Potomac Term, Fall 2023 New

PotomacTerm

The

The Alumni Magazine of The Potomac School • Fall 2023

Leading the Way to Sustainable Agriculture Kenny Fahey ’04

from the head of school

Dear Potomac Community, “Sometimes the bad stuff seems inescapable.” That’s the first sentence of one of the stories in this issue of The Term – a profile of Jamie Potter ’01. Writing (and illustrating) as J.R. Potter, Jamie creates imaginative stories designed to inspire young readers to face the “bad stuff ” in the world around them with courage, compassion, and creativity. I think that’s an important perspective for adults, too. When faced with the inevitable challenges that life brings, we must persevere and recognize that we can create positive outcomes by harnessing the deep reserves of strength that reside within us.

This fall, I have had opportunities to speak with our faculty, staff, and students to set the tone for the year ahead. One idea that I have been exploring is how difficult situations often provide the seeds for growth or advancement. History has shown us that, with the right spirit and approach, even the worst of times can give rise to transformative innovation.

The COVID-19 pandemic was arguably the most serious threat to public health in a century. As the crisis unfolded, scientists at pharmaceutical and biotech companies worked furiously to understand all they could about the virus, in order to create a safe and effective vaccine. Early on, researchers used state-ofthe-art genomic sequencers to analyze the virus. Then, using groundbreaking mRNA technology and running trials – thousands more than would have been possible by traditional methods, thanks to AI – they developed vaccines at record speed. Today, the success of that effort is fueling additional progress. New mRNA vaccines and therapeutics are under investigation, including a Zika vaccine, an HIV vaccine, and a vaccine for specific cancers. Out of a worldwide health crisis came a breakthrough in biotechnology that holds tremendous promise for the future.

Lately, there has been a great deal of conversation about the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence. Some believe that this emerging technology will reduce or even eliminate the need for human workers in various fields. Others warn that generative AI will diminish the value of human thought and creativity. At the more extreme end of the fear spectrum, some argue that developments in artificial intelligence quite literally pose an existential threat to humanity.

The fact is, artificial intelligence is not new; it is integral to many of our daily activities. AI powers virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa, creates personalized recommendations on streaming services, enables real-time traffic monitoring on the roads and facial recognition at airports, supports the security of banking transactions and fraud detection, and (for better or worse)

provides the first response when we contact companies for customer service. I think that it is the speed with which generative AI, still in its infancy, is evolving and the technology’s seemingly astonishing capabilities that give us pause.

In education, the emergence of platforms like ChatGPT is fueling both excitement and concern. There are legitimate questions about how such tools could affect learning outcomes and academic integrity. Clearly, the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence can be viewed as a challenge – or we can choose to see the potential opportunities and confront this moment with courage and creativity. As a society, we can ask the right questions and work to put proper safeguards in place, while exploring the potential of generative AI to serve humanity and advance our shared goals. Similarly, educators must become informed, develop practices to prevent inappropriate tech use, and consider how we can leverage emerging tools to enhance teaching and learning. Potomac is committed to addressing the challenges associated with generative AI in education and seeking productive ways to use this powerful technology in pursuit of our mission.

It’s true that we live in a complex and sometimes frightening world, where the “bad stuff ” can occasionally seem overwhelming.

Yet we can choose a different lens. Even in very difficult situations, we have the ability to transform challenges to opportunities through courage, compassion, creativity, and, of course, perseverance. This is a lesson, a way of looking at the world, that we seek to instill in our students, and I think it’s one of the most important things we can do to prepare them for success.

Wishing you all the best,

John Kowalik Head of School

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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 Megan Corey EXECUTIVE EDITOR Shelley Dutton MANAGING EDITOR Rita Deurdulian DESIGNER Martha Madrid PHOTO EDITOR Loretta Sevier WRITERS Rita Deurdulian Shelley Dutton Lori Ferguson Cathryn Larsen Laura Miller CLASS NOTES EDITORS Alexis Ellis Alex Thomas PHOTOGRAPHERS Rita Deurdulian Laura Miller Valerie Plesch ‘98 Loretta Sevier Susan Shaffer The Potomac Term is published twice a year. 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.

7 The Upper School’s 2023 fall musical, Willy Wonka Jr.

ON THE COVER: Kenny Fahey ’04 photo: Cory Parris Photography

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THE POTOMAC TERM

in this issueFall 2023 FEATURES 18 Leading the Way to Sustainable Agriculture

As president and CEO of Leading Harvest, Kenny Fahey ’04 focuses on harnessing the power of the business sector to drive positive environmental and social outcomes in agriculture.

24 Meet the Board Chair

After nearly three decades as a member of the Potomac community, Norma Ramsey began her tenure as board chair this July, bringing her characteristic optimism, collaborative spirit, and focus on excellence to this key leadership role.

28 Iterating and Improvising His Way to Success

For Grant Hoechst Jackson ’14, flexibility is key. Whether he’s composing and playing music or leading game-design teams at Naughty Dog, Grant maintains an open and agile perspective – empowering himself and others to do their creative best.

32 A Path of Her Own

As a government employee, Niya Watkins ’11 was frustrated by poorly designed websites that hinder productivity. Striking out in a new direction, she became a digital product designer with a focus on ensuring userfriendly online experiences.

34 Writing Worlds for the Next Generation

Author and illustrator Jamie Potter ’01 creates stories that spark the imagination of young readers and remind them that they have the ability to adapt and thrive in the face of challenges.

DEPARTMENTS

rendering: CannonDesign

1 From the Head of School 4 News on Campus 14 Athletics Highlights 38 Alumni Activities 42 Class Notes 68 In Memoriam

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news on campus

Get to Know

Sarah Beck

by Rita Deurdulian

P

OTOMAC’S NEW ASSISTANT HEAD OF SCHOOL FOR ACADEMICS, SARAH BECK, is an experienced educator with a deep commitment to student success. She previously served as assistant head of school for programs and head of the lower school at The Langley School in McLean, Virginia.

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts in comparative studies in race and ethnicity from Stanford University. After working as a management consultant, she returned to school, earning her Master of Education in secondary education, as well as a graduate certificate in educational leadership and administration, at The George Washington University.

Sarah began her career in education as a seventh grade history teacher at Glasgow Middle School in Falls Church, Virginia, and quickly took on administrative responsibilities. In 2017, she was named Fairfax County Public Schools’ Outstanding Leader of the Year. That same year, Sarah received the Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award from GW’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development in recognition of her professional accomplishments.

“I think our responsibility is to help students cultivate their strengths and abilities within the context of making the world a better place. ...If we can create a place where kids are empowered to be their best selves and make a difference, if we can model care for them so that they will go out and practice care for others, we will have achieved our goal.”

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Sarah, tell us about your background and early education.

I grew up in the Bay Area and went to multiple schools: I was homeschooled for a while and attended two public schools and an Episcopal school. I eventually ended up at Castilleja School, an allgirls independent school. I learned a lot about myself as a learner from going to so many different types of schools. In the independent school environment, my teachers knew me, I knew my classmates, and the classes were largely discussion based, which helped me feel visible and find my voice. I think that shaped who I am as an educator.

You earned your undergraduate degree at Stanford. What did your post-college path to leadership look like?

My dad advised me to go into business right out of school because that would equip me with a wide range of skills. I started out as a management consultant at Bain & Company. I learned how to work on a team and the values that come with that, such as trust, integrity, and collaboration. I learned to be more mindful and to consider the possibility that even one’s strongest convictions could be wrong. Another lesson I learned at Bain is to seek to understand first, and to be understood second.

When my husband and I moved to Washington, DC, I decided to pursue a Master of Education at The George Washington University. I then got a teaching job at Glasgow Middle School – one of the largest, most diverse middle schools in Virginia. At one point, my principal reached out to John Kowalik to see if we could come to Potomac to learn what independent schools were doing, so I visited Potomac early in my teaching career and was blown away by what I experienced here.

That was around the time when I really started stepping into leadership. A new principal came in, surveyed the faculty and said, “What are the three top problems that we need to address as a school, and who

here is doing a good job in those areas?”

My name was mentioned as a person who managed student behavior well. So I was asked to provide professional development and teacher coaching around classroom management.

Later, I joined The Langley School as director of curriculum and instruction and ultimately had opportunities to fill a number of different administrative roles there.

What drew you to this position at Potomac?

Two weeks before the pandemic hit, the head of school at Langley asked me to serve as interim head of the lower school. I went from a position that was not parent-facing to talking with a lot of parents about their concerns, hopes, and anxieties. And I really enjoyed that direct partnership. As challenging as it was to be a new division head, I loved having closer contact with the students and their parents. During those three years, I was promoted to assistant head for programming – a position that involved helping to coordinate efforts across all of the school’s divisions. That gave me an opportunity to work more closely with my faculty colleagues. My role at Potomac offers these same opportunities. I value connection and look forward to working with people across this wonderful school community.

In your opinion, what makes a great educator?

You have to love learning and model learning. That sounds lovely, but in reality, it means that you’re leaning into discomfort.

You’re seeking feedback. You’re reflective, and you carve out time to read, think, collaborate, and adjust course when needed.

What do you consider Potomac’s chief responsibility?

I think our responsibility is to help students cultivate their strengths and abilities within the context of making the world a better place. It’s important for students to ask themselves, “To what end

am I pursuing excellence? To what end am I exploring my interests and developing my talents?” The “why” is really important.

If we can create a place where kids are empowered to be their best selves and make a difference, if we can model care for them so that they will go out and practice care for others, we will have achieved our goal.

How will you help ensure a wellrounded educational experience for Potomac students at all grade levels?

Excellence in education is about being committed to implementing the best practices that you currently know about, while also recognizing that best practices change and evolve. I will actively pursue data, research, and feedback to check that we are using the best tools and approaches as we work together to create enriching learning experiences for all Potomac students.

How do you find balance outside of work?

I think the pandemic helped me prioritize balance. I really enjoy being around children, and not just in schools.

I love my own child, my nephews, the neighborhood kids – I just love all kids.

They’re fun, and they remind you of that childhood joy. So being around kids is really refueling and balancing for me. In addition, I love reading. And I also lift weights, which has been life changing for me.

Complete the following statements: Every day, I try to...make time and space to fully connect with someone and be present for them.

Talk to me in one year, and hopefully I’ll...have been able to spend a lot of time in Potomac classrooms and have specific stories and examples of our school’s mission in action.

My first-year goal is to…do some inquiry, build relationships, observe, and learn where I can add the most value.

I’d like to be of service as I gather the information necessary to be an effective, strategic leader.

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news on campus

Get to Know

Austin Davis

by Rita Deurdulian

A

USTIN DAVIS, POTOMAC’S NEW UPPER SCHOOL DIRECTOR OF STUDENT LIFE, is committed to getting to know students as individuals and helping each one learn, grow, and thrive. Austin previously served as upper school director of community engagement at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, where he took on the added role of grade 12 dean. Prior to that, he spent five years as a faculty member and administrator at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York City.

Austin received his bachelor’s degree, with a dual major in English and mathematics, from Williams College.

He then earned an M.A. in English from Middlebury College and an M.Ed. in independent school leadership from Columbia University.

Austin, what are your earliest memories of being a student?

I grew up right outside of New York City in Westchester County. I went to a public elementary school and loved it.

In fact, when I was in first grade, there was a day when I was pretty sick, and I was devastated when my mom told me I couldn’t go to school. I said I’d go rest in my room – but instead, I snuck out the window with my backpack, ran to the bus,

“We must prepare our students to build inclusive communities, to speak and act with integrity, and to take responsibility for themselves while supporting others. It’s our job to help them build the character traits that will position them for leadership as thoughtful, empathetic, and kind people."

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and went to school! My mom discovered what I’d done and called the teacher. It was decided that if I was well enough to sneak onto the bus, I was well enough to stay in school that day.

They say people become teachers because of a teacher. Is that true for you?

Absolutely – but not just one. There were teachers at all stages of my life that I can identify as really important influences. When I made the move to an independent school in sixth grade, Mrs. Kleinman, my English teacher, really helped me get oriented to my new community. And my ninth and eleventh grade math teacher, Mr. Worrall, used to plan these amazing lessons that were so student centered. I ended up being both an English and math major in college, and it’s because I had these teachers who got me excited about the subject matter.

They made the work fun and helped me feel capable and empowered.

I started my career as an upper school English teacher in the boarding school world, at Andover. From the very beginning I was not only a teacher but also a coach, a dorm parent, and a club facilitator. I was getting a 360° view of student life, and that holistic perspective got baked into my understanding of what it means to be an educator.

What do you consider the responsibility of a school like Potomac?

We are growing leaders. To be successful in any career, our students will need to have the skills to navigate conflict and foster collaboration, so helping them develop these skills is a key part of our responsibility. We also have to nurture students’ ability to navigate change. That’s one of the major strengths of independent schools like Potomac – we are agile and can adapt. While our mission and values remain constant, we have the ability to offer education that

adapts to changes in the world around us.

We need to foster that same ability in our students, preparing them to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

I also believe that the character education that is a central part of our mission is vital. We must prepare our students to build inclusive communities, to speak and act with integrity, and to take responsibility for themselves while supporting others. It’s our job to help them build the character traits that will position them for leadership as thoughtful, empathetic, and kind people.

What drew you to this position at Potomac?

My role here is the culmination of so many things that I love! There’s a culturesetting component, a programming component, and a teaching component.

I look forward to spending time with the students, supporting and encouraging them; that part of the job demands enthusiasm and a cheerful spirit. Another piece of my role is managing any student missteps – helping students navigate their way back after having made a mistake. I think it’s right to pair these two elements: Your ultimate cheerleader is also the person who helps you think through, potentially, some of the most challenging moments you might experience as an Upper School student. I like the sense that it’s both, and I hope that I can strike that balance. I want to be someone the students trust to have their backs, in both the fun times and the challenging times.

athletic contests, concerts and plays, and other activities, and popping into classes. I want to know what the whole experience is like for all of our Upper School students.

Also, I’m inheriting topics that we’re going to continue to address this year, like digital citizenship, mental health and wellness, and conf lict resolution.

Conversations and programming are already in place in these areas, and I look forward to bringing my perspective to them.

How do you find balance in your life?

I’m a big fiction reader, which relates to my work as an English teacher. I find relief and relaxation in any kind of storytelling; my husband and I are avid TV watchers. And I love workout classes!

I also enjoy taking my corgi, June, for walks, and I look forward to bringing her to campus to meet the students.

Complete the following statements: My entrance music would be…“Let’s Get Loud” by Jennifer Lopez.

My secret talent is…I can remember names really well.

Every day I try to…do a crossword puzzle; it helps me de-stress and learn at the same time.

The book I’m currently reading is…

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.

An updated take on Dickens’ David Copperfield, it won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

What are your hopes for this first year?

This will be a listening and learning year for me. A big piece of my role is culture-setting. As I get to know the culture here, I want to really think about ways that I can help to support and enhance it. I’m sure that a lot of my first year will be riding the wave, getting to know people. I plan to be as present as possible across the division – attending

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news on campus

LEARNING LIFE SKILLS – THE ROBOTICS WAY!

by Rita Deurdulian

t Potomac, even the youngest students have opportunities to learn about robotics. While students in the Intermediate and Upper Schools primarily participate – and compete – in robotics as an extracurricular activity, Lower and Middle School students are introduced to the discipline through their divisions’ technology and innovation curriculum. They also have opportunities to build their robotics skills in after-school Education That Continues (ETC) classes.

So what goes on in a robotics class for younger kids? There’s lots of laughter and chatter, along with periodic bursts of cheering when a robot works as hoped. But there is also collaboration, strategizing, and problem solving. At every level, participation in robotics shows students what they can achieve by harnessing technology and their own creative, innovative spirit.

Building 21st Century Skills The study of robotics incorporates all four pillars of STEM – science, technology, engineering, and math. By offering students opportunities to explore STEM interests and develop computational skills, robotics helps build a foundation that will enable them to adapt and thrive in a technologydriven world. Given that tech tools are continually changing, the school’s program focuses on teaching fundamental concepts while encouraging curiosity and innovative thinking.

In K-5 technology and innovation classes, Potomac students engage in building and coding challenges using the VEX IQ robotics system.

The school offers students in grades 6-12 the opportunity to join competitive robotics teams, providing exciting experiences that encourage continued learning.

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“It’s important to get kids excited about technology at a young age. The robotics component in our LS and MS curriculum is about building skills that will help students as they continue to advance in school and, ultimately, in any career they choose.”

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Jenni Ashley, academic technologist for grades 6-8, observes, “It’s important to get kids excited about technology at a young age. The robotics component in our LS and MS curriculum is about building skills that will help students as they continue to advance in school and, ultimately, in any career they choose.”

She adds, “Some of these kids will decide to continue with robotics and participate on a competitive level. As they encounter more advanced challenges, they will sharpen their skills in many different areas.”

Jenni’s colleague, grades K-5 academic technologist Beth Brundage, adds more detail about the process and what the students learn: “We encourage students to use their imaginations and creativity.

Working in teams, they sketch out their designs, then figure out how to build and program their robots. Along the way, they have to think about different variables that could affect the robot’s performance and how to account for those. The whole process, from concept through construction and coding, demands critical thinking.” Working through this process helps students become better at analyzing complex situations and developing options for solving a problem or achieving a goal – plus, it’s fun!

WHAT IS VEX IQ?

The Students’ Perspective Potomac’s young roboticists are enthusiastic about building and operating their bots. It’s clear that they are gaining valuable skills and perspectives, including a deeper understanding of the important role that perseverance – one of the school’s core values – plays in achieving success.

Fifth grader Evan Flowers observes that, when developing a robot, “you have to try multiple times. It’s not always going to work on the first try, because robotics is complicated. And in life, you’re going to learn that most of the time, things don’t always work on the first try.”

Sixth grader Tejas Amin echoes this insight, sharing, “I’m excited to work on my bot, fix my mistakes, and make it better.

Robotics teaches us so many life lessons, like teamwork, how to work under pressure, and how to fix problems.”

And fifth grader Finley Martin sums up the satisfaction that comes with a job well done: “When my robot comes together and finally works, I feel very happy that after everything, I persevered, tried again, and finally succeeded.”

VEX IQ is a snap-together robotics system designed to provide learning opportunities for future engineers of all skill levels. By incorporating advanced concepts into an accessible package, the system promotes technological literacy and encourages teamwork, problem solving, and leadership. Working with the VEX IQ platform gives students a foundation in engineering design and programming at a young age, preparing them for more advanced challenges at the Intermediate School level and ultimately for the more sophisticated VEX Robotics used in the Upper School. The VEX IQ platform introduces students to VEXcode programming, which uses a standard coding system that can expand into Python.

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news on campus NEWS ROUNDUP

College Admissions Program Offers Insights

US Robotics Takes Second at Worlds Upper School robotics team 12H finished as division champions and advanced to the finals at the VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas, this April. The team, made up of Ben Bartlett ’23, Claire Coker ’23, Rohan Iyer ’23, and Elaina Song ’25, finished second in the finals, setting school and Virginia state records. The VEX Robotics World Championships is the largest robotics tournament in the world; this year’s event was presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation and the REC Foundation, and its sponsors included NASA and Google.

In April, Potomac’s College Counseling Office partnered with four DC-area independent schools and CONNECTdmv to host an informative evening focused on college admissions. The event included a panel discussion with the authors of The Black Family’s Guide to College Admissions, Timothy L. Fields and Shereem Herndon-Brown, and a financial aid workshop led by Keith Wilkerson of College Thoughts. Topics included merit scholarships, the Student Aid Index, tips for building college lists, and shifts in the admissions landscape.

Families from more than 35 schools attended.

Grills and Games Brings Fun for All Nearly a thousand members of the Potomac community came to campus for the second annual Grills and Games celebration this May. The event was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with friends, cheer for the school’s student-athletes, and reflect on the many great things that happened at Potomac in academic year 2022-23. It’s clear that Grills and Games is on track to become a well-loved Potomac School tradition!

Head for a Day Leads the Way One of the most sought-after raffle prizes at Potomac’s annual Fall Frolics carnival is the honor of being named head of school for a day. Second grader Dylan Sheridan won that prize last fall and served as head for a day in May. She began her tenure with an executive briefing, then joined John Kowalik in greeting students as they arrived for school. In addition to meeting staff and administrators representing various departments, Dylan got a bird’s-eye view of the campus from a rooftop patio, sat in the driver’s seat of a school bus, reviewed Potomac’s website, and enjoyed lunch with Mr. Kowalik and several friends. To top off her day of leadership, Head of School Dylan issued a proclamation declaring May 31 a Spirit Day – an outstanding executive decision!

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Kindergartners Learn about Chicks In the spring, kindergarten students enjoyed a multi-subject unit focused on the life cycle of chicks and their basic needs. In the process, they learned how individuals can be good stewards of the environment and active partners with their local communities. Farmer Sharon Rabie came to campus to talk with the students, bringing a set of soon-to-hatch eggs for the classroom incubators. The kindergartners marveled as the eggs hatched and they saw how a new-born animal behaves and develops in the first days of its life. The students were responsible for naming, feeding, and caring for the chicks and practiced their writing by recording observations about their tiny feathered friends. The unit culminated with a field trip to Hard Bargain Farm, during which the chicks were dropped off at their new home.

IS Band Earns Top Honors Potomac’s Intermediate School Band came out on top at the 2023 Music in the Parks Festival held in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in May. Competing in the Middle School 1A division, the band proudly clinched first place with a “superior” rating. The accolades didn’t end there; Potomac also captured the prestigious title of overall Middle School Band of the Day. The group’s performance of a challenging concert piece captivated the judges and showcased the musicians’ dedication and talent. Afterward, the students enjoyed a visit to Hershey Park. Congratulations to directors Michael DiCuirci and Henry Heidtmann and all the band members!

Meal-packing Event Brings Community Together This spring, members of the Potomac community worked together to assemble 20,000 meals for people affected by the war in Ukraine. Dozens of Potomac families joined the effort, which was organized by the Fathers Association of The Potomac School and the Parent Cultural Competence Committee. Students from the Upper School’s Global Perspectives and Citizenship program partnered with the event’s organizers and participants to ensure its success.

Dr. Lisa Damour Visits Potomac New York Times bestselling author and clinical psychologist Dr. Lisa Damour was on campus in April to speak with Intermediate and Upper School students, faculty and staff, and parents. Dr. Damour’s most recent book, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, was published in February; she is also the author of two previous books – Untangled and Under Pressure –

and hosts a podcast titled Ask Lisa: The Psychology of Parenting. In her presentations at Potomac, Dr. Damour discussed common emotional challenges that adolescents face and shared ideas about how parents and other adults can better understand children’s emotions and support their well-being.

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news on campus

America’s 50 Are Certainly Nifty!

As academic year 2022-23 drew to a close, Potomac’s third graders wrapped up their Lower School careers with a very state-ly occasion: the traditional Fifty Nifty Assembly. Parents, faculty and staff, and fellow students admired the creative hats that the students made based on their research about particular states, and everyone enjoyed the performers’ rousing rendition of the famous “Fifty Nifty” song.

Hats off to this year’s fourth graders, who said goodbye to the Lower School last spring with style and smiles!

The Middle Ages Come to Potomac Wrapping up their study of the medieval period, sixth graders brought a Living History Showcase focused on the Middle Ages to campus in June.

Prior to the event, the students researched medieval history and culture and selected roles to portray.

The showcase featured bakers, merchants, knights, craftspeople, and even plague victims, talking about their experiences and providing insights into a fascinating time period.

Around the World Fosters Connection Potomac’s annual Around the World event is a joyful celebration of diversity, inclusion, and cultural appreciation. Families work together to assemble and staff booths that celebrate various countries and cultural heritages. Students tour the exhibits during the school day, learning about the rich diversity of the Potomac community. In the evening, the venue fills with excited participants admiring the exhibits, tasting foods from many regions, and enjoying colorful, spirited cultural performances by Potomac students and family members. This year’s celebration, held in the Spangler Center for Athletics and Community, drew more than 400 members of the Potomac community.

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THE POTOMAC TERM

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Hello, 2023-24!

Goodbye, 2022-23 In June, the Potomac community officially ended the 2022-23 school year with a K-12 Closing Assembly rich with tradition, reflection, and heartfelt emotion. The program began with a ceremonial procession of seniors and kindergartners, during which the school’s youngest students presented flowers to those preparing to graduate.

John Kowalik spoke about about generosity of spirit, noting that it is a defining trait of the Potomac School community and an attribute that has the power to change the world for the better. Student Government Association President Yabby Maelaf ’23 and President-elect Kasim Khapra ’25 also gave inspiring remarks, and musical selections were shared by the IS Handbell Ensemble, IS/US Orchestra, IS Chorus, Third Grade Chorus, and IS/US Band.

The assembly concluded with the presentation of awards to three members of the senior class: Peyton Zarate received the Edith Blair Award, Ali O’Brien received the Head of School Award, and Yabby Maelaf received the Seth-Smith Award.

Potomac ushered in academic year 2023-24 with the traditional K-12 Opening Assembly on September 8. The program began with the seniors escorting the kindergartners into their first Potomac assembly.

Head of School John Kowalik and Student Government Association President Kasim Khapra ’25 then offered remarks of welcome and inspiration to set the tone for the year ahead.

A highlight of the assembly was the presentation of the 2023 Bill Cook Excellent Teaching Award to K-12 Art Department Chair Cort Morgan, whose career at Potomac spans four decades. Musical selections by pianist Hugh Kanner-Bitetti ’25 and the Intermediate and Upper School Choruses rounded out the celebration.

US Class Trips Kick Off a Great Fall As each new academic year gets underway, Potomac Upper School students have special opportunities for bonding, reflection, and service. This September, the Class of 2024 enjoyed the traditional senior class trip to Chincoteague, Virginia, while the freshmen traveled to Camp Tockwaugh in Maryland. These overnight excursions offered opportunities for team building, bonding, and reflection. In addition to participating in fun outdoor activities, the seniors spent time discussing their role as leaders on campus and the legacy they hope to leave at Potomac, while the freshmen considered how to make the most of the high school years before them.

Meanwhile, Potomac’s sophomores and juniors participated in Community Action Days, working with partner organizations throughout the DC region and reflecting together on the importance of service and their own potential to make a positive difference. In addition to service learning work, the 10th and 11th graders enjoyed community-building and bonding activities on campus and on the National Mall.

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athletics highlights SPRING 2023 WRAP-UP

Potomac’s varsity BASEBALL team had another outstanding season in 2023. With the leadership of seniors Davide Bertuzzi, Marcus Burrell, Patrick Byars, Kelly Crittenberger, Charlie Djorup, Tyler Judd, N.J. Langman, Brock Schedler, Drew Turner, Jack Wigmore, and Patrick Wolff, the team compiled a 20-5 record – one of the strongest in the program’s history.

Starting the season with a championship victory in the highly competitive Prospect Select Florida HS Tournament during their annual Spring Break trip, the team followed up with a string of convincing wins, culminating in both the MAC regular season and Conference Tournament championships. Potomac also qualified for the VISAA State Tournament as the #5 seed overall in Division I. The Panthers look forward to building on this great success in 2024 and beyond!

Alexis Vaughan ’25

Marcus Burrell ’23

The 2023 varsity SOFTBALL season was characterized by strong pitching, hitting, and fielding. After a season-opening loss, the Panthers reeled off 17 straight victories before dropping the Virginia Independent School Athletic Association (VISAA) championship game to Bishop O’Connell 4-2.

The team dominated the ISL, going 7-0 in the regular season and outscoring their opponents 92-3. Potomac won the ISL season-ending tournament, sweeping their three opponents by a total margin of 35-1.

Potomac was the #2 seed in the VISAA State Tournament. They opened with an impressive 15-0 victory over #7 seed St. Paul VI, then traveled to the Dinwiddie Sports Complex and defeated #3 seed Trinity Episcopal in a semifinal game 8-2. As was the case in each of the past three years, Potomac met Bishop O’Connell in the state final. In a hard-fought contest in which the Panthers led for most of the game, O’Connell was able to pull out a 4-2 victory with a late rally.

For the second year in a row, Potomac’s team was ranked in the final Washington Post Softball Poll. For 2023, the Panthers were ranked fifth for schools in the DC metropolitan area. Additionally, Potomac was second in the VISAA Division 1 final poll of the largest private schools in Virginia playing softball.

The 2023 varsity softball team was the strongest in the program’s history. Every starter hit .400 or better, with a team batting average of .507. Of the 261 base hits during the season, Captain Erika Castellano ’23 led the team with 44 hits and 14 doubles. The Panthers hit a record 15 home runs, with Abby Rebhan ’24 scoring 10. Rebhan also led the team with 54 runs batted in. On defense, the team had nearly 400 total chances and committed just nine errors. The infield of Anna Castellano ’26, Sloane Escobar ’25, Paige Schedler ’25, Alexis Vaughan ’25, and Rebhan and E. Castellano made outstanding plays throughout the season. The outfielders – Fae Butler ’24, Zora Burrell ’25, India Cairncross ’25, Hayley Richardson ’24, and Captains Sam Taylormoore ’23 and Shelby Willcox ’23 – exhibited near flawless play all season.

With 10 players returning for the 2024 campaign, the future looks bright for Potomac softball.

Shelby Willcox ’23

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athletics highlights

spring honors It was a storied season for Potomac’s GIRLS TRACK team. Tied going into the final event at the State meet, the girls sealed the title by winning the 4x4 relay. Maya Davis ’23, Reagan Exley ’24, and Mackenzie Fulgham ’24 earned All-State and All-League honors. Davis set a school record in the long jump, while Fulgham set a record in the 200m. Genevieve Harris ’23, Arielle Kouyoumdjian ’25, Tenley Overdeck ’24, and Kate Tuttle ’24 also earned All-State honors.

At Nationals, Potomac’s girls 4xmile (Exley, Kouyoumdjian, Harris, and Tuttle) and sprint medley (Davis, Fulgham, Overdeck, and Tuttle) placed 16th and 17th, respectively, in the Championship Division. The Panthers 4x4 team ran 3:59 and placed 10th in the Rising Stars Division.

Many new additions, such as Brooklyn Williams ’24, Monica Mbakop ’26, and Michele Horton ’26, made immediate impacts and qualified for States. Horton also placed 23rd at Nationals in the Freshman Division of the long jump.

Congratulations, Potomac Panthers!

ALL-MET Paul Witkop ’24 (honorable mention, baseball), Drew Ambrose ’23 (honorable mention, lacrosse), Catherine LeTendre ’25 (honorable mention, lacrosse), Kate Motley ’23 (second team, lacrosse), Erika Castellano ’23 (first team, softball), Abby Rebhan ’24 (first team, softball), Alexis Vaughan ’25 (honorable mention, softball), Charlie Ortmans ’23 (first team, track and field), Eli Butler ’24 (honorable mention, tennis), Teddy Courtauld ’26 (honorable mention, tennis), Lauren Foster ’23 (honorable mention, tennis), Ella Dowley ‘24 (honorable mention, rowing)

ALL-ISL Maya Davis ’23

The Potomac BOYS TRACK team had many individual successes, led by Charlie Ortmans ’23, who earned All-American, First Team All-Met, All-League, and All-State honors. Ortmans concluded his illustrious high school career with school records in both the 5k and the 3200m. The boys distance medley – Cole Griswold ’24, Alex Mathews ’24, Sasha Minsky ’24, and Ortmans – placed sixth in the Rising Stars Division at Nationals.

Ortmans, Mathews, and Eli Levine ’26 earned All-League and All-State honors, while Minsky earned All-State and Max Zeldes ’24 earned All-League. Matt Brow placed ninth in the Championship Division race-walk. Donovan Dais ’25, Zach Dalva-Baird ’25, Ve Lee ’24, Graham La Force ’25, JP Sosnitsky ’25, and others look to lead the Panthers to continued success next year.

Congratulations to Potomac track and field coach Jason Dwyer, who was named VISAA Coach of the Year!

Amory Imperatore ’25 (lacrosse), Catherine LeTendre ’25 (lacrosse), Kate Motley ’23 (lacrosse), Stella Pence ’25 (lacrosse), Maya Davis ’23 (track and field), Reagan Exley ’24 (track and field), Mackenzie Fulgham ’24 (track and field), Fae Butler ’24 (softball), Erika Castellano ’23 (softball), Sloane Escobar ’25 (softball), Abby Rebhan ’24 (softball), Hayley Richardson ’24 (softball), Alexis Vaughan ’25 (softball), Anna Castellano ’26 (honorable mention, softball)

ALL-MAC Marcus Burrell ’23 (baseball), Kelly Crittenberger ’23 (baseball), Owen Peterson ’24 (baseball), Drew Turner ’23 (baseball), Paul Witkop ’24 (baseball), Drew Ambrose ’23 (lacrosse), Jake Campbell ’24 (lacrosse), Andrew Lay ’23 (lacrosse), Miles Monroe ’23 (lacrosse), Sovan Patnaik ’23 (lacrosse), Cole Griswold ’24 (track and field), Eli Levine ’26 (track and field), Alex Mathews ’24 (track and field), Sasha Minsky ’24 (track and field), Charlie Ortmans ’23 (track and field), Eli Butler ’24 (tennis), Teddy Courtauld ’26 (tennis), Alexander Zhou ’23 (tennis) Alex Mathews ‘24 and Max Zeldes ‘24

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athletics highlights

Marcel Gaskins ’23

Boys junior varsity lacrosse celebrating a win

The BOYS LACROSSE team had a fantastic season, filled with incredible wins and individual accomplishments. The Panthers earned key victories over Good Counsel, The Heights, St. Christopher’s, and Woodberry Forest en route to a 15-8 record and a second-place finish in the MAC. The team’s success throughout the season earned them the #6 seed and the opportunity to host in the first round of the VISAA playoffs. Down by a score of 11-7 with less than five minutes remaining in the playoff game and the season on the line, the Panthers rallied and scored five unanswered goals to win the program’s first Division 1 VISAA playoff game 12-11!

Throughout the season, the team was led by Captains Sam Cristinzio ’23 and Andrew Lay ’23 and their fellow seniors Drew Ambrose, Will Hart, Miles Monroe, Sovan Patnaik, and Max Revis. Ambrose finished his career as one of the all-time leading scorers in Potomac lacrosse history with 209 career points (136 goals and 73 assists), earning First Team All-State honors after finishing with an amazing 115 points (72 goals and 43 assists) on the season. Lay had 17 goals and 4 assists, while picking up 102 ground balls and causing 48 turnovers; in addition, he 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.

The GIRLS LACROSSE team had another strong season in 2023, finishing with a 14-6 record. The Panthers tied for third in the ISL AA division and finished the season ranked fourth in the state. An overtime win over Georgetown Visitation, the program’s first victory over the Cubs since 2017, was one of the spring’s highlights. Other notable victories for the Panthers came over Loyola Academy (Chicago) and Collegiate.

The Panthers were led by Co-Captains Annabel Cronic ’23, Cate Dannahey ’23, and Kate Motley ’23, along with seniors Bella Van Damme, Kate Gregory, and Alex Meek. Brooke Ambrose ’26, Amory Imperatore ’25, Stella Pence ’25, and Motley led the team in scoring, while Margit Crittenberger ’25, Catherine LeTendre ’25, Abigail Park ’24, and goalie Cate Dannahey ’23 anchored the defense. With a strong core of players returning, the future looks bright for Potomac girls lacrosse.

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Amory Imperatore ’25

athletics highlights

The BOYS TENNIS team had another excellent season in 2023, finishing with a record of 13-6. Led by seniors Alex Christ, Michael Fleming, Jeffrey Nuechterlein, Ben Schirmeier, and Alexander Zhou, the team finished as runner-up to Sidwell Friends in the MAC and ranked #4 in the Virginia Independent School rankings. The Panthers lost to Sidwell on Senior Day, 4-3, in an incredibly hard-fought match. The following week, the team progressed to the finals of the MAC Tournament, only to fall to Sidwell again in an amazing five-hour match that could have gone either way.

Potomac beat Norfolk Academy 5-4 in the State quarterfinals and lost to St. Christopher’s (the ultimate state champions) in the semifinals.

The team has eight Alexander Zhou ’23 returning players, including three of its top singles players – Eli Butler ’24, Teddy Courtauld ’26, and Andrew Mu ’25. The lineup is bolstered by a number of strong doubles players as well, providing an optimistic outlook for a great 2024 season.

spring honors (continued) ALL STATE: Kelly Crittenberger ’23 (first team, baseball), Paul Witkop ’24 (first team, baseball), Drew Ambrose ’23 (first team, lacrosse), Kate Motley ’23 (first team, lacrosse), Stella Pence ’25 (first team, lacrosse), Amory Imperatore ’25 (second team, lacrosse), Catherine LeTendre ’25 (second team, lacrosse), Erika Castellano ’23 (first team, softball), Abby Rebhan ’24 (first team, softball), Alexis Vaughan ’25 (first team, softball), Sloane Escobar ’25 (second team, softball), Paige Schedler ’25 (second team, softball), Eli Butler ’24 (first team, tennis), Teddy Courtauld ’26 (first team, tennis), Maya Davis ’23 (first team, track and field), Reagan Exley ’24 (first team, track and field), Mackenzie Fulgham ’24 (first team, track and field), Genevieve Harris ’23 (first team, track and field), Arielle Kouyoumdjian ’25 (first team, track and field), Eli Levine ’26 (first team, track and field), Alex Mathews ’24 (first team, track and field), Charlie Ortmans ’23 (first team, track and field), Tenley Overdeck ’24 (first team, track and field), Kate Tuttle ’24 (first team, track and field), Max Zeldes ’24 (first team, track and field)

POTOMAC WINS LEAGUE HONORS Having achieved the best overall league records across all three seasons, Potomac was recognized as the 2022-23 overall champion by both the Independent School League (ISL) and the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAC). The James W. Lewis Trophy, presented annually to the ISL overall champion, was awarded to Potomac’s girls athletics program, while the boys program received the MAC Directors’ Cup. Potomac last won the Lewis Trophy more than 20 years ago, in 2000-01.

This was the second consecutive year that the school has won the Directors’ Cup. These honors represent stellar accomplishments by Potomac’s studentathletes, coaches, and Athletics staff.

Congratulations, Panthers!

Interim Athletics Director Maggie Vaughan, student-athletes Marcel Gaskins ’23 and Samantha Taylormoore ’23, and Head of School John Kowalik proudly display the 2022-23 MAC Directors' Cup and the ISL James W. Lewis Trophy.

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Leading the Way to Sustainable Agriculture

by Shelley Dutton portraits by Cory Parris Photography

I

n an orange grove in California, a wheat field in Kansas, or a rice paddy in Louisiana, Kenny Fahey ’04 stands at a crossroads. It’s the place where business acumen meets environmental science, a vantage point from which Kenny can see – and help to shape – the future of farming.

Most of the time Kenny leverages the potential inherent in this intersection at his home office in Seattle, Washington.

From there, he guides the dedicated team of professionals and volunteer leaders who power Leading Harvest, a nonprofit committed to increasing the adoption of sustainability practices in agriculture.

Founded in 2020, Leading Harvest serves all stakeholders across the agricultural value chain – from farmland owners to companies and communities – by providing assurance programs that include standards, audit procedures, and training and education. Kenny, who helped found the organization and now serves as its first president and CEO, sums up its mission: “Leading Harvest provides an outcomes-based farmland management standard and a transparent process for assessing environmental and social impacts in all areas of agriculture.”

A Changing Landscape

Today, agriculture itself is standing at a crossroads. Kenny explains, “For decades, our focus was on perfecting an agricultural system designed to maximize yield and minimize costs.

This required tremendous investment in research, technology innovation, and built infrastructure, along with the molding of consumer norms and tastes.

The result has been a phenomenal transformation of agriculture that has allowed us to feed a growing global population, many of whom have the purchasing power to buy more

resource-intensive foods like beef.

This success has yielded enormous prosperity.

“But now our society is asking the agricultural system to do something fundamentally different. Along with maximizing yield, we are demanding that the system minimize environmental and social harm and, in some cases, create positive environmental and social impacts. Issues like climate change, overuse and pollution of natural resources, and labor practices that negatively impact quality of life have risen to the top of our consciousness and

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“

I envisioned harnessing the power and scale of the business sector to drive positive environmental and social outcomes, especially in food systems.”

are creating expectations for farming that go well beyond simply labeling products as ‘natural.’”

In recent years, investors and businesses have put their weight behind this transformation. The shift in priorities is reflected in the dozens of net-zero commitments being made by food brands around the globe. For example, in 2019, Nestlé – the world’s largest food manufacturer – committed to be greenhouse gas emission-free by 2050. In December of the following year, the company detailed its sustainability plans, which included spending more than $3.5 billion over five years on measures to advance regenerative agriculture and move its operations to 100% renewable energy. Nestlé works with more than 500,000 farmers and 150,000 suppliers worldwide, with whom it must partner to implement the environmentally and socially responsible practices that will advance these goals.1 So it’s not surprising that Nestlé is one of Leading Harvest’s four Founding Supporters, along with fellow industry giants John Deere, Cargill, and Nutrien Ag Solutions.

Defining a Professional Path

Having attended The Potomac School from grades 1-12, Kenny Fahey considers himself “an almost-lifer, since I missed kindergarten.” He remembers his years at Potomac fondly and notes that his education gave him a strong foundation in critical thinking and, importantly, systems thinking – recognizing the complexity of problems and processes and considering various factors that may lead to different outcomes.

Equally formative for Kenny was Potomac’s wooded 90-acre campus: “I

was on the cross country team, and I also remember having educational experiences outdoors from a young age.

I think all that outdoor activity in such a beautiful setting gave me an appreciation for nature and our responsibility to steward the natural world.”

Kenny went on to Bowdoin College in Maine, where he majored in art history.

An avid surfer and hiker, he continued to revel in the beauty and exhilarating challenges of life in the great outdoors.

After earning his bachelor’s degree, Kenny moved to California’s Bay Area.

He recalls, “My first job after college was in a butcher shop in San Francisco. That wasn’t what I wanted to do for a career, but it turns out that it was a seminal time for me. Working there, I developed a fascination with food systems. I was struck by their enormous complexity – all the effort that goes into producing and delivering a product from farm to store – and also by the very human element of people acquiring, consuming, and enjoying food. That combination of a complex system and a basic human activity fascinated me and pointed the way to the career that I ultimately decided to pursue.”

But there was one more stop along the way before Kenny defined his ultimate goal. He says, “I was looking for the right professional path. I figured that I could read and write and think pretty well, so maybe I would go to law school.” To more fully understand that option, Kenny took a job in a law firm and worked there for two years. He says, “The firm was great. The people there were amazing. But I discovered that I didn’t want to be a lawyer.”

So when Kenny went back to school, it was to earn two graduate degrees at the

University of Michigan – an MBA and a Master of Science in natural resource management. He reflects, “I wanted to understand how the business world works and be able to apply that perspective to something I felt passionate about. I envisioned harnessing the power and scale of the business sector to drive positive environmental and social outcomes, especially in food systems.” Kenny’s work at Leading Harvest does just that.

He observes, “The transformation that the agricultural system is now facing is going to take time and require enormous investment from capital markets and the public sector. Achieving ambitious sustainability goals will require new technologies, product innovations, and infrastructure, as well as public policy that supports these advancements. By defining and certifying key environmental and social outcomes in agriculture, Leading Harvest points to the places where capital investment will do the most good and provides a means to measure the ongoing sustainability impact of investment in the global food supply chain.”

With graduate degrees in hand, Kenny joined The Conservation Fund in 2015.

A national nonprofit, the Fund works to “protect America’s most critical lands and waters to provide greater access to nature, strengthen local economies, and enhance climate resiliency.” Kenny says, “The Fund has a very successful program focused on protecting largescale working forests; they currently own about a million acres of forest assets, managing them for sustainable timber harvests, as well as carbon offsets. As the Fund’s working lands principal, I contributed to that program.

“I also had the opportunity to launch a new initiative, focused on farmland

1 Coyne, Andy. “The road to net-zero: Big Foods’ emission pledges.” Just Food, July 24, 2023. https://www.just-food.com/features/the-road-to-net-zero-big-foods-emission-pledge

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preservation and conservation. It was geared toward protecting farmland in growing metropolitan regions and supporting next-generation farmers in having access to that land. Among its many benefits, we saw the program as a way to serve the growing demand for local and sustainably-sourced food in cities. We launched it in Atlanta, and the Fund still operates the program in the Atlanta and Chicago metro regions.”

Creating a Nonprofit to Meet Emerging Needs

This focus on farmland management set the stage for Kenny’s, and The Conservation Fund’s, next big initiative. In 2017, a group of large asset management firms and professional farmland management companies approached the Fund, looking for help in solving a problem. The companies were encountering increasing pressure on two fronts – from consumers seeking assurance that products were being grown and resources managed in sustainable ways, and from investors with a rapidly growing focus on sustainability.

The problem was not that no mechanism existed to certify environmentally and socially sound

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processes in agriculture; it was that “For example, our water principle too many such mechanisms existed. addresses both quantity and quality, with Growing interest in sustainability had outcome indicators for each. How you given rise to an enormous proliferation manage water if you’re growing almonds of initiatives, siloed by crop type, in California looks really different from geography, or supply chain sector. The how you manage water if you’re growing result, Kenny says, was “a chaotic mess rice in the Mississippi Delta. The desired of standards and certifications too environmental outcomes are the same – complex and onerous to navigate from a but how you get there will be very production agriculture perspective.” different.”

With Kenny’s leadership, The Developing such a universal standard Conservation Fund began working and the accompanying certification to create a consolidated standard and process was a three-year endeavor process – one that could serve all involving a variety of stakeholders and segments of the agricultural value chain. partners, including environmental The key, they soon realized, was to groups, agricultural production articulate broadly applicable principles companies, and an organization with and focus the assessment process on extensive experience in standard writing. outcomes, rather than prescribed actions. Eventually, what Kenny describes as Kenny explains, “The farmland “our core product – an outcomes-based management standard that we farmland management certification ultimately developed includes 13 organized into 13 topic areas that works principles, in areas like soil health for all crops and geographies” – was and conservation, protection of water formulated. resources, waste management, and Next came a series of listening conservation of biodiversity, as well sessions across the United States, which as impacts on farm labor and local gave participants from the agricultural, communities. Each of these areas is economic, environmental, labor, and complex, and the goals expressed in the government sectors opportunities to standard will be achieved in different review the draft program and provide ways, depending upon crop type, feedback. Kenny says, “We believed geography, and other factors. that understanding and addressing the

concerns of various stakeholders would improvement. In April 2021, the both strengthen the program and create organization adopted a five-year critical buy-in.” revision cycle for its farmland In 2020, a new nonprofit was created management standard, to ensure to own and manage the standard and that it evolves along with scientific provide education and training to those knowledge and societal expectations for interested in using it. Leading Harvest sustainability. The following February, was born – and the organization’s board Leading Harvest announced the of directors asked Kenny Fahey to serve formation of an independent review as its interim executive director. panel to assess its standard, auditing In October of the following year, procedures, and training and education Kenny became Leading Harvest’s programs on an ongoing basis. Kenny first president and CEO. The says, “This provides an added level board’s unanimous hiring decision of accountability and transparency. reflected their confidence in his deep We believe that the most effective commitment to the organization’s sustainability programs are those mission and strong leadership skills. whose success both in the field and The respect is mutual. Kenny in the marketplace are vigorously and shares, “Leading Harvest is governed independently reviewed.” by an independent board of directors with equal representation from the The Big Picture social, environmental, and economic Leading Harvest’s website doesn’t sectors. Our board reflects the diverse mince words about the scope of the array of interests that make up the opportunities and challenges inherent agricultural community, from farmers in agriculture today – or the extent of to environmental NGOs, labor the organization’s ambitious vision: organizations, investors, and consumers. “With 50% of the earth’s habitable The knowledge and commitment that surface already in agriculture they bring to our work cannot be production and nearly 1 billion overstated.” people working in the agricultural Another of Leading Harvest’s industry around the world, food and strengths is commitment to continuous agribusiness form a $5 trillion global

industry that is only getting bigger.

Given this scale, we believe that we all have a responsibility to act by sharing and adopting better practices now.

Through collective action, Leading Harvest is continuously improving systems and ensuring that everyone has access to healthy soil, food, and water for generations to come.”

Currently, more than 3 million acres of farmland are operating in conformance with Leading Harvest’s farmland management standard – approximately 1.5 million acres in the United States, and roughly the same number in Australia. Kenny notes, “We continue working to expand our reach both in the U.S. and in Australia, and we are now developing plans to introduce our program in Canada.” He adds, “Agricultural commodities flow globally. Capital flows globally. So if we are really going to fulfill Leading Harvest’s value proposition, we ourselves have to be global.”

Kenny concludes, “Sustainable farming at scale has the potential to yield tremendous environmental and social benefits. Leading Harvest shows what’s possible when the tools and resources of business are leveraged to create positive change in the world.”

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Meet the Board Chair

by Shelley Dutton | portraits by Valerie Plesch Photography

A four-time Potomac parent, two-time Potomac trustee, and all-the-time Potomac advocate and ambassador, Norma Ramsey is embracing her new role as Board of Trustees chair with enthusiasm and an unwavering sense of purpose.

Q

While you have filled many roles at Potomac, your first experiences with the school were as a parent. Can you share a little bit about that journey?

A

Our family has been part of this community for 26 years. We came to Potomac in the fall of 1997, when our first child, Bailey, was ready for kindergarten. Having toured Potomac, Russ and I knew a lot about the program and were particularly impressed by the Lower School sharing assemblies. The school’s commitment to giving children opportunities for public speaking and performance seemed like a great strength – an approach that would build both self-confidence and the ability to

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collaborate with others. Potomac was our first choice for our bright, eager daughter. And it proved to be a great decision. Through the years, this school gave Bailey amazing opportunities to explore her interests, develop her talents, and achieve her goals.

Our other three kids – Eric, Mark, and Paige – followed suit. Like Bailey, Mark and Paige are Potomac lifers.

Eric had an excellent experience here in grades K-8, then was drawn to Georgetown Prep for high school, which was a terrific fit for him. Paige, our youngest child, is preparing to graduate next June, so my journey as a Potomac parent is nearly done – after almost three decades!

Q

Like so many Potomac parents, you volunteered at school. Can you talk about the various ways you have been involved over the years?

A

Well, I started as a young, enthusiastic mom. I wanted to help my kids’ school be successful, so I volunteered at Fall Frolics, served as an LS and MS parent rep, and helped with the annual Scholarship Auction. I actually ended up chairing the auction three times, which was a hoot – that event is a great community builder and always so much fun. I helped start the auction’s

that time, implementing the first phases of the master plan was a major focus and, as chair of the board’s Buildings and Grounds Committee, I was deeply involved with that work.

When I left the board in 2011, I thought my time as a Potomac trustee was over. But six years later, John Kowalik and the board leadership asked if I would consider serving again. They felt that my historical knowledge would bring added value at a time when we were launching a capital campaign to support our next big construction project – the Spangler Center for Athletics and Community. I realized that I was as passionate about this school as I had been when I first joined the board in 2002 – and certainly as excited as I had ever been about my experience as a Potomac parent. So I became a trustee for the second time.

For me, serving on the board is an honor and a privilege. As I begin my tenure as board chair, I’m committed to leveraging the experience and talents of this amazing leadership group to help ensure that Potomac continues to thrive and achieve its mission of educational excellence.

Fund a Scholar initiative, which now generates a large percentage of the event’s revenue. Funds raised through the Scholarship Auction make a real difference for our students and teachers, and I’m happy to have been part of this effort through the years.

One of the best things about being engaged with Potomac is the friendships we’ve formed. The friends that I made in those early years – other young parents with young children – are still some of my closest friends today. This is true for every member of our family; we’ve all formed lifelong friendships at Potomac.

Q A

And what about your work as a trustee?

In the early 2000s, I was invited to be part of a task force charged with creating a new campus master plan for the school. We hired a land planning firm, helped define the long-term goals for Potomac’s physical spaces, and ultimately produced a master plan.

While this work was done under the aegis of the Board of Trustees, I was a parent rep to the task force, not yet a trustee. Then, in July of 2002, I was elected to the board. I served three consecutive three-year terms. During

Q

Let’s go back to the campus master plan. How that evolved and has been realized over the past two decades is interesting; it shows us how the campus we know today came to be, and it also points to projects that are now on the horizon.

A

It’s been an exciting ride! Our core vision was a kind of academic village where all four divisions of the school would be connected in a physical arrangement reflecting the students’ K-12 progress. The result is what we now call the Potomac “walk of life” – a physical layout where you can start in the Lower School, move seamlessly into the Middle School, then progress on to

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“

I’m committed to being accessible – a good listener, a willing collaborator, and an enthusiastic ambassador for Potomac. I’m proud of our school’s success, and I never forget that it has been made possible by the vision, effort, and generosity of many, many people.”

the Intermediate School, all in one long building, and finally walk out a door and across a grassy space to the Upper School to complete your journey. From the vantage point of each division, you can literally see the next one, the next step forward, the next stage of academic and personal growth. I believe this physical connection fosters our sense of community and the educational continuum that Potomac offers its students.

The Upper School was our first big facilities project. The existing building was renovated and a second, connected building was constructed, giving us the floorplan that continues to serve Potomac’s Upper School students well today. That project was completed in 2006.

The new Lower School was built next; it opened in 2009. By 2012, the Flag Circle Building had been constructed, and a full renovation of the Intermediate School was completed the following year. Other campus improvements, like

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the upgraded Turf Field and expanded tennis courts, also took place during that period, since a top-quality athletics program is an important part of the Potomac experience.

This brings us to the more recent past. The Spangler Center for Athletics and Community opened in fall 2019.

Thanks to the generosity of the Potomac community, that project was funded entirely through philanthropy – and what a fabulous asset it is for our students!

The final component of the master plan is renovation of the Middle School, our only academic facility that has not yet been updated. And now, because certain athletic functions were moved from the Upper School’s Chester Gym complex to Spangler, we have the opportunity to renovate areas around Chester, repurposing those spaces for academic and student-life use. These two projects – the Middle School and Chester renovations – will bring our campus master plan to full fruition.

Q

We are fortunate to have a beautiful campus and such terrific facilities. What, in addition to that, do you believe sets this school apart? What are the key outcomes of a Potomac education?

A

Time and again, I hear business leaders in our region and elsewhere say that a Potomac School graduate is recognizable. I think it comes down to a particular approach to educating the whole person.

Our graduates have completed a rigorous academic program in an atmosphere that encourages and supports them, so they know how to think critically, express themselves clearly, and synthesize information to arrive at sound conclusions and creative solutions. Equally important, Potomac graduates are good, caring people.

Our school’s emphasis on core values, generosity of spirit, and community has a lasting impact. I know businesspeople who actively seek to hire our grads

because they are – as the Portrait of the Potomac Graduate states – authentic, engaged, motivated, and empowered to make a difference.

Q

Would you describe the Board of Trustees’ role and how the board and administration work together to achieve goals?

A

The board’s role is to set policy.

We provide long-range planning and strategic guidance to ensure that Potomac is in a position to deliver on its mission. We’re not involved with the day-to-day management of the school or personnel or curriculum issues.

Two of the board’s main responsibilities are hiring the right person to serve as head of school and supporting that person’s efforts to ensure the school’s success. Potomac has an extremely capable and committed head of school in John Kowalik, and he and the board have a great working relationship. John is respected and trusted by the board and our school community at large.

Moreover, he has assembled a worldclass administrative team. John empowers others to lead, and his collaboration with talented administrators, faculty, and staff keeps making Potomac better and better.

Last winter, John took a well-deserved sabbatical; I was struck by how seamlessly members of his administrative team stepped up to keep things running well during his absence. That speaks volumes about John and the talent and dedication of the team that he has put in place.

Q

Please talk about the membership of Potomac’s board and what makes this a strong leadership group.

A

When the Committee on Trustees prepares a slate of candidates to present to the full board, we consider a variety of factors – racial and gender

diversity, representation of various constituencies within our community, and a range of skills and expertise.

Additionally, we look for three key characteristics: Trustees must have a passion for Potomac, display good human qualities like integrity and a collaborative spirit, and be authentically present. What I mean by that last part is that they have to be willing to participate fully in the work of the board. They are expected to attend all meetings and give our work their active attention and effort.

A high-functioning governing board always includes people with experience in a wide range of fields, such as business, law, finance, construction, public relations, fundraising, technology, health, and in the case of a school, education. Potomac’s trustees represent all these areas and more. They are skilled, committed leaders and invaluable ambassadors for our school.

Q A

What are the board’s current priorities?

In 2018, the board and administration developed a document called the Strategic Roadmap to guide our decision making. The roadmap sets out four fundamental priorities for Potomac: excellent teaching, empowering students, connected community, and financial sustainability. Each year, new goals and initiatives are developed in these areas, along with metrics to help gauge our progress. The roadmap has proven to be a valuable tool, and it continues to guide our thinking and decisions.

Certainly, the Growing Ever Greater campaign is a major focus. The Spangler Center was our first campaign priority, and it’s easy to see how much that facility has enhanced the Potomac experience for everyone. The fact that the construction was funded entirely

through philanthropy ties in to our goal of ensuring the school’s financial sustainability.

As I mentioned before, our next facilities projects are renovation of the Middle School and areas around the Chester Gym. Like Spangler, these projects can only go forward with sufficient philanthropic support. Other campaign priorities include increased endowment resources for excellent teaching, student scholarships, and innovative programming, as well as sustained support for the Potomac Fund, which contributes to the school’s annual operating budget.

All of these priorities are driven by the Strategic Roadmap – each one, in its own way, supports excellent teaching, empowering students, connected community, and financial sustainability.

Q

Finally, what is your leadership philosophy, and how do you see your role as board chair?

A

I’m committed to being accessible – a good listener, a willing collaborator, and an enthusiastic ambassador for Potomac. I’m proud of our school’s success, and I never forget that it has been made possible by the vision, effort, and generosity of many, many people.

As a community, we believe in the value of a Potomac education; we have seen how well this school achieves its mission of preparing students for lives of purpose, achievement, and generosity of spirit. We also know that full realization of this mission requires continued investment of our time, talent, and resources.

As a leader within this community, I want to help ensure that everyone has opportunities to be involved and make a difference. It takes all of us, working together, to ensure Potomac’s success – today and for generations to come.

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ITERATING AND IMPROVISING His Way to Success

by Lori Ferguson portraits by Juliet Jackson Photography

W

hen Grant Hoechst Jackson ’14 begins a project, you can almost bet it won’t follow a predictable path. Picture instead a jam session, with jazz musicians riffing off one another, responding and reacting in the moment to create something amazing. And that’s exactly the way Grant likes it.

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THE POTOMAC TERM

A senior game designer with Naughty Dog, a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Grant is also an accomplished musician, composer, and improv comedian who thrives on spontaneity. He says, “Whether you’re developing games, playing music, or telling jokes, you need to be able to improvise and set others up for success.

You have to be flexible – no one idea can dominate – and you must collaborate to succeed, which I find incredibly powerful.”

Embracing unexpected moments in pursuit of a common goal is one of the things Grant loves about his work as a game designer. He observes, “Games demand that the developer let go of the wheel. Because once the game is released, players are going to use it however they want.”

Finding focus through flexibility Grant’s path to this career was hardly linear, though in retrospect it seems almost like a foregone conclusion.

After graduating from The Potomac School, he attended Harvard, where he leaned heavily into the freedom and flexibility a liberal arts education offers. “I took all sorts of courses, but eventually found myself gravitating toward computer science,” Grant says.

“I was less interested in heavy-duty programming and drawn instead to design and higher-level entertainment applications. But I wasn’t clear on how I could use a computer science degree in a non-technical way.”

A summer teaching job provided his lightbulb moment. Grant recalls, “I was teaching computer science to high school students and found myself constantly using video games to illustrate relevant concepts.” A gamer since childhood, Grant explains, “In my family, games were loved and trusted as much as, if not more than, books or movies, and their lessons in storytelling and problem solving became embedded in my mind.” Suddenly, Grant saw how he could unite his interests in entertainment and tech with his penchant for improvisation – game design. “It’s the perfect mix of storytelling and computer science technology,” he observes.

The next step was to figure out how to configure his coursework to get the education he knew he needed. Grant explains, “At the time, Harvard didn’t

offer any courses in game development or design. So I spent my junior and senior years taking computer science courses that were adjacent to my interests – user experience and software design – and enrolled in English and psychology courses to bolster my storytelling skills.”

He also did a deep dive into selfdirected learning, playing games with a more analytical eye. He notes, “I began focusing on design rather than play, examining what makes a game engine tick.” It was an uphill climb, but just the sort of challenge that Grant delights in tackling. He observes, “I’m a generalist; I like knowing a fair amount about a lot of things.”

The work paid off. After graduating in 2018, Grant landed a job as a game designer with Naughty Dog, working on The Last of Us Part II, the sequel to the wildly popular original released in 2013. Grant says, “The Last of Us is a single-player action-adventure game series that takes place in a postpandemic world. When I was a kid, it was a personal favorite. I still remember my sister and me racing up the stairs to our parents in tears the first time we played it; the level of immersion it offered was that amazing. Everything – the writing, the characters, the lighting, the animation – coalesced to create a fully realized world, and that translates to a powerful interactive experience for the player. That game provided a direct channel into a deeply emotional ride.

And now I understand how difficult that is to create.”

Embracing the flow These days, Grant works to provide others with the same powerful interactive experience. He explains, “My role is to help talent come together to enhance the interactivity of our games. I use our in-house programming language to place assets

in the game; bring audio, design, and animation elements together; and help team members iterate toward the experience we want players of Naughty Dog’s games to have.”

Leading a diverse group of creatives is a balancing act, he confesses, but it’s the kind of challenge Grant loves.

He says, “It’s fun to empower others, giving them the autonomy to create while simultaneously keeping everyone excited about being on the same page.

At any given moment, I’m considering the needs of the player as well as the priority of the game overall, while also encouraging the designers to do their best work.”

And doing their best work is critical for those employed in this high-stakes industry. In June of 2023, the online platform Statista reported that there are some 212 million gamers in the U.S., with annual growth expected to remain stable through 2027. The dollars generated are similarly impressive; the video game market in the U.S. alone made over $85 billion in 2022.

Today, approximately 36 percent of gamers in the U.S. are between the ages of 18 and 34, and 48 percent of them are women. “In my experience, there was a time when the perception was that games were primarily for young boys, but that’s no longer the case,” says Grant. “Today’s gamers are diverse in age, interests, and motivations.

Some people play to escape and some to triumph, while others seek to lose themselves in an alternate world or create something new.” And games aren’t monolithic either. Grant notes, “There are role-playing games, life simulation games, and actionadventure games. There’s no one type of game or player, and it’s this breadth and the rapid pace of change that make this industry so exciting.”

Asked what future developments he most eagerly anticipates, Grant scarcely

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“ misses a beat. “I’m always excited about particular games coming down the pike,” he says. “It’s fun to see what new concepts developers are exploring. My current obsession is Baldur’s Gate 3, which channels the Dungeons and Dragons concept into a full-fledged roleplaying game – an experience where the player controls the actions of the character in an imaginary world.” But, Grant quickly adds, his tastes vary: “I like to bounce around from one type of game to another. It sounds corny, but I still feel a sense of childlike wonder when I pick up something new that excites and engages me.”

Grant has other pursuits that delight and engage him as well. A gifted pianist and percussionist, he performed with the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and the American Youth Percussion Ensemble while in junior high and high school, then joined the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra as principal percussionist his freshman year, holding that seat throughout his

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There are role-playing games, life simulation games, and action-adventure games. There’s no one type of game or player, and it’s this breadth and the rapid pace of change that make this industry so exciting.”

undergraduate career. He continues to perform as a percussionist, doing turns as a soloist and guest ensemble member with the Silk Road Ensemble under the artistic direction of renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He also flexes his creative muscles as a composer, writing scores for films and games.

Grant says he was encouraged to indulge his wide-ranging interests throughout his time at Potomac.

“I was constantly invited to explore different avenues of study,” he recalls.

“I pursued my interests in music and also in science with AP computer science courses and AP physics taught by my advisor, Mr. Lindsay. And my creative writing courses with Ms. Bailey showed me the joys of delving into storytelling; there’s something incredibly engaging about coaxing a story into life on a blank page. I still think about that a lot in my current creative work.”

It’s the use of storytelling to tap into players’ deep emotions that continues

to motivate Grant as a game designer.

He observes, “Games as a medium have access to the full range of primary and secondary human emotions – happiness, sadness, fear, triumph, and many more. There’s a cool, added layer in a game that allows players to conjure those emotional reactions that I find fascinating.”

And finally, there’s the collaborative team aspect of the work that Grant embraces in everything he does. He notes, “Every game that’s created is greater than the sum of its parts. I think one of the reasons I enjoy bouncing around between disciplines is that I find myself thinking about one experience when doing another. When I’m composing music, I’m thinking about the narrative elements of a game, and when I’m working on a game, I’m thinking about music.” At the heart of it all, he concludes, is improvisation: “Being able to listen, build on ideas, and set other people up for success – for me, that’s what it’s all about.”

Giving a Game Its Groove

I

t’s easy to see the importance of nailing the storyline, lighting, and animation in a video game; these elements are clearly instrumental in conjuring an immersive world for the player. But the audio component is equally critical. Grant Hoechst Jackson, a senior game designer at Naughty Dog, observes, “Music does a lot of the same heavy lifting in a game as it does in a film; it heightens the potential for narrative moments and contributes to the overall mood of the world being created.” He adds, “A strong soundtrack assists the player in entering a ‘flow state’ of play. The tempo, cadence, intensity, and density of the music all contribute to that sense of immersion in an alternate world.”

Grant, who has himself composed game and film scores, adds that the soundtrack for a game needs an additional layer of thought. “The music must be dynamic and interactive in response to the player’s actions,” he says. For example, if a game includes a combat encounter, the music will be quieter when a player is moving surreptitiously to remain

undetected. The moment that player is discovered, however, the music needs to change to reflect the new circumstances. “Scoring a game is complicated,” Grant notes. “The soundtrack must honor the player’s choices, as well as the overarching storyline.”

Sound effects are another critical component of a game’s audio package. Grant explains, “When you’re creating a game, you’re working to develop an immersive soundscape. So the sound effects have to be aesthetically consistent with the overall environment, while also serving important functions such as telling a player what to pay attention to or signifying something new to process.”

While Grant concedes that there’s no hard-andfast rule for when a soundtrack is addressed in the development process, his preference is that the audio component be considered early on. He notes, “Some of my favorite gaming experiences have resulted from cross-pollination between the game design and the music. I find it particularly compelling when I can tell that the music has been an integral part of the development process from the start.”

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of Her A Path

Own

by Rita Deurdulian

A

sking the right questions is critical when navigating the professional world, and Niya Watkins ’11 takes thinking about people and processes to a whole new level. In her job as a product designer who specializes in user experience (UX) at The Atlantic, Niya is immersed in studying people to understand where they’re coming from, what their habits are, and what will work best for them.

Think about what it’s like to navigate an unfamiliar website, experiencing all the photos and stories, the products and services, the comments and testimonials. Do you ever stop to think, “How did I get here?” (and not in the philosophical sense). But what was your path to the particular page you find yourself looking at? How were you led there? Was it your intention to find what you are now seeing? Why did you leave one page and go on to something else? This is where Niya comes in. As a product designer working on the digital presence of an internationally known and highly respected publication, she focuses on crafting the perfect user experience, or user/customer journey, working to improve the site’s design and create web features that add value for visitors.

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One of Niya’s current projects focuses on helping to make the digital publication more useful as an academic resource, and this involves creating user personas for subscribers. She explains, “I’ve been conducting interviews with people who fit demographics we want to learn more about, such as educators and students. We create personas based on this research – templates that give us a high-level idea of each group’s needs, motivations, and frustrations.”

While UX digs into site visitors’ needs, Niya and her team must also consider the publication’s intentions and goals: What path would The Atlantic ideally want users to take as they wend their way through the publication’s voluminous digital content and resources? Niya reflects, “Understanding the human experience is essential for

UX designer at the National Geographic Society, just two weeks after completing the course! There, she combined user research and visual design skills to create digital products that facilitate the work and amplify the impact of National Geographic’s community of Explorers – funding recipients who illuminate and protect our world through their work in science, exploration, education, and storytelling.

Niya confides, “I was very content at Nat Geo, but when The Atlantic reached out to me about a product design position, my curiosity was piqued. I was a big fan of The Atlantic, especially after listening to their Floodlines podcast [the story of Hurricane Katrina as told by journalist Vann Newkirk II]. Working for mission-focused companies that align with my values has always been a priority for me.” She continues, “I love that I have the freedom to be experimental when it comes to using digital media to amplify journalism.”

Niya works closely with Atlantic writers to create an online experience that matches the outlet’s brand of storytelling. She says, “Our stories are socially conscious, unapologetic, and wellresearched. These qualities are especially important at a time when we’re seeing increased censorship and misinformation.”

Outside of work, Niya loves to travel. This summer she enjoyed a trip to Senegal.

She reflects, “Traveling brings me an appreciation of local culture, art, history, and food. I love to see things that are different from what I’m used to.”

Niya’s passion for learning is clear. She has a deep desire to understand where people come from, what they value, and what they need. Reflecting on the journey that brought her to a career in user-centric design, she observes, “We’re constantly evolving, and opportunities to branch off into something else are all around us. There’s a lot of pressure to ‘follow your passion,’ but I think you can discover your passion in the process of doing something else. It comes down to being open to opportunities and finding a fit that feels right for you.”

This article originally appeared in the winter 2023 issue of Potomac’s alumni e-newsletter, Llama Notes. It has been updated for The Term. To read more stories, visit potomacschool.org/llama.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NIYA WATKINS

creating useful and effective products. I enjoy using my skills to empower people to accomplish their goals. What could be better than creating digital experiences that make life easier?”

Her own path was created in a similarly thoughtful way. At Potomac, Niya’s favorite classes centered around history – so much so that she credits them with sparking her curiosity about a career in diplomacy and international affairs. She interned at the U.S. Department of State during all four years of college at The George Washington University before becoming a full-time State Department employee after graduation.

While working in the Office of Foreign Missions as an operations specialist, Niya provided guidance to the foreign diplomatic community on benefits, immunities, and privileges.

She also had a role in ensuring that U.S. companies were honoring those privileges. She says, “That job involved a lot of negotiating, and clear communication was essential. The experience really set me up to go into user-centered design.”

It was during her time in federal service that Niya realized what a hindrance inefficient, poorly-designed websites can be to productivity. She reflects, “I often found myself using creative work-arounds to save time, energy, and money. I came to understand that user-centric design is a vital means of helping people get where they want and need to go in a digital world.”

As she began to research UX design, Niya was amazed to discover a career path that combined many of her interests, including visual design, technology, and anthropology. Feeling that the government was not where she was supposed to be at that time in her life, Niya took a leap of faith. She resigned from the State Department, signed up for a four-month Designlab bootcamp, then landed her first job as a

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Writing

Worlds for the Next Generation

by Cathryn Larsen

S

ometimes the bad stuff seems inescapable. News reports bombard us with climate change, gun violence, discrimination, political polarization, and foreign wars, giving rise to anxiety and, all too frequently, confrontation. Despite our best efforts to understand complex topics and maintain an even keel, the world can feel like a scary place.

Imagine navigating this reality on a daily basis not as your adult self, but as you were at 12 or 13. And imagine the weight of knowing that, as a member of the next generation, it will be up to you to try to make things right. Adolescence was always a challenging time, even before a 24-hour news cycle and the cacophony of social media. But being 12 or 13 today is a new and even more stressful experience.

Author and illustrator Jamie Potter ’01 has keyed into this truth, and his books offer young people some reassuring insights.

up, which I think is a universal feeling.

I wanted a character in a strange and tough situation – a kid growing up in a miserable town where the sun only comes out twice a year and everyone is undernourished. His father is the town undertaker, and his peers call him ‘Corpse Boy.’ His home life is even darker – his brother has died in mysterious circumstances, his father is a demanding workaholic with a short temper, his loving mother is trying to keep the family afloat but is compromised by grief.”

Jamie continues, “I thought if in the midst of all that, this young person can find a way for his empathy and intelligence to guide him to do something that the grown-ups in his environment are too broken or jaded to be able to do, that’s the story I want to tell.”

The Thomas Creeper series includes two titles so far: Thomas Creeper and the Gloomsbury Secret and its sequel, Thomas Creeper and the Purple Corpse.

In both stories, Thomas navigates his aptly named hometown of Gloomsbury, which turns out to be more interesting than it might seem on the surface.

Challenged by ghostly apparitions, mysterious ciphers to crack, and odd quasi-human creatures from the nearby sea, Thomas unveils the secrets of his hometown and battles fearsome powers, armed only with his clever and creative spirit. Jamie’s original illustrations help bring Thomas’s world to vivid life.

His latest book, RAGTAG: City of Ash and Fire, is a story with similar themes, crafted for a slightly older audience. Published this September, it quickly became a top seller in Amazon’s

“ I think the thing I loved about being young was the fearlessness of trying new things. ...And it seems to me that now is a good time to validate that – to remind kids that there is strength in their fearlessness and that courage and creativity can help them overcome challenges.”

Illustrations courtesy of J.R. Potter Thomas Creeper book jacket and dog figure

by Honie Beam | RAGTAG book jacket by David King

Photo: Alyona Vogelmann

“I can’t really imagine what it’s like to be a preteen or teen in today’s world,” says Jamie. “It was hard enough in the happy ’90s.”

Jamie, who attended The Potomac School for seventh through ninth grades during those “happy ’90s,” thinks back on his own experience as a young teen and what he has brought with him from those times. He says, “I was a kid who fell in love with writing, music, and drawing all at the same time. And for better or worse, I’ve tried to do a little bit of all of those since then.” Jamie cites Potomac teachers Ida Cook, Cort Morgan, Dan Newman, and Connie Randall as inspirations and “life rafts during the choppy seas of adolescence.”

Now, writing as J.R. Potter, Jamie strives to be a life raft himself – weaving wonder and hope into stories for a young audience. With a brand he describes as “a cross between the spooky and the nerdy,” Jamie aims to capture the feeling of being a preteen or teenager in a turbulent world.

Some of his books, like the Thomas Creeper mystery series, are targeted to the middle grades crowd, while others, like the recently published RAGTAG: City of Ash and Fire, lean older, fitting into the young adult fiction category. In every case, Jamie’s stories highlight bright, adventurous young underdogs who, faced with personal and societal challenges, use their intellect and spirit of ingenuity to adapt, overcome, and thrive.

“I love an underdog because they have nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Jamie reflects. “Characters like Superman have never been relatable to me – the Kryptonite element is his only interesting trait.”

In writing underdogs, particularly his character Thomas Creeper, Jamie puts himself back into his middle school shoes. He says, “With Thomas, I thought about all the times that I was on the outside or the fringe growing

35

New Releases: Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy category. RAGTAG – subtitled “a cyberpunk fairy tale” – is set in a post-apocalyptic America, in a colony known as the NSRA (the New Satellite Republic of America). It tells the story of Jezebel Winters, a privileged teen who is forced to seek protection in unknown and frightening parts of her city after a political coup and the murder of her parents. Searching for “her people,” Jezebel finds the Ragtag Whirly Girlies – a group of teen girls living underground who specialize in hacking, DIY engineering, and other rather surprising skills. Among their innovations are jet packs that enable them to fly through the city and evade capture.

Jamie reflects, “I think the thing I loved about being young was the fearlessness of trying new things. When you’re young, you dive in headlong; you may break your arm or get your heart ripped in two, but that fearlessness prompts you to take the risk. And it seems to me that now is a good time to validate that – to remind kids that there is strength in their fearlessness and that courage and creativity can help them overcome challenges. Jezebel has to try new things in order to survive, and young people in the real world today are going to have to try new things to create change.”

Jamie began working on RAGTAG back in 2009 but other pursuits soon took precedence. He spent the next decade writing the early readers’ book series Cowbots, developing the Thomas Creeper novels, and performing and recording music with his wife, Amy, as

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the duo Crooked Angels. But a couple of years ago, Jamie dove back into RAGTAG at what seemed the perfect time. He says, “We’re into some scary dystopian stuff now – pandemics, climate change, book-banning. It seemed like the right time to revisit this story.”

He reflects, “In all my writing, I try very hard to hearken back to the freedom and creative space I felt as a child. I look back on those times, trying to preserve something for myself and offer it to others as well – a vital sense of possibility, a world that feels fun, imaginative, and freeing, all of which is desperately needed in a time that too often feels the opposite of those things.”

Jamie adds, “At the end of the day, I’m writing for young people in a world where adults have the agency and believe that they have the answers yet have clearly failed to solve some big and very troubling problems. So the burden really is on this next generation, and they will need all the fearlessness, creativity, and resilience they can muster to confront these challenges. While young people might not yet have the experience and knowledge that adults purport to have, I do think they have an innate courage and a desire to be innovative – what you might call a DIY spirit. That’s what you see in the young people in my books, and I hope it’s an empowering message for today’s kids.”

In the bleak yet layered worlds Jamie has created, his protagonists take on responsibility amid the drama unfolding around them. While young people in the real world are unlikely to encounter the fantastical elements that confront some of Jamie’s characters, the situations they face can be equally scary and perplexing.

Still, Jamie maintains, the world is a wonderful place, replete with possibility.

And he hopes that young people will recognize and remember this, despite the drama, conflict, and noise assailing them on a daily basis.

He says, “I think we all have a responsibility to curate, and be custodians of, wonder. Nobody owns it; it’s our job to pass this sense of wonder on, to share what we love and marvel at, and be open to what others love and marvel at, too. I read a story once about a poet who, as a child, would go on walks with his father to look for birds. During their walks, the father would tell the boy to keep his eyes open because his eyes were fresher and clearer than his father’s, so the son might see something remarkable first. I think that’s such a beautiful, important sentiment, especially as we navigate this world of adult agency. Maybe young people’s eyes are clearer, fresher – maybe they will see something wonderful that we cannot.”

Excerpt from Thomas Creeper and the Purple Corpse – eerie encounters –

T

here were only two other riders on the Gloomsbury-Hampswich crosstown bus that afternoon – only two living riders, that is.

To add to Thomas’s extensive list of woes – he was the son and heir to a small town funeral business run by his rigid and cantankerous father, Elijah Creeper the Fifth; he was painfully tall, a lanky lurch-a-saurus who kids around town called “Creepy Thomas” when they were feeling nice – Thomas could also see the dead everywhere he went. Ever since solving the mystery of his great aunt Silvie’s death earlier that summer, ghosts seemed to come out of the woodwork to accost Thomas who they considered a

“Fixer,” a solver of mysteries unresolved at the time of a person’s death, or worse... their murder.

The only problem, as the ghost of his great aunt Silvie explained, was that in order to fix a ghost’s unresolved case, Thomas needed to possess their “Artifact of Unlocking.” An Artifact could be the missing revolver thrown into the ocean after their murder, or the loose nails from a faulty roof beam that shut off their lights forever.

Once an Artifact was recovered, a displeased ghost could then talk and indicate what the Fixer needed to do to help them find peace in the afterlife.

But not possessing any of these items at present, Thomas was accompanied daily by ghosts who couldn’t speak, but leered back at him with yawning mouths and writhing, apoplectic fingers. They knew

neither day or night and respected no boundaries of privacy. A headless ghost dressed in a pinstripe suit had even slid under the stalls at the public restroom at Town Beach to seek out Thomas’s services.

Thankfully, Thomas counted only two ghosts on the bus that afternoon: a child with sandy-blonde hair and half her face rotted away; and a soldier in faded blue military fatigues with sunken eyes who tried to get Thomas’s attention, but every time he waved, he clutched his hand back to his neck, blood squirting out between his gloved fingers. It was horror outside or inside the bus, however Thomas looked – dumb advertisements for a life he would never have, or miserable reminders of the life he could not possibly extricate himself from without becoming a ghost himself...

Excerpt from RAGTAG: City of Ash and Fire – poised on the precipice –

M

y life has been a parade of facts.

The fact that I am small and bony. The fact that my ears are too small, my chin too weak, my skin as pale as a seagull’s belly.

Not to mention the darker, scarier data.

The fact that the life expectancy of an illegal teen like me in the New Satellite Republic of America hovers in the single digits – the low single digits.

Facts. They hover and swarm all around me, invisible yet heavy with consequence. They chicken-wire my dreams and harass my hopes whenever I think of a life beyond the walls of this city that was once called Boston.

But I don’t listen to facts.

If I did, I probably wouldn’t find myself standing on the edge of this charred skyscraper, staring down at seven

hundred feet of gray-green sky, swirling with fresh smog and old fallout from the ’47 Drops. And if I believed in the god of facts, in all his safe projections and figures, I’d never attempt what I’m about to do.

“Just suck in your fear and jump, Jezebel! You can do this!”

Laura, the one we call Wolf Mother, stands behind my trembling shoulders.

She’s our Speaker, our leader in the all-girl gang called the Ragtag Whirly Girlies that takes its name from a poster of trapeze artists discovered in the ruins of the old Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Laura’s also my sponsor for recruitment.

If I pass all of today’s tests, I’ll be embraced as a full member in the gang, a fellow Sister.

If I die, I’ll be just another waste of the gang’s time and resources...

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alumni activities

q

w

Countdown to Graduation

q Manuela Pietro ’23, Devin

The Alumni Office invited the Class of 2023 to a “sweet event” in May as they counted down the days to graduation.

The students met on the Tundra to enjoy acai bowls and toppings and claim some cool Potomac swag. The Alumni Office was happy to help make the time leading up to Commencement even more special for these wonderful students. Congratulations, graduates!

w Shelby Willcox ’23 and

Dunn ’23, N.J. Langman ’23, Ryan Wilson ’23, Gracie Courtauld ’23, and Olee Banerjee ’23 Samantha Taylormoore ’23

er Members of the Class of 2023 enjoy sweet treats, courtesy of the Alumni Office.

e

r

Welcome, Class of 2023!

On June 5, the Potomac School Alumni Association hosted a luncheon to welcome our newest members – the graduates of the Class of 2023. Speakers included AGC member Hamilton Brooks ’18, Student Body President Yabby Maelaf ’23, and Senior Class President Benjamin Schirmeier ’23.

Hamilton shared how important it is to give back and encouraged all the newly inducted Alumni Association members to stay connected with one another and with Potomac.

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alumni activities

from the AGC

RAIN WAS NO MATCH FOR MAY DAY Rain came pouring down on April 28, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the Potomac School community as alumni and past parents joined students, faculty, and staff in celebrating May Day. This time-honored tradition, filled with songs, dances, and poetry, celebrates the arrival of spring and the promise of long days of sunshine ahead.

Before the festivities, the alumni who had come to campus for this special day gathered for lunch, and some were overheard reminiscing about their own days dancing around the May Pole.

As honored guests, the alums were then escorted to reserved seating in the Spangler Center for Athletics and Community, where they had a great view of all the colorful fun.

If you missed May Day this year, we hope you’ll plan to join us in 2024.

Mark your calendars; the celebration will be on Friday, May 3 – rain or shine!

DEAR FELLOW ALUMNI, We are excited to greet you on behalf of the Alumni Governing Council (AGC)! We saw many of you on campus at the recent Reunion festivities, Fall Frolics, Homecoming, and Friday Night Lights football game, and we look forward to seeing you more in the months ahead. Our next opportunity to come together will be the Alumni Fall Games, held on campus on the day after Thanksgiving – Friday, November 24.

Meaghan Kiernan Sparkman ’05, Catherine Kahl Linskey ’09, and Lauren Wackerle ’12 We hope that you will come out and join the fun!

Our alumni community is part of what makes Potomac so special. Many of the friendships and connections we made at school have stayed with us over the years and continue to enrich our lives. We hope that you still feel connected to Potomac because our alma mater has a lot to offer us – and because Potomac benefits from our continued involvement and support. There are many opportunities each year to connect or reconnect, and many ways to get involved.

We are honored to be starting our term as the Alumni Governing Council’s Executive Committee. For the next three years, we will work closely with the Alumni Office, the members of the AGC, and our fellow alums to create meaningful programs and opportunities that help you stay connected to one another and to Potomac.

This fall, we welcomed five new AGC members: Michael Amann ’04, Stephanie Croghan ’07, Steven Gavula ’01, Ashaad Holley ’11, and Ellen Overstreet ’11. These individuals bring new ideas and insights that will help us serve and celebrate Potomac’s alumni community.

We thank former AGC President Rory Byrnes ’01, who completed his term in July, for his leadership. Rory gave a tremendous amount of time and energy to supporting our school and our alumni community. We also want to acknowledge the 11 AGC members who completed their terms this summer: Danny Adrien ’96, Skip Calvert ’01, Jonique Elligan ’85, Kevin Havermann ’14, Erin Jackson ’16, Todd Langstaff ’08, Yabby Maelaf ’23, John Ohly ’01, Valerie Plesch ’98, Ben Schirmeier ’23, and Natasha Urbany ’14. Their dedicated efforts are very much appreciated.

The AGC’s overarching mission is to support and cultivate an engaged Potomac alumni community. To advance this mission, we will focus on creating new opportunities for alumni engagement and connection. Your participation in this work is welcome – and needed! If you have ideas or are interested in becoming more involved, please reach out to Director of Alumni Relations Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Sincerely,

Thank you to all the students who helped make May Day 2023 such a shining success!

Catherine Kahl Linskey ’09 President

Meaghan Kiernan Sparkman ’05 Vice President

Lauren Wackerle ’12 Secretary

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alumni activities

Young Alums Support Summer@Potomac

Jonathan Darman ’99 Shares Insights on FDR Journalist and historian Jonathan Darman ’99, who writes about American politics and the presidency, came to campus in March to discuss his most recent book, Becoming FDR: The Personal Crisis That Made a President.

Jonathan began his visit by speaking at an Upper School assembly. He detailed how Franklin Roosevelt’s experience of serious illness and disability reshaped his character and ultimately defined his presidency. A lunchtime conversation with interested students followed, providing an opportunity for a deeper dive into FDR’s life and legacy, as well as discussion of Jonathan’s own career path.

In the evening, alumni, parents, students, and faculty gathered to hear Jonathan read selected passages from Becoming FDR, followed by a lively discussion moderated

by Upper School history teacher Becca Mahoney.

The Alumni Office hosted a breakfast for alums who were part of the 2023 Summer@Potomac team, working as camp counselors or members of the buildings and grounds crew. Many of the participating alumni had been campers themselves, and they brought fond memories of the experience to their work, ensuring that this year’s participants had a great time.

Alums who worked on campus this summer included Drew Ambrose ’23, Marcus Burrell ’23, Annabel Cronic ’23, Charlie Djorup ’23, Zoe Dubelier ’19, Devin Dunn ’23, Olivia Eads ’23, Genevieve Evans ’22, David Hyde ’23, Andrew Lay ’23, Anna Mathews ’21, Caroline Norton ’23, Cecelia O’Sullivan ’22, Brandon Potts ’21, Michael Regan ’22, Natalie RootsNowakowski ’23, Sienna Staver ’23, Margaret Taylor ’22, Shelby Willcox ’23, Khalil Williams ’23, and Ryan Wilson ’23.

Reception for Alumni-Parent Grandparents As a prelude to Potomac’s annual Grandparents & Special Friends Day, more than 150 guests gathered in the Spangler Center on May 11 to celebrate alumni parents whose grandchildren currently attend Potomac.

Head of School John Kowalik and Director of Advancement Barbara Overstreet welcomed the guests, shared some school updates, and led an entertaining round of “favorite Potomac memories.”

We thank our Host Committee of Potomac grandparents: Regina and Mike Amann, Adrienne and Peter Barris, Joan and Jim Doty, Bobbie and Bill Kilberg, Tracy and Jim Millar, and Pamela and Glenn Rosenthal.

Fun fact: The Millars and the Dotys share Potomac grandchildren; their children, Brady Millar Doty ’00 and Dan Doty ’00, are the parents of three current Potomac students. The Barrises and Rosenthals also share a Potomac grandchild, as their children, Pamela Barris Rosenthal ’03 and Eric Rosenthal ’03, are the parents of a current student.

q

w q George Varoutsos, Sandra Varoutsos, Christine Varoutsos ’01, and Ted Yiannarakis

w Yuctan Hodge, Gillian Kilberg Hodge ’97, Bill Kilberg, Julia Kilberg ’06, and Andrew Kilberg

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alumni activities

DC Meet-up High Above Georgetown On a beautiful evening in May, the Alumni Governing Council hosted 150 alums, past parents, and faculty members on the rooftop of Washington, DC’s elegant Rosewood Hotel. Old and new friendships were celebrated as the guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. Head of School John Kowalik spoke about recent developments at Potomac, as well as plans for the future, and Alumni Governing Council Vice President Meaghan Kierman Sparkman ’05 discussed the work of the AGC. It was a memorable evening, featuring spirited conversation and fabulous views of Georgetown.

A Dazzling Evening in NYC The mid-May evening weather was the perfect backdrop to host our New York City-area alumni for small bites, creative cocktails, and great conversation at Make Believe on the rooftop of SIXTY LES. Alums from the ’70s and forward spent the evening sharing memories and updates. Head of School John Kowalik spoke about Potomac’s successes from this past year, ranging from academic achievements to sports, the arts, and more. Thank you to our amazing Host Committee: Robbie de Picciotto ’04, Amir Jones ’15, Sara Kowalik ’18, Michelle Miller ’20, Aarti Rishi ’11, Harris Rooney ’15, and Andrew Warin ’03.

q

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e q

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Berray, Lee Anne Ritter, and Andrew Ritter ’86

q Michelle Miller ’20,

w Connor Laughlin ’11,

Bria Peace ’16, Alp Demiroglu ’16, and Gabriel Miller ’16

Trent Pope, and Charlotte Morris ’11

w Michael Bonello ’16

Mary Kate Ausbrook ’18, Keith Ausbrook, Kate Ausbrook, Max Ausbrook, and Mallory Kirby

and Mark Kowalik ’16

e Robbie de Picciotto ’04,

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q Tom Berray, Margot

Shevin Tantula ’04, Todd Langstaff ’08, Charlie Shearer-Collie ’04, and Amir Jones ’15

e Charlie Ausbrook ’16,

r Kara Arundel, Tom Arundel ’90, and John Arundel ’81

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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.

1942 Geraldine Warburg Zetzel shares, “I am living in Massachusetts and have been thinking about my early schooling. I remember my five excellent years at The Potomac School when it was in DC on California Street. Our graduating class was small – six girls, since boys only attended through the fourth grade.”

1946

Class Correspondents Rose Kean Lansbury rkl211@aol.com Nancy Hamilton Shepherd nhshepherd31@gmail.com Betsy Silver Alexander writes, “I’ve become very busy these past couple of years, having been elected treasurer of my parish and also of my homeowner’s association. Thank goodness for technology! I couldn’t manage all this otherwise. I have a son in Vermont, one daughter in Georgia, and another daughter living nearby in the San Francisco Bay Area. All five grandchildren also live in Northern California, along with one great-grandson, so it’s easy to have family

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get-togethers. Our class of ’46 has had several Zoom meetings, which have been very heart-warming and delightful. Best wishes to all from Menlo Park, CA!” Jerrie Kohlmeier Bartlett shares, “I continue to live in the full-time care facility near our apartment, the wonderful Philadelphia retirement community Cathedral Village. Allen and I dine each night in the main dining room with lively resident friends. With Parkinson’s disease, macular degeneration, balance issues, a wheelchair, etc., it remains a challenge to live creatively. My new project has been to recall, memorize, and recite folk songs and rhymes, thanks to Potomac, our reading of the biography of Jack Langstaff, and long drives to Maine with our kids in days of yore. I’ve sort of mastered about 20 so far.

I am finding that reciting a few lines as aides care for me can change the temperature and provoke a chuckle. I could not do without Allen’s daily loving care and presence.”

Nancy Hamilton Shepherd writes, “Dear 1946 classmates, It has been 77 years since we graduated from The Potomac School (I just did the math)! I started at Potomac in first grade, a year after my mother and I

had moved in with her parents on Woodley Place in Washington, DC. I had not been very happy at ‘The Oyster School’ during my kindergarten year in DC. My mother had gone to Potomac as a child and loved it, and she was lucky enough to find a scholarship for me so that she could afford to send me.

It was a wonderful school from my perspective. I especially loved all the drama and art. I remember being a purple cloud the year the older students did a play about Sigfried, and I loved the Christmas play each year. Almost as much fun was doing an annual version of that play in my church once I became an Episcopal priest.

I also loved the Girl Scout troop that Miss Seth-Smith (Stalkie was her Girl Scout name) led, including overnight camping, and even a trip to the UK and Europe when I was a senior scout. Of course, I will always remember you, my classmates and friends, and my many wonderful teachers. Perhaps Potomac may not have suited everyone, but it was just the place for me, and I am glad it was part of my life. You may remember that last year we had a class Zoom meeting. I hope we can do that again, probably in mid- to lateOctober. I will write an email as the time gets closer. Be well!”

class notes

1948 Betsy Boyd has moved from New York City to a retirement community in Lancaster, PA, called Willow Valley.

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Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come. Help lead the revelry!

Volunteer to serve as a Class Reunion Chair by emailing Laura Miller, director of alumni relations, at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

1952

Class Correspondent Louise Graham

If you are interested in helping Louise collect class notes, email Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

1954

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Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come. Help lead the revelry!

Volunteer to serve as a Class Reunion Chair by emailing Laura Miller, director of alumni relations, at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondent Tina Knox Radigan elizabethradigan3@gmail.com Margaret Cooley wrote that she is alive and well and feels guilty about not responding earlier. She promises to write a decent class note before the next deadline!

Tina Knox Radigan reports, “I am living a quiet life with my wonderful six-year-old goldie, Libby. I still volunteer at our local library and am secretary to its board of directors. I spent two weeks with my family in Bethany Beach, DE, this summer. It was exhausting but so much fun. I hope all of you are doing okay. I worry when I don’t hear from you!”

Sandy Robinson Righter says, “My strongest memories of Potomac are of the California Street years (when I wasn’t so bratty).

Jim and I were in Boston for 42 years; last year, we moved to a retirement place in

Lexington, MA, while still healthy and well.

Jim is an architect, and I am a psychiatric social worker, both retired. We have two kids, four grandchildren, and two greatgrandchildren, all living in the New York City area. In Boston, I sing in an octet and a larger choral group. So lucky and so much fun.”

Sadly, Lalitte Carusi Smith’s husband died last year. I [Tina] sent her a sympathy note, and she called me on the phone; we talked for about 40 minutes. She told me that cute Gordon Grey (from our third grade at Potomac) lived in her neighborhood, and she was great friends with his wife. I had a crush on Gordon in the third grade and even carved his name into our dining room table with a heart around it! It was great talking to her; she seems to be doing well.”

1955 Elizabeth Frazier McCallie shares, “Friend and classmate Christine Willcox Spencer passed away in April of this year. She had cancer and bravely underwent chemo treatments for four years. We had one last visit in Dallas a month before she died. She was her usual funny, thoughtful self. She is buried in her beloved Nantucket.

Tom and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in the emergency room, which got us a lot of attention! Tom had a terrible reaction to the Pfizer bivalent booster. He still has residual health issues, so at this time no more vaxxing for us.”

1956 Nerissa vom Baur Roehrs writes, “In late May, my husband, Heiner, died after a 13-year struggle with ‘The Dread Disease,’ undergoing every available treatment with valor. His doctors said he was their oldest patient. The custom here is to include a quotation suitable to the deceased in the death announcement. I chose: ‘Go forth, my soul, and seek joy.’ That he did.”

1959

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Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come. Help lead the revelry!

Volunteer to serve as a Class Reunion Chair by emailing Laura Miller, director of alumni relations, at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

1960

Class Correspondent Stephanie deSibour stephaniedesibour@gmail.com Eve Auchincloss Lilley shares, “All is good here in DC – save for missing my dear husband, Bill. But with a big family, friends, work, ballet, and four snuggly dogs, life goes on. It’s a new and unfamiliar journey, but each day finds a new competency, a new level of comfort – one step at a time. So all is well here, and I hope my dear classmates are also well.”

1962

Class Correspondent Deborah Johansen Harris debjohansenharris@gmail.com

Eleanor (Eldie) Acheson checked in, saying, “It’s been a busy year on all fronts. Work has been crazy with the Biden capital projects funding, but still lots of good time on Cape Cod. My spouse, Emily Hewitt, and I spent almost three weeks in Colorado and Wyoming last summer doing lots of hiking and bird watching, and seeing friends. We also had a busy fall with my niece, Peter Acheson’s oldest child, getting married on the Cape.

Also in the fall, the documentary film The Philadelphia Eleven premiered, having been in production for eight years.

It is about the eleven women Episcopal deacons who were ordained priests in 1974, one of whom was my spouse, Emily. The film will roll out through next year, the 50th anniversary of the priests’ ordination. For information, go to www.philadelphiaelevenfilm.com.

Unfortunately but inevitably, there has been the loss of some dear friends. Onward, and all the best to Potomac ’62ers!”

Antonia Caccia Zoomed in from London, saying her 20-year-old grandson is staying with her while he is studying economics in college.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Davison Zoomed with us to say she continues with her fiber arts projects as a member of a guild, and her work has been in a number of shows. Last October, she traveled to Barcelona to explore the city’s urban planning economics.

She also reported that she had seen two classmates – Liz Murray Platts and Peak Mason Power – who are doing well.

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class notes Deborah (Deb) Johansen Harris, shares, “I hosted a Zoom reunion for five classmates last August after several failed attempts on the tech side. I continue to enjoy painting watercolors and am finishing up a book of tributes to my late mother. My love of gardening fell by the wayside due to terrible heat and torrential rains. The flowers loved this, however, as did the weeds. My husband, Ted, is slowing down but is still in good spirits when he is alert. I had a glorious respite in my beloved Truro on the Cape the week after Labor Day, when I saw Eldie Acheson and lots of family and other friends.”

Eleanor (Bobbie) Lanahan reports, “Simon & Schuster published The Paper Dolls of Zelda Fitzgerald in 2022, for which I collected almost all of my grandmother’s dolls and wrote a short history to explain them. Working with the book designer was fun. In July 2023, I attended an artists’ residency at Chateau Orquevaux in France, where I enjoyed two full weeks of art, art, art, and delicious croissants every morning.

Within a week of my return, my son had a head-on collision with a driver who fell asleep on a country road, crossed the line, and plowed into him at 50 miles an hour.

My son was riding a motorcycle and had the amazing and miraculous presence of mind to jump off (he also was going 50 mph). Mostly he suffered damage to his leg and plenty of trauma, and he is now on the mend. Otherwise and in between, I completed the archive of my late partner, John Douglas, and gave his legacy of computer-generated prints, photos, and films to the Special Collections Department at the University of Vermont. I am now reentering my own world of illustration.”

Katherine (Katie) Marshall confessed during our Zoom meeting that she continues to fail at retirement. The summer had her traveling to the UK, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Brasilia, and Chicago, all with an inter-religious focus. A highlight was the sharpening focus on climate change, including the urgent need to protect the Amazon forests and work with indigenous communities. For those who don’t know, Katie is a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University and executive director of the World Faith Development Dialogue.

Louise McVickar Marx Zoomed with us from her house in Chappaquiddick on the Vineyard. She said she feels great and enjoyed some of the summer there with her

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’62 3 Louise McVickar Marx ’62 and family, in Chappaquiddick, MA

children and grandkids. She loves getting back to her golf game and can now play 18 holes. Following her stay on the Vineyard, Louise went to her house in Philadelphia and then on to Florida, where she winters with her family.

Carol Mattusch regaled us on Zoom with an amusing tale (although it was not so funny at the time) of her two donkeys, Walt Whitman and Thomas Eakins – usually peaceable pets that stay behind a single chain barrier. One summer night, fraught with torrential rains, they decided to explore life beyond their pen. Racing through the woods with Carol and her husband on their heels (uh, hooves), Walt and Thomas ran through rivers of mud, downed trees, and other storm debris until they were finally caught. Soaking and mud streaked, Carol and Richard returned to the barn with donkeys in tow. “We now have a six-foot aluminum gate,” Carol reported triumphantly.

On the academic front, Carol went to Naples on a research trip to explore new archaeological sites. She noted ruefully, “We also went to London, and it is the last time I will go there in the summer with the heat and all the crowds.”

Marianna (Mimi) Merrill Russell and her husband, John, are still in their farmhouse in Maryland, where they harvested an

’62 3 Carol Mattusch ’62

“overwhelming” bounty of produce from their many gardens. Their recent travels included a trip to California to visit their son.

Nina Nitze Moriarty emailed her news, looking back on 2023. She wrote, “Susan Dreier’s death and funeral were among the sorrowful events of this year. More recently, I went to Northeast Harbor, ME, where most of my family gathers in the summer.”

She added, “I think of Potomac often and cherish the memories. As for school news, I did see Charlie Bohlen at a friend’s funeral

class notes

1964

in Washington, DC, last May, and he is still in touch with Kit Briggs, who has been one of his closest friends since childhood.

Although I have not seen Kit in decades, I know he is doing well.”

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1968

Interested in helping your classmate Sallie collect class notes? Email her at s2barkers@yahoo.com or Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

From Tucson, Adelaide Anderson says, “I am enjoying being a ‘lady of leisure’ after retiring from teaching art for 30 years.

To transition from work, I have been a volunteer docent and assistant in the conservation lab at the Arizona State Museum, which houses a vast collection of artifacts from Native cultures of the Southwest.

Two summers ago, I traveled to Scotland with my sisters, Eugenie Anderson ’71 and Judy. We fell in love with Edinburgh, the Isle of Iona, fresh-caught salmon, and scotch (not necessarily in that order).

Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come. Help lead the revelry!

Volunteer to serve as a Class Reunion Chair by emailing Laura Miller, director of alumni relations, at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Anne Darneille Snodgrass Zoomed with news that her daughter is living in Buenos Aires while her son-in-law works on an engineering project in Argentina.

Rhea Topping sent in the following note: “I made a quick trip to Atlanta and Highlands, NC, for a long-overdue family visit last summer. We had fun catching up and imbibing, with lots of laughter!

Despite the oppressive heat, I enjoyed tending a large potted herb, veggie, and flower deck garden. As of this writing, I hope to take a supply ship from Tahiti to Pitcairn Island in early October for 10 days! I was there twice, in 1972 and 1974.

Theirs is a fascinating history and culture.”

1963

Class Correspondent Alison Peake alidee1@aol.com

godfathers), Peter Kimball ’69 and Matthew Kimball ’70, attended the celebration.

Fellow Potomac alums David Parker ’67 and Tom Parker ’68 also joined us for the joyous occasion. And Potomac’s assistant director of fundraising and constituent relations, Alexis Ellis, a longtime friend of Emilie’s, participated in the festivities. It was a magical day for us.”

Phil adds, “Kathy and I enjoy spending our time between Potomac, Maryland, and Chatham, Massachusetts, where my 97-year-old mom lives year round.”

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Class Correspondent Sallie Ayers Barker s2barkers@yahoo.com

1967

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

Class Correspondent Tom Macy potomac67@gmail.com

Thanks to Marisa Knowlton Domeyko for her leadership as Class Reunion Chair.

David McAllister ’65, who lives in Budapest, recently visited his sister, Jane McAllister ’70.

4

Phil Kimball shares, “Our daughter Emilie was married on May 6, 2023, at the historic Whittemore House, near Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. My brothers (Emilie’s

Class Correspondent Kim Holdsworth kimsworth4@gmail.com

Lydia and Matt Kimball ’70, Miriam and Peter Kimball ’69, Emilie Kimball and Ryan Altorfer, Kathy and Phil Kimball ’67 4

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class notes My two sons are doing well and living in Tucson. Both are great cooks, and we get together weekly to share meals and wine.

I feel blessed.”

“What surprises me,” says Kim Bennett, “is the speed with which time continues to fly!

I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by the love and support of my family and friends, as the 2020s have brought many challenges to my door. During the pandemic, my cystic fibrosis kept me prone to respiratory infections, so a ton of jigsaw puzzles, great books, some TV binging, and home projects kept me sane. Since then, both of my hips have been replaced. A spiral fracture required hip revision surgery, a broken left wrist (yes, I’m a lefty), partial spinal fusion, cancer surgery on my right hand, and I’m now facing another back surgery. Who knew that all those years of being athletic were going to backfire?! However, I’m sure I’m not the only one whose body is slipping into older age.

I made the leap in 2019 to being a snowbird and now split my time between the summer beauty of Colorado and the winter warmth of Florida. It seems to work well for me. My son, Alex, and his wife live in Florida, just 40 minutes from me. And my daughter, CC, and her new husband just relocated to Florida and live only about 20 minutes away! Who could ask for more?

Carl and I remain a couple (apparently, we are considered a ‘LAT’ couple [Living Apart Together]). It seems there’s an acronym for everything these days!

I’ve kept in touch with Addie Anderson, Barbara Strong Kirk, and Peggy Gill Schaake. I get together with Peggy a couple of times a winter, as she has a place not too far south of me. Barbara is also in Florida, and the three of us hope to get together this winter. I would love to see anyone else who finds themselves either in Colorado or on Florida’s Gulf Coast!”

Kate Holmes Caldwell writes, “I feel very fortunate, turning 70 this December, that life continues with many positive threads.

Last February, Harry and I celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary with a fascinating trip to Egypt and in June, we welcomed our third grandchild, Ezra, son to our daughter and son-in-law in Minneapolis. Ezra joins his sisters Josephine (3) and Isabelle (18 months) in Halifax, NS. Having grands is a pure delight!

I continue to sing and perform, and am recording my fourth CD – this one primarily folk on guitar and piano. I am even diving into writing my own songs – a very interesting experience.

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0 High[lands] life!

Adelaide Anderson ’68 in the fields of Tayneult, Scotland

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Kim Bennett ’68 and her brothers, Bill (left) and Doug (right), at Kim’s daughter’s 2023 wedding

Harry and I especially enjoy longdistance walking and are planning to walk the 100-mile Dingle Peninsula in Ireland this coming spring 2024, along with Hopie Wright and her husband, Bill. It was great to catch up with cousin Kathryn Burgwin earlier this spring in Rehoboth Beach, DE.” Marusya (Moosie) Chavchavadze shares, “I retired on August 28, my 70th birthday, after 29 years of American Friends of Georgia! AFG has been my passion and life’s work and has only deepened my love for the Georgian people, who are courageous and full of joy, hospitality, and love despite the difficulties they endure.

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Marusya Chavchavadze ’68 at her home in Wellfleet, MA, with Bill Corcoran, American Friends of Georgia’s new executive director.

Marusya has retired after 29 years with the group.

Together with more than 60 Georgian nonprofit organizations, we established the first free residential community for homeless children in Georgia, the first hospice and home care program, the first parents’ house for children with leukemia, and an art rehabilitation center for wartraumatized children, among many other projects that collectively assist hundreds of Georgians each year. I’ll continue as a board member and possibly do one more tour in the country of Georgia. My ancestral home there, Tsinandali, is now a small museum and is always on tours of Kakheti, Eastern Georgia, in Georgia’s wine country.

class notes

Jeremy Gordon ’68 with his brother, Dan Gordon ’65, on Martha’s Vineyard 4

’68

Jeremy Gordon shares, “My wife, Susan, and I are still living in Pacific Palisades, CA. We visited Martha’s Vineyard in June to see my brother, Dan Gordon ’65, and then went to visit my sister, Liz, at her Alleged Farm in Upstate New York. We saw classmates Kim Holdsworth and Mimi Katzenbach Stokes on the trip.”

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Bob ’68 and Roxanne Fleming overlooking Rehoboth Bay, DE

7 Kim Holdsworth ’68 and her grandbaby, Livi, on Wattamolla Beach, NSW, Australia

Now, I look forward to having more time for other things and more time with my friends. I loved our 50th reunion! Recent Cape Cod visits with Potomac friends included time with Simone Jorissen (from Holland), Laura Wainwright (from Martha’s Vineyard), and brothers Tom Parker ’68 and David Parker ’67 in nearby Chatham, MA. Hope to see more of you in the future!”

“Greetings,” writes John Davidge. “Since my wife, Deb, retired, we’ve been spending a great deal of time at Prospect Farm in Lancaster, NH, an ancestral place. There is a lot to do here in the White Mountains: swimming, tennis (surprisingly, several

Bob Fleming says, “All remains good with me. Roxanne and I are still in DC, and I’m still working full time in the real estate investment business, though inching toward a slowdown. Not surprisingly, things got slower during the pandemic, but we’re now back to clicking along at a measured pace.

The big news for our family is that we just completed construction of a new beach house in Indian Beach, DE, and with an office here, which includes a very nice ocean view, I’m getting the hang of this whole remote work thing. Our three kids, two from Denver and one from NYC, were all here for the Fourth of July, along with the three grandkids, two dogs, and assorted friends and other relatives – crazy but wonderful. I’m happy and continue to be blessed with good health (lots of swimming and yoga)! I look forward to reading other classmates’ news. As an aside, I occasionally drive right past Dan DuVal’s house with very fond memories of our 50th Reunion.

Can’t believe it’s been five years!”

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friends have courts), mountain climbing, biking, farm work, and, of course, still ice climbing in the winter. I continue to work at investment counsel Davidge & Co. for a cadre of individuals and trusts; it keeps the mind focused.

In the fall and winter, we traveled for a couple of weeks to the South of France, Chile, and Cuba – wow, a real sleeper and an old haunt. And last summer, we took a car trip from the farm to Nova Scotia, which was lovely. Also, for over 50 years and counting, I still get down to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The only Potomac friends whose paths I’ve crossed are David Chapin and step-sister Susie Crudgington.”

A wonderful note from cardiologist Susan Graham: “70. Hmm. Akin to age 30: I spent the full year of 29 saying/thinking/dreading being 30. When the actual 30th birthday came around, it was easy. I had been in training and practicing for a year. Thus, 30 was nothing.

I’m working part-time, same job with changes, same office as in 1989 when I started. I hope we will have some younger recruits so that I can fade away. It is difficult to recruit to our job and location (academic physician, Buffalo, NY), but I am grateful for the opportunity to live and work here.

It’s been better than I ever anticipated. Not perfect, plenty of ups and downs, but that’s part of life.

My eldest son lives in Houston with his wife and two little kids. I lived in Houston for seven years after college and vowed to never return...oh, well. Eat one’s words. My second son is in Michigan for now. Thus, my husband, Jon, and I stay in Buffalo, spend summers in New Hampshire, and travel to Texas for babysitting and other visits. At some point we’ll need to downsize, but not right now; too soon to make the decisions.

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class notes I started tae kwon do at age 57 out of a need to add movement, flexibility, and balance to my life. It’s been 12, almost 13, years, and I’m still at it. I enjoy the diversity of ages (3 to 86), diversity of skills (do what you are able to do but at least try), excellent teaching, community of people, and wholeperson exercises. I tested for a fourth degree in June; testing and tournaments are not about the reward but rather about process and focus. It’s been something I never anticipated. It has also taught me about the culture, which is helpful at work and with our refugee resettlement programs. Buffalo is multicultural, which I enjoy, and we are next to Canada, another plus.”

“A year after our move, we are ALMOST settled; there are still a few things to hang,” reports Chip Hitchcock. “We’re farther from downtown Boston than ever, but in a more urban location than we’ve ever lived in. Being rid of a yard has been liberating, even if we’re up to a dozen pots on the balcony. If we need more green, the river paths, with the occasional independent heron, cormorant, ducks, and geese, are a block away. We have no children but two great-nephews already. Our first postlockdown trip was to southwest Virginia to see the last of five unwed family members get married. I followed this with a Carnegie Hall choral performance; choruses have mostly returned to normal, although we’re still wary of COVID.”

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.

48

THE POTOMAC TERM

0 Tammy Pittman ’68 and Laura Wainwright ’68 on Martha’s Vineyard

’68 Kim Holdsworth shares, “I retired from sit-down/get-paid office work in 2014, almost 10 years ago. Since then, I’ve been busily tending family properties. And then came a grandchild (thank you, Nick and Virginia!), and that family lives near us on-island. Tending her three times a week for much of these past two years has me rediscovering huge doses of spontaneity, fluidity, timelessness, and fulsomeness. A return to the savored years of child-raising here, but with fewer responsibilities and more fully appreciated hours and moments. Nonquantitative life! I’ve been loving this chapter, heading into my 70s now.

Bob and I spend a quarter of the year in off-season Martha’s Vineyard, an alternate home since my childhood. Laura Wainwright, Ceci Addison Clark, Tammy Pittman, Jeremy Gordon, and even Mimi Katzenbach Stokes have ties there too, and these shared friendships are still wonderful. We are also spending more time in Australia, where our daughter Zan and her husband are endangeredwildlife conservationists. Plus a bit of time traveling abroad with family and friends.

And then back to St. Thomas to revel in the expanding next generation of islandborn kin.”

Perry Howze writes, “Beloved classmates, I often think of our 50th with fondness and marvel at the magical time we had together.

I’m still absorbing the shock that I’m not young anymore. That too much of my life goes into keeping body and soul together.

I won’t list my medical woes, too tedious.

I’m guessing many of you have experienced resistance of the body to perform as it used to. And then there are all the little nicks and chinks in one’s armor. Harder, even, than coming to terms with one’s own unyoung body, is the illness and loss of so

many dear ones. Friends, especially. The impossible. I want to get good at getting old and at being old, and at love.”

Lucy Jewett Lowenthal writes, “We are having a challenging time in McLean. My dad died last summer and my mother is still at the big house. She has ’round-theclock caregivers and serious dementia. I go over there almost every day to manage her care and the property. She is content, and the house looks as it did when we grew up. In addition to all the family commitments, I am teaching an online course in public health at GW, in the MPH program, called Fundamentals of Health Policy.”

Peter Lowenthal reports, “I continue to work full-time in solar energy as an inspector at New Columbia, a solar company here in Washington, DC. There is a lot of work, and I find it challenging and rewarding. It is great that society is finally embracing renewable energy technologies.

Lucy and my children, Rachel and Max, are both in the Washington area. Rachel is teaching high school science and biology at Holton-Arms School. Max is a financial analyst and planner at a large renewable energy investment firm in Annapolis.“ Peg Gill Schaake and her husband have been doing some traveling, with more planned next year. Meanwhile, they’ve created a huge tropical garden where they live in Florida and add to it constantly (luckily the trees saved their house during a past hurricane).

Peg shared, “I’ve been weeding out my possessions over the past year. I don’t want to leave my ‘cherished’ collections to be gone through later, so years of stuff have now gone in the trash. It’s a great feeling!”

class notes 0 Dana Strong ’70 and Garrett

Jewett ’70 stopped for lunch in Bangor, ME, en route to the Jewetts’ home on Deer Isle.

’68

’70

3

Nicholas Stein ’68 with his daughter (left) and granddaughter (right) Nick Stein reports, “All is well. I am retired and just loving it – couldn’t be happier. Susan and I have moved to Santa Barbara, CA. It’s absolutely heavenly here. Susan continues to work as a Jungian analyst and therapist. I’m very busy with many physical activities – in good health and very grateful – as well as taking classes at Santa Barbara City College.

Though I’m retired, I still work in meditation and mindfulness with the Cambridge Police Department and other groups.”

1969

’70 3

Dana Strong ’70 holding her granddaughter, Charlotte Corinne LeBoeuf, born May 12 in Louisville, CO 0 Steve Freligh ’71 with his sons,

Jonathan (left) and Charlie (right), and his grandson, Maslow, taking ’71 center stage

55th

Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come! Are you interested in being on the Reunion Host Committee? Email Laura Miller, director of alumni relations, at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Alex Dominick writes, “Hello, classmates!

My wife and I are still living the high life in Colorado. We survived the pandemic and the Marshall Fire here. We are in relatively good shape. (I’m determined NOT to write about health issues. We have them. So do you. ’Nuff said.) The newest news is that we adopted a Papillon puppy, and she’s the love of our life. Never had a puppy or dog or animal of any kind who was such a joy. She adds immeasurably to our well-being!

I recently published the second edition of my book, Flying The Hump: The War Diary of Peter H. Dominick. It has more pictures, more stories, more details, more maps, and fewer typos (he said, optimistically).

I hope your lives are as happy and fulfilled as mine. If you’re ever out my way, I’d love to see you.”

1970

Class Correspondent Jane McAllister McAllister.Jane@outlook.com

Kristen Rose Jaffe writes, “Not a ton of news on my end. I am about to begin year number 46 (or is it 47? – I began in 1977) of teaching, but I was still feeling the pre-school nerves.

I spent time with my granddaughters this summer, three in Chicago and one local, and visited my sister in St. Albans, England, after seven years, the longest time away from my home country ever. I am hoping to see my old classmate, Jane, in Philadelphia now that she has a son studying at Wharton!”

Jane McAllister had the pleasure of seeing Georgia Rock, daughter of Kerry and Bobby Rock, a few times this summer while Georgia, a law student at NYU, had a summer internship in DC. One of those occasions was at a dinner Jane hosted in honor of her brother, David McAllister ’65, who was visiting DC from Budapest for the first time

in five years. Jane apologizes to George Upton for referring to his wife, Dorothy, by the wrong name in the previous Term! Sorry, George and Dorothy!

Sarah Bucknell Treco writes, “Our second granddaughter, Victoria Treco, arrived safely on August 15, promptly on her due date. I can’t wait to find out who she is and will be!

We will be spending more time in the South Dartmouth area, having just bought a house in Nonquitt on the south coast of MA, an hour and fifteen minutes from Boston – no bridges, no ferries. August in Nantucket is probably grandfathered into the calendar. Travis Brown, do you still vacation in Nonquitt?”

1971 Steve Freligh shares, “Been a busy year with Nature’s Best Photography exhibitions in Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, the UK, China, and then here in the USA in Palm Beach, FL; Los Angeles, CA; and the next one in Jackson Hole, WY. Published a new book and

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class notes still loving it after all these years, especially our smaller displays at Children’s National Hospital in DC, where they lift the spirits of patients, their families, and the amazing staff who take such great care of them all!

Celebrated my grandson’s first birthday in May at home here in McLean. Three generations of Freligh boys together was truly a life-changing experience. Look out world...dimples galore!”

7 “A photo of some long-haired delinquents.” (l to r): John Chester ’73, Tony Hass ’73, and Charlie Higginson ’73 in Washington, DC, in 1973 – probably at the Higginsons’ house on Garfield Street

1972 Kate Atkins Barrand shares, “We lost our classmate Susie Macy Jarvinen in May. Susie and I remained friends throughout our lives, even though we were rarely in the same place except for occasional weeks in July in Nantucket. She remained the same kind, thoughtful, artistic, and creative soul throughout her years. We could fall in with each other after years and months apart just like we were driving down the highway in McLean all those many years ago. Susie met the love of her life in Matt Jarvinen and lived happily with him and their three children, Alina, John, and Kat, in Evergreen, CO. The children were Susie’s pride and joy.

Susie remained creative in her later years, working a loom and making beautiful table runners and numerous other items for her friends and family. She was visited by our classmate Catherine Hull Fleming, another lifelong Potomac friend, during her struggle to beat cancer. I visited often as well, and on our last visit, Susie’s wry sense of humor was on spectacular display; we had a few good laughs about pranks in our childhood. We lost a truly special soul when Susie left us.”

’73

1973

Class Correspondent Liza Gookin Hodskins lhodskins@yahoo.com

Thanks to Class Reunion Chairs Liza Gookin Hodskins and Keith Ausbrook. You did a great job getting the group back together for the 50th milestone.

Magic/Donna Greene Alexander says, “I roamed back to DC from Reno in 2019 and have been staying afloat doing biotech/ biopharma library consulting, but I’d love to finally land something a little more longterm than three-to-six-month contracts.”

She adds that she’s been following the Nats and waiting for the Capitals season to start.

Bill Calfee writes, “I am running a startup looking to change online shopping for good.

Leading my team of 13 people is more than a full-time job. It has mostly been a lot of fun, and it is the hardest thing I have ever done. We have enthusiastic support from communities and investors who feel that keeping money in local communities is critical to maintaining social fabric and building social capital. Anyone who wants to know more, please reach out. More info at www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/ money/2023/08/25/burlington-startupmyti-launches-local-online-alternative-toamazon/70670564007”

’72

50

THE POTOMAC TERM

0 Susie Macy Jarvinen ’72 with her husband, Matt. Susie passed away in May after a battle with cancer.

Chris Albert Carnes shares, “At 64, I joined my daughter in buying a vet clinic.

Everyone else is retiring, but I’m just starting! The joy of our lives right now is our one-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter, Lexi. Daughter Jess and Lexi live with us, and it is wonderful!”

John Chester sent along a photo of some long-haired delinquents. The date is exactly sometime in 1973. The location is Washington, DC, probably at the Higginson’s house on Garfield Street. John writes, “I wanted to send a fantastic photo of nine of us with our bikes but can’t find it now as we have some renovation going on and things are a mess!

As for news, I’m really enjoying retirement, having sold Wild Apple Graphics to an employee last year. We now have three grandchildren, and they live within easy driving distance. Laurie and I are doing a lot of traveling, and I’m mountain biking, playing hockey, and skiing.”

Carrie Gibson says, “I’ve been back on the East Coast, in Beacon near NYC, for two years now, producing my first short film, Squeeze, about my writing partner’s autistic son and how a wrestling coach changed their lives. I am an actor and writer, so being a producer has been a stretch. This fall, I tried to get into the city once a week to walk the picket line for SAG/AFTRA. Our battle against AI and corporate greed feels epic. The idea that AI can take away the human element that an actor or writer brings is heartbreaking. Hope to see you all at our Reunion!” Check out Carrie’s short bio at www.imdb.com. You may have recognized her as the “Tall Barista” on HBO’s Barry!

class notes Diana Morgan Gustafson ’73 and Tom Gustafson celebrated their 10th anniversary.

4

’73 3 Nancy White Lippe ’73 and her brother, Barney White ’68, in 2022. Barney passed away in June.

’73 3 Catriona McIvor ’73 and Victoria Hand ’73 at the home of Alexandra Hand Mateer ‘67

one weekend, plus three additional G&S performances within those same two weeks.”

’73

Diana Morgan Gustafson and husband Tom have celebrated their 10th anniversary.

She’s happy to still be able to go to the Kennedy Center with her mom and said she was looking forward to Reunion.

Tony Hass reports, “I am still working with the same investment firm, 20 years in, and have appreciated my later-incareer reassignment! Notwithstanding San Francisco’s negative press, Anna and I are really enjoying exploring the city and the West in general. We’ve also built a base in Jackson Hole, WY, where we have a home and visit frequently, summer and winter! Jackson has enabled us to reconnect with Tom Resor ’73 and his wife, Tammy, Henry Strong ’72, and other friends who visit. Family-wise, my mom just turned 95 this summer and is living in a retirement community in Princeton, NJ. My sister, Lee Hass ’74, is living in Australia and returns for two-month visits in the summer, and my brother, Jay Hass ’76, is based in Philadelphia. Both are in touch with their Potomac classmates and looking forward to their reunions as well.

My strongest Potomac memories are the May Day celebrations, all my homeroom teachers, the Christmas pageant and senior play, nature walks at the pond, capture-theflag and Red-Blue sports competitions, Mr. Langstaff...and the list goes on!”

Liza Gookin Hodskins shares, “Steve and I entertained some English friends by attending Americana events (by request): three different military Twilight Tattoos, a Battle of Gettysburg reenactment, an Independence Day baseball game/ celebration at Nats Park, and the National July Fourth parade (where I swing danced with my group). We ate crabs and raw oysters at an Arlington dive bar, had lunch on the Old Town waterfront, and toured the Masonic Memorial – some things you might miss even if you live here! With everyone I know, I have been happily celebrating the new local(ish) ownership of Washington’s football team – to be re-renamed sometime soon, we hope!

On our ‘Visit the State Fairs/SeeAdditional-States Tour,’ Steve and I just had a 17-day road trip and saw 12 states, 11 zoos (one giraffe with zero spots), four Great Lakes, three city art galleries, three waterfalls, two covered bridges (one ‘of Madison County’), two state fairs (including competing in Iowa’s whistling and husbandcalling contests), two indoor museums, one living museum, one car-free island, one hall of fame, one national park, one huge mall with an actual amusement park in it, and one 1950s five-plex drive-in (where we saw Barbie). To continue the numbers game, two weeks later, I learned, and sang in, all 13 Gilbert and Sullivan operettas in

Cathie Davis Kaplan was hoping to make it to Reunion, but she wrote, “I have broken my pelvis (I didn’t fall). I think I have osteoporosis and will be getting a bone density scan soon. This getting old stuff is ‘for the birds!’ Steve and I are both retired. We haven’t been traveling because of obligations at home. We have an 18-year-old cat who has diabetes and needs two shots a day. We also have four cockatiels from my old classroom at Potomac. They are 17 and 13. They can live to be 20 to 25 years old. I don’t want to take them to the animal shelter.”

Nancy White Lippe writes, “I live in Denver, CO, with my husband, Paul. We spend a lot of time at our place in the mountains hiking, biking, fishing, kayaking, skiing, and growing mountain horse hay. I started a philanthropy consulting practice, PhilanthropyConnect, working with individuals, family foundations, and corporations to develop strategic giving plans. Often, we help our clients engage the next generation(s) in those giving decisions.

Two of our four kids are married and living on the East Coast, the other two on the West Coast. So happy to say that we welcomed our first grandchild, Henry, in April! Sad to report that my brother, Barney White ’68, passed away in June of cancer.

I am in close touch with Channing Page, who lives in Boston. Hope to see many classmates in person at our Reunion – not just on Facebook/Instagram!”

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class notes Chad Loebs says, “There’s not much recent to report since my post last spring, but as autumn arrives here in Rhode Island, our crab apples are bearing a big crop this year.

Does anyone else remember the annual ritual of picking crab apples from the trees lining the driveway to The Potomac School (it was all rural countryside then), and after making some kind of jelly in the classroom and presenting the little jars proudly to our parents at home?”

Catriona McIvor has been living in South Eastern Queensland since 1973 and is now summering (December-March) in New Zealand. She loves catching up with American friends when possible. Dorsey Davidge visited her about 30 years ago. In August, Catriona took our yearbook 200 km to Victoria Hand’s sister, Alexandra Hand Mateer ’67’s, 70th birthday celebration, and she and Victoria had a wonderful time going through it, reminiscing, and laughing.

Catriona wrote, “It was so fun! We were at school together for nine years but have had zero contact for 50. But we got on so well, we talked and talked. It was a great night.”

Hal Reynolds wrote that he was looking forward to seeing everyone at Reunion. He shared, “After living in Southern California for 34 years, Lisa and I are spending more time back east in Delray Beach, FL, and Little Deer Isle, ME. Our oldest child, Elle, lives in Mammoth Lakes, CA; our son, Will, is in Salt Lake City, UT; and our youngest, Margaux, is at UVA. We remain in close touch with Tony Hass and his wife, Anna, and their children, and we were excited to see Michael Tucker, Marshall Tucker ’76, Elinor Tucker ’80, and Carol Exnicios Tucker ’46 in Maine this summer!

’73 3 Lisa and Hal Reynolds ’73

We’re so sorry that Alexandra zu Pappenheim couldn’t make the Reunion.

She says, “I haven’t written in for many years, but this is not because I didn’t want to. I have lived in Switzerland for the last 42 (!) years. Unfortunately, I injured my back in 2001 and had one slipped disc after another for three years in a row. I was operated on three times but to no great avail; I have had chronic pain since then

Greg Stewart shares this update: “I have been living in Colorado for 43 years. I am trained in voiceover and narration and spent 18 years reading for the visually impaired through the Audio Information Network of Colorado. Additionally, I am a lightning safety consultant with the Lightning Data Center. Ranch caretaking, property management, mountain biking, skiing, soccer, tennis, and swimming are my other interests. I am hoping to reunite with my Potomac classmates this fall.”

7 Greg Stewart ’73 at Table Rock Ranch, Colorado Springs, in 2021

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THE POTOMAC TERM

’73

due to a damaged nerve. Since I wasn’t able to work full time, I received disability benefits from the Swiss government until I officially retired last year (the retirement age for women in Switzerland was 64 until last year). As we live in an age where we are all totally transparent, I figured the Swiss disability insurance might Google me to see what I was up to, and I didn’t want anything to appear in our Class Notes that might lead to my losing my disability benefits.

I’ve lived in Zurich for the last 26 years.

On rare occasions I work as an interpreter hourly. I go to a lot of back therapy to make my life more or less liveable. Apart from this, I have spent a fair amount of time the past two years visiting my now 96-year-old mother, as we had to move her from her apartment in an assisted living facility to a nursing home in 2021 due to a decline in her cognitive abilities. At times, visiting her can be wonderful, especially when she is able to converse; at other times, when all she does is babble to herself, it is very depressing. Over the years Liza Gookin Hodskins and her husband, Steve, and Tony Haas have managed to make it this far! I wish you all a wonderful Reunion and hope this finds you all well.”

class notes

1974

50th

Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come. Help lead the revelry! We are looking for volunteers to serve as Class Reunion Chairs. Volunteer to help plan your 50th Reunion by emailing Laura Miller, director of alumni relations, at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondent Ann Brown annanna.brown@gmail.com Siri Hari Kaur Angleton-Khalsa writes, “Hello all, hope everyone’s fine. Well, just a short note. The pool parties continue; we had some big meetings for Sikh Dharma this summer. Also spent time at our place on the Brule. Had dinner with Penny Flather Parke ’64 and Mark Sullivan. The Flather girls went to Potomac. We dined on her terrace overlooking Big Lake. The night before, Penny and her husband, Bill, joined us for an evening paddle down the river. It was a peaceful twilight and beautiful. After that, we went to Los Angeles for a while and went swimming in some friends’ 1920s pool with warm waterfalls, so that was fun. Still doing that Kundalini thing. And writing books about the 10 Sikh Gurus and the Kundalini Yoga lifestyle and how to live it.

Keeping it light and lively.”

Richard Bray writes, “I retired in 2017 after 37 years in law enforcement, most of it spent flying helicopters. After retiring, I was rehired the following day doing the same job as a civilian. I also do a good bit of contract flying and serve on several industry working groups and committees.

My 94-year-old dad still lives in DC. I’m in northern Florida and very happy about it!

Hope all of our class is doing well.”

along the way was a great opportunity to think about what I want to do next.”

Sarah Lejeune reports, “I am still enjoying semi-retirement and working as a land use policy consultant, addressing the California housing crisis and sea level rise. Daughter Zoe graduated from Lewis and Clark College in May, finishing in three and a half years with a major in environmental science, and is now traveling in Europe and getting her EU citizenship with the goal of doing graduate work there. I was thrilled to meet up with Sarah Carter Barron in LA to see her sister, Zoe Carter ’75, perform a singersongwriter gig in Hollywood.

I now have more time to paint and write and am happy to get back to exhibiting my work. Summer rain in California was mostly a blessing. I am still boogie boarding in the Malibu surf and hiking the bluffs with my amusing rescue dog. Come visit!”

Laura Roosevelt writes, “Huge thanks to Jo Kalmus Miller, Lee Hass, Ben and Stephen Warnke, and Jonathan Willens for coming to my mom’s memorial service in NYC. Jo, who knew my mother for decades, spoke movingly. Jonathan, who knew my mother only as a bike gang member heading through the house to my attic hang-out space, remembered her as “scary.” She was, in those days!

In July, Lee Hass and my husband, Charlie, held a weekend yoga and meditation retreat in our backyard here on Martha’s Vineyard. It was a treat to see Polly Pittman and Dorsey Davidge ’73 there. Everyone agreed: Lee is a superb yoga teacher.

I’m looking forward to an imminent visit from Jonathan and his wife, Julia, who come to Martha’s Vineyard every year for a seminar taught by a friend of Charlie’s and mine, who taught Jonathan literature at Swarthmore.

Meanwhile, I’ve ratcheted up my vegetable garden to try to feed us more throughout the year (lots of freezing, pickling, canning, and root-cellaring) as one way to reduce our environmental footprint.

I’m writing about the experience in an environmental magazine called Bluedot Living, for which I’m also a copy editor.

I’m absurdly busy and behind with everything all the time, but happy.”

Harold Singletary writes, “I retired on August 29, and I’m ready for more times like the one at Rehoboth Beach recently with Jamie Engert. It’s one day at a time now.

And I like it that way!”

1975

Class Correspondent Peggy Griffin Begor pbegor@gmail.com

Interested in helping Peggy collect class notes? Contact Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org to learn more about the role.

1976

Class Correspondent Brad MacKenzie bmackb@gmail.com

We lost classmate Anne Coleman on January 12, 2023. She died a few months after learning that an earlier diagnosis of ocular melanoma had metastasized. Anne was born in Rome, Italy. After Potomac, she graduated from Mount Desert Island High School and the University of Montana in Missoula. Anne lived in North Yarmouth, ME, and Durango, CO. She is survived by her wife, Trish Friant, and four brothers – Craig Coleman ’79, Bruce Coleman ’73, Christopher Seymour ’68,

Sarah Holmes reports, “This has been a busy year with a construction project to merge two apartments on Connecticut Ave., as John and I plan our retirement years.

Also, I’m thrilled to be the new president of the Cathedral Choral Society. Please come to our concerts when you are in DC!” Jane Day Rich shares, “I’ve quit my recruiting job and walked the 500-mile Camino de Santiago this summer with my sister, Isabel Day ’79. Mom did the pilgrimage at age 70 and asked that her ashes be scattered along a pretty part of the trail, so she accompanied us! Putting one foot in front of the other all

7 (l to r): 1976 classmates Madeleine Carter, Anne Coleman, Susan McAllister, Alaine PeasleeHinshaw, and Leyla Day

’76

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class notes and Peter Seymour ’67. Anne loved nature; she fly-fished, kayaked, skied, hiked, camped, and was a Registered Maine Guide. She devoted her work life to helping people and building community. Anne was the director of the Teen Adventure Program in Portland, and she started Into the Wild Expeditions, serving troubled teenagers. She was also a cofounder of 317 Main Street Community Music Center in Yarmouth. Anne lived her life with openness, courage, and curiosity and gave back with charisma and love.”

Julie Just shares, “I haven’t made it back to campus in too many years, but recently I was traveling in Arizona with Mads Carter, and we happened to meet Molly Warner ’60 and her sister, Edie Warner ’63. It was a pleasure to connect over memories of the wonderful Jack Langstaff and all that amazing music, not to mention Latin class and our teacher Mrs. Rose. I never knew that Mrs. Rose had written a memoir of her childhood called A Difficult Girl. I found it online and have now ordered it!”

Brad MacKenzie writes, “Following Hurricane Ian’s direct hit on Sanibel last September, I have spent most of the past year living in a trailer in the driveway.

Now that our home is mostly rebuilt, we’ve moved in. Sanibel’s honey bees were wiped out by Ian. While the new bees are putting in a valiant effort to repopulate and have made a modest amount of honey, full recovery for my honey harvest won’t happen until next summer.”

1977

Class Correspondent Four Hewes fourhewes@zoho.com

1978

Class Correspondent Julie Twiname Warder batwarder@cox.net

Reunion Class Chairs Robert McDowell and Lola Singletary brought their magic and leadership to helping the class celebrate.

Thanks for your hard work and dedication!

Gerry Holmes writes, “We’re entering our second year of empty nesting, with Aidan going into his sophomore year at the University of Vermont and Alex at Occidental in L.A. (his senior year and looking to get into the biz – tough moment).

Jennifer and I are still at NPR, navigating

54

THE POTOMAC TERM

’78 3 Gigi Jefferson Chaapel ’78 and Byron Hope ’78 on July 9 at Gigi’s mother’s home 7 Oteil Burbridge ’79 hit the road this fall on an 11-stop tour.

the craziest news cycle in my career (these last six years). It was great catching up with you all at Reunion.”

Libby Jewett shares, “I am super proud of my last big accomplishment while still working in the Ocean Acidification Program.

Weaving this funding together from multiple agencies (NOAA, Department of Energy, Office of Naval Research, National Science Foundation) as well as other NOAA programs and ClimateWorks, a private philanthropy, was no small task, but we did it, ensuring progress on the White House’s Ocean Climate Action Plan. With this investment, I hope we can make significant headway in understanding the pros and cons of marine carbon dioxide removal – including, perhaps, what regulatory processes need to be developed to ensure it is done in an ocean-protective way. Kudos to the OAP team for leading the way and doing the heavy lifting.”

Wendell Miles reports, “We are all fine.

We installed my daughter, Juliana, as a freshman boarder at Madeira this week! My son returns for his final year at Exeter next week. Ann and I are preparing ourselves to be empty nesters. I am mainly looking forward to letting go of the 7:00 am bus drop-off! I recently moved into my new office; it’s in the same building, but a smaller space. The build-out took much too long and the finishing touches have yet to be completed, but it feels good all the same.

’79

On another note, I heard our classmate, Josh Rosenthal, on NPR in August. He was discussing his recent creation of a transparent squid! You can listen to it here: www.npr.org/2023/08/25/1196049421/howand-why-scientists-created-a-see-throughsquid” Nina Howard Regan says, “I’m happy to share that we’re grandparents again. Our daughter, Emma Regan Stansbury ’12, and her husband, Conrad Stansbury ’11, just had their second child, Hollis Lane Stansbury. It was a joy to spend time with them all in San Francisco. Sorry I missed Reunion. Sending hugs to all of you.”

1979

45th

Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come. Help lead the revelry!

Volunteer to serve as a Class Reunion Chair by emailing Laura Miller, director of alumni relations, at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondent Anita Winsor-Edwards anwinsor@gmail.com An update from Oteil Burbridge: “So excited to announce that my new album, Lovely View of Heaven, a tribute to the musical legacy of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, was released on September 15. Also

class notes a ‘game-changer’ for our school district.

We’ve gotten some prestigious national public school innovation grants and now have to spend our planning year building and financing our new school facility in the local big-box shopping mall, enrolling, hiring, and refining our programming.

If any Potomac alums are interested in supporting an innovative educational and economic enterprise that will serve young people from underserved communities in transformative ways, we are in need of some angel investors!”

7 Jeannette Matheson Lussi ’79 and Rock’N Ranger in Middleburg, VA Kathy Cox ’79, resting on the way down Sugarloaf Mountain 4

1983

Class Correspondent Eric McGuire emcg.dcfd@gmail.com

’79

in September, I hit the road with my dear friends Melvin Seals, Steve Kimock, Duane Betts, Jason Crosby, Johnny Kimock, and Lamar Williams Jr.! We kicked things off with two shows at the legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, on September 15 and 16, and closed out at The Pourhouse in Charleston, SC, on September 30.”

Kathy Cox writes, “I went to Moab, UT; Denver and Carbondale, CO; and Destin Beach, FL late this summer. I discovered that I’m pretty good at hot weather. I joined the Arts Chorale of Winchester last week, and we will perform Faure’s Requiem and a couple of other short pieces on November 3 and 4. Tomorrow afternoon, I am starting the semester teaching The Art of Literature at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, where I am associate dean of humanities and an English professor (full professor but no tenure). Come to the concert if you are in the area!”

Jeannette Matheson Lussi shares, “The biggest news for me is that my horse, Rock’N Ranger, and I are heading to the Lexington Kentucky Horse Park for the American Eventing Championship (AECs). I am going as the top-seeded Masters Amateur rider at 60 in the Beginner Novice division, competing against other riders from across the country. I am having a blast with a great-hearted horse partner. My husband, Craig, is very supportive of this later-in-life quest and has become a great groom.

’79

The kids are great, with Hunter taking the legal bar exam and racing professionally in Ironman races (coming in ninth at Ironman Lake Placid and eighth at a 1/2 ironman in Maine). My daughter, Tyler, plays professional soccer for the NWSL, was traded in the winter, and is now on the East Coast with the NC Courage. My son Morgan is in Baltimore and helping coach the Loyola University men’s soccer team. He comes home often and helps me at my assisted living homes, where I care for nearly 60 seniors.”

Thanks to Class Reunion Chairs Victoria Frankhauser Esposito, Renee Lettow Lerner, and Eric McGuire for helping to make Reunion 2023 a fabulous celebration!

Guy Arnold is living in Colorado and would love to catch up with any alumni who find themselves around either Denver or Vail.

Anita Winsor-Edwards ’79, Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, August 2023 4

Anita Winsor-Edwards shares, “I am enjoying a Japanese moment, having just returned from a fascinating week exploring Tokyo. Also, I finished reading The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima, a great writer from that country with an interesting personal history.”

1980

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

Romey Pittman shares this exciting update: “I’ve been working hard to open a new career-connected, open-walled public charter high school in my home community of Annapolis, MD. Last week, we were approved by a unanimous vote of our politically polarized Board of Education, and the superintendent called our model

’79

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class notes Nick Goldfarb writes, “Hey everybody – how have the last 40 years been? I’m living in Brooklyn. My wife and I have a production company and stay busy making commercials, docs, films, etc. I spend the rest of my time avoiding sending Term updates to Eric McGuire. I have a daughter who has just started college and a son who is a junior in high school, so I’m feeling every one of my 55 years. I hope everyone is well, and if anyone is ever in Brooklyn, look me up. Labor Omnia Vincet!”

Alison Kirk Long shares, “Life is good.

Tennis and pickleball tournaments are getting in the way of me finishing my book, but I am still having fun working on it. Life on the Eastern Shore is great. After this year’s strong corn crop, we are converting all of our agriculture fields to pasture for sheep and horses (and habitat for birds, such as the Eastern Meadowlark). The change from agriculture to pasture will play a small part in helping the Bay. I volunteer each week for Shore Rivers and am keeping a close eye on the health of our creek and also the Bay in general. Great to have seen everyone at Reunion!”

Annette Poblete tells us, “This summer I took a wonderful family vacation in Greece. I had been dreaming of such a trip ever since I wrote a report about Greek history and mythology in the late, great Mrs. Edelson’s fifth grade class. My trip also brought back happy memories of studying poems like “Dover Beach” and “Ode to a Grecian Urn” with Mrs. King and Mrs. DeLeonibus. I’m grateful for my Potomac education, which continues to enrich my life!”

Mallory Archer Samson writes, “I’m happy to be an empty nester splitting my time living between western North Carolina and the US Virgin Islands, where my husband and brother started a company. Luckily, I can work from anywhere there is wifi. If anyone finds themselves in either area, hit me up. We love to host!”

1984

40th

Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come! If you are interested in being on the Reunion Host Committee, email Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondent Mary Day Fitzgibbon mdfitz13@gmail.com James Quigley jspquigley@gmail.com Jennifer Maddox Sergent jensergent630@gmail.com Mary Day Fitzgibbon returned to Washington, DC, in September and is enjoying her time managing Amano in Georgetown. She invites all of you to visit and promises personalized monogram discounts if you recite “No Man Is An Island.”

Chris Floyd writes, “We’re one year from being empty nesters. Strange but exciting new times!”

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THE POTOMAC TERM

’83

Rebecca Badwin Fuller shares, “I continue to work as a nurse practitioner and run a small farm in Loudoun, VA, and I started a local theatre company last year. I played Amanda in The Glass Menagerie and am excited to watch my children begin their acting careers as well. I’m busy and never bored!”

Former faculty member Skeeter Lee published his first novel, Alive in Algonquin, a coming-of-age story that combines his love of canoeing with his insights into the growth of adolescent boys. Skeeter and his wife, Dana, continue to enjoy their time in Cape May, NJ. In late July, James Quigley had a great 10day canoe trip down the Allagash River in Maine with his son Tanner’s scout troop. He writes, “In late August as I was preparing these notes, I was watching my daughter, Hailey, a ninth grader, running interval laps around Potomac’s track in preparation for the fall cross-country season. Of note: Our 40th reunion is in October 2024, so plan accordingly!”

A hearty and well-deserved congratulations to Kenrick Skerritt, Brooks Academy Athletic Hall of Fame inductee in 2022.

Kenrick holds the rare distinction of being an inductee in three sports – football, basketball, and lacrosse, in addition to his selection senior year as a McDonald’s AllAmerican Basketball Player.

In April, nine members of the Class of ’84 attended the Day family celebration of life for matriarch Tess Day, the mother of Mary Fitzgibbon.

7 Annette Poblete ’83, visiting the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, on August 15, 2023

7 Annette Poblete ’83’s Greek report, written for Mrs. Edelson back in 1979!

Lisa Herren Foster hosted Dodi Wexler and family in San Francisco this summer and by all reports, it was a hoot.

1985

’83

Lizzie Peet writes, “I’ve just wrapped the lead in the independent film Hancock Park, based on A Streetcar Named Desire. Additionally, AMC’s legal drama Lace, in which I play the recurring role of crooked Sheriff Bobbi Olsen, dropped its second season this past June, just before the strike.

We lost the girl with the brightest smile known to the universe recently. Our love and hearts go out to the family of Elen Ivorian-Jones Rogers. I organized a little Zoom with many of our classmates, and we each took a moment to recall our own memories of her.”

class notes 7 Lizzie Peet ’85 “had a fab yet chilly evening in L.A. this past March at the alumni soiree, where I got to see the likes of Amy Demas ’85 and Maceo Willis ’85!”

’85

’84 3 Nine members of the Class of 1984 attended the Day family celebration of life for matriarch Tess Day.

1986

7 This summer, John Cecchi ’92, Jihan Hassan de Iribarren ’90, and Tim Wisecarver ’91 had a delightfully random run-in at the legendary Italian Oven, formerly Puccinella’s, in McLean.

’91

Class Correspondent Robert Cheek rmbcheek@gmail.com

Do you want to help Rob collect class notes? Contact Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org to learn more.

1991

Class Correspondent Thea Lehming Brandt thea.lehming.brandt@gmail.com

1993 A big thank you to Class Reunion Chairs Nayan Bhula and Leah Quadrino for an amazing job!

1994

30th

1992

Class Correspondent Ama Amoako Adams ama.a.adams@gmail.com

Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come! If you are interested in serving on the Reunion Host Committee, email Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Elliott Holt won a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2022. In 2023, she moved to New Haven to become deputy editor of The Yale Review.

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

’92 3 Jay Farrell ’92 and his son, Harrison, on his first day as a Potomac kindergartner

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class notes

Clockwise from top left: Kate, James, Laura, and Sandy Gentles ’94 in Lake of Bays, Ontario, this August 4

Ashley Walde ’94 and kids Beckam (third grade) and Finley (fifth grade) had fun on their cruise.

4

’94

Kate Carberry Irving shares, “I have accepted the position of college counselor at BASIS International School Bangkok. My family and I will be relocating in June of 2024.

After 15 years in New York City schools, and the past six at BASIS Independent McLean, it’s an exciting opportunity. Come visit!”

’94 3 Jonathan Rivers ’94 with 3-year-old Beckett Segal, son of Jonathan Segal ’94, in Southampton, NY, in July

Jody Morse Al-Saigh writes, “I recently made a career shift to human resources and passed the SHRM-CP certification exam. I look forward to never studying for anything ever again! My daughter, however, has only just begun to study. In August, I dropped off my firstborn, Adena, for her freshman year at William & Mary. Maybe as The Term goes to press, I will have stopped crying.”

Sandy Gentles notes, “The Gentles headed back to Canada for two weeks of fun before school started for the kids. Can’t beat Ontario in August. It was great to see everyone at Reunion!”

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THE POTOMAC TERM

Will Lamb writes, “After an eight-year break from marathoning, I am training for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 19. By the time you read this, I may be regretting this and/or nursing an overuse injury. Or it might be going OK. We’ll see. I was sorry that a family emergency kept me away from a reunion with Jonathan Segal, Jonathan Rivers, and Cynthia Robinson-Rivers in Southampton, NY, in July.”

1995

Class Correspondent Erin Vagley esv5a@yahoo.com

’94

Championship and have a record-setting season, going 20-5!”

1996

Class Correspondent Chris Cramer cpcramer@gmail.com Do you want to help Chris collect class notes? Contact Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org to learn more.

1997

Class Correspondent Elizabeth Race Terborgh elizabethrace@gmail.com Susan Dyer ’95 4

Susan Dyer shares, “Hi, everyone! I finally have an agent for the manuscript I wrote about my epic near-death experience in 2017. I also spoke locally at an annual international conference on such experiences this September. If anyone’s interested in learning more, email me at susandyergray@gmail.com.”

Brian Pence writes, “It was great to watch my son, Wyatt ’25, a member of the 2023 Panthers baseball team, win the MAC

’95

class notes A still from Zal Batmanglij ’98 and collaborator Brit Marling’s new series, A Murder at the End of the World 4

7 Chris Clarke ’96 and Brett Nelson ’96 were paired up at a member/guest tournament in Arlington, VA.

’96

’98 0 Victoria Chapman Fairbank ’98 with her three children, James, Elizabeth (third grade), and Caroline (fourth grade), on the first day of school Second grader Brenna Starr, daughter of Sarah Murphy Starr ’99, greeted students on the first day of school with members of the Student Athletic Committee (SAC).

4

’95 3 MAC baseball champions run in the family! Brian Pence ’95 and his son, Wyatt Pence ’25, were on teams that won the MAC in 1995 and 2023 respectively.

1998

Class Correspondent Jessica Ohly jessicaohly@gmail.com

’98

’99

Thanks to Class Reunion Chairs Elena SylosLabini and Chris Lewis, for leading the 25th milestone celebration.

Zal Batmanglij and collaborator Brit Marling’s new series, A Murder at the End of the World, is coming to FX in November.

The series is described as a “moody mystery very much grounded in reality.” Zal shares, “We wanted to tell a metaphysical story with our hands tied behind our back – without any magic.”

1999

25th

Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come! Are you interested in being on the Reunion Host Committee? Email Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondents Sahar Batmanghelidj saharbatman@gmail.com Christian Gomez christian.gomez@gmail.com

’00 3 Tim Shaver ’00 shares, “A group of us met up in Tsagarada, Greece, to celebrate Dimitri Karmires ’00’s wedding this past July.”

2000

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

Tim Shaver shared the news that a group of Potomac classmates met up in Tsagarada, Greece, to celebrate Dimitri Karmires’ wedding this past July.

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class notes Shannon Gopaul Balser ’01 and her husband, Benji, with their children 4

Michael Amann ’04 and Stephanie Amann Kapsis ’01 by the llamas on the first day of school this year 4

2001

Class Correspondent Stirling Kelso Neff stirlingkelso@gmail.com Shannon Gopaul Balser and her husband, Benji, welcomed their son and future Panther, Ari Balser, on May 18, 2023. Her daughter, Cameron, started Potomac as a first grader this fall. Cameron is super excited to make new friends and ride the school bus every day!

2002

Class Correspondent Victoria Sylos-Labini victoriavsl@gmail.com

’01

2003 ’01

Class Correspondents Aleem Ahmed aleemhahmed@gmail.com Elizabeth Fabiani Rooney elizabeth.f.rooney@gmail.com Thanks to Class Reunion Chairs Ki Christmas Bullock, Michael Kirkman, Maya Jaafar Lena, and Eric Rosenthal for their leadership on the 20th milestone celebration.

Olivia Rosenthal, daughter of Eric Rosenthal ’03 and Pamela Barris Rosenthal ’03, ready for the first day of first grade at Potomac 4

’01 3 Shannon Gopaul Balser ’01’s daughter, Cameron, a Potomac first grader, ready for the bus as the new school year begins 7 The children of John Ohly ’01 and Kiley Ohly, Jack (second grade) and Charlotte (kindergarten), on the first day of school

’01

Keep in Touch!

Do you miss seeing your Potomac classmates, teachers, and friends? Do you want to know what they’re up to, where they’re living now, and how they spend their time? If you said yes, you are the perfect person to be a Class Correspondent. This volunteer role is a great way to stay in touch with classmates and help others stay connected too. Interested? Reach out to Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org to see if this role is right for you!

’03

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THE POTOMAC TERM

class notes Cooper Jones ’04 and his son, Felix, and Oliver Cannell ’04 with his son, Tao, this May 4

7 Michael Diamond ’04 and his wife, Emily, welcomed their second child, Roxanne Eve Diamond, in July 2023.

Matt Hassett ’04 recently launched a new digital product at his company, Loftie.

4

’04

one-of-a-kind stories and other audio to customers on their signature product, the Loftie Clock, and through their app.

In May, Cooper Jones and Oliver Cannell met up with their children, Felix and Tao, and Oliver’s mom, Upper School art teacher Amanda Cannell-Boone. Cooper is working as an architect and Oliver as a middle school teacher, and it was a joy to catch up as dads!

’04

2004

20th

Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come! If you are interested in being on the Reunion Host Committee, email Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondents Claire Robertson robertsonaclaire@gmail.com Regina Lee Fechter reginablairlee@gmail.com Michael Diamond and his wife, Emily, welcomed their second child, Roxanne Eve Diamond, on July 13, 2023. Roxy is thriving in her first few weeks, eager for snuggles and rocking an extremely full head of hair!

Everyone’s happy and healthy, including 21/2-year-old big brother, Rafa.

Matt Hassett launched a new digital product at his company, Loftie. Loftie is the first consumer brand to integrate AI into a creative product with on-demand, personalized content delivery. The company delivers

’04

JJ Reibel shares, “I have been working as a consultant at Deloitte, based out of our San Francisco office, and continuing graduate studies in computer science after receiving my third academic master’s degree. This year, I published my eleventh book, with several more on the way. Nine of my books to date are about computer science, covering topics like AI, machine learning, and cyber. The books are available on Kindle (including Kindle Unlimited) and in hard copy from Amazon at www.amazon.com/author/jjreibel, and several are also available from Barnes & Noble, Hudson Booksellers, Books-AMillion, and other vendors.”

Lucía Abramovich Sánchez writes, “I recently accepted a position at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, so my family and I are relocating to the Boston area in September. I hope to connect with other Potomac alumni there!”

2005

Class Correspondent Lolly Cunningham Rivas lollycrivas@gmail.com

Do you want to help Lolly collect class notes? Contact Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org to learn more.

’04 3 Potomac faculty member Sharyn Stein with Tesia Smith ’04, Laura Smith ’01, and Kelsey Killmon Donovan ’04 at Tesia’s wedding in September

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class notes

Anne Lenrow Kobylarczyk ’08 married Martin Kobylarczyk on February 25, 2023, in Washington, DC. Photo by Abby Jiu 4

’06 3 Willie Morrison ’06 recently co-wrote “Screw You a Little Bit,” which was released

by American Idol winner Maddie Poppe.

’05 3 Second grader Charlie Sparkman, son of Charles Sparkman ’05 and Meaghan Kiernan Sparkman ’05, on Potomac’s first day of school

2006

Class Correspondents Virginia O’Connell Fowler oconnell.virginia@gmail.com Trevor Lewis talewis10@gmail.com

Willie Morrison recently co-wrote “Screw You a Little Bit,” which was released by American Idol winner Maddie Poppe. He also co-wrote her single “SOS I’m in Love,” which came out September 1. Willie has been working with several LGBTQ artists in the country space and co-wrote Brooke Eden’s song “Whispering,” which made a brief appearance on The Today Show in June. Willie, who signed to AMAX talent agency, has also been acting and modeling in a number of commercials and print ads, including a Wegmans commercial that continues to air during the holiday season around the country.

2007

Class Correspondent Malcolm Dilley malcolmdilley@gmail.com

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THE POTOMAC TERM

Cat Cook Imburgia writes, “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new job as UX/ product designer at Trustwell! I’ve had an amazing first few days. My team is welcoming, supportive, and knowledgeable.

I couldn’t be happier in my new role.

I’m deeply grateful for all of the people who helped me transition to my career in user experience design. Thank you to my instructors, coaches, and cohort at GA, my ADP mentors, the countless individuals who offered informational interviews, and the tech community in Austin, TX. And an extra special shoutout to my family and friends for their unwavering support and encouragement.

Excited for this next chapter!”

Andrew Johnson is enrolled at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business this fall, pursuing an MBA. After 10+ years in the communications/PR field, he’s excited to pivot to a new career and to continue calling Ann Arbor home for another couple of years.

2008

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

’08

Thanks to Class Reunion Chairs Kat Blackwood Blair and Cate Rooney Schrimsher for leading Reunion 2023! Fun was had by all.

Anne Lenrow Kobylarczyk married Martin Kobylarczyk this past February in Washington, DC, at Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, followed by a reception at The Larz Anderson House. They had their rehearsal dinner in Georgetown, where their pup, Archie, joined them for photos.

Josie Toso graduated with her Ph.D. in clinical psychology and will be joining Child Mind Institute as an associate psychologist. She is living in Brooklyn with her fiancé, and they plan to be married next year.

class notes 7 Josie Toso ’08 recently received her doctorate in clinical psychology.

Reilley Keane ’10 and Drew Morrison ’10 at Mile Marker 0 after three days on the C&O Canal 4

’08

2009

Sasha DiGiulian ’11 married Erik Osterholm this September.

4

’10

’11

15th

Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come! If you are interested in being on the Reunion Host Committee, email Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

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

’11 3 Jacqueline Pfeiffer Goodwin ’11 during a 2022 game between the Tennessee Titans and the Cincinnati Bengals

Isabelle Conner shares, “Feeling all the back-to-school energy this fall, as I’m joining ILIA Beauty as their director of global communications & influencer marketing! Couldn’t be more excited.”

0 Margo Thronson Bost ’10 and her husband, Stuart,

’10 welcomed their son, Cameron, on July 11, 2023.

2010

Class Correspondents Tori McCaffrey tori.mccaffrey@gmail.com Maggie Nelsen carrington.nelsen@gmail.com Margo Thronson Bost and her husband, Stuart, are thrilled to announce the birth of their son, Cameron Stephen Bost. Baby Cameron was born on July 11; he loves to smile and has his dad’s blue eyes. Margo is an investment banker for KippsDeSanto & Co. She provides M&A, financing, and strategic consulting services to growthoriented companies in the Aerospace, Defense, and Government Services industries. Margo, Stuart, and Cameron live in McLean, VA.

In June, Reilley Keane and Drew Morrison completed their third annual Special Bikepacking Trip, traveling the entire 184.5-mile length of the C&O Canal over three days. Past Potomac participants have included Geoffrey Malloy and Colin Cummings.

2011

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

Jacqueline Pfeiffer Goodwin is beginning her eighth season with the Tennessee Titans and was promoted this past off-season to associate director of gameday entertainment.

Charlotte Morris is excited to share, “I made the professional and personal decision to head down to Charlottesville this fall to pursue my MBA at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Darden has been a dream come true from day one, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future. Go Hoos!”

Campbell Millar Schmidt shares, “Russell Schmidt ’12 and I welcomed a beautiful

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class notes baby boy, Russell Penniman “Penn” Schmidt, Jr., on April 30, 2023. Russell, Penn, and I still live in Alexandria, VA, along with our dog, Ridge.”

Kevin Havermann ’14’s dog, Goose, enjoying the West Coast life 4

2012

Class Correspondent Jamie Lovegrove lovegrovejs@gmail.com Charlotte Gerchick Alton and her husband, Jake, welcomed baby girl Ashby Rose in September 2023. At seven months pregnant, Charlotte decided to leave her law firm, where she worked as a family law trial attorney, and she has now joined the Consumer Product Safety Commission as a regulatory attorney.

Big changes for the Alton family!

After working in real estate marketing for two years, Chris Graves has become a broker associate in Keystone, CO, for Slifer Smith and Frampton, the #1 brokerage in the Rockies. Turn to Chris for all your real estate needs in Keystone, Breckenridge, Silverthorne, or Frisco, CO. He has a great network of brokers in The Vail Valley as well.

’11

’14

3 Russell Schmidt ’12 and Campbell Millar Schmidt ’11 welcomed Russell Penniman Schmidt Jr. – “Penn” – on April 30, 2023.

’12 3 Members of the Class of 2012 conducted a virtual draft for the 18th season of the “Wild Mountain Thymers” fantasy football league. Participants included Brandon Arvanaghi , Pasha Davoudian, Will Crittenberger, Matt Carney, Tommy Duffy, Ryan Eckert (not pictured), Jacob Lichtenbaum, Andres Rodlauer, Alex Prezioso, Kevin Green, and Jamie Lovegrove.

2013

Class Correspondents Soraya Batmanghelidj sorayabatman94@gmail.com Ellie Gilbert epgilbert13@gmail.com

Thanks to Class Reunion Chairs Max Ausbrook, Soraya Batmanghelidj, and Claire Figel for their hard work to make Reunion 2023 so special!

Emma Wright Brice recently got married, graduated from Yale Divinity School, and was ordained in the Episcopal Church.

Emma, her wife Crichelle, and their dog, Tetiana, moved to Alexandria, VA, this summer and would love to reconnect with anybody in the area! Emma works at Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria.

2014

10th

Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come! If you are interested in being on the Reunion Host Committee, email Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondent Vanessa Luehrs Hwang vanessaluehrs@gmail.com

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THE POTOMAC TERM

’13

Kevin Havermann shares, “It’s now been a full year since we moved to San Francisco, and it still feels like yesterday! My partner, Hannah, and I have enjoyed meeting new friends and exploring all the beautiful places within and around the city. Our dog, Goose, enjoys it too!

Go Panthers!”

2015

Class Correspondent Tabitha Huff Taylor tabihuff9@gmail.com

0 Emma Wright Brice ’13 recently got married!

Emma and her wife, Chrichelle, now live in Alexandria, VA.

Amir Jones writes, “I’m excited to announce that I’ve been selected as a Student Scholar for the newly launched Columbia Institute of Global Politics (IGP) at Columbia | SIPA, which serves as a hub for global policy innovation. IGP brings together experts from the public and private sectors and across the political spectrum to foster civil discourse and create evidence-based policy strategies for local to global impact.

As one of three law students in the inaugural Student Scholars cohort, I am looking forward to learning from the Carnegie Corporation of New York IGP Distinguished Fellows and other leaders.”

class notes Tabitha Huff Taylor recently began a new job as an SAP analyst within the heat treatment and thermal processing company Bodycote.

She has enjoyed traveling with the company to deploy SAP in a number of their 168 locations globally and recently returned from an exciting three-week stint in Prague!

Tabitha bought a new home and will be moving to the Moorefield, WV, region. She hopes that anyone passionate about outdoor activities will visit her in the beautiful mountains!

Tabitha Huff Taylor ’15 recently returned from an exciting three-week trip to Prague.

4

2016

Class Correspondents Arjun Fischer arjunmfischer@gmail.com Danielle Grae daniellegrae2022@gmail.com Gabriel Miller gabriel@millerwalker.com

’15

Alp Dermiroglu writes, “For the second year in a row, I’ve had the great privilege to design and instruct the RAMSAWHSAD Foundation Program! With the support of RAMSA | Robert A.M. Stern Architects’ Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Alliance (IDEA), a colleague and I worked

with 30 students from the Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design (WHSAD) in a six-week-long intro-level architecture/design course.

On top of a studio design curriculum that incorporated short theory and history lectures, this year we expanded the program to include guest lectures on drawing, urbanism, and sustainability. Thank you to the students.

While the program may have seemed insurmountable at the start, the work you produced is truly inspiring – congratulations!”

Arjun Fischer is a production assistant at NFL Films. He recently worked on Quarterback, which you can catch on Netflix, and Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets, which is available on Max. Danielle Grae writes, “I work as a private math tutor through my company, Danielle Grae Tutoring, LLC. I love helping students develop a strong foundation of math skills while providing the right amount of support to meet their specific learning needs. My excellent math education at Potomac led me to become a math minor at William & Mary, get a 4.0 GPA in graduate coursework at William & Mary’s School of Education, and ultimately pursue a career in math tutoring.”

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class notes 0 Rachel Granovsky ’16 with her parents (also Tufts School of Medicine alumni) following the inaugural White Coat Ceremony this August

0 Eliza Smallwood ’16 and Kyle Sanok ’16

’16

’16

’16 3 Nick Berray ’16 celebrating his birthday with Kyle Sanok ’16

Rachel Granovsky is starting medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine this fall. She is enjoying exploring the Boston area, running along the Charles River, and volunteering in the NICU. Rachel is interested in obstetrics, gynecology, and global health.

Kyle Sanok reports, “After Rachel Granovsky left San Francisco to go to medical school at Tufts, I moved down to L.A. for the summer. My company, Locket, has a small office in Santa Monica, so I enjoyed working with our team there in person. I also have, of course, been spending time with classmates Nick Berray and Eliza Smallwood – from our run club to DJ sets, beach days, and more!”

2017 Clare Beth McConnell writes, “I recently moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta and began my new job as a marketing and social content creator at The Zero Proof!

I’m thrilled by the fast-paced environment, opportunity for creative input, and growth potential that this startup company offers.

I look forward to seeing how I can help to further establish this already-successful young company as the preeminent distributor of non-alcoholic beverages.”

Mistaya Smith shares, “This fall I will begin working on a master’s in city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. I could not be more excited to join this program!”

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THE POTOMAC TERM

7 Nathan Evans ’19’s Patching in Red: A Resilient Tapestry of the Human Psyche 2021 is an 18’’ x 24’’ acrylic on canvas.

2018

Class Correspondents Connor Havermann cwhavermann1016@gmail.com Sara Kowalik sarakowalik2018@gmail.com Ryan Lovallo ryanlovallo@gmail.com Jacqueline Olson jaolson423@gmail.com Gabriela Williams gabrielaewilliams@gmail.com

Thanks to Class Reunion Chairs Hamilton Brooks and Amelia Mazloom for their hard work to make Reunion 2023 an amazing celebration!

Andy Entis graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a B.S. in architecture in 2022. He is currently attending Rice University, where he is pursuing a master’s in architecture. Over the summer, Andy completed an internship at Page Architecture in Washington, DC, where he worked on the behavioral health team.

Gabriela Williams shares, “I’ve recently graduated with a major in business of art and design and a minor in art history.

Currently, I’m on the lookout for exciting

’19

opportunities in the art industry, with a keen interest in art consulting, business management within the art industry, art collection management, museum/gallery work, or finance related to the arts.

After graduating, I had the opportunity to continue pursuing my passion for observing international art and architecture while traveling in Norway and Spain along with fellow alum Andy Entis.”

2019

5th

Plan to be part of the fun. Reunion 2024 will be held on campus next October – more details to come! If you are interested in being on the Reunion Host Committee, email Laura Miller at lmiller@potomacschool.org.

Class Correspondents Margot Labrecque margotmail2@gmail.com

class notes

2020

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

2021

Class Correspondents Lucy Goldberg Lucy.Goldberg.25@cmc.edu Will Fearey feareyw25@mail.wlu.edu Rachael Fields rmfields19@gmail.com Maya Sardar mayasardar1515@gmail.com

’21 3 Henry Boehm ’21, pitching for the Hamilton College baseball team

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Henry Boehm writes, “I had a great summer and am enjoying my third fall semester at Hamilton College. After reconnecting with some friends from my class at Potomac in May, I had the opportunity to work for FTI Consulting in Manhattan. My time with FTI not only enabled me to develop skills and knowledge that will support my career aspirations but also allowed me to experience the city from the perspective of an employee instead of as a tourist, which was incredibly beneficial as I look to cement where I want to work in the future.

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

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S U W O FO L L

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

FALL 2023

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class notes

I have also been staying on top of my pitching and hitting this summer and fall, as this coming spring will be my third year on the Hamilton varsity baseball team.

After losing in the conference finals to Middlebury my freshman year, even though we were only one strike away from winning, the team is looking to make a statement this season and capture our first NESCAC title.

I am joined on the Hamilton baseball team

by TJ Takis ’22, who is on the pitching staff as well.

Looking forward, I know I will continue to see positive academic and social effects from my time at Potomac. Having a network of friends I can always look forward to seeing during school breaks has been great, and I know this network will exist far into the future.”

Maya Sardar, a junior at William & Mary, shares, “A few highlights of the events for this upcoming year that I’m looking forward to are the Undergraduate Research Symposium, where I will be presenting a paper I wrote on test anxiety and academic validation, and working on philanthropic

events for my sorority, Pi Beta Phi. This past summer, I studied abroad in Florence and took Italian and Art History. I’m happy to report that I already knew much of the information covered during the art history class, thanks to Mr. Morgan’s course.”

Sevan Scharpf is enjoying his time at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN.

2022

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

Atiba de Souza shares, “I had a great time working at Sands Capital this summer. I am very thankful to have gained exposure to the client-facing and research sides of the firm. This internship was such a valuable experience, and I am grateful to have participated in it.”

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!

in memoriam Susanna Stone Doyle ’48 Susan Dreier ’62 Susan Bragdon Field ’55 Sister of Emma Bragdon ’61 Carol Gideon Former faculty member; mother of Tim Gideon ’96 and Emily Gideon Yosmanovich ’00

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THE POTOMAC TERM

William Hellmuth Trustee emeritus; father of Grayson Hellmuth Rueckert ’04 and William Hellmuth ’05 Susan Macy Jarvinen ’72 Daughter of John Macy, trustee emeritus; sister of Tom Macy ’67 and Richard Macy ’77 Ingrid Halvorson Hillhouse Moore Former faculty member Ramin Oskoui ’78 Husband of former faculty member Katy Oskoui; father of Ellen Oskoui ’19 and Elisabeth Oskoui ’21

Thomas Quiggle ’71 Brother of Jim Quiggle ’68 Elen Ivorian-Jones Rogers ’85 Daughter of former faculty member Cynthia Ivorian-Jones; sister of Lisa Ivorian-Jones ’91 Christine Willcox Spencer ’55 Charles “Barney” White ’68 Brother of Nancy White Lippe ’73

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

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