2019 Spring Bulletin

BULLETIN

“Brearley is an exciting puzzle that keeps accruing pieces.” —Jane Fried

THE BREARLEY BULLETIN SPRING 2019

610 East 83rd Street New York, NY 10028

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #129 19464

Making Strides on East 83rd: New Courses, New Schedule, New Building p2

Stop, Think, START!: Success Through Affirmational Reflection Time p12

Sneakerhead, Coder, Teaching Assistant and More: Senior Spring Abounds p14

Stepping into the future

SPRING 2019

THE BREARLEY SCHOOL

On the river, on East 83rd Street, we will be here.

Create a legacy for Brearley.

Incubator, proving ground, home. Brearley is a singular place that is all about the girls—who they are, what they are capable of, and what they can become.

When you include Brearley in your estate plans, you join a generous group of supporters who safeguard the Brearley experience for the girls of future generations.

For sample language to use in your will or trust, and further information, please contact: Together, across the oceans, through the continents and around the world, we are One Brearley. Above, the students explore the archaeology of Machu Picchu during their travel study trip to Peru in March.

Phoebe T. Geer ’97, Associate Director of Development (212) 570-8609 or pgeer@brearley.org

CONTENTS VOLUME XCIV

NUMBER 1

SPRING 2019

THE BREARLEY SCHOOL BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2018–2019

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Letter from the Head of School

Christine Frankenhoff Alfaro ’91, President

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610 + 590 = One Brearley

Carter Brooks Simonds ’95, Senior Vice President

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610 News & Events

11 Diversity Day: Belonging at Brearley 12

Stop, Think, START

Conversation with Jane Foley Fried and Modupe Akinola ‘92

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Senior Spring Blooms

How six students are spending their final term at Brearley

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Amy Finkelstein ’91, “Genius” Fellow

Interview by Charlotte Hutchinson ‘17

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Parents’ Association Benefit

34 Alumnae Weekend 2019

Dusty Philip, Vice President Jocelyn Strauber ‘91, Secretary Noah Gottdiener, Treasurer

Reza Ali Gideon Berger Susan V. Berresford ’61 Nicholas C. Bienstock Elisabeth Cannell Elizabeth Chandler Virginia Connor Joe DiMenna Jane Foley Fried

46 Milestones

Jane Gladstone ’86

50 Class Notes

Ivan M. Hageman Rebecca Haile Munib Islam

About the Cover

Stephanie L. Perlman, M.D.

Photo by Ashley Garrett

David Raso

Stepping up, stepping out, stepping into the future.

Paula Campbell Roberts ’94

As we shape what a Brearley education looks like

Modupe Akinola Robinson ’92

in the 21st century and what it means for our

Terri J. Seligman ’78

students and future alumnae, we are living in

Lita Tandon ’06

the striving—and the striding.

Andrew K. Tsai

Trustees Emeriti Head of School Jane Foley Fried Editor

Georges F. de Ménil Evelyn Janover Halpert ’52

Jane Newman

David T. Hamamoto

Graphic Designer

Stephanie J. Hull

Jennifer Bartoli

Ellen Jewett ’77

If you have any questions or comments about this magazine, please

Alan Jones

contact Jane Newman at jnewman@brearley.org or (212) 570-8588.

Edward F. Rover John F. Savarese Priscilla M. Winn Barlow

Special thanks to Eric Antanitus, Ashley Garrett, Russ Gundlach, James Kegley, Emily Peters, Paul Schneck, and members of the Brearley community for sharing photos and artwork with us.

Faculty Representative Debra Glick

HEAD’S LETTER

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SPRING 2019

LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Every Piece Is Part of the Whole What seemed to be a distant reality, 590 is in its final days of construction. Fearing to tempt fate, I knock wood every time I make this statement. The physical manifestation of thousands of hours of work by Brearley’s dedicated faculty, staff and trustees, as well as our talented partners at KPMB, Marianne McKenna and her team, our second schoolhouse (83 steps and 61 seconds door to door!) will complement 610 with its brick façade, high ceilings and large windows that will harvest natural light and provide vistas of Long Island Sound to the north, Queens to the east and Brooklyn to the south. This new facility for students and faculty is a key piece of the puzzle that is taking shape five years after we adopted our Strategic Vision.

There is much afoot “internally” as well. Faculty, administrators and staff have created programs in social and emotional learning, sexuality health education, and diversity, equity and inclusion. This work has expanded teachers’ and staff’s skills to engage in intentional ways with students around issues of identity, wellness and community. These programs, still in their nascent stage, provide a platform for the multiple narratives with respect to the individual and community concerns about racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, gender discrimination, sexism and sexual assault. We have much to learn still, but we have laid a sure foundation for the community’s ability to address issues that arise constructively.

To continue to foster and expand our students’ adventurous intellect in the 21st century, we have confirmed, after 18 months of studying best practices through research and community dialogue, that revamping the daily schedule is essential. Hence, this fall, along with the opening of a second schoolhouse, Brearley will introduce a six-day schedule to Classes K–XII. Why are we spreading the curriculum we have been teaching across an extra day?

Over the last 20 years, we have added more classes and activities to our students’ schedule without increasing the time they have to tend to the accompanying responsibilities. While most classes will meet for the same number of minutes each year, the classes will be slightly longer with the schedule providing a day or two off from the subject within the six-day cycle. The intent of our holistic approach to the schedule is that not only will it reduce the “hecticity” in their daily lives and provide time for reflection, recess, lunch and any necessary commuting between 610 and 590, but it will also enable students to think more deeply about their work and catch their breath during the week. Considering recommen-

dations for adolescent sleep, Middle and Upper School students will also have a later start time two days a cycle. Academic departments and the administration are currently addressing the topic of homework and ways to ensure that it too is spread appropriately across the new cycle.

Finally, our four years of departmental review, a new practice in which one or two departments are reviewed by external experts each year, have yielded some interesting new methods for teaching and learning at Brearley. They include a collaboration between the technology, science, history and math departments with a view toward incorporating computational thinking into selected courses, a review of the repertoire of vocal music to ensure the celebration of all of our cultures, and a new approach to spelling and phonetics in the Lower School. We will also be opening two innovation labs next year, one in each building, to accommodate hands-on learning.

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There is always more to think and learn about as we continue to form the wholeness of the School.”

Brearley is an exciting puzzle that keeps accruing pieces. Some pieces we know now, like hiring the next generation of faculty and raising the resources to support facilities and maintain our leading position in financial assistance and faculty/staff compensation, and some we have yet to envision. There is always more to think and learn about as we continue to form the wholeness of the School—of its education, of its community and of each student as she grows into her own whole, extraordinary self.

SPRING 2019

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Save the Date!

590 RIBBON CUT TING AND OPENING CELEBRATION Saturday, September 7 11:00 am–1:30 pm invitation to follow

SPRING 2019

FALL 2019

FOR A SNEAK PEEK AT THE NEW SPACES INSIDE 590,

VISIT WWW.BREARLEY.ORG/590-SNEAKPEEK

ONE BREARLEY

A singular place, and what it asks of us Incubator, proving ground, home. Brearley remains a singular place that is all about the girls—who they are, what they are capable of and what they can become.

At Brearley each girl has the School’s outstanding academic program, dedicated mentors and talented peers behind her. Every girl has the opportunity to grow into her own extraordinary self, defining anew what it means to be a Brearley girl.

In 2017, the School launched an ambitious campaign to build an expanded and more cohesive Brearley that will greatly deepen our capacity to fulfill our mission.

This campaign will take all of us.

All of us, standing on the shoulders of the generous Brearley families, alumnae, faculty and students who came before us.

All of us, because while there is no one Brearley girl, there is only one Brearley.

R e a d m o r e at w w w. b r e a r l e y. o r g / c a m pa i g n SPRING 2019

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610 NEWS & EVENTS

IN THE ARTS

Paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, printmaking and photography were on display for the MIDDLE

Marina Chin (left), daughter of Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi ’96 (center), and Vanessa Guest Hope ’91.

SCHOOL ART SHOW, which opened on April 25, 2019.

OSCAR WILD!

Brearley had a tremendous showing at this year’s Academy Awards. Congratulations to Elizabeth Chai

Vasarheyi ’96, director and co-producer of Free Solo, which was named Best Documentary Feature; Sophie Ascheim ’18, executive producer of Period. End of Sentence, winner of Best Documentary Short; Betsy West (P’13), co-director and co-producer of RBG, Best Documentary Feature nominee (and which featured Jane Ginsburg ’73, Clara Spera ’08 and Lisa Beattie Frelinghuysen ‘84); and Amandla Stenberg (star of The Hate U Give), daughter of Karen Brailsford ’82, who was the youngest person in Academy history to present the award for Best Picture.

DRAMA Do you hear the people sing? The cast of Les Misérables (left) electrified the

Brearley stage in February 2019, along with Maggie, Brick, Big Mama, Big Daddy et al. (right) in the November 2018 production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Introducing . Now it’s easier to make your Annual Fund gift! Search for @brearley_af and make your donation today!

R E C E N T LY P U B L I S H E D B O O K S B Y A L U M N A E Please send covers of your new books to alumnae@brearley.org.

Arielle Hamill Hermann ’55

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SPRING 2019

Jane Pearce Carey ’58

Tonne Goodman ’70

Sarah Chace ’76

Julia Erhart ‘81

Jaqueline Worth ’82

UPPER SCHOOL SERVICE DAY 2019 took place on April 16. Each grade paired with its Collegiate counterpart and dispersed throughout the city to participate in community work: the IXs visited soup kitchens and food pantries; the Xs traveled to Urban Farm on Randall’s Island and learned about soil and composting; the XIs hosted a panel of Tillman Scholars who spoke about their military service; and the XIIs engaged in revitalization projects and events through the Point, a community center in the South Bronx.

THANK YOU to the loyal and generous

alumnae, parents and friends who support Brearley each year through the Annual Fund.

Your gifts help to sustain the excellence of a Brearley education and directly affect our students, teachers and every aspect of our program.

Service Day Inch by inch, row by row. Besides planting (above, onions), students weeded and mulched at Urban Farn.

We appreciate the strong show of support from our community. Together, we can reach our $3.5M goal before June 30. Every gift of any size counts and is truly appreciated. www.brearley.org/donate Venmo: @brearley_af Contact: Amina Holman Annual Fund Director aholman@brearley.org

From left: The XIIs’ day included watching a performance of In the Heights, an Open Hydrant theater production that is part of the the Point’s arts and culture program, after which they mingled with the cast; Jane Foley Fried at the Tillman Scholar panel with Balas, her recently adopted retired military dog (transitioning to civilian life in the Head of School’s apartment, Chief Balas loves to meet Brearley girls!).

(212) 570-8610

ANNUAL FUND 2018–2019 Janet Reich Elsbach ’85

Jen Petty Hilger ’86

Julie Satow ’92

Louise Hornby ’92

SPRING 2019

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610 NEWS & EVENTS

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Grandparents’ Special Friends’ Day

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WHAT’S ON YOUR DESK? LISA POLLACK, UPPER SCHOOL OFFICE

1. Cup of reading glasses: I like to have a large assortment of glasses to match my wardrobe. 2. Brearley globe: Wendy Lui, who worked in Tech (back when the department was called Administrative Computing), gave this to me. 3.

Piece of the Berlin Wall: from my niece, Julia. 4. Colored paper clips: I don’t use them very often, I just like them. 5. Brearley 125th Anniversary note block: serves as a pedestal for the clips, globe and Berlin souvenir. 6. Mes Lunettes

glasses holder: means “my glasses,” this was a present from my sister, knowing my love for all things French. 7. A portrait of my youngest cat, Flour.

Hosts with the most. Kindergarteners welcomed their grandparents and special friends to Brearley on April 18, 2019, performing a creative dance and sharing library books and classroom work.

2019 Lois Kahn Wallace Writer’s Award LINDSAY STERN ‘09 Congratulations to Lindsay Stern, the latest recipient of the Lois Kahn Wallace literary prize, for her first novel, The Study of Animal Languages (Viking/Penguin). Published to critical acclaim, the book focuses on a married couple’s unraveling relationship—a professor of philosophy whose rising star of a wife is doing pioneering work on the language of birds, Ivan must face his own inability to communicate while at the same time caring for his father-in-law, who is experiencing a mental breakdown.

Established in 1999 by the late Lois Kahn Wallace ’57, the award, which is conferred approximately every two years and carries an honorarium, recognizes a Brearley alumna at the beginning of her career as a published writer, or at the beginning of writing in a new genre. Adult fiction and nonfiction works are eligible, as are books for children and young adults. To apply for the next award, or for more information, please contact Daryl Gurian Stern, Director of Events and Alumnae Relations, at (212) 570-8516 or dstern@brearley.org.

R E C E N T LY P U B L I S H E D B O O K S B Y A L U M N A E Please send covers of your new books to alumnae@brearley.org.

Jessica Meyer Daws ’95

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SPRING 2019

Eva Chen ’97

Eva Chen ’97

Alice Robb ’10

Calista ’18 and Esme ’24 Washburn

ALUMNAE REGIONAL EVENTS

LONDON Jane Foley Fried (front row, center) and Christine Frankenhoff Alfaro ‘91, Brearley Board President (back row, far right), crossed the pond to meet alumnae from Classes 1948 to 2016 at a reception hosted by Liz Murdoch ‘86 on May 14, 2019.

610... Again!

Victoria Kingham ’14, Class V Associate Teacher and Assistant Coach, Track and Cross Country

WHY DID YOU COME BACK TO BREARLEY? I began planning a return the minute Ms. Fried handed me my diploma. I wanted to experience a new side of Brearley, as faculty member and coach.

But a more personal reason was that having spent 13 years here, I have always considered it as a home base. To come back to the community that had watched me grow and lovingly supported my development felt like the perfect way to begin the transition from college student to “real” adult.

FLORIDA From left: Carol Heath ‘60, Ann Zinman Leventhal ‘53 and Gladys Rivera Laiken ‘75 met with Anne Bergen, Director of Development, in Ft. Meyers on February 1, 2019.

WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING BACK? Surprisingly natural, largely because the faculty have been so welcoming.

What’s been difficult is trying to avoid excessive nostalgia. When presented with changes to the curriculum, my first impulse is to resist those changes, preferring to keep things as they were when I was a student. Recently, though, I’ve come to understand that while honoring the traditions of a Brearley education is important, so, too, is keeping it relevant to today’s students.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TEACHER? I’m still trying to figure that out, but I would say curiosity. I’ve frequently annotated my own copy of Johnny Tremain with an insight made by a fifth grader. Brearley students have so many thought-provoking ideas, and a good teacher takes a genuine interest in and truly engages with them.

BOSTON Jane Foley Fried (center) and alums ranging from the Class of 1977 to 2018 gathered for a festive evening organized by Kate Walker ‘10 at the Grafton Street Pub & Grill Tavern in Cambridge on November 26, 2018.

If you are interested in hosting or helping to plan a regional event, please contact Alumnae Relations at alumnae@brearley.org.

WHAT’S CHANGED THE MOST? The integration of technology into the curriculum—I can’t believe students use iPads now!—and the development of a computer science program. Computer science was a blind spot of mine when I entered college.

WHAT’S CHANGED THE LEAST? As a student I was encouraged to do things that felt hard, to learn how to think even when thinking made me uncomfortable. That teaching students how to think, and to lean into the discomfort that it can engender, is still a central component of the Brearley education is a relief.

WHAT WAS A FAVORITE TOPIC IN FIFTH GRADE? The Revolutionary War, and the events that preceded it. It was the first time I was exposed to the notion of cause and effect, which as a future history major I found deeply interesting. In this unit the students make a Road to Revolution book, and I love looking at theirs as much as I loved making my own.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK? Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo. I read it before bed almost every night that year, and when I finished it I would simply begin again.

SPRING 2019

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610 NEWS & EVENTS

Frances Riker Davis 1915 Award CAROLYN GOLDMARK GOODMAN ’57, 2018 RECIPIENT Long before Carolyn Goldmark Goodman won a landslide contest in 2011 to become Mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada, she had consistently dedicated herself to the Las Vegas community. Carolyn’s unique endeavors in both the educational and political arenas highlight why she was the 2018 recipient of the Frances Riker Davis 1915 Award. A resident of Las Vegas since the 1970s, Carolyn worked in the US Department of Labor’s Concentrated Employment Program, providing vocational, family and drug counseling to underserved communities. She later founded the Meadows School, which offers Nevada’s only nonsectarian, nonprofit college-preparatory education. Carolyn is also actively involved in a range of Las Vegas organizations, focused upon education, the arts, community service, religion and health. Carolyn’s mayoral efforts as a political independent include addressing Las Vegas’s high rate of homelessness and improving housing and employment opportunities. She is focused on sustainability and redevelopment that expands Las Vegas beyond a gambling destination, and is working to bring a major league sports team to the city. The second woman to serve as mayor of Las Vegas, Carolyn, recently sworn in for a third and final term, continues to apply her skills and knowledge to improve the quality of life for all citizens of her city.

PING-PONG NIGHT 2019 Back spin, dropshot, float! On March 1, the Assembly Hall made its annual transformation into a tournament venue for Middle Schoolers, fathers and friends.

JEAN LOEB TROUBH ’56, 2019 RECIPIENT Serving as a trustee for more than 14 nonprofits throughout the city, Jean Loeb Troubh has especially devoted her time to the City Parks Foundation and the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services.

For three decades, Jean led the City Park Foundation’s work to democratize green spaces throughout the city, including the creation and development of its programs and the procurement of financial and in-kind resources to allow the organization to flourish. Along with fundraising, Jean’s work has concentrated on the composition of the foundation’s board. At the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, a mental health and social services organization that addresses the needs of more than 43,000 clients, she founded the Committee on Family Violence and brought in people to work at the nationally recognized Child Development Center. Jean has also been active in education; she was a board member of Prep for Prep for several years. From the initiatives she has spearheaded to the various entities and funds she has garnered to help secure their success, Jean is a creator, a leader and a generous philanthropist whose service and dedication to improving the conditions of underserved populations in New York City are immeasurable.

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B+STEAM MAKER DAY 3.0 Creating geometric sculptures out of

laser-cut wood components in the Making Math Visible workshop, February 2, 2019.

TIBETAN MONK IN-RESIDENCE Lama Tenzin returned to Brearley

for a week in January to create a sand mandala, which after completion was deposited into the East River during a dismantling ceremony. The tradition of making mandalas out of colored sand is a form of meditation for the creator and a teaching tool for those who witness its creation.

DIVERSITY DAY

UPPER SCHOOL DIVERSITY DAY: UPPER SCHOOL DIVERSITY DAY

Belonging at Brearley On December 13, 2018, Upper School students led the first-ever, halfday conference on issues of identity and belonging at Brearley.

Inspired by their time at the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, held annually by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), Jianna Boswell (XII), Hafsa Hossain (XII), Abigail Sylvor-Greenberg (XI), Ella Wickham (XI) and Grace Williams (XII) created a student-facilitated space for learning and self-reflection about issues of equity and inclusion at Brearley.

Noting in their opening remarks that our “community is made up of many different people, whether that be in learning style, race, gender, sexuality or many other ways,” these student leaders initiated and arranged the conference with the intent to amplify a culture of inclusivity; recognize, prioritize and celebrate all cultures; take a collaborative approach to equity and inclusion; and allow for mistakes, but take responsibility.

The day’s events consisted of student-run workshops, such as Socioeconomic Class at Brearley, Race and Representation in the Classroom, Feminism and Intersectionality, Diverse Faculty Identities and Perspectives, and Gender at Brearley, as well as an interactive activity for the division as a whole to consider the implications of individual and collective privilege.

This inaugural student conference was a resounding success (so much so that the workshops were held a second time later in the year).

Students reported feeling heard and comfortable sharing and exploring the various parts of their identities with others. Receiving avid support from the administration, Belonging at Brearley is a welcome and vital addition to the school calendar. As the student leaders underscored, “This work is not optional, it is necessary and transformational for the community.”

Above: Upper School students respond to prompts about privilege—race, class and gender—in their own lives during Diversity Day. SPRING 2019 11

START

UPPER SCHOOL DIVERSITY DAY:

START Success Through Affirmational Reflection Time

A con v er s at i on w i t h J a ne f ol e y Fr ied a nd M odu pe A k in ol a ’92. Dr . A k in ol a , a pr ofe s sor at columbi a busine s s sc ho ol w ho s t udie s t he effec t s of s t re s s on o r g a n i z a t i o n a l e n v i r o n m e n t s , i s l e a d i n g a n d d e v e l o p i n g t h e p r o g r am i n c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h t h e h e a d o f s c h o o l , a d m i n s t r a t i o n a n d f a c u l t y.

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WHAT IS START? An acronym for Success Through Affirmational Reflection Time, START is an initiative to help students strike a greater balance in their daily lives by giving them the time and emotional space to reflect on what they value and what makes them feel happy, successful and fulfilled. Three classes took part in the pilot program; eventually, START will be an annual experience for all students in K to XII. A few times over the year, in homeroom, advisory and Junior Seminar, Classes VII, IX and XI, respectively, engaged in activities such as answering questions about their emotions and experiences in and out of school; considering what they are doing when they feel alive, empowered, confident, joyful, connected, calm, at their best and not at their best; meditating on those adjectives; creating vision statements, including writing advice to themselves about what they can do when they are not feeling at their best; and participating in peer and group discussion.

Each student has been given an ID number to ensure her anonymity (no writing is shared with faculty or staff). On a regular basis between January and March, students were sent back their responses to continue the reflection process, and before exams they read the advice they had given themselves earlier on about what they can do when they are feeling stressed and not at their best—a common experience during exams.

WHY START, WHY NOW? One of the goals of our Strategic Vision is to identify ways in which girls can avoid perfectionism and develop vital, requisite life skills and character traits, such as grit, kindness, empathy, agency and sense of purpose, to achieve a more grounded and wholesome personal definition of success. Historically, and especially at an institution like Brearley, one’s success has been rooted in and qualified by her academic, extracurricular and athletic record. This significance in no way should be diminished, but what about beyond that?

Based on research about the positive effect that values affirmation exercises have on student performance, START is an exciting step toward this goal. It allows students the introspection to reflect and act on the “little” questions—What are the bits and pieces about yourself that excite you, here or beyond Brearley? What makes you feel joyful and alive?—that can bring them contentment and satisfaction at a deeper level than from quantifiable successes alone.

Getting students into the mindset to ponder “five hundred feet above the ground” what is really important to them, however, is a tall order at Brearley! Brearley girls are undeniably strong. But that strength doesn’t always facilitate their ability to slow down to absorb a broader array of emotions and experiences that are also a part of them—and equally important. Developing and sustaining these habits of mind requires practice, and it can be easier to focus on their daily responsibilities or having the right answer than to utilize their freedom to think along unconstrained lines.

By asking each student to reflect holistically on her values, goals and aspirations, over the course of her time at Brearley she will accumulate a

“

We found it to be more complex and interesting than we could have ever imagined.”

portfolio of writing that she will be able to access. Revisiting her responses to START’s prompts and exercises will help keep her attuned to her experiences and feelings, reinforcing her connections to herself and others.

REFLECTIONS ON PILOT YEAR AND MOVING FORWARD As START unfolded, we found it to be more complex and interesting than we could have ever imagined. Room teachers reported that the VIIs were very enthusiastic—they especially liked the exercises—and there was a range of opinions among the IXs and XIs. Some were receptive; some found being asked questions they had not considered before distracting—having to lift themselves out of the “hecticity” of their daily lives meant entering unfamiliar territory. This feedback was unsurprising, only confirming our belief in the need for this program at Brearley.

However, with any launch come challenges. The technology aspect presented some thorny issues. Through conversations with faculty and division heads we learned that students benefit from guided experiences, which START cannot accommodate; to maintain confidentiality the reflection exercises and vision statements must be done online, which students found difficult keeping up with. Though the portfolios are intended for this purpose, writing in a book journal, for example, may make a student feel more relaxed and responsive to introspection.

Plans for next year are in progress. In addition to considering how to make the digital process more meaningful, we are determining which classes will be involved and the frequency of group meetings.

We are also fleshing out the details of the sessions to include more group sharing.

Overall, we are pleased with the debut of START and its potential to enrich and positively influence the lives of Brearley students. It is also our hope that this work may one day benefit girls everywhere.

SPRING 2019 13

ALUMNA INTERVIEW

2018 MACARTHUR “GENIUS” FELLOW

Amy Finkelstein ’91 The MacArthur fellowships, commonly known as “genius” grants, are awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for “extraordinary originality, insight and potential.” In October, the foundation named the Class of 2018 fellows, among them Amy Finkelstein ’91. A health economist at MIT, Amy is “formulating robust empirical methods to illuminate the hidden complexities of health care policy and provide data-driven guidance for future innovations in theory and practice.”

In March, Amy sat down for an interview with Charlotte Hutchinson ‘17.

Amy Finkelstein’s office at MIT overlooks Storrow Drive and the Charles River. It is an impressive view fitting for the impressive economist she is. Interestingly, however, Dr. Finkelstein was not immediately enraptured by the study of economics. “I actually thought I didn’t like economics, because I mistakenly thought it was overly concerned with mathematical elegance rather than real-world problems,” she said. After Brearley, she attended Harvard College, receiving her degree in government. It was when arguing about politics and policy with her friends that she realized she was missing the ability to critically and quantitatively support her views. Late in college she began to study economics, and looking to build up her empirical skills, she decided to pursue a master’s in economics at Oxford, where she studied as a Marshall Scholar.

Dr. Finkelstein planned to apply to law school after graduating from Oxford, but during that year between degrees she took a job on the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) in the Clinton administration. Her year at the CEA served as an unexpected turning point in her career. Working closely with professional economists, she admired both their empirical skills and analytical abilities, and realized that economics offered a powerful tool for thinking about policy. She ultimately decided to forego law school to pursue a doctorate in economics at MIT. While working on the CEA, Dr. Finkelstein also focused her academic interest on insurance markets. Although covering a variety of topics, she found herself drawn to those that involved insurance, which seemed to be an area where markets might not function well and government policy might be able to improve outcomes. In graduate school she gravitated toward studying health insurance because there was a lot of data and interesting government policy. When asked, however, about the focus of her work, Dr. Finkelstein clarified, “When people say that I’m a healthcare economist, I correct them. I think of myself as an insurance economist who studies health-care, although I realize to some people that sounds less interesting!”

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After serving as a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, Dr. Finkelstein joined the MIT economics faculty in 2005, where she has remained ever since. Although she spoke highly of all aspects of her educational trajectory, she recalled a particular fondness for her time at Brearley and at MIT, referring to them as the “bookends of her education.” She was quick to recall a vast array of happy memories at 610. Dr. Finkelstein cited her love of history at Brearley as her motivation for studying political science in college, including Ms. Marcus’s China and Japan elective her senior year, the first time the course was offered. She remembered enjoying math while at Brearley but viewed it more as a tool for understanding rather than an end in and of itself, an approach that is still apparent in her professional work.

Dr. Finkelstein gave enormous credit to her teachers for her experiences while at Brearley.

“Teachers took you seriously,” she recalled, “even though you were only in high school.” She remains in touch with Ms. Marcus to this day, a relationship that has grown over the years since she graduated. She was particularly thankful for all the individualized feedback she received on her writing assignments—“I received so much feedback on my writing at Brearley. I never got that in college.” She also loved how, in the history department, teachers would put together sourcebooks as the text for the class; “We barely had textbooks. It was awesome.”

Furthermore, she credits Brearley for teaching her that the whole purpose of academic pursuits is to struggle; she was perpetually challenged, which endeared her to hard work. She reflected that the skill set she has cultivated as a result of this willingness to struggle has been enormously useful when tackling research questions.

In addition to her fond memories of her classes, Dr. Finkelstein spoke highly of her class-

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At Brearley teachers took you seriously, even though you were only in high school. ”

mates in her graduating class of 42 girls. Disclosing that she was “nerdy” while at 610, she said nobody cared, because the students and the School all valued learning and hard work.

Although she appreciated her classmates during her 13 years with them, she did not realize how unique the Brearley experience was, where intellectual curiosity and “nerdiness” was prized, until she spoke to friends in college about their different high school experiences.

Despite all of her accomplishments, including the 2012 John Bates Clark Medal, given annually to the economist under the age of 40 who is judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge, and the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2018, Dr. Finkelstein has no intention of resting on her laurels. She views the MacArthur Fellowship as both an achievement and an investment award, and hopes to use it to help support her students as they progress through the MIT economics program. When asked about a possible subject she would next like to research, she spoke about trends in the health-care workforce and ancillary service workers, including skilled nurses and home aids, due to the aging of the population.

Throughout her interview, Dr. Finkelstein was very much the thriving embodiment of the Brearley girl. Her intellectual curiosity, immense drive and fascination with her work were palpable. As a recent graduate of Brearley and a student at Harvard College, I was inspired by our conversation and felt privileged to speak with Dr. Finkelstein about her career.

Charlotte Hutchinson ’17 is a rising junior at Harvard College.

SPRING 2019 31

BREARLEY BENEFIT

2 0 1 9 b r e a r l e y b e n e f i t • t av e r n o n t h e g r e e n , c e n t r a l p a r k

32 SPRING 2019

There was something in the air that night. Scores of parents, alumnae, trustees, grandparents, parents of alumnae, faculty and staff and, of course, the Class of 2019 swelled the rooms and dance floor of Tavern on the Green on February 25 for the 2019 Brearley Parents’ Association Benefit. It was a magical, celebratory occasion full of gastronomic delights and surprise entertainment, thanks to cameos from an ABBA cover band and a very modish Bev! Over $440,000 was raised for Brearley. For our 700 guests having the time of their life, we are indebted to co-chairs Elizabeth Callender and Niamh O’Donnell, our underwriting cochairs and the entire Benefit Committee.

SPRING 2019 33

REUNION

ALUMNAE WEEKEND 2019 Spearheaded by Jennifer Hand ‘83 and Wilhelmina Martin Eaken ‘64, Alumnae Weekend and Reunion was full of hugs, pep and zest. The halls and rooms of 610 echoed with sounds of laughter and song (yes, “By Truth and Toil,” among others) as over 300 alumnae returned, attending at least one of 20 separate events held over the two days. At the Friday luncheon, our Frances Riker Davis and Lois Kahn Wallace winners were announced, along with the result of the Annual Fund Alumnae Challenge: a tie between Classes 1959 and 1994. Luncheon attendees rose to their feet when special honoree Bebe Stetson ‘39 received a replica of the Alumnae Cup she won three times as a student. Friday night’s party was the scene of an epic homecoming, comprising current faculty and staff, former faculty and staff, and alumnae. Jane Fried delivered a moving tribute to the eight women who are retiring or departing from Brearley after many years and who collectively worked at Brearley for over 200 years.

From the 25th and 50th reunion speeches to Turbo Talks to sessions with the Head of School and senior administrators to programing about sexual health education to an art history class led by Valerie Mendelson ‘75 to a LIBRA-hosted Queerly Brearley lunch, the power of a Brearley education was palpable. When Terri Seligman ‘78, Alumnae Association President, asked who wished she were a Brearley student today, the loud applause affirmed both the wonderful diversity of our experiences and the notion that while there is no one Brearley girl, there is only one Brearley. Please visit www.brearley.org/reunion2019recap for more photos, including table shots, videos and highlights from the weekend.

Top: Inscribed on Bebe Stetson’s new Alumnae Cup is Floreat Fortissima (May the strongest flourish). Bottom: Members of the Miller Society, named for Cecile Miller Eistrup ‘58, Brearley’s first graduate of color, gathered for brunch on Sunday, April 28.

34 SPRING 2019

SPRING 2019 35

REUNION

50TH REUNION

CLASS OF 1969 WITH JANE FOLEY FRIED (BACK ROW, CENTER)

36 SPRING 2019

50TH REUNION SPEECH

The Women Are All Right

by Lucy Stille ‘69

I came to Brearley in the ninth grade. I was accepted with the caveat that I be tutored in Latin and French, for after a rigorous twoday entrance exam, I was found wanting in both subjects. I should have realized then and there that Brearley would always demand that I step up my game.

Our graduating class consisted of 36 girls, many of whom had been together since kindergarten. We were a sheltered and rather serious lot. While the turbulent sixties were going on around us, we were at a remove.

Sex, drugs and rock and roll—not exactly. Not unless you count trying to have a conversation with a drunken boy in for the weekend from Groton, or spotting Art Garfunkel in a record store on Eighth Street, though I did manage to see both the Doors and the Beatles perform live. The Vietnam War seemed deeply disturbing but remote, something we caught glimpses of on the nightly news. The term Ms. hadn’t entered our vocabulary yet and the civil rights movement was an idea we supported, but in the abstract, as there was not a single African American in our class.

We had too much homework to engage in activities that would have put us in contact with other worlds. The School offered no classes with any practical applications, like driver’s ed, sex education, or SAT prep. Nor did it offer much in the way of community service or coed activities.

Some of us had family obligations that kept us close to home. And home was usually a fairly prescribed neighborhood on either the Upper East or Upper West Side of Manhattan. Some of us had never ridden on the subway. I lived in Greenwich Village and my uptown friends never traveled to see me. Downtown must have been deemed either too far away or too scary.

Brearley tried to put us on an equal footing by insisting that we wear uniforms, but we all knew whose family had money and who were

merely middle class, whose family traced their lineage back hundreds of years and who were first generation, who was good at math and who could run like the wind. Like most adolescents, we were scrambling to figure out our place in this complex social stew, while Brearley’s concern was improving our minds.

The School’s mission did not include preparing us for the ”real” world. Its goal was to develop our capacity for critical thinking and instill in us the importance of intellectual rigor. I have often thought of us as racehorses, groomed to run and jump, ever faster, ever higher. Not only did we have to read Chaucer’s CanterburyTales in the original Old English, we had to recite the words out loud, so we would understand what English sounded like in 1387. Many of us spent countless hours in the library, poring over the OED to find the double and triple meaning of words like “jet” so we could adequately dissect a John Donne poem the next day. Writing a detailed essay about the causes of the Civil War was only the first part of the assignment; we had to do an oral presentation as well, defending our theses in front of our classmates.

Brearley’s standard of excellence could be daunting. There was none of the cultural relativism that more progressive schools embraced.

We didn’t read any contemporary writers. We didn’t discuss current events, let alone examine pop culture. There were no projects geared to students who approached ideas less analytically or who needed more time to process them. Some felt judged, even oppressed, by the school’s adherence to such strict values and highly singular approach to learning.

Our teachers were, for the most part, passionate about their subjects and we responded by wanting to please them, to show them that we too understood the beauty in a mathematical proof or a line of Latin poetry. Many of them were formidable and memorable figures.

“

As long as you go on reading, asking questions and using the skills you have developed here, you will remain welleducated women.”

continued on page 42 SPRING 2019 37

REUNION

50TH REUNION SPEECH

A Rebel with an Education

by Christine Loomis ‘69

“

I could do and be anything if I worked for it.”

38 SPRING 2019

I came into Brearley in kindergarten and left after eighth grade to go to boarding school—not because I necessarily wanted to leave Brearley but because I wanted to leave home and be more independent. I was from the start a bit of a rebel and my experience with Brearley, particularly with Miss Basinger, was that I was allowed to be that—albeit with consequences.

There were so many things I loved about Brearley, not the least of which was that I thrived in competition, loved reading as many books as possible and liked to test deadlines.

Maybe because it was the only education setting I knew, I never saw it as punishing or even challenging. It just was.

Whether I would have felt that way in Upper School I don’t know. I do know that when I got to boarding school I was so far ahead of the other students in English and French that they gave me my own class in each for a year and let me choose what I wanted to study. In case you’re wondering: For English I chose the Romantic poets, for French I asked to study L’Etranger by Camus in French, along with Le Petit Prince.

Certainly, it was not all positive. There were things I loved and things I didn’t.

Here’s what I did not love: A French teacher throwing chalk and erasers at students and locking us in a dark clos-

et when she was angry. Today, that would be considered abusive.

Dodgeball: It was frightening, especially when Diane Straus was up to bat—you knew you were going to be hit because her aim was deadly and her arm strong. I don’t blame her, but I’m not sure the way it was practiced at Brearley should have been allowed unsupervised.

Those horrible posture photos throughout the Lower School years. Today, that would horrify educators, as well it should, and I appreciate the powers that be at Brearley for apologizing to all of us for that practice.

Here’s what I really loved: Singing carols in the lobby at Christmas.

Carpentry with Evy. Mrs. Taliaferro’s grammar lessons using 1930s Chicago gangsters in every sentence.

Latin, British history, Greek mythology and French at such an early age.

Summer reading—it took me to so many places and introduced me to so many characters.

Miss Basinger’s unfailing calm, insights and wisdom when I was impossible. In the end, she won out because I kept her lessons with me well into adulthood.

The incredible education I received and the message that I could do and be anything if I worked for it. Maybe the real world had not yet caught up with Brearley, but the message defined in large part who I am.

SPRING 2019 39

REUNION

25TH REUNION

CLASS OF 1994 WITH JANE FOLEY FRIED (BACK ROW, LEFT)

40 SPRING 2019

25TH REUNION SPEECH

Dogged, Determined and Digging Deeper

by Margaret Angell ‘94

For those of you not in the Class of 1994, let me paint a brief a picture of who we are. We are 42 or 43, which means we are in the elbow of life.

We are far enough along in our careers that we know a few things and have some real responsibility. Most of our kids are out of diapers but not yet in high school. We volunteer and serve on boards. We are also old enough that now many of us have experienced a significant loss or disappointment or are wrestling with the fact that life isn’t exactly what we had planned. We are firmly in that place where we both aspire to hot date nights and often fall asleep during movies.

All of that has amounted to a decade of bad sleep, but we are holding it together.

And we are here to reconnect and reminisce.

So, let me help you place these reminiscences.

It is hard to believe, but Y2K, Harry Potter, cell phones, 9/11, Google and the sequencing of the human genome all happened AFTER we graduated from college.

When we were in high school, the Cold War had just ended; it was the time of the Anita Hill hearings, the first Gulf War and Bill Clinton’s first election; the L.A. riots happened our junior year, as did the Oklahoma City bombing; we walked every year in the AIDS walk, Michael Jordan was king; there was a hole in the ozone layer; it was the time of rise of grunge and hip-hop, U2, Madonna, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, and Silence of the Lambs.

And somehow in that crazy world, the Brearley Class of 1994 was coming into its own. When I think of Brearley, it’s all about the people: my classmates, teammates, teachers, coaches. What a remarkable community. And what times we had. The typical Brearley stuff: fourth grade French play, Stokes, Gilbert and Sullivan, overnight at Mystic Seaport, Joey rolls, the tenth grade trip to DC. And then there are special memories that are unique: the ninth grade end-of-year Chaucer par-

ty when Mrs. Sagor dressed up as the Wife of Bath, the string of 4x400 relay teams that packed into the car with Ms. Morash and Mrs. McMenamin and went down to the Penn Relays, the four years of soccer teams that were some of the most fun I have ever had, watching Pippa and Jenny dance in a talent show in the complete dark with glow-in-the-dark stars stuck all over their bodies to “She Moves in Mysterious Ways,” and finally, the day that a few friends challenged Paula and me—known for our tomboy ways—to actually dress like girls. Paula won.

In thinking back to that time and what we did, I feel an overwhelming sense of love and gratitude. Our class is really special. Our teachers and coaches were so committed and excellent. Brearley wasn’t perfect, but every day I walked through the doors of 610 East 83rd Street it felt like home and I still feel that way. This is an extraordinary school full of extraordinary people with an extraordinary mission done extraordinarily well.

When our class reunion committee asked me to do this, they asked me to reflect on how Brearley influenced me after I left. There are three things I want to touch on: sports, dogged determination, and raising feminists.

First, while I was at Brearley, I loved sports.

Ms. Zazuri, who is retiring this year, built an incredible department that gave us so many opportunities to pursue athletics. Her no-cut policy in Middle School meant that everyone who wanted to play could play. And that is such a powerful and enduring lesson. In a culture where we are constantly being told to pursue our passions as a path to excellence, sometimes it’s just nice to enjoy something because it’s fun and healthy. I sincerely hope that Ms. Zazuri remembers our horrendously bad freshman basketball team that Ms. Schiller had to coach. We were so bad our

“

This is an extraordinary school full of extraordinary people with an extraordinary mission done extraordinarily well.”

continued on next page SPRING 2019 41

REUNION

50TH REUNION SPEECH

25TH REUNION SPEECH

continued from page 37

continued from page 41

Who could forget Mrs. Carpenter’s brilliant disquisitions on Shakepeare, Miss Basinger’s orthopedic shoes and stern demeanor, Miss Zinnser’s acute probing of historical events, or Mrs. Taliaferro’s stylish Marimekko dresses.

Then there was Jean Fair Mitchell, head of school. Miss Mitchell was a remote figure whom I only encountered in assemblies until senior year when she brought us all into her office to have “ the college talk.” We sat cross legged on her carpet with the sun shining off the East River and heard her utter with her slight Scottish burr the most astounding words. “You will be under a lot of pressure from your parents to go to the best colleges and universities in this country. But you should know that as far as the Brearley is concerned you will leave this school as well educated young women. And as long as you go on reading, asking questions and using the skills you have developed here, you will remain well educated women.” First of all, she called us women. Sitting there in our knee socks and penny loafers, we felt more like girls so her words were both frightening and thrilling. Second, Miss Mitchell gave us permission to opt out of the intense college competition process. I’m sure she knew we wouldn’t, but it was reassuring, and an incredible vote of confidence. We were going to be all right, no matter where, or if, we went to college.

So off we went, to college and beyond.

We discovered that we loved to read and

to learn for their own sake, not because we were gunning for a grade. We encountered many men and, even a few women, who wished we were a little less outspoken and listened a little better. We’d assumed that we lived in a meritocracy where hard work would earn us a place at the table, only to find out that practically all the seats were already taken. We had been told that we could have it all, career, marriage and motherhood, and realized, that if we chose to pursue all three, that we couldn’t have them all equally or do all of them equally well. As we adapted to these realities as well as to the personal traumas, professional ups and downs and health issues that life threw at us, the lessons we learned and the experiences we had in that rarified, bookish environment on East 83rd Street stood us in good stead. For we had been taught how to compete, how to demand excellence and not settle for mediocrity, how to work with focus and purpose, how to set priorities and manage time, how to find our voices and articulate our ideas, how to ask tough questions and face tough facts, and how to use rational analysis to find creative solutions to the problems before us. We have never needed these skills more than we do today, as we watch democracies being threatened all over the world, technology invading our privacy and individual rights, and climate change wreaking havoc with our planet. Truly troubling times, but then again Brearley girls never shied away from the task at hand and I urge us all not to do so now. The stakes are simply too great.

Save the Date!

Alumnae Weekend & Reunion 2020 April 17 and April 18 We hope to see you there!

42 SPRING 2019

parents asked if they could please stop having to watch it. But I remember that year and those games as full of laughter and fun. We knew we were bad and we wanted to play anyway.

I invite everyone to stand and join me in thanking Ms. Zazuri, a remarkable coach and mentor.

When I graduated from Brearley, my track coach, Ms. Morash, told me she believed I could go to the next level. It was just the nudge I needed. When I arrived at Harvard, I walked onto the cross country team and I ended up doing cross country and indoor and outdoor track for four years. I got 12 varsity letters on a Division 1 team.

After college I moved up in distance to the marathon and eventually in 2004, I made it to the Olympic trials.

Ms. Morash came to St. Louis to watch me race. For me there is a through line from my first practice with Ms. Morash in sixth grade to that marathon in St. Louis. Brearley made that possible.

The second point I want to make about how Brearley influenced me after I left is the character trait that Brearley cultivated in me: dogged determination. I know many of you had report cards that had words like eloquent, graceful, talented, poised. Not me. Mine were laced with words like scrappy, dogged, and relentless.

The message that I got through all of that was that I may not be naturally gifted but that I could do anything with enough time and hard work.

I’ve worked in education for almost 20 years and most of my career has been defined by taking risks to join teams starting something new: I’ve been on a team that rebuilt all of NYC’s public high school outdoor sports facilities; a team that started preschool in Boston for two thousand four-year-olds; a team that started teacher fellowships and grant programs to help schools reimagine pedagogy and instruction; and now I am working to build a new graduate school in digital engineering and life sciences in Portland, Maine. The work that has been most meaningful to me has been work that people thought I was crazy to start; and that I started by just putting one foot in front of the other and working relentlessly until it was built. That scrappy doggedness in the face of doubt and uncertainty is all Brearley.

The final way that Brearley has influenced me is that it was ingrained in me that I am a feminist and I want to do the same for my kids. My husband and I have two daughters, Ella is nine and Kate is seven. They are sitting here with the Class of 1994. They go to a small-town public school in Maine. They are not Brearley girls. But I am trying to raise them like Brearley girls. What that means to me is that our obligation is not just to our-

hhh

selves but to the next generation. My mother and her generation are trailblazers—and I know that the opportunities that I had came because of the work they did. The effort I make lays the foundation for my kids. I believe that being a feminist means caring not about your own seat at the table, but about the women that come after you. I care about the opportunities available to my daughters and I want them to care about the generation that isn’t even born yet.

The final topic my classmates asked me to reflect upon is how time and distance have made me see Brearley in a new light. I drank the Brearley Kool-Aid of “By truth and toil united.” That meant to me that knowledge, curiosity and hard work are the secret sauce of success. What time and distance have helped me see is that we hardly talked about the other ingredients in our success: the connected privileges of wealth, race and social networks.

The last 25 years have seen a disturbing rise in income inequality that has been layered on top of centuries of racial inequity that combined is proving to be totally destabilizing. The classes with access to places like Brearley have lever-

aged them into greater education and greater wealth. That poses some hard and inconvenient questions. “Truth and toil” to me means a dedication to a true meritocracy, and to do so means that we must confront the fact that talent is equally distributed but opportunity is not. What can we do to live out our values?

Many alumnae, including those from the Class of 1994, have chosen to spend our time exploring ideas of radical social impact (not just through careers but also through volunteerism and raising families with these values). I urge all of you to dig deeper, link arms with other dedicated women, and raise a call to action.

All of that is to say that our job as Brearley girls is not over. For the Class of 1994, we are old enough to already have the children that inherit the world we create and young enough to still have incredible influence on shaping that world. At 43, we have a lot of fight left in us. I hope that the class of 1994 and all the women in this room will roll up their sleeves, take a seat at the table, and work doggedly at the challenges in our communities. If we do that, we will have a lot to celebrate at our 50th.

CLASS WITH MOST ATTENDEES THIS YEAR 1994

ATTENDEE RSVPs TO REUNION WEEKEND

FUN FACT:

MOST SENIOR ALUMNA IN ATTENDANCE BEBE STETSON ‘39 (AGAIN, AND AGAIN!)

hhh

Coming from Brearley, I have never taken for granted that my unquestionable “right” to be heard was just part of who I was.

—Alumna, Class of ’90

HIGHEST ANNUAL FUND PARTICIPATION FOR A REUNION YEAR CLASS 1994 AND 1959

What makes you a Brearley Girl?

Visit www.brearley.org/share to read alumnae reflections or to add your own.

AROMATIC FACT: 10 POUNDS OF COFFEE WERE BREWED AND SERVED SPRING 2019 43

Mascot Assembly One of the School’s most cherished traditions, the Mascot Assembly dates back to at least 1923. Each class in the Middle and Upper School has its own mascot, and at the May ceremony the senior class passes its mascot to Class IV. The first class mascot, “Jimbo the Elephant,” is believed to have been purchased in 1915 and possibly named in honor of James Croswell, who had died that year after serving for twenty-eight years as Brearley’s second Head of School. That same Jimbo is now the mascot of the current Class XI. On May 15, the Class of 2019 bestowed “Olaffub the Buffalo” to the Class of 2027.

44 SPRING 2019

SPRING 2019 45

No One

Brearley girl.

RED OR WHITE: Red FAVORITE BOOK(S) YOU READ AS A STUDENT:

The Odyssey. It was the most fantastical journey imaginable.

FAVORITE ASSEMBLY, TRADITION OR SONG: “By Truth and Toil,” of course!

A RULE YOU ALWAYS FOLLOWED…OR DIDN’T: I was a rule follower, so I followed all of them!

MEMORABLE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES: Art class with Ms. Thompson—the best there ever was, Field Day, the Book Fair, 8th grade history with Ms. Leonard, English with the incomparable Ms. Bergson.

HOW YOUR BREARLEY EDUCATION HAS INFLUENCED YOUR LIFE:

Melanie Everett ’88

More than any other school I’ve attended, Brearley’s influence has stood the test of time and stayed with me these last 30 years. Brearley taught me the power of the written word, the power of speaking thoughtfully and clearly, and through this, knowing my own power. As a woman, understanding the power of your own voice and thought is something that will serve you and shield you for the rest of your life. This knowledge translates to the next generation. The most profound example of how Brearley has influenced my life is how it has helped me to raise my own daughter. I live far from NYC but raised a daughter to think and speak for herself, and to understand the value of her opinion and to know that she never needed to apologize for herself. In short, I raised a Brearley girl in Idaho!

What makes you a Brearley Girl?

Share your story at www.brearley.org/share SPRING 2019 87

ALUMNAE, SHARE YOUR UPDATES! DO WE HAVE...

YOUR ADDRESS

YOUR EMAIL

YOUR PROFESSION

FOLLOW US FOR A LOOK INSIDE LIFE AT THE BREARLEY SCHOOL ALUMNAE HOMEPAGE: www.brearley.org/alumnae BREARLEY FACEBOOK PAGE: facebook.com/brearleyschoolnyc BREARLEY ALUMNAE FACEBOOK GROUP: facebook.com/groups/Brearleyalumnae INSTAGRAM: @brearleynyc TWITTER: @brearleynyc and @JaneJfried LINKEDIN: Visit www.linkedin.com and create a profile for free.

Search “Brearley Alumnae Group” and request to join.

90 SPRING 2019

On the river, on East 83rd Street, we will be here.

Create a legacy for Brearley.

Incubator, proving ground, home. Brearley is a singular place that is all about the girls—who they are, what they are capable of, and what they can become.

When you include Brearley in your estate plans, you join a generous group of supporters who safeguard the Brearley experience for the girls of future generations.

For sample language to use in your will or trust, and further information, please contact: Together, across the oceans, through the continents and around the world, we are One Brearley. Above, the students explore the archaeology of Machu Picchu during their travel study trip to Peru in March.

Phoebe T. Geer ’97, Associate Director of Development (212) 570-8609 or pgeer@brearley.org

BULLETIN

“Brearley is an exciting puzzle that keeps accruing pieces.” —Jane Fried

THE BREARLEY BULLETIN SPRING 2019

610 East 83rd Street New York, NY 10028

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #129 19464

Making Strides on East 83rd: New Courses, New Schedule, New Building p2

Stop, Think, START!: Success Through Affirmational Reflection Time p12

Sneakerhead, Coder, Teaching Assistant and More: Senior Spring Abounds p14

Stepping into the future

SPRING 2019

THE BREARLEY SCHOOL