Times of Brunswick | Summer 2007 by Brunswick School

Summer 2007

Tony Bennett Appears at Spring Benefit to “Celebrate the Arts” Mr. Bouffier Goes to Paris Brunswick’s Chairmen of the Board Show Leadership & Vision R. Scott Tucker Remembered Class of 2007 Starts New Tradition on Edwards Campus

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8 Brunswick School 100 Maher Avenue Greenwich, CT 06830 Tel: 203.625.5800 www.BrunswickSchool.org

Headmaster Thomas W. Philip

Director of Advancement Terry M. Gumz Editor-in-Chief Bonni Brodnick bbrodnick@brunswickschool.org Class Notes Editor Catherine Scott cscott@brunswickschool.org

Sports Editor Diana Samponaro dsamponaro@brunswickschool.org

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Contributors Anne Adler, Rhonda Bonom, Diane Briggs, Krista Bruce, Alexander “Sasha” Bulazel, Libby Edwards, Elizabeth Fernandez, Brendan Gilsenan, Terry Gumz, Shane Heller ’03, Kim Iorillo, Christopher Kimball ’07, Priscella Masselink, Tom Mulvoy, Tom Murray, John Pendergast IV, Gus Ruchman ’10, Catherine Scott, Katie Signer, Dina Silverleaf, Erik Spangenberg ’07, David S. Thomson ’43, Ed Trenkmann ’45, Kevin Wassong ’86,

Cover Photo ChiChi Ubiña Contributing Photographers Cindy Biondi, Diane Briggs, Dorothy Brodsky, Sasha Bulazel, Dan Burns, Ann Gallo, Amy Mortensen, Robert Norman Photography, John Pendergast, Rashad Randolph, Chris Rutsch, Colleen Schneider, ChiChi Ubina, Chi VanLang Designer Good Design LLC www.gooddesignusa.com Printing Success Printing Norwalk, Connecticut

Brunswick School, founded in 1902, is an independent college-preparatory day school for boys in grades pre-kindergarten through 12. Grades 9-12 have a coordinate program with Greenwich Academy, a neighboring girls’ school. In a community of challenging academics, diverse artistic pursuits, and highly competitive athletics, time for Brunswick School students is also reserved for both reflection and service to others. We believe in the potential of boys and have successfully developed an educational experience that emphasizes rigorous traditional learning, selfdiscipline, and character development. The School’s motto, “Courage, Honor, Truth,” is a phrase familiar to students who have graced our halls and one that is followed in both word and deed.

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Board of Trustees 2006-2007 Garrett M. Moran, Chairman Richard A. Baker ’84 W. Preston Baldwin III Cynthia G. Biondi Michael P. Castine J. Michael Cline Leslie A. Dahl B. Cort Delany ’73 Matthew S. DeSalvo William A. Durkin III ’72 Anne B. Farrell

Richard M. Fuscone Joseph D. Gatto Colvin W. Grannum Alain Lebec James B. Lee David B. MacFarlane Lisa G. Matthews Ian A. Murray ’93 Shepard P. Murray ’89 Thomas D. O’Malley, Jr. ’85 Charles Paternina Peer T. Pedersen, Jr.

Clifton S. Robbins Henry F. Skelsey Mark J. Vallely ’75 J. Edward Virtue Peter A. Weinberg Simon J. Williams Tracy R. Wolstencroft Brunswick Parents Association Lisa Skinner, President

Features 5 Class of 2007 Starts New Tradition on Edwards Campus By Bonni Brodnick

Brunswick’s Chairmen of the Board Show Leadership & Vision

Contents

Mr. Bouffier Goes to Paris By Bonni Brodnick

Tony Bennett Appears at Spring Benefit to “Celebrate the Arts” By Bonni Brodnick

By Bonni Brodnick

Antarctica

By Alexander “Sasha” Bulazel, Class of ’83

An Unexpected Discovery: Happiness in an “Extraordinarily Violent Society”

Departments 2 Message from the Headmaster: “From the Outside Looking In”

By Tom Mulvoy

4 Letters to the Editor

Sidebar: The Ubuntu Club at Brunswick Seeks to Make a Difference

50 On the Front

By Bonni Brodnick

Email from Calcutta, The City of Joy By John J. Pendergast IV

R. Scott Tucker Remembered By Bonni Brodnick

The 3rd Annual Robert L. Cosby Society Breakfast Celebrates a Man of Magnificence By Bonni Brodnick

3rd Annual Fundance Foreign Film Festival Goes Global By Priscella Masselink & Dina Silverleaf

Q & A with Kevin Wassong ’86: From “Maher Ave” to Madison Avenue to Minyanville By Bonni Brodnick

Enduring Facs of Brunswick By Bonni Brodnick

55 ’Wick Snippets

56 Celebrating 60 Years of Greenwich

Magazine

57 Poet Laureate: Ed Trenkmann, Jr.,

Class of ’45

58 Hot Colored Peruvian Hats Are

Really Cool at Brunswick School

59 Sharing the Love for Reading with

Friends at Children’s Village

60 Erik Spangenberg’s BAJ Fusion 61 Brunswick Class of 2005 Lecture

Series Hosts Paul Rusesabagina, Real-Life Hero of “Hotel Rwanda”

62 Sports Round-up

72 Brunswick Athletics Gain Progress & Prowess 60 Years Hence By David S. Thomson, Class of ’43

74 Beyond the Classroom 82 Alumni 82 83 84 85

Senior Breakfast 2007 Lasting Gifts from Senior Funds By Anne Adler Career Night We’ll Come to You!

86 Class Notes & In Memoriam Compiled by Cat Scott

92 Viewpoint: Student Perspective By Christopher

Kimball ’07

Summer 2007

Inside Back Cover Class of 2007 Matriculation

Message from the Headmaster “From The Outside Looking In”

Times of Brunswick

Every ten years, all independent schools in the nation undergo a two-year-long evaluation process that leads to (ideally) the school’s reaccreditation. The final phase of this reaccreditation process is a multi-day on-site visitation by a team of teachers and administrators from other independent schools. In our case, a group of twelve evaluators arrived on campus in mid-October 2006, and after a very successful visit, we were issued a lengthy evaluation report which, in great credit to our boys, our faculty, and our School, was a laudatory and reaffirming assessment of all Learning of his death, Seniors at the School immediately took over his role of greeting, with a handshake, the youngest of that we do.

In reviewing their report, the section on “Culture and, Climate” particularly stood out for me. Here are a few of the comments: “The Brunswick School culture is a welcoming, warm, collegial one. Boys, and faculty in particular, reflect a unique mutual regard and affection. The fact that teachers and staff are thoroughly involved in all areas of their students’ lives, care deeply about the boys, and are polite and kind to all, creates an environment in which children can take risks and be themselves. It is difficult to adequately emphasize the positive impact that this has on both the classroom environment and the character development of the boys… “There is a remarkably strong sense of community and responsibility at Brunswick that extends beyond school boundaries and the school day. Indeed, it infuses the lives and actions of all members of the School with whom the Visiting Committee came in contact. Although parents are not present during the teaching day, their respect and appreciation for faculty and staff helps nourish the spirit of the faculty and reinforce the mission of the School… “There are two statues that give insight into the ethos of Brunswick. One is of Robert Cosby, a beloved member of the community who, every morning, greeted each boy at the Lower School campus with a handshake and a smile.

the Brunswick students. Today, a sculpture of Mr. Cosby’s image with outstretched hand graces the sidelines of one of ’Wick’s’ competitive athletic fields. Just as the greeting of young boys by Seniors has become a tradition, so, too, is the touching of sculpted Mr. Cosby’s outstretched hand as ’Wick athletes come on to the playing field. “The other statue that provides insight into the ethos is found between the Middle School building and the athletic field. It is a statue of the Brunswick bear: solid, strong, and with a paw held up in a greeting of friendship. It is rare for schools to depict their mascot as friendly rather than fierce. The combination of strength and openness one finds in the sculpture which truly represents Brunswick, aligns with its motto: ‘Courage, Honor, Truth.’ The community is remarkably at ease with and comfortable in living their mission on a daily basis.” I’m not sure we could have said it better ourselves! It’s nice to see that the view from the outside seems to be as good as the one from within.

Thomas W. Philip Headmaster

A Letter to the Headmaster

Summer 2007

Letters Letters Letters Letters Letters Letters Letters

To the editor… ick s in the last Times of Brunsw I read many of the article ted rac att lly content. What rea and absolutely loved the ing focused on character build me were the themes, which lun vo on ed e magazine touch and its positive aspects. Th to ed nd ha it want, not getting teerism; earning what you s, rtsmanship; the value of art spo you; fair competition and e’s on g vin ser plishment; family, theater and musical accom ick d cultural diversity; Brunsw an country; economic, racial, ts.  ep nc co d d a myriad of relate traditions, new and old, an the to d are of fresh air comp Frankly, it was a breath ed with these days focusing ard spam all of us are bomb d ns, emphasizing failures an on flash-in-the-pan pop ico and anything, and estabody foibles of just about anyb s, and do’s and don’ts that ue val lishing an artificial set of aren’t time tested. can and I hope, in a small way, I   Personally, I was inspired ad. ahe rs mission in the yea better support the School’s   Gregg N. Delany Class of ’81 Vice President nking Real Estate Investment Ba ch an Br rk Yo w Ne , Eurohypo AG

Thanks for capturing Mi ke’s “spirit” in your recen t article (“It’s All About the Story and the Character: Behind the Camera wi th Mike Kristoff ’04”/ Summer 2007 issue). W ith all the celebrity profes sors and Hollywood-type s USC, it’s refreshing to he that he encounters at ar that he still reflects on his Br unswick teachers with great passion. As an update, last semester Mi ke was one of four junior s chosen to produce a senior thesis film, aptly, about a unique twist at an all-boys prep school in California. We’ll hold judgment on whether the script follow s the cinema school’s mantr a “Reality Ends Here”! Best regards to our friends

Times of Brunswick

at Br unswick, Chris Kristoff Former Br unswick Paren t

We welcome your comments and letters to the editor. Please contact bbrodnick@brunswickschool.org.

I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to the family of Mr. Tucker and the Brunswick community. I was privileged to have ha d Mr. Tucker as my adviso r Senior year and had his class Junior year. He wa s an inspirational teacher, me ntor, and coach. I conside r myself extremely lucky to have spent time with such a remarkable man who contr ibuted so much to help me along my journey through the Naval Academy.   Sincerely, Ensign Shane Heller Class of ’03 United States Navy

ith the thrilled w olesar s a w d n wick a bara K of Bruns ick teacher Bar issue). The s e im T d e sw 07 I receiv t article (“Brun s”/Summer 20 ally captured e n e retireme fter Two Decad ere grand and r delighted to s A w a s s w e e r I ir 8th tu Ret ying pic years at ’Wick. off (a former g n a p m o kin acc rist my film ma Mike K nce of the esse articles about rst attempts at rade English g read the dent) whose fi f 7th and 8th ep safe until o u t ke s s l n il e io w d t him gra atiza ich I h m a w r , t I knew of d “ ip e r , h c t g s a e r r is b h er we n nt teach still have nd I ca plays! I es his Oscar a , a former stude equally intera he receiv Pete Bevacqu golf ranks was ir passions in ” e e when… his rise in th have turned th that. d n n e an mine, a both young m better th f to retirement t e g ’t s n a s esting, areers. It doe sending me of ort and hard c r ff life into you so much fo eciate all your e nt, and I am e r k c p n Tha reat style. I ap uct is magnifi y friends and d g o m r h in suc ished p f Brunswick to o your fin work— to show Times d u o so pr re, . Take ca r relatives Kolesa Barbara

Commencement Class of 2007 Graduation Ceremony Starts New Tradition on Edwards Campus By Bonni Brodnick In June 2007, Brunswick School did something none of the other graduating classes have done in our 107-year history. Rather than conduct graduation on Maher Avenue, the Class of 2007 was honored with the first senior graduation ceremony in Dann Gymnasium on Edwards Campus. It was also the first time graduation was held the day after prom. internationally was commended. Seniors did everything from selling colorful wool hats to raise money for an orphanage in Peru; cutting a CD to raise money for faculty development and Jamaican orphans; participating in the annual holiday gift drive that includes sponsorship of children whose families are affected by HIV/AIDS, and tutoring disadvantaged children at various schools in Stamford and Port Chester;

Summer 2007

“They’re all in good form today, thank God,” said Headmaster Thomas W. Philip as he gestured to the 78 graduates before an audience of 1200. The boys were praised for their hard work. “Getting here is never easy.” The Class of -007 was on a mission. They made us proud of their academic, artistic, and athletic accomplishments. Their commitment to community service, both locally and

to being one of only five percent of all Boy Scouts in the country to earn the prestigious Eagle Scout rank; helping Person-to-Person, a nonprofit in Darien that collects food and clothing for distribution; and sorting food collected from the annual Postal Food Drive. Ron Ongaro, Jr., recipient of the Thomas A. Altman Prize for “… maintaining positive personal relationships in school, sports and community service during his years at Brunswick,” even gave back his prize winning so that it could be used for future recipients of the Altman Award. Father Richard Cipolla, Chair of Upper School Classics, gave an invocation that recognized this memorable occasion of pride and joy.

“May our graduates become men of Courage, Honor, Truth, and think first of others, then of themselves. May Tom Philip continue to lead our School with clarity, vision, and openness of heart.” Graduation day also was one of acknowledgment to Jacques Bouffier, who is retiring after 38 years of legendary teaching to the boys of Brunswick. Austin Stack, the class valedictorian, finished his career at Brunswick with a grade average of 99.902 percent with only one grade below an “A” (A-minus in his sophomore year.) He was also leader of the crew team, a senior prefect, and a member of the School’s discipline committee. Austin’s nearperfect academic career at Brunswick was acknowledged

Awards & Recognition Kulukundis Cup Times of Brunswick

Austin R. Stack

Community Service Award

Colin A. Raymond

The BPA Prize

Brendan T. Miller

The Jenkins Athletic Award

Christian C. Oberbeck

Thomas A. Altman Prize

Ronald M. Ongaro Jr.

Robert L. Cosby Award

Christopher M. Harris

Faculty Citation Robert L. Berner

Faculty Citation

Benjamin H. Cortes

Commencement 2007

with the Kulukundis Cup for the highest academic standing of the 2006-2007 school year. Austin introduced the traditional “Ivy” speaker, who the students select each year to address the graduating class. The honor this year went to Ben Cortes, who is active in theater, musical groups, and the fencing team, and has made a name for himself with his creative morning announcements. “The simple recognition of time well spent seems good enough,” Ben said. “Our class has seen some great teachers and what they’ve instilled in us will stay with us forever. Even though Jacques Bouffier is retiring, and Scott Tucker and Robert Cosby have left us, they can’t leave this campus even if they tried.” Steve Duennebier, Director of Student Services, was selected by the Seniors as their overwhelming choice to be faculty speaker. He spoke on how life is not always as one expects. “Beware of unrealistic expectations,” he said. “Life will not always be fun or beautiful,” but it is in the examination of unpleasant experiences that one experiences personal growth. Before wishing the class congratulations and Godspeed, Mr. Duennebier cited the lyrics from James Taylor’s song, “It’s enough to be on your way”: “… It’s enough to be on your way, it’s enough just to cover ground, it’s enough to be moving on. Home, build it behind your eyes, carry it in your heart…” The School’s most significant prizes were given, followed by diplomas. “We will miss these familiar faces at Brunswick,” said Headmaster Philip, “and hope that the giving spirit of the Class of 2007 will continue its mission of goodwill and generosity. On behalf of the faculty, Board of Trustees, alumni, parents, grandparents, and friends, we are grateful for all you’ve brought to Brunswick School during your time here. Thank you, gentlemen. Well done.”

Faculty Citation

Nicholas F. O’Neil

Headmaster’s Trophy

George W. Moran

Summer 2007

Through the Decades, Brunswick’s Chair Show

Times of Brunswick

Brunswick School would never be what it is today

without the resolution and dedication of our Board Chairmen and Trustees throughout our century-plus history. These ladies and gentlemen have provided leadership and guidance. They are pilots and advisors in the School’s evolution as one of the pre-eminent independent college-preparatory day schools in the nation. During their esteemed tenures, the Chairmen of the Board have helped us unremittingly sustain our core values and School motto, “Courage, Honor, Truth.” As former Board Chairman Walter Burke was quoted in The Brunswick Spirit: 100 Years of Courage, Honor, Truth, “My congratulations to all those who, in the ensuing decades, have

men of the Board Leadership and Vision labored so tirelessly and skillfully to bring Brunswick School so robustly into the 21st century.” And former Board Chairman Thomas J. Neff, who had four sons graduate from Brunswick, viewed the School “… as my other family—and Chairman as my other job. I don’t regret one bit of time I devoted to this noblest of causes: the education of our children.” It is the collective accomplishments of the following gentlemen over the past 37 years that helped Brunswick continue to be steadfast in attracting the best faculty and in providing the best facilities for our sons: Edward V. Nunes Chairman: 1970–71

Term of Office: 1962–71

Walter Burke (Class of ’40) Chairman: 1974–79 Term of Office: 1966–79

William A. Durkin Chairman: 1979–80

Term of Office: 1972–81

Edmund Hajim Chairman: 1980–83

Term of Office: 1978–83

Michael Gellert Chairman: 1983–87

Term of Office: 1979–88

John H.T. Wilson Chairman: 1987–89

Term of Office: 1980–89

Edward F. Kosnik Chairman: 1989–91

Term of Office: 1987–94

Thomas J. Neff Chairman: 1991–95

Term of Office: 1985–97

A. MacDonald Caputo Chairman: 1995–2001 Term of Office: 1991–2001 John G. Macfarlane III Chairman: 2001–2006

Term of Office: 1998–2006

Summer 2007

Richard Webb (Class of ’46) Chairman: 1971–74 Term of Office: 1965–74

By Bonni Brodnick

Times of Brunswick

(left to right) Charles Paternina, Moni Williams, Michael Castine, Dudley Macfarlane, and Simon Williams

“Brunswick’s Board made an unwavering vow to attract, nurture, and retain the highest quality teachers and administrators,” said former Board Chairman Mac Caputo. “Academic excellence—whether measured by SAT scores, AP test levels, college placement, or pure academic quality in the classroom—not only rivals or exceeds results at the finest private schools in America but has continued to improve steadily throughout its history.” We grew from 63 faculty in 1989, to 128 faculty at the opening of School in 2001. Similarly, the student body increased from 555 to 785 in that same time period, yet we remain today a remarkable 5:1 student/faculty ratio. It was former Board Chair Mac Caputo’s sagacity that recognized the timeliness of expansion. The 1998 purchase of a 104acre parcel on King Street has allowed Brunswick to expand to three campuses and build facilities second to none. The addition of Edwards Campus on King Street was a challenging yet auspicious period of development. Mac steered the way for building the Middle School, Sampson Field House, tennis courts, and playing fields. “The perspicacious vision of architects Skidmore Owings & Merrill, the superb leadership of Trustees Richard Baker (Class of ’84) and Anne Farrell, and the generous help of countless others all led to the successful completion of exceptional facilities at the Edwards Campus,” said Mac. “This ambitious effort is a continuation of a cycle that answers several critical educational needs of our growing School, and to plan and dream for future generations in whatever fashion they see fit.”

“When former Headmaster Duncan Edwards, Mac, and the other Trustees saw the land on King Street, they knew it would be a big move to split Brunswick into three campuses,” said Headmaster Thomas W. Philip. “They took a large, but calculated, risk. It was through their masterful stewardship that we are here. They were thoughtful, creative, and gentlemanly.” John Macfarlane took over the Board Chair reins at the beginning of another exciting era in Brunswick history. Tom Philip was our new headmaster, and there were the challenges of split campuses, as well as formalizing the structuring of our coordination program with Greenwich Academy. John raised close to $45 million, which included $30 million in capital gifts during the five-year Phase II Campaign, $10 million for the Centennial Fund, $1.5 million for the new crew facilities, and $3 million for several Senior Funds and other capital projects. The collaboration, expertise, and oversight from many tireless Trustees was influential in building 10 new faculty homes on King Street and Burke Field House. His vision for the Robert L. Cosby Memorial Field gave Brunswick the ability to have night games and host other independent school communities at many events. In addition, he achieved the (on time!) completion of the (on budget!) Lower School that opened in 2004. It was for all John did, all he gave, and all that was accomplished during his Board Chair tenure that the Lower School was named in his honor.

Chairmen Show Leadership & Vision

(left to right) Michael Castine, David MacFarlane, and Preston Baldwin

This past fall 2006, friends and Trustees gathered to honor John Macfarlane for his extraordinary efforts and generosity carried out with flair, passion, and perseverance to make Brunswick School the best it could be for our boys. “The Lower School, herein called the ‘Macfarlane Lower School,’ is a building named after a wonderful family,” said Tom Philip. “Thank you, John, for everything you’ve done for the future of Brunswick. It was truly your talent, conviction, and commitment that brought us to this evening.” “Dudley and I are deeply, deeply touched by this honor,” said John. “We enjoyed working with all of you who are so integral as friends, partners, and leaders to our boys. Thank you all for your generous support of our many initiatives. None of our achievements would have been possible without the involvement, support, and dedication of our Trustees and countless other volunteers. I hope you will share the sense of pride and accomplishment of a job well done, for you have all been instrumental in Brunswick’s continued success.” “It’s great to stand here and see everyone so comfortable in the space,” said Trustee Richard Baker later in the evening while overlooking the Macfarlane Lower School atrium. “It takes a lot of courage for a Board Chair to make big decisions. It was through John’s initiative and foresight that we accomplished so much for the future of Brunswick.” j

Dennis Keegan and Bill Durkin ’72

Mary Moran and Dani Virtue

Larry Hartel and John MacFarlane

Summer 2007

Times of Brunswick

Ant

Ernest Shackletonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Grave

arctica

Story & Photography by Alexander “Sasha” Bulazel, Class of ’83, Faculty, and Brunswick Parent

Terra Australis Incognita.*

Drygalski Fjord, South Georgia

* Latin for “The Unknown Land of the South”

Summer 2007

This is the closest you can come to visiting the undiscovered country, Antarctica. A journey of three days in this modern era, one by air and two by sea, down to the tip of South America, to Tierra del Fuego, and across the infamous Drake Passage will place you on the edge of this vast Antarctic continent, a landmass greater than the United States. Antarctica is sealed off from the rest of the world by extreme natural barriers, as well as economic ones. Storms swirl around the continent on an average of every six to eight days. An ocean current is fed by a mass of melting cold fresh water that creates a physical demarcation in the surrounding Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans. All three waters come to a dead end at a meeting point at the bottom of the world called the Convergence. This rift is manifested by a water mass that plunges off the continent and runs along the sea floor up to the Northern Hemisphere.

Times of Brunswick

Weathered iceberg off South Orkney

Antarctica doubles in total area every winter with the drop in temperature, adding to itself an area equal to Europe. It is the highest continent in the world, with an average altitude of 7,500 feet above sea level. By contrast, North America is only 2,320 feet in average altitude. The icecap over the continent, with depths of over two miles, is so heavy that it actually pushes down the Earth’s crust as did the glacial mass that formed Hudson Bay tens of thousands of years ago. The Antarctic icecap contains 90 percent of the Earth’s fresh water and covers 98 percent of the continent. Explorers such as Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912), Ernest Henry Shackleton (1872-1922), and Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) set out to tame the vastness of a land whose existence was not even confirmed until approximately 180 years ago, and that no human had ever set foot on. On Captain Cook’s great voyages of exploration, the British Admiralty charged Cook with a secret mission to see if there was any truth to a fabled continent at the bottom of the world. His finding, after circumnavigating the globe and hence reaching the extreme latitudes of the Southern Ocean, is that no such continent exists! Little did he know that he had missed it by only a few miles at one point, as his logs would later show when historians and cartographers reviewed them. It was not until January 27, 1820, that Admiral Thaddeus von Bellingshausen of the Russian Imperial Navy became the first human to sight Antarctica. Sent by Czar Alexander I

to locate southern ports for Russia, the admiral was the first, and will forever be, the only person to truly discover a continent. By November 16, ten short months later, a New England sealer from Stonington, Connecticut, by the name of Nathaniel Palmer sighted the Antarctic Peninsula. His sighting began the commercial exploitation of this truly “New World.” Within ten years, its fur seals were commercially exhausted and the continent once again slipped into the footnotes of discovery for almost 100 years. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was the whalers who next opened the gateway to this distant land. With the world’s oceans exhausted of whales, the Antarctic lured a new generation of whalers to these bountiful, yet treacherous, waters. The Norwegian whaler Carl Anton Larsen established a whaling station using the latest modern technology on the island of South Georgia, located in the remote southern Atlantic Ocean bordering the edge of the Antarctic region. South Georgia became the base that marked the second wave of harvesting the economic riches of this south polar world. It is from these times that most of us have become familiar with the epic stories of discovery and survival in Antarctica, the race to the pole, as well as Shackleton’s story of survival. By the eve of World War II, Britain and its Commonwealth States, as well as Norway, Argentina, Chile, Germany, and a host of other countries, were laying claim to pie shaped slices of the continent all converging on the pole. The 1950s saw

Antarctica

ld Baby elephant seal, Go

South Pole, Ceremonial

King penguins at St. Andrews Bay, South Georgia

Summer 2007

Harbour

Times of Brunswick

Gerlache Strait, Antarctica

an intensification of the hegemonic desires of even more countries for the continent. The United States, Russia, and Britain were the main players in this game. Military, scientific, and resource-based desires were all valid reasons for staking a claim. The concept of “might make right” predominated the grab for land, much of which had never been explored or even mapped. It was not until the late 1950s with the International Geophysical Year 1957 to 1958 that under the auspices of science the race to divvy up a land that had only been 10 percent explored began to be tempered. The Antarctic Treaty, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, dictates that no country will own any part of Antarctica; and that Antarctica will not be exploited for its material resources, or for military purposes. All signers of the Treaty will share their scientific research, and there are no places off-limits. Spot “visits” are common by one country to another country’s base, and this includes all rooms, files, and computer records. The name of the game now is the establishment of a viable base under the strict environmental rules laid down by the Treaty. Economics is once again forefront in the exploitation of the knowledge we can gain from the continent. The costs are high to “join” this club of nations. The United States has established the geographical South Pole as a base. The Russians have set a base in every other country’s historical sectors to negate any possible claims by the corre-

sponding states. China, the newest claimant, is in the process of building the highest base in Antarctica on a plateau where many think altitude sickness may be a major problem. Whether it is seals, whales, or mineral extraction, the economics of the continent have been the true deciding factor in keeping it relatively pristine. Politics are ever-present, even on a continent with no supposed owners. Antarctica’s material riches are vast, but they are politically frozen by treaty, and economically frozen due to technological extraction costs. These constraints may be for our own good, or to our own detriment, depending on your side of the fence. They will likely change as technology improves and the world has a greater need for the locked up natural resources on the continent. For now, research is what is being mined. The issue of intellectual property and how it will be exploited is what chafes at the Treaty and its managers. The approximate cost to fly one gallon of fuel to the United States’ Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is $150 per gallon. To reduce this cost, the U.S. is currently building an ice road to its McMurdo Coastal Station base. The world’s largest snowplow is covering the crevasses along the way, a distance of nearly 1,000 miles. Eventually the plan calls for automated tractor trains to ferry fuel and supplies back and forth to lessen the exorbitant costs of flying them in. It will take six weeks over the ice road to complete a round-trip journey by these unmanned robotic trains.

Antarctica

h, built 1913 Grytviken Whalers Churc

a kelsen Harbour, Antarctic Blue whale bones, Mik

Iceberg off Elephant island

Summer 2007

Times of Brunswick

Glacier melt water

While we were not at geographical South Pole during our trip to Antarctica, we learned that there is virtually nothing to see there that pertains to the continent itself. Travel is possible for scientific reasons or base support, and is an extremely costly flight for the occasional tourist. You can hitch a ride from Christchurch, New Zealand ,on a US LC-130 Hercules cargo plane, which is ski-equipped, and land on a frozen snow runway at the South Pole, where the temperature can drop to -100 degrees Fahrenheit or more, with an average yearly temperature of -56 degrees Fahrenheit. It is so cold that plane engines must remain idling or they will freeze. Visitors linger for 30–60 minutes maximum while the plane unloads its cargo, and reloads with garbage and other items to fly out. The occasional tourist can walk around and look at the frozen wasteland, which is categorized as a desert. The South Pole receives only an average of three inches of snow a year. There is a candy cane-like striped pole with a silver ball on top that the U.S. has placed at the ceremonial South Pole. Everyone wants that proverbial photo of himself/herself standing next to it. While the Earth’s true South Pole is fixed almost two miles below the ice, the tourist version moves with the sliding of the icecap over the continent at a rate of about 35 feet a year and must be constantly repositioned.

The real places to visit for a tourist are along the Antarctic Peninsula, which lies across from South America and the Drake Passage. My family’s trip was to the island of South Georgia, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the more isolated South Orkney Islands, locations that offer great visual and historic interest to the Antarctic traveler. Our expedition saw force-10 storms, seas of 49 feet, and winds of 70 miles per hour. We saw penguins as big as my seven-year-old daughter, killer whales next to our inflatable Zodiac, wandering albatross with 11-foot wingspans, and volcanic waters in which we swam. The sun never set and the adventure never ended. j

“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.” —Psalm 107, verses 23 and 24

Antarctica

Whaling Station

Whale vertebra, Grytvikin

tarctica Port Lockroy Base, An

Drygalski Fjord, South Georgia

Summer 2007

An Unexpected Discovery:

Happiness in an

“Extraordinarily Violent Society” By Tom Mulvoy Brunswick Upper School History Teacher

Last

Times of Brunswick

summer, I was fortunate to obtain funding through the Brunswick Faculty Grant program for a trip to South Africa. The goal for the trip was to increase my knowledge of the country, which represents a core component of my World Cultures class. My South African experience began in the suburbs of Johannesburg and ended in Cape Town, some three and a half weeks later.

Prior to my departure, I had heard enough terrifying stories that I could not help being somewhat nervous about my trip, let alone traveling in the infamous townships surrounding Johannesburg, the nation’s largest city. Regarded as one of the most dangerous cities in the world, metropolitan “Joburg” (as it is called) has approximately 4.5 million inhabitants, most of whom live in the suburbs. Prior to my departure, I had sat down to breakfast in Rye, NY with two young men who grew up in South Africa. They warned me to take careful precaution in the city. I learned that muggings, random shootings, and hijackings are an ever-present problem, both at night and in the middle of the day. At the mention of my plan to stay a few streets away from the town of Alexandra, both men shot me deeply befuddled looks, perhaps hoping that I was kidding. When they realized I was serious, their expressions changed and they quickly told me to watch my every step. Although nervous, I forced myself to keep an open mind and

was resolved not to let fear diminish my experience of life in the South African townships. To grasp a sense of the violence, one need only glance at the statistics concerning South African crime for the period between April 2004 and March 2005: 18,793 murders; 24,516 attempted murders; 55,114 rape cases; and 249,369 assaults with grievous injury, of which 12,434 were hijackings. These numbers are even more astounding when understood in the context of the country’s overall population, nearly 45 million. Furthermore, these official statistics are belied by the fact that they come from the South African Police Service – an agency many citizens believe releases numbers that are a mere fraction of the real ones. Alexandra became a native township in 1912. As it was established before the Land Act of 1913, which strictly restricted black land purchases, this town was the rare piece of land that blacks could actually own. Due to this and to its proximity to the Johannesburg job market, Alexandra’s population has grown tremendously over the past century. Today, Alexandra boasts a population between 200,000 and 750,000. This disparate figure is because it is almost impossible to count the exact number of squatters, shacks, and informal settlements that dot the landscape. Housing exists in moderate brick and tin homes, as well as shacks, hostels and informal settlements along the Jukskei River. Yet over 50 percent of the population lives in the informal settlements and shacks. Alex, as it is locally known, is about a twenty-minute drive from Joburg and about ten minutes from Sandton, a tony town not unlike Greenwich. Many homes in Alex have no running water or indoor plumbing. In the middle of

Tommy Mulvoy with students at Bovet Primary School In Alexandra, South Africa

absence rates even amongst principals and teachers; classrooms where learning would surely be impossible; violence and drugs. Along with the inherent poverty and danger, the granddaddy of diseases, AIDS, lingers on everyone’s mind. In South Africa, 5.5 million people—over 18 percent of the population—are infected with AIDS. Townships are literally rife with the disease, which randomly rips apart families and the community on a daily basis. I met a number of people with the disease, including two young girls, Michelle and Gogo. Michelle, an orphan, is four years old and lives with her brother, cousin, and grandmother in an extraordinarily small house. Gogo, who cannot walk or speak, is also four years old and contracted AIDS from her mother, who died from the disease shortly after her daughter’s birth. Gogo’s 11-year-old sister Charmine is also infected. Now on anti-retroviral treatment, Charmine is doing better than she was a year ago, but still faces an uphill battle to live past her teenage years. Along with an older brother, the four siblings live in government built housing that measures about 20 x 20 feet. Eligibility for this housing requires an income less than 2,000 Rand a month, about $285. In addition to Alex, I spent a great deal of time in Soweto. Made famous during the June 1976 student uprising against the Afrikaner government decree that stated all schools must teach their students in Afrikaans, Soweto is an enormous area that consists of all the townships southwest of Joburg (hence the name). I was lucky to visit Soweto in both the relative safety of daylight and the peril of darkness, each time learning something new. My first stop in Soweto was the Regina Mundi, a church where student groups met to discuss their actions against the apartheid

Summer 2007

a group of shacks is a “yard” made of dirt or rough pavement which functions as the focal point of life in town. A large portion of my time was spent sitting on crates in the “yards,” talking to locals about South Africa’s present political climate and their own personal experiences under the apartheid system. The passion in their voices during our conversations was incredible. Along with a place to discuss politics and soccer, the “yard” has other important features, including a few communal toilets and a water spigot, both for the use of up to 75 people. I have always wondered how fecal matter gets into food and how people contract typhoid fever and cholera … here was my answer. Although the conditions seemed wretched, the energy and vitality of Alex was unlike anywhere I have traveled; the fanatical Chileans and passionate Kiwis do not even come close. In talking about his home in a former working class area of Cape Town known as District Six, where conditions paralleled those in Alex, Richard Rive, the famous South African author, stated: “Amid the dirt and rubble there was a paradoxical warmth and variety, a gaiety and sadness. District Six provided sanctuary to its inhabitants and to a certain extent shielded and protected them against the harsh apartheid laws being imposed all around them.” My reaction to the atmosphere of Alex was similar. Although apartheid no longer exists, the present conditions, including unemployment as high as 60 percent and violent crime, are veiled by the warmth of the people. These were the emotions that made me feel so welcome. In Alex, I split my time between the primary and high schools. Some were great and had dedicated principals and teachers, while others lacked both. Problems include high

government. After the Soweto riots, police and military from the government shot tear gas under the church’s doors. One night, I had the chance to have dinner with a gentleman, Derrick, who was shot during the riots. He told me how there were water pots throughout the church and after the tear gas was shot under the doors, he would dunk a cloth in the water and first cover children’s mouths and noses before his own. I never would have imagined that I would be sad to leave Alexandra. In my two-and-a-half weeks there, I became attached to the people and the energy that radiates from them. I thought of staying longer, but my plane to the United States left from Cape Town, so I was left with few options. In Cape Town, a two-hour flight from Joburg, I visited Robben Island. After the Dutch arrival in the mid-1600s, the island was used as, among other things, a leper colony, refueling station, prison, and military base. Its major historical significance started in 1961 when the island began to house thousands of political dissidents of the apartheid regime. In addition to famous political dissenters Walter Sisulu, Robert Sobukwe, and Govan Mbeki, the island was home to Nelson Mandela, who spent the majority of his 27-year incarceration there. Conditions in the prison were shocking. Only after intervention from international organizations, were prisoners given beds and toilets. One of the more interesting aspects of the tour was that our guide was a former prisoner. Eugene spent seven years on the island and his firsthand accounts about life there makes me wonder how anyone could survive.

Mandela stated at his defense in the Rivonia Treason Trial, “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal that I hope to live for and to achieve. But if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Lucky for us, Mandela did live through the injustices of the apartheid government, and in 1994 was elected president of a democratic South Africa. His fortitude in facing the apartheid system is seen in South Africa’s citizens today who, despite ongoing significant challenges, continue to strive towards greater opportunities and harmony among all races. At one point on my trip I was nearly 8,000 miles from the safety and comfort of home. A long distance, yes, but the best way to learn about the peoples and cultures that interest you is by immersing your senses in their wide array of sights, sounds and smells. In the Alexandra and Soweto townships, the landscape overflowed with children running through the streets, laundry drying from every available line, and shacks leaning precariously on every vacant piece of earth; the smells were of beer, barbecued chicken feet, urine and trash; a noxious odor that was only tempered by the love and energy of the people – a love and energy that is only partially understood through words and pictures.

Times of Brunswick

The Ubuntu Club at Brunswick Seeks to

“It all started our freshman year,” said Mack Abbot, a Brunswick Senior and founder of the Ubuntu Club. “Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa, by Mark Mathabane, was the assigned and inspiring all-school reading.” Kaffir Boy was the first widely published South African autobiography written in English by a black native. Mark Mathabane describes growing up in Alexandra, a ghetto outside Johannesburg, with his mother, father, brother, and five sisters. He was surrounded by starvation and brutality by the apartheid era police force. In this celebrated book, Mathabane attempts to make the world understand that apartheid had to be abolished because it could not be reformed. “I was really touched by Mark’s story and called his office expecting to get his publicist, but Mark Mathabane picked up the phone!” exclaimed Mack. “I asked him how I might help with his efforts, and he gave me a name to contact at his former elementary school, Bovet Primary School in Alexandra. Although they receive government grants, students have to pay m

Bud Vallely and Mack Abbot

An Unexpected Discovery

A kitchen visit with friends in Alexandra.

Make a Difference

By Bonni Brodnick year. The Ubuntu Club began by helping pay kids’ tuitions in the lower and middle schools. We’re expanding our program to high school, which is where we can really help make a difference in broadening student job opportunities.” The Ubuntu Club contributes scholarships and has helped launch an HIV/AIDS education program at Bovet Primary School and Kwa-Bhekilanga High School. Last December, the club made nearly $1,500 in the Upper School lobby by selling crafts, belts, Christmas ornaments, and necklaces made by mothers in the Alexandra township. “After meeting South African children last summer, we saw that we can really make a difference. It will take outside influence to hasten change. I’d like to be a part of that,” Mack said. Donations to the Ubuntu Club were contributed to Bovet Primary School, and Kwa-Bhekilanga High School for their HIV/AIDS program. For more information, please contact Mack Abbot at wabbot@gmail.com.

Summer 2007

to attend, which is really difficult for many of the families. Mark is the local hero because he ‘made it out,’ even in the worst of times. He became fluent in English and Afrikaans (the South African national language at the time), but his passport to freedom was his talent at tennis. In 1978, with the help of 1972 Wimbledon champion Stan Smith, Mathabane left South Africa to attend an American college on scholarship.” Last summer, Brunswick students Sam and Bud Vallely, Tyler Davis, Harrison Waddill, and Mack Abbot traveled to South Africa. When they returned home, they joined fundraising efforts that Mack had begun as a freshman, and together launched the Ubuntu Club, which was originally started as a scholarship fund for the Bovet Primary School students. “Education is the last thing on many parents’ minds in South Africa,” Mack said. “It’s a difficult choice between caring for children, cousins, grandparents, and extended family, and paying for an education. They value it, but it’s never a given that they’ll be able to afford the $16 it takes to send a student to school for a

Email from Calcutta,

Times of Brunswick

The City

Joy

By John J. Pendergast IV Brunswick School Religion & Philosophy Chair

In Spring 2007, through the Faculty Grant program, Brunswick offered me the incredible opportunity to get a firsthand look at life in a third-world country. I traveled to Kolkata (Calcutta), India, with two objectives: to spend time exploring this ancient country’s cultural and religious traditions in order to enhance our courses in the newly formed Religious Studies and Philosophy Department, and to visit my oldest daughter Brooks who has been working since October 2006, with the Missionaries of Charity, an order of Catholic sisters founded by Mother Teresa. It might be a tall order to describe a place that you really have to see, feel, taste, touch, hear, and smell to truly experience, but I’ll try to at least paint a picture.

Realizing that my memory of this adventure would soon fade, I kept a detailed daily journal of my experiences in this ancient city. Rather than recount highlights from these pages, which would skim the peaks of my journey without capturing its essence, I thought it would be more interesting and informative to provide a description of a typical, but memorable day in Kolkata. It was March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. Just before turning in for the night, I stopped off at the small Internet café on the first floor of Brooks’ apartment building, squeezed myself between two familiar Indian faces that were regulars, and wrote the following Email to my family. While this snapshot will certainly not provide a comprehensive description of my two-week excursion, I believe it captures the special nature of this unique

place on the other side of the world that author Dominique LaPierre so aptly called the “City of Joy.” Dear Judene, Maddy, Max, John & Gus, I’m having an amazing experience with Brooks! I was thinking about how to describe this place, and I decided that the best way to give you a sense of Kolkata would be to walk you through a typical day, so here goes: We began the day, as we always do, with Mass at 6:00 a.m. I met Brooks in the chapel of the Mother House, the main residence of the Missionaries of Charity, or “MC’s.” The chapel is beautiful, but simple. There are no chairs, except along the back wall for the older sisters who can no longer sit or kneel on the thin canvas mat that serves as a simple rug covering the concrete floor. The sisters and novices—there are around 200 or so who live in the Mother House—take their places on the west and north sides of the chapel. The volunteers/visitors have the floor on the south side, all facing east where the altar stands by open windows that look out on AJC Bose Road, one of the busiest and noisiest in the city. Indian drivers, especially cab drivers, have this annoying habit of constantly beeping their horns as they drive making it clear that it is up to you to get out of the way! During services in the chapel it is often hard to hear the prayers being offered by the sisters over the din of the constant honking on the street outside. As I sit or kneel on the floor, I have to admit that it is a challenge for my large body (especially by Indian standards!) to get comfortable, but I’m determined to try, even if only for a short time, to live in solidarity with these remarkable women. It also helps to look over and see a life-size statue of Mother Teresa resting on a cushion in just the place she sat when she was alive and leading the sisters in prayer. If she could do it, then I’d be ashamed to take the easy way out and sit

Summer 2007

on one of the benches that line the back walls! After a series of morning prayers, one of the many visiting priests enters the chapel to say Mass. Even though the service is simple, it sets just the right tone for the day of work ahead. On the way to breakfast, I stopped by Mother Teresa’s tomb, located in a special chapel on the first floor. She rests in an unpretentious marble rectangular tomb that the sisters decorate each day with flower petals neatly arranged to spell out one of Mother’s famous prayers. I then joined the other volunteers who gather in a room down the hall for a breakfast consisting of bread, chai-tea, and very small “dwarf” bananas. All of the volunteers, who have traveled from every corner of the world to spend weeks or even months working with the Sisters, savor this chance to meet and talk with each other and several of the sisters before we all go out to work in various homes run by the Missionaries of Charity throughout the city. After we had a chance to eat and visit with other volunteers, the sisters lead us in a quick prayer, composed by Mother Teresa and posted on the wall:

Dear Lord, the great healer, I kneel before you, since every good and perfect gift must come from you. I pray, give skill to my hands, clear vision to my mind, kindness and meekness to my heart. Give me singleness of purpose, strength to lift up part of the burden of my fellow suffering men and a true realization of the privilege that is mine. Take from my heart all guile and worldliness, that with the simple faith of a child, I may rely on You. AMEN

Times of Brunswick

After prayer, one of the sisters walked to the back of the room and slid open a large door that looks out onto Bose Road. We rode a bus, with separate sections for men and women, to an orphanage called Daya Dan, a home for severely handicapped children. I worked on the top floor of this three-floor facility with children who reminded me of the kids at Cerebral Palsy of Westchester (CPW) on King Street where our Middle School boys have volunteered for years. Brooks says she is also reminded of CPW, where she worked during her senior service project when she was at Holy Child. (NOTE: Brooks and I are grateful to Sue Das and all those in the Brunswick community who contributed books and ’Wick T-shirts that I brought with me to Kolkata, and that Brooks gave, on behalf of all of you, to the kids she works with.) We spent the morning at Daya Dan in an exercise room where the children were brought after being bathed and dressed for the day. They were placed on exercise mats on the floor, and we were instructed by the veteran volunteers how to gently work fragile muscles and joints through a series of exercises designed to stretch their arms and legs, and relieve chronic cramping.

The City of Joy

Summer 2007

Times of Brunswick

After just a few minutes with these precious children, I wanted to adopt them all! In spite of my best efforts to remain impartial, two adorable little girls quickly stole my heart. Pio and Angeli, born with a combination of several neurological and physical handicaps, were, as Angeli’s name suggests, true angels. It was a special privilege to hold these incredible children in my arms, massage their arms, legs, and torsos and see how much they responded with bright smiles and their big beautiful, brown, eyes. A volunteer physical therapist gave us guidance and urged us to refer to signs on the wall in French, Spanish, and English (in recognition of the many countries from which volunteers come) that have diagrams showing different therapeutic exercises for massaging the children’s joints. Someone had also taken the time to create a poster for each child, including a picture, all of them smiling, and a series of tips on what exercises worked best with that child. These signs made it clear that each child is considered by the sisters to be a unique and special member of the Daya Dan family. After spending the morning working with Pio, Angeli and several other children, it was time to bring them out into the main hall and feed them lunch. I was lucky enough to be assigned the task of helping Angeli eat by holding her hand around the spoon and bringing the mixture of cereal and mashed fruits to her mouth, bite by bite.

After lunch, we changed children with wet diapers, put them in their cribs for a nap, and called it a day. On the bus ride home, I couldn’t get these children, especially Angeli, out of my mind, and am grateful that I will have several more days with my new friends at Daya Dan. Miss you all and wish you were here. Love, Dad

I hope this Email account provides a glimpse of this magical, even if sometimes depressing place, especially when seen through the eyes of those who work with “the poorest of the poor,” as Mother Teresa described the people whom the sisters reach out to. My voyage to India included many visits to museums, temples, and historic sites, as well as a twoday “safari” in a old diesel-powered wooden boat around the famous Sundubans Tiger Preserve (the largest in East Asia) on a tributary of the Ganges near the delta south of Kolkata. The most rewarding part of this journey was to be able to see through my daughter’s eyes a culture that has become such an important part of her life. My hope is to someday return to India, perhaps next spring, with students and faculty from our ’Wick/GA community so that they, too, can witness firsthand this fascinating Asian culture and share in the amazing work of the Missionaries of Charity. j

The City of Joy

Summer 2007

R. Scott Tucker Remembered January 9, 2007 By Bonni Brodnick

Beautiful

Times of Brunswick

music filled Burke Auditorium as Brunswick School and Greenwich Academy students, former students, faculty, former faculty, alumni, parents, family, and friends came together to honor R. Scott Tucker, Upper School English teacher and chair of the English department. “We gather to share our sadness for suddenly losing, without warning, one of our own,” said Headmaster Thomas W. Philip. “We gather to share our sadness and to celebrate a difficult life admirably lived.”

Scott Tucker was deeply loved for his teaching and guidance, both educational and personal. He joined Brunswick School eight years ago as an English teacher and grew into the roles as head of the English department, and coach for hockey, cross country, and Junior Varsity baseball. Literature was his passion, and Scott helped students embrace it. In an email sent one week before his passing, he wrote to Mr. Philip, “Tom, I love being a teacher at Brunswick and love that my family is part of it.” (Son Matthew will be in Grade 2 next fall.) “Scott was an exceptionally dedicated and gifted teacher,” Mr. Philip continued. “He had a love of learning, teaching, and thinking. For all that Scott gave us, we couldn’t be more grateful.” In his opening prayer, Father Richard Cipolla, chairman of the Classics department, said, “Scott had a spirit

capable of compassion. His roots are founded in his love for the word and his students, his vigor, and love of poetry. Scott was a sweet and virtuous soul. We pray for his family that they are rewarded by the fountain of faith.” Students cited appropriate passages from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and William Faulkner. Scott was acknowledged for his capacity to invest in the boys’ lives, for caring, and making sure that they were happy. He made them laugh. “Mr. Tucker cared that we be given the chance to open our eyes to the world of the abstract, the analytical, and the intellectual. He taught us to think,” said George Moran ’07 in his tribute. “We—the students who have been granted the incredible privilege today of reading in his honor—have, like so many others, been transformed by his inspiration and friendship.” Brendan Gilsenan, Upper School English teacher, associate director of college guidance, and one of Scott’s best friends, gave an eloquent speech about true friendship and the fragility of life. “It’s not an easy one, this life. From start to finish, we struggle to endure an unfair existence in which every ‘fibre,’ every atom of our blood is tested,” Brendan said. “From that initial burst of thick air that has us gasping to taste our first clean breath, to those wobbly moments in which we grope with our feet, strenuously, painstakingly trying to find that balance—that stable soil beneath our boot-soles that will support us as we walk into the world. From those seemingly significant details we complain about as children, to the more affecting experiences that tilt and shake us in our later years. It’s a struggle—an endless struggle to create and find meaning. “Some struggles we create for ourselves, as we strive to reach that perfect state of

mind—that perfect state of being. Other struggles are created for us—created by forces that are out of our control. From start to finish—life is an unpredictable, unforgiving struggle. “But within that, at the heart of it, there are moments of great triumph, moments of great clarity, moments of overwhelming beauty and happiness. Moments that come as a result of our own hard work, as a result of our own passions, and, most importantly, as a result of the people with whom we choose to surround ourselves. It is within this struggling life that we meet people, whether by luck or by circumstance, who move us—who affect us beyond words. I am one of many who had the great fortune of meeting and developing a friendship with Scott Tucker. And, to put it simply, he was affecting. Greatly affecting. “Scott and I first met as high school students at Kent School in the fall of 1987. I remember that day vividly,” Brendan continued. “I was sitting on the sidelines waiting for early-week football practice to start when I saw this sloppy, long-haired kid slowly making his way across the field toward me—a repeat junior who was supposedly a good field-goal kicker. But, Scott didn’t look like much of an athlete from far away, and from close up, he looked like even less of one. He was wearing a pink and blue tie-dye T-shirt with cut-off sweatpants, and his thighs seemed much too big for his body. Judging from his appearance, he was unimpressive. That was until we saw him play. Over the course of the next several weeks, Scott earned our respect as an athlete ten times over, as we watched him drill kick after kick, including one clutch 47-yard field goal in a crucial league game. “Football wasn’t the only sport at which Scott excelled,” Brendan said. “To this day, he is still one of the best high school hockey players that I’ve ever seen. And, anyone who’s had a chance to see him play at Kent would agree. He was outstanding—a Division I prospect—with a raw, natural speed most us only dreamed of having. He was naturally talented. He was the captain of the varsity baseball team; he was a great golfer, shooting in the 70s routinely at difficult courses … and he rarely played. He was an expert water-skier, a terrific tennis player, ridiculously good at horseshoes (horseshoes, for God’s sake!), the best miniature golfer in the state of Vermont

Summer 2007

“Mr. Tucker cared that we be given the chance to open our eyes to the world of the abstract, the analytical, and the intellectual. He taught us to think.”

(although that was a title he bestowed upon himself). And during his college years at Hamilton, after developing an illness that forced him to leave the game of hockey (a sport he was recruited to play), what did he do? He picked up a squash racket and became the #1 player and captain of the varsity squash team. Scott Tucker was, in fact, an extraordinary, gifted athlete. He was a competitor in every sense of the word. He was one who enjoyed outstanding success and many moments of greatness. “But Scott also knew something about struggle—real struggle. Diagnosed with cancer at the age of eighteen, days before our graduation from Kent, he was forced to spend the next year of his life at home. While many of us went off to college, Scott received regular chemotherapy treatments at Sloane-Kettering Hospital in New York, and was forced to undergo numerous operations that called for the removal of certain lymph nodes in his leg, as well as the removal of a portion of his foot where the malignant tumor had grown. The treatment was exhausting and excruciating, on many levels, but in the end, like so many other times in his life, Scott came out on top. He beat cancer and survived. But the struggle took a tremendous toll on his body. The cancer was gone, but so were vital parts of his body that allowed him to fight off infection, and in the years that followed, he endured pain and suffering that simply did not allow him to lead a normal life. He developed painful infections, and oftentimes, as an adult, he would spike fevers in the middle of the night that would land him in the hospital and out of work for days. It’s important that you all know this, because I don’t think people realized how truly sick he was. He was never healthy, not a single day after high school was he healthy; not a single day that you knew him was he healthy. He was always suffering, always struggling, and yet he refused to quit; he refused to pack it in. “And when his body began to fail him, he turned his sights toward an endeavor that, next to his family, would provide him a great sense of inspiration—the teaching profession. He was a true scholar, a poet, and an intellectual, who put everything he had—his heart and soul—into becoming the best English teacher he could possibly be. At times, he prepared for class and researched to the point of exhaustion, not only because he loved the acquisition of knowledge, but because he honestly believed that anything less would be doing you, his students, a disservice. Teaching was not a job to him; it was his passion; it was his calling. And he was the best. Those of you who had the good fortune of taking one of his classes while he taught and coached at Brunswick School know how great he was. He made an extraordinary impact on hundreds of students. You know he was a wealth of knowledge; you know how devoted he was; you know what an amazing human being he was. What you don’t know is how much you inspired

Times of Brunswick

him, how much you affected him. Scott and I had countless conversations about how much he learned from you, and how much he looked forward to his time with you. You helped ease his physical pain; you made his struggle worthwhile. You were his passion; you were his inspiration; you were his friends. And he had hundreds of them. Scott loved his friends, loved to tell stories about his friends, loved to laugh—laugh hysterically—with his friends. “Friendships are so important in this life,” Brendan said. “Hold on to your friends as tightly as you can clench your fists. We only have a certain amount of time to live and breathe, and that time goes quickly, too quickly. We need our friends, because they help you find meaning and clarity in life. They help make you laugh when you need to laugh. They help make you face the struggle when the mountain of pain and grief seems insurmountable. They affect you and you, in turn, affect them. And, you create a history, a history that becomes wrought with struggle. But it’s the struggle that makes it real, it’s the struggle that binds us as human beings, it’s the struggle that makes that friendship tighter, and we’re better off because of it. “My friendship with Scott was perfect,” Brendan continued. “It was everything a perfect friendship should be: we had our shared triumphs—our moments of great frustration, lots of those—but in the end, we had a deep, mutual respect that allowed us to lean on each other when the struggle felt too great. We affected each other. We created a history. “But, as is true with all perfect friendships, there must be a departure. And someone loses out. In this case, it was not Scott. “Scott had a passion for poetry; he enjoyed discussing it; he enjoyed sharing his favorite lines. Like him, I, too have favorite lines of verse, lines that simply strike a chord. Mine are from a poem by Walt Whitman called ‘Song of Myself,’ which celebrates the freedom of the individual human spirit, and the natural, emotional connectivity that lives within us. The final lines of the poem have always spoken to me with great power and clarity. As Scott’s wife Catherine and I were cleaning out his classroom the other day, I found a tattered piece of paper, which I almost took for a piece of trash. But when I looked at it closely, I immediately recognized the words—written out in its entirety in Scott’s handwriting. They were the final part of that poem, my favorite lines:

I depart as air… I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood. Failing to fetch me first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you. “Scott, I see you in everything these days,” Brendan concluded. “I see you coming up the walk with your books tucked beneath your arms; I see you in the faces of your children. And, I know you’re stopped somewhere, with your leg propped up, waiting. But you’re going to have to wait a while. This damn struggle is just too good.” “Brendan’s eulogy for Mr. Tucker brought back a flood of memories from my time with him in and out of the classroom,” wrote Jeff Long, Class of ’01, in an Email to the Alumni Office. “I learned some very valuable lessons my junior year while in Mr. Tucker’s English class and for that I am eternally grateful. He treated me much like an older brother would— and I certainly needed the mentoring/older brother figure, as most will tell you. He even wrote my recommendation to get into Hamilton, probably the biggest reason I was accepted as it certainly wasn’t the ‘D’ I earned in physics. I think what Mr. Tucker taught me most was that you can be a jock (play sports, watch sports, and talk about sports), but you can also be a student at the same time. What I attained from him is that there is so much to be learned, and so much to be gained from that learning. It may have taken me a little longer than many of my classmates to accept this, but I finally got there because of Scott Tucker and all that he stood for.” “He left countless marks on the hearts and minds of many,” recalled Colin Raymond ’07, one of Mr. Tucker’s senior advisees. “It seems that every person who had him as a teacher was awestruck by his insatiable desire to learn and read. Mr. Tucker will be remembered for the immeasurable impression that he made on all. He graced everyone in this community.” Scott Tucker was truly Brunswick at its best. j

The 3 Annual Robert L. Cosby Society Breakfast Celebrates a Man of Magnificence rd

By Bonni Brodnick

Headmaster Thomas W. Philip welcomed members of the Robert L. Cosby Society at the third annual breakfast to celebrate a beloved individual, teacher, mentor, and coach, whose presence lives on at the School he loved so dearly. In February 2007, members gathered in Durkin Auditorium to honor Mr. Cosby and to recognize the contribution he continues to make at Brunswick, both spiritually and through the Robert L. Cosby Scholarship Fund established in his name. Mr. Vallely said. “I can’t think of a better fund to contribute to because the Robert L. Cosby Scholarship Fund perpetuates Mr. Cosby’s generosity of spirit and commitment to Brunswick School.” Robert (Bob) Cosby, Jr., Mr. Cosby’s son, represented his family by thanking members of the Society for attending the third annual breakfast and making it possible. “Thank you for your kind words, Mark, for Tom’s leadership, and to Terry Gumz’s Development Office for their behindthe-scenes efforts to make things run smoothly. It truly does ‘take a village,’” said Bob, a scholarship student who graduated with a senior class of 47 students in 1975. “What Brunswick does is remarkable,” Bob continued. “It takes a lot to nurture students and to mold young boys into young men. You can see it happening with Jonathan Bubar, a Robert L. Cosby Fund Scholarship recipient, and with Mac Singer, a seventh grader who, in lieu of gifts at his bar mitzvah, asked that donations be made to my father’s fund because he thought my father was such a hero to all the boys, such a great influence, and always energetic. He knew how to turn a boy’s day completely around for the better by just shaking their hand.”

Summer 2007

“Robert Cosby’s legacy is alive and well,” said Mr. Philip. “Through the fund, we are able to offer scholarship opportunities to deserving boys who might not otherwise be able to attend Brunswick. We are honored to be able to open our doors to them.” Guest speakers at the breakfast included Mark Vallely, Class of ’75 and current Trustee, and Jonathan Bubar, Class of ’08 and a Robert L. Cosby scholarship recipient. “In 1971, I was growing up in Old Greenwich and attending public school,” said Mark Vallely. “I didn’t do much homework, so it was a shocking experience for me to come to Brunswick where everyone did their homework, read their books, and you could hear a pin drop in study hall.” As Mark reminisced about his years at Brunswick, of course, meeting Robert Cosby was one of the highlights. “I never met a man as positive as Mr. Cosby,” Mark continued. “His smile lit up a room. His salutation, ‘Greetings, young man!’ always made you feel happy, and that was everybody’s first and wonderful impression. The faculty and community at Brunswick is really special, but especially so for understanding and embracing Mr. Cosby’s great gift. “I want to be involved in things that are kind and positive,”

Times of Brunswick

Email from Mr. Cosby’s daughter in Switzerland

There is something wonderful about my father’s birthday on May 24. I don’t just mean that because I always see it as a prelude to mine, but as a herald to “birthday season,” and much more. The month of May heralds that summer is coming and spring confirmed. For me, that means the continuation of life. That is what my father has always stood for: continuation of life and commitment to excellence. One could easily think the two are inextricably linked, but such is not always the case. There can be life without excellence, life in which people give up, life in which people just accept. I guess that would be life without change, which is something of a death sentence. I think of my father differently now. The hurt has lessened. The pull of longing has loosened its grip. What remains is the clarity of meaning of his life, his beliefs, and that which he sought to teach me every day. And that is precisely what I have realized: my life is a continuation of that of my father. It has long been obvious that Mr. Cosby lives on in many individuals at Brunswick and its collective community. But it has taken me all this time to realize that my father lives on in me, too. I knew that he was in my heart. But I never knew until now that he lives on through me. Please give my best to all. As ever, Renata

“People of color weren’t always accepted in places of prestige,” Bob said. “But my dad was embraced at Brunswick and recognized the importance of education. He believed it allows one to think for oneself, and none of that comes without hard work. And although I wasn’t top of my class when I came as a scholarship student, Brunswick helped shape my life. It’s like nurturing young birds that don’t know how to fend for themselves, to fly, to navigate in the world, and get their wings. For me, Brunswick provided that wind, that loft, so that I learned how to fly on my own. We can continue to do this for other students of diversity through the Robert L. Cosby Society, a legacy of love and encouragement that manifests the true beliefs of my father.” Jonathan Bubar, Class of ’08 and second guest speaker, recounted his path to an independent school education that began with his mother’s earnest interest to provide him with opportunities that were unavailable to her as a child. “I did fairly well in public school, but was a candidate for a school that could provide a more challenging academic environment,” Jonathan said. “In fourth grade I was interviewed by REACH (scholarship program) to determine whether private school might be a good direction for me. I spent the next eighteen months at REACH in preparation for an independent school career. It was determined that Brunswick would be the only school I would apply to. I enrolled in sixth grade, and rather than chronicle my years at Brunswick, I would like to focus on how the School has transformed me as a person. “Every day I am privileged to be surrounded by an energetic, knowledgeable, and above all, caring faculty. How many students in high schools across the country can boast about being educated by Oxford-trained mathematicians, and sensitive, nurturing teachers the likes of Mr. (Scott) Tucker? The faculty at Brunswick doesn’t just teach, but provides students with the tools necessary to learn and understand for themselves. The teachers here feel a commitment to endow students with the skills necessary to mature intellectually and to be independent, motivated scholars. It’s not simply the academic education offered at Brunswick which sets it apart; it’s the moral instruction, too, which has made such a significant influence upon my life and the lives of all Brunswick students. The School’s high standards, coupled

The 3rd Annual Robert L. Cosby Society Breakfast with its caring environment, serves as the perfect platform for molding young men of character and conviction. “Everyday I am surrounded by positive male role models— some of whom are in this room right now—who serve as compasses for my life. These role models extend beyond the academic faculty, and include members of the Brunswick maintenance staff, such as Jim Romanello and Tim Daly. The time I spent working under their supervision during spring break is an experience that provided me with insight into the ethos of Brunswick. They were as kind and caring as could be. In a way, these two guys represent what the character of Brunswick is all about. In one week, I learned the importance of dedication to one’s work, of loyalty to one’s School, and self-sacrifice for others. I often witnessed Jim and Tim going above and beyond their required job roles to help members of the community. “Above all else, Brunswick to me is home,” Jonathan said. “I have witnessed a transformation in myself during these short years here. Not only do I look forward to every Brunswick School day, but I’ve also realized that my School has offered me both an education and an opportunity. Without education and discipline, human potential is wasted. Outside these walls, the world is riddled with injustice, inequality, and social stratification. Brunswick School is a refuge from all of this. Education has the capacity to ameliorate the divisions within our society and let true character and talent shine. “Brunswick’s adage ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ has provided me with the right blend of discipline, work ethic, and empathy that is the groundwork not only for life in the proverbial ‘real world,’ but also for manhood,” Jonathan continued. “In truth, Brunswick School is not simply a place for college preparation and social advancement. It is a village, a community, and a home that enriches the lives of each and every one of its members. Being a Brunswick boy at heart, I realize that it’s my responsibility with the education and love I have received here to help heal ills of the world, rather than to seek self-promotion within it. Thus, facing the formidable saga ahead of me that will be my life, I take comfort in the words of former Headmaster George Carmichael that “… the School will go with me.” j

Become a member of the Robert L. Cosby Society Summer 2007

Induction into the Robert L. Cosby Society is awarded to those who have given a cumulative total of $5,000 to the Robert L. Cosby Scholarship Fund over any period of time. Members are honored at our annual breakfast, where they learn more about how their donations benefit the Brunswick community and enrich it with diversity. To join the Robert L. Cosby Society, please call the Brunswick Development Office at 203.625.5864.

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Goes Global as It Enhances Multicult u By Priscella Masselink & Dina Silverleaf “Travel is fatal to prejudice.” ~Mark Twain

Times of Brunswick

Films have a remarkable ability to open our eyes, hearts, and minds to lives and stories vastly different from our own. The silver screen also helps us to see “the big picture” and learn that other peoples’ hopes, dreams, and concerns are strikingly similar to our own. It was this goal to learn more about life beyond Greenwich that inspired Brunswick School’s Parent Association to launch Fundance Foreign Film Festival three years ago.

This year’s theme was “Expect the Unexpected.” That and a crazy-looking cat arrived home in the form of a quirky invitation to the February film fest. And this year, as foreign films continue to gain popularity, Fundance enjoyed greater attendance at all of the Friday and Saturday screenings. Friday afternoon pizza parties for the Lower and Middle Schools, followed by a good flick, were especially popular. “The purpose of our annual film festival is to show movies about the lives of children and young adults around the world,” said Thomas W. Philip, Headmaster. “It is our hope that this exposure through foreign cinema will inspire and enlighten our students, make them aware of different cultures, histories, and stories, and encourage them to understand the wonderful universal connection in the experience of childhood.”

“All of the films presented feature children and young adults as leading characters in contemporary settings, but whose circumstances differ from that of a typical Fairfield County youngster,” said Darrell Lorentzen, Fundance co-founder and programming advisor who, along with the expertise of Sunil Gupta, Brunswick director of technology, launched a new website www.fundancefilms.org. “Sharing our knowledge and research on where to find great films is another way for Brunswick School to reach out to our local and educational communities.” The Fundance committee spends a year scouring film industry publications and major metropolitan newspapers for reviews, and attends special film festivals that have similar educational programming objectives to find foreign films suitable for students, from pre-kindergarten through high school. During the selection process, the committee also consults faculty to support areas of study. Fundance Foreign Film Festival invited Brunswick and Greenwich Academy Middle and Upper School students to submit short films of five minutes or less. More than 33 student short films were submitted, and 15 were selected to premier at Fundance. The winners were:

Middle School Awards

Jury Prize: “Can’t Stop” by Luke Lorentzen Audience Prize: “Mystery of the Third Floor” by Brad Hanson, Cooper Briggs, Alex Drakos, Cameron Biondi, Jack Costello, Patrick Figgie, and Luis Cobb Honorable Mention: “The Good, The Bad and These Guys” by Ray Tierney

ural Appreciation Upper School Awards

Jury Prize: “Passenger Seat” by Marcus Garfinkle Audience Prize: “Goodbye, Mr. Jones” by Diana Snyder and Becca Mark Honorable Mention: “The First Chapter” by Anne Munger “Fundance is not only a unique opportunity for our students to gain access and understanding of different cultures through film, but it provides a wonderful venue for

students to showcase their own work,” said Neil Minsky, coordinator of student films for Fundance Foreign Film Festival, Middle School academic support, English teacher, and class dean. This year’s Fundance films were from the Netherlands, South Africa, Germany, Spain, France, Palestine, Estonia, Madagascar, Norway, Guatemala, Morocco, the United States, Puerto Rico, North Korea, and India. An added highlight to the festival was the guest appearance of screenwriter Mark St. Germain, who answered questions from the audience after his film “Duma” was presented. Having a film industry personality or celebrity to speak at Fundance is always something we look for! Co-chairs Priscella Masselink and Jessie Jamar are grateful to the cast of parents who helped coordinate Fundance this year. Some of the key players from Brunswick School and Greenwich Academy include: Co-founder of Fundance Foreign Film Festival & Programming Advisor: Darrell Lorentzen Program Design: Karen Chin (thanks for finding that crazy cat for the program cover!) Student Film Liaison: Cindy Biondi Opening Day Pizza Parties: Trish Parsons, Maureen Forester, Marilyn Hart, Carrie Vik Publicity: Dina Silverleaf Musical Entertainment and House Manager: Barbara Harland Stangler Technical Support: Sunil Gupta, Mark Murray Faculty Counsel and Support: Neil Minsky, Steve Duennebier, Kate Howard Hospitality: Claire Whelan Volunteer Coordinator: Sally Blackiston Area Independent School Reps: Clare Hare, Amy Tardio Summer 2007

“Jessie and I would also like to thank the additional volunteers who share the passion of film, believe in our vision, and gave their time and talent to make the third annual Fundance Foreign Film Festival such a success,” said Mrs. Masselink.

Q&A with Kevin Wassong ’86: From “Maher Ave” to Madison Avenue to

By Bonni Brodnick

It’s all about taking risks. Measured

Times of Brunswick

risks, that is. Whether you’re in advertising, banking, or the corporate world, you have to know your ABC’s, be willing to overcome the aversion to change, be confident, learn more, and know your limitations. We caught up with Kevin Wassong Class of ’86, president of Minyanville, an online media and publishing company that provides financial commentary and analysis from Wall Street fund managers, researchers, and writers in an educational and entertaining format. They like to keep things smart but also laugh. Rather than focus on how to make trading gains, the emphasis of the site is on the preservation of capital. Here’s the buzz and banter from a Brunswick School grad who took a break from the flickering ticker to talk with us.

BWK: Without being derivative, how did Brunswick affect your trajectory? KEVIN: At Brunswick there was the unique opportunity to explore one’s limitations and take chances. During my five years on Maher Ave, my self-confidence grew. The ability to measure and take risks has allowed me to take big steps in life.

BWK: Any favorite teachers who helped quicken the flight? KEVIN: Fantastic teachers like Duncan Edwards, Jack Ayer, Power Fraser, and Norman Forbes helped shape me as a person. However, the greatest influence on my life was Diane O’Neill, head of the art department. She was an incredible motivator who recognized passions and ability. Having never really left the eastern seaboard before my junior year, it was she who sent me on an incredible, life-changing journey. In 1984 (unannounced to me), Mrs. O’Neill entered one of my paintings into the first youth art exchange with the People’s Republic of China. During the summer of ’85, I was selected as one of 11 students to represent the United States for six weeks in pre-Tiananmen China. We toured China and Inner Mongolia, which gave us a terrific opportunity to explore our independence, make decisions on our own, and take measured risks. It’s what life is all about. BWK: Worth Magazine has called Minyanville “a place where cartoon characters explain the ins, outs and trends of the often stuffy, intimidating world of high finance.” How did you become such an expert market voyeur? KEVIN: After Brunswick, I attended Syracuse University’s Newhouse School and studied communications. With a growing passion for media and entertainment, I headed west to Los Angeles and worked for Michael Ovitz at Creative Artists Agency, then in television on the Golden Girls and Empty Nest where I handled show development, and worked with the actors and writers before returning to New York in the mid-90s. For the next ten years, I was in advertising and marketing, finishing that

phase of my career at J. Walter Thompson. At the time, the Internet was in its infancy, but the possibilities were limitless. As former CEO of the agency’s interactive division, my charge was to make it happen. It was a tremendous risk since a number of people had tried before us and m Kevin Wassong ’86 and Minyanville failed. But we jumped Founder and CEO Todd Harrison in and focused on web development for clients like Merrill Lynch, Unilever, Pepsi/ Lipton, and De Beers and helped them navigate the tumultuous and explosive growth of the Internet. My team created websites like www.adiamondisforever.com, www.nasdaq.com, and www.liptonbrisk.com. It was an exciting time. We were featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, in Wired Magazine and Business Week, and grew digital@jwt into a top-10 global interactive firm.

BWK: But can a bull and a bear coexist, even in cyberworld? KEVIN: Hoofy and Boo definitely coexist and provide valuable market insight with snarky humor and cunning wit. Todd and I created a platform that draws on all aspects of communications, blurs the lines between media channels, and creates a cultural catalyst that educates, entertains, and simply makes the world of finance fun. It’s a risky venture, altruistic, and inventive, and I couldn’t be more challenged or thrilled.

BWK: Is this when you met Todd Harrison, your partner in fiscal literacy? KEVIN: Todd, whom I met at Syracuse University, had spent the majority of his career at Morgan Stanley, rising through the ranks to become the youngest vice president in their history. He left to run the derivatives book at the hedge fund, The Galleon Group, before later becoming president of Cramer Berkowitz, a $400 million hedge fund that was started by the now infamous Jim Cramer. On a lark, Todd wrote a column for the Street.com and it took off like wildfire. He became their top writer with more than 80,000 subscribers at the peak. He wrote from the perspective of metaphorical critters “Hoofy the Bull” and “Boo the Bear.” It really was like a combination of Wall Street and Sesame Street. Readers found the characters entertaining and unique, but most of all, they found a voice for the world of finance that wasn’t intimidating. Todd’s perspective was fresh and creative. He jumped his perch to create Minyanville in 2002. I decided to leave the corporate world, too, and in 2005 joined Todd to become an entrepreneur.

BWK: Who’s among the Minyanville Buzz & Banter in-crowd? KEVIN: Our content is geared towards the sophisticated investor. In the months ahead, our content offerings will expand to encompass family education and entertainment, with added functionality that allows Minyans to connect with other Minyans to discuss finance and ways to be more successful in creating their own financial foundation. Keep your eyes peeled as Hoofy and Boo, the unconventional conduits of Wall Street info, come to life on screens of all sizes and redefine money management.

BWK: Sounds risky. KEVIN: Nobody had ever branded the bull and bear Wall Street figures. Todd and I collaborated to start a platform that was a measured mix of content, community, and creativity to give a fresh view on finance. Minyanville became an entertainment and media-company where Wall Street meets Walt Disney, and the iconic bull and bear came to life.

BWK: You have been called “one of the most respected minds on Wall Street.” Okay, it was Todd who said it, but how have you taken your mutual vision to the next step? KEVIN: Every day the financial markets tell a relatively complex story. Oftentimes it’s a drama playing out before your eyes. Our Minyanville team of more than 35 financial professionals located around the globe interprets and filters this cacophony of news and market information, chronicling the flow of the financial markets in realtime each day. We like to say that what you read on “The Buzz” today is what you’ll read in the Wall Street Journal tomorrow. Our goal is to help our readers, or Minyans, as we call them, become more confident in their ability to take risks, and more measured risks, in the world of finance.

BWK: Did Brunswick School help you connect the dots? KEVIN: The journey from “Maher Ave” to Minyanville has been incredible. While I may not have known it while I was a student, in 20/20 hindsight, I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to attend Brunswick School and to learn from a great group of passionate people. j For more information on Minyanville, go to www.minyanville.com. The site is free and you’ll get a fun and innovative perspective on the markets daily. For the more sophisticated investors who want to tune in to Minyanville’s real-time take on the markets through the Buzz & Banter, Brunswick alumni are being offered a 25% discount off the annual subscription.

Summer 2007

Enduring Facs of Brunswick By Bonni Brodnick

Forty-two Brunswick teachers, who have been here from more than ten up to 38 years, can call it a loooooong school day. We call it loyalty, dedication, and commitment to our boys, our School, and our collective mission to provide an environment that understands, cherishes, and celebrates our students year after year. Following is what a few teachers have to say:

Times of Brunswick

“I have been privileged to serve three headmasters during my 31 years at Brunswick: Norm Pedersen, Duncan Edwards, and Tom Philip. Throughout each of their tenures they have held steadfast to Brunswick’s goal to provide the highest of academic and moral standards to their students. Each headmaster has helped to create an encouraging atmosphere in which students develop and excel not only in their academics, but as young men as well. Brunswick is not just a school. It is a long-standing tradition that anyone who has had the good fortune to experience carries with them throughout their lifetime. Courage, Honor, Truth are not mere words; they are a way of life at Brunswick.” Patricia Meloni Lower School Grade 2 Teacher 31 Years at Brunswick

“Every year at Brunswick is new—new courses, programs, and ALWAYS totally new personnel (students). It’s equivalent to firing all of your co-workers every June and starting over. I feel trusted, and somewhat independent. Mostly, I could never envision spending my day with adults exclusively—kids are much funnier.” Stephen Duennebier Assistant Head of Upper School Director of Student Services Upper School History & Health Teacher 28 Years at Brunswick

“My 27-year relationship with Brunswick has been an incredible journey . . . a true labor of love. Without a doubt it is the people who make Brunswick the great school that it is. Not a day goes by that I don’t count my blessings for having the opportunity to work with such an amazing group of talented boys, dedicated teachers, and supportive parents. Each day brings me great joy and fulfillment.” Eleanor Lindberg Head of Pre- and Lower School 27 Years at Brunswick “Brunswick School has been a big part of my life: I graduated from Brunswick, I met my wife at Brunswick and my sons are students at Brunswick. My closest friends include a current Brunswick teacher, a former Brunswick teacher, and a member of my Brunswick graduating class. It’s a very special place. The best thing about it—year after year—is the people involved. They work and play hard and enjoy life to its fullest.” Power Fraser Class of ’74 Assistant Director of Athletics 29 Years at Brunswick “Beyond the routine, more than my daily morning greetings with the boys, and even despite my traffic-filled journeys down the Merritt Parkway each day, Brunswick School has become my life. As the gifts of each of these single days have amassed to much longer periods of time, Brunswick is special in that it enriches my every day at the same time it has become such a large part of who I am.

“I have grown and changed as a function of the way Brunswick has evolved over the years. As my roles have changed, my belief and pride in this School, so deeply entrenched within me, are what have remained constant. It is the people that make Brunswick what it is, every single day.” Gina Hurd Assistant Head of Pre-School Pre- and Lower School Admission Director 27 Years at Brunswick “Brunswick is a special place, both for the students to learn and the faculty to teach. Watching our youngest students in Pre-K become fine, responsible young men in the Upper School is a credit to our families, faculty, and administrators. I have found my many years at Brunswick to be very rewarding.” Carol Pollack Lower School Learning Specialist 26 Years at Brunswick “I interviewed at Brunswick in August 1983. A science teacher had just left so Duncan Edwards, in his first year as Head of Upper School, was eager to speak with me. I had been teaching in public schools and wasn’t sure I wanted go the private school route but accepted the job, telling Duncan that I would probably stay only one year to help him out. That was 24 years ago. “I fell in love with Brunswick School, particularly with the students. As a former public school teacher, I had come from a very different environment and initially felt like an outsider here, but the students, faculty, and staff made me feel welcome. Beyond that, at Brunswick I could focus on teaching and developing a curriculum that maintained a high level of academic excellence, while also making it enjoyable and interesting for the students. Teaching here has allowed me to be creative in the classroom. “Over the years Brunswick has grown, and with that come new challenges and new solutions. The bar continues to rise at what seems to be a faster and faster rate. There is more expected of the students, and hence of faculty, administrators, and staff. Certainly, after being here for so long, there have been a few glitches and bumps in the road. But in typical Brunswick School fashion, everyone pulls together so that we remain one of the top academic institutions in the country.” Steven Weber Upper School Chair of the Science Department Upper School Science Teacher 24 Years at Brunswick

Administration Steven H. Dudley Thomas W. Philip

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Faculty Jacques O. Bouffier (retired) George Boynton Theodore P. Stolar Robert G. Sampson Patricia A. Meloni Redmond Power Fraser Stephen A. Duennebier Gina Hurd Eleanor G. Lindberg Timothy F. Ostrye Carol Pollack Jeffry C. Harris Jean Dobbs Steven Weber John R. Van Atta Leslie W. Andersen James R. Stephens Eric W. Tillman Michael J. Harris John J. Pendergast Alexander Bulaze Margot Gibson-Beattie Mary Alice Ackley Richard M. Beattie Robert A. Benjamin Douglas Burdett John P., Booth Jr. Lawrence S. Urbon Joseph Bracchitta Brian Callahan Suzanne Foyle Plunkett Terry Gage Boyd Beth Ann Eno Kristen Ingarra Erin K. Withstandley Paul B. Withstandley III Leslie Harris Kim Iorillo B. Steven Polikoff Jennifer Spaulding

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To all of our teachers who love what they do, and for all that they give to our boys—day after day and year after year—we say, “Thank you!”

Years of Service

Mr. Bouffier Goes to Paris By Bonni Brodnick

Jacques Bouffier, the longest tenured member of

our faculty, joined Brunswick School in 1969 when Richard Nixon was inaugurated 37th president of the United States, best picture of the year was “Midnight Cowboy,” record of the year was “Aquarius” by the Fifth Dimension, Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and the median household income was $8,400. During Monsieur Bouffier’s 38 years at Brunswick, he has served as a teacher of modern languages (he even had a stint as an art history teacher and Chair of the Arts Department) and, most importantly, as Chair of the Modern Language Department for 36 years. His leadership and inspiration have led Brunswick to be recognized as a forerunner in the study of modern classical languages at both the elementary and secondary levels. Through Jacques’ efforts we have an enviable list of language offerings that include French, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Latin, and Greek.

Times of Brunswick

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“While Jacques’ retirement is most certainly our loss, given his exciting plans for the years ahead, it will be his gain as he returns to France to travel, entertain, and to pursue his doctorate in art history,” said Headmaster Thomas W. Philip. “If only we all could look forward to such a rewarding retirement. We wish Jacques a most heartfelt Godspeed.” To savor the contributions of this special faculty member whose sartorial trademark is a perfectly-tied, colorful bow tie, Brunswick Upper School celebrated “Jacques Bouffier Day” at a surprise morning assembly in May. vineyard vines® commemorated the occasion by designing bow ties specifically with Jacques in mind: Brunswick Bruin holding a French flag. Burke Gymnasium was a sea of more than 350 beau ties as we honored Jacques with bons mots and a slide show. Post-assembly, we received the following missive: Dear Students and Colleagues, I would like to thank you for the wonderful goodbye. Students and faculty who are close to me know how emotionally difficult it is to leave Brunswick. However, I must tell you that the spectacle of the entire Upper School wearing bow ties was quite exhilarating—I shall never forget this day! I am told that it was complete pandemonium tying all those ties by 8:00 a.m., but I was not aware of it. Zach Prager watched my every move from the time I came to school until I went to see Mrs. Hubbard at 7:45 for a meeting whose purpose—I realize now—was to keep me away from the gym. It was a complete surprise, and I loved it. I hope many of you will continue wearing bow ties, and you will see that when you get over the mechanics of making the knot, it’s kind of fun to do it. Of course, do not buy those already tied—that’s a no-no in gentlemen circles! vineyard vines did a beautiful job with this “special edition.” Thank you again, Jacques Bouffier Before departing for retirement, we had a quiet moment to ask Monsieur Bouffier a few questions: How does it feel to be hanging up your chapeau after 38 years as an exemplary Brunswick teacher? “I have mixed feelings. Endings are difficult. I’m always the last to leave a party; and I’m always sad when a play, opera, or novel comes to an end. But I’m hoping my retirement will be an exciting new chapter. Should we call you on the first day of school to be sure you’re okay? “For so many years, the end of school was never the same bliss that students experience. I was always a bit sad to see them graduate, because I knew that I would not see them again

as students. The magical student/teacher relationship would be gone forever. But summer was always ahead, along with wonderful stays in France, and trips to other countries. With no formal ‘back-to-school’ this September, I realize that my life will be completely different. Call me.” What’s on the docket? “First, lose 15 pounds. And as I lose those pounds, I’ll make my beautiful apartment looking over Luxembourg Gardens in Paris my home. I also look forward to traveling to the many cities in Europe renowned for their opera houses: Bayreuth Festspielhaus for the Wagner festival, Milan for La Scala, and Salzburg for Mozart. I hope to finish my Ph.D. in art history and keep ties with education through the College Board. I shall certainly give time to organizations in Paris that cater to the needs of people with AIDS or suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.” What makes Brunswick so special to you? “The incredibly warm relationship that prevails betweens teachers and students here is exceptional. I believe this has to do with the three recent headmasters who have led the School: Norman Pedersen, Duncan Edwards, and Tom Philip. These gentlemen have not only been headmasters, but also Upper School heads, teachers, and coaches. This is unique among all the schools I know. Norm, Duncan, and Tom have been able to create a bond with the students that has in turn permeated the culture of the entire School.” As a bowtie connoisseur, you can’t leave without sharing your knowledge on how to get a perfect bow. “I have to look in the mirror. There’s something happening when I go like this (gives reporter a demonstration by slipping the short end under the long end), zig zag, then push the flaps like this, and voilá!” Certainly your legion of fans will want to stay in touch should they wish to catch up over a café and croissant on their next visit to the City of Lights. L’adresse, s’îl vous plaît? I will continue to receive mail at my Brunswick address, and can be best reached at jbouffier@brunswickschool.org. Present and past students, faculty, staff, and parents wish Jacques Bouffier a retirement full of adventure, good health, creativity, and joy. Bonne chance, Jacques! j

Summer 2007

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& the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts Choir Appear at Spring Benefit to “Celebrate the Arts”

By Bonni Brodnick

Spring Benefit Celebrates the Arts

It was a lovely swing evening for perfect pitch jazz, smooth rhythms, and a little bossa nova as Burke Field House transformed into an art gallery and performance venue for the Brunswick School Parents Association benefit, “Celebrate the Arts.” American icon Tony Bennett, who has touched the hearts of people around the world through the magic of his music and the power of his art, along with the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts Concert Choir, were the eminent guests of the evening. Burke Field House doors opened to an art gallery with student paintings hanging from floor-to-ceiling on swaths of flowing silk banners. Lela Philip, Pre-K art teacher, coordinated the exhibition with fellow art teachers Andrew Hall, Brian Shepard, Lorna La Riviere, Kim Amussen, and Krista Kern. “We tried to incorporate most every student hand, from Pre-K through Upper School, in musical-themed, dramatic paintings,” said Mrs. Philip of her innovative project for the silent auction that would benefit Brunswick faculty enrichment and development. “For Pre-K, we cut pre-drawn 3 x 5 foot canvases into 20 squares, which were distributed to the students, painted, then reassembled, and glued to a backing

Summer 2007

Times of Brunswick

canvas. The Upper School art classes worked together on each 4 x 5 foot canvas. It was a fun way to get everyone involved in a project that will benefit our teachers.” During cocktail hour, guests were serenaded by Brunswick’s jazz band, lead by guitarist Turner Smith. The crowd was wowed when Michael Blumenthal ’07 and Allen Louis ’11 came to the fore with beautiful solos. Meanwhile, an able crew of Juniors bedecked in swanky green bow ties passed hors d’oeuvres to more than 900 guests who participated in the evening’s raffle, donated by Adria de Haume, Andrew Hall, Benedetto Arts LLC, J.L. Rocks, John W. Russell, McArdle’s Florist & Garden Center, Neil Burger ’81, Pamela and Michael Cline, St. John Knits International, Steven Fox Jewelry, Tiffany & Co.

Greenwich, and vineyard vines®. Raffle proceeds will benefit the Robert L. Cosby Society and help perpetuate the values that Mr. Cosby exemplified as a beloved former faculty member whose generosity of spirit and fine character continue to affect generations of Brunswick students. Lights dimmed as the “auditorium” (really a well-disguised basketball court) glowed and guests took their seats. Paul Raaen, Upper School music director, directed the Blue Notes in “The Look of Love.” Shane Kirsh, Upper School music teacher, directed Improv II in a jazzy rendition of “Povo”; and Alexander Constantine, Upper and Middle School music teacher, led his Men of Brunswick in “Eight Days a Week,” and “My Romance.”

Spring Benefit Celebrates the Arts

“It’s because of your support of Brunswick School and the arts that we are here tonight,” said Master of Ceremony Preston Baldwin, Brunswick parent and Board Trustee. “Our School faculty— along with the leadership of Headmaster Tom Philip, Head of Middle School Sarah Burdett, and Head of Pre- and Lower School Eleanor Lindberg—helps sculpt exceptional young boys into exceptional young men, whom we celebrate for their self-expression and individuality in academics, athletics, visual, and performing arts. At Brunswick, we create works of art every day.” Next taking the stage was the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts Concert Choir. Founded by Mr. Bennett to honor his late friend and colleague, Frank Sinatra, the school offers a rigorous academic curriculum and pre-conservatory studio education

Summer 2007

In between the bars, Neil Minsky, Middle School academic support, English teacher and Grade 7 class dean, premiered his film, “We Celebrate the Arts,” which was received with applause and kudos. By this time, guests were enchantingly, absolutely, and wholeheartedly celebrating the arts. “This night wouldn’t be possible without our boys, Columbia Records, Tony Bennett, and the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts,” said Headmaster Thomas W. Philip. “We are also grateful to Brunswick parent Steve Barnett, Chairman of Columbia Records; and to Benefit co-chairs Krissy Blake and Irene Waddill and their volunteers for all of their efforts to make ‘Celebrate the Arts’ an evening we will long remember. It’s a Herculean effort, and they pulled it together with grace and charm, exactly as we like to do it.”

Times of Brunswick

Spring Benefit Celebrates the Arts

Summer 2007

in instrumental music, vocal music, fine arts, drama and dance. This elite group of singers has performed for the 2006 U.S. Open with Diana Ross, the Governor’s Arts Awards, Americans for the Arts Celebrates Aretha Franklin, Dave Matthews Band Concert in Central Park, CBS News Morning Show, NYC Round Table for the Arts, and at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. A permanent site for the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts and its 620 New York City resident students will open in Astoria, Queens, near the Kaufman Studios, in the fall of 2008. This will be a propitious opening season for Brunswick performing artists as well. The “Celebrate the Arts” patrons were enthralled with the talent of Frank Sinatra School of the Arts singers. As they left the stage, there was great applause and anticipation when American icon, renowned jazz singer and artist Tony Bennett took the stage and awed the audience with a selection of some of his all-time classics, “Fly Me to the Moon” and “The Shadow of Yor Smile.” “It’s wonderful to be at Brunswick School to ‘Celebrate the Arts’ and to be inspired for our own Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, ” Tony Bennett said. (Who, by the way, recently appeared on Fox TV’s American Idol, which clearly demonstrates how, without compromising his musical integrity, he demolished the generation gap with an audience that spans six decades.) “The arts are something our country needs, more than anything.” “In a computer and Internet-centric age where facts are ubiquitous and information is a commodity, the nurturing of arts has become even more important for today’s students,” wrote Brunswick parent Sarah Ondaatje in the evening’s Playbill. “Brunswick School’s growing arts education program is integral to our mission. It crosses boundaries of culture, color, and religion, and adds flavor and inspiration to all students who participate in the program. In most of the visual and creative arts, improvisation is the ultimate transcendence of a learned mind and a full heart into uncharted territory. When a traditional academic repertoire meets with inspiration and creativity, students find success in pushing limits and the reinterpretation of ideas and ideals. It is in this discovery of ‘self through creativity’ where an individual’s opinion is encouraged, but not judged, and where revelation has voice.” And for us, “The Best Is Yet to Come” as we take the Brunswick School Performing Arts Center from concept to reality. Construction for a 400-seat auditorium, black box theater, art studios, lobby art gallery, ceramics studio, choral/band room, and a computerized music room begins this summer. Curtains up for the grand opening is scheduled for fall 2008, the same time the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts opens. Brunswick visual, music, and performing artists will continue to celebrate the arts as we move into another exciting era on Maher Avenue. As Ted Stolar, Upper School computer teacher, said, “When you believe you can, suddenly the world opens to you.” j

Brunswick School honors our alumni in military service to our Nation Air Force

Marines

Airman 1st Class Daniel J. Maloney ’04

Maj. Kevin Cortes ’90

His home station is Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, FL. In May, he headed to an undisclosed forward operating base in Afghanistan for approximately six months.

Army

Stationed in Quantico, VA until June 2007. (Permanent posting to be decided.)

Capt. Forrest Jones ’97

Maj. David Haight ’90

Amphibious Reconnaissance School in VA. Caleb will head to Okinawa, Japan in September 2007.

Stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky with 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Surgeon. David will head to Fort Leavenworth, KS for Command General Staff College this July and then hopefully on to a Sports Medicine Fellowship in 2008.

Sam Kies ’04

ROTC at Wake Forest University. He will attend LDAC for 32 days this summer in Fort Lewis, WA

1 LT Nathan E. Raymond ’99

Stationed at Fort Campbell, KY with 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. He will deploy to Baghdad in August. Times of Brunswick

2nd Lt. Edward J. Hubbard ’02

Maj. Allen Haight ’88

University of Arkansas Medical School in fall 2007

Headed to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD in July 2007.

Scott Weston ’03

ROTC at Wake Forest University

1st Lt. Caleb Weiss ’94

Merchant Marine John Williamson ’01

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy graduate.

Navy Carter Harris ’05

Midshipman, U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD.

Shane Heller ’03

U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. After graduation in spring, 2007 he headed to Pensacola, FL (NAS Pensacola) to begin Aviation Primary Indoctrination (API).

Andrew Hotchkiss ’05

Midshipman, U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD.

Brunswick School is proud of our members of the military serving our great country. Please continue to write and tell us where you are stationed and what you are doing. Contact Cat Scott in the Alumni Office, cscott@brunswickschool.org. Update from Ensign Shane Heller ’03 United States Naval Academy at Annapolis Spring 2007

and Mr. Philip. I will forever be indebted to their steadfast support and encouragement during difficult periods at Brunswick and the Academy. Each helped me in different ways, but each had a definite impact on my life, and helped me get to where I am today. At Brunswick, the emphasis on developing young men of character mirrors the Academy’s mission of graduating Navy and Marine Corps officers with an unyielding moral compass. The Brigade’s Honor Concept codifies the general premise that as future officers in the United States Armed Forces, each midshipman is expected to hold himself and others to the highest standards of honor at all times. The Academy certainly keeps everyone busy, but there is a greater reason behind the hectic schedule. Summers provide opportunities for midshipmen to experience life in the fleet and learn more about each community in order to help decide which service community he would like to join. Each year serves a distinct purpose to prepare college-aged men and women to become competent leaders of sailors and marines. There is no greater honor than to serve in the United States Navy and give back to the country that has given me so much. I am incredibly grateful for the help and support of the Brunswick School faculty and staff, which played a huge part in getting me to where I am today. The ideals of Courage, Honor, and Truth are just as important in the Navy as they are in the halls of Brunswick. The Naval Academy was an amazingly rewarding experience, and although much different than the college experience of my Brunswick classmates and my brother (Jake, Class of ’00), it offered me an opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself where everyone works together for a common goal. In hindsight, my four years in Annapolis have passed quickly, but I am ready to tackle the next set of challenges of becoming a naval aviator. Go ’Wick, Go Navy, Beat Army!

Summer 2007

I have finally finished my four years in Annapolis at the United States Naval Academy. During the fall semester I served as the 30th Company Commander, and in the spring I was a squad leader of ten people (three freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors, and one senior). Billets change each semester, and I enjoyed the change of pace from company commander to squad leader. My second billet enabled me to focus on specific individuals versus spreading my attention across the entire company of 141 midshipmen. One of the difficulties as a squad leader is that I am the first link in the chain of command and am responsible for making sure that my squad is taken care of at all times. This includes ensuring that they receive adequate help or instruction in areas where they are below the required standard, or even the more basic physical needs such as food or medical attention. Both positions were incredible experiences that helped prepare me for the challenges out in the fleet. The core of any leadership opportunity is the value of setting an example, taking care of your people, and imbuing a sense of pride throughout your unit, regardless of its size. On February 22, I selected August 3 as my date to report to Pensacola, FL for Aviation Primary Indoctrination (API), which is the beginning of the aviation pipeline. The entire flight school pipeline will take about a year and a half to two years (from API to Wings). I will start in Pensacola, and then have three options for Primary Flight School: Corpus Christi (Texas), Whiting Field (Florida), and Vance Air Force Base (Oklahoma). After Primary, I will select my platform and head to intermediate and advanced for that specific aircraft. My selection will be subject to the needs of the Navy and generally 70 percent of each flight school class will fly helicopters. As of right now, however, I would like to fly an F-18 Super Hornets (carrier-based strike fighter), but I would be honored to fly any platform. My Brunswick School experience helped me immensely throughout my four years in Annapolis. I was extremely fortunate to have had some great mentors during my time there, including, but certainly not limited to Mr. Withstandley, Mr. Burdett,

A Thank You from U.S. Army MAJ. David Haight ’90 Dear Brunswick Students, I wanted to thank all of you in Mrs. Harris’s and Mr. Harris’s homerooms who sent Christmas cards to me in Iraq. Your support of the military means the world to us in service. One of you mentioned that you were interested in attending a military academy. I can’t say enough about how proud I am to be a Brunswick alum (’90) and a West Point grad (’94). I highly recommend the academies to any of you. Sincerely, Dave Haight U.S. Army Unit #931003/TFTG/CIF APO AE 09391

Operation Hero Miles

Operation Hero Miles was created to allow soldiers on active duty overseas to fly home on leave for free. It also gives family members of wounded soldiers free

U.S. AIR FORCE Airman 1st Class Daniel J. Maloney ’04

Times of Brunswick

Dan’s home station is Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, FL. We just received an Email update that he is currently serving in a dangerous area of Afghanistan. Please write and let Dan know that we’re thinking of him and sending all of our good wishes. A1C Daniel Maloney Crash Fire Rescue 755th EMSG/ECES FOB Fenty APO, AE 09354

plane tickets to visit their loved ones. Participating airlines that accept frequent flyer unused miles include AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Midwest Airlines, Northwest Airlines, United Airlines, and US Airways. For more information on Operation Hero Miles, please go to www.heromiles.org.

The Gift of “Operation Bruins Care” Packages By Gus Ruchman ’10

olin Raymond is a Senior with an extraordinary passion for giving. As captain of the wrestling team and a student at Brunswick School since Grade 6, Colin is also the leader of Operation Bruins Care, a project conceived several years ago by the Brunswick Parents Association. Initially, students collected supplies to send to Brunswick alumni serving overseas in the military. This year, Colin and Jeff Harris, Upper School history teacher and director of admission, teamed up to expand Operation Bruins Care by sending care packages to wounded Marines stateside. Although Colin is a major force behind the operation, there has been School-wide cooperation for the effort, which has grown exponentially in recent months. “Brunswick has responded tremendously,” said Colin, whose brother 1st Lt. Nate Raymond (Class of ’99) recently received the Bronze Star Medal from the United States Army for his “exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service.” “During spring break of 2007, we shipped 24 packages to injured Marines at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.” Colin said. The most requested items? Phone cards and watches. Operation Bruins Care also shipped 21 outer T-shirts, 22 DVDs, 19 pairs of sport shorts, 50 pairs of underwear, 30 bottles of shaving cream, and a plethora of other goods to make the lives of recuperating soldiers easier. Mr. Harris, whose son Carter (Class of ’05) is currently enrolled at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, also played a significant role in the endeavor by helping to coordinate a

bulk discount on physical therapy gloves that are helpful to wheelchair-bound servicemen and women. Mr. Harris and Colin have inspired Brunswick students to aid the wounded men and women of our country’s military. “Regardless of one’s political views or perception of the Iraq War,” Colin said, “Brunswick students found our care package project to be valuable because of the common goal to support our troops in any way we can.” j

Summer 2007

By vineyard vinesÂŽ

1/4 Zip Fleece $74.99

Polartech classic 100% fleece, warmth without weight, Adult sizes only. Note: Adult S may fit a younger child.

Boxers $17 Youth / $22 Adult

100% cotton covered elastic waistband, side vents.

Times of Brunswick

For sizing information and to order Brunswick Wear, please go to the Parents or Alumni home pages at www.BrunswickSchool.org or go directly to the Bookstore Online at www.brunswickschool.org/ alumni. If you have any questions, please Email us at BrunswickWear@aol.com. Profits from the sale of Brunswick Wear will go to the Brunswick Parents Association whose objective is to enrich our sons, support our faculty, and build and strengthen our Brunswick community through educational, informational, social, and fundraising projects.â&#x20AC;Ż

Lounge Pants $30 Youth / $50 Adult

100% cotton, side pockets, drawstring waistband.

‘Wick Snippets The following news briefs are from Bruins past and present who are sharing what they’re doing, where they’ve been, how they’ve done it. What’s your story? We’d love to hear! Contact: Bonni Brodnick, Brunswick News Room bbrodnick@BrunswickSchool.org Tel: 203.625.5864

Summer 2007

Celebrating 60 Years of Greenwich Magazine!

Brunswick School joined Greenwich Magazine in the celebration of their 60th anniversary of publication. While designing the congratulations ad, we found the perfect shot—Gordon Benjamin’s old buggy and his gang from Brunswick. The entire Class of ’45 (all eight of them) got decked out for a jovial pose. After asking the gentlemen for their personal reminiscences of the moment, here’s what we received: Thanks so much for the picture. I set it up with my old Graflex camera and had Coach King’s young son snap the shutter.   At least six classmates are still alive. I’m 79 and enjoying life, with two of my daughters living with me. A new Cuban son-in-law has joined the family, and younger daughter (20) has a constant line of suitors.

Best wishes and thanks again, Phillip Youngman Thanks for sending me a copy of our class picture. I have the original framed and draped with the 50-year medallion given out a while back at one of our homecoming reunions. I often think of Brunswick and my three years there. Pete Marston and I have been friends ever since he came to the School in tenth grade. It doesn’t seem that long ago.   I live with my daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren in Ivoryton, CT and I’m still an active wet-water and hard-water sailor (ice boating).

Times of Brunswick

Many thanks,  Woody Wheeler

Thank you for the picture of the Senior Class of 1945 in Gordon Benjamin’s Ford convertible. It’s hard to believe that there were only eight seniors in 1945. I still have this picture in my “Brown & White” yearbook. How Brunswick has grown! We did enjoy the School, especially the lighter side as shown in the picture. Both my wife Jane and I are well and enjoy our lifestyle in retirement in Florida.

Sincerely, Lou Schaefer

Wonderful picture! I have had it under glass for years.    My Brunswick days are still very vivid to me.  I have written a little poem on this and am now known as the Poet Laureate of our Class. (*Editor’s Note: See poem on the facing page) In the buggy picture, I’m the one wearing the “B.” Our last year at Brunswick was Headmaster Everett’s first.  It must have been a learning experience for him—it was definitely a maturing experience for our class. In those days Brunswick was a much smaller school than it is now.       Incidentally I am still working. I also interview for Duke University (my alma mater) and, in general, think I am still 30 years old.      We often drive by the “new” King St. campus on the way back to New Jersey from the Bridgeport ferry. Amazing, absolutely amazing. Best to all, Ed Trenkmann, Jr.

Background on Brunswick’s Poet Laureate,

Ed Trenkmann, Jr.,

Class of ’45 When

“There is just something about going to Brunswick,” Ed continued. “It opens many doors that normally would not have been there. Brunswick gave me the ability to get into the Navy Air Corps, who educated me at Hamden Sydney for one term, and then on to Duke, where I finished my degree as a civilian in 1949. “I’m very proud of where Brunswick is today. Athletics are obviously important, and it’s a big deal how our teams have won New England titles. Edwards Campus on King Street is impressive, and it’s good to know that Brunswick is forward-thinking and always trying to improve.” This is great stuff. Ed was too humble to tell us, but we also found out that he was captain of various teams, including football, and . . . that he was voted “Most Popular in the Class.” j

Summer 2007

We love to hear from alumni. Please share your stories and send them to Cat Scott in the Alumni Office, cscott@brunswickschool.org.

E.T. ’45

‘Wick Snippets

we spoke with Ed Trenkmann, Jr., he recalled that when he attended Brunswick at the end of World War II, “… the School was economically in dire straits. Mr. Pettengill was a guiding light on the Board, and was one of those who, along with Headmaster Everett, helped keep the School afloat. After the War, Brunswick thrived. I remember coming back two years after graduating and seeing an 80 percent higher enrollment than when I attended.

Do our thoughts remember past Of the times that will not last Please give me one more shot—have no fear At Mr. Clark and Latin dear Or Mr. Southworth, the history man He taught me then to be a fan Can Mr. Bogart teach me Spanish now Or will the time not allow Mr. Kent of figures fame Is it still just a game Coach King and son Ned come to mind Wouldn’t that be a find Gordon B., Louie S., Hugh D., and all the rest They were all there at their best Let us not forget a soul, Bring near Woody W., Bob S., Pete M., Bruce S.—they all did play a role Probably missed a few Could someone give me but a clue Ah, Ed T. with his “B” Proudly worn for all to see Bob G. and Bill E. we still have sought And regret what time did wrought Has Philip Y. found the idol yet A life of searching he did set Now we see Gordon B. of hockey fame He and Neil B. ran a winning game Then it ended with a note and that was all that history wrote Forward then into life so real The ups and downs we all did feel May all the egregious times be gone and only left a happy song More has past than lies ahead The book of life we have fed Could the Gods of fate decree a feat and certain times let us repeat My Brunswick days would be one choice In this I would but now rejoice We thank you all for days of yore Oh, how I wish that there were more We are, I know, a chosen few But still we must all say adieu.

Peruvian Hats Are Really Cool at Brunswick School By Bonni Brodnick Clay Blackiston and Tucker Daugherty, Brunswick School rising seniors and Greenwich residents, spent a month in Cuzco, Peru, last summer working on several community service projects, such as helping with construction by moving bricks and shifting dirt at a local school during the day, and working with children at Orphanage of Juan Pablo Segundo in the afternoons and evenings.

Times of Brunswick

The orphanage is organized so that the children, ages 6weeks to 18 years, are placed in homes within a complex. Each home has eight to ten orphans with a woman who acts as the mother, and another helper who is referred to as “aunt.” The system allows for family-oriented care for the children. “Clay and I did all sorts of activities at the orphanage, including helping children with homework, playing soccer, and just talking with them,” said Tucker. “In history classes at Brunswick, we’ve learned about the role of the worker in society, cottage industries, and the economics of development. I didn’t fully understand many of the concepts until Clay and I visited a small, rural village a few hours outside

m Clay Blackiston and Tucker Daugherty selling multicolored Peruvian pull-over wool hats which became the hottest trend on campus and raised funds for an orphanage in Peru.

of Cuzco and saw for ourselves how hard the people work, yet still remain impoverished. “A group of workers had formed a cooperative to sell their goods, along with incredibly colorful Peruvian pullover wool hats,” he continued. “When we got home, the gifts we gave friends and family were a huge success. Clay and I decided to try to import the hats as a way to earn money for the orphanage, as well as provide income for the cooperative. A local man, Julio Lopez, helped us coordinate getting 500 hats from the co-op in Cuzco to Brunswick. We set up a table in the Upper School lobby and sold out in three days.” “There was an immediate hat trend on campus!” Clay added. “We raised about $6,000, of which 100% has been sent to the Orphanage of Juan Pablo Segundo. Wearing the Peruvian hats was a great way to stay warm and make an impact on those in need.” “We’re glad we could make this small contribution,” Tucker said. “However, in the end it’s clear that we received much more than we gave. I realize that we are all so lucky to live in a place like Greenwich and attend a school like Brunswick. It was the small things we observed in Cuzco that gave us this new appreciation and perspective.” j

Sharing the Love for Reading with Friends at Children’s Village

By Elizabeth Fernandez Brunswick Middle School Librarian

A crucial part of Brunswick’s Middle School library program is our participation in the “Books for Boys” program, an innovative literacy initiative at Children’s Village. “Books for Boys” instills an awareness of the importance of literacy in our lives and in our communities at large. It encourages the boys to share the joy and companionship that reading brings. For seven years, we’ve conducted annual book drives for this rewarding program and shared our love for reading with the boys at Children’s Village (CV) in Dobbs Ferry, NY. This year’s theme was graphic novels, in which Brunswick enthusiastically participated. The books were placed in the Children’s Village boys’ cottages and in their school library.

‘Wick Snippets

Founded in 1851 in New York City under the name “The New York Juvenile Asylum,” CV originally served as a refuge for homeless immigrant children, and continues to provide a safe haven for children in need. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln delivered this message: “Tell the boys of the New York Juvenile Asylum that they must follow Truth, Justice and Humanity if they wish to become useful and honorable men.” Today, CV serves approximately 260 boys who come from New York’s foster care system. They are kids who have suffered tremendously in their young lives. The Village provides them with a sanctuary where they can begin to grow and play safely, sometimes for the first time. It also offers a wide range of support services including job training, education, and a cozy home environment.

“Our goal with the program is to create a vibrant reading community at the Village for children who so desperately need a sense of story and delight to carry them out of the darkest of times,” said Pam Allyn, founding director of Books for Boys. Two years ago, Brunswick and the boys of Children’s Village decided to join up monthly to share Books for Boys. Marcus Chioffi; his Grade 8 advisory ; Stacy Pratt, library staffer, and parent of Bobby Pratt ’05; along with parent volunteers and I spend an afternoon a month with a group of CV fourth and fifth graders. It is an inspirational event each and every month as the boys come together to talk, read, play games, and have pizza. “The boys at CV count the days until they see their Brunswick buddies again,” Ms. Allyn continued. “It’s so good for them to have relaxing time with children in the mainstream of the world. It helps to normalize the experience of living in a group residence, and is a high point of their month.” Last March, at a Manhattanville College seminar for teachers hosted by LitLife, entitled “Boys and Reading,” Sue Das, Lower School Grade 1 teacher, and I conducted workshops on new research regarding boys and reading, and shared our lists of favorite books for boys. Mike Fink, Middle School English teacher, moderated a panel of two boys from Children’s Village and two from Brunswick Middle School (Connor Kennedy and Corey Juan). It was a day in which we all felt the confluence of our two schools: two communities that are building opportunities for boys to thrive, succeed, and have joyous, happy lives. All four students were wise, humorous, and kind as they spoke so eloquently about reading and the impact books have had on their lives. Their poise and insight showed that these boys have lived up to the words of Abraham Lincoln, and to our own Brunswick motto of Courage, Honor, Truth.

Summer 2007

Spangenberg & Friends Make Music to Help Jamaican Orphans By Bonni Brodnick

BAJ Fusion m (left

to right) Wesley Wynne ’07 (guitar), Erik Spangenberg ’07 (composer & piano), Sam Haig ’09 (drums), and Ghreg Louis ’08 (bass guitar)

Times of Brunswick

While there are many community service clubs at Brunswick School, Brunswick Assists Jamaica (BAJ) has become a standout on campus since Matt Doyle (’04) and Andrew Jessiman (’04) founded it in 2001. The club is dedicated to raising money for Mustard Seed Communities that care for orphans just outside Kingston, Jamaica.

Mustard Seed is a nonprofit development organization that began in the depressed community of Mona Common. Through interaction of caring, sharing, and training the organization seeks to uplift the most vulnerable members of society in Jamaica, especially handicapped and abandoned children. Fostering homes for children with disabilities and illness, and helping pregnant mothers in Kingston, the organization has also established a radio station, a soup kitchen, and a card and ceramics shop. Mustard Seed Communities, which has outreaches in Haiti, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Zimbabwe, brings joy, hope, and dignity to those in need. While Brunswick’s BAJ has consistently donated nearly $5,000 each year to Mustard Seed through pizza and T-shirt sales, and dances. This year Erik Spangenberg ’07, one of the three current BAJ presidents, took on a less conventional project. In the second semester of his Senior year, Erik, a trained pianist, vocalist

and composer, designed a challenging independent study. He composed his own CD, “Set Seven,” which features Brunswick and Greenwich Academy musicians Wesley Wynne ’07 on guitar, Ghregory Louis ’08 on bass, Sam Haig ’09 on drums, and Olivia Peet GA ’07 with vocals in a rock, jazz, and pop fusion collaboration. “Set Seven,” was dedicated to the inspirational life of Erik’s Upper School English teacher Scott Tucker and for his impact on Brunswick and genuine love for music. The young composer was Mr. Tucker’s student in his Junior year, and Erik commemorated him with both a dedication and a track titled “The Poet.” The CD was recorded at Studio Unicorn in Redding, CT with the help of sound engineer/producer Paul Avgerinos, a five-time Grammy nominee. Proceeds from sales will be given to Mustard Seed Communities, and in Mr. Tucker’s name to the Brunswick Faculty Fund. “The project was a rare combination of opportunities,” Erik said. “I was lucky to be able to record in a professional studio, dedicate the CD to Mr. Tucker, and help BAJ at the same time. It was overwhelmingly satisfying to see sales from music that I composed help others in need.” The 2006-2007 BAJ presidents, Seniors Alexander Stavrou, Simon Barnes, and Erik Spangenberg, are delighted with the success of their fundraising efforts. BAJ looks forward to a bright future with leaders in the Class of 2008, and will surely continue to raise money in many creative ways. j

Brunswick Class of 2005 Lecture Series Hosts Paul Rusesabagina, Real-Life Hero of “Hotel Rwanda” By Bonni Brodnick

It is hard to imagine that only 13 years ago, Rwanda, a country the size of Maryland, descended into madness when nearly one million innocent citizens, 10 percent of the entire country’s population, were brutally executed by machetes and machine guns in a genocide that lasted 100 days. To put the horror in perspective, one million executions would equate to killing 100 million people in 100 days in the United States. Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life hero of the film, “Hotel Rwanda,” was welcomed by the Brunswick School Class of 2005 Lecture Series to tell of the nightmare and his inspiring story. This genial hotel manager of Milles Collines in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, used bravery and tenacity to shelter Tutsis from certain death by the Hutu militia.

‘Wick Snippets Summer 2007

“It was on an early morning in April that I went outside and saw my neighbors, many of them now in military uniforms,” Mr. Rusesabagina said. “I was used to seeing them in civilian clothes. It was on that morning that I saw the world turn upside down. The ethnic Hutus began killing their Tutsi neighbors, and the genocide had begun. One of the ways I could help was to turn the hotel I managed into an impromptu refugee camp for more than a 1,000 terrified people who were certain to be killed. While international peacekeepers deserted us, I used every favor I could to bribe the Hutu soldiers and keep the bloodthirsty militia outside the gates during the 100 days of slaughter. By standing up for my neighbors I was able to save many.” “Most of us have seen the film ‘Hotel Rwanda,’ or have been in conversations on the issues surrounding the film,” said The Reverend Dr. Thomas L. Nins, Brunswick School assistant director of diversity. “For reasonable, thoughtful people, genocide is a commanding topic of discussion. The attempted eradication of millions of people demands a response, if not a reflection on questions of life, humanity and social responsibility.” “Mr. Rusesabagina described the emotion and shock his community experi-

enced during the onslaught of a calculated and brutal mass execution,” Reverend Nins continued. “He shared the incomprehensible fear he felt knowing that at every point along the way, his life was in constant jeopardy. He shared the ‘prophetic’ dread that his community would regress from here, and the hope he found in a faith that strengthened his resolve. He is a survivor, a victim, and a hero. Paul Rusesabagina is one man who exercised the three principles of Brunswick’s motto: Courage, Honor, Truth. In doing so, this one man gave sanctuary to family, neighbors, and strangers and saved the lives of many. In the words of the French literary critic, Charles DuBois, “The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” Rusesabagina’s journey from hotel manager to humanitarian has been life changing. “I’ve become a humanitarian and I wanted to take this message on a wider scale, to raise awareness of what happened in my country so that others can help those who suffer now,” Mr. Rusesabagina said. “Although there is raised awareness for the Rwandan genocide, there is one still unfolding, and that is the dire conflict in Darfur, Sudan, where millions of people have been killed. You must be advocates for your fellow sisters and brothers. Act to help save lives and stop the genocide.” Mr. Rusesabagina travels the world with his heroic message of hope, peace, and “never again.” He founded the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation (HRRF), which provides support, care, and assistance to children orphaned by, and women abused during, the genocide in Rwanda. He is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award, and the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award. “Paul Rusesabagina is a man of great courage and inspiration,” said Headmaster Thomas W. Philip. “By having him speak at Brunswick, the boys gained perspective on the importance of humanitarian efforts, and how one person can make a difference in the lives of others. Mr. Rusesabagina is an exemplary model of heroism and of the importance to be vigilant for justice both locally and internationally.” “My message to you, the young people, is to be our messengers of hope,” Paul Rusesabagina concluded. “It is you who can shape the world the way you want it, and make it

BRUINS 62

The Varsity A squash team brought home the Brandes Cup again, marking their 7th New England Championship and another stellar season. Captains Will Browne and Travis Judson inspired their teammates throughout the winter, despite their multiple injuries. Facing the strongest players in high school squash, Senior James Clark played #1 for the Bruins this year. James and fellow Seniors Robby Berner, Craig Matthews, and Wes Wynne contributed mightily to the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success. Coach Jim Stephensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; team was undefeated in New England play and they defeated Lawrenceville for the first time by a score of 5-2 in the semifinal round of the National High School Tournament. Assistant Coaches David Bruce and George Boynton cheered on the Varsity A team even as they lost to Penn Charter in the finals to place 2nd in the National High School Tournament. Congratulations also to the Varsity B team for finishing 2nd in the National B Tournament. Clay Blackiston and Leighton Van Ness are captains for the 2007-2008 squash season.

BRUNSWICK

Times of Brunswick

Squash

By Diana Samponaro

Basketball Greg Dobbs and Anthony Fischetti coached the Varsity basketball team to a 22-7 record. They were runners-up in the Boys Club of New York Tournament, defeating Hyde of Maine and Church Farm Academy before losing to a very talented Lake Forest Academy team in the championship game 52-43. Captains Brendan Miller and Wilson Withiam stepped in to assist fellow Seniors Kevin Decker and Tyler McFarlane throughout the winter and together they inspired great teamwork. Assistant Coach Eric Tillman felt that the team might be aptly named the “Road Warriors” as they won the FAA Tournament while on the road for the second year in a row. Traveling to Pomfret to play in the New England quarterfinal game was not to end in success for the Bruins, even though they fought hard against a talented Nobles team. Next season promises to be just as exciting with a strong group of returning players led by Captain Thomas Piscina.

Hockey There were some great high points this season, like the OT win vs. Vermont in a packed Hartong Rink, going 4-0 and taking home the hardware at the Brooks-Pingree Holiday Tournament; and let’s not forget the 10-0 Division II start. But the highlight of the season had to be the 4-3 OT win vs. Proctor Academy in the New England Quarterfinals. Not only was it great to beat the team who knocked us out in the same round last year, but to do it in such dramatic fashion and to earn a trip to the Frozen Four was special. When the team stormed the ice to congratulate the “Blue Line” on getting the game winner, it was like a scene from a movie. One thing that was extraordinary about this year’s squad was that our average age was just shy of 16 years, while most of our opponents had average ages nearing 18. Most games we were giving up nearly two years to our opponent. With this much youth and inexperience on one roster, in order to have the type of success this young team had you need to have good Senior leadership. Christian Oberbeck and Justin Letizia were our only two Seniors this year, but I cannot say enough about how well they led this team both on and off the ice. “We won more than we lost, we made it to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2000, and we had a lot of fun in the process,” said Coach Ron VanBelle. “All in all, it was a pretty good year!” He and Coach Mike Kennedy are already planning for next year’s season. With Captains Bryce Fitzpatrick and John Eric Oberbeck leading a strong group of returning starters, it promises to be exciting.

Summer 2007

BRUINS

Fencing

BRUNSWICK

Times of Brunswick

The Stanford-bound captains of the fencing team, Pablo Ceballos and Ben Cortes, led an interesting group of fencers to an undefeated season. Seniors RJ Adler, Ben Coleman, Devin Fuller, and Casey Kinney joined in the effort to keep the team motivated throughout the long winter of practices in the Pre-School gym. Coach Orest Stetsiv returned to Brunswick again this season in addition to his main job of coaching the West Point team. Coach Stetsiv remarked more than once, â&#x20AC;&#x153;These are dedicated boys, with some talent and a lot of personality.â&#x20AC;? Philip Gatto will serve as the captain during the 2007-2008 season.

Wrestling The Brunswick wrestling team, coached by Tim Ostrye, won the FAA title for the 22nd time in 23 years. Coaches Bob Benjamin, Frank Loverro, and John Martin assisted the team in their 16-5 season. The success of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s squad fell on the shoulders of talented Captains Colin Raymond and Nick Simmons, who together with their fellow Senior Jose Fabre, led the team to many victories. To mention a few of the highlights, the Bruins earned 2nd place in the Canterbury Tournament, 2nd place in the Guilford Tournament, 2nd place in the BIT Tournament, 2nd place in the WNEISWA Tournament, and 6th Place in the New England Tournament. Throughout the 13-week season, the team worked together to earn the FAA title, and along the way, they also achieved great individual success. Each wrestling season begins with Coach Ostrye saying they have a lot of work to do before they can compete successfully with the teams throughout the FAA and in New England. Next year the team will be led by Captains Peter Hadjipateras, Walter Luse, and Chasen VanLang.

Summer 2007

BRUINS 66

The 2007 baseball season had its share of successes as the team took Koszalka Field for its final season here at Maher Avenue. Captains Chris Harris and Greg Wyman, joined by fellow Seniors Kevin Doyle, Will Ingraham, Ron Ongaro, Tommy Parrota, and Wilson Withiam led the team throughout the spring. The weather and a few disappointing one- run losses made for some difficult moments, but overall progress was made under the tutelage of Head Coach Pat Piro, Pitching Specialist Tim Daly, and all around Coach Brett Farson. As a 5th seed in the FAA Tournament, Brunswick defeated Hamden Hall 9-3 to advance to the next round. Playing an extremely talented Hopkins squad for the fourth time, Brunswick batters were unable to produce enough runs to defeat the Hilltoppers. When the 2008 season gets underway Captains Jack Barrett, Jamie Biondi, and Mark Figgie plan to utilize the significant talent of the underclassmen to move toward their goal of winning the FAA title.

BRUNSWICK

Times of Brunswick

Baseball

Sailing It was a great season for sailing. The Brunswick sailors had some spectacular days on the water and did a fantastic job sailing in and out of competition. They are a great group of young men, all disciplined and take the sport very seriously, while at the same time hving a whole lot of fun. Even though the record on paper is not impressive, you have to measure what the team accomplished this season. This is a very young team (no Seniors) and most of the boys have never sailed together. That said the guys always showed up for practice, even on days that it snowed and blew 30+ knots. According to Coach Bear Hovey, “The sailors practiced harder and longer then any other team in New England. They love the sport and most of them plan to sail in college. We have two guys interested in the Navel Academy and one is seriously considering the Coast Guard Academy.” This year’s MVP winners are: Skippers—Michael Levy and Tommy Chronert Crews—Ian Johnson and Gus Ruchman. After sailing all summer, and then sailing Lasers next fall, the Bruins, led by Captains John Howland and Michael Levy will be the team to beat next year.

Summer 2007

BRUINS 68

A tremendously deep, talented, and experienced group of Seniors led Brunswick crew in its finest season to date. The Varsity Eight (coxswain Mack Abbot, strokeman Clay Macfarlane, Captain George Moran, Austin Stack, Ben Masselink, Peter Costas, Captain Nick O’Neill, Zach Dann, Ryan Potocki) showed great poise and consistency all year—completing an undefeated dual meet season, and finishing 4th at the highly competitive NJSRC, 2nd at CT States, and 6th at New Englands. Six of these boys will be going on to teams in the Top 25 collegiate rowing programs (Georgetown, Princeton (two rowers), Yale, UVA and Penn). Senior leadership was also key to the success of the Lower Boats this spring. Pablo Paternina and Chris Constantine led an otherwise green Second Eight to a 4th place finish at New Englands (only 1/10th of a second from bronze). Seniors Jamie Fowler, Phil Piro, and the rest of the Third Eight won gold at Worcester—outdistancing Andover and St. Paul’s for Brunswick’s first NEIRA medal. This victory capped off a perfect season for the boat (including NJ, CT and NE titles). Coaches Falco, Martin, and Spellane could not be more proud of the fine character—and boat speed—the entire squad displayed throughout this memorable season. Captains Ryan Potocki and Eddy Polonia look forward to leading the crew team in 2007-2008.

BRUNSWICK

Times of Brunswick

Crew

Golf

Lacrosse Our year began with excitement as Brunswick won first place in our preseason Royal Palms Florida tournament with an impressive win over national powerhouse Kent Denver. Returning from Florida, we began our second year in Western New England Division I with a home win over Northfield Mt. Hermon. From there, however, we ran into some challenges. We not only lost a hard fought battle to the New England Champion Deerfield team, but also faced a larger problem of having to replace some key contributors, including our Captain Christian Oberbeck, to season-ending injuries. With some new players in our starting lineup, Captain Tom Barnett and Captain Christian Blake, joined by fellow Seniors Robby Berner, Will Browne, James Clark, Eric Clauson, Tom Connor, Mackenzie Judson, Chris Kimball, Chris Mahaney, Geoffrey Miller, Christian Oberbeck, Harry Sherman, Tucker Virtue, and Tyler Wood, did a great job leading this team in some exciting games. Following a confidence-building win over Taft, the team endured a few one-goal losses to Avon, Hotchkiss, and Westminster; all teams finishing in the top 5 in New England. By mid-season, the team hit their stride and came up with some big wins including a momentous one over crosstown rival and nationally recognized Greenwich High School. In front of a packed house at Cosby Field, we outplayed GHS and regained the bragging rights with a 7 – 4 win. Overall, while the Greenwich game was a highlight, this season was packed with great moments and impressive, “not for the faint of heart,” games. Coach David Bruce and Assistant Coaches Brendan Gilsenan and Tom Philip have named Christian Blake and Drew Tunney MVP’s for the 2007 season. Next year’s team will be led by Captains Tommy Hoyos and Drew Tunney.

Summer 2007

After a successful spring trip to Florida with the returning players, Coaches Anthony Fischetti and Jim Stephens wondered what lay in store for the Varsity golf team in 2007. The answer to that question was quickly answered, as a talented team was assembled through a grueling tryout conducted under less than optimal weather conditions, and soon jelled into a group that many believe will be a formidable league and New England power for years to come. Behind the leadership and play of Captains Jack Killea and Rand Potter, together with Senior veterans AJ Feld, Travis Judson, and Craig Matthews, the team rallied to compile an impressive 26-4-1 match/tournament record. Season highlights included a team high in wins (26), a first-ever championship in an 11-team field at the prestigious Fishers Island Invitational at Fishers Island, NY, a mid-season 8-match winning streak, victories over Taft and Greenwich HS (both for the first time in four years). There were a memorable and whirlwind final nine days of the year when the squad was split on Monday, May 7th, and defeated Greenwich HS at Fairview CC, and Portledge and Lawrence Woodmere at Piping Rock GC on Long Island; lost a close match to defending FAA champion St. Luke’s the next day at Stanwich Club; soundly defeated Hamden Hall the succeeding day at Greenwich CC; beat Taft on the road the following day, lost the FAA tournament two days; later at Yale GC by the heartbreakingly slim total of a single stroke; and then rebounded to claim the Fishers Island tournament crown four days later for the first time in school history. The Varsity Golf team looks to reclaim the FAA title behind the leadership of ’08 Captains Dixon Mallory and Alex Ventosa and the strong group of returning lettermen.

BRUINS

Winners of the FAA Tennis Tournament, Brendan Seaver ’09 and Matt Mackin ’10 with Coach George Boynton.

Tennis

“The tennis season was a success,” said Coach George Boynton. Captain Tom Brosens led the team to a 9-4 record. That translates to a 2nd place in the FAA and a return to the NE Tournament. Although the team lost to Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols in the first round, our team played first-rate tennis. Brendan Seaver and Matt Mackin won the FAA Doubles Tournament. Robby Sorrel reached the finals of the NE Singles Tournament. Although unable to complete the match due to illness, he is the first Brunswick tennis player to reach the finals of this prestigious tournament. Additional highlights were a very good win against Taft (4-3), and the second annual alumni-parent team match. We look forward to Captains Chris Antonacci and Robby Sorrel leading the 2008 team to further victory.

Brunswick 2007 Three Sport Varsity Athlete Awards Seniors

Robby Berner Christian Oberbeck Wilson Withiam

Juniors

Chris Antonacci Jack Barrett Jon Bubar Bryce Fitzpatrick Tommy Hoyos David Levy John Eric Oberbeck Thomas Piscina Andrew Reed William Reed Peter Weinberg

Sophomores

Peter Castine Kieran McDonald Ben Tabah

Freshmen

BRUNSWICK

Times of Brunswick

(No recipient this year)

Cross Country, Squash, Lacrosse Soccer, Hockey, Lacrosse Soccer, Basketball, Baseball Cross Country, Squash, Tennis Football, Basketball, Baseball Cross Country, Wrestling, Crew Soccer, Hockey, Lacrosse Football, Wrestling, Lacrosse Cross Country, Wrestling, Sailing Soccer, Hockey, Lacrosse Soccer, Basketball, Baseball Football, Basketball, Baseball Football, Basketball, Lacrosse Soccer, Squash, Baseball Football, Hockey, Lacrosse Football, Basketball, Lacrosse Soccer, Hockey, Golf

SCHOLAR-ATHLETE AWARDS 2006-2007 Presented to Varsity Athletes who have achieved High Honors for the year

WINTER AND SPRING FAA ALL-LEAGUE

Baseball

Jack Barrett, Jamie Biondi, Brian Platter, Peter Weinberg

Basketball

Kevin Decker, Tyler McFarlane, Justin Nowell Honorable Mention Kevin Royal

Wrestling

Jose Fabre, Tommy Hoyos, Walter Luse, Nick Simmons, Chasen VanLang

Baseball

Chris Harris, Wilson Withiam Honorable Mention Jack Barrett

Golf

Rand Potter, Ben Tabah Honorable Mention Jack Killea, Chris Simonson

Tennis

Chris Antonacci, Sam King, Matt Mackin, Brendan Seaver, Robby Sorrel

Jack Barrett

Crew

Jonathan Bubar, Zach Dann, Matthew Forester, Clay Macfarlane, Nick O’Neill, Turner Smith, Austin Stack,

Cross Country

Chris Bayliss, Greg Berger, Jamie Biondi, Jonathan Bubar, Pablo Ceballos, Ben Cortes, Lee Jackson, Kevin Mallen, Kyle Radler, Gus Ruchman Jack Seaver

Fencing

Pablo Ceballos, Ben Cortes, Robbie Cortes, Philip Gatto

Football

Jack Barrett, Alex Dickson, Chris Ghaffari, Tommy Hoyos, Oscar Loynaz, Kent Northrop, Brian Platter

Golf

SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Robbie Cortes, Craig Matthews

Hockey

Bryce Fitzpatrick, Peter Mistretta, Christian Oberbeck, John Eric Oberbeck

All NE Divison II – 1 Team Justin Letizia All NE Division II – 2nd Team Christian Oberbeck st

Squash

New England Winners Travis Judson, Robby Berner, Clay Blackiston, Will Browne, Craig Matthews, Wes Wynne

Wrestling

State Champions Nick Simmons, Chasen VanLang NE Champion, Fastest Pins Most Outstanding Wrestler Chasen VanLang All American Nick Simmons

Lacrosse

Western NE Divison I – 1st Team Robby Berner, Tucker Virtue Western NE Division I – 2nd Team Tom Barnett

Hockey

Lacrosse

Alex Dickson, Bryce Fitzpatrick, Chris Ghaffari, Tommy Hoyos, Oscar Loynaz, Christian Oberbeck, John Oberbeck, Tyler Wood

Sailing

Philip Gatto, Gus Ruchman

Soccer

Michael Blumenthal, Bryce Fitzpatrick, Matthew Forester, Christian Oberbeck, John Eric Oberbeck, Peter Weinberg

Squash

Christopher Baldock, Clay Blackiston, Sam Haig, Preston Han, Craig Matthews, Peter Weinberg

Tennis

Alex Hare, Bobby Pollak Jonathan Bubar, Tommy Hoyos, Colin Raymond, Chasen VanLang

Summer 2007

Wrestling

Brunswick Athletics Gain Progress & Prowess 60 Years Hence A Look Back By David S. Thomson, Class of ’43

Times of Brunswick

The winter 2007 issue of

Times of Brunswick got me to thinking about my years at Brunswick more than 60 years ago. This old Brunswickian, Class of ’43, was astounded anew to read in the most recent issue about the huge strides the School has made in all areas, and especially the accounts of its present athletic progress and prowess. A 29-game winning streak in football? Amazing! And a squad that numbers two dozen players? Not to mention a hockey team that went 14-3 in Division II games and completed a season, including playoffs, that totaled 25 games. All of this was beyond our wildest dreams back in the late 1930s and early 1940s. What incredible changes have taken place!

Back in my time, the School’s wonderful football coach, Edward “Dutch” King, whom we all revered, was lucky if he had a Varsity squad numbering 16 players. No kidding—eleven players and five substitutes. Coach King got his players in such excellent shape that they managed to stay upright and competitive through a six or seven game schedule. He also taught his troops to run the T-formation, then a revolutionary offensive formation used only, as I recall, by Stanford University and the Chicago Bears. The Varsity hockey team was even thinner. During one season we had exactly nine players: a goalie, two defensemen and six forwards. The defensemen, of course, had to play the entire 60-minute game. Fortunately, they were excellent skaters, Tracy McFarlan and Bobby Edwards, uncle of Brunswick’s former Headmaster Duncan Edwards. The forwards, including Milo Berking, Ned Daly, and myself, did two-to-three minute shifts, rested that long, and then had to leap back on the ice. Our job essentially was defensive, to keep the opponents from scoring more than a goal or two. Then when there were maybe three or four minutes left, Bobby Edwards would take

Mr. David S. Thom 2510 Appian Cour son Alexandria, VA t 22306 Dear Mr. Thomson: Our Development show me the wonderOffice was kind enough to week. I cannot te ful letter you sent last your “tour” of Br ll you how much I enjoyed 30s and 40s. Ho unswick athletics in the your years at Br wever, it is clear that than the correct unswick taught you more or pass a puck…y way to block a tackle our prose is obvi strong suit! ously a While it is true that life at Brun and indeed in swick, over the years, Greenwich, has changed I am certain that basic tenets of the you learned in th a Brunswick education es e halls have not altered at all. been how to win and ho Our boys still learn w to lose, how to on the field and play bench, how to ma how to cheer from the ke a squad and how “buck up” when cu to I’m sure you reme ts are announced. As mb be taught in a cl er, some things can’t Thank you so mu assroom. to put your memorich for taking the time is simply no subs es down on paper. There yours. If you artitute for letters like hope you let me e ever in the area, I an opportunity to know as I would love visit with you. the meantime, pl In ea se know how grateful I am for your re mi ni sc en ces. They are invaluable!

Most sincerely, Thomas W. Philip Headmaster

Summer 2007

over and do his thing, rushing up the ice, deking the enemy players cross-eyed, and netting two or three goals, whatever was needed to win. Bobby was, needless to say, a genius at the game and went on to captain the Varsity at Princeton. Bobby occasionally provided the team transportation, too. He had a venerable family car, an early-1930s Dodge, with wood-spoke wheels, that was as high and roomy as the autos in George Price cartoons in The New Yorker. The car had a magical gearshift and could make a different sound in every gear. With the clutch firmly down, Bobby could even play a tune. The rest of us team members, all eight of us, would throw our equipment duffels in the back seat and pile ourselves on top of them, trusting the skate blades were pointed down! Bobby drove us to our games, often at the fine old rink at Playland in Rye, or at a somewhat scruffy outdoor artificial rink in downtown New Canaan. Home ice for practice? Whatever pond was frozen and the snow shoveled off. Our baseball team, again coached by Dutch King, had about as many benchwarmers as the football Varsity. We were pretty good, too, with a very slick-fielding shortstop named (surprise!) Bobby Edwards. Our slick pitcher was a fellow named Dick Mayer, who soon gave up baseball to focus on golf, which he did to good effect. He won the U.S. Open a few years later. As for basketball, we had a few games in that echoing old gym. But crew, lacrosse, or fencing? They were not on the map. I don’t even think there was a golf team, although we would have done rather well at it with Dick Mayer and Bobby Edwards. Last I heard, Bobby still held the Greenwich Country Club course record, a neat 64. Were these undermanned athletic endeavors a problem for us? Except for an occasional hole in our football jerseys or hockey socks, not a bit. We reveled in the challenge. You certainly wouldn’t have thought we felt down listening to the hilarity in the back seat of the Edwards’ Dodge. And I didn’t mean to scant other terrific players, like Tracy McFarlan, who was a stalwart at everything, and was the object of envy because he had the first pair of modern-style “shell” football pants. (Incidentally, back then we furnished virtually all of our sports equipment: helmets, shoes, shoulder pads, shin guards … the only thing the School gave us were white jerseys with brown numbers!) Hugh Dean, a halfback, was so quick and elusive running the ball that he was nicknamed “Houdini” after the famous magician and escape artist. There was also Sandy Edwards, who anchored the football line for years. Or Milo Berking, who played in the football secondary and tackled with the voracity of an NFL quarterback. Or a few years before them, Hovey Seymour, who started as halfback at Yale, and to whom a Yale coach remarked, after watching Hovey run a few plays, “Dutch King at Brunswick really taught you how to play this game.” j

The

Beyond Classr A Roaring

Cheer from the Grandstand for Coaches Boone & Yoast The Class of 2005 Lecture Series once again hosted the B-E-S-T best! as the boys eagerly listened to guest speakers Coach Herman Boone and Coach Bill Yoast, two football legends and renowned real-life heroes behind the incredible story about a high school in Alexandria, VA in 1971, a time of great unrest in our country. Have you seen the flick? “Remember the Titans” stars Denzel Washington and Will Patton and is about a black and a white high school that, under federal mandate to integrate, are closed so that the students will attend one high school. The black coach, Herman Boone, replaced Coach Yoast, the white head coach of their football team, The Titans. Although Yoast’s pride was hurt, he accepted the assistant coaching position. The gentlemen set aside their egos and worked past racial tension. The students followed their lead, and the football team became the unifying symbol for the community as the boys and adults learned to depend on and trust one another. “‘Remember the Titans’” is not about football and making it to the state championship,” said Coach Boone, who declared himself an “in-your-face and back-down-the-other-side-ofyou kind of person.” “The story is about how the Titans teamed up to embrace diversity, teamwork, leadership, character, and a sense of community.

It’s about respect, and respect is what binds you as a team.” “Your talent and ability will take you places,” added Coach Yoast. “But it’s character, loyalty, and integrity that will keep you there, from the playing field to the boardroom. Remember that the difference between school and life is that here they give you a test and you pass. In life, they give you a test and you learn a lesson.” The boys were mesmerized as they listened to Coaches Boone and Yoast offer personal recollections and coaching philosophies they’ve developed over 47 seasons. “Respect each and every person,” concluded Coach Boone. “Appreciate the differences in all cultures, and respect the space of every individual. Remember to watch your words because they will become your actions. Watch your actions because they will become your character. Watch your character because that’s who you are.” Their mutual homilies mirror our own: Be honest, demand effort, expect excellence, and create a value system of equal respect at all times. Speak up and speak out for what you believe in. Bring exemplified character into your community.

Times of Brunswick

Ben Cortes in the League with U.S. Presidential Scholars Program

’Wick proudly announces that Ben Cortes ’07 (our Class of 2007 “Ivy” Speaker and one of three recipients of the prestigious Faculty Citation Award) was selected as a candidate for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, a unique federal program established in 1964 by executive order of the President to recognize and honor some of our nation’s most distinguished graduating high school Seniors. Those selected represent the promise of greatness in young people by demonstrating leadership, scholarship, artistic ability, and contribution to school and community.

o m

By Bonni Brodnick

Jimmy Craft ’10 Receives United Cerebral Palsy Certificate Freshman Jimmy Craft was the recipient of the Cerebral Palsy of Westchester “Certificate of Appreciation” for his dedication and fundraising efforts at the center on King Street throughout 2005-2006. Jimmy was recognized for his commitment and outstanding efforts to the United Cerebral Palsy children’s school program, “Realizing Tomorrow’s Potential … Today.” “I really enjoyed working and hanging out with the kids, who ranged from six to fourteen years old,” said Jimmy. “I got a lot out of them, and hopefully, they got a lot out of me. I always felt happy after spending time with them.” Maintaining the winning streak, at Closing Exercises in June, Jimmy also received the “Brunswick Alumni Award,” for recognition of his combined outstanding academic ability with achievement in other fields during the past year.

Did you know?

The Brunswick School library due date for Childhood’s End, a novel by Arthur C. Clarke (Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1953), was stamped February 27, 1996. The postmark on the padded return envelope we received was December 14, 2006. Hey, what’s an overdue book by 10 years between friends? It truly was Childhood’s End for Nick Kahm ’97 when he finally returned the Brunswick library book. In a thoughtful note to our School librarian, he wrote: To whomever it may concern: This library book is a bit overdue. I beg your forgiveness. It was no one’s fault but my own . . . I will gladly pay the overdue fee. The worst part of this whole business is that I never even read the book. Please forgive me. Sincerely, Nick Kahm Nick, we forgive you. (Likely, your parents already paid off the tab when you graduated!) But it took Courage, Honor, Truth to return the book.

Summer 2007

Kevin Decker ’07 was named to the Madison Square Garden Network’s 2006 Heisman High School All-Star Team? He was one of 23 athletes and one coach honored with the award. The state of Connecticut had only two other people honored in the Heisman High School All-Star Team. “Kevin is a great player and it was a no-brainer that he deserved to be on the team,” said Mike Quick, reporter/producer/host of MSG Network’s High School Weekly. “Kevin has incredible poise. He plays the game in slow motion. When he makes a mistake, it doesn’t bother him and he’s a great leader and great teacher. He’s always teaching and is the proverbial coach on the field.”

g n Lo e u d r e v O

Times of Brunswick

China Trip for Middle Schoolers

During spring break, Hongbing Liu, Upper and Middle School Chinese teacher, brought her seventh graders, and two sixth graders, to China for a trip rich in culture and history. Destination points included the capital, Beijing, where the boys visited the Great Wall, the Imperial Palace, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven. In Xian, the ancient capital of China, the boys visited the terracotta warriors and horses buried more than 2,000 years ago for the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.), the same emperor who built the Great Wall. Tianjin, the major harbor in northern China, is also Bing’s hometown, a two-hour drive southeast from Beijing. “It was a pleasure to introduce the boys to the place in which I grew up,” said Mrs. Liu. “My family came to say hello and goodbye the morning we left Tianjin.” Other stops included Nankai Middle School in Tianjin, where the boys met Chinese students and had a question and answer session, as well as the cities of Shanghai and Suzhou to see such spectacles as martial arts, gongfu and acrobats, a Chinese musical instrument class, and a Tang Dynasty performance.

m At

the Great Wall (left to right ) Harris Markby ’13, Andrew Guerriero ’12, Carter Johnson ’12, Jack Schneider ’12, Kevin Barnum ’12, Willy Rosato ’13, Costas Hadjipateras ’12

m Back

in Beijing (front row, left to right) Willy Rosato ’13, Andrew Guerriero ’12, Jack Schneider ’12, Costas Hadjipateras ’12 (back row, left to right) Hongbing Liu, Brunswick parents Kathy Markby and Dawn Guerriero, Kevin Barnum ’12, Carter Johnson ’12, Harris Markby ’13

Chris Mahaney Snowboards to the Top

Snowboard cross (SBX), also known as boardercross, has a pretty simple objective: first one to navigate the obstacle course down the mountain wins. But Chris Mahaney, a Brunswick Senior and ace SBX racer landed right at the top with International Ski Federation competitions at Okemo and Killington, VT; Coppermountain, CO; Jackson Hole, WY; Sun Peaks, Kamloops (Canada); Boyne Mountain in MI; and Termas de Chillan in Chile. This past winter, he also SBX-ed to the Lake Placid World Cup Snowboard, where he stayed at the Olympic Training Center with his coach Ron Chiodi and other athletes from around the world. Chris rode well amongst a spectacular field of athletes and was thrilled to be out there with them. He came up as 2nd Junior, 5th over-all, in one of the boardercross races. The French team took 1st, 2nd and 4th. The results anchored his spot as #1 American (out of three, 19 and under, SBX racers) to be selected for the Junior World Championships. “It was an amazing experience to get a chance to compete at the highest level of boardercross at the age of 18, where most of the competitors are 24 and have been been snowboard crossing for years,” said Chris. “I’m just glad Brunswick has given me the opportunity to prove what I can do in such a different community and sport that I love.”

Giving to Our Neighbors “Our ongoing outreach efforts mean a great deal to both our Brunswick boys and to the children and families they help,” said Headmaster Thomas W. Philip. “It is especially meaningful at holiday time to have our boys maintain contact with the same families with whom they provided Thanksgiving dinners. We are honored to have the opportunity to help our neighbors.”

m Brunswick School Sophomores Jonny Duennebier (left) and Joe Scalzo (right) joined the schoolwide effort to load the “sleigh” with gifts for neighbors in need.

Summer 2007

Brunswick Upper and Middle Schools rolled out “sleighs” full of gifts, food, and good cheer to neighbors in need in Fairfield and Westchester counties. Grades 5 through 12 participate in the Brunswick School Annual Holiday Gift Drive that includes sponsorship of: • 39 children from Fairfield and New Haven counties whose families are affected by HIV/AIDS; • 14 families from Waterside School (in Stamford, CT), a school for socioeconomically disadvantaged children; • 13 families from Thomas Edison Elementary School (in Port Chester, NY), where Brunswick Juniors tutor on Tuesday afternoons; • 12 families from Holy Rosary School (in Port Chester, NY), where Brunswick Seniors tutor on Thursday afternoons; “Each sponsored child or family provides Brunswick with wish lists for specific gifts,” said Sasha Lyapin, Brunswick Upper School director of community service and mathematics teacher. “Items on the lists include winter clothing, such as coats, hats, gloves, shirts, and pants; toiletries; toys for boys and girls; sleeping bags; bed sheets; and gift cards.”

m High-ranking Eagle Scouts include the honorable VanLang threesome: (left to right) Colin ’06 (who attends Stanford), Chasen, (a rising Senior at ’Wick), and Chris ’04 (who attends Yale).

Ted Stolar at High

Times of Brunswick

Speed!

Ever dream of getting into a spitfire race car, driving with your hand on the clutch, and speeding off at about 150 miles an hour? As a true moto-man fan, Ted completed the Frank Hawley NHRA Drag Racing School Adventure Program in Gainesville, FL. We can now officially say that Theodore Stolar, Upper School computer teacher, has fulfilled his racecar dreams, and knows and understands the thrill, excitement, and challenge of driving a high-speed NHRA dragster. GO Ted! Next? A simulated aerial combat mission of laser tag. You just can’t keep this guy down! “My son, Tad, who is a major in the Air National Guard, has flown jets and rescue helicopters. At his training school in Florida, he flew an F-18 at close to 900 miles an hour. I guess we’re cut from the same cloth. We like to go fast.”

Chasen VanLang Soars As an Eagle Scout Only 5 percent of all Boy Scouts earn the prestigious Eagle Scout rank. But 100 percent of the VanLang boys do! All three—Chris (Class of ’04), Colin (Class of ’06), and now Chasen (Class of ’08) are Eagle Scouts. Along with joining his brothers, Chasen is now in rank with other famous Eagles, such as Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States; Harrison Salisbury, Pulitzer Prize-winning author; James Stewart, actor; and Walter Cronkite, journalist and TV commentator. “Ever since I became a Cub Scout in first grade, I’ve wanted to become an Eagle Scout,” said Chasen. “I worked hard to reach this goal, but achieving the rank is not as important to me as taking the path to attain it. Becoming an Eagle helped build my character, as well as develop friendships with other Scouts. It also brought my family together because my brothers, Chris and Colin, are Eagle Scouts. “I’m proud of my final project, which was to seek donations, then organize friends and family to help renovate Claire’s Garden at Waveny Care Center in New Canaan. The garden came out beautifully. Now the residents have a pretty place to stroll around and better scenery to look at.”

m Margot

Beattie, advisor to all three VanLang boys, shares the family pride.

SHEARly, John

John Van Atta, Master Teacher, Oaklawn Chair in American History at the Upper School, lives, breathes, writes, and lectures history summer, spring, winter, and fall. At the annual SHEAR (Society for Historians of the Early American Republic) meeting last summer in Montreal, John chaired a session entitled “Comparing the Canadian and Spanish Borderlands: Imperial Reality with Local Dimensions.” He’s also been invited by the Dictionary of Virginia Biography to write another biographical article for the forthcoming Volume 4 of the project. His subject will be the Virginia statesman Joseph Eggleston (1754-1811). Van Atta’s article in Volume 3 was on Matthew Clay, another Virginia politician during the same period (1754-1815). John continues to work, almost daily, on his own book manuscript, tentatively entitled Securing the West: Public Lands, Political Economy, and the Challenge of Frontier America. As a postscript: John has accepted an invitation to write an article on Henry Clay’s American System for the Encyclopedia of United States Political History, to be published by CQ Press, a leading publisher of material on American government and politics.

High Above the Classroom (Harrison) Reed Dunn ’08 went WAY beyond and HIGH above the classroom when he entered his glorious aerial shot, “Fly by B-17,” into the annual Greenwich Magazine Photo Contest, held in collaboration with the Greenwich Arts Council. The contest, open to all amateur photographers, requested photos that fit the theme, “People or Places of Greenwich.” As a winner of the “Staff Photographers’ Choice Award,” Reed’s high-flying photo appeared in the February 2007 issue of Greenwich Magazine, as well as in an exhibition at the Bendheim Gallery, one of the most respected galleries in Fairfield County.

Outstanding Volunteers Recognized for Lending a Hand and a Hot Meal

Summer 2007

Brunswick School was selected by the Volunteer Center of Southwestern Fairfield County and the Town of Greenwich to receive the “Outstanding Established Youth Volunteer Group” award for the help we have been giving the past few years to Shelter for the Homeless, Inc., in Stamford, CT. Funds from the Thanksgiving Turkey Drive every November help cover the cost for meals, which the boys serve at the shelter two Tuesdays a month. Kudos and appreciation to Sasha Lyapin, director of Upper School Community Service and Upper School physics teacher, for organizing the effort that has brought us this honored recognition.

Tyler Mcfarlane ’07 Cited for Work in Diversity

m Tyler’s mom and dad, Vanessa and Charles McFarlane, and Marianne Barnum, Diversity Coordinator with Tyler (center).

The YWCA took the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. this year as a time to hand out its Youth Diversity Awards to two local high school Seniors who demonstrated “a special effort to encourage people to respect differences, promote equality, and eliminate all forms of bias and bigotry.” One of the two award recipients was Tyler McFarlane ’07, president of the Brunswick School Diversity in Action Club. Allen Louis ’11 graced the interfaith service by singing a solo. “People don’t often see how much diversity there is in Greenwich, particularly in private schools like Brunswick,” said Tyler, who was included in a front-page story in Greenwich Time, and was also quoted in Greenwich Post. “Our School is a great place. We’re always trying to improve it and make it a better, more comfortable environment for people of different races, ethnicities, and religions.”

Times of Brunswick

Masters of the Word Once More

Once again our Brunswick Middle School boys won highest honors in the WordMasters Challenge. Our third graders tied for second place in the nation in the year’s second meet, held in February, among 543 school teams participating at this level and in this division. Eight of our boys won highest honors for individual achievement as well: Third graders David Darling, Timmy DeSalvo,

Conrad Graf, John Hughes, Chris Peisch, Billy Sperry, and Nick VanBelle; and fourth grader Grant MacFaddin all earned perfect scores in the meet, where nationwide only 106 third graders and 124 fourth graders did so. Way to go boys! Special thanks to their amazing teachers who helped prepare all the boys for this difficult challenge.

Cu lt u ral Exchange Via the Lacr osse St i ck The Brunswick JV lacrosse team hosted a group of visiting English lacrosse players in their homes in April. While Brunswick earned a come-frombehind 8-6 victory in the game they played, the boys had a great time interacting with their counterparts from “across the pond” who were on a twoweek tour of the East Coast. Much gratitude to the Brunswick families who accommodated our guests during their visit to Greenwich.

Brunswick AP Statistics Syllabus to be used as a sample by the College Board Michael Allwood, Upper School mathematics teacher and chairman of the mathematics department, apprised us that the Brunswick School AP statistics syllabus was submitted to the College Board and will be used as one of eight sample syllabuses in the AP Statistics Teacher’s Guide published by the College Board. In addition (no pun intended), Mr. Allwood’s math team came in second place in the small schools division of the Connecticut state math league competition, and fourth in the Fairfield County local competition, which included all-size schools, both public and private. The math whiz ’Wickians who participated in the competition included Chris Bayliss, Greg Berger, Pablo Caballos, Nishant Gurnani, Lee Jackson, and Austin Stack, who was fourth-placed Senior in the state match.

m Mariachi

Solidido de Mexico serenaded us in the Smith Garden for the celebration of Cinco de Mayo.

Cinco de Mayo

Our amazing FLIK Food Service, with Herberth Melgar and Billy LeVasseur at the helm, couldn’t let Cinco de Mayo pass by without treating us to a Mexican fiesta that included sautéed chayote, chicken tamales, cactus salad, caritas in soft corn tortillas, and margaritas (without tequila!). To get everyone in the Fifth of May mood even more, a full-fledged mariachi band serenaded us from Smith Garden.

Earth Day

…On that same stellar AP note… Andrew Hall, chairman of the arts department and Upper School art teacher, developed an AP Art Syllabus that was also selected as a sample syllabus in the AP Statistics Teacher’s Guide.

A Gentle Act of Kindness on a Rainy Day

To honor Arbor Day/Earth Day, 203 Lower School students planted more than 100 blue spruce saplings. Thanks to the Care of Trees for their generous donation, and to Chuck Redahan and the maintenance staff for all of their help with coordination. The young boys are excited to return to campus in years to come to see how their evergreen saplings have flourished and grown since spring 2007.

Summer 2007

Next time you’re at the Macfarlane Lower School, take a peak at Brunswick mom Winnie Curry’s hand-painted umbrella stand near the front door. Maureen Forester, mom of Matt, Mike, Sean, and Dan, noticed that on many rainy days, teachers were outside doing dismissal duty without appropriate rain gear. In an effort to remedy the big soak, the BPA generously contributed the stand and large brown/white Brunswick umbrellas that are poised for action. It’s thoughtful expressions like these—from the BPA, to Winnie, to the teachers delivering the boys (dry!) to their pick-ups—that create a domino effect of kindness at Brunswick.

m Fourth grade “Big Brother” Ryan Cloobeck planting a blue spruce sapling with first grade “Little Brother” John DeLucia on Arbor Day/Earth Day.

B runswick

Senior Breakfast 2007 The Alumni Office officially welcomed the Class of 2007 into the Brunswick School Alumni Association on May 21 at Senior Breakfast. After a delectable morning repast, Seniors had the opportunity to hear from fellow alumni, Greg Skidmore ’95, Ted Adler ’95, and Shep ’89 and Ian ’93 Murray, who talked about what they are doing professionally and how enjoyable/gratifying it is to stay in touch with their alma mater since graduating. The breakfast wrapped up with a fun slideshow of photos—both past and present—which was met with laughter, applause, and a few quizzical looks (“How the heck did the Alumni Office unearth that photo?!) As a parting gift, the boys received a copy of the slideshow and a chic tie from “The Tie Guys” (aka vineyard vines ®). We wish the Class of 2007 continued success in their upcoming venture at college, and all days thereafter.

Times of Brunswick

m George Moran, Travis Judson, Ben Masselink, Robby Berner, Christian Blake, and James Clark

Alumni

Alumni speaker Ted Adler ’95 m The new Class of 2007 agents Ron Ongaro, Phil Piro, and Chris Harris

m Nick Simmons, Nick Chen, and Justin Letizia

Peter Costas, Chris Harris, Chris Constantine, and Matt Gormly

m Tyler Davis, Wilson Withiam, and Jamie Fowler

Eric Clauson, Tom Connor, Nick O’Neill, and Colin Raymond

Lasting Gifts from Senior Funds By Anne Adler

Brunswick for many years and, for half of them, both husband and wife are Brunswick employees. Easy access to campus life and sporting events allows faculty to support our boys—whether at athletic events or afterschool—while still logging quality family time with their own children and faculty neighbors. The gift of faculty houses was so well received that the Class of 2007 Senior Fund (chaired by Trustees Matt DeSalvo and Charles Paternina) was inspired to raise a generous amount of money to build another faculty house. Although the new house on Maher Avenue campus will not be built for several years, it, too, will enrich the lives of faculty and their families for years to come. Moving from bricks and mortar to academic and intellectual pursuits, the Class of 2005 Senior parents (chaired by Trustees Nell Otto and Peer Pedersen) conceived a lecture series. This endowed fund will generate income in perpetuity to enable Brunswick to attract nationally and internationally renowned speakers to address the Upper School boys. In April 2006, we hosted former president of Poland Lech Walesa, who spoke about his role in the fall of the Iron Curtain and how one man can make a difference. Our following guest speaker in September 2006 was Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager depicted in the film “Hotel Rwanda,” who recounted the horrors of ethnic cleansing through his firsthand account of the atrocities, and how he saved more than 1,200 refugees. This past spring, the Class of 2005 Lecture Series sponsored football Coaches Herman Boone and Bill Yoast, who inspired the acclaimed film, “Remember the Titans,” which tells the story of the 1971 Titans football team in Alexandria, VA. These two remarkable coaches—thrown together with the integration of an all-black and an all-white school—overcame generations of prejudice and segregation to build, in one short season,

Faculty housing

a championship football team. The success and colorblind unity they forged within their team paved the way for a foundation of trust and understanding within the larger school community. “The Award for Excellence,” gifted from the Class of 2006 (chaired by Trustees Charles Paternina, Ted Virtue, and Simon Williams), gives a three-year grant to an academic department or division for developing a new curriculum area or enhanced course offerings. The first “Award for Excellence” was granted to the modern language department in the spring of 2006 to launch an Upper School Arabic language and culture program. Ali Al-Maqtari, from Yemen, was hired to teach both Arabic I and II classes. A third level will be added next year and one of the students in last year’s Arabic II class plans to continue his studies at Yale. The Brunswick Arabic language program is being funded for three years, at which point another department can bid for the next three-year grant. At the annual graduation ceremonies, the oft-spoken words, “Your class will not be forgotten,” are sincere. The generous class gifts to Brunswick, be they in the form of buildings or additional programs in the curriculum, continue to impact our School year after year. Brunswick thanks its past Senior class parents for their generous efforts and initiative to continue creating remarkable, and most appreciated, Senior Fund gifts. . Performing

Arts Center rendering

Summer 2007

It has become an honored tradition at many independent schools for Senior class parents to give parting gifts to the school. They run the gamut from flowering trees and outdoor benches, to more substantial expressions of appreciation for enriching years of education. Over the past five years at Brunswick School, our tradition has evolved. We have been fortunate to have an extraordinary group of Senior class parents who have made a big difference in the lives of Brunswick faculty and students. In the fall of 2001, with the Middle School beginning its second year at the Edwards Campus, the Upper School was rapidly approaching 320 students, a number that could no longer fit in Durkin Auditorium. Simultaneously, a parent survey, conducted every five years, identified the need for a performing arts center at Brunswick. Class of 2002 parents (chaired by Trustee Jimmy Lee) dedicated their Senior gift as seed money to build a new auditorium in the space then occupied by Burke Gymnasium. In order to pave the way for construction to begin, remaining Varsity athletics were relocated to King Street. In fall 2004, Burke Field House and Cosby Memorial Field opened to great fanfare, and this summer 2007 the final piece of the puzzle, a new Varsity baseball field, will be completed on Edwards Campus. Construction has begun to convert Burke Gymnasium on Maher Avenue into a state-of-the-art Upper School performing arts center. The space formerly occupied by basketball courts and locker rooms will accommodate a 400-seat auditorium, black box theater, lobby art gallery, music and fine arts classrooms, a scenery shop, and a ceramics studio. The opening of the new Brunswick School Performing Arts Center is scheduled for September 2008. Parents and alumni from the Class of 2002 will be invited back to celebrate and dedicate the auditorium that their foresight helped bring to fruition. Faculty housing was the focus for Senior class gifts from the Class of 2003 (chaired by Trustees John Macfarlane and Maggie Smith) and the Class of 2004 (chaired by Trustees Jeff Boyd, Larry Haertel, and Tim O’Neill). From the beginning, Brunswick sought to provide ten Deerfield Village-style faculty homes on Edwards Campus. Two of those architecturally striking houses were made possible by Senior class parents. In a community like Greenwich, where affordable housing for teachers is scarce, the King Street “neighborhood” is a dream. Each of the families in these homes has been at

areer Night B runswick

January 9, 2007, marked the Fourth Annual Career Networking Forum for

Alumni

Brunswick School and Greenwich Academy alumni. Alumni speakers covered various career paths in entrepreneurship, nonprofit, social entrepreneurship, public relations, the arts, finance, real estate, and marketing. Many attendees come to learn more about a field of interest, to ask questions of veterans in the business, to make contacts, find jobs, and to network within their own industry. It was a successful evening, especially for Tom Toepke ’99 who later sent the Alumni Office the following Email: Cat, Thank you so much for helping to organize the Brunswick/Greenwich Academy Alumni Career Night. I’m one of the fortunate alumni who has directly benefited from the event. I was recently offered a job at Hines Development, one of the premier real estate development firms in the world, an opportunity that is directly due to a connection I made with Jimmy Ritman ’94 at Career Night.   Jimmy mentioned that he’d be happy to give me a recommendation and put me in contact with his friend who manages the Hines Development/Denver office. Long story short, I interviewed with Jimmy’s friend, and have since received and accepted an offer to work with Hines in Denver. I would have never made this terrific connection without having attended the Alumni event and meeting with Jimmy. I’m thankful to Brunswick for providing these great opportunities.    Thanks again. Look forward to seeing you at Homecoming in October.     Best Regards, Thomas H. Toepke ’99

m Getting a jump on the job hunt were young alumni, Phaethon Bolton ’06 (left) and Vaughn Hodges ’06 (right). It’s never too early to start networking!

m Nick Abstoss ’95 signs in before heading off to network and catch up.

to be college grads, (left to right) Calvin Morphy ’03, Jack Macfarlane ’03, JP Shand ’03, and Kyle Moran ’03, look ready to join corporate America as they network with their fellow alumni.

Times of Brunswick

m Soon

with SeaChange, Tom Hyland ’95 spoke to alumni about an up-and-coming career path in venture philanthropy and social entrepreneurship in which he has enjoyed much success. He is pictured with Tom Toepke ’99 who found Career Night to be immensely beneficial to his career as it led him to a job! m Associate

b Novelist

and nonfiction writer, Paul Greenberg ’85 (left), caught up with GA classmate Anne Elizabeth (right) before heading over to his classroom as the Brunswick representative of the arts.

m Keynote speaker and entrepreneur representative, Jarrett Shine ’92 (right), chatted with fellow alumnus and fellow former coach, Ed Silvi ’84 (left).

Gatherings

Alumni

We’ll Come to You! Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love January 2007 Philadelphia was the perfect spot to host a small group of Brunswick alumni. Cat Scott and the Alumni Office back in Greenwich asked invitees to convene downtown at Twenty Manning, which is nestled in the center of beautiful brownstones and close to Rittenhouse Square. What we thought would be a two-hour gathering turned into an entire evening of alumni of all ages enjoying one another’s company, snacking on great hors d’oeuvres, and telling tales of their spirited days at Brunswick. in attendance included Mikhail Gasiorowski ’04, Keith Day ’75, Ed Silvi ’84, Robin Hall ’02, and James Branch ’84

m Guests

Annual Fund Party This year’s Annual Fund Thank You Party was held on May 31, on Lela and Tom Philip’s front lawn. Mr. Philip and members of the Board of Trustees welcomed the many volunteers who worked tirelessly from October to June on the Alumni, Senior, and Parent Annual Funds, as well as generous donors to the Headmaster’s Forum. Under a big white tent, guests enjoyed refreshments prepared by the School’s excellent Flik Food Service, and great music by the Shane Kirsch Jazz Quartet.

Summer 2007

Class Notes

1935

1956

Bill Schusser writes, “I’m still hanging around! Enjoy Times of Brunswick – it’s great!”

In the “Letters from Readers” section of Greenwich Time, Stan Snyder reminded us all of his friend and Brunswick classmate Dick Horsfall ’55, a fallen veteran honored by students of Riverside Elementary School. Dick was a talented and successful member of the Brunswick community who paid the ultimate price for his country. He and his sacrifice will always be remembered.

1944 Graham Bailey, who turned 80 on October 3, 2006, spent his Christmas in Alaska (just like last year) with his family. His grandson Mike is a snowboarding nut. Graham says, “My grandson and my daughter Valena had such a great time last year that it was an easy and uncontested choice to go back.”

1954 Times of Brunswick

Dick Jenner writes from Sweden, “Feeling great two years after bypass surgery. Daily walks in the forest and eating lots of fish do the trick!”

Compiled by Cat Scott

1962 Austin Cragg shares a family update: “My son Andrew just completed his first tour in Iraq with the U.S. Army Infantry. My daughter Elizabeth is a teacher at Julian Curtiss School. My son Tom just got engaged. My wife Barbro and I are celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary in Sweden this summer.” Peter Dunn enjoys keeping busy and serving the community as chairman of the board of Christian Military Fellowship, trustee of Parker Hills Bible Fellowship, associate staff of the Navigators Ministry, moral leadership officer for Civil Air Patrol, and captain of the U.S. Naval Reserve Colorado Community Emergency Response Team.

1964

1977

G. Warren Chane Jr. was recruited by the U.S. State Department and left Zila, Inc., to accept a position as an economic officer in the U.S. Foreign Service to promote U.S. business interests overseas and to serve as a resource for foreign businesses eager to invest or conduct business in the United States. Along with the political officer, economic officer is one of two key positions at a U.S. embassy.  Warren and his wife Victoria moved to Washington, D.C., where he was sworn in on September 18, 2006. He will retain his personal Email address, chanew@ earthlink.net and hopes his classmates will keep in touch!

Ish Pedersen wrote to tell us about author and lyricist Jim Luigs and his play, The Plexiglass Slipper. (A modern take on Cinderella.) “We went to the opening of Jim’s play in Sarasota, FL last weekend. The audience was hooting and laughing the whole time. So were we! Jim is still the nice guy he always was.” Not only did Mrs. Pedersen give him rave reviews, so did the Sarasota HeraldTribune, which said, “Luigs’ script is loaded with imaginative twists.”

Bill Rands writes, “For the third time, I won the Goldman Prize for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. I am also publishing an article on corporate law in Rutgers Business Law Review.”

1973 Lee Redfield, president of Asset Management Group, Inc., in Stamford, CT was awarded the National Quality Award at a meeting of the Southwestern Connecticut Chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. The award recognizes members whose work represents competence and dedication to the insurance industry and their clients. Congratulations Lee!

1974 Jeff Wells writes, “Every year in April, as I prepare our tax returns, I’m reminded of and appreciate the effectiveness of Ken Merritt’s math drills in 8th grade with his call, ‘To the boards!’ ”

1975 Keith Day and his wife Cynthia have three children Allison (age 10), Robbie (age 8), and Alexander (age 6).

1976 Pete Pedersen writes, “Thanks to all for a terrific Homecoming last fall! It was great for the 30th reunion class and much appreciated by my parents.” (Pete’s dad and Brunswick’s fifth headmaster, Norman A. Pedersen, was recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Award.)

Class Notes

1978 For the third year, Harry Keefe will participate in awareness cycling events known as Get Your Guts in Gear (GYGIG) to raise awareness and funds for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Asked why he participated in these events, Harry responded “Participating is important to me because my daughter has Crohn’s disease. After being diagnosed in 2004, she has taken daily medication, spent time in the hospital, and undergone a number of surgeries. Because the disease has no known cause or cure, I felt that it was critical to do what I could.” Harry has committed to three GYGIG events this year. In March 2007, during the first event, he cycled from LaGrange to Austin, Texas. In June, he cycled 210+ miles from Manhattan to Saratoga Springs in upstate New York. In August, he will cycle in another 210+ mile event around Whidbey Island and the Skagit Valley in northwestern Washington state. Collectively the nine days of cycling will amount to 650+- miles or about 180,000 pedal strokes! If you would like to contribute to Crohn’s disease awareness events, donations can be made by referencing Harry Keefe (rider # 9) on line at www.ibdride.org.

1982 Ed Keller is happy to be back in Riverside, CT after many years away. He and his family are looking forward to seeing everyone at reunion this fall! Peter Gorman isn’t well and would love to receive your good wishes. Please send cards or notes to his mom, BJ Gorman, 3 Ingleside Lane, White Plains, NY 10605.

1985 Teja McDaniel, wife Einat, and son Tristan are looking forward to the arrival of another boy in the family this summer. Teja recently finished pick-up shoots for his new film

m Harry Keefe ’78 has been training hard for his collective 650+ mile rides to benefit the nonprofit GYGIG (Get Your Guts in Gear).

“Captured the Movie.” He’s also been asked to direct another film and teach at a professional theater company in Melbourne, Australia. Sounds like all is well Down Under! Brian Murdock, though an English teacher by trade, realized one of his lifelong dreams with the help and encouragement of his brother, Pat ’81 (a longtime member of the publishing world).  Brian’s first book, Let’s Open a Bottle: My Journey Through the Spanish Wine Revolution, blends his current knowledge of the Spanish wine industry with insights into Spain’s history and culture. His second book, Spanish Wine: A Pocket Guide, is a quick, fun, and easy guide to the world of Spanish wine. The author, who has immersed himself in Spanish culture and its wine over the past fifteen years, is currently working on another book about living in Spain. The Thomas Jefferson Agricultural Institute awarded Paul Greenberg a national Food & Society Policy Fellowship for 2007-2008. This highly competitive and prestigious two-year program, with over 190 applicants for the nine fellowships awarded this year, provides a $30,000 annual stipend, along with policy and communications training. The program allows recipients to focus on communications and media activities, and to address the challenges associated with a more healthy and sustainable food and agriculture system. Summer 2007

Reunion 2007 Alert! Celebrate the years since graduation at Homecoming Weekend! Please send your news to Cat Scott (cscott@brunswickschool.org/800.546.9425) to keep us all informed!

Class Notes from Australia) tells former coach Jeff Harris that, “my wife Jonica and the four kids are all very well. The boys are now running everywhere, a sign of things to come... We need a house with a big backyard. Maybe a tennis court would be perfect; I could lock them in, set up a lacrosse goal and throw away the key.  “I’ve spent a lot of time at home over the past couple of months,” Andy continued. “My role was made redundant at IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows), so I have taken the opportunity to take time off and enjoy some time with the kids.  I started a new job and will commute between Sydney and Melbourne.” m Teja

McDaniel ’85 and a fellow actor “dressed up” for a scene in his upcoming film, “Captured the Movie.”

b Brian

Murdock’s ’85 first book Let’s Open a Bottle: My Journey Through the Spanish Wine Revolution

1989 Peter Kashatus and his wife Jennifer had a little girl, Ainsley Marie, on November 30, 2006. Shep Murray and his brother Ian ’93 (co-founders and chief executive officers of vineyard vines in Stamford, CT) were inducted by Quinnipiac University into the Business Leader Hall of Fame.

1990

c Brian

Murdock’s second book Spanish Wine: A Pocket Guide

Actor James Feuer has had a busy spring playing the character of Austin (the Philip Seymour Hoffman role) in Sam Shepard’s True West. James will again star in “Accomplice: New York,” a theatrical experience unlike any on Broadway that takes the audience on an actual journey through the streets of New York City. Magazines and news shows are highlighting the part game/part theater/part tour and one of the things to do this summer in New York City. For more information go to www.accomplicenewyork.com.

1986

Times of Brunswick

1991 Ross Ogden and his wife Ande are the proud parents of Allena Grace Ogden born on March 12, 2007. Little Allena weighed 8 lbs. 15 oz.

1992 David Kashatus and his wife Jen (Kolesar) GA ’92 had a little girl, Sally Ann, on September 28, 2006.

1993 Michael Grace and his wife Lauren celebrated the first day of the New Year 2007 with the birth of their daughter Alice Catherine, who weighed in at 8 lbs. 1 oz.

1994 Michael Clear and his wife Melissa celebrated the birth of their first child on December 23, 2006.  Madison Ivy Clear was born at 8:33 A.M., weighing 7 lbs. 6 oz, and measuring 21 inches.  The growing family continues to live in Fairfield, CT.

1988

Ogden’s ’91 little girl Allena Grace

Quinnipiac University inducted Ian Murray and his brother, Shep ’89 (co-founders and chief executive officers of vineyard vines in Stamford, CT) into the Business Leader Hall of Fame.

Scott Rodwin, president of Rodwin Architecture, received national recognition when the American Institute of Architects (AIA) named him Western Mountain Region Chapter’s 2006 “Young Architect of the Year.” Scott is one of a handful of architects in the U.S. who has made extraordinary contributions in design, service, and/or research and has been licensed for less than 10 years. For more information on his Boulder, CO architectural firm, check out www.rodwinarch.com.

Pete Heimbold (aka Pete Francis) will reunite with his jam band Dispatch for three shows in July at Madison Square Garden. All three nights were immediately sold out. Proceeds from the concert will benefit Zimbabwe, a country the band says, “... that is becoming a frightening place to live.”

Clarke Rogers is an assistant professor of military science and recruiting operations Officer at San Diego State University Army ROTC. He started as battalion executive officer last December. Andy Stewart (honorary member of the Class of 1988, since he spent a semester at Brunswick School as a study-abroad student

m Ross

mTrue

West by Sam Shepard featuring our very own James Feuer ’90.

Class Notes John Duffy just finished his second year at Duke Law where he is pursuing a J.D. and M.B.A. He is working in New York City this summer for Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Matt Heineman has been working hard on finishing his first feature-length documentary, The Young Americans Project that he worked on with fellow ‘Wick alumnus Matt Wiggins. The guys are “on the road exploring America’s future.” To date, they’ve covered 17,500 miles in 49 states and have done more than 220 profiles. For more info, see www.tyap.com. George Jamgochian is biding his time at Credit Suisse until there’s a coaching vacancy for the Brunswick Varsity golf team. Resumé and references available upon request.

m Jim

Heekin and his new wife Lee shared this photo from their wedding on July 22, 2006 in the Adirondacks woods. Many Brunswick and Greenwich Academy friends shared in the festivities of their special day. Front Row (left to right): Vaughn Massey GA ’95, Kristin Hoffmann GA ’97, Jake Brooks ’97, Caroline Samponaro GA ’97, Katie Iorio GA ’97, Ned Adams ’97, Brian Shepard ’97, and Olivia Jacquet GA ’97 Second Row (left to right): Jeff Condon ’97, Courtney Maum GA ’97, Andrew Myerberg ’98, Andrew Rosato ’97, Gavin Weiss GA ’97, Lee Massey-Heekin GA ’97, Jim Heekin ’97, Beatrice Mellick GA ’97, Rebecca Babcock GA ’97, Cathy Ritman GA ’97, Emily Vasu GA ’95, and Joanna Galvin GA ’97. Third Row (left to right): Nick Kahm ’97, Ryan Myerberg ’98, Tony Calabrese ’97, Elizabeth Rankin GA ’95, Jimmy Ritman ’94, Kim Tamalonis GA ’94, and Abi Rankin GA ’97.

2000

1995 Ted Ogden finished his Masters Degree from the University of Chicago in June and headed to Washington, D.C. in July. Rich Parent will be staying out on the west coast as he starts a new residency position in general surgery at Stanford University.

1997 Jeff Condon and his college sweetheart Heather Porter are engaged and will get married in August 2007.

1999 Nate Raymond and his wife Becca, who are stationed at Fort Campbell, KY with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, recently welcomed their first baby, Mackenzie Grace Raymond, born March 23 at 8 lbs. 2 oz.

James Reilly and his band, The Casual Fiasco, were highlighted in Greenwich Time as a “… rising regional act that is earning national attention in the live music/jam scene.” The band appeared at Arch Street in Greenwich, CT, and has performed 400 concerts in the last two years at colleges and clubs across the country. Wellknown venues in which they appeared include Knitting Factory in New York City, Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington, VT, and Paradise in Boston.

Jeff Long tells us, “I’m still living in Washington, D.C. with a few friends from college and working at Revolution Health, a new healthcare venture started by Steve Case, Steve Wiggins (father of Matt ’02 and Charlie Wiggins ’04), and others.  Check us out at www.RevolutionHealth.com.  When home, I can usually be found dunking on George Jamgochian on the basketball court.” Elliott Rauh just finished performing in National Theatre for Arts & Education’s national tour of Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid. While this was his first tour, Elliott is excited about going out on the road again with the same company to perform this fall in Cyrano de Bergerac. He also co-founded Single Carrot Theatre, a theatre troupe comprised of University of Colorado at Boulder students. Located in Baltimore, MD, they consist of a group of young performers who strive to infuse theatre with new life while entertaining and educating our community with socially significant productions. Their mission is to champion new and diverse works, reinvigorate the classics, and fiercely support the growth of young actors.

2001 Colin Doody has joined several of his Brunswick friends living in New York City.  He has enjoyed his nearly two years in the business development and online department at Wenner Media, publisher of Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Men’s Journal. Colin hopes to be engaged to his college darlin’ by the end of the year.

Reunion 2007 Alert! Celebrate the years since graduation at Homecoming Weekend! Please send your news to Cat Scott (cscott@brunswickschool.org/800.546.9425) to keep us all informed!

Summer 2007

m Nate Raymond, his wife Becca, and their bundle of joy Mackenzie.

Class Notes

m Hugh

Jessiman gives a high-five to a fellow bowler at the Bowl-a-Thon to benefit Connecticut Special Olympics. Photo credit: Chris Rutsch, Hartford Wolf Pack team photographer.

2002 After making a few connections at the Alumni Career Networking Forum, Jamie Coffin is working alongside fellow alumni Paul Gojkovich ’01 and James Ritman ’94 as an associate with Newmark Knight Frank.   Hugh Jessiman has been named the Hartford Wolf Pack team’s winner of the American Specialty/AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Hartford community during the 2006-2007 seasons. Hugh is now one of 27 finalists for the AHL’s 2006-2007 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award, honoring the overall American specialty/AHL Man of the Year. New class agent Matt MacDonald is working in New York City and living with two other Brunswick classmates, Dave Gerkin and Mark Eisenacher.

2003 This spring Jamie MacDonald was selected from the Senior class at Hobart William Smith College as the student speaker for their academ-

m Jamie

McAvity sent us this shot from the CSA National Championship banquet. From left to right are squash stars Parker Sutton, Will Carroll, Cam Henry ’05, Ben Mandel ’05, James Thorman ’06, Billy Nix, Dave Boucher, Adam Gibbs ’04, Andrew Small ’04, David Whelan ’06, Christian Henze ’06, Jamie McAvity and Patrick Whelan ’05.

ic awards ceremony during Charter Day. Jamie was chosen for his academic excellence and contributions to his class. After graduation, he plans to work at Boies, Schiller & Flexner while he studies for the LSAT’s, and will hopefully apply to law school for the 2008 school year. Sean Wheeler was named co-captain of the Kenyon College Mens’ Lacrosse Team, the Lords. He co-headed the all-league team for the past two years, and last year led the league in assists as a midfielder. In 2006, the Lords made their second-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. Also on Sean’s Kenyon lacrosse team this year is Matt Sargent ’06.

2004 Larry Haertel birdied the first hole of a sudden death playoff to capture the northeast crown, the New England Golf Division I Championship. Larry is the first Brown golfer to win New England’s most storied championship that began in 1934. He also helped bring home the best finishes ever for the Brown University golf team at the Ivy League Championship, earning a second place finish. Larry earned first team All-Ivy honors for the second straight season and a second place finish at the Championship.

Highlights of his trip included: trekking into the mountains in Rwanda to see the endangered mountain gorillas, visiting the Rwandan Genocide Museum, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, and working for six weeks in Zimbabwe on the only program of its kind in Africa: releasing captive-bred lions into the wild. Charlie worked with lions from birth to age 2, at which time they are separated from humans and released in prides in Zambia. After spending spring term in Adelaide, Australia, playing lacrosse, coaching an under-17 team, taking classes at a university and tutoring high school students in math, Charlie will start at Colgate University in September, where he hopes to pursue a minor in African Studies. Congratulations to James Thorman who was granted the 2005-2006 U.S. Squash ScholarAthlete Award.

Former Faculty Peter and Ann Kashatus wrote to update us on their family: “Beth Ann married Dan Hampson in July 2006. David ’92 and his wife Jen (Kolesar) had a little girl Sally Ann on September 28, 2006. Peter ’89 and his wife Jennifer also had a little girl, Ainsley Marie, on November 30, 2006.” Sounds like parents Peter and Ann will be on babysitting duty!

Times of Brunswick

2005

Conor Malloy earned first team All-Ivy honors for the first time in his career by finishing 6th overall at the Ivy League Championship and helping to earn the Brown University golf team second place, their best finish ever. m Larry

Haertel ’04 and Connor Malloy ’05 former Brunswick golf teammates and current Brown golf teammates at the Ivy League Championship where Brown earned their best finish ever – second place!

2006

Charlie Gumz spent three months in the fall of 2006 in Africa, traveling through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

m Charlie

Gumz ’06 in Zimbabwe

Class Notes In Memoriam Betty Ann Bussman passed away on Monday, February 27, 2007, in Greenwich after a brief illness. Miss Bussman was a Lower School teacher at Brunswick for eight years during the 1940s and 50s. Following her years at Brunswick she taught in Germany at the Department of Defense schools and then returned to Greenwich where she taught in the Greenwich Public Schools until her retirement in 1981. Betty is survived by her nephew, Charles Amos Bussman, her niece Deborah Ann Obrock, her sister-in-law, Judy Bussman and many former Brunswick students whom she remembered fondly. Robert M. Callagy passed away on December 1, 2006, from cancer. After graduating from NYU Law School in 1963 Robert went on to serve in the United States Army. Eventually he joined the Manhattan law firm Satterlee Warfield & Stephens where he eventually became chairman and helped to form the current firm Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke. A well-known figure in U.S. civil trial law, Bob counseled, and litigated on behalf of a remarkable variety of individual, corporate, and nonprofit clients. But it was his passionate representation of the country’s leading publishers and advertising agencies that put him at the center of landmark cases involving the First Amendment and copyright law. He also dedicated his time and skills to numerous civic and benevolent organizations. Robert is survived by his wife Lynn, son, Rory Callagy ’94, and daughters Susan C. McCloskey and Sara Finn, and eight grandchildren. Thomas M. duPont ’61 passed away on March 16, 2007, in Florida. Tom graduated from Forman School and Connecticut College. In 1980, he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and moved to Murray, UT. Later, he became a priest and then a high priest. He is survived by his mother, Gertrude Murrell duPont Howland; and two brothers, Alfred Rhett duPont, Jr. ’56 and Francis I. duPont III. He is also survived by four duPont nephews, a niece and their young children. Betty Fairbanks wrote to class agent Bill Putman ’55 to pass along the heartbreaking news about her husband Ralph Fairbanks ’55. His classmates were very sad to hear the news, but grateful that many had seen him at their recent 50th reunion and that the class had stayed in touch since.

Dear Bill, I have some very sad news.  Ralph had a massive heart attack and died on Tuesday, February 6, 2007.  He was sitting at the computer at 8:30 a.m. making arrangements for our annual trip to Florida.  He had no heart problems that we were aware of and was in apparently good health.  He was buried in Annapolis.  He loved it here and was so happy with the move to be nearer the children.  I know you will let his classmates at Brunswick know.  Betty Adelaide Chatfield-Taylor Kernochan, former Brunswick faculty member passed away on the morning of her 87th birthday, January 21, 2007, at Springhouse in Boston, MA. Mrs. Kernochan was a talented and successful educator and author. She served as the head of the Brunswick art department, toured schools to speak about the United Nations and its role in the world, and among many other things she also became a full-time consultant to UNESCO’s Associated Schools Project, which required her to circle the globe meeting with local teachers. She achieved all of this in spite of her handicap—a side effect of contracting severe polio in the mid-1940s. Mrs. Kernochan is survived by her husband John, son Jack Kernochan ’60, son Denny Kenochan ’62, daughter Sarah, son Wayne, and daughter Rose.

Kay McFarlan, beloved wife of Tracy McFarlan ’41, passed away on Febr uary 16, 2007.   Former Trustee, Richard R. Pivirotto, passed away on January 8, 2007, at Greenwich Hospital at the age of 76. After graduating from Princeton in 1952, he turned down an offer to play pro-football to complete his graduate degree at Harvard and then continued on to serve in the United States Army. Dick had a long and successful career in the retail industry and he served his community on many boards including 31 years on the board of Greenwich Hospital. Dick will be remembered by many, most especially his loving family. He is survived by his wife Mary, daughter Mary Pivirotto Murley GA ’72, son Rick Pivirotto ’73, daughter Susie Pivirotto Kern GA ’75, daughter Nancy Pivirotto Barbe GA ’78, son David Pivirotto ’82, daughter Jennifer Pivirotto Altieri and 14 grandchildren including Beau Barbe ’07 and Chase Barbe ’09. Betty Rafferty, mother of E. Geoffrey Cullen ’62, passed away December 7, 2006, from a sudden stroke at Greenwich Hospital. A longtime resident of Greenwich—she spent many years volunteering her time at Greenwich Hospital including as president of the Auxiliary. She is survived by her son, Geoffrey Cullen ’62, Betty S. Cullen, Anne C. Kittrell,Wesley C. Davidson, and her two stepsons, William L. and Brendan G. Rafferty, Jr.

Digital Photos We love pictures, and we like you to look good.

Here are some tips for sending us digital photos that will look fantastic in print: • Set the photo size to 4 x 6 inches or larger, in 300 DPI • Set your digital camera to the best photo setting • Save files as TIFF or JPG • Please identify everyone left to right in the photo and provide a caption • Email photos as attachments to Cat Scott, cscott@brunswickschool.org If you’d rather send a traditional print (made from a negative), we love them, too, but please send them on GLOSSY paper whenever possible. Matte prints and prints from digital photos do NOT scan well. We cannot reproduce photos from photocopies or magazines or newsprint. Mail prints to: Summer 2007

Cat Scott Brunswick School Alumni Office 100 Maher Avenue • Greenwich, CT 06830

Class Notes Viewpoint: Student Perspective

By Christopher Kimball, Class of 2007 Graduate

Inspiration. Everyone needs it, whether it is

Times of of Brunswick Brunswick

from an individual, a song, a book, or a line of poetry. Inspiration is always present. It builds us to who we are, or who we hope to become. Inspiration is essential in the existence of man.

The day I found out about the death of Mr. Tucker, I sat around, feeling remorse, anger, and deep-seated pain. I’ve experienced hardship throughout my life and have lost people close to me, but Mr. Tucker’s death hit the hardest and I’ll never move on completely. I’ve often thought about why I feel this way and it’s because of my regretful attitude of not cherishing enough my time with him, that short, too short, English period with him that will forever live with me. What he truly meant to me is impossible to explain in words, but I will try my hardest. Every day, I looked forward to Mr. Tucker’s class, everyday, no matter the circumstances. I used to shy away from teachers like him, but my attitude toward his class was completely different than any other class I had taken. He truly inspired me. It was while reading William Faulkner’s, As I Lay Dying, that it hit me. Everyone had to read it and everyone hated it except for our class because of Mr. Tucker. He brought a comfort level that most teachers didn’t have. He loved and cared for us, and he showed it everyday, no matter how he was feeling.

He once wrote to me, “You have really come such a long way and I am very proud of you for what you have given to the class and to me.” “… And to me.” I did something for him! No teacher had ever said anything like that to me. As childish as it sounds, Mr. Tucker made me feel special and, for the first time, equal with my fellow classmates. It wasn’t until I met him that my confidence in English, and school in general, grew. He didn’t only create my fascination with literature; he created a new me. I was a different person. Mr. Tucker encouraged me to explore myself, to reach deep into my soul and grasp my true emotions, my true thoughts . . . the things from which I would usually shy away. I soon learned that English wasn’t just a subject at school, it was way more than that. Books were lives on paper, and though many of the stories were fiction, the men and women who wrote these novels lived them—either physically or emotionally. Mr. Tucker made me realize this. He challenged me, and was there for me when I couldn’t possibly figure it out, and when I couldn’t figure out how to put my feelings into words. In fact, expressing myself right now is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but Mr. Tucker is the reason why I’m doing it in the first place. He continues to give me the strength and confidence to pour my heart out to you. Writing, reading, and English have all become my passion because of Mr. Tucker. He is the greatest individual I have ever met. Scott Tucker is my influencer, my inspiration, and someone who truly changed my life. j

Brunswick “Lifers”: (front row left to right) Greg Hillman, Kevin Doyle, Chris Harris, Devin Fuller (back row left to right)) RJ Adler, Jamie Fowler, Harry Sherman

College Matriculation Class of 2007 Killea, Jack… ………………………………… Williams College Kimball, Christopher… ……… Hobart & William Smith College Kinney, Casey ………………………………… Wheaton College Letizia, Justin … ………………………………… Trinity College Macfarlane, Clay ………………… University of NC, Chapel Hill Mahaney, Christopher… ……………………… Colorado College Mallen, Kevin ……………………………… Dartmouth College Masselink, Ben … …………………………… Duke University Matthews, Craig… ………………………… Princeton University McFarlane, Tyler …………………………… Bucknell University Miller, Brendan………………………………… Trinity College Miller, Geoffrey… ……………………… University of Denver Moran, George … ……………………………… Yale University Oberbeck, Christian…………………………… Harvard College O’Neill, Nick… …………………………… Princeton University Ongaro, Ron… …………………………… Denison University O’Reilly, Christopher… ………… Southern Methodist University Parrotta, Thomas … ……………………… Boston University Paternina, Pablo… ……………… University of Navarra (Spain) Peek, Walter … …………………………… Cornell University Piro, Philip … …………………………………… Yale University Pollak, Anthony … ……………… New York University – Stern Potter, Rand……………………… Washington & Lee University Raymond, Colin … ………………… University of Notre Dame Schept, Gregory … ……………… George Washington University Seaver, Jack …………………………………… Amherst College Sherman, Harry… …………………… St. Lawrence University Simmons, Nick … ……………………………… Yale University Spangenberg, Erik … ………………… Wake Forest University Stack, Austin … ………………………… Princeton University Stavrou, Alexander … ………………………… Skidmore College Stuebe, Nick … ……………… University of Colorado (Boulder) Virtue, Tucker ………………………………… Duke University Withiam, Wilson ………………………………… Rollins College Wood, Tyler ………………… Washington University in St. Louis Wyman, Greg … ………………………………… Union College Wynne, Wesley … ……………………………… Trinity College Zarrilli, Andrew… ……………………………… Boston College

Summer 2007

Abbot, Mack… ……………………… Georgetown University Adler, RJ… ………………………………… Middlebury College Archer, Casey… ……………………………… Boston College Ballantine, Alistair… ……………………… Cornell University Barnes, Simon ……………………………… Denison University Barnett, Thomas …………………………… Gettysburg College Berner, Robert…………………………………… Yale University Blake, Christian … ……………………… Princeton University Blumenthal, Michael…………………………… Harvard College Brosens, Thomas ………………………………… Trinity College Browne, William… ………………… University of Pennsylvania Ceballos, Pablo … ………………………… Stanford University Chen, Nick… ……………………………… Colgate University Chilton, Rick… …………………………… Bucknell University Clark, James………………………… University of Pennsylvania Clausen, Eric… ………………………… Vanderbilt University Coleman, Ben… ……………………………… Williams College Connor, Thomas …………………… University of Notre Dame Constantine, Christopher……… University of Colorado (Boulder) Cortes, Ben… ……………………………… Stanford University Costas, Peter … ………………………… University of Virginia Dann, Zachary … ………………… University of Pennsylvania Davis, Tyler …………………………………… Colorado College Decker, Kevin …………………… University of New Hampshire DeSalvo, Corey … ………………… University of Notre Dame Doyle, Kevin … …………………… College of the Holy Cross Epstein, Ben … …………………… University of Pennsylvania Fabre, Jose … ……………………………… Hofstra University Feld, Alexander… …………………………… Duke University Ferrara, Daniel…………………………… University of Michigan Fowler, James … ……………………………… Amherst College Fuller, Devin… ……………………………… Skidmore College Gilbride, Reed… ……………………………… Bowdoin College Gormly, Matt… ………………… Southern Methodist University Harris, Christopher ……………………… University of Vermont Hillman, Gregory … …………………………… Reed College Ingraham, William… ……………………… Denison University Judson, Mackenzie… ………………… University of Richmond Judson, Travis… ………………………………… Trinity College

Big Bruins and Little Bruins send

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ams come true e r d ! We extend our sincere gratitude to alumni, parents, grandparents, and friends who continue to support the place we cherish â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Brunswick School. Thank you for giving so generously to the 2006-2007 Annual Fund!

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