BCD Today 2016

SPRING 2016

2015-16 Board of Trustees Paige Smith Orloff PRESIDENT

Cara Vermeulen

SPRING 2016

VICE PRESIDENT

Christopher Ferrone TREASURER

Lisa Kantor SECRETARY

Paul Lindenmaier EX-OFFICIO

Susan Benner B. Stephen Boyd Theodore Glockner ’82 Daniel Lipson Colin Mathews Tom O’Neil Sarah Pitcher-Hoffman Scott Schiff ‘74 Alli Sheehan Mark Smith AT-LARGE

AT-LARGE

Administration Paul Lindenmaier HEAD OF SCHOOL

Susan Gebhard ASSOCIATE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Gwen Connolly DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

Lucie Stites INTERIM DIRECTOR OF ADMISSION

Making Science Fashionable Our beloved Tim Gore has spent his entire 29-year teaching career innovating BCD’s science program and personifying the School’s Elements of Excellence. Read about Mr. Gore’s work, as well as the advances in our World Languages and Music programs, in this year’s feature article on page 7.

CONTENTS

Editor: Joanne DelCarpine Design: John Neiner, neinercreative.com Assistant Editor: Jessica Provenz Master Proofreader: Eugénie Fawcett Printer: Quality Printing Company, Inc. Photography: Jake Borden, Joanne DelCarpine, John Dolan, Sergio Jurado, Herb Kantor, Paul Lindenmaier, James O’Mara, Jessica Provenz, Sasha Sicurella, Lucie Stites

Campus News

2

Innovative People and Program

7

Alumni News

13

Class of 2016

20

Alumni Panel

22

In Memoriam

24

Campaign for BCD

27

A Message from the Head of School Berkshire Country Day School is approaching its

As announced at our standing-room-only community

70th anniversary with vitality and purpose, and

celebration in December, BCD is close to achieving

we continue to honor our rich history and past

the $3,000,000 goal of Fulfilling the Promise:

by maintaining a sharp focus on each student’s

The Campaign for BCD. We have just $125,000

individual promise and future success. Our program

to raise to complete the School’s first formal

innovators of today maintain a commitment to

Capital Campaign in two decades. The Campaign

balancing a comprehensive, challenging curriculum

will increase our endowment to support faculty

with the culture and spirit of the Berkshires.

compensation, with a portion named in honor of legendary teachers Eugénie and

New discoveries happen every day

Jim Fawcett. The Campaign will

at BCD! On the cover of this issue,

also fund the most dramatic

longtime faculty member Tim Gore

upgrade to our campus in years.

makes science fashionable and

On June 10, 2016 we will break

fun with his homemade periodic

ground for the Kevin Hirt Library

table costume — a reference

and Learning Commons and the

to the 1869 Russian creation.

Kim and James Taylor Music and

Remarkably, present day scientists

Performance Room. These state-

added four new elements to the

of-the-art facilities will open in the

periodic table in December, a

winter of 2017, and without the

reminder that, as it is at BCD,

School taking on any added debt.

learning is always evolving and full of discovery. Such elements of excellence are

As we set and continue to chart the future course

visible throughout our campus, where faculty have

for BCD, within an intentional community with a

the autonomy to innovate and create relevant and

strong sense of shared values, we remain committed

emergent curricula responsive to their passions and

to being a school where every child and family is

the interests of their students. In this issue of BCD

individually known and understood. Everyone is

Today, you can take a closer look at the chemical

invited to visit our historic campus and to experience

make-up of some of today’s program innovators,

the elements of success and the excellence that

including Tim Gore, Amy Hilliard, Grace Barlow, and

epitomizes BCD today.

Cristina Velez, who continue to build on the program foundations and legacies laid by their equally

In Gratitude,

dedicated predecessors Kay Sadighi, Viv Murray Caputo, and Madame Grad.

Paul Lindenmaier, Head of School

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Campus News The most recent visit in February was particularly heartwarming. The students brought their stories from Writers’ Workshop as well as their atlases from Social Studies.

The residents shared where they traveled in their lives and the students got to practice their newly acquired map skills. They also brought Valentine’s cards and enjoyed some yummy treats. One of the students visited a room to find her timeline prominently featured, and then exchanged addresses with her friend in order to become pen pals.

Grade 1–2 To Kimball Farms Under the guidance of teachers Katharine Allentuck and Kay Lindsay, the 1st and 2nd grade class has visited Kimball Farms retirement home in Lenox three times so far this year, and plans to return again this spring. During the fall visit, students were paired up with residents and then interviewed their new friends about important events in their lives. Once back at school, they set about making timelines of the residents’ lives, following the same process they had used for the timelines they had created of

the important events in their own lives. The results were stupendous! Not only were these Kimball Farms timelines carefully prepared, but they also displayed a solid sense of how meaningful certain events are in the lives of people older than themselves.

The class returned for their second visit in December with our music teacher, Mrs. Hilliard, and the US Vocal Ensemble. The singers performed their pieces from the Winter Concert and well-known carols, which they turned into a sing-along with the class and the residents. Then the class presented their timelines as gifts to their new friends and everyone enjoyed a holiday party.

These visits have fostered meaningful bonds.

The relationships between the students and the residents enrich the lives of all involved. The children are truly appreciative of and interested in the fascinating lives of some of their closest neighbors. They are living history! Every adult at Kimball Farms commented on how well-spoken, mannered, and poised the BCD students are; their teachers couldn’t be prouder.

The 1st and 2nd grade class looks forward to inviting their Kimball Farms friends to the BCD playground for a picnic and recess when the weather warms up.

Piles of Pampers, Heaps of Huggies, Lots of Luvs, and Plenty of Pull-Ups! Thanks to the generous contributions of BCD families and faculty, the Berkshire Community Diaper Project had an additional 3,000+ diapers to distribute this winter. It was heartwarming to see our community rally around this important cause as students arrived each morning with arms filled with diapers. The BCD Student Council members led the drive by planning it, making posters, sharing information with the younger students, standing outside at car line and exuberantly exhorting everyone who arrived to “BRING US SOME DIAPERS!” and finally counting the mountain of donated boxes and packages. Student Council members served as service role models for us all. Kudos also to Sarah Pitcher-Hoffman, Student Council faculty advisor for assisting the Student Council in organizing the Diaper Drive, to parent Mara Goodman-Davies who brought the Diaper Drive to our attention and served as our delivery person extraordinaire, and to all the drivers who delivered the donations. Thank you one and all!

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Spring 2016

Campus News Classics Day 2016 Award Winners ART CONTEST SCULPTURE

Third Place: Stella Metcalf, Gr. 7 PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS

First Place: Lanna Knoll, Gr. 8 MOSAICS

First Place: Fiona Ferrone, Gr. 8; Third Place: Max Beckwith, Gr. 7 MILITARY

Second Place: Tibor Lazar, Gr. 9

Classics Day BCD’s Upper School Latin students joined the Pioneer Valley Classical Association’s annual Classics Day, attended by more than 300 students, at Mount Holyoke College on January 15, 2016. They enjoyed participating in workshops and contests with their peers from Academy Hill, Amherst, Lenox, MacDuffie, Reid, Pittsfield, Taconic, and Williston. Once again, BCD’s students were well-prepared and demonstrated their advanced skills and passion for learning and Latin. BCD students, competing against students in grades 7-12, received the awards listed on this page. Gratulationes to all of our Latin students and Mrs. Fawcett!

MODELS

First Place: Isis Hoag, Gr. 8 COSTUME CONTEST First Place: Lanna Knoll, Gr. 8 as Athena Third Place: Fiona Ferrone, Gr. 8 as Nike ORAL INTERPRETATION ADVANCED PROSE

First Place: Sam Ferrone, Gr. 9 ADVANCED POETRY

First Place: Fiona Ferrone, Gr. 8; Third Place: Ria Kedia, Gr. 8 NOVICE POETRY:

Second Place: Beck Mathews, Gr. 7; Third Place: Nina Renkert, Gr. 8 CERTAMEN LATIN 2

First Place: BCD team Nico Capala, Sam Ferrone, Finn Mathews, and Toby Van Schaick, all Gr. 9 LATIN 1

Second Place: BCD team Alex Currie and Ria Kedia, Gr. 8 and Beck Mathews and Harrison Seeley, Gr. 7 MYTH

First Place: BCD Brown team Tibor Lazar and Finn Mathews, Gr. 9, Fiona Ferrone, Gr. 8, and Colby Lederman, Gr. 7; Second Place: BCD Beige team Sam Ferrone and Toby Van Schaick, Gr. 9, Wilder Harwood, Gr. 8, and Max Beckwith, Gr. 7

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Campus News

Thanksgiving Soup In 1971, John Lennon wrote Imagine as a positive prayer for the world. For the gratitude presentation at this year’s Thanksgiving Soup our Grades 4 & 9 “Bigs & Littles” group was asked to imagine a place where things that divide people do not exist. Here is their vision of a peaceful planet. Hear a recording of this as it accompanies our winter slideshow at https://vimeo.com/bcds/winterslideshow2015 Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us.

Above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today.

Imagine children sharing and caring for each other Imagine all children being friends no matter their age, gender or race.

Imagine a world without envy.

Imagine if there were no terrorism.

Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too.

Imagine children sitting together as friends while they talk and laugh in peace.

Imagine a world without fear.

Imagine a world with clean water.

Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one Imagine Imagine Imagine Imagine

all of the students playing fairly and all together. a world with clean energy. a world without disease. a world with education for everyone.

Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger. A brotherhood of man.

Imagine that every day we learn something new and share our knowledge with others.

Imagine all the students working together to make our school and world a better place.

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Imagine a world with no pollution.

Imagine a world with more freedom.

Imagine all the people sharing all the world. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one.

5th & 6th Grade Co-curricular Theater Workshop BCD’s 5th and 6th Grade Co-curricular Theater Workshop, directed by teaching artist and BCD parent Natalie Johnsonius Neubert, gave students the opportunity to explore non-conventional methods of storytelling through music, dance, and puppetry. In the first few sessions, the young artists used a variety of theater games and improvisation exercises to build their ensemble and to decide what they would like to do for their final showcase. After experimenting with several scripts, the ensemble chose to adapt the classic story of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. This fantastical world opened a myriad of theatrical possibilities, including a perfect opportunity to introduce puppetry into the production. Students were introduced to the basics of traditional Japanese Bunraku-style puppetry, and then adapted the form to meet the specific needs of the story. In addition to basic performance techniques, the students were also introduced to a variety of technical jobs that go into making a performance happen. Interested students were given the opportunity to act as co-directors, choreographers, stage managers, or sound designers for the final performance.

Spring 2016

Campus News

Upper School Theater Each year, the Upper School Theater Ensemble presents three full-length productions including original and devised performances, interdisciplinary collaborations, and significant classical and contemporary works.

This fall, BCD’s Upper School Theater Ensemble presented a new adaptation of the uproarious comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. The play was adapted for the ensemble by director Sara Katzoff and maintained the original language, period and style. Featuring a small cast of advanced theater ensemble students, The Importance of Being Earnest explored themes of manners, mix-ups and mistaken identity, all colliding in this uproarious farce that poked fun at the upper crust of Victorian society.

The play gave BCD’s theater ensemble an opportunity to perform on stage with guest artist and professional actor Benjamin Baylon, and to work with Oscar Wilde’s sophisticated, witty language.

During the winter trimester, students collaborated across disciplines to create an original piece, Don’t Grow Up, It’s a Trap.

Using found text, interviews, and original writing and songs, eleven actors in grades 7-9 spent six weeks exploring themes of adolescence and adulthood, rebellion and responsibility, and imagination and fantasy inspired by characters and themes from J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Don’t Grow Up, It’s a Trap was a humorous, moving, and contemporary spin on this classic tale.

“Creating and devising an entirely original piece of theater is a powerful experience,” says director Sara Katzoff. “Don’t Grow Up, It’s a Trap emerges from a collaboration that highlights the voices and creativity of our students – their words, their original music, and their ideas as an ensemble. This kind of interdisciplinary experience is all part of the thriving community of artists, citizens, and scholars that is so present in the culture of BCD.” Music teacher Amy Hilliard provided music direction for this production.

moving on to the next victims. In the same way our 8th graders burst into classrooms unannounced and perform their version of the play, hoping for tokens of chocolate in return for their efforts. In the week leading up to the performances, the class reads the play and develops its own version of a script, which changes each day as parts and characters get added and removed. Props and costumes come from a variety of places: Ms. Pitcher’s house, the students’ houses, and around the campus. Theater teacher Ms. Katzoff also contributes to the cause. The performances always include improvised moments, which serve to keep everyone on their toes. Huzzah!

In March of 2016, the Upper School Theater Ensemble began rehearsal for the spring production of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. The performance will take place on May 20 at 7pm and May 26 at 2pm.

The ensemble of 10 students is currently participating in a rigorous and exciting exploration of the play through physical and vocal training, text analysis, and character exploration, which are all intended to allow students to claim this incredible language and make it their own.

Mummers’ Play Mummers’ Plays are a medieval tradition and one topic studied in Ms. Pitcher’s Medieval History class. The 8th grade Mummers’ Play has become a beloved event since its inception three years ago. In England people dress in costume and go door-to-door to perform some version of the story St. George and the Dragon. Traditionally they burst into a home or establishment, perform, and then solicit donations of coin, food, or drink before

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Alumni Profile

KENT JONES Writer and director Kent Jones ’75 gained international acclaim for his 2015 documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut.

The film was nominated for the Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and won the Maysles Brothers Award for Best Documentary at the 2015 Denver International Film Festival. The jury in Denver wrote: “In Hitchcock/Truffaut director Kent Jones weaves a beautiful portrait of two artists connected by the deepest talent and humanity-and humor! The documentary is a deft and captivating piece of filmmaking….”

In Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, when the Ghost of Christmas Past guides Scrooge back to his childhood, he asks him if he can remember the way to his old school. “Remember it!” says Scrooge. “I could walk it blindfold.” So I could walk the campus of BCD. As a matter of fact, I went for a walk last April, forty years after I graduated. There was a memorial service for my mother, Marcia Jones, who had taught there for many, many years. Quite a few of my mom’s old friends and colleagues and students were there, and Joanne DelCarpine and Paul Lindenmaier were very generous in every way. I told Paul that I wanted to go for a walk and he said, “It’s your school too.”

I followed the stream, just as I did when I was a boy, around the back of the school and through the woods and out into the wide open field where we played war games with Michael McNaught, the headmaster at the time, as part of his American history class. I came out on the field that overlooks the pond, where I skated all winter long and once took a photo of a girl in my class with whom I was madly in love, Sue Hanson ’75 (Sue, if you’re reading this, here I am, 45 years later, bravely coming right out and admitting it…). When we were in 6th grade, we occupied the bottom floor of Oakes Hall. That was where I awkwardly thrust a bottle of stale perfume wrapped in tin foil at Sue, as a token of my love…before I stomped away in a rage of embarrassment. Diagonally upstairs, looking out on the main building, we had 7th grade homeroom (every lunchtime was a “rumble,” meaning that all the boys would dive into a pile and joyfully throw one another against the walls), 8th grade (the awkward, gulping year) was on the floor below and 9th grade (fun, quietly authoritative, scary, sad) was above the 6th grade room. When I was growing up, I think I imagined that every classroom everywhere must have had a picture window looking out on a pond, pine and oak trees, and lush fields.

Now, I realize what a rare experience it was to go to a school that gave me so much room for my sadness and ecstasies and widest imaginings. I had many excellent teachers at BCD, but it was the totality of it—the papers, the tests, the problems, the experiments, the

6 BCD Today

people; and the wanderings and contests and made-up stories and games and endless running over all those varied paths and playing fields and expanses…that was my education. Thoreau wrote that every young man should have a path lined with elm trees to walk down.

I would say that every young person should have an opening onto rolling fields, and a stream to run along, and a stone wall to climb… commensurate with their growing sense of awe.

I didn’t just go to BCD, I spent my life there. In the summers, I would go with my mom and roam the campus while she prepared for the summer workshops for teachers from all over the northeast. I was there to help make and serve the lunches and clean up. I was paid some nominal amount, but I would have done it for free.

Joanne sent me a PDF of my yearbook photo. Both the photo and the description startled me. I hadn’t remembered that I was known at the age of 14 as a lover of cinema. I remember seeing films in the gym/auditorium projected on 16mm—most of them were skiing films with Jean-Claude Killy. However, we were also invited, once, to see a movie at the then-newly-built headmaster’s house. The film we saw was Dial ‘M’ for Murder by Alfred Hitchcock.

I recently made a film about Hitchcock, a film about filmmaking really, based on his conversations with the French director François Truffaut. At many of the screenings I’ve been asked “What was the first Hitchcock film you saw?” This was it: a 16mm print of the 2D version of Hitchcock’s 3D film. It was not the optimal starting point for Hitchcock, but it didn’t really matter—it excited my imagination, and sparked me into thinking about movies in a new way. I remember writing a paper on filmmaking in the 8th grade, using the one Hitchcock film I’d seen as an example. It was the beginning of a lifetime of watching and thinking about his work.

I could go on…about the Orff instruments in music classes taught by Aline Drescher, and the Christmas pageants directed by Gertrude Moore, and all of the people like Billy Ryan ’75 and Mike Flood ’73 and Peter Butler ’82 and George Bagnaschi ’75 who died much too young… but I would have to go on much longer than space permits. I could write a book, really—a book about BCD and everything it gave me.

Spring 2016

Innovative

People & Program At the core of the BCD experience are our creative, deeply-dedicated faculty, who are passionate about teaching, experts in their fields, and enthusiastically involved in the school community. Our comprehensive program of study intentionally progresses through each grade level, simultaneously building upon students’ past experiences and challenging them with increasingly vigorous goals, all the while encouraging our faculty to teach to the class, not the test. These initiatives breed an environment of extraordinary creativity and collaboration at our school. BCD Today spoke with some of our program innovators in science, world languages, and music to discover how their curricula continue to evolve and grow.

Science Tim Gore is in his 29th year teaching at BCD. From introducing the 6th grade Science Fair to creating the Robotics Unit, Mr. Gore has found many ways to get his students excited about science over the years, including wearing the Periodic Table (as seen on this magazine’s cover). Mr. Gore shared his thoughts on the evolution of the Science curriculum at BCD.

that Mrs. Livsey had covered, added some things that I was interested in, and got some ideas from the classroom teachers. Right off the bat, Head of School David Costello and I added an additional period of science to each grade’s schedule. I also initiated the 6th grade Science Fair that first year. This year I would like to have more scientific method and experiment projects at the Fair rather than research projects. In the Upper School the students do formal labs and write-ups, so I am hoping to give the 6th grade more experience with these to prepare them for the Upper School curriculum.

I have to say it has been the BEST experience collaborating with Susan Benner. Our “I started at BCD in the fall of 1987. After strengths really play off of each other, and her college I worked doing fire prevention with wealth of knowledge is amazing. After Kay the U.S. Forest Service in Reno, NV, and left in 1992, Susan and I looked at the scope as a substitute teacher while looking for and sequence of the science program and a permanent position. Having degrees in Elementary Ed and Forestry, BCD really struck realized we had a focus on life sciences and environmental studies but me as a great place to land. The nature trails didn’t have a lot of physical and the pond were really intriguing, and I science in the curriculum, could easily imagine myself doing outdoor so we’ve made an effort to lessons; and the faculty members also seemed like a warm and friendly community. I bring that in. We began the th took over from Missy Livsey, which was a little Simple Machines unit in 4 grade. They study pulleys, daunting because she was revered and loved levers, wedges, wheels & and an excellent teacher. I had big shoes to axels, screws, and inclined fill, but it was a fun challenge. Kay Sadighi planes, and the culmination was the department chair and my mentor; of the unit is an engineering she taught Grades 7, 8, and 9. At the time project. The students I taught in SESL (Sprague Environmental design, draw, and build a Science Lab) and Kay’s classroom was the compound machine that Krichels Science Lab; what is my classroom has at least three simple today used to be the woodshop. I based my machines in it, and they original curriculum around the main topics

write a report outlining which machines they used and the steps they took to build the project.

I also introduced robotics to the program in the 1990s. We started that as a voluntary club, and then Head of School Rob Peterson encouraged me to make it a four-week unit at the end of 6th grade. We follow the Mission to Mars challenge from Lego Mindstorms. The kids build a robot with a Lego Mindstorms brick, and then add motors, wheels, and arms; they learn how to program the robot to go forward, turn left or right, and maneuver, and then we bring out the competition table where they have to accomplish different tasks.

Finally, they move onto the robotics table and try to complete challenges such as sending the robot out to rescue a rover on a sand dune or delivering a capsule to a launch site. It’s a great way to end the year because there’s a lot of focus and the kids are really into it.

We are still working with the same robots we bought in the early 1990s! The newer robots have different sensors and you can do a lot more with them; that would be one thing that I would love to add to the program. Then I could do different challenges with Grades 4 and 5, and use them in physics to experiment with force.

The past two summers, Susan and I attended MITS – MA Institute of Technology’s

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Innovative People & Program

Summer Program, held at the Berkshire Museum. We built a submersible diving vehicle, and learned about water quality, run-off, and keeping rivers clean. Then we brought this work back to the 8th grade classes by including water monitoring and measuring in the program.

Susan and I both try to incorporate the components of Inquiry Learning into our instruction. This is a method that encourages the students to be inquisitive and learn on their own rather than just being fed lab sheets with instructions. There is a whole scale of Inquiry Learning; on one end you give everyone exact instructions and on the opposite end kids design their own experiments. In between there are different stages: you provide a lot of support, or some support, or no support at all. The goal is to allow them to have some input and creativity within the units. For instance, in Kindergarten we mix different colored fluids to see what they get. They decide the number of drops that they use for each mixture. It’s really fun to watch them make choices and see their results.

There’s so much collaboration between departments at BCD. The 4th graders build bird houses in the shop class to put on the nature trail, and when the 6th graders build racecars, we time them on the racetrack and

8 BCD Today

then graph the results in science class. When we talk about stars in the earth science unit and how all the elements were created in nuclear fusion in the core of stars, it leads us to exploring the Periodic Table. Then we sing silly songs about the elements, and the kids leave the room singing these songs. One morning a student walked into school listening to her earbuds, and I was about to tell her to put the device away when she said, “Mr. Gore! I found a new elements song!” Now they are singing that song in chorus.

molecule that a student did in art class, there are element posters hanging on the walls, and there are rockets sitting on the ceiling beams.

It’s amazing to have this space!

World Language

For the first twenty years of its history, Latin was the only language taught Many things have evolved and changed over at BCD. Madame Anna Grad began the years but a lot of things that we have done the French program for Upper School throughout my time here remain relevant. students in 1967, and copies of For instance, John Bye brought in the Bird her extensive handwritten textbook, Feeder Watch Program and, when he left, I kept it going. It’s fairly simple, but you should Le Cahier, can still be found in see the kids! They get stuck to the windows the language rooms. Susan Lyman because it’s so fun to watch. It instills awe expanded the program in 1975 to and inspiration, and it’s as simple as hanging include Lower and Middle School those feeders and keeping them full of seed. students, and in 2009 BCD added I’d love to have a wireless projector installed Spanish to the Middle and Upper in my classroom, but you can go crazy with technology and end up with equipment that School world language curriculum. doesn’t really get used. There’s so much you Madame Grace Barlow (GB), who can do with the environment. We still work on arrived at BCD in 2014, and Signora the nature trails, go to the pond, and explore Cristina Velez (CV), who began in the campus. And just look at the space I 2012, sat down with BCD Today to have! Right now the 5th graders have strings discuss the current language program. hung across the room to show the length of the digestive system, there is a sculpture of a

Spring 2016

Innovative People & Program

GB — BCD values foreign language study and puts it at the same level as all the other subjects. I liked coming in to such an established French program; the rigor of the curriculum is really impressive. When I began, the 9th grade students were right where they needed to be, they had a strong foundation, and they were ready to work hard. I also had an excellent colleague and co-worker in Signora Velez and, since the Spanish program was so new, we worked to build the program together.

CV — When I began in 2012, the Spanish program was three years old and only offered in grades 4-9. I found that the students struggled to communicate in the language, so I introduced a method that I had been using for 27 years called TPR (Total Physical Response) Storytelling. That brought results.

I didn’t teach any grammar at all in my first year. I only did storytelling with all of my classes to teach vocabulary.

GB — Cristina may not have presented formal grammar lessons but by learning the story, reading it, writing it, and representing it, the students learn so much grammar. In my first year, I saw what Cristina was doing with TPR Storytelling, and I’ve since brought the same method into the French classroom.

We realized that the two languages weren’t connected and decided that, since BCD is now a two language school, we needed to incorporate Spanish in the Lower School and Early Childhood curriculums to establish a consistency across the program. That’s something I’m most proud of. We split it up so that Kindergarten and Grade 3 start with French in the fall, and PreK and Grades 1-2 start with Spanish. When we come back from winter break we switch. This way the students get to know us and get exposure to both languages, so when it comes time to make the commitment to stay with one language in 4th grade, they can make an informed decision. TRP Storytelling is age appropriate for every grade. We just incorporate a lot of game play, songs, stories, and drawing in the Lower School and Early Childhood… it’s a much freer classroom.

kid with his own car before he graduated from high school. For his birthday, he was expecting keys, but instead his parents gave him a ticket to El Salvador (in Spanish) or to Haiti (in French) to help a poor family after a natural disaster. The parents want him to have a life lesson, to see poverty and people suffering. Sometimes students take things for granted, and they don’t know how much they have, so these types of stories are very positive for their lives.

CV — Going forward we’ll probably collect more board games, or ball games like baseball, for the younger grades to take all that energy out of their systems. We also need to build up the Spanish children’s books because it’s a new program.

GB — We’re developing the base for our Lower School classroom. We’ve curated the spaces of our own classrooms really well, but we go to Kindergarten and PreK once a week for 40 minutes, so we need to establish that base.

CV — Across the language department we have the same textbooks; the same stories that I read in Spanish, Grace reads in French.

Every one of these stories has a message.

For example, the story that the 7th grade is reading is My Own Car. A boy didn’t want to use his parent’s car; he wanted to be a cool

GB — This also highlights another key element in the curriculum, which is to consider the whole Spanish-speaking world and the whole French-speaking world. Of course we highlight France and Spain before our students go on the 9th grade trip, but prior to that they’ve had all this other experience.

During Carnival for instance, in 8th grade we highlight different cultural aspects in Quebec and the Dominican Republic. We can coordinate it so easily.

CV — We use the map constantly because the stories are set in different countries. We talk about the different traditions and cultures to bring that awareness to the students. It’s an important focus for us. Sometimes we don’t communicate with each other, but we find we are teaching the same things.

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Innovative People & Program

GB — I think all the culture is important because it gives us a context for the language.

We’re constantly listening to it, communicating in it, reading it, and writing it, and both of us also incorporate the emergent classroom method. We allow the students to guide the conversations according to what they are interested in. We coordinate when we cover grammar, which makes sense because the languages are so closely linked. Having Latin beginning in 6th grade really supports both French and Spanish.

CV — We love Eugénie Fawcett for that.

Latin is a great help, because the students recognize the roots of the words we’re working with. For example, in Spanish the word for dinner is cena with a soft C and in Latin it is cena with a hard C. There are always some students who say it with the hard C. It’s a lot of fun to see them relate the Latin and the Spanish. That’s very particular to this program.

Music Viv Murray Caputo taught music at BCD from 1983-2009. When she began, music classes were held in what is now the library. In an email Mrs. Caputo wrote, “Having a music room with equipment and space for movement was wonderful. The administration was very supportive.

We added high quality Orff instruments to those the School already owned, so that every student would have an instrument to play in each class. After a few years, the music room was moved to what is now the band room, and then to Furey Hall.

That was a great space for movement and for combining large groups, plus it had the stage for performances.

The first chorus that we put together was volunteer, met during recess time, and was open only to 5th and 6th graders. Later, the choral program was expanded to include Lower, Middle, and Upper School choruses, and

chorus periods were scheduled into the regular school day. The music program also expanded through the Arts Blocks to include band, steel drums, guitar, vocal ensemble, and electronic music — all of which had great appeal to the older students.”

Music teacher Amy Hilliard arrived at BCD in the fall of 2010. Previously she had taught early childhood music classes at the Eastman School of Music and was the song leader/ emcee for the Rochester Philharmonic’s Tiny Tots Concerts. Mrs. Hilliard shared her thoughts and enthusiasm about the School’s music curriculum with BCD Today…

“When I heard about the opening at BCD I was curious, so I went online to investigate.

My first thought was, ‘That’s Viv Caputo’s program. I can’t apply there. I’m going to be too nervous to do the interview.’ Viv is sort of an icon in the Orff music education field.

I knew that I would be coming into a really great program. When I walked into Furey and saw all the Orff instruments, I was in my glory. They are old instruments that have been well-loved, well cared for, and used all the time, which is really ideal. I was immediately struck by how much musicianship the BCD children had inherently, and how beautifully

GB — I am learning so much Latin from my students studying complex 9th grade grammar!

They’ll teach each other, and I love when that happens in the classroom. The kids who get a new concept first will answer their classmates’ questions and often throw some Latin into their explanations. They also recognize Latin in reading comprehension. With Latin in the curriculum, we have advanced language study here at BCD in terms of the roots of language and the study skills needed to learn another language. Because the expectations in Mrs. Fawcett’s class are very high, those standards are transferred into our classes as well.

CV — Our French and Spanish classes incorporate everything: math when we do numbers, art when we do projects, science when we do weather, geography, history, philosophy…. Everything you use to live is transported into the foreign language!

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Spring 2016

Innovative People & Program

they all sang. There is such a difference between the musical skills at a typical school and the musical skills at BCD. The first thing I did was to scrap my old program and write a new curriculum. I needed to rebuild everything. I was used to teaching children once a week, sometimes even once every six days, for maybe 30-40 minutes. At BCD they said, ‘Oh, no. Early Childhood has music twice a week, the Lower School gets general music twice a week and everyone is in the chorus, the Middle School has general music once a week and everyone is in the chorus, and we have these arts blocks for the Upper School.’

The other thing I noticed when I first started is that music and the arts are highly prized here. Before I came to BCD I never, ever, had a parent show up to see me at parent/ teacher conferences. My first year here, I had 35 parents signed up and a wait list! Because music matters. I never feel like it’s second to math or science or languages; it’s not on the fringes; it’s not just filler in the day so that teachers can go take a break. Music is purposely included in the children’s schedules.

It’s there because we all value it, not because we have to fulfill a state requirement.

At BCD you’re not told what to do. You bring your teaching skills and your musicianship and you look at the kids and think, ‘What’s going to get these kids excited?’ I re-write the curriculum every summer, and every year the children lead the way. This is what Emergent Classroom is all about. For instance, today it snowed. I didn’t know it was going to snow.

I had planned to do the Chinese New Year with the Kindergarteners, but it was snowing.

So I came in with a plan about The Fiddler of the Northern Lights, we danced to music of the River Dance, and we took an imaginary walk in the snowy woods led from the piano.

We listened to Vivaldi’s Winter, played with white scarves and imagined a snowy day.

You weave music and dance into stories and the children don’t even know that they’re learning music. I show them notes but it’s not really about reading. That’s what’s so fun about working at BCD – no one’s giving me a script. No one’s telling me, ‘You have to

teach rhythm like this,’ or ‘You have to use the Orff approach or the Kodály approach.’ Paul Lindenmaier says, ‘It’s music! Go! Keep the kids excited.’

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades are just learning how to get on the drums with basic beats.

When you get into the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, those kids are reading music like mad: they read rhythms off the board, they sing them in canon, and then pick instruments to play them on. By the time they are in 6th grade, the kids write their own drumming parts and I just act as a mentor. They sit in a circle and say, ‘Let’s try this,’ or ‘You should do this.’ You can do that at BCD because you’ve got the talent, and you’ve also got kids that love to take ownership.

In the Upper School, the Arts Block is all about meeting the kids where they are and getting them excited to do music. The offerings ebb and flow. My first year I was encouraged to offer electronic music. I had never worked on anything like that but I did the best that I could, and I learned from the kids. This year, Jon Suters thought that the kids weren’t into electronic music. He’s offering Ukulele and Guitar instead, because there are kids interested in that. It’s so fun to work with Jon. He’s a great musician and he and I have so many commonalities: what we think about the kids, what we say about their music, the way we write reports, and how we present things to them is amazingly similar.

Jon also teaches many of the kids privately, so if I need, say, a bass part for the concert, I can ask a student to take it to her lesson. Then she and Mr. Suters work it out, and he’ll come into my rehearsal to see how it sounds and make adjustments. This way, I have a back-up band!

I’m not a bassist; I can’t tell her how to do it, but I can still have a back-up band.

There’s so much cross-curriculum collaboration going on at BCD. The PreK is all about the airplane right now. They are looking at airplane books and taking imaginary trips, so we sing a Woody Guthrie song “let’s go ridin’ in the airplane….” We sing the scale up and we’re up in the airplane, we sing the scale down, they hand me their passports

and now we’re in China. The 1st and 2nd grade have bear posters in their classroom that inspired the upcoming Lower School science concert. The Bears will be one of songs that we sing.

Over the summer, Sara Katzoff and I discussed myths for the 3rd grade. We chose one together, and then the kids and I looked at it and I asked, ‘What do you think we could put music to?’ They said, ‘I think we should do travel music!’ ‘Okay, you have two minutes to come up with a melody.’ Then we listened and chose something we thought would work. Then someone improvised, and all of a sudden we had a piece… and then we had two pieces. In the end we had four original songs for the 3rd grade production!

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Innovative People & Program

That translates to the Upper School Theater production of Don’t Grow Up, It’s a Trap, where I hardly did a thing. The kids came in with complete songs. I had to make sure they were in 4/4 time and figure out the key, but they wrote these beautiful, unbelievable lyrics. We decided to do the Upper School collaboration between theater and music because we had kids who were interested in writing songs. What we’re able to do or not do changes every year with the composition of the children.

The music program is always changing. I make sure the students learn to read notes

and rests and know how to manipulate those rhythms, but you can teach that in a million different ways. My colleagues teach in the same way, so Jim Fawcett will walk in here and say, ‘You know, we’re looking at suchand-such time period and I’d like to bring my kids down so you could teach them this song.’ Katharine Allentuck will say, ‘We’re going to do a Mexico unit this year.’ We’re all people who love to learn, and who want to broaden our horizons; a bright, vibrant faculty that feeds off each other. I love to learn songs in other languages. The children are exposed to Latin, Spanish, and French, so when I do languages they love and absorb it. By

the time they are in 6th grade, they’ve sung in seven different languages and they don’t think anything of it.

This job was a godsend. From my first moment on campus I knew I was in the right place. It’s so beautiful here. I leave my classroom often just to get fresh air. And the children love it too. I’ve had classes at the end of the day when the children are exhausted, so we take a walk and we sing the whole way. How wonderful is that?”

Alumni Events

Thanksgiving Soup 2015

Save the Date Our next Thanksgiving Soup is scheduled for

Tuesday November 22, 2016 Look for an e-invitation, and an announcement on Facebook, in late October. All alumni are welcome!

12 BCD Today

Spring 2016

Alumni News

Fran Schneidau ’51 The photos of BCD these days look just out of this world…we, back in the 1950s, gathered in a small house, had only a few students in each class, some banded together…with one teacher for two grades. But I had a wonderful time at BCD and remember it with a big heart. Love reading about my pals and how they are faring these days… I have had a terrific life. First, on stage, then a broker on Wall Street for about five years, before I concentrated on becoming a reporter and amazingly landed a job at WCBS Newsradio 880 where I am still working today!

It’s been 39 years at WCBS now, and I love it. I am the CT Bureau Chief and do stories in CT where I now live in Southbury. Spent most of my adult years in Fairfield County – Wilton, Darien, and New Canaan before moving to Southbury in 2014. So now, it’s just me and my beautiful Collie/Corgi mix, Cassidy Anntwo names because she is so beautiful! What a great pal, and these days I (we) work mainly out of my home here. I love getting the latest news from BCD and all the updates on the pals I made back then.

Jay Hatch ’54 Grandchildren all in college with two graduating in 2016 (Emerson & Trinity).

Great trip to Scotland in 2015 to be followed by one to Scandinavia in 2106 to learn more about the Vikings. Busy with various committees and boards and staying healthy.

Monty Euston '57 reports that his daughter, Heather, has become the proud parent of twin girls. They reside in Lake Tapps, WA near Seattle. Monty says that he is having fun assisting her with child care for the two.

Tania Francese ’60 Shaum (nickname TJ) The BCD alumni news is a joy to read. It is wonderful to learn about the education the students are receiving and all the activities at the school, in addition to how well BCD is thriving. I loved my days at BCD and felt fortunate to have received the education

offered there. My residence is in Elkhart, IN and I received my BS and MBA from Indiana University in South Bend, IN. I have worked for the state of IN for the past 43 years and have one daughter, Cindy, who resides in Chicago working at Northern Trust Bank.

My interests are golf, bridge and yoga. Best wishes to all for a successful 2016.

Donald Gulick ’64 Lenox School for Boys 64-68, Middlebury College undergrad and two years graduate research. Then four years veterinary school where I met my future wife and partner (in business and life) and the mother of our children.

Marty Seyffer ’65 Van Santvoord Happily settled in Orange, VA (past 36 years) with my husband, Buzz - still running my own business, Beggars Banquet Rentals, a tabletop event rentals company. Married with three grown children - son Tobey, married and living in northern California with three beautiful children, daughter Emily, married and a restaurateur here in Orange, and son Hart, married and living in Richmond, VA. I miss getting back to the Berkshires as all of my family has moved out of the area. I have many fond memories of my days at BCD, though I have lost touch with most of my friends of that time in my life. I love being kept up on BCD news.

Tommy Fiorini ’66 Lenox’s own sculptor Tommy Fiorini ’66, seen at age 5 at the Berkshire Garden Center Fair, Oct 1, 1956. “This was our entry into the scarecrow making contest from Mrs. Moore’s art class.” said Fiorini. The tag on the Scarecrow reads: Grade 1, Berkshire Country Day School. www.tomfiorini.com

Jennifer Lynch ’68 Still a musician living in the Pacific Northwest where I enjoy all things outdoorsy.

Jim Brooke ’69 Greetings from Kyiv, Ukraine!

I moved here in November from Cambodia, where I converted the Khmer Times, a weekly newspaper, into a daily. Here in Ukraine, I am working to similarly boost the nation's only English language paper, the Kyiv Post. Things are looking up for Ukraine: the Russian military attacks in the east are waning; on Jan. 1, the EU adopted free trade with Ukraine; economic reforms and the anti-corruption fight are progressing. This year, part of my work will take me to NY and DC to organize Ukraine forums and to build (financial) bridges to the Ukrainian diasporas in the U.S. and Canada. In the Berkshires, I have half a stake in a Brooke family house in Lenox, so I am sure that, one day, by circuitous paths, I will end up on Sunset (Sunrise?) Avenue. Best to one and all, Jim Brooke, Kyiv. PS: If any classmate is coming here, I have a wonderful duplex apartment in the city center...with sofa bed for visitors!

Cynthia Spencer ’69 In April, Denny took a new job at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, so we have moved from Scottsdale, AZ to Menlo Park, CA. We had come to love the desert, but (other than the traffic and the house prices), we are loving living in the Bay Area. The weather is lovely, the economy is thriving, and there are so many interesting people here. I do still get back to the Berkshires during the summer as my brother Jack Spencer and sister Judy Burbank still live in the area, and we spend part of each summer on the Cape.

I would welcome hearing from any BCD alums who live or pass through the Bay Area.

CPSpencer1@me.com Johanna Bergmans ’72 Musselman Life is good, as my husband and I relocated in 2014

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Alumni News

to Princeton, NJ, for his new position with Essential Power, an energy company. We have made the most of this awesome location with visits to NYC, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and many points between. We enjoy our proximity to Princeton University and the many music, cultural and culinary options nearby.

Our daughter, Sarah, still lives in the Boston area. She is engaged to be married in early 2017 and is expecting our first grandchild in April of this year. So many exciting family events! I have not been in the workplace for many years, but I am beginning to network and meet people in the Princeton area.

Stacey Brown ’72 Hand I just received Level II Certification from the Validation Training Institute which trains individuals to use specific techniques that encourage and enhance communication between caregivers and persons with dementia. I will embark on Level III training in late March of this year. My oldest son will marry January 30, 2016. His fiancée is from Culiacan, Mexico...they met in graduate school at the University of Toronto.

Nick Gilman ’73 I lived four wonderful years in the Berkshires, attending BCD for three of them. My mother and I then moved back to New York City; I finished high school at The

as well as a food writer, I have shown my work extensively in the USA and Mexico. In 1996, I moved to Mexico full time. In 2007, I published Good Food in Mexico City: A Guide to Food Stalls, Fondas and Fine Dining, which won the Gourmand Cookbook award for best guide. I have worked as consultant for such TV shows as Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods, Thomasina Miers' Wild Gourmets and recently filmed for an upcoming series on the Travel Channel. I am director of Latin America for www.foodiehub.tv and have appeared in several videos for their YouTube channel. I write freelance for such publications as The New York Times, The L.A. Times, New York Magazine, Travel & Leisure, The Guardian, Travel & Food, and The CS Monitor. I live and work in Mexico City.

See links: www.goodfoodmexicocity.com Twitter: @Nicholas_Gilman Instagram: GOODFOODMEXICOCITY Facebook: Good Food Mexico City Ben Barrett ’76 Am alive and well here in Great Barrington, with my wife Cheryl.

Berkshire Veneer is solvent and continues to be a joy. Am still (coming up on 10 years) working on a book about my grandfather and hope to wrap it up this year. Would welcome anyone in the area to stop in and grab a coffee together!

James Moore ’77 In 2015 James joined the United States Golf Association as their Enterprise Architect. He is responsible for planning and selecting technology and associated strategy that affects the game of golf, golfers and facilities around world including handicapping, event management, environmental sustainability and all other aspects that affect "The good of the game."

The USGA is country's oldest sports organization, founded in 1894.

Dalton School. Traveling to Mexico City as a teenager, I became interested in the traditions of Mexican painting and culture. A painter

14 BCD Today

Kate Kapteyn ’78 Lives in Richmond with her husband Arthur Baldwin and two kids, Nigel (16) and Tessa (9). Good news: Nigel now drives. Endless hockey in Sheffield for two kids just got a lot easier. Notable achievement: Her ability to maintain a thriving catering business and blissfully rural lifestyle in the Berkshires. Serendipity: The silver lining of the woefully frequent losses from our

parents' generation is the joyful reunions they precipitate.

Kate had the bittersweet delight to reconnect with Brooke Burbank ’78 (Kelton ’76 and Josh ’83 too!) after just such an occasion, as well as with dear old friends and classmates Elizabeth “Bizzy” England ’78 and Aline “Gigsy” Flower ’78 (Pictured above). She proclaims “Oh man, it was great to catch up after all of those decades!” Funny things: She can still remember a party at Bizzy's house where Glen Darsey ’78 put a frog down the back of her shirt and put his tongue in her ear. She can remember hiding a “time capsule” of notes and goodies in the stone wall by the Upper School with Gigsy. They promised to come back and find it one day.

The capsule was actually a sandwich bag, and must have composted over the years, since she can't find it. She remembers something of the Latin declension of hic haec hoc, thanks to Mrs. Fawcett, and that her Latin name was Lucretia. She's pretty sure she remembers a lot more than that and what doesn't spring to her mind right off the bat is still there, nestled contentedly in the myriad of formative and happy experiences at BCD, which served and continue to serve her well.

Chris Lorant ’79 I have been out of work since Sunday, January 12th, 2014 with chronic pain in the right side of my neck, lower right back, both quads, and right ankle which has not been right since I slipped on the ice and broke it in December of 2009. Diagnosed with Stenosis, Degenerated Disc, and early stages of Osteoarthritis. I am currently on long

Spring 2016

Alumni News

term disability and hanging in there. PHOTO: taken along the Sudbury 4th of July Parade route back on 7/4/15.

Anni Crofut ’80 I continue to be the proud mom of a BCD student, who is now in his 8th grade year. My husband Mel and I live in nearby Housatonic, and run a jewelry company with my own design collection: www.AnniMaliki.com Elizabeth (Lili) Arienti ’80 Sloane I live in Newton, MA with my husband and two kids, Olivia (18) and Ian (15), and am a partner at the law firm of Segal Roitman, LLP in Boston (where I have worked for 20 years!). My daughter is a freshman at Holy Cross and my son is a sophomore at Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge. I visit my parents in Stockbridge quite often, but have not stayed in touch with my BCD friends and would welcome news from them!

Kevin Sprague ’81 I'm living about 75% of the time in Miami, FL - the rest of the time I’m still in Lenox. I've been spending time in Miami expanding my business and developing new markets and projects for my marketing agency, Studio Two (studiotwo.com). I'm working with a wide variety of clients, helping develop their businesses, reach new opportunities, and define their brand message across a wide media landscape. If you make it to Miami, let me know and we can get together. I'm at kevin@kevinsprague.com which should be easy to remember. My sons,

Matt Sprague ’15 and Nick Sprague ’12, are living in San Clemente, CA with Kristine. Nick is halfway through his first year at UC Irvine and Matt is a junior at San Clemente High School. Both of them have been knocking it out of the academic ballpark thanks to a solid foundation at BCD for so many years!

Ken Lefkowitz ’84 has been appointed CEO of NetIX Communications.

NetIX (www.netix. net) is a telecommunications company that accelerates the Internet. The network serves more than 70 members in 15 data centers throughout Europe. The company is actively preparing for global expansion and is currently launching in Germany and Turkey. Ken has 20 years of experience in leadership roles in finance and industry. As managing partner of New Europe Corporate Advisory (NECA), he has focused on transaction advisory for the network industries. He is past president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria and serves on the board of Bulgaria’s Institute for Market Economics.

“Having worked with the NetIX team over the past 12 months, I’m increasingly enthusiastic about the market opportunity for our Global Internet Exchange service. It’s an honor to step into a leadership role as we grow our network globally,” said Lefkowitz.

Cara Petricca ’85 Carnevale For the last seven years I have been running Bluebird

Farm Animal Sanctuary and Wildlife Rehab.

My husband Marc Carnevale and I live in Cheshire, MA with our two sons, Nicholas and Tyler (16 and 14). I still occasionally utilize my work as an artist and photographer, usually to benefit the animals in my care.

Erica Auerbach ’88 Fine Hi Class of '88!

A bunch of us got together for a reunion at BCD and dinner in Lenox back in 2008 (I would never believe it was so long ago already but I remember because I was pregnant). It was really great seeing some beloved faculty and classmates all grown up; and what a trip seeing their kids! We missed all who were not there. As for me, I'm working as a finance lawyer and live in Newton, MA with my husband, twin 11-year-old daughters and 7-year-old son.

Rachel Siegel ’89 My husband, John Dreger (former BCD faculty), is teaching at Hotchkiss and I am teaching part time in the theatre department at MCLA. I wrote and performed a one-woman show, SPECIAL, on March 18-20 at the Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge!

The show is the story of my journey with our son with Down Syndrome, interspersed with the stories of other moms of children with special needs that I've interviewed. This was a co-production with WAM Theatre.

Anthony Hao Belanger ’98 Tony is celebrating his first year of marriage to his wife, Aki, in Nagoya, Japan, where he is teaching as some sort of English language-mercenary. This year, he hopes to improve his candidacy for university teaching by writing academic papers about language, identity, and communication.

He misses all at BCD!

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Alumni Profile

JESS RYAN For this BCD alumna, the world is her oyster.

Before she turned thirty, Jess Ryan ’03 2S had travelled to 21 countries. “I went on my first trip abroad to France and Spain with BCD, and I fell in love with the experience,” said Jess on a return visit to the Brook Farm campus last fall, when she spoke with the Upper School students about travel and study abroad opportunities available to them in high school and college. Her love of travel stems from a deep belief that only by experiencing other cultures can you effect a change in perspectives.

After graduating from BCD 2S in 2003, Jess spent two months in India before attending Smith College in Northampton, MA. Not one to stay planted for long, and Jess completed a semester-at-sea while at Smith, spending time in England, China, India, Morocco, and Myanmar. Her summers in college were spent in El Salvador, where she returned after graduation with the Peace Corps. “Everyone should have an international and cross cultural experience,” Jess told BCD’s students, suggesting the Experiment in International Living, for which she had worked, as an option worthy of consideration in high school.

The Great Barrington native received her Master’s degree in International Education from the SIT (School for International Training) Graduate Institute in December 2015. Her thesis explored the gender imbalance in U.S. study abroad programs. Jess is eager to forge a new path and begin her work with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) as an Asylum Officer stationed in New Orleans.

Jess said, “Where I am today can be traced back to the education, challenge, and encouragement I received as a student at BCD.” Chelsea Pollen ’98 Cohen celebrates the two-year anniversary this May of her boutique recruiting business, Synaptic Talent. Also in May, Chelsea and her family look forward to the arrival of their second child.

Ashli Heady ’99 Staszko and her husband Peter have two daughters, Merritt age 4 and Molli age 1. Ashli is a first grade teacher at Chesterfield School in NH. Her favorite teacher at BCD was Mr. Douglas, who always made her spit out her gum!

Emily Zwerner ’99 was married to Justin Smith July 11, 2015 in Napa Valley, CA.

16 BCD Today

Joseph Ciaburri ’04 2S Joseph is an Engineer with General Dynamics. He and his wife Elissa MacDowell ’05 2S live in Pittsfield with their 10-month-old daughter, Maddie. Joe can often be found on the soccer fields of Berkshire County refereeing youth and high school games.

Tarsi Dunlop ’05 2S started working as the Program and Membership Associate for Local Progress, the national municipal policy network, in April 2015. The organization has more than 400 local elected officials - council members, mayors, and school board members - and supports these individuals in developing and implementing progressive policy at the local level.

It's run out of the Center for Popular Democracy, a robust organizing, policy, research, and grassroots capacity building

organization. It's as comprehensive and complicated as it sounds. Basically, Tarsi is in policy and organizing heaven. Despite being professionally busier, Tarsi remains involved with the Roosevelt Network, attempts to get to yoga at least once a week, enjoys spending time with her wonderful friends that tolerate (and are possibly amused by) her now hectic life, and looks forward to traveling more, both for her job and for fun.

Spring 2016

Alumni News

production of Hamlet this past summer. When I'm not acting, I work 6 part-time jobs to help pay the bills, and I write/copyedit for the monthly magazine W42ST. My latest article can be seen here: http://issuu.com/w42st/ docs/w42st_issue_13/11 PHOTO: Carla Duval with Chris Trindade as Ophelia and Hamlet. “Get thee to a nunnery!”

Taken at the Inwood Shakespeare Festival’s production of Hamlet, June 2015 by Ted Minos Thomas Frelinghuysen ’06 2S is an actor and a model living in New York City. He will appear in a commercial for the new Mercedes Benz C-Class Coupe this winter. He also is an actor at the Metropolitan Opera and just finished performing in Anna Bolena.

Arielle Picheny '07 2S and Jeff Dufour '05 We finally got engaged after dating since high school! Jeff proposed this summer on the bank of the Charles River in Boston. We are currently living in Long Island City, Queens. Jeff is working in real estate and I am working in fashion.

Kelt Wilska ’10 I'm a comparative literature major at Hamilton College. This coming semester, I'm off to Cuba to study abroad at the University of Havana with an IFSAButler program. I'll be taking courses (all in Spanish) alongside Cuban students and living with a host family. ¡Chao Pescao! (Cuban version of Adiós!)

John Frelinghuysen ’08 After graduating from Rollins College in May 2015, John moved to NYC to begin working in production at an experiential branding agency. He loves the city, but visits the Berkshires as much as he can. At Rollins he spearheaded a student initiative to bring a pub called Dave’s Boathouse to the campus.

The newly renovated student pub opened this past November.

Thomas Ciaburri ’08 2S Tom is a freelance cinematographer currently based in Seattle, WA. One of his current projects is a fulllength film on reconciliation in Northern Ireland, South Africa and Israel/Palestine.

Beyondwallsfilm.com Rosie Taylor ’08 2S graduated from Smith College in 2012, and is currently in a six-year Masters/PhD program in Scandinavian Studies (Vikings) at UC Berkeley in CA. Carla Duval ’10 2S Since graduating from Union College in 2014, I moved to New York City to pursue my passion for acting and writing. I have performed in several plays and film projects during my time here.

My proudest achievement is that I played Ophelia in the Inwood Shakespeare Festival's

venue from fire and water damage. Isaak is a junior at Ithaca College where he studies Video Production and works for Event Services.

Nicole Speranzo ’11 I graduated from Darrow School in 2015, as a co-class President with Ayla Hull '11 as well as Varsity Captain of Soccer, Basketball and Softball, and lastly RA, Core Leader, and Admissions Captain. I am now in my freshmen year at Roger Williams University as an Engineering Major. I work in Admissions at Roger, and also participate in SWE (Society of Women Engineers). Lastly, I am on the Varsity Equestrian Team! I am so excited about all of the opportunities I have at

Gregory James Horth ’09 is a senior at the University of Alabama majoring in marketing.

Ivy Ciaburri ’10 Ivy is a junior at Williams College studying Neuro Science and French.

This semester she is studying and interning in Strasbourg, France.

Isaak van der Meulen ’10 A grateful Ithaca College presented Isaak with the "Saving the Suites" award for his quick thinking and fast actions in a dangerous situation. By extinguishing a backstage fire at a music concert before the sprinklers activated and the fire department arrived, Isaak both protected the audience and saved the college's main

Roger, and can't wait to spend the next three years there! Outside of school, my primary focus is on my riding. I ride day-in and dayout, and competitively show all summer. I am currently leasing a horse name Kiara. She is wonderful, and we have been very successful so far! This summer I plan to show her in the Low Child/Adult Jumpers at horse shows all over, for example HITS and Vermont.

PHOTO: Nikki Speranzo ’11 riding a horse

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Alumni News

summer to get her EMT and Wilderness EMT. named Simon in the Elementary Jumpers at In her off time, Andie works at Bra & Girl in Northampton Hunter/Jumper “A” Show. We Great Barrington. were the Reserve Champion at the end of the week after competing every day in the division.

Emma and Jacob Lezberg ’13 are members Mike Basile ’12, is currently a freshman at St. of the Pittsfield High School Academic Decathlon Team, which qualified for the Michael’s College in Burlington, VT. MassDecathlon state finals at MIT. The PHS Ginger Ciaburri ’12 Ginger is working this championship team, which earned a total year as an au pair in Paris, France, caring for of 14 medals in the regional competition, three young children. She will attend Wheaton represents Berkshire County and will College as a freshman in the fall. compete against the top 14 teams in the state. Emma earned first place Gold in Moscelyne Zia Subjectives, Honors Division; third place ParkeHarrison ’12 Bronze overall in the Honors Division; Silver Since attending BCD, I in Language and Literature; Silver in Essay; have continued to Silver in Speech; and Gold in Interview, pursue my passion for while Jacob earned Silver in Math, Bronze in dance. I studied at Music, and Gold in Essay.

Walnut Hill School for the Arts, a small arts Rebecca van der school where I trained in classical ballet and Meulen ’13 As a modern dance. At Walnut Hill I also continued senior at Buxton my passion for writing and the humanities School in with rigorous academic courses. After Williamstown, graduating in June, I continued my education Rebecca has built on in New York City as a dance major at The her BCD creative Juilliard School. I am excited to start my foundation with a full second semester as a freshman and continue spectrum of arts my artistic journey! studies including Nicholas Sprague ’12 graduated Valedictorian with a 4.4 GPA from San Clemente High School, CA. He is currently a freshman in Computer Science at UC Irvine.

Andie McGraw ’13 is a junior at Berkshire School. This fall she was chosen the Senior Admissions tour leader, made Honor Roll and was voted MVP as the goalie for the Varsity Field Hockey Team. During the winter months she is a member of the Girls Division 1 Varsity Ice Hockey Team (a program / team started by her mother some 26 years ago) and continues to be an Ambassador for her school. In the spring she will play Varsity Lacrosse (her top sport) as well as play for the CT Dodgers Lacrosse Club. A certified First Responder, Andie hopes to attend SOLO this

18 BCD Today

videography, theater, chorus, and orchestra; African and Balinese dance, drum, and Gamelan; studio arts, photography, ceramics, and metal sculptural welding -- all on top of tending the school chickens and an academic courseload that includes Physics, Calculus, and Advanced French. For her recent Junior Thesis, Rebecca examined the epic saga's evolution from The Aeneid to The Walking Dead, and created a Greek Urn complete with contemporary graphic novel images. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Fawcett! PHOTO: Greek Urn by Rebecca van der Meulen ’13 Estevan Velez ’13 On November 14th Estevan Velez, Northfield Mount Hermon’s Boys' Cross Country team captain, came in first place at the New England High School Cross Country Championships. Estevan set the course record at Taft. He will graduate from NMH in May, and will go to Amherst College in the fall.

Andrea Velez ’14 will be working at Chimney Corners Camp as an Assistant Counselor for the 2016 summer, as part of their Leadership Training Program.

Lukeus Gore ’15 is in his sophomore year at Darrow School and had an exciting and successful soccer season.

James Korenman ’15 I am currently a sophomore at Pittsfield High School and I work at Guido’s Fresh Marketplace in Pittsfield.

Rachel Kantor ’15 Rachel completed her first trimester as a sophomore at Loomis Chaffee boarding school, in Windsor, CT. We are very proud that she made Honor Roll — she is off to a great start! BCD prepared her well for the rigorous academics at Loomis. She has made some close friends, including a terrific roommate.

On the field first trimester, she participated in soccer, and during the winter season she is co-managing the Girls' Ice Hockey team.

She returned to BCD for a much-anticipated Thanksgiving Soup, and has shown up on

Spring 2016

Alumni News

Berkshire Country Day School’s fundraising rests on three pillars.

Have you lent your support?

Annual Fund

more for our kids and teachers, every year

Capital Campaign investing together, this year and beyond

The Soirée

benefiting every child, every class, every day Each has a distinct role in making BCD a vibrant place.

Each benefits every BCD student.

Each deserves our support and attention.

campus for one other spontaneous lunchtime appearance recently. Rachel keeps in close touch with her BCD classmates, who no doubt will be lifelong friends! PHOTO: Rachel Kantor ’15 and her Loomis Chaffee roommate, Christina Baker, on the football field at Loomis.

Alex Lederman ’15 I am currently studying at Bard College at Simon's Rock. My 11 years at BCD have prepared me extremely well for the challenges and experiences of college. Though the work is very difficult, I am thankful for my teachers at BCD who taught me to be an independent thinker and learner. This semester, I am taking Intro to Statistics, Intro to Biology, Intermediate Latin, Intermediate French, and Seminar I (a required literature course for all freshmen).

Mimi Lipson ’15 I am now a sophomore attending Northfield Mount Hermon School and enjoying the challenging environment.

Outside of my studies, I am taking watercolor, am on the Cancer Support Team, and will be running track and joining choir this spring. I now have new friends from around the world as well as my friends from BCD. Charlie O’Neil ’15 Charlie is enjoying his sophomore year at Berkshire School, finding a particular interest in Math and Science. He is currently playing on the junior varsity hockey team and likes to fish in his free time.

PHOTO: Charlie O’Neil ’15 taken in Clark Colorado summer 2015.

Matthew Sprague ’15 is currently a junior taking four AP and two Honors classes at San Clemente High School, CA. He travels to Peru in April 2016 with his AP Spanish class.

Thank you for all do for our School!

you

Evan Sylbert ’15 enjoyed his first semester at Northfield Mount Hermon, where he played soccer and made Honor Roll.

berkshirecountryday.org 19

Grade 9 News

vice-versa. Some of the highlights of the trip were going to la Fête des Vendanges de Montmartre, visiting the Sagrada Família, and bicycling in the rain in Barcelona. Even the rain could not dampen the spirits of this group!

Upon returning to BCD, the ninth graders continued to show their Leadership both on the sports field and in theater. Watching the ninth grade coach the intramural Soccer teams was remarkable; they were able to support all of the team members and lead their teams with finesse and a great sense of fun.

Class of 2016 If there were one word to best describe the class of 2016 it would be Leadership. This year’s ninth graders have become the leaders of the school with grace and kindness.

The year started with the ninth grade retreat at a new venue: Camp Russell, on the shores of Richmond pond. The students spent the time enjoying each other’s company, cooking meals for each other (and let me say, they are incredible cooks!) and forming policies to

deal with cell phones and bullying; though the most time was spent on kayaks and swimming. Mr. Douglas and I were very impressed with the maturity and respect they gave each other, and were sure it would set them up for success in the future.

To prepare for the trip to Europe, the class spent time with Señora Velez and Madame Barlow designing their itinerary and learning about the cultures in the two cities. While in Europe their leadership skills came forward again as they negotiated the streets of Paris and Barcelona. It was wonderful to see the students at the market, where the Spanish speakers helped the French students and

In November the ninth grade was asked to create the Thanksgiving Soup gratitude presentation with the fourth grade, and again they rose to the challenge. Please visit www.vimeo.com/bcds/winterslideshow2015 to hear their arrangement of the song Imagine

by John Lennon. The ninth graders were kind to the fourth graders and supported their performances every step of the way. In March the ninth grade will again team up with the fourth grade to help them research and produce a travel film about the United States.

Overall the class of 2016 has had an incredible year: they have been great role models, friends, athletes, actors, musicians, and students. I have nothing but high hopes for this amazing group of leaders.

—Susan Benner

presents

Saturday, MAY 7, 2016 · FEATURING ·

www.bcdsoiree.org 20 BCD Today

Spring 2016

Alumni Faculty Profile

CHARLES SEYFFER BCD: Birthplace of a Teacher In the fall of 1969, on my first day teaching at BCD, I walked into the sixth grade carrying a world history book which I first laid eyes on that morning. My stomach churned with the anxiety of stepping on stage without a script. I thought about all the places I might rather be: climbing Monument Mountain, swimming in Stockbridge Bowl... I introduced myself to a room full of alert young people, took attendance, and then excused myself to the men’s room where I promptly threw up.

After splashing cold water on my face, I returned to the room, probably a bit pale, and began to contemplate world history. I was a 22-year-old boy who took a job to avoid taking part in the American invasion of Southeast Asia. I scanned the history book looking for a place to start and settled on the Fertile Crescent, c. 10,000 BCE. Thus, my historical perspective began its faltering first flight.

These were my beginning moments in a profession I came to love and practiced for nearly half a century. It would be hard to conceive of a more ideal place to begin a long love affair with teaching. Albeit my starting salary was $4,700 a year, on the opposite side of the ledger I had total freedom to teach what I wanted and how I wanted.

Looking back, it seems that trial by fire was a perfect way for me to begin, though somebody could have mentioned lesson plans before that first day.

In August 1966, Donald Oakes offered me a job as a coach at BCD. Though I never attended the School, my dad, Howard Seyffer, had served on the Board, my sister Marty ’65 had graduated, and my sister Ada ’70 was in sixth grade. I coached soccer, skiing, and lacrosse; little did I know that this coaching position would lead to a life-long career in education. I think it was the first lacrosse team in BCD’s history, so nobody expected them to go undefeated. BCD was an athletic powerhouse, and I was smart enough to stay out of the way of that natural ability. I continued to enjoy coaching middle-school sports until I retired fortyseven years later.

In 1969, I graduated from Colgate University with a BA in English.

When Headmaster Michael McNaught offered me a position teaching English and History and coaching, I gratefully accepted. I taught world history to the sixth grade. As we explored the ancient religious traditions of China, India, and Japan, our shared enthusiasm pushed me into new avenues of discovery. The following summer I went to Stanford University for a ten week immersion in Chinese language.

Then I expanded the history curriculum and spent more time exploring

Chinese culture. At Simon’s Rock, I audited a Chinese art class with Frank Carpenter, who loaned me his slides to show my students after each class.

This was the beginning of my journey to graduate school pursuing Chinese Studies and continuing exploration in Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism. The flowerings of these pursuits, that enrich my life to this day, were born of the tiny seedlings we nurtured in those world history classes. I am so grateful for the freedom I had back then, and I celebrate the willingness of my students to become as excited as I was. Those days exemplified the beauty that lies within the interchange between students and teachers. This was not a traditional, one-way delivery of information. This was the magic of authentic education in a setting where mutual discovery was celebrated and miraculous outcomes blossomed exponentially.

The pursuit of the arts at BCD has always been considered an integral facet of the full development of students. During my last year, a group of faculty members created and performed the music for a production of Winnie the Pooh. Madame Grad, our French teacher from Vienna, played the piano; I fooled around on the guitar; Trudy Krichels ’66, who was beginning her teaching career, played the flute; and the quartet was rounded out by Kenny Aronoff ’68, son of our beloved Ellie Aronoff. Kenny played the vibes for this production and then went on to become one of the most sought after and successful drummers in the world. I share this story because it exemplifies the rich experiences that were available for students and teachers alike at BCD. Last spring I returned to Brook Farm campus for a memorial gathering in honor of Marcia Jones, a dear friend, peer, and mentor during my three years at BCD. I sat with Al Perry, and saw many teachers,

parents, and students, including Marcia’s son Kent Jones ’75, who endured my early adventures in teaching. I was again struck with what a formative experience I enjoyed at BCD. The teachers were there because we loved young people. We were certain we were doing important work with extraordinary students. We were encouraged by the administration and given free rein to follow our interests and dreams.

BCD is a school that appreciates the chemistry that exists among students, parents, and teachers in an environment of mutual trust and support. I learned that as a neophyte in the late 1960s, when I was given the opportunity to crash and burn, and then pick myself up and rise in a wondrous career. For that, I am truly grateful.

berkshirecountryday.org 21

Alumni Panel

A Conversation with Five Alumni BCD welcomed five alumni back to the campus on the morning of Thanksgiving Soup to spend time with our Upper School students. Present was a range of graduates and life experiences beginning with a recent alumnus from the Class of 2015 and going back to two graduates from the Classes of 1973 and 1974 whose own children went on to attend BCD. These alumni reflected on their time at BCD and shared how being a member of this community has shaped their lives.

Estevan Velez ’12 “I came here in 2nd grade and left after 9th grade in 2012. Then I went to Northfield Mount Hermon, where I’m in my senior year now. Two weeks ago, I won the New England championships, the preparatory school top division for cross-country running, and I led the team to a championship win. I will be attending Amherst College in the fall and competing on their track teams.

I am considering majoring in premedical courses.”

“I’m really close friends with Jack Dolan ’12, Peyton Schiff ’12, James Gittzus ’12, Tyler Sonsini ’12, and Michael Basile ’12. While we all go to different schools we talk every single day. We have a group chat that we’re all on. The relationships you have, if you want to foster them and continue the communication, will stay alive.”

ON BCD FRIENDSHIPS:

“I had dyslexia, and I thought it was something that limited me and led me to believe I wasn’t capable of being a good student, writing good papers, or having good grades. I let that tear me down from the inside. But the people around me at BCD held me up and showed me different methods. One that I remember became the essay that I wrote about Mr. Fawcett to get into NMH. He always told me, “Estevan, to do well in this class, you don’t necessarily have to be the best writer. You just have to keep practicing. It’s just like Nordic practice; you go out and you practice, and you practice, and you practice, and then, when you race, you’re fast enough to do well.”

He understood that I didn’t believe in myself, and he also understood that if I worked on it, I would get there. He said it over and over again, and I finally got it. This gave me the foundation that I needed to peak as a student at NMH. Without the support that I got here, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

LIFE LESSON FROM BCD:

“This School is a bubble, the community is a bubble, Berkshire County and the immediate surrounding area is another bubble, and there’s another bubble we live in which is the United States. You live in a lot of bubbles. Most people’s situation is not your situation, and how people come to understand the world and ADVICE FROM ESTEVAN:

22 BCD Today

themselves is hugely based on the circumstances of their lives. I think it’s important, before you judge someone, to be open to where they are coming from and how they have gained their knowledge of the world.”

John Kittredge ’73 “Long before I became a BCD parent of Sam ’13 and Max ’16, I became a 3rd grade student here in 1966. I went all the way through 9th grade, then to Hotchkiss, and then onto college. I spent the first 20 years of my career in Boston and Seattle, and I never thought I’d end up back in the Berkshires, but I did. I never thought that my children would go to BCD, but they did. You never know where life will take you.”

“My brother and sister went here, ten or twelve cousins went here. When my wife Donna and I returned to the area we were looking for the best education and experience for our sons, and that was BCD. We live about 35 minutes away, so it has not been an easy thing to do, but it has been well worth it from our standpoint.”

BCD IN THE FAMILY:

“My favorite memory was of Mrs. Jones’ class during the Watergate hearings. She brought a TV in, so during her class we watched them. Our experience as students was free enough so that we could come to school and watch political science in action.”

FAVORITE MEMORY:

ADVICE FROM JOHN: “You’re taking a lot of memories with you when you leave here. You’re going to a new place and that’s scary, but nobody there knows who you are or what you’re like so you can be anything you want to be. In the next stage of your life you’re free again; you get to decide what you want to do and who you want to be.”

Alex Lederman ’15 “I graduated from BCD in 2015. My first year was PreK in 2004, so I came all the way up. Right now I’m at Simon’s Rock, which is an early college. In four years I’ll be done with college.

Spring 2016

Alumni Panel

“BCD puts a huge focus on the classics. I didn’t realize how much that comes up in higher education. I’m taking a seminar class, which is essentially a literature class, and it’s focused on ancient classical works. Having had that prior experience with the classics at BCD has provided contextual background for all these stories like The Epic of Gilgamesh. Having already read The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid with Mr. Fawcett, I know what’s going on. Those works are really what provided the foundation for every other work that has been written in the western literature, so that’s been very useful.”

LIFE LESSON FROM BCD:

“When I was in 9th grade, everyone else in my class was applying to boarding school; I just assumed I was going to public school. Mr. Douglas brought up Simon’s Rock and other opportunities that I had. Know that there are other opportunities out there, and however you picture yourself in a couple of years it may not be the case. I didn’t know anything about Simon’s Rock until a couple of months ago, and that’s where I am now. Remember, there’s more than one path that you can take and there are so many opportunities.”

ADVICE FROM ALEX:

Rachel Siegel ’89 “I was a lifer at BCD from Kindergarten to 9th grade. I went from here to Andover, then Harvard where I majored in classics my first two years and graduated with degrees in German Literature and Fine Arts. I was a graduate student at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became an actor, a writer, and also a teacher. I taught here at BCD from 2008-10. Now I have two boys, ages three and six, and we will be BCD parents one day.”

Fawcetts are iconic teachers; they certainly were for me. The intellectual grounding they gave me in the classics set up my path of study. I was serious about Latin and Greek in high school, and then went to Harvard to study classics. I’ve also married a classicist; it’s very important to us. Not just the classics themselves, but that way of thinking, that rigor about language and the life of the mind. That’s something that I got from BCD: a value on education for its own sake.”

LIFE LESSONS FROM BCD: “The

by the people who have known you since you were a kid. As you get older you’ll make other friends, but when you’re around these people you’ll just feel like more yourself. Like they know ‘You 1.0,’ some earlier version of you. Treasure these friends.”

“The larger institutions that you’ll go to will not be as nurturing as BCD, but you can carry what you got from your teachers here, and can build up a sense of resilience in yourself.

Having a thick skin can help later in life, because this is a pretty gentle place.”

ADVICE FROM RACHEL:

Scott Schiff ’74 “I came here in 1971 as a 7th grader and continued through 9th grade graduation. If you can believe it, Cranwell Spa & Golf Resort was a prep school run by the Jesuits, and some of my BCD classmates and I attended as day students. Unfortunately that school closed. Miss Hall’s decided to try a co-ed program so my brother and I went to ‘The Hall School,’ then I took the high school equivalency exam and entered the University of Hartford a year early. After two years I decided to leave to follow my passion, and today I have had a thirty-plus year career in the automobile business.

In 2006, I decided reinvent myself and go into banking. So now I’ve got two careers that I can rely on. I’m thrilled that Paul Lindenmaier invited me to come on as a BCD board member. BCD was the best education that I have received in my entire educational career.”

FAVORITE MEMORIES: “There was a group of us that helped install insulation in these buildings. It was about taking ownership and being proud of the facilities that housed us. The other great memory I have is creating the dark room. They allowed four or five of us to take over a section of the art room, and the School invested in making it a real dark room. To be empowered like that, and for the School to make the investment so that we could enjoy our photography pursuits, that was something that you wouldn’t find anywhere else.”

ADVICE FROM SCOTT: “There’s a book, Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway,

by Susan Jeffers. When you get ready to leave, you pack your suitcase or you take your toolbox with you. Don’t be afraid because you’re going to find, coming out of BCD, that you have a tremendous advantage.

When you’re in a new setting and surrounded by new people, don’t be afraid to open your suitcase or toolbox and take out those items that you know give you confidence and security to move forward. Continue to expand upon yourselves, and your education, beyond BCD.”

“My closest friends are from BCD. One of my best friends is someone I met my first day of Kindergarten out on those swings. I went to a play with her in New York recently. You feel known

ON BCD FRIENDSHIPS:

berkshirecountryday.org 23

or ia m em M In

Thomas Martin Arienti Thomas Martin Arienti, 85, died in March 2016 at Fairview Hospital. An architect, Tom designed the house on BCD’s campus that serves as residence to the Head of School.

He was a Parent to five BCD alumni and his wife of 58 years, Margaretha Arienti, was a longtime BCD tutor. Born and raised in Great Barrington, Tom graduated from Searles High School, the Cranwell School, and received a BA in Architecture from the Catholic University of America. He learned to fly airplanes as a teenager at the Great Barrington Airport and joined the ROTC in college, and subsequently served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force.

Tom and Margaretha moved to Stockbridge in 1959 where he began his own architectural practice. Tom later partnered with Terry Hallock in Pittsfield and reluctantly concluded his career at age 80. He coached Tri-Town Youth Hockey, Stockbridge Little League, and Babe Ruth Baseball for many years. He helped found the Stockbridge Planning Board, and served as its longtime Chairman. He was a volunteer fireman in the Stockbridge Fire Department, and a former member of the Stockbridge Kiwanis Club, Stockbridge Golf Club, and the Great Barrington Savings Bank Board of Trustees. Tom leaves his loving wife and five children: Cecilia ’74 Wilkinson and her husband, George; Mark ’75 and his wife, Anna Louise Englund; Per ’76 and his wife, Kari: Elizabeth Arienti ’80 Sloane and her husband, Todd Sloane; and Nicholas ’90 and his wife, Fran. He also leaves 10 grandchildren, George, Charlotte, Katharine, Lars, Olivia, Ian, Caitlyn, Teddy, Evan, and Anders.

Kelton Miller Burbank Kelton Miller “Kim” Burbank, former BCD Board Member, Board President 1971-75, and Parent of alumni, died peacefully in his home in June 2015. Kim was a graduate of the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT, Williams College, and Harvard Law where he graduated summa cum laude. He was a law clerk to Justice Harold P. Williams of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

24 BCD Today

before returning to the Berkshires, where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1963, became a partner at Cain, Hibbard and Myers and in 1984, he opened his solo practice where he continued practicing until his retirement in 2012 at the age of 78. Kim served on the board of the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, the Pittsfield YMCA, the Elizabeth Freeman Center, the Audubon Society, the Family and Children Service of Berkshire County, the Housatonic River Watershed Association, Shakespeare & Co., and many others. Kim enjoyed hiking, tennis, bird watching, poetry, and completing The New York Times crossword puzzle (in ink).

He loved the Berkshires for the access to museums, lectures, musical and theatrical performances. His chief passion was gardening. In 1999, the Berkshire Natural Resources Council dedicated a trail on Yokum Ridge in his honor for ‘30 years of mostly anonymous but invaluable service’ in ensuring the preservation of vast swatches of land throughout Berkshire County. He is survived by his wife, Hedy Harris Lipez Burbank; three children: Kelton ’76, Brooke ’78, and Joshua ’83; his brother John and sister Donna Burbank Eckhardt; two step-children; and three granddaughters.

Caroline Mason Norfleet Church Longtime Berkshire County resident and second grade teacher at BCD from 1964-74, Caroline Mason Norfleet Church passed away peacefully in August 2015. Caroline was predeceased by her daughter, Sarah Norfleet ’64 and is survived by her son, Thomas ’68, daughter-in-law, Winnie Jensen Church and grandson, Nicholas Norfleet. Caroline was previously married to the late John Church. Many BCD faculty and alumni will remember her contributions, influence, and service to many special-needs members of the community. She maintained an enduring association with Trinity Church in Lenox; she was the first woman officer to serve on the Trinity Church Vestry. Caroline was active in the Junior League of Pittsfield, the Berkshire Garden Center, the Lenox Garden Club (where she was an active member for 55 years), The

T Club, Lenox Library Association, Cornell Alumni Association, and Mass Audubon Association. Her many interests included Berkshire County history, regional Who’s Who, Tanglewood, horticulture and floral arrangements, ornithology, and needlepoint.

Always one to enjoy the outdoors, she celebrated her 93rd birthday with an outing to the top of Mount Greylock.

Christopher Murray Crane Christopher Murray Crane, former BCD Board Member, and Parent and Grandparent of alumni, passed away peacefully at home in February surrounded by his family. A lifelong

“Papermaker,” his career at Crane & Co, Inc. spanned five decades, from 1957-2001.

Among his favorite sayings was “Anywhere in the world you go, you can take a piece of Dalton from your pocket that will be gladly accepted for payment!” In 2015, he was inducted into the Currency Hall of Fame by the International Association of Currency Affairs. He is the first American so honored.

He met his wife, Gale, while they were students at Syracuse University. Chris spent many happy hours in his shop, on his tractor, flying his plane, riding his motorcycle, and driving cars. He was a longstanding member of the Dalton Fire Department and was one of the first EMT’s in Berkshire County. He especially enjoyed time with his three children and seven grandchildren: daughter Allison ’82 and her son Charles Guyer ’19; son Douglas ’75 and his wife Becky and their children Elizabeth ’05 2S, Andrew ’07 2S, and Charlotte ’09 2S; and son David ’74 and his wife Ruth Blodgett and their children Christopher ’08 2S, Alice ’10 2S, and Katherine ’09. Whether helping build a barn,

Spring 2016

In Memoriam

splitting wood, or making maple syrup or apple cider, Chris found his grandchildren to be a great source of pride and happiness. He was well known for his bowties, smile, and the query, “Anything I can do for you?” Chris believed that relationships, whether business or social, are the foundation and joy of life.

Frederick Merchant Myers Jr. Frederick Merchant Myers Jr. died in February 2016. He was a BCD Board Member from 1969-75, where he served as President and Treasurer. With his wife of 53 years, Elizabeth Lowe Myers, he was a Parent of alumni Christopher ’79 and Frederick ’80.

Of their time at BCD, Elizabeth said, “Our years at BCD meant a great deal to all our family, both for its academic excellence and perhaps even more as a small, sheltering, and supportive community.” Born in Pittsfield in 1922, he was a graduate of Williams College and Harvard Law School and was a founding partner of the Pittsfield law firm Cain, Hibbard and Myers. He had several business interests including serving for many years as Chairman of the Board of the Lukens Steel Company of Coatesville, PA. He is survived by his wife, his son Chris and his partner Colleen Kirk, his son Rick and his wife, Cheryl, and their children Ashley and Ricky. He also is survived by his sister Judith Myers Shinn and predeceased by his sister Barbara Myers Cross. Frederick resided at Kimball Farms in Lenox, whose staff offered the family excellent, loving care and the gift of friendship.

Helen C.S. Sloane Helen C.S. “Kimmie” Sloane died peacefully in May 2015 at age 91 in Sante Fe, NM, where she moved after being a Berkshire County fixture for half a century. Kimmie was a BCD Trustee, a volunteer, and a teacher in the Lower School in the 1970s. Her husband, the late James R. Sloane, was President of the Board and the namesake for Sloane Field.

Their three children are BCD graduates: Wick ’68, Kim ’70, and Mary ’72. BCD friends and colleagues including Celia Kittredge of Tyringham and Jane Ryan of Stockbridge are uniformly glowing in their memories.

“Kimmie was such principled woman who felt so strongly about education,” said Molly Kapteyn ’69 Boxer, former BCD French teacher. “Kimmie could bring out the best in people,” said Susan Merrill, former BCD art teacher. “She gave my daughter a lot of extra time and taught her to knit. At five or six, Daisy was dyeing sheep’s wool and knitting it into a hat with a pom-pom.” Kimmie left a significant bequest to BCD. In a letter to Head of School Paul Lindenmaier, her daughter Mary wrote, “Her years teaching at BCD were treasured memories and a highlight for her.

BCD continues, under your leadership, to be the wonderful, creative and compassionate school it always has been.” Son Wick agrees, joking, “As evidence of my affection for BCD, I was glad she gave the school the money and not me.” Born in 1924 in Neenah, WI, Kimmie earned her nickname from her father, Kimberly Stuart, who wanted a namesake but had only daughters. Kimmie graduated from Smith College in 1945. She and James moved their family to the Berkshires in 1964, when he became president of what was the Berkshire Bank & Trust Company. Kimmie volunteered with Headstart in the Pittsfield Public Schools, the Berkshire Garden Club, and the Harvest Festival at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. Kimmie is survived by her three children and five grandchildren: Phoebe, Will, Sam, Otto, and Clare.

Robert Hooper Swan Robert Hooper Swan ’55 was born in Boston in 1943 and raised on Cherry Hill Farm in Stockbridge. He died in October 2015, from cancer, at Berkshire Medical Center. Bob attended BCD in Lenox, after he kept leaving the Plain School in Stockbridge at morning recess in 1st grade, walking through the woods to the railroad tracks, and waiting until after 3 p.m. to reappear at home. He went on to Brooks School and later to Pomfret School in Eastern CT. He studied at Le Rosey School in Switzerland, where he was notorious for fearless speed on the ski slopes, the London School of Economics, and Columbia School of General Studies. He enjoyed racing sailboats on Lake Mahkeenac and won several trophies; he also won trophies from Felix Mundy’s Cerebral Challenge competitions. He was an excellent chess player, ultimately playing three people at the same time blindfolded and winning. Bob is survived by two brothers, Mark and Nick ’65, and two sisters, Rosaly and Clover ’59.

berkshirecountryday.org 25

Alumni Profile

THE ARONOFF TWINS: Rock Stars from BCD

When world-famous drummer Kenny Aronoff ’68 took his bow at the Mahaiwe last summer, the tattooed rock star teared up behind his trademark sunglasses. The theater was packed with old friends who clapped as if their applause might keep their hometown hero in their grasp longer. The BCD graduate was named the number one Pop/ Rock and Studio Drummer for five consecutive years; he has played on over 30 Grammy-nominated recordings with superstars of every stripe including Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen. Yet, at the top of the show Kenny had told the audience “We’re in this together tonight,” and in the end, everyone in that room felt like a rock star.

Kenny’s biggest fan is his identical twin Jonathan Aronoff ’68. They both credit what they call their ‘twinship’ with making each of them better and stronger, as the brothers battled to be top dog (while rooting for each other’s glory) throughout their childhood.

“One plus one always equals more than two,” said Jonathan.

“The magic was that my brother and I were both so committed to what the other one had.”

In their days as BCD students, both were star athletes; Kenny was captain of the Blue Team and Jonathan was captain of the White Team; Kenny played defensive soccer to Jonathan’s offense; Jonathan excelled at cross-country skiing while Kenny dominated at downhill. “Coming here was a new experience for us,” said Jonathan, when the brothers visited the campus last fall. “Being a twin was such an anomaly, it allowed us to always feel popular.”

They transferred into BCD in 1965 with their sister Nina ’72 when their mother, Ellie Aronoff, became the fifth grade teacher. As members of the class of 1968, they had the distinction of being seniors for two years when BCD extended its program from eighth grade to ninth grade.

“BCD provided rigorous academic training,” said Jonathan. The brothers still laugh over stories of their strict teachers including Mr. Potter, Mrs. Jones, and Mrs. Rice. “What the school gave us was structure, discipline, perseverance, and accountability,” said Jonathan.

“It certainly challenged us to step up our academic game.”

The School purchased the Brook Farm Campus in 1963, and the twins credit then Head of School Donald Oakes for creating a feeling of community. “It was sort of like we were pioneers, endeavoring on

26 BCD Today

this new school, and trying to build it up together,” said Jonathan.

They painted buildings, mowed lawns, and raked leaves. Kenny recalls the family vibe, saying, “The School was like your parents. There was a lot of care for you as a human being. That didn’t mean they were going to let you get an ‘A’ when you did poor work, but there was a sense of community.”

Both of the Aronoff boys made good. A classically trained musician, Kenny got his break in 1982 playing hits like “Jack and Diane” and “Hurts So Good” with John Mellencamp. Meanwhile, Jonathan played semi-professional soccer and got his PhD in psychology from Brigham Young University. Kenny spent 17 years touring and becoming the most in demand session drummer in the world. Jonathan returned to Stockbridge to do his post-doctoral work at Austin Riggs and open a private practice as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist.

Their paths seemed set even as children. At ten, Jonathan knew he wanted to help others, and he won BCD’s Citizenship Award. At the same age, Kenny saw The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and formed his first band dreaming that he would one day play with them (in 2014 he did play with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney in a Grammy’s tribute). “Even back when he was a kid on this campus, everyone orbited around Kenny’s music,” said Jonathan. “Once he hit Mellencamp, the Berkshires went berserk.”

Jonathan was a doctor in the east and Kenny was a rock star in the west. Then, fifteen years ago, Jonathan was head coach of a girls’ soccer team and he invited his brother to do a talk to raise money for the school’s athletics. “I had to flip-flop, because the music wasn’t the most important thing, it was the message,” said Kenny. Since then, Kenny’s music has become a vehicle for his message about living a full and healthy life.

The Aronoffs show no signs of slowing. Jonathan returned to BCD this past fall to do a workshop with the boys’ soccer team. The kids sat stunned watching him do one-handed push-ups and splits. Both twins have books in the works. Kenny’s memoir will be published next fall and is aptly titled, Sex, Drums, and Rock ‘n’ Roll! The Hardest Hitting Man in Show Business. Jonathan is completing his book, The Lost Generation of Boys, which addresses how boys can become mature, presidential men. The brothers have conceived of a joint book tour that is part coaching, part memoir, and part rock-n-roll.

Their impact is hard to calculate. Jonathan is infused in the Berkshires “as a mentor, a coach, and a leader, and that makes him the real rock star,” says Kenny. Jonathan describes Kenny as “a larger-than-life hero. He created this incredible way of making us feel good through his music. How do you measure that?” Jonathan asks. “That’s one plus one equals thousands.”

Spring 2016

The Campaign for BCD

We are just $125,000 away from our $3 million goal!

The atmosphere at Berkshire Country Day School is positively celebratory. If you have been on campus lately or read the flurry of recent headlines then you know that, after years of intentional planning and stewardship, we are poised to honor our past commitments while building a bright future for our School.

As you may know, when ten-year-old Kevin Hirt ’06 learned his pediatric cancer was terminal, he asked his parents to donate his college fund to BCD to support the expansion of the School’s library.

Thanks to the outpouring of support from Kevin’s family and friends and the entire BCD community we are on the verge of making Kevin’s beautiful dream a reality. In fact, we have expanded Kevin’s vision and will accomplish even more. Fulfilling the Promise: The Campaign for BCD will create the most dramatic upgrade to our facilities in decades, while also supporting our beloved faculty and strengthening the School’s endowment.

The Campaign will allow us to realize two state-of-the-art facilities in Furey Hall: the Kevin Hirt Library and Learning Commons and the Kim and James Taylor Music and Performance Room.

Hilary Dunne Ferrone & Chris Ferrone

Hilary Somers Deely & Phil Deely ’61

CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRS

CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRS

The Learning Commons will feature reading and story-telling areas, as well as technology to connect students to the wider world. The Music and Performance Room will provide a venue where all BCD students can cultivate their musical abilities. These dramatic new facilities, designed by Flansburgh Architects and built by Allegrone Construction, will open in the winter of 2017 and will be built without debt!

Our faculty are the heart and soul of a BCD education. It is with great pride that we substantially grow our Endowed Funds for Faculty Salaries and Professional Development. One named fund, the Eugénie and Jim Fawcett Fund for Faculty Salaries, allows the School to advance faculty salaries to appropriate levels, which enables us to continue to attract, support, and retain the superior teachers who make BCD a remarkable and vibrant school.

Now we need your support! Please return the enclosed mailer or visit the website www.berkshirecountryday.org/giving so that we can fulfill our promise to Kevin, to our faculty, and to the future of our School.

Kim & James Taylor

Paige Smith Orloff

Paul Lindenmaier

HONORARY CO-CHAIRS

BOARD OF TRUSTEES,

HEAD OF SCHOOL

PRESIDENT

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...to Kevin

...to our faculty

...to our future

Kevin Hirt Library and Learning Commons

Endowed Funds for Faculty Salaries and Professional Development

Kim and James Taylor Music and Performance Room

The Kevin Hirt Library and Learning Commons has been thoughtfully designed to foster a love of reading and provide tools that encourage innovation and creativity, and thus connect BCD students to the wider world. Named for Kevin Hirt ’06, whose favorite period was library, the open-space multi-level design will provide a reading area for younger children, a central open area and meeting space, and a glass-enclosed distance-learning classroom.

A healthy endowment is vital for a school of BCD’s size, longevity, and strategic aspirations. The Endowed Funds for Faculty Salaries and Professional Development allow BCD to advance faculty salaries and support professional development, and position us to continue to attract, nurture, and retain outstanding teachers who remain committed to the BCD mission. One fund is named in honor of Eugénie and Jim Fawcett, who have

The Kim and James Taylor Music and Performance Room will be a state-of-the-art facility suitable for the Lower School theater workshops, the Middle School band, the Upper School vocal ensemble, or any of the diverse music and theater courses available to BCD students. The dedicated music and performance space will seat up to 100 and allow BCD to host public events in order to expand and enhance our connection to the broader Berkshire community.

taught at BCD for a combined 83 years!

Now we need your support!

COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP Hilary Dunne Ferrone & Christopher Ferrone

We are $125,000 away from our $3 million goal!

Return the donor envelope today, or visit www.berkshirecountryday.org/giving, and please…

Hilary Somers Deely & Phil Deely ’61

Make your yearly gift to the Annual Fund Support this Campaign with your one-time special gift Continue to be an ambassador for the School by telling your story of how BCD supports our entire community.

For more information, call the Development Office at (413) 637-0755 or visit berkshirecountryday.org

28 BCD Today

COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS

COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS

Kim & James Taylor HONORARY CO-CHAIRS

COMMITTEE MEMBERS Robert Akroyd B. Stephen Boyd Jennifer Capala Jeremy Creelan Bev & Dave Hosokawa Donna Kittredge Paul Lindenmaier Danny Lipson Colin Mathews E. Quincy McLaughlin Paige Smith Orloff Marianna Poutasse Scott Schiff ’74

HONORARY COMMITTEE Earl Albert Sion Boney Peter Buttenheim Lynn Campana Donna Elmendorf Emily H. Fisher Nancy Fitzpatrick Paul Hirt Nancy Kalodner Jim Maxymillian Robin McGraw Claire Naylor Pollart Jane Ryan Annie Laidlaw ’78 Selke Alli Sheehan Jessica Provenz CAMPAIGN ASSOCIATE

Spring 2016

The Campaign for BCD

The Honorary Committee As the Campaign inspires and galvanizes our community, BCD leaders from the past and present have stepped forward in a show of solidarity with the School. Kim and James Taylor agreed to become the committee’s Honorary Co-Chairs, lending their support to a community which they firmly believe in. Our illustrious committee members include a former Head of School and nine former Trustees (seven of which were Board Presidents). Below is a look at these leaders, who share why they are championing the School’s next chapter and the importance of BCD in their lives.

Earl Albert

Lynn Campana & Paul Hirt

Earl Albert came to BCD in 1979, when his son, Michael Albert ’92, became a student. Board President from 1985-1992, Mr. Albert and his wife, Lesley Albert, are well known around the Berkshires for their business, Loeb's Foodtown in Lenox. Mr. Albert has maintained involvement at BCD, because "I love the school! My son enjoyed BCD, it was a great learning atmosphere for him," he said.

Parents of students Mackenzie Hirt ’04 and Kevin Hirt ’06, Lynn Campana and Paul Hirt are actively involved in shepherding the future of BCD. Ms. Campana served on the Board from 2002-2010. "BCD provides an outstanding independent school education in a rural area and that gives families options," she said. Mr. Hirt formerly worked with GE and now is the operating principal at Global Infrastructure Partners. Their favorite memories include Grandparents' Day, Alaska Day, and of course, the AMAZING faculty!

The Kevin Hirt Library and Learning Commons will exist thanks to the vision of their late son Kevin whose story inspired the Campaign.

Sion Boney

From 2004-2012, Sion Boney held many roles on the Board of Trustees: Overseer, President, Kim & James Taylor CO-CHAIRS Vice President, and Treasurer. He is also “It’s hard for us to a parent of Winston accept that our final ’09 and Ford ’13. Mr. Boney considers BCD year as BCD an "essential feature for a life in the parents is finally Berkshires," citing his favorite memory as upon us. We’ve hiring Head of School Paul Lindenmaier. been exploring the The former President at Bristol-Myers options for our Products and former Director of ING boys, Rufus ’16 Advisors, Mr. Boney remains involved in and Henry ’16, and we are constantly BCD because of the "great leadership" reminded, over and over again, how adding, "The future looks even better!" wonderful and extraordinary these past 11 years have been here at Berkshire Country Peter Buttenheim Day. Finding BCD was the single most important thing that allowed us to move to Head of School the Berkshires and to raise our family here. from 1979-1987, The faculty, parents and students here form Peter Buttenheim a community with a soul; an ethical, caring, champions the cooperative family that has given our boys Eugénie & Jim the best possible foundation from which to Fawcett Fund for carry on. We’ve seen some amazing Faculty Salaries schools. Schools with vast endowments, because "BCD is an monumental facilities, top notch faculties, absolute gem of a school. How could I NOT but nowhere will we hope to find the equal help in this effort?" Parent of Jennifer ’81 of BCD in heart, soul and spirit. Just in and Alison ’84, Mr. Buttenheim describes case I don’t get a better opportunity to say his favorite BCD memory as "The day that it, thank you! The Taylors will always be a Madame Grad, in her 80s, finally recovered BCD family.” from her broken hip. Word went around the campus that she was coming out of the Main James Taylor, at the December 11 launch Building, and every grade lined the driveway party for the Campaign for BCD. and cheered as she made her way back to her classroom. That story encapsulates so much of what I love about BCD."

Donna Elmendorf Dr. Donna Elmendorf served as President, Vice-President, and Secretary of the Board of Trustees from 1998-2009, when her sons, Zachary Robbins ’10 and Joshua Shapiro ’99, were students. "My husband Ed Shapiro and I are very grateful for the strong educational foundation our children received at BCD. Support of the Campaign is one important way that we can express our gratitude.” Dr. Elmendorf is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and psychotherapy supervisor at the Austen Riggs Center. She is also the head of the Erikson Institute Consultation Service.

Emily H. Fisher Emily H. Fisher, BCD grandmother of Emily Murphy ’23, champions BCD because she values the education. "I believe in the mission of the School, and I want to support Paul Lindenmaier's efforts to make it the best school in the state," said Mrs. Fisher, who

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The Campaign for BCD

holds a master's degree in education administration from Harvard University and is vice chair of Bard College's Board. She is also Chair Emerita of the Board of Overseers at Bard College at Simon's Rock, where the Fisher Science and Academic Center is named in her honor.

’86 Boone. He founded J.H. Maxymillian, Inc., a Pittsfield-based general contracting firm that initiated the family-owned Maxymillian group of companies, including Maxymillian Technologies, where he serves as its Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

Nancy Fitzpatrick

Robin McGraw

Parent of Casey RothsteinFitzpatrick ’91, Ms. Fitzpatrick’s love for BCD has been evident for decades. Fitzpatrick Hall was named for her family. Ms. Fitzpatrick oversees a hospitality business that includes The Red Lion Inn, Elm Street Market, and The Porches Inn at MASS MoCA.

Robin McGraw and his wife, Buzz McGraw, have been involved at BCD long after their daughter, Andie McGraw ’13, was a student at the School. They continue to support BCD because "We understand the value of a private school education." Mrs. McGraw taught in the Lower School and was Chair of the BCD 2S Science Department. Mr. McGraw was a member of the Board from 2006-2012. He once had the opportunity to address BCD donors. Mr. McGraw recalls, "In thanking Kim and James Taylor, I said, 'To the ladies in the room, James is an iconic rock star, but to us at BCD he is simply a parent and we want to know we are doing right by his children.'" Mr. McGraw was surprised when Mr. Taylor approached later and joked, “'Am I not an iconic rock star to you?'“

Nancy Kalodner A former BCD Trustee and parent, Nancy Kalodner says the reason she continues to be engaged with BCD can be encapsulated in two sentences that her son expressed in his first weeks at Andover. Joel Kalodner ’86 said, "Mom, I'm so much better prepared for this than just about anybody else here! BCD really was the best foundation I could have had!" Ms. Kalodner is the owner of Benchmark Real Estate, and has been on the boards of Jacob's Pillow, IS183, Great Barrington Fairgrounds, and Berkshire Creative.

Jim Maxymillian Board president from 1977-1985 and Board Emeritus 19961997, Jim Maxymillian said, "Great idea to establish the Fawcett Fund for Faculty Salaries! They deserve to be honored!" The Fawcetts taught Mr. Maxymillian's children, Neal Maxymillian ’79 and Maria Maxymillian

Claire Naylor Pollart Claire Naylor Pollart came to BCD in 2001 with her children, Quintin Pollart ’11 and Kendall Pollart ’14, and was an active volunteer.

She joined the Board of Trustees in 2007 and was President from 2009-2013. Mrs. Pollart was instrumental in building and running BCD’s after-school enrichment program, and has played a leadership role in spearheading the School’s green initiatives. Born and raised in Gt. Barrington, where she owned Fitness Express for 15 years, she continues to teach fitness programs locally and nationally. Mrs. Pollart says, "My every moment at BCD was special somehow.”

Jane Ryan Not only was Jane Ryan the Board President from 1975-1977 and a Trustees for the six years prior, she was also a member of the Faculty, and a BCD parent of Nina Ryan ’72, William Ryan, Jr. ’75, and Laura Ryan ’77. Ryan Hall is named after Mrs. Ryan. "My husband, Billy Ryan, and I felt there was more flexibility and teaching in one private school — BCD — than in the public schools," said Mrs. Ryan. One of Mrs. Ryan's most fond memories is of the BCD Boutique, which was a community of moms who would create items to sell on campus.

Annie Laidlaw ’78 Selke Annie Selke attended BCD along with her brothers Criss Laidlaw ’74 and Will Laidlaw ’81. Her daughter Charlotte Selke ’08,is also an alumna. Ms. Selke founded Pine Cone Hill, known for its fresh home textiles that have made waves in the home design industry since 1994. She started the business with an industrial sewing machine on her dining room table! Ms. Selke stepped forward in support of her former Latin and English teachers, Eugénie and Jim Fawcett.

Alli Sheehan Alli Sheehan joined BCD's Board in 2013. Parent of daughters Grace Sheehan ’19 and Alice Sheehan ’16, she was a who co-chaired the ArtSoirée and the Annual Fund in the ten years that her daughters attended the School. "This is where my daughters grew up, and it's important to me that they stay connected to those years of their lives.

BCD is a really magical place.” Mrs. Sheehan is the Community Outreach Liaison for Sheehan Health Group.

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sa yi ng ... he y’ re ha tt W

“Berkshire Country Day School nears $3 million mark for campus project, salaries” THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE • DECEMBER 16, 2015

“BCD announced fundraising successes” THE BERKSHIRE COURIER • DECEMBER 18, 2015

“Local School is Growing for the Future: BCD Launches $3 Million Campaign” IMBY • DECEMBER 18, 2015

“BCD to transform campus with state-of-the-art library, music and performance spaces” THE BERKSHIRE EDGE • JANUARY 5, 2015

Save the Date!

On the morning of Friday, June 10, 2016, BCD will break ground on the

Kim and James Taylor Music and Performance Room and Kevin Hirt Library and Learning Commons Stay tuned for further details.

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BCD Today

Spring 2016

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Mission

Philosophy

Berkshire Country Day School exists to inspire the individual promise of every student, that each may become an exemplary citizen of the world.

Berkshire Country Day School is dedicated to encouraging academic excellence at the highest level and to realizing each student’s potential for wellrounded development. We provide a stimulating and challenging education in a supportive and nurturing environment. In the spirit of inquiry and discovery, students learn to be resourceful and responsible. In an atmosphere of mutual respect, students learn about community and caring for others. Berkshire Country Day School is a place where each student can meet success as a 21st century learner.

Vision Distinct in program, adventurous in spirit, engaged in a changing world

Values Originality, Quality, Respect, Sustainability, Community, Wellness, Citizenship

Every effort was made to present the information in this edition of BCD Today as accurately as possible. If you notice any errors, omissions or misrepresentations please contact the Development OfďŹ ce.