AROUND THE POND
pond Head Monitor Empowered by New Role
Dave Hinman ’87 is the new athletic director, succeeding John Wynne, who retired in June.
Steve McKibben received a Klingenstein Fellowship for his sabbatical year. As one of only 15 fellows in their program for independent school teachers, Steve will take courses at Columbia and participate in an extensive seminar on educational practices.
26
Summer 2000
Tarik Asmerom’s little brother didn’t believe her when she told her family she had been elected head monitor, the top position in student government at Taft. In fact, she was a little stunned herself when she heard. “When I came out of Laube during a break in my AP US History exam, a friend said, ‘You made it,’ and I thought, ‘Made what?’” Tarik admits it was a little hard to focus during the next section of the exam. “I was shaking,” she said. “One essay probably suffered from the excitement, but I think the rest will be okay.” A leader of United Cultures at Taft (UCT), a member of NAALSA, an editor for the International Forum, a contributor to the Papyrus, and former class committee chair, Tarik clearly brings leadership experience to her new post. Only the fourth girl ever elected head monitor and the second student of color—
she is the first to be both. “I think her winning has lightened some of the cynicism that one has to be white or male to succeed here,” said Lenny Tucker ’92. “That’s a good thing for Taft.” Tarik, a four-year senior from Houston, Texas, found out about Taft through A Better Chance, but prior to her arrival in the fall of 1997, she had never known anyone who’d gone to boarding school. Tarik hopes to pick up where this year’s school monitors left off. “There’s some work that still has to be done,” she said, ideas they had that she hopes to implement, such as spending more time with lower schoolers, explaining how the school works and why things like the honor code are so important. “I’m excited to have so many responsibilities but kind of nervous about the speeches I’ll have to give. Now that I’ve been made head monitor,” she said, “I feel like I can do anything.”