2000 Edgehill, 2017-18, edition 2 by connie culpepper

The Alumni Magazine of Peabody Demonstration Sc hool & University Sc hool of Nashville #1/2018

2 0 0 0

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

2000 Edgehill is published by the Alumni and Development Office for the Peabody Demonstration School and University School of Nashville community. Vincent W. Durnan, Jr. Director Anne Westfall Development Director Connie Culpepper Editor Anna Myint ’04 Alumni Director & Social Media Manager Juanita I. C. Traughber Communications Director Jenny Winston Archivist

On the cover Adrien Saporiti ’06’s “I Believe in Nashville” mural in Nashville’s 12 South district. The editor thanks the volunteer writers who contributed to 2000 Edgehill; the alumni who responded to questions about their high school experience nearly 50 years ago; archivist Jenny Winston; everyone who submitted class notes and photos; Juliet Douglas, Lynne Mosby ’66, Anna Myint ’04, Lorie Strong, Juanita Traughber, and Anne Westfall for proofreading and editorial suggestions.

We would love to hear from you about anything you read in 2000 Edgehill, or, for that matter, whatever you have to say about your student days here. Email cculpepper@usn.org or write Connie Culpepper University School of Nashville 2000 Edgehill Avenue Nashville, Tennessee 37212

University School of Nashville does not discriminate on the basis of color, creed, gender identity and expression, handicap, national origin, race, sex, sexual orientation, or transgender status in the administration of its educational, admissions, and financial aid policies, faculty and staff recruitment and hiring policies, athletics, or other programs or activities administered by the school. University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of greater Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression,

a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.

2000 EDGEHILL

The Alumni Magazine of Peabody Demonstration School & University School of Nashville #1/2018

2 0 0 0 Letters to the Editor Mystery Solved 4

Story Forum

Beyond Classroom Walls 6 Bringing In the Community 12 2nd Graders Study Their City 18 Goodbye to (Some) Grades 24 What’s New in High School? 26 6

USN Makes Matches 28

Class Notes 30 Making a Mark in Nashville: 33

Julia Sullivan ’01 Adrien Saporiti ’06

But for those Nashvillians who for the past 25 years have come to Edgehill Avenue on a dark winter night to learn about dog training, garden design, genealogy, songwriting, the rules of hockey, decorating a house, flower arranging, self-defense….and some topics you would find difficult to believe in if I included them in this random list, University School has lost some of its mystery. Imagine being someone new to Nashville, as most people here seem to be these days, sitting in a fifth grade classroom and looking around at the student work on display before the volunteer instructor begins to explain how to start a business or write a short story or find true love. You might wish, for a moment, that you were back in fifth grade, with the world of learning wide open before you. In this magazine we celebrate that quarter century of USN Evening Classes, a project begun by USNA volunteers and still largely carried out by them—with help and guidance from Debra Alberts in the USNA Office and her sidekick Sheila Clark, of course. Beyond its significant contribution to need-based financial aid, Evening Classes remains notable for the ways it has helped make University School a part of the community. And this school has intended to be part of this city for all of its existence, now more than a century long. This magazine hints at but a few of the ways PDS and USN students have been joining, and preparing to join, the life of this city, then and now. Every day brings reminders of how important it is that kids learn to be citizens.

ince Reunion happens in April, we will have to wait for the next magazine to give you the details of Reunion 2018, including the All-Alumni Party at Rudy’s Jazz Room, owned by the Charney brothers (Adam ’90 and Noah ’98). Alumni came to campus the following day to shadow a student. Then on Saturday, classes ending in 3’s and 8’s and those in the Gold Circle returned to campus for tours and the Reunion Luncheon. Visit usn.org/reunion for more information and photos of these events and all the class parties. Speaking of alumni reunions—seeing more than 200 alumni across the country at this year’s regional alumni events is something Vince Durnan and I always look forward to. This year we visited with alumni in New Orleans, Chicago, Portland, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, and Atlanta. In one city, we connected an alumnus from the PDS class of ’52 to a USN graduate in the class of ’17. As always, we love seeing alumni come together and compare stories of their times on Edgehill. Another way to stay connected with the school is through USN’s Annual Fund. Participation in the Annual Fund is one of several ways alumni can support their school. This year’s goal is to reach 23% alumni participation, up from 21% participation during the 2016-2017 fiscal year. If you haven’t already participated this year, please visit usn.org/giving to make your gift today. Thank you to those who have stayed connected to PDS/USN. It has been a year of celebrating, as you can tell in this issue of 2000 Edgehill, from the class notes, weddings, babies, and announcements. Thank you for sharing your excitement with the community. We look forward to more celebrations and to your continued support of the school. We hope to see you back on campus soon— you are always welcome here. nn

Anna Myint ’04, Alumni Director & Social Media Manager To see the daily happenings at USN, visit Facebook.com/usn.pds or Instagram.com/usn_pds.

It’s University School of Nashville. nn

Connie Culpepper, Editor

2000 EDGEHILL

photo by Kimberly Manz

S photo by Kimberly Manz

undreds of people walk around Nashville now knowing just one thing about USN: Evening Classes. For those who found an educational home here, as many of you did, it’s easy to forget that multitudes drive past our school every day with barely a glance at it. Of course they assume it’s part of Vanderbilt University. Most things in the neighborhood are.

Our City, Our Curriculum

Those students, under the guidance of Paul George, ventured out by the dozens into a still slowly desegregating city, just before courts turned to a remedial busing order. They saw economic disparities up close, explored societal inequities, and asked hard questions about their responsibilities to be part of the solution. They heard stories directly drawn from lives challenged by persistent opportunity gaps. The current analog of that kind of effort is a Contemporary Civics elective class for interested USN seniors, young adults in their final semester here. The course was born of a lunchtime conversation a few years ago, when I asked some near-graduates about gaps they might flag in their education up to that point. They felt disconnected from headlines of their day. Sharing that story with our Academic Dean Jeff Edmonds, I learned that he then created that option for the next year’s signup and assigned me to be the teacher. Such is the beauty of life at USN. And yes, I’m duly grateful—being with that group is usually the highlight of my week. In the vernacular of schools, our approach is constructivist, meaning that our syllabus evolves week by week, following a rough outline set as we began, making meaning experience by experience. In this instance, we welcome speakers whose work bears on major initiatives playing out on Nashville’s stage in real time. We began by unpacking the upcoming transit referendum details, then connected that discussion with redevelopment plans for historic public housing areas (Edgehill included), then moved on to the fiscal mechanisms necessary to fund what we choose to do, finishing with public health programs as a case in point. What makes the course function and thrive is the generosity of spirit to be found in leaders from the metropolitan area. At every turn, Metro Council members, MDHA experts, business developers, non-profit CEOs, academics, and media experts have made themselves available for our students in an inspiring way. Our 5th District Congressperson Jim Cooper always answers the

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

call, as do other elected officials at the state level. They speak to these students as the voters they promise to be—and in the next election cycle, no less. We’re working, to quote John Dewey from our 1915 founding year, in Democracy and Education, “to discover the method by which the young assimilate the point of view of the old.” The answer, said Dewey, is “by means of the environment in calling out certain responses.” It’s renewal by transmission. There’s no shortage of topics asking for answers, and the more these students know, the more they want to know, the harder they think. Events of recent weeks nationwide only amplify the relevance of student voices in civic discourse and the interconnectedness of the problems at hand. Starting with school safety but expanding, consistent with available data, far beyond that narrow focus, the generation that’s generally granted little credit for wider awareness is getting up and active. Just ask them what they think, then ask them what they’ll do. Our purpose at USN has been and will always be to help young people connect to the world around them, to form their own ideas rooted in accurate information, and to do their part as citizens in response. What we hear again and again from students is a hunger to be part of real world experiences, outside what they call “the bubble.” It’s evident in the after-school jobs they seek in growing numbers, in the issues that animate their hallway conversations, and in the paths to higher education they pursue with our diplomas in hand. I’d say cause for optimism and maybe part of the map to our educational future. This does feel different right now, but maybe in the long view on this campus it’s something familiar and right on time. nn Thanks for reading,

Vince Durnan, Director

photo by Kimberly Manz

It’s

not often that more powerful or weighty moments appear in Nashville’s accelerating story line. Looming choices we make about housing, transit, health care, and finance will combine in coming months to define many fundamentals of life here for decades ahead. What a perfect time to connect classroom with community, channeling (as you’ll read in this issue) the experience of our Demonstration School predecessors in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

LETTERS to the EDITOR n I have memories of both Dr. McCharen and Dr. Holden, many

more of Dr. Holden as I was in his classes my freshman, junior and senior years. He and Miss McMullan were extraordinary teachers. How I wish each was alive for me to tell them so! Cary Hunt Johnston ’53

n I’ve just read every word in your latest issue, and it’s all well done!

PDS/USN archives

Mystery Solved Elizabeth Stelling Bills ’86 recognized “the infamous class of 1986” and could name almost everyone. Front row, l. to r.: “Julie Lisella, Ken Pollack, Beth Johnston Howard, Demitri Stokes Bowen, Stephen Addlestone, Keith Belton, with Adrienne Nash behind him; Tory Sally Fitzgibbon (“the one and only”), Katrina

Harbers, Sylvia Perry, MIT= uuuh, ?; back: Danny something?, David Plummer, Kao Bin Chou. Not sure whose truck or where.”

My reading time was well spent! I had an easier time recognizing females than recognizing males, whose hair seems to have shifted from their crowns to their chins...though Andrew Brandon still looks like the one I remember, James Sulkowski hasn’t changed, and Jim Frinier’s occasional white hairs can’t obscure the familiar grin! But I recognized many, many young women. I especially liked your pieces, Vince’s editorial, and the piece about Stanford Moore. The comment by Steve Addlestone tickled me—he was in the first 8th grade class I taught at USN, and he made the only A on the final exam! Roz Helderman was an outstanding editor of THE OTHER PAPER; the only writer for that for whose work reprints were requested! She was very professional when she was interviewed last year about discovering the company that had acted as H. Clinton’s email server. It was clear that she was a non-partisan journalist whose job was to gather information. Alys Venable, retired 8th grade English teacher

Former teacher, former alumni director, and parent of alumni Jan Maier writes, “I enjoyed this issue of 2000 Edgehill.” Jan was able to identify several of the same students as Elizabeth. “These were students at the same time as Marc [‘85] and Kurt [‘87],” she says. “And who could ever forget the 19th Ave. entrance ‘canopy’ with Jan Havens’ ‘art building’ behind...in all its glory.”

n We are new to USN this year. My daughter, Colette, is in the 7th

David Eshaghpour ’86 thinks Suzanne Kahane may be the girl cut off to the left. He finds Beth Johnston between Kenneth Pollack (wearing Tufts) and Demitri Stokes (Yale). Between Steve Addlestone and Buddy Howard, he sees Earl Gurevitch. In the back, he wonders if he sees a classmate named Perry (that would be Sylvia Perry Lytton, perhaps?), someone named Dora, and perhaps Dan Kaplan, though he lacks confidence about these last names.

grade. I just wanted to reach out and pay you and your staff a huge compliment on the 2000 Edgehill magazine. I just finished reading the 2000 Edgehill cover to cover and enjoyed the variety and in depth coverage of the various stories. What a rich history and tradition here at USN/PDS! I especially enjoyed the headline story about Stanford Moore and R.O. Beauchamp. Keep up the great work! I am so pleased to know that Colette will someday be a USN alumna. Shari Neul, parent

Geoff Carter ’88 says, “I actually recognize some of these folks” and mentions that Mark Mihal is “crashing the photo on behalf of the class of 1988.” He agrees with Elizabeth but finds Sam “Buddy” Howard between Steve Addleston and Keith Belton, then Fred Attie next to Keith. Becket Moore is between Tory and

Katrina, Geoff thinks. “Location is in the parking lot behind the school, facing the old gym and loading dock. Behind the group you can see the old awning over the back door to the school, and the white building where Jan Havens taught elementary school art.”

Lisa Gurevitch Cohen ’84 writes, “I love the mystery photos in the alumni magazine and am excited to finally recognize one. My brother, Earl Gurevitch, is in the back row!”

2000 EDGEHILL

PDS/USN archives

Mystery Photo March 1970 Adventure “Usually when two adults (Mr. Rogers and Mr. Bradley) get together, plenty of good-natured pranks are likely to occur. The PDS expedition was no exception.” This photo appears in an April 1970 Paw Print accompanying a front page article by Phillip Mintz ’70—an article that fills the front page, in fact. Each of these boys is identified in the caption, so we know perfectly well who they are. Quite a group. So can you figure out what this expedition was for? If you were on this trip (“over a thousand miles in 36 hours” in two rented station wagons), you remember it. Please tell us what those pranks were and whatever else you remember of those 36 hours. If you weren’t on this trip, we would like to hear whatever memories this photo inspires. We think it’s inspiring. Please email cculpepper@usn.org if you have any recollections to share.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Education: A Process of Living By Connie Culpepper, Editor

1969, a senior at Peabody Demonstration School asked an unanswerable question. “How can you spend four years of your life supposedly being educated and come out knowing so little?”

A PDS Tradition

John Dewey’s “Pedagogic Creed” appeared in 1897. Dewey’s ideas would form the basis of the educational philosophy of Thomas Alexander, Peabody Demonstration School’s first director and the man most responsible for setting the educational course of the school he began in 1915. (Dewey was his teacher at Columbia University before Alexander came to Nashville in 1914 and was “given permission to build a demonstration school,” as he put it.) Dewey’s ideas are so woven into education now that it’s worth reminding ourselves how radical they must have seemed at the beginning of the twentieth century. For him, education should be “a process of living and not a preparation for future living.”

We have all been cramped and deadened in school—sometimes more than others. But Thomas Alexander’s vision for a Peabody Demonstration School education was for it instead to become that “process of living” envisioned by Dewey. all images PDS/USN archives

That question, posed by Tommy Hobbs, was quoted in a Tennessean article about one teacher’s efforts to find a better way to educate young people. Paul George wanted to involve students in their own education. He listened to the students’ ideas and put them into action. Peabody Demonstration School, Mr. George would say years later, was “an educational Camelot.” No one was telling Tommy Hobbs ’69 him not to try out his new educational ideas. When students argued that they could learn more sociology on the streets of Nashville than in the classroom, he agreed. And out they went.

“I believe that education which does not occur through forms of life, forms that are worth living for their own sake, is always a poor substitute for the genuine reality and tends to cramp and to deaden.”

The pages of 2000 Edgehill have often reported the ways that Thomas Alexander strove to put these principles into practice at the young school he established on the campus of George Peabody College for Teachers. After he left Nashville, though the faculty always included many excellent teachers who had no use for such progressive precepts, interest at PDS in Dewey’s ideas never disappeared.

How to Improve Nashville

During World War II, the senior class would embrace another of Dewey’s tenets: “Education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform.” In the spring of 1944, seniors at Peabody Demonstration School knew they couldn’t take the traditional school trip to St. Louis or Chicago or any other city. Wartime gasoline rationing would keep them close to home, as it had the class of ’43. Today this is called “place-based education.” The class of 1940 had ended a study of “economic and social conditions in the South” with a four day, eight-hundred-mile bus tour of western Tennessee and

2000 EDGEHILL

northern Alabama. The following year’s seniors made the same trip. “Its purpose was to ascertain by actual observation why this region of the United States is considered the nation’s No. 1 social and economic problem,” wrote Lucy Robinson ’41 in The Volunteer, the PDS literary magazine and yearbook.

Paul George

In 1942, the seniors chartered a bus to visit St. Louis.

On the drive home they sang Miss Heath’s favorite songs, including “What did Tennessee, Boys?” and “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” Then, for the next two years, forced to remain in Nashville, the seniors decided to make the best of it. As George Mayfield ’44 wrote, their “most patriotic and profitable project” would be to answer the question: “How can we improve Post-War Nashville?” The class of ’44 divided into groups: Agriculture, City and County Planning, Economic Development, Education, Health and Recreation, Housing, Public Works, and Transportation. Students invited “lecturers and prominent citizens of Nashville” to speak to their groups. Then, “after several weeks of study and preparation,” in April the seniors traveled around their city “in order to see firsthand the sources and causes of our problems and how these were already being overcome.” Just as had the class of ’43, they may have visited the penitentiary, the police department, juvenile court, the Nashville Union Stockyards, and “the

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

The class of ’44

Federal Housing Project on Boscobel Street.” The senior project would “have far-reaching consequences in our lives as future citizens of Nashville,” George said, looking ahead to the days when he and his classmates would become “civic leaders of this city.”

“Life is in the Streets”

A quarter of a century later, when the class of ’44 had gone on to that civic leadership, seniors at Peabody Demonstration School were still looking for a way to engage with the city. “The present educational system builds large castles of ideas where nobody lives, but life is in the streets, says a high school social science teacher,” begins an article in The Tennessean on February 15, 1969.

“And so he and his students went out into the streets, to see what it was all about,” the article continues. Paul George sent students in his advanced social science class out of the classroom to learn about their city’s problems. His purpose? “To get the school back into the community.” Literally. For six weeks, students could “ride in patrol cars, tutor youngsters at an elementary school, take housing surveys with VISTA* workers, join therapy sessions at the Nashville Rescue Mission, and follow workers from the Family Planning Clinic on their rounds.” Debbie Coddington ’69 told the reporter, “I went to a house of a woman who has eight children and a 16-year-old daughter who just had a baby, and they try to live on $25 a week.” “It wasn’t at all like what I had imagined,” Bucky Katzman ’69 said. He accompanied VISTA workers on their visits to the homes of Nashville’s poorest citizens. “I don’t know what I thought it would be like,” the unnamed reporter quotes Bucky as saying. “Maybe I just didn’t think.” Imagine these Peabody students joining the “therapy session with alcoholics at the Rescue Mission.” It was “an experience for the group,” says the reporter in a masterpiece of understatement. “We exchanged feelings with the men, and we found we all had the same hopes and fears,” said Kay Hendrin. “We had thought they would be so different, but they could have been our big brothers.” She noted that such encounters don’t benefit everyone equally. “It is mainly to help us.” The reporter said that Mr. George’s class would “spend the rest of the year talking about the problems of personal identity” and “conflicting loyalties in modern life.” “You don’t make active citizens out of passive students,” Paul George is quoted as saying, adding that “significant learning comes out of a student’s own motivation to get involved to become aware of what is around him.”

Bill Lutin ’69

The approach seems to have worked with Tommy

Hobbs, the student who asked that despairing question: “How can you spend four years of your life supposedly being educated and come out knowing so little?” Tom says now, “I learned an enormous amount at Peabody but didn’t realize it at the time. Mr. George had a huge impact on me.”

Debbie Coddington ’69

“A Unique Experiment in Learning”

The seeds for this adventure on the streets of Nashville may have been planted the year before, when some PDS students decided to redefine education, at least for a day. In 1968 the Student Curriculum Committee began work on what they would call “Student Education Bucky Katzman ’69 Day,” which The Paw Print called “a unique experiment in learning.” Led by students, the project aimed to let students and teachers learn together, exploring topics outside the curriculum. According to Bill Lutin ’69, it was Tommy Hobbs’ idea. Bill and Tommy became co-chairmen, recruiting Mr. George as faculty sponsor. “The idea was to have one day on which the students would define educational activities and have sessions devoted to topics that the students defined as interesting and important,” Bill recalls. SED was months in the planning. In November a committee including Pat Dilley, Nancy Patton, Patty Klein, and Tom Orr began meeting with Tommy and Bill. It was a complicated task. *VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) was begun by President John F. Kennedy as a domestic version of the Peace Corps.

2000 EDGEHILL

1973 Student Education Day classes

An uncredited article in The Paw Print notes that “the committee’s meetings usually ended in utter despair.” The committee worked to find speakers on “politics, philosophy, religion, science, education, sports, and the arts,” according to an article in The Tennessean. John Lachs, Vanderbilt philosophy professor, would begin the day with a speech on “Modern Man and a Changing Society.” With other guest speakers such as Rabbi Randall Falk (“Is God Dead?”), Dr. Nelson Fuson of Fisk University (the draft), and Dr. Harry Ransom of Vanderbilt (Vietnam), PDS students found much to think on that day. The Tennessean article quotes Mr. George as saying, “There are probably more Ph. D.’s here today than at Vanderbilt and Peabody put together.” For Tommy Hobbs, those credentials may have been beside the point. He told the reporter from The Tennessean that the purpose of Student Education Day “is to get students more involved in education. Right now students are merely reacting to what is handed to them.” Bill Lutin ’69, emeritus professor at the Medical College of Georgia, recalls, “I learned lots from Mr. George, in the classroom and out. He was one of my favorite teachers.” For half a century, Bill has kept one of the assignments he did for Mr. George: “the notebook I put together on the civil rights movement. It still seems relevant today.” Debbie Coddington McKinstry ’69 says, “Paul George, my favorite high school teacher, challenged and supported his students,

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Student Education Day sign

expanded learning beyond the walls of PDS, and profoundly informed my own teaching career.” (Debbie is chair of the English department at at Tantasqua Regional High School in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.) For his part, Paul George remembers the class of 1969 with affection, hoping to see them in 2019 at their fiftieth PDS reunion. (Of his time at PDS, he once said, “I have never had better students, or parents of students.”) He says, “Those years were very tumultuous times, even in Nashville. It made sense for our bright, cosmopolitan students, who were studying sociology, to actually directly experience the issues they were studying in the classroom. They loved it.”

After Mr. George

Paul George left Peabody Demonstration School in 1970 when he finished his degree at the college, joining the faculty of the University of Florida. Within a few years, after Mr. Stitely also left PDS, a young Vanderbilt graduate was hired to teach sociology, among other courses. And Janet Carney would follow in Mr. George’s footsteps when it came to getting her students off campus. Despite her own “very traditional” high school experience of “sitting in class and taking tests and not getting outside the doors,” in 1974 Janet began her first teaching job determined to put John Dewey’s ideas into practice. She wanted to involve her students in “solving the world’s problems,” she recalls. “My schooling had been so removed from the real world.” Though Janet had no idea that PDS had been founded on the principles she was eager

to put into practice in her classroom, when she learned that history she “felt even more empowered.” Like Mr. George, at PDS Ms. Carney was given the freedom to teach just as she wanted to. She required her psychology students to spend one day a week doing fieldwork. Janet says, “They would work at retirement centers doing chores for aging people who needed to be read to or who needed someone to talk to. They worked at half-way houses, in clinics, at the mental hospital of the state prison, at schools with special needs students. They could work in our lower school as teachers’ aides, at Monroe Harding Children’s Home, Janet Carney Schneider VU Children’s Hospital, Martha O’Bryan Community Center, Oasis Center, Kennedy Center, Planned Parenthood, Bill Wilkerson Center.” The students set it all up themselves, choosing and arranging the placements. Ms. Carney required them to submit a journal entry each week. “I lugged around 24 or 25 notebooks each week so I could grade them. I loved it though.” Janet Carney’s teaching load was reduced in 1978 when she was named USN’s first college counselor. (Now Janet Schneider, she has been shepherding USN students through the college process ever since.) But as long as she was teaching sociology and psychology, she required her students to pay attention to Nashville, not just their classrooms and textbooks. She took her psychology and sociology students to the Lois DeBerry Special Needs Institute, where the kids would sit in a circle with the prisoners and listen to their often harrowing stories. Studying intentional communities, the class visited Gaskin’s Farm. When they considered wealth distribution, the students ventured into different parts of town to see what poverty looked like. Studying an aging population meant inviting old people to school on a Saturday morning to tell their stories to students. Retired Vanderbilt chancellor Harvie Branscomb was the featured speaker that day, which was planned and organized by Simone Leblon and Tammy Grossman Kalla, both class of ’78. Susan Corney Van Allen ’80 has “vivid memories” of their trip to the Tennessee State Penitentiary, where the students saw the electric chair. Gaskin’s Farm made such an impression on Susan that she “came home wanting to go back and join them.” Susan continues to be fascinated with intentional communities.

It wasn’t enough to read Elizabeth Kubler Ross’ On Death and Dying—Ms. Carney took her class to Alive Hospice. Lisa Halprin Fleischer ’80 recalls, “It gave me new insight into issues such as ‘quality of life’ and ‘end of life decisions.’ In the ’70’s there were a lot of taboos around mental health services and even dying. The whole concept of a hospice was really very new.” Though the visit raised many questions, Lisa says that talking to the professionals at the hospice “helped to de-stigmatize the topic. It turned out to be very prescient as I faced these end of life decisions with both my parents not that many years later. I am very glad to have these kind of opportunities at USN. I’m a big believer in experiential learning!”

Trip Out People Day

During this same time in the seventies, when Ms. Carney was pushing her students into the community, students were continuing to organize an annual Student Education Day. In the March, 1977 Pinnacle, David Vise reported on SED 1977, which “featured many notable speakers, excellent field trips,” and a talk by Dr. Frederick Humphries, president of Tennessee State University. SED “was a success because students actively took part throughout the day.” It “truly achieved its purpose,” he wrote not very convincingly. (David went on to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.) The following year, students planned a redesigned “Trip Out People Day,” according to a piece by Ann Meador ’81 in the school paper (no longer called The Pinnacle). “The day’s name has been changed because this year’s activities are different.” It would be nothing but field trips, Ann wrote. In October 1978, SED returned in yet another form, organized by Susanne DiPietro ’80, who was guided by student council sponsor Ann Teaff. It was called Student-Teacher Fall Weekend. But it rained, and only 100 of the 300 students in high school showed up for such outings as a sensitivity workshop with counselor Rich Perry, a tour of the Jack Daniels distillery, or a Buffalo River canoe trip. In a letter to the student council, high school head John Mason called Fall Weekend “a good example of the way the teachers and students at USN work together to plan activities that all can enjoy

2000 EDGEHILL

and that do educate the whole person.” (An example of Mr. Mason at his most tactful.) As far as we can tell, Fall Weekend 1978 marked the disappointing end of what began in 1968 as Student Education Day.

Our Turn

What happens now at USN? “Dewey and his student Alexander sought to decrease the distance between school and society, between learning and doing. And now it’s our turn,” says Vince Durnan. This magazine includes an article about how second graders are learning about their city. Several lower school classes have weekly visits to the nearby Gernert Apartments for the elderly. Fifth grade social studies classes have been exploring the Edgehill community, recently taking a walking tour as they look at the ways this historically African-American neighborhood is changing. As part of their Civil Rights unit, they have also toured the Jefferson Street neighborhood and traveled to Birmingham to

visit the 16th St. Baptist Church, the site of the 1963 bombing that killed four children. During their unit on world religions, sixth grade social studies teacher Matt Lukach ’04 takes his students to five Nashville houses of worship, where they talk with clergy and lay leaders of the different faiths. As for high school students, many of them are, like those wartime PDS seniors, preparing to become civic leaders. Director Vince Durnan teaches a Civics class for seniors, and a leader of Metro government, from the mayor on down, visits the class almost every week and answers student questions on Nashville’s thorniest questions. Students attend the annual Youth in Government Conference and serve on the Mayor’s Youth Council. (See below for more.) When Peabody Demonstration School was new, Thomas Alexander wrote that the “strength and surety” of school “lies in what pupils are prepared to do and to be when opportunity and difficulty confront them—not alone in what they may happen to know.” The young Tommy Hobbs, who bemoaned leaving high school “knowing so little,” would have understood this statement. nn

Community Partnerships Thrive At the 2018 Tennessee Service Learning Conference, the state commission recognized USN for its exemplary program. For the past two decades, under the leadership of Betty Pearson White, our program has involved countless students in the community beyond the walls of their school. Betty is most proud of University School’s engagement in our Edgehill community and authentic partnerships which embrace relationships through student mentoring. Down the street from USN is the Carter Lawrence School, home to our well-established Big Brothers Big Sisters program and the new CLLAP (Carter Lawrence Literacy Advocate Partnership) program. The high school’s Writing and Service class and TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) take USN students to Cameron Middle School. Our students are involved in LETS Play (Learning English Through Sport, developed by Rebecca West ’04), based at Whitsitt Elementary School. USN students tutor after school at Edgehill Brighter Days and Salama Urban Ministries. More than 100 USN students mentor other young people weekly with our partnership organizations. Betty says, “Almost all of our service ventures deal with community engagement, not ‘service projects.’” Betty adds, “Of course, CSC is actively involved in projects: food drives, coat drive, backpack drive, Safe Haven Game Night and Urban Housing dinners, but that is only part of what we do.” The annual Community Service Day, involving the entire high school, now focuses on social justice rather than just service. The Centennial Initiative, begun in 2014 with Edgehill community leaders, continues, with students continuing to build these partnerships, of which we currently have a dozen.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Welcoming Nashville to USN By Juanita I.C. Traughber, Communications Director

hat began as a way for University School of Nashville to bring the greater Nashville community through its doors has grown into a steady revenue stream supporting need-based financial aid. Evening Classes remain an affordable adult enrichment program that has added some $800,000 over 25 years to scholarship endowment, benefiting 21 percent of the K-12 student body. In 1994, then-USN parent Jan Pass brought the idea of night classes for people not affiliated with USN to the school from her alma mater, Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. “I realized the community was not fully aware of what USN had to offer, and this was a way to bring people onto campus so

USN

they could see what a rich environment it was for students and for the community,” Pass said, reflecting on a USNA meeting 25 years ago to brainstorm fundraising ideas.

A steering committee began to pool Vanderbilt professors, notable Nashvillians, and USN parents and alumni to share their expertise on parenting, recreation, literature, performing and culinary arts, home and garden, business and 1994 25th Anniversary 2018 finance as well as current events. Limiting the catalog to one-session classes lasting around two hours made them affordable as well as accessible for USN parents who’d need to hire babysitters. The wide range of courses would draw all ages.

EVENING CLASSES

Instructors agreed to volunteer their time and set small fees to pay for materials, and the course fee became a donation to USN.

2000 EDGEHILL

“The catalog was fantastic and the results were great. We were committed to having it be fun, and getting people on campus was a goal more than making a huge profit.” A parent laid out 62 courses in a black-and-white printed catalog written with humor and spotted with drawings for an old-fashioned academic feel. Another parent created a marketing plan. Catalogs were mailed to USN parents. Pass and fellow USN parent Kathy Hood drove around Nashville to deliver 5,000 copies to YMCAs, hair salons, apartment complexes, and other businesses. Then the calls began to flood in, overwhelming parent volunteers. They processed credit cards by phone, and personal checks piled up through the mail. “The catalog was fantastic and the results were great. We were committed to having it be fun, and getting people on campus was a goal more than making a huge profit. There are so many fundraisers that are parties that you are asked to give money. What is really great about Evening School is that it did raise money, but that wasn’t the whole purpose. We were

really creating a community, and people with no connection to University School were getting something back,” Pass said. Parents and trustees opened their homes for intimate cooking lessons, entrepreneurs extended their business hours for small classes, and USN classrooms hosted night school two days a week from January to March. A fly-fishing class took place in the Cheek Gym. Despite a few weather-related delays, the first Evening Classes drew nearly 1,000 students. As Evening Classes have matured, prices have stayed low, beginning at $25 for two hours of instruction. Cooking classes remain the most popular, growing from five classes the inaugural year to

Previous page, l. to r.: Chef and baker Marcia McKeogh and USN parent Margee Brennan teach how to make pie and quiche at Tinwings, co-owned by Lee Ann Harrod Merrick ’79; middle school theater teacher and USN parent Bakari King teaching an Adult Improv class; Chris Chamberlain ’85 teaching his “Biscuits and Bourbon” class at Biscuit Love This page: Making sushi taught by B.J. Lofback of Funk Seoul Brother

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Evening Classes Chairs

In 1994, only Jan Pass is listed under “Night School Development,” but that year’s premier catalog lists her plus Kathy Hood and Susan Barge as Chairpersons. From USN directories: 1994: Jan Pass, + Kathy Hood, Susan Barge 1995: Sandra Hecklin, Karen Yazdian 1996: Kathy Hood, Diane Kuhn 1997: Kathy Hood (Committee Head), Edie Feman 1998: Tish Doochin, Cathy Rosenblum 1999: Gayle Brinker, Stephanie Swartz 2000: Gayle Brinker, Mary Ann Jernigan, Stephanie Swartz 2001: Stephanie Swartz, Sandy Spitz 2002: Janice Meyers, Susan Hannasch (Curriculum: Kathy Hood, Cindy Stone) 2003: Vicki Oglesby (Curriculum: Mary Lukach, Cindy Stone) 2004: Mary Herbert Kelly 2005: Kelly Linton, Debra Alberts, Mary Herbert Kelly, Diane Kuhn, Ken and Lisa Spradley

over 40 culinary, wine, beer, spirits and entertaining courses in 2018. The catalog, however, has become an online repository with digital transactions and automatically generated waiting lists, creating a much smoother registration process. “Never in our wildest dreams did we see Evening Classes becoming as they are today,” said former USN Development Director Susan Barge, now Vanderbilt University’s assistant vice chancellor for strategic initiatives. “We knew it fit well with USN’s mission and because of its urban location it would be convenient for a lot of people in the community, but it was a leap of faith for everyone to teach those first few years.” Having USN staff and alumni parents Debra Alberts and Sheila Clark in the USNA

2006: Burkley Allen, Rose Faeges-Easton, Debra Alberts 2007: Robin Andrews, Dana Strupp, Debra Alberts 2008: Michelle Spiva, Laura Currie 2009: Burkley Allen, Kay Knight, Kathy Pennington 2010: Kathy Pennington (Chair), Burkley Allen, Wendy Baker 2011: Mary Silva Doctor, Betsy Hindman 2012: Mary Silva Doctor, Robin Johnson 2013: Mary Silva Doctor, Robin Johnson 2014: Tanza Farr, Jenny Lewis 2015: Jenny Lewis, Maren Scoggins 2016: Lori Condon, Danica Jefferson 2017: Lori Condon, Danica Jefferson 2018: Lori Condon, Danica Jefferson, Anna Cramer, Joanna Hall

office has helped build Evening Classes’ reputation and kept some instructors coming back year after year even when parent volunteers move on as their children graduate. Technology Director Kathy Wieczerza, who holds an eighth degree black belt in the Korean martial art of Taekwondo, sat on the original Evening School Steering Committee. She has taught self defense or technology courses nearly every year since its formation.

USN parent Carrington Fox enjoying the 2013 backyard chicken coop tour

“I still have people out in the community who come up to me and say, ‘Do you remember me? I took your Evening School class,’” Wieczerza said. She taught people how to purchase and set up a home computer in 1994. Her technology courses have evolved from how to use specific software programs, like Microsoft Word, to navigating

2000 EDGEHILL

Getting ready for Evening Classes to begin: the calendar takes shape on the USNA office wall with 10 colors of sticky notes representing the 10 categories of classes, ensuring that each day includes different categories.

social media and Google Suite. The trick to having a successful class, she said, is keeping the course introductory and broad because it can be difficult to address each student’s ability level and specific questions in two hours or less. She said Evening Classes have established their reputation in the community as being introductory and fun. “A strong program is when it can move beyond what the people who started it visualized,” Pass reflected. “I think it’s terrific that the people who came behind me are able to do things I didn’t imagine as Evening Classes continues to grow and morph in different ways.”

log copywriters to wine delivery helpers. More than two dozen people volunteered to come to USN to greet Evening Classes students, and at least 171 people volunteered to teach those classes. Since not every class is held at USN, 45 people offered to host a class in their homes. Thank you to the committee: Danica, Lori, Anna Cramer, Joanna Hall, and all their helpers. And thank you to the women in the USNA Office who make it happen. Debra Alberts, USNA office manager and Evening Classes coordinator, has been working to make Evening Classes the success it is since 2000. During Evening Classes season, Sheila Clark contributes to the efforts in the USNA Office. nn

In 2018, the third year for Lori Condon and Danica Jefferson to chair Evening Classes, 1,734 students registered for 171 classes. It was a record year financially: more than $130,000 raised. This record success is due to the efforts of many volunteers, cata-

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Music Night 2018

By Susan Schoenecker, USNA President It was a night to remember.

Gabe Dixon ’96, alumnus and parent, treated the USN community to a unique music experience. Gabe is a talented musician and songwriter who began his extraordinary musical career playing the piano—fitting that the grand piano played by Gabe was center stage for the evening. He was joined by Nick Buda ’92, Stanton Edward, Jason Eskridge, Viktor Krauss, and Maureen Murphy. We are humbled to be in the presence of these musical greats and grateful to them for sharing this evening with all of us.

USN’s faculty and staff band, Joe Getsi and the K-12 Situation, brought the crowd to its feet opening the show. Dee Hammonds, Jeff Goold, Kyle Barboza, Justin Karpinos, Bakari King, Roderick White, and Joe Getsi were amazing. It was a joy to see them play. We know them by their day jobs, which hide a wealth of musical talent uncovered for the evening. Music Night helps to support USN’s River Campus. This area on the banks of the Cumberland River is home to USN’s fields for soccer, lacrosse, baseball, and softball, as well as tennis and track facilities. It includes 15 acres of wetland which are an integral part of the USN Naturalist Program. The Music Night Team is thankful to the many sponsors, particularly Regions Bank, Barbieri Orthodontics, The Chalos Family, Oz Nashville, McKenzie Laird, Transit Insights, Brett Sheriff and Silvermark Partners, who helped make this night successful. nn

2000 EDGEHILL

photos by Kimberly Manz

Opposite page: Gabe and band onstage This page, clockwise from top left: Gabe Dixon; Nick Buda; Vince Durnan with alumni Gabe ’96 and Nick ’92; the K-12 Situation onstage; Joe Getsi soloing

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Studying the Music City By Amy Woodson, Head of Lower School

ealizing that the entire city of Nashville could become its classroom, the second grade team reimagined one of its social studies units.

Teachers know that learning should engage students deeply, allow them choice, and permit students to demonstrate what they have learned. The principles of project-based learning suggest that students should investigate areas of interest, following several deep guiding questions. Then they should demonstrate what they have learned. Ideas from place-based learning also informed the teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; planning. Second graders would explore their environs and learn the history of their place. This large format redesign marks a big step toward putting our social studies strand into a logically expanding horizons sequence. Kindergarten students explore, map, and study their surroundings narrowlyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;classroom, bedroom, home, school â&#x20AC;&#x201D;and first graders expand the circle to study our campus neighborhood, creating 3-D maps to show what they have learned. Third and fourth graders learn about their world as Tennesseans and Americans. Each teacher chose a different lens through which their students would study the Music City, all asking the central ques-

2000 EDGEHILL

Previous page: Remembering the components of a good presentation; practicing their presentation using the puppet they made of “The King” This page (top l. to r.): Ms. Darr’s class looking at Hatch Show Print operations; a product for sale on “Mall Day”; a Johnny Cash puppet; Lucius “The Spoonman” Talley visits Ms. Sherman’s class.

tion, “How has Nashville changed over time?” Ms. Roca’s class explored important individuals, Mrs. Rahman’s the landmarks in our city, Ms. Sherman’s looked at music’s influence on Nashville, and Ms. Darr ’19’s class examined businesses. In Molly Darr’s classroom, students looked at businesses to understand operations, sales, expenses, and advertising. They also considered the organization’s contribution to the community. When they visited Goodwill Industries, they learned about nonprofits and how Goodwill creates jobs for those in need. For their end project, the students held a mini-mall, learning basic principles as they created their own businesses such as a paper airplane store, nail spa, pet advice booth, and more. Their parents and the other second grade classes shopped in their stores, with everyone able to spend $20 of “educational money.” Finally the children paid business expenses—electricity, rent, supplies. They were shocked to see their profits diminish. “What? We hardly have any money left! I thought we had made so much!” Melissa Sherman’s class explored Nashville’s musical roots. She loved “seeing through children’s eyes how music brings people together.” With people happy to open their doors to the second graders, the students heard stories about the Fisk Jubilee Singers, immigrant musicians such as the mariachi band they heard, and country music legends. “My students have seen music traditions being passed down through families and how that helps people build their identities,” said Mrs. Sherman. Victoria Roca said, “Focusing on Nashville’s ‘Trailblazers, Leaders, and Activists’ helps students connect to what they learn. Nicola studied Pat Summitt and visited the University of Tennessee. Studying Cornelia Fort, the first female pilot to die on war duty, Annie visited Cornelia Fort Airpark. Liam read parts of the

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

graphic novel March as he researched the life of John Lewis.” The class visited the Civil Rights Room in the public library, learning about Nashville’s part in the non-violent protest movement of the early 60’s. Physical landmarks opened the eyes of Nabilah Rahman’s students, who “had no idea that just down the street from their school, they could learn about country music stars, check out Nashville’s first train station, or visit the place where state laws are made.” Students may pass the Parthenon on the way to school every morning but have no idea why Nashville is called the “Athens of the South.” And second graders want to know, “Does Batman really live in the Batman building?” Mrs. Rahman says, “After we visited Nashville landmarks, it was remarkable to see how proud of their city the students became. We heard they got excited to see a billboard for the Ryman or come across a brochure from the Adventure Science Center. Many parents were impressed that they were learning facts about Nashville from their child despite living here all their lives.” The second grade team looks forward to continuing the discussion begun this fall. Students will ask, “How can Nashville become a better city?” Some will share their ideas with the mayor as part of their study of persuasive writing, and others will expand their horizons by writing persuasive letters about their city to relatives and friends outside of Nashville. According to Nabilah Rahman, the second grade team feels that this unit is a continuous journey of “Who are we as Nashvillians?” “It’s exciting to see where the students will take it,” Nabilah said.

photos by Kimberly Manz

randparentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Day brought together the generations again this fall, with children singing old favorites in the Sperling Gym for their families and special friends. Each year brings something new, too, with the unveiling of the Mystery Turkey.

grandparentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; nn

This page, top, clockwise: kindergarten turkey Alyvia Thompson; third grader Olivia Westfall; first graders Rishav Reddy, Mariah Crenshaw, Henry Sloane.

Large picture: fourth graders Caleb Shaw and Victoria White with kindergartners Zain Abdelkader, Naomi Asfaw, Isaac Tift, and Iris Castellanos.

DAY 2000 EDGEHILL

2017

This page top, left to right: second graders Sophia Hill, Charlotte Soslow, and Kendall Puzniak lead their classmates onto the gym floor

Bottom photos left to right: first graders Lucas Little and Donovan Jennings; third graders Zahra Ansari and Marin Rorex; Mystery Turkey Emily Theobald, librarian, revealing her identity.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

This page clockwise from top: Kindergarten turkey Reese Mehr: turkeys Nora O’Loughlin, Kavya Shah, and Chase Nickens; fourth graders Rania Idrees and Braylin Davis; “Thirteen Year Club” members of the Class of 2018 stuffed into their kindergarten turkey costumes.

2000 EDGEHILL

This page clockwise from top: Third graders Charlie Hall, Coco Shepard, and Olivia Brown; light sticks waved in the finale; fourth graders Ian Becker, Addi King, and Josephine Scott-Barnes; second graders Benja Ajang and Eli Whelan; first graders Enya Joseph and Arianna Washington.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Going Ungraded By Jeff Greenfield ’84, Head of Middle School

id you know most valedictorians trail their classmates in personal qualities that matter more in the job market than they used to? As schools rethink their programs to teach 21st century skills, creativity, problem-solving, designthinking, and fearlessness are rising as priorities ahead of earning top grades. In fact, at USN we’re rethinking the role of grades altogether. Research abounds questioning the value of grades. Such authors as Alfie Kohn (Punished by Rewards) and Daniel Pink (Drive) make the case that a “grading orientation” adversely affects “learning orientation”; in short, grades can diminish students’ interest in whatever they’re learning. Grades can create a preference for the easiest possible task. I recall deciding as a student to avoid taking unnecessary intellectual risks—or even tough courses—if I thought they might lower my GPA. What’s more, grades can affect the quality of a student’s thinking: “Is this going to be on the test?” takes precedence over “How can we be sure that’s true?” When grades are involved, intrinsic motivation to learn and to take chances suffer. So we in middle school, the last territory in the K-12 sequence unbeholden to colleges looking for grades on transcripts, are piloting a number of options to help bring forth students’ best work and deepest motivations to learn and grow. Numerous teachers are challenging students with ungraded assignments, requiring students to rewrite, redesign, or redo until they reach the targeted level of mastery. In Greg O’Loughlin’s sixth grade English class, for instance, passion projects involve our librarian working closely with students on how best to research and write about a topic of their choice. Students show what they know at the project’s conclusion through an iMovie, a 3-D model, a slide show presentation, or

Conversation in Greg O’Loughlin’s English class

2000 EDGEHILL

“My daughter works harder in Mrs. Fink’s ungraded class than in any of her graded classes. She can really tell she’s learning, even without a grade.”

Left: Julius Fox works to add some cytoplasm to his edible cell model in Heather Webber’s 7th grade science class; right: Mr. O’Loughlin reviews the common ground identified so far in the consensus building process

even a physical demonstration, none of which is graded. The hard work of identifying a topic that isn’t assigned by the teacher is new to most students, who find comfort in being told what to do. This different approach, aimed at propelling students toward what researcher and author Carol Dweck calls a “growth” mindset over a “fixed” one, expects them to craft meaningful guiding questions and to refine them, all fueled by their natural curiosity. Sibley Kelly’s seventh grade Spanish students are free-writing in Spanish more than ever before, all ungraded. Despite the truth that much of the language is still inaccessible to them, she witnesses students’ improved willingness to experiment and to take extra care to amend their writing to make it correct with her help. The emphasis on learning over getting a good grade has shifted the culture in her classroom, as one student reflects: “It’s kind of nice not to worry about being wrong when I try to write in Spanish. Do I think I’m writing more than if it were being graded? Are you kidding? Definitely!” The boldest example of our experiment without grades is happening in Connie Fink’s fifth grade social studies class, where nothing is graded. But don’t think no one is working hard. Connie, a

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

recipient of last year’s Tennessee Humanities Outstanding Educator Award, says she’s never worked harder. She provides students with rubrics to guide them in their work, multiple rounds of feedback as they progress, and allocates adequate class time for each to reflect on his/her own learning. In place of a grade at term’s end, Connie offers a personal comment and ratings on each child’s growth in the main learning objectives of the course. This ungraded approach appears to be bringing out students’ best efforts. According to a fifth grade parent, “My daughter works harder in Mrs. Fink’s ungraded class than in any of her graded classes. She can really tell she’s learning, even without a grade.” So what’s next? We’ve got plenty still to learn about going ungraded, namely how to keep the feedback loop timely and manageable for faculty and students. This spring we’ll gather as a group of beta testers and share our notes with faculty colleagues about our experience, determining what’s worth keeping and what needs tweaking. I anticipate we’ll take a more aggressive ungraded approach at all grade levels next year, on our way toward a program that’s gradeless throughout. Student and parent feedback remains crucial in knowing that we are helping students build the right qualities for success in the world they’ll inherit. nn

Asking and Listening By Quinton Walker, Head of High School

The advice was consistent: look for pieces of the culture to help you make sense of it all; listen before launching into action; honor the traditions; invest in those who make the school what it is. And so I did. Year one at USN was largely one of looking and listening, honoring and investing. I saw that 103 years of people have made University School of Nashville a remarkable institution. Now, in the middle of my sophomore year, I can look back as a way to think about what’s ahead. Looking and listening blend with leading and serving. When I arrived at USN, two books figured prominently in the conversation. Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas was discussed extensively when I interviewed. Berger asserts that focusing inquiry on action-oriented questions can have transformative powers for individuals, schools, and organizations. People were also talking about USN’s all-school read All the Light We Cannot See, a beautiful, chilling novel about two children whose paths cross in World War II Europe. Throughout the novel, Phillip Doerr poses a powerful question: “How do you ever know for certain that you are doing the right thing?”

Those two books serve as the guardrails of my ref lection. What questions are we bold enough to ask, particularly the questions that ought to lead toward action? What do we make of the the philosophical, perhaps unanswerable question asked by the novel? Can we ever know we are doing the right thing by and for our students, our families, and our faculty? I share a few questions we’re considering in the high school, all with an eye toward action.

Considering the Whole Child More Fully

The society our students will enter, shape, and lead both excites and terrifies me. They are being asked to do more, do it earlier, and do it faster. In response, we ask how can the high school think as broadly as possible about the whole child? Academic preparation remains a must, yet as society becomes more complex, so too does the role of an educator. You needn’t

2000 EDGEHILL

A committee of students and teachers discusses the allotment and use of time in the high school with Quinton Walker (standing)

I’m committed to asking questions about what school ought to be, could be, and should be for now and for the future. look further than popular media to see stories with similar refrains— students over-programmed, anxious, depressed, concerned but politically disengaged, lacking in playfulness and joy. We can’t solely educate for college preparation. We educate for a justice-oriented democratic citizenry. We educate for student wellness and strength.

Exploring Our Use of Time

Historically, schools have been built around the paradigm of efficiency. Sociologist Raymond Callahan penned the cautionary tale for schooling in Education and the Cult of Efficiency. Callahan urged schools to reconsider the organizational construct of efficiency when it came to their academic program. Instead schools were to look at what made most sense for teaching, learning, and student growth—highly individualized concepts resistant to a linear conceptualization of time. The funny thing is, we’re not much further ahead than we were when Callahan wrote this book —in 1964. We’re looking closely at time at USN. More, what values do we want to affirm with our daily, weekly, and yearly schedule and calendar?

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Playing with Ideas, Big and Small

By nature, I am a tinkerer, less with the physical and more with ideas, concepts, and systems. Rest assured, Vince Durnan asked me not to break the high school—and that’s my commitment to all who have come to call PDS/USN home. Still, I’m committed to asking questions about what school ought to be, could be, and should be for now and for the future. As an example, we have joined the Mastery Transcript Consortium, a group of like-minded schools exploring the handshake between secondary schools and colleges. We have yet to turn our back on grades in favor of an approach that embraces skills, competencies, and student collaboration. Rather, we will look to see what best fits students’ learning, teachers’ strengths, and the institution’s culture. We’ll spend time sifting through fads, determining what’s imperative for us to consider. The relationships that PDS/USN alumni tout as a keystone of this school remain strong, vibrant, and true. So does the spirit of students engaging with the goings-on of the day-to-day life of school. Making my way through my second year, I’m committed to asking the questions that suggest corresponding actions. And I’ll keep looking to all parts of the PDS/USN community to determine if we are indeed doing the right things—the standardbearers show the way. nn

John and Barbara York Kammerud ’66

Babs Freeman-Loftis and Tom Loftis ’74

John and Maria May TeSelle ’83

Love at PDS & USN For

the past two Valentine’s Days, we have been collecting pictures of couples who met their future husbands or wives at PDS or USN. Then we posted the pictures on our USN social media accounts using the hashtag #PDSUSNsweethearts. If you and your sweetheart met at PDS or USN and you’d like to be featured next time, please send your pictures to amyint@usn.org.

Matthew ’98 and Ellen Duke Haber ’00

James and Behnaz Barahimi Sulkowski ’01

Ben ’94 and Sarah Schleicher Princehorn ’97

Michael ’01 and Michelle Fogo Kennedy ’02

2000 EDGEHILL

Harwell and Jenny Fox Wells ’84

Jennie Wolff ’95 and Will McLemore ’94

Erin Mosow ’98 and Nathan Terry ’99

Edward and Emily Strupp Linton ’07

Patrick and Jamie Kever Starnes ’04

Bobby and Mollie Shmerling Perry ’03

Matt ’04 and Grace Ann Cunningham Lukach ’03

Caitlin Del Casino ’08 and Elliott Roche ’10 Michael and Molly Cunningham Snow ’06

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

usn.org/alumni

1948 Dorothy Elliott Pettit and her husband Ron, who was in the Air Force, lived in many places, including Germany, before settling in Texas. They had two children: David and his wife live in Austin; Karen and her family in Alexandria. Dorothy writes, “Ron passed away in 2013 after 61 years of marriage. We traveled all over the United States to visit our kids, grand kids and great grand kids. Currently, I live with Karen and her husband. These days, my time is spent attending church events and participating in family events.”

1963 Nancy Vining Van Ness lives in New York City, where she directs a small dance company called American Creative Dance. “In addition to dancing, I participate occasionally in social and political protest, especially with a group call The World Can’t Wait. I look forward to news of my classmates and others who were in the high school during my years there as well as to news of how things have developed since our years at the school.”

Tyler’s English classroom. Principal McCharen was a trifle upset.” Johnny and Barbara York Kammerud joined Caroline in California for dinner one evening when they were out there visiting grandchildren. They had a lovely meal but forgot to take a picture.

1970 John Justice, who died unexpectedly in January, was remembered by Carol Norris Brown as “always ‘outside of the box’ and caring…. John pointedly avoided databases, email and social media, so would appreciate the irony of having to let people know of this loss.”

1971 Tom Lackey is in his 40th year as a location scout for movies. “I work for most of the movie studios, namely Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Brothers, HBO and Netflix.” You can search for him on IMDB.

1972 Lisa Lerman has retired from Catholic University Law School after teaching there for 28

1966 Cabot Wade’s duo Smith and Wade has just released a new album called ‘Time Well Wasted.’ “It has three classic rock cover tunes and seven originals. We’re a high energy acoustic duo with a band behind us on this project. It’s available at cdbaby.com.” Caroline Marold shared a memory about Cabot Wade, who at PDS “drove a tiny tiny white European car which looked like an ambulance. He had what used to be called a triangle license–school, church and home. One spring the seniors put it on top of the dumpster out back of what was Tippy Toe

Tom Lackey ’71 (left)

years. She now lives in Arlington, Virginia. She continues to be professionally active, “updating and revising a set of three textbooks which I co-authored with my husband. The first edition of the primary book, Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law, was published in 2005. We’ve now completed the fourth edition. My son Sam lives in the area, married and working for a military contractor. My daughter Sarah teaches AP English at a charter school in Newark, New Jersey. We look forward to her wedding in June. I spend a good bit of time doing volunteer health counseling for others who suffer from environmentally acquired illness; I have a lot of personal experience in that arena. I keep in touch with a bunch of pals from PDS, and continue to feel connected to the community and grateful for all I learned there.”

1977 In one month last year, David Thornton graduated from Lipscomb University with his Doctor of Ministry degree, his daughter Alexandra graduated from CU Boulder, and his son Andrew graduated from USN. “May 2017 was epic!” David has opened a therapy practice, working with individuals and couples with issues of anxiety, attachment, and intimacy, drawing on the riches of Jewish and Christian spirituality and mysticism. Marisa Richmond received the Julie Johnson Founder’s Award from the National Center for Transgender Equality last year in Washington, D.C. The organization said, “Dr. Marisa Richmond has been a leader in the transgender movement for decades and continues to be a prominent activist in this field, especially the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition Richmond which she founded. She has also given her time to many other organizations, including

2000 EDGEHILL

David Thornton ’77 with his son Andrew ’17 and daughter Alexandra; all three were May graduates last year

the Transgender Advocacy Network, GLSEN of Middle Tennessee, and to NCTE as a board member for six years.”

The May wedding of Lauren Spitz ’97 to Andy Baker, attended by many USN alumni

1991

In December David Ewing spoke to the Rotary Club about “30 forgotten and unknown events in Nashville history.”

A profile of Radiolab creator Jad Abumrad in the New York Times last summer (“Lapsed Composer Returns to Music”) described him as “one of the most innovative radio producers of his generation.” He “continues to moonlight as a composer.”

1987

1992

Nadeam Elshami retired after 25 years of working in Congress. “For the last ten years, I worked for Speaker and now Leader Pelosi and the last four years as her chief of staff. As I start at new career in the the private sector, I am very excited about the new opportunity and challenge. I am now Executive Vice President at Signal Group, a bipartisan public affairs, advocacy and strategic communications firm; a CNN political contributor; and a Spring 2018 Nadeam Elshami ’87 fellow at the Institute of Politics and Public Service at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.”

This fall Jenny Boucek was hired as an assistant coach by the Sacramento Kings, becoming only the third woman ever to work as a coach in the NBA. Jenny told The Tennessean, “I don’t think about only being the third woman to do this; I just think about doing what I love, which is coaching basketball.”

1985

1988 Tim Ozgener was named as one of the “18 Tennesseans to watch in 2018” by The Tennessean.

1995 Melanie Watts and her family (husband Shankar and children Luca, age 5, and Nora, age 3) have left San Francisco after yen years. First they went to London, where Melanie obtained her Diploma in Tropical Medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Now they are moving to Bhutan, where Melanie and her husband will both be working and teaching Emergency Medicine at the National Referral Hospital in the capital. Last summer Jeff Jenkins moved back to Nashville with his wife and two children after 20 years in NY, LA, Sydney and Austin. He joined CKE Restaurants (Carl’s Jr & Hardee’s) as Chief Marketing Officer. “Excited to be back and see all the change in Nashville that has taken place!”

Leah Neaderthal ’98 and Emily Monaghan at their wedding

1997 Mollie Barksdale Gee writes, “After twelve years as a pediatric nurse, nine of those as a nurse practitioner, I am finally pursuing a dream I’ve had since my senior year Psych class with Mrs. Schneider. Last May I received a second master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling and opened a private practice, The Nest Counseling, in Charlotte, NC. I specialize in working with women and moms who want to feel settled, happy and confident.” thenestcounseling.com Faith Broughton McQuinn is in her ninth year of teaching film and writing at The Art Institute of Tennessee and her second year teaching screenwriting at MTSU. “Last year, I wrote and directed an audio drama podcast called Boom: A Serial Drama Podcast. We recorded in Nashville and the show takes place in Nashville as well. Our first season began in September and ran for 10 episodes with two bonus episodes in December. We will start season 2 in March. It’s continued on next page

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Steven Snow ’01 with his bride Aissa Petrovich

Leeman Tarpley Kessler ’00

available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or anywhere you can get podcasts. We had an amazing first season and built a nice fan base. The show has been featured in a few podcast community articles, and I’m hopeful that the audience will keep growing.”

1998 Walker Koury, former lacrosse team captain, is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps. He writes, “My primary job is infantry, but I was injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, so in 2015 I volunteered to become a Japanese Language Interpreter, and now I live and work in Tokyo. Whenever I have the chance to speak to USN grads, I tell them that the lessons I learned on the lacrosse team were the ones I took with me to battle in Iraq and Afghanistan. The leadership, dedication to a purpose, etc, etc. that I learned there at the USN lacrosse team directly translated to leading Marines in battle. While many will have different opinions on that purpose, one thing is for sure…USN lacrosse builds great leaders.”

1999 Friends for almost 27 years, Dan Hodges and Garret Westlake recently collaborated on a professional project despite being on opposite sides of the country. Dan Hodges is a product designer for Number AI, a provider of AIpowered concierge services for businesses, and

Garret Westlake is an associate professor and executive director of the da Vinci Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Students at the VCU da Vinci Center worked with the Number AI team on the launch of an AI bot, nicknamed Little Leonardo, that provides key information to VCU students about da Vinci Center programs and opportunities. Holly Interlandi has published the first issue of her graphic novel Last Song through Black Mask Studios, and volume II was due out in February 2018. When not writing, walking her dog Bucky, or dodging L.A. fires, Holly is the Executive Editor for Famous Monsters of Filmland.

When Julie and Ryan Starnes ’05 (top photo) moved back to Nashville, they had help from the Property Brothers (Season 12, episode 4), with appearances by Joe ’01, Patrick ’04, Erin ’99, and Jamie Kever Starnes ’04. Jessie and Joe Starnes ’01 (bottom photo) were featured in Season 11, episode 6.

2000 Leeman Kessler, née Tarpley had a busy 2017 as his wife Rachel, his daughter Amanda, and he welcomed their new son and brother, Martin. Leeman was also thrilled to fly out to Santa Fe and perform as HP Lovecraft for George RR Martin and others at the Jean Cocteau Cinema. Finally, he joined the throng of Americans last year who took it upon themselves to run for office and was elected to the village council of Gambier, Ohio.

2001 Julia Sullivan’s restaurant Henrietta Red continues to receive lots of favorable mention, not just in Style Blueprint and the Nashville Scene but also in Bon Appetit (named a Best New Restaurant), Vogue, and The Wall Street Journal. It was the subject of a recent glowing review in The New York Times. Henrietta Red

Jeremy and Jamie Hirsch Brook ’02 with their son Richard and his big sisters

was named a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best New Restaurant.” Max and Ben ’98 Goldberg (their company is Strategic Hospitality) were named semifinalists for the “Outstanding Restaurateur” award from the James Beard Foundation, which mentioned continued on page 35

2000 EDGEHILL

usn.org/alumni n

Cooking With Julia

Julia Sullivan ’01

By Anna Myint ’04, Alumni Director & Social Media Manager

ulia Sullivan spent 13 years at University School. “It was the one constant in my life as a child, a warm and safe place. It felt like home and I had friends from day one who are still my friends today.”

Her teachers were important too, especially in high school. “They were interested in teaching but also helping you through the whole experience to get you through after high school life.” Some of her favorite teachers were also her coaches—Zaf Ahmed and George Flatau. “It is a community of people who truly care about the mission, students, and the adults they are producing. It is so important how they all think about the future and keeping the community going.” After USN, Julia attended Tulane University. In New Orleans, experiencing its diverse restaurant culture, she discovered her love of the restaurant industry. She majored in business at Tulane before moving to Poughkeepsie, New York to attend the Culinary Institute of America. With an Associate’s Degree in Culinary Arts from the CIA, Julia headed to New York City. There she worked at such restaurants as Blue Hill, Per Se, and Franny’s, where she found intensity and discipline to learn and hone her skills. Julia spent two years at Per Se, a three Michelin Star French-influenced restaurant opened by Thomas Keller, where she was a commis (preparation cook) and chef de partie (line cook). From there she was the chef for two years at a Brooklyn rustic Italian restaurant, Franny’s, her favorite restaurant experience in New York. Julia also spent time as a private chef, traveling from the Hamptons to the City. In 2011, Julia started working on Haven’s Kitchen in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York. It is a recreational cooking school and event space that Julia helped evolve from being in the architect’s office, opening, and operating. She was the chef and manager when it opened in 2012. After experiencing the beginning and opening of a project, Julia knew it was time to move home to Nashville to open a restaurant and business of her own. In 2013, she started working on Henrietta Red, her restaurant in Germantown, before moving back to Nashville later that year. Her friend Allie Poindexter moved from

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

New York to Nashville to collaborate with her on this new project. Ultimately, they were led back to Julia’s lifelong friends, Ben ’98 and Max ’01 Goldberg of Strategic Hospitality, to partner in opening their restaurant. February 24, 2018 marked the one-year anniversary of Henrietta Red’s opening.

photo by Andrea Behrends

Julia describes Henrietta Red as a “contemporary seasonal American restaurant. It is seasonal vegetable-driven with meat and fish options.” An oyster bar serves 18 different types of oyster each night. Julia loves oysters, finding them fascinating as well as environmentally friendly. If you want to read more about Henrietta Red, open up The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Elle Magazine, or The Tennessean, to name a few of the publications where the restaurant has received praise. Henrietta Red was a finalist in Bon Appetit’s prestigious 50 best restaurants in America of 2017. Recently, the James Beard Foundation recognized Henrietta Red as a 2018 semifinalist for best new restaurant. Looking back, she says did not realize how many opportunities existed. “Everyone needs help, always.” She suggests that if you are motivated and serious, get out and offer your help. “People will take your help. It is all about experience. It is about learning and refining skillsets. Seek mentorship—plenty of people have come before you, and it is important to know what you need to do and what you do not need to do. Don’t get discouraged. Stay on task. You’ll get there.” nn

“Minimal, with high impact.”

Adrien Saporiti ’06

By Anna Myint ’04, Alumni Director & Social Media Manager

hen Adrien Saporiti graduated from USN, no one, including Adrien, would have predicted that he would create an iconic Nashville image.

Though his only formal training in design came in Trent Boysen’s class at USN, in college Adrien was known as the “creator of all visual things and posters.” In 2010, he began screen-printing, making, and selling t-shirts. Then he set up a stand during East Nashville’s Tomato Festival and began to invest all his time (and funds) into his new venture, DCXV Industries (for Nashville area code 615). One of his early designs, which “didn’t feel right as a t-shirt or poster,” seemed as if it might work as a mural. Adrien painted this first mural on a 12th Avenue South building, and “I Believe in Nashville” is now often used as a backdrop for pictures. “It invokes elements of Americana deeply ingrained in our culture and society, so that the viewer immediately processes the mural and that familiarity before they’ve realized it.” As for the phrase itself, “It’s meant to be a simple, instantly familiar, positive message. It’s ‘I’ and not ‘We’ because that makes it personal…. Also, it’s impossible to refute anyone’s personal belief... at least not without being a jerk.” The stars rotate slightly compared to the stars on the Tennessee state flag. “I wanted the stars aligned and moving upwards, reflecting the positivity of the phrase as well as where Nashville was at the moment: beginning a new chapter, lots of growth. Also, I’m a bit of an art history nerd, and the triangle is the most common and familiar shape in all of art,” said Adrien. The “I Believe in Nashville” mural illustrates the artist’s style: “minimal, with high impact.” Soon requests poured in for more murals. Adrien has created “#KindComments,” in partnership with Instagram on 2nd Avenue North; “Stay Tuned,” on Main Street in trendy East Nashville; “Volume,” a wall of speakers at Grimey’s; and perhaps his second most recognizable work, “Hyroglitches,” a wall full of symbols and made-up shapes outside 3 Brothers Coffee Shop on West End.

Adrien; “Hyroglitches” at 3 Brothers Coffee Shop (top right); Instagram mural on 2nd Ave. N.

Adrien has worked with the Nashville Predators and Google and has a project in the works with Facebook. He collaborated with the class of 2017 on “High Fidelity,” the seniors’ gift to USN, a mural in the stairwell leading to the fourth floor. The wall is art deco, representing the age of the building. Since it’s in a school, Adrien used geometric shapes and primary colors and titled it after his favorite book, which he read in former high school head Steve Robins’ senior seminar. Adrien offers some advice to artists and entrepreneurs: “Don’t try to succeed. Just don’t. Your goal should not be the end result. Your goal should be ‘I like to do this, I enjoy doing it.’ Do it to the best of your ability and you will be successful.” His personal mission statement has always been “Don’t try to make money.” “If money is the objective, you won’t make good art. However, if making art is your priority, the money will come.” His art is all over Nashville—minimal with high impact. nn

2000 EDGEHILL

Allison Cate ’02 at her wedding to Chad Murray with their son Wesley

Collin Pigott ’03 at a Creative Morning event

on behalf of an inmate who was sexually assaulted and impregnated by a guard. He filed and settled another civil rights lawsuit last year for an inmate who was repeatedly tasered while in a restraint chair, which was cited in a UN report on torture. The cover of the book by Ashley Farmer ’02

restaurants Pinewood Social, Patterson House, the Catbird Seat, and others.

2002 Ashley Farmer’s book, Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era, is now available on Amazon.

2003 Last fall Sara Martin became manager of Ten Thousand Villages in Asheville, North Carolina, where she has been living for the past ten years. “Also in October, I got to hang out with Jana Friedman, Elyse Vasquez, and Zeynep Goral at Lauren Wolchok’s (all ’03) wedding in LA.” Collin Pigot works at a local startup called JumpCrew, but in his spare time he runs a monthly breakfast lecture series for the creative community called CreativeMornings. “We do a free event for 150-200 people on the last Friday morning of each month, including free breakfast and coffee and a 30-minute talk from a local creative professional about what they do and what they believe in. CM started in NYC 10 years ago, and there are now monthly events in 185 cities in 66 countries... and Nashville has one of the premier chapters!” creativemornings.com Ben Raybin filed a federal civil rights lawsuit

2004 When Thomas Gibney married Daniela Torre on the beach at Pawleys Island, South Carolina, last year, their dads provided the guitar jams as Thomas’ uncle pronounced them the Torre Gibneys.

2005 Allison Duke Budslick of the “Mirror Mirror” podcast modeled summer looks (including makeup) for July’s Style Blueprint. Amanda Pargh’s hot sauce, Burn, appeared on Real Simple’s holiday gift guide. Jesse-Justin Cuevas and her long-time partner, Chawne Stambaugh, got married last January in a tiny and informal ceremony in the federal chambers of Judge Dolly M. Gee in Los Angeles. (Jesse is Judge Gee’s law clerk). After traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago for Jesse to attend law school at Northwestern (’15), then to Charlotte, North Carolina for Jesse to clerk on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the couple is thrilled to finally be back in sunny Southern California. Jesse will finish her clerkship this August and begin her practice this fall in the Los Angeles office of the nationally renowned litigation boutique, Susman Godfrey, LLP. While Jesse and Chawne’s Santa Monica apartment is small, their couch is comfortable and always open to the USN community. The dogs also love visitors.

Top: Lauren Wolchok ’03 at her wedding with her parents and the groom Ky Krieger Bottom (l. to r.): Zeynep Goral, Jana Friedman, Sara Martin, and Elyse Vasquez (all ’03) at Lauren’s wedding

Katherine Berk and Rachel Bubis have founded the Congress Club, described on their website as “a community of women committed to sharing success” and “a space for all women in Nashville to connect, think, build, and grow.” Learn more at thecongress.club. Margaret Brittingham has opened a therapy practice in Nashville working with adults and adolescents. Her practice incorporates mindfulness, body-based practices, and walk-and-talk therapy. margaretbrittingham.com

continued on next page

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

usn.org/alumni

The Pawleys Island wedding of Thomas Gibney ’04

Sam and Samantha Nedelman Lee ’03 with their children Lauren Bidez ’04 at her wedding to Damian Marshall

2006 John Early was a featured comedian on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” and Hulu has ordered a pilot featuring him. Hawkins Entrekin’s company, Warden Capital, plans to open its first Birmingham location. Joe Spradley has received his certification as a Pilates instructor. An op-ed by Caroline Randall-Willams appeared in The New York Times: “President Obama, Where Are You?”

Thomas Greer, son of Aly and Scott ’05, with his big brother Nicholas

Mike Cypress has earned his Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Tulane University.

Jillian Berkman will graduate from Vanderbilt School of Medicine this year. She plans to go into neurology.

Emma Smith writes that her baby girl is “healthy and strong and definitely living up to her red-headedness.” They live in Chattanooga.

2007 At Emily Salomon’s wedding last fall, Becky Salomon ’04 served as matron of honor, and Becky’s wife, Alison Duncan Salomon (who is the groom’s sister), served as “best woman.” Emily graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 2017 and has returned to Nashville to work as a corporate lawyer concentrating in healthcare mergers and acquisitions at Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis.

Rosie Siman Yakob and Becca West, both ’04, ran into each other on Valentine’s Day at a “meet-up for common sense gun laws in Tennessee.” Here they are with State Rep. Harold Love, Jr. before the Tennessee House Civil Justice Subcommittee hearing.

2008

2009 Upstream, the company co-founded by Marshall Moutenot, was recently acquired by Natel Energy. Marshall and his co-founder were named to the Forbes “30 Under 30 in Energy.”

2011 Last summer Jesse Shofner was the subject of a piece on Nashville Public Radio called “How A Nashville Ultimate Frisbee Player Became The First Woman To Go Pro.” Nicky Spiva, Markham Shofner, and Jesse Shofner are part of a group leading a boy-

Jesse-Justin Cuevas ’05 got married in Los Angeles on January 19, 2017

2000 EDGEHILL

John Early ’06 officiated at the February wedding of Amy Schumer. He performed the ceremony as his popular character “Vicky.”

cott of the professional ultimate frisbee league, the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL), “in an effort to achieve equitable playing opportunities, coverage, and support of the top women in the game. The league currently operates as a men’s league.” Nicky writes, “The boycott garnered widespread support (including over 10% of the league’s players last year), and we have begun to see some positive changes. Also, Jesse was featured in espnW for her amazing play and experiences in the sport.”

2012 Abby Horrell taught barre on an episode of The Today Show. In June Justin Maffett landed his first byline for NBC News with an article on President Trump’s travel ban. The story ran as the morning headline on both the NBC News website and mobile app. Find an update on the work of Will Kotchtitzky on the Dickinson University website in an article called “Four Summers, One Promising Career.”

2013 Kate Murdock was the subject of a profile on the Northeastern University website. “For Kate Murdock, it’s entrepreneurship all the time. She is the Altschuler-Meyer CEO of IDEA, in which she leads Northeastern’s student-run venture accelerator and manages a team of 28 students.”

The September wedding of Emily Saloman ’07 with matron of honor Becky Saloman ’04

Sara Garmezy has gone to work for the PGA tour as a business development coordinator.

Members from the class of 2011 went on a trip to Cuba in August: Natalie Loventhal, Neal Richardson, Jacob Schiftan, Irem Ikizler, Molly Sir, Sarah Berkman, Daniel Landsman, Ellen Andrews, Josh Strupp, Julia Durnan, Alex Bugalla

In November Bryard Huggins released his fifth album, Calhoun Street, smooth jazz songs that are all his original compositions. The album, recorded in Cincinnati, is dedicated to his four years at College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. It features gifted Cincinnati musicians and singers and was mastered by legendary jazz artist Kim Pensyl. Calhoun Street is available everywhere. Visit bryardhuggins.com. Alex Russell will finish his associates’ degree in Audio Engineering and then plans to attend Belmont for a bachelor’s and then a master’s in the same field. “Been going to as many concerts and shows as I can and trying to enjoy myself as much as possible while focusing on my goals.”

2014 In December 2017, Whitley Cargile finished her soccer career as a four year starter at the University of Chicago. During her senior year, UChicago achieved the most dominant season in program history. The Maroons won their first 17 games en route to a school-record 22 victories. They finished as the NCAA Division III National Championship runner-up for the second time in school history and only allowed one goal in six postseason contests. Whitley led a defense that set new school marks with 18 shutouts and a 0.29 goals against average, which ranked fifth in NCAA Division III. At the end of her team’s stellar year, Whitley’s team-

Whitley Cargile ’14 during her stellar career at the University of Chicago

mates voted her Defensive MVP and the winner of the Everyday Player Award, which recognizes the player who competes relentlessly every day (in practice and games) no matter the role. Whitley also garnered a number of other accolades, including CoSIDA Academic All-American, NSCAA Scholar All-American continued on next page

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Elena Escalas ’15

and two-time All-Conference. During her four years, the team made appearances in the NCAA Tournament each year, with two Final Fours, in addition to the National Championship. Whitley learned she has been awarded an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship, awarded in their senior years to athletes who excel academically and athletically. Only 29 of these are available for fall women’s sports nationally, across all NCAA Divisions. Mary-Grace Cozart expects to graduate in May from GWU with a major in international business and Chinese. She works in the commercial real estate industry for The Building People as their marketing intern and social media coordinator. “A project I’m doing this spring is consulting work for a Swedish clean tech company—helping them find new customers and market of entry to the US.” She hopes to come back to Nashville when she graduates. Ellie Powers has received the Frederic J. Shepler Memorial Prize in French at Tufts University. The prize is awarded annually to that senior French major who has demonstrated high achievement in the study of French literature and in the understanding of poetry in particular.

2015 Elena Escalas plans to intern this summer with Microsoft, after interning last summer with Intel. She is a student at UCLA.

2016 Kara-Jade Gordon became the third woman in Monmouth College women’s soccer history to earn All-Region status.

USN fans and HS basketball coach Dee Davis (r.) at Brianna Porter ’15’s (center) University of Memphis game against Vanderbilt; Coach Davis played for Vanderbilt and coached Brianna

WEDDINGS

BIRTHS

Lauren Spitz ’97 and Andy Baker, May 6, 2017

Jessica and David Moreau ’97, a son, Aidan Jesse, January 22, 2017

Leah Neaderthal ’98 and Emily Monaghan, June 24, 2017

Rachel and Leeman Tarpley Kessler ’00, a son, Martin Kessler, September 19, 2017

Cal Charlet ’01 and Jennifer Pisano, January 10, 2015

Oliver and Priya Ollapally Wellington ’00, a daughter, Violet Josephine, November 6, 2017

Steven Snow ’01 and Aissa Petrovich, August 20, 2016

Jennifer and Cal Charlet ’01, a son, Jameson Michael, October 14, 2016

Allison Cate ’02 and Chad Murray, July 9, 2016

Lauren and Desmond Campbell ’02, a son, Bensen Wright, October 29, 2015

Lauren Wolchok ’03 and Ky Krieger, October 22, 2017

Michael Kennedy ’02 and Michelle Fogo Kennedy ’02, a son, Miles, November 7, 2017

Thomas Gibney ’04 and Daniela Torre, May 6, 2017

Jeremy and Jamie Hirsch Brook ’02, a son, Richard Miller, December 28, 2017

Lauren Bidez ’04 and Damian Marshall, July 22, 2017

Mollie Shmerling Perry ’03 and Bobby Perry ’03, a son, Maxwell Harrison, July 18, 2017

Jesse-Justin Cuevas ’05 and Chawne Stambaugh, January 19, 2017

Drew and Jessica Lingo Hill ’03, a daughter, Madeline, August 26, 2017

Emily Salomon ’07 and William Henry Duncan IV, September 16, 2017

Sam and Samantha Nedelman Lee ’03, a son, Max Zachary, December 16, 2017 Todd and Sarah Yazdian Rubin ’04, a son, Levi Meyer, November 10, 2017 continued on page 40

2000 EDGEHILL

usn.org/alumni

Ethan, son of Amy Yazdian Pearl ’05

Hannah Benneyworth ’04’s son Redmond

Cal Charlet ’01’s son Jameson

Harper, the daughter of Emma Smith ’06

David Moreau ’97’s son Aidan

Violet, daughter of Priya Ollapally Wellington ’03

Max, whose parents are Bobby and Mollie Shmerling Perry ’03

Nicolo Davidson ’04’s twin sons Arlo and Luca, born in June

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Levi, son of Sarah Yazdian Rubin ’04

Martin, whose dad is Leeman Tarpley Kessler ’00

Baby Emmitt, son of Polly Shepard Roffwarg ’07

Bensen, son of Desmond Campbell ’02

Jessica Lingo Hill ’03’s daughter Madeline

Miles, son of Michael Kennedy ’02 and Michelle Fogo Kennedy ’02

David and Amy Yazdian Pearl ’05, a son, Ethan Naftali, January 2, 2018

David and Polly Shepard Roffwarg ’07, a son, Emmitt Miles, January 10, 2018

Ryan and Hannah Bennyworth Gardner ’05, a son, Redmond Benneyworth, November 2, 2017

Lynleigh Noel ’07 and Clint Lambrecth, a daughter, Morgan Lynn Noel-Lambrecth, February 22, 2018

Aly and Scott Greer ’05, a son, Thomas Armistead, December 11, 2017 Emma Smith ’06 and Jerome Savin, a daughter, Harper Lorraine Savin, October 31, 2017

Lynleigh Noel ’07’s daughter Morgan Lynn

2000 EDGEHILL

IN MEMORIAM

Catherine Coke 1961-2018 By Juanita I.C. Traughber, Communications Director

Note that we include on this list the names of alumni who have died whenever we learn of their deaths, even when some years have passed, as is often the case. Florence Peyton Dozier ’32 February 15, 2006 Lavinia Witherspoon Flygt ’38 November 23, 2010

Ann Vaughn Poindexter ’38 December 11, 2017

he local theatre community joined USN in March to remember the life and lasting impact High School Theatre Director Catherine Coke had on USN students and alumni.

Catherine had courageously battled cancer for many months and throughout treatment continued to teach acting classes, serve as faculty advisor to the Student Theatre Guild, and foster a community partnership between USN and SENSE Theatre Company to facilitate socialization skills in children with autism. Her memorial service was held in the same auditorium where two weeks earlier she closed the curtain on Shakespeare in Love, her final production. Students and alumni recalled her high production expectations for complicated scores and her pushes beyond the typical and lighthearted high school plays to challenge themselves as well as the audience. Catherine brought the controversial musical Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson to USN and again stretched her playwrights and actors when she asked alumnus Preston Crowder ’12 to write “Flames,” a one-act play that sparked a local discussion on social justice, race relations, police brutality, gentrification, and the legalization of marijuana. During her USN career, she produced more than 40 musicals, plays, staged readings, and directed the annual One-Act Play Festival, a collection of works written by students and alumni. “All these demanding shows challenge the student performers, engage the student technicians, and not only entertain audiences, but also make everyone feel and think. This is what USN HS does—perform the best theatre possible,” she said when she brought USN national attention in 2011. The legacy she leaves behind is a well-nurtured program giving student thespians a chance to present exemplary work on USN’s stage, extending a long history of excellence and engagement in performing arts at USN. nn

Bob Minton ’41 February 28, 2008 James Brown, Jr. ’42 January 19, 2018 Edith Whitehead Mott ’42 March 1, 2018 Evelyn Sawyer Lester ’43 March 8, 2018 Mettie Barton Fisher ’43 July 27, 2017 Robert Beauchamp ’43 November 11, 2017 Patsy Baker Neustadt ’44 May 8, 2017 Carr Payne ’44 November 19, 2017 Patricia Hopton Byington ’44 August 30, 2017 Mary Frances Andrews Meek ’44 February 11, 2018 Dan Ray ’45 March 26, 2017 Leighton Wiant ’45 September 2, 2017 Jean Douglas Read ’45 December 17, 2017 Barbara Woodard Crawford ’45 February, 2018 Betty Barbee Bachmann ’46 June 30, 2017 George Root ’48 August 7, 2016 Charles Adams ’49 September 11, 2017 Catherine Conners ’49 January 19, 2018 Elisabeth Lentz Gray ’50, September 28, 2017 Charles McCary ’52 September 30, 2016 Richard Bell ’52 December 31, 2017 Charlie Mann ’56 September 1, 2017 Bruce Stratvert ’57 December 5, 2017 Sarah Horner Howard ’59 December 3, 2017 Bob Chanin ’68 November 19, 2017 David Kline ’68, December 2017 Sandra Schatten ’72, December 21, 2017 Alice Martin Miller Ashton ’76 March 28, 2018 David Skinner ’04 September 17, 2017 Former teacher Nancy Norris, February 2017 Theater teacher Catherine Coke, February 21, 2018 To read obituaries of most of these alumni and former teachers, please visit usn.org/publications.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Out-of-Town Alumni Events

This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alumni events across the country included visiting alumni in New Orleans, Chicago, Portland, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, and Atlanta. Attendees included alumni from the classes of 1952 through 2017.

New Orleans

Los Angeles

Atlanta

Chicago

San Francisco

New York 44

2000 EDGEHILL

YOUNG ALUMNI PARTY, JANUARY 2018

On January 5, USN graduates from the classes of 2013-2017 met on campus for the annual Young Alumni Party. Alumni enjoyed lunch, reminiscing with one another, and catching up with former teachers. It was great having them all back at USN.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

all photos PDS/USN archives

Fourteen Year Club

Did you know that Peabody Demonstration School once started in nursery school? Nursery school met on the college campus. We think its last year in operation was 1975-1976, the first year of University School’s existence. Gean Morgan ’31 was the teacher, as she had been for many years. The 1976 Volunteer includes photos of the children in nursery school that year, and some of the names are familiar: Rick Bahner and Peter Stelling, class of ’89. These may be the last members of the 14 Year Club, a small group of people who began their Peabody career in nursery school. And is there an 18 Year Club? It was common for people to graduate from the Demonstration School and merely cross the street to attend college. Please let us hear from you if you went to nursery school at Peabody, whether you are a member of the 14 Year Club or not. Email Connie Culpepper at cculpepper@usn.org. We are grateful to Al Lowe ’64, who volunteers in the PDS/USN archives every week, for raising these questions about nursery school. nn

2000 EDGEHILL

3 Easy Ways to Leave a Legacy at USN “My primary motivation in establishing an endowment fund was to honor the memory of Hazel Lundberg, a remarkable person and teacher. Updating a beneficiary form was a simple step to make it possible.” Stephen Small ’60 A 1955 P.E. class at Peabody Demonstration School

PDS/USN archives

If you think the only way you can leave a legacy at University School of Nashville is by creating a sizeable estate gift that involves extensive professional advice, then think again. Many people don’t realize that headline-making estate gifts are anomalies. Most estate gifts are modest in size. One way to make an impact on USN is to designate the school as a beneficiary of one of your assets, such as a retirement plan account, life insurance policy or bank account. These gifts cost nothing now. Plus you retain complete control over the assets during your lifetime and can spend the money as you wish. By naming USN as your beneficiary, you simply allow for any leftover funds, or a portion of those funds, to transfer to USN after your lifetime. These are gifts you can easily set up yourself. Here are the three things you need: 1. A phone. Call the administrator of your retirement plan, bank account or insurance policy. 2. A form. Request a change-of-beneficiary form. 3. A pen. Fill out the form and return it to the administrator. Then contact the USN Development Office at 615-277-7495 or Development Director Anne Westfall at awestfall@usn.org to let us know about your generosity. It would be our honor to thank you for your gift.

The information in this article is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an attorney or tax advisor.

Share Your Memories With Us

Do you have old PDS/USN memorabilia collecting dust in your attic? If so, let us know. We are always accepting memorabilia for our collection and would love to give yours a safe home here in our archive. You can also share photos and stories anytime on our digital archive site at usnarchives.omeka.net/contribution. Contact Jenny Winston at jwinston@email.usn.org if you have donations, questions, or memories to share. Postcard: c. 1930s postcard of Peabody Demonstration School building Belt Buckle: Peabody belt buckle, year unknown. Donated by Alvin Lowe â&#x20AC;&#x2122;64 Record: Vinyl record from the back of the 1977 Volunteer