KO M agazin e • Fa ll 2 0 1 8
Tom Dillow
New Head of School
LIGHTING UP THE WORLD
ART OF
SOCIAL JUSTICE
The Sister
CIRCLE
Kingswood Oxford School 170 Kingswood Road West Hartford, CT 06119 860-233-9631 www.kingswoodoxford.org Editor: Jackie Pisani, Director of Communications & Marketing Contributors: Elizabeth Fahy Bellingrath ’78, Susan Emery, Meghan Kurtich, Rob Kyff, Madison Neal ’09, John Nestor, Jackie Pisani, Kristen Weldon Graphic Design: James Baker Design Printing: Allied Printing Services, Inc. Photo Credits: Seshu Badrinath, Highpoint Pictures, Marinelli Photography, David B. Newman ’80, Jackie Pisani, Greg Scanton ’94, Shana Surek, Chion Wollf Please direct inquiries or general comments to Jackie Pisani, Director of Communications & Marketing pisani.j@kingswoodoxford.org Class Notes or obituary information to Meghan Kurtich, Director of Annual Giving kurtich.m@kingswoodoxford.org Address changes to Jennifer Faubert faubert.j@kingswoodoxford.org Notice of Nondiscriminatory Policy as to Students Kingswood Oxford School admits students of any race, color, or national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school administered programs. KO Magazine is published by Kingswood Oxford School. © 2018 Kingswood Oxford School Inc. All rights reserved.
KO M ag azin e • Fa ll 2 0 1 8
Charmed life
This charm bracelet, from our archive, is a memento of the all-girls Oxford School, founded in 1909 and merged with Kingswood School in 1969 to become today's Kingswood Oxford.
Table
of
Contents
2 From the Head of School 3 Around the Green 26 Alumni Receptions 28 A Toast to the Bisgaards 29 Reunion 33 Athletic Hall of Fame 38 An Evening of Celebration 40 Athletics 50 Commencement 53 Insightful Interviews 56 P erfect Match 62 The Art of Social Justice 66 Unimpeachable 70 Lighting Up the World 74 The Evolution of the Sister Circle 77 International Students 80 Class Notes 94 In Memoriam
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 1
How does one go about getting to know a new school, comprised of more than 120 faculty and staff, over 500 current families, and thousands of alumni who are spread across the country? Where do I start? To be honest, at first I felt like the task was akin to building a full-size replica of the Empire State building with Lego pieces. This. Could. Take. A. Long. Time. Still, the only way to begin is to lay that first Lego down, so off I went, and over the past few weeks, I have had the great joy of diving into this work headfirst. As a career-long student and teacher of history, my first step was to learn more about our school’s illustrious past. Very few schools can claim to have a written account of their own history, yet ours has not just one, but two fascinating and well-written chronicles. I learned much about our school’s first fifty years by reading Spring Gagliardi’s May We Remember Oxford and Melancton W. “Chick” Jacobus’ Kingswood.
Letter from the Head of School
The other strategy, and one that is still ongoing, is to learn about KO from you. In the coming months, I plan to meet with every board member and every member of the faculty and staff for at least 45 minutes to an hour. I will likewise relish the opportunity to connect with as many current parents and alumni as possible. My goal is to hear from you about what you believe are the most important issues facing KO today, how you hope to see our school evolve in the next decade, and what qualities you believe are critical for our community to maintain, regardless of changes that may lie ahead in our future. Of course, much will be learned from our students, too, when they finally arrive in late August, and I cannot wait for that first day to welcome them. Reading our school’s history has given me a great sense of pride in our school, and I have been energized through my conversations with faculty and staff. A common thread that has emerged thus far, and something clearly sewn deep into the fabric of this school, is the primacy of great teachers, and KO has them aplenty. The annals of our two histories refer constantly to the “master teachers” who impacted generations of Oxford and Kingswood students. When I had my first lunch with a KO alum in early July, Patrick Shima '89 (who just so happens to also be one my college housemates), I asked him to reflect on his KO experience. He told me that more than anything else, it was the incredible teachers he had that stood out, and that the promise of preparing him for success in college was abundantly affirmed once he got to Georgetown and realized that he was better equipped than most of his peers. And, when I had the opportunity to meet with 41-year veteran and master History/English teacher, Rob Kyff (he of the nationally syndicated column “Word Watch”), I asked him how the school has been treating him, and what has kept him here for so long. He, too, replied that it is his incredibly talented, kind, and dedicated KO colleagues that have continued to make this a unique learning community. I am proud to be joining a school that has such a long history of committed, caring teachers whose life’s calling is to challenge, support and prepare our students for future success. There is much work ahead for me, but I am emboldened by what I have learned thus far, and humbled by the incredible opportunity and responsibility I have been given to lead this great school. I look forward to learning more in the coming months, and hope to meet you soon. If you are on campus, please come by to say hello! All the best!
Tom 2 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Around the Green
Singers Stand, Sans Bands The 10th Annual Wyvern Invitational A Cappella Festival
It’s easily the best two nights on the KO campus. In late January, KO hosted sixteen high schools across the area for an evening of a cappella for its annual Wyvern Invitational A Cappella Festival (WIAF), now in its tenth year. KO’s Crimson 7 earned silver for their performance of “Sweet Caroline” and “Feeling Good.” The Oxfordians performed “Turn the Beat Around” and “Pretty Hurts.” Matthew Marottolo ’20 took home first prize for Best Male Vocalist. Additionally, this past November, Marottolo headed to Orlando, Florida,
to participate in the All-National Honor Ensembles (NAfME) Mixed Choir, a prestigious honor. Although Marottolo listens to a wide array of music, he gravitates to the musical stylings of crooners like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. He enjoys the laid back feel of the music and believes that the range of his voice, a bass 2, fits well with that style of music. “I love Sinatra’s “That’s Life.” He has so much power in his voice. Even when he’s a little off-key, he owns it,” Marottolo said. Well, Marottolo certainly delivered like a pro at the WIAF. The Rat Pack would have been proud.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 3
Around the Gree n
25
The th ANN UAL
Putnam Count y
SPELLI N G BEE
Positively E-U-D-A-E-M-O-N-I-C* Tensions are high. Nerves are fraught. And William Barfee (pronounced “bar-fay,” he insists), the mucus-membrane impaired participant in the local spelling bee, just might have an allergy attack onstage. Welcome to KO’s winter production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a musical that features a lovable menagerie of adolescent oddballs competing for the title.
KO’s Theater Department turned out a raucous and professional grade crowdpleaser directed by Creative Arts teacher Eric Langmeyer. Part spelling bee and part therapy session, the musical tells the backstories of six quirky spellers who each bring their emotional baggage to the competition. There’s Marcy Park, a polyglot (count six languages) who lives in a pressure cooker of excellence and receives a visitation from Jesus Christ in the midst of the competition. And Leaf Coneybear with questionable sartorial style including a bike helmet, cape and a minion t-shirt, whose kin continually remind him that he’s the dumb one in the family. And poor, neglected Olive ardently awaits her father’s arrival at the bee and saves him a seat because her mother is enlightening herself in an ashram in India. The allergy-afflicted, fanny-pack wearing William Barfee dazzles the competition by spelling his words out with his magic foot. *Eudaemonic is the 1960’s champion-clinching word for the Scripps Spelling Bee. The word means “producing happiness.”
4 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 5
Around the Gree n
Logainne Schwartz-and-Grubenierre is saddled with a speech impediment and two overbearing dads. And Chip is eliminated from the competition by an unfortunate and ill-timed distracting physical urge. The dialogue is snappy, and the one-liners, written by Dan Carroll ’19 who also plays Principal Panch, one of the bee’s moderators, is on-point. When the bee contestants ask for their word in a sentence, Principal Panch delivered irreverent and oftentimes thoroughly unhelpful guidance. To wit: when asking a contestant to spell “phylactery” (a small box containing a Hebrew text when praying), Principal Panch offers this example sentence: “Billy, put down the phylactery. We’re Episcopalian.” To the delight of the audience, KO Science Department Chair Fritz Goodman makes a cameo appearance as a bee contestant, during which we learn that he has a lower back tattoo stating “Plants are Better Than People.” Rona Perretti plays the straight man and keeps things moving as the play’s other moderator and repeatedly spells the word “s-y-z-y-g-y,” perhaps from a past trauma suffered from her own spelling bee experience. Through the hilarity, one feeling emerges and that is a soft spot the audience develops for the underdog, the vulnerable. The audience roots for each of these kooky characters as they have their moment in the sun and come into their own. As Langmeyer wrote in the playbill, “Awkward and gawky, honest and emotional, (and no, I don’t mean my cast) these six spellers are more than just here for our amusement; they are us. They represent who we were at that age and the child inside.” The lead cast included Eloise Bavier ’18 as Maruccia Mahoney, Kate Brough ’19 as Logainne Schwartz-and-Grubenierre, Dan Carroll ’19 as Principal Panch, Charlie Coxon ’19 as Leaf Coneybear, Olivia Coxon ’19 as Rona Perretti, Maggie Eberle ’20 as Olive Ostrovsky, Zach Herz ’18 as Olive’s dad, Remy McCoy ’20 as Marcy Park, Sharif Mutasim ’18 as Jesus Christ, Gabi Ruban ’18 as Olive’s mom, Spencer Schaller ’20 as Dan Schwartz, Elan Stadelmann ’20 as Carl Grubenierre, Varun Tankala ’18 as Chip Tolentino, and Zach Waskowicz ’19 as William Barfee.
6 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
A Lesson in Principled Leadership Before a rapt crowd of more than 40 students at a Lunch and Lead Series talk in the Margaret E. and Henry R. Roberts Leadership Center, Jack Alexander ’69, CEO of six companies and the author of The God Guarantee: Finding Freedom from the Fear of Not Having Enough, described leadership as the convergence of risk-taking and ethical values. “The number one thing people want to see in leaders is how much you care for them,” he said. “We need to convert our knowledge into caring. People want to know they can trust you.” Although Alexander is a classically trained CPA, his career path has spanned several industries, ranging from real estate to technology, to short-film production. Under his leadership as co-founder and CEO of BCD Travel, the company grew from a local travel agency into the third largest travel management
firm in the U.S. with $350 million in revenue. Business Travel News selected him six times as one of the top 25 most influential executives in the travel and hospitality industries, and Ernst & Young honored him the National Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999. Alexander told the students that the key to professional success is applying values steadily to one’s daily life and recognizing the instances when you fall short of those fundamental principles. He cited a time when he called upon his office staffers to work 80-hour weeks to prepare for an Olympic event. After the event, he reflected upon the experience and realized that he had subjected his employees to excessive stress. Acknowledging this poor judgment as a leader, Alexander apologized to his employees and gave them bonuses and vacation time for their efforts. “Integrity is not only doing the right thing, but being honest when you haven’t done the right thing,” he said. “Service ethic is important as a leader. People want to know what are you going to do for them.” Alexander said he takes a hands-on approach to leadership in order to
understand what’s happening on the ground level of his companies. “If you sit in a corner office, you don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “You need to get close to a thing to understand it. You need to make sure that you are intersecting with people that are different from you.” As an example, Alexander recalled an evaluation that indicated one of his company’s offices was underperforming. Instead of firing the employees of this site, he visited the facility to understand the issue firsthand. By speaking with the staffers on site, he learned that their headsets didn’t fit properly and were causing the employees headaches. He rectified the problem by purchasing new headsets, and soon the office began to perform in line with the other office locations. Because the current job market is so competitive, Alexander challenged the students to develop two skill sets, for instance, technology and sales, or finance and marketing. “The broader the base, the better off you’ll be,” he said. But Alexander noted that technical skills and knowledge can take a person only so far. “I can’t stress enough the importance of people skills that are grounded in values and excellence,” he said.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 7
Around the Gree n
Duck Boots to Magic Realism: Almost Maine
Add two parts flannel, one part woolen mufflers, a generous portion of L.L. Bean duck boots and hats with ears muffs and a sprinkle of magical realism, and you have the wry and romantic play Almost Maine, which serves up a slice of the mystery, randomness, and riskiness of love. This past November, 11 Upper School students performed a matinee presentation of the play for their fellow students, who supplied a captivated and visibly appreciative audience as they rooted for the star-crossed lovers. The play was directed by Creative Arts teacher Eric Langmeyer and Creative Arts teacher Mark Kravetz served as technical director. Almost Maine by John Cariani has been the most performed high school production during the past five years, and
it’s easy to see why. Charming and real (to a point), the play explores relationships in their varying degrees of becoming and dissolving. Structured as a series of eight, two-character, disparate vignettes over the course of one night in a mythical town of Almost, Maine, the play is woven together with the thread of love and the enchanted energy of the Northern Lights projected on the back of the stage. The dialogue-driven play is laced with the awkward silences and delightful moments of magical realism. In one story, a girl carries her broken heart in a bag. Another character returns all the love her boyfriend gave her in a pile of red drawstrings bags. When two male buddies recognize their friendship is more than just a friendship, they fall in love with
8 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
each other by literally falling and slipping across the stage. The character who suffers from a medical condition that keeps him from feeling pain finally experiences the sensation after a girl kisses him. If there’s a lesson to be learned in Almost Maine, it’s the importance of opening your heart to an honest conversation. Sure, there might be some pain and vulnerability involved, but you open yourself up to the beauty and love that come from it, too. The cast list includes: Juanita Asapokhai ’20, Kate Brough ’19, Dan Carroll ’19, Molly Carroll ’21, Zack Herz ’18, Apara Kashyap ’18, Walter Kraus ’21, Amy Mistri ’19, Brieanna Toedt ’21, Zach Waskowicz ’19, and Angela Yang ’18.
Hartford Girls Rock! Hartford Girls Rock!, a program developed by the Epsilon Omicron Omega Chapter (Hartford Alumnae) of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, honored Kingswood Oxford’s Ananya Alleyne ’19 of West Hartford last September at the Hartford Marriott. The event celebrates the leadership, innovation, and empowerment of young women from community-based organizations in the Greater Hartford area. Alleyne is the vice president of the executive board of Jack and Jill, the oldest and largest African-American family organization in the United States. Jack and Jill is committed to ensuring that all children have the same opportunities in life. In the past, Alleyne said, the group has organized several community service events, such as packaging food for Africa
Ananya Alleyne ’19
and participating in fundraising walks in Hartford. Last year, Alleyne’s group mobilized their efforts behind HARC, an organization that benefits individuals with intellectual disabilities, by creating a photo shoot at a Christmas party and donating the proceeds from the sales of the photos to the organization. Members of Jack and Jill nominated Alleyne for recognition at the Hartford Girls Rock! event. After Alleyne submitted an essay, the event organizers notified her that she had been selected for the award. Alleyne attended a series of workshops, including Goal-Setting, Career Exploration and Self-Empowerment, that were facilitated by members of the chapter. Alleyne said, “Sitting in front of all these people at the brunch, you realize how AKA really wants to help and support us. It’s wonderful to meet people in your community, hear their stories and learn about different perspectives. When you help to improve the community that you live in, it’s ultimately affecting you, too.”
Middle School Mock Trial Congratulations to the Middle School Mock Trial team who made it to the finals of the state championship on April 5. In addition, Will Wells ’22 was given the Best Witness Award by the three judges.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 9
Around the Gree n supporting 50 juniors and seniors in the college selection and admissions process. While there, she founded and directed a peer support program for Loomis Chaffee students from underrepresented backgrounds.
“Jami is an incredible addition and a perfect fit with our college advising team at KO.” – Zaira Santiago, Assistant Head of School for External Affairs
Jami Silver ’96 has been named new Director of College Advising She brings with her a deep institutional knowledge of top-tier college admissions and independent schools, gained during a 17-year career in education. With her outstanding interpersonal skills and professionalism, Silver has a proven record of forging strong bonds with her students and their families and working diligently to meet their needs and help them reach their academic and personal goals. Silver comes to KO after serving for the past three years as college counselor and director of college success at Achievement First Hartford High School, a new charter school in the Greater Hartford area. Before that, in her role as associate director of college guidance at Loomis Chaffee School from 2011-2014, she was responsible for
10 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Before working at Loomis Chaffee, Silver served as the associate dean of admissions at Wesleyan University, where she was responsible for application management and domestic recruitment for parts of New England and the Midwest. Before her tenure at Wesleyan, she served as the assistant director of admissions at Connecticut College, planning all the preview weekends and multicultural visits for prospective students, as well as coordinating application management and recruitment. “Jami is an incredible addition and a perfect fit with our college advising team at KO,” said Assistant Head of School for External Affairs Zaira Santiago. “She has an impressive background at highly respected institutions. As a graduate of KO, she lives our core values and is deeply committed to ensuring that our students receive the very best guidance and advice as they make a successful transition to college.” Silver will oversee the day-to-day operations of the College Advising Office and will work closely with Santiago to continue to develop and implement a college advising program that reflects the School’s Mission and Core Values and remains current with the changing trends in higher education and college admission processes. KO’s College Advising Office has always taken great pride in working as a team to provide a high-caliber program to its students and families, and the School is thrilled to welcome back one of its own to spearhead this office.
Chips off the Old Block
In one of our favorite traditions, KO alums assemble on the steps of Alumni Hall and pose with their children who are newly enrolled in the school after a breakfast hosted by the Alumni Office this past fall. Back Row L-R Erika Watson ’20, Derrick Watson ’82, Gary Schwartz ’76, Jacob Schwartz ’21, Amy Webber Raisner ’87 and Ethan Raisner ’21
Middle Row L-R John B. Burke III ’84 and Isabelle Burke ’21 Front Row L-R Tyler Cavo ’22, Charles Cavo ’89, Madeline Arcaro ’21, Melissa Rotenberg Arcaro ’87, Alexandra Arcaro ’24, Sandro Squatrito ’88 and Serafina Squatrito ’22
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 11
Around the Gree n Dan Carroll ’19
“I was proud to represent Dan and David as their coach abroad. Both students performed beautifully, and we are extremely impressed with Dan’s placement.” Michelle Schloss, Faculty Advisor
Carroll Earns Spot at World Debate Championship Kingswood Oxford student Dan Carroll ’19 of Avon qualified on October 29 at the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Competition in Winnipeg for the World Public Speaking & Debate Championships in Cape Town, South Africa in April. The tournament is an annual public speaking event that features competitors from across the world. This year 144 speakers from the United States, Canada, Bermuda, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Peru, and more attended the event held from October 26 through October 29 at Gray Academy. Competitive categories include Impromptu and Extemporaneous Speaking, Radio
12 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Newscast, Parliamentary Debate, After Dinner and Persuasive Speaking, and Dramatic and Interpretative reading. Although Carroll did not make the final round in any of his event categories, his overall score as the third American speaker at the competition earned him a place on the Worlds team! He was #33, even outranking most of our competition from the Northeast conference Kingswood Oxford competes with here at home. David Marottolo ’18 of Wethersfield also attended the tournament and placed #20 in Parliamentary Debate.
Front row from left: Skylar Barron, Gabrielle Ruban, Elizabeth Hammer, Prithvi Gunturu, Harold Krause; back row from left: William Appleton, Emma Smith, Varun Tankala, Abigail Eberle, Robert Downes, Aparajita Kashyap, Phoebe Taylor, Natalie Eckert, Michael Goldschlager, David Marottolo. Missing from photo: Hannah Bash, James Bayer, Olivia Rossi.
Cum Laude Society Members Inducted Founded in 1906 and modeled after Phi Beta Kappa, the Cum Laude Society is a national honor society for independent schools. This February, 18 members of the Class of 2018 were inducted into KO’s chapter of the society. Dennis Bisgaard gave the opening remarks and commended the students on “making KO the best possible community that it can be.” Brenda Semmelrock extolled the students for their hard work and academic excellence. The following were inducted: William Appleton, son of Deanna and Peter Appleton ’81; Skylar Barron, daughter of Jason and Sara Barron; Hannah Bash, daughter of Jeffrey and Hope Bash; James Bayer, son of Stephen Bayer and Elizabeth Schiro; Robert Downes, son of Robert Downes and Claudia Baio-Downes;
Abigail Eberle, daughter of Daniel and Melinda Collins Eberle ’91; Natalie Eckert, daughter of Daniel and Marybeth Eckert; Michael Goldschlager, son of James Goldschlager and Jodi Pimentle; Prithvi Gunturu, son of Ravi and Surya Gunturu; Elizabeth Hammer, daughter of Debra and Joseph Hammer ’78; Aparajita Kashyap, daughter of Srikant and Tania Kashyap; Harold Krause, son of Edward and Carey Krause; David Marottolo, son of Paul Marottolo and Elisa Griego; Olivia Rossi, daughter of Theodore and Ruth Rossi; Gabrielle Ruban, daughter of Timur and Zina Ruban; Emma Smith, daughter of Peter Smith and Kendra Lawrence; Varun Tankala, son of Kanishka Tankala and Sudha Swaminathan; Phoebe Taylor, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Taylor.
Emily Goldman ’09 addressed the parents and students as the keynote speaker after the induction ceremony. Since graduating from KO, Goldman had led a peripatetic and rich life living across the globe. She initially took a gap year following KO, and spent the year studying dance and development in Nicaragua, Senegal, Argentina, and Paraguay, before entering Brown University. While in college she started a non-profit, Hip Hop 4, to help underserved inner-city youths through dance in an afterschool program. She also received a Mellon Research grant to fund her project while she studied at the C.V. Starr Middlebury School Abroad in Egypt where she researched how hip-hop music was used as a political statement. To read more about Emily’s journey, turn to page 62.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 13
Around the Gree n A true singer/songwriter at heart, Kulak first started playing the piano at age five and guitar at 11, and singing and writing shortly thereafter. He credits his parents, both avid music lovers and his biggest supporters, with igniting this passion. “They always thought that music was an important part of development. After I got my guitar they introduced me to all of the good bands like The White Stripes and Led Zeppelin.” He said that his parents have helped a lot with trying to find good competitions which to submit his music. “I try and keep a low key attitude about it,” he explained. “I send 100 submissions out, and I get five responses back.”
Chasing the Blues Away
Inspiration is everywhere, according to Kulak, who makes sure to carry a notepad at all times. “I try to write everything I am feeling and take inspiration from everything around me,” he said. “In English class we are reading Steinbeck, and I hear these ideas and quotes and I get new ideas.” To say that Jacob Kulak ’18 has had a busy year would be a vast understatement. He was recently inducted into the Connecticut Blues Hall of Fame as a blues/guitar performer, and his song “Better,” the first single on his album, was just selected as one of 1,000 semifinalists out of 16,000 submissions in an international song competition. He is a young man who is successfully balancing the stresses of high school, the college search, international competitions and a full-time music career. A humble Kulak said, “I just liked playing the guitar. I never expected it all to play out like this.” Kulak will soon learn whether he made it to the finalist pool of 100-200 selections. “I was not expecting it at all; it completely came out of the blue,” he said. Past winners include Vance Joy, and Australian singer and songwriter who signed a five-album deal with Atlantic Records in 2013 and won
Best Male Artist at the ARIA Music Awards in 2015. Coming on the heels of this honor, Kulak was also inducted into the Connecticut Blues Hall of Fame. Representatives from the organization, based in New York City, search New England for talent of all ages. Selections are unanimous, and Kulak was one of three recent inductees, honored on February 9 at a ceremony at Black Eyed Sally’s in Hartford, a hip roadhouse restaurant famous for its live blues, jazz and soul music. The occasion was filled with Jake’s family and friends who came to celebrate his accomplishment. He found the celebration itself to be a perfect representation of his attitude and music. “We just played a few songs and hung out. They keep it very chill,” he said. “The whole experience was so wonderful. It just didn’t seem real at times.”
14 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
It is no surprise that Kulak is looking at a variety of colleges with strong music programs; however, his intended major is quite pragmatic. “I want to do something in business,” he said. “Who knows where my music will take me? I want to be my own boss, possibly my own manager. Or get into session work, recording. I am trying to leave open as many roads as possible to see what happens.” Next year there is no doubt he will be off to do great things, but says he will keep his alma mater close. “My experience at Kingswood Oxford has helped my journey without question,” he said. “Everyone has been so accepting and willing to go out and watch and help. I have had to be an expert with time management. There have been instances where I had to talk to teachers and try and navigate things. I never had a teacher who forced me to pick or wasn’t flexible with things because of my music.”
In-Class Learning and Real-World Application As part of Kingswood Oxford’s Margaret E. and Henry R. Roberts Center for Leadership initiatives, 13 students visited the Kaman Corporation last fall. This 70-year-old company in Bloomfield provides parts, components, and systems to aerospace and industrial businesses. The trip furthered the Leadership Center’s goal of establishing a greater connection between in-class learning and real-world application. Internship Coordinator Sandi Goss said she wants to increase the number of opportunities KO students have to job shadow or intern at local companies during school vacations. At Kaman, the students met with KO alum Chris Cartland ’98, a manager of the industrial side of the business who is responsible for $30 million in annual
revenue for the $1.8 billion dollar business. The group met first in a conference room where they learned the nature of the company’s work, the parts of its various machines, and the history of the company, which was founded as the Kaman Aircraft Company by Charles Kaman, a 26-year-old engineer tinkering in the garage of his mother’s West Hartford home. Students asked several questions, including the impact of automatization on the company’s workforce. Touring the sprawling quarter-mile long plant while wearing protective goggles, the students heard the steady background hum of machines and watched the operations of a number of robots on the production floor. Kaman uses the robots to perform the more tedious, dirty and dangerous tasks, which enables workers to be more productive. Despite the introduction of the robots, the Kaman workforce has remained steady yet simultaneously more productive and efficient. Cartland said the company continually engages in self-reflection as it seeks to operate the business more safely and more efficiently. The students witnessed
a Kaman-manufactured helicopter land on the site, clearly a highlight of the day. In addition to the exposure of a real-world industrial setting, the students also learned about Cartland’s own career trajectory. A history major at Providence College, he started several companies of his own after graduation. When he heard about a job opening at Kaman, he decided to give it a shot. After 13 years at the company, he has held seven different job titles. “I didn’t think I would land here,” Cartland said, “but I can’t think of anything else that I’d rather be doing.” After the visit, students were asked to reflect on their experience. Nick Choo ’20 said that the experience gave him exposure to a possible field he could pursue in the future. Another student said his eyes were opened to the complex process and steps involved in making one product. But perhaps the key takeaway for many of the students was that your college major doesn’t really determine where you’ll wind up working, and you’ll change jobs several times along your career path.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 15
Around the Gree n
Living and Writing a Life of Adventure Peter Heller, Kingswood Oxford’s 35th Baird Symposium Writer
That laugh. You can tell a lot about a person from his or her laugh: much like a fingerprint, but more of an exacting x-ray of personality. Peter Heller, Kingswood Oxford’s 35th Baird Symposium writer and author of Whale Warriors, Kook, The Dog Stars, The Painter and Celine, punctuated his talk at the assembly on Friday, Jan. 19, with exuberant, deep-throated, generous bursts, a testament to his go-for-it lifestyle filled with adventure, loss, beauty and truth. Heller follows a long tradition of literary lions, including John Updike, Joyce Carol Oates, Edward Albee, and last year’s Pulitzer prize-winning author, Elizabeth Strout, who have visited KO to talk with students and teachers and visit classes each year. Raised in Brooklyn Heights, Heller had the good fortune to have his father read him poems by e.e. cummings every night, a questionable choice of poetry for a young child, which Heller joked might have been grounds enough to notify child protective services. After graduating from the oeuvre of cummings, his father introduced the young Heller to William Butler Yeats, and thus was born Heller’s love of language. As a student at St. Ann’s, an arts-oriented private school that values individuality, he developed a crush on an astute English librarian at the school because she pronounced his name “Pe-tah,” so he took up her suggestion that he read Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time. Heller said this book, a collection of stories, triggered a tectonic shift in his thinking. He said of In Our Time, “I wanted to be Nick hopping off that freight train. I wanted to drink cowboy coffee. I didn’t know what that was, but I knew I wanted to drink it. I wanted to have a girlfriend to break up with. I wanted to have that ability to write that goes through
16 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
my skin and straight to my heart. I wanted to be able to do that.” A self-described word geek, the 11-year-old Heller wrote words on cards, copied poems, read the dictionary, and studied botany to learn the names of trees. While a student at Dartmouth he continued to write, but chastised his teachers retroactively for failing to inform him that writing was not a lucrative career. When a friend suggested that he combine his love of whitewater kayaking, the outdoors and writing, Heller contacted Outside magazine so he could merge his interests and get the periodical to pay for his exploits. The beauty of youth, Heller said, “is that you don’t know what you can’t do.” So he perused the masthead of Outside, located the editor with the nicest name he could find, and called her to ask if he could write for the publication. He pitched his idea: a Class 5 kayaker writing about a Tibetan Himalayan adventure down a treacherous river that hasn’t been navigated since 1959. After what Heller described as an “incredulous pause,” the editor agreed to pay for half the trip upfront and pay the balance upon his return with the story. The resulting article, and later the book, Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet’s Tsangpo River, tells the tale of navigating the treacherous Tsangpo Gorge in Eastern Tibet, three times as deep as the Grand Canyon. On the first day of the practice run, Heller said the storm clouds were gathering, and the river was rising at an alarming rate. While on the river, Heller spotted another kayak cartwheeling down the torrent. Following the kayak, he saw a helmet popping up from the raging waters, and he and a buddy were able to pull the
Chinese river guide to safety. Scanning the violent waters again, Heller sighted another helmet and piloted their kayak toward it. The kayaker was struggling and pinned under a rock. Heller and his companion tried to keep the drowning man’s head above the water, but they were unsuccessful. The kayaker died in his arms. He and his team drove to the shore to inform the young man’s wife that her newlywed husband had perished. The next day, trying to process what had happened, the grief-stricken group sat around singing “Amazing Grace” and reading the poems of a ninth-century Chinese poet. Despite this heartbreaking start, Heller continued to amass extraordinary experiences and cataloged each of them in his non-fiction writing. On assignment near the Musuku River in Afghanistan, Heller told the story of a chain-smoking Russian who pranked a team searching for the elusive Yeti by fashioning monstrous (only left-footed) footprints in the snow, a practical joke that caused an international incident. In another memoir, Kook, Heller chronicles learning to surf off the coast of Mexico while meeting and falling in love with his future wife, Kim. His book Whale Warriors recounts his sailing in 40-foot waves in Antarctica with an eco-radical group that tears open the hulls of Japanese whaling vessels with the “can opener,” a blade fastened to the front of their ship, festooned with Jolly Rogers, to stop the slaughter of these great mammals. Despite all these real-world adventures, Heller said that writing his first novel, The Dog Stars, a post-apocalyptic story, was the most thrilling experience of his life. Not knowing where to start, Heller asked his
friend Carlton Cuse, producer of Bates Motel and Lost, for advice. Cuse gave him the creative permission to just start writing the first line of the story, much like Stephen King and Elmore Leonard had, to see where things led. And so Heller, stationed in his local coffee shop, wrote the first line: “I keep the beast running.” He never looked back. Describing the process, he said, “It was like sitting across a campfire and Hig, the main character, was telling me what was happening. I would burst out laughing or crying. People in the diner must have thought, ‘That poor son of a bitch’s dog must have died.’ I was transported by what I was writing. Unlike non-fiction, I didn’t want to know what was going to happen. It was the same thrill of running a river.” During Heller’s stay at KO, he visited the Senior Symposium class who had read all his works. Then he lunched with Middle Schoolers and then dined and talked with KO faculty members and English teachers from other Hartford-area schools. David Hild ’80, the Symposium teacher who also took the students to a weekend in New Hampshire to kayak and hike to deepen their appreciation of the natural world, remarked, “Peter has an ability to inhabit his characters fully; he describes their inner lives. As he has moved more frequently to novels that might be described as ‘tenderly savage,’ he focuses his attention on people whom we come to truly care about. He’s poignant at the complex obligations of love and family, and the obligations we have to speak for those who don’t have voices of their own. And he writes from his own experiences… Mr. Heller, with his thoughtful and honest words, won over our students. In his
descriptions of sleeping in the bed of his pickup truck, Paul Watson, his proposal to Kim while in the midst of his surf obsession, his love of his characters (Jasper too), and in his approach to the environment and our responsibilities as its stewards, our student body saw a writer who is gregarious, friendly, deeply sincere and thoughtful, but who also loves to have fun.” Greg Scranton ’94, KO’s photography teacher, presented Heller a cynotype that captures Heller’s majesty of his writing of the outdoors. “It was awesome to be here,” Heller said. “It’s very special to have students read your entire opus, and you’re not even dead yet. The KO students were smart, engaged, and vital. I didn’t even know kids like that existed!” He added, “All my best writing comes from vulnerability.” Perhaps that’s why it surprised him that the final words of The Dog Stars, which he said seemed to “come out of nowhere,” were actually the lines by the ninth-century Chinese poet, Li Shangyin, from the very poem he had read when the young kayaker died in the Tibetan river. It also happened to be how Heller ended his inspirational assembly with our KO students. When will I be home? I don’t know. In the mountains, in the rainy night, The autumn lake is flooded. Someday we will be back together again. We will sit in the candlelight of the west window. And I will tell you how I remembered you Tonight on the stormy mountain.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 17
Around the Green At the coaxing of English Department Chair Meg Kasprak, Stanton took her paper to the next level by adding a second comparative work, Maus, by Art Spiegelman, a graphic novel that tells the story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist who is coming to terms with his father’s story.
A prestigious student writing competition sponsored by The Cum Laude Society has selected Noah Stanton ’17, a sophomore at Vanderbilt University, as the national winner for her Kingswood Oxford senior thesis. In the spring of 2017, the KO faculty submitted to Cum Laude Stanton’s 21-page thesis, “The Faded Findings of a Maus in the Night: Deconstructing Humanity in the Scope of the Holocaust” that compared Night by Elie Wiesel and the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman. In this national competition, there are eight winners each year, one in each district. From those eight, one is chosen as the national winner. The district winners receive $500, and the national winner receives $5,000. Each year, Kingswood Oxford seniors are required to write a 15- to 20-page thesis on a subject of their choice, a culmination of four years of the school’s rigorous writing program. The students are required to reflect on a literary work or compare two or more works. Stanton said she first selected Night by Elie Wiesel for two reasons: It is one of her mother’s favorite books, and, with Wiesel’s passing in July, 2016, it felt very topical and timely. Night is a candid and deeply poignant autobiographical account of Wiesel’s survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps.
Stanton’s thesis tackled the idea that, while both novels use vastly different methods of representation, they share a common conclusion. By unraveling the humanity of the Jewish people, she said, the Nazis broke the understanding of what it means to be human for everyone. Throughout her paper, Stanton explored how each work depicted dehumanization, specifically, how the Nazis treated the Jewish people through propaganda, actions, and words. Stanton explained that Night depicted this process primarily through words, while Maus portrayed the degradation through actions and drawings. What coalesced in both books for Stanton was the idea that treating people as less than human ultimately means that there is no such thing as being human. Stanton said the biggest challenge in developing her paper was solidifying her ideas before she knew what she was arguing, and finding common threads between the two authors’ words. Once she was able to do this, she said, it was much easier to formulate and support her ideas. Stanton, a resident of West Hartford, is majoring in history at Vanderbilt. Of her KO education, she said, “Kingswood Oxford taught me how to write very well and formulate my thoughts. This project especially allowed me to be able to see the bigger picture of writing on a bigger scale. I feel like I was incredibly prepared for college.”
18 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Baird Journalism Dinner Speaker Nicole Wetsman ’12 At the Baird Journalism dinner on April 2, Nicole Wetsman ’12 spoke to more than 40 students, faculty, staff, and parents about her experiences as a freelance science and health reporter. She detailed both the triumphs and challenges of her job and offered an inside view of the media realm today. Her work on topics ranging from pediatric medicine to seal brain surgery has appeared in publications such as Popular Science, Gizmodo, Wired, and Vice. With the student journalists in the audience in mind, she described the drive and conscientiousness needed to succeed as a reporter. “Be curious, follow your passions, be generally annoying,” she said. “It is a strange power and strange responsibility. You are taking care of people’s words. Having a platform is powerful, but it is important to not lose people’s trust.” During her years at KO, Wetsman worked as a reporter, associate features editor, and features editor for the KO News. She also served as president of the forensic union club and co-captain of the varsity soccer team. She said her passion for science was ignited during sophomore year in Fritz Goodman’s biology class. “It was the first time science was introduced to me in a way that I loved
it,” she said. “I also realized I had a talent for explaining the subject to other students in my class when they didn’t understand it.” During the course, the class was given an assignment that featured an article in Popular Science. “It was a revelation for me,” Wetsman said. “It was my two loves of journalism and science combined, and it felt right.” It was then she decided she could marry the two interests into a career, she said, cautioning that it’s rare for someone to develop a clear career path so early on. Despite her early realization, she said, “It took working for my college paper and a few internships to fully realize what this career would look like.” Wetsman went on to major in neuroscience at Bowdoin College, where she also served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, the Bowdoin Orient, an experience she recommends to any college student. “No matter what you go on to do, you can pull from skills learned in journalism,” Wetsman said. “Interviewing, drafting an email, asking intelligent questions, writing clearly – all of these things are critical skills, no matter what industry you end up in.” Reporting and editing for a college paper, she said, also provides students with a better understanding of the news they consume, and of the media. Wetsman explained that college journalism is especially challenging because it’s so “hyper-local.” “It can be hard to do, and even can upset friends,” she said. “You see the people you are writing about every day, and they are holding you accountable every step of the way.” But she said writing for a college paper is a way to engage with the community and improve it. “The best way to show you love a place is to be critical of it,” she said. “It is important to do this for your community. Especially on a college campus, where it
is easy to feel like you don’t have power, writing for the paper is a way to change this, to be critical, to be curious.” While attending Bowdoin, Wetsman held a series of summer internships at Connecticut media outlets, including time at The Valley Press in Simsbury and WNPR in Hartford. Last December, she graduated from NYU with a master’s degree in science, health and environmental reporting. She credits her undergraduate degree in neuroscience and her love for the subject as formative springboards to becoming a reporter in the field.
“Journalism was never going to die. It was going to come back in a different way.”
Wetsman said she enjoys the freedom of being a freelance reporter, which includes being self-employed and working for multiple publications. This enables her to choose stories and develop relationships with a variety of different editors. She said some of the biggest challenges a reporter faces include more than a fair share of rejection and the hard work it takes to get over the barrier of feeling as if you are bothering someone.
Wetsman was candid about her responsibility as a reporter to publish the truth. “I lose sleep over worrying I might have facts wrong, that people I interview might feel misrepresented,” she said. When asked to describe the hardest thing she ever had to write about, she cited her article on screening student-athletes for heart conditions prior to their playing a sport, which required interviewing a mother who had lost her son to a cardiac sports death. “It was a very controversial thing to write about,” she said. “You can’t just write about what both sides said; you have to factor everything in and come down on one side or the other, where the weight of the evidence lives.” Westman admits that it is a strange time to be in journalism, an enterprise that has been rocked by the most recent presidential election. “It has really made those of us in this field look at everything we do with a fine-toothed comb,” she said, “and question every step of the process – what is the role [of journalism], what does it mean to be fair, why am I selecting certain people for stories.” When asked about predictions, made several years ago, about the death of print journalism, Wetsman said, “Journalism was never going to die. It was going to come back in a different way.” She said that digital media outlets such Buzzfeed have provided models of how to support quality journalism by including other content. “Cute cat videos will pay for good research to be done,” she said. “You can argue whether that is positive or negative.” But, she concluded, “Journalism is more important than ever. It is messy and creative, but it is self-moving and helps us make things make sense.”
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 19
Around the Gree n
Preserving the Past
Dina Plapler Named New Director of Institutional Advancement Dina joined Kingswood Oxford as director of institutional advancement this past May. Prior to assuming this role, Dina served as the executive director for Connecticut and western Massachusetts and senior advisor, mission advancement for the American Heart Association. While there, she increased annual fundraising from $700,000 to over $2.2 million and doubled the number of leadership donations in her first year. Prior to that position, Dina was the vice president of development and alumni relations at UConn Health with oversight of a $12 million annual fundraising goal and a $60 million capital and endowment campaign. Dina also held key positions in development at the Connecticut Science Center, the Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford Stage and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and is a frequent guest speaker at fundraising conferences. Additionally, she served as an adjunct professor at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, for nearly five years. After graduating with a B.S. in Economics from New
York University, she earned a J.D. from Georgetown University and practiced law for several years prior to her move to nonprofit fundraising. Dina and her husband, Earl McMahon, live in West Hartford and have two adult sons. Head of School Tom Dillow said, “Dina is incredibly dynamic, and she comes to KO with a deep knowledge of institutional advancement. We conducted a national search for this position, and Dina was the unanimous choice among a very talented pool of advancement candidates. She is a strategic thinker with a strong track record of success in fundraising. Her energy, warmth, and strong communication skills make her a great addition to the KO community. Together, we will work to ensure the continued success and exciting future of Kingswood Oxford.”
20 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
She is the keeper of the flame, or, at the very least, the keeper of school blazers, tarnished trophies, dogeared copies of Kingswood’s The Wyvern Magazine and the sacrosanct Oxford chariot. Brenda Semmelrock, Kingswood Oxford’s archivist since 2012, knows her KO history and all the mementos that comprise a school’s collective memory. In 2016, the archives moved from an old chemistry lab in Roberts to its new space located on the entire lower floor of the Nicholson Building. Although the space was roomier to display an impressive collection of keepsakes, the archives did not have ideal conditions for storing the prized relics. Recently renovated, the space now boasts a dual air conditioning and dehumidifier unit to keep the rooms at a constant 69 degrees, the standard temperature for archival collections. Special floating laminate flooring replaced the carpeting. Three shelving units on gliders feature a locking system, a special lip that acts as a flame retardant and a waterproof cover.
The archives prove to be much more than a life-size scrapbook, but a place of deep connections. Semmelrock recalled a time when five Kingswood alumni from the 1960s visited the archives and flipped through back issues of the newspaper. “There was so much laughter and reminiscing and the sharing of stories. There were tears, too, as they remembered a friend that had passed,” Semmelrock said. This June, Graham Papenfus, the director of development and fundraising from Kingswood School in Bath, England, one of our school’s name sakes, visited the archives and was pleased to see a section of books and papers from George Nicholson who attended Kingswood School in England and served as our school’s first headmaster. Semmelrock struck up a special relationship with Eliza Werner, granddaughter of A.H. Werner, a Kingswood faculty member and daughter of Richard A. Werner ’58, who sent Semmelrock a trove of materials. After lengthy conversation, Semmelrock said, “I felt like I knew her.” Recently,
after several Oxford alumnae toured the archives, Semmelrock said, “You can see the happiness in their faces. Their eyes just light up.” She hosts an Oxford Chat so alumnae can share their memories of their time at Oxford School. Her goal is to draw deeper connections with the Oxford women to let them know how important their history is to the school. For Semmelrock, the archives are not just a repository to maintain and collect items from the past, but a place to forge relationships with the faculty and students. Several history teachers have integrated the archives into their class lessons, and a number of faculty members have brought in their advisee groups to tour the space. Upper Prep students visit early in their tenure at the school. “They are fascinated by the time capsules. I encourage them to think about what they would leave their time capsule. It helps them to understand the school’s history and what it means as alumni to come back and revisit a place when you were discovering yourself,” she said.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 21
SENIORS IN THEIR CO L L EG E S WAG 22 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 23
23
Wh at I l e a r n e d f r o m
Ye a r s at KO
Since 1995, English Department Chair Meg Kasprak has inspired, cajoled and enriched countless KO students with her boundless love for the written word. Upon her retirement this spring, Meg looked back on a few lessons she has learned during her tenure at the school.
This June, I walked off campus, and for the first time in 23 years, will fail to show up again in September. My summer vacation will be eternal (the warm weather won’t) and though I’m looking forward to new adventures, I know there are many things that I’ll miss, not the least of which are the energy, intelligence and wit of my students, the support, talent and kindness of my incredible colleagues, and the privilege of hanging out in classrooms with the novels, poems and plays that I love. Since I’ve been a teacher for over thirty years, I thought it might be time to switch hats, and tell you some of the things that I’ve learned in my 23 years at KO.
23. ENTHUSIASM IS CRUCIAL:
It’s not a teacher’s job to entertain, but showing that you love a novel, or author or even a mathematical formula goes a long way toward inspiring attention.
22 . TEACH WHAT YOU LOVE: You can’t be genuinely enthusiastic if you don’t love your subject. I will miss the experience of watching kids read, for the first time, the authors, characters and works I have come to admire and cherish: Hamlet and Hemingway, Faulkner and Morrison, Billy Pilgrim and Hazel Motes, among others.
24 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
21. LESS IS MORE: Trying to rush through too much material is counterproductive. Savor the words. Pay attention to details.
20. STUDENTS REMEMBER
CLASS, BUT LITTLE OF WHAT THEY LEARNED: That’s okay. Pique interest. Open doors. It’s okay not to remember all the elements of Toni Morrison’s style, as long as you might consider reading another one of her books. (After all, for my money, she’s the greatest living American writer.)
19. THE MORE THINGS
CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME: I started teaching with mimeograph machines, moved on to copiers, and graduated with Google classroom. The tools change. The kids… Not so much. Encourage, appreciate and support them, and they’ll thrive.
18. SOMETIMES YOU JUST
HAVE TO ABANDON THE PLAN: Once in awhile, something else bubbles up to the surface. It might be an important school or contemporary issue; it could just as easily be something silly and trivial. Embrace the moment. Change gears when it’s necessary. (Hey Shakespeare 2017... Remember Henry V?)
17. THE YEAR GOES BY TOO
FAST: It’s challenging to get through all the material, and I always wish I had more time.
16. EXCEPT IN FEBRUARY: It
may LOOK like the shortest month of the year, but it’s not. Even with eleven snow days and a long weekend, February lasts forever.
15. THE NEW YEAR, DESPITE
THE CALENDAR, BEGINS IN SEPTEMBER: Another instance of calendar hijinks. For me, the new year will always begin in September, a month characterized by joyful reunions, energetic optimism and the belief that anything is possible.
14. YOUTUBE FRIDAYS ARE
(OCCASIONALLY) AN IMPORTANT THING: (See #18 above) Once in a great while, it’s helpful to celebrate and acknowledge your students’ inertia. YouTube Fridays will get ’em going again.
13. WRITING PARODIES
HELPS STUDENTS TO APPRECIATE STYLE: It’s fun to make fun. You can’t make fun of something you don’t understand. Case closed.
12. A GOOD STORY, AT
THE RIGHT MOMENT, IS ALMOST ALWAYS A WORTHWHILE INTERRUPTION: Anyone want to hear about the time I tried to board an airplane with a kitchen carving knife?
11. I WILL NEVER NOT BE
NERVOUS ON PARENTS NIGHT: I don’t know why. It’s crazy after all these years.
10. THOMAS HARDY
ISN'T CUTTING IT FOR CONTEMPORARY STUDENTS: #kasprakfail2006
9.
MR. KRAUS IS RIGHT: The most memorable education you’ll have in high school is outside the classroom.
8. TRY NOT TO ASSIGN A NEW
PAPER BEFORE YOU’VE GRADED THE LAST ONE: Until you learn this important skill, you’ll drive yourself and your students bonkers.
7.
IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE YOU GO TO COLLEGE, AS LONG AS IT’S A GOOD FIT: Contemporary society makes this impossible to believe before you get there, but my experience (as a student, a parent and a teacher) has taught me that this is absolutely 100% true.
6. THERE ARE LOTS OF GOOD FITS: Equally true. See above.
5.
SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS REMAIN AS RELEVANT AS EVER: On this, I could write a book… except many others have already done it. Shakespeare’s questions about psychology,
human nature, history, politics and religion could not be more timely.
4. GOOD WRITING IS GOOD
THINKING: Despite what anyone tells you about the modern world, it’s never been more important to learn to write well. It’s a discipline that will teach you to think.
3. KIDS KEEP YOU YOUNG:
Or at least young at heart. The body might be another story…
2. TEACHING IS A
PRIVILEGE AND A HUGE RESPONSIBILITY: When I was younger, I couldn’t believe that anyone would trust me with a year of their children’s education. After I became a parent myself, it seemed even more staggering. I’ve always taken that seriously. (And so thanks, also, to all the great teachers that my own kids had here.)
1. I SORT OF FELL INTO
TEACHING, BUT I FOUND THE RIGHT SCHOOL: So thank you to ALL my students, advisees and colleagues for 23 amazing years.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 25
Alumni receptions • NYC This page: Wyverns could be spotted on the rooftop at the Alumni reception in Manhattan. More than 50 alumni celebrated at the rooftop restaurant at the Kimberly Hotel. Former Head of School Dennis Bisgaard talked with alums about the impact Kingswood Oxford has had on their lives. Photos, this page, from top to bottom: Faculty Meg Kasprak, Melissa Decker ’01 and Elisa Chiniara ’03 Tucker Bellingrath ’09, Kelsey Labrot ’09, Chris Chiapetti ’09 and Jillian Sander ’09 Faculty Brenda Semmelrock, Dennis Bisgaard and Sue Matorin ’60
26 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Alumni receptions • Boston More than 40 Boston area alumni gathered in April at the trendy Outlook Kitchen and Bar at the Evoy Hotel. Alumni enjoyed cocktails and conversation with their fellow Wyverns and former teachers. Faculty Emeritus, Dick Caley ’62, toasted former Head of School Dennis Bisgaard for his kindness and courageous leadership during the past 12 years. Clockwise, from top: Betsy Warner Mayer ’82, George Bower ’82 and Pamela Mersereau Dickinson ’82 Samantha Pinkes ’14, Molly Papermaster ’14, Faculty Brenda Semmelrock, Peter Fisher ’14, Shravya Rao ’14, Rachel Paley ’14, Katherine Gianni ’14 and Taryn Braz ’14 Normand Smith ’61 and Holiday Smith Houck ’55 Faculty Emeritus John Sherfinski, Faculty Emeritus Dick Caley ’62 and former Head of School Dennis Bisgaard
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 27
A Toast to the Bisgaards
Clockwise, from above: Monica and Dennis Bisgaard Bradley Hoffman ’78, Chairman Kingswood Oxford Board of Trustees, Les Tager, Trustee Emeritus, Dennis Bisgaard, Fmr. Head of School, Agnes Peelle, Trustee Emeritus, Avery Rockefeller, Trustee Emeritus Janet Murphy, Bob Murphy ’62 and Jim Alissi ’85 Monica, Nic ’16, Dennis and Saudea Bisgaard ’22 A Toast to the Bisgaards Chairs-Beth Papermaster, Lori Satell Wetsman ’85, Dennis Bisgaard, Lisa Roland Alumni join Dennis Bisgaard on Stage Richard and Nancy Gitlin, Monica and Dennis Bisgaard
28 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Reunion • 2018 Clockwise, from top: Dennis Bisgaard, Max O’Meara ’48, Dotty O’Meara, Bill Healy ’48, Charlie Ericson ’48 and Ellen Ericson The Oxford Chat Carlene Dahill Bush ’73, Melinda Walsh ’73 and Mary Pallotti Russell ’73 Harry Colvocoresses ’68 and Bill Bulkeley ’68 Andrew Feinstein ’68, Jeffrey Martin ’68 and Steve Nelson ’68
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 29
Reunion • 2018 Clockwise, from top: Garrett Meccariello ’13, Andrew Sikora ’13 and Michael Hathaway ’13 Maryanne Bloomfield Greenfield ’78, Louis Zarchen ’78 and Fern Botwick ’78 Helen Carey LaFaive ’68 and Lydia Paul Tapley ’68 Mike Fierberg ’68 and Andy Feinstein ’68 Heidi Richardson Ergin ’79, Maryanne Bloomfield Greenfield ’78, Elizabeth Fahy Bellingrath ’78 and Kim White Jackson ’79 Deb Eyges, Andy Krevolin ’73, Karen Denuzze Dunn ’73, Jeff Dunn ’73, Andrew Chapman ’73, Marilyn Grody and Jeff Grody ’73 Dave Belden ’83, Chris Richardson ’83, John Savin ’83, David Waskowitz ’83
30 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Clockwise, from top: Sarah Gagnon ’08, Kacie Gent ’08, Brett Lerner ’08, Tom Quish ’08, Jordan Bouthot ’08 and Jeff Pinciak ’08 Bob Dinucci ’74, Gretchen Pitrus Dinucci ’78 and Brian Mongillo ’78 Rachel Abrahamson Wollner ’98, Brenda Semmelrock and Kate Bradley ’98 Mary Susan Buckley Muirhead ’78, Lauri Every ’78 and Erica Grody Levens ’78 Mark Davis ’88, Julie Edmunds Sopp ’88, Seth Goodman ’88 and Jennifer Steckler Reisner ’88 Nina Grody ’78, Julie Zyla ’78 and Teri Bayer ’78
2019
54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04 • 09 • 14 • 19 • 54 • 59 • 64 • 69 • 74 • 79 • 84 • 89 • 94 • 99 • 04
KO REUNION
KO Classes ending in 4s and 9s:
Mark your calendars!
June 7-9
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 31
Reunion • 2018 Clockwise, from top: Tom Ruth ’99, Erika Bialowoz Ruth ’98, Alia Ornstein-Roberts ’98 and Meg Kasprak Jim Healey ’78, Joe Gianni ’78, Bradley Hoffman ’78, Chair, Board of Trustees, and Howard Grody ’78 Dick Caley ’62, Dennis and Monica Bisgaard Ted Butler ’63 and Vicki Butler
32 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Athletic Hall of Fame • 2018
Left to right: Christopher “Chris” L. Richardson ’83, Charles “Charlie” G. Walker ’83, Laura Flynn Baldini ’88, Bonnie Scranton ’88, Charles “Chuck” Glassmire Jr., Donald “Don” J. Viering Jr. ’68, Robert “Bob” J. Rice ’93
Seven outstanding Kingswood Oxford alumni athletes, an undefeated boys’ lacrosse team, and a storied coach were inducted into Kingswood Oxford Athletic Hall of Fame on June 9, 2018, during a ceremony in Roberts Theater with Athletic Director Debra Baer Fiske as emcee. These athletes were chosen for their tremendous athletic achievements as well as their integrity, sportsmanship, and character. Laura Flynn Baldini ’88 • Inducted by Andrew “Andy” Krugman ’86 P ’22 While at KO, Laura Baldini was a twosport athlete, a four-year runner for the cross country team and a six-year player for the varsity tennis team where
she served as captain and earned the recognition of MVP. She excelled on the tennis court, playing #1 singles from 1984-1988, and her career singles record was 63-4. She was nationally ranked in the USTA in 1987 as the #61 singles player for Girls 16 and under, as well as in 1989 when she was ranked #48 in the Girls 18 and under singles. She was also the captain for the New England Lawn Tennis Association’s 18 and under Girls Intersectional team. Laura attended Yale University where she played on the Yale women’s varsity tennis team and was a SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 33
Athletic Hall of Fame • 2018 member of the Ivy League women’s varsity tennis championship team in 1989. She won the Yale Club of Hartford C. Gilbert Shepard Award for Athletics and Leadership. Laura currently serves as a Superior Court Judge in Connecticut. She lives in West Hartford, CT, with her husband, Matt, and their three sons.
D. Jeffrey Curran ’88 • Inducted by Robert “Bob” Stiehler, Faculty Emeritus and Coach Jeff was a three-sport varsity athlete in his time at KO. He played soccer, hockey, and lacrosse and served as captain for all three in his Form 6 year. He was also the recipient of the William R. MacDonald Prize, the highest honor a male athlete can receive at KO. Jeff was described by his teammates and coaches as a true sportsman, an outstanding athlete and a fierce competitor who played through injuries throughout his career at KO. As his lacrosse coach, Stew Lindsay, said, “he was as tough as nails.” His classmate and teammate, John Alissi, said, “Jeff embodied everything KO strives to teach its students and athletes.” Upon his graduation from KO, Jeff went on to Yale University where he continued to excel on the lacrosse field. He was a four-year letterman on the varsity lacrosse team, and he helped his team qualify for the NCAA tournament two of his four years. They reached the semifinals in 1990 and the quarterfinals in 1992, the same year he served as a captain for the team. Jeff has remained active since his playing days. He ran the Boston Marathon twice, the New York City Marathon and the Ironman in Arizona. He is an outdoor adventurer traveling from the very bottom of South America to the very top hiking, skiing, surfing, scuba diving, rock climbing, ice climbing, mountain biking and more. He also climbed and summitted Alpamayo in Peru and rode a tuk-tuk across India. Jeff is the founder of the athletic apparel company ElevenPine. He and his wife, Kristi, live in Colorado and are expecting their first child in July.
34 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Robert J. Rice ’93 • Inducted by Todd Marble, Coach A three-sport athlete at KO, Bob Rice was a member of the varsity football team from 1990-92, varsity lacrosse from 199193 and varsity hockey from 1989-93. Bob’s leadership abilities were recognized by his coaches when he was named captain of all three sports during his Form 6 year. Bob was also recognized with the MVP award for each team, the Joseph Gargan Award for football, the Senior Hockey Award and the Connecticut Valley Lacrosse Club Award. In his senior year, Bob was named an All-Founders League player in hockey and All-New England in lacrosse. Upon his graduation from KO, Bob went on to Middlebury College and played on the football, lacrosse and hockey teams.
He is the owner and financial advisor for Harvest Wealth Management in Needham, MA. He lives in Needham with his wife, Jessica, KO ’94 and their three children. Christopher L. Richardson ’83 • Inducted by Steward “Stew” Lindsay, Jr., Faculty Emeritus and Coach
League for the Western New England Secondary School Division 1 Lacrosse Association in both 1982 and 1983. He was a prep school All American in 1983, and he participated in both the Regional NESSLA Senior All-Star game and the National North/South High School All-Star game. Chris attended Roanoke College. There, he continued to play lacrosse for four years. He was named an Old Dominion Athletic Conference AllLeague selection in 1986 and 1987, the league MVP in 1986, captain of the 1987 team and earned All American Honors in both 1986 and 1987. Chris currently resides in Ellicott City, MD, where he is the owner and CRPS of the company RRG Inc. Chris is married to Norma and they have two children.
Chris was a three-sport athlete throughout his years at KO, playing lacrosse all four years, soccer his Form 3 year and football the following three years. In the winter season, he played hockey for one year and wrestled for three. He was captain of the team his senior year, held the record for most career assists with 82 and was second in career points with 167. He was voted All-
Bonnie Scranton ’88 • Inducted by Jenn Honen, Coach Bonnie Scranton played five sports during her four Upper School years at KO. She was a member of the JV soccer team from 1984-1986, played goalie for the varsity field hockey team, swam on the swim team from 1982-1988 and played lacrosse in her Form 3 year. She was recognized as the MVP both her Form 5 and 6 years, served as captain those years and held records in the 100 Freestyle, the 200 Freestyle, the 500 Freestyle and the 400 Freestyle relay all in 1988. Additionally, she was named lacrosse captain in her senior year. Bonnie attended Oberlin College where she continued her swimming, lacrosse and field hockey careers. She was named to the All-Conference team in lacrosse three of her four seasons. In 1989 and 1992, she was All-Conference First team and in 1991 she was All-Conference Honorable Mention. She is currently
being considered for the Oberlin College Hall of Fame induction to occur in the fall of 2018. Bonnie returned to KO as a teacher/ coach in the mid-1990s. Bonnie is selfemployed as a psychotherapist. She lives in West Hartford, CT, with her husband, Alex Kraus, a long-time KO teacher and coach, and their three children. Donald J. Viering Jr. ’68 • Inducted by Robert “Bob” O’Brien, Coach Don Viering played on the varsity football and basketball team for four years and varsity baseball for three. He served as captain his senior year in both football and baseball and served in his junior and senior year for the basketball team. He
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 35
Athletic Hall of Fame • 2018 He was named to the All Old Dominion Athletic Conference First Team in 1985, 1986 and 1987 and named to the All American Second Team in his final season of play. Charlie currently resides in Towson, MD, where he works for Sun Trust Bank as a financial planner. He is married to Ann and has three children. Charles Glassmire Jr. • Inducted by Dan Goldberg ’85, Andrew “Andy” Krugman ’86 P ’22, Ken Walker ’74
was named MVP of the 1968 Kingswood Invitational Tournament. While at KO he also was awarded the Optimus Civis award for good citizenship, the Merritt Prize, the Joseph E. Gargan trophy for outstanding football player and the William R. MacDonald Trophy for all around athletic accomplishments. Upon his graduation from Kingswood, Don stayed close by attending Trinity College in Hartford for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. While at Trinity, he played four years of baseball, two years of football and one year of basketball. Don is now retired after working as a Bond Salesman at Lehman Brothers for 28 years. He resides in New Mexico. He has three children and one grandson.
Charles G. Walker ’83 • Inducted by Robert “Bob” Stiehler, Faculty Emeritus and Coach Charlie Walker was a three-sport athlete at KO. He was a member of varsity soccer and varsity hockey in 1982 and 1983. He was a three-year member of the varsity lacrosse team and served as captain his senior year. As a defenseman, Charlie scored one goal and assisted on five, and he was the career leader in penalty minutes with a total of 56.5. Charlie was co-MVP of the lacrosse team his senior year winning the Connecticut Valley Lacrosse Club Award. In both 1982 and 1983, he was named First Team AllConference. In his final season at KO, he was awarded the Nels Corey Award for the Outstanding Defensive Player in the Western New England Secondary School Division 1 Lacrosse Association. Charles attended Roanoke College where he played lacrosse all four years in college.
36 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Chuck Glassmire was a teacher and coach at KO from 1967 to 1992. He served as the boys’ varsity tennis coach for all of the twenty-five years that he was at KO, and for twenty-one years he coached boys’ basketball at the thirds and junior varsity level as well as serving as an assistant at the varsity level. Chuck’s tennis teams at
Front row, left to right: Chris Stephan ’79, Ed Haverty ’78, James Nagle ’80, Fred Cuda ’79, Bob Stiehler, Mary Susan Buckley Muirhead ’78, Jeff Schwartz ’78, Allen Petersen ’73 • Back row, left to right: Bob Waskowitz ’78, Gib Brady ’79, Kevin Griswold ’78, Tarik Ergin ’79, Doug Moore ’78, Jim Ulcickas ’79, Stew Lindsay, Jr.
KO had a combined record of 231 wins and 58 losses, a .80 winning percentage. They won the Founders League title ten times and were ranked nationally, as a top ten school team, for seven years. Aside from his coaching, Chuck taught chemistry throughout his time at KO along with serving in various administrative positions including dean of students, science department chair, and as an admissions and financial aid officer. Prior to his career at KO, Chuck attended Williams College, where he played two years of varsity tennis and four of varsity squash. After a long and distinguished teaching career, Glassmire officially taught his last AP chemistry class in May 2018, and he retired from coaching a year earlier. This
past summer, he planned on completing his hike of the Appalachian Trail with a remaining 700 miles to go. In addition to enjoying the outdoors, he plans on spending time with his family. 1978 Boys’ Lacrosse Team • Inducted by Stewart “Stew” Lindsay, Jr., Faculty Emeritus and Coach and Bob Waskowitz ’78 The 1978 boys’ lacrosse team was the only undefeated team in all of New England that spring with a record of 140. Among KO's victories were wins over Wilton High School and Longmeadow High School, the high school champions of Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively. Many of the games were tight contests or come-from-behind victories
that spoke to the determination, skill, and sportsmanship displayed by the team. This KO team was the first to face several Founders League schools that had started the postgraduate player trend, with some teams fielding up to five postgraduates, although the norm was to have two or three postgrads. The combined records of the Founders League teams that KO defeated was 65 wins and 16 losses. Ten members of the KO team went on to play Division I lacrosse while two members went on to play on Division III teams. Of that group, five captained their college team and one was a first, second and third team All American and played on two DI NCAA Championship teams.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 37
An Evening of Celebration
From left: Heather Clifford, Mary Carangelo
L-R, Back row: Susan Seaver, Theresa Ravalese, Jodi Pimentle, Lisa Schwartz, Meredith Crowther, Karen Diaz, Sharon Boyd, Anthanette Riley-Mapp, Gul Aslan • L-R, Front row: Meghan Wildstein, Sally Knowles, Sheila Dawson, Heather Clifford, Mary Carangelo, Sandy Brown Right: Backtrack Vocals
Below from left: Juanita Asapokhai Evan Kelmar Kyle Chapman
It was the feel-good event of the year. A sell-out crowd of 292 attended the school’s major fundraiser, Celebrate Kingswood Oxford, aka CKO, at the new boutique hotel, The Delamar, in West Hartford. This is a biennial celebration of the KO community. More than $100,000 was raised to support KO’s outstanding programs in academics, athletics, and the arts. The evening also benefits the Parent Association. Heather Clifford P ’17, ’19 and Mary Carangelo P ’16, ’18 chaired the event and brought their enthusiasm and dedication to the evening. A rich talent pool of parents worked tirelessly to make the entire evening a success. The CKO Committee consisted of Gul Aslan P ’22, Sharon Boyd P ’18, ’21, Sandy Brown P ’15, ’17, ’22, Sudhakar Dalavi P ’21, Sheila Dawson P ’20, ’22, Karen Diaz P ’19, ’22, Sally Knowles P ’20, P ’25, Elaine Lesham P ’19 ’24, Anthanette Mapp P ’24, Jodi Pimentle P ’18, ’18, ’22, Teresa Ravalese P ’15, ’17, ’20, Ruth Rossi P ’18, Lisa Schwartz P ’21, Susan Seaver P ’21, ’23, Eileen Stephan P ’21, ’23, Melissa Vaughn P ’20, ’21, ’23, and Meghan Wildstein P ’22. “The CKO Committee did an outstanding job bringing together the Kingswood Oxford community to benefit the school.
38 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
about how their KO education challenged them to move out of their comfort zones and experience new and exciting opportunities. Kelmar said, “It was the teachers who drove me to the finish line. Everywhere I went, everything I learned, there was a teacher not but five feet behind, pushing me, guiding me. The confidence to tackle this brave new world, the ability to think critically about ideas comfortable and foreign is something I carry with me now in college, and will continue to carry (until I turn 65, at which I will stop carrying, and start collecting).” Evan jokingly pleaded for a ride home from the audience once the event ended.
From left: Dennis Bisgaard, Monica Bisgaard, Deirdre Dillow, Tom Dillow
This is an example of the strength of our parents, alumni, faculty, staff and community supporters who care deeply for the continued excellence in education KO provides. We are grateful and fortunate to have such committed volunteers and sincerely appreciate everyone’s contributions to the evening,” said former Head of School Dennis Bisgaard. Middle School teacher Kyle Chapman emceed the live auction segment of the event and kept the energy at a high level. He gently ribbed the audience to bid higher on the items if they truly loved their children. He also jokingly tasked Head of School elect Tom Dillow, who attended the event with his wife, Deirdre, to aggressively call for snow days next year since he might not be as familiar with the concept as he hails from a Florida school. The showpiece of the live auction was the nine-week-old caramel
colored goldendoodle puppy that looked like it was plucked from a toy store shelf. Other top selling items included Yankee Red Sox tickets, a dinner for ten at Zohara restaurant and an in-home cooked meal by local restaurateur Billy Grant. Director of Athletics Debbie Fiske and coach Matt Kocay enthusiastically brought home the “Tap to Give” portion of the evening to the finish line, encouraging attendees to join in the online effort on their phone in support of KO. Backtrack Vocals, a NYC based a cappella ensemble including KO Middle School alumnus, Andrew Kim, supplied a steady stream of crowd-pleasing a cappella tunes from Motown to Bacharach hits. The event also featured two student speakers, Evan Kelmar ’16, Dartmouth ’20 and Juanita Asapokhai ’20 who both spoke eloquently
Asapokhai said, “Being a student at KO has given me the opportunity to learn more about my personal academic interests– the things that make me tick, what I am passionate about, and potential career paths I could pursue in the future... I’ve come to think of my past two years at KO as an empty parking lot for a teen driver: a place where I am comfortable to try out things that I am interested in without fear of failure.” As this was Dennis Bisgaard’s last gala before leaving to head a school in Washington, D.C., Clifford toasted the legacy that the Bisgaards have left on the school. She said, “I believe that Dennis’ philosophy is that success is not found in perfection. He is less concerned with his school raising perfect students but deeply concerned that it raises good people... Your indelible mark has been made, and in doing so, you have helped thousands of young adults enter the world as global thinkers, oriented toward community service and the ability to get things done.” This Parent Association event was the most successful one yet for the school.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 39
KO AT HL ET IC S
2017-20 1 8
G , WYV
40 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
YVERNS!
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 41
42 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 43
Varsity Athletics 2017-18
FALL FOOTBALL Coaches: (Head) Jason Martinez, (Assistants) Brandon Batory, Will Gilyard, Matt Kocay, Dave Kosko, Noah Lynd, Jack Murphy, Marco Pizzoferrato Record: 4-3 Captains: David Arcesi ’18, Anthony Melody ’18, Benjamin Tauber ’18, Keegan Toland ’18 Seniors: David Arcesi, Ian Britt, Christopher Healis, John Leuschner, Anthony Melody, Benjamin Tauber, Keegan Toland, Christian Vitti Joseph E. Gargan M.V.P. Award: Benjamin Tauber Joel Lorden M.I.P. Award: Wesley Pierce ’20 Coaches Award: Jeffrey Davis Jr. ’21 4 Year Award: Christian Vitti VOLLEYBALL Coaches: (Head) Scott McDonald, (Assistant) Carolyn McKee Record: 9-6 Captains: Skylar Barron ’18, Emma Smith ’18 Seniors: Maitland Bailey, Skylar Barron, Haley Gervino, Emma Smith, Amiya Young M.V.P.: Emma Smith M.I.P.: Sydni Jett ’19 Coaches Award: Maitland Bailey 4 Year Award: Skylar Barron 5 Year Award: Emma Smith FIELD HOCKEY Coaches: (Head) Nicole Blake, (Assistants) Sarah Thomsen, Ainsley Parrish Record: 8-12 Captains: Eliza Charette ’18, Dakota McMahon ’18, Mia Seymour ’19 Seniors: Elizabeth Charette, Dakota McMahon Joanne Alissi M.V.P. Award: Claire Taylor ’21 M.I.P.: Caitlin Budzik ’21 Coaches Award: Snehaa Ram ’21 4 Year Award: Elizabeth Charette, Dakota McMahon GIRLS’ SOCCER Coaches: (Head) Tracy Deeter, (Assistant) Katie McCarthy Record: 7-6-2
Captains: Eloise Bavier ’18, Abigail Eberle ’18 Seniors: Eloise Bavier, Noa Boyd, Abigail Eberle, Julia Lantieri, Emma Ouellette M.V.P.: Charlotte Cyr ’19 M.I.P.: Mai Lin Pomp-Shine ’20 Coaches Award: Abigail Eberle 4 Year Award: Noa Boyd, Abigail Eberle 5 Year Award: Julia Lantieri, Emma Ouellette BOYS’ SOCCER Coach: Hikmet Aslan Record: 6-9-1 Captains: William Appleton ’18, Ryan Goss ’18 Seniors: William Appleton, Alejandro Correa, Nelson Correa, Jaron Stake, Ryan Goss, Joshua Soteriou, Joshua Shafer, Zachary Swilling, Patrick Taylor M.W. Jacobus M.V.P. Award: Ryan Goss M.I.P.: Jackson Wolff ’20 Coaches Award: William Appleton 4 Year Award: Ryan Goss, Jaron Stake GIRLS’ CROSS COUNTRY Coaches: (Head) Tricia Watson, (Assistant) Natalie Lynd Captains: Christina Daniels ’18, Taline Norsigian ’19 Senior: Christina Daniels M.V.P.: Abigail Fernald ’21 M.I.P.: Jaden Paldino ’21 Coaches Award: Christina Daniels BOYS’ CROSS COUNTRY Coaches: (Head) Fritz Goodman, (Assistant) Ron Monroe Captains: Prithvi Gunturu ’18, David Marottolo ’18 Seniors: Carter Castanza, Prithvi Gunturu, Harold Krause, David Marottolo, Adam Ovian, Kyle Zimmerman Mark Doyle M.V.P. Award: Kyle Zimmerman M.I.P.: Thomas Betts ’19 Coaches Award: Prithvi Gunturu 4 Year Award: Kyle Zimmerman
WINTER BOYS’ BASKETBALL Coaches: (Head) Brad Seaman, (Assistants)
44 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Mark “Moose” Beloin, Matt Mazzochi, Jullian Smith Record: 13-8 Captains: Nicholas Casiano ’18, Jackson Meshanic ’18 Seniors: Nicholas Casiano, Jackson Meshanic, Joshua Shafer O. F. Peyser M.V.P. Award: Jackson Meshanic M.I.P.: Kyren Petteway ’19 Coaches Award: Nicholas Casiano GIRLS’ BASKETBALL Coaches: (Head) Kyle Chapman, (Assistant) Judy Bailey ’82 Record: 7-14 Captains: Maitland Bailey ’18, Skylar Barron ’18, Desiree Davis ’19 Seniors: Maitland Bailey, Skylar Barron, Noelani Jackson-Sherman M.V.P.: Desiree Davis M.I.P.: Jane Dunbar ’19 Coaches Award: Noelani Jackson-Sherman 4 Year Award: Maitland Bailey, Skylar Barron ICE HOCKEY Coach: John Hissick Record: 4-11 Captains: Colin Regan ’18, Garth Swanson ’19 Seniors: Kevin Becker, Colin Regan M.V.P.: Garth Swanson ’19 M.I.P.: William Elliott ’21 Coaches Award: John McLaughlin ’20 5 Year Award: Colin Regan BOYS’ SWIMMING Coaches: (Head) Alex Kraus, (Assistants) Jonathan Briggs, Sarah Thomsen Record: 6-2 Captains: Kevin Augustine ’18, Harold Krause ’18, Jaron Stake ’18 Seniors: Kevin Augustine, Carter Castanza, Prithvi Gunturu, Kian Issari, Harold Krause, Adam Ovian, Timothy Petit, Jaron Stake, Kyle Zimmerman M.V.P.: Timothy Petit M.I.P.: Nicholas Traver ’20 Coaches Award: Marwynn Somridhivej ’20 4 Year Award: Carter Castanza, Kian Issari, Harold Krause, Timothy Petit, Kyle Zimmerman
GIRLS’ SWIMMING Coaches: (Head) Kata Baker (Assistants) Kristen Barry, Sarah Thomsen Record: 3-5 Captains: Noa Boyd ’18, Emma Ouellette ’18 Seniors: Noa Boyd, Emma Ouellette M.V.P.: Noa Boyd M.I.P.: Esha Shrivastav ’20 Coaches Award: Jingyun Liang ’21 4 Year Award: Noa Boyd, Emma Ouellette BOYS’ SQUASH Coach: Robby Lingashi Record: 0-8 Captains: Nicholas Choo ’20, Aidan Shea ’19 Seniors: James Bayer, Alejandro Correa, Nelson Correa M.V.P.: Henry Krieble ’21 M.I.P.: Nelson Correa Coaches Award: James Bayer GIRLS’ SQUASH Coach: Jillian Davey Record 9-4 Captains: Ananya Alleyne ’19, Camilla Berckemeyer ’19 Senior: Holly Lombardi MVP: Sydney Smith ’21 MIP: Holly Lombardi Coaches Award: Camilla Berckemeyer
SPRING BASEBALL Coaches: (Head) Steve Cannata, (Assistant) Ryan Radmanovich Record: 9-11 Captains: James DiVirgilio ’18, Mark Place ’18, Benjamin Tauber ’18 Seniors: James DiVirgilio, Noah Gibson, Riley Johnson, Jackson Meshanic, Mark Place, Jacob Rowland, Zack Swilling, Benjamin Tauber Robert S. O’Brien M.V.P. Award: Mark Place M.I.P.: Tim Cotter ’20 Coaches Award: James DiVirgilio 4 Year Award: Benjamin Tauber
SOFTBALL Coaches: (Head) Jason Bradley, (Assistant) Lauren Yaffa Record: 6-6 Captains: Skylar Barron ’18, Noelani Jackson-Sherman ’18, Dakota McMahon ’18 Seniors: Skylar Barron, Haley Gervino, Noelani Jackson-Sherman, Dakota McMahon, Victoria Vazquez M.V.P.: Dakota McMahon M.I.P.: Brieanna Toedt ’21 Coaches Award: Olivia Pear ’21 4 Year Award: Skylar Barron, Dakota McMahon
Beerbower, Kian Issari, Surya Ram, Varun Tankala, Patrick Taylor, Keegan Toland M.V.P.: Keegan Toland M.I.P.: Broox Bolden ’19 Coaches Award: Varun Tankala 4 Year Award: Varun Tankala, Patrick Taylor
BOYS’ LACROSSE Coaches: (Head) Mark Conklin, (Assistants) David Hild, Tyler Grainger Record: 1-12 Captains: David Arcesi ’18, Jack Cavo ’19, Joshua Shafer ’18 Seniors: David Arcesi, Michael Goldschlager, Colin Regan, Joshua Shafer Connecticut Valley Lacrosse Club M.V.P. Award: Jack Cavo ’19 M.I.P.: Michael Aronson ’19 Coaches Award: David Arcesi, Colin Regan 4 Year Award: Colin Regan GIRLS’ LACROSSE Coaches: (Head) Tim Allerton, (Assistant) Cierra Ward Record: 10-8 Captains: Abigail Eberle ’18, Julia Lantieri ’18 Seniors: Maitland Bailey, Noa Boyd, Haley Carangelo, Elizabeth Charette, Abigail Eberle, Julia Lantieri, Olivia Rossi M.V.P.: Julia Lantieri M.I.P.: Noa Boyd Coaches Award: Abigail Eberle 4 Year Award: Maitland Bailey, Eliza Charette, Haley Carangelo, Abigail Eberle, Julia Lantieri BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD Coaches: (Head) Alex Kraus (Assistants) David Baker ’04, Fritz Goodman, Alex Hoerman Record: 6-1 Captains: Varun Tankala ’18, Patrick Taylor ’18, Keegan Tolland ’18 Seniors: Kevin Augustine, William
GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD Coaches: (Head) Tricia Watson, (Assistants) Anna Dolan, Natalie Lynd, Katie McCarthy Record: 4-2 Captains: Emma Ouellette ’18, Amiya Young ’18 Seniors: Christina Daniels, Emma Ouellette, Amiya Young M.V.P.: Erin Bowen ’19 M.I.P.: Ciara Chagnon ’21 Coaches Award: Amiya Young 4 Year Award: Emma Ouellette, Amiya Young GOLF Coaches: (Head) Scott Dunbar, (Assistant) Peter Jones Record: 4-18 Mark Dixon M.V.P. Award: Garth Swanson ’19 Coaches Award: Henry Kreible ’21 BOYS’ TENNIS Coaches: (Head) Andy Krugman ’86, (Assistant) Sam Barlow Record: 10-3 Captain: William Appleton ’18 Seniors: William Appleton, Nathaniel Bates, Adam Ovian M.V.P.: Luke Riemann ’19 M.I.P.: Max-William Kanz ’22 Coaches Award: William Appleton GIRLS’ TENNIS Coaches: (Head) Ron Garcia, (Assistant) Sam Barlow Record: 9-7 Captains: Molly Barron ’19, Ahana Nagarkatti ’21, Emma Smith ’18 Senior: Emma Smith M.V.P.: Ahana Nagarkatti M.I.P.: Aimee Zhang ’22 Coaches Award: Sydney Smith ’21 5 Year Award: Emma Smith
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 45
Boys’ Swim Team Three-peat, New England Division II Champs It’s a three-peat for the Kingswood Oxford boys’ swimming and diving team! Led by stellar diving performances from Eli Brandt ’23 and Carter Castanza ’18, event wins by Ethan Brown ’19, Ellis Winfree ’19 and strong relays, the Wyverns won their third straight Division II New England Swimming and Diving Championship.
Brown won the 100 Backstroke and placed second in the 500 Freestyle while Ellis Winfree won the 50 Freestyle and placed third in the 100 Butterfly.
Kingswood Oxford earned the 2018 Division II New England championship with 474 points ahead of St. George’s with 325 and Williston-Northampton with 253.
Tim Petit ’18 placed third in the 200 Freestyle and second in the 100 Freestyle and Castanza added a fourth-place finish in the 50 Freestyle. Kian Issari ’18 was fifth in the 50 Freestyle and fifth in the 100 Butterfly, Kyle Zimmerman ’18 placed fourth in the 200 IM and fifth in the 100 Breaststroke and Jamie Amell ’20 was sixth in the 200 IM and fourth in the 100 Breaststroke.
Brandt and Castanza finished one-two in the New England Division II diving championships and that gave the Wyverns a great start. When the swimmers hit the pool, they built on that momentum and earned the title.
The Wyverns who placed twice in the finals (the top eight swimmers) were Nick Traver ’20, seventh in the 200 Freestyle and seventh in the 100 Freestyle, as well as captain Jaron Stake ’18, eighth in the 200 Freestyle and sixth in the 500 Freestyle.
46 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Other standout performers included Ben Zamstein ’20, who placed ninth in the 500 Freestyle and sixth in the 100 Backstroke, Tom Betts ’19, who finished tenth in the 200 IM and fifth in the 100 Breaststroke, and captain Harry Krause ’18, who placed ninth in the 50 Freestyle and eighth in the 100 Freestyle. In the relays, KO showed strong swimming and flexibility, as many different swimmers contributed to the Wyverns success. The quartet of Carter Castanza, Kian Issari, Kyle Zimmerman, and Tim Petit finished first in the 200 Free Relay in a season’s best time. In the 400 Free Relay, the Wyverns were also victorious as Ellis Winfree, Kyle Zimmerman, Ethan Brown, Tim Petit swam to a season’s best time. Taking second in the 200 Medley Relay were Ethan Brown, Jamie Amell, Ellis Winfree, and Harry Krause with a season’s best time.
Scoreboard Dedication to Honor Gordon Hamilton ’91 Friends, family, and former classmates and teammates came together in Hewett Gym on a Friday night in January to honor Gordon Hamilton ’91 with a scoreboard dedication ceremony during halftime at a boys’ varsity basketball game. Hamilton, who passed away in a car accident in January of 2005, was a three-sport student athlete. He captained the Wyverns’ basketball team and tennis team and played soccer as well. He went on to successfully play Division I basketball at the College of the Holy Cross all four years, captaining the team his senior year. A sign on the bottom of one of the two new scoreboards reads “In Memory of Gordon Hamilton ’91.” Gordon left his mark on both schools winning numerous honors and awards. He helped lead the Wyverns to the Class B New England Prep Championships against Cushing Academy in 1991 and was inducted into the Kingswood Oxford Athletic Hall of Fame posthumously in 2016. “Everyone loved Gordon. To put this in perspective, his nickname was G-Love. As great of an athlete as he was, he was an even better person. He was a Senior Prefect and a leader on the KO campus,” said Keith Wolff
’91, P ’20, ’23, who grew up with Gordon in Manchester. “After losing in the prep championship finals to Cheshire Academy in our junior year, we went on to win the championship our senior year in 1991,” Wolff said. “We finished the year 21-4. In the championship game, we beat Cushing Academy on a last second bucket by Gordon after we didn’t have a lead the entire game. Truly, a perfect finish to our KO hoops careers.” Continuing his love of basketball after his playing days at Holy Cross, Gordon played internationally in Belgium and South Africa. He also coached locally in the Greater Hartford area.
and son to Sandy and Sam Hamilton, a dedicated and inspirational teammate to many, a role model for his players, and a loyal friend. After remarks from former Head of School Dennis Bisgaard and Athletic Director Debbie Fiske, Sandy and Sam Hamilton pulled down a white banner to reveal the dedication sign. “I think that it was absolutely fantastic, a very special occasion,” Sandy Hamilton said. “We are so blessed to be here but even more blessed to have been chosen to be Gordon’s parents.”
Gordon was a loving husband to our fellow faculty member and school counselor, Chastity Rodriguez ’91, a father to Noah
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 47
Founders League Honors Alex Kraus with M.D. Nadal Sportmanship Award The Founders League honored educator and coach Alex Kraus with the M.D. Nadal Sportsmanship Award. The Founders League is comprised of highly selective college preparatory schools in Connecticut and New York and is nationally recognized as one of the most competitive and respected athletic leagues in the country. Kraus has been a long serving boys’ swimming and diving and boys’ track and field coach at the school. Kraus is equally comfortable explaining alpha-particle production as he is unpacking the symbolism in dense literary texts. As an English and AP chemistry teacher at KO, Kraus is perfectly suited to this duality, a polymath who studied a wide range of subjects as an undergraduate at Williams College, from English to economics, computer science and pre med. No matter the subject area, Kraus understands the importance of students reaching outside their comfort zone. “Students should know they are expected to grow and calculate what’s coming around the corner. If they feel that they are stretching throughout the year, they get used to it and gain the skills to grow into the next developmental level.” In this same spirit, Kraus brings this philosophy to his students as their coach,
too. “Coaching helps you go deeper into fostering personal skills like character, integrity and determination in a student,” he said. Recognizing his extraordinary generosity and fairness, The Founders League awarded Kraus the M.D. Nadal Sportsmanship Award. Kraus believes that sports provide an essential pathway for living and learning life lessons: “Here’s how you work hard, here’s how it plays out, here’s how you measure success,” he said. The M.D. Nadal Sportsmanship Award was established in 1969 to honor Manuel D. “Bill” Nadal, an outstanding athlete, coach and steadfast supporter of athletics at Kent School.
48 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
The Nadal Award was originally given to a member of the Erickson Football League, but eligibility was expanded to other sports after the establishment of the Founders League. It is awarded on an annual basis, as warranted, to students, faculty, staff, teams, and student bodies who “play by the rules, accept victory or defeat graciously, respect all who assemble and participate.” It may be awarded in recognition of sportsmanship during a particular contest, throughout a season, or continued contributions to athletics and the Founders League.
Boys’ Basketball Wins the Paul “Frosty” Francis KIT Tournament Led by a combined 50 points from Nick Casiano ’18 and Jackson Meshanic ’18, the Kingswood Oxford boys’ basketball team captured its first Kingswood Oxford Invitational Tournament title since 2007 with a 71-62 victory over Lawrenceville School in December. Casiano scored 30 points while Meshanic added 20 for the Wyverns. Kingswood Oxford had made the finals in 2009, 2010 and last season but lost in a tight 63-58 decision to Lawrenceville. “We had a good stretch about 10 years ago and then the program dropped
off for a little while so it’s an honor to bring it back to the level that it is and win the KIT,” Meshanic said. “We are 5-0 and we just have to keep it going and work toward our goal of a Class B championship.”
Meshanic had 12 at the break. Casiano poured in 16 points in the second half, scoring on a number of drives and putbacks to help the Wyverns maintain their lead.
The Wyverns (5-0) knocked off Berkshire School in their tournament opener and advanced to the finals with a victory over Storm King in the semifinals to set up a rematch for the championship. “The win today itself was nice. As for the tournament, we saw three different teams that played three different styles, and I think our team adjusted nicely,” KO Head Coach Brad Seaman said. “To be able to play three different games with a team that has four guards and what we call a “power wing” as our starting five, they adjusted and executed.” Kingswood Oxford led Lawrenceville 39-31 at the half as Casiano had 14 and
“We had this as a goal last season, and we came up short and that was upsetting,” Casiano said. “We had a lot of support during the tournament and coming back and beating the team we lost to last year feels good.” Casiano was named to the AllTournament Team and Nick Bray ’19 was named the KIT MVP. “A lot of the start stems from what they learned last year under Coach Adams,” Seaman said. “We didn’t change the philosophy because we both believed in it, and we have just tweaked a couple things. Plus, we have a lot of returning guys so they just rolled right into it.”
SEP T EMBER 2017 • KO MAGA ZINE • 49
“ Remember, no matter how old we are, we are all works in progress.”
106th COMMENCEMENT
4.3425
50 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
This year's graduating class Chips Off the Old Block include: Front row, left to right: Melinda Collins Eberle ’91, Abigail Eberle ’18, Maitland Bailey ’18, Judy Lindsay Bailey ’82 • Middle row, left to right: Joseph Hammer ’78, Elizabeth Hammer ’18, Lynn Mather Charette ’82, Elizabeth Charette ’18 • Back row, left to right: William Appleton ’18, Peter Appleton ’81, Glenn Shafer ’85, Joshua Shafer ’18
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 51
Crossing the stage on the Senior Green, 87 members of Kingswood Oxford Class of 2018 received their diplomas in front of family, faculty, and friends at the school’s 106th Commencement on May 26 and will now join the ranks of the 6,000 Wyvern alumni across the globe. The sky was bright, and the mood was celebratory as the forms, faculty, and trustees processed to “Finlandia” and “Farandole,” which were performed by the school orchestra conducted under the direction of Richard Chiarappa and Todd Millen. The St. Patrick’s Pipe Band accompanied the procession of the Form 6 students clad in their best: the young men sporting their black and red KO rep ties and the young women in all white carrying red roses. The class honored photography teacher Greg Scranton ’94 by asking him to give the commencement address. Eliza Charette ’18 provided Scranton’s introduction and shared that his photography class was highly coveted, and the students loved his high energy and relatability. Scranton reflected on his own experience starting at the Middle School where he “truly began to understand what it meant to learn and take pride in doing so.” He shared his career trajectory from college where he discovered artistic software programs that piqued his interest to pursue further forms of digital arts and photography. He counseled the students who are unclear about the future plans to take college as
an opportunity to explore and expand. “If you’re unsure about what your future holds as you sit here listening to me, don’t panic. In fact, you should be brimming with excitement at the endless possibilities that the next four years and beyond hold for you. And likewise, if you are one of those students who knows exactly what comes next, I’d encourage you to take a class that seemingly has no connection whatsoever to your major.” Six members of the Class of ’18 had parents or grandparents who also graduated from KO. Fifty-one members of the class graduated with honors. William Appleton received the Dux Prize for the senior with the highest GPA for the year. A remarkable 17 students plan to play sports in college, representing 20 percent of the graduating class. This was Head of School Dennis Bisgaard’s twelfth and final time presiding over the commencement exercise. He gave the graduates the “permission to be imperfect and remember no matter how old we are, we are all works in progress. Play, laugh, and be silly. Enjoy people as they are...find small things that give you peace.” Long-standing faculty member Rob Kyff gave the closing remarks. He evoked a poem by Cecil DayLewis, “Walking Away”, in which the poet captures the bittersweet, sad and prideful moment when his child attends his first day of school. Likewise, Kyff said, the faculty and parents share the same sentiment, and “we prove our love by letting you walk away into your journey into selfhood.”
52 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Alex Dueben
’97
Insightful interviews
“ I t always comes back to the novel. There’s nothing quite like it. No one has found a way to replace it or create a new art form that can do everything the novel can do.”
Two decades after studying the author John Edgar Wideman in the Kingswood Oxford English Symposium class, writer and critic Alex Dueben ’97 recently interviewed the author for the literary website The Millions. He discussed that experience, how he reads books, and the role of the graphic novel. What do you remember about the Symposium class about John Edgar Wideman? I loved the class, and I loved his writing at the time. That class was foundational for me as a writer and a reader and a critic. I had read a lot of fantasy and science fiction and mystery novels, and for years, I had been used to thinking about how an author’s work changed over time, how certain
ideas and themes recurred and looking for connections between them. Having said that, the Symposium is a very rare chance to study one author in depth. In college you might elect to study Shakespeare or Milton or a handful of others, but never someone contemporary. Bonnie Scranton ’88 was my teacher, and I think one reason we’re in touch today is because we shared this deep obsession with Wideman’s work. I think the teacher has to be even more passionate than the students to spend that much time and energy with one author. I ended that semester thinking that John Wideman was one of our greatest writers, and time has not changed my opinion. Part of my introduction to my interview read: “I began reading Wideman as a teenager and he was one of the first writers whose work forced me to consider structure and genre in new ways, think about how new narrative structures and ideas can be a valuable way to rethink the past. His work taught me to be conscious of the author,
reconsider what a novel could be. These two new books are among the best of his career and I would place American Histories as his very best collection of stories. Now in his 70s, John Wideman’s work is as relevant and timely as ever, and he remains one of our best, most important writers.” What was it like to interview the author? Interviewing can be intimidating. Really, there’s two of us there, and I am the dumber one. Having said that, I’ve found that writers and artists really respect and appreciate people who have read and engaged with their work. That’s what they want and hope for and ideally an interviewer is one of the people who understands the work. How do you prep for an interview? It varies. In general, I read as much as I can. In the case of this interview, I read Wideman’s new book, American Histories, reread his previous book, Writing To Save a Life, and reread a number of his short stories. For other interviews, I’ve literally read every book I can get my hands on by an
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 53
author. That can be overkill. Sometimes, I’ll just read their new book a couple of times. I don’t really have a method to it. Sometimes, it’s about timing, or the focus or nature of the article. In addition to reading their work, I’ll read other interviews with the writer and articles about their work. I don’t want to ask the same questions and cover the same ground as so many other interviews have. But, I have to keep in mind that just because I know fifty million things about the writer doesn’t mean that anyone else reading the article does. There’s a lot of triangulation. Have you conducted difficult interviews where an interviewee isn’t forthcoming? Yes. That happens sometimes. I interviewed Anne Carson a few years ago. She does very few interviews because she hates doing interviews and so she was not always forthcoming. It was a very dry piece. I still think she’s a genius, and I still read her – and honestly, if given the chance, I would interview her again. Sometimes people don’t want to open up for whatever reason. Of course, sometimes people are not forthcoming because they don’t know the answer. A writer or artist has to analyze their own work a lot, but I think there’s a lot about their work that is a mystery to them. With the recent death of Philip Roth and the other generation of writers like Saul Bellow, Updike and Mailer, I’m reading that this may be the end of the big, literary novel. Are novels still important and relevant? I think people have been saying that the novel is “dead” since a few years after it emerged. The novel’s place in culture has changed, obviously, but people are still reading even if more of our cultural conversation centers around television. But what’s one of the highest compliments that people give to a TV show? “It felt like a novel.” And how many series are based on books?
It always comes back to the novel. There’s nothing quite like it. No one has found a way to replace it or create a new art form that can do everything the novel can do. In the past few years we’ve seen books like Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad and George Saunders’ Lincoln
Does it matter if people are reading romance novels or Fifty Shades of Gray as long as they are reading? People can read what they want to read. I will judge them for it, but I don’t begrudge how anyone relaxes. I’ve read plenty of crime novels that are the literary equivalent
"Stories are how we define ourselves and how we are defined." in the Bardo and The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen and others that have seized people’s imaginations. I don’t think that’s going to change. Do you have a particular type of genre that you enjoy? I’ve always been a fan of mystery novels. I’ll even read even a middling crime novel if it sounds interesting. To the degree that I relax with a book, those are the books that I read.
54 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
of junk food, and people can judge me for that. Do you read on a Kindle? I don’t have a tablet. I’m umbilically tied to my laptop all day so part of the joy of reading a book is that I’m not on a screen. There’s a lack of distraction when reading a physical book. That’s important for me, and I enjoy that even if I’m studying the book.
Do you have a methodology when you read? I’m constantly underlining as I’m reading and use Post-it® notes to bookmark. I take notes, either on my phone or in a notebook. Even when I’m reading for pleasure, I’m still analyzing and thinking. I can’t turn it off. Who determines the books you review? It depends. I pitch magazines and outlets. Editors will sometimes pitch me. Publicists are pitching both of us different ideas. For the Wideman interview, I had pitched a few outlets, essentially arguing why this is a good idea for an article and how I would approach it. My editor at The Millions, the amazing Lydia Kiesling, replied “Dear Alex, Yes! Best, Lydia.” It’s usually not that easy, but it’s always nice when an editor trusts you. Are you writing any novels yourself ? Right now, I’m writing one book and editing another. One is a book about kids on the Connecticut shore, and it’s about being twelve-years-old and all that means, and it’s very much an homage to many of the books I loved when I was young. The other book is a sort of a mystery, and it’s about getting older. It’s also about the history of burlesque and the history of Hartford and how families pass down trauma more easily than memory. They’re not autobiographical, but also, they are. There should be a part of you in every book. I am also working on a radio piece, and I’m in that, too. But, hopefully, each of them sound completely different from each other, and nothing like me. Was there a writer that you interviewed that you had pinch yourself ? There have been a few. In college I interviewed Seamus Heaney. That was my first big interview, or really, my first medium-sized interview. Heaney was smart and funny and thoughtful and everything you could hope for – to the point where
it can ruin things, because, of course, I have not spent my career hanging out with deeply entertaining and thoughtful Nobel Prize-winners. Jules Feiffer was huge interview. Richard Wilbur. Alison Bechdel. I interviewed W.S. Merwin a few years ago. He’s done some of the best work of his career in his seventies and eighties, which is really inspiring. He’s one of those seminal writers for me and his book, The Lice, is one of “the” books of poetry for me. I’ve also interviewed John Lewis a couple of times. The Congressman is just one of the nicest people imaginable. It’s intimidating because I was thinking, “I was taught about you in elementary school.” I interviewed him on stage later, which was intimidating in a whole other way. Of course, no one was there for me. Lewis spoke about the March on Washington, A. Philip Randolph, and nonviolence, and when we finished, he hugged me and called me brother. It was a little nerve-wracking, but it wasn’t just my career highlight, it was one of the great experiences of my life. You also write about graphic novels. What role do you believe they play? One answer is simply that I like graphic novels. I’m interested in art and design, and we live in a very visual culture. But to bring it back to John Wideman, one of the things I learned from studying him is the importance of form. That’s something I also learned from studying poetry. Form and structure are not decoration, they’re vital to understanding what is being said. Sometimes what’s needed is a new form. John Wideman does that in The Cattle Killing and Philadelphia Fire. You can see that same impulse animating Marquez and Achebe and Doris Lessing and Ruth Ozeki and Patrick Chamoiseau and so many others. I would argue that there’s a similar impulse in Art Spiegelman and Alison
Bechdel and Emil Ferris. It’s trying to find a new way of telling stories. Stories are how we define ourselves and how we are defined. For example, greater Hartford is home to large Puerto Rican and West Indian communities. Are they a part of the stories we tell about who we are and who lives here and what our community is? How often do most people in Connecticut think about the Native Americans who live here except in the context of casino gaming? There are so many stories we tell in history classes, in our daily lives, in literature, that are true, but they are not the whole truth. Sometimes, we need to ask different questions, to consider what we’re seeing in a different way, to pay attention to who’s not speaking, to what’s not being said. The result is often new ways of seeing the world. The result is more voices and different voices and new possibilities for everyone. I think that’s true in both literature and in life. Are there any particular KO memories or people that still stay with you? There are a few teachers who defined KO for me, and one of them was Warren Baird. I have this very vivid memory of early in the semester the first time I had him for English. We had read a story by Jamaica Kincaid, from Best American Short Stories, I think, and Baird asked how much of the story was true. I said, “Well, that’s a stupid question.” Then I proceeded to explain, and I remember him grinning as I was talking. He liked my answer, and we shared a certain irreverence and sense of humor. He was my advisor. He was one of my very best teachers. He was my friend. As flattering as it is to be asked to do this interview, the fact that it’s meant that I got to think back on Baird, is something that I appreciate. I miss him.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 55
56 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
.
Perfect Match New Head of School, Tom Dillow “The thrill of victory or the joy you derive from participating is worth more than the fear of failing.”
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 57
Academic All Star Team, and was ranked second all-time leading scorer at Georgetown by the time he graduated. Dillow clearly learned invaluable lessons from collegiate athletics: the value of teamwork, the determination to compete at the highest level, and the ability to focus and perform under pressure. “One of the most important lessons I acquired from competing in sports is that it’s okay to fail, to make mistakes. You can’t be successful playing soccer, or lacrosse, or squash; or performing in the play or ensemble, if you go out there and you’re too worried about making a mistake. You eventually realize that the thrill of victory or the joy you derive from participating is worth more than the fear of failing. I’ve learned a great deal from the mistakes I’ve made on the soccer field, and often with the help of a great coach and a great team. That in turn encouraged me to take risks and to try new things, and it certainly transferred to other areas of my life,” Dillow said.
A Perfect Match By Jackie Pisani If you were one of the more than 3.2 billion viewers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup this summer, you may have noticed something about soccer players: they’re probably the fittest athletes on the globe, averaging six to seven miles per match all while mastering intricate multi-tasking skills as well, like heading, first touch, and shielding and tackling. Soccer players create intense bursts of speed, conduct
dexterous actions, pivot with accuracy, and possess extraordinary mental endurance. Much the same could be said of the attributes and skills required for a head of school – or a dad of four boys. At Georgetown University, Tom Dillow, KO’s new head of school, earned not only his B.A. in history and government, but an array of soccer accolades as well. He was named an NSCAA/Adidas ScholarAthlete Regional All-American in soccer, was selected for Big East Conference
58 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
That spirit of teamwork became essential for the Dillow family last summer as they moved into their new home at 105 Outlook Avenue, adjacent to the KO campus. Who’s unpacking the box marked “kitchen”? Where’s all the sports gear? What happened to the TV power cord? His wife Deirdre and their four sons, Finn, Ronan, Aidan and Tadhg, took it all in stride. “Moving is never easy, but we’ve actually lived in four different homes during the past six years in St. Petersburg. We’re not minimalists, but we’ve certainly down-sized by now. And every time we’ve moved it has helped to remind us that the important things in life are not the stuff we own but the memories we make together as a family,” he said. The Dillow clan took the scenic route north from Florida, stopping along
Q&A with Tom Dillow Pick your preference: dogs or cats? Dogs
the way at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, two places where Tom has taught. “That said, all memories are not made equal or worth holding onto. For instance, it was not easy driving 1,300 miles in a van filled with three boys whose brotherly love for each other seemed to diminish with each passing mile in the cramped quarters. Nor was it fun to listen to our nine-month-old Wheaten terrier, Quigley, bark at every passing truck and attempt, unsuccessfully, to leap through the closed window at every passing motorcycle,” Dillow admitted. Before accepting the position at KO, Dillow spent six years as head of the upper school at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg, one of the oldest independent schools in Florida. Last year he served a dual position at the school as both assistant headmaster and head of Upper School. ( Just how Dillow will navigate those early-morning snow-day calls for our erratic New England climes is at the top of many KO student’s mind.) While at Shorecrest he spearheaded the school’s project based learning initiatives, shepherded a new Honor System and Honor Council, and added advanced electives to the curriculum. Dillow also created and taught interdisciplinary courses on Sub-Saharan Africa and one that he titled “Tribalism: Us vs. Them.” “I have been increasingly interested in
What type of music or song is on heavy rotation? Here’s what’s on my latest spotify playlist: The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Mozart, The Head and the Heart, Shovels & Rope, The Shins, Radiohead, The Fratellis, Band of Horses, AWOLNATION, Pixies, Kasabian, Arcade Fire, Van Morrison, Tom Petty, David Bowie, Dr. Dog, Cage the Elephant, Joseph Arthur. Ask me about “iPod Wars” one day. What was your first job? Waiting tables at Pizzeria Uno in Georgetown. Where is your favorite place to unwind? Hiking in the woods or up a mountain. What’s your favorite inspirational quote? “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather, teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller
should have been a singer in a rock band. She’s also the nicest person I know, and likes to say things to make people feel good about themselves. Choose your last meal on earth. Probably Korean BBQ. Which historical figure(s) do you want to invite to a dinner party? That’s a tough one, but I’ll go with Abraham Lincoln, FDR, and Nelson Mandela. Book(s) that you have read more than once or book that influenced you the most? A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving; The Righteous Mind – Jonathan Haidt; Good to Great – Jim Collins; Sapiens – Yuval Noah Harari. What is your current state of mind? Happy. What’s your biggest pet peeve? People who have too many pet peeves. Life’s too short to let the little things bother us.
Do you have a secret talent? I make great scrambled eggs.
What’s the most thrill seeking thing you’ve ever done? Either skiing the double black diamond Couloir Extreme at Whistler or walking to the Inca Bridge at Machu Picchu.
How’s your singing voice? My wife tells me once or twice a year that I
Yankees or Red Sox? Bayern Munich.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 59
learning more about the powerful effect of tribalism in shaping our thoughts and decisions. This class was an opportunity to study this topic further with students, particularly the neurological and psychological foundations of tribalism. It was one of the more rewarding teaching experiences I’ve had,” he said. Dillow’s statement of educational philosophy reflects on how our educational system of rote memorization and passive learning that helped former generations prepare for industrialized jobs on the factory floor may not work as well in today’s fluid, high-tech society. “The master teacher of today,” he wrote, “cannot simply be a disciplinary expert who distributes privileged information to students, but rather is an experienced motivator and learning coach who creates a space for both teacher and students to learn together…where students are willing to take intellectual risks and engage in a collaborative learning process.” Dillow believes in an education that is committed to and embraces cultural competency and diversity to prepare students to be thoughtful and engaged citizens in a pluralistic society. His own background provided fertile ground where this idea first took root. When Dillow was seven, he and his family relocated to Vienna, Austria, and then to the Black Forest region of Germany, a story book alpine setting replete with turreted confections and impossibly quaint villages. He attended the Vienna International School in Austria, just two stops from the Vienna Headquarters of the United Nations on the u-bahn, with students from over 100 nationalities represented. Oftentimes, Dillow found himself to be the only American in his class. The experience left an enduring impression and it’s why he often cites his
favorite quote from St. Augustine, “Hear the other side.” “My upbringing in Europe informed my thinking,” he said. “You were forced to see things from another perspective both intellectually and culturally. The experience helped me appreciate differences and respect people from different walks of life. You always have something to learn from someone that you didn’t think you would. It really speaks to the importance of practicing empathy in our daily lives.” He describes his identity as a “third culture kid,” those youths who don’t fit neatly into a narrowly defined cultural category. “You feel like you are not completely American but a blend of these cultures,” he said. “My re-entry to the U.S. took awhile.” Soccer was the international language that helped Dillow bridge any divide, and he played pick up games in the streets of Vienna, Africa and South America. “Soccer itself serves as a kind of lingua franca. You can connect and get to know people even if you don’t speak the same language,” he said. Headed stateside for college, Dillow studied history and international politics at Georgetown. What piqued his interest in the subject was the daily specter of the past in Vienna that asserted itself at every turn down its baroque streets – the thwarted Ottoman invasion of the city in the 16th and 17th centuries and the victims of the plague. “History was alive in that city, and my curiosity was heightened,” he said. Dillow returned to Europe to receive his master’s in international politics from the University of Edinburgh and graduated with distinction. Studying under John Ravenhill, the noted political scientist who also became his advisor,
60 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Dillow was inspired to write his thesis, “State Compliance and the World Trade Organization” which examined the role politics plays in economics and why states comply with the rulings of the WTO. He explains the current pertinence of world trade, with the looming threat of trade wars now that the U.S. has imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports, with the clarity, immediacy and energy of a seasoned educator who would hold any student rapt with attention. “International cooperation is challenging without rules, and rules, in turn, are useless without accountability or enforcement mechanisms. The WTO suffers from this conundrum, but seeks to mitigate the effects and dissuade states from violating free-trade rules by empowering and allowing the affected states to impose retaliatory tariffs of equal amounts on U.S. goods. This is supposed to serve as a deterrent and prevent states from violating the rules, but oftentimes politics gets in the way. What we’re seeing now with looming bilateral trade wars and rising nationalist sentiments is worrisome particularly if it leads to a further unraveling of international cooperation. The world has been a relatively peaceful place since 1946, in large part because we’ve found a way to get along and we’ve all, at least to some degree, adhered to international rules and norms that were established after WWII,” he said. While studying overseas he experienced the dichotomy of being critical of certain U.S. policies, but defending it while on foreign turf. At times he felt that the other international students did not understand the nuances of our country’s position and policies as an American student would. Although Dillow was invited to pursue his Ph.D. in Edinburgh, he also weighed his options and considered working
for the U.S. State Department, actually sitting for and passing the exam. Dillow worked for the American Bankers Association (ABA), the largest banking trade association, but it left him wanting more than drudgery in a cubicle. “When I was at ABA, I saw my friend teach and decided, ‘That’s what I want to do.’” Dillow said. “I always felt the pull to teach, but I had held it off until this point. I drove 10 hours from D.C. to the McCallie School in Chattanooga to teach a class as part of the hiring process. It was a bit unnerving because they don’t tell you what class you’re going to teach until the night before. My assignment was to teach a section on the arms race during the Cold War. It was one of the more exhilarating experiences I had had in my life, and I felt alive. I loved interacting with the students and knew that was it.” His students were so impressed and inspired at the end of the lesson that they gave Dillow a rousing round of applause.
Now, with over 20 years working in a variety of independent schools (The McCallie School in Chattanooga, TN, The Landon School in Bethesda, MD, The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ, and most recently, Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg, FL) as a history teacher, soccer coach, housemaster, director of summer school, upper school head, and assistant head, Dillow is ready to dive into the KO community. “Kingswood Oxford was an incredibly appealing opportunity to me and it checked off so many of the boxes that I was looking for in a school. It has a strong academic reputation, a talented and student-centered faculty, and is committed to excellence in the arts and athletics. It has made great strides towards building a diverse and inclusive community, but still recognizes that there
is work yet to be done. It was also an ideal location for us, as family members are within an hour and a half drive, and we fell in love with West Hartford,” he said. “I am incredibly excited to get to work, and am humbled by the enormous responsibility to preserve the many facets of KO that have served so many, so well, for so long. I look forward to getting to know the many traditions and quirks that make up the unique KO culture. But I also believe that KO is at an important place in its long history, and that we have an opportunity to move the school forward in exciting directions that will only further cement its standing among Connecticut independent schools, and more importantly, provide unique opportunities for our students that will prepare them for success in the future.”
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 61
62 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
the art of social justice Refugee resettlement, Hip-Hop, civic engagement and the tango, Emily Goldman '09 finds rich fabric for her cultural quilt By Jackie P isani
As the site director of Jiran (“neighbor” in Arabic) in New Britain, an organization that focuses on refugee resettlement issues in the United States, Emily Goldman ’09 has spent the past several years crisscrossing the globe. She’s traveled to Nicaragua, Senegal, Mali, Argentina, Paraguay, Egypt, and Jordan – dancing, researching, and breaking down cultural barriers. Hers is an unconventional story, a circuitous path, exhibiting a deep engagement with and an investigation of the world around her, sometimes while wearing stilts. If there’s a grand plan in her peripatetic life, it’s that she’s doing good work and having fun while doing it.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 63
Entering the KO Communications office, Goldman takes note of the wall hanging that provides the backdrop for the photo accompanying this article. Without missing a beat she states, “That’s Egyptian. It’s a classical design.” Clearly, she’s a young woman who knows her cultural markers. She apologized for running a few minutes late due to an early morning meeting, and she’s headed to Providence right after we chat. Although she conveys a relaxed, easy nature, she’s always going. Looking through the photos of her adventures, you’re struck with a prevailing motif of a self-possessed individual who embraces every experience open to her. Whether she’s sailing down the Nile in a small boat, drumming with friends in a small African village, milking a cow while wearing a boldly designed African batik sarong, or warmly hugging the locals, she revels in each moment. I asked Goldman about how she crosses these geographic, cultural and linguistic divides with ease, especially as a young woman traveling in difficult cultural and sometimes, malecentric terrain. “What I was fortunate to learn early on is that people want to help you if you’re taking a risk on them,” she said. “I also have disproportionate trust in the goodness of other people, and a sense of humor goes a long way.” While a student at KO she discovered theater and competitive Latin ballroom dancing as alternatives to athletics. Although she adored the dance form, she sometimes had difficulty finding a male partner, a clear disadvantage when performing a tango, so she branched into other forms of dance. Taking a gap year before entering Brown University, Goldman traveled to Senegal and other countries to study West African dance, an art that serves as a form of not only aesthetic expression but of cultural communication. “In Senegal, every public
gathering contains drumming and dance,” she said. “It’s so striking. There’s not this idea that you can’t dance. Dance is being used for public health issues or at someone’s wedding to share a narrative. It’s so woven into the societal fabric, and the arts are used to raise awareness in a fun, organic and cultural way.” Back at Brown, where Goldman majored in Development and Middle East studies, the dance instructor and community organizer Michelle Bach-Coulibaly introduced her to Malian dance. BachCoulibaly’s troupe New Works/New World Traditions is committed to using dance and the arts to address social justice issues in the U.S. and Mali. Inspired by her work and by her belief in the power of the arts to build community and civic engagement, Goldman and a fellow Brown student started an organization, Hip Hop 4, that provided afterschool arts-based programming on nonviolence, nutrition and other topics to underserved inner-city youths through dance. While the program offered kids a positive and enriching experience after school, it also provided leadership opportunities for the Hip-Hop teachers who became role models, a win for everyone. Goldman explained that, while a student at KO, she always heard the faculty talk to the students about the responsibility to use their “privilege,” but she said she had little understanding of that beyond the idea that “life was unfair and I was lucky.” While in college she was inspired by a straight-talking friend who said to her, “You carry your privilege like a heavy chain. Use it for the people who don’t have it.” Compelled by this insight, Goldman began to understand that she could use her education and savvy as “steel pliers that cut through the wires and red tape” to help those in need. Although many of the “vulnerable” individuals
64 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Goldman worked with were, in many cases, stronger and more capable than she was, they lacked the tools and knowledge that she had gained at KO: strong written and verbal communication and critical thinking skills. With these tools, Goldman was granted access to funding that was denied to others. “You can pry your way into meetings. You can pry open doors that would have been shut. You can make a difference,” she said. In 2013 she received a Middlebury Mellon Research Grant to extend her studies at the C.V. Starr Middlebury School Abroad in Egypt to conduct research on how Hip-Hop music was used as a political statement during the Egyptian revolution. While there, she cultivated a growing understanding of the role of women in a culture characterized by a traditional societal structure with many women working inside the home. Without any judgment, Goldman explains that, while the U.S. equates women’s power with employment and financial success, the Middle Eastern society does not. “My host mother in Alexandria was one of the strongest women I’ve seen, running six businesses,” Goldman said. “In the Middle East there’s much more emphasis on social ties that trumps professional goals. That’s something that we do in the U.S. - this internal ranking of other people. In the Middle East the questions are: Are you married? Do you have kids? These questions are based on the values we make as communities,” she said. For the past four years, Emily has been living and working in Jordan. She has worked in humanitarian aid for the UN and the International Rescue Committee, and for other social justice organizations. She was also the co-manager of Studio 8 Amman, an arts NGO for at-risk youth, which led her to teach dance and theater
in Syrian refugee camps, and cultural centers across Jordan. That’s where the stilts come in. In one photo, Goldman comfortably walks through Amman on four-foot stilts as quizzical onlookers snap photos. For the past year and a half, Goldman has also served as the Resident Coordinator for Middlebury College’s School in Jordan. When I asked if she had a defining moment, Goldman says that it was more of an “American moment” - an experience that has shaped her approach to her work with her non-profit Jiran. She describes waiting in an emergency room in New Haven last summer and witnessing the bureaucratic struggle that many refugees experience as they fill out paperwork and try to understand and navigate the channels to help their transition to the States, despite the number of resources that New Haven provides them. “This is a particular time right now in the U.S. where people see a paralysis at the federal level, which motivates individuals to get involved on a local level,” she said. “This is a great space to function in how to make our communities better. That’s where a lot
of work can be done. I want to contribute to my own community, help develop skills and social ties.” Because Middlebury College was interested in expanding their Arabic language program and developing engaged learners, Goldman proposed to the college a pilot initiative, Jiran, which integrates newly arrived immigrants and refugees with the greater community, and improves the Arabic language skills of U.S. based students. Middlebury fronts a portion of the cost, and Goldman is tasked to raise the rest with the goal of expanding the program across the country. This is no mere top-down approach. Through this program, Jiran connects and pairs Arabic-studying students with recently arrived families so they can benefit one another. Since many immigrants lose their identity when they resettle in another country, Jiran seeks to reestablish who they are as individuals by recognizing their skill sets and talents, developing personal relationships, and creating meaning in people’s lives. “This
is not a program just to help someone in need,” Goldman said. “You can learn, too. There’s a lot of opportunity for exchange and to create more room for bidirectional instruction.” “The premise of what we’re trying to build is focused on the fact that many of these immigrants have a ton to teach us. Unfortunately, we’ve distilled these immigrants and refugees into categories with rigid definitions. A refugee is not an identity; it’s a situation. When I tell someone that a recent immigrant has written three books, they’re shocked.” Although the magnitude of the refugee issue may seem enormous, Goldman remains positive and clearly embraces the Mideastern tenets of charity and hospitality. She hopes that Jiran becomes a robust organization that taps into people’s innate curiosity about one another while reinventing and expanding the current view of refugee status. “All of us lead nuanced, layered and complex lives,” she said. “The more we can see people for who they are, the better will be our understanding of the world.”
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 65
A
After speaking with Janet Kraus ’84, CEO of the athleisure clothing brand Peach, you might be inclined to start a business or at the very least climb the nearest mountain peak. She’s that inspiring and dynamic. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we obsessed over the things we loved about ourselves? It’s not self-indulgent if it’s in service of you being great,” Kraus said. Whatever she’s selling, I’m buying, even though I haven’t exercised in over four years. Peach, the brand, is a 15-piece comfy collection of mix-and-match separates for women, all priced under $100, that delivers five collections a year. But, Peach, the concept, involves a whole lot more than clothes. It’s a mindset, Kraus said, that taps into the vitality of women and stretches and invigorates who they are and want to become. Peach harnesses their entrepreneurial spirit and activates them to lead happy and healthy lives. What started as an intimate apparel line focusing on a personalized sale of bras has grown into a thriving business that offers softer than soft tops, flattering leggings in a moisture wicking tech fabric, and chic yet simple dresses. Currently, twenty-five
UNIMPEACHABLE b y Jac k i e P i s a n i
percent of the Peach product line is gym wear and the balance is athleisure wear, all with an approachable feminine aesthetic targeted to the active mom. This new strategy for Peach has paid off. The company now consists of an army of 500 entrepreneurs, whom Peach
66 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
calls stylists, located in New England, the Mid Atlantic, Atlanta, Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and northern California. This number is growing every month. With an initial seed investment of $199 each stylist receives the technology, marketing materials, and three garments needed to start her own Peach business. Stylists create their own schedules and sell on their own time. A three-to-five hour weekly commitment can yield a stylist $500. Top stylists can earn $5,000 to $10,000 plus a month through her own sales and a percent of her team’s sales. Whether a Peach stylist schedules one-on-one appointments in people’s homes, hosts a sip-and-shop experience at a gym or pilates studio, or
big story. Our stylists are constantly posting things on social media about how they’ve parlayed taking Peach on the road and whether they’ve achieved a goal or hit a road bump. I love it when they post about how Peach has impacted their lives financially, emotionally, cognitively, and spiritually. We try to bring value to all parts of their lives."
Why are you not your best friend? You have to train your mind to be positive and focus on your strengths.
Kraus’s entrepreneurial zeal emerged early on and was always in the process of becoming. After Yale, Kraus attended Stanford Business School, and, like many business school grads, worked for a consulting firm, where her
Janet Kraus ’84, CEO of athleisure clothing brand, Peach offers a small parties in a friend’s home, or simply shares looks she loves by wearing the clothes (Peach calls this wear and share), she can create and define her own business on her own terms. “I draw inspiration from women who are not known,” Kraus said. “I like the little story as much as the
achievements left her feeling unfulfilled. Her moment of reckoning occurred while huddled over a spreadsheet at 2:00 a.m., when her computer went on the fritz, causing every cell to blink an error code. Although she was panicked and discouraged, that low point opened up a
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 67
moment of clarity for her. She conjured up all the past experiences that gave her joy. In our meeting, Kraus pulls out a faded photo on her laptop of her young self crouched next to her classic red Radio Flyer wagon filled with vegetables that she and her dad grew, which she sold to her neighbors, tossing recipes for ratatouille in order to spur sales. During a summer in college, she remarkably sold $50,000 of Cutco knives in three months. She organized talent shows in her backyard and charged the neighborhood parents tickets to watch their own children performing cartwheels. These early morning moments of business insight put Kraus on her path of entrepreneurial transformation and she hasn’t looked back. In recalling her past, Kraus said that gaining an understanding of herself has allowed her to achieve a more meaningful and fruitful life.
People who are true entrepreneurs don’t see risk the way others do. You’re not afraid of failing. You think, what’s the worst thing that could happen?
As a former entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard Business School (Peach is Kraus’ third startup), Kraus readily recites the HBS definition of entrepreneurship: the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources currently controlled. But, she admits that the definition is limited because it says nothing about ideas, personality, and enthusiasm. By her own account, Kraus defines entrepreneurship as a way of being. She asks, “Do you want to relentlessly pursue an idea? Do you have the drive? There are lots of things that you can learn about being an entrepreneur, but people who are true entrepreneurs don’t see risk the way others do. You’re not afraid of failing. You think, what’s the worst thing that could happen? I guess I’ll get a job.” Kraus continues, “In my mind, I never give up. Nothing has been an all-out failure. I always make something of it. I don’t fear failure. Entrepreneurs reframe the conversation to see a new way to think it through. You’re either going to find a way to
68 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
land the plane softly or find a way to put gas in the tank. Our brains find ways to reframe the story line so that you can manage the stress. Sometimes the best ideas come out of times that are challenging because it forces you out of the box." While she found the teaching gig at HBS invigorating and rewarding, she wanted to take a more hands-on approach and scale up to influence more than just one classroom of entrepreneurial students, which ultimately led her to Peach. Kraus cites sobering headwinds, particularly for women in startups. Women start businesses at twice the rate of men, yet only ten percent of female-owned companies make $100,000 in revenue. Less than two percent of those companies earn a million dollars in revenue. Ninety-six percent of venture capital goes to male-founded companieswith male CEOs. She says the most difficult aspect of her job is fundraising, which occupies eighty percent of her time, noting that women typically receive more “nos” from VC firms. Despite and perhaps because of these dim prospects for women in startups, Kraus wants to help other women crack the code to achieve greater success in business and transform their lives into something inspiring. A key to Peach’s success and the loyalty of its salesforce is its commitment to its employees’ professional development. “One of the things that I got excited about at Harvard,” she said “was the study of positive psychology and the work of Martin Seligman, who wanted to make healthy brains healthier and create satisfaction and joy. I started teaching that and studying that and thought about how to integrate these ideas at Peach while building this army of stylists.” Thus, as part of the company’s underpinning, Peach provides support
and training through its Thrive program, designed to help women reach their fullest potential. Stylists are given a strengths assessment which is a personality thumbprint that helps them live into and harness their strengths, enabling them to build a better team and a better business. Monthly coaching calls are made to review performance and develop the stylists’ skill set while building their confidence. She acknowledges that women are their own worst critics, members of what Kraus calls the internal “Itty Bitty Shitty Committee,” and she asks women to be kinder to themselves. “The criticism women say to themselves,” she said, “ is something they would never say to a friend. Why are you not your best friend? You have to train your mind to be positive and focus on your strengths. We spend time in the gym. It’s worth the time to train your mind as well. It’s a muscle. It’s grooved into your brain. You have to fake it so the positive story becomes the true one.” Kraus is a remarkable force, and you don’t have to look far into her background to see why. Her childhood was a perfect incubator for future success. Her late mother, Eileen Kraus, a stay-at-home mom who re-entered the workforce at age 40 only to become the first woman in the United States to lead a major regional bank, was and remains a positive beacon in her life and a source of Kraus’s optimistic attitude and spirit. (Eileen Kraus served on KO’s Board of Directors from 1990-1999 among other corporate boards, including Stanley Works, Kaman Corporation, Yankee Energy, Yale New Haven Hospital and ConnectiCare Inc.) Speaking of her mother, who passed away last year, draws tears from Kraus’ bright blue eyes as she lovingly recalls her. “She was a big mama bear in every sense of the word, intimidating at first perhaps to people who didn’t know her but truly the warmest person when in her embrace...and she let a lot of people into that embrace,”
she said. “She emanated strength and calm and clarity. There was no grass greener than in front of my mother’s house. Our life was amazing in her mind. It was so positive and forward looking. I knew that my mother would support me no matter what.” Her father, Harold, was her mother’s biggest champion. He wasn’t threatened by her achievements and had the utmost respect for what she was creating during a time when women’s empowerment was in its nascent stages. This mutual partnership set a positive example for Kraus of how to create a rewarding and shared life. Kraus also credits her time at KO as defining. “I got everything from KO: my service ethic, my study skills, my leadership skills. I was entirely prepared for my time at Yale and, unlike the kids who went to boarding school, I was not jaded. The KO teachers were highly supportive, and it’s so amazing to be in an environment where your freshman year teachers are still involved when you’re a senior. Everyone is supportive 360°.” Now, as a mom to twin daughters, (she eagerly shares a performance of her daughter as the Beast in her school’s production of Beauty and the Beast on her cell phone), Kraus is optimistic about the fortunes of women ahead. She believes that more female-owned companies will produce better outcomes in society and a radically different world encompassing a wholesale shift of priorities about where money is spent, how our laws are made and who achieves wealth. “I’m hoping to elevate women,” she said. “That’s why I’m doing this – not only to sell some leggings but to also have women stop bad mouthing themselves. That’s exciting and great to me. I don’t want to be Tony Robbins, but I want to have that impact. I want other people to have the empowerment of the Peach brand.” I’m sold.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 69
LIGHTING UP THE WORLD Sixth graders send solar-powered lights to Kenyan school B y R o b Ky f f
70 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 71
KO’s sixth graders helped to light up the world this fall. Literally After learning that many children in Africa struggle to do their homework by the dim light of smelly and smoky kerosene lamps because their homes lack electricity, KO’s entire sixth grade class assembled and charged 35 small solar-powered lights and packed them for shipment to a school in Kenya. In the process, they learned about the people and culture of Africa, explored the technology of solar power, and savored the satisfaction of helping others. The project began when KO alumnus John Wang ’88, who lives in China, learned about Power the Future, a non-profit organization begun three years ago to provide students in Africa with solar lights. Wang mentioned the initiative to former Head of School Dennis Bisgaard, who thought it would be the perfect project for KO’s sixth-grade geography classes. Wang volunteered to buy 35 kits for Solemate lights and ship them to KO for assembly by the students. Power the Future paired the KO students with a girls secondary school in the Maasai region
72 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
of Kenya. While schools in other nations have participated in Power the Future projects, KO is the first school in the United States to do so. Under the guidance of geography teachers Alison O’Donnell and Jim Weeks, the students prepared for the project by studying and discussing the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Goals, which include ending hunger and poverty, and providing health care, education, gender equality, clean water and affordable, clean energy. Then each student researched a different country in Africa and devised a Google slides presentation that included an assessment of how well that country was doing in meeting the UN’s objectives. “We spent a lot of time talking about the UN’s Sustainable Goals,” O’Donnell said. “This project gave us a real opportunity to address several of them, most notably affordable and clean energy, the quality of education, and gender equality, because we were sending the lights to a girls school.” The students also watched a video that depicted the difficulties and dangers posed when African students use kerosene lamps to study. Not only do the lamps provide insufficient light, but they also
this homestay, Weeks said, “The students became attached to the lights. They took ownership.” Once the lights were completed, the sixth graders wrote letters to the students who would be receiving them. “In my letter, I wrote about my family and my sports and asked a few questions, like ‘What’s your village like?’” Ian said.
emit noxious, unhealthy fumes and present a fire hazard. Moreover, the high cost of kerosene imposes a heavy financial burden on African families. “The smoke from the kerosene lamps makes them cough, and creates bad air for them to sleep in,” said Victoria Layden ’24. Weeks said the video was very effective. “It showed the students a real problem and said, ‘Here’s something you can do to make a little change.’” When the solar light kits arrived at KO in November, the students energetically dove in to the assembly process. Following the directions scrupulously and using screwdrivers and rubber bands, each student put together multiple components to make his or her own light, which, when completed, was about the size of a Rubik’s
Cube. Then they excitedly roamed the KO campus for 15 minutes to charge their lights in the bright sun. Ian Russell ’24 said he enjoyed the handson aspect of the assembly process. “I like the idea of building things and doing it yourself,” he said. “It wasn’t like the normal schoolwork of writing and tests.” His classmate Chelsea O’Donnell ’24 said she especially liked the idea making something to benefit other children. “I got to use actual tools on a project I know will help someone,” she said. “It was for kids who actually need it.” To experience what using the lights would be like for the African students, the sixth graders took their lights home for the weekend and used them as the sole source of illumination while studying. During
Though the delivery of the lights to the school in Kenya had been temporarily delayed by customs’ red tape, the lights were shipped this spring and, after they arrive, the KO students hope to receive letters back from the African students who receive them. “Our geography course is really about global citizenship,” O’Donnell said, “and this project provided a tangible connection to the UN goals. It made it a little bit more real that there are other people in the world who don’t have access to clean energy. The students realized that this little light on their desk could really help someone.” The sixth graders said they found the project both enjoyable and meaningful. “I learned a lot about how our lives are so different,” Victoria said. “They come home to small houses without electricity, no computer or television and no big fluffy bed. It reminded me to take nothing for granted, and it made me feel good to do something for them.”
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 73
Madison Neal '09 (left), enjoying the company of her dear friends, Maya Frazier '09 (back, right) and Rachael Alexander '09 ( front, right).
The Evolution of the Sister Circle I am grateful to KO for providing an environment where we could learn more about ourselves as individuals, which then opened doors for us to discover and cultivate strong friendships. By Madison Neal ’09 74 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
High school is tough. Your body is changing right before your eyes, classes get harder, the SAT is a constant reminder of all the words you don’t know, and college is a concept that is both exciting and terrifying. As I inch closer to my 10-year reunion, another terrifying yet exciting concept, I reflect on my years at KO. Although my high school experience was a struggle for its own reasons, the lifelong friends that I made at KO made it all worthwhile. Maya Frazier and Rachael Alexander are the sisters I never knew I needed. The three of us had grown up in the same town of Bloomfield, and on various occasions, such as church or Girl Scouts, we had seen and briefly interacted with one another before. We never had the opportunity to truly connect until KO’s freshman orientation in September 2005. Ironically, each of us, at separate times of our lives prior to attending KO, had had the same best friend. It’s amazing to think that those three, nervous, freshmen sitting with their parents during orientation in Roberts Theater would later create a bond so tight even an ocean of distance couldn’t break it. We had no clue that it would be the beginning of our lifelong Sister Circle. I am grateful to KO for providing an environment where we could learn more about ourselves as individuals, which then opened the doors for us to discover and cultivate strong friendships. As three students of color in a predominately white school, the United Students Club was our sanctuary. Initially, it served as a safe space for us to voice our feelings freely. But, as we grew into our own and engaged with other student diversity groups on and
off campus, United Students allowed us the opportunity to explore our voices in student leadership.
we held one another and, through victories, we celebrated one another.
Throughout the many challenges of being some of the few black girls on campus, yearning to be heard and accepted, as well as the challenges of regular high school life, the three of us grew closer and closer with each school term. Our time spent together eventually evolved from study hall and lunch periods to hanging out with one another after school and on weekends. We spent so much time together back then, that people would sometimes mistake me for Maya, though we three still can’t see the resemblance. By sophomore year, our underground alias, “DKB,” had formed, so named for the color of our eyes (dark brown) indicated on our driver’s learner’s permit. We were not a gang, nor a clique; we were a sisterhood. For most high school students, four years feels like forever! But for our four years, we worked together, sang together, danced together, laughed together, and even cried together. Through sickness, we prayed for one another. Through breakups,
Many aren’t lucky enough to find such grounded friendships in high school. Due to their undeveloped frontal lobes, teenagers don’t always display the best judgment. Hence, they may define “friendship” in terms of the people they take the most selfies with or share the most gossip with. While I can admit to the occasional indulgence in gossip and to the uploading of thousands of photos to Facebook, our bond extended well beyond the superficial. When we graduated in May 2009, we knew we would be venturing off to three different colleges: Holy Cross for Rachael, George Washington for Maya, and Marist College for me. It was terrifying to know I wouldn’t have my sisters with me in a new territory – if only to help me navigate the complexities of making new friends. However, there was a certain calm during our last “DKB Sister Circle” that graduation summer because we knew, deep down, that this would not be our breaking point. KO taught us too much about ourselves and about our sisterhood
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 75
a few exciting months. However, our bond has proven to be built for a lifetime. Thanks to technology, the three of us will never miss a beat. FaceTime has allowed us to see one another on birthdays. Apple’s iMessage has been the virtual conference room for updates, and social media have allowed us to share and publicly (and sometimes obnoxiously) celebrate one another. Throughout the years, we have been able to adjust, adapt and realign ourselves to make the best out of our various circumstances. Our most recent moves have been a testimony to the old saying, “Distance means so little when someone means so much.” to let any amount of distance or time tear us apart.
Rachael and I were back home, and Maya remained in the nation’s capital.
Throughout college, we each got wrapped up in our individual lives and experienced a new set of challenges, sometimes going weeks without hearing from one another. But the holidays, long weekends and school breaks were always our chance to have Sister Circles, catch up, and just be silly – exactly the way we used to.
By September 2017, I accepted a new job in Washington, D.C. and Maya and I became roommates. After all our years of friendship, none of us had ever been roommates, until now! Now it was time for Maya and me to enjoy a city together. It was perfect! She was able to teach me about the city that had been her second home for eight years and, as we expected, we had a blast. By November, Rachael came down to visit, and DKB was back to our shenanigans – but this time, as bona fide adults!
After college, Rachael and I moved back home, and Maya stayed in D.C. Even with only two-thirds of DKB back home, not much changed. We maintained our Sister Circles even if we sometimes had to Skypein Maya. In 2015, Rachael moved to Houston, Texas, and we were back to being spread around the country. Again, DKB prevailed despite the distance. In November 2016, we enjoyed a DKB road trip and moved Rachael back to Connecticut to start nursing school. Similar to our previous arrangements,
Late 2017, Maya was blessed with a new job opportunity in Saipan, and in January 2018, our DKB roommate dream came to an end. One life lesson that I’ve come to accept is that everything works in cycles. Sometimes the cycle is meant to last as short as a week, and sometimes it is meant for a lifetime. For our DKB roommate dream, the cycle was meant to last only for
76 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
As I reflect on the past nine years, I’m proud to say KO was not just high school, but rather the place where we learned about ourselves through our challenges. It was where we discovered our passions. And ultimately, it was where we felt safe to be vulnerable, come together, and grow. KO was where I created an extension of my family. KO was the birthplace of the DKB Sister Circle. Rachael is currently working in patient support services at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and is a B.S.N. candidate at the University of Saint Joseph (Class of 2018). Madison is currently the external communications manager at the International Code Council in Washington, D.C. Maya is a law clerk to the Honorable Perry B. Inos, Associate Justice CNMI Supreme Court in Saipan, Marianas Protectorate (MP).
International Students at KO Thrive and Enrich School Life By Susan Emer y Many schools in the United States compete for global talent by enrolling students from around the world. Kingswood Oxford, which currently enrolls 18 international students, continues to experience an increase in international applications. While most international students seek a boarding-school environment, many are attracted to KO’s dayschool culture because it provides an immersive experience that allows students to enjoy day-to-day life while living with an American host family.
Photos, clockwise from top center: Rita Zhao ’19 and Linda Hu ’19; Angela Yang '18 in Almost Maine; Rita's artwork; Jack Gao ’19 on the ice; Helen Lu ’19; Aaron Duan; Ophelia Deng ’17; Leon Liu ’18; International Students; Casey Qi ’19; Felix Fei '21; Kevin Wan ’19
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 77
Host families play an integral role in shaping the international student experience at KO. Jane Liang ’21 lives in West Hartford with the Krammerer family, who she describes as “the best host family one could ever ask for.” Jane’s host sister, AJ, attends Jane’s athletic games, horse shows, and Forensic Union tournaments, and Jane attends AJ’s karate competitions and school events. Even though both host parents work full time, they take the girls to Six Flags amusement park, share with them their love of landscaping, and celebrate special occasions by dining at restaurants. “They are awesome, and they made my first year at KO amazing,” Jane said of her host family. Jane will be representing KO this year as an admissions tour guide for Shield and Dragon. Each of KO’s international students brings a unique personality and contribution to campus life and classes. According to KO’s English teachers, many international students show a sophisticated understanding and nuance in literature classes. Upper School English teacher Mela Frye said she noticed that many of the international students in her English classes write with great emotion and empathy, which is challenging even for those whose first language is English. “Many of them take pride in being hard workers, but, more than that, they seem to take pleasure in being real scholars and intellectuals,” she said. “They don’t fear a challenge and embrace the opportunity to learn deeply.” Frye cited Felix Fei ’21 as another international student who has quietly distinguished himself in English class. Frye describes him as a student who thinks deeply, carefully, and critically. “What's impressive about Felix's writing, beyond its lyricism and economy of image, is his candor in exploring the daily experience
of an introvert. The speaker in a poem he wrote describes how he braves the social scene at lunch after being encouraged by friends, but ultimately is freest and happiest eating alone. With beautiful precision and sensitivity, Felix demonstrated to me in this poem how mature and self-aware he is. I wish more students would have the courage to write like he does!” Mrs. Beilei Zhang, Felix’s mom, said, “Although Felix was a child who loved reading and writing in China, his English teacher’s literary training and passion for English is contagious and motivated Felix to also fall in love with his English class.” Other international students excel in math and science. Helen Lu ’19 received The Rensselaer Prize presented to the Fifth Form student most competent in mathematics and science. Although Helen said she was surprised to receive the award, she recognized that she devoted a lot of energy to her math and science classes. Helen said she appreciates the opportunity to collaborate with her peers by working in groups during class. AP® Statistics teacher Tracy Deeter describes Helen as a talented mathematician who never gives up and perseveres through difficult problems. “Helen’s unyielding work ethic, passion for learning, and genuine kindness leave a lasting impression on everyone she knows,” Deeter said. “From her meticulous and detail-oriented approach to solving problems to her ability to frame simple questions pertaining to even the most complicated material, Helen puts herself in a position to find great success. Helen is a very creative thinker. I knew that when I assigned a difficult problem, she would not only complete it but would also do so in a way I never considered.”
78 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Another international student, Leon Liu ’18, took AP® Physics as a junior and demonstrated a unique ability to mentor his classmates. Physics teacher Kathleen DiSanto ’03 describes Leon as a thoughtful student who happily participated in class discussions. “He was so modest and patient,” she said. “When students worked in pairs, he would be open to other methods to solve problems and could explain how he approached the question.” KO’s international students not only enrich the academic life of KO, but their character also enhances the life of the community. Kevin Wan ’19, for example, received The First Year Award, which is given to that student who, during the first full year at Kingswood Oxford, has shown strong academic achievement and has displayed responsibility, maturity, cooperation and loyalty. While Kevin said he was honored to receive such a prestigious award, he didn’t quite understand why. His English teacher Mela Frye said Kevin’s characteristic humility and intellectual curiosity make him a model student in class. In fact, Frye often uses his essays as examples of excellent writing. “Kevin is an introspective learner who thinks deliberately and critically about the material. He wants to understand. He’s open and curious and attentive, and therefore gets deeply bothered by characters and situations we read about,” she said. “It’s delightful.” Kevin regularly practices piano in Alumni Hall because he finds it refreshing after a long day of learning. KO’s orchestra conductor, Richard Chiarappa, applauds Kevin’s piano skills and commends his discipline and training. Kevin said he’s also very proud of his involvement with the robotics team, one of his many after-school activities.
One reason international students seek out U.S. schools is that they offer educational opportunities that are more well-rounded and holistic than those available in their home countries. Jack Gao ’19, a member of Shield and Dragon who will serve as the treasurer of KO’s student government this year, explained, “Most of the school day in China is focused exclusively on academics. School administrators allow you to run for 40 minutes, so you can relax, but that’s only to prepare you to do another round of schoolwork.” Mrs. Zhang is thankful for Felix’s coaches in soccer, swimming, and golf. She said, “Their constant encouragement and support, as well as the strong team spirit, made Felix fall in love with the School.” KO’s international students participate in many athletic teams, including soccer, volleyball, cross country, swimming, tennis, golf, track and field, and ice hockey. One of Jack’s passions is ice hockey, which is unusual for students from China. “A defining experience for me is when I joined the ice hockey team as a freshman,” he said. “We had a group of players who practiced hard both on and off the rink.” His teammate, Calvin Beck ’19 got to know Jack through the hockey team, and they have been in the same advisee group since freshman year. “Jack works hard in every game,” Calvin said. “He is encouraging on and off the ice. He has scored goals for us and is a positive influence on the younger and newer players on the team.” In addition, Jack plays for an elite hockey club based in Massachusetts. Another athlete, Casey Qi ’19, said she appreciates the opportunity to learn from her peers. Not only did she run a half marathon in the fall, but she also serves as
the Associate News Editor for the KO News and won the Wellesley Club of Hartford Prize, which is given to a woman member of the Fifth Form who has demonstrated intellectual curiosity and excellence in scholarship. Casey especially enjoys the Harkness table discussions in English classes where she can discuss and explore topics with other students. She joined the KO News because, “It’s a great opportunity to get to know people and the things that are happening in the community! Especially for introverts and people who like to write, the paper gives a sense of meaning to your writing, which is kind of like your own voice in the community.” Her interest in the KO News began in journalism class with English Department Chair Catherine Schieffelin. “Casey is one of the most conscientious and indefatigable journalism students I’ve ever taught,” Schieffelin said. “She brought such energy to the stories and seemed to really enjoy getting outside of her comfort zone on some of her articles as she interviewed individuals in the community she didn’t know. As an editor, Casey has a sharp eye and is always ready to learn something new about a person, event or institution.” Ophelia Deng ’17 was one of the first international students to attend KO. Looking back at her KO career, she said she is grateful that KO prepared her for college; she now attends Boston University. “I realize now the importance of Harkness table discussions and how quickly I complete papers,” she said. She’s especially grateful for history teacher Ted Levine, who could empathize with her struggles as an international student learning to navigate a new school, new country, and new classmates. Ophelia said she didn’t fully appreciate all the resources, clubs, and
“They are awesome, and they made my first year at KO amazing,” Jane Liang ’21 said of her host family.
activities that KO had to offer until she got to college and compared her high school experience with those of her classmates who attended other high schools. Her advice to future Wyverns is to get involved in as many activities as possible, especially Model UN and Forensic Union. International students contribute to the academic, athletic, artistic, and extracurricular vitality of KO as leaders and ambassadors. They learn with passion and perseverance; they work hard, take risks, and become involved. They embody our Core Values and, most important, are preparing themselves and their fellow Kingswood Oxford students to thrive in a global world.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 79
Class Notes september
2018
Kingswood Class of 1948
OXFORD 1945 Deborah Fogg Lambert writes, “I’ve written a book of memoirs. The title is “DEBORAH.” There are chapters describing The Dairy Farm, The Trotters and Pacers, Teaching School, Sailing and Tugboating.”
she’s slowing down but still “on top of the grass.” She volunteers in the facility’s superb library and plays in a Mahjong group every Friday. She still enjoys gardening, but figures she has about two more years before she won’t be able to get up and down any more.
OXFORD 1951 Class Correspondent: Sallie Barr Palmer
Gara Van Schaack says she’s “coasting along, getting older every day – a little weaker and a little unsteady.” Nevertheless, she’s still volunteering at the cancer center at Hartford Hospital.
Pem Donegan Schultz is the proud great-grandmother of a great-grandson born in New Zealand. Pemmie is now living in an assisted living facility in North Chatham, Mass. Her new address and phone number are 389 Orleans Road, No. Chatham, MA 02650, Tel: 508-945-0214. Vivian Hathaway Crouse writes that she and husband Craig “are in a family storm of graduations and college decisions.” Meanwhile they have adopted a minidachshund, Heidi Ho, after a hurricane destroyed her former home and family. Vivian says the new pet is of an “age comparable to mine.”
Oxford Class of 1953
Pam Kingan Lillquist emailed from Hawaii to say that she and husband Rich traveled with son Erik and 14-yearold grandson Jonas to Sweden and Finland last summer. Jonas’ soccer team participated in the the Gothia Cup and won the trophy for their group. Pam and Rich have for many years been always on the go, but Pam says travel is not much fun any more. Except for Hawaii, of course! I talked with Dinny Duffield Whiting. She’s still living in her assisted living facility in Williamsburg, Va. She says
80 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Marcia Keeney Froh and husband Phil still spent their summers at Groton Long Point and the rest of the year up the road from me in Spring Hill, Fla. Son Rich and his wife live near Marcia and Phil in Connecticut during the summer and count Florida as their winter home. Rich is semi-retired, still working at Mystic Seaport. His wife is a retired teacher of French and Spanish. Daughter Gwen lives in California, and her two children are working for their degrees. Grandson Camden is taking a year off in New Zealand. Hey! Better put him in touch with Pemmie’s daughter and her family! Ann Fisher Putnam’s daughter Sue wrote to tell me her mother had died in April 2017. Somehow the news missed me last year, and I had sent an inquiry to Ann for news. Peter and I sailed on the Queen Victoria to England in March, with stops in Bermuda and the Azores. We spent a couple of weeks in London, where Peter marched on Easter Sunday in the Tower of London with his British Korean Veterans chapter, a long-time tradition. We got together with the two younger children who live in England and a
Cla ss No t es
Jane Brandon Pfaff went to Eunice’s wake. The lines were long and solemn. Many dignitaries were there, along with the three Groark daughters and husband Tom. Nancy Reed attended the funeral on Saturday. The small church was filled and overflowing, with a hundred or so people on folding chairs in another room. Nancy commented on the wonderful presentations lauding Eunice, laced with humorous anecdotes to lighten the mood.
Oxford Class of 1956 • Members gathered for a luncheon in May: from left, Sally David Ardrey, Sandy Martin McDonough, Jane Brandon Pfaff, Edie Wilcock Patrick, Sandy Travis Zieky, Nancy Austin Reed, Alice and Seth Mendell.
number of old friends. We’re back to the UK on June 20 with the American Morris Minor Association to attend the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the introduction of the Morris Minor car. Then a lot of sightseeing with the group, after which we are flying to Amsterdam to board a riverboat for a cruise on the Rhine and the Danube to Budapest. My new knee, acquired in January, is great. But now my arthritis has sneakily moved to my back – very unfair! OXFORD 1956 Class Correspondent: Sandy Martin McDonough Our class is saddened by the sudden death of Eunice Barnard Strong Groark on May 8, 2018. Her obituary and remembrances appear on page 98. Many classmates commented on years together, going back to grammar school, the summers on Squirrel Island, Maine, and the pride we all have for her monumental accomplishments. We were truly honored to know Eunice and share life with her. God bless and peace be with you.
Eunice Barnard Strong Groark ’56
We’ve set a new tradition. After several years we have settled on the second Friday in May to gather for a luncheon. This year, Sally David Ardrey, Jane Brandon Pfaff, Edie Wilcock and Sandy Darrach (Kingswood ’56), Sandy Travis Zieky, Nancy Austin Reed, Alice Butler Mendell and her husband Seth, and I gathered. So many exciting takes on places visited, places to go and activities, which belie our age. Jane Cady Fitchen writes from Madison, Wis., that another grandchild just graduated from college. Susie Taylor Smith went to Charlottesville, Va., to share the marriage of her granddaughter, Taylor. Cynthia Kohn Hobart writes of her church-connected volunteering and serving as Clerk of the Session, the governing body of the Presbyterian Church. She and sister, Betsy, get together for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She also cares for a 6-year-old granddaughter part of each week. Nancy “Boots” Edwards-Cogswell and husband Dick have moved into an all-level facility, where Boots is resting comfortably; she’s lost her mobility.
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 81
C l a ss No t e s
Sandy Travis Zieky has revitalized her travel plans and shares trips with a new chum. Seth and Alice Butler Mendell celebrated 57 years of marriage this year, still living in Florida. They rent a place in Mattapoisett for the summer – near where they lived for years. Katrina Shaffer Beaghen has finally joined the world and now has email, though she’s still reluctant to chat daily. She still lives on the Cape. Sally David Ardrey is again off to Spain and certainly will visit with Bea Lodge de Oyarzabal. Constance Campbell is in a New York City facility where she is recovering from hip and eye surgery. Oxford Class of 1957 • Phyllis Chapman Fenander’s two grandchildren.
Bobbi Deeds Schaus lives in Vero Beach, Fla., and travels to Connecticut for the summer. We will be planning a summer get together. She recently left for a trip to Israel. Debby Faust Pritchard is still showing her Norfolk Terriers and wishes she lived closer and could join us. She still hears Miss Lasalle’s voice reminding her about posture. Edie Wilcock Patrick and Sandy Darrach (K ’56) will be at Mason’s Island Marina in Mystic on Sandy’s boat for much of the summer. Sandy joined us for lunch. I (Sandy Martin McDonough) am still slogging away in my law practice. We intend to breed my Canadian Samoyed in August and will have puppies just in time
82 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
for Christmas. Do Google “Samoyeds” to see how adorable the white fluffies are. I can’t think of anything more heartwarming than a puppy for Christmas. Had another appellate triumph recently – winning keeps me going. I do have info for many of our classmates, if you will contact me. OXFORD 1957 Class Correspondent: Phyllis Chapman Fenander Jill Williams has moved to Del Mar, Cal. She never, ever plans to leave! She continues painting pet portraits, which now include fish, a parrot, a goat and Derby winner California Chrome. Here is her website: www.texturedpetportraits. org. (The portraits make great gifts; ask Phyllis!) Nancy Middlebrook Baay recounts the joy of having 13 grandchildren, the oldest being 29, the youngest 9, and three adorable great grandchildren. She writes about her days at Squam Lake during the end of the summer. She paints every day; John plays bridge almost every day, and at 86, walks the dog twice daily. Life is good. Helene Cotter Fox sends greetings to all in our class from her sunny spot of 30 years in Florida enjoying retirement where she just celebrated Art’s 90th birthday with family! Sally Walton Hills sends her hellos from Watch Hill, and Dede Stearns Hoffman pens that children and grandkids are fine: Laura and her two girls live on Maui, Eric and family are now in Menlo Park, and Scott is still in Gypsum, Col. She and I hope to get together when I visit my daughter Sara-Mai Conway and her husband in Austin, Texas, in June.
Cla ss No t e s
Bonnie Barrett Stretch is living in South Hadley, Mass., where she and her husband moved about six or seven years ago. After several years of country living and happy traveling, she is now in a retirement community, home to many, including Mount Holyoke folk. Their son works in Mayor de Blasio’s office, and their daughter works for a non-profit in the Criminal Justice Agency. So good to hear from her!
Oxford Class of 1957 • Members pose for a group photo during their early years at Oxford.
Phyllis Chapman Fenander writes, “My younger daughter, Hilary Conway, ran in the cold, rainy, windy Boston Marathon this year, and we all cheered her on. She and her husband, Joel Pearson, just had a daughter, Verna Mai Pearson, in December of 2017. Miss Verna Carlisle and Miss Verna Hall would be pleased! My husband Eliot finds amazing photos on Ancestry.com, including one of us in 1951 or ’52.” OXFORD 1958 Class Correspondent: Sue Mather Dabanian
Penny Hoffman McConnel and John were at their usual California getaway for 2 1/2 months this winter. They stay in Carpinteria, right next to the town of Montecito, which was heavily damaged in the fires and subsequent mudslides. They saw son John in the San Francisco Bay Area and also flew to Kauai for a week. Now at home, Pen is either in the garden or her bookstore or singing in a local hospice group. Kids and grandkids are all doing well. When I told Pat Waring that we were in Florida, she mentioned that she was in Clearwater, to the north of us, as a child and still visits that area when she gets a chance. The beaches are spectacular! Liz Sexton Sgro is having fun in Los Angeles with grandson Leo, her son and daughter-in-law. She divides her time between West Hartford and LA. Maybe our paths will cross when we’re down in that area, Liz!
Greetings, Classmates from 60 years ago!!!! Can you believe it????
Oxford Class of 1958 • Sarah Duffield welcomed her newest grandchild, Aine, in January.
news this winter with horrible storms and power outages. Fortunately, they are far enough away from the ocean to have suffered any damage.
I hate to start on a sad note, but our dear classmate Gay Moore Nelson passed away recently on Martha’s Vineyard. She leaves her husband, Art, four children, and several grandchildren. She will be remembered as the children’s librarian and also as a poet. Our sympathies go out to her family. News was sparse this time; however, on a happier note, Sarah Duffield welcomed her latest grandchild, Aine (pronounced “on-ya”), in January. “Aine” is Gaelic for “Anna,” Sarah’s grandmother’s name. As usual, Sarah’s town of Scituate was in the
Anne Van Winkle keeps busy jogging and playing tennis. She has also formed a retirement discussion group and hosts a big sing-along at her house once a month with guitars, ukuleles and a harmonica player. She also delivers food to the needy at 7 a.m. (I’m tired just reading about all this!). Anne feels that she is lazy and should do more. Really?? Her daughter is in grad school getting her MFA and writing a novel as her thesis. The latest addition to the household are two marmalade/tabby kittens, who drive her nuts!
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 83
C l a ss No t e s
Oxford Class of 1959 • Members gathered in Florida for a minireunion: from left, Julie Peck, Debbie Mahoney Swenson, Charlotte Buck Miller and Zélie Calvocoressi Tourais.
Greg and I are just back from our yearly trip to Florida. Our first stop was Charleston, S.C., which we loved. I ate so many biscuits and gravy that I was starting to look like a biscuit! We also loved Beaufort, S.C., and Fernandina Beach, Fla., on Amelia Island. The weather wasn’t the greatest in Florida, but we met some nice people. Son Bruce and his wife just moved to Florida (we just missed them) from Quincy, Mass. I’m hoping they will visit us in California when Florida gets too hot and muggy in the summer. The rest of the family is doing well. We fly this week to Seattle (haven’t really unpacked from Florida!) for granddaughter Rachel’s college graduation. She will become a nurse and settle in San Diego. OXFORD 1959 Class Correspondent: Zélie Calvocoressi Tourais Janice Cianci Castillo writes, “It’s hard to believe that our class of ’59 will be celebrating our 60th class reunion next year! Where have the years gone? Last May we went to Flagstaff, Ariz., for granddaughter Makenzie’s graduation from Northern Arizona University, after which we spent a few days in Scottsdale. Makenzie loves working with children and will be escorting four 11-year-olds to the Philippines for a month in July. Last December another couple and we spent a week at the Chateau Frontenac in quaint Quebec City, braving the cold and snow and enjoying its Christmas market. I even made a snow angel! Then, rather than unpack our winter garb and boots, we turned around and went to NYC for a long Christmas weekend. Had dinner again with Susan Cohen Casden! Sue and I decided we have now established a ‘tradition.’ In January I had
84 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
shoulder surgery for a torn rotator cuff and bone spurs. I’m healing well and looking forward to getting back on the tennis courts soon. In April we went out to California to spend my birthday with our daughter Dawn and granddaughter Makenzie. My special treat was to romp in the Field of Flowers in Carlsbad. Then in May we spent a couple of fun weeks with friends on a river cruise down the beautiful Rhine, lined with castles, from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Basel, Switzerland. Our grand-girls are growing up too fast. Also, in May our granddaughter Kaytee graduated from high school and will be going to Warner University in Lake Wales, Fla., on a basketball scholarship.” Debbie Mahoney Swenson writes that she is “enjoying life between Boston and Chatham; paddle tennis, bridge, book clubs and a few non-profits in winter; travel in spring (Portugal and Spain with part of the Pilgrims’ El Camino journey as well as hiking in the Pyrenees); biking, tennis and birding in summer. So grateful for good health and friendships – many from Oxford!” Susan McClure Harris, Charlotte Buck Miller, Julie Peck, Debbie Mahoney Swenson and Zélie Calvocoressi Tourais met for a mini-reunion in Venice and Sarasota, Fla. We had great fun catching up with one another’s news.
Cla ss No t es
OXFORD 1960 Class Correspondent: Jane Anderson Innerd Jennifer Ripple Akridge and her sister Linda are going to England and Scotland for a few weeks this September. Jennifer has always wanted to make this trip and so is very excited. She and Ed had a lovely winter in Yuma weather-wise, but after several days of 100+ degree weather in early April, they were ready to pack up and head north to enjoy the green grass, new growth of trees, and spring bulbs at their home in Washington State. Oxford Class of 1959 • From left, Janice Cianci Castillo, Richard Castillo, and Sue Harris.
Oxford Class of 1963
On the East Coast Prilla Smith Brackett writes that the highlight of the spring for her and George was an early celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. They and both of their sons and families spent 10 days in Italy. There were 10 family members, ages 5 1/2 to 75. The middle generation did all the planning, which was a great gift. They stayed in an old stone farmhouse in Tuscany for part of the time. Nearby there were grape and olive orchards and sheep grazing. The farm had its own winery and cheesemaking facility. They made side trips to many of the small hill towns nearby and one morning had an early balloon ride over the Chianti area. For Prilla it was a glorious time, very celebratory. After taking a train ride from Florence to Venice, they enjoyed two days in that city. Otherwise, Prilla says, life goes along pretty well, though impacted by George’s mild cognitive impairment. Now residing in Sarasota, Jane Keller Herzig and Ed enjoyed their second winter in the mild climate. Jane has become a fan of pickleball and plays three times a week. Her granddaughter Viola will be spending the first semester of her junior year in Valparaiso, Chile,
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 85
C l a ss No t e s
concentrating on her double major, Spanish and political science. Of course, Jane says, she and Ed plan to visit her there! Valparaiso was one of their favourite destinations during a previous South American vacation.
Oxford Class of 1968
Oxford Class of 1966: The details on our upcoming reunion this winter are coming soon! Keep an eye on your mail.
86 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Mary-Lew Stearns Kelly and Bill enjoyed their third grandchild’s graduation from Hamilton College. They are so proud of him, as they are of all 11 of their grandchildren. Their granddaughter Keelan had her third open-heart surgery but recovered remarkably well and is now back playing ice hockey and lacrosse and will again spend the summer at camp in California. As for Mary-Lew, she is recovering from a very bad fall on February 6. While volunteering for Meals on Wheels, she slipped on snow-covered ice and hit her head on the front bumper of her car on the way down. She was in the hospital for 10 days and was told, after multiple x-rays, ultrasounds and CT scans, that she fractured her neck. Because she had two failed cervical fusions three years before, this made it even worse. She has been going to Yale every five weeks and has not yet received the orders for physical therapy or anything else. Her muscle is gone, and her hands are numb, but she has graduated from a hard to a soft neck collar. She still tries to work in the garden a little and takes her dog Kai for short walks now and then. Sue Matorin and her husband Rick are now experiencing what many of their friends told them they would, the joy of a “delicious” granddaughter now two-years and two-months old. She pulls them to Los Angeles as often as they can go. Sue is grateful for the pleasure Skype gives them. Her work at Cornell in psychiatric health care remains a major challenge at both ends of the spectrum; the poor are at risk of losing essential benefits, and those who
Cla ss No t e s
are financially secure are stuck in conflictridden families. Her only complaint is a lack of time to write more on these issues beyond her letters to The New York Times. Sue attended the NYC farewell cocktail reception for departing Head of School Dennis Bisgaard, which was lovely. Ed, Kingswood '58, and Dorothy Mooney McAlenney are happy and healthy and love living in Jupiter, Fla. They have three married sons and seven grandchildren ranging in age from three to 16. All will be descending on them for their once-a-year reunion at the end of June. They are really looking forward to that. Dotty gave up golf and says that now bridge is her only hobby. She hopes that the rest of our class is also happy and healthy. She sends her best to the whole Class of 1960. How time flies! Tina Wilcox McIntyre reports that both she and Jerry are semi-retired. Tina still works with a few friends assisting in buying and selling real estate. She does not spend time managing or “opportunity time” in the office. Tina and Jerry went on a wonderful biking trip in Bordeaux last September. They biked around Isle de Rey and Isle d’Orlean, with extra time visiting a vineyard and then several days in Paris. It was very enjoyable. All their children and grandchildren live in Rhode Island, so they spend time at soccer games and recitals and concerts. Their oldest granddaughter just graduated from the University of New Hampshire, and they attended the ceremony. It really brought them back to their youth! They also traveled to Rincon, Puerto Rico, in mid-March with kids and grandkids. It was their fourth year of renting the same house. The owners and staff have become like family, and so they worried about them during the hurricane, but all survived and then encouraged them to
return for another year. It was one of their best vacations. Now they are thinking of sailing this summer. Tina says that they are very thankful and fortunate for all they have. For Ann Faude Newbury all is well, with minimal health issues for her and Sam, so they consider themselves fortunate! They still try to spend time each summer in Maine, which is a gathering place for both their families. Ann says that, as she continually sorts through scrapbooks and photo albums, she realizes what an idyllic life we all had and that if any of us want her to send photos of long ago, please let her know. “All is well with Michael and me,” reports Cindy Baird Roberts. They are almost settled in their new home in Hobe Sound, Fla. It has been under construction since October 2016, and definitely worth the major effort. There is no such thing as retirement in their world, she reports. Their amazing grandson Porter is at Middlebury and absolutely loving it. He is a “Feb,” a true MIDD distinction. As was hoped, he used his time wisely between graduation from high school last June till he started his college career in February. The highlight of this time was a bonding trip with his “PopPop” (Michael) this past September to Scotland (not for golf !). Their granddaughter, Eliza, is a studentathlete at Greenwich Academy. Their daughter Cathy is coming to grips with the changing family scene. All the family will be together in their compound on Nantucket during the summer months.
where they stayed with a dear friend of 45 years and then added a new leg to the journey by stopping off at Cumberland Island, Ga., for a few days on the way home. It is a magical place once owned by the Carnegie family. They arrived by boat because there are no cars except those belonging to staff, no TV, plenty of bicycling, kayaking, and long walks on pristine beaches, heavenly. When she sent her news, Gay and Roger were in Italy on a 17-day trip to Naples and Sicily, including a side trip to Paestum, where they explored three wonderfully preserved Greek temples, a theater, a Roman amphitheater, a swimming pool, and the remains of private homes. When they return to Vermont in early September, they are planning a gala event at Squire House, the 100th birthday of the house and the 20th year of operating their B&B. Both seem impossible, she says. In the summer of 2017 I spent time in Bavaria with my daughter and my two grandsons, who are bilingual. Tegernsee is a beautiful small city where her husband’s family live. I discovered that everything in the city is uphill, which proved sometimes to be a challenge. In August 2017, Wilf and I had our usual week in Stratford, Ontario, as playgoers. Prilla and I enjoy sharing this week together and we hope to again this coming August. Like Jane Keller Herzig, I love pickleball, which I believe is staving off old age! My thanks to all who sent news and my best wishes to everyone for the coming year. Our next reunion is in 2020. Mark your calendars! – Jane Anderson Innerd, Class Secretary
In August 2017 Gay Willcox Squire and Roger took their older son and grandkids for a six day houseboat cruise on the Erie Canal, which was celebrating its 200th birthday. This spring Gay and Roger took their usual trip to the west coast of Florida
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 87
C l a ss No t e s
Kingswood Class of 1953 Kingswood Class of 1960 • Eight members gathered in Colchester, Conn., to celebrate their 75th birthdays: from left, Tim Curtis, Jon Harlow, Deane Berson, Baker Salisbury, Ned Rogin, Bob Bulkeley, Andy Shapiro, and Charlie Shepard.
Three Wyverns gathered for a group photo at Steamboat Springs, Colorado from left, Jonathan Belden ’55, Peter Janus ’63, and Brewster Boyd ’63
KINGSWOOD 1960 On Monday, May 7, 2018, eight graduates of the Kingswood Class of 1960 gathered at the home of Tim and Leslie Curtis in Colchester, Conn., to celebrate their collective 75th birthdays: Tim Curtis, Jon Harlow, Deane Berson, Baker Salisbury, Ned Rogin, Bob Bulkeley, Andy Shapiro, and Charlie Shepard. Also in attendance were wives Norma Rogin, Carole Salisbury, and Carolyn (Carrie) Shapiro. The weather cooperated for this lunchtime gathering, and everybody left with great appreciation for the friendships made at Kingswood back in the day and the hope and anticipation of the class having a record turnout for its 60th Reunion in 2020. Timothy T. Curtis writes, “Still running, kayaking, biking, and golfing! Enjoying retirement and now hoping to move to the southern Berkshires – great neck of the woods and lower taxes.” OXFORD 1961 Yvonne Chabrier would love to hear from classmates. She is still living happily in Newburyport, Mass., a charming
88 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Cla ss No t es
historical town on the seacoast. Yvonne is continuing to do yoga, paint, take photos, write, and travel. She’s even going to Berlin this June! KINGSWOOD 1967 Matt Saczawa writes, “For 49+ years, I had eagerly anticipated, and planned to attend, the Kingswood class of 1967 50th Reunion in 2017. However, as various notices were mailed out in the Fall of 2016, it became apparent that the Kingswood reunion was scheduled on precisely the same June weekend as the graduation of my eldest granddaughter from Seattle University. Although I greatly valued a “look back” at the past half-century with my ’67 classmates, I instead opted for a “look forward” to my grandchildren’s
generation and attended the events and festivities in Seattle. (After 50 years . . . talk about lousy timing!!! lol). Despite missing the reunion, I glady extend an invitation to get together with any Kingswood or Oxford alums from the ’60s who might make their way out here to the desert Southwest (phone – 602758-3771). In any case, I’ve already marked my calendar for the spring of 2067 and plan to show up at KO to party with my classmates – barring any unforeseen intervening events!” KINGSWOOD 1970 Michael Odlum is the senior vice president at Northwell Health. Pam and Mike live in Oyster Bay, N.Y. They plan to retire in four years to Skaneateles, N.Y.
KO Class of 1974 • John Masker, right, and his son on Mt. Fuji-San around 1:30 a.m. about to start the final two hours to get to the top before sunrise. (The photo is blurry because, aside from the headlamp light, the only light was from the stars and moon.) OXFORD 1971 Lizz Cooper-Martin writes, “I visited Los Angeles in May for my daughter’s graduation with a master’s degree from the University of Southern California. My youngest son is in Los Angeles too, trying to become a screenwriter. I’m retiring in June 2018! KO 1974 Katharyn Risley Hoke and Howard Hoke’s daughter Meghan happily married on Feb. 19, 2016, and is teaching computer science at Choate Rosemary Hall. Daughter Sarah received a master’s in information sciences from McGill June 2017.
Oxford & Kingswood Classes of 1973
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 89
C l a ss No t e s
KO Class of 1983 KO Class of 1978
KO 1978 Gretchen Pitrus Dinucci is currently vice president and chief underwriter at the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company in Horsham, Pa. KO 1982 Paul Noniewicz was named the goalie for the All-40th Anniversary Lacrosse Team at the University of Vermont.
KO Class of 1988
KO 1988 Amy Siegal Frishberg has joined Valerie Wilson Travel in New York City, as a travel advisor. After several years living in Italy, Hong Kong, London and Tokyo, she’s collaborating with the agency to help her clients discover and enjoy the world as she has. Her new email address is amyf@vwti.com – reach out! KO 1993 Carolyn Cohen Stockwell and her husband welcomed a son, James Alexander, born on May 19, 2017. He weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces, was 20 inches long, and is an absolute love! Carolyn recently moved from the Boston area to Stonington, Conn., where she is taking time off from her career as a special education school administrator in order to stay home with her son.
90 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Cla ss No t es
KO Class of 1993 • Carolyn Cohen Stockwell with her son James Alexander. KO Class of 1993
KO Class of 1998
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 91
KO 2000 Mariah Klaneski Reisner, her husband Sam, and daughter Aviva are pleased to announce the birth of Zohana Grace Reisner. She was born at 8:02 a.m. on June 19, 2017, weighed 8 pounds, 7.05 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. All are doing great! KO 2005 In September 2017, Blake Berman, a leader of the capital and growth advisory team at GC Securities in New York City, was named Broking Rising Star. That same month, Blake, who oversees GC’s risk benchmarks research, married Casey Van de Walle in Montauk, N.Y.
KO Class of 2000 • Mariah Klaneski Reisner’s daughter Zohana Grace Reisner.
KO Class of 2003
KO 2014 Collin Brantner was selected to the Google Cloud Division III Academic All-District Six team for baseball, and he is a candidate for Academic AllAmerican honors. A neuroscience major at Macalester College, he helped his team finish the season with an overall record of 21-17 and take fifth place in the MIAC with an 11-9 record. Sophie Pennoyer rows for the University of Virginia and was in the varsity 8 boat that won their ACC conference and went to the Division I NCAA championships in Sarasota, Fla. UVA went into the tournament ranked seventh and finished tied for fourth place in the nation! Because Sophie transferred from Colgate, she has one more year at UVA. She is a computer science major and new media (art) minor. Because of her strong gradepoint average, she has won the collegiate rowing coaches’ Scholar Athlete Award every year.
KO Class of 2007 • Jacki Simons was married in Newport, R.I., on September 9, 2017 to Michael Lebovitz. The following Wyverns were also in attendance: back row, from left: Mary Benoit ’07, Alex Levine ’07, Max Hoberman ’10, Evan Teatrault ’10, Austin Simons ’11, Brett Greenfield ’10, Jack Reich ’15, Linnea Viani ’07, Ron Goldstein ’79; front row, from left, Sara Goldstein ’07, Ted Simons ’24, Madeline Reich ’11, Jacki Simons ’07, and Charlie Simons ’24.
92 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
KO Class of 2006 • Eliza Cassella Waxman with her husband, Josh, celebrating their second wedding anniversary at San Francisco City Hall. Eliza is a dean of students for the Boston Public Schools. Josh is the executive director of the Martin Richard Foundation in Boston.
KO Class of 2015 • Matt Guerrera and Molly Sullivan met up in Florence, Italy, while both were studying abroad this spring.
KO Class of 2008
KO Class of 2014 • Sophie Pennoyer competes for the University of Virginia in the Div. I NCAA crew championships.
KO Class of 2013 SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 93
In Me mor i a m
KO expresses condolences to the families of those who passed away between July 15, 2017 and June 4, 2018 or whose deaths we learned of during that time.
ALUMNI 1930s
Grace Morris Bulkeley ’36 January 4, 2017 Wife of William E. C. Bulkeley ’32; mother of William M. Bulkeley ’68 and Jonathan A. Bulkeley ’72 Harriet “Happy” Reynolds Glass ’39 June 10, 2017 Sister of David B. Reynolds ’44; aunt of David B. Reynolds Jr. ’73 and Pamela Reynolds Moss ’76 1940s Mary Dougherty Brady ’40 March 28, 2018 Virginia Wells Andersen ’41 May 1, 2017 Mother of Donald W. Miner ’70 and Virginia W. Miner ’74; sister of Elizabeth Wells Fahl ’48 Alison Hastings MacDowell ’41 March 12, 2017 Sister of Robert D. Hastings ’36 and Henry A. Hastings ’37 James L. Bellis ’42 February 11, 2018 H. Virginia Denne ’42 November 26, 2017 Jean Flynn Kellogg ’42 December 19, 2017 Sister of Benedict D. Flynn Jr. ’36, George B. Flynn ’39, Norbert B. Flynn ’40, and Edmund W. Flynn ’51; aunt of David M. Flynn ’60 and Benedict D. Flynn III ’72 Margaret Vanderbilt Shepard ’44 May 2018 Mother of Sarah Shepard Whyte ’69 and Daniel M. Shepard ’75; sister of Beverly 94 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Vanderbilt Dobbin ’46 and Elizabeth Vanderbilt McAllister ’51 Peyton H. Mead ’45 May 3, 2018 Brother of Mary Mead James ’42 and William R. Mead ’56; stepfather of Sarah H. Maxim ’78, Hiram H. Maxim II ’80 and Merritt S. Maxim ’86; uncle of Anoushjka O. Mead ’94 and Joshua O. Mead ’97 Gerald W. Brady ’46 October 10, 2017 Father of Gerald “Gib” W. Brady Jr. ’79 and Stephen J. Brady ’80; grandfather of Taylor J. Brady ’13 and Clare Brady ’18 Richard C. Buckley Jr. ’47 November 18, 2017 Father of Mary Susan Buckley Muirhead ’78, Richard Buckley ’80, Marc S. Buckley ’85 and A. Kathleen Buckley ’88; brother of Eileen Buckley Newell ’49 Fred W. Barhoff III ’48 May 6, 2018 Robert A. Keeler ’48 October 2, 2017 Edwin “Ted” Rice ’48 July 12, 2017 Peter W. Fairbairn ’49 September 24, 2017 Brother of Donald R. Fairbairn ’51 John Hooker ’49 May 20, 2018 Brother of Barbara Hooker Thorp ’53 and Elise Hooker Sirman ’58 Jay W. Jackson ’49 December 30, 2017
1950s Susan Huber Gross ’51 April 27, 2018 Sister of Charles F. Huber ’47 Anne Bartholomew Hansen ’51 June 7, 2017 Ann Fisher Putnam ’51 April 13, 2017 Wife of Douglas T. Putnam ’49; mother of Andrew T. Putnam ’76, Jennifer Putnam ’77, Susan Putnam ’79, and Timothy F. Putnam ’81 Henry J. Kane Jr. ’53 April 6, 2018 Marjorie Harvey Purves ’54 March 27, 2018 Sister of Mary Harvey Willey ’47 and Anne Harvey Kulak ’49 Peter C. Smith ’54 June 11, 2017 Brother of George F. B. Smith Jr. ’48 Jenifer Gordon Mumford ’55 February 4, 2018 Sister of Elizabeth McKim Mumford ’56 and Millicent Gordon Riley ’61 Eunice Strong Groark ’56 May 8, 2018 Mother of Marie L. Groark ’85 and Virginia S. Groark ’87 Lauren E. “Andy” Andrews ’57 August 19, 2017 Charles L. Campbell ’57 September 13, 2016 Michael T. Cuddigan ’57 February 11, 2018 Gay Moore Nelson ’58 Sister of Martha Moore ’59
1960s Raymond J. Dunn III ’60 March 7, 2018 Brother of Marianne Dunn Jepson ’59 and Peter R. Dunn ’68; son of Raymond J. Dunn Jr. ’38 John W. Bartosz ’63 March 3, 2018 Courtney Graham Donnell ’63 September 27, 2017 Sister of John B. Graham ’68
FACULTY AND STAFF Trafford Allpass October 1, 2017 Ann Marie Dombroskas September 21, 2017 Alan F. Flynn Jr. August 30, 2017 Muriel H. Forbes December 1, 2017
Nancy Mallet Fry ’63 September 23, 2016
Anne H. Taylor March 16, 2018
Alan J. Abrahamson ’64 January 25, 2018 Father of Rachel Abrahamson Wollner ’98 and Daniel L. Abrahamson ’01
David H. Van Dyck December 25, 2017 Father of Louise Van Dyck Shipway ’75 and Emily Van Dyck Frederick ’77
Geoffrey H. Russell ’69 March 15, 2018
ALUMNI FAMILIES
1970s Joel G. Levy ’70 December 29, 2017
Ruth Ann Baird November 26, 2017 Mother of Megan Baird Gilfond ’89
Edward C. Mooney ’70 August 21, 2017 Brother of Christopher G. Mooney ’71
Anthony G. Chambers December 9, 2017 Father of Anthony G. Chambers Jr. ’76
Gary J. Kleinman ’73 September 24, 2017
Joanne C. Coursey March 10, 2018 Mother of Martin J. Coursey ’76 and Charles T. Coursey ’82; grandmother of Charles T. Coursey Jr. ’10
1980s Gregory W. Singer ’80 January 21, 2018 Jonathan S. Shurberg ’81 July 20, 2017 Brother of David M. Shurberg ’85 and Debra Shurberg Diewald ’89 1990s Edward P. Fichera ’95 September 17, 2017 Tyler M. Beebe ’98 November 15, 2017 Brother of Lindsay A. Beebe ’00
Constantine “Gus” Demady March 20, 2018 Husband of former staff member Betty Demady; grandfather of Olivia E. Kittleman ’22 John DeSimone January 12, 2018 Father of Jonathan J. DeSimone ’90 and Brendon J. DeSimone ’92
SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 95
Jean O. Dunne November 16, 2017 Wife of Richard E. Dunne Jr. ’42; mother of Anthony S. Dunne ’71 and Pamela Dunne Boyle ’81; aunt of Francis L. Finley III ’71 and Liza H. Finley ’73; sister-in-law of Dominick Dunne ’43 Leonard M. Grabowski April 13, 2018 Grandfather of George P. Stephan ’21 and Theodore M. Stephan ’23; father-in-law of Paul G. Stephan ’81 Elaine M. Grossman March 22, 2018 Mother of Andrea L. Grossman ’93 and Michael S. Grossman ’95 Jean A. Hartigan September 10, 2017 Mother of Charles A. Hartigan ’71 and Philip M. Hartigan ’72; grandmother of John M. Holloway '91, Philip B. Hartigan ’99 and Charles A. Hartigan Jr. ’01 Catherine A. Jeresaty November 30, 2017 Mother of Michael R. Jeresaty ’81 and Joseph R. Jeresaty ’84 DeWitt Clinton Jones III February 3, 2018 Father of faculty member Peter W. Jones; grandfather of Eryk W. Jones ’19 and Molly K. Jones ’20 Alan H. Kaufman February 25, 2018 Father of John M. Kaufman ’85; father-inlaw of Charna Bortman Kaufman ’85; grandfather of William K. Kaufman ’08, Grace E. Kaufman ’13, Caroline R. Kaufman ’14, Isabel G. Kaufman ’17 and Sophia J. Kaufman ’20 Ray E. Kessler December 1, 2017 Father of Raymond E. Kessler ’72 and Randall E. Kessler ’76
Janet Larsen April 15, 2018 Mother of Todd H. Larsen ’84 and Chad Larsen ’88 Mary D. Lindsay August 9, 2017 Wife of faculty emeritus Stewart Lindsay Jr; mother of Patricia Lindsay Fox ’80 and Judith Lindsay Bailey ’82; grandmother of Maitland J. Bailey ’18 and Lindsay H. Bailey ’22 Agnes Moran March 29, 2018 Grandmother of Kyle A. DeVivo ’08 and Kevin A. DeVivo ’11; mother-in-law of Donald A. DeVivo ’80 Joseph Musumeci April 21, 2018 Father of Michael F. Musumeci ’01 and Nina Musumeci ’04 Harrie Nims April 11, 2018 Father of Stephen L. Nims ’83 Gunvor Norcross October 14, 2017 Wife of faculty emeritus Roy E. Norcross; mother of Elizabeth Norcross Madden ’78 and Roy E. Norcross Jr. ’80 Leo J. Novarr January 4, 2018 Father of Daniel J. Novarr ’71; grandfather of Jason S. Novarr ’02 Susan L. Renert January 3, 2018 Mother of Benjamin D. Renert ’06 Robert L. Rosensweig November 30, 2017 Father of Robert L. Rosensweig ’77, Eric J. Rosensweig ’80, and William E. Rosensweig ’83
96 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Aldona Saczawa December 2016 Mother of Matthew P. Saczawa ’67 Richard Scheuch January 12, 2018 Father of W. Allen Scheuch ’71 Dolores B. Snyder December 19, 2017 Grandmother of Alexandra N. Brown ’15, Jacob H. Brown ’17, and Mia D. Brown ’22; mother-in-law of Steven H. Brown ’83 Jane C. Waters November 17, 2017 Mother of Murray Waters ’72 Ellen Z. Wedeles November 16, 2017 Mother of Thomas K. Wedeles ’94; mother-in-law of Jennifer Conrad Wedeles ’94 Angel B. Yirigian April 27, 2018 Grandmother of Rachel M. Yirigian ’14 and Robert J. Yirigian ’16; mother-in-law of Beverly Ravalese Yirigian ’80
Tributes A much-beloved and respected member of the KO community, Muriel Forbes passed away in December at the age of 97. Considered the “Babe Ruth of College Counseling,” Forbes made an impact on countless students who flourished in college thanks to the choices they made with her guidance and wisdom as Kingswood Oxford’s director of college counseling from 1975 until her retirement in 1985. In a retirement tribute to her, Lawrence H. Roberts, then KO’s dean of students, described her as a “bohemian-victorian.” “She’s proper, always meticulous, thoughtful and balanced, with a sense of decorum and grace,” he said. “But there’s nothing stuffy or intellectually arrogant about her. She’s curious about everything.”
Muriel Forbes, Faculty Emeritus A Woman of Cheerfulness and Composure
Raised in New York City, Forbes attended Barnard College, earning a B.A. with honors in English. She pursued a master’s degree at Columbia University in an innovative program designed for prospective teachers. Following her education, Forbes taught at the Foxcroft School, an all-girls school in the horse country of Virginia where she embraced horseback riding and camping. Forbes also taught at the Madeira School in Virginia, the Locust Valley Friends Academy in New York, and Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut. She served as the head of the English Department from 1965 to 1973 at Oxford School, and continued to teach English at KO during her tenure as director of college counseling. For her impeccable and dedicated service, the New England Association of College Admissions Counselors named her Connecticut Outstanding Independent School Counselor in 1981-1982. In 1985, she was awarded the Harry R. Carroll Award for distinguished service to the profession. Imbuing a deep love of books and culture from her father, Forbes cherished a lifelong love of art and literature, and traveled extensively throughout the world. Upon her retirement, Forbes gave back to the community by giving tours and lectures at the Mark Twain House in Hartford and the Hillstead Museum in Farmington. SEP T EMBER 2018 • KO MAGA ZINE • 97
Tributes Van Dyck’s undergraduate education at Union College was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. After serving in the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific, he resumed his college career and graduated with honors in English and economics from Union in 1947. Prior to his lengthy tenure at KO, Van Dyck taught at the Storm King School in Cornwall, N.Y. of which he was an alum.
David Hasbrouck Van Dyck, Faculty Emeritus Celebrating a Life Well-Lived Kingswood Oxford mourns the passing of faculty emeritus David Hasbrouck Van Dyck, 94, of West Hartford and Bolton Landing, N.Y., who inspired legions of students at Kingswood School and later Kingswood Oxford from 1959 until his retirement in 1988. While at KO, Van Dyck taught American and European history, economics, a popular current events course based on The New York Times, as well as serving as the faculty advisor to the student government and as a coach of the varsity football and basketball teams. His two daughters, Louise ’75 and Emily ’77 also attended the school.
Students appreciated Van Dyck’s toughlove approach, and they dedicated the school yearbook to him in 1964 and 1988. Matt Koehler ’88 said, “The most valuable asset I gained under him was earning his respect. It took a lot of hard work to do, but it was well worth it.” However, for Van Dyck, respect was a two-way street. Although he was not the cross country coach, the team’s runners knew they could count on Van Dyck to be cheering them at the end of the race in the rain, often as the lone spectator. Van Dyck imparted a great deal of historical knowledge and intellectual rigor to his students; he also taught them something far more valuable: unwavering integrity and respect. A self-effacing man, Van Dyck believed that teaching was all in a day’s work, and he shunned accolades and special credit for the worked he loved to do. Hopefully, he will forgive the KO community for celebrating his well-lived life.
98 • KO MAGA ZINE • SEP T EMBER 2018
Eunice Barnard Strong Groark ’56, Former Trustee Inspiring Commitment to Public Service Eunice Barnard Strong Groark, Connecticut’s first female lieutenant governor and a lifelong booster of the state. She attended Oxford School and graduated from Westover School and Bryn Mawr College. She was an ardent believer in the value of a single-sex education for women. With a passion for law and government, she entered the University of the Connecticut School of Law, where she met her husband, Tom, on their very first day when he offered her a ride to lunch. It was the beginning of a 54year love story in which each encouraged
THE 2018-2019 B OA R D O F T R U S T E E S
the other to be their best selves as they put family and community before all else. They returned to Connecticut in 1966 and settled in Hartford. While staying home to raise three daughters, Eunice kept busy. A proud descendant of Hartford’s founder, Thomas Hooker, and a true champion of the city, she gave bus tours of Hartford’s historical sites and of the Mark Twain House. Eunice returned to the workforce as a member of the Filer Commission to reorganize state government. Soon thereafter, Eunice was approached by a neighbor to run for the City Council in Hartford. She was elected in 1981 and served two terms as a minority Republican on the council, including one term as the minority leader. She was selected by the Hartford City Council to be the corporation counsel of Hartford from 1987 to 1990. It was in that position that she gained the attention of Lowell P. Weicker, who decided to launch an independent bid for governor of Connecticut in 1990. Weicker picked Eunice as his running mate, and the two successfully ran as members of the newly created A Connecticut Party ticket. Eunice was proud of her accomplishments as lieutenant governor. In the last days of her life, she often mentioned that, when she left office, Connecticut enjoyed a budget surplus. After Weicker decided against running for re-election in 1994, Eunice ran with Audrey Rowe, forming the first-ever all female ticket for governor and lieutenant governor. After retiring from public office, Eunice taught political science at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and at Wesleyan University. She also served as trustee at
Renbrook School, Kingswood Oxford School and Westover School. She remained active on numerous boards and organizations, including the Nature Conservancy, the Mark Twain House, the Hartford Public Library, People’s Bank and its foundation, The Phoenix Fund, Open Hearth, the Twilight Club, Old St. Andrew’s Church, and the Garden Clubs of Hartford and America. In her spare time, she loved walking at the reservoir, bird watching, reading, volunteering, gardening, and spending time in Niantic with her family. In her most recent years, she cared for her ailing husband with great devotion. She is survived by her husband, Thomas J. Groark of Bloomfield; her daughters, Eunice (Kevin Clark) Groark of Wellesley, Mass.; Marie (Marv Nelson) Groark of Seattle, Wash.; and Virginia ( Josh Hale) Groark of Chicago, Ill.; and her seven grandchildren: Harry and Phoebe Clark; Louise, Owen and Virginia Nelson; and Charlie and Tommy Hale. Remembrances by classmates:
TRUSTEES EMERITI
“The many train trips to Philadelphia together for Jane Brandon Pfaff to UPenn and Eunie to Bryn Mawr.” “Trips to Black Point by Eunie and reciprocals to Squirrel Island, Maine.” – Bobbi Deeds Schaus (friends since Renbrook) “Summers on Squirrel Island and boat trips with Capt. Bob Fish. We were crazy over him.” – Sandy Martin McDonough “Holiday shopping sprees with Eunie, Jane and Nancy Austin Reed.”
Mark D. Conrad ’96 Thomas Dillow P ’21, ’22, Head of School Bonnie L. Dobkin P ’19 Helen Eatherton P ’11, ’14 Joseph R. Gianni ’78, P ’14, ’14 Jeffrey S. Gitlin ’85, P ’11, ’13, ’17 Derek P. Green ’81 J. Douglas Harris ’77 I. Bradley Hoffman ’78, Chair Gilbert E. Keegan III ’88, P ’22, Ex-Officio, Head’s Advisory Council Chair Fred J. Krieble ’91, P ’21, ’25 Jean C. LaTorre P ’12, ’14, ’19, Treasurer Paul A. Lewis P ’05 Patrick J. Maloney P ’11, ’14, ’16 Bruce A. Mandell ’82, Vice Chair Mary S. Martin ’77, P ’17, ’20 Megan Ouellette P ’18, ’20 David R. Quick P ’92 Ann Coolidge Randall ’73, P ’13, Secretary Marc T. Shafer ’75, P ’08, ’15, ’17 Eileen Stephan P ’21, ’23, Ex-Officio, Parent Association President Lori Satell Wetsman ’85, P ’12, ’15 Lewis K. Wise ’65, P ’94, ’00 Keith J. Wolff ’91, P ’20, ’23 Mark M. Wolman P ’14, ’16, ’19 Sherry Banks-Cohn ’54, P ’78, ’82 Thomas J. Collamore ’77 Allen V. Collins P ’75, ’79, ’82, ’88 Richard S. Cuda P ’79, ’80 George L. Estes III ’67, P ’98 Laura R. Estes P ’98 Frederick S. Farquhar ’59, P ’83, ’86 Robert M. Furek P ’96, ’99 Karen Koury Gifford ’62 Marilyn Glover P ’05, ’07, ’11 William H. Goldfarb ’64 J. Gregory Hickey ’47, P ’73, ’75, GP ’04 Alyce F. Hild P ’80, ’82, ’91, GP ’07, ’11, ’14, ’19 Lance L. Knox ’62 Thomas D. Lips P ’93 James B. Lyon, Esq. ’48 E. Merritt McDonough ’51, P ’79, ’81, GP ’16, ’17 Agnes S. Peelle P ’01, ’03 Michael J. Reilly P ’04, ’08 Avery Rockefeller, III P ’00, ’02 Anne H. Rudder P ’68 G. William Seawright ’59 Les R. Tager P ’00, ’03 John A.T. Wilson ’56, P ’84, ’86 Martin Wolman P ’80, ’82, ’84, ’88 Joan Safford Wright ’53
S SE EP PTTE EMMB BE ER R2 20 01 18 8• •KK OOMMAAGGAAZ ZI N I NE E• •9 29
Non-Profit Org US Postage PAID Permit 1382 Hartford CT
170 Kingswood Road West Hartford, CT 06119-1430 Change Service Requesterd
Be part of the year-long celebration! 1909-2019
1969-2019
Oxford Women Celebrate 110 Years of Leadership, History and Excellence
Kingswood Oxford Celebrates its 50th Anniversary of Co-education