Fall 2015 Deerfield Magazine

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DE E RF I E LD M A G A Z I N E

FA L L 2 0 1 5 CA M PA I G N / D I N I N G H A L L / D O M I N I CA N R E P U B L I C C A M PA I G N R E P O R T / 4

volume 73/1

THE ELEMENTS OF A GOOD MEAL / 24 PAT C H W O R K A N D P R O G R E S S / 3 2



B OY D E N L I B R A R Y R E N OVAT I O N J u ly 2 0 1 5


Door Number Three When I was in college, I planned a career in science. I took jobs in laboratories—doing everything from sample preparation to surgery. I took “Honors Orgo” (and passed!). I served as a teaching assistant for Biochemistry classes. I was serious: ready for grad school and a career in biology. I don’t teach or practice science today. Instead, I’ve spent more than 20 years working in design and communications. When I think about “where it all went wrong” (kidding!) I’m drawn back to my experiences at Deerfield. At Deerfield, I took design classes with Mr. Dickinson, and Mr. Hemingway taught me to write. Mr. Engelland supported my photography, even though I never took his class. Teachers allowed me to twist my assignments into forms that fit my interests, even indulging me when I wanted to create a video biopic about an upstart potato who attended classes at Deerfield. I spent even more time on my cocurriculars. On Albany Road, I learned the basics of editorial and layout, how to discuss and critique art and writing, and how to make the computer deliver the designs I envisioned. At the radio station I got a good drenching in technology—and I also learned what it meant to practice and polish a performance. In student activities work, I learned to listen to the campus and deliver events that people would like—and I learned how to market those events so people would actually show up. Through it all, but especially with the Glee Club and Mellow-Ds, I learned to navigate the sometimes murky world of working with other creatives: how to clarify intention, how to describe abstract concepts, and how to foster and manage the people and personalities involved in the work. This all seems obvious in retrospect, but (despite benefiting from a top prep school education) I was clueless at the time— too busy to know what it was I was learning and too entrenched to realize where these experiences would take me. Deerfield did an incredible job of exposing me to opportunity —from academics, to cocurriculars, to travel and dorm life.

Students today have the same experiences that I did—and they benefit from even greater opportunity. A new course, a new topic, a new club, or a new experience for students might not result in deep expertise, but it does provide something critical: an open door. We hope that the opportunities students have to try their hand at art, or squash, or robotics, or world history, or romantic poetry—or all the other things that the Academy has to offer—sets all the doors of their education ajar. Instead of approaching a new opportunity fearing a zero-sum “lady or tiger” dichotomy, Deerfield students experienced enough breadth to identify other opportunities, even as they are given the resources to pursue particular passions. And so it is with some of the topics covered in this issue of Deerfield Magazine: we share some of the experiences that show breadth in the Deerfield experience. You’ll see students dip their toes in world travel, construction, and philanthropy as they build a house in the Dominican Republic (p.32). You’ll learn about how the Dining Hall is introducing new experiences for students at the dinner table—and hopefully establishing a lifelong hunger for health and sustainability (p.24). And you’ll hear about Grove Labs, whose pioneering aquaponics system could fuel a hobby—or it could spark a horticultural revolution capable of addressing world hunger (p.40). Of course, none of these opportunities would be possible without the support of parents, alumni, and friends of Deerfield (p.4). Seeing the resources that Imagine Deerfield has brought to our classrooms is truly humbling. I benefited from similar generosity a generation ago and I offer my heartfelt thanks on behalf of today’s students. They don’t yet know where they will wind up, but I’m sure you are helping them get there. //

—David A. Thiel

Managing Editor

Production Coordinator

Multimedia Specialist

eCommunications Specialist

Art Director

Archivist

Director of Communications

Jessica Day

Cara Cusson

JR Delaney

Danaë DiNicola

Brent M. Hale

Anne Lozier

David Thiel

Editorial Office: Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA 01342. Telephone: 413-774-1860 communications@deerfield.edu Publication Office: Cummings Printing, Hooksett, NH. Third class postage paid at Deerfield, Massachusetts, and additional mailing office.

Deerfield Magazine is published in the fall, winter, and spring. Deerfield Academy does not discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, marital status, national origin, ancestry, genetic information, age, disability, status as a veteran or being a member of the Reserves or National Guard, or any other classification protected under state or federal law. Copyright © The Trustees of Deerfield Academy (all rights reserved)

2 | VOLUME 73, NUMBER 1

Cover: Academy greenhouse by Brent M. Hale / Inside spread: Boyden Library by JR Delaney


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DA DR in the

p.

(Dominican Republic)

32

p.

Beyond Our Imagineation Campaign Report

Dining at Deerfield:

The Elements of a Good Meal

40 The Growing

Eliza Barclay ’97:

96

Revolution Gabe Blanchet ’08

COMMENTS

46 88 95

Word Search

The Common Room

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In Memoriam

Albany Road

First Person: GARAM NOH ’15

The Salt / NPR

24

p.

p.

30

p.

THE CAPTION with the picture on page 57 of the Spring 2015 issue of Deerfield Magazine is correct—something was happening! It’s a picture of the fans at the varsity lacrosse team’s 1962 Spring Day game against Holy Cross freshmen. One of our midfielders, Bob Kinasewich ’63, picked up a ground ball and broke out of the pack with unbelievable acceleration and speed to create a fast break. I do not recall whether Deerfield was able to score off that particular play, but I do recall that we won by a big score. By the way, my parents had watched me play in the freshman/sophomore intra squad game that morning, so we were watching the varsity game in the afternoon. I was sitting between my father, who was wearing glasses, on my left, and my mother, who was wearing sunglasses, on my right. Since that picture was taken, I have lost a lot of hair, and much of the hair that I have has turned gray. —Tex Poor ’65, Littleton, Colorado

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Beyond Our Imagineation An Imagine Deerfield Final Report

9500

alumni, parents, and friends contributed

1 year

ahead of schedule

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$252, 888, 493 raised in total


Throughout the campaign, a line from Phil Greer’s 2011 letter announcing Imagine Deerfield stayed with me: “Our success rests on the participation of the full Deerfield family. You are our special strength as we begin this ambitious and critical campaign.” As with so many things Deerfield, Phil was spot on. Nearly 9500 alumni, parents, and friends contributed to Imagine Deerfield. Over 70 percent of gifts were less than $500, reflecting a broad base of support and recalling Deerfield’s heritage of participation. Our combined effort has made an indelible impact. You may recall that the campaign launched as a five-year endeavor with a goal of $200 million. Here we are, having wrapped up one year ahead of schedule, on June 30, and more than 25 percent above goal. Thanks to you—the full Deerfield family—$252,888,493 has been raised, creating unparalleled opportunities for students and teachers. By any measure, the campaign has been enormously successful, and I am grateful for the role you played in securing Deerfield’s place as a preeminent American boarding school, one that remains true to a proud and pioneering heritage. Today, Deerfield is a place of modern, advanced scholarship, where students and teachers engage in rigorous exploration, hone critical skills, and pursue innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Imagine Deerfield has elevated our beloved school, revitalized our program, and sharpened our focus on academic excellence, while sustaining our foundational emphasis on character education and our ethos of service. We are well positioned to lead on a number of critical fronts, building on the accomplishments we have earned together these past few years. Below are a few examples of how your support has transformed the school. You are indeed our special strength. Thank you!

Head of School

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At its core, our financial aid program—for which $42,981,613 was raised during the campaign— brings together and supports a range of students whose voices enrich the Deerfield experience for all. Access

In today’s parlance, ensuring that bright students, regardless of background, can attend a school like Deerfield is called access: access to opportunities, access to a better future. But we have always thought of it, simply, as a Deerfield tradition. “Pay what you can,” Mr. Boyden told families. Things are not quite as simple now, but the essence of his adage continues to motivate our Financial Aid program. Essentially, one third of our student body received aid to help cover tuition and fees, which totaled $57,040 last year. Additionally, we provided supplemental aid to students who could not afford miscellaneous costs such as travel, health insurance, music and dance lessons, dental expenses, and eyeglasses. At its core, our financial aid program—for which $42,981,613 was raised during the campaign—brings together and supports a range of students whose voices enrich the Deerfield experience for all. Arguably, this tradition has never been more relevant or important, as the world is changing at an astonishing rate. Challenges facing our graduates are continually shifting. To thrive, students must acquire 21st century skills, including collaboration and innovation, which can be gleaned from living and learning with others from across the globe, invaluable experiences that are quickly becoming requisites to success regardless of one’s pursuits. A primary focus of Imagine Deerfield, financial aid continues to be an Academy priority.

Last year, and with a financial aid budget of $8.9 million —$2.6 million more than when the campaign began—Deerfield provided aid to 215 students. Grants ranged in size from $5,000 to $57,040, depending on need. Students can best express the impact of this assistance: 6

Thank you.

A letter from a senior: Dear Mr. Flaska, This summer’s trip to Spain was something I never thought would be possible. When I heard the news that the preseason trip before my senior year would be to Spain, my first reaction was disappointment because I thought I would be missing the preseason trip before my last year of competitive soccer. I knew the trip was not financially feasible for my family. My dad told me that when he let you know about this, you told him that you were hoping to make the trip financially affordable for all that wanted to participate. Sure enough, on August 26th I left Logan Airport with the team, leaving the country for the first time to play a sport I love. The trip was amazing, from the soccer, to the cultural activities, to hanging out and getting to know my teammates. It was an incredible experience that was a great way to kick off my senior year of high school. I feel confident saying that those twelve days will be days that I will never forget, and for that I am truly grateful. I want to thank you for organizing the trip and for all your efforts both before and during the trip. I also want to thank everyone inside and outside of Deerfield who made the trip possible, who had a hand in the planning of the trip and getting us there, or who financially made the trip to Spain a reality. Without all of you, one of the best experiences of my life would not be possible. Thank you so much for the opportunity and experience of a lifetime!

“You did not have to donate to Deerfield for financial aid and scholarships. But because you did, students like me have been given an amazing experience and a better life.” “Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. Deerfield has opened so many doors for me. I’ve been accepted to my first choice college. My confidence has grown enormously. I’ve discovered a love of robotics. I was able to go to England on a class trip. I love Deerfield, and I will always remember my days here.”


Imagine Deerfield National Chairs

2014-2015 Board of Trustees

Philip Greer ’53 P’94 G’13,’16 Robert T. Hale Jr. ’84 P’15,’17,’18 Roger S. McEniry ’74 P’07,’10 Diana S. & Steven F. Strandberg P’10,’12

Mr. H. Rodgin Cohen (President) ’61 P’99 New York, New York

Mr. Robert T. Hale Jr. ’84 P’15,’17,’18 Hingham, Massachusetts

Mr. Samuel Bronfman II ’71 P’15 Edwards, Colorado

Mr. David H. Koch (Lifetime Member) ’58 New York, New York

Mr. A. Richard Caputo Jr. P’14,’17 Riverside, Connecticut

Mr. Stanford Kuo ’78 P’16,’13 Hong Kong, China

Dr. Margarita R. O. Curtis F Deerfield, Massachusetts

Mr. Roger S. McEniry ’74 P’07,’10 Chicago, Illinois

Mr. David A. DeNunzio ’74 P’12 Greenwich, Connecticut

Mr. Daniel Mosley P’11,’13 Greenwich, Connecticut

Mrs. Sara E. di Bonaventura Ofosu-Amaah ’01 Boston, Massachusetts

Mr. J. Spencer Robertson ’93 Brooklyn, New York

Mr. Sidney H. Evans Jr. ’73 P’09,’12 Washington, District of Columbia

Mr. Mark F. Rockefeller ’85 P’18 New York, New York

Mrs. Katherine T. Farmer ’92 New York, New York

Ms Alice A. Ruth P’13,’17 New York, New York

Mr. Gregory Fleming Sr. P’14 Bedford, New York

Mr. Brian Simmons P’12,’14 Chicago, Illinois

Mr. Daniel B. Garrison ’94 Boston, Massachusetts

Mrs. Diana S. Strandberg P’10,’12 San Francisco, California

Mrs. Leila S. Govi ’93 London, United Kingdom

Mr. Luther L. Terry Jr. ’63 Bedford Hills, New York

Mr. Philip Greer (Lifetime Member) ’53 P’94 G’13,’16 Greenwich, Connecticut

Mrs. Anna M. Velez ’03 Jersey City, New Jersey

Imagine Deerfield National Volunteers Alexander G. & Nancy Auersperg ’78 P’14,’19 James N. and Janet F. Benedict P’13 Serena Bowman P’13,’15,’19 Aaron M. Daniels ’53 P’84 Frederick C. Darling ’87 P’15,’16 Sara E. di Bonaventura Ofosu-Amaah ’01 Craig W. Fanning ’53 Robert A. and Sheri Fleishman P’07,’11,’14 M. Dozier Gardner ’51 Daniel B. Garrison ’94 Richard C. Garrison ’66 P’94,’00 Gregory R. Greene ’84 P’17 Michael and Suzanne Hooper Huebsch P’11, ’12 Neil H. Jacobs ’69 Gordon R. Knight ’54 G’03 David J. & Lesley Koeppel ’76 P’14,’15,’18 Francis A., III and Rosalyn L’Esperance ’75 P’13,’15,’17 H. Stanley Mansfield Jr. ’53 G’03 Mark J. & Hilary C. McInerney ’81 P’10,’13,’16 Marc L. McMurphy ’82 Devin I. Murphy ’78 P’06,’10,’15 Andrew M. and Margaret B. Paul P’14 Brian P. & Julie Simmons P’12,’14 Scott W. Vallar ’78 P’12,’14,’16 Robert Dell Vuyosevich ’72 Philip B. Weymouth III ’83 P’18 Linda F. Whitton P’01,’04,’09,’12 John S. and Karen Wood P’10,’13,’17

Mr. Matthew S. Grossman ’94 Greenwich, Connecticut Ms Robin F. Grossman P’03,’06 Greenwich, Connecticut

Mrs. Susan S. Wallach F New York, New York Mrs. Linda F. Whitton P’01,’04,’09,’12 Paget, Bermuda Judge Victor L. Wright ’84 Los Angeles, California

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Throughout the campaign Deerfield faculty participated in nearly 700 growth opportunities, including new course development, graduate studies, conferences, coaching workshops, presentations, and research.

Last Summer

Historically, Deerfield’s model—where faculty teach, coach, and live in dorms—has left little time for professional growth. And yet we have smart, enormously talented teachers who are eager to progress. “Everything we do as teachers,” says John Taylor, Dean of Faculty, “we do with our students in mind. Challenging and supporting students, ensuring that they grow through a range of lessons and experiences, is our mission here at Deerfield. This begins with supporting an incomparable group of educators.” At the heart of Imagine Deerfield was the development of our faculty, who have long been the life blood of the school, inspiring kids in the classroom, on the field, in the lab, and on the stage. Throughout the campaign—on campus and around the world, often in summer—Deerfield faculty participated in nearly 700 growth opportunities, including new course development, graduate studies, conferences, coaching workshops, presentations, and research. Professional development is a dry and insufficient term for what our teachers have been up to. In their own words, faculty describe opportunities afforded by Imagine Deerfield (right). John Taylor underscores just how critical professional development funds are to Deerfield: “This support has enabled us to work in teams, experiment with new technologies, develop new courses, design more study abroad trips, and implement pedagogies that reach a wider range of students. Imagine Deerfield resources have created tremendous momentum, as our teachers take advantage of the time and tools necessary to excel.”

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“I attended an AP Cambridge Capstone Training session in Miami, in which I was certified to annotate and assess AP Cambridge Capstone papers by the College Board.”

“At the Annual Meeting of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in Boston, I will be speaking about how to connect Geometry to other math classes and how to connect Geometry to other areas of life (Art, Carpentry, Chemistry, Poetry).”

“I am editing and adapting my Algebra I textbook for use on the iPad via the software iBooks Author.”

“I traveled to Nerja, Spain to participate in a two-week teacher training course for Teachers of Spanish as a Foreign Language.”

“I had a fantastic experience on the Faculty China Trip. It was especially rewarding meeting with DA students, parents, and alumni in their homes and hometowns and gaining a deeper appreciation for the diverse backgrounds and cultural experiences that contribute so richly to the DA community.”

“This is an excellent course. By integrating the information and techniques I learned, I will be better able to help our athletes recover from injuries.”


Introducing Noah Blake

Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving

2014-2015 Executive Committee of the Alumni Association Sara E. di Bonaventura Ofosu-Amaah ’01, President Nathaniel F. Emmons ’60, Vice President Elizabeth Greer Anderson ’94 Elaine T. Asher ’93 Theodore H. Ashford III ’82 P’14 David R. DeCamp ’76 P’13,’15, John J. Dinneen III ’79 W. Malcolm Dorson ’02 Edward C. Flato ’73 P’10,’12 Daniel B. Garrison ’94 Ex-Officio Peter W. Gonzalez ’62 P’94,’97 Emeritus David S. Hagerman ’64 P’99 James P. Hill ’99 Frances B. Hodler ’03 Francis O. Idehen Jr. ’95 G. Kent Kahle ’70 P’02,’04,’07 Ted W. Lubin ’00 Rush M. McCloy ’92 Marguerite F. McNicoll ’98 Alexander H. Mejia ’99 John A. Mendelson ’58 George R. Mesires ’87 Walter S. Tomenson III ’95 Raymond L. Walker ’92 Nathalie C. Weiss ’08 Sydney M. Williams ’85

2014-2015 Parents Committee Sr. Parent Chairs David J. & Lesley Koeppel ’76 P’14,’15,’18

Annual Fund Volunteers Steven F. & Patti Collins P’15 John W. & Loren Dixon P’16 Donald J. & Anne Edwards P’17 Ronald & Jennifer Gerber P’14,’17 David L. & Kathryn Ilsley ’76 P’16,’17,’18 Greg & Kimberly Pappas P’17 Christian S. & Holly Schade P’15 John I. & Mary L. Snow III P’18 Karl G. Wellner & Deborah A. Norville P’09,’13,’16

Grandparent Volunteers Grandparent Chairs Gordon R. & Ellen Knight ’54 G’03

Noah Blake says he had the best possible training when he began working in development: He was the development office at the small Episcopal day school where his career began. “I wrote the letters, printed the letters, stuffed the letters, stamped the letters,” he says with a laugh. “I think it encouraged good discipline—if you’re the one who actually does every step of the process, you really want to make sure that what you’re doing makes sense.” From there Mr. Blake went on to join the Alumni and Development Office at Canterbury School in New Milford, CT, where he grew as an alumni relations professional and a fundraiser, including a yearlong stint as the Acting Director of Development. This past July, Mr. Blake joined Deerfield’s Advancement Office as Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving. A graduate of Stanford University and UNC-Chapel Hill, Mr. Blake admits that when people ask him about working in development, he usually points out that he doesn’t know of anyone who says: “I wanted to be a fundraiser when I grew up.” But he considers himself fortunate to have found his way into the profession, and says that he believes it really fits his interests and abilities. “I’m thrilled to be able to bring what I have to the table and continue to grow this model program here at Deerfield, but it’s easy to appear tall when one stands on the shoulders of giants. I have to acknowledge the incredible professionals who have come before—specifically in this office: Mimi Morsman, John Knight, and David Pond. “It’s one thing to build a program. It’s another thing to come in and basically be told, ‘Continue to make it evolve. Continue to make it even better,’ but you’re not starting from zero. What we do here—it’s all predicated on the fact that alumni, parents, friends—all constituents—love this place.” As a current Deerfield parent, times two, Mr. Blake knows what he’s talking about when it comes to loving the Academy. In fact, it’s thanks to his daughter, Maddie, Class of 2017, that the Blake family found its way to Deerfield in the first place. “We had actually ruled out Deerfield because we thought it was too far away,” Mr. Blake explains. “But then the Admission materials started to come after a school fair . . . and things started to get interesting, and now we’re all here!” Mr. Blake and his wife, Barrie, describe Maddie’s experience at Deerfield over the past two years as “incredible,” and when the time came, younger daughter Lucy followed in her sister’s footsteps and applied. Soon after Lucy became a member of the Class of 2019, Mr. Blake was approached by Dean of Advancement CJ Menard to discuss possibly joining the Advancement Office. “At times it seems so random that you just have to feel blessed to have the road work out the way it does,” Mr. Blake says. “Obviously we all control it to a degree by making choices, and opening and closing doors, but it’s amazing, too! Every morning, I pinch myself and I go, ‘Oh, look! I still get to work at Deerfield Academy. How awesome is that?’” This year, in addition to getting to know the Deerfield family at events across the country, Mr. Blake is exploring improved ways for alumni to connect with each other using new technologies, mentoring opportunities for alumni and current students, and continuing to engage young alumni, in particular, in philanthropic activities. “A very interesting number from Imagine Deerfield is that over 9000 constituents gave to Deerfield during the campaign—most in the form of Annual Fund gifts—and as such, contributed meaningfully to the campaign and the overall result,” Mr. Blake says. “We’re continuing to engage with young alumni and talking with them about their philanthropic priorities; it’s important to know that the current student experience is being significantly improved by alumni contributions, and that Deerfield is worthy of their support—not just because they had a great experience here, but also because we want to continue to engage them with each other, in great events, and in what’s important to them. “Talking to someone about what makes this place special to them is magic,” Mr. Blake adds. “Every time. Because it’s always different, and it’s always unique to their experience—what they brought to the table when they got here—the teacher who changed their life. I’m happy to be a conduit for that kind of information, and make those kinds of connections, or continue to foster those connections that started in the classroom and in the dorm. Personally, I have confidence that the program here will continue to move ahead in a fantastic way because we’re still creating those phenomenal experiences here at Deerfield every single day. You just say, ‘Wow.’ How great to be affiliated with this institution.”//

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Strength in Numbers

Academic Dean Peter Warsaw once described Deerfield as “a medium-sized school running a big-school program, striving to preserve a small-school feel.” That’s a tough model to sustain. Through grit and Yankee ingenuity, we’ve been sustaining such a model for years. When you compare, say, our endowment per student ratio—a reliable measure of a school’s strength— with those of our peers, you’ll realize pretty quickly that we’ve been doing more with less for decades. From the outset of Imagine Deerfield, bolstering our endowment has been an imperative. It is the single most important means of strengthening the school, advancing with confidence, and preparing the Academy for the challenges and opportunities in the years ahead. Deerfield’s endowment stood at $306 million just prior to the start of the campaign. Through your generosity, and with nearly 100 newly-created funds, our endowment is now approximately $532 million. Strength in numbers, indeed!

Parental Involvement

Through your generosity, and with nearly 100 newly-created funds, our endowment is now approximately $532 million. Strength in numbers, indeed!

What comprises a Deerfield education? Devoted teachers and staff, hardworking students, a stunning campus, and . . . ? If you answered mom and dad, you get extra points. Who do you think has been making all of this possible for the past, oh, hundred years? Nearly every Deerfield parent has contributed to the school, often in exceedingly generous and thoughtful ways. Parents are integral to Deerfield’s story, standing, program, and place. Over the course of Imagine Deerfield, $137,547,670—or 54 percent of the campaign total—came from 2333 (alumni and non-alumni) parent households. That’s remarkable! Every year, parents of seniors support a special gift—a legacy to honor the graduating class. Here’s a look at those projects throughout the campaign.

2009 GREER STORE/ FITNESS CENTER

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2010 ENDOWED FUND TO HIRE YOUNG, TRIPLE-THREAT FACULTY

2011 RENOVATION OF THE DINING HALL

In 1929, during the Academy’s first capital campaign, Bruce Barton, a Deerfield parent, wrote, “There is something about Deerfield which is not easy to put into print—something that you feel in the corridors of its hundred-year-old buildings, and the atmosphere of its rugged hills.” Barton knew, as did his fellow parents, that that something was worth sustaining. A quick tour of campus will tell you that today’s parents are every bit as loyal and committed, ensuring Deerfield’s high standards for years to come. Thank you, mom and dad (and grandma and grandpa, too)!

2012 ENDOWED FUND FOR ATTRACTING EXCEPTIONAL TEACHERS AND TO SUPPORT THE EXPANSION OF A DEVOTED FACULTY

2013 HESS CENTER FOR THE ARTS

2014 ENDOWED FUND TO SUPPORT STUDENT-RUN CULTURAL, ENTERTAINMENT, AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

2015 BOYDEN LIBRARY RENOVATION


Bricks and Mortar

In campaign-speak, “bricks and mortar” are built projects that reshape the landscape, visually and enduringly. At Deerfield, this is also done sustainably, carefully, and in keeping with a forward-looking school. Alumni returning for Reunions always look for changes since their student days. Often, they’ll sense something has been altered, but they’re not sure exactly what, how, or where. Take the Hess Center for the Arts. Stand facing the building from the quad. What do you see? The familiar visage of the Memorial Building, right? Look again, and you’ll see two major additions—the von Auersperg Art Gallery and the Elizabeth Wachsman Concert Hall—flanking the Hess, both seamlessly integrated into the landscape. Step inside and you discover a beautifully renovated Large Auditorium, cutting-edge classrooms, and new practice spaces—an entire facility whose mission is the cultivation of community, creativity, and innovation. Trek to the east, across Main Street, and you’ll find the New Dorm. Built in 2012, the dorm is as impressive as its name is bland, featuring 22,000 square feet, 30 single rooms, and three faculty apartments. This LEED -qualified gem has a super-insulated enclosure, 7000 slate

roof shingles, LED lighting, 73 photovoltaic panels, and a solar hot water system—effectively reducing energy usage and preventing approximately seven tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere each year. Thanks to the families of the Class of 2009, Deerfield’s Fitness Center was thoroughly revitalized. The Greer Store was similarly rejuvenated, creating a gathering space for study, recreation, and rest. Integral to our construction and renovation projects, is a broad effort to promote sustainability, on scales both large and small, with the goals of reducing our carbon footprint and inculcating healthy habits. On the programmatic side, in courses such as Global H2O, and a brand new offering, Global Food Systems, students investigate sustainability, natural resources, and impact, while exploring and debating real-world solutions. Our director of sustainability works with students to create and implement green initiatives, including a recycling program and an energy-savings contest between dorms. Guided by a Sustainability Action Plan, our students, teachers, and staff are making significant strides.

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Travel programs can be an extension of our courses, enriching or applying what students are learning. “It’s also about what they bring back to campus,” says Mr. Miller. “I hope all students are aware of and critical of the reality of their impacts on a place, and while not all of our trips involve direct service, I hope that all students return from trips inspired to serve.”

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Class of ’65 Reunion Committee Reunion Co-Chairs: Edward G. Flickinger ’65 Andrew R. Steele ’65 Honorary Co-Chairs: Randall A. Hack ’65 P’01,’03 David C. Howell ’65 P’98 Attendance Chairs: William R. Burns ’65 P’97 Kimball H. Morsman ’65 Edward T. Post Jr. ’65 Fundraising Chairs: Geoffrey R. Keyes ’65 Christopher P. Kocher ’65 Program Chairs: John E. Dietz II ’65 Samuel Weisman ’65 Yearbook Chairs: David J. Beisler ’65 Timothy P. Byrne ’65 Jack W. Davis Jr. ’65 Committee at Large: James H. Averill Jr. ’65 P’94 Michael J. Baker ’65 Wm. Thacher Brown ’65 Allen H. Ehrgood III ’65 Donald P. Goodheart ’65 Dean H. Goossen ’65 Thornley A. Hart ’65 Robert E. Ives ’65 Joseph W. Latham ’65 P’95 John F. Rand ’65 P’09,’13 Jeffrey R. Reder ’65 Douglas A. Spragg ’65 Winship A. Todd Jr. ’65

The Future

In a blog entry written during the Tanzania trip, in The reimagining of the Boyden Library, a renovation March 2015, a student speaks of the work at hand: project currently underway, synthesizes many of the Academy’s core objectives. Think of it as a bridge “We woke up early to plow away at the dry soil. We tore apart the dead grass to develop tree rows in the between our Imagine Deerfield days and the future ground. Dirt flying and sweat running, we created of the school. The library will become an interdisciplinary, inno- two 5-meter tree rows, where we put in tree saplings. We got to plant guava, avocado, bananas, papayas, vative facility, one that responds to the challenges of and more. Using permaculture principles, we sucteaching and learning in the 21st century. It will bring ceeded in turning an incompetent piece of land into a together the offices of College Advising, the Academic Dean, and the Center for Service and Global Citizenship, future haven for a diversity of colorful fruits.” Another student on the trip reflects on connectransforming the 47-year-old building into a vibrant tions made and lessons learned: “The girls leave us academic resource hub. with friendships we will never forget, and stories For generations, Deerfield has sought to connect that teach us to be so much more grateful for the students to teachers, peers, and material. The library lives we live. They inspire us to be more actionproject is simply the latest manifestation of this tradition. Students are increasingly interested in— oriented in our service, and show us how to live happily with less.” and ready for—engaging real-world challenges and Travel programs can be an extension of our courses, problems, as they make connections beyond classrooms, enriching or applying what students are learning. disciplinary boundaries, and campus. To understand where Deerfield is headed, keep an “It’s also about what they bring back to campus,” says Mr. Miller. “I hope all students are aware of and critical eye on our soon-to-be-officially-launched Center for of the reality of their impacts on a place, and while Service and Global Citizenship (CSGC). The Center’s not all of our trips involve direct service, I hope that mission is to integrate our global, sustainability, and ethical programs—all of which build on our founda- all students return from trips inspired to serve.” Expect students and teachers to embark on more tional emphasis on character education—into a more journeys, near and far, as campaign funding has coherent program. The CSGC will expand efforts in supported this increasingly central element of the the following areas: student leadership, professional Deerfield Experience. development, community outreach, experiential “Deerfield! Go onward marching . . . ” learning, innovation lab support, and academic The extraordinary enthusiasm and commitment cocurricular programs. of the Deerfield community has enabled us to make unprecedented investments in our program. The Whole Wide World Imagine Deerfield has truly been a team effort, one Leading the Center for Service and Global Citizenship that marks the beginning, not the end, of our is David Miller, who also serves as Deerfield’s Director aim to provide faculty and students with the best of Global Studies. “When I think about students on trips, I think a lot about the verbs they use,” says Mr. resources. Before us, on the not-too-distant horizon, are a host of opportunities that naturally build on Miller. “While ‘learn,’ ‘see,’ and ‘understand’ are often the baseline, I strive to have students ‘engage,’ our momentum and are consistent with Deerfield’s long-term planning: a new Field House, an Endowed ‘create,’ ‘solve,’ and ‘do.’ I want them to work hard and think hard. I want them to be uncomfortable, Fund for Athletics, a modern Health Center, and a renovated Classroom Building, among other challenged, and taking healthy risks. I want them to essential projects. practice leadership skills in authentic settings and We are indebted to you, our alumni, parents, and feel the deep power of empathy.” China, Dominican Republic, Tanzania, Italy, Jordan, friends. You are the underpinning of this great enterprise. We are grateful for all that you have done— Scotland, Colombia, England, Brazil, France, and and continue to do—for this remarkable school. // South Korea are among the countries students and teachers have visited during the campaign.

13


Co-Chairs: Craig W. Fanning ’53 H. Stanley Mansfield Jr. ’53 Marc L. McMurphy ’82 Robert Dell Vuyosevich ’72 Committee: Guilford W. Forbes ’41 Erskine B. van Houten Jr. ’43 (dec) Richardson McKinney ’45 James McB. Garvey Jr. ’46 Gilbert M. Grosvenor ’49 Robert B. Hiden Jr. ’51 John B. Horton ’52 P’89 Joseph D. Lawrence ’54 Harold R. Talbot Jr. ’54 Edison W. Dick ’55 Charles B. Updike ’57 David C. Knight ’58 P’87 Erwin H. Miller ’58 Wm. T. Schwendler Jr. ’58 John F. Kikoski Jr. ’59 P’83 Christian Baldenhofer ’60 Robert F. Herrick ’60 Howard Coonley II ’62 Edward R. McPherson ’63 Christopher G. Mumford ’64 P’01 Edgar A. Bates III ’68 Edwin G. Reade III ’71 Ralph Earle III ’75 P’10,’12 Henry S. Fox ’76 P’12 John H. Christel ’79 Peter F. McLaughlin Jr. ’81 John G. Knight ’83 Christopher J. Tierney ’85 Todd H. Eckler ’86 David A. Thiel ’91

2014-2015 Annual Fund Steering Committee Daniel B. Garrison ’94, National Chair Richard F. Boyden ’52 Robert S. Lyle II ’64 P’91,’95 Andrew R. Steele ’65 Frank H. Reichel III ’82 Andrew P. Bonanno ’87 Amy S. Harsch ’97 Lisa Craig ’00 Nicholas Z. Hammerschlag ’04

14

Imagine Deerfield Major Donors 2009-2015 ////////////////////////////// View the 2014-15 Annual Report online: deerfield.edu/annualreport

2014-2015 Boyden Society Advisory Committee

$1,000,000 and above Anonymous (5) Nihan & Reza Ali ’87 Nancy & Alexander Auersperg ’78 P’14,’19 Theodore Bacon Jr. ’38 P’65 (deceased) Jeffrey Bewkes ’70 P’15 Kelly & Samuel Bronfman II ’71 P’15 Lisa & Dick Cashin P’03,’07 Theresa & Benjamin Castellano-Wood P’16,’17 Sharon & Daniel Chan P’14 Young M’Young Kim & Mong Joon Chung P’05 Barbara & H. Rodgin Cohen ’61 Stephanie & Charles Coleman III ’93 Barbara & William Edwards P’74,’75,’77 G’12 Peter Fair ’81 P’10,’12,’16,’17 Greer Family Foundation Mary & Randall Hack ’65 P’01,’03 Karen & Robert Hale Jr. ’84 P’15,’17,’18 Wendy & John Havens P’02,’10 Susan & John Hess P’05,’07,’12 Charles Kennedy ’38 (deceased) & Eulsum Kennedy Julia & David Koch ’58 Lesley & David Koeppel ’76 P’14,’15,’18 Tian Miao Lin & Gong Xin Wang P’15 Kimbrough Towles & George Loening ’84 Roger McEniry ’74 P’07,’10 Hilary & Mark McInerney ’81 P’10,’13,’16 Heather & Daniel Mosley P’11,’13 Ed & Laura Opler Jr. ’51 P’73,’74,’89 Somporn & Surin Osathanugrah P’92 Frederic Rich ’74 P’19 Alexandra & Alexander Robertson ’97 Renee & Mark Rockefeller ’85 P’18 Richard Scaife ’50 P’84,’94 (deceased) Julie & Brian Simmons P’12,’14 Robert Stone ’40 P’72,’73 (deceased) Diana & Steven Strandberg P’10,’12 Lin An & Weizhong Sun P’17 Dana & Jim Tananbaum P’14 Rodolfo Wachsman ’53 Susan & Kenneth Wallach Stephen Weiss (deceased) & Suzanne Weiss P’08

$100,000 to $999,999 Anonymous (3) Wendy & James Abrams P’14 Ellen Robinson & Peter Acly ’63 Suzanne & Michael Ainslie P’16 Julia & James Alexandre P’06,’08,’11,’13 Alexandra & John Amorosi ’87 Penny & Ted Ashford III ’82 P’14 Anthony Atwell ’53 Susan & Bernard Pak-Hong Auyang ’87 Janet & James Averill Jr. ’65 P’94 Kerry Elizabeth Burke & Michael Baity ’04 Linda & Timothy Balch ’63

Willa & Robert Baynard Jr. ’80 Angela & Antony Beck P’13,’14 Jeannie & Henry Becton Jr. ’61 Kathleen & Eduard Beit ’79 P’13,’15 Jeffy & Jim Benedict P’13 Arlene & Tom Bloomer ’49 P’79,’84,’98 Mary Dahowski Bonneville ’23 (deceased) Carol & Shelby Bonnie P’17 Peter Booth ’57 (deceased) & Monette Booth Thomas Boucher Jr. ’76 Serena & Brad Bowman III P’13,’15,’19 Peggy & Thomas Bradley ’43 Clarissa Alcock-Bronfman & Edgar Bronfman Jr. P’15 Katrina & Kimball Brooker Jr. ’87 Mr. & Mrs. Gregory “Wen” Brown ’85 Letty & Jim Callinan Sr. P’14,’16 Hongwen Cao & Hanmin Ke P’14 Ellen & Mac Caputo ’59 Leigh & Benjamin Carpenter P’07,’11,’14 James L. Cassidy (deceased) Mrs. John A. Cawley ’37 (deceased) Chun Wei & Dagang Chen P’16 Hong Bai & Guangbiao Chen P’13 Ping Tian & Qiang Chen P’15,’18 Tay & Kunho Cho P’03,’05 Ann & John Clarkeson ’60 P’90 Brigita & John Clementi ’68 P’98,’01,’05 Pat & Jim Cochran ’51 Louisa & John Cohlan P’16,’18 Charlotte & Rory Cowan ’71 P’07,’08,’13 Judy & Aaron Daniels ’53 P’84 Elizabeth & Terry Darling ’87 P’15,’16 David Mathey Charitable Lead Trust Sandy & Tim Day ’55 Jocelyne & David DeNunzio ’74 P’12 Jean & Ralph DeNunzio P’74,’77,’80 G’11,’12,’12,’14 H’12 Gayle & Tim DeVries P’15 Harriet & Bob Dewey Jr. ’49 P’77 G’11,’11, ’11,’12,’14,’14,’14,’17 Alison & Robert DeWitt ’74 P’05,’07,’12 Ellen & Christopher di Bonaventura P’01,’05,’08 Evelyn & Mike Donatelli P’12 Mary Ann & Robert Downes P’16,’18 Charles Drinkle Jr. ’48 (deceased) Susan & James Dunning Jr. ’66 P’01,’04 Jane Mendillo & Ralph Earle III ’75 P’10,’12 Sara & Craig Fanning ’53 Sean & Sarah Farrington ’87 Janice Lin ’92 & Dai Feng ’93 Frederick Finucane ’36 (deceased) Sonja & Conrad Fischer ’52 P’82 Doris Fisher G’13 Sakurako & William Fisher P’13 Edmund Fitzgerald ’43 (deceased) Rich & Mary Beth Flaherty ’81 P’16


Sheri & Robert Fleishman P’07,’11,’14 Melissa & Gregory Fleming P’14 Henry Flynt Jr. ’40 P’71 G’04 (deceased) Katharine & William Gahagan G’12,’13,’17 Sandy & Dozier Gardner ’51 Katrina & Terry Garnett P’16,’17 Carlie & Neal Garonzik ’64 P’03,’05 Weezie & Bink Garrison ’66 P’94,’00 Michael & Tara Germino ’95 Peggotty & Peter Gilson ’57 P’84 G’12 Ronna & Robert Gold ’63 P’07 Mr. & Mrs. Peter W. Gonzalez ’62 P’94,’97 Janie & Gene Goodwillie ’59 Clare & Robert Gordon P’13 Greg & Danielle Greene ’84 P’17 Sarah & Josh Greenhill ’96 Elizabeth Kensinger & Jonathan Grenzke ’94 Aryn & Matthew Grossman ’94 Robin & Roy Grossman P’03,’06 Karen Ying & Patrick Guo P’17 Tracey Roberts & Paul Haigney ’78 Ellen & Thomas Hakes P’12 Joan & Doug Hansen P’13,’15 Stephen Harrick ’89 Mary Ellen & Gates Hawn ’66 Wendy & Ted Henderson P’13,’15,’19 Henry P. Kendall Foundation Liann Tao & David Ho ’83 P’16 Alessandra & Stephen Holowesko P’18 Josephine Tay & Will Hoon P’15 Jacqueline Kwauk & Emmet Hsu P’16 Suzanne & Michael Huebsch P’11,’12 Kirk & Jay Huffard ’59 P’87,’88 Kim & Flip Huffard IV P’15 Carrie & Jon Hulburd P’05,’07,’10,’14 Kathy & David Ilsley ’76 P’16,’17,’18 Stephanie & Tim Ingrassia P’09,’13 Mrs. Carol Jacobs P’69 Deborah Posin & Neil Jacobs ’69 Leonard Jernigan Jr. ’68 Julia & Marc Johnson ’74 P’08,’11,’14,’17 Laurie & Kenneth Kadow P’13 Denise & Michael Kellen ’62 Yoon Jung Cho-Kim & Inho Kim ’81 P’08,’11,’14 Jinsun Oh & Sangbum Kim P’14 Jean Kang & Yong Hyun Kim ’85 P’19 Alex Kleiner ’04 Diana & Fred Kleiner P’04 The Andrew & Julie Klingenstein Family Fund Pat & John Klingenstein ’46 P’72,’76 G’06 Nancy Perlman & Thomas Klingenstein ’72 William M. Kuharich ’72 Stanford Kuo ’78 P’13,’16 Junwoo Lee ’88 Vivian & Terry Lee ’84 P’16 Ros & Fran L’Esperance III ’75 P’13,’15,’17 Xiaoling & Charles Li P’12 Guoqing Li & Peggy Yu Yu P’17

Ying Wu & Haifeng Li Yanping Yang & Xinyu Li P’14 Chairman Yongzi Liang LinLin Zhou & Yunbo Liang P’18 Karen & Gustave Lipman ’89 Qing & Xiaosong Liu P’15 Elizabeth & J. Jeffry Louis ’81 P’18 Amy & Steve Louis ’80 P’12,’14,’19 Julie & Tim Louis ’46 P’69,’73,’80,’82 G’97,’99,’01,’05,’07,’10,’12,’14,’16,’19 Angela Lu P’08 Jing Wu & Xing Ping Lu P’12 Carolyn & Eddy Pun Lui ’91 P’19 Tracy & Afonso Ma P’17 Connie & Bruce Macleod ’61 P’92,’94 Sheldon MacLeod ’45 (deceased) Jayne & Chris Malfitano P’11 Jane Sloan Duffy & H. Stanley Mansfield Jr. ’53 Yvonne & Michael Marsh P’07,’19 Claire & Cornelius Marx ’61 Louis Marx Jr. ’49 P’86,’89 Dean Mathey ’46 Vivek Mathias ’89 Lisa & Will Mathis ’84 Mr. & Mrs. Whitefoord Mays III ’61 Susan & Craig McCaw P’17 Ashley & Jeffrey McDermott P’11,’14 Amanda & Matthew McEvoy P’13,’15 Megan & Casey McManemin P’17 Katie & Bill McNabb III ’75 Dr. & Mrs. T. Stuart Meloy ’76 P’10 Andy Merin ’66 Alice & Lorne Michaels P’10,’13,’16 Charles & Kristen Mills P’17 Tamra & Kurt Mobley P’11 Tina & Hamid Moghadam P’14 Stephen Mong ’88 Stacey & Robert Morse P’13 Robert Moses Jr. ’58 Chris Mumford ’64 P’01 Jennifer & Devin Murphy ’78 P’06,’10,’15 Karen & Tommy Murphy P’11,’17 Kylie & Jamie Nottage ’87 Natasha & Peter O’Brien ’87 P’17 Sarah & Eddie Opler ’89 P’19 Britt & Peter Palmedo ’73 P’99,’03 Hadley & Brad Palmer ’79 P’16,’19 Margaret & Andrew Paul P’14 Brian Peierls ’65 Dario Pong ’87 Deborah & Stephen Quazzo ’78 P’08 Harley & Robert Raiff P’12 Roderick McK. Ramsay ’57 Cristina & Matthew Ripperger ’90 Sarah & J. Spencer Robertson ’93 Marite & Joe Robinson ’60 P’97,’01 Sue & Andrew Rockefeller ’47 P’77 Mr. & Mrs. W. Jeremy Rood ’55

Pat & E. John Rosenwald Jr. ’48 P’76 Lauren & John Roth P’08,’10 Elizabeth & Marcus Rowland P’07 Alice Ruth & Ron Alvarez P’13,’17 Franca & Joseph Rutigliano P’13,’14 Ji Hyun Nam & Si Hoon Ryu P’09 Hae Ree Cheong & Si Hyuck Ryu P’15 Andrew Schiff ’83 P’18 The Schiff Foundation Amy & John Scott P’06,’09 Mary & Charles Sethness ’64 P’02,’07 Drew & Kiki Shilling P’14,’17 Kelly & John Shuhda P’17,’19 Andy Sims ’62 Linda & David Sicher ’63 W. Reed Simmons ’63 P’08 Nancy Simpkins P’06 Grace So Yue & John So P’13,’15 James Soper III ’40 Maggie & Doug Squires ’69 P’09 Mr. & Mrs. Richard Star ’87 Missy & Rick Sterne ’64 James W. Stevens ’54 G’12 Kimberly & David Stewart James Stoltzfus ’43 (deceased) & Floyd Humphreys Beverley & Sabin Streeter ’59 Mr. George E. Summers ’60 Taikang Life Insurance Hamilton Tang ’81 Belinda & Luther L. Terry Jr. ’63 David Thompson ’53 Nancy & Mike Tooke ’62 P’94 Susan & M. Jay Trees ’62 P’86,’93 Jennifer & Ted Ullyot ’85 Ann & Thomas Unterberg ’48 Hatsy & Scott Vallar ’78 P’12,’14,’16 Robert Dell Vuyosevich ’72 Younghee Kim-Wait & Jarett Wait P’17 Liz & Todd Warnock P’12,’14 Deborah & Peter Weinberg ’75 P’08 Deborah Norville & Karl Wellner P’09,’13,’16 Peggy & Philip B. Weymouth Jr. ’53 P’83, ’91 G’18 Elizabeth & Philip B. Weymouth III ’83 P’18 Stephen White ’50 Linda & John Whitton III P’01,’04,’09,’12 Kerry & Charles Wilson P’10,’12,’14 Jean & Richard Witmer Jr. P’08,’10 Marita & Jackson Wong P’18 Irene Koo & Ken Wong P’16 Karen & John Wood P’10,’13,’17 Ann & Gordon Woodward ’87 P’19 Shirley Yeung & Steven Xiang P’08,’15 Marina & Andrew Yao P’16 Cecilia & Sonny Yau ’68 P’93,’95 Marian & James Yiu P’11,’14,’17 Ruinian Zhu G’15 Nancy & William Zisson ’59

15


638 Student Enrollment:

All the Best by Dean of Admission Pamela J. Safford These days, history and reputation only get you so far. Happily, Deerfield is well-known, and as a result the school benefits from an extraordinary number of families inquiring about the Deerfield Experience and then choosing to apply for admission. But the truth is, there are many more families who have never heard of Deerfield or are not aware of what distinguishes us from other independent schools, much less what makes us worth nearly 60,000 dollars a year in tuition. It’s this latter group on whom we—and all independent boarding schools —will increasingly rely when looking for talented students in the years to come. To attract and sustain the attention of families less familiar with Deerfield (as well as those who already know us), we must demonstrate why we’re worth the financial and personal sacrifices associated with parents allowing their children to live away at school and entrusting other adults with their care. This is the value question. In raising money for financial aid (including need-based grants, funds for travel, and endowment for aid), as well as for faculty compensation, housing, and professional development, the recently-concluded Imagine Deerfield campaign has enabled us to attract and support first-rate people: students with keen minds, eager to learn, and adults who readily and happily help students explore their interests and develop their talents. But even so, at the close of such a campaign it’s natural to ask: “Did we make a difference? And if so, how?” From my perspective as Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, the answer is an unequivocal “Yes! This campaign made a huge difference!” Deerfield’s value lies first in the quality of our people—both students and adults. While still not completely “need blind” in our financial aid program (approximately 40 percent of our applicants apply for financial aid and we are able to assist about 33 percent of our admitted students), we are in the enviable position of being able to choose those students most suited for the rigor and opportunities of Deerfield, partly because we can often remove cost as a barrier. As a result, we can search for talent from all corners, and when these students

16 | ALBANY ROAD

Boarding Students:

569

Day Students:

Boys:

Girls:

330 (52%) arrive, they’re amazed at the quality of their teachers, coaches, and dorm parents. They discover a faculty that is passionate about their subject matter, loves working with students, and is incredibly well educated. Most students can’t hope to access this kind of talent until they arrive at college, and even then it’s unusual to form the meaningful relationships with teachers that happen so organically at Deerfield. So it’s critical that we have—through financial support—strengthened our ability to attract and retain the best people. In addition to Imagine Deerfield ensuring that we can compose our student and adult community intentionally, the campaign also allowed us to implement some exciting new programs and improve our already incredible facilities. As a result, when prospective families page through our viewbook and examine the course catalog, they discover an extensive array of offerings that defy our size, and again rival what one might expect to find in college, not high school. Opportunities such as those provided through our Center for Service and Global Citizenship, our Capstone initiative, and those that allow students to research, volunteer, or study off campus attract just the kinds of students our teachers most wish to teach—those who are bright, motivated, curious, and innovative —as well as those Deerfield will be most proud to call alumni.

69

308 (48%) Likewise, when visiting families come to campus they are often in awe of our facilities— never having expected to find such state-ofthe-art buildings nestled in this historic and remote valley. On the outside these buildings are beautiful and well maintained. On the inside they increasingly reveal—thanks in part to this most recent campaign—innovative uses of space, ready access to technology, and first-rate equipment and classrooms that serve to inspire and support original research and investigation, the creation of art, or even competition at the highest level. This intersection of old and new sets Deerfield apart, and family after family returns from their campus tour commenting on the uniqueness of this incredible place. In an increasingly competitive and crowded marketplace, the admission and financial aid teams are grateful to work at a school that’s in a position to attract first-rate people—students and faculty—and to provide them with an experience that is second to none when they join our community. Imagine Deerfield has served to ensure that this will remain true for the next generation of students—students who one day, no doubt, will come back to Deerfield and offer their own “thank you” in a similar fashion. //


35

Returning:

421

SSAT:

85th Percentile

States + District of Columbia & the US Virgin Islands Geography:

New:

217

34 Countries

9

th

$54,720 Boarding Tuition:

$39,220 Day

Fees:

$1,060 / $795 textbooks / technology

5,315 344 1,972 (194/23) 217 2,002 Inquiries

Admitted (17.4%)

Applications

Boarding/Day Matriculated

Interviewed

LEGACY STATISTICS

114

Students of color

10th

28.5%

57

as reported at the time of enrollment

11th

21 12th+ PG

25 ADMISSION STATISTICS

Tuition:

Foreign Nationals

11% Church-affiliated School

US Citizens living overseas

7%

Home Schooled (1 student)

International School Private School

Public School

13.6% of entire student body are children or grandchildren of alumni 11.9% of entire student body are siblings (38 pairs of siblings on campus) 28% of the entire student body are legacies or siblings (of current or graduated students)


19

6

3

5

21 23

22

4 7

18

8

14

16 20

1

10

11

2

9 17 24

13

12 15

The Power House / MEET THE NEW FACULTY—LEARN A FACT OR TWO

18 | ALBANY ROAD


MARK ACTON: 1

PATRICK AQUINO: 2

SCIENCE

MATH

Returns to Deerfield having previously taught at the Academy from 2007-2011; taught as a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso.

Taught middle school math and coached lacrosse and field hockey at The Pine Cobble School; interested in behavioral economics and origami.

CARRIE BROWN: 5

ENGLISH Her seventh novel, The Stargazer’s Sister will be published in January 2016 from Pantheon Books; is the author of six other novels and a collection of short stories.

EMMA COFFIN: 9

SCIENCE Conducted independent research on the efficacy of social media technology tools in teaching organic chemistry while in college; worked as a teaching intern at Northfield Mount Hermon.

JOE GRIMM: 13

MATH

JOHN BROWN: 6

Inspired by Mark Twain, traveled the US by train working as a travel journalist; played tennis in high school and college.

SUE CARLSON: 7

SAM CHAPIN: 8

HISTORY TEACHING FELLOW

Directed the creative writing program at Sweet Briar College for 21 years; his fourth novel, A Thousand Miles from Nowhere, will be published in 2016.

Received the Robert Dalzell Prize at Williams College for primary research for his undergraduate thesis on wartime reconstruction in costal NC; co-captained the Williams crew team.

DELANO COPPRUE: 10

KAYLA CORCORAN: 11

JD DEVAUGHN-BROWN: 12

ENGLISH

HISTORY TEACHING FELLOW

COMPUTER SCIENCE

Had a brief minor-league baseball career before studying honors literature at Rutgers College; teaching career began at Columbia University.

Graduated from Deerfield in 2010; spent a year as a junior fellow in the Academic Support Department at King’s Academy in Jordan.

Built his first computer at the age of eight; has focused on developing an Intelligent Tutoring System for gifted and high-achieving students.

DANIEL JACKSON: 14

DIRECTOR OF MUSIC

ELLIE MCDONALD: 17

CASSIEL OWENS: 18

SPANISH TEACHER

COUNSELOR

Taught Spanish, coached JV field hockey and lacrosse, and lived in a dorm at Westminster School in Simsbury, CT; lived in Madrid while earning her MA in Spanish Linguistics.

Visited South Africa to study the AIDS pandemic and disparities in healthcare systems; before grad school, worked as a quality testing chemist at a pulp and paper mill in GA.

FOOTBALL COACH During his time as assistant football coach at the University of New Hampshire, the Wildcats went 66 and 26; served as academic liaison for the team.

HEALTH ISSUES

Wrote a humor column for his college school newspaper; doctoral research focused on the analysis of partial differential equations.

SCIENCE

ENGLISH

BRIAN BARBATO: 4

Retired from Deerfield in 2008 after 43 years in education; calls the opportunity to return to Deerfield as a sabbatical replacement an “unexpected and greatly anticipated treat!”

ENGLISH

Under his direction, the Olympia High School (Orlando, FL) Chorus Department earned first-place finishes in numerous choral festivals; was Chancel Choir Director for ten years at the Presbyterian Church of the Lakes.

KHALEH THOMAS: 20

CHRISTIAN AUSTIN: 3

MEGHAN JIMENEZ: 15

SCIENCE TEACHING FELLOW Researched advanced upper limb prosthetics at the Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology; taught engineering design to middle school students at Exploration Summer Programs.

JOSH RELIN: 19

SARA LENTRICCHIA: 16

SCIENCE TEACHING FELLOW Worked as a Science for Kids instructor, where she helped to teach underprivileged students in PA; played cello in her high school’s orchestra.

DIRECTOR OF COUNSELING

JULIE SCHLOAT (NOT PICTURED)

A native New Yorker who has made her home in the Pioneer Valley for the last 15 years; participated in Smith College’s first international social work field placement in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Graduated from the Wright Institute with a doctorate in clinical psychology; was an accomplished classical violinist as a child, but discovered bluegrass and Americana in college and never looked back.

Earned an MA from the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College; began her teaching career at Blair Academy.

HEATHER WAKEMAN: 21

SUSAN WATSON: 22

GLOBAL STUDIES INTERN

COUNSELOR

SALLIE BATCHELOR: 23

Has traveled to more than 18 countries and spent almost three months living on a boat; received two prestigious awards for her work in women’s and gender studies.

Served as a teaching fellow at Harvard and as adjunct faculty at Rhodes College; her research has focused on the intersections of race, body image, and eating disorders.

CARA SOIFER: 24

ENGLISH

COLLEGE COUNSELOR

NURSE PRACTITIONER

19


HUSTLE HEART

AND

by Bob York

20 | ALBANY ROAD

Photographs by Jeff Brown


Since Deerfield reintroduced coeducation in the fall of 1989, the vast majority of its 15 girls varsity programs have realized the thrill of victory—some standing atop the medals podium following a league tournament, some after a New England championship, and others after a national title. Girls crew, one of a few prep school sports to offer competition on a national stage, has enabled the Big Green to spread its bragging rights from coast-to-coast by capturing its bracket of the Youth National Championships the past two years. As for New England crowns: cross-country, swimming, squash, hockey, skiing, and water polo have all been there, done that. Soccer, tennis, lacrosse, and softball, meanwhile, have league pennants hanging from their respective trophy cases.

Davis. “We’ve had only four coaches (Karinne Heise, Kim Wright, Kristen (Viega) McVaugh, and Katie Calhoun, who filled in for McVaugh last year) over 26 years. Plus, we’ve been blessed with a lot of outstanding athletes over the years.” Under Karinne Heise’s guidance, the program quickly flexed its muscles. Following a 4-6-2 debut—one of just three losing seasons to date—Deerfield went 15-1-1 in its third season to capture its first of five consecutive league crowns; in 1992 the Big Green (17-0-1) claimed a New England title. “It was a thrill to coach that first team,” said Ms. Heise. “The girls were excited and well aware that they were starting a tradition.” As for highlights from those formative years, she recalls when “Heather Morgan ’92

“We’re all excited about the upcoming season,” added Heaney, who has led a lockdown defense with 19 shutouts over three seasons. She owns a stingy 0.88 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. “We have a lot of talent returning and should have some talented newcomers, too.” Yue, who earned all-league honors last fall, has been a catalyst on defense for the past three years, and with some familiar faces surrounding her once again, feels as though “we should have an outstanding season.” Anna Ballou ’16 and Maia Taylor ’16 also bring experience and talent to a defensive unit that posted nine shutouts and allowed single tallies in five other games, including a pair of 1-0 setbacks. McGowan, who registered 16 points on 12 goals

“Everyone on this team contributed to its success,” said McGowan, whose overtime goal against Choate in last year’s final regular-season game secured Deerfield’s playoff berth, “and if we play the same way this year, we should make it back to postseason play.” But Deerfield’s most storied girls’ program is undoubtedly field hockey. Since its first game, on September 7, 1989, the Big Green has consistently ranked among the elite of the Western New England Prep School Girls Field Hockey Association, and it pulls rank as one of the premier programs throughout New England, as well. “1989 was my first year here,” says Athletic Director Chip Davis, “and what I remember most about the field hockey team was that it showed no growing pains; it came out of the chute fast and the program’s never slowed down.” Mr. Davis’ plaudits are well founded. The Big Green has chalked up a 252-94-35 record over 26 seasons and has qualified for 22 of 26 New England Prep School Athletic Council tournaments. As for bling, it owns one New England crown and six league titles. “I think a key to the program’s success has been the continuity of our coaching staff,” said

scored on a penalty stroke to give us our first win ever—a win over NMH . . . and Marissa Arredondo ’93 scored both goals in our 2-0 win over Andover in that New England championship game.” This fall’s team should be a mirror image of the majority of its predecessors: it should be tourney bound. Thirteen players are returning from last fall’s team that went 11-4-1, including five seniors—tri-captains Katherine Heaney, Nina McGowan, and Emily Yue, as well as Elizabeth Growney and Maia Taylor—who have been teammates for the past three years. Their talents have helped boost Deerfield to a 31-10-4 mark during that span, plus three consecutive tournament invites. “We’re not only shooting to make the tournament, but we’d like to make it further this season than we have the last three years,” said Heaney, last season’s all-tournament goalie, of three straight quarterfinal-round losses.

and four assists last season, should lead the point production, while Katherine Goguen ’16, Elizabeth Growney ’16, who earned all-league status, Julia Dixon ’16, and Anya ShevzovZebrun ’17 are proven scorers as well. “Everyone on this team contributed to its success,” said McGowan, whose overtime goal against Choate in last year’s final regular-season game secured Deerfield’s playoff berth, “and if we play the same way this year, we should make it back to postseason play.” “We had a great run last year,” recounted Calhoun of a season that saw Deerfield drop five games, four by a one-goal margin, including a 2-1 loss to Hotchkiss in its one-and-done tourney appearance. “I’m really so proud of these kids,” added their skipper of a team that was presented the prestigious Sportsmanship Award by the league referees. “This was an extremely tight-knit group . . . one of the closest I’ve ever been associated with,” added Calhoun, “and that’s why we’ll have three captains this season.” //

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1

BOYDEN LIBRARY RENOVATION

2 A complete face-lift for the north-facing reading room. 3 A new spiral staircase ascends to all three floors— connecting an innovation space, Archives, the Center for Service and Global Citizenship, the Academic Dean’s Office, and thousands of library materials.

CHECK THIS OUT

1 Every one of the original library windows was replaced with an energy-efficient new model.

PICS: JR DELANEY

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THE ELEMENTS OF A GOOD MEAL “I remember when there was less quinoa,”

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BY DANAË DINICOLA

says Meghan Mozea ’15. “I came in to Deerfield just before they started making the changes. I noticed that the Dining Hall was ‘sneaking’ whole wheat into the meals, like mixing whole wheat noodles into the mac and cheese.” She heard some kids complain, but also said she could tell that changes were being made “so that students would be more conscious of what they are eating and attempt to eat better.”

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SIT DOWN

Ml

Meghan is right. There have been a large number of small changes made to the food at Deerfield over the past few years. The meals are healthier, and there has also been a concerted effort to source more local and organic ingredients in the Dining Hall—down to the salad greens grown right here on campus by students taking a greenhouse co-curricular. And just in case anybody fails to notice what is going on, cards with info about nutritional powerhouse foods like kale, nuts, and black beans sit on the Dining Hall tables now. At school meetings, announcements include plugs for these ingredients and demos on how to make healthy snacks—like granola bars— back in the dorms. All of this is part of Deerfield’s three-yearold healthy eating initiative, based on the “Healthy Eating Plate” guidelines from nutri-

tionists at the Harvard School of Public Health. It’s been implemented by a committee whose members include Director of Food Services Mike McCarthy, Director of Medical Services Tom Hagamen, and Science and Health Issues Teacher Kris Loftus. The guidelines from Harvard are more nuanced than the old-school FDA food pyramid, offering information like this: “The type of carbohydrate in the diet is more important than the amount of carbohydrate in the diet, because some sources of carbohydrate—like vegetables (other than potatoes), fruits, whole grains, and beans—are healthier than others.” This is something that Mike McCarthy takes to heart, and this is why he advises students to start their day with oatmeal (instead of a bagel) and why that whole wheat pasta is hiding in the mac and cheese.

Sit-down meals are basically a classroom for teaching about healthy eating. —Dr. Hagamen

LOCALLY Last fall, Deerfield hosted an all-local dinner, where every element of the meal was sourced nearby and students got to sit down with the farmers who’d produced it and ask questions. Mr. McCarthy says that meeting farmers and thinking about their food’s carbon footprint made a big impression on students. Meghan, who lives in nearby Sunderland, says, “I really enjoy eating locally and organically at Deerfield, especially being local myself. This year I took AP Environmental Science and we took a couple of field trips to the local farms (and even a nearby fish farm that supplies Deerfield). Seeing the crops in the fields and talking to the local farmers and then sitting down to a local meal in the Dining Hall really made me appreciate where the food I was eating came from. It was also nice to feel like I was supporting the wider community just by eating good food made in our Dining Hall.” Students’ awareness of global food issues is also being cultivated through courses like the

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AP seminar, Global Food Systems (see p.27) and through travel. Last year, 13 Deerfield students took a trip to Tanzania, where they worked on building a greywater irrigation system in a poor and often dry region. The irrigation would help grow crops for school meals, but it failed because the land wasn’t sloped enough to accommodate the gravity-driven system. Trips to local farms or distant continents offer great hands-on experience for students. But there is still a big opportunity built into everyday life on campus. “Sit-down meals are basically a classroom for teaching about healthy eating,” according to Dr. Hagamen, and Ms. Loftus agrees. She thinks there is much more Deerfield can do to educate kids about health and nutrition, but she also acknowledges that there are time issues. “It’s hard to fit this education into an already packed curriculum and schedule. But since everyone on campus goes into the Dining Hall, it’s a perfect place for education around food choices.”


IN THE

IN THE

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IN THE CLASSROOM:

1 Sweet potato salad 2 Beyond iceberg on the salad bar: mixed greens including arugula and radicchio— baby spinach, too! 3 Pumpkin cookies: where delicious meets nutritious

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AP Seminar Global Food Systems In this AP Seminar course students explore the complexity of global food systems while developing their skills as critical thinkers and global citizens. The course focuses on local and global issues related to agriculture and food production, nutrition and culture, and hunger and food insecurity. As part of the AP Capstone Program, the AP Seminar course challenges students to guide their own inquiry process as they learn to ask good research questions, understand and analyze arguments, evaluate multiple perspectives, synthesize ideas, collaborate effectively, communicate persuasively using written and oral expression, and reflect on their learning and skill development. Throughout this interdisciplinary course, students will deepen their understanding of food systems through debates, seminar discussions, independent research, collaborative projects, oral presentations, visual essays, guest speakers, chemistry lab work, and field trips to local farms and food producers. Students take advantage of the Pioneer Valley’s rich agricultural heritage, Deerfield Academy’s award-winning Dining Hall, and other contacts in the valley and around the world as they seek out and analyze divergent perspectives about food systems and their environmental, economic, cultural, and health impacts. Students are challenged to move from ideas to action as they analyze systems, identify problems, and propose solutions related to food around the globe and on their plates.

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IN THE

Hh IN THE HOOP The campus greenhouse has been bursting at the seams, so Deerfield built an adjoining “hoop house” this past summer. Biology teacher Mark Teutsch says that the mission of the greenhouse project is to “support, in an environmentally sustainable way, co-curricular and academic work among students interested in growing plants for the purposes of scientific study and producing food for consumption.” Chemistry teacher and Director of Sustainability Ivory Hills says he hopes the greenhouse will also serve as a community space, where small plots might be available to faculty and staff, or where international students might grow herbs, spices, or peppers that evoke the flavors of home. In order to prepare the greenhouse for use, a stone bed was laid down for drainage purposes; raised cedar beds will be constructed on site and filled with a premium soil mixture and some homegrown (Deerfield!) compost. Although the formal program is still under development, these are some of the projects that will be taking place in the coming year:

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Compost: Students began composting in a local barn during 2014. Three compost bins, each with an approximate volume of 3.5 cubic meters, now have compost that is ready to be tested by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, extension services for elemental analysis. Based on the test results, adjustments will be made to composting methods for the coming year. Food production: Ideally, hoop house food production will serve as a modest supplemental resource for the Dining Hall. Greens such as arugula, kale, mesclun mix, and spinach will be germinated this fall and grown in the greenhouse with maturity expected 3040 days later. Successive harvests will follow, approximately every two weeks. Garlic will also be planted this fall, for a harvest late in the spring of 2016. Field trips: Students will visit local greenhouse production facilities weekly to learn about the materials and methods used by successful growers.


TECHNIQUE MATTERS MAKING IT HEALTHY, MAKING IT GOOD Menus for school meals are produced in fiveweek cycles, starting with a Thursday meeting in which a number of factors are considered: Nutritional makeup, market prices that week, production needs in the kitchen, and the “popularity index” of dishes. Keeping an eye on the popularity index is not just about making diners happy, it’s also about avoiding waste. If a particular dish is not well received, it will either be removed from the menu or modified for better taste. Feedback from students is collected through the Food Committee, which is comprised of a dozen or so students led by Mr. McCarthy and Brad Woodward, Assistant Director of Food Services. The committee, which contains a mix of students with different needs—from vegetarians to hard-core athletes —meets weekly during the school year. Students get a chance to look at recent and future menus and offer their comments, and Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Woodward get a chance to explain menu choices and nutrition in the context of things that matter to students—such as better classroom and on-field performance.

Typically, if a vegetable is unpopular, changing the preparation can help. Brussels sprouts, for example, were never a favorite—until the cooks started roasting them, and consumption went up dramatically. Kitchen staff received training to learn new techniques for creating flavors and textures in healthy ways: Using herbs, lemon, vinegars, to highlight flavors Slicing vegetables thinly on a mandolin so they absorb more flavor Creating “umami” (complex savory flavor) with ingredients like mushroom, ginger, and garlic— instead of beef or beef stock Searing foods to produce flavor in place of fats, salts, or sugars

Learn more: deerfield.edu/dining

Mr. McCarthy says there was some anxiety in the kitchen about pushing traditional dishes to the back burner in favor of new techniques and recipes, but the effort seems to have paid off. According to Ms. Loftus, most of the student feedback has been good. She also says that according to an Independent School Gender Project survey last year, the majority of girls at Deerfield are now reporting that they can find the nutritious food they want in the Dining Hall. Of course, there are some dissenters; those who miss their traditional “meat and potato meals”—and others who just want their French fries to be white instead of orange. There are also budgetary issues. Local, grass-fed beef is triple the cost of conventional feedlot meat, but it has a smaller carbon footprint and is nutritionally superior. Mr. McCarthy says Deerfield is more than halfway to where it wants to be in terms of sourcing sustainable foods for meals, but that there is still work to do when it comes to things like seafood and fruit. He says that the mild white fish that people tend to like most (such as cod and haddock) is unsustainable and overharvested. And though it has a huge carbon footprint, people still want pineapple in their fruit salad. All of this makes menu-writing a balancing act. Another issue is seasonality. It is one thing to source local produce in the summer and fall. But doing that in New England winters is a whole other story. One solution has been “IQF” (individually quick frozen) local vegetables, which are cleaned, blanched, and then blast-frozen in a single layer so they don’t turn into a solid block. This prevents the formation of ice crystals, resulting in better flavor—more like fresh vegetables. However you look at it, meals at Deerfield are not just about fueling up for classes and sports anymore. They are not just about the sit-down tradition and perennial favorites like shepherd’s pie or apple crisp, either— although those things are still served. Meals these days are also about education and awareness, carbon footprint and social responsibility. And, perhaps most importantly, they are about Deerfield looking to the future, and addressing some of the world’s most pressing problems right here at home. //

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channel that contains the health stories from on air, but also original web content produced by people who’d been hired from the newspaper world.

Eliza Barclay ’97

Tête-à-Tête / by Julia Elliott

Before joining the staff at National Public Radio and co-editing NPR’s awardwinning food vertical The Salt, Eliza Barclay ’97 covered the environment, immigration, economic development, and international politics for United Press International and as a freelance journalist. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, FORTUNE, and The Washington Post, among other publications. Ms. Barclay earned a BS at the University of California-Berkeley and an MA from Johns Hopkins University.

When The Salt launched in the fall of 2011, NPR announced: This blog is about what we eat and why we eat it. We’ll be serving up culture and science, farming and business, along with a side of scepticism and a dash of panache. We’ll celebrate food, but also take a hard look at where it comes from, how it gets here, and what it does to us and the planet. We want to know not just the good, but the bad and the ugly stuff, too. At The Salt, look for things that will pique your taste buds, make you smile, and sometimes, even spit. DM: Tell me what you do; I know there’s The Salt, but you have worked on other projects at NPR, right? EB: Initially, I was a web editor for the whole science desk; then there was a health web producer job, so I was working on the web versions of radio stories—producing them for the web. We also, at that time, had started a health blog called Shots (which we still have)—it was one of NPR’s first attempts to do a lot of original web content in a subject area; it’s almost like a

DM: I assumed you were a radio person, and then I started looking into your work, and I realized, ‘Oh! She’s got a print background.’ EB: Yeah . . . I was hired as one of those print people. I started writing for Shots, and having a lot of fun with that—writing about medicine, and public health, and global health issues— which was what I had experience in. And then, about a year after I was hired, the science desk decided to create a food blog, because the health blog was doing really well. We decided we were going to take a more science-based approach to food, and have a blog that was strongly oriented towards covering nutrition research, and agriculture, and the environmental science of food. I think NPR is one of the first media organizations to really treat food like that—see it as an interdisciplinary topic that allows you to connect all these dots. So it’s great because it’s really open, and on any given day we could be looking at just so many different slices of this world. And there’s so much that’s new—new research, lots of new questions being asked by scientists about why we eat the way we eat . . . Since 2013 I’ve been a fulltime co-editor of the food blog, and then every now and then I’ll do a radio story. We now have about 3.8 million unique visitors a month (individuals visiting The Salt site for the first time). DM: Wow. EB: We have a sense of this distinct audience— people who are really passionate about food and the way that we cover it. But the audience that comes to The Salt may not listen to the radio . . . it’s how things are evolving with NPR’s brand online: It’s younger than the radio audience.

I think NPR is one of the first media organizations to really treat food like that— see it as an interdisciplinary topic that allows you to connect all these dots. So it’s great because it’s really open, and on any given day we could be looking at just so many different slices of this world. 30


DM: So how often are Salt pieces connected to a radio piece? EB: I would say maybe less than half have a radio component, and the rest is totally original to the web. Sometimes we pick up stories from member stations if they have a cool food story with a web version, but mostly the stories originate with us, and we see them through the whole process. DM: I was recently listening to your story about the Nigerian chef, and I was thinking, how do you come up with your ideas? How do you find these stories? EB: So that story was kind of unusual in that he contacted me and said, ‘I’m traveling around the country. I’m doing these dinners.’ And I asked, ‘Well, are you coming to DC?’ And he said no but then he actually fit it into his itinerary partly because I said, ‘If you come, I’ll come to your dinner. I’ll do a story.’ Initially it was just a story about a traveling chef doing pop up restaurants. I finished it and we planned to run it on the day that he was going be in LA, and the New York Times was going fly out there to cover that dinner. We’re like, ‘Oh yes, we’re gonna beat them . . . !’

We call out bad thinking or arguments in the food world; in that sense we do play a watchdog role, which I think is important.

this hot bath, basically, you strip the egg of the cuticle that protects it. So you then have to refrigerate it. She wrote it in clever way, and the headline, which I think was part of why it got so many clicks, was: ‘Why the US Chills its Eggs and Most of the World Doesn’t.’ It’s just a weird thing but it was our most popular story that year!

DM: What, in your opinion, are the most interesting or pressing issues around food today? EB: The explosion of creative food entrepreneurship in this country is a really fun thing to watch. And I think it’s interesting how towns and cities and the federal government are increasingly seeing ‘local’ food as an opportunity for economic growth. I’m also following closely the big question of how we could treat and prevent obesity and diabetes better. Food companies DM: We’ll scoop the New York Times… and their wares have such a powerful, and EB: Yeah. And then I got a call from his friend often insidious, influence on us and our health, who said, ‘Um . . . Tunde is in the detention and I think we’re going to have to find more center in El Paso.’ He was locked up for four or ways to regulate them. There’s way too much five weeks . . . We thought he might be deported, sugar out there for our own good. I hope that in of course, but they let him out on bail, and then time we’ll come to see the food environment, it was like, okay. I had to redo the whole story rather than individuals’ diet and exercise patterns, and make it also an immigration story. So I’d as the thing that we need to change. been working on that thing for like, six months . . . I’m glad it came together. DM: What inspired you at Deerfield? In general, every story should have a ‘And EB: When I was a senior at Deerfield, they why are you telling me this now?’ aspect to it, offered us an extraordinary opportunity to work but not always. I’ll give you an example—it was on an organic farm nearby that was run by our most popular story of 2014. This young fellow these really amazing people—this old, very old at NPR and I got to talking about eggs. She said, couple. They were pacifists, actually, and their ‘It’s so weird how in Europe, they don’t refrigerate names were Willie and Juanita Nelson. There’s their eggs, and here we do.’ And I said, ‘That is actually a documentary that was made about weird.’ And she’s like, ‘I wonder why?’ Then, a them; they were this African-American couple, month or two later, she said, ‘I really want to hard-core pacifists—lovely, kind people—and write something for The Salt . . .’ So I said, ‘How they had this small farm, and they lived off of about that egg thing?’ She found out that their land. In the fall and the spring of my senior there’s not a very clear answer . . . There was year, I worked there. We planted and harvested some US company that came up with the tech- garlic; we dealt with the compost; I worked on nology for washing eggshells that might make the asparagus crop and helped with canning. them safer, but when you wash the eggs with Some of my guy friends chopped wood for them.

They would just put us to work and we loved it. I grew up with a vegetable garden, so this was not totally new—growing your own food—but they definitely were doing it in a very simple, beautiful way that was really also about caring for the land; they were very passionate about organic agriculture. DM: What is a favourite Deerfield Dining Hall memory of yours? EB: I’ll never forget the time when I sat with Mr. Bonanno for a rotation while he was experimenting with caloric restriction (also known as intermittent fasting) to ‘live a longer life.’ At the time, I was totally baffled that he would want to forgo a chicken cutlet sandwich, and actually could. So was every other student at the table . . . there was a lot of snickering. But the concept of intermittent fasting has reappeared in my life a lot lately, and it’s now something I practice myself. So I give him huge kudos for doing it in that setting so decisively and earnestly. DM: What is the most rewarding thing about your work? EB: We call out bad thinking or arguments in the food world; in that sense we do play a watchdog role, which I think is important. I also think there’s a lot of people who really do want to be healthy and eat healthy because it makes you feel good. So when we help people do that, like how to get more nutrition out of your food, it’s nice. It’s rewarding. //

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k s s r o re w g h o c r t P a P nd a ST OR Y AN D PH OT OG RA PH S BY DA TH IE L

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Construction crew: l to r: Will Ughetta ‘17, Andrew Hollander ‘16, Taylor Morash ‘16, Kate Hadley ‘17, Hollis McLeod ‘17, Jose Abreu, Rachel Sit ‘16, Rachel Yao ‘16, Tarah Almonacy ’17, Robby Gerber ‘16, Caleb Owens ‘16, Nicky Conzelman ‘16, and Aiden Day ‘17

Our port of arrival, Santo Domingo, is the oldest city in the new world. Our time in the city is brief, but aside from a colonial district that clearly caters to tourists, it’s clear that we are not in Punta Cana. While we travel, students present to each other about the history of the country: the DR has been subject to numerous different regimes and political cultures dating back to Columbus— sometimes going from frying pan to fire. That history seems apparent in the landscape. The city has a vaguely post-apocalyptic feel to it: as if a major event destroyed it and residents were simply forced to choose what to ignore, what to abandon, and what to rebuild. Incongruous layers of history are in plain sight: A seventeenth century cannon lies abandoned in the street, while a bodega sells Coke and Nike a stone’s throw away. Development is punctuated with dereliction (or vast expanses of empty space). Cell service is patchy enough that our guide carries multiple phones, using whichever one happens to have coverage at the time. Street vendors jump to the windows of cars at every stoplight. They sell everything: sunglasses, windshield wipers, hand lotion, ferns, donuts, cell phone chargers, mothballs, bananas, and office chairs. (This is not a tourist trade—it’s just how the supply chain seems to operate in the Dominican Republic.) As we head west, Santo Domingo yields to an arid landscape with few landmarks. We catch glimpses of the ocean. We ascend, and just as darkness falls, we arrive in San Juan de la Maguana (close to the border with Haiti), the city nearest the construction site where we’ll be working.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

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THE SITE We bus from our hotel to the construction site and immediately set to work. Locals have already dug the foundation and laid a couple rows of cinderblocks. (By the end of the day, the house will be about 15 rows high.) About 40 men are at work on the site, supported by another 15 women who prepare lunch out back; this division of labor is rigid. It is incredibly dusty—and it’s hot, near 90. Gloved and booted, the students receive instructions from Jose Abreu, our host and the leader of this endeavor, and they start to move heavy cinderblocks wherever needed. As the walls rise, the jobs diversify, but only slightly: students carry cement mix to the masons, they smooth the mortar between the blocks, or they deliver other material throughout the site. Accustomed to brain work, the kids skip a beat when they realize it’s only their arms and legs that matter today. While the work unfolds, we take in the surroundings. We are in a small village whose only amenities appear to be sidewalks and sewer pipes. A small storefront serves as the unofficial center of town— both because it sells lottery tickets (banco!) and because its porch hosts nightly domino games. (Dominos are a Dominican national pastime second only to baseball.) Dogs, goats, turkeys, and chickens wander freely. Behind the worksite is the house we are replacing. This family of five lives in a shack that is about 10x12 feet. There are broad gaps in the walls, and the roof is pieced together with scraps of corrugated steel. Electrical wires are strung to the house, and we see a couple bare lightbulbs (but we never see them lit). There’s an outhouse close at hand. Household water comes from bottles (purchased) and buckets (filled at a nearby river). By contrast, the house we’re building is about four or five times larger. The plans include a roof of solid sheets of metal and smooth concrete floors. The house will be wired and plumbed (even though those services might never be hooked up) and it includes a kitchen with an oven and stove (even though most families cook outside, as a community, under a mango tree). It seems the house is designed to meet this family’s current needs, but it also has eyes on a brighter future for all Dominicans.

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While the work unfolds, we take in the surroundings. We are in a small village whose only amenities appear to be sidewalks and sewer pipes. A small storefront serves as the unofficial center of town—both because it sells lottery tickets (banco!) and because its porch hosts nightly domino games.

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Jose Abreu (left, in the red baseball cap) is our ambassador and the founder of Cambiando Vidas. He is shirt-off-his-back generous, warm, energetic, and everywhere at once. His omnipresence fuels the enterprise: he runs the office, interfaces with the families, directs construction. (He even buys the groceries.) He also ensures that visiting students get more than a cursory view of the DR, its people, and its challenges. And, importantly, he shares his own story with the students.

THE WORK The work of building the house is well planned, and the tasks are not complex: move material, lay down mortar, smooth and paint, pull nails, and lend a hand wherever and whenever else. Jose Abreu is our ambassador and the founder of Cambiando Vidas. He is shirt-off-his-back generous, warm, energetic—and everywhere at once. His omnipresence fuels the enterprise: he runs the office, interfaces with the families, directs construction. (He even buys the groceries.) He also ensures that visiting students get more than a cursory view of the DR, its people, and its challenges. And, importantly, he shares his own story with the students. Abreu has always possessed the courage of a philanthropic heart. Frustrated with the overhead and administration that seemed to bog down large non-profits, he yearned for a more direct way to change lives. Years ago, while out of the country working on a project, Abreu’s mother’s house burnt down. Smoke still rising from ashes, his mother reported that she was already surrounded by building materials supplied by neighbors and friends. The first steps of reconstruction had already begun, and the house was completed in a month. That act of community kindness inspired Abreu to create Cambiando Vidas. Since 2007, Cambiando Vidas has built about 70 houses—each one a close copy of Abreu’s mother’s new home. In the house rising before them, students see the community spirit that inspired Abreu. “We’re not just building a house here,” says Hollis MacCleod. It occurs to every student that Jose is just one person who wanted to improve the world—and 70 homes later (and counting), it’s clear that he’s succeeded. Other lessons abound on the worksite. The Dominicans are particularly encouraging when it comes to our broken (but improving) Spanish, and yet the conversation often turns to how difficult it is to find good work without speaking English. Ms. Cabral asks the students to look closely at the jobsite: “What tools do you see here?” (The answer is “not many.”) The house is being built with little more than shovels, buckets, trowels, hammers, string, and levels. “See how much is done with so little?” “And how much waste do you see?” (The answer is “almost none.”) Broken cinderblocks are used to fill the walls—reducing the amount of concrete needed. Sand is recovered and filtered for reuse. Water too dirty for washing is used to mix concrete. Even in the kitchen, bits and scraps are recovered and water is recycled with astonishing care.

The questions continue: where are the sources of energy here? Where does the water come from? Is there a school here? The students even gain an intimate look at their own lunch. Each morning on the way to the jobsite, the bus stops to pick up groceries. A grocer sells rice and sazÓn—a combination of spices commonly used in Spanish Caribbean cooking. We stop at a city-bound chicken coop and load raw poultry—within steps of its soon-to-be-unlucky kin. (Eat local, indeed.) We stop for mangos and pineapple, forming a bucket brigade to help with the loading. We load ice since there is no refrigeration. As students gain greater comfort with the construction work, they focus less on the concrete and mortar and more on the people around them. They begin to ask their own questions. Why aren’t these children in school? The head of this family seems to have a good job . . . so why do they live in such a rough shack? And most of all, they ask “Why are we really here?” Each house costs about $10,000 to construct, and the Cambiando Vidas model depends on volunteer trips like ours to provide revenue. Students discuss the notion of “sustainable development” and they question how they could replicate the Cambiando Vidas model elsewhere. Although they work hard at construction, it’s honestly not clear that the students are essential to that aspect of the enterprise. “Not true,” Jose says, “without the students, the community would not come out. The students make this a special event and everyone wants to be a part.” We are skeptical of Abreu’s assurance… until the final night. The house completed in just six days, hundreds gather for a party and a traditional goat stew. (Junior Will Ughetta honors the family by consuming three bowls!) A generator rumbles to life, and in a drizzling rain, lights and a PA system crackle to life. Speeches are made. Our students are the guests of honor: they are thanked more than if they had given a wing to a hospital—and possibly with more sincerity. In this moment, they are practicing the most pleasant and heartfelt aspects of philanthropy, and it brings the rest of their good work into sharper focus. Standing there in the drizzle, in the light of bare bulbs, with the PA barely louder than the generator that powers it, the students can see directly the impact of their work—and their example. It is a powerful moment.

37


Why we travel. Why we serve. B Y M A R G A R I TA C U R T I S

At Deerfield, we teach our students not only to do well but to do good.

At the center of that effort is an emphasis on community service and global travel. The world faces major challenges: Thousands of people are displaced daily by violence, poverty, or oppression. Many more seek clean water, safe food, sustainable energy, education, and equality. While these issues are examined daily in our classrooms and curriculum, there comes a time when theory must be put into practice. Just as biology and physics students need to work in the laboratory to truly understand their science, Deerfield students must engage with the world if they are to change it for the better. Community service and global travel provide them with authentic practice in doing so—service trips are a laboratory for improving the world. The ability to establish a fruitful dialog and develop a deep understanding of other people may well depend on spending time in others’ homes and inhabiting others’ challenges. And even limited travel can be a revelation for some kids: Poverty doesn’t mean sadness—or violence; people everywhere care deeply about their children; despite the promise of the American Dream, the true miracle of the US is not our economic opportunity or our political system or our military might—it’s the fact that you can drink water, straight out of the tap. These small discoveries provide a major shift in thinking for our students, expanding their understanding of systems thinking, increasing their consideration of others—and, yes, ensuring that they understand the privileges from which they benefit. Of course, some tasks and trips are more challenging than others. Serving meals might be less strenuous than digging ditches; two weeks in Tanzania is almost certainly less comfortable than a tour in Europe. But it is the tension between the developed and developing worlds—and the need to cultivate the ability to understand each on its own terms—that enables us to question and examine the values and assumptions that rule our own lives. Whether our students are traveling to immerse themselves in other cultures, to learn from history’s triumphs and mistakes, or to combat poverty, the lessons that come from first-hand experience are invaluable. These programs provide students with real-world practice. The result? It might be the simple novelty of a first plane trip, or the exposure to the logistics of customs and immigration, or even a pang of hunger that goads them to try an unfamiliar food. It might be that they arrive at a fascination with a particular place, or people—or problem. What we know for sure is that contact with—and understanding of—other people and cultures has become, in this global era, an essential component of education. We hope that Deerfield trips help students to identify a purpose that is meaningful and important —and that sets them on a term, or a year, or a lifetime of work to examine and improve the world. //

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“When you establish security and safety, it opens up a totally new world of possibilities of providing for your children,” says Nicky Conzelman. “The kids here spend most of their time playing in the dirt. To have a clean floor and a clean house to come back to is really something special,” says Katherine Hadley. “Everyone deserves a place that they can call home—and that they can feel safe in,” says Hollis McLeod. These students didn’t need to spend a week of their summer here, enduring the heat, the bugs, the spiders, and the unusual food. Each night, their dusty aching limbs reposed without a cellphone or Internet. But none of them would have had it any other way. And even as the students appreciate this moment of giving, they can’t help but notice the actions of Jose Abreu. Abreu helps to pack up the PA and quiets the generator, he picks up some tools that have been left behind, and he brushes some dust off a tile that was laid just hours ago. He shares a whisper with some of the guests before walking to his vehicle. Tomorrow he’ll start work on the next house. So many things were learned on this trip, but first among them was the power of one person to do good in the world. //

VIEW THE VIDEO

Above, far left: celebrating a new home; above: the end result of a week’s hard work.

deerfield.edu/DominicanRepublic 39


40


THE GROWING REVOLUTION

clockwise from top left:

Walking through the user “on boarding” experience;

An Ecosystem at home with two of Grove’s first customers;

Putting the finishing touches on a sensor enclosure; Founders Jamie Byron

by hand in the Somerville, MA, lab

(left) and Gabe Blanchet ’08; Building an early prototype of the Ecosystem

During the winter of 2013, Gabriel Blanchet ’08 was living in an MIT fraternity house in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. A part-time student at MIT, he was also working at a start-up in downtown Boston. The winter landscape was bleak. But inside Blanchet’s fraternity room, peppers grew, and lettuces and beans and kale—even a young pomegranate tree. Every morning, lights over the plants came on, brightening the room, gently waking Blanchet and his roommate, Jamie Byron. It was “as if there were a sunrise in our room,” Blanchet says. Near the plants, fish swam in a plastic tank. Tubes fed water from the tank to the growing plants, and waste from the fish nourished them. In this “aquaponic” system, built by Byron, fish, plants, and microorganisms lived in self-sustaining harmony. Two years before, Blanchet, longing for more connection with the natural world, had taken a semester off from MIT and hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. Now, here in wintry Boston, he loved having not just instant access to fresh produce, but also the contact it gave him to nature. Other fraternity members loved this, too. “Our friends would come in and pick lettuce, feed the fish,” Blanchet says. “It [even] smelled great.” Before long, the roommates were brainstorming. Blanchet recalls wondering aloud: “What would it look like if everyone had one of these in their home?” Two years later, Blanchet and Byron are now running their new company, Grove, which provides tools for everyone, even urban dwellers, to grow their own greens, tomatoes, peppers, and more—in their own homes, year-round. Blanchet has an additional, higher goal for Grove: He wants his company to transform the way Americans view, produce, and consume food. This young man’s mission involves a digital-age paradox: using technology to connect humans with nature.

BY NELL LAKE / PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY of GROVE

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AQUAPONIC

42

VS.

HYDROPONIC

An aquaponic system is

Hydroponic systems

a form of “bio-mimicry”

use water and a

that takes advantage

non-soil growing

of the symbiotic

medium to provide

relationship between

plants with nutrients.

plants and fish; unlike

Nutrients (synthetic,

hydroponics, this living

refined-mineral or

ecosystem needs no

salt-based) are added

water changes. The

to the water and fed to

waste contained in

the plants in a variety of

the aquarium water is

ways: Bubble systems

pumped up to a growing

lift nutrients to plant

tray that houses the

roots with a constant

plants and contains

supply of bubbles in

a soilless growing

the water, while

medium. Humans

another system feeds

have used this form

nutrients and water via

of agriculture for

a wick. A reservoir is

centuries, as it allows

responsible for holding

plants to grow in their

both the water and

natural conditions.

nutrient solution.

above: Ecologist Matthew Seaton takes some samples from the “bookshelf” system in the Somerville lab.

LEAFY GREEN TECH: Grove’s flagship product is the Grove Ecosystem, an aquaponic system housed in a large bookcase-like cabinet. Each Ecosystem owner decides what to plant, and the Grove operating system monitors and adjusts the plants’ conditions. This way, the Grove Ecosystem is “stable and easy to use,” Blanchet says. “The app guides you and tells you how to keep the system operating well, essentially giving you a green thumb.” Grove Ecosystem owners must interact with the Ecosystem by planting seeds, replenishing water levels occasionally, monitoring certain nutrient levels, and feeding the fish. The pleasure of harvesting their own vegetables is, of course, all their own. The Grove Ecosystem’s technology is similar to the system the young men enjoyed in their fraternity room, but the Ecosystem itself is more digitally sophisticated, more compact, and has a more refined aesthetic. Basic aquaponic technology applies: The fish generate urea through their waste; the urea contains nutrients important to plants, including ammonia. Nitrifying bacteria, which build up naturally on surfaces in the water, convert ammonia to nitrate. The nitrate-rich water gets pumped to the plants’ roots, which take up the nitrate for nourishment. Meanwhile the plants clean the water, which goes back to the fish (readily available sorts like goldfish or guppies). “It’s a totally organic, ecological process,” Blanchet says.


Among Deerfield’s most important benefits are “the connections and the network that you build,” he says. “For a high school, Deerfield is one of the best in the world for access to people who enable you to dream big.”

Think “tech start-up” and you might imagine a shiny, even sterile, office complex full of exclusively synthetic materials—screens, wires, gadgets. But at Grove’s headquarters in Somerville, Massachusetts—in a high-ceilinged, cooperative workspace for clean-energy entrepreneurs—the scene is appropriately down-to-earth and eclectic. In the company’s prototyping and research area, plants grow everywhere under lights on metal shelves. Wires snake, screens glow, monitors hum—but fish-tanks also gurgle. At a hefty table, young men and women wield power tools, assembling prototype Ecosystem boxes. One researcher, his hair pulled back in a cluster of braids, kneels at a shelf full of green herbs, fingering leaves, searching for aphids. Out front, in an open workspace, young men sit tapping out code. Nearby a large turtle swims in a tank, and plants grow in tangled exuberance on the lighted shelves of a prototype. On one wall, staff have listed, by hand, on big sheets of paper and on pink sticky notes, information about their 50 early-adopter customers. All of these customers are from the Boston area (one is former Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley). The mission of Grove’s code-writers is to develop Grove OS, the app that monitors the Ecosystem. The operating system reads data from Ecosystem sensors, which record variables such as air and water temperatures, water levels, humidity and light levels. Grove OS is also a social app, “almost like Farmville, but in real life,” Blanchet says. He’s committed, he adds, to making the Grove online experience engaging and informative. “Ideally we create an environment where people ask each other questions” and share experiences, “so there’s a real community.” He demonstrates, on his phone, the readings for his own Grove Ecosystem at home. On the screen is a picture of his Ecosystem cabinet, and below, lists of “all my levels. Nutrient levels of the water, humidity, temp. I can control each plot, set how long the lights are on. Soon I’ll have defaults: If I’m growing leafy greens, I’ll just click that,” and the Ecosystem will adjust settings for optimal growth. “Every week we push a new update,” he says, “based on things we know we want to build, but also based on [customer] feedback.”

top: United States Senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, and Gabe Blanchet bottom: Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone, Gabe Blanchet, and Somerville Deputy Director of Communications Jackie Rossetti

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IN THE GROVE (ECOSYSTEM) 101: ULTRA-EFFICIENT LEDS LEDs closely mimic the sun, allowing plants to grow as efficiently as possible while looking great in your home. Using Grove OS, you can set the lighting schedule to match your lifestyle (or use the defaults).

GROVE OPERATING SYSTEM Stick with defaults or control lights, fans, and pumps from a smart phone. Grove OS both prompts and teaches users how to grow delicious, healthy food such as tomatoes, kale, arugula, chard, jalapeños, bell peppers, herbs, and lettuce.

POWERED BY AN ECOSYSTEM The aquarium is the heart of the Grove Ecosystem: Good bacteria convert fish waste into organic fertilizer, while the plants filter the water clean for the fish and complete the loop.

WEB CONNECTED Connect your Grove Ecosystem to the Grove OS app, and start watching the data fly in (if you want to!). Let your Ecosystem’s sensors alert you ahead of any potential problems, then let Grove OS tell you how to fix them.

EXCELLENCE AND PRIVILEGE: Blanchet’s education at Deerfield was formative in many ways, he says, particularly the physics class he took his senior year. “We built a small electric car, and we built robots. I just got obsessed,” he says. He enjoyed the unusually hands-on Deerfield experience. “I was not just doing homework, I was building a car.” Above all, Deerfield empowered him in a less tangible way—socially and intellectually. Among Deerfield’s most important benefits are “the connections and the network that you build,” he says. “For a high school, Deerfield is one of the best in the world for access to people who enable you to dream big. There’s nothing stopping a Deerfield graduate . . . There are just things encouraging and pushing you. It’s a real privilege. It’s also how big things can get done. People don’t feel like there’s a limit.” After graduating, Blanchet took a “gap” year. He spent a year out of school, working as a medical scribe in an urban hospital’s emergency department. He saw “a lot of stuff you’re not exposed to at Deerfield, a lot of realities of life for groups of people that a privileged childhood doesn’t expose you to.”

44

Deerfield is, after all, he says, “a bubble of excellence and privilege. I want my [future] kids to experience that and be a part of it because it’s empowering. It’s just fantastic. As long as they realize that not everybody’s living like this.” He feels that the opportunities Deerfield provides should be used toward doing good. During his gap year, Blanchet raised $8000, built his own electric car, and raced it in an Electrathon, which tests how far competitors can go on a single battery charge. He came in second, after blowing a tire “about 56 minutes into the hour-long race.” This successful project led, he believes, to his acceptance at MIT. “It wasn’t my grades at Deerfield . . . It was the initiative to take a gap year, build this car. I was being an entrepreneur without even knowing what that meant. I showed a lot of initiative.” He’s showing initiative now, too, he says, and he’d like current students to take a lesson from this. “It’s not about having the perfect resume and perfect GPA and high SAT scores.” It’s about, he believes, advancing innovation and positive change.


DOING GOOD, DOING WELL: Blanchet and Grove have raised several million dollars so far [as of July]. Their Boston-area early-adopters have been busy growing produce in their Grove Ecosystems and giving the company feedback on how things are going. Just how much a Grove customer harvests depends on many factors, including how much time and effort he or she wishes to expend. “If you choose to be pretty hands off,” he says, “you’ll be foraging from your Ecosystem every day and enjoying a more full harvest every couple days.” The company is going national this fall, will be taking orders across the country, and will announce a price, which at this point Blanchet identifies as “a few thousand dollars.” He also intends to assign a portion of his company’s proceeds to making Grove Ecosystems available in schools. While he thinks it would be foolish to argue that Grove is going to solve food insecurity for millions of people, he does hope that the Ecosystems will help drive new solutions to poverty and hunger.

“We think that everybody deserves access to healthier, fresher, more local food. And the best way to do that is to get people and families to grow some of their own. Because then people understand that food . . . doesn’t come from Stop and Shop in plastic bags.” The Grove Ecosystems, Blanchet says, will enable not just the avid gardener to grow food in winter, but the urban apartment dweller to grow food, period. Blanchet’s most rewarding moments, he says, are those when he sees his customers, particularly kids, “planting seeds in their Ecosystem, watching [plants grow], playing with the fish.” Blanchet was delighted one day to receive a video from a customer: A little girl, perhaps two, excitedly planting the first seeds in her family’s Ecosystem. Americans, after all, are “living increasingly disconnected lives from the very ecosystems that sustain us.” So “for us, it’s about bringing nature into the home.” //

LEARN MORE AT: GROVELABS.IO

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197 5

The Common Room

1 9 3 4 1 9 3 5 1 9 3 6 1 9 3 7 1 9 3 8 1 9 3 9 1 9 4 0 1 9 4 1 1 9 4 2 1 9 4 3 1 9 4 4 1 9 4 5 1 9 4 6 1 9 47 1 9 4 8 1 9 4 9 1 9 5 0 1 9 5 1 1 9 5 2 1 9 5 3 1 9 5 4 1 9 5 5 1 9 5 6 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1 9 8 0 1 9 8 1 1 9 8 2 1 9 8 3 1 9 8 4 1 9 8 5 1 9 8 6 1 9 8 7 1 9 8 8 1 9 8 9 1 9 9 0 1 9 9 1 1 9 9 2 1 9 9 3 1 9 9 4 1 9 9 5 1 9 9 6 1 9 9 7 1 9 9 8 1 9 9 9 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 02 2 0 0 3 2 0 0 4 2 0 0 5 2 0 0 6 20 07 20 0 8 2 0 0 9 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 5 * R e u n i o n Ye a r s

46 | THE COMMON ROOM


20

15

1949

“My life since graduation has been absolutely normal. Had a happy marriage for almost 59 years with the girl I took to our senior prom. Ann passed away in 2011; have a son and daughter living reasonably close in Texas. Was at Deerfield for two years as a day student but I continue to appreciate more and more the values I learned at the Academy. My very best to all.”—Doug Martin

47


Ice Cream Sundae

BY C H A R L I E U F F O R D’ 4 9

In the late 1940s the Manursing Island Club of Rye, New York, hosted an annual invitational tennis tournament for boys’ tennis teams from the private schools of the eastern United States. The tournament was primarily organized by the wives of Club members; from their point of view, it was an opportunity for their daughters to meet nice boys from boarding schools whose parents presumably had the wherewithal to send their sons to Ivy League colleges. From the daughters’ point of view, the tournament was an opportunity to meet cute young men having a degree of sophistication not to be found among the local adolescent population. From the boys’ point of view, it was a chance to meet some dazzling young beauties under favorable circumstances after an academic year of near monastic existence. Thus, the tennis competition was secondary in the fevered minds of the fortunate members of the competing teams. It was a match made in heaven. In my last two years at Deerfield I was fortunate to be one of four students (including Bob Dewey, Louis Marx, and Charlie Symington) who formed the nucleus of the team. We looked forward to the Manursing tournament with the intensity of pirates marooned upon the lonesome sands of a South Sea island. Even so, I realized that I would be exposed to social situations for which I was wholly unprepared: There would be a dinner dance on Saturday night, the high point of the weekend in the minds of the hosts. I did not know how to dance, let alone converse in complete sentences. However, I blocked my social inadequacies from my mind and consoled myself with the prospect of possible accomplishment on the tennis court. As events ensued in 1948, the Deerfield team performed reasonably well on the courts. By the end of Saturday’s play, as I recall, we had a quarter finalist in the doubles and had lost close matches in earlier rounds of singles. We gathered that evening in the Club’s ballroom in full black tie regalia in a sanguine frame of mind. The ballroom was set up with a large U-shaped table with chairs on both sides of the U and a profusion of flowers covering every conceivable surface. Elaborate chandeliers cast sparkles of light in all directions. The sight was totally intimidating. And then we were introduced to our partners for the evening. Such an abundance of flowing organdy

48 | THE COMMON ROOM

’49

I had disposed of my dinner and was obliged to live with the consequences. The band had struck up a suitable tune, and, with a heavy heart and an empty stomach,

I stumbled manfully around the dance floor with my companion reluctantly in tow.


and creamy bare shoulders. We were quickly paired off—boy girl, boy girl—around the room, and it became clear that we were assigned to the girl on our left as our primary companion for the evening. I turned to my young lady for a closer examination. In my judgment she was ordinary in appearance but perfectly presentable; definitely not a dazzling beauty. Had I been so favored I’m sure I would have been struck dumb for the entire evening. The early stages of dinner passed without incident. During the hors d’oeurves, I attempted a few conversational sallies with my companion that did little to enhance mutual esteem: I admired the blue uniforms of the waiters as they swiftly placed and removed dishes of all sizes. It was after the distribution of the entree and its accompaniments that events really began to unfold. Our side of the U had just received the main course when I thought of something to say that might be of interest. To this day I am unable to recall what it was because, as I leaned forward to speak to my companion, my right forearm came down firmly on the edge of my plate. The plate did a perfect back flip and deposited my meal in my lap. My companion’s reaction was swift. Her face turned a bright crimson, her eyes widened to a remarkable size, and she actually clapped her hand over her mouth. To this day I am grateful for the essential elements of my upbringing: I looked down and discovered that I had indeed at the outset of dinner placed my napkin expansively on my lap. To my amazement, my dinner of steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and fresh green peas had landed entirely within the protection of this cloth on my lap. Not a single pea had escaped. I turned to my companion and said, ‘Please excuse me,” and, bringing the four corners of my napkin together, I lifted my dinner, plate and all, off my lap and marched carefully to the end of the ballroom where I discovered a large trash can. I deposited my load in it and returned to my seat. My companion continued to regard me with an abiding disbelief. I attempted an air of masterful control, with modest success. From that point on, conversation was nearly impossible. It never occurred to me to ask for another helping of dinner. Clearly, I had disposed of my dinner and was obliged to live with the consequences. The band had struck up a suitable tune, and, with a heavy heart and an empty stomach, I stumbled manfully around the dance floor with my companion reluctantly in tow.

The waiters cleared off the remains of the main course and it became evident that each young man was expected to go to the pantry and bring back dessert for his companion and himself. On the way I made a swift detour to the men’s room, as I was anxious to see if there were any signs of the misplacement of my dinner on the front of my trousers. Miraculously, there were no signs of my dinner’s lap-assisted trip to the trash. I proceeded to the pantry in a state of near euphoria. There I discovered dishes of vanilla ice cream set out in rows on the counter. I picked up a dish. I then noted what appeared to be a dish of sauce sitting behind the rows of ice cream. Quickly, I ladled several spoonfuls of the sauce over my ice cream. And suddenly, time stood still. A nondescript man in a chef’s uniform came quickly forward and removed the dish of sauce and spirited it into the depths of the kitchen. I had an appalling premonition. A closer inspection of the sauce seemed warranted. Sure enough, it was French dressing. Again, my mother’s precepts came to my rescue. Not for a moment did I consider that I could simply walk away with two unadorned dishes of ice cream. I had made my move and I must abide the results. I picked up my dish covered with the tantalizing yellowish green smog and another dish of pristine vanilla ice cream and returned to my place at the table in the ballroom; my mind racing to compose a response to what I knew would be the inevitable inquiry from my companion. I arrived at my place, put down the dish of pure ice cream in front of my companion, and the dish of technicolored splendor in front of me. The inquiry was not long in coming: “What’s that?” she asked. “Why can’t I have some?” “Oh, that,” I said, with as much nonchalance as I could muster. “That’s French dressing. I rather like French dressing on my ice cream.” And with that, I proceeded to eat the entire dish, my mind suffused with the conversation that I imagined my companion would certainly have with her friends the following day: “You mean he actually ate ice cream with French dressing on it?” Giggles all around . . . “You gotta be kidding!” Lilting laughter. “Yes, he actually ate the whole mess!’ Squeals of delight. “What a dodo!” Prolonged merriment. To this day I am unable to recall what French dressing on ice cream actually tastes like. I have expunged it from my memory. But as I think back to those events at the Manursing Island Club, I have come to feel that I acquitted myself with reasonable dignity during some of the most excruciating moments of my life. And there seem to be no permanent scars on my psyche. //

I PROCEEDED TO THE PANTRY IN A STATE OF NEAR EUPHORIA.

There I discovered dishes of vanilla ice cream set out in rows on the counter. I picked up a dish. I then noted what appeared to be a dish of sauce sitting behind the rows of ice cream. Quickly, I ladled several spoonfuls of the sauce over my ice cream. And suddenly, time stood still.

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Peter Lewis ’52 Joined Deerfield and Williams classmates Phil Palmado and Tom Lincoln for a Williams College mini-reunion at the Silverado Resort in Napa Valley in May.

Aaron Daniels ’53 Raised a glass in NYC recently to the Great Class of 1953 with classmates John Barrett, Todd Evans, and Joel Mitchell. This has been an annual tradition for the foursome for the past five years.

’54 |

50 | THE COMMON ROOM

1953 “Saw Ren Dimond at the Palm Beach Alumni dinner. Speaking of Palm Beach, I just completed my sequel to Love And Treachery In Palm Beach entitled More Love And Treachery In Palm Beach. It’s available at select bookstores or through Amazon.”—Bernard Moran

1955 “A while ago I reported that we had moved from Stanford to Cold Spring, New York. This was part of our plan to return to London, where we are right now. Were we in Cold Spring, we would certainly have come along to our Grand Reunion! London has many attractions as well as memories of the many years that we lived here before moving to Stanford. For both of us, work goes on. Ilse had a painting accepted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and I continue with scientific work. Somewhat to my surprise this seems only to get harder, as I am now pretty much free to work on what I want and think is really important. And, as always, time is the scarce resource. All our best wishes.”—Michael Godfrey

John deMarmon Murray ’54 Celebrated his 80th birthday, his 50th wedding anniversary, and 52 years in Brazil this year.


“Jan and Pat O’Donnell and I attended the Overlook Dedication ceremonies in Tim Day’s honor at the end of March at the National Museum of the Marine Corps located at the Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia. Over 200 senior officers and invited guests attended the memorable three- day event, which included a narrated tour of the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg site. To date, Tim’s foundation has funded The Semper Fidelis Memorial Chapel and the Timothy T. Day Overlook at The Heritage Center at Quantico. Tim’s enduring legacy is indeed assured in the Marine Corps! For more activities and photos of Tim and Sandy Day, please go to tdayfoundation.org.” —Tom L’Esperance ’55

’55 “In May Lou Greer informed me: “I have retired as class secretary at Amherst. My final class notes are practically ready for submission. I will actually miss communicating with my fellow Lord Jeffs regularly, but I’m a little tired of being the pestermeister-in-chief. My legacies are not invisible but neither is associated with me; I launched a sportsmanship award in 1963 that is given in all 27 varsity sports at Amherst. They are the same as the Spater Award I endowed at Deerfield. I established an Amherst tradition—passing the 50th reunion baton at homecoming from last year’s 50th reunion class to the following class. It is a physical purple baton, plus a report on the previous year’s program.” Perhaps I, too, should impose some term limits on myself after a ten-year run as Class Secretary. So, if any ’55-er would like to step up and receive a ‘green baton’ please let me know. In other news: Art Atkinson returned to the European theater this past summer to conduct lectures and enjoy leisure travel. He also sold his magnificent yacht, Paradigm, to a fellow sailing enthusiast. Art and Mary Jo will continue their nautical passion on Lake Michigan in his dad’s smaller refurbished sailboat. Along the timeline of life I’ve found that we can keep track of our advancing age via our physical ailments. Nothing much surfaces until we reach our fifties. We pursue our lives with reckless abandon for a half-century. Then come the hip replacements followed by various knee surgeries. In our sixties the docs, who we’re getting to know on a first name basis, ad-

51


vise us of upcoming events. Our dentist buddies make hay with root canals and similar expensive discoveries. Of course, most of us don’t have dental insurance at this stage. When we reach our seventies we’re thankful that we have Medicare when prostate problems surface. To operate or not to operate is our question of the day. Our tickers get in line for repairs, too. My local Scripps Clinic in La Jolla does a landslide business with heart valve replacements and bypass surgery. I, too, was one of their numbers last November. I moo occasionally nowadays since I have a new bovine aortic valve that came to the rescue of my old one. Oh well. Our pesky ailments are indeed now surfacing, and my 77-year-old eyes are getting fatigued staring at my laptop screen, so I think I’ll take a nap and contemplate my words of wisdom to all y’all when I reach 100…(Ha!) So far, I haven’t been able to improve on the words of a fellow Dartmouth alum who declared when he became a centenarian that ‘Most everything goes well with ketchup.’ I also like the defining statement that a friend, who was celebrating a birthday, made to me poolside twenty years ago. I asked him what it was like to be 65 and he replied, ‘I feel fine; nothing hurts.’” From track to field and beyond, Deerfield Athletics invigorate campus life and instill core values. As we take aim to create even greater opportunities for our athletes and coaches, thank you for helping to build a championship program with your leadership gift.

deerfield.edu/give

52 | THE COMMON ROOM

“We lost another one of our beloved classmates, Pony Duke, last October. The following obituary was written by Pony’s oldest son, George. Pony and his sons loved the outdoors and the mountains of Montana and Wyoming. At the time of his death, Pony was the oldest living member of the prominent Duke family. His mother, an accomplished equestrian, nicknamed him Pony at an early age, which he fondly kept since he also loved horses. Pony majored in English and graduated from Duke University in 1959. His presence will be deeply missed. Excerpt from Pony’s obituary: Angier St. George Biddle ‘Pony’ Duke Pony was born in New York City on November 5, 1937, at City Hospital, the only son of Angier Biddle Duke and Priscilla St. George. He went to the happy hunting grounds on October 8, 2014, as the oldest living descendant of Washington Duke (endower and namesake of Duke University). He was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s third cousin and a direct descendant of St. George, the patron saint of England. He spent the first 18 years of his life divided equally between the shores of Long Island and the Flying H ranch at the head of the Shoshone River in northwest Wyoming, which his parents owned in the ’40s and ’50s. It was there on mountain pack trips and at summer square dances that he developed his love of the mountains, the West, and the outdoors. Pony had a wild and successful career on Wall Street during the big bull market of the ’60s before moving his children out to Cody, WY, in 1967, so they too could grow up there. From that time until he moved to North Carolina briefly in the ’80s, he was a famous and colorful elk hunting guide on the upper Greybull River and surrounding valleys. In 1971, he met the love of his life, Mary Ellen Haga, who became his wife in 1973 to the present day—his soul mate and darling companion. Upon his return to the West (Montana) in 1987, he embarked on a successful business career in the sale of fine arts, aerospace design, and ultimately the energy


business —specifically oil and gas exploration and production. He particularly loved bird hunting in the latter half of his life and good bird dogs. He gave up big-game hunting but loved to fish in the mountains and on his stretch of the Stillwater River. Breakfasts at the Railside Diner followed by pheasant hunts around Broadview and Lavina were mandatory on fall weekends. Once he purchased the ranch near Edgar, the action moved to the Clark’s fork of the Yellowstone River and jolly dinners at the Edgar Bar. Pheasants feared him and trout respected him, and above all else he wanted to be remembered as a hunter, sportsman, and outdoorsman. He is survived by his loving wife, Mary Ellen; and his boys, Ben (Tatyanna) and George; brothers, Biddle Duke and Dario Duke; sisters, Katharine Selznick and Marilu Duke Cluett; as well as his grandchildren, Maud, Leo, Lucy, Nellie, and Boris; and a whole lot of horses, especially Bucky and Muffin, and a rather large black Labrador retriever named Fred.” “It was invigorating to see and chat with the 19 classmates who attended our Reunion; it was indeed a span of 60 years for a few of us! The entire Pocumtuck Valley was resplendent in a Deerfield letter sweater green hue due to the many rainy days there this past springtime. Besides the mind-stimulating seminars, the new 21st century equipped buildings, and our camaraderie, one of the highlights was the get-together in the Caswell Library initiated by Mike Grant. We reminisced about our boyhood pranks at Deerfield 60 years ago. We certainly engaged the patience of Mr. Boyden and the corridor masters on many occasions! In hindsight, we all would have acted up if we had known that the ultimate reprimand was personal time with Mrs. Boyden at 5:30 a.m. in her greenhouse garden. Just ask Essie! Excerpts of Dick Cadigan’s note to Tim Day and John Spurdle: “Hi—missed you guys. It was a solid event. Campus is spectacular. Had most fun with Moose M, Bob Smith, Nick Frost, Essie E, Terry Fuller, Mike Grant, Jerry Rood, Bruce McEwan. Tom L’Esperance and I were the only classmates to hike to the Rock. If I had known how challenging it was to be, then I probably would have passed it up. Also enjoyed Zeke Knight ’54 and a fellow I never knew before, Joe Lawrence ’54. Turns out he and I had a couple of very close friends in common—both now in next chapter. Spurts: Moose and Bob were threatening to place a conference call to you to give you grief for not attending. Five guys were there marking their 65th Reunion, so mark your calendars! Cheers, Dick. In regard to the photo of Stephen Hannock ’70 and Mimi and Jay Morsman, Stephen is a renowned landscape artist who presented one of his celebrated paintings, Northern City Renaissance, Mauve Dawn, to Mimi and Jay. Many other ’55-er photos were sent to the Reunion attendees. If you would like to see them, feel free to contact me (Tom L’Esperance). There are also some excellent photos on the Deerfield website; just log on to deerfield.edu/alumni/news for the Reunion 2015 photos.”—Tom L’Esperance: Tel: 760-942-2680 | Email: tmlski@roadrunner.com. To access our 1955 online Class Notes, please go to: deerfield.edu/alumni/class-of-1955/class-notes

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54 | THE COMMON ROOM

The Architect BLAKE MIDDLETON ’74 / by Lynn Horowitch


55

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, greenhouse gas emissions from commercial and residential sources accounted for 12% of total emissions in the United States in 2013, outpacing the agricultural sector and not far behind the industrial sector. A new building on New York City’s Roosevelt Island, designed by Blake Middleton ’74, is evidence that the percentage could be lower. The structure, a residential tower for Cornell Tech, the applied sciences campus of Cornell University, will be the world’s tallest “Passive House” high-rise when it is completed in 2017. Passive House is a rigorous design standard developed first in Europe to radically reduce the energy required to heat or cool a building. At 26 stories, the building will use 60 to 70 percent less energy than comparable structures. “We designed an incredibly robust thermal envelope,” Mr. Middleton explains. And while this is the first Passive House that Mr. Middleton has designed, he envisions doing more in the future. “This will become a model for much more efficient building for large residential and mixed-use buildings,” Mr. Middleton says. “In regions like Massachusetts, California, and New York, energy codes are already being pushed in this direction. That push will continue.” Mr. Middleton is an experienced and accomplished architect. After completing his undergraduate and graduate studies in architecture at Cornell, he had a Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome for a year. Now a partner with New York–based Handel Architects, which he co-founded with a Cornell classmate, his work includes projects in California and Asia. He has designed several performing arts facilities, including The Boston Conservatory and the Santa Barbara Bowl. Other projects include The Ritz-Carlton Towers in downtown Boston and the Flushing Meadows – Corona Park Natatorium in New York City, which is the largest indoor recreation facility in the city. He also designed “a small but interesting” nature center under the flight path of Kennedy Airport. In addition to the Passive House building, which broke ground in June, Mr. Middleton is working on the 1.4 million square foot Millennium Tower at Downtown Crossing in Boston, soon to be the tallest residential building in the city. To these disparate projects, Mr. Middleton brings an informed sensibility. He notes that three factors drive the design process: the unique characteristics of the site, the construction budget, and the clients’ ambitions for how the structure is going to be used. Mr. Middleton says, “Typically, when you embrace those three factors, you can tease out the answers, and the design solution starts to reveal itself.” This initial conceptual phase and the actual construction phase are his favorite parts of the process. “Seeing it all come together in wood and steel and concrete is quite something,” he says. Throughout his career, Mr. Middleton has devoted time to educating the next generation of architects. His teaching stints include Harvard, Toronto, Yale, the University of Virginia, and the California College of the Arts. While he made the decision years ago to focus on his practice, he continues to teach a semester every year or two to “recharge my intellectual batteries.” Mr. Middleton has always had a passion for architecture. His mother is an accomplished draftsman and watercolorist. “I grew up around graphic art,” he recalls. Before coming to Deerfield as a junior, Mr. Middleton worked part-time in high school at a small architecture firm near his home in Concord, MA. At Deerfield, working with art teacher Yuji Kishimoto, now professor emeritus at Clemson School of Architecture, he undertook an independent senior project to design a campus student center. He visited the campuses of other boarding schools to learn what their student centers contained and then designed one to fit in with the Deerfield campus. Although that project never moved forward, Mr. Middleton remembers that the Helen Childs Boyden Science Center was under construction during his Deerfield days, and while he hasn’t returned to campus for a while, his daughter starts college at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) this fall. He says, “I’ll be back in the Valley a lot over the next few years.” A side trip to Deerfield just might be inevitable. //

26 Stories THE STRUCTURE, A RESIDENTIAL TOWER FOR CORNELL TECH, THE APPLIED SCIENCES CAMPUS OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY, WILL BE THE WORLD’S TALLEST “PASSIVE HOUSE” HIGH-RISE WHEN IT IS COMPLETED IN 2017.


’64 1961 Frank Markus ’62 Re-elected to a third term as Village Justice of Saltaire, NY.

Peter Gabel ’64 Received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from San Francisco State University (above) for “his extraordinary contributions to legal scholarship, our community, and our ability to consider ‘a different order of things.’”

“Patsy and I continue to be fortunate—especially with four grandchildren who are a constant source of fascination and delight. I continue to work on management consulting in health care; the challenge of helping clients adapt to change and new realities continues to be engaging. Recently saw Bobby Hallagan, Bruce Macleod, and Curt Mills, and it was great to see them all well and thriving.” —Michael Annison

1964 “Kitty and I celebrated our 45th anniversary last January, and our preschool and kindergarten, The Acorn, celebrated its 35th anniversary. No plans to retire from such a joyful calling. We avoid the San Antonio heat by going to northern Michigan for three months every summer, so we’re greatly blessed (and some people say that qualifies as semi-retirement)! Best to all.”—Rich Lange

1966 / 50 th “Twenty-six years in business as electronics marketing manager, then materials manager; four years consulting; fourteen years teaching high school math in inner city Philadelphia; now retiring. My life is punctuated by interests cultivated at Deerfield and at John Suitor’s summer camp. We charter 40- to 50-foot yachts on the Chesapeake out of Rock Hall, MD. Katy (my wife) and I have two grown daughters who have good jobs in medicine. My daughter Kacy is now looking after my first grandchild, Jake, named after me! We are so lucky! Deerfield has made our rich life possible.”—John Calder

56 | THE COMMON ROOM


“Jetlagged in Bremen and looking forward to joining Gretchen in Wiesbaden followed by a week in the UK visiting/babysitting our granddaughter. Daughter Jen’s a rising star at Vodafone, M2M. Son Chris crossed over from emerging markets to join Georgetown’s endowment team. Saddened to learn of Bob Merriam’s passing—he certainly influenced my path.”— Steve Gill “After 30 years at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (formerly the Monterey Institute of International Studies— MIIS), I retired in July, as did my wife Kate after 25 years of teaching public elementary school on the Monterey Peninsula. Items high on the bucket list are visiting the last eight states to complete 50 and four continents. The future is full of travel, board work, and grandchildren. If you are headed to the California Central Coast, contact us and think seriously about house or apartment swops, as we live in paradise.”— Jeff Wood

1968

Bob Porteous ’69 Expected his first grandchild at the end of August.

Scott Marquardt ’72 Enjoyed getting together with Carlos Torres and Hal Howard for backgammon and biking in Washington, DC, this past spring.

“After 29 years as a head of four schools, three in the US and one in Istanbul, Turkey, my wife Marnie and I are retiring to spend eight months a year in Jackson Hole, WY, and four months a year near our children, who live in San Francisco, CA.”— Tony Paulus

1969 “After 36 years of teaching college and high school at Saint Mary’s, in Raleigh, NC, I ‘graduated’ with the Class of 2015. Some might call it retirement. My present plan: taking a gap year. Actually, I’ll catch up with the many chores and contacts I’ve let lapse over recent years. Come see us in Chatham County, NC, (just south of Chapel Hill). Swesthimer@hotmail.com” —Steven Esthimer

1970

’70 |

Just playing around at Reunions 2015.

“Twenty-five of our classmates returned to DA in June for a great time together. Steve ‘Rembrandt’ Hannock gave a terrific presentation, and on behalf of the class gave one of his masterworks to Mimi and Jay Morsman ’55. Afterward, Tara Olson was made an honorary member of the Class of 1970, and all of us were entertained by Neil, Dunc, Chip, and Stash for our traditional jam session. One of the highlights was Neil finally revealed the origins of ‘Does a chicken have lips?’ A 45-year-old mystery. For those of you who missed attending, we will try and persuade him to divulge one last time the meaning at our 50th, so don’t miss it!”— Kent Kahle

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

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RECENTLY PUBLISHED: AUTHOR : AUTHOR :

Forty Rod Road

Grove N. Mower ’76

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform / 2015

REVIEWED BY:

Jessica Day

INTRODUCING HANK CHANDLER : flawed, fumbling, and about to fail out of college at the end of his freshman year. Hank accepts a job at a Wyoming ranch not far from where his best friend, Luke, died the previous year. Hank has lots of reasons for wanting to avoid a summer at home with his parents in suburban Chicago, not the least of which is the troubling need to find out just exactly what led to the accident that caused Luke’s death… Sometimes heart-wrenching and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, Grove Mower’s debut novel is entertaining from start to finish, and like any good story, Forty Rod Road transports the reader to a different time and place—in this case 1977 and the dusty ranch owned by genuine cowboy Buzz Stifel and his wife Hope. They are hard-working, good people, but everybody has their secrets and faults, and Hank soon learns the Stifels are no exception; grudges, infidelity, and barroom brawls all muddy the waters as Hank discovers ranch life, for better or worse, isn’t quite as he imagined it.

Some of Forty Rod Road was inspired by Mr. Mower’s own experiences— such as the fact he, too, spent the summer between his freshman and sophomore years in college working on a ranch in Wyoming. It was a time he has described as a “leap from innocence to experience”—which also sums up Hank Chandler’s experience. In many ways, Forty Rod Road is a classic coming-of-age story, but it is in part Mr. Mower’s unique perspective that keeps this story from becoming cliché. That, and memorable chapters such as: “Farm Animals, Milking a Cow, the Outhouse, Tobacco.” At 175 pages, Forty Rod Road might be a quick read, but it’s the kind of story that stays with you for a while, thanks to a lively first-person narration, a cast of memorable characters, and Mr. Mower’s sharp wit. For those interested in “what happens next,” Mr. Mower is currently writing two sequels: his second book picks up where Forty Rod Road ended, and the third in the trilogy features Hank Chandler seven years down the road. //

EXCERPT:

running along a ten-foot hallway that Clete and I drove back to the house and had lots of ranch clothing hanging up or lugged my gear across the yard, over a just stuffed inside. A small bathroom, plank that had been laid across the with no door, was dirty and useless small ditch, to the green trailer that was to be my home away from home. because the sink, vanity and toilet had Inside, Clete kicked away boxes of clothes been ripped out and boarded over. Salt and got me set up on a thick bed of saddle licks were stacked in the tub, collecting blankets, then said to meet him in the dust. In the front where I was to sleep house as soon as I got settled in. (He were those boxes of clothes, the cracked later gave me one of his pillows after vanity from the bathroom and a makeHope washed the cover. She also gave shift workbench, below one of the two me an old lamp to read by. Compared to windows, where Clete re-loaded his dorm life this really wasn’t going to be shells for his Smith & Wesson. If my all that different, except here I could parents’ housekeeper, Verna, could have seen this place, she would have quit; if pee right outside.) I nosed around the trailer like a dog my mother and father knew where I inspecting a house for the first time. It was to sleep, I’m positive they would have was a beat-up abortion, with a sagging recalled me. That made me smile as I ran double bed (Clete’s) in the back bed- my finger along the grimy windowpane. room and a bunch of built-in closets

58 | THE COMMON ROOM


4

’69

1

“Last year I stopped doing marketing writing for The Man to focus on my own projects, specifically books that would combine informative travel writing with photography, attitude, and humor. I’ve been shooting the Utah National Parks for years, so that’s what I started with. The book is called Photographing the American Southwest: Getting Impressive Shots at Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef and it’s available on Amazon (search for ‘Tim Truby’). Currently the book is only in eBook format; that approach was easier and faster. I’ve already started researching a follow-up book focused on Arizona parks and slot canyons.”— Tim Truby

5

1. Mesa Arch at Sunrise, Canyonlands 2. Queens Garden Trail, Bryce Canyon 3. Fording The Narrows, Zion 4. Green River Overlook at Sunset, Canyonlands 5. Subway Slot Canyon, Zion

3

2

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The Bartender PA R I S D u R A N T E ’ 7 9 / b y L y n n H o r o w i t c h

Paris DuRante’s career path is proof that it’s always good to recognize one’s strengths and weaknesses. As a student at Deerfield, Mr. DuRante had a goal and a plan. His father had been in the Air Force, and Mr. DuRante was influenced by that. “I wanted to fly planes,” he says. Only 16 years old when he graduated from Deerfield, he spent a year at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, before enrolling in the Air Force Academy. With his parents’ permission, he entered the service at age 17 and learned to fly the T-38, a two-seat, twin-engine supersonic jet trainer.

60 | THE COMMON ROOM


Daniel Krieger/The New York Times/Redux

There was only one problem with flying, and Mr. DuRante realized it quickly: “I wasn’t good at it.” So he switched to military acquisitions at Hanscom Air Force Base outside of Boston in Bedford, MA. He prospered in that job and developed a routine for his free time. “On Saturday afternoons,” he says, “I would go into Cambridge to buy records and then hang out at a bar for a couple of hours.” He befriended the bartender at his weekly hangout who told him, “If you got a job here, you wouldn’t have to pay for drinks.” Mr. DuRante started tending bar one night a week, while still working for the Air Force. It was Mondays, not a typically busy night, but he reeled in his friends to watch Monday Night Football and did well. This stint lasted a couple of years, but then Mr. DuRante decided to leave the Air Force and move back to New York City, where he had grown up. Settling in the East Village, he worked first at a local Mexican restaurant and then at another restaurant in the neighborhood. Fifteen years ago, Mr. DuRante started working as a bartender at the Campbell Apartment. Featured as a setting in the Gossip Girl television series, the Campbell Apartment is a “classy lounge . . . tucked away in Grand Central Station,” according to a review in New York magazine. Originally built in the 1920s as office space for John W. Campbell, a millionaire American financier, the space features 25-foot ceilings and décor modeled after a 13th century Florentine palace. In tending bar in a dramatic setting in an iconic location, Mr. DuRante makes great use of his strengths. He notes, “The more well-rounded you are, the better a bartender you can be.” He stays up on the news, watches ESPN’s Sports Center at the start of every day, and reads an eclectic list of books. While avoiding religion and politics (“Bartender 101” in Mr. DuRante’s view), he is “basically able to talk to people about anything.” Catering to a diverse group of businesspeople, commuters, tourists, and the occasional celebrity who he is too discreet to reveal, Mr. DuRante finds it easy to connect with his customers.

Mr. DuRante appreciates that he works hard during his shifts, but doesn’t take his work home with him. And while those shifts end at 1 a.m. (2 a.m. on weekends), that is early for the New York scene, where closing time is regularly 4 a.m. So what does he do when he leaves work? “Pretty much what most people do—I go out for a couple of drinks!” One unexpected perk of the job came last fall, when Mr. DuRante was invited to travel to Madrid to promote a line of premium tonic waters for Schweppes. “Apparently the Spanish are crazy for gin and tonics,” Mr. DuRante explains. The company built a replica of the Campbell Apartment and hosted a big party at the Train Museum. This past April, Mr. DuRante was the subject of an article in the “Men’s Style” section of the New York Times. The feature, part of the “Shaken and Stirred” series, included his recipe for Prohibition Punch, a perennially popular cocktail at the Campbell Apartment. While Mr. DuRante has been a fixture at the Campbell Apartment for years, only one Deerfield friend has made the connection. “A few years ago, Art Dwight ’79 stopped by to introduce me to his wife,” Mr. DuRante recalls. “I hadn’t seen him since graduation.” As for where Mr. DuRante got his start in the bartending business? It’s water under the bridge and ancient history . . . but he does recall mixing a Tom Collins or two in the Pocumtuck Valley! //

Prohibition Punch Yield: 1 Drink 1¾ ounces rum ¾ ounce of Gran Gala 1½ ounces passion fruit juice 1½ ounces cranberry juice Splash of lemon juice Champagne

1. Combine all ingredients (except Champagne) into an iced Boston Shaker. Shake well. 2. Strain into an iced snifter. Top off with Champagne.

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“Some of you may know that I went to high school at the exclusive Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts, a school so hightone that the diploma did not contain the words ‘high school’ (when I enlisted in the Army, they did not believe that I had graduated from high school at first, even though I had a university ID card). Deerfield is well-organized and constantly seeks funds and attendance at alumni events, so I got frequent reminders of the upcoming 45th Reunion. I had been to my 20th and 25th Reunions, but had not been back since and had seen very few classmates in the last 20 years. So I decided what the heck—I will fly up on Saturday, get there for the class picture at noon and come back Monday. I drove onto the familiar ‘Street,’—that long main street of the village that runs about half a mile between massive shade trees and colonial houses, some of which date back to the late 1600’s. Just turning onto the ancient Street evokes the place and the sheltered time of my high school days. Most of the people I had hoped would be there were not, but I came to socialize and soon found myself chatting amiably with Rich Lincoln and Keith Mackay, with whom I had lived in Hitchcock House in 1969-70. I drifted in an out of conversations with them and other alums. I wanted to walk up to the Rock in the morning, and Rich and I agreed to do it together. ‘How about six am?’ I suggested, thinking that was too early but I would settle for seven. ‘Great!’ said Rich. Two other classmates, Charlie Trautmann and Dick Gilbane, overheard us, and we all decided to go together. Deerfield lies in a river valley with Pocumtuck Mountain (a long high ridge) on the east side, and the Rock is a stone outcrop at the top of the ridge about two miles from the school. When I was a student we had 20 sit down meals a week, the only exception being Sunday morning, when we could get coffee and rolls in the basement of the Dining Hall. I would stop by and pick up some food and walk up to the Rock in the early morning. The quiet, the beautiful view, the peaceful woods—those were moments of real serenity for me. Those days can never return, I know, but this walk on this morning had a palpable magic of its own. The four of us walked and talked about school days (and how Bob Merriam ’43, the school’s enforcer, had once caught some kids smoking weed at the Rock), about our kids, and our work (Rich and Dick did a lot of contracting), about Charlie’s PhD work drilling samples along the top of the mountain to test changes in the earth’s magnetism over geologic time, and global warming and politics. The morning was wonderfully clear, with only a few wisps of cloud to break the cool sunshine. Warblers flicked through the branches. We wandered upward across ski trails and finally found the footpath along the top of the mountain that led us to the Rock itself. The view across the valley to the green hills, with the Academy below us, was absolutely spectacular. In making this new connection, doing this simple walk, with these friends whom I had seen almost nothing of in so many years, in this beautiful place, I felt like I had come back home, to that place of serenity, in some way I had never expected.”— Dan Read

62 | THE COMMON ROOM

’70 |

Reunited at the Rock: (l to r) classmates Charlie Trautmann, Dan Read, and Dick Gilbane, during Reunion Weekend 2015.

’70 |

Dino Mangano, daughter of Dan Read ’70, and Bradley J. Bennett were married on July 5, 2014 at Immaculate Conception Church in Durham, NC. Dino teaches seventh grade at Voyager Academy, and she and Bradley bought a house half a mile from Dan and Maria.


1971 / 45th “On March 11, 2013 Lieutenant JG Will B. McIlvaine ’06, Lt. Valerie Delaney, and Lt. Cmdr. Alan Patterson perished in a crash during a VAQ-129 Squadron training mission that originated at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Oak Harbor WA. I am raising money for a new public Prowler Memorial to honor Will and all others who gave their lives during operations of the EA6-B Prowler. The City of Oak Harbor recently voted to accept the memorial and finalized a downtown waterfront location along the city’s ‘Walk of Honor.’ The dedication is expected sometime in 2016. The memorial will be linked by QR Code to a website dedicated to the lives and careers of 47 US Navy and US Marines honored on the memorial. The preliminary site is prowlermemorial.org. You can also read one of several recent articles about the memorial here: belli n gh a m h e ra l d .co m /n e ws / l o ca l /n e ws - co l u m ns - bl o gs /a r t i cle22310502.html or watch a recent national news story here: king5. com/story/news/local/2015/04/21/whidbey-nas-odessa-prowler-crash-memorial-will-mcilvaine/26147811/ The memorial design was inspired the Herndon Memorial on the grounds of the US Naval Academy that Will’s plebe class had to climb in 2007. The Grumman EA6-B Prowler will be officially retired from service by the US Navy in 2015 and the US Marines in 2016.”— Phelps McIlvaine

Kerry Hayes

1975 “To the Great Class of 1975: It was with regret that I missed this year’s Reunion (the first one I think I’ve missed) as we were traveling with our children celebrating Elizabeth’s ’10 college graduation and Thomas’ ‘12 21st birthday. Hope you had a great time, raised a glass for me to the Varsity Crowd, and I will hope to catch up with you guys before the next Reunion. A quick update: Jane and I semi-retired as of 12/31/14 and are now focused on board work and, mostly, trying to spend more time with each other and the important people in our lives. The kids are rockin’ it and we could not be more proud. We recently built a net-zero house on Lake Sunapee in NH and hope to spend about half our time up there (interestingly, it is about five houses away from where Mr. and Mrs. Boyden spent their summers for 50 or so years). Travel, reading, sports, food and wine will take up the time we are not spending on a variety of boards. I am still playing soccer and skiing the backcountry when I get the chance, and relish the encounters I have with DA folks such as Schulte, Peter Weinberg, Fritz, Rafferty, and others. Life is good and I hope to see you soon.”—Ralph Earle

1976 / 40th

Deerfield gave me the foundation

I needed to become the best version of myself. As a gesture of my deep felt thanks, I’ve named the Academy in my will. Michael Sucsy ’91 / Filmmaker

LEARN MORE:

413-774-1872

deerfield.edu/go/ boyden

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Dr. Curtis’ emphasis on ‘doing well while doing good’—to shape the whole student— academically, athletically, and ethically— you really see that demonstrated in the way the kids behave and carry themselves.

Coast to Coast

MARK McINERNEY ’81 / by Jessica Day

The McInerneys—Mark and Hilary

When Mark McInerney ’81 was a student at Berkshire Country Day School in Lenox, MA, one of his soccer buddies was also a role model. When this young man decided to attend Deerfield, Mr. McInerney set his sights on the Academy, too. And when it was time for a tour, he showed Mr. McInerney around. The young man’s name was Jamie Kapteyn ’79, who went on to become a beloved member of the Deerfield faculty, and it was thanks to him that Mr. McInerney’s long relationship with Deerfield first began. Now, nearly four decades, two alumni children, and one current student later, Mark McInerney adds the title of “Trustee” to his Deerfield resume. He couldn’t be happier. “I think Deerfield has definitely gotten more rigorous than when I was a student,” he says. “And Dr. Curtis’ emphasis on ‘doing well while doing good’—to shape the whole student—academically, athletically, and ethically—you really see that demonstrated in the way the kids behave and carry themselves. So many other schools have gone to a specialized model, and I think it’s good for Deerfield to be different; Deerfield develops more well-rounded kids. We’ve got best-of-class academics, athletics, and artistic endeavors; there’s a culture of excellence that I want to help maintain.” As Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking at GCA Savvian, a firm Mr. McInerney helped to found in 2003 after 17 years at JP Morgan, he is familiar with helping people (and their companies) do “well and good.”

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“It’s one of those things where it’s nice to work with companies that are doing well financially, as well as doing good for the world,” Mr. McInerney says. “We really pride ourselves on finding emerging companies that have got great business concepts and great management teams, that can grow rapidly and become the disruptors.” These days Mr. McInerney is primarily based on the West Coast, but in addition to making frequent trips back East to Deerfield, he recently partnered with classmate Chris Knisley to found Albany Road Real Estate Partners in Boston. The name is not a coincidence. “We were trying to name the company, and decided it had to be something Deerfield related! It’s just been a great reconnection for the two of us,” Mr. McInerney comments. “You’ve got a trust that goes all the way back to being 14 years old, and living in a dorm, and playing soccer together. It’s really incredible.” In addition to backing Deerfield by endowing a fund to support faculty professional development, Mr. McInerney and his wife, Hilary, have devoted a great deal of their time to spreading the word about Deerfield on the West Coast as Admission representatives—with exceptional results. “Deerfield has built quite a reputation out here,” Mr. McInerney says, “because we’re not just getting kids from California—we’re getting the best kids from California, which is great to see. There’s a lot that goes into that,” he adds, “but it’s largely people and making sure we continue to hire the best teachers and the best administrators—that’s how we attract the best students. Now I am really happy to be a part of that as a trustee; it’s my objective to help assure that Deerfield is even better, in every facet, by the end of my tenure.” //


David Dwight Became a minister in 1991, co-founded Hope Church in Richmond, VA, and recently co-authored Start Here: Beginning a Relationship with Jesus.

’77 |

Bill Adams, his wife Deb, and son Pat ’09 enjoyed a holiday tour of the White House last year.

1977

“My wife Deb and I relocated from the Carolinas to the Washington, DC, area in 2014. I am the lead faculty of the Government Sector at the Center for Creative Leadership. This move was so that I could be closer to my federal government clients and assist in business development. We are also glad to be close to our sons, Dan and Pat ‘09, who both live and work in the area. Pat, a political appointee at the Department of Energy, was able to get us a tour of the White House at Christmas, a memorable occasion!”— Bill Adams

Scott Ruggles Led his Tilton School Boys Soccer team to a NEPSAC Class C Championship in 2014. It was only the second such title in the school’s history.

“Celebrating our 21st year of being in Nashville. It’s been a fun and crazy ride. I have one son at Sewanee, the University of the South, where there are, according to my son, far too many Choaties. Daughter Alexandra was accepted into the Conde Nast School of Fashion in London. One last year of college at Sanford in Alabama. Son Tucker is a D1 football prospect, so we are on our tours of great stadiums. Go SEC! See? Proof I am a now a true southerner. Roll tide. NOT!!!”— Stewart Day

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

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FROM THE ARCHIVES circa

’76

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l to r : Robert Sarkisian, Lucy and Ashley Hehir, who came up with the “All About the Plates” concept, and Tucker Holland ’84

“All About the Plates . . .” HUDSON (TUCKER) HOLLAND III ’84 / by Jessica Day

Under the leadership of Tucker Holland ’84 and his co-chair Robert Sarkisian, Nantucket was able to succeed where both Boston College and Harvard University failed: The Nantucket License Plate Committee collected enough applications to begin production of a specialty Massachusetts motor vehicle license plate. More importantly, Mr. Holland and his team were able to distribute over $43,000 to several island nonprofits that directly benefit children, thanks to the plate initiative. Mr. Holland says that by February of 2015, 1547 applications were on file—just a tick over the 1500 required for production. Recently, all across the state, those with cars registered in Massachusetts have been able to pick up their Nantucket plates at their local registries of motor vehicles. Low and special number plates—such as 1, 508, 617, 212, and 1659—will be auctioned off beginning in early 2016. Each specialty plate has a $40 state fee. The Registry of Motor Vehicles keeps $12 to cover production costs, and the remaining $28 goes to the Nantucket License Plate Fund at the Community Foundation for Nantucket. Plate owners must pay a renewal fee of $40 every two years, and one hundred percent of that fee goes back to the island. “As the program continues, the Nantucket Lighthouse School will receive 49 percent of the net proceeds,” Mr. Holland says, “and 25 percent will be given to The Nantucket Fund™ at the Community Foundation, which manages charitable giving on the island and identifies nonprofits in need.” In this case, the Fund will continue to specifically target children’s programming at the discretion of the Community Foundation’s Grants Committee. “The remaining 26 percent will be split between other partners,” Mr. Holland adds, “with the four organizations that received over 75 applications each getting a slightly larger cut.” “We’re thrilled to be partnering with the license plate initiative,” says Sue Mynttinen of A Safe Place, an intervention service for victims of domestic

violence on Nantucket. “The funds we receive through this project will support services for children to help them heal from the trauma of witnessing or experiencing domestic abuse. The initiative also gives us the opportunity to learn more about the mission and programs of each partner organization—opening the door to collaborate programmatically for the benefit of all Nantucket children.” This isn’t the first time Nantucket residents have tried to get a specialty plate into production; about eight years ago the Nantucket Police Charitable Association made a valiant effort but fell short of the 1500 applicant mark. The current Nantucket License Plate Fund has until October of 2017 to meet the 3000 plate goal that is required to make the program permanent. Statewide, there have been about 15 specialty plate efforts for various causes over the past two years, but the Nantucket plate is the only one to reach the initial production goal . . . with a little help from a famous resident. “Part of what helped us reach the mark was the generosity of musical native Meghan Trainor,” says Mr. Holland. “She gave us permission to do a video modeled on her smash hit ‘All About That Bass.’ Our version was ‘All About the Plates’ and we featured scenes with island locals— young and old alike!” Mr. Holland, who has a lifelong association with Nantucket, including returning as a fulltime resident with his wife and three children in 2012, is now looking forward to the low and special number plate auction; he points out that just about a decade ago Cape and Islands specialty plate #1 went for $50,000. “Our auction could bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars for Nantucket nonprofits and their children’s programs,” he says. //

Nantucketlicenseplate.org, for more information, to sign up for auction updates via email or to enjoy “All About the Plates.”

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1981 / 35th “It’s been a busy year already. I joined the board of directors of the Professional Squash Association and co-produced a documentary on the Syrian refugee crisis. Thanks to two DA ‘80 grads (you can guess who), we were able to place the Living on One team in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan for a month; the first time something like this has been done, according to the UN. We hope to humanize the effects of the conflict. Next challenge, putting my three kids in multiple prep schools at the same time this fall.”— Mohab Khattab

’82 |

Phil McCarthy ’82 (left) and Jim Brodsky were married at St. James’ Church in New York City on February 7, 2015. Also in attendance were Mark Pennybacker ’82, Steve Crampton ’82, Rob McCarthy ’90, Ashley Sharp ’08, and Else Sharp ’10.

1982 “Looking forward to seeing more of Deerfield this year. My oldest son, Nicholas, was accepted for a PG year. It may be a long trek for me to get out from Colorado, but I will be attending several of his soccer games this fall.”— Jim Ferrari “Rich Rubin and I got together recently in Sudbury, MA, where we both live. It was great to see him. I see JJ Briones, Dave Haviland, James Hughes, Tim Carey, and others way too infrequently. I also visited Dave ’65 and Sig Howell a couple of summers ago for lunch on the Cape. It was great to see them. I’m rowing with a group for the first time since college, 32 years and 60 pounds ago! Having a blast with folks from Westminster, Pomfret, and Rivers. The guy who got us going has a son, Sam Armstrong ’15, who rowed on the Deerfield crew team and just graduated. He is Greg Greene’s nephew (Greg is Class of 1984). My two co-authors and I are nearing completion of the manuscript for End the Job Hunt, a book about using negotiation frameworks for career management. My first book! I continue to teach, train, consult, and coach negotiation theory and skills. I also mediate. My son Will (20) will be a junior at St. Lawrence (where Betsy went). He just joined the theme house (Java) that books all the bands for campus. My daughter Annie (18) just graduated from Westminster (where Will went also). She will be a freshman at Colgate and is thinking about joining club soccer and horseback riding for the school team. Betsy is loving going back to SLU to visit Will and be back on campus. She is taking her mom on a road trip to see how SLU has changed and to see Colgate for the first time. In May, Betsy captained a team for the 11th year for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. I hope to make it to Choate Day!”— Tad Mayer

1983 “All well with our family: Brady is 12 and Mack is 11. We split our time between Middleburg, VA, and Jackson, WY. The kids go to school in Jackson and I commute back and forth, which isn’t as bad as it sounds, especially when the skiing is good. Still in the public affairs business in DC (agenda-global.com) and doing fun stuff. Also still in the heli -skiing and adventure travel business with EpicQuest. Not a good way to make money but a great way to see the world!”— Craig Pattee

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’87 |

“After many years of encouragement, my wife convinced me to man up and make the move to Hawaii to be with our family.We will still be on the Cape in the summers, but my kids now attend a beachfront school. If you are ever out here, please feel free to contact us. Mahalo!”— DJ Fairbanks

1985 “My wife Lisa and I continue to expand our vocal academy in Bryn Mawr. We have been leading figures in many of the world’s great opera houses, but now focus our talents on nurturing the next generation of aspiring young singers. The Willson Vocal Academy has become the premier center for vocal training on the Main Line of Philadelphia. All genres of vocal technique are taught focusing on a bel canto foundation and vocal health. Many students have gone on to finish their studies at some of the best secondary institutions in America. I graduated from the Juilliard and the Curtis Institute of Music, and sang as a leading operatic tenor in many of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scalla, Berlin Deutche Oper, Washington National Opera, and the Los Angeles Opera. After beginning her career as a jazz singer touring as the lead vocalist with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, Lisa then realized a career as an internationally-renowned operatic soprano— singing many of the greatest soprano roles on stage and television. We met at the Juilliard, and are raising our two sons in Bryn Mawr, PA. willsonvocalacademy.com”— Ian DeNolfo

’85 |

Ian DeNolfo ’85 and his wife Lisa continue to expand their vocal academy in Bryn Mawr, PA.

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’89 |

“After an intense year of consulting and teaching organizational psychology, I spent the summer backpacking throughout Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, as well as getting a lot of skydiving in while working toward my USPA coach rating and flying video at the Wisconsin Skydiving Center. Life is good!”— Trevor Nagle

1986 / 30th “I just finished reading about Mr. Pond (in the Spring 2015 issue of Deerfield Magazine). It is a wonderful piece that exactly captures what a great man Mr. Pond has always been. When I think of how great Deerfield is, Mr. Pond always comes to mind. I am currently a lieutenant with the NYPD. My oldest son, Lorenzo, began his eighth grade year at The Fessenden School this fall. He is looking forward to applying to Deerfield in the future. Unlike his dad, Lorenzo has no interest in playing hockey, but he is an outstanding football, basketball, and baseball player. My family and I spend our summers at our place on Martha’s Vineyard. Anyone who is interested in visiting and enjoying a nice barbecue in our backyard, feel free to contact me. I wish everyone well and stay safe.”—Lawrence Biondo

’88 | “I was married in August of 2014 to a beautiful woman I met 20 years ago on

a trip to Fiji. She was backpacking around the world. I was on a business trip back from New Zealand. Over the years we kept in touch, and voila! Five years ago we reconnected. Joey and I now live in Moraga, CA, with my son Alek (15) and my two step-daughters—Lily (14) and Landyn (9). Please give me a shout if you head out to San Francisco any time soon.”—Marcus Yoder

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1988 “After spending decades on real life, and getting my first books published, I decided to return to college to pursue a culinary certificate. A year later, I have one course to complete (an English course, naturally) and have made the Presidents List both terms. Gee, if college was this much fun all those years ago . . . !—Adam Gaffen

1991 / 25th “My job with the German software company SAP recently took me to our office in Newtown Square near Philadelphia, and I grasped the opportunity to meet up with Hyun-Jeong Ra ’92! We had not seen each other in 17 years, but it felt as if it was yesterday that we took French III together at Deerfield. It was wonderful to meet Hyun’s husband Andy and four-year-old son Sam and the evening flew by much too fast. Hyun and everyone else, come visit me in Germany!” —Jette Bork-Wagenblast

Ashley Prout ’92 Testified in favor of H.297, a bi-partisan bill introduced this year to the Vermont House Committee on Fish, Wildlife, and Water Resources. The bill, on becoming law, would ban the sale of ivory and rhino horn products; Ms. Prout was recently featured in a National Geographic article that can be read here, http://bit.ly/1DfVhyQ, for her efforts. More information at ivoryfreevermont.org.

Tom Locke ’92 Married Natalie Newman on July 3, 2015 at the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, CT. Deerfield alumni in attendance were Julie (Wolf) Deffense ‘91, Chris Morin De Rosa ‘93, Brittany Locke ‘03, Shantel Moses ‘93, Ann Kleven Rounseville ‘92, and Rachel (Reingold) Mulcahy ‘92.

Quincy Perkins ’98

’92 |

Luke Tansill ’92 welcomed Wesley “Wes” Tobler Tansill on March 20, 2015. Wes’ brother Laird (age seven) and sister Elsa (age five) are “pumped!”

Premiered his film, Swingers Anonymous, at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

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Jamie Murray ’94 Welcomed Stanley Huckins Murray with her husband Ian on May 3, 2015. Big sister Katama and big brother Crosby were very excited about “Huck’s” arrival.

’93 1993 “It’s been quite a while since my last update. 2015 marks nearly 20 years in New York City, my eighth year working as a brand consultant for Interbrand, and the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Evelyn Oak. She joined her brothers, Henry (age six) and Connor (four) on May 5. Looking forward to taking them all to Deerfield for our 25th reunion in 2018!”—Elisabeth Oak Heidi Gu ’99 Welcomed a second baby boy along with her husband, Minhua Zhang, on August 1, 2014. His name is Guliang “Anderson” Zhang.

1995 “Checking in from Hingham, MA, where I live with my wife Jessica and two sons: Preston (four years old) and Hudson (one year old). Zeke Adkins and I are now in our tenth year of running our luggage shipping service, Luggage Forward.”—Aaron Kirley “We moved to California in August. Courtney has left law firm life and joined a technology company, and I’ll be opening an office for GenoSpace. We look forward to seeing more of our West Coast Deerfield friends more often!”—Daniel Meyer

Diana Torres Hawken ’99 Welcomed Erin Lucila on February 17, 2015. Erin is littlest sister to Melanie and Ryan.

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Amory (Bradley) Barnes ’99 Has a family of four: She and Eli welcomed their son, Parker Wallace Barnes, on October 3, 2014. “Haddie is a very proud big sister!”

’93 | “Classmate and fellow travel buff, Phuong Ky, and I have hit two new places on our exhaustive list of places to visit: Macchu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands. Nha Luong ‘95 also made the trip to Macchu Picchu, so we had a mini DA reunion halfway across the globe. Who knows where our travels might take us? Let’s meet up

Mike Dion ’00 Announces the birth of a son: Lucas James on April 1, 2015. Daughter Hannah is “loving life as a big sister.”

for a cold one, if we happen to be in your neck of the woods.” —Shantel Moses

Shantel Moses ’93 Introduces Kai Ng, who was born in September 2014. His favorite pastime is “blowing raspberries and pulling on anything and everything to pull himself up, representing the future Class of 2032.”

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RECENTLY PUBLISHED:

Always Pack a Party Dress AND OTHER LESSONS LEARNED FROM A (HALF) LIFE IN FASHION

AUTHOR :

Amanda Brooks ’92

Blue Rider Press / 2015

REVIEWED BY:

Jessica Day

Amanda (Cutter) Brooks ’92, former fashion director of Barneys New York, author, and all-around style maven has opened her closet to us yet again—this time in her latest book: Always Pack a Party Dress. It’s like settling in for a good chat with your fashion savvy BFF who also happens to give great style advice and has the background to share a juicy celebrity story or two. Thanks to an unexpected introduction a couple summers after graduating from Deerfield, Ms. Brooks wound up interning as a photo assistant for Patrick Demarchelier, who photographed covers for Vogue throughout the 80s and then for Harper’s Bazaar in the early 90s. Working in his studio led to encounters both fashionable and famous: Ms. Brooks helped with photo shoots that included the likes of supermodel Kate Moss and pop music icon Madonna; during college, she spent Columbus Day weekend breaks in Paris at fashion week; she used the press pass Demarchelier loaned her to gain access to the “photographer’s pit” at her first Chanel Haute Couture show. And so began a career that most recently culminated at Barneys. “(I) made a deal with myself that if I could last five years at Barneys, I would give myself a year off living on our farm in England as a reward,” Ms. Brooks says. But less than a year after starting at the luxury department store, Ms. Brooks realized the time was right for her and her family to make the move to England ahead of schedule. Three years later, Ms. Brooks, her husband, and two children are still happily ensconced “across the pond,” with no plans to resume fulltime residence in the US any time soon. “(I) visit New York often,” Ms. Brooks says, “and realize it’s always there when I need it to be.” In addition to achieving “an overwhelming sense of balance and peace,” Ms. Brooks’ expat life allowed for the reflection necessary to write Always Pack a Party Dress, which follows her career and the evolution of her own personal style—successes and failures alike—from Palm Beach preppy to Grateful Dead hippie to chic grown-up. She hopes that by putting her experiences down on paper, she will “make fashion seem a little more forgiving and user-friendly to young women and men who want to take part in it…” And even if your career path lies elsewhere, Always Pack a Party Dress is simply a fun, behind-the-scenes peek into a fascinating industry; often with humor and always with good grace, Amanda Brooks has provided fashion aficionados everywhere with a guide to all that glitters. //

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EXCERPT:

(From the chapter: “The Met Ball Can Induce the Highest Highs (A “Wow” from Anna Wintour) and the Lowest Lows (Arriving in a Beat-up Minivan”) The Met Ball has always been the biggest sartorial opportunity of my year. I’ve taken complete and total pleasure in spending hours, days, weeks, even months contemplating my outfit and then spending even longer to (hopefully) make it happen. When it all comes together, there’s no better feeling than walking into the fashion party of the year feeling confident. That said, sometimes the stars haven’t aligned in my favor, and I’ve been left struggling at the last minute, desperately trying to add bells and whistles to a dress that just isn’t working. Regardless of the success of my outfit, an invitation to the Met Ball induces tremendous excitement (Who will be the surprise performer? Which actress will I spy trying to fix her broken zipper in the bathroom? Who will be best dressed? and utter insanity (What THE HELL am I gonna wear?). In the fashion world, there is no greater promise of high-fashion glamour, jaw-dropping celebrity sightings, and high-school-prom levels of anticipation than on this one night.


With 218 years of shared history, a weather-hardened Door, the Evensong, and the Seal,

who needs a mascot? These enduring symbols connect us to this exceptional school—and to each other. Thank you for keeping Deerfield strong with your gift to the Green and White.

Make a gift at

deerfield.edu/give

“It was so great to see so many Deerfield alums at Elizabeth Tocci ’01 and Brandon Estrella’s wedding over the summer! Looking forward to the 15th Reunion!”—Emily Pell ’01

’01 |

Jenny Dodwell, Emily Pell, and Rebecca Blumenkopf

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’96

Alex Bowman ’01 Reports that he and his wife, Jessica, welcomed their first child, Helen, on February 17, 2015.

1996 / 20th “I have had a rather interesting last few years musically: I composed for the final installment of Twilight—Breaking Dawn Part 2, The Boy Next Door, and a new Jason Sudeikis feature due out later this year. I have also started working with Oscar-winner Trent Reznor as his assistant, and signed a deal with Armada Records as well as continuing my deal with Songs Music Publishing. I couldn’t be more busy. Miss the DA greatly and hope to be back soon.”— Michael Schenk Alexandra (Neville) Booker ’03 Presents Winston, who was born on December 24, 2014, weighing 8 lbs., 13 oz. She and her husband Breck are “thrilled,” and hope everyone is well.

Ashley (Hilton) Kadakia ’00 Olivia Kadakia, daughter of Ashley (Hilton) Kadakia and Nell Domont, daughter of Maggie (Brown) Domont, lunching in Darien, CT. Future Deerfield classmates?

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2000 “My husband and I welcomed our second daughter in November 2014. We live in TriBeCa near Karina (Meckel) Heffers and spend a lot of time with her and her family. While we miss having them in the city, we also still see Hilary (Abrams) Kallop, Maggie (Brown) Domont and Katie (Fay) Long with their families who live in CT and NJ. We all had a girls’ dinner recently, also with Sheida Tabaie who lives on the Upper East Side. We miss Mimi (Krueger) Rozek, who lives in Boston, and Kady (Tremaine) Buchanan, who lives in Hong Kong, but still keep in touch and see them as often as we can.” — Ashley (Hilton) Kadakia “My wife Katie and I, and our two-year-old daughter, Jillian, have moved back to New England! I accepted a new position within Unified Investigations as the district manager for the Northeast. We perform forensic investigations of fires, explosions, floods, and other things that have gone wrong. It is great to be back in the Northeast, despite the past winter . . . Looking forward to catching up with some Deerfield folks!”— Jay Kramarczyk


Anna Louise Weddings

Willi and Jacky with Alta on their wedding day; family portrait including John Hayward ’58 and Ben Schrom ’00; Alta sneaking a snack

2002

Jacky Hayward and Willi Schrom, both Class of 2002, celebrated their marriage on May 3, 2014 at the Marin Headlands Art Center with friends, family, and their pup Alta (yes, named after the ski resort). Deerfield alumni John Hayward ’58, Ben Sigelman ’98, Ben Schrom ’00, Kevin Wetzel ’02, Evan Freedman ’02, and Lindsey Wall ’03 were in attendance for an excellent night of sharp dress, homebrewed libations, gorgeous decorations, and rollicking New Orleans brass band music.

’01 | Nicholas Falker ’01 and Caroline Greenberg were married on June 7, 2014. There was “a hearty Deerfield showing:” L to r: Charlie Payne ’01, Andrew Textor ’00, Caleb Holmes ’99, Parker Chase ’01, Ben Quinn ’99, Jon Falker ’99, Bob Gilbane ’01, Nate Lindsay ’99, Griff Coyle ’99, Jay Rich ’01, Caroline and Nick, Jay Johnson ’01, Christian O’Mara ’01, Mike Kutner ’01, Larry Wilkes ’01, James Dunning ’01, Connor Quinn ’02, Chris Hall ’00, Meggie Kempner ’05, Dick Small ’01, Graham Goldsmith ’01

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

’85

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RECENTLY PUBLISHED: AUTHOR :

The Weight of Feathers

Anna-Marie McLemore ’04

Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press / 2015

REVIEWED BY:

Jessica Day

Romance, rivalry, magical realism—there’s a lot going on in The Weight of Feathers, Anna-Marie McLemore’s debut novel, which arrived in bookstores and online on September 15—and it’s all done so well. The premise is this: The Palomas and the Corbeaus have long been rivals and enemies, locked in an escalating feud of over a generation. Both families make their living as traveling performers in competing shows: the Palomas swimming in mermaid exhibitions, the Corbeaus, former tightrope walkers, performing in the tallest trees wearing massive bird wings. When disaster strikes the small town where both families are performing, it’s a Corbeau boy who saves a Paloma girl from a terrible accident; their unexpected connection sparks a forbidden romance in this world of secrets, magic, and danger. A little bit Romeo and Juliet, a little bit The Night Circus, The Weight of Feathers pulls readers into a fantastical world that is completely believable and populated by memorable characters: Abuela, the intolerant matriarch who rules the Palomas with an iron fist; Alain Corbeau, gentle, haunted, and desperate to help his grandson find a better life; Lace, a young woman eager to keep the peace within her family who comes to realize that the personal cost might be more than she’s willing to pay; and Cluck, a misfit among misfits, who bears the brunt of his family’s frustrations until he is forced to take flight. Early reviews of The Weight of Feathers have been enthusiastic: “A dazzling debut full of imaginative flair, long-buried secrets, and hypnotic power;” “a gripping, beautifully rendered story;” a book that is “so wonderfully written it begs to be read aloud . . . I never wanted this story to end, but when it did, even that felt perfect.” A member of the Class of 2004, Ms. McLemore was born in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and grew up in a Mexican-American family, who she says taught her to hear la llorona in the Santa Ana winds. Her hometown was small enough to have one traffic light, rural enough to give her encounters with gray foxes and yearling coyotes, and close enough to Los Angeles to let her learn Olvera Street by heart. After Deerfield, Ms. McLemore attended the University of Southern California on a Trustee Scholarship. //

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EXCERPT: The closer Lace got to the Corbeaus’ side of the woods, the more the scent of feathers pushed up through the trees’ smells. The rain had let up, leaving the air clean and woody like damp bark, but that scent still hovered. Lace caught a thread of it every time those black feathers blew to the Palomas’ side of town, and here it was strong as Abuela’s perfume. A dull earth smell. Something waxy like crayons. A sweetness like powdered honey that Lace might have liked if she didn’t know where it came from. Lace set her suitcase at the base of a cottonwood tree. She buried it under wet leaves. Los gitanos couldn’t steal it if they didn’t know it was there. She held the bag of peaches in one arm, Moon-and-Stars in the other. The sight of the old Craftsman house made an unsteady feeling jitter down her arms. But she reminded herself that the Corbeau boy couldn’t have known she was a Paloma, that if he had, he would have left her to turn to smoke, and that stilled her. Farm far off, the Corbeaus’ camp looked like children’s toys. Lace had heard rumors about the travel trailers, but until tonight, she’d never seen them. They were primary-colored like alphabet blocks—clover green, weed daisy yellow, apple red, crayon blue. One was plain aluminum. Another pink with tail fins like a jet. Strings of globe lights hung between them. The wings on the performers’ backs towered over their heads and spread out past their shoulders. Lace had never seen so much teal and bronze. Feathers brushed when one passed another. The men wore no shirts, nothing but flesh-colored bands that held their wings on. Lace tried not to laugh at the shine of their chests, wondering if they used Vaseline or vitamin oil. Women in antique dresses sat at outdoor vanities, rows of light bulbs illuminating the mirrors. Their enormous wings filled the glass. They fixed their hair in soft waves and pinned curls, trailing under flower crowns. One who didn’t have her wings on noticed Lace, a flash of movement in the mirror. She caught Lace’s eye in the reflection. “You are early, and lost.” She patted her hair and turned around. “The show doesn’t start for an hour. You buy the tickets down the road.”


’06 |

Clayton Flanders proposed to Tracy Ma ’06 at their Princeton 5th Reunion—she said “Yes!”

2006 / 10th “I received my MBA from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in June. After graduation, I moved back to New York City to work for Cisse Trading Company, a start-up cocoa company based in Mamaroneck, NY. I’d love to reconnect with old friends in the Big Apple, and everyone keep your eyes peeled for our baking mixes and hot cocoas in Whole Foods stores near you!”— Kelsey Byrne “I recently was engaged to Clayton Flanders (Buckingham Browne & Nichols, 2006; Princeton, 2010) at our 5th year Princeton Reunion! The theme was ‘X Marks the Spot,’ so we were both dressed as pirates. He gathered all our close friends from college right before the Princeton P-rade and proposed! Clayton and I met at Princeton and are both living in Philadelphia. He works at Susquehanna International Group, and I am in neurosurgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania.” — Tracy Ma

Charlie McSpadden ’06 Worked on two blockbusters recently: Z for Zachariah, starring Margot Robbie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Chris Pine, and Pawn Sacrifice, starring Liev Schreiber and Peter Sarsgaard, among others.

Amanda Rothschild ’07 Is now a research fellow with the International Security Program at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

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’06 |

Classmates Sam Hayes ’06 and Leslie Hotchkiss ’06 were engaged on May 13, 2015 in Washington, DC. They plan to marry at Leslie’s family’s farm in Vermont (also the site of the first Deerfield Senior Party in 2006) next June. l: Sam and Leslie at their Senior Prom r: Sam and Leslie immediately after Sam proposed.

2008 Elizabeth (Dyke) Barker ’01 Welcomed Augustus “Fox” Barker with her husband, Ford, on September 10, 2014.

Jade Basem ’15 Honored with a Peacemaker Award by the Traprock Center for Peace and Justice in Greenfield, MA, for her work with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County.

82 | THE COMMON ROOM

“In June, I moved to McAllen, TX, to teach fourth grade reading through Teach for America. Out of the classroom, I’m excited for unlimited Tex-Mex food and to make the drive up to Austin in March for South by Southwest. Would love to meet up with any alumni in the region!”— Charlotte Parker

2009 “After touring all year, my first season with Brian Brooks Moving Company ended in New York City with three thrilling performances at The Joyce Theater. HEWMAN, a multi-disciplinary performance collective that I cofounded with two former Juilliard classmates (hewmancollective.com), also premiered: dance installations in an abandoned midtown tenement, a Harlem gallery, a Chelsea showroom, a Williamsburg garage, a Soho loft, and on a Lower East Side rooftop this year!”— Ingrid Kapteyn


’09 | James Zilenziger ’09 and Brittany Schmitt were married in Hilton Head, SC, this past May. Both attended Grove City College in Grove City, PA, where James majored in history (Class of 2014) and Brittany majored in Entrepreneurship Studies (Class of 2015). They are now settling into their home in Bloomingdale, NJ, and are so excited to begin their new journey together! Ingrid Kapteyn ’09 dances with HEWMAN— a multi-disciplinary performance collective that she founded with two Juilliard classmates.

2011 / 5 th “Just an update: After graduating from Georgetown SFS, I’m heading out to Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy to get my master’s. Anyone also heading there or to the area give me a shout-out!” —Phillip Hah

2012 “I’m happy to announce that I graduated from Wesleyan University a full year early with a BA in Theater and a certificate in Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory. I intend to pursue a professional career in acting.”— Sarah Woolf

Aaron Bronfman ’15 Won a gold medal in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards national competition for his poem entitled “American Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll in the Age of the Amphetamine Salt.” In 2015, 300,000 works of art and writing were submitted; only the top one percent were recognized at the national level.

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A L E X K I L L O R N ’ 0 8 / b y B o b Yo r k

Someday Alex Killorn ’08 will have to rely on his safety net: a political science degree from Harvard University. He’s in no rush, though. He’s got a pretty good gig going without it: His current occupation is seasonal . . . allows him to spend his winters in Florida . . . work about three hours a night . . . rarely more than three nights a week . . . includes some weekend work . . . possible overtime . . . and the pay is, in a word, awesome. The only downside, you may have to grow a beard. “I shaved mine off the next day—it was getting a little greasy,” quipped Killorn, of the two-month-old growth that became history on June 16, the morning after he watched the Chicago Blackhawks hoist the Stanley Cup. Mr. Killorn, a former Deerfield standout, has taken his talents to the National Hockey League, playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He is quite familiar with hockey etiquette, which includes the playoff tradition of not shaving one’s facial hair until you’ve either won . . . or you’re done. It takes 16 playoff wins to capture the Cup, and Killorn and his mates came agonizingly close this past spring, finishing just two short of the magic number. “It was a great run,” said Mr. Killorn of the Lightning’s trek through the playoff maze. “We had to settle for second, but I’ll tell you, I’m really proud of this team. This is a very young team and we came a long way this season and we sure surprised a lot of people along the way.” Mr. Killorn, in just his second full season in the NHL, came a long way this season as well. Following a regular season that saw him collect 38 points on 15 goals and 23 assists, he finished seventh in playoff points with 18, off nine goals, including two game winners, and nine assists. Lightning Coach Jon Cooper made sure he had his chances, too; Killorn led all forwards in ice time during the playoffs. He logged 524:23 in 26 games and only three defensemen—Conn Smyth winner Duncan Keith (715:57), Victor Hedman (622:58), and Brent Seabrook (604:34)—spent more time on the ice. “It was fun watching Alex again … it’s always better to have a rooting interest in one of the teams,” said Brendan Creagh, who coached Killorn at Deerfield.

84 | THE COMMON ROOM

“It was easy to see back then that Alex certainly had NHL potential,” added his former mentor, who watched Killorn chalk up 87 points on 46 goals and 41 assists in just 49 games. “I think what really set him apart was that he was persistent in making himself a better hockey player. He had a strong work ethic and a tremendous drive to be successful . . . he simply hated losing, whether it was a game or a one-on-one drill.” Nearly a decade after playing his final game for the Big Green, Mr. Killorn can reflect on his two years at Deerfield—both on the ice and in the classroom—and what they’ve meant to him. Considering he hails from Beaconsfield, Quebec, which is located about 20 miles from the fabled Montreal Forum, the home of his boyhood idols—the Montreal Canadians—Mr. Killorn’s assessment of Big Green hockey may come as somewhat of a surprise. “Coming to Deerfield marked a big jump in the level of play from where I came from,” admitted Killorn, who was playing Midget AAA hockey in Quebec at the time. Nevertheless, he turned his Big Green ice capades into a collegiate audition for Harvard. Mr. Killorn, who acknowledged “I always wanted to go to Harvard,” credited Deerfield’s academics every bit as much as its athletics in helping to fulfill his collegiate goal. “Deerfield taught me how to be a student and how to balance my classroom work with my athletic endeavors. In college, it’s essential you can do both . . . if you hope to be successful in both.” The Lightning forward, dubbed “The Harvard Guy,” during the playoffs by NBC announcer Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick, enjoyed a successful stint with the Crimson, surpassing the century mark in scoring. He closed a fouryear career there with 109 points on 53 goals and 56 assists and also finished with All-American, All-ECAC, and All-Ivy League laurels. “The Harvard Guy” has let his stick do the talking in the NHL, having netted 49 goals and 69 assists for 118 points in just over two seasons, but his resume hasn’t gone unnoticed in the locker room. “The guys are always asking me all kinds of questions,” explained Mr. Killorn with a laugh. “They figure because I went to Harvard, I know all the answers.” //

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Harvard Guy



Transformation, Education, and a Grand Celebration

The Newton Family: Geoff ’80, Thayer, Diana, Will, Hadley ’12, Jack, and fur babies Layla and Loki

DIANA NEWTON P’12 / by Jessica Day

When she was 13 years old, Diana Newton P ’12 spent part of her summer living with a family in Japan. It changed her life forever. “I simply fell in love with the country, the culture, the art, and the people,” she says. “And because I went at such a young age, the experience transformed my life—I majored in East Asian Studies at Yale and ultimately pursued a career in international law and policy,” which included serving as the project director for the Economic Task Force on Japan at the Council on Foreign Relations, where Ms. Newton is also a member. Currently, Ms. Newton is Senior Fellow at the John G. Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University, and students clamor to be part of classes such as “Gateway to Global Policy Making” and “National Security Policy,” where Ms. Newton draws on her experiences at the State Department and the National Security Council to explain how policy makers actually work and how their ideas move through the system. “I want students to leave my class understanding that individuals make policy—not amorphous institutions,” she says. “The outcome depends on the personalities of the policy makers involved, their areas of expertise, the institutions they represent, their ideas and ability to express those ideas, and the mandate they have received from those in leadership. We consider the potential for unintended consequences, and the resources for implementation, as well. My hope is that my students will apply this understanding of how people have successfully affected change in a particular issue area to their future careers, because whatever profession they choose, policy will play a role.”

86 | THE COMMON ROOM

Beginning this fall, Ms. Newton will bring her expertise to Deerfield as a member of the Board of Trustees; it will be a homecoming in more ways than one: “Some of my earliest memories are running around the fields as a young child at Reunions,” she says. In addition to her father being a member of the Class of 1948, Ms. Newton’s brother is Class of ’87, and her husband, Geoffrey, is Class of ’80—how the two met is a story with both Deerfield and Japanese connections. “Geoff and I met at the ‘Grand Celebration’ at the end of the Bicentennial campaign in October of 1998,” Ms. Newton explains, “under one of the giant Deerfield tents. Ed Schmults, also a member of the Great Class of 1980 and friend of mine from the days when we both worked in Tokyo, introduced us. Given that the three most important men in my life all went to Deerfield, and now we have a daughter, Hadley, who is a Deerfield graduate, I could not be more excited about serving on the Deerfield Board and giving back to an institution where all four of these special people in my life learned about character, community, and academics.” As a trustee, Ms. Newton says she is excited about perpetuating what she sees as the “true essence” of Deerfield Academy while trying to meet the challenges that the school faces in continuing to thrive and grow in the 21st century—and beyond. “I hope to be engaged in discussions and decisions that will keep Deerfield at the cutting edge of academic developments and technological advances available to teachers and students, while still fostering the rich traditions of liberal arts learning, face-to-face discussion, and debate,” she says. “My favorite part of Deerfield is that while it continues to change and grow for a more diverse student body than ever before, the school never seems to lose its core essence: the sense of community and camaraderie; the respect fostered through sit down meals and class dress; and the superior academics—they’re all timeless.” //


FROM THE ARCHIVES

’73

87


FIRST PERSON / GARAM NOH ’15

A Senior Story Every year Deerfield’s senior class elects a student from among its ranks to speak during their Commencement ceremony. This past spring they chose Garam Noh, who is currently a freshman at Harvard University. Ms. Noh also received several prizes during Commencement Weekend, including an award for excellence in the study of French, the Charlotte Alice Baker Prize for History, the Harbeson Award for Excellence in Mathematics, the Bartlett W. Boyden English Prize, and the Helen Childs Boyden Science Award. What follows is an abridged version of her 2015 Commencement Speech. I was hit by a strong bout of senioritis in the past two weeks. This involved a dread of anything that required concentration for more than twenty minutes, yes, but true senioritis, I believe, is not the dread of work so much as the sudden realization that you want to walk slower when you go places, want look at the silhouette of the Main School Building against the sunset two, three times, as idiotic as you look walking and turning back, walking and turning back, because it is so heart-achingly beautiful and you want to have that little moment to remember forever, and want to stand stunned by the pure green of the campus that surrounds you and how purely happy the sound of your friends’ laughter makes you. True senioritis is when your heart skips a beat just walking around this place, and you feel the sun on your face down on the lower levels and the music in your ears and you feel, God, life really is good. But I’ve wanted to truly take these moments in, not to wallow in them for the rest of my life, but to store them away, know that they are beautiful, and be able to return to them from time to time when I need. There is an important distinction, I believe, between holding on, which leaves you entrenched in a past, that, as glorious as it is, is the past, and letting go, fully confident that the memories are there for you to

88 | THE COMMON ROOM

retrieve some day. I do not want to be a sixty -year-old woman looking back on these as the Glory Days, thinking, “Man, I really peaked when I was seventeen.” The hope, really, is that it’s an uphill roller-coaster ride from here. I don’t want to wallow. I want to remember, not as some sort of refuge or escape, but because we all need our sources of rejuvenation, of restoration, of moments that make us remember that there was good in the past, yet still more to be had in the future. I believe that the moments I spent in this valley, with you all before me, will be that source for us, and that the best way to move forward is to do just that—to move forward, with the knowledge that this place and these memories are waiting for us to draw from when we grow exhausted in life, when we need to remember something that was good, something that sparkled with life as this place somehow seems to sparkle every day. And that—the ability to distinguish between holding on and wallowing versus letting go and knowing the past is there to retrieve when needed, is a challenge that stands not just for the Class of 2015, moving into the next stage of our lives, but also for Deerfield as a school, as a community, fully moving into the 21st century, something that I personally believe we have not comfortably achieved as of yet. We speak constantly of the glory days of decades past, of how we must remember


To be worthy of our heritage is to emulate. To preserve tradition is not to nervously preserve the details of how Deerfield operated in the past but to preserve the spirit of what made Deerfield good in the past.

the time of Mr. Boyden, but this often causes us to forget, number one, that the past is not a fossil. It is a living, breathing, organic thing that reaches its tendrils into our present and manifests itself in different ways. Mr. Henry is leaving Deerfield this year, the last teacher to have taught in the time of Mr. Boyden. But I do not mourn the loss of this connection, the loss of this hinge in our identity. To be worthy of our heritage is not to replicate. To be worthy of our heritage is to emulate. To preserve tradition is not to nervously preserve the details of how Deerfield operated in the past but to preserve the spirit of what made Deerfield good in the past. This spirit consists of values and attitudes, not the dessert that we have apparently had at senior -faculty dinner for as long as that event has existed (although that was actually quite a good dessert. I don’t discourage this tradition being continued), maybe not even weeknight sit-down meals. I have confidence in this community that even as our last connection to Mr. Boyden is lost, as long as we are acting with kindness, responsibility, and an eye towards community, no matter how Deerfield evolves in its nitty-gritty details in the next decades, we will be able to stand in the most important of its traditions while embracing very necessary change.

The second danger of speaking of the glory days of decades past is the fact that sometimes we forget that Deerfield is most importantly defined by the people who are here today. The students, teachers, and others that we feel living, breathing, talking, having their own human problems, having their own little defeats and little triumphs at Deerfield today constitute “community,” not the word “community” written down on paper, or the “community” of decades past. Community is not an abstract idea. Community is us. And so, Class of 2015, and Deerfield community (ah, look, it’s that word again), I’d like to offer a new interpretation of our motto, “Be worthy of your heritage.” Look at heritage as something of the present, not of the past. Interpret heritage as the people who made you the present you. For me, the parents who have brought me here, who have taught me my most important values, are my heritage. The teachers who have shown more confidence in me than I have often had in myself are my heritage. The mentors here who have shown me that the two greatest things you can be in life are interesting to others and interested in others are my heritage. My friends, who have made me feel blessed with a thousand moments, little and big, of infinite kindness and love are my heritage. I think I spent a lot

of my Deerfield career confused by our school motto. I look nothing like the Deerfield student in Boyden’s day. I don’t know if Mr. Boyden ever envisioned someone who looks and thinks like me being at his school. But I have realized, although much of Deerfield’s past is not concurrent with my own, as long as I am worthy of those immediately around me, I will be acting in the spirit of all the best and most important parts of Deerfield’s past. To the Class of 2015, thanks for sharing this place and this experience with me. I hope we go out into the world with infinite excitement for what the future holds, and with the knowledge that it feels good to be surrounded by friendship and community in the human sense of the word. I know that whenever I come back to Deerfield, whether it be five years from now or many decades from now (fingers crossed), I will know in my heart that I am coming home. We leave a part of ourselves behind that is inextricably rooted in this place, in these fields, and in the people who stay behind and keep this place what it is. And I am thankful, so thankful, that with Deerfield a part of me, a part of us, will be preserved forever, as a living, breathing past that will help us navigate the best parts of our future. //

89


Southwestern Quinoa Salad

A new Dining Hall favorite, scaled down for your home kitchen.


RECIPE Southwestern Quinoa Salad Yields 14 3-oz portions

INGREDIENTS • 1 cup quinoa • 1 ½ cups water • ⅓ cup red onion (small dice) • ⅓ cup green pepper (small dice) • 1⅓ cup cherry tomatoes, quartered • ¾ cup corn, frozen (or fresh, if in season)

DIRECTIONS • Cook quinoa in 1 ½ cups water until tender and “curly tails” become exposed. • Cool on a sheet pan.

• ¾ cup black beans, canned—rinsed well

• Prepare dressing by blending vinegar, lime juice, honey, and spices. Then, mixing slowly, add oil to emulsify.

• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped

• Combine quinoa, veggies, beans, cilantro, and dressing.

• ¼ cup olive oil

• Season with salt and pepper to taste.

• 3 tsp red wine vinegar • ⅓ cup lime juice • 2 tsp cumin • 2 tsp ground coriander • 3 tsp honey • salt and pepper to taste

91


2 3

1 5

REGIONAL + CLUB EVENTS D E E R F I E L D C L U B N Y + YA N K E E S G A M E 1 The Deerfield Club of New York watched the New York Yankees take

on the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, August 5th, 2015 2 Doug Schmidt ’83 and son 3 Frederick Bendheim ’74 and daughter, Gemma 4 Paula G. Edgar ’95 and daughter 5 Enyioma Nwankpa ’94 and son

D E E R F I E L D C L U B D C + N AT I O N A L S G A M E 6 Eddie ’55 and Sally Dick 7 Kevin Meehan ’06, Helen Dwight 04’, Katherine Jowaisas ’04 6

92 | THE COMMON ROOM

7

4


1 ACA D E M Y E V E N T N YC + Ca r n e g i e H a l l 1 In April 2015, alumni, parents

and friends gathered at Carnegie Hall for a seminar: History of the Future, presented by Tom Heise and followed by a cocktail reception.

UPCOMING EVENTS: OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2015

deerfield.edu/alumni/events/

OCTOBER 26 27 28 29

2 3

Young Alumni Dinner / Bowdoin Young Alumni Dinner / Boston Area Young Alumni Dinner / UVA Young Alumni / Duke UNC

NOVEMBER Young Alumni Dinner / Dartmouth Young Alumni Dinner / Middlebury Deerfield Fall Play Opening Night Reception 4 Young Alumni Dinner / Yale 5 Young Alumni Dinner / Brown Darien Academy Event 14 Choate Day 19 Boston Academy Event 2 3

4

D E E R F I E L D C L U B C H I C A G O + C h i c a g o P a r l o r P i z z a 2 Keeping the spirit of Deerfield alive in Chicago: Declan Kavanaugh ’03, Caitlin Ardrey ’09, Zach Binswanger ’09, Cyrus Maddox ’03, Teddy Reed ’09, Max Getz ’08 D E E R F I E L D i n A U S T I N + Z T e j a s 3 Alumni in Austin met in May 2015. Pictured l to r: Greg Lowry ’94, Amy Lowry, Hardy Veiner ’92, Elizabeth Cooper ’92, Carter McCrary, Ed Saba ’92, Casey Marshall ’92 and Gus Lowry ’93 (not pictured, Brady Coleman ’55) A CA D E M Y E V E N T C H I CA G O 4 Nils Ahbel at the Regenstein Center for African Apes in the Lincoln Park Zoo before his seminar: Teaching with Style on April 29, 2015

DECEMBER 17 Holiday Reception at Deerfield Academy 18 Deerfield Club of New York Family Skate


CLASS CAPTAINS & REUNION CHAIRS

1940 1946 1950 1951 1952 1952 1953 1953 1954 1955 1955 1956 1959 1961 1961 1962 1962 1963 1963 1963 1963 1964 1964 1965 1965 1966 1966 1966 1967 1967 1967 1969 1969 1970 1971 1972 1972 1972 1972 1973 1974 1974 1975 1975

David H. Bradley Gerald Lauderdale R. Warren Breckenridge David Beals Findlay John Robin Allen Richard F. Boyden Renwick D. Dimond Hugh R. Smith Philip R. Chase Michael D. Grant Tom L’Esperance Joseph B. Twichell George Andrews Fonda Jon W. Barker Thomas M. Poor Peter W. Gonzalez Dwight E. Zeller Richard W. Ackerly Peter A. Acly Timothy J. Balch David D. Sicher Neal S. Garonzik Robert S. Lyle Edward G. Flickinger Andrew R. Steele David H. Bradley Peter P. Drake Richard C. Garrison Douglas F. Allen John R. Bass George W. Lee John W. Kjorlien Douglas W. Squires G. Kent Kahle John L. Reed Bradford Warren Agry Joseph Frederick Anderson Michael C. Perry Robert Dell Vuyosevich Lawrence C. Jerome J. Christopher Callahan Geoffrey A. Gordon Dwight R. Hilson James L. Kempner

94 | THE COMMON ROOM

Captain Captain Captain Captain Class Secretary Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Class Secretary Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain

1975 1976 1976 1977 1977 1977 1978 1978 1979 1979 1980 1980 1980 1981 1981 1981 1981 1982 1982 1983 1983 1984 1984 1984 1984 1984 1985 1986 1986 1987 1987 1988 1989 1989 1990 1991 1992 1992 1992 1992 1993 1993 1993 1993

Peter M. Schulte Marshall F. Campbell David R. DeCamp James Paul MacPherson J. H. Tucker Smith Wayne W. Wall Paul J. S. Haigney Stephen R. Quazzo Luis E. Bustamante Daniel F. Goss Augustus B. Field John B. Mattes Paul M. Nowak Andrew M. Blau Leonard J. Buck Kurt F. Ostergaard John H. Sangmeister Frank H. Reichel William Richard Ziglar John G. Knight J. Douglas Schmidt Gregory R. Greene B. Barrett Hinckley David W. Kinsley Christopher S. Miller David A. Rancourt Sydney M. Williams Henri R. Cattier Michael W. Chorske John D. Amorosi Andrew P. Bonanno Oscar K. Anderson Gustave K. Lipman Edward S. Williams Jeb S. Armstrong Justin G. Sautter Elizabeth B. Cooper Kristina I. Hess Jeffrey Morrison McDowell Clayton T. Sullivan Kimberly Ann Capello John T. Collura Christopher T. DeRosa Michelle Lin Greenip

Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Reunion Chair Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain

1993 1993 1993 1994 1995 1995 1996 1997 1997 1998 1999 1999 1999 2000 2000 2001 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2003 2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2005 2005 2006 2007 2007 2007 2008 2009 2009 2010 2010 2011 2011 2013 2014 2015

Charlotte York Matthews Captain Sarah D. Weihman Captain Marjorie Maxim Gibbons Widener Captain Daniel B. Garrison Annual Giving National Chair Paula Taryn Edgar Captain Daniel D. Meyer Captain Leslie W. Yeransian Reunion Chair Amy Sodha Harsch Captain Margot M. Pfohl Captain Ashley Muldoon Lavin Captain Alexander Hooker Mejia Captain Christopher Colin Wallace Captain Michael P. Weissman Captain Lisa Rosemary Craig Captain Emily D. Battle Captain James Dorr Dunning Reunion Chair William Malcolm Dorson Captain Robert Agee Gibbons Captain Terrence Paul O’Toole Captain Dorothy Elizabeth Reifenheiser Captain David Branson Smith Captain Serena Stanfill Tufo Captain Eric David Grossman Captain Tara Ann Tersigni Captain Nicholas Zachary Hammerschlag Captain Caroline C. Whitton Captain H. Jett Fein Captain Anne R. Gibbons Captain Bentley J. Rubinstein Captain Torey A. Van Oot Captain Kevin C. Meehan Reunion Chair Matthew McCormick Carney Captain Elizabeth Conover Cowan Captain Jennifer Ross Rowland Captain Robert Haldane Swindell Captain Elizabeth Utley Schieffelin Captain Nicholas Warren Squires Captain Emily Fox Blau Captain Emilie Ottaway Murphy Captain Campbell Thomas Johnson Reunion Chair Sergio Arturo Morales Reunion Chair Nicholas Morgan Rault Captain Alexandra Torrey Tananbaum Captain Heidi Bergen Hunt Captain

Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom


1933

Kenneth Merrell Walbridge* June 11, 2015

Peter Vanderveen Struby July 22, 2014

1936

Erskine Blauvelt Von Houten, Jr.* April 9, 2015

John Philip Neal June 10, 2015

1944

1937

William Emerson White Howe November 13, 2013 1938

Eileen Broderick Skutinsky April 9, 2000 1939

John Edward Taylor June 15, 2013 1946

William Hitchcock MacLeish May 13, 2015 William Nobel Page May 31, 2015 1948

William James Babcock, Jr. February 28, 2015

Fletcher Reed Andrews, Jr. March 9, 2015

Brainerd Mears, Jr. March 30, 2015

John Francis Creamer, Jr. March 25, 2015

1940

Henry Needham Flynt, Jr.* July 11, 2015

Robert Chapman Johnston June 1, 2014 1949

Lithgow Devens Osborne May 6, 2015

Charles William Benton April 29, 2015

William Knowlton Zinsser May 12, 2015

John Bosworth Conant October 11, 2014

1941

Robert Flagg Pease February 20, 2014 Donald Brandreth Potter January 20, 2015 1942

Wilhelmus Bogart Bryan, III* April 12, 2015 1943

John Marshall Allen February 27, 2013 John William Embree, III* March 12, 2015

William Jarvie von Rosenvinge February 23, 2015 1950

Richard Vincent Smiaroski June 16, 2015 Raymond George Worster, Jr. March 18, 2015 1951

James Goodwin Bowden, III April 19, 2015 Nelson Doubleday, Jr. June 17, 2015 Guy Wilson Shoup April 28, 2015

In Memoriam 1952

Randolph Marshall Adell April 19, 2015 Porter Ramsay Steele May 3, 2011 1954

Robinson Allen Grover March 28, 2015 Robert Brown Winslow July 14, 2014 1955

Angier St. George Biddle Duke* October 8, 2014 1956

Bradley Higbie Palmer April 21, 2013 1960

Samuel Ashby Lewis, Jr. December 26, 2014 1963

Joel Robert Lapointe April 6, 2015 1965

Richard Sperry Koehne, Jr. December 4, 1967 Daniel Edward Wrobleski May 28, 2015 1966

John Forsyth Joline, IV June 3, 2015 1979

William Joseph Dean, III May 2, 2015 1991

Daniel Charles Garland January 26, 2015

* Boyden Society Member / In Memoriam as of July 24, 2015. Please go to deerfield.edu/commonroom for the most up-to-date information on classmates, including obituaries.

95


Find the key words in the jumble below. The remaining letters, read row by row (left to right, starting at the top), will reveal a famous saying. Send the lines to communications@deerfield.edu or to Puzzle, Communications Office, PO Box 87, Deerfield, MA 01342, and you’ll be entered to win a ladies Performance Half Zip Pullover! (The winner will be chosen at random from all correct answers received by November 20, 2015.) *Tips: Circle only the key words listed below, and do not circle backwards words. KEY WORDS

BY Danaë DiNicola

Anise Bake Bin Brawn Bun Crock Desalt

Dress Duck Egg cup Egg nog Eggs Fuse Gigot Glass

Gruyere Jug Ladle Mace Manna Match Mint Mop

Mug Olive Omelet Oven Pan Pastry Pipe Pullet

Roll Sago Sink Snow Stew Tea Thyme Trap

Tub Tuna Urn Vegetable oyster Wine Yolk

More gear at: store.deerfield.edu

GREAT fo CHOATE r DAY!!

Congratulations to Chitrawatee Bridglall P’94 whose answer was drawn at random from all the correct answers we received for the Spring ’15 puzzle: “Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the sun and winter in the shade.” —Charles Dickens

Fill in the blanks to reveal the hidden phrase: “_ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ , / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ , / _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ , / _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ /_ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _.” —_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ 96 | THE COMMON ROOM


BETSY KNOX 1804

PHOTO GRAPH BY Penny Leveritt

OBJECT LESSON

“THE APIARY”

Pictorial needlework, “The Apiary,” wrought by Betsy Knox (b.1791) while a student at Deerfield Academy, 1804. Polychrome silk embroidery, watercolor, white plain weave silk ground. The piece is currently being conserved. Courtesy of Historic Deerfield, Hall and Kate Peterson Fund for Minor Antiques, 2013.28.


DE E RF I E LD M A G A Z I N E

Deerfield Academy | Deerfield, MA | 01342 Change Service Requested

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. Postage

PAID CPC


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