The Frederick Gunn School Bulletin Fall/Winter 2025

Boys Varsity Soccer fought an epic battle against the Saints on Canterbury Day, and fans reacted when the Highlanders tied the

Dear Frederick Gunn School Community,

WHEN THE SCHOOL YEAR started, I told students I had three priorities for us this year: pay attention, prioritize people, and do the right thing. Now halfway through the year, these priorities are continuing to shape a number of initiatives that give me confidence that The Frederick Gunn School is appropriately focused on the future of education.

I wonder how the phrase, “future of education,” strikes you? For some, it could contain a concern that we are abdicating the wisdom of the past. For others it might feel like an admission that boarding schools need to innovate and transform to stay relevant. I approach the phrase a little differently.

Education is a term that evokes the best of humanity. As a concept, it invites us into a future that our young people will build whether we like it or not! What we have to pass along generationally is not only the basics of survival, but the cultures and visions of character that give our lives — individually and collectively — meaning, purpose, hope, and fulfillment. Talk of the future of education is really just another way of recognizing that each generation faces a future that is not yet written and heads into that future formed by the wisdom of the past.

IN ORDER TO LOOK forward well, one does well to also look back. The Frederick Gunn School has done versions of this — some lighthearted and some more serious — for the past decade or so, and this issue of the Bulletin is, in part, a celebration of that work.

reintroduced to the Gunn community after their almost 60-year hiatus, kilts were the uniform of choice, sporting the well-known Gunn family tartan, which was used in various forms until our own official 175th Anniversary tartan was designed and registered in 2025. Now our tartan is not only a living symbol of our heritage, it is an insider's nod to a deep connection to this community.

Consider our new mascot — Scottie the Highland Cow. Except for a brief window where our mascot was a goat (as seen on page 61), we have always known ourselves as the Highlanders, with a vague sense that we don’t quite have a visual identity for that nomenclature. When the time came to lean into that opportunity this past year, we again leaned on the past to launch connections into the future. An immediate favorite, Scottie is draped in our Frederick Gunn School tartan and revving up crowds at our games.

Consider being a school whose programmatic innovation ties the best of its deep soul to contemporary research. The soul of The Frederick Gunn School has long been allowing strong relationships between mentoring faculty and students to forge character through a highly personalized student experience. This has taken different forms at different times — and not all equally successful. In our own time, we have designed our curricular innovation around the intersection of Frederick Gunn’s educational philosophy and contemporary research.

“[W]hen we ask students to pay attention, to prioritize people, and to do the right thing, we are grounding our decision-making for the future in the deep wisdom of the past.”

Consider our new Frederick Gunn School tartan! Frederick Gunn was known for his own connection to his Scottish heritage, often in his flat cap. Obviously a favorite theme of Head of School Odgen D. Miller H’69 P’50 ’54 ’55 GP’84, the school’s mace, with its proud thistle crown, was first introduced in his tenure. When it came time for girls to be

Consider the belief that The Frederick Gunn School is more relevant to the very best in education than at any point in its history, perhaps except at its founding. I am deeply committed to this being true, and, as it turns out, when we ask students to pay attention, to prioritize people, and to do the right thing, we are grounding our decision-making for the future in the deep wisdom of the past.

WHAT ARE WE TACKLING together next? For a decade, we have been building internal capacity and innovative systems to address head-on the health of our students. Now, we will be leaning even further into comprehensive student wellness. is begins with the building out of the Perakos Family Cares Health and Wellness Wing, relocated to the Solley-Browne building right in the heart of campus. Programmatically, it includes a clear commitment to our wellness programming and approach to Saturday mornings, as well as allowing an integrated vision of wellness to drive our next phase of athletics planning.

e second answer is the technological lives of our students. Technology is shaping the lives of our young people and the students we are graduating right now will be among the first wave of graduates to confront a workplace transformed by artificial intelligence. When we pay attention, prioritize people, and do the right thing, we are able to send our young people into the world educated for these transformations and

equipped with deeply human interpersonal and leadership perspectives upon entering the workforce.

Celebrating milestones can feel retrospective, but when tied to a community such as Gunn, our 175th and the celebration of e Campaign for e Frederick Gunn School has instead felt like an accelerator. We are clear on our mission, aligned to the values that have driven the deep soul of this place since our founding, and called to honor what Frederick Gunn himself called the pursuit of the “ideal of a school.”

Always learning,

Dr. Emily Raudenbush Gum Bretter Family Head of School

Dr. Raudenbush Gum addressed Highlanders at Gunn Next in New York City this fall.

CELEBRATING A LANDMARK CAMPAIGN

And Igniting Our Next Era

PHOTO BY MARK LIFLANDER

Guests mingling in Tisch Skylights, The Shed's top-floor event space

MORE THAN 300 ALUMNI, Trustees, parents, faculty, and friends gathered at The Shed in New York City on November 13, 2025, to celebrate the success of the landmark Campaign for The Frederick Gunn School.

With the glittering New York City skyline as a backdrop, guests mingled in The Shed’s incredible, top-floor event space, named Tisch Skylights in honor of Jonathan Tisch ’72, who welcomed guests as Campaign Chair and as Chair of The Shed’s Board of Directors. Throughout the evening, Highlanders embraced the opportunity to catch up, reconnect, and make new acquaintances while sampling Scottish treats and enjoying craft beer and whiskey tastings. The festive event featured live music by professional bagpiper Jesse Ofgang, and photo opportunities with the school’s new mascot, Scottie. Curated videos highlighted the transformational impact the campaign is already having on campus — in the experiences of current faculty and students, and in the programs and spaces that are sparking innovation, collaboration, and creativity.

Importantly, “Gunn Next” was an opportunity to thank and acknowledge in person the many people whose leadership, generosity, and support have fueled Gunn’s momentum, and helped to ignite energy and excitement around what’s next.

I am so incredibly proud of my school and feel so lucky to be a part of it during the most exciting time of growth and change in its history.”

– Head Prefect Martha Ewing ’26

As Head of School Emily Raudenbush Gum announced, the campaign started with a goal of $50 million and closed at over $120 million, surpassing even the $100 million stretch goal set last year.

“This evening is to thank you. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for your continued belief in this school,” Raudenbush Gum said. “The transformation is felt on our campus every single day.”

The Enduring Influence of Frederick Gunn

PHOTO BY KRISTIN MOORE

To understand the extraordinary success of The Campaign for The Frederick Gunn School, Raudenbush Gum looked to the enduring influence of Frederick Gunn himself. “I have become convinced in my seven years at our school that the momentum Frederick Gunn began is somehow, beyond all odds, still at work in the school today,” she said. “His philosophy, which was revolutionary in the 19th century, is urgently relevant today.”

Jesse Ofgang; Head of School Emily Raudenbush Gum talking with Campaign Chair and Trustee Emeritus Jonathan Tisch ’72 and Campaign Co-Chair and Board Vice Chair Wanji Walcott P’19; Trustee Tom King ’60 and his wife, Kathy, with Scottie; Art Lobdell ’82, Trustee Sarah Scheel Cook ’82, Jon Waechter ’82, Mark Lazarus ’82, Diana Hart ’82, and her daughter, Olivia; Head Prefect Martha Ewing ’26 and her dad, Jon Ewing P’26, and Campaign Co-Chair and Trustee Jon Linen ’62 with Former Trustee Roy Simpson, Jr. ’68.

Clockwise from top: Professional bagpiper

“Frederick Gunn left us a legacy of believing deeply in the potential of teenagers and everything that they can accomplish. But more than that, he gave us a model of education that shows us how to help them unlock that potential. That is what The Frederick Gunn School is about. That is actually what sets us apart,” she said. “And that is what this campaign has been about.”

A Bold Vision for the Future

Inspired by our founder, the school developed a bold vision for the future formed under former Head of School Peter Becker, who was appointed by the Board in 2012 under the leadership of then-Board Chair Stephen Baird ’68 and Trustee Jonathan Estreich P ’06. “Completely enamored by Frederick Gunn, Peter rallied alumni and friends to come home to The Gunnery and — in the spirit of Fred and Abby — to pour themselves into their school’s future,” Raudenbush Gum said.

Board Chair Patrick Dorton ’86, Board Vice Chair Wanji Walcott P’19, and two previous Board Chairs, Trustee Emeritus Gerrit Vreeland ’61 and Trustee Jon Linen ’62, all responded to that invitation. But it was ultimately Trustee Emeritus Jon Tisch ’72 who became Chair of the campaign and contributed its single largest gift to build an architectural gem in the very heart of campus. “These are exemplars of the heart of a Highlander, and they have stewarded the campaign and led to its success,”

Raudenbush Gum said.

Following the Board’s approval of a Campus Master Plan, Thomas Perakos ’69 provided the vision and early partnership that resulted in the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center and the Koven-Jones Glade. “Today, campus is literally unimaginable without these spaces, and it launched a decade of belief and investment in Gunn’s future,” she said.

Investment in our Faculty and Endowment

Investment in the faculty was an early and central feature of the campaign, and with the creation of The Thomas R. King Family Teaching Chair, Tom King ’60 ensured the momentum in endowment growth that ultimately resulted in the doubling of the school’s endowment.

There is still a great deal of work to do in ensuring that our endowment supports the school for another 175 years. Toward that end, the school received this fall the single, largest endowment gift in its history, from Trustee Emeritus Leo

Bretter ’52 P’88

“This $5 million endowment commitment will establish the Bretter Family Head of School, and I could not be more proud to be the inaugural holder of that title,” Raudenbush Gum said, recognizing Bretter for his more than 50 years of service to Gunn, beginning with his appointment to the Board in 1971.

Board Chair Patrick Dorton ’86

welcomed guests

The value proposition of a small boarding school is exactly the antidote to so many of the challenges that we are facing as school leaders, and we are committed to building a school that is focused on the future of education.” – Head of School Emily Raudenbush Gum

A Point of Pride for All Highlanders

Over the course of the campaign, the school received 35 commitments of over $1 million. Those gifts, along with a $25 million gift from Lizzie and Jon Tisch, have defined The Frederick Gunn School of today and provided a new building, The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship, which is a point of pride for current Highlanders and alumni.

“If you haven’t been to campus to see it, I would like to personally give you a tour. It is very important that Highlanders have seen The Frederick Gunn School of 2025. You will feel in your heart that it is the same place you went and you will be extremely proud of your school,” she said. “Jon’s vision and leadership have ensured that we remain among the standout campuses in New England, and a place where mission drives innovation in both our programs and our buildings. The Lizzie has delivered in every possible way for our campus.”

An Extraordinary Decade

Jon Linen ’62 was acknowledged as someone who Raudenbush Gum said “generally prefers to remain behind the scenes, even anonymous, in his loyal and generous philanthropy. He preempts literally every request for investment. Over and over again, he shows up with a transformative gift. This is selfless and sincere Highlander leadership. He reminds us that Mr. Gunn’s soul is alive and well in our school.”

“Is all this investment worth it?” Raudenbush Gum asked. The answer, once again, stems from Mr. Gunn’s enduring legacy.

“The value proposition of a small boarding school is exactly the antidote to so many of the challenges that we are facing as school leaders, and we are committed to building a school that is focused on the future of education. We have a 175-year tradition of charging towards the ideal of a school and showing up for our young people when they need it most. And we are going to continue to do that,” she said, concluding: “Thank you for showing up for Gunn. Keep showing up for Gunn. We’ve got more to do, but it’s been an extraordinary decade.”

The Most Defining Moments

Head Prefect Martha Ewing ’26 provided further evidence of the campaign’s impact on the student experience. As a four-year senior, Ewing said she is grateful to have been able to spend time in the school’s newest buildings, TPACC and The Lizzie, and for the opportunities afforded by the curriculum, specifically within the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy. “I can’t wait to see how these programs evolve, and all of the amazing things that will be accomplished in The Lizzie in the coming years,” she said.

“High school is perhaps the most formative four years of our lives. It is a time when we grow as teenagers and individuals in almost every way imaginable. A time of constant change, these years hold some of the most defining moments and transitions we’ll ever experience. And yet, somehow, Gunn manages to feel like both a blur and a still frame — a place where everything is evolving, but time also seems to pause,”

Ewing said. “I am so incredibly proud of my school, and feel so lucky to be a part of it during the most exciting time of growth and change in its history.”

Taking the stage, Tisch spoke about his lifelong connection to Gunn. “Once I graduated and went on to Tufts, that connection that I had made all those years ago was still so important in my life,” he said, recalling that not long after graduating from Tufts, he returned to Gunn as the youngest member of the Board in the history of the school.

“Here we are, all these years later, and I can think of very few connections in my life that are more important to me than what used to be The Gunnery and is now The Frederick Gunn School,” Tisch said.

Reflecting on the success of the campaign, he said: “Raising this kind of money for our small school is significant. The campaign is also focused on endowment, on making sure our faculty have salaries that are competitive, and they feel comfortable raising their own families while teaching and being so involved with the life of The Frederick Gunn School. That’s what’s important today.”

“This is a moment to not only reflect back on 175 years, but more importantly, to look forward,” Tisch said. “It’s thanks to all of you that we are in an incredibly strong place, but we have more work ahead of us. We are going to need you, but it’s a very, very exciting moment.”

What Progress Looks Like

Earlier in the evening, Dorton expressed his gratitude for everyone who gathered to celebrate the campaign’s success.

“The work that we have done together to advance this school has been nothing short of amazing,” he said. "We have dramatically transformed this institution over the last decade. We’ve rediscovered the values and daring story of our founder, Frederick Gunn. We’ve rebuilt more than 60 percent of our

campus, and we’re still building,” Dorton said.

These accomplishments, combined with a challenging curriculum driven by faculty “who have made innovative teaching their daily crusade,” and an administration that has “created a positive culture that supports, encourages, and pushes students,” have further fueled Gunn’s momentum.

As evidence, he pointed out that applications have grown by more than 70 percent over the past five years. This is happening at a time when the boarding school market has not grown. “We are the hottest school on the market,” Dorton said.

And there is more to celebrate.

“We’ve achieved gender parity for the first time in our history. Our school rankings are the best they’ve ever been. Our annual fund surpassed $2 million for the first time this year,” Dorton said, posing a challenge as he noted that peer schools, like Millbrook and Berkshire, raised $3 million. “It’s in our sights,” he said.

“So here we are with a renewed sense of who we are and what we stand for in the world. This is what belief looks like. This is what confidence looks like. This is what progress looks like. And it’s happening because of all of you,” Dorton said. “Your support of this campaign, your support of the annual fund, your belief that the school is rising and can still rise more — we’re not done. Gunn is special. We know it; the world is beginning to know it, too. Tonight is a celebration of what we’ve accomplished together, and we’ve just begun.”

This article was based on Emily Raudenbush Gum's remarks at Gunn Next.

From left to right: Trustee Emeritus Leo Bretter ’52 P’88 with Head of School Emily Raudenbush Gum; Kate Mecsics and Malcolm Chase ’86 with Jon Tisch ’72; Tom Perakos ’69 with former Head of School Michael Eanes H’90 P’90 GP ’20 ’23 ’25; and Campaign Co-Chair and Board Vice Chair Wanji Walcott P’19 with Trustee Steve Baird ’68.

ALWAYS SAY YES

Trustee Emeritus Leo Bretter ’52 P’88 reflects on a lifetime of service to Gunn

ON NOVEMBER 22, e Frederick Gunn School

honored Trustee Emeritus Leo Bretter ’52 P’88 with the 2025 Friend of the Green Award at the Washington Town Holiday Party. e award recognized Bretter for his dedication to the school and to the Washington area through decades of service, most prominently through his 30-year commitment to Gunn’s Board of Trustees, from 1971 to 2001, and a position in the emeriti since 2001.

Earlier in November, at Gunn Next in New York City, Head of School Emily Raudenbush Gum expressed her gratitude and appreciation for Bretter, acknowledging his $5 million endowment commitment to establish the Bretter

Family Head of School. It is the single, largest gi to the endowment in the school’s 176-year history.

In many ways, Bretter’s experience as a student set him on a path to success, and he has continued to step up and give back to Gunn. His particular passion has been to grow and support the school’s endowment, ensuring Gunn’s success for years to come. And while much has changed since he arrived in Washington, Connecticut, as a junior in the fall of 1950, Bretter sees Gunn as a school that has remained true to its roots, giving students opportunities to build confidence, to lead, and to become forces for good in the world.

“As in everything, there is a lot of change, but the basic tenets of e Frederick Gunn School have not changed at all.

at’s why I’m still a big advocate of the school and I feel I can

Given the choice of a yes or no, always say yes. Do rather than don’t. Just put yourself out there, and you never know what’s going to happen.”

PHOTO BY MARK LIFLANDER

make a difference. That’s why I continue to support the school, as an individual and financially,” Bretter said in an interview. “Clearly, Frederick Gunn was a very advanced-thinking individual, and fortunately, the school has adopted his philosophy, and it shows in whatever the school does.”

A Game-Changing Experience

Bretter was raised in Scarsdale, New York, and attended the local public high school, where he struggled academically. Not long after he arrived at Gunn, he had a conversation with then-Assistant Head of School Graham Anderson that changed everything.

“I’ll never forget this. He said, ‘I’ve been watching you, and you don’t come close to the potential you have.’ He gave me a big pep talk, and that absolutely changed my life. To this day, I can remember the experience. I said to myself, ‘Yes, I am going to try harder,’ and sure enough, when you try harder, you succeed. And when you succeed, you’re motivated to try harder still — not just in school, but in everything you do. It was a game-changing experience for me.”

Bretter dove headlong into school life, earning a varsity letter in soccer and playing varsity basketball, JV baseball, and JV tennis. He joined the Politics and Debating Society and the Philosophy Club, served on the board of The Gunnery News, and became Editor in Chief of the Red and Gray. Although he had never been in a play before, he was cast in Our Town as a senior, and served as William Howard Taft’s campaign manager in a mock presidential election.

“It was a small school. Everyone has to do something,” he said, recalling, “They needed somebody in the play and they grabbed me and said, ‘You’re in!’ I’d never been in a play in my life, but I did it. I had to play sports and all of I sudden, I found out that I was a decent — not great but a decent athlete. To this day, I still ski, play tennis and golf, and squash.”

“That sort of can-do attitude is what I’ve espoused my whole life,” he added. “If there’s a problem, let’s solve it. It can be done. Let’s do it.”

Gunn Connections

As a senior, Bretter also won an essay contest sponsored in honor of the school’s centennial by Harold Bache, Class of 1912, who served on the Board of Trustees from 1952-1967. The theme of the essay was: “Why The Gunnery should have our interest and our support.” Bache invited Bretter and several other seniors to his house in Washington for dinner.

“He asked everybody in the room what they wanted to do when they graduated. I said, ‘I want to go into finance.’ And he said, ‘Well, see me when you get out of college.’”

“He sent me to Personnel and the guy in Personnel offered me a job in the back office. I wanted to be on the investment side, not on the operations side. This is where luck plays a big part in your life. I got back on the elevator — I was about to go home — and I said, ‘You know, I really ought to go in and thank Mr. Bache for at least trying to give me a job.’ He said, ‘Wait a minute,’ and he picked up the phone. That’s how I got into the investment business. If I hadn’t gone back to thank him, my whole life would have been totally different.”

Bretter spent over two decades at the firm, which later became PrudentialBache Securities. After Bache passed away, new management took over, and Bretter took a job at Neuberger Berman, a private investment firm, where he worked for over 30 years.

Bretter graduated from the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1956, just prior to what would become known as the Eisenhower Recession. No one was hiring, so he went to see Bache, who was the chief executive officer of Bache & Co. in New York, the second largest investment firm in the world after Merrill Lynch.

“I considered myself a good salesman, and when I went to Neuberger Berman, I had to build a business. I had no clients.

Over the years, it was a very good-sized business. Neuberger Berman is an unusual place in

Bretter shaking hands with Board Chair Patrick Dorton '86 at Gunn Next; and accepting the Friend of the Green Award from Head of School Emily Raudenbush Gum.

that they leave you alone as long as you are honest and play by the rules. It was up to you to make yourself a success, and fortunately, I did.”

Looking back, Bretter confirmed that his experience as a student at Gunn impacted his life and career. “I came out of the Gunn school feeling confident in my abilities and that perseverance and stick-to-itiveness does count. I didn’t get discouraged easily. I had great ups and downs, I just kept my head forward; I never looked back — still don’t. You can always look back and say, ‘I could have done this, I could have done that.’ If I didn’t do it, whatever it was, hopefully it was a learning experience and, ‘Next!’ Get on. Go Forward. You just can’t spend your time looking backwards.”

A Passion for the Arts

He and his wife, Frances P’88, who worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and co-authored two books on American furniture, were married in 1964. ey have two children, Ted ’88, who managed a successful hedge fund and retired early, and Caroline, who is the chief financial o cer for an organization that teaches financial literacy and life skills to public school students in cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. rough the years, the Bretters have divided their time between New York and Roxbury, Connecticut, where as a Class Agent, Bretter hosted reunion dinners for his classmates every five years. He was named Alumnus of the Year in 1990. He and his wife have generously supported initiatives on campus, including the omas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center and the former Emerson Performing Arts Center. e Frances and Leo Bretter Student Center in Solley Dining Hall was named in honor of their generous contributions to the school.

Passionate about the arts, and music in particular, Bretter has long been a supporter of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, e Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and Washington Friends of Music (WFM), serving on its Board of Directors since 2021 and as Treasurer. He was influential in the nonprofit organization’s decision to move its popular New Year’s Day concerts to the Tisch Family Auditorium of TPACC. Last year, Bretter approached Ron Castonguay P’27, a fellow WFM board member and Director of the Arts at Gunn, and asked if he would be interested in bringing Gunn Music students to the New York Philharmonic.

“Our students were able to go to a dress rehearsal. ey had seats reserved for us and he underwrote the cost of the bus, which was awesome. e students loved it,” Castonguay said, confirming that students will be making the trip again this spring.

“I love classical music, opera, as well as chamber music,” Bretter said, recalling that former Gunn faculty member Tom Adolphson, who taught humanities, would take students to dress rehearsals at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Bretter is thrilled to have instituted a similar tradition.

Making a Difference

As a student, alumnus, parent, and Trustee, Bretter has known seven Heads of School. When he joined the Board in 1971, at the behest of Ogden D. Miller H’69 P’50 ’54 ’55 GP’84 , he was one of the youngest Trustees and served alongside six other alumni, including Lloyd Elston ’44 P’68 ’70 GP’05 ’06 ’10, Je Marsted ’60, H. Willets Underhill ’31, Adrian Van Sinderen, Jr. ’32, P'62, Robert Zampano ’47, and Bruce Bradshaw ’51. Also on the Board at that time was Sara Scranton Linen P’62, Gunn's first female Trustee. During his tenure, Bretter served as Vice President of the Board, Chair of the Committee on Trustees, and as a member of the Development Committee and the Finance Committee.

As chair of the nominating committee, Bretter recommended to the Board fellow alumni, including his former classmate and Head Prefect Gus Kello III ’52, who served from 19822001, and Trustee Emeritus Jonathan Tisch ’72. From the start, Bretter also made a commitment to help grow the school’s endowment. “ at is something very near and dear to my heart,” he said.

In some ways, he is still applying the lesson he learned as a student, that everyone has a role to play. “At e Frederick Gunn School, you can really make a di erence, and the school makes a di erence in a lot of peoples lives, and it’s worth supporting,” he said.

“My motto in life is, if given the choice of a yes or no, always say yes. Do rather than don’t. Just put yourself out there, and you never know what’s going to happen.”

e Frederick Gunn School Bulletin

Top: Frances and Leo Bretter '52 P'88 at a reunion in the 1970s with George Auchincloss '53 P'83. Above: Bretter editing the Red and Gray in 1952.

RAMPED UP

Max Freeman ’13 shares insights from his start-up success and the power of the alumni network

THIS FALL, MAX FREEMAN ’13 visited campus to speak with students in the Center for Entrepreneurship about his journey to becoming Vice President of Sales for Ramp, a fintech company that has become the fastest-growing start-up in U.S. history — and third in the world behind Amazon and Facebook. In September, Ramp announced that it had surpassed $1 billion in annualized revenue, and two months later, the company’s valuation had soared to $32 billion, following a $300 million funding round.

When Freeman spoke to students, he noted that he would not be where he is today if it were not for Gunn. Alumni connections opened the door for him to become Ramp’s first sales hire, and his ability to further leverage the Gunn network combined with his own hard work, commitment, and grit — helped him to land his first clients.

“It all ties together to e Frederick Gunn School. I would have actually never ended up at Ramp had I not gone here,” Freeman said.

The Power of the Network

Freeman spent three years at Gunn and played for the Boys Varsity Hockey team, which earned Elite Eight New England Tournament appearances in his junior and senior years. He went on to earn a degree in economics and play D1 ice hockey at the University of Delaware. He started his career in finance, working as an analyst for UBS in New York, and then as a sales development representative and account executive at Namely. Six years ago, at the height of the global pandemic, he learned about Ramp through a classmate, Dan Barker ’12, whose best friend from home had moved to New York City around the same time. His roommate knew Ramp founders Eric Glyman and Karim Atiyeh.

“You can think of Ramp as a corporate credit card and an expense management platform, but really what it’s doing is helping companies spend less money, which is very counterintuitive for any payments business,” Freeman explained. “ at’s OK, because over a very long time horizon, we feel that we’re going to gather more and more market share,

Max Freeman '13 (first row, center) with current Highlanders and his former advisor, Andrew Richards P'20 '23 (first row, far left); Bart McMann, Dean of Programmatic Innovation and Director of the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy (second row, far left); and Eric Scheidt, Director of Entrepreneurship (second row, far right)

and we believe we are the only corporate credit card that is fully layered with AI. We’ve had AI in our product since the very beginning of 2020. AI really had this moment — this tailwind I would say — from late 2022 to now, and so we feel that we were ahead of the curve.”

Glyman and Atiyeh were roommates at Harvard, and after they graduated, they started a company called Paribus. “They effectively do what Ramp does today but for consumers. So imagine on your credit card, you go buy a TV at BestBuy for $500 on a Tuesday, and that same TV at BestBuy is only $400 on a Thursday. Paribus would automatically get you a $100 refund,” Freeman said, explaining that the company grew quickly and was acquired by Capital One.

Two years later, Glyman and Atiyeh launched Ramp to do for corporations and enterprises what Paribus had done for consumers. They quickly found outside investors. “The market that they were going after was massive. They then got to hire their early team. I was fortunate enough to join Ramp as the first sales hire back in March of 2020. I got really lucky,” Freeman recalled.

A Seat at the Table

It all ties together to The Frederick Gunn School. I would have actually never ended up at Ramp had I not gone here.”

Asked how he made himself stand out in the hiring process, Freeman said he agreed to take a step back, signing on as a sales development representative (SDR), an entry-level role that he had already been promoted from at Namely. “It’s not easy. You’re effectively eating glass most of your day by making a ton of cold calls. You’re sending a lot of cold emails,” he said, explaining that the challenge was compounded by the fact that, during Covid, the people he was messaging didn’t know if their jobs would exist the next day.

“The big point that I tried to make with them [at Ramp] was, ‘I don’t care what my role is. I just want a seat at the table and I want to do this.’ Before Ramp, I was a midmarket account executive. I said, ‘Guys, I don’t care what you pay me. I’ll come in and work for free, I just want equity.’ And so I became an SDR all over again, which is a crazy thing to do.”

One of the first calls Freeman made was to another Gunn alumnus, Ben Krall ’06, the founder of Urban Umbrella, a company that designs and builds premium sidewalk scaffolding solutions. Under Krall’s leadership, Urban Umbrella expanded from New York City to 18 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Freeman also knew Krall played hockey at Gunn and at Syracuse University.

“I just reached out and said, ‘Hey, I’m a former Gunn hockey player. I started working at this company and this is

what we are doing,’” Freeman said. “I think he wanted to pay it forward. Low and behold, we got our first customer. They were pretty big. What it did was, it pushed our product and engineering team to then integrate with their accounting system. That helped us get more and more companies. It’s a longwinded way of saying I got lucky in the sale, and I wouldn’t have gotten there if I didn’t attend the school.”

The alumni network again played a role in helping Freeman bring his second customer to Ramp, Quassy Amusement Park in Middlebury, Connecticut. Eric Anderson P’13, the father of Freeman’s classmate, Sam Anderson ’13, is the company’s owner and president.

Another alumnus, Jaren Taenaka ’12, runs the CSM team at Ramp. “These folks are tasked with implementing the product, integrating it into the variety of systems that are needed. It’s a highly technical role. You wouldn’t want me doing that, but you’d certainly want Jaren Taenaka doing that,” Freeman said, noting that Taenaka was the top scholar of their class.

“I actually wasn’t the best student. I was good enough. I went to a decent college. But in hindsight, I think I leveraged the network, and the moment, and truly capitalized on meeting very interesting people who were genuine and kind,” Freeman said, encouraging the students to reach out to him

and other alumni as they start their careers. “A lot of other people that are alumni in this network want to do the same. ey want to pay it back.”

Entrepreneurial Lessons

Looking back, Freeman said Covid acted as an accelerant, fueling Ramp’s growth as more and more companies looked to cut their spending. Yet he said the company’s initial target market was unattainable.

“We got this wrong. When I joined Ramp, I think just due to blind optimism, our CEO, who was my boss in the beginning, said, ‘Alright, we’ve got this product, let’s go get Ford, Coca-Cola, Netflix, and Meta to use this.’ I actually broke into some of those accounts and got meetings, only to get [metaphysically] punched in the face and realize we cannot meet the needs and requirements of these massive companies. We don’t have the global capabilities, we can’t integrate with their accounting systems, and so that allowed us to then get really focused on smaller businesses, start-ups, specifically, seed stage Series A, and then gradually, over time, mature the product to then go up-market,” Freeman said, adding: “I think nailing your ICP, which is your Ideal Customer Profile, out of the gates is critical. Let’s say we won Ford Motors by luck. at would have destroyed our engineering team. ey would have had to go and build all of this custom stu . It would have been a disaster. So, dialing in the focus on who you should target is a good point.”

Ramp’s start-up success was also driven by “engineering horsepower that looks like Open AI’s talent roster,” he said. For example, Calvin Lee, who enrolled at MIT in 11th grade and later earned a silver medal in the International Olympiad in Informatics, is Ramp’s Technical Chief of Sta . Its Director of So ware Engineering is Veeral Patel, who attended Stanford and developed the Shortcuts app for Apple; and Ramp’s Engineering Director is Pablo Meier, who was a founding engineer for Ly , Uber’s rideshare competitor.

“ e density of talent and the network gra that is available to these people gave us a very unfair advantage out of the gates with selling it to other start-ups, and putting points on the board, and getting quick revenue. We went from zero to $100 million in seven and a half months. I feel incredibly privileged to make this potentially arrogant claim: there wasn’t a stru le because of that.”

A Boost from the Super Bowl

If the name Ramp sounds familiar, perhaps you remember seeing this year’s Super Bowl ad, “Multiply What’s Possible,” featuring actor Brian Baumgartner from e Office as “the world’s most famous accountant.”

Freeman is “a huge Office fan,” and recently met Steve Carell. However, he said it was Ramp’s first Super Bowl ad, which aired in February 2025 and featured Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, that really helped to boost brand awareness. “March and April were our best months ever as a business,” said Freeman, whose networking behind the scenes facilitated Barkley’s appearance.

“I got to have dinner with him two nights before they played the Rams in the [2025] playo game, if you remember the snow game where he hit his helmet. He’s a huge fan of technology. I’m a diehard Birds fan. I grew up in Philly, so we started talking. I was telling him about Ramp. I asked him, ‘Hey do you want to invest?’ He said, ‘Yes, I’ll give you guys some money.”

Eight days before the Super Bowl, Ramp bought an ad spot from Aflack at a discount, and Barkley filmed the commercial at no cost. “He was an investor in the business,” Freeman said. “He had given us money, and he wanted that to grow.”

Scottie at one of his first public appearances, on the sidelines of the NEPSAC Field Hockey Championship Quarterfinal in November

Meet Our Mascot

ON SEPTEMBER 3, The Frederick Gunn School school unveiled a bold new symbol of Gunn pride and identity our official Highlander mascot. The announcement was shared with students and faculty at the first School Meeting of the academic year, and with alumni and families in a fun video called, “The Reveal.”

On a pleasant day last summer, filming on "The Reveal" began, featuring current students and young alumni — among them former Head Prefects Bea Flynn ’24 and Ashleen Hay ’23 , Christian Wood ’23 , and Jo Wimler ’24 The role of the mascot was played by Charlie, a celebrity among a fold of Scottish Highland cattle in Amenia, New York.

Always a Highlander

“When the school unveiled the mascot this fall, we were literally making history, and we were happy to hear via social media that many of our alumni, current students, parents, faculty, and friends are as excited about it as we are,” said Doug Day, Assistant Head of School for Strategy and Engagement. “Of course, we will continue to be the Highlanders, as we have been for generations.”

The decision to reintroduce the Highlander as the school’s official mascot was an easy one. “For centuries in Scotland, the Highland cow has stood as more than a striking figure on the

hillsides. It represents quiet strength, steady determination, and an unrelenting spirit — all carried with a friendly, intelligent, and approachable nature. Deeply tied to the land, it thrives in rugged conditions and embodies endurance, character, and resilience,” the school said in making the announcement. “In many ways, this noble and iconic creature mirrors the very spirit of our own community, and the values we aim to inspire in our students. The Highlander is bold. The Highlander is enduring. The Highlander is us.”

In the weeks that followed the announcement, current students, faculty, and alumni participated in a contest to name the new mascot. More than 500 votes were tallied and Colleen Fink, Athletics Director and Dean of Co-curricular Activities announced on November 7 that our Highlander is named Scottie. A pep band played in the Tisch Family Auditorium while Scottie, dressed in the new Frederick Gunn School Tartan and wearing a Highland cap, danced across the stage. Students and faculty in the audience rose to their feet, waving pom-poms, ringing red and blue cow bells, and cheering.

An Unstoppable Force

The energy from that School Meeting rippled across campus later in the evening as students gathered for the annual pep

rally on the eve of Canterbury Day. The following afternoon, Gunn won three and tied one of the seven athletic contests played on the Saints’ home turf. The Highlander spirit was undeniable on the field and on the sidelines, and it continued through the following week, as Varsity Field Hockey advanced to the New England Championship Semifinals (see page 33) and Varsity Football won the first New England Championship played in a decade at home on Barnes Field (see page 32).

At the start of the Fall Term, Fink challenged the community to demonstrate their Highlander pride by joining a new, student-led, school spirit group called “the Ferd,” which stands for Fred’s Herd.

“When the collective Ferd descends, we are not spectators; we are a force! We are there for one another — chanting, roaring, bells CLANGING, voices soaring! But above all, we are supporting with passion,” Fink said during the mascot announcement. “Those shared moments are the heart of our school.”

Now that the Highlander has a name, students have been given the opportunity to apply for the honor of representing Gunn as the official mascot for the remainder of this school year. That honor will be bestowed upon the Gunn student who genuinely exemplifies the Ferd attitude and school spirit, Fink said. Attendance at games and events will be required and the role will count as a co-curricular commitment.

“Now we have a visual identity for our school and, importantly, for our athletic teams that will allow us to celebrate our heritage in new ways. We are so hyped for the Highlander to play an even greater role in our Gunn traditions,” Day said.

INSPIRED TO GIVE

Gunn Announces $1.5 Million Gift from Randy Richmond ’60

THE FREDERICK GUNN SCHOOL is excited to announce that Randy Richmond ’60 has committed to a leadership gi of $1.5 million in support of capital projects and the endowment of a faculty position in the humanities.

In an interview from his home in Andover, Massachusetts, in December, Richmond said he was inspired by the school’s leadership through the years and the example set by his classmate, Trustee Tom King ’60, who with his wife, Kathy, established the omas R. King ’60 Family Teaching Chair in 2022.

“I admired him. It’s amazing what people have done with their lives once they’ve le Gunnery, Tom being one of them,” Richmond said.

in rowing, and one in soccer. Beyond athletics, he served as Associate Editor of the Red and Gray and was named a Senior Monitor. e editors of the Red and Gray noted that Richmond “was greatly respected, not only by those who resided with him in Gunn, but by all who knew him and worked with him.”

Asked about the faculty who were most influential during his years here, he recalled the late Wally Rowe III H’57 P’77 ’79, who was his wrestling coach and his English teacher; and the late Robert Bahney, who taught history.

“I’m very fond of e Gunnery. ere's a lot that you can do on your own and you're expected to do on your own,” Richmond said.

A er graduating from Gunn, he studied geology and business at the Colorado College of Mines and the University of Colorado. In the fall of 1965, a er volunteering for the dra , he enrolled in the U.S. Army. He served as a Huey helicopter crew chief in Vietnam from May of 1966 to May of 1967. rough the years, he has been impressed by the development of new programs at Gunn such as the Center for Entrepreneurship and the IDEAS Lab.

“I’ve gone back to the reunions and I’m just impressed with what they're doing with the kids, and how they’ve grown, and what their aims are for the future,” he said of the school. “I’m kind of sorry that I’m not young enough to go back to school.”

Born in New York, Richmond lost his father to lung cancer at age nine. He and his mother moved to Andover, and he made friends with the faculty children at Phillips Exeter Academy. When he enrolled there as a day student, however, he found it di cult to connect with the community. A er a year, his mother decided that a small boarding school in Washington, Connecticut, might be a better fit.

“I don’t know how she came up with e Gunnery,” he said. “When I walked on campus, I decided that was the place I wanted to be.”

At Gunn, Richmond earned four varsity letters in wrestling and won the Connecticut State Championship in his weight class in senior year. He also played football, earned two varsity letters

The school has changed over the years and I think it’s giving kids fantastic opportunities and excellent, well-rounded experiences.”

Richmond's wrestling team photo, from the 1960 Red and Gray

TOM PERAKOS ’69 BRINGS “RAZZLE DAZZLE” TO 175TH COMMENCEMENT

MULTIPLE TONY AWARD AND OLIVIER AWARD-WINNING producer and philanthropist omas S. Perakos ’69 put on a showstopping performance for the Class of 2025, their families, faculty, and friends at the school’s 175th Commencement on May 25, 2025. e namesake donor of the 32,000-square-foot, LEED-certified omas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center, Perakos delivered a Commencement Address that was filled with funny, poignant, and memorable moments. Trading his graduation robe for a top hat and cane, he performed the song, “Razzle Dazzle” from the Broadway musical, Chicago, accompanied by seven Broadway performers, who le New York City before sunrise to travel to Washington, Connecticut.

From e Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the new musical in London, for which Perakos won an Olivier Award, he presented each of the 104 seniors with an hourglass inscribed with the words, “Make every second count.” He also invited New York-based actor Jennifer Fouché, who made her on-stage Broadway debut as Mama Morton, in Chicago, to perform “Believe in Yourself,” from e Wiz His speech, which received a standing ovation, and the performances were an incredible gi for the graduates and the entire community.

The Class of 2025

Henry Van Sinderen Abbate

Benjamin Cayton Adovasio

Madden Ryan Albert

Finn Cole Allee

William Charles Bartoli

Gordon Burton Bennett

Alfie Alistair Bailey Blakely

Gracielle Elizabeth Boucher

Morgan Elizabeth Brown

James Alexander Burrell

Chao Cao

Corbin Matthew Carkner

Savanna Taylor Cicarelli

Natalie Clark

Avery Jane Clement

William Collins V

Tobin Wu Connell

Leo James Covello

Katarina Elyne Crea

Hanzhong “Peter” Cui

Brynn Dalton Cunningham

Sofia Rose Cuozzo

Celia Elizabeth Dauphinais

Andrei Dubchak

Benjamin Holme Elsberg

Beau Patrick Fairbanks

Stephen Martin Fisher III

Luca Fusco

Álvaro Gómez Fernández

Zhenhao Gong

Maxwell Hall

Karl Elias Hammer

Grace Helen Harlow

Logan Kristopher Heideman

Laurens Konstantin

Ferdinand Otto Hochbaum

Mairin Gray Hoffman

William Martin Jackson

Katherine Johnson

Poppy Jean Kellogg

Tyler Grant Kelly

Marley-Austell Kennedy

Catherine Elizabeth Kleiner

Gage J. Kloeber

Sebastian Komaritsky

Emily Grace Krauss

Ian A. Kuisis

Dylan Remi Kur

Olivia Reagan Kurtz

Owen Nicholas Laatsch

Trey Kevin LaMay

Stella Rose Leonard

Zane Katrina Leonard

Ruby Lesson

Collin M. Logan

Amelia Caroline Martin

Blake Michael McBride

Talen James McBride

Shannon Rose McCormack

Mia Brennigan Merrill

Kyle Millington

Kasim Mirza

Daisy Catherine Moriarty

Harrison Muntner

Matthew Joesph Nacinovich

Jackson Collins Neminski

Khang Nguyễn

Nguyen Thieu Ninh

Isabel Lorraine Nicholas

Liam Scott Nugent

Brigham Michael Nye

Braden J. O’Neill

Sofia Soleil Panzer

Jake Pellicane

Miles Diego Perez

Christian Phoon

Victor Pozuelos Hague

Adrien Wilfredo Quiros Cruz

Kate Elizabeth Richards

Ava Victoria Rubbo

Mabel Eliza Rude

Travis Rockwell Rugg

Hyunjun “Ryan” Ryu

Taylor Sall

Aryel Niah Sealey

Kyle Secko

Isak Aziz Senkal

Brandon Dale Shaffer

Megan Christine Sladish

Xinyu Tian

Robert James Timmins

Skyler Bree Toffolo

Joshua Aiden Trager, Jr.

Isaac Thomas Truman

Nicholas George Tsetsilas

Ruoni “Elizabeth” Tu

Ruoyi “Rebecca” Tu

Jade Anh Vu

Sloane Bateman Walsh

Ruida Wang

Yaowei Wang

Zihan Wang

Cameron Willis

Langston Woods

Zhu ShengTing

“All of you are about to embark on a great, new journey to college and beyond. The best time of your life is in front of you. I am both humbled and honored to be here to share this wonderful occasion.”

– Commencement Speaker Tom Perakos ’69

PRIZE NIGHT 2025

Students who received academic and other honors were recognized during the school’s annual Prize Night ceremony on May 24, 2025. Just a few of the students honored this year are featured on these pages. Congratulations to all of this year’s graduates!

The Robert J. Benham Award for Effective Public Speaking was presented to Drew McKessey ’26 and Thomas Misukanis ’26.

The Jerome F. MacCarthy Arts Award was presented to Stella Zhu ’25.

The Robert B. Mortell Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts was presented to Taylor Sall ’25.

The Stray Shot Award for Excellence in Prose was presented to Rebecca Tu ’25.

The Fenning Prize for Excellence in Debate was presented to Ryan Ryu ’25.

The W. Russ Elgin Award for Excellence in Spanish was awarded to Elizabeth Tu ’25.

This year, 14 students were inducted into the Cum Laude Society, which is one of the highest academic honors at the school. Congratulations to new members Michael Copen ’26, Martha Ewing ’26, Gavin Yin ’26, James Burrell ’25, Celia Dauphinais ’25, Karl Hammer ’25, Mairin Hoffman ’25, Olivia Kurtz ’25, Peter Nguyen ’ 25, Ryan Ryu ’25, James Timmins ’25, Elizabeth Tu ’25, Rebecca Tu ’25, and Sloane Walsh ’ 25.

The School Poetry Prize was presented to Katherine Aguirre-Felipe ’26.

The Katharine Kyes Leab History Prize for Moral Leadership was awarded to Cassy Cotton ’27.

The Anthony Golembeske Award for Excellence in Mathematics was presented to Michael Copen ’26.

HIGHEST HONORS

The Brinsmade Prize is “awarded to that student who best combines unselfish and sympathetic interest in people with a purpose for citizenship and social responsibility.” This year it was presented to Avery Clement ’25.

The Dean’s Prize, presented in memory of Norman R. Lemcke, Jr., Gunn master and Dean from 1964-1975, was awarded to Henry Van Sinderen Abbate ’ 25.

The Patrick M. Dorton ’86 Prize for Quiet Leadership, established by Patrick M. Dorton, Class of 1986, was presented to Emmett Panzer ’ 27.

At Commencement, the school’s three highest awards were presented to students who were chosen by the faculty. The final diploma of the day was awarded to Olivia Kurtz ’25, the Top Scholar in the Class of 2025.

The Head of School’s Prize is “awarded to a member of the graduating class who, by constant excellence and dependability in studies and in extracurricular activities, has contributed outstandingly to the success of the school year.” The prize was awarded to Olivia Kurtz ’25.

The Michael Neal Eanes Award for Greatest Scholastic Improvement, established in 1991 to honor Michael Eanes H'91 P'90 GP’20 ’23 ’25 for his 26 years at The Gunnery, was presented to Trey LaMay ’ 25.

The Thomas Alexander Langford Memorial Prize was presented to Celia Dauphinais ’ 25 and Gordon Bennett ’ 25.

The Gunn Cup is “awarded to that student who, through character and achievement, shall have contributed most largely to the success of the school year.” The cup was awarded to Ryan Ryu ’25.

The Frederick William Gunn Award was presented to Victoria Rubbo ’ 25, who was also the second student in the history of the school to graduate with Honors in Outdoor Leadership.

The Freshman of the Year Award was presented to Caden Crowley ’28.

To view more Prize Night photos, scan this QR code:

The Teddy Awards, given in loving memory of Edward “Teddy” Bright Ebersol, beloved member of the Class of 2008, who died tragically on November 28, 2004, were presented to Raven Bennett ’28 and Tommy Hagymasi ’28.

The Russell Sturgis Bartlett Memorial Prize for Excellence in Science was awarded to Nina Dai ’26.

The Vreeland-Rogers Athletic Awards, established in 1998 by Gerrit Vreeland ’61 and the late Andrew Y. Rogers, Jr. ’61, were presented to Jake Pellicane ’ 25 and Olivia Kurtz ’ 25.

On Becoming a Well-Rounded Person

Tim Freydberg ’04 returned to campus to dispense some words of wisdom to the Class of 2025 as the featured speaker at the Alumni Association Induction Dinner on May 21. Freydberg’s advice to students: Make the best of every day. Get out of your comfort zone. Ask questions and make yourself into that well-rounded person.

While some students leave Gunn with a predetermined path or college major, Freydberg encouraged the seniors to remain open-minded about the future. “Life changes very quickly and there are a lot of opportunities out there. ere are so many ways that you can make a living for yourself, be happy and fulfilled, and not necessarily follow a defined path,” he said.

When he le Gunn, he knew he wanted to work in finance, but his graduation from college coincided with the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. “It was really tough to find a job in finance as all the banks were shutting down and the world was falling apart. I had all these college loans and I said to myself, ‘How am I going to pay these?’”

He decided to use his undergraduate degree in business economics to pursue a di erent path, in commercial real estate, which he turned into a successful career, and he has not looked back. Freydberg is currently Senior Vice President of CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment company.

“As you get into college, you’re going to meet lots of di erent people. You’re going to hear about

PHOTO BY PHIL DUTTON ’81

Tim Freydberg ̕04

Clockwise from top: Amelia Martin ̕25 receives her alumni pin from her mom, Laura Eanes Martin ̕90 P 20 ̕23 ̕25; Charley Kellogg ̕84 P ̕25 pins his daughter, Poppy Kellogg ̕25; the hourglass gift from Tom Perakos ̕69; siblings Colten Cicarelli ̕21 and Savanna Cicarelli ̕25.

majors that you probably didn’t know existed. Ask questions: Why are you majoring in that? What brought you to this? What made you want to do that? It will make you a more well-rounded person to understand what other people are interested in and why,” he said. “The more you know, the more you will understand the community of people around you, and the more you will understand the world. You have the ability to do anything you want in this world, and this amazing place has given you the foundation and the headstart to go do it.”

Freydberg also encouraged the graduates to stay connected to Gunn: “This place is incredible, and it has an incredible network of people who went here, who all view this as a family, a home. You can reach out to them for almost anything and they’ll be enthusiastic about the fact that you shared this life experience with them,” he said.

Members of the Class of 2025 were officially welcomed into the Alumni Association at the dinner. Head of School Emily Raudenbush Gum invited each graduate to choose either an alumni tie or the new alumni scarf, introduced in celebration of the school’s 175th anniversary, to wear at Commencement. Seniors received their senior letters, class mug, and the 2025 Red and Gray, dedicated in memory of English teacher and rowing coach Tim Poole. Each graduate also received a small hourglass, a gift from Commencement speaker Tom Perakos ’69

The event concluded with the pinning ceremony. It a tradition that the alumni pin can only be worn by alumni and can only be placed by an alumna or alumnus. Among the alumni who participated in this year’s pinning ceremony were: Charley Kellogg ’84 P’25 , Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25 , Stephen Brown ’92 P’24 ’25 , Colten Cicarelli ’21, Caroline Marich ’24 , Kori Rimany ’14 , and Kate McMann ’05

STRAY SHOT UPDATE

RAIN, WASPS, AND BEARS COULD NOT DETER THEM

At Prize Night 2024, we learned of the storied search for the Stray Shot during the 2023-24 school year, led by thenHead Prefect Bea Flynn ’24, Jo Wimler ’24, and Bella Schifano ’24, with Emma Eschweiler ’24, Natalie May ’24 and Erin Whitney ’24 Wimler presented a fresh clue in May 2024, and the annual hunt for the Stray Shot was immediately renewed by Skyler Toffolo ’25 and Olivia Kurtz ’25.

The pair faced pouring rain and were deterred by a bear and her cubs on campus before they recruited Mairin Hoffman ’25, Sloane Walsh ’25, and Megan Sladish ’25 to aid in their search last fall. After finding the final clue hidden in the 110th page of a Class of 1960 yearbook in the archives, the five seniors set out to claim their prize last September, believing the cannonball was buried behind Van Sinderen parking lot.

“While we hit many roots and rocks, the ball was nowhere to be found,” Hoffman recounted. “We began to lose hope in our mission, but we didn’t want to give up. We knew we were close.”

It was Flynn who, after endless convincing by phone at a very late hour, helped the seniors to locate the cannonball that same night. Wounded by wasps, their hands covered in dirt, they took possession of it close to midnight. After they presented their story and a new clue at Prize Night in May, the game was afoot once more.

Above: Olivia Kurtz ’25, Sloane Walsh ’25, Megan Sladish ’25, Mairin Hoffman ’25, and Skyler Toffolo ’25 presenting their Stray Shot update at Prize Night

A CULTURE OF STUDENT LEADERSHIP

At Investiture, Head of School Emily Raudenbush Gum highlighted the defining strengths of our culture of student leadership. “Highlanders show up for each other, they make space for each other, and we are always rooting for each other,” Raudenbush Gum said with immense pride. Each year, our student leaders help carry this forward, whether they are giving a tour, welcoming new students, setting a higher standard, or being supportive of their peers. Here are our student leaders for the 2025-26 school year.

2025-2026 Prefects

Our community-elected Prefects serve as exemplary representatives of the community, aligning their conduct with the school’s mission and the foundation established by

Frederick and Abigail Gunn. By maintaining a vibrant and enthusiastic presence — particularly during school meetings, evenings, and weekends — they foster a student life culture that reflects our values.

It is in practicing being a force for good that we become one.”

GUM

Clockwise from left: Prefects Tucker Mears ’26, Martha Ewing ’26 (Head Prefect), Blake Baumgartner ’26, Michal Schroeder ’26, Maya Edwards ’26, Daniel Conlan ’26, and David Low ’26

Gunn Society Leaders

Gunn Society serves as a bridge between current students and alumni. Members act as school ambassadors, attending alumni events, engaging in direct outreach, and educating the community about the impact of e 1850 Fund. e society is led by o cers and class agents, who are dedicated to fostering lifelong school spirit.

to right: Class Agent Cam Naik ’28, Class Agent Liv Fletcher ’28, Class Agent Kylee Cahill ’28, Co-Vice President Samara Kinyanjui ’27, Co-President Ezekiel Hatcher ’26, Co-President Isla Beckstrom ’26, Co-Vice President Lucy Oneglia ’26, and Class Agent Meadow Drakeley ’26

Class Representatives

Class Representatives collaborate with the Class Deans, the Dean of Students, Head House Parents, and Prefects to build community spirit within their grade and across the school.

Head Tour Guides

Head Tour Guides are essential to the Admissions team and provide a compelling first impression of the school for prospective families, while defining the standards and culture for the broader tour guide program.

Left to right: Ezekiel Hatcher ’26, Abby Gleason ’26, Tyler Clouthier ’26, Drew McKessey ’26, Ace Watson ’26, Michael Copen ’26, Robbie Happy ’26, Logan Valeiko ’26, Sophia Dadd ’26, and Ashley Edmonds ’26

Left

Left to right: Sophomore Class Representatives Summer Copen ’28, Briana White ’28, Tommy Hagymasi ’28, Emery Baumgartner ’28, and Raven Bennett ’28

Left to right: Junior Class Representatives Carson Bennett ’27, Poppy Mand ’27, Siena Castonguay ’27, Charlotte Friedman ’27, and Riker Napoleone ’27

NEW FACES ON CAMPUS

Our community was pleased to welcome the following new faculty at the start of the 2025-26 school year:

MAX MARCHIONY is a member of the Science Department faculty and an Assistant Coach for Gunn Rowing and Varsity Skiing. Raised in Weston, Massachusetts, Marchiony holds a bachelor’s degree in quantitative social science from Dartmouth College, where he was a four-year varsity oarsman for its Men’s Lightweight Rowing Team and a peer ski instructor. Prior to joining Gunn, Marchiony taught math and coached skiing, rowing, and soccer at Lawrence Academy.

JASON CIRRITO is a member of the Mathematics Department faculty and an Assistant Coach for Varsity Cross Country and Girls Varsity Tennis. Cirrito grew up on the North Shore of Long Island. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College in physics and mathematics (with a concentration in core mathematics and applied mathematics). He was a member of Vassar’s DIII Cross Country, Indoor Track & Field, and Outdoor Track & Field teams.

POLLY KERTIS teaches English and serves as an Assistant Coach for the Model UN and Highlander-X co-curricular programs. Kertis holds a bachelor’s degree in literature and creative writing from Bard College and an MFA in fiction writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She brings to Gunn more than a decade of experience as a writing coach and teacher at the high school and college levels, and previously taught English and served as English Department Chair at Forman School. A published author and co-founder of the Moby Dick Marathon in New York City, she received a Pushcart Prize in 2021.

COLIN RILEY ’16 is a member of the History Department faculty and an Assistant Coach for Gunn Rowing. A Connecticut native and Gunn alumnus, Riley graduated with a degree in history from Roger Williams University, where he was a residential assistant and member of the club rowing team. Prior to joining Gunn, he taught history and psychology at Saddle River Day School in New Jersey, and taught at Berwick Academy in Maine.

EMMANUEL MAKELELE has joined the Science Department as a STEM teacher. He teaches physics, math, and engineering and is an Assistant Coach for Girls JV Soccer and Boys JV Basketball. Raised in Zambia, Makelele is a graduate of Kenyon College, where he majored in physics with a math minor, and was a sprinter and two-time All-NCAC honoree in Men’s Track and Field.

JULIANNE MORIN is the Head of Learning Support in the Center for Academic Excellence. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker with extensive experience, her passion lies in helping students to discover their strengths, to develop strategies that work, and to build the confidence to navigate challenges in and out of the classroom. Morin previously served as Coordinator of Student Services for the Region 14 School District in Litchfield County, Connecticut. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Mercy University, a master’s in social work from Fordham University, and a certificate in school leadership from Sacred Heart University.

ABBY WEISS is a member of the English Department faculty and an Assistant Coach for Girls Varsity Hockey and Girls JV Lacrosse. Raised in Lexington, Massachusetts, she is a graduate of Hamilton College, where she majored in psychology and minored in literature and public policy. At Hamilton, Weiss helped to lead the Women’s Ice Hockey Team to two NCAA appearances (including a final four) and served as a team captain.

New Leadership Roles

Assistant Head of School for Student Life and Wellness

ASHLEY LEBLANC , who had served as Dean of Students since 2020, was named Assistant Head of School for Student Life and Wellness effective July 1. In her new role, LeBlanc provides leadership over all aspects of the school’s Student Life programs as well as the Health Center. She reports directly to Head of School Emily Raudenbush Gum and serves as a member of the Senior Team. She is continuing in her roles as Head Coach for Varsity Field Hockey and as an advisor.

“Student life is an area in which small boarding schools excel by design. Our students are already thriving, and with Ashley’s leadership in this new role, Gunn will build on its position as a leader in terms of offering an integrated approach to ensure that our students continue thriving in all aspects of their experience here,” Raudenbush Gum said.

Building on her accomplishments as Dean of Students, LeBlanc is continuing to support and promote the school’s residential life culture, and continues to strengthen the sense of community on campus. Student health and wellness has always been a priority at Gunn, and in her new role, LeBlanc is continuing to support students holistically as they navigate their young adult years.

“We’ve worked very hard to ensure that students are being supported to find success and to be their best selves in ways that are attentive and thoughtful. We are always thinking about how to help students to meet their next challenge and grow, and as a community of faculty, we approach the progress of each student with a growth mindset,” LeBlanc said. “There is a large focus this year within our Residential Life program toward thinking about the culture, the community, and the student experience.”

New Dean of Students

AMY PAULEKAS began her 15th year at Gunn as the new Dean of Students. Paulekas brings to this role more than a decade of experience in the Academic Office, having previously served as Assistant Academic Dean and Director of Studies. A member of the Mathematics Department faculty since 2011, she continues to teach calculus and serves as Assistant Coach for Varsity Field Hockey and as an Administrator of the Day.

The Dean of Students has an opportunity to guide the unique and positive student and faculty culture at Gunn. As the most frequent initial point of contact for students, parents, and faculty, the Dean of Students plays a critical role in establishing the trust and tone for collaborative, cooperative, and productive discourse, and champions student success. The school’s belief in every student’s potential in times of greatness and during moments of vulnerability is rooted in its educational philosophy, and the example set by Frederick and Abigail Gunn.

“So much of what what we believe in as a school is utilizing those opportunities to help students learn and grow. We are a school that says, ‘We want you to lean into this moment of discomfort, but also, to figure out what you can learn from it,’” Paulekas said. “I look at what we put into our advising program, and our focus on helping students to identify and engage with trusted adults, and recognize that a lot of our students build connections that impact them beyond the four years they are here. It’s a special thing that we have here.”

THE NEXT GENERATION OF ENTREPRENEURS

is fall, Gunn welcomed Eric Scheidt as its new Director of Entrepreneurship.

Beyond the 15 years he spent working on Wall Street, Scheidt brings start-up savvy to the classroom, along with his extensive network of business leaders and executives, and his experience as a teacher and coach at Rumsey Hall School.

A former DI athlete for the Duke University Blue Devils, Scheidt hit the ground running at Gunn this fall, expanding both the faculty and o erings in the Center for Entrepreneurship.

Engaging the Local Community

Working in partnership with Bart McMann, Dean of Innovation and Director of the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy, Scheidt tapped into his network connections to bring nine guest speakers to Gunn by early December. Representing a range of fields, from entertainment and finance, to medicine and law, they brought realworld experience to a combined audience of students from Gunn’s entrepreneurship, economics, and civic journalism courses. e impressive lineup included:

• Allen Kovac, founder of Better Noise Music

• Stu Hawley, Managing Director, Saugatuck Capital Company

• Shervin Kamkar, former Vice President of Business Development, Kura Biotech

• Braden Ne , Vice President, Goldman Sachs

• Brendan Quinn, Senior Writer for e Athletic

• Tim Mandelbaum, intellectual property and entertainment attorney, Fox Rothschild

• Max Freeman ’13, Vice President of Sales, Ramp

• Glenn Hinderstein, Leading Edge Aviation Solutions

• Andrew Bazos, M.D., founder and managing director, Crowd Rx

“ ere are a lot of opportunities here for us to engage a vibrant, incredible, local community,” said Scheidt, who is clearly delighted to collaborate and to invite members of the broader community to speak in e Lizzie & Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation & Active Citizenship. “I’d like to show people this amazing space and share with people all of the great things that are going on at e Frederick Gunn School.”

The Power of Storytelling

Guest speakers o en harness the power of storytelling to teach. For example, Ne , who is now retired, spoke about the importance of networking, which helped him to make the leap from a job at a commercial bank in Delaware to Goldman Sachs in New York. To illustrate this, he used a huge ball of string. “He asked the students, ‘Who likes pizza?’ And he ran the string over to them. en it was, ‘Who else likes pizza?’

Another student raised their hand. e string went from this student to that student, and it made a web in the classroom,” Scheidt said.

In addition to helping bring a point home for students, Scheidt views storytelling as a valuable lesson for another reason. “ at’s one of the so skills that I really want the students to learn. You want to pitch a business? You need to be able to tell a good story. You need your 30-second elevator pitch. You’ve got to be able to convince people that your business is worthwhile,” he said.

Distinguished Teachers in Residence

Scheidt said, noting that his discussions with Booth, before the Fall Term even began, helped him to restructure the curriculum so students learn about entrepreneurship as a mindset and a skillset.

Skills to Help Students Stand Out

“In the fall, we’re focusing on a lot of the so skills that will help them in their careers, whatever it is they choose to do,” he said. “ e Winter Term is more about the nuts and bolts of running a business. It’s the mechanics of idea generation for a new business, proof of concept of a new product, how to finance this are you bootstrapping it? Are you taking in investors? What are the pros and cons of both?”

His hope is that some of the skills students learn in entrepreneurship will help them to stand out in the job market.

You want to pitch a business? You need to be able to tell a good story.”

— ERIC SCHEIDT, DIRECTOR OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

On the teaching side, Scheidt is joined by Arne Rees, a founding partner of Velocity Capital Management who has been a member of the Gunn faculty since 2023. Kovac, who was a guest teacher last winter, returned this fall in a new role:

Distinguished Entrepreneur in Residence. A music industry executive, manager, and producer, Kovac has worked with artists including Blondie, e Cranberries, and Mötley Crue, and is teaching Highlanders about music, media, and marketing.

In addition, Scheidt has introduced Mark Booth, a veteran media and aviation industry executive, as the Distinguished Industry Leader in Residence. Booth was the founding CEO of MTV Europe and founding CEO of Foxtel in Australia. As CEO of BSkyB, he is widely credited with leading the successful launch of Sky Digital in the UK. He was general partner at ePartners, a venture capital firm, and served as Chairman and CEO of NetJets Europe.

“In his role at Gunn, Mark will share his experience and provide mentorship, helping to provide real-world knowledge to our students as they prepare to become the next generation of entrepreneurial innovators,”

“I don’t know what the future will bring, but early indications show that entry-level positions may be greatly impacted or even replaced by AI. I think a focus for our program is: what di erentiates employees? at’s everything from being able to interact with AI and asking it proper prompts, to being collaborative with a group, to being fun at a dinner party, to asking great questions. ose are some of the great things that AI doesn’t seem to be able to do. It’s also teaching the value of hard work, and how they are going to set themselves apart from others.”

Allen Kovac, Distinguished Entrepreneur in Residence (at the podium), in Entrepreneurship Seminar this fall.

FALL 2025 In Football, a Historic New England Championship Win

UNN DEFEATED Wilbraham & Monson Academy

G48-29 to win the 2025 NEPSAC Eight-Person Football League Championship on November 16, 2025. It was the first New England football championship game played in nearly a decade.

The Highlanders were the #2 seed and hosted the #3 seed Titans at home on Barnes Field on a brisk fall afternoon while students and families cheered from the sidelines.

“Our guys played really hard throughout the season, with the goal of achieving success and improving every game,” said Zach Mihaly, Head Coach for Varsity Football and Director of Campus Safety. Although the Highlanders fell to Holderness School 32-22 in their season opener, that only deepened the team’s resolve to win — which they did, for the six remaining games in the season.

“The school spirit on this campus right now is huge, and you’re seeing the support collectively for all of our sports teams. It’s really cool to see it and that is part of the culture of not just our program, but the entire school. I look forward to seeing how it grows from here,” Mihaly said.

He and tri-captains Nathan Marshall ’26, Jack Fonte ’26, and Evan Bailey ’26, presented the championship trophy to Colleen Fink, Athletic Director and Dean of Co-curricular Activities, at School Meeting on November 17.

The decision to add a championship game for the first time since 2016 was made by the coaches in the Eight-Person Football League and approved by the athletic directors of each school. In addition to Gunn, they include: Albany Academy, Forman School, Harvey, Hebron Academy, Holderness, Millbrook, Pomfret, and Wilbraham & Monson.

PHOTO BY PHIL DUTTON ’81 P’23

GUNN FIELD HOCKEY ADVANCES TO CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINAL

GUNN VARSITY FIELD HOCKEY won the 2025 NEPSAC Girls Field Hockey Championship

Quarterfinal on November 12, beating Pomfret School 3-1 on Barnes Field. This was the fifth consecutive year that Gunn earned a playoff berth.

Goals were scored by Izzy Blake ’26 and Maddie Caramante ’29 (who scored twice). The #3 seed, Gunn advanced to the New England Championship Semifinals, taking on the #2 seed, King School, on their home turf in Stamford on November 15. Although Gunn did not earn a spot in the final (top seed New Hampton School rallied past King 2-1 to win the Class C title), the Highlanders played fiercely — in the semifinal and throughout the season.

“We made it our goal to make the New England

tournament very early on in this season,” said Ashley LeBlanc, Head Coach for Varsity Field Hockey and Assistant Head of School for Student Life and Wellness. The team finished the regular season strong. The Highlanders’ record for their last 12 games was 10-1-1 and they outscored their opponents 43-10. For the fifth consecutive year, the Highlanders also beat Canterbury on Canterbury Day, winning 3-0 this year on the Saints’ home turf.

“The consistency of our program over these last five years is something we are proud of,” LeBlanc said. “Four years ago we were the underdogs, and we’re not necessarily the underdogs anymore. That changes how you prepare for a season, and how you prepare for your opponents. This team has been committed to success from day one.”

FALL 2025 Highlanders Awarded Fall Athletic Honors

Gunn is proud to celebrate these 21 Highlanders, who earned special recognition from the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) and the Connecticut Soccer Coaches Association (CSCA) for their outstanding performance on the field this fall.

CSCA All-State Team

Alex Hufferdine ’27

Boys Varsity Soccer

David Low ’26

Boys Varsity Soccer

All-NEPSAC Awards

Carly Mario ’28

Varsity Volleyball

Evan Bailey ’26

Varsity Football

Nathan Marshall ’26

Varsity Football

Abdul Meite ’26

Varsity Football

Ethan Meyer ’27

Varsity Football

Izzy Blake ’26

Varsity Field Hockey

Cassy Cotton ’27

Varsity Field Hockey

All-NEPSAC Honorable Mention Awards

Audrey Wang ’29

Varsity Volleyball

Ezra Borstein ’28

Varsity Football

Jack Fonte ’26

Varsity Football

Dylan Greiner ’26

Varsity Football

Brennan Protosow ’27

Varsity Football

Ashley Edmonds ’26

Varsity Field Hockey

Ella Jumps ’27

Varsity Field Hockey

Alex Karsch ’26

Boys Varsity Soccer

Abby Gleason ’26

Girls Varsity Soccer

Blake Baumgartner ’26

Varsity Cross Country

Zhanibek Bekov ’26

Varsity Cross Country

Tommy Hagymasi ’28

Varsity Cross Country

VARSITY FOOTBALL

Cassy Cotton ’27

David Low ’26

Ella Jumps ’27

PHOTOS BY LINCOLN TURNER

Alex Hufferdine ’27

Izzy Blake ’26

Ashley Edmonds ’26

2025 PLAYER OF THE YEAR

ABDUL MEITE ’26 was named the NEPSAC Eight-Person Football League’s 2025 Player of the Year. Miete excelled at playing both running back and linebacker for Gunn, gaining 1,042 rushing yards, scoring 13 rushing touchdowns, and amassing 96 carries this past season. His nomination was submitted by Zach Mihaly, Head Coach for Varsity Football, and voted on by all of the coaches in the league.

“There isn’t a player in the league more deserving of this achievement than Abdul,” Mihaly said. “His work ethic earned him the trust of his teammates, which established him as one of our top leaders. His strength, speed, relentless determination, and unselfishness rallied the rest of the team to play hard by his side. His heart and leadership is what ultimately earned him the honor of being named Player of the Year.”

Nathan Marshall ’26

Abdul Meite ’26

Ethan Meyer ’27

Carly Mario ’28

Ezra Borstein ’28

Audrey Wang ’29

Tommy Hagymasi ’28

Zhanibek Bekov ’26

Blake Baumgartner ’26

Evan Bailey ’26

Abby Gleason ’26

Alex Karsch ’26

PHOTO BY PHIL DUTTON '81 P'23

Jack Fonte ’26

Brennan Protosow ’27

Dylan Greiner ’26

Colleen Fink Defining a Standard of Excellence

Since becoming Athletic Director and Dean of Co-curricular Activities on July 1, Colleen Quinn Fink has brought an energized and disciplined approach to Gunn’s athletic and co-curricular programs. She secured new uniforms for teams, improved the live stream in Linen Rink, renovated practice and fitness spaces, and incorporated the school’s new tartan and mascot into our facilities, so anyone entering the rink or the Ogden D. Miller Memorial Athletic Center knows this is the home of the Highlanders

Her leadership, coaching, and operational experience is vast. For the past 15 years, Fink served as Head Field Hockey Coach at the University of Pennsylvania, where she recruited 43 AllIvy League players, two Ivy League Rookies of the Year, and 14 Academic All-Ivy players. Under her leadership, Penn Field Hockey finished in the top half of the Ivy League standings in 10 of her final 12 seasons, representing a strong rebuild of the program.

Beyond the accomplishments of the individual athletes she coached, Fink contributed to the fundraising of $2 million for capital projects at Penn, and led annual e orts to raise $150,000 for the field hockey program. For 25 years, she also led CQ Sports, an organization committed to the development of student-athletes with a specific focus on those looking to play at the collegiate level.

BY

PHOTO

KRISTIN MOORE

Born and raised in suburban Philadelphia, Fink graduated from St. Joseph’s University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and played DI Field Hockey. She coached at the high-school and college levels before leading the field hockey program at Haverford College to its first-ever Centennial Conference playoff win as Head Coach.

On game days at Gunn, you can find Fink on the sidelines, cheering alongside students and our mascot, Scottie. She scored in the faculty shootout challenge at Play4theCure and was front and center for our mascot reveal. In December, she introduced a new tradition, Winter Madness, inspired by collegiate Midnight Madness events. We spoke with her this fall about how she is taking school spirit at Gunn to the next level and inspiring Highlanders to be at their best, as athletes and fans.

YOU HAVE SAID THAT YOU WANT TO BRING A STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE TO EVERYTHING THAT WE DO. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?

I think that Gunn Athletics should be a point of pride for the whole school, but it’s about more than winning and results. What I mean by excellence is an incredible experience for our students that’s positive and pushes them, challenges them, and prepares them for future challenges. Athletics is an area of growth for a lot of our students, whether they are high performing athletes or beginners. There’s a quote out there: “How you do one thing is how you do everything.” That is the brand I’m trying to create here. The way you’re going to play on the JV or thirds basketball team is the way you’re going to show up for your friends, your family, academics, and in the next phase of your life. We’re teaching students how to nurture who they want to be in the future by showing up for sports. That becomes the point of pride, and then you are growing the varsity-level programs to have high-performing athletes, to have high levels of achievement, to attract future high-performing athletes. That does go hand-and-hand with this goal. And yes, at the varsity level, I want to win, and I want to be competitive.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO CREATE LASTING MEMORIES FOR OUR STUDENTS THROUGH OUR ATHLETIC PROGRAM?

Looking at my own athletic journey, during my childhood and adolescence, and high school and college time, a lot of my core memories are from sport. I remember running cross country in the Junior Olympics and hearing the Jamaicans who wore bells on their shoelaces to let us know they were coming for us. I remember road trips with my Penn team when we watched the Phillies game and belted out “Dancing on My Own,” on the bus because the Phillies won. When Haverford won their first-ever playoff game and I was their coach, it was an amazing win, and you would have thought that we had just won the national championship. I think that’s compelling on

an individual level, but I also think that’s what brings people back. That’s what gives people a sense of pride. It’s what forges relationships and makes people want to give back to a school. This community can foster those kinds of memories and moments and that is necessary to the success of our athletic program.

HOW ARE YOU USING THE FREDERICK GUNN SCHOOL TARTAN AND OUR MASCOT

TO FOSTER SCHOOL SPIRIT?

The tartan is really cool in terms of having it be a backdrop for our branding and our media. There’s an opportunity to incorporate it into our uniforms. We already have tartan as part of our practice pinneys. As far as the mascot, there is this viral video of Penn State Football in a team meeting, and the Penn State coach brings in the marching band and the baton twirlers, and the team is kind of like, ‘What is going on?’ Suddenly, the guys and the coach are on their feet and they’re singing and dancing. There’s this amazing energy. That was the vision that inspired our mascot reveal. I worked with Ron Castonguay P’29 [Director of the Arts and Music Director] to have a live band on stage and we put cow bells and pom poms under all the seats in the Tisch Family Auditorium. The room erupted, and the mascot was revealed, and we announced that the winning name was “Scottie.” We also announced the process for students to become the mascot, which is another representation of athletics as a point of pride for the school. It’s a privilege to represent the school at sporting events, revisit days, and admissions events.

Q: WHAT IS THE FERD?

A: In conversations with our students, I learned that they were craving an organized way to support our sports teams. So we decided to come up with a school spirit group to create environments at games that are fun, exciting, compelling and represent the school. Members of The Ferd announce the Highlander of the Week at School Meeting. They determine the Games of the Week. We have a Ferd Bin that has cowbells, pom poms, wigs, boas, face paint, horns, and a branded megaphone. Sports are serious. Obviously, I’ve dedicated 25 years of my life to the seriousness of sports and running programs the right way — being professional, prepared, and understanding technical and tactical skills. Sports are also supposed to be fun. They’re supposed to be enjoyable both for the people out on the field and for the people in the stands. That is what I’m trying to express through The Ferd. I want our students to know how to cheer with positivity, to be silly and clever. I want them to be at our games and have fun with their friends. In Philadelphia, the fans are fun. I think there have to be boundaries, of course, but as long as our students are making it about Gunn, they are on-brand for me.

A Winning Combination

is fall, our community welcomed two new varsity coaches, who bring to their teams and the school a wealth of knowledge and high-level experience.

A FOCUS ON ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT AND COLLEGE PLACEMENT

Antony Howard is the Head Coach for Boys Varsity Soccer and Associate Director of College Counseling. Howard’s dual roles allow him to work with student-athletes on both athletic development and college placement.

“I am thrilled to step into this new chapter at e Frederick Gunn School, where I get to help students chase their dreams both in the classroom and on the field,” he said this fall.

Howard played soccer professionally for AFC Wimbledon from 1999-2006 and came up through the Fulham Academy system, graduating from the University of Greenwich, London, with a major in sports studies. Prior to joining Gunn, he served as Director of Coaching at Club AC Connecticut, where he launched the club's inaugural USL Academy team, serving as both USL Academy Head Coach and First-Team Assistant Coach. As an assistant coach at the University of Bridgeport, he was heavily involved in guiding athletes and their families in the college recruiting process. He has been

successful in helping student-athletes to think about their future in terms of academics as well as athletics, and he is doing the same at Gunn, whether he is advising Highlanders on how to promote their accomplishments, encouraging them to stay positive through the college process, or helping them to pivot quickly to find the school that is the right fit for them.

“His experience at the premier level of the USL speaks volumes about his commitment to excellence and player development,” said Colleen Fink, Athletic Director and Dean of Co-curricular Activities. “He played a pivotal role in building AC Connecticut, establishing a culture of excellence through clear tactical vision, elite-level player development, and a strategic approach to recruitment. ese skills make him an ideal leader for the next chapter of our boys soccer program, and an agile member of the College Counseling team.”

A PHILOSOPHY TOWARD

COHESIVENESS AND CAMARADERIE

Noah Martinez is the David N. Hoadley ’51 Head Baseball Coach and joined the Admissions O ce this fall as Admissions Associate while serving as Athletics Operations Coordinator. Martinez brings professional baseball experience and a boarding school background to his triple-

threat roles at Gunn. He played first base for the Oakland Ballers, and led the MLB partner league team in homeruns, RBIs, and OPS. During the Baller’s inaugural season, he played under Micah Franklin, Aaron Miles (a 2006 World Series champion), and J.T. Snow (a World Series runner-up). Martinez is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where he played and started in 55 games for the Panthers while earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He spent three seasons on the roster of the DI Men’s Baseball Team at Central Connecticut State University, earning First Team All-Northeast Conference honors.

Martinez completed a post-graduate year at Hotchkiss School, where he earned all-region honors playing for the Bearcats prior to being recruited to West Point to play baseball. A baseball trainer and professional baseball development coach, his philosophy centers around cohesiveness and camaraderie. rough his work in the Admissions O ce, he is seeking to bring students to Gunn who will enhance the baseball program and the school.

“At Gunn, we look for students who are multidimensional,” he said. “ ey are risk-takers, and they have many talents and interests. at’s what we embody as a school.”

PHOTO

Antony Howard and Noah Martinez

SPRING 2025 All-American and All-league Honors

Congratulations to these Highlanders, who earned 2025 All-league and All-American Honors in their respective sports in the spring season. All-NEPSAC awards signify elite recognition among New England prep school athletes who excel in their respective sports and divisions. All-American honors are awarded to the best players within their respective area of the country who also embody excellent sportsmanship.

USA Lacrosse 2025 High

School Boys All-American

Owen Laatsch ’25

Boys Varsity Lacrosse

All-NEPSAC

Maya Edwards ’26

Girls Varsity Lacrosse

Beau Fairbanks ’25

Boys Varsity Lacrosse

James Timmins ’25

Boys Varsity Lacrosse

All-NEPSAC Honorable Mention

Will Bartoli ’25

Varsity Baseball

Mia Merrill ’25

Girls Varsity Lacrosse

Bentley Roster ’26

Boys Varsity Lacrosse

Logan Valeiko ’26

Boys Varsity Lacrosse

Beau Fairbanks ’25

Owen Laatsch ’25

Maya Edwards ’26

James Timmins ’25

Will Bartoli ’25

Mia Merrill ’25

Bentley Roster ’26

Logan Valeiko ’26

MUSIC SCENE Gunn’s Guitar Resurgence

IF YOU HAD MADE your way to the lower level of the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center on a Tuesday evening in November, you might have caught students in Rock Band running through Blondie’s catchy, 1979 punk-rock hit, “One Way or Another.”

While a performance date was still months away, Poppy Mand ’25 seemed to have already mastered Deborah Harry’s “getcha getcha” lyrics, backed by her bandmates on drums, keyboard, and guitar. Impressively, the school boasts two Rock Bands this year, and a total of 15 students have signed up to play guitar in Gunn’s curricular and co-curricular spaces. Jazz Band class, whose members perform at the annual holiday and spring concerts, boasts five student guitarists (there were none last year), while the number of Highlanders enrolled in private guitar and bass lessons jumped from one to 11. Rock Band, which is a club, has 25 members, up from eight last year.

This increase in interest tracks with what has been playing out nationally over the past several years. In 2020, a New York Times headline proclaimed, “Guitars Are Back, Baby!”

The article credited pandemic lockdowns, the accessibility of thousands of how-to videos on YouTube, and apps like FenderPlay with the resurgence in popularity. The enduring influence of artists from Taylor Swift to Nirvana is also undeniable, and anecdotal evidence points to a continuation of the trend.

“I think music is an art form that allows students to express themselves outside of academics and athletics. It gives them an opportunity to collaborate,” said Ron Castonguay P’27, Director of the Arts and Music Director. "Music is not a solo sport. You can play acoustic guitar and sing, but how much more fun is it to play as a group? With the rebirth of our Rock Band program here, in combination with Jazz Band, I don’t know if it was just the stars aligning, but guitarists started signing up. ”

Part of the allure may be the guitar wall that Castonguay was inspired to create last year. It features rows of electric and acoustic guitars displayed in the practice room that now serves as Rock Band’s rehearsal space. At the time, he viewed it as a way to encourage students of any age or ability to come in, grab a guitar off the wall, and just enjoy playing it.

“I think people thought I was crazy,” Castonguay said, laughing as he spoke about his “if you build it, they will come” approach to the guitar wall. But over time, his vision came to life and he now sees students following a natural progression from taking guitar lessons, to joining Rock Band, to stepping up to Jazz Band, which is by far the most challenging, and potentially, the most rewarding.

“The chord structures are more difficult in your left hand, and the rhythms are more difficult. It’s more complex music. But we play everything from swing to funk to rock to blues. So as a musician, you become more versatile,” Castonguay said, adding: “If you can play jazz guitar, you can play anything on guitar.”

In November, Adjunct Music Teacher Adam Eytan was helping students in Rock Band to prepare for their first concert in February, which will include songs by Maroon 5, the Goo Goo Dolls, Billy Eilish, Tame Impala, The Strokes, Blondie, and 90s alternative rock band Veruca Salt. Since it is a club, not a class, students are not graded. However, they are still required to make a commitment to show up to rehearsals every week during evening Arts Block. “They still have to practice but they have a great attitude because they really want to be in Rock Band, and they dedicate their free time to doing it,” he said.

Eytan’s students range from beginners to guitarists who have been playing for years. One of them, Amelia Reighard ’29, took her first lessons around age three. Her parents wanted her to engage in music education, specifically through the Suzuki Method, which is believed to enhance cognitive abilities related to memory skills, language development, and attention span.

“I’ve been playing guitar for 10 years,” said Reighard, who is a member of Jazz Band and Rock Band. “I kept going because I enjoyed it. It’s really cool. When people think of a rock band, they think of someone shredding a guitar. But I also love it because I can get so invested in it that I can spend over an hour playing it, and I will have no idea where the time went. It’s also a form of expression. There are so many genres. I play classical, I play rock, I play jazz. You can do so much with a guitar. You can play solo, you can accompany someone, you can make sound effects with a guitar. I love it so much.”

When she arrived on campus as a first-year student this fall, Reighard was pleased to learn that, like her last school, Gunn

had a large number of student guitarists. Asked why she thinks so many of her peers are interested in playing, she said: “At the very start, they want to play guitar because it’s cool. You can bring a guitar to a campout. It is a flexible instrument, and it’s accessible to everyone. When you see music videos, it seems like guitar is the easiest and the quickest to learn. That’s a big factor.”

As a teacher, Eytan emphasized that all of his students learn to play guitar “the right way,” by reading sheet music he charts

If you can play jazz guitar, you can play anything on guitar."

— Ron Castonguay P'27, Director of the Arts and Music Director

(or transcribes) for them, rather than using tabs, playing by ear, or mimicking the chords they see someone else play. This approach is comparable to the way Castonguay teaches all of Gunn’s music ensembles in his classes. It also gives his students who are in Jazz Band, like Reighard, an edge.

“You have to master the rhythm, the chords, sight reading, reading ahead, and following along with the music,” Reighard said, adding, “Mr. Eytan can just look at a piece of music and immediately know how to play that chord. That’s part of the reason I want to keep going. I want to become as good as he is — or at least try.”

Left to Right: Students in Rock Band rehearsing; Amelia Reighard '29 practicing a song; a view of the guitar wall in TPACC.

GUNN THEATRE 18 Halo Nominations

THE GUNN THEATRE PROGRAM received a 18 Halo Award nominations — a new school record — for Kate Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice and Mean Girls High School Version e nominations recognized 11 individual best performances and included a nod for Best Contemporary Musical for Mean Girls

At the awards ceremony, held May 28 at the historic Palace eatre in Waterbury, Highlanders scooped up an impressive five Halo Awards, including (clockwise from top le ):

Best Scenic Design and/or Execution:

Katherine Aguirre-Felipe ’26, Willa Regan ’27, Aryel Sealey ’25, Becca Miller ’26, Dean Sevin ’28, Charlotte Friedman ’27, and Kaidence Wright ’27 for Pride and Prejudice

Best Performance by a Couple or Dynamic Duo in a Play:

Aniah Sam ’27 and Poppy Mand ’27 as Charlotte Lucas and Lizzy Bennet in Pride and Prejudice

2025 Up & Coming Award:

Cam Naik ’28

Best Performance in a Featured Female Role in a Musical: Shannon McCormack ’25 as Regina George in Mean Girls

Best Performance in a Supporting Female Role in a Play:

Taylor Sall ’25 as Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice

A Story of Self-Discovery

IN NOVEMBER, GUNN THEATRE presented Peter and the Starcatcher, a prequel to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.

“Set in a fantastical world, Peter and the Starcatcher reminds us that home can be found in the most unexpected places and often in the bonds we create with others,” said Kent Burnham P’29, Director of Theatre Arts. “The story of self-discovery, of growing up, is a story we all share, and if we are lucky, we learn what that means in relation to others. Like Peter in Peter and the Starcatcher, the journey we follow is often a story of adventure and learning to believe in oneself.”

VISUAL ARTS Six Scholastic Art Awards

FOUR STUDENT-ARTISTS WERE selected to participate in the 2026 Connecticut Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition at the University of Hartford in January. Together they brought home a total of six awards.

Melissa Kang ’27 received a Gold Key Award in Drawing for “Absurd Yet Free Future,” and two Honorable Mention Awards in Drawing for “Towards Tomorrow” and “ e Game of Impermanence.”

Ahram Kim ’26 received a Silver Key award in Photography for “Chapel Light.” Cathy Yang ’28 received a Silver Key Award in Ceramics for “ e Flawless Ancient-Style Wine Pot.” Meadow Drakeley ’26 received an Honorable Mention Award for her acrylic painting, titled “United in Color.” e Connecticut Scholastic Art Awards program recognizes the best artwork from Connecticut students. Each year, work is selected based on merit for inclusion in the statewide exhibition by a panel of professional artists and university art faculty in 18 categories.

A CELEBRATION OF YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHERS

ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS BY FOUR STUDENTS by four students were selected for the 15th annual Celebration of Young Photographers, sponsored by the Washington-based nonprofit ASAP! The photographs by Charlie Hutchison ̕29, Zhanibek Bekov ̕26, Alex Saga ̕27, and Jenny Wang ̕27 were included in a juried exhibition in November in the University of Hartford’s Donald and Linda Silpe Gallery. Each year, students in grades 6-12 from across the state are invited to submit photographs for this exhibit. The top 60 photographs are selected by a panel of professional photographers. The theme of this year’s event was “Transformation.”

“Permanence,”by Zhanibek Bekov ̕26

Left: "Towards Tomorrow," a drawing by Melissa Kang '27

Right: "The Flawless Ancient Style Wine Pot," by Cathy Yang '28

e History of e PO

Owned by e Frederick Gunn School since 1949, “ e PO” has been a popular gathering spot for generations of Highlanders and Washington residents alike. e building’s role in the history of the school – and the town – extends back even further, as records show the post o ce has been operating on the Green for over 200 years!

Brinsmade Connections

e PO building is identified on an 1854 map of Washington simply as “Store,” but a list of Litchfield County Postmasters on file with the Connecticut General Assembly confirms the post o ce began operating on the Green on July 19, 1808. e fi h postmaster, serving from 1841-1845, was General Daniel B. Brinsmade, Abigail Gunn’s father, whose home was between the “Store” and where Conroy House is today. Importantly, Brinsmade gave Abigail and Frederick Gunn the farmhouse where they started the school in 1850 (visible on the map, lower right, as “FW Gunn Select School”).

e original building was taken down and the current building constructed on the same site (closer to Kirby Road)

THIS 1854 MAP OF WASHINGTON GREEN includes The PO, noted as "Store," opposite the First Congregational Church; the D.B. Brinsmade house, where Abigail spent her childhood, and the F.W. Gunn Select School; where Gunn House stands today.

A VIEW OF WASHINGTON GREEN , circa 1900 (left to right): 10 Kirby Road, Brownley, The PO, Woodruff House, and the First Congregational Church.

Photograph by Joseph West, Class of 1893.

THE ORIGINAL POST OFFICE BUILDING can be seen in this stereograph from the archives. Note the pillars in the front. The side-by-side images would appear three-dimensional if viewed through a device called a stereoscope.

around 1880 by George Brown, who was Abigail’s brother-inlaw, according to a typewritten account in the Paula and George Krimsky Archives and Special Collections. It is attributed to Ellsworth Fenn, Class of 1889. Brown married Abigail’s younger sister, Mary Maria Brinsmade, who was in the first graduating class at Mount Holyoke and opened a school, Judea Female Seminary, on the Green in 1848. She and her husband built a sprawling Victorian mansion called “Brownley,” which is no longer in existence, on the site of General Brinsmade’s home.

Fenn’s account states: “Mr. George Brown, when building Brownley, saw that the old post o ce, which stood on the circle and was a lovely building … was going to obstruct his view. erefore, he … built the present post o ce where it is now, and had the old post o ce taken down.” e National Register of Historic Places confirmed the current PO building dates to 1880.

The Drugstore and its Soda Fountain

e “store” became e Green Drug, Inc. in 1859, according to a postcard in the archives. As a drugstore, it had several di erent names through the years. It was known as Washington Pharmacy from 1916 to 1925 and sold stationery, candy, and “delicious soda water,” which would indicate the soda fountain was in operation at the time, according to ads published in the Stray Shot. Later, the drugstore became part of the national chain called Rexall, and in the 1970s it was e Green Drug Store.

e pharmacist from 1916 to 1936 was Robert J. Benham, whose former home, on the corner of Green Hill and Roxbury Road, is now a faculty residence called Benham House. Each year at Prize Night, the school presents the Robert J. Benham Award for E ective Public Speaking, which is named for him. According to the Gunn Memorial Library & Museum, Benham was a lifelong resident of Washington and served in the General Assembly. His great-grandson is a Gunn alumnus,

Robert J. Benham III ’68

Irving J. Von Gal P’59, a veteran of World War II, was also a pharmacist at e PO for decades. He worked under Benham and later became the proprietor, retiring in the 1970s, according to his daughter, Judith Highmark. “I spent many hours working behind that soda fountain,” she recalled.

“ e PO was like our general store. Butter, bread, milk, e s … plus prescriptions and OTC remedies … plus newspapers and ice cream sodas! And house charges. e good old days. And always Irving von Gal, and the post o ce next door,” Susan Eanes H’91 P’90 GP ’20 ’23 ’25 recalled.

In her book, Gunnery Stories, the late Paula Gibson Krimsky, who served as the school’s archivist and Director of Communications for two decades, captured the memories of two

students, including her father, who frequented e PO. “Henry Gibson ’32 used to recall his youth every so o en by sitting on the old turning stools and savoring a chocolate malt,” Krimsky said of her dad, noting that Trustee Emeritus David Hoadley ’51 also “told the story of many trips to e PO as a student … His standard order was a 10-cent Coke and a Frisbie Pie.”

The Gunnery … is deeply conscious of the fact that the property is in reality a trust to be preserved for the benefit of all present and future residents of Washington.”

– Head of School Ogden D. Miller, Sr. H’69 P’50 ’54 ’55 GP’84

A Gift from an Anonymous Donor

e school purchased e PO property in October 1949 through a gi from an anonymous donor to e Gunnery Centennial Fund, according to an announcement by thenHead of School Ogden D. Miller, Sr. H’69 P’50 ’54 ’55 GP’84 in the Bulletin. “ e Gunnery, in accepting the gi , is deeply conscious of the fact that the property is in reality a trust to be preserved for the benefit of all present and future residents of Washington,” Miller said.

AN AD FROM THE STRAY SHOT in 1925; and an apothecary bottle, which once held fennel oil, bearing a Benham label.

THE PO IN 1909 had two entrances and two commercial signs, similar to today.

PHOTO

Gunn’s Stewardship Continues

Subsequent to the purchase, the school leased the pharmacy for 20 years to C. Clayton Parks P’50 GP’85, who was at that time the proprietor of another drugstore in Washington Depot. According to Krimsky, proprietors in later years dispensed with the pharmacy but e PO continued to be known as a great meeting place with a “homey, small-town atmosphere.”

e school’s former food service provider, Aramark, took over operations in 2010, when the business was called e Cafe on the Green. A grand reopening in October 2020 brought the current iteration of e PO, through a partnership between the school and Frank and Ma ie Colangelo of New Preston.

It should be noted that in October

The Character of The Green

1979, the United States Post O ce sent a letter to customers, including e Gunnery, outlining a tentative plan to close the Post O ce on the Green and transfer operations to the Washington Depot Post O ce. e school's administrators objected, noting the change would result in the “possible closing of the drugstore … the only store within walking distance of the school.” e plan was ultimately defeated. us, the school’s stewardship of the property has continued.

e gi included funds to remodel the interior of the post o ce and drugstore, and to make exterior alterations that would “bring the property into greater harmony with … other buildings on the Green,” the Bulletin said.

Board President Henry B. Van Sinderen, Class of 1907, GP’62 confirmed the donor intended for the school to steward the property in perpetuity.

In a letter dated October 17, 1949, he wrote: “We understand that your willingness to make this gi to us is due in part to your wish that the present charming character of the Green at Washington should be maintained as long as possible for the benefit of the entire community and you feel that this can best be done if the School should own and manage this property.”

Van Sinderen further noted that, under the terms of the agreement, certain uses were strictly prohibited, including “manufacturing purposes, a restaurant serving liquor, a gas station or any business use which would be out of keeping with the character of the Green.”

STUDENTS AT THE SODA FOUNTAIN from The Gunnery catalog, 1943-1944

A WINDOW FROM THE INTERIOR OF THE POST OFFICE ; note the large wooden box, marked with the letter G, which once held Gunnery mail

THE PO IN 1950; an article published in the Bulletin that spring declared:

changes to the drugstore, post office and second-floor apartment have already been accomplished, and only final painting and landscaping of the front remain to be done.”

PHOTO (LEFT)

GUNN SCHOLARS Students of History

IN SEPTEMBER, FIVE NEW

Gunn Scholars began their yearlong, independent research projects in the Paula and George Krimsky ’60 Archives and Special Collections. The scholars will present their findings on April 18, 2026, at the annual Highlander Summit.

Historic Arts Spaces

Katherine Aguirre-Felipe ’26 is exploring the history of Gunn’s arts spaces and how arts offerings at the school have changed within those spaces. “I want to learn about all the buildings or other spaces the school has allocated to the pursuit of the arts (visual or performing), from their conception through construction, and the culture that developed around them,” she said.

Bourne’s Beginnings

Katie Corr ’26 is focusing on the history of one of Gunn's most notable buildings, Bourne Hall. “I have been examining primary source material detailing the changes that the building has undergone, from the time of its original owners, the Van Ingen family, in the 1920’s, and its sale from the Bourne family to The Gunnery in 1958, to the most recent renovations,” she said.

Healthcare and Policy

formal, structured institution while continuing the legacy of Frederick Gunn,” he said.

Angie Chase ’26 is evaluating the history of the infirmary and health policy in light of at least a dozen disease outbreaks that affected the school. “Between the construction of Van Sindren as the Infirmary in 1929, and the evolution of modern medicine, the small, once family-run school has come a long way in how healthcare is handled,” she said.

The Gibson Era

Zhanibek Bekov ’26 is centering his project on the changes brought by William Hamilton Gibson, Class of 1902, third Head of School. He has examined primary sources ranging from personal letters, to minutes from the Board of Directors, to school catalogs. “Gibson modernized the school into a more

Second World War

Michal Schroeder ’26 is researching the school’s history in the years leading up to and during U.S. participation in World War II. “I am focusing on the changes instituted in the school and student coverage of events related to the war. Most of this information I am finding through school publications like the Gunnery News and Stray Shot,” she said.

A generous gift from the Class of 1957 assures the annual publication of Gunn Scholar research, contributing to and enriching our knowledge about the school’s history. Scan this QR code to view the 2024-25 Gunn Scholar presentations at the Highlander Summit last April.

Above: Director of Library and Archives Moira Conlan P’26 (center) with the 2025-26 Gunn Scholars: Katherine Aguirre-Felipe ’26, Michal Schroeder ’26 Zhanibek Bekov ’26, Angie Chase ’26, and Katie Corr ’26

ALUMNI WEEKEND 2025

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE ALUMNI returned to Washington, Connecticut, from June 6-8, 2025, to celebrate Gunn’s 175th anniversary, reconnect with classmates and friends, and reminisce over the shared moments and memories that make our campus feel like home. Among the classes celebrating special reunion years were the Class of 2020, which returned for the first time in honor of their five-year reunion, the Class of 1975, marking their 50th reunion, and the Class of 1960, who reunited for their 65th!

Unofficial awards went to the Class of 1975 and the Class of 2020, who tied for having the largest number of alumni in attendance. The oldest alumnus in attendance was Former Trustee

Dwight D. Miller ’55. Kenny Walton ’75 was the alumnus who traveled the farthest distance, and one of three Highlanders who made the trip from California.

At the Annual Alumni Association Meeting, Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25, President of the Alumni Association Executive Committee, spoke about “Gunn Moments,” a phrase that has become an important part of the lexicon of current students.

“You might remember getting lost on School Walk, drinking root beer floats after Baccalaureate, or playing dorm softball after formal dinner, which was, in itself, an iconic Gunn Moment every night. Gunn Moments can be a big deal, like finding the Stray Shot, or winning an important game, but more often than not they are smaller, and involve other people,” Martin said.

“You have chosen to stay connected to this school, to a place that you called home for a few years during your adolescence. Why? I’d guess it is because of the relationships you made, and those moments, big and small. The connections we all made with peers and adults, and the learning that we did through these relationships, are what give us a common story.”

The 1850 Fund Awards

This year marked a record-breaking milestone in our school’s history. Through the generosity of alumni, parents, Trustees, faculty, students, and friends, The 1850 Fund soared to a new record, with $2,020,092 raised — an eight percent increase over the previous year.

Gifts to The 1850 Fund are an investment in the people, place and programs at the heart of this community, enhancing every aspect of the student experience at Gunn. Thank you to all who contributed for your generosity, your commitment, and your love for this community.

And a very special thank you to the following classes, who earned 1850 Fund Awards:

• The Kenneth J. Browne Class of 1911 Award for the Largest Class Gift: Class of 1960

• The Margaret P. Addicks H’02 Award for the Highest Participation, with a minimum of 20 members of the class: Class of 1957 and Class of 1959 (tied)

• The Susan G. Graham H’12 Award for the Young Alumni Class (up to 10 years out) With the Highest Class Participation: Class of 2023

• The W. Russ Elgin Award for the Young Alumni Class (up to 10 years out) With the Largest Class Gift: Class of 2015

PHOTOS

A New Reunion Record and Class of 2023 Recognition

The Class of 1960 set a new reunion record, with 16 alumni donors in honor of their 65th Reunion. During the Annual Alumni Association Meeting, the banner for the Class of 2023 was proudly displayed for having the highest number of donors to The 1850 Fund during the I ❤ Fred challenge in February 2025. Class Agents Luke Martin ’23 and Grace McManus ’23, both legacies, received a shoutout for rallying their classmates to give.

To view more photos from Alumni Weekend, scan this code.

2025 Hall of Fame

The Frederick Gunn School has graduated many talented, dedicated, and successful professionals, who have made significant contributions in their fields of study and to their communities. This year, two alumni were inducted into the Hall of Fame in recognition of their achievements and the inspiration they provide for current students and faculty, and fellow alumni.

A Lifelong Connection to Gunn

Dwight D. Miller ’55 was inducted into the Arts and Letters Hall of Fame. Miller arrived in Washington, Connecticut, on December 27, 1945, with his brothers, Ogden Miller Jr. ’50 P’84 and the late David P. Miller II ’54, and their parents, Anne S. and Ogden D. Miller H’69 P’50 ’54 ’55 GP’84, our sixth Head of School. That moment marked the beginning of a lifelong connection to the school and a town that Dwight would always consider “home.”

As a Gunn alumnus, Dwight has served as a Class Agent for 68 years, contributed generously to initiatives such as Beebe Boathouse, and established the Anne S. and Ogden D. Miller Senior Master position in honor of his parents. In 2005, he was named Alumnus of the Year.

Dwight graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in American Studies and served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps for three years. In 1967, he joined the Admissions Office at Harvard University, where he also earned a master’s degree in education in 1971. During his more than 50year career at Harvard, Dwight left an indelible mark on the institution and its students, becoming a leading advocate for educational access and equity, and championing the admission of the most talented students, regardless of their socioeconomic background. He mentored generations of alumni interviewers and established the Hiram Hunn Award to honor their volunteer service. This award was renamed the Miller-Hunn Award, in recognition of

Dwight’s extraordinary legacy, upon his retirement from Harvard in 2019. The James ’72 and Rita Cain Scholarship Fund at Harvard was also renamed in his honor, becoming The Dwight D. Miller Scholarship Fund. In 2022, Dwight was awarded the prestigious Harvard Medal, its highest honor for alumni service.

The Voice and Spirit Behind our Traditions

Former faculty member W. Russ Elgin, who passed away last year, was honored posthumously through his induction into the Athletic Hall of Fame. The award was accepted on his behalf by Charley Kellogg ’84 P’25, who was Russ’s advisee and has great memories of him as his cross country coach.

Russ arrived at The Gunnery in 1975, when he was hired by then-Headmaster Burgess Ayers to teach Spanish and coach cross country. Known affectionately to generations of Highlanders as “Señor Elgin,” he brought with him a deep passion for the Spanish language and culture and quickly became a fixture of academic and student life.

In 1985, while still early in his career, he was named Senior Master, a title he held with distinction until his retirement in 2014. He was the voice and spirit behind many of the school’s most cherished ceremonies, including Convocation and Commencement. His excellence as an educator was recognized with two of the school’s highest honors: The Tisch Family Chair for Excellence in Teaching, which he held from 1993-1996, and The Noto Family Chair for Dedicated Service, which he held from 2008-2011. His legacy lives on through the annual W. Russ Elgin Award for Excellence in Spanish, presented annually at Prize Night. Beyond the classroom, Russ was a house parent, coach, mentor, and Zamboni driver. He coached cross country, soccer, hockey, baseball, and golf, and inspired hundreds of Gunnery athletes to pursue their passions at the collegiate level and beyond, instilling in them the values of perseverance, sportsmanship, and integrity.

Above: Former Trustee Dwight D. Miller ’55 Right: Former faculty member and senior master W. Russ Elgin

Alumnus of the Year

The David N. Hoadley ’51 Alumnus of the Year Award was presented to Stephen Bond Garvan ’70 Steve is one of the school’s longest serving Class Agents. He has dedicated more than 30 years of consistent service and support to The 1850 Fund and hails from a deeply rooted Highlander family that includes his grandfather, Arthur C. Wheeler, Class of 1918, and father, J. Bond Garvan ’44

As a student at The Gunnery, Steve took to the outdoors while excelling in the classroom, developing special interests in English, Latin, and music. He played football, baseball, basketball, and tennis, and served as a Prefect in his senior year. After Gunn, he graduated from Clark University with dual degrees in history and sociology. Embracing the school’s motto, “A Good Student is Always Learning,” he completed graduate courses at Clark in subjects including business law, journalism, publishing, marketing, management, and fundraising, as

well as professional studies at Boston University and Stanford University.

In his career, Steve has pursued his lifelong interest in books and music, working for independent and chain bookstores, publishing and mass media communications firms, and he embodied Mr. Gunn’s entrepreneurial spirit by starting several small businesses. He has served on the boards of organizations dedicated to the arts, preservation, and the environment while continuing to support Gunn as a Class Agent, 1970s decades chair, and Reunion Chair for gatherings that have included the 50th Reunion of his class in 2020. He has remained a steadfast friend and unofficial liaison for Gunn alumni and Wykeham Rise alumnae. Steve has truly lived up to the school’s mission and has helped Mr. Gunn’s school to thrive through his advocacy, leadership, philanthropy, and overall support. Gunn is fortunate to call him an alumnus and proud to celebrate him with this award.

The David N. Hoadley ’51 Alumnus of the Year Award is given annually to the person who, in the opinion of the Alumni & 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. The award was renamed in 2021 to honor its inaugural recipient, Trustee Emeritus David Hoadley ’51, before he passed away. Notably, eight previous recipients of the award were present at Alumni Weekend this year: Chris Healy ’76, Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25, Former Trustee Dwight Miller ’55, Nick Molnar ’72, Trustee Sarah Scheel Cook ’82, Peter Bergen ’84, Trustee Tom King ’60, and Katie Lyons ’83

The 2025 Gunn Trailblazer Award

Established in 2024, this award is given annually to an alumnus or alumna who has graduated within the last 15 years, and who embodies Mr. Gunn’s mission to be a force for good in the world. The recipient will have demonstrated early success in a chosen profession, commitment in service to the school and the greater community, and exceptional promise for the future. The recipient of this year’s Gunn Trailblazer Award is Jessica L’Heureux ’10

From Head Prefect to Class Agent extraordinaire, Jess has distinguished herself through her service and dedication to the Gunn community. She excelled as a student, especially in the sciences, and as an athlete and performer during her time at the school. A Class Agent since 2018, she has attended regional and on-campus events, and even hosted a virtual cooking class for the Parents Weekend in 2020. She has led her class during reunions and is quick to encourage classmates to support The 1850 Fund. Behind the scenes, she is a quiet force, keeping her class connected and updated about the school today.

After graduating from Trinity College, Jess returned to Gunn to work in Academic Support and as a Theatrical Production Assistant before pursuing a career with Massachusetts Eye and Ear. Always a Highlander, she enjoys cooking, photography, yoga, pilates, live music and spending time outdoors. Her dedication to her class and continued support of the school as an alumna is truly inspiring.

ALUMNAE ENGAGING IN NEW WAYS

THIS SUMMER, e Frederick Gunn School welcomed back two alumnae, who are engaging with the school in new ways. A er serving as a Trustee for the past three years, Missy CuelloRemley ’87 has taken on a new role as Senior Director of Principal & Leadership Giving. Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25, whose Gunn roots run deep, and who has served for many years as President of the Alumni Association Executive Committee, is the new Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship.

Deeply Connected to Gunn

Cuello-Remley brings to Gunn over a decade of experience in development and fundraising. For the past four years, she served as Director of Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations for the New England Innovation Academy (NEIA), a boarding and day school for students in grades 6-12 that was founded in 2020 with leadership ties to MIT. From 2016-2021, Cuello-Remley served as Assistant Director of Development for the Goodnow Library Foundation in Sudbury, Massachusetts. A graduate of Trinity College, where she majored in mathematics and art history, Cuello-Remley received her JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law and earned an advanced legal degree from the University of Puerto Rico. A er passing both the New York State and Connecticut bar exams, she clerked for Justice Robert Berdon at the Connecticut Supreme Court, and served as a Clerk of the Court in Stamford. She went on to become the youngest attorney ever appointed as a public defender in the State of Connecticut. In her role as a Deputy Assistant Public Defender, she served as the state-appointed defense attorney for criminal and juvenile cases.

At Gunn, Cuello-Remley is overseeing the school’s leadership fundraising e orts, and fostering a culture of philanthropy that is inclusive, collaborative, and focused on transformational impact.

“ is is a unique opportunity to support a school I love. I feel deeply connected to Gunn, not only as an alumna but through my service on the Board, where I have had the chance to cultivate and steward relationships with students, families, alumni, and the incredible town of Washington,” she said this fall. “ ere is no better way to give back than by serving the school that helped shape me.”

A Wonderful, Full Circle

e daughter of former Head of School Michael Eanes H’90 P’90 GP ’20 ’23 ’25 and Susan Eanes H’91 P’90 GP ’20 ’23 ’25, Martin grew up on campus as a faculty child. A er graduating from Gunn, she earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Colby College and a master’s in mathematics education from Columbia University Teacher's College. She taught math at Blair Academy and at Gunn, and during her first seven years as a faculty member here also served as an Admissions Associate and Director of Financial Aid. She and her husband, English Department Chair Richard Martin P’20 ’23 ’25, ran a dorm — Gibson — and raised their three children, Isabel ’20, Luke ’23, and Amelia ’25, on campus. For the past 15 years, Martin served as Assistant Head for Enrollment at Washington Montessori School. In her current role, she is providing strategic leadership for a comprehensive program that includes stewardship, donor relations, and engagement.

“I think it’s super exciting to be part of this next chapter of the Gunn story,” Martin said. “My goals are to connect with and get to know as many of our supporters as possible. I’m interested in hearing their stories and learning how they want to engage with and stay connected to the school. Also, I want them to know that they are valued and important members of the Gunn community. I’m excited to be ‘an o cial’ part of this community. It feels like I’ve come home. It’s a wonderful, full circle.”

Missy Cuello-Remley ’87

Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25

WE HAD A GREAT TIME connecting at our Alumni & Friends of Gunn Gatherings this summer and fall. In August, Highlanders enjoyed the beautiful island setting at Behind The View in Edgartown. Chicago-area alumni and friends sipped cocktails

If you are interested in attending a Gunn gathering in your area, please email engagement@fredrickgunn.org. We’d love to hear from you!

A New Tradition: Alumni Pop-Up Events

and sampled small bites at The Chicago Club on October 22, while Boston-area Highlanders gathered at the 21st Amendment in Boston on October 29. Another gathering was held in late January at Star Bar in Park City, Utah!

CELEBRATING THE SEASON WITH GUNN

DECEMBER WAS A TIME of connection and celebration as alumni gathered for our annual holiday receptions from coast to coast. We were pleased so many alumni and friends could join us for an evening of laughter, reminiscing, and good cheer at the start of the holiday season, and we were excited to expand our gatherings to five cities this year!

From Washington, Connecticut, our Alumni & Development team hit the road, traveling to Washington, D.C., Boston, Massachusetts, West Palm, Florida, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, California. We hope you will join us at the next Highlander Gathering near you!

more photos of our Highlander Events, scan this code:

PHOTOS BY CHRIS FERENZI (WASHINGTON,

San Francisco

Boston

Washington, D.C.

Los Angeles

THE GAMECHANGERS

Gunn Alumni Team Up to Support Columbia Women’s Basketball

WHILE IT’S TRUE THAT you can find Gunn alumni around the world, it’s always fun to hear when Highlanders make connections in their communities. at was the case this fall, when Sean Hall ’22, a senior at Columbia University majoring in operations research with a concentration in analytics, discovered that he would be working with Kizmahr Grell ’05, the new Assistant Coach for Columbia Women’s Basketball.

Hall has been a member of the Columbia Women's Basketball data team for the past four years. e team consists of undergraduate and graduate students, who record and track statistics from each game, analyze the data, and report insights to the coaching sta . is season, Hall also joined Columbia’s Sports Performance Team.

“I help them analyze the performance testing machines that give us very detailed metrics about how well our athletes are performing,” Hall said, noting that this information helps to ensure team members are performing at their best and can also help to prevent injuries from occurring or reoccurring.

“ is is my first year of working with the sports science side of this, but I think it’s really rewarding,” Hall said. “Injuries are the worst part of sports, so it’s about making sure everyone can stay healthy on the court and be at their top level.”

Asked how he became aware that Grell had joined the Columbia Women's Basketball coaching sta , Hall said he made the connection through the Gunn alumni network on LinkedIn. “Coach Kiz came up as ‘a person you may know.’ I read his profile and it said, ‘You are both in e Frederick Gunn School alumni group,’” Hall said.

Grell played basketball, football, and baseball at Gunn, and remembers well his coaches, including Richard Martin P’20 ’23 ’25, Ed Small, the late Je Trundy, and the late Hugh Caldara. A er graduating from Gunn, Grell played basketball and earned a degree in English language and literature from Dickinson College, where he was a three-year captain, threetime team MVP, two-time First Team All-Conference selection, as well as the sixth-leading scorer in program history. Grell played basketball professionally from 2009-12 and from 2015-21 in the Netherlands, France, and Venezuela. During his time in Amsterdam, he competed in European Leagues in Greece, Spain, Germany, and Hungary.

Asked what motivated him to join the Columbia Lions last summer, Grell explained that he and Columbia Women’s Basketball Head Coach Megan Gri th first crossed paths 20 years ago. “It’s kind of come full circle because she also taught me a lot about the work that was required to be a really good

Sean Hall '22 and Kizmahr Grell '05 courtside in New York

collegiate basketball player. She was a Hall of Famer here at Columbia. She instilled in me when I was in college the worth ethic, the intentionality behind workouts that allowed me to develop as a player,” Grell said.

Fi een years later, Grell found himself in New York City, working as the athletic director of Dream Charter School. He had been a fan of the Columbia Women's Basketball program and watched Gri th turn it around a er she became Head Coach in 2015. en Grell started bringing high school and middle school students, who had aspirations to play basketball in college, from a women’s team that he was coaching to Gri th’s practices at Columbia.

“A lot of them communicated that they wanted to play Division I basketball. ey wanted to play at a high level. In the space that I was in, a lot of them were visual learners, so instead of hearing it from me everyday, she would allow me to bring my women’s basketball team to observe the practices. at was always a gamechanger, just in terms of them being able to see what a high-intensity practice looks like, what the communication at that level requires, the teamwork, the sacrifice, the hard work – all of those life skills that are translated through sport they were able to see first hand,” Grell said. “Selfishly, for me, too, it was an opportunity for me to learn and develop professionally as well, to see how I could best support the growth and development of our athletes.”

e more time he spent with the team at Columbia, the more he wanted to become involved. “Playing at Dickinson, and then having the incredible opportunity to play professionally abroad, there’s a level of competitiveness that you crave once it’s over. Being in that space, watching them prepare for a Harvard game or a Princeton game, really ignited that competitiveness,” Grell said.

He began working on player development with the Lions one-on-one, and then in small groups. When the Assistant Coach position opened up last summer, he said, “I had already developed some pretty strong relationships with the women’s basketball players. I threw my hat in the ring.”

Gri ths is the winningest coach in Columbia Women's Basketball history, having led the Lions to their first NCAA Division I Tournament win in 2025, their first NCAA Division I Tournament appearance in 2024, and three Ivy League Regular Season Championship wins in 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25.

“ is year's goal is no di erent,” Grell said in December. “We want to win the Ivy League outright, to win the Ivy League championship, and to make our way to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament. And those are baseline goals. Obviously, the goal is to win a national championship, but those are the goals that we have written on our vision board.”

As for how Grell and Hall work together to support the Columbia Women's Basketball program, it’s all about the analytics. “ ere are certain levels of competitiveness and a level of detail that’s required to be competitive. Every professional team that I’ve been on has had this element,” Grell said, acknowledging that the importance of data in athletics has only continued to grow. “We have so many resources, like di erent camera systems that allow programs and coaches to get a deeper look into what’s working, what’s not working, what are player tendencies, how e cient certain lineups are. e depth of information that you can get from the game, it’s a whole di erent world.”

“Just knowing at the end of the game, what’s the team’s tendency to run their baseline out of bounds or their sideline out of bounds? Who are they looking for? Are they defensive tipping?

Are they o ensive tipping? How are the lineups? From the free throw, are they boxing out baseline? You’re always trying to find little windows to be able to steal a point or two, because at the end of the game, that’s what it boils down to, the inches, the one or two points that you could have won that could be the deciding factor for a game. And for a team like ours that has goals and aspirations to be in the Sweet 16, it’s going to trickle down to the details,” Grell said. “You want as much information as you can get. An o ensive rebound can win a game for you because that’s another possession. at’s another opportunity for you to get an opportunity to score. We want as many of those as possible.”

Both Grell and Hall spoke about the sense of community at Gunn as something that helped prepare them for their current roles.

“Everybody felt like part of the community in some way, whether you were an athlete or not,” Grell said of his Gunn experience. “I remember going to the plays and the shows because your buddies were part of those activities. at family feel, that making sure you are creating safe spaces for everybody to feel included, is what resonates most. But also the rigor of e Gunnery, having to balance academics and athletics. at level of rigor and being held to a high bar and standard for yourself is what allowed me to be successful at Dickinson and throughout my time here.”

Hall agreed, noting that his lacrosse coaches, Mike March P’23 ’24 and Seth Low P’26 ’28, and cross country coaches, Ed Small and Morgen Fisher ’03 imparted lessons he has carried with him from Gunn through his time at Columbia. “It was really beneficial to play for many great coaches at Gunn, but also to just be involved in a great community where everyone supports each other,” he said.

In January, as the Bulletin was heading to press, Hall paid that forward, inviting another Highlander, Avery Clement ’25 , who is in her first year at Columbia, to join the data team.

WARM WELCOMES

The Frederick Gunn School is pleased to announce the appointment of two new Trustees.

HOLLY SOROCA ’93 is an accomplished executive with extensive experience in the fashion industry. Soroca has served as the President of Dôen since April 2021, overseeing the women-owned clothing company as it was named “the hottest fashion brand of the summer” by Women’s Wear Daily in July 2025. Based in Los Angeles, the brand has been featured in The New York Times, Vogue, New York Magazine, and has enjoyed successful collaborations with Gap over the past two years.

Soroca holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hamilton College. She began her nearly 25-year career as a buyer at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, before joining Theory as vice president of sales. She returned to Sacks for another three years before making the leap to California-based Dutch LLC as president of sales for lifestyle brands Joie, Current/Elliott, and Equipment. She served as president of the high-end fashion brand, Frame, for four years. She and her husband, Brad Soroca, live in New York with their three sons, Aden, Tyler, and Ethan.

HUGH BURNS P’27 is an attorney and founding partner of Reevemark, an elite strategic communications firm with broad experience guiding corporate leaders and their counsel through reputation-defining matters. Burns has advised boards and management teams on their most significant communications issues for over 25 years. He has extensive experience with financial transactions and disclosures, shareholder activism, crisis and reputational issues, litigation support, restructurings, and executive changes. He also has managed many long-term corporate positioning and investor relations programs.

Prior to co-founding Reevemark in 2018, Burns was a Senior Partner and General Counsel of Sard Verbinnen & Co. (now FGS) and a member of its Executive Management Committee. He began his career as a litigator at Sullivan & Cromwell and Latham & Watkins. Burns holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and graduated cum laude from Fordham University School of Law. He and his wife, Molly, live in New York City, with their children, Sebastian ’27 and Annabelle.

A Belief in Helping Others

BOB BALLANTINE ’53 has supported The Frederick Gunn School for many years, as a Class Agent, Reunion Committee member, and, philanthropically, as a member of the Founders Society and the Underhill Society.

Arriving on campus as a senior in the fall of 1952, Ballantine, who was known to his friends and classmates as “Denny,” played JV Football and JV Basketball. He was the manager of the Varsity Baseball team and active in the Dramatics Club. “I was there for one year, learning the ropes, and tried to be involved as much as I could,” he said, reflecting, “I wish that I could have been there longer, at least for my junior year.”

Asked why he chooses to support the school, he said: “I think it’s a great school and I believe in helping others by supporting its mission through annual giving, so today’s students can benefit as I did.”

Notably, Ballantine plans his gifts to The 1850 Fund as a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD), donating directly from his IRA, for which he derives a tax benefit, and it can be applied to his annual Required Minimum Distribution.

ABOUT THE UNDERHILL SOCIETY

A QCD is a direct transfer from your pretax IRA to a qualified 501(c)(3) organization.

“Instead of withdrawing funds from my IRA and then making an after-tax donation to Gunn, I make a QCD directly from my IRA, and that amount is excluded from my taxable income,” he said.

“I donate out of the IRA because whatever amount I donate, whether it is to The Frederick Gunn School or to other charities, I can deduct that amount from my Required Minimum Distribution and I only pay tax on whatever is left over,” Ballantine said. “I think it’s one way that people can reduce their taxes, while maximizing the impact of their support.”

The process itself is simple, he noted. “I write the check from my IRA account. I have to put on the check the federal tax ID number for the school. Then I mail it off. It makes it very easy,” he said.

If you have an IRA and you are age 73 or older, you can make a gift to The Frederick Gunn School through a QCD made directly to the school. Please consult a qualified tax advisor for specific guidance, and to confirm that this is right for you.

The Underhill Society pays homage to our most philanthropically minded alumni, parents, and friends who have included The Frederick Gunn School in their estate plans. Their generosity will provide critical future resources, ensuring that Mr. Gunn’s School thrives for generations to come. The society is named in honor of H. Willets Underhill ’31, a longtime Trustee and benefactor of The Frederick Gunn School, and in memory of his brother, Samuel Jackson Underhill ’35, who was lost in combat during World War II. Together, and with the help of Samuel’s wife, Margaret, they bequeathed gifts totaling $2 million to the school.

For more information, please contact Bill Curren, Associate Director of The 1850 Fund & Planned Giving, by calling 860-350-0189 or emailing currenb@frederickgunn.org.

Bob Ballantine ’53 at Alumni Weekend in June 2023, when he celebrated the 70th reunion of his class

Ten Minutes With … Karoline Theobald P’09 ’14

KAROLINE THEOBALD P’09 ’14 arrived at Gunn in the fall of 1998, when she and her husband, Rod Theobald P’09 ’14, joined the English Department faculty together. Karoline brought with her extensive experience, having taught English and history in the U.S. and abroad. In her 27 years at Gunn, she has taught first-year students, sophomores, and seniors, and helped to ensure the success of international students through her role as International Student Coordinator and her English as a Second Language class. Since 2022, she has led the faculty with wisdom, thoughtfulness, and grace as the Anne S. and Ogden D. Miller Senior Master. In this role, she has delivered the invocations and benedictions for all-school events from Convocation to Commencement, choosing carefully from the work of poets and writers she admires, and weaving in new references to Abigail Gunn, as our co-founder. On a personal note, the Theobalds raised two daughters on campus who became Gunn alumnae, Maisie Dokonal ’09 and Lindsay Theobald ’14 While Rod has retired from the faculty (more than once), it was recently announced that Karoline will retire in June.

about how they connected the novel to romanticism. They’re really dark paintings that show the isolation and the spookiness of the romantic period in literature. I really love teaching The Odyssey I’ve had fun getting to know the female characters more closely, including Penelope, his wife, who is waiting so patiently for him, and Circe, The Sirens, and Calypso, who are great characters as well. I’ve really been enjoying teaching AP English because Wide Sargasso Sea is a prequel to Jane Eyre, and it gives the backstory to the woman in the attic. I think that’s kind of fun. I used to teach Nature Writers and that was always a good thing because it combined walks in the woods with reading essays by great nature writers.

Q: Who has been your greatest influence?

Q: What is your favorite Gunn tradition?

I really love the All-School Walk because it reminds me of college (we had Mountain Day at Mount Holyoke), and because a course in nature writers at the University of New Hampshire really piqued my interest. I have always had an appreciation for Frederick Gunn and this school’s mission to connect students to the outdoors.

Q: What is your favorite lesson to teach?

My favorite lesson to teach with Frankenstein was showing students art reproductions and talking

Education

> AB in history

Mount Holyoke College

> MA in English language and linguistics

University of New Hampshire

Current Responsibilities

> English Teacher

> Assistant Coach, Model United Nations

> House Parent, Memorial

> Advisor

Honors and Accolades

> The Anne S. and Ogden D. Miller Senior Master, 20222026

> The W. Hamilton Gibson Chair in the Humanities, 2021-2024

In the department, Richard Martin P’20 ’23 ’25 is probably my greatest influence, because I think he has a really steady approach to teaching and literature. Outside of the department, one of the authors that I admire most is Margaret Atwood. I know she has a really acerbic kind of wit about her, but I try to sneak in her poems when I can. She’s an amazingly prolific writer and she is a woman of strong opinions and convictions. Zadie Smith is probably one of my favorite writers, and I am so grateful to Nick Benson for putting her in the syllabus. I am like one of those hermit crabs who picks up a little bit of every other teacher that I bump into. I have learned things from Chris Visentin, from Kori Rimany ’14, who is my hero this year, Tim Poole, Leah Peluchiwski, and I am looking forward to picking up tips from Polly Kertis and Abby Weiss. They are cool people. Another person who goes into that whole pantheon is Peg Addicks H’02 P’69 ’70 It’s always been my goal to be like Peg, who was such a great exemplar of loyalty and dedication to the school.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

OFFICERS 2025-26

Patrick M. Dorton ’86

Board Chair

Wanji Walcott P’19

Vice Chair

Beth W. Glynn

Secretary

Ashleigh Fernandez

Treasurer

TRUSTEES 2025-26

Stephen W. Baird ’68

William G. Bardel

Robert Bellinger ’73

Kevin Bogardus ’89

Hugh Burns P’27

Sarah Scheel Cook ’82

Jon C. Deveaux

Josh Feil '98

Adam C. Gerry P’21

Emily Raudenbush Gum Head of School

Ray Happy

Timothy Jackson P’24

Thomas R. King ’60

Jonathan S. Linen ’62

Matt Lucey P’27

Damien Marshall P’24

Paul M. McManus, Jr. ’87 P’21 ’23

Bonnie A. Pennell ’86

Krystalynn Schlegel ’96

Omar Slowe ’97

Holly Soroca ‘93

Richard N. Tager ’56

Robert M. Tirschwell ’86

Rebecca Weisberg ’90

TRUSTEES EMERITI

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

BULLETIN Fall/Winter 2025

The Frederick Gunn School Bulletin is produced biannually (spring and fall) by the Marketing & Communications Department. Send alumni news to: classnotes@frederickgunn.org.

Editor

Jennifer Clement P’22 ’25 Director of Strategic Communications clementj@frederickgunn.org

Assistant Head of School for Strategy & Engagement Doug Day dayd@frederickgunn.org

Chief Advancement Officer Alumni & Development Matthew Goetting goettingm@frederickgunn.org

Chief Enrollment Officer Suzanne Day days@frederickgunn.org

Design

Gregory Atkins / Atkins Pure Design L.L.C.

Printing

David Emery ’73, GHP / ghpmedia.com West Haven, Connecticut

Send address corrections to: alumni@frederickgunn.org or visit gogunn.org/alumni or write Alumni & Development

The Frederick Gunn School 99 Green Hill Road, Washington, CT 06793