Bulletin Winter 2008

In this issue:

S T. G E OR G E ’S

Chapel talks:

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

Presorted Bound Printed Matter U.S. Postage PAID Burlington, VT Permit No. 21

2008 Winter Bulletin

Signature altar window in chapel to be replaced Students, teachers prepare for trip to Uganda Q & A with the Director of Operations New summer Geronimo program offered Strategic Plan Update Reunion Weekend 2008 Student achievements News from the classrooms Athletics, Arts and Community Service Class Notes

2008 St. George’s School

The real magic of Christmas BY ALEXANDRIA REGAN ’08 Forgiveness BY MORGAN BEESON ’08 Thankfulness BY JEREMY GOLDSTEIN Transported BY LUCIA JACCACI People of the world BY LEON KANDELAARS

Winter Bulletin

St. George’s School Mission Statement 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.” As we begin 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.

St. George’s Policy on Non-Discrimination 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.

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

The choir enters the chapel at the start of the Christmas Festival.

PHOTO BY A NDREA H ANSEN

On the cover: Ellie Myers ’08, Will O’Connor ’08 and Sasha Munn ’08 celebrate at the Christmas Festival in December.

PHOTO BY A NDREA H ANSEN

On the back cover: Esi Ozemebhoya ’11 and Hillary Wein ’11 share some time during Parents Weekend.

PHOTO BY A NDREA H ANSEN

ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL P.O. BOX 1910 NEWPORT, RI 02840-0190 Office of the Bulletin Editor tel: (401) 842-6792 fax: (401) 842-6745 e-mail: suzanne_hadfield@stgeorges.edu Main School Tel: (401) 847-7565

Contents From the Editor’s Desk ........................................................................................................................................2 Letter to the Editor: Behrend Pool memories ................................................................................................3 Behind it, the sun rises: Altar window gets a redesign BY SUZANNE M. HADFIELD ..................................4 Caring for the campus: An interview with Director of Operations George Staples ............................6 The real magic of Christmas BY ALEXANDRIA REGAN ’08................................................................................12 Forgiveness BY MORGAN BEESON ’08 ..................................................................................................................15 Thankfulness BY JEREMY GOLDSTEIN ....................................................................................................................18 Community Service: Reaching out to others ..............................................................................................21 A chance to reflect and refocus BY C. JOSEPH GOULD ..................................................................................22 Transported BY LUCIA JACCACI ............................................................................................................................26 People of the world BY LEON KANDELAARS ........................................................................................................28 Faculty members will again head to the East ............................................................................................31 Students, teachers prepare for trip to Uganda ..........................................................................................32 There in spirit BY L AUREN O’HALLORAN ’10 ......................................................................................................34 New summer program offered on Geronimo ..............................................................................................36 Highlights: Student achievements ................................................................................................................38 College Acceptances ........................................................................................................................................40 Classrooms ..........................................................................................................................................................42 Arts ........................................................................................................................................................................48 Athletics................................................................................................................................................................50 Giving back: News from the Alumni/ae office ..........................................................................................55 Board of Trustees Notes ..................................................................................................................................56 Reunion Weekend 2008 ..................................................................................................................................58 Post Hilltop: Alumni/ae in the news............................................................................................................60 Faculty/staff notes ..........................................................................................................................................64 Campus happenings ..........................................................................................................................................66 Traditions..............................................................................................................................................................68 Around campus ..................................................................................................................................................74 Class Notes ..........................................................................................................................................................77

Main School Fax: (401) 842-6677 Toll free: 1.888.ICALLSG Alumni/ae web site: http://www.stgeorges.edu

The St. George’s Bulletin is published bi-annually. Suzanne M. Hadfield, editor; Dianne Reed, communications associate; Toni Ciany, editorial assistant; and members of the Alumni/ae Office, copy editors.

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St. George’s From the editor’s desk A

compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb, a plane ticket to Uganda, the new Honor Code, a sketch of the chapel’s new altar window: If SG were to compile a list of items for a time capsule, these might make the cut. They say something about the times we’re living in; they show that we’re able to grow and change—and yet still adhere closely to our mission.

As this edition of the Bulletin goes to press, we’re in the full throes of a multischool competition called the Green Cup Challenge, trying to reduce our energy usage and win the title of most energy conscious among 32 peer schools. Meanwhile, 10 students in Tony Jaccaci’s Global Seminar class and four teachers are preparing to leave school on March 4 for a 12-day trip to Uganda, the first such school-sponsored trip for the school—and the direct result of the “Global Engagement” initiatives outlined in the 2006 Strategic Plan.

Another goal of that plan was an expanded teacher-exchange program and increased opportunities for professional development. We’re continuing our exchange with the Chinese InMy son, 15-month-old Connor E.J., ternational School in Hong Kong (“Transand I at my parents’ house in ported,” p. 26 and “People of the world,” p. 28), Stonington, Conn. as well as sending another seven teachers to Korea, China and possibly Japan this June.

Like campuses nationwide, we’re thinking more globally and more about being green. We’re also doing our fair share of self-examination, not settling for the status quo.

A revamped Honor Code, signed by every member of the community last fall, reminds us that it’s not enough to stand by quietly while injustices take place. “St. George’s School expects all members of the community to act honorably, to encourage others to act honorably, and to address any violations of the code they might encounter,” the code states.

Indeed, our students are thinking more about the

impact of their actions on the world beyond their homes and about the people unlike themselves who touch their lives (“The real magic of Christmas,” p.

12; “Landon family spends the holidays volunteering in Africa,” p. 33). They’re also committed strongly to helping others and recognizing good works (“Community Service,” p. 21.)

This past year, we’ve examined long-standing programs (“New summer program offered on Geronimo,” p. 36) and taken care to not forget our past, which needs, in turn, to be cared for. For years the signature window in the chapel has remain untouched, but weather and time have taken their toll. It’s time for a renovation (“Behind it, the sun rises,” p. 4). And as Director of Operations George Staples reminds us, our campus only stays beautiful with careful planning and attention (“Caring for the campus, p. 6). In fact even something as unglamorous as deferred maintenance, the “budget deficit” of independent school finance offices, is part of the strategic plan.

When community members met to draft that plan in the fall of 2006, they also committed to keeping track of our progress on it. Each of the seven strategic elements of the plan—Advances in Science and Technology; Community, Responsibility and Leadership; Culture of Innovation; Diversity Gender and Equity; Global Engagement; Professional Excellence; and Sustainability and Stewardship—contains action items that the community has agreed to accomplish.

We’ve already made headway on a number of them. In this Bulletin, as well as in future publications, we’ll graphically illustrate our progress on these items by publishing the appropriate strategic plan icon with news stories that pertain to them.

These seven strategic elements have been identified as most important to our students’ and the school’s success in the next five to 10 years.

At St. George’s, a spirit of innovation and determination prevails. We hope you find our latest initiatives aren’t just about words, but actions.

Suzanne M. Hadfield Bulletin Editor 2

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Alum recalls spotting a celebrity at the old Behrend Pool EDITOR:

Have you recently moved?

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Since I was Class of 1959, I’d guess the year was winter of 1957 or 1958.

I was in the gallery watching a swim meet and, because of all the older people crowded into the tiny balcony, it must have been Parents Weekend.

Whether we all knew she was coming, or I learned it from eavesdropping, I became aware that the elegant, old, fading woman, shrouded in a black dress to her ankles and wearing a wide-brimmed hat, with whom Mr. C.P.B. Jefferies and his wife were conversing was Tallulah Bankhead, the movie actress from my parents’ generation. Her nephew, Billy Bankhead—who was in the class of 1960 or 1961—was on the swim team; maybe he was a diver.

I pressed in closer to hear the conversation.

Tallulah Bankhead was not only the most famous person I could imagine, but she was a Southerner—from Alabama—and I was from North Carolina, and Southerners were a rarity at SG in those days. (In the Lance for our year you will see a photo of me standing at the podium in the Study Hall giving a talk to the school on Lincoln’s birthday which, the inscription says, was titled, “Abraham Lincoln, Friend of the South.”)

The pool was much warmer than the frigid outside temperature, and the heat rose making the gallery warmer and steamier yet. As I sidled

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Film and Broadway actress Tallulah Bankhead once appeared in the crowd watching a swim meet at the old Behrend Pool.

up next to Ms. Bankhead I caught a whiff of her heavy perfume.

So had Mrs. Jefferies.

“Ms. Bankhead,” she exuded, “I love that scent you’re wearing.”

Ms. Bankhead smiled and considered the awed faculty wife for a moment. Then, “Thank you, Dahling.

Every morning after I bathe and before I dress, I put a dab on every pulse point on my body.”

As I remember, Mrs. Jefferies was too stunned to respond.

—Blayney Colmore ’59

Due to the high cost of postage, Bulletins cannot be forwarded, so please let us know your new address. Give us a call toll-free at 1-888-422-5574 or log in to the SG web site and update your profile. If you need help logging in to the web site, click “Login help” in the sign-in box and enter your e-mail address under “Request Sign-In.” Thanks for helping us make our communications more efficient—and for helping us save some paper!

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Behind it, the sun rises

PHOTO BY KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY

THE CHAPEL’S OLDEST STAINED-GLASS WINDOW IS SCHEDULED FOR A NEW LOOK]

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SUZANNE HADFIELD

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images of Abraham and Sarah, Ester and Ruth, Moses and Elijah, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Anna and Simeon, and Martha, Mary and St. Paul on the panes above.

A trustee has agreed to help underwrite the window installation to ensure that the process gets under way right away, and fund-raising for the project is in progress, according to Assistant Head of School for External Affairs Joe Gould.

The earliest the new altar window could be installed would be in the summer of 2010.

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esign and manufacturing legwork for a new signature window above the altar in the chapel has begun in earnest now that the SG Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Dec. 8 to move forward with the project.

Boston-area stained-glass artist Lyn Hovey, who’s created every new chapel window since 1999, has been hired to take on the job.

A huge undertaking, the window project is scheduled to take two and a half years and, along with remedial work on the masonry of the East Wall and the nearby buttresses, will cost approximately $3 million.

The present altar window was the first stainedglass window to be installed in the chapel—and the only one in place when the chapel was consecrated in 1928.

What to do with the aging window has been pondered for the past several years.

The window itself never was meant to be permanent, according to Jack Doll ’52 in his 2002 “Heart of the Hilltop.”

Chapel donor John Nicholas Brown ’18 knew that the altar would be the focus of the consecration in 1928, and designed the window himself to add color to the area. Interestingly, the window is not made up of leaded-glass panels, but clear glass panels that were painted. The design is a multicolored pattern of diamonds and ellipses, intentionally decorative, although the three panels at the top are meant to convey the Trinity and the seven panels at the bottom represent the seven days of Creation, according to Doll.

Brown “wanted others to also have the opportunity to add to the magnificence of his chapel by donating such things as stained-glass windows,” Doll said. Since then many members of the community have stepped forward to donate windows, including the recently completed Michel Window on the west wall, in memory of Mickey Michel, the husband of former board chair Betsy Michel (see page 55).

Hovey presented a watercolor of his proposed new design for the altar window that includes the story of the creation on the bottom panes and

Stained-glass artist Lyn Hovey unveils his design for a new altar window in the Chapel.

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Caring for the campus A N INTERVIEW WITH D IRECTOR OF O PERATIONS G EORGE S TAPLES George Staples arrived at St. George’s as the new facilities administrator in 2005. His current title is Director of Operations. Prior to his arrival, he served as the director of facilities and operations for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence for five years, as the director of architecture and engineering at CVS Corp. for seven years, and as campus planner/ designer at Phillips Exeter Academy for six years. He

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holds two bachelor’s degrees—one in architectural engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology and one in computer science from Northeastern University. His wife, Mary Jane, who now serves as the head of Zane Dormitory, was a special education teacher for 13 years prior to moving onto the Hilltop.

The Staples have three children—Colin, 8, Luke, 5 and Ryan, 2.

Q. Was working at the Diocese of Providence good preparation for working at St. George’s?

Certainly. The Catholic diocese has approximately 157 parishes and 55 schools that serve about 20,000 students. We managed an operation that included approximately 850 institutional buildings throughout the state of Rhode Island.

The majority of my focus was on capital renewal, which included renovating and restoring existing churches and school facilities. Managing the Diocesan real estate portfolio was also one of my major responsibilities. I worked closely with the chief financial officer and the chief development officer for the diocese and I consider our teamwork to be one of the key components to the success of our operation. I am fortunate enough to have worked on some of the most beautiful, architecturally detailed buildings in Rhode Island and have gained extensive knowledge just through the sheer volume of work that was completed each year.

In the five years you that were there, were there special projects that became close to your heart?

Yes, working closely with the inner-city parishes, schools and daycare centers along with the volunteers who worked endlessly to support their mission was very rewarding. My services were most needed in those locations and had an immediate impact on their programs.

You interviewed for the job here at SG with former Business Manager Wes Hennion. What were your impressions?

It’s hard not to be in awe as you come up Main Drive and approach the circle in front of Old School. You immediately notice diverse architectural elements that frame green quads, and of course, views that would rival any others on the East Coast. I spent more than four hours with Wes on my first visit to campus. He knew I had expertise in conducting facility assessments and the ability to estimate costs fairly quickly. We took a detailed tour of campus and he asked me what I

thought might be some immediate needs. St. George’s is like any other boarding school or college campus in New England: There is a constant need for roof repairs, brick pointing, window replacement, and mechanical- and electrical-system upgrades. They are hard projects to raise funds for and are usually on a list of deferred maintenance that is next to impossible to budget for. I certainly felt as though Wes already knew the needs of the campus facilities, but wanted me to know what I may be getting into. I had subsequent interviews with Pat Moss (Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs), Bob Weston (Dean of Faculty) and Tim Richards (Assistant Head of School for Student Life), and they all painted a similar picture of a very engaged community that was committed to the success of the student body. At that time I believe they were looking for an individual who would understand the needs of the community and strive to make changes that would enhance the lives of the faculty and students. It was clear to me at that point that this position would be more than tending to bricks and mortar.

And then you met Head of School Eric Peterson?

Yes. Wes had told me on more than one occasion during our discussions that he thought Eric and I would be a good match. He thought that was important because of the close relationship the facilities director would have with the head of school. We are the same age. Eric is actually one day older and we share some of the same philosophies about how to operate a school. Eric was very passionate and specific about the facilities and operations he needed to fully support his faculty and staff so they could provide their best effort. It was reassuring to me to have a very detailed discussion with a head of school about non-academic topics such as institutional architecture, emergency preparedness, food services and housekeeping— major components that effect the day-to-day operations outside of the classroom. This was going to be a new position for St. George’s and Eric carefully laid out his strategy for its implementation, which included becoming part of the on-campus

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community. I came away from our meeting excited about the opportunity, but still unsure about leaving my current position with the diocese as well as selling our home and moving our family.

But you wanted a new opportunity?

My wife Mary Jane was expecting our third child and was on summer break from teaching at the time of the offer. I was intrigued with the concept of being involved with more of the day-to-day operations of the school, and living on campus was going to be critical to the success of the proposed position. It would allow me to directly provide services to the community in which I would be living, a kind of a talk-the-talk and walk-the-walk scenario. This position also provided a great opportunity for us to have Mary Jane stop working and spend more time with our children. She has since become the dorm head of Zane Dormitory where we live and enjoys her interaction with the students and faculty. As for my children, what is not to be excited about? We live across the street from the ocean; we have access to two hockey rinks, a state-of-the-art pool, a field house, tennis courts, squash courts and playing fields. We have great neighbors who are welcoming and share some of the same duties we have, and there is a good family-like feeling to that.

People coming back to campus after a while often say, “Wow this place has changed since I was here!” What have been some of the major improvements?

SG has done an exceptional job in the last 15 years with providing new facilities that it needed.

The Wheeler/Buell dorm complex, Drury/Grosvenor Art Center, Hamblet Campus Center, East and Zane dorms and the new Hoyt pool are all very successful projects. What used to be the back of the campus (behind the chapel) is now a featured part of the campus. That was all done, obviously without me here, and a large part of it through the hard work of the Development Office and Joe (Gould)’s guidance but also Wes (Hennion), Pat Moss and of course, Chuck and Carol (Hamblet). The recent

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removal of the Behrend Pool remedied a safety issue, but also brought new views to campus. Port Draper, who was the head of the buildings and grounds committee of the SG Board of Trustees, always thought bringing the library and its architecture into the open by removing the pool was significantly going to change the view of the campus. He was right. The Behrend Quadrangle is the new open space where the pool once was and provides new paths of travel to all who once walked around Auchincloss Dormitory to get to the arts center, field house and campus center. Diman North was built around the west end of the pool, and with the pool’s removal, Diman North became the beneficiary of a new common room and three new student rooms with the capacity to sleep five.

The addition of the porch was a nice architectural design that brought symmetry to the east faces of both Arden and Diman North, and a newly refaced west elevation of Auchincloss was returned to its original state. We have also completed some very large capital renewal projects that may not be very visible, but were well needed. For instance, the chapel roof replacement was a $1.2 million project that you can’t really appreciate unless you are up in the chapel tower, yet it is a critical piece of the total restoration of the chapel and a positive step toward the management of deferred maintenance.

The school made the decision last year to renovate Twenty House, Diman, Diman North and Arden. What went into that decision?

A committee chaired by Tim Richards was initially assembled to review dormitory space needs. Working with specific student-to-faculty ratios defined by the committee, an architect provided options that showed additions to both the Diman complex and Twenty House. This planning effort came on the heels of our decision to hire a campus master-planning firm and it was decided that we would complete an interior renovation to all four dormitories and allow the master-planning process to unfold and look at all campus space needs before investing in such a large project that would include any additions to buildings. With

the renovation project behind us, I think I can speak for all of us in saying it was a huge success.

Student living spaces in all four dorms were significantly enhanced.

You mentioned the chapel roof restoration project. What do you envision the next steps will be in maintaining the chapel?

PHOTO BY SUZANNE HADFIELD

SG contracted with Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels Architects in 2004 to complete a study that would provide a road map for the eventual restoration of the chapel. We are fortunate to have Martha Werenfels as our architect of record. She is highly recognized as one of the best restoration architects in New England and has extensive experience with church restoration projects. Even those with an untrained eye could see that there was a water infiltration problem compromising the exterior and interior walls of the chapel. With the new copper roof in place, we have started to focus on the exterior sections of the building, with an emphasis on the east wall because it is the location in most need of repair. An advanced study of the east wall masonry was completed last summer, and has given us a better understanding about how to approach the restoration of the wall systems. In December, the board of trustees approved moving forward with the development of construction documents that would be used to remedy and restore the exterior east wall and contiguous buttresses on the chapel.

And then what comes after that?

The approval to complete construction documents for the restoration of the east wall coincides with the approval to complete the artwork necessary to construct a new stained-glass altar window.

With a three- to five-year construction timeline for the window, our next step would be to restore the interior east wall prior to the completion of the altar window. We would then work ourselves around the building systematically restoring each wall until completed.

You’ve repeatedly said we can’t overlook maintaining our buildings.

All schools have deferred maintenance. The goal is to not let the campus condition deteriorate to the point where it will impede delivery.

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Schools that have identified and quantified the costs associated with their deferred maintenance will make better business decisions with regards to how they allocate their capital renewal dollars.

I am extremely happy with the support I have had from our Finance Council and trustees in determining our deferred maintenance exposure and working on a financial plan to improve our current condition. In 2006 we had a facility conditions audit report completed by Shawmut Design and Construction to identify and quantify our deferred maintenance.

Why was the audit needed?

The audit provides empirical data; it’s accurate and gives us the current aggregate backlog of total deferred maintenance as well as providing renewal costs for the next ten years. In essence, it can predict the future. It can tell us when and where there will be capital renewal needs. Without this kind of report, institutions like ours would normally run their systems and equipment to failure, and then respond to an emergency rather than a planned capital project.

The information in the audit can be used to develop financial models for budgeting purposes.

How did you start tackling it?

The decision to not have summer school on campus certainly provided access to facilities that would have been otherwise unavailable. The ability to have four dorms available to renovate in one summer both helped in terms of cost and it accelerated our efforts to reduce deferred maintenance.

We were able to complete a large amount of work in the core of the campus that could not have been done if we were housing students.

Most recently you’ve also been involved in developing a campus master plan. Can you explain what the purpose of a campus master plan is?

A campus master plan is a guide plan that aligns educational objectives and strategic plan

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goals with physical development. It will establish a broad and comprehensive framework that will identify future facilities projects, define the interrelationships among physical planning decisions and serve as a basis for financial planning. In its most basic form, the master plan will be more of a compass that keeps us moving in the right direction.

Does the master plan have a shelf life? For how many years does the master plan provide direction?

The master plan should be revisited every five years or so to recalibrate after major components have been completed, but the original plan would provide a guideline for 15 to 20 years.

What are some of the components of the master plan?

Academic space is one of the top items being reviewed. That analysis will be helpful in determining the square footage of teaching space we would strive for during any future renovations to Memorial Schoolhouse and will certainly help in the early stages of the design process for the enhancement of the science facilities. Student life is another very important component to the master plan. The dayto-day program that the students follow will be looked at in detail to ensure the supporting structure is in place to maintain our particular program and schedule; that means dorm space, faculty residences, study spaces, athletic facilities and all the other supporting structures will be reviewed in detail. Pedestrian and vehicular paths of travel also will be reviewed along with the interior spaces.

Are there any keepsakes?

Naturally because of our location, we would want to maintain certain views to the water, and open green spaces as we become a more sustainable community. There are iconic buildings such as the St. George’s Chapel and Memorial Schoolhouse that will always remain as key elements and are sacred to the culture of the school. The one thing to note

about the campus master plan is that it is not a facilities plan; it is an entire campus plan. Members of almost every academic and non-academic department were interviewed and the final plan will be a collaboration of all of their thoughts and ideas.

completed by the science department faculty will allow the firm selected to start immediately on determining the exact square footage of building space needed and potential building layouts.

Will we be rebuilding on the same site?

What will a master plan look like?

I would expect it to represent in both graphical and text format our roadmap to the future.

It would graphically capture as much of the seven components of our strategic plan as possible along with list the criteria for us to reflect on when making decisions that would alter the campus infrastructure.

Will it be a philosophy that we would like to adhere to?

Definitely; holding true to a student body size or committing to student/faculty ratios with regards to dormitory coverage are some of the important principles we would need to adhere to.

All that information quantifies how many cars will be on campus, how much water, electricity and gas we will consume and how much food we need to prepare. The master planners will come back with many options that address some of our pinchpoints. Some of those options may not fit into our timeline of need. Some of them may be far too expensive for us to tackle immediately, but they may be shelved for the long term with the understanding that they are goals to reach. There will be a balance between their suggestions and what we are able to immediately accomplish.

Where are we in terms of the process of building/renovating our science facilities?

We sent out Requests for Qualifications (RFQ’s) to 12 architectural firms and have narrowed our selection to five firms that specialize in science building design. We expect to interview all five during the third week of January and to select a firm within a week after the interview process is completed. A very well prepared needs-assessment

That is yet to be determined since we have not started the design process, but with sustainability in mind, it would have to be a very special set of circumstances for us to not utilize the existing building as part of the new science complex. With the assumption that we would need a facility at least twice as large as the existing one, I can foresee new construction somehow wrapping around the existing building and then a renovation to the existing facility.

After you get done with your day and you go home to the dorm, what’s your life like?

Well to start, to be able to walk from my office to my dorm apartment with a total commute of less than two minutes and the ability to see both First Beach and Second Beach on my way, it’s hard not to be happy. Prior to moving onto campus I lost 10 hours per week to my commute alone, so to recover 40 hours a month of family time is a great benefit for a young family.

Besides my wife and three children and the 23 girls we live with in the dorm, I have six advisees who really put the St. George’s student experience in perspective for me. They have become part of our immediate family and truly help me understand their daily needs, which is such a great advantage as the director of operations at a boarding school. It certainly is not the traditional “leave your work at the office each day” job, especially when the entire campus is your office.

I have been fortunate enough to travel throughout most of our country while working for CVS Corp. and Mary Jane and I have owned a few homes while both of us had jobs most would be envious of, yet I can’t imagine being in a better place than we are now.

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The real magic of Christmas

BY ALEXANDRIA REGAN ’08 Following is a chapel talk delivered on Dec. 11, 2007.

Alex and her brother Billy carry on a family tradition— cutting down the tree two days before Christmas.

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I will admit it. I am obsessed with the holiday season. From the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas Day, I just can’t get enough of this time of year. If you ask anybody who knows me well, they will agree, but I don’t think I have ever really expressed the true reason why this part of the year is my absolute favorite.

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Sure, I love the Christmas carols, the corny “25 days of Christmas” on ABC Family, the decorations and the holiday spirit that fills the air. I love the traditions as well. Every year my family and I go to our house in the Catskills for Christmas, where we embark on a number of interesting traditions. Two days before Christmas we drive up to a tree farm and cut down a Christmas tree. After bickering over what tree to get and even one year getting lost in the tree forest, we then go to our house and put the tree in our stand (a job my dad particularly

dislikes, as it inevitably falls down several times), and then we decorate it. Then the day of Christmas Eve arrives. We are all woken up by the sound of my mother freaking out because she has invited too many people to our annual Christmas Eve party and does not have enough food or enough time to cook it. However, we always seem to get by, and by seven o’clock our tiny house is flooded with so many people it is almost impossible to move around, let alone eat.

Then arrives my favorite day, Christmas. It is not my favorite because of the presents I receive (although that is a perk), but because of the weird Christmas festivities we celebrate. After my brother and I have shaken off the laziness of Christmas morning, we go over to our family friend’s house, where if it has snowed enough, we go on “Mr. Toad’s wild ride.” Now I am not really sure who Mr. Toad is or why he has a wild ride, but it is something my family friends and I have been doing for as long as I can remember. It entails seven of us piling onto a toboggan (probably actually meant for three small children) and tying the toboggan to the back of their pickup truck. We are then driven around unplowed windy back roads. It is as dangerous as it sounds, and I have childhood memories of my mother watching nervously with a petrified look on her face from the back of the pickup truck, as we were being pulled down the hill. The worst part, however, is that if you fall off you must run after the toboggan or you’ll be left in the dust with a long walk back to the house. One year I was unfortunate enough to slip off the back of the toboggan, and in fear that I would be left behind to walk the mile back to house, I ran for dear life, grabbed the back of the toboggan and was dragged for about 500 feet eating snow until finally my brother Billy (after getting in his few laughs) decided to help me back on. After this, we sometimes partake in some canoe sledding, which is where we sled down a snow-covered hill in a canoe trying to prevent a full on tree collision using only paddles—and every so often, unfortunately, the tree will come out victorious. Sure, I love the bizarre traditions that my family and I celebrate

over Christmas, but there is something more to why I love this holiday so much.

This summer, I applied for an internship with the International Rescue Committee, whose mission is to bring aid to refugees and internally displaced people overseas as well as to help the few refugees who are permitted to resettle in the United States. This organization provides housing, food, employment, health care, and youth programs to resettled refugees. I was offered a position as a teacher’s assistant at the summer youth program in New York City. The purpose of this summer program was to prepare refugee children, most of whom have had an interrupted formal education, to attend New York City schools in the fall. I was assigned to the middle-school class, which included children ages 11-14. I was nervous.

I had remembered my middle-school years as ones filled with much awkwardness. I didn’t know how I was going to handle middle-school kids, especially ones who had been through so much and who spoke very little English. However, this job that I had taken to fill my summer turned into a life-changing experience that has come to mean a great deal to me.

One girl in particular named Ida left a great impression on me. Ida was from Guinea and had been resettled in the United States for a little over a year. Ida and I formed an instant friendship, and she quickly became one of my favorite people in the class. Before she came to the United States, she had been directly affected by the poverty the corrupt government of Guinea had created. Up until she resettled in the United States, the life she described to me was full of hardship, uncertainty and instability and it is hard to imagine how she endured it.

One day, the children were given the task of writing a paragraph about their favorite holidays and reciting it. I was assigned to help a group of five students and Ida was among them. When it came to Ida’s turn, she talked about how Christmas was one of her favorite holidays of the year. She said that in Guinea it was hard for her and her family to celebrate Christmas because of the

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Alex and children from the International Rescue Committee ham it up while playing in a park in New York City.

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instability of the situation in her home country.

She said, however, that last year, on her first Christmas in New York, her parents took her to see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. She said it was the most amazing tree and that she had never seen a Christmas tree that big. She continued by saying that before last year her family and she were never able to exchange gifts or have a tree, and that her Christmas last year in New York had been one of the highlights of her year.

This story had a huge impact on me. It is hard for me to imagine a Christmas where my family and I do not have our annual Christmas traditions, which include a tree, good food, presents, and even “Mr. Toad.” This story from Ida made me appreciate Christmas even more and made me realize the main reason why this is my favorite time of year.

The holidays are a time when you are able to step back and reflect and be grateful for what you have

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among family and friends. It is also a time when it is incredibly easy to give back with heightened holiday cheer.

So as everyone anxiously awaits Christmas break on the Hilltop and as we approach the busy next two weeks, reflect and be grateful for everything you have and consider giving back this holiday season even if it is only spreading holiday cheer. Enjoy the traditions that this school has, starting with Lessons and Carols and continuing with the holiday formal and the Christmas Festival.

Enjoy decking the halls, lighting the Menorah and what Johnny Mathis refers to in his song as “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Have a great Christmahanukwanzaakkah season. Thank you.

Alexandra Regan is a sixth former from New York City.

She can be reached at Alex_Regan@stgeorges.edu.

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Forgiveness Lessons learned from his Amish relatives help this senior come to terms with a painful past

BY MORGAN BEESON ’08 Following is a chapel talk delivered on Sept. 27, 2007.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am Morgan Beeson, most commonly referred to as Beeson. I live in Connecticut, my mother works at

a well-known bank in New York City, I get pretty good grades, am surprisingly not that stressed about college, I have no major health issues, I laugh at more jokes than should be laughed at, and I probably seem to have led a carefree and seamless life.

Let me prove you wrong.

Until I was eight years old, my life truly was seamless. Then came the fall of third grade. It was a

Morgan in the chapel cloister.

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Amish country (above): peaceful, rural and forgiving.

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school day and, as was customary, my mother left for work early in the morning and my father dropped my sister and me off at school. I proceeded through the day, and at the end of it went to the school driveway to get picked up. After waiting for a while, my sister and I decided instead to take the bus home, not an uncommon decision. When we arrived at home, we put our bags down and prepared to jokingly beat up our dad for losing track of time. In his absence we found a note written on yellow paper.

The only passage I remember from this note was this: “I’ve failed you. I no longer belong here,” written in my father’s messy handwriting. At the time I could not comprehend what that meant. I went to a family friend’s house that night, and when I returned the next morning, I was greeted by a mix of policemen and every relative I had ever met. Ironically, at the time I thought that was an ideal situation: I always wanted to be a cop, and I’d never been able to see all of my family at the same time. How-

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ever, even a third grader could feel the icy atmosphere in the house. As I walked into my living room with my sister, everyone’s heads turned toward us, only to turn away quickly, ashamed to show their tears. I recall still not understanding what had happened, as I persisted in asking my mom, “Where’s daddy?” She replied, “In heaven, Morgan. Daddy’s in heaven.” It was only later that I discovered that he killed himself. After that, everything seems a blur. I honestly don’t even clearly remember the funeral service; I was too filled with anger and confusion, both at him for what he did, and at myself for not foreseeing it and stopping it from happening.

The lesson I urge this community to take from my talk is forgiveness. I could’ve gone, and did go for a while, through life venting the anger at my father I had trapped inside me, for causing my mom and sister so much pain. I could’ve blamed him for everything that went wrong in our lives, but that would have gotten me nowhere. Having been influenced by

the incredible forgiving ability of the Amish community, in which my mother grew up, I forgave him.

A couple days after my father’s death, my mother saw two white doves hovering over my father’s apple orchard in a flight path that resembled a halo. From that moment on I not only gained my faith, but I took it as a sign that everything would be alright.

Forgiving my father for the tremendous sin that he committed was a major milestone in my recovery from his death, but there was one more person that I needed to forgive before I could fully recover: myself. While forgiving oneself only is necessary in

Forgiveness can be used in daily life and, in fact, this is where it makes the most difference.

certain situations and with certain people, this situation most definitely called for it. I have the tendency to blame myself more than anyone else. That being said, you can imagine how much blame I took after my father’s death. It took me a lot longer to forgive myself, but reaching that milestone was equally important for me to move on.

Forgiveness can be a very difficult thing to grant someone if they have done something wrong to you, or even worse, to your family and loved ones, but I assure you that you will both be a better person and feel better about yourself for having the maturity to do the right thing if you at least attempt to grant it.

Another powerful demonstration of forgiveness occurred with the Amish last year. As many of you know—it made headlines for several days on national television—a truck driver brutally murdered five Amish schoolgirls ages 7-13, one of whom was my cousin, in a town less than five miles from my family’s farm in Lancaster County, Pa., and then proceeded to kill himself. The first thing that the Amish did was to set up a fund for the family that the killer left behind. When interviewed by CNN, a member of one of the Amish churches gave this statement, which sums up very well the ideals the Amish have with regard to forgiveness: “I don’t think there’s anybody here who wants to do anything but forgive and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that way but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts.” The funeral procession purposefully drove by the killer’s house to show their forgiveness of his sins. If we could try to mirror the Amish community’s forgiveness, we could work toward creating, at least to a small degree, a community with the same ideals of the near-utopian society that the Amish have created and continue to flourish in.

While my experiences with forgiveness provide a strong example of how powerful it can be, my experiences are also extreme. Forgiveness can be used in daily life and, in fact, this is where it makes the most difference.

If someone does something wrong to you, first let them know that what they did was wrong and that it cannot happen again, but make sure they know that they are forgiven and will be granted another chance. Forgiveness only works if the person knows what they did was wrong, but using anger to counteract their wrongdoing will only spark more anger.

Through forgiveness, both the Amish and I have been able to escape dark parts of our past and move on from them without any lingering anger. I strongly recommend that you all do the same so that you, too, can move on from similarly dark situations.

Morgan Beeson is a senior from Greenwich, Conn. He can be reached at Morgan_Beeson@stgeorges.edu.

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Thankfulness Jeremy Goldstein on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos in 1997. Goldstein worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers directing excavations to recover the remains of personnel missing since the Vietnam War for identification.

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In a war zone, nothing is taken for granted

BY JEREMY GOLDSTEIN Following is a chapel talk delivered on Nov. 15, 2007.

Today marks approximately the halfway point between two great American traditions—Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. And today, I want to talk to you about what these two traditions mean to me.

My experience with war makes the act of giving

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thanks extremely meaningful to me. I am especially thankful for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and for those who have come back home from conflict. And—I am thankful to be where I am today.

I haven’t always been a teacher. In fact, my old job had a lot to do with what happens when negotiations stop, dialogue breaks down, and war is believed to be the only option. My old job took me

to Vietnam and Laos, former war zones, with the goal of bringing the war dead home.

In 1994, I was an archeology graduate student at Wake Forest University when I received a job announcement from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers looking for healthy civilians who were willing to work in “rustic and remote” settings for “extended periods of time.” I thought to myself, “Wow, this is why I became an archeologist, a job in the jungle, the great outdoors … adventure.” Less than a month later I was walking through the jungles of Laos after having fallen into a rice paddy my first day on the job. My mission was to direct excavations or “digs” to recover the remains of missing personnel from the Vietnam War for identification. Sort of like CSI, but much dirtier and less glamorous.

It takes a long time for the wounds and sting of war to fade; even 25 years after the Vietnam War, when I spent time in Southeast Asia the land had not recovered. Many Americans were still missing.

One of them was a 1968 graduate of St. George’s named Charles Dean for whom a scholarship has been named here by his family. Ten years before I started at SG, I worked on recovering the remains of Americans who shared the same fate as Charles Dean. As I look back on my time with the Corps of Engineers, I find that my three years in Southeast Asia have made me thankful for many things.

As simple as it sounds, one of those things was a standard Army-issue quilted poncho liner. I received “issue” from a large supply warehouse in Oahu, Hawaii. I was given a mosquito net, a couple pairs of boots, a field mess kit, some incredibly caustic bug repellent that I think was DDT, and the most important piece of equipment: that quilted poncho liner. I remembered reading in Michael Herr’s excellent book “Dispatches” about the author’s somewhat embarrassing solitary moments in front of a mirror wearing all of his new “free” stuff from the government, in mock salute and at attention. I did the same thing, ready to play Army. In reality, the only thing I really needed was the poncho liner, because of the way it kept me warm in the surprisingly cold jungle nights and at high altitude during long flights on uninsulated planes. I was lucky that I had a

friend, an old sergeant who had been around the block a few times, rifle through my footlocker and throw out the excess equipment. Thanks to Sergeant Cope, I ended up with two poncho liners and the advice to carry as many pairs of socks as possible.

I give thanks for the little gems of information that my three years working with the military gave me. Advice like, always shake your boots out before putting them on, in case a scorpion has moved in.

Or, the advice to let the goats run through the minefield before you. You see a war leaves devastation that lasts longer than a few years. Land mines and unexploded bombs outnumber people in certain areas of Laos, and people, mostly children, harvest war scrap for resale and for personal use like fishing weights. And people, mostly children, get killed or injured when they handle these unexploded pieces of history. I worked on a mountaintop in Northern Laos that had a special regiment of goats who would run ahead of the soldiers stationed there, setting off any leftover trip wire mines, sacrificing themselves to keep us relatively safe.

One of the kindest gestures that I have ever experienced was when I was working on recovering the remains of an escaped prisoner of war killed while fleeing a remote jungle prison camp. He was the one who didn’t make it, but his counterpart made it and told the story, which is now immortalized in the recent film “Rescue Dawn.” After interviewing the individuals who buried the escapee, we started to dig, digging for 30 days straight with no results. And as we closed the site, and were wrapping things up, a package arrived on one of the supply helicopters. It was some homemade cookies from the missing pilot’s mother, giving us pause, making us think about our own families very far away, and also the families of the missing that were waiting to hear news still, many years after the war had ended.

There are many memories that I am thankful to carry with me; helping to deliver a baby on the Ho Chi Minh trail, living with a Hill Tribe for three months, letters from my family every month, running out of food and being forced to learn Lao to order dinner. But most importantly, I have learned that there is a reluctant fraternity of families, veterans, and

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Jeremy Goldstein (above) with members of the boys varsity soccer team during a game on Alumni of Color Weekend.

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innocent bystanders who have survived war. We often feel separated from the war that is going on right now.

We are removed from the sounds, smells, and sensory overload that a war zone possesses because we are able to watch it from the relative quiet of our living rooms.

It is easy to forget about the war when so many other important things take up our days.

Veterans Day was last week and we are still at war.

Honor the men and women who serve this country in uniform, and thank them when you see them. This past summer, a 21-year-old Iraq war vet was out for a day of boating with his friends at the kayak shop where I was working. The vet was home on leave for his birthday. As he was getting ready to get in the water, he put on his life vest over a large scar that ran the length of his chest and abdomen. As he put on the vest, he said matter-of-factly, with a tinge of irony, “feels like home” referring to the other vest—the Kevlar one—that he had to wear in Iraq. I was speechless. All I could say was “thank you,” as his friends looked at the ground or headed silently to their boats.

The young soldier looked out at the water, buckled his

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vest, and paddled out into the channel.

So as I anticipate the time I’ll spend with my family and friends during the upcoming break, I hope to be thankful in a way that surpasses my usual thankfulness. I often tell my students that people who witnessed Pope John Paul in prayer swore that he was praying with every cell in his body. This year, I wish to give thanks with every cell in my body. I give thanks for those who serve our country. I give thanks for my family and friends and the relative safety we enjoy here in the United States. I give thanks for the cookies we have every day in the faculty room, the beautiful view of Second Beach that I wake up to every morning. I give thanks for my wife and my dog. I give thanks for the hope I hold that someday we will be free from the shadow of war, and, mostly, I give thanks for all of you—my students and my colleagues—for giving me that hope.

Jeremy Goldstein is a teacher of French and Religious Studies. He can be reached at Jeremy_ Goldstein@stgeorges.edu.

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Members of the 2007-08 Community Service Council: (in the front row) Jake Riiska ’10, Carl Nightingale ’10, Vianca Masucci ’09, Lela Wulsin ’10, Ping Praneeprachachon ’10 and Tori Hensel ’08, (middle row) Mary O’Connor ’11, Maggie Uhlein ’10, English teacher Lucy Goldstein, Jenny Chung ’09, Sophie Domanski ’11, Alexandria Regan ’08, Kelsey Crowther ’08, Ann Wheeler ’08, Laney Yang ’10, Caroline O’Connor ’10, Kim Drew ’08, Callie McBreen ’09, Camilla deBraganca ’09, Council Head Lara Freeman, Casey Hansel ’10, and (back row) Leigh Archer ’09, Merrill Pierce ’09, Jonathan Maio ’11, Will O’Connor ’08, Martin Ejiaku ’11, Patrick Guerriero ’09, Drew Miller ’09 and Halsey Landon ’09.

Community Service Council members Will O’Connor ’08 and Anna Mack ’09 organized a special assembly announcement in December to honor the school’s housekeeping staff.

The two students offered a few words of thanks for all of the work that the staff does for the community, notably the impressive holiday decorations that grace the campus every year.

“When we got back from Thanksgiving break and saw how beautiful the decorations were, I talked to Mr. Carrion (Director of Housekeeping) about getting the members of the staff who put up the decorations to assembly, so we as a school could thank them,” O’Connor said. All the members of the housekeeping staff were present. Everyone in attendance, including most of the student body, then gave the staff a standing ovation. “It was moving to see!” reported Assistant Chaplain and head of the Community Service Council Lara Freeman.

Students Vianca Masucci, Sam George, Kelsey Crowther and Hillary Wein, along with art teacher Lisa Hansel, groundskeeper Jay Panaggio and Assistant Chaplain Lara Freeman, planted a box full of tulips, crocuses and hyacinth next to the Meryl Staley Bench on South Field overlooking Second Beach.

The bulbs were donated by Paul Jagger, father of

Meryl’s good friend Emily Jagger ’06, in memory of Meryl ’06 who died of complications from leukemia in 2005. “It will be a beautiful site in the spring and a lovely way to remember one of the members of our community,” Freeman said.

Joe Lanuez, a member of the Grounds Crew, was part of the pit crew for Jim Gubelman’s (SG class of ’65) race car staff. The car headed down to Oaxaca, Mexico on Friday, Oct. 12, and the crew took school supplies donated by members of the SG community with them. Many folks contributed spiral notebooks, pens, pencils and erasers—badly needed after a recent hurricane tore apart several school buildings.

The fall blood drive took place on Monday, Nov. 12, in the Dorrance Field House—and St. George’s community members came through as usual. The R.I. Blood Bank had a goal of 35 pints, and once again, SG had no problem meeting the challenge. Assistant Athletic Director Wendy Drysdale organizes the blood drives at SG. For the sixth year in a row members of the SG Community took part in a day of community service on Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 21. More news on this event will be forthcoming in the next Notes from the Hilltop.

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Joe Gould at Ojeongdong Seongyosachon, a missionary’s home built in the 1950s, near TCIS.

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Late in the summer of 2005, I decided to ask for a sabbatical. I had lots of reasons for wanting to take a leave. I had just returned from the first St. George’s faculty trip to South Korea and China. It was my eighth trip to Asia since 1996, but to me this 2005 trip was a seminal event in the life of the school. I had also just read Peter Hessler’s memoir “River Town” about his two years in the Peace Corps in Fuling, China. The book had conjured up old dreams and old memories

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of my school days at Exeter in 1963 where first the principal and then two long-serving teachers announced that they were leaving to join the newly created Peace Corps. And, I guess my age had something to do with it too; I would turn 60 in 2006, a milestone which was prompting all sorts of introspection.

During that 2005 trip, I had visited Taejon Christian International School (TCIS) in Daejeon, South Korea, as part of our ongoing effort to develop teacher exchanges and other partnership arrangements. A friend had urged me to go there because it

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had a boarding component. TCIS wasn’t in session, but I toured the school and met briefly with headmaster Tom Penland.

Somehow, these disparate thoughts and experiences came together. With the support of Head of School Eric Peterson, I wrote to Tom Penland and asked if TCIS would be interested in hosting my wife, Jennifer, and me for all or part of the 2006-07 school year. Two weeks later, Tom wrote back and said “yes.”

After considerable discussion with Jennifer, Eric, and others, I decided that three months in the spring of 2007 would be best. Thus began nearly a year and a half of anticipation and preparation.

One might think with all that time to plan and dream, the trip itself might have been anticlimactic.

But in fact, not knowing what would be expected of us at TCIS, we hadn’t planned much at all. We just knew that we were departing on Korean Air #82 to Seoul on March 14, and were coming home on Korean Air #81 on June 13.

I had dreamed, however.

I had dreamed we would travel and I read guidebooks with a passion: Moon Handbooks, Lonely Planet, Insight Guides, Culture Shock. I had dreamed that we would learn Korean and I was sure that, once immersed, I would overcome my difficulties with the CDs and cassettes. I had dreamed of all

the little adventures we’d have in Daejeon. Indeed for months, my last thoughts before I fell asleep at night were of the trip.

It’s funny how things can turn out for the better, even from your wildest dreams. We traveled in Korea and to the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, China—twice—and to Japan. But the trips weren’t as meaningful as I had imagined. We learned the Korean alphabet and could read signs, which helped, but we hardly learned the language. We had adventures in Daejeon, but the city offered more challenges than sights.

I was right about something. Before we left home, I remember saying that after two weeks in Korea we’d be wondering what the heck we were doing there.

That turned out to be true. And then I’d said that when it was time to leave, we’d be asking: “Where did the time go?” That was true, too. In my last journal entry of the trip, I wrote: “Of course, we’re excited about going home, but part of us will stay behind at this warm and caring school.”

Presbyterian and Methodist missionaries have been in Korea since the 19th century; the Southern Baptists arrived immediately after the Korean War, when several other denominations also sent smaller missions. In Daejeon (formerly “Taejon”), which is located in the center of South Korea, the Presbyterians,

Graduation day at TCIS on June 1, 2007.

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Jen Gould and kimchee pots near TCIS. TCIS is located in Daejeon.

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the Baptists, and the Methodists bought land and built their missionary enclaves side-by-side. There, they created their western (predominately American) world, raised their families, and withdrew from their work among the Koreans. In 1958, they founded “Taejon Foreign School.” Its purpose was then, and remains so today, to educate foreign students through high school in a Christian environment. The “foreign” students in those early days were primarily mission kids.

In 1960, the trustees changed the name of the school to “Korea Christian Academy.”

The teachers were almost all missionaries, EAST SEA appointed and paid by their U.S. mission boards. It was a very small school with fewer than 100 students until the 1990s— but by then things had begun to change dramatically. What had been the missionary JAPAN “family” school was disappearing, due to external forces. With the growth of Christianity in Korea, the missions were redeploying their efforts to other parts of the world. Korea itself had transformed. The war-torn, impoverished country of the 1950s had risen from its agrarian roots into an industrialized economic engine. Daejeon was emerging as the country’s science center. And the environment around the school was changing from rice fields to a

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densely populated urban area. In 1992, the trustees changed the name of the school again—to “Taejon Christian International School.” By the mid-1990s, the students were predominantly ethnic Koreans who either held foreign passports or who had lived outside the country. The school was also “hiring” its teachers and paying them. Now TCIS is a school of more than 600 students, grades K-12. It is no longer a western enclave removed from the world around it.

Instead, it seems to me, it carries on the missionary work of its founders.

As liberal New Englanders, Jennifer and I were skeptical about this Christian school at first. Missionaries to us were just historical figures. But we said to ourselves that the spirituality of the school didn’t matter. We were at TCIS to take a break, to “peek into the tent,” so to speak, to use the school as a base for our East Asian exploration, and to help with a project.

(I had agreed to counsel the school on a plan to establish a fund-raising program and to offer some ideas for the school’s 50th anniversary in 2008.) So what if every meal, and every bus trip, and every meeting started with a prayer? Devotions and Bible study?

Whatever. They didn’t matter to us—or so we thought those first few days.

But kindness did matter right from the start. The Penlands, the Nelsons, the Suhses, the Wilders, the

Moimois, the Woods, the Levretses, Brian, Lee, Callie, Becca, Mike, Jeff, Darren, and so many others embraced us. Boarding schools are warm nests for those who stay for several years; but often the old-timers don’t even bother to get to know those who just pass through like us. TCIS was different. We thought we understood the reasons why. We were novelties, grandparent-types, and a long way from home in a strange land like so many of the teachers. But then, how do you explain the warmth of Ms. Nam, Ms. In, Mr. Choi, Ms. Lee, Ms. Kim, Ms. Bang, and so many others?

I enjoy Chapel at St. George’s. I listen most of the time, and some things I hear I believe and some things I don’t. But the pause in my week is always welcome because the hymns, the readings, the sermon and the environment help me refocus on what’s important in life. So as I sat in on my first TCIS administrative meeting somewhat aghast at the time being spent on team building from a Christian perspective, I found myself thinking about how I could do better with some of my colleagues at St. George’s.

That was just the beginning. Each day thereafter throughout our stay, I’d use those many pauses for prayers as moments to reflect and refocus. Perhaps, I was praying too.

At the TCIS graduation near the end of our stay, speaker Bryan Munson, a gifted English teacher, spoke

about “serendipity.” Quoting from Wikipedia, Bryan told us that “serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.” Jennifer and I spent many of our last days at TCIS talking about our experience. We thought we had come simply to have a home base for our East Asian travels. What had really drawn us to TCIS, in Daejeon, South Korea, for our sabbatical? We’d been asked the question so many times by family and friends that we’d wondered ourselves why we were there. Was it just serendipity?

On our last Sunday, we took a long walk along the river. It was a warm, sunny day and we talked every step of the way. We were engaged and in sync, almost as one, but I had the feeling that we were not alone, as we tried to put our sabbatical in perspective. Though we’d loved the travel, it seemed then, and even now, to be superficial. The essense of the experience had been the school, its people, and its spirituality.

Serendipity, perhaps. But on that Sunday, at least, we let go of our skepticism and … we believed.

Joe Gould is St. George’s assistant head of school for external affairs. He can be reached at Joe_Gould@stgeorges.edu.

Top: Joe and Jenn make time to shop at Jagalchi Market in Busan.

Above: Field of rape along the Yudeungcheon River in Daejeon.

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Transported A St. George’s history teacher travels to Chinese International School in Hong Kong

BY LUCIA JACCACI Following is a chapel talk delivered on Oct. 23.

Ms. Jaccaci was introducing Mr. Leon Kandelaars, a humanities teacher from the Chinese International School in Hong Kong who visited St. George’s for two weeks in the fall.

It is with great pleasure that I introduce Mr. Kandelaars and speak to you a bit about my experience in the SG-CIS faculty exchange program. As many of you know, I traveled to CIS last spring as part of an ongoing teacher exchange that began two years ago when Mr. Lewis went to Hong Kong and continued last fall when Dr. Hakim visited the Hilltop. The exchange is an invaluable chance for the two schools to learn from one another, as on the surface the schools are extremely different: While SG is a boarding high school of 350 students overlooking scenic Second Beach, CIS is a large day school of 1,300 students, ranging from

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Pre-K to Year 13 in the urban landscape of Hong Kong. And while SG follows an AP curriculum based in the English language; CIS participates in the International Baccalaureate Program with a bilingual English and Mandarin curriculum.

Mr. Leon Kandelaars, a member of the CIS Humanities department where he teaches economics and history classes, went particularly out of his way last spring to welcome me to both China and his school.

He gave me a memorable heritage history walk around Hong Kong and allowed me to observe many of his classes. I am forever indebted to him for his kindness and the hospitality he showed me on my trip to his school.

For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to meet Mr. Kandelaars yet, let me tell you a few things about this interesting and well-traveled man.

His family is originally from Holland and they immigrated to southern Australia, where he grew up with his parents and three brothers in Adelaide. Like many Aussies, Mr. Kandelaars is a world traveler and has ex-

plored many corners of the globe, including traveling around the states more than many of us in this room.

He first started his career in international education teaching in an international school in Frankfurt, Germany, before moving to Hong Kong 11 years ago to start working at CIS. He and his wife, Eva, also have recently bought a farmhouse in France that they are renovating, so they spend good chunks of every summer in Europe. To put it simply, Mr. Kandelaars is a man of the world.

And me, on the other hand, well, I am made of less adventuresome fabric. Me? I am a woman of …

Aquidneck Island, Yes, it is true—I am a townie. Born and raised in Newport, it was not until my 10th grade year that I left Newport for any extended time— to attend boarding school in that far away land of Massachusetts.

But, never fear, I returned to Rhode Island for college, and then after a brief stint of living in Wyoming and Massachusetts again, I moved back to Aquidneck Island 12 years ago. It turns out, however, that the decision to attend boarding school was a fortuitous one for me. During this informative time, I was exposed to people from all over the world, and as many of you now know from Mrs. Lewis’ clever faculty crossword game from the first seated dinner, this is also when I met Mr. Jaccaci. And, it has been as a result of my relationship with him that I have traveled through much of Europe and different parts of Asia.

Without him by my side continually pushing me out of my own comfort zone, I truly do not know if I ever would have witnessed the running of the bulls in Pamplona, camped out overnight on a tower of the Great Wall, or taken a particularly memorable 24hour bus ride from Prague to London.

In retrospect, though, the decision to go to boarding school was, at the time, an extremely hard decision—to leave my friends, classmates and family all behind. I still remember tears filling in my eyes as I watched my parents’ pull out of my dorm driveway, leaving me there waaaaaay up in the hinterland of Massachusetts. But in the end, leaving my comfort zone of Aquidneck Island was ultimately rewarding in more ways than I ever could have imagined. Similarly, last March, I was somewhat nervous for my trip to Hong Kong and CIS. While the thought of immersing myself in another school halfway around the world had seemed romantic and fun when I applied for the exchange, the actual reality of the experience sunk in as I said goodbye to my family and boarded the airplane alone. What had I gotten myself into? I won-

dered. Why was I leaving comfortable and familiar Newport and my spring break behind to do this?

What would I really gain from the experience? And, finally, would my three boys all survive the “two-week boy party” that Mr. J was promising them would happen once Mom left town?

Very quickly upon arriving in Hong Kong, my fears were allayed (much of which was due to the hospitality of Mr. Kandelaars and Dr. Hakim). And, although the schools on the surface were quite different, the longer I was there I started to see more of the similarities instead of the differences. Both schools were filled with bright and motivated students and dedicated, committed and interesting faculty. I learned so much from the CIS faculty about international education and the baccalaureate program, Chinese history and culture, and the complex relationship between Hong Kong island and the mainland Chinese government. Mr. Lewis had once said this exchange was the best professional development experience of his life and after an inspiring two weeks at CIS, I couldn’t agree more.

As teachers, I think it is important that we model for students what we hope for them to do. While this sounds great in theory, at times the reality can be quite hard. For instance, when Ms. Lonergan suggested some faculty grow their hair for Locks for Love in solidarity with the students, in theory it sounded great. The reality of Ms. Ducharme chopping my hair off with a big pair of office scissors in front of the school—terrifying!

Teachers are continually encouraging students to expand their horizons and engage themselves with the larger global community—to get out in the world by participating in international exchanges, doing global community service work or considering study abroad.

As New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman has argued, our world has become increasingly flat and it is crucial that today’s students recognize the new realities of our increasingly global world.

The CIS-SG faculty exchange is just one small way that our schools and our faculties are embracing this new reality and are dedicating ourselves to learning from one another and to sharing our enthusiasm for teaching. I personally have learned much from Mr. Kandelaars and look forward to continuing the partnership between our two schools, and even more importantly, our friendship in the years to come.

Lucia Jaccaci is a history teacher at St. George’s. She can be reached at Lucia_Jaccaci@stgeorges.edu.

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People of the world

BY LEON KANDELAARS Following is a chapel talk delivered on Oct. 23.

Some years ago, my wife and I visited the Zambesi in southern Africa, one of the great rivers of the world. As the sun was setting one evening, we cruised downstream on a small flat-bottom boat with our guide and another couple, university academics from North Carolina. Keeping a safe distance from the hippos, we exchanged the usual pleasantries. A

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lovely inquisitive couple, they asked many questions, as we did of them. The conversation went something like this.

“Where do you come from?”

“We live in Hong Kong.”

“But you’re not Chinese, so where do you come from originally?”

“We’re from Australia.”

“But your wife has a different accent!”

“She was born in Poland, I was born in Australia, but my parents migrated to Australia from Holland.”

“Do you have children?”

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“Yes, a daughter.”

“And where was she born?”

“Germany.”

After hearing this complicated introduction, the professor then made a comment, “Doesn’t anyone just come from Wisconsin these days?”

This reminded me of a similar question I asked of a student at Frankfurt International School, where I once worked. He paused for a moment, not really knowing how to answer what I thought was a simple question: “Ben, where do you come from?” In a French accent, he said that his mother was English, his father was Dutch, and that the family had moved to Germany after spending most of his life in France.

He spoke French to his English mother and English to his Dutch father. Sociologists would identify him as a “third-culture kid,” a child who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents’ culture, does not entirely fit into the host culture, and does not have full ownership of any. This is the world of international schools, where there may be as many as 50 nationalities or more. The students at Chinese International School are not quite as diverse as that, but the faculty at CIS is truly international. We have teachers from Britain, Ireland, the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, India, Switzerland, France, Finland, Hungary, Russia, South Africa, and of course from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong itself. The students themselves are mainly HK Chinese and most are fluent in English and Cantonese, and all must learn Mandarin as part of the curriculum. On the whole, they speak English with American accents and aspire to go to college in the United States, Britain, Canada and elsewhere. Only 10 percent remain in Hong Kong itself to do further study. They are fluent in two languages and often three. They put me to shame. I would also describe them as being bicultural, something they take for granted. They move seamlessly from one culture to another—and they are oblivious to it. There is some truth to the hackneyed phrase ‘East meets West.’

Every year I take a group of students on a cultural heritage tour of Hong Kong. Dwarfed by the skyscrapers of Central Hong Kong is Man Mo Temple, a seemingly chaotic place of worship far removed from the quiet reverence of a Christian chapel like this. Those who practice Taoism often come here to pray before

the altar of the God of Literature, especially hopeful students preparing for exams. The elegant brass deer on the altar, which has a mushroom in its mouth, symbolizes immortality because deer are the only animals that can sniff out the fungi of the immortality. The descending lines of green roof tiles on the temple are made to look like shafts of bamboo, symbolizing longevity. Two lions cast from stone guard the entrance of the temple. These are enduring symbols of a culture that predates anything found in Western civilization. In many villages of the New Territories, shrines to the Earth God still guard over the inhabitants, and the ancestral hall is still the focus of village life. During the Hungry Ghost Festival, it is a common sight to see shopkeepers burning fake money in the streets to appease wandering ghosts from the underworld. At CIS itself a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, another ancient Chinese custom.

No matter how much I appreciate the culture, and want to learn about it, I will always be looking in from the outside. Living 12 years abroad, I sometimes feel like a third-culture kid. When I visit my hometown of Adelaide in Australia, it feels very familiar and yet alien at the same time. I have changed without noticing. Shared experiences with some people I used to know are diminishing, and I have more in common with friends who are on the international circuit of teaching. My life is not better; I have simply taken a different path. My wife and I sometimes argue about what country not to live in. For our next posting, I would like to stay in Asia, she would like to return to Europe, but we may well compromise on going to a country in Africa. I have always loved history, and my experience abroad has given me a fascination with how countries see themselves and how they acknowledge their past.

Hong Kong is going through an interesting transition right now. Signifying the final chapter of colonialism, it is now 10 years since Britain returned Hong Kong’s sovereignty to China. Under what late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping dubbed “one country, two systems,” Hong Kong embarked upon the experiment of the 21st century—capitalism under the world’s biggest communist regime. The rule of the law and the independence of the judiciary, which are so vital to Hong Kong’s success, are being upheld. Essential rights and freedoms are being protected, and challenges to them

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fully and freely debated. However, they are not guaranteed. It caused me to worry when I heard one of Hong Kong’s legislators say that history textbooks for school students should be vetted for patriotic content, especially in content related to the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989. It would be unpatriotic to call it a massacre. Fortunately, there was a huge outcry. The Communist Party is in power in China, but no one has yet dared to write the obituary of communism. New school textbooks were introduced in Shanghai last year and there is barely any mention of the disastrous effects of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

Mao for that matter is barely mentioned. What matters now is to sow a nation taking its rightful place in the world. No country has changed as much as China in the last generation. You only have to look at the city of Shenzhen just across the border from Hong Kong.

Twenty-five years ago it was a sleepy town of 30,000. As one of the original free economic zones of China, it has now grown into a mega-city of 10 million people.

History does matter, or why would so many governments try to change it? China has company in the democratic country of Japan. Starting in the 1980s, as conservative politicians have tried to restore pride and patriotism in Japan, revisionists have become alarmed by what they perceive to be “foreign interference” into Japan’s domestic issues such as textbook revisions.

Failing to convince the horrified Chinese that the Nanjing Massacre of 1937 was simply an “illusion,” they have shifted their attacks to the numbers of those actually “massacred.” What they would like to achieve, ultimately, is to remove a major blemish in Japan’s recent past. Australia also is still coming to terms with its past. It has been debated several times whether, as a sign of national reconciliation, the Australian government should apologize to the “stolen generation” of aboriginals who were taken from their parents to live with white foster parents. This happened as late as the 1960s. Massacres of aboriginals still took place in the 20th century, and I never learned about them in school textbooks. Fortunately, that has now changed.

William Faulkner wrote, “The past isn’t dead; it’s not even past.” This was very apparent to my wife and I as we took the road less traveled in the Deep South.

At the tourist information center in Charleston, we came across two groups of Americans searching for a very different past. Instead of doing the Fort Sumter tour, where black faces were conspicuously absent, we

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joined the black history tour of Charleston. We were eyed suspiciously at first by the driver of the van who was also the guide, but she eventually warmed up to us when she discovered that we were not American.

The rest of the group was delightful from the beginning. Most were seeking their own heritage, and we discovered that one island off the coast processed one-third of all American slaves. This was the Ellis Island of African Americans. On another occasion, I dragged my wife along, yet again, on another journey of American memory that included a visit to Gettysburg. I had just finished reading a book from David Horowitz called “Confederates in the Attic, Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War.” Wheeling down the steep slope from Little Round Top, in the steps of the Main Regiment, we came across three guys, who on first appearance looked a little rough with their heavily tattooed arms. However, they were impeccably polite and, in order to greet us, one of them interrupted his Herodotus-like epic account of the battle that had raged there. He had finished wrapping his tongue around the names of rebel generals like Braxton Bragg and Juba Early. Shelby Foote, a historian from Tennessee, once said laconically: “Southerners are very strange about that war.” History can be as much about the present as it is about the past.

I am very impressed by attempts in the United States to keep a faithful record of the past. This last summer I did a teacher’s workshop at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., where I did research on President Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. Apart from the strict security arrangements, I had access to nearly any document that I wanted to see. I read memos sent

by Kissinger to the President, signed by Kissinger and annotated and underlined by Nixon. These were actual documents, all stamped “secret” but now declassified. Unlike the Watergate tapes, these were always intended to be part of the public record one day. And it is open to all—even non-American citizens like myself. However, such privileges should never be taken for granted.

On public display at the National Archives, I saw the Declaration of Independence, an inspirational document that has become part of American scripture. But is it enough to treat as sacred text? I remember when Bob Woodward was interviewed on “60 Minutes” about the 20th anniversary of President Nixon’s resignation in disgrace following the Water-

gate scandal. Prodding him, the interviewer asked Woodward, “You knew that many of the top executives at the Washington Post thought that Watergate in its early reporting was insignificant, a non-story, but one that potentially could have caused severe embarrassment for the newspaper. And yet you pursed it. Why?” I remember Woodward’s steady and deliberate reply: “All good work is done in defiance of management.”

Put into context, Woodward’s comment suggests that it takes courage and conviction to ignore popular opinion in seeking the truth. In that same interview, he warned that democracy will always be a work in progress and that you should never take it for granted.

Watergate was the culmination of enormous turmoil in American history. From an outsider’s perspective, I sense that the United States is going through another major re-evaluation of its values, what it represents to the rest of the world and what role it should play in the post 9/11 world. Frankly, I was disturbed by the mood that I witnessed in person at a rally being held at Ground Zero in New York on the day that American troops entered Baghdad. This was the time when French fries were being named Freedom fries. That mood seems to have shifted since.

It is interesting how many times I have been asked at St. George’s about how Americans are perceived in the rest of the world. I can only give my opinion, but if St. George’s were a microcosm of American society, it would be outward looking, tolerant of diversity, and not afraid to disagree.

In closing, I would like to thank St. George’s for its generosity. Dr. (Dorothy) Hakim said that the people here would really look after me, but honestly this has exceeded my expectations. I know now why Dr. Hakim still raves about St. George’s. I too will have very fond memories of my experience here. Thank you to all the people who have taken me out to dinner nearly every night, even if you said that it was a good excuse to get off the Hilltop. I would like to give a special thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Jaccaci who welcomed me so openly and smoothed the way every day. And this was perhaps the biggest act of kindness extended to me: I was not forced to choose between the Red Sox and the Yankees.

Faculty members will again head to the East Another faculty trip to Korea, China and possibly Japan is planned for this June, and to prepare, teachers are taking part in a monthly reading group.

Director of Global Programs Tony Jaccaci has chosen several books for the group to read, preparing several of the members for what will be their first trip to the East.

On the list so far: “Confucius Lives Next Door,” by T.R. Reid, “Lost Names,” by Richard E. Kim, and “The Death of Woman Wang,” by Jonathan D. Spence.

Taking part in the trip this year will be theater and English teacher Betsy Durning, math teachers Linda Evans and Warren Williams, biology teacher Holly Williams, Dean of Faculty and English teacher Bob Weston, history and religious studies teacher Jeremy Goldstein, and Art Department Chair Mike Hansel. The group has been meeting since October. Look for a report on their trip in the next winter Bulletin.

Leon Kandelaars is a humanities teacher at the Chinese International School in Hong Kong. He can be reached at LeonK@CIS.edu.hk.

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Director of Global Programs Tony Jaccaci (back row, right) will lead a group of 10 students and three teachers on a research trip to Uganda in March. Pictured here are (in the front row) seniors Tori Hensel, Matt Bakios, Alex Merchant and Sofia Covarrubias, (in the middle row) Sasha Munn, Sophie Goodwin, Alia Eads, Alex Regan and Kathryn Connor, and (in the back row) faculty members Kevin Held and Carrie Kelly. Missing from the photograph is student Will O’Connor ’08, who will also make the trip.

Students, teachers prepare for trip to Uganda Ten students in Tony Jaccaci’s Global Seminar class and four teachers will be leaving school on Thursday, March 4, for a 12-day trip to Uganda.

Students will use the research tools they have studied—including economic, political and conflict resolution analysis—to pursue personal research projects. The group will begin its travels in Kampala and spend a week conducting research primarily in the Nakasongola province.

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The group will then travel to Murchison Falls to see some of the country’s parks. The 10 students will be accompanied by four teachers, two of whom (Kevin Held, head of the Department of Theater, Speech & Dance, and Assistant Librarian Carrie Kelly) have been auditing the course since September. During the last two months of the school year, the students will combine their research projects into a class report on Ugandan development, Jaccaci said.

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It was a different kind of holiday break for the Landon family.

Halsey Landon ’09, his mom Jennifer, his dad Russ and his 15-year-old sister Chelsea spent two weeks volunteering at the Living Waters Children’s Center—an orphanage in Arusha, Tanzania, in December.

The trip was organized by an international volunteer organization based in Louisiana, and the family members say it was a particularly rewarding experience.

The Landons spent most of the trip living with a host family who started Living Waters in 2004. There were 35 children at the orphanage, many of whom had been abandoned due to poverty or who had parents who had died from diseases sich as malaria or complications from AIDS. The children ranged in age from 4 to 14 and came from different parts of Tanzania and Kenya, many from local tribes like the Masai.

Every child had a sad story as to why he or she was there, but all were very happy to be at the center and always supportive of each other as though they were one big family.

Halsey said he intends to keep in touch with several of the boys, who told poignant stories of family hardships and illness. One boy, a Masai, had been severely injured and landed in the orphanage because the community felt it wouldn’t be able to care for him.

It was Halsey’s first trip to Africa. The family left from Boston, flew through Amsterdam and arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. The first part of their trip took them to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, where they adopted four elephants. This is an organization that rescues injured elephants and rhinos that have been abandoned by their herds.

Then they traveled from Nairobi to Arusha on a long seven-hour bus ride.

When they arrived at Living Waters, Halsey said, the children were overjoyed to receive

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Halsey Landon ’09 reads to Christopher and Joshua at the Living Waters Children’s Center in Tanzania. Halsey and his family spent two weeks in Africa volunteering at the orphanage. visitors from the United States.

“They greet you and they all want to tell you their names,” Halsey said, “and they proudly showed us around the orphanage and the school that is part of it.”

At the orphanage, the children ate mostly rice, beans and corn, porridge for breakfast, and “lots of bananas,” according to Halsey. Days were spent teaching the children English, working on reading and writing, sharing meals, and playing.

The Landons brought lots of items to donate— clothes, books, art supplies and sports equipment—and the children played loads of soccer (which they were very good at) and many games.

The center hopes to expand in the near future, and build new school facilities, all of which Halsey said he’d like to help with. A member of SG’s Community Service Council, he hopes to organize fund raising for the center back here at home.

Nonetheless, he remains committed to staying connected to his new friends, all of whom he thinks about often.

One of the African boys at the center named Lowie, 7, gave Halsey a Christmas card with a Polaroid photo of the two of them on the front.

“You get really close to them,” Halsey said.

“They were amazing.”

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Lauren O’Halloran ’10, Anna Schroeder ’09, Allie Barrows ’10 and Geronimo Second Mate Rachel Bahm make a stop at a local school during the Fall 2007 Geronimo trip.

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BY LAUREN O’HALLORAN ’10 Following is a journal entry written aboard Geronimo during the Fall 2007 trip.

When I was first accepted into the Geronimo program I was slightly apprehensive about the voyage.

My grandmother had passed away from pancreatic

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cancer over the winter when I had finally adjusted to school. My family and I like to remember her for the accomplished life she led as a school teacher and the dedicated wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and role model she was to each of us. The savory linguini and clam sauce on Christmas Eve and the soft jingle of her gold bracelets on her aged and sturdy wrist are just fractions of my favorite memories of my grand-

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mother. She was a strong woman who never gave in without a fight.

My grandfather, Tony, as my sisters and I call him, loves to lounge poolside reading and reflecting after long days without my grandmother. Being together for nearly their whole lives, this transition has been extremely painful and slow. As a family, we try to bring back her spunky stubbornness in everything we do, but nothing can ever replace the reality of spending moments with her in person. Memories are all that we can hold onto and use to connect to her.

Sometimes, we try connecting with that person on a more spiritual level through a message or reminder of some sort. These reminders can come in the form of your favorite sports team winning a title or the occasional surprising coincidence. Coincidences like these remind you that although that person isn’t there in the flesh with you, they are still there in spirit, guiding and supporting you in any way they can.

The sun began to set on a hazy June evening as my grandfather rounded the leaf-scattered pool for the last time before he returned back into the house.

He heard a small rustle in a nearby tree and at first glance the tiny sound revealed nothing more than a soft breeze whistling through the lush, green leaves. At second glance, however, a small grey-feathered bird darted across the branch. Tony thought nothing of it until the same bird perched on the fence returned each day for the rest of the summer. It never made a noise, and always came alone, just puffed its peppercolored wings and darted its gaze around the yard. As the weeks of the summer slowly passed, the bird still came every morning and left every evening without fail. My grandfather began to rely on that bird and he waited for its visit each day. Watching it, he came to be familiar with the bird and its mannerisms. He began to be convinced that it was my grandmother there to watch over him and our family. That summer we planted a tree in her honor. The bird, sure enough, found its perch on that tree. Ever since, I have had the feeling that no matter what we do in life someone we trust and love will always be there to watch over and guide us through both the worst and best of times.

The Geronimo experience is a rare and extremely unique one that can be, at times, an overwhelming

and difficult one. Family, to me is something that I thrive on and value greatly. On Geronimo you are separated from your biological family, and living in such close quarters with the other seven members of the crew, you are forced to gain a new family as well.

When my grandmother died, it was something that I have never really experienced before and I miss her more and more every day. When that bird arrived at the pool it was truly something special to my entire family. It stood as a symbol that we are never alone.

During our first sailing leg, the longest leg of our journey to the Bahamas, from Block Island, R.I., to Beaufort, N.C., my watch mates, Thomas (Growney) and Maddie (Carrellas), became extremely seasick.

Their sickness forced me to be a one-person watch. I had to be at the helm, plot positions, and cook our meals single-handedly. They were my family during this long period and without them I was struggling to get through each day. With no one to talk to, I began to think about other things such as my family at home. At that point, my energy and will to keep pushing on and through was slowly dwindling, until one afternoon while at the helm I spotted a small bird struggling to fly. We were out in the open ocean at this

While the boat was in drydock, the fall Geronimo crew stopped for a photo at St. George Episcopal Church in Florida. Pictured above: Tutti Davis ’09, Lauren O’Halloran ’10, Thomas Growney ’09, Anna Schroeder ’09, Maddie Carrellas ’09, Allie Barrows ’10, Second Mate Rachel Bahm, Nont Jiarathanakul ’10, and First Mate Paul Bostrum.

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point and the bird was in need of rest. However, the bird was reluctant to reach for the boat and it continued to try to fly on. Finally, it gave in and found a perch on the stern of the boat. I thought nothing of it at first until I returned later that evening to find the bird still perched in the same spot. It immediately became apparent to me that this bird possessed the same

persona as my grandmother. The night air was crisp and the stars were shining brightly against the clear night sky as I proceeded to feed it trail mix and set out a bowl of water. Its presence reminded me of my grandmother’s strong will and courage to push through. I now know that no matter where I am and whatever obstacles and struggles may try to slow me

Geronimo of fer s new summer program Third-, fourth- and fifth-form students now have another opportunity to take part in the Geronimo program. A four-week course on board the boat will be offered this summer from June 16 to July 14.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be granted ¼ academic credit—the equivalent of a half of a semester-long course taken during the regular school year. Topics covered will include oceanography, marine biology, marine geology, meteorology, navigation and seamanship.

“We’re always asking ourselves, ‘How can we get more kids on the water?’” said Geronimo Captain Deborah Hayes. “Being out on the water builds character and perspective.”

Oftentimes, Hayes added, students become stewards for the environment after they travel on

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the ocean. “They’ll say, ‘Look at all that plastic floating by,’” she said.

The audience for the summer trip will be students who shy away from the regular school-year trips because of other commitments, such as threesport athletes and students who are in AP classes, according to Hayes.

During the trip, students will travel in western North Atlantic and coastal waters, with the specific cruise track determined by research needs.

Applications are available through the Geronimo office and students will pay only for the cost of travel to and from the vessel and $150 to cover incidentals.

The trip will be run as a pilot program this year, with the hope that it may be run on an annual basis in the future, Hayes said.

DEAN FREDERICK ’51 PHOTO BY

down, I am never alone. I will never forget this moment in my life and it will stand as a reminder to anyone who is in need of a friend or the will to push through that someone is always looking out for you.

DEAN FREDERICK ’51

Lauren O’Halloran is a fourth former from Middletown, R.I. She can be reached at Lauren_O’Halloran@stgeorges.edu.

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Above: Tori Hensel ’08 prepares a meal in the galley for the crew of Geronimo during a trip last summer.

Right: Captain Deborah Hayes at the helm.

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EILEEN FITZGERALD ’08

welve students and two teachers headed to Hampton, N.H., on Jan. 8 to “get out the vote” for Barack Obama. Members of the group, an official chapter of the national Students for Barack Obama called “SG for Barack Obama ’08,” went door-to-door to visit voters, made phone calls or held signs outside polling places.

Senior Prefect Alex Merchant, who’s been on Obama e-mail lists since last June, arranged the trip.

“I really liked his speech at the Democratic National Convention, and after reading about the sort of pragmatic way he handled things both in the Illinois legislature and the U.S. Senate, that pretty much sealed the deal,” he said of his decision to support the Democratic presidential candidate. “I think my support of him has really been confirmed in the readings I have done about his trade and economic philosophy, especially when contrasted with Edwards or Clinton.

Accompanying Merchant on the New Hampshire visit were students Lindsay Beck, Stockton Bullitt, Kathryn Connor, Luke Erder, Eileen FitzGerald, Tori Hensel, Nick Kiersted, Will Mason, Anna McConnell, Alex Merchant, West Resendes and Lela Wulsin and faculty members Patricia Lothrop and Kevin Held.

Merchant has high hopes for his candidate, even though he lost narrowly to fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.

“His large support from Independents and Republicans both in Iowa and New Hampshire bodes well both for the election and if he becomes president,” he said.

SG for Barack Obama ’08 started out as a Facebook group this summer. Though the campus has its share of supporters for other candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, the Obama group has been the most organized—so far.

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Clockwise from the top left: Alex Merchant ’08 and students who worked on the Obama campaign in New Hampshire were featured in the Jan. 9 edition of the Providence Journal; Nick Kiersted ’09 and Anna McConnell ’09 show their support at the polls; Anna McConnell ’09, Kathryn Connor ’08, Tori Hensel ’08, Alex Merchant ’08, Luke Erder ’10, Lela Wulsin ’10, Will Mason ’08, Nick Kiersted ’09, Lindsay Beck ’09, West Resendes ’08 and Stockton Bullitt ’08 on the bus ride to New Hampshire.

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Matt Bakios ’08, Morgan Beeson ’08, Clay Davis ’09 and Linda Lho ’08 participate in the semi-final round of the All-School Presidental Debate, which took place in January.

Laney Yang ’10 placed seventh out of 50 student violinists vying for a spot in the Rhode Island AllState Youth Orchestra during a competition at Rhode Island College in November. Yang played some Bach and Brahms, as well as scales, during the audition.

She’ll now take center stage in some upcoming spring performances.

Will Bruce ’08, Lauren Hilton ’10, Kinyette Henderson ’10 and Lara McLeod ’10 attended the Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Boston, Mass., Nov. 29 through Dec. 1.

Hosted by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Student Diversity Leadership Conference is a multiracial, multicultural gathering of student leaders in grades nine–12 from around the country. It focuses on self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community. Participants examine issues of social justice, develop effective cross-cultural communication skills, practice expression through the arts, and learn networking principles and strategies.

Twenty-six students—one student from each history class—made it to the semifinal round of the AllSchool Presidential Debate, which took place on Jan.

10, and six students made it to the finals. The semifinalists were asked to take on the role of either one of the Republican campaign frontrunners—Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain or Mike Huckabee—or one of the Democratic frontrunners— John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

“We tried to keep it as simple for the students to prepare for as possible since they were gearing up for mid-term exams in January,” said debate organizer and History Department Chair Deb Foppert. “So we kept to a set number of Republicans and Democrats and we picked those who were front-runners at the time and/or those whom the students had shown an interest in during their preliminary rounds.”

Molly Boyd ’10, Hendrik Kits van Heyningen ’10, Paula Pimentel ’09, Alex Merchant ’08, Matt Bakios ’08 and Selena Elmer ’08 emerged as victorious in the second round.

The all-school debate, which usually takes place just before Spring Break in March, was moved up this year to take advantage of the heightened interest in the national campaign.

The debate final is scheduled to be held Feb. 7.

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College Acceptances (as of Jan. 10) Following is the list of colleges that have accepted SG seniors in either the early-admission or early-action process: Early Decision Barnard College - 1 Bates College - 1 Boston University - 1 Bucknell University - 2 Columbia University - 1 Connecticut College - 2 Cornell University - 1 Duke University - 1 Elon University - 1 Gettysburg College - 1 Hamilton College - 2 Johns Hopkins University - 1 Lehigh University - 1 Mount Holyoke College - 1 Skidmore College - 1 Stevens Institute of Technology - 1 Trinity College - 1 Tufts University - 1 University of Pennsylvania - 1 University of Richmond - 1 Vanderbilt University - 1 Wake Forest University - 3 Wesleyan University - 1 Williams College - 1

Early Action Babson College - 3 Boston College - 1 College of Charleston - 5 Cornell College - 1 Drexel University - 1 Elmira College - 1 Elon University - 1 Fordham University - 1 Franklin College Switzerland - 1 Georgetown University - 2 Howard University - 1 Northeastern University - 3 Roanoke College - 1 Southern Methodist University - 2 Temple University - 1 Texas Christian University - 1 Tulane University - 1 University of Chicago - 1 University of Denver - 1 University of Maine - 1 University of San Francisco - 1 University of Vermont - 3 Washington College - 1 University of Colorado at Boulder - 2 University of Mississippi - 1 40

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DRESS DOWN DAY NEWS: Along with a successful Dress Down Day on Oct. 12, the girls’ varsity soccer team raised money for KickAIDS, a group that educates Africans about HIV and AIDS through the use of soccer, by hosting a “Juggle-Off.” The team challenged other girls’ soccer teams in the ISL to a soccer skills contest, and four other teams in the league and Governor’s Academy, Brooks, BB&N and Lawrence Academy participated. The teams began by averaging the number of juggles it could complete in a 10-minute window at the beginning of the season (a “juggle” counts as a touch on the ball off the player’s body, except the hands, without the ball touching the ground). The challenge then had three categories: the most juggles, the largest number of juggles improved from the beginning to the end of the season, and the most money raised. Caroline Rindlaub ’08 coordinated the SG team efforts. The girls completed their challenge on Nov. 8, and the results were fantastic, according to head coach Tony Jaccaci. The SG team registered 57 juggles on average, a 26-touch improvement from the beginning of the season, and in total, raised more than $1,800.

On Friday, Nov. 2, Will O’Connor ’08 helped organize a Dress Down Day for the Potter League for Animals, a local animal shelter. Several SG faculty members received their pets from the shelter.

A Dress Down Day on Nov. 30 and individual donations, as well as donations from the Board of Trustees, helped raise hundreds of dollars for an adolescent group home supported by Newport Child & Family Services. “We were able to buy a wonderful amount for the 12 young adults we ‘adopted,’” Assistant Librarian Carrie Kelly told the community. The money was used to purchase requested items such as iPod Shuffles, a microwave, a bike, winter jackets, hooded sweatshirts, socks, hats, gloves, and gift cards.

Kelsey Crowther ’08, Polly Murray ’10, Ann Wheeler ’08, Katie McCormack ’11 and history teacher Lucia Jaccaci helped organize the fund-raising efforts.

Sophie Goodwin ’08 spent a month this past summer studying art in Central Italy.

On Thursday, Dec. 13, the day before students left on the holiday break, Sam Redway ’09, Sophie Goodwin ’08 and Claire Kudenholdt ’10 helped organize a Dress Down Day to raise money for the Schools for Schools program, sponsored by the Invisible Children organization, to generate funds for war-affected schools in northern Uganda.

And on Friday, Jan. 11, a Dress Down Day was held to raise money for Asociación SOLAC, a nonprofit organization founded by students of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú that focuses on social and economic development/improvement in Lima as well as its surrounding areas. A devastating earthquake in August struck 95 miles southeast of Lima, killing 519 people and injuring more than 1,800. After the tragedy, SOLAC took on the task of helping the smaller and harder to reach communities on the outskirts of the city. Spanish teacher Anthony Perry spearheaded the efforts for the Dress Down Day. Sophie Goodwin ’08 attended the month-long Spoleto Study Abroad program this past summer, visiting cultural centers in Siena, Florence, Assisi, Tivoli and other medieval hill towns in Central Italy.

The program, an international program co-sponsored by a consortium of independent American schools, is for students, ages 15-19, interested in vocal music, visual arts, photography, film and instrumental/chamber music.

Alex Layton ’09 was honored at a Rhode Island Make-A-Wish event last fall for his decision to donate the proceeds from his Fire Fly CD to the organization that arranges special experiences for children with life-threatening illnesses. Alex sold his CDs through the St. George’s bookstore. Layton performed for a large group that included Make-A-Wish board members, supporters, Make-A-Wish children and friends of the organization. He played cover songs, as well as a few songs that he himself wrote last year.

The Mock Trial Team had their first trial Monday, Dec. 3, at the Murray Courthouse in Newport. Acting as lawyers were Sophie Goodwin ’08, Clay Davis ’09 and Logan Hoover ’09. And acting as witnesses were Sophia Noel ’09, Si Min Yun ’09 and George Williams ’09. The team argued the plaintiff ’s case and the presiding judge was Judge Erickson, whose daughter Althea graduated in 1998.

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Bob Wein addresses his physics class.

Lisa Hansel distributes sketchbooks to students in the architecture class.

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Ed McGinnis uses an interactive whiteboard to teach his mathematics class. SMART Board technology is now available in most classrooms.

Hillary Wein ’11 studies in the library.

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Members of Gary Cornog’s English class, Novels and Tales of the Sea, visited the New Bedford Whaling Museum Nov. 8 for a presentation on “Moby Dick.” Pictured here are seniors Peter Miller, George Gebelein, Sean O’Brien, Whit Curtin, Chris Swanson, Chris Fogg, Michael Miller, Ben Bainbridge, Ashley Friend, Bennett Geyer, Morgan Beeson and Juan Flores at the Seamen’s Bethel in New Bedford.

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Charlie Fleming ’09, a student in Steve Leslie’s marine biology class harvests salt marsh seeds in the fall.

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Kathryn Lemay reviews the course syllabus with members of her photography class.

Zhuo Lin Wang explains an assignment to Lit Cao ’10 during Chinese class.

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Students Tony Kim ’10, Si Yun ’09 and Alex Layton ’09 look on while chemistry teacher Pierre Yoo conducts an experiment.

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Seniors Matt Bakios, Peter Johns, Kathryn Connor, Anna Mascarenhas and Ellie McDonald receive instructions for their assignment on “Beowulf ” from AP English teacher Jeff Simpson.

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Upcoming events and programs or the winter musical, students will perform “Oklahoma!” for the public and parents on March 1 at 7 p.m. and on March 2 at 2 p.m. Playing lead roles will be: Alex Merchant (Curley), Will Bruce (Will Parker), Will Mason (Jud Fry), Jason Andrews (Ali Hackim), Peter Miller (Andrew Carnes), Ellie Myers (Laurey), Margaret Hawkins (Ado Annie), Allie Barrows (Aunt Eller), Hailey Feldman (Gertie), and Eileen FitzGerald (Dream Laurey). Tickets may be reserved by calling (401) 8426694 or e-mailing boxoffice@stgeorges.edu. All seats are reserved. The admission charge is $5 per person to benefit Camp Ramleh.

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On Sunday, March 9, 14 of our students will be participating in the Academic Decathlon, a national scholastic Dancers Stephanie Johnson competition, at the Community College of Rhode Island ’10, Elizabeth Bayne ’10 in Warwick. Eliza Foster ’08, and Oxy Nagornuka ’10 prepare for the March Diatre Padilla ’09, Brian performances of Lowry ’08, Johnny Norfleet “Oklahoma!,” this year’s ’09, Justin Hoffmann ’09, winter musical.

Sarah Harrison ’09, Logan Hoover ’09, SiMin Yun ’09, Jenny Chung ’09, Laney Yang ’10, Juan Flores ’08, SoYoon Jun ’09, Ellie Myers ’08 and Leigh Archer ’09 will match their wits in 10 categories against other high school students. The theme for the 2007–2008 season is The Civil War. The Mobile, Ala., affiliate of Habitat for Humanity will be getting another visit from St. George’s folks in March.

Thirty SG community members—10 teachers and 20 students—will be heading back to the area to help build homes for residents displaced after Hurricane Katrina. The group heads out March 9 and returns on the 15th. “We worked with Mobile’s Habitat affiliate last year, and had a

great time, and they asked us to return, so we were happy to be able to,” said English teacher Lucy Goldstein, who with her husband Jeremy, a French and religious studies teacher, organized the trip. The students will work 8-4 every weekday, and at night they’ll be staying in a volunteer dorm at a church.

Eleven SG students and several faculty members will spend four days in Washington, D.C. this spring in a special program designed to enhance their understanding of the American political process.

The program, which will take place March 9-13, is being funded by the William S. R. Rogers Endowment for Public Policy Studies, an initiative of Jeff Kimbell ’89.

“My professional career is a direct result of Mr. Rogers’ ‘White House’ class,” said Kimbell, owner of Jeffrey J. Kimbell and Associates, a federal affairs and political strategy firm specializing in medical technology, deWashington, D.C. vice, and health care legislation. “By establishing this endowment, I hope to ensure that graduates of St. George’s recognize the importance of public policy in Washington, D.C.” Details are still being worked out, but the program will likely feature visits to the White House, the Capitol, a television news channel station, a party headquarters and a lobbying firm, plus “discussions with various leaders involved in the myriad aspects of public life in our nation’s capital,” according to Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs Pat Moss.

Kimbell says he wants students to be able to experience the effects of government on all businesses and industries.

“All U.S. citizens should understand how our representative democracy truly operates and respect the unique brilliance of such a system,” he said. “My hope is that through this endowment, St. George’s students will share in a relevant policy experience and experience the excitement of Washington, D.C.”

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The Rhode Island Scholastic Art Competition took place in January.

Winners will be published in the next Notes from the Hilltop newsletter.

PHOTOS BY SUZANNE HADFIELD Clockwise from top left: Lela Wulsin ’10 works on a charcoal drawing in the arts center; Chase Uhlein ’08 completes a model for architecture class; Kate Woestemeyer ’09 finishes a drawing for entry in the Scholastic Art Competition.

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Apple-filled computer lab attracts budding filmmakers, digital artists

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Generous donations from the Edward E. and Marie L. Matthews Foundation, the family foundation of Russ Matthews ’87, have made professional-quality video editing available to students with a gift for movie-making. State-of-the-art video cameras, Apple’s Final Cut Pro video editing software and a fleet of G-5 computers with cinema-display monitors were all purchased with awards from the foundation over the last three years.

Matthews says he’s glad to help students who are drawn to the video medium. While at St. George’s, he did an independent study with fellow student Peter Brown, now an actor.

“It was my first big exposure to creating something visual like that,” Matthews said. But he learned quickly he was making a video, a project they called “Our Movie,” without many resources.

Matthews, now a principal with MOR Entertainment in Los Angeles, says he wanted to help today’s students get a better start in the field. “I trace my filmmaking roots back to SG,” he said. He also said he will never forget a comment from his faculty advisor, Phil Dickinson. “He said that Peter and I recognized that we didn’t have a God-given right to an audience—that we had to make something worth people’s while.

“I still keep that in mind.”

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Above: Matt Bakios ’08 gets a moment in the spotlight during a solo performance on Parents Weekend.

Below: Members of the SG Jazz Ensemble SoYoon Jun ’09, Elizabeth Bayne ’10, John Park ’09 and Esi Ozemebhoya ’11, impress the crowd on Parents Weekend.

The school’s new Digital Lab at the Drury/Grosvenor Art Center is a popular place for graphic artists and video editors, including Christina Haack ’09 and Nam Hee Kim ’09 (foreground), heads of a club called Pulchritudo that puts together videos of St. George’s events to sell to the community. Here, Haack and Kim use iMovie to add music to video footage from Middlesex Weekend.

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The 2007 Alumni/ae Hockey Game took place on Sunday, Dec. 9, and the veterans, who faced off against the boys varsity squad, won in a shootout. The alumni team—Tim Ghriskey ’73, Jerry Kirby ’74, Tim Lineaweaver ’75, James O’Brien ’75, John Corcoran ’78, Brett Sanidas ’84, Steve Connett Jr. ’86, Ray Woishek ’89, Ryan Mulhern ’91, George Sargent ’00, Todd Curtin ’02, Cam Dyment ’04, Bryce Roberts ’05, Liam Chatterton ’06, Anthony Longo ’06, and math teachers Joe Elias and Marc Haskell—did get a little help though: Varsity team star goalie Sean O’Brien ’08 was playing for them and made some incredible saves. The game, which had been a tradition, is slated to again become an annual event. Contact varsity coach Ryan Mulhern at Ryan_Mulhern@stgeorges.edu if you’re interested in playing at the end of this year.

Allie Conti ’08 in January became the first-ever field hockey player from St. George’s to earn All-Region Team honors from the National Field Hockey Coaches Association. Coach Kelly Richards made the announcement in Assembly on Jan. 7. Conti, a team captain who was named Most Valuable Player, heads to Northeastern University this fall.

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The St. George’s girls’ hockey team won its second consecutive championship at the Howard Invitational Tournament held at the SG’s Cabot/Harman Ice Center on Dec. 15. The girls captured the title with a 2-0 victory over Millbrook in the final game.

SG senior forward Rita Capaldi (4 goals, 2 assists) Varsity field hockey players Allie Conti ’08, Tori Curtis ’08, Courtney Jones ’10, Jen Noesen ’08 and Eliza Foster ’08 ready for a play during a game against Brooks in October.

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Continued on the page 54

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Clockwise from the top: Varsity swimmers Teddy Collins ’09, Timon Watkins ’11 and Drew Miller ’09 cheer on teammate Ollie Scholle ’08 in the 200 Medley Relay; Charleen Conlogue ’08 competes in the 500 Freestyle; Coach Tom Evans gives some advice to his swimmers.

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Clockwise from top left: Varsity soccer player Bridget Killeavy ’09; varsity football’s Galimah Baysah ’09; cross-country team member Lara McLeod ’10; the boys varsity hockey team visits the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto last summer.

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FALL ATHLETES MAKE THEIR MARK 2007 ST. GE ORGE’S FALL ATHLE TIC AWA RDS BOYS’ CROSS COUNTRY

BOYS’ SOCCER

Galvin Cross Country Award ........................................Bennett Geyer Cross Country Coaches’ Cup .............................................Peter Johns Cross Country Most Improved.......................................Geoff Pedrick All-New England .............................................................Bennett Geyer All-County............Bennett Geyer, Chris McCormack, Geoff Pedrick Captains-elect ..............................Chris McCormack, Dan Fortunato

Soccer Most Valuable Player Award ................................Max Fowler Soccer Coaches’ Cup.......................................................Nick Carrellas McElhinny Most Improved Award ..................................Ollie Scholle NEPSSA Senior All-Star Game ........................................Ollie Scholle, (Parker Knisley nominated) All-ISL, first team.................................................................Max Fowler Providence Journal All-State .............................................Max Fowler Captains-elect.......................................................Carmen Boscia, TBA

GIRLS’ CROSS COUNTRY Galvin Cross Country Award .....................................Kathryn Connor Cross Country Coaches’ Cup ...............................Charleen Conlogue Cross Country Most Improved.......................................Allie Boynton All-ISL, first team.........................................................Kathryn Connor Providence Journal All-State .....................................Kathryn Connor All-County ..........Kathryn Connor, Sophie Domanski, Hillary Wein Captain-elect..............Leigh Archer, Sarah Harrison, Eliza Richartz

FIELD HOCKEY

GIRLS’ SOCCER Soccer Most Valuable Player Award ...........................Lindsay White Soccer Coaches’ Cup.....................................................Lindsey Brooks Soccer Most Improved Player ..........................................Rita Capaldi All-ISL, first team ............................................................Lindsay White All-ISL, honorable mention..........................................Lindsey Brooks Providence Journal All-State ........................................Lindsay White Captains-elect ...........................Megan Leonhard, Maddie Carrellas

Walsh Field Hockey Bowl.....................................................Allie Conti Field Hockey Coaches’ Cup................................................Eliza Foster Field Hockey Most Improved Player ..............................Ann Wheeler All-New England Tournament Team..................................Allie Conti All-ISL, first team ..................................................................Allie Conti All-ISL, honorable mention .................Eliza Foster, Ellie McDonald, Leslie Muzzy, Charlotte Deavers Providence Journal All-State...............................................Allie Conti NFHCA Academic All-American ......Ann Wheeler, Ellie McDonald, Ali Fornell, Eliza Foster Captains-elect ..........................................Leslie Muzzy, Merrill Pierce

Thayer Football Cup.....................................................Devin O’Rourke Claggett Football Award.................................................Bennett Byrd Football Most Improved Player ........................................Brian Lowry All-New England ...................................Devin O’Rourke, Drew Miller All-ISL. First team.................................Devin O’Rourke, Drew Miller, Patrick Guerriero, Galimah Baysah, Kyle Corkery All-ISL, honorable mention .......................Peter Hahn, Doyle Stack, Brian Lowry, Tom Evans Providence Journal All-State ..............Devin O’Rourke, Drew Miller Captains-elect .............................................Drew Miller, Doyle Stack, Galimah Baysah, Pat Guerriero

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FOOTBALL

Max Fowler ’08 was the varsity soccer team’s M.V.P.

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Field hockey standout Allie Conti ’08 will play for Northeastern University this fall.

Continued from page 50 was named tournament MVP. Senior captains Allie Conti, Eliza Foster and Jamie Mey accepted the championship plaque at center ice following the game.

Meanwhile, Williston-Northampton claimed its second consecutive championship at the tournament with a 6-4 victory over BB&N. The Wildcats have won the tourney four out of the past five seasons.

Football players Devin O’Rourke ’08, Drew Miller ’09, soccer players Max Fowler ’09 and Lindsay White ’08, and field hockey standout Allie Conti ’08 were named Fall Independent School All-Stars by the Providence Journal in January.

Staff members for North East Sports Fitness and Rehabilitation of Warwick, R.I., signed on to be St. George’s strength and conditioning coaches for the balance of this school year. They began their work Monday, Jan. 14.

The coaches meet with athletes four days a week from 2:15-6:15 p.m. whenever school is in session.

Their objective is to work with all of our athletes, both with the teams and with individuals as well, ac-

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cording to Athletic Director John Mackay. “What we envision is that during the sports season, each team will work out—doing exercises in speed, agility, quickness, flexibility and strength—with them at least once per week,” he said.

Time before 3 p.m. is being spent with individual athletes, and NESF is also serving as a resource for SG coaches.

Julien Greco ’06, a sophomore forward on Goucher’s men’s soccer team, was named to the ESPN The Magazine 2007 Academic All-District II College Division Men’s Soccer Team in December.

The team is chosen by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Greco, who supplied the Gophers with eight goals and four assists to lead the Landmark Conference in points (20) during the regular season, currently carries a 3.90 grade point average. He is a political science and international relations major with a minor in Spanish.

The women’s squash team at Middlebury College has a strong SG connection. Two of the three captains are SG grads: Ellie Buechner ’04 of Newport and Sally Hatfield ’05 of Barrington, R.I.

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Chair of the SG Board of Trustees Francis “Skip” Branin ’65 (left) and Head of School Eric Peterson (right) award the Volunteer of the Year Award to Nick Hare ’80 (center).

Volunteer award goes to Nick Hare ’80 Nick Hare ’80, P’10, was the recipient of the 2007 Philip Murray Reynolds Volunteer of the Year Award, presented annually to an outstanding Annual Fund volunteer.

The award was given to Hare on Dec. 7 at a gathering for the St. George’s Board of Trustees at Merrick House “for the incredible work he did with his class,” according to Associate Director of External Affairs Cindy Martin.

Hare said he was so pleased with his son Alex’s experience at St. George’s and with all of the good things that were happening at St. George’s these days that he wanted to give back to the school in any way he could, so he signed on as class agent last fall to fill the position that had

been vacant for a number of years.

With the belief that his class could do better than its 31-percent participation in the Annual Fund the previous year, he then set out on a mission to reach the class, one by one, to tell them about the importance of supporting St. George’s. Hare worked with the Development Office to establish a challenge match with one of the generous members of his class. The classmate would give at the Dragon Society level ($11,450), but only if the class achieved 50 percent participation. Hare, with the help of another classmate, convinced several members of the class to give. The final participation exceeded 51 percent, the highest of any class in the ’80s decade, and established a new class “personal best.”

This new stained glass window, located on the west wall in the southwest corner of the antechapel, is a gift from the estate of Mickey Michel P’85, ’89. Like the other two lancet windows in the antechapel, the Michel Window, installed last fall, was inspired by the Psalms, in this case Psalm 23.

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Newly elected board member Phoebe Muzzy P’06, ’09, ’11 (second from the left) with her children Leslie ’09, Everett ’11 and Crispin ’06.

Muzzy elected to SG Board of Trustees

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he SG Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Oct. 6 to elect Phoebe W. Muzzy P’06, ’09, ’11 to a three-year term.

Muzzy, of Houston, Texas, is an active volunteer in the community. She graduated from St. John’s School in 1974 and from Vanderbilt University in 1978.

She is a former trustee of St. John’s School and a director of the family’s McCrea Foundation.

She and her mother, Phoebe Welsh, have hosted several receptions in Houston for the school. And

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she and her husband Gray, a partner with the law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani, have been members of the SG Parents Committee since 2002.

The board also voted to appoint Arthur F. “Port” Draper Jr. ’61 and Richard N. “Richie” Sayer ’65 as honorary trustees. Draper, an architect who for decades maintained Phillip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, Conn., was a trustee from 19802007. He served as chair of the board’s Building and Grounds Committee, which oversaw the construc-

tion of the Dorrance Field House, Merrick House, Buell and Wheeler dormitories, Hoopes Squash Center, Cabot/Harman Ice Center, Drury/Grosvenor Center for the Arts, Hamblet Campus Center and Hoyt Swimming Pool, as well as many renovation and repair projects.

Sayer, a Newport lawyer who specializes in estate, tax planning and business law, served on the board from 1981-2007. He served on the Committee on Trustees and the Finance Committee. A school branding campaign, of which he was an avid proponent, resulted in the school’s “Because the Journey Matters” tagline.

Sayer graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1969 and Suffolk University Law School in 1978.

The board formed two new committees at its meeting in December—the Education Committee, which will keep an eye on academic issues, and the Student Life Committee, whose goal will be to track the latest issues surrounding our students’ lives outside the classroom. Trustee Bill Prescott, former headmaster of the Wheeler School, was appointed chair of the Education Committee and Bambie de la Gueronniere was appointed chair of the Student Life Committee.

The board adopted the following Sustainability Vision Statement at its meeting on Dec. 8, 2007: St. George’s School is committed to fostering and mod-

eling an ethic of environmental stewardship of the natural

world entrusted to us by God. We believe that

this commitment is a critical component of the

school’s goal, expressed in our school mission

statement to graduate young people whose

“lives will be ones of constructive service” in a “complex

changing world.”

The St. George’s School community is dependent upon

a wide range of natural resources that sustain our life

processes; we recognize our responsibility to preserve

those resources, now and for the future. As an institution,

we are committed to understanding the impact of our ac-

tions on the environment, paying particular attention to the

use of our land, the construction and renovation of our

facilities, our consumption of energy and other resources, and our choices of transportation.

Integral to our educational mission is the responsibil-

ity to promote understanding and awareness of our relation to the natural world, both through our academic programs and in our daily habits and choices. Active learning, effective sharing, and consistently sound environmental practice will confirm our school’s success in achieving this

mission. St. George’s School seeks to develop leaders in the study, practice, and promotion of ecological sustainability—“constructive service” of the most vital kind as our

graduates confront the global environmental challenges of the 21st century.

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Alumni/ae invited back May 16-18

ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL REUNION WEEKEND 2008 Home Athletic Contests Saturday, May 17, 2008 Boys Varsity Lacrosse vs. St. Paul’s 3:30 p.m. (North Field)

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Mark your calendars for another great Reunion Weekend in May, says Reunion Weekend coordinator Ann Weston.

Scheduled events beginning Friday, May 16, are many and of special note to reunion classes. As usual, the weekend kicks off on Friday evening with the presentation of the St. George’s distinguished alumnus/a award, the Diman Award. Following the Diman Award presentation will be a welcome reception as well as a variety of evening events for individual reunion classes.

Saturday’s activities include Chapel tours with Jack Doll ’52, class visits, student and faculty panel discussions, a picnic lunch on the front lawn, assorted home athletic events, and a formal dinner at the Stephen P. Cabot and Archer Harman Ice Center.

Reunion class alums are encouraged to be on campus Saturday night, May 17, for this festive dinner celebration in honor of all the reunion classes.

A special alumni/ae chapel service takes place on Sunday morning, May 18.

Alums will be receiving an invitation to Reunion Weekend events in early March, but for now, save the dates—May 16-18. Please check online at www.stgeorges.edu for reunion class hotel, weekend schedule and special event information. You’ll be able to register online after March for Reunion Weekend 2008.

REUNION CL ASSES 1938 • 70th

1973 • 35th

Boys J.V. Lacrosse vs. St. Paul’s 3:30 p.m. (Cliff Field)

1943 • 65th

1978 • 30th

1948 • 60th

1983 • 25th

Varsity Softball vs. St. Paul’s 3:30 p.m. (Softball Field)

1953 • 55th

1988 • 20th

1958 • 50th

1993 • 15th

Girls Varsity & J.V. Tennis vs. St. Paul’s 3:30 p.m. (Upper & Lower Tennis Courts)

1963 • 45th

1998 • 10th

1968 • 40th

2003 • 5th

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Diman North Dormitory, in front of the library, will be named Eccles Hall, in memory of St. George’s fifth headmaster.

PHOTO BY

SUZANNE HADFIELD

The dormitory currently referred to as Diman North will be named Eccles Hall this spring in memory of Willet L. Eccles, the fifth headmaster of St. George’s School (1943-51), who is credited by a generation to have “saved the school” during World War II and the early post-war years when financial constraints nearly forced its closure.

The open path between the Arden/Diman Quad and the Hill Library in front of the dormitory, formerly occupied by Behrend Pool, which was demolished this past summer, will now be called Behrend Quadrangle.

Both dedication ceremonies will take place on Saturday, May 17, at 11:45 a.m. as part of Reunion Weekend.

SUZANNE HADFIELD

Diman North dorm named in memory of former headmaster

The outdoor area once occupied by the Behrend Pool will be named Behrend Quad—and dedicated on Reunion Weekend.

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onorary trustee and 1961 grad Port Draper got decked out in Barneys New York suit, Dunhill shirt, Prada tie and Ermenegildo Zegna shoes for a photo shoot featured in the June 2007 issue of Men’s Vogue. The magazine produced a special series on iconic architecture featuring Phillip Johnson’s Glass House, for which Draper, an architect, has been a consultant for years. “Johnson knew the work was experimental, so he just assumed there would be problems,” Draper told the magazine.

“But he never once comThe June 2007 issue of Men’s Vogue featured plained.” Draper also overarchitect and honorary SG trustee Port saw construction of all the Draper ’61. buildings at Johnson’s estate beginning in 1968.

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change initiatives Wein has undertaken on her own: an attempt to get Skidmore to stop using Kleenex tissues because of their negative impact on the environment. “People would care if they were more informed,” she told the news. “People don’t realize how much power they have. Apathy is dangerous.”

Petra Pilgrim ’99 got a taste of celebrity when she recently was tapped to pose for a poster promoting Texas Tech University’s School of Medicine. The poster features Pilgrim and a professor and advertises the school’s “Training Tomorrow’s Physicians” tagline. Pilgrim is in her third year of medical school at Texas Tech and will graduate in 2010. She is concurrently pursuing honors in cardiovascular research and would ultimately like to do her residency in ei-

Billy Bush ’90 got his chance to go up against the big guys on Thursday, Jan. 10. He was a featured contestant on Fox’s “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”

The latest success of fine furnishings artist Ted Sturtevant ’96 was the subject of a Newport Daily News article on Dec. 15. These days Ted is concentrating on concrete—cast concrete countertops, that is.

His company, E.G. Sturtevant LLC makes and installs the countertops for both private and commercial customers, including Scales & Shells on Thames Street.

Stephanie Wein ’06 was the subject of a profile in the Newport Daily News on Aug. 11 for her environmental activism. Wein, now a sophomore at Skidmore College, attended a camp in Washington, D.C., last summer called Change It ’07, an activist training program led by Greenpeace designed to empower students to become more socially active. Among the

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ther dermatology or psychiatry. “I am really enjoying my lab research at the moment,” she says. “We are currently working on a paper about how Cytomegalovirus infection directly leads to cardiac inflammation (which translates into myocardial infarction) in transplant patients and elderly patients. Other than hanging out in the lab, I am constantly studying! Or at least feeling guilty if I’m not studying!”

Ned Johnson ’96 is the developer of the property for this year’s “Dream Home” featured on the HGTV (Home and Garden Television) network. The development features eight homes built on Plantation Key in the northern section of the Florida Keys, and is called The Shore at Islamorada.

HARDER FAMILY PHOTO COURTESY OF THE

Hank Harder ’83 gets a welcome home from his children following his recent tour in Iraq. See p. 100 for more on his military service.

Assistant Athletic Director Wendy Drysdale (left), and math teacher Julie Butler (second from right) met up with Debbie Edgar ’90, a member of the SG Athletic Hall of Fame and winner of the SG Medal and Mary Eustis Zane Cup, and Chris Tolan ’07 at a Los Angeles Dodgers game last June.

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Sylvester Monroe ’69, a senior editor at Ebony magazine, went on a 10-day trip with former president Bill Clinton to gather material for a package of stories in Ebony’s December 2007 edition. One highlight of the trip was meeting up with Nelson Mandela: “He remembered me from 17 years ago,” Monroe said. “I was the only African-American print journalist to interview him in Capetown on the day that he was released from prison.”

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Morgan Mandeville ’00 visited the Global Studies Class in January. Seniors Alia Eads, Alexandria Regan and Kathryn Connor listen as Mandeville talks about how the nonprofit agency she works for, Revenue Watch Institute, helps governments manage profits reaped from natural resources.

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O GDEN N ASH S OCIET Y P ROFILE : Jonathan L. King ’47 Wyckoff, N.J.

A wide variety of planned giving opportunities available to alumni/ae, parents and friends of St. George’s Planned gifts can be both personal in nature and a means of honoring your many connections to St. George’s Jonathan L. King ’47 is an active and committed volunteer at St. George’s. He has dutifully served as class agent since the 1990s and in 2005 he agreed also to take on the important role of class correspondent to help keep classmates in touch with the school and one another. He last visited the Hilltop on Reunion Weekend in May of 2007 to observe the 60th reunion of his class.

Last year Father King, a retired Episcopal priest, informed the Alumni/ae Office that he had decided to include St. George’s in his will, “…for personal, but also for family reasons.”

“I spent five of my most formative years at the school, beginning in September 1942 and culminating in my being awarded the Frissell Prize at graduation in 1947 for having… ‘made the best use of (my) talents.’

I remember, fondly and gratefully, both longtime friends and my teachers, most notably Father H. Martin P. Davidson and William A. Buell, to whom I paid tribute in the sermon I gave in the chapel at my 50th reunion in 1997.”

Of particular note from Father King’s 50th reunion sermon was his observation that “…the most enduring influence of this school is, I believe, its spirit, its values, its ideals, its understanding of what it means to be a human being and the quality of the relationships that that understanding encourages…”

“But my devotion to the school also has a family basis. My beloved father, Frederic Rhinelander King, was an early graduate (1904), a trustee for many years, and, as an architect, the designer of Twenty House and of the World War II memorial plaque. In addition, my great-uncle, George Gordon King, gave King Hall, and my second cousin once removed, John Nicholas Brown, was the donor of the chapel.

“These are the principal reasons why St. George’s is dear to me, and why I have for decades supported the Annual Fund…”

With his planned gift, Father King will continue to contribute to SG even after his passing.

Jonathan L. King Jonathan King and his wife, Jacquie, live in Wyckoff, N.J. They are the parents of four children and have 10 grandchildren. Father King joined the Ogden Nash Society (ONS) in 2007. He may be reached through the Alumni/ae Office or via e-mail at jlking340@aol.com.

The ONS recognizes and honors those alumni/ae, parents and friends who have made special provisions to support the school in their estate plans. To date, the society has 195 members.

F OR

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION , PLEASE CONTACT :

Bill Douglas St. George’s Planned Giving bill_douglas@stgeorges.edu or (401) 842-6730 Visit our web site at www.stgeorges.edu/plannedgiving

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Faculty/Staff Notes

Berta Encarnacao retired from her job as baker and breakfast cook in King Hall after 25 years. irector of Counseling & Health Education Cheryl Jenkins will be a keynote speaker at a conference at Hotchkiss School this summer co-sponsored by the Independent School Gender Project. The conference, to be held June 19-21, brings together schools from the United States and Canada to talk and consider the results of The Independent School Gender Project, a study of the experiences of girls and women in independent schools that began in 1995. Workshop topics include Wellness and Health, Leadership Relationships, Women and the Curriculum and Women’s Issues in the World.

Jenkins will attend the conference for the third time with two female faculty members and two female students from St. George’s. The first such conference was held in the summer of 2004.

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Director of Library Services and Archives Jen Tuleja’s blog.

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Director of Operations George Staples expresses his thanks to painter Norbert Pacheco, who retired in November. and conferences for high-school students.

Daniel Tittle and Kristin Bove joined the King Hall staff this fall. Tittle, SG’s new dinner cook, started his cooking for the U.S. Army as part of the 82nd Airborne division. From there he worked at many Newport restaurants and recently was on the staff at Salve Regina University.

Bove, our new utility person, comes to us from Blue Rocks Catering where she was a kitchen aide and waitress.

This year’s new Director of Library Services and Archives, Jen Tuleja, takes a modern twist on delivering information by keeping a blog of library news available to the community. It can be found at http://stgeorgeslibrary.blogspot.com.

Among other items, Tuleja gives her picks for new fiction and new nonfiction of the week.

The school witnessed the departure of two longtime staff members in November.

Berta Encarnacao, a baker and breakfast cook in King Hall, traded in “her spatula and whisk for golf clubs and the gentle breeze of Florida,” according to Director of Dining Services Steve Moyer. Berta was hired on Jan. 4, 1983. “For over a quarter century, Berta has worked for dining services serving thousands of students and alums with a smile on her face and a passion for the Hilltop to match,” Moyer said.

“Her dedication and commitment to this great school will surely be missed.”

Meanwhile, Norbert Pacheco, our “painter extraordinaire,” retired from the Hilltop on Nov. 30. Norbert, a native of Portugal, came to St. George’s on May 23, 1994.

Latin teacher George Briggs was elected to the executive board of the nonprofit Coalition for the Advancement of Student Activities (CASA) in November. The group develops leadership education programs

Three faculty families have been sponsoring International officers attending classes at the Naval War College in Newport and their families this year.

Committed to exposing these foreign guests to American culture, the War College recruits civilian

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Interviews got under way in January for candidates applying for the position of school chaplain, and it was hoped an offer of employment could be extended in February, according to Dean of Faculty Bob Weston.

The school continues to seek an Episcopal priest to serve as permanent chaplain since the deparThe Rev. Chris ture last summer of Father Epperson Mark Pruitt, who served the school from 1999.

The Rev. Christopher Epperson, rector of St. Columba’s Chapel in Middletown, has been serving as interim chaplain for this school year.

(His sermons at St. Columba’s can be found at www.stcolumbaschapel.org.)

Among his or her many responsibilities, the St. George’s chaplain will plan, conduct and oversee two weekly chapel services; teach in the Religious Studies department; offer pastoral counseling and spiritual guidance to all members of the school community; participate in the residential life of the school; and assist in afternoon activities.

The new chaplain will begin work in July.

A faculty “in service” day on Jan. 3 featured workshops on the use of technology in the classroom organized by the SG Technology Department. Math Department Chair Doug Lewis, Latin teacher George Briggs, English teacher Kelly Richards, math teacher Melanie Lewis, chemistry teacher Pierre Yoo, and Director of Technology Charles Thompson made presentations on such topics as using discuss boards in Blackboard, our web-based course management software, to stimulate class discussion, and using a SMART Board, an interactive white board, to present material and record class lectures. Breakout sessions in the afternoon offered hands-on training.

Another in-service day is planned for March.

TONY JACCACI

Chaplain interviews under way

Teacher s learn more about using technology in the classroom

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volunteers to welcome the families to the Newport area. This year, the families of Associate Director of College Counseling Kelly Richards, History Department Chair Deb Foppert and Director of Global Programs Tony Jaccaci and his wife, history teacher Lucia Jaccaci are hosting officers from Senegal, Algeria and Pakistan, respectively. The guests have been participating in the life of the school, attending dinners on campus as well as skating parties, Halloween trick-or-treating events and the Christmas Festival. This spring may even bring a cricket demonstration, according to Jaccaci.

Left: Associate Director of College Counseling Kelly Richards and Kabir Sow of Senegal at the SG Skating Party. Kabir is the son of a student from the Naval War College, which pairs international students with local host families.

Right: Alia Al Abid and Ateeq Al Abid of Pakistan, with Krista Peterson and Head of School Eric Peterson, at a dinner for sponsored families from the Naval War College.

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Actor, writer and performer Steven Tejada performed selections from his one-man show “Boogie Down Journeys,” in Madeira Hall on Nov. 8. The appearance was organized by Director of Diversity Kim Bullock. The show combines comedy, drama, and real emotions “to explore the stories of struggle, survival, love and laughter that emerge from the souls of Black and Latino men and women.” Here, Tejada signs autographs after his performance for Timon Watkins ’11, Polly Murray ’10 and Vianca Masucci ’09

R AY WOISHEK ’89

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SUZANNE HADFIELD

Campus happenings

Students in Betsy Durning’s Voice in Speech and Acting class performed selections from Edgar Lee Masters’ “Spoon River Anthology” in the Wheeler Garden for Halloween.

he community did an extra effective job helping to raise funds for the Martin Luther King Center in Newport this year.

Not only did students, teachers, staff and parents help collect non-perishable food items during the 23rd Annual Feed-A-Friend food drive, but a thank-you note requesting extra help and distributed by the students helped the MLK Center get through a rough fund-raising patch.

All in all, the center put together about 1,300 holiday food baskets for approximately 8,000 needy local residents.

The food drive took place on Oct. 28.

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Members of the Handbell Choir, conducted by Assistant Director of Athletics Wendy Drysdale, practice before the Christmas Festival.

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Galimah Baysah ’09, Will Bruce ’08, and Kim Drew ’08, heads of the Insight Club, helped organize a Kwanzaa cele-

bration at the home of faculty members James and Kim Bullock on Sunday, Jan. 6. The celebration focused on traditional African values of family, community responsibility and self-improvement. Some of the students were invited to learn more about the celebration of Kwanzaa, which means “first fruits of the harvest” in the African language Kiswahili, while others said they’ve been celebrating the holiday at home for years. A candle was lit and placed in the kinara for each day of the week-long celebration. An explanation of each principle was followed by passing a cup to represent unity and to offer libations to honor the ancestors. The celebration ended with the traditional enthusiastic “Harambe” chant for each of the seven principles and a delicious soul food dinner.

Students in Betsy Durning’s Voice in Speech and Acting performed A. R. Gurney’s “Love Letters” on Sunday, Jan. 13, in the Main Common Room.

Featured were Kelly Bullock ’10 and Jordan Watson ’10, Graham Anderson ’11 and Magdalena Franze-Soeln ’11, Mack Feldman ’11 and Kinyette Henderson ’10, Wayne Chang ’11 and Oxy Nagornuka ’10, Will Mason ’08 and Lara McLeod ’10, and

Jake Shimmel ’10 and Harriet Manice ’08.

In the play, two characters sit side-by-side reading letters to each other about their lives—the high points, the low points, the dreams and the disappointments—while they were apart. In the end they realize they were, in fact, love letters.

Author Tina Brown offers thoughts on journalism, womanhood

PHOTO BY

KATHRYN LEMAY

Oxy Nagornuka ’10 was among a number of students to perform at the Rock Guild on Jan. 6.

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Members of the Service to SG Community section of the Community Service Council organized a special assembly announcement to honor the school’s custodial staff.

All members of the Housekeeping Department were present.

Will O’Connor ’08 and Anna Mack ’09 offered a few words of thanks for all of the work that the staff does for the community. Everyone present, including the entire student body then gave the staff a standing ovation. “It was moving to see!” reported Assistant Chaplain and head of the Community Service Council Lara Freeman.

SUZANNE HADFIELD

Red Key tour guides showing off King Hall have been playing up the Hogwarts reference for years. So when the Entertainment Committee sponsored its first-ever Harry Potter Dinner on Friday, Nov. 16, it was a natural.

Each dorm was asked to create a dorm banner to celebrate its home base. On the menu: carved turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, cranberry sauce and apple pie.

Of course, Director of Dining Services Steve Moyer helped pull the event together.

Izzy Evans ’09 with her mom, author Tina Brown.

Tina Brown, bestselling author of “The Diana Chronicles” and the former editor of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker magazines, was the featured speaker at an all-school event sponsored by the Women in Leadership Club Dec. 6.

Brown, whose career in magazine publishing began in England when she took over the editorship of the British tabloid glossy The Tatler, reflected on her career in journalism and opportunities for women.

Brown said she learned to take calculated risks in her career, and to hire writers and photographers whom she admired and depended upon. She also learned to expect jealously and criticism. She was once called “Stalin in high heels.”

“But that one was correct,” she quipped.

Young people, notably young women, need to stand up for themselves, she said.

“And believing in yourself is not the same as being arrogant,” she added.

At the time Brown said she was currently pondering what her next project would be, but recently her publisher, Doubleday, announced she’ll be working on a book about Hillary and Bill Clinton.

Brown is the mother of Isabel “Izzy” Evans, a fifth former.

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Clockwise from top left: Alex Merchant ’08, Morgan Beeson ’08 and Mike Miller ’08; Ali Fornell ’08; Julia Oak ’10, Courtney Jones ’10, and Jesse Pacheco ’10; and Lydia Willie ’09.

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Clockwise from the top: Mariana Tellez ’08, Angus Anderson ’08, Stockton Bullitt ’08, and Alex Layton ’09; Eileen FitzGerald ’08 and Lacey Young ’08; and Head of School Eric Peterson and his wife, Krista.

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Clockwise from the top: The runners of the 49th Annual Pie Race are off to a good start; West Resendes ’08 as St. George and Will Mason ’08 as the dragon; Mario Party of Seven included Logan Hoover ’09, Mary Behan ’10, Alison Johnston ’09, Juan Flores ’08, Sophia Noel ’09, Diatre Padilla ’09 and Katherine Pryor ’09; seniors Sean O’Brien and Chris Fogg hide behind their gorilla suits.

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Junior Phil Royer of Portsmouth, R.I., won the 49th annual St. George’s Pie Race with a course record time of 12:13 on Tuesday, Nov. 13. Royer finished ahead of fellow junior Chris McCormack (12:40) of Newton, Mass., and sophomore Matt Martyak (12:52) of Spotsylvania, Va., to win his third consecutive Pie Race. Senior Antonio Diaz-Gonzalez of Mexico City was the first senior to cross the finish line (14:30), while freshman Wayne Chang of Taipei, Taiwan, paced the freshman class with a time of 16:30. Eliza Richartz (15:50) of Old Lyme, Conn., was the first female finisher, narrowly beating Rita Capaldi (15:52) of Montreal, who was the first Canadian to finish the race. English teacher Alex Myers (13:30) was the first faculty finisher for the second year in a row. A total of 115 students, teachers, staff members, faculty children, and dogs finished the 2.2 mile race.

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Founded in 1959 by former physics teacher and track coach Ted Hersey as a lighthearted way of boosting school spirit, the St. George’s Pie Race has been run annually ever since. Runners typically wear outlandish garb and attempt to outdo each other with their zany antics. This year, for example, several students dressed up as characters from the video game Super Mario Brothers, two senior boys ran the race dressed in gorilla suits, and one anonymous student dressed as a dragon careened around the race course in a golf cart. A quartet of freshmen, Katie Harris, Alice Johnson, Hillary Wein, and Taylor Williams were awarded the coveted “Last Runner Finishing Before Sundown in Cedar Rapids” Prize with a remarkably slow time of 37:20.

Approximately 20 pies were awarded at a school assembly on Friday, Nov. 16.

—Doug Lewis, Chair of the Math Department

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“RICHARD GROSVENOR PAINTS IDA LEWIS, NEWPORT ON A BRIGHT WINTERS DAY” (2005) BY WILLIAM HEYDT

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Former Art Department Chair Grosvenor to be honored by museum

Kelly Bullock ’10, Jack Weston (son of Dean of Faculty Bob Weston), Sam ’11, Will and Jake Peterson (sons of Head of School Eric Peterson) and Milan Boscia ’10 helped promote St. George’s during Gibson Guitar Tennis Week at the Tennis Hall of Fame, which featured tennis champions John McEnroe and Todd Martin.

Former students and friends are invited to attend a summer gala organized by the Newport Art Museum to honor former Art Department Chair Richard Grosvenor (1953-1993) and his many contributions to the local art community.

The event, called “A Picture Perfect Evening,” will be held on Saturday, July 12, at Griswold House, 76 Bellevue Ave., Newport, R.I. The event will also mark Mr. Grosvenor’s 80th birthday.

For more information please contact Stasia Anthony at (401) 848-8200.

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I L E S T O N E S Students from St. George’s and Liceo Galvani School (Bologna, Italy) held a video conference this fall as part of St. George’s participation in a Global Issues project promoted by the National Association of Independent Schools. The 20-20 program links together schools around the world to investigate the “20 biggest challenges to humanity with the next 20 years.” St. George’s was paired with Liceo Galvani to look at the issue of immigration. Ten members of the St. George’s International Relations club met early in the morning in Memorial Schoolhouse and spoke with peer students from Italy for a little under an hour. During the exchange, students introduced themselves and explained why they felt immigration is an important issue in the future of global relations. The St. George’s students and their counterparts in Italy will continue their inquiry into immigration issues through additional video conference calls as well as blogging on a web site which has been set up by the two schools.

SUZANNE HADFIELD

London reader s get a nice view of SG

Fresh off attending this year’s Christmas festivities in the chapel, author and editor Tina Brown gave St. George’s a brilliant plug in the Dec. 12 edition of London’s The Spectator magazine. In her “New York Diary,” Brown writes, “If you’re looking for the oldstyle Yuletide celebration on this side of the ocean, the best place to find it is at my daughter’s (co-ed) boarding school, St. George’s, in Rhode Island. This idyllic educational establishment perched on a cliff over the bracing New England sea has plenty of what I love about America—its energy, its human variety, its sense of possibility—while still having the traditional flavour of the place (and state of mind) I’ve never quite stopped thinking of as home. We chose the school in a hurry in 2005 when Izzy, then 15, suddenly tired of Gossip Girl life at her all-girl day school in Manhattan. It’s turned out to be one of our better family decisions. Services in that soaring Gothic-style chapel … are such rousing, full-blooded celebrations of 19th-century American can-do-ism that they make me want to rush off and—I don’t know—start a steamboat line, or become a missionary, or drive a herd of longhorns on the Chisholm Trail. Izzy’s ‘Silent Night’ solo at the carol service was only one highlight in a last week of term filled with nativity pageants, Christmas feasts and percussive celebrations of charitable giving.”

Now we’re really the darling across the pond.

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This new sign was installed Sept. 12 at Dunlap Wheeler Park (next to the Atlantic Beach Club at the bottom of the hill).

The park is named in honor of Anne Slater Dunlap, who served the town of Middletown in many volunteer capacities and is the late mother of Rowena Dunlap Burke ’75, and Alan R. Wheeler, a history teacher at St. George’s for 45 years, who was president of the Middletown Improvement Association.

WANTED

A football letter sweater from the 1940s or 1950s—to complete a collection for the Gilbert Y. Taverner Archives. The sweater would be black with SG in red block letters.

If you’d like to donate yours, please contact Jack Doll ’52 at archives@stgeorges.edu or (401) 842-6692.

Strategic Plan Update Community member s sign new honor code

Local produce featured in King Hall

The Dean of Students Office embarked on several new initiatives this year to support the “Community, Responsibility and Leadership” pillar of the Strategic Plan. The office revamped the orientation program in the fall so that new students arrived on campus earlier and took part in a more comprehensive opening program.

The office also appointed “form deans,” faculty advisors for each form. (English teacher Lucy Goldstein is the third form dean, math teacher Joe Elias is the fourth form dean, math teacher Melanie Lewis is the fifth form dean, and Dean of Students Katie Titus is the sixth form dean.)

In addition, a new revised and expanded Honor Code was put into place this year that “calls on students and faculty not to be passive in the face of immorality or dishonesty,” according to Assistant Head of School for Student Life Tim Richards.

All faculty and students signed the code and it’s posted in every dorm and every classroom.

“Those are all efforts to try to ingrain the concept of honor into the fabric and the daily life of the school,” he said.

For the first time ever, the dining hall in October sent its used cooking oil to Newport Biodiesel, which processes it into biodiesel to be used in place of fossil fuels in cars. The school is also looking at the possibility of purchasing a school vehicle that can run on biodiesel fuel, according to Science Department chair Steve Leslie, who also heads up the campus Sustainability Committee. “Instead of paying to add to the waste stream, we are closing the loop, reducing waste, and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels,” he said.

Vegetarians, especially, are delighted with the latest efforts by the Dining Hall to use more produce from local farms. As part of a campuswide sustainability effort, Director of Dining Services Steve Moyer has been using fruits and vegetables from suppliers close to home—saving shipping costs and putting a fresher product on the table. A list of those farms is below. But the efforts haven’t stopped there: On one day last fall, the vegetarian moussaka was chock full of eggplant grown on campus in compost manufactured right here.

Young Family Farm Little Compton, RI

Wishing Stone Farms Little Compton, RI

Scratch Farms Providence, RI

Jaswell’s Farm Smithfield, RI

Ferolbink Farms Portsmouth, RI

Sunset Orchards No. Scituate, RI

Salisbury Farm No. Scituate, RI

Urban Edge Farm Cranston, RI

Wingover Farms Tiverton, RI

Pippin Orchards Cranston, RI

Ryan Farm Charlestown, RI

Quonset View Farms Portsmouth, RI

Schartner Farms Exeter, RI

Dame Farm Johnston, RI

Confreda Farms Cranston, RI

Maplewood Farms Portsmouth, RI

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Tori Curtis ’08 uses the online catalogue in the Hill Library.

Multifaith/Interfaith Space Committee established A Committee on Multifaith/Interfaith Space was established this fall to explore use of the Little Chapel and other areas as space for either multifaith or interfaith worship services. After a series of meetings, the members of the committee, who come from a number of different religious/spiritual backgrounds, deemed the Little Chapel a good potential space for some services, but inadequate for all desired uses. They will look toward recommendations from Sasaki and Associates, designers of the new Master Plan, for further suggestions on where services and meetings might be held.

Teachers Alex Myers, Lara Freeman, Kevin Held,

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James Bullock, Peter Anderson, Linda Evans, Tony Jaccaci, and Jeremy Goldstein; Development Officer Bill Douglas; and students Callie McBreen ’09, Izzy Evans ’09, Emma Jansen ’08, Sophie Covarrubias ’08, and Nam Hee Kim ’09 participated in the discussions.

The group will continue to meet after reviewing the master plan, which was expected to be presented to the SG Board of Trustees in February.

“Of particular interest are the diverse perspectives people can bring to the table,” said Assistant Head of School for Student Life Tim Richards, who’s chairing the committee.

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SUZANNE HADFIELD

Chemistry teacher Pierre Yoo meets with third former Will Rosen in Dragon Quad.

Students enjoy some down time in the Hamblet Campus Center.

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Want something fun from SG?

Under Armor Sweatshirt • Black S - M - L - XL $59

Key Rings • Assorted Styles $6

Call the bookstore at 1-401-842-6662 for these items and more, or visit our online store at www.stgeorges.edu

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In this issue:

S T. G E OR G E ’S

Chapel talks:

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

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID St. George’s School

2008 Winter Bulletin

Signature altar window in chapel to be replaced Students, teachers prepare for trip to Uganda Q & A with the Director of Operations New summer Geronimo program offered Strategic Plan Update Reunion Weekend 2008 Student achievements News from the classrooms Athletics, Arts and Community Service Class Notes

2008 St. George’s School

The real magic of Christmas BY ALEXANDRIA REGAN ’08 Forgiveness BY MORGAN BEESON ’08 Thankfulness BY JEREMY GOLDSTEIN Transported BY LUCIA JACCACI People of the world BY LEON KANDELAARS

Winter Bulletin