Magazine 2019-20

ON THE COVER: This new aerial image of our campus shows off a panoramic view of our city. New photography of the school was part of our rebranding initiative. See story on page 14.

Photo by Sharpshooter Services.  ON THIS PAGE: The varsity Boys’ Cross Country team is the latest squad to bring home a state championship. Senior Brian DeWine hoists the trophy in the walk up the driveway and through a giant spirit tunnel in their celebratory welcome home. See story on page 36. Photo by Leigh Taylor.

Head of School Message

Enhancing What We Do “Teach them what they need for life.”

This was the direction St. Julie Billiart, foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, gave to the Sisters teaching school. While it’s a simple declaration, discerning what the children under our care today will need in the balance of this century, which is their lifetime horizon, is a more complex endeavor. With change accelerating, the school has reflected on what we need to teach which will accrue advantages for our graduates.

The COVID-19 health crisis, while certainly unwelcome, serves as a reminder of the thinking and leadership skills our graduates will need to employ during their lifetime and underscores for the school the sense of urgency we need to have in defining teaching standards and writing lessons that will prepare our students to meet such unexpected challenges.

The basics, like those outlined in the mission statement – grace, wisdom, rigorous academics, spiritual formation, social skills, physical development and an appreciation of the arts – are timeless and universal. We must continue to graduate leaders of character who are strong thinkers and communicators.

However, in brainstorming what the future might hold for our graduates, we concluded that they will be better served if we improve their learning opportunities in three areas to enhance their odds of success as a leader of character in the 21st century:

Leadership: Look no further than the partisan turmoil in

government and turnover in business CEOs for evidence of the need for better leadership.

Beyond teaching the qualities of a good leader, we want to put skills in our students’ toolboxes which will help them in college and life: conflict resolution skills, principles of negotiation, systems thinking, principle-based decisionmaking, emphathetic listening, collaboration competency and so on. We want to put more ethical dilemmas in front of the students and provide thinking routines to help them address the challenging situations they will face as adults.

The health crisis has offered many examples of difficult ethical choices leaders have had to make.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: We have introduced 20 standards into the curriculum in the areas of identity, diversity, justice and action. While we already teach many lessons in these areas, an analysis of what we’re currently doing versus what we think we should be doing revealed opportunities for additional lessons to provide students a thorough understanding of these principles. We want them to have the cultural competence to know how to work effectively with people from different backgrounds. When they graduate, we want them to believe that the best decisions are made when a variety of voices are heard. We want them to look out for the interests of the vulnerable and ensure justice prevails in whatever organization they are leading. The health crisis has highlighted for our students the inequitable access to healthcare of the poor and the vulnerable.

Creative Problem-Solving: Regardless of the areas of work our students pursue, those professions will be looking for people who can find better solutions. Doing so requires following successful processes for problemsolving with a focus on creativity. To enhance the education of our students in this area, we need to cement certain mindsets and have them practice certain skills. In the mindset area, we want our students to develop a tolerance for ambiguity, always persevere despite obstacles (failure usually isn’t a disaster, it’s an opportunity to learn) and know that taking a break from busyness to reflect leads to success. In the skills area, we want to teach techniques in multiple

Contents idea-creation, encourage making connections, instruct them to use a deliberate design process and give them practice calculating risk – when is taking a risk warranted and when is it not.

We believe creativity can be taught, and we intend to demand originality and inventiveness from every child through coursework across the disciplines. The closure of the campus to students in March certainly demanded originality and inventiveness of our teachers as they learned to teach in a new way!

The Schiff Family Science Research Institute, a program we started six years ago, is a great example. It provides students with real-world, hands-on, in-depth experience developing these mindsets and practicing these skills. We’re working on starting another Center of Excellence, the Homan Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, which will accomplish the same objectives through projects with start-ups and small businesses.

We are talking with college professors and other secondary schools who have developed curricular elements of entrepreneurship which might be useful to us. We are grateful to the Schiff and Homan families for appreciating the value these programs bring to our students and endowing them accordingly.

We have a sense of urgency to make these enhancements happen as soon as possible. We believe the future success of our graduates depends on it. We’ve engaged the Center for Creative Leadership out of North Carolina to help us train the organization to deliver these benefits to our students. The professional development of the faculty and staff is focused in this direction. Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs Dr. Kirstin McEachern is leading this work. I encourage you to read her article on page 22 for further details of our plans.

If we do this job well, others will regard our graduates as polished and highly-skilled leaders.

We’re aiming high to deliver on our promise to parents: to transform their children into leaders of character who go out into the world as the changemakers and peacemakers Christ calls all of us to be. That’s The Summit Way.

Features

6 8 10 14 18 22 36 42 46

Incoming Montessori Director Lauren Guip reveals three strategies, based on recent research, for creating an environment that supports the development of happy and healthy children.

Art teacher Samantha England had numerous reasons, including cancer, for not focusing on her own art in the summer of 2018. But she did focus on art and turned her battle against cancer into her own capstone experience.

The 100th edition of the Rostrum will be printed this year. Campus Historian Dr. Tracy Law ’85, an editor during her student years, tells the history of our yearbook, how it got its name and the role of the yearbook today. .When The Summit was refreshed, an image that has been hiding in plain sight was pulled out to be our new icon.

Thanks to endowed scholarships and endowed staffing positions, many students receive opportunities and experiences at The Summit that they might not get elsewhere. Read this salute to our culture of philanthropy.

Character education and teaching students to be independent thinkers have always been central to a Summit education.

Our strategic plan challenges us to more specifically define how we teach characterbased leadership and creative problemsolving in order to develop leaders of character.

The varsity boys’ cross country team overcame more than just the 3.1 mile course and the other runners. Read about the perseverance, unity and strategy behind winning a state championship.

We honor Mary and Joe Brinkmeyer as recipients of this year’s Ne Ultra Award.

Conky Greiwe ’61 received The McKenzieSargent Distinguished Alumni Award.

Summit alumni go on and do amazing things like running a marathon in every state, making a major motion picture and joining the priesthood. Read what Tiffany Chenault Ph. D. ’92, David Thies ’90 and Ty Wahlbrink ’12 have been doing.

Departments 32 34 40 52

Newsmakers Faculty Newsmakers Athletic Newsmakers Class Notes

Correction The 2018-19 Annual Report on Philanthropy omitted Mary and William Staun (20+).

We regret the omission.

Rich Wilson Head of School Summit Magazine 5

A toddler revels in the sunshine on The Summit’s rooftop playground.

Raising Happy Children:

Three key strategies from the latest research

By Lauren Guip As an early childhood educator and parent of young children, the idea of fostering joy as children experience the wonders around them is always at the forefront of my mind.

Children delight in the simplest of life’s wonders. They are enthralled by everyday sensations that long ago became routine to their adult counterparts. Each day in my classroom, I am inspired by the way children observe details we often miss, their ability to engage fully in the present moment and the robust amount of knowledge they absorb with such ease.

Knowing this is all true, the question for parents and educators is how to get the most out of this crucial time in development. How can we foster experiences that help children not only develop cognitively and academically, but spiritually and emotionally? What kind of environment supports the growth of happy and healthy children? With the vast 6

Spring Magazine 2019-20

amount of information we now have at our fingertips, we are all increasingly anxious about how to raise our children. There are a growing number of preschool expulsions, children being medicated and anecdotal evidence that parents feel overwhelmed.

With this in mind, what does research say?

Depth of conversation

Perhaps, we as parents and educators focus on the wrong skills. In her book, “The Importance of Being Little,” Erika Christakis, a former preschool director and faculty member of the Yale Child Study Center, asserts there is a mismatch between research that shows us the amazing things children can do and the reality that some children are often doing poorly in early childhood settings.

According to Christakis, this is due to several factors, but namely that we tend to focus more on superficial learning (e.g. identifying letters and numbers) instead of allowing children the time and space to deep dive into their interests and curiosities. While rote

memorization is helpful, Christakis argues that we also need to provide children with a depth of conversation that allows them to ask all their questions, and take the time to thoughtfully answer them, ultimately keeping curiosity and deeper thinking active and alive.

One way we can achieve this is to simply pay attention and be present. Schedules for adults and children often leave little time for uninterrupted exploration and play. While it is beneficial for children to play in solitude and with peers, it is essential for them to have experiences exploring and playing with their parents.

Most people would be amazed to discover the rich conversation that originates from an experience out in nature. Take a step out your back door and you might find your children asking you profound and even existential questions about what they observe around them – and in my opinion – they deserve a thoughtful response. This requires practice. Many adults are caught in a mindset that children’s thoughts and insights are not as important as their own. In fact, the most important learning environment happens between parent and child.

Prioritize relationships

Another key to raising self-aware and joyful children is to remind ourselves of the social nature of human cognitive development.

Prioritizing relationships over anything else may have the most lasting effect on children. Children have an innate desire to know and be known by their parents.

If children are not engaged in trusting, respectful relationships with adults, they will actually learn less.

We can show our children we prioritize our relationships with them by acknowledging their feelings – even the negative ones. We need to model for children how to healthily express and acknowledge feelings. While they may not always have the vocabulary and maturity to express their feelings, we certainly do.

We often avoid the messy and irrational feelings instead of facing them head-on and realizing that we all have uncomfortable and messy emotions. They only become bigger and messier if we ignore them.

Tend the garden Perhaps most important to raising secure, healthy and happy children is developing a shift in our understanding of what it means to “parent.” In “The Gardener and The Carpenter,” Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, defines two styles of parenting that result in drastically different outcomes for children.

She describes a style of parenting that is like carpentry – with a specific goal in mind.

The problem with this kind of mindset is that humans are too complex, emotional and unique to be molded into something specific that comes from the parents’ own idea of how they envisioned their child.

Gopnik suggests instead that we should consider adopting the view of parenting akin to gardening. In this approach, parenting is about providing a rich, stable environment where many different successful outcomes are possible.

According to Gopnik, “Parents are not designed to shape their children’s lives. Instead, parents and other caregivers are designed to provide the next generation with a protected space in which they can produce new ways of thinking and acting that, for better or worse, are entirely unlike any that we would have anticipated beforehand.”

If I have any goal as a parent and an educator, it could be summed up in this idea.

The possibilities of children reach far beyond any one person’s ideas of what they can become.

Montessori teacher Lauren Guip will assume the role of Director starting in the 2020-21 school year.

Summit Magazine 7

Middle School art teacher Samantha England and her class display an apple she drew for her teacher friends while she was undergoing cancer treatment.

Samantha England: A Portrait of Perseverance

By Rebecca Sontag

“There are a thousand excuses for

Samantha England had more than a thousand reasons for not focusing on her own art in the summer of 2018. She was gearing up and getting organized for her second year of teaching at The Summit’s Harold C. Schott Middle School and finalizing preparations for her wedding.

But just three weeks prior to marrying her husband, Michael, and before the start of school, Samantha was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, turning her whole world inside out.

not making your own artwork. But

With that diagnosis came uncertainty, fear and grief. Would she be able to keep her job? Would Michael still want to marry her?

8

Spring Magazine 2019-20

the kids love to see what you can do. It brings a level of authenticity to your classroom also. The whole thing just worked out amazingly.”

–Samantha England

Was breast cancer going to steal her young life? Yes. Yes. And no.

Never in Samantha’s life had this particular character strength been so meaningful.

Yet, it was on a whim that she grabbed her pastels and paper on the way out the door to keep her mind and hands occupied for that first eight-hour session of chemotherapy. At the end of that grueling day, she had drawn a beautiful loaf of challah to give to her best friend who had been a tremendous support from the beginning.

That is how Samantha decided to complete her own capstone project on perseverance, just like her students. She drew donuts for Jen, an apple for her teacher friends and pizza for her husband. At the end of each session of chemo, England had a work of art expressing her gratitude and love. Each piece, six in total, was a gift to those who had been so staunch and steadfast in their support of their friend, sister, daughter, wife, colleague and patient.

Samantha has a new-found passion for promoting art therapy. She feels called to, “Remind women they need to stand up for themselves and promote their own health.” She plans on combining her works into a showing that includes a mammography van onsite to provide mammograms for women who might not otherwise have access to them. She wants to share the love and support she herself received in abundance as she persevered.

“I didn’t go through this alone,” says Samantha. “None of this is easy, but I’m just happy to be here.”

This article was reprinted with permission from the Catholic Telegraph.

As for “authenticity in the classroom,” Samantha delivered. When she lost her hair, she kept teaching. When she felt terrible and exhausted, she kept drawing. When her immune system was practically wiped out, her students slathered on the hand sanitizer and kept learning.

Virtues of character are not something that one takes on and off like a mask that keeps germs at bay– something to be removed when no longer needed. The very notion of the word “perseverance” demands that it keeps going. To persevere is an inextricable part of who England is. She completed her six sessions of chemo and she presented her capstone project, but she is not finished.

When people ask her, “What are you working on next?” She has an answer. She will continue to advocate for and manage her own health. She will grow and develop as both an artist and a teacher. She will not, however, stop there.

Summit Magazine 9

Holding Memories in Your Hand: 100 Years of The Summit Rostrum

10 10 Spring Magazine 2019-20

By Dr. Tracy Law ’85 “Our work is not finished when we leave school. We must be up and doing and keep ourselves in tune with the times. We must not hold aloof from public affairs.”

These words would not be out of place in a student essay, Chapel Talk or graduation speech from 2020. Does it then surprise you to know that they come to us from The Summit of a century ago, courtesy of the pages of the inaugural Rostrum?

It was the year Joan of Arc was canonized, the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I went into effect and the 19th Amendment enfranchised women in The first Rostrum staff gathers around a table in 1920. the United States. As The Summit celebrated its 30th birthday, members of the Class of 1920 published the first school yearbook “To give every pupil in the school an opportunity to proclaim their thoughts and fancies from a ‘Rostrum’ as the Romans of old were wont to do.”

Indeed, for the next three decades, in addition to class photos, the annual served as a literary journal for students from the primary grades through graduating seniors. While senior girls wrote of current events, religious or philosophical issues and literary analysis, their young counterparts contributed paragraphs on

topics like pets, favorite stories or family anecdotes.

While contemporary Rostrums no longer serve such a scholarly role, the goal of including students of all ages in its pages still inspires the staff each year. Co-Editor Meredith Gilbert ’20 says that “Working on the Rostrum team for the last four years has allowed me to not only be more involved in all school activities and events, but also to play a role in preserving my memories and the memories of my fellow students.”

Lillian Chow ’17 says “The Rostrum at The Summit isn’t just another club or student activity.

We came together to create a small representation of the huge impact of the past year. The staff works tirelessly to create something which every child, parent, faculty and staff member can relate to in some form or another. For me, being a part of the Rostrum, specifically as editor, I had the opportunity to witness moments and pieces of my time at The Summit through various lenses, not just my own. Working with all ages and all walks of life reminded me of how the diversity in a multitude of aspects of The Summit is an accelerator for the creation of incredible opportunities, people and experiences.”

11 Summit Magazine 11

My own Rostrum journey began as a Summit student in the 1980s. We worked with grease pencils to mark on photos how they should be cropped and drew page layouts on oversized graph paper.

Except for the opening pages and the Senior section, everything was in black and white. From co-editor then, to parent of a Summit lifer, 15-year Upper School faculty member and current school historian/archivist, I have a strong investment in the ongoing success of our school annual as well as the preservation of previous volumes. The 26 volumes lined up in my home office attest to this.

Serving as a staff member, specifically an editor, not only impacts a student personally, but can also build critical professional skills. A four-year Editorin-Chief, Regina Merrill ’13 says that “Being the editor of the Rostrum not only gave me a behind-the-scenes look at the history of The Summit, it provided me with the foundations of writing and editing skills that I used throughout college and even in my current career.”

12

sometimes take that for granted but this renewed my sense of how important the yearbook truly is at schools. You all did an amazing job of eloquently giving a nod to the past while telling the story of this year.”

Perhaps the most tangible element of the yearbook is the cover. For the 100th edition, the staff took the iconic view of our chapel and, working with Jostens’ artists, employed new printing techniques to give it a modern twist. It was then decided that we would figure out a way to include the covers of the previous 99 editions. Staff photographer Jacob Locke ’21 volunteered for the project.

“When I was taking pictures of all of the yearbook covers, I found the changes that the building went through to be very interesting,” Jacob says. “I also enjoyed how the covers changed throughout the years, from the falling-apart leather of the earliest versions to the very ornate, beautiful cover of 2019. It took a while to get everything perfect, but once it was, it was very rewarding to see all the history laid out on the page.”

While every yearbook is important in capturing the events and unique spirit of one school year, compiling the centennial edition of the Rostrum presented an exciting challenge. Having partnered with us in previous years, our publisher’s representative, Jostens’ Brian Fessler, knew it was going to be a special experience. Thinking back to the day we began brainstorming, he remembers being handed the very first yearbook ever created at Summit.

Having spent countless hours exploring the stories of thousands of Summit students contained within the pages, I love how our Rostrum serves as both a keeper of individual memories and a historical primary source. Reading a textbook about US women and the 19th Amendment is one thing, reading 1920 Rostrum staffer Gertrude Homan’s opening editorial where she discusses this adds another, more personal dimension.

“I had chills running down the back of my neck,” he says. “You could actually feel the history. It reminded me how amazing it is that the yearbook is the only printed history of every year in the school. I

“There never was an age which demanded so much of women. Her status has changed considerably during the past few generations. An intelligent woman is accepted in almost any walk of life –

Spring Magazine 2019-20

political, educational, commercial and in social service – what she will.”

Here is a young woman, sitting in the same red-brick building that we are, speaking to us across a century. Yet, the words are not dry and meaningless. There is a connection to contemporary situations that is valuable to recognize. Not to mention, spending an hour immersed in our Rostrums tells us about fads and trends, history, clothes and slang that made up the daily lives of 20th Century Summit students.

Because of this, every year when the new edition arrives, I wonder what Summiteers 50 years from now will think of us. What will be the “take away” about Summit in the second decade of the 21st Century?

Will they laugh at the clothes and hairstyles in senior photos? Will they take note of the reprinted Chapel Talk about a student’s experience as a refugee from Afghanistan or becoming a strong, proud

African-American woman? Will they read a soccer captain’s essay about his pride in wearing The Summit name on his jersey during multiple runs towards the state soccer title? Will they recognize the issues that sparked moves towards social justice? Will they see a community that tries every year to encourage individuality and diversity, while simultaneously creating affinity with The Summit Silver Knight?

The Rostrum is more than “a memory book of happy recollections.” As the 1921 staff hoped, it has become the “vital organ in spreading the spirit” of The Summit Country Day School.

Dr. Tracy Law ‘85, Ph.D. teaches Advanced Placement Psychology, Advanced Placement Human Geography and Honors World Issues at The Summit. She is the campus historian/archivist and is the moderator of the Rostrum.

The 2020 Rostrum staff, left to right, front row: Tommy DiPaola, Ellie Adam, Dr. Tracy Law, Kayla Vaughn and Makayla Fisher.

Back row: Wali Khan, Bella Santamarina (co-editor), Lindsay Vaughn, Kate Bergeron, Tess Edmondson, Brooke Dittman (coeditor), Zoe Edmondson, Andrew Wagner and Sophie Young. Not pictured: Meredith Gilbert (co-editor), Bry Woodard, Jacob Locke, Michael Stanis, Danny Bohmer, Khamia Brooks, Ellie Moran, Kate Nazzaro, Sarah Sutton, Lucas Valle and BT Tolble.

Summit Magazine 13

Making an Icon More Iconic: The Summit Refreshes Its Brand

By Matt Carcieri

When the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur founded The Summit in 1890, they didn’t give focused attention to branding the school. That’s because brands were in their infancy. In fact, it was just a few years earlier that Procter & Gamble had launched one of the first mass-market brands – Ivory soap.

Today, schools have to build and maintain their brands the same way a product manufacturer does in order to market themselves effectively. A strong school brand drives top-of-mind awareness, appeals to new prospects and fosters affinity and loyalty among the members 14

Spring Magazine 2019-20

of the community. This strategic priority is particularly important in a competitive educational marketplace like the one we have in Cincinnati.

A brand’s visual identity is formed by its logos, logo font and colors. Used consistently over time, they become the basis for familiarity. The strongest of those identity elements are distinctive – singular in form and unique within the marketplace.

Think of Coke’s script logo, the robin-egg blue of a Tiffany box and Target’s bullseye logo.

Over the years, Summit’s visual identity has grown up organically. Our first symbol was the school seal, commissioned by

the founding sisters. It became the centerpiece of our academic logo in 2004. The Silver Knight was born in 1973, and recently, we added the athletics “S.” Each of these elements plays a role in the life of our school; but because our academic and athletics logos are independent from one another, the overall impact of our brand was diluted.

We lacked one, dominant identifier that defined The Summit brand across our pillars.

In order to create a more consistent and commanding market presence, The Summit has refreshed its visual identity system. To do that, we pulled forward an icon that’s been hiding in plain sight ever since the Sisters founded our school. At the center of the official seal is a shield featuring a chevron (inverted “V” shape).

Going forward, we will use that simple yet powerful symbol to strengthen our brand. It will be our central identifier: the main feature of our official logo and an associated component of our athletics brand.

As a unifying element, the shield icon connects to our historical seal – which will still be used for official documents, alumni and legacy publications – and link to the Silver Knight, allowing us to harmonize our visual identity across academics and athletics. While honoring our heritage, this clean, streamlined icon also modernizes our brand.

The shield more effectively communicates “who we are” as a school and a community. As it does for many premier schools, the shield signifies excellence. It’s also a commonly used Catholic symbol and a representation of knighthood. In this way, it will serve as the mark of a Summit leader of character.

Founding Sister Julia liked the name “Summit” because it reminded students that they should “aspire to the heights of humanity.” That’s why, for her and the other founding sisters, the chevron shape

The shield has been hiding in plain sight. within the shield was so meaningful. It literally depicts a “summit” – our location on the top of a hill – and figuratively represents the ideals of aspiration and achievement.

With this refresh of our brand, we’re also locking in on one, uniform tone for our Summit blue color. Across academics, athletics and all other aspects of school life, we will use “royal blue.” As an embodiment of our school’s personality, that shade has strength and depth as well as energy and vibrancy. Metallic silver (or gray) will continue to be our secondary, complementary color.

In the weeks, months and years ahead, the school administration will transition printed materials to this new visual identity. Some items will change immediately. You can already see the branding, the chevron, the shield and Summit blue in our newly designed website. Other items will be updated during scheduled upgrades.

But we also need your help. The Summit brand is ours to build collectively, and we need your support to foster and protect it. Please use these identity elements consistently and avoid any unauthorized variations. By committing ourselves to faithful implementation, we will make The Summit brand stronger and more appealing – within both our school community and the marketplace at large.

Matt Carcieri, an independent brand consultant and former marketing executive at Procter & Gamble, is the author of “Bleed a Creed: How to Create and Activate a Powerful Brand Purpose.”

He serves on the Board of Trustees, chairs the Marketing and Enrollment Committee and is a parent of alumni.

Summit Magazine 15

The Silver Knight Tradition

By Kathy (Hilsinger) Penote ’93

Thirty-one years ago, I walked through the doors of The Summit as a freshman.

Being a Cincinnati west-sider, coming to The Summit was a new experience for me. I believe most alumni would agree with my first impression, walking down those polka-dotted floors into the chapel.

It stole my breath.

It is still a place where I feel closest to God and enjoy celebrating my faith. Some of my favorite memories are Christmas Eve Mass, the smell of chicken noodle soup at lunchtime, girls in gray skirts, boys in striped ties and all of us coming together as the Silver Knights.

Throughout my high school journey, I loved learning about the school’s traditions. One of those traditions is the Silver Knight. The mascot made its debut in 1973 when Coach Farrell Ackley and the original football squad chose it and picked blue and silver as the school colors. No other Ohio high school had a Silver Knight as a mascot at the time. The original Silver Knight logo, which became standardized in 1993, had a large plume in his helmet, and he was stepping out of the Summit’s S.

One of the needs was to convert the original Silver Knight to a digital format.

He had been drawn on paper and scanned and re-scanned as an image.

Athletic Director Greg Dennis wanted to make sure that we maintained his visual identity, which included him stepping out of the S. I spent quite a bit of time 16

Spring Magazine 2019-20

looking at knight photos from history. We also agreed he needed to have more bulk and look stronger. In 2014, a new knight was created.

This past spring, the Marketing and Enrollment Committee of the Board of Trustees decided that a brand refresh was needed in the extremely competitive, independent and Catholic school marketplace. We wanted to maintain tradition but make our logos less complicated and more recognizable from a distance. We needed to rein in the many variations of the logo and keep it consistent. After much brand analysis, we settled on a sleek, simple version of the shield – the central element of the seal. Then, we incorporated the shield into the Silver Knight logo. One challenge we had with the old knight was that his full-bodied shape limited how large the shield could be on signs, printed materials and apparel. The new design still has the same look and style but allows us to present the knight larger on a small space.

The Silver Knight’s Quest: To Grow in Grace and Wisdom In the past two years, we have also reexamined what it means to be a Silver Knight. Through this journey, we realized it represents the core of who we are.

The Silver Knights are on a quest – to continually grow in grace and wisdom.

Silver Knights are:

• Strong in intellect. They are lifelong learners who think critically and creatively.

• Faithful servants of God. They proclaim by their lives, even more than by their words, that God is good.

• Empathetic. They are loving and accepting. They honor the dignity and sacredness of each person, and they embrace the gift of diversity.

• Ethical. They live with integrity, and they pursue justice in the world.

• Brave and resilient. They go to far-off places and do great things.

• “Renaissance people.” They pursue a life that’s abundant in multiple ways: spiritually, academically, physically, socially and artistically.

• Leaders of positive change in the world.

They are changemakers and peacemakers who contribute to the greater good.

We are excited to begin this decade with a refreshed brand. We have many new opportunities to showcase it in our new school website, a new online Spirit Shop site, updated school and athletic uniforms and other materials. We’ve assured that for many years to come the Silver Knight will be a graphically impactful part of The Summit tradition.

Kathy (Hilsinger) Penote ’93 is an alumna, parent of three Summit students, freelance graphic designer for the school and the Art Director/Designer of The Summit magazine.

The Seal Is Our Legacy

By Nancy Berlier The seal of The Summit remains near and dear to our hearts, as you can see from its continued use on the cover of The Summit magazine. It symbolizes our commitment to advance our Notre Dame-inspired mission into the future.

The seal was designed

by Pierre de Chaigon la Rose for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

The Latin words sigill(um) academiae dominae nostrae cincinnatensis refer to the original name of the school, The Academy of Our Lady in Cincinnati.

Among the symbols on the seal is the Catherine Wheel upon which fourth century Roman Emperor Maxentius intended to execute Saint Catherine of Alexandria because she refused to recant her faith. After she was lashed to the spoked wheel, the wheel broke apart, and the emperor set her free. The Sisters chose

St. Catherine as their patron saint.

The three fleur-de-lis in the seal symbolize the purity of Mary, the Blessed Trinity and the three religious vows of the Sisters. It also references France, the origin of our foundresses before St. Julie Billiart and Francoise Blin De Bourdon, moved the order to Namur, Belgium.

The upwardly-pointing chevron in the middle of the shield implies the hilltop from which The Summit got its name and the origin of our “aim high” spirit. While we have adapted the shield to be the focal point of our refreshed brand, the seal still is our legacy. It is our “stamp” of approval. Graduates earn the seal on their diplomas and transcripts. We use it on awards. It is on every medallion bestowed on scholarship recipients. It is the hallmark of our collective identity.

Nancy Berlier is Communications Director at The Summit and editor of The Summit magazine.

Summit Magazine 17

2020 endowed scholarship recipients.

Culture of Philanthropy Endowed Scholarships Exemplify Generosity of Spirit

By Nancy Berlier One of the most compelling images of The Summit’s culture of philanthropy is the photograph taken at the spring award program for students who have received scholarships to attend the Upper School.

This year in March, The Summit committed 24 endowed scholarships to students who have the potential to change the world, all made possible by the generosity of donors who believe in what we do.

“While this event showcases the academically strong and remarkably talented young people who want the advantage a Summit education will give them, it also shows the important role our donors play in furthering the school’s mission,” says Chief Philanthropy Executive Jim Jackson. “Their generosity provides students with the opportunities that

18

Spring Magazine 2019-20

come with a Summit education. These scholarships are a result of Summit’s culture of philanthropy and the spirit of the generous Summit community.”

Expanding the culture of philanthropy through engagement of everyone in the community and advancing the community’s understanding of the importance of the endowment are strategically critical to the vitality of the school.

“Our community is fortunate to have many generous benefactors,” says Head of School Rich Wilson. “Gifts to our endowment recognize and honor talented students who embrace our mission as an integral part of their education. Our benefactors not only share our passion for learning and opportunity but also our mission of challenging every child ‘to share fully the gifts that have been given to them by God.’ ”

Endowed scholarships are funds established by parents, grandparents, alumni and friends of The Summit who hope to assist in providing a Summit education to future generations of students.

“Endowed scholarships are critical to ensure that The Summit continues to attract talented, deserving students from across the city,” says Kelley Schiess, Assistant Head of School for Enrollment Management and Community Engagement. “The assistance that scholarships can provide can often be the deciding factor between a family attending The Summit or choosing another school.”

These new endowed scholars, like so many before them, will have the opportunity to be transformed by The Summit’s commitment to educating leaders of character, who value and improve the world they inherit:

Elise Alexander, St. Ignatius of Loyola: Margo S. Homan Scholarship.

Joaquin Beatty, Summit: Patricia and Joseph H. Clasgens II SBS ’37 Scholarship.

Wes Brokamp, Guardian Angels School; Annabella Desmond, St. Ursula Villa; Lillian Dwyer, Summit; Graham Hodge, St. Gertrude School; and Catherine Workman, St. Ursula Villa: Marc Gerard Fragge ’83 Scholarship.

Grey Bryant, St. Margaret of York School: A.J. Cohen ’97 Memorial Scholarship.

Caden Charville, St. Margaret of York School: Amelia Hamberg Foss ’24 Scholarship.

Alexander and Christopher Davies, Georgetown Exempted Village Schools: Arthur and Irma Theobald Scholarship.

Taylor Davies, Georgetown Exempted Village Schools: Pat and Joe Perin Scholarship.

Elizabeth Fager, St. Ursula Villa; and Lily Mitchell, Summit: Carolyn and John R. LaBar Family Scholarship.

Benjamin Gruber, St. Gertrude School: Carol Ann and Rich Wilson Family Scholarship.

Carson Hall, Summit: Thomas E. Wood, Sr. and Thomas E. Wood, Jr. Memorial Scholarship.

Addison Johnson, Summit: Joan and James J. Gardner Family Scholarship.

Teresa Longano, Our Lady of Visitation School: Marge and Charles J. Schott Scholarship.

Caleb Malone, St. Catharine of Siena School: Richard F. Williams SBS ’58 Scholarship.

Lily Martin, St. Vivian School: .

Evelyn Poch, St. Gertrude School: Mary Lois Jung Scholarship.

Georgia Schaefer, Mother Teresa School: Constance (Alf) Castleberry ’20 Memorial Scholarship.

Avery Smythe, Mariemont Junior High School: Johnny Warrington ’05 Memorial Scholarship.

Teresa Tarnowski, St. Margaret of York School: Susan S. Castleberry Scholarship Fund.

Summit Magazine 19

Annual Fund for Excellence

MY SUMMIT STORY Cindi Cotton and track and field teams. He won the Ohio Division III championship during the 2010 cross country season. He also won the state championship in the 3,200-meter run in track in 2011.

Running, in a way, has helped Colin sort through a lot of the other aspects of his life. “It taught me to work hard, to be persistent and to be patient,” Colin says. “I feel like many of these traits have transferred over into other aspects of life.”

Cindi and Robin, who had been donating to The Summit for some time, heard another way they could express gratitude for the school helping to set their son up for success in the real world. They could establish an endowment specifically for the athletic program.

Summit’s varsity and assistant varsity cross country coach positions are endowed because of their generous support. “As a way of expressing our gratitude to the school, we decided that would be our next step in giving,” Cindi says.

By Shannon Smyth There came a time when Cindi Cotton and Robin Cotton found themselves searching the area for schools for their son, Colin. At that time, a leg injury limited Colin to using crutches and a wheelchair. Their initial search didn’t yield much in the way of positive results.

After examining their options and talking with other parents, Cindi and Robin decided to give The Summit a chance.

After that, it was a quick decision. Colin became a lifer, graduating in 2011.

During his years at The Summit, Colin excelled as a member of the cross country 20

Spring Magazine 2019-20

Endowment funds can specifically augment the five-pillar Summit experience which helps students like Colin continue academic, spiritual, physical, social or artistic pursuits.

“I think it is important to give other people an opportunity to benefit from what a Summit education offers,” Cindi says. “We are very fortunate that we could provide that for our child, but it is even more important to share that with other people.”

This is one in a series of testimonials called “My Summit Story.” See this story and others via video at www.summitcds.org/ mysummitstory.

How Endowed Coaching Positions Make a Difference

The Benefits of Giving Stock

Colin Cotton ’11 says he learned persistence and patience on the way to becoming a twotime state champion runner for The Summit.

His success here launched him on a running career at Williams College where he also set school records on the cross country team.

By Jessica Huber

While The Summit made a difference in Colin’s life, his parents, Cindi and Robin Cotton, have made a difference in the lives of other athletes by creating the Cotton Family Endowment for Cross Country Coaches.

Donating appreciated stock is a taxsmart option: • You will avoid a 20 percent capital gains tax on the money you made.

• You can take a tax deduction for the entire fair market value of the stock, bond or mutual fund by donating the investment directly to the school.

• Also, you can potentially donate more to the school compared with what you would have given if you cashed out the stock, paid capital gains and then donated the cash to the school.

• If you happen to own stock that has done well, donating the stock could be a way to balance your portfolio either among your asset classes or between your equities and bonds.

• As with other gifts, you can indicate how you want the school to use the funds – for example as a gift to the annual fund, facilities, the endowment, an angel donor gift – or you can allow the school to determine where the funds can best be put to use.

Here’s how endowed coaching positions make a difference: • Endowing a coaching position supports one aspect of The Summit’s five-pillar experience while freeing funds for other critical needs of the school.

• For donors, it can be a way to express appreciation for dedicated coaches who inspire student athletes to be the best they can be on the track, in the classroom and in their community. It shows appreciation for an athletic program that cultivates teamwork, commitment, responsibility, honor, perseverance, cooperation, leadership and sportsmanship.

• Endowment funds give The Summit the financial security to commit to long-term support of students, staff and, in this case, coaches. Even in difficult economic times, this particular kind of endowment fund will provide predictable streams of income to our school.

• Donors may name their endowed funds for whomever they choose – a child, parent, family member or an inspirational teacher or coach.

In our culture of philanthropy, financially supporting the mentors and coaches who inspire our athletes also helps sustain the fivepillar mission of the school.

– Jessica Huber

If you are thinking of making a gift to The Summit, you might consider giving a stock, bond or mutual fund instead of cash.

To be eligible for a charitable deduction for a tax year, donations of stock need to be received by the end of the calendar year. Because different assets take different amounts of time to be transferred, you should initiate your transactions as early as possible before Dec. 31.

For more information about making a gift, contact Chief Philanthropy Executive Jim Jackson at 513-871-4700 ext. 242 or jackson_j@summitcds.org.

Summit Magazine 21

How we are developing a strategic framework for innovation, inclusivity and leadership standards 22 22 Spring Magazine 2019-20

Middle School religion teacher Cooper Schreibeis ‘12 works with his students using an Egyptian “breakout box.” Students work as a team to figure out clues and solve their quest.

By Dr. Kirstin Pesola McEachern, Ph.D.

As we consider what our students need to be prepared best to value and improve the world they inherit, we need look no further than the skills the Sisters have modeled so well over the course of Summit’s history. Since our school’s opening in 1890, we have evolved from all-girls to including a separate boys’ division, to moving to coed, to incorporating Montessori. These moves took vision, innovation, creative problem-solving and character-based leadership.

While character education and teaching students to be independent thinkers have always been central to a Summit education, our current strategic plan calls us to more specifically define and instill what it means to be a leader of character for all Summit community members. For the classroom, this plan includes developing curricular standards and lessons to intentionally teach innovation/ creative problem-solving, leadership, character, and inclusivity to all students at all grade levels. The Summit is working in

multiple areas to ensure the efficacy of this plan.

Engaging in Professional Development

Since the 2017-18 school year, faculty have participated in professional development groups centered on how to incorporate creative problem-solving, character-based leadership and principles of diversity, equity and inclusion into their classrooms. Teachers designed their own yearlong projects in one of four areas: research, curriculum development, assessment and community outreach.

Fruits of their work have already been realized in classrooms, from the Upper School’s redesigned leadership program to a Middle School Language Arts curriculum audit for inclusive literature; from new units in Lower School music classes emphasizing critical and creative thinking skills to situation cards in Montessori classrooms that prompt our youngest students to think about how they interact with others.

23

Summit Magazine 23

Early in the process, one group, that focused on applying creative problem-solving, reviewed George Couros’s book, “The Innovator’s Mindset” and thought its message was applicable to The Summit.

Upper School math teacher Eric Unwin says, “If we want to take the initiative to be an innovative school, then we need to be all-in. “The Innovator’s Mindset” provides tremendous examples and lays the groundwork to becoming a more innovative school.”

The eight characteristics that Couros identifies for an innovator’s mindset served as our framework for writing creative problemsolving curriculum standards. So that all faculty understood the thinking behind the standards, we selected “The Innovator’s Mindset” as the faculty read for the summer of 2019, and Mr. Couros came to our October in-service to challenge and inspire us to adopt an innovator’s mindset ourselves, as we cannot teach what we do not practice.

In the summer of 2019, we offered a four-day Creative Problem-Solving Fellowship Program for faculty to better understand what creative problem-solving means, to see what it looks like in the classroom and to adapt lessons to incorporate the standards. This summer, we will launch a similar program for leadership.

Partnering with Experts

During our time researching these initiatives, including how to effectively measure our success in building capacity with these skills, we were hard-pressed to find researchbased programs specifically for children until we learned about the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) out of North Carolina at an annual conference.

TOP: Teachers discuss ideas on implementing new curriculum standards during a four-day Creative Problem-Solving Fellowship Program during the summer of 2019.

BOTTOM: Author George Couros, standing, talks to Middle School teacher Michael DiPaola at the October in-service training on creative problemsolving.

24 24

Spring Magazine 2019-20

For the past 50 years, CCL’s main focus has been leadership development and research, and more recently they have been engaged in longitudinal research with more than 9,000 students in grades 3-12. They have worked with a few independent schools in North Carolina to create customized leadership

frameworks to drive programs that are mission-specific to each school.

“CCL’s presentation about their collaborative approach with student and faculty leadership training during the 2019 National Association of Independent School’s Conference was quite impressive,” says Kelley Schiess, Assistant Head of School for Enrollment Management and Community Engagement. “A subsequent visit to one of the independent schools they worked with and our workshop experience at their headquarters convinced us they had the expertise to help inform our process and ultimate program. Dr. McEachern and I were particularly interested in their researchbased process of understanding and working with school culture. We believe their work is truly aligned with The Summit mission and our commitment to characterbased education.”

Involving Constituency Groups

Innovation, inclusivity and leadership may sound like separate ideas, but when we refer to leaders of character in our mission statement, we are operating under the belief that one cannot be an effective leader of character without problemsolving skills, creativity and a commitment to equity.

To develop a framework that communicates the interconnectedness of these ideals, we formed a design team to work with CCL. In adhering to one of our creative problem-solving standards, which invites us to “collaborate effectively and respectfully with diverse teams,” we aimed to include all constituency groups to whom the program will apply. The design team consists of 20 members of our school community representing faculty, staff, administration, parents, coaches, the board of trustees and the student body.

“It was really amazing to have the perspective of students on the design team,” says Montessori teacher and incoming Director Lauren Guip. “We

We are operating under the belief that one cannot be an effective leader of character without problemsolving skills, creativity and a commitment to equity. really need to put more value in the students because that is what the school experience is all about.”

This group worked with CCL in November and January to identify and capitalize on what Summit already does well and how those strengths can inform standards that are most important for the curricular elements of the program. The framework includes three dimensions, “Grows Self,” “Builds Community,” and “Serves God,” and about a dozen leadership attributes are spread across the dimensions such as self-awareness, curiosity and resiliency. We are confident our program will strengthen and dovetail nicely with the leadership and character education work we’ve been doing.

Upper School health teacher and Student Activities Coordinator Laura Haas says “The Upper School leadership program has always aimed to provide every student the opportunity to learn, practice and experience character-based leadership. As we work to improve our leadership program, being more intentional in creative problem-solving, diversity and inclusion and character-based leadership will broaden the leadership experience of our students.”

“Many of the lessons I teach to Lower School classes, as the lower school counselor, use the character traits as a basis for introducing new topics,” says Elizabeth Drumm, a member of the design team. “But I am looking forward to incorporating more aspects of a new leadership framework so that the message Summit Magazine students hear from me echoes those that

25 25

they’ve heard across settings and time over their years at The Summit.”

Design team member and current sixth grader Haley Baker says “I will get to see six years of this program and my [second grade] sister will get to see a whole decade. I’m excited to see how it changes and evolves.”

The framework Summit’s design team developed will also apply to our athletic pillar.

Cotton Family Head Cross Country Coach and Upper School religion teacher Kurtis Smith, who also serves on the design team, is eager to incorporate it into his team’s typical training.

“This framework will help give coaches a ‘playbook’ for what we at The Summit expect leadership to look and feel like for our student-athletes,” Smith says. “The pillar of athletics should have the same expectations within the leadership curriculum as any of our classrooms.”

Writing Curriculum Standards

A few years ago, we adopted 20 standards for anti-bias education to speak to our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. These standards include teaching students to “recognize stereotypes and relate to people as individuals rather than representatives of groups” and “speak up with courage and respect when they or someone else has been hurt or wronged by bias,” among others.

Last year, the Curriculum Leadership Council wrote 16 standards for innovation/creative problem-solving which include supporting students to “take intellectual risks and use a wide range of idea-creation techniques” and “demonstrate originality and inventiveness in their work and understand the real-world limits to adopting new ideas.”

With the leadership framework we developed with CCL, we are writing

Upper School Director Kelly Cronin listens to a discussion between 8th grader Nick Bergeron and freshman Owen McEachern during a workshop presented by the Center for Creative Leadership. They are part of a 20-member team developing a framework for merging innovation, inclusivity and leadership into our standards.

26 26 Spring Magazine 2019-20

additional standards to address the attributes missing from our existing curriculum. These standards will reflect students’ developmental levels; for instance, self-awareness for a second grader looks different than selfawareness for a junior, so we need to be clear on what is attainable at different grades.

Designing New Lessons

New curriculum standards mean new lessons, and our teachers have delivered.

Montessori teacher Amy Berger has researched creative problem-solving for younger children over the last two years to inform the lessons she has brought into her classroom. The underlying Montessori philosophy of allowing students to solve their own problems and offering support only when needed is an underlying principle of an innovator’s mindset, so the concept works well in our early childhood classrooms.

“Preschoolers learn best when they’re given frequent opportunities to solve problems that are meaningful to them,” Amy says.

Her students have particularly loved the engineering challenges they can find throughout her room.

“They love doing their own constructions with the materials,” she says, “But the challenge is to pose a challenge: ‘How tall a structure can you build using one cube as a base?’ ‘Can you build something that sticks out?’”

Middle School science teacher Heather Cole participated in the Creative Problem-Solving Fellows program last summer and developed a unit that allows students to practice a certain problem-solving method to answer questions such as ‘How can we protect people from Top: Upper School biology teacher Karen Suder sits on the floor with her students with a cell panorama done in watercolors to show why they receive vaccinations and what happens after. MIDDLE: Montessori School teacher Amy Berger has an extensive list of problem-solving activities for her children.

Here children try to figure out why paper isn’t getting wet when they submerge the cup in water. Then they discuss how this can be used for other things in the world. BOTTOM: This toddler is experientially working out the problem of getting the right balls in the right tube.

27 Summit Magazine 27

potentially hazardous asteroids?’ Not only do students have the opportunity to master problem-solving skills, they must also draw upon their understanding of gravity, Earth’s rotation and revolution and how distance affects the amount of light we see in order to be successful.

TOP: Exploratarium Coordinator Mary Kate Newton works with members of Destination Imagination, a program that is all about creative problem-solving, critical thinking, communication and teamwork. MIDDLE: During Ignition Day at Camp Joy that promotes leadership, communication and teamwork, freshmen try to follow directions to connect a series of tubes in such a way that they can successfully move a ball through the tubes from beginning to end. BOTTOM: In Montessori Advanced Enrichment Teacher Linda Moeggenberg’s classroom, kindergarteners have to agree as a team which animals belong to which countries.

28 28 Spring Magazine 2019-20

Upper School geometry teachers Lynette Grypp and Brooke Thomas collaborated on a unit for their classes that incorporated nine of the 16 creative problem-solving standards and included community outreach. Working with architecture and design team experts at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, the unit challenged students to design effective habitat spaces that meet animal needs, engage visitors and contribute to a sustainable environment both in the zoo and beyond.

“Overall, our goal for the project was for the students to see, experience and create a zoo habitat following the same process the architecture and design team follows at the zoo,” Lynette says. “This project would have included a lot of learning beyond geometry, illustrating that math doesn’t happen in a vacuum but rather requires an integration of skills, perspective and understanding.”

Unfortunately, the April 6 field trip to the zoo was canceled due to stay-at-home orders, but this wonderful opportunity awaits next year’s geometry students.

“We look forward to implementing the project plan next year,” Brooke says.

Humanities classes have also introduced new units or put a different focus on existing units.

Upper School English teacher Susan Barbee incorporated creative problem-solving when her senior students read “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Students determined a problem that five of the characters have and how the problem connects to a scholarly article about courtship and marriage in early modern England. They then had to offer a suggestion on how to solve the problem, an analysis of who would be happy with this

solution and who would still be upset and consider any other possible solutions to appease those who would be unhappy.

In her sophomore leadership class, MJ Feldhaus asks students to think of something about Summit that they would like to see changed and how to leverage different personality types and strengths to enact change more smoothly.

As eighth grade student and design team member Nick Bergeron puts it “These lessons are very important in building a good person and a good student.”

Growing Adult Capacity

As our mission statement applies to all our community members, so too does our strategic plan. In order to model and teach the leadership framework to our students, faculty and staff need to grow their leadership capacity as well.

In October, all faculty and staff took leadership assessments with the Center for Creative Leadership to provide benchmark data on four elements of our school culture: feedback, risk-taking, conflict and decision-making. We also took an individual assessment to better understand how we process and manage change. At our January in-service day, CCL reviewed our results with us and led sessions to provide us with tools for conflict, polarity thinking and change management and feedback.

Middle School science and resources teacher Megan Rademacher says: “I felt the session on giving feedback was most applicable to enhance my communications with students, parents and colleagues.”

Lower School teacher Stacy Remke agrees.

“I enjoyed the session on feedback,” she says. “It made me think of how I might be speaking to students and how I might change my conversations. I also liked the change and polarity session because it helped me to understand how my colleagues might react differently than I would.”

Faculty and staff continue to practice what they learned in this professional development session. “I have been in quite a few meetings with other faculty members where we’ve referenced the activities and thought back on how our styles apply to whatever project we’re working on in that moment,” says Ms. Drumm.

CCL offers a Teacher Leadership Academy tailored to a school’s leadership framework, the purposes of which are to help teachers see themselves as leaders, learn and practice teaching strategies to build their students’ leadership capacity and to develop lesson plans

TOP: At this year’s Middle School science fair, Jack Hendrix presents his study on whether a rocket will go higher with or without a payload. BOTTOM: In an iLabs exercise, Lower School students work collaboratively to build a structure 29 Summit Magazine 29 out of straws.

TOP: The Robotics Team competes in a regional competition in January that qualified them for state competition. BOTTOM: Middle School social studies teacher Rob Schaaf plays a strategy game with students in which teams attempt to take over other countries.

incorporating student leadership content. We plan to have all Summit faculty benefit from this training over the next five years.

Assessing Our Progress

Designing a framework that includes actionable, developmental and measurable leadership attributes was of the utmost 30 30 Spring Magazine 2019-20

importance in ensuring the program’s success at a multi-divisional school like The Summit, as we want to demonstrate tangible growth in leadership capacity.

In addition to the benchmark data CCL collected from faculty and staff in October, we will administer the Leadership Indicator for Students (LIS), a CCL-developed instrument that will be tailored to Summit’s framework to measure specific leadership attributes statistically linked to various dimensions of school success such as student engagement, achievement and sense of belonging. Like the faculty and staff assessments, we plan to administer the LIS every few years to monitor and help ensure consistent growth and identify any areas of our framework that need more attention.

In addition to the statistical data this assessment will provide, students and parents can also expect to see a rollout of digital student learning portfolios that show a child’s understanding and demonstration of the leadership attributes over time.

Junior Erin Devine, a member of the design team, says “In the future, after college, besides academics, what we’re going to take into the real word are these leadership skills that we’re going to be able to use in our jobs, at home and with other people we meet in community.”

“As a Summit alumna and parent, I am very excited by the character-based leadership framework we have included in our strategic plan because it combines everything we stand for in our mission into a seamless school-wide curriculum,” says Allison Kropp ‘93, Chair of the Board of Trustees. “It will enable our current students to continue the legacy that was left for us by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, and it fulfills our mission.”

Dr. Kirstin Pesola McEachern, Ph.D. is Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs at The Summit.

COVID-19 Provides Opportunity to Practice New Framework When we launched our strategic plan three years ago, we did not foresee being forced to demonstrate the curricular initiatives in such a large-scale way. But the governor’s stay-at-home order provided teachers and students an opportunity to practice many of our newer curricular standards within our character-based leadership framework.

Grows Self

can inspire us to be the peacemakers and changemakers we are called to be. Practicing gratitude and paying attention to how our lives have been impacted by the pandemic will help us “make principled decisions” and “plan and carry out collective action” the world will need to take as it gradually returns to a sense of normalcy.

– Dr. Kirstin Pesola McEachern, Ph.D.

With little notice, faculty and students have learned new technological skills and taken intellectual risks. Just like the rest of the world, we’ve all had to “embrace ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems” that the pandemic has caused. When our efforts have failed, whether it be due to our own time management or Flipgrid not working the way we think it should, we have had to “view failure as an opportunity to learn.”

Builds Community We may all be remote teachers and learners this spring but feeling a part of The Summit community has never been more important. Technology has allowed us to “collaborate effectively and respectfully with diverse teams” and our understanding of the many different ways Summit families have been impacted

by COVID-19 taps our empathy and encourages us to consider other people’s experiences than just our own. In fact, our decision to move to asynchronous learning during this time stemmed from the knowledge that faculty and students’ home lives and technology access would not be conducive to synchronous classes.

Serves God Drawing on our faith traditions is crucial in tough times, and an understanding of the bigger picture and a higher purpose

TOP: Dr. Nick Accrocco, College Counseling Director, shares his screen with faculty who are learning how to leverage social media to find new ideas from other teachers worldwide in the October creative problem-solving in-service training. BOTTOM: The coronavirus crisis put our creative problem-solving skills to the test as we dove into remote learning. Preschooler William Kling shows off his desktop at home.

31 Summit Magazine 31

NEWSMAKERS Leadership Conference.

The Summit has been sending faculty and students to this annual diversity conference every year since 2007.

Yunbo “Bonnie” Wang ’21 scored in the top five percent nationally on the American Math Competition 12 exam.

Her score qualified her to take the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME).

Seniors Alex Sougstad, Kathryn Sullivan, Rebecca Smith and Maria Luiso were named National Merit Scholarship Corporation semifinalists.

Commended Scholars are Adaliene Andsager, Burke Hinton, Ryan Burns, Maliah Bricking, Pierce Kreider, Jack Melink, Jietong “Thomas” Zhang and Ziyan “Richard” Zhang.

Recent graduates Neng “Ben” Chai ’19, Hanchen “Jeffery” Huang ’19, Caroline Kubicki ’19 and Yurui “Jerry” Wu ’19 were named National Advanced Placement Scholars.

Seniors Ryan Burns and Maria Luiso achieved perfect scores of 36 on the ACT college entrance exam.

32

Spring Magazine 2019-20

The Concord Review has given Victoria Walton ’19 its Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize. Her 64-page research paper about Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg’s failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in World War II was published in the fall issue of the national magazine.

Summit students Vivie Kate Keeney ’30 and Kadyn Keeney ’26 and Hana Conte ’26 represented the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music at the Junior Theater Festival in January in Atlanta. The trio performed an excerpt from “Annie Jr.” After their performance, Vivie Kate was selected as an All-Star.

Graham Nicholson ’21 advanced to state competition following his first place win for his paper “Unconstitutional Use of the Commerce Clause” at the Cincinnati chapter of the George S. & Stella Knight essay contest. First runnerup for the award was classmate Will Yagodich for his paper “The Evolution of American Federalism.”

Oren Jenkins ’22 has earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest attainable rank in the Boy Scouts of America.

Juniors Mona Hajjar, Grace and Hailey Harrell, Avery McEachern and Sam Vessel attended the People of Color and Student Diversity

Seven Summit students received nine awards at this year’s Scholastic Art competition. Award winners were Michelle Chen ’20, Mimi McNabb ’22, Lulu Murphy ’22, Lucas Valle ’22, Isabel Schomburger ’20, Emely Villalba ’20 and Aniya Woodard ’22. Mimi earned a gold key while Emely and Aniya earned silver keys.

Student Newsmakers

Six Summit students’ artwork was on display in state art exhibitions. Lexi Eastman ’26, Callie Chadwell ’30 and Sarah Stewart ’24 were exhibited in the Youth Art Month exhibition. Anne Marie Misrach ’29, Matthew Langenderfer ’24 and Zaina Kamran ’26 were honored at the Young People’s Art Exhibition. Marley Walter ’22 won third place in the 9-12 grade category for the Youth Art Month flag design contest.

Ten Summit fifth and sixth graders received superior ratings on the posters they presented at the Harold C. Schott Middle School Science Fair in February making them eligible for region-wide competition. The students were Shaun Rice, Jack Reynolds, Cailyn Youtsey, Wyatt Miller, Johnny Sumnar, Nate Gockerman, Sydney Brinkman, Faye Edmondson, Olivia de Lacy and Madelyn Smith.

The Harold C. Schott Middle School inducted 23 members of the Class of 2024 into the Round Table Chapter of the National Junior Honor Society. Inductees were Joaquin Beatty, Nick Bergeron, Vivi Bohmer, Reagan Bricking, Jackson Campbell, Mia Cavallo, Cecilia Chavez, Grant Desch, Lillian Dwyer, Jude Gerhardt, Tarek Hasan, Drew Hinton, Max Jambor, Addie Johnson, Kathryn Kelly, Ethan Lam, TJ LaMacchia, Matthew Langenderfer, Kyle Lauckner, Lily Mitchell, David Schnitter, Alek Stanisic and Madeline Sumnar.

Twelve Summit students earned 15 awards at this year’s Scholastic Writing competition. William Delworth ’20, Peyton Bulla ’20, Irene Calderon ’22, Luis Valencia ’22, Angela Good ’23, Savannah Brizendine ’22, Burke Hinton ’20, Derrick Kinross ’20, Sophie Pilon ’20, John Penote ’22, Jimmy Fraley ’22 and Erin Devine ’21 were the award winners. William earned a gold key while Luis, Peyton and Irene earned silver keys.

Jimmy Fraley ’22 won first place in the poetry category of the Mount St. Joseph University High School Writing Contest.

Four Summit juniors were accepted into the 2020 classes of the Health Collaborative’s Healthcare Workforce Innovation TAP MD and TAP Healthcare.

Ellie Adam and Zach Davis were invited to join TAP MD, a physician exploration program which helps talented students “tap” into their potential for careers in medicine. Sam Vessel and Andrew Wagner were invited to join TAP HC, a program that “taps” high school students interested in healthcare careers.

Sophia Nery ’25 outlasted 13 rounds of spelling and 24 other finalists to win this year’s installment of The Summit’s annual Lower and Middle School Spelling Bee in Kyte Theater.

Summit Magazine 33

Student Newsmakers

Ten Summit students won awards in the Hyde Park Art Show in October. Eighth graders Keegan Cleary, Kyle Lauckner, Tyler Berry, Vivi Bohmer and Jue “Jack” Wang, Devlan Daniel ’26, Madelyn Smith ’27, Kayden Smith ’29, Emely Villalba ’20 and Isabel Schomburger ’20 were the winners.

Grant Desch ’24 flipped a whiteboard around, displaying his answer during the championship round of this year’s Harold C. Schott Middle School Geography Bee at The Summit. His reply of Stockholm secured the top spot in the annual bee and earned him a spot in state competition.

Classmate Matthew Langenderfer finished in second place.

Faculty Newsmakers

Lauren Guip Named Montessori Director Montessori lead teacher Lauren Guip has been named Montessori Director beginning in the 2020-21 school year. She will replace Kathy Scott who will retire at the end of this year.

Ms. Guip has worked in our Montessori School for 11 years. Her master’s degree in Montessori Education is from Xavier University. Her bachelor’s degree in journalism, with a minor in Japanese, is from Miami University where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She worked in The Summit’s popular Toddler Program before becoming a lead teacher in the 3- to 6-year-old program.

She has been a speaker in the school’s Early Childhood Symposium and is a member of the Curriculum Leadership Council, which is leading the faculty forward in developing the character-based leadership and creative problem-solving planks of the school’s strategic plan. She has two young children, who are students in The Summit’s Montessori School.

“Lauren is a master teacher whose knowledge of the Montessori philosophy and model of teaching is extraordinarily deep,” says Head of School Rich Wilson. “She is an expert in her field.”

Jack Crane ’22 celebrated his 16th birthday by piloting his first solo flight, taking off from Wright Brothers Airport in Dayton.

34

Spring Magazine 2019-20

Faculty Newsmakers

Tracy Law ‘85 Ph.D. was awarded the American Geographical Society (AGS) 2020 Geo-BOOST grant. The AGS Geo-BOOST Initiative provides high school geography teachers with the opportunity to design their own special activity which will require resources beyond what their school or district can provide.

Summit Biology teacher Karen Cruse Suder is a 2019 Ohio state finalist for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). The award, established in 1983, is the nation’s highest honor for science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers of students in kindergarten through grade 12.

Carrie Barnett, an Upper School art teacher at The Summit, is this year’s Ohio Art Education Association (OAEA) President. Mrs. Barnett has been a leader in the state art teachers’ organization since 2009. Last year, she served as Ohio’s delegate to the National Art Teachers Education Association. She was named the OAEA Southwest Ohio Outstanding Art Teacher in 2009 and Ohio Outstanding Secondary Teacher in 2014.

#1 Catholic High School in Ohio

The Summit Country Day School was named Best Catholic high school in Ohio for the second year in a row by the online rating authority Niche.com. Summit also received an A+ overall rating and is ranked among the top 10 best K-12 private schools in the state.

Summit Magazine 35

TOP: The Summit boys’ cross country team stands atop the podium in celebration of its state championship. (L to R) Assistant Coach Jerry Hilton, Cotton Family Head Cross Country Coach Kurtis Smith, Liam Lakhia, Sean LaMacchia, Matthew Brumfield, Evan Lakhia, Brian DeWine, Andrew Wagner, Devin Nelson, Larkin Woodward, Assistant Coach Mason T. Moore ’15 and Assistant Coach Kim Horning. MIDDLE: This banner, which displays the faces of the state runners and their times in the race, hung in Flannery Gym during the state ring presentation. BOTTOM LEFT: Brian DeWine, left, and Matthew Brumfield, right, run a race during the season. BOTTOM RIGHT: Andrew Wagner, middle, gives a speech during the state championship ring presentation while teammates Sean LaMacchia, Larkin Woodward and Evan Lakhia are all smiles.

36 Spring Magazine 2019-20 36

Summit XC Wins State Title With Perseverance, Team Unity

By Nick Robbe When The Summit boys’ varsity cross country team turned around to reveal the latest addition to the wall of state championship teams in Flannery Gym, senior Brian DeWine was the logical choice to pull the cover off the new picture.

He hopped up on a chair, grabbed a corner of the blue tarpaulin and yanked it off to display the image of him and his teammates atop the podium.

“Once Brian got hurt, we had extra motivation to win state,” junior Sean LaMacchia says. “We wanted to win state for Brian so we just pushed even harder in our workouts and meets so we would be in the best possible shape to make up for Brian not being there.”

This season took a huge hit only three weeks in when Brian was diagnosed with a stress reaction, requiring him to be out for roughly seven weeks. In the midst of that, Cotton Family Head Cross Country Coach Kurtis Smith said two more of the team’s top five runners went out with injuries.

Entering districts, with three top runners still on the mend, the postseason didn’t get off to the start the team expected in terms of having a full complement of its top runners. Still, the Silver Knights placed five runners inside the top-10, bringing a district championship back to Grandin Road.

With the regional race upcoming, and the top seven runners back, the reinvigorated squad felt ready to continue in pursuit of its goal. However, health remained an issue.

“We were not at 100 percent health-wise,”

Coach Smith says. “Brian was racing for the first time in seven weeks, which was amazing and nerve-wracking to watch.

After winning regionals, we still had many unanswered questions, but we knew we had a group that was willing to run for each other, which can be as valuable as anything within sports.”

With the Division III state race upcoming, Coach Smith delved into research. He said, with the exception of a few outliers, it became apparent to him that if a team could get its overall team score (runners 1-5) around 100 points, that team has a shot of winning a championship.

That in mind, Coach Smith had to come up with the best plan, based on the

Evan Lakhia looks to keep up the pace.

37 Summit Magazine 37

current construction of the team, to utilize the group’s strengths and manage its weaknesses.

When Brian went down with his injury, the team lost its frontrunner. However, that allowed his coach and his team to notice they had a good pack spread, the difference in the time from when the first runner finishes to when the fourth runner finishes. That created the need for a fifth runner to step up and score the necessary points, something Summit had struggled with all season long.

The coaches devised a plan to have the top four runners place in the top-35 with the number five runner finishing in the top-60.

They calculated that in the top 60 runners, roughly half of them are running as individuals and therefore don’t affect team scores. In reality, a runner in 60th place will only carry roughly a value of 30 points.

Now that they had their plan in place, they had to figure out how to execute it.

In the pre-race meeting the night before, the team discussed the strategy of not starting the race at too quick of a pace.

The coaches instructed them to work their way toward the front of the pack over the course of the 3.1-mile race. To close the meeting, Brian got up to speak.

“He was very emotional, and he thanked the other boys for giving him one more chance to run with them,” Coach Smith says. “It set the tone for the next day.”

At the first mile mark, Summit was losing by 12 points. At the next mile, the team was losing by six. A half-mile later, Summit was winning by six points. By the time the race was finished, Summit had won by 14 points and scored 98 total team points.

They had executed the plans to perfection.

“We worked hard for each other, we trained for each other and we raced for each other.” Brian says.

TOP: The cross country team gathers to pray before a race. MIDDLE: Evan Lakhia, left, and Andrew Wagner, right, react to receiving their state championship rings. BOTTOM: Devin Nelson pushes forward in the pack.

38 38 Spring Magazine 2019-20

TOP: Catherine Coldiron, shown racing, will graduate as the most decorated female runner in school history. This year, Catherine qualified for her third state cross country meet. RIGHT: Cotton Family Head Cross Country Coach Kurtis Smith talks at an all-school celebration of the state championship. Bottom: The cross country team poses with the state trophy. (Front row, L to R) William McLane, Matthew Brumfield, Larkin Woodward and Drew Barhorst. (Second row, L to R) Liam Lakhia, Hudson Ritch, Devin Nelson, Brian DeWine, Evan Lakhia, Sean LaMacchia, Andrew Wagner and Richard Zhang.

39 Summit Magazine 39

S U MM IT

SP O R T S

On Nov. 30, varsity girls’ basketball coach Beth Simmons earned her 300th victory here at The Summit. The Silver Knights defeated Cincinnati Christian, 85-27.

Rachel Martin ’20 made the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association’s Division III Academic All-Ohio team.

Graham Nicholson ’21 was named a High School AllAmerican for the 2019 season at the Chris Sailer Kicking camp held in January in Las Vegas. Earlier that month, Graham was named to the Kohl’s Kicking High School All-American team as a punter.

JP Tew ’22 competed internationally in the British Junior Squash Open during The Summit’s Christmas break.

The five best players in each age division qualified to represent the United States at the tournament.

Signings: Rachel Martin ’20 will study and play basketball at Thomas More University.

Matthew Warden ’20 will study and play football at the University of Chicago.

Sydni Black ’20 will study and play lacrosse at Loyola University Maryland.

Rebecca Smith ’20 will study and row for Stanford University.

Bottom left: Matthew Warden will study and play football at the University of Chicago.

He is joined by his teammates on his signing day.

40 Spring Magazine 2019-20

Top: Sydni Black looks for open space on the field to create some offense. Middle: Rachel Martin dribbles up the court. Bottom:Rebecca Smith signed to row at Stanford University. She is joined by her parents, Upper School Director Kelly Cronin and Athletic Director Greg Dennis.

The Summit Country Day School

Athletic Hall of Fame

Marketing, PR and Communications. He lives in Louisville, Ky. with his wife and two children.

John McJoynt III ’80 lettered in four different sports

The Summit encourages its student-athletes to be physically active and participate in multiple sports during their time on campus. John McJoynt III ’80 played football, golf, basketball and baseball.

John McJoynt III ’80, left, and Barnard Baker.

By Nick Robbe Barnard Baker helped kick off soccer’s championship series The Summit’s motto is ‘Aim High,’ and in recent years, the boys’ varsity soccer program has reached the highest level of success. The program has won six state championships since 2012.

As an assistant and then the head coach, Barnard Baker was one of the architects of this successful program.

In his seven seasons as head coach, the Silver Knights won back-to-back state championships, two regional titles, six district championships and three consecutive Miami Valley Conference championships. He compiled a 107-21-17 record at The Summit.

Additionally, Barnard was the 2013 runnerup for National Coach of the Year, a two-time Cincinnati, Ohio and Kentucky coach of the year and MVC coach of the year on three occasions.

Even with all those accolades, Barnard says his greatest accomplishment is helping hundreds of student-athletes achieve their dreams of playing soccer in college and at the professional level.

Barnard graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and advertising with a minor in psychology. He works for Goodwill Industries as a Director of

John, a Summit lifer, played football and golf, both fall sports, at the same time in each of his four years. On the gridiron, John was a four-year varsity starter and letter winner. He anchored positions on offense and defense.

On the links, John was a four-year letter winner and the team’s most valuable player in his junior and senior seasons.

As a basketball player, John earned two varsity letters and was a member of legendary coach Joe Cruse’s “Super Team” which had its magical 1978-79 season end in the state semifinal.

John joined the baseball team in his junior and senior year and picked up two more varsity letters. In his senior season, John was the team’s most valuable player.

After graduation, he enlisted in the United States Navy, achieving the rank of Petty Officer Third Class. He served as a Sonar Technician aboard the USS Memphis nuclear submarine. He earned numerous awards during his enlistment including a Commanding Officer’s Letter of Commendation and Vice Admiral Letter of Commendation for his performance aboard the USS Memphis.

He volunteers at Veteran’s Administration Medical Center and is a member of the American Legion. He currently resides in Newport, Ky. Each year during Homecoming, John makes it a point to return to The Summit.

Summit Magazine 41

Head of School Rich Wilson presents Mary and Joe Brinkmeyer with the Ne Ultra Award.

Ne Ultra Award

Couple’s Devotion to Summit Spans Six Decades

By Nancy Berlier Mary and Joe Brinkmeyer have made an indelible mark on the history of The Summit in the 67 years since Mary first started school here as a 3-year-old.

42

Spring Magazine 2019-20

“Mary and Joe have been deeply committed to The Summit, as parents and grandparents, faculty, trustees and generous benefactors,” says Head of School Rich Wilson. “Their sustained influence contributed to The Summit being

a place of high ideals where we strive to make the world a better place.”

The couple received the Ne Ultra Award in September in the picturesque 19th Century St. Cecilia Hall. The Ne Ultra Award, which means “none higher” in Latin, is given to individuals who make extraordinary contributions to the future progress of The Summit.

After graduating from The Summit in 1967, Mary went to Trinity Washington University in D.C. while Joe studied marketing at the University of Cincinnati. Although they met in high school, they married after college and went on to receive master’s degrees at Xavier University, his in business administration, hers in Montessori education. Mary joined The Summit faculty in 1974 as a Montessori teacher in a classroom for 3-year-olds.

The couple also gave their children, Lauren and Joseph, the advantage of a Summit education and have two grandchildren currently attending – making theirs a fourgeneration family that began with Mary’s mother, Amelia (Hamberg) Foss, a 1924 graduate.

Taking a break in 1978 to focus on their children, Mary joined the Alumni Board and the Summit Parents Association.

She served on the school’s independent Board of Trustees from 1986 to 1992. In 1992, she was appointed Assistant Head of School, a role she held for 17 years until her retirement in 2009.

One of her greatest achievements was development of The Summit’s signature Character Education Program. Inspired by the research of Dr. Tom Lickona, she developed a unique program that continues to impact Summit students today. She was honored with the McKenzie-Sargent Distinguished Alumni

Award in 2009. She also chaired the school’s Centennial celebration in 1990, headed a number of building projects and initiated The Summit’s mentor program for new employees.

Joe served on the Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2017. When their children were in Middle School, Joe coached Joseph in soccer and Lauren in softball. He was known for organizing a huge winter softball camp. When Joseph played football in high school, Joe was the announcer for the games.

The Brinkmeyers have been very generous benefactors:

• In 1989, they established the Amelia (Hamberg) Foss ’24 Scholarship in memory of Mary’s mother. Nine students to date have been able to attend the Upper School thanks to the Brinkmeyers.

• During the Cornerstone Campaign, they funded refurbishment of the Bishop’s Parlor in the main building.

• In 2003, they established the Brinkmeyer Fund for House and Grounds.

• In 2009, the Mary (Foss) Brinkmeyer ’67 Scholarship was established by family and friends to honor Mary’s service. Seven students have received scholarships so far.

• Longtime members of the Cornerstone Heritage Society, the couple has included The Summit in their estate plan.

Summit Magazine 43

McKenzie-Sargent Distinguished Alumni Award: Conky Greiwe ’61 The McKenzie-Sargent Distinguished Alumni Award, named in memory of Anna McKenzie and Olive Sargent, The Summit’s first graduating class of 1893, recognizes alumni from The Summit’s Upper School or former Boys School for their career and community service achievements as well as service to The Summit.

Conky received the award at The Summit’s Leaders of Character Society reception in St. Cecilia Hall in September.

Head of School Rich Wilson presents Conky Greiwe with the McKenzieSargent Distinguished Alumni Award.

By Nick Robbe Each year, around Christmastime, The Summit’s Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel receives its holiday facelift. Beautiful poinsettia arrangements cascade down from the altar while a pair of robust Christmas trees stand at its flanks.

Conky was active in school activities, drawn to those that allowed her to express herself. She was active on Rostrum, the school’s yearbook and became the editor her senior year.

Conky Greiwe ’61 always took great pride in making the chapel look its best for the holiday season. That pride also spilled over into a host of different roles during her tenure at The Summit. “In every job, she left the position better than when she found it,” says Head of School Rich Wilson.

After graduation, she enrolled at Marquette University for a year before coming back to Our Lady of Cincinnati College and Edgecliff College, which would eventually merge with Xavier University.

She graduated with an education degree.

Conky never worried about cementing a legacy or building upon a lengthy family history with the school. She focused on handling any task put in front of her to the best of her ability.

In 2008, her role changed. She moved into the chaplain’s office to serve as his liaison, a position she truly enjoyed. Conky retired at the conclusion of the 2018-19 school year.

“I wanted to make Summit a better place through the projects with which I was involved,” Conky says.

“When I think of her, I’m reminded of the quote, ‘In family relationships, the most important things are trust and loyalty,’” Mr. Wilson says. “Indeed, The Summit is a close-knit family; trust and loyalty are personified in our McKenzie-Sargent honoree this year.”

She was awarded the McKenzie-Sargent Distinguished Alumni Award.

44

Conky attended The Summit before the Upper School became co-educational.

Her brothers, Richard F. Greiwe SBS '44 and Robert L. Greiwe SBS '46, and sisters, Mary Jean (Greiwe) Alf '54 and Elizabeth A. (Greiwe) Beresford '64, also graduated from the school as did several cousins, nieces and nephews.

Spring Magazine 2019-20

The Summit Honors Two Legendary Heads of School

Sister Rose Ann Fleming ’50 SNDdeN and Edward C. Tyrrell receive Legacy of Leadership recognition from Head of School Rich Wilson.

By Nancy Berlier

The Summit has a rich heritage of leaders who have guided the school through times of change while staying true to our mission. Two of these leaders, Sister Rose Ann Fleming ’50 SNDdeN and Edward C. Tyrrell, received Legacy of Leadership recognition from Head of School Rich Wilson at a special event in December.

Sister Rose Ann was the head of school at The Summit from 1967 to 1974. Ed was head of school from 1974 to 2003.

“Sister Rose Ann Fleming and Ed Tyrrell were the forerunners of a business model that has allowed The Summit to flourish as an independent, co-educational school in an era when many Catholic schools have closed,” says Head of School Rich Wilson.

“They laid the foundation for our current success, and their ideals continue to shape our practices.”

Sister Rose Ann, who is an Athletic Academic Advisor at Xavier University, was named a Great Living Cincinnatian in February. An alumna who came to The Summit in kindergarten, she joined the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur after

graduation from college. The Sisters assigned her to teach English and Latin at The Summit in 1960 and named her head of school seven years later. During her headship, Sister Rose Ann oversaw construction of a separate Lower School building, opened the Upper School to boys in 1972 and then transformed Williams Field for football. By the time she left to become president of Trinity College in Washington D.C., The Summit’s enrollment had more than doubled, and she had erased the school’s operating deficit.

Ed Tyrrell first came to The Summit in 1971 to replace James Brockhoff as headmaster of The Summit Boys School. One of Ed’s first jobs was to help Sister Rose Ann transition the high school to co-education.

During his tenure as head of school, character education was formalized. The school became financially independent of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1984. Ed began the Annual Fund for Excellence, and he was a key fundraiser for the school’s four capital and endowment campaigns during his tenure.

The monies he raised resulted in new programs, an influx of faculty academic experts and improved facilities. Among them were the additions of Flannery Gym, Kyte Theater and the Athletic Complex as well as a major addition to the Harold C. Schott Middle School. He also planned for the Lower School which opened its doors in 2004. “Ed led our school into the modern era and prepared us for a bright future,” Mr. Wilson says.

Now with a grandson in The Summit’s graduating class, Ed says he sees the tribe is still present. “I can tell you it takes a lot of people…to build and maintain this type of an institution. The Summit is a leader.

Look at the value we have and what we’re contributing to our city, our state and our country.”

Summit Magazine 45

Keeping Pace With Race, Gender, Class and Place: Tiffany Chenault, Ph.D. ’92

By Tanya Bricking Leach

Tiffany Chenault, Ph.D. ’92, has four states remaining on her bucket list of running a half marathon in every state.

Her runs are part of her journey – and her academic research – about understanding grief and the inequality of race, gender, class and place.

A Sociology professor at Salem State University in Massachusetts, Tiffany has presented a TEDx Talk about how running helped her shift the weight of grief when she lost her mother to cancer. Now, she’s writing a book about the running culture through the lens of “strong black women who push boundaries.”

46

Spring Magazine 2019-20

“What happened was I lost my mother in 2011,” she says. “I was 37. At the time, I didn’t know any friends who had lost a parent. I was in a bad place. Part of my survival technique was that I had to move forward and be strong.”

Before she started running, she tried to ignore her grief.

“I didn’t realize I was functionally dysfunctional. I just kept going,” she says.

“Fast forward to 2013, a friend asked me to join a 5-mile relay team, and part of the mask of my grief was that I would always say yes to things.”

However, saying yes to running changed the course of everything that came next.

“Something sparked in me,” she says. “I felt alive. I felt something different than before when I just felt numb that my mother had died.”

That passion helped her become the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in Sociology from Virginia Tech in 2004. Then, she became the first African American woman to become a full Setting a foundation professor at Salem State.

Tiffany always liked people and considered She says The Summit’s focus on faith and herself a social butterfly. She just didn’t community helped shape her sense of know she justice and her would become desire to give a sociologist. back.

She definitely

“People have didn’t expect to become a told me I am a role model,” runner.

she says. “It’s a compliment She was in terms of the always open work that I’m to new experiences doing.” even though

she didn’t have When she looks a clear idea as back at her a teenager of days at The the path she Summit, she would take. wouldn’t have

envisioned “When I was at becoming a Summit, I was trailblazer. But on the spirit her experience club, the field helped her find her voice as a hockey team and yearbook leader. staff,” she

says. “I was “One of the things I learned always socially engaged, but from The in terms of Summit and what I wanted my parents is Dr. Chenault poses before her TEDx Talk at her home campus of Salem State University. to be when I to never silence grew up, I was my voice even like, ‘maybe a veterinarian. I like animals.’” though other people might not want to

hear it,” she says. “I’ll always speak my She started on that route, studying truth and be me no matter what.” veterinary medicine at Ohio University, until she stumbled on a sociology class Find her TEDx Talk on the alumni channel that triggered a lifelong passion for the in our Streaming Video Guide at www. science of studying people – particularly summitcds.org/videos. Read her blog at when it comes to race, gender and culture. http://www.runisee50.com

Summit Magazine 47

David Thies ’90 (middle) works on “The Peanut Butter Falcon” set with writer-director pair Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz.

Living the Dream: David Thies ’90

By Tanya Bricking Leach

Back in high school, David Thies ‘90 was known for his moves on the basketball court.

Now, he’s walking the red carpet in Hollywood.

Thies was a co-producer on the 2019 film, “The Peanut Butter Falcon.” The film features the story of Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a young man with Down Syndrome who runs away from a residential home to follow his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. During filming, David and the crew rubbed elbows with the likes of stars such as Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson.

48

Spring Magazine 2019-20

It brought back “Stand By Me” -esque memories from his youth growing up in Mount Lookout.

“I guess it’s part of every kid’s dream. You start out dreaming when you’re little to make that basketball shot and be the hero of that,” he says. “Peanut Butter Falcon was making Zak the hero.”

David, already an Emmy winner for a children’s production he worked on, came back to The Summit last year for his latest movie to premiere in Cincinnati. He also wanted to thank some of his mentors such as Pat Kelly, Jeff Stayton and Carole Fultz, all current or former Summit educators.

They all made it into the movie credits.

David credits the school for helping him become the problem-solver he is today.

A few years after high school, he visited a friend who worked on movie sets in Los Angeles. He became so infatuated with cinematography that he sold his restored convertible, bought a camera and embarked on a 2,465-mile ride from Canada to Mexico with an endurance mountain biker in hopes of becoming a documentary filmmaker.

His work on music videos, reality television shows and other projects has kept him in California for 14 years.

Even though he works on the west coast, he still carries with him fond memories from his time at Summit. He recalls a business class that helped him build confidence. He also remembers selling Earth Day T-shirts for a profit and talking the Head of School into letting the class sell “healthy” apple juice slushies — that business was booming.

His business acumen, stories from selfmade entrepreneurs when he was growing up and his work ethic have stuck with him throughout his career as a Hollywood producer.

“People say, ‘Well, what is a producer?’”

David says. “And I say, ‘All day long, people come at you with issues or problems.’ And I just say, ‘Look, there are no issues. There are no problems. There are just things we need to solve.’ That is what a producer is.

Whether it’s someone not coming out of the trailer, a tire blowing out or a camera getting wet, it’s taking things and solving the equation quickly.”

To come back to Cincinnati and celebrate that, he says, is his dream come true — and something he can give his mom to hang on the refrigerator.

In the fall of 2019, David stopped by The Summit to talk about the Peanut Butter Falcon. Find his video interview on the alumni channel of our Streaming Video Guide at www.summitcds.org/videos

David Thies ’90 on the red carpet at the 2019 Media Access Awards with “The Peanut Butter Falcon” star Zack Gottsagen. The film won a Producers Guild of America award for inclusivity.

Summit Magazine 49

A Path to Priesthood: Ty Wahlbrink ’12

50 50 Spring Magazine 2019-20

By Tanya Bricking Leach

Since graduating from The Summit in 2012, Ty Wahlbrink has spent a lot of time thinking about the American Dream and how it might work out for him.

It led him on a path to the priesthood. But it wasn’t a direct line.

Along the way, he studied Economics, got his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Cincinnati and was on his way to building a solid career in corporate America. He had jobs and internships at Kroger, GE Aviation, Nielsen, the City of Cincinnati and Fifth Third Bank.

Then, he left that all behind last year to become a Jesuit novice. The decision was both terrifying and exhilarating.

“It kind of inspired some of my friends and maybe some coworkers to think: ‘I don’t just have to have a solid, corporate job to be ‘successful,’ ” he says. “There are people in this life who give that up to pursue something they feel called to and are passionate about, whether that’s religious life or friends who want to go and do something entirely different – a career change. People were intrigued and wanted to know more about how you can make that decision to leave the security of a good paycheck and do something else.”

For those who really know him, it might not have been much of a surprise.

Ty grew up as the youngest of three in Anderson Township. He’s a relatable sort who loves travel, soccer, talking politics and trying new breweries and restaurants. And he has always said, to those closest to him, that he wanted to become a priest.

“We don’t fit the stereotype of the hyperreligious family,” he says. “We were not praying the Rosary every night around the dinner table. We would pray a simple grace before meals, and that was it. But it was

also important to my parents that we had a Catholic education.”

He went to St. Ursula Villa for grade school and got involved as a server, Eucharistic minister and usher at Immaculate Heart of Mary, his home parish.

“In second grade, I can remember breaking out the Ritz crackers and grape juice and making my mom sit there as I played church,” he says. “In fifth grade, for the yearbook, they asked ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ I actually said I wanted to be a priest. It probably was in the back of my mind for a long time.”

In high school, he investigated becoming a Diocesan priest but didn’t feel God’s call there. So, he pursued other passions — a mix of economics, statistics and data analytics — until he found the Jesuits.

“It was in the back of my mind through the years,” he says, “Hearing that call, coming and going.”

He is now part of the 2019 class of Midwest Jesuit novices who take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and a fourth vow of obedience with regard to mission. Wahlbrink has been studying in Minnesota and will soon complete mission work in Louisiana. He’ll also go on a 30day pilgrimage with $30 in his pocket and a bus ticket to learn to rely on God’s providence and the goodwill of others as he decides whether he wants to pursue this life. The Jesuit journey to priesthood will take another decade.

He thinks the character-based leadership he first learned at The Summit will guide him.

“I’ve always kind of been on a lifelong quest, especially since Summit, of how can I best give back the gift that God has given me to the world,” he says. “Leadership is about giving back. Leadership is reinvesting in the world that gave you so much.”

Summit Magazine 51

Class Notes 60s The Class of 1969 celebrated its 50th high school reunion on Sept. 19, 2019.

70s

Dr. Eileen Steinle Alexander ‘76 was awarded this year’s Xavier University Research Mentor of the Year Award.

Since coming to Xavier in 2014, Dr. Alexander has developed the new Community Service Learning (CSL) series for undergraduates in Health Services Administration, and the MS in Health Economic & Clinical Outcomes Research program.

80s

Karen Talty ’82 joined The Summit Country Day School Alumni Board and serves on the Admissions Committee of the Alumni Board.

Andrew DeWitt BMS ’85 now serves on the Board of Trustees for The Cincinnati Art Museum.

Jamelle Bowers ’88 is now the Regional Medical Director for Sound Physicians.

52

Spring Magazine 2019-20

The Class of 1984 held its 35th reunion at The Summit over Homecoming Weekend in September. Retired faculty members J. Patrick Kelly, Bruce Bowden and Carole Fultz joined them for the Friday evening gathering.

Missy (Segal) Fox ’88 is now the president of The Summit Country Day School Alumni Board. She will also be serving on the Fund Development Committee for Episcopal Retirement Services.

Harry Moeller ‘88, Zabo Circus Productions, was recently on the Wendy Williams Show for a Halloween episode.

Real Estate | Design | Construction |, an upscale residential real estate, interior design and construction company located in Hyde Park Square.

Austin Heidt SMS ’99 is a member of The Art of Care Hospitality Group.

The group is opening its first restaurant in the old Teller’s space on Hyde Park Square.

90s 00s Kevin Jordan ’93 is now on The Summit Country Day School Alumni Board and is a 1990s Decade Captain.

Robert “Chip” Heidt III SMS ’98 joined The Summit Country Day School Alumni Board in August 2019.

Jaime Masters SMS ’98 acquired DIGS |

Patrick Newton ’02 joined The Summit’s Alumni Board in August.

Austin Schiff ’04 is now the Vice President of Revenue Development for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati. He also serves on boards for the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub.

10s The Class of 1994 held its 25th reunion on Sept.

21, 2019 at Rhinegeist Brewery. Former teachers J. Patrick Kelly and Mary Vetter stopped by while current teacher Jeff Stayton sent a video greeting.

The Class of 1999 celebrated its 20th reunion at Northside Distilling Company.

Kyndal Michel Marks ’07 and her husband, Sam, recently moved back to Cincinnati. She is working at Fund Evaluation Group as a Senior Operations Analyst. She has also joined The Summit’s Alumni Board and is active with the Cincinnati Chapter of the Boston College Alumni Association.

Chloe Goodhart ’08 has been enjoying working in the Young Readers Division at Penguin Random House for the past five years, progressing from Brand Assistant to her most recent position as the Assistant Publishing Manager, which she’s held for a little over a year.

Maggie Scull ’08 gave a presentation on Sept.

30, at Thomas More University about the Catholic Church and The Northern Ireland Troubles, 1968-1998.

Oxford Press writes: “This work provides an indispensable study of the role played by the Catholic Church during one of the most tumultuous periods of British and Irish history - the Northern Ireland Troubles - showing evidence which offers a radical new perspective on religious institutions as conflict mediators in the 20th Century.”

Rachel Fladung ’12 will graduate from Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine this spring. She will be completing a one-year equine internship based in equine ambulatory medicine, reproduction and sports medicine starting in June.

Nathan Goodhart ’12 has enjoyed moving to Los Angeles and expanding his career in the alternative lending space at a FinTech.

He is employed by ABS, the maker of The Mortgage Office software.

Benjamin Davis ’13 is now an assistant varsity football coach at The Summit.

Isiah Chapman ’14 is the boys junior varsity soccer head coach at Anderson High School.

Abigail McIntyre ’14 started a new position at Ali Doner Allstate in Hyde Park.

Carrie Melson ’14 graduated from the University of Dayton and is now at Xavier University in the accelerated nursing program.

Caroline Currie ’15 graduated with a Liberal Arts degree specializing in Electronic Media, Professional Writing and Anthropology (Cum Laude) in Dec. 2019.

She accepted a full-time position as the Digital Outreach Coordinator with the LAM Foundation, a local nonprofit in Blue Ash dedicated to finding a cure for the progressive lung disease lymphangioleiomyomatosisa.

Nora Lakes ’15 was in the first graduating class of UC Medical Sciences Undergraduate program in 2019. She will begin the UC Medical School-MD/ Ph.D. program in June.

Christopher Lyons ’15 graduated summa cum laude from the University of Alabama in Huntsville with a bachelor of science in Physics, a minor in Mathematics and a concentration in Physics.

He has accepted a fulltime position as a scientist with a defense contractor in Huntsville. He will also continue graduate studies in Physics at UAH on a part-time basis.

Summit Magazine 53

Grady Stuckman ’15 started graduate school in philosophy and bioethics at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Katie Guarasci ’16 was awarded a scholarship in recognition of having the highest grade point average in the Montessori program at Xavier.

Victoria Wilhelmy ’18, in the Lindner Honors-PLUS program at the University of Cincinnati, is interning at Johnson Investment Counsel.

Victoria joined The Summit Country Day School Alumni Board this year as well.

BIRTHS

Molly (Bayer) Bonilla ’01 and her husband, Alejandro, of Madeira, welcomed Kathleen “Kate” Rose in April 2019. She joins brothers, Liam and Ryan.

Meredith (Schiff) Borchers ’02 and husband, John, of Hyde Park, welcomed twin girls, Sylvie and Emery in September 2019.

Carrie Jessie ’02 and her husband, Nathan, of Williamsburg, welcomed Matthew Nathan Jessie on July 30, 2019.

Eric Ragland ’02 and wife, Courtney, of Hyde Park, welcomed son, Griffin Michael Ragland on Jan. 13, 2020. He joins two brothers and a sister.

Kelly (Masters) Kirby ’03 and husband, Kirby Kirby, of Mt. Lookout, welcomed Maurice “Reece” Helm on Feb. 4, 2020.

Benjamin Waldman ’04 and wife, Lottie, of Batavia, welcomed Millie in June. She joins brothers, Leland and Lincoln.

Arielle (Campbell) Wilson ’06, a Summit Montessori teacher, and husband, Justin, of Greenhills, gave birth to their daughter, Alexa, on Oct. 12, 2019. She joins sisters, Amelia and Ava.

John Peterson ’05 and Lisa Mays ’05, a Summit Latin teacher, welcomed Andrew Mark on May 14, 2019 into their Mt. Lookout home. He joins sister, Nora.

WEDDINGS Jessica Harding ’01 and her husband, Warren G. Harding IV, of Anderson Township, welcomed Claire Georgette Harding on Sept. 12, 2019. She joins brothers, Quinn and Matthew.

54

Spring Magazine 2019-20

Dr. Margaret (NiehausSauter) Fuchs ’03 and husband, Andy, of Rochester, Minn., welcomed a son, Henry Andrew Fuchs on June 26.

Melissa “Missy” Tranter SMS ’02 and Brendan Collins, of Mt. Lookout, were married Nov. 16, 2019, in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel.

Ryan Force ’03 and Ceara Smith, of Arvada, Colo., were married on Sept. 7, 2019, in Breckenridge, Colo.

Jennifer (Williams) Dakers SMS ’04 and husband, Michael, of Mt. Lookout, were married on Aug. 25, 2018.

Amina Taylor SMS ’05 and Matthew Reilly, of Chicago, were married on Aug. 31, 2019.

Ericha (Franke) Mensah ‘05, a Summit Spanish teacher, of Hyde Park, married Emmanuel Mensah on June 29, 2019.

Jewell Gaulding ’06 and Nsehniitooh Mhab, of Wyoming, were married in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel on Aug. 3, 2019.

Natalie Warrington ’06 and Thomas Burke, of Richmond, Va., were married on Nov. 2, 2019, in Charlottesville, Va.

Laura Mullen ’07 (Hermosa Beach, Calif.)

Christian Melson ’11 and Abbigail Riazzi, of Oakley, were married on Oct. 5, 2019.

married Mike Fregeau in Narragansett, R.I., on Aug. 3, 2019 Alexandria (Alex) Barnes ’08 and Armon Porter, of Cincinnati, were married on July 5, 2019.

Morgan Sokany ’08 and Megan Hammersmith, of Milwaukee, were married in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel on Nov. 9, 2019.

Alex Thurner ’08 and Sam Deardorff, of Pleasant Ridge, were married on Feb. 1, 2020 in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel

by Fr. Phil Seher.

Christopher Champlin ’09 and Ritu Narayan, of Reading, were married on July 13, 2019. Christopher is the son of Summit Advancement Services Manager, Sandy Champlin.

Alexandra Terhar SMS ’09 and Matt Maus, of Mason, were married in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel on Oct. 5, 2019.

Brigid Thelen ’12 and Jared Nealey, of Anderson Township, were married on June 29, 2019 in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel.

Allie Steele ‘07, of Denver, Colo., married Zac Vallos in Highlands, N.C. on Dec. 7, 2019. A Summit reunion, guests included Cody Steele ‘06, Emily Earls ‘07, Lindsay Wagner ‘06, Meg (Gustafson) Everett ‘06, Lisa (Grote) Delacruz ‘07, Jack Gardner ‘07, Hannah Hart ‘07, Samantha George ‘06, Caroline Grote ‘06, Stephanie Long ‘06, Lauren (Jantsch) Britton ‘07, Gus Long ‘08 and Gabby Steele ‘09.

Kelly Wilson ’09 was married on June 22, 2019 to Drew Goodspeed in Northport, Mich. Megan Jantsch ’09 was maid of honor. Elizabeth Maynard ’09 and Preslee (Mortenson) Gooch ’09 were bridesmaids. She is the daughter of Head of School Rich Wilson.

Tess Akgunduz ’10 married Bradley Vanover on Oct. 26, 2019, in Scottsdale, Ariz. Dr. Tracy Law ’85 was the officiant, and is the aunt of Tess. Summit graduates Brianne Ward ’10, Jimmy Oltman ’10 and Corinne Nelson ’10 were in attendance.

Courtney Collins ‘11 and Colin Cotton ‘11, of Hyde Park, were married in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel on July 13, 2019.

Marina Jemail ’12, a Summit English teacher, and Brad Rolfes, of Montgomery, were married on Dec. 21, 2019 in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel.

Michael Jaeger ’13 and Megan Treft, of Holiday, Fla., were married on Dec. 28, 2019 in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel.

IN MEMORY Louis James “Jim” Tuke Sr SBS ’44, May 30, 2019 Laura Jeanne (Heekin) Totten ’44, Jan. 01, 2020 Grant Armstrong Dibert Jr SBS ’48, Dec. 22, 2019 John H. Finn III SBS ’51, Jan. 30, 2020 Joan (Van Lahr) Conners ‘52, June 14, 2019 Kevin Smullen SBS ’53, March 19, 2019 John J. Richmond SBS ’55, Dec. 15, 2019 Arlington F. Rewwer SBS ’56, Sept. 7, 2018 Robert Charles Glueck, SBS ’57, April 15, 2019 Walter Michael Cassady SBS ’57, Sept. 16, 2019 Elaine S. Fischer ’58, Jan. 22, 2020 Jane Strasser Washburn ’62, May 18, 2019 Flavian Francis Becker SBS ’68, Jan. 19, 2020 Stephen James Suddendorf SBS ’69, Nov. 25, 2019 Summit Magazine 55

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION US POSTAGE PAID CINCINNATI, OH PERMIT #553

2161 Grandin Road Cincinnati, OH 45208 513.871.4700 www.summitcds.org

Address Service Requested Postal regulations require The Summit to pay at least 50 cents for every copy not deliverable as addressed. Please notify us of any changes of address.

Leaders of Character Start Here

Visit our new website at www.summitcds.org For more information about The Summit, call (513) 871-4700 ext. 261 or email admissions@summitcds.org.