WESTMINSTER
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Helping Others in North Carolina Eleven students and two faculty members left Westminster School very early one morning on their March break to drive 17 hours to Newfound, N.C., a small town about an hour away from Asheville, to volunteer for a week with Habitat for Humanity. “We were greeted by the Habitat for Humanity family, and we were welcomed into the community center, where we would be sleeping during our stay,” explained Whitney FitzPatrick ’09, one of the student volunteers. Besides the students from Westminster, there was a smaller group from Providence College. The Westminster volunteers worked as painters, landscapers and roofers on a house that was already standing. They painted the entire interior of the house and fertilized and planted grass in the yard. “A few of us were in charge of putting the roof shingles on the shed, and some put the flooring in the house,” added Whitney. “We also were able to meet the recipient family and see who all of our hard work was going to help.” Those who participated in the trip included faculty members Whitney Jackson ’96 and Shelley Killeen, and students Kyle Zinn ’09, Mike Curran ’09, Tyler Papa ’10, Mike Maurer ’10, Nabi Hassanzoy ’10, Kathryn Griffith ’11, Katie Polio ’11, Margot Lieblich ’09, Whitney FitzPatrick ’09, Erin Wallace ’10 and Ben Sharaf ’10.
New Trustee Joins Board
Students Named Semifinalists in 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program
The Westminster Board of Trustees welcomed D. Scott Wise P’11 as a new trustee at its fall meeting. Scott is a partner in the law firm of Davis Polk and Wardwell, where he specializes in litigation. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law. He is the incoming president of the Board of Trustees of D. Scott Wise Eaglebrook School. Scott’s wife, Linden, served as general counsel for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is the president of the Board of Trustees of The Chapin School. They live in New York City and are the parents of Harry ’11 and Lucie (Chapin ’14). Scott will rotate through the committees of the Board, attending the Committee on Faculty and Students in the fall, the Business Committee in the winter and the Development Committee in the spring.
Westminster Sixth Formers Anne Cervas and Suchi Mandavilli have been named Semifinalists in the 55th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented students have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 National Merit Scholarships that will be offered next spring. Semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors and include the highest-scoring entrants in each state. They must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. More than 1.5 million juniors in about 22,000 high schools entered the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. During Anne’s Westminster career, she has earned summus every term and was named an AP Scholar with Honor. She is president of the student organization Serving Our Neighbors, the literary editor of The Martlet and a Day Prefect. She also is co-captain of the varsity crosscountry team and has played on Westminster soccer, lacrosse, track and squash teams. Suchi also has achieved summus every term and was named an AP Scholar with Distinction. She is the editor in chief of Westminster News, a member of the Chamber Choir and a participant in Cabaret. She also participates in cross country and has played on Westminster field hockey, tennis and squash teams. Outside of school, she serves as a volunteer at Hartford Hospital.
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Anne Cervas ’10
Suchi Mandavilli ’10