Hotchkiss Magazine | Spring 2020

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Making History THE AMAZING CLASS OF 2020

Summer 2020

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF GOVERNORS

AS OF JULY 1, 2020

AS OF JULY 1, 2020

Robert R. Gould ’77, Co-President Elizabeth G. Hines ’93, Co-President Robert Chartener ’76, P’18, Vice President Raymond J. McGuire ’75, Vice President David B. Wyshner ’85, Treasurer Roger K. Smith ’78, P’08, Secretary Charles Ayres ’77 Austin M. Beutner P’20,’22 Anne Matlock Dinneen ’95 Elizabeth Ford P’11,’13 John Grube ’65, P’00 Nisa Leung Lin ’88 Cristina Mariani-May ’89, P’23 Carlos Peréz ’81 Thomas S. Quinn ’71, P’15,’17,’19 Christopher R. Redlich Jr. ’68 Susan Green Roberson ’87, President, The Hotchkiss Fund, ex officio Thomas R. Seidenstein ’91, P’24, President, Alumni Association, ex officio

Timothy P. Sullivan ’81, P’13,’16 Rhonda Trotter ’79 Rebecca van der Bogert U. Gwyn Williams ’84, P’17,’19

Tom Seidenstein ’91, P’24, President Natalie Boyse ’09 Rafael Carbonell ’93 Weijen Chang ’86, P’22, P’24. VP and Chair, Admission and Engagement Committee Nathalie Pierrepont Danilovich ’03, VP and Co-chair, Diversity and Inclusion Committee Marita Bell Fairbanks ’84 Danielle Ferguson ’97 Carlos Garcia ’77 Brooke Harlow ’92, Vice Chair, Chair, Nominating Committee for Membership Julia Tingley Kivitz ’01 Robert Kuhn ’75 Annika Lescott ’06, VP and Co-chair, Diversity and Inclusion Committee Barrett Lester ’81 Keith Merrill ’02 Nick Moore ’71, P’89,’01,’06 Paul Mutter ’87, Vice Chair, Chair, Nominating Committee for Awards Honey Taylor Nachman ’90, P’21,’23 Steve O’Brien ’62, P’87,’01, GP’17 Daniel Pai ’19 Blake Ruddock ’12 Bill Sandberg ’65 Marquis Scott ’98 Adam Sharp ’96 Richard Staples ’74, P’10,’12 Tom Terbell ’95

EMERITI

Howard C. Bissell ’55, P’82 John R. Chandler Jr. ’53, P’82, P’85,’87, GP’10,’14,’16,’22 Thomas J. Edelman ’69, P’06,’07 William R. Elfers ’67 Lawrence Flinn Jr. ’53, GP’22 Frederick Frank ’50, P’12 Dan W. Lufkin ’49, P’80,’82,’88,’23 Robert H. Mattoon Jr. Dr. Robert A. Oden Jr. P’97 Jean Weinberg Rose ’80, P’18 John L. Thornton ’72, P’10,’11,’16 Francis T. Vincent Jr. ’56, P’85

PH OTO: JACK WO L F ’ 19

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

The Larsen Perimeter Trail offers a way to explore the natural environment and gain an understanding of Hotchkiss’s deep connection to the land. See story on page 31.

Craig Bradley, Head of School Ed Greenberg ’55, Past President, Alumni Association Robert R. Gould ’77, Co-President, Board of Trustees Elizabeth G. Hines ’93, Co-President, Board of Trustees Susan Green Roberson ’87, President, The Hotchkiss Fund

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SUMMER 2020 FEATURES

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M A G A Z I N E

‘He is Hotchkiss’

HEAD OF SCHOOL

Math Teacher and Coach Extraordinaire Dave Bolmer ’73

Craig W. Bradley CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER

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Hope Reisinger Cobera ’88, P’24 EDITOR

Wendy Carlson

When the Great Outdoors is Right Next Door

MAGAZINE DESIGNER

Julie Hammill

Exploring the Larsen Perimeter Trail

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Danielle Sinclair

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VIDEOGRAPHER AND DIGITAL MEDIA SPECIALIST

Tyler Wosleger

Hotchkiss and COVID-19

WEBSITE AND DESIGN MANAGER

Margaret Szubra

34 | Hotchkiss Heroes

CONTRIBUTORS

Newell Augur ’54, Lauren Harris, Roberta Jenckes, and Robert Morris ’74

40 | ‘Numbers alone aren’t enough’ 42 | Dispatches from Seattle During COVID-19 46 | From Scarlet Fever to COVID-19

PLEASE SEND INQUIRIES & COMMENTS TO:

The Hotchkiss School 11 Interlaken Road Lakeville, CT 06039-2141 Email: magazine@hotchkiss.org Phone: (860) 435-3122 The Hotchkiss School does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, religion, race, color, sexual orientation, or national orientation in the administration of its educational policies, athletics, or other School-administered programs, or in the administration of its hiring and employment practices.

Hotchkiss Magazine is produced by the Office of Communications for alumni, parents, members of the faculty and staff, and friends of the School. Letters are welcome. Please keep under 400 words. We reserve the right to edit and publish letters.

52 | When Social Distancing Becomes Art DEPARTMENTS 2 From the Head of School 4

From the Board of Trustees

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Campus Connection

18 Seeking Better Paths

Abraham Keita ’20

22 Student Spotlight

Simone Straus ’21

57 Class Notes 72 In Memoriam 76 Parting Shot

ON THE COVER

With a burst of confetti, Ellie Burke ’20 and Julia Chai ’20 celebrate their graduation together in Rye, NY. Photo by Julia Burke ’85, P’20,’22 SUMMER 2020

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FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

A Path Toward Leadership HE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR is always beautiful in Lakeville. In a typical year, it features the final, joyful weeks of Senior Spring, graduation activities with proud families, the hurried packing of dorm rooms, and a sea of tail lights as cars and vans depart. Then in June, alumni light up the campus once more as they arrive for long-anticipated reunions with old friends and beloved teachers.

This year is different, although Lakeville is as beautiful as always. While our dorms and hallways are silent, hospitals across the country continue to fight to save the lives of COVID-19 patients. Our front circle stood empty as city streets around the globe teemed with mask-wearing protesters demanding an end to police brutality and systemic, anti-Black racism.

These are challenging times.

This is my fourth year at Hotchkiss, and I feel a kinship with the recently graduated Class of 2020. Like them, I entered in 2016, and like them, I have been welcomed by this community, challenged, and educated in many ways.

In early March, I would have said the 2019-2020 academic year was the best since I joined the School. This year, we welcomed outstanding new teachers.

Students produced excellent academic work, performed beautifully in the arts, and engaged in myriad opportunities to strengthen the community. On field, court, and ice, Hotchkiss teams fought their way to outstanding results in athletics. Among graduating seniors, college matriculation results were strong. All the while,

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PH OTO: WIL L I A M FEN TO N

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Head of School Craig Bradley works with students in a guitar-building workshop in the Class of 2017 EFX Lab. See story on page 14.

alumni, parents, and friends continued to demonstrate their support through generosity and simply by staying in touch.

In March, with the arrival of the pandemic, the year took a significant turn. Teachers shifted their focus to creating dynamic virtual classrooms while maintaining connections with students who began to study from desks, family rooms, and kitchen tables at home. None of us found virtual interaction a satisfying substitute for the learning and life we enjoy on campus. Despite the challenges, however, it was quickly evident that the bonds that tie us together remain strong, even from a distance.

We have recently announced our plans to reopen the School for residential learning in the fall, and we look forward once again to seeing students on campus. The work to prepare for their arrival, and to answer many questions from parents, is ongoing.

While there is no such thing as “no risk,” we are doing everything we can to minimize risk and keep all members of the community safe.

As we look around us at this moment in time, we must acknowledge that safety extends far beyond the current health crisis.

For many, connecting with Hotchkiss — whether visiting campus, joining a virtual event, or paging through Hotchkiss Magazine — brings with it a sense of belonging. It is an opportunity to remember close friends, good teachers, and happy times. But that is not true for all members of this community. For those who experienced discriminatory treatment or microaggressions during their time at Hotchkiss based on their race, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic background, or other factors, some memories are painful and permanent.

LET TERS TO THE EDITOR

Remembering the Duke and Honeybees “Guided by each other, let us seek better paths.”

As written in The Values of Our Learning Community: “We believe that a healthy and inclusive learning community nourishes students physically, emotionally, and intellectually; fosters joy in learning and living with others; and ensures that all feel safe, seen, and supported.”

Some messages I have received in recent weeks describe in plain terms that not all who have moved through this school consistently felt safe, seen, and supported. We must have the courage to reckon honestly with the truth that the Hotchkiss community has not always been fully welcoming and truly equitable for all its members. That frank self-awareness is important to our ongoing work to build and sustain a genuinely inclusive learning community at Hotchkiss.

From the beginning, the Hotchkiss School has played an important role in educating future leaders of society, and that remains central to our purpose. The need for welleducated, ethically minded, compassionate, and inclusive leaders has never been greater.

Integral to what it means to be well-educated is an informed and nuanced understanding of racism in America. We are preparing students to serve as leaders of a future society that is more inclusive and more equitable.

I hope you enjoy the stories that follow, many of which highlight the contributions of our community to bettering the world.

Guided by each other, let us seek better paths.

All good wishes,

What a pleasure it was to read your honeybee reflections in the winter 2020 issue of Hotchkiss Magazine! And also to find on the same page, a letter from my classmate, Geoff Chapman ’45, “Riding The Duke’s Horse.” George Van Santvoord inspired awe [perhaps reverence] in most of his charges. When he died in 1975, the spring issue of Hotchkiss Magazine celebrated his life as headmaster. Geoff’s stallion is pictured on page four. In that same issue, the late Tucker Warner ’49 recalled, “I broke my leg during a baseball game in my senior year. In full earshot of a weekend crowd, I let loose a fearful tirade of profanity. I had to be transported to a Hartford hospital for repair. Suddenly the door opened and the Duke walked in. I got the full treatment — a detailed explanation of what it meant to be a gentleman instead of a spoiled brat. Then suddenly that massive hand came out from behind his back with a box of honeycomb from his own bees. With a broad grin he told me that he hoped it would sweeten my tongue.” The Duke knew about pain, having been gravely wounded on the Western Front. He also knew the comfort dealt by an unexpected generous gesture. Incidentally, for my part, 12 inches of snow blanketed my two beehives here in very remote Vermont over the winter. However, I can hear the bees humming inside and conclude that [unlike we humans] they are not in social isolation.

WALT FREY ’45

Praise for John Dreger’s Chapel Talk Thank you for printing John Dreger’s extraordinary address, “A Meditation on the Continuity of Life,” to the school last fall about his exceptional family in the magazine Winter 2020 issue. Tying Odysseus’ heroism as related by Homer with anecdotes of Asher Lipson ’07’s heroic battle with cancer, to his phenomenal summation in the next to penultimate paragraph, illustrates that those at Hotchkiss are truly fortunate because they are being taught by dedicated people.

WALTER D. PHILLIPS ’59

Looks Forward to Reading the Magazine I just wanted to take a minute and thank you for publishing the excellent Hotchkiss Magazine. I always look forward to receiving it in the mail — and now, during this coronavirus isolation, more gratefully than ever. It’s a treat to read about how the school is evolving over the years, to learn about the diverse paths taken by people from our alumni network, and to see fondly-remembered staff and faculty recognized.

Some favorite past articles of mine were the tribute to Walter Crain, and the recent text of John Dreger’s chapel talk. The magazine is always readable and engrossing, and I know that’s nothing easy to pull off. Thank you for your efforts in putting it together and sharing with our community!

CAROLYN TARA O’NEIL ’03

SUMMER 2020

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A MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

BY ROBERT CHARTENER ’76, P’18

The Board of Trustees met online on May 1-2, following committee meetings that took place during the week of April 27. While physical meetings have been the standard at Hotchkiss since the School’s founding, online attendance was very high, and the Board engaged well with teachers and administrators during the week.

Online Learning — The Board spent considerable time discussing the shift to online learning. The conversation focused on the student experience, including digital classes taking place across time zones. Perhaps the biggest challenges have been maintaining the excitement of in-person classes and ensuring that teachers sustain good will and energy, particularly during what can feel like a marathon of indeterminate length without the motivating moments of being with students. Jared Hall, dean of academic life, has led the faculty’s work in retaining excellence in teaching while making every effort to build community virtually. During the spring, all courses were kept running, although scheduling was modified to allow students around the world to participate equally and actively.

Plans for Next Year — While the School is preparing for online teaching next year, it is also planning on operating as a residential school under altered conditions.

Social distancing, maintaining separation in housing and dining, and suspending certain sports are among the many considerations.

Hotchkiss is working closely with the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools and its colleagues in the Eight Schools Association and the Founders League, and it has engaged expertise from the Yale School of Public Health. The residential Summer Portals program has been cancelled, but some courses will be offered online. The trustees met once again in late June to make a final decision about the structure and organization of school life for 2020-21 in the context of the COVID19 pandemic.

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Admission — The School had a remarkably successful year with an 18 percent increase in applications and a significant increase in yield — the highest number of applicants and highest yield in years. Of new, entering students, a historically high percentage self-identify as students of color. A fly-in program, underwritten by trustee Chris Redlich ’68, was immensely successful. Due to the higher yield, the School overshot its targeted enrollment goal, but it anticipates that there will be some “melt” during the summer months due to travel restrictions, economic uncertainty, and other COVID-19 factors.

College Placement — Rick Hazelton P’19,’22, director of college advising, presented the college placement results for the Class of 2020. The class’s matriculation is one of the strongest in the last decade.

The top seven colleges chosen are the University of Chicago (13 students); Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania (seven at each); Brown, Georgetown, and Kenyon (six at each); and Yale (five).

Although it is difficult to generalize about college placement, among areas of focus are increased concern about colleges’ ability to attract international applicants, the economy in general, and standardized testing. Spring test dates were cancelled due to COVID-19.

Faculty Positions — Amanda McClure P’18,’22 has been appointed associate dean of community life to oversee student programming, with a particular focus on student well-being. Yassine Talhaoui has been appointed director of diversity and inclusion, following Dr. Rachel Myers’s decision to pursue a new opportunity. In addition, Renee Marcellus, a new assistant director of diversity and inclusion and teaching fellow, will focus primarily on student matters.

Development — The Board approved the commencement of the leadership phase

of a capital campaign. Additional work on volunteer leadership will be done over the summer, and campaign goals for financial aid and other areas will be refined. Sadly, reunions for classes ending in 0 and 5 have been cancelled, but online events will continue throughout the spring and summer.

Trustee Changes — Kendra O’Donnell retired from the Board of Trustees at the end of June following 10 years of tireless service to Hotchkiss during her second stint as a trustee. Her service to Hotchkiss began after her retirement from Phillips Exeter Academy, where she was principal from 1987 to 1997.

She is the daughter of Kendall Stearns ’33, sister of Peter Stearns-Tisseyre ’57, and aunt of Alexandra Weininger ’98. She is delighted that her grand-nephew will attend Hotchkiss in September. John Coumantaros ’80, P’16,’19 also retired from the Board after seven years. He serves as chairman of Flour Mills of Nigeria and has been a devoted Hotchkiss volunteer for many years.

The board elected Cristina Mariani-May ’89, P’23 as a new trustee. Cristina is the family proprietor of the internationally renowned Castello Banfi vineyard estate in Montalcino, Tuscany, and president and CEO of Banfi Vintners, a leading U.S. importer of fine wines. The trustees gratefully thanked David Bolmer ’73, who retired this year after 34 exceptional years on the Hotchkiss faculty.

In addition, the Board of Trustees established a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

Read more on page 10.

Locke Lord continues to accept and investigate reports of historical sexual misconduct by adult members of our community. We encourage anyone with information relating to potential misconduct to contact the independent investigator, Allison O’Neil, by phone (617) 239-0729, or by email at hotchkissinvestigation@lockelord.com

CAMPUS CONNECTION

The Amazing Class of 2020 W

I T H U N WAV E R I N G B E A R C AT

“A place, even a really beautiful, peaceful place such as Hotchkiss, is best experienced as a shared experience, animated by one’s fellow travelers. ” ••• HEAD OF SCHOOL CRAIG BRADLEY

continued on next page

PH OTO: A NNIK A O OS T ENINK

S P I R I T, 176 seniors graduated on the evening of May 29 during a virtual Diploma Day ceremony in the first offcampus Commencement in School history.

Hotchkiss seniors throughout the world donned their “plus one” attire at home, tossed confetti into the air, painted their cars with chalk paint, and placed giant Hotchkiss “H’s” festooned with balloons on their front lawns to mark the important milestone.

The following evening, families living near the School attended a drive-in showing in the MAC parking lot, where they watched a recorded video of the ceremony on a big screen. Even a wind storm, which cut the screening short, didn’t deter the Bearcat revelers. Drivers formed a car parade and honked their horns as they rode for the last time down the Main entrance, where faculty and staff waved farewell from the sidewalk.

Maura Thompson ’20, who had secured

her version of a Bearcat — a giant stuffed tiger — on the top of her family’s van for the drive-in event, remarked, “It would have been amazing if everyone was on campus for Graduation, but the drive-in was a really nice effort that allowed us to see some of our classmates.”

In place of in-person celebrations, Zoom parties kept the class connected prior to the pre-recorded graduation ceremony, which included remarks from Head of School Craig Bradley, Luke Kalaydjian ’20 and Maggie Ottenbreit ’20, all-school presidents; student performances; and a slideshow highlighting the class’s favorite Hotchkiss memories. Faculty and staff shared adjectives describing each graduate.

Leading up to Diploma Day, the community pitched in to create a giant “2020” luminary on Harris House Lawn, where Commencement typically takes place.

SUMMER 2020

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Faculty and staff members wrote well wishes to seniors on the luminary bags. In addition, seniors were emailed suggestions on how to celebrate at home; the Dining Hall even provided a list of recipes families could prepare at home on the big day.

Among other notable events and celebrations, on May 8, the Class of 2020 officially joined the Hotchkiss Alumni Association in a virtual ceremony led by Tom Seidenstein ’91, president of the Alumni Association and a Hotchkiss trustee. The following week on May 15, seniors were inducted into the Cum Laude Society via Zoom.

A pre-recorded Senior Awards Ceremony, which recognized members of the Class of 2020 for their achievements in the classroom, on the athletic fields, and in the community, was held via Zoom on May 28 and included remarks from Carter Day and Maggie Smith, senior class presidents; Amanda McClure P’18,’22, senior class dean; and a performance by Calliope.

Prior to announcing the awards, Day and Smith gave the entire senior class an award.

“Practicing social distancing is an heroic experience, and we all deserve an award because we have all made that sacrifice,” Smith said.

McClure was called a “rock star” for her enthusiastic efforts to plan a memorable graduation.

In the Diploma Day ceremony, Head of School Craig Bradley addressed the class, reaffirming the significance of the event.

“While this is certainly different than what we all had been anticipating over the years, this moment is no less an important life milestone for each of you, members of the Hotchkiss Class of 2020, a class whose grit and resilience, creativity and good character have been highly evident as we’ve moved through the past two months.

We are here to celebrate you and your achievement,” he said.

He expressed how many members of the Hotchkiss community felt.

“I know you miss Hotchkiss, the place. A place, even a really beautiful, peaceful place

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PH OTO: WENDY C A R L S O N

CAMPUS CONNECTION

such as Hotchkiss, is best experienced as a shared experience, animated by one’s fellow travelers. Indeed, it is the sharing of a place that makes the experience of that place so memorable and so meaningful.”

Although the campus was beautiful this spring, Bradley noted, “this special place lacks the animation that you all bring. The word animate derives from the Latin anima meaning ‘life, soul, spirit.’ While the beauty endures, the central animating force of your presence — the life, soul, and spirit of Hotchkiss — is absent at the moment.”

Bradley began his tenure as head of school with the Class of 2020, and he explained that he has always felt an affinity for the class.

“You have been generous in indulging

my love of France et la langue française, as well as my enthusiasm for woodworking, particularly chairmaking, and I have enjoyed sharing those enthusiasms with you,” he said.

“But my great and enduring enthusiasm is for you and the excellence you embody and the promise you possess. We are in an unusually anxious and uncertain time, unprecedented in the lives of all who are currently alive on the planet, and at times it can be hard to find things to be hopeful about.

“Having said that, you guys, my dear ‘classmates’ of the great Class of 2020, inspire me and give me hope as I imagine the good you will create in the world, a world that needs your talent, your good minds, and your big hearts more than ever.”

Top row, left to right: Maura Thompson, Justin Han, Carter Day and Maggie Smith; middle row, Maggie Smith, Yitong Wu; bottom row: Dean of the Class of 2020 Amanda McClure, Justin Choi, Scott Rosati, and Chukwudubern Anwuah.

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CAMPUS CONNECTION

2020 Senior Awards Class of 2020 Academic Awards and School Prizes were presented by Jared Hall, dean of academic life, and Amanda McClure, senior class dean.

THE DAVID DEMARAY SENIOR FRENCH PRIZE

FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE ARTS:

Abby Sim

Alex Takoudes

THE EMERSON BIGELOW ’13 AND JOHN EMERSON BIGELOW ’44 PRIZE FOR CONVERSATIONAL FRENCH

SCHOOL PRIZES

THE PETER D’ALBERT ’70 MEMORIAL ART AWARD

Desmond Teague THE THOMAS P. BLAGDEN ’29 AWARD

I Lok U

Annabel Evison THE CHARLES E. BERRY GERMAN PRIZE

THE JOHN HAMMOND ’29 MUSIC AWARD

Riley Henshaw, Kostia Howard, and Shane Kim THE ELLEN R. TORREY DANCE PRIZE

Victoria Azzu and Cici Bu THE EDWARD KOHNE KLINGELHOFER JR. ’43 AWARD

Rock Zhu

Sandrine Brien THE SENIOR SPANISH AWARD

Tamsin Nottage

THE ROBERT AND SANDY HAIKO FILM PRIZE

Jerry Sheng

THE THOMAS H. CHAPPELL ’24 PRIZE

Charlie Knight THE TEAGLE ESSAY PRIZE

FOR EXCELLENCE IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE: THE EDWARD B. PRESTON ’79 PRIZE

Charlie Knight

THE ADVANCED STUDIO ART PRIZE

Asher DuFord, Laura Hart, Katie Moore, and Serena Zhou THE ARCHITECTURE PRIZE

Jacqui Rice FOR EXCELLENCE IN CLASSICAL AND MODERN LANGUAGES: THE HOEY SENIOR GREEK PRIZE

Andrew Oliver

Carter Moyer

M AGA ZINE

Serena Zhou THE FRANK A. SPROLE ’38 SOCIAL SERVICE PRIZE

MAJOR SCHOOL PRIZES THE WALTER CLEVELAND ALLEN, JR. ’32 PRIZE

Abraham Keita, Tanami Penfold, and Jay Wright THE CENTENNIAL PRIZE

Milgo Bulhan, Carter Day, Luke Kalaydjian, and Anne Seaman THE FACULTY PRIZE

Cici Bu FOR EXCELLENCE IN MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE:

THE CHARLES E. LORD PRIZE

THE GEORGE NORTON STONE SENIOR MATH PRIZE

Jiahua Chen THE SENIOR COMPUTER SCIENCE AWARD

Toby Pouler

Zak Billo, Asher DuFord, and Laura Hart THE ALBERT WILLIAM OLSEN ’13 PRIZE

Jiahua Chen, Leslie Herold, Carter Moyer, and Rock Zhu THE CHARLES DENTON TREADWAY MEMORIAL PRIZE

Isaac Alicea and Sandrine Brien FOR EXCELLENCE IN SCIENCE:

THE KING TAK LAM CHINESE PRIZE

THE HEAD OF SCHOOL’S PRIZE

Deb Adeyemi, Jillian Cudney, Delaney Hayes, Kostia Howard, Arabella Katz, Charlie Knight, Jacqui Rice, Maggie Smith, Jesse Swan, and Desmond Teague

THE PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION PRIZE

THE SENIOR LATIN PRIZE

Billy Burns

Serena Zhou

FOR EXCELLENCE IN ENGLISH:

Dominic Bellido

Carter Moyer

THE FIRST SCHOLAR PRIZE

Anne Seaman

THE SARAH T. CRAIG MEMORIAL PRIZE

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THE VAN SANTVOORD ’08 ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE

ACADEMIC AWARDS

THE ROBERT B. FLINT ’23 SCIENCE PRIZE

Carter Moyer and Bo Zeigler

Thank you to the entire Hotchkiss community for supporting the 3rd annual Hotchkiss Day of Giving. Your generosity helps Hotchkiss continue the tradition of excellent teaching while fostering the joy of learning and living with others.

1,053

454

$1,434,568 RAISED

303

ALUMNI

PARENTS

194

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STUDENTS

FACULTY & STAFF

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PARENTS of ALUMNI , GRANDPARENTS & FRIENDS

DAY OF GIVING AROUND THE GLOBE USA • Canada • Brazil • China • South Korea • United Kingdom • France • Jamaica • Czech Republic • Bahamas • Germany • Japan • Australia • Indonesia • Thailand • Vietnam • Russia • Nigeria • Somalia • Singapore • Hong Kong

ALUMNI CLASSES WITH THE MOST DONORS BY DECADE

1950s 1953 1960s 1960 1970s 1972 1980s 1987 1990s 1991 2000s 2005 2010s 2019 CURRENT PARENT PARTICIPATION

BY CLASS

2020 72 2021 82*

*earned their children’s class a special feed

2022 76 2023 73

Champagne Toast Winners!

Class of 1990 for most donors.........................22 Class of 1995 for most dollars raised..........$59,020

REUNION CLASS CHALLENGE:

SUMMER 2020

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CAMPUS CONNECTION

Building a Strong, Inclusive Comunity New Director of Diversity and Inclusion

Yassine Talhaoui was recently appointed as the director of diversity and inclusion, taking over the reins from Dr. Rachel Myers, who has decided to pursue a new opportunity. Renee Marcellus, who will join Hotchkiss as a teaching fellow in English this fall, has been named the assistant director of diversity and inclusion, a new position.

Talhaoui will serve on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee of the Board and will join Craig Bradley, head of school, in leading the Student Diversity Leadership Council, whose mandate is to ensure the creation of an inclusive community in which all students feel safe, seen, and supported.

Talhaoui joined the Admission Office in 2016, where he held the positions of associate director of admission and director of multicultural recruitment. During his tenure, he introduced the Hotchkiss Fly-In Program and contributed to the recruitment efforts of an incoming cohort of students, 42% of whom selfidentify as being of color.

Prior to Hotchkiss, Talhaoui was the director of equity and social justice and a foreign language teacher at the Watkinson School in Hartford, CT. He served on the CAIS Commission on Diversity at Independent Schools (CODIS). He co-advises MoCaH (Men of Color at Hotchkiss) and is the boys varsity basketball coach.

As he works to make Hotchkiss a more equitable and inclusive community, he embraces the challenges awaiting him.

“The role of director of diversity and inclusion touches every facet of school life, which is a responsibility, opportunity, and commitment I am truly excited about. I look forward to working closely and collaboratively with colleagues, students, trustees, parents, and alumni on continuing to develop and ensure an equitable and inclusive experience for all members of our community,” he said.

PH OTO: WENDY C A R L S O N

N JUNE, FOLLOWING THE GLOBAL OUTCRY over police brutality against Black Americans and the outpouring of stories from alumni who have experienced anti-Black racism at Hotchkiss, the Board of Trustees established a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the Board, which will provide support to School leaders as they work on policies and practices to ensure that Black students, and all students of color, are valued and included.

“The School has a responsibility to ensure that our Black students, and students from other historically under-represented groups, have access to the same robust and supportive education as other students at Hotchkiss do,” said Elizabeth G. Hines ’93, Board co-president.

“What we know, from many conversations with our Black alums, and testimonies posted on Instagram, is that too often this has not been true. For that, we are deeply sorry — and we pledge to shift that reality. Now is the time for us to enact changes that ensure equity and accountability across our programs and policies, and establishing this committee is an important step as we seek to turn ideas into action.”

The committee is exploring ways to recruit, support, and retain faculty and staff members who identify with groups historically under-represented at Hotchkiss, with an initial focus on those who identify as Black; ensure cultural competence and antiracist culture in the community through mandatory training; assess the curriculum and pedagogical approaches to ensure they promote anti-racism and cultivate belonging for all members of the community; evaluate the School’s ability to provide support for students who are Black, indigenous, and people of color; promote clarity and accountability around community behavior and values with respect to promoting an anti-racist culture; and identify ways to honor and celebrate Black alumni. The committee is chaired Raymond J. McGuire ’75, Board vice president.

To learn more about how Hotchkiss is combatting racism, visit hotchkiss.org/anti-racism.

PH OTO: WENDY C A R L S O N

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Talhaoui talks with students during a proctor training session.

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2020 Community Award Recipient, Joyful Clemantine Wamariya ’09

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speaker, a New York Times bestselling author, and an accomplished human rights advocate, Wamariya is the author of The Girl Who Smiled Beads (2018). The book describes her journey, with sister Claire, from an idyllic childhood in Kigali, Rwanda to fleeing war conflicts and seeking refuge in eight different African countries. She received refugee status in the U.S. in 2000.

When Wamariya first arrived in Lakeville for a postgraduate year before enrolling at Yale, she found herself alone, for the first time in her life, in her single room on the third floor of Wieler Hall.

She was 20 years old.

Despite the challenging adjustment, she is now incredibly grateful for the friendships she made, the education she received, and to the faculty who embraced her complexity and treated her with patience as she grappled with her feelings of isolation.

In the 2018 fall issue of Hotchkiss Magazine, Instructor in English Christina Cooper P’08,’11 remembered Wamariya in her creative writing class, where she first began to hone her skills as a storyteller: “I remember vividly her attention to detail, and the way she was unafraid to confront, in painfully honest ways, the emotional complexities of her story: life on the run from war-torn countries of Rwanda, the Congo and Burundi, her relationship with her sister, and the blurry margins and complicated relationships and loyalties with the people and places she called home, both as a child and emerging young woman. Her classmates and I were a rapt audience.”

In 2014, Wamariya received her B.A. in comparative literature from Yale University, where she continued building her career as a compelling storyteller and fierce advocate for the well-being of our

PH OTO: J I T SKE S CH O L S

N M AY 3 1 , Hotchkiss held a Community Conversation on Zoom with civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson titled “Let’s Talk About George Floyd, Police Brutality, and Protests.”

As a leading voice in the Black Lives Matter Movement and a co-founder of Campaign Zero, Mckesson works to connect individuals with knowledge and tools and to support policy makers in developing commonsense policies that ensure equity.

Spurred by the death of Michael Brown and the subsequent protests in Ferguson, MO, in 2014, he has become a key player in the work to confront the systems and structures that have led to mass incarceration and murder by police of Black and other minority people.

During the session, Dr. Rachel Myers, then director of diversity and inclusion, posed questions related to the death of George Floyd, police brutality, and protest in the United States. In responding, Mckesson offered eye-opening statistics.

“2019 was the first year that more Black people were afraid of being killed by a police officer than of being killed by community violence, and one-third of all people killed by a stranger in the United States are actually killed by a police officer,” he said. “Black people are three times more likely to be killed by police and 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed when encountered by police officers…. In every way we cut the data, this is an issue of race.”

“My advice around activism is, you have to know the content well. If you care about an issue, you need to know it well enough to be in the room, to offer ideas. Read.

Immerse yourself in the thinkers. And try to put ideas out in the world,” he said.

In total, nearly 300 people attended the event. Following the Q and A with Mckesson, Myers kept the conversation going with a focus on Hotchkiss specifically.

To read more about the event, visit https://bit.ly/2CjOmg5

PH OTO: B L A IR C A L DWEL L

Virtual Event with DeRay Mckesson

humanity. She appeared four times as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show and was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2016 to serve on the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

She continues to bring her powerful perspective to various organizations, including Women for Women International and Refugee Transitions, and she shares her stories as a way that reframes the way her audiences think and share their own personal experience.

Currently, she is devoting her time to ‘Joy-full Projects,’ an agency to connect creatives to each other and the resources they need to thrive at every stage of their creativity.

“There is so much human pain and suffering in the world. I want to honor all those difficult experiences and acknowledge their aftermath,” she told Hotchkiss Magazine. At the same time, she added, “I want to really live in the present, and find love and joy in the world around me.”

A ceremony honoring Joyful Clemantine Wamariya as the 2020 Community Service Award recipient will be held this fall.

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CAMPUS CONNECTION

Meet a Few of Our New Bearcats!

This fall, a group of 211 diverse, broadly defined, and talented new students will join Hotchkiss as freshly-minted Bearcats. From a journalist to an inventor to a black belt, these newcomers will bring boundless energy, enthusiasm, and ingenuity to campus. Once the academic year gets underway, all of them will meet the instructors who will nurture, challenge, and help them fully realize their passions. They will learn to extend their reach and intellectual horizons, and they will form friendships that will last a lifetime. Let us make a few introductions...

By the numbers...

211

new Bearcats

of whom:

42% 44% are students of color

will receive financial aid

and hail from:

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16 + states countries They include low-income students, first-generation applicants, and families from across the U.S. and around the world. They are artists, musicians, writers, engineers, and athletes, to name just some of their passions, and Hotchkiss is thrilled to have them!

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NAIMA JOHNSON ’24 Naima Johnson ’24 from Atlanta, GA, is the youngest student ever to be accepted into the Harvard Diversity Council, a nationally acclaimed program that recruits highly motivated Black youth in metro Atlanta to train and matriculate into a prestigious summer residency at Harvard University. The program has an acceptance rate of one percent. Naima also made history by becoming the first student at her school to win two back-to-back “Amazing Shake” championships. This competition places an emphasis on teaching students manners, discipline, respect, and professional conduct. Naima was recognized as her school’s top achiever for having an understanding of global issues, politics, and current events.

BEN ELY ’24 Ben Ely ’24 from Grantham, NH, is an inventor focused on creating solutions to everyday problems. He learned about Hotchkiss when he was awarded the prestigious Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship. After Ben visited the School and toured the EFX Lab with Instructor in Physics and Engineering Michael Boone, Hotchkiss became his numberone choice. “Right now, I am working with a university prototype shop to finalize a patent for a pair of devices to help novice sailors right a capsized sailboat. I think of them as training wheels for a sailboat,” said Ben, who was captain of his school’s varsity sailing team.

RINOA OLIVER ’24 Boarding school will be an exciting new experience for Rinoa Oliver ’24 from Santa Cruz, CA. Like Ben, Rinoa also was a finalist for the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship. In considering her options, Rinoa looked at schools chosen by previous winners of the scholarship.

“Hotchkiss immediately became one of my favorites because of its exceptional academic strength. I then realized that it was also the perfect fit because of its strong focus on community. My favorite subjects are math and science, though I love all my classes.

Outside of school, I love participating in math competitions and the science fair, and have been recognized nationally in both of these. I also really enjoy playing piano and violin and participating in debates, and I would love to make a positive impact on the local community through Hotchkiss’s unique service opportunities,” she said.

MAYA ABDELWADOOD ’23 Maya Abdelwadood ’23, from Dubai, holds a black belt in Tae Kwondo.

A member of the National Junior Honor Society since she was in the seventh grade, Maya has won the computer science award at her school for two years running. She has lived in Dubai with her parents and older brother her entire life, and she is looking forward to coming to Hotchkiss to experience its diverse community, join in the Bearcat spirit, and partake in community service projects. “I’ve always wanted to attend boarding school,” she said, adding that she can’t wait to bring her passion and ideas to the Hotchkiss community.

BENJAMIN WHO ’24 Benjamin Who ’24, from Sugar Land, TX, was captain of his school’s speech and debate team, yet his passion is journalism.

Two years ago, Benjamin recognized the need for a school newspaper, where students could share their voices and showcase their creativity. He rolled up his sleeves and with six other students created The Raider Review, publishing eight quarterly editions. The paper now has a staff of 20, including copy editors, writers, managing editors, and photographers. As the editor-in-chief, Benjamin enjoyed collaborating with his team to bring his school an informative, well-designed publication with timely news stories that impact the entire student body. He plans on bringing that same “can do’’ spirit to Hotchkiss this fall.

HAYDEN SCOTT ’24 Hayden Scott ’24, who hails from Chicago, is passionate about basketball, but his talents extend well beyond the court. Hayden has won numerous awards for speech and debate. He is a Jack Kent Cook Finalist, an ABC Scholar, and a Daniel Murphy Scholar. He also plays the trumpet and sings in choir. Hayden has attended schools in Los Angeles and Miami, but coming to New England will be a first-time experience. He is excited about experiencing campus life at Hotchkiss, where he said he will “bring a friendly face, an open mind, and a willingness to try new things.”

SADA SCHUMANN ’22 Sada Schumann ’22 from Bozeman, MT, is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who is looking forward to continuing her filmmaking at Hotchkiss as a new upper mid. She is also excited about being in a supportive community that allows her to explore all of her interests, from music to environmental sciences.

Like all the new students, she is excited about enjoying community life at Hotchkiss. “I think I’m a relatively goofy person,” she said candidly. “So I hope to have a lot of fun during my time at Hotchkiss,” she added.

To all of our new Bearcats,

WELCOME!

We can’t wait to meet you!

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CAMPUS CONNECTION

A New Riff on STEM A guitar-building course strikes a chord with students B Y W E N DY C A R L S O N

P

HYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

Instructor William Fenton, nicknamed “The Fentonator” by students, often takes an unconventional approach to teaching. In prep physics, he uses bowling balls and brooms as visual aids to help students understand how different forces affect acceleration and motion.

Last year, an amusement park became the classroom, where a ride in a roller coaster demonstrated how mass, force, and acceleration are related. In his latest effort to bring physics to life, Fenton introduced a guitar-building co-curricular last winter, which will be offered as an elective next spring.

Fenton, who likes to riff on an electric guitar himself, offered the co-curricular after taking a Luthier workshop last summer through The National Science Foundationfunded Guitar STEM program, which provides innovative professional development to high school and community college faculty.

In the co-curricular, nine students built electric guitars from scratch in the Class of 2017 EFX Lab. Using a kit provided by Guitar STEM that included a rectangular block of wood and all the necessary hardware, students first created the body of the guitar by either choosing a pre-made template or designing their own shape. After the chunks of wood were cut away using the Lab’s laser cutter, they routed and sanded them to a fine finish. Some students preserved the natural wood appearance by applying a clear oil, while others painted their guitars.

They shaped the fretboard, pressed the metal frets, and hand-tuned the strings. They also learned to solder and test their own electronic components to their guitars and amplifiers.

“I gained a lot of technical skills

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throughout the process, but I think patience and learning to troubleshoot were most valuable. I also had to learn countless things from scratch, from the dimensions and workings of a guitar to using a jigsaw,” said Claire Kim ’20.

“I personally do not play an instrument, and prior to this had not even picked up a guitar. About half of us didn’t play the guitar, but now that I have a guitar, I need to learn!” she said.

Asher DuFord ’20 plays guitar as a hobby, but he learned much more about the instrument through the workshop. “I learned about the wood properties of a guitar, along with all of the technical and electrical innards that make the music possible. The density of the wood affects the way the vibrations are carried throughout the body, the level of the frets affects the relationship between the strings and the neck, and the soldering needs to be airtight to ensure the flow of electricity is unbroken. I now look at all guitars with more appreciation for the materials, tools, and stylistic decisions that went into their creation, since everything has an impact on the sound,” DuFord said.

A highlight of the co-curricular was visiting the workshop of Jol Dantzig, a master luthier from central Connecticut who created guitars for The Beatles and built Rick Nielsen’s famous five-neck guitar.

When guitar-building is added to the curriculum next spring, students will learn about vibrations and waves, resonance, electromagnetic induction, and AC and DC circuits. They will design and perform experiments to determine variables that might affect the quality of the guitar’s sound.

The hands-on experience is a way to

“I now look at all guitars with more appreciation for the materials, tools, and stylistic decisions that went into their creation, since everything has an impact on the sound.”

••• ASHER DUFORD ’20

get students excited about STEM and appreciate how everyday things are made and function, said Fenton.

“The big piece of tech they use is the laser cutter. With that, students can design their guitar shape digitally, cut a template on the laser cutter and then use standard woodworking tools such as band saws, routers, and sanders to shape the guitar body. I think the toughest part for most students is overcoming the fear of screwing up,” he said.

As a theater tech, DuFord already knew how to handle jigsaws and drills, but the finer processes required much patience and attention to detail. “As an artist myself, I became absorbed with the details of the design and the appearance and was easily irritated when something went wrong, which was often. I had to accept that I was new to the skills necessary to complete the task of creating an electric guitar, and I had to accept that my mistakes were not a reflection of my incompetence, but rather a testament to my growth throughout the process,” he said.

Fenton concurred. “All of us, myself included, learned a lot by working together.”

VROOM! Race Cars Next In the fall, Instructor in Engineering Michael Boone plans to assign his students yearlong projects that involve designing and building devices for everyday use.

At his previous school, Boone helped students build a prosthetic hand for an eighth-grader, an autonomous mini-vehicle that used laser-guidance sensors and GPS to navigate, and a race car simulator that combines virtual reality with real-life motion. “These were high-end projects that many students continued to work on in college,” he said.

Hotchkiss engineering students will also design and build a battery-powered go-kart that will be used to compete in the Connecticut Electrathon.

Last winter, engineering students began the first step of the process by designing aerodynamic body shapes on CAD (computer-aided design) software.

“My goal was to choose a car shape that the entire class would work on, then use that shape to design two go-karts,” said Boone. “One would be designed in the traditional way, using steel tubing. Once that frame was completed, students would create another design, using a software to create an optimized frame built out of carbon fiber. I wanted students to see the difference between the ‘old fashioned’ design process using the steel tubing versus the ‘new’ way, using advanced software and composites like carbon fiber.”

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CAMPUS CONNECTION

Keith Moon P’13,’16: 2019 Lufkin Prize Recipient ‘As Versatile as a Swiss Army Knife’ B Y W E N DY C A R L S O N

K

had no intention of settling down in New England after he finished graduate school at Harvard. He had spent several years on the East Coast, graduating from Phillips Exeter, then from Dartmouth with a B.A., and finally from Harvard, where he earned his M.A. When he was growing up, his life was far from provincial; his father worked for the U.S. Department of State in U.S. embassies around the world, and the family moved frequently, living for 14 years in Latin America.

Before graduate school, he had taught for two years at the Gilman School, a private K-12 boys school in Baltimore, MD, and the experience inspired him to pursue a career in education. While finishing his master’s degree, he heard that Hotchkiss was seeking to establish a Russian history program, which piqued his interest even though the School appeared to be in the middle of nowhere.

He interviewed on a damp, miserable spring afternoon, which did little to entice him, until he took a walk down to Lake Wononscopomuc. For Moon, a swimmer, the shimmering expanse of water sealed the deal.

That was in 1989. Since then, Moon has spent the last 31 years at Hotchkiss teaching an array of subjects, including Russian history, literature, and language, English, U.S. History, and Spanish. Since he arrived in Lakeville, he has coached varsity swimming every season and varsity water polo for nine years, and served as class dean for the Classes of 2003, 2006, and 2017, and as director of student activities for 12 years. He and his wife,

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Bridget, instructor in math, lived for 15 years in residence halls, where he served as a dorm head in Coy, Memorial, and Van Santvoord, and they raised their two sons, Peter ’13 and Stephen ’16. In 1994, Moon started the annual Hotchkiss Swimathon, which has raised more than $200,000 for CT Special Olympics since its inception. He is in charge of the Beal Lecture series and has led at least a dozen student trips abroad, including to Russia, Poland, Cuba, Argentina, Thailand, Colombia, and Puerto Rico.

Despite his early ambivalence about staying in New England, he has come to love the rural life and is active outside the Hotchkiss community, serving as a member of the Special Olympics CT board, volunteering on various local boards, including serving on the Salisbury board of education and Democratic town committee, and teaching courses in Russian history and literature at Noble Horizons, a senior living community — an experience he finds especially rewarding.

“When I taught Anna Karenina at Noble, I was simultaneously teaching it to Hotchkiss seniors,” he says. “It was a magnificent gift to see this work through the eyes of two sets of seniors — one at 18 and the other at 70 or 80.”

But his deepest connection is with the School, and especially with his students, many of whom he keeps in touch with long after they graduate. He learns as much from his students as they do from him. “I learn from the kids every day, from

“Always there for anybody who might need him, Keith is incredibly selfless, funny, smart, and engaging.”

••• ANA HERMOSO P’16 INSTRUCTOR IN SPANISH

teaching, from coaching. We have such a remarkable collection of students here from all over the world, and I have amazing conversations and moments with them, sometimes even just in the hallways at school,” he says.

Moon holds the E. Carleton Granbery Teaching Chair, and with his versatile and lively classroom presence, it came as no surprise to Ana Hermoso P’16, instructor in Spanish and 2018 Lufkin Prize recipient, that he was awarded the Prize last June.

The annual prize, established by Dan Lufkin ’49, P’80,’82,’88,’23, honors “faculty members of character, commitment, and skill who serve as role models to Hotchkiss students.” Lufkin’s goal in establishing the prize was to recognize those who “consistently demonstrate excellence and strong moral leadership through teaching, advising, coaching, and overall service to the community.”

“Keith is a great friend and colleague who, from the moment I met him, struck me by his dedication to the school and

PH OTO: WENDY C A R L S O N

students, as well as his professionalism,” says Hermoso.

“Always there for anybody who might need him, Keith is incredibly selfless, funny, smart, and engaging.”

Moon is also measured and thoughtful, with an unruffled demeanor, which makes it hard to imagine him on the dance floor,

cutting a rug to Meat Loaf, or spending his summers at Harvard, where he is the associate dean of the Harvard Summer School, a job he describes as being the no-nonsense sheriff of campus life. But he loves the temporary switch to a more urban, if sometimes chaotic, lifestyle — and the chance to go to as many Red Sox games as

he can fit into his schedule.

But Hotchkiss remains home base for him, where he has developed deep, long-standing friendships within the Hotchkiss community.

“Keith has been a cherished friend since we joined the Hotchkiss community over 30 years ago. His capacity to give is limitless, and the joy he derives from it is infectious,” says Caroline KennyBurchfield ’77, P’08,’10,’18, who is the director of community relations, marketing and development at Noble Horizons and also serves as the coordinator of student volunteer programs at Hotchkiss.

English instructor Charlie Frankenbach P’12,’16, who chairs the English department and arrived at Hotchkiss the same year as Moon, compares his multi-talented colleague to a Swiss Army knife: “equipped with so many tools with which to contribute to a boarding school community.”

“Note how he has moved fluidly between departments,” says Frankenbach.

“Fluent in at least three languages (maybe more?), Keith can talk about and teach the magical realism of Marquez or the worlds created by Nabokov and Dostoevsky. He can teach (and critique) the translations, or work from the originals. He has boundless range, and he brings energy to not only modern language classrooms, but also history and English classrooms.”

Head of School Craig Bradley adds, “In one of the many emails we received nominating Keith Moon for the Lufkin Prize, a nominator recognized that Keith cares deeply about the well-being of Hotchkiss — he puts others before himself, and has given so much of himself to the School as a teacher, swimming coach, director of student activities and StuFac, representative on Round Square, etc. He is also a genuinely kind person whom students gravitate toward and look to as a steady and compassionate role model.’ Those are the very values and qualities Mr. Lufkin sought to honor in establishing the Prize. Keith is a most deserving recipient of the Lufkin Prize.”

The ceremony honoring Keith Moon has been postponed until October.

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SEEKING BETTER PATHS

Charting a Course Toward Activism Abraham Keita ’20 believes in leaving the world a better place than he found it.

B Y W E N DY C A R L S O N

PH OTO: WENDY C A R L S O N

I

for Abraham Keita to discover his favorite place on campus.

It wasn’t the snack bar or the lounge; it was the quiet spaces of the library. Growing up in Liberia where public libraries were non-existent, he was astounded by the sheer number of volumes in the Edsel Ford Memorial Library.

Keita arrived at Hotchkiss as a postgraduate student last fall as part of a scholarship program sponsored by Leighton Longhi ’63, which provides an additional year of academic preparation for exceptional high school students accepted at Yale. With his wide smile and humble demeanor, Keita fit in easily at Hotchkiss, even though the campus’s undulating green landscape and Georgian buildings stood in sharp contrast to the place where he grew up.

Abraham, who goes by his last name, Keita, was born in a slum neighborhood of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, during the country’s second civil war. When he was five years old, his father — who was a driver for a humanitarian relief organization for refugees — was killed during an ambush. Since he stayed home to help his mother support the family, Keita didn’t start school until he was nine years old.

T DIDN’T TAKE LONG

By then, he had already become an advocate for children’s rights. Outraged by the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in his community, he took part in a peaceful protest, demanding that the perpetrators — her foster parents — be brought to trial. Soon after, he was invited to join the Liberian Children’s Parliament, which inspired in him a passion for advocacy.

When a boy in his neighborhood was killed by armed forces while protesting against the blockades set up to contain the Ebola virus, Keita, then 14, organized a march to compel the Liberian government to take responsibility for the boy’s death.

The march sparked a national debate and eventually forced the government to acknowledge its culpability. For his work to end violence and injustice against children, Keita received the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2015, joining the ranks of youth activists Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg.

He became a member of The KidsRights Youngsters, a youth-led advocacy and awareness coalition composed of recipients of the International Children’s Peace Prize, and went on to address the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates on the refugee

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“IN LIBERIA, THERE ARE AROUND 500,000 CHILDREN WHO HAVE NEVER SAT IN A CLASSROOM, AND 1.1 MILLION WHO WILL NOT GRADUATE.”

crisis and the importance of justice and safety for children. In 2016, he spoke to the UN Human Rights Council about child protection. Then, in 2017, while leading a march to protest the assault of a 13-year-old girl by a Liberian government official, Keita was arrested for criminal coercion and slander in Liberia.

“When I was taken to prison, I remember my mother coming to visit in tears and admonishing me. I told her the world cannot change if you’re too afraid to act,” Keita recalls.

But he came to realize that a willingness to act would not be enough to bring about change; education was a crucial part of societal transformation.

The impact of the civil war, compounded by the 2015 Ebola outbreak, which closed schools across Liberia, took a toll on the country’s fragile education system.

“In Liberia,” Keita says, “there are around 500,000 children who have never sat in a classroom, and 1.1 million who will not graduate. Even those who do are, at times, still illiterate due to inadequate schools.

When I was growing up, we never had any

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After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Keita joined the March for Our Lives demonstration for tighter gun control in Washington, D.C.

public libraries in Liberia. And I doubt there are any now. But I always read and was fascinated by books; whether it was an outdated physics book lying along the street or a damaged math book in the hand of a student, I saw books as the way and the light. There was this one bookshop in Monrovia where I would go, to just glance at books. It was a source of joy.”

He graduated from high school in Liberia in 2016, was invited to the U.S. to speak at an event on violence against children during the UN General Assembly that year. He returned twice, in 2017 and 2018, and applied to colleges. But it wasn’t until Yale offered him a full scholarship on the condition that he complete a year at Hotchkiss that he knew he would attend college in the United States. After clearing some immigration hurdles that delayed his arrival, he moved to the United States, where he continued his advocacy. Shortly after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, he joined the March for Our Lives demonstration for tighter gun control in Washington, D.C. When he arrived at Hotchkiss in the fall of 2019, he chose a co-curricular service project that included working with intellectually disabled students at a Hudson Valley farm.

Although his time in Lakeville was cut short when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the campus to close, Keita gained much from his Hotchkiss experience. Not surprisingly, when he could find some free time, he settled into his usual chair in the library, where he would lose himself for hours in literature, philosophy, poetry, or U.S. history.

“I learned that time is of the essence,” reflects Keita. “Everything I did was timed — waking up in the morning, going for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, homework, co-curriculars — each activity needs to be done within a specified time. Every night, I would sit in my dorm room and reflect on all the things I had done during the day, and the feeling that I had accomplished it all was exciting.”

Hotchkiss also gave him the opportunity to live in a diverse and interdependent community, with people from different cultures, backgrounds, and identities from all around the world. “This experience

further cemented my perspective on tolerance of different people and issues.

It taught me the essence of intercultural communication,” he says.

The biggest challenge for Keita was learning to navigate the classroom and course system at Hotchkiss, which was completely different from his high school in Liberia.

“In my country, including the high school I attended, I didn’t get to switch from one classroom to the other. No matter how many subjects (courses) I was taking, they all occurred in just one room, often in a single sitting except the 45-minute break period (recess) for lunch. After lunch, students return to their respective classrooms for the second half of the school day, which for most day schools is 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. But for my school, we weren’t out until 4 p.m. Unlike Hotchkiss, my school didn’t have a course catalog that students had to select courses from, and the fewest number of students in a class was 45,” he says.

Even though he had so much to offer the Hotchkiss community from his own life experience, Keita was known for his humility, according to his advisor, David Thompson, director of international programs.

“Since he arrived, he has said that this year is an opportunity to learn from

others, to hear their stories, and to witness them applying their skills and pursuing their passions,” Thompson says.

With his family thousands of miles away in Liberia, Keita’s instructors became more than teachers; they became his mentors, shaping both his academic and personal life. “They taught me to analyze and critique books: a lesson that I shouldn’t always accept ‘what is,’ but seek ‘what can be’ or ‘what ought to be.’ They inspired and helped me look for answers even when there seem to be none,” he said.

After he graduates from Yale, Keita plans to return to Liberia, braced with a renewed passion to make his country a better place than when he left it.

“I believe issues of human rights are not bounded by geography; they penetrate every border and every wall,” he said.

“Whether I am home or abroad, for me, standing up and speaking for human rights is a moral imperative, and I will continue to do so, even here in the United States. Activism has no nationality.

And as a global citizen, a citizen of the world, what affects my country, Liberia, indirectly affects the United States, and vice versa. This is what keeps my passion alive, the belief that we are one human family, not defined and restricted by borders.”

“EVERY NIGHT I WOULD SIT IN MY DORM ROOM AND REFLECT ON ALL THE THINGS I HAD DONE DURING THE DAY, AND THE FEELING THAT I HAD ACCOMPLISHED IT ALL WAS EXCITING.”

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“What I hope to teach people is that you can ‘look like a girl’ and still be fierce, and you can look like a ‘tough girl’ and be fierce.

Strong is beautiful, and beautiful is strong.”

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

A

Dynamo on the Mat B Y W E N DY C A R L S O N

Simone Straus ’21 is only the seventh Hotchkiss student to earn All-American recognition in wrestling by finishing fourth in the Prep National Wrestling Tournament last winter. In the process, Straus also helped to make history by participating in the first-ever girls’ bracket at the event. This spring, she spoke with Hotchkiss Magazine about her very first match, overcoming stereotypes, and her favorite move, the “Fireman’s Carry.”

H: In recent years, high school girls wrestling has grown extremely quickly, outpacing boys in popularity. Why do you think that is?

S: Girls wrestling has a unique culture of leading by example that has allowed the sport to grow so quickly. In fact, this is what inspired me to wrestle: Demetra, a friend from my former school, joined the wrestling team in seventh grade. The first time I ever considered joining wrestling was after watching her win a middle-school match. She has always been one of my biggest inspirations, and she is now wrestling at Princeton.

Similarly, at Hotchkiss, a few girls tried wrestling because they knew either Mackenzie Huang ’20 or I wrestled. It’s a domino effect that will hopefully expand until girls’ wrestling becomes mainstream and accepted across the country.

H: Tell me about your first match. How did you feel going onto the mat?

S: If I could erase all videographic evidence of one event in my life, it would be my first wrestling match in seventh grade. I had joined the middle-school wrestling team only a couple of weeks earlier, and I had never been so nervous in my entire life. My opponent was not even mildly intimidating, yet I sat in the corner absolutely terrified, because I knew I was about to engage in physical combat in front of everyone — and that was definitely going to be embarrassing. I ended up losing by one point to this boy with pretty much no skill. I was devastated, but that emotion fueled my desire to get better.

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PH OTO: A R I S T R AUS

Coach Cooper Puls ’11 congratulates Straus after her exhausting final match at Nationals.

“During my matches, I am completely in the zone, and I tune out everything except my opponent and my coach’s voice.

There’s something beautiful in that simplicity.”

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H: What is it about wrestling that you find especially compelling? It isn’t all about strength; technique and tactical moves are also key elements, right?

S: I love that wrestling is both a team and an individual sport. Team performance is driven by aggregate match points, but the outcome of your match comes down to you alone. I’ve always been hyper-competitive, and I distinctly remember my frustration during soccer games or tennis matches when a team member would not put forth much effort. In wrestling, when you’re on the mat, your teammates can neither help nor hurt your performance. You’re out there alone — no coach, no teammates, just you and your opponent. There’s something exquisite about the focus required to fight someone one-on-one. During my matches, I am completely in the zone, and I tune out everything except my opponent and my coach’s voice. There’s something beautiful in that simplicity.

Technique is critical in wrestling, but strength is also a major factor. This has been my primary hurdle in my Hotchkiss wrestling career. Even while lifting yearround and wrestling lean at 120, I’ve found it difficult to compete against men with twice my muscle mass. Even when my opponents lack technique, sometimes they just overpower me. Although these losses frustrate me, I focus on what is in my control: improving technique while making incremental steps in strength.

H: What was it like to compete in Nationals?

S: Competing in Nationals was an amazing, surreal experience. The arena at Lehigh University was packed with hundreds of wrestlers from across the country, with a jumbotron tracking matches across almost a dozen mats. As part of the first Girls Division at the National Prep Championships, I watched and wrestled national champions and members of the Junior Olympic Team. It was a humbling experience and a reminder that I still have a lot to learn. My dad flew up from Florida to see me compete, and my family watched the livestream online.

H: What’s going through your mind when you face an opponent?

S: Match preparation is just as much a mental game as it is physical. In the past, nerves killed my performance, so I’ve practiced techniques to psych myself up.

To get in the zone, I repeat Coach Puls’s words to myself: It doesn’t matter who walks out there on the mat. I can win if I wrestle the way I know I can. However, my match preparation continues to evolve and improve, because half the match is won mentally before the first whistle is blown.

When I step on the mat, I always have my first move in mind. During most matches, I experience tunnel vision: I see only my opponent, and I hear only the referee and my coach. I get in the zone in a way that I’ve never really experienced

H: What’s it been like to be one of just a handful of girls on the team?

S: When I began wrestling in middle school, the only other female wrestler had graduated, and I was terrified of how isolated I would be as the only girl on a boys’ team. That mindset — that wrestling is exclusively a boys’ sport — was not unexpected. Even when I wrestled year-round and won a spot at Youth Nationals, no one took me or my place on the team seriously, nor did they accept me as a wrestler or as a person. In contrast, Hotchkiss wrestlers embraced the possibility of a female wrestler. Meeting Coach Puls and the team was a huge factor in my decision to attend Hotchkiss. My teammates respect me as a person and a wrestler, and they meet me with excitement and motivation every day. This dynamic has allowed me to not only improve, but also to love wrestling more than ever before.

Last year, Hotchkiss had seven female wrestlers, which is a record for the School.

The team will continue to grow, and we hope to bring home more wins for all of our Bearcats!

H: Have you had to work against the “tough girl” stereotype of women wrestlers?

S: Definitely, and I think that has been one of the hardest things for me to overcome personally. In middle school, especially, I was not really accepted as a wrestler because I did not fit the “tough girl” image. Right before one of my first matches, a mother of another wrestler stood up and screamed at me: “Look at her! She’s weak — that is NOT a wrestler. Get her the hell off the mat!”

Unfortunately, I’ve gotten a lot of similar comments from kids. The most common reaction I get from boys is them looking me up and down, laughing, and saying there’s no way I’m a wrestler — I look like a girl. At first this upset me, but by eighth grade I learned to not let these comments

get to me. Instead of trying to put on a “tough girl” facade, I painted my nails hot pink before every match. I love delivering the unexpected to people who may have pre-judged me based on my appearance, like that mother or boys who laughed or pointed at me. What I hope to teach these people is that you can “look like a girl” and still be fierce, and you can look like a “tough girl” and be fierce. Strong is beautiful, and beautiful is strong.

H: This has typically been an all-boys sport. Did you at first wrestle against boys in your weight class at Hotchkiss, and what was that like?

S: Other than the rare phenomena of all-girls tournaments, I’ve wrestled only boys until this past season (my junior year), the first in five years of wrestling. I started wrestling as a weak, intimidated 110-pound girl. To me, these middle-school boys were the most intimidating people I’d ever seen.

I was equally terrified of getting beaten horribly and by the awkwardness that came with being in middle school and learning a combat sport with boys. But I loved the sport and the satisfaction of facing the fear and discomfort head-on. By eighth grade, wrestling boys was my norm, and the larger shock was seeing any other female wrestlers.

H: How have the coaches approached working with girls on the team?

S: What I love about Coach Puls and Coach Dittmer is that they coach us as wrestlers, period. There are few distinctions between working with girls or boys. After I won an unlikely match to earn a Varsity spot, Coach Puls explained that he had no reservations about what I could do as a wrestler. From that moment on, he continued to push me to get better. It’s tough, but I not only embrace the grind but also appreciate the fact that he won’t take it easy on me because I’m a girl. He knows that my gender does not define my success or my character as a wrestler.

However, some gender distinctions are necessary. For example, Coach Puls has taught me moves that focus more on technique rather than strength. Regardless of gender, the coaches are equally caring

and proud of each Hotchkiss wrestler in moments of both success and failure. They share those moments of celebration or frustration, but they’re always there to get us right back on our feet and focus on the future. I could not be more grateful for such supportive coaches and fellow Bearcats.

H: After Hotchkiss, would you want to pursue wrestling at the college level?

S: Wrestling truly has my heart, and I would love to pursue the sport beyond Hotchkiss. However, I’ve dreamed my whole life of going to a school like Duke University, and unfortunately, no schools of that caliber have a women’s program yet.

So it seems wrestling will have to wait on the back burner. However, I can already envision asking to practice with the team.

H: What’s your favorite move and why?

S: My favorite move is called the Fireman’s Carry. A lot of moves in wrestling, like the foundational Blast Double, require brute strength and are made much easier with height, so when facing much stronger and taller opponents, I have to look to more creative moves.

The Fireman’s Carry requires a feel for momentum and timing rather than just height or strength. It’s also a showy, crowdpleaser move, especially when it’s a girl lifting and flipping a boy onto his back. I love surprising people.

PH OTO: A R I S T R AUS

outside of wrestling. I try my best to maintain this focus and ferocity for the whole match, and if I don’t give that up, then I’m happy.

Coach Puls poses with Straus after the All-American presentations on the podium.

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‘He is Hotchkiss’ Math Teacher and Coach Extraordinaire Dave Bolmer ’73 B Y R O B E R TA J E N C K E S

“While I have had many incredible teachers, particularly at Hotchkiss, I have never had another teacher who was so invested and caring about his students in every aspect of their lives. If I missed a class or was on red card, Mr. Bolmer would call my room immediately to check in. If I did badly on a test or quiz, he might even know before I did.

“Coming into Hotchkiss as an upper mid, I had a difficult transition, and Mr. Bolmer was a huge part of my support network,” she says.

David Bolmer grew up on the Hotchkiss campus in the 1960s, the son of longtime math teacher Stephen Bolmer and his wife, Peggy. Young David enjoyed all the quiet pleasures of life at Hotchkiss. On slumbering spring days, he would regularly watch baseball practice or sometimes tennis. In the evenings, he went to movies, plays, or concerts on campus. It was the perfect life for a child with a lot of interests. Wouldn’t becoming a teacher after college and returning to Lakeville be a slam-dunk?

Well, not necessarily ... Bolmer took a little time to study the matter and to take some learning detours on the way to making a decision. As a student at Hotchkiss, he had especially liked his history courses. So, that was a possibility. “But, I thought, I’m going to be like my father and teach math,” he says. “It’s either right, or it’s wrong.”

“I liked sports,” he says, “but I was never a great athlete. As a prep, I played thirds football, basketball, and baseball. In my last two years, I played JV golf and was on the varsity basketball team senior year.

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Whitney Gulden ’12 remembers being in awe of her advisor David Bolmer ’73, instructor in math; he seemed to possess almost psychic powers.

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“Part of my job is to make it difficult, because the kids are so bright. ‘If you are looking for an easy A, this is not the course for you.’”

••• DAVID BOLMER ’73

“I always had good coaches,” he says with spirit. “At Hotchkiss, you were a teacher who happened to coach.

I remember most that they were enthusiastic. They were always out there; they always had a plan.”

After Hotchkiss, he entered the U.S. Naval Academy. “At that time, I thought, I wasn’t going to be a teacher. I wanted to travel and get out.” After three semesters at the Academy, he decided to leave; a career in the Navy was not for him. For a year, he took college courses and did odd jobs. Then, in the summer of 1975, he got a job working at a summer camp. He found he really liked working with the kids at the camp. That was his aha! moment. He decided then to become a teacher. Enrolling at Springfield College, he studied secondary education with a major in math.

His first teaching job after college was at the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA, followed by four years at Peddie School in Hightstown, NJ. Then, while teaching at Hawaii Preparatory School, he volunteered to coach golf at a resort course nearby, an experience that proved helpful later. In the winter, he was a diving coach at the school.

When he returned home for Christmas from Hawaii, he learned from his father that several faculty were retiring from the Math Department. “If you’re thinking Top: In the classroom; Center: 1960, in front of VS apartment: from left, brother Tom, father Steve and Dave, and brother Mike ’72; Bottom: Dave, in his Misch senior photo, wearing his Dad’s Navy cap from WWII

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of applying, now is the time to do it,” his father advised. The following fall, four new teachers joined the math faculty, including Bolmer.

For more than 30 years, he has been teaching his favorite course — honors precalculus. “It’s challenging. Part of my job is to make it difficult, because the kids are so bright. ‘If you are looking for an easy A,’ I say to the students, ‘This is not the course for you.’ And most of the kids like that, that it is challenging. We can have preps, lower mids, and upper mids in the same class, which also makes it interesting to teach.”

The holder of the George P. Milmine ’18 Teaching Chair, Bolmer has made enormous contributions outside of the classroom. The record he has compiled as a coach since 1986 is nothing short of phenomenal: 968-33722. As head coach of volleyball, he has led the Hotchkiss team to become Founders League Champions an astonishing 15 times between 1987 and 2010. His record in volleyball was 355-92 over 28 seasons.

As head coach of boys varsity tennis, he led teams in 1998, 1999, and 2015 to Founders League Championships, and as head coach of girls varsity golf, he led the 2019 team to Founders League victory. In March of this year, he was honored with the Archibald A. Smith Award for coaching excellence. The prize was established in 2015 and named for Arch Smith, a headmaster of Trinity-Pawling who led the school for 25 years. It is awarded annually to “a coach for lifetime achievement and commitment to the Founders League ideals of educational excellence, sportsmanship, and outstanding competition.” The description seems tailormade for Bolmer.

“David arrived at Hotchkiss in the fall of 1986,” says Co-Athletic Director Robin Chandler ’87, “and he has coached almost every season since that time. There have been 102 seasons over the past 34 years, and David Bolmer has coached in all but six of those seasons.

“David’s teams are known equally for their talent and success as they are for their sportsmanship. In addition to this rich history of mentoring and teaching young student-athletes on the courts and playing fields, Coach Bolmer is also known in the prep school ranks for his

Photo taken in November 2011: Whitney Gulden ’12, left, and Ice Lekometros ’12 (team co-captain), with Coach Bolmer

constant dedication not only to the various coaching associations of NEPSAC (volleyball, squash, tennis, and golf ), but also for his commitment to making sure that all student-athletes have positive experiences through athletics.

“What David has given to Hotchkiss athletics is unparalleled,” says Chandler, “and the legacy he leaves behind is one for the record books! He is one of the most devoted and supportive faculty members at Hotchkiss.”

In 2004, Bolmer’s commitment to his students and to the teaching life received special recognition when he became the first recipient of the Lufkin Prize, which recognizes faculty who make a significant contribution to the character development of Hotchkiss students. The School’s dean of faculty at the time, B. Steven Albert, spoke of Bolmer’s pure and uncomplicated approach to his craft. “Dave knows his

“What David has given to Hotchkiss athletics is unparalleled, and the legacy he leaves behind is one for the record books!”

••• ROBIN CHANDLER ’87 CO-ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

students well, and they know him. They know that he values honesty and that he is honest in all of his communication with others. They know that he values compassion, and he demonstrates that every day in his work with students, in and outside of the class.”

Alessandra Nicolas ’95 echoes this description of her former teacher, who, she says, is still very much in touch with her. “Mr. Bolmer’s friendship has meant a lot to me and, in a way, has continued to connect me to Hotchkiss,” she says. “He is Hotchkiss, he really is! It is special to me that for over 25 years I have remained in contact with my former high school math teacher and volleyball coach. Mr. B knows not only my parents, but my husband, my father-in-law, and, now, my 16-month-old son. As a matter of fact, my son Bronson’s favorite toy is ‘Baby’ — a Hotchkiss teddy bear that Mr. B gave us when Bronson was born.”

In the future, Nicolas hopes she still will be able to visit with “Mr. B” when she comes to Lakeville. And she will — Dave Bolmer has bought a house about a mile from Hotchkiss and plans to stay a while.

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When the Great Outdoors is Right Next Door

B Y W E N DY C A R L S O N

Finding Solace, Solitude, and a Bit of Hotchkiss History along the Larsen Perimeter Trail

went into effect earlier this spring, throngs of people headed for the great outdoors, including some members of the Hotchkiss community who had an opportunity to explore the School’s natural surroundings with the help of a new trail map. For all other trekkers, we offer this armchair hike along the sevenmile Larsen Perimeter Trail — no boots or bug spray required.

Created through a generous gift from the Larsen family — brothers Jonathan ’57 and Christopher ’55, P’82, ’88; and Mark ’82, and Chad ’88 — the trail connects the core campus, the athletic fields and golf course, Fairfield Farm, and the surrounding woods, fields, and wetlands. The continuous footpath highlights the natural beauty of the woods, pastures, and farmland, as it traverses Beeslick Brook Woods, Sucker Brook, and Fairfield Farm.

A hike along the Larsen Trail also provides a glimpse into the School’s deep connection to the land throughout its history. From the crumbling remains of the ski jump to the hand-built cabins to the pastures of Fairfield Farm, the walk through the woods brings the School’s past to life.

The trail first enters Beeslick Brook Woods below Sprole Field, a stone’s throw from Lake Wononscopomuc, the state’s deepest natural body of water and one of the defining features of the Hotchkiss landscape.

It seems unfathomable today, but during Hotchkiss’s early years, the School harvested its supply of ice from the lake.Workers cut great slabs of ice that were hoisted into a sled-like contraption and hauled by a team of horses up to the icehouse, where they were covered in sawdust and wood shavings and lasted the entire year. A 1937 article in the Hotchkiss Record reports that the School once used 250 tons of lake ice each year for faculty residences without refrigeration and for cooling water in the dormitories.

The School owns more than 500 feet of shoreline, and the waters are used for sailing, canoeing, kayaking, paddling,

PH OTO: H A R RY RO EPER S ’ 19

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HEN WIDESPREAD LOCKDOWNS

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and swimming, as well as providing an outdoor classroom for environmental science and limnology students. Over the years, countless students have been inspired by the shimmering beauty of the lake, among them Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Archibald MacLeish, Class of 1911.

Reading one of his very first published poems, “The Canoe by Moonlight,” which appeared in the School’s literary magazine, one might surmise he was inspired by this pristine body of water.

Crossing Route 112 from the lake access road, Larsen Trail begins as a dirt road and quickly narrows into a footpath as it passes Beaver Pond. In the School’s early years, before a proper sanitation system was installed, these wetlands were nicknamed the Stink Swamp since, after being handled by a series of cisterns and pumps, the School’s sewage gradually leached into the marsh. On the far side of Beaver Pond is an observation platform, built more than 30 years ago by a group of seniors and English Instructor Blair Torrey ’50. Over the years, it has been rebuilt; from the deck, you can observe kingfishers, herons, osprey, snapping turtles, and the occasional otter.

From here, the path enters Beeslick Brook Woods, a 200-acre tract of land that the School acquired in 1923. Several interconnecting trails thread through the span of hemlock, ash, pine, oak, cedar, and sugar maples; hidden among them are several wooden shelters that have been used for student retreats. Many of the original wooden structures were built under the watchful eyes of George Van Santvoord, Class of 1908, the School’s fourth headmaster and an avid naturalist and outdoorsman. He established the Woods Squad, then called the Woods Committee, a group of roughly a dozen students who learned how to cut firewood and build shelters.

Ranger’s Cabin, which overlooks Long Pond, is the oldest of the three remaining Duke-era cabins. It is also the best preserved, due to the efforts of members of the Classes of 2007 and 2008. Several other cabins and shelters were built in later years, including one named the Mars Hotel, built

by Grateful Dead fan Charles Whittemore ’77. When he died in 1989, his family established a fund to help maintain the

Top, Kiosks with maps have been installed on the trail; a totem pole borders a stream, and a boardwalk cuts through a wet portion of the footpath.

trails, bridges, and cabins. Other students from the ’70s constructed wooden shelters, including Terrapin and Shelter from the Storm, although the Ranger’s Cabin is the one most frequently used by the current Outing Club. Inside, the once white-washed walls and rafters are covered from floor to ceiling with names and remembrances written by former students.

Just up the trail from the Ranger’s Cabin, you can hear the cascading Beeslick Brook Falls, as water spills over giant slabs of limestone bedrock. Nearby, a totem pole made by Brodie Quinn, Beau DeBlois, and Ron Schruefer, all from the Class of 2010, during their senior year was recently removed from its original location behind the Mars Athletic Center and installed on the banks of the brook.

Above the falls, and somewhat difficult to identify, are the remains of the School’s quasi-professional ski jump. Hotchkiss at one time had its own ski jumping team, whose members hauled their equipment out to the Beeslick Woods, where the School had built a wooden set of stairs leading up a steep hillside that formed the jump’s outrun.

The sport seems to have taken off at Hotchkiss sometime after ski jumping was introduced to Salisbury in the mid-1920’s by the Norwegian ski jumper John Satre.

In 1926, Satre selected a site, just outside the Salisbury village center, where a more professional jump could be constructed. The jump was improved over the years, and the town became an Eastern ski jumping center, holding regional and national competitions and Olympic team tryouts.

Jerry Green ’46 recalls that even when he was a student, the structure looked like a rickety wooden skeleton. The only remnants now are four concrete blocks that once anchored the jump tower’s four steel supports.

Hotchkiss also had a cross-country ski team that held races through Beeslick Woods on the trail starting at Little Baker Field, below the football field. Skiers would race through the woods and then come out on the ninth hole of the golf course and back to Little Baker. The coach would go out on a snowmobile to set the course.

That sport slowly died away as the snow became less reliable, and the skiers spent

more time playing soccer and conditioning than they did skiing, according to former math instructor David Bolmer ’73, who, as a faculty child, grew up on campus.

As the Larsen Trail winds its way through the woods, it is possible to learn something about the history of the forest. If you look carefully, you will be able to spot remnants of stone walls, skeletal red cedars, embedded rusty barbed wire, old railroad ties, and a few large, old trees, whose form betrays that they were once growing in an open field.

The current canopy is almost entirely sugar maple — trees whose seedlings sprouted in the cool shade of the white pines, which

recolonized this site when the pasture was abandoned 80 to 90 years ago.

The trail eventually crosses at Route 41 and leads hikers up over a fence via a wooden stile, built by students in 2017, and picks up again in the far northwestern pasture that leads up to Fairfield Farm.

Located a mile from campus, the 280acre Fairfield Farm property has been a resource for students and teachers alike, who come to the Farm to get hands-on experience in sustainable agriculture. The School acquired the former Black Angus cattle farm in 2004 through a gift from former trustee Jack Blum ’47 and his wife,

Jeanne; six years later, the School purchased an additional 20 acres and four buildings on the Blum property, increasing the School’s property to 827 acres.

Today, the Farm supplies more than 30 percent of the produce and meat used in the Dining Hall during the fall semester, and roughly seven percent of the food procured for the entire academic year.

From Fairfield Farm, the trail loops back to the campus and cuts through the North Woods — an area of mixed hardwood and softwood trees and boggy drainage that borders the northern and northwestern property line of the farm. The Fairfield Farm Ecosystems and Adventure Team (FFEAT) and former art instructor Charlie Noyes ’78, P’03,’07, who founded and directed the FFEAT program for 11 years, established that section of trail in 2010, well before it was incorporated into the Larsen Trail system.

“We wanted a beautiful pedestrian route to the Farm that did not involve walking along Route 41,” explained Noyes.

At one point on the trail, his group cleared some hemlocks and dead trees from an area ringed by eight or nine huge, mature sugar maples.

“We built some rustic benches out of logs and named the site the Circle of Maples,” said Noyes. “In early summer, once the new foliage has fully leafed out, go to this site at noon when the sun is directly overhead.

It casts down into the circle a lovely warm green light as it shines through the roof of young yellow-green leaves.”

On this portion of the trail stands a magnificent white oak well over 200 years old, and a cattle shed (now known as the Beeslick Bungalow) that was originally built on timber skids, allowing it to be dragged by tractor to fields where the herds were grazing.

FFEAT students have since added scavenged windows, a floor, and sliding doors, making the structure perfect for overnight camping — or, like the older shelters in Beeslick Brook Woods, simply a serene place to find some peace and solitude.

Download a PDF of the new trail map from the Visit page on the Hotchkiss website.

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Dr. Augy Kerschner ’07, emergency medicine resident.

Inspira Health Network, NJ, working on the front lines

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HOTCHKISS HEROES From the home front to the front lines, members of the Hotchkiss community work to flatten the curve.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, countless members of the Hotchkiss family, near and far, have reached out to help others in their communities and beyond during this unprecedented time. Some are putting their own health at risk by working as medical professionals in hospitals, as civic leaders in government, as public servants, and by serving in the military.

Others are delivering small acts of kindness: home-cooked meals, words of support, trips to the grocery store, homemade face masks, medical supplies — whatever they can do to make a difference.

We honor and thank these heroes by sharing their stories.

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“Hopefully the rebirth of kindness during a politically charged time will be a legacy that endures.”

••• DANIEL LIPPMAN ’08

From our nation’s capital, Dr. David Yue ’89, a senior medical officer with the National Disaster Medical System was part of a team that boarded the Diamond Princess to conduct wellness checks before the American passengers were evacuated. At the same time, he was on a team in Tokyo tracking down hospitalized Americans with COVID-19 and getting them compassionate use treatment with Remdesivir. He then led a team that collected SARS CoV specimens from over 300 of the Crown Princess passengers quarantined on Travis Air Force Base.

“Recently, I worked with a small team of White House staff and the Health and Human Services Secretary’s senior advisor on developing and launching a government website for Telehealth, which is important for patients who aren’t able to see their regular doctors for routine and chronic conditions,” he writes.

Also in D.C., Alexandra HubbardGourlay ’17, a student at Georgetown University, has been helping coordinate a relief fund in her college community. “We put together a relief fund for Georgetown students affected by coronavirus to help them with the emergency expenses associated with being forced to leave the university. Our fund thus far totaled $21,000, and we have distributed all of these funds to over 100 applicants and given out an average of $202,” she reports.

Daniel Lippman ’08, who covers the White House and Washington for POLITICO, offers this reflection: “I think the crisis has made Americans kinder to one 36

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Daniel Lippman ‘08 (fourth row, left), practicing social distancing at a White House press conference

another and more empathetic. We’re all going through this pandemic together and want what’s best for our country. I can’t tell you how many messages I’ve gotten where someone tells me: ‘hope you’re staying safe.’ So hopefully the rebirth of kindness during a politically charged time will be a legacy that endures.”

Also in D.C., Richard Dana ’71, a visual artist, recently organized a largescale, virtual town hall meeting to address the impact of the pandemic on visual arts organizations and artists. His wife, Kitty, a senior public health advisor to the National League of Cities, is working on a COVID-19 crisis task force.

Katharine Givotovsky Birkett ’81 used to sew some of her own clothing during her Hotchkiss days, where she first tried her hand at making patterns. Living in hard-hit Bergen County, NJ, she put those skills to work designing a multi-sized mask with a removable wire. She has made how-to tutorials on Youtube, https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=CF9PCfF0HME,

and she is now designing patterns for other types of masks, including a mask that includes a clear window for those who need to read lips or need speech pathology services.

In the Bronx, which was severely hit by the virus, Tim Lord ’83 and Jason Duchin ’83 are founders of the nonprofit DreamYard, which has distributed over 3,000 free meals, partnered with agencies to deliver Chromebooks and develop tech support hubs, created a virtual classroom for 14 different art forms, offered paid summer internships, and served as the fiscal sponsor for The Bronx Community Relief Effort.

And in Miami, Simon Strong ’77 and his wife, Vilma, organized a food delivery of pasta, rice, beans, oats, and other staples and masks for a group of 40 undocumented seasonal agricultural workers from Guatemala who no longer have work due to the pandemic and whose children no longer had school (or the school lunch).

Vilma is a reporter with Univision, a Spanish-language TV network, and recently reported on their situation.

ON THE HOMEFRONT In Lakeville, Wellness Director Nancy Vaughan delivered personal protective equipment (PPE) and infrared thermometers donated by parents and students to local health care centers and first responders. Thank you to these students and their parents for their generous donations: Justin Han ’20, Phoenix Leng ’24, Stella Ren ’22, Jerry Sheng ’20, Oliver Chen ’22, Serena Zhou ’20, Rock Zhu ’20, Marcus ’23 and Max ’24 Lam, Mike Xu ’24, and Preston Leung ’23.

A shout-out to Michael Boone, instructor in physics and engineering, who made plastic face shields in the Class of 2017 EFX Lab and to the Science Department for donating 50 boxes of plastic gloves to Sharon Hospital. Lisa Fenton, Amber Jordan, Marcie Wistar, Marta Eso and her daughter Reka Ladanyi ’22, and Jessica Craig, joined Nancy Vaughan’s effort to sew face masks for the Hotchkiss community and and their families, and protective gowns for local healthcare facilities, first responders, and for Hotchkiss’s health center staff.

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Like hundreds of medical students across the country, Benjamin Ford ’11 graduated a month earlier than scheduled. Instead of beginning his residency in general surgery at the University of Rochester, he has been working as a doctor at Stony Brook University Hospital, assisting in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “These are trying times for everyone, and it is an honor that I will be able to contribute everything I have learned over the past four years in a way that utilizes it all,” he writes. Classmate Mark Cort, who graduated from NYU medical school April 3, also put his residency in neurology at UPenn on hold to fight the virus. Says Cort, “I am only a newly graduated intern, but I am willing to do anything I can to help relieve the stress other healthcare workers are currently under.”

In the small town of Gilmanton, NH, Tom Howe ’75 offered to deliver cords of his firewood to those who are in need for the balance of the heating season. He writes, “And believe it or not, there is a bit of Hotchkiss gear within the scene. Tucked behind one of

Hamasa Ebadi ’12 packs meals for those who are struggling.

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those ‘rounds’ is a blue tote bag, with School insignia, which I received eons ago and have long been using for lugging around my maul, splitting axe, and wedges in our woodlot.

Skills gained during three winters of Woods Squad have proven invaluable!”

From the front lines, Emma Rouse Myers ’10 writes, “I am an emergency ER nurse at an urban Philadelphia hospital, and I can tell you that social distancing works. It’s hard, it’s challenging, it’s upsetting, but it works.

Every time you stay home, you save lives.”

And, in Boston, Dan Jones ’82, professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, reports, “We have canceled all elective surgery in Boston. Getting ready for a surge like NYC. Our lectures include ethical topics such as ‘triaging ventilators.’ Appeal to all corporate leaders to change production lines for next six months to make ventilators, masks, medications, and PPE, ASAP. And please, everyone, practice social distancing.”

Across the globe, in Zimbabwe, Strive Masiyiwa P’16 has donated 45 ICU ventilators to be distributed to the country’s

public hospitals, which are in dire need of the units. “This is a drop in the bucket, in terms of the actual requirement, so I hope groups like mining companies, bottling groups, banks and others will follow our example,” Masiyiwa said in an article appearing in SyndiGate Inc. He has also been active in lobbying the African governments to work toward mitigating the impact of the virus.

From Napa, CA, Denny Olmsted ’60 teaches us of the value of reaching out to those who might feel especially alone during this time. “As I write this, our church, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, has been shut down for two weeks, and our services, including daily morning prayer, are online.

The shutdown has affected all aspects of church life — the choir, guild meetings, committee meetings, and classes.

“Concerned about the impact of the shutdown on our parishioners, our rector, Rev. Robin Denney, asked me to set up a group of 20 ‘stay at home’ volunteers to call all our parishioners at least once per week, some more often, just to keep in touch and let them know that they are on our minds.

People have been delighted to receive these calls, and they’ve been uplifting for all of us. We also now have a group of younger parishioners who will do errands for our older folk (me included).”

Hamasa Ebadi ’12 felt fortunate to have kept her job as a scientist in Los Angeles during the COVID-19 crisis. She and another colleague started 3.50CARES, which provides free care packages, including a full meal, snacks, hand sanitizer, and all other materials (bags, containers, forks, and napkins) to those families that are struggling. Each package costs them $3.50 and helps a person in need. Says Hamasa, “Let’s spread care! Search for 3.50CARES on FB or Messenger to get involved.”

Shortly after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Seattle, WA, Robert D. Morris ’74, a physician and environmental epidemiologist who lives ten miles from the first nursing home hit by the virus and just up the hill from the second, began publishing a blog, Covid-19 — Ground Zero, found at drbobmorris.com. Morris writes about the virus, its impact in Seattle and throughout the world, and provides useful information on how to keep safe. (See page 42)

Katherine Spencer ’17 and her mother, Haden Spencer, started “tip jar” to help restaurant workers in Crested Butte, CO.

“Amid social distancing efforts, we have been reminded of the strong community we have.”

••• KATHERINE SPENCER ’17

In Crested Butte, CO, Katherine Spencer ’17 and her mother, Haden Spencer, started a virtual “tip jar” shortly after ski resorts in the area were forced to shut down during spring break. “It is the most important week of the ski season, and people rely on that money to carry them through April and May. We started a website, where people could donate to a general tip jar or to their favorite restaurants,” says Katherine, a junior at Washington University in St. Louis.

All the funds were distributed directly to more than 210 restaurant employees who worked at 30 different restaurants. “In total, we raised just over $68,000 during our fundraising campaign and saw a total of 634 donations. Multiple restaurant employees texted us to say that the tip jar money was the reason they could cover their rent for the month. Amid social distancing efforts, we have been reminded of the strong community we have.”

Priyanka Kumar ’19, a Harvard freshman, spent the first two weeks home

from college in self-quarantine in Albany, NY. Cambridge was a hot spot for the virus, and Kumar didn’t want to risk the chance of passing the virus on to her parents, especially her mother, a nurse who works with the elderly and patients suffering with respiratory ailments.

Instead, she turned to social media to encourage others to stay at home.

“Albany has been hit really hard, and I have many neighbors and friends who have the virus. It’s definitely been a stressful time, but I’m thankful for the Hotchkiss community, which has been a support network for me,” she writes.

Kumar is also offering free online tutoring for students in K-12 in math, science, engineering, and technology.

Visit: Instagram page @thestemgarden or email thestemgarden@gmail.com.

Blair Sullivan ’17 started Virtutor, an online college tutoring company, and will donate half of the proceeds to Feeding America and Direct Relief.

Arhan Chhabra ’22 expanded the digital education tools he created to help students in villages in India to launch Project CoVidya (named after “Covid” as in the COVID-19 Virus and “Vidya” which means knowledge in Sanskrit).

Project CoVidya students are offered free tutoring and online education services through digital platforms. “Through my project, students who need help can simply apply and get matched to a compatible tutor for a free and personalized class,” he writes. www. appvidya.com/covidya

Arhan Chhabra ’22 launched a digital platform to provide free educational tutoring and online learning.

Nicole Morikawa ’21 started “responsible. together.,” a mask-making project.

Nicole Morikawa ’21 started “responsible. together.”enlisting volunteers to sew masks with appealing prints and colors to reduce the stigma of wearing them. She delivered more than 300 to nursing homes and visiting nurses in Connecticut, and made child-size masks and a video tutorial for day care centers to show children how to decorate their own masks.

In business and manufacturing, William C. Ford Jr. ’75, executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, is leading the company’s effort to manufacture muchneeded ventilators. In April, Ford joined forces with General Motors to produce 50,000 ventilators, with a goal to produce 60 of these machines per hour. Ford has also redesigned the device so that it runs on compressed air rather than electricity, which is in short supply at makeshift hospitals. The company is collaborating with other manufacturers to produce reusable gowns from airbag materials and providing manufacturing support to help expand production of coronavirus testing kits.

As the shelves at food pantries across the country become increasingly depleted, Douglas Ostrover P’16, a co-founder of Owl Rock Capital, is helping to restock.

The company has donated $1 million to Food Bank For New York City to assist with relief efforts related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The funds will provide meals to families in need, including healthcare workers in all five boroughs of the city.

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‘NUMBERS ALONE AREN’T ENOUGH’: An interview with Caroline Chen ’08 B Y L A U R E N H A R R I S , C O LU M B I A J O U R N A L I S M R E V I E W

C

work needs to be done to come to a better answer in the future.

AROLINE CHEN COVERS healthcare

for ProPublica, and while she doesn’t consider herself a “data journalist,” her reporting frequently draws from and analyzes large datasets. Since early March, she has been publishing columns about how reporters can responsibly use data in their writing during the coronavirus pandemic.

The key for journalists, Chen says, is to understand that data collection is a way to understand what’s happening to people.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

How did the ProPublica column start?

I was about to go to NICAR, the data journalism conference, to do a panel on covering the coronavirus. One of my editors said, “You should write that up.” The headline was, “I lived through SARS and reported on Ebola. These are the questions we should be asking about Coronavirus.”

I thought it was going to be limited to a very wonky audience. I did math in the post! I intended it as a guide for reporters.

Then we got a ton of traffic. So many people wrote to me. That made me realize that there is a hunger for this. Smart readers want a clear explanation of all the numbers that are being thrown around in the news.

First-person allows me to acknowledge parts that are confusing or contradictory.

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Right now, the public wants to know, “Hey, if I get infected, how likely is it that I’m going to die?” That is a super reasonable question. My job as a reporter is to explain, “It’s very hard for me to give you the answer.” And that is what I’m trying to convey as I write these columns — not only what available data there is, but also the process through which scientists or researchers or doctors have gotten to that number and what more

How do you toe the line between communicating what you know and pointing out the unknowable?

I’m learning along with everybody else.

To give you another very specific example: the question of how many people are infected. You have options, as a reporter.

You could just record a number. You could say, “There are X people infected in Y location.” You could also say “There are 50 people infected, but that’s likely an undercount right now, because there are not enough diagnostic tests available, so we’re only testing the sickest people.” You’re giving some context around that number — that’s already more helpful. What would be even more ideal is to be able to say, “And we’ve got another type of test coming along — antibody tests. We’re going to be able to start doing randomized testing in our population to see who has had past infections which will allow us to estimate what percentage of the population in this city or in this state.”

And then we really have to break that down into the difference between the diagnostic test and the antibody tests. Readers are smart enough to be able to understand, and they’re actually hungry for that.

“When we don’t acknowledge that things are confusing or contradictory, or maybe hard, we’re doing a disservice to readers. When I start to sense that there is a contradiction in messaging, that’s when I think, I need to write about this.”

If you don’t give them that context, one day, they’re going see a very small number of cases. Then, a month later, when you’ve done the antibody survey, they’re going to see a very jarring headline that says, “There are way more infections than we thought!”

That’s when people can come out and say, “We’ve been lied to,” when that’s not actually the case. We’re just able to measure something different now.

What are some of the most common pitfalls in data interpretation, and how do you avoid them?

I think the first step is to get to know the data inside out. If it comes in a spreadsheet, I always try to make sure I know exactly what every row stands for, and what every column means, and I want to make sure I know what is in the universe of the dataset, and what’s been left out, before I even get started messing with any analysis. I can’t say anything smart about a dataset if I don’t really understand it properly in the first place.

How do you train your brain to get beyond the obvious question to the question that is really going to give you a clear picture of what the numbers represent?

My first question is, What does the average person really want to know? And what are they going to hear?

The public can feel when there are contradictions. And they might not be able to put their finger on what it is, but they can sense it. There was this backand-forth on masks. People could feel that contradiction — why are you telling us that masks don’t work at all? But they work for healthcare workers?

When we don’t acknowledge that things are confusing or contradictory, or maybe hard, we’re doing a disservice to readers. When I start to sense that there is a contradiction in messaging, that’s when I think, I need to write about this. And maybe I can’t give answers, but I want to at least call it out.

Can numbers tell a story? How should journalists who are accustomed to narrative forms report on data?

I think numbers can do a lot to strengthen a story and give weight to a narrative. That said, I think numbers alone aren’t enough. The reason I’m pursuing a story in the first place is because of the humans that the data represents.

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Dispatches from Seattle

DURING COVID-19

B Y R O B E R T M O R R I S ’ 74

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Shortly after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Seattle, WA, Dr. Robert D. Morris ’74, a physician and environmental epidemiologist who lives 10 miles from the first nursing home hit by the virus and just up the hill from the second, began publishing a blog, Ahead of the Curve: Covid-19, found at drbobmorris.com. Morris writes about his life in Seattle during the early days and weeks of the pandemic.

OUTBREAK IN SEATTLE: DAY 3

Few things defy comfort like the piercing, grey relentlessness of winter rain in the Pacific Northwest. Add to that the fact that my son, Sage, approaches heading off to high school on Monday mornings with all the enthusiasm of a cat about to be thrown into a cold pond, and perhaps you can understand why, on the morning of March 3, I was unimpressed by his complaints about feeling tired and achy. I just figured it came with being 16. So, I fed him and bundled him off with his twin brother, Skyler, not giving much thought to the fact that, over the weekend, six people had died of COVID-19 within 10 miles of my home.

I wasn’t even concerned when his nineyear-old brother, Chris, woke up with a dry cough. It had started a day or two earlier,

when he was still at his mother’s house, but he didn’t have a fever, which was supposed to be a feature of the new disease, and he seemed as energetic and upbeat as always.

I knew I couldn’t send him to school with a deadly outbreak unfolding, so I gave him some juice, put him to bed, and settled down to get some work done.

An hour later, the phone rang. It was Sage.

He had collapsed and could barely stand.

Since that moment, an invisible virus from the lungs of a tiny bat has riveted my attention.

I had been following the unfolding pandemic since it began in Wuhan with intense interest. Ten years earlier, I had found the mystery of the first SARS epidemic so compelling that I wrote a book about it, The Twisted Helix (serialized on my blog). But that was pure fiction, a wild fantasy about

a teenage boy with two brothers and an epidemiologist father facing down a deadly coronavirus outbreak in Seattle. I never imagined reality would steal my material.

So, even when the first case appeared in Seattle in January, I assumed we had it under control. I took the fact that I had heard nothing more about it to indicate that there were no more cases, so there was no outbreak. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

What I didn’t know was that the staff of the nursing facility where the first deaths occurred had been watching with concern for the past two weeks as one patient after another developed severe lung infections.

They had become increasingly convinced that these patients had this strange, new disease, but had not been allowed to test them. Tests were exclusively reserved for

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people who had recently traveled to China, regardless of symptoms and regardless of the fact that the disease had arrived in Seattle more than a month earlier. Those limits on testing were about to have devastating consequences for the United States.

The US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), long recognized as the top agency in the world for controlling infectious disease outbreaks, had played a key role in managing every serious outbreak in the past and, based on my experience working with the CDC, I assumed they would be aggressively proactive in their response. In the coming weeks, I would learn that the CDC, with its scientists crippled and marginalized by politics, had become a shell of its former self, leaving us profoundly unprepared for the disaster unfolding at my door.

The first inkling I had that our public health infrastructure was in shambles came after I brought Sage home from school, settled him in bed, and called his pediatrician to see if he could be tested for the virus. The nurse told me they had no way to test and any testing had to be approved by the CDC. She gave me an 800 number to call. Nothing says phone-hold hell quite like a federal government 800 number. But it was my only choice. I called.

After 15 minutes, the connection simply and suddenly dropped. At that point, it was clear that all the hold time in the world wouldn’t get him tested. Sage didn’t have a dry cough, so, if he had the disease, this wouldn’t be a typical presentation. I also knew that he was in the age group believed to be least likely to suffer serious effects.

Even though there was no treatment for the disease, it was extremely important to know if he had just put all of his classmates, his teacher, and the school nurse at risk — and if his brothers and I were now at risk. Testing was vitally important and totally unavailable.

OUTBREAK IN SEATTLE: DAY 4

The next day, a friend posted a picture of empty shelves in Trader Joe’s as people began panicking about what lay ahead. Hand sanitizer and masks were disappearing from local stores. And yet, the America appearing on my social media seemed strangely oblivious to what was happening here, watching with the same detachment that 44

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I had felt watching the disaster in Wuhan.

Seattle had slipped into a time warp, porting us two weeks forward to America’s strange, semi-apocalyptic future of shortages and overwhelmed medical facilities.

State, nine more people have died. In all likelihood, more will die today. From the perspective of an epidemiologist, the most striking things about the response to this pandemic are the inadequacy of resources to deal with the outbreak, the failure at the highest level to provide a clear, coordinated message, and the lack of honesty and transparency on the nature and extent of the crisis.”

OUTBREAK IN SEATTLE: DAY 7

“Hand sanitizer and masks were disappearing from local stores. And yet, the America appearing on my social media seemed strangely oblivious to what was happening here, watching with the same detachment that I had felt watching the disaster in Wuhan.”

OUTBREAK IN SEATTLE: DAY 5

As I nursed Sage back to health, insisting he stay in his room and keep his distance from the rest of the family, I began to learn more about the scale of the disaster that was unfolding around me. I began to dig deeper into the emerging research on COVID-19 and was horrified by what I found. From the blog I started that day: “In the five days since the first COVID-19 death in Washington

One week into the outbreak, with the news reporting 14 new deaths in Seattle, I opened the website of the CDC, which routinely tracks reportable diseases, in hopes of getting more details. As I started to write, a friend texted me to let me know that a case of Covid-19 had just been reported at the nursing home at the foot of the hill where I live. This brought a new immediacy to my search.

What I found or, rather, what I didn’t find, only raised my concern. The CDC website stated simply that they were closed for the next two days and suggested I check with my state health department.

The Washington Department of Health listed 11 cases in the state (not the 14 reported in the news) and advised me to check with my local health department for the number of cases. I moved to the King County Public Health website.

“Eleven people in King County have died.

It’s important that everyone take steps to reduce the spread of novel coronavirus.

This is a quickly evolving situation and this site will be updated frequently.” This was clearly not up to date, but they offered a solution. “Additional updates are available from the federal CDC and Washington Dept. of Health.” In other words, as one of the worst epidemics in US history was taking root, the CDC was taking the weekend off, the State of Washington suggested we look to King County for detailed information, and King County was sending me back to the CDC and the State of Washington. And no one was as up to date as the news media. The circle of inadequate information was complete.

OUTBREAK IN SEATTLE: DAY 8

As Sage began to recover, my youngest son Chris’s cough persisted. He had no significant fever. No other symptoms beyond a runny nose. Ordinarily I would have assumed this was just another virus making the rounds, but these were not ordinary times. However, I knew there was no way I could get him tested.

Chris wasn’t that sick, but I already knew that COVID-19 tended to be relatively mild in children, and on the off chance he had it, I didn’t want to get it. Since the lozenges didn’t seem to control his cough, I decided to step up my game and headed out to buy some cough syrup. That was an education.

Target was packed. I didn’t make much of it and headed to the pharmacy section. The first aisle had been stripped bare.

I moved to the next with visions of a desperate search through the emptied drugstores of greater Seattle. The Big Box Gods must have been smiling, because there, alone on the naked shelves, sat the absolute last bottle of cough suppressant in all of Target.

Moving on to the grocery section, I found shelves that were equally barren, but far larger. I thought I was just running errands and had honestly not realized I was supposed to be out shopping for the apocalypse, which, I discovered, apparently requires vast amounts of toilet paper.

Among the advice floating around out there was the suggestion that people should stow away everything they would need to survive for two weeks at home. I assume the goal was to be prepared if you happen to get sick and require quarantine. This sounds like an invitation to the panic and the craziness I saw in Target. What was the scenario where you need this? You are quarantined, have nothing in your cupboards and either have no friends or neighbors who will bring you food, all the stores are closed, or the entire city has been ordered to shelter in place for two weeks, Wuhan style? I have always figured, when it gets bad, I’ll finally have an excuse to feed the kids that 40-pack of Ramen noodles and all the other stuff I over-accumulated at Costco over the years.

Chris didn’t have the fever that the CDC insisted he needed to be present to justify testing him, but I had become convinced

there wasn’t a standard clinical picture, particularly in children.

The cough persisted, and, given my suspicions about his brother, I called to see if I could get him tested. This time I was told to call the County Health Department.

Better, I supposed, than the CDC. At least, I would be stuck on hold and ignored by someone closer to home. So, I called. As I wrote in my blog that day, “I learned about [the woeful inadequacy of testing] firsthand today, when I called the King County Health Department about my son, who has had a dry cough for the past eight days, a symptom profile that could easily be consistent with Covid-19. After 20 minutes, a public health worker told me the only people who are currently being tested are those with a cough and a fever above 103 degrees after a negative test for the flu, people with known contact with a COVID-19 patient, or people with recent travel to China, South Korea, Iran, or Italy.

To be clear, I firmly believe that the Health Department is doing the best they can with the resources available. The problem is lack of resources. Hopefully that is changing, but disease prevention works best if it happens before the disease.”

OUTBREAK IN SEATTLE: DAY 19

The disaster has gone national and with it the shortages and confusion we had been living with for weeks. The Governor closed the schools two days ago, and after two weeks of coughing, I finally managed to get Chris tested, but only because his mother is a radiation oncologist, and families of health care workers were being offered tests without meeting strict criteria in order to protect physicians and nurses from infection. It turned out he was negative for the virus, but I still wonder if he wasn’t simply far enough along in the disease process that he was no longer carrying it. Someday I will get him tested for antibodies.

At the same time, a growing wave of patients was overwhelming hospitals and stripping them of necessary supplies. At one of Seattle’s largest hospitals, every single room was being converted to allow it to be used as a potential ICU bed. The local hospital here in Issaquah was so desperate for supplies that they had a sign out front requesting donations of hand sanitizer and face masks. The largest hospital group in the city was asking anyone with a sewing machine to begin assembling masks.

DAY 84: MEMORIAL DAY

OUTBREAK IN SEATTLE: DAY 11

The number of infections at the nursing home at the foot of my hill rose to seven people, including one death. This was the beginning of an outbreak that would briefly give the town of Issaquah one of the highest death rates in the country. The Governor has declared a state of emergency. Since I actually might wind up quarantined, time to buy food.

Over the past two months, I have watched as city after city endured the same wave of disease that overtook Seattle.

Now, on Memorial Day, 84 days into the epidemic, and 70 days into the shutdown we’re left wondering what comes next.

With people still dying here, six just yesterday, and another 243 new cases, Seattle may be better off than many other parts of the country, but the situation seems far from stable, and I am deeply concerned that we will see a huge spike in cases this summer. What began as one death in a nursing home turned into 1,061 fatalities with 19,828 cases. For the moment, we are experiencing a lull in the storm. What happens next will depend on our capacity for restraint, the courage of our leadership, and our reliance on collective wisdom and science.

To watch a special Hotchkiss Zoom conversation with Dr. Morris on COVID-19, visit https://bit.ly/2BT7pyb SUMMER 2020

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FROM

SCARLET FEVER TO COVID-19

PH OTO: EDWA R D VA N A LT EN A , H OTCHKIS S A RCHI V E S

HOW HOTCHKISS WEATHERED ILLNESS, DISEASE, AND EPIDEMICS

Wieler Infirmary sun porch, where ambulatory patients were allowed to read and rest, c. 1928

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MARCH 2020 Last spring, a chain of events unfolded that would, in time, create a significant chapter in the School’s history. First, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in early March, Hotchkiss closed the campus and began the transition to distance learning. By early April, students learned that they would not return to campus for the academic year. Distance learning would continue through the end of the year, and the traditional commencement exercises on campus were cancelled. Suddenly, the Hotchkiss community became a virtual community. It was a seismic shift, though not the first time Hotchkiss had closed its doors in the face of an epidemic.

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The following text and images were originally part of the 2009-10 exhibit, “Bearcats and Epidemics: A Hotchkiss History,” created by Curator of Special Collections Joan Baldwin P’03.

Hotchkiss Magazine has updated the history to include the COVID-19 pandemic.

W

HEN HOTCHKISS FIRST OPENED,

the invention of aspirin was still five years in the offing, and penicillin’s discovery was decades away. As the first students unpacked their trunks in the large, yellowbrick Main building, the likelihood that one or more of them might die from diphtheria, pneumonia, or one of a multitude of less dramatic illnesses was as real as their possible admission to Yale.

Ever-cautious, the trustees hired Dr. William Bissell as the School’s physician in 1892. A graduate of Yale, friend of Board President Timothy Dwight, and cousin of the School’s founder, Maria Bissell Hotchkiss, Bissell lived in Lakeville. Records indicate that he visited the School on an as-needed basis, administering medical care when illnesses were too complex for the School’s nurses. The idea that illness was an ever-present threat is clear from Headmaster Huber G. Buehler’s reports to the trustees, which frequently began with a report on School health.

Hotchkiss experienced its first epidemic in 1904, when three students came down with scarlet fever. Headmaster Buehler sent students home early for Christmas vacation, hoping that by the end of the holiday,

Dr. William Bissell

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the disease would have run its course.

Unfortunately, it did not. In fact, when pupils returned, so did scarlet fever, this time as a full-fledged epidemic.

Hotchkiss had no infirmary to isolate sick boys, so it utilized Cleaveland House, which, at the time, was a dormitory occupied by 13 boys and two masters.

Healthy boys were allowed to return home, completing work on their own until the School reopened in March. At some point in time, Cleaveland House became known as Pest House.

What Hotchkiss learned from this epidemic and the outbreaks that followed was that sick students needed to be isolated from everyone else. In February 1906, the trustees voted to build a separate infirmary, naming it after Sarah G. Huntress, a former matron, who played an instrumental role in advancing plans for a separate infirmary. Managed by several nurses, the newly-constructed, two-story, gambrel-roofed building offered isolation rooms, examination rooms, and a ward for less contagious patients. Located in what is now green space between Griswold Science Building and the Health Center, it opened in 1907. It remained the School’s

Dr. Harry J. Wieler

Infirmary — presided over by Dr. William Bissell, who was succeeded by his son, Dr. William B. Bissell, in 1911 — until 1928.

In January 1912, scarlet fever hit the campus once more, and winter break was extended. Then, in September 1916, the opening of School was delayed due to the polio epidemic.

In 1918, by the time influenza began its march around the world, Headmaster Buehler was an old hand at contagion control. With more than half a million people in the United States sickened or killed by influenza between 1918 and 1919, it is no wonder that he worried continuously about when the disease might strike and what effect it might have on the School’s calendar. In the end, Hotchkiss began classes before the epidemic reached Litchfield County, and with the trustees’ blessings, Buehler instituted a series of rigorous quarantine measures. These included ending all visits to anywhere in Lakeville, Salisbury, or the surrounding area.

The vast majority of staff and teachers lived on campus, making it easier to maintain the quarantine, and no one from outside the School community was permitted inside Hotchkiss’s buildings without the headmaster’s permission.

Writing to his good friend Horace D. Taft, headmaster at the Taft School, Buehler said, “I hope this quarantine can be lifted at the beginning of next week, but I am not sure. It has been pretty hard on the boys’ nerves, and this has shown itself in some dormitory restlessness.” Taft did not fare so well. By the end of October 1918, Taft had sustained 125 influenza cases, and one senior and one master had died.

The School suffered a minor measles outbreak in 1926. According to The Hotchkiss Record, on February 16 of that year, the midwinter dance was postponed because of eight cases of measles on campus; a swim meet was also canceled.

MARCH 1904

Hotchkiss experienced its first epidemic in 1904, when three students came down with scarlet fever.

In 1928, the School made a significant step forward in healthcare that would help control future outbreaks. Dr. Harry J. Wieler became a resident doctor at Hotchkiss. Wieler Hospital, then called the Infirmary, opened, offering separate rooms for students with contagious diseases. It is the last building on campus designed by Cass Gilbert, opening first as a hospital, but used more like a dispensary and for isolation purposes.

The new infirmary boasted an examination room, x-ray room, operating room, offices, kitchen, dining room, library, four single rooms, several wards, and two sun porches. Contagious patients were sequestered on the building’s third floor. Still known as Hotchkiss Infirmary, the building was dedicated to the School’s first doctors, William Bissell and his son, William Bascombe Bissell, while the Huntress building became a nurses’ residence.

Wieler supervised a staff of 10, including four nurses, a lab technician, and a secretary. Like the Bissells, he reported on the School’s health at each board meeting and guided Hotchkiss through numerous epidemics, including scarlet fever, measles, mumps, and in 1931, poliomyelitis. In 1936, Wieler and the infirmary received a new ambulance. A gift from the Ford Motor Company, it was periodically loaned to area physicians, since the Town SUMMER 2020

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appreciates greatly….Tomorrow many of us are going to the Governor’s new house on Pine Mountain for a housewarming.”

By 1955, Hotchkiss Infirmary was a very different place from the Infirmary of 1928. With antibiotics and an effective polio vaccine readily available, viruses and infections were not the dire events they had once been.

Dr. Frank Smith, who succeeded Harry Wieler as the School’s resident physician in August 1955, presided over Hotchkiss Infirmary when it became Wieler Hospital. Named for the former resident physician, it was accredited by the American Hospital Association. In 1956, Smith received $10,000 from the Ford Foundation, which underwrote a new X-ray machine, a binocular microscope, sterilizing laboratory, and updated physical therapy equipment. While minor surgeries had long been taken care of in the Infirmary, the Ford gift also provided a newly-refurbished operating room.

By this time, many students came to the School with health insurance. Now that the Infirmary was an accredited hospital, it was eligible for health insurance reimbursements, which undoubtedly pleased parents who were used to paying separate infirmary fees.

Like his predecessor, Smith was a familiar figure at football games, standing arms crossed, pipe glowing. He also continued the tradition of meeting with and leading

PH OTO: WENDY C A R L S O N

1911

of Salisbury did not have an ambulance.

By 1931, Hotchkiss was 39 years old. It had suffered more than its share of epidemics, disease, and, sadly, the occasional death. But the fall brought polio. Despite the best efforts of Dr. Wieler and Headmaster George Van Santvoord ’08, five students contracted polio, two of them brothers from Massachusetts who attended Hotchkiss on scholarships. They came down with what appeared to be a mild form of the disease after Headmaster Van Santvoord had closed School and begun to send students home. The two brothers were sent first to Hartford Hospital, where they were kept in isolation, and then on to Newington Home for Crippled Children, where they stayed until January 1932. At that point, one boy was transferred to the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, founded by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1927.

Throughout this period, Van Santvoord and many Hotchkiss parents raised thousands of dollars to pay for the boys’ hospitalization, care, and treatment.

Writing to G.V.S. in May of 1932, one student said, “Governor Roosevelt arrived last Saturday for three weeks of treatment and rest. With him came a staff of reporters, military aides and advisors.

I have seen him several times in the pool and in the sunbath. Everyone here treats him with the greatest simplicity, which he

NOVEMBER 1931

By 1931, Hotchkiss was 39 years old.

It had suffered more than its share of epidemics, disease, and, sadly, the occasional death. the School’s medical club. Known for his steady, cheerful spirit, Smith understood that in the regimented world of Hotchkiss, sometimes students needed a break as much as medical care. Judicious with the red card, Smith sometimes left those looking for a free pass on homework disappointed.

Smith also had a part-time practice in town, where he shared office space with Dr. Wieler. Unlike Wieler, Smith negotiated with the Board to allow him to spend a half-day each week at his former hospital, St. Luke’s in New York City. After the fall of 1957, when the School went under quarantine due to the flu, there is no further indication in the Hotchkiss Archives of epidemics that led the School to close the campus or alter the academic schedule.

A NEW CHAPTER: COVID-19 In recent years, the School has experienced several infectious outbreaks, from the SARS epidemic of 2003 to the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009.

But antivirals, newer generations of antibiotics, better vaccines, and the advent of computers have helped provide faster detection, monitoring, and the timely dissemination of medical information, said Dr. Jared Zelman P’04, an emergency physician, family medical specialist, and the School’s medical director since 2005.

But when COVID-19 struck, it came with a unique array of challenges.

“COVID-19 spreads quickly, there is no cure, and it is deadly. That combination led the nation to shut down, and also our community to make the rare decision to shut down,” Zelman said.

Weeks before the outbreak in Seattle began making front-page headlines in February, Zelman had discussed with School administration the potential impact COVID-19 might have on the community.

As the virus spread across the nation, Head of School Craig Bradley informed the community on March 20 that Spring Break was to be extended by one week, until March 29, with online learning taking place from March 30-April 10.

Then, as state governments urged residents to shelter at home and schools across the country began closing, Bradley updated the community that distance learning would continue through the fourth marking period, following guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control.

On March 24, School presidents Luke Kalaydjian ’20 and Maggie Ottenbreit ’20 encouraged students to show their commitment to keeping the Hotchkiss community alive online by participating in virtual All-School meetings, clubs, chat rooms, and events. Like much of the country, students were asked to practice social distancing, standing no less than six feet away from another person, and to selfisolate if they tested positive for the disease.

On April 13, Bradley met with the senior class on Zoom to inform them that commencement exercises would not take place at Hotchkiss, marking the first time in the School’s history that Graduation would not be held in Lakeville. Instead, a virtual Diploma Day would take its place — and a celebration would be held for graduating seniors when it was feasible for them to return to campus.

2020 The first time in the School’s history that Graduation would not be held in Lakeville SUMMER 2020

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Anne Sappenfield ’21, “Angel�

When Social Distancing Becomes Art During this time of social distancing and sheltering in place, visual artists around the world are creating work in response to this new reality. Hotchkiss visual arts and photography students have joined in the movement, and their work offers an intimate portrait of their lives during their time away from Lakeville.

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Around the world, the pandemic has disrupted the creative lives of millions of artists. During this period of social distancing and sheltering in place, visual artists are creating work that reflects this new reality. Hotchkiss visual arts and photography students have joined in the movement, and their work offers an intimate portrait of their lives during their time away from Lakeville.

J. Bradley Faus P’10, instructor in art and director of the art program, noted that the work of many of his portfolio students relates directly to sheltering in place, while other pieces speak to broader issues and concerns driven by the pandemic.

Asher DuFord ’20’s sketches interpret social distancing in Morningside Park in Harlem, capturing afternoon shadows across an urban alleyway and the stark form of a fire escape.

“Intimate portraits” by Katharine Moore ’20 capture family members in repose and contemplation. Upper mid Anne Sappenfield’s collage with an angel-like figure offers hope and inspiration. The work of Nicole Morikawa ’21 shares expressive experience through images addressing complex aspects of emotional, physical, and social loss. Junsik Ryan Eom ’21 offers quiet and introspective paintings about home and hope for a better time and place.

Finally, we are struck by a self-portrait by Grace Li ’20 confronting cultural bias and prejudice in response to the pandemic. “These works demonstrate the power art can offer us during these challenging times,” said Faus.

Greg Lock, instructor in photography and director of the photography, film and related media program, has been encouraging students to explore their own perceptions of the new reality.

“We asked students to document their immediate surroundings and the new living conditions they are encountering while they shelter in place. Some work is a personal reflection on family relationships, while some documents an intimate relationship between the authors and their physical surroundings. We ask students to recognize and then explore the oddity of their current situation,” Lock said.

Top: Grace Li ’21, “We’re people, not targets” Bottom: Nicole Morikawa ’21, “Restrictions of masculinity”

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Top left: Katherine Moore ’20, “Brother” | Top right: Junsik Ryan ’21, “Interior” Bottom left: Grace Li ’21, “Figure at Dusk” | Bottom right: Nicole Morikawa ’21, “What it means to be a woman”

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Clockwise from top left: Anaiz Robinson ’22; Gigi Day ’22, Jaysen Jensen ’20, Matthew Weinstein ’20, Federico Bentivoglio ’22, and Luke Johnson ’22

SUMMER 2020

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Clockwise from top left: Jiahua Chen ’20, Sadie Moulton ’22, Izhaar Rosa’22, and Peyton Wexler ’22

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BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Stay In Touch and Informed with our newly updated Hotchkiss Alumni app through Graduway!

During this time of global pandemic, we need to support and connect with each other now more than ever. For this reason, we’ve decided now is the perfect time to highlight and roll out the following new features on Alumnet:

DIRECTORY Find Hotchkiss alumni all in one place. Whether you’re looking to connect with an old classmate or looking for professional advice, the directory makes the Hotchkiss alumni network reachable at the click of a button.

FEED An interactive, personalized feed, designed with Hotchkiss alumni in mind.

GROUPS Create spaces for exclusive discussions, events, photos and more.

JOBS Your centralized area to post, or view, job opportunities and internships. Since this is a closed network consisting of only Hotchkiss alumni, the postings and applicants already come from a reliable source — fellow Bearcats!

Join Alumnet today!

MENTORING An alumni-driven feature to drive connections, opportunities, and employment.

Offer or seek to help make career connections, answer industryspecific questions, or simply chat.

To make an even greater impact, offer or seek to mentor, review a resume, or identify an internship opportunity.

EVENTS During this pandemic, we are not hosting any in-person alumni events. As we adjust to scheduling virtual events, we will share that event information here.

We look forward to the time when we can celebrate with you all in person again, and when that time comes you’ll find all our event information here, in one, easy-to-access place.

DOWNLOAD THE NEW APP USING THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW:

FOR iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ graduway-community/id1457549791

FOR ANDROID: https://play.google.com/store/apps/ details?id=com.graduway.hotchkissalumnet

For security reasons, your previous Hotchkiss Alumni App credentials have not been transferred to the new app. You can register as a new user by linking your Facebook, Google, or LinkedIn accounts or using your email and a password you create.

Once you’ve installed the Graduway Community app, search for “Hotchkiss” in the organization field. That will bring you to the Hotchkiss Community.

FOR WEB BROWSERS: https://hotchkissalumnet.org

If you have any questions or trouble during the process, please email Alumnet@hotchkiss.org

SUMMER 2020

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PARTING SHOT

Pest House This page taken from the 1904 Misch shows the construction of Huntress, the School’s first infirmary. Previously, students afflicted with scarlet fever during this time were housed in Cleaveland Cottage, which acquired the nickname of “Pest House.”

In 2014, the cottage was renovated into a small girls’ dormitory and renamed the Baechle-Ayres House.

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1980 1950 1985 1940 REUNIONS 65 1990 1960 2000 1975200519551970 1990 1945 2000 60 CLASSES ENDING IN 0 OR 5

Reunion Weekend, originally scheduled for June 12-14, 2020, has been rescheduled as follows:

SEPTEMBER 25–27, 2020

JUNE 12–13, 2021

Classes of ’45, ’50, ’55, ’60, ’65, and ’70

Classes of ’90, ’95, ’00, ’05, ’10, and ’15

OCTOBER 23–25, 2020

JUNE 18–20, 2021

Classes of ’75, ’80, and ’85

Classes ending in 1 or 6

We proactively made this decision to postpone Reunion Weekend to ensure the safety of alumni and families, as well as the safety of our Lakeville community.

With that in mind, there are still many unknowns, and this schedule may need to change.

We will continue to monitor the ever-changing landscape of this crisis and, with guidance from the State of CT and CDC, make whatever decision is in the best interest of our entire community.

We thank you for your patience and understanding!

Visit www.hotchkiss.org/alumni (Events & Reunions) for updates For more information, please contact Rachel Schroeder Rodgers ’09, Assistant Director of Alumni Relations, at (860) 435-3124 or rrodgers@hotchkiss.org.

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID

11 Interlaken Road Lakeville, CT 06039-2141 (860) 435-2591 HOTCHKISS.ORG

PERMIT NO. 36 PITTSFIELD, MA