Summer 2018
BEACHY KEEN Students in Sophie Miller’s Media Arts II class designed their own fonts this spring; this oceanthemed font was designed by Ana Mashek ’18. See more of Ana’s work on Page 23.
Summer 2018
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| FEATURES |
150th Anniversary Hear from the co-chairs and steering committee who are planning the celebration of our sesquicentennial anniversary, starting in 2019.
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Timeline A look back through the AIS uniform — the common threads that connect the AIS journey from preschool to senior year.
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Contents
| DEPARTMENTS | 5 6 9 16 18 22 24 26 47 54 56
What’s Online Big Picture Digest Inquiry l Faculty Focus
Limelight l Student Profiles Visual & Performing Arts Athletics Center for the Advancement of Girls Class Notes Milestones From the Archives
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Charting Her Own Course Girls thrive when their classes give them the opportunity to make choices, take risks, and tackle real-world problems.
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Commencement On June 7, faculty, friends, and family gathered to celebrate the Class of 2018. See where our Owls are taking flight to when they head to college this fall.
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Reunion From May 4-6, alumnae who graduated in years ending in a 3 or 8 celebrated over Reunion Weekend. We also honored the Class of 1968 on their 50th Reunion.
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SUMMER 2018 AGNESIRWIN.ORG
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A FOND FAREWELL
DOUGLAS BENEDICT, ACADEMIC IMAGES
As the Class of 2018 waits to process on Commencement Day, they share one last moment with faculty before taking the stage.
From the Head of School
An Inspiring Community EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Amanda Mahnke Assistant Director of Marketing & Communications
CONTRIBUTORS Samantha Amadio Marketing & Communications Specialist
Brooke Norrett Corr ’95 Director of Alumnae Relations
Tracy Curvan Director of Marketing & Communications
Alison Monzo Project Manager, Center for the Advancement of Girls
DESIGN Melodee Dill Stephens PHOTOGRAPHY Samantha Amadio, Mike Arrison Photography, Douglas Benedict / Academic Images, Amanda Mahnke, Donna Meyer, Karen Mosimann Lifestyle Photography THE AGNES IRWIN SCHOOL Ithan Avenue and Conestoga Road Rosemont, PA 19010-1042 agnesirwin.org Grades PreK–4 Tel: 610-525-7600
KAREN MOSIMANN LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHY
Grades 5–12 Tel: 610-525-8400 FRONT COVER This spring, second graders Hallsie McCoy and Tabby Jenkins, along with the rest of Amelia Underwood’s class, kicked off a research project with a safari! Learn more about this fun project on Page 32. COVER PHOTO BY SAMANTHA AMADIO
As I reflect on our community of learners, I feel grateful and inspired. Agnes Irwin empowers our girls to experience the joy of discovering their best selves, and our programming and community live into that commitment with vigor and fortitude. AIS is fortunate to have: Inspiring students who embrace inquiry and learning — and are encouraged to explore, question, discover new areas of interest, and find new passions along the way. Our students are recognized for their original work in creative writing, poetry, musical compositions, theater, and photography; place in national classical and modern language exams; are recognized by the National Merit Program; win awards at robotics competitions and athletic events; and present scientific research and business ideas to community leaders. Inspiring faculty who face the rapidly-changing educational landscape with a fearlessness and creativity that produces dynamic classroom experiences. Our redesigned Upper School curriculum, which we launched in Fall 2017, allows for a deeper level of inquiry, collaboration, applied learning, and critical thinking — skills our graduates will need in college and beyond. Inspiring speakers who share their experience as scientists, athletes, authors, musicians, law enforcement officers, and physicians. This October, we will host BBC news anchor Katty Kay for a Q&A on confidence (based on her best-selling book), which will be moderated by Fox 29 news anchor Karen Hepp ’89. Inspiring advocates who translate research and information into inspiration and opportunities for our girls through the work of The Center for the Advancement of Girls. We think of the Center as our superpower, one that is dedicated to creating the most advantageous educational environment for girls to thrive. Inspiring graduates who will continue their education at the finest institutions of higher learning. With 97% of the Class of 2018 accepted in the early acceptance round and 92% attending their top college choice, our Owls are taking flight and will impact the world in their own way — just like so many other inspiring alumnae. Inspiring parents who celebrate their daughters’ experiences at school, volunteer at our major events, provide campus tours, act as class parents, share their talents through our Parents’ Council, and give to our community in a thousand other ways. Thank you for being a part of our inspiring community. Together, we Make Agnes Proud.
Wendy L. Hill, Ph.D.
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In Memoriam MRS. SHARON RUDNICKI was a beloved colleague, English Department Chair, and mother to Rachel ’15. For 25 years, Mrs. Rudnicki mentored Agnes Irwin students in both literature studies and in life — and without a doubt, her impact has been felt, and will continue to be felt, in countless ways for years to come. Mrs. Rudnicki came to Agnes Irwin in the 1993-1994 school year as a long-term substitute and immediately found a home here. Her warmth and love of literature resonated with students who enjoyed gathering in her space — to spark new ideas, and puzzle through the challenges of writing. As Department Chair, she created a visionary team of educators, and cultivated a climate of compassion, excellence, and intellectual curiosity. “Throughout a student’s time at Agnes Irwin, it is probable that every girl will have a teacher with whom she can discuss everything from the complex relationship between Daisy and “Use the skills you honed in your English classes to read Gatsby, to her latest stress, or any and listen critically, to form your own opinions, and to other random thought a student may express your ideas with confidence. Find time to read for have. For many students, this pleasure and to appreciate the beauty of language.” teacher is the professional, yet personable, Mrs. Rudnicki,” the SHARON RUDNICKI, 2011 LAMP Class of 2010 wrote in their yearbook dedication. “Mrs. Rudnicki’s commitment to maintaining an excellent English department, extensive dedication to her students, and the ability to offer sound advice and encouragement when it is most needed are only a few reasons why she is one of the most beloved teachers at Agnes Irwin.”
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What’s Online “As a new graduate… I will be part of the greater number of qualified, educated women ready to take the lead. It will be incumbent upon me and my fellow female students to ensure the U.S. isn’t 99th in the world in equal representation.” KAITLYN LEES ’18, MAIN LINE MEDIA NEWS In the News Twenty-five years ago, women were given the right to wear pants on the U.S. Senate floor. The same year, 1993, female senators were finally granted a women’s restroom off the Senate floor — their counterparts in the House didn’t get one until 2011. “Those are dubious anniversaries to celebrate, but in 2018, how far have we really come? Women make up 51 percent of the population, yet in Congress this year, there are only 106 female members out of 535. Is 19.8 percent really good enough?” Kaitlyn Lees ’18 asks in an op-ed, published this March in the Main Line Media News. Kaitlyn’s piece, “Increased female representation needed in government,” was based on the research she conducted for her senior assembly. In it, she discusses the Theory of Critical Mass — the idea that the impact of a group is not fully realized until they grow from a “few token individuals into a considerable minority.” Twenty percent, she says, is often the magic number. “That’s when things begin to change. Women begin to exert more influence, and their needs are taken more seriously by the majority.” The Senate reached critical mass in 2012. With women leading half of the committees, they produced 75 percent of the major legislation that passed the Senate, Kaitlyn cites. The House has never reached critical mass. “For the women around me, I simply ask this: Let your voices be heard. Be confident in your ability to lead. Take the risk. Get involved. When elections come around, don’t hesitate to run for that leadership position. Increased female representation across all levels of our government creates a better atmosphere for us all. With more women at the table, who knows how truly great we can become,” Kaitlyn writes.
BIRD’S EYE VIEW Wendy L. Hill @DrWendyHill Jun 23 •
Great finish to #GlobalGirlsEd Forum w/ @BillieJeanKing – So honored to ask her questions and offer to teach her about the brain! Maybe at #AISleads
Agnes Irwin School @AgnesIrwin Jul 11 •
Congratulations to Maria Pansini ’18 for being named the 2018 Daily Times Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year! read the article on @PaPrepLive: bit.ly/MariaPansini #GoOwls
Kimberly Walker @walker_kimberly Feb 15 •
You’re looking at the 1st ever @AgnesIrwin team to complete a robotics challenge for the @WonderWorkshop Wonder League Robotics Competition! #AISLeads #GirlsInSTEM #coding
READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON mainlinemedianews.com.
Donna S. Lindner @dslindner Apr 26 •
A day in the life of @AgnesIrwin Lower School: #1 Dr. Hill teaches the kindergarten about chicks!
There’s never a dull moment at Agnes Irwin. See more of what we’ve been up to this year by following us on Instagram at @AgnesIrwinSchool. VIEW ONLINE
instagram.com/ agnesirwinschool
AIS CAG @CAG_Director May 18 •
RESEARCH 2 PRACTICE: The 11th grade English personal interest project is one of the most powerful examples of girl-centered pedagogy. The personal connection to the topic makes it, as one girl told me, “the best project I have ever worked on.” #AISLeads
READ MORE
facebook.com/ AgnesIrwinSchool
FIND MORE TWEETS LIKE THESE ON TWITTER @AgnesIrwin,
twitter.com/AgnesIrwin
@CAG_Director, @AISowls, and @DrWendyHill
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Big Picture ART
A Portrait of the Artist Each year, our first grade students study the art of self-portraiture with Ms. Siembora: drawing themselves in pencil with the aid of a mirror, then moving on to colored pencils and other media. On a trip to the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, they examine famous portraits, inspect their frames, and learn about the idea of telling a story with their work. When they return to school, they paint their own self-portraits in vibrant colors, name them, and house their masterpieces in cardboard frames spray-painted gold — complete with alphabet pasta name tags.
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AGNES IRWIN MAGAZINE
SUMMER 2018
AMANDA MAHNKE
SUMMER 2018
AGNESIRWIN.ORG
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A JOLLY HOLIDAY WITH MARY
KAREN MOSIMANN LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHY
Jane (Annalee Stuardi-Drumm ’23) and Michael Banks (KK Lerch ’23) learn just how magical a walk in the park can be after talking to a statue that comes to life (Tess Cosgrave ’23), in Mary Poppins.
Summer 2018
Digest LOWER SCHOOL
| MIDDLE SCHOOL
| UPPER SCHOOL
MILESTONES
Agnes Irwin Prepares for 150th Anniversary The Agnes Irwin School will celebrate its sesquicentennial anniversary in the 2019-2020 school year, recognizing 150 years of girls learning, leading, and living a legacy. We’re excited for the entire Agnes Irwin community to celebrate this historic milestone together, through events, speakers, and exhibitions scheduled throughout the 2019-2020 year. A number of celebrations will be held at and near the school, as well as in partnership with alumnae around the country — and they will be bookended by two major events: kicking off with Founder’s Day on September 22, 2019, and ending with the 150th Gala during Reunion Weekend on May 2, 2020. “Founder’s Day will be an especially meaningful day, as it will mark the exact anniversary of the first day of school at Agnes Irwin in 1869,” said Ginny Sharp Williams ’88. “Having students present at what is sure to be a prestigious celebration will be a magical way for all of us to witness the 150 year-old dream of Miss Irwin and how that dream continues to live on in the lives of thousands of girls and women to this day.” Williams is a co-chair — with Pat McPherson ’53, Neveen Mahmoud ’07, and Andi Lucas Schmerin ’07 — of the School’s 150th Anniversary Celebration Steering Committee. The chairs, along with 150th Honorary Co-Chairs Laura Thomas Buck ’49 and Anne Fritchman Hamilton ’74, and a dedicated group of faculty, alumnae, and parent volunteers,
are responsible for planning the upcoming festivities. “We want to be sure to honor the traditions of the School while creating events and celebrations in which everyone connected to Agnes Irwin now and in the past can be a part,” said Williams. Want to get involved? Even if you don’t live locally, we are looking for alumnae to help us plan our regional events. If you are interested in working on any aspect of the 150th Anniversary Celebration, please contact Neveen Mahmoud ’07 at nmahmoud@agnesirwin.org.
“I believe Agnes Irwin herself would be very gratified — and perhaps even somewhat amazed — if she could see now how her School has grown, developed, and matured over these many years while maintaining its central commitment to preparing girls and young women, both intellectually and personally, to live a life of consequence.” PAT MCPHERSON ’53, CO-CHAIR, 150TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION STEERING COMMITTEE
CAN’T WAIT TO CELEBRATE? STAY TUNED! THE FULL SCHEDULE OF ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION EVENTS WILL BE RELEASED IN EARLY 2019. SUMMER 2018 AGNESIRWIN.ORG
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Digest | LOWER SCHOOL
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Number of toiletry bags Lower Schoolers compiled for children living at Rowan Homes, a Project HOME housing residence, during Dolly Gaul Day of Service. They also assembled 72 PB&J lunches, created activity boxes for kids at CHOP, learned about water scarcity on an H2O for Life “Water Walk,” planted flowers, and more!
TRADITIONS
May Fair A cloudy day didn’t dampen our spirits at Agnes Irwin’s 76th annual May Fair! Our Lower School students worked hard on their dances and maypole weaving, and performed them for parents, grandparents, fellow students, and special friends on May 18.
LANGUAGE ARTS
Contraction Extraction
To help make their study of contractions more tangible, our second grade “doctors” performed “contraction surgery” in April, operating on words like “could not” to remove letters and bandaging them together to make contractions. We COULDN’T be prouder of our young surgeons!
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you + are you re
LOWER SCHOOL | Digest
RETIREMENT
Dr. Elizabeth “Biz” Sands ’71 Retires
Assistant Director of Lower School for Student Support Dr. Elizabeth “Biz” Sands is a member of Agnes Irwin’s Class of 1971 — and has doubled her tenure at AIS since graduating. Biz has worked in the field of education for more than 40 years, including more than 30 in Agnes Irwin’s Lower School. She served as Lower School librarian for five years beginning in 1976, and returned to AIS in 1993. In the past two and a half decades, she has served in many roles: second grade teacher, Reading Specialist, Assistant Director of the Lower School for Student Support, and proud mother to Tyler Kane Kennedy, Class of 2001. This year, Biz retired after more than 30 years of service to The Agnes Irwin School. In 2016, Dr. Sands was awarded the M. Penney Moss Alumnae Award, joining a league of distinguished past recipients that includes her mother, former Head of School Adele Griffin M. Sands ’37, and sister, Dr. Priscilla G. Sands ’65. The award is presented to an individual whose commitment to and efforts in the area of education reflect the passion and spirit which Miss Moss devotedly exhibited during her years at Agnes Irwin. “While her qualifications and expertise are outstanding, it is her warmth and compassion that have endeared Biz to decades of AIS students,” Ann Laupheimer Sonnenfeld ’77 remarked at the award presentation. Reflecting on her tenure earlier this year, Biz wrote, “I hope that I have, in some small way, inspired and encouraged all girls to challenge themselves and to never stop growing and learning.” Biz, we thank you for your years of dedication to The Agnes Irwin School and for the daily passion you have exhibited in educating the next generation of AIS girls.
SET DESIGN
Way to Goat!
With the help of their teachers, PreK students helped build the set for their performance of Three Nanny Goats Gruff — sawing, drilling, and working on the “masonry” for the bridge. Our youngest learners also designed the costumes and memorized songs and dialogue for the April 13 performance — their first on Agnes Irwin’s main stage!
COLLABORATION
Simple Machines
This spring, our second graders teamed up with students from The Haverford School for a science challenge: move a LEGO person into a container using a compound machine! After learning about simple machines in science class, the boys and girls worked on portions of the project at their own schools before meeting up to combine their machines, test them, and present them to the class.
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Digest | MIDDLE SCHOOL
THEATER STEM
AIS Architect Teaches 8th Graders Wolf Arendt, one of the architects who helped design and build Agnes Irwin’s LEED-certified building containing the Student Life Center and gymnasium, came back to campus on May 2 to speak to eighth graders about sustainable architecture. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the most widely-used green building rating system in the world. In preparation for eighth graders’ sustainable building project in science class, Wolf explained what the work of architects encompasses, and the thought process behind designing a building that meets LEED certification requirements.
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We’re Digging It On May 8, our fifth grade class brought us back in time to five ancient civilizations with their performance of Dig It! A Musical Tale of Ancient Civilizations. Our students sang, danced, acted, and created beautiful sets and costumes to bring the ancient worlds of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Asia, Greece, and Rome to life.
ECOLOGY
I Spy Our eighth grade ecologists spent several classes outside this spring, hunting for macroinvertebrates in Kirk’s Run (our campus stream), and Ithan Creek.
SCIENCE
Strawberry Science
Mr. Christiansen’s Upper School Honors Biology class teamed up with Mrs. Cooper’s 7th graders for an impromptu lab on February 14, just as both classes were about to begin their respective units on DNA. The classes worked together to extract DNA from strawberries. Strawberries are easy to pulverize and have enzymes that help break down cell walls — and since they have eight copies of each chromosome, they yield more DNA than any other type of fruit, making them the perfect fruit to easily isolate DNA in an extraction lab.
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MIDDLE SCHOOL | Digest
HISTORY
HISTORY
Medieval Times
Hooked on History
In April, sixth grade students, parents, faculty, and friends were transported back to medieval times complete with singing, dancing, jesters, “lute-uleles,” and recorders for our annual Medieval Night. This evening is a highlight of the sixth grade AIS experience, and is the culmination of interdisciplinary work on the study of the medieval era — involving history, music, drama, visual arts, and English. Our students created illuminated letters and family crests, costumes for the Medieval Night dances and musical performances, and a feast for the attendees of our Medieval Night festivities.
In February, Ms. Fry’s fifth grade history students examined 10 touchable artifacts on loan from the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology’s Ancient Egyptian collection. Students chose one piece to study in greater detail — sketching, making detailed observations, making inferences about what its purpose was, posing questions, and making connections to modern items. Among the items: a brain hook used during mummification!
LATIN
A Window Into Ancient Rome In preparation for the National Latin Exam, Mrs. Slininger’s seventh grade Latin students created a Roman domus to further engage with Roman life, culture, and history. Each room of the domus, or house, provides a little window into the life of a Roman citizen in Pompeii around the first century BCE. Students learned about history and excavation of Pompeii, and prepared a Latin word list for the objects and people related to the rooms each team created.
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Digest | UPPER SCHOOL
SCIENCE
College-Level Chemistry In March, students in Chemistry II Honors: Organic Chemistry visited Villanova University to complete a lab on dehydration of an alcohol with organic chemistry professor Dr. Robert Giuliano. The trip was part of the ongoing partnership between AIS and the Chemistry Department of Villanova. This is the second year that Dr. Giuliano has hosted our girls, and the labs that we’ve done with him are the same labs conducted by the Villanova students — giving AIS girls the opportunity to work with the same kinds of chemicals and equipment that they will see in college. Dr. Giuliano is also a community partner for our Independent Science Research program, where some of our students can conduct novel organic chemistry research with him over the summer.
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SPECIAL STUDIES PROGRAM
AIS in the World Our upper schoolers are on the move! In March, a group of students traveled to Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where they learned about Lakota culture and history for their Special Studies Program, while another SSP group headed to Chongqing, China, where they visited exchange students we hosted in February, attended school, and visited Beijing and Shanghai. In late May, SSP groups embarked on cultural tours of France and Costa Rica, learned about life in a remote Alaskan village, and built homes with Habitat for Humanity in Texas — while others spent time in concentrated projects closer to home in SSPs like Math for Social Justice, Creative Writing, Shark Tank, Wearable Technology, and Design & Build. And this summer, one SSP group visited the SEGA Girls School in Tanzania, while others took on exchange programs in Ecuador and Australia.
ALUMNAE
Learning Over Lunch
Krysta Shivick ’99, a member of the Agnes Irwin Alumnae Board, returned to AIS in March to discuss her career in brand marketing with upper schoolers as part of the Alumnae Lunch Series. Krysta spoke about her time at AIS and the winding path she took to her position as Associate Marketing Manager at Campbell. The girls were excited to hear about (and sample) some of the products that Krysta has launched, and give feedback on some new products Krysta is working on.
AGNES IRWIN MAGAZINE
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UPPER SCHOOL | Digest
LEADERSHIP
Students Teaching Teachers
AIS faculty and staff were treated to a presentation and hands-on activity led by the student delegates who attended last fall’s Student Diversity Leadership Conference, in California — a multiracial, multicultural gathering of upper school student leaders from across the U.S. At an all-staff meeting in April, Asiyah Ball ’20, Korrin Carter ’19, Scarlett Deng ’20, Leann Luong ’20, Nia McCune ’19, and Sarah Yoh ’19, shared personal reflections and insights from the conference and facilitated a thought-provoking, hands-on activity to promote meaningful conversations with our faculty and staff around diversity, equity, and identity.
DANCE
A Night at the Movies
Number of upper schoolers on “Femme Tech Fatale,” Agnes Irwin’s robotics team (FIRST Robotics Team #709). Femme Tech Fatale is one of only four all-girl teams in our tri-state district of 123 teams, and are often the only all-female team at competitions. The team had a great showing at their last event of the year, the Long Island Regional Competition at Hofstra University. The team increased their final standing from 19th out of 30 at the first competition to 14th out of 35 at the second. They were the only all-girl robotics team at either event. In addition, the girls won the Imagery Award, celebrating attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration of machine and team appearance.
Our upper schoolers wowed during March’s Dance Motion performance, featuring dances inspired by movies like Singing in the Rain and Moulin Rouge!
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Inquiry
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Faculty Focus
Questions with Donna Lindner
On most mornings at 7:45 a.m., Lower School Director Donna Lindner is outside the Owl Lobby, greeting students by name as they step out of cars and buses, backpacks in tow, and into the Lower School. “I know sometimes people feel sorry for me out there early in the morning, especially if it’s raining — but the truth is that I love being able to lay eyes on almost every single child and check in with them before they start their day,” Donna says. A strategic and empathetic leader, Donna has overseen a number of changes in her 11 years as Lower School Director — including the addition of daily Spanish instruction from PreK to Grade 4, the implementation of our Living Leadership in the Lower School program, the development of an individualized student support team, and the creation of the iWonder Lab — to name just a few. Q: Tell us about your career path. A: I graduated with a degree in early childhood education and began teaching third grade in
Howard County, MD. After moving to Pennsylvania and receiving my master’s in reading from The University of Pennsylvania, I became a reading specialist at The Haverford School. That eventually led to my becoming the assistant head of Lower School there, in a role that allowed me to support adults and children. I transitioned to Agnes Irwin because I was intrigued and excited by the possibility of applying what I had learned at Haverford to create a culture of excellent teaching and rigorous learning, in an inclusive community, on behalf of girls.
Q: Why did you pick elementary administration specifically? A: So many reasons! One is that over time as an elementary educator, I have noticed that many
adults give young children much less credit than they deserve. Little people are wise, curious risk-takers, who, when provided a developmentally-appropriate context, are able to deeply understand and empathize around challenging topics with which we adults often struggle. I wanted to support teachers and parents in having those conversations with younger children, like the conversations about identity that we had in the Lower School this year, so that they can grow up to make the world better than we have.
Q: What is a typical day like for you? A: About the only consistent part of my day is carline. From there, anything could happen:
following up with a little person who seems not quite herself; talking to a parent about next year’s class placement or an issue at home; visiting classrooms; observing teachers; meeting with a student who has made an appointment to see me about an idea she has, or a problem she wants my help solving; meeting with teachers to discuss curriculum, plan for upcoming events, or check in about certain students; or meeting with the Program Team (the other two division heads, Assistant Head of School, and me) to discuss a “30,000 foot level” topic that impacts all three divisions.
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Q: Your daughter (Sophia Lindner ’16) went here — why did you decide that AIS was the best school for her?
A: We had planned to wait until middle school to send our daughter to an all-girls school. When my husband and I started to see her respond negatively to gender bias in her co-ed classroom as early as first grade, we began to rethink our decision. It took us until she was in third grade to begin looking for an environment that would challenge and encourage her to be the amazing young woman she is today, but I am so grateful that we figured out sooner rather than later the importance and impact of a single-sex education at the youngest of ages for girls. As a result of coming to Agnes Irwin, my daughter knows who she is, knows her potential, and uses the power of her voice to make a difference in her life and the lives of others.
Q: What’s one big way the Lower School has changed in the past 11 years?
A: The entire culture of the Lower School community has
changed as a result of the Center for the Advancement of Girls’ work with our faculty and students, one outcome of which is our Leadership Toolkit© and Living Leadership in the Lower School program. I don’t like referring to it as a program, because it is so much more than that: It is a way of being, an attitude about leadership identity that informs everything that happens in the building. Thinking about young girls through the lens of leadership identity is critical, because in their daily experiences outside of school, they are often not hearing the message that they have the capacity to be strong leaders. In the Lower School, we teach girls that every one of them has the potential to be a great leader, but it depends on the choices they make. I believe our talking about leadership, teaching about traits of good leaders, referring to leadership in every context, and reflecting with girls on their own actions and choices as leaders — not potential leaders — informs how our students see themselves and internalize that identity at a young age in a way that will impact how they move through the world when they are adults.
Q: Where would you like to see the Lower School in the next 3-5 years?
A: My goal in the next 3-5 years is for everyone to know
what we already know: that Agnes Irwin’s Lower School is the premier elementary school and the best learning environment for empowering girls. We have a nationally known and copyrighted leadership program; we have a social-emotional learning program that is viewed as an example of excellence by other schools in the area; and we have a strong STEM program that promotes inquiry for young girls. I have every confidence that if we continue the masterful work of educating and empowering girls that our institution is known for, we’ll reach this goal.
“Little people are wise, curious risk-takers, who, when provided a developmentallyappropriate context, are able to deeply understand and empathize around challenging topics with which we adults often struggle.�
AMANDA MAHNKE
Donna Lindner, Lower School Director
Limelight
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Student Profiles
Evie CLASS OF 2026
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vie ’26 is only 10, but she’s already an accomplished singer-songwriter and guitar player — who’s written more than 30 songs since third grade. “I like writing down what I’m thinking. I usually put my feelings into songs,” Evie explained. One topic that got her thinking last year was how people treat each other and the planet, so she decided “to write a song about how we can all help the world,” she said. Her song, “Oh, I Was Thinking,” won last year’s Meridee Winters Songwriting Competition. Evie is doing her best to help the world herself. Over the past six years, she has raised more than $300,000 for type 1 diabetes research through her JDRF Walk team, Evie’s Hope. It’s one of the highest-grossing Walk teams in Philadelphia. Since then, she has been a strong advocate for diabetes research. Just this March, she met with the offices of Senator Toomey and Senator Casey in Washington, D.C. to thank them on behalf of JDRF for funding the Special Diabetes Program, which will provide $300 million for type 1 diabetes research over the next two years. Evie was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 4, right before she started PreK at AIS. She was happy to find a friend in an older AIS girl who is also diabetic, who Evie says she really looks up to. Evie paid it forward, and since second grade, has helped mentor other young girls who are newly diagnosed, through demonstrating how she manages the disease, and encouraging them. “I tell them that diabetes hasn’t stopped me, and it’ll never stop them either.” When she’s not speaking to Congress or writing award-winning songs, Evie enjoys surfing; playing basketball, soccer, and lacrosse; penning stories; baking; and hanging out with her rescue dog, Rufus. She’s also learning ukulele. And this summer, she started playing her guitar at a local coffee shop. At school, Evie loves learning new things, making art, and writing. She plans on becoming a professional singer-songwriter — or maybe an interior designer. Or an author. Or a journalist — it’s a little up in the air. Evie has been surfing since she was 4, and spends a lot of her summer down at the beach — so professional surfer Bethany Hamilton was a natural choice for her Women in Wax subject this year. Hamilton, who lost her left arm in a 2003 shark attack, returned to surfing a month later. Evie says she admires her resilience and bravery. In fact, Evie says, she’d been set on portraying Hamilton since kindergarten. “I thought we had some similar qualities,” Evie explained. “Bethany lost her arm in a shark attack, and I have diabetes. We both have a disability, but we keep doing what we love anyway.”
Meredith CLASS OF 2022
AMANDA MAHNKE
H
istorically, Meredith ’22 has not been the type of person to get excited about giving a speech in front of a crowd of people. Or to run for student government. Yet, last September, there she was: at the year’s first all-school assembly, standing at a podium, in front of more than 600 people, welcoming her peers back to school — as their Middle School Student Council President. A self-described theater nerd (just ask her how many times she’s seen Hamilton: The Musical), Meredith has a “buoyant personality” — as one teacher put it — and a great sense of humor. Her speech at the opening assembly, which highlighted a few of the ways she’s grown and matured since Lower School, had the audience in stitches. Meredith has been at Agnes Irwin since kindergarten, but feels like she’s really come into her own in middle school, and especially this past year. She’s not sure exactly why that is, but she thinks serving on Student Council might be part of it. She’s enjoyed getting to know her fellow councilmembers, and representing the middle school at leadership conferences and in discussions with Agnes Irwin faculty and administration. “I’m not sure exactly what made me decide to put myself forward for Student Council president — but part of me just knew that was what I wanted to do,” Meredith recalled. Theater, on the other hand, is one of Meredith’s lifelong passions — since her humble beginnings as “Happy Fisherman #2” in Little Mermaid Jr. at Wolf Performing Arts Center, when she was very young. “I didn’t do much at all,” she laughed. “I was only in one number, and I was off to the side. But I was the most energetic fisherman you’ve ever seen. I didn’t know how to use a fishing rod — but that didn’t stop me.” She’s been at it steadily since then, and this year starred in the Middle School’s production of Mary Poppins as Bert. She recalls waiting for the cast list to come out, and being overjoyed to see her name. “The whole show was an amazing experience,” Meredith said. She’s looking forward to taking Theater I this coming year as a ninth grader, and really appreciates that she’ll be able to delve deeper with classes like The Actor: Live and Digital, Production Direction, and Musical Theatre History and Performance, as a junior and senior. “Something that’s unique about Agnes Irwin is the ability to choose your own path,” she said. “I’m really excited to do that in Upper School.” As the year came to a close, Meredith had to give a speech to a large audience once again. She used her experience in performance arts and creative writing to share her thoughts on the upcoming transition to Upper School in her speech at 8th Grade Graduation. “It’s hard to explain, but do you ever have that sort of half-nostalgia sensation, when you’re in a familiar place, but not a familiar situation? Like when you’re in the squash courts, except it’s 8 p.m.? You know that usually you’re supposed to be there, but you most definitely shouldn’t be there at that moment? It’s just disorienting,” Meredith said. “With all of the hype surrounding graduation … I think some of us might have forgotten that the ‘end of an era’ is just the start of a new one.” And even if you’re feeling disoriented, “It doesn’t mean that you’re not where you’re supposed to be, right here, right now.” As for Meredith herself, she says, “I just feel like this is the place I want to be.”
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Cecilia “CC” CLASS OF 2019
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AMANDA MAHNKE
W
hen Cecilia “CC” ’19 was looking at high schools, it was her dad who first suggested Agnes Irwin. “I said ‘no way!’” CC laughed. “I was really nervous about the idea of an all-girls school — all that concentrated estrogen.” Her concerns disappeared as soon as she visited campus. “I totally fell in love with AIS. The students I met loved the school, and I could tell even from my visit that the teachers really wanted kids to learn, in a way I hadn’t experienced before.” And that concentrated estrogen? “What it’s really been is concentrated girl power. I’ve never felt more backed up and supported by every person I know.” CC has only been at Agnes Irwin since ninth grade, but you wouldn’t know it. She’s a varsity lacrosse player (who, as a sophomore, was recruited to play Division I lacrosse at Colgate University), a head tour guide, a Lower School PAL mentor, and the Multicultural Board representative for her class — not to mention, a member of the crosscountry team, World Affairs Club, the Fellowship of Christians in Universities and Schools, and Athletes Helping Athletes, which connects local special needs athletes with AIS girls through local sporting events. Her commitment to community service extends beyond AIS. One example: turning a family trip to the Philippines into an opportunity to support female lacrosse players, once she discovered the disparity in attention paid to the University of Makati’s women’s team. She collected donated lacrosse sticks, brought them to Manila, and led a women’s skills and drills clinic for the team. “I wanted to turn it into something more than just a vacation,” she explained. She credits AIS with increasing her commitment to global citizenship and female empowerment — and opening her eyes to new interests. “Probably the most transformative thing AIS has done for me has been my experience with math,” she said. “Before I came to AIS I was all humanities — I hated math. I thought math was memorizing equations. Now, I realize it’s actually real life. I’ll look at something and say, ‘I can calc that out; I can figure out how fast that’s going.’ It’s really cool.” Now, STEM is a major interest, to the point that she’s considering double majoring in math and religious studies (an interest piqued by another AIS class, Modern World History). Her teachers have been a big part of making that happen. “I have had the best math teachers here. They always made time to meet with me, and always wanted to know how I was doing.” In fact, CC says, the student-teacher relationships are one of the best aspects of AIS. “I love that my teachers want to talk to me, and they care about me as a person, not just as a student.” CC says she was concerned about such a rigorous academic environment being cut-throat, but quickly realized that Agnes Irwin is full of girls who want to lift each other up. “Everyone wants to help each other improve. It’s actually, ‘Please, let me share my study guide with you; let me help you.’ A friend made a Jeopardy! game in Powerpoint to help me study for my Honors Biology exam; that was amazing.” That’s the other best part of Agnes Irwin, CC said. “I’ve made the closest friendships I’ve had in my life, even though I only met these girls a few years ago.”
The Bags of Joy Company CLASS OF 2030
O
AMANDA MAHNKE
ne day this March, nine kindergarteners donned bright yellow shirts, and set off on a mission: Traveling from classroom to classroom, they called out in unison, “Hi! We’re the Bags of Joy Company! We’re here to spread some joy!” The team, made of students in Melanie Slezak’s kindergarten class, were inspired to spread joy in the Lower School after reading Be a Friend by Salina Yoon, in which friendship and kindness are expressed without words. “After the girls decided to create something for everyone in the Lower School, they asked me to write down their ideas so they could see what they needed,” Slezak explained. “They named the project ‘Bags of Joy,’ then signed the list I had made on the chart to show that they were making a commitment to work together on this project.” The girls settled on the idea of making clay hearts, at which point, “their solution-seeking skills emerged,” Slezak said. “They knew they needed help getting the right kind of clay, and their experience in the art room led them to know they needed to use the kiln, too.” They enlisted the help of Lower School art teacher Trish Siembora to shape, decorate, and glaze clay hearts, and make custom t-shirts to represent the new “company” they created. The girls packaged each heart in a bag with a positive affirmation (such as “Your heart is kind and good”) and delivered their creations — 247 in all — to Lower School students, teachers, and staff. The project allowed the girls to take ownership of their ideas, engage in conversations, work collaboratively, and connect deeply to their learning. “It was one of the most memorable and meaningful experiences that I’ve ever had with my girls,” Slezak said. But at its core, perhaps Leah ’30 said it best: “Giving everyone the Bags of Joy made them feel happy, and me too.”
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Visual & Performing Arts
MUSIC
| THEATER | STUDIO
Joy in the journey
One evening each spring, Agnes Irwin celebrates its graduating visual and performing arts students at the Senior Showcase. At this annual event, senior artists describe their process, talk about their artistic journey, and present their work on stage in the WestWike Theatre. This year, 18 seniors presented at the April 26 event.
Katelin Hamilton (left) and India Dixon discuss their theater journeys.
Rachel Huang plays a piece on violin at the Senior Showcase.
LUCY BRUMBERGER
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BEL CANTOS Brae Barber Katelin Hamilton Carol Li Leigh Marshall Elizabeth McCarthy Libby Niedland Naomi Paradis Lexi Short
The senior Bel Cantos perform (not pictured: Carol Li).
NAOMI PARADIS
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VISUAL Cassin Parks Carlin Sullivan Kathrina Payton Lucy Brumberger Ana Mashek Naomi Paradis Rose Lawrence Rajaa Wilcox Nina Hovsepian
THEATER India Dixon Katelin Hamilton MUSIC Rachel Huang
ROSE LAWRENCE
NINA HOVSEPIAN
KATHRINA PAYTON
RAJAA WILCOX
ANA MASHEK
CASSIN PARKS
ROSE LAWRENCE
CARLIN SULLIVAN
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Athletics It was a banner year for our varsity teams, with two Inter-Ac championships, as well as gold- and silver-medal finishes at state and national tournaments.
Take a look back at our winter and sp LACROSSE
SQUASH
CREW
INTER-AC CO-CHAMPIONS
INTER-AC CHAMPIONS
PAISAA CHAMPIONS
2ND PLACE, US SQUASH HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP
1ST PLACE, LIGHTWEIGHT DOUBLE AT STOTESBURY CUP REGATTA
The Varsity Lacrosse team finished the 2018 season on a high note, taking home their second consecutive PAISAA Championship on May 24 after a 12-7 win over Episcopal Academy! The team also claimed the title of Inter-Ac Co-Champion earlier in the season after going 11-1 in league play. The PAISAA Championship is the team’s third in four years. And in a season filled with exciting accomplishments for the team, Sydney Wolfington ’18, Maria Pansini ’18, Emily Wills ’19, and Natalie Pansini ’20 reached the 100 career goals mark.
Winter 2018 marked the squash team’s best season on record, with an Inter-Ac title and second place finish in the national championship. Varsity Squash captured the Inter-Ac title on January 23 with a 8-1 win over Penn Charter. The win was the capstone for an undefeated league season in one of the strongest leagues for squash in the country, with 2-3 teams consistently ranked in the top five in the U.S. A week later, they went on to the US Squash High School National Championship, where both the Varsity and JV squads placed higher than ever before. Both teams advanced to the finals of their respective divisions — the Varsity team defeating local rival Baldwin to make it to their first-ever National Championship game, falling to 10-time national champion Greenwich Academy.
Varsity Squash took second place at the national championship, February 4.
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2ND PLACE OVERALL, PSRA MANNY FLICK SERIES FOR SCULLING AIS Crew had an impressive spring. The team finished second overall in the PSRA Manny Flick Series for the Women’s Sculling Trophy, with boats consistently placing in the top three in all categories for the five-race series. During City Championships in early May, the AIS team earned several medals, including a third place finish in novice single, first and second in the JV doubles, and third in the lightweight double. In mid-May, AIS captain Juliana Jaskot ’18 and Anisah Thomas ’19 won the Lightweight Double race at The Stotesbury Cup Regatta, the largest high school regatta in the world. Four boats qualified for Scholastic Nationals (SRAAs), held May 25-26. It was a successful weekend, with three boats making it to the finals and JV and varsity double boats finishing fourth overall, and the JV quad finishing sixth.
Anisah Thomas ’19 and Juliana Jaskot ’18 at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta.
ring seasons. GOLF
After sharing the Inter-Ac title earlier in the season, Varsity Lacrosse beat Episcopal Academy 12-7 to win the PAISAA state championship on May 24.
2ND PLACE, INTER-AC 2ND PLACE, PAISAA After a strong 6-2 regular season match record, golfers Kaitlyn Lees ’18, Meghan Fahey ’18, Maura Boyle ’19, Anne Curran ’19, and Olivia Walsh ’20 qualified for the Inter-Ac Individual Tournament on May 9. The team took 2nd place in the league, and in the individual championship, team co-captain Kaitlyn Lees took 1st place with a two-under par 35 (her second consecutive Inter-Ac win and third overall), and Meghan Fahey placed 2nd with a score of 37. To cap off an exciting year, Varsity Golf finished 2nd in the PAISAA Championships on May 17, with Kaitlyn Lees named the individual PAISAA Champion.
The Varsity Golf team took second place in the Inter-Ac, with Kaitlyn Lees ’18 and Meghan Fahey ’18 taking 1st and 2nd place in the individual championship, respectively.
The Varsity Softball team vs. the “Old-Irwins” (faculty, staff, and coaches). The game ended in a tie!
SWIMMING & DIVING 6TH PLACE, EASTERNS 7 SCHOOL RECORDS BROKEN Swimming and Diving capped off a record-setting year at the 2018 Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships, February 16-17. With a number of strong relay and individual performances, the team placed sixth at Easterns, the top prep school meet in the northeast. The 200 Medley Relay team, composed of Riley Pujadas ’21, Maddie Aguirre ’19, Reilly Brennan ’22, and Myka Thomas ’18, placed fifth overall. Maddie Aguirre placed third in the 200 IM, and the 400 Freestyle Relay team, composed of Emma Boratto ’19, Maddie Aguirre, Riley Pujadas, and Myka Thomas, placed fifth.
Swimmers pose during a break at Easterns. The team broke 7 school records this season.
Varsity Crew on the Schuylkill River.
Varsity Basketball celebrated its seniors on February 9.
Nothing but smiles from the 1600m contingent at the Inter-Ac championships, May 12!
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Center for the Advancement of Girls
WELLNESS
Helping Girls Thrive
Author Rachel Simmons Leads PE and Wellness Retreat An integral part of the work of the Center for the Advancement of Girls is ensuring that girl-centered educational practices are at the forefront of our classrooms. Over the past two years, the Center has organized a number of departmental retreats focused on pedagogy and how best to teach girls. This February, the Center invited girl leadership expert and bestselling author Rachel Simmons to facilitate a Physical Education and Wellness department retreat. Simmons is the author of the bestsellers Odd Girl Out and The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence, as well as the co-founder of Girls Leadership, a national nonprofit that hosts programs aimed at empowering girls to find their voice, and has visited AIS several times to lead workshops with students. Simmons’ most recent book is Enough As She Is: How to Help Girls Move Beyond Impossible Standards 26
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Simmons encouraged AIS retreat participants to serve as “work in progress” models for their students, emphasizing the real power of vulnerability and authenticity.
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of Success to Live Healthy, Happy, and Fulfilling Lives, which sheds light on the ways in which girls navigate their lives and goals, how they compromise, sacrifice, and do whatever it takes to achieve the high standards set before them. More importantly, Simmons shares practical strategies that both educators and parents can use to better support girls. While on campus, Simmons shared with the PE and Wellness Department important insights into the state of girls’ wellness — backed up by case studies and two decades of research — before delving into how her findings could directly impact Agnes Irwin’s Wellness curriculum. Simmons’ research suggests that on the whole, today’s teenage girls are so focused on achieving that they avoid healthy risks, overthink setbacks, and suffer from imposter syndrome, believing they are frauds. She spoke to concerns about how girls are managing, or not, their overall physical, emotional, and mental health in response to the pressures of a high-achieving environment. Simmons encouraged AIS retreat participants to serve as “work in progress” models for their students, emphasizing the real power of vulnerability and authenticity. The retreat served as a springboard for conversations about important topics including balance, role conflict, role overload, and self-care. Moving forward, the PE and Wellness Department is working to strengthen the connections between its curriculum across divisions, as part of Agnes Irwin’s commitment to providing a strong, dynamic curriculum balanced with a consistent focus on personal well-being.
ADVOCACY
CAG Hosts 4th Annual STEM Conference On March 23, the Center hosted Advancing Girls STEMinar: Creating a New STEM Ecosystem. Now in its fourth year, this intimate gathering of professionals across multiple industries came together to discuss the engagement and persistence of girls and women in STEM fields. Keynote speaker Dr. Mary Armstrong of Lafayette College spoke on gender studies and STEM fields, followed by a keynote from Dr. Nilanjana Dasgupta of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who discussed inoculating gender stereotypes and the importance of female mentors in STEM fields. Head of School Dr. Wendy Hill moderated a panel of female leaders in STEM fields, including AIS Mathematics Scholar in Residence Dr. Rhonda Hughes, Tech Girlz Curriculum and Outreach Advocate Alicia Park, and Architectural and Residential Engineer and AIS parent Liz Springer. A D VA N C I N G G I R L S
A D VA N C I N G G I R L S
Friday, March 23, 2018 | 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Creating a New STEM Ecosystem
Ithan Avenue and Conestoga Road | Rosemont, PA 19010 610.526.1667 | cag@agnesirwin.org agnesirwin.org
The Center for the Advancement of Girls
Partnering With Harvard
This spring, Harvard University invited Agnes Irwin to become a leader school in their Making Caring Common campaign. Spearheaded by Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, the Caring Schools #CommonGood campaign challenges school leaders to take significant action in one of several arenas, including deepening students’ care for others and their communities. Agnes Irwin’s designated Making Caring Common Project is the Upper School’s weekly Friday Forums, where students engage in civil discourse on challenging issues, topics, and events in the national landscape over lunch. AIS established the forums to strengthen the fabric of our upper school community — or, one might say — for the #CommonGood.
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Timeline Common Threads For more than eight decades, girls have proudly sported skirts, kilts, tunics, and blazers identifying them as students of The Agnes Irwin School. The AIS uniform has taken on a few different shapes and styles throughout the years, but it remains a “common thread” of the AIS
1948
experience. And beginning this fall, our PreK and kindergarteners will sport a tunic in the same plaid pattern as our upper school kilts — connecting the AIS journey from preschool to senior year.
1973
1933
1940s-1980s
The last year without uniforms
For decades, a square-necked tunic with a collared shirt is worn by middle schoolers.
1933
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1934
1930s-1960s
1969
Uniforms were introduced in 1934. “The blazer and matching skirt initially came in four colors: as one alum describes it, a ‘dreadful’ brown, maroon, blue, and green,” Agnes Irwin’s 125th Anniversary Book states. “Each Agnes Irwin family selected the color they wanted, the two unpopular colors fading to extinction quickly, leaving only blue and green. Eventually, variations of the blue and yellow became the standard.”
The skirt and blazer remain the standard in Upper School — though as fashions change, the skirts grow shorter.
As The Agnes Irwin School turns 100, the whole Lower School begins sporting a uniform for the first time! The tunic comes in several styles, including plaid — though it is eventually phased out.
1975
1947
For decades, girls rotated uniforms as the seasons changed. Both middle and upper schoolers donned light blue tunics for part of their year. 1934 1969
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1973
FALL 2018 1986
MID-1980s Middle School transitions from tunics to kilts and polos, and tunics become unique to Lower School.
1976
EARLY 1970s
PreK begins wearing a uniform for the first time. Along with kindergarteners, they will sport a tunic in the same plaid pattern as the upper school kilts — representing the “common threads” along the AIS journey.
1990
The plaid kilt is introduced in Upper School — and nearly 50 years later, it’s still going strong.
1983
1980
Kindergarteners stop wearing their smock, and begin wearing the same tunic as the rest of Lower School — similar in style to today’s Lower School tunic.
1990
2000
2010
MID-1970s
2015
Kindergarteners begin wearing a uniform: a smock with an AIS monogram on the collar.
The blazer makes a comeback. At the end of her first year as Head of School, Dr. Hill presents the junior class with their blazers at the Coating Ceremony, which has since become an annual tradition.
1983
1987
2017
1990
CLASS OF 2019
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CHARTING heorwnCOURSE e
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GIRLS THRIVE WHEN THEIR CLASSES GIVE THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE CHOICES, TA K E R I S K S, A N D TA C K L E REAL-WORLD PROBLEMS.
HOW DO
girls L E A R N
BEST?
“This is the question we ask ourselves everyday, and the lens with which we shape our entire curriculum,” said Mariandl Hufford, Assistant Head of School, and Director of the Center for the Advancement of Girls. Research sourced from the Center shows that girls are more engaged in learning when it is relevant to their everyday lives — and when classes provide the opportunity for student choice within the curriculum. Agnes Irwin has long employed studentcentered learning approaches, such as project-based learning: take, for example, the Kindergarten Invention Convention, or seventh grade World-Building Week. Through the work of our Center for the Advancement of Girls and in partnership with our esteemed faculty, students in AIS classrooms — at every grade level — are tackling “real world” questions and experiences, while building essential skills like global awareness, civic literacy, creativity, and self-direction. In the following pages, we dive into a few compelling projects from this spring, and efforts we’re taking to continue to foster student-centered learning at Agnes Irwin — a key aspect of our Strategic Plan. Who’s to say you can’t learn just as much about nonfiction while donning safari gear, or discover the principles of Reaganomics by making a video game?
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IT'S A
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To kick off a research project on a specific animal of their choosing, second graders participated in a full-on safari, as Amelia Underwood’s classroom was transformed into a jungle and the girls went on a “text feature hunt” to learn more about how to read nonfiction as they began their research. The girls searched through nonfiction books and cut out different text features they found — headings, bold print, photographs, diagrams, captions, table of contents — then defined each text feature they found, and explained how it helps them to learn as they read. Those skills were put to good use as each student chose a zoo animal, learned how to research and note take, and eventually wrote a research paper on their animal’s appearance, habitat, and diet. The grade then visited Elmwood Park Zoo and The Philadelphia Zoo so the girls could compare their research to the animal’s habitats at the zoo. In art, they created cardboard cutouts of their animal and painted them. They Skyped with a zoologist. And with their teachers, the girls read opinion “The girls articles about zoos, discussed their used what they own opinions, and related what they learned in real saw at each zoo to what they read in the articles. world application, Finally, each girl worked with so they were Director of Technology Integration motivated and Innovation Kim Walker to develop a way to present her to learn.” cumulative research on her selected AMELIA UNDERWOOD, animal and zoos — making videos, SECOND GRADE TEACHER crafting animal toys, and programming robots. One student designed blueprints of zoo habitats that would allow elephants to walk the 60 miles a day that they would walk in the wild. “We wanted this project to reflect a lot of the skills and material that we learn in second grade,” Underwood said. “The wonderful thing is that the girls used what they learned in real world application, so they were motivated to learn — and that knowledge was further cemented because we were constantly building on each new skill.”
HERE
SHAKING UP THE Each year as part of our curriculum, fourth graders research a region of the United States: learning what is unique about it, what ties it together, and working in groups to present their research to peers and parents at the Regions Fair. While the assignment is tweaked every year based on the personalities and interests of the class, this year, fourth grade teachers Julie Haines and Susie Hagin reimagined the Regions Fair project to incorporate more technology and create further opportunity for student voice and choice. Each group created a brochure for their region, and devised a way to present their research in an iMovie — via a mock classroom, a road trip through their region, or anything else they could imagine. They also developed a full interactive experience comprising five stations at the Regions Fair. The girls created a virtual tour of a place in their region, chose an image representative of their region to display on a green screen (complete with props for visitors to utilize), and designed an educational game about their region.
Regions
It’s studentdriven — as all learning should be.” JULIE HAINES, FOURTH GRADE TEACHER
The assignment incorporated design thinking principles, such as empathy, too. Each group chose a “cause” from their region and designed activist buttons bearing phrases like “Save the Red Knots!” for visitors to take with them. Students also created a tool that would be useful for people in their region. One group thought up a robot that contained care packages for the homeless; another noticed that there was a lot of graffiti in national parks, and designed a vehicle with a spray bottle to dissolve graffiti and an alarm to call the police. “It doesn’t have to work, but it has to have the idea of something that could work,” Haines explained. Altogether, there were 40 different aspects of the fair to explore, in digestible segments suited for the girls’ younger Lower School peers. “One of the things I love about AIS is that Susie and I can reevaluate and tweak this project every year — and we do,” Haines said. “We think about how technology can be used; what opportunities will help these students to learn more effectively. It’s studentdriven — as all learning should be.”
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THROUGH THE
Decades
Eighth graders have typically spent the last month of U.S. History class learning about the 20th century through a series of lectures. This year, teachers Corey Willingham and Ann Ramsey opted to condense the lectures to just 1900-1945, and introduce a new project: allowing students to choose a topic about post-1945 America to study in-depth. “The students were tasked with the overall question: How is America different after 1945?” explained Willingham. “We asked them to choose a decade, and then within that decade, to find a topic that interested them to “We asked them research further.” The topics the girls chose ranged to choose a from the advent of the automobile, to decade, and then the anti-war movement, the Stonewall within that riots, Woodstock, the Iran Hostage Crisis, AIDS, 9/11, and hip hop. They decade, to find researched their topic of choice through a topic that secondary sources, reliable web sources, interested them and databases. “ We told them to continue to research until they formed to research a question about their topic that sought further.” to answer the larger question of how COREY WILLINGHAM, America changed in the second half of HISTORY TEACHER the 20th century,” Ramsey explained. Each student developed a new, more specific research question. How did Nixon’s involvement in the Vietnam War and his idea of “Vietnamization” lead to anti-war protests in America? How did Woodstock reflect the changing culture of America in the 1960s? How did the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement ultimately lead to the emergence of hip hop in the 1970s? The girls were introduced to about a dozen fabrication and digital tools in the STEAM Studio, and tasked with producing a tangible, interactive, physical representation of their research. The result? A living timeline for people to walk through each decade of the second half of the 20th century and figure out how the United States changed after 1945. The interactive features included audio recordings chronicling the Watergate scandal, a wooden U.S. map that lit up to show the distribution of DACA applicants, and a video game about Reaganomics. “We believe that this is a true capstone project for the 8th grade U.S. history course, combining the girls’ growing research skills with their increased interest and awareness of the importance of history in understanding the present,” Ramsey said.
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BUILDING
"Sustainaville "
Using ArcKits, 3D printing, and laser cutters, eighth graders built model structures in science class to populate a town in the Philadelphia suburbs, dubbed “Sustainaville.” “The girls have a lot of freedom in how their town is going look, feel, and operate,” teacher James Miller said. “But, they need to present and discuss all their options in sustainable technology, methods, and behaviors. They then need to agree upon which they are going to use and where to compromise.”
“The girls have a lot of freedom in how their town is going to look, feel, and operate.” JAMES MILLER, SCIENCE TEACHER
Each group was responsible for building a different structure — and for researching and teaching each other about different aspects of sustainability and conservation during once a week “Town Hall” meetings over the course of the project. “There are huge ‘real world’ applications for this project,” Miller said. “The girls looked into sustainability at AIS and had to research a real company to determine the company’s sustainability efforts. A lot of the technology and methods are things that they might use someday, too.”
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REIMAGINED
Curriculum
This past year saw the realization of our reimagined Upper School curriculum, designed to provide more opportunities for students to curate their own learning, delve deep into subjects of interest, and discover new passions along the way. And especially in senior-level classes, independent projects and a rigorous course of study help prepare girls for what they’ll encounter in college. In science, new classes like Astrophysics, Electricity and Magnetism, Anatomy and Physiology, Neuropsychology, Emerging Infectious Diseases, and Organic Chemistry replaced AP courses — giving students the opportunity to take classes that are just as rigorous, but provide deeper knowledge of a specific subject area. “AP is often a mile wide and inch deep,” explained Science Department Chair Rosann Westmeyer. Over the years, Westmeyer said, many science teachers have seen student interests piqued by a topic in the AP curriculum, or a relevant current
“In creating these opportunities for girls to take risks and try new things, we’re helping them to stay curious – and unearth new interests.” JENNIFER FIORINI ’97, UPPER SCHOOL DIRECTOR
event — but were unable to pause to discuss it within the pressure of the rigid AP schedule. As the department considered redesigning their course of study, “We wanted to be able to have more in-depth conversations with our students about the topics that excite them,” Westmeyer said. “With electives, we can effectively halt what we’re doing for part of a class period and talk about how something from other classes ties into our topic. We have more freedom as educators to go deeper, and spend time on topics that are interesting and relevant to the girls.” The courses the Upper School science department ultimately designed were based on the interests of both the faculty and students, with an eye toward preparing students for higher education. Through conversations with AIS alumnae in the sciences and current students, “we assembled a curriculum that better supports our students as they go into college so we could help better prepare them for the careers they’re considering,” Westmeyer said.
This year’s 11th graders in Honors English devoted 20 percent of their class time from December to May to exploring Personal Interest Projects, or PIPs. Students developed a guiding question, and produced final projects ranging from a blog on body image to an original novel, an album of original songs, a documentary on opioid addiction, and a new student initiative focused on kindness and respect.
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One aspect of the revamped curriculum was an effort to provide more vehicles for girls to curate their learning, and to further prepare girls for college and beyond. Maureen Doran of local clothing boutique Skirt is one of many local entrepreneurs this year to visit Sarah Rafferty’s Agency class (pictured at top), which teaches artists about building a business.
The same is true for the electives available to seniors in the English department. Each year, most seniors take two semesterlong courses on a specific genre or topic, and this year saw the introduction of Honors-level senior elective courses. Structured like college-level classes, the courses prepare girls for the topics, analysis, and independent time management that will be expected of them the following year, and typically require fewer, but more in-depth, projects. The expanded offerings were the result of curriculum work the department took on in Winter 2017. Led by English Department Chair Sharon Rudnicki, faculty took a fresh look at the course offerings, brainstorming what classes seniors might like best, and what faculty were most inspired to teach. Brian Baillie did his graduate work in Irish Studies, and was interested in offering an Irish Studies course, for instance; Rudnicki was drawn to modernism; and Jodie Zielinski had a strong background in sociolinguistics. The team also considered other courses students might enjoy, and polled the junior class to gauge their interest in possible topics. The result was a carefully-devised set of courses, including Creative Non-Fiction, Examining the Nobel Prize in Literature, Exploring Mental Illness in Literature, Irish Literature, Contemporary Native American Literature, The New Journalism, Gender Studies, and Sociolinguistics. The latter two were offered both at grade level and as Honors classes with a more rigorous research component and consideration of critical theory. “The new English curriculum is compelling,” said Upper School Director Jennifer Fiorini ’97. “We have the freedom to take a much more interdisciplinary approach, delve more deeply into challenging topics, and further prepare our students for collegelevel courses.”
One of Janet Bartholdson Fry ’06’s goals this year was to give her 11th grade Honors History students choice in their projects: not just in topic, but in format, too. An assignment asking students to highlight a cause of the Civil War resulted in a newspaper designed from both northern and southern perspectives, a video that riffed on the musical Hamilton, and more. “They got more creative than even the ideas I had generated myself,” Fry said. At the end of the year, girls were tasked with creating a research project on any topic they wanted from 1950 on. “We have everything from the bracero program to the House Un-American Activities Committee, to women in Broadway — it’s everything under the sun but they’re invested in it because they get to choose what they’re writing about. If you’re spending six weeks on something, it’s good for it to be something that you’ve chosen and are curious about.”
The same is true throughout Upper School, with offerings including Multivariable Calculus, Printmaking, The Artist as Entrepreneur, African American History, and other opportunities for students to tailor their educational journey. And, it’s effective. One rising senior thought, until sophomore year, that she might become a writer — but after chemistry class sparked an interest in science, she took on Agnes Irwin’s independent science research program, and is now considering a career in engineering. A Class of 2018 grad found a new love for social sciences through Sociolinguistics, and plans to pursue it in college. “In creating these opportunities for girls to take risks and try new things, we’re helping them to stay curious — and unearth new interests,” said Fiorini. “It’s been a game changer.”
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BUILDING A
Business
One class that offered an extended project-based considered keychains, water bottles, and bracelets, learning experience this year was Economics, taught before settling on designing AIS-themed stickers, “Having the by math teacher Jennifer Hahn. In tandem with which they sold to students from Lower School to choice and Hahn’s teaching on economic principles and Upper School, along with specialized stickers philosophy, each of her two classes put their commissioned by the Center for the Advancement of freedom to knowledge into practice as they learned firsthand Girls and the Admissions Department. decide on the what it takes to start and run a business. The other class considered phone accessories and product, price, “As an economics teacher, I wanted the students to a coloring book; ultimately, they landed on creating create, run, and close a business to understand how an AIS-branded water bottle, and donating a dollar and market the economy works within a community,” Hahn said. each water bottle sold to H2O For Life. “That was techniques would for “I knew that having the choice and freedom to decide one thing we knew we wanted to do,” said Brenna interest and on the product, price, and marketing techniques Donahue ’18. would interest and empower my students.” The class — who named their company WAI, the empower my Hawaiian word for water — investigated water bottles In class, the girls learned how to raise startup funds, students.” of various sizes, colors, materials, and price points. brainstormed possible needs in the community, JENNIFER HAHN, After they settled on a base model and designed the different roles within a company, and how to conduct MATH TEACHER bottle, they sold 150 shares at $5 per share to 73 market research. Local entrepreneurs visited class to different investors. The youngest investor? Peyton tell their stories and provide inspiration. Students also Weber ’18’s 8-year-old brother. followed the trajectory of Amazon and explored the company’s Both classes had a real fear that they wouldn’t be able to pay market research, long-term business plan, how the economy back their investors — but ultimately, they turned a profit. influences buying decisions by consumers, expenses — both After taxes and expenses, each WAI stockholder received fixed and variable, packaging, and community involvement. $11.67 in profit on top of their initial $5 investment per share, Armed with all this knowledge, the students took charge. and the students donated $154.97 to H2O for Life. Blue & Gold Each class worked together to conduct market research, Designs also made a profit: stockholders received $12.65 on top design and develop a product, find investors, create and of their initial $5 investment. implement a marketing plan, produce their product, and “I feel like the fact that it was our own idea, our own finally, sell it to consumers. company, kept us accountable,” said Roxy Gretz ’18. “It kept us For both classes, it was a challenge to get everyone to agree motivated to make it work, because it was our names on it.” on what product to sell. One class — Blue & Gold Designs —
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TEACHER
Training
More than 30 of our teachers started their summer break off by heading back to school! Lower, Middle, and Upper School teachers spent three days in a project-based learning training with the Buck Institute for Education, brainstorming new class projects for next year that will effectively engage and challenge our girls.
C U LT I V A T I N G
Collaboration
As Agnes Irwin looks toward creating more opportunities for immersive, student-centered, collaborative, future-focused learning, plans are in the works to restructure the school’s academic schedule across all three divisions. This year, the school embarked on a two-year plan to evaluate and design a schedule that fosters opportunities for high-impact, innovative learning, with an implementation date set for the 2019-2020 school year. The school launched a Schedule Redesign Committee last year, led by Mariandl Hufford and Dr. Patrick Beasom, and engaged design-thinking strategist Dr. Natalie Nixon. Over the past year, a team of 20 teachers and Dr. Nixon have “Our goal is conducted focus groups with students, faculty, and parents and designed schedule prototypes to create that foster opportunities for curiosity, new schedules wellness, and collaboration — including crossthat are divisional collaboration — throughout the school day. This spring, the prototypes were developmentally presented to faculty for feedback, and the appropriate and ideas will be tweaked and finalized this coming keep the girls fall. In Spring 2019, the school hopes to test out the schedule for a few weeks, and further at the center revise it based on student, faculty, and parent of the design.” feedback, with a full launch in Fall 2019. MARIANDL HUFFORD, “Our goal is to create a new schedule (or ASSISTANT HEAD schedules) that are developmentally OF SCHOOL appropriate and keep girls at the center of the design,” Hufford said.
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Commencement JUNE 7, 2018
| CLASS OF 2018
A
active and investigative; and “Teach One” means being insightful and gnes Irwin celebrated the graduation of 73 seniors on June 7, supportive. “Pay attention to the world around you,” she encouraged as the Class of 2018 officially became the newest class of the graduates. “Seek out adventures and fight for what matters. And Agnes Irwin alumnae. please pay it forward to the next generation.” Physician-scientist Christina Mills Astley ’94, MD, Before Astley spoke, student-elected speaker ScD, an attending physician in Endocrinology at “Pay attention to India Dixon ’18 addressed her peers. Boston Children’s Hospital and instructor in “The legacy we have lived at Agnes Irwin is one of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, delivered the the world around working together as a team, facing challenges as a Commencement address. you. Seek out group, and bonding as a class,” India said. “The Christina enrolled at Agnes Irwin in ninth grade. “I adventures and moments when we each won elections, received chose Agnes Irwin so I could be the hungry awards, or succeeded on our own will always be caterpillar,” she recalled. “The entire school was there fight for what to make sure that I could keep eating, observing, and exciting and important, but it is ultimately the matters. And absorbing.” She recounted how her biology and math moments we have shared together that I’ll remember please pay it teachers at AIS made the subjects so engaging, she when I look back on my time at Irwin’s.” couldn’t pick just one to pursue — she studied both “Whether you are going to college 15 miles away or forward to the subjects in college, and found a career that 1500 miles away, take with you the encouragement next generation.” incorporates both. Her work as a pediatric and guidance you have received from your CHRISTINA MILLS endocrinologist involves using mathematical classmates and your teachers,” urged Head of ASTLEY ’94 modeling to understand the biology that has gone School Dr. Wendy Hill. “Remember, for example, awry in human disease. how supportive the entire school was when you Christina offered advice to the graduates patterned gave your senior assembly; take strength from that after a pedagogical model circulated widely in medical schools: “See experience when you give your first presentation at college. You’ve one, do one, teach one.” As she told students, the “See One” phase raised the bar time and again for each other — and time and again, means being observant and absorptive; “Do One” refers to being more you’ve lifted each other up to surpass even our highest expectations.”
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CLASS OF 2018 | Commencement
Congratulations to the Class of 2018!
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Commencement | CLASS OF 2018
The Owls are taking flight to America’s most prestigious colleges and universities
97
%
of the class accepted in early acceptance round
70
%
will attend one of America’s “most/highly competitive” colleges
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NCAA
22
%
are recruited NCAA athletes
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3
6 8 of
Ivy League schools represented
92
%
4
1. The Class of 2018 2. Fifteen seniors were inducted into the Cum Laude Society on April 23. Clockwise from top left: India Dixon, Naomi Paradis, Jenny Liang, Lingdian Kong, Erin Hayes, Brynne Pergolini, Juliana Jaskot, Lily Zelov, Kaitlyn Lees, Anna Flieder, Kayla Neary, Madisen Bowen, Alexis Short, Annie Ulichney, Livia Seibert. 3. Agnes Irwin's "Lifers" gather on Commencement Day. 4. Alumnae mothers celebrate with their new graduates on Commencement Day.
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will attend one of their top college choices
Allyson Brooke Aronsky Emerson College
Katelin Ann Hamilton Fordham University
Brae Elizabeth Barber Loyola Marymount University
Alexandra Clare Hark Boston University
Alexandra Nicole Biddison Lehigh University Madisen Layne Parker Bowen Georgetown University Paige Adyson Brala University of Miami Lucy Rose Brumberger Colby College Kathryn Margaux Chernitsky University of St Andrews Jordan Michelle Lynn Cherry West Chester University
Erin Elizabeth Hayes University of Pennsylvania Angelica Duval Hepburn United States Military Academy – Army Nina Amalia Hovsepian Marist College Ruixu Huang Boston College Madeleine Elisabeth Alexandra Hufford Macalester College India Imani Jackson Howard University Juliana Felicia Jaskot Boston College
Allegra Patricia Cosgrave Franklin & Marshall College
Julia Marie Justi Texas Christian University
Henrietta Margaret Danson Syracuse University
Elliott Trotter Kirkpatrick Trinity College
India Finley Dixon Wesleyan University Brenna Jane Donahue Southern Methodist University Lydia Peck Erdman Middlebury College Meghan Anne Fahey Elon University Lilia Giovanna Ferracci Elon University Anna Elizabeth Flieder Columbia University Madeleine Adams Fuller College of Charleston
Lingdian Kong Princeton University Rose Stewart Lawrence Drexel University Kaitlyn Ann Lees Dartmouth College
Elizabeth Hamilton McCarthy University of Tennessee, Knoxville Lauryn Paige McCray Howard University Meredith Blake Murphy Bucknell University Mary Mackenzie Naylor Drexel University Kayla Angeline Neary Wake Forest University Elizabeth Englander Niedland Pennsylvania State University Kylie Margaret Nolen Wake Forest University
Carol Xiaoyang Li University of California, Los Angeles
Maria Elisa Pansini Princeton University
Jenny Liang Duke University
Naomi Elizabeth Newstadt Paradis Tufts University
Megan Ruth Loughnane University of Virginia Emma Lynn Macaione Dartmouth College
Olivia Marie Grabaskas University of Delaware
Katherine Quinn Mahoney University of Pennsylvania
Roxalana Luckyj Gretz Lehigh University
Leigh Mary Marshall Duke University
Hailey Nicole Haase Southern Methodist University
Ana Mariel Mashek Colorado College
Avery Joan Parker Northeastern University Eleanor Cassin Parks Syracuse University
Ashley Scott Robbins Northeastern University Ashley Marie Helena Robinson University of Pennsylvania Molly Catherine Schmader Bucknell University
Anne Spottswood Batchelder Ulichney Yale University
Livia Anne Seibert Duke University
Grace Elizabeth Weise Washington and Lee University
Alexis Anne Short Johns Hopkins University Brynn Jenkins Smith The George Washington University Rosalind Sheres Sokoll Williams College
Rajaa Sultanah Wilcox Howard University Sydney Theresa Wolfington Pennsylvania State University
Carlin Ann Sullivan Wake Forest University
Madison Yannatelli University of South Florida
Lauren Drew Swartz College of Charleston
Sophie Kay Yass Wake Forest University
Kate Judith Pedersen Queen’s University
Mikaela Jade Thomas Saint Joseph’s University
Lily Grace Zelov Cornell University
Brynne Anne Pergolini Stevens Institute of Technology
Myka Chike Thomas Howard University
Kathrina Waneta Payton Rochester Institute of Technology
Congratulations to our 73 graduates! SUMMER 2018 AGNESIRWIN.ORG
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Reunion
May 4-6, 2018
FROM MAY 4-6, HUNDREDS OF ALUMNAE GATHERED ON CAMPUS TO RECONNECT WITH CLASSMATES, FRIENDS, AND FACULTY. This year’s Reunion Weekend celebrated alumnae who graduated in years ending in a 3 or 8 with a variety of events — including the Head’s Luncheon honoring the Class of 1968, an All-Alumnae Cocktail Party, campus tours, back-to-school classes, and class parties. 1. The Class of 1968 kicks off their 50th Reunion celebration at the Head’s Luncheon at Merion Cricket Club!
2. The Class of 2003 3. The Class of 1978 4. The Class of 2008
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Class of 1968 Spotlight This year, the Class of 1968 won both the Sophy Dallas Irwin Award and the Loving Cup — giving awards that recognize the reunioning class that raises the largest dollar amount for AIS, and the class with the highest participation in giving, respectively. Thanks to their generous support, the class is establishing The Class of 1968 Endowed Memorial Scholarship Fund in honor of their 50th Reunion. The fund will provide tuition assistance to well-rounded, high-achieving students for the 2018-19 academic year and beyond. One classmate stated, “By surrounding herself and immersing herself in the culture of an all girls’ school … [the selected 1968 Scholar] will absorb values, create and achieve goals, and develop integrity that, combined, will empower her” — making an impact in her community and in the world.
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MAY 4-6, 2018 | Reunion
Alumnae Awards Each year, Agnes Irwin recognizes reunioning alumnae who have made exceptional contributions to their communities.
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1. Mary Cannon Mohler ’08, Lauren Mayer ’08, former Middle School Director Diana Gormley, and Jackie Evans ’03 at the All-Alumnae Cocktail Party. 2. The Class of 1993
Katherine B.L. Platt ’68 is this year’s recipient of the Margaretta Anspach Willing Award, given to an alumna who has been outstanding in leadership and civic responsibility or has made a real contribution to the arts and sciences. After graduating from Agnes Irwin in 1968, Karin went on to graduate from Sarah Lawrence College before earning her JD from Villanova Law School. Karin was elected to the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County in November 1997, taking her oath of office in January 1998. Her earliest legal experience, while still in law school, was in public interest law. For 22 years, she maintained a general law practice concentrating in family law, real estate, and commercial lending transactions. As a judge, she initially handled civil and criminal trials and is currently assigned to Family Court and Orphans Court. Priscilla McIlvaine Smartt ’63 (left, pictured with Alumnae Association President Alexandra Fergusson Powell ’00) and Patricia Pitman Franks ’63 (not pictured) were the recipients of this year’s Alumnae Award, presented annually to an alumna or alumnae who have made a significant contribution of service to the school in a volunteer capacity. Since graduating together in 1963, Prill and Patty have both dedicated countless hours in service to their alma mater. They have both served as class representatives and President of the Alumnae Association. Through their leadership roles, volunteering, attending various alumnae events, and rallying classmates to support the school, time and time again, Prill and Patty have demonstrated their loyalty and commitment to Agnes Irwin. Allison Pickens ’03 majored in Ethics, Politics and Economics at Yale University and later earned her MBA from The Stanford Graduate School of Business. Allison is the chief customer officer of Gainsight, a customersuccess software company. She is a frequent speaker and blogger, is an advisor to several companies, and was named one of the “top 50 people in sales and business development” by Tradecraft. Allison is a role model for women in enterprise technology, and is this year’s recipient of the Heather B. Thiermann ’81 Young Alumna Award, presented to an alumna who has made an outstanding contribution through her community interests or her professional or academic pursuits.
3. The Class of 1998
The love we bear for thee is love that hath no end. SUMMER 2018 AGNESIRWIN.ORG
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Reunion | MAY 4-6, 2018
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1. The Class of 2013 2. The Class of 1988 3. The Class of 1983 4. 1963 classmates Emily Wilson Cunningham, Prill McIlvaine Smartt, and Gail Colgan Van Buuren celebrate their 55th Reunion.
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5. Members of the Class of 1983 at the All-Alumnae Cocktail Party Friday evening. From left to right: Cindy Campbell Crochiere, Mary Hundt, Heather Cornwell Gray, Maria Sophocles.
6. The Class of 1973
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Alumnae
| MILESTONES
CLASS NOTES
1939
Virginia Ligget Reinhardt ’39 writes, “I’m 97 and go to Bryn Mawr Hospital twice a week to volunteer. I recently celebrated the arrival of my 13th greatgrandchild!”
1940-49
Jean Bradley Anderson ’42 was honored on March 5 by the City of Durham, NC, with a proclamation of thanks for her teaching, speaking, and writing on local history, particularly her book The History of Durham County, NC. Her son, daughter, and two of her five grandchildren were with her to celebrate. Caroline Casey Brandt ’45 says, “My first great-grandchild, Henry McGehee, was born in November 2017 — a preemie at 2 pounds, 3 ounces. He is now over 14 pounds and doing well. I miss my old friends. My children gave me a wonderful 90th birthday party in March. My son, Stephen McGehee, now an Episcopal priest after 32 years as a banker, is associate rector for pastoral care at his home church, St. Stephen’s in Richmond, VA. Cathryn Wendler Mecaskey ’49 shares that she is alive and well and living in Cleveland.
Summer 2018 | ARCHIVES
1950-59
Katharine Kane Damon ’53 writes, “Life is busy and happy and I am doing a lot of travel in the continental U.S. I am living in Kahala Nui, HI, with many friends. It’s a lot like boarding school but more fun. Enjoying a relationship with my childhood sweetheart, Mouse Coffin. Definitely better late than never! I am spending a lot of time with him in Vero Beach, FL. My children and grandchildren are also happy and doing well — only good times for now. I’m a lucky lady!” Margaret “Margo” Tryon Bennett ’54 says, “The Class of 1954 will have its 65th Reunion next year; it is also the 150th anniversary for the school. Do plan to come and join in the many and varied celebrations during Reunion Weekend, May 3-5, 2019. Most of us here are doing well, although Nancy Hill Lamason went to Miami to meet her daughter for a short vacation, fell, and broke her hip. So one hip replacement and some rehab later, she is now back home and coming along well. Lucy Bell Newlin Sellers’ daughter, Lucy Bell Jarka-Sellers, wrote a political fantasy which I loved reading and laughed at often. It’s titled Meet John Dough,
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1950-59
1. Judith Barnes Luke ’55. 2. Kristine Quammen Bartholomew ’59 in Morocco. 3. Sarah “Sally” Latimer Withers ’57 and husband Bill celebrated their oldest grandchild’s college graduation this summer.
Superhero; you’ll have to read it to understand the play on words. I see Nancy Hill Lamason, Julie Dill Williams, and Susy Brandt; and talk with Mary Lou Cowper LaGrassa and Pauline
Carrigan Charles, although not often enough. I am still working the odd interior design job, playing golf, reading for two book clubs, and active in two garden clubs. Life is good!”
Josephine Chapman Borthwick ’54 has recovered from knee replacement surgery and is playing golf. She is painting and volunteers as a street artist to earn money for
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Alumnae | CLASS NOTES
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1960-69
1. Suzy Pitman O’Kane ’62 and Patty Pitman Franks ’63. 2. Noelle Cooke, granddaughter of Barbara Page ’62, rowing for Brown University. 3. Julie Mannix von Zerneck ’62 visits her grandson Francis von Zerneck III, in Mexico City. 4. 1964 classmates met for lunch in Palm Beach, FL, in February. From left: Barbara Gibbons Beucler, Joan Carlisle, Laura Wheeler Golding, Lynne Fort Reynolds. 5. Selection from library cards illustrated by Barbara Page ’62.
the Mason’s Charities. Her orchid growing hobby has been quite successful and she won several first place prizes and a second prize on her blooming plants. Devereaux Rose Eyler ’55 says “At 80, I feel this is my finest decade. The second edition of my book, No Mama, I Didn’t Die: My Life as a Stolen Baby, is doing well. I travel often for speaking engagements and as a new wife to a military gent.”
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Judith Barnes Luke ’55 writes, “Bill and I have been very fortunate to have one another for many happy years. We have two children and three grandchildren, all of whom live and work in Wilmington, DE. Our time is spent there, as well as Vero Beach, FL. We are active in our communities and have had an opportunity to meet friends in both areas. We enjoy the game of golf, music, bridge, and keeping ourselves as fit as possible.”
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Sally Latimer Withers ’57 and her husband Bill celebrated their oldest grandchild’s college graduation and their 57th wedding anniversary this summer. There is a lot of “Blue Jay Pride,” added to by the fact that Bill earned his MBA from Creighton University 42 years ago! Bill and Sally also have a grandson who just finished his freshman year at the University of Alabama, and a granddaughter entering
her sophomore year at Cornell University this fall. Sally and Bill celebrated their 57-year marriage by taking their whole family on a Disney Danube River Cruise from Budapest, Hungary, to Munich, Germany, in June! Michelle Crowther Headley ’58 writes, “So sorry to have missed our 60th Reunion! If any of you are in South Florida, please get in touch! I would love to see you. My husband
Peter and I are off to Alaska with a group of friends for a two-week cruise. My involvement with animals continues with my dog boarding business: people leave their dogs with me instead of leaving them in a kennel. They follow me around the house and sleep in the bedroom with us, sometimes in our bed. I also do a lot of dog portraits on commission and teach a painting class once a week. Life is busy, life is good!”
CLASS NOTES | Alumnae
Sally Saunders ’58 enjoyed a long visit to Philadelphia in the spring. She saw Dodie Hirst Marshall and had a good time going down memory lane. She has been performing in a one-woman comedy show about her mother, Mirthful Mummy, in San Francisco and got lots of laughs. Catherine Tryon Mick ’59 writes, “Mickey and I are alive and doing very well. Living an easy lifestyle now. Spending many weekends visiting the grandkids at their various sports activities. Our kids are also doing well. John is a detective with the Lower Merion Police Department and is very involved with Narberth Ambulance. He has two kids, Jack and Ryan. Ryan attends Cabrini University and Jack, 14, is at Haverford Township Middle School and is active in ice hockey and lacrosse. His ice hockey team has been a championship team for the last three years. Heather is very active in her job with Wire Card and is on the board of her HOA in her development in Pottstown. She has two children: Henry, 10, and Charlotte, 7. Katie works for State Farm and has five children, one going into his senior year and the other girls are together in elementary school. My husband, Mickey, just had surgery for bone spurs and achilles problems. I am the caretaker and he hops around with the walker. He’s a little slow right now but after six
weeks he should be good to go. My best to all my classmates. Looking forward to our next alumnae gathering.”
1960-69
Barbara Page ’62 says, “My granddaughter, Noelle Cooke, is a freshman at Brown University. She rows on the women’s crew team, carrying on the family rowing tradition. Her father is the head coach of Brown’s men’s crew. Her brother will start at Brown in the fall. I continue to explore the world both in my studio work and in recent travels to Cuba and Holland. Trips to Iceland and Denmark are coming up soon. I’m still biking, rowing, swimming, and keeping my too-extensive gardens in shape. I am working on a book featuring library cards illustrated with my memories of the books they represent. These tiny works of art include numerous books we read during our years at Irwin’s.” Julie Mannix von Zerneck ’62 writes, “I live in NYC and LA, where our building has a delivery robot called Charlie. My new grandson, Francis III, lives in Mexico with Frank Jr. and family, so Frank Sr. and I visit there frequently. Danielle is a producer. Her daughter Martha, a Bard College graduate, is a comedian/actress and is getting her master’s in London; Irene graduated from
Sarah Lawrence College with a year at the University of Oxford pursuing Middle Eastern studies. My daughter Kathy — whom I was forced to give up and who found us eight years ago, and with whom I wrote the book Secret Storms — has two daughters, Amanda and Kathryn. My new book, The Nearness of You, is coming in 2019. I love the Agnes Irwin family. Looking forward to everyone’s news.” Matilde Zalinski Davidson ’63 says, “I feel so fortunate: I have a wonderful son, Wead-William England Allen Davidson, a super daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren: Skyla, 12, and Zack, 7. They live in Willow Grove, PA, and I see them every Sunday. I have a daughter, Jennifer, who has three children: Huck, Tyrone and Ella. Huck received his master’s degree in electrical engineering (all on scholarship) and is in Ecuador on a fellowship and has decided he wants to be a doctor. Tyrone just finished his freshman year at the University of Montana, and Ella is a cheerleader and a beautiful young woman. Skyla and Zack both take gymnastics and Skyla made the team! I had a knee replacement but hope to get back on the tennis court. I play bridge five days a week and am trying for my silver life master. I have two wonderful sisters, Nancy and Sue, and
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1970-79
1. Gail Evans Guthridge ’71 gathered with former AIS colleagues in June. Clockwise from top left: Wendy Chamblin Gunselman ’69, Cynthia dePasquale, Carol Spooner, Sally Moore, Carol Lusignea, Gail Evans Guthridge ’71. 2. Judith Young Neer ’72 (right) with husband Frank and daughter Jenna. 3. Local alumnae from the Class of 1974 catch up at a Phillies game in June.
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Alumnae | CLASS NOTES
have been blessed with wonderful friends and two ragdoll cats named Brie and Adgile.” Louisa Stephenson Sandvig ’63 and her husband, Chris, took a trip to the Holy Land (Israel) and Petra, Jordan, a week before their Embassy move. “We went with a group from the Presbyterian Church of Jackson Hole. Our amazing tour guide was a Palestinian Christian. It was a lifechanging experience. Go if you get a chance!” Linda Golden ’66 says, “I have been working hard at my store in Haverford but am looking forward to a trip to Kenya and Tanzania on safari this July... exciting!” Virginia Damon Craft ’68 shares two exciting events. “My daughter, M. Blakeley Craft, married Jon Cowart IV in Los Angeles on March 10. The reception was held at The California Club. Emily D. Craft, sister of the bride, served as maid of honor. An East Coast reception was held March 17 in Cocoa Beach, FL. The newlyweds continue to live outside Los Angeles. My son, Josh Craft, graduated from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City on May 16. Josh will serve his residency at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore, after
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which he will be boardcertified as an internist and pediatrician. Josh’s goal is to learn to make life-saving vaccines. Proud Mamma!”
1970-79
Caroline Lutton Nunez ’70 is still enjoying her job as a pharmacy technician. Her daughter and 12-yearold grandson are living with her and her husband, Domingo, so they have the opportunity to watch him grow up every day. She is also enjoying singing with a small women’s a cappella ensemble called Lux. Gail Evans Guthridge ‘71 recently gathered with former AIS colleagues to say farewell to Carol Lusignea, who is moving to Connecticut this summer. “We taught for years together when the Athletic Department was just desks lined up facing one another. A fun time! The Classes 1980-85 would be the classes that would remember us.” Judith Young Neer ’72 lives in Cohasset, MA, with her husband, Frank. Their daughter, Jenna, is in the music business in Los Angeles and loving it. Judy is CEO of Pile and Company, a management consulting firm in marketing and advertising. She still has family on the Main Line and gets home a few times a year.
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1980-89
Georganna Lenssen ’82 lives in the rolling farmlands of Honey Brook, PA, with her husband Jim, German shepherd Gringo, and their pride of domestic shorthair rescue cats. “This summer I am honored to be included in two of the top plein air painting events in the country: Plein Air Annapolis and Plein Air Easton. Upcoming solo shows include Malvern’s 222 Gallery in October and Lancaster’s Red Raven Art Company in November. You can also find my work at KingsHaven Design in Paoli. Want to come paint with me? I teach at Wayne Art Center and would love to see you! All levels welcomed.”
1990-99
Lori Weitzman Bernstein ’92, founder of Lori Jayne Monogramming & More, was awarded business of the year during the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce’s final breakfast meeting of the season May 3. In her speech, Bernstein told the crowd about how her business began as an idea in 2004 and eventually became a store on South County Road. Bernstein urged the crowd of business owners to do what is best for their customers and not for themselves, and said all Palm Beach businesses should work as a team. “We don’t need to compete with each other, she said. We need to work together.”
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1. Alumnae meet up in Siesta Key, FL, in March. From left: Alicia Parke Galou ’83, Deborah Gerhardt Kirchner ’84, Lisa Gerhardt Bamford ’82.
Megan Reed ’94 says “After almost 15 years in the Bay Area, our family has settled in Boston in time to revel loudly in the Eagles (vs. Patriots) Super Bowl victory. My wife and I have two younger children – Lucia, 3, and Gabriel, 7, and an older daughter, 29, who was a former student. I was a teacher and principal in public charter schools for 15 years and now coach principals and leadership teams in schools to facilitate equitable outcomes for kids in their buildings.” Aida Leisenring ’95 was recently elevated to partner at Barket Marion Epstein & Kearon, LLP, a boutique high-profile law firm in NYC and Long Island specializing in criminal defense, civil rights, and commercial litigation.
In addition, she will be heading the NYC practice. She has also created and developed a TV docuseries, The Last Defense, which aired on ABC in June. The seven-episode show, which she executive produced with Academy Awardwinning actress and producer Viola Davis, reveals flaws in the criminal justice system by focusing on current death row inmates with compelling innocence claims. Kim Russell Jordan ’97 and her husband Greg welcomed a son, James Russell Jordan, on November 13, 2017. James joins Kim, Greg, and big sister Brynn, who turned 2 in June. They recently moved to a farm in West Chester, PA.
CLASS NOTES | Alumnae
Dallas Breck ’98 says, “Hello fellow alumnae, I would love to see all your faces but I have neither the time nor the will to fly across the country with my beautiful and boisterous infant and toddler. I’m in my second year of a three-year nurse practitioner program online through Gonzaga University while working part-time as a nurse and case manager in the emergency department at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, ID. Life is good and always shifting us unexpectedly to the place where we belong to grow and contribute. Has it really been 20 years since I walked barefoot in a white dress and luckily got a high school diploma? Has it been 15 years since I’ve seen most of you? Maybe I’ll make it to the 25th? It definitely hit me the other day that in a few years I’ll be the ripe age of 40 — and so will all of you. Much love!”
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Carley Razzi Mack ’05, with her husband Eric Mack, welcomed their second child, Miles Clifford Mack, to the world on October 4, 2017. Big sister Olivia is in love with him. Ludmila Crowther ’07 and her brother Julian (Haverford School ’10 ) founded a scholarship, The Ludmila and Julian Crowther Scholarship, at the University of St Andrews. “Coming from
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1990-99
1. Kathleen Tinari McGuiness ’92 (left) and 6th-grade students from Notre Dame Academy were given a custom tour of the Philadelphia Zoo’s Primate Reserve House by Sally Schoettle Randolph ’58 (second from left), who is a dedicated lead docent for the zoo. Students raved about Sally’s insight and teaching style, saying, “Our guide was so interesting and nice, and she knew everything about animals and famous scientists like Jane Goodall!” 2. Gabriel and Lucia, children of Christine Landry and Megan Reed ’94. 3. James Russell Jordan, son of Greg and Kim Russell Jordan ’97. 4. Sloane Elizabeth Small Poulos, daughter of Maggie Poulos ’95. 5. Bill and Brooke Norrett Corr ’95 welcomed a son, Beckett Xavier, in December. 6. Livia Malloy Fletcher, daughter of Brian and Tara Malloy Fletcher ’95.
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Alumnae | CLASS NOTES
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2000-09
1. Kathryn Sall ’08 with her nephew Sage. 2. Emma Audrey, daughter of Christian and Maxine Zhang Schaefer ’01. 3. Miles Clifford, son of Eric and Carley Razzi Mack ’05. 4. As part of her SSP in May, Olivia Weise ’20 spent the week at Corle and Hand, a fashion consulting company in Devon. Pictured from left are co-founder Katie Charlson (P ’22 and ’24), Molly Scudder Miller ’02, Olivia Weise ’20, and co-founder Joy Clancy. 5. 2005 alumnae gather in Utah. From left: Carley Razzi Mack, Natalie Jones, Katie Best, Charlotte Hamilton Marshall, Libby O’Toole Osborn, Katherine Morsbach, Sara MacIntyre. 6. James and Kaitlyn Klagholz Zitzer ’01 welcomed a daughter, Elouise “Ellie” Craig, on February 27, 2018.
the U.S., we were aware when growing up that people gave to charities as a way of life. Our parents have always given back to their schools and universities, so we thought we should do something similar at St Andrews. During our time as undergraduates we became aware that many students from the UK had limited financial means. As management graduates and
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university athletes who benefited greatly from our time at this terrific university, we wanted to provide a scholarship in perpetuity to benefit annually an Honours Management studentathlete.”
instructor and in town as a field staff supervisor. She is also writing — check out kathrynmontana.com for updates! She is getting married in September to her fiance, Jake.
Kathryn Sall ’08 is living in Lander, WY, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. She is working for NOLS as a rock climbing and backpacking field
Laura Wagoner ’09 became the youngest recipient of City and State PA’s “2018 Above and Beyond” Award in April 2018, recognizing
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25 exceptional women from the Commonwealth for their accomplishments across various sectors including politics, healthcare, education, and nonprofits. After working in politics for five years, first as Executive Director of the Chester County Republican Committee and then as Finance Director of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, Laura
recently joined the staff at Villanova University as the Assistant Director of Government and Community Affairs. She graduated with her master’s in public administration in May 2017 from West Chester University and plans to return for her doctorate in the fall. She is very excited to be back in the vicinity of Ithan and Lancaster!
CLASS NOTES | Alumnae
2010-15
Katey Duffy ’11 is completing her JD/MBA at American University in Washington, DC. “My sister, Chrissy Duffy ’13, and I loved the Irwin’s brunch for DC-area alumnae this year!” Christine Duffy ’13 says, “Thank you for such a wonderful Reunion Weekend in May! I had such a great time spending time with some of my classmates. Irwin’s always does the best job! A quick update on my life is that I am pursuing my master’s degree at George Washington University in curriculum and instruction. I am also currently teaching preschool in Great Falls, VA, and I am now looking for an elementary position in the DC, Virginia, and Maryland area for the upcoming fall.” Miarosa Ciallella ’15 will be a senior at Barnard College, Columbia University this year. She started playing roller derby when she moved to NYC for college, and this past year she made it onto New York’s league, Gotham Girls Roller Derby! This summer, she is interning at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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1. 2010 alumnae gather in New York City in June. 2. Mia Ciallella ’15 made New York’s Gotham Girls Roller Derby team this year — her derby name is Lavender Menace! 3. Clarissa Kuo ’14 was the speaker at Commencement for Boston University Questrom School of Business. 4. You never know when you’ll run into an AIS alumna! Ann Hedges ’88 (left), a senior eevelopment officer at Elwyn in Media, PA, hosted a group from Goldman Sachs’ Center City office during Goldman Sachs’ Community Work Day on June 29. Taylor Gavula ’15, a rising senior at Harvard and a summer intern at Goldman Sachs, was among the group doing service projects at Elwyn’s Davidson School and the Elwyn Farm!
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Alumnae | CLASS NOTES
MILESTONES Stay Connected with the Alumnae Directory! Miss your Irwin’s friends? Want to keep in touch with classmates? The 2019 Agnes Irwin Alumnae Directory can help you do just that! Agnes Irwin is partnering with the company Publishing Concepts (PCI) to update contact information for all AIS alumnae and create a new, printed alumnae directory. Keep an eye out for postcards and emails this fall from PCI with instructions on how to update your information so you can stay connected! If you have any questions, please contact Brooke Norrett Corr ’95, Director of Alumnae Relations, at bcorr@agnesirwin.org or 610.526.1675.
MARRIAGES
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2004
Courtney Housam to Campbell Levy January 18, 2018
Elizabeth Lucas to Chris Higgins January 27, 2018
BIRTHS
1995
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To Maggie Poulos, a girl, Sloane Elizabeth Small April 26, 2018
2002
2005
To Leonard and Elisa Shore Rickett, a girl, Edith Martha Eleanor April 2, 2018
To Brian and Caleigh Jooste Bressler, a girl, Brooke Caroline March 28, 2018
To Brian and Tara Malloy Fletcher, a girl, Livia Malloy May 18, 2018
1997
To Greg and Kim Russell Jordan, a son, James Russell November 13, 2017
2000
To James and Kaitlyn Klagholz Zitzer, a girl, Elouise “Ellie” Craig February 27, 2018
To Nathan and Laura Seward Forczyk, a boy, Leonardo Nicholas January 25, 2018
To Dan and Laurie Hugill Clark, a son, Hudson Daniel March 3, 2018
To William and Kathleen Bonner Benjamin, a boy, William E. “Beau” January 19, 2018
To Eric and Carley Razzi Mack, a boy, Miles Clifford October 4, 2017
To Wally and Shannon Casey Zimolong, a girl, Cecilia “Cece” Casey April 1, 2018
IN MEMORIAM
1936
Charlotte Pancoast Hutchison January 1, 2018
2018 Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony Please join us as we induct our eighth class into the AIS Athletic Hall of Fame! Saturday, November 10 6 p.m. Student Life Center The Agnes Irwin School
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Jean Rowntree Davis May 6, 2018
1941
Charlotte Brown Dallett November 16, 2017 Diana Disston Tilghman March 24, 2018
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Susan Thayer Wilmerding April 11, 2018
Phebe Drayton Strong April 4, 2018
Dorothy Brewster Hansell February 11, 2018 Carole Evans Williams April 6, 2018
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Caroline H. Davis March 17, 2018
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Sandra Churchill Shield February 22, 2018
Nina Scheidt Connor April 16, 2018
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Julie A. Clattenburg December 4, 2017
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Mary Ogden Trotta April 18, 2018
CLASS NOTES | Alumnae
ALUMNAE EVENTS 1. Alumnae gather at Painting with a Twist in Wayne on April 12 for an art night sponsored by the Alumnae Board. 2. Local alumnae reminisce at the AllAlumnae Cocktail Party on Friday, May 4. 3. Celeste Tarbox ’06, Tori Johnson ’06, Natalie Jones ’05, Whitney Roller ’06, and Janet Bartholdson Fry ’06 at the All-Alumnae Cocktail Party.
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4. The Garvey family at the All-Alumnae Cocktail Party: Judy Garvey, Meg Garvey ’78, Elizabeth Garvey ’83, Audrey James ’13. 5. San Francisco area alumnae gather at a brunch in January.
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6. Members of the Class of 2002, Elise Gelinas Attridge, Kristi Hansen Corona, and Maryellen Guinan, catch up at the D.C. Brunch in February. 7. LaToya Barnes Monroe ’96 and Lydia Morris Olsen ’95. 8. Alumnae from the Class of 2013 in New York City.
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From the Archives TECHNOLOGY
Revolutionary Tech
1985
1999
Agnes Irwin has grown and adapted over its nearly 150-year history. While that evolution takes many forms — from leadership models to curricular choices and teaching methodologies — one of the most easily observed changes is in the technology we use. Heavy 1960s-era computers gave way to bulky desktops in the 1980s, laptops with floppy disc drives in the 1990s, and handheld devices in the 2000s. Today, our kindergarteners code robots with iPads; fourth graders design virtual reality tours; eighth graders create websites and direct visitors there with QR codes; and upper schoolers design new fonts, wearable technology, and apps for their peers. And this February, Agnes Irwin was selected to participate in Google’s new Augmented Reality pioneer program — another way to use technology to bring abstract concepts to life for students.
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1970s
CRACKING
THE CONFIDENCE CODE Tuesday, October 30 | 7:30 p.m. Join us and Katty Kay at Agnes Irwin for a Q&A on harnessing the power of confidence for success, moderated by Karen Hepp ’89.
A Q&A WITH BBC WORLD NEWS AMERICA ANCHOR KATTY KAY
Katty Kay is the lead anchor for BBC World News America, and is co-author (with Claire Shipman) of the New York Times bestseller The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance — What Women Should Know. The authors argue that confidence — the lynchpin of success — is a choice, and demonstrate ways to break out of comfort zones and take risks that pay off. This April, Katty and Claire released a companion piece: The Confidence Code for Girls: Taking Risks, Messing Up, and Becoming Your Amazingly Imperfect, Totally Powerful Self. This empowering, entertaining guide gives girls the essential — yet elusive — code to becoming bold, brave, and fearless.
Learn more at agnesirwin.org/fallspeaker
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The Class of 2018
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