The Magazine of Cary Academy | Fall 2019

The Magazine of Cary Academy FA L L 2 0 1 9

The finish line is only the beginning page 4

Bridging divides through dialogue page 8

How CA spent its summer vacation page 20

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: CONTINUING CA’S TRADITION OF SERVICE page 14

LEARNING THE ROPES page 12

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Our community has 2020 vision.

In November 2019, the Cary Academy Board of Directors approved the School’s updated strategic plan, which will guide our direction for the next five years.

In this issue of ?, The Magazine of Cary Academy, we highlight some of the important initiatives that underpin key elements of our strategic vision: “Cary Academy will create personalized learning opportunities that are flexible and relevant in an environment that supports student wellbeing. We will cultivate selfdirected and bold life-long learners who make meaningful contributions to the world.”

I have purposefully put in bold the second sentence of this vision statement, as it speaks to a core purpose for the creation of our new Center for Community Engagement. The Center is the home for several of the programs mentioned in this issue.

Finally, on page 19 you can read about how we are working to put the “learning” into our service learning program through the creation of a new student organization they have named the Delta Club. Service has always been a hallmark of the CA experience, and we are delighted to share some of the ways our alumni have been making a difference through their work with Camp Kesem.

Look for more on the school’s new strategic plan in upcoming issues of ?, The Magazine.

In the meantime, we welcome parents, employees, alumni, and friends to join us in celebration of our community at the annual PTAA Taste and Toast at 4:30pm on Sunday, January 26, 2020 in the newly renovated library. Look for information about tickets on our website and Facebook pages. Prior to the party, all are welcome to join me at my annual State of School presentation in the new Center for Math and Science, starting at 3:15pm.

The school’s Dialogue Across Difference initiative, highlighted on page 8, seeks to build empathy within our community and equip students and adults with the mindset and skills to build bridges with those who might hold different values or opinions.

Best wishes for a tremendous 2020!

Our new summer partnerships, highlighted on page 20, provide an opportunity for Cary Academy to expand access to innovative learning opportunities and work in collaboration with other individuals and organizations who share these core values.

Mike Ehrhardt, Head of School

The Magazine of Cary Academy FALL 2019

In this issue

COMMUNICATIONS TEAM Mandy Dailey Dean Sauls Dan Smith PHOTOGRAPHY Dan Smith The CA community Cover courtesy of Alyssa Armstrong HEAD OF SCHOOL Michael Ehrhardt DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS Heather Clarkson DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS Mandy Dailey HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL Robin Follet DIRECTOR OF FACILITIES Jess Garcia DEAN OF FACULTY Martina Greene HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL Marti Jenkins DIRECTOR OF EQUITY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Danielle Johnson-Webb DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION Karen McKenzie DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Ali Page CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Deborah Reichel

is published three times a year by Cary Academy.

CARY ACADEMY 1500 N. Harrison Avenue Cary, North Carolina 27513 (919) 677-3873

www.caryacademy.org

4 Personal best

14 The Kesem connection

8 Building an inclusive

20 Preparing for impact

Conrad Hall’s lifelong passion for teaching and running laid the foundation for a tight-knit community of current and former students striving towards their better selves in pursuit of success.

For a growing number of CA alumni, a commitment to community and service continues at a unique, life-changing summer camp.

community In a community dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion, what is the key to finding common ground and understanding? A trailblazing CA program is giving students, staff, faculty, and parents the tools to share experiences and build connections across differences.

Campus News 2

Snapshots 20

Alumni News 31

How did CA spend the summer vacation?

By increasing our community impact through collaborative partnerships with three youth-serving organizations that brought transformational learning experiences to students across North Carolina.

The Big Question 32

Whether it’s a success on the athletic field, surviving the college application process, or milestones in pet care, CA’s faculty, staff, and students have a lot to be proud of. page 32

Campus News

Forging an international community around innovative education A follow-up to MS World Language teachers Katie Levinthal’s and Gabrielle Verhoven’s participation in the Atlantik-Brücke Transatlantic Teachers’ Study Trip this summer, 15 teachers from Germany visited CA to connect on teaching practices around subjects like world cultures, world history, science, technology, and world languages in October.

The following week, a team of CA faculty and administrators visited the Frankfurt International School, joining colleagues from around the world for the fifth meeting of the Collaborative for Innovative Education (CIE). They focused on personalized learning, with MS teachers Katie Taylor and Meredith Stewart presenting about CA programs. CA will host the sixth international CIE forum in March 2020.

Cary Academy’s World Language Exchange program offers ample opportunities for transcultural collaboration and learning, but our curricular and cultural exchange across borders doesn’t stop there. Our faculty are regularly engaged in various missiondriven professional development opportunities that extend our community across the globe.

Last summer, Band Director Lester Turner spent an “aweinspiring” tenure in India as a Fulbright Fellow in the Teacher for Global Classrooms program. Thanks to an ongoing collaborative partnership with his host school—Kendriya Vdiaylaya of Kerala in Malappuram—Turner is building musical connections that will bring an important international perspective to his students.

CA MUSICIANS TAKE STATE, NATIONAL STAGE

with Lester Turner in October to Wake Forest University for two days of music-making.

BACKPACK BUDDIES’ RECORDBREAKING FOOD DRIVE

In November, three CA students played for national and state orchestral honors.

Violinist Jessica Zhong ’20 performed in the All-National Honor Orchestra Ensembles (ANHE), becoming the third CA student to perform in the ANHE, alongside the top-performing high school musicians in the country. In the final audition, Zhong won the principal chair in the 2nd violin section. Closer to home, violinist Sophia Liu ’22 and flutist Abby Li ’22 performed in the North Carolina Honors Orchestra. Liu made 4th chair of the first violin section. Eleven CA students were selected for this year’s NCAIS Honors Band. Griffin Baird ‘21,Emma Bracken ‘24, Will Capps ‘23, Izzy Che ‘24, JR Cobb ‘22, Ian Fan ‘24, Abben Fasil ‘25, Haitian Huang ‘23, Luke Ramee ‘24, Cade Reading ‘24, and Oliver Wang ‘22 traveled

DEBATE STANDS TALL

The sixth grade’s first Backpack Buddies Food Drive of 2019-2020 exceeded all expectations, meeting their collection goal, and breaking all previous records from prior years. The items will help feed hungry kids right down the road at Reedy Creek Elementary.

CA Speech and Debate had a spectacular fall trimester, starting with one of its best showings ever at the 27th annual Yale University Invitational Tournament where five students placed in the top 10 of their respective events. The team topped their Yale performance by winning the Duke University National tournament and all four Dogwood Speech and Debate League tournaments.

The team wrapped up T1 by traveling to the 39th Annual Villiger Tournament in Philadelphia where Alex Lim ‘22 won Humorous Interpretation, Becca Segal ‘20 came in third in Extemporaneous Speaking, Saajan Patel ‘20 made it to the final round in Congress, and Ari Curtis ‘21 reached the quarterfinals for Oral Interpretation.

?

Two

The Magazine of Cary Academy

US MATH COACH RECEIVES STATEWIDE RECOGNITION On November 7, the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics presented US math teacher John Noland with the 2019 State Math Contest Coach’s Award. Noland has coached math teams at CA for the past eleven years; the award recognizes his commitment to mathematics education and his dedication to supporting mathematics competitions.

CHARGER ATHLETES SHINE The fall season was a busy one for Charger athletes, 19 of whom earned an AllConference award, and four received All-State honors.

In September, three Charger athletes signed letters of intent to play at the collegiate level. Dorrit Eisenbeis ’20 will play field hockey at UNC-Chapel Hill, Laney Rouse ’20 will play soccer at the University of Virginia, and Jack Todd ’20 will swim for the University of Chicago.

Eisenbeis was named TISAC field hockey Player of the Year; she and teammate Abby Pompeo ’21 were honored as members of the NCISAA All-State field hockey team.

The varsity girls cross country team took second place at the NCISAA State Championship. Kenny Eheman ’21 finished as an All-State runner, leading the varsity boys cross country team to a 4th place finish overall. The MS boys cross country team won their third consecutive TISAC conference championship.

Erin Singleton ’20 was named TISAC girls golf Player of the Year, as CA’s varsity girls golf team took second place at the NCISAA State Championship. Singleton was named to the All-State team.

At the 2019 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, in Budapest, Hungary, Charlotte Hook ’21 earned a bronze medal in the Women’s 200M Butterfly. Hook is now qualified for the U.S. national team and will compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in June 2020.

PERSONAL BEST Ask most Cary Academy alumni to name a faculty figure who has changed the course of their lives and Conrad Hall’s name comes up time and time again. Whether sparking new passions for history, developing championship-winning cross country and track and field teams, or stewarding a tightly-knit community of running alumni, Hall has been instrumental in shaping the CA community.

Joining CA in 1998—the school’s early days—Hall was initially drawn by the opportunity to meaningfully pursue his tandem passions of teaching and coaching.

It is his approach to both—the very embodiment of CA’s core values of discovery, excellence, collaboration, and community— that has made the partnership a natural and impactful long-term fit.

“To be able to share my love of both history and running—to have the opportunity to shape CA’s history curriculum, as well as its track and field and cross country programs from the very beginning, to develop them, to build that community—it was, and continues to be, exciting work,” offers Hall.

For Hall, teaching and coaching have always been different sides of the same coin, each offering unique chances to shape student trajectories, build character, and foster community.

A high school track star—Hall has five NCISAA individual event championships, three state cross country championships, four state track and field championships, and numerous local running records under his belt— he credits the “immensely positive and important” role that his own high school coaches played with helping him successfully navigate the waters of high school and beyond. “My high school math teacher and track coach has been a powerful role model, mentor, and guide throughout my time in high school and beyond, even to the present day,” Hall explains.

It was those powerful coaching experiences that led Hall to teaching.

While double-majoring in history and political science at Duke University and captaining the track and cross country teams, he found himself increasingly drawn to secondary education. He ultimately pursued a Master of Arts in Teaching, motivated by the chance to positively shape his students’ lives in much the same way his mentors had his.

“I had experienced first-hand the positive impact that a good coach can have and the benefit of being part of a team,” Hall explains. “I realized how both teaching and coaching could allow me to help people learn and grow. I knew that it was what I wanted to do.”

At the heart of Hall’s approach is an effort to strike a productive balance between guiding students and allowing them the freedom to chart their own paths. A philosophy of finding a healthy balance—between academics, community, family, individual success,

shared goals, joy, and adversity—figures prominently. “I hope to be a role model by living that balance, to show that it’s okay to pursue your goals and seek out success, but that you need to take care of yourself mentally, physically, and personally, along the way.”

For Hall, his commitment to his craft extends beyond test results, records, and titles to something much larger: “Both in the classroom and with my teams, helping my students and athletes learn and grow, to be stronger, more confident, more capable, and more caring people—that is what I am passionate about, that is what I look forward to every day.”

In the classroom, that means making history relevant to his students in ways that help them grow and relate to their community and the world. “History is replete with individual examples of courage and striving,” Hall explains.

“Whether reflecting humanity at its best or worst, it provides compelling insights into who we are as human beings, and how we deal with the complex challenges of life.”

Hall uses those observations to connect with his students and student athletes alike, applying the lens of the past to help them glean insights into, not only current events, but challenges they might by facing in their own lives, whether at home, in the classroom, on the track or trail, in their community, or the broader world.

On the coaching side, Hall builds his teams around a no-cut concept that emphasizes a balance between individual growth and group successes. It is a philosophy that has set the tone for a program that has amassed a combined seven NCISAA State Championships, 21 State Runners-Up, and 26 TISAC Conference Championships and crafted a tight-knit community of runners whose

?

The Magazine of Cary Academy

Five

“HIS VISION FOR THE PROGRAM AND CHALLENGING US TO SET OUR OWN GOALS, TO RECOGNIZE OUR LIMITS, AND CHOOSE OUR PRIORITIES WAS INSPIRING. HE WAS MY FIRST MENTOR.” —BRYAN FISHER ‘03

bonds remain active across graduating classes, even years after commencement.

“Everyone likes to win, but it’s about so much more than that,” explains Hall.

“There might be a few hundred people in a race, but only one person can win.

Running is a sport that embraces a supportive growth mindset.” Some of the best members of the cross country and track and field teams are not the fastest runners, according to Hall. Instead, they are those that add intangibly to the team’s sense of camaraderie, through their pursuit of personal growth and strident support of their teammates and even rival runners.

“I wasn’t the best runner on the team,” notes alum Connor Riser ’12, “but I never felt unimportant or had a performance held against me. To that end: we were State runners-up all four years I ran for CA; three years after

?

Six

The Magazine of Cary Academy

I graduated, the team won their first championship, and Coach Hall made sure I felt included in that celebration.”

For Hall and many of his athletes and alumni, running isn’t just an after-school activity; it’s a joyful, transformative experience that imparts lessons—about teamwork, leadership, community, and personal growth—to broader parts of their lives beyond the track. Those lessons and the friendships born on the cross country and track teams have made for a community whose closeness surprises even Hall, as many have remained close friends and even business partners.

“Conrad’s passion is contagious; it built this community,” says Bryan Fisher ’03, who briefly returned to CA as an assistant coach after college, before starting his own business. “His vision for the program and challenging us to set

our own goals, to recognize our limits, and choose our priorities was inspiring.

He was my first mentor.”

That closeness is on display each fall, as CA alums who graduated 10, 15, and nearly 20 years ago return for the annual cross country alumni meet. “Starting at CA, even before we had a graduating class, I always talked with my runners about how cool it would be to have an alumni meet,” explains Hall. “As soon as we actually had alumni, we had an alumni meet.”

For Hall and his runners, the alumni meet is a low-key, low-stress fun time for alumni to get-together. It also gives the varsity team a chance to connect with their CA predecessors, who help to mentor a new generation of Charger runners while renewing their bonds to the school. “It’s almost like a second Homecoming for this group, and it makes them feel very connected,” remarks Hall.

For those who can’t make it to the alumni meet, Hall serves as the point of connection for many alumni.

He maintains living histories and running logs for the cross country and track and field teams, highlighting historical milestones and apprising the programs’ alumni of the current teams’ achievements. Fisher explains it simply: “Conrad is our point of connection. Even if we didn’t go to school together, we have the shared experience of being coached

by Conrad Hall.”

For Hall, the opportunity to inspire growth, year after year, in new groups of students and runners—now stretching across generations—is what keeps him moving forward. “Every student has the ability to become the best person they can be. We should do everything we can today to be the best we can, then wake up tomorrow and be better. I’m hoping to help them on that journey.

MEET THE MATCH Beyond spurring him to teach and coach, Hall’s education also inspired a passionate advocacy for need-based financial aid.

“Without need-based aid, I would not have had access to the education I was fortunate enough to receive. I don’t know where I would be without it, but I know I would not be here,” offers Hall.

Three years ago, Hall was able to advance his fervent belief, not only in expanding access to need-based aid but also endorsing a healthy balance between self, community, joy, and hard work, with the foundation of the Coach Conrad Hall Endowment.

Established through a gift from his parents in 2018, the endowment provides need-based financial aid for a CA scholar-athlete dedicated to embodying excellence while finding a balance between school, home, and sport.

This year, inspired by the impact that Coach Hall has had on their lives and the broader Cary Academy community, cross country alumni Joel Blondy ’07 and Rachael Blondy ’10, along with their mother Mary, have created a matching challenge—Meet the Match—in support of the Coach Conrad Hall Endowment Fund. “I would not be the person I am today without him… he was always there to inspire and challenge us,” offers Joel Blondy.

In turn, Mary, Rachael, and Joel are now challenging the Cary Academy alumni community to honor Coach Hall and his commitment to need-based financial aid. The Blondys will match, dollar for dollar, each gift made to the endowment by alumni through June 30, 2020, up to $50,000.

When asked about the challenge, Hall remarked, “I am just absolutely humbled by it. Knowing that it is being built by alumni who have been through the program, that they value the impact it has had on their lives, even to this day, and feel compelled to give back—it makes it all the more meaningful.”

“I think everybody should be rooting for Coach Hall because he’s always rooting for everybody else,” says Bryan Fisher ’03. “A lot of people, including myself, give him credit for helping them become successful people. I’m sure there’s a lot of alumni who want to give back.”

If Conrad Hall inspired you, the Blondys invite you rise to the challenge and #MeetTheMatch. More information online at bit.ly/meetthematch.

?

The Magazine of Cary Academy

Seven

BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY “We are one of the most diverse independent schools in the Southeast.

It doesn’t matter that we are all at Cary Academy, each one of us brings different things—perspectives, experiences, backgrounds—to the table,” offers Director of Equity and Community Engagement Danielle Johnson-Webb.

“It’s critical that all of our students, faculty, and staff, feel that their voices are heard loud and clear, so, at the end of the day, we can find common ground,” continues Johnson-Webb. “So that we can say ‘We may come from different backgrounds, have different perspectives, or different opinions, but we still care about the same things. We still share concerns. We still value and respect each other as community members despite our differences and can learn from each other because of them.’”

What is the key to understanding each other? What allows us to open ourselves to the diverse experience and perspectives of others? How can we create a community strengthened by our differences, rather than one divided by them? How can we engage in difficult conversations around important—and even polarizing—issues in ways that support, respect, and validate all our community members, their belief systems, and backgrounds?

As a learning community that places a high value on inclusivity and equity, these questions are of the utmost importance at Cary Academy. Now in its third year, the Dialogue Across Difference initiative aims to respond to them by providing a framework for community members to “meet in the middle” to respectfully and thoughtfully engage each other’s differences in a productive, validating, and community-building way.

?

Eight

The Magazine of Cary Academy

someone else says as your truth; it’s intent is only to build a common understanding.”

That’s a distinction that isn’t lost on students. “When a debate occurs, you never feel like you get to hear a person’s full point of view,” explains Vibhav Nandagiri ’21, a newly-trained dialogue facilitator. “But, through dialogue, you get to learn someone else’s perspective without any competitive need to win an argument. It leads to mutual understanding; listening to each other helps us chip away at our differences.”

It is a process that Clay Thornton ’21 has found leads to closer connection and the development of empathy. “It’s hard to argue with someone’s experience,” he explains.

“Having an environment that gives you that space to listen to others talk about their experiences and understand how those experiences have led them to the opinions that they have—it is truly eye-opening.”

Importantly, dialogue isn’t just about listening; the act of storytelling is just as important to the process. “To form the connections and relationships, it’s all about storytelling in the beginning,” explains teacher and Upper School advisor Kimberly Shaw, an inaugural Essential Partners Fellow, who took part in intensive leadership training in Boston and has led dialogues on college campuses and amongst communities beyond the CA campus.

“As you enter a dialogue, you can either decide to lean into your vulnerability and share your story, or you can hang back; the more vulnerable you allow yourself to become, the more connected you feel with those around you,” Shaw explains. “My first dialogue was in a group of strangers from around the globe.

After two days of sharing our stories, sharing pieces of ourselves, and listening to each other speak our truths—I’ve never felt such strong connections to people that I’ve only known for two days. That’s the power of dialogue.”

To create that safe space that allows participants to “lean into their vulnerability,” dialogue has strict guidelines, rules of

Dialogue across Difference launched at CA in 2017, after CA’s leadership identified a need to help facilitate challenging conversations on campus. After an exhaustive search, they ultimately chose the Reflective Structured Dialogue method employed by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based consulting firm, Essential Partners, having encountered the approach in use at the University of North Carolina.

Reflective Structured Dialogue relies on personal narratives to break down stereotypes and create a sense of common ground and shared humanity. Participants are encouraged to listen and reflect upon what they hear, rather than react. All of this happens within a guided, structured format that ensures everyone has the chance to speak and to be heard in an open, thoughtful environment.

THE POWER OF DIALOGUE “Vulnerability is the key,” explains Meirav Solomon ’21, who underwent intensive training to become a dialogue facilitator as part of an expansion of the Dialogue Across Difference initiative. “A lot of perspectivetaking is based in vulnerability. It’s the key ingredient in a good structured dialogue.

It’s crucial to the ‘meet me in the middle’ experience that dialogue is all about.”

And “meeting in the middle” is crucial.

Johnson-Webb is quick to point out that the goal of dialogue is not about changing anyone’s mind. “It isn’t debate; it isn’t intended to be persuasive,” explains Johnson-Webb. “Dialogue doesn’t mean that you have to accept what

?

The Magazine of Cary Academy

Nine

Indeed, the shift from dialogue participant to facilitator was a powerful leadership experience for recent student trainee Jordan Cuffee ’21: “The dialogue training allowed me to push myself to speak up first. In an informal conversation, I’m not usually the first person to voice my opinion; I usually end up listening, rather than taking a stance on sharing my opinion. But the dialogue training empowered us to decide if we want to say something now or listen. It really made me feel part of the conversation, rather than being on the outside, observing.”

engagement that are co-authored and agreed to by all participants at the outset.

These guidelines might cover anything from respectful body language, to allowing space for silence, to prohibiting cross-talk and interruptions, to confidentiality and assurances that what is said in the dialogue space, stays in the dialogue space, or any other parameters that the participants feel need to be addressed.

For Becca Humphries ’21, the creation of that safe space made all the difference in her dialogue training experience. “The dialogue setting created an environment where people weren’t afraid to open up and share those things that they might not always share out loud. It made us feel closer and provided a stronger sense of trust. It allowed me to be vulnerable to people outside of my community and to be open to sharing.”

DIALOGUE ON CAMPUS Dialogue Across Difference is considered so critical to CA’s core value of fostering a richly diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning community that it is a core commitment of the Center for Community Engagement. The newly formed Center, which coordinates cross-divisional work in experiential learning, service learning, entrepreneurship, and equity, offers students opportunities to stretch, grow, and co-author their learning through meaningful engagements both within and outside of the CA community.

During the first two years of Dialogue Across Difference, the program initiated dialogues amongst CA’s faculty and staff, Board of Directors, parent groups, and students. The first student dialogues were facilitated by faculty members, with later dialogues co-facilitated with student leaders who had participated in specialized training.

The success of those latter dialogues inspired Johnson-Webb, who envisions student leadership as an important strategy for building community both on campus and off. It is this vision that prompted the recent training of 17 new student facilitators in October; 17 more students will undergo training in the spring.

“Like all CA programming, we’re always evaluating and reflecting to consider what is working and what isn’t, how we can increase impact, how to better meet the needs of our community,” says Johnson-Webb. “Putting students in the drivers’ seats as trained facilitators in these dialogue sessions, allowing them to own the process and work alongside faculty to address community issues—it makes them more invested in the dialogues. Hopefully, that leads to meaningful experiences that benefit our whole community.”

“Student facilitators flip the script,” offers Shaw. “When students lead, you can see a change occur, a shift as they understand the difference between being a participant and being a facilitator, as they work to hear and address the needs of their classmates and community.”

That shift is already having an impact on the way students see their concerns being heard by faculty and staff. “It makes you respect [the faculty] even more when they

?

Ten

The Magazine of Cary Academy

talk to you as equals,” Nandagiri explains.

“To harness that in dialogue allowed me to realize that they actually do want to meet us in the middle.”

“Even though I knew my opinion was valid, to know that everyone there—not only the students, but the teachers too— wanted to hear what I had to say, it made me feel my experience mattered,” adds Cuffee.

In addition to increasing student facilitator training, Johnson-Webb is also altering the way dialogues are implemented school-wide by engaging Upper School students in the choice of topics they will take up during this year’s dialogues.

Already, a committee of student leaders have suggested a slate of dialogue topics that will be put to a vote be the Upper School student body. Topics under consideration include the role of PE and athletics on student health at

CA; the definition of privilege, how it is manifested at CA, and its impact on students’ futures; how to better foster a community that honors all political ideologies; social dynamics and cliques; and stress and academic pressure.

It’s an innovative and forward-thinking approach to fostering inclusivity that sets CA apart. “The best thing a school can

do is to call us before there’s a crisis—to live out the fullness of its diversity, to strengthen community resilience, or to transform its institutional culture,” offers Essential Partners Co-Director John Sarrouf. “Cary Academy’s vision and ambition are groundbreaking, and they are inspiring other schools to develop robust cultures of dialogue as well.”

DIALOGUE IN ACTION While helping students and faculty alike grapple together with key issues that impact our immediate school community, the benefit of dialogue extends beyond the CA campus. Indeed, students are already putting their dialogue training into real world practice in powerful ways.

Just this past summer, Meirav Solomon ’21 participated in a youth summit at Seeds of Peace, a leadership development organization founded to inspire young people from conflict zones to explore the social, economic, and political changes essential for peace. Part of the program was a multi-day intensive dialogue between Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, British, and American youth.

“For the first half of our sessions, it was people yelling at each other; people were unwilling to listen, to understand,” says Solomon. “My dialogue training was extremely useful during the last half of dialogue at Seeds because at that point we had stopped yelling at each other enough to actually dialogue.

“I really saw the benefit of listening to each other, as we worked through all the inflammatory stuff and got to the point of being able to say ‘I understand that it looks like this from your experience; your opinion is valid, even if I don’t agree.’

“I saw people who started out hating each other become best friends, in the course of these dialogue sessions. The experience truly changed my life and I owe it to intensive, empathetic and critical dialogue between individuals who want to grow and shift their mindsets. I hope to help foster this type of experience at CA, so that everyone can experience the beauty and power of dialogue just like I did.”

Solomon’s experience is exactly the point, according to Johnson-Webb: “As we are thinking of sending our students out to engage in experiential learning opportunities beyond the CA community through the Center for Community Engagement— as we think of preparing students for what comes next—we have to equip them to interact with people from different backgrounds, to take leadership roles, and to facilitate difficult conversations by being genuine, active listeners.”

And, that is exactly what dialogue is all about. “The skills our students are developing by participating in and facilitating dialogues are those that will serve them well as they enter the world, venture to university, seek careers, and grow families.”

Early in the year, CLASS TRIPS foster community building, as classes venture forth to explore the world beyond campus.

Snapshots In September, the seventh grade explored the culture, markets, and politics of the year 1000, culminating in the Y1K BAZAAR filled with goods and good food from across the globe.

In November, the YOUNG PHYSICISTS TOURNAMENT (USAYPT) team observed the transit of Mercury, collecting data to solve astronomy challenges.

After a year of weather delays, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS returned in spectacular form. Against a lightninglit sky, the seniors and sophomores bested the juniors and freshmen, respectively, in tough-fought games of touch football.

The US OUTDOORS CLUB took advantage of the extended trimester break to venture to Linville Gorge for hiking, camping, and camaraderie.

The US PRODUCTION of When Suddenly‌ An Evening of Comedies by Molière and Chekhov offered astute observations of the human condition, absurdity, and laughter.

The Middle School turned out for the annual battle of the Yellow versus Blue during the annual CHARGER CUP. As the dust, pizza boxes, and whipped-cream settled, Yellow won the day.

Alumni Spotlight

THE KESEM CONNECTION:

CARRYING ON CA’S TRADITION OF SERVICE LEARNING Dedication to community, to making an impact, to thoughtful social responsibility—these commitments are at the heart of CA’s mission and what it means to be a Charger. For many alums, experiences at CA ignited a passion for service—and fostered the resiliency, social and cultural literacies, and leadership skills—that enable them to make a significant impact in their communities after they graduate.

LYDIA EISENBEIS (‘16)

“CA underscores the importance of community—the importance of giving back—from a young age,” reflects Lydia Eisenbeis ’16. “Whether it is through service-learning initiatives, through student clubs, or just learning together—as a tight-knit community, everyone is always helping each other.”

That commitment to helping each other is one that many of our alums go on to pursue during their college years: “You often hear that college is a time to be selfish,” offers Alex Udell ’15. “But really it is a time to give back, a time to develop who you are going to be in the world. Getting out of your bubble, getting a new perspective, having an impact—that is important to that process.”

?

Fourteen

The Magazine of Cary Academy

CAMP KESEM Camp Kesem—a nationwide nonprofit program that operates free sleepaway summer camps for children of cancer patients—is a frequent beneficiary of our alumni’s passion, generosity, and leadership.

The program features an ever-growing list of young CA alums amongst its past and present volunteer ranks. (We identified more than 15 alums as part of this article; there are undoubtedly more and it is a number that will only continue to grow.)

Udell, who was involved heavily in the leadership of her local Camp Kesem chapter throughout her college career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, credits the close-knit nature of CA’s alumni network, strong word of mouth, and an immensely gratifying volunteer experience for drawing in so many of our alums.

“CA is such a close community; students know each other even across different grades.

That closeness persists after graduation,” explains Udell. “Through other alums, you hear first-hand about the incredible experiences they are having through Camp Kesem. You hear about their successes and how gratifying they are; it paves the way for the involvement of other alums.”

SHANNON STOHLMAN (‘15), ALEX UDELL (‘15) AND LYDIA EISENBEIS (‘16)

outreach on behalf of the camp as part of the mid-level administrative team. Particularly committed volunteers can apply to join the high-level executive team to get a taste of leading a complex organization by overseeing operational logistics, programming development, and staffing needs.

Regardless of role, each offers unique learning opportunities—whether applicable, practical on the job experience or something more transformative: a new outlook on the world and insights into how to better relate to each other.

CAREER-DEFINING INSIGHTS Currently in her second year at the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine, Emily Aarons ’13 credits her experience counseling older teenage campers with the Duke University chapter of Camp Kesem with teaching her the power of emotional resilience and the importance of harnessing community support to get through tough circumstances.

“My time at Camp Kesem was inspiring,” Aarons offers. “As a counselor to older teenage campers, I was a mentor, but I was also close enough to have that peer connection. It is amazing what you can learn from someone that has gone through something completely different from you; I learned as much from my campers as they did from me.”

Camp Kesem is unique in that it is entirely run and staffed by trained college students that operate across a nationwide network of campus chapters. Student leaders are chosen through a highly competitive interview process and, once trained, participate in a breadth of roles, each offering different levels of engagement.

All volunteers start as counselors, responsible for attending to the day-to-day physical and emotional needs of their campers during their week-long stay. Some opt to increase their engagement in subsequent years, for example, mentoring and managing junior counselors or performing year-round fundraising and

?

The Magazine of Cary Academy

Fifteen

Sawchak—who graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in business in 2015—now regularly uses that flexibility and resiliency flexed at Camp Kesem in his current role as a data analyst with the online wholesale fashion startup JOOR in New York City.

It’s a self-guided role that gives him a lot of opportunity to explore, to follow analytical patterns as he sees fit, and grants him the latitude to make decisions that he hopes will drive the company forward. He enjoys the challenge, but admits that, at times, it can be frustrating work.

“A lot of my work involves following a hypothesis,” he explains. “You think you know what you are going to find in a particular piece of data, but, often, after working on it for a few days it can turn out not to be what you were expecting.” For Sawchak, on the job success requires resolve, flexibility, and the ability to push through adversity with a good attitude—all skills that he credits, in large part, to his time at Camp Kesem.

“Camp Kesem was great for the campers, but also great for the counselors,” echoes Jeff Goettel ‘11.

Those lessons are ones that she carries with her still, as she trains to become a doctor. “I am going to be a better doctor thanks to my time at Camp Kesem,” she muses. “Working with kids who are grappling with cancer, seeing the importance of camp, of that community, in their lives—it impressed on me the importance of practicing empathy and helping patients EMILY AARONS (‘13) and their families develop a strong support system outside of their medical treatment. It made me realize that it is important for doctors to have humility—to recognize that patients know the most about their needs and to understand that connecting with community can, at times, be as necessary as the medicine itself.”

ON-THE-JOB PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE Ben Sawchak ‘11 has similarly taken lessons learned from Camp Kesem—where he served as head male counselor, responsible for oversight of all the male counselors and dayto-day camp logistics—and applied them to his current work life in meaningful ways.

One particularly powerful learning moment?

Helping to plan programming for the camp’s first camper with special needs: “Getting to know him over the course of the week, helping him figure out his involvement level, determining what special accommodations were needed so that he had a good time, so that the week was what he needed and was special for him, I had to be resourceful—willing to throw plans out the window, keep an open mind, and adjust on the fly.”

“YOU LEARN A LOT ABOUT WORKING WITH PEOPLE, ABOUT RUNNING AN ORGANIZATION, ABOUT MAKING SURE THINGS GET DONE. I BUILT UP IMPORTANT SKILLS THAT I USE EVEN NOW IN MY WORK.” —JEFF GOETTEL ‘11 Goettel was introduced to Camp Kesem by fellow CA alum Charlie Stutesman ‘11. It would prove to be “one of the bigger parts” of his experience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served all four of his collegiate years, first as counselor, then

?

Sixteen

The Magazine of Cary Academy

JEFF GOETTEL (‘11)

as operational lead. Later, as co-director for the (at that time) joint Duke-UNC chapters, he was heavily involved in all facets of the program, from fundraising to counselor recruitment and training, to camper recruitment and safety planning.

Goettel, who graduated University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2015 with a degree in business, now works in healthcare consulting in Denver, Colorado. He’s keeps his finger on the pulse of new developments in the healthcare industry to ensure that clients are making best use of the latest technology and following best practices, so that systems work seamlessly for patients and doctors alike.

It’s a role that keeps him on his toes, with each day being different given the constantly shifting nature of the marketplace. Sometimes, that leads to workplace tensions. At those times, he’s particularly grateful for the conflict resolution skills he earned during his time at Camp Kesem.

“Whether it was dealing with a camper that made a bad decision or a counselor that wasn’t living up to their side of the bargain, sometimes I had to mediate conflict, deliver difficult news or an unpopular message,” explains Goettel.

“It helps to have those skills when you go into the workplace. When working with clients, not every meeting is perfect;

NICOLE KOFMAN (‘11)

sometimes things can be challenging.

Camp Kesem helped me learn how to navigate those situations.”

LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP Nicole Kofman’s ‘11 passion for service and for working with children was initially ignited at CA, thanks to her early servicelearning experiences in the Upper School, including tutoring students at Reedy Creek Elementary. Like other Camp Kesem alums, for Kofman—who was involved throughout her time at Stanford University—some of the most powerful lessons gleaned were around leadership: how to motivate, how to facilitate relationships and build community, and, perhaps most importantly, when to take a step back to enable and empower others to step forward.

“Over the years, I took on increasing levels of responsibility in my roles at Camp Kesem—moving from counselor to family relations coordinator to the co-chair of operations,” explains Kofman.

“I got real world experience in what it means to lead an organization—to develop programming, to communicate, to prioritize, to motivate a team.”

Initially, Kofman met each transition at Kesem—each move up the ladder—with a pause. Moving higher into leadership meant sacrificing some of what she loved most about the experience: the direct interaction with kids.

“I ended up doing it because I wanted to let others have that experience,” says Kofman. “I learned that when building a community or a team, sometimes leadership means enabling others to step up and benefit from the experience you once had yourself. Leadership can’t be selfish; it isn’t necessarily about what is the most fun, but about increasing your impact by motivating, mentoring, and enabling others.”

Those are lessons that she carries into her current work life as a Strategic Accounts Manager at mySugr, a digital health company in San Diego that aims to improve the health outcomes of people living with diabetes. There, she puts her leadership skills to good use as she works to foster engagement in a crowded digital health marketplace and looks towards a future in health care policy.

TRANSFORMATIVE TAKEWAYS Daniella Ochoa ‘13—who worked as a unit leader overseeing 50+ campers and counselors during her time with the Duke University chapter—agrees with others regarding the value of the practical skills imparted at Camp Kesem.

How to think on her feet and improvise, how to manage a team, how to maintain grace under pressure, these are skills she uses daily in her current role as a senior consultant at IBM in health and human services in Washington, D.C..

?

The Magazine of Cary Academy

Seventeen

BUILDING COMMUNITY Udell similarly credits Camp Kesem with helping to shape the person that she is today.

It’s an experience that has been so gratifying that she continues to remain engaged even after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019. Currently, she is working on developing a network for Kesem alumni—a way to keep former volunteers engaged and connected, while extending their impact within the organization.

She’s also passionate about sharing her experience and introducing others to similarly transformative service work. In her current Charlotte-based role as a financial services consultant working in risk and compliance consulting for global firm Protiviti, Udell participates on the iCARE committee, finding different volunteering opportunities for her colleagues. It is work that leverages the community-building and networking skills she developed during her time fundraising and leading programming at camp.

Eisenbeis—who is currently engaged with the University of North Carolina chapter thanks to the encouragement of CA alum Beyla Patel ‘14—is similarly excited to share her experiences with others. Pointing to the important role that the Camp Kesem community now plays in her life, she encourages others to seek out similar communities of service.

“Kesem means ‘magic’ in Hebrew, and Camp Kesem truly is,” says Eisenbeis. “Just like CA, it becomes an extended family— one built through connections between the counselors, between the campers, and through their relationships with each other, which are nurtured year after year.

“Joining an organization that has a community aspect like Kesem, it gives you a network of people to turn to in any number of situations, for advice, for love and support, for networking.” She adds simply: “It can change your life.”

For her, however, the most powerful takeaways have been more intangible: selflessness, a sense of gratitude, and a positive attitude that she carries with her in all aspects of her life. “I got so much out of my time at Kesem. These kids have been through so much; they are my biggest inspirations,” Ochoa offers.

“When I am going through something bad in life, when I am facing something hard, I take a step back and find perspective.

DANIELLA OCHOA (‘13) Kesem and my campers taught me to focus on finding a positive attitude, on finding happiness in my everyday life.” She’s used that philosophy to help maintain a healthy work-life balance and to prioritize finding work that brings her joy.

For Goettel, too, the camp has imparted transformative lessons that have changed how he lives his day-to-day life. He shares an anecdote to explain: “The last night of every camp has a closing ceremony. It is an opportunity for all the campers and counselors to come together and talk through their camp experience and their experiences with cancer.

“Every year, it is the most emotional moment of camp. You hear not only from campers that maybe hadn’t opened up yet, but other counselors as well. As you hear their stories, you start to understand that everyone is going through more than meets the eye.

“It underscores the importance of having empathy, of trying to connect with people, and the importance of trying to understand other people’s backgrounds, their perspectives. I try to remember that in all my interactions and bring it forward into how I navigate the world.”

?

Eighteen

The Magazine of Cary Academy

CA AT YOUR SERVICE The power to impart leadership skills, build community, provide real-world experiential learning—it’s why service learning has always been a key part of the Cary Academy experience. It is reflective of our commitment to nurturing compassionate students that are inspired and prepared to make a positive impact in the world.

This past year, the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) worked in partnership with faculty and student leaders to reshape CA’s Upper School service initiative, culminating with the launch of Delta Service Club, a new in-house servicelearning student club, at the start of T1.

Replacing the former Beta and Key Clubs as the Upper School’s umbrella service organization, Delta Club aims to encourage deeper and more meaningful service experiences by empowering students to dive deep into causes that are both personally important to them and impactful to our broader local community.

In Delta Club, student members self-organize into action committees dedicated to broad themes that they have collaboratively deemed of interest at the outset of the year.

This year, students are tackling a wide range of pressing issues, including food insecurity, health and wellness, education, women’s rights and wellbeing, climate change and the environment, social justice, animals, elderly, disabilities, arts awareness, immigration, and hands-on volunteerism.

Working in collaboration with CCE faculty and a studentled Delta Club executive board, committee members perform research, host community experts, and seek out and nurture community partnerships as they establish and implement a plan of work for the year that addresses local community issues.

It’s an approach that puts students firmly in the lead and facilitates the development of key soft skills—leadership, communication, collaboration, initiative-taking, organization, even operational logistics—that are critical to long-term success.

It also pulls students outside of the CA “bubble” and, possibly, their comfort zones to broaden their perspectives and worldviews. “Delta aims to offer dynamic, even transformative, learning experiences that help students develop a more nuanced understanding, not only of social issues and community needs, but of themselves and their larger social responsibility,” offers Service Learning Director Maggie Grant.

“That can feel risky at times,” admits Grant. “It requires students to develop greater self-awareness as they consider issues of equity, privilege, and opportunity. That’s why we’ve created ample opportunities for reflection in the program— to support our students as they process their community engagement work together.”

“It’s really about putting the learning back into ‘service learning,”’ explains Head of School Mike Ehrhardt, reflecting on the change. “We wanted to move students beyond one-off service projects, from simply counting service hours as a means to check off a transcript to-do, to experiences that inspire discovery, reflection, and deeper, transformative learning that will continue to serve them long after they leave CA.”

?

The Magazine of Cary Academy

Nineteen

Photos courtesy of Justin Eure

PREPARING FOR IMPACT CARY ACADEMY IS COMMITTED TO ENSURING THAT OUR STUDENTS ARE THOUGHTFUL, SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS, AND ENGAGED MEMBERS OF THEIR COMMUNITIES. BUT WHAT DOES SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND MEANINGFUL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT LOOK LIKE FROM A LARGER INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE?

“Given the exponential growth of local summer offerings in recent years, it didn’t feel like our program was adding value to the wider community in the way that it used to,” explains Head of School Mike Ehrhardt. “Instead, we wanted to think about how we could be a better community partner by opening our campus to organizations and populations that wouldn’t otherwise have access to the quality of education that we provide.”

To that end, CA leadership sought out partnerships with three established youth-serving organizations—The Dream Academy, LatinxEd, and The Daniel Center for Math and Science—all broadly dedicated to improving learning outcomes for underserved students.

Two years ago, the decision to reimagine our public summer camp experience–one that had grown increasingly untenable— opened an exciting opportunity for CA’s leadership to explore how CA could increase its local impact.

?

Twenty

The Magazine of Cary Academy

Working in close collaboration with each organization’s leadership for over a year, they began envisioning together what an impactful summer enrichment experience at CA might look like for their respective constituents.

A generous sponsorship from techgiant Lenovo—the result of a business partnership initiated by the PTAA— helped turn that vision into reality. The sponsorship not only helped to defray the costs of the programs, but it also supplied ThinkPad Yoga laptops and Mirage Solo virtual reality headsets that elevated the experience for students that might not otherwise have regular access to state-ofthe-art technology in the classroom.

As a result, more than 100 students from across North Carolina enjoyed a transformative educational experience that offered a taste of the best that CA has to offer, including access to our world-class faculty and facilities coupled with immersive experiential curricula specifically tailored to meet their needs.

Across the three programs, students engaged in community-building, cultural exploration, leadership development, and ample hands-on, technology-enhanced STEM and humanities projects.

Head of School Mike Ehrhardt hopes the experiences will spark something larger. “Each of our partner organizations have meaningful, long-term relationships with their students,” he explains.

“They understand and represent their needs, and they’ve built the kind of support networks and supplementary programming that can elevate a CA summer experience into more than just a one-off experience for their kids. It translates to a greater impact.”

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: LATINXED’S SOMOS CAROLINA

Ricky Hurtado and Elaine Townsend Utin, Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors of LatinxEd—a nonprofit dedicated to breaking down barriers to educational opportunities for Latinx students in North Carolina—witnessed firsthand the powerful impact of a partnership with CA. LatinxEd’s CA summer program engaged middle-school-aged participants from their flagship Somos Carolina program in an exploration of cultural identity through digital storytelling. Students dug into their family histories supported by Somos Carolina staff, CA’s Video Studio Manager Steven O’Neill, and techsupport volunteers from Lenovo.

They performed research; donned VR headsets for first-person explorations of their parents’ home countries;

explored the ins and outs of successful storytelling; and developed technical and video production skills as they filmed and edited their final digital stories.

It’s a project that addresses a pressing need within the Latinx community, says Townsend Utin. “There are gaps in mainstream curriculum regarding Latinx history, particularly as it relates to Latinx history in the South.

Students must piece it together for themselves as they try to figure out who they are and grasp how their culture fits within their larger community...

In sharing information about their histories, they are defining in realtime what it means to be Latinx in the South; they are adding meaning to those definitions together; and finding solidarity across their communities.”

?

The Magazine of Cary Academy

Twenty-one

“WE LEARNED SO MUCH FROM THE COLLABORATION, FROM THE EXPERTISE OF CA FACULTY. WE’RE THANKFUL FOR THE CONSISTENCY, FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT, AND THE ADVICE OF CA’S LEADERSHIP.” —ELAINE TOWNSEND UTIN

“Many of our students had expressed concern about the negative messaging they hear about being Latinx or about being part of immigrant families,” continues Hurtado. “After their work at CA, they can better articulate their own latinidad, their sense of self. They’ve developed the confidence—the resiliency within themselves—to be able to say ‘no’ to those narratives, to say ‘I know where I come from and I’m proud of it.’”

For O’Neill—who witnessed both the technical and personal growth of the participants—it was a rewarding teaching and learning experience. He credits the strong collaborative partnership forged with his co-teacher, Somos Carolina Program Coordinator Gloribel Vanegas, for helping to create a flexible learning space that was responsive to the students’ needs, both emotional and academic, and allowed them to thrive. Vanegas provided bilingual classroom support and was instrumental in building a much-needed sense of comfort, community, and trust that allowed O’Neill’s expertise take hold.

“These kids identify in much different ways than I did as a child; they’ve been told who they are,” says O’Neill. “That was eye-opening for me; it shaped how I engaged with the class. I quickly realized that I had to let the students lead, to let them interact with me on their terms. Working with Gloribel to build their trust—and doing so without any assumption that they would, or would want to, trust me—was important.”

Beyond being a powerful learning experience for students and CA faculty

?

Twenty-two

The Magazine of Cary Academy

alike, Hurtado says that the summer program also helped lay the foundation for the important work that lies ahead for LatinxEd. “CA offered an incredible opportunity for our students to move away from the familiar and to get outside of their comfort zones, but to do so within the comfort of their peers. It gave them space to dream,” says Hurtado.

“It also set the foundation that we need to work with these students longterm,” he continues. “We were able to build the trust, the community, and the relationships that will allow us to dig in deeper on those bigger academic and college access outcomes once they get to high school.”

And to what does Townsend Utin and Hurtado credit the program’s success?

A genuine, collaborative, and creative partnership with CA built on mutual trust and a shared vision, one in which each partner honored and played to the others’ strengths and expertise and learned from one another.

Hurtado explains: “CA provided an incredible blank slate, a wealth of opportunities and expertise, and used it to enhance our organization’s goals, rather than impose their own. That’s huge for creating a culturally competent space; it made this an incredible opportunity for our students and our organization.”

“It really felt like two powerful communities coming together to pull this off,” agrees Townsend Utin. “We learned so much from the collaboration, from the expertise of CA faculty. We’re thankful for the consistency, for the encouragement, and the advice of CA’s leadership. We’re ready to take those lessons learned from last summer and move forward. I feel like this partnership makes it possible to dream big in service to our community.”

Alumni News 2004

Brent Collins and his wife, Megan, recently relocated from Texas to Raleigh. The move was driven, in part, by Brent accepting a position as a cyber security consultant with Fortinet.

The main motivation, however, was to be close to family for the arrival of their first child, Cameron Elizabeth Collins, born May 6, 2019 at UNC Rex. Collins is also working on an MBA from Baylor University, anticipating a Fall 2020 graduation.

2005

In October, Kelly King and his wife welcomed their second child into the world. Both mother and son are healthy and well. Kelly reports, “though a bit sleepless at the moment, we love every minute!” 1

2012

Six CA alumnae were in attendance as Quinn Jenkins, married Jordan Warren in Chapel Hill, in May. The ceremony took place one week after Quinn graduated from the Emory University School of Law. They live in Charlotte, where she is an attorney with Winstead law firm. 2

2013/2014

In October, Joseph Parrish ‘13, Shantal Jayawickreme ‘14, Maddie Thornton ‘14, and Beyla Patel ‘14, received their white coats, marking their transition to helping patients during the University of North Carolina School of Medicine’s White Coat Ceremony. 3

2015

1

4

Laura Bright recently made her New York theatre debut as Brigitta in The Sound of Recovery Music. This fall, she will be originating the role of Catherine in the new musical Tale of The Sackman.

Morgan Goetz graduated from the University of North Carolina in May with one of the 5 highest GPA’s among female studentathletes. She began pursuit of a PhD in bioengineering from Harvard, this fall. https:// goheels.com/news/2019/8/28/ field-hockey-born-bred-thecomplete-experience.aspx

2

2018

Kiran Aida ’14, Anna Hamilton ‘12, Tyler Powell ’12, Quinn (Jenkins) Warren ’12, Alex Daniels ’12, Tara Aida ‘12, and Anna Jenkins ‘15

Now a sophomore at Brown University, Ben Lipson co-founded Students for Educational Equity, a campus group working for educational reform in the Providence community, mentoring and tutoring middle school students. http://www.browndailyherald. com/2019/10/04/studentseducational-equity-advocatesppsd-reform/

3

Will Taber recently began conducting independent research on the sublethal effects and biomagnification of NeoNicotinoid pesticides in birds. Neonics are thought to be a major contributor to colony collapse disorder, a main driver for the extinction of bees.

Through his research, Taber hopes to investigate the effects of these pesticides in a higher trophic level to determine their indirect toxicological effects on insectivorous and seedeating birds. 4

ALUMNI CONNECTIONS In October, Serena Advani ‘13, James Bennett ‘10, Aaron Harrington ‘10, Connor Riser ‘12, Jaclyn Udell ‘10, Elizabeth Walton ‘13, Julia Ward ‘03, and Justin Wong ‘13 met up for a happy hour reunion at Union Square’s Winslow Gin House and Eatery in New York City.

ONCE A CHARGER, ALWAYS A CHARGER Whether you have a new home address, work title, or other news to share with the CA community, we want to hear from you. Stay connected by submitting your updates (or your sibling’s updates) at http://bit.ly/CAAlumniUpdates.

?

The Magazine of Cary Academy

Twenty-three

The Big Question

WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU’VE DONE RECENTLY THAT MADE YOU PROUD?

Twenty-four

HANNAH WARD

MARGALIT MERMELSTEIN

Class of 2022

Class of 2020

“I am proud of my field hockey team making it to semifinals and trying really hard. We went to Charlotte and adapted to playing games on turf. We gave it our best and had one of our better seasons.”

“I’m really proud of my Common Application essay. I was really scared going into it, because I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to write about. A few weeks before the deadline, I was sitting in programming class and I realized ‘wow, programming is something that I love so much!’ I ended up writing about how, for me, life is like a program: analyzing data and applying logic. I ended up with an essay that I feel expresses me perfectly.”

TESNIM AWAL AND KOEN WINEMILLER

Class of 2020 “Trimester 1 of senior year is the most stressful trimester, so we’re both really proud of finishing it up, getting our grades in, and applying to our early application colleges.”

GRAY RUSHIN

US Science Teacher “Four months after my stroke, I was able to complete a solo backpacking trip of fairly high challenge. The solitude and independence were both rewarding.”

KARA MULLIGAN

FORD KHOUDARY

JAY SAGROLIKAR

Class of 2023

Class of 2021

“I’m proud that I went to one of my first debate tournaments and did well. I’m a novice; it’s my first year and it was really fun.”

LARA CROCHIK

Class of 2020 “I’ve been proud of all the work we’ve put into organizing and launching Delta Service Club and the service work we’ve already done.”

“I am on an entrepreneurial challenge team. We submitted our idea and made it through the first stage of the elimination round. We’ve been working on our business plan and I’m proud to say that it’s coming along nicely.”

Alumni Relations Director “I was sworn in as a Guardian Ad Litem in Wake County. I believe every kid deserves to have one adult who knows their favorite color. My hope is to make a meaningful difference in a child’s life.”

AVA BUI

Class of 2024

ROBIN FOLLETT

“I just got a betta fish and I haven’t killed it yet. It’s the first fish I’ve had to take care of by myself.”

Head of Upper School JASMINE POWELL

Dance Teacher

MILA PATEL

Class of 2021

NOAH PRINCE

Class of 2026 “On Thanksgiving, I ate eighteen deviled eggs.

They were really good.”

“I’m proud that I’ve taken the initiative to pursue independent studies in digital imaging, this year and last. It requires me to be more confident, because I’ve only got myself and my mentor to rely upon. It also allows me to push my comfort zone, giving me room to grow.”

“I’m proud of the new addition of ballet barres into the CA dance program and how open the students have been to the new experience. I know we are a modern-based program, but ballet has a lot to offer, and just like other dance styles, I welcome new ways for training technique and creativity.”

“I ran the Richmond Marathon and set a personal record.”

1500 N. Harrison Ave. | Cary, NC 27513 caryacademy.org

GRANDPARENTS’ AND SPECIAL FRIENDS’ DAY Special thanks to the more than 300 special guests we were honored to welcome to campus and into our classrooms as part of one of our favorite community traditions.

In accordance with our mission and the law, Cary Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, national and ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or age.