Our Mission: Kingswood Oxford inspires students to excel and to lead lives of integrity and involvement by nourishing their talents in a community of teachers, friends, and family.
Editor: Jackie Pisani, Director of Marketing & Communications
Contributors: Elizabeth Fahy Bellingrath ’78, Meghan Kurtich, Rob Kyff, Jackie Pisani, Frances van Huystee Morris ’90, Kristen Weldon
Graphic Designer: Anne Allen Design
Printing: Allied Printing Services, Inc.
Photo Credits: Eric Du ’27, Sheri Geoffreys Photography, Inc., Sherri Graves Photography, Highpoint Pictures, Jackie Pisani, Dave Quick ’92, Rhino Photos, Doug Sanford, Tony Spinelli, Kristen Weldon
Please direct inquiries or general comments to Jackie Pisani at pisani.j@kingswoodoxford.org
Class notes or obituary information to Meghan Kurtich, Director of Annual Giving at kurtich.m@kingswoodoxford.org
Address changes to Melissa Vega, Manager of Advancement Services at vega.m@kingswoodoxford.org
Notice of Nondiscriminatory Policy as to Students Kingswood Oxford admits students of any race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic predisposition, or national or ethnic origin or other categories protected by Connecticut or federal law to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of these characteristics in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, financial aid programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
We are off to a busy year at Kingswood Oxford, starting with one of our cherished traditions, Convocation, established by former Head of School Tyler Tingley in 1989 (read about his fascinating business on page 82). This event sets the tone and vision for the year ahead. We present the class flags that will fly over the Commencement ceremonies and senior plaques while celebrating the enduring values of our institution. This year, I felt it was important to focus on two core values: respect and intellectual curiosity, especially as we enter a polarizing election season. Rather than viewing these as abstract concepts, I encouraged our students to embody these values in their interactions with one another and the world around them. Acknowledging and respecting the humanity of those with whom we disagree fosters a positive school environment. As discussions around the election unfold this fall, I reminded our students that our words have power, and we must use that power to find common ground and deepen our understanding of one another.
Along with the bustling activity of our students streaming across campus, we now have a fenced, protective barrier complete with hazard tape, traffic cones, and heavy equipment surrounding what will become our new Community Commons, set for completion in the fall of 2025. The new Community Commons will bring learning and dining at KO into the
21st century and will serve as an aesthetic complement to existing historic buildings on campus like Seaverns and House One.
One key pillar of our strategic plan is to enhance the academic and co-curricular programs at the school. Here, too, we blend old with new, continuing to teach time-tested subjects and skills that have been the hallmarks of a KO education for decades while introducing compelling new learning experiences that allow students to pursue areas of interest in greater depth and prepare them for the colleges and jobs of the future. This year we launched the IMPACT Program – an innovative and engaging set of courses in the Middle and Upper Schools that ask students to address real-world problems using an interdisciplinary lens. A unique feature of these courses is that students will work on a project that will have an “impact” in the community, whether it be a local, state, national, or global issue. Learn more about this exciting new program on page 72.
The most intrinsic pillar of our strategic plan is supporting our faculty. The best schools have a talented and dedicated faculty, experts in their subject matter, with a unique ability to connect with adolescents, and who are committed to their intellectual and socialemotional growth. We want teachers who ask questions like Socrates, get students to think like Descartes, motivate them like Simon Sinek, inspire them like Martin Luther King, Jr, and care for their well-being like Mother Theresa.
That’s a tall order, but it’s part of the magic that comes with being a great teacher. The competition for these kinds of “all-in” teachers has become more competitive over the years, as the gap between compensation in teaching vs other fields has continued to widen. We are committed to investing in attracting and retaining the best teachers, coaches, and advisors, which will require the capacity to offer competitive salary and benefits, and robust professional development opportunities.
KO is an incredible institution. This year, our Service Leadership Day, athletic contests, arts performances, and IMPACT classes will allow our students to explore their interests, break out of their comfort zones, and embrace intellectual inquiry with real-world experience. We are humbled to have the opportunity to educate our future leaders and thinkers who will positively impact our world and live a life of meaning and purpose.
Warmly,
TOM DILLOW
Celebrating tradition and embracing the future.
KO BREAKS GROUND ON NEW COMMUNITY COMMONS
Monday, June 3 was a cause for celebration at KO. Not only did it mark the last day of school with a festive all-the-works barbecue, but it was also our groundbreaking for the Community Commons.
Students gathered in front of the library’s entrance, where a mound of dirt was set up, clutching a memento of a small silver shovel. Head of School
Tom Dillow offered a few words regarding the imminent project and thanked all the individuals involved, especially school librarian Nancy Solomon.
“When we first started talking about this idea,” Dillow said, “I would go to Mrs. Solomon and share some thoughts, and her eyes would light up. A number of her ideas she had about the space are present in this design, as well.”
Dillow reminded the students that next year the campus would look a little different with a modified version of the library in the Leadership Center and the dining hall moved to the Soby Gym and asked that the students adapt to the change. Next fall there would be a ribbon cutting for the start of school, he said.
Following his remarks, several students donned hard hats, took hold of shovels, and dug into the dirt. The next day, following the last board meeting of the year, the board members assembled in the same location with shovels and stood for a photo.
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON NEW COMMUNITY COMMONS
“To
date, we have hit all our target dates, and the progress is right on schedule. We have a tremendous professional partner in FIP who works each day with purpose and efficiency.”
- Colleen Woerlen, Directorof Finance and Operations
No sooner than the students departed for the summer break, FIP Construction, KO’s general contractor, began work on the new Community Commons, making significant headway over the summer months. Although the campus is generally quiet in the summer and only punctuated with the sounds of campers at Camp KO, this season, it was interspersed with a cacophony of jackhammers, drills, and heavy equipment—a very welcome noise!
FIP’s primary task during June and July was the abatement and
demolition of the Conklin Library and Mead Dining Hall. During August, FIP poured concrete for footings and foundation walls and erected steel beams. Throughout the summer, the crew worked on developing a temporary kitchen using the athletic department’s offices. The Soby gym has been converted into a temporary dining hall, affectionately termed “The Soby Cafe,” and the Black Box theater, aka “The Black Box Bistro” will accommodate the senior class. The primary kitchen in the Mead Dining Hall will still
be utilized for hot meals until January, when a switchover to its new location near the Soby Gym will occur.
Director of Finance and Operations
Colleen Woerlen, who oversees the project alongside Director of Facilities Luis Baez, is pleased with the progress on the Commons.
“To date, we have hit all our target dates, and the progress is right on schedule, Woerlen said. We have a tremendous professional partner in FIP who works each day with purpose and efficiency.”
EVERYBODY DANCE NOW
KO students displayed their virtuoso talents in the Choreographer Showcase, a mix of ballet, modern, and jazz techniques. The students work with local choreographers over several weeks for this crowd-pleasing performance.
NEW DIRECTOR OF DEIB APPOINTED
Rich Mutts has been named the new director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, effective July 15 and will serve as a member of the senior administrative team.
A 2006 graduate of the University of Connecticut, majoring in human development and family studies, Mutts went on to earn a master’s in organizational leadership from Concordia College. He brings an array of experience in conflict and crisis resolution, student advocacy and support, DEIB training, and community and strategic partnerships. His student-centered approach will immediately make a difference to the school community.
Mutts comes to KO from Wesleyan University where he served as the lead coordinator in the office of equity and inclusion and precollegiate services. He drove DEI strategy and programming in this position and promoted an inclusive campus culture. He designed and implemented programs for first-generation and low-income students and
families related to college access, internships, scholarships, and career readiness. Before Wesleyan, he was the interim DEIB director at Meriden Children
First, a non-profit, where he led the strategic planning process of DEI commitment and action to improve cultural awareness and increase inclusivity and representation of underrepresented students and parents.
The director will help lead KO’s efforts to develop culturally competent students and fulfill our strategic goal of “cultivating an inclusive school culture and climate that promotes student wellness and fosters a sense of belonging for every student.”
Through the interview process, Mutts met with several constituencies in the KO community, impacting all those
he met through his warmth and authenticity, most notably the students with whom he will be interacting most closely. All were impressed by his energy and enthusiasm. One Middle School student said, “He was very interactive and made sure we all felt comfortable talking with him. He created an environment where everyone felt welcome. He seems like a person I could come to if I need to take a break or if I have questions.”
Mutts also impressed the parent community with his role as a “connector.” One parent commented, “He was very approachable and willing to help bring people to the table to have courageous conversations in efforts to grow a community that respects differences and understands equity.” Based on their conversations with Mutts, many parents commented on his ability to network with other Connecticut non-profits in an effort to build our service learning curriculum.
Mutts said his visit to the campus reaffirmed his desire for the DEIB position at KO, especially after interacting with the students. “KO was authentic, and it made me recognize that diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are already embedded into the fabric of Kingswood Oxford,” he said. As an educator passionate about students, he was inspired by their intelligence and ideas for various DEIB initiatives. He describes himself as a “learn-it-all” who can be vulnerable with the students, so they are open to speaking with him. “That opendoor policy is not a one-way street,” he said. “I let the students know that they won’t have to look hard to find me because I’m going to look for them most of the time.”
“The approach to finding the next DEIB at KO was deliberate and thoughtful,” Head of School Tom Dillow said. “We spent quite a bit of time talking about the characteristics we were looking for in a candidate— a champion of building an inclusive and welcoming community — and what the greatest needs were at the school. All our constituents recognized that Rich fit the bill. He is extremely highenergy and has an infectious personality that draws you in quickly.”
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to use my skills, gifts, training, and passion at KO,” Mutts said. “I’m bringing my best self to impact the culture at the school.”
CHIPS OFF THE BLOCK
In one of our favorite traditions, KO alums gathered on the steps of Alumni Hall and posed with their children enrolled in the school after a breakfast hosted by the Advancement Office this past fall.
By family, left to right: Greg Scranton ’94 with Miya ’25 and Kai ’28, Alexis Weinstein ’91 with Hadley Hersh ’26, Corry Gallagher ’92 with Mackenzie ’25 and Cole ’28, Tom Wedeles ’94 and Jennifer Conrad Wedeles ’94 with James ’29, Marissa Kreh Gingeleskie with Alexander ’30, Fred Krieble ’91 and Kim Karp Krieble ’90 with Jack ’25, Benjamin Albert ’89 with Ysabel ’25 and Dylan ’28, George Economos ’85 with Sia ’31, Gil Keegan ’88 with Cole ’27, Frances van Huystee Morris ’90 with Jane ’26 and Jack ’28, Lee Gold ’90 with Adam ’26, David Peck ’92 with Lola ’26, Andrew Bethke ’99 and Alison Geraghty Bethke ’99 with Luke ’31.
Upper School history teacher David Baker ’04 and his brother Billy ’00 completed the 125-mile Kerry Way Ultra in Ireland held in September of last year. The course ran along the magnificently rugged Kerry Way, a hiking path corseting the entire Kerry peninsula. Beginning in Killarney, the course included mountains, bogs, swamps, forests, coastlines, cliffs, gravel paths, and roads.
The Baker brothers finished in the middle of the pack and were the top two Americans to finish the race. David completed the race in 36 hrs., 40 min., and Billy in 36 hrs., 57 min.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
Upper School Spanish teacher and Service Learning Coordinator Kathleen McLean has been on a mission this last year, and recently it paid off in spades. Well, nails and drill bits, really. In early November, 18 KO students and six chaperones spent the day at two different Habitat for Humanity job sites, helping build homes in different stages of completion. Each site presented unique challenges and learning opportunities and brought hands-on learning to life through the multifaceted nature of the Habitat for Humanity project build.
Onsite, KO students undertook a range of tasks. From preparing and installing sheetrock, measuring and cutting wood, to erecting walls, and hammering insulation on the roof, each task contributed to the larger goal of building homes. Working alongside prospective Habitat homeowners added a unique dimension, emphasizing the shared responsibility of creating “sweat equity.”
For McLean, the students’ learning extends beyond the physical construction. She believes exposure to different parts of Hartford and an understanding of the critical need for affordable housing are fundamental takeaways from this ongoing initiative. “My hope is that this experience sparks interest in the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity, where advocacy, education, fundraising, and further volunteer opportunities await.” Ultimately, she said, the goal is to nurture socially conscious individuals who recognize the importance of strong communities built on the foundation of affordable housing.
The project started well before November and came with a great deal of dedication and effort
from McLean. About a year ago, she reached out to Habitat for Humanity in hopes of setting up an opportunity to participate with students in a build site. Over the year, McLean garnered interest in furthering the initiative, including bringing two students to the Habitat for Humanity Youth Advocacy and Engagement Conference in April. McLean’s efforts and the conference experience sparked the students’ interest in forming a campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity and recruiting others. The momentum built as more students joined, culminating in a visit from the organization’s director of community engagement. The journey was a testament to the power of sustained interest and engagement. Finally, based on their interest and eagerness, the KO Habitat for Humanity group was invited to participate in a build site last November.
On the day of the build, enthusiasm echoed on both sides as volunteer crew chiefs welcomed the KO crew with open arms. The presence of Habitat’s Director of Community Engagement Ryan Gorecki and Volunteer Coordinator Liz Kalfayan underscored the significance
of the collaboration. They were grateful and impressed by the collective effort and commitment demonstrated by the KO team.
The day’s success was evident in the shared sense of accomplishment among the students. Stepping out of comfort zones, working toward a common goal, and contributing to a home for a family in need fostered a powerful sense of purpose. McLean shared that continuing this partnership is crucial not only for the tangible impact on affordable housing but also for expanding students’ perspectives. Exposure to diverse communities and the pressing need for safe, affordable housing is a vital part of their education, enriching their understanding of the world beyond their immediate surroundings. This initiative, rooted in compassion and social responsibility, serves as a beacon for the Kingswood Oxford community to continue making a meaningful difference in the lives of others.
Returning to KO as one of the most impactful and impressive speakers ever to visit campus, former Boston Celtic and motivational speaker Chris Herren shared his incredible story about addiction and recovery with the students in Roberts Theater. This was not your typical assembly; Herren acknowledged that he had once been the kid in the audience in high school who would roll his eyes whenever they brought in motivational speakers to talk about drugs and addiction. Back then, Herren was confident he would never be “that kid,” so he
what. In those high school days in teammates’ and friends’ basements, Herren recounts watching the kids who chose not to participate in the drinking or smoking that took place. He remembers thinking they must have something figured out, but he wasn’t sure what. “I could figure out basketball and school; that was no problem,” he said. “What I couldn’t figure out was navigating Friday nights.” He impressed on the KO audience that, if there are kids who refrain from these activities, students shouldn’t make fun of them, but
CHRIS HERREN
would tune them out. “I wish I had a chance to go back to that seat in the auditorium years ago and just listen,” Herren said. Herren was a high school basketball star from Fall River, Mass., praised by his coaches as the best player they had ever seen come through the program. In a city where basketball was a way of life and a central bloodline of the community, college scouts frequented Herren’s games, recruiting him even as a middle schooler. He partly attributes his eventual addiction to the enormous amount of pressure he was under and the responsibility to be successful, no matter
instead respect their decision to do so, a decision Herren deeply wishes he had made when he was a teenager.
After graduating from Fall River High School, Herren played basketball ball for Boston College, a school he had always revered, and was introduced to cocaine early in his college career. That experience led him to use oxycontin and other drugs. The hidden drug use came to a head when he was randomly drugtested before a game and failed. A teary Herren had to share his addiction problem at a press conference in front of teammates, family, and friends who had no idea of his addiction. Given a
second chance with Fresno State in California, he was a second-round draft pick for the Denver Nuggets in 1999. Herren describes this year as “one of the healthiest of his life” because the coaches and managers of the team helped him each step of the way by checking in and making sure he wasn’t using or involved in anything drug or alcohol related.
When he returned for his sophomore year, his coaches surprised him with the news that he had been traded to the Boston Celtics, a childhood dream of his because as a Massachusetts kid, this was the team he had grown up idolizing. However, the fact that the school was near his old neighborhood reinvigorated his drug use. For the next 10-plus years, Herren would lead two lives. One, the basketball star, loving husband and father, and the other the drug user, making secret trips to his dealer, on a street corner in his sweatpants before a game, waiting for his dealer to deliver oxycontin because he couldn’t play the game while straight. He sold anything of value in his home, including vacuum cleaners and his kids’ X-boxes to pawn and get money for drugs. Eventually, Herren overdosed and crashed his vehicle. When the paramedics found him, they told him he had been legally dead for 30 seconds.
After checking himself into rehab Herren ended up using again. On a visit to see his wife and
newborn son in the hospital, his wife noticed he was on drugs and told him to get clean, and if he didn’t, to never come back. Herren contemplated suicide but chose to fight for his health and his family. After completing intensive rehabilitation programs for over a year, Herren has been alcohol and drug-free since Aug 1, 2008. One of his most significant accomplishments is being “the same dad every day” to his three children for the last 15 years, something that he could not be when he was using.
During his talk, Herren emphasized to the students that society often focuses on what a “junkie” looks like on their worst days, when they are deep into their addiction sickness, but not on the first day when the addiction began. He emphasized the importance of that first day and the decision to start using. He also talked about why he decided to use drugs. He said he wished his mother had asked him why to try to identify the root causes behind his poor choices. Herren believes if parents, caretakers, and friends take this approach, they can provide a key element on the road to addiction recovery.
Herren hears from hundreds of students nationwide in response to his talks and from friends or family members who may be struggling. Herren and his wife have started Herren Wellness, a holistic wellness service and center that helps patients with addiction through self-reflection and discovery. They create personalized plans with each individual’s needs in mind. This unique approach combines holistic wellness with medical and clinical collaboration. He also runs centers that house patients during their recovery process.
Herren’s strong but empathetic nature commanded the audience’s respect. The students sat in silence for over an hour, listening attentively to his every word. After his presentation, he took questions from the students and said he would consider his talk a success if he reached just one student.
YALE MODEL UNITED NATIONS
KO’s annual pilgrimage to New Haven occurred in January as 34 Wyverns participated in the Yale Model United Nations (YMUN). This year, three KO students earned awards for their work. Saanve Bathula ’24 won Outstanding Delegate on a Special Committee on Rome; Minnila Muthukumar ’24 won Best Delegate for her work on the Press Corps Committee; and Sam Almeida ’26 was named Honorable Delegate for her work on the Crisis Committee.
At YMUN, 2,000 delegates representing 45 countries interact with one another through debate and diplomacy to solve complex challenges facing the world today. The delegates take on roles as UN representatives, policymakers, journalists, and important figures at the conference and learn about the inner workings of global politics and problem-solving. This year, former Secretary General of the U.N. Ban Ki-moon spoke at the event.
Muthukumar is a seasoned pro at Model UN, having attended the event since her sophomore year; she served as chair of the KO team. Using her debate skills as chair of the school’s Speech and Debate team, she enjoyed
applying her public speaking knowledge to a more real-world scenario. For this year’s Model U.N., Muthukumar was a Wall Street Journal reporter in the press corps, covering the Hunger Games Committee. One topic she covered was the ethics of using AI in journalism. “As the Wall Street Journal, I mainly argued that we should use AI only as a tool and not phase out the authenticity of journalism,” Muthkumar said. She said she maintained objectivity, posting approximately 45 tweets daily on her topics and writing two press releases in a journalistic style detailing the events.
Before the event, Muthukumar prepped by subscribing to the Journal and researching AP style,
gaining a deeper understanding of various types of writing. Regarding AI, Muthkumar said, “I think journalism’s really unique in the sense that every article is very authentic because each journalist has their unique worldview and way of reporting. AI, at least as of now, isn’t intelligent enough to mimic the differences that each human has. It would be a bad idea to replace the authenticity of humans with the robotic sense of AI.”
On Bathula’s special committee, she took a trip to the past, portraying a fictional Roman senator, Tiberius Fabious, who was voted in by the plebians. Initially, Bathula/Tiberius supported Julius Caesar because her constituents viewed him as a hero. The “senate” wrestled with two dominant crises: Caesar’s growing influence and the looming war with Carthage. Each hour, the group was presented with a new crisis. In one instance, the senators needed to contend with Caesar’s naming his illegitimate son, Caesarian, born to Cleopatra,
as his heir to the throne. This action would have uprooted the entire Roman Republic, and the senators wrestled with the issue.
Bathula cosplayed the role of Tiberius and relished the drama.
“You may be assigned a viewpoint that you never really thought of, or you might assigned something that you don’t know a lot about,” she said. “Researching and getting into the character is half the fun.”
In addition to the role-playing, Bathula wrote a position paper explaining her stance on the topic, guiding her through the committee.
Bathula said she has cultivated her leadership skills through her four years participating in Model U.N, a style she describes as “conversational” in finding a common ground with an opponent. “We form blocs in committee, groups of people with similar ideas, who write resolutions, and you can be in
control of the blocs,” she said. “In freshman year, speaking in front of 100 peers was very stressful, but over time, I’ve become more comfortable. That is one of the more transformational things. Learning to take a risk and trying to lead a bloc.”
Like Muthukumar, Bathula is a pro at public speaking, a skill strongly encouraged by her mother since freshman year. In addition to participating in Model UN, she chaired the Kingswood Oxford Middle School’s Model U.N. tournament and led the speech and debate team.
Due to the limited number of spots available for students to attend the event, Almeida participated in the activities as an individual delegate by enrolling independently. In her crisis committee, which she said was ever-changing and required a high level of adaptation, Almeida portrayed Prince William, the
Duke of Canterbury, during the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745. Before Model U.N., Almeida researched Prince William, the second son of the king and the general, who won the decisive Battle of Culloden over the Jacobites. Almeida admitted William was “not a great guy.”
“In our crisis,” she said, “the Jacobites declared war, and you had to decide what to do. You had to tax. You had to keep the citizens on your side while drawing up battle strategies and going to war and anticipating what the Jacobites would do.”
What did Almeida learn about herself in this high-stakes situation? “You don’t just speak to speak,” she said. “You speak with intent. You need to lead people with how you speak. I discovered that I don’t bend under pressure. I keep going.”
Saanve Bathula ’24
Minnila Muthukumar ’24
Sam Almeida ’26
An ensemble cast of supremely talented Upper School students performed A Chorus Line for its yearly musical on February 23 and 24, adding to KO’s impressive string of high-caliber shows over the past several years. The show was named Best High School Musical by the Halo Awards in June, marking the third time KO won the top prize. Several KO students were awarded the Dance Molinari Scholarship for workshops in New York City with a Broadway choreographer.
A Chorus Line, Broadway’s seventh longest-running show, does not follow a linear narrative but rather delves into the personalities of the 17 actors vying for eight spots on the “line.” Instead of performing, acting, or dancing for the show’s director Zach (played by the intrepid college counselor Matt Waldman) for the roles, the director challenges the actors to share their personal stories to reveal their motivations and inner workings. What ensues in the unfolding of the actors’
backgrounds is at turns hilarious and heartbreaking, much like life itself.
Impeccably cast, each student played their characters to perfection and inhabited their roles completely, holding their character’s stance for virtually the entire performance when not dancing or singing, no easy feat. There were bravura performances by Leo Kollen ’26, Matthew Habeeb ’27, and Riley Mapp ’26, whose characters shared the indignity of puberty and all the
bodily functions and foibles accompanying it. The stellar pipes of Audrey Karasik ’24 (Maggie) carried the number “At the Ballet,” whose character related her harsh family dynamics along with the tough Shiela, played by Diya Mistri ’24 with plenty of sass and attitude.
Much of the musical exposes the characters’ insecurities and the hard knocks they have experienced. Molly Palmer ’27’s character, Cassie,
agonizes with the director over getting the part in the line after achieving scant success in her career, even though she is a far more accomplished dancer than a mere chorus member. Palmer powered through a magnificent solo dance encompassing every inch of the set for “The Music and the Mirror,” delivering a professional-level, breathtaking, and back-bending performance. The dance required a high degree of energy and athleticism. Fortunately for Palmer, she spent one day in Manhattan working one-on-one with Broadway actor Jessica Lee Goldyn, who portrayed Cassie in the original Broadway revival in 2006 for her dance number. “Being able to spend just one day with her was lifechanging,” Palmer said. “And I have gained so much valuable information about not only A Chorus Line but also what it means to be a performer.”
In a powerfully quiet moment, Jason Chen ’26 (Paul) delivered an 11-minute monologue about his 16-yearold character’s hidden sexuality, shielding his gay lifestyle and cross-dressing dance hall performances from his parents, whom he is certain would reject him. Chen did great credit to the script by not rushing his lines, letting the pauses build, and allowing the drama to unfold, eventually leading the director Zack to embrace him as Paul collapsed into Zack’s arms. Chen held the audience spellbound.
The students’ excellent performances were attributed to the hours and hours dedicated to rehearsal time — after school well into the evening hours and on weekends. The students had the extraordinary opportunity to workshop on campus with Broadway stars Jessica Lee Goldyn and Mara Davi, who were in the original revival of A Chorus Line in 2006.
The musical taps into so many aspects and dimensions of the KO students. Zaire Ramiz ’25, whose joyous, highenergy performance of Richie was a standout, said it best. “Theater at KO is a truly one-of-a-kind experience,” Ramiz said. “Between performance skills, public speaking, and the subject matter of the shows we put on, our musicals are extremely educational, and every show is a new learning experience.”
Special kudos to the student tech crew who operated in a compressed time frame to construct the set due to repairs done to the Roberts Theater. Massive floor-to-ceiling pivoting mirrors dominated the sparse set, which echoed a dance practice space. During the final celebratory number, “Singular Sensation,” the actors donned beige satin top hats and tails. At the same time, the mirrors switched to an artdeco-inspired backdrop while A Chorus Line in theater lights descended from the ceiling.
KO CUM LAUDE SOCIETY
On April 19, 17 members of the Class of 2024 were inducted into the Cum Laude Society, a national organization whose mission is to recognize students who have demonstrated exceptional academic achievement in secondary schools across the country. In addition to academic excellence, the Cum Laude Society recognizes “students who have demonstrated good character, honor, and integrity in all aspects of their school life.”
The seventeen new members of Cum Laude have had superlative success with their academic studies during their junior year and the first half of their senior year, as reflected in their weighted grade point
averages that constitute the top 20% of the class. They have done so in the context so familiar to all KO students–that of juggling a variety of commitments beyond the classroom,
including extracurricular clubs, sports, leadership roles, the college process, and often responsibilities outside of KO as well. As is also true at KO, they have embraced the challenges,
The 2024 inductees were Esther Arimoro (not pictured), Emma Barringer, Nicolai Benz, Ashley Buckingham, Ava Cashman, Maia Killory, Andrew LaCroix, Alexander Levin, Keysy Lopez Diaz, Diya Mistri, Samir Patel, Oskar Ruser, Dhruv Suryadevara, Loretta Szych, Nicolas Tippner, Shuhan Zhang, and Tianyu Zheng (not pictured).
persevered through the disappointments, and thrived in an environment rich with caring adults, engaged peers, and supportive families.
Jack Wolf ’16, three-sport athlete, Senior Prefect, Shield and Dragon ambassador, and All-New England soccer player, served as the keynote speaker. Wolf is currently in his fourth year as a medical student at UConn, interested in anesthesiology working at a children’s hospital.
Noting that he was not much older than the inductees themselves, he said that many life events transpire between high school graduation and his age of 26.
“It might not seem like that much time, but crazy stuff happens,” he said laughingly. “You’ll live in new places. You’ll get kicked off your parent’s insurance. You will use the phrase ’back in high school.’”
Using his love for chemistry and biochemistry, Wolf wove his talk around scientific vocabulary, knowing that the students assembled, with their “nerd energy and nerd capacity,” would
understand and appreciate his keynote.
By applying electron cloud theory, which calculates the probability that an electron is in a certain space around a nucleus, Wolf stated that the nucleus of KO will “always be sending positive energy to the students as they move on to college.”
“You will bump into people, information, and ideas that excite you to a new or different energy level,” he said. “Enjoy these opportunities because they can be truly amazing. But remember to use that healthy level of skepticism and analysis, what you learned, to stay balanced and grounded.”
He shared practical advice like staying hydrated, releasing endorphins through working out, laughing with friends, and establishing deep connections with others. With O2, oxygen, he reminded the group to take a deep breath when stressed.
And in one last analogy using covalent bonds, Wolf said the most crucial aspect of the college years is to form deep, meaningful relationships.
“College is an era in your life where you’ll have so much time to connect with peers, professors, and mentors,” he said. “Invest time and energy in these relationships the same way you do in your studies and extracurricular activities.”
Rebecca Rose Matoska ’07
SAFETY PROTOCOLS IN VACCINE DEVELOPMENT
Stroud Science Symposium speaker Rebecca Rose Matoska ’07, a medical researcher with a background in biopharmaceutical companies and vaccine development at the National Institute of Health (NIH), spoke at a recent assembly. Matoska credits her Upper School AP ® Biology teacher, Carol Caley, for setting her on the research path. Recognizing Matoska’s interest in the field, Caley connected Motoska with a professor at UConn Health, where she spent the summer interning for him and was “set loose” in a lab.
Matoska explained proteomics, the evaluation of proteins in a sample. It’s a holistic approach to examining an organism’s function or disease. Proteins come in various shapes and sizes, which determines their specific functions. When scientists study them, they can learn a lot about the cell and its health. They use proteins to understand better what’s occurring in a sample.
One critical resource used in her work is mass spectrometetry, an analytical technique used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. This involves the use of a machine known as a mass spectrometer. Essentially the size of a boom box, it breaks molecules down even further from their original structure. “The mass spec has been called the smallest scale in the world,” she said, “but that’s a bit of a misnomer because we’re not measuring the weight of something. We’re looking at what’s present in it.” Each molecule has a unique chemical signature when run through the mass spectrometer. Measured against a vast database created by the sampling of millions of substances over many years, scientists can decipher the contents of a given sample. Sometimes, they even have the opportunity to add to the collective database for future research applications.
While she worked for a biopharmaceutical company that developed antibody-based therapeutic treatments for cancer, the researchers examined the disease using the mass spectrometer to analyze proteins, the functional units of the cell. From the various protein identifications, the researchers could decide what to do with the information—what drug products to study and are they having the effect the researchers want to see?
A vaccine must be analyzed through many steps and clinical studies before it can be used on humans. Although the drug might be promising in lab mice, the “recipe” must be tweaked before human application to ensure the vaccine’s stability and proper concentration. After the vaccine is prepared, it sits on a shelf, is tested monthly, and put through the mass spectrometer.
“The best way to answer if a drug product is essentially surviving and doing what we expect over time is to use mass spectrometry on it,” she said. Through the mass spec, the researchers separate the drug product, and the device can determine what is still present.
Matoska noted that research is only one facet of vaccine development. After the product is developed and tested, other departments in the company work on outreach, education, and marketing. Collaboration is critical, she said.
“The more you’re willing to have a conversation with colleagues, to work with people in similar backgrounds and different backgrounds, that’s where the best ideas come from, usually,” she said. “It’s when you share thoughts with others and develop new ideas because they saw something in their field that overlaps with what you see. Sharing information, furthering information, whether it’s a paper, going to
a lecture and sharing your ideas, or going to a conference and getting new information, is really key. Just constantly having that system of checks and balances to study the field further and come up with new ideas is important.”
Matoska gave the students essential tips for working in a lab, including planning their experiments well, organizing their samples, saving them, and repeating the experiment many times.
“Science is full of mistakes, full of things that didn’t work,” she said. “The more you do your work ahead of time to read everyone else’s mistakes, the less likely you are to repeat them, and the more successful your experiments are likely to be.”
Matoska added that scientists must be persistent and use their inevitable discouragement to their advantage when experiments go awry. “You need to say, ’Well, now I want to ask more questions’—that’s the best way to continue to succeed in science or to seek out further knowledge of science.”
SAMITE
Last October, the entire student body was treated to the joyful music of Samite, an African musician, flutist, and kalimba player, through the Goodman Banks Visiting Artist Series. Ugandan by birth, Samite fled his country in 1982 and was a political refugee in Kenya before immigrating to the U.S. in 1987.
In addition to singing in his lilting voice, Samite played the kalimba, a wooden board with attached staggered metal tines that are plucked. An acoustic guitar and traditional African drums accompanied him. He also interspersed personal stories throughout his set – some tender and some playful. In one interlude, Samite described his distress at seeing many homeless people on the streets of New York City when he first arrived in this country. This experience inspired the beautiful acoustic song, “My Name is Not Homeless; My Mother Calls Me Baby,” recognizing the humanity in the most vulnerable among us. He said he left New York City because he felt he was always under suspicion and relocated to Ithaca, N.Y., the home of Cornell University. He shared his impressions of the locale as a place full of vegetarians – a difficult transition for a carnivore. “To survive in Ithaca, I pretended to be a vegetarian,” he said. Before dining at a friend’s home, he would eat a large piece of beef because he knew the menu would be limited to sprouts and tofu. Ironically, Samite said he is now a vegetarian. His performance also included bringing the full Upper School choir on stage, who rehearsed a
moving song with him, “Ani Oyo.”
In his note accompanying the song, Samite wrote, “The name of the song is “Ani Oyo” which means “who is out there?” in my native language, Luganda. This is the time to reach out to those who are scared, alone, and unsure of the future. It is time to share our love and our time with others.”
At the end of Samite’s performance, the audience erupted in a call-and-response during the song “Kaleba,” elevating the already happy vibe. Audience members rose from their seats and paraded around Roberts Theater, dancing to “Bulimuntu.”
After his performance, Samite took questions from the audience. One student asked how Samite composes music. He said most of the music he writes comes to him in his dreams, and he has a tape recorder beside his bed. He shares the melody with his musicians, who improvise the basic structure. His guitar player (an aficionado of Eddie van Halen and Def Leopard) interjected that Samite sends him on “a wild goose chase.” The song is revised several times until they eventually “find the spot.”
Another student asked what Samite’s favorite song by another artist was, and he unexpectedly
named a song he used to cover as a young man, “The First Cut is the Deepest” by Rod Stewart. Another student, Sinani Sebadduka ’24, asked Samite what part of Kampala he hailed from. Recognizing perhaps a familiar inflection in Sinani’s voice, a visibly moved Samite said, “Oh wow! Someone from Uganda. That is very special to me. Very special.”
Samite believes in the restorative power of music. On his website, he states, “While performing, I see that people are able to forget their differences and join as one in the moment. My hope is for that moment to last. If we can make that moment last, the world will be a better place.”
Here’s to more music to heal a hurting world.
WARREN BAIRD JOURNALISM DINNER
Rachel Abrahamson ’98,
a lifestyle and parenting reporter for today.com with over two decades of experience, was the guest speaker at the 31st Warren Baird Journalism Dinner. She has been the site’s mostread author for over two years, garnering an extraordinary 54 million page views in 2023.
While at KO, she actively contributed to epic and the KO News, where Warren Baird supported her writing journey. After KO, she headed to Mount Holyoke College, where she earned a B.A. in English language and literature and then on to a master’s in creative writing at Johns Hopkins. Although she planned on entering a writing program at NYU, her adviser recommended that she gain real work experience.
Heeding his advice, she interned at US Weekly. At that publication, she developed a love for journalism and reporting and the energy and excitement of the newsrooms while learning the ropes.
While at US Weekly, she had a ringside seat watching Jay Z and Beyonce’s rooftop wedding and interviewing Ryan Gosling, who fed her grapes. Despite these
celebrity highlights, she shared that she often had to do the “grunt work” of transcribing tapes for editors and reporters, learning valuable lessons in “how to conduct a good interview, how to ask follow-up questions, and how to be a good journalist.”
Abrahamson gave the students practical advice on navigating a career in journalism. She said to ask their bosses if they need help on a project and ask them for career advice on how they got their start. “Everyone you work for is a potential reference,” she said. “Stay in touch with as many coworkers as you can.” When US Weekly was sold to another media company, she was laid off with the other senior staff. By tapping into her established network, she landed a job as a parenting editor at Today in short order, where she currently works. Abrahamson writes human interest stories, such as those about conjoined twins or a mother with Down Syndrome raising a child. “I really love feelgood happy stories. And my daily goal is to be light in the darkness,” she said, admitting that she often gets choked up several times a week when covering stories of the obstacles her subjects must overcome.
To be a good journalist, Abrahamson stressed the importance of research before an interview and asking questions that are not run of the mill, especially when interviewing celebrities. She shared that while she was interviewing Jamie Chung, an influencer and celebrity who had just welcomed twins via surrogate, she was able to establish a rapport and ask her questions about infertility. “If you ask the questions, you can get a great headline,” she said. Additionally, she said to hold a lengthy pause after you ask a question
because the person being interviewed might continue to speak, often offering a juicy tidbit of information that could be the headline.
Other helpful tips Abrahamson shared with the students included writing in various styles, from personal essays, long features, short feel-good pieces, and gift guides. By being well-rounded, you are more apt to secure a new job when you lose one, a sad reality in today’s world of journalism.
She also told the students not to accept information at face value and fact-check diligently. Although journalism is evolving, Abrahamson said, “Your voices are needed. Stories are everywhere. Go and find one.”
RUNNING BEYOND THE FINISH LINE
For many, running is just a form of exercise, a way to stay fit and healthy. But for Upper School teacher Tracy Deeter, it’s a passion, a lifestyle, and a journey of self-discovery. With an impressive 22 marathons under her belt, 13 of those Boston Marathons, running is a deeply ingrained part of who she is. While Deeter says staying in shape is certainly a perk, that isn’t what running is about for her. Instead, running is a form of meditation, a chance to clear her mind and let her thoughts wander freely. She says some of her best ideas have come to her while she runs, and pushing her body to its limits is exhilarating and humbling.
“In a world full of challenges and obstacles, there is something empowering about knowing that I can push through the pain and keep going, one step at a time,” she said. “Running makes me feel strong and capable.”
Of all the races Deeter has run, the Boston Marathon holds a special place in her heart. Certainly, as the world’s oldest annual marathon, it’s steeped in history and tradition. But Deeter says it is more than just a race. “It’s a celebration of the city itself,” she said, “embodying the toughness and resilience of Bostonians.”
When tragedy struck during the marathon in 2013 with the bombings that took place, Deeter said, as with so many others, it forever changed the race for her. That day, she was waiting in the family meetup area when the bombs went off. “The chaos and uncertainty of that day are etched into my memory
forever,” she said. “But out of that darkness came a renewed sense of purpose. The bombings put everything into perspective and reminded me why I keep coming back to Boston year after year.”
One race that particularly stands out in Deeter’s memory is the 2023 Boston Marathon, where she finally achieved her goal of running subthree hours. It was a momentous occasion made even more special by the significance of the 10th anniversary of the bombings. As she crossed the finish line, Deeter said, “I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment, knowing that I had overcome both physical and emotional barriers to achieve my dream.”
Looking back, Deeter never could have imagined that running would become such an integral part of her life. But thanks to the encouragement of her friends and mentors, she took that first step, and she has never looked back. “Running has taught me resilience, determination, and the power of the human spirit. And for that, I am forever grateful.”
Faculty Emerita Meg Kasparak cheers for Deeter along the route.
STUDENT NAMED PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLAR
Emma Barringer ’24 was named as one of more than 5,000 candidates in 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. The candidates were selected from nearly 3.6 million students who are expected to graduate from U.S. high schools in 2024.
In April, the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars reviewed the applications of all candidates and chose 600 semifinalists and then selected up to 161 U.S. Presidential Scholars.
“It’s really nice to have the recognition,” Barringer said, “and be honored with other high-achieving seniors and to show the type of education students can get at KO.”
Applicants who have scored exceptionally well on either the SAT or ACT are automatically considered for participation.
In Barringer’s case, her near-perfect SAT score qualified her for the Scholars Program.
Barringer had a slow and steady SAT prep approach, devoting 30 minutes each day to studying. “I wouldn’t say that standardized tests come very easy to me,” she said, “but you don’t get burned out doing 30 minutes a day.”
The next stage of the program required Barringer to submit an application, including several essays, a process she described as a “college application on steroids.” Some of the essay topics
included selecting a photo and describing the significance of the photo, describing your family dynamic, and describing in detail what problem you want to solve in the world. Candidates were notified in April if they were one of the 600 semi-finalists. Barringer started at KO in sixth grade, and she relished her experience with her peers and teachers so much that she continued her education at KO. “I love being able to take advantage of different opportunities, whether it’s as managing editor of news and sports for the KO News, co-chair of Power of Women, captain of the Mock Trial team, and or as captain of varsity field hockey,” she said. “I feel that KO has so many opportunities for students to dive into and explore their interests. And, of course, the teachers are phenomenal. They are so excited and passionate about teaching, which translates to your excitement about attending their classes.”
Extraordinarily well-rounded and quietly confident, Barringer takes her leadership roles at KO seriously. She has learned that the best leaders inspire those around them to have the same level of passion that they have. In college, Barringer plans to study international relations or political science, immersing herself in global experiences.
“I’m at a point where I know I’m prepared for college because of KO, and I’m excited for the next steps,” she said.
Lunch and Lead
Through the Margaret E. and Henry R. Roberts Center for Leadership, KO students were fortunate to hear about the medical profession from two members of the KO community: dermatologist Dr. Jennifer White Pennoyer ’85, P’14, ’22 and ob/gyn Dr. Kelly Sturrock P’24, ’27.
Pennoyer and Sturrock entered the medical profession by different means. Sturrock attended Siena College, which has a program that admits students into medical school as freshmen in college. For Pennoyer, it wasn’t until the spring of her junior year that she decided to pursue a premed route.
Both doctors explained how the medical profession has changed since they entered it. Both noted that patients have become more educated and often have access to their lab results even before the doctor has time to review them. Although both agree the collaboration between doctor and patient has become stronger, they said there are downsides to the amount of medical information proliferating on social media and the Internet, including information that could be incorrect. “People are demanding certain tests,” Sturrock said, “because they’ve read about something that maybe doesn’t apply to them, but they want to get it.”
As working mothers, Pennoyer and Sturrock pointed out that striking a proper work-life balance is not
always easy, and acknowledged there are times when they’ve fallen short. Both acknowledged that it takes a family team to navigate life. “I think you have to look at where you’re the happiest,” Sturrock said. “ I could work more and make more money, but you have to decide what’s enough.”
The doctors shared that doing work that you love makes the day-to-day routine easier because the path through medical school and residency is not an easy one. “You’re going to have your setbacks,” Pennoyer said. “You’re going to fail a test. You know it’s not going to be the easiest path. Just keep going. Just keep your head down and keep going.”
Both said that clinical rotations were helpful in deciding on their specialties. Sturrock said she originally thought she would go into pediatrics, but after treating strep throat cases ad infinitum she changed her mind. Through her surgery and OB rotations, she found her passion because she enjoys developing long-term relationships with her patients, seeing them through their childbearing years and beyond.
THE GROWN UPS
Entering the Black Box Theater for KO’s fall performance of The Grown Ups by Simon Henriques and Skylar Fox, the audience was transported to the campfire of Camp Indigo, replete with inches deep of mulch, the scent of pine, and s’mores roasting. The Black Box Theater was positively transformed and completely immersed the theatergoers into a wooded forest alternating between cozy and threatening.
The five young counselors, a tad older than the campers in their charge, are wrestling with the responsibilities of adulthood because an undefined, possibly apocalyptic, national emergency has occurred outside of their idyll. The counselors become the de facto adults because their elder head counselor has abandoned the camp, and those remaining must entertain and protect the youngsters without alarming them.
The strength of The Grown Ups lies in its rich character development and the authenticity with which the actors breathed life into their roles. The ensemble cast (Sarah Balog ’27, Miles Gruber ’26, Leo Kollen ’26, Anissa Lewis ’24, Meagan Rose ’26 ) delivered stellar performances, each actor embodying the struggles, joys, and dilemmas of being a grown-up in a society that constantly demands more. Every performance felt genuine and relatable, especially the coy flirting between Maeve and the disinterested Lukas
Cassie, performed by Lewis, the newest counselor who doesn’t (or does?) share a history at the camp, challenges the other counselors’ blind embrace of camp traditions. Lewis balanced a high wire between being firm and gentle while probing the group to self-reflect with ease. “I guess it’s just a question of what you care about more,” says Cassie. “Taking the best care of these kids that you can? Or doing things the way you’ve always done them.”
The play skillfully wove together humor and suspense, making the audience laugh one moment and reflect the next. Particularly effective was Gruber, whose exasperated, frantic presence provided a comedic note amid the rising tension. The witty and profound dialogue is a testament to the playwright’s keen understanding of human nature. It effortlessly captured the essence of individuals’ struggles as they grapple with responsibilities, aspirations, and the inevitability of change.
One of the play’s notable strengths is its ability to balance universal themes and individual stories. While exploring the shared experiences of adulthood, The Grown Ups recognizes the uniqueness of each character’s journey. The narrative invites introspection, prompting audience members to reflect on their own lives and choices. The play demands an examination of the journey to adulthood that we all take for granted and asks us to consider, “Who is really in charge?”
STUDENT AWARDED MAJOR COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) awarded a $160,000 scholarship to Christian Gordon ’25.
“Christian is one of the most driven and conscientious students I have ever met,” said Director of College Counseling Jami Silver.
“That he is widely respected across all the faculty members speaks volumes.”
Even as a child, Gordon was enthralled with math and problemsolving, considering this his forte. “This past year in pre-calculus, I feel like I have been able to hone these skills,” Gordon said.
Although he admitted he becomes frustrated at times, he is able to work through the task in front of him through perseverance and determination. “It’s really about the process of learning,” he said.
He can often look at a word problem, and the answer just “clicks.” “It’s a mental thing where I can just see the answer,” he said. This year, he plans on studying upper-level math courses: AP® Calculus AB and AP® Statistics.
Gordon has a promising future in front of him. He plans on majoring in material science and engineering, experimenting and researching different properties of materials for application in consumer products. “I am a tinkerer and very hands-on,” he said.
Gordon is also the consummate student-athlete and a force on the football and track and field
teams. “Christian is an absolute pleasure to have been part of our football program for the past three years and a very special young man,” said Brandon Batory ’10, football team coach. “I am so proud to hear of this tremendous accomplishment for Christian. Football-wise, he is critical to our team’s success on and off the field. He provides a steady presence of excellence, is a two-way starter, and consistently raises our standard. Intelligent, hard-working, positive, caring, committed, and a team-first person, he is everything you want in a player in your football program. I look forward to watching him take another leap forward in his senior season ahead!”
Kingswood Oxford
women POWER OF
Igniting tomorrow’s leaders.
In a world where gender equality remains an ongoing struggle, events like the 6th Annual Power of Women on Apr. 6 are a powerful reminder of women’s progress and the work still ahead. Held in the Roberts Theater, this past year’s event celebrated female leadership, resilience, and empowerment, bringing together students, professionals, and community members to share insights, experiences, and inspiration.
The room was filled, in particular, with mother-daughter pairs and other community members.
The Power of Women initiative, founded six years ago by Director of Leadership Giving Jayne Rotter, has become a cornerstone of the Kingswood Oxford community.
The panelists represented diverse fields, from entertainment and law to politics and healthcare, offering attendees a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.
Jenn Allen ’03, vice president of business affairs at NBC Universal Television Group, captivated the audience with her journey from law school to the entertainment industry. She spoke candidly about the challenges she faced and the pivotal moments that shaped her career, emphasizing the importance of being assertive and decisive and empowering others along the way.
Alexia Cruz P’29, ’29, senior vice president and claim general counsel at Travelers Insurance, shared her insights from law and leadership. Drawing from her own experiences, she highlighted the importance of taking risks, defying stereotypes, and supporting other women in their professional journeys.
Jennifer Papa Kanaan M.D. ’87 P’20, ’22, ’25, ’25, associate professor of medicine at UConn, provided valuable insights from her career in healthcare and academia. She emphasized the importance of making a difference in the lives of others, whether through patient care or mentorship, and underscored the transformative power of community and collaboration.
Catalina Salazar ’12, digital director for Senator Chris Murphy, offered a unique perspective on the intersection of politics and digital communications. She spoke passionately about the power of storytelling and authentic connection in driving meaningful change, urging attendees to embrace their voices and use them to effect positive impact.
From left: Alexia Cruz P’29, ’29, Jenn Allen ’03, Jennifer Papa Kanaan M.D. ’87, P’20, ’22, ’25, ’25, Catalina Salazar ’12
lbi Zoboi Welcoming Author
New York Times best-selling author and National Book Award finalist, Ibi Zoboi addressed the KO community on Friday, Jan. 12, as the 41st Warren Baird Symposium author. She joins an esteemed line-up of literary giants who have visited KO to workshop in a symposium class with our seniors. Bill Martino, chair of the English department, said of the program, “It’s a testament to KO’s commitment to intellectual curiosity, literary scholarship, and the power of storytelling.”
I don’t always want to be nice. I don’t always want to say the things that people want to hear. I want to tell the truth. “ ”
- lbi Zoboi
In immersing themselves in her work, KO students not only devoted their time to textual explications but also flexed their muscles in areas of passion by creating collages, podcasts, musical compositions, dance routines, and sculptures to make the study of Zoboi particularly personal.
Two symposium students, Emma Barringer ’24 and Saanve Bathula ’24, who introduced Zoboi to the community at an assembly, provided a short synopsis of each of the novels: Black Enough, Love is Wise, My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, Pride, Sorry Child, American Street, Punching the Air (based on the story of Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated Central Park Five), and Nigeria Jones.
“She has established a niche for herself in contemporary literature, seamlessly blending cultures, identity, and the complexities of the human experience,” Barringer said. “Her words resonate with authenticity, offering readers a profound exploration of themes across genres. Her stories unfold a tapestry of emotions and cultural richness.”
Zoboi expressed gratitude for the warm welcome and acknowledgment of her work. She reflected on her journey as a writer and the importance of speaking one’s truth in times of uncertainty. Zoboi shared insights into her upcoming book, Tell a Story, Rule the World, inspired by the quote, “Those who tell the story rule the world.”
Born in Haiti, Zoboi discussed the significance of her background and her responsibility to document truths, even if they are uncomfortable or unpopular. “I don’t always want to be nice,” she said. “I don’t always want to say the things that people want to hear. I want to tell the truth.”
She emphasized the importance of agitating and being passionate about beliefs as artists and writers, encouraging the audience to speak their own truths to the world.
Zoboi delved into the challenges of navigating truth and belonging, using an excerpt from her book Nigeria Jones to illustrate the struggle of reconciling lived experiences with societal expectations. Nigeria, who attends a majority white private school, shares personal experiences of her father. This exposed her to stories about slavery and racism from a young age, emphasizing the weight of carrying such knowledge. “I wrote this,” Zoboi said, “because this is what it feels like to read and know and understand history and how to make sense of that history and keep going to be an artist and how to separate truth from what’s supposed to be true and what makes you feel uncomfortable or comfortable in spaces where you don’t always feel welcomed.”
Zoboi expressed her commitment to creating dangerously, quoting Haitian American writer Edwidge Danticat. “Creation,” Zoboi said, is not always in the traditional means of writing or painting but rather “whatever it is that you put out into the world.” She spoke about the impact of her banned book, American Street, and how it continues to be taught in schools despite the challenges of educators risking their livelihoods to teach it. Zoboi encouraged
the audience, especially young people, to be passionate about positive causes, question everything, and use their voices to create change.
“If there’s a truth that you want to be heard, that you want to tell, but your voice shakes to tell it, you know that truth will liberate others; here’s how you create dangerously,” Zoboi said.
Zoboi touched on the concept of radical imagination, urging
the audience to think critically about the future. As an author who generally writes for young people and is an aficionado of science fiction, Zoboi said she often thinks of the future. In an interactive exercise, she asked the audience to imagine the world in 2044, addressing topics like flying cars, implanted phones, what schools, the United States, democracy, capitalism will be like, and the role of tech giants like Meta. She emphasized the role of individuals in shaping the future, tying this back to her writing for young people and the impact she hopes her books will have in 2044. Zoboi encouraged free thinking, embracing one’s unique beauty, and creating with compassion.
She concluded by discussing her Haitian roots and the legacy of the Haitian Revolution, expressing gratitude for being welcomed and for the role of the Symposium and for making space for diverse voices.
“Even if you don’t share my background,’ she said. “Your interest in my work lets others know that you will make space for all voices.”
This March, KO students traveled to New York City to attend the Anti-Defamation League’s Never is Now event, the world’s largest summit on antisemitism and hate. Students participated in crucial conversations and powerful programming. Special thanks to the Alan Lazowski family for supporting this program.
KO IN CHINA
Our international students add great depth, warmth, and talent to our KO community. And, as a day school, KO prides itself on developing close ties with our parents as we work together to develop their child’s talents and endless possibilities. In that spirit, our Head of School Tom Dillow, Director of Advancement Dina Plapler, and board member John Wang ’88 visited China this summer and met the families who have entrusted their children to us.
“We wanted to meet with our international families firsthand since we have limited opportunities to meet with them face to face,” Plapler said. “This was a trip all about connections.”
After a long flight, Cherry Zhang’s ’25’s and Max Huang’s ’25’s families, holding a KO banner, greeted the three KO ambassadors at the airport. “It was a beautiful gesture,” Plapler said, “which lifted our spirits immediately.”
The KO trio was feted with hospitality and sumptuous feasts as they toured Beijing and Shanghai. In Shanghai, the group visited the Yu Garden and several temples and took a boat ride along the Huangpu River, stopping at The Bund, a waterfront area and a protected historical district in central Shanghai. In the evening, a welcome event included 25 attendees, including prospective
families, and featured an array of local specialties served from a lazy Susan. Dillow spoke to the families about KO’s academic program, our award-winning theater program in which Zhang played a role, our matriculation list, and the Seize the Day Campaign. Plapler said the families were interested in hearing how the Commons would strengthen their students’ academic experience.
Following the stop in Shanghai, the group went to Beijing to meet additional families and were greeted with similar fanfare
by Eric Zhao’s ’25’s family. They toured the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, and participated in a tea ceremony. A gala dinner for 23 local families and friends was held in a state-of-the-art aquarium, where Wang shared his story as a 10-year-old immigrating to the United States from China. He credited his KO experience as an intrinsic part of his success story.
“Not only was this an extraordinary cultural trip, but it was also deeply rewarding to finally connect with the families of our students,” Dillow said. “Our Chinese students are wonderful and talented community members, and it’s easy to see why. The families we met were gracious and warm and treated us like honored guests.”
Varsity Athletics 2023-24
FALL FOOTBALL
Coaches: (Head) Brandon Batory ’10; (Assistants) David Hild ’80, Dac Newton, Matt Kocay, Duncan Insuik, Steve Sullivan Record: 4-4-0
Captains: Nathan Bowes ’24, Ikpeme Ebana ’24
Seniors: Rhandyn Bair, Nathan Bowes, John Decker, Domenico DiNuzzo, Ikpeme Ebana, Jacob Mapp, Sinani Sebadduka, Dhruv Suryadevara VOLLEYBALL
Coaches: (Head) Scott McDonald; (Assistants) Cameron Biondi, Ryan Radmanovich Record: 12-7-0
Captains: Jillian Alexander ’24, Alexandra Arcaro ’24, Ava Cashman ’24
Seniors: Jillian Alexander, Alexandra Arcaro, Ava Cashman, Cienna Freeman
M.V.P. Award: Alexandra Arcaro
M.I.P. Award: Francesca Lamattina ’25
Coaches Award: Ava Cashman, Jillian Alexander
Four-Year Award: Jillian Alexander, Alexandra Arcaro, Ava Cashman
Seniors: Nicolai Benz, Aiden Butler, Michael Bzowyckyj, Samuel Cote, Grant Daigle, Lucas Kollen, Alexander Levin, Samir Patel, William Slayton, Ardit Zhuta
The Kingswood Oxford softball team emerged victorious in the New England Prep School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) championship on May 19, capping off an impressive season with a remarkable record of 15-2. Despite facing some setbacks, the team demonstrated resilience and unity, key factors that propelled them to this prestigious title.
KO’s overall record was outstanding, with only two losses marring an otherwise perfect season. Their first loss was to Choate, a game in which the starting pitcher, Alexis Nisyrios ’27, was sidelined due to an injury sustained during warm-ups. Their second loss came in their last regular season game against Suffield, a tight 2-1 defeat.
One of the standout features of this championship team is its youth. With a starting lineup featuring four middle school students - Remy Rosado ’28, Lily Evans ’29, Olivia Raccio ’28, and Aniajah Sanchez ’28 - the team’s future looks incredibly promising. This season, KO will only be losing two seniors, Sophia Radmanovich and Georgia Louis,
which means that the team’s core remains intact and ready for future challenges.
The team’s composition included two seniors, one junior, one sophomore, and eight middle school and freshman players. This is the youngest team Coach Jason Bradley has ever coached, making their accomplishment even more remarkable.
Coach Bradley has focused on recruiting top talent from Connecticut’s middle schools, which has paid dividends. By targeting younger players and keeping them engaged at KO, he has built a robust program, tapping some of the best seventh and eighth-grade players in the state.
“I was always fascinated by KO because it allowed me as a coach to say, ’I can build a program and build my own team,’’ he said. And so he has.
Despite their impressive record, the season was not without its challenges. The team faced maturity issues, typical for a group so young. Learning to prioritize the team over individual goals was a crucial part of their development.
I
think you could have brought in a college team that day and we would have beaten them. Our team was loose and locked in.
- Coach Bradley
Coach Bradley emphasized the importance of chemistry and unity, which sometimes required difficult decisions, like benching players to instill the right teamfirst mentality. He often used the leadership of the older team members to strike the right note with the younger players as well. Key moments included the Suffield loss, which served as a lesson in the importance of team cohesion.
KO’s playoff journey was a testament to their growth and resilience. They faced Cushing in the semi-finals, a rematch of the previous year’s semi-finals where they lost 1-0. This year, however,
they triumphed with a commanding 10-0 victory, showcasing their determination and improved chemistry. “Nobody was beating us that day,” Coach Bradley said. “I think you could have brought in a college team that day and we would have beaten them. Our team was loose and locked in.”
In the final, KO faced Loomis, a team they had already beaten 4-1 earlier in the season. The championship game was a hard-fought battle, but KO emerged victorious with a 10-8 win, clinching the NEPSAC title.
The future looks bright for the KO softball team. Their youthful lineup is set to return,
bolstered by the experience and lessons learned this season.
Nisyrios, the team’s standout freshman pitcher who was nominated for the Boston Globe’s Player of the Year, has been a cornerstone of their success. Despite her youth, she has shown remarkable talent and maturity, earning nominations for several prestigious awards. Her leadership development will be crucial in the coming years as the team aims for continued success.
With a strong foundation and a clear vision for the future, KO is poised for continued excellence in the seasons to come.
GIRLS’ TENNIS TEAM WINS NEPSAC CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS B: A TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO GLORY
The girls’ tennis team clinched the New England Prep School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Championship Class B title, marking their first victory since 2016. This remarkable achievement is a testament to the team’s hard work and dedication and a significant milestone for the school and its students.
The road to victory was unexpected yet thrilling. Last season, the team boasted an impressive 15-3 record but lost four of its six starters to graduation. Rebuilding the team posed a challenge, but the influx of five talented freshmen played a crucial role in filling the gaps. Coach Ron Garcia expressed surprise and delight at the young players’ rapid improvement throughout the season, culminating in their championship win.
Noor Sayej ’27, a freshman who emerged as the team’s top seed, is at the forefront of this success. Sayej had an undefeated season, playing number one singles, and was recognized as the best player in the Founders League earning her the title of Player of the Year by NEPSAC for Class B.
The team also benefited from the leadership of their senior captain, Loretta Szych ’24, who played number two singles and teamed up with Sayej in doubles. Szych’s experience and skill were instrumental in guiding the young team to victory.
Alongside her, Alex Doering ’26, the team’s number three singles player, brought energy and enthusiasm, forming a “fun, crazy bunch” with the freshmen, according to Coach Garcia.
“When the team wins when they are young, they enjoy it so much that they really work hard trying to get that championship again,”
With such a talented and motivated group of players, the future of the girls’ tennis team looks incredibly bright.
Coach Ron Garcia said. “It’s great to give them that taste of success as a freshman. Just think about all the years we have moving forward where we will be contenders for a long time!”
The journey to the championship was not without its challenges. The team’s toughest match came in the quarterfinals against Berkshire, where they secured a 5-2 victory despite some closely contested games. They went on to defeat Pingree in the semifinals and St. George’s in the final, who entered the match with an 8-4 record. The KO team’s overall record for the season was an impressive 15-3.
One of the most inspiring stories of the season was Aashni Patel ’24, a senior and three-sport athlete who only picked up tennis last year (not accounting for the times she played with her dad in the summer.) This year was the first time she had ever played a match in singles. Despite never taking a tennis lesson, Aashni played number four singles and performed exceptionally well, defeating numerous opponents. Her athletic prowess and competitive spirit were evident as she improved week by week, making a significant impact on the team’s success. “She was just so fast and athletic that she would keep the ball in and run every ball down,” Coach Garcia said. “She was tough to beat because she was so consistent.”
Coach Garcia expressed immense pride and joy in seeing both the seniors leave on a high note and the freshmen start their high school careers with such an achievement.
In addition to Sayej’s Player of the Year award, several team members received individual honors. Sayej, Szych and Doering were named to the All-NEPSAC team, while Sayej and Szych also earned All-Founders League honors.
The recent championship win has set a high bar, and with such a talented and motivated group of players, the future of the girls’ tennis team looks incredibly bright.
112th Commencement
May 24, 2024
There’s something magical about the campus on the morning of graduation as the seniors stream in dressed in their graduation attire, gather their bouquets, pin roses on labels, snap photos, and hold on tight to their friends.
The morning of May 24, with the dappled light streaming through the canopy of trees on the Senior Green, was just as special as the 111 commencements that preceded it for our 85 graduates. Tianyu Zheng ’24 was awarded the Dux Prize, the student with the highest grade point average at the earlier Prize Ceremony, and there were 17 Cum Laude recipients.
Nineteen students were recruited to play sports at the collegiate level. Ava Cashman ’24 introduced Upper School English teacher David Hild ’80 as the keynote speaker. This was Hild’s final year at KO as he retires from teaching and coaching, and his speech marked a bittersweet moment for him and the many students he impacted over the course of his 31-year tenure at the school. He admitted to those
gathered, “I loved being a kid, and fought hard not to grow up; I still haven’t come to terms with the fact that I am retiring.”
Hild shared that he first came to KO as a student in 1975, loving his experience in a “community [that] created fierce loyalty and belonging,” only to return in 1993 at the behest of Head of School Lee Levison to head the football
-David Hild “ ”
So whatever team you’re on, frame your role as helping others more than looking out for yourself.
program. During his first ten years as head coach and dean of students, Hild leaned into his role as disciplinarian, learning over time that you can “best reach students through positivity and kindness. Kind words are jewels that live in the heart and soul. To that end, I sought to devote as much time as I could to my students because how better to show them kindness.”
In his charge to the seniors, Hild emphasized the importance of joining the “team” – one built on communication, kindness, and empathy. He said that research has proven that those people who live the healthiest lives are those ingrained into a community, however, one defines it. Hild
recounted an amusing anecdote of his experience at Team Tobati in Paraguay, where he and his group were tapped to perform a dance to “Despacito” in front of 2,000 people. Despite his and his team’s dance limitations, they went all in, encouraging each other as they misstepped through the routine. The lesson learned? “Being on a team makes you give,” he said. “Your focus isn’t on “me,” but “we.” You find things within yourself that you didn’t know you had; you better yourself and the people that you are with by being a member of the community.”
Hild related that while a coach, his players wore a basic grey T-shirt with an encircled
black letter S, M, L, or XL on the chest. The “grey T” was the great equalizer, making you one of the guys, not a stand-out. Donning the simple T reinforced the group over the self. “So whatever team you’re on, frame your role as helping others more than looking out for yourself,” he said. In this “contest
of giving,” Hild said, the team can reach the greatest heights.
Ever the coach, Hild ended his speech to the seniors like a pep talk to his players. “So, tirelessly seek to help and support your team. Even the conscious act of trying to determine not “what you want,” but “what the team needs,” betters you. And as I learned time and again over my teaching career, what’s best for the community is what’s best for the individual.”
In his charge to the Senior Class, Head of School Tom Dillow stressed to the students not to take the next four years of college for granted. He shared the extraordinary privilege they have to be able to attend college,
as many young people around the world face government restrictions or economic hardships to obtain an education.
In his second charge to the class, Dillow told the students not to view their college education as a means to an end – a way to make money – but rather an “investment in becoming fully human.” To achieve this goal, Dillow recommended the students surround themselves with people who share diverse perspectives and mindsets. “Challenge your own assumptions and ask questions relentlessly,” he said. “The world needs more critical thinkers and it needs more empathy. Learn to put yourself in the shoes of someone
else and see the world from their perspective.”
In his final charge to the class, Dillow told the students to choose work that makes them happy and gives them purpose. “Remember that real happiness, indeed, living a successful life, comes from developing meaningful relationships, finding purpose and in service to others.”
Two seniors ended their KO journey in much the same way they started it – by posing with their mothers, who are also KO graduates. It’s a tradition we have enjoyed repeating year after year!
From left: Melissa Rotenberg Arcaro ’87 and Allie Arcaro ’24; Alexis Weinstein ’91, Avery Hersh ’24, and Leslie Chorches Weinstein ’66
“
Remember that real happiness, indeed, living a successful life, comes from developing meaningful relationships, finding purpose and in service to others.
”
-Tom Dillow
CLASS
OF 2024 STUDENT-ATHLETES COMMITTED TO PLAY SPORTS AT THE COLLEGIATE LEVEL
RHANDYN BAIR University of Rhode Island, Football, D1
IKPEME EBANA University of New Hampshire, Football, D1
CHUCK HARE College of the Holy Cross, Basketball, D1
SEAN HABEEB Muhlenberg College, Baseball, D3
JOHN KUMPA Dickinson College, Baseball, D3
ANISSA LEWIS Gordon College, Track & Field, D3
GEORGIA LOUIS Clark University, Soccer, D3
ODIN MALZ Wheaton College, Basketball, D3
ADAM MERRITT University of Massachusetts, Baseball, D1
WILLIAM SLAYTON University of St. Joseph, Soccer, D3
OLIVIA STEVENS Ithaca College, Basketball, D3
LORETTA SZYCH Dickinson College, Tennis, D3
ELIJAH WELLS Johnson and Wales, Baseball, D3
nestled in the crossroads of Belgium, France, and Germany, and one of the world’s smallest countries, is known (pork and beans), superb rieslings and Gewurztraminers, and notorious tax loopholes. Perhaps less known are the 24 basketball teams in the Federation Luxembourgeoise de Basketball (FLBB). Jackson Meshanic ’18 plays small forward for one of those
After earning All-American and Player of the Year in the Liberty League, where he played for Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the 6’6” Meshanic had agents and general managers ringing his phone off the hook with offers to play in Europe.
“These international scouts look at your film and spot potential,” Meshanic said. “With rookies, they are keeping an eye on the All-American watch lists and conference teams; they watch a few games and develop a short list.”
After several back-and-forth phone calls during which European coaches assessed Meshanic’s character, Avanti Mondorf’s coach offered Meshanic a contract to play in Luxembourg this past season.
Football may be Europe’s number-one sport, but basketball is now a comer. The sport was introduced to the continent between 1910 and 1920, and, by 1936, basketball had become an Olympic sport. Since then, basketball has gained increasing traction in Europe, churning out notable NBA talent such as Serbia’s Nikola Jokic, Slovenia’s Luka Doncic, Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Lithuania’s Domantas Sabonis.
There are some significant differences in the style of play between U.S. and European teams. The
Europeans rely on team-oriented play rather than an individual all-star and Meshanic took to the new style of play with ease.
“Many times, the European teams will bring in Americans to make plays for the European guys who are fundamentally sound,” he said. “From what I’ve observed, Americans have more skills with the ball but sometimes have a lower basketball IQ. All the European players have a very high basketball IQ and are very team-oriented, whereas in the U.S., there are many more one-on-one and isolation plays.”
Meshanic’s day consists of basketball and then some more basketball. After waking up at 9 a.m., he heads to the team’s facilities, takes a cold plunge, and jumps into the sauna. He usually lifts for an hour in the morning, returns to his apartment for a bite, and then trains with the team from noon to 1 p.m. Then, there’s another night practice for two hours. All this practice leads to two weekly games—one midweek and one on the weekend.
And if all this sounds grueling, Meshanic has had years of practice.
Always a self-described big kid, Meshanic began playing basketball in second grade on his town’s rec team and continued to pound the boards to seek more competitive play as he went through school. By the time he was in eighth grade, Meshanic was leaps and bounds more proficient with the ball than his teammates. As his height spurted to a vertiginous 6’5”, he turned his game up a notch in his sophomore year, where he played on the E.O. Smith High School varsity team in Storrs, Conn., pivoting to the position of power forward instead of center.
Meshanic transferred to KO in his junior year and trained with KO’s varsity boys’ basketball coach, Brad Seaman, who saw Meshanic’s talent and discipline. Seaman trained Meshanic on the side, leveling up his game.
“At this point, I started to dedicate more and more time to basketball and training over the summer,” Meshanic said, “and decided I wanted to play in college.”
“We had talked about that forever, and I encouraged them to come play with me at Hobart. I know brothers sometimes can get really competitive, but my brothers are probably my two best friends in the world.”
Meshanic is so devoted to his brothers that a few days before this interview, he was up at 3:00 a.m. in Europe watching them win the Liberty League Championship on television.
“I will treasure those two years I had with them for the rest of my life,” he said.
THERE’S SUCH A BLEND OF CULTURES THAT YOU CAN LEARN NEW THINGS FROM EVERYONE AROUND YOU.
Despite the time difference and 3,684 miles separating them, the Meshanic family remains close, and his parents have visited him in Luxembourg to watch him play. His transition to European living has been relatively smooth, as most of his teammates speak English. He is one of only three Americans on the team because European ball only allows three Americans to play per team. Avanti Mondorf has two Spanish players, and Meshanic converses with them in Spanish. He is learning French for 30 minutes daily on his phone so that traveling through Luxembourg is easier.
At this point in his career, Meshanic felt he wasn’t quite ready for Division I and committed to D3 Hobart. By the end of the ’21-’22 season in his junior year, with impressive stats (averaging 15.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists), he could well have entered the transfer pool and headed to a D1 school, but then he would have missed the opportunity to play ball on the same team with his brothers, twins Carter ’21 and Hunter ’21.
“That was a dream come true,” Meshanic said of the experience playing college ball with his brothers.
“I like to learn new languages,” he said. “I also feel it’s rude, and it’s a stigma that we Americans only speak English.”
Having traveled to Europe and South America several times, Meshanic has an advantage and doesn’t experience the ribbing from teammates that less peripatetic Americans have. In fact, Meshanic said he actually prefers living in Europe over the U.S. due to the cross-cultural winds that blow across the country. Luxembourg’s population, though only 660,809, includes people of 180 different nationalities.
“There’s such a blend of cultures that you can learn new things from everyone around you,” he said.
“Here, there are so many different languages and different people, which is really interesting to me. It forces you to go outside your comfort zone, which is something that doesn’t always happen to you in Connecticut.”
He attributes his respect for different cultures and openness to exploring new experiences to his time at KO. Learning history from faculty member Peter Jones while at KO allowed him a greater perspective and understanding of the worldview of Europeans, particularly about the threat of Nazism.
“KO forced me out of my shell and do things that I wasn’t super comfortable with,” he said.
“I remember sitting at the Harkness table and knowing I would have to participate or fail. All those experiences in this small school environment force you to stay on top of your game. By the time I was a senior, I knew everyone on campus.”
“Moving to Europe, I’m basically on my own,” he said. “I don’t have any life-long friends to fall back on, but I don’t feel really nervous. A lot of that has to do with KO. I just feel like I grew up there.”
Meshanic’s visa expired at the end of May, and he returned to the States to reassess his options with his agents. Although playing pro ball is every player’s dream, Meshanic said a pay raise would be nice. Of course, competing in a professional league in the U.S. is always an end goal, and Meshanic feels it is attainable if everything falls into place.
“A lot of things would have to go right for me to get a G league tryout because you need a certain level of natural athleticism,” he said. “I have enough if I’m perfect in everything else. It’s a stretch, but that’s the goal.”
SO, FOR NOW, MESHANIC’S FUTURE IS WIDE OPEN—A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE HIS SHOT.
KO’S IMPACT PROGRAM:
Today’s Learning for the Jobs of Tomorrow
KO has launched its groundbreaking IMPACT Program, shaping the next generation of thinkers and innovators to lead with empathy, curiosity, and a passion for making a difference. This program empowers students to become agents of change, driving their learning through real-world challenges and interdisciplinary exploration.
Our Middle School Skills Incubator courses, launched this past school year, immerse students in future-focused skills such as collaboration, communication, and creative problem-solving. Through team-taught classes and community outreach, they tackle authentic questions and share their growth during captivating Presentations of Learning. “Our goal is not to think exclusively
about the 21st century but what’s next,” said Head of the Middle School Ann Sciglimpaglia. “Our focus with these skills incubators is to lead with skills that we think are important for a student’s future and to match them with content areas not necessarily in our curriculum.”
In the Upper School IMPACT Lab courses, which will launch in the ’24-’25 school year, students dive into experimentation and creation, applying their skills to make a tangible impact. From delving into revolutionary civics with “We the People” to pioneering green construction in “Eco-Design & Construction” and exploring the art of game-making in “Game Makers,” students engage with hands-on experiences and industry experts to deepen their understanding and drive meaningful change.
“KO’s IMPACT Program empowers students to become architects of their own learning, fostering essential skills, igniting curiosity, and inspiring meaningful change in our world,” said Head of the Upper School Lisa Loeb.
The titles of the Middle School Skills Incubator courses reflect their ranges and diversity:
The Influence of Hip-Hop on the English Language Entrepreneurship with Nexgeninnovators
How are Science and Art Connected?
How Does Geography Impact Culture and Dance? Make it Work: Simple Machines
MySpace to ChatGPT: How to Live in This Evolving World of Social Media
Social Causes and Protest Through Music
The Happiness Lab: Strategies and Behaviors That Make You Happy
You Are What You Eat: The Relationship Between Food and Overall Well-Being
The Hunger Gap: The Gaps in Food and Housing Insecurity
Sola: Creating Peace through the Education of Afghan Girls
Wedding Planning 101: Mastering the Art of Event Planning from Concept to Execution
THE HUNGER GAP
In the Hunger Gap micro-course, students engaged in service learning as they learned about food insecurity. Middle School teacher Trish Crowley, who taught the class, said the key was to emphasize service learning rather than just running food drives. In this way, students developed key takeaways and built skills of empathy and engaged citizenship rather than simply completing some community service hours.
Each session focused on a different aspect of the hunger gap. One of the classes emphasized a subtle shift in vocabulary as the students talked about terms that would restore dignity to those in need. Instead of being labeled “the poor,” they were referred to as “income-eligible.” The word “hunger” was replaced with “food insecurity.”
In another class, the students engaged in a “life happens” scenario. Each student was given a “budget” of $200 per month for food, but then thrown a curveball when they had to repair a flat tire or help a hurricane-impacted a family member. The students could see how close to the financial edge many families operate and that one unexpected expense can make it hard to put food on the table.
As the class discussed food deserts and the lack of nutritional options in Hartford, they became more attuned to deprivations that exist very close to home. Crowley said many of the comments were those you’d expect Middle Schoolers to ask: “Why can’t they get another job?” “Why can’t you just go to another store?”
“As they wrestled with these questions, they really started to work in another person’s shoes,” Crowley said. “They started realizing that not everyone has a car, and some people might have to take a bus to a food store.”
Another lightbulb went off for the students when they spoke with two individuals who work in food pantries: Danielle Burtman, KO’s associate director of admissions, who established a food bank for Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) students, and Nancy Stockman from the West Hartford Food Pantry. The students were surprised to find that college students would have difficulty accessing affordable food.
Stockman reviewed the acceptable items for a food bank. The students initially thought the food bank would want essentials like bread, cheese, and milk. But they soon learned that non-perishable items were in top demand. Meaningful discussions followed regarding how to help individuals with food allergies and accommodate those who may not have a can opener or a stove.
Crowley said the breakthroughs made by the students filled her heart. “When the students ran their own Thanksgiving food drive,” she said, “ They told me, ‘We have to ask what people need. We can’t assume what they want.’ When I heard that, I thought, ‘They got it!’ Although it was a bit of a shift from the typical Thanksgiving meal food drive, it actually empowered the students and gave the kids a lot of agency.”
SOLA
In this micro-course, the class of 11 girls discovered Sola: The School of Leadership, Afghanistan, which is now in residence in Kigali, Rwanda, a boarding school that educates young Afghan women who are unable to learn in their own country due to the Taliban’s restrictions on female education.
The students reflected on how their education is different from the education of Afghan girls, researched the lives of well-known Afghan women who are global leaders (Shabana Basij-Rasikh, Pashtana Dorani, Fatima Amiri, Zahra Joya, Tamana Zaryab Paryani) and communicated with these women and the female students of Sola.
The students wrote letters of introduction and included photos of themselves. They made friendship bracelets in KO colors with hopeful
expressions to send to Rwanda and form friendships. The hope is to build a connection with the Afghan girls and start a pen-pal relationship. The KO students also launched a book drive centered around the books they feel every middle school girl should read.
The plight of the Afghan girls provided meaningful conversation among the classmates. “They are smart girls who wanted to know more,” one KO student said. “We take school for granted, and we don’t want to get out of bed,” another student said, “but these girls are actually dying to go to school.”
“The reason the Taliban doesn’t want women educated is that the women would get stronger, and that would threaten them,” one student shared.
The students said they wanted to describe their lives to the Afghan students in their letters, profile
themselves and their interests, and ask them questions about the music they listen to. Although one student said she wanted to share her family story, she was sensitive about not talking too much about it so as not to sadden the Afghan girls.
“I want to talk about my family life in the letter, but I don’t want to talk about it too much and make them feel bad,” she said. “But I want to give them hope and have them think, ‘That could be me.’”
Middle School teacher Matthew Wiggin, who cotaught the class with Beth Repp, traveled to Sola in November carrying with him with the KO student letters, beaded bracelets, and books collected in the book drive. Once there, he taught several public speaking classes with the Sola students. Wiggin’s trip was funded by the Jamie Garfield ’00 Grant Program, which was endowed by Diana Garfield in 2007.
“What Beth and I were striving for is how the girls see the similarities in one another,” Wiggin said. “They are all 12-year-old girls. They all have similarities, and yet they are vastly different.”
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: NEXTGEN INNOVATORS MARKET
Tapping into their inner Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, 14 students in this Skills Incubator class conceived, developed, marketed, and sold a product of their own design at the West Hartford NextGen Innovators Market, a non-profit created by KO parent Laura Barash P’25, ’28. From the onset of the class to bringing the product to market, the students had only six classes to prepare, so the pressure was on! There was no getting an extension. There was no not being ready. Just like a true start-up! The students showcased their passion and talents with various products, from granola to crafts, dog treats, jewelry, a cup-stacking game, and more.
The teachers aimed to cultivate skills of innovation, iteration, and reflection in this course; however, they noticed that a by-product of the class was developing the students’ communication and collaboration skills with one another and their customers. Middle School teacher Kelly Anstead said that the students ameliorated their discomfort in speaking with customers before the market by practicing their “pitch” with one another and fielding questions to develop their product story.
In another happy accident, the teachers also witnessed that students who faced academic challenges leaned into this type of work and were truly invested in the process and the outcome, developing confidence in their abilities. “When we talk about the importance of student ownership,” Anstead said, “ this is what it’s all about.”
After the market, the students reflected on their experiences and offered meaningful feedback. Some of their learning was practical e.g. the display could have been more visible, but other reflections zeroed in on their overall potential for growth.
“To learn and to be an entrepreneur, you have to endure failure and learn from it,” said one student.
“I definitely could have been more organized and had a clearer vision of what I wanted to do, and I could have done more things beforehand.”
Another student said in the early stages, she didn’t communicate well and was afraid to approach strangers and ask them to buy a product they might not need or want. “Despite my lack of communication during the business,” she said,
“I was very proud of myself for establishing and presenting my product by stepping outside the box, engaging, and using my creative thinking.”
Based on this experience, many students said that developing entrepreneurship should be a required part of the KO curriculum, and they expressed the desire to have more time for classes like this. One student said that regular school classes can be, at times, an impediment to creativity since their focus is invariably on grades, not necessarily learning. As students grow older many students said, some become less creative and fear failing.
THE REAL DEAL
HOLLYWOOD’S BUSINESS AFFAIRS POWERHOUSE
BY JACKIE PISANI
THE OLD YIDDISH PROVERB , “We plan, God laughs,” expresses a truth everyone can relate to. We make plans at every stage of life, but things have a way of turning out that is not quite as we hoped. And, in some cases, it sets us on a different path that’s even better than expected, especially in the case of Jenn Allen ’03, vice president of business affairs for Universal Studio Groups.
Allen had the dubious distinction of graduating from Boston College when the financial markets cratered in 2008, effectively dashing her hopes of working for a hedge fund at a private equity firm before pursuing a law degree. Ever industrious, Allen pivoted and landed a job in one of the buzziest brands during the oughts, Abercrombie and Fitch, where she worked as a model recruiter with top talent agencies, including Wilhmenia and Ford, to discover those chiseled, shirtless models for A&F ad campaigns. Through her work as a recruiter, she befriended a model-turned-actor named Barrett, who worked on the movie Precious, and its lead actress, Gabby Sidibe, where Allen was exposed to the movie’s table reads, attended premieres, and met with her friends’ agents, managers, and lawyers.
“When I met one of the actor’s entertainment lawyers, I was full of questions,” Allen said. “As soon as I realized that entertainment law was a potential avenue, Gabby, my actor friend Barrett, and I planned to head out to California, where I would attend law school and represent them. And so that was that.”
Despite only cursory knowledge of Los Angeles gleaned from watching the MTV show The Hills, Allen googled the area map and headed to the City of Angels.
“I have a very vivid imagination, and once I get an idea in my head, I manifest it,” she said.
Soon after arriving in L.A., she applied to four law schools with the country’s most prestigious entertainment law programs and enrolled at Southwestern Law School. Upon graduating, Allen had a brief stint at a music law firm before she landed a job at Disney for four years, where she started as a technology lawyer for the Disney branded television groups Disney Channel, Freeform, ABC, ABC Studios, and SoapNet. From Disney, she moved to another industry powerhouse, Warner Brothers. Allen describes her career path as nonlinear and says she remained open and flexible to opportunities as they presented themselves.
Although Allen is a transactional lawyer by training, her role as a business affairs executive at NBCUniversal is less lawyerly; she’s a high-level negotiator, managing Seth MacFarlane productions like Ted and several other projects in development with MacFarlane. Ted premiered in January on Peacock and is the most successful premiere on Peacock to date in the streaming platform’s history, a distinction Allen considers “really thrilling and well deserved.”
“Business affairs executives tend to be more experienced entertainment lawyers who were able to transition to handling high-level negotiations,” she said.
For one of USG’s productions, which aired on Starz, Gaslit, a story about the Watergate scandal, Allen negotiated with Julia Roberts’ lawyer, agent, and manager to come to terms on the material deal points required for her to appear on the show. Fortunately, Allen did not encounter any diva requests on Roberts’ contract rider, which are customary in the entertainment business, e.g., Van Halen’s demand
ONCE I GET AN IDEA IN MY HEAD, I MANIFEST IT
that no brown-colored M&M’s be allowed backstage at their concerts. For Roberts, those top-line deal points included only performer fees, options, acting and executive producing credit, publicity, dressing room specifications, as well as hair, makeup, and wardrobe.
Allen works in tandem with the creative executives. For instance, those executives may create a concept for a serialized television show based on a book. Then, they approach the business affairs department to acquire the property and attach certain talent to the project. In turn, Allen then structures and negotiates the deals to develop, sell, and produce the project.
“Business affairs is responsible for figuring out the nuts and bolts of what we need to do to produce shows and turn a profit for the studio,” she said. “Sometimes in the development stage, we attach talent early, but usually, in order to develop and sell a project to a network or streaming platform, you start by identifying a writer, or what we refer to as the creator. In TV, the writer is really the star, so a creator is always attached before we pitch a project.”
After the deal is closed with the talent, the studio’s creative executives shop the property around to various networks and streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Peacock, and Apple. Once a buyer bids on a project, Allen negotiates the terms of the license with the network or platform to exhibit the show. During Allen’s time in the entertainment industry, she witnessed a sea change with the advent of streaming and cord-cutting, transforming the business tremendously.
“Streaming deals are really fun because they are not aligned with the traditional TV business model in which the shows are financed at a deficit,” she said. “They tend to be more outside the box. If we’re lucky, we will have a bidding war with two or three platforms, which gives the studio the leverage to increase the premium when we negotiate the license deal with the network or platform.”
Hollywood has a reputation for a highly cutthroat culture, especially in hard-knuckled negotiations. However, Allen insists that working in-house at the major studios is more genteel and oldschool corporate. But, she said, you still need to maintain evenness and confidence to cut through deals, and Allen credits her six years at KO for developing these skills.
“We were taught not only to be leaders but also to be thoughtful decision-makers,” she said. “The teachers trusted you and allowed you the autonomy to handle your own affairs.”
Allen described several instances that put her negotiating talents to the test. Although her studio is very talent-friendly, one A-list movie star insisted on filming in a location other than New York, even though the book the movie was based on was set in New York. In that case, the talent’s request was a non-starter, since the movie’s location was intrinsic to the storyline. That’s where the deal-making starts.
“I always say that deals aren’t made in a vacuum,” Allen said. “It’s all a sliding scale. So if we’re negotiating six points, you don’t really want to close on any one or two of these points when you’re super far off on three or four. You definitely want to leverage each concession to your advantage.”
In one situation regarding a Seth MacFarlane property, the deal reached an impasse that lasted months between Allen’s team and the partners of Hollywood’s biggest talent agency.
Although Allen was the most junior executive involved, she said she raised thoughtful objections, spoke truth to power about the failings of the negotiations, and asked her manager to back her on her idea.
“My boss said, ’Oh, that actually makes sense,’” Allen said. “We proffered my idea, and we got it done the next day – this huge issue that we couldn’t fix for months. Quite frankly, I went rogue but the president of the studio supported me, and we got what we needed the very next day.”
Allen is motivated and entranced by the problem-solving aspect of her job. She regards 50 percent of her job as negotiating and 50 percent as psychological.
“What it comes down to,” she said, “is that in order to get a deal made, no one person is going to get everything they want. It really is truly a compromise. I’m consistent and just as friendly as I am in my personal life as I am in my work life because you work with all the same people. You want to be honest, and you want to be forthright because you’re going to have to deal with this person on another deal at some point. It’s easier when someone knows you are trustworthy and good at your work so you can cut through deals.”
Allen balances her high-octane career with plenty of self-care and moderation in her personal life to manage the unpredictability of her work days. Establishing boundaries between her home and office is key: She has two phones - a personal one and a business one and likewise for her laptop - a true test of self-discipline. She wakes up at 5:00 a.m., works out, walks her dog, and meditates for 30 minutes, which she describes as life-changing.
After her morning routine, she heads into the office at 10:30, and her time is no longer hers. Running from meeting to meeting, she said there is no time to stop for lunch while simultaneously fielding a steady stream of calls and urgencies that need immediate attention. But she’s not complaining.
“This is my dream job,” she said. “This is what I envisioned. I literally put this career on my vision board. Everything I do is interesting, and I’m so grateful to be where I am.”
Allen is paying it forward and developing young talent as her mentors have done for her. She
recognizes that she wouldn’t be where she is if it weren’t for the encouragement and support of strong female industry leaders.
“Find people who have done it before you and ask for their advice,” she said. She’s watched and learned from the best and then cultivated those relationships as she has risen through the ranks.
Allen spoke to students at the sixth annual KO Power of Women event. She advised the young women to assert themselves and recognize their value.
A disruptor of the status quo, Allen fights for her people.” I advocated for the elevation of both of my direct reports, and they were promoted within months of each other,” she said.
Taking a strong stance within the organization, she gave the higher-ups a deadline for when she expected action. For one of her direct reports, Allen provided fact sheets and point-by-point comparisons to illustrate why the promotion was appropriate, and a day before her assigned deadline, management promoted her direct report. She lives up to the adage on her email signature, aut viam inveniam aut faciam – I shall either find a way or make one.
“Because I am a woman and a woman of color in an industry that has not traditionally been open to female voices, especially Black voices, you really do have to have a lot of conviction,” Allen said. “You can’t be concerned about what other people think. You have to teach people how to treat you, set boundaries, and be your own cheerleader.”
Allen is open to various future opportunities in the entertainment industry. She said she considered a switch to the talent side as a talent lawyer, eventually setting her sights on heading a studio later in her career. And, as in any good television series, one is always anxious for the next installment. In Allen’s case, it’s surely going to be a hit.
A LINE ON
TYLER TINGLEY
BY ROB KYFF
Tyler C. Tingley ’64 pops up on the Zoom screen, looking remarkably youthful, fit, and buoyant. He’s sitting in a large workshop, its benches brimming with gadgets and tools and its walls stacked with horizontal racks of trim fishing rods ready for action.
Sporting a light-blue zip sweater and a well-trimmed mustache and beard, Tingley still exudes the vitality, intelligence, and sagacity that propelled him to a 50-year career as an esteemed educator, including serving as the head of four prestigious independent schools: Kingswood Oxford, the Blake School in Minneapolis,
Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and Avenues The World School, an international school based in New York City. Tingley remains a vigorous national leader in education. He serves on the board of the Edward E. Ford Foundation, which provides grants to independent secondary schools, and in 2022 co-wrote the highlyregarded book The Elements of Education for Secondary School Leaders.
Throughout his career, Tingley has always savored a welcome respite from the demands of his professional life: freshwater and saltwater fishing. Now happily
retired, he’s turned his lifelong passion for angling into a creative and joyous enterprise. His workspace is no longer a classroom, head’s office, or conference room but a fishing rod studio in the garage of his home in Tucson, Ariz. Here, he crafts rods that are both strong and beautiful; each one is customdesigned to meet the preferences and physique of an individual angler. In the process, he’s also discovered that the attributes of an educator – knowledge, curiosity, enthusiasm, concern for the needs of others –have served him well as he pursues his stimulating and rewarding avocation.
A BOY AND A BOAT Tingley’s love for fishing began at the age of five, when he learned how to fish from his grandfather, the skipper of the fishing trawler Annie L. Wilcox, out of Noank, Conn. Three years later, he spent the summer with his grandfather on Mason’s Island off the coast of Mystic, Conn., and they built a small rowboat together. Young Tingley watched as his grandfather soaked long wooden slats in boiling water to soften them, carefully bent each pliable board and snugged it into its place on the boat’s wooden frame. Then, knowing that even the slightest misalignment could lead to a leak, the master artisan carefully sighted down the length of each board to see if it lay true.
One day his grandfather asked Tingley if he’d like to try his hand at positioning a board. Emulating his grandfather’s exactitude, he painstakingly nudged the plank into place. When he was finished, his grandfather appraised his work. “It’s not bad,” he said, and then added, “But it’s not good enough.” Then he patiently guided Tingley as the boy re-adjusted the board to achieve the required perfection.
From these early experiences, Tingley absorbed, not only a love for fishing and the sea, but also a life-long respect for the precision of craftsmanship and the realization that you don’t always get it right the first time; there’s always more to learn.
A ROD FOR ALL SEASONS Learn he did. As Tingley was earning a B.A. and Ed.D. at Harvard and advancing in his career as an educator, his passion for fishing was growing as well. While still a young teacher at Kingswood (now Kingswood Oxford), English Department Chair Steve Davenport invited him to join a group that fished for trout in a tributary of the Farmington River. When Tingley arrived in Minnesota to head the Blake School several years later, the school’s athletic director introduced him to the thrill of fishing for walleye in fresh, clear lakes.
Tingley enjoyed Minnesota fishing so much that he started competing in fishing tournaments. Because these contests were timed, he now needed to keep several back-up rods rigged and at the ready in case a lure broke. But instead of buying new rods, the always inventive and industrious Tingley decided to start making them himself. He was
delighted to discover a specialty shop in Minneapolis that sold tools and devices for rod builders.
By this time, Tingley and his wife, Marcia, had acquired a summer home on the Maine coast, so he began making custom rods to suit his own strength, skill level, and fishing preferences for both freshwater and saltwater fishing. His rod for walleye, for instance, had to be light and flexible because this wary freshwater fish (a picky eater) sucks the bait slowly in, but his rod for striped bass, a saltwater fish that lurks among coastal rocks where boats can’t sail, must be light enough to allow long casts but also strong enough to handle the fish’s weight, which can range up to 30 pounds.
When Tingley’s fishing buddies in Maine noticed the efficacy and elegance of his rods, they began asking him to make rods to meet their own individual fishing needs and styles. Tingley’s reputation for fashioning rods that suited the natural skills of individual anglers grew, and soon neighbors, friends, and acquaintances, including commercial fishermen, charter boat captains, and guides, were seeking his masterpieces.
When Tingley retired in 2016, he and Marcia decided to split their time between Tucson in the winter and Ocean Point, Maine, in the summer. Tingley soon built a fully equipped rod studio in his Arizona home and founded Tingley Custom Rods as a way to share his passion for rod design with more fishermen. He now builds rods through the winter months (October to April) when he is in Arizona, and he fishes from May to September on his boat, Pandion, out of Boothbay Harbor, Maine.
POWER, FLEXIBILITY, AND ELEGANCE Building a custom-made fishing rod isn’t easy. For Tingley, the process takes from 15 hours to 35 hours and requires patience, ingenuity, careful selection of materials, and keen attention to detail. Before crafting each rod, Tingley asks about the angler’s fishing style, venues and favorite breeds of fish. He also assesses the customer’s body size and type, focusing especially on the dimensions and shape of the hands to determine the proper ergonomics of the grip. Sometimes he asks the angler to provide a tracing of the hands to ensure the
perfect configuration. “If you make a rod that fits the person and their size,” he said, “you’ve made a rod that’s going to be more effective.” During these conversations, the listening skills Tingley developed as an educator come in handy. “As a teacher and college counselor,” he said, “you learn to be a good listener, and, to figure out what a customer wants, you have to listen.”
Once Tingley has ascertained the angler’s needs, he carefully selects a rod “blank” made of fiberglass or graphite. He suspends each blank and hangs weights from it at various points to determine how much it flexes. Each rod must have just the right length, thickness, and flexibility to match the customer’s preferences for casting power, sensitivity, and strength.
These factors also come into play when he determines how many line guides to place on the pole and how far apart from one another they should be. For the butt of the rod, he uses a lathe to turn a cork grip with just the right thickness, length, and texture to match the angler’s hands.
He especially relishes the challenge of designing rods for very large fish or for extremely difficult fishing situations. He particularly enjoys crafting a rod for tuna that’s capable of hooking and reeling in a marine monster that can swim 30 miles an hour and weigh up to 800 pounds. Landing a fish of that speed and size, he said, “is like trying to catch a submarine.” Likewise, he savors the task of creating a rod for catching trout in streams running through narrow gorges, where there’s no room for backcasting. Given the diversity of the specifications he can meet, it’s no surprise that his customers range from Maine to Florida to Oregon.
Perhaps his greatest enjoyment comes in creating attractive thread designs to decorate the shaft of the rod. Unlike the rod’s physical aspects, these artistic creations have no practical value in catching fish. But they do enhance the appeal, attractiveness and individuality of the rod because customers can select the pattern they like best.
I’VE BEEN LUCKY TO HAVE [TYLER] IN MY LIFE.
I LOOK AT HIM AS MY GRANDFATHER.
To create each unique design, Tingley carefully weaves and wraps brightly-colored nylon thread around the rod. Intersecting at 90-degree angles, these strands create striking geometric patterns resembling the multi-hued Chinese finger traps we played with as kids. His designs have been inspired by everything from mosaics to Native American blankets to Scottish tartans. One even incorporated an American-flag motif.
Crafting these decorations also provides Tingley, who’s a life-long photographer, with the opportunity to engage his strong visual sense. “It appeals to my aesthetic side,” he said. “I really like the way those colors look. It’s one of my peak points of satisfaction in the process.”
His customers are satisfied as well. The testimonials found on the Tingley Custom Rods website might have been written about Stradivarius violins: “Every rod is a masterpiece”… “I’ve never seen better quality or craftsmanship”… “The balance and action, as well as the overall look, are second to none.”
GRAND ALLIANCE Captain Jordan Caron of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, is a fan, not only of Tingley’s products but also of his kindness. Caron was a 21-year-old deckhand when Tingley first met him in Maine. The two bonded over their love of fishing, and Tingley became his friend and mentor as Caron started and built his highly successful charter business, Reel Addiction Sport Fishing. Caron now equips his boat only with Tingley rods, and says his customers love their action, feel, and beauty. “Ty’s got the right rod for every situation,” he said. “One my clients asked, ’Who made this rod?’ and said he wasn’t leaving the boat until he had one in his hands.”
Captain Jordan Caron of Reel Addiction Sport Fishing, with his deckhand Maddie, equips his boats with Tingley rods.
Caron said Tingley and he still fish together and exchange their know-how in a mutually beneficial relationship. “He’s got some amazing knowledge,” he said. “I share information with him, and he gives me ideas. It’s a great bond. I’ve been lucky to have him in my life. I look at him as my grandfather.”
So, just as Tingley’s grandfather introduced him to a lifelong passion and avocation, Tingley himself has become a guiding grandfather for younger anglers. The patience, warmth, and dedication to excellence that served him so well as an educator have not only fostered a passion for fishing in others but also provided them with the perfect tool to pursue it.
For more information about Tingley’s rods, visit: tingleycustomrods.com
Celebrating Retirement
An Educator for All Time
By Jackie Pisani
Life has a habit of moving full circle, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the life of Upper School English teacher David Hild ’80, whose years at KO include being an advisor, football and lacrosse coach, dean of students, teacher, and form dean.
Hild is bidding farewell to KO after 31 years of shaping young minds here, but, as he assures us, he will never fully be gone.
Influenced by the positive experiences of his Camp Winona counselors, who were also teachers at KO (Doug Morrill, Muddy Waters, Chuck Glassmire, and Wally Wilson to name a few), Hild came to KO in eighth grade. Reflecting on his time as a student, Hild acknowledged the profound impact of legendary teachers like Drew Langhauser, Joel Lorden, Stew Lindsay, and particularly, Pat Rosoff, his eighth-grade English teacher, who left an indelible mark on him, fostering a love of language and, more importantly, students.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a teacher I’ve loved more as a student and colleague than Pat Rosoff,” Hild said. “Pat always made it so clear to kids that she loved what she was doing, and she loved you. That was incredibly meaningful. That was true in her work as a colleague, too.”
After graduating from KO, Hild pursued his education at Bates College, majoring in English and playing both football and lacrosse. Appreciating his positive experience at KO and Bates, he knew early on in college that he would pursue a career in education. Following his 1984 graduation, he
taught and coached at the Horace Mann School in New York City for four years and then headed to the West Coast for a teaching and coaching position at the Bishop’s School in La Jolla for five years.
But the long strings of KO tugged at him in 1993 when Head of School Lee Levison recruited him to come back as the school’s head football coach, marking the beginning of his distinguished tenure at KO. Hild served as the Wyvern’s head coach for 18 years (’93-’10) and as an assistant from ’19-’23, and also as an assistant varsity lacrosse coach from ’99 until his retirement this spring. He was the school’s dean of students for seven years (’96-02) and has served as a form master/form dean for 20 of his other 24 years.
Levison remarked of Hild, “Your devotion to KO goes way beyond your work being a job. You were called to return, to serve the school that means so much to you and your family… It was your wisdom about your students and your patience with them, particularly those having rough patches, that so impressed me— and inspired me to be more generous and patient in my dealings with colleagues, students, and parents. Patience and empathy cannot really be taught. You
Your devotion to KO goes way beyond your work being a job. You were called to return, to serve the school that means so much to you and your family…
- Lee Levison, Former Head of School
have the unique gift to express love for your students while holding them to account. That is no easy feat.”
Teaching highlights for Hild have been exploring literature, drama, music, and poetry related to the American Dream in his senior elective course on that subject, and pursuing the craft of storytelling with his freshman charges. Hundreds of Form 3 students surely remember “the story of the canoe” which resides in his classroom. Hild was also privileged to lead two Warren Baird English Symposiums on Stewart O’Nan (in ’08-’09) and with Peter Heller (in ’17-’18)
Since Hild was a student, he noted the canon of the English curriculum has evolved, as has the way literature is taught.
“I think we’re much more culturally aware of what we are teaching now,” Hild said. “And there’s a great deal more depth, variety, and breadth to what we are teaching. There’s so much more focus on student collaboration and different types of assessments and participation.”
He noted that KO’s English teachers have never been mere “cisterns of knowledge” and have always encouraged student participation and discussion.
“That concept of student ownership,” he said, “has become even more important during the last 10 years or so. And that’s great. We’ve become much better facilitators.”
Hild’s love for teaching English transcends the subject matter; it centers on building meaningful relationships with students. He emphasizes the importance of creating a classroom environment where students feel valued, confident, and engaged in discussions, essays, and learning activities.
“I’ve always thought, and this is based on a lot on my being a student here, that if you’re really going to be an effective teacher, it’s about developing relationships with kids,” he said, “so they feel confident and comfortable in your classroom and know that you really care about them and that you want to be with them. It’s certainly beneficial for them, but it’s also beneficial for you as a teacher, too.”
It’s no surprise, then, that Hild counts his role as an advisor as one of the most meaningful aspects of his day, cultivating his relationships by listening to the students, mentoring them through their challenges, and celebrating their wins. The fact that Hild has the constant presence of a golden retriever by his side (until late November, the beloved Cali, and since her passing, the adorable Josie) makes his classroom/office even more special, enjoyable, and relaxing. Hild first brought Cali to campus in the fall of 2020, because,
with the social distancing necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, he felt the presence of a dog was important as one of the few living creatures they could touch and interact with.
“I hope the experience of students here sets them up intellectually, athletically, and socially to be successful and to be happy as they go forward,” he said. “There are many different ways of defining success, and no way is the right way. However my students define their success or that happiness, I hope that, in some small way, I helped them attain it.”
Dhruv Suryadevara ’24, one of Hild’s advisees, said that Hild is a constant presence and helped him navigate a stressful senior year. “Mr. Hild is one of the most supportive people I have met at KO,” he said. “I have cherished the past two years as his advisee. His knowledge and wisdom have helped me tremendously. He truly brings out the best in all of his advisees, and we are forever grateful for him. From joking about football to discussing classes at KO, he has been there for us every step of the way.”
Along those lines, former head of school Levison said of Hild, “You are a culture shaper and keeper at KO. Through your example in your work with students and your relationships with colleagues you demonstrate, daily, doing the right things in the right way. You love the school but know that to thrive the school must evolve, always, to better serve the students.”
Georgia Louis ’24, too, acknowledges the impact of Hild on her KO experience. “Having Mr. Hild as an advisor and a teacher has been an honor. He is passionate about what he does and truly cares about his students,” Louis said. “ He creates a comfortable space in advisory, allowing us to joke around and make good memories. Furthermore, some other advisees and I traveled to Paraguay on the Tobati service trip with Mr. Hild, which allowed us to see
what a good guy he truly is. As I’m graduating, one of the things I will miss the most about KO is seeing Mr. Hild and Josie every day on campus.”
Hild’s plans for retirement include spending more time with his parents (David and Alyce), his sons, David ’07 and Steven ’11, and his grandchildren (Archie and Margo), wintering in San Diego, and helping his wife Susan run their 75-year-old idyllic summer camp, Merriwood (the site of KO’s annual Form 3 orientation trip).
Hild said his lifelong experiences at KO will always be important to him. “The stories you created in a place are always at that place, and the people are a part of it,” he said. “And that’s comforted me whenever people I’ve been friends with here have left. Whether you’re a long-time teacher or a two-year student, it doesn’t matter. You’re always a part of this place and the stories that you created, and those stories live on in you and in the people you shared them with.”
By Kristen Weldon Celebrating Retirement
Final Chord: A Retirement in Perfect Harmony
As music teacher and former Art Department Chair, Wayne Pierce stepped away from his role after nearly five decades at Kingswood Oxford School, the echo of his impactful career will forever float throughout the school’s music department. Pierce was a graduate student at the Hartt School of Music when a fellow student who worked as the band director at Kingswood Oxford let Pierce know he was planning to leave and encouraged him to apply. Thinking the position at KO would be a nice stop-gap while he finished his graduate work, Pierce applied. That was in 1977.
I feel like I’ve been in the same place while everything around me has changed. “ ”
Reflecting on his long career, Pierce humorously compares his time at KO to a journey through a time machine. “I feel like I’ve been in the same place while everything around me has changed,” he mused. When he first arrived, the daily logistics were decidedly analog—phone calls were recorded on pink “whileyou-were-out” notes, and central office switchboards were the norm. Pierce recalls asking for a phone with a voicemail feature - one of the first in the school - with a laugh, noting how much things have evolved since then. He admits while there were many advantages to less technology, not having to handwrite 100+ grades and comments wasn’t one of them. “Back then, handwritten grades and comments were a weekend endeavor. Now, technology has been a great relief,” he said.
One of Pierce’s most impactful contributions during his time at KO was his ability to blend the creativity in his craft with education. His early years saw him juggling multiple roles—from directing instrumental music and jazz bands to advising and teaching various classes. His noteworthy efforts didn’t just maintain tradition but kept momentum forward. The establishment of a string program, which began at the Middle School and expanded to the Upper School, stands as a testament to his commitment to broadening the musical horizons of his students.
Pierce’s impact extended beyond traditional music education. He spearheaded various projects and programs, including the Goodman Banks Visiting Artist program and an Elizabethan Madrigal Dinner series that brought historical music to life. These initiatives illustrated his knack for integrating historical context with practical music education, not to mention bringing his passion and love of music to everything he did.
For Pierce, KO was not just a place to work. The community he found is what kept him at the school throughout the years. “I’ve been blessed with great colleagues,” he said. The ability to work so closely with fellow faculty members particularly those who shared his passion for the arts, was a key factor in his long-term commitment to the school. He holds a special place in his heart for fellow former faculty member Pat Rosoff. “She was my comrade in arms, and we always thought and worked together,” Pierce said. “She also had that spirit of fighting for the arts. And she was also another creative soul that was always thinking about the curriculum and how to do this better.”
Finally it was his the students, who continually tethered him to his passion and breathed new life each year into projects like jazz CDs, ensembles, and afternoon impromptu jam sessions. Throughout his career, Pierce embraced opportunities to expand his own horizons.
He ventured beyond his primary teaching areas to teach courses like AP® Art History and develop an Emily Dickinson symposium.
On a personal level, KO was the place where Pierce watched his own two daughters blossom as students, Liz in 2002 and Veronica in 2007. As he enters this next phase, Pierce looks forward to spending more time with his family, particularly his grandchildren, Andrew (7), Estelle (3), and Celine (1). His personal life, filled with family visits and creative projects,
promises to be as fulfilling as his professional journey. While his professional role at KO concludes, his love for music will undoubtedly continue to play throughout his life.
From pioneering educational programs to fostering a vibrant artistic community, Pierce has left an indelible mark on the school. The time machine of his career may have moved on, but the harmony he helped create will resonate at KO for years to come.
Our golf tournament on May 6th was a resounding success! Mother Nature was beautifully cooperative, as golfers of all skill levels enjoyed a fun day at Tunxis Country Club in Farmington. The friendly competition was fierce, with exciting matches and impressive shots throughout the day. After the round, everyone gathered for a delicious dinner and lively awards ceremony. The event was a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow Wyverns in support of the KO Annual Fund.
Top photo: Erik Scalzi ’10 and Brandon Batory ’10; Above photo: Former Board Chair and current Board Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Mary Martin ’77, P’17, ’20 was awarded this year’s James B. Lyon Award. The honor is given by the Alumni Council to a person who has shown exceptional service to the school.
and Andrew Johnson; Will Jacobs ’23 and Brian Jacobs P’23; Michael Coscarelli ’11; Steven Toomey P’25, ’27, Anne Decker P’25, ’27, Kris Keegan P’22, ’27, and Gil Keegan ’88, P’22, ’27
Clockwise from top left: Board Chair Jeff Gitlin ’85, P’11, ’13, ’17, Ray Johnson ’81, Head of School Tom Dillow P’21, ’22, ’26 and Errol Alexander ’81; Susan Seaver P’21, ’23 and Kim Karp Krieble ’90, P’21, ’25; Bennett Hires ’06, Addison Rosenbluth ’06, Jeff Giuffrida ’06,
Members of KO’s Board of Trustees joined in on the fun to support the school: Karen Diaz Meaike P’19, ’22, Gayle Temkin P’23, Board Chair Jeff Gitlin ’85, P’11, ’13, ’17, Deirdre and Tom Dillow P’21, ’22, ’26, Mark Conrad ’96, Gil Keegan ’88, P’22, ’27, and Lee Gold ’90, P’23, ’26
The atmosphere was decidedly festive as guests streamed into the Bond Ballroom in downtown Hartford, which was transformed into a dazzling casino. The clinking of poker chips and the spin of roulette wheels filled the room with a vibrant energy. Laughter and friendly competition mingled as guests tested their luck at blackjack, craps, and roulette while a poker tournament took place on the balcony overlooking the party. Elegantly dressed attendees sipped on cocktails while placing bets, all while a silent auction added to the thrill, with coveted items going to the highest bidders. The evening was a resounding success, raising a substantial amount for both the KO Parent Association and Annual Fund, and leaving guests with unforgettable memories of a night filled with fun and generosity.
Student speaker Jacob Mapp ’24 impressed the gathered audience with the story of how his KO experience helped him to grow as a student, athlete, and artist. Above photo from left: Anthanette Riley-Mapp, Jacob Mapp
Kavin Mapp with ESPN analyst and event host Field Yates
’24,
Roll the Dice Planning Committee: Susan Taback P’28, Monica Gold P’23, ’26, Meghan Wildstein P’22, ’26, ’29 (Co-Chair), Devi Mathur P’26, ’29, Monica Hoffman P’30 (Co-Chair), Satya Picard P’26, ’29
ALUMNI AWARDS
Athletic Hall of Fame: Five outstanding athletes representing four decades of KO sports were celebrated on October 21, 2023 by being formally inducted into the KO Athletic Hall of Fame. The stated purpose of the ceremony is “to honor those who have brought distinction to themselves and Kingswood Oxford through their achievement, commitment, sportsmanship, and leadership in athletics.”
Mark Fisher ’73 Inducted by Mark Kerin ’72
Mark Fisher played two years of varsity football at Kingswood, three years of varsity basketball, and four years of varsity baseball. During his senior year, he was a co-captain of the basketball team and a tri-captain of the baseball team. Mark was the starting safety and placekicker on the undefeated 1971 football team and was co- captain and the starting point guard on the basketball team that was runner-up for the Class B NEPSAC championship. In that year he was selected to the KIT All-Tournament Team. During his senior year, Mark helped lead the 1973 baseball team to a 12-3 record. Mark was selected to the all-state and all-regional tournament teams as a second baseman. Upon graduating KO, Mark attended Tufts University earning a BA in history. He continued his passion for sports, playing varsity baseball and football. Mark was a tri-captain of the baseball team and selected 3rd Team
All New England Division III second baseman during his senior year at Tufts.
During his junior and senior years, Mark started at tight end and place kicker on the football team and set the Tuft’s record for most field goals in a season. In 1980, Mark completed his education by earning a J.D. from
Quinnipiac University School of Law (formerly University of Bridgeport School of Law). Mark learned the lifelong lessons of leadership, teamwork, and work ethic from his KO coaches Joel Lorden and Bob “Obie” O’Brien and applied these skills to his successful forty-year career in the beverage alcohol industry.
Mark Fisher ’73 and Mark Kerin ’72.
Richard “Shade” Gomez ’88
Inducted by Alex Kraus
Award Accepted by Carolyn Gomez
Shade hailed from Hartford, Conn. and came to Kingswood Oxford as a scholarship student. His academic and athletic achievements flourished during his time at KO. When not participating in sports, he was an avid writer. He participated in a variety of sports while at KO but excelled at cross country and track running between 1985 and 1988. He played Ultimate Frisbee and had stints on the football, soccer, tennis, and basketball teams. His passion was truly in running, however, where he served as captain of the cross-country team in 1987 and captain of the track team in 1988. Between 1986 and 1987, he broke nine course records in cross country including KO’s own, as well as breaking the 3000m record in 1987.
After Kingswood Oxford, he moved on to attend Wesleyan University getting his bachelor’s degree in English. After graduation, he moved to Ithaca, N.Y. and eventually went on to get his
Brenna Chiaputti ’98, Mark Toubman ’13, Dayna Lord ’13, Mark Fisher ’73, Peter Winograd ’78 and Jeffrey Dunn ’73.
master’s in teaching English from the State University of New York at Cortland. From there, he taught English at Ithaca High School for 6 years, dedicating his free time to the arts, writing poetry, doing tarot and creating collages. He began a PhD at Cornell University in 2007 and served as a graduate teaching assistant.
He eventually decided to leave the program and go back to teaching as an Adjunct Professor of English at SUNY Cortland in 2010.
Although he did not continue his running, his love of the woods endured, spending several summers as a counselor at a survival camp outside of Ithaca, NY, and spending a great amount of time mountain biking and hiking. Regrettably, Shade passed away in Ithaca in 2018 and is survived by his son, Kono Carragee, and his mother Carolyn Gomez.
Alex Kraus and Carolyn Gomez, accepting the award for Richard “Shade” Gomez ’88
Brenna Chiaputti ’98
Inducted by Ron Monroe
Brenna Chiaputti ’98 has been a longtime member of the KO community as both a student and a faculty member. During her time as a student at KO, Brenna played three varsity sports captaining the varsity soccer, basketball, and softball teams her senior year and serving as the team’s most valuable player in basketball. In her senior year, Brenna won the Robert A. Lazear Award given to a female student-athlete at KO for outstanding athletic achievement. After graduating from KO in 1998, Brenna went on to play soccer and basketball at Hamilton College. At Hamilton, Brenna majored in Sociology and minored in Comparative Literature. She returned to KO to teach English in 2005 and coached the varsity girls’ basketball team alongside her high school basketball coach Ron Monroe. During this period, Brenna received her master’s of English from Trinity College. Brenna left KO in 2009 to pursue a master’s of Social Work from
the University of Connecticut. She then worked in private practice as an adolescent therapist and as a school social worker for five years. Brenna returned to KO in 2020 as the Middle School Counselor, a position she still holds today.
Dayna Lord ’13
Inducted by Ron Garcia
A native of Bloomfield, CT, Dayna Lord joined KO in Form 2, playing tennis immediately with her sister Melissa, who was in Upper Prep. A year later, their brother Matthew would join Upper Prep. Dayna served as captain her sophomore through senior years and earned a regular season record of 64-1 in the #1 singles position at KO. She helped lead the team to three deVillaFranca team championships, two Founders League Championships, and a NE Class A Championship. Dayna also played on the varsity girls’ Volleyball team, and was voted team MVP and was an All-Star selection. She received the Robert A. Lazear Award for her athletic contributions, which is given to the
school’s outstanding female studentathlete. A leader off the volleyball and tennis courts, she was also voted by her peers to serve as Head Senior Prefect, helping Form 3 students get acclimated to the Upper School, and a member of KO’s Citizenship Committee, a peer-disciplinary body. She also volunteered in the summers with RALLY (Racquet and Literacy League for Youth), a group founded by KO alums to bring free tennis lessons and literacy enrichment to children in Hartford. For her citizenship and character, she earned the Gold Seal and Katherine Long Day Awards.
After KO, Dayna attended Brown University where she majored in International Relations, and played on the Varsity Women’s Tennis team. In her freshman year, she was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year and ITA Northeast Rookie of the Year, and also received the Kate Silver ’86 Award as Brown’s outstanding first-year female student-athlete.
By the time Dayna graduated in 2017, she was nationally ranked as
Brenna Chiaputti ’98 and Ron Monroe.
Ron Garcia and Dayna Lord ’13.
high as #91 in singles and #45 in doubles, was an NCAA Woman of Year semifinalist, and was the Marjorie Brown Smith Award winner - an award presented to the outstanding female varsity athlete of the year at Brown. She currently holds the record for the most combined singles and doubles wins in Brown women’s tennis history at 182. Dayna is just a handful of student-athletes in the history of Brown athletics to be a four-time First-Team All-Ivy Selection. Her feat came while playing in the No. 1 singles and doubles positions all four years. In doubles, she was two-time Second-Team All-Ivy Selection. Dayna is currently getting her MBA at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Mark Toubman ’13
Inducted by Andy Krugman ’86
Mark Andrew Toubman ’13 played soccer, squash, and tennis while at KO. He earned 17 varsity letters throughout his seven-year tenure at the school. For many years before
he enrolled, he eagerly watched his two older sisters, Shayna and Diana and his parents, Gary and Sue, from the sidelines as they represented KO on their respective sports teams. In his senior year, he was named MVP of each sport, earning the M.W. Jacobus Award for soccer and the Boys Tennis award. His early leadership by example on the tennis team earned him the role of captain as a sophomore; by his senior year he led the team to their first win of the K.I.T.T. for the first time in over a decade as well as a berth to the New England Tennis Tournament. As a squash captain, he regularly placed highly in the New England Championships, winning the #1 bracket his Junior year. On the soccer field, he co-captained the team, was named all-state and WNEPSSA all-star, and received the Valerio Moretti Scholar Athlete Award. After KO, Mark attended The University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in Philosophy and Cognitive Science.
He played Varsity Squash there until an unexpected back injury in his freshman season cut his collegiate career short. He stayed active in rehabilitation by joining the UPenn Club Tennis team; however, his injury proved a blessing in disguise, allowing him to explore other interests, including political debate clubs, philanthropic extracurriculars, and a love for the city of Philadelphia. Upon graduating from college, Mark started his career in the technology industry as a Product Marketer at Google. He has recently taken a new marketing job with Mozilla, whose mission of ’prioritizing people over profits’ more closely aligns with his values. In addition to his professional career, he has been producing theater, advising several startups, and serving on the Junior Board of First Tech Fund, a non-profit to provide free tech, mentorship, and community to low income NYC students.
Andy Krugman ’86 and Mark Toubman ’13.
The Oxford Award
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARDS
Katherine Cheney Chappell ’63
Award accepted by Jake Armentrout
The Oxford Award is given to individuals who embody the Oxford School motto, Vincit Qui Se Vincit, by challenging the accepted limits for what young ladies were expected to achieve, ultimately clearing the path for the opportunities and successes that are embraced by girls at Kingswood Oxford.
Kate attended Oxford School from 7th to 12th grades and credits art teacher and lifelong mentor Rebecca Jones with inspiring in her a serious studio practice and a willingness to explore many media. After graduating from Oxford in 1963, Kate attended Chatham College, studying with Finnish painter and printmaker, Vaino Kola. She continued her study of art and literature at the Sorbonne and L’Atelier Goetz, under the Sarah Lawrence program, ultimately graduating from the University of Southern Maine in 1983. Kate is co-founder, with
Tom Dillow and Jake Armentrout, accepting the award for Katherine
her husband, Tom, of Tom’s of Maine, makers of natural toothpaste and other personal care products, where she directed R&D and New Product Development. Kate returned full-time to the studio in 2000, after teaching two years at Harvard with Dr.Robert Coles. She is a painter, printmaker and sculptor who exhibits in Maine and beyond, maintaining studios in Westbrook and Monhegan Island.
Her recent mixed media work reflects her concern with human-generated pollution of the interconnected web of life, especially oceans and sea creatures.
Her suspended 3-D work, “Mother Ocean,”(steel, collagraph, and paint) was shown at Cove Street Arts gallery in Portland, Maine in 2022. She started the year 2023 with a two-person show of artist books and 2-D and 3-D work at USM where she founded the Center for Book Arts in 2006. “Earthly Observations,” an invitational exhibit on climate change at the Brick Store Museum, closed recently. In addition, Kate was one of eight artists asked to participate in Maine’s first “immersive” art show, “Encounters,” at Maine Studio Arts.
Cheney Chappell ’63
The Patricia Rosoff Distinguished Alumni Award
Peter Winograd ’78
The Patricia Rosoff Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes an individual who has significantly contributed to the creative arts field; one who is celebrated for creativity, accomplishments, and distinctions in various disciplines. Named in honor of beloved KO educator and artist Patricia Rosoff, whose talents and passion for the arts inspired the KO Community and beyond, the award is given to an alum who can answer Pat’s legendary final exam question: “What is Art?”
Peter Winograd (violin) joined the American String Quartet in 1990. He gave his first solo public performance at the age of 11, and at age 17, he was accepted as a scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School. Recognized early as an exceptionally promising young artist, Winograd was a top prize winner in the 1988 Naumburg International Violin Competition. He then made his New York debut to critical acclaim and has since appeared as a guest soloist with numerous orchestras and in recitals across the country and abroad, including annual collaborative performances with cellist Andrés Díaz at the Florida Arts Chamber Music Festival.
In 2002 Winograd performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Hartford Symphony; his father, Arthur Winograd, was the featured guest conductor. Winograd has been a member of the violin and chamber music faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and the Aspen Music School (where the American is Quartet-in-Residence) since 1990.
The Distinguished Alumni Award
Jeffrey D. Dunn ’73
The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented to an individual who has earned distinction in their field (professional, military, or public service) and brought credit to the Kingswood Oxford community.
Jeffrey D. Dunn spent his career leading brands and organizations through periods of significant change, financial growth, and societal impact. Most recently, he served as the Interim President & CEO of the Boston Symphony Orchestra while they searched for a permanent CEO from the orchestral industry. Before that, he served as Executive in Residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, mentoring students and faculty on issues pertaining to using media to improve educational access and outcomes. In May of 2023, he was elected to a six-year term on Harvard’s Board of Overseers. Prior to his retirement in 2021, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer, and then Executive Chairman, of Sesame Workshop – the nonprofit educational organization that produces Sesame Street, the most Emmy awarded and influential show in the history of television.
Under Jeff’s leadership in the seven years of his tenure, Sesame Workshop ended eight years of operating losses, reached record audience levels, revenues, and earnings, and won 38 Emmy awards. Before joining Sesame Workshop, Jeff served as a 2014 Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI)Fellow at Harvard University, President and CEO of the London-based HiT Entertainment, Chief Operating Officer of the Nickelodeon Networks group and the President of Nickelodeon Film and Enterprises, and took on major marketing roles at the Bank of Boston and Time Magazine.
Peter Winograd ’78 and Jeffrey D. Dunn ’73
Class Notes 2023-2024
Class Notes are submitted June 2023 through May 2024.
OXFORD 1951
Class correspondent:
Sallie Barr Palmer
Sadly our class has lost another member. Pem Donegan Schultz died on November 22, 2022. Pemmie was the first person I met on my first day at Oxford; we were standing in line, and she turned to me, gave me a big smile, and said, “Hi, I’m Pem Donegan.” Pemmie spent her life in the service of others, as a teacher and educational consultant, as well as the host of church activities in Connecticut and later on Cape Cod. She was also involved with PFLAG, in support of transgender rights and against bullying in schools.
Anne Carter Peck Mahaffey stayed in close touch with Pemmie; they had been friends since the ages of five and six. Carter continues to enjoy life at St. Paul’s Towers in Oakland, Calif., where she’s currently hosting the welcoming breakfast table for new residents for two hours every day, seven days a week. She enjoyed Christmas with her daughter Lucy, who lives nearby. Two grandchildren were also there. Carter recently caught up with Pam Kingan Lillquist, and she stays in touch with Frannie and Vivian as well. By the way, I got Carter’s email address wrong last time. It should be: acmahaffey55@ yahoo.com.
Frannie Steane Baldwin also reports she and Vivian Hathaway Crouse enjoy frequent phone visits. Last summer Frannie and her whole family – 25 people in all – met up for a beach holiday. All six of her grandchildren are married, and she has seven greatgrandchildren.
Pam Kingan Lillquist and I have stayed in touch for the past few years. Pam spent Christmas in California at her daughter’s and then traveled home via New Jersey to visit son Erik and family. No travel plans, she says, except to Trader Joe’s.
Vivian Hathaway Crouse lives in an independent residence in Vermont, near two of her children. She is on the house council, chairs a monthly writing workshop, and introduces and assists new residents. “I have the usual aches and pains,” she says, “but fare well as long as I have my cane.”
As I read over these notes, I am amazed at how active we class survivors are!
We Palmers have slowed down, but not stopped. I have atrial fibrillation, which makes me breathless, but I’m OK as long as I have my trusty walker. Arthritis in my lower back fortunately doesn’t bother me, and I’m coming up to five years of remission from my last cancer treatment. We’re both getting forgetful, but so far haven’t started putting our shoes in the refrigerator. We went to the UK twice last year, timed to attend Navy reunions, as well as visiting kids, grandkids and friends. Took a cruise at Christmas, during which our team won the Progressive Trivia competition! Planning another UK trip in October and returning home by ship. We’re out for fish and chips every Friday, followed by trivia at the VFW. We remain close to Peter’s children, two in the UK and one in Canada. The eldest, who lived in Oregon, died of bone cancer in 2022. We have six grandchildren, ranging in age from 37 down to 16, and one great-grandson.
1959 Susan Cohen Casden wrote: “This was taken at Lincoln Center where I volunteer at the New York Philharmonic several hours a week.”
OXFORD 1959
Class correspondent:
Zélie Calvocoressi Tourais
Susan Cohen Casden has enclosed a photo and explains, “This was taken at Lincoln Center where I volunteer at the New York Philharmonic several hours a week – my greatest pleasure. I get to hear music that I love, meet interesting new people and support the orchestra. Other than that I have continued to work, albeit about 1/3 time, a wonderful schedule where I continue to do the work I love and still have time to be with friends, my kids, grandkids. Fortunately, all is well, although I must admit getting old is challenging in many ways. At the moment, I am feeling grateful for all that I have.”
Janice Cianci Castillo reports, “As we face a long, hotter summer here in Florida with the increased threat of hurricanes, I’ve resorted to drinking lots of water and reducing our food in our freezers. I’m still playing lots of tennis ( Julie Peck, congrats on your tennis win!), pickleball, working out at the gym, running in Cocoa Beach Turkey Trots, kayaking, and now also working out in a two-hour boot camp twice a week. Just trying to stay fit as I ’grow older’! I also volunteer to restore our shores with the Indian River clam and oyster restoration programs by sorting oysters, making oyster baskets, planting seagrass and mangroves, beach cleanups, etc. Very rewarding.
“Last fall Richard and I drove up to Hendersonville, N.C., to see the colors that I miss so much. We stayed with Richard’s cousin,
hiked, and visited Asheville, apple orchards, and Carl Sandburg’s home. We drove, along the Blue Ridge Parkway and had dinner at the Grove Park Inn. Then in December we flew to Carlsbad, Calif., to spend the Christmas holidays with Dawn and Makenzie, who just earned her master’s in occupational therapy. This year Richard and I participated in the Cocoa Beach Citizen’s Academy for four months. It was so enlightening learning all about our city from the people involved and touring the facilities, such as the police station, fire station, water reclamation plant, city hall, etc. Wishing all a healthy and happy ’24!”
Debbie Mahoney Swenson sends photos from a recent adventure biking along the Rhine River from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, riding among vineyards, farmlands
1959 Debbie Mahoney Swenson on a recent four-country bike tour with husband Larry.
and orchards, villages, towns, and cities, cathedrals and castles, in four countries. That totals about 250 miles, quite an accomplishment.
She writes, “Larry and I continue to spend winters in Vero Beach playing golf, biking, and exploring the surrounding waterways and beaches. Chatham, Cape Cod is our permanent home, where we serve on various boards and nonprofits, again golf, biking, tennis, hiking, grateful for good health, friendships, and family.”
Judy Weinstein Wheeler writes, “My husband, Bim Wheeler, passed away in February 2023, after a long illness. I sold the farm, where we lived in West Virginia, and moved to a condo in Bethesda, Md., in February 2024. I recently rejoined the golf club we belonged to for many years before we moved from D.C. to West Virginia and am looking forward to playing golf.”
OXFORD 1960
Class correspondent: Jane Anderson Innerd
Jennifer Ripple Akridge is busy with her family. Her oldest grandson, Sean Collins, and his wife, Maddie, welcomed identical twin girls, Ember and Eowyn, into their family this past March. Another great grandmother in our class! The girls have two older brothers, Riker, who is four, and Henrik, who is two. Jennifer’s granddaughter Piper graduated from high school in May and has been accepted to Grace College in Indiana. Jenny is very proud of her grandchildren.
Still working three days a week keeps Scotty Dwyer Benson busy. She is still living in her house, which has now fully recovered from the tree that fell on it a year ago. Her son, Jim, and his partner, Kelli, now live in the historic district of Bethlehem, Pa. They have been together for four years. Scotty had delightful British neighbors living next door for five years. She says that they were like family and she misses them terribly now that they have moved to Colorado. However, she has been invited to visit and plans to do so sometime in 2025. Scotty hopes to see everyone at our class reunion in 2025.
After a most meaningful celebration of her husband George’s life last year, Prilla Smith Brackett writes that, after focusing on his care during his decline with Alzheimer’s, she is now thinking about what is next for her. She has been in her condo for more than 16 years but has found two good continuing-care retirement communities within easy reach of her Boston-based sons and their families and is on the waitlist for both. Meanwhile she still hasn’t been back to her studio to test the waters there and see if making art still thrills her or whether she is done. In the meantime, Prilla is busy with friends, family and cultural activities. She finds it exciting to be part of the teen years of her four local grandkids. In addition, she has just completed a huge project, StoryWorth, a Christmas gift from her two sons. She wrote about her life and added thought pieces and color photos. She plans to make four copies of the book for her four grandchildren to enjoy as they get older. Prilla had two glorious weeks in London with
her sister, Leigh, and hopes to be able to continue to travel for another year or two. Although her life is full, Prilla misses George. She writes that she is grateful for her connections to her Oxford classmates and ends her news report with “Blessings on us aging women!”
Barbara Ruud Chatfield still lives on Cone Street just a few steps from the old Oxford campus. She has been there for 47 years. Sadly, Barbara’s husband, Jack, passed away 10 years ago. She is fortunate to have her oldest granddaughter living with her since she graduated from Smith. Barbara attended the Smith 60th reunion where she spent time with Jane Keller Herzig
Surely our most traveled classmate, Carolyn Goodrich had some wonderful trips during the past year: skiing in Utah on her birthday; Nova Scotia in June; Scotland in October; and Indonesia (Bali and Sulawesi) in February. Carolyn has a granddaughter still living with her, one of her seven grandchildren. Another grandchild graduated in Bloomington, Ind., a ceremony Carolyn attended. While there she truck-camped with her son. They were in beautiful woods with birds singing and rain pattering on the roof while they slept warm and comfortable. Carolyn is still working “very part time,” and she is very involved with the nonprofit Rhode Island Weaving Center. She helped to get it off the ground and enjoys seeing it grow and develop into a vibrant weaving community. And she plays tennis with Tina Wilcox McIntyre.
“We are continuing to be thankful for and enjoying our residency in Park
Barbara Ruud Chatfield and Jane Keller Herzig at their 60th Smith College reunion.
Spring, a continuing-care retirement community in Stone Mountain, Ga.,” writes Jane Keller Herzig . Their recent news is that when her son, Michael, and his family visited from New Jersey over the winter holidays, they left behind their Bernedoodle, Kafi, for an extended stay. The household in New Jersey was too busy to pay him a lot of attention, so Kafi has since become a permanent member of Jane and Ed’s household. Jane says that he is a delightful, mellow companion. In Georgia he fits into Jane and Ed’s lifestyle perfectly, and they are delighted to have Kafi as a daily companion.
“Unfortunately, we have had another tough year, although we have had happy times as well,” reports MaryLew Stearns Kelly. Mary-Lew and her husband, Bill, traveled to Ireland to celebrate their granddaughter Ailis’ graduation from Trinity University in Dublin. They toured for a while after the ceremony. This coming
fall another granddaughter, Teagan, will begin attending Trinity. Ailis will be working for her master’s degree from Galway, and then she is going on to a university in England for her doctorate. Aidan, their older brother, was accepted to U.S. Marine Officer Candidate School, which makes them very proud that he will be serving our country! Their daughter Bridget’s other two children are doing extremely well in school and sports. Mary-Lew and Bill wish that they could see all their grandchildren more often, but jobs, college and living far away make it difficult.
This has been a very challenging time for Sue Matorin. She says that she had always heard about how painful loss after loss of friends and colleagues is, and now she is experiencing it, and she is also trying to stay afloat with the searing missing of her own husband. The American Academy of Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis, of
which he was the journal editor, just honored him with a panel discussion of his work at their annual meeting. It was wonderful for Sue to hear others keep his scholarship alive and bring his personality to life. Healthcare navigation is such a challenge now, Sue says, but she continues to love her clinical work at Cornell. She also visits with her wonderful family in Los Angeles. Her granddaughter, Tess, is eight and her grandson, Theo, is four-and-a-half, and of course, as a grandparent, she finds them charming. Sue says that she grieves and is enraged about all the children caught in war zones now and about persistent unnecessary poverty in our own rich country. She writes as many letters as she can to the New York Times to channel her outrage and share her values. Sue finds that longevity of friendships and music really do help one’s heart.
A quick note from Dorothy Mooney McAlenney says that she is living in Marigrove Bay in Jupiter, Fla., and having fun. Dotty says that she hopes we are all well.
“It has been a quiet year,” reports Tina Wilcox McIntyre. Since all of their “kids,” now in their 50s, live in Rhode Island, Tina and Jerry do see them quite often, which they love. They have two grandsons, both of whom are good soccer players and travel extensively for tournaments. All of their children and grandchildren are good, and they spoil them. Tina and Jerry enjoyed a 10-day vacation in Croatia, a beautiful country, she reports – clean, friendly and welcoming. They were on a small cruise ship with a capacity of 40 tourists, and they were in a congenial
group of only 27 because it was the beginning of the season. They saw only the coastal area but wish they had had the opportunity to go inland. Now home, Tina and Jerry are gearing up for the summer, planting the garden and swimming. Tina has great fun playing tennis with Carolyn Goodrich. She would certainly welcome any one who visits Rhode Island. She says, “Feel free to contact us.”
Ann Faude Newbury is Registrar of Voters for the Town of Farmington, Conn. This year Connecticut became the 47th state to have early voting before a primary or general election. This has meant a great deal of learning and planning for everyone at the local and state level. Fortunately, they were able to implement early voting before the presidential preferential primary in April, so now they are as ready as possible for 14 continuous days of early voting in October. Ann thinks that it will be quite a task to find enough workers for not only those days of early voting but also for election day, November 5. Unfortunately, given the political climate, many of their dedicated poll workers are ambivalent about working this fall. Ann often thinks back to our days at Oxford and wonders what guidance we might have had from Miss Hall. On a personal note, Ann’s niece Sarah Faude and her husband, Dan, last December welcomed into the family a beautiful baby boy named Miles. He brings such happiness into Ann’s family! Fortunately, they live in Salem, Mass., so they can all get together often.
Roger and Gay Willcox Squire have just returned from almost a month’slong vacation, the longest they have ever been gone from their beloved Dorset, Vt. The trip involved several objectives: visiting an old friend in Ft. Myers, Fla.; going on a Panama Canal cruise, and attending their granddaughter’s graduation from Arizona State University in Phoenix. Generally speaking, they tend to avoid cruise vacations like the plague, but this particular one had an additional offer they could not refuse: “Bridge at Sea,” which is a teaching/playing group that received bridge instruction and played games every day when they were not in port. Gay says that they met some lovely and interesting people, in particular several ladies, all widows, from Canada. Gay hopes that they improved their bridge game by some small degree! Their stops included Cartagena in Columbia and a couple of stops each in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico. By far the most interesting part of the cruise, and the second reason they signed up, was the transit through the Panama Canal. In preparation, they both read David McCullough’s book, The Path Between the Seas, a fascinating and incredibly detailed book on the history of the building of the canal beginning with the French in 1870. They disembarked in Los Angeles and then flew on to Phoenix where they attended their granddaughter, Elisabeth’s graduation from ASU with a degree in financial planning. Gay writes that she has no idea what her granddaughter will do with her degree but that she probably has more options than Gay did with a B.A. in English literature. Now that they are back in Dorset, Gay
and Roger are catching up with the gardening, general maintenance, and preparations for the arrival of guests.
We have news from Pitircik Acar Ular! Prilla had a surprise phone call from Pitircik early in May. Prilla says that Pitircik has never called before and they had a lovely, kind of desultory, wandering chat. Pitircik did not talk about her health except to say that she and her husband, Yildirim, live sedentary lives and stay up late watching TV, and they get up late. It was 1:30 a.m. their time when Pitircik called. They have two grandsons. Sinon and his Argentinian wife and their now three-year old daughter were expected for a visit before going on to Argentina. Sinon works in AI, and the family travels a lot because he can work remotely. Renan, their younger grandson, and his girlfriend live in Pitircik and Yildirim’s large flat in Girne, North Cyprus. They are both architects. Renan will visit them soon. Both grandsons have dual Swiss and French citizenship. But Renan’s girlfriend, who is Turkish, can’t visit because Turks can’t easily get visas to visit Switzerland. Prilla and George got to know Renan when they had a week visiting Pitircik and Yildirim in Girne in 2012. Since Covid summer 2020, Pitircik and Yildirim have been living next door to their daughter, Asli in her second house outside of Geneva. It seems that this is now a permanent arrangement even though they have the flat in North Cyprus, a flat in Istanbul, and a vacation home on a nearby island.
Last summer I had the pleasure of a two-week vacation in the Dominican Republic with my older daughter who lives in St. Louis, Mo., and her two
teenage boys. Then I spent a week in Stratford at the Shakespeare Festival where Prilla and I saw eight plays and dined well. My son, Andrew, was with us from Vancouver for the week, and my younger daughter, Charlotte, joined us from Waterloo for dinner several times. I enjoy family reunions on Skype. My children keep tabs on me. Such a reversal! I used to keep track of their lives; now they seem to think that they should give me advice. I do some volunteer work with new Canadians, helping them with their English conversation; I quilt with a wonderful group of women, and I am busy at my Unitarian Universalist Church. I enjoy being in contact with my Oxford classmates, and they do not seem to mind when I pester them for news, for which I thank you all. Next year is our 65th reunion, and I will send out information as soon
as I have it. Several have expressed interest in attending, so I think we will have a good turn-out.
KINGSWOOD 1963
Class correspondent: Brewster Boyd
The Class of 1963 had a small but mighty contingent at Reunion 60 with dinner at Rockledge on Friday night and lunch and dinner at the school on Saturday. Attending from five different states were: Don Barlow, Tom Bitter, Brewster Boyd, Ted Butler, Peter Janus, Nick Mason, John Moses, and Chuck Randall
Peter Janus was voted the “Fastest of ’63” as he hit over 170 mph driving in the Indy Car Series in Nashville accompanied by a professional driver.
KO 1999
In the summer of 2023, Kristina Wolff Singh was able to spend time with Julia Schuetz Majer and their families in Paris and at Julia’s home in Frankfurt, Germany. Then this past spring, Julia and her family celebrated Easter in Florida at Kristina’s parent’s house.
Head of School Tom Dillow had a great time catching up with Derrick Estes ’98 in New York City in January
1999 Julia Schuetz Majer and Kristina Wolff Singh
1963 Peter Janus
KO 2008
James Dowling-Healey has been active on many fronts. Last March, he interviewed one of America’s newest astronauts, U.S. Navy Commander Jack Hathaway, for West Hartford Community Interactive. Hathaway, who is part of NASA Astronaut Group 23, nicknamed “The Flies,” graduated from NASA’s astronaut training program on March 25, 2024. Their training included flying T-38s, learning Russian, wilderness survival, navigating scenarios in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, and more. Twelve astronauts, including 10 Americans and two Emiratis, graduated from the more than twoyear-long program. The graduation took place at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex., and the ceremony was broadcast by NASA and by NASA affiliates. James’ interview was broadcast on West Hartford Community Television and posted on West Hartford Community Interactive’s YouTube Channel. Hathaway, who is
from South Windsor, Conn., flew F/A18E Super Hornets for the U.S. Navy and holds degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy, Cranfield University, and The U.S. Naval War College.
James visited Huntsville, Ala., in June of 2023 to take part in the Adult Space Academy’s Expedition 37. Among the highlights of the program were the Saturn V, the Multi-Axis Trainer, the 1/6th gravity chair, the Summer of Skylab exhibit (celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. space station), simulated shuttle and Mars missions, breakfast with a rocket scientist, and exclusive tours of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. It was a jam-packed three-day experience, but James also got the chance to visit the nearby Huntsville Botanical Garden and Monte Sano State Park. It was a blast!
If you think you are too old for Space Camp, James notes that there were septuagenarians in his group and that they were having an excellent time, too.
In July of 2023 James joined the board of directors of The Friends of
Dinosaur Park and Arboretum, Inc. (FDPA). Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, Conn., is home to numerous dinosaur tracks, many of which are on exhibit under one of New England’s largest geodesic domes. The park also features educational programming, animal ambassadors, and hiking trails.
In October of 2023 James also joined the board of directors of West Hartford Community Interactive (WHCi), the town organization responsible for public access media, including West Hartford Community Television (WHC-TV). James made several zoology-focused TV specials for WHC-TV when he was at KO, and has enjoyed working with the organization again.
James has also been actively involved with The Greater Middletown Military Museum since 2021 and has been working with Space Camp since the fall of 2023 to start a Connecticut Space Camp alumni chapter.
2008 James Dowling-Healey
At a February swim meet between Bates, Colby, and Bowdoin colleges, Marrich Somridhivej, now a junior at Bates, set a new school record for the 100-yard breaststroke and was on the four-man team that broke the school record for both the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay. In March, Marrich broke his own 100-yard breaststroke record and secured his third All-American spot.
Meg Kasprak, faculty emerita, was visiting California last November and ran into Abby Eberle and Jake Rowland, who had just completed the Santa Barbara Half Marathon together.
KO 2023 Director of Institutional Advancement Dina Plapler was able to meet up with recent grad Frank Pu in January in New York City, where is he attending New York University.
2018 Jake Rowland and Abby Eberle
KO 2018
KO 2022
2022 Marrich Somridhivej
KO expresses condolences to the families of those who passed away between June 21, 2023 and July 10, 2024 or whose deaths we learned of during that time.
Alumni
1940s
Margaret French Sterns ’40
August 28, 2023
Parent of Arthur H. Keeney III ’62
Dorothy Bush Curtis ’42
February 14, 2023
Jane Russell Dennison ’42
June 30, 2024
Isabel B. Hooker ’42
April 11, 2024
Sister of Mary Hooker Crary ’45
Alexander W. Creedon Jr. ’44
April 16, 2024
Spouse of Sylvia Alvord Creedon ’44; parent of Alexander W. Creedon III ’69, Katharine G. Creedon ’71 and Suzanne Creedon Walsh ’78; and brother of J. David Creedon ’47
Georgianna Hale Dana ’47
May 5, 2024
Parent of W. Benson Dana ’73 and Susan H. Dana ’75
William D. Fowler ’47
February 4, 2024
Parent of William D. Fowler ’77
1950s
Constance Wiley Cross ’50
January 28, 2024
Phyllis J. French ’51
March 26, 2024
Faculty Emeritus
Allan R. Johnson ’51
July 22, 2023
Elizabeth Donegan Schultz ’51
November 16, 2022
Sister of Horace W.B. Donegan II ’59
Linda Bland Sonnenblick ’52
January 6, 2024
Sister of Deborah Bland Albert ’57
Paul E. Highberg ’53
August 29, 2023
A. Philip Tofani ’53
May 28, 2023
Hope Learned Colt ’54
May 18, 2023
Sister of Alexandra Learned Preston ’59
Henry H. Honiss ’54
March 28, 2024
Grandparent of Jeremy W. Bourget ’08 and brother of Dorothy Honiss Kelso ’44
James M. Robb ’56
June 5, 2024
R. Morton Dunning ’57
June 20, 2024
Parent of Daphne Dunning Sanford ’86; and brother of Stewart W. Dunning ’51
James N. Hullett ’57
June 2, 2024
Astrid Gram Trauth ’57
April 19, 2022
Sister of Ingrid Gram ’61
Arthur W. Gregory III ’58
June 13, 2023
Bonnie Perkins Smith ’58
October 8, 2022
Katherine Whitcomb Dudzinski ’59
May 30, 2023
Sister of Stuart P. Whitcomb ’56 and Judith Whitcomb ’63
Robert C. Knox III ’59
May 27, 2024
Brother of Leonice L. Knox ’56 and Lance L. Knox ’62; and son of Robert C. Knox Jr. ’31 and Leonice Merrels Knox ’34
Carolyn T. Means ’59
September 10, 2023
Sister of Virginia Means Giddens ’62 and Frances E. Means ’63; and daughter of Virginia Tuttle Grant ’35
1960s
Stephen C. Brown ’61
July 9, 2024
Brother of F. Graham Brown ’63, Trevor S. Brown ’66, and Wendy Brown Lincoln ’70; and brother-in-law of Margaret Ferree Brown ’68
John R. Willard ’61
July 4, 2024
Brother of Prudence Willard Hignett ’64 and Wendy Willard Wilson ’76; and son of Carolyn Couch Willard ’36
Kathleen M. Manion ’62
November 26, 2023
Sister of Fayne Manion Molloy ’68 and Loraine Manion Riley ’76
Joseph S. Solomkin ’62
November 4, 2023
Brother of Joan Solomkin Hoberman ’60
Kate Darlington Davy ’63
July 27, 2023
Edward H. Dunn ’66
July 31, 2023
Brother of Noel L. Dunn ’60
Drew K. Dawson ’67
June 21, 2024
Shirley Songer Roux ’67
April 22, 2023
Geoffrey H. Smith ’68
October 12, 2023
Patricia A. Kiser ’69
March 21, 2024
1970s
Mark E. Fierberg ’75
November 4, 2023
Brother of Eliot L. Fierberg ’77
1980s
Sebastian M. Midder ’83
September 21, 2023
Brother of Lynn C. Midder ’85 and Eric Midder ’89
Sean C. Harris ’89
January 12, 2024
Brother of Dara Harris Pischel ’88
2000s
Eric T. Wilde ’07
April 13, 2024
Son of Taylor L. Wilde ’66; brother of Alexander B. Wilde ’02; grandchild of William W. Wilde ’36 and Elinor Mitchell Wilde ’37; and nephew of William W. Wilde ’63
2010s
Grace L. Miller ’17
March 1, 2024
Alumni Families
Joan R. Amell
March 18, 2024
Grandparent of Grace R. Amell ’17 and James Amell ’20; and motherin-law of Mary S. Martin ’77
Mary A. Calvert-Heavilin
September 8, 2023
Parent of Jane Calvert Kellogg ’75, Susan Calvert Richard ’77, and Sandra Calvert Nathans ’78
Nicholas L. Cannata Sr.
February 25, 2024
Parent of coach Steven Cannata; and grandparent of Nicholas R. Cannata ’20
Valerie B. Cordiano
December 1, 2023
Parent of Benjamin J. Cordiano ’00 and Emma Cordiano Durao ’04; and mother-in-law of Kristen Roy Cordiano ’00
James E. Crosby
April 10, 2024
Grandparent of Grace E. Jarmoc ’14, Owen C. Jarmoc ’14, and Celia C. Jarmoc ’17
Nancy Crosby
March 23, 2024
Grandparent of Grace E. Jarmoc ’14, Owen C. Jarmoc ’14, and Celia C. Jarmoc ’17
Harriet P. Dorsey
December 14, 2023
Spouse of James J. Dorsey ’55
Saeedeh Erami
May 6, 2024
Grandparent of Maia T. Killory ’24
Vivian Falk
April 22, 2024
Parent of Robert A. Falk ’75 and Michael M. Falk ’82
Jean S. Federman
June 3, 2024
Parent of Eric A. Federman ’88 and Brian S. Federman ’93
Molly Fowler
October 4, 2023
Parent of Gordon B. Fowler Jr. ’77 and Douglas B. Fowler ’83
Patrick J. Gallagher
April 7, 2024
Parent of Corry Gallagher ’92; and grandparent of Makenzie Gallagher ’25 and Cole W. Gallagher ’28
F. Michael Giuffrida
June 4, 2024
Parent of Jeffrey J. Giuffrida ’06
Diane Greenfield
September 9, 2023
Parent of Michael L. Greenfield ’81 and Steven B. Greenfield ’83; and grandparent of Brett A. Greenfield ’10
B. Theodore Jacobs
May 31, 2024
Spouse of Sheila Hirschfeld Jacobs ’54
Abe Kaoud
June 26, 2024
Grandparent of Adam Kaoud ’29
Gerald R. Lublin
February 3, 2024
Parent of Nancy Lublin ’89 and Abby H. Lublin ’94
Ines H. Marinelli
March 24, 2024
Grandparent of Ryan S. Marinelli ’11
William B. Martin
May 30, 2024
Spouse of Grace Stephenson Martin ’51; parent of Mary S. Martin ’77; and grandparent of Grace R. Amell ’17 and James Amell ’20
Carol H. Maynard
December 3, 2023
Parent of Frederick C. Maynard ’76, James C. Maynard ’84, and Sherry Banks-Cohn ’54
J. Alan McLean
April 28, 2024
Parent of Marshall A. McLean ’78, Kathryn McLean Mathias ’80, and Amy McLean Salls ’83
Allan R. Moore Jr.
February 27, 2024
Grandparent of Lucas Kollen ’24, and Leo Kollen ’26; and parent of staff member Michelle Kollen
Donald J. Morin
October 1, 2023
Grandparent of Tristan Morin ’15
Richard C. Newell
September 22, 2023
Parent of Jan Newell Spears ’78, and Randall S. Newell ’79
Jane O’Brien
October 6, 2023
Parent of John J. Kelley ’04; and daughter of faculty emeritus
Robert S. O’Brien
Harriet Odlum
November 29, 2023
Parent of George B. Odlum ’83, and Geoffrey M. Odlum ’85
Pamela Peaslee Hunter
March 17, 2024
Parent of S. Clark Peaslee ’69, Stuart D. Peaslee ’71, Susan K. Peaslee ’74, and G. Bartlett Peaslee ’75
David E. Sams Jr.
October 8, 2023
Grandparent of Maxwell Sams ’23, and Caroline Sams ’29
Elizabeth B. Spinella
May 2, 2024
Spouse of Edward F. Spinella ’70; and parent of Edward B. Spinella ’01, and Kevin B. Spinella ’04
Charles Stepnowski
February 25, 2024
Grandparent of Ashleigh Stepnowski ’22, Kelly Stepnowski ’24, Lindsay Stepnowski ’26, and Julia H. Stepnowski ’28
Ellen Tabell
January 14, 2024
Parent of faculty emeritus Meg Kasprak; and grandparent of Alex H. Kasprak ’04, Nicholas A. Kasprak ’04, and Christopher J. Kasprak ’08
Carol E. Terry
October 10, 2023
Spouse of Benjamin C. Terry ’64; and parent of Benjamin A. Terry ’95 and Elida Terry Mullarkey ’98
Marilyn B. Werner
May 26, 2024
Parent of Robert A. Werner ’75
William Wetsman
June 3, 2024
Grandparent of Nicole A. Wetsman ’12 and Ryan J. Wetsman ’15; and fatherin-law of Lori Satell Wetsman ’85
Michael A. Wheeler
February 17, 2024
Parent of Siobhan M. Wheeler ’93 and Brendan M. Wheeler ’95
Jennifer A. Wolf
May 11, 2024
Parent of John D. Wolf ’16
Faculty & Staff
Jessica D. Bradley
October 16, 2023
Spouse of coach Jason Bradley
James D. Cahalan
February 1, 2024
Faculty Emeritus
Sarah P. Foss
January 14, 2023
Former Oxford teacher
Victor Sciglimpaglia
April 25, 2024
Parent of teacher Ann Sciglimpaglia
Board of Trustees
July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024
Amanda Buckingham P’24
Mark D. Conrad ’96, Treasurer
Nelson Correa P’18, ’18, ’22, ’22
Jerry DeBerry ’82
Karen Diaz-Meaike P’19, ’22
Thomas Dillow P’21, ’22, ’26, Head of School
Bonnie L. Dobkin P’19
Joseph R. Gianni ’78, P’14, ’14
Jeffrey S. Gitlin ’85, P’11, ’13, ’17, Chair
Lee Gold ’90, P’23, ’26
Derek P. Green ’81
J. Douglas Harris ’77
Gilbert E. Keegan III ’88, P’22, ’27
Fred Krieble ’91, P’21, ’25
Merrill Mandell P’21, ’22, ’26
Mary S. Martin ’77, P’17, ’20, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives
Kelley Nicholson-Flynn
Megan Ouellette P’18, ’20
David R. Quick ’92
Bruce S. Simons P’12, ’15, ’24, ’24
Gayle Temkin P’23, ’25
John Y. Wang ’88
Lori Satell Wetsman ’85, P’12, ’15, Secretary
Lewis K. Wise ’65, P’94, ’00
Trustee Emeriti
Sherry Banks-Cohn ’54, P’78, ’82
Thomas J. Collamore ’77
George L. Estes III ’67, P’98
Laura R. Estes P’98
Frederick S. Farquhar ’59, P’83, ’86
Karen Koury Gifford ’62
William H. Goldfarb ’64
Cheryl W. Grise P’99, ’02
Stephen B. Hazard P’89, ’92
Alyce F. Hild P’80, ’82, ’91, GP’07, ’11, ’14, ’19
