About US - Volume 26, Issue 1

About U.S.

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I have always been convinced that we protect what we love, and so I have always operated on that premise when identifying and supporting teacher-designed programs here at Unquowa. That includes, of course, programs that encourage our kids to appreciate the natural world, to understand our place in it and to love and respect the other creatures we share it with. From observing birds and butterflies on our campus, to studying the water in our brook; from participating in the cycle of the whole food we eat in our dining room by growing things in our gardens to managing the compost that comes from our kitchen and cycles back to become soil for those gardens - all of these activities engender understanding and protection of our natural world.

A Publishing Tradition of The Unquowa School

here is a Voices of Change installation that sits outside my office. Its stark beauty and subtle sadness provoke bits of ongoing conversation around climate science in kids - including our very youngest - that I never get tired of overhearing. The piece, Polar Express to Extinction, became mine a few years ago when the eighth grade artist who conceived of and built it left it in my care when she graduated. A fairly small installation, it is a sleek black platform upon which rest five versions of a polar bear perched on an iceberg. Its message is crystal clear. The first iceberg is home to a full polar bear and each one that “floats” behind it holds a lesser version until the last is only a paw.compelled to stop at such an installation and have thoughtful conversations about why its message matters.

In her book entitled Finding the Mother Tree, forest ecologist Susanne Simard asks and explores the provocative question, “Is cooperation as central to evolution as competition?” Simard’s question disrupts past assumptions, not only about behavior between human beings but also about the decisions human beings make about their relationship to the earth’s ecology, both in altruistic and selfserving ways.

Pondering the meaning of Polar Express to Extinction by Claire Roberts’20

It goes without saying that students spend much of their time here at Unquowa becoming strong readers, writers and math and science thinkers and that they go on to high school and college prepared to succeed academically - that is a given. But beyond making sure that academic base happens, we are compelled here at Unquowa to support and guide our kids in becoming human beings who are able to understand that creative, cooperative living and problem solving is ultimately central to our mutual evolution and survival as human beings.

So it is no surprise when our older kids have the opportunity to choose a topic for their Voices of Change project, that they choose to draw our attention to powerful topics like climate change, and it is no surprise that our younger students are

Which brings me full circle to the polar bears who live outside my office. In a recent interview with The New York Times, musician and composer Brian Eno discussed what he feels is the hidden purpose of all art. He suggests that most importantly it serves to allow humans to “multiply their feelings together.” Every time a group of kids gathers around Polar Express to Extinction and chats about the issue it portrays and what they’re going to do about it, I hear the stirring of creative, cooperative problem solving at its early stages…and I love it!

Sharon

Lauer, Head of School

World Religions Speaker Series

To kick off our global studies in 7th Grade Humanities, we have been focusing on the complexities of culture and how these features shape societies. One key element of culture is religion.

As we explore different continents and regions throughout the year, we will be considering varying cultural practices and examining the influence that religion –among other things – has on the people of these places. With this in mind, we started our course by analyzing the five major world religions in a broad sense. This gave the students a general construct/lens for understanding those terms as “vocabulary” and ways for applying them to our studies. What better way to do that than to invite leaders of these faiths into our classroom to answer questions, provide historical context, and overview the basic belief systems and cultural practices of their respective traditions?

Prior to their visits, we encouraged the students to think about what they already knew about each faith and to brainstorm questions they might have for each guest.

Monday: Reverend Vanessa Rose, First Church, Fairfield guided the students through an informative slideshow on the history of Christianity, various denominations, and many cultural expressions of the faith across the globe. Rev. Rose brought a number of items, such as her collar, stole, and bible, to show the kids. Her presentation was the perfect “kickoff” to our week!

Tuesday: Rabbi Evan Schultz, of Congregation B’nai Israel in Bridgeport engaged the students in a lively conversation using flashcards. He spoke about Jewish life cycle events, cultural celebrations, key beliefs, and more. Students asked lots of questions around dress, dietary laws, the Torah, and more.

Wednesday: the Venerable Shim Bo, Buddhist Chaplain at Sacred Heart University encouraged students to “WAKE UP!” He modeled a Buddhist chant using his moktak and bell, walked us through the 4 Noble Truths and 8 Fold Path, and guided the class through a short meditation. Each student received a bracelet reminder to breathe.

Thursday: Imam Kemal Cecunjanin, Muslim Chaplain at Fairfield University started our class with a livestream of Mecca for the students to watch. They were awed by the sheer size of the gathering and number of people. They were able to hear what the Call to Prayer sounds like, and asked lots of great questions. Imam Kemal engaged in a thoughtful conversation around the basic tenets of Islam, and generously brought us a class set of books on Islam!

Friday: Venkat Gade, Board Member of the Chinmaya Hindu Mission of Fairfield-New Haven – accompanied by his associates, Mrs. Rani Parimi and Mr. Mahabala Salian, started our meeting with an “om” and an opening chant. He presented an engaging slideshow for the students which outlined basic Hindu beliefs, discussed how yoga fits into Hinduism, and debunked a popular misunderstanding – that despite the different “gods” many are used to seeing, Hinduism is, in fact, a monotheistic religion. Students were able to ask lots of questions – it was a great way to end a successful week of learning!

This academic experience served to deepen the students’ understanding of the world around them, and we hope resulted in some really meaningful conversations at home, too! We were able to guide students in reflective conversation after each guest left, which allowed us to think about similarities and differences between faiths and make connections with the content and with each other.

Ariel Warshaw, Humanities Teacher

Experiencing Mashpee Wampanoag Culture

In November we celebrated Native American Heritage Month. During this month we took time to learn, support, and celebrate the cultures, traditions, and history of indigenous people.

The Unquowa IDEA committee is committed to doing the hard but necessary work of addressing issues of inclusion, diversity, equity, and antiracism. Since we began our partnership, we’ve often sought opportunities to be proactive in our approach, to be action oriented and to not just engage matters of equity in the cerebral sense.

To go beyond these intellectual discussions, we seek out mutual partnerships with communities who have been marginalized. To that end, we are proud to have established a partnership with Cheenulka Pocknett and his family. Cheenulka Pocknett hails from the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Located about an hour southeast of Boston, Massachusetts, he enjoys his traditional life of hunting and fishing. Recently Cheenulka spent the day at our school teaching us about culture through storytelling, song, and dance, along with the history of the Mashpee Wampanoag people.

Our visiting speaker, Cheenulka, spent time in the kitchen with our chefs, explaining traditional recipes and speaking about the healing powers of certain foods. Together, we all enjoyed an indigenous lunch of herb roasted chicken, roasted squash, wild rice and a traditional dish of cornmeal, maple syrup and blueberries served in cornhusks prepared by Cheenulka.

We hope that students find inspiration to learn more about the ways in which local tribal communities are preserving and sharing their cultures for future generations.

Tré Kayumba, IDEA Co-coordinator

Conferencing With Kenya

As part of our school’s relationship with Creative Connections, the sixth grade recently participated in a session of video conferences with a class of students in Kenya. The purpose of the video conferences was for students to meet and begin to learn about each other’s cultures through the sharing of their artwork and important personal objects. Students shared items that family members had passed down to them - items pertaining to their religion, recipes, and more.

During the second call, students were able to discuss the artwork they had previously shared and, through the art, they were able to learn more about the houses, economy, pastimes, and other aspects of culture. Students learned that the school in Kenya is near an animal preserve, so their students are used to seeing much different animals than our students are. Sixth graders also learned that agriculture is an important aspect of the economy in Kenya. Our students were interested to know that their new friends in Kenya had a dress code similar to Unquowa and that they also cherished spending time with family and friends. It was a very successful, fascinating and memorable experience for both classrooms across the world!

Debbie Leidlein, Humanities Teacher

Embracing Compost!

Every Monday Unquowa 8th graders participate in a hands-on environmental educational program with the local organization known as Park City Composting. Students have gained an understanding of how to properly compost as well as its beneficial effects; not only is it important for people but the environment too! In the first visit students were shown the different materials that are compostable, as well as items that aren’t suitable, and they all got a first hand look at soil samples produced from a composting process! Park City Composting provided an updated tumbler to help properly produce compost to be incorporated into future lessons, and eventually into the school composting program.

The second week was the actual beginning process of starting the school’s compost pile! Carbon sources (leafs, wood chips, sawdusts) were mixed together as the base for this concoction. Students added the compostable material (broccoli stalks, apples, egg shells, egg cartons, fruit rinds and peels) and mixed it in with the base. Our scholars wrote down some preliminary observations and data to serve as the starting point (standard or datum) for our future recordings and findings. Students were tasked with monitoring (record data like temperature, etc) and modifying the compost pile weekly.

In the third week students learned how to measure the various parameters of the compost pile (weight, porosity, bulk density, temperature and more!). Students also observed/recorded any changes that may have occurred in the compost pile since week two. Some discoveries included mycelial activity (mushroom “roots”) as well as fully fruited mushrooms which is a fairly good indicator of microbial activity and that the breakdown process was in the works. Students also noticed that some of the seeds and bulb plants (such as onions) had sprouted roots and new shoots. Students learned the seedlings were referred to as, “volunteers”! These “volunteers” were removed from the compost pile and transplanted into some of the Unquowa Garden raised beds in the hopes they will root successfully. Students were reminded how big our compost pile is in cubic meters and gallons (1 cubic meter or 200 gallons). Temperature was the only parameter where we could use the main pile directly to get our information, we simply stuck in a thermometer. All other parameters required us to use a 5-gallon bucket to acquire the data! On this week students mixed in about 80 pounds of new compostable material to the compost pile which will begin to break down and add more nutrients to the pile.

For the fourth visit, students recorded any observations from the compost pile which included: temperature, weight, bulk density and porosity. Students were also asked to analyze the causes that may have played a role in these changes. Some examples included; the high activity of the actinobacteria caused more of the compost material to breakdown and released more heat into the pile, the breakdown of the material caused the pile to condense more thus reducing the porosity and much more. After data was recorded from the initial compost pile (also referred to as the Thermophilic pile) students were then introduced to the tumbler (also known as the Mesophilic pile). Students were asked to try to identify the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of having each type of pile. They concluded that the tumbler is great for people who don’t have a lot of space for a traditional compost pile such as on an apartment balcony or small backyard. The traditional compost pile is ideal for those with the available space. In addition, the tumbler stays at lower temperatures than the traditional compost pile. Therefore, both types of composting methods are suitable for different situations and utilize different types of bacteria. We are excited to see the quality of compost these two different methods will produce, which will be used to help feed the school garden.

All of the participants are eager to return in the coming weeks to see what new surprises await in the compost pile!!

Joshua Bartosiewicz, Science Department Chair

Early Voters!

On Election Day, Early Childhood students headed to the polls to go through their own voting process. These young voters filled out ballots and cast their votes to find out what is the most popular color. It was a close race and when the results were in they found that BLUE was the winner!

First Graders also had an important voting day. They participated in the Great Cookie Vote - Chocolate Chip Vs. Oreo! Each of the first graders filled out their voter registration cards before voting and casting their secret ballot in the hopes that their favorite cookie would come out on top! It was another tight race for sure. They tallied the votes and shared the results… chocolate chip was voted the best first grade cookie! Students also wrote about why their cookie was the best and graphed the election results.

Mrs. Barbuto and Mrs Palm, Early Childhood Teachers and Mrs. Diallo, First Grade Teacher

The Impact of Service on Us and Others

Our 8th grade returned to their weekly service learning program, alternating between spending time at The Feroleto Children’s Development Center to bring our school’s nationally recognized reverse inclusion program to students there who have medical and developmental challenges and on alternate weeks to working with Park City Composting Initiative here on campus to build and support our school’s composting program that supports our school gardens and our kitchen. The goal of service learning is to promote awareness, develop understanding and connection with people we serve, and strive to become enlightened by engaging within the community.

We encourage students to enter these spaces with a willingness to learn from everyone they encounter. The 8th grade has been going to The Feroleto Children’s Development Center for a few weeks now. One student reflects of her time, “The two times I’ve gone have been a really great experience. I loved learning about all the kids and adults there; it was fun to hear about their hobbies and interests. Being in a different environment was interesting, and I learned a lot about the kids’ disabilities. It was fun to become closer to everyone there; it’s an experience I don’t want to forget.”

It is incredibly powerful to see the new relationships being built. Students walk away with new ideas on what to bring back to Feroleto to share within the classrooms. One student brought knitting equipment to share and teach. Students reflected that the motion of this activity would be helpful to some. This is the kind of thinking and impact this experience is having on our 8th graders.

Tré Kayumba, Service Learning Coordinator

Founders’ Day

On a beautiful October day, Unquowa families, friends and alumni of various ages gathered for another fantastic Founders’ Day. The weather was sunny and absolutely perfect for a fun-filled fall day with live music by Big Chief and the Midnight Groove, and a delicious farm-to-fork barbeque cooked by our fantastic chefs. Fun activities, games and a bake sale run by our eighth grade students and their parents helped to raise funds for their upcoming spring class trip.

Our UPA parent volunteers were a huge help lending hands with set up, break down and selling cozy items through the Gator Goods apparel table getting everyone in Unquowa spirit for the cooler months. The gently used uniform sale was a huge success, with the profits going to help a local charity. A big thank you to everyone who made the day so wonderful, it truly was a perfect day!

Beatrice DeGrand, Advancement Team Member - Events & Alumni Relations

Halloween was a Smashing Success!

Among the participants at this year’s Halloween parade were witches, unicorns, fairies, skeletons, super heroes, aliens and one great big giraffe. The spooky and the not-so-spooky alike, proudly displayed their costumes for our eager guests to see. The parade wasn’t complete until we broke into a whole school sing-along of Ghostbusters and the Addams Family theme songs and a fun dance choreographed by our talented performing arts faculty.

The celebration continued back in the classrooms with sweet treats and Halloween-themed academic activities followed by Upper and Lower School students paired up for spooky story buddy reading. Halloween at The Unquowa School was a smashing success!

Carlene Gordon, Dean of Faculty

If Picasso Made Witches!

In connection with our study of Picasso’s cubist work, the fourth-grade class created witches that incorporate some of the characteristics of his work. We discussed in class how Picasso often used two viewpoints of faces in a single work: a front and a silhouette. We discussed several examples of these faces such as Girl Before a Mirror and Woman with a Book The students then added warts, eyelashes, spiders, scars, and other hideous details.

Alice DesGranges, Lower School Visual Arts Teacher

Fairy Sightings at Florence Griswold Museum

Second and Third Grade students had a magical day visiting the Florence Griswold Museum’s Wee Faerie Village and painting “ en plein air” on the museum’s scenic grounds. Students visited the amusement park-themed fairy exhibits found around the museum gardens and ended the day by painting outdoors looking over the river aglow with warm autumn colors. Many fairy sightings were reported! One student summed up the magic of the day by saying “This was the best day of my life!”.

Alice DesGranges, Lower School Visual Art Teacher

Little Surprises in Unquowa’s Garden!

In the fall there are surprises in the Unquowa Garden! They are very small creatures that love and only eat milkweed. On the milkweed leaves Kindergarten found very small caterpillars. We brought them inside thinking we had two caterpillars but we actually had five hidden in the leaves! What a surprise! Daily we watched them change. “What are those black balls at the bottom of the aquarium?” the Kindergarteners asked. We soon learned that as the caterpillars grow they lose their skin and grow new skin. The black balls are their old skin. When the caterpillar hangs from the top of the aquarium looking like a letter J, we know it’s getting ready to make its chrysalis. The chrysalis is beautiful. It is bright green with gold dots. “Can we keep the gold?” asked the Kindergarteners. Again another discovery, after the chrysalis breaks open, the gold is gone. Could it be in the color of the butterflies wings? After observing our adult Monarch butterflies for a few days, we let them free. Some of us were sad to see them go and we wondered what else we could find in Unquowa’s garden?

Ann Palm, Kindergarten Teacher

Eighth Grade Broadway Experience

Eighth Grade Humanities at Unquowa includes an in-depth study of American History from the American Revolution to the present day. One of the essential questions we ask students from the beginning is: “What is the American Dream?”

We use this question to look at the historical record and try to determine what, if anything, the Founders had to say about a unified - or perhaps an individual - American dream. We also use this question as a touchstone throughout the year as we seek more understanding about who was initially included in the American experiment, and who was (intentionally or unintentionally) marginalized or left out -- that is, what American voices still need to be heard?

Learning about the Declaration of Independence helped students understand that the questions their teachers are asking them to think about and wrestle with are the very same questions that artists on Broadway are asking in the new 2022 revival of the Tony-award winning musical 1776 by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone. With a revolutionary cast of women, Black and indigenous people of color (BIPOC), and transgender actors, this new production highlights tensions between not only the Northern and Southern states at that First Continental Congress, but also the unspoken tensions between the America of today and the America of the late 1700s. It was a masterful performance, and students spent the next class period in school discussing their thoughts and writing up their own reviews of the show.

It’s always good to be able to bring students back to Broadway, especially after the necessary hiatus during Covid. Pizza at the world-famous John’s of New York was icing on the cake!

Eric Snow, Humanities Teacher

Learning From The Experts!

Upper School students in our tech/stage crew work weekly to help produce as well as film our assemblies to save to our archives. This weekly tech practice helps prepare our tech crew members to become an integral part of our traditional annual productions including Winterfest and the spring musical and help make them the amazing shows that they are every year. Their skills include engineering the sound for performers and speakers as well as managing the lighting to make our actors and performers shine. The stage crew work extremely hard, putting together stage sets and keeping things moving flawlessly behind the scenes!

On a recent November afternoon, this year’s Winterfest production team took a trip over to the local Fairfield Theatre Company to learn about the life of a working theatre! We had the opportunity to see how our theatre compares, and to many students’ surprise, our middle school theatre in many ways worked and operated the same! It was a special opportunity to see how much of what our students do is a career for many! As the production manager toured us around he commented, “I wish my school taught me all this at your age; it must be a special place!” We hope many of these students take this experience and build on it with our own theatre productions.

Lloyd Mitchell, Tech & Stage Crew Director

Fall Sports Update

Soccer ~ The focus for all Gators this fall soccer season was on ball and body control, dribbling skills, passing and shooting accuracy, and teamwork! From the first week of pre-season practice, to the final games of the season, our 5/6 and 7/8 grade co-ed soccer teams have come a long way! The players on both teams came to each practice and game ready to work their hardest and determined to give it their all to improve as individuals and as a team. Their hard work showed as the 7/8 grade team ended the season with two wins against Fraser Woods and Fairfield Country Day and the 5/6 grade team finished their season with an exciting tie at home vs St. Luke’s.

We were thrilled to bring back our 3/4 grade JV team who practiced hard, played several scrimmages with our 5/6 team and ended their season with a REAL game vs Fraser Woods. This group has us excited for the Unquowa soccer teams and seasons to come!

We are so proud of all of our players for their dedication on the field and commitment to their team this season! Go Soccer Gators!

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Ryan Taylor, Soccer Coach

Cross Country ~ Fall 2022, was a season of records. We welcomed new members to our squad and along with our veterans, they worked hard to become faster runners, taking minutes off their best times. Comparing the season’s opening and final mile runs, the team took a total of 10 minutes off their personal best. At every meet we had at least 5 runners place in the top 5. At the Penfield Beach meet, a record number of 8 runners placed in the top 5. For the overall season standings, again a record number of 8 runners placed in the top 5. At the championship meet, a record number of 4 runners placed in the top 3, including a first place finish.

are very proud of our Unquowa Cross Country team! Go Cross Country Gators!

Sarah Pollex, Cross Country Coach

Young and Wise

High five planks…seesaws…rollups…who ever thought building muscular strength and endurance could be so much fun? Our youngest students have learned you don’t need fancy equipment to improve physical strength and stamina. All you need is your own body weight and a buddy!

Water On The Move!

Sarah Pollex, Physical Education Department Chair

Sixth grade science students recently had the opportunity to travel like a water molecule! Students started with a pipe cleaner and travelled through stations according to a roll of the dice. Students collected a colored bead at each stop to depict the area they landed in. Soil, animals, plants, lakes, oceans, groundwater and glaciers were all possible landing spots. At the end of the activity, students shared their water molecule journey with the class and were able to explain how they travelled (evaporation, precipitation, deposition...) and why they may have remained at some stations longer than others. What a fun way to learn!

Colleen Noyes, Science Teacher

Book

Buddies Again!

We were so excited to resume the tradition of PK/5th Grade Book Buddies, in person! While we carried on last year virtually thanks to an eager helper, there are some things that definitely work better without a screen. Our 5th graders were excellent at taking turns reading stories to their PK Buddies. All the groups were enthusiastic and many books were read. I was so proud of the older students, some of which I had taught many years ago, and the younger ones for embracing new friends. We are already hard at work scheduling more times to meet and activities to do together. It feels so good to be back to some of the activities that truly make the Unquowa experience unique. Faith

Barbuto, PreK Teacher

Author Visits!

During the Fall, 7th Grade students read the incredible young adult novel, I Lived on Butterfly Hill, in Humanities class. This is a fictionalized account of a young girl’s life in the City of Valparaiso, Chile before, during, and after the 1973 Chilean coup d’état. Recently in November, just after finishing the book, those same students met with the author, Dr. Marjorie Agosín, for almost two hours during an author visit! During this time, 7th Graders learned a lot about Dr. Agosín’s early life, including her first experiences in America upon immigrating. They were also treated to an extended Question & Answer session that afforded them the opportunity to ask any and all questions about the book. Our students proved to be very enthusiastic and had many great questions. At the end of our time together, one student asked Dr. Agosín if she would sign their book. Immediately after that, almost every student joined a long line to get their books signed, and to have a brief one-on-one conversation with the author.

We are so fortunate to have access to incredible, diverse literature in today’s world written by living artists, writers, and poets, and our students made lasting memories. (They may have even inspired Dr. Agosín to begin writing her third novel...)

Eric Snow, Humanities Teacher

What’s the Buzz?

Students in grades PreK through to grade 6 have been reviewing some of the broad topics of Makerspace as we started the school year, including electrical circuits! Students at each grade level were challenged to create a circuit that can make an LED bulb light up, and eventually leading up to creating a circuit with an on/off switch, an LED bulb, and a buzzer. Everyone is super enthusiastic about the buzzers!

PreK students continued on with their electrical circuit project by making a mini lamp out of recycled materials and a battery pack. This fun lamp is made from a K-cup, an old straw, and from used cardboard boxes from around school. Each student was excited to select the LED bulb and proudly completed all of the assembly themselves.

As a building block with these basic circuits, we have learned about working with electricity and especially about safe practices. We discussed vocabulary such as conductor, insulator, current, and volts/voltage and have been busy connecting electrical wires to connectors and connectors to switches. There was much excitement in class when they completed a successful circuit.

Makerspace students are laying an extensive foundation of skills to work from for the remainder of the year and will continue to build upon those skills with each lesson. We are excited for what exciting projects will come next!

Joey Casey, Makerspace Teacher

Notes From The UPA

It is Social Season! The UPA celebrated the start of the new school year by bringing together our community members, both big and small!

The Unquowa Social Club hosted an in-house Winter Faire-themed fête, allowing guests to “travel” to the winter markets of Europe, tasting their way through regional wine and beer and other delicacies from France, England, Germany and beyond. The décor was inspired, and the menu included vegetarian chili, crostini, beef and horseradish sliders, a pretzel bar and spectacular desserts including macarons and a chocolate fountain. Along with holiday purchases from our partner Kindred Wine and Spirits, a record number of raffle tickets were sold, and lucky winners walked away with paella and crepe kits, an Italian coffee basket, a truffle pizza kit, champagne, and more. It was delightful to have our wonderful community together in person again, and to introduce Unquowa’s new families to our favorite friendraiser.

The grownups didn’t have all of the fun, though...the UPA also sponsored 5-6 th and 7-8 th Grade Fall Socials too. Our 5-6 th graders joined their friends in the Unquowa gymnasium for a “Movie Night” screening of High School Musical on the big screen, while enjoying pizza, popcorn, sweets, and of course, each other’s company. And the 7-8 th Graders took to the treetops at the Adventure Park at the Discovery Museum for their social. They did high ropes climbing on courses anywhere from 3 feet to 50 feet off the ground, complete with ziplines. It was challenging aerial fun for all!

The UPA continued its community service efforts this fall. The Annual Coat Drive brought in 80 coats for the Mercy Learning Center, and the Gently Used Clothing Sale was a great success, raising money for children in need. Cheers to everyone who contributed!

With Winterfest just around the corner, we’ll look forward to celebrating together again! Thank you to all of our members, chairs and volunteers for all they do for the Unquowa community. Please stay involved!

The Unquowa Parents Association

Joseph Henry Stagg III ‘53, known to his family and

Jerry, died on July 31, 2022 at the age of 82 in Bridgeport, CT, the same city where he was born on November 6, 1939. Jerry graduated from the Hotchkiss School and Brown University, where he studied history and was on the golf and swimming teams. It was Unquowa, however, which he attended from kindergarten through eighth grade, which he credited with forming his character and love of learning. Jerry went on to serve as the chair of Unquowa’s board of Governors from 1991-93 and remained a lifelong supporter of the school, stopping in to visit whenever he was in the area.

Jerry’s great joy was researching and planning his extensive international travels to share with his family. He was a collector of many things: more wines than could be consumed in a lifetime, more tweed jackets than could be worn in a season, and more magazines than could be read in a month. He also accumulated button-down shirts, ties, greeting cards, and books. Jerry loved to tell stories about his family, his antique maps, and all his German Shepard dogs, especially his favorite Nike. He was a long-time legacy member of Brooklawn Country Club and played golf across the United States and Europe, including St. Andrew’s.

Jerry is survived by his wife, Judy November; his daughter Ellen (Gerald Feliciano) of Brooklyn, NY; his son Jared (Allison), and grandsons Joseph H. Stagg V, known as Kingsley, and Rex D. Stagg of Wilton, CT;

grandson Daniil T. Sjostrom of Norwich, VT.

Patrick Kelly ‘91 recently visited Unquowa to pick up the Gator Goods swag he had ordered from Founders’ Day. Patrick attended Unquowa from PreK through 8th grade and reminded us that his mom, Sharon Kelly, was assistant to the Head of School at Unquowa from 1982 -1993. During his visit Patrick shared with us that he and his Unquowa classmates still get together every year for a special holiday dinner and they were even groomsmen in his wedding!

Catching Up With The Stalowir Siblings!

Sjostrom

Carolyn Streets ‘89, recently has joined Quinnipiac School of Education teaching graduate courses on Social Emotional Learning within an Equity Justice Framework.

Best wishes Carolyn!

After graduating from Fort Lewis College, Durango CO, Winston Stalowir ‘11 is working at Rebel Interactive, an internet marketing firm in CT. Jackson Stalowir ‘14 graduated with honors in May 2022 from Loyola University, Chicago. He earned a double major in Economics and Political Science and is now working for a political consulting group in Chicago.

Last but not least, Ella Stalowir ‘17 is currently a sophomore in the honors program at Drexel University and is working towards a double major in Psychology and Criminal Justice.

Contribute to the exceptional programs and curriculums, unparalleled community and unique experiential learning you see reflected on these pages. Give a personally meaningful amount to the Fund for Unquowa today.

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