2000 Edgehill, 2016-2017, second edition by connie culpepper

The Alumni Magazine of Peabody Demonstration Sc hool & University Sc hool of Nashville #2/2017

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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 Stanford Moore ’31 in his biochemistry laboratory at Rockefeller University with his research partner William Stein. They shared the Nobel Prize in 1972. The editor thanks all the volunteer writers who contributed to 2000 Edgehill; the alumni winners of the Stanford Moore Award who responded to our request for information and a photograph; Harvey Sperling and John Norris ’67, who allowed us to use what they had written about Stanford Moore; archivist Jenny Winston, who helped in countless ways; everyone who submitted photos and class notes; 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.

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The Alumni Magazine of Peabody Demonstration School & University School of Nashville #2/2017

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Story Forum

A Teacher Inspires 6 What Are They Doing Now? 10 USN Loses Two Legends 17 A Survey for the Future 18

Learning to Embrace New Challenges

5th Graders Learn Civil Rights Stories

30 24

Reunion 2017 26 Commencement 30 Class Notes 34

photo by Kimberly Manz

So by all means look through Class Notes, pausing on the picture of the two retrievers who served as wedding ring bearers, reading the story of the ’65 and ’66 former sweethearts who have found each other again after half a century, enjoying the baby photo page Luke to Sunjah and all the ones in between, and marveling at what our youngest graduates are already doing and where. But I hope you’ll also notice the record number of PDS and USN Commencements that the legendary Heber Rogers has attended, read at least some of the student speech at graduation 2017 given by Isaiah Frank ’17, find the page that reports on the Survey for the Future of USN. If you read more, perhaps like me you’ll be struck by where the only PDS/USN graduate to win the Nobel Prize (so far) kept his medal so he could see it every day. You’ll at least glance at the list of what all those Stanford Moore Award winners, 1986-2017, are working on now as they follow Dr. Moore’s example in one way or another, far from Edgehill Avenue or just across the street. It’s inspiring. So too is our brief mention in these pages of two people who once taught here. Chris Tibbott and Gus Gillette could scarcely seem more different superficially, but their passing this year gave us and their former students the occasion to consider the lives they led and the difference they made in others’ lives with their art and their teaching. nn

Connie Culpepper, Editor

hen students graduate and say farewell to USN, we at USN hope that they stay connected and in touch with their alma mater. Each alumnus leaves a special mark on USN, and we are confident the feeling is reciprocated. The relationship with the school doesn’t begin the day after graduation, but while alumni are still students. This is something we alumni should remember.

photo by Kimberly Manz

hat will you notice and remember when you flip through this magazine? If you are one of the Stanford Moore Award winners who responded to our request for a photograph, you’ll want to see how you look in print. If you sent in a piece of news for Class Notes, you’ll check to make sure we got it right. Maybe you always read whatever Vince Durnan has to say, so you’ll head straight for that page.

This year, for the first time, we asked current students to contribute to the Annual Fund. Participation in the Annual Fund is one of several ways alumni can support their school. The seniors of 2017 came together to be the first to accomplish what no other class has done: 100% participation in the Annual Fund. Every person in the class made a gift to the school! Without a doubt, these young people will continue to support and stay in touch now that they are our newest alumni. During the 36 Hour Give Back Challenge in April, we were offered a matching gift for every dollar raised in 36 hours, up to $50,000. Alumni accepted this challenge. This year 213 alumni participated in the 36 Hour Give Back, contributing more than $156,000— four times more than the previous year. And overall alumni participation to the 2016-2017 Annual Fund year went up two points from the previous year to 21% participation. Thank you. This school year, USN will continue to visit cities where the majority of our alumni live. We want to see you, hear about what you are doing now, and tell you a little bit about what is happening here. We like to give you a chance to meet up with other PDS and USN alumni too. To see a list of the cities we will be visiting this year, check out page 44. If you have just moved to one of those cities, please let us know. We would love to see you at one of our alumni events. Reunion 2018 for classes ending in 3’s and 8’s will be April 21-23. We hope everyone will join us for the All-Alumni Party on April 21, followed by class parties on Friday and Saturday. If you would like to help plan your class party, please email me at amyint@usn.org or call 615-732-6714. Here’s to another year of great alumni engagement, visits, connections, and memories. nn

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

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The Challenge of Contentment

you could choose between a resounding mandate for change and an audible sentiment of satisfaction, what would be your preference? The results of an all-constituent survey documented in this issue of our magazine invite that question. As with much of what happens at USN, we need to think hard about this one.

Responses, totaling more than a thousand, came in roughly these proportions: 40% current parents, 30% alumni, 15% faculty and staff, and 15% current high school students. And a one sentence summary of all the combined sentiment would say that we favor the status quo. To be fair, we were polling people within the USN community, people willing to take time to click on a link and work through some pretty challenging proposed topics. One could reasonably conclude that we heard from a survey sample that’s inclined to like us. But maybe there’s more to it. We may in fact be a fragile coalition, drawn together by circumstance, willing to agree on a combination of practices and programs that works pretty well for many, many of us without being anyone’s ideal configuration. We’re progressive enough for the holistic education proponents in our midst and high achieving enough for those who look first to our annual AP scores and college destination list. Where’s the proof of that proposition? In the big survey’s first (and arguably most significant) question, we asked about the school’s core purpose, and a little to my surprise the answer with the highest average score was the one that referenced excellence in traditional college preparatory teaching and course work. Not far behind were the two answers that mentioned demonstrating best practice and fostering promising initiatives in our field. Trailing further behind was the latitude for any faculty member to teach as they see best, and a distant last place went to modeling a single

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

photo by Kimberly Manz

To refresh your memory, last fall offered the chance for the best kind of busman’s holiday—I headed off for visits to more than three dozen schools nationwide, with the help of a powerhouse, multi-constituent steering committee. We saw exemplars from a variety of educational reform movements, featuring widely varying tuitions, instructional models, and aspirations. We then fashioned a short but pithy survey capturing the fundamental elements of what we saw, and we sent an invitation to participate to every corner of the USN community. Here’s hoping that you weighed in.

orthodoxy like Montessori, International Baccalaureate, or Waldorf. Perhaps the answer for our purpose question is a special USN mashup of those first three different-looking and still somehow compatible directions, i.e. we do here what works, testing and retesting our model, open to change but not willing to risk our students’ access to great opportunities once they earn a diploma. Perhaps what we heard in the survey is respect for the iterative, generational process that got us to this point. Perhaps what we should hear is a mandate to remain humble as we consider our next steps.

Bill Damon, Stanford psychologist, reminds us in The Path to Purpose that children benefit enormously by being in the presence of adults who visibly love doing what they are doing and are committed to the greater good—that modeling helps young people see their own way forward. We can and should be that community at USN, clear and excited about our purpose, and I’d submit there is a place for us in doing the greater good for education, humbly and courageously. Isn’t that an idea to strengthen our fragile coalition? Past that essential question, our survey responses yielded to the complexity of our financial realities when it came to changes in our tuition or financial aid strategies. Offered the chance to do something fairly drastic, respondents overwhelmingly urged caution, favoring our current models, continuing the game of inches that defines our budget choices each year. And on the question about changing the shape, size, and scale of our K-12 enrollment, similar preference for how we are now emerged. Admittedly, this is hard stuff, with no clear groundswell for a big shift evident but probably a willingness to listen if the Board and faculty were to put the case for change deliberately. Again, if we chose we could see the survey data as a vote of confidence. Take a look at some of the specifics included in this issue on pages 18-19. We’ll be busy identifying the three or four most promising next ideas for USN in light of what we’ve heard from the school community. And we’ll be careful, on purpose. nn Most sincerely,

Vince Durnan, Director

LETTERS to the EDITOR n Thanks for a pair of excellent articles. As my father used to say,

“a teacher never knows where his influence stops.” My wife especially enjoyed reading about my mentors, though from the perspective of someone who attended a massive school in Brooklyn where only the misfits and gifted got any attention. The multitude, including her, were largely treated the way the military treats new recruits. I sent Vince a link on Pankaj Mishra’s new book, ‘Age of Anger,’ and it seems more and more the case that a broad, inquisitive and supportive educational environment is the only way to salvage the human talents so often wasted and exploited by modern institutions. We certainly need some reforms if the trends Mishra describes are not to become terminal. Stan Wiggins ’66

n Chuck and I both enjoyed so much your article about our friend

and teacher Dr. Holden.

Thank you for including our remembrances about him that were such a big part of our family history, and which might round out what other former students might remember about him. I especially loved seeing the ‘Most Athletic’ photo of Chuck and Barbara Hardeman from the 1967 annual. He sure was a skinny little thing way back then! Also, I’m glad to know that the copy of Judge Nixon’s Harvard senior thesis was returned to him, and pleased to be part of what must have brought back fond memories of Dr. Holden to him. Sandra Stone Merritt ’64

Mystery Solved

Only two of you were moved to write to us about the photo of a group of middle school students. Rob Laird ’86 possessed the knowledge to remove all mystery. “The current photo was taken from the 1981 yearbook and features Danielle (but it calls her Daniel) Donnell, Becket Moore, Joe Jackson, Daniel Mann, David Schwartz and Angela Otey (man, she was a fast runner). Just a group of friends that happened to be photographed. They were all in my seventh grade class. I was the yearbook photography editor in high school and spent a lot of time in the darkroom in the basement of the Gray building. Also had many classes with Mr. Ralph in the attic.” Rob’s classmate David Eshaghpour wrote with less confidence but agreed that it was Becket Moore. He thought he saw Brad Greenbaum ’87 in the picture, though.

PDS/USN archives

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PDS/USN archives

Mystery Photo We think these are seniors wearing or clutching shirts from where they are going to college. What do you think? Do you recognize them? And can you tell where they are standing? Does anyone recall how this picture was organized? Now, every year on May 1 the senior class assembles on the front steps wearing t-shirts that announce their college choices. Someone climbs on a ladder to take a picture of them, and they take pictures of each other. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a joyful dayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and a big deal.

Class of 2017

Please write to us about this picture, the students in it, and whatever you remember about how this revelation happened when you were a senior. Please email cculpepper@usn.org if you have any recollections to share or can name these students.

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A Teacher’s Dream Stanford Moore ’31 and Dr. Beauchamp By John Norris ’67 In 2013, John Norris ’67 gave a talk at the Old Oak Club about Stanford Moore ’31 and R.O. Beauchamp, the man who taught John and Stanford chemistry at Peabody Demonstration School. Here is a condensed version of that talk.

writing. In one essay he, like many other high-achieving male students, longed for the day that academic accomplishments got the recognition they deserved.

Last summer, a mere 41 years after the fact, it penetrated my consciousness that one of the recipients of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry attended the same high school as me. Then, a few minutes on the internet revealed that the Nobel laureate and I had the same high school chemistry teacher and that he credited that teacher with igniting his interest in chemistry. This is the story of the scientist and of the teacher. The future Nobel laureate, Stanford Moore, was enrolled at Peabody Demonstration School in sixth grade. He was well rounded Stanford Moore in the 1931 Volunteer academically and socially, voted outstandyearbook and around ing boy student. He played tennis, was on the time he won the Nobel Prize the student council and was a member of the drama club and of the Latin club. Moore was even a debater. At one competition, Moore and his partner took the affirmative of the proposition that installment lending is beneficial. Moore’s most time-consuming activity outside his classes was serving as co-editor of the school magazine [The Volunteer], ranked as one of the top private school magazines in the country. In addition to editing, Moore contributed poetry and other

PDS/USN archives

A Teacher’s Dream

“Since Einstein has received such a tremendous ovation upon his arrival at New York and has literally been mobbed by his multitude of worshippers, perhaps our heretofore rather unpopular ‘math’ may be able to gain a place of rank and significance equal to that which football now holds in many of our high schools and colleges.”

His Chemistry Teacher

What was it about Stanford Moore’s high school chemistry teacher that enabled him to change a very bright and highly successful student’s life trajectory? R.O. Beauchamp hailed from Kentucky and began his teaching career at Peabody in 1923. He earned a doctorate in education from Peabody College in the 1930s. Dr. Beauchamp was tall and thin, with a penetrating gaze and a stentorian voice. He commanded respect. Although he could come across as gruff, Dr. Beauchamp was kind and thoughtful. He also had a sense of humor.

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That was not Dr. Beauchamp. His pedagogy was edgier. Paul Hyman ’65 recalls, “He held up a beaker of some chemical we were going to be using in the lab and told us to never, ever pour it down the sink all the while he was pouring it down the sink. When he finished, he said ‘Do you know why you shouldn’t do that?’ and casually lit a match and tossed it in the sink as he walked away. There was a boom and flames shot up from the sink. Some of the students in the front of the class looked like they were going to pass out from fright. I think he got his point across.” Another student who witnessed a much earlier version of this performance used the word “deafening” to describe the explosion. Dr. Beauchamp’s bit of pizzazz, when combined with the clarity of his lectures, was calculated to ignite the interest of impressionable high school students in chemistry, including of course Stanford Moore.

Stanford’s report card at PDS his senior year—note the classes he took

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

And Dr. Beauchamp helped students in other ways. Ben Doochin ’78 credited Dr. Beauchamp with giving him advice that permitted him to raise his SAT scores enough to gain entrance to an Ivy League college. Paul Davis ’67 said, “Until we sold my parents’ house a decade ago, there was in what used to be my bedroom a framed letter from Dr. Beauchamp to my folks. He wrote that I had done well on the SAT and said he expected good things from me. I still have that letter around here somewhere, and I remember thinking last time I ran across it how much it meant to me.” And of course, getting a strong foundation in chemistry at the high school level was important to plenty of Dr. Beauchamp’s students. Roy Smith ’61, Peabody’s all-time math star, said: “R.O. Beauchamp was one of the best teachers I ever had anywhere, possibly the best, and his class was my favorite class in high school. He knew his material so thoroughly that he had prepared succinct outlines of the main

archives

R.O. Beauchamp was an outstanding chemistry teacher. He could easily have taught at the college level. In addition to knowing his stuff, he was also a showman. And perhaps no academic discipline is better suited for showmanship than chemistry. Many of you likely remember a high school chemistry teacher who mixed two clear liquids to produce a colored solution.

In researching this paper, I found many instances where Dr. Beauchamp made a real difference in his students’ lives. A number of former students credited Dr. Beauchamp with helping them overcome their fear of science. Others who became teachers cited the influence of Dr. Beauchamp in their decisions to pursue careers in teaching.

PDS/US N

Dr. Beauchamp took on increased administrative responsibilities, becoming assistant director. One yearbook analogized Peabody to R.O. Beauchamp an atom, with students and the rest of the faculty as electrons orbiting around the nucleus, Dr. Beauchamp. Although he eventually gave up teaching physics and biology, Dr. Beauchamp, to his credit, continued to teach chemistry until his retirement in 1967, the year of my graduation.

Dr. Beauchamp loved teaching and cared about his students. One of his students from the 1930s reported that Dr. Beauchamp told the class that he could think of no more rewarding task than teaching. While other occupations had their appeal, only the teacher had the clay in his hands while it was still malleable so that the will and the tools could be provided to students for those other pursuits.

PDS/USN archives

It would be difficult to overstate Dr. Beauchamp’s contributions to Peabody. He was either titular or de facto head of its science department during his entire tenure. Dr. Beauchamp taught chemistry, physics and biology. He is rumored to have taught Latin at least briefly. In the early years, Dr. Beauchamp did whatever was required for the students, playing the drums and the tuba in the student orchestra. He assisted the drama club and organized skits. In one, male students were tempted to abandon their faith in science by Satan, with the help of flappers. The skit ended with the boys singing “We believe in science.”

A Lifetime Bond

It was during the tenure of Director Harvey Sperling that University School began to honor a senior with the Stanford Moore Award each year. In the chapter that he contributed to The Same River Twice, the book of essays published to mark the centennial of PDS and USN, Harvey recalled Stanford Moore. I visited Stanford at Rockefeller University on several occasions. He was very gracious and shared many wonderful and relatively unknown tales about himself. Being modest, he did not want to frame his Nobel Prize and place it on the wall of his apartment in New York City, and certainly did not want to store it in a safety deposit box where it would remain unseen to him. So how could he view it? Well, with the problem-solving ability of a laureate, he decided to place the medal in an empty ice tray in the freezer compartment of his refrigerator so he could gaze upon it when he needed ice for an evening drink! (The only other person that I encountered who knew that secret was John Chapman, longtime medical school dean at Vanderbilt and trustee at USN.) Stanford also related to me that he was inspired by Charles Lindbergh’s remarkable airplane flight from New York to Paris in 1927 and desired to pursue aeronautical engineering when he entered Vanderbilt University as an undergraduate student. However, he was told by a Vandy professor at the end of the freshman year that “there would be no future in airplanes,” so he switched to chemistry. I recall a dinner we arranged for Stanford Moore during one of his visits to our school. He talked about his distinguished career and related that he had been taught and mentored by some remarkable scholars and instructors, but “not one of them” compared to his high school teacher at PDS, Dr. Beauchamp...for “Dr. Beauchamp was the finest of all those teachers and mentors.” The elderly and frail Dr. Beauchamp, sitting at a table near the podium, slowly and carefully stood. “You, Stanford... you were the finest student I have ever encountered,” he responded. Both men were crying as they embraced one another. No additional words were needed then or now to describe the special and lifetime bond that is often forged between a teacher and a student.

points for every topic and every fundamental substance we studied. His lectures were clear, entertaining, and involved the class members continually. Occasionally he would pull a trick on us to illustrate a point of chemistry, like handing someone a piece of towel that then burst into flame, harmlessly but surprisingly. Although I had not thought at all about chemistry since 10th grade, upon being tested in college for placement I was placed in the elite ‘super honors’ course (Chem 2) of introductory chemistry at Harvard….” Perhaps every high school science teacher has dreamed of a student’s winning a Nobel Prize. But for the student to not only win a Nobel Prize but to credit the high school teacher is pushing that dream to its limit. I never saw Dr. Beauchamp after graduating from Peabody, but I have no doubt that Stanford Moore’s award was one of the highlights of R.O. Beauchamp’s life.

From Edgehill Avenue to Stockholm

The first leg of the trip consisted of nothing more than crossing 21st Avenue to Vanderbilt University. Moore continued to be an outstanding student, graduating summa cum laude and earning a Founder’s Medal. And, to the immense surprise of those who met him later in life, Moore had an active social life at Vanderbilt. He was president of his fraternity, president of the student council and chief organizer of the senior prom. Moore was initially torn between chemistry and aeronautical engineering and studied both during his first two undergraduate years. He finally majored in chemistry. In the fall of 1935, Moore entered graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. Although his major was organic chemistry, Moore’s thesis advisor was a biochemistry professor who had training in microanalysis. That training proved to be critical for Moore’s later work. One of the major difficulties facing biochemists of Moore’s era was obtaining sufficient amounts of proteins to analyze. Protein purification could be a tedious process, and being able to get valid results with smaller quantities saved valuable time. Moore’s thesis research produced five published papers. Upon completing his Ph.D., Moore was faced with two attractive choices. One was a four-year fellowship at Harvard Medical School, the other a chance to be a research assistant in Max Bergmann’s laboratory at Rockefeller Institute in New York City. Bergmann was a renowned biochemist who had done important research on proteins. Moore loved research and chose the lab over medical school. Moore joined forces with William Stein at Rockefeller to study

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proteins, beginning one of the longest and most productive collaborations in the history of science. The two worked so closely together that they were sometimes referred to as Moorenstein.

have advanced that goal. And more money would not have changed how Moore lived. In 1969, two groups of scientists synthesized ribonuclease in the laboratory, work that obviously depended on Moore’s and Stein’s findings.

PDS/USN archives

Moore and Stein presented a study in contrasts. Moore was a lifelong bachelor, while In 1972, the Nobel Prize in Stein married and had three chemistry was awarded half sons. Moore considered to Christian Anfinsen and the himself a Southerner, while other half to Moore and Stein Stein was raised in New York jointly. Anfinsen, who also City. Moore actually enjoyed worked with ribonuclease, was organic chemistry while Stein recognized for establishing that did not. Stein wore tan lab a protein’s three-dimensional coats, while Moore favored structure is determined entirely imported white coats. By by its amino acid sequence, biochemistry lab standards, which in turn is encoded genetiStanford Moore (left) in the laboratory at Rockefeller University in 1965 (back of photo) cally. Moore and Stein won their Moore was something of a share of the award for contributdandy. One chronicler speculated, perhaps facetiously, that ing to the understanding of the the absence of photographs of Moore and Stein with their postdocconnection between chemical structure and catalytic activity of the toral fellows stemmed from a desire to avoid the postdocs having to ribonuclease molecule. take sides by their choice of lab coat color. In his biographical information submitted in connection with the Moore was uniformly good-natured. In fact, a former postdoc Nobel Prize, Moore acknowledged the “skilled teacher of science, reported that the only time he saw Moore angry was after R.O. Beauchamp” who kindled his interest in chemistry. another scientist proposed they divide up an area of research to their mutual benefit. Moore believed in openness in science. Moore was appreciated for his kindness as well as for his skills as a scientist. He enjoyed discussions with colleagues in the Rockefeller Both were hard workers, Moore famously so. He lived in an apartlunchroom and was always ready to share his knowledge. Howment near Rockefeller so he could walk to and from work. Moore ever busy he was, Moore had a kind word for his co-workers. After was consistently the first, or one of the first, to arrive and among he became successful, at biochemistry conferences Moore made the last to leave the lab. He worked on weekends and often worked a point to invite past and present postdoctoral fellows to join at night as well. him and other senior scientists in his hotel suite for stimulating discussions of biochemistry over breakfast and lunch. It was a red Moore was extremely neat and extremely well organized. He letter day in the life of a postdoc when he or she graduated from kept his apartment and the lab spotless. His demeanor has been the breakfast list to the lunch list. described as that of a southern gentleman. Moore was keenly aware of the difficulties young scientists with Stein and Moore’s invention [of an amino acid analyzer which families faced in relocating to New York City, and he worked to shortened the time required to analyze a peptide from weeks to make the transition as easy as possible. This included finding about an hour] was surely patentable and would have been in great apartments and seeing to it that air conditioning was installed on demand. They could have made considerable money by selling loans that were never repaid. their patent or licensing usage rights. What they did instead was distribute the design as widely as they could to other biochemThough he hated distractions from his research, he willingly fulists in the interest of basic research. One of Moore’s mantras was filled his duties to his profession and to society. For years, Moore “2,000 by 2000,” meaning 2,000 enzymes analyzed by the year was on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemtry. And 2000. Making access to their invention more difficult would not he chaired the organizing committee for the Sixth International continued on page 43

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Uncommon Men and Women By Connie Culpepper, Editor

1982, after Stanford Moore’s death, his friend Dick Weesner wrote to Peabody Demonstration School classmates offering a way for them to honor his legacy.

Thus the Stanford Moore award was established. “We plan for the award to be given each year to that student who most nearly approaches Stanford’s academic achievement and dedication. In the century of the common man, the uncommon man and his accomplishments are too often overlooked. A recognition of the uncommon is needed, and an incentive to excellence is highly desirable.” One May afternoon in 1986 Steve Addlestone was sitting in the auditorium listening to Director Harvey Sperling describe the Stanford Moore award, a new honor he was about to bestow on a student. Steve remembers speculating about which of his classmates deserved this recognition. “I was completely surprised when it was me,” he says, three decades later.

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The Arts

Law

Since that day, the announcement of the Stanford Moore award has become a highlight of the high school’s annual awards assembly.

Medicine

Science & Engineering

Higher Education

He still has the book Mr. Sperling gave him that day: The Discoverers.

Business

Steve Addlestone ’86

Sarah Gillmor Hymowitz ’88

To increase the drama, it’s saved for the end of the program. The winner’s name is kept a secret until then. Certainly receiving this award seems to have come as a surprise to each of its 32 recipients. Clare Burson ’93 describes herself as being “completely shocked and, of course, incredibly honored. I remember wondering if I was peaking in high school.” She didn’t, nor did any of these other uncommon men and women, whose teachers could discern in them accomplishments and intellectual curiosity that stood out even in the assortment of remarkable young people that is a USN senior class. We checked in with the alumni who have received this honor, curious to see if a common thread would emerge as we learned what they’ve been doing since they left here. As this graphic reveals, many have become scientists and engineers. Most who’ve graduated in the last ten years are in graduate school—if not still undergraduates. Engineers Newton Allen ’07, Kuan Peng ’11, and Coco Coyle ’13 are the exception to that rule. You may notice that two-thirds of the time the award has gone to a boy. In 1988 Sarah Gillmor became the first girl to be honored, and in a twist that must have amazed their parents yet in another sense seemed perfectly predictable to them, her sister Abby Gillmor won the next year. Since 2012, half of those recognized have been girls, but that fact doesn’t predict the future.

Professions of Stanford Moore Award winners

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Three Decades of Stanford Moore Award Winners 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Steven Addlestone, attorney at Eastman Chemical Company Melvin Chen, pianist, associate professor of piano and deputy dean at Yale School of Music Sarah Gillmor Hymowitz, Vice President and Principal Scientist, Protein Chemistry & Structural Biology, Genentech Abby Gillmor Luffman, nurse practitioner, Vanderbilt University Anil Somayaji, associate professor of computer science, Carleton University Carol Venable, physician, internal medicine Josh Kirshner, lecturer in human geography, University of York Clare Burson, potter, musician Will McLemore, president, McLemore Auction Company Travis Brandon, assistant professor of law, Belmont University Chris Yoo, doctor of dental medicine Eric Appelt, software engineer, IBM Cloudant William Tyler, musician Chris Mayne, computational chemist, Celgene Corporation Robbie Benning, attorney Meredith Reiches, assistant professor of anthropology, University of Massachusetts Boston

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Eric Bilbrey, service delivery manager, Bank of America Ben Lundin, co-founder of Pacify Yiliu Chen, director of client analytics at Evolent Health Ben Shaffer, director of performance management for the state of Rhode Island Sarah Carl, bioinformatician, postdoctoral study at Friedrich Miescher Institute Newton Allen, software engineer, Google Hannah Edelman, MD/PhD candidate, Johns Hopkins University Nathan Schine, graduate student in physics at The University of Chicago Ian Ball, graduate student in economics at Yale University Kuan Peng, back-end engineer, Interana Mark Arildsen, graduate student in physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara Coco Coyle, 2017 graduate of Harvey Mudd College Dylan Young, student at Yale University Jessie Baskauf, student at Carleton College Zoe Bauer, student at Pomona College Mathis LeBlanc, student at Johns Hopkins University

Steve Addlestone ’86, senior counsel, Eastman Chemical Company Tri-Cities, Tennessee

and with the Shanghai, Tokyo, Miami, and Miro quartets.

Practicing environmental, health, and safety law, Steve finds his work intellectually challenging. “I spend a lot of my time advising our manufacturing locations on compliance with regulatory requirements. It is nice to effect change early on in projects rather than only when issues develop.”

“He is a regular performer in numerous music festivals, including the Vail Valley Music Festival, Music Mountain, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Bard Music Festival, and Music from Angel Fire, among others. Mr. Chen completed a doctorate in chemistry from Harvard University, and also holds a double master’s degree from The Juilliard School in piano and violin.”

“I enjoy spending time with my family and reading all kinds of things – fiction, non-fiction, history. I also am a self-professed coffee nerd.” Steve recently completed a term as president of the board of directors of the Court Appointed Special Advocates local chapter, working “for the best interests of children in dependency and neglect cases.” Melvin Chen ’87, associate professor of piano and deputy dean at the Yale School of Music, New Haven, Connecticut

From his website: “As a soloist and chamber musician Mr. Chen has performed at major venues, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall, the Frick Collection, Kennedy Center and Boston’s Jordan Hall. . . . An enthusiastic chamber musician, Melvin has collaborated with such artists as Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, David Shifrin, and Peter Wiley,

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Sarah Gillmor Hymowitz ’88, vice president and principal scientist, protein chemistry and structural biology, Genentech, San Francisco, California

Like Stanford Moore, Sarah has spent many hours in the lab, publishing 58 articles during her time at Genentech. From its website: “I started at Genentech as a postdoctoral fellow in 1999 studying the structure and function of members of the TNF super family of ligands and receptors. In my current role, I have the privilege of working with colleagues on discovery, large molecule and small molecule projects. The Department of Protein Chemistry & Structural Biology creates biological reagents and data that further our understanding of the structure, function, and regulation of proteins of therapeutic interest and collaboratively enable the discovery of novel large molecule and small molecule therapeutics.”

Melvin Chen ’87

Josh Kirshner ’92

Will McLemore ’94

Clare Burson ’93

Sarah says, “I am motivated by the hope that our work may someday help patients.” Josh Kirshner ’92, lecturer in human geography, University of York, England

Human geography helps explain how “social life interacts with space and territory.” Josh came to this field from urban planning, in which he got his PhD. “Geographers look at who has the right to use space and who is excluded.” His third grade teacher, Mary Ann Pangle, probably would not be surprised to learn that Josh is a geographer. She used to pose geographical challenges for him. In high school, he took a class from Bob Dorris that offered “an intellectual framework” that helped him begin to understand social justice. Thanks to these and other teachers such as Grace Melchiore, Marc Lavine, Rick O’Hara, and Harvey Sperling, Josh left USN with the feeling that “the world was my oyster.” He says, “I felt I had a lot of opportunities.” Now he is focused on energy and its challenges. “It’s a lens into the issues of development and the spread of wealth and how politics affects them.” Josh is interested in low income countries, especially Mozambique, where only a fourth of the population has access to electricity. A political conflict just short of civil war there complicates the question of energy access further. This is what he is working on now, having just returned from Mozambique when we met in Nashville. Clare Burson ’93, musician and potter, Brooklyn, New York

When her daughter was born in 2011, Clare essentially retired from a 10-year career as a singer-songwriter. “By the time my son was born in 2014, I was ready for a new creative outlet—one that wouldn’t take me away from home, one that would take me out of my apartment and immerse me in a new community, one that would exercise a different part of my brain and allow me to revel in beauty.

I have always made art; my mother is an artist; I took classes with Gene Sizemore and Peg Williams at USN. In January of 2015, I took a hand building class at a wonderful community studio in the West Village (Greenwich House Pottery), I fell in love with clay, and I have been getting muddy ever since.” “And, of course I remember my teachers: Gene Sizemore, Peg Williams, Gus Gillette, Richard O’Hara and Grace Melchiore for Spanish, Lucy Duke, Dr. Wheeler, Pat Miletich, Mr. Rod. They each made a big impact on me in different ways. But Dr. Lavine was my all-time favorite and really helped guide me—both as an historian (which I eventually wove into my music with my Silver and Ash song cycle) and as a person looking to live a life of meaning.” Will McLemore ’94, president, McLemore Auction Company, Nashville, Tennessee, conducting online auctions of real estate and personal property

“Auctioneering has been a great career for a Stanford Moore award winner. It’s a wonderful job for someone who likes to learn all the time. “I learn about businesses often because I am taking them apart— how do they fit into the larger economy? What causes them to fail? To auction a gravel pit in Kerrville, Texas—I had to learn about the use of gravel, how heavy it is, how to transport it, how they fit into the local economy. I’m enjoying bringing online technology to a very old and conservative business, figuring out how to improve our systems. And I like working with my wife [Jennie Wolf ’95].” Travis Brandon ’95, assistant professor of law, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee

“I was inspired by all of my teachers at USN, but particularly Dr. Wheeler and Ms. Venable in the English department, and I knew at the time that I wanted to work with language, but also that I wanted to be a teacher like them. I took the Stanford Moore award as an affirmation that I was on the right path, and that my teachers believed in me.”

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Eric Appelt ’97

Chris Mayne ’99

Travis went to graduate school intending to become an English professor. Though he enjoyed teaching literature to undergraduates, “the scholarship felt abstract and divorced from the beauty of the poetry and novels I was reading.” His wife’s experience in law school offered another idea, a way he could “use many of the skills I had learned in my studies of literature in a context where they would have a much more powerful and direct effect on the world. When I entered law school, I was surprised to find that many of the skills I had learned from Dr. Wheeler and Ms. Venable—careful literary analysis at the level of the word, nuanced readings that examined the material from multiple perspectives, and clear and forceful writing—were all as helpful in the law as in literature.” Now, as a law professor teaching Environmental Law and Property, Travis welcomes “the daily challenge of figuring out how to explain complicated legal concepts as clearly as possible to my students. And I deeply appreciate the privilege of watching those students go out to perform important work in the community when they finish their legal studies.” Eric Appelt ’97, software engineer, IBM Cloudant, Nashville, Tennessee

Teaching mathematics and physics at USN for five years, Eric found his interest in research physics and experimental design rekindled. He enrolled at Vanderbilt University in the PhD Physics program, focusing on experimental high-energy nuclear physics and working in collaboration with the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. “Here we would accelerate large atomic nuclei (lead) and collide them to produce for a brief instant a medium of exceptionally high temperature—trillions of degrees. At this extreme temperature the protons and neutrons that make up the nuclei would ‘melt’ into a state of matter called a quark-gluon plasma. My PhD thesis considered measuring the particles produced in these collisions from which one may be able to infer the properties of this exotic state of matter.” After a postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt and becoming the father of twins, Eric took another path. Now he works on cloud database services at IBM Cloudant.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Ben Lundin ’03

Sarah Carl ’06

Chris Mayne ’99, computational chemist, Celgene Corporation, La Jolla, California

Following in Stanford Moore’s footsteps, Chris works in a chemistry lab. As an undergraduate, Chris participated in “the first cloning of the Human Topoisomerase II gene into a yeast transfection vector, which remains an actively used construct (16 years later!) in cancer research.” In graduate school, he “focused on modulating estrogen receptor activity towards developing treatments for breast cancer, tumor imaging, and hormone replacement therapies.” As a post-doctoral research associate, Chris switched “from the wet lab to theoretical and computational biophysics.” Joining the laboratory of Professor Emad Tajkhorshid at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, he learned that “the technology did not yet exist to robustly describe the dynamic motions and interactions of small drug-like molecules such as those I had synthesized during my PhD.” So Chris “wrote software necessary to rigorously describe drug-like molecules so that they could be incorporated into protein simulations.” When this software succeeded, Chris was named a Research Programmer at the NIH Center for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics, also at the Beckman Institute. He published prolifically there. Now he has gone to work at the Celgene Corporation, hoping “to impact the design and development of therapeutics in the area of cancer and diseases of inflammation, among others.” “Only several years into my Ph.D. training did I recognize that Stanford Moore was himself a renowned chemist. I have learned to appreciate the historical importance of my academic lineage. The foundational education I received while at USN set me on the path to where I am today.” His teachers Linda Wallis and Jane Bibring, he says, instilled “a love of science and rigor in me.” He also is grateful to Harry Williams “for continuing to teach me about computers and exercising patience as I tortured him with every computer-based prank imaginable.” Ben Lundin ’03, co-founder of Pacify, Washington, D.C.

“Nothing today is as I imagined it would be when I was a senior in high school. I certainly never would’ve imagined doing graduate school in Europe or starting a company. Nearly 15 years later, I

Hannah Edelman ’08

Ian Ball ’10

run Pacify—a small maternal & child health company in DC— with George Brandes ’03. I remember the speaker at our USN commencement saying something like, ‘Your high school diploma is blank on one side. Take it out of its frame and draw something on the back.’ I’ve always liked that image!” Sarah Carl ’06, post-doctoral bioinformatician at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, Switzerland

“In my PhD program in Developmental Biology at the University of Cambridge, I briefly branched out into working with other insects (butterflies, beetles and mosquitoes) before returning to my first love, Drosophila.” Her thesis focused on understanding the role of two proteins, Dichaete and SoxNeuro, in regulating gene expression during the development of the fly embryo—the same proteins that are important for human embryonic development. Halfway through these studies, Sarah became interested in data analysis and bioinformatics and began to learn to code. As a bioinformatician at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, Switzerland, Sarah helps colleagues design and analyze experiments related to sequencing DNA and RNA in order to understand principles of gene regulation and epigenetics.

Jesse Baskauf ’15

Hannah Edelman ’08, MD/ PhD candidate in Human Genetics, Johns Hopkins University, degrees expected 2021

Mark Arildsen ’12

Hannah has finished two years of medical school, taken Step 1 of the medical boards, and finished her third year of graduate school on the way to a PhD in Human Genetics. Her lab “uses zebrafish as a model system to study ways we can treat diabetes by inducing an endogenous increase in beta cells.” “I have wanted to do scientific research since USN—in large part because of great science teachers like Mr. Flatau and Ms. Berthel —and then discovered that I wanted to do patient care as well when I was working with an MD-PhD over the summer in college. At this point, I think I will become a pediatrician focusing in pediatric genetics.” Ian Ball ’10, candidate for a PhD in Economics, Yale University

Ian has completed his third year in the PhD program in Economics at Yale University. “My research is in game theory, with a particular focus on the strategic transmission of information. I have enjoyed my journey from math to economics, and in my research I like using mathematical techniques to gain insights into economic interactions.” He hopes to become a professor of economics at a research university.

“When I was in high school, I was already interested in biology and genetics, so in a broad sense I am doing what I hoped to do! Probably what would most surprise my high-school self is the importance of computer programming in what I do—I wouldn’t have expected to enjoy it so much. In the next few years, I hope to continue working with genomic data, but possibly in a more applied context, such as a biotech or a clinical setting.”

Mark Arildsen ’12, candidate for a PhD in physics, University of California, Santa Barbara

Sarah likes living in Switzerland near the mountains “for hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter. I’ve recently joined a kayaking club in Basel, and I’m having a great time re-learning a skill that I was introduced to through the USN Outdoor Education program!”

Jessie Baskauf ’15, sophomore at Carleton College

After an undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics and a master’s degree in physics from Harvard, Mark is studying theoretical condensed matter physics in the PhD program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “This is fairly close to what I thought I would be doing in high school, and I’m enjoying following this path.” Before she started college, Jessie participated in a State Department program called the National Security Language Initiative for Youth, spending eight months in Marrakech, Morocco. Now she has entered Carleton College, considering a major in various STEM fields.

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“I plan to fully take advantage of the many opportunities that Carleton offers me: a variety of great classes, study abroad, and lasting friendships. Who knows what will come after that—but I am excited about all the possibilities.” Mathis Leblanc ’17, freshman at Johns Hopkins University

“Receiving the Stanford Moore award reminded me of how lucky I was to have had this chance [to attend USN] and of all the things I was able to achieve as a result.”

Mathis Leblanc ’17

Mathis plans to major in biophysics, minor in music, and “follow the pre-med track,” hoping to work in biomedical research and practice medicine. “I would also like to continue learning Mandarin, continue playing my instruments (piano and violin) and perhaps even start conducting.” nn

Ian Ball with his parents and Vince Durnan after receiving the 2010 Stanford Moore Award

We emailed every Stanford Moore award winner, hearing back from about a dozen of them. We found information on the others in their online presences.

Fishing for PDS and USN Memories Did you know that you can contribute to our digital archive right from your home? Your memories are essential to the telling of our collective story. If you have a photo or a story to share, please go to usnarchives.omeka.net/contribution where you can upload an image or simply type in a memory from your time here. We all know history is best told by the people who lived it, and we’d love to capture your stories. And of course, we continue to gratefully accept donations of memorabilia for safe-keeping in our collection here on the third floor of the library. Contact Jenny Winston at jwinston@usn.org to make arrangements.

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PDS/US N arc hive

One more request: Are you a PDS/USN alumnus and a writer? If so, let us know! The library wants to be sure we have your work in our collection, and we’d like to put a copy on display on our beautiful alumni Author Wall in the Hassenfeld Library lobby.

Half a Century of Commencements

Since he began teaching full-time at PDS in the fall of 1959, Heber has attended all but one of the graduations. By his count, that makes 57. (The one year he missed, he was out of the country.) In his first years here, class sizes were small Stanford Moore (at the podium) and Heber Rogers at Commencement, 1975 enough to permit holding graduation in the auditorium, which has the obvious advantage “Another debacle,” he recalls, involved a student in the class of of being weather-proof. But by the mid-1970s, the ceremony had 1977 who extended a wooden hand to director Ed Pratt when Dr. moved across the street to the Peabody College green. Pratt offered the diploma. Students were unhappy with Pratt’s new rules about attire at graduation—no sneakers! “One of the most difficult times I remember was one morning when we had the exercise scheduled for 10:00 a.m. It was a bright But now Heber can enjoy the day without such worries. He especially sunny day, but a thunderstorm rolled in when everyone was already appreciates the fact that the ceremony has over the years become seated in front of the Social Religious building [now known as the more student-centered, with one senior giving the main speech Wyatt Center].” and others choosing and performing the music. “It makes me believe more strongly that the real focus at USN has evolved into Heber recalls that six or seven hundred people stampeded back student responsibility, with the students pretty much determining across Edgehill to “try to cram into the auditorium, which seated what the ceremony is like,” Heber says. nn about 400. A lot of angry people. People were standing in the back and in the lobby, and some couldn’t get in.”

In Memoriam Saving Peabody Demonstration School Without Bernard and Betty Werthan, Peabody Demonstration School might have closed its doors in 1975 when its relationship with Peabody College ended. The Werthans never wanted to accept the credit for what they did during the time known as “The Transition,” when University School of Nashville rose from the metaphorical ashes of the Dem School. Bernard Werthan and Suzie Morris made the first calls to other parents of PDS students asking for donations to help keep the school open. It was at the Werthans’ dining room table that the Transition Committee held its long and frequent meetings, and many who cared about the school joined forces with them to save it. Bernard Werthan died in May at age 86. “His quiet but historic walk with USN helped form our DNA in ways both great and small,” says Vince Durnan.

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PDS/USN archives

Heber Rogers, who taught history at Peabody Demonstration School and University School of Nashville, then served as both Assistant Director and Interim Director, continues to come to Commencement exercises at USN every year.

In Memoriam

Two Unforgettable Teachers

Photo courtesy of Susy Gillette

Photos courtesy of Randy Tibbott

This year our community said goodbye to two teachers whose place in their students’ memories remains green over many years.

Chris Tibbott in typical poses, creating art and helping out in the PDS auditorium

Christine Slayden Tibbott came to Peabody Demonstration School as Miss Slayden in 1941, remaining here for 12 years, teaching art and helping students outside the classroom whenever they needed a set for a play or for the prom. Her students at PDS and the countless students she taught art lessons to after she left here remember Mrs. Tibbott as the teacher who introduced them to the world of art. These students are responsible for naming USN’s art wing after her, a fitting tribute to an inspiring teacher. She died in June at age 96.

Gus Gillette (r.) entertaining at a faculty talent show with Randy Hoover-Dempsey, Karen Marler, and Becky Way ’78

PDS/USN archives

Retired theater teacher Gus Gillette died in March, and his former students came together to talk about what he had meant to them. They wrote tributes on Facebook, and many of them came to USN to attend his memorial service and talk about him in person. Susan Yeagley ’89, whose career as an actor was inspired by Gus Gillette, said “He was my hero.” Others paid such tributes as “No other teacher had a bigger impact on me” and called him “the wonderful, fantastical, incomparable Gus Gillette” and “a loud and cantankerous clown.” But the common thread in the comments? His former students owe much gratitude to Gus Gillette. He changed their lives.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

A Survey for the Future of our School

arlier this year, as he ended the “educational safari” to the campuses of three dozen other independent and charter schools across the country, Director Vince Durnan sought the opinions and ideas of all of those who care about the future of University School of Nashville as it begins its second century. Members of a steering committee of faculty, alumni, students, parents, and Board members joined him on each trip, then helped create the questions based on what they saw. Vince sent this “Survey for the Future” to students, parents of current USN students, parents of alumni, alumni, faculty and staff, former faculty and staff, members of the Board of Trustees, and former members of the Board. It was a wide net, intended to catch many and varying points of view on the questions USN’s

leaders are considering now. The questions drew directly on what the USN delegation witnessed at schools working hard to make thoughtful educational change. The responses were encouraging, with more than a thousand replies representing a multiplicity of viewpoints and constituencies. You can see complete results at usn.org/publications and take a look at some of the highlights below. Each question tells quite a story. “It’s clear that people appreciate the tough tradeoffs inherent in our educational model, and the results will be discussed in depth this fall, starting with our Trustees,” says Vince. nn

Here’s a sample of what we heard:

Average response (1 to 5 scale, 5 being most important)

What should be USN’s core academic and educational purpose in coming decades?

4.40 3.25

Continued excellence in traditional college-preparatory teaching and coursework Serving as a best-practice model for peer schools and their educators, consistent with our Demonstration School origins

3.06

Pioneering and serving as a testing ground for innovative and experimental educational initiatives

3.03

Giving individual teachers flexibility to adapt their desired educational models within their own classroom & curriculum

1.57

Choosing an overarching educational philosophy and method like Montessori or International Baccalaureate (IB) to implement either schoolwide or at each division level

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What method would you most support as a strategy for tuition (now $19,113 for Lower School; $21,770 for Middle School; $22,795 for High School) in coming years?

9.63% Our current system of a single broad tuition by division (K-4, 5-8, 9-12) and some additional program charges by grade

19.48%

A single unified tuition by division, rolling in all additional fees for programs and materials

70.89%

A lower base tuition for just the basics, by division, with additional line item charges for any other program costs for co-curriculars and electives

Average response (1 to 5 scale, 5 being most important)

If USN explored opportunities to increase its impact in Nashville and beyond, what would you think best?

3.52 3.40 3.32 3.23 2.20 1.99

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Build partnerships with leading K-12 independent schools nationally or at each division level

Develop more substantial daily partnerships with our public school neighbors

Build international partnerships with schools globally

Use existing facilities at hours outside our current school day to offer programs for more students

Open another campus somewhere else in the city to reach more students

Increase the size of the student body on Edgehill Avenue

Over the Airwaves By George LaBour ’17

hen the USN radio station signed off for the last time sometime in the 1970s, the silence lasted for roughly four decades. It would still be going on had it not been for six students with a vision to bring life back to the airwaves around USN. At the end of his junior year, Jackson Arnold ’17 began to wonder what it would take to revive the USN radio station. He and I began brainstorming. As the school year came to a close, Jackson and I gathered a core group of students who would join us as the founders of USN Radio. We defined our roles: I would serve as president, Jackson as vice president, Evan Dickerson ’17 as secretary, Clif Shayne ’18 and Ted Noser ’18 as programming directors, and Sam Bergeson ’18 as our technical advisor. We wanted to share our passion for music with the USN community, getting other students involved in the process. Over the summer, we outlined a plan for the year, a plan that expanded with each meeting. Initially, we simply wanted to stream music; however, we soon entertained the idea of hosting and creating podcasts. Through a mix of programming, we hoped that students could not only share their passion for music with USN’s community, but also their thoughts, opinions, and voices. Meetings with Vince Durnan and high school head Quinton Walker helped us to see the complexity of our project. We needed equipment and software; we needed to negotiate licensing agreements; we needed a permanent location.

This is where we are now: a semi-professional, student-run station with a lot of potential. After much research and debate, we settled on broadcasting software known as Voscast. Our equipment list included Evan’s old laptop, a power supply, a school microphone, and a cart from USN’s Operations Department. Before figuring out finances for the station, we needed to negotiate with BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC in order to obtain a music license to play their music on the air. After we spent weeks of emails and an occasional phone call, all three companies granted us a broadcasting music license with no charge. We set up a booth at the Club Fair, hoping to garner student interest and advertise the station. To our surprise, more than forty students expressed interest in the idea. With licensing agreements, generous grants from Student Council and Dr. Durnan, and a new group of interested students, we were ready to set up. Using studio equipment from Riptide, a former USN rock and roll band, as well as cables and microphones from the school, we put our equipment on a cart. But we needed a permanent space.

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We looked everywhere for such a space: a small broom closet, the alumni office closet, and various other nooks and crannies. Then we remembered what Dr. Durnan had offered—a study room in the library. Here the student body could easily observe the radio station in action, befitting our group’s mood, message, and mission. Soon library director Mary Buxton offered us the keys to our very own study room. From this point onward, the station trans-

formed from a “just crazy enough to work” idea into a school-approved organization. We purchased better equipment, including an upgraded mixing board, cables, and microphones. This is where we are now: a semi-professional, student-run station with a lot of potential. Though members of the founding group occasionally host a show, we are developing a system for other students to DJ. Students in every grade have expressed interest, giving us confidence that the station will continue after we graduate. We plan to record podcasts and make them available not only on the station but also on iTunes. We have established a partnership with the GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance) as well as several students who are interested in hosting a politics-based podcast. Perhaps more clubs will host podcasts, further enriching the revived USN airwaves. When Jackson and I first entertained the idea of creating a radio station, we knew that we wouldn’t be able to accomplish all that we wanted to do. Above all else, however, we wished to construct a strong foundation for future students to build upon. I hope that students from all grades will utilize what five friends and I created, sharing their voices, cultures, and musical tastes with the school community and the world. Now more than ever, students need the opportunity to express themselves. We think the radio station will be the platform allowing them to do just that. nn Clif Shayne ’18, Ted Noser ’18, and Jackson Arnold ’17 with George LaBour ’17 at the controls in their study room in the Hassenfeld Library

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Brain Flex Kindergarten Style By Amy Woodson, Head of the Lower School

recent years, lower school assistant head Josie Robins has dedicated herself to inquiry about teaching, learning, best practices and current research about young learners. Her efforts have led us to revise a kindergarten class formerly called “Story” to a powerful new curriculum, “Brain Flex.” This class has been part neuroscience, part growth mindset, a healthy dose of practicing things that are hard, and a heaping side of a good attitude toward challenges. Research tells us that we can affect the growth and development of our brains. In Brain Flex, we teach students to develop their own metacognitive skill sets and academic mindsets.

Scene 1 -“What fires together, wires together.” Students learn about the physiology of their brains as it relates to learning and effort. “What wires together, fires together.” Applying research from Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck and others, students think about thinking (metacognition) and engage with complicated concepts in age-appropriate ways. Using such manipulatives as a Styrofoam ball, pipe cleaners, and Velcro strips, the students create models of dendrites and synapses as reminders of the inner workings of their brains. Children note the Velcro’s strengthening as more layers are added, modeling what happens in our brains when we practice thinking.

Scene 2 -“This may take some time and effort.” Students enter a classroom where hula hoops on the floor delineate each child’s working space. Within each circle are materials they need for the tasks ahead of them. As they walk to a hoop, they are reminded to “catch” the impulse to touch the materials or play with a nearby friend. Practicing catching the impulse to touch something they want to touch correlates to practicing patience and self-control, essential skills being eroded by quick access to digital devices, which make it easy to distract ourselves any time. The tasks are sorted according to skills that the kids need to practice. Some will work on using scissors to develop hand strength. Others practice lacing and tying shoes, while others solve logic problems. Although practicing the task at hand is important, deep learning occurs as students practice the self-talk that encourages persistence and grit. Rather than expressing frustration, students may say, “This may take some time and effort,” or “I can’t quite do this, yet!” As the weeks go on, the tasks change as students grow ready to face new challenges. Inspired by The Little Engine That Could, students learn that everyone must climb hills, and that the struggle to get over a hill grows our brains!

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Opposite page: Rena ’29 chose her favorite self-talk message; this page left, while engaged in a challenge chosen just for them, each chid practices self-talk; right, in partners, children share what the optical illusion looks like from their viewpoint; below, practicing resiliency means overcoming frustration when a carefully constructed tower topples.

Scene 3 -“I am thinking of... from the perspective of…” Students look at black and white photos of optical illusions. After checking their own perceptions about the photos, each student turns and talks to a partner, discovering another viewpoint. Looking at picture books shows the children they can see scenes from various vantage points. A picture in one book may look like a large gemstone, but when the perspective shifts, we see ants carrying the objects and realize it’s a grain of sugar or salt. Students practice talking about seeing different viewpoints by saying “I am thinking of ____from the perspective of ____.”

response in a child’s memory, making a calm response more accessible with practice. Lessons from Brain Flex do more than help the cognitive domain—they nurture social and emotional growth. Studies show that students retain 50% more of what they are learning when they talk out loud, so students practice talking with each other, learning how to listen and talk succinctly, and practice taking turns and using active listening. Smiling and practicing positive self-talk create more of the same behavior, and pretty soon, good habits are formed. It’s working for me too. After weeks of hearing the kindergarten children practice the habits of a growth mindset, I notice when I lean towards a fixed mindset. I am just not good at things...yet. nn Photos by Kimberly Manz

Scene 4 -“Bouncing Back” My favorite activity helps children experience a common frustration and practice different ways of responding to what might upset them. Children practice thinking of a happy place, taking deep breaths, and calming themselves before responding. First, students build structures with small blocks within their hula hoop circles. Then Mrs. Robins knocks over the carefully constructed block tower. How many times has such an event triggered an argument in your household? Imagine a roomful of kindergartners asking each other to topple their creations! This practice cements the

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photo by Kimberly Manz

Local History Comes Alive for 5th Graders By Juanita I. C. Traughber, Communications Director

his year when it was time to teach her unit on Civil Rights, fifth grade social studies teacher Connie Fink took her students out of the classroom and into Nashville, a city that played a major role in that historic struggle. With help from USN’s archivist Jenny Winston, local history expert David Ewing ’85, and state archivists, she put the kids on a bus and took them into the city’s historically African-American neighborhoods.

themselves to be living in 1956, students took an imaginary road trip to the Grand Canyon with the help of excerpts from The Negro Motorist Green Book, an annual guide for African-Americans taking road trips that listed friendly diners, hotels, and entertainment venues and helped them avoid “sunset towns.” Fifth graders pretended to make stops at the Lorraine Hotel, tourist homes, and an Esso gas station friendly to African-Americans.

“History comes alive when students become part of the story. The bus tour felt like a moving classroom. As students listened, they snapped photos and took notes with their iPads,” says Connie Fink.

The Green Book adventure continued as they learned about Nashville’s history. They plotted safe listings onto a map, noting patterns. They learned about infrastructure and urban development as they tried to understand why some African-Americans were able to preserve their thriving businesses and neighborhoods while others were not.

Before they climbed on the buses, fifth graders explored “breakout boxes,” wooden boxes outfitted with combination locks they could open only by solving riddles, puzzles and math problems. Imagining

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The social studies unit included reading Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High in English class as well as the visit of Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the Little Rock Nine, and a trip to The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. Fink and Winston presented the unit at the National Council for History Education conference. After all their research, the students boarded the bus with Ms. Fink, Ms. Winston, and Mr. Ewing to tour neighborhoods. “It didn’t take long for students to understand the negative impact the interstate had on Jefferson Street as they stood directly under I-40 and listened to the roaring sound of traffic,” said Ms. Fink. On the tour’s first leg—the Edgehill neighborhood, Jefferson Street, and the area surrounding Meharry Medical College and Fisk University— David Ewing told stories as they drove along. He told them about when Charlotte Pike was the dividing line between black and white Nashville. Pearl High School was the only secondary school for African-American teens. Jefferson Street served as the central entertainment and business district for AfricanAmericans, with Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles, and other legendary performers making tour stops on the strip just north of downtown.

said that he was born at Hubbard Hospital, now known as Nashville General Hospital. Students also heard that William Edmondson, the first African-American artist to have a solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, worked as a janitor at Peabody Demonstration School in its early days.

After the bus tour, students visited the Tennessee State Library & Archives to analyze primary sources about these neighborhoods. Using The Visitor, a 1959 tourist brochure about restaurants and entertainment venues safe for African-Americans, a Previous page: students analyzing a 1960 map of Nashville; this page top: a mural on the Jersey Farms Milk Service side of an Elks Lodge recalls a legendary guitar duel between Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Jones; David Ewing ’85 narrating a tour of Nashville’s historically African-American neighmap, black and white borhoods; inset: The Visitor, a 1959 Nashville guidebook for African-American travelers “It is important to get out of pictures, and newspaper your comfort zone sometimes articles, the fifth graders and go to other areas of town and learn from the people who live learned more about the neighborhoods they had toured. there,” Mr. Ewing said. His tour took fifth graders to the original sites of First Baptist Church Capitol Hill, where college students Winston said, “Primary sources come without interpretation— trained for lunch counter sit-ins, and to the first public library that’s the best part. When we give them an historical photograph for African-Americans in Nashville. Back then, Music Row was or an old guidebook like The Green Book, students get to be the a cluster of homes and bungalows for African-Americans, and historians, and each one of them brings distinct experiences, SoBro was known as Black Bottom, an area where low-income background knowledge, and ideas to his or her analysis. No African-Americans lived. interpretation is insignificant or ‘wrong.’ It’s a great confidence builder.” Mr. Ewing interspersed personal stories about his grandfather beMs. Fink says, “Place-based learning extends beyond the pages of ing the only math teacher at Pearl and his great-great-grandfather becoming the first black attorney in Tennessee, in 1871. Ewing a textbook and the boundaries of a classroom.” nn

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celebrated class years that ended with 2s and 7s. April 20-22, PDS/USN graduates spanning over 70 years traveled from across the nation and locally to get together, reminisce with one another, and visit the school. The All-Alumni Party kicked off Reunion on Thursday, April 20 at Julia Sullivan’s ’01 new Germantown restaurant, Henrietta Red. Alumni toured the Edgehill campus and USN’s River Campus on Friday, April 21. Saturday, April 22, many returned for the panel: “Nashville, One Bite at a Time” where Chris Chamberlain ’85 (food, drink, and travel writer), Benjamin ’98 and Max ’01 Goldberg (Strategic Hospitality), and USN Spanish Teacher and current parent Norma Paz (Las Paletas) discussed Nashville’s growing restaurant industry. Following the panel was the Reunion Luncheon, where we celebrated the class of ’67’s 50th Reunion and welcomed them into the Gold Circle for classes who graduated from PDS/USN over 50 years ago. Classes also got together to celebrate their milestone Reunions with individual class parties. Mary Loventhal Jones ’66 hosted her 50th reunion class party with over 30 classmates plus their guests for a dinner at her house. Members of the class of ’72 met at Paula UnderwoodWinters’ farm. The class of ’77 gathered at Martin Davis’ home for dinner and shared memories to celebrate their 40th reunion. Darek Bell ’92 welcomed his classmates to the new Corsair location. McLean Johnston Barbieri ’97 invited all of her classmates into her home for their class party. The class of ’02 got together at blvd., while the class of ’07 reconnected with friends at the Greenhouse Bar. nn

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Opposite page: the class of ’67 celebrates their 50th This page, clockwise from top: ’01 classmates at Henrietta Red, Julia Sullivan’s new restaurant in Germantown; Sheri Steele Gaylord, John Norris ’67, and Shannon Paty ’68; class of ’82 friends; Bobby Frank ’85, Jo Dee Hicks Prichard ’84, and Dan Heller ’83; Jim Frinier, Jason Gray, Sarah Sperling, and Darek Bell, all ’92, at their class party at Corsair; Beverly Douglas and Sarah Frost Stamps, both class of ’44 Photos by Kimberly Manz

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Photos by Kimberly Manz

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This page, clockwise from top: Classes of ’72 and ’73 friends at their party; ’67 classmates Jennifer Najjar Leeper and Rosemary Zibart; Class of ’02 getting together at blvd.; the panel discussing Nashville’s restaurant scene: Chris Chamberlain ’85, Ben Goldberg ’98, Max Goldberg ’01, and parent Norma Paz; Michael Rosen ’82 with his daughter Lauren Rosen ’17, one of the students who danced at Reunion

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Special thanks go to the alumni volunteers who helped make Reunion 2017 a success. Alice Marable Campbell ’67 Mary Loventhal Jones ’67 John Norris ’67 Peggy Parker Cason ’72 Sharen Cone Jones ’72 Cheryl Sutherland Richardson ’72 Dede Dury Samford ’72 Paula Underwood-Winters ’72 Rochelle Zelenka-Diatikar ’72 Susie Schoggen Logan ’73 Martin Davis ’77 Linda Small Gluck ’77 Leah Knox Rubino ’77 Roger Shepard ’77 Dana Morris Strupp ’77 Chris Chamberlain ’85 Derek McLaren ’87 Darek Bell ’92 Murrey Smith ’92 Sarah Sperling ’92 Andrew Webber ’92 McLean Johnston Barbieri ’97 Andrew Brandon ’97 Benjamin Goldberg ’98 Max Goldberg ’01 Julia Sullivan ’01 Lindsey Kever Magner ’02 Lauren Martinez Riley ’02 Jennie Shepard Zagnoev ’02 Hannah Gluck ’07 Polly Shepard Roffwarg ’07 Hannah Dobie ’12 Meredith Forrester ’12 Lindsey Khim ’12 Whitney Perlen ’12

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Left, top to bottom: The ’97 class party; the class of ’07 at the Greenhouse; Alex Eaton ’09, French teacher Richard Espenant, Catlin Del Casino ’08, Elliott Roche ’10, and Eliot Linton ’11 at the All-Alumni Party Above: Anna Erickson, Andrew Brandon, and Brooke Weitz, all class of ’97 Photos by Kimberly Manz

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a USN tradition for the senior class to select one of their own to speak at Commencement. This year the students chose Isaiah Frank, who confessed to being “deeply humbled that my peers misplaced their trust in me.” Inspired by an Elsa Ferrante passage, Isaiah compared USN to a city and talked about the benefits of getting lost, a condition with “special resonance for the class of 2017: we’ve found ourselves lost, but our defining factor as a class is our willingness to help each other navigate our city, to grow individually and together.”

Two other excerpts from his speech: We have done nothing if not challenge each other, push each other to re-evaluate thoughts and actions, to learn compassion, to evacuate the “known space” and cultivate a desire for the error that allows us to grow. We’ve shared teachers, whose dedication, sensibility, and sense of humor is doubtlessly USN’s strongest and most indispensable attribute; we’ve shared the experience of growing up together, for thirteen years, for four years, for one year, and everywhere in between. nn

To read Isaiah’s entire speech and those by Vince Durnan and Quinton Walker, visit usn.org/publications.

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Previous page: Isaiah Frank This page, clockwise from top left: History teacher Matthew Haber â&#x20AC;&#x2122;98 leads a group of soon-to-be-graduates across Edgehill from the Hassenfeld Library; Courtney Edington and Hanan Fakhruddin; Beth Thornburg, retiring director of AFTER-SCHOOL; Zach Babat, Joshua Gabella, and Eleanor Koch; Henry Hicks, Nora May, and Elsa Wilson with high school head Quinton Walker. Photos by Kimberly Manz

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This page, clockwise from top left: The reception after the ceremony; Amelia Hahn; Trudy Zou and Stephanie Blumenthal; AJ Dykens-Hodapp; Patrick Chickey, Duncan Clark, and Gavin Clark, left to right Photos by Kimberly Manz

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This page, clockwise from top left: George LaBour; Jackson Bryant, Camilla Caldwell, and Ella Cameron; Ellie Greenfield with her brothers Will ’19 and Hugh ’22; Lebo Hunter. Photos by Kimberly Manz

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CLASS NOTES 1931 Stanford Moore, 1972 Nobel laureate who died in 1986, was inducted into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame by the Tennessee Health Care Council, led by president Hayley Hovious ’96.

1939 Henry Nelson and his wife Katie were the subject of a story in The Daily Times, the Blount County newspaper, about repeating their marriage vows each anniversary for the 72 years they have been married. Dr. Nelson was Distinguished Alumnus in 1998.

1955 Moshe [Morris] Werthan recently celebrated his 80th birthday, a “very happy day.” He and his wife Libby “were blessed 7 months ago with our first great grandchild, Ava Bishop. Ava was born on Yom Kippur day to Hannah Werthan, our granddaughter. Moshe is saddened by the loss of his brother Bernard, who “passed away recently after an extended illness. Bernard was an important friend of USN and a strong

Geologist Bob Miller ’49 when he spoke to Steve Smail’s high school geology class this spring

support for many years.” (Bernard was the father of Betsy ’75, Kay ’77, Tim ’80, and Tony ’83.)

1957 In March Jon Van Til keynoted the International Workshop on Organizational Governance in Toronto and then was the featured speaker to the Icelandic Nonprofit Association while stopping off on his return to Budapest in April. Wife Agnes joined him in Reykjavik, where they participated in the biennial Perry Happell and family pictured in front of their ancestral Scottish home: (back row) daughter Emily, Perry, son Kevin and (front row) Spirit of Humanity Forum. Jon grandson George and granddaughter Rose. and Agnes moved into a new house in the Budapest hills this summer, and their next visit to the US is scheduled for November. Nancy Vining Van Ness is beginning a dance

1963

1961 Shawn Bennett wrote that Jody Nicholas (president of the senior class, musician, and motorcycle racer who was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame) had been severely injured in a motorcycle accident. Jody’s wife says, “He used to sneak out of school to go practice at the track! Drove Dr. Beauchamp wild!” Perry Happell recently visited Scotland with his wife, children, and grandchildren, going to “the Isle of Skye and numerous beautiful sites in the Highlands. We then spent time visiting cousins in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Kilmarnock, the town where my grandparents lived prior to coming to the US in 1908. All agreed it was the trip of a lifetime.”

project about Joan of Arc. “It might be as long as a year in the making, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Our dance company here in New York City did a piece about Judith a few years ago that was great fun to do and was well received,” Nancy says.

1965 Mary Jane DePriest ’66 and Scott Burton wrote that they will marry August 4, 2017. They fell in love fifty years ago when Mary Jane helped Scott study for Miss Ballentine’s weekly spelling quiz, help he needed because he was recovering from a “terrible motorcycle accident.” Mary Jane says, “He was tall, handsome, smart, never complained and never gave up. We fell in love, but at sixteen years old (he was nineteen) I wasn’t ready for a grown-up relationship. We drifted apart and

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deeper connection to each other, to themselves, and to God. David recently attended his 40th Reunion and celebrated his son Andrew’s graduation from USN.

1979 Chris Brentlinger “had a major medical scare back in October ’16 with an aortic dissection, but has mended well (call 911 when you have chest pains!). My wife and I are about to become empty nesters as my daughter Cameron starts at Bard College in August. Ethan, oldest son, just returned from Israel with a broken heart but a wonderful 8-month adventure that began in Hawaii. He’s starting grown-up life and trying to figure out where to go next. Middle son Henry is finishing up at CA College of the Arts in SF. I’m having an absolutely wonderful time in Portland OR at Reed College.”

The Class of ’64 meeting for lunch at Noshville: back row, l. to r.: Al Lowe, Steve Furman, Maureen Carr Appelbaum; front, Sandra Stone Merritt, Shirley Hopton Cudabac, Margo Paty Pickering, Beverly Nelson

circumstances in the next few years separated us for good... at least I thought so.” This spring Scott found her through Facebook. “All these years we had been missing each other. . . . We began to spend hours on the phone every day…. The parallels in our separate lives were striking and as we began at last to reveal the truth of ourselves to each other, we fell in love all over again.”

1970 Carol Norris Brown is “happy to report that I have retired and am looking forward to a summer of relaxation and fun!” She hopes to see classmates in Nashville or when they find themselves in the DC area.

1972 In March Alive magazine did a story about Manuel Zeitlin called “To Build a City: A Nashville Architect and His Quest.”

1977 After a bachelor’s in German and foreign service (Baylor-1982), a master’s in French literature (UCLA-1991), a master’s in clinical psychology (Fuller-1997), a master’s in divinity (Fuller-1999), a year at Cambridge University (2001), and CPhil work at St. Andrews University (Scotland-2002), David Thornton has just completed a doctor of ministry degree from Lipscomb University (2017). “Lectio Divina, the Song of Songs, and Marital Intimacy” is his 200-page exploration of how a committed relationship can be strengthened by the practice of the Christian monastic tradition of lectio divina, a contemplative way of reading Scripture whose Jewish roots have not before been explored. This historical, theological, and therapeutic approach offers a new level of positive vulnerability to couples who long for

Robin Cohn ’78 (r.) and Jennifer Knight at their wedding last year, ringbearers in foreground

1980 Larkin Oates has a counseling practice in East Nashville, and in June her art show “Paradigm Shift: Celebrating Women” opened at Turnip Green, her first public show since she began training to be a counselor a decade ago. The Turnip Green “makes recycled art materials available for a pittance.” Larkin “took canvases where I had vented during a sad time, and painted over them to celebrate powerful women in America… my art of sadness was turned into rebirth.”

Leah Knox Rubino ’77 and Rachel Smith Price ’78 at Robin’s wedding

1981 Joel Davis recently quit the community newspaper business after 35 years as a reporter and editor, finishing up with a stint as editor and publisher of a paper in the Northern Neck of Virginia. He is currently answering a call to ministry in The Episcopal Church after establishing food ministries at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Prince Frederick, MD, and will attend United Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in the fall. John Lee Hughes, Jr. celebrated his 32nd year as an employee at Meharry Medical College, where he is a programmer analyst for the Office of Institutional Research. The

Larkin Oates ’80 with classmates Bill Beck and Steve Mitchell at her art show

one-time USN Pep and Jazz Band member also runs a record label called SUPREME TONE continued on next page

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face the growing realities of climate change.”

1991 Jad Abumrad was the subject of a June 28 profile in The New York Times: “The Creator of ‘Radiolab,’ a Lapsed Composer, Returns to Music.”

photo by Kimberly Manz

1994

Lilia Clare Gross, daughter of Randy ’81

Records (supremetonerecords.com) with former Hank Williams, Jr. guitarist Dino Bradley.

1983 Rick Ewing, director of customer success management for Oracle Corporation, is in the 2017-2018 Leadership Nashville class. The group meets “to discuss issues such as government, media, education, business, labor” and more.

Lisa Gurevitch Cohen ’84 2017 Distinguished Alumna Senior Supervising Producer for CNN International Lisa Gurevitch Cohen ’84 was named USN’s 2017 Distinguished Alumna at Convocation on May 23. Lisa took questions from the seniors, who asked how she chose journalism as her profession. The students also asked about the role of news and the media, about politics, sensationalism, and the responsibility of the news media to viewers.

1985 The Tennessean reported that David Ewing was among those whose research helped restore the correct name, Frederick Douglass, to an East Nashville park that for years had been called “Fred Douglas Park.” In March when the corrected sign was placed, USN drama teacher Bakari King gave a monologue in the character of Douglass, “accompanied musically by a group that included Marcus Hummon,” father of Levi ’10, Caney ’14, and Moses ’18.

1987 Karen Jordan’s article “The Struggle and Triumph of America’s First Black Doctors” appeared in The Atlantic in December, 2016. She mentions her great-grandfather John Henry Jordan, one of the first African American dotors in Georgia.

1988 Sarah Gillmor Hymowitz was recently named one of the “Most Influential Women in Business” in the Bay Area. Sarah is vice-president and principal scientist in protein chemistry and

structural biology at Genentech. She listed her biggest professional accomplishment as “being part of a multi-disciplinary, academic-industry collaboration that eventually led to the FDA approval of a new medicine for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.”

1990 John Noel announced recently for Public Service Commission, a statewide race in Georgia. “Having served in the early 2000s in the state house legislature, I saw firsthand how the sausage gets made. More often than not (and is the case in my opinion in Tennessee too) decisions leave out those less privileged than many of us. Such is the case here in GA with a nuclear plant expansion, paid for IN ADVANCE, 35% complete, years behind schedule and $3.6 billion in red. I’m sick of regulators cozy with the regulated. This 2018 race (in the energy sector I know well) is one I’m taking time off from my energy efficiency business to crisscross the state, raise money and take on the bad guys. All made more important as we

This spring Susan Reynolds Stewart bought two local restaurant locations, Bricks Cafe Brentwood and Franklin. “I am excited to work with the staff over the coming months to refresh one of the few independent eating establishments in those neighborhoods.” brickscafe.com @BricksCafeBrentwoodTN and @BricksCafeFranklin.

1995 Jeff Jenkins has been named CMO for CKE Restaurant Holdings, the parent of Carl’s Jr. and Hardees.

1996 Gabe Dixon is part of the “Ten Out of Tenn” singer/songwriter collective that was featured in the Nashville Ballet production of The Seven Deadly Sins this past May.

1997 Faith Broughton McQuin continues teaching film at The Art Institute of Tennessee and has begun teaching screenwriting at MTSU. “In 2015, I decided to get back to making my own works and I started Observer Pictures. I’ve committed to doing one project—film or otherwise—once a year. I’ve now completed two short films (one of which premiered at The Nashville Film Festival in 2016).” Faith is in production on a scripted podcast to be released in September of this year. More information can be found at ObserverPictures.com/Boom. “On the personal front, I celebrated 15 years with my husband, and my twin daughters just finished first grade.” continued on page 38

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“Sunlight is the best disinfectant”

Roz Helderman ’97

By Anna Myint ’04, alumni director & social media manager

“I

had a great experience at USN. I learned how to write and think,” reporter Rosalind (Roz) Helderman said this spring when she was here to give the Buhl Lecture. As she reminisced about her time on Edgehill, she recalled her independent studies with Ann Wheeler. Cindy Crenshaw and Debbie Davies made math enjoyable, though it never became her favorite subject. And Marc Levine influenced the way Roz “synthesized and analyzed things,” a skill she uses daily as a political enterprise and investigations reporter for The Washington Post.

After graduating from USN, where she worked on the middle school and high school newspapers, Roz went to Harvard University and joined the staff of The Crimson. At the time she thought journalism was something to do for fun, not a profession. But spending close to 60 hours each week at the newspaper freshman year made her realize that she was no longer going to be a doctor, but was going to continue a career doing something she loved— journalism. She then spent one summer in Florida interning for a local newspaper and was editor of The Crimson. The weekend after she graduated from Harvard, Roz moved to Washington, D.C. to join a two-year internship program at The Washington Post, where she has been working ever since. At first she reported on local news, covering small towns in Maryland, Virginia, and other suburbs surrounding DC. In 2011, moved to the national staff, she began covering the U.S. Congress. There she began an investigative series of stories about the governor of Virginia, who was accepting gifts and low-interest loans from an individual with political interests who sold dietary supplements. This work got her moved to the political investigative staff. The timing couldn’t have been better: it was 2014, the beginning of the recent U.S. Presidential election. In May 2016, Roz became one of the first to report in depth about candidate Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. Now, as a Political Investigations and Enterprise Reporter, Roz is investigating President Trump. She plans to continue to report on President Trump, his business, and any ethical issues that appear. In July 2017, if you read a Washington Post story about Donald Trump, Jr.’s meeting with Russians at Trump Tower last year, you read one of Roz’s stories.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Roz Helderman ’97

Speaking of the way the press is perceived now, Roz says, “People find the claim ‘fake news’ easier to believe because they become accustomed to partisan news, where facts are still reported but important details may be left out. Everyone needs to learn to be savvy, smart media readers so their opinions of the world aren’t shaped by fake news. You should be aware of sources, dates of articles, and the headlines and content.” Roz likes to keep in mind something her boss said: “We are not at war, we are at work.” She sees her job as informing the country with fact-based reporting. It is hard to be opinionated on her reporting when she is reporting on facts. “The media is not the enemy of the people,” she says. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” Roz has developed a thick skin, a necessity for a journalist. “The comments that wound me most are the ones that are well thought out and actually raise good criticism about the story. Or they don’t wound me, but I do take them seriously.” Roz offers some advice for those considering entering her field. “Journalism is a field you learn by doing. Get out and report and write. Take on issues and ask questions. Being a journalist gives you the excuse to ask anyone anything. Take on any job you can get.” nn

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Ben Fisher ’03 with his bride and with USN alumni Clayton Jones ’03, Glenn Fisher ’01, Lauren Martinez Riley ’02, and Rick Hodges ’01.

2001 Max Loosen ’02 with his bride Fiona Chen

Nina Interlandi Bell reports that her son Sam, (5), is “very proud” of his baby sister.

1998 In February William Tyler played the Ryman Auditorium. Ben and Max Goldberg ’01 are featured in a June Forbes article called “Nashville is on a Red Hot Roll, And It’s Not just the Predators.” It says, “Ben and Max now have ten restaurants and venues that are among the hottest spots in Nashville precisely because they have nothing in common—which is exactly the point.”

2000 This spring Suzanne Foy McNulty and her husband welcomed their third child, Gracie, who joins big brothers Charlie (6) and Edward (4).

Leeman Tarpley Kessler recently “had the honour to perform my one man show Ask Lovecraft (asklovecraft.com) at George RR Martin’s Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe. You can hear a radio interview about the show at: santafe.com/kbac/podcasts/leeman-kesslerimpersonating-hp-lovecraft-jean-cocteaucinema.” In May Liz Fischer won on Jeopardy!

Julia Sullivan and her new restaurant Henrietta Red in Germantown have been getting rave reviews, with articles in Bizjournals, Nashville Eater, Nashville Guru, The Tennessean, and Elle.

2003 In May Grant Garmezy was the subject of an article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “Garmezy is one of seven Virginia glass artists participating in the 46th annual Glass Art Society conference at Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum of Art on June 1-3. The event brings the world’s best contemporary glass artists together for public demonstrations and displays, lectures, classes and more.”

2004 Kathryn Tumen received her master’s of science in nursing (MSN) from Rush University in Chicago in April. She and her husband Joe moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in June. “I am very excited to start my new job as a registered nurse on the Bone Marrow Transplant unit at Carolinas Medical Center, where I will specialize in oncology and critical care. We are looking forward to warmer climates finally!”

When Leigh Ivey and Jack Hicks got married last March in Charleston, South Carolina, a big group of USN friends and classmates joined them: groomsmen Avery Brandes, Scott Greer, Mick Utley, and Ben Zeppos, all Class of 2005; and Greg Polzin PDS ’75, George Brandes ’03, Rachel Bubis ’05, Allison Duke Budslick ’05, Rajiv Midha ’05, Katie Shmerling Wayne ’05, Mark Wheeler ’05, Mary Bronaugh ’06, and Walter Blackman ’07.

2006 You can glimpse Krishna Curry in an Apple watch commercial on YouTube. John Early, who has a part in the film Beatriz at Dinner, appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, on Late Night with Seth Meyers, and in an entertaining Kate Spade ad video. Adrien Saporiti was commissioned by Instagram to create a rainbow mural, “the only one in the South,” according to Out and About Nashville. The mural is “in celebration of LGBT Pride.” Adrien created the “I Believe in Nashville” mural that appears in so many Music City photos. Joe Spradley is now a certified Pilates instructor.

Mclaine Richardson’s business, Margaret Ellis Jewelry, was featured in a “Faces of Nashville” story in StyleBlueprint.

2005 Whitney Scott is featured in a brief HGTV video that shows how to create an outdoor movie “theater” with a sheet and some curtain rods.

2007 TJ Ducklo has left Bloomberg and joined the team working for The Circus on Showtime, “doing some producing and helping to direct communications efforts around the show. I’ll also continue working with Mark Halperin and John Heilemann on their many projects, including the exciting announcement late last week that they’ll be writing a third Game Change book,

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USN crowd at the wedding of Lauren Moskovitz ’04

Katie Goldstein ’05

in the city, but don’t take the time to read the ‘real’ news.” He says, “It’s similar to The Hustle, NextDraft or The Skimm, but on a local level.”

Leigh Ivey and Jack Hicks, both ‘05, at their Charleston wedding with monkey-suited classmates in the background Ben Zeppos (l.) and Avery Brandes

Jillian Berkman has begun her fourth year of medical school at Vanderbilt University.

2009

Nate Loftis, Babs Freeman-Loftis ’74, Kim Koelling Loftis, Matt Loftis ’05, Tom Loftis ’74, Maggie Loftis, and Daryl Cooley at Matt’s wedding

which HBO is turning into a miniseries. I plan to take on additional projects as well in the coming weeks and months.” Ari Schiftan was featured on the Food Network in the “Taco Tug of War” episode of Cooks vs. Cons.

Julia Hudnut-Beumler graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in May. She moved to Denver to complete her residency at the Children’s Hospital of Colorado and plans to become a pediatric endocrinologist. She is looking forward to taking advantage of the mountains to do lots of hiking and climbing. Let her know if you’re ever in the area, she says.

2011 In April Jordan Lavender won the 400m (52.33) and 200m (23.75) at the Virginia Challenge Track and Field meet.

2008

New York City resident Logan Jones exhibited some of his work at the Nashville Art Crawl in May.

Will Krugman has a “side project,” The Nashville Note, “a short e-newsletter about Nashville news, current events and politics that takes just a couple of minutes to read. We hope to engage millennials and other young Nashvillians that care about what’s happening

Emma LaBounty and Will Johns enjoy halfprice sushi and wine together every Monday at a restaurant in Chicago, where they are working as a labor organizer and airline analyst, respectively.

Adrien Saporiti ’06 painted this mural on the stairs at USN

Noah Rice and Melissa Carlson, who “codirected and choreographed countless USN theatre productions” in high school, have “recently reunited as the production team for The continued on next page

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Sean Clark has moved to Southern California to begin working at Amazon as Area Manager, having graduated in May from Ursinus College, cum laude with a major in applied economics.

Linde LaChance ’13

Larry Keeton Theatre’s upcoming production of Mary Poppins! Noah writes, “I am the resident Music Director at the Larry Keeton Theatre as well as the Production Editor for print music publisher Alfred Sacred. Melissa is currently pursuing her BFA in theatre directing.” Jesse Shofner is the first female player to make the Nashville Nightwatch Ultimate Frisbee roster.

2012 Will Kochtitzky, graduate of Dickinson College, is the subject of a profile on their website, which says: “A Baird Sustainability Fellow and Benjamin Rush scholar who earned a $138,000 National Science Foundation research fellowship in 2016, Kochtitzky attended the 20th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and co-initiated a partnership with the Volcano Observatory of Peru in Arequipa.” He is in graduate school at the University of Maine.

Linde LaChance has “a single on country radio called ‘Where We’d Be.’” She says, “About 45 stations across the country have picked it up so far. I still have one more year at Belmont University, but I have been signed by a new record label named 3am Vibe Records. My song is currently up on Spotify, iTunes/Apple Music, iHeartRadio, and Soundcloud.”

Joe Noser ’16 (l.) in Washington D.C. with his fellow Congressional interns Devin Kellett ’15 and Bob Minton ’14

2014 Harvard student David Shayne co-wrote Hasty Pudding’s 169th theatrical production: HPT 169: Casino Evil. To find out more about this year’s performance: hastypudding.org/ current-show.

2016

Mathieu Agee was named one of the top “freshmen to watch” for ultimate. He is playing with the UC Boulder team. Margo Ghertner writes “Sundays with Margo,” a monthly advice column for Her Campus at Boston University, where she is a student. This summer she has an internship in New York City with Birchbox, the beauty subscription box company.

Monmouth College student Kara-Jade Gordon, who will be the lacrosse team captain in 2017, became the Scots’ first two-time winner of the Midwest Women’s Lacrosse Conference Performer of the Week award.

Trinity student Ben Liske was honored by having his work on computer science and mathematics published in the annual Trinity Papers.

Rainey Hull ’16 at Le Mont Saint Michel.

Amelia Hahn ’17 in Rome

Michael King has “spent the past year building a platform for kids/people to reach fluency in languages through personalized music and language exchange.” Justin Maffett landed his first byline for NBC News. The June 29 article on President Trump’s travel ban ran as the morning headline on the NBC News website and mobile app.

2013 Jameice Holmes was named the women’s basketball player of the week at BirminghamSouthern College this winter.

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usn.org/alumni Sending love for her “dear alma mater,” Rainey Hull reports an “amazing gap year in France.” This fall she will be at Warren Wilson College, where she plans to major in modern languages.

Margaret Brittingham ’05 and Renato Zaboni, May 24, 2017

2017

Katie Goldstein ’05 and Ben Jarrett, May 13, 2017

Conor Rork received the Tennessean Sports Awards’ Academic Achievement Award.

Andrew Thornton ’17 in China

Amelia Hahn is enjoying her summer after graduation in Italy with her mom. Madison Southard is making new friends at Baylor Orientation: theodysseyonline.com/ making-friends-easier-than-thought Andrew Thornton “hung out with Trudy Zou ’17 in Shanghai, and will meet Lauryn Cravens ’17 in Shanghai. Lauryn and I will visit the high school affiliated to Nanjing Teaching College and then, we will go to Zhangjiajie and hike in the Stone Forest National Park. From there, we will head to Leshan to see the Big Buddha carved into a cliff. After that, we will take a road trip in Tibet, visiting Bajila Mountain, Pagsum Lake, Mila Mountain, and Namtso Lake among other places on the road to Lhasa.” Sandy Hindman ’17 made the Division II 2017 MidTN Senior All-Star Classic baseball roster.

Lauryn Cravens ’17 and with Duncan Clark ’17 at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Along with Bob Minton ’14, Devin Kellett ’15, and Sam Fisher ’16, Joe Noser interned this summer in the Washington, D.C. office of Congressman Jim Cooper. They have “led tours of the Capitol, answered constituent calls, and worked with members of Congressman Cooper’s staff on various projects. We’ve also had the chance to go to multiple hearings on Capitol Hill. The highlight of the experience has been interactions with Congressman Cooper, who spends lots of time every day with his interns.” Joe says the entire experience “will stick with me for the rest of my life.” In June he attended the James Comey hearing, spending the night in the Congressional office and then standing in line for five hours. “Being in the room when he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee was easily the coolest thing I did in D.C.”

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

WEDDINGS Robin Cohn ’78 and Jennifer Knight, September 24, 2016 Bobby Frank ’85 and Teresa Standard, December 28, 2016 Max Loosen ’01 and Fiona Chen, September 3, 2016 Ben Fisher ’03 and Allison Wood, May 6, 2017 Lauren Moskovitz ’04 and Alex Grainger, July 6, 2017

Tali Rosenblum ’05 and Joshua Katz, May 29, 2017

BIRTHS Amanda and Gabe Dixon ’96, a son, Luke Howard, October 30, 2016 Ian and Nina Interlandi Bell ’97, a daughter, Grace Shannon, April 2, 2017 Erin Mosow ’98 and Nathan Terry ’99, a son, Elliott Mosow Terry, January 12, 2017 Patrick and Suzanne Foy McNulty ’00, a daughter, Grace Elizabeth, May 26, 2017 Ricky and Kate Viebranz Thrash ’01 a daughter, Laura Jane, November 21, 2016 Claire and Patrick Martinez ’01, a son, Ryan Patrick, February 16, 2017 Fiona and Max Loosen ’01, a daughter, Mia Rui, June 6, 2017 Lauren and Desmond Campbell ’02, a son, Bensen (Benny) Wright, October 29, 2015 Jacek and Megan Hovey Kawecki ’02, a son, Ellis Alexander, June 23, 2017 Josh and Carla Sandler Wilson ’04, a son, Noah Bruce, April 2, 2017 Terri and Nicolo Davidson ’04, two sons, Arlo Brooks and Luca Gray, June 15, 2017 Margaret Brittingham ’05 and Renato Zaboni, a daughter, Sunjah Alice Zaboni-Brittingham, June 4, 2017

Matt Loftis ’05 and Kim Koelling, October 15, 2016 Leigh Ivey ’05 and Jack Hicks ’05, March 25, 2017

Gabe Dixon ’96’s son Luke in his USN togs

Elliott, son of Erin Mosow Terry ’98

Abby, daughter of Katie Shmerling Wayne ’05

Nina Interlandi Bell ’97’s daughter Grace

Grace, daughter of Suzanne Foy McNulty ’00

Noah, son of Carla Sandler Wilson ’04

Mia Rui, Max Loosen ’01’s daughter

Ellis, Megan Hovey Kawecki ’02’s son

Sunjah, daughter of Margaret Brittingham ’05

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continued from page 9

Congress of Biochemistry, which was a major task and perhaps one for which organizing Vanderbilt’s senior prom had prepared him. Moore was attentive to every detail, to the point of trying out restaurants and hotels. That year’s Congress has been described as one of the best-run large international meetings ever held. He served on Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust for years. Moore was a member of the grand jury investigating the Cosa Nostra in the 1960s. He was unfazed by threatening phone calls he received in connection with his grand jury service. Rather, after a day in the grand jury room, Moore would head for the lab and work into the night. The work of the Moore-Stein laboratory expanded after the Prize was awarded. And the collaboration between Moore and Stein continued as well. The last scholarly paper to which they both contributed was published in 1977. Stein died in 1980. Moore was diagnosed with ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, in about 1980. He kept this to himself and continued his work. As the end approached, Moore got his affairs in order and wrote his final paper, a biographical memoir on William Stein. Moore died in August of 1982 at the age of 68. What is Moore’s legacy, which is of course inseparable from Stein’s legacy? The importance of their research on proteins has been recognized by The Protein Society, an international organization of scientists, whose highest honor is the Stein and Moore award. As for medicine, structural biochemistry, a field to which Moore and Stein contributed, has become important in drug design. It seems to me that determining the sequence of an enzyme was at least a tentative first step toward determining the sequence of DNA and then identifying the thousands of genes responsible for who we are. DNA sequencing technology and sorting out the genetic basis for many common diseases will revolutionize medicine. What can be learned from Stanford Moore’s life? The value of mentors, the benefits of collaboration and the importance of persistence. And something else—that it is possible to be a kind and generous person and still be highly successful. He served as a role model for an entire generation of biochemists. Moore bequeathed his entire estate to Rockefeller University to support an investigator in biochemistry. In a letter delivered to the president of the university after Moore’s death, Moore wrote, “I would like (to the best of my modest ability) to help a young scholar have the same opportunity that I had.” nn

IN MEMORIAM Margaret Brugh Reynolds Roberts ’32, February 20, 2017 Roupen Gulbenk ’37, February 18, 2017 Ed Shaw ’39 , September 8, 2016 Eva Mae Parris Davidson ’43, June 3, 2011 Valere Potter Menefee ’49 June 30, 2017 Saralu Fondren “Mickey” Harrison ’50, March 30, 2017 Bill Turner ’50 August 14, 2017 Tom Hardison ’60 , April, 2017 Al Puryear ’61, July 8, 2016 Rich Martin ’67, January 3, 2015 Dee Ann Daniels Blee ’75, January 12, 2016 Bub Edwards ’78, March 7, 2017 Frenchie Pegram ’84, June 7, 2016 Richard McMackin ’84, June 3, 2017 Geoffrey deZevallos ’96, February 17, 2017 Chris Kim ’08, August 3, 2017 Max Barry ’13, July 29, 2017 Former teachers Jeannette Simpson Andrews , January 23, 2017 Gus Gillette, March 6, 2017 (see page 17 for more) Chris Slayden Tibbott, June 9, 2017 (see page 17 for more) Peggy Martin , July 9, 2017 Former members of the Board of Trustees

The Prize (from the Rockefeller University website)

In the 1940s and ’50s, Stanford Moore and his colleague William H. Stein, two members of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, broke open the field of biochemistry by theorizing how each individual enzyme is programmed to accomplish its own unique catalytic task. They then proved their theories with ribonuclease, an essential regulator of RNA, which translates the genetic information locked in our DNA. For these contributions, Drs. Moore and Stein were awarded the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. To read the rest of Rockefeller University’s explanation of what Stanford Moore did to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, visit usn.org/publications.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE

Frank Scanlon, April 22, 2017 Bernard Werthan, Jr., May 5, 2017 (see page 16 for more) To read obituaries of most of these alumni and former teachers, please visit usn.org/publications.

Email cculpepper@usn.org to share your thoughts on anything in this magazine.

usn.org/alumni

Out of Town Alumni Events

In A ustin, September 2016

his past year, a delegation from USN that included at times alumni director Anna Myint, high school head Quinton Walker, director of diversity and community life Roderick In Chicago, October 2016 White, and Vince Durnan hosted events in cities where we find large numbers of PDS and USN alumni.

Join Us on the Road 2017-2018 New Orleans: Thursday, October 5 Houston: Tuesday, January 9 Knoxville: Sunday, October 15 Los Angeles: Tuesday, January 23 Chicago: Tuesday, October 24 New York City: Thursday, February 8 Portland, OR: Wednesday, November 8 Atlanta: Thursday, March 8 Washington DC: Friday, November 17 In Atlanta, December 2016

In St. Louis, February 2017

In Baltimore, March 2017

2000 EDGEHILL

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