Here we go again! Brearley Drama brought sunshine to the stage with Mamma Mia!—a dazzling production set on a Greek island, full of love, laughter and iconic ABBA hits. Featuring a powerhouse cast and crew of 60 Upper School students, performances lit up B-Deck this past February.
VOLUME C • NUMBER 1 • SPRING 2025
Retiring and Departing Faculty and Staff, Recently Published
by Alumnae, Alumnae Events and more
Academic Spotlight 24 2025 PA Benefit: Beyond the Beaver Den
26 The Era of Jane Foley Fried
From the Perspective of Students, Faculty, Alumnae and Former Heads of the Board of Trustees
44 Alumnae Weekend and Reunion
Births, Marriages and Deaths
56 Class and Faculty/Staff Notes
Special thanks to Jennifer Bartoli, Victoria Jackson, Jennifer Stewart, Brooke Slezak, Samuel Stuart, Annabel Thomas and members of the Brearley community for sharing photos and artwork with us.
Head of School
Jane Foley Fried
Content Manager
Haley Swanson
Director of Graphic Design
Jennifer Bartoli
Director of Communications
Jennifer Stewart
If you have any questions or comments about the Bulletin, please contact Haley Swanson at hswanson@brearley.org or (212) 570-8588.
Brearley has offset the equivalent of 9,933,158 total standard pages of paper consumption by reforesting 1,192 standard trees since joining the PrintReleaf Exchange on August 7, 2018.
THE BREARLEY SCHOOL BOARD OF TRUSTEES
2024–2025
Sue Meng ’99, President
Susan Berresford ’61, Senior Vice President
Ning Jin, Vice President
Lauren Wasson, Vice President
Lita Tandon ’06, Secretary
Olivia Wassenaar ’97, Treasurer
Tara Abrahams
Eloise Austin
Tanisha Bellur
Alexander Brodsky
Ranika Cohen
Daphné Crespo-Helm
Amina Elderfield ’94
Thomas Farrell
Jane Foley Fried
Martha Haakmat
Lindsay Higgins
Megan Lui ’10
John McGinn
Runako Taylor 2 Last Day 2025
Margo Nederlander
Terri Seligman ’78
Sidaya Moore Sherwood ’90
Bill Shutzer
Nekesa Straker ’97
Alan Yan
Trustees Emeriti
Modupe Akinola ’92
Christine Alfaro ’91
Georges F. de Ménil
Evelyn Janover Halpert ’52
David T. Hamamoto
Stephanie J. Hull
Ellen Jewett ’77
Alan Jones
John F. Savarese
Priscilla M. Winn Barlow
Faculty Representative
REMARKS FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL
Last Day 2025
Welcome students, families, faculty and staff to Last Day for the Class of 2025. We are so pleased to welcome you to this celebration of our senior class. For those of you for whom this is your first Last Day ceremony, please know that Brearley has a long-standing tradition of referring to this rite of passage with this unique term, the idea being that no one at Brearley “graduates” from education. Simply put, one has her Last Day in this academic institution before embarking on her first day of college because we believe that learning and a love of it should be continuous and lifelong.
With characteristic Brearley moderation, the celebration is conducted on campus, the speakers are our own students, and we all sing, which makes sense because raising our voice in song, preferably those written expressly for the occasion, is just one hallmark of the Brearley experience.
As I mentioned is the tradition, there are no outside speeches for this ceremony. Instead, the intimacy of the Brearley experience reigns supreme. Teachers of the seniors sit up front with the grade head who, in this case, is our beloved Ms. Glick. Upper School students and family members join us in this beautiful and familiar space. We hear from student speakers—thank you Mira, Anaya, Ameera and Katherine, as well as other seniors and juniors for their original songs that tell us all what we have meant to each other. I recall my very first Last Day here and marveling at the simplicity and originality of this ceremony (like much at Brearley, it’s radically different from the approach at so many other schools). As a new head of school, I also recall feeling humbled by the responsibility of sending seniors off with meaningful advice for the next step in their education and adulthood.
My Last Day speeches are fashioned as a letter of a sort to the seniors, and thus, to the Class of 2025, we begin:
Dear Seniors,
The first thing I want to say is congratulations! The scope and sequence of courses you have successfully completed is impressive and will stand you in good stead not only as a college student but also in your career and in life. As you have heard from alumnae in assemblies throughout your Middle School and Upper School years, the path forward is not necessarily straightforward. It will have twists and turns that you cannot foresee. As you navigate these events, you will rely on the critical and creative thinking, the persistence and the friendships that you have developed here. When, at times, I am asked if Brearley asks too much of its students, I often think to myself: if generations of students have not only survived but thrived in this learning environment and in life, why are we continuously asked this question? Brearley exists for those who find joy in learning, and in an environment where their intellect is celebrated and there is no conflict in being creative, competitive and collaborative. The School defies being narrowly categorized, which is often a human tendency in the outside world. As you know well, girls can not only work and play hard but love the learning process and lean into the challenge. So my first piece of advice is: As you move forward, continue to defy expectations and resist being relegated to a role or a box. You are Brearley graduates and you can do hard things. You can solve complex problems and create new forms and
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spaces of beauty. Don’t allow anyone or any external force to define you or to derail the habits of mind and heart you have honed here.
We all know that your class has a great deal of enthusiasm for activities outside of academics, too. Brearley athletics, arts, clubs and affinity groups are extraordinary learning experiences. The best predictor of effective leadership is the practice of leadership. Here, you shine! From the field to the stage, the studio or community organization, high school club competitions to mock trial courthouses, you are young people on the move. Every time I turn around, you’ve formed a new opportunity to offer to your peers. But here, as I just noted, you defy the stereotype. You are not only leaders; you are joiners, too. In college, you will notice a preponderance of peers who only engage in activities at which they are “the best” or “the founder.” You, on the other hand, are polymorphous engagers. You can captain a team and join a new one as a senior. You can work behind the scenes for three years and take to the stage in your last semester. You can lead a competitive club and show up for your friend when she starts a new one. The world needs people who both lead and follow. And what I mean is not blind but active followership, where you support and question the leader, help her to make balanced and ethical decisions and stand up when the endeavor is going in th e wrong direction—even if it means you risk losing something in the process. Strong, ethical leadership requires active followership. One is just as important as the other, and you, my dear seniors, learned that at Brearley. Well done.
So we’ve covered two areas of applause—your love of learning and your dual ability to lead and follow. Now, let’s go to an area in which you may still need to do a little work. What will life be like without your Brearley teachers, administrators and staff? Life without Ms. Glick? Oh no! Life without your Brearley advisors or teachers? Hard to imagine! Life without Mr. Smith or Ms. Pollack or Bob? Say it isn’t so! I know we don’t like to talk about the Brearley bubble, so let’s call it a net. As you’ve been moving and grooving through your Brearley career, there has been a host of people running along beside you, largely without your notice, caring for you, anticipating the possible problems and helping you leap over the hurdles. The net (or perhaps network) of the adults in this community is strong and provides a level of personalized care to a mind-boggling degree. Having spent most of my career in a very different campus culture, I am still stunned by the extent to which the adults in this community go on a daily basis to teach, guide and mentor students. Brearley teachers and staff are simply the best! Your growth area is to tighten this net that has caught each of you on at least one occasion into a taut trampoline that you will bounce from into college with the understanding that you have to marshal all the mentoring, care, patience and, yes, love that we have given you into an invisible but sturdy platform that will help you to be the best version of yourself possible. That’s going to take some added self-awareness and humility, but I know that you can do it—and if you need a pep talk, you can always call us. Finally, I have a bit of good news for you. No matter what you may have heard, these are not the best years of your life. I remember being your age and hearing that refrain from my parents
throughout my high school and college years and thinking—really? Don’t get me wrong, they were good years, but nowhere near the best. In fact, I am a firm believer that your life will get better and better as time goes on. This has not only been true in my life, but also in many of my colleagues’ and friends’ lives, too. If my f airy godmother gave me the wish to be any age, I’d probably stay right where I am, even though there are moments when I wish my body were a better match for my aspirations. This is the best time of my life, and I can barely sleep with the anticipation of what comes next. This is not to say that my life hasn’t presented significant challenges, frustrations, disappointments and loss, but upon reflection and when taken as a whole, I can see how each decade has prepared me for the next. Of course, this requires a certain amount of positivity and risk-taking. My big life decis ion at the age of 50 to leave a school I loved to come to Brearley was a risk both personally and professionally. I left behind two decades of close colleagues and a very different type of work. I recall arriving for a quiet and hot summer in New York City. As I wandered 610’s long and empty halls, I was perplexed by the capacity of this vertical schoolhouse to accommodate 690 students. But then the summer ended and I met some of you—wiggly, bow-haired and surprisingly noisy kindergarteners—and, as the years passed, I met even more of you as classmates joined in Middle and Upper School with an equal amount of enthusiasm (minus the bows and tunics). When I look at you, I see all of the reasons I took that leap—your earnestness, curiosity, camaraderie, talent and love for your friends and this community. You and the rest of the student body more than offset any challenge I have faced here, and have served in my dreams as perhaps the best of all possible motivators for my work. Hope lives at your core, fueled by toil in pursuit of truth. As you move on in your lives, individually and collectively, you will need to fuel that hope. The world you are entering is one of disruptive change. The country is in need of strong, ethical, smart, persistent and brave young people who can stand up for themselves, for others and for the Brearley values of purpose, integrity, inclusion, excellence, courage and empathy. This school has invested in you because we believe girls of adventurous intellect are our best hope for the future. The path ahead won’t be easy, but I promise you, the years get better and better as you hold onto your kindred spirits and bring new ones into the fold, find your purpose and pursue it to the best of your ability, fight for what you believe in and take care of yourself, your family and your community. Try not to be afraid of what is to come. Remember to look up at the goodness and beauty that surrounds you, and hopefully that you contribute to. Ask yourself what role you can play, how you can put to use your formidable intellect, work ethic and sense of what is good. Continue to work hard, play hard and be your uniquely wonderful selves. Forget not the help you have received in these school years from your family, friends and school. Keep all of that with you at all times. Make it your trampoline or springboard now and into the future. It may not serve you exactly how you expect it to, but it will not fail you, ever.
And that, Class of 2025, is the secret of Brearley. It will always be with you.
University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music (1)
University of Vermont (1)
University of Virginia (1)
Vanderbilt University (1)
Vassar College (1)
Wake Forest University (2)
Wesleyan University (2)
Williams College (3)
Yale University (4)
*as of 6/9/2025
Co-heads of Self-Government
by Anaya Tsai and Mira Schubert
After such an incredible year overseeing student organizations, running Brearley traditions, planning new initiatives and acting as a voice for students in the Upper School, we’re both feeling bittersweet as we celebrate the last year at Brearley for Ms. Fried and our grade.
When we first sat down to write this speech, we thought back to when we ran for self-government. There was so much we didn’t know about the student body until this year. In fact, we think one thing that defines Brearley girls is their ability to surprise—to do what might not be expected of them and to create a culture that welcomes the unique.
One example of this culture can be seen in the School’s 31 student organizations. We went into this year wanting to create a space for student leaders to collaborate and benefit from our intellectual diversity, and so in August and February, we held the School’s first Brearley Leadership Training Workshops. Another example is the success of NECK, also known as Needlework, Embroidery, Crocheting, and Knitting Club. In May, they crocheted roses to sell for Mother’s Day. These proceeds went to the New York Abortion Access Fund.
We have no doubt that the impact of Brearley’s welcoming culture will last beyond our time in the Upper School. During
the alum seminar we ran last month, we witnessed how Brearley graduates of all ages have continued following their passions to discover careers that frankly, we didn’t even know existed. For example, one alum guest was Anna Sophia Harling, who works as the Director of Public Policy at Epic Games, the video game company that created Fortnite. We were all in awe as she discussed the intersection between psychology, business, politics and engineering in the video game industry. We realized how truly Brearley it is for students to want to embrace the unique and unknown—and to do so together.
Our last example of the Upper School’s ability to surprise is the fact that every form of leadership is done in pairs. We lead clubs, affinity groups, student government and BSDLC as co-heads. We even give speeches in pairs! Given our school’s competitive reputation, very few people would expect that Brearley girls can couple collaboration and ambition. And yet, this is one of the things that, in our opinion, makes this community so special.
Our lasting hope for you all is that we continue to live out our values of purpose, integrity, inclusion, excellence, courage and empathy. And for all the other grades, may you continue to make Brearley a place where students feel supported to be unique, are curious and explorative, uphold traditions with unparalleled spirit and work together to make each other better.
Above: Anaya Tsai and Mira Schubert
Class XII Speakers
by Katherine Arnall and Ameera Karim
Turn and look at the people next to you, in front of you and behind you. Who do you see?
Faculty and staff probably see giddy colleagues, their suitcases packed, ready to be whisked away to a tropical island. Parents, you probably see fellow parents you should know but have perhaps forgotten their names. Freshmen, you probably see a bunch of NPCs. Just kidding! Sophomores, you probably see a bunch of ambitious Latin fanatics. Juniors, you probably see a bunch of people slightly nervous for the battle to come this fall, but who will be amazing leaders of the School. Last but not least, our seniors. This day is really about us as students, as leaders, as the occasional senior homeroom napper, but most importantly, us as a grade. Let’s congratulate ourselves, the Class of 2025, for making it through the last four years of high school. It was no easy feat.
What exactly makes the Class of 2025 so special? Is it our incredible individual achievements? Not only have we been invited to meet the First Lady at the White House, spoken about groundbreaking medical research on NPR and passed organ donation legislation for New York State, but we can also scale mountains in Peru, hula hoop while playing the violin and hang
from the ledge of a door using just our fingernails. And yet, every other grade at Brearley has students who are just as successful and talented. That’s what makes us Brearley girls!
If it’s not just our individual or group achievements that make our grade special, then I guess that just leaves…luck! We don’t know what forces of nature put this grade together (certainly one not to be reckoned with) but they’ve established a group that has supported one another through thick and thin—and will continue to do so in the years to come.
Again, turn and look at the people next to you, in front of you and behind you. I think we all can agree that we are each so incredibly lucky to be a member of the Class of 2025. It’s also fair to say that we are one of the most bonded grades that Brearley has had or will ever see.
So, are we really leaving Brearley? Never again will we take classes in 590, have snacks in 610, or even power nap in the senior homeroom. But still, no matter how far we go or what we choose to do in this new chapter of our lives, we know that we will always be the Class of 2025—a very lucky group of 61 exceptionally talented friends.
Above: Katherine Arnall and Ameera Karim
Farewell & Thank you
to Our Retiring and Departing Faculty and Staff
In addition to Jane, this year we say farewell to four other beloved members of the community who together have spent a collective 133 years at Brearley. We wish them well in their next chapter and will miss them dearly.
ROBERT DUKE began as a part-time drama teacher in 1983. His journey evolved alongside the department’s, as it grew from being simply an arm of the English Department to a stand-alone community that flourished under Mr. Duke’s decades of leadership.
Mr. Duke’s early career in education was somewhat serendipitous. “It was a simpler time,” he recalls, as the sole full-time drama teacher, Dan Walker, invited him to teach while Mr. Duke also continued to work in professional theaters as both an actor and burgeoning director. He spent his summers at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts as his role at Brearley grew. Mr. Duke eventually became the first head of the newly formed Drama Department in the early 1990s, allowing for a more specialized and expansive curriculum. “There have been so many golden periods,” he says, “where show after show, student after student, everything just clicked.” However, the enduring relationships built over Mr. Duke’s many Brearley years were far and away the highlight of his career. “What I love most are the experiences that continue to resonate, the students I still see and the memories that carry the department forward.”
Now, as he steps into retirement, he hopes for the same curiosity and passion that defined his teaching career. Gardening at the little house in Connecticut he shares with his partner, Vincent Casey, has become a newfound joy—an art form in its own way, he says, defined by cycles of growth and refinement. His other goals are to achieve a lifelong aspiration to become fluent in French, and to establish a playwriting practice.
Mr. Duke leaves behind a legacy of theatrical exploration and boundless enthusiasm that the Brearley Drama Department of today will not soon forget.
ANNABEL GORDON joined Brearley in 1995 as a substitute music teacher. Before long, she took on a full-time role helping to establish and develop the School’s instrumental, chamber music and orchestral offerings. “Bit by bit, the program grew,” she says. “At first, there were literally two cellists in the building. Now, there have got to be at least 80 students who play.”
Soon, Brearley was attracting more students who were specifically dedicated to and interested in musical education. As they began their training at increasingly younger ages, traditional method books proved insufficient in addressing their diverse skill levels. To bridge this gap, Ms. Gordon became proficient in digital arrangement through score-writing software, allowing her to customize music to suit students’ varied interests and levels of experience. “It became our teaching lifeline,” she says.
Ms. Gordon also founded the Festival of Orchestras Concerts at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. This triennial program brings together orchestras from New York City’s top independent schools, giving them the opportunity to perform in a world-class concert hall. Ms. Gordon has also been instrumental (no pun intended) in organizing faculty concerts which often feature alum and student performers. She will continue working with Brearley musicians in the Beaver Den Strings and private lesson programs each week, as well as collaborating with Music Department colleagues for events in Brearley’s superb Performance Hall.
Additionally, Ms. Gordon hopes to fulfill her lifelong dream of volunteering in a museum by applying to be a school guide for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also plans on traveling for leisure, as well as performing concerts in the US and abroad. Our thriving instrumental and orchestra program would not be what it is today without Ms. Gordon’s decades of dedication.
WINIFRED M. MABLEY came to Brearley over 35 years ago. She began as a Lower School teacher and administrator before becoming Director of Lower School Admissions. Known for her rigor, candor, compassion and wit, Ms. Mabley has guided families through the admissions process and formed young communities of learners for 20 years. By the end of her tenure, she will have welcomed over 1,200 students to Brearley.
Long before DEIA became a focus in education, Ms. Mabley championed inclusion. She founded Dialogue, a space for teachers to examine the student experience through an equity lens, leading to a more representative curriculum. She brought the same commitment to admissions, ensuring new classes reflected diverse socioeconomic, racial and geographic backgrounds. As a result, the Lower School curriculum and community developed into one more representative of different points of view, cultural backgrounds and lived experiences.
Ms. Mabley has also served on the board of the Independent Schools Admissions Association of Greater New York, was an advisor to the Parents League of New York and, in 2020, co-founded and co-led the Covid Response Admission Project for two years. This project was critical for more than 25 independent schools to engage with kindergarten applicants during the pandemic. She has also been a valued member of the senior administration, offering advice on every imaginable topic, from uniforms to the construction of 590. No detail about the School escaped her attention.
Reflecting on her tenure, Ms. Mabley shares, “It has been my great privilege to serve the School and work alongside such dedicated colleagues, parents and students. The Brearley community will always inspire me.”
LISA POLLACK has spent more than two decades ensuring the Upper School office not only runs smoothly but also stays a haven for the students. Her journey began in 1999 with then Head of the Upper School Evy Segal and, more recently, with Betty NoelPierre. “Back then, the Upper School office lived on the 11th floor,” she recalls. “There has always been a great sense of community. Students drop in all the time.”
A deep lover of the arts, Ms. Pollack cites Brearley’s performances as one of the enduring joys of her career. “I’ve gone to practically every show,” she says. “The kids are incredibly talented—it’s been a real pleasure watching them flourish.”
As she looks ahead to retirement, Ms. Pollack knows exactly what she’ll miss. “My colleagues,” she says immediately. “Everyone here is just so smart and interesting—there’s such a high bar, and it’s consistent. I’ve never worked anywhere else with such compatible people.” She’ll also sorely miss the school library—a favorite haunt. “I even asked if I could keep my library privileges after I leave,” she adds with a laugh, “and I really hope they grant me this one small ask!”
While Ms. Pollack says she has no grand post-retirement plans, she hopes to travel more, especially in the fall, and indulge in her lifelong passions of film, theater, museum-hopping and reading fiction. Though Ms. Pollack may be leaving the Upper School office, her legacy—and love for Brearley’s vibrant arts and community—will last for years to come.
FOR PORTRAIT UNVEILING
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THE BREARLEY WEBSITE IS A 2025 Webby Honoree
We are so excited to announce that The Brearley School website redesign has been recognized as a 2025 Webby Honoree!
Our partnership with DoubleSpace has been incredibly fulfilling and productive. The site now balances tradition and innovation, featuring an intuitive information architecture that effectively serves all stakeholders, from prospective families to alumnae.
Thanks to the Webby Awards for recognizing our work to bring our institution’s digital presence to life in a way that truly represents our community and our values.
Library Event
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BREARLEY’S FIRST NY FEDERATION CHAMPION!
On February 28, Taylor Foster (XI) decisively won the 55m hurdles at NYSAIS track championships, which qualified her to compete at the NY Federation Championships (Feds) against the state’s top athletes from public, independent and Catholic schools. The next day she went on to win the 60m hurdles at the Ocean Breeze Elite Invitational. Her winning time of 8.70 propelled her to the top of the state rankings in the 60m hurdles this season.
Taylor become Brearley’s first Federation Champion! Her blazing time of 7.94 ranks her first for NY and 14th in the country in the 55m hurdles this season. Her time is also 12th on the state’s all-time high school rankings list. She has had a truly monumental season and has set school records in the 55m, 55m hurdles, 60m hurdles and 300m all in the past month.
TITLE
Alumnae Events
ALUMNAE CELEBRATION
The “Beavers and Snowbirds: A Tropical Winter Alum Celebration” brought alums together for an evening of camaraderie and creativity. This year’s event featured cookie decorating, friendship bracelet-making, an optional book exchange and a delightful DIY hot chocolate bar. Alums enjoyed an art class led by art faculty Rebeca Raney and browsed at the Truth, Toil & Totes store. The evening reached its crescendo with a lively performance by the B-Nats.
FRANCES RIKER DAVIS AWARD ASSEMBLY
The 2024 Frances Riker Davis Award was officially presented to awardees Kristin Kagetsu ‘08 and Jill Klein Grant ‘73 during the Upper and Middle School assembly on January 7, where Kristin’s mother, Nivin Pei ‘75, accepted the award on Kristin’s behalf. Hosted by the Global Girls co-chairs, the assembly touched upon Kristin’s entrepreneurial spirit and sustainability work through her company, Saathi, and Jill’s work in environmental law and legal advocacy for Native American Tribes.
SAAAPI TRUTH, TOIL AND TRIVIA
Alums gathered together to reconnect, exchange stories and discuss the current Brearley history course on China, Korea and Japan as well as the Asian Awareness Club (now Asian Politics and Culture Club). Attendees enjoyed cultural snacks before forming teams to play multiple rounds of Brearley trivia and Asian, Hawaiian and Pacific Islander cultural trivia—all set to a fun dance soundtrack of K-Pop, Persian and South Asian hits.
BOSTON ALUM GATHERING
Head of School Jane Foley Fried and Director of Alum Relations Lizzy Youngling joined Boston-based alums for a warm and festive gathering at Grafton Street Pub and Grill in Cambridge, MA.
A CONVERSATION ON WORKING IN PHILANTHROPY
Presented by the Life After Brearley Committee, Susan Berresford ’61, Katy Knight ’06, Georgia Levenson Keohane ’90 and Pippa Zainoeddin ’94 shared their knowledge and expertise for navigating a career in philanthropy. Moderated by Elizabeth “Bicky” Brodie David ’04, the event attracted alums of all years and was followed by virtual breakout networking sessions.
COLLEGE WELCOME BACK
On January 8, college-aged alums returned to Brearley for a heartwarming reunion. Laughter and nostalgia filled the halls as they reconnected with old friends and faculty members. A panel of alums spoke with Class XI and Class XII and shared candid stories about their transitions from Brearley to college.
Joined by Director of Advancement Phoebe Geer ’97, Paris-based alums gathered at Verjus Bar à Vins in February.
10-YEAR REUNION PANEL
In honor of their 10-year reunion, Emma Gylling Mortensen ‘15, Gwendolyn Whidden ‘15 and Jasmine Wu ‘15 spoke to Upper School students about their different journeys since graduating from Brearley. The assembly was moderated by Upper School Self-Government co-heads Mira Schubert ‘25 and Anaya Tsai ‘25.
BACK TO BREARLEY
On November 11, the Parents’ Association and Alumnae Association co-hosted “Back to Brearley,” offering an evening of learning, connection and community. Past and present parents, faculty and staff and alums of all ages experienced firsthand what it’s like to be a Brearley student today, engaging in classes and discussions led by community members.
EXPLORING A CAREER IN THE ARTS
Presented by the Arts Committee, alums gathered at the home of Julie Satow ’92 for a panel on exploring a career in the arts. Moderated by Hannah McGovern Gross ’09, panelists Funmi Adejobi ’13, Penelope Tang August ’00, Perla Delson ’84, Julia Izumi ’07 and Emma Gylling Mortensen ’15 shared their experiences and stories on how they embarked upon their various careers in the creative industry.
PARIS ALUM GATHERING
Class XI Civil Rights Trip
The Class XI Civil Rights trip through Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas provided students with an immersive experience in the heart of American history, each stop a poignant reminder of the myriad ways the movement continues to influence society today. Students visited significant sites such as the 16th Street Baptist Church, the Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Museum, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and the National Civil Rights Museum. A highlight of the trip was meeting Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, at Central High School. She shared her powerful story of facing violent mobs and backlash during school desegregation. Her message stressed the importance of youth activism and standing up for what you believe in, both providing a deeper understanding of the struggles and triumphs
of the era and inspiring students to take action in their own lives. Another key moment happened when Martin Luther King, Jr.’s son, MLK III, surprised the group at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, on the anniversary of his late father’s assassination. Marin Goldberg ‘26 says she’ll always remember the trip as “a profound experience that taught us the importance of preserving and understanding history.”
Jenny Brown Ruhl ’65 Caroline Zilboorg ’66
Diane Feldman ’71
Laura Foley ’75
Sarah Lewis ’97
Elizabeth Harris ’01
Amy DeBellis ’14
Thank You!
annual fund 2024–2025 school year
To our extraordinary community of alumnae, parents, parents of alumnae, faculty, staff and friends, we thank you for your generous philanthropic support. We all witness the meaningful connections our students make within the Brearley community, and your Annual Fund contributions provide a solid foundation for their individual growth. Every gift, regardless of size, has an immediate impact on our educational program.
Brearley Fund
Unrestricted
Fueling all aspects of the educational program, your gifts have a direct and immediate impact on purposeful teaching and expansive learning for today’s Brearley girls. Unrestricted gifts allow the School to maintain and enhance the caliber of the academic program by supporting the general operating budget, faculty and staff salaries and benefits, library books, healthy lunches, athletic equipment, art supplies and all aspects of life at Brearley. Together, we are stewards for Brearley’s future.
By creating programming that engages our community to make equitable and conscious choices, we pursue meaningful change through deliberate and measurable actions so everyone feels welcomed, respected, supported and valued to fully participate. The United Fund powers Brearley’s commitment to create an antibiased and antiracist institution. We are dedicated to creating an inclusive school where all Brearley students feel a sense of belonging.
Opening dOO rs Fund Scholarships
In keeping with Brearley’s mission to educate girls of diverse and adventurous intellect, your gifts make possible a Brearley education for families of low, middle and uppermiddle incomes. Brearley is dedicated to offering financial assistance to support our Free Tuition Program for families earning under $100K a year and without substantial assets. This program covers all expenses related to a complete Brearley educational experience, including tuition, extracurricular activities, technology and more. Your generous support allows Brearley to enroll an economically diverse student body, Classes K–XII.
a dventur O us i ntellect Fund Faculty Support
Providing for the dedicated architects of the School’s educational program, your gifts benefit curricular development, departmental review, professional growth and faculty salaries. To advance the curriculum and enhance culturally competent pedagogy, we are furthering learning opportunities for our faculty by providing them with the resources and skills needed to grow as scholars, artists and educators. The School’s dedicated faculty cultivates the passionate exchange of ideas that is a hallmark of a Brearley classroom.
ANNUAL FUND
online giving:
www.brearley.org/make-a-gift
Venmo: Brearley_af
via mail: The Brearley School 610 East 83rd Street New York, NY 10028
Attention: Development & Alumnae Relations
Contact:
Amina Holman, Annual Fund Director aholman@brearley.org (212) 570-8610
ACADEMIC SPOTLIGHT
CLASSES VI–XII ENGLISH CURRICULUM
We know that Brearley’s classrooms are incubators for new ideas and critical thinking skills where our students become independent, thoughtful and concerned for the greater good. But what exactly do today’s Brearley girls of adventurous intellect learn in those classrooms? We’ve received many questions about our curriculum, including what our students read— so we begin the first in a series of explorations into our academic programming with the English Department. What follows is a list of the curricular texts for Classes VI–XII which provide our students with a rigorous literary foundation. As they progress through Middle and Upper School, Brearley students are exposed to increasingly sophisticated material that demands greater in-depth comprehension and analysis. The syllabi include many “must-read” classics for students of adventurous intellect, such as The Odyssey, Pride and Prejudice and Macbeth, in addition to relatively new classics like Interpreter of Maladies, Beloved and One Hundred Years of Solitude. Starting in Class VI, students begin their literary journey by studying narratives originating from oral and ancient traditions. By the time they are seniors, Class XII students have the opportunity to delve deeply into electives that examine the works of William Shakespeare, James Baldwin, Virginia Woolf, G.W. Sebald and Haruki Murakami, to name a few.
ENGLISH VI
• Best Loved Folktales of the World, ed. Joanna Cole
• Contemporary Poems by Dorothy Parker
• Monkey King by Cheng’en Wu, trans. Julia Lovell
• The Odyssey by Homer, trans. Emily Wilson
• The Thousand and One Nights, trans. Yasmine Seale, ed. Paulo Lemos Horta
• Trickster: Native American Tales, A Graphic Collection, ed. Matt Dembicki
• Yiddish Folktales, trans. Leonard Wolf, ed. Beatrice Silverman Weinreich
ENGLISH VII
• A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• Poetry by Elizabeth Bishop, William Blake, Li-Young Lee and Quandra Prettyman
• The Short Stories of Oscar Wilde, ed. Nicholas Frankel
ENGLISH VIII
• Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
• Short stories by Julia Alvarez, James Baldwin, Toni Cade Bambara, John Galsworthy, James Joyce, Doris Lessing, Ken Liu, Katherine Mansfield, Edgar Allan Poe
• Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks
• Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
ENGLISH IX
• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
• Personal essays by Diana Abu-Jaber, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Malin, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Sei Shōnagon and Amy Tan
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead
• The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, ed. Phillis Levin and featuring poems by Claude McKay, Edna St. Vincent Millay, William Wordsworth and William Shakespeare
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
ENGLISH X
• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
• Hell-Heaven by Jhumpa Lahiri
• Impressions of an Indian Childhood by Zitkála-Šá
• My Dungeon Shook by James Baldwin
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
• Poetry by Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, Phillis Wheatley and Walt Whitman
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois
• This Morning, This Evening, So Soon by James Baldwin
• Tom Outland’s Story by Willa Cather
• Where I Lived, and What I Lived For by Henry David Thoreau
CLASS
XI
Common Curriculum
• Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare
• Medea by Euripides
• Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
Selection of Books from XI Elective Offerings:
• Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
• John Keats: Selected Poems, ed. John Barnard
• Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey
• Paradise Lost by John Milton
• Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
• The Complete Poems by Marianne Moore
• The Eco-Poetry Anthology, eds. Ann Fisher-Wirth and Laura-Gray Street
• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
• When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
• White Egrets by Derek Walcott
CLASS XII
Common Curriculum
• Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
• Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Selection of Books from XII Elective Offerings:
• Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald
• Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
• Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Nox by Anne Carson
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
• Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
• The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami
• The Waves and To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
On April 24, over 1,300 members of the Brearley community gathered at the Central Park Zoo for the 2025 Brearley Parents’ Association Benefit, Beyond the Beaver Den, honoring Jane Foley Fried. The crowd enjoyed beautiful spring weather, private access to the beloved Central Park Zoo, delicious food and a festive evening of music and dancing. Guests also took time to congratulate and thank retiring Head of School Jane Foley Fried—in person, through written messages and with a video presentation summarizing Jane’s countless contributions to Brearley during her 13 years of outstanding service to the School.
We are sincerely grateful to benefit co-chairs Laura and Geoffrey Hsu and Yesim and Dusty Philip for their creativity and dedicated stewardship of the event. We also extend our thanks to underwriting co-chairs Ja-Ling Or and Krishna Agrawal and Ellen and Bill Turchyn, along with the Benefit Committee, for their successful fundraising efforts. This special event raised over $500,000 for Brearley’s faculty and staff.
the era of Jane Foley Fried
Jane Foley Fried has served as our beloved head since 2012, always centering the student experience and leading Brearley through some of the most challenging and celebrated moments in school history. Brearley’s entire community has been wowed by Ms. Fried’s indefatigable nature, her perspicacious vision and her inimitable ability to say just the right thing at the right time. But how do you sum up her 13 years of truth and toil on behalf of an institution that has shaped so many lives?
We asked some of the people who know her best to help us pay tribute to Ms. Fried. Each provided their unique perspective on her lasting impact. In “More than Just an Advisor,” students Mayisha Alam and Logan Hennes, Class of 2025, reflect on the special bond that they have developed with Ms. Fried. In “Making Brearley More ‘Brearley,’” Alumnae Board President Megan Lui ‘10 talks about how Ms. Fried is the very embodiment of a Brearley girl despite not being an actual alumna. Former Associate Head of School for Academic Life Dr. Jim Mulkin provides both a personal and pedagogical perspective in his essay called “Guiding Light” on Ms. Fried’s tenure at the School. And finally, the board presidents—past and present—who served with Ms. Fried discuss her unique ability to lead our school and build a tight-knit community.
In between these offerings, we have photos of the ever-present Ms. Fried at school events, her imaginative Halloween costumes over the years and a selection of portraits done of Ms. Fried by our current Class K student artists.
While these are simply a handful of reflections from the deep well of memories we share with her, we hope they convey our profound gratitude and enduring loyalty to our beloved Head of School Jane Foley Fried.
More than Just an Advisor
By Mayisha Alam ‘25 and Logan Hennes ‘25
Working with an advisor is a key part of the Brearley experience, and we’ve been beyond honored to have Ms. Fried as ours. Picking her felt like an intuitive choice, but we had no idea how much that decision would shape our years here.
From the moment we first met as an advisory, we knew we were in the presence of someone truly special. We remember walking into her office and noticing how she even made her workspace feel warm and welcoming—books by Brearley teachers past and present were stacked on her coffee table; pictures of different significant events sat on her shelves; and small trinkets from community members lined her windowsills. Just by looking around, we could see how much pride she has in the Brearley community.
Ms. Fried stepped out from behind her desk, as she always did at the start of our meetings, to form a circle with us. This small gesture carried so much weight. She was always fully present, listened intently and somehow remembered the details we barely recalled sharing. Her ability to make each of us feel seen and valued extended beyond words. She struck the perfect balance between giving us the space to speak and knowing when to step in with her wisdom. In short, Ms. Fried became more than just an advisor. She was also a committed guide who always knew how to balance compassionate encouragement with honest advice. Even with three divisions of students and faculty under her jurisdiction, she remained unfalteringly dependable.
One of our favorite rituals together became sharing advisory tea. Ms. Fried assigned each of us a teacup from her grandmother’s collection, explaining that they would be ours to use whenever we gathered. It was a simple but meaningful gesture, one that made
From the moment we first met as an advisory, we knew we were in the presence of someone truly special.
us feel instantly comfortable. We often stopped by her office to share the latest developments in our lives, big or small, and the moment she saw us through her window, she would immediately beckon us inside regardless of whoever else she was meeting with or whatever she had to do next. She made time for us not just as an advisor but also as a confidant and friend.
Perhaps this is the greatest gift Ms. Fried gave us—her unwavering presence. She taught us the importance of showing up, whether it be for ourselves or for others in our community. We now carry these values she’s modeled so effortlessly: to approach challenges with curiosity rather than fear, to ask thoughtful questions and to take time to truly listen to the people around us. Her advice will ring true in our choices, especially when we inevitably find ourselves doubting our capabilities. Most of all, we’ll remember her wisdom about finding the balance, of knowing when to push ourselves and when to take a step back—a lesson she always reminded us of during course selection, when she asked how the subjects we were considering fit into our passions, and how they might challenge us. When we felt intimidated, she didn’t push; instead, she helped us see why many risks are worth taking.
As we prepare to continue our academic journeys beyond Brearley, we’ll never forget the personal habit she once shared with us—that at the end of every day, she writes down one nice thing she
did, be it a spontaneous moment when she saw an opportunity to help or connect with someone, or even time she set aside to work on a larger community engagement project. This small practice captures so much of what makes Ms. Fried who she is. It’s not just that she leads with kindness, but that she’s also intentional about it. As we go off to college, that lesson—as simple as it sounds—will shape how we remember our time at Brearley, and how we participate in our communities to come.
Making Brearley More “Brearley”
By Alumnae Association President Megan Lui ‘10
Alumnae who meet Jane for the first time are often surprised to learn she wasn’t a Brearley student herself. Whether at a networking event or surrounded by recent graduates at the Lobster Rolls and Rosé gathering, many may find it hard to believe she didn’t grow up singing “By Truth and Toil” while developing a unique affinity for beavers—until, of course, she became Head of School in 2012.
For those who were not lucky enough to have Jane as our Head, we first experienced her particular brand of magic through her “Illuminations”— those elegant letters she sends to the broader community—and the colorful stories she shares at alum events. Jane has a rare gift for choosing just
the right anecdote or metaphor to inspire, comfort and remind us of our Brearley identity as individuals and as a community. She models the intellect, compassion, depth of thought and sense of self that define what it means to be a Brearley girl, not just for current students but also for alums.
During Jane’s tenure, Brearley underwent changes that revealed her strengths beyond her eloquence and empathetic leadership. Some of these changes were planned, such as construction of the 590 schoolhouse and the ongoing renewal of 610. Despite alum nostalgia for the habits of old—afterschool trips to Rehoboth’s deli, napping in the river-facing loft in the old library, the eclectic still-life arrangements in the seventh-floor art classrooms—
these new buildings and spaces retain Brearley’s essence, showing Jane’s ability to honor our history and traditions while embracing progress.
The establishment of this new campus was critical and timely as we faced change that we could not have anticipated, namely the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with social and political upheaval. Jane’s strategic thinking and compassionate decisionmaking ensured Brearley’s response to these turbulent times was always student-centered. She prioritized in-person instruction, balanced wider community needs, and led antiracism initiatives that are thoughtful to every community constituent— including alums. Furthermore, she encouraged us to reflect on what makes Brearley unique, prompting us to realign ourselves with those values. Her focus on student well-being, diversity, inclusion and accessibility guided Brearley through these transformative times.
Witnessing these changes at the School has been healing for many alums, inviting us to reflect on
our own experiences inside and outside Brearley. The Alumnae Association embraces our school’s progress and continues to prioritize reflecting the diversity of experiences across our global community. We ensure that the Alumnae Board and its committees, the awards that we bestow and the programming that we organize reflect the myriad ways to be a Brearley girl. This emphasis on inclusivity ensures that all alums feel a deep sense of belonging and support, whether or not they had Jane as Head of School.
Jane frequently compares the process of selfreflection to reinforcing the foundation of an old house—much like the ongoing renovations at the 610 schoolhouse. She’s steered us through all kinds of storms as well as inspired moments of joy, even codifying Brearley’s core principles into a new Mission Statement and Strategic Vision. In short, she leaves a clear roadmap for future generations. One might say her leadership has made Brearley more “Brearley” than ever before, and we are deeply grateful for her lasting impact on us all.
Guiding Light: Jane Foley Fried’s Lasting Vision
By Dr. Jim Mulkin, Former Associate Head of School for Academic Life
A Head plays any number of roles in her school. Like Shakespeare’s Cleopatra, she is “infinite variety”: visionary, guardian, cheerleader, standard-bearer, boss and, of course, head teacher. During her tenure, Jane supported and enhanced the academic program in infinite ways. She continually asserted the essential place of liberal arts in the Brearley education. She headed the drive to expand and improve the School’s rooms and buildings. She turned our attention to inspiration outside our walls. She showed us, over and over again, how to appreciate the circumstances and respect the humanity of others.
Jane became an expert on schools through her travels to hundreds of them on behalf of Andover. When she came to Brearley, she immediately identified the study of liberal arts as our gravitational center. She saw how effectively Brearley teachers use math and English, science and history, language and art and drama and music to teach critical analysis and creative thinking, clear and persuasive expression in writing and in speech, active collaboration, confidence in the ability to solve problems and the skill of pulling together many pieces of information into a single crystalline idea. Jane also understood that curriculum is in constant, dynamic tension with both received wisdom and the spiritus mundi To teach successfully year after year, faculty must continually rediscover their subjects’ truths and make them meaningful in a changing world. Under Jane’s guidance, we formalized the existing revision process by creating an academic departmental review, which intentionally brings teachers together with experts in content and pedagogy from other schools. Jane’s knowledge of other programs helped as we created a summer program at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and pursued the integration of computational thinking into the K-XII program. Though Jane pointed the direction when an evolution in the curriculum was warranted, she always engaged Brearley’s faculty with prudence and tact. She honored the talent and dedication of the faculty in hundreds of ways, large and small, over the years. She expanded professional development opportunities, kept salaries
competitive, and took the time to get to know and appreciate their work in the classroom firsthand.
Her knowledge and experience were crucial as we struggled to manage the very difficult circumstances of a racial reckoning, the pandemic, the rise of social media and the tragedy of October 7. Throughout, Jane kept our focus squarely on the students and the curriculum, asking us to maintain the excellence of the program while learning different, empathetic ways of teaching. She herself led the creation of special programs on the presidential elections, on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and on speaking across differences. Above all, Jane has had a profound impact on the cocurricular program, that nimbus that enlivens and lightens the student’s day at school. With her guidance, we strengthened sexual and mental health education, found more ways to foster a sense of belonging at the School, expanded the advisory program and created a new, less hectic schedule of classes. Jane keenly discerned the road to success in these efforts, and she galvanized and inspired us as she led the way.
Finally, there has been an extraordinary expansion of the School under Jane’s leadership. We have built a new building with classrooms for the Lower School, new labs, a new auditorium and library and gymnasium. In 610 there is a weight room for physical education, a new library for Middle and Upper School, and soon new art floors on 11 and 12. These enhancements, like those of the cocurricular program, are crucial to the overall success of the academic program and the school’s enterprise.
At a celebration of Jane’s tenure this winter, a former chair of the Board of Trustees spoke of Jane’s remarkable ability to “do the right thing.” In the time we worked together I saw her do the right thing, again and again, through days both dark and bright. She acted with a conviction based on her knowledge, experience and, above all, love for the students in her care. I am certainly better for having worked with her, and I know that she, through her fundamental lessons in compassion, kindness and understanding has left our beloved school better as well.
board presidents past and present
On Jane Foley Fried’s Legacy
DESCRIBE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF JANE. WHAT CLEARLY SET HER APART AS THE NEXT LEADER OF BREARLEY?
ALAN JONES: I was fortunate enough to have been president of the board when we recruited Jane to Brearley. What clearly set her apart was how enthusiastically and consistently every part of our community—trustees, faculty and staff, parents and students—responded to her. On a remarkable number of occasions, an interviewer would pull me aside and confide, sotto voce, “We have just met the next Head of Brearley.”
MODUPE AKINOLA: My first impression of Jane came from the Bulletin when she was announced as the next Head. I remember thinking, “Wow, what a perfect fit for the School!” Her picture in and of itself exuded an air of warmth combined with competence and confidence. It was clear that she would get things done by truth and toil.
ELLEN JEWETT: I could see she would be an exceptional leader right away. She exuded strength and warmth simultaneously. I knew she would be an amazing role model to the Brearley girls of the future, and I was right.
DESCRIBE JANE’S LEADERSHIP STYLE. HOW HAVE YOU SEEN IT PLAY OUT IN THE SCHOOL AND IN PUSHING US TOWARD THE GREATER GOOD?
ALAN: Jane’s leadership is rooted in her laserlike focus on always doing the right thing—not necessarily the convenient thing or the expedient thing or the popular thing or even the conventional thing. This has enabled her not only to steer a steady course through knee-buckling challenges that no one in our community could have possibly foreseen, but also to seize upon thrilling opportunities that— through thoughtful development—have propelled the School into a future filled with promise. She has the wisdom that only comes from many years of experience in education.
MODUPE: I like to describe Jane as being a stealthy leader. Now, it is important to note that while sometimes the word “stealth” can come with a negative connotation—like being a trickster or cunning—that’s not at all what I mean. Jane is a stealthy leader because she has the ability to share a powerful vision with you in such a compelling way that you almost immediately open your heart, mind and calendar. Before you even know it, you’re all in.
This calls to mind three key moments of her headship. First, Jane and her team managed to build a new library while school was still in session and with the community barely knowing construction was even
happening! Second, I was in awe of how Jane and her team handled the complexity of multiple global conflicts, teaching Brearley girls and faculty how to sit with the discomfort that can arise when people have differences in opinion and are in pain, scared and angry. She did this by relying on the foundation of empathy she’d cultivated over several years without even knowing how critical it would be for the challenges of today and tomorrow. Third, it is pretty incredible that Brearley became the first independent school in the city to instate a free tuition program. This can only happen through a lot of patience and hard work taking place behind the scenes.
ELLEN: Jane engages everyone, listens carefully (which means we each need to bring our best selves to the table!), summarizes well and adds new twists to make better choices. She takes action, and her decisions always reflect the highest moral values. She is respectful and expects results.
CHRISTINE ALFARO: Jane’s leadership is inspiring and transformational. She tackles any challenge directly, looks at the data and encourages thoughtful debate before making a decision. Jane’s no-nonsense approach to difficult issues raises the bar for everyone. She inspires the students to advocate for themselves and infuses the community with her can-do attitude and rock-solid commitment. She is relentlessly optimistic about the capabilities of our community.
SUE MENG: Part of what makes Jane such an effective leader is that she’s both a thinker and a doer. She is able to dream big for Brearley and at the same time stay on top of every detail. She has an uncanny ability to be everywhere in the School at once—not just a Head, but also a cheerleader, crossing guard, advisor, chaperone, facilities guru and more! Nothing escapes her notice. Are the windows open to let in fresh air before the students arrive each morning? Jane will make sure of it. In fact, one of my favorite stories about Jane was when she had just started at the School, she went
to C-Deck and opened a floor plate to find the waters of East River underneath! Jane’s stewardship of the School is grounded in this deep knowledge; she’s lived and breathed Brearley every day for the last 13 years, and we are all better for it.
WHAT DO YOU FEEL MOST PROUD OF WHEN YOU THINK BACK ON YOUR TIME WORKING WITH JANE? WHAT DID YOU ACHIEVE TOGETHER?
MODUPE: I am most proud of the many ways in which we brought the Brearley community back together after the pandemic. My term as head of the board started at the tail end of it, which meant many of the magical moments that come from being physically together just hadn’t happened. We needed to establish creative ways of connecting our international, diverse and vibrant community. Thanks to Zoom, we were able to have check-ins with alumnae and former trustees from various regions to update them about happenings at the School.
We also integrated community members into as many activities as possible. One focus of my term was getting our foundational documents in place. We decided that a critical component of this process was inviting participation from all community members and designing activities that eventually led to identifying the School’s core values, updating our Mission Statement and revising our Strategic Vision. In each of these processes, we embraced the vast assortment of perspectives and wisdom in the incredible Brearley community.
ELLEN: We were on a tear of activity! The 590 building decisions, as well as design changes to 610, were a full-time job. We worked on these large improvements as just one element of a broader strategic vision of the next 50-plus years of the School. This also included broadening access to an extraordinary Brearley education, curriculum review, safety and adopting the first transgender policy in an all-girls school in New York. Through it all, Jane met each challenge with grace and guts, always prioritizing the students—not to mention, we both found ways to laugh together while we plowed forward.
WHAT DO YOU FEEL ARE THE BIG PICTURE MILESTONES OR GOALS THE SCHOOL COULDN’T HAVE REACHED WITHOUT JANE AT THE HELM?
MODUPE: The steadfast focus on ensuring that Brearley is a school where everybody has the potential to thrive; that the School is accessible and welcoming to students of all backgrounds who feel they belong. Because of Jane’s leadership, we can truly say that we have a campus that creates space to cultivate the multiple interests of students, faculty and staff. Our school emphasizes strengthening both the mind and the body. In short, Jane is a leader who cares about the whole person, and this is apparent in the environment she created.
ELLEN: Until Jane, the decision about the physical expansion of the School sat unaddressed for 15 years. Faculty were asking for more space, but it was a daunting project to tackle. Jane quickly
figured out how important it was for this decision to be made. And though it was after my time, the move to offer free tuition to girls of certain means was on her mind from early on. Classic Jane!
CHRISTINE: Many goals couldn’t have been reached without Jane. The funding and on-time completion of the 590 building, for one. Rallying the community through the pandemic. Creating an inclusive community that strives to evolve and strengthen the School’s mission. Jane has ensured Brearley’s foundation is solid for the next generation.
SUE: So many it’s hard to count! In the last five years alone we have updated our Mission Statement and created a strategic plan; we completed the 590 building and in doing so doubled the size of our facilities; we have weathered a global pandemic and re-opened our School when many others remained closed; and we were the first independent school in New York to create a free tuition program for families earning less than $100K a year.
Jane also understands that the rigor of a Brearley education is matched only by the joy and camaraderie of the School. Under her leadership, Brearley girls are thriving inside and outside of the classroom. They’re thinking about what it means to be citizens of the larger world. Jane has spearheaded a brave and bold vision for the 21stcentury student that is still grounded in those values that have guided Brearley for the past 135 years.
WHAT’S ONE THING THAT YOU WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT JANE?
ALAN: Her energetic enthusiasm never flags. It’s marvelously contagious. She actively listens, and is always willing to hear from and learn from all.
MODUPE: Jane is an incredible mentor and encourager. There is a simple phrase she used to share with me every now and then on our weekly
calls: “You are doing a great job!” I didn’t even know I needed to hear this until she said it. I have made sure to include this simple yet powerful phrase in my interactions with others, as you never know when someone needs this reminder.
ELLEN: She loves adventure!
CHRISTINE: Jane always proceeds with the students’ best interests at heart. In every scenario we faced during my term, Jane was laser-focused on how the girls would be best served. She deeply felt the responsibility of her role and was tireless in her commitment to it.
SUE: Can I name a few? She is fearless. She is pragmatic. She is savvy. She is sharp.
IF YOU HAD TO PICK A FAVORITE JANE STORY OR MEMORY WHAT WOULD IT BE?
MODUPE: Along with division leaders and faculty, Jane and I developed START (Success Through Affirmational Reflection Time) to help Middle School students define success beyond traditional metrics. The program encourages students to explore their larger purpose, recognize when they’re at their best and contribute meaningfully to their communities. START was unique because it was a home-grown initiative designed with flexibility to adapt to students’ needs.
ELLEN: I love remembering how Lower School girls would often troop into Jane’s office to bring her birthday or Valentine’s gifts. Jane adores this; she will miss them dearly.
CHRISTINE: During the first month of my tenure, I received a phone call late one night from Jane.
She said she just wanted to let me know that there was a small fire at the 590 construction site but that it had been put out and all was well. Delivered with Jane’s steady hand, this alarming tidbit was the perfect preview of how she faces daunting moments with aplomb.
WHAT SHOULD BE THE TAGLINE OR MOTTO OF THE JANE FOLEY FRIED ERA?
MODUPE: “One Brearley, Many Pieces” is a phrase Jane and I would often repeat to each other.
CHRISTINE: “Can Do, Will Do, What’s Next?”
SUE: “Truth and Toil, Together.”
LIST YOUR TOP FIVE SUGGESTIONS OF WHAT JANE SHOULD DO WITH ALL HER NEWFOUND FREE TIME.
MODUPE: Given her love of the outdoors, there are two adventures I believe Jane would absolutely delight in: 1) Hiking Machu Picchu and exploring the rich history of the Incas. 2) Mountain gorilla tracking in Rwanda or Uganda. Both are magical experiences that will stimulate both her mind and body during retirement.
ELLEN: Explore those Vermont hills with abandon. Curl up and read by the fire. Create a fearless girls group and go wild with them. Ski and/or golf with Steve. Write a book.
CHRISTINE: Hike, ride, read, laugh, travel, siesta, change her phone number, run for office, open a dog-training camp.
SUE: Do whatever she likes—she has earned it!
2025 ALUMNAE WEEKEND & REUNION
From April 3 to 5, Brearley’s Alumnae Weekend and Reunion brought together alums from all around the world!
This year’s program honored milestone reunion classes ending in 0 and 5. The three-day-long event kicked off with a SIP AND SKETCH NIGHT, where alums bid farewell to the seventh-floor studios with a special art class led by members of the Brearley Art Department. Friday’s highlights included reunion favorites such as the ALUMNAE LUNCHEON, which featured the 25TH AND 50TH REUNION SPEECHES and a special presentation for Ms. Fried who was made an honorary Brearley girl when alums presented her with her very own Brearley diploma honoring Ms. Fried’s 13 years of service to the School. This was followed by BACK TO BREARLEY, where alums returned to the classroom for faculty-led sessions in art history, science and art. Friday concluded with the festive ALUMNAE PARTY COCKTAILS before milestone classes ventured to their off-site parties. The weekend also included a family fun day of CHILDREN’S ACTIVITIES, TURBOTALKS and SCHOOLHOUSE TOURS led by current Upper School students. Alums were also able to shop Brearley swag from the TRUTH, TOIL & TOTES POP-UP Head to the Brearley website to view the program recordings and photos.
We are incredibly grateful to Mina Mahmood ’15, Sayuri Ganepola Kaczynski ’96 and Leo Narcisse-Ogera ’91 for their leadership as reunion cochairs, as well as to Alumnae Association President Megan Lui ’10. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us near and far. See you next year!
CLASSES REPRESENTED THIS YEAR 1950 TO 2021 h h h
RSVPs TO REUNION
ONE ALUM TRAVELED OVER 3,600 MILES TO JOIN FROM PARIS! 290
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CLASS WITH MOST ATTENDEES 1975
50TH REUNION
Members of the Class of 1975
50TH REUNION SPEECH
Lavinia Currier, Class of 1975
I’m excited, as if setting sail for the first day of kindergarten, to be with you, my former classmates. And also you, classmates and teachers who are not with us, I evoke and miss you. I remember all those assemblies when Ms. Basinger spoke from this podium—I see us eating our lunches together in this assembly hall, today thinking of Basho’s haiku:
I pass in front of my old school, But I don’t find the child that I was . . .
I would like to connect the intimate, instinctual “child that I was” to the woman in her seventh decade. How do I rediscover my child’s curiosity and terror and courage— to resist, to subvert, to teach, to act?
Over the past two months, as our 50th reunion came upon us, our class has been communicating over email as to how we can address the chaos and confusion in our country today, and in tandem piecing together a “story” of what we shared at Brearley—our teachers, their classes, this building.
We’ve been recollecting field trips, sights and sensations of our favorite moments in school, our favorite teachers, how we took over the stage to sing “Teach Your Children” a Crosby, Stills & Nash song, a portrait, then as today, of intergenerational misunderstanding. For many of us it was a pivotal moment that led to further acts of defiance, such as staging a walkout to attend the first Earth Day on Fifth Avenue, marching and meandering from Central Park to Union Square with our common passion for the island of Manhattan. I remember myself barefoot on Madison Avenue, ready to tug on a man’s ankle-length fur coat—take him to task—but stopped short when I saw he held an ocelot on the end of a leash and sported an extraordinary curled moustache—it was Salvador Dalí!
Does that wild child living out, unbeknownst to herself, Goethe’s maxim “Boldness yields” reap a bounty for many of us who still wake up every day with an eye and heart toward justice and equality, and yes, still toward clean air and water for our beloved island and the rest of the country and the world?
Easy to dismiss a group of privileged Brearley girls storming their school stage to sing a protest song and
suffering benign punishment from their headmistress.
A little less so to dismiss the photograph that inspired Graham Nash’s 1968 song at the height of the Vietnam protests. Diane Arbus’s eye had caught a very angry nineyear-old boy in Central Park clenching a toy grenade in his right hand, his left raised and contorted along with his mouth, one strap of his suspenders off shoulder. What has that angry boy grown up to be or do? Nash’s song was a call for compassion between generations, even if across an unbridgeable chasm.
Many of our parents grew up with a childhood familiarity of their own parents’ trauma—losing family, homes and countries in the Second World War—and felt the moral imperative of the civil rights movement. An imperative razor sharp for those of us whose families came from the segregated South.
Our older siblings protested the Vietnam War and joined the counterculture in all its mystical, psychedelic and antisocial expressions. Following their lead, many of us in our generation felt the duplicity of a society which exploits the earth in the name of “eco-nomy” (the word’s Greek origin is “the care of one’s home”) and consumes the earth’s gifts with wanton inequity, leaving the vast majority of peoples and species bereft of habitat or means of sustenance. I remember in seventh grade being given the Club of Rome study The Limits to Growth, utterly prescient to where we find ourselves today—in the midst of ecological stress, including climate “fluctuations,” as they called it then, and consequent migration, hunger and rapid extinction of species. I carried the small paperback in my Brearley blazer pocket like a talisman—I had no doubt it was true—and I knew that we were, still are, using the earth up.
Children are instinctive conservationists and often radical activists. Tuned into the relationships between living creatures, they don’t hesitate to oppose destruction—pulling up stakes marking a coming mall along a favorite river or fighting against the demolition of a cherished neighborhood park. Closer to the reality of myth, children feel, in the words of the eco-priest Father Thomas Berry—who was perched upstream from us in a monastery in Bronxville under a spreading red oak—“The earth is not a collection of objects, but a communion of subjects.”
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I was conscious, while growing up in this city, that I lived in a distinctive place—an island, bounded by great rivers, which still held sway over the land. In Manhattan, it was easy to imagine past Indigenous occupants—even if the city was in our youth the epicenter of the American industrial experiment, then inviolable, nonetheless we felt the weather coming off the rivers down the skyscraper canyons, felt Manhattan as an island from Brearley’s caged pier overlooking the East River, and when we traveled to Randall’s Island or waded out in the marshes in rubber boots testing for chemicals as part of our Save Our Wildlife Club, inspired by Earth Day, Rachel Carson and a fresh ecological awareness sweeping the country at that time. We felt the city’s distinction in its communities, too. Even now, New York City is less homogenized than most American cities and exurbs, which have erased regional distinctions of culture, accent and art via a slavish adherence to a singular media mouthpiece. New York is said to house more speakers of endangered languages than any other place on earth!
What did Brearley teach us if not to think for ourselves?
To use the natural intelligence which every young woman was assumed by our teachers to possess. The opposite of this period’s obsession with artificial intelligence with its quantitative black box thinking—showing the inputs and outputs of information but hiding the computational process—and most importantly replacing the special alchemy which connects the two, human intelligence, bringing a person’s life experience to bear on a given thought or subject—the magic of a child, a teen or an adult. The implication of this as we abdicate the greater share of our thinking to machines is tremendous!
In contrast, remember how our Brearley teachers first asked us to consider a problem, then waited patiently after we offered an answer for us to explain how we came to it? On Ms. Conant’s blackboard in math class, we had to “show our work.” As it came alive in the mind it also brought the senses alive. Do you all remember the sensuality of the library? The evocative smell of new pages and old, your schoolmates’ whispered conversations you strained to overhear, the resistance of the small drawers of the wooden card catalog as you drew one open, flipped through the cards A to Z that were the map to the books in the library, and by extension, the entire world! I know you all can conjure our beloved librarian,
Ms. Cunningham, and her kindness as she helped you find just the book you sought. Someone mentioned the rock collection that we were each given in science class; I treasured mine as if each distinct mineral cube were gold. I may still have the box somewhere. As well as testing hardness and color, I remember licking the transparent rock labeled sodium chloride.
Is it my imagination or did the School also embolden us to think with our bodies? Mens sana in corpore sano? Or is that just what kids do? We began the day on the floor playing jacks; in the early years, in rhythm class, we impersonated animals, plants and household appliances. Later, in gym class, cooped up on cork floors or on the pier playing dodgeball, bombarding each other.
We need, above all, sensation—to feel, taste, touch, smell, hear. To care about anything, you must experience it. Get out in it. To know the ocean, you must get wet. As children on the land and the water, as adults also, as elders in community, as artists, as scientists. Sense. Do not let technology mediate your world. We need to counter the transhumanist spell being cast by the Silicon Valley gangsters. Continuing a Christian bias toward transcending this world, the transhumanists have their own secular version of disgust for the constraints of our human condition—they say that biology is on its way to becoming obsolete; we will 3-D print our food and outsource our minds to AI, and as we have already trashed Earth forget it, we’ll migrate to Mars!
(I do wish they would go! But it’s not a solution for the other eight billion of us!)
If we are discouraged, perhaps feel physically frail or mentally succumbed to the predominant business model of age-obsolescence, shall we simply read the news and collectively bemoan? To quote the late feminist pol Pat Schroeder, “You can’t ring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time!” Sitting at our computers, we are scammed by the attention economy more than we care to admit. Perhaps we suspect the spoon’s worth of plastic lodged in our brain tissues after a lifetime is bringing on memory loss, even Alzheimer’s, as plastics in seabirds’ brains have been found to do. By allowing ourselves this disabling doubt, we as a demographic become yet another crisis: the crisis of burdensome elders!
The good news in recent gerontological research shows that while aging deteriorates our recall (evident
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in our email conversations), in a lovely collaboration it takes all of us to piece together what happened back then in school—the names of teachers and what grades they taught, even the names of their dogs! Ms. Corwin, no Ms. Lawrence, Ms. Cylmer standing on her desk with an umbrella impersonating Mary Poppins— math? No, French! Her dog? A poodle, Fifi! I read these communications in awe—I’m the slowest! While our recall is perhaps diminished, our pattern recognition is enhanced—the storied wisdom of elders. Traditionally, elders anchor experience for younger generations. Might we be encouraged to make use of such a superpower, now, in this period of unprecedented worldwide uncertainty? What earlier period does today recall? When we were together as children, aware of the foment of counterculture, the takedown of status quo, antiinstitutionalism; now, we find ourselves defending those very institutions we challenged as we see them being obliterated; those of justice, environmental protection, education, among others.
I live on the island of Molokai in Hawaii—fish-shaped, about ten times the area of Manhattan, with fewer than eight thousand people, and three times as many exotic deer who, with wild boar, have destroyed much of our native forests. Yet, it’s a place with optimism for the future, to model self-sufficiency in food and energy, restore forests, protect reefs, bring native birds back from near extinction. And it’s a place where, rooted in its Hawaiian culture, elders are still respected.
I just came from another 50th reunion.
The Hōkūle’a voyaging canoe, launched in 1975, our class year. After two centuries not voyaging, Hawaiians decided to relearn the brilliant celestial navigation skills of their ancestors which were nearly extinct, and by wayfaring by the stars again, regained their self-esteem.
The Hawaiian cultural renaissance is closely tied to the building and voyaging of that one beautiful traditionally navigated sailboat, each of its two hulls hand-carved from a single massive koa tree.
In the half century that has passed since we left Brearley, the Hōkūle’a sailed to Tahiti and back, throughout the South Pacific and all around the world. Three years on, the canoe sank and a brave crew member who went for help perished, then the sole master navigator passed away, having trained several young men, including
Nainoa, who became its spiritual leader, insisting on breaking tradition to train women in the art of navigation.
Some of you may have seen it years ago when it sailed up the East River on its worldwide voyage with a message of protecting our oceans.
What was at the heart of last week’s gathering and what, as a non-sailor and a non-Hawaiian, could I bring back to us gathered here?
One, that natural systems erase political borders and bring people together; in the case of the Pacific Ocean, reawakening the inspiring concept of a shared home— Oceania, drawing the youth of far-flung Pacific islands to find common cause to face the immense challenges of their future of climate change, declining fish stocks, coral bleaching, plastic pollution, the threat of deep-sea mining and militarization. Relevant to those of us still on Manhattan, or others on the mainland, we know that everything happens faster on an island, as islands are early warning systems.
That the present moment is a time for heroism—to seize the day, reimagine our world. During Nainoa’s training, his mentor, the master navigator Mau, scolded his protégé for an instance of crippling doubt when Nainoa hesitated to launch the Hōkūle’a in difficult weather. Mau said to him: “When it is stormy and dark, you cannot doubt yourself, or ask: ‘Am I up for this, can we possibly succeed?’ This is just the time to launch—go! Don’t wait for pleasant weather!”
I say not only to my young friends and family, but to me, to us—we must urgently search for the widest possible view, a vision, for nothing short of metamorphosing our way, using all our skills and experience, will suffice now. We cannot sit this one out.
To come full circle to the children, the sixth, seventh and eighth graders we once were, when only music and passion mattered, marching up to the stage to sing, it is my impression that this group of wise and passionate women will once again carry us beyond ourselves— calling on the lineage of bold women that speak to us through the millennia, a conversation started by the very first organism, perhaps even the first molecule!
Perhaps it feels strange to suggest at this stage in our lives, as Nainoa’s teacher Mau did to him, facing bleak predictions and stormy weather, that this is the time for us to launch. Yet, if not us, who? If not now, when?
BIRTHS
2001 To KIM STOLZ and Laura Hayward, a daughter, Elodie Hayward Stolz
2003 To PIPER ROSS FERRITER and Patrick Milas, a daughter, Sybil Lorelei Milas
2004 To ALANNA GREGORY and Nikolas Rachmanis, a son, Jamie
To CHARLOTTE SAVINO and Lee Norton, a daughter, Celeste Caldwell Norton1
To STAFFORD PALMIERI and Zachary James Sievert, a son, Thaddaeus McEwan Sievert
To SIMONE BLASER and Vincent Houzé, a daughter, Beatrice Blaser Houzé2
2005 To ANDREA BARSK-ROBERTS and Sean Roberts, a daughter, Ebba Hedvig Elisabeth Roberts
To ANN REDPATH and Joakim Nilsen, a son, John Brevigh Nilsen
2006 To HANNAH LYONS, a daughter, Ginger Luisa Gonzalez Lyons3
To RACQUEL QUARLESS HILL and Ricky Hill II, twins, Riley and Ricky III4
2007 To JULIA SPEED and Galen Pardee, a son, Noah Speed Pardee5
2008 To RACHEL SHANNON-SOLOMON JONES and Eric Jones, a daughter, Margot Star Jones6
To ISABELLE LETACONNOUX and Will Scott, a daughter, Phoebe Shannon Scott7
To CLARA SPERA and Rory Boyd, a son, Joseph Boyd
To ANNIE SHI and Sean Anderson, a daughter, Hannah Georges Shi-Anderson
2010 To WENDY DEWOLF and Trent Walradt, a daughter, Ruth DeWolf Walradt8
2012 To ANGELA WANG and Grant Negri, a son, Hudson Paul Negri9
MARRIAGES
1989 LINDSEY HEARD to Chris Durand1
2007 CORDELIA MCGEE-TUBB to John Dunham2
2007 MARGARET WHITE to William Benson3
2009 GRACE CHAO to Patrick Clarke
2011 MIRANDA KATZ to Andrew Olenski
DEATHS
1946 Clelia Delafield Carey
1947 Olive McCollum Jenney
1947 Jane Wylie Marshall
1949 Patricia Taussig Marshall
1950 Shelah Kane Scott
1950 Justine Pruyn Trowbridge
1952 Joan Bamberger Goodheart
1952 Christine Sapieha Fremantle
1952 Ann Rockefeller Roberts
1952 Judith Davidson Rodriguez
1953 Sandra Ferry Rockefeller
1953 Susan Alexander Lodge
1953 Marie de Gunzburg Levinson
1954 Arline Grimes Heimert
1956 Jayne Hyman Gallagher
1956 Cynthia Hazen Polsky
1957 Elizabeth Glassmeyer Treynor
1958 Judith Caton Mendelsund
1959 Marsha von Mueffling Crawford
1962 Angela Hill Plowden-Wardlaw
1964 Caroline Little Larken
1967 Daphne Warburg Astor
1967 Robin Loomis Distefano
1968 Margo Mattison
1969 Debby Richardson Maneckji
1974 Cornelia Dana Mead
1975 Margaret Sheriff
1987 Clarisse Perrette
2011 Skye Hubbard
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 who 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: Phoebe T. Geer ’97, Director of Advancement, (212) 570-8609 or pgeer@brearley.org.
