Brooks Bulletin Fall 2022

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

President John R. Barker ’87, P’21, P’23 Wellesley, Mass.

Vice Presidents Cristina E. Antelo ’95 Washington, D.C.

Whitney Romoser Savignano ’87 Beverly Farms, Mass.

Secretary Craig J. Ziady ’85, P’18, P’20, P’22 Winchester, Mass.

Treasurer Valentine Hollingsworth ’72, P’17 Dover, Mass.

TRUSTEES

Iris Bonet ’90 Houston, Texas

Peter J. Caldwell Providence, R.I.

Charles F. Cornish ’06 Sudbury, Mass.

Catalina Dib P’25, P’26 Boston, Mass.

Peter V. K. Doyle ’69 Sherborn, Mass.

Cheryl M. Duckworth P’22, P’23 Lynnfield, Mass.

Anthony H. Everets ’93 New York, N.Y.

Nancy C. Ferry P’21 West Newton, Mass.

Julia Saltonstall Haley ’88, P’25 South Hamilton, Mass.

Paul L Hallingby ’65 New York, N.Y.

Booth D. Kyle ’89 Severna Park, Md.

Brian McCabe P’18 Meredith, N.H.

Diana Merriam P’08, P’11 Boxford, Mass.

Sally T. Milliken ’88, P’22, P’24 Byfield, Mass.

Ikenna U. Ndugba ’16 Boston, Mass.

John R. Packard Jr. P’18, P’21 Head of School North Andover, Mass.

Daniel J. Riccio P’17, P’20

Atherton, Calif.

Vivek Sharma P’24 Boston, Mass.

Juliane Gardner Spencer ’93 Rockport, Mass.

Alessandro F. Uzielli ’85

Beverly Hills, Calif.

Meredith M. Verdone ’81, P’19 Newton Center, Mass.

Christopher T. Wood ’85 Los Angeles, Calif.

ALUMNI TRUSTEES

Alysa U. James ’11 Washington, D.C.

Sathvik R. Sudireddy ’15 Boston, Mass.

TRUSTEES EMERITI

William N. Booth ’67, P’05 Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Henry M. Buhl ’48 New York, N.Y.

Steve Forbes ’66, P’91 Bedminster, N.J.

Steven R. Gorham ’85, P’17, P’21 Ipswich, Mass.

H. Anthony Ittleson ’56, P’84, P’86 Green Pond, S.C.

Michael B. Keating ’58, P’97 Boston, Mass.

Frank A. Kissel ’69, P’96, P’99 Far Hills, N.J.

Peter A. Nadosy ’64 New York, N.Y.

Eleanor R. Seaman P’86, P’88, P’91, GP’18 Hobe Sound, Fla.

David R. Williams III ’67 Beverly Farms, Mass.

NOTICE OF DEATH Brooks School trustee W. J. Patrick Curley III ’69 passed away on Friday, December 2, 2022. A future issue of the Bulletin will memorialize his life and immeasurable contributions to Brooks.

Tony Ke ’26 during the the Winter Concert on December 11. The concert included performances by six of the school’s instrumental and vocal ensembles.

Head of School

John R. Packard Jr. P’18, P’21

Director of Institutional Advancement

Gage S. Dobbins P’22, P’23

Director of Alumni Programs Lauri Coulter

Director of the Brooks Fund and Family Engagement Mary Merrill

Director of Admission and Financial Aid Bini W. Egertson P’12, P’15

Director of Communications and Marketing Dan Callahan P’19, P’20, P’23

Director of Print Communications

Rebecca A. Binder

Design Aldeia www.aldeia.design

Alumni Communications Manager

Emily Williams

Director of Digital Communications Jennifer O’Neill

FEATURES

22 A Jeweler’s Mark

Three female Brooksians have made huge strides in the jewelry industry. They’ve taken on the historically maledominated space using a combination of creativity and passion, and relying on their strong Brooks bonds and friendship.

Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Opinions expressed in the Bulletin are those of the authors and not necessarily of Brooks School.

Correspondence concerning the Bulletin should be sent to Editor Rebecca A. Binder: mail

Editor, Brooks Bulletin 1160 Great Pond Road North Andover, MA 01845 email rbinder@brooksschool.org phone (978) 725-6326

30 A Meaningful Impact

The Brooks School Impact Report details your philanthropy to Brooks in the last fiscal year. With your support, Brooks is able to offer meaningful, supportive and flexible programming, and look to the future with confidence.

38 Thank You For The Privilege

Beloved former faculty William W. Dunnell passed away in July, and the tributes to him began pouring in. Here, the Bulletin publishes thoughts from alumni who found comfort, care and confidence under Dunnell’s watch, both in his classroom and out of it.

from the Head of School

ON THE COVER: The 1st football team lines up before playing St. Mark’s School as part of a pregame ceremony honoring the life of Preston Settles ’25, who passed away last year. This year’s fall sports season was one for the record books. Boys soccer, football and cross-country phenom Kata Clark ’25 each brought home New England championships, and girls soccer and field hockey each made a run into the New England tournament semifinals. The Brooks community, led by its school spirit prefects, united to support Brooksians as they excelled in athletics, as well as in other spaces and areas of passion across campus. The school spirit prefects organized the memorial to Settles. You can read more about this fall season and the work of the school spirit prefects beginning on page 18.

“ This reaccreditation process was not at all what we imagined it might be way back in March 2019, but the challenges we faced over the three years that ensued strengthened our school in ways that will pay dividends over the years ahead.”

A MESSAGE FROM JOHN R. PACKARD JR. HEAD OF SCHOOL

Learning As We Go

As we returned to school from Spring Break in late March 2019, we had no idea what the next few years would bring. We did know, however, that it was time for an introduction to our 10-year reaccreditation process with a representative from our accrediting body, the New England Association of Schools & Colleges (NEAS&C), scheduled to visit with us. We were at the very beginning of launching work on a selfstudy, which would be completed through the 2019–2020 school year and allow us an opportunity to take a close and critical look at our school with an eye on what we might do to improve moving forward. The work began as scheduled, and we were well into the process when Spring Break arrived in early March 2020. Then, the COVID-19 curtain dropped, we pivoted to pandemic management and work on our self-study was paused indefinitely.

I have not been one to point to the pandemic’s silver linings with much frequency, as I find doing so diminishes all that so many students and faculty members lost during the acute phase we were in for the better part of 18 months. Yet, there is no question that pausing our self-study for all of those 18 months broadened and deepened the final draft, which we submitted this past summer — two years later than originally anticipated. We learned a great deal through the pandemic by virtue of needing to operate in so many different modes and schedules. When relegated to screens as the only means of gathering as a whole community, a fundamental strength of our school was put to the test. We missed Chapel, School Meeting, gathering for plays, concerts and games, and enjoying meals together. Physical distancing and masks limited our ability to foster community and build and nurture relationships that are part and

parcel of who we are. We were challenged to know one another well. We created our own diversity standard in our self-study to put the spotlight on how we were doing at realizing equity, inclusion and belonging within our community, which is more measurably diverse than it has ever been. We found ourselves needing to keep our distance from one another as we tried to foster and realize community in new ways at the same time — no small challenge.

Thus, it was so satisfying to finally welcome a visiting committee comprising independent school educators from all over New England to our campus in October to assess our school through the lens of the self-study we pulled together over the course of this tumultuous threeyear span. While we are and will be working through the thoughtful feedback the visiting committee shared with us, it felt great to have a peer group see and feel the strength of our community in the ways that we do. It felt great to have a peer group applaud our resilience through the heart of the pandemic. It felt great to have our commitment to trying to reach, include and realize belonging for all who are part of our community acknowledged and encouraged. This reaccreditation process was not at all what we imagined it might be way back in March 2019, but the challenges we faced over the three years that ensued strengthened our school in ways that will pay dividends over the years ahead.

As we move further toward Brooks School’s second century, we see that the past few years have provided important opportunities to learn in ways that will help us better realize our mission and stay in pursuit of continuing to be a better and better version of ourselves.

I wish all of you a wonderful start to 2023.

The school’s Exchange Program roared back this year as the COVID-19 pandemic decreased in intensity.

Brooks hosted three students from Szeged, Hungary, this fall, and, at press time, expects to send Brooks students on exchange this spring and summer. Here, the three Hungarian exchange students enjoy a weekend in New York City this fall.

An Adventure to Benefit Students

Laura Hajdukiewicz has taught a SCUBA class with an outside instructor during Winter Term for years. This summer, she traveled to the Maldives to become certified as an instructor with the school’s support. Her certification will benefit countless students, and it gave her a chance to go on an unforgettable and meaningful adventure.

Chair of the Science Department and holder of the Hope H. van Beuren Chair in Teaching Laura Hajdukiewicz is one of the school’s most veteran and master teachers. She’s also known for leading a long-running Winter Term course that certifies students in SCUBA diving before embarking on a dive trip to Roatán, Honduras. For years, Hajdukiewicz has partnered with an outside dive instructor who held the necessary instructor certification. Beginning in March, though, Hajdukiewicz began the process of becoming certified as an

Science department chair Laura Hajdukiewicz during a dive in the Maldives, where she received her SCUBA instructor certificate this summer.

instructor herself, including a journey to a dive trip in the Maldives this summer.

“I started diving in my teenage years, but I didn’t get PADI certified until my early twenties,” says Hajdukiewicz, for whom diving has been a decades-long passion. She’s been leading certification courses and dive trips for high school students for around 20 years, including her time at Andover High School prior to her arrival at Brooks. When the instructor Hajdukiewicz had paired with all those years chose to move on in her career, Hajdukiewicz saw an opportunity for the school and began researching programs that would certify her as an instructor.

“Bringing in an outside person has worked well for years, but there’s always been a cost associated with that,” Hajdukiewicz says. “Now that I’m the instructor, the cost per person is much less. The course should be more accessible to all of our students, and it should also allow the Winter Term budget to be distributed differently across all the classes. My certification should pay for itself in the first year.”

Hajdukiewicz is grateful for the school’s support of her instructor certification for another reason, also: She got to engage in an activity she loves, travel to a location she otherwise wouldn’t be able to, and improve her skills as a student and teacher. “It’s nice to keep moving forward as a human,” she says. “I had to work really hard to be certified, and it’s so good as a teacher to be put back in the students’ seat.”

Hajdukiewicz calls the Maldives portion of her certification “grueling, but so fulfilling.” The group woke up at sunrise to do what Hajdukiewicz calls a “fun dive,” before engaging in a day full of classroom sessions and underwater

skills sessions. “We spent all day practicing the tests, studying for the tests, giving presentations to each other, practicing how we would teach,” she says. “I found the fact that I’m already a teacher was a huge benefit with this. I was actually able to be a resource for some of the other people in the group.”

The class ended in a two-day test, which included skills demonstrations and a lengthy written exam. Hajdukiewicz says “it’s exciting to be on the older side, and to do something new and cool and

physical. It’s adventurous, it’s difficult and it’s physically demanding. So I feel really good about challenging myself.”

“The school supported this idea of sending me on this adventure,” Hajdukiewicz continues. “It’s the best diving in the world, but also to be taught by someone from Thailand, to have my classmates be from Germany and from Dubai, and to spend time in a different culture, eat different types of food, meet different people, travel by myself. I’d never done that.”

Science department chair Laura Hajdukiewicz traveled to the Maldives this summer to become certified as a SCUBA instructor.

In recent years, the SCUBA Winter Term class has culminated in a trip to Roatán, Honduras.

An Infusion of New Faculty

Brooks welcomed many talented faculty members this year. The group is excited to bring its expertise, energy and experience to Brooks.

Robert Bauer joins the science department. He started his teaching career after spending more than 20 years in the high-tech industry. He began his career at Stratus Computers as a hardware engineer and worked in numerous startups, designing and building communications devices for the early years of WEB 2.0.

Jacqueline “Bean” Clark teaches Self in Community and works as a Learning Center specialist. She joins Brooks after working at Brewster Academy as a college counselor and coach. Before starting her career in independent schools, she graduated from New England College, where she majored in business and psychology and was a member of the women’s ice hockey and lacrosse teams. In 2020, she completed her master of education degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she also worked as a learning specialist in the disability services office.

Danielle Coriale joins the English department after spending more than a decade teaching at the university level. Coriale, who completed a doctorate at Brandeis University, focuses her academic interests on 19th-century British literature and the history of science and medicine. When she is not teaching or writing, she enjoys hiking, gardening and being outdoors.

Emily DiAngelo joins the arts faculty as a music teacher. DiAngelo is a professional oboist, dedicated educator and arts advocate. She graduated with her doctor of musical arts and master of music degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, and her bachelor of music degree from Ithaca College. An avid performer, she collaborates with musicians from all over the world and has performed throughout the East Coast, including multiple performances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln

Center. DiAngelo has taught music at Cornell University, Ithaca College, Hamilton College and the Luzerne Music Center.

Michael Dixon returns to Brooks this fall to join the science department. He has spent 25 years teaching at schools in the Boston area. Dixon holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master’s of divinity from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and a doctorate in education from Boston College, and he has received the Siemens/College Board AP teacher of the year award. Dixon’s heart for STEM education that’s accessible to all has reached students from Brooks to inner-city Boston. He’s taught physics, calculus, theology, engineering, robotics and fabrication, among others; coached basketball and football; run community service and the Science Olympiad; and started the Brooks gospel choir during his first stint at Brooks, a venture he is proud to focus on again.

Ryan Johnson joins the world languages faculty as a Latin teacher. He’s worked on his doctorate in ancient history at the University of British Columbia, and he’s completed a master’s degree in ancient Greek and Roman studies at Brandeis University. He has participated in archaeological studies/excavations in Italy, Greece and Israel and uses this knowledge of ancient sites in his teaching. Johnson enjoys learning and teaching about all aspects of life and culture in the ancient Mediterranean and is particularly interested in how the cultures of Greece and Rome interacted with those of the Near East, Egypt and North Africa.

Susan Ludi joins Brooks as a history teacher. With experience teaching at secondary schools and universities, Ludi arrived at Brooks from Dexter Southfield, where she taught history and functioned in a variety of advisory roles, including

leading community service for the upper school and serving as an inaugural head of house in their new house system. Previously, she was a postdoctoral teaching fellow in the art history department at Washington University in St. Louis and the resident art historian and academic coordinator at the University of Georgia abroad program in Cortona, Italy. Before completing her doctorate in art history and archaeology, Ludi was a lawyer specializing in corporate and finance transactions.

Laila McCain, this year’s Davis teaching fellow, joins Brooks as a history teacher and admission counselor. McCain grew up in Boston and attended Bowdoin College, where she studied government and legal studies as well as education, with a minor in Africana studies. While at Bowdoin, she was involved in mock trial, public service, admissions and residential life. Post-college, McCain spent a year living in Germany, working at the International School of Stuttgart in its English department and in learning support. While abroad, she was also able to travel around Europe and learn about different cultures.

Gwendolyn Reese joins Brooks as the school’s director of library services and as a Latin teacher. Raised in Southern California, Reese thought herself destined to be a church history professor until she got a chance to wander the vaults of the Huntington Library during her dissertation research. From there, she headed straight to library school and then held various positions, including at the Morgan Library & Museum, the University of Idaho and Washington University in St. Louis. Most recently, she worked as a rare bookseller with the William Reese Company in New Haven, Connecticut.

Ashley Scire joins the faculty as assistant director of athletics and Self in Community teacher. The former associate director of athletics at Wentworth Institute

of Technology previously spent three seasons as an assistant women’s ice hockey coach at Princeton University, where her Tigers team reached the semifinals of the ECAC Hockey Tournament twice and earned a berth in the NCAA Division I Tournament in 2019. She graduated from Union College in 2008 and earned a masters degree from Albany Law in 2009.

Chris Slaby joins the faculty as a history teacher. Originally from New Jersey, Slaby has also lived in western New York, rural Japan, coastal Connecticut, suburban Boston, Madison, Wisconsin, and most recently in Williamsburg, Virginia. He did his undergraduate work at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Slaby also has a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin—Madison and is currently finishing his doctorate from The College of William & Mary.

Ian Speliotis ’14 returns to his alma mater to teach English and take the reins of the boys 1st lacrosse team. Speliotis graduated from Brooks in 2014 and went on to St. Michael’s College to pursue a bachelor’s degree in English literature. Post-college, he completed a two-year fellowship at Culver Academies, where he was a member of the athletics department and coached ice hockey and lacrosse. Following his time at Culver, Speliotis joined the English department at The Frederick Gunn School and continued his endeavors at the rink and on the field. Speliotis says that he is excited to return to Brooks. “It’s an opportunity to return to a community that did so much for me as a student,” he says. “Now, I get to make an impact as a faculty member in a place that has noticeably transformed into something much greater.”

In addition to the faculty listed here, Brooks welcomed five new administrators. Deans of Students Ingrid Knowles and Patrick Forrest, Academic Dean Currie Joya Huntington, and Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Terri Ofori were profiled in the summer 2022 issue of the Bulletin. Assistant Head of School Nina Hanlon was profiled in the spring 2022 issue.

A Proud Legacy

Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Terri Ofori receives a notable honor.

In mid-October, Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion the Rev. Terri Ofori traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, for a large honor: She was inducted into the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College. The prestigious group honors clergy of various traditions based at The Morehouse College Martin Luther King International Chapel. The chapel is dedicated to “empowering transformational, nonviolent ambassadors of peace working to reveal and create the ‘Beloved’ world spiritual, economic and cultural community as a reflection of the social justice of Jesus Christ.” Ofori is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church.

Ofori’s induction was part of a two-day series of programming that celebrated the rededication of King Chapel following an $11 million restoration of the memorial to the Rev. Dr. King Jr. Ofori was able to take a historic tour of the Chapel prior to her induction, which was followed by a luncheon and an interfaith assembly that included Ambassador Andrew J. Young. The Rev. Al Sharpton Jr. delivered the weekend’s keynote address.

Ofori hopes to bring inspiration back to Brooks through her “B Love” campaign, which she plans to kick off in January. “My hope is for our community to understand that this work is collective and collaborative, where we establish that the fundamental foundation of social justice work is rooted in loving others and valuing the human dignity of all people,” Ofori says.

“As a Brooks community we are called to uphold the values of empathy, engagement, integrity, passion, confidence and creativity. These are the tools for building a beloved community.”

The Rev. Terri Ofori, who is dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at Brooks, at her induction ceremony into the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College.

Touring the Presidential Helicopter

A group of Brooksians got an up-close look at Marine Helicopter One.

On September 11, a group of 29 Brooks students, faculty and community members engaged in a unique opportunity to tour Marine Helicopter One while it was stationed at Logan International Airport in Boston. Dean of Students Patrick Forrest, who previously served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps and arranged the visit, explains that Marine Helicopter One is part of a United States Marine Corps helicopter squadron responsible for the transportation of the president and vice president of the United States, heads of state, Department of Defense officials, and other VIPs as directed by the Marine Corps and the White House Military Office. The group received a tour of the helicopter and a brief of

the squadron’s mission and asked questions of the pilot and security detail, which included a working dog team.

“Seeing Marine One was really cool,” says Taewon Moon ’23, who made the trip. “I would have never imagined that I’d see that in person. We saw where the president sits and where their cabinet and Secret Service would be. It’s surreal.”

“The group did an amazing job at following security protocols and engaging with the team, and they were an outstanding representation of who we are at Brooks,” Forrest says. “I thought it would be a great experience to get some community members off campus and see an iconic aircraft that has transported so many presidents.”

A group of Brooks students, faculty and community members with Marine Helicopter One at Logan International Airport in Boston on September 11.

Arsenic and Old Lace

The Brooks theater afternoon activity staged the play “Arsenic and Old Lace” for a three-night run in the Center for the Arts in early November. According to Director of Theater Meghan Hill, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” which was written in 1939, is one of the most-produced plays in American theatre history.

Hill explains that the play “debuted on Broadway in 1941, right as America stepped into World War II. The hope was that this comedy would ease stress in the United States. Coming out of a pandemic, and as we experience racial tensions, attacks on LGBTQIA+ rights, and a war on women, maybe it can do the same for us today at Brooks.”

“Arsenic and Old Lace” follows the dark travails of the Brewster family, a family of covert murderers who lure elderly men into their family home before poisoning them and burying them in the basement. “For me, this play highlights that sometimes the people we think we know the most are actually the ones we know the least,” says Hill. “To me, that’s the scary part.” Hill adds that the challenging piece asked performers to access a specific type of comedic acting that embraced the ridiculous while also making their characters authentic and believable.

“Overall, the script is not forgiving,” Hill concludes. “It requires stamina, dedication and attention to detail. We want to transport the audience into the home and absurdity of the Brewster family.”

Brooksians took on a complicated, dark comedy work this fall.

Fast 5 // Q+A

Laura Kahu ’23 began her time on campus intent on, she says, keeping her head down and doing what she needed to do. Four years later, Kahu is the school’s senior prefect, a DEI prefect, and a leader for the student activities board and the Black Students Union. Here, Kahu talks to the Bulletin about how the support and community she found at Brooks helped her reach unexpected heights.

1What does being our senior prefect this year mean to you?

When I first got to Brooks, I was a loner. I was really quiet and wasn’t into talking to other people that much. But, this place really does something to you, and I decided I’d love to be a part of this community in a really significant way. I was so excited to be asked to be a school prefect, and I was giddy and on the edge of my seat when Mr. Packard asked me to be the senior prefect! I care about this community in a way I never thought I could, and being senior prefect has been a great opportunity for me.

2How is Brooks different from other communities you’ve been a part of? The people here are welcoming and nice, and being here makes me feel warm in a way I never really expected to. To be honest, I live in New Jersey, and people from the tristate area are notorious for being a little cold. If I said hi to everyone I passed on the street in New Jersey the way I say hi to everyone I pass here at Brooks, people would think I was crazy. Saying hi here at Brooks feels normal, because it’s something loving and caring and it mirrors the space we’re in. But as soon as I go home, I realize that this is not something that’s everywhere; it’s something that’s only at Brooks.

When was the first time you felt that you were really engaging with the Brooks community? It was my third-form year, when I played the role of Lumiere in “Beauty and the Beast,” that year’s winter musical. I have always loved singing and performing. The arts are my happy place. I didn’t expect to get such a large role as a third-former, and I recognized that I had been given the opportunity because [Director of Theater Meghan] Hill believed in me and thought I was good enough. So, I really had to put my best effort into it, and that’s the mentality I’ve taken

3

Senior Prefect Laura Kahu ’23

into everything I’ve done at Brooks, from my work with the BSU and CAB to my role as senior prefect. I have the opportunity to do something great, and I want to do something great with that opportunity.

4What’s something you’ve done at Brooks that you never expected to do? Play volleyball, definitely. When I came to Brooks, I didn’t consider myself to be athletic. My plan was to put my head down, do exactly what I had to do, and get out. But, it didn’t turn out that way. I had the opportunity to play sports for the first time. I was so, so bad at volleyball at the beginning, but [retired faculty emeritus Doug] Burbank was my coach and he encouraged us. My fourthform year, I got the opportunity to be coached by [world languages faculty Chelsea] Clater, and it got a lot more technical. My fifth-form year, I made the first team. It has been an incredible journey to start with nothing and end with something substantial.

IN THE LEHMAN

Julia Powell Shares Her Story

Oil painter Julia S. Powell joined the Brooks community for a stint in September. She shared her art with the campus community and also contributed to the school’s ongoing discussion of the 2022 All-Community Read, “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig.

Powell hosted an exhibit of her work in the Lehman Gallery. Her oil paintings, layered with thick paint and vibrant color, explore the environment through a semi-abstract lens, conveying the landscape as even more magical and otherworldly on the canvas. She paints from her memories and her dreams, not from pure reality. In her paintings, Powell’s landscape is an entryway to something hopeful, simple and sacred, like childhood. Powell is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and lives in Gouldsboro, Maine, for six weeks every year. The elements that are essential to her work — rocks, trees, fields and water — are also essential to the Northeastern landscape.

5

What do you think you’ll take away from your time here when you graduate? This is the place where it all started for me. I keep talking about the opportunities and everything I’ve been given here, but that is the truth of it. Brooks has allowed me to do things I couldn’t even imagine. It’s given me an opportunity to make my dreams into reality. Brooks has given me the resources, the love, the energy, the passion that I need to continue on into any endeavor. This is where it all begins for me.

Powell coupled her exhibit with a Chapel talk in which she related her own life experience with themes in “The Midnight Library.” The book is the story of a woman experiencing other lives she could have lived had she made different choices. Powell began her career as an attorney before pivoting to working as a full-time artist. Powell then engaged with art classes as her time on Great Pond Road continued, and Chair of the Arts Department Babs Wheelden reported that students found Powell and her work inspiring and relatable.

In November, the Lehman Gallery welcomed an exhibit by Racket Shreve ’63, whose watercolors depicting maritime subjects and the panoramas of New England have been published extensively. The spring issue of the Bulletin will report on Shreve and other upcoming Lehman artists.

RANKING SCHOLARS

The school took time in a September School Meeting to honor the students who had achieved the highest weighted cumulative grade point average in their form the previous academic year. Charlie Rousmaniere ’25 received the Third Form Prize. Sonakshi Ghosal Gupta ’24 received the Fourth Form Prize. Melanie Kaplan ’23 received the Fifth Form Prize. And, graduate Alex Tobias ’22 was recognized as the recipient of both the Sixth Form Prize and the Prize for Primus, indicating the highest weighted cumulative grade point average in the school the previous year.

“Hidden

Among the Tall Grasses,” an oil painting by Lehman visiting artist Julia S. Powell.

“

I have the opportunity to do something great, and I want to do something great with that opportunity.”

The school named three new endowed chairs in Chapel on November 17. Chair of the English Department Tim Benson (left) was named the Prince Family Teaching Chair. Chair of the Arts Department and Director of the Robert Lehman Art Center Babs Wheelden (center) was named the Waldo and Ruth Holcombe Faculty Chair. History faculty and Director of the Archives Lance Latham (right) was named the Independence Foundation Faculty Chair. Head of School John Packard presided over the Chapel service.

Members of the Brooks faculty are invited to submit nominations for endowed chairs, and Mr. Packard remarked in Chapel that “it is inspiring beyond words to know how strongly exceptional Brooks School educators feel about the work of other exceptional Brooks School educators.” Mr. Packard referenced the work and impact of deceased former faculty William W. Dunnell III, who held the F. Fessenden Wilder Endowed Chair beginning in 1987.

“The themes that connected all of the tributes that poured in about Mr. Dunnell landed, in my view, on two core and essential ingredients to being a great teacher,” Mr. Packard said. “First, I have long thought that great teachers, great coaches, great advisors and great school people are fundamentally great ‘furtherers’ of young people. Second, a more recent measure I have applied to what I think great teachers and school people happen to be is the extent to which their work with students leaves students knowing in no uncertain terms that they matter.” [Ed. Note: A tribute to William Dunnell, who passed away in July 2022, begins on page 38 of this issue.]

“In thinking about today’s honorees, I was struck by the extent to which they have been furtherers of the highest order in their own right,” Mr. Packard continued. “I was struck by the degree to which they have succeeded at ensuring those who are in their orbits know they matter to them — students, colleagues, advisees, everyone. I was struck by the certainty I felt that all three of them have earned many times over the same sorts of tributes that were shared about Mr. Dunnell over the summer.”

Scenes From Family Weekend

Brooks enjoyed having families and guardians of current students on campus for Family Weekend on October 7 and 8. The weekend was full of joy, reconnection and excitement as loved ones had a chance to watch their Brooksians in action. This was the school’s first unimpeded Family Weekend since fall 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many families had not yet had a chance to spend a significant amount of time on campus, and the air was abuzz with visitors taking in buildings and views for the first time.

Programming kicked off on Friday, October 7, with an open invitation to attend classes, a college counseling forum, parent receptions and a full slate of afternoon activities. On Friday night, the community gathered to honor Preston Settles ’25, a student who passed away last winter, before the football team’s game against St. Mark’s School. [Ed. Note: Please turn to “Athletics News” on page 18 to read more about the ceremony.] Friday night also hosted a concert of student performance groups and student arts demonstrations. Saturday welcomed families to attend mini-classes in the morning. Then, parents and guardians met with advisors to review their students’ progress. Families also had opportunities to attend Head of School John Packard’s State of the School address, an overview of the school’s Exchange, School Year Abroad and Students on the Forefront of Science programs, and open hours in the Learning Center. Another full slate of games and other afternoon activities finished the weekend.

A New Alumni Trustee

Sathvik Sudireddy ’15 recently joined the school’s board of trustees as an alumni trustee. Currently in his final year of Harvard Business School’s MBA program, Sudireddy plans to work for Activision Blizzard’s MBA rotational program in Santa Monica, California. In addition to his studies, he is the co-president of the HBS Show, a student-written musical that satirizes the HBS experience, now in its 50th production year.

Sudireddy studied computer science with a secondary (minor) in economics at Harvard University. He subsequently worked for game tech startup Beamable, creating backendas-a-service tools for game developers. He was the company’s first non-engineering hire, working on product management and customer success. He also worked for EF Education First on their emerging technology and innovation team. While at Brooks, Sudireddy was very involved in theater, performing in eight productions while on campus. He also was president of the Model U.N. team, a co-president of the Brooksian newspaper and co-founder of the schoolwide, on-campus game Assassin, which is now called Paranoia.

A CORRECTION

In the summer 2022 issue of the Bulletin, we introduced new school trustee Julee Saltonstall Haley ’88, P’25. The list of Haley’s family members who attended Brooks did not include Jim Saltonstall ’63, who is her uncle. Jim Saltonstall has served as a loyal supporter of the school and a stalwart volunteer for his class in several roles. We regret the omission.

Charlie Smith ’23

A three-sport 1st-team athlete makes large contributions to Brooks athletics while also exploring his own potential on the field, the mat, the lake and in the classroom.

Charlie Smith ’23 grew up in North Andover, but it was a revisit day that sold him on the idea of attending Brooks. “I wasn’t thinking about private school until my mom really pushed for it,” Smith says. “I applied to Brooks and to St. John’s Prep, and that was it. I really liked the vibe here on revisit day, and specifically the energy at School Meeting.”

Smith arrived on campus intending to play soccer, which he says was his main sport at that time. He planned to play squash in the winter and golf in the spring. Smith’s soccer prediction stayed true — he’s a core member of the team that just won the New England championship — but he quickly found himself pivoting to wrestling in the winter and crew in the spring. He credits this shift to his teachers and classmates, who saw his potential and encouraged him to try new and unexpected pursuits at Brooks.

Smith didn’t just dabble in squash and crew, though. He’ll graduate as captain of the wrestling team, and he was one of the group of Brooksians who traveled to the Henley Royal Regatta last summer.

Three Successful Stories

Smith has found his way in three Brooks programs. Along the way, he’s solidified his talent, learned lessons about determination and spirit, and experienced one of the most celebrated regattas in the world.

Smith made the boys 1st soccer team as a fourth-former, and he speaks very fondly about his time on the squad. “The team has meant a lot to me,” he says. “We think a lot about winning, and we have a good time while we’re doing that.” Smith also appreciates head coach Willie Waters ’02 and his dedication to the program. “He’s really good,” says Smith. “You can tell how much he cares about the program also, and he wants to win just as much as we do.”

The boys soccer program, Smith stresses, is more than just a commitment athletes make while they’re at Brooks. “It’s just awesome,” Smith says of the bond that soccer alumni have created across class years. “I meet alumni for the first time, and I consider them family. It’s a nice feeling that I’ll remember for years.”

Smith found wrestling because another student convinced him to try the sport. “They didn’t have anyone at my weight class,” Smith says, “and the 1st-team spot sounded attractive, as well as the idea that wrestling would make me more athletic and help me out with soccer as I got stronger and more flexible.”

Smith immediately liked the challenge of wrestling, and he speaks about the lessons the sport has taught him. “It’s definitely a tough sport, and the practices are hard,” he says, “but I’ve grown a lot. It’s taught me a lot. Wrestling is so mental. It’s just you and one other person out on the mat, and I’d say 50% of it, maybe even more, is just who wants it more. You can apply that to a 50-50 ball on the soccer field or to a crew race. Whoever wants it more, whoever’s pushing themselves harder, they’re going to do better.”

Rowing crew also wasn’t in the plan when Smith enrolled at Brooks, but, again, he was convinced by a friend to try the sport. He ended up going on the team’s Spring Break trip to Clemson University in his third-form year and now calls that trip the highlight of his first year at school.

“I like beating other crews,” Smith says. “The feeling after a race, or even just after some hard pieces in practice. It’s pretty nice and rewarding. You feel accomplished.” Smith has improved over his time at Brooks; this year, he expects to land a spot in the second boat.

Last summer, Smith got to experience rowing at its highest level: He was one of the students who traveled to England to participate in Henley Royal Regatta. “I was pretty excited to go,” he says. “When I first heard of it, I didn’t really know what it was, but after hearing [Director of Rowing Tote] Smith describe it and then doing some research on my own, I learned that it’s one of the biggest rowing events in the world. I was just stoked, and it was more motivation throughout the season to get in the tanks and work hard on the water.”

The trip to Henley itself was, in Smith’s words, “a blast.” The best part, he says “was definitely watching all the racing and seeing these massive guys, like Olympians and elite college rowers, in front of you. It

didn’t seem real.” He also enjoyed his time spent with other Brooksians. “We’d row for probably four, five hours a day, and then the rest of the time was spent exploring the town and hanging out with the team, which was fun,” Smith says.

The trip to Henley helped Smith see how expansive the rowing world is, and how competitive it can be at its most elite levels. Smith was inspired by that

revelation, and he’s bringing back to Brooks the idea that hard work brings results. The entirety of his experience in athletics at Brooks has taught Smith “to love being part of a team,” he says. “The teams here are definitely the highlight of my Brooks experience, so I definitely want to be a part of a team in college, and just continue to work hard with a group of people towards one goal.”

Charlie Smith ’23 in action for the Brooks boys 1st soccer team.

Go Brooks!

Brooks is a small school, and it showed up big this fall on the pitch, the field and the course, and in the stands. Five programs saw championship wins or spots in the New England championship semifinal. The school’s athletes are talented and driven, and they’re backed by the school community and a renewed emphasis on school spirit and community support for the passions that drive each student.

Brooks stormed to the finish in its fall season. Boys 1st soccer won the New England championship, the football team ended its season with a bowl win, Kata Clark ’25 took home a cross-country championship, and the 1st field hockey and girls 1st soccer teams went deep into their respective NEPSAC tournaments. This is the most successful fall season the school has seen in recent memory, and it certainly turned heads throughout the Independent School League and the NEPSAC.

“What really stands out to me is that each team had its own, very different story,” says Director of Athletics Roberta Crump-Burbank. “Throughout the season, nobody was saying to themselves that we’re having this tremendous year, but then it all sort of came together at the end. It’s a shoutout to our coaches. There’s just a lot of good things happening in little pockets around the school.”

A Winning Season

Crump-Burbank points, for example, to the boys 1st soccer team. Brooks fought its way to a 12–4–1 record in the regular season and the third seed in the New England championship tournament. Along the way, Brooks put together seven- and five-game winning streaks.

Brooks came out of the gate strong in the quarterfinal round, beating Kingswood Oxford School, the sixth-seeded team, 3–0 in front of a strong home crowd on Dusty Richard Field. Next up was

The Rivers School, seeded second, in the semifinals. Brooks made the trek to the Rivers campus on Saturday, November 19, 2022, and came away with a squeaker of a win in overtime, 2–1. The stage was set for the championship showdown against top-ranked Williston Northampton School on Sunday, November 20, 2022. Brooks shocked Williston when Kyle Joyce ’23 scored a goal early, and another goal to close out the first half. Williston fought back with a tally of its own, but Brooks clamped down on defense for the 2–1 win and the New England championship.

“This was an incredible season with a group of kids who overcame adversity throughout, but they always played with incredible energy and never gave up no matter what was going on,” says head coach Willie Waters ’02. “The tournament week will be something that they will remember forever. We definitely had talent, but it was the team approach that carried them to the

championship, as every kid played a role. The heart of this team is right at the top of the list of all-time Brooks soccer teams. This was a fun team that cemented itself in the Brooks soccer history books.”

Crump-Burbank also lauds the performance of the 1st football team, which delivered a 7–1 season, a win in the Dave Coratti NEPSAC bowl game, and a resounding season that was dedicated to the memory of teammate Preston Settles ’25. Brooks fell only once, a close 24–27 loss to The Governor’s Academy, along the way. Other than that misstep, Brooks notched decisive wins through its entire season, highlighted by a 41–14 drubbing of St. Mark’s School on October 7 — a game that was specifically dedicated to Settles, and that included a pregame ceremony attended by the Settles family. The ceremony was organized by the school spirit prefects and featured the entire student body creating a tunnel for the football team and the Settles

family to run through to enter Anna K. Trustey Memorial Field.

“I think what the football team learned is that you can get behind something bigger than you, that drives you to do something that you didn’t think you could do,” CrumpBurbank says. “And, a few kids joined who wanted to be a part of this team, and I don’t think we’re the same team without them.”

The Dave Coratti Bowl against St. Sebastian’s School was held at Brooks on Saturday, November 19, 2022. Brooks played a strong game throughout and came away with the 21–12 win and the championship trophy. Head Coach Pat Foley notes that the team had not been to a NEPSAC bowl game since 2017, and he points out the boost that this year’s success gave the program.

“The success of this year’s team was incredible, and was due to the hard work, dedication and ability to persevere through adversity of each member of the team,” says Foley. “The players set some pretty lofty goals for the year. It was really impressive to see them set those high expectations for themselves and then work each day to achieve all of the smaller goals that they knew would help them reach their ultimate one. There is no doubt that Preston Settles and his family were on the minds of our team from the

Please visit the Brooks athletics webpage at www.brooksschool. org/athletics for more information on your favorite Brooks team, including schedules and up-to-date news. You can also visit the athletics webpage to subscribe to our weekly sports recap email, which includes recaps of recent Brooks games and contests.

Left to right: The boys 1st soccer team took home the New England championship this fall. ■ Lughano Nyondo ’24 and the girls 1st soccer team shocked Cheshire Academy to land a spot in the New England semifinals. ■ Mary Adams ’25 and the 1st field hockey team battled through a tough season to make it to the New England semifinals.

first day of practice until we walked off the field for the last time after the bowl game. His memory was constant motivation for the team.”

In addition to its on-field success, Crump-Burbank is proud of the football team’s receipt of the Rorke Flaherty Sportsmanship Award, which is voted on by all the other teams in the ISL. It is remarkable, she says, that a team with such a strong record and dominating margins of victory would also be recognized for its sportsmanship.

Crump-Burbank points also to cross-country standout Kata Clark ’25, who has not lost a race in two years. Clark capped this undefeated season with both the girls ISL and NEPSTA Division III championships. Her winning time at the ISL meet was 18:58, her best of the season. At the NEPSTA meet, she ran a 20:19.

“Kata’s prowess is becoming legendary on the team and is something that will be talked about for years to come,” says head coach Melissa Donais. “The success she has seen helps others on the team know what is possible through hard work and dedication. One of the most exciting things is that Kata has had all of this success in her first two years at Brooks; we cannot wait to see what she will do over the next two years.”

The 1st field hockey team impressed as well. The team battled through a spate of injuries to key players, eventually even calling on the team’s manager and part-time goalie to take on the starting job, which, head coach Tess O’Brien reports, she did ably. Brooks went deep into the postseason this year, one year removed from hoisting the New England championship trophy. The 7–7–1 squad was seeded fourth in the Class B NEPSAC tournament, landing it a quarterfinal game at home against fifth-seeded

Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School. Brooks beat BB&N in a 3–0 shutout before falling in the semifinals to top seed and eventual champion The Governor’s Academy. Despite the challenges, injuries and other obstacles the squad faced, says O’Brien, “our team responded to adversity with grace and determination.”

Finally, Crump-Burbank notes the success of the girls 1st soccer team, which came into this season with a new head coach and a young roster. The team finished its season with an 8–6–3 record, good enough for the seventh seed in the NEPSAC tournament. Brooks came up against a formidable foe in the quarterfinals in Cheshire Academy, which was ranked second and which was undefeated with a 15–0–2 record. Brooks shocked the bracket, though, when it traveled to Cheshire, Connecticut, and slammed home a 5–2 win.

Although the Brooks squad lost in the semifinal round against third seed Lawrence Academy, Head Coach Jason Braga sings the group’s praises. “I cannot express how proud I am of this group and their commitment to compete this year,” he says. “This team was extremely focused. They supported and pushed each other to surprise everyone. Every player on the team played an integral part in the team’s success, and they were a joy to work with this year.”

A Show of Support

Beyond Brooks athletes’ prowess in their sports, the Brooks community rallied this fall in a renewed show of unity and school spirit following the COVID-19 pandemic that CrumpBurbank says really affected the results on the scoreboard. Dean of Students Ingrid Knowles spearheaded a group of school spirit prefects to launch pep rallies, encourage the

community to attend games, performances, concerts and other events where students showed off their talents and interests, and even plan the pre-game ceremony to honor Preston Settles when the football team played St. Mark’s.

“Our fans were back cheering the way we’re supposed to cheer. And I think certainly, you could tell, there were moments when the school just really showed up in a really positive way. There is this ‘we’re all in this together’ type of thing that carries across,” CrumpBurbank says. “People want to see each other do well.”

Caroline Sutherland ’23, who is a school spirit prefect, a school prefect, and a member of the girls 1st soccer team, speaks very enthusiastically about her experience as a school spirit prefect. “We make sure we show younger students that this is how community works here — we all come

together and support each other,” she says. “We try to highlight all the different areas of talent in our community — athletics, but also the students who excel academically, in the arts, in performances, in all kinds of areas. It’s all of us coming together as a community to support all of our talents.”

Sutherland feels the effect of the renewed sense of school spirit when she’s on the field for Brooks, also.

“I definitely think [part of the girls 1st soccer team’s success] comes as a result of the energy that’s on campus — even during the academic day and at games,” she reflects. “Part of our success is the people who are around us, supporting us.”

Knowles, who is in her first year as a dean of students at Brooks,

“We make sure we show younger students that this is how community works here — we all support each other. We try to highlight all the different areas of talent in our community — athletics, but also the students who excel academically, in the arts, in performances, in all kinds of areas. It’s all of us coming together as a community to support all of our talents.”

calls the school spirit prefects “extremely capable,” and she says that the group has come to its role “with vision and passion, and with engagement and creativity.”

“We have an awesome group of sixth-formers who are really passionate about bringing school spirit at Brooks back to what it

was before COVID,” she says. “It’s really a student-driven model, and they’re doing it in a really fun way. They lean into their social media skills, they think about different pep rallies, they use experiences they’ve had at other schools they’ve attended.”

Follow the Brooks school spirit prefects on Instagram: @brooksgreenwave

School Spirit Prefect Caroline Sutherland ’23 leads a group of Brooks students and community members in cheering for the 1st football team. Sutherland is also a school prefect and a member of the girls 1st soccer team, which also went deep into the postseason this fall.

CAROLINE SUTHERLAND ’23 , one of this year’s school spirit prefects

AThree Brooksians have taken on the world of jewelry, and they’re challenging the traditional notions of the industry. They rely on each other and their friendship, and they’re proud of the empowering, women-run businesses they’ve created.

JeweLER’s Mark ∫

truly believe in my heart that jewelry is proof that magic exists in this world,” says Nicole Carosella ’99 who, along with her sister, Kim Carosella Gallo ’01, founded Sorellina Jewelry, a line of fine jewelry found in retailers around the world. “I say it all the time. I look at jewelry and I’m reminded that even when the world is ugly, there’s true beauty here. That’s something that we should protect and fight for.”

The Carosella sisters have walked the walk on this fight. Over the last decade, Sorellina has established itself as a force to be reckoned with. Now, together with fellow jeweler Emily P. Wheeler ’03, Kim and Nicole Carosella are working to disrupt an industry that’s traditionally male-dominated and recognize the potential jewelry has to empower women as purchasers, employees and business owners. These Brooksians have united to become a veritable force in the world outside Great Pond Road, and they each credit part of their journey to their time at Brooks.

A BROOKS CONNECTION

The Carosella sisters and Wheeler didn’t know each other when they were students at Brooks, despite Kim Carosella and Wheeler overlapping their time on campus. Instead, they found each other through a Brooks connection later in life. The Carosella sisters first met Wheeler via Leadership Gifts Officer Emily French Breakey ’03 at a Brooks alumni reception in New York. By coincidence, Wheeler had just joined the same showroom as the Carosellas; they recognized her name and were thrilled to learn that she had also attended Brooks. “It was probably instant love,” Nicole Carosella says. Kim Carosella echoes her sister’s sentiment: “We just clicked immediately.” Since then, the Carosellas and Wheeler have become close friends who support each other through thick and thin. “The default in our industry is to be competitive,” Wheeler says. “We’ve found ourselves in a place where we’re lifting each other up.”

“It’s really just such a huge coincidence,” Kim Carosella says of their meeting. “It’s such a big world, and the jewelry industry is so massive. The fact that we found each other, became really good friends and have been supportive of each other ever since is a very cool Brooks connection.”

Nicole Carosella gives Brooks some credit for that supportive collaboration: “Learning in our youth to cohabitate, and how to live on our own, and how to form these bonds and friendships has made us pretty good people,” she says. “That’s translated in our business and our relationships.”

“These two inspire me,” Nicole Carosella says of Kim Carosella and Wheeler. “I think it’s inspirational to have peers who you look

NICOLE CAROSELLA ’99 (Previous page)

up to and respect. I know the journey; I know the work. There’s something about being in the same industry, supporting each other, loving each other, complimenting each other and being there for each other. It’s a very nice thing that I’m not sure everyone gets to experience in their work.”

FINDING A PATH AT BROOKS

Nicole Carosella, Kim Carosella and Wheeler all credit Brooks with helping them find their way to jewelry, albeit in different ways. Wheeler and Nicole Carosella both speak fondly of former arts faculty Michael Walczak. A moment in a class Wheeler took with Walczak pushed her onto the design path she headed down. “We were working on a specific project that was tactile design-oriented,” she recalls, “and I remember him actually calling out something I did and telling me that he thought I had a future in design.” Wheeler expresses specific appreciation for Walczak and his influence on her, and stresses that her entire educational experience at Brooks contributed to her path today. “I got, by far, the best education I’ve ever had at Brooks,” she says. “I learned a lot about how to write well and how to read well. I use all of those skills today.”

“I was very close with Mr. Walczak,” remembers Nicole Carosella. “I did a lot of drama. He was really crucial for me in finding this path, because he was one of the few people who understood that I didn’t really follow the norm of what other people were doing. I thought outside the box, I was more creative and I didn’t always

I look at jewelRy and I’m reminded that even when the woRld is ugly, theRe’s tRue beauty heRe. That’s something that we should PRotect and fight FoR.

Empress Tennis Necklace by Sorellina.

feel I knew my place. It felt as if adults wanted me to be more studious or more structured or more responsible, and he was the first teacher who just encouraged me to be me and to pursue what I love.”

Kim Carosella, meanwhile, focused her time on Brooks classes that, she says, contribute to her business skill and acumen now. “I really liked all the math teachers,” she laughs, naming former Brooks faculty Alex Moody and Donald Cameron (“I would always win Cameron brownies,” she says). “For me, it was definitely a different path.”

Nicole Carosella went on from Brooks to attend the University of Southern California, where she studied fine arts and, she says, had a chance to explore a lot of sculpture work. She knew she loved working with her hands, she says, so she then attended Fashion Institute of Technology to study jewelry fabrication.

“And then, it’s getting to learn stones by being around stones,” Nicole Carosella says. “Getting to learn about more of the process, what techniques are out there, what’s new. Meeting people, bonding with them, having mentors and good relationships.”

Kim Carosella cites her love of art as something that draws her to jewelry manufacturing. “I studied art history in college,” she says of her days at Tulane University. “I studied color theory in particular. So those things loan themselves really, really well to jewelry design. But it was really just being inquisitive and learning. Going to the gem show every year, finding stones I’ve never heard of and asking questions about them.” After graduating from Tulane, Kim Carosella lived for a time in Florence, Italy, where she was inspired by the city’s famous art before returning to New York to found Sorellina in 2011. The Carosella sisters and their team have spent the past few months working on their 10-year collection, which will be released in June.

Wheeler, who is based in Los Angeles, began her career out of college working in public relations and marketing for startup companies in San Francisco. “It was fun for a while, and I definitely learned a lot that has benefitted my career today,” she says, “but I wasn’t very motivated or happy doing the traditional 9 to 5.” Wheeler began making jewelry on the side:

Examples of jewelry by Sorellina are modeled here. In addition, Nicole Carosella, Kim Carosella and Emily Wheeler, shown in these pages, are wearing their own jewelry.

She learned how to tie silk knot beads and made tassel beaded necklaces that she sold to friends. She began to focus full-time on her jewelry line in 2016. “It slowly grew from those necklaces,” Wheeler says. My goal was always to have a fine collection, and I finally launched that in 2019.”

EMPOWERING WOMEN

Both the Carosella sisters and Wheeler see the potential their work in jewelry has to empower women — both as purchasers and as professionals. Wheeler, in fact, brought an intention to her work in jewelry. Wheeler noticed, she says, that the men who founded the startups she worked with in her early 20s seemed to have no fear. “Why can’t I do that?” she remembers asking herself.

The Carosella sisters and Wheeler all see themselves as vanguards of a shift in the voices that are present in the jewelry industry. “Historically, the jewelry industry has been very male-dominated,” Nicole Carosella says. “Designers, manufacturers, stone dealers — everything was driven primarily by men. It was in the mid2000s that we started to really see a switch. We saw more female designers come in; we saw more female stone vendors. Not as many as there were male designers or stone vendors, but there were more than there had been previously.”

Kim Carosella points to her two nieces as examples of how she tries to empower women, and why that’s important to her. “It’s nice, because they look up to us,” she says. “They want to own their own businesses one day. They see that we’re doing it, that we’re successful, and that we’re growing our own team and doing things in a way that we’re really proud of that isn’t necessarily the way that other people do things.”

Nicole Carosella also speaks of the ways in which female jewelers have had to contend with working in an industry that is steeped in patriarchy. “A lot of manufacturers are predominantly male,” she says, “so it’s a hard industry for women to get involved in. In the beginning, there was a lot of mansplaining and being spoken down to, and we had to really learn how to stand up for ourselves and be assertive.”

Kim and Nicole Carosella take pride in their reshaping of the historically male-dominated jewelry industry. In fact, the team that they work with is all-female and composed of working mothers. “We’re just a team of five right now, but the majority of the people we work with are also female,” Kim Carosella says. “I think women bring a different perspective to business, and there’s this layer of a really nice, positive emotion that comes into it. But also,” Kim Carosella emphasizes, “there’s a lot of strategy involved. There’s a lot that women are

KIM CAROSELLA ’01

able to multitask in a different way because, in my opinion, we’re just used to balancing more in general. Women and mothers are able to manage things on a different level that I think really lends itself very well to business.”

“We’re really big believers in being leaders, not in being bosses,” Kim Carosella continues. “It’s a team relationship built on camaraderie. I’m really proud of what we’ve created, and that it’s built on those ethics and values.”

To Kim Carosella, success lies in the dynamic work environment she’s created. “I’m always going to push for revenue goals, for store goals, and maybe there will be a right combination at some point,” she says. “I’m always going to think about how we can increase web sales, or how we could do more higher-end, one-of-akind pieces, or introduce more charitable aspects. How can we be more sustainable? What new materials can

We’Re constantly pushing each otheR to see how FaR we can go, to see how good the designs can be, to see how well we can do eveRything. And, when theRe’s a FRiendshiP at the base oF all oF it, that’s a FoRce. You Really Feel it.

Empress Shield Necklace by Sorellina.

The deFault in ouR industRy is to be comPetitive. We’ve found ouRselves in a place wheRe we’Re liFting each otheR uP.

we use? But really, it’s what’s in the walls right here,” she continues. “That’s the best part, is that we’re creating this. We have an office and showroom in Dumbo in Brooklyn, and we create something together, and we do it as a team. How can we do this in a way that brings more good and affects more people in a positive way?”

Nicole Carosella also details the business decisions that go into making Sorellina successful. The majority of Sorellina’s and Wheeler’s clients, they say, are self-purchasing urban women who are 35 years or older. “There’s a lot of strategy behind building a business,” Nicole Carosella says. “Hitting price points. How do we grow? What do we need to teach our customers? We spent a lot of time figuring out our aesthetic and creating our DNA.”

“Once we established the Sorellina DNA,” Kim Carosella continues, “we found that we had some really great silhouettes that loan themselves to some lower price points. So it was building that out to make people feel comfortable taking a step into fine jewelry from a price perspective, because gold is inherently expensive. Diamonds are expensive. We’re not going to be able to cater to everyone, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to cater to anyone. So once we figured out our DNA, we saw where our strengths were, we were able to find the retailers that were best for us, what our demographic really was, what type of stones we should use. Really, when we had all that, a roadmap appeared.”

FINDING JOY IN ART

The Carosella sisters and Wheeler take joy in their work because of the potential it has to disrupt the jewelry industry, and because of the means of expression that they help create.

“What’s fun about it is that there’s endless stuff to learn,” says Wheeler. “I think that even the people who go to school for this experience that. There’s endless amounts of materials you can use; there’s different ways in which you could use those materials. It’s a constant challenge and opportunity for growth, no matter how many years you spend on it.”

“It’s hard to create very new, very different products that don’t look like what anyone else is doing,” says Nicole Carosella. “That’s hard. And I think that’s what sets us apart and why our companies have been so successful.” She views success as challenging the norms of the jewelry industry. “It’s creating and bringing concepts that are new to jewelry. It’s changing and disrupting the jewelry industry,” she says, referencing a recent collection of Sorellina’s. “It wasn’t something you saw in jewelry, and now it’s a big theme. I’m constantly pushing: How can I design something that’s going to change the industry? How can I be a leader in this industry?”

AN ETHICAL COMMITMENT

Emily P. Wheeler and Sorellina both carry a commitment to creating jewelry that is created using ethical means. Wheeler, in particular, ensures that her supply chain of stones and other materials is clean and traceable, and that her process is responsible, ethical and transparent. She hopes her clients will wear her jewelry with a clear conscience.

Wheeler is a certified member of the Responsible Jewelry Council (RJC), a standards-setting organization established to advance responsible and ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices throughout the gold, silver, platinum group metals, diamond and colored gemstone jewelry supply chain. The RJC has developed a benchmark standard for the jewelry supply chain and credible mechanisms for verifying responsible business practices through third-party auditing. RJC members commit to integrating ethical, human rights, social and environmental considerations into their day-to-day operations, business planning activities and decision-making processes.

Wheeler has also pledged to educate herself indefinitely on steps she could continue to take to conduct her business as responsibly as possible, and she works with her suppliers to promote responsible business practices across her supply chain.

Sorellina also places high value on creating pieces that promote responsibility and ethics across the jewelry industry. At press time, Sorellina was waiting on the approval of its application for membership to the RJC and only works with manufacturers who are RJC members.

Kim Carosella echoes Nicole Carosella’s thought and stresses the importance of their strong relationship with Wheeler and the ways in which it benefits both houses: “The better we are, the better Emily’s going to be,” Kim Carosella says. “The better she is, the better we’re going to be. We’re constantly pushing each other to see how far we can go, to see how good the designs can be, to see how well we can do everything. And, when there’s a friendship at the base of all of it, that’s a force. You really feel it.”

They all agree that jewelry is powerful because it’s a symbol that extends through generations and silence. “Jewelry has this amazing power to connect you to a moment or a memory,” Nicole Carosella says. “I always wear my Nana’s wedding band, and it reminds me of my Nana. The earrings that I’m wearing—my parents gave them to me. Jewelry is this great symbol and way of connecting you to other people and special moments in your life. It’s a great way to have a physical, tangible symbol of beautiful moments.”

Nicole Carosella continues: “I view jewelry the same way I view a tattoo,” she says. “It’s something that means something to you that you put on your body that shows the world who you are. A sculpture stays in your home, and someone has to be invited to see it. Jewelry is a way to show yourself to the world and to show your identity to everybody. There’s such power in that.”

Chubby Ring by Emily P. Wheeler.

A Meaningful Impact

Adapting to a New Regular

Fiscal year 2022 was a year of hope and adaptation to find the new regular. Returning to school in the fall with fewer restrictions felt better. Adults in the community encouraged us all to get back to classes and activities with a smoother cadence and fewer interruptions. The community took time to find moments and space together, albeit somewhat still hampered by COVID-19 protocols.

Brooks continued to be nimble in our approach and our response as new ways of going to school emerged. We kept pieces of what we had learned in the past year to enhance our learning with and from one another. The entire community took care of each other. The extraordinary support we received from so many allowed the leadership to continue to provide the most meaningful educational experience to our students.

This impact report on the contributions Brooks received in the past fiscal year highlights your immediate influence that allowed us to continue to deliver on our mission. The financial achievements delineated in these pages allow the school to stretch to build stronger for the future with confidence.

Today, Brooks Fund gifts provide 10 percent of the school’s operating budget and fund vital aspects of our program: classroom technology and innovation, faculty professional development and financial aid.

We are proud of our school and the evolution we have experienced in recent years. This is all possible due to the generous support of our alumni, families and friends. We thank all our donors, large and small, for your engagement and care for the school. It is only with the support of so many that aspects of what makes Brooks great are possible.

GAGE S. DOBBINS Director of Institutional Advancement

<< A detail of the facade of the school’s new main entrance.

Your generosity to Brooks allowed the school to run a full slate of meaningful programming

last year. Now, as the school looks forward, your gifts continue to make a difference in the day-today experience of our students.

A LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT

Ways to Impact Brooks

THE BROOKS FUND

Supporting every aspect of the student experience, from classroom innovation and technology to faculty professional development, financial aid, athletics, the arts and affinity groups and clubs, the Brooks Fund provides vital, immediate and unrestricted support of our operating expenses.

ALBERT NASCIMENTO ’10

Why I Give: “I am grateful for Brooks because they took a chance on a young man and allowed me to change the trajectory of my life and believe in myself. I give back to continue to open doors for students who simply just need to be given a chance to let their light shine.”

1,501

GINGER PERRY ’23

The Impact of Giving: “The arts make my education at Brooks meaningful because they provide a different outlook and method of learning in the classroom … I believe that it is very important to create a balance between school, extracurriculars and sports, and it is beneficial to incorporate art into that routine. It is valuable to take advantage of the opportunity we have to make art.”

FRANK D. ASHBURN SOCIETY MEMBERS

PLANNED GIVING

Many donors have created legacy gifts, including bequests, charitable trusts, gift annuities, life insurance and retirement plan interests to benefit Brooks. They are recognized as members of the Frank D. Ashburn Society, named in honor of the founding headmaster.

10%

RESTRICTED GIFTS

In addition to the Brooks Fund, purposeful gifts were made to specific areas of need, including financial aid, academic programs, faculty innovation and capital projects. Current use gifts provide the flexibility to address immediate needs. These gifts have meaning to donors because they address needs that the donor finds important or meaningful. $7,607,896 TOTAL RESTRICTED GIFTS

ENDOWMENT GIFTS

Gifts to the endowment are vital to the school’s long-term success, providing a consistent and permanent source of income to the Brooks operating budget. Last year, Brooks received more than $3.5 million in income from the endowment, representing 15% of total school revenues. The Brooks endowment impacts every aspect of the student experience, from financial aid to program support and faculty and classroom innovation.

TOTAL ENDOWMENT GIFTS

AUSTIN BAXTER ’22

Beneficiary of a donor-endowed scholarship fund

An Extraordinary Impact: “My time at Brooks has been truly extraordinary, and without my scholarship I would have missed out on remarkable experiences that I could only dream of. From SCUBA diving in Honduras to learning how to write a novel, Brooks provided me with a whirlwind of opportunities for which I will be forever grateful.”

AMY WEIJIA WANG

World languages faculty; received funding for professional development

A Deepening Understanding: “The Diversity Directions Conference helped me deepen my understanding of how inclusion, equality and social justice can be implemented into education and the workplace. I gained a much clearer road map for how to fulfill my role at Brooks and help with the DEI work as a minority in this community. I will do my best to help our students and adults to find their belonging here at Brooks.”

Thanks to

THE

BENEFACTORS SOCIETY

The trustees of Brooks School wish to honor individuals and families who have had a profound impact on the life and direction of this institution. The Benefactors Society recognizes

highest-level donors who, through involvement, leadership and generosity, have enriched the school beyond measure for past and future generations of students.

Mr. Philip D. Allen ’57 and Mrs. Elisabeth H. Allen

Mr. Lucius A.D. Andrew III ’57 (d) and Mrs. Phoebe H. Andrew

The George F. Baker Trust

Mr. Charles E. Bascom ’60 (d) and Mrs. Christina M. Bascom Mr. and Mrs. William N. Booth ’67 Mr. Henry M. Buhl ’48

Mr. Malcolm G. Chace III ’52 (d) and Mrs. Elizabeth Chace GP Mr. Lammot Copeland Jr. ’50

The Danforth Family

Mr. Andrew A. Davis ’81

The Arthur S. DeMoulas Family Mr. and Mrs. Steve Forbes ’66

Mr. and Mrs. E. Maxwell Geddes Jr. ’53 Mr. and Mrs. Steven R. Gorham ’85 Mr. Andrew S. Gundlach ’89

Julia and Barney Hallingby ’65

Mr. James H. Hamlen ’33 (d) Mr. and Mrs. Albert J. Hettinger Jr. (d) Mr. and Mrs. H. Anthony Ittleson ’56

Mr. and Mrs. Michael M. Kellen

The Langer Family

Robert Lehman Foundation, Inc.

Mr. and Mrs. John D. Leland Jr. ’52

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Luce III ’42 (d) Mr. George P. MacNichol III ’42 (d) Mr. Robert Marvel ’56 GP

The Melvin Family

The Merriam Family

Mr. and Mrs. Peter A. Nadosy ’64

Mr. Frederick H. Prince ’65 (d)

Mr. Dan Riccio and Mrs. Diane Riccio Diana R. Riccio

Hartley R. Rogers and Amy C. Falls P

The Rogers Family

Mr. and Mrs. Richard S. Russell (d)

The Schiff Family

Mr. Michael Scott ’43 (d) Mr. Robert G. Scott and Mrs. Ashley Wightman Scott ’84

Dr. Huntington Sheldon ’47 (d)

Mr. Alexander C. Taylor ’93 Mrs. Margaretta J. Taylor

Mrs. Kristine M. Trustey and Mr. Sean McGraw

Ms. Andrea van Beuren ’83 and Mr. Roger Kass

Mr. (d) and Mrs. John A. van Beuren ’50 Mr. Howell van Gerbig ’59 (d)

Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney (d) Mr. Orrin S. Wightman III ’58 (d) and Mrs. Letitia Wightman

The F. Fessenden Wilder Family

ESSENTIAL STEWARDS

Those alumni and parents who have chosen to invest significantly in the work of Brooks School are Essential Stewards, giving at Brooks Fund levels of $10,000 and above. Their gifts not only help to fulfill the promise of our annual programs, but provide the resources to pursue our goals and aspirations. The Essential Stewards provide a large percentage of total giving; we could not meet our goals without their leadership and generosity.

John R. Barker ’87 and Julie G. Barker P (25)

Francis S. Blake ’67 and Elizabeth K. Blake (10)

William N. Booth ’67 and Mary D. Booth (25)

Gregory Cafua and Meredith Cafua P Mrs. Donna Carpenter W’73 Mrs. Elizabeth Z. Chace W’52 GP Dr. Anqing Chen and Wenyan Pan P Sang Woong Choi and Nam Yeon Kim P Semin Chung and Jung Eun M. Lee P

Buckner W. Clay IV ’02 (10)

Mr. Lammot Copeland Jr. ’50 W. J. Patrick Curley III ’69 (25)

Richard J. Dawson and Nancy J. Dawson P John H. Deknatel and Dr. Carol M. Taylor Catalina Dib and Daniel Macklin P Cheryl M. Duckworth and James H. Duckworth P Eric C. Egertson and Robina W. Egertson (10) Donald N. Fawcett ’85 Dr. Steven A. Fern and Alexandra Fern Nancy C. Ferry and Thomas R. Ferry Barry R. Finegold and Amy J. Finegold P

Dr. Howard M. Gardner and Naomi A. Gardner (10)

Mr. E. Maxwell Geddes Jr. ’53 and Aileen Geddes (25)

Mr. Scott Ginsberg and Mrs. Stephanie G. Ginsberg (10)

Steven R. Gorham ’85 and Dorothy L. Gorham (25)

Thomas P. Grainger and Elizabeth Grainger

Brian Guthrie and Wendy Guthrie P Laurence N. Hale II and Rev. Jane Currie Linnard Hale P

Julia and Barney Hallingby ’65 (25)

Kevin M. Hayes and Julie Palo Hayes P

Valentine Hollingsworth ’72 and Carol T. Hollingsworth (10)

Jillian M. Ihsanullah and Naveed Ihsanullah

Quan Jiang and Yiying Jiang P

Karyn G. Lamb P

Thomas H. Livermore ’66 (10) Elizabeth A. Mallon P

Timothy P. McAdam ’86 (10) John J. McArdle III ’67 and Joan McArdle (25)

Brian McCabe and Loren McCabe Diana Merriam and Peter R. Merriam (10)

Mr. George A. Miller and Mrs. Buffington Miller (10)

Mr. and Mrs. Peter A. Nadosy ’64 (25)

Richard W. O’Neill and Robin L. O’Neill P Diana E. Oehrli ’89 (10)

John R. Packard Jr. H’87 and Kimberly O’Neill Packard ’87 (25)

Greg J. Pappas and Kimberly A. Pappas Mrs. Janice C. Parrott W’41 (d) James N. Pettorelli ’91 and Kerna P. Pettorelli P (10)

Richard R. Plum ’85 and Amy E. Plum P (10)

Russell T. Pyle ’87 and Elizabeth P.H. Pyle P (25)

Hal W. Reynolds and Elizabeth Reynolds P Dan Riccio and Diane Riccio Diana R. Riccio

Hartley R. Rogers and Amy C. Falls P

Belisario A. Rosas and Leslie M. Rosas (10) Dr. Richard Rosato and Dr. Laurie Rosato P

Whitney Romoser Savignano ’87 and Nicola C.G. Savignano ’87 (25)

Robert G. Scott and Ashley Wightman Scott ’84 (25)

Vivek Sharma and Vandana Sharma P

Allen W. Sinsheimer ’73 and Kelly L. Marsden (10) David A. Spector P

Juliane G. Spencer ’93 (10)

Mr. Malcolm Strachan II ’48 (d) Kevin J. Sullivan and Jeannie M. Sullivan P

John J. Tangney and Dina L. Tangney P Christopher Thompson and Elizabeth K. Thompson P Steffan Tomlinson and Kelli Tomlinson P

The Torio Family P William B. Townsend P Kristine M. Trustey and Sean McGraw (10) Cheng Chiu Tsai and Helen Lin P

Ms. Andrea van Beuren ’83 and Mr. Roger Kass (25)

Meredith Maren Verdone ’81 and Joseph P. Verdone

Mrs. Virginia Waller W’45 (d)

Charles F. Wellso and Carmel A. Wellso P William D. Werner ’73 (10)

Letitia Wightman W’58 (20)

Jim M. Wodarski and Gina V. Wodarski P Alexander G. B. Zaldastani ’87 P (25)

Erin Sheehan Zaldastani ’85 P (10)

Qun Zhu and Dr. Wenwen Jiang P

THANK YOU FOR THE PRIVILEGE

Over the course of his 31 years on the Brooks faculty, English teacher, coach and mentor William W. Dunnell III H’68, P’78, P’84, P’85 transformed the lives of generations of Brooksians. He dedicated himself to his students’ education and growth in ways that remain unparalleled and immeasurable. Dunnell passed away on July 17, 2022. The Bulletin collected remembrances of Dunnell from Brooks alumni, which are presented here.

William W. Dunnell III, of Meredith, N.H., formerly of Holderness, N.H., and North Andover, Massachusetts, died quietly in his sleep on July 17, 2022. He was 89 and had recently been in declining health. A memorial service will be held in Frank D. Ashburn Chapel on the grounds of Brooks School on April 15, 2023.

Born in Boston, Dunnell grew up in Wayland, Massachusetts, with his parents, the late William W. Dunnell Jr. and Ellen Frothingham Dunnell. He graduated from Noble & Greenough School in 1951 and from Harvard College in 1955.

After graduating from Harvard, Dunnell enlisted in the United States Navy, serving aboard the U.S.S. Truckee. Following his Navy

service, he joined the faculty at Fenn School in 1957, where he met Patricia Ceresole of Concord. They were married in December 1959. In 1963, he accepted a position in the English department at Brooks, where he taught until his retirement in 1994.

During his time at Brooks, Dunnell earned a master’s degree in English from The Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College. Over the course of his tenure at Brooks, he served as chair of the English department, head of the middle school, chair of the dramatics department, chair of the African Exchange Program, director of the Hungarian Exchange Program, director of the summer school, dormitory master, and coach of boys and girls hockey and boys crew.

Head of School John Packard memorialized Dunnell’s vast and deep contributions to Brooks in an all-community message following Dunnell’s death in July. “[Dunnell] was an extraordinary English teacher for all 31 of his years on the faculty and time spent in his classroom turned out students who were better writers, better thinkers and better people,” Mr. Packard wrote. “He had his own uncanny and singular way of instilling confidence in his students by challenging them to believe obstacles could be overcome — and he saw to it that his students felt his unequivocal support in those pursuits.”

Dunnell also made his mark at Brooks as a hockey and crew coach. Following the school’s move to coeducation, Dunnell became the first coach of the girls ice hockey team, a post he held until his retirement. The Dunnell family — Dunnell’s wife, Patty, and his three children: William ’78; Circe ’84; and Jacob ’85 — called the Brooks campus home. Dunnell’s brother, Jake, also taught on the Brooks English faculty alongside Dunnell for 26 years.

Dunnell was predeceased by his wife in 2013 and his sister Ellen Bennett in 2010. He is survived by his brother Jake and by his three children.

Dunnell in 1987, seven years before his retirement from Brooks.

What Great Teachers Do

TERRY RONAN ’77

Frank Ashburn once said “It’s not the school, it’s the people in it.” William Dunnell was one of the people Frank Ashburn was talking about, as he is one of the links in the anchor chain that has grounded Brooks School from 1927 to present. A teacher who helped his students to think and write critically and expressively. A mentor who listened and learned from students while giving of his time and wisdom. He asked students what they thought and asked questions to get them to think about why. He cared and challenged, always with respect and genuine interest for the student as a person. WWD was passionate about teaching, reading, listening, learning, talking and exploring beside his students. It’s what great teachers do, and why the fond memories of the lessons and conversations with him have been with me through the long days and short years since 1977.

William Wanton Dunnell III

A Man in Full who made those around him better He didn’t suffer fools but invested in late bloomers He doubted co-education and became its biggest champion At peace on the lake coaching for that magic swing and glide 30 Years a keystone of Brooks School Cui servire est regnare With Many Thanks, The Class of 1978

“If their retirement is a blow for me … then it becomes a seismic shock for the students, some of whose emotional lives depend on their contact with the Dunnells. Whether it is class time or not, students are in those welcoming classrooms, listening to wise and gentle talk, writing messages or epigrams on the blackboard, seeking a thoughtful audience for their tales of woe. Something there is that doesn’t love an empty Dunnell room.”

MEMORIAM

—Legendary Brooks faculty E. Graham Ward, in a 1994 Bulletin piece he wrote marking the Dunnell brothers’ retirement.

A photo of Dunnell at work, taken by George Griswold ’75 for the Brooks yearbook.

A Valuable Lesson in Perseverance

DR. JOHN CRAMPTON ’81

I would like to share how William W. Dunnell impacted me as a student at Brooks and beyond. I was a day student (“townie”) who studied until 9 p.m. and then went home for the evening. I struggled to succeed academically. During my fifth-form year, Mr. Dunnell was my English teacher. He was very demanding, yet fair. I started to slack a little bit and he gave me sage advice. He said “Crampton, you don’t have the intellectual horsepower to compete and not study as much as (students X and Y). You need to work harder for success.” It hurt my feelings at the time, but he was right! I buckled down and got decent grades. That valuable lesson shaped my academic career and my life. I worked hard and was able to climb the academic ladder, earn a doctoral degree and become a neuropsychologist. Thank you, Mr. Dunnell and Brooks School.

His Presence and Spirit Remain

GEOFFREY HERTER ’68

I am sure this will be only one of many tributes dedicated to the passing of Bill Dunnell. I have never forgotten how we started at Brooks together on the same September day in 1963, now more than 59 years ago. We sat down at his table for our first meal in the old dining hall, he a new master, and I a scared and naive 13-yearold who had never been away from home. He soon became my teacher, coach and advisor, gently pushing, prodding and guiding me to be a better student, athlete and citizen, but always first and foremost to be a better person. And even after graduation and years beyond, his presence and now spirit remain. I am now 72 years old, and when I look back at those who have had a profound impact on my life and who hold a very special place in it, I always see Mr. Dunnell. I, as many, with gratitude and affection, will miss him greatly.

A Lasting Inspiration

RUSS TUCKERMAN ’79

William W. Dunnell III, “DubDub,” saved my secondary school education on many levels and occasions, including not a few disciplinary committee meetings with me as the subject (esp. the Blizzard of ’78 escape to Boston saga). He will always take up significant space in my mind, including fond memories of his late wife, affectionately known as “Mrs. Puffer,” and the P.B.A. Hall “faculty brats,” Bill, Circe and Jake.

My returned homework assignments would be sharply creased in the middle and heavily marked with red marker in the margins. Here I learned that first draft, second draft and, usually, the third draft led to a quality written product. I always wondered why my writing pieces seemed to intrigue him, a lot. Finally, some 30 years after my Brooks graduation, I figured it out. In my English classes I had often written about a summer camp, Camp Wabun. My grandfather was an original founder in 1933, as well as an educator and English teacher from Derby Academy and Noble and Greenough School. Bill, at age 14, had been a camper for eight weeks at Wabun in 1947, thus knowing my grandfather as an owner and canoe guide. Bill went to camp without Jake, his brother, who was likely too young at the time. I came across Bill’s picture and name on the section plaque for his year in the camp dining room, just one among almost 85 seasons of other campers. He never said a word to me of this while I was at Brooks. Now it all became clear to me. For all those years in school and many years after, he never played favorites to anybody, even though in hindsight it was clear he knew my grandfather from Camp Wabun and maybe rowed for him in his time at Nobles!

After Brooks, I enjoyed a pen-pal relationship with Bill, including several visits and long phone calls with both brothers. In October 2021, my wife and I were able to visit both WWD and Jake at their residential care facility in Meredith, N.H. The visit couldn’t be beat: We laughed and smiled about many Brooks memories, talked baseball with Jake and talked politics with Bill. The school was so lucky to have these two brothers who transformed the lives of so many young men and women. A plethora of alums will miss this great man. And yes, he would tell me often, “Russell, remember when business interferes with pleasure, cut out pleasure.” I never quite took this to heart, but he has remained an inspiration to me all these years later.

Rest In Peace, my friend.

A card Russ Tuckerman ’79 received from Dunnell that includes the familiar refrain: “Thank you for the privilege of you.”

A Better Person For It

ZABETTE MACOMBER ’84

William Dunnell was my advisor, teacher and coach, one of my dearest friend’s father, and while I knew he was incredibly busy with other things at school, he made me feel like he had nothing better to do than listen to my teenage life drama angst. He was my one-man band cheering team to push myself harder in rowing. He introduced me to Mozart’s horn concerto, which I still love. He thought it was a grand idea that I start the girls ice hockey team despite none of us knowing how to skate. And, he wrote in my sixth-form report card (which is still pinned on my wall), “The business of life is her strength... May she have a superlative spring following her desires,” despite my (not surprising) mediocre grade, which still makes me laugh. I mean, what kind of English teacher comment is that? A Mr. Dunnell comment. I, like so many students, was incredibly lucky to have entered his world, and I am certain I’m a better person for it. Cheers to you, DubDub, and thank you!

A Reflection on the Dunnell Brothers

DAVE TEW ’70

I was in the fourth grade at another school when I became aware of Bill, and I was terrified. He was the sixth-grade English teacher at the Fenn School, where I had started as a 10-year-old. In the fifth grade I was in an English class that was next door to his. Listening through the door at the back of the room I could tell that he had little patience for his sixth-grade boys. The Venetian blinds at the back of the room suffered daily from his thrown erasers and chalk.

I was not looking forward to being his student next year. But he wasn’t there anymore. The rumor was that he went on to teach at Middlebury College. A few years later I enrolled at Brooks as a third-former. My first day of classes was the beginning of a different kind of education.

Jack McVey’s was my very first class in the old library in the lower level of Gardner House. It was a history class unlike any other I’ve ever had. It wasn’t to be “names, dates, people and places.” It was a Socratic dialogue about a reading that we’d all been assigned for the first day — and it was discombobulating to say the least. As I left that class somewhat stunned, I was stopped by a voice from one of the other classrooms. It was Bill Dunnell calling out to me! “Mr. Tew!” he said in a loud voice. I stopped, turned back and looked into the room. There he was, a complete surprise. “It’s good to see you, young man. Welcome to Brooks.” He smiled, and at that moment I did indeed feel welcome.

During the next few years I came to realize that prep school-age students were more to Bill’s liking in terms of intellectual development. Although I never had him for a course, I did get to know his brother, Jake. I was one of the fifth-form dorm prefects in Merriman, and we developed a relationship that became important to me. The television show “60 Minutes“ began that year, and every Sunday evening he invited me to watch. After the show we talked at length, and he often quizzed me about the books I was reading for English class. He pressed me to think more deeply about books such as “The Red and The Black” by Stendahl, “Moby Dick” by Melville and Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” What I learned from Jake Dunnell throughout those evening discussions influenced me to focus my studies on history and literature in college. I imagine if I’d had similar discussions with Bill, it would’ve had the same effect.

Brooks was lucky to have the Dunnell brothers as teachers.

Dunnell at work in his classroom.

Encouraging, Pushing, Celebrating and Believing

JILL BOCKMANN ’85

I knew WWD (or DubDub, as we called him) as my ice hockey coach, yes, but also as a person who cheered me on through the inevitable bumps in the road that one faces at prep school. WWD could be very serious and he demanded integrity, but he also loved to laugh. I hope this story would have made him laugh.

I was a member of that first girls ice hockey team. I remember clearly an early practice, in which WWD brought us together and told us that there is no game of hockey without checking. We had a big game coming, against BB&N I believe, and WWD wanted to make sure we were prepared to check our opponents. So practice we did, and we hit the ice at our first game ready to use “all our tools.” Five minutes into the game, the officials blew the whistle and reminded our coaches that there is no checking in girls hockey. Sigh. There went a key part of our strategy, as our skating skills were “still evolving.” I am pretty sure we lost that game.

Despite this small error, I mostly remember WWD’s voice encouraging, pushing and celebrating the team’s efforts despite our rookie status and notso-hot record. And when I stumbled, on or off the ice, he always always showed up and let me know he believed in me, despite my mistakes. I last communicated with WWD in the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. A letter arrived in the mail, in red ink of course, thanking me for my part in the gift of a scull he received upon retirement in 1994. We corresponded via snail mail a few times following this initial letter, and every time, he encouraged me as an educator and expressed his faith in me. Now, he was also ranting about the state of education, and he let me know how disappointed he was in the path of public education. (Constructive criticism was another skill that WWD modeled with his students.) But cheer me on he did, despite not agreeing with my path.

For being an important cheerleader in my life and my education, I will always hold a special place for WWD. His advice, like checking my opponents on the rink, was not always orthodox, but his belief in my ability to survive being checked has stuck with me for decades.

Time on the Lake

GEORGE GRISWOLD ’75

Mr. Dunnell was such a wry and fantastic guy, and his wife was super friendly and understood the travails of kids away from home. He loved Fluffer-Nutter sandwiches: peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff.

Mr. Dunnell basically kidnapped me right off of the fourth-string soccer field to row crew my first year. I was really bad at soccer (scored a goal for the opposing team, bad) and my rowing experiences are so memorable. I will always be grateful for that. He coached my first year on the lake. David Swift was the year after, when I was on the third boat and we won the interscholastics.

“If the measure of a great boarding school faculty member is leaving one’s students, advisees and all who come into one’s orbit knowing in no uncertain terms that they matter, Mr. Dunnell was a giant. His example and mentorship moved scores of colleagues to do the best they could to give to the school and students in the ways that he did. Thus, his impact extended well beyond the student body and continues to be felt today.”

—Head of School John Packard in his message to the Brooks community following Mr. Dunnell’s death.

Dunnell coaching the Brooks crew on Lake Cochichewick.

Jill Bockmann ’85 shared this image of a shirt made for the first girls ice hockey team at Brooks. Dunnell coached the team from its inception until his retirement.

Across Two Generations

LISA COGLIANO ’90, P’22, P’25

When I began at Brooks as a third-former, every student was assigned a weekly job. Mine was washing the chalkboards in the old library. Mr. Dunnell’s room was the first on the left. My shy, quiet fourteen-yearold self was afraid of the skinny, eccentric old man who’d peer at me over the top of his spectacles when I arrived at his door to do my job, “Yes, Miss?” I was very careful not to knock any of the stacks of papers piled high on his desk or erase the quotations on the right hand side of his chalkboard. I would try to time my cleaning when he wasn’t in his room. Friday afternoons were safe. Then Mr. Dunnell was assigned as my fourth-form English teacher. It is not an exaggeration to say this changed my life.

Throughout the next three years, I learned many lessons from Mr. Dunnell. His talent as an English teacher inspired and challenged me: Reading “Illusions” by Richard Bach as well as traditional sophomore texts introduced new perspectives and made me consider how I saw myself and my place in the world. His required two-column reader’s response to everything we read taught me to use text to inform writing, while his tiny, scratchy, handwritten margin comments pushed me to think deeply, and to use a dictionary, as his extensive vocabulary required deciphering too. His weekly quizzes taught me grammar: “Quotation is the noun form. Quote is a verb.” His difficult assignment of writing a “New Yorker”-style piece lives on at Brooks as my daughter took on this challenge not long ago, and to this day, I cannot write in a book except in pencil, for “Books are repositories of man’s knowledge.” (Mr. Dunnell howled when I told him years later that I always thought he was saying “suppositories.” With his crinkly-eyed warm grin, he said we should change the quotation.)

Mr. Dunnell’s lessons carried well beyond the walls of the old library. When I became a teacher myself, my fifth graders also learned to write, rewrite, rewrite again and be concise: “Omit needless words!” He was a constant presence in my classroom as I repeated his lessons, but more so because of the kind of teacher that he was to me. I knew I was a good student, but Mr. Dunnell repeatedly seemed to be in awe of me and things that I would write. He challenged me to think deeper while boosting my confidence with his unconditional belief in me. He always made me feel special because he saw me in ways better than I saw myself. This was my first experience in which a teacher’s

belief in me had such a deep impact on how I saw myself and what I thought I could do. I felt not only seen, but seen in ways in which I didn’t see myself.

It was a gift he gave his students.

Mr. Dunnell’s unconditional belief in me has had a lasting impact on my life. It influenced my decision to go into education and for me is the key to connecting with my students and being a good teacher. It is how I strive to mother my four children. His life lesson—that unconditional belief in another can help someone achieve more than almost anything else you can give them—has shaped who I am today. I once wrote a quotation worthy of Mr. Dunnell’s board: “The only limit to the possibilities of the mind is the belief in limitations.” I didn’t realize then that it was my special teacher’s belief in me that helped me soar.

Dunnell was a master teacher at Brooks. Along with his brother, Jake Dunnell, he was a pillar of the school’s English faculty.

A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM WILLIAM, CIRCE AND JACOB DUNNELL

The Dunnell family extends its gratitude and appreciation to alumni and former colleagues who have shared their remembrances and condolences with us individually and collectively since July. They have been moving, thoughtful and humorous, and have reminded us how Pop’s students, first and foremost, and the school community were so important to him

Mr. Dunnell’s gift to me extended long after I graduated. We have corresponded through these 32 years since. During some difficult times in my life he continued to provide me with unconditional support conveyed in his gentle wisdom and keen observations about me and life in general. His Christmas card is the one I look forward to most every year. He called me this past spring, right before he passed away, just to check in. Our call ended with his traditional, “Thank you for the privilege, Miss.” My guess is that Mr. Dunnell had relationships like ours with many, many students and that he leaves behind a legacy of strong writers, rowers and thinkers, who blossomed in knowing him. Our relationship changed my life and is a gift I will always cherish.

My Dearest Sir, you will be missed. Thank you for the privilege. All my love to you, Lisa.

For a reflection from members of the class of 1968, please turn to the Class Notes entry beginning on page 61.

Brooks will hold a memorial service on campus for Dunnell on April 15, 2023.

A scene of costumed Brooksians enjoying the Halloween Dance sponsored by student affinity group Alianza Latina. The dance was held inside the property located at 1116 Great Pond Road.

A Reunion on the Pitch

Two Brooks teammates spend a final year together on the Northwestern

Brooks boys 1st soccer teammates Andrew Stevens ’18 and Christian Garner ’18 made names for themselves at Brooks when they won Independent School League titles in 2016 and 2017. They each went on to play soccer in college: Stevens, a midfielder, captained the Columbia University squad by the time he was a sophomore, and Garner, a goalkeeper, captained the Boston College team. Now, due to the additional year of eligibility granted by the NCAA in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Garner and Stevens find themselves reunited for a year: They’re both fifth-year starters for the soccer team at Northwestern University, where they’re each pursuing graduate-level certificates in analytics and management.

Garner and Stevens, who live together, couldn’t be happier to be reunited. First, they’re proud to be at Northwestern: Stevens lauds the school’s renowned academics combined with its athletic stature as a member of the Big Ten Conference. “It’s hard to beat that level of academics and athletics, and being just outside Chicago is a huge bonus,” says Stevens. “We’re both from the Boston area, and Chicago’s a whole different experience.”

Second, Stevens and Garner are thrilled to have one final year playing soccer together. “It’s a lot of fun,” Stevens continues. “We had a really good relationship from day one at Brooks. And obviously, getting to come here and reconnect our paths and end our college careers together is really cool. We both had different processes going into college and didn’t think that we would have the chance to play again. So I think we’ve really just been trying to enjoy the moment and take full advantage of the opportunity.”

“Brooks soccer meant a lot to us,” Garner adds. “That shaped our perspective on the game now. And then we had two different experiences — Andrew at Columbia and me at Boston College. Getting to come back together is like a dream come true.”

Garner and Stevens also say that they still use aspects of what they learned at Brooks on the field. “My Brooks soccer experience is the best experience that I’ve ever had,” Stevens says. “I loved it. I loved the team, the culture, the tradition, everything. How to be a good teammate, how to feel about

Christian Garner ’18 (left) and Andrew Stevens ’18 reunited for a year on the Northwestern University men’s soccer team.

the game, how to push guys around you, all that stuff comes from playing at Brooks and my experience with [faculty emeritus] Dusty [Richard], current head coach Willie [Waters ’02] and all the guys there.” Garner emphasizes the way in which his experience at Brooks reverberates today. “It’s the culture, togetherness and the brotherhood the Brooks program’s given us,” he says. “It’s cool when we go to Indiana and we’re playing on the Big Ten Network. We’re both out there together, battling one of the better college soccer teams in the country, and there’s still that connection to Brooks and how special that experience was.”

Christian Garner ’18 and Andrew Stevens ’18 were so excited for the Brooks boys 1st soccer team’s trip to the New England championship game, they drove for 16 hours straight from Chicago to Massachusetts — and through a blizzard in Buffalo, N.Y. — to catch the game with other soccer alumni. Read about the Brooks season on page 18 of this issue.

BROOKS WORKS

Hal Hamilton ’53

“Spectral New England”

Hal Hamilton ’53 showed his recent film project, “Spectral New England,” this fall. The documentary project explores New England’s supernatural history from the 1630s to the present day. Hamilton wrote, directed and narrated the film. Hamilton was known at Brooks for his acting talent. He decamped to the United Kingdom for several decades, during which he graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and became a member of the Royal Court Company. After returning to the United States, Hamilton took a position teaching film and literature at the University of Rhode Island, where he continues to preside over classes.

Alumni Briefs

A Pioneer in Wyoming

Liza Scott ’14 works as a fly-fishing guide in Wyoming. Recently, she spent a day guiding retired Groton School classics teacher John Tulp in Buffalo, Wyoming. Although Scott identified herself quickly as a Brooks graduate, Tulp says, “Liza and I didn’t spend the day talking about life in the ISL. We were there for the fishing, and she showed me one of the best days of trout fishing I’ve ever had. But we did chat about it here and there, and more importantly we both knew from our first couple of minutes that we shared a strong connection and were going to have a great time together.”

Tulp adds that Scott was “terrific. She was upbeat and fun all day long, but also thoroughly professional in all the crucial matters of knowledge, confidence, skill and organization that make for a successful day in a rather technical pastime, not to mention safety in very remote and sometimes fairly rugged places.” He points out that guiding fly-fishing remains a predominantly male industry, and says that Scott is making an impressive impact on the cutting edge of the sport. “With her blend of self-assurance, competence and personal style, she is poised to have an exciting influence on that fly fishing world at several levels in the coming years,” he concludes.

A Meaningful Film Score

Daniel Slatkin ’12 composed and conducted the musical score for “Gradually, Then Suddenly,” a documentary on Detroit’s 2013 bankruptcy. The film debuted at a Detroit film festival in April. Slatkin, a Detroit native, recorded the score with members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. His father, Leonard Slatkin, is the orchestra’s music director laureate.

Slatkin’s score for “Gradually, then Suddenly” features parts for viola, cello and bass, along with piano and electronic sounds. Slatkin told the Detroit Free Press that he avoided violins because he wanted the sound of the score to feel heavier and more industrial to suit the Detroit setting. According to the Free Press, the score plays for about 85% of the movie, well above the typical 60% for a documentary.

“Gradually, Then Suddenly” was released in October. Slatkin previously won the award for best score at the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema for his work on the indie feature “Neon Bleed.”

SAVE THE DATE GIVING DAY!

Our annual Giving Day is scheduled to take place on February 9, 2023. This oneday event, in which we strive to accrue as many donations to the Brooks Fund as possible, is a tremendous help in meeting our annual fund and institutional budget goals. Please be on the lookout for class competitions, challenges and gift matching opportunities, and get ready to give back to Brooks!

A Special Campus Weekend

The school spent an October weekend celebrating Alumni Homecoming and an induction into the Brooks School Athletics Hall of Fame.

Brooks welcomed alumni back to campus on Saturday, October 1, for its annual induction ceremony for the athletics hall of fame followed by the annual alumni homecoming gathering. The alumni festivities began with honoring three inductees into the athletics hall of fame: The undefeated, ISL champion 1982–1983 girls 1st lacrosse team; lacrosse and soccer player Ginger Walsh Cobb ’83; and tennis and basketball star Alex Skinner ’08. The lacrosse team that was inducted was a particular highlight of the day: Numerous teammates and their families flooded campus, lending a palpable buzz of reunion to the event.

The homecoming festivities for all alumni continued the sense of reconnection, including a field-side hospitality tent with refreshments and raffle prizes that Brooksians enjoyed while watching that Saturday’s Brooks athletic competitions.

MORE HONORS

Four Brooksians were recently inducted into the Brown University Athletic Hall of Fame. Sarah Broadhead Baird ’99 and Julie Petralia Derderian ’99, P’25, along with Assistant Head of School Nina F. Hanlon, were inducted as members of the 2000 women’s crew team, which won the NCAA national championship. Hanlon was also inducted as a member of the 1999 team, which also won a national championship. Murray Danforth III ’72 was inducted for his prowess as a member of the men’s rugby team, which won the Ivy League Championship three times during his tenure in Providence.

Athletics Hall of Fame Induction

The Brooks School Athletics Hall of Fame was established to honor those individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the quality and tradition of Brooks School athletics.

1982–1983 GIRLS 1ST LACROSSE TEAM

The 1982–1983 girls 1st lacrosse team had an undefeated, 13–0 season and an ISL championship win. The team also scored the most goals in the league. The group made its mark as a hugely successful team despite the school having opened to coeducation only five years prior. Before the induction ceremony, teammate Alexandra G. Abbott ’85 reflected on the team’s impact on her life and on the school. “The dedication and commitment toward winning and playing our very best, not only as teammates but as individuals, was powerful to be a part of, especially as a 16-year old,” she said. “As the season was coming to an end, it was clear that we were making history and showing the community our strength as young women.”

Abbott also recalled a lesson she learned from being a member of the team. “Every Friday night before a Saturday game, we would meet on the lacrosse field, sit in a large circle and talk as a team about any issues or problems that we had as individuals and players,” she said. “I remember thinking how incredible it was to be a part of something so communicative and supportive. It taught me a very valuable life skill that I have utilized throughout my life and career. This power of open communication allowed our team to work more efficiently and help us focus.”

Members: Ginger Walsh Cobb ’83 (captain), Alexandra G. Abbott ’85, Courtnay O. Duchin ’86, Circe Dunnell ’84, Courtney O. Hayes ’83, Carolee Levick Hazard ’84, Jennifer Gooch Hummer ’83, Tracy E. Kinney ’85, Susan P. McDonald ’83, Tory Wright Morton ’84, Wickie Smith Rowland ’85, Mary-Priscilla Stevens ’83, Andrea van Beuren ’83, Elizabeth R. Wheeler ’84, and Margaret Sands Witham ’84.

GINGER WALSH COBB ’83

Ginger Walsh Cobb ’83, who served as a threeyear captain of the girls 1st lacrosse team, was also honored as an individual inductee. She is one of the school’s first star female athletes, and she made massive contributions to the school’s budding girls soccer, ice hockey and lacrosse programs. Cobb was a two-time captain of the girls soccer team; she also played ice hockey on the boys 1st ice hockey team while calling for the creation of a girls team. She was named the 1983 athlete of the year and

Members of the 1982–1983 girls 1st lacrosse team at the October hall of fame induction ceremony.

received the Headmaster’s Prize at her Prize Day.

Cobb remains a force for studentathletes today. She currently serves as the head of the upper school at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland. Her longtime successful coaching career of the St. Andrew’s girls lacrosse and soccer team has also earned Cobb induction into the St. Andrew’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

ALEX SKINNER ’08

Tennis champion and basketball powerhouse Alex Skinner ’08 was the third inductee this year. Skinner captained the boys 1st tennis team during his sixth form; his singles record of 17–1 helped him maintain a USTA ranking in the top 30 for New Englanders under 18 years of age. He was also the school’s first New England Class A Prep School Singles Champion as well as its first Boston Globe All-Scholastic awardee for the league’s best player. He was a three-time All-ISL selection and Eagle-Tribune All-Star, and he received the 2008 Moynihan Lumber Student-Athlete Award and the FDA

Athletic Award at his graduation. He was also captain of the boys 1st basketball team and was selected for the 2008 Eagle Tribune Basketball Super Team. Skinner matriculated from Brooks to Boston College, where he played tennis and was ranked first in the Northeast with his doubles partner as a senior. He received the Boston College Leadership Award 2011–2012 and the Athletics Director’s Award for Academic Achievement. He has been inducted into Boston College’s tennis hall of fame.

Skinner then returned to Brooks, where he served as a nine-year member of the faculty as a member of the admission office and athletics department while also coaching tennis, basketball and squash for younger Brooksians who viewed him as a role model and inspiration for their own success.

Top to bottom, left to right: The 1982–1983 girls 1st lacrosse team. ■ Ginger Walsh Cobb ’83 (right) in action for Brooks. ■ Athletics hall of fame inductees Alex Skinner ’08 (left) and Ginger Walsh Cobb ’83 at the October induction ceremony. ■ Alex Skinner ’08 on the court.

A NEW ALUMNI BOARD MEMBER

Summar Lyons ’03 joins the Brooks School Alumni Board as a member of the Career Advisory Committee. She is currently the director of youth programs with the Partners of America, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that connects people and organizations across borders to serve and change lives through lasting partnerships.

Lyons is passionate about youth development. She pursued field work in Costa Rica as a Peace Corps volunteer from 2009 to 2012 and graduate studies at American University’s School of International Service in 2014. She has led the implementation of youth exchange programs for high school students with the United States Department of State for the past eight years. This path connects to her Brooks experience: She first went on a high school exchange to Kenya in 2003 while at Brooks. When applying to serve on the Brooks alumni board, Lyons shared that she hopes to pursue initiatives that connect alumni with current students where possible.

NEW YORK RECEPTION

Brooksians gathered at Doyle in New York in November to enjoy an evening of hors d’oeuvres, drinks and good company.

Head of School John R. Packard H’87, P’18, P’21 (center, facing crowd) addresses attendees at the reception.

Hosts (from left to right) Alan Osborne P’26, Cat Osborne P’26, Elizabeth D. Carey P’19, P’20, P’23 and Alex Carey ’86, P’19, P’20, P’23.

Members of the class of 2014 pause for a photo as they catch up at the New York reception.

left to right: Jackie Murphy, Caroline Burke and Sam Grant.

Lisa Portney ’08 (center, facing camera) enjoying time with other Brooksians at the New York reception.

The busy, lively scene at the New York reception.

Anoosha Barua ’20 (right) greets Director of Admission and Financial Aid Bini Egertson P’15.

Leah McLaughlin ’89 (left) and Director of Athletics Roberta Crump-Burbank P’11.

Rowan Beaudoin-Friede ’17 (center) reunites with old friends, including Dontae Christian ’15 (left).

Blake Davis ’88 (left) and Leslie Rutherfurd Coleman ’88 pause for a photo.

Vanessa Wilcox P’03 (left) and John MacDonald ’03.

Pradeep Kapadia ’74, P’04, P’09 (center) and Jess Kapadia ’04 greet a mutual friend.

A Career in Nature

A Brooksian combines her love of the outdoors and her academic interests into a career as a park and forest ranger.

Emily Prud’homme ’87 came to Brooks from Los Angeles. What she found in North Andover inspired the path of her education, and her career as a park ranger and forest ranger for America’s natural spaces.

Brooks nurtured Prud’homme’s love of the outdoors, science and nature. She was challenged and inspired by Advanced Placement Biology with venerated science teacher Nick Evangelos as a sixth-former, but she still speaks

most fondly of an introductory earth science course she took as a fourth-former. Specifically, Prud’homme recalls a field trip the class took. “Somewhere near Brooks, we found an esker,” she says. “An esker is a glacial deposit. It’s basically a long sinuous mound of river deposits that is from the melting underneath a glacier. It blew my mind to imagine the ice sheet that covered Brooks, and the melting of that ice sheet that

created this long, skinny hill. And that, thousands of years later, we went and visited that hill. That was my first academic connection of going into the field and seeing a cool physical geography concept.”

Prud’homme graduated from Brooks without firm college plans. She spent time working and traveling, eventually visiting classmate Ali Boileau in Durham, England. Boileau was studying

Emily Prud’homme ’87 in Clarno, Oregon, where a unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and Hancock Field Station are located.

geography. Prud’homme recalls being intrigued by Boileau’s field of study. When she subsequently matriculated to the University of California Davis, she enrolled in an introductory course in physical geography. “That class set my course, and I never looked back,” she says. Prud’homme completed a degree in geography and a minor in geology, and then received a master’s degree in geography from Arizona State University.

“I liked the rigor of becoming a scientist,” Prud’homme says, “but during the time that I was getting that degree, I worked with a service learning group on campus. I taught physical geography to sixth-graders at a school on a nearby American Indian reservation. And doing that made me realize that I loved teaching. I wanted to work with kids if possible, and help to inspire them to appreciate the world around them, the way my teachers had done for me.”

This realization, Prud’homme explains, led her toward a career in outdoor education experiences. She became the manager of Hancock Field Station, an outdoor science camp located inside the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in rural Oregon. There, she trained staff and led students among fossil-rich rock formations that preserve a record of plant and animal evolution, changing climate and past ecosystems stretching back 40 million years. She was inspired a couple of years later to apply to work as a seasonal park ranger at Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, a position she began in 2010. “I was able to tie a whole lot of personal passions together,” Prud’homme says, “and then do that professionally, teach people about it; become an expert in this landscape and help explain it.”

Prud’homme spent six seasons working at Crater Lake, honing her skills in interpretation each summer and working with school groups in the spring and fall. She then spent a season at Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, gaining perspective on landscape size and a new geography. Denali contains six million acres of taiga forest, alpine tundra and mountains, the highlight of which is North America’s tallest mountain, Denali. “It’s pretty amazing how huge the landscape is,” Prud’homme says. “It’s amazing to live in a place where you can’t go for a run because there could be grizzly bears, but to go hiking anyway and get used to that. And then on, well, one out of every three days, be absolutely wowed by a picture of an enormous mountain that was otherwise in the clouds. That was a big step out of anything that I was familiar with.”

Prud’homme went on to spend three years at Acadia National Park in Maine. She calls that position a homecoming of sorts, since her family summered in Maine since she was young. “Seeing a familiar place with a new perspective was pretty cool,” she says. “I got to learn a lot. You realize the questions you don’t ask about a place when you think you know it. You start to learn where to look. And the cultural stories as well as the geologic stories just give the whole place a whole lot more depth than I had before.”

Recently, Prud’homme felt drawn back to Oregon. She moved from the National Park Service to the National Forest Service, and was named the lead ranger for the caldera of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, which is part of Deschutes National Forest. The monument covers just a small portion of the Cascades’ largest volcano, two caldera lakes, cinder cones and several obsidian lava flows. “I work in a landscape that fascinates and inspires me,” Prud’homme says. “When I finish a day of work — some of it outside, some of it at a desk — and head out to a trail or launch my kayak, I realize how lucky I am to have found this career. It would be hard to have any other kind of job.”

“It feeds me. It feels right to me to be in these places,” Prud’homme reflects. “To have the opportunity to talk to a dozen people on a guided walk and answer their questions and share stories about the full picture of the place, or at least as much of the picture I know; not just the geology, not just the volcanic flow, but who were the people who lived here before, who were the people who thought that making a monument was important. I try to connect with people and ask, ‘what are places that are inspiring to you where you live, and how do you engage with those places when you’re at home?’ Because you are the important voice for that place.”

“When I finish a day of work — some of it outside, some of it at a desk — and head out to a trail or launch my kayak, I realize how lucky I am to have found this career. It would be hard to have any other kind of job.”

The Opportunity to Imagine

Nalia Medina ’18 graduated from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., this spring, and she’s well on her way to a strong career on Capitol Hill. Medina currently works in education policy. Previously, Medina, who hails from Lawrence, Massachusetts, interned in the office of United States Congresswoman Lori Trahan. Medina says that she was inspired to her current career path by her time at Brooks — particularly by her AP United States Government class and her time in a Winter Term class that traveled to Washington, D.C.

“Undoubtedly, being at Brooks for four years subconsciously prepared me for a career in politics and advocacy,” Nalia Medina ’18 says. “A lot of the things that I went through, especially as a daughter of immigrants and as a first-generation American, really just helped cultivate this desire in me to want to learn more about our history and our government.” Medina shouts out her time in her AP United States Government class, taught by Willie Waters ’02. “That class was one of my first exposures to this material,”

Medina says. “I really appreciate Mr. Waters giving me the space to ask questions and challenge things. I think that was really what put me into this environment.”

Medina also took the Winter Term course “The Complexity of War,” taught by Head of School John Packard, in the winter of her sixth-form year. The group traveled to Washington, D.C., where it had the opportunity to meet with United States Senator Ed Markey, who represents Massachusetts. [Ed. Note: The trip to Washington, D.C.

was covered in the spring 2018 issue of the Bulletin, in the feature beginning on page 36. Medina is featured in that piece.] “The Winter Term trip was, I think, my second time visiting D.C., and I just fell in love with everything,” Medina says, pointing at the group’s trip to meet with Senator Markey.

“I was fascinated by Capitol Hill, the inner workings of our government, the staff and the legislation. I never would have imagined someone like me walking the halls of Congress. So, being able, at 18

years old, to sit in Senator Markey’s office and speak with him; I couldn’t believe that I was in that space,” Medina says. “When I was able to intern with Congresswoman Trahan, I kept thinking back to that Winter Term, which was the first time I even thought about the possibility that I could be in that environment. Now, I’ve been able to go back every day. It’s still crazy to me, and it still doesn’t feel real every time I go back to Capitol Hill.”

Medina interned in Congress from September 2019 through March 2020, while she was a student at The George Washington University. She recalls her favorite project was helping to create an informational pamphlet to distribute throughout Trahan’s Massachusetts district informing Trahan’s constituents of her accomplishments. Medina also attended the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala with Trahan and saw Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speak, an event she calls “really, really awesome.” Another highlight of Medina’s time in Trahan’s office took place in January 2020, when she was able to chat briefly with the same Winter Term class she had been a part of at Brooks during that group’s trip to Washington and visit to Capitol Hill. In what Medina calls “a fullcircle moment,” she got to meet with the visiting Brooks class, and with its faculty: Mr. Packard, Willie Waters, and Medina’s Brooks advisor, Associate Head for Academic Affairs Susanna Waters. “Having them see me there, on Capitol Hill, when just two years before I had been at Brooks, was an awesome moment,” Medina says.

Now that her college days are behind her, Medina holds a full-time job working as a government relations and policy associate for a membership association that represents financial aid administrators at American colleges and universities. She works to advance government relations efforts on both the federal and state levels; she analyzes policies related to higher education; and she works on advocacy efforts. Medina’s work takes her back to Capitol Hill regularly for meetings and hearings. Although Medina admits she didn’t expect to work in education policy, she’s enjoying her current position. “A lot of it is the personal connection I have to it,” Medina says. “I’ve always been a financial aid recipient. I received financial aid at Brooks. I received financial aid at GW. I was on a Pell grant throughout my college career. I recognize that education can literally change someone’s life. So, I’m working to

NALIA MEDINA ’18

dismantle the barriers that exist, and to make education more accessible and more affordable so that other people can have the same opportunity that I did.”

Medina emphasizes how influential her time at Brooks was to her. “My experiences at Brooks really shaped me,” she says. “That AP government class and that Winter Term were really foundational to where I am today, because they gave me the opportunity to begin to imagine being in an environment like this. I think about that every time I’m on Capitol Hill: I’m not supposed to be here. People like me are not supposed to take up space in rooms like this. So, the fact that I can do it is mind-blowing. It will never feel old to me when I walk through the halls of Congress.”

“I think about that every time I’m on Capitol Hill: I’m not supposed to be here. People like me are not supposed to take up space in rooms like this. So, the fact that I can do it is mind-blowing.”

Left to right: Nalia Medina ’18 outside the United States Capitol building. ■ Nalia Medina ’18 (second from left) with Winter Term faculty (from left to right) Willie Waters ’02, Susanna Waters and Head of School John Packard.

Brooksians at work in science faculty Michael Dixon’s class in October.

Thank You Brooks Fund Volunteers!

Christopher C. Abbott ’75

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Jacqueline L. Murphy ’14

Sean P. Nagle ’99

Albert D. Nascimento ’10

Andrew O. Nash ’89

Ikenna U. Ndugba ’16

Julian M. Ng ’05

Vivian Ng ’01

Katherine M. O’Brien ’19

James T. O’Connor ’99

Kailey M. O’Neill ’19

Isabella L. O’Shea ’18

John R. Packard Jr. H’87

DooHyun Park ’07

Emma M. Parkinson ’07

Matthew R. Pendergast ’98

Elizabeth D. Pflaum ’22

William C. Phelps ’90

Onezime J. Picard III and Gwendolyn J. Picard P

William Pitkin III ’89

Christopher M. Pope Jr. ’04

Lily A. Quinn ’21

Walter Raleigh Jr. ’55 Peter B. Rathbone ’64 Zahid Rathore ’96

Michael J. Reed ’02

George W. Reithoffer ’57

Christopher S. Rheault ’96

Dan Riccio

Anthony J. Rich ’01

Delia E. Rissmiller ’03 Gee Yeon Ro ’09 E. Graye Robinson ’11 Belisario A. Rosas Emily C. Roush ’18 Eubene Sa ’07

Whitney Romoser Savignano ’87 Katharine C. Sayles ’00

Dr. Ali Seddighzadeh and Dr. Fariba Mirzaei P Anne F. Serrao ’20

Eric J. Shah ’85

Vivek Sharma and Vandana Sharma P

Katerina Markos Sheerin ’03 Sarah C. Shepard ’02

Lowell Bundy Sichol ’92

Connor M.

Brooks Bulletin

Brooks School 1160 Great Pond Road North Andover, MA 01845-1298

The starting line of a Field Day race in September. Each year during Opening Days, Brooks students spend a Sunday afternoon competing in various feats of skill as dorms and day students battle for glory and bragging rights. Please visit www.brooksschool.org for up-to-date information on Brooks School news and events.