Spring 2018 Deerfield Magazine by Deerfield Academy

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

A L B A N Y R O A D R E - P L A N T E D : P H Y S P L A N T ’ S N E W D I G S

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C A M P U S N E W S ANDY HARCOURT: DEERFIELD BEDROCK

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REPORT FROM COLLEGE ADVISING SHOW YOUR WORK: AUTONOMOUS GOLF CART

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GERRY ALEXANDRE ’19: 5-MINUTE INTERVIEW

F E AT U R E S H. RODGIN COHEN ’61: A WORTHY LEGEND

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S C I 6 9 1 : R E S E A R C H I N S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y C H R I S DAV I S ’ 7 7: A H E A D O F T H E C U RV E

THE COMMON ROOM FIRST PERSON / FREDRIC RUSSELL ’61

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“FINAL EXAM” PUZZLE OBJECT LESSON: MRS. BOYDEN’S CAPE COD WEEDER

Grassroots:

/' gras ',roots/ noun 1. the very foundation or source 2. ordinary people regarded as the main body of an organization’s membership

About 24 hours after the Class of 2018 received their diplomas under the Great Tent, Second Lieutenant Thomas W. Ashley’s name was the first to be read under that same tent during the town’s annual Memorial Day program. A little over a week later marked the 100th anniversary of his death in the battle of Château Thierry-Belleau Woods during World War I. The past and present often overlap here in the Pocumtuck Valley. Told to generations of Deerfield students, the power of Tom Ashley’s story doesn’t depend on heroism—although many say he did, in fact, die a hero—but on what Tom was before his sense of duty and patriotism compelled him to join the Marine Corps; before the months when he devoted himself to drawing up expanded plans for Deerfield Academy; before he studied with Mrs. Boyden for an extra year to prepare for Amherst College; before he overcame his extreme shyness to recite “Our Flag” at his Deerfield graduation; before Mr. Boyden persuaded him to attend the Academy. Before all that, Tom Ashley was just a local boy who lived in the town of Deerfield, and he’s proof that sometimes the humblest of beginnings make for the most memorable successes. Tom Ashley was grassroots.

With examples such as Tom, it’s clear that for decades it has been the people here on campus and our alumni who make Deerfield outstanding, not the other way around. Or, as Head of School Margarita Curtis so often says to her students: “You make Deerfield worthy, not the other way around.” From the features inside this issue to stalwart Physical Plant employees Craig Letourneau and John Downie on its cover, that premise is borne out. “Ahead of the Curve,” which begins on page 32, highlights the work of Chris Davis ’77; Chris and his family have been quietly and consistently making contributions to sustainable energy initiatives for years. On page 24, you can learn about one of Deerfield’s highestlevel seminar classes and recent graduate Caitlin Sugita ’18, who may have started a new food movement on campus. Beginning on page 18 is a tribute to outgoing President of the Board of Trustees H. Rodgin Cohen ’61, who credits Deerfield with instilling in him the values he has spent a lifetime upholding in his personal and professional life. In “The Common Room,” we’ve highlighted the good works of land conservationist Dave Morine ’62 (if not for Mr. Boyden, Dave probably would not have become a conservationist), and the creativity of artist Jonathan Harris ’98, among others. Our alumni athletes “played it forward” all winter and into their spring seasons, bringing the skills and good sportsmanship they honed at Deerfield to rinks, courts, and pools across the country. By the time this issue of the magazine reaches you, Spring 2018 will be a memory, and some of you may have already even celebrated the 4th of July. Wherever (and whenever) Deerfield Magazine finds you, please know that we wish you well this, and every, season. Thank you for being Deerfield’s grassroots. //

Jessica Day Director of Communications

Director of Communications

Multimedia Specialist

Production Manager

Design & Art Director

Archivist

Social Media & Email Manager

Jessica Day

Jacklyn Bunch

Cara Cusson

Brent M. Hale

Anne Lozier

Jess Wissemann

Produced by the Deerfield Academy Communications 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)

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Cover + inside spread: Brent M. Hale

BE A MENTOR. FIND A MENTOR. deerfield.edu/daconnect

DEERFIELD IS EVERYWHERE!

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RE-PLANTED Over Spring Break Deerfield’s Physical Plant offices and trades moved “across the Street” to the renovated Williams Farmhouse and a newly-constructed barn. Immediately after Reunion Weekend, the old Phys Plant building was demolished to make way for a new 23,000 sq ft Health and Wellness Center that will include classroom and meeting space, student mailboxes, and Shipping and Receiving services.

1 Williams Farmhouse 2.0 = Phys Plant offices 2 Counters made from the bleachers in “The Barn” 3 Meeting space 4 Photovoltaic panels on the new building will produce an estimated 92,700 kWh per year 5 The many mouldings of Deerfield

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||| PHOTOS ||| Brent M. Hale ||| ||| ||| |||

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NEW TO THE FLEET MARGARITA P.B. WEYMOUTH, JR. ’53

Stephanie Craig

ENDURANCE INVICTUS MARY ANN CASEY W. JOSEPH POTYRALA, JR. KEITH BURGOYNE GET NAUTI VICTORIUS INVICTA HELEN CHILDS BOYDEN KEITH C. FINAN

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Row, Row, Row Your Boats

Woodworking

During Spring Family Weekend the Deerfield boys and girls rowing teams and coaches along with parents, alumni, family, and friends gathered at the Hammerschlag Family Boathouse to officially welcome a new fleet of Filippi boats into the family of Big Green rowing shells. Eleven new boats were christened and their names were formally announced, as is the tradition when new boats are added to a rowing fleet. See the complete day: flickr.com/photos/deerfieldathletics

What happens when the new Physical Plant offices need some wall art? You find an example online, and then have Academy Carpenter John Downie create an original masterpiece. Featuring sustainably harvested lumber from Forest Products of Greenfield (MA), this 4x4 ft wall hanging took John approximately 32 hours to complete. “I wanted the wood to speak for itself,” he says, and so, after creating the starburst design, each piece was simply sanded lightly and oiled. Over the years, with periodic touchups, John says the colors will only become richer.

Lilly Hartley ’97 accepted Deerfield’s Ashley Award at School Meeting on May 2. Hartley founded Candescent Films in 2010 to support documentaries and films that illuminate social issues. Lilly is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and Producers Guild of America, and was named to Marie Claire’s 2014 New Guard List of the “50 Most Connected Women in America.” She has been involved with supporting a wide variety of charities, including Oceana, NAMI, and Witness. The Ashley Award is presented each year to an alumnus/a who graduated from Deerfield less than 20 years ago and demonstrates exemplary character and extraordinary devotion to a people, cause, or place. // Watch Lilly speak at School Meeting: vimeo.com/267837226

Commencement 2018

Deerfield Academy / Brent M. Hale

2018 Ashley Award Recipient

On May 27, 186 students received their diplomas at Deerfield’s 219th Commencement. Speakers Kiana Rawji ’18 and Charlie Pink ’18 moved their fellow students to tears and cheers, and Christopher Whipple ’71 delivered the Commencement address. President of the Board of Trustees H. Rodgin Cohen ’61 was awarded the Academy’s highest honor: the Deerfield Medal. Special congratulations are due to Kevin Chen ’18, who received the Robert B. Crow Award, and to Kiana Rawji ’18, who received the Deerfield Cup. Speeches are available to read online: deerfield.edu/recent-remarks.

Deerfield Academy / Jessica Wissemann

THERMALLY MODIFIED WHITE ASH

BLOODWOOD

CHECHEN

JATOBA

TIGER MAPLE

PURPLEHEART

LILLY HARTLEY ’97

Andy 40 Harcourt YEARS

DEERFIELD BEDROCK

/ by Nat Reade

IN HIS FORTY YEARS AT DEERFIELD, ANDY HARCOURT HAS MADE HIS MARK IN A LOT OF WAYS: TEACHING SCIENCE, COACHING 85 SEASONS OF SPORTS, AND PLAYING LEAD GUITAR FOR THE PUNKADELICS, THE ERSTWHILE FACULTY BAND. THEN THERE ARE HIS LEGENDARY GEOLOGY TOURS. “GEOLOGY’S SUCH A GREAT SCIENCE,” HE SAYS. “I LOVE IT.”

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began to separate. “This shale,” he says, “has moved since the last time I was here. Every year, the ground we are standing on is moving two inches west.” Harcourt’s goal has always been to make his students aware of “things we’re familiar with but haven’t really looked at before.” Andy says he never had to write a resume, because his only job was Deerfield. After college at the University of Vermont, where he was an enthusiastic intramural athlete in multiple sports, he entered a PhD program in cell biology at UMass Amherst. But three years in a windowless lab with an electron microscope made him realize that he missed the outdoors and wanted a different lifestyle. So instead, he earned a master’s degree in education, did his teacher training at Deerfield, and fell in love. “It was beautiful. The campus struck me as the greenest place on earth, and a perfect place to raise a family.”

Beth Hooker (by rocks); Gabriel Amadeus Cooney

Harcourt starts his tours for students, new faculty, and sometimes even alumni during Reunion Weekends, at the Main School Building, pointing out that the tops of the chimneys are at the same height as what was the bottom of Lake Hitchcock 20,000 years ago. He explains that this ancient lake was named for Edward Hitchcock, who was born in 1793 in the saltbox that is now the school bookstore (and aptly named Hitchcock House). Hitchcock attended Deerfield and went on to become a professor and later president of Amherst College. He was also a legendary geologist. Harcourt’s tour then proceeds to what he calls “the heart of the matter”: Barton’s Cove, by Turners Falls on the Connecticut River, where Hitchcock quarried his famous fossils. Harcourt points his metal-tipped hiking stick at outcroppings of rock that date back about 180 million years to the Jurassic and the “breakup of Pangea,” when the American and African continents

Harcourt and his wife, Marianne, who taught elementary school in Greenfield, MA, for 21 years, raised three children at Deerfield: Brian, and daughters Katherine ’97 and Laura ’02. He was the first recipient of the Robert B. Crow Schoolmaster’s Chair. In 2000, he was the second recipient of the Greer Family Distinguished Teaching Chair, which he considers his highest honor. He played a leading role in formulating the Academy’s Sustainability Plan. And for seven years he chaired the Science Department. “When I arrived here,” Harcourt says, “the Science Department was a bit of a backwater. Students were required to take one science course. One.” Today, most students take three or more sciences classes, including perhaps the “Global H2O” course Andy helped to develop for the College Board’s Advanced Placement program— some variant of which is now taught at about a thousand other schools. “Today our STEM programs are some of our best classes,” he says, “and we’re rightly known as a strong science school.” Andy also coached 85 seasons of sports, including the no-longer-extant sailing team, 30 seasons of soccer, varsity softball, and 25 seasons of girls JV ice hockey. “I always looked forward to the coaching,” he says, and lauds Deerfield’s commitment to the benefits of athletics for all students, especially at the junior varsity level. Harcourt was that iconic triple threat—a model that he says may not be sustainable in the coming decades. “When I arrived here the teachers were mostly bachelors, so they

Geologist in the wild, May 2018

90s Harcourt

2000s Coach Harcourt 4

80s Harcourt

could manage the dorm, coaching, and teaching. But it was a rather monastic life.” Harcourt, who calculates that he has witnessed 20 percent of Deerfield’s history, says that the Deerfield where he began, much as he loved it, has greatly improved. “It was known as a jock school,” he says candidly. “Deerfield became academically excellent almost overnight in 1989, when we went co-ed. We replaced the bottom third of our boys with very smart girls, and we have generally only gotten better since. We also have a much better balance between athletics and academics—with academics taking the priority.” At the end of this schoolyear, Harcourt will load his Jeep with the last of his possessions and move to a home he and his wife have long owned in Bourne, on Cape Cod, the town where he was born. He’ll consult for the College Board, sail, and continue his study of the geologist Edward Hitchcock. And like those fossilized footprints that Hitchcock found in the Massachusetts shale, Harcourt will leave behind many little reminders of his presence at Deerfield: a plaque in the Koch Center that he helped to design; hundreds of team photos; and his likeness in the “Golden Age” mural in the Hess Center, where he’s jamming on lead guitar. Andy had always planned to retire after forty years of teaching, and says, “It’s been a fantastic run.” He gestures toward the bedrock beneath his feet and smiles. “The only constant in life is change. Not only is the geology changing, but the school is changing, and so am I. It’s natural.” //

GOING ABROAD

/ by Director of College Advising Mark Spencer

For an increasing number of college students, the traditional Junior Year Abroad isn’t just for juniors, and it’s not a year anymore.... In 1923, the first officially credited study abroad program in the U.S. was launched at the University of Delaware. Professor Raymond W. Kirkbride, an instructor in the Modern Languages Department and a World War II veteran, had seen firsthand what disagreements between nations could do, and in an effort to gain some understanding of “the other,” in the summer of 1923 eight Delaware students embarked on a six-week journey to France with Kirkbride. This trip evolved into a full-fledged program that came to be known as Junior Year Abroad (JYA), serving as the model on which other universities developed their own international programming. Nowadays, students can spend a semester in an elaborate Victorian manor house in the picturesque English countryside as part of the University of Evansville’s introduction to British life and culture program, or they can spend a semester living at Casa Artom—an historic site once home to the American Embassy located along the Grand Canal in Venice, and sponsored by Wake Forest University. The opportunities are endless; they’re also changing.

DUKE KUNSHAN

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NIVERSITY U OF EDINBURGH

Study abroad programs were originally designed to occur during summer or other break periods, but over time they have been integrated into the fabric of the typical college year. Some colleges have even embedded the opportunity to study abroad into their academic year by creating a new academic calendar—one in which the month of January is primarily dedicated to students studying abroad (Colby and Hartwick are prime examples of this). The next phase in the evolution of these programs has come more recently as admission to college becomes increasingly (ultra)competitive. With an abundant number of qualified applicants seeking space in a limited fall class size, college administrators began to think outside the box, giving rise to January admission programs. Those administrators realized that most of their own students who studied abroad did it during the spring semester, so why not bring in new students in January to fill those departing students’ beds?

TRINITY COLLEGE IN DUBLIN

Study abroad alternatives move beyond just being a resume credential: These opportunities are bringing together students/future leaders from around the world to learn side by side. One of the outcomes of these admission programs is the increasing opportunity to study abroad before a student ever sets foot on their college campus. Northeastern began its N.U.in Program in 2008. Their website states: “N.U.in is an innovative and dynamic first-year program that reflects Northeastern’s core belief that students should be engaged citizens of the world. Very different from a traditional study abroad experience, The N.U.in Program provides enrollment opportunities to roughly 500 talented candidates annually whom we were unable to accommodate in the fall because of the competitiveness of our applicant pool.” Now, a student applying to Northeastern may be admitted to the Boston campus or begin their studies in Australia, the Czech Republic, Ireland, or China. Northeastern is not alone in offering some of its first-year students this caveat to their offer of admission. Other examples include Syracuse University, who offers Discovery Florence, and both Middlebury and Hamilton send brochures highlighting abroad options in the first semester for their January admits. Hamilton, for example, highlights its partnership with Arcadia University’s Fall in London Freshmen Program. Even more recently, colleges have begun to explore not just first semester abroad programs as alternatives to filling seats on their campuses but have expanded to start full-year programs abroad or even four-year experiences on sister campuses around the world. The University of Mississippi is offering high-achieving freshmen the option to spend their first year at the University of Edinburgh. Florida State even offers in-state tuition rates as an incentive to attract talented out-of-staters to attend its freshman year abroad programs in Florence, London, Panama City, and Valencia. Those who return to Tallahassee for their sophomore year pay in-state tuition rates for the remainder of their undergraduate degree programs. The most noteworthy of this new batch of international study opportunities happens at New York University (NYU) with its current arsenal of fourteen global locations! As an NYU Liberal Studies First Year Away Student, you complete your first-year degree requirements at one of NYU’s centers in Florence,

London, Paris or Washington, DC, (Madrid will be added in fall of 2019) before heading to NYC to finish your studies. NYU also offers semester away programs in Accra, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Prague, Sydney, and Tel Aviv. At the same time Northeastern was creating its N.U.in program, NYU was beginning work on expanding their American educational system to the world. Its first full four-year college outside of the US, NYU-Abu Dhabi, opened its doors in September of 2010 to 143 students. In eight years it has grown to just over 1,200 students hailing from 100+ nationalities. In 2013 they created their second abroad college in Shanghai. Other American universities, instead of opening full-fledged colleges abroad, have entered into partnerships with other overseas universities. Yale’s collaboration with the National University of Singapore (NUS) led to Yale-NUS opening its doors in 2013 as a fully functional four-year liberal arts college with its own distinctive identity separate from both Yale and NUS. Just this past year Duke and Columbia opened their own versions of a campus abroad. Columbia University and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, entered into a new partnership where students spend their first two years in Ireland at Trinity and finish the last two years in NYC at Columbia. Duke Kunshan University—a partnership of Duke University, Wuhan University, and the city of Kunshan—recently admitted 250 overseas students for its inaugural class. As their website states, “All classes at Duke Kunshan are taught in English and students will spend a semester and a summer studying at Duke University in the United States and, upon graduation, students will earn a degree from both Duke University and Duke Kunshan.” Deerfield’s Center for Service and Global Citizenship reports that approximately 150 students participate in an international experience each year. The opportunity to continue international travel and study expands as Deerfield students head off to college. However, the landscape is evolving and expanding for college-level study abroad, and flexibility will be vital in order to take advantage of many of these new offerings. Most high school seniors still expect a traditional

college path, but a first term or year-long study abroad program could open new doors and enhance a student’s overall college experience; it might even increase one’s chance of admission. These programs have opened spots up in colleges’ freshmen classes that were not there before, and the end result remains the same. Many would also point out that as the world economy becomes ever more intertwined, an overseas experience is an increasingly important resume credential. Of course, abroad experiences may not be for everyone, but over the last decade colleges and universities have redefined what and when it means to study abroad. It may be challenging for some students to imagine themselves spending their first term in Paris while their peers are off to various domestic locations because it isn’t the “normal” path. At the same time, study abroad alternatives move beyond just being a resume credential: These opportunities are bringing together students/future leaders from around the world to learn side by side to help solve—and perhaps even prevent— the world’s greatest issues. As Al Bloom, Vice Chancellor of NYU Abu Dhabi (and President Emeritus of Swarthmore College) said, “They are students who strive to make their own mark on a more knowledgeable, productive, responsible, just, and peaceful globe.” Inevitably, college lists will begin to take on more of a global emphasis as these study abroad programs continue to expand. On a college visit, it has become just as important to not only ask about their study abroad programs but also to ask when they happen. Kirkbride would probably be both proud and a bit surprised to see how his legacy has blossomed. He recognized the potential of travel and study abroad for promoting cross-cultural understanding, but for sure did not foresee the many modern incantations of these experiences. Perhaps as students navigate this new ground it is appropriate to remember the words of the Southern novelist and poet Wendell Berry: “Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone.” //

SHOW YOUR WORK

THE PROJECT: CREATE A SELF-DRIVING GOLF CART

THE CO-CURRICULAR Innovation! THE STUDENTS: Michael Meng ’18 and Neil Nie ’19 3

THE ADVISORS: Science Teacher Megan Hayes-Golding and Research, Innovation, and Outreach Coordinator Emily Richardson

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THE DETAILS (FROM NEIL): “Last summer Michael and I got this crazy idea to make a self-driving golf cart. We were inspired by new techniques in the field of machine learning, and we wanted to apply those in the real world. After about six months of programming and two months of engineering, our vehicle can drive autonomously on certain roads and can also avoid obstacles. We modified the steering system, throttle, and brakes on a golf cart. The brain behind the vehicle, the NVIDIA Jetson and two Arduinos 1, control these systems electronically. More specifically, our modifications included: designing and making a specialized steering column 2, tapping into the accelerator’s potentiometer, and motorizing the brake system. The cart relies on computer vision and deep learning technologies to navigate, and on a camera 3 to understand the world. Instead of explicitly extracting features from the video feed, we developed and trained machine learning models to implicitly learn from human driving data. Then, the software can apply that knowledge to control the golf cart. We express our deepest gratitude to everybody who supported us during this project!” //

Michael Meng ’18 and Neil Nie ’19 FOLLOW THE PROGRESS: NEILNIE.COM

Deerfield Academy / Brent M. Hale

THE PROJECT: Create a Self-Driving Golf Cart

What is the “short version” of how you came to be at Deerfield? My school had an admissions fair and Deerfield Academy was at one of the booths; I didn’t go over and talk, but I made a mental note of it. Fast forward several weeks, and I’m visiting high schools in the Connecticut and Massachusetts area. Not many people know this, but I almost went to Choate! They have fantastic facilities... I mean, ahem, excuse me!

Gerardson “Gerry” Alexandre hails from East Orange, New Jersey, and was recently elected Student Body President for the ’18–’19 school year. A first-generation American, Gerry is the youngest child of Haitian-born parents. His unique perspective added depth to his American Dreams English class this past year, and it was the focus of his junior year declamation; an English Department tradition in which members of the junior class write, memorize, and recite a short essay pertaining to some aspect of American culture.

They have okay facilities, I guess. Anyway, when a Choatie was talking about their ongoing rivalry with Deerfield, I had to go check it out. And the rest is history.

In your American Dreams English class, in an effort to understand how the pursuit of the distinctive “American dream” helped to shape the culture and literature of the United States, you examined texts from different genres and time periods. As someone whose parents came to the US to fulfill their American dream, was there a particular story, book, or genre that spoke to you?

Five Minute Interview: Gerry Alexandre ’19

One of the greatest pieces of work that spoke to me was Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. Paine published this pamphlet during the Revolutionary War, encouraging America to seek independence. Had Paine’s pamphlet not been so successful, and I know this is cliché to say, would we still have the American dream? I began seeing it in a new light; I saw it less as a “dream” and more as an idea, just like any other.

You mentioned that there was definitely a connection between your American Dreams and US History class this past year—how so? One of the most rewarding aspects of studying those two courses at the same time was the ability to bring knowledge from one class to the other. For example, Ellis Island was a major turning point in US immigration policy. I actually learned that in American Dreams; mentioning it in US History earned me a pat on the back. I live for those pats.

Your declamation focused on identity—can you say a little about your personal struggle with identity? I identify as a Haitian American, but anyone who knows me knows that I only speak English. I live in a trilingual household and it has become increasingly difficult for me to continue calling myself “Haitian.” My mom and dad both speak English, Haitian Creole, and French. On the other hand, only calling myself American makes me feel as though I am denying my culture. I may not speak Creole, but I do follow Haitian traditions. Even now, I still have difficulty with this aspect of my identity.

Deerfield Academy / Brent M. Hale

Congratulations on being voted Student Body President! What are your goals in that position? What are your hopes for your senior year in general? One of the most important things a student body and an administration must have is trust. We have to trust in the administration’s decisions and they have to trust in ours. One goal I have as Student Body President is rekindling that much-needed relationship. I hope that as Student Body President I can make Dr. Curtis’ last year, as well as my senior year, one the administration won’t forget. //

Bob Howe finally got his man. During Howe’s 12-year tenure as athletic director at the Loomis Chaffee School, he tried to hire Pat Moriarty on three separate occasions to be his baseball coach, “but the stars were never aligned,” said the man who now occupies the oval office of athletics at Deerfield. So, when Steve August announced last spring that he would be stepping away as the Big Green baseball mentor at the end of the season, Howe figured he’d give his first choice a fourth try. This time, destiny prevailed. “I’m excited—Pat is a great fit for Deerfield,” said Howe. “He’s an outstanding coach who will bring stability to the program, but more importantly, he’s a tremendous person who cares deeply for his players; not only for what they do on the field but what they do away from it as well.”

BEHIND THE BENCH

Pat Moriarty

Deerfield Academy / Brent M. Hale

Varsity Baseball

2018

TEAM STATS

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SEASON RECORD: 7-10 LEAGUE RECORD: 6-6

IN CNEPSBL FINAL RANKINGS

QUALIFIED FOR THE THOMAS BLACKBURN CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2013

b y B o b Yo r k

What Moriarty’s players have done on high school baseball fields throughout Western Massachusetts over the past 12 years is well documented. During a ten-year stint at Cathedral High School in Springfield and two more as coach of Pope Francis High School, his charges chalked up a record of 183-77. Both programs were basically one and the same, as Holyoke Catholic High School closed in 2016 and merged with Cathedral to form Pope Francis. During his time there, Moriarty helped usher nearly 40 of his players into collegiate programs. “A lot of emotion and sleepless nights went into this decision,” admitted Moriarty, whose Cathedral team won the 2014 Western Mass Division I championship and whose 2016 Pope Francis club became the only team in Western Mass annals to receive an invite to the (Eastern Mass) Super Eight Tournament. “There was definitely sadness in leaving Pope Francis,” said Moriarty, “but there was also much excitement in moving on to Deerfield to take on a new challenge and open a new chapter of life for my family and me. I know this was the right decision. This is a great place—with great people.” There was more than just a coaching history behind Moriarty’s heartfelt farewell: Long before he became one of Cathedral’s premier mentors, he was one of the school’s elite athletes. In baseball, he garnered back-toback berths on All-Western Mass teams. In hockey, meanwhile, he reached All-Western Mass status three times, including his senior season (1991) when he was named winner of the Bessone Award as the Best Player in Western Mass. That season, he posted 98 points on 52 goals and 46 assists. Moriarty’s exploits, which not only helped open the doors to American International College, where he was a four-year starter in baseball and hockey as well, also gave him entry into Cathedral’s Hall of Fame in 2013. As Moriarty prepared for his initial spring training trek with the Big Green back in March, he’d already set his sights on the Number One item on his to-do list: make it a special season for the 14 seniors on the roster. Many of this year’s graduating class had not only played for three coaches in three years, but they had a 13-34 record to show for their efforts.

“I’m hoping to send them off feeling good and feeling proud about having played for this program,” said Moriarty. “To do that, though, we’ve got to be competitive, and once we’ve become competitive, we can begin restoring this program to what it once was.” “Going out and having to prove yourself to a new coach and learn a new system every spring hasn’t been easy,” admitted senior Jared Pantalony, a Big Green co-captain, “but I’m still excited about the upcoming season. Coach Moriarty has been very successful working with high school baseball players and I think he has the right mindset to get this program turned around.” “I’m looking forward to getting the season going,” echoed senior co-captain Sam St. Jean. “Starting over every season … having to get to know a new coach and having him get to know you has been difficult, but I’m optimistic about the season any way . . . more importantly, I think a lot of the guys are, too. With what Coach Moriarty has achieved as a player and as a coach, we believe in him.” Certainly one reason for that trust is that during Moriarty’s 12 years in Springfield, his teams never missed a tournament invite. Now, his goal is to get Deerfield back on the mailing list. //

I’m hoping to send them off feeling good and feeling proud about having played for this program...To do that, though, we’ve got to be competitive, and once we’ve become competitive, we can begin restoring this program to what it once was.

2-3 LOSS IN THE BLACKBURN CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS

BEHIND THE BENCH

b y B o b Yo r k

In case you missed it—and there’s a good chance you did—there was a reunion this spring at Deerfield. No “Rally to the Valley” or massive tent was involved; this reunion was a mutual admiration society for two: Becca Melvoin and Hannah Insuik. “I feel like I’ve come home again,” said Insuik, who served as Deerfield’s varsity softball team captain for two years, graduating from the Academy in 2013, and having spent the past four years at Colby College. “I just love this school; I love being involved with its softball program, and I love working with Becca again, and I’m very appreciative for the opportunity to learn even more from her. Being back here feels like a dream come true.” That being said, it is a little different this time around: As part of a two-year University of Pennsylvania Teaching Residency and its partnership with Deerfield, Insuik is working on her master’s degree. Long gone are the days of sitting front-and-center amongst her peers; Hannah can now be found literally at the front of the class in the Koch Center, where under the guidance of longtime faculty member Heidi Valk, she taught biology this year. The former Big Green three-sport standout—softball, hockey, and volleyball—also served as an assistant coach to volleyball during the fall term.

Hannah Insuik ’13 Brent M. Hale

Varsity Softball

2013 STATS

.300 batting average

3/17

home runs/Runs batted in

TEAM MVP

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2018

Deerfield Academy / Brent M. Hale

TEAM STATS

SEASON RECORD: 8-5

MEAGHAN O’BRIEN ’18 PITCHED A NO-HITTER VS. TAFT

“This graduate program has proven to be a tremendous opportunity for me,” said Insuik, who majored in biology at Colby, and was a four-year member of the school’s hockey and volleyball teams. “It not only gives me the opportunity to earn my master’s and work on it in familiar surroundings, but it’s presented me with a chance to coach. That’s something I’ve always wanted to do but I never thought I’d have the time for it.” “Even as a ninth-grader, you could tell Hannah was somebody special,” said Melvoin, whose own athletic resume saw her play four years of softball at Buckingham, Brown & Nichols, where she won the team’s MVP award her senior year. She then competed in rugby and squash at Bowdoin. At Deerfield, Insuik’s athletic ability allowed her to hit north of the .300 plateau all four years. During her senior season Hannah produced three home runs and 17 RBIs to earn All-Western New England Prep School Softball League honors as well as her team’s Most Valuable Player award. “As a player, Hannah loved the game and loved her teammates and led by example by playing hard at every practice and in every game,” added Melvoin. “She proved to be an outstanding role model for everyone in the program this year, and it’s been a great opportunity for all of us to have her back here as a part of the coaching staff.” “It’s been fun to watch Hannah develop,” she continued, “and to watch her take on more responsibility, and at the same time become less and less concerned about stepping on my toes when making a decision. Any time she’d appear hesitant about making a decision, I’d just try to reassure her and tell her, ‘It’s ok . . . it’s how you learn . . . it’s all a part of coaching.’” Hannah’s heroics weren’t limited to the softball diamond during her athletic career with the Big Green, however. In fact, during her playing days, she might well have been dubbed the “Masked Marvel”: In addition to being an all-league catcher in softball, Insuik was a goalie in hockey for four years, and finished her career with a 2.61 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. During her junior season, she recorded a career best 1.31 GAA, a .929 save percentage, and five shutouts.

5 TH IN WNEPSGSBA FINAL RANKINGS

BACK-TO-BACK WNEPSGSBA CLASS A TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES

It’s been fun to watch Hannah develop and to watch her take on more responsibility, and at the same time become less and less concerned about stepping on my toes when making a decision.

As a senior, she logged four more shutouts along with a 2.79 GAA and a .923 save percentage. She was also voted team captain by her peers in all three of her sports. “I know Hannah has to feel good about what she’s accomplished this spring,” said Melvoin, who, considering Insuik’s resume, had her working on hitting and with the catchers this season. “You can just see it’s given her a great deal of confidence, and after she gets her master’s, should she decide to continue teaching, maybe she’ll also think about continuing to coach as well. I’d like to see her do that.” //

A WO RT H Y LEGEND

BY JULIA ELLIOTT

RODGE COHEN’S TENURE AS PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMY’S BOARD OF TRUSTEES IS ENDING, BUT THE EFFECTS OF HIS

18 | A WORTHY LEGEND

Brent M. Hale

LEADERSHIP ARE SURE TO REMAIN.

When H. Rodgin Cohen ’61 thinks back to his time as a student at Deerfield, he recalls his 12th grade English teacher Robert McGlynn, and his infectious love of learning. “I can still remember today the novels we read, the poems we read, the plays we read,” he says. He also thinks of his chemistry teacher (and occasional bridge partner) Helen Childs Boyden, and of his algebra teacher, Red Sullivan, two mentors who treated all students equally—no matter their background, social class, or even their performance in class. These three teachers, he says, “really shaped my value system.”

This June “Rodge” Cohen steps down as president of Deerfield Academy’s Board of Trustees. He leaves the Academy in strong fiscal health, with a beautiful campus and stellar academic programs. Rodge’s true legacy, however, has been ensuring that those values he learned as a student—particularly a commitment to education and respect for all people— continue to guide the school for decades to come. With all that he has accomplished on behalf of Deerfield, it is difficult to believe that Rodge Cohen was nearly passed over for a Board nomination. It was during a 2005 Nominating Committee meeting when then-trustee (and later president of the Board) Phil Greer ’53 P’94 G’13 first brought up his name. The two Deerfield graduates had met thirty years before when Rodge, then a junior level financial services lawyer at the prestigious firm of Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, had done impressive work representing Phil’s business. More importantly, Rodge struck Phil as “a very good guy.” Over the years, he had watched Rodge’s portfolio of clients grow to include almost every major bank in the country. Other trustees on the Nominating Committee doubted that “the dean of Wall Street lawyers,” as the New York Times once called Rodge, would have time to serve. Still, Phil thought there was no harm in giving his old acquaintance a call and asking him to consider joining the Board. To his surprise, Rodge’s immediate response was, “I thought you’d never ask.” The first indication of Rodge’s dedication came in January of 2008, during what was only Phil’s second trustee weekend as president

of the Board. As they were leaving the Dining Hall together, Phil asked Rodge for advice on a good candidate to replace the outgoing chair of the Finance Committee. Two fellow Board members had already turned him down, thinking the work too challenging. “We were walking in the snow,” recalls Phil, “and Rodge takes two steps and says, ‘What’s involved in the job?’ And I say, ‘Oh, Rodgin, it’s really not that bad. It’s just a little budgeting and analysis for the tuition.’ He takes one more step and says, ‘I can do that.’ Now here I am, talking to the lawyer for every bank in the world, and he’s just said he’d be the chair of our Finance Committee!” Nine months later, the financial crisis hit, and Rodge spent the fall of ’08 overseeing what the Wall Street Journal called a “blitz of mergers, rescues, and cash infusions” for the nation’s biggest banks, including Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers, Wachovia, Barclays, AIG, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs, while at the same time serving as a frequent advisor to top officials in the US Treasury Department. Meanwhile, as the Academy’s endowment shrank and financial aid needs rose, the “not-that-bad” role of chair of Deerfield’s Finance Committee had taken on a whole new level of responsibility. Looking back on meetings during that time, Phil and Head of School Margarita Curtis recall that, even during the worst moments of the crisis, Rodge remained focused on Deerfield. “He might step out for fifteen or twenty minutes,” says Phil. “But with all his responsibilities—I mean, I was picking up the paper

and reading about him every two days!—he did just what he said he would do: He chaired that committee right through the fiscal crisis.” For Margarita, having an advisor who played a key national role in the economic recovery felt like a gift. What particularly struck her about Rodge’s leadership throughout that period was his empathy. “He was always considering, ‘How will this impact our families?’” she recalls. “‘How do we respond to our constituents in a way that is supportive and responsible?’” Incoming Board President Brian Simmons P’12,’14 believes that Rodge’s stewardship of the school during that time laid the foundation for where Deerfield is today. “Handled differently,” he says, “the crisis might have prevented the successful Imagine Deerfield capital campaign that ensued, and the ability of the school to maintain its endowment, which has now grown Below: From the substantially and has positioned us to do lots 1961 Pocumtuck of great things with program, financial aid, and facilities.” Witnessing Rodge’s dedication and steady Right: Distributing leadership throughout that chapter in Deerfield’s diplomas at Deerfield’s history, Phil knew without a doubt who he 2018 Commencement

20 | A WORTHY LEGEND

would recommend to be his successor; after discussions with Margarita and the full Board, Rodge became vice president in 2011 and assumed the role of president and chair of the Executive Committee in 2014. Deerfield’s twenty-ninth Board president was born in 1944 and grew up in Charleston, West Virginia. When the time came for high school, Rodge’s parents took him on a tour of New England boarding schools. He fell in love with Deerfield right away. “It was a gorgeous campus,” he recalls, “but it was more the people I met there.” Rodge describes his Deerfield Experience as “fabulous;” his ideal is that every Deerfield student has something similar. Rodge studied history at Harvard University and then attended Harvard Law School. He graduated in 1968 and served for two years in the US Army as a military lawyer. In 1969, he married his wife, Barbara, and in 1970 he started working at Sullivan & Cromwell. He has remained at the firm ever since, serving as its chairman from 2000-2009. At 5’5”, very slight, and described by all who know him as unfailingly modest, polite, and respectful, Rodge Cohen might not cut an imposing figure. But beneath the unassuming demeanor, Rodge is a man of “gravitas, equanimity, and tremendous intellectual depth,” says Margarita. “If you look up wisdom and experience in the dictionary,” jokes Brian Simmons, “there’s probably a little picture of Rodge Cohen.” When Associate Head of School for Operations and Chief Financial Officer Keith Finan started working at Deerfield, “any question that had to do with governance or policy or financial change, no matter who I asked, the almost universal response was, ‘What does Rodge think?’ He’s just a genuinely nice man who is really brilliant.” Lest Rodge come off as a wonky corporate lawyer—albeit one with gentlemanly manners —he is also a pianist (unaccomplished, in his words), an avid theatergoer, and a patron of downtown New York City music clubs. He is a Boston Red Sox fanatic who appreciates both a good novel and a good book of history; and a dog lover who never leaves the Manse without his suits covered in fur from playing with Friday, Margarita’s yellow lab. His fellow Board members often wonder how much he sleeps.

Brent M. Hale

Beneath the unassuming demeanor, Rodge is a man of “gravitas, equanimity, and tremendous intellectual depth.”

Trustees speak with what can best be described as awe at his listening skills and his ability to chair a meeting. “He’s not typically the first person to speak,” says Brian. “He listens well— very well—and then he’s able to distill a wide set of opinions and facts and come up with a course of action or summary to which everyone says, ‘That is exactly right.’” It’s just one of Rodge’s many leadership traits, says Margarita, that he is able “to bring a very sophisticated group of people together—people with very different backgrounds and interests—and interact with them in a way that is meaningful and authentic.” He instituted a practice of checking in, by phone or in person, with each of the twenty-eight trustees over the summer to gauge their concerns and ideas. The end result of Rodge’s close attention to each Board member’s priorities and opinions is that, as Keith puts it, “the Board as a group feels engaged in the institution.” If you ask Rodge to list his most important accomplishment as president, he says he is “most proud of being able to support Margarita in her vision to bring the school to new heights.” And by this he does not necessarily mean the Athletics Complex, the Hess Center for the Arts, the Boyden Library or the proposed new Health and Wellness Center—all campus improvements that occurred during his Board tenure. He admires that Margarita does not have what he calls an “edifice complex;” instead, the two share a commitment to education first and foremost; to the faculty and, in turn, to the students. “Rodge would be first to acknowledge that we need to remain competitive in terms of our facilities,” echoes Margarita, “but for him it is the people and the programs they deliver that define the school.” Margarita and Rodge have made a “powerful team,” says Board Vice President Susan Wallach, resulting in “an amazingly strong trajectory for Deerfield” in terms of its academic programs.

If you ask fellow trustees and Deerfield’s Senior Staff to list Rodge’s most important accomplishment, they almost unanimously point to his commitment to inclusion and diversity at Deerfield—that concept of respect for all, regardless of background. They tell the story of the January 2015 Board meeting, when Director of Inclusion and Community Life Marjorie Young arranged for five diverse students to present a campus update on inclusion at Deerfield. Hearing the students’ stories of discrimination, Rodge felt “surprised and shocked. But the more predominant feeling was disappointment that we had failed— that students would have experienced this. And that we had to do everything we could to rectify it.” That update was on a Friday, and by Sunday, the Board has passed a resolution that sent a clear message that it was unconditionally committed to diversity and inclusion. “Rodge

For Rodge, diversity and inclusion are, quite simply, critical to Deerfield’s ability to flourish. Deerfield is about the excellence of the student body and the excellence of the faculty. If any group is excluded or underrepresented because they feel they are not comfortable in the school, then the school as a whole suffers.

wanted to make sure that we go beyond an emphasis on diversity, and that we build an inclusive, caring community,” says Margarita. “So at the very top he said, ‘This is really important.’” For his part, Rodge imagines being a minority student considering Deerfield: “I’m going to look at: Where is the leadership coming from? If it’s not coming from the Board, I will have questions as to the school’s commitment. On issues like this, I think it’s critical that the Board lead.” Rodge acted swiftly. He created an ad hoc committee on Inclusion and Community Life, and appointed Victor Wright ’84 P’20 and Sara Ofosu-Amaah ’01 as co-chairs. The committee collaborated with Marjorie’s office to create a Strategic Plan for Inclusion at Deerfield. The plan, which was unanimously approved by the full Board in the fall of 2016, focuses on developing cultural competency skills campus-wide, and ensuring that all programs and policies at Deerfield promote inclusion and diversity throughout the Academy. The effects of the Board resolution and all the work that followed have been immediate. Turnout was high this past January at a Diverse Alumni Outreach Reception in New York, organized by the Board. “People who have never come back to Deerfield felt comfortable to come,” says Marjorie. “And those people told me they feel a shift in the Board’s involvement and commitment level.” This is great news for Chief Advancement Officer Ann Romberger. “Our mandate is to engage the most diverse and inclusive swath of our alumni body on all levels,” she says. “If you ignore or neglect anyone, it’s a loss of talent. And that’s Deerfield’s

22 | A WORTHY LEGEND

loss.” Additionally, Rodge has shown great support for diversity at the Senior Staff level, which Ann says she has felt personally as a woman in a leadership position. For Rodge, diversity and inclusion are, quite simply, critical to Deerfield’s ability to flourish. “Because at the end of the day,” he explains, “what Deerfield is about is the excellence of the student body and the excellence of the faculty. If any group is excluded or underrepresented because they feel they are not comfortable in the school, then the school as a whole suffers.” “Rodge is just this incredible human being with a deep commitment to justice,” says Marjorie. “He pauses to consider the impact of our decisions or actions on others.” Margarita adds, “He displays a level of empathy that is quite remarkable. He’s always thinking about people who haven’t benefited from societal structures or who have not enjoyed as many opportunities as some of us have.” Close in importance to his leadership on inclusion has been Rodge’s ability to provide excellent legal advice, especially guiding the Academy through difficult issues. “It was a stroke of fortune for me and for the Board,” says Margarita, “to have that level of expertise—his empathetic but also remarkably logical and balanced approach to legal matters.” From his perspective, Rodge is grateful that he and Margarita were always able to talk through tough decisions and come to a full agreement. “It was a real partnership,” he says, “although it was always clear who was the senior partner and who was the junior, which is the way it should be.”

One of the most important jobs of any Board chair is choosing a successor. A year ago, Rodge asked Brian Simmons to be the next president. Since then, he has included Brian in every significant decision. “He’s been incredibly thoughtful and gracious,” says Brian. “He brings no ego to his role—none whatsoever. All he cares about is what is best for Deerfield, which means what’s best for the students, first and foremost.” Brian’s first—and probably biggest— responsibility as president will be hiring a new Head of School when Margarita retires at the end of the 2018-19 school year. While Rodge has shown a great willingness to step back and allow Brian to direct that search process, Margarita still sees Rodge’s heavy imprint. The new head “will have a clear idea of what Deerfield stands for,” she says, because of Rodge’s “values-based leadership.” “He understands the core principles that have guided the school for generations,” she explains, “that continuity and stability— especially in our conflicted and untidy world— are an important legacy.” Always humble, always deferential, Rodge deflects credit: “I think the values are shaped by Margarita, the faculty, and the staff far more than the Board.” Still, he is proud that he leaves behind a Deerfield committed to education, character, and community—especially one that promotes diversity and inclusion. “Ultimately, beyond all this,” he says—perhaps recalling his own Deerfield days—“it’s really to see students who are happy. If we accomplish that, we will have accomplished a lot.” //

Goal Lines That Keep Moving Brian Simmons

Brent M. Hale

/ by Lori Shine

For the past eight years, Brian Simmons P’12,’14 has been a familiar face at Deerfield’s weekend Board meetings, with terms as chair of the Finance Committee and of the Endowment Committee, taking part in the ad hoc committees for Inclusion and Financial Sustainability, while offering expertise on many other projects. In July, he becomes the next president of the Board of Trustees. By now he’s so well-versed in campus matters that, he jokes, “many people think I went to Deerfield.” But in truth, Simmons first came to the Academy as a parent. One day at their home in Chicago, Simmons’ daughter Porter declared that ten years at her school was long enough, and it was time to consider boarding schools. Jeff Louis, a former President of the Deerfield Board, was a friend of the family, and he recommended they visit the campus. “Deerfield really resonated for a number of reasons, but in particular, I think the feel on campus is so upbeat, it was obvious to us that the kids are just happy at Deerfield.” Porter and son Reilly both shared his impression, and both children ended up choosing Deerfield. As co-founder of two private equity investment firms based in Chicago, Simmons relishes the process of building teams, developing strategies, and marshalling resources around ambitious goals. “A lot of my involvement in the not-for-profit world has had similar attributes,” he notes. At the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which supplies food to soup kitchens, pantries, and shelters across the city, he helped the organization with their first-ever capital campaign, raising funds for a new building to better serve constituents. For the Chicago Public Education Fund, he has worked with the Chicago public school system to recruit and retain talented principals. “It’s all around people and leadership teams and figuring out how to set priorities and develop strategic goals, assemble resources, and go out and get things done,” he says. “I’m definitely about getting things done.” Early in his career, that enthusiasm allowed him to embrace an emerging market and seize opportunities for growth. In the mid-80s, “working at Citicorp, I had a bunch of customers who were buying companies with a little bit of equity and a lot of debt. It wasn’t called private equity then, but that’s what it became.” Today, private equity is tremendously well established, but then, it was “a classic case of young people at the front end of an emerging industry being able to do something way earlier in their careers.” He co-founded a private equity firm in 1988 with two other men, also in their late twenties. “I made a few good decisions, I had some incredible mentors and some lucky breaks, and I was at the right time in the right industry,” he relates.

Now that his children are at the beginning of their careers, he advises them to look for new industries as well. “When industries are growing and companies are growing, there are great chances for young people to get way more responsibility sooner.” Simmons brings a growth mindset to Deerfield as well. He identifies the school culture as one of its strongest assets. “There’s a real sense of community, where students are both challenged and supported, “he says. “It’s critically important to maintain and align the culture with educational goals, and that’s something Deerfield has done.” He names supporting Deerfield’s culture as the first goal of his tenure as incoming Board president. On the academic front, he notes that “the world is changing pretty rapidly, and even Deerfield isn’t immune from that.” Simmons looks for the trustees to support the head of school, staff and faculty as they consider topics around technology, global experiences, online learning, and continue to work with the broad question of what constitutes a Deerfield education in an interconnected world. He also sees maintaining balance and diversity in an “expensive ecosystem” as an important area to address, making sure people “can still afford a Deerfield education.” “Most goals that matter tend to have goal lines that keep moving,” he says. “You need to be excited about the process and the challenge itself, moving the ball forward, as much as you are about scoring a touchdown. For me at Deerfield, success would be maintaining and building upon what I think is a really strong culture, helping the Board to work in a united way around critical goals, making sure we provide the support and input that head of school and Senior Staff need, and that three or four years from now, Deerfield’s in a position to do even greater things.” His service to Deerfield is motivated by his role as a grateful parent. It’s a chance “to be involved in an institution that has been very important to my family and my kids,” says Simmons. “Deerfield created a tremendous opportunity for my kids. It feels good to dive in.” //

SCIENCE

691

The population of humanity is predicted to soon approach 9 billion and to be largely urban. The questions of how to provide clean air, clean water, and food in efficient, sustainable ways are pressing. Students design and carry out experimental, data-driven investigations into future solutions that could enhance human living environments. These projects will be driven by student interest and can be biological or chemical in nature or they could focus on designing computer control or sensing systems. At the end of the winter term, each student presents an academic paper that summarizes the research process, the findings, and the implications of the results of the study. BY NAT READE

24 | SCIENCE 691

Caitlin Sugita admits that she is just about the last person you’d ever expect to eat a bug.

A member of the Class of 2018, Sugita grew up in Jakarta, where bugs are everywhere. “I think I inherited a fear of insects from my mother,” she says, “because my older sister has it as well. I have early memories of my mother screaming at them. She would see an ant on the table and freak out.” Sugita also remembers being three and playing in the garden when a big butterfly died and fell on her. “I was traumatized!” Yet when Caitlin had to choose a topic she was passionate about for her Research in Sustainability seminar this past fall, she chose entomophagy: the eating of insects. Sugita was one of ten seniors taking this new, advanced class, which focused on completing a major research project about sustainability. Taught by Andy Harcourt, a science teacher at Deerfield for forty years (see page 8) with a long background in sustainability, and Beth Hooker, Assistant Director of Deerfield’s Center for Service and Global Citizenship and the Academy’s Sustainability Education Director, the class extended over the fall and winter terms.

Harcourt explains that while students do research projects in other classes, the timeframe for those projects is generally much shorter. Research in Sustainability devotes two terms to one project, and according to Harcourt, “it’s like a master’s thesis in a lot of ways. We give them some information, then push them out the door. It’s kind of scary for them, but that’s real life.” PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRENT HALE

915

million acres

4 million US acres of land produce crops for feeding humans

56 million US acres of land produce crops for livestock consumption

Insects

have a notably more efficient food conversion rate than meat

2 times less feed than pork & broiler chickens

4 times less feed than sheep

or more than 40% of all land in the U.S. is dedicated to farming

70%

of global agricultural land is responsible for

18% of global greenhouse emissions

Insect feed needed to equal the same amount of protein:

6 times less feed than cattle

Caitlin (left) watches as students fill out a survey after a double-blind taste test.

“This class is a chance for seniors to do something different,” says Harcourt. “Many high school classes focus primarily on information transfer. In this class, the information is not broken into tiny fragments and fed to students; they have to take charge and organize their own education. They learn a lot about sustainability, but they also practice key skills around taking leadership roles.” Harcourt explains that while students do research projects in other classes, the timeframe for those projects is generally much shorter. Research in Sustainability devotes two terms to one project, and according to Harcourt, “it’s like a master’s thesis in a lot of ways. We give them some information, then push them out the door. It’s kind of scary for them, but that’s real life.” Hooker, who until this past year taught environmental science at Mount Holyoke and Hampshire colleges, says that “the main difference between this course and the ones I taught there is that the total contact time with the instructors is much higher here.”

26 | SCIENCE 691

AVERAGE

80%

MEAT YIELD AFTER PROCESSING

( notably higher than that of pork, beef, and lamb at 70%, 55%, and 35% respectively)

Insects have greenhouse gas emissions that are lower than livestock by factors of 100. Excerpt from Caitlin M. Sugita’s paper: Entomophagy Profiling Consumer Acceptance of Insect-Based Foods at Deerfield Academy Through a Double-Blind Taste Test. Sources: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Harcourt explains that the course grew out of Deerfield’s 2013 Sustainability Action Plan, which called for more emphasis on sustainability in the curriculum and more students becoming sustainability leaders on campus. Given that the world’s population is approaching nine billion, students were asked to look at long-term, sustainable solutions for providing healthy air, drinkable water, and sufficient food. Highly interdisciplinary in nature, Research in Sustainability attracted seniors focused not only on the STEM fields, but also in journalism, legislation, and the fine arts. In the fall Hooker and Harcourt lectured on various aspects of sustainability—soils, water, air quality, and the campus plan itself. Then they advised their students to find a topic they were so passionate about that they’d still love it in January. Caitlin Sugita had been thinking about global food issues since seventh grade, when she watched the documentary Cowspiracy, which explores the impact of animal agriculture on habitat loss, deforestation, and climate change. Her own research taught her that the world’s growing food crisis results from a finite supply of agricultural land, and one of the biggest reasons for this is “the inefficient food conversion rate of meat.” It takes about ten calories of feed to produce one calorie of beef, and about ten times more farmland to grow meat than vegetables. Meat production also causes 18 percent of all greenhouse gases. So when it was time to pick a research topic, Caitlin immediately focused on food issues. She knew that animal agriculture contributed to food scarcity, and that in some parts of the world, a lack of protein is also a major problem. And she had heard about a unique solution to this: entomophagy.

As she further researched entomophagy for the class, Sugita learned that it’s common for two billion people throughout Asia, Africa, and South America to consume insects. In Botswana, for instance, the mopane worm is popular because it’s high in fat. The Old Testament speaks favorably of eating locusts, beetles, and grasshoppers, and the Chinese have recognized the nutritional, culinary, and medicinal value of insects for three millennia. The United Nations recently identified insects as a viable solution to the global shortage of dietary protein because they are cheap, easy, and efficient to grow. Crickets, some of which are currently farmed in the US, provide just as much protein as beef, require about a sixth of the land or feed to raise, and produce 1/100th of the greenhouse gasses. The problem is, as Caitlin discovered early on in her research, consumer acceptance of insect-based foods in Western societies is generally low, particularly in the United States, mainly due to “food neophobia”—which is just what it sounds like—the fear of trying something new and the expectation of a negative experience. Even so, Americans are already actually eating insects without realizing it; small fragments are accidentally processed into our peanuts, citrus drinks, grains, and chocolate. “So,” Caitlin initially wondered, “How might a single-blind taste test of insect and non-insect containing dishes impact Deerfield students’ attitude toward the practice?” As the students researched their chosen topics, many of them struggled to distill what they’d learned into a proper research question or they couldn’t find sufficient data. Hooker says that most people assume it’s easy to find a good scientific research question. “In fact,” she says, “it’s very difficult. You might come up with a question that’s unanswerable, for instance, or one for which it’s impossible to find information. You also have to know how to look at the research and see whether your question will create additional knowledge.”

The Class of 2018: Research in Sustainability Symposium Projects Ashley Chang: “Sustainable Waste Management Plan in Eleuthera, The Bahamas: Incorporating The Island School, Center for Sustainable Development, and Local NGOs”

“Beyond 80/20: Expanding Dormitory Composting at Deerfield”

Sarah Jane O’Connor:

Oliver Diamond: “An Evaluation of

Mim Pomerantz:

the Massachusetts Solar Renewable Energy Certificate Program”

“Antibiotic Resistance: Crisis or Wakeup Call?”

Nic Labadan: “Sustainable Water Management in the Hotel Industry: The Triple Bottom Line”

Acceptance of Insect-Based Food at Deerfield Academy Through a Double-blind Taste Test"

Caitlin Sugita: “Profiling Consumer

Melia Summers: “Checking Water Scarcity in Jordan" Thanasi Tsandilis: “Impact of Single Stream Recycling in West Springfield, MA” Erin Tudryn: “The Ultimate Fight: Plastic vs. Sea Turtles”

Johnny Xu: “Think 80|20 in Action: Investigating Recycling Policy, Practice, and Implications at Deerfield Academy”

perception made a big difference:

the eating of insects was much more accepted when people couldn’t actually see them.

28 | SCIENCE 691

“I think this kind of independent research helps you mature,” Sugita says, “because you have to take your education into your own hands. I discovered that a research question keeps evolving as you learn more, which I think is an important way to approach life: When you set out to discover something, sometimes you learn a lot of other things along the way that you’d never expect.” Caitlin decided to research what it would take for Americans to embrace entomophagy, and to use the Deerfield campus as her laboratory. But before she could test the acceptance of entomophagy in others, Sugita had to test herself. “In this class I wanted to challenge myself,” she says, “and I knew that my own fear of insects stood in my way. I had to show my belief in entomophagy and in the project as a whole.” Early on in her research Caitlin discovered that there had been very few social experiments conducted to investigate consumer acceptance of entomophagy in the US—past studies were focused in Europe—but what had been revealed, in addition to a greater willingness to embrace entomophagy based on a person’s concern for the environment and/or health issues surrounding the eating of meat, was that perception made a big difference: the eating of insects was much more accepted when people couldn’t actually see them. Over Thanksgiving break Caitlin and her sister went to a Mexican restaurant in New York that served insects. When Caitlin’s plate arrived, it contained one grasshopper roasted in Mexican spices—and it was big. And clearly an insect. It took “a lot of mental preparation” to take a bite. She found that the grasshopper didn’t have much aroma beyond the spices, but it was crunchy, with an interesting, earthy aftertaste. After one bite, she says, “that was it for me. I was very ready to leave.” Based on existing scientific literature and her personal experience with the giant grasshopper, Caitlin quickly decided against an experiment that would ask people to eat whole insects. Instead, she opted to use cricket flour in recipes already popular with her fellow Deerfield students. And, her initial research question morphed a bit; it now asked: What are the effects of a double-blind taste test of otherwise identical insect and non-insect dishes on the likelihood of Deerfield Academy community members subsequently practicing entomophagy? Director of Dining Services Mike McCarthy was not only supportive but fascinated by Caitlin’s proposal, and he was happy to help her plan. McCarthy did so much of his own research that when they met to discuss recipes, Sugita says, “he knew almost as much about entomophagy as I did. The Dining Hall was an amazing resource!” Together they chose two Deerfield favorites: chicken pot pie and chocolate chip cookies.

PRE-TASTE TEST SURVEY RESULTS Pre-Taste Test Survey Results on a 4-point likert scale (1=Strongly Disagree, 2= Disagree, 3=Agree, 4=Strongly Agree), Trial 1 (n=24) MEAN

STANDARD DEVIATION

MEDIAN

MODE

I have heard of eating insects before.

3.292

0.690

I know what entomophagy is.

2.708

0.955

I am interested in knowing what entomophagy is.

2.875

0.537

I am interested in practicing entomophagy. (eating insects)

2.458

0.779

I am willing to practice entomophagy.

2.750

0.794

I have practiced entomophagy before.

2.042

0.908

I practice entomophagy regularly.

1.375

0.495

Entomophagy is a safe practice.

2.917

0.584

More people should practice entomophagy.

2.708

0.624

I willingly try new foods.

3.125

0.797

The healthiness of food influences my food choices.

3.125

0.947

The environmental impact of food influences my food choices.

2.792

0.721

I intend to reduce my meat consumption.

2.083

0.974

POST TASTE TEST SURVEY RESULTS

Post Taste Test Survey Results on a 4-point likert scale (1=Strongly Disagree, 2= Disagree, 3=Agree, 4=Strongly Agree), Trial 1 (n=24) MEAN

STANDARD DEVIATION

MEDIAN

MODE

My experience with entomophagy was positive.

3.083

0.654

I am interested in practicing entomophagy again.

2.708

0.690

I am willing to practice entomophagy again.

2.917

0.654

I would be prepared to eat insects as a substitute for meat.

1.833

0.637

I would practice entomophagy regularly.

2.083

0.717

Entomophagy is a safe practice.

3.167

0.702

I am scared of practicing entomophagy again.

1.833

0.702

More people should practice entomophagy.

2.875

0.680

I will tell others about my experience with entomophagy.

3.167

0.637

I will encourage others to practice entomophagy.

2.750

0.794

More people should practice entomophagy.

2.875

0.680

30 | SCIENCE 691

“Caitlin designed a Likert survey to assess attitudes before and after the test,” explains Beth Hooker. “She worked with stakeholders to design the taste test, and she was aware of the potential problems that might arise from having people taste insect dishes without their prior knowledge.” Ultimately, everybody who participated in the test had a heads up that one of each of the dishes they were trying was “buggy.” Students and faculty tested two batches of pot pie and cookies—one made with cricket flour and the other without. Then they answered more survey questions about which was which...and produced some surprising results. In late February, as winter term wound down, each student presented their project at a symposium in the Garonzik Auditorium, much like adult scholars at a sustainability conference. Senior Erin Tudryn entered the auditorium carrying a life-sized sea turtle sculpture she’d made out of plastic trash. Many of the plastics we discard, she explained in her presentation, end up in the ocean, where they become a sea turtle’s greatest predator. Oliver Diamond laid out suggestions for how to improve the solar incentives in Massachusetts that were worthy of a Beacon Hill hearing. Others discussed recycling in Eleuthera, West Springfield, MA, and on the Deerfield campus. Hooker and Harcourt compared these presentations to a dissertation defense. “One of the biggest things the students mentioned in their final reflections,” Hooker says, “was how the class taught them how to give and receive substantive feedback. It was a great group and they all felt supported by their peers, but they nonetheless asked hard, hard questions.” Caitlin’s presentation was titled “Profiling Consumer Acceptance of Insect-based Foods at Deerfield Academy Through a Double-blind Taste Test.” She explained the issues surrounding sustainable agriculture, the potential advantages of entomophagy, and her findings. A surprising 92 percent of the participants in her two taste tests had had a positive experience with entomophagy, she reported, and two thirds said they were interested in trying it again. Twenty-three percent of participants were more willing to practice entomophagy after the taste test than before. And about three -quarters of the participants actually preferred the cookies made with cricket flour. In answer to her research question, Sugita concluded that exposure to the practice, and positive experience with the foods, increased interest in entomophagy. Not only had a majority of her test subjects preferred food made with cricket flour, but the more they were exposed to the idea of insects as food, the more they were willing to eat them. When Caitlin finished her presentation, her classmates applauded. Then came the last hard question: “How are you coming along yourself with eating insects?” “Baby steps,” Caitlin replied. //

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92%

A surprising 92 percent of the participants in her two taste tests had had a positive experience with entomophagy, she reported, and two thirds said they were interested in trying it again. Twenty-three percent of participants were more willing to practice entomophagy after the taste test than before. And about three-quarters of the participants actually preferred the cookies made with cricket flour.

IT IS MEACH COVEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INNOVATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY INITIATIVES, EXEMPLIFIED BY ITS EXTENSIVE SOLAR FARM AND CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON GRASS BIOMASS, THAT MAKE IT STAND OUT AMONG ITS LAKEFRONT NEIGHBORS.

Ahead of the Curve Cultivating Acres of Sustain ability at Meach Cove Farms

BY SARAH ZOBEL

PHOTOS BY BRENT M. HALE

From behind the wheel of his red pickup truck, Christopher Davis ’77 travels the bumpy network of roads that crisscross the 1,100 acres of Meach Cove Farms. He knows the six or seven miles of dirt tracks and cracked pavement well: the property, located on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain in Shelburne, Vermont, has been his workplace for some 35 years. As he drives, Davis points out a hangar and an airfield, an interfaith spiritual center, three ponds, a brick and stone building that was once home to his grandparents, and barns that date to the mid-1800s and more recently served as the backdrop for L.L. Bean catalogue spreads. But it is Meach Cove’s innovative contributions to sustainable energy initiatives, exemplified by its extensive solar farm and center for research on grass biomass, that make it stand out among its lakefront neighbors—a mission that goes back years, to a time when Davis’ maternal grandfather, Dunbar Bostwick, owned the property.

Chris drives his father’s Willys Wagon on special occasions; his everyday red truck is a Tacoma.

I spent time here any chance I could because my grandparents were here, and it was a very exciting, innovative place . . . my grandfather was involved with the University of Vermont, and trying to do state-of-the-art whatever the latest, greatest thing was in agriculture to make farming work.

“He was experimenting with fermenting fuel ethanol from crops growing here on the farm and waste products we were buying from local brewers,” Davis says of Bostwick, noting that in those pre-microbrew days, “local brewer” meant a Budweiser plant in New Hampshire. It was the early ’80s, and the oil crisis was still fresh in everyone’s mind. A decade later, Bostwick would be absorbed with the work of creating “super cows,” which were then popular in Asian and European markets. “Both beef and dairy cattle were being traded as embryos because you could literally trade cattle internationally in a thermos bottle,” says Davis, explaining that the procedure is not cloning, but essentially surrogacy. “They’re the exact progeny of the same bull and the same cow— as many copies as you want. If you wanted a cow that made milk with more butterfat because you were making a special kind of cheese, instead of buying one, you could buy 10 or 12 of that same cow.” Even now, Davis—who says his own outside-the-box approach to problem solving was primed at Deerfield—is not entirely sold on the notion of super-cows (though Bill Gates, among others, recently invested millions in a similar project elsewhere, as one answer to world hunger). But he concedes that his grandfather was in many ways ahead of the curve, successfully preserving the farm’s traditions even as he shepherded it into the modern era of environmentally friendly, sustainable practices.

34 | AHEAD OF THE CURVE

1 199.8 proof ethanol

=tractor fuel. 2 The industrial

components of ethanol production.

Bostwick was experimenting with fermenting fuel ethanol from crops growing here on the farm and waste products we were buying from local brewers.

“I spent time here any chance I could because my grandparents were here, and it was a very exciting, innovative place,” he says. “They were breeding standardbred race horses. My grandfather was involved with the University of Vermont, and trying to do stateof-the-art whatever the latest, greatest thing was in agriculture to make farming work.” A native of Manhattan, Davis might well not have landed anywhere near Vermont or super-cows. One of four children of E. William Davis, Jr., a physician who maintained a demanding practice at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weil-Cornell Medical School while raising his children alone after the premature death of their mother, Lillian, Davis and his siblings whiled away summer vacations at Meach Cove, which their grandparents had inherited in the 1930s and expanded over the decades. Davis continued to visit while attending Middlebury College after graduating from Deerfield; at Middlebury he majored in geology and minored in economics. A post-graduation job with a geologic consulting company in Alaska put a temporary halt to visits to Meach Cove until Davis returned for the funeral of his grandmother, Electra, in 1982. Bostwick, already well into his 70s, confessed that he could use another hand and asked his grandson if he’d be willing to help run the place for a bit.

So Davis joined the small team of men who maintained the land—he helped dig three substantial ponds, clear brush, and build a skating rink. (Bostwick, a standout hockey player at Yale, would later invite the University of Vermont’s men’s hockey team to use the rink as an outdoor training facility.) When Bostwick created a Meach Cove partnership among his own progeny, Davis agreed to help oversee it. That was unchanged until 1997, when the family was approached by Boston Scientific co-founder John Abele. He and his wife were looking for a place to do what Davis describes as “some fairly innovative and community-supportive kinds of things,” including build a science-focused conference and retreat center. Bostwick agreed to sell them the property; Davis was asked to stay on as manager. Through the newly-formed Meach Cove Trust, an extensive design plan was created that Davis says “would have been unique for any part of the country, but especially Vermont, because it was going to be centered on this property as a way of conserving it and sharing it and also linking it up with other area institutions.” Unfortunately, it did not get past the state’s permitting process. The sole exception was the All Souls Interfaith Gathering, which today sits at the heart of the land physically but is run as a separate entity.

The power is sold to area utilities under a 25-year standard offer contract through Vermont’s Sustainably Priced Energy & Economic Development (SPEED) program.

9,878 solar panels 15-acre corner

were installed in a

of the property . . . the panels produce approximately

3.45 megawatt hours annually

385 homes 1

, enough to power

1 Davis designed a

‘graze-able’ low height grass seed mix that contained flowering clovers and other legumes that bees would benefit from. The clover and grasses will also appeal to sheep who could take up residence and help with natural landscaping in the future. The entire idea appealed to the solar installer behind LRS. 2 This particular

apiary dates back to the 1930s. 3 Limited maintenance

harvesting means selecting only diseased and defective trees for cutting.

36 | AHEAD OF THE CURVE

What has not changed under the trust’s oversight is perhaps the most abiding mission at Meach Cove: exploring new approaches to longstanding challenges—in particular, sustainable energy. Recently, 9,878 solar panels were installed in a 15-acre corner of the property; though it was, briefly, the largest solar farm in the state, it’s not visible to neighbors or from the main road. Known collectively as Limerick Road Solar (LRS), the panels produce approximately 3.45 megawatt hours annually, enough to power 385 homes—no small feat under Vermont’s notoriously gray winter skies. The power is sold to area utilities under a 25-year standard offer contract through Vermont’s Sustainably Priced Energy & Economic Development (SPEED) program. The solar farm is adjacent to a large bee colony owned by Champlain Valley Apiaries. (“The founder, Charles Maraz, was a pal of my grandfather’s, and they agreed to trade honey for the spot for the bee yard in the ’30s,” says Davis.) When he was helping establish the layout for LRS, Davis suggested that it might be nice for the bees to get something out of it as well. So in consultation with Sidney Bosworth, PhD, a UVM agronomist and plant scientist, Davis “designed a ‘graze-able’ low height grass seed mix that contained flowering clovers and other legumes that bees would benefit from.” The clover and grasses will also appeal to sheep who could take up residence and help with natural landscaping in the future. The entire idea appealed to the solar installer behind LRS. “They asked if they could use this seed mix in other systems they built across New England, and their solar farms are now routinely incorporating beefriendly turf,” Davis says. Elsewhere on the property an extensive biomass project that was funded by a 2011 US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation 3 Service Conservation Innovation

Grant has just wrapped up. That involved a collaboration among the University of Vermont, Cornell, and SUNY Canton, as well as Shelburne Farms (a neighboring nonprofit center for sustainability education), and local biotechnology and energy companies. The project was a thorough analysis of various native grasses that were chopped up and then “densified” in the form of pellets and pucks and burned as fuel in a boiler to heat a 4,200-square foot commercial building on the property. The related study involved testing different kinds of grasses, as well as comparing them in the two forms—pellets versus pucks—and then overall against wood fuel. A final report was issued in March 2017, but Davis says the team plans to conduct long-term combustion testing with selected grass species, which appear to be the best suited for use as a heat source by far for institution, light industrial, and central heating plant operators. Davis keeps full-size samples of the grasses on display in his office; the panicles of a bunch of Giant Miscanthus are particularly showy. “I made sure those were sterile,” he says with a chuckle, explaining that he wanted to ensure that the grasses wouldn’t take over he acreage, in deference to some of the many other crops that are grown on the property. For example, Meach Cove Farms, which was certified organic in the 1990s, has had a longstanding relationship with local farmers, including Aurora Farms. Aurora uses Meach Cove fields to grow rye, soy, and corn for their Nitty Gritty Corn Company, and alfalfa-rich hay that they sell to Kimball Brook Dairy, which is also certified organic. The larger community is likewise a consideration in the model of sustainable forestry that guides the care of the wooded areas around the property’s perimeter. “We’re managing for the health of the forest, not for the dollar value of the timber,” says Davis. “Every few years with our management plan we go in with the direction of our forester and we do a limited maintenance harvest, selecting diseased trees and defective trees and leaving the best ones. Some of that lumber has ended up at Middlebury and at UVM, in their new dorms.”

1 Reed Canary Grass 2 Grass fuel puck 3 Grass fuel ash 4 Austrian boiler

built in Troy, NY

Elsewhere on the property: an extensive biomass project that involved a collaboration among the University of Vermont, Cornell, and SUNY Canton, as well as Shelburne Farms (a neighboring nonprofit center for sustainability education), and local biotechnology and energy companies.

And UVM faculty and students have come to the farm, as well: University researchers have asked Davis about conducting studies on “birds and bees—literally—as well as butterflies and worms.” In addition, professors sometimes bring their environmental science classes to learn about the creation of energy from waste; Davis says he keeps students awake and engaged by showing them a sample of fuel ethanol and explaining that it’s basically moonshine. Meach Cove also welcomes groups and individuals to use the property freely. That means providing access to area residents and opening the land to groups, including, recently, Civil War reenactors (“We had the North and South battling it out down by the lake,” he says, pointing west, acknowledging that the North had a rough go of it that day). Two more research projects are also underway. The first is to test-grow Kernza, an organic perennial wheat grass that’s currently being grown on only 500 acres nationwide, in conjunction with UVM and the Kansas-based Land Institute. Meach Cove will help gather yield data and develop markets with local bakers, brewers, and distillers. The second project is a collaboration with the Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District and involves testing the

38 | AHEAD OF THE CURVE

water that comes out of subsurface drains installed in many of the Meach Cove fields— stormwater runoff from agricultural lands, parking lots, and roads has been an ongoing issue in the Lake Champlain basin for many years. Davis says this work circles back to his undergraduate thesis, which was on shoreline sedimentation and erosion, but he stifles any suggestion that he is spearheading the work at Meach Cove. “I’m just a day-to-day problem solver. That’s my main role: trying to keep the mission going, keep things happening,” he says. In those spare hours when Davis is not problem solving on the farm, he’s doing that elsewhere: He has served as a member of the volunteer fire department—including 20 years as chief —in neighboring Charlotte, where he and his wife, Susanne, live (son George is a student at Bucknell University). Davis was also a 16-year member of the Charlotte Rescue Squad, including as EMT crew chief, and he’s currently the town’s emergency management director. In February, he and Susanne traveled with Hands to Honduras, a nonprofit organization, to Tela, Honduras; Davis taught CPR to residents and helped build an addition to the local hospital while Susanne traveled to remote villages to provide fluoride clinics and deliver school supplies. They hope to return next year. Now that spring has finally come to northern Vermont, there’s plenty of activity at Meach Cove. From his pickup, Davis points to the places where four full-sized silos had been before he sold two to someone in Stowe and two to an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania; nearby, a tractor makes its way between barns. Davis drives and points out the tracks of a lone deer, reminiscing about the days when he worked alongside his grandfather in between lightning-quick explanations of the scientific research that is in many ways his grandfather’s legacy and continues on the farm today. “The best part of this job—other than getting to work in this beautiful place—is some of the innovative and interesting things that I’ve had the opportunity to learn about and actually get to do,” he says. “That was happening before, when it was still owned by my grandfather and the family, but that’s definitely been the case since, which is one of the reasons why I love it here. It’s exciting.” //

I’m just a day-to-day problem solver. That’s my main role: trying to keep the mission going, keep things happening.

Hear it straight from Chris Davis himself: deerfield.edu/meachcovefarms

R 40 | 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 52 1 9 5 3 1 9 5 4 1 9 5 5 1 9 5 6 1 9 57 1 9 5 8 1 9 5 9 1 9 6 0 1 9 6 1 1 9 62 1 9 6 3 1 9 6 4 1 9 6 5 1 9 6 6 1 9 6 7 1 9 6 8 1 9 6 9 1 9 70 1 9 7 1 1 9 72 1 973 1 974 1 975 1 976 1 9 7 7 1 978 1 97 9 1 9 8 0 1 9 8 1 1 9 82 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 92 1 9 9 3 1 9 9 4 1 9 9 5 1 9 9 6 1 9 97 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 2 0 0 7 2 0 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 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 7 2 0 1 8 * 2 0 1 9 Re u n i o n Ye a r s

19 59 FROM THE ARCHIVES

the Common Room

1951 “Still communicate with my roommates John Carpenter and Rob Yates, so far all is well. Many fond memories of the staff and our activities at Deerfield. Glad to not have to walk up the hill in the snow.” —Art Drazan

1955 John Notz ’49 was featured in an issue of At The Lake magazine.

“Sending a picture of myself and Betsy Grace staying with Bill and Mary Walker at their home in Hilton Head. We are remembering so many old times and Deerfield friends. We remember some who are no longer with us and are particularly saddened to lose Bob Hiden.” —Charlie Grace ’51

From Tom L’Esperance ’55: 1 Bruce McEwan 2 Terry Fuller and Bruce McEwan at our 60th Reunion in 2015 3 Bruce and M.L. McEwan en route to a wedding in 2017 4 A gathering at our 55th Class Reunion in 2010. l to r: Tom and Merry L’Esperance, Jerry Rood, Bruce McEwan, Margarita Curtis, M.L. McEwan, Manning Curtis, Jay Morsman, and Joyce Rood 5 Bruce McEwan endures the elements with his matching umbrella.

42 | THE COMMON ROOM

“Bruce McEwan passed away peacefully on November 23, 2017, surrounded by family members and M.L., his engaging and devoted wife of 44 years. As reported earlier, Bruce had been in declining health for the past year. He inspired others with his trademark joviality throughout the trying time. In a note to classmates for our 50th Reunion in 2005 he wrote: “I hope to see y’all in ’05, but I am still smoking and drinking and according to The New England Journal of Medicine, I’ve already been dead for four and a half years.” Well, Bruce’s upbeat presence bested the Journal’s prediction by 17 years! He’ll be circulating among us in spirit sharing his abounding enthusiasm when we gather for our 65th Reunion in 2020. Mike Grant writes: ‘No member of our class loved Deerfield more, and he constantly talked up Reunions and getting together through trips and regional associations. He was a colorful guy with magnetic energy and a puckish sense of humor. He was also a local legend in Florida politics, and represented the Orlando area in the state legislature with panache.’ Bruce was an active participant in his community. He served in the Florida Legislature for 12 years and had a perfect attendance record in his Orlando, Florida, Rotary Club for 45 years! He and M.L. traveled extensively, and, on one occasion in 2004 they met Margarita and Manning on an Amazon River cruise. The Curtises were traveling with a group of alumni from Andover where Margarita was a member of the faculty. They quickly became friends and later, on a visit to Cape Cod, Bruce and M.L. urged Margarita to apply for the position as Head of School at Deerfield that had just become available. Well, since 2006 Deerfield continues to thrive with Margarita at the helm. Thank you Bruce, M.L., and Margarita. Please refer to the Baldwin-Fairchild Ivanhoe Obituary for more details of Bruce’s many accomplishments and family members.”

Shortly after his 50th Reunion, lawyer, businessperson, and educator Joe Lawrence remarked,

“If you’re not inspired by what Deerfield is doing, you might want to think about coming back more often!” Joe included Deerfield in his will many years ago. In 2017 he also funded a Charitable Remainder Unitrust to benefit both Deerfield and himself. That trust will pay him five percent annually for his lifetime from a professionally managed stock, bond, and mutual fund portfolio. After Joe’s death the principal will pass to Deerfield to create an endowed fund in his name. The Lawrence Fund will support the school’s historic buildings and landscape “in order to maintain the unique character of the campus as a legacy for future generations.” Why did Joe choose a Charitable Remainder Unitrust? “Several of my long-term stock holdings were in companies that were targets of corporate takeovers that would have included large cash payouts. While that can be a net positive

Joseph D. Lawrence ’54

for many shareholders, I don’t need any capital gains tax event forced upon me! I plan to leave a substantial portion of my estate to Deerfield, so I don’t want a big and avoidable tax bite taken out of my assets.” In donating highly appreciated securities to a Deerfield Charitable Remainder Unitrust, a significant percentage of Joe’s capital gain in the donated assets was immediately eliminated. The rest will be included in his annual payouts from the trust, so he will report some of his annual income from it as long-term capital gain (taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income). He was also able to claim a significant charitable income tax deduction in the year of the donation to the trust. “This feels like a win-win to me,” Joe said. “Deerfield’s done a great job helping me set up this trust, and I was pleased

A PA R T OF THE LEGACY

to convert stock that was already paying dividends into five percent income. Mostly, I’m delighted to have created a practical funding mechanism for the legacy I eventually want to leave to Deerfield.” //

To learn more about Charitable Remainder Unitrusts and the Boyden Society, please contact Director of Gift Planning Rachel Moore: 413-774-1872 or rmoore@deerfield.edu

1955, cont.

Tim Day ’55 reviews troops at the Marine Corps Iwo Jima War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Tim Day ’55, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Bar-S Board of Directors.

44 | THE COMMON ROOM

“With the “can-do” spirit of a US Marine officer, Tim Day created many jobs and sustained scores of families over the years at the helm of Bar-S Foods. In 1981 Tim founded and guided Bar-S into a premier processed food and distribution enterprise. Since 2006, under his guidance, Bar-S has been the #1 best-selling hot dog brand in the United States. Additionally, Tim’s magnanimity has supported many endeavors including the Timothy T. Day Overlook and the inspiring Semper Fidelis Memorial Chapel at The National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico, VA, as well as the post-graduate education of Marine officers via fellowships at Harvard Business School to ‘foster and develop entrepreneurs with sound values who will strengthen the community and nation.’ In a newsletter to the 4,500 associates of Bar-S Foods, Warren Panico, President and CEO, wrote: “At the end of 2017, Tim Day, Bar-S Founder, former President and CEO and current Chairman of the Board, will be retiring from the Bar-S Board of Directors. His leadership over the last three decades will be felt for years to come. Although his role at Bar-S will come to an end, his work as a leader continues in the community.” In recognition of his work, Tim received the 2017 City of Hope ‘Spirit of Life’ Award, to recognize his outstanding personal, professional, and philanthropic achievements. This is the second time Tim has been recognized by the organization with this award. I speak for all who have had the opportunity to work with Tim over the years—THANK YOU for your friendship, vision and leadership. You will be missed, however your legacy as a business, industry and community leader will live on.” We salute you, Tim, with an admirable ‘Well-Done’ for your dedication to our national community via an ongoing 36-year shining legacy of your ‘life’s work.’” —Tom L’Esperance

1956 “In memory of John Ostheimer, a portion of his contribution to 50th Reunion yearbook: ‘I’m very happy about how my personal life has worked out. I suppose I grew up somewhat at Deerfield, but it wasn’t until college that I gained enough self-confidence to really accomplish much. Regrets? I’m pained and frustrated by the gap between what our country could be, and what it actually is. We have squandered the opportunity to be a force for peace and goodwill throughout the world, preferring to be xenophobic, insensitive and bullying. Having lived and worked in several other countries, and visited dozens, I have some sense of what a complicated place our world is. Yet, we have wasted much of our wealth and our momentary military/political dominance instead of helping to address its problems. We will reap what we have sown. I regret that I have not been able to do more personally about all this. Maybe I did some good as an educator. Judging from our children and grands, we surely did some good as parents. For that I’m thankful.—John Maurice Ostheimer.’” —Joe Twichell

“Last spring, Rod Laver, the only player to have ever won the Grand Slam tennis classic two times, was hosting his annual tennis event at the La Costa Resort which is about a three-minute drive from my home in Carlsbad. He was raising funds for Hospice Care on behalf of his beloved wife of 46 years, Mary Laver, who had died after a long illness in 2012. The opportunity to meet Rod and to receive a 20-minute tennis lesson and photo opportunity with him was irresistible. I wore a Deerfield shirt and belt for the special occasion. Of course, I’m now a formidable player and might even make the Octogenarian Varsity team at our 65th Reunion in 2020! Rod is our age, 80, and stands at 5’8” tall. I’ll wager that in his prime he could have beaten the giant players of today with their 100+ mph serves.”

—Tom L’Esperance ’55

MORE CLASS NOTES AND PHOTOS: DEERFIELD.EDU/COMMONRO OM

2 0 1 8 N AT I O N A L A U D U B O N S O C I E T Y L U F K I N P R I Z E F O R E N V I R O N M E N TA L L E A D E R S H I P RECIPIENT

Still Finishing Up Strong /b y L y n n H o r o w i t c h Over eighteen years as Director of Land Acquisition for the Nature Conservancy, Dave Morine helped to conserve three million acres of what he calls “the finest natural areas left in America.” He also amassed a trove of stories and is apt—when speaking about his work—to sprinkle in references to movies, authors, and philosophers. In recognition of his efforts and achievements, Dave was presented with the Audubon Society’s Dan Lufkin Prize for Environmental Leadership on March 1. The award came with a $100,000 prize that he plans to put into “good projects,” which, of course, means protecting more significant natural areas. Dave says he fell into his career, which began after Deerfield, after Amherst College, and after attending business school at the University of Virginia, where he earned an MBA, when he began working for a recreational real estate developer and was able to structure a deal that ended up preserving an old estate on a beautiful mountain lake rather than chopping it up into lots. From that experience, Dave says, “I was hooked!” He joined the Nature Conservancy in 1972, and as TNC’s director of land acquisition spent the next 18 years acquiring land for nature preserves, National Wildlife Refuges, National Forests, National Parks, and state wildlife refuges all over the US.

46 | THE COMMON ROOM

Prior to joining the Nature Conservancy, Dave credits Deerfield with setting him on his career path. In fact, if it weren’t for Mr. Boyden, he might have spent his working days at New England Telephone & Telegraph—secure yet miserable. Dave also credits Deerfield in playing a role in developing his respect for nature. He notes that the 2017 winner of the Lufkin Prize was Nathaniel Reed, Class of 1951, and believes that two Deerfield recipients in as many years is not an accident. He says, “I think a lot of it comes from the Head’s admonishing us to ‘Look to the hills.’ You look to the hills, the valley, the river, and it gives you a desire to protect places like that.” So, that’s what he did. Dave maintains that he’s not much of a naturalist, but says saving land is basically common sense: “If it’s wet— marshlands, lakes, rivers—protect it.” For him, the best part of working in conservation was not so much getting on the land, but rather getting to know landowners who appreciated the natural significance of their properties and then figuring out with them how best to protect their land. It was this ability to understand what landowners wanted that made Dave remarkably successful in identifying and preserving great swaths of land throughout the United States.

In addition to his work at the Nature Conservancy, Dave has written several books describing his adventures and misadventures in conservation, which in addition to being informative also happen to be highly entertaining. Good Dirt: Confessions of a Conservationist is described on Amazon as “an enlightening, entertaining, occasionally unsettling look at the dirty job of keeping America clean.” And Two Coots in a Canoe: An Unusual Story of Friendship, is an often-hilarious account of a trip Dave took down the Connecticut River with one his business school buddies. It was this very trip that led Dave to the conclusion that, “The mark of a truly civilized society is one where any kid can jump into any river anywhere and go for a swim.” What really bugs him and keeps him pushing to save more land is that 40 percent of America’s rivers are too polluted for a kid to do that. Which brings him back to Deerfield. “To this day,” Dave says, “one of the highlights of going back to Reunions at Deerfield is going down to the river and jumping in. Every kid in America should be able to experience that same feeling—and we’d all be better for it.” //

Lia Bocchiaro / Audubon

Dave Morine ’62

DAVE’S CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING WHICH LAND TO CONSERVE: 1958’S 60TH REUNION COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Sam Beebe

l to r: David Knight, Bruce Grinnell, and Brian Rosborough with Head of School Margarita Curtis attended an All School Meeting last October.

1965 1 Is it significant? 2 Is it threatened? 3 Is it a good deal? 4 Can you manage it? 5 Where is it going to take you? (eg: can you leverage up to protect a whole stream, not just half a stream?)

“I retired from Kaiser Permanente Heath Plan, Inc., on January 1, 2018. Still co-hosting weekly poetry reading in LA (reached 20 years now at the same location). Will be moving to North Carolina (Chapel Hill/Durham area) sometime in 2018. Seems I’d rather see the world end in ice than in fire.”—Larry Colker “Over the Thanksgiving holiday Chip Wehle passed away in South Carolina near Beaufort. He had been battling cancer. In recent years, Chip had been leading a quiet life, rarely surfacing for any of us from his Deerfield days. For me he will be missed as his memory recalls fond chapters in my life when we were all younger and took things in general a bit less seriously, in many cases thanks to Chip. Good bye old friend.” —Jay Judson

1967 Jim Towne, of the Albany-based law firm Towne, Ryan & Partners, PC, recently completed a two-week teaching assignment at the Univerzita Pardubice in the Czech Republic. Jim was turned on to the opportunity during many enthusiastic discussions with fellow classmate Vincent Teahen who has done similar teaching assignments in Kazakhstan, Latvia, and most recently in Kazan, Tatarstan. “It was a wonderful experience and one I hope to repeat soon. Many thanks to Vincent for opening me up to the opportunity.”

Above: Jim Towne ’67

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1967, cont. The assignment was through the Center for International Legal Studies (“CILS”) (cils.org). CILS is a non-profit law research, training, and teaching institute, established and operating as a public interest society. Its essential purpose is to promote and disseminate knowledge among members of the international legal community. The purpose of its seminars is to introduce particular areas of Common Law legal systems to the law students and junior faculty of the host university. As a senior visiting professor at Univerzita Pardubice, Jim’s instruction was based on United States corporate, commercial, and contract laws and issues. The seminars focused on a concentration of New York and Vermont law and compared relevant legal practices in the Czech Republic as well as with those of the European Union. CILS, in cooperation with law faculties in Eastern Europe and the former republics of the Soviet Union, offers short-term appointments at dozens of universities throughout Eastern Europe and Russia, as well as China. After obtaining the required teaching training, assignments can be in such diverse countries as the Czech Republic, Albania, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania and Poland, among others. If any attorney classmates would like to discuss pursuing an appointment as a visiting CILS professor, please feel free to contact Jim at (518) 608-8522 or at james.towne@townelaw.com.

48 | THE COMMON ROOM

“ H ere are some pictures from our Deerfield in the Desert ’67 Reunion.” —Rick Barton ’67

“The first photo is a great group shot, though missing our spouses and the names, l to r: Rick Barton, Jeff Marshall, Bill Post, Paul Bendheim (our host), Ted Higgins, and Dave Doubleday. Paul and his wife Judith pulled together a wonderful long weekend in Phoenix for all of us and our spouses. Tennis, hikes, museums and sights, great dinners, and a fulsome brunch at their home that featured farm to table food from their own garden, all made for a special time. We look forward to making this a regular event from Maine to Colorado.—Rick Barton ’67

On November 28, 2017, the Class of 1968 held a mini-reunion at the Penn Club in New York City. l to r: Don Reuter, John Clementi, Cranford Stoudemire, Nat Sims, Chuck deSieyes, Gar Bewkes, John Walbridge. Also in attendance but not in the photo were Red Jahncke, Steve Brill, and Dutch Pinkston.

1967 graduates—all were local day students— had fun reconnecting at the Deerfield Inn back on on November 25. l to r: Mike & Wendy Melnik, Fred & Janet Chapin, Tom & Becky Clark, Ray & Gail Wolejko, Alec & Maureen Ciesluk.

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1 Tony Paulus (left) and Larry Phippen, (right) both Class of ’68, reminisced about their days on the Deerfield Swim Team. Larry (backstroke) was team captain. Tony (breaststroke) was co-chair of 1968’s 50th Reunion in June.

2 & 3 Bill Highberger ’68, Wes Rose ’68, Rusty Johnston ’68, George Girton ’67, and Tony Paulus ’68 enjoyed a mini-reunion at Bill’s home in LA on February 10. They were joined by Deerfield Trustee Victor Wright ’84 (second photo, far right) 4 l to r: Bill Herndon ’69, Tony Paulus ’68, and Bob Ashton ’69 met at Tony’s home in Wyoming in February 2018. There was much reminiscing about their days on the Deerfield swim (Bill and Tony) and ski (Bob) teams.

1968

John Walbridge ’68 enjoyed every moment as a member of his class’ Reunion Committee, making long overdue re-connections with classmates. 1 John visiting his brother Ben ‘69 2 John visiting classmate Len Jernigan in North Carolina 3 Capt. John in Maine, summer 2016

50 | THE COMMON ROOM

“Sold my business, the Orient Country Store Ltd., in 2011 after 31 years of ownership and operation. My wife and I are starting to do some traveling and checking off the boxes on our bucket list. Where did the time go? Since retirement I have been helping out at various farmer’s markets from June 1 to Thanksgving in the Nassau County area of Long Island. The farm work I do is driving, setting up, and selling produce. On the days I go to market, I get two good workouts, which help me stay in shape. I am still an active volunteer fireman of 37 years for the Orient Fire Department. My daughter and grandson live in LA and my son works and lives in Detroit. I have been active in my community serving on numerous boards and an 18-year stint on the local school board. I try to adhere ‘our’ school motto, ‘Be Worthy of Your Heritage.’ All of the above may seem droll but I have had a good life and met some very interesting people along the way.” —Linton Duell “After turning 65 I retired from First Niagara Bank shortly before it was bought by Key Bank. I was first vice president—regional credit manager for Business Loans in western New York. Retirement lasted several months. Currently, I am a bank examiner for the State of New York. I have participated in an examination in Elmira, but have yet to visit Bedford Falls.”—David Sisson

AU T H O R

Peter Gabel ’64 THE DESIRE FOR MUTUAL RECOGNITION: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE DISSOLUTION OF THE FALSE SELF

Reviewed by Dean of Ethical and Spiritual L i fe J a n F l as k a

Routledge / 2018

In The Desire for Mutual Recognition Peter Gabel “examines the struggle between desire and alienation as it unfolds across our social world, calling for a new social-spiritual activism that can go beyond the limitations of existing progressive theory and action, intentionally foster and sustain our capacity to heal what separates us, and inspire a new kind of social movement that can transform the world.” Jan Flaska, Deerfield’s Dean of Ethical and Spiritual Life, reviews Mr. Gabel’s book below. Possibly as the smallest patch of darkness, somewhere beneath the ugliest of stones, set out in the sunny brilliance of a profound and serious treatise of social-spiritual theory, Peter Gabel, in The Desire for Mutual Recognition, takes on the most demanding task of unearthing and exposing the origin of the evil of Nazi thought, quoting Himmler in his racist, public diatribe in calling the Jews a “bacillus we don’t want to be infected by,” which concludes with the claim that he and the Nazi machine have done the “most difficult” work of personhood extermination “out of love for our people [and] we have suffered no harm from it in our inner self, in our soul, in our character.” The Nazis are but one example of the distortions of the fundamental human longing for recognition that Gabel analyzes in this profound book. From the pathology of a Himmler, to the festering wound of societal racism in the United States, to our unique personal ways of falsifying ourselves trying to comply with the ways others see us from birth, Gabel educates us on the nuances of our adolescent life, and why human acknowledgment is often betrayed through eyes looking down and hearing snuffed through technology. It is no small feat to bring us into the minds of the vilest expressions of hate, enacted by human on human through genocide and war. And, it is some small joy to know that Gabel’s canonical library on social theory, as it breaches every falsely constructed boundary, includes the lyrical wisdom of the Beatles and Van Morrison. Gabel speaks of all to all. In an effort to heal and in an effort to empower, Gabel’s work illuminates social life and “authentic connection” toward the end that we, in recognition that we are “spiritual presences longing to complete ourselves,” re-spiritualize our view of self, of the world, and of Other. Like the image from an obscure folk song, our desire for mutual recognition is “like the ticket-half I find inside the pocket of my old leaf-raking coat, there all the time, all the while forgotten . . . I so often seem to leave you.”

Our true lived expression, pulled from deep in the antithetical pocket of the classic I-thou relational existence, is to move from “separate beings-in-relation . . . to our projected future as a collective moral project.” Such is the purest and proper human movement forward—and, certainly, more desirable, healthier, and, Gabel argues, original, than any effort to distinguish any one from any other. This is, in large part, a confluence of ideas from an author and educator who founded The Project for Integrating Spirituality, Law and Politics. Yes, the false self need certainly beware: Gabel and his social-spiritual activist discernment are coming for you. Father Thomas Keating—a celebrated spiritual sage from the Deerfield Class of 1940—aligns with Gabel as a fellow contemplative alumnus in stating that, “for human beings, the most daunting challenge is to become fully human” given that “the false self is deeply entrenched” in our daily lived experience. Gabel infers that we are victims of circumstance, born into “false alienation,” nurtured toward a “false otherness,” constructing a “false distance,” and expressed in cultural and political divides that oftentimes appear to win the day. From Francis Bacon to School House Rock to Peter Gabel: “Knowledge is power.” This is an expression of true knowledge, and this has to be the rock from which new, authentic-lived life can spring. It allows for the dream of Dr. King that “one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight.” Gabel’s work empowers the folks behind the social movements that are trying to “liberate and vitalize” being-ness, in the search for a common and authentic life of mutual recognition. In one of his most powerful claims, this recovery and awareness of shared being “releases us from mutually withdrawn locations . . . [to] bring us into each other’s recognizing, loving presence.” Our journey with Gabel to acknowledge our desire for mutual recognition, and the power such a journey possesses, brings us to a human harmony of sorts, expressed through the simple human dialect of song, sung by George, Ringo, John, Paul, and, in this moment, Peter: “There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known / Nothing you can see that isn’t shown / There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be / It’s easy / All you need is love, all you need is love.”

19 79

52 | THE COMMON ROOM

1969 “After a 40-year hiatus I have returned to my native state of Colorado. I have moved to Durango, a town and an area of immense beauty and charm where the outdoor lifestyle is unmatched year-round.” —Stephen Bisbee

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

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1974

Conrad and Jacqueline Hutchins at King’s Academy while studying Arabic with their Dad, Tom Hutchins ’75.

“I have concluded my four years at the US Embassy in New Delhi and moved this summer to Embassy Rangoon where I am the deputy chief of mission. I look forward to welcoming the many, many classmates who will undoubtedly pass through!” —George Sibley

1980

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

Deerfield Academy | PO Box 87 | Deerfield, MA | 01342 Change Service Requested

“On the back cover of the Winter issue of Deerfield Magazine was an archival picture of a diver (from the 60s?). It was fun to see that sitting in the office window was my father, Peter Gore, and Al Shell.” —Tim Gore

1981 “With family (spouse Deborah and kids Drew and Caitlin), enjoying another winter in northern Vermont. General manager of a RFID technology company. Any classmates who want to ski (and give me a reason to play hooky on the slopes), reach out!”—David Buley

“I started work as a Vice President of Clinical Development at Audentes Therapeutics in San Francisco and feel like I am back in the 21st century with gene therapy drug development. After many years of setbacks and regulatory hurdles, the field of gene and cell based therapies is beginning to show the promise of transformational medicine. Truly bench to bedside drug development as I envisioned as an undergraduate at Harvard. My wife, Kristin, and I are expecting a baby in August, 2018. This will be the ultimate step for my embrace of the 21st century.”—William Kennedy ’75

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1982 “This past February, I played a round of golf with the then numberone ranked tennis player in the world, Rafael Nadal, at the Rafa Nadal Golf Challenge in Mallorca, Spain. My company, Sotheby’s International Realty, was the primary sponsor of the event and I took a client over to Spain for some great golf. It was amazing to be able to get to know Rafa in an afternoon of golf. We had a lot of laughs that day, competing on a great course where he grew up in Mallorca. A very humble kid who swings like he is hitting his two-handed backhand. Needless to say, Rafa, being a two handicap, was able to beat me by a few strokes! I plan on going back next year for revenge.” —Sam Bayne

1 3

John Knight ’83 says: Doug Schmidt ’83 is the conduit. And NYC brings the class to him sometimes. Actually, a lot. Thanks to Lynch, Nottage, and Hindman for finding Doug and sharing the evidence! 1 Doug Schmidt and Chris Lynch 2 Sean Nottage and Doug Schmidt 3 Doug Schmidt and Don Hindman Sean Nottage ’83 and his wife, Kara, at the Bahamas premier of his new movie Cargo.

54 | THE COMMON ROOM

4 7

1 Art Dwight ’79 about to hit the Appalachian Trail. 2 Members of the Class of 1983 at The Ginger Man in Boston: f; l to r: Peter Crow, Bob Fitzpatrick, John Cianciolo, Peter Townsend b; l to r: Will Wolf, Mark Beaubien, Nelse Clark 3 Chaz Gagne ’83 and Hardie Jackson ’83 connected in Atlanta during a business trip for Charlie. 4 ’Twas the season . . . for NHL hockey! Andrew Nash ’83 and his son frequent the SJ Sharks games and scored big! 5 Doug Schmidt had a business trip to Denver, so Team ’83 rallied in support: Don Hindman organized a dinner that drew from up and down the Front Range. Schmidt, Harrington, Knight, Hindman, and Piersol enjoyed Mexican food and a ton of laughs at a cute spot in old Golden. 6 Paul Magee ’83 made his annual pilgrimage from Mexico and connected with Mark Beaubien ’83 at the Deerfield Inn. 7 Don dragged Schmidt into the mountains for a chilly day at Copper, which apparently involved a good deal of cinnamon flavored liquid heat…and a solid photobomb. 8 John Knight ’83 after a strategy session held with his uncles last Thanksgiving. On the left is Zeke Knight ’54 (Chair of his 65th Reunion in 2019) and on the right is David Knight ’58 (Co-Chair of his 60th DA Reunion in 2018) 9 Jim Wareck ‘83 was recently in New Haven briefly and convinced classmate Eric Suher to meet him “somewhere in CT.” Seems like they had a few chuckles!

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RECENTLY PUBLISHED:

RAW DAWGIN’

DAVID J. MATHER ’64 Peace Corps Writers / 2018

PEACE WORKS: AMERICA’S UNIFYING ROLE IN A TURBULENT WORLD

AMBASSADOR RICK BARTON ’67 Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / 2018

Two years ago David Mather’s third novel, Crescent Beach, was featured in Deerfield Magazine; this year Mr. Mather has published the sequel to that book: Raw Dawgin’. Many of the characters featured in Crescent Beach reappear in Mr. Mather’s latest effort—including State Trooper Rusty McMillan, who has retired to Crescent Beach—the quiet little backwater he fell in love with five years earlier. Rusty soon learns things have changed: “sports fisherman now outnumber the commercial fishermen two to one and they’re at each other’s throats. The sexy bar owner’s ex has gotten out of prison and has come looking for her . . . A body is discovered and a Colombian drug cartel seeks vengeance. Add Rusty’s attraction to his best friend’s wife into the mix, and Rusty’s peaceful little town is anything but.” Mr. Mather grew up in Sarasota, FL, and after Deerfield he attended Bowdoin College. His first two novels were inspired by his two years in Chile in the Peace Corps, where he was the most isolated volunteer in Chile at that time. Today Mr. Mather and his wife split their time between New Hampshire and the Gulf Coast.

56 | THE COMMON ROOM

US Ambassador Rick Barton, who currently lectures in public and international affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, has written a book that attempts to answer the question: Over decades, have US military interventions around the world succeeded in creating the sustained peace for which they were waged? Ambassador Barton draws upon his extensive work in global conflict—from a top post at the Office of Transition Initiatives to serving as deputy high commissioner at the United Nations Refugee Agency to co-director of the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies—and offers a unique approach to foreign affairs in Peace Works, as well as possible solutions for the future. “Bosnia, Rwanda, Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria—a quarter-century of stumbles in America’s pursuit of a more peaceful and just world . . . Rick Barton grapples with the fact that the US is strategically positioned and morally obligated to defuse international conflicts, but often inadvertently escalates conflicts instead. Guided by the need to find solutions that will yield tangible results, Barton does a deep analysis of our last several interventions and discusses why they failed and how they could have succeeded. He outlines a few key directives in his foreign policy strategy: remain transparent with the American public, act as a catalyzing (not colonizing!) force, and engage local partners. But above all else, he insists that the US must maintain a focus on people. Since a country’s greatest resource is often the ingenuity of its local citizens, it is counterproductive to ignore them while planning an intervention.”

FORTY ROD ROAD

GROVE N. MOWER ’76 CreateSpace Independent Publishing / 2017 When we left Hank Chandler with a broken jaw and smashed ribs in the final chapter of Forty Rod Road, he’d just arrived back in Chicago after a summer of unexpected adventures and growth as a ranch hand in Wyoming. The new and expanded version of Forty Rod Road (with an additional 200 pages added to the story) picks up right where the original left off, and seamlessly, we’re in Hank’s head again as that intelligent, funny, flawed young man tries to figure out what happens next. Some of Forty Rod Road was inspired by Mr. Mower’s own experiences as a ranch hand in Wyoming in the late 1970s; a time that he described as a “leap from innocence to experience.” Mr. Mower captures both the decade and the “Wild West” in this coming-of-age story: In Wyoming, Hank works hard, makes friends, learns a lot, parties a little, and falls in love with cowboy culture and the boss’ daughter. Along the way, the ranch also becomes Hank’s path to redemption—but is redemption a permanent state? From the comforts of his family home in Lake Forest to his Ivy League college campus, Hank must reconcile what happens when three months change your direction forever. Grove Mower lives in Chicago with his wife Brooke and their dog Mack. Hope, the sequel to Forty Rod Road, will be published this year.

TAILSPIN: THE PEOPLE AND FORCES BEHIND AMERICA’S FIFTY-YEAR FALL —AND THOSE FIGHTING TO REVERSE IT

STEVEN BRILL ’68 Alfred A. Knoph / 2018 Steven Brill, founder of Court TV and The American Lawyer magazine, brings his years of expertise to his recently-released book, Tailspin. Mr. Brill, who is also an award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author, has written a “sweeping narrative that identifies the who and how behind what he demonstrates is America’s half century of decline. Equally important, Mr. Brill introduces us to those who are heroically fighting the tide and demonstrating how American can recover. Mr. Brill finds that America’s most cherished core values—the rule of law, the First Amendment, due process, innovation, meritocracy, and even democracy itself—have been weaponized against the people they were intended to serve.” Advance praise for Tailspin was widespread and included comments from journalist Bob Woodward and former US Senator Bill Bradley, among others. “Steve Brill has written a book that every American should read,” said Bradley. “It faces the problems of our immediate past unflinchingly. At the same time it sees the seedlings of hope all across America. Ultimately, it reminds us that America is in the choices we make as citizens. The future is up to us.” A graduate of Yale Law School, Mr. Brill teaches journalism at Yale, where he founded the Yale Journalism Initiative. He recently launched NewsGuard, which rates the reliability of online news and information websites.

On June 30, 2017, I was appointed as an associate judge to the Fulton County Magistrate Court. It is a great honor to serve the citizens of my county with respect, integrity, and professionalism. — SHALANDA MACON-JALIWA MILLER ’95

The first photo (left) is just after I took my oath and the second photo (bottom) is me with my family–my husband Dave, my daughter Sienna (age six), and my daughter Sheridan (age five).

1 Dave Goodridge ’90 was thrilled to join Curry Ford ’90 at his wedding in New York this past October. Other classmates in attendance: Craig Creelman, Rob McCarthy, Sadye (White) Zillo, Kate Lewis, Bill Nook, Matt Ripperger, and Dewey Brinkley. 2 Britt Packouz ’93 and Kendra (Stitt) Robins ’90 caught up in San Francisco. 3 “There was a celebratory 44th birthday dinner for KJ aka Kelly Roman at Z-Tejas in Austin, TX, (Go DA Class of ’92).”—Elizabeth Cooper ’92

58 | THE COMMON ROOM

2003 “There have been a lot of changes in my life since 2003. After graduating from St. Lawrence University in 2007, I went into the Marines for five years and went on two combat tours to the Middle East. After that, I went to graduate school to complete two master’s degrees and met my current wife, Sahar Al-Hassan. We moved to DC from New York City, where I am a Presidential management fellow at the Department of State. Anyone in the DMV area, feel free to hit me up.”—Rolando Pintos

1 Kerry Fitzgerald Shriver ’96 and her husband welcomed Chase Putnam Fitzgerald Shriver, born 7/14/17.

2 Amory Bradley Barnes ’99 and Eli welcomed their third child, Morgan Bradley Barnes, on 6/2/17. She weighed in at 7 lbs., 2 oz., and measured 20 inches long. She is well loved by her big sister, Haddie (5), and big brother, Parker (3). They continue to live just outside of Washington, DC. “Life is busy but fun!” 3 Dave Goodridge ’90 is proud to announce the birth of Wright Hastings Goodridge, born 5/10/17. Dave and his wife Heather live in Nashville, TN, and invite any Deerfield alumni to look them up if they are ever in Music City! 4 This past May, Emily (Jacque) Sanson ’00 and husband welcomed their second daughter, Caroline Barnes Sanson. She joins her big sister, Brooke, 3. 5 Jon Nuger ’00 and his family welcomed a new baby girl, Charlotte, on 11/3/17. 5

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“THE PAST 15 MONTHS WERE BUSY ONES!” We got married...

... then in August my wife Lyndsay and I welcomed our daughter Charlotte Field into the mix.

On the work front, I installed three public art works in NYC parks as part of their Art in the Parks 50th anniversary program. Onward!”

—FITZHUGH KAROL ’00 60 | THE COMMON ROOM

EXECUTIVE + ENTREPRENEUR

Nick Vita ’91

The Disruptive Innovator

62 | THE COMMON ROOM

in applying for licensure to operate a medical cannabis facility in Washington, DC, presented itself, he jumped. “We succeeded,” says Vita, “and quickly realized that not only was there significant economic opportunity, but also a huge medical need.” Five years later, Vita finds himself the CEO and Vice Chairman of one of the largest, fully-integrated medical cannabis companies in the United States. Since its inception, Columbia Care has experienced exponential growth, and it shows no signs of wavering. “We started with one employee, today we have 375, and by the end of the year, we anticipate having 800 to 850 people working for us,” Vita observes. The company is currently licensed in 12 states, with over 25 facilities operating and 50 more in development. “Since opening, we’ve had over 700,000 successful patient interactions, and based on the demand we’re experiencing, we expect the company to double in size every year for the next five years.” The need for medical cannabis is profound, Vita explains, not only because of its demonstrated health benefits but also for the alternative it offers to opioids. “When we started the company, we created the first patient registry, and what we learned was startling,” says Vita. Over half the patients who responded were HIV positive; others had

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By all appearances, Nicholas Vita had little reason to deviate from his existing career path. A seasoned executive and entrepreneur, Vita had enjoyed more than two decades working as an investment manager in healthcare and finance for such industry heavy hitters as S.G. Warburg and Goldman Sachs. Then in 2013—in what he characterizes as a series of lucky circumstances—everything changed, and Vita found himself spearheading the creation of Columbia Care, a medical cannabis company. Asked to explain what prompted such a shift, he modestly avers, “I realized it’s more interesting and challenging to build a business from scratch.” There is, admittedly, a bit of a back story. Before launching the venture, Vita witnessed the palliative effects of medical marijuana firsthand when his mother sought relief from the debilitating pain of rheumatoid arthritis. Traditional pharmaceuticals had failed to mitigate her suffering and carried unwelcome side effects, so a friend recommended that Vita’s mother try cannabis oil. The topical treatment proved effective and got Vita thinking. When an opportunity to join several partners

Jamie Germano

b y L o r i Fe r g us o n

IN 2013 VITA FOUND HIMSELF SPEARHEADING THE CREATION OF COLUMBIA CARE, A MEDICAL CANNABIS COMPANY. ASKED TO EXPLAIN WHAT PROMPTED SUCH A SHIFT, HE MODESTLY AVERS, “I REALIZED IT’S MORE INTERESTING AND CHALLENGING TO BUILD A BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH.”

Vita was named a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award winner, an honor bestowed on those who have “CHALLENGED THE STATUS QUO AND BROKEN THE MOLD TO CREATE WORLD-CHANGING IMPACT.”

neuropathy (weakness, numbness and pain from nerve damage, usually in the hands and feet); and over half were using opioids and benzodiazepines. Many reported that they had turned to medical marijuana to save money and avoid the multiple negative side effects of opiates; 90 percent said they subsequently discovered that medical marijuana not only offered better pain management, but also a significant improvement in their quality of life. “It was enormously enlightening,” says Vita, “and convinced us that we could have a profound impact on many lives.” Today, Columbia Care cultivates and dispenses products that cover 25 different focus areas, most of which are palliative, Vita continues. “We provide medical cannabis to patients to relieve pain, inflammation, anxiety, stress, and nausea.” The company focuses on manufacturing pharmaceutical-quality products made of the purest ingredients and rigorously tested to ensure consistent outcomes, Vita notes, and offers products in formats from topicals, to tablets, to inhaled vaporizers. Public acceptance of medical marijuana is moving ahead more quickly than expected, says Vita, creating an ongoing struggle to keep up with demand. He is quick to point out, however, that public education is an ongoing process and the need to differentiate Columbia Care’s products from recreational marijuana a constant. “Larger industries remain leery of medical marijuana, but we remain focused on our patients. We are working constantly to elevate the conversation above opinion and focus on actual results.” In April, Vita was named a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award winner, an honor bestowed on those who have “challenged the status quo and broken the mold to create world-changing

impact.” Vita says he is honored and humbled to be thought of in such a way. “I’m very proud of the fact that Columbia Care has become a strong voice in the battle against the opioid crisis. Our products are strong and positive alternatives to the opiates that have become a standard of care that has plagued this country . . . and it is a plague. Standing in front of a crowd and telling people that we are here to offer a pain relief alternative they can rely on is personally one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had.” The journey hasn’t always been easy, Vita concedes, but the traditional values he learned while at Deerfield have carried him through. “Deerfield offers a unique culture of support as well as competitiveness, but you also learn that there are certain things you just don’t sacrifice to win,” he observes. Vita also readily confesses he wasn’t the best student, but says Deerfield nevertheless embraced his efforts. “Deerfield looks at the whole person. I remember the lessons I learned there and the individuals, both teachers and classmates, who were so warm and welcoming to me, which was what I needed at that age.” And although Vita remains grateful for the education he received at Deerfield, it is the personal interactions with people such as lacrosse Coach Chip Davis and football Coach Jim Smith that continue to resonate down through the years. “Those relationships are the sort of thing you go to Deerfield for,” he observes. “‘Be worthy of your heritage’—that’s something of a self-fulfilling prophesy,” Vita concludes. “Embrace gratitude for the people who have opened doors for you. If the company I’ve helped to build lives by these rules, I’ll have succeeded in my life.” //

“We were married on December 9, 2018 at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, FL. We had the perfect weekend surrounded by our closest family and friends. —Amanda Lebow ’04

1 2

64 | THE COMMON ROOM

2006 As published in the New York Times: Jill Nicole Filipovic and Ty Lohrer McCormick were married January 29 at the Talisman restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya. Diane Lucas, an assistant attorney general for the State of New York and a friend of the couple who became a Universal Life Minister for the occasion, officiated. The bride, 34, is a Nairobi-based freelance journalist and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She graduated cum laude from NYU, from which she also received a law degree. She is the author of The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness, (National Books, 2017). She is a daughter of Mary Judith Filipovic and Michael Filipovic, both of Seattle. The bride’s father, who works in Seattle, is the federal public defender for western Washington. Her mother is a nurse manager at Northwest Hospital, also in Seattle. The groom, who is 30 and also works in Nairobi, is the Africa editor of Foreign Policy magazine. He graduated with distinction from Stanford and received a master’s degree from Oxford. He also received a second master’s from Queen’s University in Belfast in Northern Ireland. He is a son of Eva Barbara Lohrer and Dr. Robert Keith McCormick, both of Amherst, MA. The groom’s mother is a certified public accountant there. His father is a chiropractic physician, also in Amherst. The couple met in December 2013 on a press trip to Malawi organized by the United Nations Foundation, where the groom impressed the bride by changing a blown-out tire on the way to interview then-president Joyce Banda.

2009 Rebecca Umbach defended her dissertation last month, and graduated (again) from Penn in May! She’s moving to New York for a post-doc this summer, and looks forward to catching up with other alumni in the city.

1 Tracy Ma ’06 was married in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard to Clayton Flanders. Harald Findlay ’76 officiated the wedding. Other Deerfield classmates in attendance were Garrett Bewkes ’06, Nick Findlay ’05, Ellen Scott ’06, Kendall Thornton ’06, Martha Xiang ’08, Marshall Findlay ’03, and Eliza Murphy Chang ’06.

Marieugenia Cardenas ’07 ran her first marathon on November 5, 2017, in New York City. Marieugenia graduated from Columbia Law School in May 2018, and joined Debevoise & Plimpton.

2 Rolando Pintos ’03 and wife, Sahar Al-Hassan. 3 Deerfield alumni in attendance included: Helen Dwight ’04, Margaux Vose Turchiano ’04, Jess Tang ’04, Seth Cuddeback ’04, Benjamin Dohrmann ’04, Chris Ajello ’04, Joseph Norman ’03, and Katherine Bertles Hennigan ’02. My husband and I live in Los Angeles, CA, where he is a producer and I am an agent for Creative Artists Agency.—Amanda Lebow ’04 4 John (Jay) Griffin ’04 married Katherine Victoria Herron on October 7, 2017. Deerfield family and friends, Geoff Griffin ’72 P’04, Walker Dimmig ’04, Guy Smith ’00, and Will Smith ’04 traveled to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, to enjoy the festivities. 5 “Justin Clark and I were married at our farm in Pittsboro, NC, on April 14, 2018. In attendance were l to r: John Dema ’05, Stan Makson ’70, and Mike Zapas ’05.” —Rachel Makson ’05

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Deerfield Academy Archives

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D ATA A R T I S T

Jonathan Harris ’98 Pictographic Oracle

by Jessica Day

Prolific data artist Jonathan Harris’ most recent work—A Silent Place—is a refuge in the cacophony of the Internet landscape, and the culmination of nearly twenty years of technology-driven creative projects. Previously, Harris melded creative expression and computer code with a focus on language and words; mining the colossal amount of Internet data available, over the years Harris has launched a series of web-based projects that brought him international acclaim. These have included 10x10, launched in 2004, a site that scans global news sites and determines the 100 words and photographs most used within an hour, then arranges and stores them in rows of ten—creating a digital and visual log that allows visitors to go back to a specific date and hour to discover what the dominant words and images were for that pinpoint in time. 2006’s We Feel Fine “harvests” human feelings from weblogs—the result of which is a gigantic database; playful interfaces allow feelings to be searched and sorted across various demographics, offering answers to questions such as: Do Europeans feel sad more often than Americans? Or, Which are the happiest cities in the world? Or, Do women feel fat more often than men? A book based on the project, We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2009.

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Screeenshots from asilentplace.com

A Silent Place (asilentplace.com) is in many ways the antithesis of Harris’ earlier projects, and while Harris’ chosen medium has been the Internet, he has often expressed dissatisfaction with it. In an article in the Spring 2012 issue of Deerfield Magazine, he said, “There’s a big difference between information and knowledge, and they often get conflated. Too many people believe that given enough data they will understand. This is a very limited way of seeing things . . . A lot of web media is like fast food. It provides instant gratification, but in time we become intellectually obese.” Then he added, “I do believe in technology,” with the caveat that it’s important to guide the Internet’s evolution so it becomes “a space we actually want to inhabit.” Today, Harris says that our relationship with the Internet has indeed changed—and not for the better. A Silent Place is his answer to that unfortunate shift, and he sees this most recent project of his as an “oracle” of sorts—a tool for shaping human thought—a way to

unlock the user’s subconscious and allow insights to “arise from within.” Using images he made during a trip to Utah, where he was struck by the “deep silence” of ancient pictographs and petroglyphs, Harris has created a possible antidote to the noise of the Internet— via the Internet. A photograph of each drawing appears for 227 seconds and reappears 227 minutes later; the cycle continues indefinitely. “I began to wonder if the images I made in Utah could be a kind of pictographic oracle for the Internet—a Magic 8 Ball with no words, speaking out of the silence, helping people see what they already know,” Harris says in his introduction to A Silent Place. “I am happy to present A Silent Place—about as minimal as a website can be. May it be a refuge and a mirror.” Most recently, images from Harris’ project were on display at the International Center of Photography in New York City as part of their Projected series. A collection of Harris’ writings, works, and links to his digital projects may be found at number27.org. //

CIRCA

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70 | THE COMMON ROOM

1,000 DONORS =

$1,000,000

RUDI WACHSMAN ’53 JUST SWEETENED THE DEAL. IF 1,000 NEW DONORS MAKE A GIFT BETWEEN NOW AND JUNE 30, RUDI WILL GIVE AN

ADDITIONAL $1 MILLION TO DEERFIELD, AND THAT’S ON TOP OF THE $1,000 FOR EACH GIFT!*

GRAND

CHALLENGE *ON JUNE 1, DEERFIELD LAUNCHED A GRAND CHALLENGE: FOR EVERY NEW ANNUAL FUND GIFT MADE BY JUNE 30— FROM ANYONE WHO HAS NOT YET CONTRIBUTED THIS SCHOOL YEAR—RUDI WACHSMAN ’53 HAS COMMITTED TO DONATING $1,000!

COULD THIS OFFER BE MORE GRAND? PLEASE MAKE YOUR ANNUAL FUND GIFT TODAY:

DEERFIELD.EDU/GRAND

DIY POWERHOUSE

Wesley Noble Janssen ’00 Gem of the Neighborhood

From her first visit to New Orleans, during her student days at Deerfield, Wesley (Noble) Janssen was enamored. “I was just amazed by the architecture of the city, and the breathtaking live oaks. It was really what drew me here.” Years later when she and her husband were looking for a larger home in the city, they definitely wanted something classic New Orleans, “but I also wanted a project. And I knew that it meant we could afford to be in the neighborhood that I wanted.” They found their match in a colonial revival from the late 1910s, just one block away from the city park and museum, and right on the streetcar line. It had plaster columns, a double parlor, and a nice yard for their children. But it was most definitely a fixer-upper.

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by Lori Shine

“There were two holes in the roof, so it had been raining inside the house for a long time,” says Wesley. Termites love those conditions, she explains, “so the whole left side of the house was completely devoured. We had to remove it and replace it.” She did a lot of the subcontracting herself to save money—even though she often had her newborn and two-year-old in tow. Later, at the end of the job, the contractor confessed to Wesley that he had been skeptical in the beginning. But, she says, “I knew through it all that it had really great bones.” In fact, Wesley and her family are the first people to own the home outside of the family who originally built it. “This home needed a family again and life restored to it. People who’ve

P H O T O S : JA C Q U E L I N E M A R Q U E

Newly restored and lovingly decorated with the family’s eclectic style and Wesley’s art, their home was recently featured in a house tour on the Apartment Therapy website.

lived in this neighborhood for many years and had thought of this house as the gem of the neighborhood were able to feel pride in it again.” When the contractor shared his doubts with her about this project, she confessed that she had shared them too. “I didn’t know if I was going to drown in this project,” she said. “Deerfield taught me perseverance, and that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Hard work and an eye for detail—those things reminded me of Deerfield.” Newly restored and lovingly decorated with the family’s eclectic style and Wesley’s art, their home was recently featured in a house tour on the Apartment Therapy website. With three young kids (ages seven, five, and one), was it challenging staging the home for the house tour photography? Well, maybe a little. Wesley confesses that her oldest was frustrated because the whole week before the tour “I was asking him

to not take all of his stuff out,” trying to keep the house ready. But having a deadline did provide a side benefit. “There were certain projects I wanted to get done that I hadn’t finished. They kept getting put off. I was never going to do them! Once Apartment Therapy said they were going to come, I got them done.” Wesley credits her “Western Mass ingenuity” with helping her dive in and work her way through challenges. A Northfield, MA, native, she says that “growing up where you’re at least 20 minutes from anywhere, you make it work—MacGyvering it.” At Deerfield, her creativity was nurtured in ceramics classes with Tim Engelland. “He was so supportive,” she remembers. “My senior year he let me do a free study where he mentored me but it wasn’t a structured class. And because of that, when I went to college I was able to do a senior level sculpture class as a freshman. He was amazing.” Even at Deerfield and in her college days, Wesley had a kind of confidence in her style. “People sometimes think my combinations are wild. But if you surround yourself with items that you love, you can make them work together,” she says. “You don’t have to wait to have the space of your dreams. Make your space now your sanctuary.”

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PRO -TI P:

“People sometimes think my combinations are wild. But if you surround yourself with items that you love, you can make them work together,” she says.“You don’t have to wait to have the space of your dreams. Make your space now your sanctuary.”

OT DEERFIELD ACADEMY

ALUMNI ATHLETE HIGHLIGHTS

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Danforth ’14 < Carey A ddie Fulton ’14 > arey and Addie C at CSA Individual Squash Nationals in Washington DC on March 2-4, 2018.

Photograph by Christine Danforth

Deerfield grads scored big this past winter—on the ice, in the pool, and on the basketball and squash courts. Congratulations to all our scholar-athletes! For stories about some of our spring collegiate athletes and current Deerfield students: deerfield.edu/athletics.

Camil Blanchet ’14 Bowdoin (Men’s Ice Hockey) •Named one of five finalists for the 2018 Hockey Humanitarian Award; •Appeared in 85 games in his career… Recorded 11 career goals and 21 assists; •NESCAC Winter All-Academic Team (three-time recipient). Carey Danforth ’14 University of Virginia (Women’s Squash) •In the inaugural varsity season for Virginia men’s and women’s squash, consolation finalist in the CSA individual championships in the East draw of the Holleran Cup; •Team completed the season with a 14-9 overall record. Virginia competed in the Kurtz Cup in the CSA Team National Championships, finishing as consolation champions of the B-Division and earning a 5th place finish in the cup. The finish ranked the Cavaliers at No. 13 in the CSA Team National Championships; •Prior to this season, Carey served as the three-year co-captain of the women’s squash club team at UVA and captained the team in their transition to Division 1. Elissa DeNunzio ’14 Middlebury (Women’s Swimming & Diving) •Named the Four-Year High-Points Diver award recipient, amassing 2,324.80 points during the three NESCAC Championships in which she competed during her career; •NESCAC All-Academic team for the 3rd consecutive year; •19th overall in 3M and 17th overall in the 1M at the NCAA DIII Diving Regional Championships. Jacob Meyer ’14 Amherst (Men’s Swimming & Diving) •NESCAC Winter All-Academic Team; •Team finished season 3rd at NESCAC Championships.

Jesse Brown ’14 Vassar College (Men’s Basketball) •Selected to the All-Liberty League Second Team; •Recorded 1000th career point and finished career with 1,261 points, earning the 6th spot on the all-time scorers list for the Brewers; •In senior campaign, led the team in minutes played (887) and points scored (402); •Liberty League Championship Quarterfinalist and Team Captain. Kylie Davis ’14 Hamilton College (Women’s Ice Hockey) •Played in 18 games Natalie DeMuro ’14 University of Chicago (Women’s Swimming & Diving) •Placed 7th in the one-meter and three-meter dives at the NCAA Regional Championships; •All-UAA in the three-meter dive (2nd) and one-meter dive (3rd); •Team Co-captain; •UAA All-Academic Team. Addie Fulton ’14 Columbia (Women’s Squash) •Played in all 17 matches for Columbia; team captain; •In senior season posted a 10-7 record overall and a 3-4 record in the Ivy League; •Earned one of just three wins for the Lions against No. 7 Penn in the CSA Team Championships; •Competed in the CSA Individual Championships in the Holleran East B Draw. Maryanne Iodice ’14 Bowdoin (Women’s Ice Hockey) •Played in 75 career games; •Three goals and 12 assists.

Osama Khalifa ’14 Columbia (Men’s Squash) •2018 Skillman Award winner;

Kevin Doyle ’15 Connecticut College (Men’s Ice Hockey) •Played in 23 games;

•Received Columbia’s Connie S. Maniatty Outstanding Senior Student-Athlete Award, given annually to the top senior male and female student-athletes;

•Three goals, three assists;

•2018 Ivy League men’s squash team title;

Katherine Jackson ’15 Middlebury (Women’s Ice Hockey) •Played in 28 games for the Panthers, recorded 15 points (six goals and nine assists);

•Three-time Ivy League Player of the Year (2016, 2017, 2018); •Four-time First Team All-America selection (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018);

•NESCAC Championship Quarterfinalist.

•NESCAC Champions & NCAA Championship Quarterfinalist.

•Four-time First Team All-Ivy League (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018);

John Barry ’16 St. Michael’s College (Men’s Ice Hockey) •NE10 Championship Finalist;

•Three-time Academic All-Ivy League selection (2016, 2017, 2018);

•AHCA All American Scholar;

•Two-time Team Captain. Quinn Smith ’14 Boston University (Men’s Swimming & Diving) •4th place team finish at Patriot League Championships; •3 place finish at the Patriot League Championships in the 400-yard free relay and 14th in the 100 free. rd

Trevor Yates ’14 Cornell (Men’s Ice Hockey) •Signed professional contract with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League; •Led his classmates with 120 career games and 65 points on 32 goals and 33 assists, tied for the lead in goals and scoring in senior season; •ECAC Hockey Semifinalist; •NCAA Northeast Regional Semifinalist. Sam Chai ’15 Princeton (Women’s Squash) •Posted career-best 15 victories while playing primarily at the #3 or #4 positions; •2-1 at the Howe Cup and 1-1 at CSA national championships, 3rd place team finish at the Howe Cup.

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•Fall 2016 NE10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll; •Spring 2017 NE10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll; •Appeared in 16 games notching three goals and four assists. Annie Blasberg ’16 Dartmouth (Women’s Squash) •Represented Dartmouth at the College Squash Association’s Individual Championships in the Holleran West Bracket; •Played in the #1 spot for the Big Green. Nick Conzelman ’16 Hamilton College (Men’s Squash) •Played in the 4th position; •Team won the Conroy Cup consolation bracket. Andrew Hadley ’16 Tufts (Men’s Ice Hockey) •Played in 15 games (one goal, three assists); •NESCAC Championship Quarterfinalists. Taylor Morash ’16 William Smith College (Women’s Ice Hockey) •Played in all 26 games for the Herons; •Finished the year with 15 points on five goals and ten assists; •UCHC Tournament Semifinalist.

Brendan O’Connell ’16 Connecticut College (Men’s Ice Hockey) •Played in 16 games (one goal, two assists); •NESCAC Championship Quarterfinalist. Miles Smachlo ’16 Michigan (Men’s Swimming & Diving) •CSCAA All-America Honorable Mention (200-yard Butterfly); •Academic All-Big Ten; •U-M Athletic Academic Achievement; •Big Ten Championships: Finished 5th in the 200-yard Butterfly (1:43.64), 7th in the 100-yard Butterfly (46.16), and 10th in the 200-yard IM (1:45.39); •NCAA Championships: Finished 16th in the 200-yard Butterfly (1:42.03) and 33rd in the 100-yard Butterfly (46.39). Maddie Chai ’17 Harvard (Women’s Squash) •Team Wins 2018 Howe Cup-National Champions, 15-0, 7-0, Ivy League. Robby Dewey ’17 Bates (Men’s Squash) •Runner-Up at Team NESCAC Championships; •Played in the 9th spot for Bates. Ericka Ekahtor ’17 Wesleyan (Women’s Basketball) •NESCAC Championship Semifinalist with the Cardinals; •Played in ten games in her rookie season notching 15 rebounds from the center position and 25 total points. Jenna Greenbaum ’17 Colby (Women’s Ice Hockey) •Played in 23 games during freshmen year (two assists).

S C O R E S / S TAT S / S T O R I E S

Meghan Halloran ’17 Williams (Women’s Ice Hockey) •Earned 2nd Team All-NESCAC honors in her rookie campaign; •Played in all 25 games for the Ephs and recorded a team-leading 26 points (10 goals and 16 assists); •NESCAC Tournament Quarterfinalist. Will Hrabchak ’17 Cornell (Men’s Swimming & Diving) •6th place team finish at the Ivy League Championships. Billy Lahart ’17 Bates (Men’s Basketball) •Named to the NESCAC Winter All-Sportsmanship Team; •Played in five games. Jackson Mannix ’17 Union College (Men’s Basketball) •Played in 28 games as a rookie amassing 380 minutes played and netting a total of 161 points; •Liberty League Tournament Champions; •NCAA DIII Championship 2nd round appearance. Bobby Meyer ’17 Amherst (Men’s Swimming) •Team finished season 3rd at NESCAC Championships. Rob Parker ’17 Amherst (Men’s Squash) •Played in the #2 spot for the Mammoths in his freshmen year campaign. Kaleb Robinson ’17 Sarah Lawrence (Men’s Basketball) •5th on the team in total minutes and points (156 points) as a freshman. Ellie Uhl ’17 Boston College (Women’s Swimming & Diving) •Placed 36th in the 3M at the ACC Championships.

deerfield.edu/athletics

Jamila Acheampong ’07 New Nudes Now

by Lynn Horowitch

A G O

A O G

R U B D

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KA H M U N E ’ S JOURNEY OF TONES

Through Instagram, which Jamila calls “a teacher and an integral part of the company,” she found a collective of three shoe manufacturers in eastern Italy and contracted with one to develop her line of shoes.

A woman hunting for a dress shoe to match her skin tone might begin with a Google search of “nude pumps.” This might reveal images of high- and low-heeled shoes ranging in color from beige to . . . well, beige. At the bottom of the first page of search results would be a suggested list of related searches, beginning with “beige pumps.” And these results might be helpful, if your skin tone is “beige.” For women of color, this just doesn’t work. Jamila Acheampong, who is of Ghanaian descent, recognized this issue and saw a business opportunity. Her “Aha!” moment came several years ago. “I saw an Instagram post with Kim Kardashian in an amazing outfit—an entirely nude-colored outfit,” Jamila recalls. “I admired the look, but realized that it wouldn’t work for me.” She searched for similar items that would match her complexion, but soon found out that with the exception of underwear and tights, the clothing and shoe industries didn’t have many options for women of color. And so, Kahmune was born: a shoe company with each style available in ten shades, so that every woman can find her “perfect nude.” Running a shoe company was not on Jamila’s radar. She graduated from Deerfield and headed to the University of Southern California where she had been accepted into the pre-dental program. Her goal at the time was to be a cosmetic dentist, but she switched her major to economics, graduated in 2012, and then earned a master’s in Finance and Accounting at Kingston University, London.

ENTREPRENEUR

The Kahmune Instagram feed: instagram. com/kahmune

L A D

M U K

U N E

U G

R O B A G

Unsure of her next steps, Jamila accepted a position at a financial tech company in London. She was a good employee, but quite soon realized that the role didn’t fit. “I’ve always known that I needed to be my own boss,” she says. So, while working as an accountant to have a steady income, Jamila has been busy setting up her e-commerce business. Social media has been a priority: Through Instagram, which Jamila calls “a teacher and an integral part of the company,” she found a collective of three shoe manufacturers in eastern Italy and contracted with one to develop her line of shoes.

Now based stateside in Columbia, MD, Jamila is the chief executive—and sole employee—of Kahmune. “I don’t have a background in fashion design,” she says, “but I do have decent taste in shoes!” She started small with her offerings: a closed-toe shoe and a sandal. Ten signature shades were selected by looking at lots of fashion images—and by scrutinizing friends and family. The “Becky” pump is named for her mother. One of the ten shades, “Bogota,” is an homage to Jamila’s Deerfield friend and classmate, Delma Betancourt, who hails from Colombia. Jamila sees her company’s mission as more significant than just offering another pair of shoes. On the Kahmune website and in person she says that the company is “a brand with a clear message. Representation matters. Diversity matters. Inclusion matters.” Jamila is currently trying to grow the business through crowdfunding and a series of launch parties scheduled for New York, LA, Washington, DC, and Atlanta. The plan for now is to remain an e-commerce company—perhaps with pop-up stores one day. Kahmune has garnered interest from some of the leaders in the beauty industry; an Instagram post attracted the attention of an editor at Elle magazine who sent Jamila an email. “I thought it was spam!” she recalls with a laugh. The magazine featured Kahmune on its website in January of 2017, and quoted Jamila explaining that “The idea of diversity, and more importantly, inclusivity, is still a huge problem in the beauty and fashion industries.” That publicity led to a feature on Allure magazine’s website. Now Jamila is working to meet the strong challenges of entrepreneurship with equally strong convictions. “I am steadfast in my beliefs,” she says. “Come hell or high water—you know what women are like with their shoes!” Kahmune’s focus on diversity dovetails with Jamila’s life. She says, “I pride myself on a diverse group of friends; I wanted to celebrate that essence of my life.” //

KA H M U N E . C O M

Gil Roddy ’14 Finishing Up Strong(est) /b y B o b Yo r k TENNIS ACE

RODDY’S SINGLES RESULTS:

2014-2015: 17-3 2015-2016: 18-3 2016-2017: 20-3 2017-2018: 19-1

BUY or ask PERMISSION

CAREER SINGLES RECORD: 74-10

RODDY’S DOUBLES RESULTS:

2014-2015: 13-8 2015-2016: 19-4 2016-2017: 23-3 2017-2018: 17-7 (Still bleeds green! Thanks, Gil.)

CAREER DOUBLES RECORD: 72-22

Brian Beard, CIPhotography.com

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146-32

AT DEERFIELD

AT BOWDOIN

CONSECUTIVE JAMES L. FORD JR. TENNIS AWARDS

OVERALL CAREER RECORD

Of course Gil Roddy never met James L. Ford Jr., although it would have been quite prophetic if he had. Ford graduated from Amherst College in 1902 along with a close friend: a guy by the name of Frank Boyden. Later that year Boyden was named headmaster of Deerfield Academy— beginning a tenure that would last through 1968. In 1955, Mr. Boyden’s former classmate established the James L. Ford Jr. Tennis Award with the intention that it would be presented annually to the person deemed to be the Most Valuable Player on the Big Green boys tennis team. By the time Gil Roddy graduated from Deerfield in 2014, he’d been named the recipient of that award an unprecedented three consecutive times. “It was definitely a very cool feeling,” said Roddy of his award trifecta. “It’s been a few years now since I was playing at Deerfield, but I remember feeling especially honored to have received the award three years in a row.” Roddy wrapped up one of the most dominant showings in the history of Big Green boys tennis with a final tally of 105-23 but he didn’t rest on his laurels, and earlier this spring, he became the all-time leader in career singles wins at Bowdoin, while he also finished second in career doubles victories. “It’s funny,” said Conor Smith, Bowdoin men’s tennis coach, “my father texted me back in early April to share some of his thoughts on the team—now that his son’s the coach, he’s been following our progress very closely; he just wanted to remind me how important our three seniors—Gil Roddy, Kyle Wolfe, and Luke Tercek—had been to the program’s success. “He described them as our ‘engine,’” added Smith, of a squad whose record at that time sat at 14-1 and occupied the No. 2 spot in the NCAA Division III national rankings; the team would go on to secure the No. 1 spot by the end of May. “Nor did he want me to forget that beginning their freshman year, they’d been pretty special.” Being “pretty special” translated into a 72-22 record, including a National Championship during Roddy, Wolfe, and Tercek’s sophomore year and a Final Four appearance as juniors. Coach Smith, who is in his seventh season at Bowdoin, is the first to admit that “these three guys turned what was a very good program into an elite program, and believe me, I’m already losing sleep wondering how I’m ever going to replace them.” Heading down the home stretch with the Polar Bears, Roddy produced a school-record 74 career singles wins—including the NCAA championship clincher over Middlebury in 2016 and 72 doubles victories to give him 146 wins overall. The icing on the cake was this spring’s NESCAC final, which saw Bowdoin in the number one spot thanks to Roddy, who rallied back from a set deficit, ultimately beating Middlebury’s Nate Eazor 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

76-19 BEST RECORD IN CLASS HISTORY

NESCAC CHAMPIONSHIPS

DIVISION III NCAA TITLE

BOWDOIN SENIOR CL ASS OF TERCEK, WOLFE, AND RODDY

“Gil has really excelled in both singles and doubles for us during his four years here. Even as a freshman, he earned himself a spot playing in both events, which is quite rare for first-year players at this level of competition, and he really came through for us,” said Smith of his tri-captain, who chalked up 17 singles victories his freshman season as well as 13 doubles wins. Although Roddy, who owns a perfect 10-0 record over a three-year stretch in NCAA tournament action, frequently runs up against opponents who either have faster footwork or a harder serve, “in the end, Gil just beats his opponents down,” said Smith. “Other players may get the nod in some aspects of the game, but no one is better prepared going into a match than Gil. “He just loves to compete and he spends a great deal of time watching film, analyzing his own game as well as his opponents’ game, and learning everything he possibly can about their strengths and weaknesses so that when he enters a match, he knows exactly what he has to do to beat that opponent.” Roddy experienced the thrill of victory during his days with the Big Green as well, surpassing the century mark in overall victories by ringing up a 56-12 singles record and a 49-11 doubles showing. “Gil’s certainly one of the finest tennis players—both in singles and doubles—that I ever coached at Deerfield,” said former Big Green mentor Jay Morsman ’55, who coached Deerfield varsity tennis for nearly three decades, from 1985 to 2014. “What I remember best about Gil was his love of tennis, his outstanding leadership qualities, and his work ethic. He was tireless when it came to improving his game and I’m just so happy that it’s all paid off for him.” “I owe Coach Morsman a great deal for his help in raising my level of play during my years at Deerfield,” said Roddy, who filled the No. 1 slots in singles and doubles for the Big Green from his sophomore year on and went 17-1 in singles his senior season. “He not only prepared me to consistently play at a high level at Deerfield, but he also helped me get my game to where it needed to be to successfully compete on the collegiate level; for that, I will always be grateful.” As for academics, “Deerfield faculty really prepared me for the college classroom,” said the future investment banker who is bound for New York City since receiving his degree in economics this spring. “I just can’t say enough about the teachers and coaches at Deerfield Academy: They always had a way of bringing out the best in you.” //

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Sam Lafferty ’14

The Bear Becomes a Penguin /b y B o b Yo r k

86 | THE COMMON ROOM ICE MAN

Sam Lafferty graduated from Brown University on May 27 with a degree in economics, but the pomp and circumstance may have been a bit anticlimactic by then. Nearly three months earlier—on March 5— Lafferty landed his dream job when he signed a two-year entry-level contract with the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins. “It’s been exciting but at the same time, it’s been quite surreal,” said the former Deerfield standout and, ironically, life-long Penguins fan, of his rapid transition from collegiate to professional hockey. “It all happened pretty quickly . . . our college season ended on a Saturday (March 3) and I signed with the Penguins just two days later.” The ink had hardly dried on the dotted line before Lafferty found himself driving down I-95 to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA, to suit up for the Penguins’ American Hockey League affiliate. Sam’s rapid ascension from amateur to professional may have been fast when it came down to signing but it wasn’t unexpected; it was a well-choreographed cumulative event by the Penguins—and Lafferty. The Penguins kept in close touch with their charge, whom they selected in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL draft. “This past season, Penguin officials showed up to watch about ten of our games to check on my progress,” said Sam, “and afterward we’d get together and they’d tell me what they liked about my game and what they felt I needed to work on.” In the final analysis, the Penguins’ brass liked a lot about Lafferty’s game, including the fact that he finished his career at Brown with 79 points off 29 goals and 50 assists. It also helped that Lafferty’s collegiate game mirrored his career at Deerfield: He got better year after year. During his junior and senior seasons at Brown, Sam earned All-Ivy League honors by leading the Bears in scoring both years when he netted 57 of his career points. As a junior, he posted 13 goals and 22 assists for 35 points, while he wrapped up his senior campaign with 22 points on eight goals and 14 assists, including 13 points in his final 11 games. “What we like most about Sam’s game and why he was brought up so quickly is his speed,” said Nick Hart, media relations manager of the

The Penguins’ brass liked a lot about Lafferty’s game, including the fact that he finished his career at Brown with 79 points off 29 goals and 50 assists. It also helped that Lafferty’s collegiate game mirrored his career at Deerfield: He got better year after year.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. “It’s a valuable asset in the NHL; Sam’s discovering there’s a huge difference between playing at this level and playing at the collegiate level—everybody’s bigger, stronger, and faster and it takes time to adjust to it all—but he’s making positive strides.” At Deerfield, Lafferty led the Big Green in scoring his senior year with 55 points on 21 goals and 34 assists and was later rewarded by being just one of 12 players named to the New England Prep School Athletic Council All-Star Team. In total he chalked up 38 goals and 57 assists for 95 points during a 74-game career at the Academy. “Everyone at Deerfield is so incredibly proud of Sam for what he accomplished here and for what he accomplished at Brown,” said Tim McVaugh, the Big Green mentor. “He’s a special kid whose high level of competitiveness has enabled him to rise to the challenges in front of him and allowed him to elevate his game year after year. “When Sam was here at Deerfield, he’d be the first player on the ice and the last player off, working tirelessly to improve his game,” added McVaugh. In a tip of the cap to his coaches and teachers at Deerfield, Lafferty pointed out that “attending Deerfield was the best decision I ever made. I owe Coach (Brendan) Creagh and Coach McVaugh so much as far as my hockey career is concerned . . . I’m where I am today because of their coaching. With their help, it was what I accomplished at Deerfield that first caught the Penguins’ eye. “And I owe my teachers at Deerfield a great deal, too . . . they prepared me to feel right at home in an Ivy League classroom,” said Lafferty. “One of the most important things they impressed upon me was time management. You really need to make the most of it in college . . . especially if you’re a varsity athlete.” For his part, Lafferty not only did all the right things on the ice at Brown, but he accomplished some slick moves off the ice as well, such as taking a few extra classes along the way to ensure he had the proper number of credits to graduate by the time his senior hockey season came to an end. With a solid GPA and as a three-time member of the ECAC All-Academic Team, adding an “extra” class now and then was not a problem. “We’re going to miss Sam around here,” said Brown Coach Brendan Whittet of Lafferty, who was a semifinalist for the Walter Brown Award, which is presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England. “He will be missed for more than his skills as a hockey player; Sam’s an outstanding young man . . . a great ambassador for the game of hockey. He’s had an impact on the ice—both as a player and as a leader. He was not only our top scorer the past two years, but his peers elected him assistant captain his junior and senior seasons. “It was well deserved,” added Whittet. “He’s the type of guy who led by example. He’s an extremely hard worker and that trait rubbed off on the youngers guys . . . by watching Sam, they got to see first-hand what it takes to be successful at this level of hockey.” Lafferty first fell in love with hockey—and the Penguins—while playing on the ponds and rinks of Hollidaysburg, PA, located about an hour-anda-half east of Pittsburgh. “I can remember pretending that I was playing along side my two favorite Penguins back then: Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.” And although Sam won’t be skating with those two icons, he is now a part of their legacy, and that’s pretty cool. //

Regional & Club Events

DALLAS RECEPTION

SAN FRANCISCO + ALUMNAE CONTINUING CONVERSATIONS

KOREA RECEPTION

S E E EV E N M O R E F R I E N D LY FAC E S !

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88 | THE COMMON ROOM

L O O K FO R U P C O M I N G EV E N TS :

deerfield.edu/events

PALM BEACH RECEPTION

SAN FRANCISCO RECEPTION

FIRST PERSON

/ b y F r e d r i c Rus s e l l ’ 6 1

I asked Jessica Day if I could write something for Deerfield Magazine. As soon as she said yes, I was reminded of this universally recognized warning: Be careful what you wish for. Now I was competing with an internationally celebrated group of writers who had graduated from Deerfield. I had brazenly promoted myself to an elite cadre of Deerfield graduates recognized for their writing prowess: there was John McPhee ’49, whose attention to detail and mellifluous conversation-like prose had endeared him to millions of readers. His catholic grasp of a wide range of subjects included a beautifully crafted biography of Deerfield’s legendary headmaster Frank Boyden. There was Budd Schulberg ’32, whose novel, What Makes Sammy Run? (1941, Random House), brought to prominence the toxic effects of the narcissistic personality, and whose screenplay for On The Waterfront (1954, Columbia Pictures) starring Marlon Brando told a searing story about the Mafia controlled New York City based longshoreman’s union, and whose The Harder They Fall (1947, Random House) was a brilliant and troubling expose of the corruption that pervaded professional boxing; the 1956 film version of which was the last movie Humphrey Bogart ever made.

Deerfield’s High Standards —Then and Now

90 | FIRST PERSON

I grew up in a family whose fortunes were linked with the newspaper business. My father wrote for the Daily News (founded 1919 as the Illustrated Daily News—it was the first US daily newspaper printed in tabloid format), the New York Journal-American, and finally, the New York World-Telegram and Sun, the last two of which struggled after the advent of evening television news and breathed their last in 1966 after a short-lived merger. My stepmother was immersed in the newspaper business as well, writing a daily column for the New York Times.

Deerfield Academy / Brent Hale

THE FA MILY BUSINESS Inspired by family tradition, and fortunately given entrepreneurial and business genes, I combined my writing interest with greed and started a newspaper in 1953, when I was nine years old. It had a narrow readership focus: seven apartment buildings close to the building in which I lived in a complex near the East River in Manhattan. I charged one cent for each two-page edition. I knew that I had a small market; today we use the euphemism niche for such a market. Recognizing that I had a truly niche market in my hometown, a market with a maximum readership of approximately two thousand people, a market so small as not to interest any New York-based publication, newspaper or otherwise, I felt confident that my enterprise would flourish, especially if I priced the paper realistically. There was no need for test marketing or any other expensive study to determine who would buy a paper that focused on what went on in the apartment complex. It didn’t take a genius to determine my target market. After a year, encouraged by a rapidly growing readership, I raised the price of the paper to two cents. Obeying the economics law that says when a product has “inelastic demand” (a demand that anything selling at one cent per unit would probably enjoy), the venture’s net profit and return on equity (an uptown printing firm for production and a singular capital expenditure of the purchase of a typewriter), I experienced a dramatic increase in profits. They rose so greatly that I contemplated retirement, but before doing so I got lucky. I had sold a copy of the newspaper to the producer of a nationally viewed television show, Judge for Yourself: The Fred Allen Show,

who arranged for me to appear on an episode a few weeks later. During this show, three contestants predicted which of three songs the audience would like the most, then the audience voted on its favorite. The contestants who guessed correctly would share a prize of $1,000. That night, all the contestants guessed correctly, so I came home with $333.32, which, given the progression of the Consumer Price Index from 1954 to 2017, would be worth about $2,700 today. Fred Allen himself interviewed me and confirmed that I had charged two cents a copy for my neighborhood newspaper. He then pulled out a dollar from his wallet and told me he wanted to get fifty issues. “That’s fine,” I balked, “but what about the postage?” We then negotiated a deal.

What is unique about every institution—school, corporation, and family —that has survived and prospered over many generations?... integration of great values and adaptation to change to meet the demands of a new society.

ACADEMY ATAVISTIC As I thought about what is unique about Deerfield, I began to think about what is unique about every institution—school, corporation, and family—that has survived and prospered over many generations and landed on this: integration of great values and adaptation to change to meet the demands of a new society. Deerfield has been able to do this, and I wondered how it had accomplished this feat. Schools that have developed high academic and ethical standards and married such standards with adaptation to the challenges of successive eras are unusually strong. Deerfield is one such school. But how could I trace the achievements of the school, starting with the first years under Frank Boyden and finishing with contemporaneous Deerfield? What would best describe such evolution? Was it a system, a phrase, or perhaps a word that explains the school’s success across the ages?

In four years under the benevolent authority of Boyden, my fellow students and I learned that in every dimension of our lives, it was our responsibility to work and compete to our potential and to uphold the values of the school, such as respect for everyone; respect for the roles, the jobs, and the beliefs of everyone else.

92 | FIRST PERSON

Few institutions accomplish this, that is, create a truly positive atavistic experience where young men and women realize their emotional, intellectual, and athletic potential. I entered Deerfield as a freshman in 1957. I can never forget taking the Boston and Maine Railroad from Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on a March Sunday in 1957 to have an interview with Frank Boyden after lunch in his house, which was situated along Albany Road in the center of the campus. My parents and I had worked hard to prepare for an interview with the man who had become, by then, a legend in secondary school education, a role model’s role model, a brilliant educator who had arrived on campus in 1902 and had taken a virtually bankrupt school to one enjoying international acclaim. When Mr. Boyden entered the room, I jumped up to address him properly. He took a few seconds to appraise me and then remarked that one of his closest friends had said many good things about me. He then thanked us for coming and assured us that he would personally look at my application and that the school would rule on my admission application as soon as possible. The personal touch, respect and the courtesy, is something that Frank Boyden brought to Deerfield and instilled in his students and faculty. He didn’t spend more than five minutes with us, but for a man of such power and prestige to personally interview a twelve-year-old for admission was an experience that my parents and I always remembered. In four years under the benevolent authority of Boyden, my fellow students and I learned that in every dimension of our lives, it was our responsibility to work and compete to our potential and to uphold the values of the school, such as respect for everyone; respect for the roles, the jobs, and the beliefs of everyone else. If you enjoyed economic or social privilege, or in the case of a student at Deerfield, the privilege of attending a great academic institution, it was a privilege that ought not to be held in a boastful or superior manner. If you were lucky or fortunate enough to have enjoyed such privileges, then they ought to be enjoyed quietly, not boastfully, but with discretion. They were never used to demean any of those who had not been as fortunate.

Deerfield Academy Archives (left); FJ Gaylor (right)

A few weeks later, reading an article in a scientific publication, I came across the word atavistic, which is usually considered to mean what is primitive or what is, especially in science, a biological throwback. But there is another meaning or use—less common— that atavistic suggests: It is the ability to retain what is great from one era and integrate this greatness with intelligent adaptation into a new period, another era. This is the genius of Deerfield: All the great values that Frank Boyden inculcated in his students have been retained and embellished by his successors —from David Melville Pynchon to Margarita O’Byrne Curtis, incorporating them into the new Deerfield.

Few institutions retain the best of their culture as they move into different eras, while simultaneously remaining dynamic and of central importance. Those that manage to do so by selecting their subjects of emphasis and concentration judiciously and not in response to fads or short-lived trends; they introduce new dimension to their organisms so that they remain attractive to, for example, students in a modern setting: Reading with insight and writing with clarity remain indispensable, but being facile with computers is now mandatory for control of one’s personal and business careers, and Deerfield has restructured the curriculum to reflect the demands of both the traditional and the contemporary. Today, students sit around a table with the instructor and thus can constructively challenge each other as well as the teacher. There is another reason why Deerfield has adapted well to the 21st century: In 1988 the school returned to admitting girls, thereby giving both boys and girls a rich social experience, and a dimension in interpersonal learning that was not available when I was in school. With the potential applicant pool larger, the standards for admission have risen. As a classmate and good friend of mine, John Suitor, who was head of the Aspen Country Day School, told me a few years ago, “Freddie, you were really smart, but you would not be accepted at Deerfield today.” The first part of his statement is subject to audit and verification. The second part is most likely accurate.

HERE AND NOW . . . AND THEN Today I live in Oklahoma, where we are known for swaggering, wildcatting oil millionaires (and three billionaires), college football at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University that is played on almost as high a level as the National Football League, and two internationally recognized programs in petroleum engineering. We have two vibrant investment communities in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, the latter of which I am a part. Unfortunately, we also have sweltering summers where the temperature often exceeds one hundred degrees Fahrenheit for consecutive weeks. In Oklahoma, air conditioning is not optional. It is a necessity. And we have the world’s best air conditioning.

Nevertheless, we cannot hide from the sun and heat forever, and by July we begin a desperate search for a cooler climate. My tastes in vacation are eclectic. Last year I wanted a place that was cool and quiet with a swimming pool. Why not Deerfield? I thought. It is quiet, it is beautiful, and it offered my kind of entertainment and recreation: My stimulation would be the Boyden Library; my recreation would be the Koch Pool and walking around the beautiful town and the tranquility-inducing campus. I made reservations at the pleasant Deerfield Inn and found a flight on American Airlines that would take my friend and myself from Tulsa to Chicago where we would switch planes and fly to Bradley International in Hartford, CT. From there it would, according to Google maps, be a fifty-minute drive along Interstate 91 and US Highway 5 into Deerfield. Finally, I made a right turn onto Deerfield’s Old Main Street. I felt as if I was in a different world. It was quiet. There were cars but no traffic, no neon signs, no billboards. You could not hear the unpleasant sounds of interstate traffic. The houses were beautiful, and there was a harmony in their design and appearance without the plastic assembly line feel of many suburbs or the cacophony of many urban neighborhoods with monotonous, nondescript or ugly façades juxtaposed against another.

As I slowly drove down the Street, I felt that I had been transported to an atavistic period, not in the primitive sense of the word but in the sense of being thrown back to a world that was more orderly, less frenetic, more peaceful than today, all enhanced by a quiet, impressive sense of respect for education and learning, intertwined with a respect for civility. And as I drove up to the Main School Building, the respect for order, for learning, and for curiosity was as palpable as when I first walked into the same building in 1957. //

IN MEMORIAM 1940

1949

Charles Hall Jacob, Jr.

John Maurice Ostheimer

November 22, 2017

November 29, 2017

August 2, 2017

1941

Hugh McBirney Stimson

1957

Alice Mary Childs Harris

February 17, 2018 1944

Ronald Alexander McLean, Jr. *

January 31, 2018 1946

John Dwelle Davis February 26, 2018

Clifton Macy Foss March 1, 2018 1947

Harry Craig Bell

July 27, 2017

Arthur Hill Corwin March 28, 2017

Gordon Happer Damon May 9, 2017

Gardner Wiley Munro February 22, 2018 1948

Howard Otis Colwell

April 18, 2018

1950

Harvey Rowland Clapp, III

March 27, 2018

Hervey Ganse Little, Jr.

George Albert Keyworth, II

March 14, 2018

August 23, 2017

Herbert Verner Marsh, Jr. February 21, 2018 1951

Robert Battaile Hiden, Jr. *

February 12, 2018

McDonald Winton * December 26, 2017 1952

Peter Bassett Rooke-Ley

September 7, 2017

Merritt Francis Williams, Jr. March 30, 2018 1953

George Allen Fowlkes *

January 25, 2018

Philip Blackburn Weymouth, Jr. *

1961

John Maurice Reymes King August 23, 2017 1969

Walter H. Shealor Jr.

September 10, 2017 1975

Michael Joseph Young

December 29, 2017 1976

Peter John De Gorter

December 29, 2017

David Sweeney Dodge April 18, 2018 1978

Daniel DeWitt Granger

August 20, 2017

February 14, 2018 1954

John Ingram Dickinson

John de Marmon Murray

November 26, 2017

January 6, 2018

Robert Frederick Kempf, Jr. *

1955

December 11, 2017

94 | THE COMMON ROOM

January 24, 2011

1956

Bruce McEwan *

November 23, 2017

* Boyden Society Member In Memoriam as of April 30, 2018. Please go to deerfield.edu/commonroom for the most up-to-date information on classmates, including obituaries.

Deerfield Academy

Alan Davis Watson

What year did Rodge Cohen ’61

What type of flour did Caitlin Sugita ’18

How many solar panels were recently

What award did Nick Vita ’91 win?

Where was Wesley Noble Janssen’s

What tennis record does

In what round of the 2014 NHL draft

D E E R F I E L D M AGAZ I N E ’S S E A RC H P UZZ L E

become President of the Board of Trustees? use in her experiment?

installed at Meach Cove Farms?

WIN A SUMMER SWAG GRAB BAG!!!

home recently featured?

Gil Roddy ’14 hold at Bowdoin? was Sam Lafferty ’14 selected?

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1�

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at Cathedral and Pope Francis High School?

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OR: Mail this exam to: Deerfield Academy, Communications Office, 7 Boyden Lane, PO Box 87, Deerfield, MA 01342 The winner will be chosen at random from all correct “exams” received by July 20.

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FINAL EXAM

Object Lesson M R S . B OY D E N ’S CA P E C O D W E E D E R

Deerfield Academy Archives

It’s interesting how an item can be simultaneously esoteric and common; such is the case with Mrs. Boyden’s “Cape Cod Weeder,” pictured to the left. Among gardeners, legend has it that this short and sturdy “scuffle hoe” was designed decades ago by a woman who lived on Cape Cod—hence the name. A New England favorite until the Maine-based company Snow & Neally began to market it nationwide in the late 1980s, this immensely practical tool is known for its precision and efficiency—it cuts on both the forward and back stroke and can be turned on its side to nick weeds with deadly precision while avoiding flower and vegetable plants. One can imagine that for all these reasons this Cape Cod Weeder was a favorite of Mrs. Boyden’s in her greenhouse and in the well-tended flower beds that surrounded Ephraim Williams House. Mrs. Boyden could usually be found in one or the other location, depending on the time of year, for her 5:00 am gardening session before heading to her classroom for the day. Occasionally she was joined by a wayward student, whose “punishment” was to help her carry pails of water or dirt; no evidence suggests that he was allowed so important a task as removing weeds. //

Mrs. Boyden’s Cape Cod Weeder: donated to the Academy Archives by former faculty member Gabor Temesvari P ’92.

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

Deerfield Academy | PO Box 87 | Deerfield, MA | 01342 Change Service Requested

June 6, 2018 marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Thomas Ashley, Class of 1911, in the battle of Château Thierry-Belleau Woods during World War I. Before enlisting in the Marine Corps in April of 1917, Tom had devoted all his energy to the Academy, preparing campus plans and writing a catalog and description of the school’s mission. His educational philosophy for Deerfield still rings true today: “Intellectual development, a desire to do service thru influence, and a high standard of character.” //