Bulletin Summer 2012

St. George’s School P.O. Box 1910 Newport, RI 02840-0190

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID St. George’s School

S T. G E OR G E ’S 2012

summer Bulletin

St. George’s School 2012 summer Bulletin

In this issue: Beneath the surface: A profile of Varsity Swim Coach Tom Evans BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY The evolution of Emmy Derecktor ’12

BY SUZANNE

L. MCGRADY

Special characters: The Chinese Program at St. George’s BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY Chapel talks: Feet on the ground, eyes on the prize BY CHARLES MACAULAY ’12 One thing leads to another BY TRISHA-JOY JACKSON ’12 Cherishing the moments BY PARKER LITTLE ’12 Nailing the landing BY CAROLINE ALEXANDER ’12 Hard to say goodbye BY KENDRA BOWERS ’12

Prize Day 2012 Post Hilltop: Alumni/ae in the news

Inside:

Class Notes

A veteran swim coach shares his story • A recent graduate leaves a legacy

Left: Jack Coaty ’13 lines up a putt in a varsity golf match against Portsmouth Abbey on May 12, 2012.

PHOTO BY L OUIS WALKER

St . G e o r g e ’ s S c h o o l M i s s i o n St a t e m e n t In 1896, the Rev. John Byron Diman, founder of St. George’s School, wrote in his “Purposes of the School” that “the specific objectives of St. George’s are to give its students the opportunity of developing to the fullest extent possible the particular gifts that are theirs and to encourage in them the desire to do so. Their immediate job after leaving school is to handle successfully the demands of college; later it is hoped that their lives will be ones of constructive service to the world and to God.” In the 21st century, we continue to teach young women and men the value of learning and achievement, service to others, and respect for the individual. We believe that these goals can best be accomplished by exposing students to a wide range of ideas and choices in the context of a rigorous curriculum and a supportive residential community.

Therefore, we welcome students and teachers of various talents and backgrounds, and we encourage their dedication to a multiplicity of pursuits —intellectual, spiritual, and physical—that will enable them to succeed in and contribute to a complex, changing world.

Upcoming Events 2 0 12 Convocation Chapel

Tues., Sept. 4, 5:45 p.m.

Classes begin

Wed., Sept. 5, 8:30 a.m.

Parents Weekend

Fri., Oct. 19-Sat., Oct. 20 Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Banquet

Fri., Nov. 9, 5:45 p.m.

Presentation of the Diman Award to Capt. Peter W. Soverel ’59

Sun., Nov. 11, 5:45 p.m.

Lessons and Carols

Fri., Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m.

Christmas Festival

Tues., Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m.

St . G e o r g e ’ s Po l i c y o n Non- Disc rimi nati on

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You’re invited: Regional Events Alumni/ae networking event in Boston, Mass.

Location and time to be determined

Wed., Sept. 12, 2012

Reception in Newport, R.I. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Grace GP ’13, ’15

Fri., Sept. 14, 2012

Reception in Potterville, N.J. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Merton ’85

Tues., Sept. 18, 2012

Fifth-Form Parents Weekend

Fri., May 17-Sun., May 19

Reception in Hamilton, Bermuda Fairmont Hamilton Princess

Prize Day

Thurs., Nov. 15, 2012

Thurs., Sept. 27, 2012 St. George’s School admits male and female students of any religion, race, color, sexual orientation, and national or ethnic origin to all the programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race, color, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs. In addition, the school welcomes visits from disabled applicants.

Fri., Feb. 15-Sat. Feb. 16 Reunion Weekend

Mon., May 27

For information on additional events, visit the St. George’s School Facebook page, our web site www.stgeorges.edu or contact events coordinator Ann Weston at Ann_Weston@stgeorges.edu or 401.842.6731.

Boston-area Young Alumni/ae Gathering (Classes 1997-2012) Eastern Standard Kitchen

Wed., Nov. 7, 2012

Reception in New York, N.Y. New York Yacht Club

Washington, D.C.-area Young Alumni/ae Gathering (Classes 1997-2012) Location to be determined

Wed., Nov. 28, 2012

St. George’s Bulletin The Alumni/ae Magazine of St. George’s School Newport, R.I.

Right: The Chapel at dusk, August 2012.

PHOTO BY S UZANNE L. M C G RADY

On the cover: Students take their final English exam in King Hall on May 29, 2012.

PHOTO BY S UZANNE L. M C G RADY

Contents

Suzanne L. McGrady, editor Dianne Reed, communications associate Melissa Flaherty, class notes manager Franz Ritt, web manager Copy editors: Members of the Alumni/ae Office, Jack Bartholet ’12 Contributing photographers: Meredith Brower, Andrea Hansen, Kathryn Whitney Lucey, Franz Ritt, Louis Walker The St. George’s Bulletin is published bi-annually. Send correspondence to Bulletin_Editor@stgeorges.edu.

This magazine is printed on paper that is certified

by SmartWood to meet the Forest Stewardship Council™ standards. FSC sets high standards that ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable way.

From the editor’s desk ........................................................................................................................................2 Beneath the surface: A profile of Varsity Swim Coach Tom Evans BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ....................3 The evolution of Emmy Derecktor ’12 BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ......................................................................8 Special characters: The Chinese Program at St. George’s BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ..................................14 Chapel talks: Feet on the ground, eyes on the prize BY CHARLES MACAULAY ’12 ......................................................17 One thing leads to another BY TRISHA -JOY JACKSON ’12 ........................................................................20 Cherishing the moments BY PARKER LITTLE ’12 ......................................................................................22 Nailing the landing BY C AROLINE ALEXANDER ’12 ....................................................................................24 Hard to say goodbye BY KENDRA BOWERS ’12..........................................................................................26 Prize Day: Graduation 2012 ............................................................................................................................30 Next steps: News from the College Counseling office ............................................................................36 Campus happenings ..........................................................................................................................................37 Arts ........................................................................................................................................................................41 SG Zone – Athletics ..........................................................................................................................................44 Highlights: Student achievements ................................................................................................................49 Classrooms ..........................................................................................................................................................53 Global outreach ..................................................................................................................................................56 New students ......................................................................................................................................................59 Faculty/staff notes ..........................................................................................................................................60 Hilltop archives ..................................................................................................................................................65 Around campus ..................................................................................................................................................66 Geronimo ..............................................................................................................................................................68 Post Hilltop: Former community members, alumni/ae in the news ....................................................70 Community service ............................................................................................................................................72 On the web ..........................................................................................................................................................75 Reunion Weekend 2012 ....................................................................................................................................76 Board notes..........................................................................................................................................................78 Development: News from the Alumni/ae office ......................................................................................79 Class Notes ..........................................................................................................................................................81

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St. George’s From the Head of School S

everal weeks ago, near the beach on Cape Cod that is our family favorite, a swimmer was bitten on the legs by a great white shark. He survived and will recover, but this attack, the first in Cape waters in 80 years, came following a rash of sightings of great whites along the Outer Cape all summer, including one encounter documented in a now-famous photo of a kayaker looking over his shoulder at a very large dorsal fin emerging from the water behind him. In any case, the prominence of sharks in conversations along the beaches of New England has kept them in my thoughts as we get ready for the school’s 116th academic year.

Besides all the chatter, and my own admitted fascination with the creatures’ cruel beauty, another reason I’ve been thinking of sharks is because they and St. George’s have certain things in common (even beyond the work of innumerable Geronimo crews in tagging sharks). Like sharks, great schools combine a reliance on instinct and a measure of relentless forward motion to succeed. In these pages, as you read the news from campus, the student chapel talks, and the alumni notes, I hope you will be struck by the many ways in which we as a school are able to follow our instincts and hold on to the enduring values and traits that have made us great, even as we constantly seek to find the new ideas, programs, and approaches to teaching, which will strengthen and enhance the experience of our students and the skills of our faculty. Despite our similarities, I suppose that this ability of the school to

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build on our strengths and to successfully adapt to changing circumstances ultimately makes us rather unlike this summer’s toothy visitors to Cape Cod, since biologists suggest sharks have evolved very little in millions of years.

I would also like to offer a word of thanks to the many alumni, friends, parents, and other supporters who continue to make our work at St. George’s possible. We hope that the portrait of the school presented in the Bulletin makes you proud of the students and faculty who make up St. George’s today. Thanks to your generous support, we continue to meet our Annual Fund goals, to provide significant and critically important financial aid to families, and to compensate the faculty and staff well. We are blessed to have strong demand for enrollment, and our finances continue to be well and carefully managed. In short, thanks to all of you and your support, we continue to swim onward, seeking not prey, but success for our students.

If you have the chance, please come visit us soon, and if not, enjoy your fall, and keep a sharp eye on the waves.

Sincerely,

Eric F. Peterson Head of School

EVANS PHOTO COURTESY OF TOM PHOTO BY LOUIS

WALKER

When Tom Evans was inducted into the Rhode Island Aquatic Hall of Fame this year, the former All-American who’s been coaching at SG since 1987 put yet another notch in his noteworthy swim career—but there’s more …

BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY

T

here’s something you probably don’t know about Tom Evans. Something you wouldn’t necessarily imagine about him. A few people close to him know about it, but not everyone.

Once you hear it, you’ll have a new way of thinking about talented people like him—people who’ve once gotten medals and trophies—the way they think about themselves and how they change over time.

You’ll also know part of what makes Evans a great coach at a small boarding school.

There’s something enlightening about his revelation, poignant actually. But more on that later.

This is a story about Evans’ career as a swimmer and swim coach and the fact that this year Evans was inducted into the Rhode Island Aquatic Hall of Fame, located in the Tootell Aquatic Center at the University of Rhode Island. The ceremony took place April 27 at the Quidnessett Country Club in North Kingstown and Evans, a veteran biology teacher and former chair of the Science Department, was roundly

Ending a remarkable college swim career at North Carolina State, Tom E va ns receives the Alumni Athletics Trophy from Coach Don Easterling in 1972.

Evans congratulates To ri Cunni n gha m ’13

during a meet Jan. 7.

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and deservedly lauded as a swimmer who had a number of impressive successes in the pool himself—and the coach who revived St. George’s swimming.

“Countless SG swimmers owe their love for the sport to Tom,” said Athletic Director John Mackay. Evans, with his wife, Linda, at his side, has been head coach of the varsity team the majority of years since 1987, and since the school opened the state-of-the art Hoyt Pool in 2004, he’s compiled a dual meet record of 121-35. On his recent coaching highlight reel: The 2008-09 swim season was the most successful in SG history. With 46 swimmers, the largest SG swim squad ever, the teams finished undefeated, 17-0 in coed, boys and girls dual meet competitions—and both the girls and boys teams won their first-ever ISL Invitational meet titles, besting teams from Milton and Thayer. In addition, this past winter the newly formed girls team won its first New England Girls’ Division 2 Prep School Championship.

Swimming was a big part of Tom Evans’ life. At age 8 he started swimming in an organized swim program at the Wilmington (Del.) YMCA, and from there it was pretty much one swim meet after another.

He participated in competitive swimming with the AAU team of the Wilmington Aquatic Club from age 12 to 18. Then, rising to the height of national collegiate swimming, Evans earned a full four-year athletic scholarship to Division 1 North Carolina State University. He was a three-time All American in 1969, 1971 and 1972; won a record 11 straight individual Atlantic Coast Conference swim titles in five different events (the 500 free, 1650 free, 200 IM, 100 back and 200 back); and set school records in the 500 free, 200 IM, 100 back and 200 back.

Winter/Spring 1972 was a heyday. While serving as captain of the N.C. State team his senior year, in February he was selected winner of the Lewis E. Teague Award for Outstanding Amateur Athlete in North and South Carolina; the student body at N.C. State voted for him to win the Alumni Athletic Trophy for the outstanding senior athlete; and in March,

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he appeared on the cover of Swimming World Magazine touted as “one of the brightest stars” of the collegiate swimming world.

The grandson of the 1917 Norwegian Women’s National champion, Evans was probably destined to do well in the water.

What’s more, the sport seemed to be just the right fit for his personality.

“When I was a little boy—second, third grade—I was extremely shy, pathologically shy,” he said. “I mean I wanted to be invisible. I really did. I didn’t want anyone to talk to me. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I just wanted to hide all the time.”

He recalls one day, though, finding a bit of solace at the summer club in Wilmington to which his parents belonged.

“I just started swimming and I liked going underwater because it was quiet and I was invisible.”

Next thing he knew his parents, two sisters and he were engaged in a little race. “Kind of a family outing race and it was families against families,” he said.

That’s how it started, he said. Someone told my parents I was good. They should put me on the YMCA team.

“I found a different world in swimming because every practice I could be alone, just in the water, under the water, quiet. I could be away from the trials and tribulations of that time of your life when so many things are hard on you.”

Evans would go on to excel on a number of his childhood teams.

“My first memory of ‘wow’ was 1959,” he said. “I was 9 years old and I won a trophy at a YMCA meet. I loved that trophy. It was a big trophy. I thought, “Wow, this is really cool. I want more of these.’”

It was just the beginning of more teams and more accomplishments.

With greatness, however, came pressure.

Olympians like swimmers Michael Phelps and Missy

EVANS

the Hall of Fame ceremony. A lot of people, mostly his family, helped to contribute to his successes in swimming.

“And a lot of people— [Heads of School] Eric Peterson and Chuck Hamblet, [Athletic Director John Mackay], and the whole coaching staff and pool staff—have contributed to the success of the St. George’s swim team,” he said.

Coaching at a small boarding school like St. George’s has allowed Evans to bring together his two passions: biology and swimming. A zoology and microbiology major, Evans turned his attention to his studies and reveled in life outside the pool after he left the N.C. State team.

“By the end of my career, honestly I was totally burnt out. I passed up Olympic trials in ’72. I’ll always regret that. And that’s why I admire so much the people who go on—like Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz. Those guys who have such dedication and drive, they could go through anything.

“I knew I couldn’t wait until the last lap.”

After grad school, Evans landed a job teaching at Archmere Academy in Delaware where he went on to coach several All-Americans.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TOM

Franklin put the emotional rollercoaster ride of high-level sports in front of all our consciences this summer.

Evans watched with another perspective.

“I know how disappointed you can be if you don’t perform the way you want to,” Evans admits.

The real pressure cooker started for Evans in college. N.C. State signed its scholarship students one year at a time and if you didn’t succeed in the pool and in the classroom, you could be out.

“They made it clear that they were paying for our education. It was a business. We were there to be the best we could and if we couldn’t, they could find someone else who could.”

Trouble was Evans always knew he had a lazy streak.

“I used to be known on the team as the guy who knew every possible way to get out of practice. I used to hide on top of the diving tower during practices.

When the coach would go in the office after a set, I’d go up to the diving tower and lie down and wait for five minutes and then come back down. I was awful. I was not a very coachable guy,” he said. One time when he was a teenager he fooled his parents into thinking he was going to his morning swim practices for a week—and went golfing instead.

“The more competitive it was, it was a lot less fun for me,” Evans admits. “I would be sick before a practice, before a meet. I felt nauseous. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t breathe. But as a young man, you don’t want to show that. You keep it all inside, like it’s no problem, but that puts more pressure on you.”

And there always seemed to be sacrifices: Time with friends? Have a relaxing summer? Nope, there’s got swim practice.

And not just his own sacrifices, but those of his parents and his sisters. His father, now 95, never left for a meet without a stopwatch to help out with Tom’s practices, and his mom, who died in 2005, helped teach him to swim. That’s the good, nostalgic part of swimming that Evans remembers now, and that he talked about during his acceptance speech at

Top: As captain, Evans takes his place at the front of his 1971-72 N.C. State team photo.

Above: Evans shares the March 1972 cover of Swimming World magazine with Southern Methodist’s Jerry Heidenrich under the caption, “Two of College’s Brightest Stars.”

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In 1987, he and Linda decided to apply for jobs together and put their last stamp from a 40-pack on an envelope to St. George’s. They had already sent out 39 resumes.

It was a foggy, cold day in April when they visited and Steve Leslie (retired since 2011) was going to become the next dean of students, opening up a job in the Science Department. “[Former Chair of the Science Department] Ted Hersey was standing there. … All the people we met.

It was just unbelievable. Dan and Betsy Hollins. The people sold us.

“We drove home saying if we get an offer, we’re taking it. I sat in on Steve’s class and said to myself, ‘Now this is teaching. I would love to do this.’”

Tom Evans and Linda Evans—a swimming standout in her own right at Lafayette—met because of swimming.

Tom was managing a pool in Wilmington one summer and lost one of his lifeguards right at the peak of the season. A recommendation from a colleague to call Linda Larson saved him. [For the record, let it be said that the medals didn’t matter all that much.] “That, to me,” Evans coos nostalgically, “was my real apex moment in swimming—when I met Linda.”

The two—parents of Thomas ’09 and Kaitlyn ’06—developed a philosophy that legions of SG swimmers will remember. With their motto “Pain can be fun,” they sought to instill in their athletes a pride in their own personal accomplishments, not just a will to win.

“Coach Evans is one of the best coaches I have had at St. George’s,” said Halsey Huth ’12, a co-captain of the boys varsity swim team for the 2011-12 season. “Because of him, the swim team is a group of some of the closest students on campus.”

His practices were difficult and challenging, Huth added, but “Coach Evans is the type of coach who cares more about his team than he does himself. [He] stressed hard work and good character, in and out of the pool. I still take his motto ‘Pain

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can be fun’ to heart every time I work out.”

Evans himself takes as much joy in the small victories—recruiting a swimmer to the team who’s never competed before, watching a mediocre swimmer beam at a personal best time—as he does in his run of undefeated seasons. He tears up when the kids get really excited—or when he thinks of little Laura Stack ’90 (now de Ramel) becoming the first SG girl ever to reach the New England finals, or he watches the tape of Joseph Astrauskas ’07, a talented runner who never swam on a team before, defy the odds and break a minute in the 100 free at the New Englands at Deerfield Academy in 2007.

Evans recounts the meet: “[Joseph] dives off and goes out way too fast, because he’s so excited and he hits the 50 at like a 26-plus and that’s like a second better than he’s ever done. And I’m looking at Warren [Williams] saying, ‘Oh, my God, he’s gonna die. Get the hook.’ But Joseph doesn’t stop.

He hits the wall, looks up and it says 59:58. To this day, I’ll never forget that. That emotion he felt there was probably as great as any emotion I’ve ever felt in swimming.

“It’s the same human emotion. The times are different. But it’s the same feeling.”

Still Evans is quick to say he’s not a professional coach. “I’m a teacher who used to swim and I love the sport.”

It’s coaches like St. George’s Aquatics Director Kerri Cunningham and other USS and YMCA coaches, he said, who really “plant the seeds in our young swimmers” because they dedicate their lives to swimming and cultivate a love for the sport.

“I understand my philosophy as a coach is not right for Olympic champions. I understand that.

That’s different. I probably would not be a very good coach for the Michael Phelpses of this world, because my philosophy is: You’ve got to work hard, which everyone should do, but you’ve got to have fun, too. If you’re a real dedicated swimmer who wants to be the best in the sport, you’re swimming 12 months a year, and it’s not always fun.”

What the Evanses and their fellow coaches—Holly

EVANS PHOTOS COURTESY OF TOM

and Warren Williams, and Virginia Buckles—have done at St. George’s is to allow athletes to reach their own milestones and to feel good about what they achieve.

“To me, that’s what swimming’s about. It’s not winning the ACC championship, or being on the cover of Swimming World. To me what swimming’s about is what my parents sacrificed and taught me— and what Joseph did in Lane 1 at Deerfield.”

It’s Feb. 23, 2011, and Tom Evans won’t get in the water.

He’s standing there at the edge of the pool after the 2010-11 meet with Portsmouth Abbey and the members of the boys varsity swim team are telling him and the other coaches they won’t leave until the coaches all swim a lap.

What to do? There’s that feeling again. There’s no way I’m putting a bathing suit on.

He takes off his watch and glasses and keeps on his warm-up suit and coaching jacket.

How do I handle this?

He dives in and swims underwater almost the whole way.

“I swam maybe one stroke,” he says. “That was the last time.”

“I’ve been in the water to get cool, but I don’t swim,” he admits.

Something tugs at him. “It’s always after the last meet of the season. I get so pumped watching the kids. I say, ‘Oh, I’ll get back in the water.’”

But then it happens again.

“I’d get in and I knew I would never be where I was.

And a lot of pride set in. I knew I wasn’t ever going to race again. I feel bad about that, because it’s such a great sport. I wish I enjoyed it more. But right now, as soon as I get in the pool, it feels so good—and then I think, ‘Ah man, I’m so bad.’ It’s the first thing I think: ‘Oh … I’m so slow.’ Or I think: ‘Damn, this must look awful.’ And so I’m thinking about pleasing people instead of enjoying the sport.”

For now there’s just the push and pull of his emotions—like one night back in 2004, when he and former SG Development Officer Bob Ceres ’55, a former All-American swimmer at the Naval Academy, snuck into the Hoyt Pool before the facility opened. The two men—both of whose lives where so intricately, unforgivingly entwined with their sport— wanted to be the first to swim a lap.

Won’t it feel great?

The experience was almost haunting.

“It felt like home—those first few strokes in the water,” Evans recalls. “You dive in and you go under water, and there’s the quiet again. It really felt like home—but then you have to come up and swim again …”

Top: To m and Li nda Eva ns (top left) pose in front of the old pool building for a team photo with their first SG squad in 1987-88.

Bottom: Athletic Director Joh n Ma c ka y (right) delivered the introduction when Tom E van s (left) was inducted into the Rhode Island Aquatic Hall of Fame this spring.

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RITT PHOTO BY F RANZ

The evolution of Emmy Derecktor Emily Derecktor ’12 impressed us with her singing voice and her academic prowess, but when she graduated on Prize Day, she also left behind a legacy of care and concern for her fellow female students

BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY

I

t was at a Christmas Festival reception during her freshman year when Emily Derecktor ’12 first showed an SG audience what she had inside. A last-minute fill-in for a senior member of the Snapdragons a cappella group who’d fallen ill, Derecktor was tapped to belt out the solo on “All I Want for Christmas is You,” in front of a rapt group of adults at Merrick House. Her mom recalls it as a watershed

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moment for the little girl who was once so shy she barely spoke, even to her grandparents, and who wouldn’t go anywhere without her older sister, Margo ’06. “I think it took her completely out of her comfort zone to sing in front of people,” said Sandy Oxx P’06, ’12. “Emmy was always really shy.”

Indeed, Emmy would go on to star in many school music performances, her soprano voice ring-

PHOTO COURTESY OF

SANDY OXX

ing out “Oh God, make speed to save us,” a hallmark of every Thursday chapel service her sixth-form year when she served as precentor of the choir. When she graduated with high distinction on Prize Day, Emmy was named the winner of the Jefferys Prize, “given in memory of Cham Jefferys to the sixth former who in the opinion of the faculty has done the most to enhance the moral and intellectual climate of the school,” and of the Choir Prize. A determined academic dubbed “an easygoing perfectionist” by her English teacher, Jeff Simpson, she also excelled in science, math and Spanish. She heads to Brown University this fall with an eye on going to medical school and becoming a doctor.

Her greatest legacy to St. George’s, however, may be what she did out of her own initiative with her free time: This past school year, Emmy created a health and wellness program for the fifth-form girls. The program was designed to build the girls’ self-esteem, widen their support system, and develop healthy behaviors while at boarding school. And it was a program born from her heart. Out of her own struggles, Emmy says, grew an intense desire to help others, because life hasn’t always been easy. When she now thinks about her own history—her parents’ breakup when she was 8, finding her place among a

competitive group of middle schoolers, helping family members struggle through mental health issues— she thinks of it as the way she’s developed her compassion for others. “I’m happy that I had the experiences I did because I was able to grow from them,” she says.

Emmy grew up on Swan Farm in Portsmouth, where the family during the warmer months cultivated the land. Along with working on free-lance writing assignments, Oxx grew Echinacea and brought together a group of local holistic growers.

Emmy’s father, Tom Derecktor, tended to the fields in between working as an engineer. Emmy and Margo worked in the greenhouse, rode on the back of a tractor planting seedlings and sold plants, pies and produce at the Wapping Roadside Stand. “[The farm] was a big place, and the house was plopped in the middle of it. We had no neighbors,” Oxx said. “There was nothing for her to do and she really had to learn how to occupy herself.”

When Emmy did venture off the farm, “she would always have to bring her older sister with her everywhere,” said Oxx, who now teaches English and journalism at Portsmouth High School. “She

Opposite page: E m il y D er ec k to r ’12 poses with the females of the fifth form, for whom she created a health and wellness program last year.

Left: Emmy as a little girl on the Portsmouth, R.I., farm where she grew up.

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KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY PHOTO BY

Em my and her sister, M ar go ’06, after this

year’s Prize Day services.

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wouldn’t say much.

You’d ask her a question and she’d say yes/no—never elaborating on anything.

That’s who she was.

She was not a very open little girl at all.”

The required chores on the farm were also meant to get her away from the television. “She needed to be pushed because she was a couch potato,” her mom says, defying the image of the girl we see today.

“Oh, yeah, she loved to watch TV. She was the couch potato in the family—and the night owl. And I thought, ‘What are we going to do with her?’”

For the record, Emmy remembers the television issue differently. “I was pretty much a little boy when I was younger,” she said. “I used to do pull-ups with my dad while watching TV.” Looking back, Emmy remembers her days on the farm with nostalgia, memories that last year even became the focus of her college admission essay. “The beauty of having a ton of land is it’s like a playground,” she said. “We used to make corn husk dolls from the extra corn in the field; one year we had a ‘rain dance’ during a drought to make the crops grow.” She and her best friend, Lela Barclay de Tolly ’11, used to make “magical” potions made of dirt and dried corn in a hole in a tree.

One day after watching “The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius” Emmy walked up to her father and said, “Dad, let’s build a hovercraft!”

“So we built a hovercraft,” she said with a little kid’s excitement and pride. “It’s big!”

Tom Derecktor, now the chief operating officer of U.S. operations for Hall Spars in Bristol, said “[Emmy] has a curious mind that is dissatisfied until she knows ‘why is it so’ and has mastered ‘how to find out.’ She turned the question of ‘Why doesn’t the hovercraft float level, Dad?’ into a physics exercise of Center of Lift vs. Center of Gravity. Needless to say, she keeps me on my toes.”

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When Emmy was in third-grade at Elmhurst Elementary, she told her mom she wanted to play the piano. June Doolittle, her teacher who was then at the List Academy of Music & Arts in Newport, remembers the day Emmy walked in. “I have a vivid picture of this little tiny girl sitting up on this bench and starting in one of those first piano books,” said Doolittle, an accomplished musician and wife of former Director of Admission Jay Doolittle ’56. (For years the Doolittles and their children lived on Purgatory Road across from campus amid an extended family of animals.) “Her feet didn’t reach the floor— and she kind of immediately had this little attitude of ‘Woah, this is just too easy. Why am I doing this?

These are childish books.’”

June Doolittle said one day she encouraged Emmy to make up her own songs. She didn’t hear much about her suggestion until months later. It was just when things were getting more complicated for Emmy at home: Her parents were separating and Emmy was struggling to understand all the changes.

Then one day she showed up for her piano lesson with a song called, “To June.” “She had this whole piece written out,” Doolittle recalled. “There were a gazillion mistakes on the paper, but it didn’t matter one bit. When she played it, it was beautiful. It all made sense. She played this song that she made up, and to me it gave me goosebumps.

“I realized that there was this extraordinary … a passion and a drive there that I never had encountered in other students.”

Coupled with the unease of her personal life, Emmy’s talent was all the more impressive, Doolittle said. “I realized that she had this inner strength that was pretty amazing for someone her age.”

“Phantom of the Opera.” “Wicked.” “Billy Elliott.”

When she was little, Emmy’s father used to take her to Broadway plays, which she says she was—and still is—obsessed with. Mimicking the performers, she said she’d walk around the house pretending to sing opera. She also loved acting, performing in a number of school musicals and at St. Michael’s Country Day School summer camps in Newport.

Her first “real school role” was playing the Tin

and fellow SG standout songstress Gr ace Al za i ba k ’12 for a special project in which the girls studied as many different types of music and styles of singing as they could, including jazz, classical and opera. “They dove into the special project, from start to finish, with a daily passion that inspired me in turn,” Tipp said.

The two delivered a stunning final concert May 23.

Her dad admits, “I was proud and choked up on Prize Day, but it was her spring Special Project Concert with Grace that opened up the flood gates.”

And when Emmy performed the aria “Queen of the Night” from “The Magic Flute,” she was in a different place …

As a little girl, Em my (right) could often be found with her sister, M ar go ’06, helping out in her mom’s greenhouse.

SANDY OXX

When Emmy joined the Health Council her junior year, she said, “It opened my eyes to a lot of the health issues … that go unnoticed.”

The group of students meets weekly to discuss matters of student wellness with Director of Student Health Services, Dr. Cheryl Jenkins.

“As I was more aware, I was able to see that there were a lot of things that were accepted that weren’t healthy, which kind of bothered me a lot,” she said. “I just remember seeing girls not eating enough or over exercising—just because they thought that was the healthy thing to do when really it was extremely unhealthy.

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Man in “Wizard of Oz.” From then on Emily Derecktor wanted to sing.

“I really love singing, mostly because it lets me escape,” she said. When her parents were breaking up, she said, “I really felt very alone. I had to grow up very quickly. And it didn’t really resolve itself until years later.”

When she entered private school at Pennfield in the sixth grade, she said she became motivated to demonstrate she could excel.

The way Oxx remembers it, “the girls were always comparing. The way [Emmy] proved herself worthy was to study her butt off and to get really good grades.

“That’s how she got her status with the ‘in’ crowd.”

The experience toughened her. “She developed her sense of humor,” her mom said. “It was a funny little flip she did, from being this sensitive 4-year-old to becoming a little irreverent.”

According to her dad, “Emily’s motivation comes from within.”

“I can’t remember ever asking her to study or do homework. I was usually the one trying to get her to goof-off.”

Emmy recalled, “It was just that I wanted to try harder. I wanted to see how much I could do and how much I could learn.”

Her newfound singing voice also helped bring her out of her shell. In seventh grade a new music teacher started The Snack Time Chorus at Pennfield, bringing the kids who wanted to sing together during recess to sing for fun and to rehearse songs they would later perform in public.

Emmy remembers practicing “Listen” by Beyonce for weeks before performing it before a crowd on Grandparents Day. With the Snack Time Chorus, she sang at a Providence Bruins game and at the Newport Gulls’ Cardines Field. Her piano skills were a highlight of school events.

At St. George’s, Emmy honed her voice for four years under the direction of teacher Ilona Tipp, an accomplished jazz singer who credits Emmy with “a fierce work ethic.”

At a small school like St. George’s, “Emily could easily have contented herself to reign as the big fish in a small pond,” Tipp said. “But instead she is remarkably humble and down-to-earth.”

This past spring, Tipp served as advisor to Emmy

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Em my takes center stage during a performance of “Time After Time” by the Snapdragons at the end of the year a cappella concert with the Hilltoppers in May.

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“That kind of got me thinking and I talked to Doc J about maybe starting something.”

She targeted the fifth form “because that’s probably the year when students are under the most stress.

It’s the year when you’re starting to think about college very seriously, you’re trying to get your studies up.

“I wanted to get a grade that would really appreciate it.”

Besides, she said, “I also have members of my family who have had eating disorders and anxiety disorders and a lot of it originated in high school.”

Though she acknowledges diseases such as depression and anxiety can’t always be prevented, she believes there’s a population of girls “who won’t get to the kind of really bad point, who won’t need to be hospitalized or anything like that, but that the girls in that population are the ones we can change.

“At least we can help them a little bit more, so that’s what I wanted to focus on.”

For Emmy herself, she admits, “My freshman and sophomore years were the hardest.” After surgery to reconstruct a flat foot, she was on crutches for six months. “And it was very difficult. I wasn’t in the best mindset,” she said.

During some of that long, snowy winter her sophomore year, she would spend nights in the health center to make it easier to get to class the next day.

That was also the year one of her family members

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was diagnosed with anorexia and Emmy wanted to be there for support.

Physically—and emotionally—Emmy was being put to the test.

“She does get anxious. She has this other side to her, the angst,” her mom said.

After middle school, Oxx said she wondered if Emmy would keep working so hard.

“I’d always say to her, ‘just call in sick. Say you can’t go to Snapdragons today.’

“She would have all these tests, still be nursing her leg and I said, ‘Just stop it, don’t do it.’ And she would just say, ‘No, I’m doing it.’ I’d say, ‘You’re hurting yourself. Just knock it off.’ I’d get really mad with her. And I’d say, ‘I’m calling up.’ And she wouldn’t let me do that.”

Like many moms, Oxx said she got the message: Mom, don’t interfere.

The other side of having surgery was that she spent a lot of time with her orthopedic doctor, Dr. Christopher W. DiGiovanni of University Orthopedics, which sparked her interest in medicine. She has “shadowed” a number of doctors, witnessed surgeries, assisted on a research project on bone grafting, and volunteered two summers at the Cancer Center in Rhode Island Hospital bringing chemotherapy patients blankets, food, drinks, magazines—anything

to help make life easier as they underwent therapy.

“It’s nice to joke around and make people happy, to be a part of their lives in that way,” she said. “I kind of attribute that experience in the hospital to really getting me out of myself and looking more toward other people. It was a really great experience for me.

“I would go home at the end of the day and feel really great about doing my part to serve these people who were going through such a rough time.”

This summer Emmy has been working for Dr. Claire Pierre, a Haitian internist and a member of the medical team of Dr. Paul Farmer P’15 at Partners in Health in Boston. She’s studying the risk behaviors of H.I.V. patients, and helping inform physicians that the patients are not being educated enough. Checking in by email in early August, she provided an update: “I’m about to conduct an intervention with Claire to educate [the patients] more about safer sexual behavior and STDs,” she wrote.

When it came time to put the Fifth-Form Girls Health Program together, Jenkins paired Emmy with Sarah Mort, a clinical social worker who lives on campus with her husband, Colin, an English teacher and head boys squash coach.

Mort remembers Emmy “saw something happening amongst her peers and decided to take action and do something positive and proactive about it.”

With Mort’s guidance, Emmy worked hard to find speakers and plan sessions on topics such as stress management, how boys treat girls, nutrition and what makes a positive female role model. The girls met four times this year during the Thursday SG Block and it was all about empowerment and bringing girls together in positive ways.

It was an immediate hit.

“I think it was received very, very well,” said Keely Conway ’13 who participated in the program last year and who will take over as student organizer this year.

“The girls absolutely loved it. It was a great opportunity for girls from different friend groups to come together.

Everyone was really supportive of one another.”

Most important to Emmy, Mort said, was that “she wanted the program to be a success so that it would continue and grow after she graduated.”

Conway says she’s happy to continue Emmy’s

mission. The Fifth-Form Girls Health Program Emmy created will now be called Core, “as in get to the core of the problem and get to the core of the most empowering women and we’re in a core group,” Conway explained.

She already has plans for an offshoot of the program she’s calling The Sisterhood Initiative, in which senior girls who volunteered in the spring will stage a number of empowerment sessions with the younger female students throughout the year.

Her dad says he’s in awe of how Emmy has evolved. “Somehow Emily morphed from the shy, bookish, chin-up champ of Elmhurst, into a singing academic powerhouse—with the ability to handle any situation with confidence.”

As she envisions dropping Emmy off on College Hill in September, Oxx she imagines the audible changes in her home. “Whenever [Emmy’s] under stress she starts singing like a crazy woman and I’m thinking, ‘I hope they’re all right with this in the dorms,’ because really she just sings all the time, in between studying … while she’s studying … It’s an outlet,” Oxx said.

“It’s great. I’m definitely going to miss that.”

As Emmy contemplates her future, all her passions come up again.

“I want to keep singing, that’s for sure,” she said.

“I’ve always wanted to sing with an orchestra in the background. That’s one of my goals. I’m going to do that.”

About her studies, she says, “I’m very motivated.

I’ve always felt that way with my studies. I want to do well and I want to learn as much as I can.”

She’s always known she wanted to go to Brown and hopes to pursue classes in creative writing as well as biology/pre-med.

“As for what kind of doctor I want to be, I’m not sure yet,” she said. “I really like people and I like to talk to people and see how they’re doing. I think I’m pretty good at recognizing if people are upset and helping them out. I did that with a lot of my family members. I’ve had to give them advice and be there for them.

“I knew I wanted to do something to help people.

It’s really important to me.”

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Special characters To incoming students with drive and ambition: Got a few years? We’ll teach you how to communicate in China.

BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY

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Ve ro ni c a Sc o tt ’12 and G ra ce Al za ib ak

’12 listen in during a class with Chair of the Chinese Department Mike Wang .

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hen Brice Berg ’12 and Tucker Harrington ’12 ascended the Front Steps together on Prize Day as co-winners of the Chinese Prize, they represented an ever-growing and now widespread population of students who have developed a love for the Asian language and culture while at St. George’s. Not only that, they proved once again, that even with little or no prior experience or travel, a determined student can break through what many of us think is an impenetrable language barrier with a population half a world away.

It is the outcome former headmaster Chuck Ha m bl et and former Director of Global Studies

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To ny Ja c ca c i, who designed and began the Chinese Program in 1997, dreamed about. From modest beginnings, now more than 30 students are enrolled in Chinese language classes this year—and many graduates are going on to study the language and culture of Asia in college and beyond.

Now, with the help of a generous donation from two current parents, the program is taking another major step: The first-ever SG China Immersion Program scheduled to begin next June, which will bring four to five interested students to live in and travel

KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY

BRICE BERG ’12

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throughout China for about four weeks. Head of the Chinese Department Mike Wang and Chinese teacher Xiaoyu Chen were in China this summer working on the logistics.

Wang said the goal of the program is to give students “a cultural context” for their continued study of the Chinese language. “It’s to make their language acquisition more relevant by providing them with an opportunity to discover what it means to be a leader in this globalized world,” he said. Over in China, students will examine different aspects of modern Chinese society—the economy, education and the role of government.

“They will experience the thrill of discovery and adventure, the joy of supporting others, as well as what it means to contribute to the common good,” he said.

To set up the new immersion program, Wang and Chen headed back to their homeland in July to, among other things, set up a two-week exchange program at YK Pao, our sister school in Shanghai where Jaccaci now serves as principal; discuss potential collaborations with American nonprofit organizations; and negotiate with both Chinese private and government entities in China’s major cities. It’s expected the St. George’s student participants will live with host families and get to see a number of different regions and cultural landmarks.

Though both Berg and Harrington eventually took their study of Chinese to the highest level in high school with Advanced Placement courses and Independent Study, they are also honest to say it wasn’t just their own desire that got them to start learning Chinese. “The reason I took Chinese at first was actually because my parents made me—because they said that China was a rising superpower,” Berg acknowledges.

Both also view proficiency in the language as a

potential resume builder. “I knew that it was going to be beneficial in the long run, so it was in my best interest to continue,” said Harrington, who wants to pursue a career in business or economics with China as a focus.

Harrington says he got lucky when he entered sixth grade at Greenwich (Conn.) Country Day and the school offered Chinese for the first time. He went on to win that school’s graduation Chinese Award as well.

He launched an accelerated program of study in Chinese at St. George’s and spent four weeks before his fifth-form year at the Middlebury College Chinese Immersion Program. By the end of the program, during which students were required to speak only in Chinese, Harrington said the language had made it into his subconscious and he began to lose the need to keep translating in his head.

“Eventually, I started dreaming in Chinese,” he said. “It was kind of creepy, but at the same time … neat … because the two languages were always separate—and then they came together.”

A hockey player with a lot to juggle, Harrington hasn’t yet visited China, but says he plans to do so during his tenure at Boston College, where he’ll be a freshman this fall.

“I know it will change me,” Harrington said about seeing China for the first time. “I’ll have a different perspective on the world.

“It’ll confirm to me that the time and effort that I’ve put in over the years was worth it.”

Berg, of St. Augustine, Fla., said entering the SG Chinese Program freshman year was a challenge.

“But after a while I really fell in love with the language,” he added.

“What kept me going was probably Mr. Jaccaci’s enthusiasm for teaching Chinese. He was a very

Tony Jaccaci

Above left: In his junior year abroad in China, Br ice B er g ’12 samples scorpions for the first time.

Above right: Br i ce B er g ’12 and Tuc ke r H ar ri ng to n ’12 each are awarded a 2012 Chinese Prize.

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enthusiastic teacher. And then I took it the next year and had Mr. Wang, who was also great. … I guess it was then that I decided I wanted to go to China.

Studying even more about the culture and history of the country through the Asian Civilizations course, taught by Director of Global Studies J er emy G ol ds te i n and former history teacher Luci a Ja ccaci, sealed the deal—and Berg put his language studies into high gear by participating in the School Year Abroad Program in China during his fifth-form year.

Chinese teacher Xiaoyu Chen offers up a study lesson to students E dga r Le e ’14, H ik ari Ha se gawa ’13, Cl ai r e Yoo n ’14 and Wi l l Fl em i ng ’13.

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A flight from San Francisco landed Berg into the heart of Beijing to begin what would be a ninemonth program, far away from home, in a land Berg says in some ways “is the exact opposite of America.”

When asked to recall one of the first things he saw that reminded him he wasn’t in Florida anymore, he said, “Probably the sight of cats and dogs roaming the streets.” He and 47 other kids were quickly transported to the outskirts of Beijing to a rural village, surrounded by mountains, with no electricity. Getting to know the local culture and each other, the kids used squatting toilets and took part in a number of team physical obstacle-course-style challenges. Berg said he embraced all the opportunities—even when a chicken foot was offered up for dinner. “I tried it, just because it was something I hadn’t done before and I was like, ‘You know what, how many times am I going to get to do this?’ So I just decided … go ahead, try the chicken feet …”

Berg went on to live with a host family, who treated him as one of their own, for the rest of the year.

“I lived with my grandma and my grandpa, my mom, my dad, and my younger brother, 16,” he said.

“They helped me with my homework if I needed help with characters. They just seemed really giving.”

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Now Berg heads to the prestigious International Business & Chinese Program at the University of South Carolina.

“It’s been truly remarkable to see their achievement,” Wang said of Harrington and Berg. “They were interested in the subject—and they worked hard.”

These days Wang fondly recalls a number of his former top-notch students—Mari el Bailey ’04, who went on to Stanford; Stephanie Johnson ’10, now at the University of Pennsylvania; Tony Ki m ’10, now a student at Dartmouth, and Matt Bakios ’08, who recently graduated from Georgetown—who have gone on to continue their Chinese studies beyond St. George’s.

Bakios, who was a student in Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, studied Mandarin and Chinese/Asian culture, majoring in international history with a specialization in the study of empires and their legacies in East Asia and the Middle East.

He took advantage of his summers to travel to and work in China. The summer after his sophomore year in 2010, Bakios was accepted into the University of Virginia’s intensive language program in Shanghai.

He was the first non-UVA student ever to be accepted into the program.

The summer after his junior year, he worked as an intern at Han Yi Law Offices in Shanghai.

“I hope to return to China sometime soon and that Chinese remains central to my life as I begin my post college career,” said Bakios, who studied under both Jaccaci and Wang. Wang even tutored Bakios for multiple summers after he graduated from St. George’s.

Right now Bakios is working at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in New York City as a corporate paralegal. He’s studying for the LSATs and hopes to work in corporate law in China or in the U.S. on deals involving China.

Because of SG, Bakios said, “Chinese has really been a huge part of my academic and professional progression, but also my personal development. I have made numerous friends (American and Chinese) because of my study of Mandarin and feel lucky to have insight into such a unique and important culture. For all of that I really attribute my experience at SG for planting the seed and sparking my love of China.”

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Feet on the ground, eyes on the prize A sixth former seeks balance between the present and the future

BY CHARLES MACAULAY ’12 Editor’s note: The following chapel talk was delivered on May 22, 2012.

Cha rl e s M a c au la y ’12 (third from left) greets his buddies—classmates Ad am Ke e fe, C am H ow e , J o h n Snow, J oe M a c k and M a r k Nu y t k e n s — outside the chapel.

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s I stand here in front of everyone on the brink of graduation, I feel the need to ask a very simple question of myself: “What did you learn in school?” It’s a question my mother asked me almost every day after elementary and middle school, but I think it’s actually very difficult to answer

in a meaningful way. On the surface, it represents a basic inquiry as to what topics were taught in school, but I think it also begs a deeper understanding of personal growth.

When confronted with this question as a child, I often gave my parents a dismissive “I dunno” or “not much,” not as an actual explanation, but as a way of choosing not to answer the question at hand. After a hard day of work, I didn’t feel like giving a blank

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description of how the Anasazi Native Americans were the oldest indigenous tribe in southwestern Colorado, or that division was actually getting to be quite easy. But sometimes I think that even if I had been the most mature 9-year-old in the world, I would have still thoughtfully replied, “I don’t know.” I think that at the time, I was vaguely aware of the fact that I was growing in school to eventually become the person I am now, but there would have been no way for me to actually quantify this intangible learning curve in words.

In fact, from the time I came here to the Hilltop as a confused new sophomore up until very recently, I still wasn’t sure how to answer the age-old question.

Through a large portion of this year, I still couldn’t define exactly what this learning process represented to me. I knew St. George’s was helping me become an engaged adult ready to take on the world, but I still did not have the words to fully express my sentiments.

I think the reason why I started thinking about this prospect so much is because I came to St. George’s from a community that is probably the exact opposite of it. For example, my first exposure to ice hockey was skating on my town’s only rink—a flooded and then frozen rodeo ring. If someone had come up to me three years ago when I was still attending Glenwood Springs High School and said that I would be graduating in 2012 from an elite boarding school in New England, I would have scoffed at them and walked away.

To me, boarding school was a radical idea that I

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had only heard of in fictional books and from welldressed acquaintances of my grandparents. And in the town where I spent the majority of my childhood, boarding school is one of those things that may or may not actually occur in real-life—kind of like shark attacks, or leprechauns, or wearing Vineyard Vines clothing casually. When I am at home over breaks, certain parents still offer me consoling advice such as, “Hang in there. We love you,” because they firmly believe I have been shipped off to a prison school. I won’t go into any more detail regarding the nature of my hometown, at risk of belittling its beauty, but the point is, coming to the St. George’s community for me was a stark change, and it made me think a lot about my journey and how it matters.

My reflection started off with the intention of explaining to my befuddled friends at home what boarding school was all about, but it ended a few months ago with a much more internal meaning.

I have had an incredibly wide range of experiences here at St. George’s, but my understanding of the meaning of this SG education occurred at a completely unpredictable time. A few weeks ago, two of my friends and I went surfing at Second Beach. (I should preface this story by dissolving any potential misunderstandings that I am an accomplished surfer.

If I had to characterize my relationship with the sport, I would say I am like the bear that has such a simple love for honey that he is willing to get stung by bees many times in order to taste it. Being from a landlocked state, I jump at any opportunity to go to the beach.) In any case, the waves were predicted to be big, so we got out of bed around 6:30 and jogged down in the wind and the rain. From Cliff Field, I could tell that it was going to be a challenging morning, but once we emerged from the bushes at the bottom of the hill, I knew for sure that it was going to be an hour of getting tossed about by the surf rather than an hour of actually surfing. Seeing the blaring problem that the waves were enormous, and that the place we wanted to be was on the other side of the angry whitewater, we decided the best way to get to a safe breaking point would be to climb around and put in off of the rocks. For those of you who have

been to Second Beach, you will know that the rocks line the whole right side of Surfer’s End, and they eventually turn into a cliff face out by Purgatory Chasm. Keeping this in mind, in order to make it out past the washing-machine-like conditions, we had to cross that steep rock face all the way to the chasm with our surfboards under our arms. It was slow going, as a fall would have meant certain injury, which was exactly what the ripping gusts of rain seemed to want. My friends and I wordlessly picked our way across the rock face, shoving our rubber booties and numb fingers into whatever crevices we could find. After making it roughly 50 yards across the cliff wall, we were almost there, but I was too high up on the rock face to jump into the ocean. I hadn’t made an aggressive enough effort to stay near the water level in order to put in. I was about 10 yards too high up on the rock face to make the jump into the rising water. Seeing as I would have to crawl my way back 50 yards towards the beach in order to abandon the insane recreation we were taking part in, I realized I only had one choice: I had to get down. I braced myself and put all of my focus into my toes and fingers. With my surfboard being tugged in the wind, I sought out small ledges with my feet, and I couldn’t help but look at the water surging over the boulders under me. Eventually, I crept down to a precarious point that I thought was close enough to the one protruding rock I was trying to reach. I tried to stretch down for it with one foot and couldn’t reach it. I realized I was going to have to lunge for it.

As I was retracting my leg, I lost my balance. This is when it hit me. Not the wind, not my surfboard, but a profound word that defines what I have been learning at St. George’s. My balance. In this fraction of a second, I thought I was certainly going to end the day in a hospital if I was lucky. But I didn’t. I swung my foot back up and held desperately onto a rock with one hand and I was able to regain control after a tense moment. But I still had to get lower. I had to make it another couple of feet down to the waterline.

As my friends had been waiting for me the whole five minutes I was shimmying down to join them, I took a deep breath and I jumped.

For just a brief moment, I was free of the wall,

and I hoped that the wet rubber of my surfing booties would stick to the eroded rock. Luckily, it did.

I made it, and the hard part of the journey was over.

All we had to do now was jump into the water.

Now, I realize that balance is one of those overused words that could easily appear in cheap yoga brochures or in advertisements for shoe inserts, but I think that the multifaceted word captures the ultimate goal of my experiences at St. George’s.

Here on the Hilltop, there are so many different experiences, and the way we choose to participate in them shapes who we are to a large extent. There is a guiding balance in everything we do here—all we have to do is look for it in order to see. Balance at SG can be as large-scale as the classes one chooses to take, or as insignificant as choosing whether or not to listen to my advice today.

Seniors, I don’t need to remind you how close we are to jumping into the metaphorical water. I think we all have a pretty good idea of how to stand where we are, and I think we should be very proud to enjoy this last week together. Spend it doing what you love at SG, and don’t fret about graduation because you won’t be present and happy if you do that. That is one important thing that one should always try to balance: being present in the moment at the same time as being aware of what’s to come—but it’s something to work on.

To the rising students, I hope that I have left you with some semblance of a message and that is: St. George’s is a wonderful setting that you can take advantage of and use to figure out what makes you tick. St. George’s is all about finding the right balance for you. This is the opportunity to try new things and pursue experiences you are already passionate about, so that when you are coming to the point in time where I stand, you will have a strong idea of what you value. It is an important part of growing up, and there is no better place to do so than at St. George’s.

In any case, good luck moving forward, and thanks to all of you. You’ve helped me learn to balance.

Charles Macaulay ’12 of Carbondale, Colo., will attend Colby College this fall. He can be reached at cwmacaulay@gmail.com.

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One thing leads to another What you do today could change a life

BY TRISHA-JOY JACKSON ’12 Editor’s note: The following chapel talk was delivered on April 17, 2012.

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ll of your actions—in some way, shape, or form—affect others.

Here are a few stories from life: It was 3 o’clock in

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the morning and someone was in my room. As many of my friends know, I like to sleep with an eye mask and unfortunately, I was unable to see who it was. A few minutes later, I decided that something wasn’t right and got out of bed only to find my wallet and laptop missing and our kitchen blinds knocked down. My family had just moved from Montclair to

Newark after we sold our family home of over three decades. I went to my mom’s room to alert her of what just happened and we then proceeded to wake up my older brother. After searching the house, we realized that all of the keys except for my brother’s were gone, so we called the police. There wasn’t much they could do. My mother had a panic attack and had to be rushed to the hospital. We all thought it was over, but little did we know the thieves’ plan. My brother, out of precaution, parked his car in a way such that if the thieves came back to try and take my mother’s car they wouldn’t be able to. None of us could sleep and at around 2 o’clock the next morning, we heard a car rev up in the yard. My brother ran out into the driveway to try and stop the thieves but they instead hit him with the car and proceeded to drive off. My brother so lovingly bought my mom that Lexus last spring and now it was gone. We quickly moved from the area back to Montclair, but it was by far the worst Thanksgiving of our lives.

I never had a relationship with my father because he thought his relationship with drugs was more important. My father not being around has affected my life in ways that I still do not understand. I cannot completely blame my father for how he decided to live his life. Whenever I get upset about not having him around, my mother always tells me the same thing: His mother was not ready for another child and she left him in the hospital for six weeks after he was born.

His mother thought her relationship with alcohol was more important than him. Her decisions affected his life and in turn affected my life. I do not have the love, financial security and safety that a father brings to his children. This, however, is where I take the time out of my chapel talk to thank my mom for being both mom and dad, and my brothers and grandmother, may she rest in peace, for always being there for me.

This story is a bit more positive.

During my seventh grade year, my mother thought it was a good idea to enroll me in an after-

school program called SCORE and she made me go every Friday against my will. The program consisted of me going onto a computer and playing learning games in order to win prizes like stuffed animals and T-shirts. WOOHOO! My nerdy seventh-grade self went through the games with ease and was far beyond my grade level in math and reading. The director of the program called my mom in for a meeting one afternoon. I was extremely confused.

Did I do something wrong? Well, she told my mom that she was a part of a program called Wight Foundation that helps students in the greater Newark, N.J., area go to boarding schools. My mom checked out the program and signed me up for an interview. I was furious. I didn’t want to go to a boarding school.

Well, I obviously made it into Wight Foundation or else I would not be standing here in front of you all. It actually wasn’t as bad as I thought and after a long and emotional process, I was accepted into St. George’s. I am so grateful that the director of SCORE called my mom in for that meeting because it changed my life. St. George’s has helped me grow and mature as a person and experience a different world other than the one I was used to and has opened up a world of opportunities for me. The woman did not have to talk to my mom, but she did, and her one, simple action has been monumental for me.

So I leave you with this; all of your actions, big, small, simple, good or bad affect someone, somewhere. Next time you think about cutting the line in King Hall, borrowing something from someone without permission, picking up the trash that someone left, doing community service or sharing advice with others, think about how it can affect someone in a negative or positive way. You could just change their life.

Tri sh a- Joy Jac k so n ’12 of Montclair, N.J., will attend the University of Richmond this fall. She can be reached at trisha.jackson@richmond.edu.

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Cherishing the moments Tough times are inevitable; make the special ones count

BY PARKER LITTLE ’12

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or those of you who may not know me, my name is Parker Little, and I am from Cape Cod, Mass. Most would associate Cape Cod with great beaches and busy summers. And for the most part, I would agree. In the summer, I can usually be found on the beach or the golf course along with the endless throngs of tourists who have the same idea.

However, last summer was a bit different for me.

I left the Hilltop in early June, happy to be home and finally done with junior year. The next few weeks were relatively normal, and the added excitement of my beloved Bruins winning the Stanley Cup surely pointed to a great summer ahead. Unfortunately, my prediction was rather inaccurate.

On a Thursday in late June, I was playing golf just like any other day. I had just teed off on the fourth hole of my round when I heard my name yelled in the distance. It was my uncle who frantically told me that my father experienced a large blood pressure drop while in the hospital in Boston for complications related to his cancer treatment.

In all, I ended up staying in that Boston hospital for six nights. I watched my father for six days as he epitomized what it means to be strong and resilient.

Although he was clearly suffering, he continued to fight, and never gave in, mentally or physically, even as he could barely eat, and barely breathe without an oxygen mask that annoyed him to no end. As I watched fireworks brighten up the dark summer sky on July 4, I thought about why this had come upon my father and why it had to end the way it was about to. These are questions that I will never be able to answer. As the sun rose the next morning on July 5, my father died with my mother and me at his side.

Although this was a very unfortunate and surprising event in my life, that’s not what I really want this to be about. I have always felt that the most important thing is how you respond and what you learn from tough events in life.

I have always been a competitive person and I don’t like giving up. After watching my father, I have only strengthened these feelings. If you have a goal, go out and get it, don’t expect things to come to you.

P ar ker L it t le ’12, of East Dennis, Mass., will attend Georgetown University this fall. He can be reached at fpl3@georgetown.edu.

PARKER LITTLE ’12

If you’re given an opportunity, take it and do as much as you can with it, because if you let it slip away, you’ll only be left with regret.

After my father’s death, I spoke with countless friends of his, and each of them said something along the lines of, “He was one of the best people I know, and he was always there whenever I needed anything.” It was obvious that he had an impact on the people he met and cared for along the way. From this, I realized just how important good friends and family are in life. Occasionally, take a minute and think about the people who mean the most to you in your life, and who are always there in the tough times. These are the types of people who are essential to have around because without them, life can be just that much harder. Never be afraid to let these people know how much they mean to you, because you won’t always be able to.

Last, but certainly not least, I feel that it is essential that you enjoy life. Too often, especially here at St. George’s, it is far too easy to get bogged down in everyday life. Many who know me well know that I think it’s essential to keep a good balance between enjoyment and work. I feel that it allows you to keep things in perspective and to stay relaxed. It is obviously very important to do well and to try your hardest in all you do, but at the same time, don’t let it consume you.

While this applies to everyone, it certainly applies to my fellow seniors in a special way. We have only two months left here on the Hilltop, which can be a scary thought. Before we know it, we will be walking up the steps to receive our diplomas and move on to college. This time will inevitably go by fast, but I urge each and every one of you to slow down and appreciate the time we have left. Don’t look back on this time and regret a missed opportunity or wish you could have done something more. Enjoy it all while it lasts, and enjoy it to the fullest, because once this time is gone, you won’t be able to wish it all back.

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Editor’s note: The following chapel talk was delivered on April 3, 2012.

Opposite page: P ar ker as a young

boy with his dad, who passed away last year. Above: P ar ker, who played on the SG golf team, meets his mom, Mary Ann, at Newport Country Club after a game this spring.

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Nailing the landing

BY CAROLINE ALEXANDER ’12

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A team’s stringent practice schedule and uncompromising M.O. almost stole away her love for skating, but Caroline Alexander ’12 got back out on the ice—and scored Editor’s note: The following chapel talk was delivered on Feb. 21, 2012.

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s a figure skater who plays hockey, I could be a character in a bad sitcom. In fact, I know at least one Disney movie that uses the same premise, and the only reason I am sure it is not actually based off of my life is that it was made in 2005, before I began to play hockey. There’s often a lot of comparison and competition between hockey players and figure skaters, but I’m not here to do that—I mean, everyone already knows figure skating is harder. I will say, however, the one advantage I had starting out as a hockey player was that thanks to figure skating, I was not afraid to fall.

I have been in figure skates since I was 4. I have competed both individually and with teams; with my team, I have had the honor of representing the United States in competition, medaled in both national and international competitions, and made friends from around the world. Skating has gifted me with many things, including a strong sense of self-

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motivation, determination, and perhaps most important of all, that aforementioned ability to get back up after I fall, in both a literal and a metaphorical sense. Physically, yes, falling in the middle of a jump and cracking your head on the ice hurts, and if you do it too many times you’ll definitely permanently damage something: This is why jump harnesses exist for learning axels and double rotations.

However, sometimes the metaphorical falls can be more damaging than a stray toepick to the back.

Sometimes, the metaphorical fall can leave you dreading getting onto the ice, afraid of the coach and your teammates. Sometimes, you find yourself hating your passion.

Before I started at St. George’s, I was a member of a synchronized skating team. The summer before I began freshman year, I jumped up three levels to skate with a higher-level team. In retrospect, this was a very bad idea, especially because I was just beginning to transition into freshman year at St. George’s. Juggling both an increased skating commitment and an increased workload was very difficult; that fall, my

Caroline Alexander ’12 a day student from Portsmouth, R.I., was this year’s winner of the Dartmouth Club of Rhode Island History Prize. She will attend McGill University in Montreal this fall and can be reached at caroline.alexander@mail.mcgill.ca.

KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY

With Ocean State Ice Theater, I felt at home. And it showed: My synchro team was not a very good one, but my theater on ice team made a clean sweep at Nationals that year, winning an unprecedented four gold medals. This qualified us for Worlds, which I attended last spring. There, among French, Spanish, Ukrainian, Russian and Australian teams, we won the bronze medal. The best part for me wasn’t the medal ceremony or getting to practice my French and limited Russian with other teams, although that was pretty cool. The best part for me was when the music to our long program ended and everyone was posed on the ice, arms extended, smiles wide, knowing in that one breathless moment that we had skated our hearts out.

We could feel, way down to the core, that we had just delivered a medal-winning performance. And I have never, ever, felt more love for my sport than I did in that moment.

So sure, I’ve taken some hard falls. I’ve cracked my head, I’ve gotten cut by blades; I’ve pulled muscles and developed tendonitis (I blame that one on hockey). In 10 years, I’m pretty sure my body will hate me for all the ways I’ve messed up my joints. I don’t really think you’re supposed to be able to crack both your hips and your knees. But the metaphorical falls have almost, in a way, been worse. I’ve had my love for the sport systematically destroyed, had my self-confidence shattered to pieces by a team I should never have joined in the first place. However, it’s been proven to me time and time again that injuries, both physical and emotional, will heal. And perhaps the most important thing skating has taught me over the years, and what I hope you’ll take out of this chapel talk, is that you can’t be afraid of taking a bad fall, because you never know what great things could happen if you get back up and try again.

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practices were right after seated dinners, so I would leave directly after dinner and head to the rink, not returning to my house until 11 p.m. Keep in mind the rinks I skate at are all at least 40 minutes away. I got very good at doing homework in the car. I would sometimes have to miss skating practices for St. George’s commitments that I simply couldn’t get out of; this lost me the spot on the team that I had trained so hard for. I was devastated. I couldn’t step onto the ice without fear of the coach yelling at me, or girls whispering behind my back in the locker room. “Who does she think she is?” I imagined them saying. “She’s not very good at all. Why does she even think she can skate with us?” I was, in short, crippled by self-doubt, cowering in fear from everyone who was associated with the team: parents, skaters and coaches alike. My passion had been twisted into something horrifyingly cruel. I hated getting onto the ice. With my parents’ and my own coach’s backing, I quit.

Thus began a brief period in which I floundered, unable to understand why, exactly, I had loved skating so much. What did it bring me? But then I remembered: Without skating, I would not be the same person I am today. It grounds me even as I throw myself in the air to complete a jump; when I skate, I am free from all the stress and trouble that has piled on me over the course of the day. I find pure joy in landing a jump cleanly or twisting my body into some new position for a spin in a way I get from nothing else. Skating is who I am, not just what I do.

I may change dramatically over the course of my life, but I will never lose my love for the way my blades glide over fresh ice. So why would I let one bad fall take me away from all of that?

I joined a new team my sophomore year, away from the stranglehold of the synchro world. The practices were once a week on Sundays, easy to fit into my school schedule. The team competed in a discipline called theater on ice—there is a dramatic and artistic bend to the programs, which was very much my style. The coaches were more relaxed: I didn’t have to worry if my hair wasn’t in a perfect, bobby-pin-less ballerina bun, or if my skate tights had a hole near the toe. And, perhaps the best of all, the coaches weren’t as intent on making sure that every exposed body part was liberally dusted in glitter.

Above Ca ro l in e receives the Darmouth Club of Rhode Island History Prize on Prize Day.

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Hard to say goodbye But sometimes a difficult ending means the start of the next great thing

BY KENDRA BOWERS ’12

Fast food, fast friends – Al a na M cCa r thy ’12, D evo n Fown es ’12, Ke ndr a, (dressed as Wendy) Joy Bul l o ck ’12, M ega n E ver e tt ’12 and He l en Wes to n ’12 celebrate Halloween on the Hilltop.

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Editor’s note: The following chapel talk was delivered on April 10, 2012.

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er body is slanted slightly down the slope of a hill. A brown dress drapes over her shoulders while her arms cross her chest with pounds of bead strings hanging over them. A browntipped feather stands straight up through the twisted hair running down her head. The sweetest sound of

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singing voices is put to rest while a small drum set made from animal hide is placed into her hands.

Moments later, white ivory keys are hit, signaling the beginning of the march. She looks to her left making sure she and the second drummer are in sync. They begin to play: one beat for every step. Careful not to make too much noise or trip on the edge of a stair, she walks up into the Lodge. The song feels like it goes on for an eternity as she keeps the same rhythm vibrating

in her drum. Finally, the music stops and silence is unleashed, weaving itself through the crowd. She sets down her drum set and immediately wishes she had it back in her hands, for she realized that this was the last time she would ever get to play it.

The pillow beneath my head is smothering the right side of my face as my eyes split open due to the sudden eruption of Missy Eliott’s “Milkshakes” from Sarah MacDonnell’s iPhone. It is 5:30 in the morning and there are five other people sleeping next to me, so I shut off the alarm as quickly as it came on. Stumbling my way around in the darkness of our cabin room, I find and put on my glasses, throw on as many layers as possible, my L.L. Bean slippers, and step out into the freezing morning air. Next stop: waking my friends. Surprisingly, they too get out of bed pretty easily and proceed to layer-up by wrapping themselves in their sleeping bags. Trying not to stumble over the shoes on the floor, we leave the cabin and make our way over to the picnic table at the edge of the lake. Surrounded by cold air, with dew beneath us and ducks wading in the water close by, we sit huddled together just to admire the sun, slowly stretching out its rays to illuminate the once black starry sky. As the brightness finally peeks over the treetops, we too have to rise and proceed with the day. Prior to bustling off to pack my bag and eat breakfast, I sit for one more second in the comfort of the sleeping bag around me appreciating my last serene moment in nature before entering the business that is my life.

Sitting by the fire gets uncomfortably warm on the right side of the girl’s body as she sits listening to the woman standing in front of her. The warmth spreads to her nerves as she waits for the moment when she will have to get up from that spot forever.

Four short sentences and her reign as captain is up; she will have to pass on the responsibility, the honor, the incredible sensation of winning, to another set of girls, entrusting them with the job. She thinks about the new girls and how badly they want to be exactly where she is right now, but cannot imagine feeling

happy for them as they rip something so precious away from her. The names are announced. Happy cheering and clapping erupt from younger campers, while tears of mixed joy and sadness stream down the other contenders’ faces, as well as her own. “They deserve it,” she tells herself as she embraces and congratulates each girl with a smile. Finally, she forces herself to walk back out of the Lodge into the night air where she completely melts into a fit of tears.

Summer is finally over and I am about to head back into yet another year with piles of homework, hours of extra-curriculars, arguments with my parents, and scheduled phone calls with my sister who is away at college. About to fall into a pit of dread about the coming stress and anxiety, I remind myself that it’s senior year, my last opportunity to enjoy life on the Hilltop. I realized this mentality must have been floating around because in no time at all everyone in our grade was freakishly happy and at ease as the oldest kids on campus. In no time we were singing “Jerusalem” every week, chanting Elron’s name whenever he got up on stage (thanks Evan), and enjoying our last year together: Nothing was in our way. In addition to the freedom of being oldest, the fact that every event was our last only made me want to appreciate it even more. It made me go that much crazier at the first dance, scream just a bit louder on Middlesex Weekend (causing the next few choir rehearsals to be slightly painful) and wear a ridiculous Halloween costume just because I can, all the while making the most of every little day.

Standing beneath the stars, she is not ready to move on from what has been the most rewarding experience of her life. It doesn’t seem fair to her that after seven years of longing to be captain, she only got two weeks to fully enjoy the role. How could something so important to her be such a small snippet in her life? All she wants to do is run back inside and sit in her overwhelmingly hot seat by the fire and listen to whoever is speaking. She cannot accept that it is all over. Never again will she wear all white and

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cheer for her team, leading them to victory against the other. Had she done the best job that she could?

Did she impress the younger girls as much as previous captains had impressed her? Those questions will never be answered.

Ka t he ri ne Ada m s ’12 and Ke ndr a Bowe r s ’12 at Frozen Fenway 2012.

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As the wise creators of Uptown Girls wrote, “Everything has an ending, but in life every ending is just a new beginning.” Back when I was a preteen, this statement was quite impactful, especially after having just bawled my eyes out to “Molly Smiles.”

And to be completely honest, I still love it. As cheesy as it is, it’s true. These two stories are examples of an ending: the ending of a time period and the ending of an experience. When something in your life is meaningful and makes you happy, it is likely that when it is over, if it ever has to be over, it will leave you with a vacancy in your heart yearning to be filled. That emptiness will only ever become whole again once you accept the “new beginning” of whatever change is coming your way.

That same girl who was terrified of letting go of the previous summer’s glory, spent the night thinking

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how nothing could possibly top what she had before.

She was wrong. The following weeks turned out to be the best camp experience of her life. As a part of the council, there was no longer a great separation from the “groanies” (counselors middle-aged and above) and it was easy and normal to be best friends with women 10-20 years older than she was. With such a wide range of influence and stories surrounding her every day, she was able to get so much more out of the two weeks than she could have by living with the same best friends she has had forever. As strange as it was to not be constantly surrounded by the same people, it was worth ending that time as a camper and moving on to the thrills of being part of the council. Her expectations were blown out of the water as she experienced the best two-week span she could have ever asked for at camp.

Every time you have to move on from something, part of you is always going to be upset about what you could be missing, but there is also always a positive spin on what you gain in the change. As life spins around and turns corners, you are often jerked where

KENDRA BOWERS ’12 PHOTO BY

you might not want to be. Naturally you are going to miss what you had before and sometimes wish that you could go back, but I urge you all not to get caught up those moments when you feel like everything is changing because most of the time, those corners are not always pointing in the wrong direction.

To all those sitting closest to me, we are about to undergo one of the biggest changes in our lives: stepping away from this bubbled community out into the unknown world of professors, lecture halls and coed dorms. This abrupt ending of high school, the place where we have spent all our time for the past four years, is no doubt a scary prospect with graduation looming less than a month away. This final end is something that has always been there in essence, but something that could never actually be real. We have almost reached the point where the essence of graduating is going to morph into that corner we will have to turn in a few short weeks. This realization is quite unsettling for many of us, knowing that every sunshiny day on the quad is one of our last, and there are only a few more opportunities to take advantage of our domain known as the Senior Benches. But as we enjoy the last bits of St. George’s,

we can also look forward to our next new beginning as college freshmen. What awaits each of us as we spread across the country and across the pond is unknown, but still so very exciting. New places, new faces, and most importantly a vast array of new opportunities are splayed out for us to grab as we head toward the future.

Seven months ago, I sat watching the sunrise with two best friends, bidding farewell to the summer and to the peace of nature before re-entering our world on the Hilltop for our last beginning at St. George’s, and in about seven weeks I will do the same—only this time, I will be bidding farewell to my life on the Hilltop and embracing what lies ahead. This is our new beginning and a chance to take everything that we have learned from each other and from the community here at SG and share it with the rest of the world.

Thank you, good luck to my Class of 2012, and good luck to all of you when you next turn to a new beginning.

Ke ndr a Bowe r s ’12, a day student from Newport, R.I., is heading to the University of Vermont this fall. She can be reached at kennn317@gmail.com.

Sunset in Iceland, where Ken dra B owe r s ’12 traveled with the Global Studies Senior Seminar in March.

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Wisdom from the garden In the vegetable patch, as in life, root out evil–and enjoy the bounty

BY ERIC F. PETERSON Following is an excerpt from the Head of School’s commencement address on May 29, 2012.

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ne of the great delights of the teaching life is that at its best, it is also a learning life. So, with that in mind, it was with keen interest that I listened along with all of you to Mr. Tuleja’s baccalaureate address earlier this week, in which he urged us all to embrace our inner freak, and in so doing, to be true to ourselves. For me, his remarks struck a chord, and while I’m not sure I can match his description of his high school self, being personally rather light on safety pin jewelry and anarchist T-shirts, I did once briefly sport a Mohawk (albeit for some very different reasons). In any case, after listening to his talk, it occurred to me that his

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advice offered direction for my own remarks to the class today. With that in mind, allow me to tell you a bit about my inner geek (and no, Sophie Layton, it’s not my completely nerdy interest in all things “Star Wars.” That’s an entirely different inner geek).

I suppose I am something of a Jeffersonian by heritage, coming as I do from a family line of soldiers, teachers and farmers. In my particular genetic dice throw, I rolled a bit less soldier and a bit more teacher and farmer, since even before I became part of a family that includes the headmasters of three different American boarding schools, I loved to garden. I am in fact, a garden geek. My father, who grew up on a farm, claims that those years erased from him any desire to ever grow anything ever again. I, on the other hand, have always enjoyed the clari-

fying effort of hard manual labor, from chopping wood, to cutting grass, to my particular favorite: working in a vegetable garden. Admittedly, my simple gardens are a long way from a real farm and its complexities, but I confess to taking great satisfaction and real joy from growing my own vegetables, even when I only produce enough for a decent salad. For me, there is something deeply satisfying about planning, planting and caring for a garden. In fact, at the moment, I have two gardens—a small container garden over at Merrick House, and a larger, but still fairly modest one at our house on Cape Cod. Earlier this week, as the frenzy of events leading to Prize Day began to build, I needed some space to clear my head and to think about things, including what I wanted to say to all of you. So, I snuck away to the Cape in order to do some chores, the most important of which was to plant my garden. In the course of my tasks, and especially in preparing and planting the garden, my mind turned to the ways that teaching is much like gardening. To plant a garden and to teach are to believe in the yet unseen, to know that with care and effort, a transformation and great rewards can come from the humblest, most unassuming start. In both enterprises there is also an inherent recognition that there are in the world forces at work that are beyond our control that can sometimes ruin our efforts, along with an equal determination to press forward anyway.

In any case, as I dug in the dirt, I reflected with real pride on the many successes of this class, and that in turn led me to the realization that even beyond a decent metaphor for teaching, gardening provides a useful framework for considering the lives you will lead once you leave the carefully managed hothouse of St. George’s. So, as I reveal to you my freaky gardener side, here is a short series of suggestions I offer you in this, my final chance to speak to you as your headmaster.

1. Be careful wh at you pl ant in your garden. Every gardener has some good tales of best intentions gone horribly awry in their choice of planting. In my case, I have several. One time I planted melons in a small garden with hard clay soil, which resulted only in some awful, deformed looking, strangely stinky fruit. I should have read the seed packet label much more closely. Another time, in a different, very small garden, I planted cucumbers. For those who don’t know cucumbers, this was a

recipe for trouble. The blasted cukes took over everything, climbed up and over every other plant and generally became a giant nuisance. I ended up ripping them out to save the rest of the garden. At some point in your lives, you will encounter cucumbers of your own. You might even have planted them. Even so, you will need to be prepared to address the situation, whatever it is, be it a problem with a friend, a habit of behavior, or some other particular circumstance, and then take whatever action is necessary to correct it. In the end, you may have to make some hard choices in order to save yourself and your efforts. So be it. Don’t be afraid to address the situation and rip out the cucumbers if you must.

2. Keep u p w ith th ing s, and pay attenti on to the d etai ls. In a garden, it can be really easy to let things go. A few extra days without weeding, letting the ripe vegetables stay on the plants a little longer, delaying a repair to the fence, whatever. No big deal, right? Well, it might be.

As in life, these small delays or inattention to details can rapidly snowball into a real problem. All of a sudden, the tear in the fence is discovered and your garden/life is full of belligerent rabbits gobbling up hours of hard work in a single night. In short, don’t let things slide – stay on top of your work.

3. Keep on learnin g an d exp eri menting . Every year I learn some new trick about planting and growing vegetables in New England. Cape Cod in particular poses some unique challenges with its marine climate and thin, mostly sandy soil. Nevertheless, I’m always trying something a little new. I think it’s fun to see what happens, to try a different approach, or plant a new vegetable. This year, I’ve put in some crazy Japanese eggplants that will either be a smashing success or another abject failure. I can’t wait to see. Speaking of failure, that’s another element of gardening (and life) that goes with learning and experimenting.

If you’re going to try new and exciting things, you will occasionally fail. So what? I don’t mind failing, because even when something doesn’t work out, I learn. For example, I haven’t yet cracked the puzzle of why I cannot grow sunflowers. I don’t know exactly why, but they die on me every time. Nevertheless, I’m going to plant them again, tinker with my methods, and keep going until I figure it out. The trying is the fun of it, and that’s as true in college, or professional life, as it is in a garden.

4. Watch ou t for p ests. In a garden these come in all

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shapes. It can be disease, or blight, or a fungus, or rabbits, or bugs, or deer, or well, whatever. It matters not what form they take, but a pest by definition can, in pursuing its own purposes, destroy what you love and have worked hard to create. In your lives too, pests will come in many forms. They could be in the form of misfortune or disease, but too often they are in the shape of the enemies, critics, cynics and skeptics who simply see the world and anyone else’s efforts through the dark glasses of negativity. Don’t give in to the pests: They will suck the juices from you and your efforts as fast as an infestation of aphids will kill a tomato plant. Instead, defend yourself, your garden, your life, however you must.

5. Don’t b e Th e Zucchin i Guy. In every gardener’s life, there comes a time when he or she is tempted to plant zucchini squash. After all, we reason, everyone loves zucchini, you can use it salads, in breads, even in pancakes if you’re so inclined. Then, some months later, the gardener is suddenly awash in mountains of zucchini. In desperation, baskets and bags and barrels of zucchini are given away, to neighbors, friends, strangers, food banks, anyone and everyone in the world. And still, there is more zucchini … In short, don’t be that guy. Don’t be the person whose well-intentioned but ultimately selfserving efforts make everyone else’s life more complicated and squash filled. Take responsibility for the blunder, but don’t pawn it off on someone else.

Better yet, don’t ever take on the literal or metaphorical task of managing a zucchini patch.

Nothing but anguish will follow, trust me.

6. Th is is the simp lest, l arg est and truest life lesson from the garden: Hard work y ields g ood crop s. In the end, despite cross breeding, hybrid plants, organic fertilizers, weed-proof ground cloths, electronic mole chasers and all of the other technical advances around growing vegetables, it still comes down to putting in the time to find which plants will work best, planting them properly, and then investing the sweat and effort to cultivate, nurture and harvest them. In your time here, you have been the focus of our efforts as your teachers and mentors, and I hope that you can feel in your hearts and minds the impact and abiding results of our work

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with and for you. Once you leave here, please remember the lessons of the hard work you’ve put in, and the hard work put in on your behalf by your teachers, your families and your friends. Remember that you can be lucky, you can be privileged, but in the end, eventually, it will come down to putting in the time and effort required to succeed.

7. An d fin al ly: Embrace and appreciate th e magic.

For me, there is something utterly mysterious and slightly magical about growing a garden. I know about the rational, scientific, biology of plant growth, and I even recall some details of photosynthesis and such, but in the end, I see in the garden what the Lebanese writer Kahlil Gibran called “life’s longing for itself.” It is an elemental, mysterious and for me divine process at work. I’m certain that this awe at the capacity of a seed to bring forth new life is something written deeply into our nature as human beings. I see it as no accident that so many different religious faiths throughout history prominently feature a garden in their creation stories. In the end, or perhaps in the beginning, life began in a garden. So, Class of 2012, as your lives beyond the Hilltop are about to begin, I urge you too to seek out and to find the magic, and the mystery in the garden of the world. Yes, it can be a dark, dangerous, sometimes capricious and cruel place. But in the end, it is also a world full of magic, beauty, life and love. You just need to find it and cultivate it.

So in the end, what I see in my garden is the same thing I see in all of you. Not just life’s longing for itself, but rather love, devotion, hope, and the magic of the universe made real. You have been given our best efforts as your teachers, mentors and caretakers.

From here, it’s up to you. On behalf of the school, I offer my fondest hope and prayer that you will bring forth in your lives all of the bounty and promise and abundance you so richly deserve. May the Lord watch over you all, and bring you safely and happily back to us someday. Good luck, Godspeed and congratulations once more on all you have achieved.

Eri c F. Pe ter son has been the head of school at St. George’s since 2004. He can be reached at Eric_Peterson@stgeorges.edu.

PHOTOS BY KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY

Clockwise from top left: Members of the faculty line up on the front lawn to congratulate the 2012 graduates.

Benadette Matthis Manning P’11, ’12 awaits with diploma in hand for her daughter, Phoebe, at graduation.

Manning, a math teacher at Fenway High School in Boston, gave this year’s Prize Day address in the chapel.

2011-12 Senior Prefect Al e x E lr o n ’12 (right) hands over the keys to the community to 2012-13 Senior Prefect-elect Wi l l Fl em i ng ’13.

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The Prizes R A D U A T I O N

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B INNEY P RIZE — For the highest

E VANS S PANISH P RIZE :

scholarship in the Sixth Form:

J u l i a C o r r i g a n R ay h i l l

S a d i e R u t h M cQ u i l k i n J os e p h M a t r o n e M a c k

R IVES F RENCH P RIZE :

KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY

G

S a d i e R u t h M c Qu i l k i n

D RURY P RIZE — For excellence in art: S o oj i n K i m

T HE R AMSING P RIZE — For excellence in

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Marine and Environmental Biology:

A RCHITECTURE P RIZE :

E mil y Je a nn e Lew i s

A l e x a n d r a E l e n a Ba l l a t o

E DGAR P RIZE T HE C L ASS

OF

1978 M USIC P RIZE —

Awarded to the student who through personal effort has inspired the musical life of the school:

J u l i a C or r i g a n R a y h i l l

T HE S T . G EORGE ’ S I NSTRUMENTAL M USIC P RIZE — Awarded to the student whose talents, dedication and leadership have contributed the most to the instrumental program of the school:

Ma rk H u nti ngt on Nu ytke ns

C HOIR P RIZE :

W OOD D R AMATICS P RIZE — For the student whose abilities and efforts have contributed most to the theater at St. George’s: Tr ic ia -Joy Jac k son FOR

M ATHEMATICS :

P HYSICS P RIZE :

E NGLISH :

S a d i e R u t h M cQ u i l k i n

J o s e p h M at r on e M ac k

J ACOBY B IOLOG Y P RIZE : M eg a n H o p e E v er et t

T HE R EAR A DMIR AL J OHN R EMEY W ADLEIGH M EMORIAL P RIZE — Awarded to a student whose enthusiasm for and interest in history and marine studies is worthy of special recognition:

D EAN S CHOL ARSHIP — In memory of Charles Maitland Dean, Senior Prefect 1968, killed in Laos in 1974. Given by his family and friends, and awarded for the Sixth Form year to a boy or girl who has demonstrated a concern for the community, the ability to lead, and a sense of civic responsibility: (Presented by trustee Bill Dean ’73 P’06)

D o m i n i q u e R en ee S a m u e l

D ARTMOUTH C OLLEGE A LUMNI H ISTORY P RIZE : C a r o l i n e E l i z ab e t h A l e x a n d e r

C HINESE P RIZE — Awarded to a student who has demonstrated consistently high performance in the study of Mandarin Chinese and shown a genuine interest in the Chinese language and culture while at St. George’s. This year we have two recipients of this prize:

Br i c e J a m es B e r g Tuc ker B ai ley H a rrin gto n

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Jo e M ac k ’12 was the winner of the Physics Prize, the Thayer Cup and the St. George’s Medal, as well as co-winner of the Binney Prize.

G EORGE D. D ONNELLY A THLETIC A WARD — Awarded to a girl and boy who, in the opinion of the Headmaster and the Athletic Directors, possess a passion for athletics and who demonstrate the dedication and the sportsmanship to succeed in a variety of athletic endeavors:

Die rra Joy Wi lso n J al e e l H a b e e b W h e e l e r

P ea r s o n Ba h a n P o t t s , J r .

E m i l y D e r e ck t o r

L OGAN P RIZE

IN

M i c h a e l J on g wo o Ki m

C ENTENNIAL P RIZE — Inaugurated during the school’s centennial year. Awarded to a boy and girl of the graduating class who have demonstrated extraordinary and inspirational efforts on behalf of the school community: G r a c e G e or g e A l z a i b ak H a l s e y C l ay H u t h

H EADMASTER ’ S A WARD — To the Senior Prefect for his faithful devotion to the many duties of the past year:

D av i d A l e x a n d e r E l r on

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(The next four prizes in athletics are awarded by vote of the coaches.)

M ARY E USTIS Z ANE C UP — Awarded to a girl of the Sixth Form whose steady devotion to the high ideals of good sportsmanship has been an inspiration to her fellow students:

J oy I m a n i B u l l o c k

T HAYER C UP — Awarded to a boy of the Sixth Form whose steady devotion to the high ideals of good sportsmanship has been an inspiration to his fellow students:

J os e p h M a t r o n e M a c k

L OUISE E LLIOT C UP — Awarded to a Sixth Form girl for excellence in athletics and for promoting the spirit of hard, clean play:

Ve ro nic a Gab rie lle Sc o tt

S AMUEL P OWEL C UP — Awarded to a Sixth Form boy for excellence in athletics and for promoting the spirit of hard, clean play:

A n d r ew S ee b e r Bo y d

KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY PHOTOS BY

Jo a nna Xu ’12 wins the Harvard and Radcliffe Clubs of Rhode Island Prize.

J al e el W he el e r ’12 wins a George D. Donnelly Athletic Award.

Ma r gar et Sc h ro ed er ’14 wins the Allen

Prize.

(The following prizes are awarded by vote of the faculty.)

A LLEN P RIZE — To a member of the Fourth Form who during the year, in the opinion of the faculty, has maintained a high standard in all departments of the life of the school:

M a r g a r e t E l i z a b et h S c h r o ed er

H ARVARD AND R ADCLIFFE C LUBS OF R HODE I SL AND P RIZE — For the student of the Fifth Form whom the Headmaster and the faculty deem most worthy in scholarship, effort and character:

H an (J o a n n a) X u

T HE J EFFERYS P RIZE — Given in memory of Cham Jefferys to the Sixth Former who in the opinion of the faculty has done the most to enhance the moral and intellectual climate of the school:

D . J. Wi l so n ’12 wins the Phelps Montgomery Frissell Prize and George D. Donnelly Athletic Award.

Mi c ha e l Ki m ’12 wins the Edgar Prize in Mathematics.

D r ew Boyd ’12 wins the Samuel Powel Cup.

Sad i e Mc Qu il k i n ’12 was the winner of the Logan Prize for English and co-winner of the Binney Prize.

E m i l y D e r e c kt o r

P HELPS M ONTGOMERY F RISSELL P RIZE — Awarded to the member of the Sixth Form who, in the opinion of the faculty, has made the best use of his or her talents:

D i e r r a J oy W i l s on

S T . G EORGE ’ S M EDAL — Awarded to the member of the Sixth Form who, in the opinion of the faculty, through effort, character, athletics and scholarship during the year has best caught and expressed the ideals and spirit of St. George’s: J o s e p h M a t r on e M a c k

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Next steps N

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And they’re off...

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Here’s where our graduates are heading:

Ha l sey Hut h ’12, who will attend Sewanee: The University of the South this fall, accepts one of two Centennial Prizes awarded in May.

Babson College (3) Barnard College (1) Boston College (3) Bowdoin College (1) Brown University (2) Bucknell University (2) Carnegie Mellon University (1) Colby College (3) Connecticut College (2) Cornell University (1) Dartmouth College (1) Davidson College (1) Denison University (1) Drexel University (1)

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Elon University (2) Franklin and Marshall College (1) George Washington University (4) Georgetown University (4) Harvard University (1) Haverford College (1) Hobart and William Smith Colleges (2) Howard University (1) Johns Hopkins University (2) Kenyon College (1) Lafayette College (1) Loyola University New Orleans (1) McGill University (Canada) (1) Middlebury College (3)

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New York University (1) Northeastern University (1) Occidental College (1) Princeton University (1) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1) Rice University (1) Roanoke College (1) Rollins College (2) Scripps College (1) Seton Hall University (1) Sewanee: The University of the South (1) Skidmore College (2) Smith College (1) St. Lawrence University (1) Trinity College (3) University of California at San Diego (1) University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1) University of Michigan (1) University of Pennsylvania (1) University of Rhode Island (1) University of Richmond (3) University of South Carolina (1) University of St. Andrews (Scotland) (1) University of Toronto (Canada) (2) University of Vermont (1) Wake Forest University (3) Washington and Lee University (3) Washington University in St. Louis (1) Whittier College (1)

PHOTO COURTESY OF

PETER SOVEREL ’59

Campus happenings

Soverel ’59 to receive Diman Award

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etired U.S. Navy Captain P ete r W. Sovere l ’59 will be presented with the Diman Award, the school’s highest alumni/ae honor, on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, 2012.

The Diman Award is presented annually to an alumna or alumnus whose personal accomplishments or public service contributions are greatly valued by St. George’s School.

Soverel, a highly decorated combat officer with extensive sea experience and senior staff assignments including service on President Reagan’s White House staff, was special assistant to Secretary of Defense Harold Brown and Director of Operations for the U.S Mission to NATO. He was awarded the Silver Star medal “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action” for his actions on Aug. 16, 1968, while a lieutenant commanding a column of River Assault Squadron NINE boats under heavy enemy fire along the Ben Tre River in Kien Hoa Province, Vietnam.

Since retiring from the Navy, for more than 30

years, Soverel has been active in salmon and steelhead conservation, serving as a director of numerous wildlife commissions and organizations.

He is a widely published author on conservation issues and is the founder of the Wild Salmon Center, a not-for-profit conservation foundation incorporated in 1992 for the purpose of protecting the best functioning wild salmon river systems around the Pacific Rim. Over the past 18 years, Soverel has pioneered angling eco-tourism on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East.

In addition to salmon conservation, since 1985 Soverel has been an adjunct faculty member at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington.

He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who also holds advanced degrees from the University of Washington.

He and his wife, Marion, are residents of Edmonds, Wash.

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Campus happenings Burnett Lecture Series will bring noted, eclectic author Kurlansky to the Hilltop

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SUZANNE MCGRADY

This year’s Burnett Lecture Series speaker will be the acclaimed journalist and best-selling author of 19 books Mark Kurlansky.

Kurlansky, whose many tomes include “Salt: A World History” and “The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell,” will focus on his 1998 book, “Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World.” He will likely spend time on campus Sept. 14 visiting with students in various classes – and then deliver his address to the whole community at 7 p.m.

Now based in New York where he lives with his wife and daughter, Kurlansky is a native of Hartford, Conn., and a graduate of Butler University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in theater. During his early career, Kurlansky was a playwright in New York, working on a number of Off Off Broadway productions. Next, he turned to journalism, working as a foreign correspondent for The International Herald Tribune and The Chicago Tribune, among others. Based in Paris and then Mexico, he reported on Europe, West Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

His articles have appeared in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including Time, Harper’s,

New York Times Sunday Magazine, Audubon Magazine, Food & Wine and Gourmet. His books include fiction, nonfiction and children’s books.

The 2012 Burnett Lecture is being sponsored by the Burnett Fund, formed in memory of former chairman of the Science Department Gilbert Burnett, who taught at St. George’s from 1958-1960 and from 1966-1990, and the Horace Beck ’39 Maritime Lecture Series Fund.

Beck, a member of the SG Class of 1938, was born in Newport, R.I., where he acquired a life-long passion for the sea and maritime lore. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he served in the Navy during World War II. After his service, he went to work at Middlebury College, where he taught American Literature for 27 years. He was also a popular fixture on Vermont Public Radio, offering up folkloric tales and reading from books about the sea.

All alumni/ae are invited to attend the Burnett Lecture. For more information, contact Events Coordinator Ann Weston at Ann_Weston@stgeorges.edu.

PHOTO BY

PHOTO BY S YLVIA PLACHY

Bestselling author Mark Kurlansky is this year’s Burnett Lecture Series speaker. He’ll be joining us on the Hilltop Sept. 14 to talk about his book, “Cod: The Fish That Changed the World.”

The new Children’s Collection in the Hill Library was formally unveiled during a celebration on May 5. A gift from mother of two and avid library patron Fernanda Dau Fisher ’85 allowed the school to significantly increase the size of the collection and to redesign the display area with child-sized furniture and shelving.

PHOTO BY F RANZ

Sa m Lo o mi s ’14, Al ex Ca nn el l ’15, B uc kl e y Ca rl so n ’15, Ca r te r Mo r gan ’15, Chl o e Fa rr i ck ’15, Al l i so n Wi ll i a ms ’15, M ar ga re t Car dwe ll ’14, Ba i le y Cl em e nt ’13, P et er D ur udo ga n ’13 and Ol i ver G re en ’15 made their confirmation in the

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chapel April 19, 2012.

PHOTO BY F RANZ

Thanks to the organizational finesse of Director of Diversity Dr. Ki m Bull ock, this year the Association of Independent Schools of New England’s High School Students of Color Conference took place at St. George’s—and 469 students from 42 schools across New England descended on the Hilltop for a memorable two days of camaraderie and enlightenment.

Thirty SG students also took part in the conference, which took place April 21-22.

According to AISNE, the conference “was created in recognition of the unique needs, experiences, and challenges of students of color in independent schools. The event brings together high school students of color in the kind of critical mass that provides for a ‘majority experience,’ and seeks to raise self-awareness, build community, provide support and cultivate leadership among students of color.”

Dr. Sharon M. Draper was the keynote speaker.

Draper, a professional educator and accomplished writer, is a former National Teacher of the Year Award winner, a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Literary Awards, and is a New York Times bestselling author.

Faculty members helped support the conference by offering a number of special workshops, and student groups including our Steppin’ It Up dance troupe performed for the crowd.

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AISNE STUDENTS OF COLOR CO N F E R E N CE H E L D AT S T. G E O R G E ’ S

Class of 2012 members Al ex Ho pe, Wi l l G re er, A le x W hi te ho us e, Em my D er ec k to r, E l iz ab et h Ma nn in g and Ca ro l i ne Al exa nd er surround the tableclothsigning area at the Senior Picnic in May. The event, sponsored by the Development Office, welcomes graduates into the alumni/ae community. The newly decorated tablecloth will adorn the table at the class’s fifth reunion.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE F ELSTED

A special benefit for the Scott Scholarship Fund, in memory of former faculty members Jo hn an d Ra m say Sc ot t, was held June 9 at the Wianno Yacht Club in Osterville, Mass. This special fund is raising money to fund a full St. George’s scholarship to help a student who has lost a parent or parents.

John and Ramsay Scott, parents of Andr ew Scot t ’01, were beloved faculty members who both died prematurely of cancer.

Organized by a group of close friends including Br i ney Di l l o n ’94 and Cl ay Ri ves ’93, the event was a special occasion for all. Please consider making a gift to the Scott Scholarship Fund at www.stgeorges.edu.

SCHOOL

BENEFIT R AISES MONEY FOR SCOTT SCHOL ARSHIP

Making its third visit to St. George’s, the theater troupe from the Felsted School in England joined students on campus for a long weekend this spring. The troupe was performing “The Secret Garden” on its latest American tour.

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Campus happenings Stones carved in memory of Burnett, Schenck

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PHOTO BY

ANN WESTON

he dedication of memorial stones in the chapel for former faculty members Gi l be r t Bu rne t t J r. and W il l i a m M . Sc h enc k took place on the Sunday of Reunion Weekend, May 20. If you visit the Hilltop, you’ll now get to see their name

D ou g Ar no l d ’75, a former student, and sons Je f f B ur net t ’75 and Michael Burnett attended the memorial stone dedication ceremony for former head of the Science Department Gil Burnett.

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inscriptions on the west wall of the Antechapel.

Burnett, who died Sept. 13, 2009, is remembered with the phrase “QUI DOCET DISCIT” (He who teaches learns.)

Burnett devoted 27 years to the Hilltop as a highly respected teacher and then, in his retirement, continued to be a loyal friend, neighbor and frequent visitor to St. George’s. Ever the curious intellectual and avid reader, Mr. Burnett was a global adventurer, keen outdoorsman and dedicated environmentalist.

After graduating from Princeton University in 1943, Mr. Burnett enlisted in the Army and served as an intelligence officer in the Office of Strategic Services, completing missions in China and Indochina. After World War II, he joined the CIA as a scientific-intelligence analyst in Washington, D.C. He taught at Punahou School in Honolulu and at Phillips Andover Academy before serving as a faculty member at St. George’s from 1958 to 1960 and then again

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from 1966 to 1990. On the Hilltop he became head of the Science Department and holder of the Vincent Astor ’10 Chair in Science, and he taught courses in biology, earth science, anthropology and psychology.

As head of the SG Arts and Lecture Series, he brought to campus noteworthy figures such as Russian dissident poet Alexander Ginzburg and National Gallery Director J. Carter Brown. Upon his retirement in 1990, a number of his former students established a fund in his honor to sponsor a series of annual lectures by environmental experts. The Burnett Lecture Series was to him an especially tremendous source of pride.

Schenck, who died Jan. 30, 2009, is remembered as “ADVISOR • TEACHER • FRIEND.” He was a dedicated member of the St. George’s faculty from 1952 to 1990. In his 38 years on the Hilltop. he served as history teacher, chairman of the history department, director of studies, assistant headmaster, acting headmaster, assistant director of admission, summer school director and dormitory supervisor. Schenck also coached middler football and served as college advisor to countless SG students. Those who ventured or who were summoned to his Main Hall office recall being rewarded with his professional insights, sage counsel—and often a lesson or two about politics and life. His significant presence at St. George’s helped shape the character of the school as it evolved from the early 1950s into modern times. A 1990 edition of the St. George’s Bulletin, published in the year of his retirement, recognized that he “embodied every quality of the successful teacher … deep scholarship in his field, understanding of young people, humor, a voluminous memory, determination, and kindness. To that list of attributes may be added Bill’s readiness to labor staggeringly long hours on behalf of students, and his devotion to the school in his astonishing array of roles over the years.” Outside of school, his assorted interests included travel, archaeology, foreign culture and Greek history.

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PHOTO BY F RANZ

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MIKE HANSEL ’76

It just doesn’t get any cooler than the April 26 chapel service when the Brass Ensemble performed the music for a traditional New Orleans style funeral. We’re still singing “Oh When The Saints Come Marching In” in our heads. Check out the gifted players (and for a smile, the enthusiastic trombone section of Pear son Po tts ’12 and Cha rl e s M a c au la y ’12) on our YouTube channel, SGDragon372.

What a show! If you didn’t get to see the SG theater production of “Into the Woods,” you missed a good one. What a cast: Ch ar l ot t e D u la y ’14 as Little Red Riding Hood; No r ah Ho ga n ’14 as Cinderella; Aver y D o dd ’14 as Jack; G ra c e Al za ib ak ’12 as Jack’s mother, Cinderella’s mother and Granny; Zi ye Hu ’13 as the baker; So ph i e D e nU yl ’13 as the baker’s wife; Ni c o l e Yo un g ’13 as the stepmother; M a ggi e M al oy ’14 as Florinda; Ka t a ri n a Wo od ’15 as Lucinda; Do m in i que Sa mu el ’13 as the witch; And rew Lyn c h ’14 as the mysterious man; Br ice B er g ’12 as the wolf and Rapunzel’s prince, Cha rl o tt e vo n M ei st er ’12 as Rapunzel, Ada m Ke ef e ’12 as Cinderella’s prince, Chri s Fl em i ng ’15 as the steward, and Tr i sha -J oy Ja c kso n ’12 as the giant. And how great was the band with student musicians Ve ro ni ca Ts ai ’14, E mm a Re ed ’14, C. J. P a rk ’13 and Tri sh a- Joy Jack so n ’12? SO much talent here on the Hilltop.

An exhibition that ran in the Hunter Gallery in early May highlighted the work of the members of this year’s 3-D Design classes, who created some stunning pieces of furniture. Tim Archer ’14, Caroline Thompson ’13, Elle Reynolds ’13, Tully Ross ’14, Camille Nivero ’13, Alex Gates ’13 and Mark Nuytkens ’12 all had work on display. From May 21 through Prize Day May 28, works created by senior art students Alexandra Ballato, Claire Chalifour, Katie Desrosiers, Emma Garfi fieeld, Matthew Gilber t, Will Greer, Jamie Harrington, Tucker Harrington, Alex Hope, Justin Jaikissoon, Soojin Kim, Stephanie Lee, Lisa Lho, Jacqueline Matyszczyk, Mark Nuytkens, Emma Scanlon, John Snow, Rachel Sung, Helen Weston, Anna Williams and DJ Wilson were on display.

Clockwise from top left: A Brass Ensemble performance in Chapel makes it onto our YouTube page; the cast, crew and pitband members of “Into the Woods”; a sculpture

by M ar k Nu ytke ns ’12 and a table by E l le R eyno l ds ’13 are part of the display of works from the 3-D Design class in the Hunter Gallery.

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The students were treated to a dazzling performance of “The Secret Garden” by a traveling theater group of 33 students from The Felsted School of Essex, England, April 2. This was the third visit by the troupe to the Hilltop in recent years. The spirited group, stocked with some masterly singers, arrived on campus the weekend before and spent three nights with community members, joining in school activities, eating in King Hall and visiting classes.

All reports are they love SG and will be back soon.

A Music Guild Friday, April 13 highlighted a number of talented singers along with the Jazz Ensemble and St. George’s Orchestra. Solo performers were V i via nn e Reyno so ’13, El o di e G er ma i n ’12, N i co l e Yo ung ’13, D i er ra Jo y Wi l so n ’12, Cha rl o tt e D ul ay ’14, Br ic e B er g ’12, Luc a s Ca mp be ll ’13, No r ah Ho ga n ’14 and J ul i an Tur ner ’14. The orchestra performed “Capriccio Espagnol” and the Jazz Ensemble wrapped up the evening with a stunning rendition of “Georgia On My Mind” featuring the vocals of M i ri a m E l ha jl i ’13. The concert can be viewed on our YouTube channel, SGDragon372.

Members of the Hilltoppers and Snapdragons a cappella groups perform in the finale at the end-of-the-year concert in May.

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A special project in drama reached its culmination May 16 when Tri sha -Joy Jack son ’12, Ca rol ine Alexande r ’12 and Juli an Turner ’14 performed Chekhov’s “The Proposal” in Madeira Hall. The play, directed by El iza be th Haskel l ’12, also featured a set design by Ka tie Desro sier s ’12 and Cl air e Cha li four ’12.

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The end-of-the-year a cappella concert was another stunner. The concert, featuring the famed Snapdragons and Hilltoppers of SG, this year took place on May 18 and is up on the YouTube channel, SGDragon372. The finale was the Beatles’ “A Little Help from My Friends.” Wow. Also shining as singing stars were the participants in the May 20 Rock Guild: members of the Tuesday and Friday handbell groups, D J Wi l so n ’12, Ro si e M ul ho l la nd ’13, E m ma Co z ’13, Ea di e K re me r ’13, El o di e G er ma i n ’12, Th er es a Sal u d ’13, Ch ar l ot te D ul ay ’14, Br ic e B er g ’12, Em my D e re c kt o r ’12, Sam i G ol dm a n ’12, Zi ye H u ’13, M i ri a m E lh aj l i ’13, Ke ndr a Bo wer s ’12 and Ave r y D od d ’14.

Singers E m my D e re ckt or ’12 and G ra ce Al za i ba k ’12 performed a selection of songs, studied and practiced for a spring-season vocal music project in Madeira Hall on May 23. What voices! Check it out on our YouTube channel, SGDragon372.

B r i c e B e r g ’12 wrote a song for his classmates called “Look Around 2012,” which he performed, along with Z i y e Hu ’13, T h o m a s K i t s Va n H e y ni ng e n ’14, N i co D e l u ca -Ve r l e y ’13, Tr i s h a - J o y J a ck s o n ’13, M a r k N uy t k e ns ’12, J ul i a R a yh i l l ’12 and R ya n A nd r a d e ’13 at the Honors Music Guild May 27.

It’s also up on our YouTube channel, SGDragon372.

Creativity abounds A plethora of stellar student art adorned the campus this year, including 2-D work by (clockwise from top right): Ve r oni ca Tsa i ’14, So o ji n Ki m ’12, Cl a ir e Yo on ’14 (all three cat portraits), Ha nn ah Ma c a ul ay ’14, O on a Pr i tc ha rd ’13 and M ann i ng Co e ’13.

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COURTESY OF THE GILBERT Y. TAVERNER ARCHIVES

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Athletes to be honored with induction into Sports Hall of Fame

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wo sailing teams, a longtime coach and five individual athletes will be honored when the 2012 St. George’s Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony takes place on Nov. 9.

Members of the 1984 and 1985 sailing teams who competed at Nationals—Amanda Kelly ’84, Peter Johnstone ’84, Linda Dunn Garnett ’85, Bill Shoemaker ’85, Greg Ferguson ’85, Brad Swett ’85, Julia Carlson ’86 and Hannah Swett ’87—will be celebrated, along with their coach, the now retired Steve Leslie, who was president of the Interscholastic Sailing Association from 1986-89.

In 1984, Shoemaker, Brad and Hannah Swett, Johnstone and Kelly won the Cressy Trophy; and in 1985 Ferguson won a Cressy while Shoemaker, the Swetts and Dunn won the Mallory Trophy, the national high school championship in two doublehanded divisions.

Also set to take their places among our illustrious

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cast of former athletes will be Andrew Vermilye ’74, who excelled in football, hockey and tennis; Todd Chas ’84, who was a standout in football, basketball and tennis; Todd Bland ’86, who adeptly played soccer, basketball and lacrosse; Kir tley Hor ton Cameron ’91, a talented field hockey, cross-country, hockey and lacrosse athlete; and Tobin Dominick ’92, who lit up the field hockey and lacrosse fields as well as the hockey rink.

The St. George’s Sports Hall of Fame was formed during the Centennial Year 1995-96 to honor those alumni/ae, coaches and friends who have made significant contributions to the athletic programs at St. George’s School. Another category was added in 2001 to collectively honor members of a team that made a significant contribution to the athletic program.

An induction ceremony is held every other year.

All alumni/ae are welcome to attend this event. Contact Ann_Weston@stgeorges.edu for details.

They’ve got legs: Ra che l Sun g ’12 completed a half-marathon and Sad i e McQu il k i n ’12 completed a full 26-mile marathon in Providence on May 6.

It was a full display of talent May 15 when the SG track team participated in the Newport County Meet at Rogers High School. The girls team came in first and D .J. W i ls on ’12 was named M.V.P. for field events. The boys came in second and Tys ho n H en derso n ’13 was named meet M.V.P. for field events.

Bo bby Me y ’13 shared meet M.V.P. track event honors with Nick Tyler from Portsmouth.

The SG sailing team competed at the Nationals May 12-13 in Seattle and came in 10th place overall—and first among schools attending from the Northeast. The crews had a stellar season, finishing 17-0-1.

We’ll host a Friday night football game under the lights on Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. on Crocker field against Nobles.

In the winter season, the girls basketball team will get the spotlight when the fans come out to cheer for them (team yet to be determined).

And a new addition to the spring schedule gets the baseball team to historic Cardines Field under the lights in downtown Newport in April to play rival Portsmouth Abbey.

Notes from the winter season …

GIRLS SWIM TEAM C APTURES NEW ENGL AND TITLE

D .J . Wi l so n ’12 was the winner of the Hubert C. Hersey Track Award for Most Valuable Player.

The New England Division II girls swimming champions: Front row, left to right: E m il y K a l lf el z ’15, Li l y Sa nf or d ’14, co-captain He l en We st on ’12, Li z a Sc ho ll e ’13, To ri Cu nni ng ha m ’13, Ra c hel Sung ’13, Sa ma nt ha Ayvaz i an- Ha nc o c k ’15. Back row, left to right: E l iz ab et h Mi l l ar ’15, An na M i ll a r ’13, Car ol i ne Ye rke s ’14, Gi gi Mo yla n ’14, Ala na M cM ah on ’13, L oga n H en dri x ’12, co-captain E ri n Hen dr ix ’13 and An na be ll a D oyl e ’14.

PHOTO BY LOUIS

WALKER

PHOTO BY TOM

EVANS

The Athletic Office has organized a terrific new series of Friday night games for next year, designed to garner big student crowds and abundant SG spirit.

What a thrill it was to see the varsity girls swim team capture the Division II New England Championship in March. The girls beat the heavily favored Kingswood Oxford squad by a final score of 387 to 369—but not before the lead was exchanged throughout the meet several times. The last event of the evening helped SG win the crown when the SG 400 freestyle relay team of E ri n H en dri x ’12, Ra che l

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England title in the 100 butterfly and broke his own SG school record. M ich ae l M cGi nn i s ’13 competed in two of the most spirited races of the finals, swimming to an outstanding third place in the 200 freestyle and fifth place in the 100 freestyle, both swims just fractions of seconds from school records.

In the final event of the evening, the SG 400 freestyle relay team of McGinnis, Au bre y Sa l mo n ’14, Aust i n Sc h ee re r ’13 and Nuytkens swam an outstanding race to establish a new SG school record.

Girls basketball standouts The re sa Sa l ud ’13 and Jessi ca H om ’13 outshot 10 other girls from five local schools to get to the finals of the Newport Daily News fifth annual Shootout contest at Salve Regina University March 31. Salud edged out Hom to win the contest, but both wowed the crowd. (Background note: The two girls have been playing together since they were 8 years old in New Jersey and are the best three-point shooters Coach Julie Butler says she’s seen in 25 years of coaching.) Swish!

PHOTO BY LOUIS

WALKER

PHOTO BY F RANZ

RITT

Su ng ’12, Li za S ch ol l e ’13 and L oga n Hen dr ix ’12 swam to a new school record and won second-place points to secure the overall team title for the Dragons. Earlier in the finals, the SG 200 freestyle relay team of To r i Cunn in gha m ’13, L oga n H en dri x ’12, E m il y Ka l lf el z ’15 and Sa m Ayva zi a n-H an c oc k ’15 swam one of the most exciting races of the evening and set another SG school record. The SG girls were led by double winner and New England champion An na M i ll a r ’13, who won the individual NE title in the 200 IM and the 500 free.

In the boys’ competition, all 11 St. George’s swimmers posted a PBT (Personal Best Time) and all swimmers qualified for the evening finals and scored team points. The team earned a fifth-place finish overall.

Led by captains M ar k Nu ytke ns ’12 and Ha l sey H ut h ’12, the boys competed in 18 individual events and posted 18 personal best times and two new school records. In one of the most exciting moments of the boys meet, Nuytkens won the individual New

Je ssi c a Ho m ’13 participated in the Daily News Fifth Annual Shootout contest at Salve Regina University.

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Members of the varsity baseball team show off their new scoreboard made possible by a donation from their parents. Front row: He nr y Yo ung ’12, Ri l ey McCa be ’12, Co nno r Wi ls on ’12 and Coach J am e s Ste ve ns. Back row: Coach E d M cG in ni s, Sam Al o f si n ’14, Rya n A ndr ad e ’13, Wi ll i a m Ande r so n ’14, Mi ke Re e d ’13, Jo sh Wi nc kl e r ’15, Andr ew Issa ’13, Co no r Inga ri ’15, K ri s She l to n ’13, Ia n Di c key ’14 and Jo hnny Ki m ’14.

established relationship between an urban squash organization and an independent boarding school. Urban squash programs have previously affiliated with colleges and universities.

In February, the RhodySquash team attended a clinic at SG with the boys varsity squash team and head coach Colin Mort. “The team thoroughly enjoyed playing with a practicing prep-school team, and for many of the students who aspire to apply to private high school, this clinic was an opportunity to practice in such a setting,” said RhodySquash Executive Director Ross Freiman-Mendel.

The St. George’s girls team also worked with the middle-schoolers.

Frieman-Mendel, a Newport, R.I. native and RhodySquash’s 18-year-old executive director, took up administering the organization during a “gap year” he decided to take between graduating from Choate Rosemary Hall and attending Brown University this fall.

“We now have an amazing facility and a new pool of intelligent and com-

PHOTO BY

Recognizing the value of its dynamic athletics-meets-academics program, St. George’s has formalized its relationship with RhodySquash, a nonprofit “that engages and enriches the lives of under-resourced middle school children through squash instruction and academic mentoring.”

This spring, the St. George’s Board of Trustees approved a permanent move for RhodySquash to our state-of-the-art Hoopes Squash Center beginning with the 2012-2013 academic year.

Now the center, which consists of eight regulation courts, will serve as the permanent “home” for the RhodySquash team, affording up to 16 children from Newport’s Thompson Middle School an opportunity to play and learn in an inspiring setting, with the continued support of adult and student volunteers from St. George’s and the greater Rhode Island community.

The alliance between St. George’s and RhodySquash represents the nation’s first

ROSS FREIMAN-MENDEL

St. George’s to host Newpor t squash/mentoring program

R ah i l Fa ze l bhoy ’13 of the varsity boys squash team counsels a middle schooler from the RhodySquash program, now housed at SG.

mitted volunteers to benefit the RhodySquash kids,” he said. “What I’m most proud of is that our kids, many of whom did not know boarding school even existed until RhodySquash, will now grow and mature in such an inspiring setting. We’re so proud to have formalized this partnership, and in particular to have been the first urban squash program in the nation to be housed at a prep school.”

St. George’s has been the beneficiary of two urban squash program standouts in recent years. Mike Kelly ’15, of CitySquash in New York joined the community last fall. Jesse Pacheco ’10 also attended CitySquash and is now playing squash at Cornell University.

Far left: The varsity sailing team, which ended its 2012 season with a 17-0-1 record, practices in Newport harbor.

Left: WALKER PHOTO BY LOUIS

PHOTO BY F RANZ

RITT

St at hi Kyri a ki de s ’13

is the winner of this year’s York Tennis Bowl for Most Valuable player on the boys varsity tennis team.

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SPRING ATHLETES MAKE THEIR MARK 2 012 S T . G E O R G E ’ S S P R I N G A T H L E T I C A W A R D S BASEBALL

BOYS’ TRACK

Twitchell Baseball Cup (M.V.P.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sam Alofsin Reynolds Baseball Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ryan Andrade R.B.I. Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Riley McCabe Pro Jo All-Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sam Alofsin Captains-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TBA

Holmes Track Trophy (M.V.P.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bobby Mey Track Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mark Nuytkens Track M.I.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sage Hill All-ISL, first team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jaleel Wheeler All-ISL, honorable mention . . . . . . . .Mark Nuytkens, Bobby Mey, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ryan Conlogue All-New England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jaleel Wheeler All-County . . . . . . .Tyshon Henderson (MVP), Bobby Mey (MVP), . . . . . . . . .Sage Hill, Jaleel Wheeler, Jon Lumley, Ryan Conlogue, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Josiah Adams, Drew Duff, Kyle Pearson Pro Jo All-Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jaleel Wheeler Captains-elect . .Bobby Mey, Tyshon Henderson, Ryan Conlogue

GOLF Golf M.V.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Parker Little Golf Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Oliver Fornell Golf M.I.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jack Coaty Captains-elect . . . . . . . . . . .Jack Coaty, Reid Burns, Luc Woodard

BOYS’ LACROSSE Alessi Lacrosse Bowl (M.V.P.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alex Elron Herter (Coaches’) Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alden Pexton Hollins-Sheehan Lacrosse Cup (M.I.P.) . . . . . . . . . . . .Gage Walsh

GIRLS’ LACROSSE Lacrosse M.V.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Allie McLane Lacrosse Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Emma Garfield Lacrosse M.I.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Liza Scholle NEPSWLA All-Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cecilia Masiello, Allie McLane ProJo All-Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Allie McLane Captains-elect .Allie McLane, Oona Pritchard, Whitney Thomson

SAILING Wood Sailing Bowl (M.V.P.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Evan Read Leslie Sailing Bowl (Best Crew) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bettina Redway Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pearson Potts Sailing M.I.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Roger Dorr

SOFTBALL Softball M.V.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Emily Lewis Holly Williams (Coaches’) Cup . . . . . . . . . . . .Caroline Thompson Softball M.I.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Libbie Desrosiers Captains-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Becky Cutler, Caroline Thompson

GIRLS’ TRACK Hubert C. Hersey Track Award (M.V.P.) . . . . . . . . . . . . .D.J. Wilson Track Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Veronica Scott Track M.I.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ito Orabator All-New England . .D.J. Wilson, Sienna Turecamo, Veronica Scott, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tully Ross, Ito Orobator All-ISL, first team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .D.J. Wilson All-ISL, honorable mention . . . . . . . . .Emma Scanlon, Sasha Tory All-County . . . . . . . . . .D.J. Wilson (MVP), Sasha Tory, Tully Ross, . . . . . . .Veronica Scott, Joy Bullock, Cici Huyck, Arena Manning Pro Jo All-Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .D.J. Wilson Captains-elect . . . . . .Sienna Turecamo, Jessica Hom, Sasha Tory

LETTER AWARDS Manager of the Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Robbie Citrino 8-Letter Awards . . . . . . . .Logan Hendrix, Evan Read, Cam Howe 9-Letter Awards . . . . . .Joe Mack, Veronica Scott, Jaleel Wheeler, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .D.J. Wilson, Henry Young 10-Letter Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joy Bullock, Riley McCabe

BOYS’ TENNIS

PHOTO BY LOUIS WALKER

PHOTOGRAPHY

York Tennis Bowl (M.V.P.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stathi Kyriakides Trotter (Coach’s Cup) Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peter Kohler Tennis M.I.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rahil Fazelbhoy Pro Jo All-Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stathi Kyriakides Captains-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TBA

GIRLS’ TENNIS Tennis M.V.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alexa Santry Tennis Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Casey DeLuca Tennis M.I.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lilly Schiebe Captain-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Colby Burdick

Char l es M ac a ul ay ’12 makes a putt for the newly re-established

SG golf team.

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Ten students were awarded their diplomas on Prize Day “with high distinction” for their exceptional academic performance during the sixth-form year. They were Jos ep h M a ck, Sa di e M cQ ui l ki n, M i c h a e l K i m , G r a c e A l z a i b a k , E m i l y D e r e c k t o r, J u l i a R a y h il l , A l e x a n d r a B a l l a t o , B r i c e B e r g , C a r o l i n e Al exa nde r and K at he ri n e Ad am s. Sixteen students graduated “with distinction”: Ver o ni ca Scot t, M e ga n E v e r e t t , S a r a h M a c D o n n e l l , A n n a W i ll i a m s , E v a n Re ad, J ac que l i ne M at yszc z yk, Li s a Lho, Ra c he l Sun g, El i za be t h M a nni ng, K a ti e D es ro si e r s, El l e n G ra no f f, Pa r ker Li t tl e, Char l es M ac a ul ay, E ri n He ndr i x, J ac k Ba r t ho l et and Cas ey D e Luc a.

PHOTO BY

SUZANNE MCGRADY

Approximately 150,000 high schoolers took the National Latin Exam in early March and a number of St. George’s students came out on top in scoring, notably Jo a nna X u ’13. Xu was, in fact, the only student at SG to win a gold medal/summa cum laude award for her outstanding performance.

Latin is Xu’s third language— and she skipped Latin 3.

Joanna Xu ’13 Teacher and Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs P a t Mo ss calls her “a phenom.” Silver Medal, or Maxima Cum Laude, awards went to Li l y Sa nf or d ’14, Ro lf L oche r ’15, and St er l i ng E t he ri dge ’15, and Magna Cum Laude awards went to J os eph i ne Can ne ll ’13, E ri ck Lu ’15, Al l is on Wi l li a m s ’15, M i l es M at ul e ’14, T he re sa Sa l ud ’13, and Al exa nde r Ho pe ’12.

The school prefects (left to right) for 2012-13 are: Li sb ei l y M e n a , Z iy e H u , W i l l Fle m in g (senior prefect), Be ck y Cu tl e r and The r esa S al u d .

The five school prefects for 2012-13 became known to the community through a creative skit by the current prefects on May 4—and what a night it was. At about 7:45 p.m. L i sbe i ly Me na, Zi ye H u, Wi l l Fl em i ng, Be c ky Cut le r and T he re sa Sa l ud were exhausted from the excitement, but posed for this awesome inaugural photo. Congratulations! Meanwhile, N i ck La r so n was elected head of the Honor Board for the 2012-13 year. He’ll serve alongside Oo na P ri t ch ar d, Al an a M cM a ho n, Rya n Andr ad e and A l e x Ga t e s .

Juan Carlos de la Guardia ’13 represented St. George’s as a junior co-chair at the 2012 HACIA (Harvard Association Cultivating Inter-American Democracy) Summit of the Americas March 8-11, 2012, near Panama City, Panama.

De la Guardia hopes to bring a much larger delegation of St. George’s students to next

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year’s summit, which prides itself on being one of the largest and most diverse OAS (Organization of American States) simulations in the world. It was attended by more than 450 participants from more than 30 schools from all over the Americas.

N ic k L ar s on ’13 (above left), elected chair of the 2012-13 Honor Board, and new members Oo na Pr i tc h ar d ’13, Ala na M cM a ho n ’13, A le x Ga t es ’13 and Rya n Andr a de ’13 take part in a special induction ceremony on Prize Day.

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Meanwhile, 13 students participated in one of the premier Model United Nations events for high school students this year. Hosted by Boston University, the BOSMUN XII conference drew about 1,400 students from the U.S. and abroad. Representing SG were Tyl er Pe sek ’13, Jack Bar thole t ’12, Halsey Huth ’12, Hanni Chen ’13, Joe Gri meh ’13, Duncan McGaan ’13, Aubrey Salmo n ’14, Teddy Car ter ’14, Cameron Cluf f ’14, Emma Nash ’13, James Al lan ’13 and Harr y Pa rker ’13.

Two Arete Awards—given to students who display notable effort and produce work of exceptional quality for a class or extra-curricular activity—were handed out this spring.

Ju l i a R ay hi l l ’12 received an Arete for her “exceptional creativity and academic effort” on a research paper about the role of women in Icelandic politics and economy for Jeremy Goldstein’s Global

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Studies Senior Seminar.

E mmy D er ec k to r won an Arete for organizing a year-long wellness program for fifth-form girls.

Bri ce Berg ’12 was one of just 24 finalists to participate in the final round of the seventh annual U.S. High School Student “Chinese Bridge” Speech Contest held at the University of Massachusetts Boston on April 28.

Born in the Midwest and now living in Florida, Berg got a leg up in his language studies by spending his junior year in China with the School Year Abroad Program. This year more than 50 candidates selected by teachers from various high schools in 11 states took part in the preliminary round of the contest, which required each contestant to write an essay and make a fourminute-long voice recording on an assigned topic.

In the final at UMass, the students delivered speeches on this year’s theme, “I Like Chinese Language and Culture,” and answered questions posed by the judges.

Academic Honors for Second Semester 2011-12 Head of School Commendation for Academic Excellence The Head of School Commendation for Academic Excellence is St. George’s highest bi-annual honor.

These students received no grade below an A- during the 2011-12 second semester: KATHERINE POND ADAMS GRACE GEORGE ALZAIBAK ALEXANDRA ELENA BALLATO BRICE JAMES BERG EDWARD HILL CARTER EMILY DERECKTOR

Honor Roll III FORM MICHAELA KATHRYN AHERN JOSEPH BURNETT ASBEL SAMARA REBECCA AYVAZIAN-HANCOCK SOPHIA ABBY BARKER WILLIAM VAUGHAN BEMIS SARAH CHASE BRAMAN SLOAN ALEXANDRA BUHSE BUCKLEY CARLSON SARAH STEWART CARNWATH REED DE BRUHL DEHORSEY STERLING VICTORIA ETHERIDGE CATHERINE BERTRAND FARMER CHLOE AMELIA FARRICK BLAISE C. FOLEY JING GAO OLIVER RIDGELY GREEN ANNIKA LEIGH HEDLUND SERENA DEWEES HIGHLEY CYNTHIA JANETTE HUYCK HUNTER JOHNSON EMILY LOUISE KALLFELZ JAEWOO KANG ERIN MARIE KEATING YUL HEE KIM EDDIE J. LIU IRENE C. LUPERON CHRISTINA ROSE MALIN ANDERS CASSODAY MCLEOD ELIZABETH GOODWIN MILLAR CARTER YOUNG MORGAN WILLIAM NYAMWANGE JI YOUNG PARK CAMERON EUGENE ROY ELIZABETH HALE SCHEIBE PAGET SMITH EMMA LOUISE THOMPSON AMANDA GRACE WARREN ALLISON VANIER WILLIAMS JOSHUA MICHAEL WINKLER YIMIN XIE L AN ZHANG NATASHA S. ZOBEL DE AYALA

IV FORM SAMUEL FREDERICK ALOFSIN HYUNHO AN WILLIAM KELLY KERR ANDERSON MIRANDA BAKOS KATHERINE ELIZABETH BAUER CAMILLA PEPPERELL CABOT MARGARET DEANE CARDWELL EDWARD HILL CARTER YU YAO CHENG

BETHANY LYNN FOWLER ALEXANDRE ZVONIMIR GRAHOVAC ZIYE HU ERIN MARIE KEATING JOHN JONGMIN KIM MICHAEL J. KIM

EDDIE J. LIU JOSEPH MATRONE MACK HANNAH WISE MCCORMACK ALLISON ARMSTRONG MCL ANE SADIE RUTH MCQUILKIN ELIZABETH GOODWIN MILLAR

JAEYOUNG CHOI WOO WON CHUN CAMERON ROARKE CLUFF ELIZABETH DEWEY DESROSIERS IAN BOWEN DICKEY ANDREW JAMES DUFF HAYLEY ELIZABETH LEE DURUDOGAN JEFFREY PAUL FRALICK ALLISON PARKS FULLER ALEXANDER JAMES MAHER GOODRICH ELIZABETH LIPTON GRACE ALEXANDRE ZVONIMIR GRAHOVAC WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER HILL TIMOTHY MICHAEL HOWE QINWEN HUANG KATELYN NICOLE HUTCHINSON MARY OLIVIA KEITH MARGARET PEYTON KILVERT JOHN JONGMIN KIM THOMAS EDWARD KITS VAN HEYNINGEN SAMUEL THOMPSON LOOMIS ANDREW SLOANE LYNCH HANNAH MARIE MACAULAY SAMANTHA D. MALTAIS CECILIA CHRISTIANE MASIELLO MILES FOLEY MATULE MARGARET ANNE MEAD JORGE L. MELENDEZ VIRGINIA CASEY MOYLAN GRACE CONNORS POLK CALLIE IRELAND R ANDALL BROOKE ELIZABETH REIS VIRGINIA TULLY ROSS WILSON S. RUBINOFF AUBREY MILES FITZHUGH SALMON ALEXA OLIN SANTRY MARGARET ELIZABETH SCHROEDER SEUNG HYOUK SHIN WILLIAM EBERLEIN SIMPSON NATALIE ANN SULLIVAN HANNAH FRANCES TODD DIAN-JUNG TSAI ROBERT LOUX WOODARD JIEUN YOON

V FORM JAMES BRUCE ALLAN RYAN JAMES ANDRADE CONOR STUART BRODY COLBY O’NEIL BURDICK LUCAS CAMPBELL JOSEPHINE ROSE CANNELL BAILEY MCKAY CLEMENT JOHN GARVOILLE COATY MANNING SOUTHALL COE RICHARD RYAN CONLOGUE

CALLIE VICTORIA REIS CAMERON EUGENE ROY MARGARET ELIZABETH SCHROEDER JAE YOUNG SHIN WILLIAM EBERLEIN SIMPSON EMMA LOUISE THOMPSON

EMMA S. COZ VICTORIA ELIZABETH CUNNINGHAM REBECCA WARREN CUTLER JUAN CARLOS DE L A GUARDIA NICO CYRIL DELUCA-VERLEY SOPHIA ELISABETH DENUYL KELLY FRANCES DUGGAN R AHIL KARIM ALIFF FAZELBHOY WILLIAM RUSSELL FLEMING GENEVIEVE BARTON FLYNN MARIANNE CASEY FOSS-SKIFTESVIK BETHANY LYNN FOWLER JOSEPH OMAR GRIMEH HIKARI HASEGAWA ZIYE HU ANDREW PIERRE ISSA DAVID L ARIMER KEHOE ROWON KIM PETER KOHLER EFSTATHIOS KYRIAKIDES NICHOLAS KING L ARSON XINGYAN LI HANNAH WISE MCCORMACK ALLISON ARMSTRONG MCL ANE ALANA CLAIRE MCMAHON LISBEILY MENA ROBERT WALTER MEY ANNA ELIZABETH MILLAR JEREMY MONK EMMA FOCHTMAN NASH KELSEY ERIKSON NORRGARD CHANJOON PARK MADELEINE EMELIA PARKER DANIEL PERRY, III KATARINA PESA T YLER ANDREW PESEK OONA CAROLENA PRITCHARD CALLIE VICTORIA REIS ELIZABETH MADISON REYNOLDS KEMIGISHA MARIA RICHARDSON THERESA ANNE SALUD ELIZABETH PARSONS SCHOLLE KRISTOFER SHELTON JAE YOUNG SHIN WILLIAM ISAAC SILVERSTEIN R ALEIGH SHEEHAN SILVIA MAXWELL BARDSLEY SIMMONS CAROLINE CLAIRE THOMPSON WHITNEY HASKELL THOMSON SIENNA WARRINER TURECAMO HAN XU

VI FORM KATHERINE POND ADAMS CAROLINE ELIZABETH ALEXANDER SCOTT ETHAN ALLEN GRACE GEORGE ALZAIBAK

DIAN-JUNG TSAI YIMIN XIE HAN XU L AN ZHANG

ALEXANDRA ELENA BALLATO JACK IVES BARTHOLET BRICE JAMES BERG HONORIA NEWBURY BERMAN CLAIRE EMILIE CHALIFOUR FRANCES GRACE CHAMPION WOO SUNG CHUN ROBERT JOSEPH CITRINO, IV CAITLIN ANNE CONNERNEY CASEY ELIZABETH DELUCA EMILY DERECKTOR KATHERINE MITCHELL DESROSIERS DAVID ALEXANDER ELRON MEGAN HOPE EVERETT ERIC OLIVER FORNELL, JR. EMMA DANE GARFIELD MATTHEW FIELD GILBERT WILLIAM TODD GILBERT SAMANTHA EVELYN GOLDMAN ELLEN ABIGAIL GRANOFF WILLIAM HACKNEY GREER JAMISON CAMPBELL HARRINGTON TUCKER BAILEY HARRINGTON ERIN SUMI HENDRIX LOGAN YOSHI HENDRIX HALSEY CLAY HUTH TRISHA-JOY JACKSON KAYLA MARISA JEFFREY KEISHA MARIE JEFFREY MICHAEL J. KIM SOOJIN KIM SOPHIE BARKSDALE L AYTON EMILY JEANNE LEWIS LISA HEEYOUNG LHO FREDERICK PARKER LITTLE III CHARLES WEBB MACAULAY SARAH AUGER MACDONNELL JOSEPH MATRONE MACK ARENA ABENA MANNING ELIZABETH TODD MANNING JACQUELINE KATHIE MATYSZCZYK ALANA MARIE MCCARTHY SADIE RUTH MCQUILKIN ANNETTA OBICHI OLERU ALEXANDRA ROSE PAINDIRIS KYLE BERRY PEARSON PEARSON BAHAN POTTS, JR. JULIA C. R AYHILL EVAN PARKER READ BETTINA KAUFFMANN REDWAY VERONICA GABRIELLE SCOTT JOHN INGALLS SNOW, IV R ACHEL CHARLENE SUNG CAROLINE KURTZ WELCH ALEXANDER SHELDON WHITEHOUSE ANNA PIERCE WILLIAMS

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El i za be t h M i l la r ’15, Chr i s Fl e mi ng ’15 and Car o li ne D u nn-P a c ker ’15 use the new projection system in the Hill Library for a project in Tom E va ns’ biology class.

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Biology teacher To m Eva ns makes use of the newly renovated library for a spring class session with Ga r re tt Fow ne s ’15, Chr is Fl em i ng ’15 and Cha rl e en M ar ti ns L ope s ’15.

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THE WRITING LIFE Once again this year, the English Department offered an optional, online summer writing program for students. The innovative program, designed and managed by Chair of the English Department and published writer A le x M yer s, allows both incoming and current students to bolster their writing skills through a series of online lessons and communications with English teachers.

HOLLY WILLIAMS PHOTO COURTESY OF

Clockwise from top left: Members of the DNA class, taught

by Head of the Science Department Ho l ly Wi l l ia m s (left), got the chance to see a biotech firm up close and personal during a field trip to Providence to visit Nabsys Inc. The president of the company, Dr. Barrett Bready (sixth from right), spent time with (from left to right) Eva n Re ad ’12, Ha rr y P ar ke r ’13, H on or i a Be rm an ’12, Tyl er Pe se k ’13, Al ex El r on ’12, Ji m my Fe rr e tt i ’12, Ja c que li ne M at ysz cz yk ’12, Ha nn ah M c Co rma c k ’13, Al e x G at es ’13 and Fra nc e s Ch am pi on ’12, giving a tour and explaining the company’s goals.

Si m on Li ’13 explains his physics project to his teacher, Dr. B o b Wei n.

G eo rg e Me l en dez ’14 works on an assignment in L i sa Ha ns el’s

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PHOTO BY F RANZ

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architecture class.

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Right: Dr. Rosalie Arcala Hall (left), a political science professor at the University of the Philippines Visayas and the wife of Bruce Hall ’85 (center), was on campus in May to visit history classes and to talk about women’s and military issues. Hall, speaking here to Sa ra h L awr en c e’s class (including Cam i l la Ca bo t ’14 at right), was in town to speak later in the week at the Naval War College in Newport. Hall received her Ph.D. in public and international affairs at Northeastern University and research fellowships have taken her and Bruce to live in Tokyo; Innsbruck, Austria; and Chicago.

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Top: Noah Tuleja listens in on a discussion during his fifth-form English class. Tuleja was tapped by the seniors this year to deliver the Baccalaureate address.

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Above: D evo n Du char m e counsels B en Ri ck ab au gh ’13 during a physics class.

Left top: The Latin Department organized a chariot race April 18 to help celebrate Global Week.

Participants included budding classicists J im my Fe rr et t i ’12 and S co t ty Al le n ’12, who lead the pack here, Ver on ica Sco t t ’12, Gr ace P ol k ’14, Ji l l ia n G a te s ’15, Ad am D ’Ange l o ’14, Gi no Roy ’15 and Ar en a Ma nn i ng ’12.

PHOTO BY COURTESY OF

ED MCGINNIS

Left center: In early May, several deans from area colleges and universities were on campus to help the College Counseling Office stage its annual mock admissions program for fifth formers.

E d Mc G i nni s’ robotics class got a tour of the new facility at the KVH Industries Inc. manufacturing plant in Middletown, R.I. Left to right: Car ol i ne T ho mps on ’13, Ca mi l l e N ive ro ’13, M i l es M at ul e ’14, Ro l f Lo c he r ’15, Bob Balog, KVH’s VP of engineering, Ga rr e tt Fow ne s ’15, B ud Fr al i ck ’14, Ed M cGi nn is, Bo bby M ey ’13, M ic h ae l K im ’12 (who interned at KVH), Ju li a n Tu rne r ’14, Bi l l y Re ed ’15, Co nno r B ro dy ’14 and D avi d Keh oe ’13.

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Global outreach M E M B E R S

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Cha rl o tt e D ul ay ’14 of Bronx, N.Y., left the United States June 28 en route to China, where she was participating in a five-week learning and service project offered by George School in Newtown, Pa. Students in the program were able to sightsee in Beijing for a day and then headed off to the ethnic Miao village of Xijiang where they spent the majority of their time with host families “experiencing firsthand the customs, lifestyle and challenges of the Miao culture.”

Students helped their host families with daily chores, built a terraced rice paddy and helped renovate the Xijiang Community Center. They also spent time volunteering at Kaili University and helping students improve their English skills.

Dulay’s trip was made possible by the Hunter Family Endowment for Service, Stewarship and Leadership, created by the gifts of former trustee Su sa n H un t e r P’99, ’02 in honor of her daughters, K r i s t i n I. H un t e r-T ho m s o n ’99 and W h i t ne y

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E . H un t e r-T ho m p so n ’02. Income from the Hunter endowment is used to support and enhance curricular and/or cocurricular initiatives in service, environmental stewardship and leadership.

South African wildlife preserve after participating in a program at St. John’s College in Johannesburg in June and July.

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SG’s Global Cultural Initiatives Program has expanded to Madrid. Spanish teacher Am y D o rri e nTra i sc i left with four students— So phi e D en Uyl ’13,

S T. G E O R G E ’ S 2 0 1 2 S U M M E R B U L L E T I N

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ANNA MILLAR ’13

Left, bottom: Cal l i e Re is ’13 and Ann a M il l a r ’13 visit a

PHOTO COURTESY OF

Left, top: Luci e n Wu l si n ’13 participates in a community service project this summer in Greece organized by the American Farm School.

in a village near Thessaloniki, Greece, as part of the Greek Summer cultural immersion program offered by the American Farm School.

Soon-to-be-seniors Anna M i l la r ’13 and Ca ll i e Re i s ’13 returned to the States July 9 after studying at St. John’s College in Johannesburg, South Africa, since June 4. They are the first to represent SG in a new exchange program with St. John’s.

Meanwhile Co r y D avi s ’14 at presstime was heading for Bishops Diocesan College, an independent boys school, for five weeks as part of our ongoing exchange with the Capetown, South Africa, school. Chair of the History Department Jim Connor made the trip with Davis and was scheduled to spend time at both Bishops and St. John’s.

WULSIN ’13

So much for a lazy summer at the beach: Luci e n Wul si n ’13 spent July doing community service work

ALLISON DE HORSEY PHOTO BY

Ha nn ah M c Cor ma c k ’13, And y M o re au ’13 and Ju l ia Ra yhi l l ’12—on June 10 for Spain where they have

immersed themselves in the Spanish culture. Students followed the GCIP model of “living and learning while doing,” according to Head of the French Department Allison de Horsey, who designed the program. They lived with host families and worked at internships while abroad. Moreau worked in the lab at the Instituto de Ciencias de Materiales de Madrid while DenUyl, McCormack and Rayhill interned at AC Hotels Marriott. You can check out their blog at http://gcipmadrid.blogspot.com/ .

Meanwhile, GCIP-Paris embarked upon its third Parisian immersion-internship experience this summer. Al i B a ll a to ’12, Me ga n E ver et t ’12, Zi ye Hu ’13, So ph i e Layt on ’12, B et t in a Re dway ’12 and Jo a nna Xu ’13 spent three weeks living and working in the City of Light. Ballato, Everett, Layton, Redway and Xu worked in the lab at the Curie Institute and Hu worked at the Hôtel de Banville. The program continues the school’s collaboration with both the Curie Institute and the Hôtel de Banville. Their blog is at http://sggcip-paris.blogspot.fr/2012/06/ gcip-paris-2012-june-15-july-7.html The 2012-2013 Global Professional Development program features a number of exciting opportunities for teachers in the months ahead. Director of Finance El iza beth Mc Gra th will head to Shanghai to take part in the exchange with the YK Pao School where former Director of Global Programs To ny Jaccaci is

principal. The Global Studies Seminar students next March will travel to Asian urban centers such as Seoul, Korea, and Hong Kong with faculty members Kell y R ic ha rds, associate director of college counseling, and Xi aoyu Chen, Chinese teacher; and a firsttime exchange with the King’s Academy will bring Latin teacher V irgi ni a Buckle s and Associate Director of Admission Ada m Cho ice ’06 to Jordan.

GCIP-Paris students: Zi ye Hu ’13, Be t ti na R ed way ’12, S op hi e Layt on ’12, M ega n E ver e tt ’12, Joa nn a Xu ’13 and Al i Ba l la t o ’12.

Andr ew Du f f ’14 was awarded a coveted spot in the School Year Abroad Spain Class of 2012-2013.

He will spend his fifth-form year living and studying in Zaragoza, Spain. “Drew was accepted into this highly selective program because of his academic drive and dedication to mastering another language,” wrote an SYA representative.

Ruba Haddad and Lina Samawi, faculty members from the King’s Academy in Jordan, spent time on the Hilltop April 10-15, 2012, collecting ideas for a new Arabic exchange program the school plans to offer. During their stay, the two attended meetings, visited classes, shadowed students, and got off campus for some local sightseeing. The journalism class got a chance to interview Ms. Samawi, who offered up a number of colorful anecdotes about Jordanian culture and places to visit, such as the City of Petra and the Dead Sea.

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Global outreach O M M U N I T Y

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Among the 2011-12 Global Senior Seminar students and teachers who traveled to Iceland in March were: (in the back row) E m il y L ewi s, Gr a c e A lz ai ba k, Head of the Science Department Ho ll y W i ll i a ms, E l i za bet h Ma nn in g, Ph oe be M a nni ng, Tri s ha -Joy Ja ck so n, Anne t t a O’L er u, Li sa L ho, S am i G ol dm a n, Head of the Mathematics Department Li n da E van s, E l i za be th Ha ske l l, Ste pha ni e Le e, and (in the front row) Jul i a Ra hi l l, Ca ro l i ne Al exa nd er, Ke nd ra Bo wer s, H on or i a Be rm an, Ch ar lo t te vo n M e is te r, Sa ra h Ma c D on ne ll, Al i Ba l l at o, He l en Wes to n, science teacher H ea t h Ca pe l lo, Em m a Scan lo n, Jo hn Sno w and G a rre t t Rei s. Missing from the photo is lead teacher and Director of Global Programs Je re my G o ld st ei n and art teacher R ay Woi s hek ’89.

Experiencing the wonders of Iceland

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YK PAO SCHOOL

Oh, yeah ... and about Iceland ... there was also that grueling 40-minute hike—with a warm swim in the hot springs afterwards.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE

E mm a Sc a nlo n ’12 says she remembers the first day outside Reykjavik and appreciating the “natural beauty” of the Icelandic landscape. For Ali Ba ll a to ’12, it was off-roading two hours to a remote mountain hut—and then being met by a spectacular display of the Northern Lights. “I was completely in awe. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” she told a group gathered to hear the students of Director of Global Programs Je re my Go ld ste in’s Global Senior Seminar, which this year brought two sections of students to the Land of Fire and Ice. The trip, which marked the program’s sixth anniversary this year, was the latest travel adventure aimed at expanding the global horizons of students.

Each student wrote a research paper on a topic of their own choosing, with one, Jul i a Rayhi l l’s, winning an Arete Award for exceptional scholarship. Rayhill, who researched the role of women in Icelandic politics and economy after the 2008 economic crisis, accepted the award during a special event in the Chapel the night before Prize Day. In 2013, Global Seminar students will travel to urban Asian centers, including Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul.

English teacher Be e zi e Bi ckf o rd, who was on sabbatical during the spring semester, talks to parents at the YK Pao School in Shanghai about boarding school. Alongside her is Lanco Ke, a translator and assistant to YK Pao Principal Tony Jaccaci, former director of global studies and head of the Chinese Department at SG.

School Year 2012-13 CL

ASSES

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SEPT. 5

AND

WE’LL

WELCOME

THESE

NEW

STUDENTS

Megan Daknis

AnnaLise Fyrwald

Cairo, Egypt

Army Post Of fice, AP

Hinsdale, Ill.

Scott Abeel

Lane Davis

Laurie Germain

M i d d l e b u r g , Va .

Darien, Conn.

For t Myers, Fla.

Daawwii Aga

Omari Davis

Julia Goins

F l u s h i n g , N . Y.

Oakland, Calif.

Sandwich, Mass.

Collin Alexander

Thompson Davlin

Annabel Grunebaum

R y e , N . Y.

Wa y l a n d , M a s s .

B e d f o r d H i l l s , N . Y.

Logan Amaral

Jack-Henry Day

Piers Guthrie

We s t p o r t , M a s s .

Greenwich, Conn.

N e w Yo r k , N . Y.

Christian Anderson

Antonio Di Lorenzo

Connor Hancock

Newpor t, Vt.

Roma, Italy

Sausalito, Calif.

John Andrade

Catherine DiCara

Katherine Heim

Newpor t, R.I.

Boston, Mass.

Glenwood Springs, Colo.

Zahra Arabzada

Wyatt Dodd

Dakota Hill

Kabul, Afghanistan

Stonington, Conn.

Oneida, Wisc.

Timothy Baumann

Margaret Dolan

Jordan Hoffman

Davie, Fla.

Morristown, N.J.

Q u o g u e , N . Y.

John Bermingham

Laura Edson

Rebecca Howe

St. Louis, Mo.

Old Greenwich, Conn.

Jamestown, R.I.

Bettina Bronfman

Agnes Enochs

Evan Jackson

N e w Yo r k , N . Y.

Shrevepor t, La.

Chicago, Ill.

Ashlyn Buffum

Jack Finn

Sydney Jarrett

We s t e r l y, R . I .

Middletown, R.I.

College Park, Ga.

Timothy Burns

Annabelle Fischer

Jee Seob Jung

Por tsmouth, R.I.

Providence, R.I.

Seongnam, Korea

Kari Byrnes

John Fisher

Ian Keller

S m y r n a , Te n n .

Unionville, Pa.

Boca Raton, Fla.

Lee Cardwell

Lydia Fisher

Charles Kilvert

A u s t i n , Te x a s

Unionville, Pa.

Concord, Mass.

Nicole Cohen

Connor Fitzgerald

Chaeyun Kim

Greenwich, Conn.

Eastham, Mass.

Seoul, Korea

Olivia Consoli

Camila Flores

Taylor Kirkpatrick

New Canaan, Conn.

M a x i c o D F, M e x i c o

Por tsmouth, R.I.

William Corridan

Vivian Foley

Charles Knox

Por tsmouth, R.I.

Concord, Mass.

Dedham, Mass.

Dejania Cotton-Samuel

Patrick Ford

David Lamar

N e w R o c h e l l e , N . Y.

D o v e r, M a s s .

N a s h v i l l e , Te n n .

Luke Crimmins

Miles Foy

Elizabeth Larcom

Middletown, R.I.

Brookline, Mass.

Middletown, R.I.

Eleanor Crudgington

Riley Freeman

You Jeong Lee

Napa, Calif.

We l l e s l e y, M a s s .

Seoul, Korea

James Cunningham

Lisa Friesen

Audrey Lin

Hamburg, Germany

Shanghai, China

Newpor t, R.I.

PHOTO BY

Mahmoud Abdel-Maksoud

DIANNE REED

Ninety-nine new students will enter St. George’s this year— 50 boys and 49 girls.

Hailing from 24 states and 11 countries, the new group brings to the Hilltop 85 new boarders and 14 new day students.

William Logue

Henry Shepherd

Riverside, Conn.

Ridgewood, N.J.

Caroline Macaulay

Quinn Sheridan

Carbondale, Colo.

Sonoma, Calif.

Sophia McDonald

Katherine Simmons

Miami, Fla.

Middletown, R.I.

William Muessel

Margaret Small

Newpor t, R.I.

Darien, Conn.

Soravis Nawbhanich

Olivia Soares

B a n g ko k , T h a i l a n d

H a n o v e r, M a s s .

Amy Nuytkens

James Stevens

Melrose, Mass.

Nor th Kingstown, R.I.

John O'Connor

James Stites

Middletown, R.I.

L o u i s v i l l e , Ky.

Elizabeth Olt

Andrea Sullivan

O y s t e r B a y, N . Y.

Middletown, R.I.

Henry Ordway

Colin Surber

L o n g L a ke , M i n n .

Por tsmouth, R.I.

Luc Paruta

Jonathan Tesoro

Por tsmouth, R.I.

S u d b u r y, M a s s .

Griffin Prescott

Henry Timken

Medfield, Mass.

Canton, Ohio

Loomis Quillen

Olivia Vitton

N e w Yo r k , N . Y.

Greenwich, Conn.

Billy Reid

Jonathan Wang

Ste-Mar tine, PQ Canada

Middletown, R.I.

Michael Riordan

Thomas Westerberg

Army Post Of fice, AE

Riverside, Conn.

Catherine Rios

Sophie Williams

Shrevepor t, La.

Chevy Chase, Md.

Margaret Rogers

Toni Woods Maignan

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Easton, Pa.

Robert Rose

Zhou Yan

D o v e r, M a s s .

Shanghai, China

Lillian Schopp

Phillip Young

Canaan, Conn.

Naperville, Ill.

Jiwoo Seo Seoul, Korea

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Faculty/Staff notes “St. George’s honors Betsy Leslie for 40 years of service to the Hilltop: the dedication and team spirit she brought to the Admission Office, the unwavering thoughtfulness she brought to her colleagues, and the guidance she gave to our students.”

S TEVE LESLIE

—from a Reunion Weekend present ation honoring this year’s retirees

PHOTO BY

In her element— Be ts y Le sl i e spends a quiet moment with a book in the great outdoors during a sabbatical in Montana in 2010.

Back to nature A year after her husband, longtime faculty member and admission veteran Betsy Leslie retires Betsy Leslie was still a sophomore at the University of Rhode Island when she joined her husband, St eve L es li e, as a newlywed on the Hilltop in 1972. At the time, St. George’s was evolving, making a foray into coeducation, and Betsy quickly and gracefully wove her talents into the fabric of the school. In those early days she helped with costume design for the performing arts department, taught a class in weaving, directed the handbell choir, coached junior varsity basketball, and supervised an afternoon activity in horseback riding.

In 1985, in a move that would shape her career and leave an indelible mark on St. George’s, she joined the Admission Office.

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Former Director of Admission Jay Doolittle recalls: “At that point in time, our ‘state-of-the-art information technology’ consisted of boxes of 3x5 file cards and a Rolodex. All of the images we used to promote the school were in black and white and … the Red Key was still a loose-knit collection of well-intentioned, but essentially untrained volunteers.”

In short, Betsy would help see the department through a critical era in its history, helping St. George’s cement its reputation as one of the best small boarding schools in the country by attracting a community of talented and diverse students from around the world.

“No one,” added Jay Doolittle,“has played a more

BETSY LESLIE

existence among the mountains.

But they were missed back home. Associate Director of Admission Julia Sabourin calls Betsy Leslie “a professional, a friend, a wife and a mother.” And more often than not, she said, she has been a mentor and a guide. Likewise former advisee Elliott Higgins, ’05, perhaps speaks for many of the students who became close to Betsy over the years. He wrote, “Mrs. Leslie was my SG mom. No matter what I was dealing with— challenge or success—my instincts at SG always led me to one place: the black door with a brass handle just beyond the big Red Doors of Old School. Mrs. Leslie shepherded me through everything. Yes, she was my ‘advisor’—but she was so much more.”

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important part in transforming the Red Key into the organization as we know it today, in bringing about the transition to a fully coeducational school, and in cementing the school’s reputation as a place where visiting students are assured a warm welcome, and a thoughtful, spirited and thorough exploration of the fit between themselves and the school.”

As the faculty liaison to Geronimo, Betsy for many years served as the vital link between the school and the boat while it was at sea. She is a nature lover at heart.

And even the non-humans among us—the dogs, the horses, the wildlife surrounding our beautiful campus—have always found in Betsy a compassionate ally.

When Betsy and Steve traveled away from the Hilltop two years ago on sabbatical, they realized a personal dream, perhaps with a bit of Thoreau in mind, to live among nature in Montana. From a former old one-room schoolhouse, the two—animal lovers both— studied the wolf population in Yellowstone, birthed lambs on a farm and lived a quiet, peaceful, simple

Steve and B et sy L es li e enjoyed a

sabbatical in Montana in 2009-10. They arrived on the Hilltop in 1972 and dedicated their adult lives to St. George’s. Betsy retired this spring.

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KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY

Music Department head Clare Gesualdo retires Her influence on the Music Department was measurable: At the end of her nine-year tenure at St. George’s, Clare Gesualdo was overseeing a program that had 90 students in the choir, 30 students in the orchestra, 80 brass instrument players, two a cappella groups, two ensembles, and students taking 82 private music lessons every week.

Along with her colleague, friend and sidekick, Tony du Bourg, who died last year, Gesualdo inspired and guided dozens of talented singers and musicians through the years she spent at SG from 2002 to 2011.

“During her final year on the Hilltop, the breath of offerings and the level of participation had created a veritable Golden Age of music at St. George’s,” Head of School Eric Peterson remarked during his Prize Day remarks in May. Peterson said, “In demanding respect for the arts and in

encouraging students to take a risk and try something new, with her uncompromising musical taste, high standards and strong sense of how things ought to be done, she created unforgettable memories for all of us.”

Indeed, Gesualdo had a way of making us all sit up and take note of the brilliant power of sound. It was her idea to add the jolting blast of shotguns out the chapel door during the “1812 Overture,” and to include a majestic performance of “Te Deum” on Prize Day. And her own musical talents, intellect—and humor—never failed to impress. She staged an extraordinary solo organ concert in the Chapel two years ago and presided over our pre-Christmas Festival community singing warm-ups every year with panache.

Gesualdo, or “Doc G,” as she was affectionately called by students, decided to retire at the end of her sabbatical in the spring.

During her time at St. George’s “she earned the respect and affection of countless students whose world was broadened and enriched because of her indelible influence as a teacher, choir director, mentor, advisor and friend,” Peterson said.

A pilot, motorcyclist, sailor and now vice commodore of the Edgartown (Mass.) Yacht club, Doc G, we’re thinking, isn’t likely to be bored anytime soon.

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Faculty/Staff notes

Research reservoir Science, French teachers find innovative ways to incorporate library skills into the curriculum

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Attendees of the New England Association of Independent School Librarians Conference gather on the steps of the newly renovated Hill Library this spring.

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uring the New England Association of Independent School Librarians Conference held on campus in April, attendees were treated to a special slate of presentations along with a V.I.P. tour of our new state-of-the-art library facilities.

One presentation was a particular highlight: Our own Head of the French Department Allison de Horsey and science teacher Heath Capell o both told of collaborative projects with the library over the last year they designed with the help of former Director of Library Services and Archives Jen Tuleja.

The three reprised their presentations for the inschool community on Thursday, May 10, in the Davenport Room at the library.

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De Horsey used the services and materials in the Hill Library to help her AP French students better understand the context and intentions of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s famed 1943 novella “Le Petit Prince.”

De Saint-Exupéry, an accomplished aviator and an author and poet who wrote from 1926 until his death in 1944, won a number of France’s highest literary awards in addition to the U.S. National Book Award.

But since “Le Petit Prince” is described as a story with philosophical and societal overtones, a commentary on the adult world in the 1940s engaged in war and upheaval, de Horsey thought students would gain a deeper understanding of the work by researching the author. She worked with Tuleja to guide them in

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accessing historical databases and other library sources in order to paint a picture of de SaintExupéry by way of primary materials and contemporary inferences. These included obscure French literary journals as well as New York Times commentary pieces, and anything else that might draw the historical connection to the author and show what he was thinking—and what others in his time thought of him—as he wrote “Le Petit Prince.”

“Allison’s was a very effective mini-project taking less than a week, while Heath’s was a major project woven into his class throughout the year,” according to Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs Pat Moss.

Capello used the library to help his AP Environmental students studying marine biology learn about how professional scientists write research papers in preparation for their own papers at the end of the term. He and Tuleja designed an exercise that consisted of developing sources in the library, extracting data to support compelling source summaries, and assembling term papers at the end from the resulting collection of formal notes. Key to the process was the ability to navigate online databases—to master the art of data mining. Students were taught how to turn journal and source material into one-page summaries, and Capello required that they include 10 such source summaries in the development of their final presentations. Those 10 source summaries helped them create the term papers themselves. “[This was] an excellent example of ‘writing across the curriculum’ with its sustained emphasis on teaching what ‘good writing’ in science looks like, and how to assess the relative value of primary sources in the research process,” Moss said.

These days teachers will be looking to new Director of Library Services and Archives Holly Nagib to help integrate library research into their curricula. Tuleja left her post to take over the directorship

of the Redwood Library and Atheneum in Newport. Nagib has been assistant director of library services.

St. George’s will welcome four new faculty members to its ranks this fall. Jus ti n Cere nzi a ’01 returns to the Hilltop to teach history and coach the boys’ varsity hockey team. He has been an instructor of U.S. History and AP Government and a hockey coach at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pa. Al ex Ho er ma n joins the faculty as a math teacher and coach. He was a standout track and field athlete at Williams and has been teaching and coaching at Avon Old Farms since 2009. Jef f D wye r will join the Admission staff. A former professional hockey player drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 NHL draft by the Atlanta Trashers, he is a graduate of Choate and Yale. And Je f f N ade au becomes our new head athletic trainer. A 2001 graduate of Plymouth State College, Nadeau was most recently the Head Athletic Trainer at Holderness School in Plymouth, N.H. Assistant Athletic Director Wen dy Dr ysdal e is taking a sabbatical year.

An essay by Chairman of the English Department Al ex M ye r s was accepted by the Rhode Island National Public Radio affiliate WRNI to run on the station’s popular “This I Believe” segment this summer. The essay is based on a chapel talk about his own coming of age that Myers gave this spring.

Former Director of Library Services and Archives Jen Tul e ja makes a presentation in the Davenport Room of the Hill Library on working with classroom teachers to help students conduct research for new projects.

Holly Nagib

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A number of teachers took part in this year’s summer workshop hosted by the Merck-Horton Center for Teaching and Learning. The workshop took place June 11 and 12 in the Campus Center Great Room. Tom Cal la han, director of the Merck Horton Center, said the work-

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Chris Phi llips has been hired as the assistant network manager, reporting to network manager Car l et on He nni o n ’94.

Chris expects to receive his B.S. Degree in Information Systems Management from Salve Regina University this summer. He has been working as a PC Specialist Assistant at Salve, and in Network Operations for Ocean State Higher Education & Administrative Networking. Prior to that, he was a Service Desk Technician for the Global Research Network Operation Center at Indiana University.

New Director of Admission Rya n M ul he rn ’91 (right) shares a moment with recent graduate He nr y Yo un g ’12 on Prize Day.

Sweat equity: Dorm parent and coach Aly Mulhern, Director of Operations George Staples, Aquatics Director Keri Cunningham, and Head of School Eric Peterson took part in a grueling 10-mile

trail run/obstacle course to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, a group that offers a variety of support programs for veterans injured in the line of duty.

Designed by British Special Forces, the event, called the Tough Mudder, featured a more-than-challenging array of military-style challenges to test stamina and endurance. It was held at Mount Snow, Vt., May 5 and 6. A Dress Down Day was held this spring to help the participants raise money for the cause.

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At the Association for Asian Studies annual conference in Toronto, March 1518, English teacher P atri ci a Lo throp was an invited speaker for the roundtable “Conquering the World: Asia in World History and Other ‘World’ Courses.” Four university professors and a public high school teacher were co-presenters.

Lothrop spoke about the world literature courses she teaches at St. George’s, the dearth of similar courses elsewhere, and some problems and solutions in teaching such works.

shop was designed “to bridge the gap between educational research and classroom practice.” This year, several faculty members met regularly with SG’s partners from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to design and implement a study based on the question, “What is the effect of formative assessment on student achievement, engagement and metacognition?” That data was analyzed and a scholarly paper on that project was a foundation of the summer workshop.

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English teacher and Associate Director of College Counseling Kel ly R icha rds was one of just six recipients of the New England Association for College Admission Counseling’s Professional of the Year Award in May. According to NEACAC, “Award recipients are strong and ethical advocates for students and/or their institutions and have a proven record of accomplishment throughout their careers. They demonstrate honesty, patience, thoroughness and sensitivity in their work with students, parents and colleagues. They are mentors, leaders and consummate professionals.” Director of College Counseling Burke Roge r s ’81 was the winner of the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools’ Second Annual Marty Elkins Award for Excellence in Independent School College Counseling in September 2011.

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Faculty/Staff notes

When St. George’s Head of School E ri c P et er s on (left) handed out employee service awards in June, English teacher Je f f Si m pso n P’14 (right) took the top honors for the faculty. An instructor with a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Brown, Simpson has been teaching some of our most talented English students on the Hilltop since 1982.

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Nash letter thanks teacher long after Prize Day

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GILBERT Y. TAVERNER ARCHIVES

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Day in May, St. George’s Archivist Va le rie Si mpson P’14 pulled this letter (right) from the Gilbert Y. Taverner Archives. It was sent by the renowned poet Ogden Nash ’20 to his St. George’s English teacher, Mr. Ar thur S. Rober t s, 48 years after Nash graduated. Nash attended Harvard for a year, taught at SG, became an editor at Doubleday, and went on to become one of America’s most beloved, offbeat rhymesters. The photo above is from a Life magazine feature in 1968.

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PHOTO FROM L IFE MAGAZINE ,

1968

GILBERT Y. TAVERNER ARCHIVES

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Mr. Ar th ur S. Ro be r t s taught at St. George’s from 1903 to 1946.

Game changes Looking at photos in the Gilbert Y. Taverner Archives always gives us lots to think about and often a story idea or two—and a smile. One recent research project led Archivist Val e ri e Si mps on P’14 to this old picture of former members of the varsity basketball team. We love the SG logo design on the shirts—and the rolleddown socks.

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Clockwise from the top: Former Chair of the Art Department and celebrated Newport artist Richard Grosvenor P’69, ’70, ’75 was on campus this spring to paint a watercolor of the renovated Nathaniel P. Hill Library. The prints were used for employee recognition gifts at the end of the year. T he re sa Sa lu d ’13 catches a glimpse. Members of the 2011-12 student newspaper staff gather on Sixth Form Porch to honor outgoing Red & White Editor-in-Chief Jack B ar th ol e t ’12. Ted dy Car t er ’14 and Aubr ey Sa l m on ’14 spend time in the Communications Office working on the Red & White.

SUZANNE MCGRADY

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SUZANNE MCGRADY

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SUZANNE MCGRADY PHOTO BY

Clockwise from top:

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SUZANNE MCGRADY

M i c ha el Ki m ’12 is the lone taker of a math competition exam in the study hall.

So phi e D e nU yl ’13 finds a quiet study spot on the second floor of the Hill Library.

Al a na M c M aho n ’13 and T he re sa Sa l ud ’13 look on as Brice Berg ’12 practices one of his original tunes.

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Geronimo memory “We anchored in Menemsha Bay in Martha’s Vineyard on June 28 and went ashore. The beach we landed on stretched in every direction. There wasn’t a single person or house in sight. Wanting to make a fire, we walked the beach looking for any pieces of wood. We passed the football, walked the beach and roasted marshmallows. As it got dark we could no longer see the football, so we started messing around with the camera. I was able to take a group shot of our crew, then we motored back to Geronimo for the night.”

— Alex Medeiros ’14, Summer 2012

The 2012 summer crew of Geronimo— Ti m H owe ’14, N ic k Fl or es ’14, Ca mi l l a Fl or es ’15, Al e x M ede i ro s ’14, Em m a Re ed ’14 and Ha nna h M a c au l ay ’14— gets some shore time during their Northeast cruise in June/July.

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Geronimo notched two more multiple-week successful sails this year after the spring crew— K a t h e r i n e B a u e r ’14, Ca m e r o n C l u f f ’14, L i l y S a n f o r d ’14, P e t e r C a r r e l l a s ’14, K a t e l yn H u t c h i n s o n ’14 and A n d i e P l u m e r i ’13, joined the boat in Florida on April 1. The six spent several weeks in the Bahamas before sailing the boat back up to Newport. The summer crew— E m m a Re e d ’14, T i m H o w e ’14, A l e x M e d e i r o s ’14, H a n n a h M a c a u l ay ’14, N i c k F l o r e s ’14 and C a m i l l a Fl o r e s ’15—had an adventuresome few weeks in the Northeast waters of Long Island Sound, New York Harbor and Maryland.

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The Geronimo Sea Legs Program, newly established last summer by former captain D eborah Hayes and met with much success, headed into another vibrant schedule this summer. The program was designed to give incoming St. George’s students a chance to get to know a few other new students before school starts and to introduce them to the general Geronimo program, which offers three, seven-week sails during the school year. With 26 new students signed up for Sea Legs, the boat will sail for four weeklong trips in Southern New England between Massachusetts and Connecticut. The first trip started in mid-July and the last trip ends in mid-August.

Geronimo Journal: Andy Kim ’13, Winter 2012

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C APTAIN DEBORAH HAYES

Day No. 22. We reached Jamaica yesterday and it’s amazing. We anchored at about 0100 in the morning, and then moved to a marina at around 0800. The rest of the crew and I got a chance to explore the town in the afternoon. Today we went on a hike in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Our guide, Rufus, taught us about healing herbs, coffee farming in the mountains, and introduced us to fruit that I didn’t even know existed. Afterwards, Rufus took us to a great waterfall that we could climb, and then swim in the pool at the base of the waterfall. As the hike came to an end, we bought coconut/ginger cakes from a woman who made them in the mountains. It was sort of like a Rice Krispie treat, but with bits of coconut instead of Rice Krispies. They were delicious. After the food, we rafted across the river and headed back to the boat. There, we met with a volunteer from the Peace Corps. He was on his third year with the Peace Corps, and had a lot to say about the local economy and how he is trying to help it, particularly with lionfish. They are an invasive species, and are tampering with ecosystems across the Caribbean. He taught local fishermen to sell these fish instead of just throwing them away. This would help reef ecosystems, and provide a source of wealth for the fishermen. It’s great to learn about Jamaica. I especially liked learning about the plants and wildlife in the mountains, since a particular interest of mine is biology. I hope I can come back to Jamaica someday.

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C APTAIN DEBORAH HAYES

Geronimo Journal: Alana McCarthy ’13, Winter 2012

Top: The Spring 2012 Geronimo crew— Cam er o n Cl uf f ’14, Pe te r Ca rr el l as ’14, L il y S an fo rd ’14, Ka t he ri ne B aue r ’14, Ka t el yn Hut c hi nso n ’14 and An di e Pl u me ri ’13 (pictured here flanked by First Mate E ri c Ro m el c zyk and Second Mate J ul ia Tayl o r)—joined the boat in Florida on April 1.

Hiking in Jamaica has been my favorite day on the trip so far. Although the hike was long and hard, it was both interesting and beautiful. After hiking for hours, we were exhausted and extremely hot, so our guide took us to a waterfall. We climbed up the waterfall and enjoyed the view from the top.

We swam in the pool of the waterfall, which was very refreshing. We returned to Port Antonio and Captain Dawson and Ms. McDonald set up a contest at the food market. We were split into two teams and given the same amount of money and a list containing fruits and vegetables. Each team tried to barter and get everything on the list for a good price; however, no one was successful. Discouraged, we put our money together and purchased all the items on the list. This has been my favorite day on the trip because it was interesting, exciting, and I was able to spend time with my crewmates.

Bottom: Ca me ro n Clu f f ’15 takes measurements on a sea turtle.

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If you read the May 2 New York Times article, “‘The Scream’ Is Auctioned for a Record $119.9 Million,” you know the price of that Edvard Munch pastel wasn’t the only interesting thing about that Sotheby’s auction: The guy on the phone with the deep-pocketed winning bidder was none other than Charlie Mof fett ’63. Moffett, former director of the Phillips Collection and recognized by The New York Times as “one of the leading authorities on French Impressionism,” is now Sotheby’s executive vice president and vice chairman of its worldwide Impressionist, modern and contemporary art department.

Everyone on the Hilltop was rooting for Amanda Clark ’00 (below, right), who won a spot with her sailing partner, Yale alumna Sarah Lihan, on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team.

Clark, 30, who is from Shelter Island, N.Y., and Lihan, 23, were ranked seventh in the world heading into the London Games. The sailing competition was being held in Weymouth and Portland.

CBS “This Morning” host and Oprah gal-pal Gayle King has a certain affection for our own Jack Otter ’83.

After reading his most recent financial-advice book, “Worth It, Not Worth It,” King gushes, “Where have you been all my life, Jack Otter!” for his slate of celebrity reviews. Bestselling author David Back calls Otter “a great writer and fabulous editor” Jack Otter ’83 who has “written a wonderful, fun book that quickly answers your most pressing financial questions.” Check it out for advice on such issues as “Should I buy the best house on the worst block or the worst house on the best block?” or “Should I save for my retirement or my child’s college education?” Good practical stuff. Otter, who lives in Brooklyn and who used to be on staff at Newsday, Dow Jones and SmartMoney, is currently the executive editor of CBS MoneyWatch.com.

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Rhode Island Red Sox fans got to hear St. George’s mentioned in a featured ad sponsored by Constellation Energy, our new energy supplier, if they were listening to the game on the radio on June 5. The ad was called “The Most Powerful Moment” and recounted a special time at Fenway experienced by alum and now Admission Officer Adam Choice ’06. This was the script, read by one of our favorite Sox radio guys, Joe Castiglione: “It’s time for the most powerful moments at the ballpark, brought to you by Constellation. Adam Choice, from St. George’s School, a valued Constellation customer, recalls his parents surprising him with tickets to Opening Day for his 13th birthday in 2001. Not only did Adam get to skip school—he also got to see the Fenway debut of Manny Ramirez. … Manny belted the first pitch over the Green Monster, the crowd roared—and Adam knew the luck of the Sox was finally changing …”

Rad Romeyn ’65 has launched a new lifestyle website aimed at folks in their 50s, 60s and beyond “who are celebrating a productive and valued aging.” Check it out at www.MySilverPages.org. Romeyn says you’ll be introduced to the new term, “elderpreneur.”

If you don’t catch her articles in the New York Times, you can often find Kate Zernike ’81 appearing on a talk show to enlighten viewers about her recent reports.

Recently we caught her on “The Rachel Maddow Show”

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on MSNBC talking about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to cancel plans for a new train tunnel across the Hudson River.

Meanwhile Jim Dean ’72 appeared in late May on “The Ed Show” on MSNBC to talk about the Mitt Romney/ Donald Trump alignment. Dean is chairman of Democracy for America, which says it has one million members nationwide and calls itself “a grassroots powerhouse

A Newport Art Museum exhibit in May called “ReCollections/ReConnections” featured pairs of artists, including former teachers and students—two close to our SG heart: Richard Grosvenor, the J. Vaughan Merrick III Chair in Architecture, Art History, and Painting and Head of the Art Department, Emeritus and former student William “Wimby” Hoyt ’63.

Anne Wells ’89 founded the social organization Unite the World with Africa in 2010, and since then, she’s overseen a number of initiatives designed to help improve the lives of women there. Recently she wrote a social enterprise and philanthropy blog post for Africa.com entitled “Art from Masaai Women: Doing Business in the Bush” in which she recounts a trip to Tanzania to meet with the jewelry makers who provide the wares for her online artisan marketplace, The Ashé Collection.

Tarleton “Timon” Watkins ’11 and his University of St. Andrews all-male ensemble, “The Other Guys,” released another music video this spring called “St. Andrews Girls,” which benefits the British charitable organization Breast Cancer Care. The video follows the group’s 2011 hit “Royal Romance” that celebrated the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton, who met while they were both students at St. Andrews.

The U.S. Department of State teamed up with environmentalist and St. George’s alumnus Philippe Cousteau Jr. ’98 to design and operate the U.S.A. Pavilion for World Expo.

The expo opened May 12 and was scheduled to run through Aug. 12 in Yeosu, South Korea. “The 12,000-square-foot exhibition space houses exhibits and programming that represent the unique and diverse nature of America’s ocean environments and coastal communities,” according to Cousteau, who was appointed chief spokesperson for Pavilion.

Philippe, who was presented with the 2008 John B. Diman Award, SG’s highest alumni/ae honor, is the son of Jan and Philippe Cousteau Sr. and the grandson of Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He continues to help raise awareness of environmental issues through the Cousteau nonprofit organization EarthEcho International and his media posts at CNN International and the Discovery Channel, among other publicity and publishing projects.

Cousteau also served as the master of ceremonies for the Goldman Environmental Awards in San Francisco in April. The Goldman Prize honors grassroots environmental heroes from around the world “for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk.” Each winner receives an award of $150,000.

Todd Nims ’89 was busy on another film project this spring called “PUSH Tunisia.” The documentary, which follows a group of multinational skateboarders throughout Tunisia after the revolution, is being billed as an “artivism” project to promote peace. Nims and his colleagues on the project used the power of the much-hyped Kickstarter fundraising platform to garner enough funds to finish editing the film, produce promotional materials, schedule screenings in six cities and pay entry fees to film festivals. Check it out at www.pushtunisia.org.

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working to change our country and the Democratic Party from the bottom-up.”

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Kem i R i ch ar dso n ’13 (far left) and Jes s Ho m ’13 (far right) were the lead student organizers of the 2012 Middletown Pan-Mass Challenge Kids Ride to raise money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund. Here they pose with some of the leading young fundraisers from this year’s event, held at Second Beach.

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Special thanks go to G ra ha m Cochr a ne ’11, who returned to the Hilltop this summer and stepped in to run the ninth annual Camp Ramleh Benefit Yard Sale, which took place at the Cabot/Harman Ice Center on June 16.

The giant yard sale, stocked with students’ former housewares, school supplies, sporting goods, furniture, clothing and electronics, this year raised $4,656.20 for Ramleh, our summer camp run by student volunteers for underprivileged children from Aquidneck Island, as well as local agencies including Lucy’s Hearth, the Potter League, Martin Luther King Center, Child & Family Services, Women’s Resource Center, RIDEP and the McKinney Shelter.

Ke mi R i c har ds on ’13 and Je ss Ho m ’13 organized

a local bike-a-thon, the 2012 Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Kids Ride, in honor of Kemi’s mom,

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Serina, a breast cancer survivor. The bike ride (inaugarated by Cha d La rco m ’11 in 2009) for children 2-15 took place Sunday, May 20, and was a huge success, helping to raise thousands for the Jimmy Fund at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The Middletown ride was one of 35 taking place throughout New England this year. Following the ride, there were raffles, face painting and refreshments. Richardson and Hom also came up with a new way for ride participants to honor their friends and family affected by cancer by offering color-coded ribbons that represented various types of cancer. Riders wrote the name of their loved one on the ribbon and wore them throughout the bike-a-thon.

The St. George’s community raised $1,273 for the Nesby family of Middletown, R.I., who lost their son, 9-year-old Evan, after a year-long battle with a rare brain disorder called Moyamoya. The family set

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up a Memorial fund on his behalf. Assistant Head of School for Student Life K at i e Ti t us and Associate Director of College Counseling Stu ar t Ti t us, whose daughter, Natalie, attended school with Evan, organized the effort.

The kindest cut: on April 30, Al i G hri s key ’13, N o ra h H o ga n 14, H an na h M ac a ul ay ’14, Ca mi l l a Cab ot ’14, Al a na M c M ah on ’13, Assistant Chaplain Ver on ica T i er ney and, K a ti e D es ro si e r s ’12 each had eight inches cut off their hair for Pantene Beautiful Lengths, a partnership with the American Cancer Society that provides real-hair wigs to women with cancer.

The sweet syrup was sold as “Hilltop Honey” in the bookstore for $10 a pound, and some of the proceeds went to Camp Ramleh. Bulletin tastetesters report it was delicious.

Also on St. George’s Day (April 23) of Service, Anna Mi llar ’13 and her service council colleagues

The bees were busy—and so were the kids. This spring, a number of students, including N i ck L ar so n ’13, V i vi a nn e Re yno s o ’13 and Li s be i l y M e n a ’13, worked with Head of the Art Department and bee lover M i ke H a ns el ’76 to help harvest dozens of pounds of honey from the six hives of the SG Apiary.

helped raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of Mer yl St aley ’06, who died of acute myelogenous leukemia on April 27, 2005, during her junior year. Millar said the day was planned “because St. George’s meant so much

Above: Al an a M c M ah on ’13 and Al i G hr i skey ’13 are the first to get their hair cut for the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program. Inset: Al i Gh ri ske y ’13, No ra h H oga n ’14, Ha nna h M a c au la y ’14, Ca mi l l a Ca bo t ’14, Al an a M cM a ho n ’13, Assistant Chaplain Ver o nic a T i er ney, and K at i e De sr os i er s ’12 show off their grown-out locks before their community-minded haircuts.

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to [Meryl] and she is missed.” Roses and carnations in a variety of colors were sold in King Hall at dinner.

Bi l ly Re ed ’15 and Er i n Ke a ti ng ’15 help prepare a meal at the McKinney Shelter in downtown Newport as part of SG’s annual Day of Service held this year in April.

Props to our students who take the time beyond their school commitments to work off campus to have a positive influence on the greater community. Take E mil y Lewi s ’12, for example.

Lewis has been part of the Aquidneck Island branch of the International Youth-toYouth organization for the last three years. A community-based drug prevention and youth leadership program, Y2Y organizes all sorts of activities for peer-pressured middle- and high-schoolers. On May 6 the group staged “Butt-Out,” a cigarette-butt cleanup project to call attention to litter and the dangers of smoking. Lewis was front and center. Here’s to a healthier and cleaner Newport!

This year, SG’s annual Day of Service—a day focused on helping and learning about others—was held April 23, St. George’s Day. A morning chapel service featured talks by SG faculty members Al e x M yer s, head of the English Department, and L uc y

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Go l dst e in, fourth-form dean and head of the Community Service Council. Later, members of the fourth and sixth forms participated in diversity workshops , and members of the third and fifth forms took part in community service projects— including planting vegetables at the Jamestown Community Farm and preparing a meal at the McKinney Shelter in downtown Newport.

Ca rol i ne Ye rkes ’14 and fellow members of the SG Community Service Council this year once again hosted an Oxfam Hunger Banquet, meant to spread awareness about the inequalities of global food conditions and the problem of widespread global hunger.

Students picked a random ticket in King Hall on April 12 to determine their meal: 15 percent (high income) of attendees were served a sumptuous meal, 35 percent (middle income) served themselves small portions of rice and beans and water, and 50 percent (low income) served themselves a small portion of rice and water. Students were also asked to refrain from snacking that night.

Among the many Dress-Down Days held this spring was one organized by N or ah Ho ga n ’14, on May 11 to benefit Maiti Nepal, an organization founded to help prevent human trafficking and rehabilitate young girls and women in Nepal who were victims of human trafficking.

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SG’s Got an App! St. George’s Alumni/ae Mobile G e t i t a t G o o g l e P l ay f o r A n d r o i d o r t h e i Tu n e s S t o r e f o r A p p l e

• Find other alums wherever you go with our mapping feature

• Upload photos and notes to share with others in the SG family on our Facebook page (www.facebook/stgeorgesschool) and/or magazine

• Update your profile anytime/anywhere

St. George’s on YouTube: SGDragon372 If you haven’t subscribed to our YouTube channel, you’re missing out. Here are just a few of the videos we posted this spring: • Ch ar l ot t e D u la y ’14 singing “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” by Thomas A. Dorsey at the Day of Service Chapel; • Members of St. George’s step dance troupe, Steppin’ It Up, led by Anne t t a O’ Le ru ’12 and D i er ra Jo y “ DJ ” Wi l so n ’12, performing in Assembly in preparation for the AISNE Students of Color Conference; • The full Music Guild concert from Friday, April 13; • The Brass Ensemble performing “When the Saints Go Marching In” in the Chapel; • B ri ce Be rg ’12 performing original songs in the Chapel; • E m i ly De r eck to r ’12 and Gr ace Al za i ba k ’12 performing their musical special project; and • The finale—“A Little Help From My Friends”—of the end-of-the-year a cappella concert.

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Trustee Bi l l D e an ’73, P’06, Ji m D ea n ’72, P’11 and Cha rl i e Wa ts on ’50

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Longtime trustee Cha rl e s G . Wat so n ’50 and veteran class agent I. Wi ll i a m “B i ll ” J ackso n ’57 were this year’s recipients of the Howard B. Dean Service Award, awarded annually by the Board of Trustees to recognize members of the St. George’ School community whose service to the school has been exceptional.

B il l D e a n ’73, P’09 and J im D e a n ’72, P’11 helped Head of School Eric Peterson present the awards, named in memory of their late father, in Madeira Hall on May 19.

Watson was a trustee from 1972-1978 and 1997-2011 and was elected an honorary trustee in 2011. An Ogden Nash Society member, he chaired the Trustee Awards Committee and served on the Development, Finance, Investment, and Operations committees. A dedicated and active member of the school community, he also served on the Leadership Gifts Committee, Annual Giving Committee and Centennial Committee. He and his wife, Nancy, have hosted many admission receptions at their home in New Canaan, Conn.

Jackson, of Georgetown, Texas, has been a St. George’s class agent since 1982, one of the longest serving in the community, marking his 30-year anniversary in 2011-12. A devoted volunteer, he’s assisted the Alumni Office through 17 Dragon Weeks fundraising sessions. As a loyal donor himself, he has been extremely supportive of SG and is a frequent attendee of St. George’s events.

The Dean Award was established in 2001.

Howard B. Dean Jr. P’66, ’68,’71,’73 served on the St. George’s Board of Trustees from 19761985. He was president from 1980-1984 and chairman from 1984-85.

MEREDITH BROWER

VOLUNTEERS HONORED WI T H D E A N AWA R DS

Board Chair Ski p Br a ni n ’65, P’06, B i ll Jack so n ’57, and Bi l l D ea n ’73, P’09.

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SHARING THE MEMORIES

MEREDITH BROWER PHOTO BY

THURSTON PHOTO BY L ESLEY

HAMILTON

Clockwise from left: Do ug Love l l ’82 aboard Geronimo; K i tt y M el l o n Jo ne s ’82, former head of Instructional Services Be th Ho r to n and Sh el l ey Wycko f Cl em en t ’82; Bev Corbin, E l e na T hor nt on K is se l ’77 and Chief Advancement Officer P a ul H ig gi ns; former members of the varsity girls lacrosse team join the spring 2012 team for an alumnae game on Sun., May 20; E li z a Ba ker ’03 at Saturday’s picnic.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF

DOUGLAS LOVELL ’82

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Board of Trustees welcomes Virkler ’92 Danforth, Fornell, Strawbridge retire A Class of 1992 graduate with expertise in the biopharmaceutical industry will join the St. George’s Board of Trustees, while three longtime members of the board will retire this year.

At their June meeting, board members unanimously voted to appoint D r ayto n Vi r kl e r ’92 to a trustee post.

Since October 2011, Virkler has been senior strategic operations director at Quintiles, a biopharmaceutical services company offering clinical, commercial, consulting and capital solutions worldwide.

Prior to his arrival at Quintiles, he spent three years at Talecris Biotherapeutics, headquartered in North Carolina, as senior director of investor relations and Drayton Virkler ’92 director of U.S. product management, and five years at GlaxoSmithKline as senior product manager and product director.

Fluent in Spanish, Virkler began his career as director of Mexican operations and a research and development chemist at The Virkler Company, his family’s specialty chemical manufacturing firm.

Virkler received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry magna cum laude from Washington and Lee University in 1997 and his MBA in business with a focus on marketing from Duke University, the Fuqua School of Business in 2003. He was a Fuqua Scholar and is a current member of their board of visitors.

Virkler and his wife, Laura, live in Hillsborough, N.C. They have three children: Ella, 10, Sumner, 8, and Henry, 5.

St u D a nfo r th ’84, E ri c Fo rn el l P’08, ’12, and N o rri s Str awbr i dge ’64 retired from the board this year.

A class agent since 1997, Danforth joined the board in 2003 and served on the Committee on Trustees, Education, Finance, Awards, Strategic Plan Executive and Development committees.

He was Annual Giving Chairman from 2003 to 2006 and then Chairman of the Development Committee from 2006 to 2011.

In 1999, Danforth received the Philip Murray Reynolds Volunteer of the Year Award. “Stu has been the Development team’s No. 1 cheerleader,” said Associate Chief Advancement Officer Ci ndy M ar ti n. “As the Annual Fund Chair, and later the Development Committee Chair, he always went out of his way to publicly highlight the efforts of the staff.”

Fornell joined the Board in 2009 and served on the Finance,

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Investment, and Operations committees.

A leadership Annual Fund donor and loyal member of the Friends of the Chapel, Fornell served on the Leadership Gifts Committee and “played a high impact position on the Finance Committee and indeed on the Board,” according to fellow trustee B o b D uc o mm un ’69. “He was always very thoughtful in his comments and supportive of the school, yet never reluctant to challenge conventional wisdom with his own special twist and, in turn, push the team’s thinking to a higher level,” Ducommun said. He called Fornell “a guy on the front lines of business with the perspective of a seasoned economist.” When the school put together the 2006 Strategic Plan, Fornell offered a ‘real world’ perspective that was critical, Ducommun said. “He helped us gear the assumptions embedded in the [plan] to reasonable expectations for the economy’s vital signs. He contributed in a very important way to the plan’s quality and, we hope, to its achievability as well.”

Fornell is the father of Oliver ’12, Alison ’08, and Peter. He and his wife, Stacy, have served on the Parents Committee since 2004 and hosted several admission receptions for the school at their home in Locust Valley, N.Y. A class agent since 1997 and head of his 45th reunion committee, Strawbridge joined the board in 2006 and has chaired the Operations Committee since 2007.

Along with his company Sasaki Associates, Strawbridge was the principal architect for the Drury/Grosvenor Center for the Arts in 1998. He was also a leadership donor and participant in the Madeira Hall match challenge to help complete funding for the project.

In the fall of 2007, St. George’s School retained Sasaki Associates Inc. to work with the school’s Master Planning Committee to prepare the campus master plan, which was approved by the board in October 2009.

In 2009, Strawbridge arranged for the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Boston Globe, Robert Campbell to visit the SG campus and to provide his personal impressions and thoughts on the architecture and physical planning at St. George’s.

“The school has greatly benefited from Norris’ passion for improving the sense of community and quality of life on campus,” said Development Officer Bi l l D ou gl as. “Norris always saw things with the big picture in mind, both from building design and functionality to the important and necessary details associated with our fundraising efforts.”

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Annual Fund surpasses goal Thank you to all the proud members of the St. George’s community who supported us by giving to the Annual Fund this year. Because of our many generous donors, the school raised $2,254,444, surpassing our $2,250,000 goal.

Chief Development Officer Paul Higgins, Associate Chief Development Officer Cindy Mar tin, Annual Fund Director Lesley Thurston, Leadership Annual Giving Development Officer Krista Sturtevant, Devel-

opment Officers Bill Douglas, Natalia do Couto, and Linda Michalek, along with the rest of the development team wish to send sincere gratitude for everything you did this year to help us provide an amazing educational experience to our many talented students.

Special thanks also go to Chair of the Board of Trustees’ Development Committee Chris Elia ’92 and Annual Fund Chair Laura de Ramel ’90 for their leadership this year.

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View our online video “Thank you!” to Annual Fund donors at https://www.stgeorges.edu/ annual_fund_thank_you

A huge thank you goes to Be l in da Sca nl o n P’12, mom of E mm a Sca nl on ’12 (above) for spearheading the SG Pillow Project. Parents and alums purchased 64 high-end pillows and raised $1,200 to contribute to the Senior Class Gift Fund.

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Get your next gift from the SG Bookstore!

Brushed Silver Picture Frames $24 9x7 frame holds a 4x6 photo.

Vertical and horizontal available.

Starfire Rect angle Crystal Paper weight $35 Crystal Gift Box $25 24 percent full lead crystal.

Youth Crew Sweatshirt $15 S, M, L, XL Youth Hooded Sweatshir t $28 S, M, L, XL Full Zip Sweatshirt Youth Sizes S, M, L, XL $26 Toddler Sizes 2T, 3T, 4T $19

C all th e bo ok s tore a t 1- 401-84 2-6662 fo r t h es e it em s and m ore, or v isit our o nlin e s tore a t www. st ge orge s .e du .

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St . G e o r g e ’ s S c h o o l M i s s i o n St a t e m e n t In 1896, the Rev. John Byron Diman, founder of St. George’s School, wrote in his “Purposes of the School” that “the specific objectives of St. George’s are to give its students the opportunity of developing to the fullest extent possible the particular gifts that are theirs and to encourage in them the desire to do so. Their immediate job after leaving school is to handle successfully the demands of college; later it is hoped that their lives will be ones of constructive service to the world and to God.” In the 21st century, we continue to teach young women and men the value of learning and achievement, service to others, and respect for the individual. We believe that these goals can best be accomplished by exposing students to a wide range of ideas and choices in the context of a rigorous curriculum and a supportive residential community.

Therefore, we welcome students and teachers of various talents and backgrounds, and we encourage their dedication to a multiplicity of pursuits —intellectual, spiritual, and physical—that will enable them to succeed in and contribute to a complex, changing world.

Upcoming Events 2 0 12 Convocation Chapel

Tues., Sept. 4, 5:45 p.m.

Classes begin

Wed., Sept. 5, 8:30 a.m.

Parents Weekend

Fri., Oct. 19-Sat., Oct. 20 Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Banquet

Fri., Nov. 9, 5:45 p.m.

Presentation of the Diman Award to Capt. Peter W. Soverel ’59

Sun., Nov. 11, 5:45 p.m.

Lessons and Carols

Fri., Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m.

Christmas Festival

Tues., Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m.

St . G e o r g e ’ s Po l i c y o n Non- Disc rimi nati on

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You’re invited: Regional Events Alumni/ae networking event in Boston, Mass.

Location and time to be determined

Wed., Sept. 12, 2012

Reception in Newport, R.I. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Grace GP ’13, ’15

Fri., Sept. 14, 2012

Reception in Potterville, N.J. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Merton ’85

Tues., Sept. 18, 2012

Fifth-Form Parents Weekend

Fri., May 17-Sun., May 19

Reception in Hamilton, Bermuda Fairmont Hamilton Princess

Prize Day

Thurs., Nov. 15, 2012

Thurs., Sept. 27, 2012 St. George’s School admits male and female students of any religion, race, color, sexual orientation, and national or ethnic origin to all the programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race, color, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs. In addition, the school welcomes visits from disabled applicants.

Fri., Feb. 15-Sat. Feb. 16 Reunion Weekend

Mon., May 27

For information on additional events, visit the St. George’s School Facebook page, our web site www.stgeorges.edu or contact events coordinator Ann Weston at Ann_Weston@stgeorges.edu or 401.842.6731.

Boston-area Young Alumni/ae Gathering (Classes 1997-2012) Eastern Standard Kitchen

Wed., Nov. 7, 2012

Reception in New York, N.Y. New York Yacht Club

Washington, D.C.-area Young Alumni/ae Gathering (Classes 1997-2012) Location to be determined

Wed., Nov. 28, 2012

St. George’s School P.O. Box 1910 Newport, RI 02840-0190

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID St. George’s School

S T. G E OR G E ’S 2012

summer Bulletin

St. George’s School 2012 summer Bulletin

In this issue: Beneath the surface: A profile of Varsity Swim Coach Tom Evans BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY The evolution of Emmy Derecktor ’12

BY SUZANNE

L. MCGRADY

Special characters: The Chinese Program at St. George’s BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY Chapel talks: Feet on the ground, eyes on the prize BY CHARLES MACAULAY ’12 One thing leads to another BY TRISHA-JOY JACKSON ’12 Cherishing the moments BY PARKER LITTLE ’12 Nailing the landing BY CAROLINE ALEXANDER ’12 Hard to say goodbye BY KENDRA BOWERS ’12

Prize Day 2012 Post Hilltop: Alumni/ae in the news

Inside:

Class Notes

A veteran swim coach shares his story • A recent graduate leaves a legacy

Left: Jack Coaty ’13 lines up a putt in a varsity golf match against Portsmouth Abbey on May 12, 2012.

PHOTO BY L OUIS WALKER