AROUND THE POND
John Kilbourne ’58 with the school’s first Kilbourne Fellows: Margeaux Walter ’01, Greg Stevens ’02, and Vanessa Wood ’01. Kilbourne grants underwrite all or part of the expense of participating in summer programs in the performing or visual arts. Offered to sophomores and juniors, grants may be made to one or more students in a given year, who must submit proposals to the head of the Arts Department.
Wynne Dedication With the construction of the Odden Arena last fall came renovations to other athletic facilities, including the wrestling room. The previously unnamed room was dedicated to John Wynne, honoring this highly successful coach who retired last spring after ruling the mats at Taft for 35 years. Above: John and Gail Wynne, center, at the dedication of the Wynne Wrestling Room in January, pictured with the 2001 wrestling team and alumni wrestlers Al Reiff ’80, new head coach (left); front from left, Slade Mead ’80, Lee Burbank ’68, Gary Sklaver ’68, Jon Albert ’79, Jim Miller ’71, Eric Albert ’77, Paul Klingenstein ’74, and assistant coaches Lenny Tucker ’92 and Greg Hawes ’85.
Taft Scientists Soar problem statement was very open-ended, asking teams to design anything that would assist a disabled or injured person. “We owe a special thanks to trainer Maryann Laska,” said advisor Jim Mooney, “for her assistance in their design of an ankle brace that allows for greater range of motion in directions that do not conflict with the sprain.” After consulting with Laska, students did research on the Web and got some useful information from a polymer production
company, eventually contracting a local engineering firm to turn their plans into a functional prototype. Vanessa Wood ’01 captained the team of Nirica Borges ’01, Andrew Karas ’01, Grace Morris ’02, and Elena Sorokin ’02. Below: From left—David Hostage, James Lee ’03, Pea Phadhana-Anake ’03, Grace Morris ’02, Khanh Do Ba ’03, Andrew Karas ’01, Vanessa Wood ’01, Dan Riley ’02, Nirica Borges ’01, Jim Mooney, and Elena Sorokin ’02 with their engineering medals.
Peter Frew ’75
Taft students proved their prowess at two competitions sponsored by the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) this winter. Taft sent two teams to the Connecticut regional Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science (TEAMS) on December 14. The test consists of ten indepth, multiple-question problems that the team solves cooperatively. The varsity team placed first in its division and received an “Outstanding Performer in the State Award” given by JETS and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Industrial Technologies. Congrats to seniors Vanessa Wood, Torsak Luanphaisarnnont, Andrew Karas, and Victoria Choi, and uppermids Henry Tsai, Annabelle Razack, and Kyle Dolan. Our JV team placed second in its division: uppermids Jason Chen and Natalie Ie, and middlers Steven Ambadjes, Khanh Do Ba, Pea Phadhana-Anake, Emily Marano, and Tucker Serenbetz. The Taft entry in the National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC) placed second in the Connecticut competition on January 17. This year’s
Taft Bulletin
9