Potomac Term Fall 2022

PotomacTerm

The

The Alumni Magazine of The Potomac School • Fall 2022

Shaping a Life in Stone Somers Randolph ’71

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from the head of school

DEAR FRIENDS, The 2022-23 school year is well underway, and we’re having an amazing fall at Potomac. The easing of pandemic restrictions has brought us not just a sense of relief but something even more powerful – a surge of energy and renewed excitement. I have felt this in our classrooms and assemblies, on our athletic fields, and in every corner of campus where students, teachers, parents, and alumni gather. We have come through an extraordinary time together, and I believe that the past two years have given us fresh appreciation for being part of an engaged, connected school community.

Potomac’s mission is to prepare young people for lives of purpose, achievement, and generosity of spirit. Thoughtful planning and management are key to ensuring that we achieve this mission. In 2018, the Board of Trustees and administration developed Potomac’s Strategic Roadmap, which guides our planning and decision-making. The roadmap is built around four foundational commitments: excellent teaching, empowering students, connected community, and financial sustainability.

I would like to take this opportunity to mention some of the initiatives that are underway this year in support of these commitments.

Excellent teaching is at the core of the student experience, so attracting and retaining the best faculty and staff is key. We know that K-12 education is not immune to the “Great Resignation” that has led to workforce shortages across many professions and industries. While Potomac has not experienced significant faculty and staff attrition, we recognize that the challenges posed by the pandemic put tremendous stress on our teachers, with effects that linger. This year, we are focusing on efforts to promote engagement, prevent burnout, and strengthen employee retention. As part of this effort, I am meeting with small groups of faculty and staff to hear their perspectives and discuss strategies to support our employees. Along with sustaining a supportive, collegial work environment that fosters professional excellence, Potomac will continue to offer attractive salaries and benefits and a robust faculty professional development program.

Our school empowers students through a rigorous, wellrounded educational program that fuels the development of their knowledge, skills, and talents. Understanding that good health is essential for learning and growth, we have made a concerted effort to examine factors that contribute to mental and emotional health challenges in young people and ensure that we are providing the best possible support for our students. Last year, we added a fourth professional to our Counseling Team. This year, our Intermediate and Upper Schools are piloting new daily schedules, designed to balance the academic workload and ensure a studentcentered experience. As we implement such strategies to support our students’ mental health and well-being, we will also continue to prioritize an excellent academic program that challenges them to stretch and grow.

Emerging from the pandemic, we seek to amplify Potomac’s focus on connected community. This work takes place on many fronts, as we strive to more fully engage students, parents, faculty and staff, and alumni in the life of our school. This fall, James Hightower III joined Potomac in the newly created senior position director of community engagement. James is working with colleagues across campus to plan initiatives that will bring Potomac people together, fuel school spirit, and promote a strong sense of inclusion and engagement. As I write this, we are coming off a wonderful Fall Frolics/Homecoming/Alumni Reunion weekend and our first-ever Friday Night Lights celebration, both of which brought large numbers of people to campus for fun and friendship.

There will be many more activities to connect the Potomac community throughout the year, and I hope that you will join us.

Finally, the Strategic Roadmap directs us to focus on financial sustainability – operating our school in a fiscally responsible manner today, while building a strong foundation for tomorrow.

An important objective this year is revitalizing our Growing Ever Greater capital campaign, which was paused during the pandemic.

Our early campaign efforts generated incredible energy, optimism, and generosity, manifested most visibly in the Spangler Center for Athletics and Community. We are eager to rekindle that spirit as we look toward our next major capital goals – renovation of the Middle School; repurposing and refurbishment of areas around the Chester Gym; and increased endowment support for faculty excellence, student financial aid, and innovative academic programming. You will be hearing more about these priorities in the months ahead.

I hope that you enjoy this issue of The Term, which highlights some remarkable alumni and many of the exciting things happening here at Potomac. Thank you for your continued interest and support.

All my best,

John Kowalik Head of School

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PotomacTerm

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1301 Potomac School Road McLean, VA 22101 Tel: (703) 356-4100 • Fax: (703) 749-6308 www.potomacschool.org

HEAD OF SCHOOL John Kowalik DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT Barbara Overstreet DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS Laura Miller DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND EXECUTIVE EDITOR Shelley Dutton DESIGNER Martha Madrid PHOTO EDITOR Loretta Sevier WRITERS Scott Butterworth Rita Deurdulian Shelley Dutton Laura Miller Sarah Valente CLASS NOTES EDITORS Alexis Ellis Alex Thomas PHOTOGRAPHERS Demitri Bowen Rebecca Drobis Valerie Plesch ‘98 Susan Shaffer

The Potomac Term is published twice a year. For questions, comments, or story ideas, contact rdeurdulian@potomacschool.org.

Class notes should be directed to term@potomacschool.org. Please submit changes of address (including for college students or adult children who have left home) or notice of missing or duplicate copies to alumni@potomacschool.org, so that we may update our records.

ON THE COVER: Somers Randolph ’71 photo: ©Wendy McEahern

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in this issueFall 2022 FEATURES 14 Shaping a Life in Stone

For half a century, Somers Randolph ’71 has lived the artist’s life, honing his skills, refining his vision, and challenging himself to bring forth ever more beautiful shapes from stone.

20 Healthy Communities, Healthy Nation

As chief of the DC Health Department’s Chronic Disease Division, Shannon Gopaul Balser ’01 is playing a central role in efforts to make the nation’s capital a healthier and more equitable city.

24 Imagining, Envisioning, and Creating the Unexpected

Imagination, vision, and creativity – Potomac’s K-12 Art Department chair, Cort Morgan, holds that these “metacognitive tools” are essential for progress in every field of endeavor. In his remarks at last spring’s Grandparents and Special Friends Day, Cort described how arts education fosters such vital attributes, preparing students to be innovators and leaders in the face of the unexpected.

28 Investing in a Green Future

Joe Osha ’80 works at the intersection of two seemingly disparate worlds – high finance and green energy – leveraging his expertise in both fields to fuel positive change.

DEPARTMENTS 1 From the Head of School 4 News on Campus 10 Athletics Highlights 32 Alumni Activities 38 Class Notes 64 In Memoriam rendering: CannonDesign

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news on campus

Making $ense of Dollars and Cents

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HE QUESTION POSED to the roomful of second graders was, “If you had $10, how would you use it?”

One student replied thoughtfully, “I would save four dollars, donate three, and spend three.” Another exclaimed, “I would save zero, donate zero, and spend $10 – and I would spend that ten on investing, so that my money would make more money!” As different as these answers were, both reflect a level of financial literacy that might seem surprising in 7-year-olds.

“It’s never too early to make children aware of the value of money – how we earn it and spend it, and why using it responsibly and saving for the future are so important.”

In April, Potomac second and third graders participated in separate daylong workshops designed to introduce important financial concepts. Organized by K-6 Director of Learning Support Sarah Tiamiyu, who also serves as the Lower School’s financial literacy coordinator, the programs were conducted by guest educator Chuchi Arevalo, the founder and CEO of SPARK Business Academy.

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Working in teams, the students applied their math skills as they learned about the value and uses of money. The workshops offered them creative, hands-on opportunities to explore such topics as foreign currencies and exchange rates and earning, saving, donating, and investing money.

Sarah explains, “We wanted to make this learning experience special, so we treated it as an in-house field trip. We brought each grade together in a space where they could gather around tables and collaborate.

The students were excited to hear from a guest speaker, and Mr. Arevalo took a very engaging approach to introducing them to basic financial concepts. It was a great learning experience for everyone.”

At the end of each grade’s workshop, the students had an opportunity to share what they learned, as parents joined them for the last 45 minute of the program. In their

presentations, the students reflected on how they might earn money now (walking dogs, doing chores around the house, and selling lemonade were popular options). They described various U.S. and foreign currencies and chose their favorites, often based on a coin’s shape or size, a bill’s colorful design, or a family connection to the country that issued the currency. And they all reported on how they would use that hypothetical $10 if it suddenly appeared in their pocket.

Reflecting on the program, Lower School Head Dr. Donnette Echols notes, “Financial literacy is one of the critical life skills we work to help Potomac students develop. It’s never too early to make children aware of the value of money – how we earn it and spend it, and why using it responsibly and saving for the future are so important. As our students progress to higher grades, they will explore more complex aspects of financial literacy; programs like this one provide a firm foundation for that future learning.”

news on campus

Advancing the Upper School Curriculum

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N 2018, Potomac announced that its Upper School would begin a five-year curriculum development process with the goal of moving beyond Advanced Placement (AP) courses. US Head Doug McLane explains, “In general, AP courses are designed to prepare students to do well on the corresponding AP examinations.

Teachers and students need to adhere to the prescribed syllabus, pushing forward without much time for deeper exploration of particular topics or concepts. One of the things we wanted to do, in developing our own advanced courses at Potomac, was to offer our students and faculty opportunities to delve deeply into interesting and important subjects.”

In addition to balancing breadth of information with depth of understanding, many of the new advanced courses in Potomac’s Upper School offer interdisciplinary perspectives and give students opportunities to do independent research and projects that bring their learning to life.

Doug notes, “This fall, we hit the five-year mark and realized our goal: All advanced courses now offered at Potomac were developed by our own faculty. While some of these courses are similar to their AP counterparts, many are entirely new and unique to Potomac, designed to address our students’ needs and interests.” Examples as diverse as Advanced Humanities and Advanced Mechatronics come immediately to mind.

Introduced in 2019, Potomac’s Advanced Humanities course is an interdisciplinary class that focuses on a specific period in American history, looking at the political, economic, social, and cultural forces that shaped that time. In its first three years, the course focused on the tumultuous 1960s; this year, the class is considering the period immediately before and after World War I, with a focus on the emergence of modernism, inspired by the 100th anniversary of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land.

English teacher Franz Ritt, who is co-teaching the class with history teacher Nick MacDonald, says, “We want to help the students see how modernism emerged in the wake of a technological and social cataclysm, and how the legacy of that time is still visible today.”

Advanced Mechatronics, also first offered in 2019, is an interdisciplinary, project-based course that challenges students to explore the fields of mechanical, electrical, and software engineering. Students in the class use design thinking and off-the-shelf components to conceptualize, build, and program robotic mechanisms that address real-world challenges.

The students master increasingly complex concepts and skills as they move forward, developing their solutions through an iterative process that demands both critical and creative thinking.

In 2021, another exciting offering, Advanced Organic “This curricular shift has been an Chemistry, was added to the Upper incredibly exciting process. I am School curriculum. Science teacher Laura Petro – who taught organic proud of our faculty’s commitment chemistry at the college level for five and creativity and our students’ years before joining Potomac – eagerness to learn and grow. " developed the course. She explains, “In this class, students learn to name and draw organic molecules, understand the reactions they undergo, and use trends and patterns to predict the products of chemical synthesis.”

Laura notes, “Unlike many traditional organic chemistry classes, our course is not lecture based; we use a problem-solving approach. The students do college-level lab work that challenges them to build their knowledge and skills.” She adds, “There is no AP course in organic chemistry; this is because it’s generally taught at the sophomore level in college. Every college student pursuing a pre-med or science major eventually encounters organic chemistry, which is sometimes regarded as a ‘weed-out’ course because the material is so challenging. I’m excited that we can offer Potomac students this advanced class that provides strong preparation for future study and helps them build confidence in their ability to tackle tough material successfully.”

In all, Potomac’s Upper School curriculum now includes 35 courses with the advanced designation. Doug McLane notes, “These rigorous academic experiences empower our students to think deeply about important topics, consider multiple perspectives, do independent research, and work on meaningful projects with real-world applications.” Though the advanced courses are about so much more than preparing for a test, Doug adds, “Potomac continues to serve as an AP testing center, so any of our students who want to take AP exams still have the opportunity to do so.”

Doug concludes, “This curricular shift has been an incredibly exciting process. I am proud of our faculty’s commitment and creativity and our students’ eagerness to learn and grow. We are confident that Potomac’s advanced courses provide strong preparation for success in college and beyond.”

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news on campus NEWS ROUNDUP

With pandemc restrictions eased, Potomac revived a number of well-loved communiy initiatives in spring 2022 – and introduced some new ones. One new event that proved very popular, with nearly 800 members of the school community in attendance, was the Hawaiian-themed Springfest: Grill and Games, held on April 22. The fun began with a wiffle ball game for Lower School students, followed by opportunities to cheer for the Potomac Panthers, as the varsity teams took on rival schools in girls lacrosse and boys tennis and the JV teams took the field in softball and girls lacrossse. Percussionists from Potomac’s Pep Band marched across campus providing spirited rhythms, and everyone enjoyed food hot off the grills, topped off by delicious ice cream. It was a great time for all and a reminder of the joy that comes from being part of the connected, engaged Potomac School community.

In the spring, Potomac and the Safe Community Coalition co-hosted a program featuring New York Times bestselling author Julie Lythcott-Haims, entitled “Throw Out the Checklisted Childhood: Tips and Strategies for Raising Successful Kids.”

Held on campus and simultaneously livestreamed, the program drew more than 500 attendees. The next day, Ms. Lythcott-Haims returned to campus to speak at an Upper School assembly.

A former Stanford University dean, Julie Lythcott-Haimes is the author of How to Raise an Adult; Your Turn: How to Be an Adult; and her memoir, Real American. She has also given several popular TED talks and is an in-demand speaker nationwide.

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This spring, the campus community once again gathered around the May Pole to share in a time-honored Potomac tradition. With a full in-person program and guests permitted, the 2022 May Day celebration featured music, dance, and poetry, with students and faculty from all divisions sharing their talents.

All the old familiar songs were sung, students in bright colors wove ribbons ’round the May Pole, and Morris dancers brought the sounds of clacking sticks and jingling bells to the US Quad. It’s always a good time to celebrate when the Potomac community realizes that the cold, grey days of winter are past and sumer is icumen in!

After the program, the members of the Grade 6 Students for Environmental and Service Learning Action Committee gathered the flowers that had been laid at the foot of the May Pole and made arrangements, using vases donated by the Parent Association Service Learning Committee. The colorful, fragrant bouquets were then delivered to older adults living at Chesterbrook Residences in Falls Church.

news on campus

A sense of purpose filled the air in the Spangler Center this May, as members of the Potomac community worked together on a meal-packing initiative to support Ukrainians in need.

Attended by more than 100 people, the event was spearheaded by the Parent Association Service Learning Committee, in partnership with Upper School students in the Global Perspectives and Citizenship program, who have been studying food insecurity around the world. With the war in Ukraine top of mind, the parents and students organized this meaningful service initiative in partnership with The Outreach Program, a nonprofit organization.

Convoy of Hope, an international relief agency, picked up the more than 21,000 meals assembled at the event and delivered them to displaced Ukrainian families.

Beautiful memories were made last spring as Potomac once again welcomed special people in its students’ lives for a visit to campus. Despite the rainy weather, the return of the school’s annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day saw record attendance, with more than 400 guests taking part. The event began with remarks of welcome from Head of School John Kowalik, followed by reflections from faculty speaker Cort Morgan (see page 24). The guests then visited classrooms, where the students showed them around, introduced them to their teachers and friends, and shared some of the things they have been working on at school.

Potomac’s robotics teams finished the 2021-22 school year strong. Intermediate School Team 10227D traveled to Dallas to compete in the VEX IQ MS Division World Championship.

The team of four seventh graders participated in 10 teamwork challenges, collaborating with participants from all over the country and around the world. Potomac’s team competed in the engineering division, which included 77 of the competition’s total 750 teams. The scores showed improvement over the team’s previous competition, and all were pleased with the students’ performance, especially given that this was the first time a Potomac team traveled to a competition since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, three Upper School robotics teams competed at the VEX Robotics World Championship, also held in Dallas. Potomac’s teams were competing among the best of the best from 820 high schools, and it was the school’s first in-person World Championship since 2019.

The US teams fought and played hard, learned a lot, and met adversity with perseverance. They look forward to cotinuing to improve their skills and competing again this year.

Early June brought a state-ly occasion to Potomac, as the third grade class participated in their final assembly as Lower Schoolers.

The traditional Fifty Nifty assembly is an opportunity for the rising fourth graders to share their research on America’s 50 states and proudly show off their creative state hats, while singing the famous “Fifty Nifty” song. Hats off to these talented, creative students!

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news on campus

Congratulations to Upper School science teacher Laura Petro on being named the 2022 Greater Washington DC Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) Teacher of the Year. Ms. Petro, who was nominated by a former student, earned the recognition for her “exceptional contributions to promoting student research.” Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense, the JSHS promotes original research and experimentation at the high school level; teacher and mentor recognition is a key component of the program.

There was quite a bit of clowning around at last spring’s Kindergarten Circus. Bodybuilders, wild animals, and acrobats were among the performers that took the stage to entertain Lower School students and their guests. From the opening parade to the grand finale, the show was received with enthusiastic applause. A special guest was honored as “Head of Clowns,” and a great time was had by all!

In late spring, a group of eighth graders spent three days working as “watermen” with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation on Port Isobel Island. The students helped set crab pots, scraped healthy grass beds, progged a Tangier Island beach, and made a close study of a marsh (and its mud!) They identified more than 50 species of creatures in their short but very rewarding visit.

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Ben Choi ’22 was among 161 students from across the U.S., and one of just five from Virginia, to be named a 2022 U.S. Presidential Scholar. The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars selects students annually based on their academic success, artistic and technical excellence, essays, and school evaluations and transcripts, as well as evidence of community service, leadership, and demonstrated commitment to high ideals.

Congratulations to Ben on this honor!

This summer, Potomac Director of K-12 Public Speaking and Head Speech and Debate Coach Harry Strong received a 2022 Outstanding Educator Award from the University of Chicago. Mr. Strong was nominated by a former student, now enrolled at the University of Chicago, in recognition of going “beyond everyday teaching and making a difference” in their life.

news on campus

Potomac’s debate program opened the 2022-23 season with not one, but two, preseason All-Americans. Out of the 150,000 student members of the National Speech & Debate Association, seniors Natalie RootsNowakowski and Olivia Eads were ranked in the top 25 for their performances last spring. The top 25 at the end of each season are named High School All-American speech and debate students.

The new school year got off to a spirited start with the annual Opening Assembly on September 9. The celebration began with the traditional procession of the school’s oldest and youngest students, as the members of the Class of 2023 escorted the kindergartners into their first Potomac assembly. Inspiring remarks followed, with Head of School John Kowalik reflecting on the meaning and importance of generosity of spirit, and Student Government Association President Yabby Maelaf ’23 urging her fellow students to follow their passions and persevere as they work toward their goals.

A highlight of the assembly was the presentation of the 2022 Bill Cook Excellent Teaching Award to two outstanding faculty members, Middle School Dean Shefali Sardar and handbells teacher Nick Hanson.

Presentation of this award at the Opening Assembly underscores the central role that excellent teaching plays in defining the Potomac School experience.

This fall, seventh grade science classes have been learning about ways to identify the quality of a water source through biological and chemical indicators. On campus, the students waded right into their study of Pimmit Run, using nets and identification keys to identify various macroinvertebrates and testing the water’s pH, nitrate, and phosphate levels. Then, during the seventh grade class trip to Caroline Furnace, the students performed many of the same tests at a stream there, bringing their observations and data home to compare.

The Potomac School sent its first student delegation to the Congressional Black Caucus’s Annual Legislative Conference this fall. The conference offered the juniors and seniors an opportunity to attend workshops and interact with Black leaders and stakeholders representing such fields as politics, journalism, entertainment, and social activism. The students developed their networking skills while gaining insights into how the federal government operates and how individuals and organizations can advocate on issues affecting the Black community. Upon returning to campus, the conference participants shared what they learned with their Upper School peers.

Congratulations to the nine Potomac seniors who have qualified as semifinalists in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program! (Front row, l to r) Jack Wigmore, Tea Picconatto, Grace Lee, Michelle Ahn, Yabby Maelaf, and Arya Bansal and (back row, l to r) Olee Banerjee, Patrick Wolff, and Benjamin Joel are among just 16,000 high school seniors nationwide to receive this recognition.

Semifinalists can continue in the competition for approximately 7,250 National Merit Scholarships, worth nearly $28 million in total, which will be awarded in spring 2023.

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athletics highlights SPRING 2022 WRAP-UP

Potomac’s varsity BASEBALL team had another successful season in 2022. After suffering a series of injuries early in the season, the team rallied behind the leadership of seniors Kayden La Force, Luke Froeming, Tim Mellis, Andrew Ruggeri, and TJ Takis. Following a successful spring training trip to South Carolina, the team rattled off a series of wins against tough MAC rivals, including a pair of back-to-back seasonsaving performances in the MAC Tournament. The Panthers look forward to building on the success of this past season in 2023 and beyond!

Panthers varsity SOFTBALL continued to be a powerhouse in 2022, not only in the DC metro area but also statewide. The team compiled a 19-2 record and was ranked #8 in the final Washington Post rankings. In the Virginia Independent School Athletic Association (VISAA) final poll, Potomac was ranked second among Division I schools. And in the final MaxPreps rankings for all 350 public and private school softball teams in Virginia, Potomac was ranked #13.

The Panthers have played in the VISAA softball championship game every year since 2019, except for 2020, when the tournament was not held. Potomac finished second to Bishop O’Connell in each of those tournament finals.

The 2022 team was led by seniors Yanna Bravewolf and Eva Butler. Bravewolf was 10-1 in the circle, and Butler hit .537 while playing outstanding defense at shortstop. The team compiled an overall .468 batting average, with Abby Rebhan ’24, Erika Castellano ’23, Shelby Willcox ’23, and Alexis Vaughan ’25 all hitting .500 or higher. In addition, Bravewolf, Paige Schedler ’25, and Hayley Richardson’ 24 hit above .430. Strong performances were also turned in by Fae Butler ’24, Sloane Escobar ’25, Sam Taylormoore ’23, and Zora Burrell ’25. With just two graduating seniors and 10 varsity players returning for 2023, the team is looking forward tto another successful season.

Hayley Richardson ’24

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Marcus Burrell ’23

Cate Dannahey ’23

athletics highlights

spring honors Congratulations, Potomac Panthers!

ALL-MET Eva Butler ’22 (first team, softball), Yanna Bravewolf ’22 (second team, softball), Erika Castellano ’23 (honorable mention, softball), Drew Ambrose ’23 (honorable mention, boys lacrosse)

ALL-ISL Caroline Lesher ’22 (girls lacrosse), Stella Pence ’25 (girls lacrosse), Catherine LeTendre ’25 (girls lacrosse), Hayley Richardson ’24 (softball), Paige Schedler ’25 (softball), Shelby Wilcox ’23 (softball), Eva Butler ’22 (softball), Yanna Bravewolf ’22 (softball), Abby Rebhan ’23 (softball), Erika Castellano ’23 (softball), Fae Butler ’24 (softball)

ALL-MAC Boys varsity lacrosse clinches the MAC tournament title.

The BOYS LACROSSE team finished the spring season in style with an 11-5 victory over Sidwell Friends in the MAC Championship game. The team amassed an 11-8 record, including wins over Episcopal, St. Andrews (in the MAC semifinals), and rival Flint Hill (twice!) The championship marks the first banner for Potomac’s program since 2017 and the 19th since 1995.

The team, led by captains Owen Diesenhaus ’22, Weston Hicks ’22, and Andrew Lay ’23, saw five players earn All-MAC honors – Drew Ambrose ’23, Diesenhaus, Lay, Miles Monroe ’23, and Max Revis ’23. Ambrose also received Honorable Mention All-Met, as awarded by The Washington Post, for his impressive total of 74 points (48 goals, 26 assists). Diesenhaus was recognized by the Potomac Chapter of USA Lacrosse as an Academic All-American for his exemplary lacrosse skills, good sportsmanship on the field, and high academic achievement in the classroom.

After a season to celebrate and remember, the team returns several key contributors and looks to the future with optimism.

GIRLS LACROSSE had its most successful season since 2016, finishing with a 14-6 record, an ISL Tournament semifinal appearance, and a final ranking of #5 in Virginia. The Panthers were led by Co-captains Caroline Lesher ’22 and Kate Motley ’23. After a successful Spring Break trip to Virginia Beach, the team had big league wins over Holton-Arms, Holy Child, and Bullis. Amory Imperatore ’25, Motley, and Stella Pence ’25 were major contributors on offense, while Lesher, Catherine LeTendre ’25, Helen Otteni ’22, and goalie Cate Dannahey ’23 anchored the defense. The Panthers will return 18 players next spring and are poised to take another step forward in 2023.

Charlie Ortmans ’23 (track, 3,200m), Hudson La Force ’22 (track, at large), Drew Ambrose ’23 (boys lacrosse), Owen Diesenhaus ’22 (boys lacrosse), Andrew Lay ’23 (boys lacrosse), Miles Monroe ’23 (boys lacrosse), Max Revis ’23 (boys lacrosse), Eli Butler ’24 (boys tennis)

ALL-STATE Aneesh Edara ’22 (second team, boys tennis), Owen Peterson ’24 (second team, baseball), Paige Schedler ’25 (second team, softball), Shelby Wilcox ’23 (second team, softball), Fae Butler ’24 (second team, softball), Abby Rebhan ’23 (first team, softball), Erika Castellano ’23 (first team, softball), Eva Butler ’22 (first team, softball), Yanna Bravewolf ’22 (first team, softball), Stella Pence ’25 (first team, girls lacrosse), Caroline Lesher ’22 (first team, girls lacrosse), Kate Tuttle ’24 (track, state champion 800m), Reagan Exley ’24 (track, state champion 1,600m), Kate Tuttle ’24, Mackenzie Fulgham ’24, Tenley Overdeck ’24, Evie Kim ’22 (track, state champions, girls 4x400), Mackenzie Fulgham ’24 (track, third place 400m), Maya Davis ’23 (track, third place, 200m), Arielle Kouyoumdjian ’25 (track, third place, 3,200m), Sasha Minsky ’24 (track, third place, 3,200m)

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athletics highlights

Alexander Zhou ’23

Potomac’s BOYS TENNIS team had another strong season, achieving an 11-7 record. The team finished as runner-up to nationally ranked Sidwell Friends in the MAC and ranked #6 in Virginia.

The season got off to a rocky start with a 1-4 record as the team faced three of the top teams in the DMV, but the Panthers finished strong, winning 10 out of 13 matches to close the year. They lost to Sidwell Friends in the MAC Tournament finals and to Trinity Episcopal in a highly competitive State Tournament match.

The future looks bright, as the team has 11 returning players, including three of its top singles players – Eli Butler ’24, Andrew Mu ’25, and Alexander Zhou ’23. The lineup is bolstered by a number of strong doubles teams, which gives hope for a great 2023 season.

Building on a strong indoor season, our GIRLS outdoor TRACK AND FIELD team placed third out of 15 teams in the ISL and fourth at VISAA States. Both team scores were Potomac’s highest in more than a decade! Maya Davis ’23 tied the school record in the 200m and joined Reagan Exley ’24, Mackenzie Fulgham ’24, Evie Kim 22, Arielle Kouyoumdjian ’25, Tenley Overdeck ’24, and Kate Tuttle ’24 in earning All-State honors for their excellent performances. At Nationals, our girls 4x4 relay (Fulgham, Kim, Overdeck, and Tuttle) finished fourth in the emerging elite division, and the Panthers also achieved a fourth-place finish in the distance medley relays (Exley, Fulgham, Genevieve Harris ’23, and Tuttle). Exley finished 16th overall in the girls emerging elite mile, with a time of 5:09. The future looks bright, as most of the runners return next year!

Boys varsity tennis: MAC Tournament finalists

Olivia Agolini ’22

Selma Elrefai ’24

Caroline Cowley ’25

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athletics highlights

BOYS TRACK AND FIELD posted many strong performances on the state and national levels this past spring. The team finished third out of six teams participating in the MAC Championships, with Charlie Ortmans ’23 and Hudson La Force ’22 earning All-League honors. The Panthers placed 12th at VISAA States, with Sasha Minsky ’24 earning All-State honors. Several of the boys went on to compete at Nationals: Matt Brow ’24 earned All-American honors in the Race Walk event; Donovan Dais ’25 (100m) and Zach DalvaBaird ’25 (1 mile) qualified in the freshman division; and Ortmans competed in both the Championship 1 mile and 2 mile. This season, Ortmans also set stellar school records in the 1,600 and 3,200m with times of 4:11 and 9:15 respectively.

Aidan Muhat ’25

Hudson La Force ’22

Front row (l to r): Helen Otteni (Washington and Lee, soccer); Kayla Rolph (William & Mary, basketball); Evie Kim (Johns Hopkins, track and field) Back row (l to r): BJ McNeil (Dickinson College, basketball); Kevin Check (Wake Forest, football); TJ Takis (Hamilton College, baseball); Atiba De Souza (Washington and Lee, football); Andrew Ruggeri (University of Pennsylvania, baseball); Austin Smith (Virginia Wesleyan University, basketball); Ryan Huppe (Wabash College, golf ); Alexander Akbari (Williams College, squash)

2022 grads slated to play at the college level FALL 2022

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Somers Randolph ’71 14

THE POTOMAC TERM

Shaping a Life in Stone

by Shelley Dutton and Carrie McCarthy

photos: ©Wendy McEahern

W

hen you visit Somers Randolph’s studio, nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in historic Santa Fe, you find yourself surrounded by delicate curves and arcs, intricate whorls and spirals, and sensuous, undulating knots – breathtaking shapes that reach upward and outward toward the light as surely as living things do.

Somers recalls, “When I was a student at Princeton, I saw a line drawing in a philosophy periodical that captured my attention. The image was a continuous shape, with no beginning and no end. I’m not big on shapes that stop.” So it’s not surprising that much of his work reflects the inherent energy and absolute integrity of closed curves, endlessly circling back upon themselves. While certain shapes recur, each piece is unique, speaking to the viewer in a distinctive way. Somers observes, “The interesting point for the sculptor is how the same shape can look completely different in each iteration. If I make one longer or wider, change the size, upend the orientation, the effect is always something new. Shapes that engage your mind have limitless potential.”

Stone is Somers’ medium. Most people don’t give much thought to stone; if they think of it at all, they likely envision something grey, heavy, and cold. But Somers sees it differently. He says, “Our world is made of stone. Wherever you are, whether in the mountains, in a desert, or at the bottom of the sea, if you reach out or dig down you will find stone. The mineral content and method of formation determine the stone’s look and characteristics. Over millennia, the Earth has produced incredible colors and textures, which offer a stone carver infinite possibilities.”

Somers creates his pieces using granite, marble, alabaster, and onyx sourced from quarries around the world. And he always has an ear to the ground, alert for opportunities to obtain unique and beautiful stone. He recently noted, “Right now, I’m waiting for a shipment of 16 tons of Persian onyx. Getting it here is an arduous and round-about process that takes a while, but it will be worth the wait. The shipment includes white, blue, green, and pink onyx. It’s gorgeous, translucent stone; when it captures the light it glows from within.”

Just as Somers himself does, when he’s talking about his life and work as an artist.

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The Artist’s Journey Exactly where Somers’ identity as an artist began is hard to pinpoint, but one early influence stands out in his mind: “When I was young, I used to spend part of my summers at my Great Uncle Alfred’s place in Tennessee, surrounded by extended family – aunts and uncles and cousins of various degrees.

Uncle Alfred was a federal judge with a particular hobby that he practiced at home and on the bench – he whittled.

What I remember is that he was more interested in the long curls of cedar than in the stick itself. Inspired by Uncle Alfred, I took to whittling, too.

There’s a unique satisfaction that comes from patiently paring away in order to discover something else entirely.”

Somers continues, “As I grew, whenever he would see me, Uncle Alfred would say, ‘Boy, let me see your pocket knife.’ And he would check to see if it was sharp by using it to shave the hairs

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“

When I was a student at Princeton, I saw a line drawing in a philosophy periodical that captured my attention. The image was a continuous shape, with no beginning and no end. I’m not big on shapes that stop.”

on his arm. If it was sharp, I got a nod of approval; if not, I would be exhorted to go sharpen it immediately. A sharp knife was a ticket to wisdom. My great uncle was a sage, a respected elder within his family and community. The love of whittling that he passed down to me was a palpable connection to him and the wisdom that he represented.”

Somers smiles, “And so I was hooked.

I whittled my way through school and college and into adulthood. Along the way, I discovered stone and honed my reductive process.”

Somers attended The Potomac School from the third through the ninth grade, and he credits Potomac’s emphasis on the arts with fueling his life’s direction.

He recalls, “While some schools saw art and music as optional add-ons, Potomac honored the vital role that exposure to the arts plays in the student experience.

Fine art, music, and theatrical endeavors were built in; they were essential components of our education.”

He recalls, “Mr. Hebeler was a great art teacher. He gave us the freedom to explore our creativity. I remember, for example, squeezing big tubes of acrylic paint between two boards and then mashing

them together to see what the result would be. We had access to art supplies and the freedom to make and create.”

Upon graduating from Potomac at the end of ninth grade, Somers went on to complete his high school education at Phillips Exeter Academy. It was there that he first picked up hammer and chisel and tried his hand at sculpting in stone. He recalls, “At 16 I decided to be a sculptor.

This was the way I would spend my life and make my living. I liked sculpture because I was in charge of the entire process. I got to decide the material, the shape, the finish, and how I would go about achieving my vision for each piece.

In art, I was the boss of my world – a feeling that most young people long for.

But even then I had no illusions about this path; I knew that it was going to be a long, long road to any kind of success or financial stability.”

As he traveled down that road, Somers’ next stop was Princeton University, where he majored in art history. Continuing to refine his artistic skills and beginning to sell his work, he later spent 12 years in California, then seven in Tennessee, where he explored his family heritage.

Eventually, he settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he has lived and worked for the past 25 years.

Along the way, Somers encountered some detours, but none that pulled him entirely away from his passion for sculpting. He recounts a key life change: “In the early 1980s, I got sober. I went to a seemingly endless number of meetings.

At first, as I sat there listening and thinking, I whittled on bits of wood. But the sound of my whittling was distracting to others, so I decided to switch from wood to soapstone, a softer material that

I could carve away at without making much noise. The shapes that you see in my work today emerged again and again, in different iterations, from these small pieces of soapstone.”

He continues, “Fast forward a couple of decades. I made molds from some of my soapstone carvings and cast the shapes in solid gold and sterling silver, turning them into jewelry. Originally, we produced only limited, hand-signed editions. But as the ‘Somers Jewelry’ line became more successful, we transitioned to unlimited editions, with my initials stamped into each piece.”

He recalls with a touch of pride, “Our designs were displayed at major jewelry shows and won awards. It was an exciting time and a way to monetize my art. But eventually I realized that this was not where I wanted to devote my energy. I was, and am, a sculptor. The pull to be carving full time was undeniable.”

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“

...with stone, it’s a one-way journey; the only exit is when you stop. And that’s a boundary I enjoy.”

Creation, Not Commerce In Santa Fe, Somers’ home and studio are situated on the aptly named Museum Hill. He has wonderful views from this high perch, and he observes, “It’s a unique place to live, with a spectacular climate – probably one of the only places in the U.S. where you can ski in the morning and play tennis or golf in the afternoon.”

Tauck tour buses regularly pull up outside his studio, after they have visited the Georgia O’Keefe Museum.

As Somers welcomes the visitors in, he draws a clear line between creativity and commerce. He says, “I talk about my process and show the pieces I have in the works, as well as the finished pieces on display. But I always tell them, ‘I’m not selling today. I invite you to look around and if you’d like to make a purchase, you can follow up later by texting me a photo of the piece you’re interested in.”

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He reflects, “I am fortunate to be able to support myself as a sculptor. But my art is not a commodity. I want people to look at it, think about it, see how it makes them feel. Then if they happen to have an interest in investing in a piece, I’m more than happy to oblige. But my studio isn’t about selling; it’s where I create art – and I need to preserve that distinction.”

Visitors to Somers’ studio are often fascinated by the process of sculpting in stone. He is quick to explain the idea of a subtractive art form, distinct from “additive forms such as welding or bronze casting or even painting.” Somers notes, “In those mediums, the artist can add elements, take something away, and add something else.

But with stone, it’s a oneway journey; the only exit is when you stop. And that’s a boundary I enjoy.”

But what happens when something goes wrong on that

one-way journey? Somers shares, “I have kept broken pieces in my studio, sometimes for decades, until they morph from tragedies into possibilities. If it’s good stone, there will usually come a time when I no longer see the piece as a failure but simply as something I can take in a new direction.”

Now in his mid-60s, Somers continues to do the “monumentally physical” work of a stone carver every day. He says, “I’m holding grinders and swinging hammers.

I hope the exercise keeps me young enough to continue doing this for years to come.” Fortunately, Somers is not alone in the studio as he puts body and soul into his art; his partner and assistant, BenJames Roybal, works alongside him.

Somers observes with gratitude, “Every piece that leaves my studio is polished by BenJames. He is absolutely essential to my current process.”

A Transformative Experience

As Somers Randolph talks, a clear picture of the artist as educator emerges.

His wide-ranging observations about art forms and artists, and his ability to explain his own work in clear and compelling terms, reflect a desire to help others appreciate the transformative experience of making art.

While the majority of Somers’ pieces are owned by private collectors, a few are on public display at places like the Tennessee State Museum and Vanderbilt University. Now, he is looking forward to a project at the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens. He says, “Next year, I will have several large pieces there, some of which will be interactive. For example, we’ll have a bench textured with letters and symbols, and there will be paper and crayons available so that children can do rubbings, creating their own artwork. We’re also planning to have a block of marble with sheets of clear acrylic hanging down to provide eye protection, and visitors will be able to put their hands in and use tools to chip away at the marble. I think people will be interested to feel what it’s like to take marble off a block – and this also offers them the opportunity to make their own mark on an evolving piece of public art.”

Somers reflects, “One of the hardest challenges today is to let yourself be an artist. Most people have art in them, but they have not had opportunities to explore and develop that creative instinct. This is why arts education is so important.”

He concludes, “As for being a professional artist – that’s a formidable challenge. It’s not an easy career to pursue in a highly commercialized world. I decided to be a sculptor at 16. Now, at 66, I am rewarded by that teenager’s decision on a daily basis. I have shaped the life I envisioned.”

The Art of Medicine Somers has another new project on the horizon – one that is especially close to his heart. He is now working with Washington, DC’s Children’s National Hospital to develop a piece of public artwork that honors his father, Dr. Judson G. Randolph, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 87.

Dr. Randolph served as chief of surgery at Children’s National for nearly three decades, performing hundreds of surgeries each year and supervising hundreds more. His obituary in The Washington Post noted that his surgical achievements included separation of conjoined twins; removal of a two-inch pin lodged in a young child’s trachea; and myriad heart, lung, brain, and intestinal procedures. Dr. Randolph founded Children’s pediatric surgical training program, and Somers recounts with pride, “My father trained the current chiefs of surgery at more than 20 children’s hospitals across the United States.” In addition to his skill as a surgeon, Dr. Randolph was known for his caring spirit and the comforting rapport he had with his young patients and their parents.

Somers describes the project this way: “We are going to create a white marble bench in the shape of a ‘C’ for Children’s National. Textured with shapes, letters of the alphabet, and other designs, it will offer children who are patients at the hospital, or visiting someone there, the opportunity to express their creativity through rubbings.”

He observes, “The joy of making art can lift a person out of the present moment.

While they are absorbed in creating their colorful rubbings, the children will be transported away from the hospital, which can be a scary and traumatic place.”

Somers concludes, “My father devoted his entire life to caring for children and making their time in the hospital as pain-free as possible. This bench, which will have the potential to distract children from where they are and bring them moments of joy, is exactly what he would have wanted.”

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Healthy Communities, Healthy Nation

by Sarah Valente

L

ong before she stepped into her role as chronic disease division chief for the DC Department of Health, Shannon Gopaul Balser ’01 began to consider what makes for a healthy, equitable society. As a first-generation American with parents hailing from the Caribbean and South America, Shannon grew up traveling, exploring the world, and observing different cultures. She was also keenly interested in math and data from a young age. Did she know that she would follow a career path that melded her interests, experiences, and skills? Shannon confirms, “I’ve always been determined to use my strengths to make my community and the world better.” She notes that the one constant she has carried throughout her career is a propensity to ask important questions, like “What is the need, and how do we address it?” Shannon says, “Ultimately, I ask myself how I can be a vessel of service to improve the individual and collective experience.”

As a student at Potomac, Shannon built on her problem-solving skills.

She reflects, “The school environment rewarded that. When I solved a complex problem, I felt acknowledged and encouraged.” After graduation, Shannon went on to Williams College, where she double-majored in economics and American studies. Degree in hand, she

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headed across the world to apply her skills in Mozambique. Shannon recalls, “My focus at the time was primarily economic. I was studying the impact of the HIV-AIDS epidemic on that nation’s economy.” While there, she discovered her professional passion – the intersection of human behavior, health, and economics.

LESLIE E. KOSSOFF / LK PHOTOS

Over the course of four-and-a-half years in Mozambique, Shannon led a national knowledge/attitudes/practices study examining the effects that HIVAIDS had on small, medium, and large businesses. She also learned Portuguese – the country’s primary language – and formed deep and lasting friendships. All the while, Shannon was honing in on the behavioral aspects of public health and potential means to promote the health of individuals and communities. She says, “It was a pivotal time for me, both personally and professionally.”

Returning to Washington, DC, Shannon continued to develop her interest in the correlation between behavioral change and public health.

She went to work at Howard University, conducting research, earning her master’s degree in public health, and ultimately rising to the position of director of the multimillion-dollar NIH/ NCATS-funded Clinical Translational Science Center – one of only 60 such programs in the United States. The job was both demanding and fulfilling; Shannon and her team of 30 led Howard’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and helped the university obtain its first-ever clinical vaccine trial.

Simultaneously, Shannon was working with the DC government on its response to COVID-19, as a manager for the Department of Health’s Contact Trace Force (CTF). And if that wasn’t enough,

she was also raising an active 3-year-old who was just being introduced to online preschool. Shannon says with a rueful laugh, “What a year 2020 was!”

It was her work with CTF that led to Shannon’s current position with the DC Department of Health, a role that seems custom-tailored for her. She observes, “Starting with my time at Potomac, I’ve always been strong in math and science.

I love data, and now I’m leading the Chronic Disease Division’s data-driven approach to public health.”

Healing by the Numbers Shannon is responsible for Washington, DC’s efforts in chronic disease control

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“ When you have COMMUNITY VOICES helping to shape the programs, policies, and interventions, you have greater buy-in. The process begins to feel AUTHENTIC and CO-CREATED.”

us to disseminate the data we gather in a way that’s appropriate and digestible for our various stakeholders. These include DC residents, communitybased organizations, clinicians, and the research community.”

The focus of the Chronic Disease Division’s work is population-based statistics, recording trends in conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol – all risk factors for heart

LESLIE E. KOSSOFF / LK PHOTOS

and prevention. She oversees a team of 12 professionals who delve into data and make programmatic recommendations based on the numbers. Her division leads DC’s chronic disease surveillance programs and develops information dashboards and fact sheets that other government agencies and public-service organizations use as they implement medical and healthy lifestyle initiatives.

Shannon points out, “It’s essential for

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disease and stroke, which are the leading causes of death in DC. Shannon’s team also looks at the top behavioral risk factors that impact chronic disease, like tobacco use and obesity. Importantly, they approach their work through a health equity lens; when they analyze the data, they consider factors like race, gender, neighborhood, and income, looking for pockets of disproportionate health burdens. This method helps the division identify where best to channel the District’s health resources.

The team relies heavily on clinicians and community-based partners to be their “eyes and ears” when it comes to amassing crucial data. Among their information sources are health system partners such as federally qualified health clinics and DC hospitals, as well as vital statistics records and Medicare and Medicaid claims. Another important source of data is the annual National Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, which is self-reported.

Grassroots Health Literacy Shannon explains, “There are quite a few social factors that deter healthy behavior.

These include lack of access to healthful food, job instability, gun violence, and housing challenges. If someone is hungry or doesn’t have reliable housing,

if they feel unsafe where they are or are struggling to find employment or childcare, they are less likely to see a primary care physician and less likely to make healthy decisions.”

While the division does not have face-to-face interaction with DC residents – relying instead on frontline clinicians and community organizations for crucial information – Shannon’s team is working on initiatives that will give residents a greater voice. Examples include partnering with communitybased organizations to develop a Health Literacy Initiative and a Social Determinants of Health Screener that will allow the division to track trends and identify gaps in areas like food security, housing, and education.

Shannon emphasizes that these projects are less about bringing residents to the table, and more about bringing the table to the residents. By addressing such urgent non-clinical needs, residents can begin to prioritize health.

She notes, “When you have community voices helping to shape the programs, policies, and interventions, you have greater buy-in. The process begins to feel authentic and co-created.”

The division is also working on a referral tool that will allow communitybased organizations to refer residents to appropriate resources to obtain necessary services. Shannon points out that community organizations are not only a key source of information but also some of the primary users of the division’s data. As an example, she points to her team’s efforts around COVID incidence, the availability of vaccines, and pandemicrelated hospitalizations and deaths, noting, “We worked with a variety of organizations to get these important statistics out to the public because we know that having accurate information can lead people to make better health decisions.”

Trust, Collaboration, and Impact Shannon recognizes that trust in government is low these days; it’s one of the bigger challenges she faces as chief health strategist for the nation’s capital city. She notes, “We collect a lot of data, and whenever the government collects information and the public doesn’t know what it’s being used for, the grey area can feed mistrust.” She and her team are developing a new dashboard that will allow the division to better report on the data they collect. Shannon says, “Our commitment to funneling data back into the community is critical, so that people know it’s being gathered for a positive purpose.” She views increased transparency and community-based health literacy interventions as “game changers for the work that we do.”

Under Shannon’s leadership, the Chronic Disease Division is also expanding its partnerships with community organizations and exploring new resources they have not previously tapped. For example, her division is working with the DC Chamber of Commerce to explore how businesses can create an environment that promotes healthy behaviors, such as providing gym access and having a variety of healthful food choices in the workplace. Shannon is also interested in the idea of teaming up with health-monitoring companies like Fitbit or Apple Health to access aggregated health data that can inform policies to promote physical activity.

Additionally, the division is putting increased focus on systemic policies related to areas like tobacco use, nutrition, and physical activity. Shannon points out that when there are persistent disparities in health, as are seen across the wards of DC, the issues run much deeper than the personal decisions an individual may be making. She explains, “Often, the problem can be traced to something in the environment – the system – that people

are functioning in. And you cannot fight systemic challenges with behavior-targeted strategies alone.” Shannon is committed to helping to create policies that lead to a more equitable environment, resulting in improved health outcomes. She says, “The hope is that one day we will not see statistically significant differences in outcomes based on race, gender, or geography…where the risk of developing diabetes is no greater for a Black resident of Ward 8 than it is for a White resident in Ward 3.”

When asked to sum up why public health matters, Shannon’s compassion and logic are both clear. She firmly believes that everyone has the right to lead a heathy, fulfilling, productive life. Further, she recognizes that it is government’s role to protect that right – and that doing so is in the national interest. Shannon asserts, “When our communities aren’t healthy, when there are persisting disparities, it’s a national failure.” She also cites the impact public health has on America’s place in the global economy, pointing to diabetes as an example: “Considering the effects of this widespread chronic disease, we don’t just look at morbidity; we also look at the resulting reduction in productivity, absenteeism, and the increased costs to the clinical community.”

She concludes, “It is in our collective best interest to understand and address the factors – both individual and systemic – that contribute to health challenges in our communities and our nation.”

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Imagining, Envisioning, and Creating the

Unexpected

PHOTO: DEMITRI BOWEN

Each May, Potomac hosts Grandparents and Special Friends Day, welcoming some of our students’ favorite people to campus. In addition to spending time in classrooms and enjoying brief assemblies, the visitors have the opportunity to hear from Head of School John Kowalik and a faculty guest speaker.

At last spring’s gathering, Cort Morgan, chair of Potomac’s K-12 Art Department, spoke about the value that the arts bring to a well-rounded education and to the human experience at large.

Cort’s remarks were so powerful that we wanted to share them here.

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TGood morning.

T T We have had a wild couple of years, haven’t we? Who would

have expected it? That’s our subject for the next few minutes: the unexpected. In that light, I wonder how you feel about your grandchildren’s future? We’re cutting to the chase quickly. How many of you here are mostly hopeful? How many are somewhat worried? How many are both? Yes…me, too.

As we get older, we tend to recall moments that made us happy, perhaps forgetting some of the hardest times of our youth, and remembering experiences in a rosy, retrospective glow. But we also look ahead with anxiety. Are things getting better? Are they actually getting worse? Did we do enough?

Are we leaving a better world than the one we inherited for our children and grandchildren? …Are we being good stewards of ideals, institutions, our government, our culture, our environment? Objective measures show that the world today is better in many ways than it was 1,000 or even 100 years ago, and yet we worry.

How is the world better today? Worldwide, extreme poverty and hunger are diminishing, as are infant mortality, child labor, and the cost of food. On the rise worldwide are life expectancy, average height as a measure of nutrition, vaccination against lethal diseases, school attendance, literacy, and leisure time. On the decline are the total number of nuclear weapons, as well as the incidence of homicide within societies and war between societies. These are encouraging long-term trends, yet we can’t help feeling worried. Dickens got it right in his famous opening, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” I guess it always is, in every generation.

So, what will your grandchildren, our students, need in life? And what could or should we at Potomac be doing to prepare them? It’s right that we take this work seriously. We absolutely must; there’s so much at stake, and I’m not talking just about college admissions. I’m talking about responsible citizenship, essential innovation, visionary leadership, and a better life.

It’s actually very hard to predict, isn’t it, what children will need in the future? Of course, they will need a solid grounding in reading, writing, and arithmetic, but they’ll also need fluency in a language other than English, maybe fluency in multiple spoken languages; financial literacy; computer literacy; a general understanding of scientific discoveries and of the rational scientific method. And they’ll need cultural competence. These are all excellent cognitive tools to carry along. Let’s add good physical and mental health habits, regular exercise, and the joy of athletic teamwork and competition. That’s a lot, isn’t it? Do we have time and space for anything else? Since I’m the Art Department chair, you can guess what’s coming.

I think we must add to the toolbox imagination, vision, and creativity. These are tools, too, but they’re metacognitive tools.

They’re not parcels of knowledge; they’re behaviors, habits, and processes. They don’t add any weight to the toolbox. They help us recognize and activate the best uses of all the other tools.

For example, imagination, creativity, and innovation help us use the tool of financial literacy in fresh and useful ways in opportune and unexpected moments.

Here’s another way to look at it. For over a million years, our hominid ancestors survived and thrived through climate changes, ice ages, volcanic catastrophes, asteroid impacts, and competition with bigger, tougher animals with a single major tool – the Acheulean hand-axe. This was a mediumsized, tapered hunk of hard stone flaked around its margins to produce cutting edges. It was used, as circumstances demanded, as an axe, adze, grinder, scraper, knife, cleaver, mallet…you get the picture. It was so effective and long-lasting not because it was all that clever or complex, but because it was so versatile.

Probably every one of our ancient relatives knew how to make one. The million-year lifetime of that stone hand-axe is explained by how many creative uses it had. So, even then, a million years ago, our kind were distinguished not by our force or by our conformity but by our flexibility and ingenuity. Then and now, our self-awareness, imagination, and collaboration can make any tool useful in unlimited ways.

If these metacognitive traits are important, can you actually teach imagination, creativity, vision, ingenuity? Yes, it turns out that you can, and we do this naturally as a species, with or without school, through open-ended play. Thankfully, it’s built into our adaptive behavior. That’s good news, but the better news is that what we call school – a mindful design of sequential interrelated experiences for young people to stretch and supercharge their capabilities – also includes extremely effective ways to stretch and super-charge creativity. That’s the greatest value of art education, K-12 and beyond. The watercolor on the refrigerator is lovable and beautiful, but it’s actually a byproduct of a deeper and more beautiful experiential search.

Humans have such a long childhood – years just learning to walk and talk. We’re all familiar with white-tailed deer. Most of them live just three or four years, but they’re so beautifully adapted to life on the planet. They never use tools or build shelters, but they raise families and weather gracefully through whatever any season presents. Once they’re born, fawns can stand up in 10 minutes and walk in 10 hours. Deer are built to browse and run and, again, they’re perfectly adapted. So what’s our problem? Why does it take us 20 years to mature? Most of our long, long, long maturation is not about learning to survive on the planet. It’s not about adapting to external conditions. Our

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TTTIf you wonder whether we really

need time and space for the arts, consider how much our whole species depends on imagination and innovation, and consider that all facts begin as fictions, and all deeds begin as dreams.”

long maturation is about adapting to the internal conditions of our own largely abstract human life. It takes a long time to adapt to human society. And the arts, from the most ancient times – for 100,000 years at least – have been methods of exploring experience and shared understanding, making ideas intense, visible, audible, tangible, intellectually intriguing, and unforgettable.

Another way of looking at it is that the arts are means of distilling and recording vital information. That sounds really dry, I know. The arts use metaphors, allusions, layered meanings, sensory impressions, and startling, non-linear thinking, just as dreams do. We have come to understand that one function of our dreams is the reconsidering and reordering of our conscious experience. They are also the cradle of our creativity. We could all say, in a matter-of-fact way, that “unprovoked destruction of innocent people is monstrous,” but Picasso’s unforgettable mural Guernica, in one shattering glance, etches it in our minds. We could say that “all mankind are brothers,” but Beethoven’s Choral Symphony makes us feel it echo, achingly, in our hearts. We could say that, “each moment of life challenges the worth of living,” but Shakespeare’s immortal framing of mortality in Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” is infinitely more powerful. Experienced just once, these expressions can never be forgotten.

So how do we teach the arts here at Potomac? We teach through direct experience over a period of years, in superbly resourced, purpose-built theaters, music rooms, and studios.

Every Potomac teacher of the arts is also a practitioner. Does this matter? Yes, it matters a lot, because it means that everyone involved is an explorer, a participant. No passengers. The arts are neither student-centered nor teacher-centered; they are subject-centered. Every teacher is a student and every student is also a peer teacher because in art, music, and theater you can always see, hear, and feel what everyone else is doing. It’s always group learning, collaboration, a team experience.

This brings us to another aspect of our work here in the arts and of the work of inspired gatherings through history: emergence.

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If you assemble a great group and give them a worthy goal or challenge, something will inevitably emerge. It won’t be quite predictable, but it will probably be amazing. Some historical examples: The American Constitution, Apple computers, and the James Webb Space Telescope were all the result of inspired group creativity. How about the first Moon landing? When I was a boy in the late 1960s, people would say, “They can put a man on the Moon, but they can’t make a decent 10-cent cigar…” Even then, I said to myself, “I think there are different teams working on those two projects.” To be clear, we do not condone smoking among children, and our creative teams at Potomac are much, much closer to the Moon team than the cigar team.

Was art necessary in bringing about the Constitution, Apple computers, the Webb Telescope, or the Moon landing? If you think of art as ornamental, as wallpaper, then no, of course not. But if you think of art as bold, wildly exploratory design thinking, both solitary and collaborative, then, yes, that’s what brings these new things into existence – a spiritual hunger to understand and find meaning, combined with an elevated sense of innovation and invention. So if it helps you, just drop the word “art” and think of your grandchildren at Potomac taking years of imagination classes. There’s a direct line between the child mesmerized by the flood of paint colors on her paper and the adult imagining a whole new kind of image transmission. In 1931, Albert Einstein observed, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” And he recalled as a child wondering, “What might the universe look like if I rode on a beam of light?” Audacious, nonlinear, paradigm-shifting imagination at work.

I’ve mentioned that the creative process itself is even more valuable than any of its remarkable products. Collateral benefits of studying art include comfort in the landscape of your own imagination, including time in creative solitude; comfort with an iterative design process and learning to trust the process because it works; comfort with setting your own goals and assessing your own progress; comfort explaining and defending your original ideas in front of others; comfort collaborating in

design teams and performance ensembles; comfort improvising in the face of the unknown; comfort revising again and again and, finally, comfort with moving on.

Artists are restless, because they want to get on and do the next thing. Artworks are a stitching of fox tracks over freshly fallen snow. They’re an energy trace, revealing something more full and more beautiful – the fox that passed by. And if you’re a fox, why spend time gazing back at your footprints? As I said earlier, the child’s watercolor is evidence of a deeper search. The fox moves on, hunting prey, and the artist moves on, hunting ideas. Quoting Keats, “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter…”

Returning one more time to expectations. Life doesn’t give us what we want; again and again and again, it gives us what we don’t expect. Life demands that we imagine and improvise like artists, again and again and again. And, by the way, great institutions don’t give people what they want; they give people things they had never thought of, never dreamt of. So, yes, you should expect a lot from Potomac, but don’t just expect us to give you what you want. We’re not trying to frustrate you, but we might be aiming higher than you realize. Expect us to keep surprising you. Expect us to keep giving your grandchildren things that they never even thought of.

Because that’s what we will need someday in the future from those same children who are now running among the trees, peering through a microscope at pond water, playing instruments on a stage. We’ll absolutely, positively need from them what we here today have never even thought of.

Don’t you want your grandchildren, and don’t we want our graduates, to be the people in that room, someday, somewhere, who can listen, reflect, and then present the totally unexpected solution, the paradigm shift, the unimagined idea? The new formulation of a vaccine, the new concept of the cosmos, the new pathway to a just society? If you wonder whether we really need time and space for the arts, consider how much our whole species depends on imagination and innovation, and consider that all facts begin as fictions, and all deeds begin as dreams.

Thank you for listening, thank you for your partnership, and thank you for coming to Potomac today.”

A member of Potomac’s faculty since 1984, Cort Morgan has chaired the school’s K-12 Art Department for the past 14 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in visual and environmental studies from Harvard University. Cort notes, “Over the last 30+ years, I have traveled on five continents to see for myself what beautiful things we have inherited from our ancestors. When I am not teaching, and sometimes when I am, I climb trees, crawl into caves, trek through mountains, learn languages, carve, draw, design, read, and write.”

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INVESTING IN A GREEN FUTURE

by Scott Butterworth

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F

or more than 2,000 years, the method to create mechanical energy has been simple – just add fire.

What was true for the aeolipile in ancient times is equally true for the jet engines of today. The easiest, cheapest way to create power still involves burning something. What has changed, though, is our awareness that this traditional power generation comes at a high cost: Burning creates carbon emissions, the driving factor behind climate change. About a third of the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause global warming come from the energy sector.

The surest way to reduce climate impacts, then, is to minimize carbon emissions in the creation of energy – to “decarbonize” by using technologies such as solar, wind, and hydro power.

The challenge of decarbonization at scale has piqued the interest of entrepreneurs, and hundreds of companies now offer energy-generation solutions of various types, sizes, and budgets.

Discerning the future winners from also-rans in this competition is where Joe Osha ’80 comes in. As one who has been both a shoot-for-the-moon startup executive and a clear-eyed Wall Street analyst, Joe brings broad experience to analyzing which companies have the best chance of commercial success, and thereby of helping to improve the health of the planet.

A managing director for Guggenheim Securities, Joe examines companies that aim to reduce the environmental footprint of energy production and industrial processes – whether those firms are publicly traded or privately held. On a day-to-day basis, he says, power and energy companies get most of his attention, since “that’s where the transition is furthest along.”

Joe has focused on for-profit sustainability for more than a decade, ever since an assignment with Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong introduced him to what was then an emerging area of commercial interest. He helped some solar companies become publicly traded in what would be the leading edge of a wave of industry IPOs. He reflects, “It was really interesting, but there wasn’t quite enough going on to feed a managing director.”

The challenge of decarbonization at scale has piqued the interest of entrepreneurs, and hundreds of companies now offer energy-generation solutions of various types... Discerning the future winners from also-rans in this competition is where Joe Osha ’80 comes in.

So Joe left Merrill, where he’d been a securities analyst for nearly 20 years, to become the chief financial officer for a hydropower startup. That led to a similar role with a geothermal-energy startup.

Again, both positions were intellectually stimulating, but Joe’s personal bottom line was that working for startups and having no money was tough to swallow. So he returned to investment banking and joined the West Coast boutique firm JMP Securities in 2016. This time, his brief as managing director dealt entirely with sustainability companies, informed by the takeaways he’d gleaned from the private sector.

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“I think working with startups, being on the other side and having to make something work, gives you some perspective, and maybe a little respect for how hard it is to make a company grow,” Joe says.

In 2021, the larger Guggenheim Securities recruited him to do the same job as at JMP. He even remains based in California for the New York-headquartered firm.

He reflects, “What has been great here is that the interest in what I do runs to the very top of the firm. [Guggenheim’s Executive Chairman] Alan Schwartz spends a lot of time looking at and talking about decarbonization issues. The size of the firm is one thing, but more than that, it’s organizational commitment.”

Joe’s role with Guggenheim takes him around the world to meet with business managers and discuss their plans, goals, and needs. The insights he collects assist Guggenheim’s clients in deciding which companies fit well with their investment goals.

The research also helps Joe assess where the green-energy business is headed in the next few years – which new technologies will soon make a real difference. These days, one area drawing a lot of his attention is energy storage.

“The industry has figured out how to put up wind and solar pretty cheaply,” he says. But integrating those power-generation systems with the existing electrical system remains a challenge, “and that challenge doesn’t rise linearly, it rises exponentially.”

When customers unexpectedly demand more power – say, to make their air conditioners run during an extended heat wave – where will that green energy come from?

Efficient battery technology offers a solution, storing the power for usage spikes or times when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow. But, Joe says, utilities require “a massive amount of storage – I mean, energy storage at a level that is orders of magnitude bigger than what we have so far.”

He adds, “Myself, I think environmentalists have to learn to get comfortable with nuclear” as an additional energy resource.

“It’s simply not practical to power the grid with wind and solar, and then backstop it with batteries. The numbers don’t work.”

The question of scale also emerges in Joe’s analysis of sustainable transportation. The national conversation these days seems focused on the benefits of electric passenger vehicles and coast-tocoast charging stations. But electrifying commercial transport – especially the armies of short-trip vehicles around the country – would offer a much bigger climate payoff, he argues.

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“At your average port, you’ve got lines of trucks sitting there with their diesels spinning, waiting to pick up a container and pull it, in most cases, maybe 50 miles or less. There’s no earthly reason that those trucks can’t be electric,” Joe says.

“The same goes for all of the Class 4 to 6 FedEx, UPS, and Amazon trucks. Those things never go more than 120 miles a day without returning to their base. School buses, the same thing.

“The thing about commercial vehicles is, those fleets turn over a lot more quickly than the passenger vehicle market does, and they spend a lot more time running. So there’s a lot of opportunity that is closer and more economically viable than trying to convince people to make the transition with passenger vehicles,” Joe concludes.

The big challenge with passenger vehicles, he says, is not persuading drivers to trade in their gas guzzlers but, rather, something more prosaic: How does one “fuel” these rides?

Right now, consumers are pinning their hopes on the fast chargers that are popping up in suburban parking lots. But those hopes rest on a misconception, Joe warns.

“As a result of how most of us are used to driving cars, we imagine pulling into a gas station or a charging station and plugging into a Level 3 fast charger that charges our cars in 20 minutes or whatever. That’s really challenging from a variety of standpoints.

“For starters, it’s still 20 minutes; that’s a material wait for a lot of people,” Joe says. “Also, the DC fast chargers really stress the grid. You’re talking multiple hundreds of kilowatts.

Using one is the equivalent of switching on all the lights in seven or eight houses at the same time. I’ve not seen anyone say anything practical about how to deploy vast numbers of those fast chargers without creating significant grid stability problems.”

Not to mention, the fast chargers are expensive, and proprietary technology means that a particular charging station may not work with one’s specific vehicle. That’s a tough pill to swallow when your miles-to-empty readout is quickly approaching zero.

Joe gives a lot of credit to Potomac for teaching him how to communicate and tell a story – something that informs not only his written analyses but also his guest appearances on television news programs.

What drivers will need to accept, Joe asserts, is the idea of charging their vehicle over several hours at home or work: “When you’ve got longer dwell times, you don’t have this horrendous, spiky load to manage.”

And don’t even get him started on the idea of electric cars going long distances – say, for a family on the traditional American summer road trip. The simple fact, Joe says, is that the nation’s charging infrastructure is not up to the task.

“I’m not too impressed when I hear the feds talk about putting a charging station every 50 miles in the middle of the desert.

You’re spending a lot of money, and you’re not actually solving much, since it’s going to take a long time to convince that group of drivers to go electric.”

For a man who has spent nearly all his professional life working with Wall

Street, the irony is that Joe kind of fell into his career after completing a doublemaster’s program at the University of Michigan. “I did an MBA and got a degree in Japanese, a combination that was popular at the time,” he says.

His resume then drew the attention of Baring Securities, which hired him as an equity analyst for its Tokyo office. “I landed in this job in 1992, not knowing what a stock analyst did. It was just a chance to go to Tokyo,” Joe admits. “And I was like, ‘Hey, that’s fine. I’ll do that.’”

In 1995, still in Tokyo, Joe began working for Merrill Lynch. He says, “I’ve basically been in the business of learning about companies and technologies, and writing and communicating with people about these topics, ever since. I find that I’m very well suited to it by temperament.”

In fact, Joe gives a lot of credit to Potomac for teaching him how to communicate and tell a story – something that informs not only his written analyses but also his guest appearances on television news programs.

Joe says, “One of the interesting things about this job is that I sit at the nexus of various groups. I interact with management teams a lot. I interact with investors a lot. And that positions me to give feedback to management teams about what’s interesting to financial markets and what’s not – advising on how they should position themselves, how they should tell their story.”

The companies that heed such advice will be better able to tap into capital markets, bring their solutions to the fore, and ultimately, help strengthen the fight against global warming.

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alumni activities

Welcome, Class of 2022!

Congratulations to Potomac’s Class of 2022! Our most recent graduates were inducted into The Potomac School Alumni Association in June at the annual PreUnion luncheon.

Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller welcomed the 108 seniors into the Alumni Association and announced that Bunny Cameron, Emily Raman, and Clay Socas have agreed to serve as class correspondents. Each graduating senior received an exclusive Potomac alumni keychain, designed by Hunter Craighill ’05, founder of Craighill.co.

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q q Sam Burton ’22, Teddy Ross ’22, Dylan Kurtz ’22, Ben Choi ’22, Armand Boulter ’22, Jack Peters ’22, Jonas Huff ’22, Mina Bahadori ’22, Alex Delistathis ’22, and Holden Smith ’22

w Kennedy Ferguson ’22, Destiny Attagba ’22, Roland Martin ’22, Atiba de Souza ’22, and Anwar Karim ’22

e Marley Schwarz ’22, Claire Coleman ’22, Genevieve Evans ’22, Emily Raman ’22, Margaret Taylor ’22, and Ainsley Ganti ’22

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alumni activities

from the AGC

PANTHERS IN DENVER DEAR FELLOW ALUMNI,

The Mile High City knows how to party! In late April, a group of alumni spent the evening at Avanti F&B, enjoying great food and even better conversation. Some alums came on their own, while others brought their partners. One tiny Panther even joined in the fun!

Panther Pride is going strong in Denver, and we hope to see more alumni who live in the area the next time we visit the land of the Broncos.

As the Executive Committee of the Alumni Governing Council (AGC), we know that alumni are an integral part of the Potomac School community. Potomac’s longheld traditions and the lasting friendships we made here are the cornerstones of our shared experience. The AGC builds on that experience, offering Potomac alums diverse opportunities to connect with one another and with the school. Our goal is to ensure a welcoming environment for lifelong alumni engagement.

This summer, we welcomed six new AGC members: Shannon Gopaul Balser ’01, Mariah Chappell ’12, Brendan Dwyer ’15, Stephen Garibaldi ’13, Sean Sullivan ’02, and Lauren Wackerle ’12. We are delighted that these talented individuals will serve our school community in this important leadership role.

Additionally, five AGC members completed their terms of service during the summer. We thank Stephanie Caggiano ’11, Amir Jones ’15, Cameron Kahl ’12, Scott Nelson ’03, and Andrew Serafin ’92 for their dedication, generosity of spirit, and exemplary leadership.

The AGC supports a thriving, active community of alumni volunteers who work hard to keep our community connected and engaged. If you have ideas or are interested in getting involved, please reach out to Potomac’s director of alumni relations, Laura Miller, at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Sincerely, Rory Byrnes ’01

President

Catherine Kahl Linskey ’09

Vice President

Meaghan Kiernan Sparkman ’05 Secretary

q q Former faculty member Cindy Cheadle and Director of Advancement Barbara Overstreet

w (Back row, l to r) Director of Advancement Barbara Overstreet, Molly McNerney Swain ’07, Head of School John Kowalik, Tyler Sanders ’13, Parker Hornstein ’13, Lizzie Nelson ’06, Philip Saba ’13, and Sean Jordan (Middle row, l to r) Margot Martin Angstrom ’96, former faculty member Cindy Cheadle, McKenzie Millar Jordan ’04, Evan Dannemiller ’00, Kathryn Eckert ’09, and Sam Hoidel (Front row) Michael Murphy ’04 with his wife, Casey Murphy, and son

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alumni activities

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he Potomac community was excited to celebrate the 50th Reunion of the Classes of 1970 and 1971 on campus this past April. While the get-togethers on campus, originally planned for spring of 2020 and 2021, had to be postponed due to the pandemic, it was worth the wait!

Class Reunion Chairs Jane McAllister ’70, Eugenie Anderson ’71, Karen Lindsten Devlin ’71, Leslie Hyde ’71, Roxana Oppenheimer Day ’71, Nick Lowery ’71, and Anne Sullivan ’71 had a ball reconnecting their classmates and getting so many of them back to Potomac.

Together at Last!

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A big shout-out to the Class Reunion Chairs for helping to create such a memorable and meaningful celebration! w

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q Members of the Class of 1971 at the Saturday Class Party w Karen Lindsten Devlin ’71, Leslie Hyde ’71, and Eugenie Anderson ’71 e Classmates from 1970 and 1971 gather around the Maypole. r Robert Parker ’71, Dana Strong ’70, Garrett Jewett ’70, and Linn Cary Mehta ’70 t Alumni sing a favorite May Day song “Unite, Unite.” y Jeanie West, Gib West ’71, Andrea St. George Kauppila ’71, Roxana Oppenheimer Day ’71, Nick Lowery ’71, and Environmental Studies Coordinator Albert Pingree ’00

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alumni activities

A Fun “Meet” for DC Cross Country and Track & Field Alumni In late May, Adam Moses ’14, Natasha Urbany ’14, and Coach Jason Dwyer hosted the first-annual DC Alumni Cross Country and Track & Field Mix and Mingle. The group spent time catching up on life since high school and reliving their adventures as runners. More participants are welcome! If you are interested in helping to host an event or organize a run, email alumni@potomacschool.org.

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lums from all over the country enjoyed a day filled with activities. They pored through yearbooks together, visited the annual Upper School Student Art Show, and took a trail walk in the glorious spring weather. Next came a funfilled Reunion Lunch and Potomac’s May Day celebration, which they enjoyed from reserved front-row seats. The Reunion alums’ day on campus was rounded out by a celebratory Champagne Tea with classmates and friends.

(Back row, l to r) Amir Jones ’15, Henry Cronic ’17, Coach Jason Dwyer, Mark Kensinger ’14, Sydney Robinson ’12, Adam Moses ’14, Coach David Carpio ’93; (front row) Natasha Urbany ’14 and Maria Rachal ’14

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n Saturday evening, 1970 and ’71 alumni enjoyed amazing class parties off campus. Many commented that their 50th Reunion was truly an event to remember – a great chance to reconnect with longtime friends and with the school they love.

YOUNG ALUMS SUMMER AT POTOMAC This year, nearly 20 young alums found a rewarding way to spend their summer, helping out at Potomac. In July, the Alumni Office hosted a breakfast to thank our alumni Summer@Potomac camp counselors and Building and Grounds crew members.

All said that they were having a blast working at Potomac, with many planning to return next year. If you are interested in being part of the team, email summer@potomacschool.org.

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q Patrick Morris ’21, Anabel Kadri ’21, Marisa Kadri ’21, John Djorup ’21, Sammy Key ’21, and Spencer Stouffer ’21 w Emily Dunn ’21, Anna Mathews ’21, Elie DeLaVille ’21, Jack Peters ’22, Andrew Cobb ’22, and Sammy Key ’21

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alumni activities

COCKTAILS AND CONVERSATION After a pandemic pause, our annual Cocktails and Conversation events were back on this spring, with New York and Washington, DC, alumni sharing unforgettable nights of fun and friendship.

Head of School John Kowalik, faculty members, and the Alumni Team met up with NYC alumni at Paul’s Cocktail Lounge at the Roxy on a beautiful evening in May. The following week, we hosted our DC event at the Lady Bird rooftop lounge, for a spectacular evening of reconnection.

There’s nothing like cocktails and conversation to bring friends together!

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DC: q Faculty member Brian Parry, Erin Cummings ’12, faculty member Tessa Smalley ’15, Savannah Peery ’12, Samantha Stacey ’17, Maddie Price ’15, and Gillian Price ’15 w Allie White, Jack Overstreet ’10, and Alex Guntle ’10 e Jocelyn Kelly ’98, Valerie Plesch ’98, and Anne Gasho Krohn ’98 r Catherine Kahl Linskey ’09, Lauren Wackerle ’12, Stephanie Amann Kapsis ’01, faculty member Weezie Parry, and faculty member Tracy Swecker Jaeger NYC: t Michael Bonello ’16, Jacob Lazris ’17, and Hamilton Brooks ’18 y Olivia Givens ’14, Bria Peace ’16, Natasha Urbany ’14, Hannah Lee ’16, Eliza Smallwood ’16, and Olivia Olson ’16 u Brittany Nguon ’15, Laura Persinski ’15, Tricia Yeonas ’15, and Soraya Batmanghelidj ’13 i Jonique Elligan ’85 and Matt Kline ’01 o Dev Subhash ’94, Jonathan Segal ’94, Will Lamb ’95, Nish Herat ’95, and Jessica Wright Baldenhofer ’95 with husband Craig Baldenhofer

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alumni activities

Dip, Sip & Party

Midsummer Celebrations in DC & NYC

The school year may end, but the fun never stops! Not everyone was at the beach in mid-July, so the Alumni Office hosted summer parties in Washington, DC, and New York to bring alumni together for a splash of fun. Alums gathered at Salazar in DC and Common Ground in NYC to sip summery cocktails and “dip in” to conversations with old and new friends. A good time was had by all!

Planning to Visit Campus?

It’s no surprise that our alumni want to come back to campus to visit favorite teachers, participate in classroom discussions, and cheer for the Panthers – and we are eager to welcome you!

Please be aware of the following procedures that will help facilitate your visits to Potomac:

• During school hours (8:00 am to 3:30 pm), q

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we ask that you email the Alumni Office at alumni@potomacschool.org to arrange your visit at least 24 hours in advance.

Security staff at the gatehouse will be informed, and when you arrive, you will be directed to the Flag Circle Building to obtain a visitor pass.

• You might find yourself in the vicinity of e

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Potomac School Road and want to just drop by. If you arrive on campus without an appointment, our friendly staff at the gatehouse will notify the Alumni Office and direct you to the Flag Circle Building to get a visitor pass. Alumni Office staff will do our best to escort you around campus and find out if individuals that you would like to visit are available.

Surprise visits during school hours can be disruptive to teachers and students, so we ask that you follow these protocols to make things work for everyone.

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• After school hours, you are welcome to DC: q Gracie Huntsman ’17, Tyler Manderfield ’17, Connor Logue ’15, Brendan Dwyer ’15, Emmett Tabor ’15, Bennett Caplin ’15, Evan Becker ’15, Julia Johnston ’18, Molly Dwyer ’18, Charlotte Gerchick Alton ’12, and Natasha Urbany ’14 w Tristian Dillar ’10 and Spencer Gopaul ’08 e Stephanie Amann Kapsis ’01, John Ohly ’01, Rory Byrnes ’01, Reed Landry ’99, Skip Calvert ’01, Michael Amann ’04, and Ben Rose ’00

attend games, performances, and other scheduled events on campus, as long as there are no event-specific restrictions.

No appointment is needed; just come on by!

NYC: r Clare Conroy ’18 and Lily Longwell ’18 t Ashley Seidlitz ’03, Matt Hassett ’04, Liz Fabiani Rooney ’03, Kevin Bender ’05, and Brandon Arvanaghi ’12 y Dev Subhash ’94, Tyler Wilkins ’94, Will Lamb ’95, and Brandon Arvanaghi ’12

We hope to see you at Potomac soon.

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class notes Be Connected Class Notes is the most popular and widely read section of The Term. It provides a forum for alumni to share their news, from professional accomplishments and accolades to marriages, births, and anything else that fellow alums might find interesting. Thank you for sharing your updates!

This section would not be possible without the leadership of our class correspondents, who play a vital role in helping their classmates maintain a lifelong connection with Potomac. Throughout the year, they gather news and photos for the fall and spring issues of The Term. So when you get an email calling for news, please make it a priority! You can send your notes directly to your class correspondent, whose contact information is listed at the top of your class year. If no class correspondent is listed, please send your information to term@potomacschool.org.

If your class does not have a class correspondent and you would like to fill that role, please contact Laura Miller, director of alumni relations, at (703) 749-6356 or lmiller@potomacschool.org.

DON’T SEE YOUR CLASS YEAR?

If your year doesn’t appear in Class Notes, it means we didn’t receive any notes from your class. We really (really!) want to hear from you.

Please send your notes and photos to term@potomacschool.org.

Class Notes come from many sources. We do our best to edit for accuracy and clarity.

1946

Class Correspondents Rose Kean Lansbury rkl211@aol.com Nancy Hamilton Shepherd nhshepherd31@gmail.com

Jerrie Kohlmeier Bartlett writes, “Dear Class of 1946, thank you for writing me such wonderful words of thanks for being class correspondent for several years. I always enjoyed the job, especially when Nancy Hamilton Shepherd joined me in reporting.

Also, a big thank you to Rose Kean Lansbury for stepping in to take my place.

I now live in the skilled nursing portion of Cathedral Village, where Allen and I have been for the past few years. Parkinson’s disease and macular degeneration are my daily challenges. Having dinner each night with old friends from Cathedral Village always perks me up. Love to you all!”

An update from Katie Alexander Grimes; “This summer has been a rough one here as we lost my husband, Paul Grimes, in early June after a horrific battle with Parkinson’s and more. Our three children have been a terrific help, but there is so much to be

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done, even with heat and other discomforts!

I would love to join a Zoom gathering later if one of my girls comes to set me up. Hope you all are well and your area is not as bone dry as we are here! More later…”

Rose Kean Lansbury shares, “I remain in my aerie overlooking Central Park. I don’t go out unless necessary, since I have a very bad back. Walking is painful. There seems to be no solution.

My view is spectacular. There is lots of sunshine. At this time of year, air conditioning is welcome. I read, draw, browse the computer, talk on the phone, and welcome friends and family from time to time. In addition, there are wonderful lectures and classes on Zoom. I collect the notes for my Vassar class, so I am also in touch with those friends.

I may have already mentioned that Carter Kean Lansbury, great-grandson number one, arrived on my birthday and is now six months old. He is based in California and has made one visit. More are promised.”

Audrey Hadow Michie reports, “When I last wrote to The Potomac Term, I had moved in with my second daughter, Lindsay, in Lynchburg, VA. Two rooms, a bedroom

and a study/guest room, were designated mine. One she painted pale blue, the other a favorite green. My last house in Crozet was bought jointly by my son, Ian, and his girlfriend, Nancy. That has ended, and just recently, the house was bought again. I’m asked if I regret all this; I don’t. Owning that house and fixing it up was a great adventure. I put a lot into it, and it was a good place for gathering friends and visitors, with even a rental or two in the fixed-up part of the basement. I am where I should be now.

My oldest daughter, Forsyth, is still in her house near Clinton, NC, ‘going great guns’ as we used to say, with her editing/writing for well-known internet companies. Her daughter, my granddaughter Mary, now has a small house in Goldsboro, NC. I was there at Thanksgiving and reunited with her two cats. They tried to pretend they didn’t know me. Anna, granddaughter number two, lives in Clinton, NC, closer to Forsyth. They are both in their early thirties.

My third daughter, Emily, and her husband, Bob, are fully retired and, instead of living in Maine, are back at their old house in Sandy Hook, CT. I planned to visit in October, as I hadn’t seen Emily for almost two years. Getting their home in livable

class notes

7 Audrey Hadow Michie ’46, under a rainbow in Virginia Beach, on a trip with her daughter in late May.

Carol Exnicios Tucker ’46 with her family at Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada, on August 1, 2022 (back row, l to r): Marshall Tucker ’76, Christopher Cooley (Elinor’s beau), Chris Tucker (Marshall’s son), Elinor Tucker ’80, (front row): Carol Exnicios Tucker ’46 4

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’46 3 Nancy Hamilton Shepherd ’46’s latest great granddaughter, her fourth, photographed at less than a week old! Her name is Nya Wolf Pohlman.

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shape was far more of a job than they could ever have imagined. Their dachshund and two cats are finally content.

Lindsay didn’t stop at just a plan to go to South Africa for her sabbatical. She took an earlier trip to England and Scotland, and Forsyth joined her. This was partly a reunion with alums from Keele University for Lindsay and, for Forsyth, partly wanting to go to Scotland as she had never been there. After London, they traveled to the Isle of Mull. Iona was close by, so they went there – I envy that part. When Lindsay got back, she contracted COVID. We stayed strictly separated for a bit, and I got tested and was very luckily negative.

I will never forget Potomac. Those years are when I turned myself into an American teenager from an English child with long

braids and socks turned up the wrong way, or hoped I had. Later, when I was 17, my brother and I were naturalized and became American citizens.

Besides the Thanksgiving get-together, the only other trip I have taken was in late May with Lindsay and our friend Trina to Virginia Beach, staying at the Schooner Inn, a motel familiar to our family. We had such a good time and ate so much that we decided to stay an extra day. Lindsay and Trina took a boat ride to see the dolphins – which did appear. I spent the day with a friend who had been one of my long-term houseguests in Crozet. She is a native of Virginia Beach. That night, Lindsay and I were treated to the sight of the most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen, against a sunset sky.”

Nancy Hamilton Shepherd writes, “Dear Classmates, Last April I turned 91! I’m sure many of you know the feeling and the ups and downs that come with having lived that long. I still live in a house that is much older than I am (300!), where Tom and I lived for 52 years. I’m grateful for the memories that live with me here. I also have a newish companion, a black and white cat named Oreo. He is good company. I continue to be a member of Trinity Chapel, an Episcopal Church where I was once rector. I have good friends there and participate in various ways, including the choir, pastoral care, and leading an occasional service.

I’m also grateful for friends in Stow, MA, where I live, and happy that COVID has kept its distance. I stay in touch with family, whether by email or visits. A real treat was a week in Vermont this summer with several children, grandchildren, and three greatgranddaughters. Finally, in late August, a fourth great-granddaughter appeared. Rose Kean Lansbury and I hope to see some of you via Zoom later in the fall. Stay tuned.”

Carol Exnicios Tucker shares, “Not much news from here. A couple of my children and one grandchild went with me to the Canadian Rockies for a week last month.”

Carol’s daughter, Elinor Tucker ’80, shares about their travels, “Our family had a wonderful trip starting in Calgary, then Waterton, then Banff and, last but not least,

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class notes Jasper. We had a great time and saw so much wildlife! Grizzly bears, black bears, elk, mule deer, hoary marmots, and pikas.”

Carol continues, “Aside from stressful airline travel both going and returning, it was a great trip. I have a divine little Yorkshire terrier named Sophie, adopted from the Humane Society here (in Tampa, FL). She replaces my 17-year-old Cairn, who finally packed it in but was brave to the end.”

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2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondent Louise Graham lbgraham@myfairpoint.net

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2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

1954

Class Correspondent Tina Knox Radigan eradigan@va.metrocast.net Roman Fullerton Hynson writes, “In May, I visited my daughter’s family in London.

Then, I went on to Budapest, where my youngest granddaughter graduated from her L.B. It certainly didn’t look like our Madeira graduation! Since then, I have been home doing some much-needed house repairs.

Not fun, but…”

Tina Knox Radigan shares, “I went back to Florida again last winter, but that will be my last year of doing so. Emily McLean died a few days after I arrived, which threw me.

I knew she had been battling lung cancer for years, but I never believed she wouldn’t be there the next year. I was able to go to her lovely funeral and see her wonderful children grown up.

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1957 Courtney Hagner reports, “I turned 80 in August and celebrated ‘big and happy’!

1958

1952 1953

I have back problems and haven’t played golf in a year. I was just diagnosed with spinal stenosis and am advised to have surgery, which I don’t want at my age. I have not decided yet and am looking into other alternatives. On a happy note, I just bought myself an adorable car. It is an MG TD 1952 replica with all parts from VW. It is a bright yellow convertible, and I will just use it around town. But what fun!

Roman Fullerton Hynson was the only classmate that I heard from this year. I hope everyone else is doing well and staying healthy.”

65th

2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

1960

Class Correspondent Stephanie deSibour sdesibour@ivymount.org Eve Auchincloss Lilley writes, “Greetings from DC! Life has changed a bit for me, as my dear husband passed away a year ago.

Difficult to write that. So I am adjusting to a new life. Thank heavens for my wonderful large family, dear friends, and doggies. I am still working, so I’m keeping busy. Ballet is still in my life, for which I am most grateful.

So all moves along, as we are all so very much aware. Love to everyone.”

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Class Correspondent Deborah Johansen Harris debjohansenharris@gmail.com

Thank you to Deborah Johansen Harris for being the 2022 Class Reunion Chair!

Eldie Acheson joined the Zoom group from Wyoming, where she and spouse Emily Hewitt were taking a breather with friends in Jackson Hole. She reported that they were looking forward to spending more time in their house

’57 3 Courtney Hagner ’57 on her 80th birthday in August

there, now rented. They also enjoyed time at their home in Bass River on Cape Cod. Across the pond, Antonia Caccia and Lexi Roper Douglas bemoaned England’s economic and political climate. “Very dire,” they both said, “given a spate of railroad and tube worker strikes and the prime minister fiasco.” Lexi said she enjoys seeing her children and seven grandchildren who live nearby.

Elizabeth “Betsy” Davison reports, “I am happily retired and spend much of my time in my art studio at Artists & Makers.

However, I keep my hand in my urban planning. I will soon receive an award in Los Angeles as an International Member of the Year of Lambda Alpha Land Economics Honorary Society. Also, my quilt was part of a show this past fall at The Strathmore Arts Center. The show is called PurposeRepurpose. My piece includes scraps from my mother’s cocktail dresses, cut up silk scarves, kimono fabric and upholstery samples, inspired by the orchid house at Hillwood Mansion and Gardens.”

Deborah “Deb” Johansen Harris managed to corral as many classmates as possible for a Zoom reunion in late August. “It’s always great fun to catch up with everyone,” she said. “Although it’s a big year for our reunion at school in October – our 60th – I don’t know how many people will be able to attend, so these Zoom meetings are a great way to see one another.” Deb enjoyed her usual week after Labor Day on the

class notes

’62 3 Elizabeth “Besty” Davison ’62 talking about her quilt at the Strathmore in Maryland

tip of Cape Cod and has kept up with her watercolors and gardening.

My sad news is that my mother passed away just a month shy of her 99th birthday.

In a condolence letter, Mimi Merrill Russell wrote to me ‘Your mother was the coolest mom.’ And so she was.”

Overseas travelers include Rachel Kitzinger, who wrote from the Emerald Isle, “My partner, Eamon Grennan, and I come to Ireland every year. He’s Irish and has to have an infusion of Irish culture! We have a cottage on the west coast in County Galway and spend three to four months here. Eamon is 80, and we are in a very remote place, so I’m not sure how much longer we’ll be able to manage the trip. My only big news is that our daughter, Kira, got married in May to a very nice man, Jake, and they are taking some time off to work on their art and then to travel to Europe.

Their generation seems to be very good at knowing what matters!”

Deena Breed Larlee started our 11-member Zoom reunion with news of her and her husband Howard’s bike business. From the

’62 3 (Back row, l to r) Sarah Satterlee ’61, Catherine Satterlee ’64 and (front, l to r) Deborah Johansen Harris ’62 and Sarah Yerkes at the Satterlee house in Westport Harbor, MA, last summer

influx of electric bicycles to the up-anddown availability of repair parts, the business was changing all the time. “But I still love the business,” she said. “There is always something new going on.” When asked about the growing popularity of electric bikes, Deena responded ruefully, “Well, a lot of them are on the road illegally and cause accidents because many of the riders are out of control, going much too fast.”

Katherine Marshall, our inveterate traveler, is back at it again after the long COVID pause, with visits in the last few months for conferences and other meetings to Azerbaijan (in the Caucasus Mountains foothills!); Rome; Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.; Qatar; Riyadh; Tangier; Lyons, France; Los Angeles; and other places (exhausting to think about it). “Seems that everyone wanted to make up for lost time,” she said.

“I’m still teaching, with a freshman seminar this fall at Georgetown University on COVID-19 and pandemics. It’s fascinating to link each student’s personal experience to what’s happening globally, as well as to look back at moments in history, which were often shaped by pandemics.”

Carol Mattusch is still pursuing her research on ancient Greek bronzes and is now completing a book about how ancient literary texts help to explain the material remains. She also continues to work on the first 18th-century catalog of early finds from Herculaneum, one of the cities destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. “It’s very interesting that only three copies of that book were printed,” she said. “They are now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Royal Bourbon Archives in Madrid. I’ve been trying to track down the artifacts in that catalog.”

Rosemary Merriam reports from the Lone Star State, “Unfortunately, I haven’t run across any former Potomac classmates in my travels over this awful summer. I did make it to Jackson Hole for a few cooler days and two weeks in Santa Fe, NM, which were a welcome relief from the heat in Austin. Needless to say, living in Texas is hard not only due to the heat but also state politics. I’m considering moving out of state.

Sorry to miss the Zoom call, and I hope all are well.”

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class notes Nina Nitze Moriarty reports that she and her husband joined members of the Royal Horticultural Society of Scotland to tour gardens on Scotland’s west coast.

Impressed by the lush shrubs, trees, and flowering plants, Nina was especially taken by the profusion of rhododendrons and azaleas. She explained, “The area is on the Gulf Stream, so much of it resembles the coast of Maine. We were in our wellies and raincoats and had a lovely time. My favorite was a grove of Scots pines, labeled Granny Trees because they originated in ancient Caledonian forests, propagate little offspring, and nurture them.” Nina noted that she began her last semester of teaching history of art at Babson College this fall and will retire in December.

Liz Murray Platts is still helping out with lower school student admissions at Maret School on a seasonal basis. “I have done interviews by Zoom,” she reported, “which is a little strange when you are trying to interview a five-year-old,” Liz reported that Carol Eakin Burdette recently met up with Debby Fort in Colorado and has also recently visited her younger son in Los Angeles. “Carol is always on the go,” said Liz. Marianna “Mimi” Merrill Russell also traveled to Scotland (“I’d never been before,” she said, “although I’ve been to Ireland many times.”) and the Lake District in England.

Always the avid gardener, she confessed that her flower beds were getting overwhelming, but her husband, John, produced a bumper crop of summer veggies for them and their family to feast on this year.

playing tennis, paddle tennis, and now pickleball. I do lots of gardening in Maine.

I play some bridge. I enjoy it but will never be a particularly good player. As far as we know, neither my husband nor I have had COVID. I hope our luck will continue.”

John Wathen, who attended Potomac up through the third grade, shared, “After Potomac, I attended St. Albans and Phillips Exeter Academy. After that, the story gets too long and complicated, but I currently live in Rockville, MD, and continue to work at the Environmental Protection Agency. I would be glad to hear from classmates and other Potomac acquaintances at jwath@yahoo.com.

John said that he was excited about attending this October’s Renion.”

Sally Briggs tells us, “I’m living in Marseille in the southeast of France, which is great except for July and August 2022, which were hotter than I can remember. I’m still studying, and all is well with my family. I really enjoyed the Zoom we did...thank you.

I hope all is well with everyone.”

Marisa Knowlton Domeyko shares, “In April, Wendy Neel Ellsworth was in DC with her husband, David Ellsworth, a renowned woodturner, to attend the Smithsonian Craft Show Ceremonies, where he received the Smithsonian Visionary Award. Five Potomac alums gathered at my house for dinner: Wendy, myself, Zan Smith Thomas, Carol Eakin Burdette ’62, and Betsy Davison ’62.”

2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Wendy Neel Ellsworth writes, “In late October, I went to Kenya as a member of Morning Star Rotary Club, Bethlehem PA, to document Phase 1 of our large Rotary Foundation Global Grant for maternal and child health care for a Turkana community in Northern Kenya. It will have a huge impact on this community, where there is currently no maternal or child health care available.”

Class Correspondents Marisa Knowlton Domeyko mdomeyko@comcast.net Anne Williams annegw200@yahoo.com

Dede Fryer Hacking shares, “We had a super family visit at my home in St. Davids in July. Jack came from New York, and JB and his family came from Morocco. The photo is of me with JB and his daughters at

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Anne Darneille Snodgrass reports, “Tony and I are well. We continue to enjoy our time divided among three places. Home is Florida. We summer in Maine and stop in Washington, DC, in the fall and spring as we head to and from Florida. I am still

7 Zan Smith Thomas ’63, Wendy Neel Ellsworth ’63, Marisa Knowlton Domeyko ’63, Carol Eakin Burdette ’62, and Betsy Davison ’62 at a dinner in April, 2022 at Marisa’s house in Alexandria, VA

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’63

class notes our “everybody’s birthday party.” We plan to meet up again in New York for Christmas.

Hoping COVID and the weather cooperate.

In the meantime, I have joined the SeniorsFit program at the local university. Bridge, mahjongg, and eating out keep me busy.”

Margit Sanne Leger tells us, “In August, I said farewell to Colorado, packed up the car, and headed west. I am now a fully committed denizen of Los Angeles, the City of Angels. From the Rockies’ high ground to

Dede Fryer Hacking ’63 with son JB and his daughters in St. Davids in July 2022 4

the Pacific’s wild shores, sea change indeed.

I have found a place to live in the South Bay. My new granddaughter arrived in July, and she, along with a few professional mandates, will keep me busy in the months ahead.”

We are grateful for our now two-year-old grandson, who lives only 20 minutes from us and loves spending time in our house, which has been sprouting toys, books, and baby equipment over the last two years.”

Elly Lindsay shares, “The past months have been full of personal delight amid the political turmoil of living in Texas and the fall of Roe v. Wade. Our summer included more travel than normal. In June, we headed east for my (delayed) Harvard 50th reunion, which was marvelous. We spent two weeks in Boston, Rhode Island, and Maine, seeing friends and family. We then had a bucket list trip to Greece in late July/early August. I had spent a gap year between high school and college in Greece. The program, CYA, now celebrating 60 years, offered an alumni trip. I still can’t quite believe I was floating over the Aegean in early August and eating dinner in the Pangrati area of Athens, sitting on the balcony of our apartment. In the span of 18 days, we managed to get to quite a few places: Delphi, the Meteora, Santorini, Mycenae, and Epidaurus.

“I still work as a professional actress and am excited to have two shows in 2023,” Carroll Rogers Rooth writes. “Our visit in June to Washington, DC, was a real treat, a high point of our summer! Our daughter, Liv, and her husband are in the touring cast of To Kill A Mockingbird, and our family met in DC to see the show and relive old memories of my hometown, including spending a day with Marisa Knowlton Domeyko.”

Anne Williams shares, “Lots of summer visitors here in Sharon, CT! My sister Laura Williams Ivey ’57 and her husband, Ron, visited this summer and Harriet Sweeney Fraunfelter and her husband, Eric, came in early September. Maria Franco Granquist, Leni Chapman Preston, Leni’s granddaughter, Sophie, and I have a lunch date soon.

’63

’63 3 Carroll Rogers Rooth ’63 with husband, Robert, and daughters Schuyler (left) and Liv (right) in Washington, DC, in June, 2022

0 Leni Chapman Preston ’63 with her 18-month-old granddaughter,

’63 Sophie, and Anne Williams ’63 in Sharon, CT, in August, 2022

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class notes This year as an experiment, I dedicated part of my large lawn to No-Mow May (www.pollinator-pathway.org/). The butterflies, bees, and I enjoyed the abundant wildflowers.

My daughter, Amanda, and her family (Bob, Easton-8, Lila-15 months) are in Italy for 10 days. Easton spent a week with me, attending the local Audubon Camp, where he learned about jobs in conservation. I’m still (too) heavily volunteering, and my mah-jongg group has grown with the addition of several fun younger players (including a licensed marijuana farmer!) All is well, and I feel very lucky, given the state of the world and the challenges some of my friends are facing.”

1964

Class Correspondent Alison Peake alidee1@aol.com

1965

Class Correspondent Sallie Ayers Barker s2barkers@yahoo.com

A note from your class correspondent, Sallie Ayers Barker: “Greetings from the North! Not only did I hear from many old friends this go-round but also a new “friend” came a-knocking at the window, just as I was typing up our notes – a black bear!!

Fortunately, he lumbered away. I definitely would prefer a visit from any one of my classmates. Come on up!”

Looking for Volunteers!

Are you interested in serving as a Class Correspondent?

This volunteer role is a great way to stay in touch with classmates and help others stay connected as well! Contact Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org to learn more.

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THE POTOMAC TERM

Sallie Ayers Barker reports, “Several of us had parents on the Potomac faculty; notably, Betty Lindsten Mulrey, Rick King, Christopher Janney, Sumner Rollings, Marney Lindsay Morrison, and me. All would have been well into their 90’s by now but have died; I think my mother, ‘Mrs. Ayers’ was the last to go. Mrs. Ayers, who later became Cynthia Prince (in 1969), died in April after the kind of life that we all strive for: excellent health, nationally recognized volunteer work, a full array of friendships (including her 104-yearold beau!), and as an active promoter of reading to all ages. She died just one week before her 99th birthday. Two weeks later, her 13th great-grandchild – and our fourth grandchild, Jack – was born in Marblehead, MA. ‘A nice trade,’ a friend noted! My brother, Borden Ayers ’67, who now lives nearby, and our Ayers/Prince family celebrated her life in NH this summer.

She was a Potomac parent and faculty member for a combined 12 years, but the influence of Potomac and Jack Langstaff, in particular, stayed with her for a lifetime.

She remembered every song!

Above and beyond our various grown-up responsibilities, playing with our four little people and their parents as much as possible is our primary mission. Along with that, Steve and I continue to savor and protect the great outdoor life of New England, especially here in NH and also on Heron Island in Maine. We again joined Molly Scoville Fitzmaurice ’64 and her husband, Frank, this summer at The Newport Folk Festival. We witnessed the joyous Joni Mitchell/Brandi Carlile performance that had everyone weeping in July! And with music in mind, it is truly incredible that so many of us have continued to hold Jack Langstaff ’s music and The Revels in our hearts. Steve and I have been regulars at The Revels in whichever city we have lived up and down the East Coast. Hanover’s Revels North is our present connection.”

Peter Douglas shares, “Of all my school experiences, I most definitely count my Potomac time – and my classmates there – as the best. Potomac was a great school and a wonderful experience with such a really nice, really smart, really creative group of classmates. So, first of all, thanks to each of those wonderful classmates, our teachers, and the school.

Ulrika Ekman and I married in 2000, having worked as partners at a law firm in New York. Ulrika is now a director at a new public investment bank. We stopped working in NYC in 2012 and moved to

Lakeville, CT. Our daughter Anna was born in 2001, and we were fortunate to find schools that offered many, if not all, of the same opportunities and values as Potomac.

It was a pleasure to be closely involved with all of those schools.

My sons, Matthew and Alex, went to Episcopal (NYC), Albany Academy, and Hotchkiss. Anna is now studying neuroscience at Georgetown. Alexander and Matthew are working in business, having completed their college and business school degrees.

We have now been dividing our time between Lakeville and the southwest coast of Sweden near Ulrika’s family, where she spent her childhood summers. Ulrika is a trustee at Indian Mountain School and a director of several public companies here and in France, which keeps her pretty busy.

She and Anna are dedicated equestriennes (dressage); I casually pursue some woodworking, photography, and inventing – enjoyable for me but nothing too impressive.

To my classmates: what an exceptionally nice, intelligent, and creative group you were – and are!”

Richard Eakin writes from his home in McLean, “It is unusual for me to respond!

Perhaps as we get older, remembering our roots makes us more focused. My wife of 45 years, Alexis, and I have five children, all married to wonderful partners.

Jennifer Eakin Wallach ’97 and family are in Manhattan, Kevin Eakin ’99 and Christopher Eakin ’07 and families are local in northern VA, Patrick Eakin ’02 and family are in CT, and Jonathan Eakin ’08 and his wife are in Atlanta, GA. In addition, we have seven grandchildren, ranging in age between an infant and a 5-year-old. In September, we returned from our summer vacation home on Lake George, NY, to our home in McLean.”

Although Nan Eakin Brodsky (Richard’s cousin) notes that she went off to boarding school for ninth grade, we will always consider Nan a true member of our class.

She enjoys reading about her classmates and what is going on in their lives. Nan’s life has taken quite a remarkable turn, as she was placed in hospice care in 2018 and given three weeks to live. She wrote, “I just can’t yet describe it, but I’m obviously doing well now!” What a wonderful miracle, Nan! Christopher Janney sends cheers to all!

“My wife, Terrell, and I are still living in Lexington, MA, making art and music (www.janneysound.com). Our 35-year-old

class notes Rick King reports, “I have lived for over 30 years in our house in Santa Monica and am semi-retired from the film (fiction and documentary) business. My wife, Maria Rodriguez, has just retired from the local school system, where she worked with kids who are performing below their capabilities.

I love the beach, and Maria, who hates sand, loves just about everything else about our adopted town. We have a son, Jojo, who lives in LA, but no grandchildren. However, it seems that the rest of the class has more than made up for our deficiency in the future generations department!”

’65 3 Gail Kefauver ’65’s granddaughter, Charlotte

Mike Mayer is involved with The Manitou Project, an organization founded by his parents in Williamsville, VT, with 230 acres of woodland sanctuary and programs based around understanding and appreciating nature through music, awareness, creativity, and stillness. Its slogan is: “Community with Nature.” It sounds too lovely to leave, but he did venture down to NYC in June for the world premiere of Sturgis Warner’s film, My Love Affair With Marriage, at The Tribeca Film Festival. “It was really fun to attend,” Mike wrote.

son is in Los Angeles (music composer/ producer), and our 32-year-old daughter is in NYC (video editor for TV). I reached out to Sturgis Warner, and we plan to get together next time I am in NYC. Also, I stay in touch with Chris Johansen; we’re still talking about model cars and design.

We tried to get together when he came to Cape Cod in the summer and NYC. Ed Rengers has stopped by a few times when he was up this way. I still call him ‘Vortex,’ as named by Mr. Draper. Going back a bit, I used to hang out with Jack Langstaff and, in the ’80s, did a project for his Christmas Revels. He was always a beautiful, bright artistic light and greatly influenced my work.”

Lynne Marmet McCombs shared, “Hal and I went for it and traveled to Lisbon and Spain in April. It was a great trip! Many COVID tests along the way, but we avoided getting sick and being ’stuck’ in Spain for an extra 10 days. We also spent three weeks visiting friends and family in New England and just chilling. Upon our return, we acted on our late-life crisis and got a Norwich Terrier puppy! We are thrilled with Tater; she is a sweet thing, she will travel back and forth to Boca Grande with us.

Our six grandchildren are growing and bring us lots of joy and noise. We are lucky they all live nearby in Bethesda. We see them often.”

Gail Kefauver shares that she has lived in California for almost 50 years, so she’s had very few chances of running into Potomac classmates. Luckily, her sister, Diane Kefauver, ’63, lives in San Francisco (which is why Gail moved there), and her sister-inlaw, Jo Kalmus, ’74, lives in Santa Monica.

They reminisce about Potomac days and know all the same Christmas songs. Gail’s husband can be persuaded to play them all on the piano. She is also a grandmother to three-year-old Charlotte. Gail’s daughter, Laura, and Charlotte live 15 minutes away and are constant visitors. If any old friends find themselves in San Jose, Gail would love to get together.

Betty Lindsten Mulrey writes, “Hello, everyone! I live in NH, taking frequent trips to visit family in VA. I teach college courses, mentor student teachers, and work with students of all ages. I have researched a favorite topic – social problem solving, the power of solving problems in groups.

My daughter Katie is a university professor in the Netherlands, doing research in astrophysics on cosmic rays and neutrinos.

My daughter Clare is an eighth-grade science teacher in NH, and my son, Jack, is a software engineer for the U.S. government. I have enjoyed reading all of your Potomac class news very much. And I remember our wonderful Potomac days –

the plays, celebrations, May Days, and great times we experienced together inside and outside the school. As a member of the Boston Revels, I am often taken back to our times singing and dancing with Jack Langstaff and our amazing teachers and administrators.

Christopher Janney’s Soundstair at the Boston Museum of Science, his light/ sound/art in many cities, and his Sonic Forest are awesome! And it will be great to see Emily Train Rowan’s artwork! I look forward to our next class reunion, and I send best wishes to all of you and your families!”

Cary Ridder reports that she and her husband, Dave Alberswerth, live in the Palisades in Washington, DC, “just above Chain Bridge and only a seven-minute drive from my mother, who is still alive and living in the same house in McLean where I grew up. Dave and I bought a weekend house in Rappahannock County, VA, that had been owned by my family, and we spend a lot of time out there. It is across the road from my sister, Steph Ridder ’67’s, home. We have two granddaughters: Quynh, 7 years old, lives in Brooklyn, and Mila, 2 years old, lives nearby on upper Connecticut Avenue in DC. We also spend time in the summer on Martha’s Vineyard, where we see Dan Gordon and his wife, Debbie Hales. We used to do a lot of travel to other countries but, due to COVID, have recently kept to the East Coast, which, actually, has been a pleasant place to be this summer.”

Emily Train Rowan and her husband, Jim Rowan, have been living in the same house for almost 30 years in Chevy Chase, MD. She writes, “I fully retired from being a psychotherapist last year, but Jim still works part-time as an investment banker in the education space. We are in seventh heaven because we have both our daughters living nearby with their families, meaning we get to babysit almost every weekday after school/daycare and have family gatherings on the weekends. Emily Rowan Austin ’04 and her husband, Dan, have a 4-year-old girl, Jette, and a 1-year-old boy, Lance. Allie Rowan ’07 and her wife, Katie, have a 2-year-old boy, Nico.

Jim and I continue to have travel high on our list of priorities, with the acknowledgment that our days of longdistance international travel may not last another decade. Recently, we have been to Botswana and Zambia, the Caribbean, and on a wilderness riverboat cruise on

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class notes the Peruvian Amazon. We still have our home in South Bristol, ME, and get there as often as possible. I am taking art classes again, this time at the Yellow Barn - Glen Echo, and am doing bold pastels rather than delicate botanical watercolors. I also love to garden.”

Pamela Shaw loves living in Portland, ME. “First granddaughter was born last April in the Netherlands. I have occasionally returned to DC, which I hardly recognize. My love for nature and the outdoors was inspired by Mr. Morton and the nature trail at Potomac, for which I am always grateful.”

Caroline Killefer Thayer shares, “Our younger daughter, Alexandra, gave birth to twins at the end of March! Sebastian and Gwendolyn join their sister Maya, who is 3.

(Apparently, twins run in my husband’s family.) Now there are four grandkids as our daughter, Ashley, has Hildegaard, age 5. It’s awesome being a grandparent!

We have been living in Corrales, NM, for the past 22 years after working in private boarding schools everywhere, from Austin, TX; to South Kent, CT; Mayer, AZ; and Albuquerque, NM. Jack and I met at and graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder and wanted to work and live in the Southwest. Our daughters, Ashley and Alexandra, went to boarding schools (Thacher in Ojai, CA, and Westover in CT, respectively). Ashley went on to Rhode Island School of Design, and Alex went first to Dickinson in PA and then to Mills in CA for a master’s.

Now all my siblings and our two kids and four grandkids are all happily settled in CA (LA and San Francisco). I wish we were closer, but we try to get together when there is no pandemic. Anyone coming this way, please get in touch!”

Sturgis Warner writes, “Thanks for all the updates. It’s so interesting to read where everybody has landed. As for me, I have no kids, no grandkids, and no homes to report. I’ve lived in the same New York City apartment for 44 years, and next January, I will be in the city for 50. Basically, for the first 20, I was a theater actor; for the next 20, a theater director and producer; and for the past 10, I’ve acted, directed, and worked with my partner of 22 years, Signe Baumane, on her two independently-produced animated feature films. I mark my time not by the births and ages of kids but by the plays and projects I’ve done over the years. It’s a freelancer’s life, a freelance mentality – never easy and not for everyone – but I love it.

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The pandemic wiped theater clean off the map for a long, long time. Even now, it’s still struggling to come back. Yes, Broadway is playing, but nuts and bolts theater – the readings, the workshops, the development work – not so much. I’ve been lucky to have Signe’s latest film, My Love Affair With Marriage, as a creative outlet. It premiered in June at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC and is currently playing in film festivals around the world.

But a finished film is never really finished.

We’re still working pretty much full-time, trying to get it out there. Helping us is our associate producer, Reg Foster. Reg had a long and very successful career in business, and for the last three years, Signe and I have Zoomed with him weekly. Reg advises us on all things business, from fundraising to contracts and much more.

We educate him in show business. It’s been a great trade-off.

At our premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, we were surprised by Mike Mayer, who drove down from Vermont to join us.

We had to raise a lot of money to produce the film independently, and Mike was one of the 1,685 individuals who backed the film and followed our progress. It was great to see him. At the premiere, Mike, Reg, and I even managed a half-hour conversation about Potomac. Frankly, those were tough years for the three of us, but you know, it was all part of growing up, and whatcha gonna do?

The website for the film is www.MyLoveAffairWithMarriage.com. The trailer is right there on the welcome page, so you can get a taste of what we’re up to. And there’s much more on the website about the film and the process of making it for those with the time and inclination.”

Peter Espy ’66 with his four daughters on their annual get-together on Martha’s Vineyard 4

’66

1966 Peter Espy writes, “I retired from doing trains at the Texas Department of Transportation last fall and happily returned to my apartment in Alameda, CA. Two of my four daughters, Avril and Amelia, live on Martha’s Vineyard. We did our annual get-together with off-islanders, with Olivia coming from Houston, TX, and Isabel from North Hollywood, CA. I dug out my Potomac School yearbooks.

Enjoyed the pictures and quips from classmates.”

’67 3 Graham Skinner ’67 married Joanne Rettberg on June 26 in Mountain View CA. (L to r): Conrad Skinner ’66, Graham Skinner ’67, Jamal (Johnny) McGrath ’69, and Tony Anikeeff ’67

1967

Class Correspondent Tom Macy potomac67@gmail.com

55th

class notes

Skip Paul ’68 and David Epstein ’68 on Skip’s farm, Wishingstone Farm, in Little Compton 4

“Where love is, I am.” A plaque dedicates a bench alongside the Nantucket Athenaeum in memory of the late Mary D. Macy Civitarse ’70.

4

’70

’70

3 Sarah Bucknell Treco ’70 with her granddaughter, Emma Bucknell Treco

’68

1968 2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondent Kim Holdsworth kimsworth4@gmail.com Chip Hitchcock shares, “After giving at least 3,000 books to local libraries, we were able to move into a single-level condo, leaving the house in which we’d lived for 28 years – twice as long as I’ve been at any other address. There are no grounds to keep up, no stairs (except when a thunderstorm takes out the elevator), and everything is closer at hand, but it’s a lot to leave behind.

Does anybody want some ultra-vigorous blackberry canes? Packing uncovered some Potomac photographs from late 1963-64. If they haven’t rehidden themselves, I’ll have them at the next reunion; we can see if anyone is identifiable.”

1970

Class Correspondent Jane McAllister McAllister.Jane@Outlook.com

A big shout out to Jane McAllister for chairing the class’s 50th Spring Reunion. She hosted an amazing Saturday night class party.

Thank you for all you do for your classmates and Potomac!

Jane notes, I didn’t receive too many notes this time, folks. Bobby Rock in LA is pleased to have up-and-coming director/ writer Isabel Sandoval (Under the Banner of Heaven, The Summer I Turned Pretty) as a client. Bobby accompanied his daughter, Georgia, to New York City in August to help her move in for her second year of law school at NYU. Georgia and Bobby’s wife, Kerry, went to Kauai the week before. Bobby is happy to have his son, Charley, living nearby in LA. Sarah Bucknell Treco (sister of Lucy Bucknell ’76, Kate Bucknell Maguire ’72, and Charlotte Bucknell Reilly ’69) enjoyed an August vacation in Nantucket with her

family, including her “favorite nugget,” new granddaughter Emma Bucknell Treco, born May 13, 2022. Sarah shared a photo of a memorial plaque for our classmate Mary D. Macy Civitarse (sister of Tom Macy ’67, Susan Macy Jarvinen ’72, and Richard Macy ’77), a longtime resident of Nantucket, who died there in June 2015.

1971 The Potomac community was excited to finally celebrate the Class of 1971’s 50th milestone on campus this past spring. A big thank you to the class reunion chairs, Eugenie Anderson, Roxana Oppenheimer Day, Karen Lindsten Devlin, Leslie Hyde, and Nick Lowery, for your hard work and leadership!

1973

50th

2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondent Liza Gookin Hodskins lhodskins@yahoo.com

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class notes

1974

Class Correspondent Ann Brown annanna.brown@gmail.com On a beautiful day in late May, Grace Guggenheim and Andrew Taylor were married in Tisbury, MA, with their mothers (aged 91 and 93, respectively) by their sides and in the presence of their immediate family. Grace’s brother, Davis Guggenheim ’79, led the ceremony, and Grace’s and Andrew’s nieces and nephews participated. The celebrations continued two days later with the back-to-back graduations of two of Grace’s nephews in Providence, RI. Sarah Holmes reports, “I’ve had an extended Maine stay this year, reaping the benefits of retirement. I’m following North Sturtevant’s example and building a new house in coastal Maine after the teardown of my 1902 rickety cottage. I have had several sightings of Nina Bohlen in Thomaston, ME. Fun!” Andy Hyde writes, “I take great delight in learning what everyone is up to and how our lives are all changing and evolving in these challenging and unprecedented times. I retired from the State Department in 2019 and then, eventually, unretired, first (really original) by returning to state for a limited contract on the Afghanistan Desk (not so quiet), and now as a director at the Stimson Center, a DC think tank, working on NATO and UN issues. I also work part-time for a friend’s government contracting company on a simulation exercise for combating the Russian diversion of high tech from the three Baltic states. My twin sons are thriving in Brooklyn and in their hightech Manhattan jobs, and my wife, Diana, is savoring her retirement from a civil service position at state.”

Barbara Parrot Katz shares, “Our first grandchild, Leonardo, was born in early June in Portugal. He is a cutie, and his dad, Nicholas, cannot wait to surf with him.

Our daughter, Olivia, lives and works in Australia as a photojournalist with dreams of making documentaries. Since Portugal and Australia look to be their forever homes, we have some traveling to do. Hubby Howard is great and semi-retired – we celebrated our 40th anniversary this year!

I continue to design and build gardens; I still love what I do, most of the time. With the help of Dawn Renzy Bellinger ’77, I finally got my website up and running: londonlandscapes.com.”

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THE POTOMAC TERM

’74 3 Grace Guggenheim ’74 and Andrew Taylor were married in Tisbury, MA. The couple are pictured here with Grace’s brother, Davis Guggenheim ’79 (center), who led the ceremony.

Sarah Lejeune writes, “We are still standing following several years of COVID-related challenges! After working with unhoused youth this summer, my daughter Zoe is in Thailand learning about sustainable farming from indigenous people for her environmental science degree. I continue working with the LA County transit authority community enhancement team and consulting on decommissioning a California coastal power plant to enable wetland restoration. Our cheerful pandemic rescue puppy gets me hiking in the hills above the Pacific Ocean every day.”

Jennifer Moses notes, “Despite years of pressuring our children to make grandchildren for us, we still have to make do with our dogs. Thank God all is well in our little corner of the world. I’m still writing. My husband is still teaching. My ancient (93-year-old) father continues to astonish us.”

1975

Class Correspondent Peggy Griffin Begor pbegor@gmail.com

1976

Class Correspondent Brad MacKenzie beradmack@gmail.com

Marque Chambliss shares, “I’m thrilled that my son, Langston ’25, just transferred to Potomac where he will be starting the 10th grade and participating in the Visual and Performing Arts Concentration. My other twin son, Logan, enrolled at Burke, also in the 10th grade. In April, I retired as the chief legal officer of a Baltimore-based IT services company. My wife, Sheryll, and I acquired a rental property on Martha’s Vineyard that we remodeled over the summer. I plan to develop two properties in Montgomery County in the next year or so, as part of a small real estate business. While I am evolving away from law, Sheryll will continue to be a professor at Georgetown Law.” Brad MacKenzie reports, “I am making Sanibel Honey, which is varietal honey made solely by Sanibel Island, FL bees. I’ve placed about 40 hives on properties all over the island and will have 50 hives next season.”

class notes

Ted Tunney writes, “Last spring, I traveled to Athens, Crete, Santorini, and Amsterdam, and I am currently getting ready to gaff Magnum PI, Season 5. Last year, I gaffed I Know What You Did Last Summer. I saw Stephen Hill recently and was with him and Broadway Jackson in the Bahamas last December.”

7 Francesco Odone ’78 with his family at a recent wedding in Athens

1977

Class Correspondent Four Hewes fourhewes@zoho.com

’78

Thank you to Wendy Arundel, Rufus Johnson, Elizabeth Lee, and Frank Zarb for being Reunion 2022 Class Reunion Chairs!

1978

3 Angus Kerr ’78 and Byron Hope ’78 in March at the White Horse Tavern in Newport, RI

45th

2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondent Julie Twiname Warder batwarder@cox.net Angus Kerr shares, “Two years ago, I retired after 30 years as a New York City special education teacher. This academic year, I went back into the classroom. Newport, RI, Public Schools offered me a job I could not resist. So I will teach troubled teens again, only in RI, where we have a house.

My wife, Tomoko, continues to work as a designer for Coach, and I head back to our place in Brooklyn on the weekends. This winter, Byron Hope came up, and we had a wonderful dinner and caught up on our 51-year-old friendship. I hope others will visit too. I have plenty of room, and it is a pleasant place in the woods above the beach.

You have a standing invite!”

After 30 years in sunny Florida, Susannah Humpstone Michalson and her husband, Mike, have retired and moved back to the DC area to be closer to family and friends.

They look forward to discovering the area all over again. Susannah also looks forward to connecting with “old” friends.

Francesco Odone writes, “After Potomac, I attended Maret. Two years later, I took the International Baccalaureate in the UK and subsequently did my bachelor’s at

the London School of Economics. For 25 years, I was a bond trader in London/NY/ Tokyo, working for inter alia, Bankers Trust, Nomura, and Bear Stearns. My partner and I have three daughters: Valentina (age 5) and identical twins Felicity and Angelica (age 3). We currently live in Spain.”

Lola Singletary writes, “Hello, classmates.

Bastille Day brought Sally Anne Epstein, Anne Metcalf ’79, and me together for dinner at Mon Ami Gabi, followed by a showing of Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris at the Landmark Theatre in Bethesda. Loads of francophile fun, IN PERSON! On a very personal note, Alice MacKenzie’s talent and creativity produce amazing art, and I now have an appropriate vessel for my mother’s remains. To make this story even sweeter, Byron Hope altered his travel route from Canada to stop at Alice’s and then hand-delivered the pottery to me. Our friendships deepen as the years roll on.”

Pippa Vanderstar shares, “After 20 years of tutoring, I stepped into the classroom during COVID to teach Latin. I’m at Germantown Academy in Pennsylvania.

In preparation, I went to Italy in summer 2021 to visit archaeological sites. I studied classical archaeology at Oxford University. I also went to the Amalfi coast last summer and highly recommend Positano and Sorrento.”

Hildreth Willson sends her greetings: “Hello, Class of ’78! It has been a while since I updated, so here goes. The numbers? I

’78

have two children, one dog. I have one husband and one house in the California Bay Area. I have had two husbands total, but only one at a time. At this writing, I am 59, as I suppose most of us must be. I have discovered that iPhone lenses are way too good at capturing neck wrinkles. However, to my blind-as-a-bat eyes, the phone clearly overstates the issue. My back aches if I don’t stretch before a long walk. I wish us all many more years to develop such minor complaints of aging.

I have one kid in college and another in their last year of high school. As empty nest syndrome approaches, I have also just completed a program in Berkeley Extension’s Interior Design and Interior Architecture Certificate Program, so no more CPA or IT stuff for me! It’s time to heed the call of the creative right side of the brain. I am also volunteering with the Bay Area Chapter of Project Color Corps, which ‘uses the transformational power of color to infuse communities with hope, pride, equity, and empowerment.’ What does that mean? At

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class notes Hoover Elementary in Oakland, CA, we show kids that their community cares by improving their environment with trees, paint, and love. Your donations are welcome!

So far, so good. All is well chez Willson. I hope this finds all of you well too.”

“As for me, Julie Twiname Warder, with my recently emptied nest, my focus has shifted. I spend much of my time caring for my mother on her journey with dementia. I learned a great deal through my care of my parents and have been able to share this as a mentor in a peer support program and as a guest speaker for a class at ASU. Somehow, it feels better when your struggles can help others going through a similar journey. I am grateful for Zoom support groups and wonderful Potomac friends who have reached out and shared their own journeys. Looking forward to our 45th reunion coming soon!”

1979

Class Correspondent Anita Winsor anwinsor@gmail.com Oteil Burbridge launched a nationwide tour with his band this September (oteilburbridge. com/tour/) and is planning for a six-day Jam Cruise in February 2023, from Miami to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

Nick Carter writes, “Craig Coleman joined Maria and me for dinner earlier this summer in Penobscot, ME, near Northeast Harbor where I vacationed once or twice with Craig and his family back in our Potomac days. Great to catch up on family and life news with him.”

Bill Hoffmann notes, “I still have the good fortune of teaching at Potomac (7th and 8th grade science) and getting a chance to play some bluegrass music every so often...

mostly in the living room! I took a couple of trips this summer by airplane (France) and motorcycle (New Mexico). In the big picture, I am grateful that the airplane was more mechanically sound than the motorcycle. Hoping that all of you and your families are doing well! Give a shout if you are in the DC area!”

Anita Winsor-Edwards writes, “I ended the summer with a wonderful week in Nova Scotia. Lots of hiking, sailing, and seafood chowder. With my youngest now enrolled in college (USC), I am an official empty nester!

I also recently joined the board of Gadsby’s Tavern Museum, located in Alexandria, VA, and founded in 1796.”

1980

Class Correspondent Rylan Harris rylan.r.harris@gmail.com

Classmates, great news! Rylan Harris has volunteered to be your Class Correspondent so watch for his email and Facebook posts for the spring Term magazine. Thanks, Rylan!

1982 Thank you to Janie Haynes for being Reunion 2022 Class Reunion Chair!

1983

40th

2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondent Eric McGuire emcg.dcfd@gmail.com

0 In addition to launching a tour this fall, Oteil Burbridge ’79 has a podcast called Comes a Time,which reached 100 episodes this summer!

Make sure and check out the latest episodes.

’79

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THE POTOMAC TERM

1984

Class Correspondent James Quigley jspquigley@gmail.com

1986

Class Correspondent Robert Cheek rmbcheek@gmail.com

Holly Green Gordon shares, “After almost five wonderful years in Los Angeles working as the chief impact officer for Participant Media (running impact campaigns on recent films like Roma, Judas, and the Black Messiah; RBG; and Dark Waters), I have moved back to NYC with my husband, Pete. I have set up a consulting practice focused on the intersection of philanthropy, storytelling, and social impact. My daughter, Lilly, is starting her sophomore year at St Andrews University in Scotland, and my son, Lucas, is starting his senior year at Groton School. It has been fun to be back on the East Coast, although I would be lying if I said I don’t miss LA’s tequila sunrises!”

Stasia MacLane Reisfield writes, “We are back in the DC area and would love to catch up with anyone who is around.”

Andrew Ritter and his family live in Vienna, VA. He notes, “We reconnected with Potomac through my youngest son, Patrick, now a sophomore. He plays on the Potomac soccer team and made All-Conference as a freshman (a much better soccer player than his father).”

This year, Theodore Shapiro was awarded three Emmys for his work on the Apple TV+ series Severance. Theodore won for Outstanding Music Composition – Original Dramatic Score; Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music; and Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special. Congratulations!

1991

Class Correspondent Thea Lehming Brandt thea.lehming.brandt@gmail.com Patsy Dugger shared, “I celebrated Jennie McClelland’s birthday in early September. I knew at six years old when I met Jennie that she was special. Always magnetic, bright, funny, kind, the SO (social organizer), and ‘probably the most popular girl in the class’ (she claimed). I remember times at

class notes

Andrew Ritter ’86’s son, Patrick ’25, sophomore at Potomac, plays on the Potomac soccer team.

4

’91 ’86

our cabin, her farm with the peacocks and terriers, her first camping trips with my family, skiing at Bryce, slumber parties, and hanging out in Georgetown. We shared almost every class together at Potomac, first through ninth grade, stayed close through the boarding school daze, competed in field hockey, and always had holiday gatherings at home. Always the SO. We visited each other in college, and I became friends with her BC crew (honorary BCer now?), who are dear to me to this day. I introduced her to Paul Dorn one summer after meeting him in the mountains of Wyoming. We had two cross-country trips – national parks, bears, moose, backpacking, and many laughs. Then our great leap of faith: we both moved to San Francisco with no apartment, job, or network to speak of – best move ever. So many adventures, surrounded by single girlfriends, crushes, bars, and parties.

Then the Ashbury Heights house with Paul, cats, raccoons, and so so many great times and friends. We lived four houses apart on Hayes street. We were in each other’s weddings, and we’re each other’s kids’ godparents. The Bay now separates us, but not in my heart. Jennie, my oldest, greatest friend, I adore you, I cherish our friendship, and I can’t wait to reminisce on the next 50 when we’re 100 and sitting on the stoop.”

3 Joe Knight ’91 just before his wedding ceremony, with his mother, former Potomac nurse Maggie Knight

Joe Knight married Hannah Sanders this past summer in Salcombe, U.K. Joe and Hannah are the deputy heads at Northcote Lodge School in London.

1992

Class Correspondent Ama Amoako Adams ama.a.adams@gmail.com Thank you to Jeremy White for being Reunion 2022 Class Reunion Chair!

1993

30th

2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

1994

Class Correspondents Will Lamb wlamb76@gmail.com Ashley Walde agwalde@gmail.com

Will Lamb writes, “Hey there, Class of ’94!

I’m thrilled that Ashley Walde (a fellow graduate of Miss Streett’s first-grade class) and I are teaming up as your new class correspondents. (Huge thanks to Lauren Banks Amos for her years of service in this role.)

I had a blast reconnecting with Jonathan Segal, Dev Subhash, Tyler Wilkins, Jessica Wright Baldenhofer ’95, and Nish Herat ’95 at a couple of Potomac alumni mixers in New York City and am in regular contact with a few of our classmates, including Ari Charney, K.C. Swope Kourtz, John Skillern, and Sam Grawe. I’m still helping to wrangle breaking and general-assignment news as an editor at The New York Times when I am not helping my wife, Gina, wrangle our cats, Walter and Hildegard, in our apartment in Jersey City.”

Ashley Walde writes, “After attending college in Colorado, I moved back to the DC area. I worked in real estate and continue to coach new agents on building their businesses. I became a personal trainer in 2012 and am also a yoga teacher and life coach. I thrive on helping people live their best life. I live in McLean with my children, Finley ’31 (age 9) and Beckam ’33 (age 7), both of whom attend Potomac (Finley is

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class notes in the fourth grade and Beckam is in the second grade), and our two Frenchies, Chilo and Mila.”

Lauren Banks Amos writes, “I’ve been a nerd by day for 20 years now. I’m a learning scientist for Mathematica. My current projects include directing an equity technical assistance center for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and a study funded by the U.S. Department of Education to develop psychometrically sound progress-monitoring measures for a School District of Philadelphia initiative to make their classrooms more culturally and linguistically inclusive. I’m also leading a study of the implementation of middle school math curricula in four urban school districts for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

I love what I do, but I needed a creative outlet. Several years ago, I started toying with the idea of designing home decor with some coaching from Heather Wilson ’96. I fully committed last year when Katie Carberry Irving’s husband, Josh Irving, agreed to be my business partner. We launched BrrrBlanc (brrrblanc.com) last November. I have no clue what I’m doing, and I sleep less than I did with a newborn, but it’s been a fabulous ride. Find us on Instagram (@BrrrBlanc), where I’m also clueless!”

Share with us!

Send your news to your class correspondent; their contact information can be found at the top of your class year. If no correspondent is listed, email your updates to term@ potomacschool.org or mail them to Alumni Office, The Potomac School, 1301 Potomac School Road, McLean, VA 22101.

We want to hear from you!

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THE POTOMAC TERM

’94 3 Ashley Walde ’94 with her children, Finley ’31 (left) and Beckam ’33, in Aspen, CO, in February 2022

Erin Ricker Ansell writes, “School has started here in Dakar, Senegal, and after we dropped off our daughters (Lucy, fifth grade, and Emily, third grade) and shed the obligatory tears about how fast they are growing up, we immediately opened champagne and toasted the fact that they are again someone else’s problem for eight hours a day. I know I’m not the only one who did this, so judge not.

We spent the summer in the mountains: a little bit of the Alps and a little bit of the Rockies – my favorite, of course. Jeremy and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in August back in Keystone, CO, happily joined by my mom and my sister, Mollie Ricker ’97, and her family. We’re here in Senegal for another one or two years. Living by the ocean for the first time in my life still hasn’t lost its sparkle. I left the U.S. government in June of last year and am now consulting for the World Bank and the United Nations on matters related to infrastructure, energy, and climate change resiliency. It sounds more impressive than it is in some ways; I’m just as overwhelmed as everyone else at the scale of poverty and the challenges in sub-Saharan Africa right now, especially as already-fragile economies attempt to recover from COVID and the fuel and food crises brought on by the Russian attack on Ukraine.”

Jody Morse Al-Saigh writes, “I started as a human resources representative with Insperity in July. I mostly work from home, but when I go into the office, my building in Tysons is next door to Katie Carberry Irving’s school, BASIS Independent, so that’s fun! We were already in regular contact anyway, and she’s helping counsel my daughter on her college applications.

I also see Gina Cordero a lot, especially during hockey season at Caps games.”

Shanté Anderson Gabriel shares, “I’m a producer of the TV series Double Cross, which follows two siblings on a quest to save the women in their neighborhood from a sex trafficking ring. Season four airs in February on Amazon Prime and WE tv Network. I hope some of you have time to watch.”

Sandy Gentles writes, “The Gentleses celebrated summer break by heading to a safari in South Africa. It was the journey of a lifetime for sure!”

Annabel Forde Olah writes, “I am a nutrition coach, health coach, pilates instructor, and wellness advocate with doTERRA. As a pilates instructor, I offer a wide range of in-person and online classes via my website, alignpilatesvienna.com.

With the waitlist for classes at my original

class notes 0 Sandy ’94 and Laura Gentles with their daughter, Kate, and son, James, on safari in South Africa, summer 2022

’94

studio becoming longer every day, I opened a second location at Evolution Health & Fitness in Vienna, VA, in October 2021. I love to help others create and execute a plan for internal and external healing using a well-rounded diet. I use the therapeutic properties of essential oils and overall holistic wellness in all of my practices. It is the combination of all of these things that I am committed to sharing with those looking to not just exist in this world but truly LIVE. I believe nothing is ‘cookie-cutter,’ and I help design personalized plans for people to reach their specific health goals.”

Perry Aldigé Shure writes, “My husband, sons, and I moved from Houston to Washington, DC, about five years ago, and now all three boys are Potomac students. The best part of the school is the Middle School, where absolutely nothing recognizable has changed. In fact, I substitute taught in Ms. Lorenz’s room this past April. Loads of memories.

Summer was busy, and we just arrived back in Washington from spending time in Sun Valley, ID, with my close friend Tiffany Tuttle and her sister, Alex Tuttle ’97.

I’m also in touch with Mia Whang Spiker Johnson, Tyler Wilkins, Becca Grad Droller, Jonathan Kilberg, Paige Mader, and Lizzie Holt Darman. Mia and Becca live locally, but the rest are scattered around the country, and Paige is overseas. I just wish I saw more of all of them!”

’15

’94 3 Perry Aldigé Shure ’94’s three boys, Will (1st grade), James (5th), and Benjamin (6th), ready for their first day of school at Potomac this year!

Sally Steponkus Roche writes, “My husband, Tom Roche, daughter Libby (4), and I had a great summer of vacations in Maine and Ponte Vedra, FL. Libby continues to delight us; she is funny, sweet, sassy, and getting a real handle on swimming. We welcomed a new member to our family in October 2021: a Boston terrier named Bridey. I continue to work as an interior decorator in DC, and my firm, Sally Steponkus Interiors, recently celebrated its 22nd anniversary by hiring a fifth employee. I am in touch weekly, if not daily, with Eliza Robinson Rosen and visited her this July in Chicago. I send lots of love to the Class of ’94!”

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class notes 0 Matt ’94 and Claire Rowan with their sons, Will (far left), and Andrew, in December 2021

’94

Matt Rowan reports, “After leading a design studio at the DC office of Gensler, I resumed my bad habit of getting hired by my clients, this time to reimagine the residential lighting division at Dominion Electric Supply Co. We designed and launched a new brand, Dominion Lighting, and completely redefined our showroom experiences to better align with the needs of our clientele and industry. Some of my classmates may have seen on social media that I also get to take on the profoundly uncomfortable task of creating podcasts and online videos. The never-ending gift of public ridicule and proof that the camera adds 20 pounds are delightful.

When I’m not embarrassing myself in my professional life, I act as an outstanding husband to my endlessly patient wife, Claire, and a questionable father figure to my sons, Will and Andrew. I’m proud to say that Will follows in his old man’s footsteps as Dominion’s Saturday showroom host.

Andrew began his first year in high school as the starting quarterback on the freshman football team. Anyone who knows me well understands that this natural athletic talent raises some prickly questions about paternity. Nevertheless, being a dad to these two has made me more well-rounded as a person, and I’m thankful for it.”

Kate Lopez Weymouth writes, “Hello, Class of ’94! I am in Delaware, where I have a small private psychiatric practice, serving patients from Baltimore to New York. I also serve as the consulting medical professional to the Third Circuit of the federal judiciary, mostly teaching the judges about relevant wellness topics. This summer, my husband,

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THE POTOMAC TERM

’94

0 Timo and Kate Lopez Weymouth ’94 in Lisbon, summer 2022

’94 3 Andrew, Abby, Sara, Madeline, Mike ’94, Emma, and Peter Wilhelm in Colorado Springs, CO, in spring 2022

Timo, and I enjoyed a trip to Portugal, planned as a reunion for his Deerfield Academy classmates. Anyone up for planning a Potomac reunion trip?”

Mike Wilhelm writes, “After moving back from Japan, I settled with my wife, Sara, and our children in Colorado Springs, CO. Our oldest two boys, Andrew and Peter, are in college at the University of Utah, studying computer science and engineering respectively. Our two oldest girls, Emma and Abby, are in high school and are avid runners and swimmers. Madeline, the youngest, just started first grade. We spend most of our free time hiking, mountain biking, road biking, running, camping, and skiing. Life is good in the West.”

1995

Class Correspondent Erin Vagley evagley@gmail.com

1996

Class Correspondent Chris Cramer cpcramer@gmail.com Heather Wilson writes, “Greetings from Tongva/Chumash territory, also known as Venice, CA! As we have all experienced in a multitude of ways, the world has completely transformed over the past 2+ years. People’s priorities have changed,

class notes and as a result, so has the workplace. In that regard, I’m excited to share that I’ve returned to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging work in the healthcare and tech start-up spaces with fellow Potomac alums and dear friends Ali Jost ’97 and Melissa Lafsky-Elsten. It feels enormously fulfilling to share my unique perspective as a thought partner to forward-thinking leaders and organizations seeking to foster inclusive cultures of belonging where everyone can bring their entire selves to work. I specialize in one-to-one transformational leadership coaching; intensive workshops; and inclusive talent attraction, engagement, and retention. You can learn more about my consulting work at www.embodieddiversity.com. Please pass it along to anyone you know who is serious about developing or enhancing their DEIB strategy. I am truly grateful for all your support. Sending love and hugs!”

1997

Class Correspondent Elizabeth Race Terborgh elizabethrace@gmail.com

Thank you to 2022 Class Reunion Chairs Julia Bissell and Patrick Malone for your leadership!

Alyson Cambridge shares, “It was quite a ride! Three different productions, 22 total performances, 250+ pages of music and dialogue, six costumes, five wigs, too many home COVID tests to count, one adorable log cabin, and endless magical moments on and off stage were part of my 2022 summer season at the Glimmerglass Festival. For upcoming performances and new ones, please follow me on Instagram @alysoncambridge.”

Karl Channell writes, “Hi, Potomac People! I hope all is well for everyone. My experience being sealed away in NYC – probably like others’ – ended some things and began others. After ample hibernation time in a small apartment with my wife of four years, we decided our mental health needed space outside the city. We undertook some weekend research missions to the north and east, and we closed on a property in East Hampton at the beginning of the year. We decided that we might as well get the most out of work-from-home life by building a new home together close to a beach, swapping out honking for frogmating ritual sounds. I’m still living the

’96 3 Heather Wilson ’96 has recently made a return to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging work.

urban/suburban combo life for now and learning how to street park three subway stops away from my city apartment.

The non-stop video calls might have gotten to me, as I quit Google after 10 years. Instead, I’m switching from leading an augmented reality UX team to leading design at a partner’s new company, Things, Inc. Our focus is on self-expression, play, and simple creation experiences for new software builders. Hopefully, we’ll figure out what people love to create on their screens but can’t already do before we run out of money. But above all, I’ve acknowledged that life is precious, and it’s more important than ever to bring something positive and meaningful into existence, whatever that might be.

Much love to everyone, give me a shout if you’re out East Long Isle way!”

1998

25th

2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondent Jessica Ohly jessicaohly@gmail.com

’97 3 Over the summer, Alyson Cambridge ’97 starred as Elsa Schrader in The Sound of Music at The Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY.

Looking for Volunteers!

Are you interested in serving as a Class Correspondent?

This volunteer role is a great way to stay in touch with classmates and help others stay connected as well! Contact Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org to learn more.

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class notes 0 Pamela Kasenetz ’99 and Matthew Kahn welcomed their son, Ronen “RoRo” Kahn, on April 14, 2022.

’98 3 Elena Sylos-Labini ’98, Vail Breed ’98, Joanna Steckler Goldman ’98, and Kristin Carlucci Weed ’98

’99 An update from Vail Breed: “Our family recently moved back to the DC area from NYC, and it’s been wonderful catching up with classmates. Looking forward to connecting with more Potomac friends this year!”

Valerie Plesch shares, “In August, I was awarded a reporting grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to pursue stories about Afghan refugees who have been resettling throughout the U.S. My grant project, After the Fall: Afghan Refugees in America, explores and chronicles the challenges faced by refugees over the last year. I’m thrilled that my stories were published on PBS NewsHour, where I collaborated with Morgan Till ’91, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and DCist. I’m also excited to continue my work with the Alumni Governing Council!”

1999

Class Correspondents Sahar Batmanghelidj saharbatman@gmail.com Christian Gomez christian.gomez@gmail.com Pamela Kasenetz shares, “My husband, Matthew Kahn, and I welcomed our son, Ronen “RoRo” Kahn, on April 14, 2022. He’s incredibly sweet and happy and is already wearing his Potomac School colors!”

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2000

Class Correspondents Maura Myers Bisogni maura.bisogni@gmail.com Jonathan Haworth haworth.jonathan@gmail.com

2001

Class Correspondent Stirling Kelso Neff stirlingkelso@gmail.com Noah Miller, his wife, Liese, and their five-year-old daughter, Quinn, reside in Sacramento, CA, where Noah has lived since 2007. Noah has been with his small consulting firm for more than 10 years. He presently works on the California Health Benefit Exchange (Covered California) as the product manager of a human-centered design team focused on user experience and user interface design and research. Outside work, Noah and family enjoy trips to Tahoe, wine country, and San Francisco, where his parents retired.

’00 3 Albert Pingree ’00 with daughter Sophia and nephew Henry

2002

Class Correspondent Victoria Sylos-Labini victoriavsl@gmail.com Thank you to Sartaj Ajrawat, Taylor Kettler, and Victoria Sylos-Labini for being 2022 Class Reunion Chairs!

Victoria Sylos-Labini received the 2022 Outstanding Psychologist Award at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention in Minneapolis for demonstrating exemplary leadership in her service with the DC Psychological Association. Congratulations!

class notes 7 Victoria Sylos-Labini ’02 received the 2022 Outstanding Psychologist Award at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention in Minneapolis.

’02 0 The Kettlers, Crosbys, and Murphys came over to celebrate the fourth birthday of Meredith Murphy Craven’s son, Jack. (l to r): Theo Kettler, James Crosby, Charlotte Kettler ’35, Jack Craven, Everly Craven ’35, John Murphy, Kacki Crosby ’36, Olivia Murphy, Claire Craven ’33, Adelaide ’02 Crosby)

’01 3 First day of school at Potomac for Katherine Pingree ’01 and David Dick’s boys, Charlie (1st grade) and Henry (kindergarten)

2003

20th

Save the date for Reunion 2023. We hope to see you on campus October 20-21, 2023.

Are you interested in being on the Reunion Host Committee? Email Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondents Aleem Ahmed aleemhahmed@gmail.com Elizabeth Fabiani Rooney elizabethfabiani@gmail.com

7 Matt Hassett ’04 recently released his second major product, the Loftie Lamp.

2004

Class Correspondents Claire Robertson robertsonaclaire@gmail.com Regina Lee Fechter reginablairlee@gmail.com

Matt Hassett released his second major product, the Loftie Lamp, a sunrise wake-up light, which complements the best-selling Loftie Clock smart sleep assistant, available through Saks, Goop, and the MoMA Design Store. Matt spends most days at Loftie’s offices in NYC’s Tribeca neighborhood with Emma, his rascal of a dog.

’04

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class notes

’04 3 Robbie de Picciotto ’04 and his wife, Viviane, with the Potomac crew at their wedding in May

Kennedy Kanagawa made his Broadway debut as Milky White in Into The Woods at the St. James Theatre. Kennedy is a New York City-based performer who continues to fulfill his passion for creating meaningful art across its many forms. Kennedy’s recent performances include Gold Mountain (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Adventurephile (Keen Company), Saturday Night (Second Stage), The Good Swimmer (BAM), Lolita, My Love (York Theatre Company), Dinner with Georgette (NYTW Next Door), Last Ship to Proxima Centauri (Portland Stage), and Eastbound (Village Theatre).

To follow Kennedy, go to his website kennedykanagawa.com.

Charlie Tansill Shearer-Collie was named to PR Week’s 40 under 40. She says, “My Ogilvy journey started 14 years ago when I was hired as an executive assistant – and now I’m being recognized on the 40 under 40 list! I received this nugget of advice early on: ‘If you’re not a little uncomfortable, you’re not in the right role.’ Fortunately, my leaders

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’05 3 Kevin Bender ’05 married David Sabshon in Brooklyn, NY on October 1, 2022.

and mentors kept placing bets on me along the way, pushing me to places well outside my comfort zone. Uncomfortable became my norm. And somewhere along the way, I started believing in myself.”

2005

Class Correspondent Lolly Cunningham Rivas lollycrivas@gmail.com Kevin Bender married David Sabshon in Brooklyn, New York at the Wythe Hotel on October 1, 2022. Kevin’s best woman was his longtime friend and fellow Potomac lifer Katie Fabiani Jaffe. Both working in entertainment media and content marketing, Kevin and David reside in Brooklyn with their dog Cooper, just a short walk from where Kevin’s sister and brother-in-law Ashley Bender Curley ’03 and Jimmie Curley reside with Kevin’s three-year-old niece, Ava. Ava and Cooper look forward to visits from Tony and Babci

(aka Ray and Sandi Bender) who split their time between NYC and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Thanks to Hunter Craighill and his team at Craighill for crafting an exclusive Wilson keyring for the Class of 2022. Craighill was founded in 2015 by Hunter with the mission to “design products to be as functional and timeless as they are beautiful and intriguing.”

To see his whole line of essentials and more, go to craighill.co.

Marcus Ginyard shared, “In August of 2021, I retired from professional basketball and in December took a position at Medalist Capital in Raleigh NC. Medalist is a commercial real estate financial services company, focused mainly on debt and equity placement and now also offering investment sales and advisory services. I’m currently in a business development role.

I am a licensed NC real estate broker and hope to transition to production in the near future.”

class notes 0 Grace Browning-Krug ’05 and her husband, Benjamin, performing a dance move they call “the turtle,” inspired by Dirty Dancing, at their wedding.

’05 0 An exclusive Potomac School keychain, designed by Hunter Craighill ‘05 and his team at Craighill

’05

Grace Browning-Krug was married in early June and is still smelling the peonies in her wedding bouquet and recovering from her epic wedding dance (inspired by Dirty Dancing and made possible by a modified lift we call “the turtle”). Grace and her husband, Benjamin, packed up their harps and went to Santa Fe for 10 weeks this past summer.

She shared, “Benjamin and I are pinching ourselves in gratitude for the incredible support from our friends and family as we enter this next chapter together (navigating that hyphenated last name!)” Additionally,

’06 3 Randy Brown (Prime Focus Management), Tara Joseph (Edgehill), Willie Morrison ’06, Julia Keefe (Edgehill), and Josh Joseph (Edgehill)

Grace is building a new harp studio at the Kanack School and taking over the harp department at Eastman Community Music School. She wrote, “It is a true honor to work with such wonderful, creative faculty and support young minds in their pursuit of happiness. In addition, I’m thrilled to start offering holistic performance coaching in person and via Zoom, with a focus on anxiety and auditions.” Shoot her a message for a free 30-minute consult!

2006

Class Correspondents Virginia O’Connell Fowler oconnell.virginia@gmail.com Trevor Lewis talewis10@gmail.com Willie Morrison has signed a global publishing deal with Edgehill Music Publishing.

Willie co-wrote “I Smoke Weed” by Brothers Osborne and Ashland Craft on

Hardy’s Mixtape project and Craft’s “Make it Past Georgia,” which has surpassed 12 million streams on Spotify.

Edgehill Head of A&R Julia Keefe says, “From the first meeting, I knew that Willie was a writer I would love to work with.

Between his drive and ability to craft a song across multiple genres, his addition to the Edgehill roster felt like a no-brainer. We are excited to have him as part of the family!”

Willie adds, “I’m so happy to be partnering with Edgehill. I’m a believer that great people build great companies, and Edgehill embodies that philosophy. The best is yet to come, and there’s no one I’d rather do it with than the amazing team at Edgehill.”

Lizzie Nelson is a holistic nutritionist who believes everyone deserves to feel good in their body. As the owner of Gut Feelings Wellness, an online health coaching practice, Lizzie applies her training, intensive research, and life experiences to create an individualized plan for each of her clients.

Then, she meets with them virtually every

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class notes

2008

week to set goals in five areas of whole body health: eating nutrient-dense foods, managing stress, getting optimal sleep, increasing daily movement, and building community. As a coach, Lizzie says, she is “both the person who encourages you and celebrates your successes and the person who holds you accountable when you are struggling to establish new habits.” Check out Lizzie’s website, lizzie-nelson.com.

2010

15th

2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondents Rosalind Fennell rfennell12@gmail.com Anne Lenrow aklenrow@gmail.com

2007

Class Correspondent Malcolm Dilley malcolmdilley@gmail.com

Cate Rooney Schrimsher reports, “I had a wonderful summer, attending several weddings! It was fun to celebrate Emma Rocks’ marriage to AJ Goodman in Stowe, VT, in August. Kiely Barnard-Webster, Katherine Blackwood, Robin Nichols, Sammy Rocks ’07, and Hanna Rocks ’10 were bridesmaids, and Brian Kimm, Katherine Mullins, and Charlie Sullivan all attended.

Andrew Johnson and his wife, Jillian Brown, welcomed their second little one, Sarai Arbor Johnson, to the world on August 25, 2022.

Andrew and his family, which includes Sarai’s older sister, Elena, live in Ann Arbor, where Jillian is receiving her master’s degree from the University of Michigan.

2011

Class Correspondent Marie Henneberg marie.henneburg@gmail.com Charlotte Morris charlottelaurie93@gmail.com

Anne Lenrow shares, “I got engaged in July and will get married in DC in February 2023!”

Thank you, Stephanie Croghan, 2022 Class Reunion Chair, for your leadership!

Class Correspondents Tori McCaffrey tori.mccaffrey@gmail.com Maggie Nelsen carrington.nelsen@gmail.com

2009

Sasha DiGiulian and a team of athletes were convinced there was a better solution to healthy eating on the go, so they created Send Bars this past year. Containing the highest-quality gluten-free, vegan, and organic ingredients, Send Bars are made with adaptogens and greens. They are produced in small batches to ensure freshness and bioavailability. To learn more, go to sendbars.com.

Emma Rocks ’08 married AJ Goodman in August in Stowe, VT. 4

Class Correspondents Isabelle Conner isabelleconner22@gmail.com Phillips Mitchell phibitz@gmail.com

’07 3 Andrew Johnson ’07 and his wife, Jillian Brown, welcomed their second little one, Sarai Arbor Johnson.

7 Anne Lenrow ’08 got engaged in July and will be getting married in DC in February 2023.

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’08

’08

class notes

Lucy Green ’10 got married on July 9, 2022 in Maine.

4

Maggie Nelsen ’10 got married in Vienna, VA, on May 7, 2022.

4

’10

2012

Class Correspondent Jamie Lovegrove lovegrovejs@gmail.com

Thank you, Class Reunion Chairs, Cameron Kahl, Mark Kington, Jamie Lovegrove, and Zach Meza, for your continued leadership.

’12 3 Mariah Chappell ’12’s favorite summer memory was visiting Eliza Warner ’12 in London, where they spent a few days touring and then some time exploring Italy.

Brandon Arvanaghi reports, “I’m working hard on my company, Meow, which allows companies to earn more interest on their idle cash. We recently raised a $22m Series A from Tiger, QED, FTX, and many more.

I live in New York City full-time and often travel to Miami and DC. I enjoy playing chess, humming the tune to Wild Mountain Thyme, and beating Jamie Lovegrove, specifically, in fantasy football in his spare time. I mean, seriously, the guy hasn’t won a championship in over a decade of playing together.”

Mariah Chappell is currently working in the entertainment industry as the director of development for the Academy Awardwinning production company Story Force

’10

Entertainment (whose credits include Spotlight and LuLaRich). Mariah works remotely and, last year, moved back to Washington, DC, where she has enjoyed reconnecting with Potomac friends. Her favorite summer memory was visiting Eliza Warner in London, where they spent a few days touring and then a few days exploring Italy. Mariah recently joined Potomac’s Alumni Governing Council and is thrilled to get further involved with the school!

Andrew Kahn recently graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and started his residency at the University of Pennsylvania. He is excited to be reunited with his sister, Stephanie Kahn ’10, who is also doing her residency in Philadelphia.

Lauren Wackerle enjoys living back in the DC area near family after three years in New York City. She is an assistant vice president at MidCap Financial in Bethesda, MD. Lauren recently joined the Alumni Governing Council and is looking forward to reconnecting with many former Potomac classmates and teachers!

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class notes 0 Potomac alumni at Johnny Cook ’16’s wedding to Samin Charepoo on June 18, 2022, in Potomac, MD. (L to r): Gianmarco Terrones ’16, Ryan McAndrews ’16, Sydney Robinson ’14, Farida Moreau Robinson ’80, Toby Robinson ’16, Johnny Cook ’16, and Amelia Cook ’20

’14

’16

3 Hunter Heflin ’14

2013

10th

2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, email Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondents Soraya Batmanghelidj sorayabatman94@gmail.com Ellie Gilbert epgilbert13@gmail.com Jeffrey Billingslea shares, “The sky is not the limit at Nike; we aim much higher! Recently, I was able to touch the stars while working on the team that orchestrated the VIP experience, strategic programming integration, and end-toend communications journey for more than 60 top global athletes, collaborators, influencers, and entertainers for the 2022 Just Do It Day and the first-ever Nike Maxim Orange Carpet and Awards Show.

It was the ultimate celebration of team and sport for our 50th anniversary, inspiring 70,000+ teammates around the globe.”

Russell Goldman’s new film Return to Sender premiered at the Oscar-qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival on July 22. He writes, “I’m grateful to everyone who made this one happen. This is the beginning of what’s looking like an exciting festival run – hope to see you at one of them!”

2014

Class Correspondent Vanessa Luehrs Hwang vanessaluehrs@gmail.com

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7 Henry Dunkelberger ’16 has a piece showing at the All Street Gallery in NYC this fall. The painting is a 40” x 30” acrylic and oil on canvas.

After working at Clear Lake Recording Studio in LA for the first half of the year, Hunter Heflin will be relocating to Nashville with his girlfriend, Lucy Gibson ’11, to pursue his music career.

He continues to release singles as an independent artist and now works with other artists as a freelance audio engineer, songwriter, and music producer. His recent single, “Coincide,” was featured in the online publication EARMILK, and he has also released a song with Josh Hublitz titled “This High.” You can keep up with Hunter on TikTok and Instagram at @hunterheflinmusic.

2015

Class Correspondent Tabitha Huff Taylor tabihuff9@gmail.com

2016

Class Correspondents Arjun Fischer arjunmfischer@gmail.com Gabriel Miller gabriel@millerwalker.com

’16

Aylar Banafshe has started her third and final year of law school at GW. She will be taking the Bar Exam in July and, afterward, will work at Goodwin Procter in its DC office. She looks forward to joining the firm’s corporate department and focusing on private equity and venture capital matters.

Aylar lives in Evermay and often pops onto campus to say hi to her former teachers!

Alp Demiroglu graduated from Cornell University’s Bachelor of Architecture program last year and works at Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) in New York City. This summer, Alp had the privilege of crafting and instructing an introductory architecture course for 18 students from the Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design. The six-week-long designintensive foundation program emphasized studio design and incorporated weekly lectures in architectural history and theory.

Henry Dunkelberger’s first solo art show was held at All Street in New York City in late September. The show featured around 30 new paintings that Henry had worked on since May. If you want to learn more about his work, go to henrydunkelberger.com.

class notes Alp Demiroglu ’16 (front left), with students from the Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design 4

Rachel Faga ’18 with her audiology cohort in front of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine 4

’16

Arjun Fischer is currently working as a production assistant at NFL Films and living in Philadelphia.

2017 Do you want to keep connected with your classmates? Volunteer to be a Class Correspondent by emailing Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Thank you to Erykah Murray for being the 2022 Class Reunion Chair!

2018

’18

5th

2023 is your Reunion year! If you are interested in helping to plan the celebration to be held on campus next October, email Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondents Sara Kowalik sarakowalik2018@gmail.com Ryan Lovallo ryanlovallo@gmail.com Jacqueline Olson jaolson423@gmail.com

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Rachel Faga shares, “After graduating from William & Mary this past December with a major in kinesiology and a minor in linguistics, I took some time off before heading to graduate school. As of this August, I am pursuing my doctorate in clinical audiology at UNC-Chapel Hill and loving the area! Outside of class, I’ve enjoyed doing some open-mic nights and going to concerts in the Triangle area. I am excited to come back and see my sister, Stella ’27, in her musicals, concerts, and games as she starts her time at Potomac!”

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Facebook PotomacPanther Instagram PotomacAlumni LinkedIn • The Potomac School Alumni Association Professional Networking Group

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S U W O L L FO

• The Potomac School Alumni Association Real Estate Professional Group (PSRE)

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class notes 0 Seyoung Hong ’18’s artwork was selected for display at the RISD Museum as part of the Inherent Vice exhibition, which will be displayed until January 15, 2023.

in memoriam Elizabeth Bliss Divine ’37

2020

Class Correspondents Amelia Cook amelia.cook630739@tufts.edu Caroline Lay layca@bc.edu Caroline Otteni caroline.otteni@tcu.edu

2021 ’18 Seyoung Hong’s piece, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911, was selected for display at the RISD Museum as part of the exhibition Inherent Vice. Of the piece, Seyoung says, “This print depicts the missing narrative of the human cost it took for safety and health regulations to be implemented in garment factories. Shadowy discharge-dyed motifs on a dark background create a ghostly effect alongside falling figures illuminated with gold foil transfer.”

2019 Do you want to keep connected with your classmates? Volunteer to be a Class Correspondent by emailing Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Robert O’Brien spent his summer working on Smartfin at UC San Diego. The Smartfin research project aims to improve oceanographic data collection near the shore. Smartfin consists of a fin that can be mounted on a surfboard and equipped with temperature and location sensors and a wireless device that transmits the data to the cloud. Researchers are developing algorithms to analyze that data and better understand what is happening to water conditions near shore. Collecting more data is important because there are few existing tools to gather this information in the tumultuous area where waves break.

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Class Correspondents Lucy Goldberg Lucy.Goldberg.25@cmc.edu Will Fearey feareyw25@mail.wlu.edu Rachael Fields rmfields19@gmail.com Maya Sardar mmsardar@email.wm.edu

Katie Rebhan spent her summer internship with REGENXBIO as an intern in the Clinical Outcomes Department. She writes, “I had such a wonderful time researching outcomes measures and neurodevelopment, a perfect complement to my studies in cognitive science. The highlight of my internship was attending the National MPS Society Family Conference in Nashville, where I could sit in on caregiver interviews and see all the work I had done over the summer come together.”

2022

Class Correspondents Bunny Cameron Fcameron@colgate.edu Emily Raman Emily.Raman@tufts.edu Clay Socas robert.d.socas.26@dartmouth.edu

Lindsay Eckert ’11 Daughter of Beth and Tom Eckert, trustee emeritus; sister of Ryan Eckert ’12 and Kathryn Eckert ’09 Alexandra Espy ’75 Sister of Peter Espy ’66 Lange Johnson ’77 Brother of Julian Johnson ’75 Jasper Aaron Lynch ’14 Brother of Will Lynch ’12 Cynthia (Ayers) Prince Former faculty member; mother of Borden Ayers ’67 and Sallie Ayers Barker ’65; great grandmother of Haley Prince ’18 Susan Ann Van Vorhees Richards ’69 Daughter of Dorothy Bauer ’39; sister of Roderick Richards ’68 Douglas Russell ’79 Brother of Richard Russell ’81 Shiela Swett Former faculty member Mary Howard Davidson Swift ’41 Mother of Lila Swift ’74 and Isabel Swift ’69; grandmother of Carl Swift ’05 and Gigi Swift ’02 Audrey Gordon Woodgate ’47

CLASS OF ’22 NOTES will be included in the spring Term. Look for an email or text from your class correspondents in January!

The Potomac School 1301 Potomac School Road McLean, VA 22101 www.potomacschool.org

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