The Pingry Review - Winter 2019-20

THE

REVIEW

student wellness Can a School Known for High Achievement Also Nurture Well-being?

APU ’93 TO THE RESCUE JUSTIN FRIEDMAN ’15 TAKES THE MOUND

WINTER 2019–20

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Doing Well While Being Well

In a time of billowing pressures on students, competitive schools are championing their academic success while simultaneously seeking to prioritize their wellness. But are the two really compatible? Eight members of our community weigh in on how Pingry is doing.

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Apu ’93 to the Rescue!

Pingry tech wizard by day, Emergency Medical Technician by night—the double lives of one of the School’s most revered, mercurial staff members merge this school year. Get to know the man who, like Prince, Madonna, and Pelé, only needs one name.

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Justin Friedman ’15 Takes the Mound

The former Big Blue Baseball standout achieved a major milestone last summer, for both himself and Pingry. Reaching a goal he has held since age four, the pitcher shares his path to the pros and why he also views himself as a scientist, of sorts.

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Departments

SAMUEL BENTON ’22

2 One Pingry 6 Pingry Favorites 10 View from SH/BR 42 Athletics 48 On the Arts 53 Pingry Creates 56 Pingry in Your Neighborhood 57 Class Notes 62 In Memoriam 63 A Visit to the Archives 64 A Final Look

The Pingry Review is The Pingry School’s official magazine.

Contact the editor with comments and story ideas: The Pingry School 131 Martinsville Road Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 gwaxberg@pingry.org 908-647-5555, ext. 1296

EDITORIAL STAFF Kate Whitman Annis P ’23, ’23, ’28, ’30 Development Director

DESIGN AND LAYOUT Aldrich Design aldrichdesign.biz

Peter Blasevick Archivist

PHOTOGRAPHY Camille Bonds Peter Chollick Osa Fasehun ’14 Bruce Morrison ’64 Dale V. Seabury P ’31 Maggie Yurachek

EDITOR Greg Waxberg ’96 Communications Writer

Edward Lisovicz Advancement Writer

Allison C. Brunhouse ’00, P ’31 Director of Institutional Advancement Andrea Dawson Senior Writer

Dale V. Seabury P ’31 Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing Holland Sunyak ’02 Associate Director of Advancement

On the cover Against a mid-November setting sun, photography student Carolyn Coyne ’21 captured a joyful Brooke Pan ’21 on a Basking Ridge Campus athletics field. This picture is one of many Upper School submissions for “Photo of the Month.”

On the back cover Sejal Patel ‘23 took this picture of a cross country trail in the woods behind the Upper School building.

One Pingry

BAC K- FROM-COL L EGE LUNCH

Margot Present ’19 and Solape Fakorede ’19.

Bailey Romano ’19 and Leonard Zhu ’19.

Brian Benson ’19, Christyan Jean-Charles ’19, Rashida Mohammed ’19, and Julius Smith ’20.

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Upper School English Teacher Dennis Pearlstein and Nia Phillips ’19.

Alex Strasser ’19, Aditya Gollapudi ’19, and Abigail Berger ’19.

Lauranne Hricko ’20 photographed the senior couches in the Lower Commons, also capturing the outdoor brightness, ice-covered trees, and clear, blue sky.

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One Pingry

at left :

The Candlelight Finale of the Lower School’s Holiday Concert. below : Students from all three divisions gather on the stage and in the audience of Hauser Auditorium on the Basking Ridge Campus for December’s Winter Festival, the only time during the school year when all Pingry students are together at one time.

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above :

A cross-campus adventure!

First-grade students traveled to the Basking Ridge Campus in late October for science and art lessons about chickens, taught, in part, by seniors in the Environmental Science course.

Read more at pingry.org/extras. at left : Basking Ridge Campus students participated in the annual assembly honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Here, Middle Schoolers dance to Andra Day’s inspirational song “Rise Up.” far left : Lower School students who visited the Basking Ridge Campus in October to support the Boys’ Varsity Soccer Team played their own small-sided games.

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Pingry Favorites

In Your Mailbox

Pingry’s Got Talent

Sheryl Chen ’26 designed the winning selection in the fifth annual New Year’s Card contest, for which students from all three divisions submitted their creative entries.

Depicting the Basking Ridge and Short Hills Campus buildings holding hands, her card brings to life different aspects of the School community, including Finn (the School’s cuddly canine). Most notably, she says, it is a whimsical nod to “the unity of our school.” Sheryl’s festive card was delivered to the mailboxes of nearly 3,000 community members, just in time to ring in 2020!

Twenty Middle School students proudly shared their unique skills in the Talent Show held prior to Winter Break. Clockwise, from top left, students present a Bollywood dance, play the violin while hula hooping, and perform variations on theme music from the television program The Office.

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{ HEARD ON CAMPUS }

My favorite part of Rufus Gunther Day might be the sense of accomplishment it gives. As high schoolers, most everything we do is related to working towards our future.

Finish Algebra to take Geometry. Place in Districts to play in States. Graduate high school to go to college.

Life is always changing, always moving; that’s what makes it interesting. At the same time, it is hard to find sources of validation or completion when nothing is ever really complete. Rufus Gunther Day gives us the opportunity to put aside our constant race for success and consider what we do it all for.” —JAMIE WANG ’20

Pingry students volunteered for 35 organizations on Community and Civic Engagement Day (yes, also known as Rufus Gunther Day), on the last Friday in October.

Here, Jamie Wang ’20 is one in a group of students who remained on campus to construct 3D-printed prosthetic hands for the e-NABLE Project.

Read more of Jamie’s “In My Own Words” essay at pingry.org/extras.

Creativity is sweet!

Pingry held its annual Cupcake Contest and Sale in December, when about 50 Middle and Upper School students volunteered to bake 12 or more cupcakes, three of which were judged in the categories Best Holiday Theme, Best Winter Theme, and Best Taste. Proceeds were donated to Goryeb Children’s Hospital.

THE WINNE RS

Kaya Lee ’20 BEST TASTE Lemon with lemon-zest cream cheese frosting and white chocolate.

Chloe Huang ’26 BEST HOLIDAY THEME A festive 6½”-tall Christmas tree, achieved thanks to an upside-down sugar cone covered in dollops of green icing and candy “ornaments.”

Alexis Matthews ’23 BEST WINTER THEME White cake and buttercream frosting, with powdered sugar to look like snow. To create the “snow globe,” she rolled a water balloon in gelatin leaves and let it sit overnight.

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Pingry Favorites Ready, set, decorate!

32 Kindergarten students, along with 32 of their third- and fourthgrade buddies, participated in the Lower School’s annual tradition of decorating gingerbread houses. Kindergarten Teachers Judy Previti (pictured here), Alissa Rust P ’30, Amelia Sarrazin, and Heather Smith Steinman ’93; parent volunteers; and Head of School Matt Levinson P ’21 delighted in watching the holiday artists at work.

Embarrassment for a Cause Student Body President Brian Li ’20 believes so strongly in Pingry’s annual Thanksgiving canned food drive that he issued a challenge to Upper School students: Collect more than 850 pounds of food, and he would shave his head; more than 950 pounds, and he would up the embarrassment ante and shave just half. A peek at the photo reveals students’ generosity—963 pounds!

Open House

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Over 60 members of the community attended this fall’s Squash Clinic Open House, which featured a free clinic for players in Grades 2-12. Several players also signed up for private and semiprivate lessons and after-school clinics. Pictured are Director of Squash Francis Odeh and a player new to the sport.

Thank You, Facilities!

David Fahey is with Anthony Gagliardi at The Pingry School.

November 1 • Basking Ridge •

At about 7:30 this morning at Pingry, four guys I am proud to call colleagues put on their wet weather gear and headed out to the World Cup Field and began the work of trying making it playable for this afternoon’s 2 pm state tourney game.

It had taken about 6 inches of water over the last 24 hours and when I walked it with them I was certain that we wouldn’t be able to go on it in just 6 hours.

See, the special thing about Pingry is that these guys know how much this match meant and these guys know how important that field is. Our season ended at Bergen Catholic last year, playing on a 55 yard wide by 100 yard long artificial turf football field, and they understood what hosting them on our 70 yard wide by 120 yard long grass surface would do for us by way of competitive advantage. I didn’t have to tell them. They pay attention. They know.

They pulled out all of the stops and all of the tricks. They worked through their lunch. They blew standing water, they cored and sanded wet spots, they set up temporary goals for the opponent to warm up so as not to destroy the visitors 18 yard box.

At 2 pm the field was immaculate. We won 4-2. We can’t possibly thank them enough. They didn’t do the work because they had to. They did the work because they care as much about the place and the kids as anyone else in the building. And they get very little thanks for it.

Here’s a massive thanks. Three cheers for the boys in blue. We could not have done it without you.

Two of them are new to Pingry but have caught on quick. Thank you Neil Spagnuolo and Walter Wright.

Two of them have been here since I played on that field, and not only do I appreciate them wholeheartedly but have learned as much from them as I have from anyone else at Pingry about dedication, hard work and life in general. I love to watch them work and I love that they love Pingry as much as I do. Thank you Anthony Gagliardi and Michael Janes.

HOLLY CROMER/ISTOCK IMAGES

This Facebook post by a Pingry coach describes one example of the Facilities Team’s hard work throughout the year, helping the School run efficiently and look its best.

The Middle School collected 1,410 pounds of candy during its Halloween candy drive. The treats were donated to several organizations in Newark.

Furry Friends The Middle School welcomed therapy dogs in December, giving students a chance to relax in the midst of their busy day. Read more about the School’s student wellness initiatives in this issue’s cover story on page 12.

N.B. — A fifth, and equally deserving of thanks, member of the crew was not included in my post, only because he was not staffed for work on the field on this particular day. I should not have limited my thanks and observance of their great work to one day alone, though, and I apologize for that mistake. Joe Parent, thank you for all you do as well.

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View from

After a December storm, students, faculty, and staff took numerous photos of ice sparkling in the sunlight. Adam Bauhs ’23 captured this scene, looking from the Upper School building toward Parsons Field.

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DOING WELL

while

BEING WELL 12

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Can a School Known for High Achievement Also Nurture Well-being?

8 Pingry Voices Chime in on the Discussion Students are living in an era of unprecedented turmoil—all-too-frequent school shootings, impossibly low college admission rates, the ravages of social media and its untold effect on sleep, attention, and self-esteem, to name but a few. That adolescent anxiety and depression are at record highs should come as no surprise.

Throw into this cauldron the high-performing, demanding environment of an independent school, many of which put great time and effort into ensuring student health and wellness. The apparent contradiction—schools as both the source and selfproclaimed healer of an ill—was not lost on the Administrative Team when considering this year’s professional growth theme: student well-being.

One of the five core themes announced in Pingry’s most recent Strategic Plan, the topic seemed an obvious focal point. But probing its inherent paradox also becomes a necessary part of the conversation: Is it possible for a school to encourage academic achievement and successfully foster student health and well-being? Or are the two inexorably at odds?

“It’s easier said than done,” says Basking Ridge Campus School Counselor and member of the Student Wellness Steering Committee Eva Ostrowsky. “We have to be really intentional. Ice cream sundaes in the dining hall don’t fix all. Yes, they do a great job building community and helping students to feel good in the moment, but we should also be asking bigger-picture questions like, ‘How many AP classes are you taking?’”

On the flip side, Mrs. Ostrowsky and many other school counselors, not to mention developmental

psychologists, will argue that stress is not always a steadfast villain. In fact, it’s critical to a student’s ability to problem solve, gain perspective, and learn “grit,” a popular concept among educators today. “Much of what’s written about this generation talks about how fragile they are and how they lack resilience,” she says. “It’s far too broad a generalization.

Finding well-being and navigating stressors in a demanding school environment are about finding a middle ground."

On both the Basking Ridge and Short Hills Campuses, Pingry is doing a great deal to tackle this thorny topic, from, yes, ice cream sundae parties, therapy dog visits, and “flex” periods to truly robust, targeted curricular initiatives, and targeted professional development for faculty and staff. How is the School doing? To find out, read the differing—and, at times, disagreeing— perspectives of nine different community members: administrators, faculty members, a coach, an alumna, students, and parents.

Pingry is by no means unique in its challenges, nor in its work to help students find balance. Its size, however, makes arriving at a shared definition of health and wellness— one that is embraced by all members of the community—an improbable end goal. But as these nine voices make clear, nurturing the conversation is every bit as important.

Visit pingry.org/wellnessandsupport for more details on Pingry's wellness initiatives and support services.

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ANANYA CHATTERJI Upper School Director College Counselor Mathematics Teacher

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P ’25

A

nanya Chatterji P ’25, now Upper School Director, was Academic Dean in 2013, when Pingry’s Middle and Upper Schools joined the ranks of a growing number of progressive independent schools and made the leap to block scheduling, the result of a comprehensive, three-year Curriculum Review. Instead of five to six jam-packed classes per day, each lasting 44 minutes (with four minutes of “passing time” in between), Upper School students suddenly had just four classes per day, 65 minutes each, on a rotating basis. The new schedule also allowed for built-in “flex” periods, giving them time to check in with teachers, finish homework, or relax with friends. The effect, says Ms. Chatterji, was immediate and striking.

“The kids loved it instantly—they were able to breathe, they felt far less harried. In the new schedule, they get a snack every morning, during their first flex period. They have time to talk with their teachers and do homework during the day,” she says. If not a total transformation of the school culture, the shift was, at the very least, a marked transformation of the pace of Pingry’s school day. Now six years into the schedule change, no one—administrators, faculty, or students—argues it was a bad decision. It has benefited everyone, says Ms. Chatterji. The breaks between classes allow for some relaxation, yes, but also reflection, she says, giving kids time to process and retain what they just learned, rather than rush into their next class. Moreover, the breaks serve as built-in lessons on

time management—get a head-start on homework, meet slower, softer start to the day. Students told me the first with a teacher, study for a test, chat with friends, or play week of school this year that they felt it immediately. The a computer game. Figuring how best to use the breaks is 8:30 a.m. start time really does result in a less harried arguably as important as the breaks themselves. morning—no one has yet said that they’re missing those The longer class periods also give faculty the freedom 20 minutes from the school day.” to not only have a proper opening and closing to their In fact, Ms. Chatterji cites sleep as a top wellness lesson, but to delve deeper into material and—without challenge facing Pingry students. Students, in turn, argue the nagging worry about covering required material— that teachers assign too much work. “My answer to the assign less out-of-class work. In short, classes are more student would be, what are you taking? Did you realize student-focused, says Ms. Chatterji. how much work those courses would be? It’s important to What’s more, with the block schedule, students have do your research. We talk to students a lot about course only four classes a day to prepare for—one of which may balance after Grade 10, and Reid [Cottingham, Upper be an elective—slashing their average night’s homework School Academic Dean] and I talk a lot to parents about significantly. “The fact that our second class of the day this. Our approach is very personalized and it’s very welldoesn’t start until 10:30 a.m. is incredible. In the old days, they’d be on their third class without breaks,” “There’s a badge of honor in saying you stay up late she explains.

Breaks throughout the day are doing homework. To the student who says teachers important, for a student’s mental assign too much work, I would say take fewer classes. wellness as well as their focus, and it’s something Upper School deans What we want is for students to do less so they can and counselors encourage. Thanks to understand their topics better.” —ANANYA CHATTERJI P’25 the work of a Pingry student, there’s data to support their approach. Two years ago, Ms. Chatterji advised a student whose Independent Senior Project (ISP) examness-related.” Which leads directly to a second major ined the transcripts of Pingry juniors going back five years. wellness challenge Ms. Chatterji sees among students: Those who took a full course load, without a free period— taking on too much in the hopes of impressing college the equivalent of seven courses—fared, on average, worse admission counselors. Colleges are not looking for stuin their GPAs than those who took fewer courses in favor dents who fill their entire day, she argues. They want stuof a free period (freshmen and sophomores take five coursdents who are interested in figuring out who they are and es, plus an elective; juniors and seniors typically take six, what they love. “If you spread yourself too thin, you don’t but can take up to seven). The research results confirmed get to do that,” she says.

Ms. Chatterji’s suspicions. “I have yet to find a student who Having been at Pingry for over 20 years, Ms. Chathad a free period their junior or senior year and regretted terji recognizes the inherent tension in a demanding, it,” she says. “The more courses students take on, the more high-achieving school wanting to also nurture student we typically see them struggle.” wellness. While she is pragmatic about the cultural chalGrounded in neurodevelopmental research, which has lenges at Pingry, she is also sanguine. “I think we can proven that the brains of Middle and Upper School stuabsolutely do both well, but offering students the prodents don’t begin to function optimally until later in the gramming—and the conversation—to make them aware morning, was the Basking Ridge Campus’s decision to shift of the importance of wellness is something we could do the start of the school day this year, from 8:10 a.m. to 8:30 better.” Understand the effects of an over-full schedule a.m. When considering the change, then-Headmaster Nat and the stark reality of college admit rates. Make wellConard P ’09, ’11 reached out to numerous independent ness a topic of conversation in all classes, not just health. schools across the country who had already implemented Educate parents; the lesson starts at home. “The more we the later start time; every single one reported positively talk about wellness with kids, the more they will value on their decision. Many, in fact, were looking to push back it, but we need to program an appreciation for mental their start times even further. At Pingry, similar to the well-being by making it a topic of conversation early on shift to block scheduling six years ago, the effect has been and not shying away from it,” she says. “remarkable,” according to Ms. Chatterji. “It is a much

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MIKE COAKLEY Middle School Dean of Students English Teacher

he single greatest wellness challenge that Middle Schoolers face, Dean of Students Mike Coakley will argue, is the very fact of Middle School itself. It is commonly accepted that the ages of 11 to 14 can be tricky to navigate. In a rapidly changing body, students must maneuver through an onslaught of social dynamics as they learn to become increasingly independent. They are pushing boundaries at the same time that they’re trying to define them, discovering who they are amid a variety of pressures.

For students, parents, and educators alike, these are trying years. “Addressing wellness in Middle Schoolers is a real challenge,” Mr. Coakley says. “But their unique challenges make educating them exciting—it’s the opportunity to guide them through it all.”

Indeed, guiding their well-being as well as their academic growth is critical, says Mr. Coakley, and he doesn’t see the two as mutually exclusive. However, he’s concerned by a creeping phenomenon that hampers the achievement of both: Students everywhere are increasingly viewing themselves as assets for schools, colleges, and, later, companies and businesses to invest in. Much of their energy, he argues—getting good grades, participating in numerous clubs and extracurriculars, and the like—is geared toward making themselves more attractive for these “investors.”

Case in point: At a recent Middle School student-led conference, a sixth-grader identified admission into a prestigious college as his primary goal. Combating this tendency to look ever forward, these conferences, instituted three years ago, ask students to reflect on the here and now, to set timely, achievable goals, and to learn from their successes as well as their missteps.

“We risk equating school only with work, which feeds into this idea that the end goal is to build capital,” says Mr. Coakley. “Not just at Pingry, but nationally, we need to reimagine the idea of school as something else entirely.”

Achievement, he says, should be defined more by effort and growth, and yes, failure and its aftermath. “We need to normalize vulnerability and failure, while maintaining the altitude of our expectations.”

Thanks to several new initiatives, the Middle School is striving to do just that. For starters, a Homework Committee comprised of 11 teachers was assembled this school year, at the suggestion of Middle School Director Laurie 16

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Piette and chaired by Middle School Academic Dean Allen Thomas. Meeting regularly, they use the dedicated time to review current homework research, peer schools’ policies, and student and community feedback to get a better understanding of how faculty practices reflect Pingry’s Mission Statement and Strategic Plan.

Another new undertaking is a change in the Middle School’s disciplinary approach. As a more effective use of their time, students in “detention” respond to a letter from Mr. Coakley, asking them to reflect on their actions in light of the Honor Code. Once finished, they engage in an extended conversation with him—they discuss the infraction, how they can make better decisions moving forward, and what efforts they can take to restore any hurt they may have caused. Purposeful, thoughtful discipline, the idea goes, is likely to result in real growth and behavioral change.

Also new this year is the implementation of a program geared at positive social media use, called #winatsocial. In tandem with lesson plans from Common Sense Education, it teaches students strategies for leading healthy social media lives. Questions run the gamut: What’s the humblest way to “brag” on social media? In what ways do companies weaponize advertising and how can you differentiate between a sponsored online article and a research article? How permanent is the content you share? If someone asks you to share an explicit photo, what are your options? What are the ramifications? “It would be disempowering to tell kids to get off social media altogether,” says Mr. Coakley of the program.

“We’re trying to equip them with helpful information, like with the content of any other course, in order to use it wisely.

It’s the first year we’re focusing to this extent on using social media in an informed way to help students understand the stakes, the consequences, and the benefits.”

Addressing another weighty Middle School topic— boundary setting—the School invited Prepare Inc. to work with sixth-grade students this year, for the first time. Using an age-appropriate curriculum and role-playing strategies, the organization teaches kids how to set personal boundaries—for example, what words to use to diffuse an uncomfortable or dangerous situation, how to report it to an adult, the basics of self-defense, and how to say no.

Mr. Coakley is proud of these new undertakings and the fact that they augment an already robust, daily advisory program. A mainstay of the Middle School, advisory is a space for important, non-academic conversations, following a structured, grade-specific curriculum—for Grade 6, it’s “kindness and community”; Grade 7 focuses on “leadership”; and Grade 8 explores the question, “What do you stand for?”

While the Middle School’s new and existing programming does a great deal to address student well-being,

“All of our wellness initiatives are important, but we’ve got our work cut out for us. Even as we work to create a space in which students aren’t feeling any unhealthy stress from the Pingry community, we’re still nested within a larger culture that has its own pressures.”

—MIKE COAKLEY

Mr. Coakley says the work is ongoing, and much remains. In particular, he points to the School’s diversity and inclusion efforts.

“Inclusion and wellness are not separate.

They’re inextricably intertwined,” he says.

“Additionally, we want students to have at least one adult in the community—a teacher, advisor, coach—that they can turn to for anything. Just one person can make all the difference to a student feeling safe and heard.”

But, he adds, “In order for students to feel that way, we as teachers need to be willing to make ourselves more human and vulnerable.”

Still, from Mr. Coakley’s vantage point, their efforts are resonating with kids and making an impact. “I think that the students are very appreciative of these wellness initiatives overall,” he says.

“The trick, moving forward, is to thread the spirit of these initiatives into every classroom, conversation, and co-curricular, into the very fabric of the Middle School.”

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“I like that I’m not stuck in a classroom all day long. The movable furniture in the collaboration spaces and open areas, where I can work independently, helps me to stay focused.”

JORDAN BALMIR ’27

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best / Is not what you expected / Don’t feel bad, / It was still he Lower School’s newly installed gaga pit your best / Be proud you tried at all.” is Jordan Balmir’s favorite recess activity. And Decisions classes, along with other Lower School classes, recess, he says, is one of his favorite parts of the are, on occasion, held in the School’s garden or the courtyard, school day. The 20 minutes after lunch during which was renovated with this class in mind. Students are which he and his fellow fifth-grade classmates encouraged to pick their own seat—perhaps a bench or tree are free to romp around the Short Hills Campus stump—and the class begins with a series of short relaxation playground are a cherished time. So are the 50 minutes of or meditation exercises (mindfulness has also been used in P.E. class they have every day. Though they are perennially the classroom, to help calm and focus kids before a rigorous prized among kids, these are far from the only wellness-relesson or test). Jordan has enjoyed the experience. He also lated activities for Lower School students. finds Conference Period (CP)—a “free” period for Grades 4 On a curricular level, Decisions is a K-5, once-a-cycle and 5 students to work or check in with teachers—a helpful class, launched in the early 1990s by the Lower School’s stress-reliever. “I get to spend one-on-one time with my first social worker, Jean Knee. It is intended to address an teachers to better understand the day’s class work. Somearray of health, wellness, and safety topics, and is calibrattimes, I get to do my homework, too, so I don’t have to worry ed to students’ grade levels. For Grade 5 students, whose about it at home,” he says. Among his bits of advice for rising workload is increasing as they prepare to transition to the fifth graders, which includes never sneaking a soda from the Middle School, the first semester of the class is dedicated to dining hall (“Those are in the corner for the teachers only”) learning organizational skills—how to track assignments, and never falling asleep in class, he adds, “Have a plan for CP. plan, manage time, and initiate tasks. Cultural competency, If you don’t, you will fool around and fall behind.” communication skills and styles, problem solving, conflict When Jordan has a test, he often asks his parents to resolution, and stress management techniques, among take him to school early so that he can chat with his teacher other subjects, are covered in the second semester. Real-life or take some extra time to study, another strategy that he scenarios, like navigating common friendship challenges, learned from his Decisions class. And, if necessary, he knows bullying, and issues surrounding personal safety are frethat Dr. Johns, Ms. Killian, and Mrs. Perlow’s doors are quently used as meaningful examples and points of disalways open should he want to talk. cussion. According to Lower School Counselor Dr. Alyssa Jordan likes to refresh his brain every morning, he says, Johns, Lower School Assistant Director of Student Life Julie so he’s ready for school. His locker is at the end of the Grade 5 Perlow P ’20, and Lower School Assistant Director of Acacorridor, and he loves that he’s able to walk by all his friends demics Bridget Killian, all of whom teach the class, Jordan is every morning and say hi to them. It’s a good feeling, he a very engaged, thoughtful participant. says. What does he enjoy most about being a Pingry Lower “This class is not like other classes. It’s a time to relax, Schooler? “Doing my work, having friends, and being the but also to work and learn—it’s like a non-stressful class,” he oldest grade in the school. Once I get to sixth grade, it’s going says. He talks about the “Who Am I?” project they worked on to be like Kindergarten again!” in the fall, a result of their discussion about cultural norms.

Through both a photo and a poem, students were asked to share a bit about themselves with the grade—what is important to them, what represents their “As part of the Lower School culture, we want our true selves. Afterward, they gathered with their buddy class (Grade 5 classes students to lay the foundation for their educational are paired with a Kindergarten “buddy” futures—learn to problem solve, collaborate, and class) to celebrate their creations and think critically. But we also want them to think watch a photo slideshow of all the pictures. Jordan’s selected photo was from independently, discover who they are, and feel his seventh birthday, in his backyard, supported, healthy, and confident. These are lofty when he and his younger brother, Chrisgoals, but by equipping them with the right tools tian ’28, donned costumes for fun. He couldn’t decide between an Army or and wellness resources, and remaining open to new Transformer outfit, so he wore both. His ideas, we are doing our best to help them get there.” poem depicted his drive to always try —JULIE PERLOW P ’20, LOWER SCHOOL ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF STUDENT his best and was inspired by a poem by LIFE, STUDENT WELLNESS STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER Matty Angel that he used to read when he was younger: “. . . And if you feel your THE PINGRY REVIEW | WINTER 2019–20

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CAROLINE SCHUESSLER ’20 aroline Schuessler ’20 was already more attentive to health and wellness than most 15-year-olds, but when her mom was diagnosed with cancer her freshman year, its importance was accentuated, for both her and her family.

In August 2018, Caroline began working at a yoga studio in Bernardsville twice a week after school, plus Sunday mornings. A year ago, she and her mom, who is cancer-free after treatment, began taking classes together once a week, a routine she values. “It’s something we do together and look forward to every week,” she shares. “In yoga, you focus on physical wellness, but also mental wellness, reflecting on yourself and what you feel inside.” This reflection time is important to Caroline, who says that Pingry can be stressful at times. Conversation, even during flex periods, she remarks, often centers around schoolwork. “A common topic will be how stressed out you are about this or that class or test. I think stress is just so integrated into our community.”

She cites a lack of sleep and workload, which, for most high schoolers, are insidiously entwined, as being the most significant wellness factors facing Pingry students. On Tuesdays and Thursdays from October through March (she plays tennis in the fall and lacrosse in the spring), Caroline goes directly to work at the yoga studio after school, returns home at 9:00 p.m., eats dinner, and starts her homework (which includes one AP class and three Honors classes), though she tries to sneak in as much work as she can during flex and Conference Periods, she says. She also babysits her young cousins several times a week.

Most nights, she’s in bed by 11:30 p.m., and wakes by 6:30 a.m. to get to school (she leaves her house at 7:30 a.m.). She was pleased about the later, 8:30 a.m. start time to the school day this year, but found that, given traffic, it didn’t provide her with as much extra time as she was anticipating. Friends who live closer to campus, like in Warren or Watchung, she shares, have found it more helpful.

Not wishing to be a silent participant in the pressures she sees and experiences at the School, Caroline took action. Last year, she and three friends—Sofia Lombardo ’20, Rylie Drozjock ’20, and Eve Gilbert ’20—set out to launch the Upper School’s first-ever Student Wellness Club, bringing attention to a serious high school topic that, she feels, isn’t discussed

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“I like the fact that, at Pingry, the schedule switches up every day to give students variety . . .

I also love the flex periods; they help to relieve stress and give us time to get work done or see teachers for help.”

—CAROLINE SCHUESSLER ’20

enough—or, at least, not in a meaningful way. The club’s initiatives thus far have included a nature walk along the School’s campus trails (another is planned for next spring), an ice cream bar during finals (a second is planned for seniors this year, once all their college applications are complete), and visits from therapy dogs, whose simple presence serves as a stress reliever for students. At the suggestion of Dr. Adam Rosen, a School Counselor on the Basking Ridge Campus, in the fall of 2018 she also helped to organize a group of Pingry students, faculty, and staff in an “Out of the Darkness” community walk at Stevens Institute of Technology, hosted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. And before Thanksgiving this year and last, she and fellow club founders erected a giant “What Are You Thankful For?” billboard in the Upper Commons, allowing students, faculty, and staff alike to take a moment to consider who and what makes them happy, and to add post-it notes expressing their gratitude.

Inspired by a Netflix series with Jerry Seinfeld called Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Caroline and Club members are contemplating their own spin—“Teachers in Classrooms & Golf Carts Getting Coffee”—a series of short video interviews with faculty to get their perspective on a range of wellness issues.

While she acknowledges the School’s efforts to address student wellness, like the new 8:30 a.m. start to the school day and flex periods sprinkled in, she thinks

Pingry could do more, like teachers communicating better with one another and staggering big tests or assignments, which she says often seem to fall at the same time.

Additionally, she questions why this year’s professional growth theme for faculty and staff—student well-being—wasn’t shared with students in any official way, or used as a catalyst for dialogue. “I don’t even know if students are aware of it. Other than in the Student Wellness Club, there’s no real, open conversation about this year’s theme or wellness issues overall,” she says. “I think the School could make it more a part of the discussion. I don’t think a lot of students really address their feelings of stress; if they were able to talk more about it, that would be good.”

When asked if an Upper School that is clearly high-achieving and demanding can also successfully nurture wellness among its students, Caroline’s response echoes her advocacy mindset. “For us to be successful in integrating wellness into the community, I think there would need to be an overall change of attitude in students in order to create a more positive, comfortable learning and growing environment. The culture is very oriented around school work, and, especially for seniors, it can be hard to focus on anything else. I think it’s possible, but I don’t think that we are achieving that right now.”

Caroline says she’s committed to partnering with adults in the community to generate and sustain the conversation at Pingry. Student wellness—and life wellness—is a subject close to her heart; it featured prominently in several of her college application supplements, and she plans to continue championing its importance in college. And she hopes the Student Wellness Club continues well beyond her graduation.

“I think, when looking back on high school, we’ll realize that a lot of the things that we were super wrapped up in aren’t actually that big of a deal in the long term,” she says.

“There’s a lot you can do to cope with stressful situations and make your high school experience more enjoyable.”

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CATHARINE AND EDWARD LAPUMA P ’29 “Our students face the same fitness and nutrition challenges as adults: finding time to exercise and making healthy food choices. Pingry has taken steps to address both of these—longer Greig Center hours and healthier food choices at lunch—which are critical.

If we’re trying to encourage in students a high level of academic achievement and athletic performance and appreciation for overall wellness, we have to teach them how to take care of themselves, and provide the resources to do so.”

—DOUG SCOTT, DIRECTOR OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING; PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER , STUDENT WELLNESS STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER

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atharine and Edward LaPuma P ’29 are the parents of a third-grade student who they say puts a lot of pressure on himself, becomes stressed by Pingry’s academic demands, and is involved with multiple extracurricular activities.

“The transition from Grade 2 to Grade 3 is substantial, with more homework and other responsibilities—even teachers and administrators acknowledge it. The balancing act increases, but nobody wants their kids to ‘pop,’” Mr. LaPuma says. Acknowledging their child’s experience, Mr. and Mrs. LaPuma have encouraged their son to advocate for himself and—equally important—have been pleased with the teachers’ responsiveness to their family’s concerns, coming up with plans to alleviate stress.

“At times, our son has had multiple after-school activities and has been comfortable telling his teachers he doesn’t know how he’ll get all his homework done,” Mrs. LaPuma says, grateful that teachers have been flexible and helped him prioritize. “No, it can’t happen every night that he doesn’t get all his homework done, but if there has been a family event, the teachers have said, ‘That’s okay. He can do his homework at a later time.’

They recognize that students have a life outside the classroom, which is a great example of putting well-being before academics.”

For the LaPumas, the concept of student health and wellness exists in two forms—social and academic—both essential within the context of a high-performing school.

“Well-being needs to be elevated, to help contend with various challenges in an academic setting,” Mr. LaPuma says. “If the School weren’t academically rigorous, navigating everything would be a lot easier. In a rigorous environment, it becomes all the more important to focus on the health and well-being of students, and it should be spoken of more at a global level.”

They feel equally strongly that well-being needs to be instituted at a young age, to make it part of the child’s development—especially since children are growing up in a high-stress world. “The Lower School’s Decisions course [that promotes social and emotional development] is wonderful because students learn how to advo-

“In a rigorous environment, it becomes all the more important to focus on the health and well-being of students, and it should be spoken of more at a global level.”

“Everything in our culture has multiplied, in terms of expectations. Kids are overscheduled and over-extended.”

—EDWARD L A PUMA P ’29

—CATHARINE L A PUMA P ’29

cate for themselves, how to communicate, and how to listen to feedback from their parents and teachers,” Mr. LaPuma says.

Mrs. LaPuma adds: “And before you can help the child advocate, you have to teach them to be aware of their limits and stressors, which is not easy for an eight-year-old to do. They need to recognize these triggers so they don’t reach a breaking point.”

What is also not easy for children to do is learn how to navigate the challenges of social media and bullying. “It’s not a Pingry-specific problem, but bullying needs to be thought through and nipped in the bud,” Mr. LaPuma says. “People talk about ‘zero tolerance,’ but how do you define that?

The school can’t be monitoring everything all the time.” Then, as they advance through high school, college enters the picture, with all of its implications. “Colleges need to prioritize students being well-rounded and of sound mind and sound body,” Mr. LaPuma says.

Along with the LaPumas’ efforts to keep an open door of communication with their children, allow for sufficient downtime, and help them understand needs versus wants, the LaPumas would love for Pingry to offer parents more guidance on how to foster well-being so that the valuable lessons learned at school carry over into students’ personal lives. For their part, parental messaging plays a big role. “There are parents who push their children to excel,” Mrs. LaPuma says. “We don’t expect our children to be the best—we expect them to do their best. That’s a huge difference. I tell them, ‘As long as you try your hardest, I am happy with who you are.’”

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ASHLEY F. ’11 tudent wellness is a topic near and dear to Ashley F. ’11; she has been coping with mental illness for over a decade and credits her time at Pingry for helping her find self-acceptance and support.

“For most of my life,” she recalls, “I focused on trying to live up to the Chinese model of achievement: go to a top school, work in a prestigious industry, and be outgoing and hyperfeminine.” Thus, with the assumption that it would guarantee a happy life, attending an elite college had been on her wish list since age seven. She got her wish, but “I ended up so depressed my freshman year at Yale that I had to take a year off from school. Later, I was frequently self-harming and calling a crisis hotline during my first job in investment banking—a crucible of 80-hour weeks.”

Ashley traces her challenges with bipolar 2, which features depression and hypomania (a milder form of mania) to her Upper School years, when her parents were separating (she felt partially responsible) and she came out as bisexual. But some of her Pingry experiences helped alleviate the depression, such as Peer Leadership and the fencing

“If you need to take a year off here and there, switch to a lessintensive major, drop an extracurricular, or even leave a profession, that is fine.

You are still an intelligent, talented, worthy person who can be wildly successful in any field and have fulfilling personal relationships with people who value you.”

—ASHLEY F. ’11

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team, which brought her close friends who shared their own struggles. She also found the School’s academics “comforting and grounding” and highlights John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace (required reading in English class) as affirming because of “its undercurrent of same-sex attraction.” Her Pingry years offered two other significant bright spots: Ashley developed a passionate interest in the sciences and humanities (“a great foundation for the career I hope to have as a psychologist and writer, working to expand the definition of what it means to be successful in Chinese culture”), and she found a safe haven with her teachers. “Every faculty member I shared my identity with was supportive, without exception—I wrote LGBTQ-centric papers, and teachers spoke positively of gay characters or historical figures during class discussions.” (Ashley praises the Pingry faculty’s increasing diversity as making it easier for students to find relatable role models.)

Another contributing factor to her bipolar at Yale was the fact that, after a highly successful high school career (she was Valedictorian at Pingry), her transition to college was met with a drop in self-esteem. It’s a phenomenon she says friends and family members have experienced, too. “My insecurity and low self-esteem were exacerbated by my growing up with Chinese values while I was struggling to accept my sexuality and personality. Being shy and introverted . . . I always figured if I wasn’t fun or outgoing, I had nothing to offer except academic achievement. In college, when I found myself in the middle and, occasionally, in the bottom third of my classes, I felt like I had lost my sole source of value as a person.”

When Ashley was ultimately convinced by her then-partner to consult a psychiatrist while at her first job, the doctor suspected that she had been depressed in college—evidenced by isolation in her dorm room, spending more than 10 hours online every day, and struggling to make friends. “I also felt out of place in the LGBTQ scene at Yale as an introverted, bisexual, political centrist,” Ashley remembers, “and it wasn’t until after college that I started finding LGBTQ circles that felt validating.” Finding those with a different value system—“a highly educated, diverse, bisexual community in New York”—enabled Ashley to break away from an achievement-based mentality.

Based on her experiences, Ashley issues this warning to other high achievers who are willing to accept stress in exchange for prestige: one common way mental illness develops is when someone predisposed

to a mental illness experiences above-normal amounts of stress. “If you need to take a year off here and there, switch to a less-intensive major, drop an extracurricular, or even leave a profession, that is fine. You are still an intelligent, talented, worthy person who can be wildly successful in any field and have fulfilling personal relationships with people who value you.”

Today, Ashley is taking classes at The City College of New York to prepare for a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, is a research assistant in one of the college’s psychology research labs, and volunteers at a Columbia University psychiatric clinic. “I love psychology and I’m excited to make a career in it. I found it extremely difficult to find high-quality mental healthcare, an experience I think is shared by many immigrant and minority patients. The mental health profession is not as diverse, inclusive, or accessible as it should be, and I would like to work on correcting that.”

Above all, Ashley thanks her parents for fostering her current mindset. “Their unconditional love and acceptance make it possible for me to express myself with absolute freedom.”

“It’s a tie between lack of sleep and dealing with high stress levels, in terms of the biggest wellness issues facing our Middle and Upper School students. Our ultimate objective in the Health Education Department is to provide them, through a range of classes and programming, with the necessary knowledge to make healthy, informed decisions.”

—SUE MARSHALL MAROTTO, HEALTH DEPARTMENT CHAIR, STUDENT WELLNESS STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER

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JAKE ROSS ’96 Form V/VI Dean of Students Upper School History Teacher Peer Leadership Program Advisor Head Coach, Varsity Baseball Team Assistant Coach, Boys’ Varsity Ice Hockey Team

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“There’s no silver bullet to student wellness. It’s being there to provide a hug when needed or—occasionally—a kick in the pants.”

—JAKE ROSS ’96

As

an Upper School dean, Peer Leadership Program Advisor, Head Coach of the Varsity Baseball Team, Assistant Coach of the Boys’ Varsity Ice Hockey Team, and History Teacher, Jake Ross has worked with Pingry students from multiple vantage points. But the title he likes best is “Coach.” Whether teaching, mentoring, advising, or, in some cases, disciplining, his approach, he says, is best exemplified by his coaching philosophy: I’m going to help you do the best you can do. “I get a real kick out of it when a student who isn’t even on my team passes me in the hallway and refers to me as ‘Coach,’” he says. “They’re seeing me as something other than just a dean or classroom teacher, which is important, because we’re all much more than that.”

He’s referring to Pingry’s rich tradition—indeed, the hallmark of independent day schools—of every teacher and administrator also serving, in some capacity, as a coach or an advisor. The dual role allows students to see their teachers and administrators in a different light, yes, but it also brings faculty and administrators closer to their students, and more attuned to their lives inside and outside of school.

When one of his baseball players shows up late to practice, Mr. Ross knows the chemistry exam he was taking last period may be to blame. He sees the big picture of students’ lives.

With that holistic view, Mr. Ross says one of the biggest challenges to student wellness is a packed schedule. “Kids want to do too darn much,” he says. “We know they’re doing a lot, but we can’t tell them not to do Journal Club, the Independent Research Team, and the musical, all at the same time. We just have to be there to catch them if we see cracks in the armour. That’s the student-support area of our administrative structure that we really strive toward as an institution, being a safety net for the kids. Sometimes, that’s just listening or providing some advice.”

Despite its prominence in Pingry’s current tagline, the word “excellence” rankles Mr. Ross. It can and should be different for everyone, he feels, whether in the classroom or on the playing field. “I have some kids who should be getting As. I have some kids who really struggle to get an A—they don’t need to get an A; Bs are ok,” he argues. “Similarly, two years ago, my baseball team was not strong, so for us, high achievement and excellence weren’t defined by winning the county championship—it was being 500 or better.”

Moreover, the vision Pingry students and parents have of achievement, he has found, does not always align with teachers’ more measured expectations. The Independent School Health Check survey—a national, voluntary, and anonymous survey given to Pingry Middle and Upper Schoolers last spring—bears this out. Students did not identify faculty as the primary drivers of academic pressure; on the contrary, they pointed the finger at themselves. Much of

their achievement mindset, it turns out, is self-imposed. It helps to explain why, whether on the baseball diamond or in his office, Mr. Ross underscores accountability with students while allowing for their mistakes; prefers collaborative conversations over lectures; and is far more interested in learning what their goals and priorities are, not what he wants for them.

“You have to play to the strengths of kids and understand what they want for themselves,” he says. In short, as both a dean and coach, it seems there’s a fine balance to strike between providing kids with support and being the source of their stress. And it’s perhaps exacerbated by a phenomenon Mr. Ross says he has seen among Pingry students: their desire to please. If they’re not performing well in a class or on a team, they often feel like they’re letting their teacher or coach down. “It’s amazing how many students come into my office and ask permission to do something because they just want to make sure that they’re doing the right thing,” he says. For the past three years, the senior class has gone so far as to seek approval of the annual prank day, traditionally planned in secret by the students and tacitly tolerated by administrators. “A little rebelliousness, within reason, is an outlet for them,” says Mr. Ross. “It’s fine, it’s healthy.”

The student vs. faculty basketball game every winter and well-timed Student Activity Council (SAC) assemblies (one just before early-decision letters from colleges are mailed, and one just before Winter Break) are two other lighthearted Pingry traditions he points to, which not only endeavor to bring some levity to the school day, but allow faculty to laugh at themselves. Mr. Ross cites the recent launch of helpful Form III advisor meetings (devised by Form III Deans and Science Teachers Graham Touhey and Helen Huang-Hobbs), during which advisors gather monthly to discuss what’s going on in the grade, what kids are going through, what’s working, what’s not. Two years ago, Pingry school counselors Dr. Adam Rosen and Eva Ostrowsky began twice yearly “check-ins” with every advisory in order to introduce themselves to students and build rapport. While they may seem minor, collectively, such initiatives go far in nurturing student wellness.

“Pingry moves at a fast pace and has high standards, but we can also slow ourselves down and check in with one another,” he says. “The fact that we are trying to do both says a lot about our school.” Still, he allows, there is room for growth. A suggestion he offers up speaks to the importance of community, candid conversation, and seemingly simple acts: “The more faculty and administrators eat lunch together and talk to each other around the table about the issues kids are facing, the better it is for the kids.”

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DR. ALYSSA JOHNS Lower School Counselor Decisions Teacher

focus on wellness is all around us and embedded in our culture,” says Dr. Alyssa Johns, speaking of the Short Hills Campus, where wellness skills run the gamut from conflict resolution to running laps in the gym to spending time outdoors in the garden to making healthy food choices.

During nearly five years with Pingry’s Counseling Department on both the Basking Ridge and Short Hills Campuses, she has been observing students and their behavior.

Looking at the big picture, Dr. Johns says the Lower School’s program is designed to educate and nurture the whole child—a robust curriculum that goes hand-in-hand with well-being.

“Kids wouldn’t feel good if they weren’t being challenged, if they were bored, if they didn’t have to work hard. Students feel their best when they’re challenged, successful, and performing well. Their perception of their performance is important to well-being—when they think they’re under-performing, or when they feel overwhelmed by assignments or don’t have enough breaks throughout the day, that is when we question if they’re feeling their best,” she says.

Thanks to her twofold role at the Lower School—she provides overarching guidance to faculty and staff on a range of student wellness issues and curricular matters, and meets with students, either through a class she co-teaches or one-on-one, if a student needs extra support—Dr. Johns has a wide window into students’ lives. As a counselor, she has found that the most meaningful, effective wellness initiatives are “naturally embedded into the curriculum or everyday life” rather than performed in isolation. For example, reading discussions often involve books related to health and wellness; many teachers use “brain breaks” (a planned mental or physical break) of one

“Students feel their best when they’re challenged, successful, and performing well.”

—DR. ALYSSA JOHNS

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to five minutes, during which students take a break from their work; and, as of last school year, many classes begin by offering students the chance to participate in mindfulness exercises.

In terms of her direct student involvement, she hears their personal experiences in the Decisions course she co-teaches (the class promotes social and emotional development), often pertaining to how they have handled life situations inside and outside of school. “Emotional conversations become normalized, with multiple students sharing the same feelings, so they know they have a natural space to talk. We make sure they know what to do when they’re not feeling their best,” she says. Dr. Johns also speaks at Grade 4 and 5 Morning Meetings and seeks to be generally “present” in the students’ lives by building relationships through conversations at lunch, at recess, or in the hallways. “Connectedness is critical in developing a child’s sense of belonging and safety,” she adds.

As it happens, lunchtime and recess are two of the only extended downtimes of the students’ day. “The day

is very structured, which isn’t unique to Pingry,” Dr. Johns observes. Though she is proud of the work that she and her Lower School colleagues do to ensure student wellness, this is an area where she sees room for improvement. “They should have more time to be outside, play board games, read . . . to simply be ‘off the clock.’” Achieving academically and feeling good socially and emotionally are by no means mutually exclusive in an elementary school setting, she says, but Dr. Johns does note a dichotomy: “We give students a lot of feedback on academics, but not as much on choices made outside the classroom. More informal feedback on social decision-making would be helpful.”

She sympathizes with the pressure students feel to be well-rounded and successful at everything. “It takes time to recognize that we all have strengths and weaknesses. They need to learn how to embrace strengths and know that weaknesses aren’t negative, but part of who we are as people.”

A Sampling of Student Health & Wellness Initiatives School Counselors introduce themselves to Middle School students and Upper School advisories Presentations by Prepare Inc., a violence prevention organization Mindfulness classes for students, faculty, and staff

SAGE Dining's introduction of game-day meals for athletes

Upper School Affinity Groups Decisions course for Lower School students

Peer Group with freshmen and seniors

Qwell Meditation for Lower School students, faculty, and staff

Middle and Upper School Advisories Middle School Hour of Wellness

#WinAtSocial program launched in Middle School

Among others, recent presentations by clinical psychologist Michael Thompson, Ph.D., pediatric cancer survivor Sean Swarner, NJ-licensed psychologist Dr. Joël Núñez, BMX Elite Pro Tony Hoffman, Minding Your Mind speaker Andrew Ominus Visit pingry.org/wellnessandsupport for more details on Pingry's wellness initiatives and support services.

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Apu

TO THE RESCUE There is, perhaps, no more mysterious, omnipotent figure on the Basking Ridge Campus than Apu. An alumnus from the Class of 1993, he is known only by his first name within the Pingry community, a fact that helps to accentuate his enigmatic persona.

A preternaturally calm, technological wizard, he has single-handedly addressed countless Pingry IT problems big and small, but his desk in the Technology Department is—on the days when he is on campus— rarely occupied before 10:00 a.m. To be clear, Pingry is not Apu’s only place of work. Several days each week, he is up until 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., driving an ambulance across Union or Essex County as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). By day, he saves Pingry servers; by night, he helps to save lives.

To fully understand Apu’s double life, and his remarkable breadth of skills, you must go all the way back to the early 1980s, when he recalls that his love of computers began as early as Grade 2. He arrived at Pingry as a fourth-grade student in the 1984-85 school

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Apu '93 leading the new EMR course. Here, he uses a mannequin head and bag valve mask to teach airway management.

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year and, despite the fact that the School did not have a Technology Department during his student years, he provided technical support to students and faculty as often as possible—and became known for it, along with his general love for computers. “Tech support became a natural path from liking computers to becoming good with them to helping others,” he says. A photo of him working at a computer appears in the 1990 Blue Book with the caption, “Apu . . . ’nuff said.” During the 1991-92 school year, he and then-English teacher Dean Sluyter P ’90, ’98 helped The Pingry Record staff use a computer for issue layout; previously, students cut and pasted content onto newspaper-sized paper, then went backand-forth with the printer to finalize the layout (the 1992 Blue Book gives Apu and Mr. Sluyter kudos for their “creative insights”).

A year after Apu graduated, Pingry hired its first full-time Director of Technology, Steve Cameron. Soon after, Apu received an unexpected opportunity to return to his alma mater. Then-Assistant Headmaster, Financial and Business Administration Dr. Jack Lewis P ’96, ’00 asked him if he would return to Pingry one day each week, while he was attending Stevens Institute of Technology, to join forces with Mr. Cameron and help accelerate the faculty’s ease with technology. “Apu was the glue that helped launch technology at Pingry,” Dr. Lewis recalls. “He had been iconic as a student—the ‘go to’ person for faculty and staff. The community had confidence in him. I referred to him as the ‘Auxiliary Power Unit’ or ‘Advanced Power Unit’!”

With a few modifications, Apu’s “part-time” schedule at Pingry—far more than simply one day each week at this point—has continued for over 20 years. (Technically, he is not a School employee; Pingry is a client of NOC Services, a computer consulting company he started after graduating with a degree in Engineering from Stevens.)

As technology has advanced over the last two decades, and Pingry’s needs have vastly accelerated, Apu has been with the School every step of the way, from expanding its network infrastructure, to transitioning its email system from Outlook to Gmail, to, most recently, launching Veracross, the School’s first fully integrated database system.

“He has a depth of knowledge of pretty much anything electronic. Whatever you throw at him, he’ll know something about it,” says Brian Burkhart, Director of Technology and Curricular Initiatives, Computer Science Department Chair, and English Teacher, who has worked with Apu since 2005. Two of Apu’s other colleagues, Technology Specialist Steve Frantz and Systems AdminApu '93 as seen in the 1990 Blue Book.

“Tech support became a natural path from liking computers to becoming good with them to helping others.” —APU ’93

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istrator Dave Azar, have learned a great deal from him: how to ask the “right” questions when interacting with confused or frustrated users; and how to approach situations with logic, practicality, and efficiency. “Just saying to students, faculty, or staff ‘Apu is working on it’ relieves their stress,” Mr. Azar says. “No matter the hour, Apu gets back to me with helpful suggestions or resolutions. He’s always right on top of requests, big or small.”

Anyone who observes Apu walking Pingry’s hallways or discussing technical issues with faculty or staff will notice an air of serenity about him. Yet, he is often immersed in trying to solve a problem. “I try to be calm and work through it, instead of getting flustered,” he says.

His calm stems, no doubt, from his years of experience in the EMT field, where he has often witnessed life-ordeath situations. He has said that it puts into perspective

life’s other problems, like Pingry’s server going down.

“If you project calm to the person experiencing a problem, whether medical or technical, that influences their behavior,” he adds.

Apu’s EMT life began during Spring Break in 1991, his sophomore year. “I spent all my time at home, on the computer or reading, but my mom wanted me to do something outside the house,” Apu recalls. “The Springfield First Aid Squad sent a mailer, offering an opportunity for anyone over age 16 to get involved. Even though my mom is a pediatrician and my dad is a dentist, I have never been interested in medicine or being a doctor, but I wanted to give back to Springfield, where I’ve lived all my life.” He took an initial CPR course, followed by on-thejob training to learn about an ambulance’s equipment and to observe calls. And, thus, he has been an EMT for over 25 years, handling calls that range from falls and difficulty breathing to chest pains and strokes. He has even been on the scene at Newark-Liberty International Airport and NJ Transit stations during drills for aircraft incidents and train derailments.

“Apu was the glue that helped launch technology at Pingry.

He had been iconic as a student—the ‘go to’ person for faculty and staff.

The community had confidence in him.”

—DR. JACK LEWIS P ’96, ’00

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Apu '93 helping to teach CPR during a faculty/staff In-Service Day in October.

“Just saying to students, faculty, and staff ‘Apu is working on it’ relieves their stress.” —DAVE AZAR

His nearly three decades of service with the Springfield First Aid Squad have included a variety of leadership positions, most notably as Captain from 2004-2009 and 2010-2016. In 2018, he was named Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator for the Township of Springfield.

He is also a member of the Union County Office of Emergency Management’s EMS Mutual Aid Coordinators and is an IT/Communications Specialist for the State of New Jersey EMS Task Force.

For nearly 30 years, Apu’s Pingry and EMT worlds have intersected on only a few occasions. He was on the scene about a decade ago when a Pingry school bus overturned on Interstate 78 (thankfully, no one was seriously injured). He assists with Pingry’s emergency planning and communications and has been an EMT for Pingry’s summer camp programs. Once, when a Pingry teacher suffered from a kidney stone, he responded by taking vital signs and offering assurance that help was on the way (“just being there for another person is still doing a lot”). * Prior to this EMR course, Pingry offered Basic Life Support (the American Heart Association’s highest-level CPR/AED course) and First Aid certification in Health 10, a one-trimester course required for sophomores—it now offers both in addition to EMR. How does being an EMR differ from being an EMT? “EMTs have more advanced skills now than they did years ago,” Apu explains. “EMR is intended for people who are not specifically part of the health care system, such as police, firefighters, and people within a company who might be called upon to provide medical care before an EMT arrives.”

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When a Pingry football player broke his leg, he worked with athletic trainers and doctors at Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield to provide initial treatment.

However, as of this school year, these two, mostly separate worlds in which Apu has operated for so long are, quite intentionally, intersecting. Thanks to Health Department Chair Sue Marshall Marotto, Apu’s former P.E. teacher and a former EMT herself, the School is offering its first EMR (Emergency Medical Responder) course*, a two-trimester elective for juniors and seniors. And Apu is teaching it. “Over the years, many of our students have taken an EMT course outside Pingry,” she explains, “and, given the interest in our Health 10 class, which requires CPR certification, I decided to introduce a similar course here at school.

Apu was my first choice to teach it because of his EMT background.” (To whet his appetite and persuade him to teach the class, last year, she invited Apu to bring “his” ambulance to School for a Health 10 lesson about the world of EMTs.) While the course marks his debut as a Pingry faculty member, it is not his first time teaching, as he is involved with EMS training and technology tutoring elsewhere.

While this EMR course isn’t the full EMT course (only 60 hours of certification as opposed to EMT’s 200), students still learn skills for use in an emergency and may be motivated to take the full EMT course outside of Pingry, as Apu did. Mrs. Marotto has witnessed students’ expanding interest in the medical field, and the EMR course, in addition to the recently introduced course, Foundations of Sports Medicine, are part of her efforts to expose students to a range of medical professions.

Mrs. Marotto’s description of the EMR course’s importance echoes Pingry’s emphasis on the Honor Code and the School’s commitment to community and civic engagement, as well as experiential education: “Learning CPR and first aid is part of being a good citizen. If someone is in need, you’re giving back to the community. This course is a good way to learn, in a hands-on way, how to react in an emergency, and to have confidence in an emergency.”

While any version of an EMR course might be taught slightly differently, depending on the instructor, Apu combines textbook readings with hands-on lessons that make use of, for example, mannequins, AEDs (automated external defibrillators), and oxygen masks. Topics span the gamut from effective communication to cardiac and respiratory emergencies to head and spine injuries. During a session in October, Apu used a mannequin head to teach airway management—what to do if a patient is experiencing problems with a nasal or an oral airway.

In another session, students practiced CPR, combining skills they learned in Health 10 with topics already covered in the EMR course: legal and ethical principles of emergency care (including patient consent), patient assessment, breathing/ventilation, lifting/moving a person, and documentation (“If it wasn’t written down, it didn’t happen,” Apu reminds them). While students work on scenarios that Apu provides (“The baby has a brachial pulse, but is still not breathing” followed shortly thereafter by “The baby shows signs that it might be breathing on its own”), he also mimics the instructions that would emanate from an AED. At one point, a student starts talking to the patient, then pauses. “Can we talk to the patients?” she asks. Apu responds to this thoughtful question, “You can still talk to unconscious patients. They will often hear what you’re saying.”

After the students complete their training, Apu summarizes the role of the documenter, a person who can also act as a timekeeper and collect information for an EMT (“Document what you did, and how long you did it”). He also reminds his class that environmental conditions could affect their ability to perform tasks, such as chest compressions. He offers his take on when to call 9-1-1 (“Earlier is better—it’s easier to tell EMTs they’re not needed”). He reminds the students that a parent could

experience cardiac arrest due to the shock of something happening to his or her child. He offers this startling story about safety, because of an incident he heard about that happened in upstate New York in 2015: “We live in a world where people call 9-1-1 for a fire and then start shooting at the firefighters. You have to be a detective and make sure that the scene is safe.”

That is the number one lesson he wants students to take away from the course: “Your safety comes first.

You can’t help anybody else unless you take good care of yourself first, like wearing something that makes you look visible at night on the interstate, or wearing gloves to avoid contamination with a patient’s blood.”

What particularly draws Apu to teaching the EMR course is its immediate, real-world relevance. “You can learn something in class today and use the same skill, for real, five minutes after leaving class,” he says, pleased that several students have already expressed interest in joining a First Aid Squad. “Pingry students have joined squads in the past, but it’s good to see that, in an age of self-interest and being busy, the desire is still there.” Commenting on the overlap among his technology work and teaching at Pingry, and his EMT work, he observes, “I’m not going to be the one who ends world hunger or global warming. But the faculty member who can’t print or the patient who cut their hand might have the solution. If I can help a few students learn these basic EMR skills, they can be a force multiplier.”

Apu '93 teaching Health 10 students about his work as an EMT, November 2018.

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AZL White Sox pitcher Justin Friedman (33) during an Arizona League game against the AZL Dodgers Lasorda at Camelback Ranch on June 18, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona.

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JUSTIN FRIEDMAN ’15 TAKES THE MOUND The former Big Blue Baseball standout, who dreamed of playing in the pros, finally gets his chance.

ZACHARY LUCY/FOUR SEAM IMAGES

ustin Friedman ’15 had 48 hours to celebrate an achievement he had been working toward since the age of four, pack up his life in California, and report to rookie ball in Phoenix, Arizona. Just days earlier, his family had traveled from New Jersey to the West Coast to sit with him in their hotel room and watch the 2019 Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft unfold, his third and final shot at making the pros.* In the 26th round, he heard his name.

That was early June. Now, nine months later, he is fully immersed in the Chicago White Sox’s rookie league, the AZL White Sox, as a starting pitcher. “It has been a lifelong dream—I’ve been working for it my entire life. So, in that sense, it was expected,” recalls Justin, Pingry’s first alumnus to be selected in the MLB draft since its inception in 1965. “But that didn’t take

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37

JUSTIN'S SENIOR-YEAR

STATS

AT PINGRY

5–2 2.45 ERA

101

STRIKEOUTS IN 51⅓ INNINGS

.326

BATTING AVG. WITH 28 HITS

19 RBIs

4 HRs

7

STOLEN BASES

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THE PINGRY REVIEW | WINTER 2019–20

away from the feeling of it happening, or from me celebrating. I also know that I have a lot of work ahead.”

Hard work—and unwavering determination—are familiar to Justin, who began as a small-in-stature, backend starting pitcher on Pingry’s Varsity Baseball Team as a sophomore, and, by graduation, was one of the best pitchers in the state, clocking 90 miles per hour on the radar gun. His path to the pros was a circuitous journey, spending his four years of college at four different schools, resolved to find the right fit and the right program to help him get drafted. Last spring, just after finishing his senior year at Hope International University in southern California, it paid off. His laser-focus might explain the coolness with which he regards this new chapter of his career—not as a culmination of over 15 years of effort, but as the beginning to much more. “I try to take things one day at a time.

I know the goal that I am working towards—I want to be the best pitcher in the history of the game—but my focus is on the work I have before me each day,” he says. “I think if you dedicate your life to something, you should always strive to be the best by maximizing your own abilities and realizing your full potential. How far that will take you, only time will tell.”

Make no mistake, Justin is not simply a buckledown workhorse. He is a scientist, of sorts, eagerly joining the growing ranks of pro pitchers who spend nearly as much time off the field, studying the complex analytics of the game, as they do on the mound. “If

you’re not blending the two—new techniques and technologies for training and preparation with a more traditionalist approach—you’re so far behind,” he says.

Take, for example, the sophisticated software and high-speed cameras now at his disposal, which capture every pitch and spit out data and photos that are, at times, both highly informative and maddenly disappointing. “A lot of pitchers think they’re throwing a curveball, for example, but the camera will show that you’re actually throwing closer to a slider or a slurve, which is in between the two, so seeing the image can really help you get to that true curve,” he explains. “It helps you to see what’s going on as opposed to doing everything off of feel.”

In addition to data on the pitches, the technology provides useful insight into how batters are responding to them. “You can look at exit velocity and see what pitches are getting hit hard. I can see how well players hit my fastball, curveball, and slider. And I can go back and see where I located that pitch,” he says. “It’s a very effective evaluation tool for something that is outside of your control.” In college, Justin says he threw mostly two-seam sinkers. Now, in the pros, with more data to draw from, he has switched to a four-seam, looking more closely at his spin rate and vertical and horizontal breaks, and, as he says, trying to get a curve to be a truer 12-to-6 on the clock.

For many players, the technological revelations can bruise the ego, whether the camera proves you’re

I have moved around a ton, and people do fall off along the way, but Coach Corvino is on the short list of coaches who have consistently kept tabs on my career. That contact really means a lot to me— it makes you feel like you were a part of something.”

—JUSTIN FRIEDMAN ’15

throwing a different pitch than you thought, or the data show a pitch you took great pride in, is really just average. For Justin, it’s all fodder for improvement. But he’s also clear-eyed about the limitations of technology. “You have to be open to the information, and it can be humbling, but you also have to understand that it’s not everything.” And here, Justin draws on lessons he learned in Upper School Math Teacher Brad Poprik’s statistics class to explain his interest in reading and interpreting the data so integral to pitching. “It is one thing to look

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at data showing you what is happening, but knowing how to apply that information and arrive at why it’s happening and how to fix things is what is ultimately important.”

Justin’s tenacity and pursuit of perfection were evident—and nurtured—long before reaching the ranks of professional baseball. While he credits his parents with instilling in him a strong work ethic, he says being challenged academically at Pingry gave him a breadth of curiosity and focus beyond baseball. “Pingry opened my eyes early to branching out from baseball to all these other, different realms where greatness was apparent.

I always wanted to have a consistent work ethic across the board. With anything I did, I was absolutely determined to succeed, from math—one of my worst subjects—to soccer, to a not-so-friendly game of ping-pong or cards.” Not that he needed additional motivation, but he also quickly realized that having a strong GPA means more recruitment opportunities. “If you don’t emphasize your academics, then you’re putting off schools that might recruit you to do the thing that you love,” he adds.

Pingry also gave Justin, who was a member of the Boys’ Varsity Soccer Team for two years as well, a breadth of experience in baseball. Whereas at other high schools, particularly on the West Coast, players specialize early, at Pingry, his coaches—Manny (“Trem”) Tramontana P ’85, ’87, pitching coach Joe Schneider, and then-Head Coach Ted Corvino ’94— gave him the chance to not simply pitch, but to play first and third bases on occasion, too. He was also a regular hitter in their lineup. Those experiences made him a better pitcher, he says, and better able to understand the game from a hitter’s perspective.

Perhaps more than anything, Justin says he appreciated their insistence on hard work, and their confi-

JUSTIN'S

ADVICE

FOR PINGRY’S STUDENT-ATHLETES

“Don’t accept the limitations that other people put on you as your reality. The saying I live by is, ‘It’s not easy, but it’s simple.’ It’s not easy to pursue baseball, but what it takes is pretty simple. There’s a clear-cut recipe for how to go about things. It’s mundane, but do it more frequently than most people are willing to do it, and longer than the point at which most people are prepared to quit . . . Take the lumps and move forward. Be open and receptive, and acknowledge that greatness is readily attainable to anyone willing to put the work in.”

“A coach once told me that it takes what it takes . . . Everybody’s

journey is different.”

PATH TO THE PROS 2013– 2015 —

Pingry’s Varsity Baseball Team

2015– 2016 —

George Washington University

2016– 2017 —

Ventura Community College

2017– 2018 —

University of San Diego

First part of

summer 2018 —

Cape Cod Baseball League (amateur summer league)

* After he wrapped up his senior year of college in May 2019, Justin’s last chance at making the pros was the draft held in June. While it is possible to sign with a team as an undrafted free agent, this was his final shot at the draft itself. “Athletes are eligible for the draft immediately after high school. Then, in college, eligibility is based on age, what class you are in, if you attend a two- or four-year school, as well as whether you are an NCAA versus non-NCAA athlete, so the rules can be complicated,” he explains.

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Second part of

summer 2018 — California Collegiate League

20182019 —

Hope International University

June 2019 to present — AZL White Sox

Justin was at his best in big games. He always took the mound against our toughest opponents and always gave us a chance to win. Most importantly, he was a great teammate, selfless and inspirational.

Getting to coach him has been one of the highlights of my time at Pingry.”

—TED CORVINO ’94

CHELSEA PFOHL

dence in the players. “I can genuinely say, having played for so many different teams now, that we prepared very hard, we took a lot of reps, and when they wrote a lineup, it was based off of what we had earned,” he recalls. “With a lot of my other coaches, the second you looked like you were struggling, there was panic. But we had a lot of trust from Coaches Trem and Corvino. It wasn’t a lineup that changed every night, and that allowed us to improve.”

So now, a mere four years after graduating from Pingry, with a lifelong dream fulfilled, Justin is working harder than ever. The gap between the level of play in college and the pros is sizable. Equally sizable—or so it feels, at times—is the gap between his current role in the rookie league (which is typically followed by stops in single A, AA, and AAA) and the majors. Timing and patience are critical, he says. “It’s a unique job structure—you’re essentially applying for positions that aren’t open. Something has to happen in the levels above you in order for you to move up.” No matter his current position, as has been his approach since playing for Big Blue, the hunger for improvement fuels him. “All you can do is your job—keep working and keep training.”

Justin Friedman '15 pitching at Hope International University in 2018-19.

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Athletics BIG BLUE HIGHLIGHTS

For more details on the Fall 2019 season, see pingry.org/bigblueroundup

< Girls’ Varsity Soccer Captain Madisyn Pilla ‘20 netted her 45th and 46th goals in the same game, adding to her singleseason goal record (39) for the School. Her total increased later in the season.

After clinching its second straight state sectional title, the Girls’ Varsity Soccer Team went on to a 6-0 shutout of DePaul Catholic, defending its status as Non-Public A State Champions and capping another historic season with a #8 state ranking.

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Its #4 state ranking was well earned: The Girls’ Varsity Tennis Team defended its status as Non-Public A South Sectional Champions (fourth consecutive year) and Somerset County Tournament Champions (two years in a row).

> Columbia-bound Nicole Vanasse ’20

JOHN NEPOLITAN/DYESTAT.COM

closed her stellar high school career by “three-peating” as NJSIAA NonPublic A State Champion, placing third at the Meet of Champions and ninth at Foot Locker Northeast Regionals, and advancing for the second year in a row to the prestigious Foot Locker Cross Country Nationals (pictured here), where she took 27th in 18:20.

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Athletics BIG BLUE HIGHLIGHTS

Marking their most successful cross country season in recent history, Middle Schoolers swept both the Ed Scott Invitational and the Gill St. Bernard’s annual Great Pumpkin Run.

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Following a momentous, 1-0 upset victory over top-seeded Delbarton in the semifinals of the NJSIAA North Jersey NonPublic A Tournament, Big Blue advanced to the sectional finals, their first appearance since 2014. The team also advanced to the finals of the Somerset County Tournament and was co-champion of the Skyland Conference.

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Athletics

Q&A WITH SARAH CHRISTENSEN P ’10, ’12

The Hill Lady Director of Athletics Carter Abbott has called you “a mainstay of our running programs in both the Middle and Upper Schools” and a “consistent presence.” Your coaching roles at Pingry are numerous. Can you list them? I started coaching at Pingry in the fall of 2010 as

an assistant coach of the Girls’ Varsity Cross Country Team. That winter, I helped coach boys’ and girls’ distance runners for the Winter Track & Field Team, and, the following spring, I started working with the Middle School running programs and the girls’ distance runners for Outdoor Track & Field. During the 2014-15 school year, I became Head Coach for the Middle School Track & Field and Cross Country Teams.

How many hours a week would you say you’re on the Basking Ridge Campus? I would say 20-25, not

counting meets!

What led you to coach at Pingry? Two of my three

sons attended Pingry and, in fact, Chris ’10 was a good runner in Middle School and went to Nationals. He ran to stay fit in other sports and didn’t continue it in the Upper School, but played football, ice hockey, and lacrosse. At lacrosse games, [then-Director of Athletics] Gerry [Vanasse] would occasionally ask me if I had any interest in coaching, knowing my background. At the time, I had a career in the banking industry and had never even thought about it. Then, I left banking in 2009.

The first coaching position at Pingry that opened up at the time was Head Coach of the Boys’ Cross Country Team, but I wasn’t sure I could even coach, and was even less sure about coaching boys. So, Gerry said I could help Tim Grant [Head Coach of the Girls’ Varsity Cross Country Team]. Oh, I had lots to learn, especially about high school training! Tim is an awesome coach and has taught me a lot.

What is your favorite memory coaching Middle and Upper School athletes? For the Middle School, it had

to be this past fall, when both the girls’ and boys’ cross country teams won the Ed Scott Invitational as well as the Pumpkin Run at Gill St. Bernard’s. Both races are against 10 to 15 schools, and it takes a true team effort.

We had several kids who had to step up behind top finishers to cement our wins. It was phenomenal!

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The Upper School memory would be from February 2018, when we knew we had a good chance of qualifying for Nationals in the 4x800-meter run. Cathleen Parker ’19, Avery Schiffman ’18, Ryan Davi ’21, and Nikki Vanasse ’20 had all run good 800 times, but we’d never actually run the relay. To get a Nationals qualifying time, we needed to get in a seeded heat at Eastern States Championships.

But, because we hadn’t run the relay before, we didn’t have a seed time! To make a long story short, a fantastic race director believed me when I told him what I thought the girls could run, and that time seeded us first, ahead of teams like Ridge (who won Indoor Nationals in 2017 and 2018) and Union Catholic. The girls had to run their best to get that time; they needed a perfect race. It was a really rough race from the start, as Nikki, our lead runner, got boxed in—we had a target on our backs as the top seed.

Despite it all, the girls ended up running the exact time I projected to the race director. We finished second to Ridge, beat Union Catholic, and easily made Nationals— the first girls’ team from Pingry to ever go! When I found them after the race, I just couldn’t say enough about their grit and determination. I think about them every time I try and psych up the girls at big meets.

So, how did Nationals go that year? The girls placed ninth,

running 9:15.05 and breaking the school record they’d set at Easterns just two weeks before.

Your own running achievements are impressive, to say the least. You placed 10th in the New York City Marathon in 1981, and went on to qualify for the first-ever Olympic Marathon Trials for women in 1984, the same year that the legendary Joan Benoit Samuelson ran it and won. Can you share a bit about your own experience in the sport? I was

primarily a swimmer in high school, but also played field hockey and lacrosse. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I ran the mile in lacrosse try-outs and did really well.

The next spring, I tried distance events in track and fell in love with running. I ran the mile in the state championship my senior year. My first two years at the University of Pennsylvania, the women’s cross country and track & field teams were only club teams. It was the beginning of the Title IX era and, by my junior year, our teams were official.

In my first varsity race, I was named an Ivy League “Athlete of the Week” in cross country; our team had a great start.

Coach Chris’s Top 4 Training Strategies

➀

PACING—If you go out too fast, it will come back to bite you. Many of our workouts are designed to teach the importance of pacing.

But soon after, I got my first stress fracture and had several more; it was a bumpy road to complete recovery my senior year outdoor track season. After graduation, I moved to New York to start a bank training program and discovered running in Central Park.

I began training at night with Warren Street, a competitive club team of former college runners. After my first New York City Marathon, Adidas sponsored me, and I was asked to compete in a few international races. I went to Japan in 1982 for the women’s international marathon championships and came in eighth.

Work got tougher, so I pulled my training back for a bit. Then, the first-ever women’s Olympic marathon was added to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. I was applying to business school and started to up my training to try and qualify for the Trials, held in Olympia, Washington. My husband (a former Olympic rower) trained me and had me run a ton of huge hills. I qualified for the Trials, and ended up finishing five minutes behind Joan Benoit in a PR of 2:36.

What led you to move on from that elite level?

I liked running when it was fun and a team sport, like in high school, college, or when a bunch of us [fellow Warren Street runners, work colleagues, friends] were training for a 10k or a marathon.

When I had to go to a race, it wasn’t so much fun. It felt more like a job, and competing wasn’t the same. I went back to business school because I loved my job and wanted to pursue a career. So, I gave up racing and ran completely for fun.

➁

PEAKING—Pick key races, work hard for those, often through other races, and rest/pull back before the bigger meets.

➂

STRENGTH TRAIN— All aspects of strength training are critical to avoiding injury. Having the Greig Center in the Bugliari Athletics Center is a huge advantage for us— Doug Scott and Mike Saraceno tailor programs to each sport.

➃

KEEP IT FUN—Training is tough and even worse if it’s boring; it can easily feel unrewarding. Explain the purpose of every workout, keep them as fresh and fun as possible, have plenty of metrics, and make sure kids are aware of their progress.

What do you most hope your student-athletes will learn from you? My runners call me “Coach

Chris” but also “The Hill Lady,” because I am known for pushing them to run hills. They’re great for building speed and strength, and they toughen you up for races. But also, I hope the kids learn how to get what they want from running, to gain confidence from setting and achieving goals, and finally, to realize that it can be a lifetime sport.

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On the Arts VISUAL ARTS

HOSTETTER ARTS CENTER GALLERY

“WW11: Eye of the Storm,” a recent multimedia exhibit curated by _gaia studio and presented in the Hostetter Arts Center Gallery, is part of the 11th annual Wonder Women Residency Project. Artists use sculptures, paper-making, paintings, and videos to raise awareness of the changing environment.

One-hundred pieces of paper, each created from locally sourced water, natural fibers, and washedup plastic found at Richard W. DeKorte Park on the New Jersey waterfront: this striking work of artist Amanda Thackray wowed students, as she engaged them in a discussion about her response to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

> Pictured here are a sculpture and paintings that depict the havoc caused by a beetle that destroys ash trees (the emerald ash borer), and a thought-provoking painting inspired by contaminated soil and groundwater.

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Visit the Hostetter Arts Center Gallery page at pingry.org for more information about the exhibit.

Sixth-grade students in Middle School Visual Arts Teacher Xiomara Babiloniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s class not only learned an artistic approach when they created these representations of Brazilian favelas, but also learned about the challenges of social mobility and income inequality in another country.

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On the Arts MUSIC/DRAMA

Drama Department Chair Stephanie Romankow directed a cast and crew of nearly 50 Upper School students in their poignant staging of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.

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On the Arts MUSIC/DRAMA

TanTan’s Path Thanks to interests cultivated at Pingry, technology and the arts have always been inseparable to TanTan Wang ’16. When he got to college, he found the perfect, hybrid major: Computing and the Arts.

In addition to his immersion in visual arts through his major, last May TanTan finished his third and final year with the Yale Spizzwinks(?), the world’s oldest underclassman a cappella group, entirely student-run and self-funded (membership in the vaunted group is only three years). He recalls feeling somewhat star-struck when, during his sophomore year at Pingry, he watched Spizzwink Ryan Campbell ’12 return to campus to perform for students; he caught the bug.

His freshman year, TanTan redesigned their website; the following two years, he served as a “rush manager” as well as the group’s associate business manager. In the last three years, among many memorable road trips with the group, he has performed for John Kerry’s final State Department lunch, bungee jumped in New Zealand, and introduced his fellow

singers to the city where he spent many summers as a child, Beijing. It was the first time his grandparents heard him sing.

“A lot of what I did at Pingry really shaped what I did at Yale,” he says. “You have a camp of people who go into college trying to reinvent themselves. For me, I didn’t feel like I was doing anything different. The path I took at Pingry really helped to pave the way for me in college.”

Read more at pingry.org/alumniartists.

Students in Grades 3-5 bring to life an enduring friendship in the Reale brothers’ A Year with Frog and Toad, based on Arnold Lobel’s children’s stories. Lower School Drama Teacher Keara Gordon directed.

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Pingry Creates BOOKS, BUSINESSES, BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK , AND MORE — TAKE A PEEK AT WHAT OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS HAVE BEEN UP TO

Board-certified neurosurgeon Dr.

Mark R. McLaughlin ’83, Founder of Princeton Brain, Spine & Sports Medicine, has published the book Cognitive Dominance: A Brain Surgeon’s Quest to Out-Think Fear (Black Irish Entertainment). “As a neurosurgeon, I frequently encounter stressful, lifeand-death decisions,” he says. “Having experienced this over a 20-year career, I’ve developed a system of dealing and engaging with fear that has enabled me to function more effectively not only at work, but in all areas of my life. I’ve found that this skill, cognitive dominance, is transferable to anyone in business and relationships.” Learn how to develop situational awareness and make quick, accurate decisions under stressful conditions.

During his work with the Pioneer Research Program, Julian

Lee ’21 took an innovative,

creative approach to computer science, New York City-based actor and writer

melding the STEM and humanities fields. He

Rebecca Gever ’14 made her

combined generative art—a type of visual art

Off-Broadway debut in October

that is created from an autonomous process,

with her solo show lemons, which

generally through the use of a machine

she developed and performed while

or computer—with seemingly unrelated

a student at Brown University. The

computer science algorithms, to create

play, which premiered in May 2017, is

a pretty neat result. The editor-in-chief

largely constructed from an interview with her

of FOCUS, the newsmagazine of the

mother earlier that spring, “in which we discussed

Mathematical Association of America,

moments of connection to and moments of

agreed, and showcased his work on the

separation from the body—when your body feels

cover of their October/November 2019

like a home versus when it feels like a stranger,

issue. By experimenting with generative

or even an adversary. There is no addressing that

art, Julian writes, “I learned that the

topic without talking about her three decades

relationship between computer science

living with the autoimmune disease lupus,

and the humanities does not only run

although other experiences are also explored.

in one direction . . . the humanities can

Interspersed between her speech are brief scenes

also be applied to further understand

from my own life, exploring our relationship and

computer science.” Read more

how I’ve navigated these topics.”

about Julian’s cutting-edge work at

Selected from over 1,000 entries, Ms. Gever’s

pingry.org/extras.

play was one of about 100 accepted into the 10th anniversary season of the United Solo Theatre Festival, the world’s largest festival dedicated to one-person performances.

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True Blue Spotlight

Q&A WITH MEMBERS OF PINGRY’S TRUE BLUE SOCIETY

Speaking in the C.B. Newton Library at Career Day, 2015.

Matthew Estabrook ’89

Counsel to a Commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission What inspires you about Pingry today?

I love knowing that Pingry is doing for others what it did for me. During my time at Pingry, I was challenged to appreciate new things and, if not always to excel in them, then at least to become proficient with them. Opening my mind to new experiences opened new doors for me, both at Pingry and later in life. I support the School not only out of gratitude for what it did for me, but also because it still offers that experience to today’s students.

What is your fondest Pingry memory?

Singing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah in the Winter Concert during my senior year. Now, let me be clear: I am not a great singer, and until my sophomore year, I never had any interest in singing. But a classmate coaxed me to join the musical during my sophomore year, and Mr. Little, the Music Director at the time, suggested I join the Glee Club after that. It turns out, I 54

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loved it. Hearing a masterpiece like the Hallelujah Chorus come together on such a large scale was a tremendous musical moment that I loved. I had just been accepted to college earlier that day, so that performance felt like a culminating moment for me at Pingry. The pride I had in my School, in my hard work, and in my fellow performers all were amplified in that moment by that piece of music.

What was your hardest Pingry class?

I arrived at Pingry as a freshman, and during my first semester I had Geometry with Judy Lee. Geometry is a real gear shift in mathematics, so I had to both learn a new way of thinking and step up my game in Pingry’s more rigorous academic environTRUE BLUE SOCIETY ment. Having me in that class was probably a challenge for Mrs. Lee, too! She was a great Those who have teacher, and worked so hard to make sure given to The Pingry that we all understood the material. I worked Fund for 10 or more hard, too, and improving my grade in that consecutive years class was really gratifying.

“Project Week gives more than one perspective on real-life situations and creates interactive, meaningful experiences.”

—ANIKA SINHA ’24

The Pingry Fund enables the School to say “yes” to innovative programs

like Project Week. Grade 6, Form I, and Form II students engage in hands-on, multidisciplinary learning to gain a deeper understanding of STEAM, leadership, and civic engagement. In previous years, the week has culminated with students collaborating to construct and test boats made of everyday household items, creating and delivering public service announcements on contemporary state topics, and presenting recommendations on Pingry-specific issues to a panel of key stakeholders.

Visit pingry.org/give, call 908-647-5555 ext. 1284, or use the enclosed envelope to make your gift today.

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Pingry in Your Neighborhood

JAMES J. CONNOLLY

PINGRY EVENTS HAPPENING NEAR YOU

Reunion Weekend May 15-16

Alumni Squash Event in November on the Basking Ridge Campus.

Pictured are Chloe Blacker ‘10, Director of Squash and Head Coach of the Girls’ Varsity Squash Team Francis Odeh, Sam Scherl ‘17, George Zachary ‘14, Chris Zachary ‘19, Derek Hsue ‘14, Middle School Science Teacher and Head Coach of the Boys’ Varsity Squash Team Ramsay Vehslage, Lindsay Stanley ‘16, Mark Shtrakhman ‘16, and Drew Blacker ‘05.

JOIN US!

Friday, May 15 and Saturday, May 16

Tuesday, March 10

Basking Ridge Campus

5:30 p.m.

Saturday, July 18

Vero Beach Reception

Reunion Weekend

Jersey Shore Reception

Wednesday, March 11

Naples Reception Visit pingry.org/reunion for more information

5:30 p.m.

YOU’RE INVITED

Monday, April 6

If you haven’t been receiving invitations for and updates about Pingry events, please send your email and mailing addresses to infochange@pingry.org.

Also, by sharing your business information, you will receive invitations to Pingry’s professional networking events and you may have the opportunity to speak at Career Day.

Achievement in the Arts Award Assembly Honoring Steven Henry ’81

Basking Ridge Campus — 10:00 a.m.

Friday, May 1

Grandparents & Special Friends Day

Short Hills Campus — 9:00 a.m.

Wednesday, May 6

Washington, D.C. Reception Friday, May 15

Athletics Hall of Fame Reception & Induction Ceremony Basking Ridge Campus — 6:30 p.m.

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For more details and a full calendar, visit pingry.org/alumni.

Class Notes S HAR E YOUR NEWS Submit your Class Note at pingry.org/classnotes, or mail it to Greg Waxberg ‘96, Editor of The Pingry Review, The Pingry School, 131 Martinsville Road, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920.

1952 MILLER BUGLIARI P ’86, ’90, ’97, GP ’20, ’24 marked his 60th season as Head Coach of the Boys’ Varsity Soccer Team in the fall of 2019.

1962 SKIP DAHLGREN writes, “Thanks to Dr. Herbert Hahn, my Fifth Form English teacher, I confirmed my earlier impression that I could write. While I’ve done many things since then, I always felt that I would become a writer when I grew up. This seems to have occurred, as I have spent the past two years writing a novel. My first long fiction, it is a high-concept, alternate-history fantasy adventure set 3,000 years ago in ancient African cities I helped excavate 40 years ago in Eritrea and Ethiopia, as well as in adjacent lands. It features a powerful legendary female superhero, a warrior princess everyone will recognize, who is drawn from Ethiopian, Arabian, and biblical legends. The setting is historic, and I’ve recreated the world of that time based on experiences gained during my years living in Eritrea and Ethiopia. The accompanying map, from a Google Earth view, shows the places that figure in the story and is framed with a stylized ibex design that served as the sacred symbol of Almaqah, the lunar god of Saba’ & Di’amat, who figures prominently in the story.”

Hella Prinz, Dr. George Vroom ’61, Robby Robinson ’61, Carol Robinson, Ann Bunting, Chuck Bunting ’61, Tino O’Brien ’61, and Betsy Cornwall on Martha’s Vineyard in September.

HARRY MOSER and the Reshoring Initiative team received the MADE IN AMERICA 2019 “Reshoring Award” during the fourday MADE IN AMERICA 2019 event at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis in October. It was attended by policymakers, industry professionals, advocates, and conscious consumers, and boasted the largest-ever collection of American products. Exhibitors included hundreds of manufacturers and companies from diverse industries and backgrounds, with categories ranging from aerospace and automobiles to apparel and textiles.

The event’s mission is to raise awareness for the economic, environmental, and community impact of American-made manufacturers and brands. Harry established the Reshoring Initiative in 2010 to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.

This Google Earth map shows the locations in an upcoming novel by Skip Dahlgren ’62.

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Class Notes Teaching Mindfulness . . . and Smiles KELLY DILLMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

JUDY GOODWIN RIENDEAU ’79 has been teaching Lower and Middle School (Grades 2-5) visual arts at St. Francis School in Louisville, Kentucky for five years. An independent Preschool-Grade 12 institution, St. Francis bills itself as providing progressive education, emphasizing individuality and independent thinking.

Motivated by their faculty/staff summer reading (Dave Mochel’s Good Life Practice: A Quick Start Guide to Mindful Self-Regulation), St. Francis teachers have begun to incorporate mindfulness into the curriculum, and Judy is a huge proponent based on her own embracing of mindfulness, such as while riding a bicycle (listening to her breath and the birds) or throwing pots on the ceramics wheel (the meditative effect of the spinning). “My colleagues and I have grabbed onto mindfulness to quiet the mind, listen to our hearts, and experience our emotions. We needed to understand and experience it before we could share it with our students, many of whom would benefit from slowing down and taking time away from their digital devices to build an awareness of themselves as well as compassion and empathy for others.”

Judy wants her students to tap into their creativity (right-sided thinking), which requires focus and attention. “They need to be able to stay on topic, problem solve, and not walk away if a lesson or technique is perceived to be difficult,” she says. “Kids need to be in the present. The benefits of problem-solving, critical thinking, and building ‘productive struggle’ into lessons are tremendous. When students and teachers struggle or are put in vulnerable situations, they grow.”

Among the activities that promote awareness, contemplation, and calm in Judy’s classroom are weaving; needle felting (transforming wool into 3D objects); and “playing” a singing bowl, which students can tap with a mallet to elicit a calming ring. Similar to initiatives on the Short Hills Campus, she and her colleagues use other wellness techniques as well: a minute of silence to begin Morning Meeting; 15 minutes of quiet activities during advisory meetings; brain breaks; and movement breaks.

Notably, St. Francis also places a premium on students’ personal time by not prioritizing homework, at least at the elementary-age level—they focus instead on in-school lessons. “In my student days, homework was considered the key to test performance,” Judy recalls. “But we know today that a ton of homework is not necessarily going to lead to good grades and happiness.”

To further promote student well-being, Judy would like to see more outdoor activities . . . and more smiling. “Schools should implement more time for kids to be outdoors, maybe to walk in the woods. The more you’re outdoors, observing nature, the more it helps your well-being. And I love emphasizing the importance of a smile. The act of smiling—being happy—is contagious. It’s a simple concept, but the world would be better if everyone just smiled!”

1969 BILL BONN writes “Our 50th (yikes!) Reunion was during May last year. It was great to see fellow classmates in such good health and so happy. Thanks so much to all of you who made my husband Ruben feel welcome at the Reunion. It meant the world to me!”

JAY DILLON, owner of Jay Dillon Rare Books + Manuscripts in Monmouth Beach, NJ, appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes in October. He is the “unlikely detective” who discovered forgeries of Christopher Columbus letters in the Vatican and other famous libraries, and then tracked down the stolen originals (working with Paul Needham of the Princeton University Library), which have now been returned to their rightful owners. Ten years ago, Jay discovered that some forgeries of these letters had “polluted the market,” as he puts it, so he was trying to pinpoint their source, or sources. (“We still haven’t gotten to the bottom of it,” he says.) In 2011, during his research, he noticed that the National Library of Catalonia’s website had posted a photo of their Columbus letter, which looked exactly like a letter that Jay had seen for sale. “What I remembered at first, in the photo, were some distinctive imperfections in the printed text, which corresponded exactly and uniquely to a book that I had seen on the market 15 months earlier,” he says. “This led me to compare the two books even more closely, side by side, using photographs, and that’s when I saw the same ‘smudge’ marks—called ‘foxing’—in the paper. The foxing was identical in both books.” Therefore, as he explained to CBS, “One of [the letters] has to be a forgery, because you can’t have two books with the same, random brown spots in the margins.

It’s just impossible.” Jay suspected that the library’s letter had been stolen, replaced by a forgery, and put up for sale, meaning their

Jay Dillon ’69 discussing forged Christopher Columbus letters on 60 Minutes.

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Head of School Matt Levinson P ’21, Andrew Goldstein ’92, and Director of College Counseling and English Teacher Tim Lear ’92, P ’25, ’27, ’30.

Scott Nettune ’95, Miller Bugliari ’52, P ’86, ’90, ’97, GP ’20, ’24, and Christopher Runnells ’95 at Urban Table in Basking Ridge, NJ.

Alumni Soccer Game at Homecoming 2019.

collection had a fake. Knowing what he had found, and with his similar discoveries of incorrect paper in books at other libraries in Italy, Jay alerted the Department of Justice.

“Columbus, for all his achievements and all his faults, did something that nobody had ever done before,” Jay told CBS, regarding his motivation for his efforts. “He made the globe a globe, and that’s the most consequential news ever published, isn’t it?”

1983

1996

DR. MARK MCLAUGHLIN has written a new book. Read more on page 53.

GREG WAXBERG is among the winners of the 88th annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition, placing seventh in the “Print or Online Article” category. His story, published on OperaWire, profiled four sopranos who were preparing to represent three 19th century singers/composers in “Leading Ladies Liberated” for the 2019 New York Opera Fest.

The concert’s purpose—and Greg’s motivation to write the piece—was to help increase the prominence of female composers in music programming.

1989 DEBBIE WHITE was named Billboard’s 2019 “Lawyer of the Year”—she is the first woman to receive this music industry honor. Debbie is a partner at Loeb & Loeb and is Vice Chair of the firm’s Music Practice Group. Her practice focuses on representing recording artists, songwriters, producers, managers, record companies, publishing companies, and digital media and technology companies. She is known for negotiating multimillion-dollar contracts for music’s A-listers and for counseling global brands on music deals.

Debbie’s worldwide client list includes K-pop super-group BTS as well as The Who, James TW, Emily Ann Roberts, Melanie Martinez, and Duran.

2000 TED AND KATE (MARTUSCELLO) SMITH welcomed Grace Connelly Smith on November 14. Grace joins big sisters Libby and Emma.

1992

Jeremy Goldstein ’91, Miller Bugliari ’52, P ’86, ’90, ’97, GP ’20, ’24, Kim Kimber III ’76, P ’07, and Woody Weldon ’91, P ’23 at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, NJ.

ANDREW GOLDSTEIN returned to Pingry in November to deliver the John Hanly Lecture on Ethics and Morality, introduced by his friend and classmate Tim Lear ’92, P ’25, ’27, ’30. Read more at pingry.org/extras.

Grace Connelly Smith.

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Class Notes

Henry Burchenal ’08 and Hannah Hoar on their wedding day.

Kristin Scillia ’10 and Daniel Lowenthal on their wedding day.

Dan Ambrosia ’07 with Pingry friends on his wedding day.

2005

2008

JULIE JOHNSON was honored by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce in November as one of the winners of its “Ten Outstanding Young Leaders Award.”

The honor spotlights young professionals striving to enhance Boston and improve the world. Julie is Co-Founder and CEO of Boston-based Armored Things (founded in 2016), which uses AI to transform physical security and operations for large venues and campuses.

HENRY BURCHENAL married Hannah Hoar on September 21 in Keene Valley, NY. Pictured are Ryan Maxwell ’08, Will Brundage ’08, Erik Moss ’08, Gordon Peeler ’08, Patrick Trousdale ’08, Brooke Conti Trousdale ’09, Chris Bartlett ’79, Jeff Tanenbaum ’08, Will Burchenal ’11, Cary Corrigan ’08, Natalie Battista ’10, Peter Corrigan ’08, Henry Burchenal ’08, Freddy Porges ’10, Hannah Hoar, Eric Hynes ’08, Jed Constantino ’08, Andrew Burchenal ’12, Jen Lang Sullivan ’09, Betsy Lucas Vreeland ’84, P ’11, ’12, ’15, and Mary Lee Donahue Trousdale ’78, P ’08, ’13.

2007 DAN AMBROSIA married Caroline Baca on September 21 on Nantucket. Pictured are Mike Ambrosia ’10, Andrew Krill ’07, Dan Ambrosia ’07, Boys’ Varsity Ice Hockey Assistant Coach/Head Coach Emeritus John Magadini, and Brad Zanoni ’07.

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2010 KRISTIN SCILLIA married Daniel Lowenthal on June 15 at The Ashford Estate, surrounded by friends and family. Kristin’s sister, Nicole Scillia ’00, was the Maid of Hon-

has taken full advantage of other short-term professional opportunities and used them as a platform to shadow professional practitioners; co-author conference presentations; conduct product analysis; optimize active protocols; observe medical procedures; and participate in research conferences. Within this journey, she has sustained the highest standards, academically and athletically.”

2017

Ashley F. ’11 and her mother, former Pingry Mandarin Chinese Teacher Yi Hao P ’11, ’13, at “Dancing Under the Harvest Moon.”

or, while Courtney Hulse ’10, Louisa Lee ’10, Maddie Garcia ’10, Beth Garcia ’10, Cassidy Reich ’10, Carina Chan ’10, and Alexandra Rotatori ’10 served as bridesmaids, and Alexandra Cheng ’10, Elizabeth Loonam ’00, and Arianna Austin ’00 were in attendance. After graduating from Cornell University together, Kristin and Daniel moved back to the New York City area and reside in Brooklyn Heights.

Kristin works for Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, and Daniel for The Madison Square Garden Company.

2011 ASHLEY F. participated in the Purple Swans’ “Dancing Under the Harvest Moon” benefit for youth mental health initiatives, which took place in November at the Union County Performing Arts Center. More than 1,000 audience members experienced a celebration of Chinese and American music and dance styles. Ashley and her mother, former Pingry Mandarin Teacher Yi Hao P ’11, ’13, shared their family’s experience with mental health issues, to help fight the stigma of mental illness. Ashley has experienced depression, intermittently, for about 10 years and has sought help for work-related stress. She also volunteers for a crisis hotline and has found that many young Asian Americans feel their parents are a bigger source of stress than support, often comparing their children to

other children and giving negative feedback.

Instead, Ashley said, “The first step is wanting to help.” Her mother said that parents often do not realize that children have a serious mental illness until it is too late. “We often say to our kids, ‘Wear some more—don’t be cold!’ but how often do we extend the same care to their mental well-being? Why not pay as much attention to their mental health as their physical well-being?” Read more on page 12.

MADDY SHILTS starred as Tilly Evans in Qui Nguyen’s dramatic comedy She Kills Monsters in November at Miami University. The play follows a woman’s exploration through the world of Dungeons & Dragons as a means of connecting to her deceased younger sister. One reviewer wrote that Maddy gave “a complex portrayal of a deceased, yet self-realized, teenage girl.”

JEFF ZUCKER, a member of the Penn Men’s Tennis Team, was profiled in The Daily Pennsylvanian in October for his efforts to launch a program to have all Penn student-athletes certified in CPR. He was inspired by Pingry’s graduation requirement that all students complete CPR training.

2014 REBECCA GEVER made her Off-Broadway debut in October. Read more on page 53.

2016 ALEXA BUCKLEY, a member of the Women’s Swim Team at the University of California, Berkeley, was named ASC (Athletic Study Center) Scholar-Athlete of the Week for the week of November 18. She was recognized for “establishing a presence within the health industry through intellectual pursuits— putting academic knowledge acquired into meaningful practice. Most recently, Alexa served as a Summer Consultant for Putnam Associates, a premier strategy consulting firm serving biopharmaceutical, diagnostics, medical device clients, and the private equity/ venture capital community. Furthermore, she

Maddy Shilts ’17, center, in She Kills Monsters.

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In Memoriam JAMES OVERMAN WELCH, JR. October 6, 2019, age 88, Chatham, NJ Mr. Welch served as a member of Pingry’s Board of Trustees from 1979-1993 and was a former Co-Chair, with his wife Ginny, of the Grandparent Annual Fund. He matriculated at Harvard College, earning an A.B., and attended Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI. Once commissioned an ensign, Mr. Welch was assigned to the Engineering Department on the USS Hambleton, a destroyer minesweeper in Charleston, SC, where he completed his naval career as Lieutenant Junior Grade and Chief Engineer. Upon leaving the Navy, Mr. Welch joined the family business, the James O. Welch Company, a national candy and chocolate business with brands such as Junior Mints, Sugar Daddy, and Sugar Babies. This company was sold to Nabisco, Inc. in 1963. After serving as President of the Candy Division for several years, Mr. Welch was transferred to Nabisco headquarters in New Jersey. During this period, he was actively involved in the Billie Jean King/Bobby Riggs tennis match where Bobby Riggs presented Billie Jean King with a giant Sugar Daddy lollipop. Following this event, Mr. Welch was also active in Evel Knievel’s attempted jump of the Snake River, which proved to be an ideal double entendre to promote Chuckles jelly candy with the slogan “Evel Knievel goes for Chuckles” on every bag. After transferring to Nabisco’s headquarters as Assistant to the President, Mr. Welch served as President of Nabisco’s cereal and pet food division and then Nabisco’s International Division before becoming President of Nabisco. In 1985, he was elected Chief Executive Officer of Nabisco Brands, the result of the 1981 merger of Nabisco and Standard Brands.

After the sale of Nabisco Brands to RJ Reynolds in 1985, he was elected Vice Chairman of the Board of RJR Nabisco. Mr. Welch was also a Director of Vanguard Mutual Funds (1974-2001), Teco Energy (1976-2006), Kmart (1995-2001), and The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and its predecessors (since 1989), and trustee of the New York Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society (1987-2013). He also served as a trustee of The Park School of Brookline, MA and Noble and Greenough School of Dedham, MA, as well as Chairman of an undergraduate education committee at Harvard University. Survivors include his wife Virginia (Ginny); sister Deborah LaGorce; six sons, James III P ’06, ’09, ’11, ’13, Leighton ’79, Miles ’82, Christopher ’84, Gardiner ’88, and Samuel ’90 and their lovely wives, including Susan Barba Welch ’77, P ’06, ’09, ’11, ’13; and 19 grandchildren, including Katrina ’06, Natasha ’09, Tanya ’11, and Alexandra ’13.

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GEORGE HORNING LOWDEN ’39 October 7, 2019, age 98, Fort Myers, FL Mr. Lowden attended Dartmouth College, served as a Naval Aviator in World War II, spent a year with Eastern Air Lines, and worked in the petroleum industry. He was predeceased by his wife Louise. Survivors include three children, George, Jr. (Jane), Josephine (John), and David (Kelly), and eight grandchildren, Bart, Sandy, Margaret, Philip, George, Emery, Skyler, and David.

RICHARD D. MCGINLEY ’50 January 25, 2019, age 88, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL Mr. McGinley attended the University of Pennsylvania and spent his career as an executive with Bethlehem Steel Corporation. He was predeceased by his wife Virginia and son Peter.

Survivors include his children Richard, Jr., Mary, and Michael, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Mr. McGinley died of complications from Parkinson’s Disease.

JOHN WAYNE LUTHER ’57 October 23, 2019, age 81, Charleston, SC Mr. Luther attended Colgate University, was a member of the 1963 graduating class at Harvard Business School, and began his marketing career with General Foods Jello Division. He developed the consulting division of Marketing Corporation of America in Westport, CT in 1974, and founded his own Luther and Company in 1991 where he consulted for Fortune 500 companies on product growth. Married to Valerie Hendrickson Korn, he leaves three children: John III, Peter, and Karlyn, and in-law children Jenifer, Dina, and Peter. He was “Papa John” to 10 beloved grandchildren: John (Jake), Rhyan, Kyleigh, Madison, Peter, Grant, Olivia, Nicholas, Douglas, and Lucas. His brother-inlaw, Bill Korn, was a major support during his illness.

PETER VANWINKLE YOUNG ’62 September 25, 2019, age 75, Las Cruces, NM Mr. Young graduated from MIT with a degree in Electrical Engineering. While there, he met his future wife, Ellen Roberts, and they married a week before his graduation. Two sons came along soon after, Paul and Jack. Mr. Young completed his education with an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylva-

nia and began a career with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, lasting 28 years. Throughout his life, he loved playing the organ, an interest that developed at Pingry. He served as Dean of the Las Cruces Chapter of the American Guild of Organists for five years. Mr. Young died of complications from Parkinson’s Disease.

REV. JOHN JACKSON BLOSSOM ’72 September 15, 2019, age 65, Guildford, CT Rev. Blossom attended Connecticut College, where he met his future wife June-Ann and became a driving force in the building and managing of the campus radio station. He majored in American Literature and graduated with a B.A. in English, but he first worked in the growing tech industry and its interface with financial agencies and corporations. During that time, he authored the book Content Nation: Surviving and Thriving as Social Media Changes Our Work, Our Lives, and Our Future. While he enjoyed the tech industry’s intellectual challenges, Rev. Blossom had always felt a calling to the ministry of the United Methodist Church; as a result, he recently decided to follow a second career path toward ordination. He graduated from Hartford Seminary with Honors, received an M. Div. (with honors) from Yale Divinity School, and rejoiced to receive his commissioning in 2019. At the time of his death, he was Pastor of South Meriden Trinity United Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church of East Berlin. In his capacity as Pastor on a wider scale, Rev. Blossom was involved in interfaith conversations among clergy in Meriden, in local environmental concerns, in immigration outreach, and in developing programs for children. He was also working on a novel about Downeast Maine, not only because he enjoyed writing, but also because he felt great fondness for the rugged terrain of far northeast Maine. Survivors include his wife, June-Ann Greeley; son, Christopher; father, John; and sister, Anne. Rev. Blossom died unexpectedly after a short illness while on a church-related conference trip to South Korea.

The editorial staff makes every effort to publish an obituary for and pay tribute to the accomplishments of alumni who have passed away, based on information available as of press time. If family members, classmates, or friends would like to submit tributes, please contact Greg Waxberg ‘96 at gwaxberg@pingry.org.

A Visit to the Archives An Original Buttondown Donates Music Pingry thanks William Redpath ’57, a founding member of the Buttondowns,* for recently donating seven recordings: a record (LP) of The Pingry Chorus 1964, three LPs of Music at Pingry (1976-1978), and three audiocassettes of Music at Pingry (1988, 1992, 1993). These will supplement Pingry’s digitized music collection of audio and video recordings. *Mr. Redpath’s essay that describes the origins of the Buttondowns, written to celebrate the ensemble’s 50th anniversary, appears in the Winter 2008 issue of The Pingry Review.

U PDATE

> Digitization of The Pingry Record is complete; all issues are now available for historical, internal reference.

To see more items from the Archives, visit Pingry Flashes Back (pingry.org/flashesback).

Prominent Tribute to Alumni Who Served and Sacrificed The School’s military plaques are, at last, united.

As recently as last summer, Pingry’s plaques, listing the names of alumni who served in World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam, were scattered throughout the Upper School building. Now, thanks to Archivist Peter Blasevick, who collected the plaques, and the Facilities Team, who built the display, these plaques are located together in the Upper Commons, more visible and prominently displayed to the community.

In recent years, decades after these plaques were created (the exact dates are unknown), Pingry has heard from many other alumni who have served in the armed forces. The School thanks them for their service and continues to update its digital records. If you have served, please notify us so we can make sure our records are up-to-date.

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A Final Look

Art Fundamentals: Cubist Still Life from Observation Through viewing the works of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, and in-class observation, students explored the history of Cubism by creating Cubist Still Lifes. Using charcoal and dry pastel, artists Rowan Ucko ‘23 (left) and Stephen Szepkouski ‘23 (right) created fragmented planes and sections in their compositions while introducing more modernized color schemes. Objects depicted include a tea kettle, slices of cake, and a glass candlestick holder.

Visual Arts Teachers Jennifer Mack-Watkins and Patti Jordan guided the lesson.

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