BERKSHIRE B U L L E T I N Summer 2017
PRO VITA TURNS
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#mountainpassport Berkshire’s annual Mountain Passport Challenge encourages the community to explore the outdoors. Points are awarded for tasks from identifying types of salamanders (50) to fly fishing at a local stream (300) to hiking to the summit of Mt. Everett (400). For the artistically inclined, there are also points for best photograph. The one below center by Berit Randall ‘17 took the top honor.
/ Reflection /
SUMMER 2017
OUR MISSION
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Rooted in an inspiring natural setting, Berkshire School instills the highest standards of character and citizenship and a commitment to academic, artistic, and athletic excellence. Our community fosters diversity, a dedication to environmental stewardship, and an enduring love for learning.
Alice Ehrenclou Cole ’76 CHAIR, BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Pieter M. Mulder HEAD OF SCHOOL
Rob Schur DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT
Carol Visnapuu DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING
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On the Cover: Dogsledding and leadership training in Minnesota during Pro Vita 2017, the 10th anniversary of the program. Photo by co-trip leader and faculty member Britt Plante.
Bulletin Editor: Lucia Mulder ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Class Notes Editor: Kristina Thaute Miller ‘97
Features
Departments
DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS
Design: Hammill Design
40 Asking Questions: The 21st-Century Survival Skill 44 Pioneering AMSR: The Power of ‘What If?’ 46 Launching a Weather Balloon to Atmospheric Heights 48 Creating Conversations Through the ASR 52 Pro Vita 10 Years of Educating Students For Life 58 Commencement 66 Reunion Weekend 75 5 Questions for Mike Gibbons ’85 76 Ready, Set, Action! Berkshire Alumni Making Waves in Media Julie Bronder ’97 & Tommy Kaier ’06
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26 Bears at Play 74
Alumni Events
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Class Notes
91 In Memoriam 97 From the Archives Berkshire School admits students of any race, color, religious affiliation, national and ethnic origin and qualified handicapped students to all rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students. We do not discriminate in violation of any law or statute in the administration of our educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs.
Printing: Quality Printing Company Principal Photography: Gregory Cherin Photography, Su DelGuercio, Michael Hayes, Highpoint Pictures, Britt Plante, Chip Riegel Photography, Risley Sports Photography, Carol Visnapuu Class Notes: classnotes@berkshireschool.org All other alumni matters: alumni@berkshireschool.org Published by Berkshire School’s Communications and Marketing Office and Advancement Office for alumni, parents, and friends of the School.
Go Green! To receive an electronic issue only, contact bulletin@berkshireschool.org.
Spring/Summer 2015
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SEEN AROUND 1. C ampus putting on one last show before students departed for summer break 2. No admission reception is complete without a stop at the Red Rooster in Brewster, NY! 3. The universal sign for Mountain Day 4. A scene from the fall dance concert 5. The victorious Bears with the D’Arco family after beating Taft in the annual Pink Out game played in memory of Lucille D’Arco 6. Celebrating Holi, a Hindu festival signifying the arrival of spring
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SIXTH FORMER NAMED REGENERON SEMIFINALIST Berkshire School student in eight years to be named a semifinalist in the competition formerly known as the INTEL STS. Every year, about 1,800 high school students enter the competition.
Jessica Scranton Photography
Viggo Blomquist ’17 was selected in January as a semifinalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, considered the nation’s most prestigious science competition for high school students. Blomquist is the eighth
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To apply for the award, students must complete a 20-page research paper and provide several short and long essays on their philosophy about scientific discovery and their future direction. Blomquist, who was born with a heart arrhythmia, researched a novel gene therapy technique to counteract why arrhythmia happens. “It’s great to be able to complete a body of work that not only accurately depicts one’s efforts, but also tells a story in science,” Blomquist said. “The process has been incredibly rewarding, and I couldn’t be happier.” “I am so excited that Viggo was selected as one of the top 300 science scholars in the nation,” said Dr. April Burch, director of Berkshire’s Advanced Math/Science Research program. “Viggo worked hundreds of hours during the academic year and his summer vacation on this project. His work provides proof that genetic disorders, such as cystic fibrosis and hERG (a type of heart disease), can be treated with special molecules that correct the genetic mutation and restore function. Viggo is the perfect example of how hard work and determination pay off.” Blomquist, who was mentored by Dr. Christopher Ahern of the University of Iowa, was one of four Berkshire seniors to enter the research contest. Ryan Zang ’17 researched how viruses like HIV and Zika transport their DNA during infections. Eric Hwang ’17 studied the insecticidal potential of an Amazonian plant. And Claire Lemker ’17 worked to find a nonchemical way to control algal blooms in her native Minnesota using bacteriophages. See page 44 for more on the early years of AMSR.
Campus News
Ending Racism in About an Hour: Comedian W. Kamau Bell visits Berkshire Political comedian W. Kamau Bell, the host of CNN’s United Shades of America, visited Berkshire School in September to present his show, The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour. Bell’s visit was scheduled as part of the school’s AllSchool Read program, which focused on race in America through the lens of the book Between The World and Me, by award-winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates. “You don’t end racism by asking
people to explain their existence to you,” Bell told the audience of students and faculty. “You can end racism by just being respectful to everyone else’s existence.” Bell suggested that one way to bridge the divide is to strike up small conversations that may lead to deeper ones. These conversations can be awkward, but they get better with time, he said, adding that, “The important thing is to keep the discussion going.” “We are using the National SEED
[Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity] Project’s models for building trust and vocabulary around equity and inclusion, which provides our community with a structure for having difficult conversations,” explained LeRhonda Greats, Berkshire’s dean of diversity and inclusion. “Through these conversations, we will strive to become an even better community, and we can help prepare our students ‘For Life.’”
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Board Identity: Welcoming New Trustees
Spring 2016 Vernon Taylor ’66 Denver raised, Mr. Taylor graduated from Stanford University in 1970 with a BS in geology/mineral engineering. He started and operated companies throughout his professional life, the most recent of which was a private gas pipeline company he co-founded and sold in 2006. He has served as a director or in a management position with the following listed companies: Coca Mines, Chemex Pharmaceuticals, Placer Dome, Inc., Geodome Resources, and Barrington Petroleum, as well as a number of private companies. Mr. Taylor currently lives in Sagaponack, NY, with his wife, Naomi Marks. Their son Jake attends Eton College. Taylor devotes his time to asset management and developing a story he wrote for a television series and another project adapted from a book for a feature film. Pauline Jenkins Ms. Jenkins has nearly 20 years of business experience within the financial services industry, much of it at the senior level. She led several business lines for Aviva USA and served most recently as senior VP of the Structured Settlement annuity line, where she had responsibility for a $500+ million business line. She serves on multiple community boards with a focus on education. A former chair, she continues to serve on the Boxford Elementary Schools Trust Board, an organization whose mission is to foster excellence in Boxford’s public elementary schools by raising private funds that supplement curriculum needs. Ms. Jenkins has a BS in finance from Ithaca College and an MBA from Clarkson. She lives in Boxford, Mass., with her husband, Pete, and their two children. She is a passionate reader, outdoor adventurer, and traveler, having visited over 30 countries.
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Spring 2017 Andrew C. Pilaro P’19 Chairman of CAP Advisers Limited, a family owned and run investment office in Dublin, Ireland, Mr. Pilaro serves on the board of the Ron Brown Scholar Program, a non-profit organization that awards scholarships to academically talented African American high school seniors. He is a member of several boards, including American Secondary Schools for International Students and Teachers Inc. (ASSIST). A UVA graduate with an MBA from Columbia University, he is the father of Chris ’19, and he lives with his family in Southampton, NY. Kate Fisher Fitzgerald ’90, P’20,’21 A longtime Berkshire supporter, Ms. Fitzgerald has remained closely involved with the School, serving as a class agent, a member of the Alumni Advisory Board, and a member of the Hail Berkshire campaign committee. A former board member of the Chicago Botanic Garden, she continues to be a sustaining member of that institution and is also involved with the Boys & Girls Club of Chicago near her home in Lake Forest, Ill. A graduate of the University of Arizona, she is the mother of Grace ’20 and incoming Lila ’21. Mark Giordano P’20 Managing director of the firm Renaissance Institutional Management, a private company located in New York City, Mr. Giordano’s previous roles include managing director with Citigroup and Bank of America Securities. Early in his career, he served as an attorney specializing in corporate, securities, and real estate finance law. Mr. Giordano earned a BA in political science and government from UVM and holds a JD from Hofstra and an LLM in taxation from NYU Law School. The father of Allegra ’20, he and his family live in New York City.
Campus News
Farewell, Mr. Alden Berkshire bid farewell to longtime Chief Financial Officer John Alden in January of this year. John served the school in this key role since August of 1993. As a CFO, he will be remembered for his impressive financial acumen and for keeping Berkshire’s books well balanced. But beyond his professional expertise, he will be remembered as being a true “school person,” someone who, in the words of Head of School Pieter Mulder, “understands the sense of community and how financial decisions impact our students first while they also support the culture and mission of the School.” Throughout John’s tenure at Berkshire, it was not uncommon to see the lights in the corner office of the Kellogg Alumni Center aflame at all hours. James Harris, a Kellogg colleague of John’s for 18 of those years, and whose work as editor of the Berkshire Bulletin kept him burning the midnight oil as well, said at the news of John’s retirement, “Berkshire will not see John Alden’s like again.” He continued, “I know of no one who ever worked harder on behalf of the School.” Berkshire celebrated John and his wife, Sherry, at a farewell dinner on January 27 (where, it should be noted, there were no fewer than three dessert options in honor of John’s infamous sweet tooth!). Sherry retired in 2015 after over a decade and a half spent working in the School’s Post Office, a position that allowed her to get to know so many in the community, particularly the faculty and staff children who often came to visit. She was instrumental in organizing a holiday party for the Bear Cubs, which became a much-anticipated tradition. At the dinner in the Aldens’ honor, all of the voices in the room—trustees past and present, faculty and staff colleagues across decades—echoed James
John and Sherry Alden, who served the school for a combined 40 years, with Board Chair Alice Ehrenclou Cole ’76
Harris’s sentiments: John’s dedication to Berkshire was unparalleled. For the last three years, John Alden and Dana Anselmi, director of financial aid, worked together to create a line in the operating budget to support students on financial aid. The fund was established to ensure that all students would have a common Berkshire experience. It provides spending money for various things like bookstore items and snacks at the student center. It was announced at the dinner that the established fund would thenceforth be known as the John Alden Fund in acknowledgement of John’s remarkable dedication and his unwavering commitment to putting students first. It’s a fitting reminder that everyone in the community is ultimately here for the benefit of our students, a message that John Alden seems to have understood all along.
are very few ” There people who are as smart as John, who are as experienced as John, and who have the same passion for an organization for as long a period of time. That commitment makes a huge difference in an organization’s outcomes. And John, you’ve made that happen for Berkshire.” — JOHN WATKINS ’73, P‘06,‘07,‘13
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ORDER IN THE COURTS Naming and Renaming the Soffer Center Spaces
In February, a large crowd of parents, students, and alumni were on hand as Berkshire honored several members of the community for their dedication and contributions to the School by formally dedicating spaces within the Soffer Athletic Center. Kinne Court was named in honor of longtime basketball coach Peter Kinne, and his wife Lynn, the School’s registrar, who have spent a combined 71 years at Berkshire. Duryee Court was rededicated to the late Bill Duryee, another longtime basketball coach, after its original dedication in 1995. Bill’s wife, Nancy Duryee-Aas, who taught at Berkshire for over 30 years, was among the more than two dozen members of 8
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both the Kinne and Duryee families who attended the event. “Today we come together as a school to honor the legacy of two families—the Kinnes and the Duryees—who have touched the lives of countless Berkshire students, and also to acknowledge the tremendous generosity of the families who have made the new squash courts a reality within the Soffer Athletic Center,” said Head of School Pieter Mulder. “It’s a great day for Berkshire and for our students and coaches who benefit from the commitment and loyalty of our remarkable community.” “We have never been prouder to be a part of such a great community and this weekend touched us beyond words,”
Sarah Kinne ’08, Lynn Kinne, Peter Kinne, and Sarah’s fiancé Bryan Fedner
Peter Kinne said of the dedication. Kinne coached basketball for 32 years (missing one for graduate school) and won the New England Championship with the girls team in 1993. Under his leadership, the boys team advanced to
Campus News
Nancy Duryee-Aas with grandchildren Crispin, Piper, and Campbell. Said their father Burr Duryee, “To have my three children share in a tribute to their Grandpa Billy, who they never had the chance to meet, was an experience I hope they will never forget.”
two New England finals and several semifinal match-ups. Classmates Anthony Addison and Billy Grace from the Class of 1982 led the fundraising effort to name Kinne Court, and both spoke at the dedication. “I don’t think either Bill Grace or I can take credit for being the founding members of the Kinne fan club,” said Addison that morning. “We are merely a couple of Bears who recognized that Lynn and Peter were really there for us. As adolescents, wanting to do bad things, we really deserved to be hammered. The Kinnes were that velvet hammer, who with calm, love, and humor, were able to direct so many of us through to graduation.” “When I arrived, the Kinnes embraced
me wholeheartedly,” said Grace. “First as a teacher, then as a coach and advisor, and finally as a friend and family member.” He explained, “The Kinnes are a large part of what made my experience at Berkshire so special and rewarding. They both supported me and challenged me. It’s not coincidental that today one of our family mantras is, ‘Seek to be challenged.’” Burr Duryee ’92, Bill and Nancy’s eldest son, explained the memorable morning this way, “To see the Duryee name so prominently displayed on the court where we shared so many amazing memories with our father was such a powerful moment. The day was made even more special by the number of important figures in the Duryees’ lives
who were in attendance: two of Dad’s former players and my biggest idols growing up, Kenny Coard ’85 and Bobby Moran ’87; Dad’s long-time assistant coach and my Berkshire advisor for four years, Les Clifford; Dad’s two sisters, Debbie and Mary Ellen and their entire families; close Berkshire classmates of my mine, Lauren’s, Steven’s and J.C.’s; and legacy Berkshire names like Young, Balch, and Meade.” It was a celebration that crossed generations of Berkshire families, past, present, and future. “There I was,” said Nancy, “Twenty-four years after Bill’s death, surrounded by my children, with a deep sense of pride that we had not only survived but also flourished. I am truly filled with gratefulness.” Summer 2017
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A New Home For Berkshire Squash The Berkshire Bears played their first squash season in the Soffer Athletic Center’s ten new courts this winter. During a dedication ceremony in February, the School formally recognized five families whose names now adorn those courts. Berkshire is tremendously grateful for the generosity of the Hamilton family, the Lee/Tenenbaum family, the Morse family, the Allen family, and the Koenigsbauer family. Their loyalty and commitment made our new squash facility a reality. As part of the ceremony, Berkshire hosted a professional exhibition match between former World #1 Jonathon Power from Canada and former Trinity College national champion Gustav Detter of Sweden. Both players put on a tremendous show of squash prowess, but in the end, it was Jonathon Power’s afternoon in Soffer, as he came away with a well-contested 2-0 win over Detter. To cap off the first season in Soffer, Berkshire had the honor of hosting 15 teams for the 2017 New England Girls Interscholastic Squash Association Class B Championship at the end of February, a first for the School thanks to the new facility. Hosting is, “a point of pride for our players who feel great about representing Berkshire and sharing this space with some of our fellow schools in New England,” said Varsity Girls Coach A.J. Kohlhepp. “The squash center has transformed the experience for our student-athletes,” explained Head of School Pieter Mulder. “We look forward to many other occasions to host future championship play.”
Edward and Susan Miller, David Morse P’17, Ashley Morse, Tyler Morse ’17, Kim Morse P’17, Hartwell and Nancy Morse
Neen Koenigsbauer P’18, Kirk Koenigsbauer P’18, Peter Koenigsbauer ’18
Brooks Allen ’20, Andrew Allen ’89, P’19,’20, Katy Allen, Carter Allen ’19
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squash center has transformed the “ The experience for our student-athletes.” — PIETER MULDER
At the dedication, Berkshire hosted a professional exhibition match between former World #1 Jonathon Power (right) and former Trinity College national champion Gustav Detter.
Director of Alumni Relations Kristina Miller ’97 with her cousin, Gustav Detter, and Jonathon Power
Samantha Hamilton and Crawford Hamilton ’07, with members of the Berkshire squash program Kai Walker ’17 (left) and Liam Bullock ’17
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WEWEEK 2017 In April, Berkshire held its third annual “WeWeek,” a program celebrating the diversity of the Berkshire community. The week included a poetry slam, presentations, workshops, affinity group activities, two guest speakers (pictured below), and an all-school meeting in which students and faculty shared experiences with stereotypes. As founder Noah Faison ’16 explained, “At its core, WeWeek is about providing opportunities to let students debate, passionately and vibrantly, in conversations that you usually wouldn’t have in class about diversity, race, and background—topics that are going to make this community even stronger.” This year’s WeWeek organizer, Juan Cedeño ’17, summed up the week: “The thing I am most proud of is that people have come up to me and said, ‘Thank you for opening my eyes to a new perspective.’ That’s what this week is all about.”
Author Jennifer Finney Boylan (front center), the inaugural Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence at Barnard College and national co-chair of the Board of Directors of GLAAD, the media advocacy group for LGBT people worldwide
Rodney Glasgow (rear center), chair of the NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference and head of Middle School, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland
BEARS FROM AROUND THE WORLD STEPPED UP IN A BIG WAY IN 2016-17! 4 WE EXCEEDED OUR ANNUAL FUND GOAL
ONE DAY FOR BERKSHIRE:
OF $3 MILLION!
(THE 2ND YEAR IN A ROW!)
THE ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM:
GAVE BACK TO BERKSHIRE
Raised over $215,000 Offset the equivalent of full tuition for 3 students
4 THE SENIOR CLASS REACHED 100% PARTICIPATION 4 OVER 79% OF OUR FACULTY AND STAFF
Raised $593,877 and secured 1,690 gifts Inspired 89 first-time donors
NOTHING SPEAKS MORE POWERFULLY THAN THE SUPPORT OF OUR GROWING COMMUNITY. You and your fellow Bears (and Wildcats!) make Berkshire the extraordinary school it is today. Thank you. To learn more about how your gift makes a difference, visit berkshireschool.org/support. 12
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PLEASE FEED THE BEARS New student-created app serves up information Back home in Hong Kong, Daniel Tian ’19 dreamed of creating a new app for the Berkshire student body, an app that could one day become a fullfledged business. “I spent half the summer creating a platform where everyone at school could communicate with each other,” Tian says of BearsFeed. “Unlike Facebook, its sole focus is on our community, and it’s especially designed for high school
BearsFeed founder Daniel Tian ’19 (center) with partners Xander Tillou ’18 (left) and Billy Zegras ’18
students, with an increased emphasis on privacy protections. The app is also designed in a playful manner to appeal to students our age.” BearsFeed, which works in both iOS and Android, is designed to disseminate news and practical information to the student body, such as class schedules, game times, sports scores, dining hall menus, community events, and a newsfeed from The Green and Gray, befitting of the app’s tagline, “News within your community.” Launched only last fall, Tian set out to create a new and improved BearsFeed 2.0 the following spring. The new iteration of the app gives students the ability to post their own content, such as an announcement for a hike up the mountain or the start of a new club, as well as the ability to share posts with photos and to “like” them. Tian established a BearsFeed Club to help him manage the app. It has 33
student members, including his two partners Xander Tillou and Billy Zegras. “Everyone is divided up into groups like design, marketing, content production, video, pictures, and news, just like a real startup,” Tian says. He’s in charge of the coding team that maintains the app and its servers. Tian says he is constantly looking for ways to improve BearsFeed to best serve the community and eliminate programming bugs. “I’m really trying to get a feel for what people want, and upgrade it in ways that appeal to them,” he says. “Berkshire is our testing site. Once it works fluently here, then I want to see if I can expand it to other boarding schools.” Tian says that being an entrepreneur is one of his life goals. “I enjoy coding, not just for coding’s sake, but to make a product that people really want. I’m looking to create things that benefit people’s lives.”
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FOR ART’S SAKE This year, Berkshire students were recognized with 17 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for their work in digital art, drawing, photography, writing, and mixed media. Among the winners, Dalia Banevicius ’17, Simran Chatani ’17, Henry Kessler ’19, and Gigi Brown ’20 were awarded Gold Keys, and Mikayla McEwen ’18 earned Berkshire’s first ever Silver Key Award in the writing category. Clockwise from top left: Daly Banevicius’s Life of Bees, Henry Kessler’s A Sense of Place, Gigi Brown’s Self-Portrait, Simi Chatani’s Bananas
Senior Selfies The annual Senior Selfie exhibit, when the sixth form’s self-portraits grace the Warren Family Gallery, has become a right of passage each spring, an early harbinger of commencement.
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MUSICALLY SPEAKING It was a banner year for music and recognized as such when the department duo of Dr.’s Tasia ChengChia Wu and Clive Davis each earned the Seaver Buck award at Prize Night, the highest teaching honor at Berkshire.
Bravissimo! All-Eastern Honors Festival: Andrea Cass ’17 MostArt Festival 2016 Young Pianist Competition finalist: Yoshi Fukuzawa ’17 All-State Selection: Flora Choi ’20 Western District MMEA Festival: Marjorie Bao ’19, Andrea Cass ’17, Flora Choi ’20, Tucker Donelan ’18, Izzy Maher ’18, Elizabeth Nutting ’19
Andrea Cass ’17 was chosen to sing in the National Association for Music Education’s All-Eastern Choir, a major honor in the singing world. Cass was only the second Berkshire student in 17 years to be selected, a goal she identified as a third former.
Yoshi Fukuzawa ’17 was chosen as one of eight finalists in the prestigious MostArts Festival’s Young Pianist Competition, a music festival held at Alfred University in New York. The annual competition features talented high school students from around the world.
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THE PLAY’S THE THING Talking gender in last fall’s production of Romeo & Juliet What was it like to play a female version of Romeo?
Ana Tolvo ’17: We had to ask, ‘Who is Romeo? If you take away the gender, what are you left with? What’s masculine and what’s simply Romeo?’ Ultimately it wasn’t all that different. Romeo’s still a dreamer and very passionate. The play is less about masculine and feminine, and more about the yin and yang of their personalities. What did you learn about Juliet?
Kat Graham ’17: Juliet is a thinker, strong willed and clear headed. She’s not just a damsel in distress. Why did you present the play with same-gender leads?
Theater Director Jesse Howard: Theater depicts life. Gay people exist, and it’s really important that everybody in our community has the opportunity to see themselves depicted on stage. This was done very intentionally. It’s the responsibility of theater to be a mirror on society. In his time, Shakespeare was a renegade, a maverick. He was pushing societal boundaries as well. We took pains not to sensationalize the story—our number one goal was to have someone say it seemed all so normal.
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Spamalot! Berkshire Theater looked on the bright side of life when staging this year’s winter musical, the zany and super funny Spamalot! Performances brought laughter and good cheer as audiences enjoyed the musical lovingly ripped off from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. “The story is one big spoof on the myth of King Arthur. And I do mean spoof,” explained Theater Director Jesse Howard. “It takes us not only on a tour through the Middle Ages, but also through some of Monty Python’s greatest bits, songs, and scenes including The Knights who say ‘Ni!’, a song and dance number put forth by a bunch of dead bodies, and of course, the Killer Bunny.” Spamalot! was the perfect cure for the February doldrums and had us all humming our way to spring break.
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Berkshire Invites College Admission Officers for In-depth Campus Visit
To further bolster its standing among top colleges, Berkshire invited senior admission officers from Columbia, McGill, and Washington and Lee to visit campus last fall. Faculty and students gave presentations on Berkshire’s signature academic programs, including Advanced Math/Science Research (AMSR), STEAM, Black Rock Scholars, and Advanced Humanities Research. They also attended an AP English class and questioned a panel of students about their experiences at the school. In all, the visitors met with more than fifty students, including about 25% of the senior class. Typically, college counselors travel to colleges to represent their schools, but Berkshire created a program called Window on Berkshire, now in its second year, where college admission officers 18
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come to the school to meet directly with students and faculty to get a real sense of what makes Berkshire special. “It was a profoundly transformative experience to have this kind of insight into a school, to talk with faculty about their incredible offerings and special initiatives,” said Peter Johnson, a senior admission officer for Columbia University. “Speaking with students really made it all come alive.” The fall is a very busy time for college admission departments as they review thousands of applications, but Johnson said taking the time to learn more about Berkshire was well worth it. “I could be reading applications,” he said, “But I learned so much here.” The visitors seemed particularly impressed with student project presentations in AMSR and Advanced
Humanities Research. “I was struck by how ambitious and interesting the student research projects are,” said Kim Bartlett, director of admissions at McGill University. “Some of them sound like they are at the graduate-school level.”
Bartlett was so impressed by the students she met that she jokingly asked, “Do you have any bad students here? We’ve met one amazing student after another.”
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During the AMSR presentation, Dr. April Burch, director of the program, discussed Berkshire’s stateof-the-art research facilities, which include incubators, low-temperature freezers, and a planned electron microscope. “The facilities here are better than the lab I worked in as a scientist,” Burch said. AMSR projects that were discussed ranged from the engineering of a quadcopter to the research at the cellular level. “AMSR is a program where we can learn about what real science is like, explore our own projects, and learn from our successes and failures,” said Ryan Zang ’17, one of several students who submitted scientific research projects to the Regeneron (previously Intel) Science Talent Search prize. The visitors then attended an AP English class. “One of the great things about this group of students is that one might come to class and announce that she just split DNA, and then sit down to discuss Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” said faculty member Kelley Bogardus. The following day a panel of students from the Advanced Humanities Research program discussed their projects, which included a psychoanalytic approach to understanding the effects of the Prague
Spring on resulting art and literature, and a look into the enduring effects of Shakespeare’s language on current culture. “These sound like doctoral theses,” said Columbia’s Johnson. “I commend you.” Johnson later added, “We’re looking for students like this who demonstrate an independent intellectual curiosity and apply it to independent explorations. I came away with a very strong sense of that happening here at Berkshire. I’ll be doing a full presentation about what I learned at our next staff meeting.” A final student panel answered questions about life at Berkshire and how students have enjoyed their experiences at the school. “I came looking for a home away from home and a rigorous academic experience— and I found it,” said Julie Kokot ’17. “Other schools didn’t seem interested in seeing me as a person versus as numbers on paper,” said Drew Pitcher ’17. “My friendships with faculty here are real friendships,” added senior Autumn Truesdale. “What makes Berkshire different from comparable schools is its sense of community. We’re rigorous in the classroom, but you can find community in every corner of this school.”
A COMMUNITY KEEPS WORKING In April, Silvana Gomez ’17 presented a check to Berkshire for $1,050 to support the Wilbur Smith Jr. Scholarship Fund. Silvana led the effort to raise money for the scholarship through a bake sale at the girls varsity basketball senior game and through sales of bracelets printed with “Keep Working,” Mr. Smith’s mantra. “My goal was to raise money for an amazing cause,” she explained. “And most importantly, to introduce an amazing man to the part of the community that was not fortunate enough to meet him.”
Wil Smith, who passed away in February of 2015, was the School’s first dean of community and multicultural affairs. To give to the Wilbur Smith Jr. Scholarship Fund, contact Myra Riiska at 413.229.1225.
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CLASS OF 2017 Front row: Kenny Sperl (Sue ’06, Cyndi’10), Luke Streett (Carolyn Balch Streett ’83, Jim ’16), Ian Heissenbuttel (Anna ’13, Lisa Wardell ’79), Jack Weeden (Don Weeden ’70), Jade Shatkin (Juliet ’12, Jared ’13), Brian Chudacoff (Jonathan ’14), Matt Cortes (Sam Sabin ’13) Second row: Kufre Udoh (Unyime ’13), Will Perekslis (Sophie ’14), Dalia Banevicius (Merit Glover ’14), Andi McGraw (Robin McGraw ’70, Maddie ’07), Claire Lemker (Reid ’15), Tara DeChellis (Alex ’15), Madison Biasin (Camryn ’14), Alea Laigle (Chloe ’12, Bryce ’15), Neeka Daemi (Arianna ’10, Roya ’12), Lydia Shedden (Julie Helmer Shedden ’84), Abbey Turner (Cody ’13), Cat Quaintance (Charlie ’15), Andrea Cass (Alyssa ’15), Ana Tolvo (Josiah ’16) Back row: Liam Bullock (Bebe Clark Bullock ’86, Addie ’14), Tanner Boyle (Megan McDonnell Boyle ’86), Jack Scarafoni (Matt Scarafoni ’89) Not pictured: Dan Aldam (Jackson ’14, Will ’14), Xander Amero (Luke ’16), Victoria Barnett (Cary Weil Barnett ’76), Gavin Bigall (Jo Behr Bigall ’80), Jack Grace (Ally ’12), Hanna Graebner (Emmi ’14), Kendall Pollart (Quintin ’14)
ALUMNI
IN THE
CLASS OF 2019 Kegan Grogean (Scott Grogean ’91), Sam Bodman (Hallie King Bodman ’90, Jack Bodman ’89), Michael Derrig (Hanna ’16), Achara Achara (Ifunanyachi ’16), Paxton Bunting (Noah Wilson ’15), Brooke McLanahan (Lara Schefler McLanahan ’86, Georgia ’16, Jake ’16), Elise Johnston (Anna ’12), Brendan MacDonald (in tree) (Bob MacDonald ’87), Sean MacDonald (Bob MacDonald ’87), Sophie Reed (Jen Nichols Reed ’87), Ruby Merritt (Eli ’12, Sam ’14), Carter Allen (Andrew Allen ’89), Ben Streett (Carolyn Balch Streett ’83, Jim ’16), Sydney Wray (Taylor ’15), Kat Graham (Hayden ’15), Jeff McKee (Jimmy ’15), Shannon Lee (Chris ’94, Josh ’06, Jack ’10), Chance Perekslis (Sophie ’14), Cami Kittredge (Kit Kittredge ’85), Kat Erazo (Jeffrey ’15), Jennifer Ogaz (Noemi ’16) Not pictured: Elsie Harrington (Natalie ’16), Gavin Kline (Travis Kline ’87), Kenzie Licata (Mike ’12, Chris ’13, Matt ’15), James Walsh (Fred Walsh ’72)
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Berkshire Bulletin
Campus News
CLASS OF 2018 Front row: Charlotte MacKenzie (Nate ’14), Hannah Weymuller (E.A. Weymuller ’90), Layla Tattersfield (Sabrina ’16), Kathryn Driscoll (Anna ’13, Dan ’16), Luke Scarafoni (Matt Scarafoni ’89) Back row: Pedro Alvarenga (Ana ’15), Mark Driscoll (Anna ’13, Dan ’16), Xander Tillou (Jeff Tillou ’88), Caroline Sugar (Alli ’16), Summer Soffer (Madison ’16), Morgan Heilshorn (Madison ’16), Izzy Maher (Sam ’12, Maddy ’13), Sophia McCarthy (Maureen ’14) Not pictured: Jackson Brex (Sam Cooper ’89), Matt Diamond (Jake ’15), Katie Hargrave (Tom Hargrave ’81), David Lee (Juyoung ’15), Chi Nguyen (Lan ’13), Ben Wilson (Annie ’16)
FAMILY
58 Siblings 31 Legacies
CLASS OF 2020 Henry Quaintance (Charlie ’15), Brooks Allen (Andrew Allen ’89), James Welch (Caroline ’15), Briggs Gammill (Barclay ’16), Christopher Branch (in tree) (Liza Jane ’15), Tess Haskel (Jim Haskel ’86, Annie Zimmerli-Haskel ’86), Emily Curtiss (Katrina Seidman Curtiss ’93), Kyoti Tavarez (Henry Tavarez ’98), Grace Fitzgerald (Kate Fisher Fitzgerald ’90), Charlotte Dockery (Hannah Honan ’15)
Summer 2017
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Campus News
“China is no longer a program or a vacation—it is my life now. During the week, I wake up at 7:10 a.m. every morning and leave before my host parents get up. I walk to school, where I take five classes: Chinese, history, English, pre-calculus, and AP environmental science. For lunch I go to the dining hall. It is not amazing, but it’s Chinese and it’s free. Often I go out to Qingfeng and get some baozi (steamed buns) or jianbing (crêpelike sandwiches). Admittedly, I go to McDonald’s far too frequently. On Fridays I maybe go out to dinner and come home early. Saturdays I wake up early and go on outings with friends exploring hutongs (traditional narrow streets and alleys), going to lunch, and finding Western things. On Sundays I sleep in, then do all the homework I wish I had done already.
BERKSHIRE’S BEIJING BLOGGER Riley Bona ’18 spent a School Year Abroad in Beijing, working on his fluency in Mandarin and visiting historical sites, such as the Forbidden City, the Ming Tombs, and the Great Wall. Below are some excerpts about his life on the other side of the planet—the good, the challenging, and the unusual—from his blog, Nine Months in China.
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Berkshire Bulletin
RILEY’S GREAT TRIP TO THE GREAT WALL: We met at 7:00 a.m. sharp and took a long bus ride to the wall. The pollution that had been so severe this week was suddenly gone. We were all grateful for the blue skies, despite the freezing cold. Walking (and maybe a little running) on top of the wall was a great experience, as I have heard about the place all of my life. Finally getting to see it was amazing.
Campus News
Partnering with Notre Dame A RURAL MEAL, AND SPOT OF
Stopping in a rural village, we had lunch. It was more like a feast, though, with multiple dishes and only five people to eat them. After lunch, we got back in the car and drove a short distance into the mountains. We hiked into the woods (nature!) to a small area plentiful in fruits and picked some to bring home. I am still not sure what they are called since my host mom simply said “apple” when we asked.
NATURE:
TOO MANY MOONCAKES:
Thursday was the Moon Festival. As it is a public holiday, we had the day off. The activities of the holiday mainly focus on eating mooncakes and looking at the moon with your family. Due to Beijing’s pollution, the moon was not visible. My host mother offered me way too many mooncakes, which consist of a thin crust around a soft, somewhat sweet filling. When I was persuaded to
bring a couple more with me the next day to share with friends, I was surprised to find that they also had brought some to share. Aside from people watching, the most interesting thing about studying in China is the thousands of years of history here; visiting a temple and knowing it was there 1,500 years before is such a cool experience. Striking up conversation with strangers is also pretty fun because you never know what you might learn. When applying to SYA, I said I wanted to “expand my perspective.” I definitely did not anticipate the extent to which that would happen. The more I study, the more I realize how little I know about the world. Studying abroad is so important because it’s a great way to open your eyes.”
The University of Notre Dame has chosen Berkshire School to be a partner school as the university explores new testing tools for its admission process. The assessment tools will be designed to measure an applicant’s ability to succeed at the university. “We are looking to evaluate students beyond the usual test scores, grades, and letters of recommendation,” said Don Bishop, head of admissions at Notre Dame, one of the top ten most selective universities in the country. “We want to evaluate them on personal attributes as well.” Among these attributes, Bishop listed: creativity, risk taking, empathy, and leadership, as well as the ability to be a good team member and show resilience and self-awareness. “We’re evaluating ways to test for these attributes more successfully,” he said. Although many corporations use such tests to evaluate potential employees, and some graduate schools use them as well for applicants, few undergraduate colleges employ them, but the trend is moving in that direction. Of Berkshire, Bishop said, “We have an excellent relationship with the School. And they are a good normative group for us. We have a shared vision of personal attributes that goes beyond test scores and grades.” David McCauley, Berkshire’s director of college counseling, concurred. “We are a school that puts a lot of attention on things other than strictly test scores,” McCauley said. “It shows in our students. Our kids succeed, and Notre Dame recognizes that.”
Summer 2017
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Campus News
PRIMARY COLORS: THE ART OF POLITICAL CARTOONING In the midst of last fall’s presidential election, Art Department Chair Paul Banevicius displayed his political cartoon collection in the Warren Family Gallery. The Bulletin sat down with Mr. Banevicius to discuss his colorful obsession. What can one learn from a closer look at political cartoons? What do they say about our nation’s political culture?
More often than not, political cartoons are a reflection of the contemporary climate. They can mirror our sense of national unity and patriotism (as seen during the World Wars). They can underscore some of society’s darkest prejudices and stereotypes (often seen in racist cartoons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries). And they can reflect the extreme polarization of national politics
(illustrated by the extremely pro-Obama and anti-Obama cartoons of today). Political cartoons are not all-knowing truth tellers. They represent the opinions, values, and biases of their creators. Some are insightful, some are clichéd or pedantic, and some are just plain fun to look at. How have political cartoons changed over time? Which politician has been the best bullseye for ridicule?
From their earliest days, political cartoons could be extremely critical and
even vicious in their satire. Over the past few decades, unfortunately, mainstream newspaper cartoons have lost that edge and tend to be more focused on getting gentle laughs and not offending anyone. Richard Nixon was a particularly attractive target for ridicule, with his suspicious personality and the specters of both Vietnam and Watergate. His presidency temporarily reinvigorated the art of political cartooning, and I was very fortunate to be collecting cartoonists’ sketches during that time—I have a lot of Nixon sketches! Collecting political cartoons is an interesting pursuit. How did you get into it?
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I’ve been intrigued by cartooning and cartoonists of all kinds since I was 12 years old. I was fortunate to begin collecting in the 1970s, when many early pioneers were old but still alive. It allowed me to build a collection that basically surveys the history of most forms of cartooning. The first cartoonist I ever met was the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Paul Szep of The Boston Globe. My junior high school class visited the newspaper’s offices, and I begged our teacher to let me meet him. She finally relented, but I completely froze in his office and didn’t have a thing to say. Nevertheless, Szep gave me my first piece of original published art—the Nixon cartoon that was featured in the entrance to the Gallery. Since then, my collection of sketches has grown to include over 800 artists.
Campus News
STUDENTS LEAD THE WAY IN PERFORMING ARTS SHOWCASE Michelle Zhou ’17 performs The Soul of the Peacock, a traditional Chinese dance, at the student showcase.
This spring saw the debut of the inaugural Student Performing Arts Showcase, an evening of studentproduced dance and theater work. The program will continue as the new spring season offering with student work backed by the full involvement of the theater and dance programs. “In the past, we’ve had some add-on student productions,” explained Theater Director Jesse Howard, “but now we have given our full season and support to student work, which is rare at the high school level and highlights the commitment the School has made to the arts.” This spring’s program featured the culminating work of three students pursuing independent study projects. Greer Gibney ’17, who undertook an independent study in playwriting, wrote a play called Dinner and a Show that was directed by Andrea Cass ’17. Lucia Liencres ’17 and Ana Tolvo ’17 each did an independent study in directing. With Lucia as the director and Ana as the assistant director, choreographer,
and one of the actors, they produced the short musical, 21 Chump Street, with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Maggie Zhu ’17 served as music director for the show. The student-directors experienced all aspects of directing a production: holding auditions, selecting actors, running rehearsals, and directing their fellow students. “I will forever be grateful that I had the opportunity to lead my peers in a creative way,” said Andrea. “It helped me rediscover the creation of art and how one might impact the art scene, and on a larger scale, humanity.” The evening also featured two dances choreographed and performed by sixth formers. Michelle Zhou performed The Soul of the Peacock, a traditional Chinese
dance, and Holly Cao performed a contemporary dance composition to “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence. In addition, a group of five dancers performed a hip hop collaboration to Missy Elliott’s “I’m Better.” Dance teacher Amy Keefer noted, “I hope that the successful performance experience for all will serve as a model for students to get involved with next year’s Student Performing Arts Showcase, as there are many opportunities to contribute!”
Sixth formers Andrea Cass, Lucia Liencres, Ana Tolvo, and Maggie Zhu celebrated their semester-long projects at the inaugural Student Performing Arts Showcase.
Summer 2017
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BERKSHIRE ALUMNAE FIGHT FOR EQUALITY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS Team USA teammates Kacey Bellamy ’05 and Kendall Coyne ’11 take on USA Hockey over fair pay and support. BY SYLVIA GAPPA, ASSISTANT GIRLS VARSITY HOCKEY COACH
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Berkshire Bulletin
Photo courtesy Kacey Bellamy
Kacey Bellamy ’05 (left) and Kendall Coyne ’11 have won several gold medals in international competition as teammates on Team USA.
Growing up, I was a Montreal Canadiens fan. On Saturday evenings, my family would sit and watch Hockey Night in Canada, listening to Don Cherry during the intermission talk about the new, up-and-coming National Hockey League (NHL) players, all of them boys. As a young girl, I admired the many talents of the players—they were fast, strong, and creative, and I knew growing up that I wanted to be just like them. My love of hockey came from watching my dad and older brother play. My parents always brought me and my brothers ice skating when we were younger, so when I was five, I naturally wanted to play hockey. I spent the next 11 years as one of only a handful of girls in my area playing on otherwise all-boy teams. When I was 16, I tried out and was chosen to play for Team Nova Scotia. Only once before had women’s hockey been included in the Canada Games, and this would be the first time that I was surrounded by girls who shared the same passion for hockey. Yet the players we had as role models were limited to NHL players, all of them men. This remained true as I made my way down to Middlebury College in Vermont, where I played collegiate hockey for four years.
Bears at Play
Starting in 2000, I began working at Berkshire, where I soon became an advisor to a group of girls including Kacey Bellamy ’05. Kacey was a talented young player—she was wise beyond her years when it came to seeing where the play was going and could easily put the puck on the tape of a forward driving the zone. She was strong on the ice, and her natural ability to lead began to flourish at Berkshire. “Kacey was clearly an accomplished player, and she led by example,” then Head Coach Lori Charpentier recalls. “She worked on getting better every day. As hard as she worked on the ice, she also focused on being the best leader she could be for her team.” Kacey hoped to one day play for her country, a dream that came true in November 2006 when she laced up for Team USA at the Four Nations Cup in Ontario. Like so many young girls before her, Kacey’s interest in hockey came from watching her older brother play. Hockey had grown to become a popular sport among New England prep schools by then, allowing Kacey to use the sport to pursue an excellent education as well. In 2010, while head coach of the girls team at Berkshire, I met Kendall Coyne ’11. Kendall had come to Berkshire as a post-graduate to spend more time in a structured classroom before heading off to college. When she arrived, she was already involved in USA Women’s Hockey. Kendall also picked up the game after watching her older brother compete. Growing up in Chicago, she cheered on the Blackhawks and idolized Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Chelios. There was not an athlete at Berkshire—boy or girl—who worked harder to accelerate his or her game than Kendall. She spent hours in the gym, doubling up on practice time whenever she could attend both the girls and boys varsity practices. As a result, her speed and creativity on the ice were unmatched. Opposing coaches shared how they used
to encourage their fans to watch games against Berkshire to catch a glimpse of a world-class player, even if she was on the opposing team. In her one year, Kendall scored 55 goals and tallied 22 assists in 25 games. There was not another player in the league that had her speed, her ability to find the net, or her strength. And like Kacey before her, in 2010 Kendall made her debut with Team USA at the Four Nations Cup. Making History
After winning several gold medals in international competitions as teammates, Kacey and Kendall were together again for an historic moment in women’s sports. They were among the 23 players on the women’s national team who, in the spring of 2017, threatened to boycott the IIHF World Championships in Plymouth, Michigan, over equal pay and treatment. According to Kendall, “The negotiations (with USA Hockey) were 14 months long. The decision to boycott wasn’t just an idea that surfaced a few weeks ago. We realized we were going to have to exercise our leverage in order to make significant changes.”
In the negotiations with USA Hockey, the players focused on three areas: compensation, programming for current and future players, and marketing. Unlike their male counterparts, the players were not compensated for the three-and-a-half years leading up to an Olympic year, and the nine games they played during an offyear were significantly less than the U-18 men’s development program. When the women did play, USA Hockey was not marketing the games, and as a result, their fans and future young players were not able to see women play. In addition, many of the female players had to support themselves with at least one other job while training full time, a difficult task since the team
“We realized we were going to have to exercise our leverage in order to make significant changes.” — Kendall Coyne ’11
IIHF/Images on Ice
The Berkshire Years
Kendall Coyne ’11
Summer 2017
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Bears at Play
“I think what the women on the US National Team did was amazing, brave, really inspiring, and also necessary for change.” Rena Laverty
— Antonia Matzka ’17, Team Austria
Kacey Bellamy ’05
played internationally. In the days leading up to the World Championships, USA Hockey made attempts to get the team to play. When the players held strong to their commitment to boycott, USA Hockey tried putting together a replacement team. But in a powerful statement that did not go unrecognized in the sporting world, all 500 potential replacement players refused to play and supported the #BeBoldForChange initiative that the women on the national team had put in motion. On March 28, 2017, three days before Team USA was to face off in their first game of the World Championship against rival Canada, the players and USA Hockey reached a deal. “It was an iconic moment for women’s hockey and women’s sports in general. We knew we needed to take a stand in order to make a difference,” said Kacey. “The agreement was not put in place to benefit the 23 players on the 2017 Women’s World Championship roster,” explained Kendall. “The agreement will impact the entirety of girls’ and women’s hockey in the United States, and possibly
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Berkshire Bulletin
across the world.” Team USA finished the tournament 5-0, beating Canada 3-2 in the gold medal game. “Winning the gold medal on home soil meant a great deal,” said Kacey. “But I think seeing all the support flow into Michigan for us during the negotiations, it was more meaningful in that aspect. Our team wanted to show the world our appreciation for the support.” “I think what the women on the US National Team did was amazing, brave, really inspiring, and also necessary for change,” said Antonia Matzka ’17, who represented Team Austria at the IIHF Division 1A Women’s Hockey World Championships this summer. “I hope that it will be the start of revolutionizing women’s hockey and reaching equal treatment for equal accomplishment, performance, and sacrifice.” Today, 17 years after I started coaching at Berkshire, I can finally say there has been a shift in women’s hockey. While some girls are still starting out on boys teams, there are many more high quality opportunities available to young girls interested in the sport. Today’s young girls get to watch more games that
feature the talents of our best female players. Many young female hockey players choose to wear #22 like Kacey, or #26 like Kendall. It was with great pride that I sat with my daughter and son and cheered on our two Berkshire alumnae at the world championships in Michigan. After the team’s win over Canada, my son picked up his plastic knee-hockey stick, turned to me and said he was trying to “score like that girl,” a reference to Amanda Kessel, who scored the game-winning goal. To him, a hockey player is a hockey player. Sylvia Gappa grew up in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, and is a graduate of Middlebury College. She played for the Panthers during their six consecutive ECAC Division III Championships and led them to the DIII National Championship in 2000. Middlebury’s all-time leading goal scorer, Sylvia was named National Player of the Year her senior year. She has coached girls hockey at the varsity level since her arrival at Berkshire in 2000 and teaches math and psychology. Sylvia lives in Birchglade with her husband, Jason Gappa, and children Katy (10) and John (6).
Bears at Play
CHAMPIONS! For the fourth time in five years, the varsity boys soccer program at Berkshire School brought the Stewart Cup back home to Sheffield. Following an impressive 15-1 regular season under new Head Coach Tony Mohammed, the Bears defeated Worcester Academy 5-1 on Nov. 20 to win the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class A Championship. The No. 2 seed Bears opened the playoffs by defeating defending Class A champion Milton Academy 2-1, then outlasted rival Taft 1-0 in the tournament semifinal match. The victory over the Rhinos was secured by a goal by Jeremy Richard ’17 in the 84th minute. In the title game versus Worcester Academy, co-captain Quentin van der Lee ’17 scored two first-half goals to lead a dominant Berkshire effort. Following Thanksgiving break, the team enjoyed a private dinner hosted by Friends of Berkshire Athletics to celebrate. Berkshire soccer alum Robin McGraw ’70 writes: At the dinner, Coach Tony Mohammed, Asst. Coach JJ Jemison ’09, and Asst. Coach Chris Perkins each praised the players. Each player also got up to share his personal experience. It was agreed that emotions shared in the room would stay in the room, but I can relate that everyone
98 GOALS, 12 AGAINST / 19 – 1 RECORD 11 SHUTOUTS / 4TH TITLE IN 5 YEARS
talked about what it means to be a part of this brotherhood and the Berkshire family. They spoke of their deep friendship for one another and what that connection means for
being part of something “larger than self.”
by the students that pass through our
each of them at Berkshire.
They each mentioned the importance of
doors on the way out, anyone hearing what
their role on this team.
was shared during this evening would feel
Many stressed that Berkshire had given them the chance to be on a team that had
What they accomplished, they
confident we are on the right track with this
changed their life in a positive way. Many
accomplished together. Each and every
team of young men. They exemplify team
thanked former Coach Jon Moodey, the
one was a part of the team’s success. It
play, sportsmanship, and citizenship.
architect of this team, for seeking them out
was a testament to what we are focused
and bringing them to Berkshire. They spoke
on at Berkshire School—developing
this team before you, we thank you. You
about personal challenges, leadership, and
exemplary citizens. If our school is judged
wear the “B” proudly. Go Bears!
From everyone who has been a part of
Summer 2017
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Bears at Play
The boys with the NEPSAC hardware: Liam Carroll ’19, Rawson Clough ’17, Lyons Brown ’18, Peter Dunbar ’19, Gavin Kline ’19
BOYS SKI TEAM CAPTURES CLASS A TITLE BY MICHAEL HAYES
The Bears defeated defending champion Deerfield Academy to capture the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Class A Championship in February, held at Mount Sunapee, New Hampshire. The team went 16-0 in league competitions, capping a seventhstraight undefeated regular season! The title is the first Class A championship for the boys team, which moved to the top ski division in 2013 after dominating the Class B division for several years. The Bears had finished the
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Berkshire Bulletin
previous four years with two secondand two third-place finishes in the championship races. Co-captain Lyons Brown ’18 led the team with a second-place finish in both the Slalom and Giant Slalom, and a second-place finish overall. “Going into the races I knew that we all needed to ski well, and I was hoping for a top spot in each event,” said Brown. He continued, “I was especially pleased to earn second in the Giant Slalom as I had experienced some trouble with it earlier in the year.”
Co-captain Rawson Clough ’17 ended the afternoon fifth overall. After the victory, Head Coach John Borwick ’81 shared that the team took the last ride up the mountain prior to the ski area closing. He explained, “It was special to stand with these boys at the top of the slalom in the quiet of the snowfall and simply bask in what they all accomplished. There was not a lot of talk, they were just simply looking at each other, and simply smiling.”
Bears at Play
Post-season selections for Boys and Girls Alpine All-New England Ski Team Rawson Clough ’17 Liam Carroll ’19 Lyons Brown ’18
Q&A with MVP and Co-Captain Rawson Clough ’17
Eva Clough ’18 MacKenzie Hatch ’19
USSA Eastern U16 Championships Liam Carroll ’19 MacKenzie Hatch ’19
USSA Eastern U16 Finals Jay Schoudel ’19 Gavin Kline ’19 Devon Thompson ’19
2017 U16 Am-Cans Championship (Top U16 athletes from the East and Canada) Liam Carroll ’19 MacKenzie Hatch ’19
Q: What was it about this year’s team that allowed you to capture the championship? A: In the New Englands, the top five skiers compete, and the top three results among them count toward the team score. So if one or two people have bad races, then the others have to pick up the slack. The skiers had to know when to go for it and give it their all, and when to hold back and just give the team a crucial finish. In that sense, the guys were all skiing for each other, rather than for themselves. Q: As the sole senior, what were your goals for the season? A: Obviously, my main goal was to win the championship. We had come up short in years past, and it meant a lot to me to have brought it home my final season. I also wanted to set the standard for what it means to be a skier in a program like Berkshire’s—to be accountable, to improve your skiing, and to ski for the team, not just for yourself. Q: What will you take away from your experience? A: Before every race, we all sharpen and wax our own skis. We are responsible for our own equipment, so it really instills a sense of pride in your work—you get out what you put in. I also learned a sense of devotion, demonstrated by all of the coaches and kids each and every day since races take up almost every Sunday in winter. Because skiing isn’t something the school gets to see on a daily basis, we were really out there competing for ourselves and for something that is bigger than we are, which taught us the importance of working your hardest when no one is watching. It’s been really fun to be a part of this team, and it’s something that I’ll always remember.
Co-captain Lyons Brown ’18 (Telluride, CO) raced to a 2nd place finish overall in the NEPSAC Championships. Summer 2017
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Bears at Play
For more information on all our teams, go to www.berkshireschool.org/athletics and don’t forget to follow @BerkshireBears on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and highlights as they happen. #GoBears!
FALL 2016
FIELD HOCKEY / With strong senior leadership, the Bears continued to build on their successes from the 2015 season. Finishing the regular season with an 11-6 record, the Bears secured the title as the 2016 WNEPSFHA Class B champions. Moving into the postseason, the team earned the 3rd seed in the NEPSAC Class B tournament, falling to St. Marks. Katie Hargrave ’18 and Caroline Sugar ’18 were named to the WNESPSFHA All-Star team and goaltender Andi McGraw ’17 was a NEPSAC Class B All-Tournament selection. MVP: Andi McGraw ’17 FOOTBALL / The Bears won a big 21-8 victory over Capital Prep in front of a raucous home crowd and a 20-22 battle against Westminster, which saw the Bears play their most complete game of the season. The team was led by quarterback and team MVP Drew Pitcher ’17, as well as key contributors Nathaniel Jacobson ’17, Jameson Coughlan ’17, Jay Spoehel ’17, and Dante Nardi ’18. The program improved immensely throughout the season and a number of younger players had the opportunity to contribute significantly. MVP: Drew Pitcher ‘17
GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY / The Girls XC team achieved 100% PR’s for the season at the New England Championship held at Tabor Academy. Season highlights include consistent performances from Morgan Heilshorn ’18, Haines Corrigan ’19, and Dalia Banevicius ’17. The Bears team worked hard on a weekly basis with runs ranging from the Appalachian Trail to mile intervals on the track to hill repeats on the reservoir trail. MVR: Haines Corrigan ’19 BOYS CROSS COUNTRY / With senior leadership of Luke Streett ’17 and Matt Cortes ’17, the Bears sought to improve their individual speed over the course of the season. Each member of the cross-country team worked to achieve their personal best in the last two meets of the season, including the meet at the New England Championships, which is tribute to their season of hard training. MVR: Luke Streett ’17 CREW / The Bears showed well in the first regatta where Cooper Tuckerman ’18, Ian Heissenbuttel ’17, and Will Dyer Kloman ’17 earned silver and bronze medals. At the Head of the Fish, the final regatta of the season, Peter Dunbar ’19, Peter Benedict ’18, Alex Buckfire ’18, and Freddy Ritz ’18 raced to a silver-medal finish in the novice event, beating nearly forty other crews. Each rower showed improvement over the season, setting personal bests at the standard test distance of 2000 meters.
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VOLLEYBALL / With a core returning group, including six seniors, the Bears looked to compete at a high level within the New England Preparatory Athletic Council. Throughout the season, the team was focused on working hard and playing for each other on the court. Grace Federle ’18 was named to the NEPSGVA All-Star tournament. MVP: Grace Federle ’18
WINTER 2016-17 BOYS ALPINE SKIING / NEPSAC Class A Team Champions. The Bears raced to a 16-0 record in league competitions and captured their seventh-straight undefeated season winning the Class A Championship, their fourth title in the last seven years. Rawson Clough ’17, Lyons Brown ’18, and Liam Carroll ’19 qualified for the All-New England Team. MVS: Rawson Clough ’17 See page 30 for more. GIRLS ALPINE SKIING / Finished 5th overall in the New England Class A Championships. With a young squad, the team cited unity as a primary goal. Eva Clough ’18 and MacKenzie Hatch ’19 selected to the All-New England Team. MVS: Eva Clough ’18 BOYS BASKETBALL / With leadership from Jack Scarafoni ’17 and Tim Spears ’17, the Bears developed a strong competitive mindset that sparked wins over Millbrook, Salisbury, and Avon, where every member contributed to team scoring.
BOYS SOCCER / NEPSAC Class A Champions. With a 19-1 season record, the Bears finished the season ranked #2 prep school in the country. Leadership from captains Noah Abrams ’17, Quentin van der Lee ’17, and Jules Oberg ’17 helped the Bears focus on regaining their place as the top program in New England. MVP: Jules Oberg ’17 See page 29 for more. GIRLS SOCCER / The Bears were eager to start this 2016 campaign with a strong core of returning leadership. The focus for the season was quality of play emphasizing consistent work ethic and attention to detail. AllWWNEPSSA selections Lexi Fortune ’18 and Sophia McCarthy ’18 helped the Bears shut out Northfield Mount Hermon. MVP: Lexi Fortune ’18
GIRLS BASKETBALL / NEPSAC Class B Semifinalists. With a 21-4 overall record and a 12-game midwinter win streak, the Bears fell short in the Class B Championship, with a 5254 final score against eventual champs Tilton Academy. All-New England selections: Jeanna Willis ’17, Anika Helmke ’18, and Alexis Moragne ’19 MVPs: Jeanna Willis ’17 and Alexis Moragne ’19 BOYS HOCKEY / The Bears had an exciting 3-2 win over Taft to reclaim the D’Arco Cup in December. Finishing with a 4-0-1 record in the last five games against programs such as Pomfret, Westminster, and Gunnery, the Bears went 12-10-6 overall. Jack Lloyd ’17 had 24 points (16 goals, 8 assists) and Kyle Koopman ’17 was selected to the All-New England team. MVP: Kyle Koopman ’17 GIRLS HOCKEY / The Bears finished the season 10-13-1 with one of their best season starts leading up to the E.G. Watkins Holiday Tournament. They tallied an impressive 3-2 win over Westminster with a hat trick by Erin Dillon ’17 and a season finale tie against a talented
Bears at Play
Leading scorer Jack Lloyd ’17 will head to Amherst College next year.
Number 1 on the boys’ squash ladder Hussien El Desouky ’19
Randy Appleyard
Tara DeChellis ’17, Chase Landis ’18, and newcomer Patricie Petrilakova ’18. Finishing 6th at New Englands, the Bears moved up 11 spots in the rankings, securing program recognition moving forward. MVP: Maggie Markgraf ’17
SPRING 2017
The Bears in post-goal celebration during their home opener last December
Tabor squad with great outings by Maggie Curran ’17 and Catherine Appleyard ’20. MVPs: Maggie Curran ’17 and Erin Dillon ’17 BOYS SQUASH / Co-captains Liam Bullock ’17 and Tyler Morse ’17 led the Bears as they notched an 11-6 record, earning a U.S. High School Championships Division III berth, where they finished in the top 12. They had a strong showing at the New England Class B Championships, where they finished 5th as a team overall. MVPs: Peter Koenigsbauer ’18 and Hussien El Desouky ’19 GIRLS SQUASH / The Bears boasted a 14-4 overall record, claiming the Clough Cup against Nichols and tallying key wins against perennial rivals Hopkins, Suffield, and Westminster. Captain Maggie Markgraf ’17 led the way with strong support from
BASEBALL / The Bears won eight of their last nine games to earn a WNEPBL playoff spot for the second year in a row, but lost to defending champs Cheshire 4-2 in the first round. Brenden Cournoyer ’17 (U. of Albany), Jack Scarafoni ’17 (Union), Matt McKinley ’17 (Endicott), and Brian Chudacoff ’17 (Dickinson) will all continue at the college level. WNEPBL All-Star First Team: Cournoyer, McKinley, Matt Koopman ’17. Second Team: Lukas Atsalis ’18 and Scarafoni. MVP: Brenden Cournoyer ’17
BOYS CREW / After two early losses, the Bears came back with a vengeance with the first boat rolling to wins in their next five regattas. The second boat rowed to a bestever finish at the Founders Day Regatta. Both qualified for the NEIRA Championship, with the first boat securing a program-high #4 seed and rowing a gutsy race to a 4th-place finish in the grand final at NEIRA, the best finish in school history. MVR: Ivan Kulchitsky ’17 See page 38 for more. GIRLS CREW / The Bears finished strong in the final week, with the first boat qualifying for the New Englands. Devon Thompson ’19 was invited to attend USRowing’s Junior Development Camp. MVR: Devon Thompson ’19 GOLF /Jordi Sabrià Gabarró ’17 had the lowest score of the season with 74 at the Ranch; Henry Giordano ’18 broke 80 for the first time with a 79; Lyons Brown ’18 had
“There may be no other area of your lives at Berkshire where you learn more about yourselves: how to work together, how to overcome adversity, how to be accountable for your actions, how to treat each other with respect, and where you really learn the skills that are transferable to everything we do in life.” — Athletic Director Dan Driscoll, from remarks made at the year-end athletic awards ceremony
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Hopkins, the eventual champs. Led by Tanner Boyle ’17, Quentin van der Lee ’17, Charlie Boyle ’17, Mikey Petersen ’17, and Tyler Morse ’17, these Bears have earned a winning percentage of .750 over the past four years. With wins over Millbrook, WNH, NMH, Kent, Salisbury, and others, the Bears continued their excellence in league play. MVPs: Tanner Boyle ’17 and Quentin van der Lee ’17
Jeanna Willis ’17 in the Class B Championship campaign vs. Tilton Academy
a great performance with a two-over-par 38. With only two players lost to graduation, next spring looks very promising. MVP: Jordi Sabrià Gabarró ’17 BOYS LACROSSE / The Bears ended their campaign with a 9-9 record. Highlights included going undefeated in their nonleague schedule and retaining the McKee Cup in their annual game against The Gunnery. The squad only loses four seniors, so it is poised for an even stronger season in 2018. MVP: Thomas Draper ’18 GIRLS LACROSSE / The Bears saw tremendous improvement over the course of the season, winning four of their last six games. Four losses came down to the wire with oneor two-goal differentials, an indicator of the level of effort and grit brought to each game. MVP: Maggie Curran ’17 BOYS TENNIS / The Bears finished the season 9-3 and made their sixth-consecutive appearance in the New Englands, falling to
Captain Ryan Keelan ’17 was the leading face-off specialist for the Bears and will play hockey at Conn College.
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Midfielder Chase Landis ’18, who led the Bears in goals this season (41), drives to the net against Nichols School from Buffalo.
GIRLS TENNIS / The Bears went 5-5, with strong performances against Williston and Westminster. The last two weeks of the season were the team’s best, an indication of the players’ determination to finish strong. Abbey Turner ’17 and Kendall Pollart ’17 left a positive mark on the program. With six returners, the team is in great shape for 2018. MVP: Morgan Heilshorn ’18
Gracie Kraft ’17 led the Bears as the 2017 MVP.
Bears at Play
New England Track & Field Champions!
Charlie Boyle ’17 was one of five seniors who helped the Bears earn a winning percentage of .750 over the past four years.
SOFTBALL / The Bears were led by the battery duo of Gracie Kraft ’17 and Moet Matsuoka ’17. While their potent offense scored an impressive 68 runs in 9 games, an inconsistent defense made wins hard to come by. The team played hard, however, and the coaches had a great time working with these outstanding young women. MVP: Gracie Kraft ’17
The super speedy first-place New England 4x100m relay team: Bianca Barth ’20, Madi Gomez ’20, Claudia Gripenberg ’18, and Lexi Fortune ’18
GIRLS TRACK & FIELD / NEPSTA Division II Championship results: 3rd place out of 12 teams. Lexi Fortune ’18, Claudia Gripenberg ’18, Madi Gomez ’20, Bianca Barth ’20 1st place in the 4x100m relay with a time of 51.28. Barth 2nd in the 100m. Genesis Paulino ’17 2nd in the shot put. Maddy Biasin ’17 2nd in javelin. Gripenberg 2nd in the 200m and 3rd in the 100m. Fortune, Gripenberg, Gomez, and Sawyer Raith ’18 3rd in the 4x400m relay. Sophia McCarthy ’18 3rd in the high jump. Fortune 3rd in the triple jump and 4th in the long jump. Kathryn Driscoll ’18 5th in the 300m hurdles. MVP: Claudia Gripenberg ’18 BOYS TRACK & FIELD / NEPSTA Division II Championship results: 5th place out of 12 teams. Ahria Simons ’18 1st in long jump (with a new school record) and 1st in triple jump, 5th in 100m. Jacob Shaffelburg ’19 1st place in 400m, 5th in 200m. Simons, Achara Achara ’19, Dante Nardi ’18, Shaffelburg 2nd in 4x100m relay. Stephen O’Connell ’17 3rd in 800m. Matt Diamond ’18 5th in 100m hurdles, 5th in 300m hurdles. Jules Öberg ’17 6th in 1500m, 6th in 3000m. Championship Meet MVP & Berkshire MVP: Ahria Simons ’18
400m Champion Jacob Shaffelburg ’19 and Meet MVP Ahria Simons ’18
Stay up-to-date on Bears news! Visit www.berkshireschool.org/athletics #GoBears! Summer 2017
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BEARS IN THE NEWS Brian Rodriguez ’16 (Northeastern) and Kevin Doody ’16 (University of Maine) play in the summer Future Collegiate Baseball League of New England (Rodriguez for the Pittsfield Suns and Doody for the Worcester Bravehearts). The FCBL provides players with exposure to Major League scouts.
Zeiko Lewis ’13 was selected by the New York Red Bulls in the first round of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. Lewis was joined in Los Angeles by H.S. All-American Jules Oberg ’17, Berkshire Head Soccer Coach Tony Mohammed, and former teammate and future hometown rival NYCFC’s Jack Harrison ’15. The ACC Freshman of the Year from Boston College, where he holds the all-time career assists record, Zeiko is known for his strength on the attack. He was a key player on the Bermuda National Team in their World Cup Qualifier play in 2015. After his selection by the Red Bulls, the 21-year-old said, “I’m glad for the opportunities I’ve been given, and the chances I’ve been given, and now I’m here to make a difference.”
Ahria Simons ’18 (left) was tapped for the Bermuda U20 Football National Team and competed in the CONCACAF U20 Championships in Costa Rica. The team did not advance to the FIFA U20 World Cup, but Simons was a part of the first team in Bermuda’s history to participate.
LAX Bears: Jack O’Donoghue ’13 (right) earned USILA/Nike Division III All-America honorable mention honors at Babson (only second one in program history). Ian Bell ’16 finished his first season on the most successful Bates team in school history. Hunter Reynolds ’16 went to the NCAA Final Four in his first year at Wesleyan. Connor Waldron ’16 helped Holy Cross to their first-ever Patriot League playoff victory.
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Bears at Play
Kacey Bellamy ’05 and Kendall Coyne ’11 claimed gold at the 2017 IIHF Women’s World Championships! Bellamy scored two and was named U.S. Player of the Game while Coyne earned an assist in the game-winning overtime goal in the 3-2 win over Team Canada. The victory came just over a week after the women’s team, in a show of solidarity, came to an agreement over fair pay and benefits with USA Hockey. See page 26 for more.
Matt Roberts/Getty Images
James DiBianco Jr./Albany Devils
Barclay Gammill ’16 and Mike O’Brien ’14 helped Trinity Hockey capture the 2017 NESCAC championship title with a 3-2 OT win over Hamilton College.
Kevin Rooney ’12, a center with the Albany Devils, got called up for a four-game stint with the NJ Devils in March. In his first game, he faced off against another former Bear and current Boston Bruin Kevan Miller ’07 in the TD Garden. “It might not have been long,” Rooney said of his time in the NHL, “but I kind of got to experience the whole package in two weeks.”
Toni Matzka ’17 played for Team Austria in the International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF Div. I Group A World Championship, held in January in Budapest, Hungary. Coaches picked Matzka, a defenseman and the team’s youngest member, as the team’s top tournament player.
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Bears at Play
ROW BEARS! A HISTORIC SEASON FOR BOYS CREW BY DAVE OLSON, HEAD BOYS CREW COACH
As morning broke on May 27th, the day after commencement, when seniors spread across the world were still celebrating, a group of Berkshire students stood on the quiet shores of Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass., with one thing in mind: the New England Interscholastic Racing Association Championship Regatta. For the five very recent graduates— Xander Amero, Will Dyer Kloman, Sam Gatsos, Ian Heissenbuttel, and Ivan Kulchitsky—it would be the last time wearing Berkshire’s green and gray in competition and the culmination of three or four years spent improving at the challenging sport of rowing. The first race of the season saw Berkshire defeated at the hands of local rival Taft and perennial rowing powerhouse Choate. The early season loss, however, steeled the Bears’ resolve and all five boats returned to practice that Monday, and every day afterward, determined to improve. This soon led to a five-boat sweep of Pomfret at the next
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regatta, a race that marked the beginning of the first boat’s in-league winning streak that lasted all the way to May 27th and featured two wins that reversed the result of that early season loss. Although Berkshire only qualified two out of four possible boats for the NEIRA Championship this spring while qualifying all four in the previous four years, the fact that the respectably fast third and fourth boats missed the cut speaks to the incredible, and increasing depth of the NEIRA fours league. May 27th brought beautiful racing weather to Lake Quinsigamond. Berkshire’s second boat, made up of coxswain Darran Shen ’20 and rowers Connor Appleyard ’18, Alex Buckfire ’18, Clark Lotuff ’18, and Dyer Kloman, took to the water first. Seeded 10th overall, they had a tall task in front of them in order to finish in the top two in their heat and qualify for the grand final. They took off with an aggressive gamble of a race plan, but unfortunately it did not pan out as they finished 5th in their
heat, ending their day. The first boat, made up of coxswain Amero and rowers Gatsos, Heissenbuttel, Kulchitsky and Cooper Tuckerman ’18, was seeded 4th overall. The Bears raced an efficient heat, doing enough to qualify for the grand final without showing all their cards. In the grand final, Berkshire was up against five other fast crews, including the 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-place finishers at the 2016 National Championship. After a blistering start, Berkshire found themselves right in the mix in third place and showed grit as other crews made their moves. The Bears held them off while trying to chip into the leads held by Deerfield and Nobles, but as the race barreled toward the finish line, it was Deerfield who showed themselves to be the class of New England, and recently the nation, winning US Rowing’s Youth National Championship. Nobles followed a length back, followed by Belmont Hill, who edged Berkshire at the line for third.
Bears at Play
Right: The Bears’ first boat: Cooper Tuckerman ’18, Ivan Kulchitsky ’17, Ian Heissenbuttel ’17, Sam Gatsos ’17, and coxswain Xander Amero ’17, holding the winner’s pineapple, a gift from Hopkins School. In the name of good sportsmanship and goofy tradition, Hopkins bequeaths the ceremonial fruit to any boat able to best them.
As the Bears laid down in the boat trying to recover from the full effort they’d put forth, the realization that they’d placed fourth—the best result in school history—settled in alongside the realization that it would be the last time that four of the five raced as a Bear. The Class of 2017 rowers have been key in the ever-growing success of the boys crew team and exemplify the core of what Berkshire seeks to instill in its students. Each has a bright future ahead, which includes rowing collegiately for some: Will Dyer Kloman will row for Bates, Sam Gatsos for Colgate, and Ian Heissenbuttel plans to continue rowing at Loyola University Maryland. From the curiosity shown by turning up for a sport they had little or no familiarity with, to the integrity shown in training, to the resilience shown by performing well in the biggest moments, to the respect and inclusivity shown as team leaders, to, most important to their success, the perseverance shown by committing to the difficult sport of rowing, these five young men have embodied Berkshire’s core values. Dave Olson rowed for the Phillips Exeter crew team and the University of New Hampshire, where he captained the team during his junior and senior years. He teaches English and lives in Buck Dormitory.
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Asking Questions THE 21ST-CENTURY SURVIVAL SKILL Berkshire’s Strategic Plan of 2016 set forth a guiding set of principles that grew out of the school motto: Pro Vita Non Pro Schola Discimus, “Learning—not just for school but for life.” Among other priorities, the Strategic Plan proclaims in its “For School” initiatives that Berkshire will continue to make learning relevant, to provide authentic opportunities for real-world experiences, and to offer programs that will inspire lifelong pursuits. Part of that charge is to make sure that as a community and a faculty we are continually growing too, so that our students are always learning in the most dynamic and engaging ways possible. How might we continue to evolve as a school and meet the ambitious goals set forth in the Strategic Plan? It turns out that was a really good question. And that perhaps the answer to that question was to keep asking even more questions.
Associate Head of School and Dean of Faculty Jean Woodward Maher believes that questioning is a critically important life skill, and one that Berkshire as a community embraces. “An inquiryand curiosity-based education fosters the kind of growth we’re looking to instill in our students,” she said. “Questioning feeds a growth mindset.” As part of Berkshire’s continuing professional development initiative, Maher invited Warren Berger, author of A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas, to meet with the faculty in August. Berger’s approach to education has been resonating ever since.
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Research shows that a child will ask as many as 40,000 questions between the ages of two and five. But that number drops precipitously as children enter school, which is something educators should work to address, according to Berger. “Asking questions is a 21st-century survival skill,” Berger explained. “Answers are great, but they don’t last. In a time of exceptional change, people must continually relearn what they know. Questioning is the ability to organize our thinking around what we don’t know.” To encourage the act of questioning, Berger suggests educators incorporate questioning exercises into their lessons. The key, he says, is to counter the resistance that students might have to asking questions in front of classmates. “Make it cool by associating questioning with celebrities who have questioned the status quo, like Steve Jobs and Beyoncé,” Berger said. “And make it safe by incorporating questions-only exercises where students work together to ask questions.” Berger also addressed the importance of how one formulates a question. “The point is not to question endlessly,” he said, “but to use questions as a means of steadily advancing toward an answer.” It’s also important to keep the questioning process inclusive and productive, Berger said. He recommends using the framework, “How might we . . . ?” How assumes there’s a solution, might assumes that it’s an open process without preconceived notions, and we keeps it inclusive. Collaborative questioning, Berger said, not only helps students explore and innovate, it also sharpens their questioning skills and helps develop the sort of leadership skills needed in today’s world. A good leader, he said, has enough humility to admit he or she doesn’t know all the answers, and enough confidence to admit that in front of others 42
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by inviting collaborative questioning. That’s a teaching approach that English teacher Bernie Rhie is well acquainted with. Rhie asks his students to bring to every class three questions related to a reading assignment. The questions should invite conversation, and Rhie’s students quickly learn which of their questions spark discussion. “By teaching them to ask better questions, we’re better preparing them for the long term,” Rhie said. “The best students are going to be the ones that ask the best questions.” STEAM Director Lauren Riva said that she strives to incorporate questioning into her math curriculum. “In math it’s traditional to have closed questions with one correct answer,” Riva said. “But times have changed. Computers and calculators can solve those sorts of math problems. Open questions provide us with the opportunity to weigh multiple solutions. Often in life there’s more than one answer to a problem, and assessing multiple solutions is a critical life skill.” Questioning is as essential for our faculty and administrators as it is for our students. In the pages that follow, we have three stories where asking questions moved the needle forward on certain strategic priorities: making learning relevant, creating more
opportunities for real-world learning, and maintaining an inclusive community that promotes citizenship, character, and diversity. Asking questions has enhanced the broader curriculum, and indeed, the community as a whole. When we ask questions, we create space for listening and dialogue, an exchange of ideas. When we ask questions, we assume there are no right answers, and we open the door to new ways of thinking.
Warren Berger, center, works with faculty during orientation, encouraging them to use the framework, “How might we . . . ?�
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Q
: HOW MIGHT WE MAKE LEARNING MORE RELEVANT?
“The first few weeks of AMSR felt like a mixture of a class and an experiment, because while Mr. S was teaching us advanced mathematical theories, we were teaching him how to create the foundation for the program. The concepts and analytical thinking strategies that I learned throughout my mathematical studies have forever stayed with me. I now work in development for a nonprofit and use these analytical skills every day. Mr. Schleunes encouraged us to keep asking questions, and I still constantly ask them. Especially, ‘What if?’” —Rachel Hechtman ’08
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Pioneering AMSR: The Power of “What If?” BY KURT SCHLEUNES
The first few years of the Advanced Math/Science Research course were difficult. The program started in the fall of 2007, and we didn’t have the Bellas/Dixon Math & Science Center, the research lab, or (current AMSR Director) Dr. April Burch. We got in a big white van and drove to Albany or Hartford, dropping students off at research institutions as we went. I impressed upon the students that they were representing Berkshire every time they stepped into a lab. If they did a great job, more Berkshire students would have the opportunity to follow in their footsteps. I was pretty tough on them, but I needn’t have worried. The mentors loved our kids. Actually, I started the program not just because they were great students, but because they were great people as well. On the way home in the van I would occasionally talk about how someday we would have a math/science building, a research lab, and a research professional to run the course. The kids would laugh and eventually someone would say, “Get a grip Mr. S.”
Earlier this year, Seyoon Lee ’12, one of our former INTEL semifinalists, visited the school. As we wandered around he looked over at me, smiled, and said, “Well, you were right. It all happened like you said it would. I guess dreams do come true.” For the challenging first year of the program, my friend Dr. George Waters had agreed to work with three seniors from the Class of 2008: Pat Li, Rachel Hechtman, and Kang Liu. George was in Chicago and the project involved some very difficult economics. It wasn’t going that well, and it snowed a lot that year. By the start of November, we were all sick, and I was redeveloping the school’s math curriculum, which took a certain amount of time and energy. Eventually, I felt like maybe a research program really wouldn’t work at Berkshire. I spent about a week figuring out how to phase out the course during the second semester. It turns out there was a slight problem: Rachel kept coming to class and asking a lot of questions. “Why do the investors use those strategies? What happens to the computer simulation if we change the strategies? What if we use a different weighting function? What if the traders use something besides an exponential function to determine how aggressively they change strategies?” What if, What if, What if . . . all . . . day . . . long. I said to myself, “Well, I’m just going to have to see this through.” At the end of the year, Rachel gave a presentation to the Board of Trustees that just knocked their socks off. Many Board members work in the financial industry, and at the end one yelled out, “Do you need a job this summer?!” Rachel got into Dartmouth and Kang got into MIT, and we were off to the races. That became the theme of AMSR— each year students would step up and propel the course forward. The second
year, Mika Nakashige ’09 was published in the Journal of Anatomy and the following year, Xiao Rui Gao ’10 was our first INTEL semifinalist. I remember asking Xiao Rui how he got his idea for his project. He said, “The grad students and I were working on two different methods to solve a problem in the lab. I was on my way up in the elevator, and I thought to myself, ‘What if we combine the two methods?’” So, I believe that AMSR is really about giving bright high school students the opportunity to ask, “What if?” Occasionally I’ll go down and sit in the cushy chairs in front of Dr. Burch’s lab. It’s fun to watch her working with her kids. About 150 students have gone through AMSR at this point. Down the hall we have the STEAM program where students work with 3D printers and other tools in a variety of disciplines. The admission tours come by, and I see some big eyes from the prospective students. It is more than I ever dreamed possible. When I go back upstairs to teach mathematics, I always have the same exact thought. I remember that cold, snowy November, the four of us trying to understand some pretty difficult economics. And I think, wow, the right student in the right place at the right time can change the entire history of a school. Rachel literally changed the lives of hundreds of students for decades to come. We are all very fortunate that Dr. Waters said yes, and that Rachel kept asking “What if?” Kurt Schleunes has been a member of Berkshire’s math department since 2005. He founded the Advanced/Math Science Research program in 2007 with a white school van and a vision. He will bring his talents to King School in Stamford, Conn., in the fall.
“AMSR gave me an advantage when I entered college and opened doors to summer research opportunities. The momentum that I gained from AMSR has led me to numerous scientific publications throughout college and grad school. I also did some basic CAD modeling for a local surf fin company here in Hawaii. Although it took some time to learn the new software, it was great to apply the skills that I learned in high school to a fun little side project!” —Mika Nakashige ’09
Mika Nakashige and her dog, Coco. Mika is pursuing her Ph.D. in chemistry at Honolulu’s University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her work as a graduate assistant is supported by the University of Hawaii Cancer Center (U54) Fellowship.
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Q
: HOW MIGHT WE INCORPORATE MORE REAL-WORLD LEARNING?
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Launching a Weather Balloon to Atmospheric Heights
Undaunted by the lack of an actual spaceship, the ten students in Berkshire’s elective astronomy class did the next best thing—they launched a weather balloon that sped about a third of the way to outer space. Mission Control was Buck Valley, where the students released the latex balloon carrying a payload of scientific and navigational instruments. Three hours later after reaching an altitude of 102,000 feet above the Earth—19.3 miles overhead—the balloon landed in Athol, Mass., not far from the New Hampshire border and about two hours away by car. Outer space officially begins at the “Kármán Line” (360,000 feet above sea level, give or take a few inches), but the weather balloon nonetheless approached near vacuumlike atmospheric conditions. The project, in its second year, is the brainchild of faculty member Ben Urmston, who also teaches engineering. “I didn’t want to structure a class with me in the front of the room lecturing about astronomy,” Urmston explained. “Instead, I want to give my students a real taste of the thrill of sending something into space. What I’m hoping for is a more permanent memory from the excitement and real-world problem
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solving involved.” While Urmston initiated the project, his ten students were in charge of nearly all the logistics, often requiring complex calculations, from launch to recovery. They were also in charge of deciding what equipment to include in the small Styrofoam payload box (two GoPros as well as a traditional camera; a flight computer to record temperatures and other data; a ham radio transmitter to provide telemetry; a GPS spot tracker; and hand warmers to keep the batteries warm in temperatures as low as -80°F). The students also needed to figure out how to attach the parachute to the payload box and the payload box to the balloon, as well as how much helium to use for the balloon—a trickier calculation than it sounds. The students tracked weather data for a month before choosing a day conducive to launching. In particular, they were looking for light winds in a northwesterly direction so as to avoid Boston or the Long Island Sound, areas congested with flight traffic. An object under four pounds can be launched into the upper atmosphere without permission, but Urmston, a pilot himself, still wanted to avoid the danger of collision. During the balloon’s flight, he stayed in
frequent contact with Hartford’s Bradley International Airport. Before the launch, the students calculated the balloon’s likely trajectory, taking into account the balloon’s ascent rate, upper level wind directions and speeds, likely “burst altitude,” how much helium used, and the size of the parachute. Their calculations required multiple real-world applications of geometry and algebra. “There’s a lot of math involved with the plugging in of variables and calculating the hypotenuse of the actual flight path,” Urmston said. “It’s the sort of thing I like to do—applying calculations to real-world projects—and the students seem to as well.” Thirty minutes after launch, the students piled into a van driven by Urmston and headed toward central Massachusetts, all the while updating their calculations with live data transmitted from the balloon’s flight computer. The entire exercise was a practice in patience, perseverance, and teamwork—as there was no guarantee the balloon could be found, and if it were, how they’d be able to retrieve it. In case the payload landed in the nearby Quabbin Reservoir, Urmston brought along a kayak.
“ I didn’t want to structure a class with me in the front of the room lecturing about astronomy, Instead, I want to give my students a real taste of the thrill of sending something into space.”
The weather balloon exploding at 102,000 feet
— Science teacher Ben Urmston
For the final pursuit, the team estimated the landing spot using the last known in-air location (recorded at about 500’ above the ground). The team pulled over to the side of a rural road and headed into the woods, relying on a multi-pronged handheld antenna resembling something from a 1930s sci-fi movie. Urmston swung it back and forth to capture audio blips emanating from the balloon’s ham radio beacon, and headed in the direction of the louder beeps. The team spotted
the balloon’s tattered remains and bright orange parachute high up in a tree—unable to descend a final fifty feet after plummeting more than 102,000. Urmston, a certified arborist, donned his climbing harness and ropes and retrieved the payload. The students spent the following weeks analyzing 200-plus pages of numerical flight data collected from remote sensors and stored in the balloon’s flight computer. There was also time spent admiring the payload’s
phenomenal footage of the Earth receding until it began to resemble a blue marble, then the balloon shattering and the payload’s sudden descent back to Earth. “The task is to see what we can learn about the atmosphere, how temperatures, air pressures, and wind patterns vary with altitude,” Urmston said. “Essentially to explore the world like astronomers.”
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Creating Conversations Through the ASR Last year, Berkshire selected Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me as the 2016-17 All-School Read. Winner of the 2015 National Book Award, this powerful book was written in the form of a letter to the author’s adolescent son. In the tradition of James Baldwin, Coates, who is known for his writing about race in America, discusses whether we as a nation might free ourselves from a legacy of racism that stubbornly persists. Though a challenging read, the tenmember ASR committee (comprised of the dean of academics, English department chair, and library director, as well as several faculty from a variety of disciplines) ultimately decided the book was something that our students could tackle and had faith in the community’s ability to confront a difficult topic in order to advance our commitment to inclusion for all community members. Coates’s book served as a springboard for small group discussions led by faculty in the fall and was woven into the English and history curricula. The hope was to give everyone a voice in a common conversation, to provide students with tools to successfully navigate today’s world, and to create an even more cohesive community. The book’s message resonated here under the Mountain, stirring up emotion and thoughtful consideration. What follows is a discussion about the book between five fifth formers, students, in their own words. It has been been edited for brevity, but its authenticity remains.
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Q
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HOW MIGHT WE MAKE OUR COMMUNITY MORE INCLUSIVE? LEXI: I loved this book. I tried to highlight the things I felt were important and found myself pretty much highlighting the whole book. I think he said the things that needed to be said. Some of the topics he covered were really uncomfortable, but he didn’t hold back, and I loved that rawness to the book. It will stay with me for life.
I feel like the book said things that I really want to get out of my mouth. I think sometimes when people talk about really important issues, like racism, people want to sugarcoat it. It’s like “speak in a soft voice and don’t be loud about it.”
LOSSENI:
I had trouble reading it because of how it looked upon white people and how badly we treated other people, not just black. Sometimes I felt like I couldn’t believe some of the stuff I was reading, because it was so horrible PETER:
in the 21st century to think that this was something I wasn’t even aware of. I think it just shows how much the black community, the black race, has been through. I think he did a really good job of summing up all of that struggle in one book. LEXI:
The fact that so many kids at the school were not aware of so many of his struggles and they were uncomfortable that that was happening, it’s so important to push people’s comfort zones and to learn more about what his life was like.
SOPHIA:
KATIE: I think people can see Obama being our first black president, and I think people can see that as progress, but also reading this book I think definitely there’s a long way to go in solving racial issues.
You know how he was talking about the idea of protecting our bodies above anything else and not having time to think of other dreams? Sometimes I feel like that around guys.
SOPHIA:
I feel threatened, because I’m a girl. I was wondering if that’s happened to you because of your race, trying to protect your body. LEXI: Where I come from, race or ethnicity isn’t really a problem. I live in a community that’s very diverse. I’m comfortable. I’ve never really felt threatened in my body.
I feel that sometimes I do feel like a body. I feel like I’m not seen. I’m just a body—a black body. It’s very hard, because sometimes I don’t feel that way. But a lot of times I do feel that way. Sometimes I can walk inside a classroom, and I can be the only black person inside there. I come from a community where everybody is either black or Latino. Maybe a couple Middle Eastern, but there are no white people there.
LOSSENI:
I don’t really know how it feels as a minority because I’ve gone to mostly white schools and been surrounded by mostly white people my whole life. What’s it like to walk into a class and be the only black person in a classroom?
PETER:
I feel like I stick out every single time. And it can feel the same way outside the classroom. I wonder sometimes—what do white students in the school see of me when they see my skin complexion? Picture yourself in a room full of black people, and you stay there for two to three years. Would you not feel awkward? LOSSENI:
I know I would feel very awkward, like you said, wondering what everyone else is thinking about me. Everyone looking at me.
PETER:
I can’t relate to being the only white person in the room, because I haven’t experienced that. But there are classes that I take here where I’m one of three girls in a large class. It’s definitely a little daunting, definitely uncomfortable walking into a room like that. KATIE:
Sometimes I count how many girls there are and see if the number is equal, just to see if the class is equal in that sense. I don’t know why, but that’s something I’ve always done, just seeing how many girls are in my class.
SOPHIA:
Sometimes I’m definitely uncomfortable, and sometimes I’m not. I think it also has to do with the people who are on the other side and how they perceive the people who are the minority. KATIE:
LEXI: There was a quote in the book that said, “The two great divisions of society are not rich and poor, but black and white.” I think that speaks volumes to what we experience here at Berkshire. I think this book was a really good selection this year, because it kind of puts whites in the perspective of a black person.
LEXI FORTUNE ’18
Ontario
PETER BENEDICT ’18
Florida
Were there times in the book when you felt attacked?
LOSSENI:
I wouldn’t say attacked. Like I said earlier, just really kind of taken aback by a lot of the things that I read. Being white, it’s kind of almost embarrassing that other white people are doing things that should just not be happening, like ever. It’s so hard to stomach a lot of the time for me.
PETER:
KATIE HARGRAVE ’18
Massachusetts
SOPHIA: I didn’t feel attacked it all. I
agreed with almost everything he was saying. I was angry with him. It also comes down to simple human decency. It’s not just about race. You have to respect people. It makes me so upset that people feel inferior because of their skin color. Because of their sex or gender. I just feel like everyone should be respected. People shouldn’t be attacked for what they look like or be seen as scary and shot down because they are black. It just gets me so angry.
What you’re saying is really affecting me internally. What I see is that teachers care about this, but sometimes it hurts when I don’t see many white students who care about
LOSSENI BARRY ’18
New York
LOSSENI:
SOPHIA MCCARTHY ’18
Pennsylvania Summer 2017
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this. What you are saying is touching me. It’s really hard for certain things to touch me. You’re telling me that you’re angry with us, that there are students here that do care—white students here that do care. I definitely think that reading this book has helped me gain a new perspective. It’s very personal. I definitely understand more. KATIE:
LEXI: Even as a person of color, I agree that I saw a different perspective on race and racism that I’ve never really thought about before. This book really made me do a lot of thinking and processing in that. KATIE: I also think it’s important to see that this topic is uncomfortable. I think people need to realize that. It’s not always going to be comfortable to talk about.
Reading this book was so good for the school community, to put people in this uncomfortable situation and to start talking about it. I feel like there are so many people that are afraid to share their views or afraid to say what they thought, because of how people would react. Now kids are being asked what they think of this topic, when we really never talked about it before.
SOPHIA:
I think, especially being a white male in this topic, you’re going to have to take a lot of the blame, and deal with it. Not of what you maybe did, but what your ancestors did or what other white people did. It’s something that white people have done to other minorities for a long time. As a white person, you’re just going to have to accept that and take the blame and move on, because we can’t live with this divide forever.
PETER:
I think it’s good to talk about it with a bunch of different people,
SOPHIA:
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because you’re just sharing your views. They get to see who you are and what you believe in. You get to learn new ideas from other people as well. I think talking about this is really progressive. Having conversations about race here is so hard, because at any moment I feel like I can’t speak my mind, like my mouth is sewn. If I say something, then I think about “Am I making a white person feel blame or making them feel guilty?” But I swear to my life, if I could trade places with feeling the guilt over feeling the pain, I would take guilt instantly. It’s so hard, because I don’t know how many times I have to say something before I finally feel heard. It’s so hard, because every day I feel it. When I’m talking about race, many white students disagree with me, because of what their white experiences have been. But they’re going to wake up in the morning with their white skin. And I’m going to wake up having my black skin and walking around. And I’m going to have to do it for the rest of my life. That’s the gift I got.
LOSSENI:
LEXI: I feel like ignorance is what’s holding us back from the progress on the topic of race. In order for us to move forward, especially for some white people who don’t care about the topic, they need to overcome that ignorance. They need to see that it is a real problem.
We’re bringing it to the forefront, and we’re actually talking about it. It’s kind of a shock almost, because people are so used to being quiet about it and pretending everything is okay. I think this discomfort is what’s going to make this topic easier to talk about and finally help us move forward and just bring awareness to all of the issues of police brutality and racial slurs, everything
SOPHIA:
like that—just bring that to light and get past that. I think it starts with the individual. The individual and just being able to recognize that there are more people out there who are feeling the same way that you’re feeling right now. KATIE:
You can have speakers come into the school. You can read books about racism. But there are going to be people who are just going to be stubborn about it. They’re going to choose not to listen, because they don’t want to believe that it’s a thing in society, despite it being so insidious. They’re pretending it’s not there and trying to hide behind the curtain when the curtain is almost now wide open and everybody needs to step out and shake hands and really try to sit down and solve the problem as it is.
PETER:
LEXI: I agree with that. As much as talking helps, it’s also about listening.
“As much as talking helps, it’s also about listening. You have to listen to one another and process what everyone has to say, all the different perspectives.” —Lexi Fortune ’18
You have to listen to one another and process what everyone has to say, all the different perspectives. And also doing your own research, learning about it. That’s the only way that we will become more aware of how important it really is. You have to listen. I think it’s really cool to hear everyone’s opinions here and see a side of you guys that I never thought I would see. As difficult as it is, I’m really enjoying this conversation.
SOPHIA:
KATIE: These are conversations we need to have.
If the school hadn’t put this book out there, I might’ve never said what I felt. And I’m glad I did.
LOSSENI:
I think the book’s really good, especially for people who aren’t black. I learned so much from that book—and I thought I knew enough already.
SOPHIA:
LEXI: I think it was a really good decision for our school to read this book, but I also think it’s only the start of something. It could be so much bigger. We’re having these little conversations. If we continue to have them over time, we will start to see the progression and the development. I think this is just the start of something really good for our school.
I would definitely agree. The book definitely lit a match and kind of sparked a little bit of a fire that I hope that we can keep alive and feed and help solve this problem, at least definitely
PETER:
in our Berkshire community. We can take what we learn to college and later into life and really incorporate it as part of our lives. Imagine the discomfort you have from not having these conversations.
LOSSENI:
I think the school chose this book because they can tell us, “Don’t be racist. Don’t do this. Don’t do that.” But it’s not going to be as meaningful coming from them as coming from your peers—that makes it a lot more powerful. You realize that it’s something you can relate to. We’re all the same age. We’re all living the same life. We’re all in the same world. We have to solve these problems as a group. It’s going to start with individuals coming together and bringing other people along. We have to make the change ourselves.
PETER:
Summer 2017
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10 Years of Educating Students for Life BY HEIDI WOODWORTH
This year marked the 10th anniversary of Berkshire’s Pro Vita winter session, a week at the end of February dedicated to experiential learning. The goal is for students to have the opportunity to explore the larger world around them and to apply the school motto, Pro Vita Non Pro Schola Discimus, “Learning—not just for school but for life.” Associate Head of School and Dean of Faculty Jean Woodward Maher talks about Pro Vita with characteristic enthusiasm, “I’m a big fan!” From its start, Pro Vita week was designed to bring genuine joy and excitement into the classroom. And those two characteristics are exactly what Maher demonstrates when she talks about the program’s inception in 2007. Pro Vita was born out of the celebration of the School’s centennial. As Maher explains, the School
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wondered, “How do we tangibly celebrate the concept of our school’s motto? How can we bring it to life to help the community here and elsewhere to understand that for 100 years Berkshire has been educating students, ‘Not just for school but for life?’” The earlier version of Pro Vita though, was a bit different than it is 10 years later. Instead of a week of design-thinking, experiential, product-based learning, Pro Vita’s beginnings were far more modest. “The first iteration began with a day-long environmental symposium that Peter Kinne coordinated, and it was phenomenal. We had environmental experts on a range of topics from across the country visit for a day and run workshops on their field of study. Each student could pick and choose exactly what they wanted to learn about.” Given the success of the symposium,
the School committed to a full week of Pro Vita later in the year, falling exactly where it does today, at the conclusion of the third quarter. As Maher explains, a day was simply not enough, “One day?” she exclaimed. “There are so many things that I really like to do, and that I want to talk about with kids that don’t fit into my Spanish curriculum. Give me a week!” In 2017, 10 years after Pro Vita was born, the logistics look very different. But, it remains the same at its core—an intentional pursuit of learning that students and faculty alike will take with them beyond their time under the Mountain. A reminder of 110 years of educating students not just for school, but for life. Heidi Woodworth is a member of the history department and a faculty advisor to The Green and Gray. This article first appeared in the newspaper’s Pro Vita anniversary issue.
berkshireschoolprovita 60+ courses
6 trips
Following
1 week
During Pro Vita, there’s a lot going on. To help share the news, we created a dedicated Instagram feed featuring happenings on campus and around the world, on trips from Arizona to Iceland. Here is a sample from some of the 187 posts that went up in just one week!
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berkshireschoolprovita Ely, Minnesota
2 0 17 T R I P S
Journey Beyond Iceland Creating Sustainable Communities
Bahamas Marine Ecology at the Island School
Spain Exploring the two-million-acre wilderness area of Ely, Minnesota— the “Sled Dog Capital of the World”—while learning leadership skills, wilderness safety, navigation techniques, and how to operate and care for the sled team #ProVita2017
berkshireschoolprovita El Camino de Santiago, Spain
A Walk Along the Camino de Santiago
Minnesota Dogsledding and Leadership Adventures
Arizona The Navajo Nation
Seattle Discovering the Stage Scene
Lunch Series So You Want to Write a Novel or a Mystery? Harry MacLean ’60 New York Times best-selling author
Yo-Yo Workshop Tyler Severance national and world champion yo-yo competitor Hiking through rural villages on one of the world’s oldest pilgrimage routes, the Camino de Santiago, documenting their experiences through journaling, art making, and photography #ProVita2017
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30-Minute Yoga Lisa Warren-Kruger P’15,‘20 artist and yogi
berkshireschoolprovita Conceptualism Art
SPE AKERS
Be our Guest Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui ’85 social entrepreneur
Ryan Lizza ’92 political correspondent for The New Yorker
Dyllan McGee documentary filmmaker
Wes Moore author and political analyst
Creating work inspired by the School’s core values in “Conceptualism Art” taught by Lisa Warren-Kruger P’15,’20 #ProVita2017
Jake Norton climber, photographer, and philanthropist
Perk Perkins CEO of Orvis Company
berkshireschoolprovita American Music Documentary: World War II
Sheila Roche Chief Creative & Communications Consultant, [RED]
Chris Sarandon actor
Tommy Schultz National Geographic photographer
Peter Scott ’85 VP of Emerging Media, Turner Broadcasting
Allyn Stewart P’18 film producer
Amber Tamblyn author and actress
Gary Vider ’02 comedian
Performing a musical documentary for local veterans to celebrate the men and women who fought during WWII in a class taught by Jim Fiedler ’64 (far right) #ProVita2017
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TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS Movie producer Allyn Stewart P’18 listens to her intuition in life and in filmmaking. BY MEGAN TADY
Above: Stewart with the team from Sully: Aaron Eckhart who played Jeff Skiles, the co-pilot, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, director Clint Eastwood, and Tom Hanks, who portrayed Sully in the film. Right: With her son Flynn ‘18, just prior to her Pro Vita address
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MOVIE PRODUCER A L LY N S T E WA R T P ’ 1 8 delivered a Pro Vita talk to Berkshire students this winter, discussing the power of intuition in her latest film, Sully, and how experiential learning unlocked her passion for storytelling. The movie follows the true story of US Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who made an emergency landing in New York’s Hudson River after his airplane hit a flock of geese, saving the lives of all 155 passengers and crew. Sully was released in 2016 starring Tom Hanks and directed by Clint Eastwood. “[Sully’s] intuition allowed him to call on everything—his experience, his intelligence—in a circumstance that he’d never been in before,” Stewart says. Intuition is also a theme in Stewart’s own life; she’s been developing what she calls her “beeper” for 30 years—the gut instinct that something is right for her, from a movie idea to a career choice. At first, she wasn’t convinced that Sully’s story was a film, as it was an event already known in detail around the world. “My quest is to find stories that can be entertaining, enlightening, and have an experience of transformation,” says Stewart. Stewart and her business partner, who co-own Flashlight Films, traveled to Northern California to meet Sully, where they learned the untold twist: The National Transportation Safety Board was questioning Sully’s emergency landing, embattling him in a fight for his reputation and livelihood. “I realized—okay there’s the architecture for a movie; that’s a great story,” Stewart says. “His true heroic act was having to defend himself and prove that he made the right decision.” It’s this grit and selfsurety that Stewart stressed
at Berkshire, encouraging each student to “be an actor in your own life.” “We are constantly being asked questions by life, and most of the time we don’t know the answers and so our only choice is to be courageous and jump into the unknown,” Stewart said in her Berkshire talk. Stewart has dyslexia, and she took a leap of her own after high school to travel the world and gain experience outside of textbooks. “I struggled [in high school]; it was like hell for me,” she says. “But I had the support and the drive to continue with experiential learning and change my life.” She went to college with newfound confidence, and after studying political science and international economics, she interviewed with multi-national companies. But her inner “beeper” sounded the alarm; it wasn’t the right direction for her. On a whim, she interviewed at Fox, and when she walked onto a studio lot in Hollywood, “it was like being hit by lightning.” She wanted in. “You have to be self-aware enough that when your beeper goes off that you really listen to it, and it will lead you to magical places,” Stewart says. “I didn’t know anybody in the movie business, I’d never been exposed to it, which is highly unusual. I just knew it’s what I should do. I didn’t know what I should do, I didn’t know what department, and it’s been an extraordinary adventure for me.” Soon, 20th Century Fox hired Stewart in international distribution and sent her to Europe. Stewart was drawn to the production side of filmmaking, and she began hanging around the production department four floors above her London office, even delivering the mail to get noticed. It worked, and it was as a junior producer that Stewart “finally learned the movie business,” working on blockbuster films that included Empire
Strikes Back and Chariots of Fire. “We were making these great movies and I was on the set, signing the crew checks, and in the thick of it,” she says. As a novice, Stewart says, “I was in the deep blue sea, and I just kept putting the best of myself out and nodding my head. Then I would go home every night and do my homework. I think I probably lived in a perpetual anxiety attack for a year.” Now, Stewart has three decades of
“Most of the time we don’t know the answers and so our only choice is to be courageous and jump into the unknown.” filmmaking behind her as a studio executive and producer, and she’s become a seasoned pro. But what do movie producers do, exactly? Creating a film is a long and laborintensive process, and producers arrange the moving parts, starting with script development. She works closely with writers to solve problems in the script and craft a cohesive, captivating story— again, relying on her intuition. “When I first read a script, I try to read it like I’m sitting in my seat in a movie theater,” she says. “If a scene doesn’t feel right, I’ve seen time and time again that that’s exactly the moment where an audience will start to shift or three people will get up and get popcorn.” Before a movie gets off the ground, Stewart makes an endless amount
of phone calls to find a production manager, casting directors, and other essential crewmembers, and she scouts filming locations. And, she’s honed her ability to handle the pressures of Hollywood. “I never viewed my work as, ‘Oh I got to make X dollars or I’ve got to have this position.’ I’ve just always looked at it like it was an adventure. And what I learned about myself is that my talent and my passion is in telling a story. So, that’s my anchor.” During Stewart’s Berkshire talk, her son Flynn Stewart ’18 proudly introduced her to the audience. “My mom’s always been someone I’ve looked up to,” he said. “I remember how hard my mom worked on Sully. I’m elated that all of this hard work could turn into such a success for her.” Flynn himself has been working hard at Berkshire, embracing the Pro Vita motto by teaching his own class on wilderness first aid. Stewart’s thrilled to witness her son dive into experiential learning at Berkshire, hoping that hands-on experiences will have a dramatic impact on his life, too. “Berkshire’s philosophy really supports the idea that you’re evolving the whole person,” Stewart says. “I feel like he’s in an environment that is incredibly supportive of every facet of his being, whether it’s sports, academics, or learning how to exist in a peer group.” Asked career advice, Stewart is quick to list intuition and self-awareness as the “keys to the kingdom.” And just one more thing: “You have to look at your career like an adventure and try very hard to not have preconceived notions,” she says. “Most of us—particularly in today’s time when technology is changing everything so fast —are not going to end up where we think.”
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Commencement
2 0 1 7
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Berkshire said goodbye to
“The world right now is full of problems and challenges that need answers,”
the Class of 2017, its 110th
said Berger, “so we really need the next generation to be asking the right
graduating class on May 26.
questions. Be the one who wonders why things are the way they are, who
Bringing the school year full
imagines what if it might be different, and then who tries to make that real.
circle, author and faculty
Those are the people who are going to change the world.”
orientation speaker Warren Berger delivered an address that similarly encouraged graduates to start asking more questions.
After the ceremony, the rain held off for the future world changers as they filtered outside with their families. South Pinnacle, greener than ever during a wet spring, provided a fitting backdrop for the newly minted Berkshire alumni.
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Class of
20 17
Andi McGraw with her dad Robin ’70, who was this year’s Senior Dinner speaker
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Ahria Simons, Izzy Maher, Mo Omar, and Charlotte Childs will lead the Class of 2018 as next year’s All-School Presidents and Head Prefects.
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Class of
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Weil Prize for Public Speaking winner Ben Dixon
Commencement Address by Ben Dixon ’17 I’m not going to lie, I’ve been put in a pretty tough spot here because as many of you remember, Peter Bahr received the Weil Prize and gave this speech last year, and he did a great job. Obviously, I went to him to ask for some words of wisdom as to what to talk about and how to prepare for this, and he gave me some sage advice. He told me to do exactly what Berkshire teaches all of its students to do: leave it to the last minute and then hopelessly search the Internet for something to write about.
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I’d like to start with some of my own advice to the juniors, because one year from right now you will be graduating, and one of you will be in the same position I am in right now: dangerously close to passing out in front of 1,200 people. I’m going to start off with my experience here at Berkshire, then transition into a joke, move to talking about how Berkshire is special, and then shift into the piece of advice that I promised. In January of 2014, the year before I
came to Berkshire, I was an incredibly unhappy person. I hated getting up to go to school in the morning; my grades were terrible; I needed a change; and out of that came Berkshire. I’ve changed a lot over my time here. I’ve grown up the same way that everyone here at Berkshire has. Before I came here I wasn’t someone who would get up in front of you all and speak about myself. I wasn’t someone who would run for allschool president. I wasn’t someone who would’ve done half the stuff I’ve done
“
These moments and many others are the ones we’re going to talk about at our reunions because Berkshire has molded us into the people we are today, and for the rest of our lives Berkshire will be a part of us.”
during my time here, but that is what makes this place so special. As graduates, we’ve all had our fair share of firsts here at Berkshire. We’ve grown up both emotionally and physically. There was the first class, the first time in Shawn’s, the first excellent effort mark, the first sports game. The first relationship, the second relationship, the third relationship . . . the realization that you were the problem. Or if you were like me . . . no relationships at all, and that’s totally okay. Berkshire is special. There aren’t a lot of schools where your head of school will stand in front of an academic building every morning and greet you by name. There aren’t a lot of places where your academic achievements will be announced in front of the whole school while Mr. Splawn makes some weird analogy about how honesty is like baking a cake. There aren’t a lot of places in the world where your athletic achievements will be presented in front of the whole school while Mr. Driscoll lovingly, but hopelessly, mispronounces your name. There aren’t a lot of places where your calculus teacher will sit in the orchestra pit and wail on the xylophone in support of the musical. There aren’t a lot of places that will teach you how to paint, and then literally invest in your art by buying your work. There aren’t a lot of places where you, our graduates, can do all that you’ve done. As I reflect on my time at Berkshire, I only wish that I had done more. During Pro Vita I went on a trip to Spain to hike the Camino de Santiago with
Mr. Anselmi, Mrs. Lloyd and 12 other students. El Camino, which translates to “the path” in English, ended up teaching me some very important life lessons, and they weren’t about the stuff that I expected, like being thankful and the importance of perseverance. When I started the trip, I was nervous that I would have this wonderful experience, take a few photos, write a bit, and then forget about it; so I made a conscious effort to literally keep my head up while hiking so that I would absorb the Spanish countryside. I wanted to capture everything that the Camino offered because I would’ve been upset if I had complained about the walking and missed out on the greater opportunity at hand. On the last night in a hotel room in Madrid, we all talked about what the Camino taught us and what we would bring back to our final days at Berkshire. I realized that I needed to bring that same mentality of desperately trying to absorb everything around me back to Berkshire. Seniors, at 3:00 we leave the Mountain, no longer its students. For a large part of many people’s Berkshire career, they hike with their heads down, marking period to marking period, never looking up. So if I can leave you all with one thing it would be to enjoy it, because it’ll be over before you know it. As I stand in front of you all today, I realize that this moment should not be filled with sadness, but instead with appreciation for all of the moments, good and bad, that we have shared together here. There have been a ton of really awesome moments during our
time here, like the boys soccer team winning the championship three out of our four years; the continued excellence of the girls basketball team; all of the theater productions; the bonding of our community during WeWeek; the school spirit at the Pink Out game; and the shockingly underappreciated accomplishments of the ski program. There have been some interesting moments like Jimmy Graham’s “mistake colossal,” but there have also been sad moments, like Mr. Smith passing away our sophomore year. These moments are what bond us together. These moments and many others are the ones we’re going to talk about at our reunions because Berkshire has molded us into the people we are today, and for the rest of our lives Berkshire will be a part of us. Earlier this spring as I watched my beloved Chicago Blackhawks get mercilessly swept out of the NHL playoffs, I saw a commercial that resonated with me. It went like this: “When you come into this world, the first thing you are given is a name. You spend your life making it into something. It is how you come to be known. It is how you are introduced, and as time goes on, it earns a reputation. Your name becomes your signature, and it is often made greater by the company it keeps. For some a name begins stories, it bonds generations. It can demand immediate respect and inspire unconditional love. Until ultimately your name becomes how you are remembered.” So Class of 2017, let’s go make a name for ourselves. Thank you.
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Class of
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The Graduation Prizes Andrea L. Cass
Siqi (Michelle) Zhou
of Southwick, MA: The Berkshire Cup, the highest distinction Berkshire confers on one of its graduating seniors. It is given each year to the student who is considered by the faculty to have made the greatest contribution to the success of the school year.
of Shanghai, China: The Peter Lance Anderson Award, decided by the membership of the Cum Laude Society and given to the student who best exemplifies the qualities of personal excellence, integrity, and academic scholarship. And The Princeton Cup, the top sixthform academic prize awarded for diligence in studies and success in co-curricular activities.
Silvana Gomez of North Bergen, NJ: The Headmaster’s Prize, awarded to the student whose particular contribution to Berkshire has distinguished the school year in a special way and whose leadership led others and influenced many.
Genesis Paulino of Lawrence, MA: The Robert A. Powers Award, which recognizes a sixth former who has demonstrated personal growth, loyalty to the school, and dependability of performance which has distinguished his or her career at Berkshire.
Madison P. Biasin of Lee, MA: The Herger Trophy, awarded to the sixth-form female student who has best exemplified proficiency and sportsmanship in interscholastic athletics.
Samuel M. Bannett Mas of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico: The Anna S. Barrasch Prize, awarded for unselfish interest in people and loyalty to Berkshire.
Abbey N. Turner of Bethlehem, CT: The Calvin Fentress Citizenship Award, given for exemplary personal performance, loyalty to Berkshire, and outstanding citizenship in the school community.
Andrew C. Pitcher of Grand Isle, VT: The Morris Trophy, awarded to the sixth-form male student who has best exemplified proficiency and sportsmanship in interscholastic athletics.
Jasper Turner The Aliis Non Sibi Award. Selected by members of the graduating class, the recipient of this award follows the motto “for others, not themselves.” It recognizes a member of the faculty who, through a love of teaching and abiding commitment to enriching the lives of students, embodies the ideals and spirit of an engaged and treasured member of both the faculty and, equally important, the Berkshire community.
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O N WARD See where members of the Class of 2017 are headed this fall.
Noah Abrams Daniel Aldam Alexander Amero Duncan Anderson Dalia Banevicius Samuel Bannett Mas Victoria Barnett Ione Bartlett Kyle Bason Madelyn Beitler Madison Biasin Gavin Bigall Viggo Blomquist Christina Bolarinwa Samuel Boorstyn Nicholas Botticelli Charles Boyle Robert Boyle William Bullock Sha Cao Andrea Cass Juan Cedeño Simran Chatani Brian Chudacoff Rawson Clough Matthew Cortes Brenden Cournoyer Margaret Curran Neeka Daemi Tara DeChellis Erin Dillon Benjamin Dixon Wilfred Dyer Kloman Djemo Fade Yoshinari Fukuzawa Samuel Gatsos Tristan Gaynor Amir Ghani Greer Gibney Charles Goldstein
Northeastern University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Colorado State University St. Lawrence University Drexel University Northeastern University University of Colorado at Boulder Loyola University Maryland Syracuse University Hamilton College Smith College University of Colorado at Boulder Columbia University McGill University Claremont McKenna College Connecticut College St. Lawrence University Trinity College (Hartford) Wake Forest University New York University Northeastern University Wentworth Institute of Technology Drexel University Dickinson College Wake Forest University Wake Forest University State University of New York at Albany Wesleyan University University of Massachusetts, Amherst Southern Methodist University Connecticut College Colby College Bates College New York University Middlebury College Colgate University Dean College Chapman University Pitzer College University of Southern California
Silvana Gomez Brooke Gordon John Grace Hanna Graebner Malik Harvey Ian Heissenbuttel Jensen Hellmers Eui Jin Hwang Nathaniel Jacobson Su Min Jeong Ryan Jewell Lauren Kauffman Ryan Keelan Juliana Kokot Kyle Koopman Matthew Koopman Gracie Kraft Ivan Kulchitskiy Ethan Labi Alea Laigle Alonde LeGrand Claire Lemker Hiu Yuen Victor Leung Hannah Liencres Mu Chen Lin John Lloyd Maggie Markgraf Stephen Matlock Moe Matsuoka Antonia Matzka Anne McGraw Matthew McKinley Alex Meehan Tyler Morse Phuong Nguyen Stephen O’Connell Colin O’Connor Mary O’Neill Jules Öberg
Harvard University Ithaca College Babson College Providence College St. Lawrence University Loyola University Maryland Loyola University Maryland University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Kenyon College Carnegie Mellon University University of Vermont Texas Christian University Connecticut College New York University Junior Hockey Providence College Hobart and William Smith Colleges Virginia Tech Tulane University University of Denver Fairfield University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Cornell University Emerson College Military Service Amherst College Northeastern University University of California, Los Angeles Georgetown University College of the Holy Cross Connecticut College Endicott College Northeastern University Wake Forest University Syracuse University Duke University Union College Marquette University Williams College
Nicholas Palumbo Roman Panibratyuk Genesis Paulino William Perekslis Michael Petersen Andrew Pitcher Kendall Pollart Catherine Quaintance Berit Randall Jeremy Richard Stephen Richey Dong Chan Ryu Jordi Sabrià Gabarró Gary Scarafoni Jade Shatkin Lydia Shedden Meredith Shields James Siff León Silva Cubillos Timothy Spears Sean Speegle Kenneth Sperl James Spoehel Luke Streett Liam Thor Ana Tolvo Autumn Truesdale Abbey Turner Kufre Udoh Quentin van der Lee Cole Venner Kai Walker Jack Weeden Juan Widoycovich Scagliotti Jeanna Willis James Wilson Zuoquan Wu Yudu Zang Siqi Zhou Manqing Zhu
Rollins College Occidental College Bates College University of North Dakota Trinity College (Hartford) Wesleyan University Providence College Northeastern University Santa Clara University Wheaton College University of Tennessee, Knoxville Emory University Georgia Institute of Technology Union College University of Colorado at Boulder Clarkson University Indiana University at Bloomington University of Denver Lindenwood University Stevens Institute of Technology Gettysburg College Emmanuel College The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina Franklin & Marshall College Kenyon College Muhlenberg College University of Richmond University of Colorado at Boulder Middlebury College Trinity University (Texas) University of Connecticut Boston University Santa Clara University Hobart and William Smith Colleges The College of Wooster Wake Forest University New York University Brown University Northwestern University King’s College London Summer 2017
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REUNION WEEKEND Steve Sawyer ’67 with wife Pat
Moe England ‘49, front, with Bob Doyle ‘49, Ben Davenport ‘49, Rollie Schopp ‘49
Rich Zeff ‘67, Bruce Madden ‘67, Steve Connolly ‘67, Woody Hancock ’67
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Jennifer Gaenzle Smith, Colin Smith ’87, Norah, and Lena
Anthony Addison ’82 and Billy Grace ’82
CELEBRATING 2’S AND 7’S JUNE 9-11, 2017
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES:
THE CASE OF THE MISSING SEAL! Sometime back in the summer of 1996, the school seal embedded in the lobby of Berkshire Hall went missing. No one knew who was responsible. Could it have been the Class of 1996, committing one final prank on its alma mater? Was it the Class of 1997, making an early mark as seniors? Rumors abounded, theories were born . . . and endured for two decades. The discussion resurfaced over reunions; it spread on social
Brendan McGovern ’12 and Ximena Lascurain ’13
media. The Class of ’96 blamed ’97; ’97 returned the favor. Some claimed credit; some claimed to know its whereabouts. But talk remained just talk until the morning of Sunday, June 11, when Sam Hindels ’97 received a tip from an undisclosed source. He and classmate Kristina Thaute Miller discovered the seal, after 20 long years, under a hedge outside Kellogg Alumni Center. It is currently being restored and rests safely under the purview of Berkshire’s facilities department. No one, as of yet, has claimed responsibility for its return.
From 2012: Ruby Fee, Kelsey West, Chelsea Preston, Katherine Sweeney, Juliet Shatkin, Ally Grace, Kelley Hartmann
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2017 REUNION AWARDS
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR WALT HENRION ’57
The Distinguished Alumni Award is given annually to “a graduate of Berkshire School who has brought distinction to Berkshire as a result of vocation or avocation, community involvement, or other professional or personal achievements, and who has demonstrated an interest in the welfare of the School.” It is the highest honor that Berkshire confers on one of its graduates. In his 60th reunion year, Walt Henrion was enthusiastically nominated for the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award not only for his significant professional achievements, but also for his volunteer efforts for his class and the School since his graduation in 1957. After graduating from Berkshire, Walt earned a BA from Williams College in 1961 and an MBA from the University of Denver in 1966. In 1971, Walt co-founded what would become the TGI Friday’s restaurant chain. He subsequently became a partner and director of Dave and Buster’s, Inc., an international and national restaurant-hybrid casino chain. His past corporate board memberships have been with Redstone Grill in Minneapolis and Spinnaker Coating in Troy, Ohio, and he also served as chairman and CEO of The Waldon Company, a position he held until 2002. Walt has been a class agent for Berkshire since 2007 and served the School on the Board of Trustees from 1979 to 1988. Walt and his wife, Page, reside in Dallas, Texas, and are both champions in support of children with intellectual and communication disorders in the greater Dallas area. Walt and his class have established the Class of 1957 Faculty Fund through an endowment that now supports two awards
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for our faculty, one to a teacher with less than five years of experience and one to someone with more than six years. The Class of ’57 has established a nice tradition of welcoming past recipients to join their class for dinner over their reunion weekends. These awards have become among the School’s most prestigious and generous thanks to the leadership of Walt and his classmates. For his professional, philanthropic, and leadership contributions to the School, Berkshire is honored to name Walt Henrion, Class of 1957, the Distinguished Alumnus of 2017.
Walt is the engine that drives the Class of ’57. He claims that this reunion is our ‘swan song,’ but he’s wrong. Any day now, we expect Walt to begin planning our 75th.” —Bill Kirtz ’57
Berkshire Bulletin
2017 REUNION AWARDS
“
Anthony Addison was, and continues to be, as colorful as the Class of 1982. He has enthusiastically carried the spirit of Berkshire throughout his life. Who else would have come up with the idea of going to a Grateful Dead concert as our senior field trip, and more importantly, pulled it off? Sort of.” —Billy Grace ’82
VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR ANTHONY ADDISON ’82
Anthony Addison ’82, or “Double A” as he is affectionately known to many, returned to campus to celebrate his 35th Reunion. He is a Class of 1982 class agent and has been a persuasive reunion committee member during all of his reunion years. A central member of Berkshire’s Advisory Board, Anthony is a respected friend to many alumni and our current and former faculty and staff alike. For his great gift in fulfilling so many formal and informal roles at the School and for his many and lasting contributions, Anthony Addison was named the 2017 Volunteer of the Year. After graduating from Berkshire, Anthony went on to earn a BS in marketing and business from the University of Vermont in 1986. Anthony has been working for Merrill Lynch in New York City since 1997, where he is currently a managing director and senior financial advisor. Anthony, along with classmate Billy Grace, was the driving force behind our fundraising effort this year to dedicate the middle court in our new Soffer Athletic Center in honor of longtime faculty members Peter and Lynn Kinne. Thanks to his commitment and leadership, Kinne Court and the Kinnes’ legacy will live on at Berkshire forever more.
CLASS OF 1957 FACULTY AWARDS Celebrating with ’57 are this year’s Class of 1957 Faculty Award recipients: Anita Loose-Brown and Mike McCabe. Seated are Bruce Benson, Walt Henrion, Page Henrion, and Mac Odell.
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2017 REUNION CLASSES
60TH: CLASS OF 1957 Front row: John Delamater, Marja Delamater, Mac Odell, Page Henrion, Walt Henrion, Catharine Katzenbach, Frank Monahan, Bill Kirtz, Middle: Skip Wood, Nancy Simpson, Marcy Benson, Lois Monahan Back: Bruce Shields, Neville Simpson, Bruce Benson, Tom Anderson, Judith Anderson, Pete Katzenbach Not pictured: Spike Billings, Deane Billings, Dick Case, Lois Case
50TH: CLASS OF 1967 Front row: Roger Foster, Woody Hancock, Rick Breed, Dan Griggs, Bob Mustard Middle: Ken Piel, George Ripley, Steve Sawyer, Bruce Madden, Allen Hole, Obie Benz Back: Jim Dean, Steve Connolly, Duncan Smith, Dave Brooks, Mac Wood, Pete Etzel, John Woodruff, Bev Barstow, Geoff Clifford, Dick Lewin
45TH: CLASS OF 1972 Front row: Clark Brown, Buddy Nierenburg, Ken Tipper, Fred Walsh Back: Phil Carey, John Walker
40TH: CLASS OF 1977 From left: Mark Lussier, Debbie Vivian, Lee Andrews, Sue Stout, Mark Sullivan, Mike Overton, Joel Sorofman, Lucy Ward Harris, Stu Brown, Kim Hoffman, Shelby Hoffman, Ed Samson
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2017 REUNION CLASSES 35TH: CLASS OF 1982 Front row: Jane Goffinet Webster, Gayle Saks, Jennifer Gardner Second: Karen Schneck ’83, Teri Andrews Gabbeitt, Rosemary Fitzgerald Back: Simon Walling (in absentia), Anthony Addison, Jay Overbye, Scott Harwood, Mike Gilligan, Craig Vachon, Dennis Leedom
30TH: CLASS OF 1987 Front row: Julie Silberman, Iona Michelle Brigham Smith, Kristen Gray Second: Jeff Anderson, Nicole Anderson, Elisa Silberman Simon, Jenn Menken, Susannah Hall Appleton Third: Jen Marcus, Suzannah Zeif Van Schaik, Colin Smith, Elvia Gignoux, Jen Nichols Reed, Kirk Kellogg Back: Pieter Van Schaick, Tessa de Movellan Wohl, Bobby Moran, Megan Steck Berg, Julie Gimbel
25TH: CLASS OF 1992 Front row: Bartholomew Singer, Whitley Bouma Herbert Back: David Ross, Ethan Gee, Andrew Mueller, Rudi Ehrlich
20TH: CLASS OF 1997 Front row: Erin Yoffe Halper, Aleisha Cabaniol Gibbons, Nadine Proctor, Katie Shea, Sam Hindels, Julie Rubinstein Bronder Second: Melissa Venegas, Amanda Soper Henning, Evan Kelley, Vinny Romano, Amanda Wheeler Ekster, Pia Dimm Cardinali Third: Gabe Seifter, Tom Hunt, Stuart Miller, Kristina Thaute Miller, Arseni Tomkevich Back: Sarah Kuhn Campbell, Peter Campbell, John Harker, Ned deBary, John Dumler, Tom Thibeault
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2017 REUNION CLASSES 15TH: CLASS OF 2002 Chris Schulz, Michaela Romano-Meade, Vickie Chiang, Lilly Becker, Sam Frank
10TH: CLASS OF 2007 Front row: Tom Watkins, Jose Rivera, Elliot Smith Middle: John Diebold, Lizzy Spalding, Allison Letourneau, Tara Fulco, Nikki Bouteiller Back: John Clinton, Casey Larkins, Evan Schneider
5TH: CLASS OF 2012 Front row: Brendan McGovern, Chelsea Preston, Katherine Sweeney, Madison Vessels, Kira Puth, Kienan Brownrigg, Sam Hooper Second: Katharina Kreke, Roya Daemi, Ruby Fee, Charlotte Parsons, Lucy Fowlkes, Elizabeth Benedict Third: Kelley Hartmann, Chloe Laigle, Johanna Nilsson, Kelsey West, Anna Johnston, Olivia Morrow, Annie Hawkins, Juliet Shatkin, Corey Wisnowski, Danny Moloy Back: Stephen Bell, Connor Pelkey, Jackson Beaver, Ben Colley, Tom Harrigan, Bray Wilcock, Gus Harms, Joe Connelly, Chris Utz, Jake Kulevich, Scott McLinden, Pat Feeley
NEW THIS YEAR: GOLF CART CONFESSIONS! Alumni climbed aboard to share stories, memories, and indeed, some long-kept secrets.
The Class of 2012’s Katherine Sweeney, Chelsea Preston, Olivia Morrow, and Ruby Fee shared some Berkshire lore on the roving golf cart.
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2017 REUNION RUN DOWN
THE WEEKEND LINE-UP ACTIVITIES FOR EVERYONE! MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR
REUNION WEEKEND 2018: JUNE 8-10 BIRDS OF PREY The Sharon Audubon’s birds of prey exhibit returned to the Mountain.
CAMPUS TOUR Director of Admission Andrew Bogardus (left) led
SEE YOU NEXT SUMMER!
a campus tour for Dan Griggs ’67, Martha Griggs, Gabe Seifter ’97, Melissa Seifter, Katie Shea ’97, Curtis Cormier, Peggy Etzel, and Pete Etzel ’67.
GOLF Alums hit the links! Front row: Joe Connolly ’12, Max Silva ’12, Chris Utz ’12 Back row: Vinny Romano ’97, John Dumler ’97, John Harker ’97, Sam Hindels ’97, Brian Hyatt ’81, Bobby Moran ’87, J.C. Duryee ’00, Stephen Bell ’12, Ben Colley ’12
HIKING Bellas was back! Rick Bellas (rear center) joined alums and
GALA DINNER The Class of 1967 parade led by David Brooks
former fellow colleagues for a walk in the woods.
and Woody Hancock was met with a standing ovation. Summer 2017
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Alumni Events
ALUMNI EVENTS This past year, the Office of Advancement teamed up with alumni across the country who spoke at receptions in their home towns. Speakers addressed topics including their careers, professional expertise, and personal ties to Berkshire. With this program, regional event attendance increased 36%, and we reached over 1,400 Bears! We hope these events helped create new connections, both personal and professional, for alumni, parents, and friends of Berkshire. If you are interested in speaking, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Kristina Thaute Miller ’97 at kmiller@berkshireschool.org or at 413.229.1223. Thank you to these alumni for sharing their stories!
Rupert Young ’90
Finding Patterns through Core Identity Data St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco
Stephanie DiSantis ’92
The Art of Risk Taking Washington Athletic Club, Seattle
Jeremy Miller ’96
Alumni speaker Jeremy Miller ’96, a research analyst at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, with his wife Eunice, and their children David and Olivia
Compounding Wisdom— A Few Ideas on Leading a Fulfilling and Successful Life, as told by Warren Buffet Yale Club, New York City
Peter Scott ’85 & Dudley Shotwell ’85
The Future of Media Consumption Time Warner Studio, Atlanta
Kendall Coyne ’11
The Lifelong Value of Teamwork in a Berkshire Education Alumni in Atlanta gathered at Time Warner Studio for a presentation by Peter Scott ’85 (front center) and Dudley Shotwell ’85 (rear, third from right) on the future of media consumption.
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The Tortoise Supper Club, Chicago
Alumni Profile
QUESTIONS for Mike Gibbons ’85 Mike Gibbons is an Emmy Award-winning comedy writer and producer, best known as the co-creator and executive producer of Tosh.0 on Comedy Central. Gibbons’s other work includes: The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, The Showbiz Show with David Spade, The Academy Awards, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, for which he won an Emmy, and Lopez Tonight. Recently, Gibbons co-created and executive produced Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, Upload with Shaquille O’Neal, and The Ben Show with Ben Hoffman. He is currently working on HBO’s Brody Stevens: Enjoy It, which he created with Zach Galifianakis. He is a graduate of Boston University (BA ’89) and New York University (MA ’94).
With Sarah Silverman in her dressing room, The Late Late Show
1. What are your fondest memories of Berkshire? There are many —the times on the mountain, big games, dipping the grilled cheese sandwiches in a ketchup and mayo combo . . . But more than anything it’s the friends I made. I still see many of them at least once a year, often in Vegas where we gather and make more fond memories. 2. What are the most important life lessons that you learned as a student? I gained a true appreciation of nature. It sounds so simplistic, but I didn’t realize it fully while there. This appreciation and need for nature has stayed with me and grown. Also, I learned not to obsess over things that are beyond my control. Just kidding—that’s all I do. My nighttime ritual is staring at the ceiling and repeating, “I will never work again.” I do that until I fitfully drift off to sleep, two hours later. 3. Can you tell us about your career and hobbies, and why you are passionate about them? I had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated college. I was okay at writing so I went into public relations, but that was far from fulfilling. I went to graduate school more as a stalling tactic than anything else. While in grad school, I would fax jokes to Saturday Night Live, which was the high point of my week. I didn’t get a single joke on the show, but I still loved it. I didn’t know you could make a living writing jokes, so I constantly dismissed it. Then I got a job at HBO On-Air Promos, and worked with some of the funniest people ever—Gary Shandling, Robin Williams, Louis CK, Bob Odenkirk . . . After three years there I knew I had to move to Los Angeles and try comedy writing. I’m still trying. As far as hobbies go, I guess I don’t have any. But if I were to lie, I would go with tying my own flies. 4. How did Berkshire help you shape and pursue your goals? Well, my goal was to have a goal. I never achieved that. Does Berkshire owe me a refund? 5. What advice would you give to today’s students? Don’t be in a rush to leave. Hike on the mountain alone, even just once, and be intensely present. You will have that moment for the rest of your life, and there will be times when you would give a lot to be back in that moment. And, finally, don’t get kicked out.
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Alumni Profile
READY, SET, ACTION! Berkshire alumni making waves in media CAPTURING THE HIGHLIGHTS Julie Bronder ’97 scores as a sports digital media producer. On what Julie Rubinstein Bronder ’97 calls “football Saturdays,” she comes to work at the Big Ten Network (BTN) in Chicago ready to watch eight hours of football. Bronder is a digital media producer, and she’s charged with producing and editing sports highlight videos that she shares on the website and over social media. BTN is operated by Fox Sports and covers Big Ten Conference Division I sports. The Big Ten is comprised of 14 universities. Often, Bronder’s creating content just moments after a big play. “You have to be on it,” she says. “A game could have five dunks and really exciting plays, or it could be a snoozefest.” Bronder first dabbled in media at Berkshire School, where she had a show on WBSL, Berkshire’s radio station. “The radio show was really fun, talking on the air and playing music and making dedications to our friends,” she recalls. A lifelong New York Mets fan, Bronder also played basketball, soccer,
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and softball at Berkshire, and it dawned on her to combine broadcasting and sports. She graduated with a BA in communications from Marist College in 2001, and five years later she was working as a production assistant with NBC at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. “It was the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” Bronder says, who produced graphics on site at the hockey arena. For the 2008
Beijing Olympic Games, Bronder worked from NBC’s 30 Rock offices. At BTN, Bronder says she’s drawn to the excitement. “Every day is different. You don’t know what’s coming at you. There could be a coach firing, and I might be cutting sound bytes from a press conference. I have a schedule, but in between games anything is fair game and it’s exciting.”
Alumni Profile
TELLING BEAUTIFUL STORIES Tommy Kaier ’06 reflects on his first film. Freelance movie producer Tommy Kaier ’06 first screened one of his films for a large audience in Berkshire School’s Allen Theater. The 20-minute film, made with classmate Ben Weil ’06, celebrated “Dorm Wars,” aka Winter Carnival, the annual tradition that pits dorms against each other in competitions ranging from human dog sled races to Trivia Night. Students still make films for Winter Carnival, and the competition can be fierce. “This experience built a lot of confidence for me,” Kaier says, who lives in Los Angeles, California. “Making movies really takes a village—it’s the most cliché thing to say, but it’s really true, it does.”
Kaier says experiential learning at Berkshire fits his life motto: “Ain’t nothing to it but to do it,” he says. “I’ve only ever learned from experience, which is to fail and then to fail better. How else are you supposed to know what your abilities are if you’re not in the field trying?” Fast forward to 2015, and Kaier was back in Western Massachusetts at the Berkshire International Film Festival to debut his first feature-length movie, Don’t Worry Baby, which he helped produce with friend and director Julian Branciforte. The film portrays a dad and son who each think they’ve fathered the same child, and stars Chris McDonald and Dreama Walker.
“I never thought I would have my first film be as successful as it’s been,” he says. “It made it to the box office and now it’s on Netflix. I never thought I would get this far, and it did take a lot of work.” As a new producer, Kaier hit snags, including losing a main actor at the last minute. “I had to go to the wardrobe department and say, ‘Sorry, you have to return all of this stuff and shop for someone whose size we don’t know yet,’” he recalls. Kaier is searching for new material that grabs him, and is drawn to two themes: helping others and coming home. “If you can combine those two, you can tell a really beautiful story,” he says.
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See You on Social!
#perkstobeingabear
BERKSHIRE CONNECT The best way to stay connected with your fellow Bears! 1,050
215
232
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ACTIVE ALUMNI USERS
NETWORKING CONNECTIONS
PHOTOS
ALUMNI EVENTS
On the go ? The Berksh ire Connect ap p also availab is le on Apple and Android devices.
“Knowing that someone is from Berkshire creates automatic trust. That is extremely useful when looking for jobs, looking to hire, or connecting professionally.” –Jason Rano ’98 Berkshire School’s Online Networking Platform www.berkshireconnect.org
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Class Notes
Class Notes 1945
1957
John Hull (413) 528-1528
Walt Henrion walthenrion@gmail.com
1953
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65 th
John Cluett jcluett@aol.com
Phil Goodspeed
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1946 Rory O’Connor barnard.oconnor@gmail.com
1948
1951
70 th
George Church
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Charlie Sutton writes: “Greetings from Vermont. My wife and I are still publishing the monthly newspaper Vermont Country Sampler (now 33 years). In addition to selling ads, writing book reviews and other writings and photography, I am finishing a book: Start to Finish – 60 Years a New England Journalist focusing on working on newspapers in Maine, Connecticut and Vermont. It all began when I was a copyboy at The New York Times. It all nearly ended a year ago when I was in the ICU for blood poisoning and my heart stopped and was revived four times. Code Blue. Good place to be for that. That led to Dartmouth for a pacemakerdefibrillator which is a good safety net.”
Preston Cooper writes: “Staying active with volunteering (helping seamen at the Port of Wilmington [DE] and editor of two monthly newsletters for our local community and church). Also trying to keep the body from falling apart via tennis, skiing, sailing and biking. Enjoying our nine grandchildren and traveling with my wife, Mary, primarily in Europe, producing travelogues for fellow travelers.” Herb Roskind writes: “On June 9-11th, 30 members of my Dartmouth Class of 1957 were in nearby Egremont, MA, precelebrating our 60th reunion in Hanover, NH. We have been a close group for a long time, a small contingent of special friends. After the official reunion there will be a post-reunion at Basin Harbor, VT. If we did not see you at our 64th, hopefully we will at our 65th which, John Cluett, Berkshire’s founder’s grandson, and I are organizing. We were a small class of 33. Thankfully, a number of us are here and doing some interesting things.”
1949
1955
Bob Doyle robertwdoylesr@gmail.com
Rennie Spaulding rensf@yahoo.com
1950
1956
Charlie Elliott chazel303@gmail.com
Dan Crabbe dan.crabbe@comcast.net
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REUNION 2018 JUNE 8-10
Welcoming back ’3s and ’8s!
Tim Austin writes: “I have been Event Director for Archery at the National Senior Games since 1999. I was in Alabama from June 2-12 managing this year’s event.”
Pete Hall writes: “Rick Schroeder was my roommate my first year at Berkshire and on more than several occasions, the house proctor was called or knocked on our door. He was a fabulous friend and person—we were also co-captains of the basketball team. Too soon to lose such a great addition to the Class of 1957 and the Berkshire family. My deepest sympathy to his family especially his daughter, and granddaughter, and to his many friends.” Walt Henrion writes: “We had a fabulous 60th Reunion, beginning with a cocktail/buffet at Penny Hudnut’s home on Thursday night with Walt and Page, Dick and Lois, Frank and Lois, John and Marja, Mac, Bill and Carol, Tom and Judy, and Bruce and Kay. On Friday, the following folks joined us: Neville and Nancy, Peter and Catharine, Bruce and Marcy, Spike and Deane, and Skip. On Friday, we visited the restored St. James Place, the old stone Episcopal Church in Great Barrington, and we had a house tour and lunch on the terrace of The Mount, Edith Warton’s estate and gardens. We visited Naumkeag, a 19th-century 44room “cottage” and National Historic Landmark, and later we enjoyed our class dinner with recipients of Class of 1957 Faculty Fund awards and Head of School Pieter Mulder. On Saturday, we went on a campus tour, attended the Q & A session with faculty and students and the Alumni Awards Ceremony, and we had our class memorial, where one of us spoke about each of our deceased classmates. Saturday’s cocktail party was followed by the gala dinner and dancing. It was a great and special weekend, probably the last time we would all be together. We missed everyone who was not there.” Summer 2017
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Class Notes
Paul Tompkins writes: “Wow, I can’t believe 60 years have now passed since we graduated. It seems like only a few years ago that the headmaster, John Godman, with a great sigh of relief, let us graduate and go on to our next adventure in life. While I was unable to attend this 60th celebration, I was there in spirit. Our California Berkshire family is expanding with all nine grandchildren living nearby—two in college and our youngest is just 15 months old. Gail and I enjoy babysitting the grandkids while the parents do whatever and having the family join us at our mountain cabin high in the San Bernardino mountains, nearby to skiing in the winter and boating on the lake in the summer.”
1958
60 th
Chuck DuCharme writes: “Hello to all returning classmates for our 55th in 2018. Will be thinking of being under the Mountain in spring. Next best has been in western North Carolina all winter and hiking the Smokies.”
1959 Dick Elias mardic68@hotmail.com
1960 Steve Norman steve@spnormanco.com Todd Spofford tspofford@charter.net
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Joe Salembier writes: “I’ve had some success as a playwright and musical spoken word poet. Anyone interested in reading my stuff can go to The New Play Exchange at https://newplayexchange.org and search my name. Or email me and I’ll send my newest musical work, “Spare Parts,” about my bionic body. Will try to make a reunion soon.”
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Twelve from the Class of 1961 enjoyed getting together at Cherokee Plantation in South Carolina. Pictured above: Tom Morfit, Corky Wheat, Dick Meystre, Ed Hunt, George Beebe, Bill Duschatko, Bob Anderson, Albert Crane, Bill Klingstein, Harrison Warrener, John Ellwood, and Peter Kellogg
1961 Peter Kellogg pkellogg@iatre.com
Peter Kellogg writes: “Here’s some news from the Class of 1961. The younger son of Ed Hunt and Fran Hunt, former faculty, Thomas Hunt ’97 and his wife, Julie, had a son, Lincoln Kellogg Hunt on November 21, 2016. He’ll be Class of ’34 at Berkshire. They got the name, Lincoln, from his mother’s commute to work as she travels through Lincoln, MA; Kellogg is her grandmother’s maiden name. Mel Grover and his wife will be committed to keeping the grandsons while their mom and dad go to Italy for a reunion. Ben Shreve says, ‘all is good in Gloucester, MA.’ Hank Heaphy is back to almost perfect shape after his stomach ended up in the top of his chest; the doctors were great. Tom Hanson is still helping mothers have babies. Bill Parke is loving Florida and will be getting north to Maryland when it gets too warm in Florida. Reverend Rick Cluett says, ‘all good here and heaven.’ Tony Nuland is moving to new digs. David Haidak is saving lives. Don
Peter Kellogg ’61 caught a huge bonefish fly fishing in the Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas with Robin McGraw ’70 (not pictured).
Goodrich is trying out retirement. Ed Herrington is passing the business on to the next generation. Jeri Langham is leading Bird Tours. Phil Nelson is busy visiting family. Rich Van Ort is getting healthy. Stephen Zuckerman is attending to his home on Lopes Island in San Juan.”
1962 Andy Berkman aberkman@cpny.com
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Don Myers writes: “Richard Carlson has resurfaced in Florida after a very long stint in Brazil. He has visited Jerry
Class Notes
1967
Nicholas a few times in the last year or so. They both went to Princeton from Berkshire; we always wondered where Richard went.” John Townsend writes: “I’ve turned into an investment committee hack and am running one for a medium sized foundation (Altman Foundation), one for the endowment of a research institute (Boyce-Thompson Institute), and one for a local choral group. I’m also advising one for Planned Parenthood of New York City. Kate and I have three grandsons. Among other things, we’re off to Munich and Leipzig this summer to celebrate my son’s birth in Munich (47 years ago) and the 500th anniversary of the Reformation where we’ll hear our local Westerly, RI Chorus perform Bach’s B Minor Mass at the Thomaskirche, where Bach was the music meister.”
1963
Woody Hancock whancock3@aol.com
1968
Keith Reed lkreed.mt@gmail.com
Larry Meads writes: “My wife, Mindy, and I have left New York City and have settled in Sun Valley, ID. I am retired and enjoying beautiful Idaho, while my wife continues to be involved in the retail industry as a consultant and various women’s groups of top executives.” Scott Barnes ’65 and John Thompson ’65 at the annual St. Georges Society luncheon in Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina
1965 Paul Montana writes: “I have been elected chairman of The Raymond Simon Institute for Public Relations and Journalism at Utica College in Utica, NY. The purpose of the Institute is to enhance and support the public relations and journalism educational programs within the communication and media degree program and the public relations major within the School of Business at Utica College. A Utica College graduate in 1970, I live with my wife, Carol, on the seacoast of New Hampshire.”
K.C. Clow ksc3@msn.com
Robin McGraw blackrockfarm@hotmail.com
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Ray Garrison rgarrison40@comcast.net
John Hendrie jrhendrie@gmail.com
1969
1970
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1964
50 th
Geoff Stack ’65 in Venice, Italy for three days in October 2015, before an eight-day cruise of the Dalmatian Coast and Sicily
Geoff Stack writes: “I just published a high-end hardcover book of 110 paintings of mine. I’ve also recorded 34 broadcast-quality songs I wrote, 21 of which are on my two CDs. I’m currently co-writing a musical. I’m busy, but I could be busier. Life is good.”
Tom Bolmer writes: “Retired on August 1, 2016 from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Trying to figure out what’s next. Too many options. I was able to get to New Hampshire and Maine a lot this year to cross country ski more than usual, which I guess takes advantage of my new free time. I immediately went back to sea for several weeks out of Alaska into the Arctic on the Coast
1966
Tim Swift timswifty@gmail.com
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Ed Woodyard was named the 2017 Citizen of the Year by the Armonk Chamber of Commerce. You can find the article at www. armonkchamberofcommerce.com.
Armonk Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Honoree, Ed Woodyard ’66, right, with previous honorees, Sam Morell and Susan Geffen
Summer 2017
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Class Notes
and fun. His smile went from ear to ear. I know as an adult he loved cigars and tennis and stayed close with the Youngs. I also know he always said what he meant and many things he left unsaid spoke to the warm feelings in his heart.”
working hard for Med Point Mangement. Jen, my link with reality, is maintaining the homestead and keeping me in line.”
1973
45 th
Jerry Weil jerryweil.tennis@gmail.com
1974 LuLu Clement luluinsf2005@yahoo.com
Tom Bolmer ’70 at Flagstaff Lake in Maine on a several-day cross country trip
Guard Ice Breaker, which I spent 5+ years supporting science on; that was a nice retirement trip and a last goodbye to the ice up there. A very unique way of going to sea. I took advantage of doing a bunch of hikes I love in Dutch Harbor near Anchorage on the way home.” Dave Brisson writes: “Many memories of Berkshire—particularly Geoff Mahon, who passed almost three years ago. Geoff captained Mr. Tom Young’s first championship baseball team. On the field, he did it all: pitched, outfielded, ran and hit well. He was tough, focused and clutch. Off the field, he was playful, a bit of a mischief-maker
Spencer Willets ’72 with son, PJ, wife, Jen, daughter, Halowe, and daughterin-law, Laura
1972 John Walker jwalker2353@gmail.com
Mark Lois Katz, son of Gerald Katz ’75
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Spencer Willets writes: “Hello all. Still above the ground here in Southern California. Was fortunate enough to meet up with Jess Sherman and Jan D’Angelo a few months ago; we all barely survived. My son PJ (Peter Jeremy) was recently married to a beautiful Colombian woman, Laura, and is living up in Vancouver, WA and working for Fisher Investments. My daughter Halowe is living at home and
1975 Joe Fusco joe@techworkers.com
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Gerry Katz writes: “Time for me to post something on Mark Lois Katz, coming home with me this week from Kiev, Ukraine. Mark is ten years old, loves classic English breakfasts, coloring neatly between the lines, math, rock climbing, baseball, and hockey. He is sure to be a heartbreaker in a few years.”
1976 Steve Hassett shasse01@gmail.com
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Robin McGraw ’70, “the Godfather,” and his departing “Band of Brothers” on Prom Night celebrate a fourth New England Class A Soccer Championship in five years.
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Robin MacAusland writes: “I visited Mike Overton ’77 in Hilton Head, SC after Hurricane Matthew. I was fortunate, amidst his daunting cleanup, that he took me for a boat cruise with his lovable dog. In 1979 he started Outside Hilton Head (an outdoor outfitter). Next, the Eipper women united in Florida! I visited Hilary Huntington ’77, who is renovating her Palm Beach condo and stayed with
Class Notes
Alice Ehrenclou Cole and her husband, Wally. I had dinner with Elisabeth Kinney Robinson, a Nurse Practitioner in Portsmouth, NH whose son Duncan played in NCAA March Madness for The Michigan Wolverines. I am involved with Brain Chemistry Labs, a non-profit organization whose mission is to find a cause, a treatment, and a prevention for Alzheimer’s, ALS, Parkinson’s, and other tangle diseases.”
1977 Dave Riatti riattid@gmail.com
godson), Nat, play lacrosse at Vassar College this spring. As per usual, Annie has no information on what position Nat plays or what the score was but is happy to report that Vassar is a beautiful campus and that it was great to see Nat. Annie spent a lovely fall afternoon at Chris Adam Granger’s farm and vineyard in Canaan, CT, Land of Nod, well worth a trip if you are in the area. The wine is great and the pours are generous. Annie hopes to see some fellow Bears soon (especially Sue Ann Stanton, whom she missed last time she was in New York).”
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1982
Susie Stout writes: “Great to see everyone at the 40th Reunion.”
Anthony Addison Doubleany1@gmail.com
1978
Brian Fahy bfahy44@gmail.com
40 th
Birney Boehland birney@birneysfoods.com
1979 Bob Thomas bthomas@wwsg.com
1983
35 th
How are you?
K.C. Fuchs kcfuchs@silvershieldfoundation.org
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1981 Annie Godfrey Clyne clyne@optonline.net Sue Ann Stanton sa.stanton@gmail.com
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Annie Godfrey Clyne writes: “Sports fan that she is, Annie went to watch Leslie Schnurr Lyman’s son (and Annie’s
Internet of Things’ and built a collection of wireless air quality sensors that we tested in our lab in Bellas/Dixon and in ‘the Jack.’ Many, many thanks to Bebe Bullock ’86 and Amanda Morgan for all of their help and support.”
Karen Schnurr Secrist karensecrist@gmail.com
1980
Steve Veronesi writes: “My wife, Linda, and I spent our 30th anniversary touring the beautiful countryside of Italy, a fantastic experience. Enjoyed Thanksgiving in Las Vegas as our son, Keith Veronesi ’10 works for the new NHL expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, as they say.”
Berkshire students building wireless air quality sensors in Rick White ’84’s Pro Vita class, The Internet of Things
Matt Learnard ’84, new Director of Client Services at D4 Creative
1984
Communities thrive on communication. If you don’t see any news about your classmates, it’s because no one sent in an update. We’d still love to hear from you — and updating the Berkshire community has never been easier.
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Matt Learnard writes: “I have joined D4 Creative, an award-winning Philadelphia advertising agency, as Director of Client Services. Check us out at www.d4creative. com. We are always looking for interns, freelancers, and creative talent. New clients welcome, too; you can reach out at learnard@d4creative.com.” Rick White writes: “I spent a wonderful week teaching at Berkshire during Pro Vita. My students learned about ‘The
ONLINE www.berkshireschool.org/ classnotes EMAIL classnotes@berkshireschool.org CALL 413-229-1907
Please let us know how you’re doing. Summer 2017
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Class Notes
Bruce Fina ’85 with Antonia Matzka ’17 and her mother Christina in Graz, Austria at the Ice Hockey World Championships, after Austria beat France 3-1
Jim Haskel ’86 and Annie Zimmerli-Haskel ‘86 with children, Sam, Eli, and Tess ‘20 in Israel
1985 Lionel Shaw lionel@caritasadvisors.com
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Lionel Shaw writes: “I started a new ‘finanthropic’ investment advisory firm at Charles Schwab called Caritas Investment Advisors, LLC (caritas meaning charity in Latin). I am still living in Mill Valley, CA enjoying life under the other mountain in my life, Mt. Tamalpais.” Heather Steck Von Seggern writes: “I had a few mini Berkshire reunions this spring. I visited with Doug Hanslip ’79 in March, when he was down on the Gulf Coast of Florida, and also got to catch up with Aimee Blanchard ’86 and Greg Moore in April. I loved giving both Aimee and her family, and Greg and his family, tours of IMG Academy. Big news on the de Windt family news front— our fifth-generation Berkshire Bear, Eliza Berg ’13, graduated from Pitzer College in May, and I made the trip out to southern California to celebrate with her and her mom, Megan Steck Berg ’87. Hope everyone from the Class of ’85 84
Berkshire Bulletin
Peter Alternative ’86, Tony Clifford ’86, Jeff Horton ’86, Eric Zimmerman ’86, and Eric Von der Heydan ’87 celebrating half-a-century birthdays at the New Orleans Jazz Fest
is doing well, and if you’re ever in the Sarasota, FL area, let me know.”
1986 Rhonda Bentley-Lewis rbentleylewis@hotmail.com Lara Schefler McLanahan Lara.mclanahan@gmail.com
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Jim Haskel writes: “We went on a family vacation of a lifetime to Israel (and a day in Jordan) in late March. Our children Tess ’20 , Sam, and Eli thought Israel was a great place, full of passionate, interesting
Annie Zimmerli-Haskel ’86 with Tess and Sam in Israel, pictured with a bowl that Sam dug up, which archaeologists believe is approximately 2,500 years old
people and things. They wore their Berkshire schwag proudly on vacation.”
1987 ______________________________
Jennifer Marcus writes: “I am living in Napa, CA as a wine educator—please let me know if you are in the area for a visit and we can do some wine tasting.”
Class Notes
Brooks Allen ’20 and Carter Allen ’19, sons of Andrew Allen ’89 and Emily Lynn Allen ’89
1989 Thomas M. Maddock ’87, Lt. Col. (Retired) USAF with Martin Heinrich, the U.S. Senator for New Mexico, discussing veterans’ affairs at the Albuquerque, New Mexico Veterans Affairs Regional Office
1988
30 th
Scott Falso sfalso@gmail.com
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Ellie Ellis Glaccum writes: “My aunt had a horse running in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York City and John Lizza’s family had a horse running in the race before. I literally had not seen him in 29 years and his table was right next to ours. It was so much fun.”
Andrew Allen andrewdrexelallen@gmail.com Dave Wanamaker davewanamaker@yahoo.com
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Andrew Allen writes: “The Allen family headcount at Berkshire School has officially doubled. Brooks decided to join his big brother Carter under the Mountain. Class of 2020 and Class of 2019. Go Bears!”
1990 Nina Bradley Clarke ninabclarke@gmail.com Nat Dillon natdillon@gmail.com
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Kate Cutler Coughlin writes: “I’m so excited my daughter, Schuyler Coughlin, will be joining the Class of 2020 in the fall. Looking forward to spending more time under the Mountain. Go Bears!”
Jack LaCasse, son of former faculty members Jeremy LaCasse ’90 and Diana Fulford will attend Berkshire in the fall as a member of the Class of 2020.
Rockwell work, which first debuted at the Warren Family Gallery at Berkshire in 2016. It was exhibited at the New England School of Photography in Boston in the spring and will move to the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester from September 16-November 5, 2017. Please stop by and see it if you are in the area.”
1991 John Fretz jfretz@bmedtech.com
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Pete Mongeau writes: “I recently completed the worldwide Crossfit open
Jeremy LaCasse writes: “My wife, Diana Fulford LaCasse, and I could not be more excited and proud that our son, Jack, will be a Berkshire Bear, Class of 2020. I am the Assistant Headmaster at Taft, and Diana is working in the Admissions Office. We look forward to spending lots of time under the Mountain.” Ellie Ellis Glaccum ’88 with John Lizza ’88 at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York City on April 8
Maggie Ross Meiners writes: “I continue to exhibit my Revisiting
Pete Mongeau ’91 Summer 2017
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Class Notes
competition and finished third in the world in the 45-49 division. The division had over 10,000 participants. I am currently four workouts away from competing in the Crossfit Games this summer.” After casting actors in several feature films (The Desendants, Just Go With It, Aloha) and over 200 television episodes (LOST, Hawaii 5-0, Last Resort, Inhuman’s) Rachel Whitley Sutton was recognized by her peers at the Casting Society of America for finding Disney’s newest princess, Auli’i Cravahlo, for the feature film Moana. Auli’i was a high school student with no prior experience but had been in a talent show for which Rachel had been a judge, and when Disney hired Rachel to look for the voice of Moana, Auli’i was one of 80 girls that auditioned for her in Honolulu, HI. After singing at the Oscars and landing a role in an NBC pilot, Auli’i is now poised for a big career!
1997 Gordon Kellam gordonkellam@yahoo.com
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Jessica Morris Noll writes: “After 10 years on the marketing side of Broadway working behind the scenes on such shows as Jersey Boys, Matilda The Musical, and A Bronx Tale, I’ve switched sides. I’m having a great time handling Broadway ad sales for TheaterMania.com, one of the major Broadway websites, dedicated to connecting a mass consumer audience to the theater and live entertainment industry. It’s been too long since I’ve been up to campus.” Heather White ’93 married the love of her life, Todd Mitchell, on the beach in Ocho Rios, Jamaica on March 31, 2017. The couple resides in Hillsdale, NY where they have a small farm.
1994 Fran Blair francis.blair@gmail.com
1995 Brad Hunt bradley_hunt1313@hotmail.com
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Sven Tarantik ’95 with classmates Caroline Andrew, Vanessa Bolger, and Jen Galik at dinner in New York City
1996
George Scoville gscovillempp@gmail.com
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Annie Corrao Allardyce writes: “In November, my mom, Terry Corrao, published Father Daughter, a coffee table
Jules Lemire juleslemire@gmail.com Katie King Mahan katiecking@yahoo.com Tatum Vittengl Smigelski tvittengl@yahoo.com
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Sven Tarantik writes: “Just had a little impromptu reunion (22 years) over a wonderful dinner in New York City with Caroline Andrew, Vanessa Bolger, and Jen Galik. So many wonderful memories of our time under the Mountain!”
Simon Park writes: “Just wanted to let people know that Tack Sung Kim is a professional racer now. He’s been racing LMP2, and he’s currently fifth place in Asia.”
Berkshire Bulletin
Lauren Levin lauren98@aol.com
Michael Gutenplan michaelgutenplan@aol.com
25 th
Tenley Reed Tenley@mac.com
Lauren Lareau mlaurenlareau@gmail.com
1999
Burr Duryee bduryee@hotmail.com
Hilary Ivey Mueller hmueller@berkshireschool.org
20 th
Jason Rano jayrano@gmail.com
1992
1993
1998
Annie Corrao Allardyce ’99, Elizabeth Mattes ’99, and Keaton Marrian Sheehan ’98 appear in Terry Corrao’s photography book Father Daughter.
Class Notes
Births 1990
2002
1997
Emily Bean Livezey ’02 and her husband, Rawson, welcomed their daughter, Finley Hollis, on September 7, 2016.
2002
Adam Carey ’90 and his wife, Alice, welcomed a 7 lb. 4 oz. baby girl, Arden Van Keuren Carey, on April 3. Andrew Zoppo ’97 and his wife, Ashley, welcomed their daughter, Sloan Belle, into the world on April 5th.
1996
2001
Big brothers Johnny and Charlie holding their new brother, Thomas Philippou. Thomas is the son of Courtney Pierce Philippou ’02 and Peter Philippou.
Danielle Klebanow ’96 and her husband, Srikanth Kadiyala, welcomed their son, Eli Maximilian Kadiyala (here at four months), into the world on December 18, 2016.
1997 Tom Hunt ’97 and his wife, Julie, welcomed a wonderful baby boy (and possibly future Bear, which would be a third generation for the family) Lincoln Kellogg Hunt on November 19th.
Nic Emery ’01 and his wife, Giulia, welcomed a son, William Leonardo, on January 12, 2017.
2003 Liam Henry Calton, son of Hilary Day Calton ’03 and her husband, Bill Summer 2017
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Class Notes
book of black and white portraits of men and their daughters. Over a period of two decades, she traveled to many different cities and countries, capturing the joyous and haunting moments that document the rich bonds of family life. Father Daughter was silver medalist at the 2017 Benjamin Franklin Book Awards this April. You can find the book on Amazon and at select independent bookstores. Among her subjects are three Berkshire alumnae: Elizabeth Mattes and her dad, Bill Mattes (photographed during Parents’ Weekend at Berkshire School in 1998); Keaton Marrian Sheehan ’98 and her dad Simon Marrian; and myself, Annie Corrao Allardyce ’99 and my dad Angelo Corrao.”
2000 Brooke Beebe Noble brookebeebe@gmail.com
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Eve Bruneau writes: “I have finally finished my long journey to becoming a surgeon and completed my residency in June. My next adventure will begin in August, in northern New Mexico where I will start working on the Navajo reservation. This will be an exciting move, and I cannot wait to get out of the city and back in the mountains. All are welcome to come visit!” Daniel Fokine writes: “I recently moved with my family from Long Island, NY to the midcoast of Maine. We are keeping busy with our 11-month-old twins, Sylvia and Soren.”
2001 Shannon Flynn flynnshannonm@gmail.com
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Nic Emery writes: “William Leonardo Emery showed up on January 12, and has been charming my wife Giulia and me with his joyful smile ever since. He’s starting his Berkshire career early at Undermountain Child Care, next to my office in the Kellogg Alumni Center.”
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11-month-old twins, Sylvia and Soren, daughters of Daniel Fokine ’00 and his wife, Brianne
2002 Jaclyn Brander Marshall jbrander@gmail.com Matt Sposito Matthew.sposito@gmail.com
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Lilly Becker writes: “I have decided to go back to school at the University of Albany to get my master’s in social work. With it, I have plans to expand my competition equine business into a therapy program as well. I would love for Berkshire to have an equestrian program again. I would totally run it!” Emily Bean Livezey writes: “We are super pumped to announce we have a baby boy arriving in early September. Irish twins!” Courtney Pierce Philippou writes: “My husband Peter Philippou and I welcomed our third son, Thomas Walker, into the world on February 14, 2017. Big brothers Johnny (4) and Charlie (2) just can’t get enough of their little Valentine.”
2003
15 th
Jane Walker Blake janewblake@gmail.com
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Hilary Day Calton writes: “Hello from beautiful Colorado! These past few months have been the best yet. My husband, Bill, and I welcomed our
amazing baby boy, Liam Henry, into our world on June 29, 2016. He is the happiest baby ever. My daughter, Brooke, is the best big sister anyone could ask for. She continues to excel at school and play high-level competitive soccer in the age range above her. I’ve put my cosmetology career on hold to be a stay-at-home mom, while Bill thrives at Comcast and has been promoted to the vice president level. We hope everyone is doing well and is enjoying life to the fullest!”
2004 Carter Stern wcstern1@gmail.com Kraig Strong kskraigstrong@gmail.com
2005 Matt Crowson matthew.g.crowson@gmail.com Ryan Farrell mryanfarrell@gmail.com
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Matt Crowson writes: “I am about to enter my fifth and final year of residency at Duke University in OtolaryngologyHead & Neck surgery (“ENT”). I have accepted a fellowship in ear surgery at the University of Toronto to become a hearing restoration and cochlear implant surgeon to start July 2018.”
2006 Courtney Kollmer courtney.j.kollmer@pwc.com Emily Lichtenberg emily.k.lichtenberg@gmail.com Stephen Piatelli steve.piatelli@gmail.com
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Chris Garis writes: “I will be returning to school in September to earn a master’s degree from the Sotheby’s Institute in London. I’m hoping Frances Gaston will come visit.”
Class Notes
2008
10 th
Chris Buonomo cjbuonomo@gmail.com Melissa Fogarty mmfoga08@gmail.com Erica Ginsberg Murphy eginzie@gmail.com Abby Tufts abigail.tufts@gmail.com John Diebold ’07 finishing the second leg of a three-day, 400-mile race around the island of Puerto Rico
2009 Greg Piatelli gpiatelli@gmail.com Molly Ryan mollyryan1024@yahoo.com
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Geordie Connell writes: “I recently started a new job in Philadelphia and am still writing my sports blog: thunderblogsports.com. We recently started a podcast for it, The Bullpen Cart, which just got on iTunes. If you’re ever in Philly, let me know.” Tom Watkins ’07 got engaged to Jen Meuser on Christmas Day.
J.J. Jemison writes: “Lots of new and exciting things are happening in my life at the moment. The biggest changes
2007 Casey Larkins casey.larkins@gmail.com
for me consist of getting married to the love of my life/wife and starting a new chapter together on June 17th. With that, I moved back home to Mount Vernon, OH and left my job in Admission at Berkshire School. It was a great four years after college, which allowed me to grow a lot professionally and as a person, and do a variety of things like coaching, advising and dorm parenting. It was bittersweet to leave Berkshire, but I am very excited for what the future has in store. I don’t know what I will be doing for work in Ohio, other than reffing both soccer and basketball, but we will see what opportunities arise!”
2010 Kit Landry landrycb@gmail.com Shannon Nelson Senelson913@gmail.com
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Ali Ziefer writes: “I went to London with my boyfriend, Joshua, over Valentine’s Day weekend for some family time and siteseeing. We had drinks at the Shard, saw a concert at the Ministry of Sound, and enjoyed some tea in Borough Market. My favorite part of the trip was the London Eye, where Joshua asked me to marry him. I’m engaged!”
Allison Letourneau letourneau.allison@gmail.com
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John Diebold writes: “Living in San Juan, Puerto Rico working for a New York-based firm that provides research, analytics and reporting for environmental and social impact investors. Spending my free time hiking in the rainforest, cycling and training for the five Ironman 70.3 races I will compete in this year, during which I will be raising money for the Alzheimer’s Association.”
Mr. & Mrs. Jeremiah Jemison ’09
Ali Ziefer ’10 and fiancé, Joshua, in London, England Summer 2017
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Class Notes
2011 Kristy Barnes kristy.m.barnes@gmail.com Mimi Connell connell.mimi@gmail.com
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Anne-Marie Dion writes: “I graduated from Northeastern University in May 2016, and after a few weeks at home, drove across the country to Seattle to work for Amazon. I’ve had the opportunity to get involved in the community through coaching hockey and lacrosse, and I’ve even picked up a new sport: crew. Looking out to the Cascades and Olympics, I sometimes think back to Black Rock and South Pinnacle and how much fun it was to live nestled in the mountains.”
2012
Corey Gary writes: “I will be working for 360i, a digital advertising agency based in New York City, as a Junior Associate in Paid Social. I am excited about this new opportunity after graduating from the Indiana University Media School.”
2014 Jake Grant jkgrnt12@gmail.com Emily Hubbard Emilymhubbard1@gmail.com Sam Perkins Samgperkins@gmail.com
Juliet Shatkin jes714@nyu.edu
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Sam Maher writes: “ I moved to Boston and I’m working for EverTrue. Since here, I’ve seen Anna Driscoll ’13 a fair amount, and it’s been great living in the same city together. It was also fun seeing everyone at the Berkshire reception in April; it’s always great to catch up with fellow Berkshire Bears!”
2013
Sam Clougher writes: “I just received Kenyon College’s Anderson Cup, presented to the student who made the biggest impact on the school year. I also spoke at this year’s commencement. Read the article at www.kenyon.edu.”
2015 Jeffrey Erazo erazo.jeffrey@gmail.com Chelsea Leeds chelsea1101@gmail.com Arwen Neski arwen.neski@yale.edu
Steven Halperin shalperin93@gmail.com
Sam Reagan samantharreagan@yahoo.com
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Berkshire Bulletin
Peter Bahr peterbahr97@gmail.com
Lane Mayher lanemayher@gmail.com
Charlie Yorke charlieyorke_2017@depauw.edu
90
2016
Natalie Harrington harrinc0@sewanee.edu
5 th
Britt Brown writes: “I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in May. Moved down to Charlotte, NC to work for Wells Fargo (investment banking) in June. Currently, one of the top Division I goalies in the nation. Named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week two times. Penn has been ranked in the top 15 for the entire season, currently sitting at #10.”
Barclay Gamill ’16 and Michael O’Brien ’14, teammates at Trinity College, after they defeated Hamilton College in the NESCAC finals 3-2 in OT on March 5
Anne van ’t Wout annemijnvtwout@hotmail.com Mia Vantine miavantine97@gmail.com
Sam Clougher ’13 poses with the Anderson Cup and Vice President for Student Affairs Meredith Harper Bonham, who presented the award.
In Memoriam
In Memoriam The Berkshire School community extends its sincere condolences to the families of the following alumni and friends of the School. To send obituaries or remembrances of classmates or family members, please email bulletin@berkshireschool.org.
Alfred A. Sadler ‘38
Mr. Alfred Aston Sadler, age 97, died Sunday, February 12, 2017 in Boulder. He was born in Pine Plains, New York on August 2, 1919, the son of Harriett P. (Wiltsie) and Edward Sadler. His family moved to Boulder in 1965 while he was working for IBM. Alfred was an avid skier, fisherman and hunter. He split his time between Boulder and Steamboat Springs. Frederick O.B. Sumner ‘43
Frederick “Ted” Sumner, 92, the son of a novelist and a Nobel Prize winner, sailed away on January 15 with family by his side, in Cooperstown, NY. Ted was the fifth child of Cornell Professor and Nobel Prize winning biochemist, James Batchellor Sumner, and Southern author Cid Ricketts Sumner. Ted distinguished himself early as a tree climber and class clown, finding unconventional ways to solve math problems, win ski races, and amaze his friends. He served in the Navy as a radioman in WWII, going AWOL to chase goats climbing the mountains of Hawaii. He was forgiven for this infraction because it wasn’t girls he was chasing. Ted was part of the 1950 Cornell University class that swelled with veterans on the GI Bill. They rejected the racially segregated college culture and founded Watermargin--the first interracial, interreligious cooperative college housing in the US. Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited Watermargin and sat next to Ted at dinner. Many old cars, politics, pranks and parties dominated these years. Ted married Sarah Cunningham in 1954. They spent their child-rearing years making pottery, sculpture, and illustrating school readers for
the French Trent School in NYC. Ted provided his children and their playmates with every kind of play imaginable, most notably his 90-foot swings at the north end of Lake Otsego in upstate NY. He maintained these swings for forty years, for the enjoyment of swingers from two to ninety-two. In his late forties and onward he worked as a tree surgeon and pursued a wild array of inventions whose main functions were fun and health. In Ann Arbor, MI, Ted was proud of his counseling and contribution to a halfway house for teens, creating a set of swings that said “Safe High” in reverse, on the swing seats. Ted’s irrepressible humor, storytelling and optimism for life touched all who crossed his path. “The beautiful kicks out of life I’ve gotten. I realize how lucky I’ve been. It’s almost as though somebody up there likes me, and Sarah!” Source: the Sumner family, adapted by the Bulletin
new Pontiac Dealership. Mr. Haddad acquired the Toyota Franchise in 1970 and later the Haddad Chrysler Plymouth Dodge Jeep and Eagle in Bennington, VT. Mr. Haddad never really retired. He enjoyed coming into work every day, reading the newspaper, going through his mail, and conversing with the employees. Mr. Haddad was an avid sportsman who loved fishing, deer hunting, and bird hunting. He loved to shoot skeet and trap at the Lee Sportsman’s Club. He also played golf, and in his younger years he was on many candle pin bowling leagues. A couple of his favorite pastimes were his trips to the casino and telling jokes to people at Mascots and Patrick’s Pub. Source: The Berkshire Eagle
Louis G. Haddad ‘46
Denis D. Pfeifler ‘51
Louis George Haddad, 89, died peacefully on February 9, 2017. Born in Pittsfield, MA on April 28, 1927, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Business Administration and The General Motors Institute. A Korean War veteran, he earned the rank of Private First Class (Technical) in February of 1953 and served a year and a half overseas. Honorably discharged on February 18, 1954, he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal. Mr. Haddad started his career in the automotive business in 1951, working with his father at Haddad Pontiac. During the Urban Renewal in 1968, Mr. Haddad and his father, George, built a
Denis Dunbar Pfeifler was born November 6, 1932 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and passed away January 6, 2017 in Oark, Arkansas, at the age of 84. He was a business owner.
Wayne H. Carley, Jr. ‘50
Wayne was born on March 6, 1932 and passed away on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. He was a resident of Falls Church, Virginia.
Michael J. Berman ‘55 September 10, 2016 Donald J. Borkowski ‘55
Donald J. Borkowski, 81, passed away peacefully in the comfort of his home on May 20, 2017. Born June 14, 1935 in New Britain, he attended the University of Hartford. He was a U.S. Army Veteran and served in Hawaii. Employed in sales throughout Summer 2017
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his career, he lived in Chicago and California for a time, settling back home in Newington. He was remembered as being the “fun uncle” and always enjoyed spending time with family. Source: The Hartford Courant Frederick A. Schroeder, Jr. ‘57
Frederick “Rick” Schroeder, 78, passed away peacefully Feb. 16, 2017. Rick was born in Rochester, NY. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechic Institute and retired as a Commander from the United States Navy. Rick was an enthusiastic member of the Two Town Tuners. He will be greatly missed for his kindness, sense of humor and loyalty to friends and family. Michael H. Nickerson ‘67 March 9, 2015 Jonathan P. Hitesman ‘69
Jonathon Hitesman passed away on January 11th. He was the founder of the campus radio station that became WBSL. He attended Washington and Jefferson College following Berkshire and later enjoyed a career in media and broadcasting mostly in the Boston area. At the time of his death, he was residing in Florida. Source: the Hitesman family Joseph P. Flanagan ’71
Joseph P. Flanagan 3d, 63, of Flourtown, a specialist in real estate investment, died Feb. 4, of complications from lung cancer. Mr. Flanagan retired in 2015 after 29 years as manager of the real estate investment portfolio for TIAA, a national financial services company. Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, in 1975, he earned a business degree from the Wharton School, where he developed an entrepreneurial spirit and made many friends. Mr. Flanagan had a lifelong interest in all aspects of real estate. He started
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out as property manager at an apartment complex in Chestnut Hill, and went on to experiment with the renovation of a Brooklyn walk-up that set the tone for the beautification of the neighborhood. He had a serious knack for spotting the shopping centers and office buildings that would become the backbone of his TIAA portfolio. As a boy, Mr. Flanagan enjoyed summers sailing small boats at Pocono Lake Preserve. Later, he shared his love of sailing with family and friends on the Chesapeake Bay. Mr. Flanagan was an avid skier, cyclist, gardener, and sports fan. He followed the Flyers and Eagles. “Joe had a generous and loving spirit and did his best to make sure that everyone enjoyed life as much as he did, whether it was sailing in a stiff breeze or flipping burgers at family picnics,” said his sister Maureen Flanagan. Adapted from The Philadelphia Inquirer Roland Carito ‘93
Roland Carito, 41, passed away on April 15, 2017, at home. Roland was born on June 6, 1975, in Mount Kisco, NY to Raymond and Phyllis Carito. He attended the Taconic Hills School and the University of New Hampshire. He married Charlotte McNally in 2005, in Walpole, NH. Roland dedicated his life to at-risk youth, touching the lives of many children, and mentoring dozens of staff members. He was the director of operations for the Boys and Girls Club of Ulster County and a youth basketball coach. He was an avid New York Yankees and Syracuse Basketball fan. He previously served on the board of the Esopus Creek Conservatory and was a past member of the Saugerties Kiwanis Club, the Ulster County Workforce Investment Youth Council, and the Community Development Partnership. He was a passionate husband and father. Source: Albany Times Union (NY)
Roger H. Gordon, former trustee
Roger Gordon unexpectedly passed away last winter. In a letter to trustees and trustees emeriti, Head of School Pieter Mulder shared the below: “Roger served on the Board of Trustees from 1997 to 2008. As treasurer of the Board, Chair of the Finance Committee and member of the Endowment Committee and the Executive Committee, Roger put his fiscal expertise to work on behalf of Berkshire with real results. During the years of his service, the School enjoyed record successes. Roger led by example, as a Berkshire parent as well as a trustee. In 1997, Roger and his wife, Annette, gave the School the Gordon Recreation Park in honor of their son Scott, Class of 1999. They were generous in so many other ways as well, through their consistent support of the Annual Fund, from hockey uniforms to a boat for the crew team, from locker rooms to a penalty box, from funds for the climbing wall to funds for the Kellogg Alumni Center, with their generosity culminating in a wing of the dormitory Crispin Gordon Rose. In short, Roger Gordon made his mark on Berkshire School and he will always be fondly remembered for his dedication and service to the School.”
In Memoriam
John James Toffey, faculty, 1975-1995
John’s daughter Hannah Peters shared the below: A long-time resident of Great Barrington, Mass., John was born May 24, 1931 in Brooklyn, NY to Helen Howard and John James Toffey, III. His father’s military service had the family moving frequently, but his roots were firmly in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, where he developed a lifelong passion for Cincinnati Reds baseball and Ohio State football. John attended the Columbus Academy, where he eventually taught, and Phillips Exeter Academy. After Army service in Korea, he graduated from The Ohio State University and received a master’s in English from Columbia University. His long academic career began at The Kent School in 1958 where he taught English and coached baseball and football. In Kent he met and married Irene Tobin; they and their four children eventually settled in Great Barrington, Mass., where John taught at Simon’s Rock Early College. In 1975 he joined Berkshire School and taught English and served in various administrative and coaching capacities until his retirement in 1995. During a trip to Scotland John became fascinated by Scottish history, particularly the 18th century and the Edinburgh Enlightenment. A sabbatical fellowship in 1992 took him to St. Andrews University, where he delved deeply into “the intersection of the
romantic and the rational,” which led to his first book, A Woman Nobly Planned: Fact and Myth in the Legacy of Flora MacDonald. In 1996 John discovered a cache of letters from his father, Jack, to his family back at home during World War II. They were written when Jack was a Lieutenant Colonel serving with the Allied Forces in North Africa and Italy. Inspired, John began meticulously researching his father’s time oversees…tracking down and interviewing people who had served with his father, and working with historians who knew of and had written about him. The product was his second book: Jack Toffey’s War: A Son’s Memoir, a personal look at the war from the home front and the lines of battle. Telling this story was John’s passion. In retirement he and Irene traveled extensively with a particular fondness for the British Isles and Italy. Most important, they treasured spending time with their 13 grandchildren in Kentucky, Cape Cod, Weston, Mass., and Northwest Connecticut. They happily attended countless graduations, school concerts, and sporting events of all kinds. In addition to having an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball and brilliant sense of humor, John loved language, music, and tradition. He kept up his teaching to the very end, offering literature classes on Shakespeare, the Civil War and--most recently--Moby Dick, perhaps his favorite work of all time. “Mr. Toffey suggested I look at Roger Williams University where I decided to attend after graduating from Berkshire. It was a wonderful four years of college. I met my wife there, and we have two beautiful daughters today. He also drove me to the Great Barrington hospital when I needed to have my appendix removed. I will never forget that bumpy ride in his old Jeep. Thank you for your kindness, saving my life transporting me to the hospital, and shaping my life with my college selection.” —Chris Jennings ’84
Nancy Soudant, teacher at Undermountain Child Care, 2007-2017
A lifelong resident of South Egremont, Nancy attended Mr. Everett Regional High School and graduated with the Class of 1981. She later attended Mt. Holyoke College and received her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. She also received certification from the Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy School. For the last ten years, Nancy was a devoted teacher at Undermountain Child Care, a profession she dearly loved and in return was dearly loved by her “toddlers” and their families. Nancy had a real zest for life and lived it to the fullest! She bungee jumped, skydived, traveled cross country-solo, photographed all beautiful things, was an accomplished artist, loved cooking and baking, eagerly anticipated her Nantucket adventures, had a knack for decorating, loved sports, especially the Red Sox and Patriots, she gardened, and gave lovingly to everyone expecting nothing in return. But above all, her family was her world. She rarely missed an event of any of her nieces, nephews, or great nephews and was usually seen with her camera capturing the highlights. Consequently, she leaves over 26 thousand photos on her computer. Source: the Soudant family
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In Memoriam
Remembering W. Ross Hawkins “Ross was a person of thoughtful support to my administration and kind to me and my family. It is easy to recall that Ross was a most honored teacher and coach, and his family enriched campus life.” —Jack Blessington, Headmaster (1976-78)
Born December 27, 1936, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Ross Hawkins was the son of William and Agnes Murray Hawkins. He graduated in 1960 from Bowdoin College in Maine with a BA in European history and a minor in French and went on to earn his master’s degree in education from the University of Hartford. A dedicated educator for 37 years, Mr. Hawkins taught European history and French at Berkshire School until he retired in 2003. He loved hockey and spent many seasons as the hockey coach at Berkshire School. Ross liked horse racing and loved to go Saratoga. He took several trips to Europe, with England and France being two of his top places to visit. Source: The Berkshire Edge In a letter to alumni and friends, Head of School Pieter Mulder said, “Rosscame to Berkshire in the fall of 1966 and enjoyed a distinguished 37-year career before retiring in 2003. Throughout his years under the Mountain, Ross mentored countless students as a French and history teacher; coach to Berkshire’s football, lacrosse, and boys and girls ice hockey teams; advisor; Form Dean; House Head; and Director of Athletics. Ross was recognized for his excellence in teaching with the Kellogg Vacation Grant in 1993, the Seaver Buck Faculty Award in 2001, and the C. Twiggs Myers Endowed Chair for Teaching Excellence from 1997 to 2000. In 2013, on the occasion of their 40th reunion, the Class of
1973 dedicated the Language Lab in Berkshire Hall in honor of Ross, Nancy Duryee-Aas, and Marianne Stein Hubert. In 1999, the Cutler family established the W. Ross Hawkins Prize for Excellence in European History to honor Mr. Hawkins’s distinguished career at Berkshire and to thank him for the role he played in inspiring students as a teacher, coach, and advisor. The prize celebrates Ross’s embodiment of, ‘all the elements that make upboth a wonderful teacher and a dependable mentor.’” Donations in his memory can be made to the W. Ross Hawkins Memorial Fund at Berkshire School.
“I will remember Mr. Hawkins quite simply as always being available to share his enthusiasm and love of learning anytime, anywhere. He was rather bigger than life, a teddy bear with a huge heart and frequent laughter.” —Cynthia Montgomery ‘85
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In Memoriam
Never Forget The below photos were taken by Jim Haskel ’86 during a trip to the Bronka Stavsky Rabin Weintraub 9/11 Living Memorial Plaza in Jerusalem in March. They are close-ups of plaques at the memorial commemorating the lives of those who perished on September 11, 2001, including alumni James L. Crawford ’87, Kris R. Hughes ’90, William Ward Haynes ’85, and Peter Morgan Goodrich ’85.
The inscription at the memorial reads,
“Tolerance, not terrorism. Commemorating the victims of 9/11 and demonstrating a commitment to hope and peace.” Summer 2017
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Class Notes
Berkshire today is built on the generosity of yesterday John F. Godman, Berkshire’s legendary headmaster (1951-1970), left a bequest to the School that endures to this day. Members of the Class of 1961, inspired by their head of school’s generosity, followed his lead to establish the John F. Godman Fund for student scholarships. In addition, for the past two decades, Berkshire has welcomed all who have embraced John Godman’s spirit through a planned gift into the Godman Society.
We hope you’ll join John Godman and others who have included Berkshire in their estate plans. To find out more, please contact the Office of Advancement at (413) 229-1907 or alumni@berkshireschool.org. 96
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From the Archives
Remember Rowdy? A foxy addition to Berkshire’s new digital archive The storage, organization, and care of the many relics of Berkshire’s past has been an informal affair for as long as anyone can remember. C. Twiggs Myers Hon. ’57 volunteered his time after his retirement in 1995 to curate an archive in a basement storage area of the James C. Kellogg ’33 Alumni Center, filled with photographs, yearbooks, and other memorabilia dating back more than 100 years. Library Director Nancy Florio is working to bring these hidden gems into plain site with the creation of a digital archive that can be accessed from anywhere. Starting last summer,
Florio has concentrated on digitizing The Green and Gray, as well as Berkshire Bulletins, and old photos from the Seaver Buck days. Each publication is carefully scanned in high definition one page at a time to Library of Congress standards, which translates into hundreds, and ultimately, thousands of staff hours. But the benefits are immediate. “Suddenly the basement archive is not only discoverable, but also searchable and shareable on social media,” Florio says. One of the more unusual finds in the archive is the rediscovery of Rowdy, a pet fox that lived on campus sometime during
the late 1930s and early 1940s. A photo album dating to that time belonging to Frank and Peg Beattie is filled with snaps of the playful fox wrestling with an unidentified person, inspecting a wastebasket, and basking in the sunshine on a windowsill. The Bulletin has yet to find someone who remembers Rowdy and how he came to become a school pet, but his antics, which likely earned him his name, have been given new life in the digital archive. Access the archive at: BerkshireSchoolArchives.org
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2017 ALL-SCHOOL READ
Join the Berkshire community for the 2017 All-School Read.
KICK-OFF EVENT 9.18.17
7:00 pm Author Remarks and Q&A Tune in via live webstream.
“Walking across the country is like an endangered experience in today’s world. Stuff like that just doesn’t happen much anymore. I found that Americans were hungry, in the same way that I was, for that kind of experience.To connect with a complete stranger, face to face. Each day was different. Each day was a new story.” —ANDREW FORSTHOEFEL See a video of Forsthoefel’s on-campus ASR announcement and learn more about the book on our ASR Reading Guide:
library.berkshireschool.org/ASR2017