Country Connections 2009 - A Celebration of the Arts

CountryConnections A Magazine for Alumni, Families, and Friends of The Country School

Spring 2009

FOSTERING CREATIVITY IN EXCITING NEW WAYS: THE ARTS AT TCS

The TCS Board of Trustees

TCS MISSION STATEMENT

William W. Dennett, Chair James Maggart, Vice-Chair Robert Newbold, Secretary David Etzel, Treasurer Linda Penn, At Large William E. Powers, Head of School Marna Borgstrom John Chobor Jim Cianciolo Beth Coyne Marjorie Dorr Terry Jones Eddy ‘60 Lynn Haversat Jennifer Jackson Tim Kish Richard Lightfoot Janet Scharr Gochberg Dean Singewald II

At The Country School, we are committed to creating an environment which is both academically challenging and responsive to the social and emotional needs of growing children. Encouraging close relationships among students and teachers and cooperation between home and school, we foster a feeling of family. The school community strives to nurture each child, valuing his or her unique gifts in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

The traditional disciplines of reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies, and foreign language form the core of our academic program.

Because we seek to educate the whole child, the school is also committed to a vital arts program, strong offerings in physical education, and challenging opportunities for individual growth. Our teaching is spirited and promotes active learning. We provide experiences which are sensitive to different learning styles and stages of development. We guide students to discover their own strengths and develop confidence in their abilities to learn. Our program is rich and flexible, offering many pathways to success.

Thank you

We recognize our responsibility to prepare students to meet not just academic

David Acheson Jeanne Boyer Roy Jesse Brockwell ’00 Katherine Cahouet-Connelly ’77 Karen Chiaia Jim Cianciolo Jerry Davis ’74 Cheilaugh Garvey Diana Glassman Rob Gochberg Daniel Hartsoe ’05 Amelia Holmes ’03 Phil Johnson Jordan Kats ’99 Bill Leidt Elizabeth Lightfoot ’77 Jared Madere ’01 Kathy McCurdy Mary McGee ’05 Brian Mummert ’01 William E. Powers Phil Rosenthal Susan Wiles

We encourage our students to look beyond themselves, to work cooperatively

challenges, but personal and ethical ones as well. Our faculty provides leadership for character development, guiding students toward self-reliance. with others, and to serve their communities and the larger world. We expect much of our students, because we believe they have much to give.

As we honor the creativity, sense of wonder, and exuberance in childhood, we hope to stir in our students enthusiasm for learning as an exciting, lifelong activity. We work to equip each student with a solid mastery of essential skills, healthy self-esteem, and a clear sense of values. At The Country School, we

Graphics: Annie Samson Celander - celanders@comcast.net Printing: Thames Printing Company, Inc. - Norwich, CT

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to the following individuals who contributed news items and/or photographs:

strive to empower young people to reach their highest, not only in school but also in life.

We welcome your news!

Do you have information or photos you would like to share?

Alumni, please contact us at alumni@thecountryschool.org.

Or visit “TCS Alumni” on Facebook.

Parents or friends, please contact us at communications@thecountryschool.org.

The Country School 341 Opening Hill Road Madison, CT 06443 203.421.3113 www.thecountryschool.org

Table of Contents Board of Trustees and contributors

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TCS Mission Statement

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Celebrating the Arts – A letter to the community, by William E. Powers

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Country Connections Dedication

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A Tribute to Three Outgoing Trustees

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A Vital Arts Program, a speech by TCS Arts Coordinator Susan Wiles

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Alumni in the Arts

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Young Alumni Q & A: Brian Mummert ’01

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Jared Madere ’01

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Amelia Holmes ’03

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Alumni Profiles: Joanna Bloom ’77, ceramicist

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Terry Jones Eddy ’60, painter

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Jonathan Waters ’66, sculptor

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Alumni Board News

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Letter from Alumni Board Chair Diana Glassman

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TCS Announces the Suzanne Bashaw Fund

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TCS Class Agents Ready to Roll

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A Graduate Remembers TCS:

The Home to Which I No Longer Belong, by Mary McGee ’05

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Outdoor Ed Recap – Wholeheartedly Embracing the Challenge

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Art In and Outside the Art Studio: A Creative Collage

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From the Archives

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Thank You, Volunteers! A Letter from

the Director of Development and Alumni Relations Jeanne Boyer Roy

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Alumni News

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Alumni Day 2008

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Tyler Lipp ’02 Designs Alumni Day Invitation

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A Day in the Life Remembered, by Jesse Brockwell ’00

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Movie Producer Jerry Davis ’74 is 2008 Distinguished Alumnus

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Giving Back — Alumni Support TCS Through Words, Deeds, and Dollars

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Where Are They Now? The Class of 2004

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Where Are They Going? The Class of 2005 Heads to College

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and the Class of 2009 Heads to High School

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Faculty News

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Former Faculty News

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Class Notes

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In Memoriam

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C E L E B R A T I N G the ARTS

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CELEBRATINGCELEBRATING THE ARTSTHE ARTS Dear TCS Alumni, Families, and Friends, In the 2008 edition of Country Connections, we focused on Outdoor Education and its vital role in shaping the TCS experience. This year we focus on an equally significant component of life at The Country School: the Arts.

In late August of last year, faculty gathered at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme for a professional development day during which they were asked to consider “the art in the heart of every child.” Since that moment, in addition to everything else we do, this year has been about celebrating and fostering creativity in the entire school community. Given the economy, there certainly is no shortage of belt-tightening all around us, but at The Country School, the Arts program remains robust.

Under the auspices of the Development Committee, an Arts Council was established, which has as its mission to foster creativity on campus in exciting ways. Among other accomplishments, this dedicated group of volunteers has helped celebrate and display student artwork; reconnect with alumni artists and initiate a plan to showcase their work; and create and sell note cards and posters featuring student artwork to raise money to support the Arts. The group has planned new display areas on campus and brought in a slew of art professionals to meet with students – from a recording artist who worked with 8th Graders to compose a class song to a mask-maker and actor who taught children about the different faces we wear.

Another energetic group of volunteers helped organize a magnificent evening to raise funds for the Arts on campus, with most of the proceeds going to underwrite a new acoustical system for our performance space. “Celebrate the ArtZ” – supporting and recognizing the Arts from A to Z – was held a few weeks before we went to press. Watch for a story and photos in the next issue of Country Connections.

Of course, all of these activities took place alongside what occurs inside the art studio, the music room, and regular classrooms every day. Whether they are Kindergartners drawing owls following a visit from Wind Over Wings or 8th Graders singing and dancing in the Middle School musical; whether they are 3rd Graders playing “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas” on their recorders or 5th Graders reciting a poem before a panel of judges during the MacLane Poetry Recitation, TCS students express themselves creatively all the time.

In this edition, we are pleased to share stories about creativity on campus: what our students are doing, how our faculty nurture creativity in the next generation, and how our artist alumni believe their TCS years shaped their future. As you read through the following pages, I am sure you will feel the excitement that emanates, both from the act of creation and from witnessing creativity as it is emerges from others.

With best wishes,

Mr. Powers as “Mr. Art Ist” leads Lower School students and faculty during the Halloween Parade.

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William E. Powers Head of School

D E D I C A T I O N : David Acheson and Sue Bashaw

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s we celebrate the Arts at TCS, it seems fitting to honor a teacher who — for nearly two decades — has quietly, subtly guided students to create.

David Acheson arrived at TCS in the fall of 1991. A professional artist himself and already a seasoned educator who had taught previously at Choate Rosemary Hall, David has a BFA and an MFA from Yale. Although he can – and does – teach students about such things as technique, perspective, and materials, his real contribution is encouraging young artists to express themselves in their own way.

As one TCS graduate, now an art student in Chicago wrote, “What Mr. A really left me with . . . is far more profound than any sort of technical information. He showed me that through thought, dedication, and hard work, it is possible to realize anything you can conceive of.”

Because pictures speak louder than words, we invite you to flip through the pages of this magazine, where you will find ample evidence of students realizing whatever they can conceive of.

David Acheson

Sue Bashaw

Shortly before we went to press, we learned about the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Sue Bashaw. We also dedicate this issue of Country Connections to Sue, because if ever a person embodied the TCS Mission by looking beyond herself, working cooperatively with others, and serving her community and the larger world, it was Sue. A member of the TCS community for many years, as a parent, employee, and volunteer, Sue died on Friday, May 1, at her mother’s home in Vermont after a long and courageous battle with cancer. She was surrounded by her family, including her daughter Sarah ’03 and son Taylor ’00.

Since 1998, Sue served TCS in a variety of roles, including as receptionist and administrative assistant for Admission, Development, and Alumni. Also a tireless volunteer, she brought her incomparable warmth, radiant smile, and humor to every task she undertook.

Sue’s proudest accomplishment was being mother to two extraordinary TCS graduates: Sarah, now a pre-med student at Skidmore, and Taylor, a graduate of Cornell now working for Sikorsky. We extend condolences to Sarah and Taylor, to their father, John, to Sue’s mother, Patricia Dugdale, to her brother, David, and her sister, Debbie.

A Vermont native, Sue graduated from Woodstock Union High School and, in 1982, from Champlain College. She married John the following year, and they moved to Maine, where they lived for a time at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. Sue told wonderful, humorous stories about living at the refuge as a young newlywed.

TCS is also pleased to announce a special fund to honor Sue within the Founders’ Promise Fund Endowment. (See the announcement of the Suzanne Bashaw Fund in the “Giving Back” section of this magazine.) TCS also plans to celebrate Sue’s life in the coming months. Should you wish to participate, please contact development@ thecountryschool.org.

In 1986, they moved to Vermont and Taylor was born. In 1987, they moved to Middletown, CT, and Sarah was born two years later. Eventually they settled in Madison. An obituary in the Hartford Courant read, “Sue was first and foremost a loving mother to her children. She also adored her work at TCS and being around children.” Certainly, everyone at TCS – children and adults alike – adored having Sue around.

Sue’s family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756.

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A TRIBUTE TO THREE OUTGOING TRUSTEES: Marna Borgstrom, Bill Dennett, and Linda Penn

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n this issue of Country Connections, we also pay tribute to three members of the Board of Trustees whose terms have expired. The entire TCS community is indebted to former Board Chair Marna Borgstrom, outgoing Board Chair William Dennett, and outgoing Development Committee Chair Linda Penn. For close to 10 years each, these die-hard volunteers have helped lead The Country School through changes and evolutions, making TCS a stronger, more resilient, and thoughtful community.

Marna Borgstrom,

who juggles her TCS responsibilities with her day job as President and Chief Executive Officer of Yale-New Haven Hospital and Yale New Haven Health System, has guided TCS as Board chair, Finance Committee chair, and chair of the Committee on Trustees.

Despite her busy schedule, Marna has frequently said that she takes pleasure in serving TCS, a place which meant so much to her children, Christopher ’99 and Peter ’04. Without a doubt Marna – with her wisdom, work ethic, and wealth of business and non-profit expertise – has meant just as much to TCS.

Bill Dennett brought his knowledge of the secondary school world to TCS when he joined the board close to nine years ago. The former Director of Admission at Choate Rosemary Hall, Bill is currently an associate with Steinbrecher and Partners, an educational consulting firm, in Westport. From the start, Bill celebrated what he felt was special about TCS: the students who arrived at Choate confident about who they were because they had spent their elementary years in a supportive yet challenging environment that recognized them as individuals. In his time on the Board, Bill has helped honor the special teacher-student relationships that make TCS unique.

Linda Penn is a registered pediatric nurse and the mother of three current or former Country School students: Zach ’04, Whitney ’08, and Drew ’13. The Penn family has the distinction of being TCS’ closest neighbors: her children need only open the front door and cross the street, and they arrive on the TCS campus. This is a good thing, because, when she is not working, Linda practically lives at school. In her many roles at TCS – as Development Committee Chair and Long Range Planning co-chair, among others – Linda has brought the same amount of thought, caring, and commitment that she has brought to her young patients over the years. TCS is very fortunate to have had her steady, guiding hand, her tireless work ethic and her keen insight.

To each of you – Marna, Bill, and Linda – a collective Thank You! 6

A VITAL ARTS PROGRAM

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And I suppose I may have convinced myself that the inebriated Yale student wasn’t half wrong in her fuzzy definition of Art! When mere words and definitions fail, we rely on music, dance, sculpture, poetry, drama, and architecture to convey the biggest ideas that differentiate us humans from the rest of the animal kingdom.

uring the special late summer professional development day at the Florence Griswold Museum, TCS Arts Coordinator and music teacher Susan Wiles delivered an inspiring keynote speech in which she attempted to explain The Country School’s commitment to the Arts, a commitment she believes is unique among the many schools she has known, as a student herself, as an educator, and as a parent.

She began by reading an excerpt from the TCS Mission Statement: The traditional disciplines of reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies, and foreign language form the core of our academic program. Because we seek to educate the whole child, the school is committed to a vital arts program.

Finally, we have had many conversations in several different committees about the wide umbrella that the Arts cover at TCS. This is one of the most creative faculties I have ever worked with, and as we celebrate the Arts with a capital letter – the Arts that happen in the Art studio and the Music room – it is also important to recognize the prevalence of Art that happens all over this campus. It is exciting to be able to have dialogues as a faculty about the different roles that the Arts can and do have at our school, because the creativity in the academic classrooms only helps to enhance what we do in our Art spaces – and vice-versa, I hope!

We share the remainder of her speech, because we believe it gets at the heart of what Art – specifically as practiced at TCS – is all about: We are here today to celebrate the Arts at TCS (and beyond) and to begin a dialogue about how we are living out our Mission Statement with regard to the Arts. [Director of Development and Alumni Relations] Jeanne Roy asked me to say a few words as an introduction, and I have spent a long time thinking about just what it means to be a “vital arts program.”

In good academic fashion, I decided that perhaps I should first offer some kind of working definition for “Arts.” Easier said than done. I thought initially about a somewhat disappointing answer I heard a rising Yale senior – one who is majoring in Art History – give to an interviewer recently at the Yale Center for British Art. Laughingly, and perhaps somewhat compromised (due to the wine and cheese) in her ability to think or speak coherently, she replied, “Uh . . . I guess Art is whatever a person wants it to be.” Not very satisfactory, but at least succinct. I, on the other hand, had all kinds of thoughts about what Art is, but was having difficulty articulating them except in my head. Succinct they were not when put to paper. So I went to the dictionary: “The definition of art is controversial in contemporary philosophy. Whether Art can be defined has also been a matter of controversy. The philosophical usefulness of a definition of art has also been debated.”

That was more like it!

What I really believe is that the study of and participation in Art is vital to our growth as human beings; that it is through creating and performing that we learn about ourselves and develop unique and intense connections with those around us and with the greater world. A vital Arts program provides many and varied opportunities for our students to make those connections, and this happens in so many ways.

When students study a painting or learn a piece of music or memorize a poem, they are entering into someone else’s world view, experiencing that person’s interpretation of an emotion or an idea, and then exploring how that emotion or idea confirms or conflicts with his or her own experiences. The combination of connecting across time and cultures, while at the same time expanding one’s ideas of self, is a powerful experience that is at once communal and intensely personal.

So here’s to a year of “honoring the creativity, sense of wonder, and exuberance” that is the hallmark of teaching at TCS! Susan Wiles has been a faculty member since 2001, though she has spent many years as an arts educator. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of the South and her graduate degree from Yale. During her tenure at TCS, Susan and her dramatic arts colleague, history teacher Sarah Barber, have directed a host of unforgettable Middle School musicals, including “Guys and Dolls,” “Annie,” “Once Upon A Mattress,” “Into the Woods,” “Oklahoma,” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” not to mention countless grade-specific musical productions.

Several of Mrs. Wiles’ former students have gone on to shine on stage and backstage at high school and college. Under Mrs. Wiles’ tutelage and through the guidance of her colleague, band teacher John Gage, TCS students have also brought home countless silver and gold medals from the Great East Music Festival, a regional competition attended by an assortment of New England schools.

We are fortunate to have Mrs. Wiles – a woman who believes that it is “through creating and performing that we learn about ourselves and develop unique and intense connections with those around us and with the greater world” – overseeing such a vital component of life at The Country School. Likewise, we applaud her colleagues in the Art Department: David Acheson, John Gage, and Cheilaugh Garvey, as well as all of the classroom teachers who so seamlessly integrate art into the classroom.

What I really believe is that the study and participation in Art is vital to our growth as human beings; that it is through creating and performing that we learn about ourselves and develop unique and intense connections with those around us and with the greater world. A vital Arts program provides many and varied opportunities for our students to make those connections, and this happens in so many ways.

~ Susan Wiles, TCS Arts coordinator and music teacher

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The Arts have been vital to The Country School experience since its founding. In the following pages, we share Question and Answer dialogues with recent alumni as well as profiles of graduates from the more distant past.

ALUMNI IN THE ARTS

Q & A with Brian Mummert ’01, a music major at Yale and musical director of the world-renowned all-male a cappella singing group, the Yale Whiffenpoofs

Q:

Director of Development and Alumni Relations Jeanne Boyer Roy caught up with Brian Mummert after a recent benefit concert for High Hopes Therapeutic Riding.

Brian and the Whiffenpoofs performed before a sold-out crowd in Old Lyme.

You have shown a real interest in the arts since graduating from TCS. What are you currently working on?

A: I’m currently taking the year off between my junior and senior years at Yale to serve as the Musical Director, or “pitchpipe,” of the Centennial Yale Whiffenpoofs. In this capacity, I am in charge of selecting and sometimes arranging songs for our repertoire, running rehearsals, conducting concerts, and producing our annual CD. Additionally, I sing in the Choir of Christ Church New Haven, an allprofessional Anglican church choir that sings three services each Sunday during the school year, and serve on the Board of Directors of Opera Theater of Yale College, the nation’s only student-run, all-undergraduate college opera company.

After graduating from TCS, I went on to Choate Rosemary Hall, where I sang in several choirs and theatrical productions. At Yale I am studying music with a focus on vocal performance.

Music has given me some amazing opportunities, not the least of which is the world tour that the Whiffenpoofs will take for three months over the summer. We’ll be stopping in about 25 countries on all six continents, singing all the way. I also had the opportunity to travel to Tuscany last July as a member of the Westminster Choir, and to sing with Chanticleer in Sonoma Valley over the summer of 2007. While at Yale, I’ve sung with eight different choral ensembles and appeared in over a dozen opera productions, perhaps the highlight of which was singing the title role in the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.

Q: Do you plan to continue working in the Arts after graduation?

A: I definitely anticipate continuing my involvement with the Arts after graduation. I’ll be auditioning for Master’s programs in opera this coming fall, both in America and in Europe, and hope to pursue a career as a classical singer.

Q: Was there anything about The Country School that inspired you to go in this direction?

A: I’ve always known that I wanted to be a musician of some sort – I started off as a pianist – but it was at TCS that I first had the opportunity to perform in a choir and discovered my love of singing.

There is no form of musical expression more versatile than the human voice; in addition to pitch and rhythm, singers have the added tool of language at their disposal. My exposure to this evocative art form during my years at TCS undoubtedly set me on my current path toward a career in music.

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Please note: For more information about Brian and Whiffenpoof activities, please visit www.whiffenpoofs.com.

I’ve always known that I wanted to be a musician of some sort – I started off as a pianist – but it was at TCS that I first had the opportunity to perform in a choir and discovered my love of singing. . . . My exposure to this evocative art form during my years at TCS undoubtedly set me on my current path toward a career in music.

~ Brian Mummert ’01, Yale Whiffenpoof

ALUMNI IN THE ARTS Q & A with Jared Madere ’01, a senior at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Q:

What are you currently working

on and what are your plans after graduation?

A: I am currently working with spraying Bananas Flambee Perfume onto crushed tinted car windshields. This way you see crushed glass and smell burnt bananas and cinnamon. I have also been running an apartment gallery called New York City that has two locations in Chicago (see http://www.newyorkcitygallery.net).

After graduation I am moving to New York where I hope to find work at a gallery or as a studio assistant for an artist.

Q: Was there anything about The Country School that inspired you to go in this direction?

If it had not been for studying with David Acheson (Mr. A) I know I would not be where I am today. Mr. A without a doubt provided the best educational experience I have ever had in my life. His relentless dedication to helping students make their ideas become a reality remains unmatched in all of my educational endeavors since.

I first met Mr. A when I came to visit The Country School while I was still trying to figure out where I would attend 6th Grade. I sat in on an art class and I was amazed to find that despite my not even being enrolled in the school, I was generously provided with as much clay as I wanted to create a model submarine that was supposed to originate from some fictitious aquatic society. Even before I had enrolled at TCS, Mr. A was so accommodating that he fired my submarine in the kiln,

The next year when I began 6th Grade at TCS, Mr. A’s dedication and enthusiasm for aiding me in my creative endeavors only heightened. Whether it was calling far off rubber manufacturers to figure out what sort of liquid latex I would need to turn a clay head into a wearable mask, driving me vast distances up and down the east coast in his V.W. Bug with the ceiling lining peeling off while I held a bag of Oreos in my hand just so that I could get exactly the supplies I needed, or helping me figure out the math I would need to employ in order to build a 20 foot forced perspective set of the Roman Coliseum for a film about futuristic gladiators, Mr. A was always ready to help.

In the three years I formally studied with Mr. A as well as the four years I worked with him while in high school, he never once told me that what I wanted to do could not be accomplished. No matter how many hours of his own time he need spend to help me realize my idea, he was always more than happy to help. On a practical level Mr. A taught me so much that I continue to utilize on a daily basis whether it be color theory, drawing techniques, wood shop skills, or simply how to call around to manufacturers and distributors to get the exact material I need. What Mr. A really left me with, however, is far more profound than any sort of technical information. He showed me that through thought, dedication, and hard work, it is possible to realize anything you can conceive of. My only regret is that I have yet to figure out a linguistic or material expression that can sufficiently convey how tremendously thankful I am to Mr. A for his infinite support, enthusiasm, and commitment to his students.

and then called my mother to let her know it was ready and that she could drop me off anytime so that I could glaze it.

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ALUMNI IN THE ARTS Q & A with Amelia Holmes ’03, a sophomore at Bennington College

Q:

What are you currently working on?

A: I am currently working on slab vessels in my Foundation Ceramics Class (which is a very popular class that I was finally lucky enough to get into). I am experimenting with both preconceived sketches/drawings of functional vessels but also allowing for the natural tendencies of the clay to guide my work. But what I’m most interested in is the investigation, through both my academic and visual arts classes, of how humans influence and change the land/ objects around them.

I am also currently working on digitally manipulating photographs taken last term (in my Digital Darkroom class). All of the photographs reflect my interest in details in nature and natural forms in nature and they attempt to compel viewers toward the same appreciation of the natural world that I have. This term I am taking Montage, a Photoshop based class, and am starting to investigate new ways to piece or compile my work together to make wonderful new photographs.

At Bennington College, there is no such thing as a ‘major.’ Rather, students create ‘Plans,’ or a series of essays describing what we want to study and how we intend to study it. We identify not only the classes we wish to take, but how those classes relate to each other and to our Plan. My personal Plan has gone through many stages of development. Currently, I have combined psychology and environmental science to investigate the relationship between humans and nature and discover how human decision-making and human actions impact the environment.

I recently returned from the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center where I worked as an archivist for my Field Work Term, or the seven-week, off-campus winter term when we pursue jobs and internships in areas that complement our Plan. While there, my interest shifted from the relationship between human beings and the environment to the investigation of protecting and conserving of cultural artifacts and the environment, which are both equally

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threatened by human beings’ careless management. I now wish to investigate not only how the environment is being damaged but also how human beings can prevent the environment from being damaged any further and how we may successfully conserve and preserve it.

Q: Do you plan to continue working in the Arts after graduation?

A: I am very interested in continuing working the Arts after I have graduated.

I’m not entirely sure what that means yet, as my Plan keeps evolving and changing with each new class I take.

However, I do know that I will continue to work at the Florence Griswold Museum during the summer as a counselor for ArtVenture camp. I was an Education Intern at the Museum my first Field Work Term, and was offered the counselor position that summer. So this will be my second summer working as a counselor.

Q: Was there anything about The Country School that inspired you to go in this direction?

A: Like every other Country School alumni story that I have heard, the most inspiring moment of my life was the Southwest Trip. I believe my interest in the environment sprang from that trip and it is something that has stayed with me throughout my high school and college career. It wasn’t any one event in particular; rather, just the fact that there we were, a group of young kids in the middle of Moab, Utah, exploring a world much larger than any other place we had ever experienced.

Of course, there were many other things at The Country School that have inspired me. To name a few of the many: Algebra with Mr. McGee, Ancient Egypt with Mrs. Lane and Mrs. Tucker in 5th Grade, English classes with Mr. Storms, Chorus with Mrs. Wiles, and Art with Mr. A. But I mainly believe that because of the encouragement of all the wonderful teachers at The Country School I was able to take risks, make mistakes, and begin to understand myself and my role in the world.

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ALUMNI IN THE ARTS Alumni Artist Profile – Joanna Bloom ’77, Ceramicist

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oanna Bloom creates exquisite hand-built ceramic pieces, primarily vases and candlesticks, using simple handmade tools and molds. Her work is influenced by folk art and the nature around her in the Pacific Northwest. She lives with her husband and daughter in Portland, Oregon.

Joanna comes from a family of artists. She grew up in Lyme, where her mother’s home was very much musical and artistic. Her mother is a painter, her sister a sculptor, and her brother, Brian, also a TCS alumnus, is gifted in woodworking.

While attending TCS in the 1970s, Joanna remembers enjoying mostly woodworking and papiermâché. After graduation she went on to Loomis Chaffee and then to Connecticut College. At Connecticut College, she studied child development, but her artistic side kept pulling at her.

She knew she wanted to do ceramics, “but not just throwing pots.” For her, hand building with clay was where she chose to concentrate.

Now Joanna exhibits in galleries in Portland. She and her artist husband have a studio where she is teaching as well as raising their 9-year-old daughter Lucy.

Alumni Artist Profile – Terry Jones Eddy ’60, Painter

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erry Jones Eddy, who always loved drawing and painting, was enrolled in the very first class at The Country School.

Terry grew up surrounded by art and came from a family of successful artists. Her grandfather was H. Siddons Mowbray, a famous painter and muralist. Her father, TCS founder Hugh McKittrick Jones, was an architect, and her mother, Liz Jones, a painter. Both her sister, Casey, who designs and exhibits sculptures from gourds in New Mexico, and brother, Tim, a graphic designer in Texas, attended TCS as well.

Terry remembers The Country School fondly. She attended when it began, with 13 students in a house located in an old mill in Stony Creek. At that time, theatre was the school’s primary art offering, and Terry recalls that students loved putting on plays.

Terry Jones Eddy, left, attends the 2009 Alumni Induction Ceremony with Charlie and Catherine Burdge. Below, some of her paintings.

After TCS, Terry went on to Mary C. Wheeler in Providence and then studied Art History at Hollins University in Virginia. Today, Terry says that watercolor landscapes are her favorite. She loves to monitor workshops in Guilford and Old Lyme. We are also grateful that Terry chooses to spend time as a volunteer at TCS, where she is a valued and active member of our Alumni Board and has served on our Board of Trustees.

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ALUMNI IN THE ARTS

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f art is about creation and invention, Jonathan Waters, a member of the class of 1966, is about creation and reinvention.

A sculptor whose work is gaining notice throughout New England, Jonathan recently abandoned another career altogether. For almost 20 years, this Stony Creek resident was an oysterman, plying his trade in the waters of Long Island Sound.

We caught up with Jonathan this winter at Artspace New Haven, where he had a large installation called “Shore Leave” and several smaller sculptures on display. He also had a concurrent show of wall pieces at the New Alliance Bank gallery in New Haven.

In his pieces, Jonathan says he plays with what’s happening and what appears to be happening. His pieces are about memory and making associations, the play of dark and light. The larger ones tend to be site-specific and, by definition, temporary.

“Shore Leave,” which was constructed right in the Artspace gallery for the duration of the show, “integrates the various principles that inform Waters’ artistic intentions,” the gallery description said.

Constructed out of wood, tape, paint, and well pipe, the large, circular structure “captures the dynamism and movement inherent to the piece during its making.”

“In these works, Waters attempts to blur the boundaries that typically separate these media through his manipulation of materials and space, creating a new dialogue between the viewer, the object, and the artist,” the gallery description reads.

Jonathan is more or less back where he started. After graduating from TCS, he attended public school and then the Barlow School in Amenia, N.Y. He went on to college at Windham College, where he grew increasingly interested in the Arts, both performing and visual. After graduation, he returned home to Branford and worked in the quarries in Stony Creek before eventually going on to Yale to receive his MFA. After Yale, Jonathan headed to New York to pursue his interest in sculpture. Sculpting was an art form Jonathan had known all his life: His grandfather was Heinz Warneke, a sculptor most famous for his work on Washington’s National Cathedral. The late ’70s and early ’80s were a riveting time to be in New York, as Jonathan exhibited his work in Manhattan and Brooklyn and worked alongside such artists as di Suvero, Serra, and von Schlegall.

Eventually, though, Jonathan grew disenchanted with the New York art scene and he returned to Stony Creek to make his living as a fisherman. He and his wife, Michelle, moved to one of the Thimble Islands, where they raised their daughter, Emilie ’02, in a house with no electricity. To get Emilie (now a student at McGill in Montreal) to The Country School each day, they would commute by boat to the mainland and then head off up the highway to Madison.

After some 20 years plying his trade in the waters of Long Island Sound, the life of a fisherman began to lose its allure – as Jonathan said, he started to lose his edge; it is a business that takes intense energy and focus, for safety reasons almost as much as anything else. Someone made an offer to buy the business, and Jonathan decided it was time.

He found himself sculpting again full-time, this time with a renewed vigor. “The hardship [of the fishing business] prepares you very well to be an artist, and being an artist prepares you to be a fisherman,” he said.

These days he has a large studio in West Haven and has had exhibits throughout the Northeast, including shows at galleries, an installation along the Madison Sculpture Mile, and several private commissions.

Much of Jonathan’s work as a fisherman involved being an advocate for the environment, and so it is not surprising that his work takes on an environmental aspect as well. He often uses recycled materials; for instance, the installation at Art Space was made from abandoned water pipes he found in the Sound and scraps of wood.

To view more of Jonathan’s work, please visit www.jonathanwatersart.com

Are you an artist who is also a TCS alum?

Please let us know what you’re up to. Email: alumni@thecountryschool.org.

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ALUMNI BOARD NEWS A Letter from the Alumni Board Chair Dear TCS Alumni, Families, and Friends, As co-chair of the TCS Alumni Association, I am thrilled to report that the Alumni Association has enjoyed a rebirth the last two years. A lot of hard work has been taking place behind the scenes, and I would like to share some of it with you.

The primary mission of the Alumni Board is to reconnect with former students and parents at TCS. Jesse Brockwell ’00 has done an amazing job of developing a Facebook page for alumni. Former students can reconnect with classmates as well as be updated as to what is happening at TCS. (Visit “TCS Alumni” on Facebook.)

Board Vice-Chair Linda Lee (P ’05, ’07, ’10) has organized our class agents. Linda and Jesse developed a class agent packet to help class agents as they reconnect with former classmates. They also developed an electronic Class Agent Newsletter.

Our alumni serve a vital role as ambassadors for TCS. We are currently looking at methods for our alumni to be resources for each other. Both our current students and our alumni can network with each other as they move to the next phases of their lives, whether it be in high school, college, or the job market.

Our alumni can be vital in the admission process for TCS. Who better than a former student to speak to a family looking at TCS for their child? And, of course, if any alumni would like to make a donation to TCS, why not?

Diana and Joel Glassman ’04 during an Alumni Board meeting.

Please visit the TCS website to keep yourselves up to date as to what is happening on campus and with our alumni. Should you wish to reach us, feel free to email alumni@thecountryschool.org.

Finally, I would like to thank and recognize my fellow Alumni Board members for their hard work: Jeff Burt ’61 (P ’00, ’03) - Board Co-Chair Linda Lee (P ’05, ’07, ’10) - Vice Chair Kathleen McNary ’97 - Vice Chair Jeanne Boyer Roy, Director of Development and Alumni Relations (P ’01, ’06) Jesse Brockwell ’00 Debbie Cianciolo (P ’99, ’02, ’06, ’09) Terry Jones Eddy ’60 Liz Lightfoot ’77 (P ’05, ’07, ’08, ’12) Linda Penn, Trustee (P ’04, ’08, ’13) Jason Wainio, Director of Admission (P ’18) I know I speak for my fellow board members when I say we are doing what we do because we recognize the vital role TCS has played in our lives. Whether you are a TCS graduate, a current parent, or – as I will soon be when my youngest child, Jordan, graduates in June – a past parent, The Country School has made a difference in our lives.

Supporting TCS on the Alumni Board is one way we can give back.

With best wishes, Diana Glassman (parent of Joel ’04, Kara ’07, and Jordan ’09)

Alumni Board Vice Chair Linda Lee, Director of Development and Alumni Relations Jeanne Boyer Roy, and Alumni Board Vice Chair Kathleen McNary.

Would you like to become more involved in your Alma Mater? Do you have news you would like to share?

Please email alumni@thecountryschool.org 13

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TCS Announces the Suzanne Bashaw Fund

CS is pleased to announce the formation of a new fund to support tuition assistance at TCS in memory of Sue Bashaw.

Established in late May after the death of our dear friend and colleague, the fund has already received several donations, including a challenge grant from the Burt Family. Under terms of the challenge, donations made in memory of Sue Bashaw will be matched by the Burts during the forthcoming academic year. The funds will be earmarked in memory of Sue Bashaw and designated for the Founders’ Promise Fund Endowment, ensuring that gifts in her honor benefit students at TCS in perpetuity.

“Sue had many unique and wonderful qualities, but without a doubt one of her most memorable attributes was her ability to make everyone feel welcome,” said Jeff Burt. “The Founders’ Promise Fund is all about welcoming people to the TCS community. We could think of no better way to honor Sue’s memory than by creating a legacy gift to support scholarships at - and welcome new individuals to - TCS.” Many thanks to the Burt family for their continued leadership and to all who have chosen to honor Sue in this way.

TCS CLASS AGENTS READY TO ROLL

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hank you to the following alumni who have agreed to serve as class agents: Jeff Burt – 1961 Stephen Davis – 1970 Liz Lightfoot – 1977 Paul Staley – 1979 Heather Beani – 1984 Kathleen McNary – 1997 Jordan Katz – 1999 Jesse Brockwell – 2000 Brian Mummert – 2001 Elizabeth Elrick – 2002 Liz Walbridge – 2003 Joel Glassman – 2004 David Kelly – 2004 Taylor Cwiertniewicz – 2005 Eliza Nguyen – 2005 Landon Weber – 2005 Katherine Lauer – 2006 Jordan Nesi – 2006 Bianca Salkin – 2006 Alexandra Zak – 2007 Austyn Cwiertniewicz – 2008 Tess Cianciolo – 2009 Bobbie Semple – 2009 Are you interested in serving as a class agent? If so, please contact alumni@thecountryschool.org

A GRADUATE REMEMBERS TCS

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hank you to Mary McGee ’05, a senior at Valley Regional High School, for sharing an essay that she wrote for her high school English class. A beautiful yet bittersweet remembrance of her years at TCS, it shows how deeply connected she felt to her school when she was a student and how, as she approaches college, she realizes that life at TCS continues even after she is no longer there.

The Home to Which I No Longer Belong

By Mary McGee ’05

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ven if I closed my eyes, I could effortlessly lead a tour around The Country School.

Everything and nothing has changed. The sense of home sparks sensory details leading to thousands of moments frozen in time. I see myself jumping in puddles with a kitty cat umbrella as I eagerly make my way towards the concrete science building. I hear the laughter of my friends during recess when the first snowflakes perform their intricate descent. I touch my own handprint, forever 12 imprinted on the sidewalk. Walking through my own memories I return to the place where I grew up. The faded yellow buildings were the set and scenery which structured my childhood. I wipe my feet on the blue and gold owl mat and open the door to the realization that I no longer belong here.

What makes a home? The dictionary defines a home as a residence, family group, or a safe place. A home may be the place where you live with your family and sleep every night, or it may be something different.

The Country School was my home for 10 years. My classmates were family and my teachers were aunts and uncles. They watched me grow from a preschooler with tangled brown hair who had trouble saying her “r”s, to a 15 year old with tamed highlighted hair whose carefree use of “r” vocabulary belied her troubled history with the letter. I spent more time at this school than I did at my own house. Even in the summer, as if compelled by some unknown force, I returned. In 8th Grade when I graduated, I knew I had to leave the community which had sheltered and molded me into the person I had become. Not unlike a bird leaving the nest, I embarked on a new journey with the foundation given to me by my unconventional family.

My return to this place was bittersweet. Strangers populate the once familiar chairs. The school exists in a universe of which I am no longer a part. I see a student wearing my soccer jersey number laughing at a joke. I smell the lunchroom stir-fry no longer being prepared for me. I pass through the halls a stranger to everyone, experiencing overwhelming feelings of loss and change.

Walking from building to building, I retrace the often-trod paths which were once routine. I see my teachers who know me not as I am now, but as I was then. Bob Dylan once said, “You can always come back, but you can’t come back all the way.” I can revisit the school, but it is merely a shell, a place no more frozen in time then I am. The Country School which I knew, now only resides in my memories. I can go back to the school, but I can never go back to my home.

Mary, who took to the stage this spring as Belle in Valley’s musical version of Beauty and the Beast – the third straight year that she has had a lead role in her high school’s musical – plans to attend Muhlenberg College next year.

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OUTDOOR ED RECAP – Wholeheartedly Embracing the Challenge

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n our 2008 edition of Country Connections, we told you about the then-forthcoming Outdoor Education celebration Embrace the Challenge. Held at Mystic Aquarium, this special evening allowed us to celebrate two important TCS traditions: Outdoor Education and its founder at TCS, Middle School math teacher and advisor Bob McGee, who last year marked his 25th year at The Country School.

The evening was a tremendous success on many fronts: A great time was had by all and significant funds were raised for TCS’ signature Outdoor Education program, including the school’s largest-ever one-time gift, an anonymous $100,000 donation.

This spring, in accordance with the donor’s wishes, Head of School William Powers announced that the gift would underwrite the creation of a Garden Classroom and an on-campus ropes course. These mission-appropriate undertakings will provide additional opportunities for students of all ages to learn about environmental stewardship and engage in the kinds of adventures our Middle School students have enjoyed for years through the Outdoor Education program.

Perhaps most important, the gift allowed the creation of the Outdoor Education Endowment Fund, ensuring that Outdoor Education remain a hallmark of the TCS experience in perpetuity. The gift also served as a catalyst to other donors, including a group who banded together to underwrite the construction of a climbing wall in the DeFancis Gymnasium.

Many thanks to our donors, volunteers, and attendees at Embrace the Challenge!

As a community, we certainly embraced the challenge.

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Art In and O A Creative

What Mr. A really left me with . . . is far more profound than any sort of technical information.

He showed me that through thought, dedication, and hard work, it is possible to realize anything you can conceive of. My only regret is that I have yet to figure out a linguistic or material expression that can sufficiently convey how tremendously thankful I am to Mr. A for his infinite support, enthusiasm, and commitment to his students.

~ Jared Madere ’01

Outside the Art Studio: Collage

Like every other Country School alumni story that I have heard, the most inspiring moment of my life was the Southwest Trip. . .

But I mainly believe that because of the encouragement of all the wonderful teachers at The Country School I was able to take risks, make mistakes, and begin to understand myself and my role in the world.

~ Amelia Holmes ’03

FROM THE ARCHIVES

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hank you to Art teacher David Acheson, who shared with us the metal plaque that students dug up during an archeological dig outside the Farmhouse several years ago. The plaque reads, “Presented to The Country School by Elijah Ball Stony Creek 1957.”

The young archeologists surmised that it lived on the original flag pole in front of the flagpole. Above, young archeologists at work.

Thank you to trustee Lynn Haversat, who delivered “The Country School Cookbook” to us one day last year. One of Lynn’s relatives had been visiting a local tag sale when she came across a small notebook, its vinyl cover bound by metal rings. Inside, she found recipes that had been photocopied – or mimeographed in the style of the times – with submissions from such names from the past as Joanna Davenport, wife of Steve Davenport, TCS head of school from 1974-1977 (Chutney Cheese Spread); Dot Cahill, mother of three students in the ’70s and grandmother of current student Sam Sweitzer ’09 and alum K.C. Sweitzer ’07 (Hot Olive Cheese Puffs and Lazy Daisy Cake); and Carol Robinson, then a French teacher and later the TCS headmistress (Diable Noir, or Brownie Pie). Stop by the Farmhouse if you’re looking for some good recipes from the ’70s.

Thanks as well to former trustee and Alumni Board President Jeff Burt ’61, who arrived at school recently with a bill he discovered in a desk that once belonged to his parents. As it turns out, it was the tuition bill his parents had been asked to pay for his first half-year as a student at TCS. Dated September 4, 1960, the bill came to a whopping $390 (it included a $3 charge for milk).

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THANK YOU, VOLUNTEERS! A Letter from the Director of Development and Alumni Relations Dear TCS alumni, family, and friends, Hillary Clinton borrowed the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” for the title of her 1996 best-selling book.

With apologies to both Secretary Clinton and to those who originally uttered the words, let me borrow from them again and state that it takes a lot of very committed people to run an independent school. And it absolutely takes a village to advance that school, to take it to the next level, and to make it the best that it can be.

At TCS, we are blessed with an indefatigable group of volunteers who are always happy to roll up their sleeves, dive in, and make it happen.

In every endeavor they take on, our volunteers help us keep our real purpose in sight: supporting the children and faculty of TCS. Even more important, they help us dream and then turn those dreams into realities.

I am talking about things like the Founders’ Promise Fund, our scholarship fund that didn’t even exist a few years ago and now has made it possible for countless students to attend TCS; the team that helped us create our new, state-of-the-art playground; last year’s Embrace the Challenge event, which led to the endowment of an Outdoor Education fund and helped us install a Garden Classroom and create a ropes course; the recently held Celebrate the ArtZ event, which underwrote the new acoustical system in the gym so that our students’ talents - guided by our devoted faculty - could be properly appreciated.

I am talking about the volunteers who run Grandparents and Special Friends Day, allowing different generations to share the TCS experience and understand what it means to the children in their lives; those who orchestrate the visit of hundreds of Pen Pals from the Bridgeport Multi-Cultural Magnet School; and those who work all year long on our committees. I am talking about Parent Council, Room Parents, the Arts Council, the Alumni Board, and members of the Board of Trustees. I am talking about every single person who has ever donated time or money to The Country School.

TCS is indebted. Quite simply, we could not have done it without you.

I cannot wait to see where, together, we go next.

Thank you all!

With best wishes,

Jeanne Boyer Roy Director of Development and Alumni Relations P ’01, ’06

ALUMNI DAY 2008 Some 50+ alumni returned to campus for Alumni Day 2008.

In addition to the traditional alumni vs. faculty athletic contests (which this year had to feature basketball instead of soccer due to rain), former students enjoyed catching up over lunch and participated on an alumni panel about their secondary school experiences. They honored their former 1st Grade teacher; heard from the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient; and learned why Jesse Brockwell ’00 has chosen to devote time and energy to TCS as a member of the Alumni Board.

Tyler Lipp’02

Tyler Lipp’02 Designs Invitation to Alumni Day Many thanks to Tyler Lipp, a talented member of the Class of 2002, for designing our wonderful Alumni Day invitation.

A Day in the Life, Remembered

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A speech delivered by Jesse Brockwell ’00 on Alumni Day

elow, we share the text of Jesse’s speech, A Day in the Life, Remembered, in part because so much of it will be so familiar to our alumni, but also because it is a perfect example of why we do what we do.

Good afternoon fellow alumni, Welcome back to TCS! It is a privilege to speak to you today.

Though I haven’t met some of you, there is a strange familiarity between alumni. We have all gone our separate ways in life, but here we are, returning to our roots. We are here to revisit the school that gave us a foundation for the paths we have chosen.

I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that TCS is unlike any other place on Earth. There is a certain feeling I get when I’m passing the soccer field and turning into the school driveway. Instantly, I’m in a different place. I am brought back to the years where I would step off the bus and walk through the front door, skip most of the steps in the stairwell and say hi to a few friends while we put away our books.

Off to homeroom now, then period 1 – the start of another day.

First period is English. Ah, Lord of the Flies. This class tends to get a little rowdy. Everyone thinks they have the conch or something, I don’t know. Now it’s Math with Mr. McGee. Awesome, I get to see how my stocks are doing. I pick up the paper… Ooooo, I am SO glad I didn’t spend my own money on that. Okay, maybe Latin will be better.

Quintus and Caecilius are in the garden, carrying urns. Fun stuff. I think to myself, “Wow, today just isn’t measuring up right now.” But it’s time for history. Class is going as usual. My friend DJ Lanz is laughing at everything and distracting the class, who knows why. Finally, Mrs. Barber stops writing on the board, mid-sentence, turns around, and slings the chalk at DJ. Her throw is swift and her aim is true. The white arrow finds its mark and order is restored to the republic.

This just makes my entire day. I laugh to myself as I realize that Mrs. Barber must have had a lot of practice at this kind of thing. It’s snack time now. We have a mini-recess in the morning. Life couldn’t get any better. After recess, it’s Spanish with Señora Schofield. It’s the Day of the Dead! Morbid holiday, I thought, but food! By now, I was so wrong about this day. But wait. . . . It’s gym time. . . . “What are we doing today?” I gotta ask Mr. Wallack. Grab my gym clothes, up the stairwell. Out the door, take a right, up the sidewalk. There’s Mr. Wallack. “Capture the flag today!”

YES! Locker room, change, out to the field. Quick, be the first one to get to the crate full of flags you tie around your waist. Paul Cooley, Gabriel Sessions, and I huddle around and debate the best way to tie your flags so they don’t come off if someone grabs them.

After agreeing on some intricate knot, we step out to play. We are the red team, and we are out for blood. Both teams line up at midfield, the whistle blows, and the game begins. . .

It’s quiet. There is a slight breeze. Both teams stare and wait. . . .

Who will make the first move? Suddenly, I catch something out of the corner of my eye as Jeff Zollshan bolts across the line, straight for the yellow team’s flag. The red team follows, full speed ahead, we can overwhelm them! The charge is bold, but we’re losing men. Flags are flying left and right, the pain is overwhelming as I see more friends drop on the battlefield, only to march solemnly to the jail by the cornerflag. But there he is! Jeff has dodged and darted through the defense, and is fast approaching yellow’s flag.

Our plan had worked; yellow simply didn’t have the manpower to withstand our onslaught. As we turned around and starting running back with yellow’s flag in hand, we caught sight of something devastating. THEY HAD OUR FLAG. There was NO ONE on defense!

We had all charged! Now, DJ has our flag, basically our whole team is in jail, and DJ has been playing football since he could walk.

Things are not looking good for the red team right now. DJ knows this, and smiles wider with every stride. But then, the unthinkable happens. DJ’s flag just falls off. No reason, just fate. Jeff crosses the line. A fair and deserving victory goes to the red team this day.

Following that epic battle – lunch and recess. We’re down to the last few periods now. First, it’s wood shop, where I carve a bowl fit for a capture the flag champion. Last period is science. What’s that? A lab today? I wonder what we’re doing. “Today you will be dissecting owl pellets!” says Mrs. Hartsoe. “What are those?” Julia asks. “They’re dried up owl droppings,” Mrs. Hartsoe responds. “Owl pellets!” I thought, isn’t that a little ironic considering our mascot?

But, nevertheless, it proved to be entertaining and educational, in that order. I remember turning to my lab partner and saying, “Dude, this thing ate a WHOLE MOUSE!” “Yea, man,” he said, “I don’t get it either.”

The Country School is an unforgettable experience. Here, excellence is the standard. We expect much out of our students, because we know they have much to give. Students rise to this

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Jesse Brockwell ’00

Jerry Davis ’74

Movie Producer

positive expectation, and in doing so, witness their own success.

It is said that there is a tribe in Africa which has a 100% success rate with their rain dances. When scientists came to investigate, they asked the tribal leader how this was possible. The chief laughed and said, “It’s simple. We just dance until it rains.” I am instantly reminded of the teachers here at TCS. No matter how long it takes, they will teach, and even dance a little, until they see their students succeed.

Before coming to TCS, I attended a public school system. I liked going to school there. I had grown up with all of my peers. But then I came to TCS, and found myself in a different place. I learned to love the environment here. My teachers were passionate about what they were doing. I’ll say that no matter how young you are, you know it when someone has a cause in their life. I seemed to pick that up from every teacher I had here. And it inspired me. It moved me to learn and grow and become better.

Now, I find myself following their footsteps as a full-time tutor for the Learning Consultants Group. I finally have a sense of what they were so excited about. Every second I spend with a student is a gift. To know that you can make even the smallest contribution to a child’s success is more rewarding than I can describe. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t really have a job per se, I love it too much.

I would rather call it a responsibility.

When I returned to TCS to ask how the Learning Consultants could help the school and its students, I found that there were more ways I could contribute than just tutoring or donating that ton of money I have underneath my mattress somewhere. I realized that time, energy, and thought could be just as valuable if you used enough of each. Some day, I will give money back to the school, and I will join the circle of generous alumni who have sacrificed so that hundreds of students could prosper in their education here.

Until then, I will make my alternative donations, and consider it worthwhile if I can make a difference in the life education of one student.

During one of the Alumni Board meetings, Jason Wainio read off a list of questions that the 7th Graders had about high school. One of the student’s questions really struck me. The question was – “What is it like to go to school with people who don’t go to TCS?” That speaks volumes about this community. Here, it is expected and commonplace for students to challenge themselves. This is a place where it is safe to fail and learn how to get back up. And so, students discover how to learn for the rest of their lives. They learn to dance until it rains.

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Jerry Davis ’74 Is 2008 DISTINGUISHED ALUM

uring a year in which we celebrated the Arts, it seemed especially fitting that the Alumni Board chose to award the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award to one of The Country School’s most creative graduates: Jerry Davis ’74, a movie and theater producer behind such blockbusters as Toy Story, Robots, Iron Giants, Ice Age, and Everyone’s Hero.

During a visit to campus, Jerry entertained students and fellow alumni with stories about his path from Connecticut to Hollywood.

As one might imagine, the path was long and circuitous (from Goodspeed in East Haddam to Broadway and Off-Broadway and eventually to such destinations as Pixar and Warner Brothers) and his speech was laced with humor.

“While I’m very honored to be named a Distinguished Alumnus, it’s been difficult, quite honestly, to understand why I would deserve that sort of honor,” Jerry said. “I have gray hair. I am told it’s very distinguished.”

He went on to describe some of his classmates, for whom he thought the award might be more fitting: Mitch Feierstein, for instance, who was among the first traders in carbon credits; Greg Kats, who was in the Department of Energy during the Clinton Administration developing alternative energy sources; or Andy Griswold who serves as director of EcoTravel for the Connecticut Audubon Society.

“I, on the other hand, have spent years of my life trying to figure out what gross things we can do with Sid the Sloth,” he said.

“Distinguished? We’re not saving the world. Or are we?”

Jerry went on to cite scientific studies that show how laughter can: strengthen the immune system, raise the pain threshold, lower food cravings and blood pressure, help one heal more quickly, provide a workout for the heart, resulting in 20 percent more blood flow, and increase intelligence.

“So maybe my work in animated movies has done some good,” he said. “Maybe, if I’ve made people laugh, I can be a distinguished alumnus.”

Eudora Welty said, “Childhood’s learning is made up of moments.

It isn’t steady. It’s a pulse.” Here, that learning is kept alive and well. Fellow alumni, let’s do whatever we can to keep the heart of The Country School beating steady and strong. Thank you.

Jesse, who attended Old Lyme High School and then Elon University after TCS, works as an educator for Learning Consultants Group. He has been an invaluable resource to both the office of Alumni Relations and the Secondary School counselor.

Jerry Davis catches up with some current students.

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ALUMNI NEWS Jerry Davis continued Jerry credited TCS for preparing him well for the business he is in.

“After all,” he said, “I played ‘Doc’ in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves on this very stage, and thus learned to survive total humiliation.”

And then there was his career as President of the Student Council.

“Leading a crew and standing up to studio heads and difficult actors was easy after having stood toe-to-toe with the Headmaster, or worse, Mrs. Shermer, my Latin teacher,” he said.

Finally, he said, there is one other “clear inspiration for which I thank The Country School. Do you remember the scene in Ice Age where they’re walking on the ice and it starts to melt and then suddenly they’re in the middle of a volcano and they almost die? That was based on my 9th Grade camping trip.”

Joking aside, Jerry said it all really started with his parents, J. Sanford and Helen Davis, who sent Jerry and his two brothers, Stephen Davis ’70 (the father of current student Gabriel Davis ’10) and Russell Davis ’72 to TCS. “They (my parents) valued education above all else and saw in this school a nurturing, achievement-oriented environment where it was O.K. to take risks,” he said. “I’m very grateful to them for the sacrifices they made to send my brothers and me, as lifers, to The Country School.”

attend TCS who would otherwise be unable to afford it. The numbers of gifts per year have grown as well, with 16 participants the first year, 19 the second, and more than 25 so far this year.

This past year, the Burts (Jeff ’61; his wife, Allee; and their children, Taylor ’00 and Hilary ’03) made another generous gift, creating the Founders’ Promise Fund Endowment, a permanent fund that will spin off money annually to support tuition assistance. It goes without saying that – during our country’s current economic crisis – tuition assistance programs such as these serve an even more critical role. Thank you to the Burt family and to the many others who gave generously to the Founders’ Promise Fund in the recent year. Your gifts truly matters!

Some of our young alumni have clearly absorbed that message.

Recently we heard from Daniel Hartsoe ’05, a senior at Choate Rosemary Hall who, along with his sisters, Katie ’01 and Kelsey ’11, made a donation to TCS. As Daniel wrote in his accompanying note, he feels “privileged to be able to give back to the community that has given us so much in our lives.”

The full text of his note appears below: The Country School was effectively my home for nine years of my childhood, and has meant so much to me, Katie and Kelsey over the years. My teachers and classmates at TCS instilled in me a love of learning, both inside the classroom and out in the world (and especially through the Outdoor Ed program), and taught me how to get along with others, however different they may be from me. The special relationship I had and continue to have with my teachers and classmates at TCS cultivated these two qualities in me, and helped me grow as a student and as a person. As a former headmaster once said, TCS is the greatest little school in the universe, and my sisters and I feel privileged to be able to give back to the community that has given us so much in our lives. Our enclosed donation may be monetarily small, but it represents our incalculable appreciation.

Jordan Katz ’99 has also been a consistent donor to TCS, has agreed to serve as a class agent, and is looking to spearhead a reunion for his graduating class. (Interested classmates should contact alumni@ thecountryschool.org .)

GIVING BACK Alumni Support TCS through Words, Deeds, and Dollars

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eanne Boyer Roy, director of Development and Alumni Relations, is thrilled to report dramatic growth in the Founders’ Promise Fund, the scholarship program created in honor of The Country School’s founders during the school’s 50th anniversary. Much of that growth is due to the generosity of alumni, who seem to want others to benefit from a TCS education just as they have themselves.

In the three years since the Founders’ Promise Fund began – with a $50,000 gift from the Burt family – it has grown exponentially, with more than $106,000 raised this year alone, helping dozens of students

A graduate of St. Paul’s and Princeton, where he majored in Economics, received a certificate in Finance, and rowed varsity lightweight men’s crew, Jordan is currently in his second year at J.P. Morgan, working in the investment bank. “I cover the Consumer/ Retail sector,” he wrote in an email. “It has certainly been a wild time to be starting out in finance, but thankfully I have escaped relatively unscathed so far.”

Asked why he has chosen to support The Country School as a donor for the past several years, Jordan responded: TCS holds a very special place in my heart and I am excited to give back in any way I can. Many of the teachers at TCS were some of the most influential people in my life thus far and I think many of the opportunities I’ve been afforded are directly related to the skill set and interest in learning that TCS helped me develop. Additionally, TCS feels like a place where a young person like me can make a tangible difference and where even a small financial gift can be impactful.

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ALUMNI NEWS

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

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any thanks to Joel Glassman ’04, Alumni Office intern last summer, who compiled this list of his classmates and where they were headed.

Iggy Armenia - Quinnipiac University Sage Aronson - Oberlin College Jordon Bohinc - Clemson University Peter Borgstrom - Boston College Stephanie Bradford - Barnard College Will Bray - University of Pennsylvania Gracie Brown-Geist - University of Virginia Stephanie Burnett - Bishops University Sarah Catlett - Oberlin College Alex Catullo - Northeastern University Will Cooley - St. Lawrence University Chris Crabbe - Colby College Katelyn Cunningham - pursuing acting career Nat Duncan - Hamilton College Ben Firke - Wesleyan University Mark Fusco - Roger Williams University Joel Glassman - University of St. Andrews (Scotland) Chris Grant-Gunther - Bentley College Ben Johnson - Bowdoin College Becca Joslow - Parsons School of Design David Kelly - Providence College Zef Konst - Haverford College Thomas McGee - University of Connecticut Jay Meyer - New England College Jesse Newbold - Class of ’09 at Taft Alex Newton - Rodger Williams Zach Penn - Elon University Andre Penner - Boston University Carter Robertson - University of Richmond Brendan Ruby - University of Connecticut Matt Siretta - Nazareth College Aaron Snyder - University of Ohio Rachel Stahl - University of Rochester Sean Stoessel - St. Lawrence University Danny Wallack - Western Connecticut State University Jesse Youngblood - Carnegie Mellon

WHERE ARE THEY GOING?

The Class of 2005 Heads to College

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s we go to press, the Class of 2005 college list is still being compiled, but some of the colleges and universities to which we hear our graduates gained admission include: American University; Arizona State; Boston College; Boston University; Brown; Champlain; Colgate; Connecticut College; Dickinson, Goucher; Harvard, Holy Cross, Johns Hopkins; Lehigh; Lesley; Lynn University; Muhlenberg; New York University; Northeastern; Ole Miss; Princeton; St. Michael’s, Smith; Stanford; Trinity; the Universities of Connecticut, Richmond, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin; Washington and Lee; and Wesleyan.

WHERE ARE THEY GOING?

The Class of 2009 Heads to High School

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lans were still being firmed up, but members of the Class of 2009 are heading to a range of fine independent, parochial, and public schools. Among the schools to which our students gained admission are: Avon Old Farms, Cheshire Academy, Choate Rosemary Hall, Fairfield Prep, Foote, Hamden Hall, High Mowing, Hopkins, Hotchkiss, Kingswood-Oxford, Loomis Chaffee, Mercy, Miss Porter’s, Pomfret, Salisbury, Suffield, Taft, Westminster, Williams, and Xavier.

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FACULTY NEWS A Movie Star in Our Midst:

Harlan Brothers on the Silver Screen

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urrent students and teachers are accustomed to seeing TCS Director of Technology Harlan Brothers on stage when he plays with the faculty band “They Might Be Teachers.” Soon they may also be able to see him on the screen.

Mr. Brothers is slated to appear in a forthcoming documentary on Johann Sebastian Bach and how the composer influenced life in the 21st century. Filmmaker Michael Lawrence contacted Mr. Brothers last fall at the suggestion of Ivars Peterson, a well-known math writer at the Mathematical Association of America. Mr. Peterson had written an article in his Mathematical Tourist column about Mr. Brothers’ paper “Structural Scaling In Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3,” which was published in the journal Fractals last year. Apparently Mr. Lawrence was hoping Mr. Brothers could find some fractal animations for him to use in his feature length Bach documentary.

touch so many lives and they give back. . . . I’m overwhelmed.”

During Alumni Day, two of those students gave back again. Mary McGee ’05 and Hilary Burt ’03 presented a congratulatory bouquet of flowers to their former 1st Grade teacher. In a speech before the presentation, Mary said, “Mrs. Knowlton was my 1st Grade teacher at The Country School. Although I have not been in her class for 11 years, I still take what Mrs. Knowlton taught me and I use it everyday. When I read the lunch menu at school or read the sign telling me to make a complete stop Mrs. Knowlton has affected my life. As the Lower School song goes ‘In 1st grade we learn to read and write.’”

FORMER FACULTY NEWS

After talking on the phone, Mr. Lawrence asked him if he would agree to be interviewed for the film. Mr. Brothers traveled to Baltimore in early December to do the shoot. The web cut, a brief excerpt of the interview that he plans to use to promote the film, has been produced. Visit http://www.mlfilms.com/productions/bach_project to view the film’s main page.

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eth Lane, who served TCS in a myriad of functions during her 16 years on the TCS faculty, was back on campus recently in a new role: serving as one of six judges for the 53rd Annual Lois MacLane Poetry Recitation.

First Grade Teacher Marcat Knowlton is Local Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year!

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arcat Knowlton, a legend at TCS for nearly 20 years, received a big surprise this fall. During a Lower School meeting, she was presented with a special and entirely unexpected award: area Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year. The award, voted on by students and their parents from a variety of schools in the shoreline area, came with a $1,000 check made out to The Country School.

Bruce Van Brakle, manager at the Guilford Wal-Mart, said Mrs. Knowlton received the most votes of all teachers nominated at the area store, adding that supporting education is a major priority for the giant retailer. Since Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year began in 1995, more than 30,000 teachers have been honored, and the company has contributed more than $67 million toward education, of which $29 million has gone directly to local schools.

“I’m amazed and grateful to everyone who took the time to vote,” Mrs. Knowlton said. “I’ve just seen so many children. It’s so nice. You

Students remember Beth, now an art student herself at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, as an inspirational Middle School English and history teacher. She was so inspiring, in fact, that when Jeanne Boyer Roy, TCS director of development and alumni relations, asked her son, Nate ’06, a poetry recitation winner, who should be a judge this year, he didn’t hesitate: “Mrs. Lane,” he said.

During her tenure at TCS, Beth also taught 4th and 5th Grades, served as an aid in PreK, and was Director of Admission and Lower School Coordinator. She also coordinated environmental education, taught yoga, and was the faculty representative on the Board of Trustees. In addition, she is a past parent - her son, Nathan, graduated from The Country School.

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arah Meneely-Kyder was also back at school just before the holidays selling her new CD, “A Garland of Hymns and Carols,” at the TCS Holiday Boutique. Several of her former students, including Ann Lightfoot ’80 (who was also at the boutique selling her handmade jewelry) and Liz Lightfoot ’77 (who was purchasing both CDs and jewelry), enjoyed catching up with her.

A gorgeous, multi-media CD that contains both audio and video presentations, “A Garland of Hymns and Carols” features Christmas classics, including “Silent Night” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

Students who were at TCS when Sarah was music teacher might also be pleased to hear “Dona Nobis Pacem,” which actually appears twice on the CD.

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FACULTY NEWS On her website www.meneely-kyder.net, Sarah writes, “More than 25 years ago, given my life as a composer, and given the high profile and power of music during the Advent and Christmas season, I determined to start writing brief hymns or carols to close friends and family. I did so for two years and the music, originally presented on regular staff paper and stuffed into large envelopes, was greatly appreciated by all.”

Network, a division of CNBC and NBC, producing and directing financial programming from the World Trade Center for the financial industry. After three years there, he started up a film production Company, The Wynnewood Group, producing commercials documentaries, web broadcasts and infomercials.

Somewhere along the line, he writes, “I got lured in from one of the boys I was coaching for Pelham (NY) Hockey as the part time ice hockey coach for Masters. With my schedule I was able to carve out a chunk of time in the afternoon and I loved working with the kids at Masters. We were a terrible team, only winning one game, but that did not matter. I longed to return to education.”

In the spring of 2005, he writes that he “got wind of an opening in the admission department so I threw my hat in the ring and said if my background in advertising and marketing would be helpful we should talk.” Apparently it was, and he started at Masters a few months later.

It was a good move. “I am so happy being back in a school setting,” he writes. “Such a welcomed change from corporate America. I have oversight over the marketing and advertising efforts and travel all over the country meeting with students, secondary school placement directors, and consultants. I have never worked so hard but the joy of being around such fabulous kids makes it all worth it.”

She writes that eventually she asked her husband, a visual artist, to create graphics for the front face of the card that would reflect the music in the interior. The collaboration continued for 23 years.

“Two years ago, I felt that it was time to pull together the vocal and instrumental forces, to record all of the music inherent in the cards, and to produce the music on an enhanced CD as proof that the tiny musical representations inside the card were, in fact, ‘real’ music!” she writes. “Voce, an inspiring chorus based in Hartford, CT, has recorded all of the musical material to date under the brilliant direction of Mark Singleton, Artistic Director.”

Tom and his wife, Annie, live in Ridgefield, CT, with their golden retriever, Wynnie. Their son, Tim, graduated from Salisbury School in 2002 and Hobart College in 2006, where he was a national crew star.

He now works as an account executive in NYC at My Space.

We look forward to seeing Tom at the next Secondary School Fair.

Anyone interested in the Masters School, feel free to contact Tom at TFaxon@TheMastersSchool.com.

A portion of the proceeds from CD sales will be donated to Hospice.

At the TCS Holiday Boutique, Sarah was also kind enough to donate a portion of her proceeds to TCS.

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om Faxon returned to The Country School last spring, when, representing the Masters School where he serves as Associate Director of Admission, Tom attended the annual Secondary School Fair.

Although his time at TCS was brief, Tom recalled that it was “a great turning point.” As he drove toward The Country School, he said thought about some of his former colleagues, including former history teacher Jim Masker, former woodworking teacher Steve MacArthur, and former math and science teacher Carl Cavrell.

In an email exchange after his visit, Tom wrote that after TCS, he was a dorm parent at Westover School while finishing his graduate degree at Wesleyan (1977). “I took a film class at Wesleyan and it changed my life,” he writes. “The head of the trustees at Westover was a Creative Director of an agency in NYC and he introduced me to the world of Advertising. I landed a job as a television commercial producer at Young and Rubicam in January ’78.”

Tom writes that he followed that path for the next 26 years. He remarried in 1983, and son, Tim, “came along on in April ’84.”

After Young and Rubicam, he worked for Leo Burnett Company in Chicago and Benton and Bowles Company back in NYC, producing commercials for United Airlines, McDonalds, Pampers, Crest, Charmin, Revlon, etc. In 1991, he began working with The Private Financial

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F

ormer Head of School Steve Danenberg is enjoying retirement, although it will surprise no one to learn that he is hardly embarking on this new stage in his life in a retiring fashion. After heading The Touchstone Community School (the other TCS), a PreK through 8th Grade progressive school in Grafton, MA, Steve retired last June.

Rather than kicking back, though, he jumped right in to the fray, volunteering for the Obama campaign, first in Connecticut and later in New Hampshire, where he helped canvass voters. When the election finished, he continued volunteering for moveon.org, which led him to his current positions: working in development for Habitat for Humanity and volunteering for the local Red Cross.

In addition to his many volunteer obligations, Steve reports getting a lot of work done around the house and enjoys spending time with his young grandchildren, Christopher and Caroline. He and his wife, Mary, plan to travel to China this summer.

CLASS NOTES Former Faculty News - Continued

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ormer Middle School Director John Fixx is in his sixth year as Head of

School at Chase Collegiate in Waterbury.

We caught up with John at an indoor soccer arena, where he was playing in a father-son match with his son, former TCS student Nat, now a sophomore at Chase. John’s wife, Liza, is teaching 3rd Grade at Chase; their daughter is now an 8th Grader.

CLASS NOTES Class of 1959

We were pleased to hear from Nat Barrows, publisher of the Penobscot Bay Press in Stonington, Me. Nat was recently named Maine’s Journalist of the Year by the Maine Press Association.

Class of 1974

Jerry Davis, a movie and theater producer, was honored with The Country School’s 2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award. To read more, see the “Distinguished Alumni” section.

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usan Wallace, the niece and goddaughter of former Assistant Headmaster and Director of Physical Education Jim Charlton, recently moved to Madison from California and stopped by campus to visit her new friend, 4th Grade teacher Heather Butler. Susan recalled visiting her aunt and uncle on campus in the ’70s, when they lived with their children in the Farmhouse. When she decided to move back East, she ended up buying a house right down the road.

Like her uncle, Susan is an educator. We hope we’ll see more of her now that she is a neighbor.

We recently caught up with Jerry’s classmate, Greg Kats, a leader in the field of renewable energy. Greg currently serves as managing director of Good Energies, a leading investor in solar and wind energy, load management, and green buildings.

Formerly, he served at the U.S. Department of Energy under Clinton. He also served on President Obama’s transition team. Read more about Greg’s visit to campus in our next issue of Country Connections.

Class of 1977

Class Agent: Liz Lightfoot Betsy Chin is a professor of anthropology at Occidental College, which, as she points out, “can now claim the president of the United States as an (almost) alum, so we’re all excited around here.” Betsy writes that she has gained some “fame/ infamy” for a course she teaches called “The Unbearable Whiteness of Barbie.” (It has been written about in The Washington Post and Time magazine, among other publications.) She says the course is “a ton of fun and actually a very demanding class (just ask my students) but other than that so much of what I do is kind of obscure.” Betsy may consider it obscure, but the American Anthropological Association recently awarded her the AAA Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Betsy has a young daughter, Benin described by her mom as “the tallest 9-yearold on the planet” - who is “really into ice skating.” Her brother, Jack Chin, also a TCS student in the ’70s, is a law professor at the University of Arizona, married, and the father of “two gorgeous girls,” she writes. Recently she exchanged letters with former TCS head Tom West. She enjoyed hearing about Tom Faxon’s visit to campus, saying he is “still one of my all-time favorite teachers.”

Liz Lightfoot recently published Michelle Obama: First Lady of Hope. In addition to several printings in the United States, the book has been published in at least 13 foreign countries. Liz’s third child, Alastair Clements, graduated from TCS last June; her youngest, Honor, is a 5th Grader.

Her oldest, Graeme ’05, heads off to college in the fall. Isabel ’07 is a sophomore.

To read news about Joanna Bloom, please refer to the Alumni Artists page.

Class of 1978

Greg Kats ’74 tells us his brother, Jan Kats, is an artist, blacksmith and sculptor in Portland, Oregon.

Liz Hexter Cote is a social worker in Bridgeport.

Meghan Greer is living in the Newport, RI, area, where she is studying Energy Healing and will soon be certified as an Intuitive Healer. “After two years of Masters work in Clinical Psychology, I became disenchanted with talk therapy as a healing modality,” she writes. “I also facilitate grief recovery workshops and volunteer at the Audubon Society as an Education Assistant. Looking forward to the warmer weather so we can get outside!”

Class of 1981

Matt Griswold and his brother, Martin, were profiled in a recent issue of The Lyme Times about their effort to green their family business, Judge’s Farm. Matt, the father of current students Max and Eli (classes of ’11 and ’13, respectively), and Martin grow perennials at their Old Lyme farm, and this summer they plan to install solar panels to generate the electricity they need for production. They recently received a $36,000 grant from the state Department of Agriculture to help fund their venture.

TCS thanks the Griswold family for once again so graciously donating proceeds from a one-day sale at their farm to support a special project at TCS. Last year it was Outdoor Education; this year it was the Arts.

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CLASS NOTES We also caught up with Matt’s younger sister, Sophie Griswold last spring when she was on campus to pick up her nephews. After working in the business world for many years, Sophie has gone back to school at Johns Hopkins to study medicine.

Class of 1997

Class Agent: Kathleen McNary Kathleen McNary is assistant high school director at the Dalton School in Manhattan.

Kathleen, who is in her fourth year at the Upper East Side school, serves as dean of the senior class and teaches peer leadership, which has an Outdoor Education component. She also works on parent communications and student government.

Given her experiences at Dalton, Kathleen has provided a wealth of information and insight in her role as vice chair on the TCS Alumni Board. Kathleen recently ran into Jordan Katz and Elizabeth and Andrew Gunn.

Class of 1998

Class of 1993 Jess Walker, now known as Jade Walker, is the co-founder of Mill Creek Farm, a non-profit urban educational farm that utilizes vacant land to promote sustainable resources by growing and distributing produce. The farm also demonstrates ecological methods of living. Perhaps most unusual, it is located on just a half-acre of land in the heart of West Philadelphia. Mill Creek Farm was selected as a finalist for the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s Philadelphia Sustainability Award.

Class of 1996 We were pleased to read about the impending marriage of Jason Tucker to Katherine Moll. Jason earned a bachelor’s of science in environmental science from Bucknell and has completed his second year of a joint degree program leading to a JD and masters of environmental law studies at Vermont Law School. Katherine is in the same program.

Having completed her Masters at Smith, Katie Novick is a licensed clinical social worker in the Boston area. She works for an agency that has state contracts and does assessments and diagnosing. Katie lives in Somerville, MA, and takes full advantage of living in the Boston area. She stays in touch with Laura Behrendt.

Scott Tucker earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Tulane University Medical School. He was also awarded the Louisiana Orthopaedic Association Award for his research in orthopaedics during his fourth year of medical school. Scott and his wife, Kate, live in New Orleans. Scott earned his undergraduate degree in biology from Colby College.

Class of 1999

Class Agent: Jordan Katz To read more about Jordan Katz, please see “Alumni Giving Back.”

Class of 2000

Class Agent: Jesse Brockwell TCS offers sincere condolences to Taylor Bashaw on the loss of his mother, Sue Bashaw. We know that Sue was very proud of Taylor, who graduated from Cornell last year and is now working on helicopters at Sikorsky. To read more, see the Dedications section of this magazine.

Also working in the engineering field - and with helicopters - is Matthew Novick. After graduating from Brown last May, Matthew headed to Philadelphia to take up his dream job: an engineer at Boeing.

Many thanks to Jesse Brockwell for his leadership on the Alumni Board and for helping us gain a TCS presence on Facebook. To read more about Jesse and/or the TCS Facebook group, please see “A Day in the Life, Remembered.”

Jesse – and Facebook – provided us with this wonderful update about Claude Giampetro.

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“I just finished a BM in Violin Performance at Northwestern,” Claude wrote. “This year I’ll be freelancing in Chicago and auditioning for grad schools (preferably back east).

Last summer I led a cross-country cycling trip from Jacksonville, FL to San Francisco, which raised money for Katrina relief. We also spent time building houses in NOLA. Currently I’m training for the Chicago Marathon and practicing my violin a lot.”

Class of 2001

Class Agent: Brian Mummert Alex Roy is a junior at UConn majoring in history. Alex, a Dean’s List student and member of Alpha Lambda Delta (National Honor Society), is also serving as legislative staff intern in the Connecticut General Assembly. Since January, he has worked directly with Republican Senators L. Scott Frantz and Michael McLachlan, minority whips. He also volunteers with inner-city students, helping them develop a love of learning through the program America Reads at Kinsella Elementary School in Hartford. Alex hopes to attend law school.

We enjoyed reading about Jared Madere in a New York Magazine piece last summer (for more information about Jared, read his interview in the Q & A section of this magazine). The article focuses on the relationship between Jared’s artwork and his sense of style. “Lately I’ve been working on clothing that I view as sculpture,” Jared told the magazine. “I haven’t finished very many, but they’re informal, crude-looking paintings with thick, gloppy paint on them.”

To read about Brian Mummert, see his interview in the Alumni Q & A section.

Class of 2002

Class Agent: Elizabeth Elrick Katie Hartsoe, a junior at NYU’s Tisch School, spent the spring semester in Paris. Katie is pursuing two majors: a BA in French and a BFA in theater.

Arjumund Abid sent us this update about his daughter, Zaynah Abid. “Greetings! Just a quick note to let you know what Zaynah has been doing since she graduated from The Country School. . . . She . . . attended The Taft School for four years, graduating cum laude. Zaynah is currently a junior at Brown University and doing well.”

CLASS NOTES Class of 2003

Class Agent: Liz Walbridge TCS offers sincere condolences to Sarah Bashaw on the loss of her mother, Sue Bashaw. We know that Sue was very proud of Sarah, who just finished up her sophomore year at Skidmore. Sarah is taking pre-med courses and planning on attending medical school. To read more about Sue, please see the Dedications section.

Rebecca Figler is a sophomore at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA. We were pleased to read about her accomplishments in a recent newspaper article. Rebecca earned Dean’s Highest Honors and the Foundation Merit Award for her academic and artistic achievements at an awards ceremony last spring. She is majoring in Art Education with concentrations in illustration and animation and plans to be an art teacher. Seven works of art including oils, charcoals, 3-dimensional sculptures, and animation were selected by the faculty for an art show, which runs through the end of April. Rebecca also achieved academic and artistic distinction at The Country School and later at Daniel Hand High School. For several years in high school, she worked as an assistant in Owl’s Nest, TCS’ after-school program.

Class of 2004

Class Agent: Joel Glassman and David Kelly Stephanie Burnett led all rookies for goalscoring in the Quebec Conference for women’s soccer this fall. A freshman at Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Quebec, where she is majoring in modern languages, Stephanie was profiled in the newspaper at Bishop’s University, where she was named Athlete of the Week in September. “She has a quiet confidence about her that is great to see,” Douglas McCooeye, the paper’s sports editor, wrote. “Her demeanor is infectious and the scary thing for the rest of the conference is that she has three more years here at B.U. As she matures as a player, so too should the Bishop’s women’s soccer team.” Not surprisingly, Stephanie was later named Rookie of the Year.

We caught up with Joel Glassman early this spring when he joined us at an Alumni Board meeting. Joel is studying at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, which he describes as “tons of fun.” “There’s not a lot to do around there, so there are tons of events, charity fashion shows,” he says.

This spring Joel, who won the Allan H. Fuller Prize in Theater Arts when he graduated from Suffield Academy last year, performed in Jerry Springer – the Opera at St. Andrews.

He has also found time to travel throughout Europe. TCS is grateful to Joel, who interned in the Alumni Office last summer and, among other accomplishments, was instrumental in providing information for the list “Where Are They Now.” Chris Crabbe is on the crew team at Colby College. He began rowing while at Lyme-Old Lyme High School.

For information about Amelia Holmes, see Alumni Q & A. From Boston University, Liz Walbridge writes that she “assistant Sound Designed a new play called Pope Joan which is going to the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in Washington, D.C. The show is also representing the school in NYC this month.

I also sound designed a new play called Deported which is part of BU’s New Play Initiative, and the play has been picked up to continue its work outside of BU.” Liz, who attended Choate Rosemary Hall after TCS, writes that she is looking for some work this summer in Boston, preferably in the arts.

Jesse Youngblood and Alex Catullo were profiled in a New Haven Register article about their computer prowess. While seniors at Cheshire Academy (Jesse is currently at Carnegie Mellon; Alex is at Northeastern), the boys had the opportunity to travel to Macworld 2008, the annual conference and exposition in San Francisco featuring all things Apple computer. The trip to Macworld arose after Jesse did an independent study with a software developer. The program they developed, “tooble,” allows users to browse, search, and download video from YouTube to mobile Apple devices. Alex and another friend were brought in to create a Windows version. At the time, Jesse didn’t know where he would be going to college, but he told the reporter he hoped to attend Carnegie Mellon. “They’ve got a great computer program there - they’re working on a driverless car. Now that’s something I really want to get involved in.” We’ll stay tuned.

Class of 2005

Class Agents: Taylor Cwiertniewicz, Eliza Nguyen, and Landon Weber Garrett Wilkes continues to sing at Loomis Chaffee and plans to sing at Colgate, where he was admitted early. He is currently involved in the Loomis Chaffee choir, Chamber singers and Broadway Musical Revue. This year he was selected for the Northern CT Musical Festival in New Britain.

He also attended the Model UN at Yale in January and is a member of the Foreign Policy Association. Any TCS 8th Graders may also have caught up with Garrett while touring Loomis; this year he is a Head Tour Guide. Garrett was also recently selected as a member of Loomis’ Cum Laude Society.

TCS thanks Garrett for his expert oversight of the Alumni Day panel.

We also thank Mary McGee for her expertise moderating the Alumni Day panel. To read more about Mary, see her essay The Home to Which I No Longer Belong.

Becca Novick plans to attend Lesley College in Cambridge, MA. It may please some of her former TCS teachers to hear that she is interested in Early Childhood Education. Becca also may take some courses at the Art Institute of Boston. She and some of her classmates at Guilford High School recently had a reception of their photographic work at the Guilford Library.

Becca also enjoyed a day internship she had with the Guilford Art Center.

Harrison Tross has excelled in many arenas since graduating from TCS. Academically, he has earned no grade lower than an “A” since starting 9th Grade at Hamden Hall and as a result has been on the Honor Roll each semester. In 11th Grade he was selected for the Cum Laude Society, and he was recently named class valedictorian.

Other awards include: the Yale Book Award, Bausch and Lomb Science Award, National Merit Commended Scholar, COLT (Connecticut Organization of Language Teachers) Gold Medals for 9th and 11th Grade Spanish Honors Poetry Recitation, Hamden Hall Parents’ Association Award for Outstanding Citizenship, and the Outdoors Leadership Award. Departmental book awards include: Math - Algebra I Honors and Algebra II Honors; Science: AP Chemistry; Honors Spanish for 9th, 10th and 11th Grade; History: Honors Civilizations 10th Grade; Chorus Awards-Bel Canto 10th Grade, Joy of Singing 11th Grade.

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CLASS NOTES Harrison has also found time to participate in a range of extracurricular activities. He was selected as a Junior Board Member for the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, where he is Chair of the Family Concert series. He is an officer of the Hamden Hall Chorus and cofounder and co-director of Studs and Tails, an all-male singing group. Harrison is also the co-founder of the Science Inquiry Group.

Additionally, he has appeared in school musicals including Urinetown, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and The Music Man, and he has been inducted into the International Thespian Society. In his spare time he takes private singing lessons.

Harrison spent last summer conducting research in chemistry with Dr. Frank Gasparro of Hamden Hall (Princeton PhD in chemistry).

They completed a lengthy research paper, the product of hundreds of hours of research, which has been submitted for publication.

Currently Harrison is studying Intro to Organic Chemistry under Dr. Gasparro. Harrison plans to attend Brown University in the fall.

We enjoyed reading about Harrison’s Hamden Hall classmate Alta duPont in a recent issue of The Source newspaper. Alta was awarded a Shoreline Arts Alliance scholarship for dance. Alta, who has danced with the Starship Dance Company in Guilford since she was three, is now also teaching young dancers. As she told the newspaper, “I can’t get enough of it. When kids walk into the studio, you can see on their faces that all they want is to be a ballerina - and I’m living that fairytale. Teaching solidifies what you know and it’s a rewarding, leadership challenge.” Alta, who is interning with Habitat for Humanity, plans to attend Princeton.

Daniel Hartsoe, a senior at Choate Rosemary Hall, was recently named the Adlai Stevenson Junior Fellow by faculty at the Wallingford, CT, boarding school. As such, Daniel spent a day with former Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean and introduced Dr. Dean before he gave a speech to the Choate student body. Daniel was also selected to portray Republican candidate John McCain in a pre-presidential debate at Choate. Later, he visited the TCS campus, where he moderated a mock presidential debate performed by 8th Grade history students.

Just before we went to press we learned that Daniel and his teammates on the Choate Fed Challenge team had won the national Fed Challenge finals at the Board of Governors, in Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board, the Fed Challenge promotes economic literacy by asking high school students to analyze economic conditions and make

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recommendations. A Choate team has competed in the Fed Challenge for 12 years and the school has won the regional competition 10 times previously, moving on to compete in the national finals. This was the first time, however, that Choate’s team emerged the national winner. Before reading the results, the announcer mentioned that Choate’s coach - Ted Hartsoe - had been in the room where the finals were being held more times than Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. However, the announcer said, this year was extra special because his son, Daniel, was on the team. Daniel, who is also the son of TCS Middle School Director Terrie Hartsoe, plans to attend Connecticut College next year.

Class of 2006

Class Agents: Kat Lauer, Jordan Nesi, and Bianca Salkin Last fall we were pleased to read about Marissa Irwin, a senior at Branford High School, in The New Haven Register. Marissa, a standout field hockey and lacrosse player as well as a top student, was profiled after she signed a letter of intent to play lacrosse at Boston College. Marissa has played for the Connecticut Lacrosse Futures Team and was selected for the Connecticut Super Juniors team. She was also named an Academic AllAmerican by U.S. Lacrosse as a junior and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Eliza Nguyen, a senior at Phillips Academy Andover, was on the Andover varsity cycling team this spring. She and her teammates won the New England Road Cycling Championships in Bristol, NH. Eliza was also on the varsity soccer and indoor track teams.

She plans to attend Harvard.

Congratulations to Nate Roy, a junior at The Williams School. Nate recently made a verbal commitment to play lacrosse for Hofstra University. Nate, a starting goalie at Williams since his freshman year, was recruited by more than a dozen Division 1 programs in the country. In a preview of the spring 2009 season, The Day newspaper of New London wrote, “The good news [for Williams] is that Roy is back and is one of the best goalies this area has ever seen. He has already given a verbal commitment to play at Hofstra, one of the premier programs in the nation. Roy had 41 saves in the Blues’ season-opening loss to Chase Collegiate.”

Nate is also on the honor role at Williams and a member of the Judiciary Committee, and if that’s not enough, this Renaissance man had a painting sold at a recent art show in Mystic.

Middle School history teacher Kerri Kelly was treated to a surprise visit by a former student this winter. Carter Banker, now a junior at the Hopkins School, dropped by to deliver a special present to her 5th Grade teacher. Carter and her family had recently traveled to Egypt. While there, she bought a

CLASS NOTES book about Egyptian archeology and had it signed by the author, renowned Egyptologist Kent Weeks. She returned to TCS to deliver the book to her former teacher, who had first sparked her interest in pharaohs and queens.

to run your camp – cooking, cleaning, sharing responsibilities – and get in awesome physical shape.” Sounds like a perfect fit for this former TCS Outdoor Ed trip enthusiast!

Catherine Kelly, a sophomore at Mercy High School who also studies art the Barn for Artistic Youth in Niantic, earned third place in the 2009 Connecticut Junior Federal Duck Stamp Competition. Catherine, who was one of the recipients of the TCS Art Award when she graduated, competed statewide in the senior age group (for students in Grades 10-12) and won a ribbon for her rendering of a Bufflehead, a species of waterfowl. This competition is sponsored by the Audubon Society for preservation of wildlife. This was the third time Catherine has won an award in this competition; previously she placed first and third. Well done, Catherine!

Caroline Gregory, a junior at Choate Rosemary Hall, has been elected a student government representative as well as captain of the Cross Country team. She and her brother, William ’08, spent part of last summer in Botswana and Zambia, where, among other activities, they volunteered at a school.

Class of 2007

Class Agent: Alex Zak Congratulations to Bliss Weathers, who has been selected to participate in a summer Students for Conservation Association (SCA) program. Bliss, a winner of the David Bennett Outdoor Education Award at TCS, will be performing trail maintenance and other conservation activities in Catoctin Park in the Blue Ridge province of Maryland (home of Camp David – perhaps she will have some Obama family sightings?).

According to SCA, while learning outdoor skills, participants will also “work with others to solve tough problems, be part of a team

Class of 2008

Class Agent: Austyn Cwiertniewicz Ben Ballard and Katherine Speltz were among six freshmen cast in Les Miserables, the spring musical at Choate Rosemary Hall. They also both sing in the Festival Choir, along with Laura Stephenson ’05. Katherine was also in the Winter Cabaret at Choate, the only 9th Grader to have had a solo.

In the fall she was in the Gospel Choir. In addition to singing and acting, Ben was a member of the varsity swim team this winter.

He played soccer in the fall, though we hear he is thinking of trying water polo next fall.

Also carrying on the musical theater tradition he began at TCS is Jake Gadon.

Jake received a part in Old Saybrook High School’s spring musical, South Pacific. He also played baseball this spring. We enjoyed catching up with Jake when he joined his family and former schoolmates on the annual TCS Quebec trip.

Congratulations also to Alexis Thomasi, Catherine’s classmate at Mercy, who with her fellow performers in Mercy’s “Choralations” singing group, received an award for Best Female Sound at the 2009 Nutmeg Show Choir Festival. Some 30 girls were selected to participate in the Choralations. Alexis is also continuing to act, sing, and dance at Mercy, endeavors she first explored at TCS. Recently she had a role in Footloose.

Jacqueline Rigney continues to excel artistically, athletically, and academically.

A freshman at Loomis Chaffee, Jacqueline was one of two 9th Graders cast in the spring production, a Broadway Musical Review. She is also a member of the school’s chorus. In the fall, Jacqueline played forward on the girls’ field hockey team, while she played guard on the girls’ JV basketball team and was on the Lacrosse team this spring. In basketball, Jacqueline earned a prestigious sports award of “Pelican of the Week” and was honored at a school meeting for her accomplishments, among those being the season’s single game high scorer (the team went 13-0). “Jackie came out smoking hot, nailing the team’s season high to date of 14 points, including a tremendous 6-7 foul shooting, leading the Pelicans to a big win

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CLASS NOTES at the [Suffield] Tigers’ home gym,” the Loomis newsletter said. Academically, she is excelling and is excited about the range of courses offered. Just before the end of the year, Jacqueline was elected class copresident for 2009-2010, an honor shared by one boy and one girl. She was also recently selected by Loomis faculty to be an admissions tour guide. Over the summer, Jacqueline plans to intern in a hospital operating room.

Congratulations to Emily Perzanoski, a freshman at Clinton’s Morgan High School.

We hear that she won the Sportsmanship Award for soccer this fall and Rookie of the Year for indoor track this winter.

Hannah Johnson, a freshman at Hopkins, returned to TCS this spring to co-present a lecture about the Galapagos to TCS students. Hannah joined longtime educator and TCS friend Prentice Stout for the lecture about animals and the environment in the Pacific Islands, a destination they had both visited and enjoyed.

Will Gregory has enjoyed his freshman year at Choate. He and his family traveled to Africa last summer (see Class of 2006 notes), and recently enjoyed a ski trip in Jackson Hole with his TCS and Choate classmate, Matt Fasano.

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IN MEMORIAM We were saddened to read about the death of former TCS teacher Virginia Pool Demorest Dziura. Described as “an active organic gardener, environmentalist, card player, and proponent of peace,” she was 86 years old and lived in Fort Myers, Fla. She leaves her three sons and their families. Donations in her memory may be made to Habitat for Humanity International, 121 Habitat Street, Americus, GA 31709-3498.

We were also sorry to learn from Peter Black ’73 about the death of his mother, former TCS faculty member Joyce Black. A teacher at TCS from 1967-1983, Joyce was back on campus a little over a year ago for the visit of former Headmaster Stephen Davenport.

Several of her former colleagues and students enjoyed reconnecting with her.

Joyce Rawson Avison Black of Branford was born in Seoul, Korea, where her family was instrumental in introducing modern medicine and helped found Yonsei University. She passed away April 17, 2008, after a brief illness. The widow of Dr. Francis L. Black, she is survived by her daughter, Meta Joy Matthews of Westminster, CO; her sons Douglas Black of New Haven and Peter of Branford; three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Condolences to the Caine family on the death of former TCS trustee Norman Caine.

Norman died June 24, 2008, at Yale New Haven Hospital after a battle with cancer.

He is survived by his wife, Lori; his son, John ’89, and John’s wife, Casey; daughter, Jennifer ’92, and her husband, Nicholas Russell; his daughter, Carolyn, also a former TCS student; and two grandchildren. A contribution was made in his memory to the Founders’ Promise Fund for scholarship.

We are sorry to report the passing of Steven Timothy Johnston ’74. Steven died on Oct. 26, 2008, in San Antonio, TX. He is survived by his daughter, Georgina, his mother and father, Robert and Barbara Johnston of Guilford, and sister, Martha Pinho, of New Bedford, MA. He was a graduate of Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., and an accomplished hunter and fisherman.

Our beloved friend and colleague Sue Bashaw died on May 1, 2009, after a long battle with cancer. To read more about Sue, please read the dedication section at the beginning of this magazine.

Fostering Creativity in Exciting New Ways: Celebrating the Arts at TCS My teachers were passionate about what they were doing…. No matter how young you are, you know it when someone has a cause in their life. I seemed to pick that up from every teacher I had here. And it inspired me.

It moved me to learn and grow and become better. Now, I find myself following their footsteps. . . . I finally have a sense of what they were so excited about. Every second I spend with a student is a gift. To know that you can make even the smallest contribution to a child’s success is more rewarding than I can describe. ~ Jesse Brockwell ’00

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