Belmont Hill the bulletin for belmont hill school
summer | fall 2016
“But if a core goal of this school is for you to become a man of good character who does good in the world, with that comes an awareness of the world around you.� richard i. melvoin head of school
contents
features
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2
chapel talk
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michael condon ’09 returns to belmont hill
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retiring faculty
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commencement 2016
departments 10
29
coaches’ corner
49
corporation news
54
alumni & family events
58
alumni reunion weekend
60
class notes
87
faculty & staff news
90
in memoriam
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our mission
Belmont Hill is a community dedicated to developing boys in mind, body, and spirit. In a school that challenges and supports students in and beyond the classroom, we strive for excellence, honoring clear thinking and creativity, competition and teamwork, tradition and vision. Valuing difference, we seek students, faculty, and staff from a broad range of backgrounds who will embrace honest effort, curiosity, courage, and compassion. Working together, we seek to foster in each boy good character, commitment to service, global responsibility, and a passion for lifelong learning.
On front cover: Michael Condon ’09
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chapel talk
WE NEED TO TALK Remarks delivered by Head of School Rick Melvoin on August 30, 2016
I got a call from a stranger last month, an unusual and remarkable call. This person said, “You don’t know me, but I have a friend who is a parent of a student at Belmont Hill. That parent showed me the book that the School is reading. I had never heard of Just Mercy, but I bought it and read it, and now I want to congratulate the School for taking on this book and this subject.” Why this book, and why this year? The ties from this book to this school are, to me, clear, simple, and strong. At its core, this is a book about social justice, about doing right when there is wrong in the world. Part of our mission as a school, a good school, is to do what is right. I was thinking about the School’s mission on a long bike ride a couple weeks ago and I tried to simplify it. Whether you are a returning student or a new student, a veteran faculty member or a new one, I think that at the beginning of the year it is good to remember what this school is all about. So on my ride I tried to distill our mission. Put simply, I thought about what I want each of you students to be and what I want you to do. It’s really quite simple. I and this faculty want you to be, to become, a man of good character and to do good in the world. If you are going to be a man of good character who does good in the world, then it is easy to see why we read Just Mercy, for we need to do more to guarantee equality and justice for all in our country. I understand that some of you who read this book were not sure that it was even true, or if it were so, perhaps you thought it was historical—something out of our past but not our present. But yes, it is true and it is all too current. So we need to think about our country and our place in it. Thinking about our nation also requires us to acknowledge that the book deals extensively with issues of race,
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and this book is timely because as a nation we continue to grapple with issues of racism. Those of us who are a little older remember that after President Obama was elected in 2008 as our first black president, there was discussion about whether the United States had thus become a “post-racial society.” The last eight years, and certainly the last two years, have shown how far we have to go to meet that goal. Thus a book about justice, a book also about race, is a book that is worth our time. In the days ahead, each of you boys will be talking and thinking and writing about Just Mercy in your English classes; many of you in history classes will do the same. I hope your discussions and your thinking and writing are not limited to those two disciplines. The issues that we face as a society transcend academic disciplines and certainly extend well beyond this school. I hope you will continue to think about these issues through the year. Indeed, we have a distinguished speaker scheduled to come in early December to talk about the work that Bryan Stevenson explored in his book. For now, though, I offer to you words of Robert F. Kennedy, former U.S. attorney general and senator, a strong advocate for social justice who, like his brother John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in the tumult of the 1960s. Robert Kennedy said, “Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong… when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.” Thinking of our school’s mission, I note that Kennedy also said, “The purpose of life is to contribute in some ways to making things better.” As we read and speak and act, I hope we can all strive to make things better. Yet, as we think about issues of social justice, I have a still broader theme that I want to explore with you this morning. As a student of American history and as an
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We Need to Talk
chapel talk
observer of American society, I have been shaken, deeply shaken, by the substance and the tone of conversation and rhetoric in our current presidential campaign. My role as Head of School is not to take sides on who should win the election. But I do think we need to consider as a school and as a society the loss of civility, the loss of respectful disagreement, the strident and ugly tone of what is going on in our country today. We need to make sure that we don’t fall into that trap here. Essentially, as the saying goes, we need to talk. We need to talk.
“ The issues that we face as a
society transcend academic disciplines and certainly extend well beyond this school. I hope you will continue to think about these issues through the year.
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We need to be able, as the saying goes, “to disagree without being disagreeable.” We need to be able to debate ideas vigorously, but in a civil manner. What does this perhaps anachronistic idea of “civility” entail? I think it is simple: It means that one respects the views of others, speaks thoughtfully, listens carefully, and responds appropriately. But I realize that this is the antithesis of talk radio. I realize that it is easy via social media to slam people in all kinds of outrageous ways—sometimes crude, sometimes sexist, racist, nativist, as we shockingly saw in Wellesley just this past week—and that some social media allow people to do that without any repercussions. I am stunned by the way that discussion of important issues by the potential leaders of the most powerful country in the world has descended into bad reality TV. I worry about our ability to engage in real discussion, which I believe is essential in a healthy democracy.
Perhaps it is good to remember that this nation has had ugly campaigns before. Even the Founding Fathers dove into some of this behavior. Back in the 1790s, attacking both his rival’s race and his family history, President John Adams called Alexander Hamilton a “Creole bastard”—and they were members of the same party! And there was plenty of name-calling between Adams and his Republican rival, Thomas Jefferson. In 1856, amidst the debate over slavery, a fight broke out in the halls of the United States Congress and Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner was almost caned to death in the Senate Chamber. Many of you students have read one or more of the works of George Orwell, the author of 1984 and Animal Farm. Just after World War II, in a famous 1946 essay called “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell wrote, “Political language…is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and gives an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” He added, “The present political chaos is connected with the decay of language.” Why am I concerned about this not just for our society but for Belmont Hill? I worry because it is all too easy to get caught up in the rhetoric that is out there in the political campaign and on the airwaves and to become part of it. I recently faced a striking
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moment of this personally when a close friend emailed me an editorial—and as we all know, it is way too easy to send something electronically; it can fly around the world in seconds. What shook me was that the article was full of inaccuracies and invectives and was at its base cruel and savage—yet it had the power that Orwell mentioned because it was being widely distributed. I faced a tough dilemma, for the guy who sent it is someone I love dearly. It is true we could not disagree more on politics, and so I thought that maybe he was just sending this to tweak me. But the fact is that he sent it to a bunch of people, and I felt I needed to let him know how offended I was. And this was with a close friend; what do we do now in a national campaign where both candidates are hurling terrible accusations at each other? What do we do when, as Orwell eerily prophesied in 1984, lies become truths, and big lies become even truer? But here at Belmont Hill? We need to talk. The fact is that our country faces some hugely challenging issues, and the issues are getting lost in all the rhetoric and noise. Think about just a few. We have to think about proper immigration policy as we face the fact of 11 million illegal immigrants now in this country. What do we do, especially as a nation that has been called a “nation of nations” where people from around the world have found refuge for over 200 years? What should be our role as millions flee from the quagmire in the Middle East—including many Muslims—or seek to escape terrible conditions in Central America? Or, what do we do to improve our economy? How do you feel about a minimum wage? How do you feel about equal pay for equal work for men and women, or the need to repair our nation’s infrastructure—roads and bridges and highways? What should be the core principles of our foreign policy? How should the United States approach the challenges of the Middle East, or rising power in China, or Russian aggression? Or, after the hot, dry summer here and the frightening mix of heat and drought in some parts of the country and record floods in other parts, how should the nation approach the issue of climate change? Or, here in Massachusetts, how do you feel about charter schools, as a referendum to expand the number goes on the ballot in November? Or, going back to our summer reading, how do we react to injustice in our judicial and prison systems, issues of both race and class in our country? I don’t mean to depress you, or turn all of you into political junkies. I realize that some of you, whether 12 or 13 or 18 or 19, probably look at the paper in the morning— if you look at a paper—more to see how the Red Sox did than how the presidential campaign is going. And it’s okay not to care deeply at this stage in your life about
the attempted coup in Turkey last month—though the issues for some of us are deadly serious. It is not easy being an adult facing these issues, either. Among our faculty, I cherish a range of political and social views. In fact, I think that is important for us as a school. I expect that you students represent a wide range of views on these issues. And surely many of these issues are endlessly complicated. But if a core goal of this school is for you to become a man of good character who does good in the world, with that comes an awareness of the world around you. And to be aware of the world around you requires thinking and talking about complicated issues that influence our lives. Many years ago, in his opening address, our school president Doug Nannene talked about the “Belmont Hill bubble.” Yes, in some ways we are in a bubble: we are insulated, perhaps isolated, from the rest of the world on this beautiful campus. But we are also part of the world. My hope is that we can engage in civil terms in discussion of issues that matter. In fact, one of the hallmarks of our classrooms is the use of the Harkness table. As you sit down at a Harkness table today, I want you to think about that space. It puts the teacher in a seat at the table with the students; it is designed for discussion. But more than that, the concept behind the Harkness table allows you, in both metaphorical and real terms, to put ideas on the table. You can and should be willing to debate ideas. The ideas are not you; you should be able to put out an idea and not face personal attacks. Will people disagree with your ideas? Of course they will, and that is healthy. If we can debate ideas in an open and civil way, we will have taken an important step forward. After all, Belmont Hill is in some ways an experiment. We bring together students from 60 different cities and towns, from 110 different schools: public, private, and parochial. We come together and we work together—and if “working together” is to remain the motto of this school, we need to find ways to exchange ideas. Back to Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy once wrote, “What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.” As we go into this new school year, I hope each of you will think hard about the important issues in our school, our society, our country, our world. I hope we can have vigorous debate. Yet more than hope, I count on each of you to listen to one another, to respect one another, to challenge each other’s views in a way that makes this school an example of how we can and should explore ideas in a society that is in danger of losing that vital element of a healthy democracy. www.belmonthill.org
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michael condon ’09 returns to belmont hill
MICHAEL CONDON ’09
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returns to belmont hill By Bill Mahoney
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michael condon ’09 returns to belmont hill
On an afternoon that won’t soon be forgotten at Belmont Hill, Michael Condon ’09, goalie for the Montreal Canadiens, returned to the Hill to meet with the boys and talk about his amazing journey to the NHL. Preferring a low-key setting, Mr. Condon met with the boys in the afternoon, after classes, in Wadsworth Room in the Jordan Athletic Center. While the boys were wide-eyed and in awe of the NHL player in their midst, Mr. Condon was humble, down to earth, and good natured, warmly greeting former teachers, taking pictures with the boys, and spending close to an hour answering questions. “I am so proud of him, the way his determination and hard work have paid off,” said his former Belmont Hill coach Ken Martin ’65, who helped arrange Mr. Condon’s visit. “He couldn’t be nicer in coming back to talk to the kids. He was so open, and answered every question thoroughly.” Andrew Davis ’07, who worked as an intern at Belmont Hill last year, was also a teammate at Belmont Hill. “Mike always had an NHL work ethic,” Mr. Davis said. “I am extremely proud to have had him as a teammate. He is a man of high character, and a great example to Belmont Hill boys.” Mr. Condon spoke of a hockey career that began playing Mites in Holliston, MA. His fascination with goalie pads and masks eventually led him to try the position, and it stuck. In 7th grade, he left Holliston Public Schools to come to Belmont Hill. “I loved my time at Belmont Hill. It was a very important part of shaping who I am today in terms of my character, organizational skills, and work ethic,” Mr. Condon explained to the boys. “It was definitely a challenge, athletically and academically. Knowing my dad worked so hard to give me this opportunity at such a young age motivated me to do my very best.”
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Mr. Condon would go to play at Princeton University. Undrafted by the NHL after college, he signed an amateur tryout agreement with the Ontario Reign of the ECHL. In the following seasons, he would go on to play for the Houston Aeros of the AHL, the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL, and the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL. Signed by the Canadiens in 2013, he made the team as backup goalie last fall and made his NHL debut last October 11, defeating the Ottawa Senators 3–1. When starting goalie Carey Price went down with a season-ending injury, Mr. Condon became the starting goalie and played in 55 games. “The biggest surprise for me was how fast the game is in the NHL,” he told the boys. “You really can’t make a mistake.” He also had to adjust to some of the perks of NHL life. “Riding in charter planes with your own seat, television screen, and a three-course meal was quite different than 12-hour bus rides overnight in the minors, eating at Subway!” A highlight of the season came on January 1, when he started in goal against the Boston Bruins in the Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium. “It was an amazing experience, playing at home in front of 68,000 fans,” he recalled. He was brilliant in net, making 27 saves in helping the team to a 5–1 victory. After a summer playing for Team USA at the IIHF World Hockey Championships in Russia, Mr. Condon is ready for this season. He maintains that the lessons learned on the Hill always stay with him. “What I learned most is that there’s no substitute for hard work,” he told the boys. “When I look at all the opportunities I’ve been given, I’m very grateful.”
Condon in net for Belmont Hill in 2009.
Condon greets a Bruins fan at the Winter Classic.
Preparing to take the ice at Gillette Stadium.
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retiring faculty
RETIRING FACULTY By Bill Mahoney
fran kirby
One of a Kind
There is no one quite like Fran Kirby, and he embraces the eccentricity that has made him such a beloved figure on campus. For the past 34 years, Mr. Kirby has marched to the beat of a different drummer on the Hill while nurturing generations of students with his passion, devotion to school life, and singular dedication to enriching the lives of Belmont Hill boys. “I’ve never been too concerned with what others think of me,” Mr. Kirby states. “I’m not afraid of saying what I think.” Indeed, he is not. After stints teaching at St. Catherine Indian School in New Mexico and St. Clair High School for girls in Roslindale, he took a couple of years off from teaching to get his master’s degree. Around this time an old friend, Eddie Gallagher ’66, informed him of an opening at Belmont Hill that might fit, and soon after he was hired. He has taught Latin and English on the Hill, and has started classes in British Literature and another popular course on the Beat Generation. Since coming to Belmont Hill, he has coached 102 consecutive seasons of cross country, Nordic skiing, and track. “I don’t believe in kids just regurgitating facts,” Mr. Kirby says in describing his classroom style. “I want them to make their writing exciting by introducing an element of confidence in their own opinions, analyses, and observations. Literature is a challenge to get at what kids are really thinking about and to help them feel they have a right to say what they think and speak out in class.” Head of School Rick Melvoin has a deep appreciation for Mr. Kirby’s inspirational impact on boys. “Boys in Mr. Kirby’s classes love him because he forces them to think about the reading they are doing, but does it in a way that is imaginative, engaging, fun, funny, different,” Dr. Melvoin notes. “He brings a wonderful and different voice, with quirks that help make Belmont Hill what it is.” Adds former colleague and longtime friend John MacLean, “He wasn’t a teacher by the numbers, he was a teacher by the heart. He is one of our greats because he is extraordinarily intelligent, thought provoking in
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the best sense of that term, and possessed of an honest and constant devotion to all his students and athletes.” His coaching has been equally distinguished, with records that may never be approached, let alone broken. He accumulated 316 track and field wins for a .856 winning percentage, and finished off with a New England championship in his final season. Additionally, he guided teams to 12 ISL track and field championships, 12 New England championships, and more than 1,000 coaching victories in total, including stints at other schools. As Nordic Skiing coach, he won nine ISSA championships before the league disbanded in 1998, as well as two New England Prep School combined championships. “Coach Kirby’s contributions to Belmont Hill athletics are truly unparalleled,” notes Athletic Director George Tahan. “He was the epitome of the teacher-coach model, working as a three-season varsity coach for over 100 consecutive seasons, while also teaching full time. What really made Coach Kirby truly special was his ability to get kids to try a sport—such as cross country, Nordic skiing, or track—they may not have imagined playing when they arrived at Belmont Hill.” As Mr. Kirby approaches a new stage in his life, he expresses gratitude for all that teaching at Belmont Hill
has afforded him. “It is a wonderful thing to be given the opportunity to make some difference in other people’s lives,” he reflects. “Few vocations in life afford this rich opportunity.” He notes that it has been a joy working with Belmont Hill boys. “These kids are very bright. They’re also very good to each other, very respectful of everyone from their teachers and coaches to the kitchen staff.” He feels that a special gift of Belmont Hill is that it understands boys so well. “The School knows what makes boys tick and celebrates their unique and creative qualities.” Belmont Hill will not soon forget Mr. Kirby, his inimitable style, his quirks, his compassion and devotion to boys. “His unique sense of humor, camaraderie, and warmth created a welcoming atmosphere for learning,” says Jeff Fast, former longtime English department chair. “Fran cares deeply for students, and they respond in turn. As a scholar, teacher, athlete, and coach, his positive influence over the young men of Belmont Hill will be appreciated for many years to come.”
holly gettings
Shining Bright for 17 Years It is a familiar sight at any dress rehearsal for a Belmont Hill theater production. In the audience may be a few family members, students, and faculty. But sitting near the back is a woman with a clipboard and a tiny, almost indistinguishable overhead light, feverishly taking notes on every detail of the production. It is a perfectionist at work. It is the approach Holly Gettings took to every theater production on which she worked. “As a theatrical technical director, I get into almost the molecular level of figuring when—practically to the second—a cue delivers,” Ms. Gettings explains. “Because
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retiring faculty
it makes a difference. If a cue comes in too early or too late, it can cause problems.” Retired faculty member and former theater director John MacLean, who hired Ms. Gettings as a part-time technical assistant and worked with her for many years, has long appreciated the care and craftsmanship she brought to her work. “Holly Gettings raised the stakes for theater at Belmont Hill,” he notes. “We were extraordinarily fortunate to find an accomplished and experienced professional lighting and technical director at a time when she was yearning to work at a school. Her work, season after season, year after year, enhanced and enriched our productions, while educating our students. Belmont Hill will be hard pressed to replace her skill and dedication.” Of course, theater work was only one of Ms. Gettings many roles on the Hill. Arts department chair Steve Kaplan marvels at the way in which Ms. Gettings has thrived in the classroom, teaching photography as well as digital video. “Holly worked hard to develop her craft as a photographer, and her work with students focused on developing a good, artistic eye, becoming a competent craftsman in the darkroom, and introducing our aspiring students to alternative processes,” he states. “Beginners and advanced students benefitted from her passion, patience, and genuine interest in being creative. We will surely miss her.” Like so many at Belmont Hill, she wore many hats in her tenure. Her roles expanded to yearbook supervisor,
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and oversight of prom, Prize Day, and Commencement. In every role, her competence and dedication shone through. “Holly brought a significant level of expertise and professionalism not only to our light, sound, and stage work, but indeed to every role she took on through the years,” Head of School Rick Melvoin remarks. As she comes to the close of a memorable career at Belmont Hill, she clearly feels blessed and grateful to her colleagues. “They’re all enormously talented, phenomenally dedicated, and caring toward their students,” she says. “When I came to Belmont Hill, it was clear it was a family. That is what I’m going to miss most.” Clearly, Ms. Gettings will be missed as well, by her colleagues and by the many students whose lives she touched. At her final theater production, Lion King, Jr., Brendan Pulsifer of Form VI offered a moving tribute to Ms. Gettings. “Brilliant and humble, passionate and dedicated, Ms. Gettings has inspired artists for generations and has made their dreams come true through the magic of lighting, photography, and set design,” he told the audience. “The enthusiasm and devotion that Ms. Gettings brings to the students shines even brighter than the stage lights.” In describing how she approaches a theater production, Ms. Gettings has said her goal is to “knock your socks off!” For so many years, in so many ways, she has done just that.
ann tift
Deeply Committed While Maintaining a Lightness of Spirit
For all of Ann Tift’s many significant contributions to Belmont Hill, what seems to resonate most to her colleagues is the warmth, humor, and kindness she exhibited each and every day. In her nine years in college counseling, mostly as director, these qualities were essential in helping her to deftly navigate the, at times, rough waters of guiding boys and their families through the college admission process. An English teacher for 20 years at Stratford Academy in Georgia, where her late husband was Head of School, she would eventually transition to college counselor. Moving to the West Coast, she worked in college counseling at Seattle Academy in Washington. In time, she found herself wanting to be closer to family, and interviewed at several schools in the Boston area. “I chose Belmont Hill because in working with boys there is no drama,” she explains. “I have not been disappointed at all. They have been so easy to work with and such nice young men.” Ms. Tift’s years in college counseling came during a period of great change in the profession. In the past, many schools didn’t even have a college counselor. However, now they are prevalent and the job can be a pressure cooker. Yet, Ms. Tift always handled the work with calm dignity and unfailing wit. Head of School Rick Melvoin remarks that, “Ms. Tift’s warmth, charm, and good humor sometimes masked how sophisticated, strategic, competitive, and protective she was in giving Belmont Hill students the best possible guidance in the college process. Her legacy here will last a long time.”
Ms. Tift says the greatest reward of her work has come in getting to interact with Belmont Hill boys. “I love that my whole job is to be positive about them,” she notes. She emphatically pays tribute to the faculty, and finds their enduring dedication to the boys to be inspiring and gratifying. “They will do anything. They will go extra miles, write an extra letter, and talk to me at length about the best way to represent a boy.” Former college counseling colleague Bunny Melvoin appreciated both the professional and personal qualities Ms. Tift brought to her work. “As a colleague, Ann was a great team player,” Mrs. Melvoin reflects. “We discussed strategies for the boys’ college lists, phone calls to colleges, and how to deliver unwanted information to parents. We celebrated when the news was good and were sad together when boys we loved were going to be disappointed. I will miss her wit, wisdom, compassion, and insight, her special combination of being deeply committed while maintaining a lightness of spirit.” She approaches retirement with no regrets and looks forward to more time with family, particularly her grandchildren. Though she will especially miss working with current Director of College Counseling Casey Bobo and Registrar Cindy Richardson, she is comforted that the department is in such capable hands. “I will miss the wonderful, positive community here, and the daily contact with kids and teachers,” she states. “But I feel that the office I am leaving is absolutely perfect for the time that we are in.” Mrs. Bobo perhaps best sums up how the entire community feels toward Ms. Tift. “The most compelling part of Ann’s personality, which draws you to her professionally and personally, is her propensity to commit herself to the service of other people,” Ms. Bobo explains. “I’m inspired, and feel so grateful to have been mentored by someone who is such a professional in the business of college counseling and an extraordinary human being.” Indeed, we are all grateful to Ms. Tift for the gift of her nine splendid years on the Hill. www.belmonthill.org
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Commencement 2016
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Senior Dinner
commencement 2016
senior dinner May 24, 2016 1. Greg Katz, Charlie Greenwood, and Matt Glynn. 2. Board Chair Jon Biotti ’87 and Michael Sherman. 3. Robert Griffin, Charlie Danziger, Gabe Schmittlein, Ben Lebowitz, Tommy Ruggles, and Chris Wilkins.
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4. William Weiter, Chris Williams, William Galligan, George Hu, and Spencer Kim. 5. Ethan McIlhenny, Jack Richards, Max Rudzinski (in front), Jens Odegard, Jake DiCaprio, D.J. Demetri, Harrison Rohrer, Matt Armstrong, Sean Rayment (behind), Brendan Pulsifer, Christian Dolan, and Gabe Schmittlein. 6. Alessandro Zenati, Chad Meyers, Frank McField, and Thomas Wolpow.
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7. Front row: Brian Matthews, Mike Grant, Charlie Danziger, Tommy Ruggles. Back row: Johnny Hincks, AJ DiFillipo, Greg Katz, and Austin Mazel. 8. Front row: John Gosselin, Randjit Thomas, Holly Gettings, Christian Dolan, Ethan McIlhenny, Donnell Patterson. Back row: Connor Ghazaleh, Pablo Di Benedetto, Ricky Cronin, Spencer Kim, Jack Richards, and George Hu.
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Prize Day
commencement 2016
prize day May 27, 2016 1. Upper School prize winners. 2. Brendan Pulsifer ’16 receives an award at Prize Day from Head of School Rick Melvoin. 3. Students celebrate Prize Day on the chapel lawn. 4. Chip Daley ’16, Rick Melvoin, and D.J. Demetri ’16.
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5. Middle School prize winners. 6. Bennet Rush ’17 accepts the Willey Sextant Prize for Creative Writing. 7. Cameron Connors celebrating his certificate of appointment to West Point with his parents, Mark and Cheryl Connors, and his brother, Sean Connors ’12. 8. Third Former Charlie Donahue receives a Middle School Award of Merit.
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commencement 2016
Faculty & Staff Recognition
faculty & staff recognition For 35 years of service: Mary D. Prendergast For 30 years of service: John B. McAlpin For 25 years of service: Beverly S. Coughlin Christopher Richards For 20 years of service: Kathleen A. Richards Ruth W. Sweeney George P. Tahan
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For 15 years of service: Dennis Chin Michael R. Grant Adam T. Harder For 10 years of service: William D. Mahoney Kelly A. McNamara John P. Morris Alfred J. Murphy III ’98 Bruce A. Musler Donnell L. Patterson Edward J. Stanford Cheryl T. Wolf For 5 years of service: Jennifer C. Breslin Stephen W. Carr, Jr. ’93 Todd A. Davis Elizabeth F. Girioni Mary Colt Hacker Jeremiah S. P. McCarthy ’94 Penghua Shen
1. John McAlpin. 2. George Tahan. 3. Donnell Patterson.
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4. Mary Prendergast. 5. Jeremiah McCarthy ’94, Todd David, Steve Carr ’93, and C.J. Hacker. 6. Kathy Richards, George Tahan, and Ruth Sweeney.
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commencement 2016
Baccalaureate Address
BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS Address delivered by Mike Grant on June 5, 2016
I want to thank David and really your entire class for inviting me to speak on behalf of the faculty tonight. While it is commonplace for speakers to thank their audience, it is truly an honor to get to play a small part in these final acts of your class. Now my goals tonight are simple, and I think thankfully for you, small in number. I hope I can help you celebrate, for this is your party, and in the process share a few memories as we take a minute to think about your class, us faculty, these readings, and just maybe in that whole process, I can give you something to think about for at least as long as it takes for you to walk over to see the great unveiling of the panels. Now, in addition to that, Perdoni said I just needed to make it short. Those of you that have had me in class know how much I love hearing
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the sound of my own voice, so no promises there. My advisees, I know you demanded the final advisee rankings, but those will be published in tomorrow’s graduation edition of the Panel. And Danziger said I had to be funny, and I trust Charlie, Brian, and Ben will mock me if I don’t at least try, so I’ll make my best attempt to mix in a few laughs. However, despite multiple requests there is absolutely no way I will reprise the epic facultones rendition of “Do you want to build a schedule…” While giving this talk is a great honor, it’s also kind of intimidating, for I certainly want to help you celebrate in style. The challenge is to try and say something of some importance without both boring you all to tears and avoiding most of the over-worn graduation speech clichés that you have all heard in just about every
ceremony you have ever attended. While I can’t make any promises on the boredom front, I’m going to at least try and get most of the clichés and platitudes out of the way now. So here goes… Webster’s defines a baccalaureate as a sermon to a graduating class, and as you go out into the world follow your dreams as you make a difference for you are our world’s future, lead us to new and unthinkable heights while doing what’s in your heart, and for you country fans out there, please always stay humble and kind. With the clichés out of the way we can get started talking about all of you and your class. And like students sometimes do, any of those planning on tuning out for a bit I’ll give you a quick hint, start paying attention again in about 15 minutes when I start talking about sunsets… My connection to your class is longstanding, and in some ways I have known many of you longer than anyone else on campus. For those that came in Forms I and II, you are the last of my classes as Admission Director. In fact, it is interesting that after you were on campus about ten weeks as First Formers, Dr. Melvoin “restructured” the management team here at Belmont Hill—so you either got me fired or promoted; you can draw your own conclusions. In thinking back to those days, I called over to Mr. Carr, Admission Director 2.0, to inquire if they still saved any of the old admission applications from past years. Thankfully, deep in the bowels of the Admission Office I found a veritable treasure trove of old applications, photos, and recommendations—and contrary to that personal fable you have told yourselves, you were not the intellectual, artistic, or athletic giants I see before me today. A few application photos remained scattered in the pile, my favorite being David Yellen, beaming with a big smile, well clad in his tie dye Kingsley Montessori T-shirt and to impress the Admission
Committee even further beyond that tie dye shirt— a tightly tied tie. Most of your essays were on Harry Potter, Mike Lupica’s Heat, Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, or the Percy Jackson series. A few stood out as predictive of the future, like Greg Katz’s essay, which was an impassioned plea for awareness of our environment and global climate change—a clear indication of Greg’s eventual love for AP Envi-Sci. Also somewhat prophetic was Callen Morris’s extended commentary on the nature of friendship that happened to sit near a recommendation of David Perdoni’s which spoke of his great strengths as a friend—clearly they were destined for each other. Perhaps my favorite rediscovery in that file cabinet was an old transcript from the Park School—buried deep on the last page of a lengthy and rather impressive transcript—was a remark of frustration from a gym teacher. The teacher was dismayed that the young man was too good a player in basketball, and felt that he should allow the opposing team to actually cross half court instead of immediately stealing the ball as soon as it was inbounded. Yes, Tom, I knew you were a good fit for Belmont Hill right from the beginning. After all the wonderful speakers you have seen over your years, from Anderson Cooper to General Milley to all of our Woodberry competitors to Mr. McAlpin and Mr. Martin’s pre-Thanksgiving addresses, the idea that I am the last speaker you will hear in this chapel is actually a terrifying premise, one that is only intensified by how well I know your class. After listening to you in the old Howe Study Hall, teaching you in Government, English 4, or Identity, and then hearing your sometimes inappropriate conversations in the Goodband Commons, there is one thing that I know for sure about your class and that is how much you love to discuss, debate, argue, and even criticize—and this is always done with a heavy dose of good-humored sarcasm. This does make you an intimidating audience though. You are, I believe, the first class to hold monthly surveys and debates on a variety of monumental issues such as what’s better, cake or pie? The proper ratio of peanut butter packets to jelly packets in PBJ made at Upper School lunch? Or, who has the better super heroes, Marvel or DC comics? Some of you were even relentless in your criticism of poor Alex Afeyan’s Panel article on the top ten Christmas songs of all time. It’s almost like the Harvard Debating society merged with Philadelphia Eagles fans. For the record: Alex, Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song should be #1; Smitty, the answer is always pie; DC comics (I mean they have Batman, right Cam?); the proper ratio is 2 and 2, Chris Williams; and no, Matt, The Hunger Games is not even remotely as great a piece of literature as The Great Gatsby. www.belmonthill.org
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Still, some of my favorite memories of your class will always be working with you in the classroom and on the playing fields. While we will be here all night if I go through all my stories, it doesn’t take me long to think back to those experiences with you all. The eagerness, energy, and perhaps overconfidence on display back in Form II Government, and the great fun we had together. The appropriate and nonsensical nicknames—IB Yellin, the Nu (later known as Dr. Nefario), Tommy Struggles, Raymont, Giunts Roarher… Unfortunately for you, I think I called you those nicknames at least until the Fifth Form. But it doesn’t take much for me to remember that class, with Hincks and Glynn not so subtly trying to get me off track and at the same time mocking me by bringing up their love of the book The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin when neither of them had read it. Yellin’s impassioned pleas for Democratic candidates and his daily retelling of jokes seen on the Daily Show; AJ sitting, smiling, and silent; Guinta and Winston’s expert use of the laptops for both note taking and designing new pairs of Nike shoes; and always FDC relentlessly mimicking the words of Justice Jackson in West Virginia vs. Barnette… “BUT Mr. Grant, if there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation…”
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time around was your willingness to be interested, to commit yourself, to be passionate—those beautiful alternate endings to All Quiet on the Western Front that you wrote, or Ethan’s spot-on analysis of the conclusion of 1984, which was so perfect we ended class early, and then actually putting Macbeth on trial—complete with judge and jury. That was one of those assignments that just doesn’t work unless the class is willing to buy in. It was that willingness, that interest, which made that class so great. But these are all my stories of your class, maybe important to me and a few of you, but what is far more consequential are your stories together—some we faculty know about, and others we thankfully do not. Stories of triumph or struggle, humor and sadness, achievement and, yes, sometimes even failure. Over time, so much of what seemed consequential—the tests, the quizzes, and the papers—that will all fade away. And what you will be left with are these great memories in common, these shared experiences, and it’s the fact that you shared them that makes them so powerful, so great. As you just heard from Shakespeare’s Henry V in the famous St. Crispin’s Day Speech:
Amongst all those stories and memories, what I remember most of that class is the great positivity that you brought each day, the energy that came from your optimism, and how it energized me as a teacher. I used to joke with you about how many cups of coffee I had before class that day, but the truth was I was just excited to teach you guys.
FROM THIS DAY TO THE END OF THE WORLD, BUT WE IN IT SHALL BE REMEMBERED—WE FEW, WE HAPPY FEW, WE BAND OF BROTHERS; FOR HE TODAY THAT SHEDS HIS BLOOD WITH ME SHALL BE MY BROTHER.
And with that as a backdrop, I couldn’t have been more excited when Mr. Armstrong let me know that we had an extra section of English 4 that he would like me to cover. Teach these guys again? Absolutely…and surely that section had its own share of memories…locking Brownell out of class for repeated tardiness until he groveled at the classroom door for forgiveness, the three-minute allowance at the beginning of class for complaints about AP Bio and AP Euro, Rohrer’s midyear return from the Island School and the way he sort of sat in disbelief for the first weeks wondering how he had traded English class on a beach with girls for me droning on about The Great Gatsby. Rayment’s and Williams’ epic portrayals of Lady Macbeth, and then Chris’s refusal to read Lena’s lines in Clybourne Park because there was too much cursing; and with Austin sheepishly grinning behind him, Christian gleefully picking up that role and booming out the curse words with gusto. Yes, once again we had great fun, but what stuck out for me that second
Shakespeare’s words embody so much of how your stories, your experience, unique to you that have lived them, truly bind you together as a class. And perhaps I’m getting too sentimental in my increasingly old age, but I hope that they are the stories you will tell five years from now when I see you at your first reunion, or the stories you think of decades from now when you’re an old man and some random song comes on the radio that reminds you of Belmont Hill. Those memories will bring a smile to your face that nobody else will quite understand.
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Thinking of you guys and your stories, actually made me smile as it brought me back to my own experiences, both in high school and college. And the thought occurred to me how impossible it is to explain to those who aren’t a part of that experience what it was like. It reminded me of those times when my wife and I go out to dinner with my college roommates and their partners and my roommates and I start sharing our old stories, thinking they are utterly hilarious, and our spouses all just sort of
stare or politely chuckle and wonder what the heck are they talking about. And it will be the same for you—try to explain to your college roommate about Mr. Trautz’s crazy friend Kippy in Hawaii who told inappropriate jokes and stories to little Third Formers. Or why the words “quarrel” and “choral” always make you laugh. Or how you tortured poor Mr. Curran by repeatedly asking him the word derivation of a certain spice in the Lebowitz family spice rack. How will your college coach or professor react if you try to call them dad? Who would believe you when you told them Doc Wach’s chiggers prevention stories. Or, who would think it was cool, or much less funny, that some 40–50 of you broke into an “AP CALC” chant minutes before your exam, scarring the proctor forever. You can’t verbalize to others why these stories are so funny, so meaningful, so great, because they simply are yours and yours alone—they are what make your band of brothers. Now I know the evening has two readings already, but I can’t resist adding one more, and the guys in my Inquiry class won’t be surprised which one. In my Inquiry course we open and close the year with Whitman’s “O Me O Life,” its one of my favorite poems and as those who took the class know, the course is just a thinly veiled excuse to read the books, poems, and essays and then watch movies that I love. In the poem, Whitman contemplates what is the meaning of his existence, and at the poem’s conclusion finds his answer, responding with optimism that “the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” As I look out at your class I keeping thinking about those lines and what a tremendous verse you
have contributed while you have been here. Dazzlingly musical accomplishments and performances that have left this very chapel in awed silence, storied athletic championships, ISL, New England, and even National, stunning upsets and nail-biting victories—all too many to list out here. Exceptional theatrical performances and coffee house renditions—I know for me I’ll never hear Zach Brown’s “Colder Weather” in quite the same way after you and Mr. Trautz covered it, and as you have heard far too often, depth of academic achievement the likes of which this school has rarely seen. And some of those verses may have been less publicly noticed, but nonetheless, just as powerful or monumental for those involved. The First Former you tutored, that Third Form baseball player you helped teach the game to, or maybe even a simple kindness like asking a struggling Fourth Former how they are doing that day and offering a smile and saying, “Don’t worry, it gets better.” Maybe the verse was individual—that class where all of the time and effort produced a breakthrough—or that solo you finally mastered, or wrestling move you figured out and used to help win a New England title. Those tales and a thousand more, all contribute to your powerful play and that verse that is distinctly the Class of 2016. But somewhat sadly, with your verse contributed, it’s time to move on. And that brings us to our other reading tonight, Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” for your adventure here is now less than 24 hours from being over. Like Ulysses, surely you have LIVED LIFE TO THE LEES. But after all the times enjoyed, all you have seen, and done, now you stand ready to leave, and as Ulysses leaves the scepter and the isle to his own son, Telemachus, you leave this school to the underclassmen in order to push off to your next great adventure. And it is the best of adventures on which you are about to embark. Tennyson writes:
Come, my friends, T’is not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. And so what holds beyond that sunset for you all? Well I think that is the great fun of this job—seeing where you all go and what you become after you leave our humble little isle. For us faculty, we stand on the shore as you sail off into that sunset, much like your parents, hoping we have done our best in equipping you with everything you need for that next journey, and eagerly awaiting the days www.belmonthill.org
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when you might come back to grace our shores again, waiting for you to describe what lies beyond the “baths of the western stars.” To tell us what it looks like beyond that sunset. Standing on that shore, waving goodbye to you all, I
“ There is one thing that I
know for sure about your class and that is how much you love to discuss, debate, argue, and even criticize—and this is always done with a heavy dose of good-humored sarcasm.
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often wonder what role we faculty have played in this story. In one reading of the poem we are much like the crew, going on this adventure with you. And there certainly are elements of truth in this interpretation, for we are on the journey with you and celebrate those triumphs and mourn the losses right alongside of you. And when I see Coach Sullivan bear hug Timmy Seibel after that great OT goal vs. Nobles, or when I hear Mr. Smith and Mr. Brownell discuss the inspiring hard work of guys like Cam and AJ and how much their dedication and growth meant to them and their courses, or when I see Mr. Sherman in opening a faculty meeting basking in the glory of all his AB Calc boys scoring 4’s and 5’s… when I see those images, I know we certainly are on this journey with you, and we just might be part of your crew. But what happens then? Do we head on back to the
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beginning of the story to start the journey anew as the crew with a new captain on a similar adventure? There just seems to be something missing in that reading of it all, and it isn’t only because the crew dies at the end of “The Odyssey.” What I have come to discover in these past 15 years is that while we do go on this journey with you, we don’t simply go back to the beginning and start again with those wide-eyed and smiling little First Formers—for the faculty, the process isn’t just rinse and repeat. For your journey and our journey are in some ways intertwined, and as you leave our campus you leave us changed, too, and much for the better. For me, I know that I am thankful for those that I have taught, and thankful for my players, and thankful for my advisees, for all of you have made me better at this work—I want you to know that while I hope you learned a bit from me, I have also learned from you, and as such I want to offer a simple and heartfelt thank you. But what is it that I have learned from you amongst all those readings, discussions, practices, and games? What has this journey together given me? Well, it is exactly the things that I hope you pack with you on your next great adventure, and what I hope you can think about as you walk over to see the panels. I think of that Government and English 4 class and I want you to retain your sense of optimism, your capacity to find joy in everything you do. Not all classes you take, nor all jobs you might have, will be exciting or interesting all the time. But when you approach every day with optimism, when you avoid the siren call of complaints and negativity, you implicitly give others permission to do the same thing. Every college dorm, team, or company has its share of people that will find the downside of, well everything—don’t add to it, your positivity energizes all that are around you. That’s what you brought to me every day in class, and to this campus, and that’s what made you so much fun to teach. I think about my players, and those of you that I taught in English 4 and Identity and I want you to remember that it’s okay to care about things. I want you to remember to never be afraid to invest yourself in worthy causes, or in the pursuit of ideas and goals. Working with all of you has allowed me to admit that it is actually sane to really care about high school baseball games, and from you I know that it’s okay to get fired up to talk about Whitman, the French Revolution, or the film Good Will Hunting, and maybe it does make sense that sloppy interpretations of the establishment clause make me
angry. It’s the caring that makes it great. Sometimes it’s easier to sit on the sidelines in silence, to let the world pass by without risking yourself by actually caring. Surely it leaves you less vulnerable, and it shields you from the feelings of pain that accompany losses and goals not achieved. But in the end it also keeps you from feeling that unmitigated joy of achievement, that excitement that literally has your heart bursting and voice screaming—it’s what made the baseball dugout and 50 other students storm the field last Friday, or what made the tennis team mob Ben after the ISL clinching set point vs. BB&N. And it’s what gives me a pit in my stomach the day after the last meeting of my Inquiry course—it’s because we have cared, because we were willing to invest of ourselves that it means so much. And that switch to the pronoun “we” is my last thing that I have learned and hope that you take with you—and that’s to encourage you to be a part of something larger than yourself. You heard the officer from West Point say it as he delivered Cam’s commission on Prize Day, and that is that there is no greater joy than being part of something larger than yourself. It requires you to think about things beyond your own self-interest. Yes, you make your contribution, but it keeps you from being blinded by your own sense of self-importance and binds your experience and your contribution together with others. In the process you care more about the whole than the part, and support each other in ways that are just not possible in individual pursuits. Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for individual achievement, and while there is no “I” in team there is an “I” in dedication and there is an “I” in work ethic. But all the glory you receive for your own actions pales in comparison to the
satisfaction of accomplishing something with others—it pales in comparison to knowing that your small contribution is a part of something far more important than yourself. For me, I have two things in my life that are larger than I, much more than my own small contribution, and they bring me more joy and more fulfillment than I could ever ask for. One is my family, but you don’t need to hear me wax poetic about my wife, Cate, and my children, Grace, Maggie, and Mack. But the other is actually working with all of you, being a part of this faculty, being a part of this school—contributing my part, significant in its own way, but so small in relation to the whole that is Belmont Hill School, so small in relation to the experience of all of you. And that’s why it’s usually pretty easy to show up to work each day with a smile on my face. And that’s why I’m so thankful, so honored to be here with you tonight and to play this small bit part in your final celebration. And with that…it’s time to wish you well as you go off to sail into the great sunset. On your way to the baths of all the western stars don’t forget to stay optimistic, don’t be afraid to care about things, and find something larger than yourself to contribute to and be a part of. I think it will make that next journey all the better. I’ll be in the audience tomorrow, waving on that metaphorical shoreline, watching your ship slowly disappear on the horizon. Please come back and tell me what it looks like beyond those western stars, beyond that sunset. And if, like students in one of my classes, you faded in and out of the last 15 minutes, just remember to do what’s in your heart, always stay humble and kind and things will work out for you just fine.
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COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS Address delivered by Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III on June 6, 2016
Thank you, Ben, for that kind introduction and for joining our team in Newton over the past few months. With commitment and compassion, you helped veterans secure the benefits they’ve earned and seniors access the health care they deserve. I am so grateful for the work you did on behalf of my constituents, and have no doubt you’ll excel in all of your future adventures. Thank you.
you have built the foundation from which they will grow and inspire others in the years to come—thank you.
Dr. Melvoin, thank you for the honor of inviting me here today, and for your commitment to both this school and the entire Belmont Hill community.
Finally—and most importantly—to the Class of 2016 and the family, friends, and fans here in the audience— congratulations!
To Director Bradley, and all of the teachers, advisors, administrators, employees, and volunteers at Belmont Hill: you have built the tight-knit home that has allowed these students to flourish. But more than that,
You know, the best way to get over pre-speech jitters is to tell yourself that it can’t go worse than the time you faced off on the line of scrimmage with a Belmont Hill
A beautiful day for Commencement on the chapel lawn.
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And there’s one teacher who deserves special recognition: Mr. Kirby, you have invested your time and energy into generations of students at Belmont Hill. Your career is interwoven with this school’s history and legacy. Congratulations on a well-earned retirement!
Commencement Speaker Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III.
Head of School Rick Melvoin and Board President Jon Biotti ’87 lead the Commencement procession.
defensive linesman and we lost by 50 points. Or when you happened to be the goalie on your varsity lacrosse team and you kept telling yourself it’s not your fault the ball went in so many times. It is, after all, a really big net.
people much more famous and impressive than me.
So the real lesson I have for you today is this: even if you lose badly enough to remember the score 20 years later, they might someday invite you back to give a big speech.
Graduates, I like to tell myself that I’m not terribly removed from the seats you sit in today. But recently, I’ve been forced to confront the fact that that’s probably no longer true.
Anyways. Graduates—you’re finally here! Hundreds of mornings broken up by milk and cookies, hours spent carving your panels, and one incredible talent show—I would take that Napoleon Dynamite dance over the bottle flip kid any day of the week—and now the only thing standing between you and that diploma is me.
When I was graduating, you couldn’t just yell Panda a few times and end up with the rap song of the year.
Don’t worry. You don’t have to be in Congress all that long to realize the golden rule of giving a good speech: get to the end quickly. So I’m going to keep this brief, and I know our graduates will thank me. The best part about giving a commencement speech in June is that almost all of the good advice has already been put out there. And thanks to the power of Google, you can quickly find numerous lists summarizing the best, smartest, funniest, and most creative words of wisdom from
The bad news is that all of the best pop culture jokes have been taken—doesn’t mean I can’t try though! Prepare yourselves.
The Curse of the Bambino was still very much alive. And AOL was still cool. So although my high school years might be a bit further removed than I like to admit, I am honored to be here. People aren’t exactly clamoring to host members of Congress these days. I’ll never forget a poll that came out shortly after I got elected—saying Congress was actually less popular than colonoscopies, traffic jams, and head lice. That was a really uplifting way to start the job. The numbers, of course, haven’t gotten much better over my three years in Washington. Fifty percent of the public sees our federal government as an immediate threat. www.belmonthill.org
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Students enjoy Commencement exercises.
Charles Richards ’20, Elisabeth Wilder, Jack Richards ’16, and faculty member Chris Richards.
When asked about confronting this country’s major challenges, 76 percent of Americans say they don’t think we can make any progress at all. And 83 percent of millennials says they have no faith whatsoever in Congress. [That one always hurts.] Now in most commencement speeches, this is where you get to the advice: don’t give in to that pessimism, be optimistic, be active, be engaged. And yes, you should be all of those things. But Belmont Hill has already taught you that. Instead, I want to challenge you to be more. To not just be part of another generation that grows up disappointed and disenchanted with the American system—but to lead the generation that once again proves what our country is capable of. You have clearly proven that you’re up for the job. Didier and Robert broadened their global horizons by leaving the comfort and security of Belmont Hill behind to study in France and China. Cam is just weeks from reporting to West Point to begin serving our country. Robert, Chip, DJ, Didier, Frank, Hartman, Ranjit, and Hendricks coordinated Diversity Day to demonstrate how tolerance, acceptance, and understanding can pave the way towards equality and lessen the burden for their peers. And many of you volunteered at Camp Starfish to help
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give children in need a summer they’ll never forget. Your accomplishments are impressive and expansive. Nonetheless—when you leave the comfort and confines of Belmont Hill and set off to make your mark on the world, you will meet a familiar challenge. Undoubtedly, one you’ve faced before. A disheartening tendency to doubt or dismiss the capacity of youth. I speak from some experience. As painful as my pop culture references may have been, I’m sure you’ve noticed I’m on the younger side of folks you generally see in elected office. When I first ran for office four years ago, it was a refrain I heard often: He’s too young. He’s a kid. He doesn’t have the experience. Now let me be clear. Experience matters. Wisdom accumulates. Time heals and age softens. In the years to come, you’ll make some really big mistakes, learn a thing or two, and gain more confidence, intuition, and understanding every day. But as the days and years pass, you’ll also lose something. Your youth—that particular mix of fearlessness, hopefulness, and inventiveness shining boldly and brightly in each of you today. And in a time of record pessimism, distrust, and lack of faith in the American system…it is those qualities your country needs.
My age was actually a big reason why I got involved in government and politics in the first place.
Your vote is your voice. And your youth? It’s your microphone.
Because I believe that the choices being made at home, across the country, and beyond our borders are going to have a profound effect on my generation—our generation.
This place—Belmont Hill—has given each of you a story. One defined by service, excellence, tenacity, and compassion.
Education. Gender equity. Health care. Civil rights. War and peace. Many of the people making decisions about these critical issues will be out of power long before their reforms take effect. In other words, they’re writing checks that you and I will have to pay; drafting a road map that you and I will have to navigate.
So what I ask of you today is that you take your microphone and amplify your story.
So if we want any say in the direction we are going, we need to fight for our seat at the table.
Use it to fight back against the narrative that our country’s best days are behind her. Raise your voice above the steady drumbeat of doubt and be part of a bigger, better, stronger story that proves those days are still to come. Youth has always been society’s secret weapon.
How? First—by voting. And not just for the obvious reasons. Because it matters (which it does), because elections have consequences (which they do).
Challenging us to confront our shortcomings, blow past our horizons, and question assumptions long accepted as true.
Vote because in this country, our ballot box was built to be the ultimate equalizer; the one place where every voice is heard.
Fifty years ago last week, a young Robert Kennedy was invited to South Africa by a group of students from the University of Cape Town.
Behind those curtains your vote counts just as much as your parents’ or grandparents’. No one can tell you you’re not old enough or experienced enough or wise enough to have a say.
There, in the midst of a country mired in apartheid, he told them that…
2016 graduates David Yellen, Ethan McIlhenny, Cam Connors, and Charlie Danziger.
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“A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and a 32-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal.” Today, I can add that it was a 34-year-old preacher who told us he had a dream and a 43-year-old President who asked what we could do for our country. It was a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Pakistan who wouldn’t let a Taliban bullet deny her pursuit of an education. And it was a 25-year-old heavyweight champion who gave up the prime of his career to force a resistant country to confront injustice, hatred, and violence. “This world demands the qualities of youth,” my grandfather continued. “Not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease… It is a revolutionary world we live in, and thus…young people who must take the lead.”
you’re too young to appreciate the big picture. Too inexperienced to effect real change. Too green to be a leader, too naïve to understand. When that happens, I hope that you will remember how you feel in this moment. That you will never forget what you accomplished in your years at Belmont Hill. That you will draw strength from the friends to your left and right, from the love of the parents behind you, and the support of your teachers before you. I hope you will remember the many men who have sat in these very same seats and the mark that they made after they walked across this stage. Most of all, I hope you will embrace any moment of doubt or disillusion as a chance to show a skeptical boss what you are made of, a preoccupied community what you can do, and a country in need of inspiration how bright her future may be. So hurry up! We’re counting on you. Congratulations, everyone. Thank you!
Graduates, there are few certainties in life, but I promise you that sometime in these next few years someone will use your age to make you feel small. They’ll say
Assistant Head of School Steve Armstrong with his family: Katie, Matt ’16, Jane, and Mike ’17.
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Timmy Brownell ’16, with his parents Bob ( faculty member) and Christina, and his sister, Becky.
Coaches’ Corner
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coaches’ corner
Alpine Skiing
Alpine Skiing STEPHEN FELDMAN, Head Coach The Alpine Ski team had a full roster this year, hauling more kids to Nashoba Valley for each practice than any other year in recent memory, certainly more than even the seniors had ever seen in their six-year tenure on the team. El Niño was not kind to us upon our return after winter break. Mount Nashoba saw snow totals far below those of yesteryear’s record-breaking winter, leaving the team with only one day of practice before our first race, and eventually costing the ISL two races due to rain delays and cancellations. While unfortunate, the team was no worse for the wear and carried out a relatively successful season in the slush and ruts. Our racing season started on unsure footing. With captain Will Cannistraro ’16 out with an illness that would leave him on the sidelines for the first month of competition and only a handful of returning skiers, the team looked to its talented newcomers to fill out much of the varsity lineup. Veteran brothers Harrison ’16 and Sam Rohrer ’18 led the Belmont Hill School pack for the first race and the three following it, but were tailed closely by Alexander Gannon ’20, Bobby Stevenish ’21, Danny Tsyvin ’18, and Jack Theberge ’21. In these giant slalom events, Belmont Hill beat the majority of the ISL
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field but was unable to capture a first place in any of its first four races. The season took a turn for the better when Will rejoined the team for the first slalom race of the season, during which the team captured its first and only victory of the season while captain Harrison Rohrer secured the first and only first place individual finish of his Belmont Hill skiing career. After a second place finish at the following week’s slalom race, the possibility of crawling out of our third place standing was still alive, but cancellations of the two remaining races in the season left our ambitions melting as fast as the snow. Near what would normally be the middle of the season but ended up being quite close to the end, the Alpine Ski team took seven boys up to Shawnee Peak in Maine for the NEPSAC Class A Championships. Amid a particularly talented field of rival racers, the team fought through with only minor hiccups and landed in the middle of the pack of 16 schools. Despite finishing in 7th, a relative low compared to recent finishes at the NEPSAC race, the memories created on this trip up North among seventh graders, seniors, and coaches alike will not soon be forgotten.
coaches’ corner
Basketball
Basketball AL MURPHY ’98, Head Coach The varsity basketball team had a successful season finishing 15–9 overall, 13–2 in ISL play. The team finished second in the ISL for the second year in a row, an impressive feat considering last year’s team graduated nine seniors. The team came every day to work but to have fun as well. It was an enjoyable group to coach. The team struggled to find consistency in December starting out 2–0 in League play but 4–5 overall. Three out of the five losses were to very talented teams including the top two seeds in the tournament, Exeter and Williston. Coming out of the break, the team dropped a tough League game to Milton, dropping our record to 4–6 overall. Over the next stretch of three games, the team found its groove and went 3–0 over Groton, BB&N, and Lawrence. All three victories were decisive; the team was led by captain David Mitchell ’18, Jovan Jones ’18, and captain Austin Masel ’16. Jake Haase ’18 played his best game against Lawrence. After dropping a game to Exeter, the team bounced back with a big win over St. Seb’s led by Kevin Michael Strong O’Boy ‘19 (22 points). During the month of February, the team would go 7–2, with big wins over Thayer, St. Mark’s, and Governor’s. Jones (34 points), Jake Bobo ’18 (19 points), and Mitchell (16 points) helped the team win in a shootout over St. Marks. At Thayer, the team finished the game on a 25–3 run to win 70–54. Versus Gov’s, the team was down six points with a minute to play. David Mitchell’s three-point play with 0.2 seconds on the clock gave the 57–56 win. Huge minutes and timely scoring by AJ DiFillipo ’16 helped keep us in the game. Masel and Bobo were voted All League Honorable Mention. Mitchell and Jones were voted All League. Mitchell was voted ISL Defensive Player of the Year. Jones was voted AllNew England and Mitchell was All-New England Honorable Mention. Thank you to the seniors, Johnny Hincks, AJ DiFillipo, and Austin Masel. You will be missed. Thank you to Travis Winston ’16, Matt Reppucci ’16, and Bhawramett Broehm ’16 for all of your help but more importantly your dedication. Thank you to Coach Martellini for all of your time and insight. Thank you to Mr. Doherty and Mr. Chin for your support of the team. Thank you to Mr. Negron and Mr. Wade for taking good care of the boys. Thank you to coaches Kimball, Anderson, Collins, Wade, Anderson, Davis, Brodie, Greer, and Sullivan for your continued good work.
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Hockey JEREMIAH McCARTHY ’94, Head Coach
The varsity hockey team had a successful season, finishing 18–9–6 and making the semifinals of the Large
Brunswick got the best of us in the opener, but wins over Hebron and St. Francis led to a semifinal matchup with
School tournament. This team was led by captains David Giunta ’16 (Lynnfield), Brian Matthews ’16 (Marshfield), and fellow seniors Matt Barrow ’16 (Newton), Eric Butte ’16 (Belmont), Cam Connors ’16 (Belmont), Ricky Cronin ’16 (Lexington), Christian Faggas ’16 (Watertown), and Michael Major ’16 (Topsfield).
Millbrook. Goals by Michael Major and Christian Faggas got Belmont Hill into OT. The game went to a shootout. Christian Faggas scored and Eric Butte got the winner to send the team to the championship game. The championship again went to overtime, tied 1–1, with Belmont Hill’s goal by Faggas (Butte). Brunswick again proved to be our nemesis, defeating us six minutes into overtime.
To start the ISL season, goalie Matt Barrow ’16 led the team to an OT home victory over Nobles. Misfortune struck the next game, with a Governor’s player falling on the leg of defenseman Cam Connors ’16, breaking his ankle and ending his season. Injury impacted this team: Ricky Cronin ’16 (mono in February), Kyle Maxwell ’17 (collarbone), and Peter O’Connell ’17 (elbow) all missed important games. The annual trip to Lawrenceville was a highlight. Despite dropping the opening game to Taft, the team rebounded with victories over Nichols and Northfield Mount Hermon. On the final day, Belmont Hill earned third place in OT, on a highlight reel goal by Peter O’Connell (Evan Daddario ’17 and Michael Armstrong ’17). The Nichols tournament was next, hosted at Belmont Hill.
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The return from holiday break began with a tie against Milton, a home win over St. Seb’s, and then disappointing ties with Governor’s, St. Mark’s, and St. Paul’s. The team regained form with signature victories over Brooks 1–0 (Major 1 g), Cushing 5–3 (goals from Jonathan Folsom ’17, Butte, Samuel Hesler ’17, Christian O’Neill ’17, and Major), and Lawrence 4–2 (Major 2 g, Hesler 1 g, and Maxwell 1 g). Losses to Rivers, St. Seb’s, Thayer, and Milton (all post-season tournament teams) put Belmont Hill on the outside looking in. However, four straight victories to close out the season returned the team to the postseason again. A 5–3 victory at Nobles was highlighted by a four-goal first period. The final home game, Senior Night vs. Tabor, had the
coaches’ corner
Hockey
Jordan Athletic Center rocking, with a full house. The Loop student cheering section led the rowdy celebration of the final home victory of the season 6–4, including four goals by seniors! Belmont Hill qualified for the Large School Tournament and made it to the semifinals, defeating Proctor 5–2 before falling at Westminster 4–2. Next year’s captains are Jonathan Folsom ’17, Samuel Hesler ’17, and Christian O’Neill ’17. They are joined by fellow classmates Michael Armstrong ’17, Evan Daddario ’17, Eric “Jack” Eselius ’17, Kyle Maxwell ’17, and Peter O’Connell ’17. Returning underclassmen are John Copeland ’18, Maxwell Fields ’18, Noah Traylor ’18, Connor Hopkins ’19, James Perullo ’19, and Robert Radochia ’19. Thanks for a great season to Coaches Kevin Fleming, Derek Metcalfe ’10, Ryan Flanigan, and Kevin Guiltinan. Special thanks goes to managers Maximillian Rudzinsky ’16, Jon Gosselin ’16, and Griffin Gustafsson ’16. Extra special thanks goes to everyone who supported the team, including faculty and staff, family and friends, The Loop, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Negron, and Mr. Wade and the cage staff, Mr. Doherty and Mr. Chin, and Keith Carey and the rink/Zamboni crew.
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coaches’ corner
Nordic Skiing
Nordic Skiing JARED COURTNEY ’97, Head Coach The 2015–16 Nordic Ski season was very much defined by the team’s response and resilience to the adverse conditions of the winter. With both a strong nucleus of returning skiers and some promising young skiers, the team hit the pavement of Cambridge and Concord and even the School’s campus for some early-season roller skiing. New to the team this year, this dry-land training acted to reinforce good ski technique—both freestyle and classic—and teach better form. Also new this season was a greater emphasis on the team’s membership in the Lakes Region League, which allowed for weekly races each Wednesday. The top skiers traveled North each week, while newer skiers raced public school competi-
results matched their freestyle results—something that has not typically happened in past years. Captain Will Weiter ’16 established himself as the early team leader, setting the pace for the team each race. Close behind him was a consistent pack of skiers, including Ben Pradko ’18, Cam Hall ’17, and co-captain Henry Swain ’16. Also gaining momentum and speed through the season were Quin McGaugh ’18, Charlie Donahue ’19, and Devon Anderson ’19. Anderson, a first-year skier, had a particularly strong finish at the St. Paul’s Sprints, finishing second overall on Belmont Hill’s team.
tion at Weston Ski track (where the team continued to train each day).
At the Lakes Region Championship held at Proctor, Will Weiter finished 14th out of 120 skiers; just three days later, at the NEPSAC Championship held at Gunstock Mountain, Weiter finished 18th while Henry Swain finished 25th out of the top 80 skiers in all of New England. To be sure, the team will miss those two captains and graduates Jack Richards, Will Galligan, Ethan McIlhenny, and James Collins. At the same time, the future is bright; congratulations to captains-elect Cam Hall and Ben Pradko.
While the team had to cancel its original training trip to Jackson, NH over Winter Break, we enjoyed skiing those trails a few weeks later, once the snow fell. While the race style and format varied by the week in the Lakes Region Races, lack of snow in New Hampshire and Vermont forced Proctor Academy to host most of the races. To be sure, skiers got to know that course quite well! The early-season training produced improved performances in all areas of the team, as individual skiers’ classic
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Entering the two-part championship season in late February, the team was poised for its best performances.
Squash BOB BROWNELL, Head Coach This year’s team earned an undefeated regular season without two of its premier players for the vast majority of the season—a truly outstanding accomplishment. The top teams in the ISL were quite strong this year, and our wins against St. George’s, Nobles, and Brooks demonstrated the resolve, depth, and talent of our team. We beat Chestnut Hill decisively at Nationals, and had a terrific win over Avon to finish third. The Chestnut Hill win in particular was as impressive a team performance as I have seen in my years at the helm. Our résumé for the year:
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undefeated ISL Champions for the eighth consecutive year;
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regular season record of 15–0;
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third place team High School Nationals;
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second place team New England Interscholastics and;
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Jackson Tournament champions.
Timmy Brownell finishes his six-year varsity career with a single loss in the ISL (and that was as a seventh grader!). A three-year captain, he is among the finest players in Belmont Hill’s illustrious history. We will miss
him terribly next year, but at least he will be close by at Harvard. Co-Captain Blake Gilbert-Bono finished his outstanding career as a finalist in New England at the #2 slot and performed brilliantly all season long, usually competing as our #1 during Timmy’s injury. Jack Bell ’18 won New England’s at #3 in an exhilarating five set final. He consistently played at a level well beyond his years and was instrumental in our success. We are thrilled at having him for two more seasons. Alexander Kurtin ’17 enjoyed a wonderful season and finished 5th in New England at a very demanding #4 draw. Alex clinched the Deerfield win for us, and he remains one of our best competitors. Like Timmy, James Bell ’17 was dearly missed because of injury for most of the season. He nonetheless was a vital part of our team. He won New England’s at #5 essentially on a leg and a half, a stunning accomplishment. We will count on James next year to continue his excellence. Thomas Wolpow ’16 overcame an early-season injury to finish as a New England finalist at #6. Thomas gutted out several crucial wins for us, including an epic clincher vs. Avon. Middlebury will be lucky to have such a wonderful teammate on their roster next year. JP Champa ’17 ran the table at #7 and was a New England finalist as well. His performance at High School Nationals was an inspiration to this coach.
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coaches’ corner
Squash
It usually takes more than the top seven to pull the wagon, and this year was no exception. Robert Williamson ’17 performed brilliantly for us at #6 and #7 for the bulk of the season. He was essential for our collective success, and the same could be said for rookie Doug Conigliaro ’21 who won EVERY match when he represented the varsity. I am truly grateful to Guillermo Moronta, our co-coach, and our parent group for their tremendous support all season. Most importantly, I thank the boys for their herculean effort. I shall remember this group fondly, and I sincerely hope the boys will look back upon this year’s season in the same light.
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coaches’ corner
Wrestling
Wrestling DON BRADLEY, Head Coach
Captained by Pete Tedesco ’16, Sean Rayment ’16, and DJ Demetri ’16, the varsity wrestling team enjoyed a “banner” season as it compiled a 21–0 record, winning the ISL, the Battle on the Bay Tournament, the Graves Kelsey Tournament at home, and the New England championship at Avon Old Farms. A talented mix of young and old, elite veterans, and promising newcomers was the key all season. Matthew Smith ’19 at 106, Colin Vallis ’19 at 152, Luca Pontone ’19 at 160, Shane Rockett ’19 at 182, and Mike Glauniger ’19 at 195 all made impressive debuts. Colin and Luca were both Graves Kelsey champions and placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively, at the New England Tournament. Matt placed in both as well, with a 4th and 7th. Seth Israel ’18 at 126 and Phil Conigliaro ’18 had standout seasons. Seth placed 2nd at the Graves and 4th at New England while Phil went on to win both as well as earn the “Outstanding Wrestler” award in New England. Newcomer Maahin Gulati ’18 battled to a 5th at 120 at the Graves and then passed the torch to Warren Cross ’17 who competed at the New England’s. Meanwhile Myron Richards ’18 held down the 220 lbs. weight class with
help from Nick Carroll ’18 and Henry Wyett ’18. Ryan Williams ’17 at 106, Henry Griffin ’17 at 132, and Will Ryan ’17 at 182 all placed at the Graves with Ryan winning, Henry taking third in overtime, and Will taking second while wrestling up a weight class at 195. At the New England’s, Ryan earned a 6th while Will battled back to take third in the tense final round. Alex Afeyan ’16 at 285 had a breakout season taking third at the Graves and sixth at New England’s. While every single point mattered in our 201–196.5 New England victory over Philips Exeter, Alex’s quarterfinal pin versus the Exeter heavyweight was one of the biggest wins all day. Veteran and versatile, Sean Rayment ’16 wrestled in four different weight classes this season and placed second at the Graves. For his unstinting effort and leadership, he shared the Gilbert S. Jordan Award for “Greatest Contribution” with fellow captain DJ Demetri ’16. DJ was in many ways the “voice” of the team, but he backed it up on the mat earning third in a weight class up at 182 at the Graves and a gutsy third place finish at 170 in the New England’s where he won one match in overtime and three others by two point margins. Finally,
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coaches’ corner
Wrestling
Pete Tedesco ’16 at 138 took first and the “Outstanding Wrestler” award at the Graves and first at New England’s. At the season’s end, Pete was voted by the ISL coaches to receive the Globe All-Scholastic Award. Over the course of his career, Pete was undefeated in ISL competition, won the Graves four times and the New England’s three times. At the National Prep Tournament in Lehigh Valley, the team led all New England teams as it placed 15th and Pete Tedesco repeated as All American for his third time and placed second overall. Phil Conigliaro ’18 became a two-time All American earning 7th. And to cap it all off,
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Coach Dave Leonardis was recognized at Lehigh University by the National Prep Wrestling Coaches association as the “Assistant Coach of the Year.” Next year’s team will be captained by Phil Conigliaro and Will Ryan. I close with great thanks to my fellow coaches, Dave Leonardis, Steve Kaplan, and Todd Davis; to all of our parents; and to all in the Athletic Department from George Tahan, to Ed Doherty, Dennis Chin, and Willis Negron.
Baseball MICHAEL GRANT, Head Coach
With 11 players lost to graduation and two key returners lost to season-ending injuries, the 2016 edition of Belmont Hill baseball certainly faced its share of challenges. But this resilient, young, and talented squad battled its way through some early struggles and by season’s end was one of the top squads in the League. When the season concluded, they found themselves in second place in the ISL, finishing the season by winning six of the last seven League games en route to a 10–5 League and 13–7 overall record. It certainly was a season defined by close games, with 14 of the team’s 20 games decided by three or fewer runs, and just two of the team’s losses decided by more than three runs. Thankfully, the squad won more than their fair share of those nail-biting contests, with key victories over League tri-champions Milton (2–1), traditional rival Nobles (2–0), and always competitive Rivers (3–1). Still, the highlight of the season came on the final day, where the team fought back from deficits of 4–1 and 5–4 to top BB&N in extra innings. In front of a large and vocal crowd and with two outs in the bottom of the 7th, Greg Katz ’16 lined a single to left, plating AJ DiFillipo ’16 and Evan Sleight ’19. With Chip Daley ’16 holding BB&N at bay in the 7th and 8th, the team once again rallied with three straight hits before Evan Sleight’s game-winning fielder’s choice clinched the victory and some 50 students stormed the field. With so many close games, pitching and defense were in high demand, and the team met that challenge with a team ERA of just 1.53 and 89 strikeouts to just 26 walks
and a .943 team fielding percentage. The staff was led by starters AJ DiFillipo (1.57 ERA), Sam Rohrer ’18 (1.02 ERA), and closer Chip Daley (1.31 ERA). On the defensive side, catcher Brendan Rocha ’17 was outstanding, and second basemen Robbie Cronin ’17 was errorless in League competition. After another successful season on a squad with talented players, Belmont Hill garnered much-deserved recognition from the ISL coaches. Three players were recognized as ISL 1st team All Conference: AJ DiFillipo, Brendan Rocha, and Robbie Cronin. Sam Rohrer was named All ISL 2nd team. In addition, AJ DiFillipo was named the ISL’s Offensive Player of the Year, the fourth straight year a Belmont Hill player has won one of the three much-coveted end-of-season ISL awards. The team also honored four players at our year-end Athletics Awards Chapel. Senior captain AJ DiFillipo was named the team’s MVP, and Brendan Rocha was recognized as the team’s Most Improved Baseball Player. In addition, Robbie Cronin won the Langdon Prouty Jr. Baserunning Trophy, while Chip Daley and Greg Katz were honored with the Henry B. Sawyer Sportsmanship Award. This talented senior class undoubtedly left its mark on Belmont Hill baseball, and should be commended for both its play and outstanding leadership, introducing so many new and young players to both the program and the Belmont Hill way of playing the game. We undoubtedly thank Alex Awad ’16, Brian Melly ’16, Austin Masel ’16, AJ DiFillipo, Chip Daley, and Greg Katz for all of their contributions to baseball at Belmont Hill.
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coaches’ corner
Crew
Crew CHRIS RICHARDS, Head Coach The 2016 Belmont Hill crew season was initially challenging but ultimately triumphant. Our racing season commenced with successive sweeps against Choate, Pomfret, Middlesex, CRLS, and BB&N. In the Bassett Cup on May 8th, the 2V4-5V4 dispatched their competition easily, while the 1V4 came up just shy (.3 sec) to a quick and determined Nobles crew. We then headed to Lake Cochituate for the Weston-Wayland Invitational Regatta, where we faced off against Groton, Deerfield, Bromfield, Wayland-Weston, St. Marks, Arlington-Belmont, and Nobles. The Belmont Hill crews raced exceptionally well and swept all five events—the 1V avenging its loss in the Bassett Cup four days earlier with an open-water margin—and thus entered mid-May with both speed and confidence. The team went on to dispatch Brooks, Groton, Choate, and St. Marks over the next two weeks (the only loss coming when the 2V4 fell narrowly to Choate), while the 3V8 and 4V8 continued to race strongly as well. The crews finished their “regular season” with a quite remarkable collective record against all the crews whom they raced of 93–3.
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Personal tragedy struck the family of a team member the week of the New England championships, and this had a profound impact on the boys and coaches alike. But the crews responded by racing with an even greater sense of determination and purpose, and on an extraordinary and emotional day, the 4V4, 3V4, and 2V4 all won their events at NEIRAs by huge margins. The 1V4 almost made it a sweep, but simply ran out of real estate as they were sprinting through a strong Deerfield crew, and came second by less than half a second. With three Golds and a Silver, the team scored 47 of a maximum possible 49 points, and we won our twelfth New England title since 2003. It was dedicated to Maggie Ryan. By virtue of its finish at NEIRAs, the 1V4 qualified for Youth Nationals, and had a strong couple of weeks of preparation. We had a brilliant, though ultimately heartbreaking regatta. After winning both our heat and semifinal, we led the grand final almost the entire way— but rowing aggressively and ahead by half a length with about 15 meters to go, we caught a couple of crabs in the rough conditions, slowing the boat almost to a stop, and crossed the line .098 seconds behind a crew from New
York. It was painful! The silver lining was that we defeated Deerfield by open water, avenging the NEIRA loss, and we did feel that we were the fastest crew on Lake Mercer that day. This exceptional boat finished the season with a collective record of 38–3, and those three losses were by a combined margin of less than 1.7 seconds. The post-season continued for two other Belmont Hill crews at Scholastic Nationals in Philadelphia. The 2V4, racing in the 1V4 event, took Bronze, while the JV8 (comprising all sophomores and juniors) sprinted from a length down to capture Gold—a terrific result for these
young crews, and one that bodes well for our future. We would not have achieved what we did this year without the leadership of our senior Captains Jens Odegard, Tommy Ruggles, and Chris Wilkins, or without the outstanding coaching of Steve George, Gregg Stone, Greer Dent, and Tobias MacDougal, who brought to the boathouse a knowledge of and passion for rowing that was truly extraordinary. Next year’s team will be led by Captains Bobby Jahrling ’17, Will Ryan ’17, and Patrick Shea ’17.
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coaches’ corner
Golf
Golf CHARLIE DOAR, Head Coach Several new faces filled the varsity golf roster this year, our top four players having graduated last spring and leaving us with many unknowns about the 2016 squad. But the void that they left allowed many young players to assume significant roles and test their games against strong ISL competition. No better example can be found than in Captain Charlie Greenwood ’16, who went from near the bottom of last year’s team to our top player this spring. At number one, Charlie competed against the strongest player from every school—most of whom will play in college—and earned six victories in our match play competition. As a group, we finished in the middle of the League but gained some valuable experience for the future. On May 23, our top five players traveled to Renaissance Golf Club in Haverhill to compete against 13 other ISL
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schools in the Kingman Tournament, an 18-hole strokeplay contest. Yielding some relatively high scores, the course played tough that day; however, we snuck up on a few teams and finished fourth overall. We were competitive throughout the year but found ourselves out of the upper echelon of the League. These growing pains and learning experiences should motivate us to compete for the League’s top honors in years to come. We will miss Charlie Greenwood’s leadership but wish him well as he heads off to Bucknell, where I hope he will be playing golf for the Bison before his time there is through. We appreciate former coach Patty Whitney and fellow golf junkie Ken Martin ’65 for their continued support of the program.
coaches’ corner
Lacrosse
Lacrosse TIM SULLIVAN, Head Coach
Finishing the season 14–1, the 2016 varsity lacrosse team successfully battled its way through a challenging ISL season, winning its second ISL Championship in a row, third in the last four years (2013, 2015, 2016) and 12th overall, the most of any school in the ISL. The team was led by a special and talented group of seniors: Matt Armstrong, Matty Glynn, Griffin Gustafsson, Johnny Hincks, Callen Morris, and Timmy Seibel whose contributions to the program go well beyond what they did on the field. The team started its season in exciting fashion beating Thayer Academy 7–6 after a pass from Christian O’Neill ’17 to Zach Geddes ’18 found the back of the net with eight seconds to play. Against Roxbury Latin, the team dominated every aspect of the game. Callen Morris ’16 won 80 percent of the face-offs with scoring prowess from Captain Johnny Hincks ’16 (6g, 2a), Jake Haase ’18 (2g, 5a), Christian O’Neill ’17(5g, 1a), Timmy Seibel ’16 (4a), and Griffin Gustafsson ’16 (3g, 1a). Belmont Hill secured a 16–7 victory. At 2–0, the team traveled to Governor’s Academy. Behind 6–2 late in the third quarter, a series of great defensive plays by Max Fields ’18, Cole Nagahama ’17, Zach Shpilner ’17, and Sam Hesler ’17 and outstanding face-off play by William Stonestreet ’17 keyed a 7–2 run for Belmont Hill as Gustafsson scored the game-winning goal with just seconds to play. The team improved to 5–0 with back-to-back 13–4 triumphs over St. Paul’s and Milton Academy. Against St. Sebastian’s, a back-and-forth game would come down to the last possession as the
defense and goalie Danny Hincks ’18 made a tremendous stand as time expired to preserve an 11–10 victory. Victories over St. Mark’s, Lawrence Academy, and St. George’s by a combined score of 42–15 pushed the team’s record to 9–0. Against Nobles, the team found itself down by one with just seconds to play. A goal by O’Neill off a pass from Seibel with 45 seconds remaining would send the game into overtime, where Seibel would net the game winner. On a beautiful Saturday during Alumni Weekend, the team faced off against Rivers. A comeback by the team would give them a 7–5 lead late in the game, but Rivers prevailed 8–7 in overtime setting up a three-way tie for 1st place. The team responded to this feat with a fury, finishing the season 4–0 with victories over Groton, Middlesex, Brooks, and BB&N, outscoring their opponents 57–13. Late season losses by Rivers, Nobles, and Governor’s gave Belmont Hill sole possession of first place in the ISL to finish the season. Johnny Hincks was awarded the Lacrosse Alumni MVP Award and was also named All-American by the ISL. Seibel and Matt Armstrong earned Team MIP. Matty Glynn earned the Henry B. Sawyer Sportsmanship Award. Hincks, Haase, Stonestreet, Geddes, Danny Hincks, and Fields were named All League. O’Neill, Seibel, Gustafsson, and Nagahama received All League Honorable Mention. Next year’s captains, Zach Geddes, Cole Nagahama, and William Stonestreet—as well as a strong nucleus of 17 letter winners—will lead the team in 2017. www.belmonthill.org
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Sailing CHRISTOPHER ZAMORE, Head Coach With 13 sailors, the sailing team started the season by purchasing a laser to make sure that our larger number could all get out on the water. With the ice out early, we also could rig the boats and begin practicing before spring vacation for the first time in our tenure on Mystic Lake. We started out strong with a victory over Dover Sherborn and then went on to beat Tabor Academy in a close home match. We fell short of our goal of qualifying for the New England Finals in fleet racing by one place but kept a strong series of team races rolling, eventually beating local rivals Manchester, Marblehead, and St. John’s and losing only to St. George’s which went on to win the National Team Race Championships with a perfect score. Our overall record in team racing was eight wins and one loss, and we ended the season with two second-place finishes, one out of 17 schools at the Downeast Championships at Maine Maritime Academy and the other out
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of a field of 27 schools at the Mass State Championships at MIT. James Collins ’16 and Jake Whitney ’17 won A Fleet top honors in that series. Sailing in B Fleet in all regattas, Jack Murphy ’18 and Ryan Goldstein ’18 continued to pick up speed and excellent starting strategies. Lucas Jurgensen ’16 and Stephen Pellegrino ’19 alternated in skippering our 3rd boat in team racing, with James Eysenbach ’19, Francis Selldorff ’19, Ned Whelan ’19, Michael Wade ’19, and Peter Wade ’19 also crewing. Newcomers Bennett Rush ’17 and Ben London ’17 also served as heavy air crews throughout the season. While the team loses its senior captains James Collins and Lucas Jurgensen, we will welcome back a broad field of talent in what promises to continue to be a very strong team. As always, thanks go to Coach Zach Orlov for taking time off from his work to help us with tactics and strategy and to the Winchester Boat Club, which continues to provide an excellent base for our team.
coaches’ corner
Tennis
Tennis KATIE McNAMARA, Head Coach This spring, the varsity tennis team completed an undefeated ISL Championship season and a second place finish in the New England Prep School Team Tournament. Seniors led the way with their incredible leadership. Captains Ben Lebowitz ’16 and Charlie Danziger ’16 brought tons of energy to the courts each day. Lebowitz received ISL All League Honors for his accomplishments at number one singles and doubles, while his partner, Jack Ablon ’17, also made the ISL All Star Team for his play at number two singles. Newcomer Daniel Tsyvin ’18 played outstanding at third singles and partnered with Nico Valette ’16 to dominate the ISL in third doubles. Valette was an ISL
All League Honorable Mention selection for his play at six singles along with Danziger who only lost two sets all season at the fourth spot. Danziger partnered with John Paul Champa ’17 at second doubles, while Champa was one of the best in the League at five singles. Although it will not be easy to replace Lebowitz, Danziger, and Valette in the starting lineup, our roster includes two of the best in the League in Andrew Lee ’20 and Matthew Drucker ’20 along with Scott Jackson ’17 and Jack Daley ’17, who are more than ready to take on the challenge. Good luck to the seniors heading off to Williams, Yale, and Bowdoin next year.
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Track FRAN KIRBY, Head Coach
The Belmont Hill track team started out with many unknowns. Blessed with strong returning talent with the likes of Frank McField ’16 in the sprints and James Feinberg ’17 and Nate Miller ’17 in the throws, we had a lot of holes to fill after so many skilled seniors graduated last spring. However, it soon became apparent that newcomers like Isaiah Collins ’18 and Evan Ricci ’17 would help immensely in the sprinting and hurdling events. Both went on to score valuable points in the two championship meets at the end of the season. Evan was a huge surprise as he finished the season with two second-place finishes in the high and intermediate hurdling events in the New England Championship Meet at Tabor Academy. This is probably the best performance by a newcomer in a championship meet since the likes of Ian Meyer ’13 and Taylor Shortsleeve ’11. Jamie Feinberg was a consistent first-place finisher in the dual meets, and he came up big in the ISTA and New England Championship meets by winning the discus throw on both occasions. His throw of 150'4" is the second best in Belmont Hill track history behind Lucas Ribeiro ’15. The team finished the season 14–1 and took second place by a very skinny margin to Milton in the ISTA meet. We
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finished the season winning the New England Championships, our third championship in a row and tenth in the last 14 years. This could not have been possible without the coaching of Adam Harder, Larry Anam, Arianna Vailas, and Warren Fowler.
corporation news
CORPORATION DINNER As part of the Corporation Dinner meeting, the School was pleased to name its first three honorary trustees: Bill Byrnes ’40, Jack Connors, and John Pike ’49. These three represent: •
the core values and beliefs that have sustained the School through the decades;
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a vision for the future that, in its boldness, has given us the will and spirit and confidence to forge ahead, and;
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the integrity and moral compass that keep us on the right path.
Head of School Rick Melvoin, Randy Byrnes ’65 (accepting on behalf of his father Bill ’40), John Pike ’49, and Jack Connors.
2015–2016 COMMITTEE ON TRUSTEES Ruthanne Fuller, Chair
Danielle Heard
Jon Biotti ’87
Jason Hurd ’90
John Connors ’85
Emmett Lyne ’77
Marsha Feinberg
Rick Melvoin
John Grady ’66
Tagg Romney ’88
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Meredith Hall
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Sean Rockett ’85, Emmett Lyne ’77, and Joe Curtin ’80.
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Lotlene Forde, Garrett Hatton ’05, and Junior Forde.
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Danielle Heard and A.T. Desta.
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The popular and talented Brandenburg Trio (Armin Thomas ’17, Andrew Kaneb ’17, and Didier Lucceus ’16) performed a selection from Beethoven for the members of the Corporation.
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corporation news
trustees
RUTHANNE FULLER, Committee on Trustees Chair
KIRK D. McKEOWN ’95 Kirk is a managing director at Point 72 Asset Management. He is a member of the Belmont Hill Class of 1995 and the Class of 2000 of Harvard College, where he majored in American Literature and English. In 2005, he earned his M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a former Belmont Hill class agent and reunion committee member, and was elected to the Belmont Hill Corporation in 2010. Kirk also serves on the board of directors of both the Harlem RBI, which provides opportunities for inner-city youth, and Person-To-Person, a Connecticut-based community supported agency that gives emergency assistance to individuals and families as they move toward stability. He lives in Riverside, CT with his wife, Rebecca, and their three daughters. His brothers, Craig and Peter, are Belmont Hill graduates in the Classes of 1997 and 2003, respectively, and his mother, Betty McKeown, was elected to the Corporation in 2003. MARGARET M. WADE Margaret serves on the Developmental Medicine Center Philanthropic Advisory Board at Children’s Hospital and on the Museum of Science Women in Science and Engineering Committee. From 2006 to 2013, she was a board member of Families First, an independent nonprofit agency dedicated to strengthening families and supporting parents. Margaret and her husband, Jim, live in Winchester. They are parents of twins, Michael and Peter, of the Belmont Hill Class of 2019. Their son, James, and daughter, Ellie, attend Belmont Day School. A trustee at Belmont Day since 2008, Margaret currently chairs the School’s capital campaign. She is a 1986 graduate of Fairfield University. DAVID B. WILKINS At Harvard Law School, David is the Lester Kissel Professor of Law, vice dean for Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession, and faculty director of the Center on the Legal Profession. He graduated from Harvard College in 1977 and Harvard Law School in 1980. Upon graduation, David served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. David then clerked for United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall from 1981 to 1982. David is co-founder and co-director of the Research Group on Legal Diversity, serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Professions and Organizations, and works as an advisory board member of Verdentum India as well as SingleStop USA. In 2014, David was the keynote speaker at Belmont Hill’s annual Multicultural Alumni Partnership dinner. He lives in Cambridge with his wife, Ann Marie, and his son, Brian, a member of the Belmont Hill Class of 2020.
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corporation
DAVID A. ANTONELLI JR. ’06 After graduating from Belmont Hill, Dave went on to Tufts University where he played hockey and served as captain during the 2009 and 2010 seasons. He currently works as an equity trader at Fidelity Investments. Dave and his wife, Katey, live in Wellesley and recently welcomed a daughter, Ryan. Dave’s brother, Brian, is a member of Belmont Hill’s Class of 2018. Dave is a class agent and a member of his reunion committee, and has served as chair of Young and Recent Alumni at Belmont Hill.
DAVID C. BORDEAU ’96 Dave is currently a managing director at Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm. He graduated with a B.A. in economics in 2000 from Princeton University, where he was also captain of the heavyweight rowing team. In 2006, he earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Dave lives in Weston with his wife, Cassie, and their sons, Henry and Andrew. He is the brother of Jon ’92 and Topher ’94 and has served as class agent and as a member of his reunion committee.
ATAKELTI H. DESTA ’05 Atakelti, known here on campus as A.T., is a 2009 graduate of Boston College, where he earned a B.A. in history. In 2011, he received an M.Ed. in Secondary Education, History from BC. A.T. graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Law with a J.D. in May. He lives in Boston and joined the law firm of Rich May as an associate upon graduation. A.T. is a co-director of Belmont Hill’s Multicultural Alumni Partnership. He is also a public relations officer for the Kilte-Awlaelo Schools Development Association (KASDA-Ethiopia). His brother, Agazi, is a member of the Belmont Hill Class of 2011.
MARK D. FULLER ’06 After Belmont Hill, Mark went on to Harvard College, where he studied history and rowed crew. Mark currently resides in Boston. After serving as the finance director for Charlie Baker’s gubernatorial campaign, he is now the chief of staff to the Chief Administrator of the MBTA. Mark is a class agent and a reunion committee member. His identical twin, Chris, is a member of the Class of 2006, and his brother, David, of the Class of 2009.
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corporation news
MEREDITH M. HALL Meredith was the 2015–2016 president of the Parents’ Council at Belmont Hill. She is a 1988 graduate of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and is currently a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. Meredith is a past chairman and current member of the Milton Historical Commission, a member of the Milton Partnership for Arts and Cultural Enrichment, past president of the Milton Garden Club, and a founding member and past board chair of the Centre School Preschool. Meredith lives in Milton with her husband, David; daughters, Katherine and Elizabeth; and son, Parker, of the Belmont Hill Class of 2016. DAVID J. HARRIS David is the managing director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. He is also a lecturer at Harvard Law School. Widely regarded as a leading voice for civil rights in the Boston area, he is a 1977 graduate of Georgetown University, and earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard in 1994. David lives in Medford with his wife, Janet Walton, and their son, Quentin, from Belmont Hill’s Class of 2018. He and Janet co-chair the Parents Fostering Diversity Committee at the School. SEAN E. ROCKETT ’85 A Harvard graduate in the Class of 1989, Sean went on to earn his M.D. from Tufts in 1993. He is an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine. Sean lives in Newton with his wife, Ronda; his daughter, Barbara; and his sons, Shane and Casey, from Belmont Hill’s Classes of 2019 and 2021, respectively. He is the orthopedic consultant on the Medical Advisory Board for CrossFit and is a consultant to GE Healthcare. An author of award-winning research on the anterior cruciate ligament and the meniscus, Sean also has been a valuable asset as team physician for the athletics program and trainers at Belmont Hill since 1999. DANIEL E. RONAN ’94 Dan is a past recipient of Belmont Hill’s Milton L. Dodge Prize. A 1999 graduate of Boston University, he earned his J.D. from Boston University in 2005. Dan served as co-captain of the BU men’s ice hockey team and followed with a three-year career as a professional hockey player. He currently is a senior director at BNY Mellon Wealth Management. Dan is a class agent and serves on his reunion committee. His brothers, Craig and Matt, are also Belmont Hill alumni in the Classes of 2006 and 2009, respectively. Dan lives in Winchester with his wife, Christina, and children, Jack and Patricia. He is a trustee for the Travis Roy Foundation, and also runs a charity hockey event, the Charity Beanpot Challenge, in support of the Travis Roy Foundation and the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation. In addition, he serves on the advisory board of the Boys and Girls Club of Chelsea.
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trustee recognition
JON BIOTTI ’87, President of the Board of Trustees NAOMI ABERLY I would like to thank Naomi for her dedicated work for our school. Naomi was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2012 and has been a thoughtful participant for these past five years. She has served the School on the Development Committee of the Board and on the Parents Fund committee, in addition to her involvement as a parent here. Ever supportive of Belmont Hill’s development initiatives, Naomi and her husband, Larry Lebowitz, hosted a lovely evening at their home in Boston as part of the School’s capital giving program. Naomi has always been a stellar supporter of the boys’ community service efforts—particularly the turkey drive. Most recently, Naomi was instrumental in securing our commencement speaker for this year, U.S. Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III. And, of course, we thank Naomi and Larry for entrusting Belmont Hill with the education of their son, Ben Lebowitz, Belmont Hill Class of 2016. MARLYN McGRATH Marlyn was elected to the Board in 1994, and we thank her for 22 years of extraordinary service. She has served on the Financial Aid Policy Committee of the Board and on the Committee on Trustees. Beyond her committee work, she has been a wise counsel to the entire Board and, as Rick Melvoin has noted many times, to the Head of School. Marlyn not only brought intelligence, experience, and wisdom, but also added great perspective to our discussions in her roles as director of admissions at Harvard and long-time trustee, and former board chair at Winsor. The old E.F. Hutton line comes to mind: “When Marlyn talks, people listen.” Her experience at Harvard is deep—not only in admissions, but also in her long service as a member of the Harvard community, which gives her broad understanding of schools as well as colleges. Her ties to Belmont Hill run deep as well—two brothers are graduates. She has been a great colleague on the Board whom we (certainly the Head) could call when a tricky issue arose—not on admissions cases, but rather on the broader issues of the day, from establishing fair disciplinary standards to curricular requirements. And beyond all that, she has shown a wonderful, abiding level of support for Belmont Hill.
MARC WOLPOW Marc was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2011, and we thank him for his six years of service to the School. He has served on the Finance Committee of the Board, and also has served on the Leadership Committee of the Parents Fund. Marc has made many constructive contributions to the School. As a member of the Finance Committee, he combined his strategic perspective with his wit and wisdom to provide thoughtful insights and make numerous recommendations that helped enable the committee to successfully develop annual budgets over the past several years and address myriad fiscal issues. He brought a keen eye to his trustee work, and his experience as a board member at the Park School and as a thoughtful observer of independent school life and culture has made him a valuable trustee throughout his years here. Marc has also been an advocate for strong philanthropic support of the School. In addition to his efforts on the Parents Fund, Marc and his wife, Robin, graciously hosted a reception for the Faculty Initiative at their home on Nantucket last summer. We also thank Marc and Robin for choosing Belmont Hill to educate their son, Thomas, Class of 2016.
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Alumni & Family Events
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alumni & family events
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vero beach, florida reception March 14, 2016 Hosted by Wendy and L.T. Hill 1.
Jim and Kimberly Formisano with Rick Melvoin.
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Barbara and Charles Gulino.
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LT, Wendy, and Harry Hill ’11 with Rick Melvoin.
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Cynthia and Truman Casner ’51 with Bruce and Gracia Dayton.
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Bob Plumb with Stephanie and Dick Solar ’57.
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alumni & family events
KATHARINE WRISLEY ATKINS COMMITTEE
(In Formation) Margy Dunn P ’10 Lynne Gaynor P ’04, ’06 Co-chairs Kathleen Buckley P ’13
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Susan Cohen P ’05 Julie Durbin P ’15 Lora Farkas P ’04, ’13
katharine wrisley atkins (kwa) women’s series
Anne Foley P ’99, ’01
May 3, 2016
Meredith Hall P ’16
An evening with nutritionists Courtney Little and Ashley Muse.
Betsy LeBlanc P ’03, ’08
Thuy Ha-Ngoc P ’00, ’06 Jill Hatton P ’05, ’14 Elena Loukas P ’07, ’12
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Susan Kelleher, Carolyn Swan, Wega Firenze, and Linda Tilden.
Leslie McCafferty P ’98, ’00, ’05
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Dee Shane and Lauren Johnson.
Mary Lou Monaco P ’82, ’83, ’86
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Marchele Layton, Ashley Layton, and Charlene Hopkins.
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Lynne Gaynor, Courtney Little, Ashley Muse, and Margy Dunn.
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Beth Girioni and Leslie Ouellette.
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Ann Neczypor and Debbie Downes.
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Diane Pink, Sally Miller, RoseMary Fuss, and Gigi Davos.
Bunny Melvoin
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Kathy Whelan P ’99, ’05 Simone Winston P ’10, ’16, ’20
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Ann Neczypor P ’04 Karen Pagliarulo P ’05
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Jayne Mundt P ’07, ’09, ’12
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The fall KWA event will be held on October 13 and will feature Diane MacManus Jensen, art collector and advisor as well as author of The Art of Collecting. Visit www.jensenfinearts.com and www.belmonthill.org/kwa for more information.
multicultural alumni partnership May 25, 2016 Alumni met for the MAP spring social on May 25 at the Boston Sail Loft. Seated: David Walker ’82, Caleb Collins ’93, Agazi Desta ’11, Geoff Sullivan ’11, and Marquis Jamison ’05. Standing: David Bright ’83, PJ Lee ’10, Emmett Lyne ’77, Max Shapiro ’93, Jason Hurd ’90, Field Yates ’05, Jamie Waters ’05, Will Forde ’05, Ford Curran ’95, and Emeka Ekwelum ’08.
alumni vs. varsity lacrosse game June 4, 2016
alumni on campus
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Peter Folan ’93 was a featured speaker for the Form VI Things You Should Know program, “College Transitions” on May 5.
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Art Gleason ’89 spoke to the School on May 20 on mapping and monitoring coral reefs using special scales that employ sensing. His talk was part of the Sherman Lecture series, named after longtime Belmont Hill math teacher Michael Sherman and made possible through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Edward Nalebuff and their son Barry ’76, who gave the lectureship in 1999 in appreciation of the School. Pictured are Rick Melvoin, Art Gleason, Marcia and Edward Nalebuff, and Mr. Sherman.
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The Landau Gallery was host to an exhibit by painter Max Mason ’71 in May. The paintings, on exhibit during Reunion Weekend, feature the artist’s favorite ballparks. Mason is pictured between paintings of Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park.
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Brian Shortsleeve ’91, the new chief administrator of the MBTA, spoke to the students on May 13 about working in civil service and the challenges facing the MBTA. Brian is pictured with Rick Melvoin.
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alumni reunion weekend
alumni reunion weekend | may 13 and 14, 2016
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Saturday, May 14, Mark Fuller ’06, Chris Fuller ’06, Doc Fast, Alex Fuller ’06, Chris Richards, and Christian Harrington ’06.
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George Seeley, Nate Hubbard ’71, and Mark Fuller ’71 at the Friday evening reception.
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Reunion guests on their way to their class dinners on Saturday evening, Scott Parrot ’91, Jamie Parrot, Brendan Monahan ’91, Abbey Monahan, Eddie Gallagher ’66, Susan Gallagher, Jennifer Morahan, and Tyler Spring ’91.
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Readers at the alumni and faculty memorial service, held on Saturday, Stephen Barton ’81, Wes Stephanian ’06, John Grady ’66, Bob Blacklow ’51, Rick Melvoin, and Jeff Hamilton ’01.
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Barron Gogolak, son of Lauren and Steve ’01, on the mini golf course set up in the Fritz Gymnasium during the Alumni Weekend family luncheon on Saturday.
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Alumni families and parents witnessed an exciting Belmont Hill varsity lacrosse game vs. Rivers.
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On Friday, following a campus tour, alumni were treated to a luncheon with Head of School Rick Melvoin. Pictured: student alumni ambassador Christian Dolan ’16, Walter Welch ’56, and Dick Spence ’56.
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Alumni toured the campus on Friday and dropped in on classes in progress.
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The Reunion Golf outing at Belmont Country Club. 2001 classmates, Rob Dunn, Mike Wolfson, Jeff Hamilton, Zach Page, Kevin Galvin, DJ Hynes, George Spilios, Andrew Cleary, and Jim Simcoke.
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2006 Classmates at the Saturday dinner, Chris Brown, Locksley Bryan, and Phil Landrum.
SAVE THE DATES FOR NEXT YEAR’S ALUMNI WEEKEND May 19 & 20, 2017
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Class Notes 60
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class notes
We would love to hear from you and share your latest news with your classmates. Please email your news and photos to the Alumni Office at alumni@belmonthill.org. Length and content are subject to editorial approval; some submissions will appear as excerpts. The deadline for submissions to the Winter Bulletin is February 1, 2017.
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75 TH REUNION
MAY 19 & 20, 2017
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70 TH REUNION
MAY 19 & 20, 2017
After teaching for 27 years at Tufts University, JIM TILLOTSON was honored as Professor Emeritus at the commencement ceremony in May 2016. Prior to his years at Tufts, he worked in both the chemical and food industries (DuPont, Ocean Spray) for 25 years after receiving his Ph.D. at MIT.
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1951 TRUMAN CASNER writes, “Belmont Hill School has played a very important role in my life and continues to do so, as I have a grandson there now. I started in 1943 in the fifth grade (Class B) with five classmates when the school was actively recruiting to make sure that it had enough students to remain viable. Several parents would roam the Belmont neighborhoods and if they saw a boy’s bicycle parked in the yard, they would ring the doorbell and urge the parents to send their son to the school. How times have changed! While many of my classmates went on to Harvard, I elected to go to Princeton, where my four years were both enjoyable and enlightening, particularly my junior and senior years spent at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. The three-year period that followed at Harvard Law School was the defining experience of my life. The study of law at Harvard and the associations with its faculty and other students proved to be very exciting and shaped my career. I transitioned from academe with a oneyear judicial clerkship with Chief Justice Raymond Wilkins of the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court before starting my 45-year career with Boston’s premier law firm, Ropes & Gray. I enjoyed a wide-ranging corporate law practice with emphasis in the later years on the financial services industry. I was involved for many years in the management of the firm, serving as chairman of the management committee for five years. I am pleased to say that the firm remains committed to the best traditions of the legal profession, and it was a great privilege to have practiced law with the outstanding partners and colleagues I had there. When I graduated from Princeton, I expected to spend at least some of my career in government service. I never followed up on the job offers that would have taken me away from Ropes & Gray and fulfilled this expectation. I am not at all remorseful about this but when you write a biography for a school reunion, you have to ask yourself why you didn’t do the things in life that you once wanted to do and had the opportunity to do. My only explanation is that I was very happy doing what I did, and the government service sector became increasingly less attractive as I got further away from the idealism of my college years. For my public
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Fez Morse ’40 attended the annual Corporation Dinner meeting in April.
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Grand Reunion Dinner – Saturday, May 14, 2016. Seated: Gail Rice, Anne Sullivan, and Sally Patrick. Standing: Alan Rice ’63, Jack Sullivan ’46, Ken Johnson ’52, and Gerry Patrick ’60.
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John Pike ’49 was inducted as an Honorary Trustee on April 21 at the Corporation Dinner. Pictured with three of his children, Sandy ’77, Sarah Isaacs, and Bill ’84.
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Class of 1951 Reunion Dinner, May 14, 2016. Seated: Howie Ulfelder, Janet Sisson, Burt Faulkner, and Cinnie Casner. Standing: Susie Ulfelder, Frank Scanlan, Bob Blacklow, Winifred Blacklow, and Truman Casner.
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class notes
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Bob Blacklow at Reunion Weekend, May 2016.
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Lil and Bill Taggart ’54 on vacation in Fiji.
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Donna and Doug Barnard ’56.
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Class of 1956 – 60th Reunion Dinner – Saturday, May 14, 2016. Front row: Dave Hawkins, Patricia Hawkins, Carol Miner, Ken Miner, Dick Spence, and Walt Welch. Second row: Bruce Denny-Brown, Marion Burke, Janice Beacham, Peter Beacham, and Jon Wilcox. Top: Peter Burke.
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service, I served on many charitable and nonprofit boards, including Belmont Hill’s, and participated in town government while continuing my law practice. I was blessed with 43 years of marriage to Betsy Lyons before she died of cancer in 1997. We first met through a blind date arranged by my school classmate, Ben Draper. Betsy and I raised three wonderful children, Richard ’76, Anne, and Abby, who have produced eight wonderful grandchildren. The old adage that those who have been happily married are more likely to remarry after the death of their spouse has proved true for me. In 1999, I married Cynthia Ferris Evans, also recently widowed, who has a daughter, Katharine West, and two grandchildren. I am very fortunate to have Cinnie and her family to share the retirement years. Cinnie and I make our primary home in Vero Beach, Florida, and spend our summers in Nonquitt, a delightful summer community in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. We also spend about a month each summer
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cruising on my 40-foot yawl, Astral, which I have owned since 1972. From 1994 to 2004 I kept Astral in Europe, where I enjoyed the unmatched cruising grounds of Ireland, Scotland, Norway, and Sweden. Fortunately, I sail better than I play golf (my other current sporting pastime). Otherwise, I would have drowned years ago.”
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65 TH REUNION MAY 19 & 20, 2017
1954 HANK CHILDS writes from The Villages in Florida: “I’m absorbed by the looming political battle royal for our next president. On the one hand, an extremely successful if crass businessman and Capitol Hill outsider not owned by special interests and corrupt alliances—on the other hand, a pathologically power-hungry politician with an ugly and felonious track record. We’re certainly living
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under the old Chinese curse: ‘May you live in interesting times.’ I hope and pray that the electorate will vote in whoever is genuinely best for our country rather than any given party! Our national problems should now far outweigh partisan politics!”
1956 DOUG BARNARD writes, “Donna and I are now residents of Naples, Florida. We summer in New Hampshire but enjoy Naples in the winter. We move to a retirement community next month and hope to enjoy many more years in this atmosphere. Because of this move, we are unable to attend the reunion. I look back on my days at Belmont Hill as a time that helped shape my life, and I am grateful to the school for its guidance. It takes many years to begin to appreciate the true value of the education young people receive at Belmont Hill, but it is invaluable. Keep up the good work and continue to help and guide the boys who are
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fortunate enough to attend this unique and wonderful school.” PETER BEACHAM writes, “As the ominous number 80 is fast approaching, it seems like a perfect time to look back and reflect on a full, wonderful, and satisfying life. It all began on August 8, 1936, in Wayland, Massachusetts, where I spent a typical childhood, with Newton and Dover following. When I think of all the ‘deviltry’ that we young boys cooked up, I can only imagine the punishment we all would have received if those antics were performed today. Belmont Hill is where I learned so much about life, ethics, and ambition. As an aside, who in the Class of 1956 can forget that spring and the punishment that followed, a bit traumatic at the time, but an incredible learning experience. Fred Hamilton often said I was a late bloomer and that eventually I would turn out okay. The issue became a turning point in my life. Then it was on to Lehigh, where again, lots of typical college antics contributed to my growing years. Janice Mills of Rockport and I were married in 1963, and my love affair with Rockport began then. We lived a short while in Arlington, Winchester, and Topsfield, but the lure of the seashore kept drawing us to Rockport. We purchased a summer home there and eventually built our new home and moved there in 2000, not regretting a moment of it. Our two children, Peter Jr. and Debra, gave us our share of gray hair; however, they are adults now, very successful, and have given us five perfect grandchildren. Peter Jr. lives in Needham, and Debra is close by in Rockport. We are so lucky, and all the gray hairs have paid off. My working career started in 1960 as a salesman trainee with Peabody Office Furniture Co. in Boston, where I became senior vice
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Peter Beacham ’56.
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Bruce Denny-Brown ’56 and family visit Vietnam, December 2013.
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president. In 1986, I left and joined with five others to start a new company, Office Environments of New England, as executive vice president in charge of customer development. Office Environments grew rapidly to become the largest office furniture retailer in the country allowing me to retire at 59 years of age. A previous client’s request for furnishing his office with fine antiques led me to start a ‘side’ business, Woodbine Antiques, in 1976. It was a perfect opportunity to take an avocation and turn it into a vocation. Jan and I ran Woodbine as an ancillary business until I retired and then opened our shop in Rockport in 1994. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet some extra special people both in this country and England while traveling in pursuit of inventory. After 35 very successful years, we closed the business and still enjoy many of the people we met along the way. I have always been a firm believer in contributing to the community where one lives. Topsfield was the beginning of that pursuit where I was in a leadership role with the Boy Scouts and the Historical Society, founded the historical district, and was active in numerous town committees and our church. I also served as a board member of Hebron Academy in Maine for eight years, spending the last two as vice chairman. Both of our children graduated from Hebron as well as two of our grandchildren. Since moving permanently to Rockport in 1990, my interest in town affairs has continued. I am a past president of the Rockport Rotary Club and firmly believe in its principles of rotary “service above self.” Some of the town-appointed committees on which I have served are: building of the new police headquarters, town building committee, and the economic development
committee. Also, I helped reactivate Boy Scout Troop 20 and have served as president and director of the Rockport Chamber of Commerce. My personal pride was great when I began a movement to bring alcohol back to Rockport, which had been dry for 160 years. It was a huge achievement, and congratulatory notes were received from around the world from the many people who had visited Rockport and were dismayed when they couldn’t enjoy a sip or two while dining. I am currently involved with others in the community to ensure that Rockport continues to realize its full potential, capitalize on all its assets, and become a premier place for everyone who is fortunate enough to live or visit this spectacular place. Tennis is still a favorite sport and I play several times a week. Jan and I enjoy traveling and spending time with great friends and our wonderful family. Life does not get much better. Thanks to Belmont Hill for putting me on the right road to a happy and successful life way back in the 1950s.” From BRUCE DENNY-BROWN comes: “Following graduation in 1956, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the summer visiting family members in England and traveling in Europe, prior to starting my freshman year at Harvard. I graduated from Harvard in 1960, from McGill University Medical School in 1964, and shortly thereafter married Sheila Crocker (Mt. Holyoke ’63), and embarked upon an internship and residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. Following a two-year stint as a physician in the U.S. Army, the second of which was spent in Vietnam, I completed my residency and a fellowship in the subspecialty of infectious disease at Boston City Hospital in 1971 and then went into
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class notes
practice in Framingham, where I remained for three years before deciding to move to Maine in 1974. Sheila and I have three grown children, Douglas, who is a lawyer, and lives in Bedford, Massachusetts, with his wife and three kids; Leti, who was adopted from Vietnam, who is a school teacher and lives with her husband and two kids in Arizona; and Andrea, who is a professor of Medieval English at the University of California in Riverside and lives with her husband and adopted Vietnamese daughter in South Pasadena. In December of 2013, we traveled as a family of nine on a wonderful threeweek vacation back to Vietnam, including sampan trips in the Mekong Delta and on Ha Long Bay (see photo on previous page). Professionally, I restarted my own internal medical practice in Bangor, Maine, in 1974, utilizing both Eastern Maine Medical Center and St. Joseph’s Hospital, and added partners until we eventually had a group of six. I remained in Bangor until 2002 when I moved my practice to the smaller town of Ellsworth, Maine, to which I could easily commute from my home in Hancock, and remained in solo practice until retiring in
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2009. Since retirement, Sheila and I have continued to live in our home at Hancock Point, Maine, which is across Frenchman Bay and not far from Bar Harbor, and to be active in gardening, hiking, and reading, and involved in multiple volunteer and community organizations. We have also enjoyed traveling, including a 50th anniversary trip to England, Scotland, Denmark, and France in 2014. This past winter, we made the move during the winter months to Piper Shores, a ‘Lifecare’ community in Scarborough, Maine, where we are very happy, have been fortunate to remain well, and hope to live for many years longer.”
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MAY 19 & 20, 2017
CLAUDE WELCH temporarily pulled up stakes from his longtime Buffalo home in the spring semester of 2015. While the Northeast suffered one of the worst winters ever—the average Buffalo temperature in February was only 11 degrees—he and his wife Jeannette Ludwig taught at the Singapore Institute of Management. The University of Buffalo maintains a branch program there, enrolling 1,300 undergraduate students. Claude and Jeannette used the opportunity to travel to six other countries in Southeast Asia. Welch, who holds the rank of SUNY Distinguished Service Professor, will formally retire from full-time teaching in the fall of 2016. However, he plans to remain active on campus with research and part-time reading.
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60 TH REUNION
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1959 From New Orleans, NAT FLECK writes, “Thank goodness for the federal government! We have benefitted considerably from the FEMA money that followed hurricane Katrina. We have made necessary repairs and updates we could not have afforded ourselves. Nevertheless, we plan on not having a hurricane this season!!”
1960 A recent edition of the magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation featured an article about TONY BELLUSCHI and his father Pietro. Drawn by the opportunity to preserve one of his father Pietro’s greatest works, the Portland Art Museum, he and his wife moved to Portland three years ago. In downtown Portland, you can’t go far without coming upon a Pietro Belluschi connection. Other key Pietro Belluschi works include the 1948 Oregonian Building, 1950 Federal Reserve Bank Building, and the Equitable Building.
1961 This from PETER SEGAL: “In September 1961, I enrolled at Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin, a nice institution but located in the Midwest, which just was not for me. I entered Tufts College that next fall where I majored in sociology, very useful for both living in Washington, D.C. and representing a bunch of real estate firms. I graduated from Boston University
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Peter Segal ’61.
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Pat and Chris Egan ’58 at the Florida Reception in March.
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Jim MacMahon ’60. “Proof the Belmont Hill varsity letter sweater represents something of substance is this spring’s photo of a very functional sweater on its original model 58 years after its initial outing. We make no claims as to which is more functional (sweater or user), but still treasure the sweater as the best for cold weather, and we try to get active outdoors in Maine as often as possible.”
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Class of 1961 – 55th Reunion Dinner – Saturday, May 14, 2016. Front row: Peter Segal, Jeff Dorsey, Tom Lee, and Candy Carr. Second row: Hank Amon, Geoff Parker, Steve Carr, and Betsy Parker.
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David Eldridge ’66, Tom Lee ’61, Jim Andreson ’66, and John Grady ’66 during the 1961 and 1966 Class Reunion reception in the Prenatt Music Center.
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Law School in 1968 and went to work at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington. That was an interesting experience, and I met several Presidents, members of Congress, and cabinet members while there. In 1970, I joined a small D.C.-based real estate law firm. A few years later, I joined a two-person law firm with stellar clients, where I ultimately became the managing partner and helped grow the practice to some 35 lawyers. It was a great firm, and we were a very close group, unlike most law firms today. From there, I went on to bigger law firms in Washington while representing the trade association for the housing industry, a major residential mortgage lender, several banks, and commercial property developers in multiple jurisdictions. In 1971, I married Carole Williams, a native Washingtonian. After a career in politics and the Kennedy Center, Carole entered the children’s toy, book, and clothing business with stores in Washington and McLean, Virginia. She was also the president of the trade association for her industry. In 1975, Jonathan arrived.
After four terrific years at Duke, he joined CBS sports where he is a producer of NFL games, men’s college basketball, and in the past the Masters and U.S. Open tennis tournaments. Jonathan married Cynthia Russell, and they live in Chelsea in New York City with their French bulldog, Magnolia. My career as a commercial real estate lawyer presented some interesting and challenging transactions, not to mention the opportunity to work with leaders in the real estate and housing finance industry. I was inducted into the Housing Hall of Fame in recognition of my work in that industry. Also about that time, I served on the board of the National Committee for the Performing Arts at the John F. Kennedy Center and several other Washington-based industry groups and charities. Tired of working all the time, we decided in 2002 to spend more time in Vail, Colorado, to ski and enjoy the mountains in the summer. We now live there six months of the year with the balance of the year in New York City and Southampton, NY. Pretty great choices, we think! I have enjoyed hearing from or seeing periodically Messieurs
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ANNIS, AMON, ELWELL, CARR, and LEE and look forward to attending our reunion. Where has the time gone?”
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55 TH REUNION MAY 19 & 20, 2017
1965 From TOM AMON comes: “I’m pleased that GENERAL MARK MILLEY ’76 received the Alumni Award. I enjoyed seeing him at the Memorial Day celebration in Washington, D.C. on the PBS special.” Tom is a director and general counsel of HonorVet, an attorney practicing in New York City specializing in corporate and securities matters, and a U.S. Army veteran who has been active in supporting veterans’ groups and promoting veterans’ rights for over 40 years. In addition to his work for HonorVet, Tom sits on many corporate and not-for-profit boards. Tom is married, has three sons, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Class of 1966 50th Reunion – May 14, 2016. Front row: David Eldridge, Marcia Suttenberg, Jim Andreson, Sandra Andreson, Tom Dorrance, and Joe O’Leary. First Step: Paula Eldridge and Gary Suttenberg. Second Row: Steve Lane, Pam Lane, Nancy Johnson, El Johnson, Luke Griffin, and Jon Sheldon. Third Row: Carol Conover. Fourth Step: Kevin Kerr, Jon Joseph, Peg Joseph, Steve Hartz, Jan Lindsay-Hartz, John Grady, Ann Grady, and Dan Luria. Fourth row: Kathy Vicino, Carl Forziati, Ted Casselman, Meg Holt, Fred Poulin, Susan Gallagher, and Eddie Gallagher.
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Meg Holt and Ted Casselman ’66 at Reunion Weekend.
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Tim Cross ’66.
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1966 From TED CASSELMAN comes: “So, then, 50 years have slid by like a sackful of quarters emptied down a steel chute, although, admittedly, there have been many moments when it felt as if I was pushing boulders uphill. Overall, it’s been a good half-century for this kid. I remember once, at about 20, I imagined myself some 40-odd years down the line and I saw this: me in a comfortable apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with a beautiful and groovy wife. Mission accomplished. In the meantime, I spent about 10 years playing the drums, mostly in Harlem and its related precincts with soul bands (remember ‘soul music’?), and was thrilled to have gotten as close to being a professional jazz drummer in New York City as I was ever going to get, and having a lot of fun doing it. Then I spent another 10 gratifying years as a member of the Carpenters Union, which ended in 1994 after I contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome, which put me on permanent disability. From 1998 through 2008, I worked (part-time) at NYU in the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, followed by four years at a First
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Amendment outfit, and then I retired from the world of work. OK, so that leaves about 16 years unexplained, although, while many might look upon them as wasted hanging out, on good days I could regard them as having been spent on my own nonspecific spiritual quest. I learned a few things along the way: 1.
There are two types of people in the world: those who know they’re crazy and those who do not.
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Largely, the only stupid mistakes are the ones we repeat.
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Without strong unions, a robust middle class is neither achievable nor sustainable.
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In any given set of circumstances, the correct action is determined by subsequent events.
5.
When making a list, turn the pad over and start from the bottom of the page, tearing the list off at the end of the items; this saves paper.
6.
Without friends I might count for nothing.
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One must learn to accept the senseless.
If anybody asks me, I am contented.” TIM CROSS writes, “Since retiring from the National Science Foundation in 2013, I have stayed out of trouble, for the most part, doing volunteer work and reviving old hobbies in photography and woodworking. After Belmont Hill, I enjoyed four years at Harvard, where I ran a program that sent about 70 students into state prisons and county jails to teach courses, coach sports, and participate in various other activities. In one instance, a team of Harvard grad and un-
dergrad students took on an inmate team in a trivia competition, and got trounced. Who knew you could study for such things? Following boot camp, medic training, and a stint in the reserves, I got an M.A. in criminology at U. Cal Berkeley, motorcycled across the country, assisted Hill classmate Chet Atkins with his successful political campaign, drove a cab in Jackson, Mississippi, and worked at Walpole State Prison. At Walpole, my office was accessible to all inmates, and during the first year we had the highest per capita murder rate in the country, including the demise of the reputed Boston Strangler. It was an eye-opening experience overall. In 1975, I returned to northern California to get an M.B.A. at Stanford and spent my last semester at its campus in France. After four months of motorcycling and camping all over Europe, including behind the old Iron Curtain, I came back to the States and worked at the Justice Department in D.C. I was an organized crime specialist for several years and ended up as director of the policy analysis office in the criminal division. I then moved on to the State Department, where I was a division chief for five years in a program that did classified work involving intelligence coordination and crisis man-
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agement. It was a fascinating job, but since I wasn’t in the Foreign Service, my promotion potential was limited. When a former DOJ boss became the Inspector General at the Small Business Administration, he recruited me to set up a new unit in his office. I later transferred to the National Science Foundation, where I spent 12 years as the Deputy IG. In 1986 I married a charming Virginian who, until she retired last year, was head of marketing for a regional bank. She continues to handle special projects for the bank, but talks of full retirement soon. Our daughter graduated from Virginia Tech in 2010, worked for health-related nonprofits for several years, and currently is a senior account executive for an advertising agency in San Francisco. So we get to travel to the West Coast quite often. Since retiring as a fed, I have been working pro bono with the counter-terrorism unit in the local police department. Needless to say, the National Capital Region is a target-rich area, so it has been both challenging and busy. We are thankful for our good health and are enthusiastically working our way through a bucket list of travel adventures. We just wish that time would slow down a bit—the last 50+ years have passed much too quickly!”
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ANDY FRAZIER writes, “My first memory of Belmont Hill is the first day of school as a fifth grader. I walked up to the main steps of the Lower School building and was informed by several seventh graders that those were the Seventh Grade Steps and fifth and sixth graders were to use the side door. I sized up the situation and concluded that those were indeed the Seventh Grade Steps and vowed to become a seventh grader one day, which I did. One of my last memories of school was a senior seminar focused on economics and conducted by a retired businessman—I can’t remember his name, but I can picture him. The principal reading assignment was The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich von Hayek—a founder of the Austrian School of Economics, later made more friendly and popular by Milton Friedman. The book maintains (controversial) cult status today. (Seniors—look it up). I hope that a similarly business/economics-focused senior seminar is still offered. Perhaps Mitt Romney leads it. In between fifth grade and senior year, I received a solid core education provided by dedicated teachers, especially in the formative middle years. It has served me well. I also learned a lot during all of those years riding the Winchester bus—it served me well, too. After Belmont Hill I went to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. I had not seen ‘The Wire’ at that time and did not know that all cities were not like Boston and Cambridge. Nevertheless, JHU is a great school. The late 1960s were a memorable time to attend college. I managed to get through in four years, draw a high draft lottery number, and earn good enough grades to get into the business school at the University of Chicago. My time at Chicago was the era of peak Milton Friedman, and the School
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Andy Frazier ’66.
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Jack and Eileen Connors with John Grady ’66 at the annual Corporation Dinner in April.
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Fred Poulin ’66 with Rick Melvoin at the Alumni Weekend reception on May 13.
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Marcia and Gary Suttenberg ’66 at Reunion Weekend.
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class notes
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1.
Steve Hartz ’66.
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Dan Luria ’66 and family spent Thanksgiving in Daytona in 2015.
was crawling with current and future Nobel Laureates. It was a privilege to attend Chicago, especially then. Those few years left me with a lasting understanding of what makes the world go around. It is also where I met Nancy (schoolmate of Hillary at Wellesley), and we celebrate our 44th anniversary this June. After Chicago we headed to Wall Street. I spent 10 years going through the ranks at the NYC headquarters of a British merchant bank. Wall Street was in the Stone Age back then compared to today, but still pretty cool at the time. Nevertheless, after a decade, I did a U-turn and joined a client as CFO. My timing could have been better, as Wall Street was about to embark upon its greatest run ever—the Dow was 875 and the prime rate was 21 percent at the time. But it worked out great anyway. My new employer was a small Brazilian-owned U.S. insurance company specializing in risky commercial business such as hot air balloon operators and demolition contractors. The career move was risky, too, but with two little kids at home, working nearby was an attraction. Before long I was running the company and did so for a few decades. We had a great run, too, and we beat the Dow… handily. With better timing, I retired a few years ago. Today, I do a little board of director and private equity work, but not too much. We live in Palm Beach, Florida (the quiet end of the island—not The Donald part) and don’t miss northern winters. In the summer, we relocate to our beach house in Bay Head, NJ,
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just south of NYC where our now grown-up kids live. Life is good, and a solid grounding at Belmont Hill surely helped. Thanks.” STEVE HARTZ writes, “Although I have cut back my workload, I continue to be affiliated with Akerman LLP, now Florida’s largest law firm. I have been with the firm for more than 25 years and look back with pleasure at the achievements of my colleagues who took a small and relatively unknown firm and turned it into one of the nation’s largest law firms. The last 16 years have been challenging for me medically. I owe my life to God’s mercy and to cutting-edge medicine administered by dedicated and creative physicians. In the process of survival, I have come to learn the depth of kindness and compassion that exists unheralded in the world. My wife Jan has personified that kindness and compassion more than anyone and has given me more support and devotion than I could have possibly deserved. I am very grateful for the extra time I have had, and I have tried to use that time to expand my relationships with our extended family, especially the younger members who now are grown up and leading productive and interesting lives. Jan and I are blessed to live in locations of immense natural beauty. We spend a large part of our lives in Key Largo, Florida, an island community in the Florida Keys in which we have lived part time for 30 years. Several months a year, we take a break from the heat and hurricanes and live in a magnificent mountain rain forest in western
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North Carolina not far from Asheville. I have devoted a great deal of my last 16 years to the study of foreign languages, including French and Spanish. Recently, I have been renewing my boyhood interest in the Hebrew language and Jewish liturgy. I also continue my interest in Ham radio and enjoy talking with other Hams around the world. Our years at Belmont Hill were challenging in many ways. But our education was valuable. The school today is vastly improved in every way, thanks in no small measure to the extraordinary efforts of our classmates EDDIE GALLAGHER and JOHN GRADY. It fully deserves our support. I am looking forward to seeing many of you at our reunion, and to those who may not attend, please let me convey my warmest personal regards and thanks for being an important part of my life.” From STEVE LANE comes: “As I remember back to my years at Belmont Hill, it is the people that create the most vivid and positive memories. Certainly it is JOHN GRADY who has been the constant connection over many years. He was the glue for us in 1966 and remains that. Every time I speak with him, he is the one who has all the stories of what guys are doing now. He simply continues to be the positive caring person we saw back then. I think of Eddie, Luke, both Fishers, Joe H., Jon, RICHIE SILK, and RICHIE WALSH (‘I Fought the Law and the Law Won’). I can’t wait to hear Richie sing it one more time at the reunion. The loss of BILL ULFELDER and then Paul gave us all a reality check. After Belmont Hill, I had a great four years at UVM. I was lucky enough to play hockey and was privileged to be chairman of the senior class in 1970. Preparing to speak at graduation with all the issues of the Kent State tragedy was quite a learning experience. From UVM, I moved 30 miles north to St. Albans to coach hockey and teach English. I’m sure there are many at Belmont Hill who question my ability to do either. Coaching seemed to be a good fit for me, and I eventually moved on to the University of New Haven for 10 years and then five years at Choate. Finally, to youth hockey, as my son Bryan began to play. Most recently, I help with an autistic team in a program begun by Chris Drury. Many of my
former players claim my success came from the fact I kept moving to younger teams that didn’t realize how little I really knew about the game. Coaching and working with the players has been a great source of joy in my life. As former players call or stop by to relive the old stories, it is a great source of pride. It means a lot to me to have had a positive influence in their lives. I met my wife, Pam, early one morning in Boston as she cleaned my teeth. Certainly my best look is not with my mouth open, but 43 years later we are still best friends. We have four children; our youngest is a special girl we adopted when she was six. Now with four grandchildren and one more due in May, we have the task of spoiling them with love. Pam and I are very involved in our local church and have been for many years. In handling the difficulties of everyday family and business life, being part of a Bible-believing church has provided us with strength and guidance. Along the way I realized I could never support a family coaching, and I got into the property and casualty insurance business. For the past 35 years, I have concentrated on insurance for the construction industry. I owned an agency for several years and eventually sold to USI, a national brokerage firm. It has provided a good living and allowed me time to continue coaching. As spring approaches, I will be at Race Brook Country Club working on my game as often as possible. It will seem funny coming back after 50 years; but as soon as I see familiar faces, the time will fade and the good memories will all come back.” STEVE MACHEN writes, “After leaving the Hill in 1966, I spent an extremely formative summer in Peru doing volunteer work. I entered Lafayette College that fall—thanks in large measure to the good offices of Mr. Jenney—and decided, based upon my Latin American experiences, to major in Spanish. This, in turn, led to a year in Spain before graduation. Shortly after graduation in 1970, I married the love of my life, Meredith Ross, and we moved to New Mexico, where I completed a master’s and Ph.D. in Spanish literature and modern and classical Languages. In 1974, still short a dissertation, I accepted a position teaching Spanish at
a prep school in Santa Fe. I finished my dissertation and graduated in 1980 and in 1981 became assistant head of Santa Fe Prep, a position I held for seven years. During my tenure as assistant head, our daughter Beth arrived. (Now 31, she is a successful graphic designer and artistic director for a popular microbrewery in Boulder, Colorado.) I was named headmaster of Santa Fe Prep in 1988 and held that position until the fall of 1999, when I returned to the classroom, where I taught Spanish AP and literature classes until my retirement from teaching in 2012. In 2013–14, I returned to Santa Fe Prep as its archivist, charged with preparing materials for its fiftieth anniversary. Since then, I have returned with a passion to a long-held interest in woodworking and recently earned a certificate in fine woodworking. In addition to my hobby, I devote much of my time to my duties as board chair for a very fine living history museum, El Rancho de las Golondrinas, south of Santa Fe. Meredith and I enjoy traveling whenever we can. Recent destinations include Spain, Italy, England, Wales, Scotland, Norway, Vietnam, and Cambodia. When JOE HALLOWELL called a few weeks ago, I thought about how much I’d love to see my classmates, so if any of you find yourselves in the Santa Fe area, shoot me an email at stephen.machen@gmail.com! An interesting sidebar: In the summer of 2011, 45 years out from my graduation, my wife received a call from the Alumni Office. She was told that someone had called the office, asking if there was a graduate from 1966 with the initials SMM, and could he get in touch with this person about a find he had made. Belmont Hill, ever mindful of its graduates’ right to privacy, told the caller that they would get in touch with me with the caller’s information, and that I could choose whether or not to contact him. When Meredith called him, she learned that he had found a Belmont Hill ring that he was pretty sure was mine. Since I was in Costa Rica leading a student trip, Meredith emailed me to ask whether it was possible that someone on Cape Cod had my class ring. Seems this person belonged to a group that went out regularly with metal detectors
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Meredith and Steve Machen ’66 at Urquhart Castle, Scotland in 2011.
and tried to determine the history of any interesting items they (literally) dug up. The person whose find had the most interesting history would get his or her story published in the group’s monthly magazine. In June of 1966, soon after graduation, I had been in Yarmouth with some friends. When I was playing Frisbee in the surf, my newly minted class ring flew off my cold-water-shrunken finger and landed somewhere off the coast of Massachusetts. After repeatedly diving in the surf, I determined, reasonably, that there was no chance of finding it. With time my memory of the ring—which I had only had for a couple of months—faded. But, in 2011, forty-five years later, someone had found my ring under a foot of sand in South Yarmouth. I wrote back that, yes, I had lost my ring on the Cape, and that of course I would like it back if possible. Could we offer the finder a reward and the cost of sending the ring out to Santa Fe? The finder, Richard Brown, of South Yarmouth, would have nothing of that. He sent the ring out to Santa Fe, where it lives to tell its tale. Needless to say, Rick won the right to publish his story in the group’s magazine!” From Plano, Texas, DICK SPENCE writes, “After leaving the Hill and traveling with Buzz to Hamilton, where he tried to lead me astray, we finished college, and I immediately left the snow and ice of Hamilton with my wife and kids for the sunny climes of Florida for an M.B.A. My first job was with Chase Manhattan in NYC, then on to Gulf & Western as director of M&A, including EVP of Paramount Pictures, one of my acquisitions. I left there for a stint with Charlie Allen in the merchant banking group at Allen & Company and then to NJ Realty
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class notes
1.
The Class of 1967 will celebrate it’s 50th Reunion in 2017.
2.
Steve McConnell ’71.
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to spend four years in a major financial reorganization. Having become an expert in real estate finance, I joined a small real estate investment company in Dallas in 1980 as director of capital markets, and we built that into an $18 billion real estate investment company, only to watch it implode in the real estate collapse of the late eighties. I joined a local investment banking company in Dallas at that time and by 1992 had migrated to Hong Kong as director of private equity finance for international projects for a New York investment banking firm. I came back to Dallas in 1996, married my lovely wife and full-time companion, and settled down to a quiet life of financial consulting for small and emerging companies and real estate developers. I never plan to retire and love the work with my clients, financing companies, resorts, and other development projects. In the spring of 2000, I joined a small telecommunication equipment company in Dallas as their CFO, and now, some 16 years later, we have built this into a $500 million telecommunication equipment and support company with operations in the United States, Latin America, and Colombia. I also have continued to enjoy activities in the infrastructure land development finance business with a unique form of special assessment bonds and also continue to be
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active as director of finance for one of the most experienced resort advisory firms in the Caribbean. That allows opportunities for travel and visits at exciting resorts. Wynona and I have time to travel, play golf, and enjoy sailing when we can get away. It has been a wild ride with work from Europe to Asia over the years, but with great and exciting experiences. My kids are all grown, with 10 grandkids spread from Dallas to Virginia, but I get to see them as often as I can as many of them are here in the Dallas area. It is hard to imagine that 60 years have gone by, and I am still trying to find a 1956 Ford Crown Victoria that I can drive back to school, just like the old days. See you all there.” GARY SUTTENBERG writes: “Upon graduating from Columbia, after four remarkable and stimulating years in NYC in the late 1960s, I moved to Portland, Oregon, to be part of a revolutionary youth movement collective and to continue to work for civil rights and ending the war in Vietnam. Eventually, I launched a branch of an old Brooklyn family business bringing lox and smoked fish and Dr. Brown’s soda to the Pacific NW. I have maintained this distribution business for the last 35 years. For recreation and exercise, I have refereed high school basketball games for the past 30 years. I am married to Marcia, who is
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an artist, a dancer, and a now retired social worker and union negotiator. Between us, we have four children and five grandchildren. I love the Northwest and consider myself very fortunate to have discovered this part of our country. I am a Bernie supporter.”
1967
50TH REUNION MAY 19 & 20, 2017
1969 MARK CANCIAN writes, “Last year I retired from the government and joined a think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It is a great place to work. My areas are military forces and defense budgets. You get to write on a lot of interesting topics and don’t have your work reviewed by three levels before going out. It’s intellectually entrepreneurial as you try to engage in hot topics. You can also take a public role in security debates, so I participate in a lot of panels and engage with journalists. The downside is that you must chase study money.” CHRIS WOODCOCK writes from Northboro, MA, “I have reached Medicare age but am still working about 75 percent. A new puppy and three grandkids keep us busy.”
1971 STEVE MCCONNELL writes, “Forty-five years seems to have zipped by … memories include senior room ‘decorations,’ carving
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Class of 1971 – 45th Reunion Dinner – Saturday, May 14, 2016. Front row: Mark Fuller, Dave Wright, Max Mason, Zeeann Mason, and Carol Counihan. Second row: Lisbeth Moore, Julia Weeks, Sinclair Weeks, Scott St. Clair, Peter Johnson, Robert Samuelson, Doug Amsbary, Irene Amsbary, Trisha Pettit, Michael Schelzi, Tim Counihan, Robin Littlefield, and Jo Froman. Third row: Charlie Moore, Nate Hubbard, Kim Moody, Gordy Scannell, Hunt Willard, Leigh Hogan, Jeff Kopp, Phil Magnuson, Chris Greeley, Roger Stokey, Charlie Pettit, and Rick Littlefield.
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At his exhibit opening in the Landau Gallery on Friday, May 13, Max Mason ’71 (seated) with Classmates: Nate Hubbard, Tim Wood, Michael Schelzi, Dave Wright, Dan Dorian, and Ken Hintlian.
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On April 27, the Boston Red Sox crushed the Atlanta Braves 9–4 at Fenway Park, and 17 of the Class of 1973 were on hand to witness the victory. Front row: Alan Glickman, Tom Magno, Jim McGrath, Tony Starr. Second row: Andy Cadiff, Jon White, Don Rober, Clem Darling, Joe Guarnaccia, Jim Burnham, and Joe Knowles. Third row: Dave Farrell, Austy Lyne, Clint Furnald, Jim Stratton, Henry Emmet, and Jon Yozell.
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Doug Fuller ’76.
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my panel, the soccer and golf teams, Panel editorial nights, weekend excursions with Tim, milk and cookies in the morning, great teachers/coaches, such as Messrs. Fisher, Seeley, Thomas, Duncan, Jenney, and Walworth, the Vietnam War, the Red Sox, morning Chapel, the Winchester bus, and fun classmates. Over 30 years living in Arizona—Scottsdale today. The economy picking up after the Great Recession. Fun at Phoenix Golf Open and Super Bowl XLIX (attending Patriots victory—priceless). A new pro-business Governor and friend, Doug Ducey elected (good riddance to Jan Brewer). Hopefully moderates will replace the Tea Party in Arizona. I still try to run every day— knees cooperating so far. Career: Warburg, Pincus in NYC, venture capital. CEO of
45 TH REUNION MAY 19 & 20, 2017
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a public Canadian/U.S. real estate and energy company, 25 years of private equity investing through my firm, Solano Ventures. Still active in 30 portfolio companies. Hope to remain so for next several Reunions. Family: 32 years married to my best friend, Cathy. She still laughs at my bad jokes, doesn’t criticize my many shortcomings, is a rock star mom, and is smarter and much better looking than I am. Chris, age 29, graduates from M.B.A, program at George Washington University in D.C. and will start a financial consulting job this summer in NYC. Courtney, age 27, living the life in North Beach, San Francisco, working for a growing CRM software company. Thank you, Belmont Hill.”
1976 DOUG FULLER writes, “After graduating in 1976, I spent time traveling around the country, living for several years in Tucson, Arizona, before returning to Belmont, where I had grown up. It was after my return that, on a trip to New York, I discovered what has become my life’s dominant purpose: working with dogs. Although I had worked briefly at the Buddy Dog Humane Society in Sudbury, my work truly began when I became a volunteer at the famed American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA, founded in 1866 by Henry Bergh). The branch where I worked was in Harlem, and the dogs that were surrendered or rounded up in the area were challenging and often aggressive. After working at the
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ASPCA, I moved back to the Boston area and began volunteering at the MSPCA and subsequently at PARL (Providence Animal Rescue League). It has been many years since I began working at the MSPCA Boston Shelter. Over those years, the work that I have done with the dogs and the people that I have worked with and for constitute the happiest memories of my adult life. Each day was unique, and I knew there was no work that could have brought me such fulfillment. I found that I had the ability to calm dogs that were brought in to the shelter, those who had been surrendered or just abandoned. Many of these were aggressive or frightened after a period of abuse, and it took a special understanding to reach them. I found that I could do so and soon enough earned the
moniker, ‘The Dog Whisperer.’ It is not a cup of tea for everybody, but it works for me. I am hoping to check out Best Friends in Utah in the near future. Best wishes to all my classmates.” BOB PUOPOLO writes, “Other than the five years that I spent going to school in Boston and four years living and working in London, I’ve spent 30 of the 40 years since graduation living and working in New York City. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that my wife and I raised two sons in Manhattan. In fact, if you had told me in 1976 that after 40 years I’d not only still be living in Manhattan, but also would have raised two children there, I’d have said, ‘No way!! What moron would do that?’ Well, the answer is this moron. Having said that,
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my greatest accomplishment as a parent is that I gave my two sons excellent moral grounding—both boys (now 26 and 20, and on their way in life) root for all things Boston—Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, and Celtics (they drew the line at the Revolution). Can you imagine how hard that is living in New York? Professionally, I spent roughly 18 years in the corporate finance and merger and acquisition departments of various Wall Street investment banking firms. For the last 16 years, I’ve been in the private equity business focused on making investments in education and training related businesses. As such, I’ve visited a lot of K–12 schools, and seen all kinds of things, e.g., metal detectors to screen for guns and knives, decaying and decrepit buildings, students walking around either out of control or in a daze, and faculty and administration just going through the motions. With that perspective as well as the experience of educating two sons at all kinds of different schools in New York, I’ve developed a growing appreciation for the privilege of my Belmont Hill education. It wasn’t just Belmont Hill’s graceful and elegant buildings and manicured grounds (although those were great). It was the
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1976 Classmates Bob Puopolo and Mark Milley on February 20, 2016, when Milley received Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson Award, given to the alumnus of the undergraduate college whose achievements exemplify Woodrow Wilson’s memorable phrase, “Princeton in the nation’s service.”
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At the Alumni Weekend opening reception, 1976 classmates Bob Puopolo, Doug Weiner and Larry Diran.
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Class of 1976 – 40th Reunion Dinner – Saturday, May 14, 2016. Front row: Sara Hill, Janice Mirabassi, Bob Puopolo, Sheila Puopolo, Jay Wisentaner, Carla Fitzgerald, Fred Baddour, Leslie Noone, Rick Noone, Susan Perkins, David Needham, Connie Nardi, Jan Pierce, and Joanne Shaw. Second and third row: Maria Peavy, Dexter Peavy, Alastair Caperton, Chip Tarbell, Steve Bane, Elizabeth Hess, Tom Stratton, Ames Stevens, Larry Diran, Jamie Macmillan, Kevin Fitzgerald, Pete Fordham, Doug Weiner, Brad Smith, Steve Guarnaccia, Peter Kermond, Natasha Collins, Dennis Collins, George Nardi, Will Pierce, and Jim Shaw.
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Class of 1981 – 35th Reunion Dinner – Saturday, May 14, 2016. Front row: Phil Silverman, Brad Rosse, John Harding, Andrea Manter, Paula Barton, Steve Barton, Jonathan Hass, Clare Kaplan, David Kaplan, Scott Gieselman, Bonnie Zamparelli, Joe Zamparelli, Rico Corsetti, Katie Healey, and Steve Healey. Second row: Charlie Fox, Michelle Fox, Mark Buckley, Pam Price, Eric Price, Brad Johnson, Mia Gieselman, Diane Corsetti, Bill Cleary, Roberta Hing, Tom Derry, Kim Fields, and Warren Fields.
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Clare and David Kaplan ’81 at the 40th Reunion Dinner.
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Chris Cogswell ’81.
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Katie and Steve Healey ’81 at the Alumni Weekend Reception.
talented and passionate faculty that dedicated their lives to the intellectual, personal, and moral development of their students. And it was the exceptional young men from the Class of 1976 that I shared the experience with. I learned a lot from my classmates, and I’m continuing to learn from them. Between encouraging classmates to attend the dinner honoring MARK MILLEY with the receipt of Belmont Hill’s Distinguished Alumni Award as well as the 40th Reunion itself, I had so many great conversations and interactions with classmates—many of whom I didn’t know well, and now I know better. As I said, I continue to learn from the Class of 1976 and
am very much looking forward to when we meet again.”
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40 TH REUNION MAY 19 & 20, 2017
1981 CHRIS COGSWELL writes, “I regret that I will not be able to attend our 35th reunion—I will be out in the woods with over 100 freshman boys as part of my school’s backpacking project. Please know I will be thinking of you and hope to catch up with each of you at a later time.
Teaching continues to be both my vocation and avocation. Five years ago I changed schools and now teach at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, NJ. A recent 60 Minutes TV spot highlighted our community and the backpacking project in which I am involved. The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, a bestseller, does a particularly good job of describing the environment from which the majority of our students come, and I happen to teach biology in the same lab as Mr. Peace did before his death. As a hayseed at heart, Newark is the last place I ever thought I would end up, but I feel like I’m doing good work and making an impact on kids that
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need it. It is engaging work with interesting kids, and I don’t have to sit in an office. My non-work life is still skewed toward exercise and, more recently, learning to race vintage and historic cars. While not exactly relaxing, racing a Formula Ford does seem to be one of the only pursuits which takes my mind away from teaching. I find it immensely challenging and the people both interesting and good-hearted. Ferrari isn’t going to call me with an F1 seat any time soon, so I’m forced to sit in my car making engine sounds and pretending instead. I remain grateful for the experience of six years at Belmont Hill and beat myself up for not having kept in better contact. I remember you all fondly and wish you the very best.”
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35 TH REUNION
MAY 19 & 20, 2017
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30 TH REUNION
MAY 19 & 20, 2017
BRAD BATES, Head of School at Dublin School, was nominated by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation and selected to be an Arthur Vining Davis Fellow at the Aspen Ideas Festival this summer. The Festival defines itself as “the nation’s premier, public gathering place for leaders from around the globe and across many disciplines to engage in deep and inquisitive discussion of the ideas and issues that both shape our lives and challenge our times.”
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Thirty-five years apart. Mini-reunion of David Walker and Mark Finnerty with Michael Sherman. In the basketball picture David is holding the ball and Mark is to his left.
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John Connors ’85 with his parents, Jack and Eileen, at the Corporation Dinner.
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1986 Classmates Kathy and Jeff Jacobs with Phil and Toni-Ann Privitera at Reunion Weekend.
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Corin, Penryn, and Michael D’Orsi ’87 at the Alumni Weekend family luncheon.
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1989 Classmates: John Sarrouf, Art Gleason, Dan Rosenblatt, and John Carroll. Art was the featured speaker for the Sherman Lecture series in May.
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Class of 1986 – 30th Reunion Dinner – Saturday, May 14, 2016. Front row: Bob Leary, Paul Popeo, David Smith, David Forg, Al Salvato, Scott Krattenmaker, and Stephen Meade. Second row: Jim Stamatos, Sandra Driscoll, Mark Driscoll, Toni-Ann Privitera, Phil Privitera, Robyn Tice, Art Boland, Leslie Forg, Lisa Monaco, Chris Monaco, Karen Salvato, Chris Awtrey, Sloane Awtrey, Jeff Jacobs, Kathy Jacobs, Kim Smith, and Kelly Meade.
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Class of 1991 – 25th Reunion Dinner – Saturday, May 14, 2016. Front row: Carl Talmo, Therese Harte, Jessica Young, Jeff Young, Tyler Spring, Jay Fritz, Brian Shortsleeve, Kingsley Rooney, Heather Morrissey, Rebecca Martin, and Ken Martin. Second Row: Sean Harte, Melia Kula, Jason Kitayama, Tom Whelton, Jennifer Morahan, Carrie Adolph, Adeeva Fritz, Jon Adolph, Mike Ricciardelli, J.P. Paquin, Claire Paquin, Mark Rooney, Rob Morrissey, and Scott Parrot. Third Row: Mark DerKazarian, Chris Dahlberg, Mike Yunes, Alex Farivar, Charlie Rosenbrger, Kevin Davidson, Andrew Hack, Jamie Parrot, Abbey Monahan, and Brendan Monahan.
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The Parrots at the Alumni Weekend family luncheon: Jamie, Trevor, Tyler, and Scott ’91.
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Jason Kitayama ’91 and Emeka Ekwelum ’08 at the Alumni Weekend Reception.
1991 ANDREW HACK writes, “There is so much to say about my six years at Belmont Hill and the 25 years since graduation, but probably only two things that really matter. First, Dr. Hans Wachtmeister single-handedly transformed my academic career and subsequent professional life. By the time I walked into his biology class, it seemed pretty clear I was a kid with a unique talent for spending Saturday mornings in Howe and enough Cs to be shuffled aside as potentially smart but clearly undisciplined. Like many great teachers at Belmont Hill, he taught with passion and gave me a fair chance to show what I could do. When he pulled me aside after I got an A on the first quiz and said, ‘Andy, I know you haven’t always done well in your classes, but I believe in you. This is a fresh start, and I know you can be great at biology,’ he changed the trajectory of my life. As important as that singular moment was, he didn’t stop there. When I stuck with it and kept doing well, he stuck with me and gave me opportunities to develop
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independent study projects and to help out in the lab and with other classes. I went on to study and graduate with special honors in biology from the University of Chicago. I was admitted to medical school after two years of college and later was awarded a scholarship from the National Institutes of Health that paid for both my medical school education and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics and cell biology. I helped start a biotech company after finishing my M.D./Ph.D. and then went on to be an analyst and eventually a healthcare portfolio manager at a large hedge fund in New York. Finally, I am back in the Boston area again as CFO of a NASDAQlisted biotechnology company called Editas Medicine. Second, I am truly fortunate to be married to an amazing woman I met in medical school and to have two healthy and happy kids, Sophia, 12, and Eliot, 10. The lessons I learned in the classroom, on the fields, and from my friends at Belmont Hill continue to shape who I am today and how I raise my children. I can’t wait to be with my family on campus for reunion and to show
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them the school and people that had such a profound impact 25 years ago.” SEAN HARTE writes: “After graduation from Belmont Hill, I spent my first year of college at Boston College where I had a great year and met many lifelong friends. In the middle of that year, though, I decided to reapply to Harvard, where I had been waitlisted. I was accepted and spent the following three years enjoying Harvard and spending time with several Hill classmates. I graduated from Harvard in March of 1996 and headed to New York for my first job in finance at Lehman Brothers. It was at Lehman that I discovered the field of international equities, an area that I have spent the last 20 years in for a variety of firms. More importantly, it was at Lehman where I met the love of my life, Therese. She and I have now been married for 12 years and are blessed to have three wonderful children, Ellery, 9, Gwen, 7, and Sean, 5. They have kept us extremely busy and extremely happy over the last nine+ years. I hope that we will all find a way to make it up for the reunion as it has been a
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while since I have been to Belmont Hill.” ARI KATZ writes, “It’s hard to believe that 25 years have passed since I was last on campus. A lot has happened since my time at the Hill. In the interest of keeping the reader engaged and without rehashing every life event, let me give you some of the key highlights. After years of rules and regulations at Belmont Hill (courtesy of the late Mr. Goodband), I ventured to upstate New York for an incredible and memorable college experience at Syracuse University. For anyone who knows me well, I definitely bleed Orange to this day! They were some of the best years of my life as I loved the School, my friends, and the social experience. The bird was definitely let out of the cage. I enrolled in the Broadcast Journalism program at the prestigious S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. While at school I worked at the University student-run television and radio stations. It was a blast! I covered the Orange in all major sports and was on press row for football, basketball, and lacrosse games. I attended the Monday afternoon press conferences at Manley Field House and asked questions of the Syracuse coaches. As a bright-eyed young adult, the thrill of being a journalist was palpable. I graduated a semester early (magna cum laude, I might add) in December 1994 (saving my parents money after years of private school—it was the least I could do for them). Although I loved journalism, I was naïve at 21 years old to think that I could be a sportscaster in New York or Boston or any other major city. I didn’t want to go to the small towns and start my career as my friends did (Grand Junction, Colorado; Wichita, Kansas; Joplin, Missouri; Bangor, Maine—to name a few). So, I left the world of broadcasting and took a job
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The Rooney family: Linda, John, Mark ’91, Kingsley, and Carson at the Alumni Weekend family luncheon.
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Brian Shortsleeve, Andrew Hack, and Mark Rooney at the 1991 class dinner on May 14.
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with BayBank in Newton selling mortgages. I loved the thrill of the commission and selling things to people. It was energizing and exciting to make a deal. Here I was just a kid out of college doing mortgage transactions for sophisticated adults purchasing expensive real estate in the greater Boston area. Well, I must say I was pretty good at it because my bank account was getting big. Then out of nowhere some adult (and I truly can’t remember who it was) asked me if this was what I was going to do for the rest of my life. So, on a whim (and what changed my life forever I guess), I took the LSAT and went from making money to spending it on three years of law school at Georgetown (arch rival in sports of Syracuse—don’t worry my allegiance is to the ’Cuse). I am sure there are many lawyers out there from our class so I won’t say anything negative about the profession (and because my employer is a law firm!), but why I ever went to law school is still a question that I will have the rest of my life. Fortunately, I got out of the practice of law very quickly and got into my current role of recruiting lawyers to big law firms. I am the “in house” headhunter to the layman who doesn’t understand what I do. However, working for these highly sophisticated large law firms that employ nearly 1,000 attorneys is a real challenge, and my career has been a lot of fun. So, by accident I ended up doing something (recruiting) that I love and truly enjoy. I know a lot of people can’t say that about their jobs, so I am fortunate in that aspect. I have spent the past 16 years at two major law firms heading up the recruiting efforts to bring in lateral partners with books of business so we can grow our revenue and client base. I travel often (not to luxurious places) to our offices across our
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footprint, and I spend most of my day on the phone strategizing how to bring in top talent to our Firm. Well, that is the professional part of what I do today. As mentioned earlier, I started in Boston after college, but when I moved into recruiting for Bingham I moved to New York City, and fell in love with the place. I think New York is the best city in the world. The pace, the people, the energy are incredible. I am an avid Yankees, Rangers, and Giants fan. I must admit I don’t follow the Knicks (except for Melo since he brought the ’Cuse our National Championship in 2003). In New York I finally found my better half. It was December 2001 when I met Stacey at a bar on the Upper West Side. The ironic part is that I rarely went out on the West Side because I lived on the East Side. In any event, when I saw Stacey I was totally floored. It took a while for her to warm up to me. I guess I came on strong, but she finally relented and gave in! How lucky am I. We were married in April of 2003 in an ice storm in Albany (many of my Belmont Hill buddies were in attendance, including CHARLIE ROSENBERGER, STEVE STEPANIAN, and BRIAN SHORTSLEEVE). We settled in Westchester County and started our family. Today, we have three amazing kids. Zak is about to be 11, Hannah is 9, and Sophie is 7. We also lost a daughter so we endured the pain of losing a child, which is something that we have with us every day, but we rejoice in our kids and their lives. Along the way my hero, friend, and mentor—my dad—died from complications of Diabetes in 2000. Again, my Belmont Hill buddies (Chuck, Stip, and Brian) were there to comfort me during that dark time in my life. It is a life-changing experience to lose a parent (and a child), so it has shaped me in who I am today. My
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mom (the best mom in the world and the world’s greatest grandmother) moved to NYC to be closer to our family, and she has an incredible bond with my kids. It is very special to see that. In 2014, after over 15 years of working at Bingham, the company was having problems financially as well as losing a lot of partners to competitors. I saw the writing on the wall and started to look for other opportunities in my field. The thing is, there are only 200 of ‘us’ doing what I do across the country. Thus, the jobs are slim pickings as most people (like me) stay where they are and don’t move unless there is a reason. In my case, I wanted to get out before the doors closed (which they did in November 2014 for good). I was fortunate to be hired as the chief recruiting officer at Womble Carlyle, another top law firm. The only hitch was that we had to move from New York to Atlanta, where I was to be headquartered. We have been in Atlanta now for 18 months (as of this writing), and we are very happy here. We have made new friends but still root for our New York teams. Through the years, I have kept in touch with my core Hill friends as noted earlier (Chuck, Stip, and Brian), and I have heard about my classmates through them or through others. I am always proud to hear about my classmates and their accomplishments, whether they be professional or family
related. We share a common bond as alums. I won’t be back at our reunion so I wish everyone all the best. And one final note: I had incredible teachers at Belmont Hill. I was prepared for college and graduate school (and more importantly, life) because of the care, guidance, thoughtfulness, and work ethic that I learned at Belmont Hill. We started as boys and became men. I have many exceptional teachers to thank for that, including: Mr. MacLean, Mr. McAlpin, Mr. W. (I will botch the spelling of his last name, but everyone knows ‘Hans’), Mr. Stillwell, Mr. Morehouse, Mr. Downey, Mr. Bradley, Mr. Cressey, Mr. Gallagher, Mr. Morange, the late Mr. Sawyer, and Mr. Kirby. Thank you all for your kindness, dedication, and inspiration. May the next 25 years be as great as the last 25, and if you ever find yourself south of the Mason-Dixon Line, give me a holler!” BRIAN MURPHY has stepped down as Tufts head hockey coach. Brian will be joining Middlebury’s Bill Beaney on the sidelines at Middlebury when the next season opens in November. Murphy is a bit of a Tufts institution, having captained the Jumbos in 1995 and joined the coaching staff as an assistant immediately following his graduation. He was elevated to head coach in 1998 and served as Tufts’ head coach throughout its tenure in the NESCAC.
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The Class of 1992 will have its 25th Reunion in 2017.
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The McKeowns: Don, Betty, Kirk ’95, and Rebecca at the Belmont Hill Corporation Dinner.
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Robert Bell ’96 and Mary Davis attended the Florida reception in March.
J.P. PAQUIN says, “Greetings, classmates! I’m excited to be back for our 25th reunion. After graduation I took a year off and played hockey in Switzerland, before ultimately heading to Colgate University, where I played and coached hockey and graduated with a degree in economics. My job search landed me in NYC—sad because I always wanted to move back to Boston but great because I met my wife, Claire, at a Manhattan social event. We were married in 2002 and now live in Scarsdale, New York, with our two daughters, 9 and 7. It is a busy household with the girls’ activities and my wife running a successful interior design business, but I’m not sure we know any other way. I may be the only person in the class who has had just one job since college. I was fortunate to join Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in 1996, and while I visit our Boston office frequently, I never managed to make the move back. I thought I had a chance in 2001 after I completed an M.B.A. at Wharton through their Executive M.B.A. program, but fate had other plans. I’m now a partner of the firm and have spent the majority of my career as a private equity investor. I became co-head of BBH Capital Partners about a
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1996 – 20th Reunion Dinner, May 14, 2016. Front row: Andrew Scheufele, Elizabeth Lee, Martin Pavlinic, Kalyn Pavlinic, Pat Rettig, Amanda Rettig, Chris Barber, Alex Herzlinger, Brenda Herzlinger, Andrew Tosiello, Nikki Tosiello, Meg and Brendan Donaghue, Manny Makkas, and Rania Makkas. Second row: Mike Comer, Deborah Comer, Erin Apstein, Andrew Wright, Andy Apstein, Chris Tashjian, Dave Schoetz, Kim Tashjian, Ben Fritz, Campbell MacColl, Dave Bordeau, Cassie Bordeau, Dave Levinson, Sarah Levinson, Adrianne and Greg Deranian, Lauren and Greg Johnson. Third row: Duna Chiafaro, Steve Ranere, Ryan Hoffman, Aimee Hoffman, Graham Morrell and Kathy Morrell.
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The MacColls: Malcolm, Dusty, Charlie, and Campbell ’96 at the Alumni Weekend family luncheon.
decade ago, and we’re on our fifth fund. Most recently, in addition to continuing in my private equity role, I became the head of investment management for BBH, so I now oversee our public equity and fixed-income businesses as well. My learning curve at the company has been steep and is still going strong, and while I miss the time away from my family, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to visit approximately 30 countries on business. It is amazing to me how small the world really is if you are willing to get on a plane. My sports loyalties are still in Boston, and if anything, I detest New York sports teams more and more with each passing year. My daughters are doing their best to remain supportive but I don’t know if I’ll win that battle. Thankfully, I converted Claire! I look forward to seeing everyone!”
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25 TH REUNION MAY 19 & 20, 2017
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1996 IAN BASS received his M.B.A. at the University of Massachusetts in May 2016. He attended online and maintained a 4.0 while continuing his active duty military service, driving 75 miles each way from home to base, and being fully involved with his wife and two children, as well as with church and community activities. PAUL DOLAN writes, “Cleaning out my mother’s attic one hot summer afternoon a few years ago, I found a box of things I had saved from my years at Belmont Hill. In the box was a blue three-ring binder and a test on Oliver Twist that Mr. Bridges gave us in Second Form English. At the time I found the box, I had been teaching Oliver Twist for a few years and looked at the test with keen interest. In that stifling attic, I also remembered the first day of Third Form English when Doc Fast charged us with buying these binders. It contained a number of essays I had written that year along with the grammar I had studied and the tests I
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had taken. One of the essays was about my future career path. As a Third Former in Doc’s English class, I imagined that I would go on to become a history teacher and crew coach at an independent school. Well, I got it mostly right. Four years in Delaware, Ohio, at Ohio Wesleyan University taught me a lot about my chosen field—English—and just as much about what happens when we’re busy making plans. In my final years at Belmont Hill, I planned to play football and/or lacrosse in college. That never happened, but thanks to the preparation I received from gifted English teachers such as Messrs. Bridges, Greer, Fast, and Stewart, I was able to write a sturdy cumulative sentence and breezed through the English offerings at OWU, graduating with honors and securing admittance to my first choice for grad school, Boston University. I was eager to return home and leave behind the Midwest, its horrid pizza and pancake-flat expanses. During college I had taken a semester off to earn some money and think about my path, so it was 2001 when I said goodbye to the friends I had made. In the fall of 2001, I began my graduate studies at BU and was surprised by the demands of the program. For the first time since I graduated from Belmont Hill, my classes stretched my capacities. I completed the M.A. in the spring of 2002 and continued into the Ph.D. program. As I was making this leap, I met a Master’s student named Emily Gonzales, my future wife, a former Division One college tennis player and squash enthusiast, while
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playing intramural softball with the other members of the English department in a summer league BU’s athletic department hosted. The summer before her arrival, I had played first base, mostly because I remembered nothing Coach Gallagher taught me about baseball when I played for a season in Second Form. (To be sure, he taught us practically all there is to know about the game.) She took over at first, and I found a home in left. After our games, we got to know each other over pitchers of beer at Becket’s in Packard’s Corner. A few years later, our wedding and a desire to start a family and launch into the child-raising phase of adulthood prompted me to leave the Ph.D. program and take a teaching job at the Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut, where a few of my former Belmont Hill classmates finished out their high school careers. For eight years, it felt like we were called on to do everything a person can do in a boarding school, short of cutting the grass. We spent the first year of marriage living in a girls’ dorm in an apartment triple the size of our largest place in Boston, above a family of five, teaching different sections of the same English classes and coaching cross country together. By the time we finished at Canterbury, between the two of us, we had run a dormitory of 50 boys while having our own children, Buzz and Jane, developed eight new English electives, coached a total of eight different sports, and served in administrative capacities, Emily as assistant dean of students and I as English chair. Our lives were bursting full and wonderful, but we often lay awake at night wondering how long we could keep it up. In the fall of our final year at Canterbury,
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The Pavlinics at the Alumni Weekend family luncheon: Martin ’96, Hana, and Kalyn.
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Nikole and Andrew Tosiello ’96.
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Buzz, five at the time and named after a deceased uncle who photographed my last Belmont Hill football game at Governor’s while his mother, my grandmother, was on her deathbed, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. We knew then that it was time for a move. We needed to be closer to the medical care Buzz would need to live a healthy life. We spent the 2014–2015 school year on the job market, keeping our fingers crossed that a school would need not one but two English teachers like us. The independent school world is a small one, and at the very last moment, a friend we had made working summers at the Wolfeboro Camp School reached out to us to encourage us to apply for openings in the English department at Miss Porter’s School, where she was working in administration. The beneficiary of a strong single-sex education, I had always wanted to get back into that environment and jumped at the chance to join the talented faculty at Porter’s. We are finishing our first year here and could not be happier. Buzz and Jane are well cared for and supported at the elementary school that sits steps from our back door. Farmington, Connecticut, is a medical hub and adjacent to an appetizing food scene in West Hartford. Our students inspire us, and the administration supports us. We are home. This summer, Porter’s is sending us all, Emily, Buzz, Jane, and me, to Europe. We will fly into Prague, travel by train to Budapest, and then find a beach to relax on and a walled medieval city to explore in Croatia. I am not a history teacher, and crew is one of the only sports I have not coached in the first decade of my school career. However, in that Third Form essay, I got right the parts that matter most. I
am living the life I was inspired to live as a student at Belmont Hill before I even knew what I would carve on my panel.” ANDREW TOSIELLO writes, “It is difficult for me to write a biography of this sort. The challenge, to tell a story of my life in the past 20 years, presents so many possible narrative formats and ways to create a certain strategic portrait of myself. •
I could tell a simple, just-the-facts, ma’am, version of it.
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Place of residence: San Francisco, CA. Degrees: B.F.A. and M.F.A.
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Marital status: married to Nikole Tosiello, née Ford
Occupation: senior marketing associate in Email automation for Udemy.com. It would be completely honest in such a way as to obscure some facts and truths about my life. I could run a highlights reel of the most enviable bits of my life. Fade in on two of my statues of Al Capone in Mario Ybarra Jr.’s contribution to the 2008 Whitney Biennial. Then, in a montage of me handling and installing art for celebrities, Sean Penn, Robin Wright Penn, Robin Williams, we linger a moment on me chatting with Steve Jobs as I hold a masterpiece painting by Mark Rothko. Smash cut to my wedding in a beautiful garden on a goat farm in Pescadero, California. MARTIN PAVLINIC stands as my best man as I marry Nikole Ford, a true partner, with whom I am building a life of unimaginable richness. Fade out. Of course this lacks any of the reality of 20 years, the difficulty, the lowlights. So, tell the same story in the negative. Death of my father. death of a mentor, Steven Lieber. Death of
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my pursuit of an art career. Death of the dream of a weird, livable San Francisco. Dark. Too dark, unpalatable, and as much of a lie as the story of my success. I could try to reveal mystic truths: The true, durable success that I have found is in contentment in my own life and self. Or, maybe put on the mantle of authority in the form of a block quote from an obscure artist or a philosopher. It is quite likely, as Homer has said, that the gods send disaster to men so that they can tell of them, and that in this speech finds its infinite resourcefulness. It is quite likely that the approach of Death—its sovereign gesture, its prominence within
human memory—hollows out in the present and in existence the void toward which and from which we speak. Michel Foucault, in Language to Infinity Pretentious, sure, but an accurate portrayal of a part of myself that I alternately want to hide and display. Finally, I could choose to give a thumbnail of my life in the form of an in-the-moment report. As I type this my wife dances around to a playlist of Nineties songs while she gardens in our patio. The sun is out, and warm, rare for almost June in San Francisco. We keep calling out to each other as a ruby throated hummingbird appears and disappears near the magnolia tree. Soon, I’ll help remove the debris of leaf
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cuttings and then spend some time working on my Arduinopowered automatic drawing machine, fulfilled and content. All of this is true and so I’ve written them all. Perhaps in another 20 years, I’ll be able to present a cohesive portrait of my life without trying to mold it for an audience I only imagine, as they only imagine me.” STANLEY WATT writes, “I’m very sorry that I cannot be at our 20th reunion in person. I was very much looking forward to seeing the old campus and catching up with all of you, but it will have to wait for another day. Since graduating from Belmont Hill and college, I went off to complete my Ph.D. in economics.
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Stanley Watt ’96, with his wife Karen and son Nathan.
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Oliver Pattison, son of Morgan and David Pattison ’00.
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The Aldrich Family at Reunion Weekend, Alison, Scott, Charlotte, and Scott ’01.
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Class of 2001 15th Reunion Dinner, May 14, 2016. Front row: Robert Basile, Elizabeth Basile, James Simcoke, Emily Cleary, Andrew Cleary, Doug Nannene, Alison Aldrich, Scott Aldrich, Jessie Stoeckle, Matt Stoeckle, Jennifer O’Brien, Andrew O’Brien, Steve Gogolak, Lauren Gogolak, Spike Stevens, Alden Simonds, Alicia Simonds, Kari Nary, AJ Nary, Melissa Hynes, DJ Hynes, and Brynne Herbert. Second row: Patrick Hughes, Katie Hughes, Brendan Koeniger, Matt O’Grady, Marta Fabrykowski, Mike Costello, Jason Kass, Beth Kaplan, Dave Hyde, Dawn Rogers, Chris Marcal, Amy Conley, Taylor Davis, Keith McCarthy, Gina Montrone, Virginia Adair, Andrew McCarthy, Rob Dunn, Tanya Dunn, Allison Dexter, Jeff Hamilton, Katie Hamilton, Kevin Galvin, Kari Wolfson, Mike Wolfson, George Spilios, and Zack Page.
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Jeremy Balboni ’01 and Chelsea Hobgood at the Alumni Weekend opening reception on May 13.
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George Spilios ’01 and his brother Chris organized a golf tournament at Brae Burn Country Club between Belmont Hill and St. Sebastian’s alumni on June 1, 2016. The Hill team took home the trophy: Trevor McGill ’92, Michael Trachy ’10, Chip Gibson ’00, Jim Simcoke ’01, David Browne ’87, George Spilios ’01, Michael Cotter ’92, Chris Cotter ’01, and George Pantazelos ’90.
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The Schipanis: Joe ’01, Aria, and Katharine at the Alumni Weekend family luncheon.
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Chris Bucci ’02 with his wife, Lydia, and son, Brady.
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Steve Gogolak ’01, Lauren Gogolak, Virginia Adair, and Andrew McCarthy ’01 at the Alumni Weekend opening reception.
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Matt ’01 and Jessie Stoeckle at the 15th Reunion Dinner.
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Adeline Loftus McCafferty born to Kathleen and Brian McCafferty ’05 on February 4, 2016.
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class notes
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The Clearys: Andrew ’01, Emily, and Claiborne at Alumni Weekend.
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General Mark Milley ’76 and U.S. Coastguard Lieutenant Kevin Keefe ’05 in April 2016 when Lt. Keefe received the USO’s Spirit of Hope award in part for his work while deployed overseas, where he led a 12-person maritime security response team detachment, performing maritime security operations through the Arabian Gulf. He is based in Chesapeake, VA, where he serves as deployable team leader and assault force commander of a 25-person counter-terrorism team. General Mark Milley presented the Spirit of Hope award to the Army’s recipient.
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Class of 2006 – 10th Reunion Dinner – Saturday, May 14, 2016. Front row: David Bowser, Wes Stephanian, Chris Bartenstein, Dan Fine, Andrew Liu, and Phillip Landrum. Second row: David Antonelli, Katey Antonelli, Christian Harrington, Sarah Applebaum, Prita Kidder, and Devin Corrigan. Third row: Morgan DesPrez, Luke Dillon, Rob Butler, Bella Butler, Patrick Warner, Mac Carroll, and Devon Wachtmeister. Fourth row: Dave DesPrez, Matt Dillon, Lizzie Young, Mark Crane, Mark Froot, Ryan O’Conor, and Kurt Wachtmeister. Fifth row: Greg Boeing, Haley Goodwill, John Giannuzzi, Alex Fuller, Mark Fuller, Becca Droms Duker, Bear Duker, and Wes Vesprini. Sixth row: Chris Brown, Camille Leon, Teddy Doyle, Matt Gordon, Chris Fuller, Kevin Yetman, and Heather Yetman. Seventh Row: Rob Glor, Jay Donovan, Ryan Young, and Locksley Bryan.
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Bella and Rob Butler ’06.
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Wes Stephanian, Matt Dillon, and Dave Antonelli at the Class of 2006 Reunion Dinner on May 14.
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Kevin ’06 and Heather Yetman with Becca and Bear Duker ’06 at the 10th Reunion Dinner on May 14.
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Devon and Kurt Wachtmeister ’06 at the 10th Reunion Dinner.
I saw many of you at the 10th right before my grad school graduation. That summer of our 10th reunion was the last summer I spent in Massachusetts, and I moved to Washington, D.C., to work at the International Monetary Fund. I enjoyed living in D.C. very much, with regular visits to the Smithsonian and majestic views of the federal buildings at night. At the IMF, I was assigned to the Kuwait and Jordan desks. The countries were interesting, but work was slow. In 2007 it had been 10 years since the last large-scale international crisis, and the organization was searching for its relevance. In my brilliance, I figured financial crises were a
thing of the past, and I left the IMF at the end of 2007 to follow a girl in San Francisco. On the West Coast, I went to work for an economic consulting company providing economic advice to merging companies facing scrutiny by the Department of Justice. In 2008 I married Karen, the girl I left D.C. for. I had first met Karen in the library when I was in graduate school. She was a law student, and we both happened to pick the same library to study in. We fell in and out of touch, but we reconnected in earnest when I moved to the West Coast. After five years of consulting, I couldn’t take the hours. I was trained as an empirical economist, and there
was a lot of talk about data science in tech. So, in 2012 I joined Facebook to work in data. I started in the ads business and then moved to Trust and Safety, where I am now. What that means is that I am a data scientist that tries to keep people safe on Facebook. We try to stop account compromise, spam, bullying, harassment, nudity, and pornography all from occurring on our site. Nudity and pornography—you read that right. Part of my job is to look at porn. I have a son, Nathan, who will soon be two and a half. They tell me he’s tall for his age, and he can kind of talk. The three of us live in sunny Palo Alto, but hardly a day goes by without my missing
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Boston. Wish I were with you, guys (in fact, I am typing this in my Belmont Hill T-shirt). Look me up if you are ever on the left coast. sbwatt@yahoo.com.”
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20 TH REUNION
MAY 19 & 20, 2017
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15 TH REUNION
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Class of 2011 – 5th Reunion, May 14, 2016. Front row: Chris Thomsen, Mike Rudzinsky, Matt Ricotta, Tobie Lee, Nick Andre, Matt Perrotta, Geoff Sullivan, Nick Reichheld, Alex Debaere, Sam Meyers, and Brandon McNally. Second row: Stephen O’Leary, Sam Wells, Rob Caggiano, Taylor Shortsleeve, Harry Glor, Jack O’Leary, Alec Bullen, Jack Doherty, John Grimaldi, and Teddy Mitropoulos. Third row: Chris Gilligan, Nick Davos, Matt Isner, Ryan Rhodes, JR Arakalian, Michael Kenary, Curt Myers, Joe Mark, Ryan Fitzgerald, Xander Brown, Harry Hill, and Joe Sullivan. Fourth row: Mike Gustafson, Dylan Johnson, Jack St. Clair, Kevin Burpee, Matt Weinstein, Teddy Klemmer, and Sean MacPhee.
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Congratulations to Meghan and Kevin Duff on the birth of twins Sadie and Connor Duff on July 13, 2016.
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Ryan Antonelli daughter of Katey and Dave Antonelli born on May 5, 2016.
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Congratulations to Vanessa and Chuks Ekwelum ‘06 on their April wedding.
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Belmont Hill alumni in attendance at the wedding of Vanessa and Chuks Ekwelum ’06. Front row: Nnaemeka Ekwelum ’08, Daniel Regis ’08, Marc Hurdle ’08, Chukwuma Ekwelum ’06, Locksley Bryan ’06, Marquis Jamison ’05, and Carlos Palomo. Second Row: Anyenda Inyagwa ’04, Jonathan Innocent ’15, Caleb Collins ’93, Chris Brown ’06, A.T. Desta ’05, Carl Dawson ’72, and Nyadenya Inyagwa ’06.
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Nick Davos ’11.
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Ty West ’11.
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Colby vs. Amherst baseball game: Belmont Hill alumni—Harry Roberson ’14, Danny Csaplar ’12, David Cunningham ’12, and Sören Hanson ’12. Amherst swept the doubleheader on Senior Day.
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BRENDAN SYRON and Julianna Manzi were married on July 30, 2016 in Cotuit, MA. They live in New York City, where Brendan serves as principal with Scout Ventures.
2006 JOHN MEYER married Dr. Freya Van Driesche in Belgium in 2015. SAM GAYNOR, ANDREW LEISMAN ’03, and HENRY MEYER ’09 were attendants. He and his wife are now living in New York, where he is doing his residency in radiology.
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10 TH REUNION MAY 19 & 20, 2017
2016 u.s. olympic men’s eight results
Michael DiSanto ’08. Photo Credit: U.S. Rowing
2008 MICHAEL DISANTO is Belmont Hill’s newest Olympian. Mike started his rowing career at the Hill, beginning a journey that would lead him to the Rio Olympics. The Bulletin recently interviewed Mike. Could you tell us about your path after Belmont Hill? I graduated in 2008 and then attended Harvard, where I also rowed. In those four years, I grew a tremendous amount. I was very fortunate to have learned some valuable and meaningful lessons at Belmont Hill, which I refined over those four years at Harvard because I had a really great group of friends and teammates.
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Men’s Eight, Final 5:34.23
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Men’s Eight, Heats, Heat 2 5:40.16
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Mike DiSanto ’08 (third from right) at the Olympics closing ceremony in Rio.
Can you describe the process of making the Olympic Team? I graduated from Harvard in 2012, and went to Princeton, New Jersey, and spent a year on the U.S. Rowing National Team. After the World Championships, I went to Oxford for my Master’s degree and to row. I spent two incredibly important and fun years in England. I came back a little over a year ago to Princeton, made the National Team last summer in the pair (two-manned boat, one oar for each rower), qualified for the Olympics, and then had a long year of rowing culminating with making the eight and eventually qualifying for the boat in the Rio Olympics. It sounds surreal to say that. I don’t really believe it yet and probably won’t until I get there and see the little badge that says that I’m an Olympic athlete!
What lessons at Belmont Hill, whether in the classroom or through rowing, helped get you to this point? So many. I wouldn’t be here without Belmont Hill, without the teachers and coaches, particularly Mr. Bradley, Mr. Richards, and Mr. Butler. Mostly the lessons learned revolve around hard work and persistence. I was lucky to have teachers and coaches who saw something in me that maybe I didn’t see at that time, and they pushed me in a positive way. They were so supportive. When I fell, they helped me dust myself off and got me on my way again. I will always be grateful for that.
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class notes
2008 NICK RELLAS, Drizly CEO and co-founder, told BostonInno that the company has raised an additional $15 million in funding for marketing and is expected to expand from 23 to 30 cities by the end of the year. For the past two years, Rellas said it has been growing in revenue, orders, and users 18–25 percent every month, bringing the company on track to see nearly fivefold increases in business this year.
2009 GROOM DINKNEH, an associate with the Williams Capital Group, created the Black Alumni Association Mentoring Program at Tufts. He is the youngest serving member of the board of directors for the Tufts Black Alumni Association. HENRY MEYER skied in Zermatt, Switzerland, with his brother, John ’04, and his wife, Freya, in February 2016.
2011 NICK DAVOS writes, “I graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in the spring of 2015 with an international business and management major. I am currently working for the Boston Redevelopment Authority at City Hall for the finance and real estate departments and am really enjoying my time there thus far. I also coach youth basketball and other sports, as well as write for a sports blog (Biased Boston Sports) in my free time.” From MICHAEL KENARY comes: “Belmont Hill means so much to me. It is a place that I cherish deep down in my heart. I can remember days there like they were yesterday. It’s a place filled with people of exceptional character and ability. I have lifelong friends thanks to Belmont Hill. My fondest memories span each year I spent on the Hill with teachers like Mr. Goodband, Mr. Bradley, Mr. Leonardis, Doc Fast, Doc Wachtmeister, and Mr. Martellini. The list goes on. Since graduation I attended college at Dartmouth, graduated, and moved to
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Chicago for a job at Jones Lang LaSalle in commercial real estate. I plan to get my M.B.A. in the years to come and then move to the Boston area.” TYLER WEST is headed to “the Big Easy.” A 2016 Claremont McKenna graduate, Tyler will move to New Orleans, Louisiana, for a teaching stint with Teach for America (TFA), a national nonprofit working to expand educational opportunities for low-income students. But before his move to the South, Tyler will head east as he accepts a Fulbright in Thailand to teach English in 2017.
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5TH REUNION MAY 19 & 20, 2017
JIMMY VESEY won the Hobey Baker Award for the best college hockey player in the country. He now joins MARK FUSCO ’79 and SCOTT FUSCO ’81 as winners from Belmont Hill. On August 19 as a free agent, Jimmy signed to compete with the New York Rangers. ANDREW LINN graduated from Bowdoin College on May 28, 2016. He majored in Philosophy.
2015 REED JUNKIN, a freshman goalie on the Penn lacrosse team, made 10 of his 14 saves in the second half of a 9–6 win against Cornell. He is the first Ivy Leaguer in a decade to earn Player and Rookie of the Week honors the same week. Dartmouth College freshman golfer JOHN LAZOR finished first in the Yale Spring Invitational. John received medalist honors, finishing as the top individual with a 143 through two rounds after he shot a 70 in his second round at The Course at Yale.
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We find that we have a surplus of yearbooks for the following years: 1980 1992 1996 1999 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 These are available on a first come, first served basis. If you would like one, please contact us at alumni@belmonthill.org and let us know when you would like to pick it up at the Belmont Hill Alumni House. If you are unable to pick up the yearbook, one can be mailed to you at the USPS book rate. Thank you, Belmont Hill School Alumni House 19 Marsh Street Belmont, MA 02478
faculty & staff news
FACULTY & STAFF NEWS
Current and former faculty and staff gathered in the backyard of the Alumni House on May 20 for a ladies’ lunch in honor of HOLLY GETTINGS and ANN TIFT who both retired in June.
Current and former faculty, staff, parents, alumni, and students assembled on May 4 after FRAN KIRBY’s final home track meet to celebrate the 34 years he spent as the head Track & Field coach. He completed his head coaching tenure with an overall record of 316 wins and 53 losses and a .856 winning percentage. His teams captured 12 ISL championships and 12 NEPSAC championships. Fran retires as the most successful track coach in the history of the ISL.
Current and former faculty gathered at the Capital Grille in Burlington on June 15 to commemorate the 12th anniversary of Bob Arnold’s retirement. Front row: DAN BRIDGES, DON STEWART, BOB ARNOLD, and GEORGE SEELEY. Back row: JEFF FAST, BOB CRESSEY, ROSS ROBERTS, MIKE SHERMAN, DAN HUNT, and HAROLD PRENATT.
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faculty & staff news
Hannah Sophia Davis was born on May 16, 2016 to faculty member ELIZABETH DAVIS and her husband, Matt.
Former faculty member (2010–2012) QUINCY CARROLL spoke at the Boston Public Library on April 7, 2016 about his novel, Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside. It is a story of two Americans living and teaching in rural China who fight to establish primacy in Ningyuan, a remote town in the south of Hunan, with one of their more overzealous students, Bella, caught in the middle. Mr. Carroll’s debut novel examines what people bring from one country to another. After graduating from Yale in 2007, he moved to Hunan, China, to teach English. Upon returning to the states, he enrolled in the MFA Creative Writing program at Emerson College.
Former faculty member NATHANIEL “BUDDY” BATES with his wife, Connie, in Aspen, Colorado. Buddy served on the faculty at Belmont Hill from 1961 to 1992.
Leila Sophia O’Leary, daughter of faculty member JIM O’LEARY and his wife, Jessica, was born on July 20, 2016.
BOB CRESSEY, TOD RODGER, BUDDY BATES, and GEORGE SEELEY attended the Alumni Weekend opening reception on May 13, 2016.
SEND US YOUR NEWS! The Belmont Hill community would love to know what former faculty and staff are doing. Please email: communications@belmonthill.org with your news. If you have a recent photo you would like to share of yourself, your family, travel, etc., please include it with your message.
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belmont hill memorabilia
Smathers & Branson Needlepoint Wallet An attractive credit card wallet featuring the Belmont Hill Sextant in needlepoint and finished with Italian leather. This slim wallet (4"x3") provides enough room for cards, cash, and an ID, but does not take up too much room in the pocket or bag. $55
Belmont Hill School Captain’s Chair Solid hardrock maple captain’s chair with cherry arms and back with laser-engraved Belmont Hill logo makes a meaningful gift anytime. Shipped directly to your home or office. $475 plus $29 for basic shipping. $19 for one line of personalization. Please allow 4–6 weeks for delivery.
Golf Balls Titleist ProVI Golf Balls with Belmont Hill Sextant. Package of three. $20
Cape Cod Belt Company Luggage tag. $10 Key fob. $5
Vineyard Vines Silk Belmont Hill Neckties Sports ties: Lacrosse sticks with Belmont Hill sextant, winged foot with Belmont Hill sextant. $75 Solid color tie with small Belmont Hill Sextant. Pictured: Navy Blue, Light Blue, Raspberry, Pink and Orange. $75
front
Smathers & Branson Visor Needlepoint golf visor. $25
Antigua Baseball Cap back
Bike Jersey
Belmont Hill navy blue baseball cap. $15
VOmax cycling jersey. $75
Cross Pen All-chrome ballpoint pen with Belmont Hill Sextant. $45
For your convenience, credit card orders are accepted by phone. Contact Eileen Foley at 617.993.5202 or stop by the Alumni House at 19 Marsh Street.
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In Memoriam 90
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in memoriam
ROBERT BALDWIN JR.
’42
RICHARD H. DOWNES
’42
Robert Baldwin Jr., of Berkeley, CA, died on April 19, 2016. He was 91. Born in Cambridge, Mr. Baldwin went on to Yale University, earning his A.B. degree after wartime service in the Army Air Corps. He later held positions in business and banking, ultimately with Pabco Paint Company in New Jersey, from which he was transferred in 1956 to the firm’s plant in Emeryville, CA.
Richard H. Downes, of Winchester, MA, died on October 12, 2012. He was 88. His wife, Julie Dolan Downes, died in 1999. Mr. Downes is survived by his children, Rick and his wife, Carol, of Wakefield, MA; Bill and his wife, Rita, of Medford, MA; Julie Downes and Ken Jaibert, of Stoneham, MA; Jane Costello and her husband, Frank, of Arlington, MA; and
In 1969, Mr. Baldwin became the owner and headmaster of College Preparatory School in Oakland, CA, finding great satisfaction in this new role. He served the School until his retirement in 1990. He was the husband of the late Joyce Fuller Baldwin, to whom he was married in 1945. Mr. Baldwin is survived by his four daughters, Sue, Nancy, Amy, and Jennifer; ten grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Pixie Tinmouth and her husband, Bryce, of Winchester; his grandchildren, Leigh, Kate, Drew, Jake, Loretta, Mary, Alex, David, and Aaron; his great-grandchildren, Nicholas, Anna, John, Stella, Aiden, and Ryan; his sister, Rose Arnold, of Arlington; his sister-in-law, Jan Dolan, of Winchester; and his brother-in-law, Joseph Dolan, of Milton, MA.
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in memoriam
RUSSELL F. CARPENTER
’50
Russell Field Carpenter, of Williamstown, MA, died on July 20, 2016. He was 84. Mr. Carpenter was born in 1932 in New York City, the son of the late Russell L. and Elsie Stuart Clark Carpenter. He grew up in Medford, MA, where his father was Professor of Zoology at Tufts University, and went on to Williams College, earning his B.A. degree in 1954. He worked briefly for Vick Chemical Company before serving two years as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force at Hanscom Field in Bedford, MA. In 1958, Mr. Carpenter joined the staff of St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., as director of development, beginning a 39-year career in academic fund raising. In 1959, he was appointed as staff associate for the Council for the Advancement of Small Colleges in Washington and shortly after moved to Northampton, MA, where he was named assistant, then associate director of development and public relations at Smith College. He remained at Smith for ten years, becoming the first secretary of the College in 1964. In 1971, Mr. Carpenter joined the staff of WGBY-TV, a new public television station being established in western Massachusetts by WGBH-TV in Boston, as its first director of development and community relations. His duties included on-air fund raising and playing the role of auctioneer in its live auctions, which appealed to his love of the theater. Mr. Carpenter then moved in 1975 to Burlington, VT, where he became the first director of development at the University of Vermont. Continuing his interest in public television, as a volunteer he helped Vermont Educational Television produce its first on-air auction, once again assuming the role of auctioneer. In 1978, he returned to his alma mater, Williams College, serving as associate director of development until his retirement
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in 1997. In 1995, he was awarded the Eleanor Collier Award by the New England District of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. His particular responsibility in later years was guiding Williams’ classes of the 1940s through their 50th reunions, resulting in many friendships with alumni of the war years. In Williamstown, he served as chairman of the town’s Cable Advisory Committee and learned of the availability of funds provided by the cable company for local public access television. His experience in public broadcasting inspired him to help establish Williamstown’s public access station, which he named Willinet. He served as president of its board and once again relished on-air appearances, including that of the man in the street at July 4th parades and annual Christmas walks. Mr. Carpenter was chosen by his class at Williams for many volunteer roles over the years: treasurer, secretary (winning the Thurston Award for outstanding class secretary in 1989), reunion chairman for multiple years, including the 50th reunion, vice-president, and president. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Mary Jo Pugh Carpenter; three children and their spouses, Jonathan Field Carpenter of Natick, MA, David Russell Carpenter (Molly Ring) of Brunswick, ME, and Katherine Stuart Tokarewich (John) of Bartlett, IL; and five grandchildren, Lauren, Nicholas, and Jacob Tokarewich and Julia and Anna Carpenter. He is also survived by his sister, Cynthia Carpenter McFadden, and her partner, Duncan Craig, of Meredith, NH, and his brother-in-law, John S. Pugh, and his wife Ruth, of Virginia Beach, VA, many nieces and nephews, and two cousins. He was also the grandfather of the late Elsie Thomas Carpenter.
CYRUS V. STRONG
Cyrus V. Strong, of Houston, TX, died on April 7, 2016. He was 83.
’50
Born in Cambridge in 1932, the son of the late John D. and Mary Inglis Strong, he went on to Williams College, where he earned his A.B. degree in 1954. Mr. Strong then entered the U.S. Army and qualified for Officers Training School at Fort Benning, GA, finishing first in his class. He joined the Engineer Corps and spent three years in Germany with a small battalion building bridges across the Rhine. After his military service, Mr. Strong earned an M.A. in geology at Rice University and then was hired by Shell Oil Company, for which he worked in exploration throughout the world for over 30 years. While with Shell, he lived in Houston, Denver, CO, New Orleans, LA, and then again in Houston. He was an active member of the Houston Geological Society, serving as its president in 1992. An avid runner, he participated in scores of marathons, including Houston and New York multiple times, and was a member of the Houston Masters running club. In 2009, he was inducted into the Houston Marathon’s hall of fame after many years of service on its committee as board member, treasurer, course director, among other positions.
LAWRENCE S. WILKINS
’55
Mr. Strong was also a devoted sailor and saltwater fisherman and enjoyed spending time in Bolivar, TX, where he and his wife Diane had a beach house for many years. An enthusiastic tennis player in his younger years, he more recently enjoyed playing golf at the Hillsboro Club in Florida and Pine Forest Country Club in Houston. He and his wife loved to travel and last summer celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at one of their favorite destinations, the south of France, with family and friends. Mr. Strong is survived by his wife, Diane Helene Schwob Strong; their children, Gregory Strong and his wife Alanna, of Dallas, TX, Pennie Casey and her husband Ronnie, of Fort Worth, TX, Hilary Purcell and her husband Tim, of Houston, and Andrew Strong and his wife Denise, of Houston; nine grandchildren and two step-grandchildren, Sam Strong, Josh, Stephanie and Valerie Ellis, Caroline, Connor and Mitchell Purcell, Alexa and Zach Strong, Lilly Leman and her husband Joseph, and Reilly Ettinger; and two sisters, Molly Dow, of Vero Beach, FL, and Kathie Schlesinger, of Brooklyn, NY. He was also the brother of the late John D. Strong Jr. ’53, of Tulsa, OK.
Lawrence S. Wilkins, of East Dennis, MA, and Bethlehem, NH, died on March 3, 2016. He was 78.
leading his team to the state championship in his first year as coach.
Born in Belmont in 1937, Mr. Wilkins was the son of the late Harold Sutherland Wilkins and Marian Andrews Wilkins. He went on to Bowdoin College, where he earned his A.B. degree, and then attended Officer Candidate School and served four years as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy on a destroyer. He later did graduate work at the University of Massachusetts and Harvard University.
He was an avid hiker, skier, swimmer, scuba diver, and biker. Mr. Wilkins’ exceptional physical conditioning served him well for many years. Late in his life, he spent many enjoyable hours creating stone towers on beaches near East Dennis and at his home.
For 35 years, Mr. Wilkins taught biology and earth science at White Mountains Regional High School in Whitefield, NH. He coached boys’ soccer for 26 years,
Mr. Wilkins is survived by his wife, Chris; his daughter, Laura; his sons, Christopher and Tony; his daughters-inlaw, Lisa and Kristin; his grandchildren, Nicole, Carly, John, Griffin, and Caroline; and his sister, Sally Wilkins.
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in memoriam
ROBERT A. O’LEARY
’56
Robert A. O’Leary, of Boca Grande, FL, died on May 13, 2016. He was 77. Born in Cambridge in 1939, he was the son of the late Alyce M. and Paul J. O’Leary. He grew up in Lincoln, MA, and went on to earn his B.A. degree at Colby College. Mr. O’Leary worked for many years as an executive in corporate bonds on Wall Street and raised his family in Princeton, NJ. He is survived by his children, Garret (Lulu), of London, England, Elizabeth, of Hanover, NH, and William (Alex), of Marion, MA; seven grandchildren, Kitty, Robert,
QUENTIN R. SEARLE
Quentin R. Searle, of Amelia Island, FL, died on August 22, 2015. He was 77.
’56
Mr. Searle went on to earn his B.A. degree at Brown University. He then, with his father and brother, opened Vibrac, a torque testing business, in Chelmsford, MA, which later was moved to Amherst, NH. He retired in 2001. He truly loved the sea and spent many years on his boat with his former wife, Martha Farmer, and their children. Mr. Searle’s happiest moments in his retirement in Florida were spent on the water, taking long walks with his dog, Sophie, and playing golf. He is survived by his wife of 18 years, Eileen Searle; his son, Rick; his daughter, Joanna; and his step-children Tom, Chris, and Sara. He is also survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Ginger Searle.
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Natalia and Phoebe O’Leary, and Katie, Lillie and Hope Lovell; his sister, Deborah (Tom) Carpenter and niece, Stephanie, of Naples, FL; and his best friend, Lincoln Kerney. He was the brother of the late Paul J. O’Leary Jr. ’56. He also leaves his constant and faithful companion, the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Jack.
DAVID H. WINGATE
David H. Wingate, of Rice, WA, died on August 16, 2013. He was 66.
’65
Born in Tacoma, WA, Mr. Wingate spent most of his youth in Boston and returned to the Seattle area after serving in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant from 1965–67. He attended the University of Washington while working for Safeco Insurance and Seafirst Bank, acquiring a knowledge of finance. In the mid 1970s, he became involved in the alternate food movement. Mr. Wingate influenced and was essential to the establishment of Equinox Food Warehouse in Springdale as well as other food co-ops and collectives in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. He was known throughout the region as “Rainbow” and was proud of his efforts to bring wholesome bulk food to the Northwest. From 1980–82, Mr. Wingate worked for the National Co-op Cooperative Bank in Seattle and was later hired as the manager of United Security Bank in Colville. In 1992,
GEORGE H. WIGHTMAN
he began working for the State of Washington’s Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development; and in 2002, for the Spokane Intercollegiate Research Technology Institute as a financial analyst and certified economic developer, providing creative financing to many small businesses and startups in eastern Washington. His computer knowledge and financial astuteness and finesse earned him recognition from the governor, national economic development organizations, and local economic districts. Mr. Wingate loved playing and listening to music, science fiction, scuba diving, rock collecting, his pets, and eating lobster. He is survived by his son, Cedar Wingate; his mother, Marie Wingate; his sisters, Bronwen Hunt, Martha Taylor, and Bess Lavery; his former wife, Marcia Wingate; and several nieces and nephews.
George H. Wightman ‘71 died on August 26, 2016. His obituary will appear in the next Bulletin.
’71
ARTHUR J. HURLEY III
’73
Arthur J. Hurley III, of Charlestown, MA, died on April 24, 2016. He was 61. Mr. Hurley was the son of Marybeth O’Keefe Hurley and the late Arthur J. Hurley Jr. He went on to attend Wentworth Institute of Technology and Bentley College, later becoming president of the Arthur J. Hurley Company, founded by his grandfather in 1929. Mr. Hurley served as vice president of the board of directors of the Italian Home for Children and as a trustee of Boston Architectural College. He also was a strong supporter of the Roxbury Boys and Girls Club. Mr. Hurley was a devoted churchman, an avid sports and auto racing fan, and enjoyed spending time with his family on Cape Cod.
He is survived by his wife, Mary E. (Drozda) Hurley; his mother, Marybeth Hurley; his brother, Matthew C. Hurley ’75 and his wife, Joan Kellar; his sisters, Janne Clare and her husband Michael, Jill Hurley, Marissa Hurley and her husband Michael McSweeny, and Lara Hurley; his sister and brother-in-law, JoAnn and Robert Evon; his nephews and nieces, Alexander Clare, Casey Hurley, Olivia and Lucas McSweeny, Lauren Carlin, and Danielle and Hannah Evon. Mr. Hurley was also the brother of the late Drew Hurley, brother-in-law of Christine Fazzone, nephew of Sheila and the late Richard Hurley, and cousin of Meghan and Paddi Hurley.
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2016–2017
Board of Trustees Jon M. Biotti ’87, President William F. Achtmeyer ’73, Vice President Richard I. Melvoin, Secretary Anthony W. Ryan, Treasurer Dewey J. Awad Mark D. Chandler ’74 Frederick H. Chicos ’72 John M. Connors III ’85 Roy F. Coppedge III Carl D. Dawson ’72 Jeffrey D. Drucker ’90 Ronald M. Druker ’62 Warren Q. Fields ’81 Ruthanne Fuller Scott A. Gieselman ’81 Michael S. Gordon John T. Grady, Jr. ’66 Christopher J. Hadley Danielle A. Heard Jason H. Hurd ’90 Gerald R. Jordan ’85 Stephen R. Karp ’57 Jonathan A. Kraft ’82 Emmett E. Lyne ’77 ex officio Martin J. Mannion Carl J. Martignetti ’77 Kirk D. McKeown ’95 Jennifer Mugar Flaherty ex officio Mitali Prasad Taggart M. Romney ’88 Rachel F. Stettler Margaret M. Wade David B. Wilkins Sarah K. Williamson honorary trustees William L. Byrnes ’40 John M. Connors, Jr. John A. Pike ’49
Belmont Hill School Belmont, MA 02478 617.484.4410 www.belmonthill.org We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please address all correspondence to the Bulletin Editor at the above address, or email us at communications@belmonthill.org. managing editor Bill Mahoney editor Leslie Ouellette assistant editor Elizabeth Girioni alumni content manager Amy Hirsch editorial advisor/class notes & in memoriam Harold Prenatt class notes & in memoriam Eileen Foley photography John Gillooly, Neal Hamberg, Gus Freedman, John Swisher, Tom Kates, Vaughn Winchell, Bill Mahoney, and the Belmont Hill School Archives ©2016 Belmont Hill School. All rights reserved. Design by Corey McPherson Nash
alumni reunion weekend may 19 & 20 ¡ 2017 Whether this is a reunion year for your class or you just want to catch up with friends, we welcome all alumni and their families back to campus every spring for a weekend of special events.
To join your committee, contact Jennifer Breslin: 617.993.5208 | breslin@belmonthill.org Visit us online at www.belmonthill.org/reunionweekend
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belmont hill school events calendar 2016/2017 2016
2017
Alumni vs. Varsity Soccer Game Saturday, September 10, 2016
MAP/SAFE Breakfast Thursday, January 5, 2017
Henry B. Sawyer, Jr. ’32 Golf Tournament Monday, September 19, 2016
Peggy Corbett Valentine Luncheon Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Strategic Vision Community Event Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Washington, D.C. Reception Wednesday, March 1, 2017
KWA: Diane Jensen Thursday, October 13, 2016
Corporation Dinner Thursday, April 20, 2017
Grandparents Day for Forms I and II Monday, October 17, 2016
Alumni Reunion Weekend May 19 & 20, 2017
Head of the Charles Regatta Sunday, October 23, 2016
Prize Day Friday, May 26, 2017
Multicultural Alumni Partnership Dinner Friday, October 28, 2016
Commencement Monday, June 5, 2017
Homecoming Saturday, October 29, 2016 Recent Alumni Gathering - Boston Friday, November 25, 2016 Alumni vs. Varsity Basketball Friday, November 25, 2016 Holiday Hill Shop Thursday, December 1, 2016 Alumni Award Dinner Thursday, December 8, 2016 MAP Basketball Tournament Saturday, December 17, 2016
please visit us online for more information or to register for events www.belmonthill.org
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