Woodstock School Quadrangle 2021

Woodstock School Alumni Magazine Volume CXIV 2021

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The Woodstock Alumni program offers you opportunities to connect and engage with our widespread alumni community. In recent years, we have looked at several ways to increase your engagement with not only your class groups & other Alumni, but also with our current students and staff community. You can sign up for opportunities such as the Alumni Mentorship Program, where you can mentor a recent graduate, or you can join a panel to talk about your college and university experience with our parent & student community, or perhaps you could share your expertise with our students and staff through the Center for Imagination or in a classroom setting. (Do drop us an email at Alumni@ woodstock.ac.in if you wish to participate and engage with any of the programs listed above) In order for you to make the most of the engagement opportunities we offer and for us to stay in touch with you as well, we encourage you to take these following steps: • Update your current bio, professional and educational details with us: https://www. woodstockschool.in/contact-details-form/ • Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to make sure you always stay updated.

And lastly, if you haven’t already done so yet, we encourage each one of you to create your profile or update your current profile on Woodstock Alumni Connect.

Stay connected Facebook.com/wsalumni

Woodstock Alumni Connect is available on the Google Playstore and Apple App Store.

@woodstockalumni

group

Woodstock School Alumni Linkedin

Principal Dr. Craig Cook Editorial team Monica Roberts Will Ferguson

Aditya Manral Special thanks to Anne Lind

Lauri Coulter ’81 Layout and design Randhir A. Malhan ’88 Front cover Woodstock Archives Photos Woodstock community

Table of contents History in the making: Building on our heritage

Dr Craig Cook, Principal ..............................................2 There comes a day

Monica Roberts, Editor ...............................................5 Graduation 2020 ........................................................6 Virtual Commencement Ceremony .........................6 Class Photo ............................................................7 Awards 2020............................................................8 Where They Are Going ............................................8 School in the times of COVID ...................................9 Rock Art Project ......................................................14 The Archives at Woodstock ....................................16

The Quadrangle is published annually

Woodstock: Past Forward

Woodstock School. It is distributed

Homeward Bound

by the Alumni Relations Office of

Ashoke Chatterjee ’51 ...............................................19

free of charge to alumni. We welcome

Steve Alter .................................................................22

with Woodstock School.

Alumni Spotlight.......................................................26

WOODSTOCK SCHOOL Mussoorie, UK 248 179 India

Jamie Alter ’99 ......................................................28

input from the community associated

Alumni Relations Office alumni@woodstock.ac.in www.woodstockschool.in

Yasmin Padamsee Forbes ’87 ..............................26 Kilang Yanger ’02 ..................................................32 Rehan Abbas Khan ’88..........................................35 Anah Iqbal ’11 .......................................................37 Stefan Eicher ’90...................................................39

Gatherings.................................................................42 Honoring Departing Staff.........................................46 Staff Arrivals..............................................................47 In Memoriam.............................................................48 Jottings......................................................................51 Staff Jottings.............................................................79

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History in the making Building on our heritage Dr Craig Cook, Principal, Woodstock School

Dear Woodstock Alumni Community,

To walk around the Woodstock School campus is to wend one’s way through history. Like the Himalayan foothills we call home, Woodstock is both timeless and ever shifting, with subtle changes brought about by every monsoon, and every new generation of students who live and learn at the school.

The school’s history guides us and acts as a reference point, one that has kept the spirit of Woodstock alive and kicking over the years and continues to do so. In everything we do, we should consider it through the lens of the school’s heritage.

Woodstock has been around a lot longer than any of us, and will continue to be long after we are gone. We are only its current custodians, and all we can do is try and retain and build on all that is special about the school.

This year will once again go down in history, where students and teachers rose to the challenges of education during the worst pandemic in a century. Also, of a year when we were able to find the positives in the situation, and make significant steps in our plans to create living and learning spaces which are fitting for a Woodstock School education in a way that meets the future.

The year started with the finishing touches being made to the work which began in 2020, including the retrofitting and restoration of the Quad building’s top floor, and the complete refurbishment of Tafton as a fitting home for the Centre for Imagination.

Then the area near the bottom of the ramp was redeveloped to provide a new home for the mailroom and an expanded terrace to add a new space for outdoor education and collaboration.

Developing cutting-edge science facilities In March students had to leave campus for a second time, in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19 spreading across India. Once again, we considered how we could take a strategic advantage of this less than opportune circumstance.

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Our focus turned to the Science labs on the top floor of the High School building. Our Science labs were somewhat dated and fell short of the International Baccalaureate’s requirements for modern, certified laboratories. The roof over the laboratories was also in desperate need of replacement, and the

With all the renovations we have undertaken, we have done so with full consideration of Woodstock’s long history. How does it fit in the school’s timeline, does it align with this institution’s legacy, does it do justice to the Woodstock education experience today, and how can it continue to do so for the lifespan of the renewed learning space?

whole structure needed strengthening, as the third floor would be particularly vulnerable to seismic activity. Students’ continued absence from campus gave us the opportunity to move ahead with this essential work with minimal disruption to school life and lessons, and doing so during the school semester rather than waiting to undertake major works over the holidays.

With all the renovations we have undertaken, we have done so with full consideration of Woodstock’s long history. How does it fit in the school’s timeline, does it align with this institution’s legacy, does it do justice to the Woodstock education experience today, and how can it continue to do so for the lifespan of the renewed learning space?

Honouring those who have come before A further factor with the development of our science facilities is how we could honour members of our alumni community, and their

own legacy in the Sciences, at Woodstock and the world over. The Science block at Woodstock was dedicated to Dr Robert L. Fleming Sr in 1977, in appreciation of his 25 years’ service as a science teacher from 1928-1953. While continuing to recognise Dr Fleming’s immense contribution to the school, the new state-of-the-art facilities are an opportunity to honour someone who followed in his footsteps.

T. Z. Chu’s life and work can be an inspiration to all the students who will study and learn in the revitalised Science facilities.

Arriving at Woodstock as a refugee from China in 1948, he grew to be a successful part of the school community. He excelled at sports and developed a passion for Science, under the guidance of Dr Fleming himself.

T.Z. graduated from Woodstock in 1952, studied Chemistry at University of California, Berkeley, and went on to have a distinguished career as a scholar, scientist and entrepreneur. He was not only the first Asian CEO

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TZ Chu

Miss Marley, Bob Fleming Sr, Reverand and Mrs Robert Alter

of a public technology company, but also the National Chairman of the American Electronics Association. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has recognized T.Z. in a permanent exhibit, ‘Many Voices, One Nation’, as a prominent immigrant who made significant contributions to America. T.Z. credited Woodstock as instrumental in his success and gave back in many ways; as a board member of the school and FWS, and a major donor, particularly in support of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). He became a Board Member emeritus and received a Distinguished Alumni Award. T.Z. Chu passed away on September 15, 2016.

Our Estates team worked in partnership with our Science Department, to ensure that every element of the development considers students’ needs first and foremost, and to create a facility that will continue to meet students and teachers’ needs many years into the future.

Our Estates team also deserve great credit for their tireless work in the face of the challenges of the pandemic, as well as all those associated with the renovation of a building as old as the High School. We also offer thanks to Rick Downs Jr ’79, the Friends of Woodstock School, and T.Z. Chu’s family, whose generous donations enabled us to make the vision of a state-of-the-art-Science centre a reality.

Woodstock’s redeveloped science facilities will be christened the T.Z. Chu Science Laboratories. We think it is a fitting way to remember all his great achievements. His memory and spirit will live on in the generations of students who learn to share his passion for Science within them, in the experiments, measurements and observations that help shape their thirst for knowledge and understanding. Six new labs have been created, one large and one small each for Physics, Chemistry and Biology, as well as collaborative working space for teachers and students, preparation and storage rooms, and cutting-edge facilities and services throughout.

Setting the stage for Parker Hall renovations The next great challenge lies across the hallway from the Science block, and in terms of history and heritage it is one of Woodstock School’s most iconic spaces. Parker Hall, for many generations of Woodstockers, has been their first experience on stage, whether through drama, music, assemblies, or chapel. It continues to be our primary meeting space, but it is in its current state, an ageing auditorium. With performance such a constant highlight of the Woodstock School experience, work needs to be done to create a space that aligns with the latest standards

in theatre design and technology, and fits with the wealth of talent we have within our community. Our ultimate goal is to do so in a way that continues to preserve the heritage of a space that was dedicated ninety years ago, bringing the space into the present day without losing the look and feel of the Parker Hall we all know and love. Once again it is our duty to understand what’s gone before us, and recognise and learn from this, in order to live our times in the present.

An unexpected opportunity arising from the Covid-19 pandemic has been that we could move forward with these essential campus works, condensing works which otherwise would have taken many years to realise into a much shorter timescale. We have only been able to do so, thanks to the generous support of alumni community. By the end of this decade, we will reach another milestone in Woodstock’s long and illustrious history, as we advance towards the school’s 175-year anniversary in 2029. It is our hope that by the time we reach this landmark occasion, we can do so with living and learning spaces throughout the campus which complement and harmonise with the Woodstock educational experience, while encompassing our rich heritage and all that has gone before.

Dr Craig Cook, Principal, Woodstock School

There comes a day... a note from the editor May 1st 1979, the day I arrived on the Woodstock campus it was a very long time ago. Yet it seems like it was only yesterday that I got off the bus at Picture Palace after a 48 hour train ride from Bombay and a one and a half hour ride up the hill in a bus. I was met at the bus station by a friend from Bombay who was working at Woodstock. We walked from Picture Palace to the Quad where I was met with my wonderful mentors from Bombay – James and Willi Barton. I had just come to visit them on a short vacation and it never occurred to me that this would be my home for the next 43 years.

What an incredible journey this has been, one that I would not have traded for anything else in the world. Each memory embedded deep in my heart and never fails to bring a smile on my face or a tear in my eye. I always wanted to pen down my Woodstock journey, but my mind pauses at the overwhelming emotions that would be ever so hard to express in words.

Eric and I met at Woodstock and our girls Becky and Aradhana graduated from here. As a family we have formed some long lasting bonds with former students as well as staff. Bonds that have kept us together throughout these years. I started my career at Woodstock as a receptionist, then moved into the dorms as a dorm parent, later worked in the accounts department and finally made my way to the development office. Having the opportunity to experience Woodstock in so many unique dimensions and interact with some amazing people makes Woodstock the gem that it is to me. We are grateful as a family to have experienced community in its true sense.

It has been a privilege to get to know Woodstock students through the past four decades. Not only watching them grow from children to seniors graduating but also seeing them blossom into beautiful, caring human beings who have not only excelled in their own fields but also made a difference in the world they live in. It is always heart-warming to meet with alumni when they return to visit, sometimes alone, and sometimes with children of their own and see that twinkle in their eye.

Now, after 43 years of working with the alumni community I will officially be an alumnus as of June 2022. Eric became an alumna in June 2021. It will be strange to finally join all of you out there, but we will finally be able to identify with all the emotions and feelings of having lived the Woodstock experience.

Much has changed at Woodstock, but I hope that the very essence of the place, the magic of living in a bubble, the kind, compassionate, and caring community that I have had the privilege of getting to know over the years continues to permeate through every soul that passes through here.

I would like to take this time to thank all of you for the love and care that each one of you have always showered on our family. Thank you for your friendship over the years. And finally I would like to thank and praise God for bringing me to Woodstock and for being with us throughout these years and for His love and blessings.

This is not a goodbye, but an adieu and I hope that we will continue to stay connected with all of you from this wonderful community.

Monica Roberts 5

2021 Virtual Commencement Ceremony Aeternum, class of 2021 was the second class to graduate online, on May 22, 2021. They began a new journey supported by their families, faculty and administrators. The graduation ceremony was held on a Zoom call.

Dr. Cook

Jinju Park

Kirsten Pike

Principal

Best all Round Student

Graduation Speaker

We can’t always pick when our growing up happens. We create our own personal rites of passage out of the surprising experiences of the everyday.Without clear markers, we are left with incomplete transitions, searching for ways to complete the change. Rites of passage are trials, pain and challenges we grow from.

How we grow is up to us.

Graduation is one of several important moments that transition us through significant phases of our lives. Our mission at Woodstock has been to prepare you to achieve your full potential in leadership and in life.

We think, ‘today is gone. And tomorrow is already here.’ And well, I don’t know about you guys, but my endless thoughts after thoughts lead me to existential crisis. So I think, ‘wow, time passes so fast. Yet I don’t seem to grow.

Well, physically too, but also this toxicity of obsession with productivity makes me think like I have to do more. If I want to do something in my life, if I want to change this world, I have to be more productive and I have to work harder. To survive in this world full of geniuses and driven people, I’m pretty sure every one of us had this question “are we enough?”.

Principal’s address

Aeternum: to eternity. Always, perpetual, and constant. The phoenix: what a relevant symbol for this graduation ceremony and for this unique class. To be in a perpetual state of transformation, of death to rebirth.

Graduates, you have done the hard work.

The challenge has been even greater than you could have imagined when your senior year began – but you have persevered.

Transformation has arrived. You came to Woodstock as children, but you leave as young adults equipped to be visionary, articulate, and ethical leaders in the world.

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Congratulations!

Graduation speech

I came across a poem/song “A letter to remind myself who I am” written by Miles Carter that changed how I view this fundamental question about my existence. He wrote, “Don’t get so caught up in who you are now You’re already better for wanting to be better.”

So between now and the time we all start the next chapter of our lives, take a break, congratulate one another for having come this far, and breathe in and out to see what’s around you and how you would like to start the next chapter of your life.

Commencement address

Victor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning (that all of you read), said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms- to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” We can’t always choose what happens to us, but we do get to choose how we react.

Find the good. Decide how you will grow from the trials. Our past year has been more like a rite of passage, trial by fire, seclusion in a cave, than anything Woodstock students have endured to date. The question is who will you be when you emerge? Do the hard work of consciously deciding how to react rather than letting instinct take over. As you emerge from this cave of seclusion, this unconventional rite of passage and head into the light, choose to find a slightly better and more evolved version of yourself.

Aadya Aryal, Aadya Goel, Aaliya Sukhnandan, Aaryaman Khanna, Abidan Aryal, Adit Joshi, Aditya Sareen, Aliciah Serbastian, Amani Mohan, Amer Beri, Anjoli Lahiri, Annika Loyal, Anya Tyagi, Araan Suares, Archita Aggarwal, Arhaan Chopra, Aryan Vahi, Aviva Balani, Chhaya Jindal, Colorado Rose, Dana Woo, Diya Bathija, Doaa Abdlslam Althawr, Faadumo Adam, Garv Mandan, Gauri Pasbola, Gyungchae Han, Haeun Cho, Ishaan Mehra, Jackson Tunheim, Jai Batra, Jaiveer Raikhy, Janvi Poddar, Jigmet Angmo, Jinho Yoon, Jinju Park, Jiten Taneja, Juweeriya Maxamed, Kahini Patel, Kangmin Nam, Keya Sanghavi, Kiera Thakkar, Kuhu Singh, Kungdiangbou Wijunamai, Kyutae Kyung, Maithili Jogani, Mannat Singh, Mayar Shakib Mohammed, Mihika Poddar, Mohammad Ansari, Muhim Mohamed, Mukhtar Mohamed, Nabeeha Mahanta, Naman Agarwal, Nirvigna Thapa, Nupur Agrawal, Rahul Gandhi, Rishi Kotru, Ritvik Pothapragada, Sachin Rijal, Saga Abdulraqeb Saleh, Sapna Tayal, Savya Agarwal, Seongchan Jeong, Seongmin Jeong, Shih An Karis Hsu, Shikhar Anand, Shivam Singhal, Shivangi Aneja, Shoaib Ansari, Shubh Arya, Simon Sookias, Singye Norbu, Siwon Park, Sunitha Vemuri, Sunkwan Kim, Suryansh Singh, Swastik Kundu, Syed Daanish Zaheer, Tanvi Chaudhary, Tenzin Lama, Uma Sherpa, Umreen Werner-Ahmed, Victor Pashuk, Warris Godara, Yash Kedia, Youngseo Noh, Zabihullah Akbar

The Class of 2021 comprised the following students. All members are not in the photograph.

Graduating class of 2021

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Awards 2021

Sports, Exercise and Health Science Jigmet

Computer Science - Grade 11 & 12 Jinho

Angmo

Yoon

Mathematics - Grade 9 & 10 Aditi Gaur

Hindi - Grade 9 & 10 Shivom Sood

Mathematics - Grade 11 & 12 Sapna Tayal

Hindi - Grade 11 & 12 Shoaib Ansari

Valedictorian Siwon Park, Jinho Yoon

Journalism Awards - Writing Riya Gupta,

Salutatorian Sunkwan Kim

Ira Ahuja

Orchestra : Grade 11 & 12 Sunkwan Kim

Spanish - Grade 11 & 12 Aadya Aryal

Best All Round Student Award Jinju Park

Journalism Awards - Production Xinyue

Band Grade 11 & 12 Shih An Karis Janae

French - Grade 9 & 10 Isha Deorah

Student Government Award Mukhtar Kyese

Wang

Hsu

French - Grade 11 & 12 Araan Niel Suares

Mohamed, Jigmet Angmo

English - Grade 9 & 10 Asha Torczon

Choral : Grade 11 & 12 Suryansh Singh

Pratap Chatterjee Memorial Science Award

English - Grade 11 & 12 Janvi Poddar

Solo Instrument : Grade 9 & 10 (Guitar)

Drama : Grade 9 & 10 Junho Jeon

Samaira Kapur

Drama : Grade 11 & 12 Haeun Cho

Kahini Sanjiv Patel

Spanish - Grade 9 & 10 Da-Hye Lee

E.E. Miller International Award

Cassinath Art Award Mayar Shakib

Solo Instrument : Grade 11 & 12 (Piano)

Swastik Kundu

Abdulrahman Mohammed

Jinju Park

Poad Music Shield (Piano and Flute)

Visual Arts - Grade 9 & 10 Da-Hye Lee

Siwon Park

Visual Arts - Grade 11 & 12 Sapna Tayal

MYP I&S - Grade 9 & 10 Rushita Sai Sri

Film & Media : Grade 11 & 12 Asta Banerjee

Integrated Science - Grade 9 & 10 Jayant

Paladugu

Mubarak Masih Indian Music Shield

Basnyat

Global Politics Award - Gr. 11 & 12 Aadya

No nominations this year

Chemistry - Grade 11 & 12 Jae-Kyung Sung

Aryal

Initiative Award Swastik Kundu,

Biology - Grade 11 & 12 Ananyashree

Psychology Award - Gr. 11 & 12 Jinho Yoon

Doaa Abdlslam Mohammed Althawr

Carrie Sue Fordham Endowment Award

Mishra

Economics Award Aaryaman Khanna

for Excellence in Writing, Cash Prize (US$

Physics - Grade 11 & 12 Jinho Yoon

History Award Shih An Karis Janae Hsu

750)

Environmental Science - Grade 11 & 12

Jinho Yoon

Rahul Gandhi

Emerson Film School, USA

Northeastern University, USA

St. Georges University

Babson College, USA

ArtEZ, The Netherlands

School of Medicine, Grenada

Washington and Lee

Trinity College, USA

Boston College, USA

University, USA

Aberystwyth University, UK

University of Toronto,

Bard College Berlin, Germany

Hong Kong Technical

Rottman, Canada

University of Toronto,

University of Science and

King College London, UK

Scarborough, Canada

Technology, Hong Kong

University of California Davis,

University of Manchester, UK

Goldsmiths University of

USA

Mount Allison University,

London, UK

Bard College, USA

Canada

New York University, USA

McGill University, Canada

Goshen College, USA

Mount Holyoke College, USA

The George Washington

University of British

Memorial University of

University, USA

Columbia, Canada

Newfoundland, Canada

Boston College, USA

Smith College, USA

Parsons NYC, USA

Memorial University of

University of St. Andrews, UK

Newfoundland, Canada

University of Virginia, USA

Hult International Business

University of Toronto,

School, USA

Rotman, Canada

Indiana University,

Boston University, USA

Bloomington- Kelley, USA

Loyola Marymount

Wheaton College, USA

University, USA

Ryerson University, Canada

New York University, USA

George Brown College, Canada

Bryant University, USA

Flame University, India

Birkbeck University of

University of California San

London, Canada

Diego, USA

Syracuse University, USA

University of Toronto, Canada

Maastricht University, The

University of Manchester, UK

Netherlands

American University, USA

Ryerson University, Canada

Hendrix College, USA

Carnegie Mellon University,

North Carolina State

USA

University, USA

Eckerd College, USA

PHE:Grade 9 & 10 Asha Torczon

Community Engagement Award Mannat Singh, Kahini Sanjiv Patel,

Design Grade 9 & 10 Jayant Basnyat

Where they are going 2021

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Film & Media : Grade 9 & 10 Parth Chheda

Samichi Rungta

School in the times of COVID 2020 – 2021

2020

The Independence day celebration at Woodstock has traditionally been started by the raising of the flag. This is done by the student(s) who have been at school the longest. This year Avanya Jacob and Mahima Peter, both of whom joined school in ECP in the year 2009, began the festivities.

Independence Day ↓ →

KG students all dressed up for Halloween ↓ Halloween

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Science experiments →

Students back at school ↓

2020

Classes being held outdoors ↑ ↓

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Students back at school ↓

Online music classes ↑

Spirit Week ↑ →

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Students back at school ↓

Students back at school ↑ →

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Worldwide Woodstock Day ↓ →

Worldwide Woodstock Day ↑

The Rock Art Project ↑ →

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Rock Art Project The Rock Art Project is about our community recapturing the two years that we have just lived through.

It is about bringing together something of that experience, whether literally something of the place you spent those two years doing distance learning, or the sense you now make of the experience.

But it is also about the possibilities that come from our community returning back together again. This Art Project is about using rocks to create a physical expression both of who we are as a community, and what we can become.

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Why rocks?

Because rocks are solid. They express resilience. They last! You have come through two challenging years and you have not just survived, but perhaps even learned new ways to thrive. And part of this project will beocme a permanent exhibit at the CFI for future generations to catch a glimpse of that experience.

Because rocks are beautiful. Look closely and see that each rock has its own unique colour, patterns and shape. The uniqueness of rock has to do with the place it comes from and experiences which have literally shaped it.

Some of the most beautiful rocks, like the round rocks in a Himalayan river bed, have gone through the hardest experiences.

Because rocks, when brought together, can build something bigger. When we come together, each with our unique identities and histories, we create both something new and something bigger. After the initial display of our individual rocks, we will be creatively putting the rocks together in unique installations around campus.

Finally, why rocks? Because Woodstock sits on one of the biggest rocks in the world, the Himalayas!

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The Archives at Woodstock Cate Whitcomb ’66, Margo Warner Curl ’67 & Lori Osborne

A

s the years have passed and the richness of the history of Woodstock School increases in depth and complexity the Archives become more and a more a treasure trove of information. There have been two written histories of the school and while the need for another edition of the history is unmet, there are documents and records that tell that history in the archives.

What are the Archives? They include publications including nearly all Whispering Pine annual year books, the Quadrangle alumni magazines, the student newspaper, the Tiger and other iterations of the newspaper, correspondence from the school administrators, meeting minutes from the Board of Directors, the administrative and teaching staff, photographs and ephemera of various kinds including Miss Marley’s academic robes and dandi. These are all considered primary source documents which capture the times in which they were created.

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Woodstock has maintained and preserved archival materials from the beginning. The earliest documents are the land deeds that were signed and notarized to transfer the property on which the school is located into the hands of the first organizers, teachers and staff dated in 1853-54. The Archives as they exist today were established officially by the Class of 1942 in 1996 when Dorothy Vaugh Whitcomb began to encourage her class to make donations in support of the Archives.

They gave $12,870 to the school with which a specific area in the alumni office on the second floor of the main administration building

in the Quad was constructed. In addition, shelving, folders and other necessary archival supplies were purchased. The room has concrete walls and floor and a fire-proof door. The original layout of the archives included the adjoining space which was to be used for sorting and ascension of materials and research. Since that time a section has been closed off with a grating which is used for storage of alumni related materials and the remainder of the original space has been used for offices.

In the intervening years, 1996 to the present, Margo Warner Curl (’67) and Cate Whitcomb (’66) have worked on organizing the materials. Cate went to Woodstock

Archives room with old file cabinets

in January of 1997 as the Director of Development and Alumni just after the room was built. The first task was to pick up all the materials that were piled on the floor in the middle of the newly constructed room and put them in some logical sequence into file cabinets and shelving. Margo was able to come to Woodstock that summer for two months and brought with her a suitcase full of archival supplies. The results of her work was a comprehensive cataloging list which has guided all the work and research in the archives since then.

Margo and Cate were suited for this project as they both have a century of family history related to Woodstock. Cate’s family in India began with her maternal grandparents, Mason and Clara Vaugh, arriving in India in 1921. An early picture, found in the archives, of the Presbyterian mission taken in 1929, shows her parents Bill and Dorothy seated nearly beside each other at ages 5 and 3. All of her aunts and uncles attended and graduated from Woodstock as did three of her four siblings.

Margo's career was as an academic librarian with over 20 years at The College of Wooster Libraries. This college had long ties to Presbyterian mission work: many Wooster graduates served as missionaries, and many missionary children, including numerous Woodstock grads, attended Wooster. One of her favorite activities during her time there was working with the Special Collection

The Fire in the Quad 1940 One of the fascinating discoveries made while we organized the materials in the archives was a packet of large-format black and white negatives.

They were donated

by Rev. Bob Alter who had been principal in the 1970’s and were taken by his father Dr. Emmet Alter who has principal in the 1940’s. In Delhi we found a photographer who created digital images for us. That is when we discovered these two photos taken right after the fire in the Quad and during the reconstruction. The area that burned was where the health center is now located but what had been the business office and where all student records were stored in the 1940’s. The Woodstock School history book Vol. 1 has a two page description of the fire written by Miss Mary McGee – she writes: “At 3 am Monday, March 3rd, Miss Parker was awakened by a bright light when proved to be a fire in the carpenter shop. The flames were following the godown below the Office and were reaching up to the Accountant’s Office above. Miss Parker spread the alarm to others in the house. A servant had been sent to call Dr. Alter and the Hostel men, as only the Office telephone was in use, and on account of the thick smoke, entrance there was impossible….What a mess!

Smoked walls in all the rooms at the front of the building, all panes of glass in the windows with the exception of about four in the drawing-room and tea-room were either cracked or broken. The floors were black with cinders, while doors and windows nearest the office haven completely burned.”

We have always known of the fire but seeing the photographs brought the story to life. There are a number of student records in the archives that survived the fire – they are in special archival plastic sheets to preserve them. Miss McGee notes: The student records for the year 1940 were completely destroyed. From the tightly packed metal files, many old students’ records were salvaged, as the edges only were charred. All the old College records were destroyed as well as a file of school registers that date back to at least Mrs. Scott’s time, and perhaps even farther back. In the centenary year [1954] we have cause to mourn the loss of this important material.

The current archives are in the space just to the right of the upstairs window, above the debris and building supplies seen in the photos.

Librarian on projects relating to missionary materials. Her initial trip to Woodstock in 1997 to begin organizing the archives was made possible by a summer study leave: during that leave she also explored material related to Woodstock at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia and in The College of Wooster Archives. She, along with her 3 siblings, graduated from Woodstock and attended for most of their 12 years.

Many other alumni and ex-staff volunteers came over the following years, including Bill Whitcomb from the class of ’42 which had given the original donation to establish the archives. Melanie Smith worked for more than a year continuing to organize and sort documents. Other volunteers helped to identify people in photographs and organize them into files that documented events. Important documents from around the school were found and added to the growing collection.

Beginning in the summer of 2013 Margo, who had retired from her position as librarian at The College of Wooster, began what would be a series of almost yearly visits to the archives to further refine and organize the holdings. Cate accompanied Margo on those visits which ended up being four more times in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019. On three of those visits an expert consultant, Lori Osborne, who was then the archivist for the Evanston History Center in Evanston, Illinois, accompanied Margo and Cate adding her expertise and advice to the project.

With Lori’s eyes on the project, we began to refine the collection and more fully understand its historic significance. It is really quite unique to have this much material saved. The story of Woodstock School that is saved in the archives goes far beyond simply the school’s history but to the larger stories of the community of Mussoorie and the country of India in this time period.

The process of gradually locating school records and sorting through them to reduce duplications and to put them in chronological order was tedious work. But by the end of the 2019 visit, during which the focus had been on organizing the minutes of the Board meetings for the school, it felt to Margo and Cate that the task they had begun in 1997 was complete.

During the years of those organizing visits it became more and more clear that both a better location and improved storage equipment was needed. Cate’s class celebrated their 50th year since their high school

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New files and shelving donated by Classes of 1966 and 1967

graduation in 2016 and she encouraged her classmates to contribute to the funds at Friends of Woodstock School for the archives.

Members of the Class of ‘67 also contributed to the fund. With the help of Monica Roberts, Alumni Secretary, who researched the available types of metal, four-drawer cabinets and metal shelving available from vendors in India, an order for 16 cabinets and shelving was placed in late 2019 for a total of $5,420. Then in March of 2020 the pandemic of COVID-19 caused the complete lockdown of all business and transportation activity in India. The file cabinets were in a truck on their way to Mussoorie when the lockdown occurred. Several months later as

Bill Whitcomb class of ‘42 in 1997

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Miss Marley’s Dandi

the lockdown was lifted, the cabinets arrived.

After a brief period where they had to be stored on the verandah, in the fall of 2020, Krishnan Kutty, the interim Development Director, was able to have the cabinets moved into the archives room, the old file cabinets removed, and all the materials transferred.

Margo and Cate had intended to be at Woodstock for that transition but the global pandemic made it impossible to travel to India.

Over the years, as the work of organizing progressed, Margo and Cate met with the principals to discuss how the school might take over the responsibility of staffing and

managing the archives, and to convey the need for additional space for the growing collection. They prepared a report of the ideal amount of space that would be needed to adequately house the current and growing collection. While the discussion of other renovation projects at the school continues, the archives are still in their original location. More space would be ideal, especially for research and accessioning of the materials.

At least they are safe in secure new storage cabinets and shelving. One last visit to verify the organization of the materials transferred might be possible in 2022 if the pandemic allows for international travel once again.

The question that several alumni continue to ask us is “Why aren’t your digitizing the collection?” The organization we have done to date is a crucial first step to being able to create an archival digital collection, as digitizing archival material is more than just scanning and storing it some place. Digitizing can be explored once the School has dedicated staffing for the archives and is able to bring in a consultant to advise on best digitization practices.

The overall goal of the archives is to save everything related to the school’s history that is of “enduring historical value” – an archival standard used throughout the profession.

The archives of Woodstock School has really achieved this goal. Now the next phase is to implement how the archives gets shared – and how future history gets saved.

Woodstock: Past Forward A Quarantine Story Ashoke Chatterjee, Class of 1951

The roots of the present day lay in the past and so I made voyages of discovery into the past ever seeking a clue in it, if any such existed, to the understanding of the present.

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s I write, educators and learners are returning to our hillside after the incredible disruption of Covid-19.

Everyone up there is praying that things will work out according to plan. There are other plans as well: plans for Woodstock’s 175th anniversary celebrations. Over the coming years each Quadrangle will culminate in a very special 2029 issue, and a third volume of Woodstock’s published history. Monica thinks that as an alumnus entering his ninth decade I should have something to contribute to all this. She has a point, and it’s not just about survival.. For everyone on the planet, Covid 19 and all that comes with it has demanded confronting mortality and what we consider of value. What we value reflects where our memories are rooted. Things taken for granted suddenly acquire new meaning, like the Woodstock that dwells within us. How did that get us to where we are? Each of us is participant in a strange saga of a far-flung tribe bound together by what the Quadrangle represents: loyalty to a hillside perched on the tallest mountain range on earth that burst out 50 million years ago from cataclysmic collisions of landmasses floating on a primordial sea. So should our history begin with a plunge into the evolution of the mighty Himalaya, etched into fossils discernible to this day on rock-faces along the Tehri Road? Should we acknowledge Neolithic settlers on these hills 10,000 years before Woodstock? You can read all about it in Stephen Alter’s brilliant rediscovery of these mountains. A Woodstockwallah, his knowledge is deep of a Himalaya that has cradled one of the world’s great civilisations. Its legends, dreams and prayers offer a sanctity that has endured within these hills for thousands of years. Later histories of war and conquest would link the region to Nepal and Afghanistan and to the biggest empire of them all. When Britain’s East India Company set to work on its plunder of India, Biblethumping missionaries were just behind. The stated intention was to save the heathen from

hellfire while India’s new rulers hoped that submission to a ‘foreign’ god might translate as loyalty to the British crown. 1854, the year of Woodstock’s founding in Mussoorie, witnessed on the plains below the seizure of Nagpur, Oudh, Chhatisgarh and even the domain of the Rani of Jhansi whose valour would one day enliven Hindi classes at Woodstock.

Earlier, in 1823 as other conquests were well under way, a certain Col Frederic Young built a shooting box in our vicinity. Two years later he constructed Mullingar. That landmark brings familiar terrain into the Woodstock story which actually begins beyond Kulri at Caineville House before arriving at its ‘proper’ place. Apparently Woodstock almost did not make it. In another great book , we learn that in 1871 Woodstock had fallen on tough times, and property was put up for sale. Then Rev Samuel Kellogg and another missionary intervened, leading to a historic 1872 cable that crossed the oceans from distant Philadelphia: “Buy Woodstock”. (Had I known that years ago, I may have forgiven those long hikes up from dorms to Kellogg Church every Sunday).

Early School history may begin with British conquests, but it would soon blaze another path into these hills. Education which started by serving the needs of Bible-toting parents evolved into India’s introduction to American education, including scandalous notions in Victorian India of a co-educational boarding school and to pedagogical practices incomprehensible to prevailing ideals of British public school discipline. Another century would find “Woodstock, known over all the land, sung of on every hand”’, once Alan and Irene Parker arrived from California in the 1920s to guide the unfolding of Woodstock’s important transformations.

I was part of that. My own Woodstock history began some twenty years later. In 1942 I arrived in Upper Kindergarten, having been ‘dishonorably discharged’ from a school in Allahabad. Fortunately the Parkers, who were family friends, had come down for a break

at the time of this catastrophe. Delinquent Ashoke was taken to them for counseling.

“Nothing wrong with Ashoke” Allen Parker is said to have advised my parents, “He knows a bad school when he sees one. Take him to Woodstock.” Other reasons made 1942 a tumultuous year. The Landour community was sheltering refugees fleeing from Hitler in the west and Japanese invasions on the east. Mahatma Gandhi launched the ‘Quit India’ movement that would bring India its independence in just five years. As India’s freedom fighters were dragged into British jails, Woodstock became a shelter for their children. Among them, Jawaharlal Nehru’s nieces Nayantara (author and herself a Distinguished Alumni) and Chandralekha.

Both would add Woodstock memories to published accounts of growing up in such turbulent times. Padmaja Naidu, a heroine of the freedom struggle, was appointed governor of Uttar Pradesh (no longer His Majesty’s United Provinces). She arrived at Parker Hall to share gratitude to Woodstock and the Parkers for protecting her daughters while she languished in prison. Woodstock was now a bridge between a colonial past and a new era in which the School would emerge as another thread in the tapestry of a new nation, torn apart by a brutal Partition yet committing itself to diversity, inclusion and an ability to stand on the shoulders of the past and to learn from it.

Each of the thousands of lives that have gone through Woodstock’s halls over 170 years will have a history of its own. What we share together is the incredible coincidence — or divine plan? – of being thrown up together on a Himalayan hillside by the tides of fortune, members of a community that we may take for granted while others can find us amazing to behold and often impossible to comprehend. Even for us, it can be easier to regard our moorings as DNA rather than attempt

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explanations of a bizarre and wonderful past in terms comprehensible to others. Some have tried linguistic inventions to explain our tribal reality: mishkids, Yanks from that school, Third Culture Kids, confused desis, global citizens, or just “those Woodstockites”. Yet do any of these do us full justice? Just think about it.

Long before a pandemic would transform every person and every agenda on the

planet, I found myself gazing out at the Haunted House and the Tehri Hills from Bob Alter’s rock-side bench at Oakville. Sitting there under a Landour sun with snowclad Banderpoonch just visible through the trees, I wondered what qualities or memories or values held us together as a worldwide Woodstock community. How could one discover those ties? And if one could indeed discover them, could that help ensure that our

Woodstock amidst history

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bit of history with a Woodstock alum as witness. In this historic photograph by the great Henri Cartier-Bresson taken just after Gandhiji’s assassination in January 1948, we see Tara Sehgal (Nayantara Pandit, Class of 1943) joining mourners at Birla House where Gandhiji had been staying and where he was shot while going to his prayer meeting on the lawns of the House. Tara is seated on the floor at the back on the extreme left, with her gaze directed at Bresson’s camera. To Tara’s left in a white shawl is Sarojini Naidu, the freedom fighter who sent her daughters to Woodstock and to Alan Parker’s care, just as Tara’s mother Vijaylakshmi Pandit had done – Woodstock would take care of these children while their parents were locked up in British jails. Tara and her late sister Chandralekha have both written about those years, Tara in Prison and Chocolate Cake and Chand in Freedom’s Child. (Both books hopefully in that alumni writers’ cupboard above the Quad). Sarojini Naidu spoke at Parker Hall once freedom came. She was then Governor of UP. History tells us that Gandhiji’s body was laid out on the floor as hundreds tried to enter Birla House to pay homage. To the shock was added the tension about ‘who killed the Mahatma?’ and the terrible fear that if it was a Muslim the mayhem would be even worse than the Partition killings the nation had already witnessed.

Soon Nehru would make his statement that it was a Hindu fanatic, Nathuram Godse, who had killed Bapu, followed by his famous address to the nation “The light has gone out……”.

Gandhiji made several visits to Mussoorie, despite British resistance that his visits might disturb the peace of the hills! His first in the 20s was when the motor road ended at Bhatta. He apparently walked up from there. I recall his 1946 prayer meeting at what was then the Sylverton Hotel which had a tennis court – Woodstock gave us permission to attend. Sylverton was across from and below Picture Palace. It may have been on that visit that I was to greet him as he walked on the main road near what was the Charleville Hotel (now the LBS Academy). He must have been on his way to Birla House in Happy Valley, where he used to stay. I wonder if that Birla home still exists.

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community stayed resilient and relevant in a world transformed in such fundamental ways since that 1872 cable “Buy Woodstock?” I returned home to Ahmedabad. There I looked at my pile of Quadrangles going back decades, dusted them off, and embarked on a quest over the next several months.

I started with the Quadrangle Jottings. I tried to categorise my notes into some kind of coherent pattern. First, I tried an analysis by Class. That proved too much. I tried special interests. Two were overwhelming: passion for the great outdoors and music, music, music. Then I tried each decade as a marker.

From the ’30s and ’40s, close to my own early Woodstock years, came thanksgiving and acceptance: “As we draw near the end of our lives I want to thank and greet the others from Woodstock for our years together”. I found gratitude of those who survived a World War and of some with memories of another that had once promised to end all wars. From the ’50s, a global perspective emerged from families now spread across a post-colonial world that was marked by changing patterns of travel and communication. Careers in education, diplomacy and a variety of social causes were hallmarks along with an outpouring of creative writing. Classes of the tumultuous ’60s were blending their careers with memories of Vietnam, campus revolts and flower children giving India memories a strange new edge. International relations, global development and emerging IT were being shaped by WOSA hands. Some were involved in anti-nuclear, anti-war and civil rights movements. Many seemed to be finding new ways to look at the faith of their fathers and those of the India they once knew. Moving away from dogmas toward human well-being seemed a preoccupation in the 70s, marked by books, paintings and music. In the 80s career opportunities had moved into international businesses, media, design and health emergencies like HIV-AIDS. One noticed how many alums were now drawn to international education as their natural terrain. By the 90s development had taken new meanings as alumni engaged in conflict resolution, human rights issues, and crises emerging in through the loss of natural resources. When the century turned, Woodstockites were being increasingly involved in international sectors of health, education and even disarmament. Environmental consciousness was underlined through outdoor activity, yoga, gluten-free diets. Some were studying of Chinese and Tibetan, while others were polishing their Hindi. The hillside was alive with Class reunions.

As the last of my Quadrangles went back on the pile, two threads had emerged as ties that bind our wondrous community: caring

“We don’t have to be in a shared physical space in order to be together”.

Principal Dr Craig Cook, October 2021

and creativity as distinctives of a Woodstock culture, shining through limitations of amateur research. For one, most voices were north American, with Asia and Europe less evident in Quadrangle Jottings. Yet if fostering attitudes of care and building creative life-skills were indeed how Woodstock’s Christian heritage had evolved over 170 years, how could this heritage be acknowledged and communicated? I put together my pages of findings and mailed them carefully to the School. I got a short, polite acknowledgement. I mailed them to my mates in the Class of 1951. “Hey, caring and creating is what our Class has always known. So what else is new?” came one response. “Cool” came another. My pile of Quadrangles seemed destined to gather dust.

Just then, a Woodstock parent of distinction reported a survey of Nobel laureates. Asked what they regarded as their most significant contribution, they spoke not of professional achievements but of some act of service which they had offered to others. Caring and creativity, perhaps “a form of soul-making” described by a Woodstock principal as linking privilege to responsibility?

Has there ever been a greater challenge to privilege and responsibility than this pandemic, revealing as it has the harsh inequity and injustices of our world? During these long Covid-impacted months, I have found myself returning to those old notes, trying to find in them some anchor from the past. The challenges of today were once beyond imagination as Woodstock evolved from being a missionary school to a Christian expression of “education for a world of difference” set in the Indian Himalaya, and then into Woodstock’s understanding of tolerance, diversity and inclusion as global citizenship. Up there, beyond a familiar gate with its brown-andgold arch, the community is now gathering to bravely imagine Woodstock’s ‘new normal’.

The Quadrangle will be there as constant scribe, giving new generations fresh reasons to look up to that hillside for strength, and to listen once again as “the bells of Mussoorie are calling…”.

1 Jawaharlal Nehru in The Discovery of India, written from his cell in Ahmednagar Prison, 1941 2 Wild Himalaya, Stephen Alter. Aleph Book Co., 2019 3 Mussoorie and Landour: Footprints of the Past, Virgil Miedema/Stephanie Spaid Miedema. Rupa Books, 2014 4 Principal Jonathan Long, in “Eliciting Greatness: An educational philosophy for Woodstock School”. 2013

A world-class education for gifted young people from conflictaffected regions Woodstock School’s Scholars for Peace initiative enables students from conflict-affected regions to join our international community. Part of our wider financial aid programme, Scholars for Peace provides financial support to deserving students who can demonstrate merit and financial need. This support covers 100% of school fees as well as some other expenses such as travel, visa, technology costs, college application fees, and pocket money.

At the heart of Woodstock School’s philosophy is a commitment to global mindedness and peace. The Scholars for Peace programme aims to provide gifted young people from conflict-affected regions with opportunities they would not otherwise be able to access.

Students at Woodstock have always had the privilege of learning alongside students who come from a diversity of ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The Scholars for Peace programme ensures that a Woodstock education includes living and learning alongside peers who, because of their personal experience, have a commitment to end conflict at all levels of society.

Woodstock School has hosted Scholars for Peace from countries including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Somaliland, and Palestine, and we welcome applications from students from any regions which are affected by war, violence, fragile states or oppressive regimes. Many have become hugely important members of our school community, including the school president and basketball team captain in the 2020/2021 academic year. Beyond Woodstock, they have earned scholarships at colleges and universities in the U.S., Canada and Europe, and have gone on to play key roles in organisations working to build a better future in conflict-affected regions.

Woodstock School is committed to hosting two new Scholars for Peace students each academic year. Students start in Grade 9 or Grade 11, enabling them to gain the whole Upper Year’s educational experience at Woodstock. The financial commitment of each Scholar for Peace’s Woodstock School education from Grades 9-12 is currently in the region of 90 Lakhs INR (US$ 120,000). To create a truly robust programme which continues to deliver both for individual scholars and humanity as a whole, we soon hope to be able to create an endowment fund to finance the programme and ensure its sustainability into the future. If you, or your Class, are interested in finding out more about how you can support Scholars for Peace students’ Woodstock education, we would love to hear from you.

To find out more about Scholars for Peace programme, including how you can support the programme, email Admissions Director Vidur Kapur at vidurkapur@ woodstock.ac.in or visit www.woodstockschool.in/scholars-for-peace.

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Homeward Bound Stephen Alter ’74 For more than a hundred years our family has lived between east and west. Though I grew up in India and consider this country my home, I am always conscious of being perceived as a “foreigner.” At the same time, whenever I travel to the United States, where my passport and ethnicity allow me to blend in, I feel an underlying sense of alienation.

All of this has led me to question the concept of national homelands, which have become more and more insular and divided. At this point in history, when strident voices are clamoring against immigration and people are being excluded on account of their geographical origins, religion and race, it is important to recognize that someone can be both an outsider and an insider at once.

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n 1933, my father, Robert Alter, travelled “home” to America for the first time in his life, at the age of five. Born in Srinagar, Kashmir, he was the youngest of four brothers. His parents, Martha and Emmet Alter, had come to India from the United States as missionaries in 1916. Until their retirement in 1952, they lived and worked in towns like Sialkot, Abbottabad, Rawalpindi, Srinagar and Mussoorie. For our family, “home” has always been an ambiguous concept, at best.

Nevertheless, we use the word freely, despite the uncertainties it evokes, wound up inside a ball of nostalgic sentiments, displaced identities and a lost sense of direction. Of course, as a young boy, my father didn’t care about these things. He was setting off on an exciting adventure, through lands he’d never seen before, to destinations he’d only heard his parents speak about. New York and Boston sounded as exotic and foreign as the halts along the way – Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, Famagusta, Istanbul and Venice.

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Today, we travel nonstop from India to the United States in less than fifteen hours but for my father and his family it was a journey that took three months. In Karachi they caught a steamship to Basra from where they travelled upriver by boat and train to Baghdad. My

grandfather was an avid photographer and he took hundreds of pictures along the way.

In many of the photographs of monuments and landscapes, he posed one of his sons in the foreground to provide scale and perspective. He also had a fascination for motorcars and his pictures often include the vehicles in which they travelled.

To cross the desert to Damascus, they hired a weather-beaten Nash convertible. My father sat on his mother’s lap for twenty-four hours as the family squeezed into the dusty car, along with all their luggage. In those days, there was no road between Iraq and Syria. They simply drove across open miles of sand. After reaching Damascus, they continued overland through Trans-Jordan to Palestine, stopping at the Dead Sea, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Heading north into Lebanon, they took several ferries and boats to Cyprus, Rhodes, Istanbul, Athens and Naples (where the boys scrambled about near the smoking crater of Mount Vesuvius).

Eventually, they ended up in Genoa, where a statue of Christopher Columbus stands watch over the harbour. Here, they boarded another steamer, the USS President Polk of the Dollar Line, on which they crossed the Atlantic.

I’ve always liked a quote from Gustave Flaubert, the French novelist: “As to the idea of a native country, that is to say a certain bit of ground traced out on a map and separated from other bits by a red or blue line: no. For me, my native country is the country I love, meaning the one that makes me dream, that makes me feel well. I am as much Chinese as I am French, and I cannot rejoice about our victories over the Arabs because I am saddened by their defeats.”

In 1977, returning home to India from the United States, after finishing college, the cheapest flight I could find was a one-way ticket to Delhi on Syrian Arab Airlines.

When we broke journey in Damascus, there was a twelve-hour delay. The transit lounge was a large, windowless room with broken chairs and a framed picture of President Hafez al-Assad on one wall, along with a makeshift canteen serving bitter coffee and dry, day-old sandwiches. However, my brief incarceration hardly compared to the fate of two Palestinians in their twenties who befriended me. They spoke English well enough for us to carry on a conversation and I learned that they had been stranded here for almost a month. The pair had arrived on a flight from Beirut but there were “problems” with their papers. The Syrian authorities would not allow them to leave the airport and they had no money to buy a ticket to somewhere else, so they were essentially trapped in that bleak, no man’s land of the transit lounge. One of them

pointed to a small heap of luggage in the far corner of the room, where they slept on the floor. I bought them a cup of coffee each, for they seemed to be surviving off the charity of fellow travellers. The Palestinians asked me about America and what it was like to live there, with a hopeful inquisitiveness that made me uncomfortable. When I explained

that I was leaving the US and going home to India, this puzzled them. What was it about India that appealed to me? Why would I leave America?

Whenever I think of those two men, I realize that I am fortunate to have a place that I can call home. Mussoorie is where I was born, and where my parents and grandparents lived. Over the years, my wife, our two children, and I have lived in many other places – Delhi, Cairo, Hawaii, Boston and Denver. In some ways, I consider each of those points on the map to be home, even if I always return to the familiar foothills of the Himalaya.

Yet, equally important, Mussoorie is also a place from where I depart.

Journeys define us as much as the passports we carry. Having travelled all my life – on work, for leisure, or because of family – I am constantly reminded that whenever I leave home my identity may be challenged, confirmed or sometimes even changed by the destinations I choose. In many ways, I feel most at home being a foreigner, crossing borders and going to places where I don’t belong.

Inscribed on the ruins of a temple on the Turkish coast, close to the border of Syria, along the route my father travelled in 1933, are the words of the second century philosopher Diogenes of Oenoanda. In a prayerful meditation on the meaning of displacement, he advocates compassion for, "Not least of those who are called foreigners, for they are not foreigners. For, while the various segments of the Earth give different people a different country, the whole compass of this world gives all people a single country, the entire Earth, and a single home, the world."

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After the successful Parker Hall Reunion earlier this year, a group of Woodstock Alumni artists have come together to create the Woodstock Artists Affinity Group. The group will comprise of Woodstock alumni and friends, working in the Arts. The group aims to provide opportunities to learn, network, share and collaborate, support alumni artists and current students in the Arts, and provide activities that enrich the members' practice or lives.

Some of the core goals for the group are: - Monthly Zoom meetings for people to interact/connect and showcase their work - Artist talks and critiques - Network with other art practitioners across disciplines - Collaborate on projects - Support art and artists at the school.

To begin, we are looking for artists and friends from our community interested in the Arts. You can write to alumni@ woodstock.ac.in to register or if you're interested in future WSAAG events.

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Woodstock School

Distinguished Alunus 2021

Glenn Conrad ‘68 Glenn Conrad has been honoured as a Distinguished Alumnus of Woodstock School for a lifelong achievement in philanthropy and voluntary service. A 1968 graduate of Woodstock, Glenn arrived in India as a one year old child whose parents, a doctor and a nurse, began service at Dhamtary Christian Hospital in the middle of rural Madhya Pradesh. They served under the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities having first started a hospital in rural Ethiopia shortly after the end of WWII. From the onset Glenn was exposed to meaningful and fulfilling volunteer service.

After graduating from Goshen College (which included a stint as a professional musician) his first job was as an award winning reporter for a newspaper in Rexburg Idaho and ended up as the Managing Editor. Next, off to law school at American University Law School in the DC area (graduated 7th and Summa Cum Laude out of a class of 341). Upon graduation he joined the law office of Piper and Marbury. He then helped in a start-up NGO/NPO, PRISM which worked in agriculture, rural development and public health primarily in Peru and Bangladesh. After this start up he went into business as a private consultant.

In early 1989 he served on the staff of Idaho Congressman Richard Stallings and following him another Congressman from Idaho, Larry LaRocco. He remains friends of these men to this day (see accompanying letters of commendation).

Starting in 1984 Glenn began his involvement with Woodstock through WOSA-NA, Woodstock Old Students Association-North America. Then, in the late 1980’s Glenn was recruited to the Board of Directors of the KWI (Kodai Woodstock International Foundation) and became very active in promoting the activities of Woodstock Alumni in North America through WOSA/NA which was part of KWI. In 1994 Glenn and his wife Peggy (and their two sons) joined the Staff of Woodstock School and Glenn initiated a development and public relations office for the school. This led to even greater involvement in promoting WOSA (Woodstock Old Students Association) in North America, India and around the world.

Upon his return to the US, Glenn was once again active with KWI and served on its Board at the time that KWI was successfully devolved into two separate organizations for the two schools. Glenn took over the leadership of Friends of Woodstock School in 2006 and has remained active in its success since that time. FWS has been successful in raising significant funds for Woodstock School and currently has about $6 million earmarked and designated for the advancement of the school. The groundwork for these gifts can be attributed to the efforts of Glenn to set up a meaningful process whereby alumni, staff and parents could donate to the school. He has also been involved with and served on the Boards of both WOSA and FWS, for 36 years as President, as a Board member and is currently an Emeritus Board Member (and the only one of those).

In 2000, working with another Woodstock alumnus, Jeet Singh, Glenn helped establish and became the Executive Director as well as a board member of the Winterline Foundation whose mission was to support “global citizenship through education”. Woodstock was a primary beneficiary of this foundation (to the tune of something over $2 million to date). In 2018 the name “Winterline” in that Foundation was changed to “Timberline”.

Glenn and Peggy live in Tetonia, Idaho having recently built a house and retired (such as a peripatetic and lifelong service oriented person can).

Glenn clearly demonstrates the type of world citizen Woodstock produces and who has shown himself enthusiastically dedicated throughout his career to volunteering at many levels in a significant number of institutions including Woodstock. His focus on enhancing and advancing the philanthropic objectives of others has resulted in significant funding for a variety of institutions and particularly Woodstock School.

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Yasmin Padamsee Forbes ’87 Interview by: Rhea Cassan, Class of 2022 Yasmin Padamsee Forbes, alumni from the class of 1987, shares her wonderful stories of travelling and change among the world with us. Having experience in sustainable tourism, human rights, and global development, Yasmin has developed a respectable career in serving people through representation and aid. She continues to create a force for change as she continues her journey while still remaining true to her roots and experiences.

The need to make a difference surrounds Yasmin’s efforts to bring about a better world while channeling her idea of seeing people’s needs as paramount to achieve this.

You have a distinguished career in global development, sustainable tourism, and management. How did you end up choosing this vocation?

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As you know, growing up on the foothills of the Himalayas and at Woodstock, I took the forests, the birds, and the insects for granted. I just thought that they would always remain. Later, travelling across India and other countries I realized that we really live on a fragile planet and that we need to make a conscious decision to try and protect it. So, I studied Environment and Development at Bard College and when I graduated, I wanted to go somewhere where I could save the rainforest, and I happened to get a position in Papua New Guinea. I didn’t know anything about it, but I just knew it had a lot of the rainforest and that’s where I wanted to be. Once I went there, I realized that you can’t only look at saving the rainforest because you have to ensure that the people living in it have the ability to send their children to school, buy medicine and food, and therefore I became very interested in supporting something that was more sustainable which would also help people. Therefore, becoming inclined towards sustainable tourism as it’s a way to help and improve people’s lives as well as protecting the environment.

It’s always been my passion and hobby and it’s something that I always continue working on in my free time as well.

Having worked with the United Nations in Myanmar, what was that like for you?

I had always been interested in going to Myanmar because my mother’s family is from there. They had left as refugees and I was a little bit nervous to go there. Though, when I graduated from the Kennedy School in Cambridge, I saw that there was a job opening with the United Nations in Myanmar.

I had been working with the UN in New York so I felt I would have a good shot at it. I went to Myanmar soon after Cyclone Nargis, which happened in 2008, and I went in January 2009. The whole time it was an incredible experience. The first time I went there I was working a lot on humanitarian aid and ensuring that aid was provided to the communities that were impacted by the cyclone. We also flew in small, chartered planes across the country which was very exciting since I’ve never really flown in these small planes before. Being able to go there and see aid being distributed, and realizing how important it is that aid is provided quickly to people who are suffering these natural calamities. Once that work started winding down, I was working in the UN’s Resident Coordinator’s Office which looks at political issues. I was very involved with working in the UN’s office in Myanmar and New York. While I was there, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is a freedom fighter and won a Nobel Peace Prize, was released and that was really incredible because while I was still there she was in prison and when she was released it was crazy on the streets. It seemed like Myanmar had won the World Cup. It was probably even more significant since she had been under house arrest for 20 years. Slowly, things started changing. At first when I had arrived, you could not have any dialogue or discussion about the government. Though, after 5 years, the government became more

open where we could discuss these issues.

There was this whole air of openness and freedom with all these young people arriving there. In fact, I also met up with several people from Woodstock there and just the whole atmosphere was intoxicating and that’s why it’s just so tragic with what’s happening there right now. With the military coup and now COVID, there are so many people dying there with the lack of oxygen. In Myanmar, having even fewer resources, unofficially at least 15% of the population could have COVID and most families are impacted by it.

It’s really just tragic. Currently, I’m in contact with a lot of Burmese and I do fundraising to provide funding to people who are on the ground so that they can buy oxygen and receive healthcare.

Currently, you are the Chair and Commissioner for the Cambridge Human Rights Commission. Can you tell me a little about that?

This is the volunteer job that I have with the Cambridge Human Rights Commission and it looks at human rights issues. However, at my current job I’m the executive director of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Commission and it was a real honor that I was selected to lead it in April. The commission is a permanent body that is dedicated to advocacy on the behalf of Asian American Pacific Islanders in Massachusetts. Our goal is to recognize and highlight their contributions to social, cultural, economic, and political life of the Commonwealth, to identify and address the needs and challenges facing residents of Asian ancestry, and to promote the wellbeing of these dynamic and diverse communities. Basically, studying at Woodstock and living in America I learned that the strength of any community comes from celebrating our diversity and encouraging unique

perspectives to flourish. At Woodstock, it made me colorblind and I’m really grateful for that, as I see the individual and not the color of a person’s skin anymore. Therefore, this job is really close to my heart as I’ve worked across Asia and the Pacific and now I can assist communities in Massachusetts from those communities that have been left behind. I can work with Burmese, Cambodian, and Pacific Islanders refugees here. It’s people I’ve worked with in their countries and are in Massachusetts and are suffering. Recently, there has been a shocking rise of race-related incidents against Asian Americans. So, one of the things we also do is hold programs and promote legislation that can protect all minorities. Part of my job is to encourage everyone to participate in civic engagement and to be an ally for communities and face negative stereotypes in the United States and across the world. It’s so important that people like us who really understand and don’t see the color of one’s skin work together to protect these communities.

In an alumni interview with your former university, the Harvard Kennedy School, they mentioned that you firmly believe in the need to connect leaders from multiple cultures so they can work together to create a force for change. What does that “force for change” mean to you?

I really believe in connecting people, and in this case, connecting leaders of multiple cultures and sectors so they can “work together to create a force for change”. By this I mean when you get people together, like we experienced at Woodstock, our differences in culture, religion, and political views don’t really matter. What really matters is that we cut through all this unnecessary noise and forge friendships that are based on this unique

experience that we all had and shared. In the same way, when I was living in Myanmar, I could bring together all the alumni from the Kennedy School who were in Myanmar. We were all in this country and were all working together to impact positive change. Having come from the same university though we were from different parts of the world, we had spent that time at the Kennedy School and that unique experience really helped us to work together, share knowledge, and look for ways for how we could impact change in gender equity, health care, and peace-building.

After traveling to places like Papua New Guinea, India, and Lao for management positions, do you have any particular experiences that changed your outlook on what you do?

It reaffirmed to me that the people everywhere are the same and we all seek the same things in life; to be happy, to feel loved, to feel satisfaction in one’s job. Whether it was talking to a villager in Papua New Guinea or talking to a corporate person in India, you just find that people are the same everywhere and that just reaffirmed my attitude about that.

What was life like for you after graduating from Woodstock?

When I graduated from Woodstock, I was used to knowing everyone at Woodstock and became determined to live in a big city and so I convinced my parents to let me study in London. I went to London to study, and after only one year after living there I started craving the atmosphere of Woodstock again.

In London, you go to class with people and study with them and then don’t see them again until the next class. There are so many

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people and everyone is a stranger, and so I really wanted to then transfer to a small college that is in the middle of nowhere where I would know everyone and that’s when I transferred from London to Bard College in upstate New York. It was just a wonderful experience and I’m so glad I did it. The friends that I made at Bard, like Woodstock, I’m still friends with, and being in London I wouldn’t have gotten the same experience.

What are some of your favorite moments from Woodstock?

There are just so many, I was very fortunate to be able to be there. One I remember was the huge hill that goes up to school from the dormitories to the classrooms and I have so many memories of climbing up to school in the rain, the heat through the woods, and hearing the monkeys jump onto the tin roofs.

Of course, hiking in the Himalayas, long walks through the bazaar, and then also being taught by very dedicated teachers who are always available and having talks with your dorm parents while sipping hot Indian chai.

So many moments made it wonderful.

Did you participate in any extracurriculars at Woodstock?

When I was there I learned to play the sitar with a teacher called Mr. Singh and I used to go on hikes whenever I could. I remember this very memorable hike to Himkund which is in the Himalayas, and we stayed at this gurudwara. The next day, we climbed up Himkund and it was the first time I had seen snow because you hike up the mountain and there’s a snowline. We climbed to the top of the mountain and there was this beautiful, crystal clear lake and right next to the lake I saw these footprints of a snow leopard and it was just amazing. I will never forget that hike.

If you could tell current Woodstock students one thing, what would it be?

Most definitely, you should enjoy your time at Woodstock, go on many hikes, and also look around at your classmates because they’re going to be your friends for life!

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Jamie Alter ’99 Interview by: Araan Suares, Class of 2021 Jamie Alter, Class of 1999, a successful YouTuber, actor, social media influencer, and a sports journalist, talks about his life experiences and journey. Jamie is the son of the late actor and Padma Shri, Tom Alter ’68, and is a fourth-generation American born in India. His familial ties to Woodstock stretch back generations with nearly 30 of his relatives having attended Woodstock. Jamie attended Woodstock for 8 years after which he matriculated to the college of Wooster in Ohio. He has been a sports journalist, worked at notable organisations such as ESPNcricinfo, Cricbuzz, Cricketnext, Times of India, and cofounded MytwoCents.com. He recently started a successful career as a YouTuber and social media influencer. Jamie is also an actor and has acted in three Hindi-language films, as well as in the highly acclaimed Amazon Prime Video web series, Afsos.

Read our Interview below with Jamie Alter.

What was it like for you to move to America after Woodstock? How did you discover the sense of belonging and what did that process look like?

Being an Indian you sort of realize, what you are, how you speak, and what you’re familiar with. My mother was very keen that I go to the states for college to not necessarily tap into, but understand that side of our lineage. So it was pretty much a no-brainer after Woodstock that I would go to a college in the United States. And my mom being a teacher, she groomed me for that process. I think I was a sophomore in Woodstock when we were already heading out to the states to apply to colleges and look at campuses, which at that time, I felt was a little early, however, in hindsight, it’s good that I did that because by the time that I got accepted, I knew exactly what I was going into. Whereas the majority of my graduating class in Woodstock didn’t know where they were going in terms of a physical campus or familiarity. So having seen the campus that I eventually got admitted to, the College of Wooster in Ohio, I knew exactly where I was going. Going there meant getting accustomed to a new culture because it was in many many ways new. I had gone to the states sporadically down the years for

Being really independent, is something that I think I owe to Woodstock, and my parents being Woodstock graduates themselves, knew that the environment was very good for me.

summer breaks, but to go and live there was a whole new experience, and it was being there that I realized how Indian I actually was! I may look American, and I may try and sound American, but I stood out in a crowd there very much in the same way I did and still do in India. It was during that time there, the six and a half years that I spent in the US, that I decided I didn’t really belong there, and I wanted to go back to India. I’m still very thankful that I had the opportunity to go there and to get a liberal arts education, and to meet far more international students than I had ever met at Woodstock. But being an international kid, I was fully prepared to take it one level further, and had I not gone there I wouldn’t have realized who I actually was and what I really wanted to do. Because getting a political science degree with a focus on international relations was not what I ended up wanting to do and it was while doing that stuff, while going through the grind, that I realized I wanted to do something that I loved. I loved cricket, I loved sport, I loved writing, and that’s when I said, why don’t you become a sports writer. So in 2005, I packed everything up, and I came back. But overall six very fond years of discovery in the United States.

Looking back now on your career as a cricket journalist and player, could you elaborate on a moment that stands out, perhaps one that marked a paradigm shift in your journey to success?

I think the first time you actually realize that you’re getting paid to travel around the world, you understand that this is a privilege that not everyone gets the chance to have. You’re very nervous when you go out and report on a match or cover a game, or a series, or interview someone. Especially when you’re interviewing players who you’ve seen growing up. But I think going for the first time to a match and getting over those nerves, and mustering courage to ask a player a question at a press conference, trying to stop a player when they’re walking with their gear, you

know from the ground to the steps. Everyone does it, it’s very common, but it feels very unnatural to you. You know this guy probably has a million and one things in his head and you ask a question, sometimes you get a nod, sometimes you get a stare, sometimes you get an “alright mate not right now”, sometimes you get “alright you have two minutes”. A lot of these things along the way shaped who I am, I can’t really think of one right now, I can think of a lot of matches, a lot of world cup matches I was at… and I say “wow” you were a lucky guy to be able to be there.

(Talking about his favourite cricket rivalry) India versus Pakistan has been the highest for me on so many different levels. I remember when I was in the United States and I was trying to explain to my non-Indian friends, the Americans would say: when your teams play a world cup match, you guys are friends the whole year, but then that day there’s this clear divide and then it goes away the next day, how is it? I mean look, you may have the Lakers vs the Celtics, you may have the Red Sox vs the Yankees, take all of that and amplify it by a hundred, put like three wars between the two countries, and then you get a sense of what the rivalry is! So, having seen some really fun India versus Pakistan matches,

I think the only rivalry which surpasses this might be India versus Australia, especially in the past 10 years, just because they’re both playing a lot of competitive cricket. If you look at India versus Pakistan, nine out of ten times, India has been beating Pakistan over the last 15 years. So that sort of dilutes the rivalry. It’s still a spectacle when the two teams play in a world cup but because it has become rather one-sided. I think India versus Australia to my mind has become the premier rivalry even more than England vs Australia and I’ve been fortunate to watch some really good games between the two.

Being really independent, is something that I think I owe to Woodstock, and my parents being Woodstock graduates themselves, knew that the environment was very good for me.

The American playwright Neil Simon said, if no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistene Floor. How have you approached risk and opportunity, and have they made you possibly more successful?

Absolutely, I would have to agree with that. If the 24-year-old me working for an insurance company outside of Boston had not one day decided behind his desk, that you know

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of leading. I said: “guys if you feel that something is not working, get out as soon as possible, because you don’t want to get in a place where you’re showing up to work not wanting to do that”. And every time that’s happened to me I look to go ahead and I’ve not been disappointed once, so taking risks is something one must do.

what this is not for me, I would not have been speaking to you right now. Yes, there is an expectation that you naturally grow in that job, when you earn more and become more successful, you put money away. But I would probably not have been the satisfied person I am now. I had to go through that mundane experience in a foreign country to realize that this is not what I wanted to do, and there are a lot of risks that my parents had to take for me to go to America and get a degree.

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My mom was very keen that I become an American citizen. There is that whole American dream, which in a sense I was turning my back against. So that was a thing that I wasn’t worried about because I was sure if I was making the right choice, but you know I can understand the pressure that my parents would have felt, like “are you sure?”. But the moment I came back they opened their arms, “if this is what you want to do, do it”. And literally, I could feel within weeks I was happier because I was still 24, I was young enough to not have invested my whole life in yet. I think joining a place like ESPNcricinfo, which was the God of online cricket for us back then, and still is for many of us, I think getting my foot in that door at 24 was good because I was not just out of college, I had worked for about two and a half years, I knew something about earning and saving, but I was still young enough to say, you know what, let’s take some risk, let our hair down, let’s do things!

It could have gone really, really differently, but I had a great boss, I had a great bunch of colleagues. And those five years that I spent in my second innings at ESPNcricinfo really shaped me, and I would not swap it for anything. I’m very glad that I took those risks. Even being in this line of work you’re still taking risks. While I was very happy at ESPNcricinfo, but if I didn’t take a jump every now and then, I wouldn’t be as financially successful as I wanted to be. So when you start to hit that wall, it’s very important to go ahead and take that jump, and this is what I also told all my peers who I worked with, the team members I had the fortune

You talk about your mindset as being able to take risks and make a jump every now and then, which has gotten you to where you are now. Where and how do you think you developed this mentality/mindset of being able to take risks that shaped your life and career?

I think mainly a lot from my father as he was a bit of a maverick person. He himself had to buck many trends and perceptions to earn a name for himself in the acting industry. So I would have seen that streak in him, and also I think growing up in a boarding school like Woodstock has helped in many ways.

I’ve said this many times when people have asked me “how was your boarding school experience?”. Being really independent, is something that I think I owe to Woodstock, and my parents being Woodstock graduates themselves, knew that the environment was very good for me. Those eight odd years that I spent there, and you know what I’m talking about, when you’re there, yes, you have peers, you have advisors and teachers, but you have to take a lot of decisions on your own. And especially in the middle school or teenage, and high school years, which are the ones that really shape us. Taking these calls, not having to rely on your parents, making calls based on what you feel is right, I think a lot of it comes from there.

When I went from Woodstock to the States, I could see the difference between those of us who had gone to a place like Woodstock and those who had not. And I’m not trying to say that those who didn’t go, weren’t smart or weren’t ambitious, or weren’t independent. But there was a bit of a hesitancy that I noticed, and these are some of my closest friends. For those of us who went to Woodstock, see, we don’t have that. And I’m going to use the word ‘problem’ here, it might sound incorrect, but we didn’t have that problem. We could take these calls on our own. So I owe a lot of it to Woodstock.

Even when you’re unsure, just go ahead and do it. Forget about what’s going to happen.

You’re going to make a mistake, who cares?

Go ahead, and do it. So a lot from my father and a lot from Woodstock.

Through the reception of Afsos, it seems the universe clearly wanted you to become an actor, with your father’s influence in Indian cinema, and the plethora of plays and skits you organized at Woodstock and in Wooster. What was more influential, family or school, and do you plan on pursuing future roles in Bollywood?

I have been told by many that it’s good I began with Afsos, because this is very much life post-Afsos. Like I’ve said before in videos, becoming an actor was never on the agenda.

Yes, obviously when you’re young you aspire to become an actor but then life tells you to hang on, this is not what you’re meant for.

So yes, I wrote scripts in middle school in Woodstock, I acted in Woodstock, I acted in Wooster, but that was all, you know, just for fun. You’re in school, you’re in college, you don’t really take it seriously. So until Afsos actually came out, I didn’t know where I stood as an actor because the work before that was all very fleeting or it never got released. But after that I’m very thankful that the feedback was so good, because literally almost overnight, I was getting calls saying, hey where have you been all this while, we have work for you. Now that feels great, but you have to take that, not with a pinch of salt, but with a barrel of salt! Because that doesn’t mean you’re going to become the next big thing, right. And someone who’s white, let’s face it, the roles are going to be few and far between. So I got a lot of offers, but they were just things that while it felt good to get, you knew it was going to be an insignificant one-scene in a film that really wasn’t going to do much for your career anyway. So I found myself in a strange place saying, you know what, no thank you. But then I did sign another big Amazon (Prime) show, but before we started shooting the lockdown began and unfortunately, that show got wiped off the table because of all the problems. While that show didn’t shape up, fortunately, I’ve given a lot of auditions, some things did come through. I’ve just shot a Hindi film, so I’m doing a very big Hindi film. I’m doing a couple of other web series, I’m doing a South Indian film, a lot of fun scripts are coming.

But the COVID scene is really slowing things down, in that people are not jumping the gun in hiring you. They’re sort of seeing where you are. So a lot of the auditions are like this, they’re on zoom call. But yeah, I’m fairly enjoying this process. Who knows where it’s going to head. I’ve got one leg, like I said, firmly entrenched in the media and I’m not going to give that up. But I like where this ride is going.

Can you share a bit about your success and experience as a YouTuber?

Looking back at your time in Woodstock, what are some memories from High School that stand out to you?

If someone had told me two years ago that you’d be running four YouTube channels, I’d have laughed in their face and said let’s move on. And I’m saying that with full humility, despite being in the media for fifteen odd years, literally for the first thirteen of those I was trying to hide from the camera. As the digital medium shifted more towards video content creation, I was not one of the guys who was putting my hand up saying I’ll do it, I’ll do it. Yes, as a sports editor you have to do certain videos but I was always awkward doing it. Be it IPL preview, IPL review, and interview, it was just a job and so I was forcing myself to do it. I never thought I was made for it. As it happens, I went freelance and I had to start doing things for videos because the demand was increasing. And then lockdown came around, so I thought are we just going to sit here and moan and whine, or are we going to try something? It actually is this simple, you just flip your phone and just start talking and I’m giving it to you strip down, just put all the doubts aside.

People ask me all the time, “sir what do you need to do?” and I just say, wash your face, comb your hair, and just start talking. If you feel it’s not working then stop it, remove it, and do it again, I had done this myself and if I have been able to put out nearly 200 videos, it’s because I tried to keep what’s between the ears just free. So in terms of tips and advice, I really don’t talk about something I don’t have any natural interest in. There I might come across as a fool. Stick to things you know well, ask your viewers: “hey guys what do you want me to talk about?”, and I understand I have the vantage point of being someone unique, people like to see the white guy who can talk in Hindi. This is all fine and I get that I’m the disruptive element. That’s obviously allowed me to expand this base I have. But it’s also allowed me to shed a lot of baggage, a lot of insecurities. I never planned to become a YouTuber, even just saying that sounds so weird. My advice would be if you have something, just do it! And like I said, if it looks bad, stop, comb your hair, get that muck out of your eye and do it again.

Don’t think that you have to be trained in public speaking or looking good, or some media course; no, no, no, just be yourself, be natural and I hope it works out for you!

Playing foursquare in the quad, eating raw Wai Wai and Maggi while walking up from the dorms, going to Cozy Corner. I’m pretty sure it’s not a thing now but every other Friday, growing up in elementary school and middle school, we would have these activity nights at the old gym. There was roller skating, shoot the balloon with a BB gun, you know all these things. Basically, a lot of the social activities-oriented stuff was really fun, as living in the dorms could get a bit dull at times. But at least to my young mind back then, it seemed like the school was doing a lot to get us engaged with social activities. I remember activity week used to be fun, except the one where we went hiking.

I didn’t like that one. But just a lot of good things, senior skip day, I don’t know if that’s still a thing. We did a lot of fun things, everyone knows that one day you guys are going to do some pranks and there aren’t going to be strict repercussions. So just a lot of juvenile things like that. I remember that Parker Hall talent shows were very fun, guys doing our skits and stuff. I frankly don’t have that many bad memories, probably barring the exam days. It was fun, Hostel, Ridgewood, a lot of good, good fun memories.

As an adult, if you could give Jamie Alter who was about to enter into his freshman year of university one piece of advice, what would it be and why?

I had a feeling this kind of question was going to come. I would be very brutally honest and say, take your studies a lot more seriously than you feel. I don’t want to say that I have regrets in life, but I know I could have done a lot better academically in college. I just loved the freedom of being outside, away from parents, away from the structure of Woodstock. By structure, I mean being on campus, obviously, there are no rules as such, but you have to know the line between going and having fun and just staying within it. I just did not take my studies as seriously as I should have. I think all the skills learned at Woodstock, allowed me to have a good time in college, to not make bad mistakes.

But my grades did sort of nose dive the last year or so, and I did only have myself to blame for that. There were no other wrong choices, there were no regrets. I made lasting friendships, I learned a lot, I was able to build on all those qualities that Woodstock had set inside me.

But I would just say: buddy just work harder in school. That’s my honest advice.

The Joy Rugh Memorial Library in the Alumni Office at Woodstock School contains a growing collection of books written by Woodstock alumni. We are always pleased to receive additions to the library.

If you are a published author, please consider sending us a signed copy of your work.

alumni@woodstockschool.in

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Kilang Yanger ’02 Interview by: Rhea Cassan, Class of 2022 Kilang Yanger, alumni from the Class of 2002, shares her journey of discovery and growth following her graduation from Woodstock. Being a scientist and having a Ph.D in cancer biology, as well as having completed a fellowship in regenerative medicine from Harvard Medical School, Kilang has contributed to an entire new sense and perspective of the medical field. She has used her experience collectively from Woodstock and its provided memories, personal experience, and perseverance to achieve the accolades she holds today. In this interview, she tells us how she’s arrived at where she is today, and the role Woodstock played in helping her reach for those aspirations.

You’ve obtained your PhD in cancer biology and have completed a fellowship in regenerative medicine. How did you end up choosing science as your profession?

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I would say in Woodstock, I took a lot of science classes except biology because I thought I was going to get into engineering. So, I went to Carleton College, a small liberal arts college, in Minnesota and when I got there, I was taking their physics classes and I realized the idea of physics was not what I had in mind.

However, long story short, it was my nuclear physics professor who nominated me for an undergraduate biomedical summer fellowship with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute – the second largest philanthropic organization after the Gates Foundation for biomedical research. Thanks to that fellowship, I spent a summer in New York and did bench research at Columbia University studying the evolution of vocal pattern generation in amphibians.

The next summer I came to Harvard to do a summer internship in a lab focused on cancer biology as I had started to recognize that that was my interest. After those experiences, I realized that this was something for me, so I applied to PhD programs and decided University of Pennsylvania was my top choice. At UPenn, I joined a lab which was both a combination of cancer biology but also had a stem cell component, hence the regenerative medicine aspect.

I did my Ph.D there and decided to continue with my fellowship that was more involved with regenerative medicine. It was more a mixture of these serendipitous steps yet at the same

time, an innate sense for curiosity which was definitely fostered by Woodstock’s approach to learning as it was back then.

Congratulations on the NorthEast Young Heroes 2020 Global North East Indian Award! How does it feel to be the recipient of such an award?

I was taken by surprise because I’m based in the US and for them to reach out and even nominate me was very humbling. I’m from Nagaland but we from the Northeast region tend to think of ourselves as a collective. It’s both encouraging in the sense of wanting to help portray the area in a positive light and to be recognized by your own people and community is very humbling. It was also really nice to see the other nominees and how they’re all very accomplished in the things that they do in their own fields. It was a nice surprise and very encouraging way to end the pandemic year on a more positive note.

What are some interesting aspects of your career as a scientist?

As you know, I did my fellowship but now I’ve switched to the commercial biotech aspect. I no longer do lab research in the sense of going into the lab and doing hands on research. I’m now working at a consultancy firm that is very focused on the life sciences and biotech. It’s amazing how much your Ph.D knowledge and scientific approach is helpful being part of the commercial and business side of things. The thing is that science, medicine and biotechnology are moving so rapidly that, in some ways, the older approaches of having a certain logic

With Dr. Ian Wilmut (creator of Dolly, the first cloned sheep) at a stem cell conference

as the main motive for a lot of pharmaceutical drugs and medicines are a bit outdated and not the only approach these days. Right now, the field is very much about gene and cellular therapy where the aspirational aim is for a bona fide cure. It’s not just about palliative care anymore, it’s really trying to assess the cause of the disease and address. I work with colleagues who are a mixture of people with business knowledge and background, but to help our clients— we are learning that we really need to know the science and the biology of either how their products work or what it is about these various diseases that lend themselves to be appropriate for these approaches.

I’m not currently a strict academic scientist in that sense of being in the lab, but I’m very much still reading a lot of scientific literature and talking to scientific colleagues about how to approach various problems.

You were a member of UPenn’s student government, and you founded a student health program. Can you elaborate on that?

I went to UPenn for my Ph.D which is a big

Kilang with her parents and brother, Lendi Yanger (Class 2004)

school that has a lot of different opportunities.

Once you take part in student governments, like from my early experience in high school at Woodstock, it is something that stays with you. I started to get involved in my Ph.D student government programs and got exposure to the larger student body. I was elected as chair for the student life program and during my tenure, I came to recognize that despite having a lot of resources that are set up to help students with their wellbeing, colleges can still be a very stressful place for many students partially because students are unaware or don’t know how to access these resources. So, to centralize and make it more accessible in a social and fun way, I developed this fitness program by partnering with different organizations within UPenn and within the larger Philadelphia area by talking to local businesses/ fitness studios and sports clubs to see if they would be interested in being part of this cohesive program. To my surprise, many of them were eager to join up.

At a place like Upenn, where you have students from different schools and places, it was fun to have these collaborations with different

With fellow speakers at symposium invitation to honor Nobel Prizer Winner – Dr. John Gurdon (5th from left); Dr. Yanger (far right) was the only student /non-faculty member to give talk on her thesis work based on liver regeneration

people. I finally launched “PennSHAPE” in 2012 and we had a lot of students involved in it. It’s still going on and the Annenberg School of Communications within UPenn used that program to see how students stay fit during school years and have even published an academic paper about it as well. I did it because I felt that there had to be a better way for students to access resources for them to feel like they have a better work life balance and to help them also meet students from other schools and create a communal aspect to it.

When talking about how Woodstock helped me in some ways to get into the field that I am in now, having a creative outlook and perspective or being open minded is Woodstock in a nutshell – that ability to learn beyond the walls.

What was life like for you after graduating from Woodstock?

As mentioned earlier, I hadn’t taken biology classes in high school, but right when I had graduated from high school and was gearing up for coming to the US for college, my father was diagnosed with cancer. That time between graduation and college was a time of uncertainty – I didn’t know if I would be able to come to the US for college, despite being awarded a generous and prestigious scholarship to attend college. However, it was my father who pushed me to attend college despite my doubts and fears. Even though I never really thought that I would study biology when I joined college, in some ways, it was a very indirect way of ushering me into this field of cancer biology to help me become a scientist.

Though Woodstock is a very international place, it was a bubble in many ways as I had been there since the fifth grade. At that point, more than half my life was Woodstock and it was amazing. The initial transition from

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Woodstock into what others might call the “real world,” can be a little different for some people. That adjustment is an interesting process but at the same time, because you learn to live with so many different types of people from various backgrounds, you crave that even more when you are out of school.

When talking about how Woodstock helped me in some ways to get into the field that I am in now, having a creative outlook and perspective or being open minded is Woodstock in a nutshell – that ability to learn beyond the walls. Things like the sports curriculum, Activity Week, and extracurricular activities is something that back in the day, other public schools didn’t have; those are aspects that make Woodstock unique, which I hope those initiatives continue today and in the future as they are some of the key components to the school’s value proposition, not just strictly the academic curriculum.

Were you a part of any extracurricular activities at Woodstock?

In some ways, maybe too many programs!

I did a lot of sports like soccer, basketball, track and field. I was the girls’ basketball

captain during junior year, and then I was involved with NHS and was the co-president.

Throughout high school and middle school, it was a mixture between student government and sports. I also played piano, and at some point, I got involved in the theatre and drama a little bit, designed posters and would be behind the scenes for our plays. I feel like Woodstock gives you that opportunity to be involved in a lot of things and you choose what you want to do. Not to mention, if you are an outdoors person, nature is directly out there for you to explore (even though we complained about all the walking at the time).

Do you have any favorite memories from Woodstock?

There are too many! My friends and I were studious but also mischievous. There was one year when we planned a fake fire alarm at Alter Ridge as part of an April Fool’s prank very early in the morning (but we had agreed with the dorm parents to do it). Representing Woodstock at the Bournvita Quiz Contest in Mumbai on tv was an exciting one, as was being an exchange student program to Carey Baptist in Australia. The thing is, you build

Do you have a nomination for the Distinguished Alumni Roll?

We’d like to hear from you – alumni@woodstock.ac.in

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memories, but the important thing is you continue to build memories just because the people you meet are really friends for life.

I think in some ways that is unique, where sometimes the friends you make in elementary school are the friends that remain even outside of Woodstock. And not just friends, I still keep in touch with teachers from Woodstock who were just as important in making my experience at Woodstock as great as it could have been – Ms. Holmes, Mr. Emmanuel, Mrs/Dr. Singh, Mrs. Bhide, Ms. Hoffmann, Dr. Schooler…to name a few. Once you’re a part of Woodstock it continues to be a part of you. From the alumni side, looking back, I’ve organized a couple gatherings and when you get together, you can just be yourself knowing that you’re all from Woodstock. There is a commonality that exists without one having to acknowledge it explicitly.

Rehan Abbas Khan ’88 Interview by: Darsh Agarwal, Class of 2022 Rehan Khan, Class of 1988, is on a journey to serve others and make a difference in peoples lives. He has been actively involved in the pharmaceutical industry as one of the top leaders and truly believes in the positive role that the industry plays in peoples lives. Currently working as the CEO of MSD pharmaceuticals, Rehan takes on many difficult tasks every day as he works dedicatedly towards building a culture for the faculty of the company. Rehan gained some personal experience and unique ideas while he was a student at Woodstock school, which he now constantly tries to incorporate into his workplace to make it more efficient. In this interview, Rehan tells us about the impact his time at Woodstock has had on his professional and personal life. who was from a middle-class family, living in a small town in India, Woodstock was a massive opportunity for me, and I think that at least in my life, it made all the difference.

I realized that if we applied our minds to anything, we can do it. I didn’t do it but while I was in Woodstock, I saw people climbing mountains and running 30 Kms marathons. It was inspiring to see their determination and how focused they were towards achieving their goal.

What inspired you to come to Woodstock and what was your life like after graduating?

Could you share some of your favorite memories from Woodstock?

There are too many memories to remember!

One of them definitely was of monkeys trying to grab your sandwiches. It taught me an important lesson in life: never run away when someone is trying to grab your sandwich, always run towards them. Normally, I would run towards the monkey, it would run away, and I would enjoy my sandwich.

Another memory was playing for the Woodstock hockey team and captaining it in my senior year. I played for about 4-5 years and it was a splendid experience. I had students from over 30 nationalities in my grade and interacting with them was a phenomenal experience. I had roommates from different cultures and backgrounds which gave me the exposure I required. For someone like me

There was not a lot that I did. We lived in a small town called, Aligarh and my parent’s friend told me about Woodstock. She said that it was a beautiful place and that I should try it out. I applied to Doon School and Woodstock, but I decided to attend Woodstock and I was in love with this place.

It was so tremendously diverse, and it had something in the 80s’ that no other school had in the country which was all the nationalities from all over the world. It had a really beautiful campus and overall it was incredible. I

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ended being on the board for a couple of years and every time I come back to Woodstock, traveling up from Dehradun to Mussoorie, I would get flutters in my stomach. It is just such a gorgeous place and spending years and living there was just a blessing.

There were a couple of things that I realized after graduating. One, I realized that culture is just a filter. No matter where we come from the world, we are all the very same, and culture is just another filter we apply to identify someone. There were so many kids that attended Woodstock from all over the world and had developed a common culture. It was tremendous, it was an exercise in developing culture. Secondly, culture matters more than anything else. Many years later, when I was the CEO of a publicly listed company, I applied that same rule in running the company. I built a culture first and then had smart people joining us. All of this thinking came from the many years that I had attended Woodstock. Thirdly, I realized that if we applied our minds to anything, we can do it.

I didn’t do it but while I was in Woodstock, I saw people climbing mountains and running 30 Kms marathons. It was inspiring to see their determination and how focused they were towards achieving their goal. Woodstock made a bigger difference in my life, more than the university did that I attended. I didn’t get to interact with 35 different cultures, and I’d be lucky if I interacted with 5 different people. Because Woodstock was such a tightly knit community of 500 students, I got to interact with most of them!

How have you achieved success and how would you define success?

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MSD pharma has been the 3rd business that I have run in the past 12 years. The last couple of businesses were similar, but one was in Asia and the other was in India. Every day is new, no day is similar to the last. A large part of the job is to do three things: try to build a great culture, convince smart people to work for you, and deliver results. Success to

me is about serving others, it is about doing good for someone else and this all comes to me from living at Woodstock. A large part of Woodstock is about serving and helping others, which is where I believe I got this lesson from. Growing up, Woodstock played a big part of shaping my life. I believe that success is making others successful through service.

Bringing success to others is success for me!

What inspired you to enter and work in the pharmaceutical industry?

If I think of it backward, I can’t give an answer. When I entered the market, I kind of stumbled upon it because I got a job in the United States, which was coincidentally a pharmaceutical company. If I think about the reasons I decided to stay in this industry was because I could make a difference in someone’s life. Now I can’t make a difference in everyone’s life because it is expensive to buy certain medications, even if it is accessible. However, pharmaceutical companies do make a difference in the lives of most people. They help individuals improve their physical health, fitness, mental health etc, and when I do it, I feel like I am helping someone as well. Healthcare generally makes a huge difference in the lives of many people as it helps them combat diseases and infections that could potentially be life-threatening. Pharma helps everyone at a global level. As I mentioned before, success to me is serving others, helping them, and this is why I love what I do. It’s what inspired and motivated me to work harder and I finally decided to stay in this line of work.

You need to accept your mistakes and be kind to other people. This helps you rise and learn and grow from your current situation.

What are some challenges that you have faced in your career and what advice would you give to students and start-up companies?

Every career, every job has its own problems and challenges. When you first start out in a

career, those issues, problems and challenges would be different. It could be, not being used to working under pressure or feeling obligated to deliver results in a short period of time. Everything from that point on is a challenge. But now when I am running an entire company, the challenges that I face are different. In my job, my personal performance is determined by the success of a business or a company. So, my job is to really be a coach and be a great coach every day. I cannot make the same mistakes again, whether it be last year, last month or last week. That is very difficult as you are competing against yourself and not anyone else. Challenging myself to do better every minute of the day is the hardest part of what I do. I have to break my own bad habits and become better. I have to be humble, and ultimately success in my job comes from success to others, success does not come individually in this job. I need to grow the company and all its stakeholders and when I work, it’s my service towards them.

I am not qualified to give anyone advice, but I will make some suggestions. First thing to do is to realise what your career will be in the next 5-10, 15 years. Then you really need to spend your time working and learning the skills required for that career. Learning can never stop, and you can never be perfect. You need to work hard and that’s what will help you get your dream job. Secondly, you need to accept your mistakes and be kind to other people. This helps you rise and learn and grow from your current situation. You need to serve other people and do good. Often people in start-ups generate a lot of money through funds but they don’t know who the target group or customer is, and they don’t serve them well. If you know your customer and you know your team well, you will be great at it. Now these might be simple elements, but they can make a great deal of change to your life.

Anah Iqbal ’11 Interview by – Ruhani Verma, Class of 2023 Anah Iqbal, Class of 2011, shares with us about her journey, influences and Woodstock experiences that helped her become an artist. Anah is the creative director at Muse Global India and has accomplished many milestones as an artist, such as having her artworks sold to Paula Wallace, Alex Kuruvilla and Subhashini Ali, and worked along with Subodh Gupta in his studio. As the creative director at Muse Global India, Anah has had the opportunity to work on different projects, such as the Ram Janambhoomi, Ayodhya and the Prime Minister’s Museum, New Delhi. Read more below. keep it as clean and give you the least naughty ones. My favourite memories of the school are of course related to all the activities involving my friends/boarder of the time. Going to the Bazzar on the weekends, being on the school team, being as hands on as possible in open houses/extracurricular activities, big brother big sister day, sports day, trying to not get caught on the lovers lane after hours etc.

What inspired you to be an artist?

What brought you to Woodstock?

On the recommendation of an WS Alumni my parents and I, with my sister Fayza Iqbal (Class of 2013), took a trip up to Mussoorie for a campus visit. The first memories of our visit to Woodstock Campus is filled with Mussoorie’s marvellous Monsoons. Being engulfed in clouds, breathing in the beautiful fauna, running up to Edgehill to not get drenched in the downpour all, meeting Mrs. Mark, were deciding factors of my application for Woodstock. After the campus tour, my excited little self just remembers meeting with Mrs. Mark and giving my entrance exams/ interview. The dizzying ride up and down from Woodstock School was then a permanent part of my life for the next 8 years.

What are some of your favourite memories of Woodstock?

How do I even choose some! I will have to

I had never thought I would choose the artist life for myself. My Mom and my Naani Jaan (Grandma) being fabulous artist themselves, gave me a sense of what creativity is, from an early age. Joining Woodstock and growing up around so many amazing minds allowed me to explore the multifaceted ways creativity can be used. Throughout my Woodstock life, I was naturally drawn to things that could be done differently or outside of the classroom.

I would excel in math only when geometry was being taught, I would excel on timed exams only if my notes were full of biologically correct drawings, my chemical balancing would only make sense to me if my friends colour coded them to help me study. I believe my parents, my environment in Woodstock, the correlation of my brains retaining powers when the arts were involved, is what inspired me to be an artist.

What role did Woodstock play in who you are as an artist?

Woodstock unlike my previous schools made sure it had a rigid yet explorative system of education. The rigid allowed this creative mind to write essays and do the research before putting my name on a piece of artwork. The explorative side of Woodstock let

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me paint backdrops for Theatre, dance at talent shows, be a part of its school band, make culinary level Wai-Wai/cheese toasts, sculpt/make pottery, roam around the hill side to take in all the smells, sounds and sights at my leisure, play competitive sports to understand the pressures of performance. Woodstock School helped me by giving me opportunities to join different extracurricular activities which allowed me to focus on the Arts.

What role do you think a story plays in a piece of art?

Storytelling is a central part of human existence. We are often told to read the great classics to better understand human interaction and emotions. For example if we were to research on love and then came across literature on love where the author is Edgar Allen Poe, it would change our perspective completely. The chronicle of an artist or the artwork is just as important to be aware of. History or the environment in which the work was created, allows for future generations to explore and expand on the past generations work. Stories are very individual and abundant, stories connects us to every single human being, stories play an intrinsic part in creating a piece of Art.

What is your advice to future artists?

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The field of creativity is always evolving and is inclusive of other fields, something which is not similar in other professions. However, much like other professions, you have to

be on top of your game to be able to make a mark. Study, experiment and find opportunities within the field as soon as possible and understand the steps you have taken to get to the goals you set. The multifaceted arena of the Arts makes sure each and every person can build a niche for themselves, but you really have to hold the thread and not let go.

Whether it be the Fashion Industry or the Fine Art industry, the ability to make a space for yourself comes with putting yourself out there and applying/finding residencies, ateliers, galleries, museums, etc which hone your techniques and abilities. Find these spaces and immerse yourself within it as soon as you can.

How do you define success and what are some of the most distinctive moments that have defined your career as an artist?

As I divulge deeper in my profession I believe my definition of success is to still be passionate about what I am working towards. From creating portraits, to working in prominent artist studios, to now designing museums/ cultural spaces, each allowing me to know that my explorative nature is flourishing.

My career has been dotted with quite a few

accomplishment, from selling my artworks to the reputed Paula Wallace, Alex Kuruvilla or Subhashini Ali, to working with Subodh Gupta in his studio to now being the Creative Director for Muse Global India, from supporting charities that work in mental health sectors, and women empowerment movements, give me a bigger push to do better, and create better.

Any current projects you have been working on?

As a Creative Director I have been working on conceptual ideas for a multitude of new projects being introduce all over India, namely the Ram Janambhoomi, Ayodhya and the Prime Minister’s Museum, New Delhi. However as an Individual Artist I have just started a new series of portraits of Indian women using their jewellery and clothing as a way of exploring the diverse way women of India celebrate their individuality.

Stefan Eicher ’90 Interview by – Nupur Agarwal, Class of 2021 Stefan Eicher, is an artist who helped found the arts organization Art for Change and currently teaches in the Art Department at Woodstock School. Stefan has an MFA in Visual Art and an MBA in International Development. Following his brother’s footsteps, Stefan took the sciences at Woodstock and only discovered his passion for art during his time as a student in college. He describes art as a medium that speaks truth about the world, doing so quietly. In addition to teaching, Stefan continues to serve on the board and help with program development and strategic planning for Art for Change in New Delhi, a platform to address social issues through art. Over time the platform has evolved from activism through art to a forum to ask deeper questions about what it means to be human and how we are to live together.

so quietly. I think that makes an incredible combination, beauty and truth.

Did Woodstock play a role in shaping you as an artist?

Ironically I never took an art class at Woodstock. I followed in my brother’s footsteps and pursued the sciences. Physics came easiest of the three, and I thoroughly enjoyed how passionate our physics teacher Dr.Viney was about the subject—as well as the shenanigans we got away with in class because of his absent-mindedness. It just so happened that throughout my four years at Woodstock Physics was consistently scheduled in the same period as Art. It was only in college that I started taking art classes. I enjoyed them so much I added Art to Physics for a double-major.

What sparked your interest in art?

What is Art for Change and what inspired it?

I had always enjoyed creating as a child, but it never seemed very important to the people around me, so it felt very peripheral growing up. It was only as an adult that I started to understand the profound joy of creating something of lasting beauty, something that you bring to life, that then exists separate from you. But also something that creates and carries meaning, that expresses ideas, that has the power to speak. Art says things, whether you want it to or not. The best art speaks truth about the world, about who we are and who we are meant to be, and it does

Art for Change is the result of three things coming together: our very human need for community, creativity, and a sense of purpose.

Several years after college three friends with whom I used to pull all-nighters painting in the Art Department basement at college wanted to get together for a reunion.

We picked a theme, spent a week painting together in a lake-side barn in the Indiana State Forest, and followed it with an exhibition where we sold half our paintings and recouped our costs. That mix of intense comradery, creativity, and collective reflection

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was so addictive we ended up repeating it every year. At the same time, I’d been working in international development and felt the craving for similar creative community where I lived in Delhi. I was also starting to see the potential for art to speak to the issues I was seeing people addressing through social work or activism. I started organizing similar oneweek painting workshops with artists I met in Delhi where we would choose a social issue to explore through our art. This eventually grew into an artist-run gallery & studio, and then the arts organization Art for Change and our current artist residency program.

We began with simple, maybe simplistic, responses to issues like female foeticide and religious violence. We spent two weeks with a community of destitute men on the outskirts of Delhi both painting with them as well as about the issue of destitution. Initially it was mainly activism and advocacy, taking 15 artists into Asia’s largest TB hospital in Delhi to listen to patient’s stories and paint a human portrait of the disease. I had bumped into Woodstock alum Vivek Dharmaraj (‘87) and the result was a partnership with a health advocacy group and the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) in an art exhibition to try to mobilize industry leaders to respond to the disease. But over the years I think we’ve gradually realized that for us art is less activism and more asking the deeper questions about what it means to be human and how we are to live together. In our annual International Artist Residency last March, twenty one artists from India, US, UK, and Australia asked the question “What to do with Difference?”

Where the world is increasingly fractured by politics, religion, and ethnicity, what do we do with the things that set us apart? We were very relieved when the artists got out by

the skin of their teeth as the airports closed about a week after the residency ended! With Covid we’ve had to adjust things and our new director, Woodstock alum Isaac Gergan (’06) did a brilliant job of organizing a ‘virtual artist residency’ with 42 artists working from their homes. For two weeks they created a pretty intense virtual community and with inputs from health care professionals explored issues around mental health. Interestingly there’s three of us Woodstock alum currently involved with Art for Change, including Joshua John (’98). Do check out www.artforchange. space

How do you define success and what are some of the most distinctive moments that have defined your career as an artist?

That’s a great question. I really like the idea of ‘being yourself to the best of your ability.’

At its heart are things like talent, hard work, integrity, being able to make beautiful and meaningful things, and being able to serve or sacrifice for others. As an artist there is a need for authenticity, being honest with one’s short-comings and with the world around you. I believe the art that gets produced from a place of authenticity has a power of its own.

Having said that I think success is maybe just being a good father and a good husband. In terms of the career as an artist I think where art and people come together is where I’ve seen the greatest significance. Whether it is a Woodstock student in art class having a simple ‘aha’ moment, or a public art project in Indianapolis that brought together four racially divided neighbourhoods to attempt to break the world record for most sparklers lit. Or even simply the experience during an

artist residency of a fellow artist dropping by your workstation to share an opinion which makes your painting so much better. I have found working with other artists, whether young professionals or now my students, where you’re able to be authentic with each other and authentically create together, to be a really profound experience.

What advice would you give to future artists?

My biggest encouragement is to go to art school! Get as much training as you can.

And work as hard as you can. The more skilled you get and the more you ‘know’ your materials, the more you will be able to do with your art. And art college also opens up professional opportunities you would not find otherwise. The other advice would be to be a learner and an entrepreneur! In an increasingly image-based, technology-enabled, networked, globalized, knowledge-based world creativity and visual literacy are valuable commodities. Increasingly you probably won’t so much join a career as create your own career, bundling or integrating a studio practice or allied creative practice with any number of professions.

What were some of the challenges you have faced as an artist and how have you overcome them?

Being an educator and arts facilitator in addition to being an artist with my own studio practice I feel I never have enough time to make enough of my own art. But of course most practicing artists are balancing parallel vocations and face the same challenge. And whether you think of yourself as an artist or

not, nurturing creativity is incredibly important and sometimes surprisingly relevant. In my current 10th grade unit we’re looking at connections between art and other vocations, like medical schools that increasingly send nurses and doctors to art galleries because it’s been shown to improve observational and patient communication skills. Of course, when you are teaching art the synergy with an active studio practice is even more obvious. What thrills me about teaching IB at Woodstock is the emphasis on connecting learning to the real world, and I love the fact that the art teachers at Woodstock are both educators and artists.

What are some of your most valued memories of your time at Woodstock?

I think my best memories have a lot to do with people, both friends and teachers, as well as with the opportunities to be challenged and grow, whether physically, ethically, or academically. I loved having a hundred brothers in Hostel (with only one set of parents).

And I loved the many sports (the Mussoorie Olympics!). I took up cross-country as a shy 9th grader because I realized nobody practiced, and with just a little extra effort I could beat everyone. But then I ended up loving the experience of sacrificing every last thing in you for a race. Then there was Ms. Hoffman’s 10th grade English strictness, which I came to appreciate only after the fact, because I still love metaphors and foreshadowing and can still recite Hamlet and William Wordsworth.

There was Mr. Matheson’s quiet integrity and gentle values as teacher and coach.

Discovering how hilarious Mr. MacIntosh was on Activity Week after living in mortal terror of his disciplinary actions as Vice-Principal.

Being allowed to take a month off my senior year to do the Basic Mountaineering course at NIM in Uttarkashi. The list goes on!

Summer at Woodstock 2022 A Taste of Woodstock Started in 2017, Summer at Woodstock has offered students from around the world the opportunity to experience a sense of what Woodstock life is like. Many students who come to the programme have gone on to become full-time Woodstock students themselves.

From 2017 to 2019, Summer at Woodstock saw exponential growth, from two courses and 40 students in its first year to 12 courses and 159 students in its third. After two years online, Summer at Woodstock will be back in person and on campus for two weeks in June 2022 with a focussed offering of four courses that we feel cover the breadth of a Woodstock education: Music Production, Outdoor Living Skills, Leadership, and English Masterclass.

Combining academic rigour with the energy and excitement of a summer camp, Summer at Woodstock is the perfect way for a child you love to experience life at Woodstock. Alongside an immersive educational experience, students enjoy a wide range of fun and exciting activities, from hikes and sports to arts and crafts. It’s amazing to see the transformation that can take place over such a short space of time, and the friendships students develop during the summer programme.

Whether they’re considering coming to Woodstock as a full-time student, or you just want them to share a taste of your school days on the Hillside, these two weeks of summer are a great way for them to take their first steps living and learning at Woodstock. If you want them to share your Woodstock School experience, then please consider sending someone you love to the place you love.

To find out more about Summer at Woodstock, email Summer@ woodstock.ac.in or visit www.woodstockschool.in/summer.

Are you currently working on any projects?

I am currently working on an ongoing series capturing the play of light on the Mussoorie hillside, particularly on the many paths in and around Landour. There’s an ethereal quality of seeing things against the sun, when the sun catches the edges of things, or the patches of illumination you see in a forest. As I walk the hillside I’m reminded of an instructor who said “you paint your lights with your darks.”

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Gatherings WS Arizona Club

WWD Nagaland

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This Worldwide Woodstock Day zoom hosted by Max Marble was mainly for people who were going to be alone on WWD. A good great group joined with 6 persons from Canada and 12 from the US with Woodstock experiences shared ranging from the ’40’s to the ’90’s. What fun.

WWD Bluffton, OH

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Other gatherings

Jeff Rollins & Family

Class of 1993

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Class of 1993 reunion

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Honoring Departing Staff 2021 Eric Roberts Travel and Liaison Officer July 1980, June 1996 15-Jul-98, 30-Jun-21 Shubhra Luukkonen Teacher, Early Years 1-Jul-07 to 30-Jun-21

16 years 24 years

Tobias John Tillemans HoD, Science 1-Jul-16 to 30-Jun-21

14 years

Tenzin Lhakyi Nurse 1-Jul-16 to 30-Jun-21

Krishnan Kutty Kaluparambil Director of Hanifl Centre & Interim Director of Development 1-Jun-09 to 30-Jun-21 12 years Upasini Purushothaman Senior Executive Assistant 1-Aug-10 to 30-Jun-21

11 years

Lawrence Edward Beavan Teacher, Individuals & Societies 1-Jan-12 to 30-Jun-21 9 years Lindsey Curtis Alexander Teacher, Early Years 1-Jan-13 to 30-Jun-21 Sanjeev Puri Chief Operating Officer 1-Nov-14 to 30-Aug-21

8 years

7 years

Kirsten Elizabeth Pike Teacher, English 1-Jul-16 to 30-Jun-21 Ethan Paul Van Drunen Vice Principal, Education 1-Jul-16 to 30-Jun-21 Dechen Wangmo Nurse 1-Jul-17 to 22-Jun-21

5 years

Robin Carter STEM Coordinator 1-Jul-18 to 30-Jun-21

5 years

Deneene Aurah Winsom Ricketts HoD, College & Career Counseling 1-May-19 to 30-Jun-21 3 years

5 years

Carly Anne Khonmen HoD, Special Education Needs 1-Jul-19 to 30-Jun-21 2 years

5 years

Annie Marie Tunheim Teacher, English 1-Jul-19 to 30-Jun-21

4 years

Sonali Garg Teacher, Individuals & Societies 1-Jul-17 to 30-Jun-21 4 years Catherine Elizabeth De Swardt Head of Department, Counseling 1-Jul-18 to 30-Jun-21 4 years

3 years

2 years

Samuel Edward Tunheim Teacher, Early Years and Middle Years Visual Arts 1-Jul-19 to 30-Jun-21 2 years Sushma Sen Teacher, Middle Years Mathematics 1-Jul-19 to 30-Jun-21 2 years Kirsten Marian Bradby Director of Admissions 1-Jul-20 to 30-Jun-21

1 year

Departing staff that served over 7 years

As Head of our Travel & Liaison Office, Mr Eric Roberts worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that many thousands of students and staff could reach their destination safely and without a hitch. Now, after a remarkable 38 years of dedicated service at Woodstock, Mr Roberts sets of on a new journey, into a life of retirement, but we’re sure he will remain an active member of our alumni community.

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For 14 years, Shubhra Chundawat nurtured Woodstock’s young talent as an Early Years’ teacher. Still would always go above and beyond for her pupils, and instilled in her subjects deep rooted love and respect, and a passion for learning which has been a solid foundation for life-long learning for many a Woodstock student. Shubhra left Woodstock in June 2021.

K Krishnan Kutty is at home leading in the office or out in the wilds of the high Himalaya. As Director of the Hanifl Centre, he shaped it into India’s leading hub for outdoor learning and environmental education. When he combined this role with Director of Development, he got to know many of our alumni personally, and helped facilitate even greater connections and support within our powerful community. Kutty left Woodstock in June after 12 years’ service.

As Senior Executive Assistant to the Principal for 11 years, Upasini Purushothaman worked with four of Woodstock’s Principals. Impeccably organized and insightful, her role ranged from flawless administration to providing senior counsel to the leadership team. As head of the Covid Task Force, Upasini helped steer Woodstock through one of the most serious crises in the school’s history. Upasini retired from Woodstock in June 2021.

Ed Beavan joined Woodstock 9 years ago as a media relations specialist, but soon found his true passion for life as a humanities teacher. Whether it was broadening students’ world view in his innovative and engaging Global Politics lessons, or treading the boards of many a staff musical, Mr Beavan always brought a spark to everything he delivered.

Staff Arrivals 2021 Sandeep Thakur Teacher, Science Robert Curt Farnham Teacher, English Jonathan Robert Le Shana Teacher, English Sandra Ruth Benedict Teacher, Science Rajat Sabharwal Teacher, Economics and Extended Essay Coordinator Nandini Ramesh Teacher, Science Katerina Vackova Teacher, Global Politics and Individuals & Societies Nicole Elaine Depew Teacher, English

In her years as a Woodstock educator, Lindsey Alexander worked across a number of different academic roles. As a Special Educational Needs teacher, she helped many students overcome challenges and move forward with their studies. In English, she installed a passion for reading in her pupils. And most recently as teacher of KG-1 in Early Years, she inspired young minds to develop a real thirst for knowledge. Lindsey left Woodstock in June 2021.

Ganesh Kempaiah College & Career Counselor Amelia Lynn Teacher, Science

Mohammed

Bagheri

Anupama Mukherjee Senior Consultant Human Resources Shivraj Singh Nurse Dechen Wangmo Nurse Vidur Kapur Director of Admissions

As Woodstock’s inaugural Chief Operating Officer, Mr Sanjeev Puri was the first person responsible for leading all the school’s administrative functions under one banner. Sanjeev’s visionary leadership was key to building a school that’s fit for the future, including being a key driving force behind the Campus Master Plan which continues to revolutionise our living and learning spaces. Mr Puri left Woodstock in September 2021 after 7 years’ service.

Dr. Richa Joshi Teacher, Business Studies & Economics Drishti Bhasin Personal Counselor Sherin Sara Jacob Teacher-Music (Choir) Preeti Nahata Grades 2 & 3 Teacher Kalpana Singh Teacher, Mathematics

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In Memorium 2021

JANE WALLACE ANDERSON, (’46), passed away on October 30th, 2021.

JUNE BAUR (’46) passed away in December 19th 2020. She is survived by her sister Ruth Baur Willimann (’64).

ARVID BERG (’48), passed away on October 22, 2021. He is survived by his wife Marlys Berg.

Marjorie B. BERY – wife of RAJ BERY (’45), passed away peacefully on October 30, 2021 (age 91). She is survived by her husband of 65 years; daughter and two grandchildren; and was predeceased by her son.

DAVID BJERKESTRAND (’50), has passed away on June 20, 2021. He is survived by his brother Pastor Joel Bjerkestrand (Sue), niece Kari Kearney (John), nephew Derek Bjerkestrand (Julianne), niece Joy Allison (Tim), nephews Lowell Bjerkestrand (Lynn),Wray Bjerkestrand (Merrily), Mark Bjerkestrand (Heidi), and many grand nephews, nieces and cousins; and step daughters Penny Young Sanders (Steve), and Nancy Maloney (Joe).

ROSE BORPUJARI (S) – passed away on February 13th 2021. She was pre-deceased in death by her two children daughter, SUNITA BORPUJARI ’72 passed away 06-05-2007.

Son SHUNIL, ’74 and passed away 02/18/18.

MARJORIE JEANNE BRINES (’52) passed away on March 6, 2021. She is survived by her son Dirk.

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Charles BRADFORD(SP) husband of ANN REINOEHL(’55) BRADFORD passed away in 2020.

RAINER BROCKE (’50) passed away on September 12, 2021. He is survived by his wife Judith, 6 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

PAUL BUJTAR (’55) passed away on September 18th, 2021. He survived by his Catherine Bujtar.

RAYMOND BUKER (’43), passed away July 5, 2019. He was preceded in death by his brother RICHARD (’41). He is survived by his wife Jean and daughter Marilyn.

BARBARA (BARBY) McELDOWNEY CARROLL (’62) passed away on June 5th, 2020.

She was preceded in death by her brother JAMES McELDOWNEY and is survived by her siblings ELIZABETH McELDOWNEY CONARD (’55) and PHIL McELDOWNEY (’59).

MIRIAM BARRICK COOK (’41) passed away on April 14, 2021. She is survived by her son Dr. Robert Cook, Jr., SHAHED EHSAN (’83) passed away on the 29th of March 2021 of a massive heart attack.

He is survived by his brother KHALED (’81) and daughter.

MARY SEEFELDT GOMEZ DOMENECH, (’73) passed away on October 8th 2021 with pancreatic cancer. She is survived by daughters, Sarah, Rachel, Anna & brothers, Dale, ’64, Paul, ’68, Noel, ’72.

EILEEN LUCILLE ALDER FERGUSON (Staff) mother of BRUCE FERGUSON (’71) passed away on July 2nd, 2021

BRUCE FERGUSON (’71) passed away August 28, 2021. He is survived by his wife Joyce, former staff.

THEODORE (Ted) FEIERABEND (P) passed away on July 10th, 2020. He was preceded in death by his wife Jean. He is survived by his sibling HERBERT FEIERABEND (’47), children BRUCE (’70), LEE (’66), JAMES ’(67), LOIS ROSKO (’69) and MARY GIRARD (’76) MIKE GIORGI (’83) passed away on June 10th 2021. His wife Traci wrote that he died in his sleep. He is survived by his sister Michelle Giorgi, parents Ken and Beth Giorgi.

SANTIAGO LUSARDI GIRELLI (Staff) – passed away in May 2021. He is survived by his wife and 2 children.

Janice HAZLETT wife of TOM HAZLETT (’45) passed away on the December 29th 2020.

Susan INGRAHAM (SP) wife of JIM INGRAHAM (’69)passed away on April 2nd, 2021.

SIMON JOB (’75) passed away on March 18th, 2021 from COVID. He is survived by his wife Parveen and children.

ERNEST J. “ERNIE” KAVEN (’59) passed away on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. He is survived by his wife Rose and children Brian and Susan and four grandchildren.

SANDY KELLER (S) passed away in June 2021.

Joseph Loren KILLABY (SP) husband of SARAH FLEMING KILLABY (’63)

CAROL DOUGLASS LAMBDIN (’52) passed away on March 6th 2020.

RUSSEL LIECHTY, (SP) passed January 13th 21 following a major stroke. He is survived by his wife, Marjorie, and children, Joe, ’73, Jane,’75, Mark, ’78, Dan, ’79.

DORA LOCKLEY (’37) passed away on April 21, 2021 at the age of 100.

DAVID MAYADAS (’56) passed away on October 3rd 2021. He is survived by his brother ASHOK MAYADAS (’57).

WILLIAM WARREN MCKELVEY (’56) Passed away on December 22, 2020 in a car accident. He is survived by his brother JIM (’60), and sister MARCIA MCKELVEY OLSEN (’66).

ARUNA NAYYAR MICHIE (’62), passed away on September 5th, 2021. She is survived by her husband Barry Mitchie, and son Chetan.

TERESA MIDKIFF (’69) passed away in January 2020. She is survived by her brother JOHN (’71) MARY JEAN CRAIN MORENO (’57) passed away on July 11th 2020. She is survived by her brother WARREN (’51).

ter MAXINE BECKER MOREL (’55).

RICHARD PALTA (’93) passed away on October 19th 2021. He is survived by his wife and 2 daughters and sister NADINE PALTA BULL. MARY LOUISE POOR (Staff) passed away on January 1st 2021. She is survived by her daughter KERRY POOR LEIGH (’69).

DORTHY "DOTTY" KOENIG POWERS (’44) October 8, 2021 She married Earl Dordal. Dotty's brother, JOHN KOENIG (’34), passed away in 2006 while her sister, ELIZABETH KOENIG BULLMAN (’36), passed away in 2003.

JOHN (ROBIN) PILLEY (’57) – passed away on June 2, 2021. He is survived by his sister GAIL PILLEY HARRIS, (’59) LYLE POWELL (STAFF/P) passed away in June 2021. He was preceded in death by his wife Willine. He is survived by his children MARY (’72), LYLE (’74), STEVEN (’75) and KEN (’79).

WENDELL PYE (’69 ) passed away on March 19, 2021. He is survived by his brother ELWOOD PYE (’65) and his sister, ELAINE PYE LEWIS (’71), and children.

Kathe MOSHER wife of BILL MOSHER (’54) passed away May 6th, 2021.

Maxine ROLLINS (P) Wife of John ROLLINS, passed away on February 1st 2021. She is survived by her children JEFF ROLLINS (’76), SUZIE ROLLINS NORDSTROM (’78), JENNIFER ROLLINS ARCHER (’81) and STEVEN ROLLINS (’74) and several grandchildren.

HUGH MUMBY (’43), passed away peacefully in his sleep on June 18th, 2021. He is survived by his son MARC MUMBY (’69).

Barry RILEY (Spouse) husband of ESTHER SHULL RILEY (’57) passed away in May 2020.

RAJ MURCH (’52) passed away on the 29th of March 2021. His daughter Nina Murch is the wife of Rev. Swaroop former board member.

Ruthe RUGH wife DAVID RUGH (’66) passed away on November 8th 2021. She is survive by her husband DAVID and children.

JOHN MORGAN (’51) passed away on May 14th 2021 he was aged 87. He is survived by his sister DILYS MORGAN (’56)

Leonard NODELMAN, husband of ELLEN BARTLETT NODELMAN, (’57) passed away 2021.

CHARLES OGDEN (’48) passed away on November 15th, 2021. He is survived by Anita, his wife of 53 years, sons Paul (Heather) and Keith (Nancy) Ogden, and 5 grandchildren: Sarah, Andrew, Zachary, Micah and Myles.

MARILYN BECKER PETERS (’59) passed away on June 5th, 2021. She is survived her sis-

JAMES SCHEUERMAN (’64) passed away in 2008. He was preceded in death by his sister JUDITH SCHEUERMAN BENDER (’66).

DAVID SCOTT (’52) passed away on August 5, 2021. He is survived by his wife Corrine, sons Kevin (’79), Chris (’81), Nathan (’84) and their spouses and children.

DOROTHY MAE WOERZ SEAMAN (P) passed away on August 24, 2021.Dorothy was preceded in death by her brother Donald Woerz (Sharon) and sister Barbara Watkins (Ever-

ett). She is survived by her husband of 65 years, Maynard Seaman, children DAWN BOVE (’75), DIANNE MATHEWS (’77), DARLENE SILLIMAN (’80) AND DAVID SEAMAN (’82), their spouses, 6 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren and her sister Mary.

ISABEL JUNE CHRISTIE SHARROCK (’64) passed away on November 7th 2020.

LORITA FISHER SHULL (’39) passed away on May 26th, 2021. She was the last surviving member of her class. She is survived by her brother GORDON (’41) and her half-sister ESTHER RILEY (’57) AJIT SINGH, former Indian Music teacher passed away May 31st, 2021. He is survived by his sister Mrs. Taneja.

ROHINI SINHA (’81) passed away in 2020.

CHARLES SPANGLER (’58) passed away on February 15, 2021.

Edgar STRICKLAND husband of IDA ALTER STRICKLAND (’54) passed away on January 13th, 2020.

BHARATY VENKATANARAYANAN(’81) passed away on March 10, 2021. Bharaty is survived by her father, Mr. R. Venkatanarayanan; her sister, SINDHU HORDER(’87); her brother-in-law, Jakob Horder; and her niece and nephew.

JEROLD “JERRY” WEAVER (’59) passed away on October 10, 2021 Jerry was preceded in death by his parents (Ed & Irene Weaver) and his two sisters (Carolyn Esch (’51) & Betty Shima). Jerry is survived by his wife Cathy; three sons, and six grandchildren.

DOUG WILKENS (’62) passed away on May 15th 2021. He is survived by his brother STEVE (’68) and sister CHARLOTTE WILKENS GIFT (’56).

MARY CHU YAO (’52) passed January 13, 2021. She is preceded in death by husband Jeff and her brother JOHN CHU (’54) and survived by her daughter Gretta.

Dr, Arlene R. K. ZIDE (P) mother of GREG AND BILL ZIDE (’83) passed away on January 8th 2021.

STEVE SAWATZKY (’64) passed away on November 27, 2021.

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