Spring 2015 Deerfield Magazine by Deerfield Academy

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

THE BOTTOM LINE / 6 T H E PA U S E A N D E F F E C T : O F T E D x / 2 2 S C A L I N G W H AT W O R K S / 3 4

*p.33

Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. The sound of the varsity baseball team warming up with a game of catch on Headmaster’s Field followed me from the Koch Center to the Main School Building; the choke cherry grove between the library and the Hess was in full bloom, and the sun was shining, so let’s just say I didn’t hurry—this spring day had been a long time coming. On the edge of the quad, more or less diagonally across from John Williams, I stopped to look at the new addition to the general flora on campus—a purple European beech tree. Even at 15 feet tall, its branches are still new—whip thin and pliable—but the trunk already has a certain stoutness to it that promises longevity. Most of you probably remember the previous tree that stood in that spot, a hackberry—it was there for Commencements and Reunions and gorgeous spring days whether you graduated in 1939 or 2014. It was only a few months ago that time and the elements took a toll that even Deerfield’s extraordinarily dedicated grounds crew couldn’t check, and with reverence and sadness, they removed it this past fall. After that, it was a tough winter all around, and if grounds hadn’t taken the hackberry tree down, the weather surely would have. The purple beech is featured as the “Object Lesson” in the back of this magazine, and between there and my musings here in the front, you’ll find some photos with snow in them (see page 28!), and some that might remind you of what spring looked like here on campus when you were a student. There are tributes to retiring faculty members, and examples of the good work our current students accomplish. There’s a story about an alumna, Jessica Harrison Fullerton ’00, who in some ways is literally saving the world, and several written by alumni—they are undoubtedly my favorites—please send more! It was a long winter. Students rushed between classes and practices and back to the warmth of their dorms; we all waited for the wind and the snow and the cold to relent. And when they finally did—not too long ago—we emerged into this extraordinary season of spring at Deerfield. It’s a season of both renewal and continuity, so when the same crew that had taken the hackberry away planted the beech in its place, the inadvertent metaphor was pretty obvious but poetic nevertheless. Now, we’re happy to share the Academy’s new growth with you here, in the pages of Deerfield Magazine, because it’s thanks to you that Deerfield has such strong roots. Please continue to share your stories with us, and we’ll share ours with you . . . they provide a wonderful sense of continuity, no matter what the season.

—Jessica Day, Managing Editor

2 | VOLUME 72, NUMBER 3

COMMENTS /

D E PA R T M E N T S

Albany Road The Common Room First Person: JOHN PHILIPP ’58

I wish to commend you and your staff on such a beautiful edition of the recent Winter 2015 Deerfield Magazine. It always seems that the editorial staff at Deerfield comes up with such creative and original ideas for this publication. All of you are to be truly commended—keep up the good work! — Harry L. Winston ’46, Pompano Beach, Florida

In Memoriam

Word Search

EXCERPTED FROM MR. MCCLELLAND’S STORY:

Managing Editor Jessica Day Multimedia Specialist JR Delaney eCommunications Specialist Danaë DiNicola Art Director Brent M. Hale Archivist Anne Lozier Director of Communications David Thiel

Editorial Office: Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA 01342. Telephone: 413-774-1860 communications@deerfield.edu Publication Office: Cummings Printing, Hooksett, NH. Third class postage paid at Deerfield, Massachusetts, and additional mailing office. Deerfield Magazine is published in the fall, winter, and spring. Deerfield Academy does not discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, marital status, national origin, ancestry, genetic information, age, disability, status as a veteran or being a member of the Reserves or National Guard, or any other classification protected under state or federal law. Copyright © The Trustees of Deerfield Academy (all rights reserved)

I only learned of Bob Merriam’s death today, when I received the latest issue of the magazine. Mr. Merriam was one of the most memorable people I’ve encountered, and I wrote the enclosed short piece (see right) about him a number of years ago. Keep the magazine coming. It’s great to hear about what’s going on at Deerfield and her graduates’ accomplishments. Which reminds me, I’m reading the latest book by Steve Brill, my classmate, about Obamacare: America’s Bitter Pill. (see page 67) It does a good job of unraveling a complex and controversial topic, and, like Steve’s book about 9/11 (After), it is both thorough and balanced. Greg McClelland ’68 Vedre, Florida

COVER PHOTOGRAPH BRENT M. HALE / INSIDE PHOTOGRAPH DAVID THIEL

. . . Merriam was admired without reservation by almost all boys at Deerfield in the late 60s. This was unusual, because most adults at Deerfield at the time—including Boyden himself, who was clearly on the wane—were regarded by students with varying degrees of disdain. It was a cynical time, and prep school boys were the worst cynics in the culture. It was a time when everyone had a nickname, and your nickname was likely to denote the opposite of what you were. If you were lazy, your nickname might be ‘Focus;’ if you were overweight, your moniker involved some variation on ‘thin…’ Against this backdrop, Merriam, unlike more other masters and students at Deerfield, was openly—often brutally—honest. There was no polite prevarication about Merriam, no sparing boys’ feelings, no garnishing the facts . . . My own experiences with Merriam might have made me hate or fear him; instead, they had exactly the opposite effect. . . . For a short time my senior year, I played varsity soccer. I was an emotional boy, and Merriam’s criticisms of my play got me so nervous that I couldn’t do my best. When the inevitable happened, Merriam was direct, succinct, and honest about it…The way he handled the situation only made me respect him more. My second direct interaction with Merriam was when I invited a girl to Deerfield without permission. Student activities outside school-sanctioned ones were almost universally prohibited . . . when I had my girl visitor with me, it immediately became known throughout campus. Mr. Boyden personally summoned me to his office and told me my visitor must leave immediately. I was angry and humiliated, but I knew I had to comply. . . . Someone told me Merriam wanted me to call him. Talking to Merriam was the last thing I wanted to do, but I knew I had to. . . . Merriam told me I’d done a stupid thing, and that it was inexcusable because I knew the rules. All I could answer was, ‘Yes, sir.’ Then he surprised me. He told me not to send the girl home just yet, that he would talk to Mr. Boyden and see if she could stay. He told me to call back in half an hour. When I called back, Merriam told me Mr. Boyden had not changed his mind; my date would have to leave. I mumbled, ‘Thank you, sir,’ but it came from the bottom of my heart.

I wanted the audience to interact with my piece through the mirror,

a reflection of themselves and of my pain.-Rachel Yao

2 3

4 | ALBANY ROAD

PHOTOGRAPHS BY

LUCY BALDWIN

After painting the

same face nine times, I was

so ready to chop it up.

It was liberating. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Shelton Rogers

1. Kate Palmer 2. Lucy Lytle 3. Chase Leisenring 4. Molly Murphy 5. Julian O'Donnell 6. Binger Shangguan 7. Rachel Yao 8. Emily Mahan 9. Shelton Rogers 10. Jane Lee 11. Andrea Leng 12. Hatty Wang 13. Josie Meier 14. Kemi Akande

THE BOTTOM LINE This spring, David Pond retires as Associate Head of School for Alumni Affairs and Development. His is a story of record-breaking fundraising and extraordinary service to Deerfield. “Numbers do speak loudly,” says Dr. Curtis, but “to really understand the scope of David’s impact, I would never want to let numbers obscure his tremendous human qualities.”

6 | ALBANY ROAD

In many ways, the story of David Pond’s thirty-four year tenure at Deerfield is a numbers story. First, there is Deerfield’s endowment, which has grown from $20 million when he arrived in 1981 to a staggering $500 million—twenty-five times as big. Then there is the Annual Fund, which increased from $1 million in 1981 to nearly $7 million in 2014. Over the same period, yearly gift income climbed from $2 million to $30 million. Impressive numbers like these have had a transformative effect on the Academy. “Everywhere!” exclaims Head of School Margarita Curtis. “I see his hand everywhere.” President of the Board of Trustees Rodgin Cohen ’61 agrees: “You can’t really take a step on campus without seeing David’s impact.” Seven dorms, the David H. Koch Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology, the Hess Center for the Arts, the Robert M. Dewey Squash Center, the Koch Pool, two turf fields—all were built during Mr. Pond’s tenure. Then there are the significant renovations made to the Dining Hall, the Greer Store, the Fitness Center, the Main School Building, and Ephraim Williams; work on the Frank L. and Helen Childs Boyden Library is in progress. “All of that is really, really impressive,” says Mr. Cohen. “But where I think you see his impact the most is in the excellence of the faculty, and in a more diverse student body.” Here, too, numbers tell a story: a financial aid budget of $7 million; faculty and staff compensation and benefits at $25 million, a program budget of $15.3 million.

Deerfield Academy Archives

BY JULIA ELLIOTT

7 2 4 DORMS

TURF FIELDS

NEW ACADEMIC

BUILDINGS B U I LT DURING

34 YEAR TENURE

*The David H. Koch Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology, the Hess Center for the Arts, the Robert M. Dewey Squash Center, the Koch Pool.

$ G R OW T H 1 9 8 1

T H RO U G H

ENDOWMENT

500

1, 000, 000 MILLION 2

7, 000, 000 MILLION 30

MILLION

A N N UA L FUND

Y E A R LY G I F T I N C O M E

In each of those cases, the budget has increased sevenfold. Under Mr. Pond’s watch, the school has created over 400 new endowment funds for teachers, students, and programs. He has overseen three hugely successful capital campaigns. “David is a silent hero,” says Trustee Stanford Kuo ’78. “We have great faculty, we can offer an attractive salary, we can fill in the gap in tuition so we can attract the best students, and all because of David’s efforts. Basically, David is legend.” Such tremendous success has earned Mr. Pond the respect of his peers throughout the advancement world. He spoke often at events for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)

8 | ALBANY ROAD

2 0 14

MILLION

ENDOWMENT

A N N UA L FUND

Y E A R LY G I F T I N C O M E

and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), and in 1995 was awarded by CASE the Robert Bell Crow Award, which recognizes service to independent school alumni and development work. This spring, David Pond retires as Associate Head of School for Alumni Affairs and Development. His is a story of record-breaking fundraising and extraordinary service to Deerfield. “Numbers do speak loudly,” says Dr. Curtis, but “to really understand the scope of David’s impact, I would never want to let numbers obscure his tremendous human qualities.”

I M P R E S S I O NA B L E B OY D E N M O M E N T :

Deerfield Academy Archives

A GOOD SCHOOL MAN—THE EARLY YEARS “Have you ever heard of an addressograph machine?” asks Mr. Pond. He is thinking back to his first days as Deerfield’s Director of Development. Mr. Pond moved to Deerfield with his wife, Nancy, and two daughters, Amy ’92 and Rebecca ’98, after twelve years working at Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire. At the time, Alumni and Development was a quiet office of seven or eight people in the basement of the Main School Building. “There were no computers, there were no electric typewriters. There were rolodexes, 3x5 cards, addressograph machines, and that’s what we did.” Mr. Pond was the first hire of former Headmaster Robert Kaufmann, who was looking to replace Bob Crowe, himself a legend. In those days, fundraising at Deerfield was largely based on loyalty—to the school, to the Boydens, and to “Crowe.” As a direct connection to the Boydens faded with each graduating class, Mr. Kaufmann wanted his new development director to represent a fresh start. He also wanted someone who understood secondary schools. “I stumbled on David,” describes Mr. Kaufmann. “He had some fundraising experience, but not a whole lot.” What Mr. Pond did have was experience teaching, coaching, and operating a well-run admissions office. “I determined that being organized and being school-focused would stand Deerfield in good stead over the longer term,” says Mr. Kaufmann. “It was a risk. I passed over a couple of seasoned development veterans. But my bones told me that David was the right guy and that Nancy was a complement to that.” Mr. Pond was drawn to Deerfield because of its reputation for good academics and strong traditions. One small but significant event also may have played a part: As a young teacher during the 1969-70 school year, Mr. Pond coached a Kimball Union Academy JV basketball game at Deerfield. After the game, former Headmaster Frank Boyden, around ninety at the time, stopped by the locker room to thank the KUA players for coming to Deerfield. “That made such a lasting impression on me,” Mr. Pond says, “and must have had some influence on my being here and on how I approach my work—to see this person who didn’t need to make that nice gesture but took the time to do it.” Mr. Kaufmann’s strongest memory of Pond is his willingness to roll up his sleeves and jump into school life at a time when not all the faculty members on campus were pitching in on non-academic responsibilities. Table duty at sit-down meals, School Officer in Charge on weekends, Associate Master on a corridor—Mr. Pond did it all, and inspired other faculty to follow his lead. “That was where the judgment that he was a good school man proved prescient,” says Mr. Kaufmann, “because he was more than willing to settle in and do his share.”

As a young teacher during the 1969-70 school year, Mr. Pond coached a Kimball Union Academy JV basketball game at Deerfield. After the game, former Headmaster Frank Boyden, around ninety at the time, stopped by the locker room to thank the KUA players for coming to Deerfield. “That made such a lasting impression on me,” Mr. Pond says, “and must have had some influence on my being here and on how I approach my work—to see this person who didn’t need to make that nice gesture but took the time to do it.”

Nearly everyone agrees that Pond’s greatest strength as a fundraiser— and as a boss and a friend—is that he is a terrific listener. “When he calls and talks to you, he knows everything about you, your family,” says Rodgin Cohen. “He is genuinely interested in you. It’s a conversation—it’s not just about raising money.”

Mr. Pond and Mr. Kaufmann worked together for thirteen years, focusing on putting Deerfield on solid financial footing and taking the school through the transition to coeducation in 1989—one of the greatest challenges, Mr. Pond notes, of his role as Director of Development because of the need to get older alumni “to think beyond their years at Deerfield to how the school had to evolve and change and be better.” “Any new headmaster should be so lucky as to have someone like David Pond waiting to welcome him,” says former Headmaster Eric Widmer ’57, who began his tenure in 1994. Right away, he and Pond began planning for Deerfield’s impending 200th anniversary. The campaign they launched in 1997, Days of Glory, “was an enduring collaboration from beginning to end,” describes Mr. Widmer. “The amount of money we raised eclipsed any record up to that point of a school the size of Deerfield. David and his staff did a terrific job. Good fundraising doesn’t happen just because the school is doing well or someone is asking for money; it happens because there is a good strong plan and strong cultivation.” Mr. Widmer is particularly proud of everything David did to endow a financial aid budget, getting it to a place where Deerfield was competitive with Exeter, Andover, and St. Paul’s. “For me, and I know it’s true of David, too,” says Mr. Widmer, “it would be very hard for us to spend our lives in an institution where only the people who could pay the cost of tuition were there—where there was virtually no diversity. It’s not just about wanting to be fair or democratic; it’s the spirit of the school and the strength of the student body. And David really understood that.”

10 | ALBANY ROAD

“Where am I next week? Well, let’s see.” Mr. Pond looks at his schedule. It is January of 2014, and he has just returned from a three-day trip to Texas. “Next week I’m in Connecticut for one day. Then I’m in New York for three days. The following week I’m in Florida for three days.” Mr. Pond has maintained a similarly grueling schedule of travel for years. He now oversees a staff of 28 people concentrated in Ephraim Williams House. The alumni relations program reaches out to many more people than it did 34 years ago, the involvement of parents is greater, and for the past three years, he has overseen the Imagine Deerfield capital campaign. “It’s a much more complicated job than when I first came,” he acknowledges. During moments of downtime, Mr. Pond closes his door and thinks. “In the course of raising 200 million dollars,” he explains, “we’ll have about 280 gifts or so of $100,000 or more. Maybe a third to a half of those will be gifts of a million dollars or more. I will really be focused on those individual approaches almost on a daily basis. You might have an hour to state your case and get a donor’s reactions,” he explains, “so it has to be well thought-out and well-considered.” Such thoughtfulness and consideration has served Mr. Pond well. “David is diligent,” says Mr. Kaufmann. “He does his homework and he’s patient.” Dr. Curtis agrees that Mr. Pond’s patient approach is one of his strengths. “He takes his time to get to know a donor,” she says, “and to really, really understand what is going to appeal to them, and then he matches those interests and passions with what the school needs.” Former Board President Jeff Louis ’81, who along with his family has been a longtime supporter of the school, says that, in many cases, Deerfield’s chief fundraiser doesn’t actually ask for money. “What I remember about David,” says Mr. Louis, “is he would come and he would say, ‘I wanted to let you know what we’re up to and why we’re doing what we’re doing.’ But he never said, ‘Will you give x amount?’ David gets without asking because he just has a gentle way. You never felt that he was going to go away unhappy if you didn’t give, which always made giving very easy.”

Deerfield Academy Archives

A WAY OF LIFE

400+ 25MILLION ENDOWMENT FUNDS

FACULTY & STAFF COMPENSATION + BENEFITS

for teachers, students, and programs

7MILLION 15.3MILLION FINANCIAL AID BUDGET

PROGRAM BUDGET

Mr. Pond is often referred to as a “gentleman.” He is humble, discreet, and always calm. Former Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving John Knight ’83, who reported to Mr. Pond for a decade, admits “I sometimes panicked and ran to him and said, ‘I need help with this or that,’ and there is just no panic in him. He reminds you of the strengths of the school, reminds you of the strength of the alumni, parents, and friends, and then encourages you to work your way through the decisions you need to make. That strength of purpose sets a good tone for everybody.” “I think that many of us will remember David as a guy who always replied, ‘Sounds good,’” says Kathy Coughlin, Mr. Pond’s Senior Administrative Assistant of twelve years. “He was absolutely upbeat. In all the years I worked for him, I’ve never seen him lose his cool or say something disparaging. He put a lot of trust into his staff. In that way he was a good boss and a kind person.” Mr. Pond’s equanimity certainly aided Jeff Louis when, as head of the Building and Grounds Committee, he led the effort to build the Koch Center. “I remember the day I did the final presentation to the board of directors,” says Mr. Louis. “I remember being quite nervous because we didn’t yet have the money, and David being, as always, incredibly calm about it. So I made the presentation and we didn’t really know what was going to happen. But by dinner that night David said, ‘I’ve got the money. You can build it.’” Mr. Louis laughs at the memory. “It was just David’s way. He takes the pressure off everyone, because you just have great confidence that he has the facts at hand, that he is going to be there if you’re running into a problem. He took the burden of raising the money certainly off of me, and let us go about building a great building.” Nearly everyone agrees that Pond’s greatest strength as a fundraiser —and as a boss and a friend—is that he is a terrific listener. “When he calls and talks to you, he knows everything about you, your family,” says Rodgin Cohen. “He is genuinely interested in you. It’s a conversation —it’s not just about raising money.”

Jack Chen ’08 and his father, Dongsheng, hosted Phil Greer, Margarita Curtis, and David Pond.

21 ASIA TRIPS

35 GIFTS FROM ASIA OVER

100K (IMAGINE DEERFIELD CAMPAIGN)

12 | ALBANY ROAD

“I like people,” admits Mr. Pond, “I like to learn what they’re doing and what they’re interested in. You learn a lot when you listen. And when you've got people who really love what the conversation is focused on—Deerfield—that's a pretty easy conversation to have.” This has particularly paid off in Mr. Pond’s work overseas. He began traveling internationally, especially to Asia, in the 1980s. In recent years, he has traveled twice a year to Asia, and last year made his 21st trip. “He’s the best ambassador we’ve ever had,” says Stanford Kuo. “Whenever there’s a new family, or an old family in need, he’s always there to help without a hidden agenda.” In his gentle way, Mr. Pond has cultivated donors in a part of the world where a philanthropic model previously did not exist. “I think Deerfield is one of the first prep schools to actually have a sizeable giving culture in Asia,” says Mr. Kuo. “We are ahead of the game in Asia and it’s largely due to David.” As illustration, Mr. Pond notes that during Imagine Deerfield, over thirty-five gifts of over $100,000 came from Asia; in the previous campaign, that number was five. To Jeff Louis, the loyalty and support among parents and alumni that Mr. Pond has inspired is of far greater importance than all the improvements he has brought to campus. “That sense of love of Deerfield without cynicism about the fact that Deerfield is also in the business of raising money,” says Mr. Louis. “I think David made donors of all sizes feel like they were contributing to something really important.” Of course, when asked to reflect on his fundraising success, Mr. Pond refuses to take credit. “I would say, ‘David and his team have done that.’ Development,” he adds, “is a team sport.” Despite all his hard work, the national and international travel, and the impressive sums raised, Mr. Pond has remained to the end “a good school man.” “He could tell you what was said at sit-down lunch yesterday, or what was scheduled for School Meeting,” says Dr. Curtis. “You always see David at games, at art and theater performances. This wasn’t a job for him. This was a way of life.”

O N F U N D R A I S I N G SU C C E S S :

...when asked to reflect on his fundraising success, Mr. Pond refuses to take credit.

“I would say, ‘David and his team have done that.’ Development,” he adds, “is a team sport.”

Deerfield Academy Archives

AN ICON RETIRES In January of 2014, David Pond announced that he would be retiring. “It’s always daunting to try and find a successor for somebody who is really an iconic figure,” says Dr. Curtis. The search for Mr. Pond’s replacement proved so challenging that she asked Mr. Pond to stay on for another year. “In typical David fashion he agreed to do whatever was right for Deerfield,” says Dr. Curtis. “I was enormously appreciative of that gesture.” The expanded search yielded CJ Menard, who brings decades of fundraising experience to Deerfield, and who started working alongside Mr. Pond last summer. The Ponds plan to stick close to Deerfield. They have moved to Greenfield, MA, but Mrs. Pond will continue to teach French at the Bement School, where she has worked for twenty-five years, and Mr. Pond will continue to serve on the board of Deerfield’s Brick Church, as well as the boards of King’s Academy in Jordan, and Kimball Union Academy. He looks forward to learning how to play the piano and being able to “just get up Saturday morning and go to the hardware store. You don’t get a lot of time for that in my line of business.” “Deerfield has a lot to thank him for,” says longtime volunteer Zeke Knight ’54. “I don’t know of anybody else in fundraising at the independent school level who has done more than he has, quietly and effectively, and with a sense of duty and loyalty.” In his humble manner, Mr. Pond says that he is the one who should feel grateful: “When I was in Dallas last Wednesday night, Margarita talked about what a great privilege it is to work with really bright, capable, hardworking students on a daily basis. And I’m sitting there thinking, ‘What an incredible opportunity to work with bright, motivated, and enthusiastic Deerfield alumni and parents on a daily basis. Every time I sit down with someone, they say to me, ‘Wow! What’s going on at Deerfield? Tell me all about it.’ For thirty-four years, that’s been pretty special.”//

Momentum and Direction Fortunately, we’ve got both. And we’ll need both—as well as your ongoing support—to finish up strong. As we build on the success of Imagine Deerfield, here’s a quick look at our next steps, each of which recalls the best of Deerfield’s past translated for an increasingly connected and dynamic world.

“FINISH UP STRONG.” Attributed to Mr. Boyden, this oft-repeated phrase has been embraced by every Deerfield head since. And why not? More than a mandate, it’s an affirmation of choice, a reminder that the outcome is in your hands. Launched in the fall of 2011, Imagine Deerfield draws to a close on June 30. Along the way, virtually every area of the school has been enhanced through the thoughtful and generous support of alumni, parents, and friends. This has truly been a team effort, one that marks the beginning—not the end—of our aim to provide faculty and students with the best resources and opportunities available. At the outset of the campaign, we recognized that the challenges facing our graduates are innumerable and continually shifting. Our response had to be broad, farsighted, and swift. While seemingly disparate at first glance, the list to the right coalesces around the idea that today’s challenges cannot be addressed through the lens of a single discipline. Regardless of their future endeavors, students will need to think creatively and critically. They’ll be called upon to collaborate, research, and synthesize. They’ll need to ask questions —a lot of them—and explore innovative ways to solve complex problems. Imagine Deerfield has allowed us to create opportunities throughout the curriculum—on campus and around the world—for students to hone their 21st century skills. Empowering faculty has been the key to our efforts.

“Today, Deerfield is a place of modern, progressive scholarship. Enabled by a curriculum that is constantly evolving, Deerfield offers tools and teachers that encourage curiosity, exploration, and innovative leadership. Students’ grit and resilience are supported by committed faculty, as they examine the world’s most pressing problems, together.”—Margarita Curtis

14 | ALBANY ROAD

THE EXTRAORDINARY ENTHUSIASM AND COMMITMENT FROM THE DEERFIELD COMMUNITY HAS ENABLED US TO MAKE UNPRECEDENTED INVESTMENTS IN OUR PROGRAM. HERE IS A PARTIAL LIST OF IMAGINE DEERFIELD’S GREATEST HITS:

• INNOVATIVE, INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSES, INCLUDING CAPSTONE COURSES, RESEARCH CLASSES, DEERFIELD SCIENCE FRIDAYS, BIG HISTORY, GLOBAL H2O, AND MORE…! • A ROBUST FINANCIAL AID PROGRAM • INVIGORATED FACULTY • THE HESS CENTER FOR THE ARTS • IMMERSIVE GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES • THE GREER STORE AND FITNESS CENTER • TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES • THE NEW DORM • SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAMS

LOOKING FORWARD • DEVELOP INTERDISCIPLINARY CAPSTONE COURSES FOR SENIORS. THESE WRITING-INTENSIVE, RESEARCH-BASED, PROBLEM-SOLVING COURSES CALL INTO PLAY SYNTHESIS AS WELL AS ANALYSIS. • INTEGRATE OUR GLOBAL, SUSTAINABILITY, AND ETHICAL PROGRAMS—ALL OF WHICH BUILD ON OUR FOUNDATIONAL EMPHASIS ON CHARACTER EDUCATION—INTO A MORE COHERENT PROGRAM, HOUSED IN A RENOVATED AND REIMAGINED BOYDEN LIBRARY. • BRING THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM INTO THE 21ST CENTURY BY ENHANCING VARSITY LEVEL SPORTS, SUPPORTING COACHES, AND DEVELOPING OUR TALENTED STUDENT-ATHLETES. • I NCORPORATE THE BEST DIGITAL TOOLS AND THE MOST RELEVANT ONLINE CONTENT INTO OUR COURSES. • E NSURE THAT FACULTY MEMBERS HAVE THE TIME TO ACCOMPLISH THESE GOALS BY CREATING A SYSTEM THAT RELEASES THEM FROM CERTAIN DUTIES. • PRIORITIZE OUR FACILITIES PROJECTS, BASED ON THE RECENTLY COMPLETED CAMPUS MASTER PLAN.

16 | ALBANY ROAD

As Margarita Curtis recently said, “Today, Deerfield is a place of modern, progressive scholarship. Enabled by a curriculum that is constantly evolving, Deerfield offers tools and teachers that encourage curiosity, exploration, and innovative leadership. Students’ grit and resilience are supported by committed faculty, as they examine the world’s most pressing problems, together.” While we remain attentive to the demands of the future, we draw strength and stability from the accomplishments of our predecessors, and deep fulfillment from the relationships we develop with our students. We are indebted to you—our alumni, parents, and friends. Your passion for Deerfield and your commitment to our teachers and students ensures that the Academy will thrive. You are the underpinning of this great enterprise. We are grateful for all that you have done—and continue to do—for this remarkable school. Thank you. //

37 YEARS

NICK ALBERTSON by CHRISTIAN AVARD

For 37 years Nick Albertson has taught history and coached athletics at Deerfield. Soon, his agenda will be clear, and when asked what he will do next, Mr. Albertson has no definitive answer. “I’ll probably find something to keep me busy,” he laughs. ‘It’s time to graduate from high school!’ as one of my former colleagues used to say.” Mr. Albertson grew up on the west side of Cleveland, attended high school in Connecticut, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history from Brown University in 1972. His teaching career began at a day school—Jacksonville Episcopal High School—in Jacksonville, FL. There, he taught history in a time when the South was still grappling with social change.

“Private and segregated academies were established so they could get out of integration,” Mr. Albertson says. “In some ways, they were still fighting the Civil War. It was an interesting time to be in the classroom, for sure.” In 1978 Mr. Albertson was offered a position at Deerfield; he’s been at the Academy ever since. “I’ve always enjoyed the study of history, so it was a natural next step to want to teach it, but I’ve also always maintained that I learned more history in my first year of teaching than I learned in my four years as an undergraduate,” Mr. Albertson says with a chuckle. Ask around, and Mr. Albertson’s colleagues will say they respect his wit, his tonguein-cheek humor, and his great stories; he’s always entertaining. “He’s a guy who could write a wonderful anecdotal anthology about all the students, colleagues, or events that ever happened at Deerfield. He has a prodigious memory,” History Department colleague and Athletic Director Chip Davis says. “He’s going to leave a big hole. We can replace him, but the hole he leaves is his collegiality and humanity.” Over the years, in addition to teaching, Mr. Albertson has coached football, lacrosse, and golf. He particularly enjoyed working alongside legendary football Coach Jim Smith. Mr. Smith, Mr. Albertson recalls, was an inspiration to Deerfield athletes and a great team builder.

“Just by looking at the size of our players, you wouldn’t predict we’d win as frequently as we did,” Mr. Albertson comments. He went on to coach with Smith’s successor, Mike Silipo, and together they produced some memorable teams—such as the undefeated 2001 New England champs. Over the years, Mr. Albertson also had additional responsibilities: He lived in Wells and Savage houses as a faculty resident; he served on the Admission Committee when the Academy returned to coeducation; and he spent 35 years in the College Advising Office, helping students to realize their post-Deerfield plans. Mr. Albertson says admitting girls to Deerfield was not only a great decision for the Academy in general, but it literally transformed the student environment and provided the impetus for more and better academic and athletic opportunities. It also paved the way for his three daughters to attend. Lindsey, a threesport captain and 2002 graduate followed in her father’s footsteps and attended Brown. She then earned a PhD from the University of California at Santa Barbara and currently has a career in river ecology. Dana graduated in 2006 and attended Hampshire College, where she majored in outdoor recreation and dance. She currently works at Sugar Bowl Academy near Lake Tahoe. His youngest daughter, Morgan, graduated from Deerfield in 2008 and works in historic preservation with the National Park Service at Grand Teton National Park. She now lives in Jackson Hole, WY. As he looks forward to the next chapter in his life, Mr. Albertson says, “It’s the day to day activities that I will miss; I enjoyed working with young people and they’ve helped me stay young. They’re more than ‘just’ students: They’re young people realizing their talents and abilities, and I’ve had the privilege of being a part of that.”//

36 Brent M. Hale

YEARS

Frank Henry ’69 See page 68

40 STUART BICKNELL by CHRISTIAN AVARD

Even as Stuart Bicknell, the man who teacher, and coach, joined efforts with Stuart founded Deerfield’s counseling program, and provided pastoral counseling,” Dr. Hagamen prepares to step down after 40 years, he is overseeing some programmatic changes, assisting in the hiring of new counselors, and consulting with administrators about new programs before his retirement. “He continues to play a major role in bringing about positive change in the counseling services at Deerfield,” says longtime colleague and Director of Medical Services Dr. Thomas Hagamen. “Next year, we will open school with three fulltime mental heath professionals staffing the department—a change in large part due to his advocacy for the needs of students.” Dr. Bicknell earned a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College, followed by a master’s and doctorate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. It was at UMass where he first heard about Deerfield: An advisor commented that counseling programs were not readily available at most New England preparatory schools at the time. He recommended that Dr. Bicknell visit the Academy and see if his services were needed; Headmaster David Pynchon was indeed open to the idea of a counseling program, so in 1975 Dr. Bicknell set about laying the groundwork. “He nurtured the program over those early years, responding to the needs of the boys and the faculty,” Dr. Hagamen says. “As time went on, Dick McKelvey, an Episcopal minister,

18 | ALBANY ROAD

continues. “In anticipation of coeducation, Stuart advocated to bring in a feminine presence —Karen Lord, a part-time therapist, and Sue Carlson, a health educator and counselor trained as a social worker, were added to the team. When the girls arrived in 1989, a robust department was in place to serve the now more complicated needs of coed school.” A spring elective psychology course and faculty training on student health matters were also added, and there was a push to make the counseling office more visible on campus; as more students made use of counseling services, the stigma often associated with seeking such help subsided. “In the late 1970s or 80s, a boy would head across campus to counseling and avoid eye contact,” Dr. Bicknell says. “Today it’s not unusual to hear someone holler across the Dining Hall—‘Hey, Dr. Bicknell, we’re on for 7:30, right?’ I’m still pleasantly surprised when that happens.” Dr. Bicknell also organized the “HEW Group,” an on-campus ad hoc committee comprised of deans, health services staff, and advisors at Deerfield, and named, tongue in cheek, after the former federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare. They met on a weekly basis to discuss the emotional and psychological pulse of the school. Outside of

Deerfield, Dr. Bicknell was a founding member of the Independent School Health Association (ISHA), which supports the development and sustainability of health and health education at independent schools. The ISHA offers professional development and a resource library on health curriculum development, and promotes awareness of health issues and best practices relating to those issues among independent schools. Now in its 36th year, the association meets on a biannual basis. “I think organizing the ISHA was a milestone for independent schools,” Dr. Bicknell says, “because it provided a forum for discussing protocols, policies, and procedures together; it allowed for a dialogue between schools that hadn’t existed before. I take some pride in that.” In 1988 Dr. Bicknell took a leave of absence from the Academy to spend a year in Hawaii developing a counseling program at Punahou School in Honolulu, which happens to include President Barack Obama on its alumni roster. Punahou offered Dr. Bicknell a position, but his family’s roots were firmly planted in Western Massachusetts, so it was back to Deerfield in 1989. As school psychologist, Dr. Bicknell’s primary focus has been the mental and emotional well-being of Deerfield students. What he says has sustained him over the years is connecting with young people, working on a wide range of issues with students, and being presented every day with different and meaningful challenges. “Getting to know students over a period—in many cases four years—there’s a closeness that develops,” he says. “It’s an honor and a privilege to be in their lives as a counselor— whether they’re experiencing something painful or something joyful. I never dreaded going to my office at Deerfield Academy,” Dr. Bicknell says. “I did say to my wife, ‘I don’t think I can retire until I know what I want to do next,’ and she said, ‘No. You can’t know what you’re going to do next until you retire.’ I think that’s pretty good advice. I don’t know what’s going to come next, and that’s exciting.” //

Brent M. Hale

YEARS

23 YEARS

MICHAEL CARY by CHRISTIAN AVARD

JR Delaney

“In 1976 I met with Mr. Pynchon just three All told, it has been 23 years at Deerfield weeks after the Board of Trustees had voted for Michael Cary; all told, it has been down coeducation,” Mr. Cary explains. “As a labor of love. As Dean of Faculty John Taylor says: “Mr. Cary inspired his students to become lifelong learners because he loves teaching, reading, exchanging ideas, and developing relationships with them; his passion for teaching is contagious. When he sits on the seminar table, he leans forward to listen intensely to what his students have to say. When there is a pause in the conversation, Mr. Cary stretches forward and raises his right hand slightly to emphasize an idea. His students listen to him with the same intensity. They anticipate that what he will say will challenge them to think deeply about the text and engage in an even more vibrant discussion. The feeling as the students walk out of Room 58 is one of enormous satisfaction.” Mr. Cary’s roots go back to Aroostook County, Maine. He grew up in the small farming town of Washburn and was the first in his family to attend college; from that point forward, education was a priority. He earned a bachelor of arts in English at Bowdoin, his master’s at Brown University, and a second master’s at Yale; his first job was as an assistant dean at Bates College. And while he enjoyed that work, Mr. Cary still wanted to fulfill his passion: teaching. When an opportunity to join the faculty at Deerfield arose in 1976, he quickly took advantage of it. At first Mr. Cary taught English on a part-time basis and served as assistant dean of students; he later coached boys varsity and girls JV squash, taught Philosophy and Religious Studies, chaired the Philosophy and Religion Department, and served as dean of admission and financial aid; in that capacity he helped to fulfill a long sought after wish of former Headmaster David Pynchon.

disappointed as he was in failing to convince them, they ultimately made the decision to admit girls 12 years later, and I would join my colleagues in executing that decision, admitting an exceptional group of girls to Deerfield,” Mr. Cary says. “Those first girls were intrepid, smart, courageous, and ambitious. I’m very happy for that chapter in my life.” Not too many years after helping the Academy transition to coeducation, Mr. Cary left Deerfield in 1996 to become headmaster of the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. He spent seven years in that capacity, and then went on to become executive director of the Yellowstone Park Foundation in Bozeman, MT, after which he served as director of major gifts at The Clark in Williamstown, MA. But despite all the different opportunities he pursued, Mr. Cary just could not resist the call of the classroom. In 2010, it was back to Deerfield and back to teaching English. “He contacted me and said: ‘John, I would like to finish my career teaching in Arms, Room 58,’” Mr. Taylor says. Mr. Cary explained that Room 58 was where his career truly began, and that’s where he wanted to finish it up. “Teaching is my passion,” he added, “exchanging ideas about literature with eager, hard-working boys and girls is what I genuinely enjoy doing.” Head of School Margarita Curtis’ response was: “Let’s make it happen.” “We were blessed that after an enormously successful career as a leader of schools and non-profit organizations, Mr. Cary decided to return to Deerfield,” Mr. Taylor adds. Deerfield was fortunate to get Mr. Cary the first time around, too: Reflecting on his teaching in 1980, Mr. Pynchon wrote, “Time and again visitors to his classroom come forth with the same evaluations: brilliant teaching, a unique

ability to present difficult material in ways which can be understood by the students, exciting to the students, stimulating . . . He achieves clarity of mind and thought through the interrelationships of ideas and the world at hand. He does so with earnest commitment and a warm sense of humor.” “I’ve had so many wonderful colleagues and taught so many fine young people,” Mr. Cary says. “Their gratitude for their days in our classrooms is the source of enormous satisfaction at the end of a career . . .” Which is not quite ending: Although he will no longer be teaching English, Mr. Cary will take on a different role at the Academy, working with Head of School Margarita Curtis and Dean of Advancement CJ Menard on advancement and development. Other than that, he plans to visit national parks, write poetry, make art, and enjoy a rugged, simple life at his home in Wilmington, VT, along with his wife, Jane. “I split all of our wood, as Robert Frost and generations of New Englanders have, with an axe or splitting maul,” he laughs. “We have virtually nothing motorized at our house except our cars; we do things in a way that enables us to enjoy our setting on the side of Haystack Mountain, and I will keep that up as long as I’m physically able.” //

BRANDON WU ’XV 20 | ALBANY ROAD

“They were aerating the greens, and the holes were causing havoc in This spring’s edition of Deerfield Academy golf will be hoping to place an exclamation point on what its predecessors have systematically nearly everyone’s game . . . everyone but Brandon’s.” remembered Albertson. “He finished the match with a 69 while no one else was able turned into a decade of dominance. During eight of the past nine years, Big Green golfers have made to break 80.” Being strong from tee to cup has always been Wu’s modus operandi. their way to the podium of the Kingswood-Oxford School Invitational Tournament to accept their spoils. On half of those occasions—2006, At Deerfield, it has helped him produce back-to-back top 10 finishes at 2008, 2010, and 2013—the Big Green has bested the 23-team field to the Kingswood tourney, medalist honors at Newport, plus two straight rule the western New England prep school scene. It has finished second undefeated regular-season showings. A successful summer competing in American Junior Golf Association on two occasions, and wound up third two other years. If Nick Albertson, who is retiring from the Academy this year—see tournaments didn’t hurt either. Four top 10 and five top five tourney page 17—hopes to get his charges back for a sixth consecutive appearance finishes earned Wu a ranking of 60th—out of 8622 AJGA golfers ages on the Kingswood pedestal and chalk up a fifth straight Newport 12-18—and all but assured him a spot on next year’s Stanford University Invitational Tournament title as well, the Big Green mentor will have golf team.” to fill a roster that Commencement 2014 shot some holes in. Needless to say, seeking Wu’s services on the collegiate level was very “The kids are going to have to step up big time this season,” intense and as Albertson stated, “Brandon drew a lot of interest.” said Albertson, who saw four of his top five players One such suitor was Dartmouth College golf Coach depart after helping lead Deerfield to a 22-3 record Rich Parker, and his approach might well lend a last year and to a 44-4 showing over the past breath of fresh air to the often-insatiable world two campaigns. “We lost some tremendous of collegiate recruiting. golfers when Sam Lafferty (who placed “Brandon and his mom came to visit second out of 115 golfers at Kingswood), Dartmouth and I knew from the first Tyler Stahle (who placed fifth), Stuart minute that he was a special kid,” said Smith, and Josh Kim graduated.” Parker. “He was mature, polite, and Fortunately for Albertson, however, really the kind of kid that every coach Brandon Wu ’15, who will be Deerfield’s wants to have on his team. top gun for a third straight season, “I drove to Crump last spring and has one more shot at showing Big his coach had told me before the Green Nation why he’s not only round that Stanford was his top considered one of the premier prep school,” added Parker. “I watched players in New England, but throughout Brandon play eight holes and he should the country as well. have been six under at that point. Taking By BOB YORK Adding depth will be Connor Henderson into account it was early spring and how PHOTO by BRENT M. HALE ’15, last year’s sixth seed, as well as Nick little he had played over the winter, I was Conzelman ’17, who competed in eight matches stunned with his distance control and loved last spring. Others include Anthony Jonikas ’16, his demeanor. He had everything you want in a kid Maddie Lyford ’16, Philip Chung ’16, and Lowell Weil ’18. whose potential you know has no limits.” “Brandon’s one of the three strongest golfers I’ve had the “I drove home that night thinking I had just watched the best opportunity to coach during my 17 years here at Deerfield,” said Albertson, junior golfer I had ever seen,” continued Parker. “I also knew it would who included Hunter Stone ’08 and James Park ’13 among his kings of be unfair for him to play in the Ivy League for his growth and future. swing. “What has made him so outstanding is that he’s a complete golfer I sent two emails that night: one to Brandon and one to (Stanford . . . all facets of his game are extremely strong.” coach) Conrad Ray to say he had to get this kid. “He crushes the ball off the tee, yet he’s very accurate with his “You know the rest of the story,” concluded Parker. “I know in my drives . . . he rarely misses the fairway,” added Albertson. “He has a heart that he would have made a major impact at Dartmouth College phenomenal approach to the green and once he’s there, he inevitably and the Ivy League. He’s a great kid with a bright future and I wish him finds the cup before his opponent does.” nothing but the best.” In fact, Albertson remembers an example of Wu’s outstanding putting When he heard about Parker’s kind words, Wu responded, “That’s ability that he exhibited during a match played last April at The Ranch. the nicest compliment I’ve ever gotten.” //

THE SPRING

KING OF

SWING

The Pause

and Effect: of TEDx BY J U L IA ELL I OT T

BY JESSICA DAY / PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRENT HALE

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRENT HALE

Beatriz Labadan ’16 paces the stage of the Elizabeth Wachsman Concert Hall, which is bare except for three bright red circular carpets. Projected above her is an image of an hourglass and a sundial. “Have you ever thought about why it takes so little time to destroy, yet so much time to build or create something?” she asks. As Beatriz glides confidently through her talk, only occasionally glancing at the notes in her hand, the audience could be forgiven for not recognizing that behind this unique opportunity to celebrate the life of the mind at Deerfield, there lies a lot of sweat. Each talk represents months of planning, preparation, and good old-fashioned practice on the part of the speakers and the students who organized the event: Deerfield’s first-ever TEDx. It all started in a leadership training session two years ago. A junior and a new Student Council member at the time, Haidun Liu ’15 wanted to create a platform for “students who have some sort of reflection or idea to share—to give them a microphone, so to speak.” He was particularly interested in encouraging dialogue across social circles. “I felt that what I hear at Deerfield and what I learn from my friends could change a lot if there was a more public way of sharing . . .” “We were also talking about how some people who do really cool things at Deerfield aren’t necessarily recognized,” says fellow Student Council member Nahla Gedeon Achi ’15. “We started talking about how to find a way to recognize those people within the busy Deerfield schedule . . .” “What about TEDx?” someone asked. For those who have never clicked on a TED video shared via Facebook or in an email, “TED” refers to a set of global conferences where luminaries deliver short talks on what are loosely billed as “ideas worth spreading.” TED began as a conference in 1984 organized by architect and graphic designer Richard Saul Wurman. That gathering, which featured

one of the first demonstrations of an Apple Macintosh computer as well as the Sony compact disc, explored the convergence of technology, entertainment, and design— hence, “TED.” Now run by the non-profit Sapling Foundation, TED talks have expanded to cover a wide range of topics, including science, culture, and academics. The foundation began streaming the talks for free in 2006 on TED.com, and recorded its billionth video view in 2012. TEDx events, in turn, may be thought of as grassroots versions of TED talks; they encourage “communities, organizations, and individuals to spark conversation and connection;” definitely something that Haidun and his fellow council members were hoping to accomplish. Haidun and Nahla, along with Megan Retana ’15, also a Student Council member, began looking into what it would take to pull off a TEDx event at Deerfield. A lot of work, they discovered; so they decided to start with a sort of pilot program. “We said, ‘What could we do to get ready and warm up, and practice and iterate, that would move us in the direction of doing TED talks?’” explains Academic Dean Peter Warsaw, who became the group’s faculty advisor. The answer? “Deerfield Talks.” Those first Deerfield Talks, beginning in the winter of 2014, were guided by the simple rule that every presentation must pose an open-ended question. Faculty and students participated, and there definitely was a learning curve that included some technical glitches and even questions over authenticity —situations that would have been embarrassing to Deerfield, had the talks been available

outside the local community. The organizers learned that they needed to impose guidelines that required each talk to be original, have a personal connection, and be well rehearsed. “It was really a good plan to practice going through the steps of preparing these talks,” says Mr. Warsaw. “Vetting them, making sure that they were ready for performance, and that they were going to be a credit to Deerfield. The prize was always TEDx; the question was: how to get there responsibly? Iteration was incredibly important.” By the fall of 2014, the trio of organizers, now seniors, was ready to apply for a TEDx license. Taking the Deerfield Talks to a public platform via TEDx, says Haidun, was akin to going for a black belt in kung fu; it set “a high target that motivated us to do more— the organizers, but also the speakers. It forced us to challenge ourselves.” “There’s always a danger,” says Mr. Warsaw, “that we can live inside our bubble, our ivory tower, in which we measure ourselves against each other.” He sees TEDx as a means to test Deerfield’s intellectual life on a global standard, well beyond the bubble. “And that’s the start of great things,” he continues, “when students are taking themselves seriously as not just consumers but creators of knowledge.” ••• A few months later, Megan Retana is nervously double-checking her checklist in the lighting booth above the concert hall. She’s wearing a walkie-talkie headset so she can communicate with the other organizers as well as the production crew that will be filming the event—three cameramen, a sound person, mixer, and a director. The video production is a crucial component, not only because the talks will be simulcast in the Large Aud, but because each talk will be edited and uploaded to the TEDx site. It means the talks will reach a much wider audience—it also means a lot more work.

“There’s always a danger,” says Mr. Warsaw, “that we can live inside our bubble, our ivory tower, in which we measure ourselves against each other.” He sees TEDx as a means to test Deerfield’s intellectual life on a global standard

Megan and Haidun spent hours in the concert hall the day before, overseeing final rehearsals and working with the film crew. Now Haidun is racing around: directing speakers, answering questions from the crew, and, when he can, glancing at his own talk—“Breathing As We Pray.” Nahla, who will act as event moderator, is pacing throughout the Hess Center, rehearsing her remarks. With Mr. Warsaw’s guidance, Megan, Haidun, and Nahla have accomplished a lot. One of their first tasks—after completing research and paperwork and carrying out all the details related to holding a TEDx event—was to come up with a theme. They solicited suggestions from the school community, narrowed the topics down to three, and then students and faculty voted online for “time” as the final theme. “Time was tied with, I think, heritage and community,” says Nahla. “We decided at that point that we would make an executive decision that it was a less talked about and potentially more interesting topic.” An online submission form revealed about thirty strong proposals from students and faculty, which the organizers whittled down to ten. Then it was time to start rehearsing. “They scaffolded the process of preparation for the actual talk,” says English teacher Peter Nilsson, “and that’s crucial. They were really good about checking in frequently and asking people to bring an outline, to have a first read through with the committee, a second read through, a dress rehearsal.” Adhering to a “practice makes perfect” model, adopted as a result of the Deerfield Talks, led to presentations that were more polished in delivery and more thoughtful and engaging in content. Mr. Warsaw—admitting to telling a tale out of school—reveals that Mr. Nilsson’s initial proposal was so vague that the organizers worried it might not yield a powerful presentation. He reassured them that Mr. Nilsson was up to the task and, sure enough, “every time Pete would take the feedback that he’d gotten,” Mr. Warsaw explains, “and come back with the next iteration just head and shoulders above. He kept getting better and better. From the first time he shared his prototypical ideas to that finished product, he covered the entire gamut from rough thinking to really polished execution.”

â&#x20AC;&#x153;In our hectic Deerfield schedules . . . we rarely have free rein to delve into subjects about which we are truly passionate. This TEDx event is an opportunity for teachers and students to come together and discuss topics that are out of the ordinary, all under the unifying theme of time. We hope this event will spark conversation among community members about a wide variety of current and relevant issues.â&#x20AC;?

TIMELESSNESS HISTORY

INFLUENCE

RACE

PHYSICS

PRESENTERS PETER NILSSON (Faculty) Pause and Effect: Becoming Who We Are

LIAM GONG ’16 Playing for Time

MATT MORROW ’15 & TAREK DEIDA ’15 Let’s Talk About Race in America

ABIGAIL LUPI ’18 Your Middle School Physics Teacher Misinformed You (Yet Again)

BEATRIZ LABADAN ’16 Summun Bonum

AUSTIN PARENTEAU ’15 Immortal Influence

DAVID PAYNE (Faculty) Timeless or of its Time: Appropriate Architecture for the 21st Century

JOSH TEBEAU ’16 In Search of Lost Time

DAVID THIEL (Faculty) The Landscape of Thought

HAIDUN LIU ’15 Breathing as We Pray

That willingness to risk is so counter-cultural to the world that we are seeing more and more. What I love is when we see some evidence that there are students who are willing to risk failure, willing to risk embarrassment, for possibly something great, because that’s the way we will lead the world.—Peter Warsaw Presenter Abigail Lupi ’16 also changed her script significantly after input from the student organizers. “After the first draft,” she explains, “it was apparent that my talk mainly consisted of aimless—but enthusiastic! —ramblings about somewhat alien concepts.” Abigail, who delivered her talk on black holes (a longtime interest fueled by courses at the MIT Splash program), ended up throwing out anything not directly relevant to her main point, including wormholes, red-shifting of light, gravitational lensing, and an initial plan to center her talk around the movie Interstellar. Careful editing led to what she felt was “a more systematic and coherent” finished product. Beatriz Labadan seconds the value of revision. “In preparing my TEDx talk,” she explains, “I was able to structurally formalize and condense my views in such a way that I came to a deeper understanding of what I was talking about. Many times I have thoughts or ideas that make sense in my own mind, but when you have to present it to others, it forces you to make the idea much clearer.” 2:00 pm: TEDx day: The sound and video equipment have been tested, the speakers are ready, the lights go down in the Concert Hall, and Nahla steps to the stage. “Hello everyone, and welcome to the first TEDx Deerfield Academy event,” she begins. “In our hectic Deerfield schedules . . . we rarely have free rein to delve into subjects about which we are truly passionate. This TEDx event is an opportunity for teachers and students to come together and discuss topics that are out of the ordinary, all under the unifying theme of time. We hope this event will spark conversation among community members about a wide variety of current and relevant issues.” Mr. Nilsson is up first. Titled “Pause and Effect: Becoming Who We Are,” his talk employs literature, music, psychology, science, and educational theory to explore “how rest and pause and a slower pace of life influence

us creatively, cognitively, and in an educational setting.” His initial idea, assessed as vague in its first iteration, evolved into a tight, engaging talk that was a clear audience favorite. Other speakers include juniors Matt Morrow and Tarek Deida talking about issues surrounding race in America; Beatriz with the story of her nonprofit; Studio Arts Teacher David Payne on the question of whether 21st century architecture is “timeless” or “of its time . . .”; and another audience favorite, Liam Gong ’16, speaking about procrastination. Backstage, the organizers barely have a moment to rest. Haidun and Megan dart up and down stairs, chasing after lost PowerPoint clickers and escorting speakers from the lighting booth, where they are outfitted with a special microphone, to the basement wings of the concert hall, where they wait before giving their talk. Nahla stands with them before they go on stage, listening as they whisper their talks to themselves in a final moment of preparation. “I admittedly was very nervous when I first got on stage,” says Beatriz. “The lights are bright and there are people filming you. But that all kind of disappeared, and it was like I was having an individual conversation with each member of the audience. It’s indescribable how truly liberating and empowering it is to be on stage and to be able to share your thoughts and your views. To have a venue where you can have your voice be heard is such an amazing feeling.” After intermission, Abigail takes the stage. Standing on a trampoline and rolling marbles around her feet, she illustrates how objects can get trapped into the orbit of a black hole by its gravitational force. She is followed by Austin Parenteau ’15, who brings the audience on a journey that begins in ancient Rome. “On behalf of the organizing committee,” says Nahla as she closes the event, “I would also like to thank you all for taking time out of your busy lives to pause and reflect, as Mr.

Nilsson urged us to do in his talk. Matthew and Tarek discussed the issues surrounding race in America, will you? Dynasties rise and fall, civilizations flourish and then disappear, political systems grow and sometimes collapse, but do ideas ever die? As you rest your head on your pillow tonight, will you think of three things you are thankful for? We hope you leave the Concert Hall with more questions than you entered with.” As she watches the audience filter out of the Hess Center, Nahla declares the event a success by TEDx’s standards. “I think it definitely sparked conversation,” she says. For Abigail Lupi, not only was TEDx a great way to learn about others’ passions, it was a chance to gain important skills. “You’ve got to come up with ideas, so it requires creativity. It requires organization. It requires memorization. It requires time management and commitment.” Abigail spent almost every free moment during an already busy month preparing for her talk. Still, even after so much hard work, Abigail—and several of her fellow presenters —had moments where she momentarily forgot her remarks. “I learned to be definitely more prepared with memorization,” she says with a laugh, adding, “I think my recovery was decent!” For Mr. Warsaw, such stumbles are far from evidence of failure. “To some extent,” he says, “every one of the presenters willingly elected to put themselves in harm’s way. That willingness to risk is so counter-cultural to the world that we are seeing more and more. Students believe that their chief strategy for success is avoiding any mistake, any lapse, and of course they are wrong—that’s a recipe for mediocrity. What I love is when we see some evidence that there are students who are willing to risk failure, willing to risk embarrassment, for possibly something great, because that’s the way we will lead the world. TEDx was a microcosm of that.” //

Show Your Work

28 | ALBANY ROAD

THE BEA T

I will use this knowledge to help me in future engineering courses, I will use it when I'm working with boats and motors this summer, I will use it when I am involved in activities with everyday shop tools, and I will use it to be the MacGyver that my dad wants me to be.—Reid Shilling '17 THE CLASS: PHYSICS II: ELECTRIC VEHICLE ENGINEERING

THE ASSIGNMENT: GAS COMBUSTION TO ELECTRIC CONVERSION

THE PROCESS: Throughout the fall and winter terms, students in this class converted a 6-wheeled amphibious utility vehicle to run on electrical power. This course offers students a unique opportunity both to problem solve practical designs and to bring their ideas to fruition through the hands-on construction and implementation of their ideas. Students were assessed on their ability to collaborate effectively and to demonstrate independence, resilience, and time management. Additionally, students studied topics including gear ratios, thermodynamics, oxidation/reduction/electrochemistry, internal battery resistance, DC motors, fuses, switches, motor controllers, variable resistors, and rolling resistance.

ORIGINAL SPECS:

MAX IV ATV with AMPHIBIOUS CAPABILITY 96 INCHES LONG 42 INCHES HIGH 56 INCHES WIDE 58 INCH WHEELBASE 1000 LBS TOWING CAPACITY 4 PERSONS SEATING CAPACITY  1605 GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT (INCLUDING PASSENGERS, CARGO & ACCESSORIES)

POST CONVERSION:

ALLTRAX SERIES PERMANENT MAGNETIC MOTOR  CONTROLLER = "THE BRAIN" THAT ALLOWS THE MAX IV TO FOLLOW COMMANDS  4 DURALAST MARINE BATTERIES: 12 VOLTS AND 1000 AMPS EACH CARBON GT BELT  PLEXIGLASS ENGINE COVER TO PREVENT MOISTURE FROM GETTING TO ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS

SEE "THE BEAST" IN ACTION | DEERFIELD.EDU/6WHEEL

Change is in the Air ...Again

If the graph of the function f is in line with slope 2, which of the following could be the equation off ? (a) f(x) = 4x-2 (b) f(x) = 2x+4 (c) f(x) = -2x-2 (d) f(x) = 1/2x+2 (e) f(x) = -1/2x+1/2 To check your answer, read on . . .

JR Delaney

by Director of College Advising Mark Spencer

Here’s an SAT question for you:

As the conversation continues over whether the SAT and ACT (American College Test) accurately test a student’s academic prowess and potential, and colleges and universities debate requiring them for admission, these go-to standardized tests are being revised again. Changes to the ACT are minimal. Beginning this year, in addition to the traditional version, the ACT will be available to students to take online. Those who do take the test online will see a new breed of questions—free response questions in which they manipulate on-screen images to form their answers. What will remain the same is the test’s content; the ACT has always maintained that its test is based on what students learn in the classroom. For the time being most Deerfield students will continue to take the ACT on paper, but we are exploring computer lab spaces so we can offer the online version of the test to our students in the future.

30 | ALBANY ROAD

A A A A

B B B B

C C C C

D D D D

E E E E

1 2 3 4

offering information on testing schedules, test registration, accommodations and fee waivers, along with course requirements for students needing to fulfill NCAA regulations. College Advising continues to offer practice ACT tests in September and February, and the PSAT every October. Taking practice exams offers students just that—practice! Practice exams give students a feel for both the rhythm and the content of each test. After taking a couple of practice tests, students are often able to gauge if one test is a better fit over another. There is a helpful PDF chart put out by Summit Educational Group that compares the SAT and ACT: mytutor.com. Furthermore, beginning next year, College Advising has partnered with outside vendors to offer live test prep courses at Deerfield; these will be in addition to the existing test prep software that individual students can access online through Deerfield’s subscription, and thanks to scholarship assistance, this test prep will be available to all students. Because of the testing requirements many colleges and universities have, the College Advising Office is committed to doing everything it can to prepare our students for these exams. We want our students to go into an SAT or ACT test feeling ready to do their best with the lowest level of stress possible, and although testing is an integral part of a candidate’s profile for many admission offices, it is by no means a measurement of one’s worth as a student or citizen of the world. The SAT and ACT do not measure one’s character. Interestingly, there are a growing number of colleges (Wesleyan and Wake Forest among them) that are opting out of standardized tests as part of their admission process, and there are more than 800 colleges that have some form of a “test optional policy” in place. To learn more about test optional schools, visit Fairtest.org. Ready to start studying? Samples of the new SAT questions can currently be found on the College Board website or check out the “SAT Question of the Day” app and download it to your smartphone. And the answer to the question at the top of page 30? B. //

1 2 3 4

A A A A

B B B B

C C C C

D D D D

E E E E

STUDY UP corestandards.org Fairtest.org mytutor.com

*washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/01/18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-common-core-ravitch

Changes to the SAT will be far more significant. In March of 2016 the SAT will change its scoring methods and test format. Today the SAT is scored on a 2400-point scale. That will change (back) to a 1600-point scale. Secondly, the SAT is being revised to more closely align with what students learn in the classroom and the new National Common Core Standards. The Common Core, according to the organization’s website, is “a set of clear college- and career-ready standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. Today, 43 states have voluntarily adopted and are working to implement the standards, which are designed to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to take credit bearing introductory courses in two- or four-year college programs or enter the workforce.” As an independent school, Deerfield is not required to implement these curriculum guidelines as the public schools in Massachusetts are being asked to do. However, our students are being impacted by the changes in the SAT that stem from these new, (controversial) national curriculum standards. For an interesting counterpoint to the Common Core, I invite you to read an article recently published in the Washington Post by Valerie Strauss that reprints a speech by Diane Ravitch.* Generally speaking, according to the College Board, the new SAT will focus on more relevant vocabulary and “Math that Matters Most,” as well as critical thinking skills, real-world problems, and informed citizenship through analysis of our nation’s founding documents. In the fall of 2015, students taking the PSAT will get a sneak preview of the new test, as the PSAT will reflect the revised scoring and format. Currently, both our juniors and sophomores take the PSAT. The College Advising Office has a number of supports in place to guide our students and parents through these testing changes. In addition to the knowledge and experience the College Advising staff has with these tests, Vita Thiel is our testing coordinator and assistant registrar. She is an invaluable resource,

REMEMBERING

Priscilla Gardner Butterworth

Priscilla Gardner Butterworth, an Academy employee for 41 years, died in Arlington, MA, on March 8, 2015. She was 97. Ms. Butterworth was hired as one of Mr. Boyden’s secretaries in 1945, but she spent the majority of her career working in the Finance (Business) Office. She served as assistant treasurer, clerk of the corporation for the Board of Trustees, and bursar. When she retired from Deerfield in 1986, longtime friend and colleague Russ Miller was quoted as saying: “(Priscilla was) one of the most loyal and faithful employees the school’s ever had. She was the school’s business manager but without the title. She ran everything for Mr. Boyden.” In fact, before the appointment of a business manager in 1969, Ms. Butterworth was responsible for virtually all of the financial operations of the Academy. A longtime resident of Greenfield, MA, Ms. Butterworth was a member of the First Church of Christ Scientist in Greenfield for 63 years, and served as both secretary and treasurer. Later in life Ms. Butterworth moved to a home for elderly Christian Scientists who no longer wished to or could not live in their own homes but who did not want to live in a traditional retirement community or nursing home. Family and friends at a “reception of celebration” at the Deerfield Inn on April 19 remembered Ms. Butterworth fondly; a frequent comment was that she will be missed for her wry sense of humor and wisdom. //

32 | ALBANY ROAD

BALD IS BEAUTIFUL $300,000 was raised during the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Saving by Shavingâ&#x20AC;? event after sit-down dinner on April 9. Two hundred eighty-two members of the Deerfield community shaved their heads, and thanks to a generous donor, every shave or cut for Locks of Love sent $1000 directly to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute for pancreatic cancer research. PHOTOS by DAVID THIEL

A HOOKWORM

ILLUSTRATED BY E R A X I O N

as i

pa r

w or m s.

w es an s ts ica to H ri ar d r th is e on w or F ld ul ’s le ch rt il o dr n en ’0 of 0

N EL L

LA K

SCALING WHAT WORKS Jessica Harrison Fullerton ’00 wants to rid the world’s children of

parasitic worms. It’s not, she knows, the most “sexy” of goals. Nor are worms the most dramatic of global problems: Think terrible diseases in the developing world, and you’re much more likely to conjure Ebola, AIDS, cholera. Yet parasitic worms are an enormous public-health problem. They impair people’s lives in pervasive and enduring ways. Worldwide, over 870 million children are in need of treatment for debilitating parasites, but less than 280 million have been treated, according to a recent World Health Organization report. Worms deprive children of nutrients, can prevent kids from going to school, and can compromise their learning and brain development. So while the issue tends not to receive as much attention or funding as some other tropical diseases, eliminating worms as a public-health problem, Ms. Fullerton says, could dramatically improve children’s well-being worldwide. Ms. Fullerton is associate director of the Deworm the World Initiative, a program of Evidence Action, a nonprofit organization working in Southeast Asia and East and Southern Africa. Evidence Action focuses on taking interventions that have proven effective in the developing world and expanding those strategies on a much larger scale. Ms. Fullerton’s Deworm the World program is helping governments use

school systems to treat worms nationwide in Kenya and India. There is also a program developing in Vietnam. “There’s no reason why kids should suffer, and their education, health, and livelihoods be impaired by this disease,” Ms. Fullerton says. Three major pharmaceutical companies provide deworming drugs for millions of children at no cost. Distribution of those treatments is effective and inexpensive—ranging from ten cents to about 50 cents per child, per year, depending on the country. In Kenya last year, with Deworm the World’s technical assistance, the national government treated 6.4 million kids—over 80 percent of at-risk school-aged children. In India, the government’s program treated an estimated 140 million children earlier this year. The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT, a leading research and advocacy organization, lists deworming as a “best buy” in both education and health interventions, and calls it “an education policy priority.” Even so, Ms. Fullerton says, “the global community is only treating about 35 percent of the at-risk school-aged kids worldwide.” So with government programs established in Kenya, India, and one under way in Vietnam, she asked, “Where could we go next and have the most impact?” Because Ethiopia has a large population of at-risk kids, Ms. Fullerton set her sights there.

The hidden dangers of play: In Ethiopia, and all over the developing world, kids play outside. Because of poor sanitation, lack of infrastructure, and open defecation, they get infected with parasitic worms though contaminated soil or water. Mass deworming treats all children, regardless of their level of infection, because worms have a negative impact on children who may not even know they are infected. In the long-term, improved sanitation and infrastructure is the solution—as was the case in the American South that was endemic with parasitic worms for much of the 19th century until significant improvements in sanitation. But in the meantime, programs like Deworm the World that help implement deworming in schools are helping kids live healthier and more productive lives even without those larger, more expensive and longer-term changes. With low enough incidence and prevalence, worms cease to be a public-health problem. In this sense, deworming is like a vaccination program, with parallels to the disappearance of smallpox and polio in the US. The difference is that vaccines are preventative, while deworming is curative, for a time. But by continually reducing the prevalence of worms in children and their environment, there may come a day when the problems these organisms cause will be wiped off the list of public-health challenges that poor children face. It’s the sort of problem and potentially happy outcome that Ms. Fullerton has long been attracted to. “From a very young age,” she says, “I’ve been drawn to books and classes and people who are interested in making the world a better place, in some way, shape, or form.” Her approach: to bring sharp business savvy to difficult social puzzles. Ultimately, she says, “I’m just a big nerd—I like to solve problems.” Modern Times: Deerfield helped Ms. Fullerton to develop a keen “interest in the world outside of the US and what I had previously known.” She credits much of this expansion of her adolescent curiosity and concern to a history course called Modern Times, which she took her senior year. Teacher Tom Heise designed the course in the mid1990s for seniors who’d already taken US History. (Modern Times is now taught by history teacher Joe Lyons.) The two-term course, Mr. Heise says, “alerted students to the kinds of issues they were likely to encounter as they headed out into the world; it gave them a sense for where those issues came from.” This meant exploring the fundamental “confrontation and argument” among three primary political ideologies in the 20th century: liberalism, Marxism, and fascist totalitarianism —and the dynamics these gave rise to. “An animating idea,” Mr. Heise says, “was to have students be able to pick up a copy of the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal or whatever else, and understand where those headlines came from.” The course also continually encouraged students “to think about moral problems, about how one sorts through those, and about our obligations to one another.”

It’s the sort of problem and potentially happy outcome that Ms. Fullerton has long been attracted to. Her approach: to bring sharp business savvy to difficult social puzzles. Ultimately, she says, “I’m just a big nerd— I like to solve problems.” This sort of moral reflection came up in many topics of study; Ms. Fullerton remembers that learning about the horrors in Rwanda particularly shaped her interest in having a positive impact on others’ lives. The business of the social sector: After Deerfield, Ms. Fullerton attended Middlebury College, studying geography, political science, and Spanish. She spent a semester in Chile learning about economic development and globalization. After Middlebury, she says, “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew that I wanted to build a robust skill set, so that I could eventually apply it to solving problems to improve people’s lives.” She worked first for Kaiser Associates, a consulting firm providing advice to Fortune 500 companies “on all kinds of problems, from launching a new product, to defending market share, to mergers and acquisitions.” She enjoyed “working in teams, thinking strategically, doing quantitative analysis—as well as qualitative interview work.” But she also wanted to feel she was contributing positively to society and people’s lives. So after two years with Kaiser, she joined Dalberg Global Development Advisers, which, she says, takes “rigorous, strategic, analytical consulting practices and principles from private sector firms and applies them to clients in international development.”

MAKING CENTS OF THE NUMBERS L O C AT I O N / N O . T R E AT E D

24¢

10¢

/per child/per year

Delhi State, India /

2,382,517

Most Recently Completed Deworming Round: September 2012-June 2014

/per child/per year

Rajasthan State, India / 10,842,705 Most Recently Completed Deworming Round: July 2013-August 2014

9¢

/per child/per year

Bihar State, India / 16,225,546

56¢

The largest school-based deworming program in the world to date. Most Recent Deworming Round: August 2013-July 2014

/per child/per year

KENYA / 6,405,462 Most Recently Completed Deworming Round: July 2013-August 2014

Stephanie Skinner

“How do you scale this program from 300 sites predominantly in South Africa, to thousands of sites across Africa? What countries do you go into, and how do you think about the model, and should there be partnership with the government or other nonprofits?” Ms. Fullerton considered such “nerdy” questions as:

She loved the work. Clients included the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Human Rights Watch, and the African Development Bank. But her favorite project was with a small nonprofit called Mothers2Mothers in South Africa. The organization works with HIVpositive mothers to train HIV-positive pregnant women to prevent transmission of the virus to their fetuses. Women can achieve this in part through taking antiretroviral drugs on a strict schedule. In South Africa, Ms. Fullerton worked with another Dalberg staff member to develop strategies for bringing the program to many more women. Ms. Fullerton considered such “nerdy” questions as: “How do you scale this program from 300 sites predominantly in South Africa, to thousands of sites across Africa? What countries do you go into, and how do you think about the model, and should there be partnership with the government or other nonprofits?” She and Dalberg recommended several possible ways to expand. Today the program operates in eight additional countries, and has reached more than 1.2 million people. And Ms. Fullerton learned a lot, she says, about extending the reach of high-impact programs.

She went on to get her MBA from Columbia and, in a dual-degree program offered by the two schools, her MPA at Harvard’s Kennedy School. She graduated in the spring of 2012. Next she worked for the Bridgespan Group, a consulting firm, and joined the Deworm the World Initiative in the fall of 2013. People with MBAs, like Ms. Fullerton, use words like impact and strategy and cost-effectiveness and scalable and skill-set and returns on investment. People with MBAs (like Ms. Fullerton) who want to do good use these words to talk about solving social problems. “I see a lot of people who work in nonprofits who don’t think strategically and who don’t think about cost-effectiveness. I think there’s a lot of waste in aid and nonprofits because people aren’t taking a harder look at numbers, and thinking about returns on investment.” Still, she’s quick to add, a business approach is “not sufficient.” Were nonprofits suddenly flooded with businesspeople and bankers, “it wouldn’t make nonprofits better,” she says. “I think there’s an important kind of humility and interpersonal communication style that is needed in development, that you don’t get from going to business school.” She

hopes to “operate in a middle ground, between the hard-nosed business person only interested in the bottom line, and a wide-eyed dreamer who just wants to have a positive impact on the world. My interest is in asking, ‘How do you get the best outcomes possible by using the best tools that are available?’ In many cases those tools, I think, we can derive from companies and business organizations.” Scaling up: “We’ve learned a lot, and the best way we can have impact is by sharing what we’ve learned with other countries, so that they can replicate our best practices and avoid the mistakes we’ve made,” Ms. Fullerton says. Last September, she flew to Ethiopia to investigate whether Evidence Action could support a deworming program there. Within a few months, she forged a partnership with Dr. Mike French from the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative and the Federal Ministry of Health, who set their sights on launching a national school-based deworming program. “I didn’t know anyone, and I sort of knocked on the door at the Ministry of Health and asked if I could be helpful,” she says. Since then, she’s been traveling often to Addis Ababa, meeting with members of the Ministry of Health and the nonprofit Schistosomiasis Control Initiative. Together they are working to develop an “efficient distribution system,” Ms. Fullerton says, for deworming tens of millions of children. The work in Ethiopia has also allowed Deworm the World’s Kenya staff to travel to Addis Ababa to share their insights and lessons learned working on the national deworming program in that country. Evidence Action’s Deworm the World Initiative works with governments around the world to use schools and teachers for national deworming programs. Ms. Fullerton is working with the Ministry of Health to develop a training program in which staff at the national level train workers at regional levels, who train others at local levels, who train teachers, in a “cascade” of training. One benefit of this approach is that it is scalable—the program can apply lessons learned in other contexts and create a broad, national program, using the pre-existing school infrastructure. The most interesting and challenging problems, Ms. Fullerton believes, are those that require her to motivate people from different cultures and backgrounds, who “need to feel a sense of ownership and accountability for the work that I catalyze.”

“The hardest thing about my work is dealing with different types of people. It’s not just building the financial model. It’s building a massive financial model, and helping a government person feel like they’re comfortable with it and it’s theirs and they can use it going forward. I like that. My favorite thing (and greatest challenge) about my work is how multi-dimensional it is; it’s about doing really rigorous analysis and connecting with people. My favorite moments are when I’m sitting next to a person from the Ministry of Health and feeling like they have a new tool or strategy for something that was blocking their progress before.” Ms. Fullerton recalls long meetings with an administrator with the Ministry of Health, Birhan Mengistu: “We talked through everything” —from how many days it would take for trainers to travel to rural regions, to the amount and cost of fuel for trucks that deliver treatments. It was labor-intensive, detail driven work. As they worked, Ms. Fullerton and Mr. Mengistu periodically took breaks for Ethiopian coffee—“rich, dark coffee that looks more like mud.” During one such break, she asked Mr. Mengistu how he was feeling about the budget. She acknowledged that the work was laborious. Yet Mr. Mengistu seemed thrilled. He smiled and said, “Oh I love it. It’s wonderful,” Ms. Fullerton recalls. “Going forward, he’ll be able to use this model to forecast other neglected tropical disease programs” —and consider the many details that go into creating an accurate budget. Ms. Fullerton’s emerging Ethiopian program is built on previous successes: Deworm the World’s assistance to the governments of Kenya and India enables them to treat close to 80 percent of their at-risk, school-aged children. Ms. Fullerton is aiming for similar success in Ethiopia. This April the Ethiopian program launched, treating more than 3 million children in targeted areas. In October, the program will expand and begin treating more than 12 million children every year. She expects that by 2020 Ethiopia will be able to treat worms in 80 percent of its school-aged children. By working with governments, helping them build skills, designing cost-effective strategies and making them scalable, Ms. Fullerton hopes that “worms will no longer be a public health problem, that all children will have access to the treatments that they deserve, and grow into healthy, educated adults.”//

She hopes to “operate in a middle ground, between the hard-nosed business person only interested in the bottom line, and a wide-eyed dreamer who just wants to have a positive impact on the world. My interest is in asking, ‘How do you get the best outcomes possible by using the best tools that are available?”

FROM THE ARCHIVES

’56

M O O R N O M M

O C E TH

1935 1934 961 1 0 6 9 1 1987 1986 012 2 2011

1937 1936 963 1 2 6 9 1 1989 1988 014 2 2013

40 | THE COMMON ROOM

9 8 195 7 195 6 195 1984 1985 5 9 1 0 1955 82 1983 9 201 1954 9 8 200 1953 981 1 0 1 2 0 0 5 2 9 8 951 1 8 1979 19 006 2007 2 950 1 7 949 1 76 1977 19 004 2005 1 8 4 9 2 9 1 1 3 7 5 0 4 46 19 3 1974 197 1 2002 20 45 19 0 44 19 1 1972 197 2000 20 9 1 3 9 4 7 8 199 42 19 9 1970 19 9 9 1 9 1 1 96 194 997 1940 967 1968 1 95 1996 1 1939 9 1938 965 1966 1 93 1994 1 9 1 1964 991 1992 1 1 s 0 r 9 a e 19 ion Y *Reun

1948 “My retranslation of Kazantzakis’s novel Zorba the Greek was published by Simon & Schuster in December 2014. The novel needed to be retranslated because the original translation into English was done by someone who did not understand Greek, and who therefore used a previous translation into French as his text, carrying forward into the English translation all of the French translation’s omissions and errors. My retranslation has of course used as its text the author’s original version in Greek. Even the title is different. The author’s title is The Saint’s Life of Zorba.”—Peter Bien

1949 “I presented a paper to The Chicago Literary Club (www.chilit.org) on three Chicago sisters named Monroe. A minor point made by me in it related that one sister, the widow of the famed Chicago architect, John Wellborn Root, rented a house for the summer of 1892 in Deerfield for herself, her several small children, and a house servant or two. Because she was sickly, both her sisters visited her; they were also great letter writers, and some of their correspondence is preserved in accessible Chicago libraries, so one knows their timing and their family concerns. Why Deerfield, other than the known fact that agriculture had been in a severe depression since the opening of the Erie Canal, and rentals there were cheap? Christopher Monkhouse ’65, now of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Susan Flynt, who has written a fine book on the Arts and Crafts Movement of Deerfield, provided the necessary clues: Madeline Yale Wynne, a key figure in that movement, spent winters in Chicago, as a neighbor to Mrs. Root’s family home. Moving in the same social circles, the three sisters and Mrs. Wynne had to have become close friends. Deerfield was an excellent place in which to escape the rigors of a Chicago summer on the eve of The World’s Columbian Exposition. One Monroe sister—Lucy (later Mrs. WJ Calhoun, wife of the American minister to China, appointed by President Taft)—used her time in Deerfield to write for a publication: the New England Magazine, both on Deerfield and on the new Art Institute of Chicago, designed by Boston’s famed architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, which is also credited with having been the architect for the restoration of Deerfield’s Friary House. These are not intellectual roads down that I even thought of venturing down when I was a student at the Academy, some 65 years ago.”—John Notz

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

H I ST O R I CA L C I RC L ES :

“Moving in the same social circles, the three sisters and Mrs. Wynne had to have become close friends. Deerfield was an excellent place in which to escape the rigors of a Chicago summer on the eve of The World’s Columbian Exposition.”

My father, Sheldon Howe, came to Deerfield Academy from Princeton in 1930 to teach American History.

I recently called the Boyden Library to see if I could unload 20 volumes of my father’s 1915 edition of Harvard Classics. They couldn’t accept the books, but . . . I discovered that this is the 25th anniversary of Deerfield Academy’s return to coeducation, so I decided to share some of my memories of being a Deerfield girl . . .

I was born in June 1931 at 5:15 PM. Because we had no car, Mr. and Mrs. Boyden’s son, Ted, agreed to drive Mother to the hospital. Ted didn’t want to be awakened in the middle of the night, so I was induced. We lived in the Saxton House on the corner opposite the Brick Church. Boys lived upstairs, so I was immersed in DA from the beginning. I attended the Deerfield public school on Memorial Street, where there were two grades in a room with one teacher for both classes. Mother didn’t know that the other girls in my class went either to Northfield School for Girls or to South Deerfield High School, so I headed to the Academy. There were three girls who graduated in 1948. I was the last girl to enter Deerfield for about 40 years. I recently called the Boyden Library to see if I could unload 20 volumes of my father’s 1915 edition of Harvard Classics. They couldn’t accept the books, but . . . I discovered that this is the 25th anniversary of Deerfield Academy’s return to coeducation, so I decided to share some of my memories of being a Deerfield girl . . . When my father came to the Academy there were about 20 girls and 200 boys. I remember that the girls wore green uniforms when they played basketball in the barn where Mr. Boyden also kept the horses that pulled his buggy around. This was next to what was then the headmaster’s house. (Ephraim Williams House). In September 1946, when not in class or study hall, I would go to the Girls’ Club, near the Main School Building, where we gathered for a lunch brought over to us from the Dining Hall. I was the only girl in all my classes: Johnny Jones’ English class, Mr. Coffin’s Latin class, Mr. Bill’s algebra class, and Robert Crowe’s English History class. As the only girl in the freshman class, I felt ignored and sad. Two boys spoke to me but only rarely; I remember their names, Dana Pearson and Jolyan Hitchen. Nancy Palmer ’48 had been my best friend in public school but she befriended a sophomore girl, significantly changing our relationship.

THE LAST GIRL By ELIZABETH HOWE VERRILL ’49

42 | THE COMMON ROOM

One day in algebra class the boy who sat behind me tied a rope to the back of my chair. Fortunately, I spied it before he pulled the chair out from under me. During free periods I went to the big study hall where my assigned seat was way at the left front corner. Between classes, I scurried through the halls with my books clutched to my chest not looking at anybody directly and no one looked at me . . . as far as I knew . . . No writing was required in my public school classes. When producing a report about Scotland, I copied paragraphs from the World Book Encyclopedia. My teacher did not object. Every weekend I thought about the two-minute floor talk that I had to stand and deliver before the class . . . without notes. On Friday a 225-word theme was due, including an outline. Two grades were given for those themes: one for spelling and grammar, the other for content. I began by getting Cs and ended up with As. Clearly Mr. Jones was a fine teacher and I an apt, appreciative student. One incident is deeply engraved upon my mind—emotionally still crystal clear. One March day there was a debate scheduled. The topic: “Comic Books Are Detrimental to Society.” No one discussed the procedure with me—not Mr. Jones nor any of my classmates. I was assigned the job of giving rebuttal for the affirmative. In my family we were not allowed to have comic books. I had no opinions about comic books. Deerfield Reunions, 2014

After listening to the presentations, I stood for a minute, unable to think of anything to say, and then sat down. That is all I remember. I do not believe that Mr. Jones or any of the boys spoke to me about what happened. I went home to an empty house—both my parents worked at the school. I went for a walk in the South Meadows and cried. I do remember that it was a cold, sunny day. My mother must have heard what happened, though, because we went to Northfield School for Girls that month for an interview. I graduated from there in 1949. One evening years later my friend Peggy Brace invited me to dinner to meet a friend of her husband’s: Victor Mahler ’51. She introduced me as Libby Whelpton—the first name a vestige from summer camp, and the last name my first husband’s. Remembering me from Deerfield days, Victor said, “. . . but her name is Elizabeth Howe.” He and I became friends and spent many weekends skiing and hiking in New Hampshire. In the winter of 1963 Victor was traveling the world; neighbors across the street introduced me to Eric Verrill ’48, who was the neighbor’s law partner. After Eric and I were married on July 1, 1967, he told me that when he was a sophomore he imagined that he would marry me some day. Neither Victor nor Eric remains on the planet, but I remember them fondly. I must not forget to mention Harvey Loomis ’49, who was in my freshman English class. I had lunch with him when visiting friends on Long Island, and he has become a good friend of mine. I always look forward to meeting him at Deerfield Reunions. I shall end by saying that in my experience these men were and are fine gentlemen, worthy of their heritage. And in retrospect, I owe much to Deerfield Academy for my ultimate happiness. //

Three Deerfield/Princeton friends and their wives converged in St. Barthelemy this past January to swim, hike, take in the sights, and debate the merits of today’s world. This is the fourth time this group has met there, and included (l to r) AC Starkey ’69, John Winant ’67, and Ned Scudder ’67. Each are convinced the philosophical determinations they ruminated upon will make things better everywhere.—Ned Scudder ’67 67

Mike Grant and Tom L’Esperance

together at their 55th Reunion; they hope to see many, many classmates at the 60th next month!

1950

55 A special moment for John Thorn ’55, who passed away on June 13, 2014, and his daughter, Jennifer Wood ’92, at her wedding in 2003.

44 | THE COMMON ROOM

“Jerry Grant died September 15, 2014, following a stroke, in New York. We got to love and appreciate him especially during a period of several years when Jerry sang tenor in our barbershop group, pretentiously known as ‘The Quartet.’ (We considered ourselves a strong enhancement to the likes of Lester Lanin at debutante parties in and around Westchester and Fairfield Counties.) Jerry had a wonderful tenor voice and to sing with him was a sheer joy. He was a special person, hard to describe: To see him approaching would put a smile on everyone’s faces; to be in his presence was unfailingly a happy, though ever unpredictable, experience. It was a recurrent surprise to hear his comments on anything—usually uttered expressionless and in a low, soft voice. What he had to say was mostly worth listening to and usually just plain funny. His quiet, almost laconic demeanor was in fact a smoke screen for a highly intelligent and engaging human being. Jerry’s extraordinary accomplishments in urology are well documented in other places. He served in the US Marines. He was a founding member of The Zumbyes at Amherst, and he continued singing for over 20 years with The University Glee Club in New York. We have lost a lovable friend, but have gained memories we’ll cherish till the end.”—John Staige “JS” Davis IV, John L. Gray III, Peyton RH “The Pinks” Pinkerton ’50

The Boyden Library isn’ t just keeping up with modern teaching methods —it’s leading the way. Thank you for keeping the Boyden Library on the cutting edge with your leadership gift.

1955

“Over the past ten years since our 50th Reunion, Mike Grant, our class captain and gifted letter writer, has shared reflections and insights with us in his annual letters. Some excerpts from them are especially appropriate for us now, as we anticipate with fondness and wonderment the upcoming camaraderie of our 60th Reunion in June.” —Tom L’Esperance “In June we will have graduated from Deerfield 60 years ago. How swiftly the time has passed. Our ranks are slimmer, but there is still quite a contingent of ’55-ers who are leading active and productive lives. Like me, a few of us are still working, and many more are involved in the not-for-profit world of philanthropy. For me, the memories of my four years in the Pocumtuck Valley remain vivid and exciting. So many new experiences and emotions were introduced during that short period. While reflecting is fun, we can update our relationship with the school by planning to be at our 60th Reunion in June… Not one of the buildings I lived in remains, but the unique setting, and the mission that goes on within it really hasn’t materially changed. Technology and educational sophistication are state-of-the art, yet today’s students, like us, will mostly remember the traditional values that we learned around the table in the Dining Hall, in the dorm, or on the playing fields. More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

ld.e eerfie

du /gi

The Deerfield Experience: Perhaps the most important element of this special alchemy is the intimate relationship fostered between the students and the faculty. We seek out and hold crucial those ‘triple threat’ individuals who can be effective counselors in the classroom, live in the dormitories, and coach on the playing fields. It struck me again, as I walked around Deerfield a week ago, that though the school is really current in all respects, the essence of the place remains the same as when we were there, and the students are fortunate to be getting the same level of attention and hands-on supervision. For Mr. Boyden the goal was importantly spiritual as well as pragmatic success. Happily, I sensed that those revered principles are still woven into the fabric of the Deerfield Experience today. Mr. and Mrs. Boyden were such mentors for me. They exemplified the gritty strength and simplicity of the New England character, and added wit to wisdom. They told us stories that were pithy, amusing, and sometimes serious that have stuck in our minds for over fifty years. While our 50th Reunion is indeed in the past, we are hardly finished with Deerfield. Judging from the energy and active interests displayed last June, there is plenty of juice left, and plenty of hills to climb. We might be older, crankier, more forgetful, arthritic, and hard to please, but the spirit Mr. Boyden instilled in us will never diminish.”—Mike Grant

My enthusiasm for the Deerfield experience has been reaffirmed with Duncan ’17 and Cornelia ’18 at DA. The academic grind is intense, as competition is far more fierce that it was with the Class of 1970. Duncan is playing football, hockey, and lacrosse. Cornelia is playing field hockey, ice hockey, and lacrosse. They also both play in the jazz band. Deerfield is one of the few prep schools that still has six seated meals a week with faculty members. It’s much more of a global school than it was in 1970. While DA is, in many respects, a much different school than it was in 1970, it still has a unique student /faculty bond that doesn’t exist at many of its peer schools.—Keith Mackay ’70

1963 Bill Duncan ’66 Memorialized by Google Maps last February when visiting Ernest Shackleton’s grave on South Georgia Island. See billduncan.us/docs/gm_ sogeo.php

Steven Brill ’68 Published a new book: America’s Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System, which made the New York Times best-seller list its first week out. See page 67 for details.

46 | THE COMMON ROOM

“Last October, on the way back from Pawley’s Island, Linda and I drove to Birmingham to adopt two new (eight-year-old) Golden Retrievers—Mollie Mae and Barkley. They are quite the couple. In November, our son-in-law, Lt Col John Maher, became the Commanding Officer of HMH 361. Jon and Laura are still in Atlanta, as he is in with GE Capital.”—Tim Balch

1965 “Deerfield was everything my father and mother envisioned for me: A vast ocean of resources, wisdom, talent, and intelligence. At Deerfield, I found myself in a place where everyone was smarter than I was. Great preparation for life . . . I guess they call that education!” —Joe Latham

1977 “After many years in England and little sign of snow, I have slowly learned to ride. No ski jumps in sight from the downs on the Isle of Wight. Yes, the downs are actually ups or the chalk hills overlooking the sea in southeast England. The Isle of Wight, once visited by none other than Stu Day ’77, is also home to a botanic garden we are rescuing—Ventnor Botanic Garden—where all Deerfield alumni are of course afforded red carpet treatment. botanic.co.uk. My father, Class of ’47, passed away in December, so I am now carrying the flame for Deerfield in our family. I am told by reliable sources that my brother (Groton...) crashed a Deerfield function at Sugarbush and raised a glass with Ben Mallory ’76.”—John Curtis

Photographs courtesy of Alan Armstrong

This April marked the 40 th anniversary of the United States’ dramatic withdrawal from South Vietnam and Cambodia. My soon-to-be-published novel, Downfall, is a snapshot of what Cambodia was like during those turbulent years. Because it is based on my real-life experiences, several people recommended that I write a memoir, and my response was threefold: First, no one cares about the memories of some obscure person; second, no one can trust his memory from a tumultuous period 40 years in the past; third, in his book, The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell quotes a WWII veteran who found that his diaries failed to capture his experience: “I can’t add up a very coherent picture of how it really was . . . There’s nothing you could really get hold of if you were trying to write a proper historical account of it all. No wonder the stuff slips away mercury-wise from proper historians. No wonder they have to erect rather artificial structures of one sort or another in its place. No wonder it is those artists who recreate life rather than try to capture it who one day prove the good historians in the end.” One of the principal goals of the Nixon Administration was to extricate the United States from South Vietnam. In March of 1970, Cambodia’s charismatic leader, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, was thrown out of office. President Nixon decided that this was the moment to protect American troop withdrawals by attacking and destroying the North Vietnamese command and logistic bases in officially neutral Cambodia. The political blowback was fierce. Students rioted. Ohio National Guardsmen shot down protestors at Kent State, killing four. Key staff resignations fractured Kissinger’s National Security Council. The international community voiced condemnation. Congress turned irrevocably against the President’s action. Undeterred, Nixon committed the United States to the defense of the newly formed Khmer Republic. In his words, it was “The only government in Cambodia in the last 25 years that had the guts to take a pro-Western stand.” In the spring of 1971 I volunteered for a one-year tour of duty in Cambodia as an assistant Army attaché. Forbidden by law to give advice to the Republican Army, my job was to observe the military situation, get inside the heads of Cambodian combat commanders, gauge fighting effectiveness, and report my assessments to Washington. It was a dangerous, exotic assignment. One Cambodian general with whom I worked was a cold-blooded killer named Um Savuth. Some years before Prince Sihanouk was ousted, Um Savuth got drunk with his officers, placed a cat on his head and ordered one of his lieutenants to shoot it off. As I describe in Downfall, the bullet that smashed into Um Savuth’s brain let loose a reptile that had crouched, until then, coiled and dormant in the dark by his medulla oblongata. Set free, it destroyed whatever civilization remained in his mind and left him bent and crippled. His particular beast inhabited each piece of his broken neural bundle like a nine-headed hydra—thus he had the gift of a witch: Slumped over and trembling, with his cane in one hand and his cognac-soda in the other, he would track and participate in several conversations at once.

ALAN ARMSTRONG’56

OPERATION EAGLE PULL

Alan Armstrong ’56, seated next to Ambassador John Gunther Dean (foreground in suit) in a “CH-53 Super Stallion” as they lifted off from Phnon Penh during operation Eagle Pull.

The two women on the team showed me large morphine-filled “suicide syringes” they were prepared to inject themselves with in “the event of need.”

But that’s not why I call Um Savuth a merciless killer. Here’s a true life encounter with the general, as experienced in Downfall by my protagonist, Major David deRussy, and a captain named Jerry Seiler. The Cambodians had captured two young North Vietnamese conscripts who were barely teenagers. They stood on shifting feet, eyes on the ground, too scared to breathe. Over one of Um Savuth’s stiff drinks at ten in the morning, deRussy and Seiler persuaded him to turn the two prisoners over to them on their return from the battlefield. The plan was to fly them to Phnom Penh and deliver them to Colonel Kim Eng Kurudeth for intelligence exploitation. They swooped into Tang Kuok on their return trip to refuel. He and Jerry went looking for their prisoners. They were not to be found. They asked everyone they could find. No one seemed to know where the prisoners had gone. Finally, they went directly to Um Savuth. He stirred himself and rattled off an order to one of his lieutenants who snapped to attention and screamed “Oui, Bah!” “Yes” in both French and Cambodian. The lieutenant led them outside and over to a stone wall. Resting on the capstones were the severed heads of the two Vietnamese kids they had seen that morning. Their cloudy, unfocused eyes were still cast down. “You know, my General, it’s not a good idea to kill prisoners. First, it sends a very bad signal to your enemy and will keep others from surrendering. Second, a dead prisoner provides no intelligence.” “Major, I have been fighting the Vietnamese most of my life. In that time I have always found them to be treacherous. I discovered a long time ago that Vietnamese become a lot less sneaky when you take their heads off.” “We’ll take our leave now, my General. Thank you for all of your courtesies.” They were halfway back to the choppers when a young officer caught up with them. “General wan’ you back.” They retraced their steps. “Can you join us for dinner? Cambodian vegetables eat themselves well with Vietnamese livers.”

Alan Armstrong ’56 (above, right): I look

particularly chunky in this picture because I was wearing two ceramic chest plates underneath my fatigues— each one was between 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick. I was also issued an M-14 rifle just prior to Eagle Pull—note that I have a 30-round magazine in mine—this might strike you as a bit odd since I had argued that the Marines should come in with weapons unloaded, but I had

48 | THE COMMON ROOM

had a long time in country and wasn’t new to the environment. I wound up leaving that rifle in some brush at the base of a tree before boarding the helicopter, in the hope that some Cambodian might have use for it after we were gone. I ran what was called the “FM Command Net” during Eagle Pull. It tied together everyone on the ground. The officer on the left was connected to what was called the

“Blue Chip Net,” which was a single sideband radio system that talked to the air cap that hovered overhead. We manned the radios until an Army colonel told us to break it down and come outside. We didn’t see or hear anyone as we came down from the third floor of the embassy; I am fairly certain that the colonel, the officer in this photo, and I were the last ones to exit the building that morning. //

When I returned for a second tour in the spring of 1974, the Republic was being choked off and ground down. We had made enemies of Cambodia’s peasants by dropping more tons of bombs on them than we dropped on Imperial Japan in World War II; we had turned a blind eye on corruption, thereby weakening the government’s legitimacy; we had backed a leader whose stroke-damaged thought processes were so scrambled that he once banned the sale of rabbits in the central market because the enemy was strapping bombs on them and training them to scamper in to destroy installations and kill key persons. As deRussy muses in my novel: Beyond having made mush of much of Cambodia and fertilizer of many Cambodians, and backing an incompetent head of state and weakening his government by allowing corruption to run unconstrained . . . what had we Americans accomplished here? I left Cambodia on April 12, 1975, when the few remaining members of the American Embassy staff, a handful of Cambodians, a small number of American civilians, and some third country nationals were evacuated from Phnom Penh by helicopter during operation “Eagle Pull.” Only one senior Khmer Republican chose to leave with us. The Khmer Rouge entered the city five days later. The “KR” killed every Khmer Republican they could find. And their families. And between one and two million of their countrymen. A few days prior to Eagle Pull, Ambassador John Gunther Dean assembled his remaining cadre to be briefed by a senior Marine Corps officer on the plan of evacuation. When the officer finished speaking, Ambassador Dean asked if anyone had any questions. I asked what the Marines (who were to fly in to provide additional protection during the extraction) would do if any Cambodians broke for the choppers. The officer replied: “We’ll cut them down.” I said, “Then I don’t want to go with you.” Ambassador Dean silenced the hubbub that followed my comment and demanded that I explain myself. I argued that the Marines should arrive with their weapons unloaded, so as to avoid a Kent State incident. The Marine protection force landed in Phnom Penh with their weapons unloaded. No one was injured during our extraction. Ambassador Dean and the Marine commander could have ignored a lowly Army major’s advice, but they didn’t. They will be my heroes until the day I die. I was the Attaché Office’s duty officer two nights before Eagle Pull. One of my tasks was to liaise with the Cambodian Army’s Operations Center to keep abreast of the current situation. I snatched an embassy movie projector and the film cans of Enter the Dragon and took them to the Center. Here’s how I described what followed in Downfall: DeRussy didn’t have a cinemascope lens so they fattened the pencilthin characters by angling the projector against a big map wall. Figures on the right side were two feet high and those on the left were four. The nefarious Han’s bear claw changed miraculously from teeny -tiny to huge and then back. Bad boy Bolo and good guy Roper did the same. The shift officers found this immensely funny. Tension flowed out of the room the minute Bruce Lee appeared onscreen. Young officers began emitting cat yowls, hand-chopping the air and kicking chairs. He had the uncomfortable feeling that it might be the last laugh of their lives.

Brigadier General Mey Si Chan was chief of the Operations Center. He and I had become close friends on my first tour. He asked me over tea what I thought my government was going to do. I could only promise that if we Americans evacuated, I would be among the very last to leave. He said, “When I was studying in Paris I saw a lot of ex-patriots. They had no life. I could never live like that. This is my country and I will not leave it. The Khmer Rouge will pay dearly for my skin.” Mey Si Chan was the man who got on the radio and directed the Cambodian Armed Forces to cease hostilities and surrender. The KR then summarily executed him, his entire staff of officers, and all men, women, and children in and around the Operations Center. The night before Eagle Pull I tried to convince a British medical team to be ready to evacuate Phnom Penh in “the event of need.” They refused to listen, telling me that they intended to stay and treat all the wounded—no matter who they were. The two women on the team showed me large morphine-filled “suicide syringes” they were prepared to inject themselves with in “the event of need.” Frustrated, I drove away. Before I got to my residence, a Cambodian officer ran into the middle of the road. I recreated the scene in Downfall: “Good evening, Captain. How may I help you?” “Good evening, my Major. My Jeep two block. It not turn over. You push me?” The two of them turned off Norodom, heading towards Monivong on one of the many unlit dirt and gravel streets that fronted private residences. His high beams drilled through the black, illuminating row after row of high walls, thick vegetation, and occasional entrances across concrete culverts that spanned deep ditches on either side of the road. They crossed over into the third block. It was as dark as the dungeon Merle Travis knew about and described in song as a space where “demons of death come by surprise.” His passenger was packing a pistol. He was unarmed. He’d never seen this man before. He wondered what could have possibly motivated him to invite this man into his Jeep. He would never have stopped his car to render assistance to an unknown on an empty street in the dead of night back home. Round brake lights to their front shot back red. The captain hopped out and put his Jeep in gear. DeRussy nosed up to his bumper and let out the clutch; the captain’s Jeep lurched to life. As he pulled by, the man brought his palms together with the tips of his fingers between his eyebrows and his thumbs by his nose. He nodded his head in that traditional Khmer gesture that conveys thanks, respect, and best wishes for peace in one’s life. I kept my promise to Mey Si Chan, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, three of us were the last staff members to exit the embassy building. There was a Cambodian girl skipping around the entrance to the helicopter pickup point. A Cambodian military policeman walked over, put his hand gently on her head, and moved her off to the side. Then he straightened up and saluted us. I cried all the way to the aircraft carrier. //

After many years in England and little sign of snow, I have slowly learned to ride. No ski jumps in sight from the downs on the Isle of Wight. Yes, the downs are actually ups or the chalk hills overlooking the sea in southeast England. —John Curtis

Chris Whipple ’71 Married Cary Fagan at a ceremony on Shelter Island officiated by Ward Pennebaker ’71, founder of the Church of the Incarnate Ward.

50 | THE COMMON ROOM

David Bell ’76 Moved from Martha’s Vineyard to Palmetto, Florida.

Bill Dawson ’78 Returned to Annapolis to run the US Naval Academy Alumni Association.

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

The Other “F” Word How Smart Leaders, Teams, and Entrepreneurs Put Failure to Work author:

publisher + date

John Danner ’65 + Mark Coopersmith

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. / 2015

reviewed by Jessica Day

recently published:

John Danner ’65 and Mark Coopersmith expect that you’re going to fail. And when you do, they’ll be right there to help you to understand how to make that failure worth your while . . . or at least you can read their newly-published book, The Other “F” Word—How Smart Leaders, Teams, and Entrepreneurs Put Failure to Work. Mr. Danner, who splits his time in the classroom between the University of California Berkeley and Princeton University, was first approached by the dean of the Haas School of Business to develop a pilot program for MBA candidates that focused on failure—an often taboo subject that is nevertheless prevalent in the entrepreneurial world and beyond. And, says Mr. Danner, that’s ok—“Failure is today’s lesson for tomorrow.” An entertaining hybrid of creative nonfiction, workbook, and textbook, The Other “F” Word features “failure-savvy” insights from a diverse range of business people, including the leaders of large multinationals, small and mid-size businesses, and startup ventures. It even includes a forward written by fellow Deerfield alumnus Jeffrey Bewkes ’70, chairman and CEO of Time Warner. Mr. Danner and Mr. Coopersmith also contribute their own extensive experience —in the boardroom, in the classroom, and through their original research. As the two looked at hundreds of “failure scenarios” across various organizations and cultures, a pattern emerged, which they eventually organized into a seven-stage “Failure Value System” in order to help people “better understand and harness failure as a value-add resource.” “With apologies to pirates,” Mr. Danner says, “it’s an ‘Arrrr’ system: respect the power and likelihood of failure; rehearse for your most significant failure scenarios to develop better, faster reflexes; recognize its signs sooner; react to failure situations more appropriately in the moment; reflect deeply and honestly on their underlying causes so you can craft better strategies going forward; rebound confidently, based on the lessons learned; remember the insights you gained, to strengthen your culture’s ability to leverage future failures.” According to Mr. Danner, The Other “F” Word, with its practical suggestions, is not an “I struggled, I persevered, I succeeded” memoir; it’s not one of those “fail fast, fail often” cheerleading-type books, nor is it a spiritual or psychological self-help manual. What The Other “F” Word does offer is a roadmap of sorts, which will guide you past failure and toward success in future endeavors. //

E X C E R P T //

As we’ve said, success isn’t the opposite of failure; it’s a sibling. The two coexist, albeit uneasily much of the time, but necessarily. Many great successes were derived from prior failure, probably as much from prior success. In fact, one can look at the path of progress—scientific, evolutionary, economic, or otherwise—as the cumulative result of trials and errors, successes and failures. Think of any notable success, perhaps a new scientific discovery, technological breakthrough, or market-shaping business model. Now ask yourself what prior failures, discoveries, breakthroughs, blind alleys, or models led to that success. These enabling events may not happen immediately beforehand but they almost certainly occur, perhaps even decades or centuries earlier. As Julie Andrews sang in The Sound of Music, “Nothing comes from nothing. Nothing ever could.”

Columbus’ Wake

N23˚15'

By ETHAN McKINLEY PETERSON-NEW ’13

N22˚45’

W73˚45’

W73˚15’

W72˚45’

W71˚45’

W71˚15’

Tu r ks a n d Ca icos Is lands

nc A

B rown B ank

N21˚45’

W72˚15’

W74˚15’

W74˚45’

W75˚15’

W75˚45’

An ch o ra ge # 5

N21˚15’

N20˚45’

52 | THE COMMON ROOM

N22˚15’

Relive the expedition at: followingcolumbus.com

Cockbu rn Tow n

“Perhaps the most memorable thing we experienced during our expedition was the redolence of the eastern end of Mayaguana as the northeast wind blew the perfume of countless tropical flowers to our boat . . . Columbus described this same experience as he approached the islands.”

JOSIAH MARVEL’62 In the fall of 2014 Josiah Marvel ’62 set out on a journey: He followed Christopher Columbus’ path through the Caribbean in an effort to dispute the commonly held notion that the famous explorer first made landfall on San Salvador. Like so many other journeys, Mr. Marvel’s actually began years earlier—at Deerfield. As a student, Mr. Marvel studied Latin, storing away knowledge that has proved to be crucial to reading historical texts about Columbus’ voyage. He recalls when he first began studying Ovid in a Deerfield classroom on a cold winter day; his teacher, a visiting professor from a nearby university, was talking about the joys of reading The Metamorphoses while sitting by the fire. Mr. Marvel’s education in the Classics came alive in that moment, as he realized that reading Latin was something that could be both relevant and enjoyable. Describing his overall academic experience at Deerfield, he remarks on the “intellectual camaraderie” of the Deerfield classroom, which he says is hard to find anywhere else. After graduation, and a successful career on Wall Street and Madison Avenue, Mr. Marvel seized an opportunity to travel to the Turks and Caicos when he secured financing for the recovery of an eighteenth century slave ship, and was offered the unusual chance to participate in the expedition. During one recovery, he came face to face with a skeleton pulled up from the depths, and was quite surprised to find that it was still wearing shoes after two hundred years! Although that expedition ultimately yielded fewer discoveries than had been expected, Mr. Marvel came away with a taste for scholarly exploration in the Caribbean. Subsequently, he continued to live and work in the Turks and Caicos, focusing most of his attention on historical projects. This led to a special interest in Columbus, and soon Mr. Marvel was traveling widely to find texts concerning the explorer. Through research, he came to the conclusion that Columbus had made first landfall at Grand Turk, on the Turks and Caicos’ easterly edge. Working with a number of historical texts that documented magnetic variation, Mr. Marvel determined six historical measurements of magnetic variation around the time of Columbus’ voyage. He passed these along to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, which, in 1992, used his data to conclude that there had been a strong magnetic variation in the northern Caribbean at that time. Such a variation would have made Columbus’ measurements inaccurate, causing historical documents to misrepresent his landing location significantly.

This discovery did not go unnoticed, and the British governor of the Turks and Caicos named Mr. Marvel the Quincentenary Historian to the Turks and Caicos, after he presented his initial findings, which concluded that Columbus had made first landing on a British possession. With the five hundred year anniversary of Columbus’ landing in the Americas approaching, Mr. Marvel and some colleagues from the United States Society for the History of Discoveries began concocting a plan to investigate the potential landfall sites more thoroughly, but political and financial struggles ensued, forcing them to abandon their plans—for a while. Fast forward to 2014, when Mr. Marvel’s hopes of following in Christopher Columbus’ footsteps suddenly became a reality. Using the compelling evidence from the Woods Hole study, he was able to convince a captain—Tim Ainly, with whom he had grown close during previous expeditions—to retrace the route in an attempt to acquire data to confirm the study’s results. Their expedition followed Columbus’ path around the islands by building a map of sorts using computer projections from the magnetic variation data. The team reconstructed the final stages of the voyage on a catamaran over the course of about two weeks this past November; they stopped at the same islands as Columbus had, and explored the same—albeit different in appearance—areas. By comparing a variety of evidence to historical data—including logbooks, eyewitness reports, and historical texts—Mr. Marvel and his team found no contradictions to their hypothesis that Grand Turk was the most likely point for Columbus’ landing. Their results strengthened the results of the Woods Hole study, and provided a practical perspective on its findings. While the expedition was successful from a scholarly perspective, it was also a deeply personal experience for Mr. Marvel. When describing his voyage, Mr. Marvel remarks on the amazing similarities between Columbus’ experiences and his own: “Perhaps the most memorable thing we experienced during our expedition was the redolence of the eastern end of Mayaguana as the northeast wind blew the perfume of countless tropical flowers to our boat . . . Columbus described this same experience as he approached the islands.” It was a powerful moment, as past and present explorers connected, and history came alive. //

Fred Meyer ’73 arranged to have a photo taken of the three Deerfield alumni in attendance at the fall meeting of the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He noted that it is indeed remarkable to have three neurosurgeons among the alumni ranks, and wondered if there are more that he is unaware of … l to r: Dr. Kevin Foley ’74 Professor of Neurosurgery and Biomedical Engineering University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Dr. Fredric B. Meyer ’73 Chair, American Board of Neurological Surgery, Uihlein Professor and Foundation Chair Department of Neurologic Surgery Director, Neuroregenerative Medicine Mayo Clinic and Mayo Graduate Schools; Dr. Kevin Reid ’81 Reid C. Thompson MD, William F. Meacham Professor and Chairman Department of Neurological Surgery Vanderbilt University Medical Center

1977 (continued)

“What fun to be working with some of my Deerfield buddies!”

says Andrew Ling ’77. The ZipRemit team and CFO at the St. Francis Winery in Sonoma. l to r: Townley Paton ’77, Andy Ling ’77, Gary Pryor, and Tom Mallory ’77

54 | THE COMMON ROOM

“We are toasting with glasses of wine, thanking our lucky fortune to have attended Deerfield together and maintained such a strong bond. Deerfield really is the gift that keeps on giving. I founded ZipRemit, Inc. (zipremit.com), which provides merchant-branded consumer finance and will soon be trading publicly. We provide a SaaS micro-lending solution for merchants to offer as an alternative credit facility for their customers, save them significantly on interchange fees, and ensure that they retain their customers and don’t lose them to third-party credit card and payment companies. The mobile payments industry is rapidly growing, and we are riding the wave! Deerfield classmates joining the ZipRemit team include early investor, Bill Barry, advisory board members Tom Mallory and Jamie MacPherson, and Townley Paton, who is the company’s chief marketing officer. I went to a Deerfield Club of the West event (thank you Jenny Hammond!) to watch a Giants game at AT&T Park, and on the way from the tailgate party to the stadium I met Doug Evans ’76 and described our business model. We just signed a Merchant Services Agreement with Doug’s company, Presidio Health, Inc. of San Francisco, CA, for his company to provide a merchant-branded solution for its network of healthcare facilities and their patients.” —Andrew Ling ’77

F RO M T H E PAG E S O F P O C U M T U C K , 1 9 8 1 . . .

. . . TO THE STREETS OF DC, 2014!

Jim Butz ’80 Joined Mark Albert in sunny LA for golf and dinner.

1981 “On a trip to celebrate my son Ben’s 11th birthday in Washington, DC, last November, I reconnected with classmate Regi Allen. We hadn’t seen one another since graduation. Over a long brunch at a hip Dupont Circle bistro with bottomless mimosas, we reminisced about adventures in Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid during the year we both spent on School Year Abroad, and laughed about the time a Deerfield alumni newsletter once mistakenly announced Regi’s death. He is very much alive, and is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and design artist and a senior editor at Discovery Communications.”—Scott Aiges

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

Scott Aiges ’81 Presented with the first annual Community Service Award by the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute. Scott was recognized for his years of community development work, particularly in the nonprofit and government sectors of the New Orleans music industry. Scott was also the subject of an extensive profile in the Columbia University alumni magazine: college.columbia.edu/ cct/fall13/features1

56 | THE COMMON ROOM

Something is clearly happening here . . . if you remember what, please let us know! communications@deerfield.edu

FROM THE ARCHIVES circa

â&#x20AC;&#x2122;65

“Putting DA cycling skills to good use on a recent trip to Sonoma. Imbibing skills acquired later (well, sort of) and not pictured.”—Josh Greenberg ’83

83 Grant Gassman ’83 relaxes

with a few laps around the track. Gassman ’83 and his daily ride. He says it’s “pretty good in the snow.”

right: RJ Harrington ’83 went to lunch with classmate John Knight, despite recent shoulder surgery.

58 | THE COMMON ROOM

1983

“Some of our classmates we don’t remember very well, usually because we had limited interaction with them back at DA. Well, take the time to connect with them if they are nearby because it’s well worth it! Case in point: Grant Gassman. Originally from California, Grant went to Colorado College after DA and pretty much never left the state. He’s working at a European reinsurance company these days with a 35-hour workweek (half-day EVERY Friday!) so we met for Friday beverages . . . It was so much fun to catch up on what we had been doing since Deerfield, and what brought us to Denver. Kudos to Grant, too, for facing down the impending 5-0 with an improved diet that helped him lose 40+ pounds this summer. He’s happy and that’s about all we can ask for at this point! His hobby is racing his old Porsche (apologies for the layman’s lame description of what is probably a great machine—even though its engine is currently broken). Often his fair weather Fridays take him east into the Plains to race on a grand prix like track. He, of course, does all his own work on his cars. Also drove up to Boulder to take RJ Harrington to lunch, and this was his condition upon arrival . . . (see photo page 58). His work as executive director of Clean Energy Action is mostly keyboard and computer based, so it’s a hindrance for sure; he had shoulder surgery after a nasty fall off his bike. His spirit was undeterred as we strolled confidently to lunch. We caught up on his time in Boulder (most of the years since graduating from DA, minus a stint at Penn State with Nate Nourse), and his family (wife and two kids). His health is otherwise excellent and he is grateful. From him I learned the geological term ‘flatiron’ and why it was invented in Boulder. He asked about ’83 in general and in CO specifically. He looks forward to getting the DA ’83 CO division together sometime. He was sad to miss the Hindman/Spadafora/ Watts beers last year—especially since they bumped into Terry Bradshaw —RJ’s childhood favorite on his hometown Steelers! He won’t miss the next one.”—John Knight

August 6-9, 2015

Ben Patton ’83 Created three short films about the relationship between his grandfather and father (General George S. Patton and General George Patton), which may be found at wearethemighty.com.

Brian Steward ’83 Welcomed Grace Eleanor Steward with his wife Hannah.

“4 best days of the year” “12 on a scale of 10” “ Great summer escape where you can stretch your mind and body”

Spots are still open, register today! deerfield.edu/go/ltth 59

Chris Lotspeich ’83 was best man at the wedding of a Campbell, where he represented his family, the Macdonalds.

“My classmate Taylor Watts was in downtown Denver for a lax tournament, so I hustled over to Denver University to connect with him. Both his sons play for 3d Select teams, who train in a box/field hybrid development system that develops skills in both field and box lacrosse. The system was developed here in Colorado but is now nationwide. Dave Madden has a son playing it in California, and so does Dave’s older brother, Leigh ’81, who lives in Virginia. Small world...!”

“As I continue my exploration of Colorado (ie the harassment of classmates), I traveled west to Evergreen and caught the men of the Spadafora family splitting the winter’s firewood.”—John Knight ’83

83 60 | THE COMMON ROOM

“We are happy to announce our new addition: Sage Irene Benson, born August 12, 2014. She is happy, healthy, and bringing smiles and light to our lives daily. We are enjoying every minute!”

—Robin Postman Benson ’91

1984 “Four rounds of eye surgery later . . . turns out a lot of childhood head trauma can make your eyes disintegrate as an adult. Who knew? But it’s fine now: I’ve got a new lens and LASERS IN MY EYES. Well, okay, the lasers aren’t still in my eyes, but a girl can dream, can’t she? Anyway, the Bone Walker soundtrack album has finally released. Late, but it’s out. It’s the most Celtic thing I’ve ever done. Check it out at music.crimeandtheforcesofevil.com. My backing band for this thing is kind of hilarious. I have all of Tricky Pixie, SJ Tucker, Alexander James Adams, part of Pinniped (Sarah Kellington), Leannan Sidhe— it’s like a fringe-label all-star game out here. I’m not entirely sure how we’re all going to fit on stage; it’s nine people, some of whom have large instruments (hammer dulcimer, cello) and . . . yeah, I should stop typing my planning into this thing and get back to my actual stage diagram . . .”—Dara Korra’ti

1988 “I was blessed with another great moment as a head coach when my Tilton School boys soccer team took home the second NEPSAC Class C title in school history (the last being in 2008). A great group of young men who worked tirelessly on and off the field.” —Scott Ruggles “Soon approaching ten years with Camco Clean Energy, a London -based developer of renewable energy projects. Relocated to Johannesburg, from Moscow through London, in mid-2013. Currently leading an investment advisory mandate to finance utility-scale renewable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa. While I frequently travel the continent for work, my wife, Elena, is quickly becoming an accomplished jeweler here in South Africa and our almost two-year-old son, Edward, is quickly growing up! We enjoy our life in sunny South Africa and I would enjoy seeing fellow DA classmates who might be traveling to this beautiful part of the world.”—Arthur Houston

Paul Magee ’83 Made his annual pilgrimage from Mexico to Whately, MA, to sample classmate Nate Nourse’s finest berries.

RJ Harrington ’83 Participated in the Boulder, CO, Climate March with his children, Maeve and Conall, and appeared on a local radio show in Boulder, CO, to talk fossil fuel facts: news. kgnu.org/2014/12/clean-energy-actionquestions-xcel-rate-hike-request/ Arthur Houston ’88 Approaching ten years with Camco Clean Energy, a London-based developer of renewable energy projects.

“I have been busy directing and producing a new travel show for public television called ‘Dream of Italy.’ It starts airing nationwide this May, so keep an eye out for it. My wife Sarah and I are also experiencing the joys of parenthood with our daughter Sable. As many of you know, it’s a lot of fun, and endless work!”— Dakkan Abbe

LIVING STRONG BY

62 | THE COMMON ROOM

LYNN HOROWITCH

Growing up in Pittsburgh at a time when winter meant frozen ponds and frozen ponds meant ice hockey, Jeff Garvey ’67 dreamed of playing professionally. When he proposed leaving home to join the Canadian junior hockey league, it took his father approximately ten seconds to provide an answer that would set Mr. Garvey on a path of personal, professional, and philanthropic success, including his current role as chair of the LIVESTRONG Foundation. “He said, ‘No way is that going to happen,’” Mr. Garvey recalls. “He understood that education is far more important than athletics.” The elder Mr. Garvey did suggest that his son consider New England boarding schools, and so the younger Mr. Garvey enrolled at Deerfield the following year as a junior. “Deerfield was a life changer,” says Mr. Garvey. He attended the Academy in the last years of Mr. Boyden’s tenure as headmaster; Mr. Garvey recalls him as a “great man” and that Deerfield was “an absolutely spectacular experience.” He says, “I learned how to study and managed to do quite well.” Well enough that after graduating, he enrolled at St. Lawrence University for its strong liberal arts and ice hockey programs. Friend and classmate Niel Weathers also enrolled there, which “allowed us to keep Deerfield in the present.” He was a freshman when a pretty classmate caught his eye. Mr. Garvey was 19 when he and that pretty classmate married; he and his wife, Bonita, have now been together for 46 years! Nike provided 500,000 LIVESTRONG yellow wristbands to the Foundation for free and agreed to provide an additional five million at a reduced cost. “Lance and I were very happy to get the first batch for free, but we didn’t think it was going to have legs,” Mr. Garvey admits. Mr. Armstrong’s girlfriend at the time, singer Sheryl Crow, appeared on “The Today Show” and handed out several of the wristbands. It wasn’t long before ninety million were distributed!

Photograph courtesy of Jeff Garvey

JEFF GARVEY’67

“It was a time to keep our heads down, and to do what we do best: to offer strong programs in the cancer world.” After graduating from St. Lawrence, Mr. Garvey moved back to Pittsburgh and started a ten-year career in commercial banking. During this time, he developed strong relationships with a group of entrepreneurs based in Austin. “They were savvy businessmen,” says Mr. Garvey, with a focus on the burgeoning cable television industry. That was his area of expertise as a commercial lender. One thing led to another; in 1979, he moved to Texas to start a career in venture capital, despite the fact that Mr. Garvey knew “almost nothing about that.” He says, “We had no kids, just a dog, so we did it.” Austin Ventures grew to become one of the largest and most successful venture capital firms in the country. In the early 1980s, it was one of the first firms to attract institutional investors and expanded quickly with the growth of the cable sector and the leadership of four committed, able, and well-regarded partners. In 1997, with his firm thriving, Mr. Garvey hosted a very sick man at his house. Mr. Garvey biked a lot back then, and mutual friends introduced him to Lance Armstrong. Mr. Garvey recalls, “Lance had just undergone nine weeks of chemotherapy in Indiana. He was bald, and I shave my head, so I was too.” He continues, “At that time, Lance had no certainty of surviving, let alone returning to cycling. He knew he wanted to do something in the cancer world.” Mr. Garvey and his wife had both lost their parents to cancer, so it was a personal priority for him, as well. Mr. Garvey, while still a general partner at Austin Ventures, became chairman of the board of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The organization grew quickly, propelled by multiple forces. These included Mr. Armstrong’s compelling story of recovery from illness and then his return to competitive cycling; abundant financial liquidity among young people in the late 1990s and early 2000s; and the strategy of the Foundation’s leadership to run the organization like a for-profit company, in terms of governance and fundraising.

As the Foundation grew, it defined a crisp and clear mission, focusing time, energy, and programs on survivorship, from the point of diagnosis onward. Unlike many cancer organizations that seek a cure, the Lance Armstrong Foundation helps with quality of life issues, financial challenges, and other problems that stem from a cancer diagnosis. In 2004, Nike approached Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Garvey with a proposal. Nike provided 500,000 LIVESTRONG yellow wristbands to the Foundation for free and agreed to provide an additional five million at a reduced cost. “Lance and I were very happy to get the first batch for free, but we didn’t think it was going to have legs,” Mr. Garvey admits. Mr. Armstrong’s girlfriend at the time, singer Sheryl Crow, appeared on “The Today Show” and handed out several of the wristbands. It wasn’t long before ninety million were distributed! With so much positive momentum for the organization, Mr. Garvey stepped down as board chair. When Lance Armstrong was found to have used performance-enhancing drugs and was banned from the world of competitive athletics, the Foundation hit a big bump in the road. Corporate sponsorships dropped. Donations declined. To turn the tide, the Board asked Mr. Armstrong to step down and also asked Mr. Garvey to return as chair. “It was a time to keep our heads down, and to do what we do best: to offer strong programs in the cancer world.” Rechristened the LIVESTRONG Foundation, the organization has not only survived, but thrived; Mr. Garvey notes that the organization has amazingly strong liquidity and has been able to move boldly forward. In August 2014, the Foundation announced a $50 million grant to the new medical school at the University of Texas. “It’s been an enormous evolution for me personally and for LIVESTRONG,” says Mr. Garvey. “It’s an amazing story—I am amazed as I tell it.”//

S A P B U C K E T S O N M A I N S T R E E T, 2 0 1 5

“Jane Gamble Marvin arrived in a hurry on December 29. Her two older sisters, Grace and Lucy, have been excellent helpers and we’re adjusting to life with three girls up here in northern Vermont. My husband Ira is starting the annual tapping process to mark the start of sugaring season, and the girls and I hang out at the sugar house whenever possible. We own Butternut Mountain Farm and are selling a squeeze bottle that is perfect for little kids . . . imagine that! In six weeks I’ll go back to my two other jobs, family doc at Stowe Family Practice and lax coach at Lamoille Union High.”—Katherine Marvin “Life in New Hampshire is cruising along as we are trying to keep up with the kids. Dominic has followed in my footsteps by playing hockey and is completely obsessed with it and the Bruins. Vinny is the next one dying to start and Stella tells me in her most serious two-yearold face that she will play, too. My mother is laughing at me because now it is my turn to drive! On another note, I recently walked into a business meeting and ran into Jared Paquette ’94!”—Chris DeRosa

Mark Winslow ’90 Welcomed two additions to the family this past September: sons Joseph and David. He also wonders how many other alumni are living in Alaska . . .?

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

Steven Brahms

1993

My dreams and entrepreneurial spirit were taken seriously at Deerfield. To say thank you, I’ve named the Academy in my will. Hamilton Colwell ’97 / Founder, Maia Yogurt

LEARN MORE:

413-774-1872

deerfield.edu/go/ boyden 65

Judd Cherry ’97 appeared in a “Movember” commercial starring Samuel L. Jackson.

108.6 " as of March 15

AVG YEAR: 43.5"

Matt Smith ’95 Welcomed Lincoln Robert Smith on August 22, 2014. “He has since braved the worst winter in Boston’s history!”

1997

“I’ve been working my tail off lately and have a lot of great things to report: While I spend a lot of time writing screenplays, I’ve been lucky enough to do some social media and marketing work as well, writing all the viral marketing and social media for Blackheart Spiced Rum and Evan Williams Honey. On the Hollywood side of things, my producing partner and I have a feature, Nigel and Oscar vs The Sasquatch, that is in post-production. It stars Neil Flynn, Paul Brittain, Adam Herschman, and Tim Meadows. Keep an eye out for it later this year! I’ve also been performing improv and stand-up comedy regularly in LA and at the Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica, where I’m on a house team, Regatta, and also get to perform with Ryan Timmerick ’89. It’s a blast and if anyone is in LA, please come see a show. They’re always a good time. On top of all that, I got to appear in a commercial for “Movember” starring Samuel L. Jackson made by collegehumor.com. That was a fun one! And finally, I’m writing this update from the artist apartment at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, FL, where I’ve been teaching screenwriting and hosting a film screening series as their artist in residence. It’s truly an honor and I’m loving every second of it. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to bring my screenwriting course back to DA. That would be a blast! Hope to see you all at some point soon.”—Judd Cherry

66 | THE COMMON ROOM

America’s Bitter Pill:

Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System author:

publisher + date

Steven Brill ’68

Random House / 2015

reviewed by Jessica Day

recently published:

Within a week of its January 5, 2015 release, America’s Bitter Pill by Steven Brill ’68 was a best seller. Billed as a “fly-on-the-wall account of the fight, amid an orgy of lobbying, to pass a 961-page law aimed at fixing America’s largest, most dysfunctional industry,” the chatter surrounding the book was loud and disparate; news outlets from The New York Times to Fox News to National Public Radio were all talking about the 500-plus page dissection of “Obamacare.” Mr. Brill, who authored his first book in 1978, founded The American Lawyer magazine and Court TV, and teaches an advanced journalism course at his alma mater (Yale)—among other notable achievements —opened America’s Bitter Pill with a first-person perspective, as he lay in a hospital bed, the night before open-heart surgery. Mr. Brill is not known for including himself in the books he writes, but in this case both his pre-op anxiety and his post-op struggles served to set a distinctly human stage for a discussion that often seems to be all about money or politics or some nefarious combination of the two. America’s Bitter Pill began as a Time magazine special report that Mr. Brill wrote in 2013, in which he asked this “simple” question about healthcare: “Why exactly are the bills so high?” The article won a National Magazine Award. Soon after came Mr. Brill’s own surgery, and after that the book that Tom Brokaw called “an important diagnosis of what America needs to know if we’re ever to develop a healthcare system that is fair, efficient, and effective.” From Barack Obama’s first (disastrous) Democratic presidential candidates forum in 2007, where the main topic was health care reform, Mr. Brill leads the reader through the history of Obamacare, as well as a history of US health care in general. Extensive interviews, including the written questions that President Obama answered specifically for America’s Bitter Pill, make for an unprecedented portrait of one of the most historic pieces of legislation ever to be passed in the United States. //

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

E X C E R P T //

What follows is the roller-coaster story of how Obamacare happened, what it means, what it will fix, what it won’t fix, and what it means to people like me on that gurney consuming the most personal, most fear-inducing products— the ones meant to keep us alive. From its historical roots, to the mind-numbing complexity of the furiously lobbied final text of legislation, to its stumbling implementation, to the bitter fights over it that persist to this day—the story of Obamacare embodies the dilemma of America’s longest running economic sinkhole and political struggle.

Portraits, Brent M. Hale; Deerfield Academy Archives

RETIREMENT BY

FRANK HENRY’69

CHRISTIAN AVARD

Robert McGlynn, longtime Academy English teacher extraordinaire, once said to his colleague Frank Henry, who also happened to be a former student of his, “You’re not a real teacher if you’re in love first with the literature. You’ll be a teacher when you’re in love with the students, and they come first.” Mr. Henry took this advice to heart, and it has been his guiding principle while teaching English and advising at Deerfield for well over three decades. “I became convinced, even at 18 years old, that it was possible to lead a life of the mind and be satisfied with its rewards. Robert McGlynn was about the most interesting person I ever met. If teaching was good enough for him, it was certainly good enough for me,” Mr. Henry says. Frank Henry is retiring in June. “I’ll miss most of all the students and after that, I will miss many of my colleagues,” he says. Mr. Henry grew up in Shaker Heights, OH. His father, Frank C. Henry Sr., graduated from Deerfield in 1943, and Mr. Henry followed in his footsteps, graduating from Deerfield in 1969 and then attending Princeton University. He earned a master’s degree in education at Harvard University and a diploma in Anglo-Irish Literature from Trinity College in Dublin.

68 | THE COMMON ROOM

Upon returning from Ireland, Mr. Henry sold masts and riggings for offshore racing sailboats in Sturgeon Bay, WI, for a while, but what he really wanted to do was to teach, not sell. He returned to Deerfield in 1977 to work in the Alumni and Development Office but left in 1979 to go to the Harvard Graduate School of Education to help make the leap to classroom teacher. His first classroom position was at Portsmouth Abbey School in Portsmouth, RI. In 1982, McGlynn called him and alerted him to an opening in Deerfield’s English Department, and Mr. Henry immediately applied. Other than briefly leaving Deerfield to work as a National Outdoor Leadership School instructor for a year, and a sabbatical year that included a fellowship at the University of St. Andrews, Mr. Henry’s career has centered on Deerfield Academy. “There’s no question in my mind that Deerfield was the place for me. It’s an institution of which I have been proud,” Mr. Henry says, “and I have been honored to be an advisor and teacher for these students, as McGlynn was for me, but more importantly, I have felt the responsibility of really being a parental figure. I know I’ve made a difference in the experiences of many at Deerfield.”

According to Mr. Henry, a good English teacher inspires his students to read critically and speak and write with precision. In turn, a good teacher is inspired by the curiosity and growth of his students— that is the driving force that allows for years in the classroom.

In June, he will not be going far; he will serve as the interim head of the Bement School, right down the road from the Academy, while his wife Wanda completes her PhD in the history of science at Brown University. Wherever she goes next, Mr. Henry says he will follow. According to Mr. Henry, a good English teacher inspires his students to read critically and speak and write with precision. In turn, a good teacher is inspired by the curiosity and growth of his students—that is the driving force that allows for years in the classroom. “I’ve been teaching English I for many years,” Mr. Henry remarks, “and to watch dramatic maturation in young people has been one of the real pleasures of teaching. Right now, my greatest regret about leaving is that I won’t be able to watch my underclass advisees. I really want to know how their stories wind up.”

English Department Chair Michael Schloat describes Mr. Henry as a classic archetypal master teacher. “Frank is all about the students and has an endless reservoir of devotion. I most frequently see Frank in his office, meeting with students outside of his class time. He has a reputation for being tough—particularly when it comes to the fundamental mechanics of English—but kids always learn from him. He’ll meet them three-quarters of the way to get them to where they need to be. That’s his legacy: He never gives up on anyone. “There’s an intensity to Frank. When he starts talking about Deerfield Academy, it’s clear he really believes in the school’s mission and wants to see it upheld. I’m going to miss the sincerity of purpose and passion he brought here,” Mr. Schloat added. //

Labor of Love:

Reflections & Images from a Lifetime of Baseball Autograph Cluster Collecting authors:

publisher + date

Stephen McKelvey’77 with Kevin McKelvey ’83

Off the Common / 2015

reviewed by Jessica Day

recently published:

Richard “Dick” McKelvey, longtime Deerfield faculty member, was a man of faith. Literally speaking, he was an ordained Episcopal minister; when it came to baseball, he put his faith in the higher powers of good sportsmanship and camaraderie, and it paid off—again and again—as he built a legendary collection of baseball memorabilia over a lifetime. Now two of Reverend McKelvey’s sons, Stephen ’77 and Kevin ’83, have written Labor of Love, the story behind the Reverend’s collection, passion, and legacy. Even for someone who is the most casual of baseball fans, it is a fascinating book. Dick McKelvey is widely acknowledged as the first person to pursue and collect “cluster” balls—baseballs autographed by multiple players who achieved record-breaking or unique feats in the same category— hitting 500 home runs, for instance. Some cluster balls in the Reverend’s collection marked not so illustrious achievements, such as the ball signed by Juan Marichal and Johnny Roseboro, who famously brawled during an August 1965 game, when Roseboro “buzzed” Marichal’s ear as he threw a ball back to his pitcher, and Marichal retaliated by knocking Roseboro’s mask off and bashing his head with a bat!

70 | THE COMMON ROOM

It took over six decades for Reverend McKelvey’s collection to grow from one baseball (albeit a precious one that featured Babe Ruth’s signature) and some team sheets (also containing some famous signatures, including Bill Dickey, Red Rolfe, and an early Joe DiMaggio) to an inventory that filled almost 500 single-spaced pages. As Mike Gutierrez, consignment director for Heritage Auctions and occasional “Antiques Roadshow” appraiser, wrote in Labor of Love’s forward: When Richard started building his collection, most collectors were everyday people with little means, the same way all hobbies were started. Back then you could start a collection with pen and paper and get signatures live at the ballpark, or in the mail for the simple cost of envelopes and postage. Today’s collector is much more an investor and one could really question a deep passion for “the chase.” No one who knew Reverend McKelvey would question his love of the chase . . . Stephen McKelvey recalls the holiday visit to his grandmother’s house when she commented: “Your father, he’s just silly on baseball . . .” as the Reverend “huddled in her living room, a stack of paper at the ready, penning yet another letter to some baseball team.” By Stephen’s “rough estimate,” between his father’s teen years and early 70s, Reverend McKelvey wrote well over 10,000 letters seeking autographed team sheets, baseballs, bats, books, Hall of Fame plaque cards, and, of course, additional autographs for his cluster balls. Full of photographs, stories, and affection, Labor of Love is an apt title for this tribute to both the collection and the man who Sports Collectors Digest dubbed “The Czar of Cluster Collecting.” //

E X C E R P T //

Some 50 years after their passion for baseball autograph collecting was first inspired by a baseball signed by Babe Ruth, they anxiously awaited the arrival of Sammy Sosa who, some 45 minutes later, strolled into the Cubs’ clubhouse. After quick introductions by one of MacPhail’s assistants, my father presented our coveted “Home Run Ball” to Mr. Sosa. Upon taking hold of the ball, he slowly spun it around… and around…and around, admiring the signatures that already graced the ball… The Chicago Cubs starter Kevin Tapani was completing his warm-up tosses when my father and Uncle Jack returned to our seats. My father pulled the Home Run Ball out of an elongated white stocking—standard collectors regalia for transporting autographed balls and bats—and displayed the fresh signature in thin blue Sharpie cursive: “Sammy Sosa MVP 66 HR.” We were thrilled, and yet immediately puzzled. “And where’s McGwire?” we inquired, almost in unison. He refused to sign it,” my father responded, an obvious disappointment in his voice. Our mission to Wrigley Field had, alas, ended only half accomplished.

I married a lovely lady with short hair and a hunting license, Brenna Farrell. She works in Public Radio, so we’re basically Vanderbilts.

—Nick Capodice ’97

Allison Stielau ’97 Completing her doctoral dissertation, “The Unmaking of Metalwork in Early Modern Europe: Case Studies,” as a fellow at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. It considers the transformation of precious metal objects in contexts of war, confessional change, and fiscal crisis in the Reformation and Thirty Years War. Also, she and Christian Thiemann were married.

“Still in Brooklyn—about to hit the 14th New York anniversary. The streets are bitter cold and everyone is getting ready to enter the Year of the Ram . . . It would give Mr. Fraker agita to hear it, but I’m working in the Education Department at the Tenement Museum. I married a lovely lady with short hair and a hunting license, Brenna Farrell. She works in Public Radio, so we’re basically Vanderbilts. Tom Bouman has moved out of the city, so The Flanks (a fine country band) are on a hiatus. I manage to be in one or two (bad) plays a year. We have a young jocular baby named Marty, named after my jocular father who passed away last Halloween, and we are having a grand old winter full of pool, beer, and ambulations across the Williamsburg Bridge. If you’re in lower Manhattan, drop by for a chat about NYC history.”—Nick Capodice

Trevor Gibbons ’97 Welcomed a son, Samuel Brearty, on May 23, 2014.

“My husband Brian and I welcomed our son, Samuel Sullivan Knolhoff, to the world on December 22, 2013 and brought him home on Christmas Day, making for the best gift ever! We recently moved to Southborough, MA, and I have returned to work as an 11th grade history teacher, so it was a hectic but rewarding year.”—Erin McMurray

1999 “After celebrating 25 years of coeducation with Head of School Margarita Curtis at trustee Alice Ruth’s apartment in NYC on January 22, 2015, several of us continued the reunion at Quatorze Bistro. L to r: Carter Simonds ’95, Tantivy Gubelmann ’95, Meg Van Reesema ’97, Carolina Ponzer ’98, Ashley Fox ’96, Amanda Baer ’99, Lindsay Fox ’99, Lindsey Wheat ’99, Ashley Lavin ’98, Hilary Kallop ’00, and Reed Minor ’99. We hope to get this group, plus others in the area, together again soon!”—Amanda Baer (below)

72 | THE COMMON ROOM

Deerfield Reunion at a Dallas Wedding: Leila and Brian Myers ’01 were married on September 27, 2014 in Dallas, TX. “The wedding and reception were fantastic and were made even more special by the amount of love and support we had from Deerfield friends and family! In attendance were: my uncle, Charles (Chuck) Krogh ’64, my boss, Jay Wagley ’79, my sister, Sara Myers ’98, my best man, Dominic Perry ’01, and friends, Ian D’Arcy ’01 and Tyler Hassen ’01. Sarah Malaquias ’98 married David Berend this spring

at City Hall in New York, with a garden reception the following day at their home. They celebrated into the night with the help of Deerfield friends Lia Fiallos ’98, Melissa Henry Fisher ’98, Liz Montori Glatzel ’98, Carolina Dorson Ponzer ’98, Ashley Muldoon Lavin ’98, Ibby Reilly Sollors ’98, and Gretchen Fox ’98.

Deerfield friends met up in NYC in November 2014: l to r: Alison Lee ’97 and son James, Alexandra Leonard Robertson, Amy (Sodha) Harsch ’97 and son Tate, Margot Pfohl ’97, Alex Robertson ’97 and son Tucker, Blythe Daly ’97, Jen Flood ’97, Leslie Yeransian ’96, Annie (Lynch) Lukowski ’97 and son Simon, Heather Viets ’97, Aimee Lee ’96, Hamilton Colwell ’97, and Elizabeth (Lynch) de Montrichard ’01 and daughter Charlotte.

74 | THE COMMON ROOM

FROM THE ARCHIVES

’98

ALWAYS A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE LEILA GOVI’93 / BY ETHAN M KINLEY PETERSON-NEW ’13 C

Leila (Ghachem) Govi ’93 clearly remembers her first day in Mr. Hammond’s math class in the fall of 1989: She arrived to find that all the boys were waiting outside the classroom so she could be first to go in and choose a seat. Eventually, the formality of those early interactions fell away, and Ms. Govi and the rest of the new Deerfield girls fit right into the tight-knit community—contributing new and distinct perspectives that had been absent until that point. After Deerfield, Ms. Govi enrolled at Georgetown, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics. She then worked for JP Morgan for several years, before joining Egerton Capital, one of the United Kingdom’s oldest and largest hedge funds, in 2004. She is now a partner and investment analyst at Egerton, where her job mainly consists of finding promising companies that can outperform their competitors. This requires an extensive knowledge of the market and a keen sense of what it takes for a company to succeed—beyond what may be readily apparent from that company’s current bottom line.

76 | THE COMMON ROOM

Ms. Govi attributes much of her success to her unique background. She spent the first thirteen years of her life in Saudi Arabia before coming to Deerfield, then lived and worked in New York City after college. Her parents are Tunisian, and her husband, Giovanni, is Italian. Now, in London, Ms. Govi’s diverse cultural experiences provide her with a unique perspective that often allows her to spot potential that may not be obvious to others. In addition to her work at Egerton, Ms. Govi also serves as a director of the British Library Trust. She believes that the British Library, the national library of the United Kingdom, is greatly undervalued as one of the world’s most important collections of manuscripts and books; one of her goals as a director is to draw more attention to it as a tremendous resource and holder of historical texts—especially for a younger generation that may not even know of the library’s existence. Ms. Govi was recently elected to Deerfield’s Board of Trustees, and says, “I think the wonderful thing about the Deerfield Board is the myriad of backgrounds and personalities that are bundled together with such a youthful energy—all striving for a single purpose—to make Deerfield a better place in which to live and learn.” While she enjoys extensive involvement in her varied work, family still comes first for Ms. Govi; she says all her other accomplishments “pale in comparison to that very special gift of parenthood, and the fact that my husband and I have been most fortunate to have two beautiful children.”//

00 Original work by Fitzhugh Karol ’00,”What’s Progression,” was featured at the Socrates Sculpture Park as part of the park’s 2014 Emerging Artist Fellowship. Carved from 20-foot-long hemlock timbers, “What’s Progression” reflects silhouettes from both surrounding and imagined landscapes and invites park-goers to climb and interact. A dance performance by STREB Extreme Action Junior Company was choreographed and performed on the sculpture this past fall.

03 Frances Cashin ’03 married Nick Hodler on September 6, 2014 at her parents’ summer home in Biddeford Pool, ME. A number of Deerfield friends, including Whitney Ferrell ’03, Nate Kempner ’01, Chris Kempner ’03, Dan Shribman ’03, Peter Armstrong ’03, Hunter Ryan ’03, Mike Hess ’05, Carter Kahle Slattery ’02, James Slattery ’02, Halsey Meyer Schroeder ’03, Ali Berry ’05, Caroline Hines ’03, Serena Tufo ’02, Henry Cashin ’07, and Chessa Forer Kenney ’03, celebrated with them.

2001

“My husband Reed and I are thrilled to announce the birth of our first baby, Carter Phillips Coleman. He was born on November 6, 2014, weighing 7 lbs 8 oz. He has been such a joy, and I loved my time on maternity leave with him. I headed back to Morgan Stanley, where I am celebrating my tenth year of work, at the end of February.”— Lindsey (Burnett) Coleman

2002 “I was diagnosed in April (less than one month after turning 30) with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. With the help of the best doctors at Mass General in Boston, and the support of my wonderful family and friends, I underwent surgery to remove the cancer last May and I’m thrilled to say I am cancer-free! Please, please wear your sunscreen—it could save your life. Best wishes to all!” —Kirby (Schell) Williams

Page McClean ’98 Teaching an anthropology class at Colorado Mountain College this term.

78 | THE COMMON ROOM

Brian Schmid ’99 Moved back to his hometown of Norwell, MA, with his wife, twoyear-old daughter Eleanor, and son Charlie. He is also celebrating the first year of his pediatric dental practice in Plymouth, MA.

Emily (Jacque) Sanson ’00 Welcomed a daughter, Brooke Elizabeth Sanson, with her husband Matt on October 13, 2014.

FRIENDSHIP, FAILURE, AND THE FUTURE ANNA EDWIN’03 / BY ETHAN M KINLEY PETERSON-NEW ’13

Photograph courtesy of Anna Edwin

Anna Edwin ’03 describes her four years at Deerfield as a time of “growth, development, and fun.” She remembers the powerful friendships she formed, and many moments of camaraderie and enjoyment in the Greer and on the quad. Her personal triumphs— among them being elected class president, dancing in recitals, and speaking at Convocation—were even more special because of the people who were there to share in the experience and support her at every step. Mrs. Edwin says that Deerfield definitely played an important role in her development and preparation for the realities of the world after high school. She notes the supportive and rigorous environment, which she says “allows you the space to focus on the things that are your passions, but also forces you to broaden your horizons and step outside of your comfort zone.” Mrs. Edwin adds that even failing a few times was a crucial part of her development; she says the support of the Deerfield community allowed a safe space for this process to take place, and instilled a confidence that she carries today. Immediately after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Mrs. Edwin joined Goldman Sachs. Over the past eight years, she has worked in a number of capacities in their Human Capital Management Department, including work in the Office of Global Leadership and Diversity, and with Goldman Sachs University. Recently, she worked as a technology business partner, supporting all stages of the employee life cycle—from development, to retention, and eventually to advancement —for employees in the Technology Division

We are privileged to be a part of an institution where people truly care about every aspect (from the curriculum to the grounds) that makes Deerfield special. of Goldman Sachs across the globe. She recently finished her second short-term stint in the company’s London office, an assignment that concluded in January. Of all the things she loves about working at Goldman Sachs, Mrs. Edwin emphasizes that, similarly to Deerfield, the people she is able to surround herself with, and the rich interactions they have, make her experience rewarding. This year Mrs. Edwin returned for the next chapter in her Deerfield experience, when she joined the Academy’s Board of Trustees. She sees this step as a way of “paying forward” the gratitude she feels toward Deerfield, its people, and its role in shaping her as a person. She hopes she can help Deerfield continue to help students become the people they are meant to be. On how she sees her role as a member of the Board, she says, “We are privileged to be a part of an institution where people truly care about every aspect (from the curriculum to the grounds) that makes Deerfield special. As Board members, it’s our job to make sure we honor the road we’ve traveled as we celebrate and prepare to meet the road ahead.” //

A HEALTHY IQ JARUPON “FAH” SATHIRAPONGSASUTI’05 / BY JR DELANEY Fah Sathirapongsasuti ’05 always had a fascination with utilizing information as a tool to empower others. “My dad is a doctor in Thailand; so growing up as a Buddhist and seeing my dad exercise his knowledge to help other people really struck me as something I wanted to do, too.” It wasn’t until much later, however, that he found the perfect outlet. “At Deerfield and in college I mostly thought of myself as more of a math guy—computations and that type of work,” he admits. “I was just looking for an area of application, and I was weighing between economics and engineering. Almost by accident I took a genetics class one semester, and have been building on it ever since.” Mr. Sathirapongsasuti is now the chief technology officer at SQ Technologies—a company he helped to found while earning his PhD in Biostatistics and Computational Biology at Harvard University. Most of his time is dedicated to honing and expanding their educational mobile app, Student HealthIQ, which was inspired by his experiences in Harvard’s dormitories. “I was an RA for undergrads. I lived with them, ate with them, and built relationships,” he explains. It was during that time that Mr. Sathirapongsasuti came to realize just how poorly prepared many students are for life on their own. “When students come to college they often don’t have a lot of life experience. They drink for the first time; a lot of them have sex for first time; many are even choosing what to eat for the first time.” He realized there weren’t very many resources to help students navigate this new personal landscape, let alone a place that provided information in a convenient, entertaining format to keep users returning.

Screenshots of the HealthIQ app.

80 | THE COMMON ROOM

“The burden was sort of left to ‘applets’ posted to bulletin boards,” he says. “I came to realize that there was (is) a big need for integrating technology with health education.” Student HealthIQ approaches health education almost like a roleplaying game: Users can build their scores by answering questions, accomplishing certain tasks, and sharing their achievements with others. These scores can then be leveraged as real-world incentives, such as discounts at campus stores. Student HealthIQ launched at Bentley University last spring, and managed to reach a dedicated user base of over 450 students. “We were able to engage a really good section of them,” Mr. Sathirapongsasuti says. “Now we’re fine-tuning what we learned from the first launch and want to see how we grow from there.” SQ Technologies is currently in talks with other schools, such as MIT, in hopes of expanding its platform across the nation. Mr. Sathirapongsasuti is no stranger to the world of crowd-sourced education platforms. Just a year after graduating from Deerfield, he founded “Wikipitaka”—currently one of the largest online resources for Buddhist teachings. “I didn’t really expect it to take off but it did,” Mr. Sathirapongsasuti says. “That’s the beauty of wiki; communities embrace it and the world just runs with it.” Since its inception, Wikipitaka has attracted nearly 10 million users and continues to grow as Internet access expands in heavily Buddhist regions across the globe. Student HealthIQ isn’t anywhere close to that number of users yet, but in the meantime, Mr. Sathirapongsasuti is sharing his tools with as many people as possible. //

2005 “I joined the Media and Entertainment Practice Group of DHR International, a retained executive search firm. I was relocated from New York to Los Angeles to staff the firm’s expanding specialization in the recruitment and placement of executives in opportunities across the entertainment industry. The Media and Entertainment Practice Group supports a variety of companies in the sector, including broadcast and cable networks, movie studios, production companies, and media conglomerates. Alumni in the entertainment industry can connect with me via LinkedIn or directly via email at: ithomson@dhrinternational.com.” —Ian Thomson

2006 “Hi, everyone! I recently started graduate school at the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine. For my thesis I am working toward putting together a climate history to better understand the natural climate changes that the Falkland Islands have undergone in the past 20,000 years. I can then use this record to help inform future conservation and restorations efforts of the Falkland’s unbelievably diverse and unique biota (think penguins!). In order to jumpstart this research I created a crowd-funding webpage (think Kickstarter for science) through experiment.com. I chose to do this not only because I needed help funding my research, but I also think that there is an important gap that needs to be filled in order to connect the public and scientific communities. I raised over $10,000!”—Kit Hamley

The walk down Albany Road is the end of one important journey—and the beginning of another. Thank you for helping Deerfield students finish up strong with your gift to the Green and White.

deerfield.edu/give or use the envelope in the back of this magazine. Thank you for your support!

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

Armed with a degree in English from Georgetown University, Christina “CC” Conrad ’07 was well on her way up the editorial ladder at prominent companies. She worked first as a researcher for National Geographic Traveler magazine, and then as an assistant editor at Time Inc., taking a Columbia Journalism School Publishing Course to build her skills, as well. A hobby, however, set her on a new career path. An avid fan of the electronic dance music scene, Ms. Conrad loved attending concerts and festivals, but didn’t like the options available for keeping her phone, money, and other personal items safe. Purses could get damaged or lost. Fanny packs bounced around and looked silly. Enter the Boobypack. Ms. Conrad came up with the idea for a “fanny pack for your rack.” Essentially, the Boobypack is a flattering sports bra with pockets that provide support. It allows a concert goer—or any woman—to keep her valuables close by without tying up her hands or wearing a bulky bag. Now bitten by the “start-up bug,” Ms. Conrad launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Boobypack concept.

TWO FOR THE ROAD CC CONRAD’07 / BY LYNN HOROWITCH

82 | THE COMMON ROOM

When donors supplied twice the amount she had sought, she handed in her notice at Time and hasn’t looked back. Boobypack now includes three sales reps, a graphic designer, and a web developer all working part-time; Ms. Conrad is currently the only full-time employee, working out of her company headquarters—aka the living room of her apartment in New York City that she shares with her fiancé, Martin Bernstein, and their dog, Bean. The broad reception to the Boobypack has surprised Ms. Conrad. Initially, the target audience was music festival attendees, but as Ms. Conrad says, “It’s very apparent that we appeal to a much larger demographic.” Travelers use the Boobypack to keep their passport, money, and other valuables safe from pickpockets; mothers have used it to hold their room keys on cruise ships; diabetics have even found that the Boobypack is an effective way to carry their insulin pumps. Ms. Conrad has also been struck by the outpouring of support that she has received from other entrepreneurs. She explains, “Many know that while I’m a hard worker and a quick study, before Boobypack, I had zero experience with e-commerce,” and more seasoned business people have reached out to lend a helping hand and/or advice.

Fit a copy of Deerfield Magazine in one: boobypack.com

Ms. Conrad says that her years at the Academy led indirectly to her entrepreneurial drive. “Deerfield is where I grew up,” she says. “It’s where I learned to treat everyone with respect, where I learned that in order to ’be cool,’ you just had to have passion and excel in whatever excited you.” This past February, Ms. Conrad appeared on “Shark Tank,” a reality show on ABC in which entrepreneurs present their ideas to wealthy investors who may offer funding and expertise that must be accepted on the spot. Ms. Conrad says the experience, watched by upwards of eight million people, was “completely nerve-wracking, but so exciting.” She recalls, “I don’t think I will ever be in as stressful a situation again.” Unlike a normal business meeting, cameras are continuously rolling. While the segment that aired was approximately eight minutes long, her actual presentation lasted for a grueling 45 minutes. For support and to model the Boobypack, Ms. Conrad brought Deerfield classmate Catie Straut. Ms. Conrad was one of the lucky ones, with three of the “Sharks” negotiating to invest in her company. She decided to work with Barbara Corcoran, who built The Corcoran Group, New York’s largest real estate company. The experience was exhilarating, Ms. Conrad says. “I felt so elated after the taping, I had to do a happy scream into a pillow a couple times!” The “Shark Tank” episode has propelled her business. Ms. Conrad says, “Sales spiked the weekend we aired, which I expected.” But now the business has continued to grow, selling five times more products than before the show. Ms. Conrad appreciates the exposure that the show provided, calling it “game-changing.” She continues, “I know that a lot of people will pay attention to Boobypack solely because we got a deal on Shark Tank. And I am perfectly okay with that.” Looking back at her Deerfield days, where she was on the tennis team and an Alto 2 in The Rhapsodies (often tasked with singing “shockingly low notes”), Ms. Conrad says that her years at the Academy led indirectly to her entrepreneurial drive. “Deerfield is where I grew up,” she says. “It’s where I learned to treat everyone with respect, where I learned that in order to ‘be cool,’ you just had to have passion and excel in whatever excited you.” Now Ms. Conrad’s challenge is scaling her business without growing pains. With the multiple uses for the Boobypack, marketing will be vitally important. While the product encompasses both active-wear and “athleisure” wear and appeals to a variety of customers, Ms. Conrad knows that her original inspiration is still her primary focus. She observes, “Our sweet spot will always be the active, music-loving woman with a sense of humor.” //

INVESTING IN EDUCATION GREGORY FLEMING P’14 / BY JESSICA DAY The Fleming family in Africa last summer—l to r: Rory, Melissa, Greg, Charlotte, and Andrea

Gregory Fleming, father of recent Deerfield

graduate Andrea Fleming ’14, currently heads up Morgan Stanley’s wealth and investment management businesses, so at first it seems a little incongruous when he says, “Education is the cornerstone upon which the rewarding life is built.” Dig a little deeper into his resume, though, and it becomes clear that banking isn’t Mr. Fleming’s only vocation. A graduate of Colgate University, Mr. Fleming earned a degree in law from Yale, and it is there that he teaches “Ethics in Law and Markets” and often works alongside Professor Jonathan Macey, teaching a broad cross-section of topics pertaining to ethical behavior and norms in business. In 2009 Mr. Fleming served as senior research scholar and distinguished visiting fellow at Yale’s Center for the Study of Corporate Law. He focused on the then-recent credit crisis, and what could be done to prevent a recurrence, after he successfully helped to negotiate the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America.

84 | THE COMMON ROOM

“My parents’ lives as teachers had a profound effect on me growing up,” Mr. Fleming says. “Reading, debates, and intellectual curiosity were highly valued and became a central part of my life.” That effect is still evident today: In addition to his work at Yale, Mr. Fleming is a trustee of Colgate, will have completed just over a decade on the board of Rippowam Cisqua School when he steps down this June, and this past fall he joined Deerfield’s Board of Trustees. As a trustee of the Academy, he “hopes to provide thoughtful insight and guidance that will play some small part in Deerfield continuing to be the outstanding institution it is today.” He is also involved with the Turn2 Foundation, which awards grants to create and support programs that motivate young people to avoid drugs, “turn to” healthy lifestyles, and realize their goals both in high school and college; in addition, Mr. Fleming serves on the board of the Financial Industry Regulatory

Authority, where he and fellow board members focus on issues involving investor education and protection in the securities industry. If it sounds like there’s a theme here, that’s because there is: “Education facilitates growth and the exploration of the world in which we live—in all its wonderful aspects,” Mr. Fleming says. “More tangibly, it is often the vehicle with which people realize their ambitions in life.” Mr. Fleming’s ambitions led him from the consulting firm Booz Allen, to Merrill Lynch, to Morgan Stanley, but that other vocation— education—may win out before all is said and done. In fact, despite articles by prominent news agencies that have hypothesized about where Mr. Fleming will head next in the world of business, in his own personal analysis he discloses: “I fully intend to give up the world of finance for that of education before the end of my career.” So much for speculation. //

“When I came to Deerfield, I was one of three ‘KIPP-sters’ on campus, and now KIPP students from all over the country have followed in our footsteps.”

“This is my fifth year working for KIPP Houston Public Schools, and I currently serve as the director of the KIPP Alumni Association. When I came to Deerfield, I was one of three ‘KIPP-sters’ on campus, and now KIPP students from all over the country have followed in our footsteps; Deerfield and KIPP have a great relationship and I am beyond thrilled to share that two of my very own students are attending DA and loving it! I can’t wait to head back to the valley in 2016 and 2017 to see my students graduate!”—Remington Wiley (above, left)

2009 “I am currently living in Boston and somehow surviving the many blizzards we have recently faced! After receiving my master’s in education through UMass Boston and completing the Boston Teacher Residency teaching accreditation program last summer, I am now happily teaching in a third grade inclusion classroom at the Eliot K-8 Innovation Public School in the North End.”—Emily Galindo “After graduating from Colby in 2013, I decided it was time to explore another coast and headed to Seattle for a northwest adventure. I now work on environmental justice policy for an immigrant rights organization, lobbying on the state level for stronger pesticide regulations, a price on carbon that benefits frontline communities, and equitable transportation projects. I spend my spare time exploring the Cascades and the Olympic Peninsula on foot, ski, and snowshoe, and sampling the region’s stunning array of craft beers—sometimes with Pat Adams. —Ellicott Dandy (bottom)

Xander Manshel ’05 Caught up with classmate Woodrow Travers this past October on a trip through Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna. He says, “It was a great reunion, and given the Austrian and German penchants for meat and potatoes, a wonderful reunion with Deerfield Dining Hall fare as well!”

More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

2010 “Through my studies at both Deerfield and the University of Michigan, I came to appreciate the tremendous task charged to a teacher in guiding students toward success through effective social and intellectual development; I discovered my love for teaching and spent four summers interning with a program called Horizons, hosted at Greens Farms Academy in Greens Farms, CT. Horizons is a national not-for-profit educational enrichment program operating in 15 states for inner city children in kindergarten through eighth grade. I taught kindergarten, second, and seventh grade reading, writing, and mathematics. I worked with inner city children whose backgrounds and abilities were diverse. I utilized teaching strategies designed to make learning fun and interactive, while enhancing my classroom management skills. A unique part of my Horizons experience was teaching swimming to children who had never been in a pool before. Additionally, I served as a Horizons Saturday Academy teacher this fall. I spent my Saturdays working with the same children; reinforcing the reading, writing, and math skills we had practiced over the summer. Looking back, my moments teaching Horizons children were some of the most memorable and rewarding experiences I have had. I have considered the idea of working at a charter school someday, and I’m researching graduate school programs. Currently, I work as a second grade teaching assistant at Greens Farms. In addition to my passion for education, I believe extra curricular activities reinforce valuable lessons learned in the classroom. By participating on a team, children learn how to collaborate, work hard, and inspire one another. I learned this at Deerfield. This spring I’m coaching the varsity tennis team. Another extra curricular activity that has always been important to me is art; my interest stemmed from Mr. Dickinson’s classes at Deerfield, and I continued to take many studio art courses, majoring in art history at University of Michigan. I am always eager to incorporate creative and visual exploration in the classroom at Greens Farms.” —Bea Crawford

86 | THE COMMON ROOM

Bea Crawford ’10 and her students at Greens Farms Academy.

Thuc Phan ’12 Featured in an Elon University article: issuu.com/elonuniversity/ docs/moe-fall-2012/1

Deerfield faculty taught me the value of perseverance, balance, and hard work. I’m saying thank you with an estate gift honoring my favorite teachers: Andy Harcourt and Claudia Lyons.

Liliana Brown ’14 shares some images from her gap year abroad: Pharping, Nepal; Balamchaur, Nepal; the Annapurna Conservation Region, Nepal; Kathmandu, Nepal.

Amy Sodha Harsch ’97 / Director of Investor Relationships, American Securities LLC / Mom of Tate

LEARN MORE:

413-774-1872

deerfield.edu/go/ boyden More Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

5’s& 0’s

June

4-7,

2015

deerfield.edu/reunions 88 | THE COMMON ROOM

Send us photos of your summer clambake: deerfield.edu/commonroom

’58 first person / John Philipp ’58

GOOD SPORTS Mr. Boyden considered football, basketball, and baseball to be the key sports of the fall, winter, and spring seasons. Accordingly, he appointed himself the head coach of each of those sports. I have no doubt that, when he was younger and the school was smaller, he actually coached those sports. When I was there, he was coach in title only, like a chairman who wasn’t the COO. As a result, each of our teams had a real coach and a very short gentleman who attended all the games wearing a Deerfield cap. The short fellow, whom we called the Head, had a special fondness for baseball. After all, it was the national sport. During a game, dressed in his team cap and jacket, he paced up and down behind the bench, watching the game and advising individual players. He played the role of über-coach.

90 | THE COMMON ROOM

BY JOHN PHILIPP

This story originally appeared in the Marinscope Newspapers, July 9, 2014, in John Philipp’s column: “Just My Take,” and is reprinted with his permission.

Everyone knew what was coming. As soon as the headmaster started toward the coach, a murmur spread through the bleachers: “squeeze play.” Sure enough, that was the next play. Surprisingly, most of them worked. I say surprisingly because it was also obvious to the opposing coaches what to expect when the Head stood up.

THE HEAD’S GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP CONDUCT METER

“EAGLE” (“Cut it out.”)

The Head had one favorite baseball strategy, maybe his only baseball strategy: the “squeeze play.” This is when you lay down a sacrifice bunt to allow a runner on third base to score. The Head often stood up in a tight game, walked the length of the bench and conferred with the coach, who would usually not stand up because he was so much taller than the headmaster. Everyone knew what was coming. As soon as the headmaster started toward the coach, a murmur spread through the bleachers: “squeeze play.” Sure enough, that was the next play. Surprisingly, most of them worked. I say surprisingly because it was also obvious to the opposing coaches what to expect when the Head stood up. Standing up at a basketball game was different. Basketball was never my strength when I attended Deerfield. Many of us felt the problem was that we had no tall students. Many schools had a few basketball players every year, but Deerfield didn’t. A few less than all of us put the blame squarely on the headmaster, who, because he was quite short, we assumed had placed a ban on admitting any new students over six feet tall. The Head was a big promoter of sportsmanship—something, he felt, he had a responsibility to teach his students. The basketball games were in an enclosed gym, where the Head and the students were in close proximity and where the acoustics allowed him to hear most of what we were saying. Occasionally, out of frustration, someone would yell something like, “Come on, ref!” or “No way!” or, God forbid, emit an occasional boo or hiss. Many of our students were from New York City, where the success of a hockey game depended on how many fights broke out and how many eggs were tossed at the refs. In our school, however, derogatory comments, boos or catcalls were verboten. We understood and, for the most part, agreed with the Head’s position on good sportsmanship conduct. Of course, that didn’t stop us from testing the waters and having some fun at his expense. When the headmaster heard something he disapproved of issue from the stands, he raised his arm as a signal to cut it out. To the students, that gesture became known as an “eagle.” If the disturbance were more severe, both hands would go up. That was known as a “spread eagle.” If the Head stood up and raised both hands that was a “standing spread eagle.” And the ultimate, what we all lived for, especially if we were getting trounced worse than usual, was the “turn-and-face-the-crowd standing spread eagle.” I was lucky enough to experience one of those during my career watching Deerfield basketball. We were frustrated; the ref had obviously made a bad call. A whole bunch of students booed in unison. That evening after the game, we were at the “store” having a soda when one of our friends came in. He’d missed the basketball game because he was playing an away hockey match and had just returned. “How was the basketball game?” “Oh, you missed a great one.” “You mean, we won?” “No, the Head did a turn-and-face-the-crowd standing spread eagle.” “Damn!”//

“SPREAD EAGLE”

“STANDING . SPREAD EAGLE”

“TURN-AND-FACETHE-CROWD . STANDINGSPREAD EAGLE”

1 Alumni of Color Gathering at Jake’s Dilemma in New York, l to r: Gary Greene ’72, Alexander Jean ’99, Felicia Hawkins ’99, Damaris Acosta ’98, Vanessa Washington ’04, Wael Qattan ’89, April Simmons ’03, James Johnson ’99, Greg Walker ’95, Marieugenia Cardenas ’07, Anna Edwin ’03, Kyle Anderson ’01, Felix Ramirez ’03, Angel Abreu ’92, Lauren Hunter ’98, Liane Hunter ’05, Deanne Battle’98, Marguerite McNicoll ’98, Terry O’Toole ’02, Ray Walker ’92, Paula Edgar ’95 2 Terry O’Toole ’02 and Reggie Snipes ’05 3 April Simmons ’03 and Kyle Anderson ’01 4 Felicia Hawkins ’99, Alex Jean ’99 5 Angel Abreu ’92, Greg Walker ’95, Deanne Battle ’99, James Johnson ’99 6 Lauren Hunter ’98, Liane Hunter ’05, Marguerite McNicoll ’98 7 Anna Edwin ’03, Kyle Anderson ’01, Eddie Velez

92 | THE COMMON ROOM

NYC + ALUMNI OF COLOR EVENT

REGIONAL + CLUB EVENTS

1 Back, l to r: Ben Dennis ’08,

D .C . + C H I N ES E D I SC O H A P PY H O U R

R O C K I E S + AVA L A N C H E G A M E

S A N F R A N C I S C O + AC A D E M Y EV E N T

N Y C + D AY O F S E RV I C E

UPCOMING EVENTS

MAY 24 Commencement JUNE 4–7

B R O O K LY N + D AY O F S E RV I C E / PAV E

P AT H WAY S P R O G R A M

N Y C + I C E S K AT I N G

Cabell Williams, Bo Swindell ’08, Katherine Moriarty ’08, Jack O’Donnell ’11, Charles Hine ’02, front, l to r: Caroline Quazzo ’08, Anneke Baran ’08, Paula Edgar ’95, Terry O’Toole ’02, Bernard Fallon ’90, Frances Gutter Lisk 2 PATHWAYS PROGRAM: At Pathways, returning alumni share stories of their career paths – and the challenges they faced along the way. This year’s Pathways presenters were Stephen Kelley ’00 (Sports Management), Dr. Reid Thompson ’81 (Neurosurgery), Paula Edgar ’95 (Law, Entrepreneurship), Rob McDowell ’81 (Law, Communications) and Jason Jung ’09 (Finance) 3 Top, l to r: Jamie Luckenbill ’03, Rand Singleton ’10 and friend, front: Gus Spaulding ’05 and fiancée, Hannah Christian ’02 and friend, Carolyn Goltra ’98. Not pictured: John G. Knight ’83 4 Joe Norman ’03, Terry O’Toole ’02, Lizzie Rosenberger ’03, Hilary Robinson ’03, Amanda Kessler ’03, Grace Knight, George Knight ’85, Sara Clark ’05, Sara Hutchins ’05, Emmie Murphy ’10, Eliza Murphy ’06 5 Ray Walker ’92 with his kids (plus daughter of Paula Edgar ’95) 6 Volunteers took time to serve at Brooklyn’s PAVE Academy, founded by Spencer Robertson ’93 7 Julia Pielock ’10, Andy Harris ’10, Emily Swarts ’10, Grant Villeneueve ’10, KC Morris ’10

Reunions (0’s and 5’s)

AUGUST 6–9 Look to the Hills

DEERFIELD.EDU/GO/EVENTS

CLASS CAPTAINS & REUNION CHAIRS

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

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

94 | THE COMMON ROOM

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

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

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

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

1993 1993 1993 1994 1995 1997 1997 1998 1998 1998 1998 1998 1999 1999 1999 2000 2000 2001 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2003 2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2005 2005 2006 2007 2007 2007 2008 2008 2009 2009 2013

Charlotte York Matthews Class Captain Sarah D. Weihman Class Captain Marjorie Maxim Gibbons Widener Class Captain Daniel B. Garrison Annual Giving National Chair Daniel D. Meyer Reunion Chair Amy Sodha Harsch Class Captain Margot M. Pfohl Class Captain Thomas Dudley Bloomer Class Captain Ashley Muldoon Lavin Class Captain Alice Elizabeth Leiter Class Captain Vanessa Bazzocchi McCafferty Class Captain Okechukwu Ugwonali Class Captain Alexander Hooker Mejia Class Captain Christopher Colin Wallace Class Captain Michael P. Weissman Class Captain Lisa Rosemary Craig Reunion Chair Emily Jean Dawson Battle Reunion Chair James Dorr Dunning Class Captain William Malcolm Dorson Class Captain Robert Agee Gibbons Class Captain Terrence Paul O’Toole Class Captain Dorothy Elizabeth Reifenheiser Class Captain David Branson Smith Class Captain Serena Stanfill Tufo Class Captain Eric David Grossman Class Captain Tara Ann Tersigni Class Captain Nicholas Zachary Hammerschlag Class Captain Caroline C. Whitton Class Captain H. Jett Fein Reunion Chair Anne R. Gibbons Reunion Chair Bentley J. Rubinstein Reunion Chair Torey A. Van Oot Reunion Chair Kevin C. Meehan Class Captain Matthew McCormick Carney Class Captain Elizabeth Conover Cowan Class Captain Jennifer Ross Rowland Class Captain Sarah Helen Brim Class Captain Robert Haldane Swindell Class Captain Elizabeth Utley Schieffelin Class Captain Nicholas Warren Squires Class Captain Nicholas Morgan Rault Class Captain

Class Notes and Photos: deerfield.edu/commonroom

In Memoriam 1933

1942

1954

Frederick Park Barrett April 10, 2013

Frederic Gunnison Calder * February 14, 2015

George Venable Allen Jr. December 12, 2014

1935

1943

William Ingraham Treadway January 20, 2012

John B. Halsted February 25, 2015

Paul Stillman Eldredge July 12, 2014

1936

Edgar Warren Pond December 12, 2014

Thomas Reuben George October 21, 2014 1938

Russell Chittenden Barbour September 29, 2013 Leo Isidore Racine February 14, 2015

1944

John Burleigh Clapp Jr. December 30, 2014 Robert Scarborough Erskine Jr. December 20, 2014

1939

Giles Darwin Toll January 29, 2015

Kendall Ozro Cass November 11, 2014

1947

Joseph Colwell Robbins November 11, 2014 1940

Arthur Palmer Morgan * January 30, 2015 1941

Stephen Banister King February 14, 2015 Donald Brandreth Potter January 20, 2015

Charles Buckley Curtis December 21, 2014 1950

Thomas Hoopes Lapham Sr. December 5, 2013

Brandon Stoddard * December 22, 2014 1958

James Walker Carty Jr. August 24, 2013 William Livingston Desloge October 2, 2014 Gordon Fowler Jr. January 10, 2015 1965

Warner Norton Grubb III January 15, 2015 1979

Erik Gunnar Fridlund January 29, 2015

1952

David Green Thompson December 28, 2014

William Horne Freeman December 29, 2014

1979

1953

Joseph Andrew Jeffrey Jr. * August 4, 2014 William Edward Palmer Jr. February 11, 2015

Erik Gunnar Fridlund January 29, 2015 2004

Charles Tully Denihan March 16, 2014

* Member of Boyden Society â&#x20AC;˘ In Memoriam as of March 2, 2015. Please go to deerfield.edu/commonroom for the most up-to-date information on classmates, including obituaries.

Find the *key words in the jumble below. The remaining letters, read row by row (left to right, starting at the top), will reveal a famous saying. Send the lines to communications@deerfield.edu or to Puzzle, Communications Office, PO Box 87, Deerfield, MA 01342, and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be entered to win TWO Deerfield beach towels! (The winner will be chosen at random from all correct answers received by June 22, 2015.) *Tips: Circle only the key words listed below, and do not circle backwards words.

Annoyed Aside Cloud Diagonal Done Dune

BY DanaĂŤ DiNicola

Furs Gift Ideal Knee Lemons Lesson Letting

Lips Lodge Mists Opera Pear Prison Rats

Roof Said Seal Sees Sews Slit Sofa

Swift Swings Tide Told Tops Width Willow

Wine Worms

POO PARTYL READY !

Congratulations to David H. (Chip) Bradley â&#x20AC;&#x2122;66, whose answer was drawn at random from all the correct answers we received for the Winter â&#x20AC;&#x2122;15 puzzle: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.â&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;B.F. Skinner

More gear at: store.deerfield.edu

Earn Ease Every Evil Fell Flow Frost

KEY WORDS

Fill in the blanks to reveal the hidden phrase: â&#x20AC;&#x153; _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ /_ _ _ /_ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _. /â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D;_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 96 | THE COMMON ROOM

OBJECT LESSON

PURPLE EUROPEAN BEECH Fagus sylvatica

Planted: May 7, 2015 Location: East corner, front of the Hess Center Currently: 12-15 feet tall; can reach 100 feet Expected lifespan: 150-200 years Given to Deerfield by: the Shumway family, in honor of Patsy and Forrest ’45 P’78 G’12

This tree was chosen because it will grow to the right size for the location, and it serves as a nice complement to the purple beech that was planted behind the Main School Building in 1999. The purple European beech is a long-lived tree, and perhaps more importantly, it is resistant to diseases and pests such as the beech tree borer, which is killing other types of beeches. This particular purple beech replaced the hackberry (estimated to be 75-100 years old) that stood on the same spot. It was damaged by the elements a few years ago, and began to split at its center. Cables were put in place to hold it together, but it grew weaker and weaker, and less able to support its branches as they grew. Finally, it split, and the grounds crew had to remove the hackberry this past fall.

PHOTO GRAPH BY Danaë DiNicola

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

Deerfield Academy | Deerfield, MA | 01342 Change Service Requested

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. Postage

PAID CPC