The Frederick Gunn School Bulletin Fall/Winter 2022

HOW TO BECOME A FORCE

WE BELIEVE INTEGRATED HUMANS

AND ENGAGED IN MORAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

IMMERSED IN A LEARNING ECOSYSTEM SURROUNDED BY HOPE-FILLED FACULTY

RESULTS IN THE CREATION OF ACTIVE CITIZENS

THE BULLETIN OF THE FRED e RICK GUNN SCHOOL

Outdoor life and adventure have been part of the school’s ethos since its founding. Today, Gunn Outdoors is evolving as a cornerstone of The Frederick Gunn School experience.

BULLETIN Fall/winter 2022

67

74

75

On the cover: Our Core Values drive everything we do as a school, and are helping to transform our programs. Learn more on page 4.

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Dear Frederick Gunn School Community,

In 1946, less than two years after being freed from his fourth and final concentration camp, Viktor Frankl released the German version of what became Man’s Search for Meaning. In it, Frankl wrote, “There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is meaning in one’s life.” He goes on to write:

Thus it can be seen that mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become. Such a tension is inherent in the human being and therefore is indispensable to mental well-being. We should not, then, be hesitant about challenging a person with a potential meaning for her to fulfill. It is only thus that we evoke her will to meaning from its state of latency. I consider it a dangerous misconception of mental hygiene to assume that what a person needs in the first place is equilibrium or, as it is called in biology, ‘homeostasis,’ i.e., a tensionless state. What a person actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.

Frankl, a Jewish doctor from Austria, survived four concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and his wife, both parents, and his brother died in them. He states in the same section quoted above that the meaning that enabled him to endure and survive was his desire to complete a book manuscript that the Nazis had confiscated early in his imprisonment.

These are serious times outside the walls of our school’s bucolic campus and it looks like they will remain serious indefinitely. Inside the walls, the meaning and purpose that fuels us has everything to do with Frederick and Abigail Gunn’s original goal of providing a loveinfused, home-like, transformational setting for student learning and growth such that they will go on to be active citizens — and we take seriously Mr. Gunn’s admonition that it needs to be fun, that we can’t take ourselves too seriously!

The dynamic Frankl identifies — that we humans require “striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task” in order for us to flourish — is also true for institutions of every size, for families, schools, corporations, even entire countries. Frederick Gunn knew this. Near the conclusion of his 1877 talk,

“Confidence Between Boys and Their Teachers,” he riffs on the characteristics of his “ideal school.” (Read the talk — found on the last pages of The Master of The Gunnery, which is available online at https://bit.ly/FWGunnConfidence to see his description.) At the end of his think-aloud, he asks rhetorically, “But have you found, do you know such a school? My friends, I am compelled sadly to answer, No! I have never seen it, only dreamed of it…I do not expect to find it; but is it not a pleasant thing to dream of? Is it not in some measure possible? Is it not to be found, if ever, in the line of our daily work?” Here is Frederick Gunn 27 years into leading this school, and more than 30 years into teaching and leading schools, an active citizen, and he admits that even his school hasn’t achieved his ideal. We learn from this that a key motivation for him was striving toward this ideal despite never achieving that.

As you will read in these pages, that is the baton we believe Mr. Gunn has handed to us today. The values and motivations — the heart — that inspired Frederick and Abigail are simultaneously our inspiration and our point of orientation today. There are at least two deep benefits from this. The first is that most schools do not have a clear, coherent answer to key questions about why they do what they do the way that they do it. We do. Frederick Gunn had clear insight into the questions that should animate education in every school:

• Who is the student? Who is the teacher? What kinds of creatures are we humans?

• What is the purpose or goal of education — at least, what is the purpose identified by this school?

• What are the key ingredients or building blocks, the necessary conditions, for students to learn and to grow toward the goals we have identified?

We derived our Core Values (see page 4) from the teachings and example of Frederick Gunn. They answer these questions. They are both what Mr. Gunn thought and what he did. As a result, everyone who teaches here, every parent who considers entrusting their child to us, every student, every graduate, and every potential donor knows what we stand for and why we do what we do the way that we do it. This greatly diminishes the chance that we will

lose the thread or get distracted by educational or social fads that lack substance (some educational fads have great substance and endure) or are at cross purposes with our values. And it increases the chances for integration and reinforcement in the program we develop, the people we attract to create and execute that program, and the buildings and physical spaces we create that give material shape to the student and faculty experience.

The second benefit to sharing Mr. and Mrs. Gunn’s inspiration and purpose is that they are what we would today call “process goals” — they are evergreen. Mr. Gunn was never satisfied. He was driven by the conviction that the ideal school for student flourishing was just over the horizon. It kept him and the school

fresh and creative, curious and adaptive, while cleareyed, mission driven, and fully dedicated to the power of residential education. He cared most about what worked for kids — to equip them for holistic active citizenship — and adjusted his method accordingly and with good cheer.

I believe the late Ogden D. Miller H’69 P’50 ’54 ’55 GP’84, our sixth Head of School, tapped into this when he coined our school motto, “A good person is always learning.”

It is our responsibility to continue “striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal,” as Frankl encouraged, “in the line of our daily work,” as Mr. Gunn wrote, filtered and guided by our Core Values and the model that he and Mrs. Gunn left us. Thank you all for joining us passionately in this pursuit.

Go Gunn!

Peter Becker Head of School

On November 29, it was announced that this will be my final year as Head of School at The Frederick Gunn School. As of July 1, 2023, I will become the next Head of School at Taft, my alma mater. The future of Gunn is so bright!

I look forward to a great finish for all of us to the 2022-2023 school year.

How to Become a Force

The Path to Active Citizenship Begins With our Connection to our Founder

July 25, 2022, marked the second anniversary of the renaming of our school in honor of our founder, Frederick Gunn, his vision and ideals. The name change was not principally a branding exercise. We recentered the school on Mr. Gunn: who he was and what he believed and modeled, as an educator, outdoorsman, abolitionist, and citizen. The essence of those beliefs — distilled from Mr. Gunn’s writing, his accomplishments, and what others have written about him in The Master of The Gunnery and other primary sources — are reflected in what we now call our Core Values. These beliefs influence and drive everything that we do as a school, from our programs to our campus, our facilities, and the talented and hope-filled faculty who teach, challenge, inspire, and support our students in all aspects of our 24/7 boarding school life. Knitted together, these timeless ideals form a value statement:

We believe that integrated humans, immersed in a learning ecosystem, surrounded by hope-filled faculty, and engaged in moral character development results in the creation of active citizens.

Through our connection to these Core Values, we have developed keystone programs: Gunn Outdoors, the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy, the Center for Academic Excellence, and soon, a Center for Entrepreneurship. All exemplify how we are building an academic program grounded in Mr. Gunn’s educational philosophy as it is applied in the 21st century, which will be transformative for our students and faculty. These programs will provide the superstructure of the student experience, which will continue to include courses in chemistry, physics, calculus, and AP classes that have been a challenging and familiar part of a Frederick Gunn School education for decades.

“We are continuing to transform our programs, our campus, and our teaching and learning culture in ways that leverage and build on Mr. Gunn’s core values. The Frederick Gunn School will define a unique and best-in-class boarding school education for the next generation,” Head of School Peter Becker said. “What we are creating here is nothing less than a transformative learning community — one whose students become an entrepreneurial force for good in the world.”

What follows are examples of how Mr. Gunn’s vision and ideals are transforming our programs in and out of the classroom. The goal is to build integrated programs and facilities that foster crossdisciplinary education, active citizenship, and lifelong curiosity and resilience. Our programs are centered around these four pillars: Risk Taking and Innovation, Learning Yourself and How to Learn, Rootedness and Place, and Public Character and Active Citizenship. These are the design standards and guiding processes that we will use to align all of our programs with our Core Values. This is what will make our school a place for students and faculty to live, learn, and thrive.

“What is exciting about this is that what we are doing has not been done before at our school, since Frederick Gunn was alive,” Becker said. “Frederick Gunn as an educator had key insights into who students are and what they need to learn, live, and thrive — yes, to be successful professionally, but also to be engaged citizens. And essentially, we are saying the reason we are recreating our school around our Core Values and pillars is that they represent the 21st century version of his key insights. No boarding school that we know of does this. Most schools just do school. Meeting this higher standard and purpose takes intention and requires significant financial investment. We have to hire incredible teacher-leaders, we have to house them well, and we have to give them budgets to build their programs and time to integrate them intentionally.”

“We are putting stakes in the ground,” Becker said. “We are making a claim that, at the intersection of Frederick Gunn’s educational philosophy, the latest research and best practices in the

theory and practice of education, and what families and colleges want in education, we can do something that is important and distinct in American education. And it will be distinct because it speaks to the deepest needs of who our students are, and who our faculty are, but in order to do it, we have to raise and invest an incredible amount of money. It requires new endowed funds to do what we want to do sustainably — to invest in people and programs. This is not something we can accomplish through tuition revenue alone.”

Risk Taking and Innovation

“Mr. Gunn was awesome at setting students up to try things that they felt were outside of their comfort zone, and he himself was an innovator. He was a social entrepreneur,” said Emily Gum, Assistant Head of School for Teaching and Learning. “Today, we want all of our students in various areas of their life on campus to figure out how to put themselves out there, take risks, fail, get back up, and try again. That’s what innovation requires.”

Students already explore Risk Taking and Innovation in the Arts, in engineering classes that are the hallmark of our IDEAS Lab, and in Honors Entrepreneurship Seminar, where they learn that being an entrepreneur is about much more than starting a business. Many of the skills associated with successful entrepreneurship are the same kinds of skills that matter in life itself — self-awareness, creativity, ability to assess risk, team orientation, resilience, and problem-solving.

The school will expand this popular class into a four-year curriculum supported by a Center for Entrepreneurship, to equip students with the mindset and skills to engage the world

proactively. The Center for Entrepreneurship will be an integrated, interdisciplinary hub where students discover how to turn ideas into action: develop plans, pitch an idea, learn from failure and then adjust their sights to move ahead. While it begins in the classroom, it quickly becomes practical as invited guests, often alumni entrepreneurs, come to tell their stories and offer critiques and guidance to students as they set up early-stage ventures. Exposure to these entrepreneurs enables students to understand how a vision becomes real, how to create a space in the market, and what it takes to compete today. And, through practice, students learn what Mr. Gunn already knew: that far more than just an approach to one’s profession, entrepreneurship can be an approach to all of life.

The school has made a commitment to have full-time directors for both the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Center for Academic Excellence in place by the 2023-2024 school year.

Learning Yourself and How to Learn

Emily

At our school, students learn about themselves and how they learn best in the classroom and on the playing field. It’s really about connecting life skills like self-awareness and developing a growth mindset. One of the best examples of this is The Center

Helping students really know themselves, know how their brains work, and to be great at advocating for themselves and leveraging their own learning is something we can do across our whole ecosystem.”

–

Gum, Assistant Head of School for Teaching and Learning

for Academic Excellence, which provides students with the skills to make their school experience more enlightening and rewarding. Our learning specialists coach students on planning, goal setting, research skills, note-taking, executive function — effectively, project management for high school. The school’s vision is for the center to empower every student to acquire the skills that will allow them to be more successful learners across all subjects.

“The focus is on what it means for every single student to know who they are as a learner, and crucially, to be able to tap into strengths and advocate for themselves, and leverage those strengths,” Gum said. “That is something we all do as adults. If we can help our students do that in college, and start to do that in high school, that is incredible for them. Neuroscience has made it clear that we all have particularities as learners and as thinkers. The whole idea of educational testing is that we are all pretty unique when it comes to the way our brains are structured and what those strengths and weaknesses are. Helping students really know themselves, know how their brains work, and to be great at advocating for themselves and leveraging their own learning is something we can do across our whole ecosystem.”

In keeping with our motto, “A good person is always learning,” the goal is for the center to become a resource for faculty, too. The school aims to create a home — a resource center for professional growth — that will enable teachers to stay abreast of the current research, methods, and practices in their subjects and to learn from one another’s reflective practice. This will give them the tools to create an environment that will excite and engage every student.

A Sense of Rootedness and Place

Outdoor life and adventure have been part of the school’s ethos since its founding. Frederick Gunn himself set the tone and set the bar. As we continue to evolve our Outdoor Program as a cornerstone of The Frederick Gunn School experience, we are creating more opportunities for students to connect with the world and engage in placebased learning. Our students are already benefiting from this through a relatively

recent collaboration between Gunn Outdoors and our residential life programming: our “Live Like Fred” Community Weekends.

First introduced in 2020, these weekends foster a sense of community while connecting students to our founder and his love of the outdoors. The seasonal program grew out of a desire to provide a space for students during the early waves of the pandemic. The goal is for students not to feel “like they are trapped in this bubble and isolated from their family and friends,” Gum said. We want them to really feel that ‘living like Fred’ is cool and give them a sense of connection to Washington and a sense of rootedness at a time globally that can be extremely disorienting.”

Activities offered over the past two school years have included astronomy lectures and viewing the night sky through a highpowered telescope on the Quad with science teacher Steve Bailey P’09, night hikes at Steep Rock and Macricostas Preserve, fishing, canoeing, and kayaking from Beebe Boathouse, and navigating low ropes and camping at South Street Fields. Students have tried ice fishing, curling, skiing, birding, and practicing winter photography. They learned about owls at Sharon Audubon Center and viewed bald eagles at Shepaug Dam.

Students participated in a Live Like Fred weekend this fall, and a second is planned this winter, along with an Earth Day celebration

in the spring. Dan Fladager, Director of Outdoor Programs, is seeking to expand the range of activities to include three tiers of programming, from an on-campus poetry walk and yoga classes to adventures in mountain biking, backpacking, rafting, and climbing.

A Sense of Rootedness and Place also informed two curricular changes this year. Science teacher Jordana Graveley redesigned the curriculum for Environmental Sciences as a local ecology course. “It addresses the same questions and the same content knowledge for students in Environmental Studies but uses our design standards to give students an experiential education in and around Washington and Steep Rock to explore more questions of environmental studies. This moves the learning experience from the abstract — anywhere — to the concrete — right here — and that improves student learning tremendously,” Gum said.

Fladager, who also teaches English, similarly reimagined the Nature Writers class in the English curriculum as a field course. “Students are learning the same skills, they’re doing the same progression in terms of content learning, but the content area is allowing them to explore New England and a sense of the outdoors,” Gum said. For example, students will read works by New Englandbased authors, read 19th century poetry written on birchbark, and go on local hikes at least once a week. “It’s all about engaging materially with nature, harvesting things, touching trees, making our own pencils using an old method where we burn wood in a fire until it’s charcoal and carve it into the shape of a pencil and wrap it in birchbark,” Fladager said. Students also will learn how to write nature essays about their experiences, which will become a collective series of their own work.

Public Character and Active Citizenship

Learning to be an active and engaged citizen is Mr. Gunn’s legacy to the school. Not only did he lead by example, he also pioneered a unique approach for students that emphasizes character development, curiosity, risk-taking, and independent thinking. Through its four-year, mission-driven curriculum, the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy provides students with opportunities to practice what it means to be a good citizen, what it takes to persuade others and to lead, and what it means to be an engaged group member.

Beginning this fall, freshmen were asked to think about Public Character and Active Citizenship as it relates to their Frederick Gunn School experience and the college process.

Students are going to realize that what they are learning in English class, on the athletic field, and in their advisor group is all interconnected. They should be able to see all the work they have been doing on themselves as it relates to our Core Values.”

Through a partnership between the Academic Office, the Dean of Students Office, the College Counseling Office, and the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy, freshmen were asked to create a digital portfolio called “My Gunn Portrait.” This is where they will save pieces of self-reflective writing such as the “Letter to Self” they write as freshmen in Pathways, or their junior speech from The Declaration (both part of the four-year citizenship curriculum), along with personal narrative essays from English class, and work they complete as part of their advisory group related to their identity. The portfolio is a place where students can save their applications for leadership positions as well as work they complete outside of the school, such as a published article or summer research project. All of this will enable them to frame the narrative for their college applications.

“As things happen in this learning ecosystem over these four years, it’s important to take note of things you have worked on, so you have an understanding of those things and how you become an integrated human being,” said Bart McMann, Director of the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy. “Our goal is to help our students to develop as citizens and to figure out what matters to them, and to help them develop their interests. So when they arrive at the college process, they have a sense of who they are, and the bigger picture of why they are here, and what they want their Frederick Gunn School experience to be.”

Kate McMann ’05, Director of College Counseling, said the idea to create a portfolio grew out of conversations with Seth

– Bart McMann, Director of the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy

Low, Associate Head of School. “When we meet with students, we always ask them to reflect on their values and things that matter to them, and their character, and what their interests are, their passions. Students sometimes have a really hard time answering those questions,” McMann said. Now, students will use the portfolio to begin to see connections in the work they are doing across the curriculum, identifying themes that emerge.

“Students are going to realize that what they are learning in English class, on the athletic field, and in their advisor group is all interconnected. They should be able to see all the work they have been doing on themselves as it relates to our Core Values,” McMann said. “I don’t know what other schools are doing but I think we

are being very intentional with our Core Values and helping students to develop their character and figure out what matters to them, and how to put that into practice.”

With many colleges and universities remaining test-optional, the information that students choose to include in their college applications and essays matters, and more is not necessarily better. “Students sometimes think they have to join 10 clubs and colleges would rather see them doing two or three things that are intentional. That has shifted,” McMann said. “Colleges are looking for that authenticity and seeing that what students are doing outside the classroom is not just to check a box but something they are genuinely passionate about and have developed deep experience in.”

“My Gunn Portrait” can help students to hone in on their passions and interests and find ways to pursue them. “Maybe you care about the environment and it’s getting outside and helping with your local community garden or helping to grow a park. It doesn’t have to be a flashy job or internship. Colleges want to see that students are using their time intentionally,” McMann said.

There is another benefit, too. As McMann said: “We want to help students figure out what matters to them and to use that to do good in the world and in their communities.”

As part of the college process, Gunn students are asked to examine their motivations for attending college and choosing a particular career. “Students always joke and say, ‘I want to go to college because I want to make a lot of money,’” McMann said. It takes a lot of self-reflection and figuring out their values and what matters to them. That should be driving where you go to college and what you do after you graduate from college. Eventually students reach the realization that they want to do work that is meaningful to them and to their values. They’re doing it because they care, and because it matters.”

Transformational Change in Progress

Construction of the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship began last spring and continued steadily through the summer and fall.

The community welcomed donors and supporters, including Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch ’72, to campus on June 18 for the official groundbreaking of the transformational new building that will bear their name: the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship. “The Lizzie,” as it is affectionately referred to on campus, will house the school’s innovative science, math, engineering, technology, entrepreneurship, and citizenship curriculum in one location and provide opportunities for community-building on the historic Quad. Site work for the 24,800-square-foot building, which is scheduled to open in fall 2023, began in the spring. The former Science Building was removed from June 7 through July 15, and over the summer, 2,000 cubic yards of dirt was removed from the Quad to allow for the drilling of 21 geothermal wells that will essentially heat and cool the new building.

“The geothermal wells are the primary heating and cooling source for the building, which shows the School’s commitment to sustainability,” said Chris Cowell, Chief Financial Officer & Business Manager. Additional sustainability features on the building will include solar panels on the roof, enhanced thermal glazed windows, enhanced insulation beyond code requirements, and a metal roof.

Students were invited to be a part of history by signing their names on one of the steel beams that will be part of The Lizzie.

“This is the second geothermal project we’ve done on campus,” Cowell said, noting that 46 geothermal wells were installed beneath the Day Student Parking Lot to provide heating and cooling for the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center.

The geothermal wells for “the Lizzie” required a 10,000-squarefoot well field. Workers removed material to a depth of five feet beneath the Quad and then restored and regraded the surface,

adding an irrigation system, and a new pedestrian walkway that meanders through the trees and exposed rock outcroppings to the east of the new building, from Bourne Hall to Tisch Schoolhouse. All of this work was completed prior to the start of the Fall Term. This fall, the foundation footings were installed. By December 1, structural steel was erected, and in January, the roofing and exterior siding will be underway. “By January, we should be able to see a more noticeable frame of the building,” said Cowell, who conducts weekly construction meetings with the construction company, O&G Industries, the architects from Sasaki, the owner’s representative from Colliers, and new Director of Facilities Rob Daly. Windows and siding will be nearly complete by late February.

“There are a lot of moving parts,” Cowell said. The construction management project is being managed through a competitive bidding process. Some 295 contractors were invited to bid on the project. Of those, 48 were minority-owned or woman-owned businesses. This supports both O&G’s as well as the School’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

There is a lot of complexity to putting up a building in the middle of campus. As Cowell explained: “The majority of the work over the summer involved getting as much site work coordination done as possible before students returned because that was when the job site was at its largest. It was incredibly important to get that work done, restore the Quad, and scale back the construction zone inside a smaller

The geothermal well field takes up about 10,000 square feet of the Quad.

Tisch took a sledgehammer to the door of the Science Building during the groundbreaking ceremony.

The beginnings of the foundation were visible in August.

fenced area to create a safe environment for students and faculty.”

Among the safety considerations for the site is that all construction vehicles must enter the campus from Route 47, behind Gunn House, with the assistance of a visual guide. “That means that every truck gets walked in from Route 47 now that school is in session,” Cowell said.

The project remains on schedule for substantial completion in the middle of August 2023. This will allow faculty to move in during the second half of August 2023, and for students to occupy the building in September. “This is a very timeline-driven project,” Cowell said.

At the groundbreaking in June, Head of School Peter Becker thanked the generous donors who have helped to make the new building possible, and all who have contributed to the project in many ways, including Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch ’72, Trustee Emerita Joan Noto P’97, Trustee Gretchen Farmer P’05, Nick Molnar ’72, Board Secretary Beth Glynn, Trustee Emeritus Steve Bent ’59,

Josh Feil ’98, Trustee Dick Tager ’56, former Trustee and past Finance Committee Chair Bill Tolley P’08 ’14, and Trustee Adam Gerry P’21. All invested early in the project and demonstrated that the new building had the full support of the Gunn community.

“I am so proud and beaming that I can sit here and think of my parents, Joan and Bob P’67 ’72, who started this journey many, many years ago for our family, and how proud they would be today, reflecting on the almost six decades that our family has been associated with this school, and thinking about again, where we are today,” said Tisch who, along with Lizzie, Becker, and Board Chair Patrick Dorton ’86, took turns wielding the ceremonial shovel, inscribed with the date, to officially break ground.

Becker thanked the Board, especially Dorton, Vice Chair Wanji Walcott P’19, Vice Chair Neil Townsend P’18 ’20, Trustee Jon Linen ’62, Board Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair Ashleigh Fernandez, and Trustee and Investment Committee Chair Bill Bardel, “and every member of the Board, for embracing and championing and investing in the relaunch of The Frederick Gunn School and all that means. Without your support, your encouragement, your counsel, and your willingness to go for it, none of this would be possible,” he said.

To view photos of the construction progress, visit frederickgunn.org/ciac.

Board Secretary Beth Glynn and Trustee Gretchen Farmer P’05 were among the earliest supporters of the project.

Jonathan Tisch ’72 thanked Lizzie “for being my partner in everything that is important in my life, and now for putting your name on a building next to mine that will transform this incredible institution.”

A Vision

Brought to Life

Community Celebrates Official Opening of the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center

April 23 was an exciting and historic day for the school, as the community gathered to celebrate the official opening of the spectacular Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center. Delayed two years due to the global pandemic, the event provided an opportunity for students, faculty, administrators, Trustees, and alumni to honor and thank in person lead donors, including Trustee Emeritus Jonathan Tisch ’72 and Thomas Perakos ’69, and all who helped to make this remarkable, 32,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art building possible.

“As we dreamed about a new building and a revitalized arts program, which became TPACC, we created a vision for the arts, with the hope of creating a program that asks students to learn to take public risks, to be makers not consumers, to be citizens who imagine a beautiful future without cynicism, to face failure with hope, and to develop rich community. That is what is happening inside of this amazing building,” Head of School Peter Becker said, recognizing the incredible work of the faculty, including Andrew Richards P’20 ’23, Visual Arts Chair, Lincoln Turner, Visual Arts

faculty, Ron Castonguay, Director of the Arts and Music Director, and Kent Burnham, Director of Theatre Arts.

“From photography classes to jazz band to stage combat and ceramics-making, our students are taking risks, they are making art, and learning to appreciate it, too. What is happening today, day in and day out in this building, is helping our students learn and grow, in big and small ways — lessons and friendships that will stay with them for longer than the time they spend at The Frederick Gunn School, and we have many of you here today to thank for helping to make this possible,” Becker said.

On behalf of the school, he thanked the 89 donors who sponsored seats in the Tisch Family Auditorium in honor of family and friends, and the 18 donors who gave $100,000 or more, naming classrooms, practice rooms, and gathering spaces. He recognized the Class of 1968 who, in celebration of their 50th reunion, established the Norman R. Lemcke Community Room in honor of the late Norman R. Lemcke, Jr. P’78 ’84, a teacher, administrator, and dean from 1964-1975, for his dedicated service to the school and commitment to his students. Lemcke’s wife, Nancy P’78 ’84, and children,

Betsy Devries ’78 and Stephen, were in attendance at the ribboncutting. Becker recognized Perakos and the Class of 1969, who, in celebration of their 50th reunion, established the Perakos Family Cares Gallery in honor of Wallace H. Rowe III H’57 P’77 ’79, a beloved teacher and coach from 1957 to 1979, who was in attendance with his wife, Carol P’77 ’79, and their children, Marshall Rowe, Waddy Rowe ’77, and Heidi Rowe ’79.

Becker noted that some of the most generous donors to the building had asked to remain anonymous but the school was grateful to have many of them in attendance for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “In 2017, when we first set out to raise funds for an arts and community facility, this was just a hope; it was an idea,” he said, until donors stepped up to bring it to life, first and foremost among them, Perakos. Thank you, Tom, for serving as the catalyst for this project. I’m excited for the generations of students who will benefit from it and will see your name there forever.”

Becker recognized Richard C. Colton, Jr. ’60, who was unable to travel to the event, noting his diligence to the arts at the school was expressed years before the building took shape. “All along, Dick

The dedication was commemorated in an aerial photo, taken by Marlon Fisher ’01, Associate Director of Next Generation Leadership.

Board Chair Patrick Dorton ’86, Head of School Peter Becker, Tom Perakos ’69, and Trustee Emeritus Jonathan Tisch ’72 at the dedication on April 23

remained steadfast in his commitment to elevating the program and its home on our campus,” Becker said. “It is an honor to know that generations of Gunn students will do the awesome, messy work of creating and exhibiting art in the beautiful Richard C. Colton, Jr. Arts Wing.”

Becker recognized Jonathan Tisch ’72 and Steve Tisch ’67, whose gift established the beautiful, 415-seat Tisch Family Auditorium, which accommodates the entire school for School Meeting three times each week, and has already hosted plays, musicals, concerts, guest speakers, and other school and alumni events. “You and your family’s willingness to support the arts center in the early days was instrumental in signaling to our constituents that constructing this facility was our highest priority. Jon, you and Tom knew that it would completely change the way people think about what we are capable of as a school — and you were right. The Thomas S.

Arts

Community Center has set the bar high for all of our future projects. I am grateful to you and to Steve for giving us a

Immediately following the dedication, guests attended a celebratory luncheon at Conroy House, followed by performances in the Tisch Family Auditorium by (from top) the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, Pilobolus, and the New Orleans Jazz Experience.

Perakos

and

Above: Chief Development Officer Sean Brown P’22 and Trustee Tom King ’60; and below (left to right) Wally Rowe III H’57 P’77 ’79, Kris Collum ’69 P’03 ’06, Marshall Rowe, and Waddy Rowe ’77.

beautiful auditorium to gather as a community in the way that Mr. Gunn always wanted 170 years ago,” Becker said.

Rabbi Andy Bachman P’19, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Project in New York City, provided a blessing for the building and all of those who visit, work, and create in it. Board Chair Patrick Dorton ’86 read a resolution adopted by the Board of Trustees in celebration of the building’s official opening and with gratitude for the donors who invested in it. Dorton then joined Tisch and Perakos in cutting the ribbon outside the main entrance.

Speaking at the luncheon that followed the dedication, Perakos reflected that, as a student, he loved his experience at the school. “I’m soaring like an eagle today,” he said, his voice filled with emotion. “This building will be for all the children who follow me in the name of my beloved family, and I’m just overwhelmed, and so grateful that I was able to participate in this.”

“We’re now in such a better place thanks to the generosity of so many people that are here today, and especially Tom. The future is very bright here,” Jon Tisch said at the luncheon. “My brother, Steve, and I, we’re thrilled to be part of what is now the performing arts center, and we look to stay so involved, my wife, Lizzie, and I especially, for many, many years to come.”

Tom Perakos ’69 with one of the 10 Tony Awards he received in 2018 as a producer of “The Band’s Visit,” a co-producer of the revival of “Carousel,” and a provider of financial support for the revival of “My Fair Lady.” On loan to the school, the award will be displayed in the Perakos Family Cares Art Gallery in TPACC.

Tom Perakos ’69 was joined at the celebration by his brother, Peter, his wife, Deborah, and their daughter, Nicole. His mother, age 101, joined via livestream to share in the moment. Sadly, she passed away in July.

a force for Good In Action

In April, an Alumni Art Exhibition opened in the Perakos Family Cares Art Gallery in the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center, featuring paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture, and furniture created by more than a dozen Gunn alumni from classes spanning seven decades. Curated by Visual Arts Chair Andrew Richards P’20 ’23 and Lincoln Turner, Visual Arts faculty, the exhibit was three years in the making and included work by alumni artists, including: Roman Cohen ’18, Peter Cree ’71, Phil Dutton ’81, Tim Gaillard ’61, Andy Glantz ’67, Charles Hollinger ’04, Robert Houser ’85, David Kaplan ’81, Sarah Kushwara ’00, Davina Perl ’86, Sarah Rinaldi ’04, and Robert Shillady ’66.

There were also three black-and-white portraits by Rowland Scherman ’55, one with singer-songwriters Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins in a tree house; one of John Lennon at a protest in London in 1971; and one of a young girl holding a pennant close to her face at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Scherman donated all three photographs to the school, and came to see the exhibit on Alumni Weekend in June. It was the first time he had been back on campus in many years.

A highly published photographer for LIFE magazine, and the first photographer for the Peace Corps, Scherman captured some of the most iconic people and moments in American history in the 1960s and ’70s, In 2013, his life and work became the subject of an award-winning PBS documentary, “Eye on the Sixties: The Iconic

ROWLAND SCHERMAN ’55 AND HIS LIFE BEHIND THE LENS

Filmmaker Chris Szwedo first stumbled upon Scherman’s photographs in a small gallery in Orleans, Massachusetts, but the artist’s work is primarily housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., in the Library of Congress and in a newly created special collection in the University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries. One of his most well-known portraits, of a back-lit Bob

Photography of Rowland Scherman.”

Rowland Scherman ’55 at the Alumni Art Exhibit in June with two of the photographs he donated to the school

Scherman won a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover in 1967 for this photograph of Bob Dylan.

Dylan playing the harmonica on stage at the Washington Coliseum in 1965, became the album cover for “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits,” and won Scherman the Grammy Award for Best Album Cover in 1967.

When Scherman made that photograph of Dylan, he was working for LIFE magazine, although not actually on assignment. He didn’t even have a press pass that night, he confided during an interview at his home in Massachusetts this summer. What he did have was a camera and what he called “an unshakable desire” to show things the way he saw them. “I couldn’t be stopped. There was no way. I wasn’t going to be stopped from taking a picture. That kind of fire … I had it when I had it,” said Scherman, who is now 85, and still making photographs and showing his work.

This summer, his photographs were featured in a solo exhibition, “Spirit of the ’60s,” at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. Scherman said he was surprised and pleased by an observation made by a journalist, John Grenier-Ferris, who interviewed him for The Providence Independent about the show. Grenier-Ferris wrote: “Scherman lived and worked primarily during the 1960s and ’70s, disruptive times reminiscent of today. He could have focused on the darkness: Southern police officers siccing dogs on Black demonstrators, or the drugs and carpetbagger record executives that infiltrated Laurel Canyon. Instead, he showed the world what dignity and fortitude looks like in his images of the march on Washington in 1963, and the innocence that still prevailed

in the California music scene with Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins sitting together in a tree house.”

“Scherman,” Grenier-Ferris continued, “portrayed the strength, resilience, joy, and beauty the human race is capable of, and isn’t that something we need to be reminded of now? How sometimes seriously flawed human beings — think of JFK and the contrast between Camelot and Vietnam, for example — could still manage to make the world a better place.”

A Photojournalist for LIFE Magazine

Raised in Pelham, New York, Scherman transferred to what was then The Gunnery as a junior, with the goal of improving his academic standing and college prospects. As he explained: ”My GPA in high school was tumbling because I was chasing girls around and I was supposed to go to Dartmouth.” His father, Bill Scherman, a vice president at Newsweek, graduated from Dartmouth in 1934 and wanted Rowland to play football there. He did play football at Gunn, and took up hockey, soccer, crew, and golf.

His soccer team recorded just one win for the season. “No one knew how to play, except for Alan Bain ’55, our English Exchange student. He was the only one to score,” Scherman recalled. Some of his best memories are of crew. He rowed in the two seat for the third boat in his senior year — the same year Gunn’s first and second boats were named New England Champions under legendary coach Rod

Scherman, right, photographing President John F. Kennedy at an early Peace Corps ceremony in 1962

Beebe. “We all wanted to break our backs to make him a winner. He was an inspiring guy.”

In June, Scherman said campus looked much different, but he still remembered his dorm room on the first floor of Gunn, and the friends he made at school, including the late Andy Masterbone, Jr. ’55 and the late Colin E. Smith ’55. He also recalled that he studied art and painted a watercolor of a Cape Cod lighthouse from memory that then-Head of School Ogden D. Miller H’69 P’50 ’54 ’55 GP’84 chose to display in his office.

A Call to Action

After graduating from Gunn, Scherman enrolled at New York University for a year, and then transferred to Oberlin College in Ohio, where he majored in art. He did not graduate, leaving Oberlin to join the U.S. Army, and pursue a brief career as a musician. He recorded a few songs under the name Billy Donahue, including the 1959 hit, “Oo Darling,” which he performed on “American Bandstand.”

By 1961, he had given up his aspirations as a singer and returned to photography. After hearing President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, he made a decision to use his talents as a force for good. When Kennedy spoke the words, “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country,” Scherman took it seriously, and felt the president was speaking to him directly. “Absolutely,” he said. “No matter what he wanted us to do, I would have done it.”

Kennedy’s inspiration led him to the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the newly established Peace Corps, where Scherman told organizers he wanted a job as a photographer. What the Peace Corps needed at that time was doctors and teachers, but Scherman was determined and decided to stick around. He caught his big break when he was asked to photograph Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands visiting with Sargent Shriver, the first Director of the Peace Corps, and prospective volunteers. Scherman got the job as the first photographer for the Peace Corps, and began a relationship with the Kennedy family that changed his career.

Traveling with the Peace Corps to St. Lucia, West Africa, and the Far East, Scherman became savvy about how to get his photographs published in the mainstream media. “My job was to

photograph not the volunteers but the guys who were running the show. But I knew that was not what the magazines wanted. It was obvious the interesting stuff was what the kids were doing. They were setting up schools, teaching. You’d get the volunteers, and you’d get their class, and the class would get all excited about getting their picture taken. They were all laughing and smiling. How could you miss?”

That face in the crowd

In 1963, Scherman became a freelance photographer. His work appeared in the leading magazines of the time — LIFE, Look, National Geographic, Time — and he became the official photographer for the United States Information Agency (USIA), which dispatched him to cover the March on Washington.

“I had a press pass that said, ‘On official assignment: U.S. Government, March on Washington.’ The only one. I could go anywhere. I did go everywhere,” Scherman said, recalling of the march: “Everyone was aghast at how huge it was. They all thought it was going to be a couple thousand people. No one realized it was going to be that big.”

Despite the size of the crowd — 250,000 people — and the racial tensions of that time, the demonstration was also peaceful, and that was what he sought to capture in his images. “It changed the way the world looked at America in a positive way,” he said.

Scanning the crowd during King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Scherman spotted a young girl. “There she was, listening. Her mother took her to listen to Martin Luther King, Jr. and I thought when I saw that face in the crowd, ‘What a face!’ Click, click. Perfect face. She became the poster child for the March on Washington. Her picture was on flags, on telephone poles, on buses, all over Washington, D.C.”

Scherman’s iconic photograph of Edith Lee-Payne at the 1963 March on Washington

In 2013, Scherman had an opportunity to meet the young girl in the picture, whose name is Edith Lee-Payne. She told the media that she had attended the march on her 12th birthday with her mother and had no idea that she was the subject of a famous photograph until her cousin showed her the picture in a calendar in 2008. “The BBC tracked me down and tracked her down and put us together by magic at the 50th anniversary of the March,” Scherman said, delighted by the fact that she had become famous. “Park rangers lined up to get their picture taken with her, rather than the other way around. That part was a lot of fun. We still contact each other all the time. We’re pretty tight.”

The Kennedys, The Beatles, and Woodstock

Some years after the Peace Corps, Scherman was invited to photograph an event that Shriver and his wife, Eunice, were hosting at their home. The couple had organized games for their children and invited other local children to participate. “Made my career. I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without doing that, being so smitten by the Kennedy dynasty and mystique,” said Scherman, who also photographed President John F. Kennedy and later, Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. He said it was Szwedo, the documentary filmmaker, who realized years later that the event at the Shrivers’ home was the beginning of the Special Olympics. “I didn’t realize that. I didn’t realize a lot of stuff. I was just doing it because Sarge couldn’t have been nicer,” Scherman said.

In June 1968, Scherman had left Robert Kennedy’s campaign in California to edit his photographs, and then RFK was assassinated. Scherman reflected on the impact of that loss, and others of that period: “As long as we had Bobby and Martin Luther King and John Lennon, everything was going to be alright. That’s how it seemed. Bobby was definitely going to be president. I expected to become a staff member. That didn’t happen.”

His photographs from the campaign “stayed in a drawer for 40 years. When LIFE gave me my negatives back, you could see that everywhere he went, he was adored.”

Throughout the 1960s, Scherman photographed many other events of cultural and historical significance, including the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, where he climbed on stage to capture a young Bob Dylan performing with Joan Baez; the Beatles first concert in the United States, at Washington Coliseum in 1964; and Woodstock in 1969, where he photographed Janis Joplin and Crosby, Stills, and Nash.

For another assignment for LIFE, Scherman accompanied tennis great Arthur Ashe on a road trip in 1965, riding in Ashe’s Ford Mustang from Texas to Los Angeles. Three years later, Ashe became the first Black man to win the U.S. Open. Scherman photographed him on the cusp of fame, casually reading the newspaper while waiting for his clothes in a laundromat, and shaking hands at UCLA with another (much taller) sports legend, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. “That was the first time they’d ever met. They became business partners,” Scherman said, recalling that he was “hugely happy” when Ashe won Wimbledon in 1975.

Preserving his life’s work

Just before the pandemic, Scherman and his partner, Linda Calmes Jones, moved from Cape Cod to Amherst, Massachusetts, at the invitation of Rob Cox, who was then head of Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Massachusetts. Cox wanted to catalog Scherman’s work, including his negatives, to make them more accessible to the public.

“It’s really kind of opened them up to the world and made sure those images are preserved,” said Scherman, who initially planned to teach at UMass while overseeing the archives project. Then COVID hit, and in May 2020, Cox passed away. The Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA), named in his honor, now includes the Rowland Scherman Collection, which spans nearly his entire career.

Asked if he saw himself as a force for good when he was photographing the major events of his time, Scherman replied: “Not as much as I had hoped. I didn’t get a Medal of Freedom. I didn’t get a Pulitzer Prize. I didn’t get into the Magnum Photo group. People are still wondering who I am. I think the movie helped somewhat. It all came so late. I stumbled a lot.”

Scherman moved back to the Cape this summer, not far from the Chatham Orpheum Theater, where “Eye on the Sixties” premiered in 2013. “The reason that we have all of these photographs is that we have this person who lives in the moment,” said Szwedo, who traveled with Scherman during the making of the documentary back to Woodstock and Washington, D.C., and relived with him the moments he made his iconic photographs. “I admire the spirit in anybody who really wants to follow their own star. I would call that person true to themselves.”

School Opens With Highest Enrollment in its History

The school began its 173rd year with the highest enrollment in its history. The Gunn community welcomed a record 323 students, up from 315 students in 2021-22 and 310 in 2019-20. Overall, 75% of current students are boarding, 25% are day students; and 20% are international students. Our students hail from 22 countries and 25 states. “It’s the strongest enrollment in our history, and our most selective and competitive enrollment season,” said Suzanne Day, Director of Enrollment and Admissions. We sat down with Day in mid-October to find out more about the admissions process and our current student body.

What are you hearing from prospective students and families about what attracted them to The Frederick Gunn School?

There is increased interest in the boarding school experience. What I hear often is that families were disillusioned with how their previous schools responded to COVID, whether that was in a public or independent school setting. There is an interest in the 24/7 boarding school experience, and a sense of how nimble boarding schools were at the start of the pandemic, and their ability to respond with in-person learning. I think we are benefiting from an uptick many boarding schools are seeing. However, I also think it is the momentum our school has achieved despite the pandemic, bringing to life our Campus Master Plan. That includes facility enhancements like the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center, Graham House, Emerson Fitness Center, and the excitement around the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship. And it’s not only facility upgrades. It’s the people and programs that make those facilities worthwhile. It’s the investment in enhancing and broadening our program offerings, such as Gunn Outdoors, adding exciting offerings to our curriculum, for example, the multiple English courses upperclassmen can take, and science and history electives. There is excitement around the expansion of our entrepreneurship curriculum, and the establishment of an Entrepreneurship Center. In fact, one of the most popular faculty members requested during admissions visits last year taught Honors Entrepreneurship Seminar. I also think that our courage to change our name in 2020 gave us an opportunity to rebrand ourselves and better define who we are in the boarding school landscape, and that

messaging, along with the coming to life of the Campus Master Plan, leaves us in a position of strength in the boarding school market.

You said this past enrollment season was selective and competitive. What is it that our Admissions Officers look for in ideal candidates?

What I always tell prospective families is that we are looking for students who are motivated and engaged in the community in multiple facets — in academics, in athletics, in the arts, in leadership, in clubs. We are looking for students who are going to bring something unique to our community, or contribute to the success of the community in some significant way. Another reason our enrollment is so strong is that our attrition is the lowest it has been in the last 10 years. I think that speaks to the fact that the students who are enrolling are the right fit for our school, and they’re thriving here.

What is driving the growth in our enrollment?

Our primary growth was in boarding enrollment, which grew by 5% compared to last year, and 11% from two years ago, and that growth was domestic boarding growth. International enrollment remained consistent at 20% and all of our funnel metrics were up across the board: inquiries were up 11%, interviews were up 14%, and applications were up 12%.

The school has a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. How is that reflected in terms of enrollment now and in the future?

We have seen a steady increase in the number of students of color in recent years as we have continued to broaden our connections with Community Based Organizations (CBOs), feeder schools such as Harlem Academy, educational consultants, and other partners who represent students from diverse backgrounds. This will continue to be a priority for the future.

How are current trends affecting the enrollment process?

We’re extremely busy. Our Admissions Assistants tell me the phones are constantly ringing. Completed and scheduled appointments are up 50% compared with this time last year. Our calendar is full and thankfully we have record interest in our Tour Guide program to meet the demand. People have been worried that in terms of international interest, we might see a downtick, particularly from China. However, our international inquiries were up last year and look strong yet again this year. Chinese students remain 10% of our overall enrollment. Caralyn Dea, Director of International Recruitment & Associate Director of Admissions, has been working to broaden our international student body and to more consistently attract students from new markets. She’s back on the road now, and in October logged 21 days of international travel, and 11 flights to seven different cities. She had a line out the door at the fair that she attended in Japan, reporting there was more interest in The Frederick Gunn School than any other school at the fair. I’m on the road, too, doing domestic travel. Before the end of October, I had visited Florida, North Carolina, Chicago, and Colorado. We have a really strong, professional, and enthusiastic team that works well together. At the start of the year, we welcomed Blake Hollinger to our team as Associate Director of Admissions and Assistant Coach for Boys Varsity Lacrosse. He is a product of a junior boarding school and boarding school and has 10 years of experience in the D.C. Metro Area.

What can you tell us about students at The Frederick Gunn School this year? What makes them unique?

We have 134 new students from more than 19 countries. New to the mix are Bangladesh, Lithuania, Zimbabwe, and Guatemala, and we have two students from Ukraine as well. Our new domestic students are from 24 states, and fresh to that mix is Hawaii. Among new students, 14% are students of color. Overall, we have 33 legacy students and 17 sets of siblings. One of our new students is a professional actress who has been in two Emmy-nominated TV shows. Another is an actress who has appeared on Broadway in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and was a finalist on Master Chef Junior. We have student activists and volunteers, including one student who spent time in Poland with her father this summer, helping Ukrainian refugees; and an avid fisherman who ran an event to teach special needs students how to fish in Central Park. And the last two of the five Gleason children are now here (twins Ava ’26 and Abigail ’26 are the siblings of Madi ’19, Jack ’21 and Anna ’23).

Our Highlander Summer Connections (HSX) events were well attended this summer, including an in-person event on campus in July, on one of the hottest days of the year. We had 30 students who powered through a scavenger hunt on campus and a hike in Steep Rock. At one of the HSX virtual events for the upperclassmen, Paloma Vega Gonzalez-Ruiz ’13, the sibling of a new 12th grader, made an appearance. She came in to talk about her experience at Gunn and how it was a dream for her brother, Cosme Vega Gonzalez-Ruiz ’23, to attend the school. She also said she was about to get married with many Gunn alumni in attendance at her wedding in Spain. We have other talented performing and visual artists joining us this year as well, including trumpeters, saxophonists, violinists, and a flutist. One applicant was even brave enough to sing to me as part of his admissions interview on Zoom!

We are looking for students who are going to bring something unique to our community, or contribute to the success of the community in some significant way.

School Names First Thomas R. King ’60 Family Chair for Excellence in Teaching

On September 8, the community gathered inside the historic Meeting House on The Green to celebrate Convocation and the beginning of our 173rd year as a school. The highlight of this year’s ceremony was the presentation of a new teaching chair. Kelsey Brush of the Mathematics Department faculty was named the first recipient of the Thomas R. King ’60 Family Chair for Excellence in Teaching. The award was presented by Head of School Peter Becker and Trustee Tom King ’60.

The Thomas R. King Family Chair was created through the leadership and generosity of King and his wife, Kathy. Their gift of $1 million to the school’s endowment was given to honor esteemed Frederick Gunn School educators, specifically in the fields of science, technology, engineering, math, and entrepreneurship. This chair will be bestowed on a rotating basis, once every three years, to an exemplary member of the school’s faculty. Each recipient will receive an immediate financial stipend that the school will renew annually for as long as the honored faculty member is employed by the school.

“We are extremely grateful as a school to recognize you, Tom and Kathy, and your recognition of the importance of the teaching faculty,” Becker said. “Thank you for your leadership and generosity to make the Thomas R. King Family Chair for Excellence in Teaching possible.”

King was appointed to the Board of Trustees in April 2020. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Boston University and earned his MBA from Boston College. Following service in the U.S. Air Force and the New York Air National Guard, he worked at Lehman Brothers as a security analyst following the metal industries. He later joined Merrill Lynch, where he was Vice President of Merrill Lynch Asset Management. In 1984, he joined the Trust and Estates Department of Chemical Bank as an Investment Manager. Following several mergers, the resulting organization became known

as J.P. Morgan Chase, from which King retired in 2004 as Vice President of Investments in its Personal Asset Management Division. He and Kathy reside in Stamford, Connecticut.

Addressing the community, King reflected on the four years he spent at Gunn as the most important time in his education. Whenever and wherever he and members of the Class of 1960 gather, he said “invariably, the conversation comes around to the teachers that we had over the years, and the impact that they had on us.”

“I thought back to … the number of people that I interacted with here, at what was then The Gunnery, who had a profound impact on who I became and the success I achieved,” he said, telling current students, “When people like Kelsey have a profound impact on you — that shows up down the road. Hopefully, you’ll be able to look back and realize that’s going to be true for you as well, and hopefully, you will remember and give back as we did over the years.”

Trustee Tom King ’60 with Kelsey Brush, who was named the first holder of the Thomas R. King ’60 Family Chair for Excellence in Teaching in September

In August, Dan Fladager, Director of Outdoor Programs, led a small group of faculty on a three-night backpacking trip in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness, part of the Adirondack Forest Preserve, where they hiked, swam, relaxed, and learned more about the backpacking programming available to Gunn students through Gunn Outdoors.

“Faculty were able to get accustomed to the backpacking system and rituals we use for creating meaningful moments of learning for Gunn students while keeping them safe outside,” said Fladager, who welcomed faculty with any level of experience, even those who had never been backpacking before.

The faculty program was organized the same way it would be for students. Gunn Outdoors provided all of the necessary gear and food. Faculty learned how to organize and carry their packs, navigate through the wilderness, sleep in a tent, and cook a meal over a camp stove. They hiked five to 10 miles per day, and learned the importance of gathering students in a circle for community moments three times each day. “When you wake up, everyone gets in a circle. We share something about ourselves that no one else knows and go over the plan for the day. We assign a student leader for the day,” Fladager said, explaining that the ritual of these circles is repeated in the afternoon and evening, each time with a different focus (such as a game in the evening), and is a great way to debrief and check in to see how everyone is doing.

“This was a great opportunity to learn a new skill, and to just spend some time outdoors with each other,” Fladager said of the faculty trip, which he plans to offer annually, with the goal of helping more faculty become knowledgeable and experienced enough to lead student backpacking trips themselves. “Faculty learned what students go through on a typical day and how to coach them in outdoor educational experiences. We traveled as a backpacking group and shared strategies for managing group dynamics while learning principles of outdoor education.”

Live Like Fred: Faculty Edition

Faculty members Kelsey Brush, Sean Brown P’22, Ian Rathkey, Kylie Regan, and Dan Fladager on this summer’s backpacking trip

The Frederick Gunn School welcomed the following new faculty to campus for the start of our 2022-23 school year.

Tyler Sheikh, Associate Director of College Counseling

Tyler previously served as Head Men’s Soccer Coach at Bates College and is Head Coach for Boys Varsity Soccer at Gunn. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Quinnipiac University, where he played Division I Men’s Soccer, and earned his master’s degree in education from the University of Connecticut.

Andres Sovero, World Languages Faculty

Andres teaches Spanish and serves as an Assistant Coach for Boys Thirds Soccer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Western Connecticut State University and a master’s in higher education administration from Northeastern University. Prior to

joining Gunn, Andres managed student support services programs for students in grades 6 to 12 and higher education at Central Connecticut State University.

Eric Hunt P’23 ’24, IDEAS Lab Faculty

Eric teaches courses in engineering and Advanced Computer Science, and is Head Coach for Boys JV Hockey and JV Baseball. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Saint Michael’s College, where he played club soccer and ice hockey. He previously taught math and computer science and coached boys soccer and ice hockey at Brewster Academy, where he was a lead mentor on the school’s FIRST® Robotics team.

Front row: Tyler Sheikh, Andres Sovero, Eric Hunt P’23 ’24, Julie Haesche, Leah Peluchiwski, Luis Muller and Blake Hollinger; second row (left to right): Sarah Hunt P’23 ’24, Ellissa Popoff, and Julie Petrillo ’18; back row: Sean Milano

Julie Haesche, Learning Specialist, Center for Academic Excellence, and Yoga Instructor

Julie received her degree in holistic health from Southern Connecticut State University, where she was captain of the Varsity Sailing Team and a member of the all-female vocal ensemble. She earned her certification as a life coach and learning specialist from Landmark International and is a member of the International Association for Yoga Therapists. In addition to her work in CAE, she is an Assistant Coach for Life Fitness and Outdoor Leadership, and owns a small business, Washington Wellness.

Leah Peluchiwski, English Department Faculty

Leah teaches freshman English and an elective for upperclassmen, America and the Immigrant Experience. She is also an Assistant Coach for Girls Varsity Skiing and Varsity Softball. A graduate of the Latin School of Chicago, Leah holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in the Program of Liberal Studies. She majored in film, television, and theater, with a concentration in television and a minor in business economics. Leah previously taught 10th grade humanities and coached sailing and swimming at Culver Academies, a boarding school in Culver, Indiana.

Luis Muller, Mathematics Department Faculty

Luis teaches PreCalculus and Geometry and is an Assistant Coach for JV Baseball and Boys Thirds Basketball. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Elon

University, where he was the executive producer of a student-run television sports debate show, hosted his own radio show and podcast, and mentored high school students in a college preparatory program called Elon Academy. He also played for the NCAA Division I Elon Phoenix Baseball Team.

Blake Hollinger, Associate Director of Admissions

A graduate of Salisbury School, Blake holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Hamilton College, where he was captain of the Men’s Lacrosse Team in his senior year. He earned a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Shenandoah University’s School of Education. Prior to joining Gunn, Blake was in charge of Upper School Admissions and coached varsity football and lacrosse at Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland. At Gunn, he is an Assistant Coach for Boys Varsity Lacrosse.

Sarah Hunt P ’23 ’24, English Department Faculty and Special Projects/Educational Technology Support, Center for Academic Excellence

A graduate of Tilton School, Sarah graduated from Saint Michael’s College with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a minor in English. She earned a master’s degree in education with a concentration in educational leadership from the University of New England. She previously served as Director of Interim Studies at Brewster Academy and founded her own educational consulting firm, Purposeful Development, in 2021.

Ellissa Popoff, History Department Faculty

Ellissa teaches history and is an Assistant Coach for Girls Varsity Crew. A graduate of Tabor Academy, Ellissa holds a bachelor’s degree in history and psychology from Williams College and a master’s degree in psychology from Connecticut College. Prior to joining Gunn, Ellissa spent a decade living and working in schools in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Most recently, she taught in the Social Sciences Department at Tilton School, where she was an Assistant Coach for Girls Varsity Ice Hockey, a dorm parent, and ran the grade 12/post-graduate level program.

Julie Petrillo ’18,

Teaching Fellow

Julie teaches Pathways, a freshman course that is part of the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy’s four-year curriculum, and is an Assistant Coach for Girls Varsity Crew and Girls Varsity Ice Hockey. Julie holds a bachelor’s degree in educational studies with a minor in English from Trinity College, and was a four-year member of Trinity’s NCAA Division III Women’s Rowing Team.

Sean Milano, Mathematics Department Faculty

Sean teaches Calculus, Algebra II, and Geometry and is an Assistant Coach for Coed Ultimate Frisbee. Sean holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Williams College, where he played football and was a three-year starter at strong safety. Prior to joining Gunn, he worked at Canterbury School in New Milford for 11 years, teaching math and coaching football and baseball.

Senior Master Ed Small Retires After 45 Years at Gunn

On June 10, Ed Small, the Anne S. and Ogden D. Miller Senior Master, retired after 45 years of teaching, coaching, dorm parenting, and advising at The Frederick Gunn School.

A graduate of Bowdoin College, Small joined the faculty in the fall of 1977. He, Pamela Taylor, and Hugh Caldara were among 15 new teachers that year, and their start coincided with the arrival of the first class to include female students since 1921. Small arrived with his wife, Peg, who served as School Registrar from July 1978 until her retirement in 2021.

“Ed has been an integral part of our community for more than four decades,” said Head of School Peter Becker. “He and Peg have impacted the lives of countless Gunn students. Please join me in congratulating Ed on an epic teaching career and thanking him for his friendship and colleagueship over so many years.”

During their tenure, the Smalls served under four different Heads of School and contributed to every facet of life at school.

“Ed Small anchored the faculty during my tenure as Head of School,” said Susan Graham H’12. “A long-haul loyalist, Ed identified himself from the beginning as a steadfast utility player, capable of shouldering multiple roles with competence. Without questioning, he would step forward to take on an extra section of PreCalculus, to coach a third term sport, to fill in for a colleague on weekend team or dorm duty.”

“Ed brought many skills to the school over his four decades but underlying all is his deep and abiding belief in the personal and academic potential of every student,” said former Head of School Michael Eanes H’90 P’90 GP’20 ’23 ’25. “In his own, sometimes taciturn (Maine!) way, he brought out the best in his math students, his athletes, and particularly his advisees. It is a testimony to his effectiveness as the quintessential boarding school teacher/coach/ advisor that so many alumni have stayed in touch with him.”

As the parent of an alumna and a Gunn grandparent, Eanes noted Small has always been a favorite of faculty children — and campus canines. “Susan H’91 P’90 GP’20 ’23 ’25 and I are so grateful

that our daughter, Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25, and two of our grandchildren, Luke Martin ’23 and Amelia Martin ’25, have had the privilege of being his students,” Eanes said. “We wish him all the best as he embarks on his next chapter, a well-deserved retirement.”

As a teacher, Small taught some 15 different math courses, served as advisor to the Mathletes, created the curriculum for the Operations Research course, and has been the only faculty member to teach it. Outside of the classroom, he wrote a computer program to maintain the school’s academic course schedule, he was a member of the Curriculum Committee and the Disciplinary Committee. As Head of the Mathematics Department, he hired Alisa Croft, who eventually succeeded him as Mathematics Department Chair.

“When I think about Ed, a smile comes across my face, and I imagine countless other students and colleagues have this same reaction when hearing Ed’s name,” said Croft, who also coached Girls Varsity Soccer with Ed. “For me, this smile comes from the years that he made me feel like family on The Frederick Gunn School campus, and from the hours spent together discussing lots of life and school experiences. It is my hope to smile brightly in the coming years every time I think of all those lessons I have learned from Ed.”

As dorm parents, the Smalls lived in eight different dorms, including Emerson from 1977 to 1983. They raised two sons on campus, Tyler and Brett, and are beloved by generations of Gunn alumni who as students sought their advice, encouragement, and support.

“Patrick Baker ’89 used to study in our house at the kitchen table,” Ed Small said, recalling that Scott Schwind ’89, Alexa Hockens Knight ’89, and Silvia Mayo Molina ’89 also visited when they needed a quiet place, or some of Peg’s homemade peanut butter squares, popcorn, or chocolate chip cookies. “There was a time they used to come over at 10 p.m. to watch ‘Thirty Something,’ then go back to the dorm.”

Over the course of four decades, Small coached about 10 different athletic teams, and up until 2012, coached teams in all three seasons. He was the Assistant Coach for Varsity Football with Hugh Caldara, his close friend and colleague for 37 years at Gunn. Small was an assistant coach for Varsity Cross Country and Varsity Baseball,

serving alongside Assistant Coach Richard Martin P’20 ’23 ’25 and the David N. Hoadley ’51 Baseball Coach, Jeff Trundy.

“Whether in the classroom, coaching baseball or another sport, or planning graduation, Ed gave so much to kids. I think a lot of his lessons became very valuable to kids as they moved forward in life,” said Trundy, who traveled with Martin and Ed and Peg Small on the baseball team’s annual spring trip to Florida in March. “It was always a great time in Florida. Ed loved going to spring training games. I’m happy for him and Peg. We’re all going to miss them. His contributions to the school are immeasurable.”

In 2014, following the retirement of Russ Elgin, Small took up the mantle of Senior Master from his longtime friend and colleague. Small had the arduous job of moving the Commencement ceremony from the Meeting House on the Green (with traditions first established in 1924) to the tent on Edward Wersebe Memorial Field, a necessary step to accommodate the whole school and the

increasing number of family members who wished to attend. “I liked designing it. I think we did a good job moving it from the church down to the tent,” Small reflected this summer.

The Class of 2017 was the first to graduate in the new location, and that same year, through a gift from Dwight Miller ’55 in the name of his parents, Small was named the first Anne S. and Ogden D. Miller Senior Master. In this role, Small carried the Gunn Mace with pride and grace and delivered the invocation and benediction at annual events from Convocation to Investiture, invoking a blessing upon students and faculty at the beginning and end of every school year.

Elgin still remembers the first time he met Small, in the fall of 1976. Elgin was then Head Coach for Varsity Cross Country at Gunn, and Small was in the same role at Hopkins School. “We had a meet on a Saturday in New Haven. It was not a nice day. It was windy, cloudy, and it started to rain. I never in my life heard of a cross country race being canceled, and I think Ed thought the same way. Half their course was underwater, but still we ran the race. Come to find out, we were actually in a hurricane right then. But we did it.”

When Ed arrived at Gunn, they became friends. They served on the Curriculum Committee together, coached cross country together for a few years, and baseball for 16 years, and after Emerson was expanded, served as dorm parents together for a year. “During my time at the school, I don’t think anybody was a better advisor than Ed was,” Elgin recalled. “He was very attached to his advisees’ successes and helping them when they had problems. He did a wonderful job like that, being an advisor.”

Scott Dayton ’08, Liz (Hawley) Dayton ’08, Alex Rinaldi ’08, Rachel (Lazenby) Brennan, Patrick Brennan ’08, and Peg and Ed Small at Alumni Weekend in 2018

Congratulating Garrett Coe ’19 on the baseball field

>>> Leading the Way

Frederick Gunn was a well-known and influential leader, and leadership is something we take seriously at our school. Every student here has an opportunity to take on a leadership role. Students can lead collaborative projects in the classroom, guide prospective students and families on campus tours, or seek an appointed or elected role. We are pleased to introduce some of our student leaders for the 2022-23 school year, and we celebrate everyone in our community who finds a way to become involved and to lead.

2022-23 Prefects

This year’s prefects see themselves as leaders who work as a team; who serve as a bridge between the student body and faculty; who encourage community connection and collaboration; who inspire others and encourage peers to step out of their comfort zone; who help others find their place at the school and the leader in themselves; who are there for others on their best and worst days; and who will ignite positive change.

On Senior Rock (left to right): Prefects Viv Boucher ’23, Ashleen Hay ’23 (Head Prefect), Chris Wang ’23, Hunter Fonseca ’23, Maeren Hay ’23, Will Marich ’23, Alex Johnson ’23, and Emily Chiappa ’23

Gunn Society Leaders

The Gunn Society’s mission is to stimulate connections between current Gunn students and alumni and to prepare students for their future roles as ambassadors for The Frederick Gunn School.

Head Tour Guides

Our Head Tour Guides are ambassadors for the school and support the work of the Admissions Office. They are often among the first people prospective students and parents meet when they visit campus, and set an example for all tour guides to follow.

2022-23 Gunn Scholars

The Gunn Scholar program is an endowed program that offers selected students opportunities to pursue a topic of their choosing in the Paula and George Krimsky Archives and Special Collections as part of a yearlong research project in their senior year. Introduced at Prize Night, this year’s Gunn Scholars — Georgie Charette ’23, Holli Hay ’23, Sidney Mutau ’23, and Gloria Wang ’23 — began working this fall to outline the scope of their thesis, develop a written proposal, and work diligently within the school’s archives, exploring the mission and vision of Frederick W. Gunn through primary-source research and place-based learning.

Sidney Mutau ’23, Gloria Wang ’23, Holli Hay ’23, and Georgie Charette ’23, with Librarian and Archivist Moira Conlan P’26 (center) on the steps of Tisch Schoolhouse, which houses the school archives

This year’s Gunn Society leaders include (left to right): Logan Pasquariello ’24, Joe Shaker ’24, Melanie Villegas ’25, Emma Eschweiler ’24, Natalia Zappone ’23, Co-President Grace McManus ’23, Co-Vice President Theodora Howe ’23, Jo Wimler ’24, Erin Whitney ’24, Alexandra Burkhart ’23, Caroline Marich ’24 and Poppy Kellogg ’25. Missing from the photo: Co-President Aria Trotta ’23 and Co-Vice President Yoyolet Zhang ’24.

Left to right: Audrey Richards ’23, Mike Markowski ’23, Bea Flynn ’24, Christian Wood ’23, Jenny Shen ’23, Maya Sellinger ’23, Ryan Crowshaw ’23, and Sierra Cortes ’23

Commencement 2022

Be Active and Courageous Citizens in the World

The Frederick Gunn School graduated 94 students, representing 14 states and 10 countries, in the Class of 2022 at its 172nd Commencement Exercises, held Sunday, May 29, 2022. The graduates were encouraged to be active and courageous citizens in the world by remaining true to themselves, by exercising their moral judgment, by embracing the outdoors, and by continuing to learn — all in the spirit of school founder, abolitionist, and outdoorsman Frederick Gunn.

The Class of 2022

John Lovett Adams

Abigail Ruth Agrodnia

Sayed Husain Ali Alalawi

Ursula Sparrow Anderson

Elio Baez-Estersohn

Aubrey Ann Barnes

Bradley Barrett

Jack P. Bavoso

Gerald M. Bessette III

Nicolas Boyd

Sean Joseph Bradley

Kyra Lynne Briggs

Gavin Thomas Brown

Hudson Courtney Brown

Allison Rose Bruck

Michael Burns

Salvatore Cerrato

Yushen Chen

Anastasia Cicala

Kayla Marie Clark

Paul Douglas Clement

Alder Curry

Íñigo Escudero Ursúa

Julian Michael Facchinelli

Sydney Ava Frank

Jordan Robert Frohock

Kiernan Gately

Alex Guo

Sean Patrick Hall

Gus Hinckley

Iris Hubbard

Jenna Maria Hunt

Serdar Alexander Cezario

Kaltalioglu

Winifred Sochibuifem KanayoEzenwata

Sofya Kapkova

Adhiraj Singh Katoch

Liam Keith Koval

Timothy Doeblin Lacy

Clari Lila Leonard

Zhiguang “Eric” Li

Zachary E. Liebert

Aiden Troy Lindley

Inin Liu

Anabel Alexandra Lota

Joseph LoVullo

Nathaniel E. Maldonado

Blake W. Maracle

Ava XueLing Marti

Elliott Raven McDean

Theodore Hodges Mercier

Luke Ivan Miller

Julian Aidan Morris

Michael Sean Murtagh

Victoria Lynn Nichele

Emily Isabelle Nobile

Hyun Seo Noh

Ryan Novo

Emily Nussbaumer

Margery Jannah Odongo

McFarland

Kate McKeever O’Farrell

Keven Julia O’Farrell

Lilly Valentine O’Farrell

Carter Payne

Natalie June Perkins

Anthony M. Pernerewski

Luke Anthony Peterson

Katie McCoy Porrello

Clara Prander

Evan Raines

Edward Bannigan Rayhill

Simon Richard Rhodes

Lea-Karoline Graciela

Ritzenhoff

Alexander Rosario

Anne Kathryn Scovill

Maram Sharif

Quentin Marie Marling Sheers

Emma Frances Smith

Nathan D. Stachowiak

KiKi Nicole Sutter-Shelters

Allan James Szydlowski

Thinh Truong

Sasha Pastoukhova Valdez

Alexandria Nicole Warren

Théo N. Weidinger

Celestina Georgiana Wolff

Phin Wright

Robin Godwinson Wright

Lexin You

Tim Yu

Bangjian Zeng

Xihang “Eric” Zhang

You “Yoyo” Zhang

Members of the Senior Class, I charge you as you leave this school to remember — remember that you have been given much; it is your duty to serve. Remember you are educated; it is your duty to seek wisdom. Remember the values you have learned here; it is your duty to live by them. Remember your friends, those who leave with you, and those of us who remain behind.”

– Head of School Peter Becker, delivering the charge to the Class of 2022

Prize Night 2022

Awards for academic excellence and other honors were presented to students at the annual Prize Night ceremony, held on May 28, 2022, under the tent on Edward Wersebe Memorial Field. Only a few of this year’s awards recipients appear on these pages. Congratulations to all of this year’s graduates and award winners!

The Chace Award for Excellence in Leadership was presented to Clara Prander ’22.

The Percy B. Wightman Prize for outstanding leadership in “things of the spirit” was presented to Theo Mercier ’22.

The Anthony Golembeske Award for Excellence in Mathematics was presented to Maram Sharif ’22.

The Raymond W. Reich Award for Excellence in Physics was presented to Oliver Chen ’22.

The Teddy Award, given in loving memory of Edward “Teddy” Bright Ebersol, beloved member of the Class of 2008, who died tragically on November 28, 2004, was presented to Kate Richards ’25 and Ben Elsberg ’25.

The Stray Shot Award for Excellence in Prose was presented to Quentin Sheers ’22.

The W. Russ Elgin Award for Excellence in Spanish was presented to Grace McManus ’23.

The Malcolm Willis Award for Music was presented to Yoyo Zhang ’22.

The Vreeland Rogers Athletic Awards, established in 1998 by Gerrit Vreeland ’61 and Andrew Y. Rogers, Jr. ’61, were presented to Abigail Agrodnia ’22 and Eddie Rayhill ’22.

The Excellence in Art Award, established in memory of Elizabeth Kempton, was presented to Ursula Anderson ’22.

The Dean’s Prize was awarded to Eric Li ’22.

The school’s three highest awards were presented during Commencement to students who were chosen by vote of the entire faculty. In keeping with tradition, the final diploma of the day was awarded to the Top Scholar for the Class of 2022.

The Brinsmade Prize, awarded to that student who best combines unselfish and sympathetic interest in people with a purpose for citizenship and social responsibility, was presented to Alex Warren ’22.

The Head of School’s Prize, awarded to a member of the graduating class who has contributed outstandingly to the success of the school year, was presented to Serdar Kaltalioglu ’22.

The Gunn Cup, presented to that student who, through character and achievement, contributed most largely to the success of the school year, was awarded to Eddie Rayhill ’22.

To view more Prize Night photos, go to http://bit.ly/PrizeNight22.

The Robert J. Benham Award for Effective Public Speaking was awarded to Emily Chiappa ’23.

The Excellence in Dramatics Award was presented to Alder Curry ’22.

The Robert Mortell Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts was presented to Audrey Richards ’23.

The McClellan Citizenship Prize was awarded to Grace Noh ’22.

Anastasia Cicala ’22, cum laude, was named Top Scholar of the Class of 2022.

Founders day, NEIRA 2022, and head of the charles

After a two-year hiatus during the global pandemic, the Founders Day Regatta returned to Lake Waramaug on Sunday, May 8, 2022. Some 500 student-athletes representing more than a dozen teams from independent and public high schools throughout the region were scheduled to participate. However, crosswinds of 18 to 27 mph were consistent throughout the day and made the first 500 meters un-rowable, according to Boys Varsity Head Coach Lincoln Turner. A few shortened heats from varying distances were raced for fun by the first and second boats, and the grand and petit finals were called off in the afternoon. It was one of the few times Founders Day has been canceled due to weather conditions since the regatta was established in the spring of 1959.

“We were thrilled to welcome back Founders Day,” said Athletic Director Mike Marich P’23 ’24. “While the weather didn’t cooperate, it was a great community event as always. It was disappointing for the student-athletes who wanted to compete, and for our coaches who help to plan and run the regatta, but there was just a great sense of community. It was still just an awesome day to be together outside in a beautiful spot.”

Gunn Girls and Boys Varsity Crew participated in the 2022 NEIRA Championships at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Massachusetts, on May 28. In the Girls Fours, the first and second boats placed third and the fifth boat placed fourth. In the Boys Fours, the first boat placed third and the fifth boat placed second. Dave RIng, Assistant Coach for Pomfret, commented on the results on

Row2K, noting: “In the B5/6 race, with roughly 300 meters to go, Taft and Gunn clashed oars causing both to lose all momentum and be overtaken by BB&N. It appeared that Taft moved into Gunn’s lane.”

This fall, Gunn returned to Cambridge for the 2022 Head of the Charles Regatta. The event marked The Frederick Gunn School’s 50th year of racing in the world’s largest three-day rowing competition. The boys boat — Hugo Vilbois ’23 (stroke seat), Taji Duncan ’23 (third seat), Jack Nettleton ’24 (second seat), Sam Williams ’24 (first seat), and Aria Trotta ’23 (coxswain) — was one of 90 competing in the Men’s Youth Four, which included a team from Ukraine. Gunn placed 58th out of 90 boats in the Men’s Youth Four. “They rowed a great race but the race is filled with crashes and clashing of oars,” Turner said. “Sometimes there are traffic jams, and if you can’t get out of the traffic jam, you can only be as fast as the slowest boat in that group. That’s where we ended up, but the kids had a lot of fun.”

Mark your calendar for the 2023 Founders Day Regatta Sunday, May 7, 2023, at Lake Waramaug.

Alumni, families and friends are invited to cheer on our Highlanders!

Top and facing page: Gunn crew teams at Lake Waramaug; above, students at the 2022 Founders Day Regatta; and below, at the 2022 Head of the Charles Regatta.

Boys Varsity Lacrosse CAPTURES Colonial Cup Championship TITLE

The Boys Varsity Lacrosse Team beat both Canterbury and Pomfret in tournament play on May 21, becoming the 2022 Colonial Cup Champions.

“It was a total team effort. They needed each other to accomplish this,” Athletic Director and Head Boys Lacrosse Coach Mike Marich P’23 ’24 said following the team’s championship win. “I was really proud of the way the guys handled themselves. They represented themselves, their families, and our school with class.”

Boys Varsity Lacrosse ended their regular season with a record of 11-5 and were the number 3 seed in the Colonial Tournament, which was established in 2015 by Gunn, Pomfret School, Canterbury School, and The Williston Northampton School. This year’s regular season games among the four schools were all close, and the four teams were evenly matched heading into the tournament, which was hosted this year by Williston in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

Gunn played Canterbury first, sealing a 7-3 victory, before heading to the finals against Pomfret. “We were able to jump out to a 5-1 lead at half, but Pomfret, to their credit, came roaring back. The guys fought all day long and we were able to hold on for a 6-5 win. It was very exciting. We

were up a goal with about four minutes left. It was backand-forth action, chances on both sides that neither team were able to finish. So it was sort of fast and furious at the end, and we were able make some key stops, get the ball back and run out the clock. We were the Colonial Cup Champions. It was awesome.”

For the first time in 16 years, Boys Varsity Lacrosse was also named the winner of the McKee Cup, after defeating Berkshire School 7-6 at home on May 2. The silver cup was first awarded in 2006 in a moving ceremony by its donors, Libby and Rusty McKee ’72 P’06, whose twin sons, Parker and Will McKee ’06, were captains of the Boys Varsity Lacrosse teams at Berkshire and Gunn, respectively. “We hope that future coaches and players understand and live the meaning of what the Cup stands for: a celebration of School, Team and Sportsmanship,” Rusty and Libby said in a note to then-Head of School Susan Graham H’12. Will was inducted into Gunn’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011, and Rusty was an outstanding athlete in his own right at Gunn.

Ultimate Wins State Championship

Gunn Ultimate Frisbee won the Connecticut High School Ultimate League (CTUL) Division II Championship on May 21 at The Hotchkiss School. A total of 14 teams competed in the tournament. Gunn beat North Branford High School to capture the Division II title.

Highlanders earn all-american, all-league, and all-staR recognition

A dozen members of the Boys Varsity Lacrosse Team received post-season league recognition. Eddie Rayhill ’22 was named U.S. Lacrosse High School All-American for the 2022 season, and Parker Hoffman ’24 was named the William Labelle Offensive Player of the Year by the Western New England Secondary School Lacrosse Association (WNESSLA). Four Highlanders earned WNESSLA First Team, All-League honors: Owen Laatsch ’25, Blake Maracle ’22, Andrew Rainville ’24 and Théo Weidinger ’22. Trey Bessett ’22,

Luke Calabria ’25, William Marich ’23, Mike Pizzo ’23, Allan Szydlowski ’22, and Christian Wood ’23 were selected for WNESSLA All-League Honorable Mention.

Five members of the Boys Varsity Baseball Team earned All-League honors from the highly competitive Western New England Prep School Baseball League (WNEPBL). Alex Rosario ’22 earned First Team All-League honors, and TJ Addonizio ’24, Will Bartoli ’25, Gavin Brown ’22, and Leo Vitarelli ’25 earned Second Team All-League honors.

From Varsity Softball, Jordan Hopping ’24 earned Western New England Prep School Softball League(WNEPSSL) All-League, All-Star honors.

Eddie Rayhill ’22

Trey Bessett ’22

Alex Rosario ’22

Parker Hoffman ’24

Owen Laatsch ’25 Blake Maracle ’22

Andrew Rainville ’24 Théo Weidinger ’22

Luke Calabria ’25

William Marich ’23

Mike Pizzo ’23

Allan Szydlowski ’22

Christian Wood ’23

TJ Addonizio ’24

Will Bartoli ’25

Gavin Brown ’22

Leo Vitarelli ’25

Jordan Hopping ’24

A Blossoming Music Program

Students in the Gunn Music Program had a chance to shine at the end of Spring Term. A Chamber Concert on April 29 showcased impressive solo performances by 17 students, who performed a wide range of musical styles, including songs by Etta James, Vaughan Williams, Beethoven, Bach, and Adele. On May 17 and 18, students in String Ensemble, Vocal Ensemble, and Jazz Band performed the annual spring concert, Swing Into Spring! The repertoire included a vibrant mix of classical and contemporary music, from Tchaikovsky to Count Basie to Coldplay.

At the spring concert, Ron Castonguay, Director of the Arts and Music Director, instituted a new tradition by presenting three

Music Program awards. “Our music students work extremely hard all year long and many have earned recognition in addition to outstanding performances,” Castonguay said. “These are national awards that music programs give out at the end of each school year. Each recipient received a certificate and their name is engraved on a plaque that is displayed outside Room 106 in TPACC, one of two practice rooms for all of our ensembles. We have many phenomenal students in our program and I am extremely proud of these three musicians, who are the first recipients of these awards. They set the standard of excellence within our program.”

The 2022 National Choral Award was presented to Audrey Richards ’23. This award is presented to a student who consistently demonstrates a superior work ethic, versatile vocal abilities, and a willingness to continue to improve at the craft of singing.

The 2022 National Orchestra Award was presented to Yoyo Zhang ’22, who only started cello as a freshman and performed a Bach Prelude at the Chamber Concert! This award is presented to a student who consistently demonstrates a superior work ethic, a wonderful sense of teamwork through modeled behavior, and a willingness to continue to improve at the mastery of skills on a string instrument.

The 2022 Louis Armstrong Jazz Award was presented to Hugo Vilbois ’23. This award is given to a student who consistently demonstrates a superior work ethic, leadership skills showcased through mentoring, and an innate desire to explore all facets of musical styles, especially in the realm of jazz and blues.

The Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community center was humming through spring, summer, and fall, with concerts, theatrical performances, art shows, guest speakers, and collaborations with community organizations, including Pilobolus, Litchfield Performing Arts, and the Institute for American Indian Studies.

Off to Orlando!

In the fall, Castonguay announced that The Frederick Gunn School has been selected to perform in the STARS Stage Performance Program at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Fifty students in Vocal Ensemble, String Ensemble, and Jazz Band are invited to perform April 29, 2023, on the amazing CityWalk Stage that sits on the lake between Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

“This is huge, not only for our Music Program, but also for our school,” Castonguay said. “There’s nothing like a high school music trip and this will be a first for The Frederick Gunn School. I am very excited about this amazing performance opportunity for our students.”

Theatre Program Wins Three Halo Awards

The cast and crew of the 2021 fall play, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and 2022 winter musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, received a total of 14 nominations and won three Halo High School Theater Awards on June 2. Now in their 19th year, the Halo Awards celebrate the best in Connecticut high school theater. The awards were presented at a gala red carpet event at the Palace Theater in Waterbury and featured a live musical performance by Audrey Richards ’23 and Colin Hall ’24, who reprised “My Favorite Moment of the Bee” in their respective roles as Olive Ostrovsky and William Barfée from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. “What a great night for live theatre, young theatre-makers and The Frederick Gunn School,” said Kent Burnham, Director of Theatre Arts.

Congratulations to our 2022 Halo Award winners!

Best Comic Male Performance In A Musical Alder Curry ’22 as Leaf Coneybear in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Best Scenic Design And/Or Execution

Natalie Perkins ’22, Siena Taylor ’23 and Aryel Sealey ’25 for The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Best Female Standout Performance In An Ensemble Production

Audrey Richards ’23 as Pellegrina/Martin/ Margory/Jack/Crow Pellegrina/Lydia Clarke for The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

In the Round Shakespeare Project Adds New Dimension to Theatre Program

In May, students in Kent Burnham’s Drama I: Theatre in Practice class performed an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The cast included both new and experienced thespians who performed the play in the round, which represented a new and creative use of the theatre space in the Tisch Family Auditorium. The Twelfth Night Shakespeare Project was such a success, it will become an annual event featuring additional works by Shakespeare or other plays, said Burnham, who is now in his second year as Director of Theatre Arts.

“I love creating and working in ways that demystify Shakespeare,” said Burnham, who earned his MFA in classical acting from George Washington University/The Shakespeare Project in Washington, D.C. Students in his Drama I class are “learning about text, how to handle heightened language, make strong character choices, as well as how to put on a Shakespeare play.”

Twelfth Night involved just seven actors who played numerous roles. “They were all standouts,” Burnham said, explaining, “We performed it in a thrust configuration, so the audience was on three sides. That facilitates real audience interaction. The lights are on the actors, as well as the audience, so all could be seen. It was a fantastic experience for all involved.”

Burnham has a steady stream of ideas for where to take the Theatre Program next. This fall, he collaborated with English teacher Rod Theobald P’09 ’14 to present an in-class workshop for students studying Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, and in October, Burnham and Theobald took 23 students and faculty to a performance of A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry at Sharon Playhouse in Sharon, Connecticut. The play brought together lessons being discussed in current English and acting classes.

Also in October, Burnham invited Lisa Wolpe, an expert on gender-flipping Shakespeare as well as an actress, director, teacher, writer, traveler, and distinguished scholar, to spend two days as a guest artist in residence at Gunn. Wolpe presented her powerful one-woman show, Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender, to students, faculty, families, and the community, met with students in Burnham’s Advanced Acting class, and led a two-hour work session with the cast of the fall play, Men on Boats.

Artist-in-residence Lisa Wolpe coaching the cast of Men on Boats this fall

Students in Jaclyn Backhaus’ play, Men on Boats, about John Wesley Powell’s 1869 expedition to the Grand Canyon

A STUDY IN CONTRASTS

In November, two Frederick Gunn School students, Daniel Conlan ’26 and YoYo Zhang ’24, were selected to participate in the 12th annual ASAP! Celebration of Young Photographers. Their artwork was among the top 60 photographs selected by a panel of professional photographers to be featured in a juried exhibition at Bryan Memorial Town Hall.

Zhang is producing an entire portfolio of work in AP Studio Art with an environmental theme. In this abstract compilation, two contrasting images seem to mirror one another. In the daylight version (right), which Zhang called “the ideal world,” there are plants and trees, but the image is fractured. In the nighttime image (left), which she called “the drastic one,” the landscape appears windswept, stark, and without plants. “It’s not an ideal situation,” she said, “and this one is cracking because it’s not what the real world is. It’s a broken dream.”

In 2021, when she was a freshman, two of Zhang’s photographs were selected for the Connecticut Scholastic Art Awards, the largest juried student art exhibition in the state. One of them, “Soul of Fire,” won her a prestigious Silver Key Award.

Daniel Conlan ’26 made his photograph of the Steep Rock tunnel while he was helping to mark the course for this year’s School Walk as part of the Outdoor Leadership co-curricular program.

Norm Hines ’57 Sculpture Dedication

Members of the Class of 1957 gathered in the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center on June 11 to dedicate a metal sculpture by the late Norm Hines ’57. Titled “Totem 57,” it was generously donated to the school by the Hines family. It is intended to serve as both an inspiration to students, and as a testament to Hines’ ideals of education.

“Norm’s deeply personal appreciation for the benefits of education, which had played such a crucial part in his own life, was reflected in his long career,” Peter H. Smith ’57 said in a remembrance read by Visual Arts Chair Andrew Richards P’20 ’23 at the dedication. “Even as his reputation grew, Norm remained loyal to the ideals of arts education, with an emphasis on personal creativity rather than social standing, reputation, or financial gain. He was a person of substance.”

Hines came to Gunn from New York City, having lived since the age of 7 at the Madison Square Boys Club. A natural athlete, he excelled on the football field and as captain of the wrestling team. He was an accomplished rower, who contributed to the success of the school’s first boat as well as to the four-man crew team that nearly won a place at the 1956 U.S. Olympics, “losing to the U.S. Naval Academy by one-tenth of a second,” Smith

wrote, noting that his friend also understood the school’s emphasis on intellectual and creative achievement, and began to discover his talent as an artist, winning the Excellence in Art award.

After graduation, Hines graduated from Pomona College and earned his MFA in ceramics from Claremont Graduate School. He went on to found programs in ceramics and sculpture at Pomona and taught classes in both full time for many years. Near the end of his life, the college named its new sculpture studio for him, in recognition of his artistic achievements and his influence on generations of students. His best known public sculpture is the monumental, five-acre sculpture park in Arlington, Texas, “Caelum Moor,” which he was commissioned to create in the mid-1980s.

Hines found a home at Gunn, and decades after graduating told Smith: “I know that much of the success I have had in my life came directly from my years at Gunnery.”

“He cared deeply about the people around him,” Richards said in his own remarks. “This is obvious in the determination that his fellow classmates have shown to get this beautiful sculpture here for us to appreciate.”

Head of School Peter Becker with (left to right) H. William Shure ’57, Bill Smyth ’57, Lou Allyn ’57, Ben Hagyard ’57, Charlie Smith ’57 and Visual Arts Chair Andrew Richards P’20 ’23 at the dedication of “Totem 57”

SUPPORTING THE FREDERICK GUNN SCHOOL

Spring Forward

The fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, was another successful step in the evolution of The Frederick Gunn School. Whether reflecting on enrollment trends, college matriculation, three consecutive years of record annual giving, or the announcement of the largest individual gift in the history of our school, we continue to see growth and momentum. It’s clear our vision and values and the recommitment to our founders and their principles resonate with alumni and prospective families. Looking back on several historical events of this spring and reflecting on our accomplishments over the past several years, we have much to be proud of. By any metric, we remain a school on the rise.

On Thursday, March 3, Jonathan Tisch ’72 visited campus for a special School Meeting to announce that he and his wife, Lizzie, would invest $25 million in the construction of the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship, an integrated learning hub in the campus center to replace the existing Science Building. This incredibly generous gift — more than two times the previous largest gift to the school — represents the Tischs’ commitment to the bright future of the institution and their willingness to aspire alongside us.

Last year, the admissions team reviewed a record number of applications (12% more than the previous year) and, on March 10, offered acceptance letters to the most competitive candidates of that esteemed group. By April 10, a strategic enrollment program leveraging faculty, current students, and parents, and two highly personalized and family-focused

Revisit Days, resulted in a first-round yield of nearly 40% (up 10 points from just three years earlier). We opened this fall with 323 students, our largest enrollment in history.

On Saturday, April 23, more than 27 months since the building opened, and just shy of two years from the original celebration date, we finally cut the ribbon on the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center. TPACC, as it’s come to be known, has transformed the main campus, creating gathering spaces in the Lemcke Community Room, in the Tisch Family Auditorium, and outside on the Koven-Jones Glade. Additionally, thanks to Thomas Perakos ’69, Richard C. Colton, Jr. ’60, the Class of 1968, and dozens of other generous alumni, parents, and friends, students have a space for risk-taking and creativity that matches the quality of their work.

On Sunday, May 29, we held our first traditional commencement as The Frederick Gunn School after two years of COVIDmodified ceremonies. We graduated 94 members of the Class of 2022, celebrated by the full faculty and student body and more than 500 family members and guests. Students matriculated to four Ivy League institutions: Brown, Cornell (2), Columbia

(2), and Penn; several selective institutions like American University, Babson College, Boston University, Claremont McKenna College, Colgate University, Denison University, Johns Hopkins University, Kenyon College, Lafayette College, New York University, Northeastern University, Smith College, Trinity College, Tulane University, Union College, University of California (Berkeley), and University of Michigan; plus one — my first-born — to the University of Georgia.

On Friday and Saturday, June 9-10, we welcomed alumni back to Washington for our first true Alumni Weekend since 2019. The classes ending in 2s and 7s came back in force — joined by peers from surrounding classes — resulting in record attendance, exceeding the 2019 totals by more than 100%. Head of School Peter Becker delivered a State of the School address, highlighting the goals of our Strategic Plan. Alumni experienced virtual tours of the future Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship, and Paul McManus ’87 P’21 ’23 shared tips on how estate planning can benefit both alumni and the school. In the annual meeting of the Alumni Association, President Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25 spoke about generational faculty, calling attention to the retiring Ed Small, who taught not only her, but also her children. And Hall of Fame inductions were granted to Jerry LeVasseur ’56 for Athletics and Tom Braman ’57 and Stu Levitan ’71 for Arts & Letters. Alumni paused to remember their deceased classmates, including special recognition for former President of the Alumni Association, David Hoadley ’51. Finally, Peter Houldin ’92 was given the prestigious David N. Hoadley ’51 Alumnus of the Year award.

On Saturday, June 18, on an unseasonably cool afternoon, Jonathan Tisch ’72 took a sledgehammer to the front door of the Science Building, ceremoniously marking the start of demolition. Then, Jon and Lizzie, along with Trustees Gretchen Farmer P’05 and Beth Glynn, put shovels to dirt to mark the official groundbreaking for the new Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship. By now well under construction, the new 24,800-square-foot facility will be completed before the fall of 2023 and will house our science, math, innovation, and citizenship programs.

And finally, on Thursday, June 30, we closed a third consecutive record-breaking year for The 1850 Fund with 1,236 donors giving $1,703,057. Unrestricted gifts to the school are among our most meaningful because a) the annual fund is how the majority of our community supports the school, and b) annual fund dollars represent nearly 10% of the operating budget, and impact every community member in large and small ways. Among the 1,237 donors: 182 gave at the Founders Society level of $1,850 or more; 565 gave for at least a third consecutive year, just under half (265) of those donors gave for at least the fifth year in a row; and 243 people made their first ever gift to The 1850 Fund!

All this to say, as I begin year nine in the Alumni & Development Office, I couldn’t be more proud of the work we’ve

done together, or more grateful for the commitment of the Highlander Faithful. In my time here, there has never been more enthusiasm or support from our various constituencies than there is right now, as highlighted above with just a few keys examples from the past spring alone! As we all know, it takes the whole community — both on campus and off — to make this school its best. Keep up the great work: keep coming back, keep giving back, keep in touch with each other and the school, and

keep talking up your experience to anyone who will listen. Everything you do for your school matters! Let’s continue to move forward, together.

Onward,

Sean Brown P’22 Chief Development Officer

The Founders Society Annual Dinner

Alumni, parents, and friends who made leadership gifts to The 1850 Fund attended The Founders Society Annual Dinner on April 22. Head of School Peter Becker welcomed guests, who gathered under a tent on the grounds of Conroy House, where he lives with his wife, Amy Julia, and their family.

“Tonight is special for many reasons,” Becker said. “It’s our first Founders Society dinner in Washington, Connecticut, since our inaugural dinner in 2016. This event is being held on the eve of our opening celebration of the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center; and we are celebrating you — our most loyal and generous annual fund donors. But, also, tonight is our first Founders Society dinner at The Frederick Gunn School.”

“We are well on our way to realizing the ambitious vision for the future of The Frederick Gunn School that we laid out in our relaunch. And our momentum is only building. So much of this momentum is because of you,” Becker said. “Thank you for investing in The Frederick Gunn School community.”

The Founders Society recognizes all alumni and parent leadership donors annually giving $1,850 or above to The 1850 Fund. Young alumni who graduated in the last 15 years qualify for membership in The Founders Society with a minimum annual gift of $925. Donors to The Founders Society ensure that The Frederick Gunn School has the critical resources to boldly fulfill its mission.

Board Chair Patrick Dorton ’86 expressed his gratitude for the many ways that Founders Society donors make a profound impact

on The Frederick Gunn School community. Founders Society members donated $1,496,438 in fiscal year 2022, comprising 88% of the overall total of the 1850 Fund.

Guests also heard from Grace Noh ’22 and Tori Nichele ’22, Co-Presidents of Gunn Society, who offered personal testimonials about how they have benefited from the financial support of donors like our Founders Society members. In his closing remarks, Neil Townsend P’18 ’20, Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Development Committee, thanked donors for making The Frederick Gunn School an annual philanthropic priority.

We are well on our way to realizing the ambitious vision for the future of The Frederick Gunn School that we laid out in our relaunch. And our momentum is only building. So much of this momentum is because of you.”

Alumni Return Home in Record Numbers to Celebrate Past, Present, and Future of Gunn

More than 375 alumni and friends returned to campus June 10-12 to celebrate Alumni Weekend.

This year’s event welcomed alumni from classes ending in 0s, 1s, 2s, 5s, 6s, and 7s to celebrate milestone reunions. Alumni traveled from as far as Paris, Seattle, Charlotte, and Minneapolis, and some from just down the street in Washington. More than 25 members of the Class of 1987 turned out to celebrate their 35th Reunion. Their enthusiasm was closely rivaled by about 20 alumni from the Class of 1982, celebrating their 40th Reunion, and 18 from the Class of 2002, celebrating their 20th! Many returned to a campus that has been transformed since their last visit and enjoyed touring the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center (TPACC) for the first time.

The Red and Gray Soiree and Lights of Gunn

The weekend offered opportunities to celebrate the past, present, and future of Gunn, including the annual Alumni Golf Outing at Washington Golf Course, an open house in TPACC, and the Red and Gray Soiree on June 10. Alumni mingled on the Solley Dining Hall terrace and spilled onto the Koven-Jones Glade during the cocktail reception, featuring a beer tasting with selections from Reverie Brewing Company, hosted by Reverie’s Managing Member and Co-Founder, Ryan Broderick ’05, and enjoyed dinner from the Big Green Pizza Truck and El Camion Taco Truck.

Earlier in the day, alumni from the Class of 1957 gathered in Tisch Family Library to reminisce over yearbooks, and meet with Librarian and School Archivist Moira Conlan P’26, and Gunn Scholar Robin Wright ’22. The day’s festivities concluded with the Lights of Gunn, which featured the lighting of luminarias in honor of Gunn classmates, friends, family members, teachers, and coaches.

Alumni Association Annual Meeting

On Saturday, the annual Parade of Alumni, led by three bagpipers from Litchfield Hills Pipe Band, stepped off from Tisch Schoolhouse and ended at TPACC, where the Annual Alumni Association Meeting was held for the second consecutive year. Alumni paused to remember those who are no longer

The Lights of Gunn

with us and celebrate their lives. Class Representatives stood to read the names of all alumni from classes ending in 0, 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 who had passed away since the last reunion of their class. The meeting also provided an opportunity for the community to pay tribute to Trustee Emeritus David N. Hoadley ’51, who passed away January 14, 2022.

The meeting concluded with the alumni pinning ceremony. Any alumnus or alumna who had not previously received an alumni pin was invited to do so. “The pin can only be worn by an alumnus. And like the numbers after your name, the pin is earned. Additionally, the pin must be placed on you for the first time by a fellow alumnus. The ceremony of being pinned by

another graduate links you not only to the pinner, but to the person who pinned them, and so on. It’s the continuation of a chain that stretches back as far as our oldest living alumni, and should always serve as a reminder of the bond we share as Highlander Faithful,” said Chief Development Officer Sean Brown P’22.

The Gunn Gala Campus was a flurry of activity throughout Saturday afternoon and evening, with Gunn Detective Sleuthing in the Paula and George Krimsky ’60 Archives and Special Collections, the annual Alumni Row from Beebe Boathouse on Lake Waramaug, Belmont Stakes viewing, and the Gunn Gala, a semi-formal dinner with dancing under the tent on Edward Wersebe Memorial Field. On Sunday, alumni joined Marlon Fisher ’01, Associate Director of Next Generation Leadership, and Dan Fladager, Director of Outdoor Programs, for a hike at Steep Rock.

It was awesome to see so many generations of alumni, current and former faculty, and faculty and alumni children on campus, and the beautiful weather held throughout the weekend for alumni to celebrate, reminisce, reconnect, and just enjoy being back home together.

THE 1850 Fund awards

Chief Development Officer Sean Brown ’22 announced the preliminary winners of the 1850 Fund Awards Annual Alumni Association Meeting. The final results were tallied and shared following the close of the fiscal year on June 30. In all, 1,236 alumni, parents, students, grandparents, faculty and friends contributed $1,703,057 to the annual fund, exceeding this year’s goal of $1.7 million, and the results of the previous record-setting year — thank you!

FY 2021-22 ANNUAL FUND AWARDS

1956

Kenneth J. Browne Class of 1911 Award

Presented to the class with the largest class gift

1957 & 1959

Margaret P. Addicks H’02 Award

Presented to the class with the highest class participation with a minimum alumni body of 20

2014

Susan S. Graham H’12 Award

Presented to the young alumni class, up to 10 years out, with the highest participation

2012

W. Russ Elgin Award

Presented to the young alumni class, up to 10 years out, with the largest class gift

David N. Hoadley ’51 alumnus of the Year

The David N. Hoadley ’51 Alumnus of the Year Award for 2022 was presented to Trustee Peter Houldin ’92 in recognition of his years of service to the school, including a decade on the Board.

“Peter has served the school in numerous capacities since graduating in 1992. He was a Class Agent and member of the Gunnery Council before joining the Board of Trustees in 2012. As a Trustee, he was the first Chair of the Governance Committee and, most recently, led the Long-Term Campus Planning & Stewardship Committee. He’s been an invaluable counselor to the Senior Leadership Team members and a dedicated alumni advocate,” said Chief Development Officer Sean Brown P’22, who noted that Peter also served on the Alumni & Development Committee and the Finance Committee during his tenure, and has significant family connections to Gunn. “Peter is one of 10 members of the Houldin/ Cornell family to attend the school.”

The alumnus of the year award is given annually to the person who, in the opinion of the Alumni and Development Office, has contributed most significantly to the school through his or her volunteer efforts, and who, in those efforts, has represented The Frederick Gunn School to the highest standards. Past recipients of this award include Trustee Emeritus Leo Bretter ’52, Chris Healy ’76, Trustee Jon Linen ’62, Andrew Sacks ’86, Nick Molar ’72, Sarah Scheel Cook ’82, Frank Macary ’77 P’03 ’05 ’07 ’15, Trustee Tom King ’60 and Tim Gaillard ’61.

Former Trustee Bruce Bradshaw ’51 congratulated Peter Houldin ’92, who was named the 2022 David N. Hoadley ’51 Alumnus of the Year.

2022 hall of fame inductees

Three alumni were inducted into the Hall of Fame this year: Jerry LeVasseur ’56 was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame, and Stu Levitan ’71 and Tom Braman ’57 were inducted into the Arts & Letters Hall of Fame. Congratulations to this year’s honorees.

Gerald B. LeVasseur ’56

At just six years old, Jerry LeVasseur’s life changed forever as a result of the devastating Hartford Circus fire in 1944. He was left with severe burns and scarring, especially on his hands. From then on, Jerry was inspired to take on the challenge of accomplishing anything people thought would be impossible.

Jerry arrived at The Gunnery in 1952 and immediately became a well-loved and respected member of the community. Graham Anderson, the Assistant Headmaster at the time, expressed that he “could think of no steadier or more reliable boy in the school.” Jerry continued to thrive in the community, joining Dramatics, Camera Club, and Yearbook, but where he especially found motivation was in athletics. He was the captain of the third football team, a member of the basketball team, and earned a varsity letter for his participation in the tennis program.

After graduating, Jerry matriculated at Lehigh University, where he excelled at accounting, and returned to Connecticut to become a certified public accountant. While managing a very

successful career, Jerry continued to keep active, and began sled dog racing, raising and training his own teams for three decades. Additionally, he picked up running, and dove into the competitive running scene.

In his retirement, Jerry became a volunteer coach for the steeplechase and triple jump at Bowdoin College. Despite the late start into competitive running, Jerry has accumulated many accolades. He has over 1,000 first-place finishes, ran in nine marathons, competed in 12 National Senior Games, carried the Olympic Torch in Salt Lake City in 2002, and has held the USA Track and Field world record for the 70 to 79 and 80 to 89 age divisions in the 4x800 relay. Additionally, he has been inducted into multiple Halls of Fame: Maine Running, New England 65 Plus Runners, Maine Senior Games, and Bowdoin Volunteer Coaches.

Stuart D. Levitan ’71

Stu Levitan grew up in Long Island, New York, and arrived at The Gunnery in 1969, after completing his first two years at North Shore Senior High School. Stu’s experience at the school can only be described as transformational — he learned to harness his emotions and utilize them in creating literary, visual, and performing arts. He dove into all aspects of art and language, taking Russian, French, Newspaper, and Drama classes, even completing an independent study project his senior year, where he created his own film.

After The Gunnery, Stu matriculated at the New College of Florida. In 1975, Stu found himself in Madison, Wisconsin, where his literary and civic career blossomed. He began working at the Capital Times, eventually transitioning to the Madison Press Connection. From there, he attended the University of Wisconsin Law School and joined the Wisconsin Employee Relations Commission as a staff attorney, where he worked for 28 years.

Outside of his career as an attorney, Stu was heavily involved in local government. He served on the Civic Center Commission, the Madison Zoning Board of Appeals, the Madison Plan Commission, the Community Development Authority, and the Madison Landmarks Commission, among other boards and committees. He also ran for Secretary of State in 1990 and for State Senate in 1996.

Stu’s love of Madison and its history was also the inspiration for the books he authored: Madison: The Illustrated Sesquicentennial History, Volume 1: 1856-1931 (2006) and Madison in the Sixties (2018). He

Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25, President of the Alumni Executive Committee, and Sean Brown P’22 Chief Development Officer, presented the 2022 Athletic Hall of Fame Award to Jerry LeVasseur ’56.

received two first-place recognitions for “Best Writing For Audio” in three years in the statewide journalism competition run by the Milwaukee Press Club for his weekly feature on WORT 89.9 FM, adopted from his second book. In addition to his weekly feature, he also serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the community radio station WORT-FM.

Thomas C. Braman ’57

Tom Braman arrived at The Frederick Gunn School in 1956, leaving his former high school in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, where he grew up. He is the great, great-grandson of founder Frederick W. Gunn, and represents one of six generations of extended family that have

attended the school. During his time at the school, Tom earned varsity letters for football and basketball (and was named team captain), participated in the History and Current Affairs clubs, and earned the Excellence in Biology and Most Improved Scholar awards.

Upon graduation, he attended Princeton University, and then stepped back briefly from academics, leaving Princeton and working as a surveyor until matriculating at Franklin & Marshall College in 1959. From there, Tom earned his master’s degree in Latin American studies in 1964, and his Ph.D. in Latin American history in 1975 from the University of Florida. His dissertation was titled, “Land and Society in Santiago de Chile 1540-1575.”

Upon the completion of his studies, Tom began a career spanning more than 40 years in analysis and operations at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). His work brought him to over 50 countries, including Transylvania, Macedonia, Sri Lanka, Russia, and many more. He is one of the few CIA officers to have served in both Iran and Iraq. Despite stepping back from the Agency after the events of 9/11, he returned and served overseas as a trainer, analysis instructor, and military liaison officer. Additionally, he served as Operations Center Chief on the President’s Daily Brief staff, as well as a general White House Staffer. In his retirement, he has also served on the University of Florida’s International Center’s Board and assisted with interviewing applicants for the Boren Scholarship as a part of the University’s Honors Program.

Stu Levitan ’71 with his 2022 Arts & Letters Hall of Fame Award

Charlie Smith ’57 accepted the 2022 Arts & Letters Hall of Fame Award on behalf of Tom Braman ’57, who was unable to attend in person; above right, Tom at home with his award.

Carving Out a Niche Market

From the manicured estates of Litchfield County to the rivers of Sun Valley, these alumni small business owners are embracing their interests and passions to develop products and services that make them stand out.

Ed Pequignot, Jr. ’09 was an outstanding athlete at Gunn, from the baseball field to the basketball court to the gridiron. He was also known for the cowboy boots he wore to class — which were eventually written into the school dress code by his teacher and coach, Ed Small. His grit, sense of style, and a desire “to be different than anybody else,” fueled his passion as a landscape designer and helped him to launch his company, “Garden Cowboy, LLC.”

Just over a year ago, Pequignot’s business became an overnight success, when he appeared as a contestant on the HGTV show, “Clipped,” with a panel of celebrity judges led by Martha Stewart. Pequignot was among the top topiary artists in the country vying for $50,000 and the title of Clipped Champion.

“I blew up right away with Martha Stewart and going on television,” Pequignot recalled in an interview this summer. In just two years, his company went from annual earnings of $25,000 to over $1 million. The list of private homes and estates he tends is so exclusive, he is not permitted to photograph some of them and had to sign nondisclosure agreements to protect the privacy of the owners.

One truck and a couple of clients

Pequignot’s decision to start a garden design business came down to being in the right place at the right time. From Gunn, he had attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, on a baseball scholarship, and planned to major in hospitality and tourism management. When an injury prevented him from playing, he returned home to the farm in Kent, Connecticut, where he grew up, and took a job on an assembly line at Hunt’s Country Furniture in Wingdale, New York.

“I was in the hardware store in Kent and the head estate manager at Oscar de la Renta’s asked me if I wanted a job,” said Pequignot, who accepted the offer to work as an apprentice to the master gardener at the fashion designer’s beautiful country estate in Kent, and other properties. “That was 12 years ago. I spent 10 years working side by side with him in England and in the United States on some of the biggest, most prominent gardens in the country and the world. I was fortunate to learn from one of the best to be one of the best. I didn’t know it at the time, though.”

Despite his upscale surroundings, he lived paycheck to paycheck, earning an hourly wage. “It was just a job for me,” he said. That changed two years ago, when his mentor retired. “I bought the business, which was one truck and a couple of clients for $23,000 that my parents re-mortgaged their house for, and which I paid back in three days. I knew once I got it going, I could do it,” he said.

On Television With Martha Stewart

He had no employees to start, and only the regular maintenance contracts he had acquired. Without a marketing budget, he started posting photos of his work on Instagram. Agents for “Clipped” reached out to him multiple times, and at first, he ignored them. But after two interviews via Skype, “to make sure they were legit,” he drove to Tarrytown, New York, to meet with the producers, and then joined his fellow competitors at Lyndhurst Mansion.

“I was gone for a month. It was in the heat of COVID. We were getting tested 24-7. Nobody got sick the whole time we were there, which was amazing. I never thought in a million years I’d be on television with Martha Stewart, and now I have a connection

and a relationship with some of these people,” including his fellow competitors and world-renowned interior designer Bunny Williams, who has a home in Falls Village, Connecticut. “It was an opportunity that we would all say helped. It gives you a whole other level of credibility. It allows you, in an industry that’s very competitive, to have a little bit of a leg up on the competition, because you can say you were a Top 10 competitor in the country for the first season of ‘Clipped.’”

Pequignot stood out for other reasons, too, wearing his trademark cowboy hat and stilts. “I use chainsaws. These guys don’t use chainsaws,” he said, smiling.

Whether he is trimming a straight hedge or something more elaborate like a topiary carousel horse, he views his designs as art. “There is another aspect to this, which is skill and intelligence and creativity and art,” he said, recalling, “Even at Gunn, I took art classes. I loved art. I loved creating sculpture. So now I create living sculptures with plants.”

His Instagram @gardencowboy is brimming with gorgeous photographs of complex garden mazes, boxwood parterres, topiary displays and his signature cloud designs, which have as much to do with the interplay of light and shadow as photography, and give the impression that his meticulously hand-clipped boxwood orbs are floating.

Redefining Success

Around the time of his TV appearance, the demand for his services surged, and he hired his first four employees. Soon, he was traveling along the whole East Coast, from Maine to Florida, designing fullscale gardens from scratch, buying excavators and skid steers. Due to

Above (left) a sunken parterre garden and (right) a boxwood cloud courtyard; below, Ed Pequignot, Jr. ’09 in a promotional photo from HGTV’s “Clipped”

the pandemic, Kent had also become “super popular” with people who were moving there from New York City and buying up milliondollar properties with gardens. “I had eight trucks on the road. It was insanity.”

The business grew to eight full-time employees, but there was one problem. When his clients hired Garden Cowboy, LLC, they wanted to see Garden Cowboy. “When I tried to make the business bigger, nobody could successfully do it, or they wouldn’t take the risk. If you do fail, you’ll get fired pretty much,” Pequignot said, noting that boxwood is expensive, and the work is also unforgiving. “If you make one wrong cut, it’s gone forever. You can’t just stick it back on.”

In the past year, Pequignot realized that he was putting more into his work than he was getting out of it, so he scaled back and redefined for himself what it means to be successful. “I realized I don’t need to do that to be successful,” he said. “Now I have one truck and I have one guy who works with me.”

He still wears his trademark cowboy hat every day, just like his grandfather. “It’s always been my look. I never thought of it as being different. It keeps the bugs away and shields my face from the sun. I go into Warren General Store every morning, and if I don’t wear my hat, people will make comments.”

His hat inspired the name of his company, and in a sense, Pequignot is the brand. His work is specialized and unique. “How can I have that if I have six other guys working for me?”

he asked. “I want to be the best. I want to work hard. I want to leave a legacy. I’m so excited to see what happens in 10 years. If these two years are any indication of where it can go, I think the sky’s the limit. I want to be able to cut hedges all over the world and have people say, ‘Those are Garden Cowboy’s hedges.’”

A Zen of Calmness

As of this summer, Pequignot was working for a limited number of super high-end clients, including the owners of private estates as well as the award-winning Ladew Topiary Gardens, which span 22 acres in Monkton, Maryland; and Naumkeag, a historic house and public garden in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, owned by The Trustees of Reservations. Another client in Millbrook has a maze that spans two acres with hedges six-and-a-half feet tall.

“I cut it all in four hours. It’s a massive job, but I’m the most competitive guy ever,” said Pequignot, who professed he loves a challenge. “I get on the stilts, I put on Mozart, and I just go to town. I go into this zen of calmness and I just become so involved in what I’m doing, and I love it so much. The next thing I know, I’m done. It’s so gratifying.”

With a more selective list of clients, Pequignot now has time to go to the gym, swim, run, and spend time at home with his wife, Angelica, and their two daughters, who are both under the age of 8. As the Bulletin was going to press, the couple was expecting their third child. He is clearly happy living in his hometown of Kent.

“I love our little house. We’ve got our five acres of land and our chickens,” he said. But at the end of the day, the only garden he maintains at home is for vegetables. “As funny as it sounds, I might be a million-dollar business owner but people still view me as just the gardener. I think I did pretty well with it. It’s not the most glamorous job in the world, but I’m so blessed to do what I love every day. I’m so lucky to be able to say that I built this brand. I was an apprentice for 10 years. A lot of people don’t want to do the longevity thing. You have to get good at stuff. All of that paid off.”

Pequignot with his grandfather, Richard Kearns, Sr. GP’09, who inspired him to wear a cowboy hat

Pequignot, on stilts, viewing a garden maze in progress

Environmentalist Randy Ashton ’96

Protecting wild sea-run fish

In 2021, Randy Ashton ’96 launched an environmentally-minded small business in Sun Valley, Idaho, focused on a single product and a special cause. A lifelong angler and seasoned entrepreneur, Ashton is the co-founder of Steely Zips, which produces a performance hoodie called “The Mule.” Designed for people who love the outdoors, and especially fishing or skiing, the waterproof and wind-resistant hooded jacket can be worn as an outer layer or as a mid layer under a shell.

As part of its marketing, Steely Zips also seeks to promote awareness about the need to protect wild stocks of sea-run fish, including Atlantic and Pacific salmon and steelhead trout, which the company says, “are in a battle for survival.”

“From overfishing stocks to dams to warming oceans, sea-run fish are not returning to their home rivers to spawn the next generation. The entire ecosystem is suffering as a result. Passionate anglers and outdoorsman need to step up,” Steely Zips says in the mission statement on its website.

Asked how the business got its start, Ashton explained that after graduating from Hampden–Sydney College in Virginia with a bachelor’s degree in history, he moved to Ketchum, Idaho, to pursue his passion to become a photographer. He worked as the assistant to legendary photographer David Stoecklein, who captured iconic images of the American West and worked with corporations such as Chevrolet and Jeep, Canon USA, and Bayer.

After graduating from Brooks Institute of Photography in

Santa Barbara, Ashton began working as a freelance photographer, and produced his first book of photographs, Fly Fishing in Idaho, published in 2006. His second book, A Celebration of Salmon Rivers, was published a year later, in collaboration with the North Atlantic Salmon Fund (NASF). It featured Ashton’s photographs, taken over a period of two years, from the 50 greatest Atlantic salmon rivers in Canada, Europe, and Russia. The foreword was written by the thenPrince of Wales, now King Charles III, and all profits were donated to help save Atlantic Salmon.

As a freelance photographer, he began submitting his work to fishing brands, but said: “It was a difficult way to make ends meet. I didn’t want to leave the lifestyle and go to the big city, so I decided

Randy Ashton ’96 with a steelhead trout in the Snake River

to create my own company and be the photographer for it.”

He came up with the idea for an American-made clothing line, similar to Vineyard Vines, that would use eco-friendly materials such as organic cotton and recycled labels. Ashton sold that company, Collared Greens, just before the start of the global pandemic to a competitor, Chicago-based men’s apparel company, Bird Dog Bay.

Around the same time, Ashton said his friend, Riley Berman, who grew up in Sun Valley and is a “total stud fishing guide,” wanted to create a waterproof hoodie as warm and comfortable as his favorite cotton hoodie. “We created The Mule. We’re both very passionate about steelheading and that’s how we got the name, Steely Zips. We wanted to create a mid layer with some outer layer properties. If it starts to rain or it gets windy on the river, it also protects you from the elements.”

The company got off to a strong start, selling 450 units by last fall, and has added “Lids” or hats, and “Toasters,” heavyweight cotton fleece hoodies, to its lineup. Berman, who is the nephew of ESPN anchor Chris Berman, is the face of the business, the head designer, and focuses on sales, while Ashton works primarily behind the scenes, managing the marketing, social media, photography, website analytics, and shipping as well as product development.

“I learned a lot from Collared Greens,” he said, acknowledging that he scoured fabric shows and tested a variety of materials before finding the right breathable, waterproof fabric for The Mule from a private-label apparel company in Connecticut. “We design it and they go out and actually make it and build it in Mauritius. They’re sourcing the trim, labels, and tags. That way I can concentrate on the marketing and the photography side of things.”

Steely Zips markets their products directly on their website and through outdoor-themed blogs and social media. On Instagram @steelyzips showcases Ashton’s stunning photography, and the company’s YouTube channel is teeming with gorgeous fishing videos

The people who buy into it early have a sense of exclusivity. If you wear it among your friends, you kind of feel good about yourself. So keeping it small for now is really our approach.”

–Randy Ashton ’96

“The Mule” hitting the slopes in Sun Valley

and fun “chronicles” of the company’s intern, Stod Rowley, also known as “Scooter Boy,” who is presently the only other member of the Steely Zips team.

“Word of mouth has been terrific,” Ashton said. “It’s almost a passion project for now. We’re taking it very slowly, letting the brand build. The people who buy into it early have a sense of exclusivity. If you wear it among your friends, you kind of feel good about yourself. So keeping it small for now is really our approach.”

Bigger things are on the horizon. Last spring, the Intermountain Division of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association placed an order with Steely Zips for 400 units to give The Mule to all of its top skiers. “So that’s kind of neat,” Ashton said. “It’s great to see the U.S. Ski Team logo on The Mule.”

The company’s commitment to preservation is also in the early

stages, but is evident from the mission statement on its website. “We started Steely Zips just to create a little bit of awareness for steelhead. They are in massive decline in the Pacific Northwest,” Ashton said. “We’re posting on social media. We have to bring it to people’s attention. We’re trying to get the company on stable ground. Then we can make some headway.”

This summer was a particularly busy time for Ashton, who also works as a fishing guide and Certified Casting Instructor for Silver Creek Outfitters in Sun Valley. This past summer, he met Nick Solley P’96 ’96 on a steelhead run of the Snake River. Ashton was in the same class at Gunn as Solley’s stepchildren, Clark ’96 and Emily Wierdsma ’96.

Ashton said a lot of his fellow guides are great friends and wear The Mule, and if he has a free day, he will spend it photographing people wearing his product while fishing or skiing. “I love to talk about Steely Zips and conservation when I’m out on the river. That is our approach. We are a grassroots, small, fun lifestyle brand, creating a great lifestyle hoodie for outdoor enthusiasts.”

As for what’s next, Ashton said he is interested in private label development and logo apparel and Steely Zips has a new product, a sun hoodie, that will debut in the spring. “We’re super excited about it. We’re sticking with the hoodie design but creating a sun shirt that’s more breathable for fishing guides. I didn’t think we’d be building another product this fast but our sales have been so good,” he said.

Intern Stod Rowley, also known as “Scooter Boy,” on a Dean River excursion

“The Mule” in Ocean Navy

Warm welcomes

The Frederick Gunn School is pleased to announce the appointment of these new Board members.

Missy Cuello-Remley ’87 is Director of Strategic Partnerships and Programming at the New England Innovation Academy, where her focus is on strategic partnerships with corporate and educational partners, including Dartmouth, Babson, MIT, and Harvard. At Gunn, Missy was elected the school’s first-ever female Head Prefect, blazing a trail for future student leaders, including current Head Prefect Ashleen Hay ’23. Missy said she became involved with Gunn as an alumna because of the lasting relationships she forged at the school. “I’ve become very good friends and been very tight with my classmates. We’ve been together through weddings and graduations and births of children. It only came later on in life where I really noticed that those relationships were attributed to Gunn and most of that was fostered there.”

A graduate of Trinity College, Missy received her JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law and earned an advanced legal degree from the University of Puerto Rico, where she spent a year studying. She began her career as a clerk for Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Robert Berdon, and was a Clerk of the Court in the Stamford/Norwalk Judicial District before joining the Public Defender’s Office as a Deputy Assistant Public Defender for the State of Connecticut.

Raised in Westport, Connecticut, Missy has lived in Boston for over a decade. She and her children are Ambassadors of the Family Advisory Council for Dana Farber Cancer Institute and organizers of the Pan-Mass Challenge, Relay for Life, and other events for the American Cancer

Society. The Remleys are also founders of the Goodnow Developers support group for families affected by cancer in partnership with the Goodnow Library Foundation and Global Partners LP.

Natalie Holme Elsberg P’25 is a lawyer, former student leader, and anti-apartheid activist from South Africa. In South Africa, she served on the executive board of the Law Students’ Council, was a member of the National Union of South African Students, and an organizer and founding member of Students For Human Rights. As a law student at the University of the Witwatersrand, she was engaged in commenting and drafting portions of the interim democratic Constitution, was an observer at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (where the interim Constitution was negotiated), and was awarded the Abe Bailey Fellowship for most outstanding leadership. Natalie has a Master of Laws degree (LL.M) and a diploma in international tax policy from Harvard Law School. She worked as a litigator in New York City, at Morgan Lewis and at Kobre & Kim, where she handled complex commercial litigation matters for almost a decade, before taking time off to spend with her young family.

On a pro bono basis, she represented the City of New York as the corporation counsel, successfully winning every trial that went to jury verdict. Natalie also represented indigent young black men from arrest through arraignment and succeeded in having the charges against every defendant dropped in the course of negotiations with prosecutors. As part of her interest in representing women and children, she represented incarcerated women at risk of losing their parental rights due to the Adoption and Safe Families Act (AFSA).

Since leaving the formal practice of law, Natalie has volunteered for a number of organizations, including one that supplies South African schoolgirls with low-cost silicone sanitary supplies, to eliminate school absenteeism due to menstruation. Natalie has also volunteered for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns and the Zephyr Teachout, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman congressional campaigns. Most recently, Natalie volunteered for Justice Democrats, assisting with candidate recruiting and vetting

Missy Cuello-Remley (right) and Head Prefect Ashleen Hay ’23

Natalie Holme Elsberg P’25

as well as distributed organizing on current congressional campaigns for candidates who do not accept corporate donations. Natalie and her husband, David, reside in New York City. They have three children, Benjamin ’26, and Laura and Adrienne, who both attend the Nightingale-Bamford School.

Bonnie Pennell ’86 is the co-owner of DESIRON, a company that specializes in handcrafted designer furniture, created in collaboration with leading designers and artisan manufacturers. In addition to this, she brings to the Board her extensive experience working with teens, both as a mother of four, and as a unit leader for 11 years at Camp Mataponi, an all-girls sleepaway camp in Naples, Maine, where she was responsible for overseeing counselors and middle school-aged campers. She is a graduate of Skidmore College.

Bonnie and her husband, Keith Pennell, who is Managing Partner at DFW Capital Partners, split their time between Park City, Utah, and New York City. Their children, Caroline (26), Bailey (25), Lucy (23), and Davis (20), are all involved in the arts and education, and live in Los Angeles, Denver, and Savannah.

This fall, Bonnie said: “I am grateful that this school became such an integral part of my life. I am eager to work with the Students & Faculty Committee to collaborate with, and help support, the development of activities and programs that embody Frederick Gunn’s vision as a ‘student-centered educational pioneer.’ I am excited to, once again, be a part of this vibrant living and learning community that strives to bring out the greatest potential of its students — particularly at a pivotal time in their lives when self-discovery, physical, emotional, mental, and social changes abound. I am honored to be on a board that so strongly supports its students and faculty, and I’m looking forward to being an active participant as The Frederick Gunn School continues its pursuit of being among the strongest scholastic and athletic preparatory schools in the nation while maintaining the highest levels of inclusivity, fairness, and opportunity.”

Fond farewells

The Board of Trustees has expressed its admiration and gratitude on behalf of the entire Frederick Gunn School family to these three Trustees, who retired from the Board in 2022.

Len Novick P’18 ’21 served on the Board of Trustees for five years and as a member of the Students & Faculty, Finance, and Long-Term Campus Planning & Stewardship committees. He is the proud parent of Samantha, Joshua ’21, and Zachary ’18. Len has been a Principal at Estreich and Company, Inc., a New York based capital advisory firm, since 2001 and has been an active real estate investor for over a decade. Prior to joining Estreich & Co, Len co-headed the investment sales department at Garrick-Aug Associates in Manhattan. He has also has chaired multiple charity events benefiting The Lustgarten Foundation, raising awareness and critically needed funds for pancreatic cancer research.

Peter Houldin ’92 served on the Board of Trustees for 10 years. He was the first Chair of the Governance Committee and, most recently, led the Long-Term Campus Planning & Stewardship Committee. He has been an invaluable counselor to the Senior Leadership Team, and a dedicated alumni advocate. A resident of Washington, Peter serves as Co-President of Ericson Insurance Advisors. A 25-year veteran of the insurance business, he serves as President of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of Litchfield County, Connecticut, and on the Board of Directors of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of Connecticut. He has been a regular contributor to WORTH magazine.

Susan Frauenhofer ’88 was appointed to the Board of Trustees in April 2019 and served as Co-Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee. An attorney and compliance professional, Susan currently serves as Compliance Principal at NextEra Energy, Inc. She previously served as Legal Project Manager at Ropes & Gray LLP, as Vice President, Compliance, at Fidelity Investments, and as Executive Director, Compliance, at JPMorgan Chase. Prior to that, she was Vice President, Investment Management Compliance at Goldman Sachs, where she worked for six years.

Bonnie Pennell ’86

The History of The Quad

This summer, 21 geothermal wells were installed to heat and cool “the Lizzie,” the first new building to grace our historic Quad since the former Science Building was completed in 1967. As the installation was completed, and our beautiful and beloved green space was restored, we looked into the Paula and George Krimsky ’60 Archives and Special Collections to learn more about the history of the Quad.

The quadrangle was created from 1924-1928 as part of a campus plan implemented by our third Head of School, William Hamilton Gibson, Jr., Class of 1902. Gibson’s correspondence, along with proposals, blueprints, articles in The Stray Shot, and other documents in the archives, tells the story. Gibson worked with New York-based architect Richard Henry Dana Jr., who also designed buildings at Loomis Chaffee and The Dalton School, and had a summer home in Washington; and Adrian Van Sinderen, Class of 1906, who was Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and a generous benefactor of the school. At the time, the campus consisted of the “old Gunnery,” a sprawling Victorian facing Route 47 (on the site of what is now Gunn House) and just four other buildings: the original gymnasium, built in 1881 (now Emerson Fitness Center), the Schoolhouse, built in 1882 (now Tisch Schoolhouse), a cottage that housed at various points the first infirmary, the laundry, and housing for maids, students and faculty; and Bartlett, a three-story dormitory built in 1904 behind the gymnasium.

Brinsmade soon after it’s completion. Note the absence of the terrace, and the glass doors. The location was selected to afford a view over the athletic field across the street.

The plan was to turn the school away from Route 47 and create a more enclosed campus anchored by four new Colonial Revival buildings that would support anticipated growth in enrollment. We know these buildings today as Brinsmade, Gibson, Gunn, and Van Sinderen. Each had a specific purpose in addition to providing housing for students and faculty.

BRINSMADE: THE FIRST OF MANY STEPS

A new dining hall came first. Plans called for a 1,500-square-foot dining room that could accommodate 12 circular tables, with

seating for 10 students and faculty at each; an assembly room for lectures and social gatherings; and a kitchen wing with automatic refrigeration and a serving pantry. On the second floor were 10 maids rooms, a housekeeper’s suite, two guest rooms, an office, and a bedroom for one nurse. The building was dedicated on October 2, 1925, as part of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the school. It was named in honor of the second Head of School, John Chapin Brinsmade, Class of 1862, and his wife, Mary Gold (Gunn) Brinsmade, “who for so many years carried on and upheld and developed Gunnery traditions,” the editors of The Stray Shot wrote in December 1925, noting that the new building “marks the first of many steps that we hope are to be taken to embellish the school and its surroundings. It represents the generosity of many friends, alumni and boys, who have faith in the school’s future.”

SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE QUADRANGLE

The Administration Building, Gibson, was completed next, a gift of Adrian Van Sinderen and his wife, Jean. Dedicated on October 15, 1927, in honor of William Hamilton Gibson, it included offices for the head of school, assistant head of school and secretary on the first floor, and a new dormitory for senior boys, with single and double rooms, on the second floor. There was also a “social room with a fireplace,” a laundry in the cellar, and student mailboxes. The landscaping for the new building would set the stage for the entire quadrangle. As Gibson noted in a letter to Dana in October 1927, Van Sinderen authorized a new terrace and path on the south side of the building, “and felt very strongly that he wanted to commit the school to flagstone paths in the future, and therefore that this first path should be of flagstone.”

GETTING IT JUST RIGHT, FOR ALL TIME

In 1928, the school reached a turning point, determining the old Gunnery was to be torn down rather than renovated, and a new dormitory, Gunn, was built in its place. This was a major step forward. As Gibson wrote to Dana in January 1928: “I am

appalled by the delicacy of the picture. I think there is great opportunity for getting it just right, for all time, but that going too fast in the first jump may mean a permanent loss of something that might have been saved.”

To this, Dana replied a month later: “I also agree with you entirely about taking plenty of time to study ‘the picture’ thoroughly, before doing anything, and agree with you that there is a chance to do something with the campus, that will be very lovely and that might be lost, if we hurried it.”

In a nod to the history and nostalgia surrounding the home where Frederick and Abigail Gunn once lived and taught, Dana requested that the wrecking company salvage “certain mantels, corner bookcases and the school bell,” which were to be incorporated into the new building. Some 6,000 bricks were saved and even the stone work from the foundation walls was reused, at Dana’s request, to build a retaining wall next to the parking area outside of Gibson.

Dedicated in memory of Frederick Gunn, the new dormitory was designed as a three-part building facing away from Route 47. “This new building facing the campus will shield the campus from the high road and make a much more real and enclosed campus,” Dana wrote to Gibson in January 1928. The center part of the building included dorm rooms on the first and second floors, a common room for each form, with window seats and bay windows facing the campus, and built-in bookcases on either side of the fireplaces.

Gibson in the 1920s, with the Head of School’s car parked outside his office

Third Head of School, Hamilton Gibson and his wife, Brooke. He led the charge to enclose the campus around the Quad.

A LOVELY THING TO LOOK UPON

Addressing Mrs. Brinsmade and friends of the school at the dedication of Gunn, Van Sinderen said: “This is the third time in almost as many years that we have met to lay a new cornerstone at this school. The occasion however, this time, has added significance. We are at last in position to view the Gunnery Campus in the making ... a campus which will some day, and I hope in the near future, be a lovely thing to look upon,” Van Sinderen said. “These buildings will be connected by a greensward, by stone paths. This inner circle here will, we hope, and I believe, be one of the fondest memories of those who in the years to come graduate from this school.”

Van Sinderen was designed as an infirmary and a dormitory, with single and double rooms accommodating 20 boys, a sun porch and open terrace facing the Quad. Gibson wrote to the architect in 1930 about the building, “It is just too pretty for words.”

assure you that my part in the development of the grounds has given me keen delight, because ... it is not simply for the pleasure of one person, but I trust it is for the pleasure of many generations of Gunnery boys. I wish you all the joy which ought to be yours for your generous gift.”

The last of the four buildings, the Infirmary, named in honor of the Van Sinderens, was completed in 1929, a decade after the 1918 flu pandemic swept across the globe. The new infirmary, with its laboratory, dispensary, surgical room, and exam rooms, as well as a “contagious section,” was a welcome addition to the school.

In a letter to landscape architect Robert Wheelwright, Van Sinderen noted the infirmary, like other buildings on the Quad, should be sited to preserve mature trees on the campus. Wheelwright responded to the school’s generous benefactor: “You have certainly done nobly for the Gunnery, and I can

These buildings will be connected by a greensward, by stone paths. This inner circle here will, we hope, and I believe, be one of the fondest memories of those who in the years to come graduate from this school.”

–Adrian Van Sinderen, 1928

The south wing of Gunn (at left) housed the school library (which remained there for 35 years). Plans called for oak paneling, bookcases with shelf space for 4,800 books, built-in window seats and large, open fireplaces at either end. “This room will have two large windows overlooking the athletic field to the east, and also two large windows overlooking the campus to the west,” Dana wrote. “[I]t ought to be a very sunny cheerful room at all times.”

From The Biography of Frederick Gunn

To make the life and words of school founder Frederick Gunn more accessible to the community, the school reprinted The Master of The Gunnery in 2022. The new paperback edition, published under the title, The Biography of Frederick Gunn — Becoming a Force for Good: Character Education from Frederick Gunn’s Students, includes a new foreword by Head of School Peter Becker. What follows is an

excerpt from the chapter, “The Home Life,” by James P. Platt, Class of 1868. Platt wrote about the life of the school in the early 1860s, and the “warm and welcoming home” that Frederick and Abigail Gunn provided every student. The building Platt described is the “old Gunnery,” which stood until 1928 on the site of the current Gunn House.

“ … Mr. and Mrs. Gunn both had the parental instinct so strong that they really took to their hearts each individual boy and brooded over him as if he were their own flesh and blood ... This all-embracing parental love was at the foundation of the home-life at the Gunnery.”

“ … There was the large family-room running through the house from east to west … There were the book-cases built into the walls round about, and filled to overflowing with well-thumbed volumes gathered from every branch of standard literature; and three or four large round tables were scattered over the room, each surrounded with boys of all ages, from seven to seventeen, occupied with studies, or reading, or games, each in its hour and place.

What a picture of joyous family life that old room presented in the long winter evenings! … During the hour devoted to study silence prevailed, but when the clock chimed the hour of eight, books were shoved into the center of the table; cards, backgammon, and chess-boards came out, and a chattering, happy hour was passed. A space was cleared away at the western end of the room; some musical brother or sister ground out a lively tune upon the piano, and an impromptu dance began …. At the stroke of nine, the dancing and games and reading ceased as if by magic; there was a grand rush after Mr. and Mrs. Gunn to give and receive the goodnight kiss, and then the crowd of contented boys melted away into the sleeping-rooms above. A delightful memory of the days when the family was small and manageable is connected with those winter evenings — Saturdays especially — when Mrs. Gunn read to the

assembled youngsters from ‘Oliver Twist’ and other good books, while the boys departed in pairs for their hot bath in the wash-house, returning half ready for bed, to get in whispers what they had lost of the story, and cuddle up in a warm corner with a pet kitten until the reading was over.

On the right of the hall, as one entered the house, was the dining-room with its long tables always bounteously laden with wholesome food. Then there were the little tête-à-tête tables in the corners, each accommodating two boys. How we used to strive to become worthy of a seat in those corners; for to each of them was brought a heaping plate of pancakes, such as at the larger tables was made to suffice for some half-dozen eager eyed gourmands.”

“ … The sleeping-rooms above in the main house were of all sizes, shapes, and descriptions, and into them, as the fame of the school grew, the boys were stuffed like herrings in a box. To such refinement was this stuffing process carried that one intelligent observer was heard to express his surprise because he did not see a pair of legs sticking out of every chimney-top. For economy of room, Mrs. Gunn invented the ‘double-decker’ bed, built upon the principle of berths in a ship or sleeping-car …”

“One of the most charming recollections of life at the Gunnery is of the almost nightly pilgrimages made by Mr. Gunn through the dormitories. Soon after the boys had retired to their rooms, he would come upstairs carrying a lamp which, shedding its light before him, heralded his approach … In these visits by night his intuitive knowledge of boys’ hearts and characters shone forth with particular luster.”

Meeting by Chance Revealed a Special Connection to Mr. Gunn

On August 21, Head of School Peter Becker had the good fortune to meet the Reverend Peter Gunn Cheney ’65, who he discovered serendipitously was not only an alumnus, but a descendant of school founder Frederick Gunn.

“Amy Julia and I were just on vacation, the two of us, nearby Kennebunkport, Maine. A friend had said, ‘While you’re in the area, if you’re looking for a place to go to church’ — and she didn’t even put it that way; she said ‘a spiritual experience’ — I highly recommend the 8 a.m. chapel service at St. Ann’s Church in Kennebunkport, and you have to meet my friend, Peter Cheney.’”

The Beckers went to the service, which turned out to be notable for a few reasons. First, unbeknownst to them, it was Cheney’s final service after serving as the chaplain of St. Ann’s, a summer parish, for 21 years. “He was clearly beloved. The place was packed at eight o’clock in the morning on a Sunday in August. The chapel itself overlooks the ocean. It’s the most

spectacular outdoor chapel, completely the most beautiful space on the planet. As we approached, I knew that the church was close to the Bush family compound, and then I noticed Secret Service parked outside,” Becker recalled. “At this point, I didn’t know who Peter Cheney was, I didn’t know it was his last service. So we sit down, and then these big SUVs pull up, and former president George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush and the Bush family pile out and walk into this outdoor chapel and sit down. And I’m like, ‘What is going on?’”

Cheney delivered a beautiful sermon that even included stories about baseball. However, the Beckers still did not know about his special connection to Mr. Gunn and the school. “Given how many people there were, and that we were just visitors, I decided not to bother him. I went back to the inn where we were staying and I said, ‘Well, let me find his email address and just send him an email and say how special it was to be there and introduce myself. I looked him up on the church’s website, and in his bio, it says that he was a former chaplain at St. Paul’s School, former Executive Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools (NAES), and it says: ‘I have been profoundly influenced in every part of my

Peter Gunn Cheney ’65

Top, Cheney at St. Ann’s Seaside Chapel; and above from the 1965 Red and Gray

life and work with students and adults by my ancestor Frederick W. Gunn, the 19th century abolitionist who founded The Gunnery.’ Well! I nearly dropped my phone and fell out of my chair,” Becker said, continuing: “The 10 a.m. service was about to start and we were close enough that I could get back to the church before that service. So I jumped back on my bike, sped back to the goodbye reception that was happening between the services, and basically ran up to him and said, ‘Peter Cheney, I’m Peter Becker, the Head of The Frederick Gunn School.’ And he replied, ‘I knew I recognized you!’”

What followed was what Becker described as “an amazing five-minute conversation about Frederick Gunn and the school,” after which the two men exchanged contact information. They reconnected in September via Zoom. “The fact that he and I connected is great, but he’s very proud of Frederick Gunn, and he’s very proud of the school,” Becker said. “It’s an amazing story.”

A common ancestor

Cheney spent his entire career working in independent schools and ministry in the Episcopal Church, and has been inspired throughout his life by Mr. Gunn. “His spirit of faith, open inquiry, and concern for the freedom and welfare of others has shaped my sense of vocation and understanding of leadership,” he said.

A look into the Gunn family genealogy showed that Cheney and Mr. Gunn had a common ancestor in 17th century Scotland. Cheney is related to Mr. Gunn via his mother, Winona Ann Gunn P’65, who was born in 1916 in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and passed away in 1997. His maternal grandfather, Theodore Warren Gunn (1886-1968), was descended seven generations from Nathaniel Gunn (1637 - 1663), who was the brother of Jobamah Gunn, (1641-1715), the great-great-greatgrandfather of Frederick William Gunn. Nathaniel and Jobamah were among the six children of Dr. Jasper Gunn, born in 1606 in Scotland.

Asked how he arrived at The Frederick Gunn School in the fall of 1961, Cheney said, “It was a complete coincidence.”

“My father was an Episcopal minister,” he said, referring to the late Rev. Francis X. Cheney P’65, who was a professor at Yale Divinity School and Director of Development for Berkeley Divinity School. The Cheney Lecture is given in alternate years in his memory. “We moved to Connecticut in 1959, to an area where boarding schools were very common. My eighth grade science teacher knew I was struggling and said, ‘You know, you should think about boarding school.’ Gunn was one of the schools we looked at.”

As a student here, Cheney became aware of the school’s history, and absorbed the “ethos that Frederick Gunn created.”

“Things have changed over the years, but there was always a sort of aura about that. Of course, Mr. Gunn loved baseball,” said Cheney, who played baseball at Gunn. “As I became an adult, I read about Mr. Gunn, and the more I read, the more I became amazed.”

A career in education and ministry

After graduating from Gunn, Cheney earned a bachelor’s degree in economic and business administration from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and a Master’s of Divinity from Virginia

The Rev. Peter Gunn Cheney ’65 with then-Head of School Susan Graham H’12 and Trustee Emeritus David Hoadley ’51 at Commencement in 2005

His spirit of faith, open inquiry, and concern for the freedom and welfare of others has shaped my sense of vocation and understanding of leadership.”

–Rev.

Peter Gunn Cheney ’65

Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. Ordained by the Episcopal Church in 1975, Cheney was the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He also holds a graduate certification in pastoral counseling, with an emphasis on adolescent development, from Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and is a clinical member of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors.

From 1998 to 2007, he served as Executive Director of NAES, which is headquartered in New York City and supports over 1,000 Episcopal schools and their leaders throughout the United States and the Caribbean. Cheney has consulted with Episcopal and other private schools throughout the United States on matters of mission, governance and leadership transition, and has conducted or facilitated 16 head-of-school searches.

Before moving to Connecticut, Cheney lived in the Midwest with his family, but he always felt drawn to New Hampshire, where his parents originated. Over the course of a decade, he served in a variety of roles at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, principally as Chaplain and School Counselor, and as Director of Admissions. From 2006-2015, he was a Trustee and chaired the Trustees and Governance Committee at St. Paul’s. In 2010, Cheney moved to Tucson, Arizona, and spent over five years as Senior Associate Priest and Director of Development at St. Philip’s in The Hills Parish, a 2,000-member congregation in Tucson. He also served as an Associate Priest at the Episcopal Church of St. Michael’s and All Angels and as a member and past president of the Board of Trustees for St. Michael’s School.

He has not been back to campus for some time, although he did deliver the Commencement Address in 2005, encouraging the graduating class to recognize their intrinsic self-worth, to develop their own life story and avoid “following someone else’s plotline,” and to approach life with joy in the moment.

In September, Cheney and his wife, Kiki, returned to Tucson, where they plan to retire. Via email, he promised to stay in touch with Becker. “It really was wonderful to meet you and such a gift to me that you were at St. Ann’s on my final Sunday.”

He also shared a photo, taken in Kennebunkport in August, and said: “President Bush ’43 and Laura, like his parents [Barbara and George H. W. Bush], were are very active members of St. Ann’s. At a farewell party for my wife, Kiki, and me that week he shared some kind remarks and presented us with this painting for our home. It was a wonderful moment. Typical of his humor, he said to me later, ‘It will be worth more after I die!’ Hah!”

Kiki and Peter Gunn Cheney ’65 received this painting as a gift from former U.S. President George W. Bush in August.

Below left, St. Ann’s Church in Kennebunkport; and right, the service at the Seaside Chapel, where the Beckers and Cheney met.

For the Miller Family, a Homecoming

This June, Ogden D. Miller, Jr. ’50 P’84 returned to Gunn for Alumni Weekend, which he celebrated for the first time in many years with his daughter, Anne Miller Leonard ’84. In fact, father and daughter could hardly recall the last time they were on campus together. Ogden was a middle school student when he arrived here in December 1945 as a faculty child with his brothers, David P. Miller II ’54 and Dwight D. Miller ’55, and their parents, Anne S. and Ogden D. Miller, Sr. H’69 P’50 ’54 ’55 GP’84. What follows is an excerpt of their conversation about their recent homecoming.

Anne: My dad was at The Gunnery the very first year that my grandfather was there, as a freshman, and then he actually changed schools and ended up going to Hotchkiss. I believe Grandpère, who was my grandfather, thought it would be easier on my dad to not be the Headmaster’s son

Ogden: Partly, partly!

Anne: It’s a good story. My dad was such a hooligan he had to go to another school — No, I’m kidding!

Ogden: We moved there just after Christmas of 1945. I went to grammar school in the Depot. One of my classmates was Dave Hoadley ’51.

Anne: He would call my father every year on his birthday because they were — how many days apart?

Ogden: Five days.

Anne: Five days apart. So he would call my father every year and gloat about how he was younger than my dad now. (laughter)

Above, Anne Miller Leonard ’84 and her father, Ogden D. Miller, Jr. ’50 P’84 with the portraits of Anne S. and Ogden D. Miller, Sr. H’69 P’50 ’54 ’55 GP’84 in Bourne this summer

Ogden: Anyway, my only year there, I was living in Gibson. As you may know from history, the Bartlett dormitory burned down, and fortunately, nobody was hurt. It was in February of ’47… I remember it. We watched the whole thing. Of course, in February, it was freezing and they were trying to pump water up from the pond, what we used to call The Mayflower pond. There wasn’t enough water from fire plugs [hydrants] and so they had to pump water all the way up the hill there. There are pictures of Bartlett. It was a great, big, wood structure. My parents were living in Hurlburt then, and they … turned it into dormitories [for the students who had been living in Bartlett]. I think they were all seniors. I remember a couple of them. There was a guy named Bill Hillman ’46, who probably must have been one of the most brilliant students the school ever saw. He came out first in everything I think every year he was there, and [the late] John Bauer ’48, who would come in second.

Ogden: The thing we were both struck by at The Gunnery [on Alumni Weekend] was most of the people there, of course, I had never met. As I said, I was there in 1946, and then went away to Hotchkiss the following fall. The most common thing we heard from all of these events was how marvelous my father was in dealing with people. I talked to a couple of guys who had even been expelled and were still coming to reunions. They said my father had been correct, and how human he was about it all, and he did a lot to help students get into other schools.

Anne: That part, I think, was fascinating because I was going with my dad and people would hear his name, and [say to my dad], ‘Oh my God! Your father changed my life.’ It didn’t happen just once. It happened over and over and over again. It was fascinating because my grandfather died when I was 12, so I remember him, but I didn’t know him as an adult or for the things he did. I remember him teaching us how to clean fish at Cape Cod and those sorts of things, but nothing to do with school.

Ogden: My father’s funeral was in the Congregational Church there on the Green. It was one of the most moving ceremonies I’ve ever been to. His pallbearers were his five brothers and three sons. And the person carrying the cross in and out was my oldest son. The place was absolutely packed because even after he left The Gunnery as Headmaster … if the town had a meeting about something or other, my father would invariably be there, running the thing.

Anne: He was very involved in Washington.

What did it feel like to be back on campus together?

Anne: It was so cool because I hadn’t been to Washington, Connecticut, since my grandmother had died, and that was 23 years ago. A lot of stuff was new, or has been redone since I went there, but also, so many of the buildings stayed the same. It’s such a beautiful place. We went and drove all over. I lived with my grandmother my senior year in school. I actually went to Shepaug, and ended up graduating from Shepaug. We drove around and went to all the old houses and went to the cemetery and went to all the houses that my dad had grown up in. It was really sentimental. Both of my grandparents are buried in the cemetery next to St. John’s, on the hill.

Ogden: Both in my high school years and in college, I would go back on vacations and there was a whole group of us … who were from there — David Hoadley and Andy Whitman — and we would all invariably end up going to what was The Gunnery hockey pond, and put the headlights on, and we would all go skating. And then, I don’t know if you knew Curtis Titus ’50? He was in my class there. His family, the Titus family, ran a big chicken/egg farm. We would all go from the hockey pond up there and we’d have scrambled eggs and bacon at about 4 o’clock. That was wonderful.

Ogden: My father was a Trustee at the school when he was asked to become Headmaster in 1945. The previous headmaster had been ill, and my father was then Director of Athletics at Yale. So I grew up at Yale, living in Hamden, and as I said, we came up just after Christmas ’45. He was only 40 years old. He was born 1905. We lived in Hurlburt and … the last house was the one I think it was called 1773 [between The Cottage and 10 Kirby Road]. If you stand on the front porch, you could look down the aisle of the Congregational Church. I mean, literally, it was right across, and right in front of it was what was called the Gunn Elm, which was an enormous elm tree, which God knows dated from, well, the American Revolution or something, and which finally succumbed to the Dutch elm disease. It killed half the elms in America.

Ogden: My mother’s last residence out there was in that building right next to The PO [Woodruff House]. My mother lived there for three or four years, until her health meant she couldn’t drive anymore. She moved to Noble Horizons up in Salisbury. My last visit to her was at Noble Horizons. She was 90 by then. Wonderful woman. You know, of course, the penicillin businesses. She was

the first American to be saved by penicillin. She was cured at YaleNew Haven Hospital of a streptococcus blood infection. I think she was pregnant and lost what would have been her fourth boy. It’s absolutely an incredible story. I’ve been interviewed for it. An Australian film company came and interviewed me. I said, ‘I was nine years old.’ I have a picture right here of her with [Sir] Alexander Fleming, who came to visit her shortly thereafter. This happened in 1942. Her obituary in The New York Times was a lot bigger than my father’s! There are books about it.

Anne, did you hear a lot of stories at Alumni Weekend that you had not heard before?

Anne: I went to school with Katie Lyons ’83. There were a few other people that I’d gone to school with, but Katie was the only one I saw, really. I hung out with my dad and my uncle [Dwight Miller] and Bruce Bradshaw ’51. It was just fun listening to them all reminisce about things from being in school, the things they did, and different people.

Ogden: Do you know Bruce? One of the school’s most famous athletes. Rod Beebe was a teacher there and crew coach, and my brother, David, married one of the daughters, Trudy, and Bruce married Stephanie. They were sisters. Bruce was a famous athlete because he was so good at, you know, basketball or football or baseball, or anything. There were those stories.

Ogden: My parents met on an ocean liner when she was taken by the family to go to Europe and my father was hired to take care of a 14-year-old boy who needed tutoring, and he had just graduated

from Yale. They fell madly in love. He ended up marrying my beautiful mother, who was 22 or 23 years old. The family gave them a wedding trip in 1932. They went back to Europe and, low and behold on that trip, guess who was conceived! I was born the following year. One of the happiest marriages you ever saw. They worshipped each other. Unfortunately, my father died at 73. He was one of nine children.

Do you remember where your father’s office was when he was

Head of School?

Ogden. I remember both offices. The first one was in Gibson. Later on, he moved to Bourne, but when we went there [in 1945], Bourne was still owned by the Bourne family. The school had always hoped that someday the Bourne family would give the property to the school, because it immediately adjoined everything. But it didn’t happen, and the school ended up buying it, years later. The story I always heard was that Mr. Bourne, whose money came from Singer Sewing Machine, I believe, had that wall built to give work to anybody in the town who wanted to work, and could do that kind of work, so it was partly charitable. But my father’s office was where I guess the headmaster’s office is now. My parents lived in Bourne there, until he retired [in 1969]. When I would visit, when I was in college or in the Army, that’s where I would stay.

It’s fun to remember all these places.

Anne: I really enjoyed the trip and you know my husband asked me, ‘Did you see your friends?’ I was like, ‘Well, I saw a couple,’ but it was really more about hanging with my dad and my uncle and that generation. I really spent all my time with them and it was more fun listening to all their stories and them laughing at all the things they did. They were talking about when they would go down to Steep Rock or go downtown to the Depot. A lot of these guys were at The Gunnery and then they went to Yale. Even at the dinner, it was just fascinating listening to them all talking about different classmates. The sad part was that a lot of them were like, ‘Yes, he’s gone,’ especially my dad missing David Hoadley was a big one. But they all had comments about things that they did, you know, coming in late, just the typical things that happen at every boarding school. It could be the same thing in my generation. It just was fun to sit there and spend time with them all. I’m so glad that I got to do it.

Anne received her alumni pin from her dad at breakfast on Sunday of Alumni Weekend.

From the alumni association executive committee

The past two years have taught us a lot, but one of the biggest takeaways from the pandemic is how invaluable teachers are to our day-to-day lives. At The Frederick Gunn School, we believe our faculty are the heirs and stewards of Mr. Gunn’s vision as they mentor students in the classroom, on the athletic fields, and throughout our vibrant learning community. Take a moment and reflect on a teacher, coach, or dorm parent who, despite teenage angst and sophomoric tendencies, cared enough to push you to be your best 17, 18, or 19-yearold self.

Since Mr. Gunn founded our school, teachers have shown their care and compassion for students in a variety of ways. They play a pivotal role in empowering students to hone their gifts, commit themselves to others, and prepare to enter the great conversations of life. As a faculty child, I remember countless students at our house, doing their laundry, sitting at our kitchen table, and unloading their

worries on my mom, Susan Eanes H’91 P’90 GP’20 ’23 ’25. As a dorm head, my husband, Richard P’20 ’23 ’25, and I had the Butler and Gibson boys in our house on Saturday nights for food. We entrusted our children to them when we needed babysitters. I gave math help at our kitchen table.

I continue to be in awe of the compassion and care that Frederick Gunn School teachers give students. There is no doubt that our campus looks beautiful, that our new buildings (and plans for new buildings) are incredible, and that the need for a growing endowment is critical. To continue Mr. Gunn’s legacy, the school needs to evolve and adapt with the times. And, (not but, and) while it evolves and grows and adapts, the one constant is the day-to-day, in-the-trenches commitment of the on-the-ground faculty — the people coaching JV Girls Lacrosse and teaching Algebra I, the people doing dorm duty with sophomore boys, and driving the vans to the lake every day for crew practice; the people who demonstrate to students day in and day out what it means to Be a Force for Good.

You are a living testament to Mr. Gunn’s legacy and proof of the power of place-based learning. As alumni, you are the product of our teachers’ devotion. And your story is one our students need to witness. Get involved, come back to campus, speak with students, mentor young alumni, make meaningful donations to the annual fund, and spread the word about our school. Tell your Gunn story, connect with your classmates, and thank a teacher who changed your life.

In doing some — or all — of the above, you will ensure Mr. Gunn’s vision for our school continues to thrive, and that teachers have the support they need to do their best work. Most importantly, you will show the world that our alumni are a force for good, just like Mr. Gunn envisioned 173 years ago.

Go Gunn,

Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25 President, Alumni Association Executive Committee

Remembering Gus Kellogg ’52

Former Trustee Augustus Greenleaf Kellogg III ’52 passed away on May 19, 2021. Gus, as he was known to all, served on The Frederick Gunn School’s Board of Trustees for 19 years, retiring in 2001. A loyal alumnus, he was elected Head Prefect by his peers in 1952, and went on to graduate from the Yale School of Architecture in 1964. Two years later, as a young architect with the firm of Gilbert Switzer in New Haven, Gus became the associate in charge of the new Science Building constructed on our campus and dedicated in 1967.

“It was Gus’ sincere desire to contribute more than he received, and this quickly earned for him the esteem of his classmates and the faculty,” the editors of the Red and Gray wrote in 1952, adding that Gus would be “most remembered for his outstanding and exceptional character and personality which served as a shining example to his classmates and to the School.”

As a student, Gus earned five varsity letters, one in football and two in both hockey and baseball. In his senior year, he was elected Captain of the Varsity Hockey Team and was the recipient of The Gunnery Cup. Gus also was a member of the Politics, Philosophy and Glee clubs, Octet, and the Second Century Committee. The recipient of an International School Fellowship, he spent a year in England at Clifton College following his graduation from Gunn.

Gus received his undergraduate degree from Yale University in 1957. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1957 to 1961 before returning to Yale to earn his architectural degree, and complete an internship in the firm of Eero Saarinen & Associates. Gus earned his MBA from the University of New Haven. From 1964 to 1967, he worked for Gilbert Switzer and spent the next seven years with the Environmental Design Group, where he was named partner and established an awards program in conjunction with his role

as a member of the Connecticut Building Congress, to encourage “cooperative and productive working relationships within the building industry,” according to a 1971 article in Connecticut Architect From 1974 to 1998, Gus served as Director of Facilities Planning at the Yale University School of Medicine. He was a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Society for College and University Planning, and the Association of University Architects, of which he was also president. To read his obituary, visit https://bit.ly/GusKellogg.

Gus would be most remembered for his outstanding and exceptional character and personality which served as a shining example to his classmates and to the School.”

– Editors of the Red and Gray, 1952

Gus Kellogg ’52 at Alumni Weekend 2011 with his granddaughters, Isabel Kellogg-Hosley, Cecelia KelloggHosley, and Hunter Kellogg-Hosley

Ten Minutes with Steve Bailey P’09

This fall, Steve Bailey P’09 began his 17th year as a teacher. Known for blending physics and fun (and for his science-themed ties, pins, and jokes), Bailey came to teaching later in life. It is his third career! After graduating from the State University of New York at Oneonta with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, he joined the U.S. Navy and began a career in the U.S. Submarine Forces, earning both an ocean engineering degree and a master’s in naval architecture and marine engineering from MIT.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bailey constructed and maintained nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines. “We were putting out SSN-688 Los Angeles-class submarines every six months. It was an incredible time back then,” he said. He also worked as a repair officer aboard the USS Emory S. Land, which the Navy describes as “a submarine tender and the lead ship of her class.” It supported a squad of 22 submarines, he said.

After retiring from the Navy, Bailey earned a master’s in physics education from the University of Virginia and taught for two years at Williamsburg. Then he got a call from a friend who worked at NASA about an open position. For the next five years, Bailey worked as a safety engineering consultant at NASA Langley Research Center. Part of his work took him beneath the wind tunnels depicted in the 2016 film, “Hidden Figures.” Bailey also worked as an engineer and as a maintenance officer for the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Fleet.

In 2005, he became the Science Department Chair at Gunn. In addition to teaching physics at all levels, he coaches Girls JV Tennis. During his tenure, Bailey has inspired his students to participate in the National Physics Bowl and the annual High School Photo Contest sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers. He has peered at the night sky from the Quad to view meteor showers, the moon, and the International Space Station, and keeps up with the many alumni who have gone on from his classes to scientific careers.

Q: What is your advice for students?

A: You just have to be open to changes. You can’t be in the same thing forever, particularly today, so move around. You can’t feel you are stuck in a rut somewhere. You can always do something else. And be able to write. You’re going to be the boss, you’re going to be the project manager, that person needs to be someone who can communicate. Know how to write, and write well. Also, be welcoming. You always feel comfortable when you are welcomed, so be a great welcomer.

Q: What is your favorite lesson?

A: One of my favorite lessons that I teach is in thermodynamics and kinetic molecular theory. It’s about particle motion. We model these particles in the room, in a box, using procedure and volume and dimensions, and in the end, you come up with a temperature. Avogadro’s temperature comes out of that. It’s been one of the lessons where the kids actually applaud at the end. Others that I like to do are some labs where we look at light and thin lens theory. We watch light going through very small crevices and how light behaves. That’s a great lesson. It’s very cool.

Q: What is your favorite expression?

A: “Shoot for your grade.” The students have to take their knowledge of a projectile and predict where it’s going to land. We put targets up and however close they get to the target is going to be their grade. There’s a lot of things in physics that go one way or the other. Some things are either in equilibrium, or not in equilibrium. It’s either one side, or the other. Everything falls from those two conditions. From that you get different equations, different ways to go.

Q: Who has been your greatest influence?

A: Peter Becker. He has been a tremendous influence on the school. I love the way he is bringing together the things that we do in residential life and sports and academics. These things are not separate; they’re related. We have these Core Values and the Pillars. And, of course, this was all influenced by Frederick Gunn and reading and going back to his purpose: becoming a responsible citizen. Peter has been able to articulate Mr. Gunn’s vision so well. I also think he’s assembled a great group of people to execute it.

Education

SUNY Oneonta — BA, Mathematics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Ocean Engineer (OE) and MS, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering

University of Virginia — MA, Physics Education

Responsibilities

Teaching Physics and Head Coach, Girls JV Tennis

Accolades:

The Anne and Henry Zarrow Chair for Math and Science

The Class of 1955 Distinguished Teaching Award

2022 Alumni of Distinction Honoree, SUNY Oneonta

THE

FREDERICK GUNN SCHOOL BULLETIN FALL-WINTER 2022

Peter Becker Head of School

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

OFFICERS 2022-23

Patrick M. Dorton ’86

Board Chair

Neil Townsend P’18 ’20

Vice Chair

Wanji Walcott P’19 Vice Chair

Beth W. Glynn Secretary

Ashleigh Fernandez Treasurer

Stephen W. Baird ’68

William G. Bardel

Peter Becker, Head of School

Robert Bellinger ’73

Kevin Bogardus ’89

Sarah Scheel Cook ’82

Missy Cuello Remley ’87

Jon C. Deveaux

Natalie H. Elsberg P’25

Gretchen H. Farmer P’05

Adam C. Gerry P’21

Sherm Hotchkiss ’63

Thomas R. King ’60

Jonathan S. Linen ’62

Damien Marshall P’24

Paul M. McManus, Jr. ’87 P’21 ’23

Bonnie A. Pennell ’86

Krystalynn Schlegel ’96

Omar Slowe ’97

Richard N. Tager ’56

Robert M. Tirschwell ’86

Dan Troiano ’77

Rebecca Weisberg ’90

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Doug Day Chief of Enrollment Strategy & Marketing dayd@frederickgunn.org

Jennifer Clement P’22 ’25 Bulletin Editor clementj@frederickgunn.org

ALUMNI & DEVELOPMENT

Sean Brown P’22 Chief Development Officer browns@frederickgunn.org

ADMISSIONS

Suzanne Day Director of Enrollment & Admissions days@frederickgunn.org

TRUSTEES EMERITI

Steven P. Bent ’59

Leo D. Bretter ’52 P’88

Jonathan Estreich P’06

Edsel B. Ford II ’68

Joan Noto P’97

Jonathan Tisch ’72

Gerrit Vreeland ’61

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25 President

Omar Slowe ’97 Vice President

Scott A. Schwind ’89

Krystalynn M. Schlegel ’96

PARENTS COUNCIL

Keith Gleason P’19 ’21 ’23 Co-Chair, Parent Giving

Ray Whitney ’87 P’24 Co-Chair, Parent Giving

The 1850 Fund

Gifts to The 1850 Fund are an investment in the people and programs at the heart of this community, enhancing every aspect of the Gunn experience. From financial aid to faculty compensation to experiential learning opportunities, gifts of all sizes will ensure that

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Peter Becker, Sean Brown P’22, Jennifer Clement P’22 ’25

Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25

PHOTOGRAPHERS

AgencySacks, Bill Curren, Robert A. Dennis, Phil Dutton ’81 P’23, Lee Everett, Marlon Fisher ’01, Gentil and Myers, Rachel Hedden, Mark Liflander, Matthew Olshefski, Chip Reigel, Ali Southworth, Tony Spinelli, Rebecca Tocci, Eriko Trotta P’19 ’23, Melissa Wilson

The Frederick Gunn School Bulletin is produced biannually (spring and fall) by the Marketing & Communications Department.