Bulletin Winter 2009

S T. G E OR G E ’S 2009

C OVER

winter Bulletin

STORY:

The ‘quiet giant’ U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell ’36 (1918-2009)

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.” In the 21st century, we continue to teach young women and men the value of learning and achievement, service to others, and respect for the individual. We believe that these goals can best be accomplished by exposing students to a wide range of ideas and choices in the context of a rigorous curriculum and a supportive residential community.

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

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. Tutti Davis ’09, Anna Schroeder ’09, Allie Barrows ’10, Nont Jiarathanakul ’10 (at the helm), Captain Mike Dawson, First Mate Paul Bostrom, Thomas Growney ’09, Lauren O’Halloran ’10, and Maddie Carrellas ’09 aboard Geronimo. The boat celebrated a 10th anniversary in the fall.

PHOTO BY L EN R UBENSTEIN

Contents On the cover: Sen. Claiborne Pell ’36 presents his grandson Nicholas Pell ’95 with his diploma in May 1995.

PHOTO BY COURTESY OF THE

GILBERT Y. TAVERNER ARCHIVES

On the back cover: Tria Smothers ’09 performs a solo dance routine during the Fall Dance Concert in November.

PHOTO BY R AY WOISHEK ’89

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_mcgrady@stgeorges.edu

This magazine is printed on paper that certified

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

From the editor’s desk ........................................................................................................................................2 Claiborne Pell ’36: The ‘quiet giant’ BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ......................................................................3 A distinguished send-off for Pell ’36 BY QUENTIN H. WARREN ......................................................................8 School at sea: Geronimo at 10 BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ..............................................................................10 On the web ..........................................................................................................................................................15 In real life: Students research AIDS BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ....................................................................16 Canceling out of fear: The Rev. Canon Andrew White at St. George’s BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ......18 The greening of King Hall BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ......................................................................................20 Chapel talks: Reaching your level of God’s perfection BY ANNA MACK ’09 ............................................................22 When the walls come tumbling down BY ANNIE IRELAND ’09 ............................................................25 Patriotism—in a new light BY C. JOSEPH GOULD ......................................................................................28 Brash and bright BY DIATRE PADILLA ’09 ..................................................................................................32 Band of brothers BY DOYLE S TACK ’09 ......................................................................................................35 Strangers become friends BY CRAIG BOYCE ............................................................................................37 Emeriti/ae faculty ............................................................................................................................................39 Campus happenings ..........................................................................................................................................40 Global outreach ..................................................................................................................................................42 Classrooms ..........................................................................................................................................................44 Arts ........................................................................................................................................................................47 SG Zone - Athletics ............................................................................................................................................48 Highlights: Student achievements ................................................................................................................52 In brief ..................................................................................................................................................................55 Post hilltop ..........................................................................................................................................................56 Faculty/staff notes ..........................................................................................................................................60 Community service ............................................................................................................................................65 Around campus ..................................................................................................................................................66 Reunion Weekend 2009 ..................................................................................................................................68 Traditions..............................................................................................................................................................70 Giving back: News from the Alumni/ae office ..........................................................................................73 Class Notes ..........................................................................................................................................................75 The St. George’s Bulletin is published bi-annually. Suzanne McGrady, 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 The students were quiet, recalls Andrew Milliken ’79.

No one in his AP Modern European history class had anything meaningful to add to the discussion, and so the teacher had grown a little … impatient.

“There you sit …” the teacher commented, looking out at his charges, “monuments of ignorance—in rows.”

Throw that quote out at an SG gathering and many would know its speaker, without even having been there.

Schenck!

As we go to press with this edition, we have just learned that St. George’s has lost one of the most colorful teachers in its history. William Schenck, whose service to St. George’s spanned 38 years(1952-1990), died Jan. 30 in a nursing home in Rome, N.Y. According to reports, Schenck died peacefully, in his sleep. He was likely My son Connor, 2, and I at our home dreaming about the next quip he would on the SG campus. make to one of the nurses.

Schenck was an enduring character in these parts and he’s left an indelible mark on many students. According to those closest to him, he also didn’t suffer fools lightly—and he pushed them, not always gently or diplomatically, to be their best.

Former students, like Milliken, began sending messages back to the school almost immediately upon hearing the news of his death. A running diary of them is published on the St. George’s web site at www.stgeorges.edu. Please add your own by sending a message to Bulletin_Editor@stgeorges.edu. While the news of Schenck’s death came too late to include a

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full tribute in this edition, we plan to do a more full profile in the summer edition and we welcome your thoughts and recollections.

That said, we’ve compiled a number of articles that reflect where the school sits at this place and time, and that also reflect where we’ve been.

Surely the most internationally recognized alumnus of St. George’s in the modern era died when Claiborne Pell ’36 succumbed to a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease on New Year’s Day (The ‘quiet giant,’ p. 3). Pell wasn’t woven into the fabric of SG the way Schenck was, but his presence here—when he flew in from Washington for a trustee meeting, say, or came over from Ledge Road to watch grandson Nick ’95 play lacrosse—as well as his affection for the place, always gave a sense of pride to the institution.

“In real life” (p.16) is the story of Tom Evans’ Advanced Placement biology class and the unique curriculum Evans devised to help students learn about and connect to current research on AIDS. In the fall Geronimo celebrated its 10th anniversary (“School at sea,” p. 10); and an English canon who’s been shot at and who’s seen the underside of war, spoke to the community about life in Iraq (“Canceling out fear,” p.18).

The chapel talks (p.22), once again, speak to the breadth of our community members’ experience.

They never fail to surprise us and stagger us with their revelations—a little like Mr. Schenck.

Suzanne McGrady Bulletin Editor

GILBERT Y. TAVERNER ARCHIVES PHOTO COURTESY OF THE

During the Centennial Celebration on campus in 1996, John B. Diman Award winners Vice Admiral George P. Steele ’41 and U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell ’36 processed up the Main Drive.

The ‘quiet giant’ U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell ’36 died New Year’s Day, having epitomized the St. George’s mission—to lead a life of ‘constructive service to the world’

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GILBERT Y. TAVERNER ARCHIVES PHOTO COURTESY OF THE

BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY

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Former chair of the board of trustees Betsy Michel, Sen. Pell and former headmaster Chuck Hamblet and his wife, Carol.

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y most accounts, U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, St. George’s Class of ’36, was an understated man. The politician widely known for the student loan program that came to bear his name and for his sponsorship of a bill establishing the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities wasn’t one to seek the spotlight. “He wasn’t the loudmouthed, yelling senator,” says his grandson Nick ’95.

And so a peek into the St. George’s archives following his death New Year’s Day offered a rare glimpse into his more impulsive, emotional self—the one that surely, though quietly, guided much of his work during his extraordinary 36-year career in the U.S. Senate.

On the morning of June 3, 1995, Pell was scheduled to give the St. George’s Prize Day chapel address. Nick was graduating and the elder Pell would take the podium just before 11 a.m. As usual, he began the day by reading the newspapers. Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1987 to 1994, he remained a committed participant in international affairs. Indeed, during Pell’s funeral at Trinity Episcopal Church in Newport on Jan. 5, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, who served with Pell in the Senate, called him “one of our nation’s most important voices in foreign policy.”

The headlines that morning in 1995 caught Pell’s attention: “U.S. Jet On Mission For NATO Is Shot

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Down Over Bosnia; Serbs Free Some U.N. Troops — Search For Pilot.” And in particular, the New York Times lead editorial struck a chord: “Bosnia: Not America’s War.” As Pell, who vehemently opposed the Vietnam War, was making the final edits on his Prize Day speech, he took the time to jot down some changes.

In many ways the speech was typical, its message inspiring if not altogether unpredictable, delivered in a rather even, low volume, according to those who were present.

But at the end of the script, a simple sentence, written in the senator’s jagged yet legible scrawl, turns up at the bottom of the last page. It is an emotional, heartfelt aside. “One extraneous point that today’s headlines brings me to,” the sentence reads, “and that is that I will do my best to keep you young men from being ground up in Bosnia.”

Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs Pat Moss well remembers that those words, tacked onto the end of the speech in a most provocative way, caught everyone’s attention.

“He was of quiet voice, even then. But then he threw that zinger in there,” she said.

Nick Pell, who now works at W.P. Carey, a real estate investment trust in Manhattan, says he isn’t surprised his grandfather was thinking in those terms.

“Anyone who’s really dealt with these issues has to have a real grounding. What does this action really mean?

Born in New York City, Pell graduated from Princeton in 1940 and Columbia University in 1946.

GILBERT Y. TAVERNER ARCHIVES

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Nuala O’Donnell Pell; a son, Christopher T.H. “Toby” Pell ’66; a daughter, Nuala “Dallas” Pell Yates; five grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren.

Born into aristocracy (the family inherited a portion of the Lorillard tobacco fortune along with a number of lucrative land holdings), Pell lived comfortably on Park Avenue in New York as a child. His father was Herbert Claiborne Pell Jr., a one-term U.S. congressman from New York, U.S. Minister to Portugal and U.S. Minister to Hungary.

Pell summered in Newport then later moved to Ledge Road, traveling between his Newport home and Washington during his Senate career.

But the eccentric Pell was not immune to hardship. Two of his children died of cancer before him.

His son, Herbert Claiborne “Bertie” Pell III, graduated from St. George’s in 1963 before studying art history at Princeton. He died in 1999. His daughter Julia Lorillard Wampage Pell, longtime partner of former St. George’s art teacher Julie Smith, died of lung cancer April 14, 2006. She was 52.

Pell himself was stricken with Parkinson’s disease for most of his later years, confined to a wheelchair for more than a decade.

At St. George’s in his later years, he was a quiet presence, though his interest in the school remained strong.

He was first elected to the SG Board of Trustees in 1971 and served until 1987, when his peers on the board immediately and unanimously voted him an honorary trustee.

“At meetings, he sat in the back row. He was incredibly modest. There was no sort of show about him,” said Tony Zane, headmaster (1972-1984) and history teacher emeritus. “He was quiet counsel. But he certainly had an international perspective that none of us had—and it was always gratifying that he took such great interest in St. George’s.”

When he was in town, he sometimes called up Zane to go play singles tennis, a hobby of his, over on Goat Island.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE

What are the real consequences? My grandfather was always concerned with that. He would’ve looked out at all of us 18-year-olds and known that we would be the ones called to serve.”

Described in one news account as “the quirky multimillionaire who served the less-fortunate and enabled millions of Americans to afford college,” Pell himself began his own military career in the Coast Guard, enlisting in August 1941 and serving on weather patrol boats and escort duty in the North Atlantic before being ordered to the U.S. Naval School of Military Government in April 1943. Later, he was appointed Officer-in-Charge of Fisheries in Sicily, where he contracted Malta fever and was sent back to the United States.

Pell also worked for the State Department and as a foreign service officer from 1945 to 1952 in Czechoslovakia, Italy and Washington. A photo in the St. George’s archives shows him just before he was appointed third secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Prague in 1946.

The lanky, low-key Pell in his years at St. George’s was not among the big shots on the Hilltop.

A member of the Stamp Club and the Library Association, he himself noted in his ’95 Prize Day speech that his academic career “was not brilliant.”

Even the Civics Club rejected him, he noted. “It was an area that interested me greatly, probably because public and community service are traditions in my family and have always marked my own goals in life.

But,” he added, “when the time came to admit new members, I was not among those chosen, apparently because I was a bit of an oddball.”

And yet, somehow his oddball stature endeared him to the masses in working-class Rhode Island.

Six times he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island, the first in 1960. He served until Jan. 3, 1997, when he retired.

As alluded to above, he was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1987 to 1994. He was named U.S. delegate to the United Nations in 1997.

“Claiborne Pell was a man of extraordinary integrity, grace and decency,” Biden said at his funeral.

This photograph from the archives shows Pell as a Coast Guard officer just before assuming his first diplomatic post as third secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Prague in 1946.

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GILBERT Y. TAVERNER ARCHIVES PHOTO COURTESY OF THE

The cover photo of the Pells’ 1992 Chrismas card: Sen. Pell with his wife, Nuala, and his grandchildren: Eames ’01, Christina, Herbert (Clay), Tripler and Nick ’95.

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He was the first recipient of the school’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, later renamed the Diman Award, during St. George’s Reunion Weekend in 1979.

The Bulletin that summer called him “a man of considerable impact on many areas including education.”

The editor wrote, “In accepting the award, [Sen. Pell] spoke almost poignantly about both his experience as a student at St. George’s and also the remarkable strength of the geographic location of the school, which remains memorable to him and to all alumni.”

When he could, Pell came to campus to watch Nick play soccer and lacrosse.

Chuck Hamblet, headmaster (1989-2004) and mathematics teacher emeritus and his wife, Carol, coordinator of student health services emerita, would see him on the sidelines.

“It was a good time for the family,” Nick recalls.

“My father and my aunt would be there—my grandfather liked that.”

Zane said he would show up at random school events and meetings without fanfare. “He came on his own, without any fuss.”

He added, “He was incredibly liberal in his politics, and yet traditional. He always showed up in a coat and tie—and he wore that coat until it wore out. He was never extravagant. He had a lot of money, but you’d never know it.”

One of the wealthiest members of the Senate, Pell indeed was reluctant to acknowledge his personal fortune. Pell’s wife Nuala once persuaded a friend of Pell’s, an alum of St. George’s, to convince the senator they should purchase a sailboat together. “‘It would be good for Claiborne and you could help him look after it,’ Nuala told me,” the friend said. “When I finally got around to approaching him about it, he replied, ‘Oh, I could never afford that. I once owned a little boat and it was very expensive.’”

His political opponents would underestimate him, Zane said. He recalled hearing during the course of a

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radio interview one of them say, “Claiborne Pell has seaweed for brains.”

“Then Claiborne beat him by a huge margin,” Zane said.

Craig Fees ’70 remembers first seeing Pell in action in 1970 during his senior year at St. George’s.

During spring break, Fees and Garrett Brown ’70 were in Washington when they got the chance to observe a Senate subcommittee meeting, following the murder of Jock Yablonski. Yablonski, a candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, charged that the U.M.W. was “the most notoriously dictatorial labor union in America.”

“The witness was a coal boss being treated with kid gloves by the subcommittee senators, mainly from coal states, until Claiborne Pell came in,” Fees recalls. “He sat down, established a focused presence, and demolished him with a few deft, highly intelligent questions. Then it was over. It was a remarkable performance, from someone who immediately became a personal hero and continues to inspire.”

Nick Pell says his grandfather made it a point to schedule one-on-one trips with each grandchild every few years. His were to Disney World when he was eight and to Quebec City when he was about 13.

“We visited all the forts and places of historical significance,” he recalled.

Each year at St. George’s Prize Day, The Pell Medal is awarded to a student who has shown exceptional passion and noteworthy accomplishment in the study of United States history.

And the Pell Family Scholarship was established with a Centennial Campaign gift in 1996.

In a letter thanking Sen. Pell for the gift, former trustee Richard Sayer ’65, P’03 told Pell, “You are one of the school’s most distinguished graduates and your continued interest and presence is important to the school.”

After he retired from the Senate, Pell continued to take interest in St. George’s, particularly in the members of earlier classes whose work he admired. He attended some of the Diman Award presentations, including those of Livingston Biddle ’36, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, in 1998; Mary “Molly” Baldwin ’77, founder of the youth development organization Roca Inc.; and Russell Train ’37, founder of the World Wildlife Fund, in 2007.

Pell’s commitment to his ideals never faltered.

“Public service was stamped in Claiborne Pell’s DNA,” said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), another of several luminaries to attend his funeral. “He was a quiet giant and a gentleman to the core, a dignified man who always did what he believed was right.”

Along with his vocal opposition to American military intervention in foreign conflicts—displayed during his remarks at the ’95 SG Prize Day—came ardent support of education, the arts and humanities.

“In all the work that he did over the years, his support of the arts was just wonderful,” said Dick Grosvenor, head of the art department (1953-1993) emeritus and a noted painter who would often cross paths with Pell at social events in Newport.

With his understated style, Pell likely achieved most of his success through sheer persistence, according to Bill Buell ’42. “Once he sunk his teeth into something, he never let go,” Buell said.

Pell’s first trip abroad as a senator in 1961 was to Poland, where Buell was serving in the embassy as a member of the foreign service. Buell served as his escort throughout the trip and the two corresponded over the years, which included Buell’s days with Radio Free Europe, over which Pell had some jurisdiction. “We didn’t always agree on all the issues,” Buell said. “But he always listened. He was always courteous.”

Buell said he was impressed with Pell’s attention to his own correspondence, noting he often received handwritten notes from Pell, even during the height of his Senate career. He also noted Pell’s generosity with his time.

Once, when Buell’s brother, former faculty member Tom Buell (1953 and 1957-1962), was putting together an art installation and needed a pair of spats, Bill Buell asked Pell if he might have any. “I went over to his house and he climbed up a ladder into his attic and searched around. He found some of his father’s old spats and gave them to me,” Buell recalled.

Great or small the request, it seemed Pell was always willing to help those in need.

“In a recent letter to Nuala, I brought it down to this,” Buell said. “Claiborne was remarkably accessible and always courteous. But most of all, he had the remarkable ability to make one feel significant.”

Recollection “In October 1964, I was in my senior year at St. George’s. Parents Weekend was always in the middle of October and for some reason my parents did not come up from New Jersey. Senator Pell was at the school for the Friday evening dinner. Bill Schenck came up behind me in King Hall, tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I had a driver’s license. I said yes, I had had a valid Rhode Island license since June.

I was now just 17. Bill also asked if I had any athletic events the next day and I did not. There was no crosscountry event on Saturday. Bill then said that he had a job for me.

I was ushered into the headmaster’s study and introduced to Senator Pell. The 1964 general election was in a couple of weeks and he needed a driver to take him to some political rallies in northern Rhode Island where he was speaking that night. He did not like to drive at night so would I be interested in being his driver? Of course I said yes! I think Bill then called my parents and asked their permission. In any case, off we went, here and there. The car was a very unassuming, not very young Ford as I remember. We drove over the Mt. Hope Bridge and then to three or four rallies in and around Providence. These rallies were at union headquarters or working men’s associations. At each stop he would make a short speech and I was ushered around by one of the people at the rally. Real grassroots stuff!! He was at ease with everyone. In between stops I remember him being very talkative and explanatory about where we were going and why.

I somehow doubt that in today’s world a 17-yearold with a driver’s license for four months would be allowed to drive around a U.S. Senator for the whole evening and much of the night. Bill Schenck must have had considerable trust in me and in the senator’s case, instantaneous trust.

I remember feeling very honored indeed. It was a great evening!”

—Peter Gerrard ‘65

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THE NEWPORT DAILY NEWS, NEWPORT, R.I. PHOTO COURTESY OF

A distinguished send-off for Claiborne Pell ’36 Funeral services for the late U.S. Senator feature moving recollections and a prominent gathering of peer s

BY QUENTIN H. WARREN

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A U.S Coast Guard honor guard attends the casket at Pell’s funeral in January.

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t was a beautiful if brisk January morning in Newport, and the first things to go for most of us lined up on the sidewalk outside Trinity Church awaiting the funeral service for Senator Claiborne de B. Pell ’36, D-R.I. were our feet. It didn’t matter. Entering that historic building and absorbing the scene as scores of friends, relatives, dignitaries and colleagues settled in to pay their respects to a man who transcended his own lifetime was far more memorable and far more important. Like Senator Pell himself, the gathering was as incredible as it was poignant. To be there was to witness a piece of history, made even more momentous because the outpouring was so personal and heartfelt in spite of the weighty political presence that accompanied it.

Great men and women have graduated from St. George’s and Claiborne Pell was one of them. Selfeffacing beyond measure, the essence of dignity and tact, irreproachably brilliant, and loyal to his role as a

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public servant, he spent 36 years in Washington, D.C. as a United States Senator from Rhode Island and left a firm legacy of friendship and professionalism on Capital Hill.

He died at home shortly after midnight in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2009. He had been battling Parkinson’s disease in typically selfless and gallant fashion since 1995. The service in his honor took place on Monday, Jan. 5, before a synergistic congregation of family, friends, and Kipling’s “captains and kings.” Offering touching eulogies were Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, DMass.; former President William J. Clinton; Vice President-elect Joseph Biden, D-Del.; Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.; and Pell’s grandson Nicholas Lorillard Pell ’95.

A delegation of attendees from Washington, D.C. reads like a Who’s Who of Democratic legislators and speaks to the influence and affection that Pell generated among his colleagues on the Hill. Notable among the Dems were Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, D-R.I.; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Sen. Joseph

Lieberman, Indep. D-Conn.; Sen. John F. Kerry, DMass.; Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn.; Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt.; Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.; Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I.; and former Rep. Robert Weygand, D-R.I. Other attendees included Rhode Island Governor Donald L Carcieri (R); Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah; Sen. Richard J. Lugar, R-Ind.; former Rhode Island governors Bruce Sundlun (D) and Edward DiPrete (R); Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch (D); Rhode Island Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis (D); and Prince Hans Adam of Liechtenstein. A United States Coast Guard honor guard accompanied the coffin.

The spoken eulogies combined reverence and respect with buoyant affection, setting a tone that immortalized the late senator as much in the hearts of those present as in the annals of history. Sen. Kennedy, putting aside his own considerable health issues and in strong voice as is his way, called him “a gentleman and a gentle man,” and related stories of sailing together on Narragansett Bay and spending time at the Pell’s house with Claiborne, his wife Nuala, and their family. “What fun we had,” remembered Kennedy. Invoking Pell’s Washington persona, he said, “On the outside he was calm and composed, but deep down he was a real fighter.” A fighter, yes, but a non-confrontational one: “I smile when I think of the many times I heard him say, ‘I always try to let the other fellow have my way.’”

Bill Clinton reminisced about his undergraduate years at Georgetown University where, as a freshman, his dorm room overlooked the Pells’ backyard and offered glimpses of exclusive dinner parties and a life of refinement. “I realized that they were a form of American royalty,” said Clinton. “I knew that, because it took me 29 years and six months to get in the front door of that house I’d been staring at.” He reflected, “There was something almost magical about this man who was born to aristocracy, but cared about people like the people I grew up with. He was the right kind of aristocrat—a champion by choice, not circumstance, of the common good, our common future, and our common dreams.” Referring to the Pell Grants that have benefited so many, Clinton observed, “This remarkable man cared about people who, unlike him, could not have afforded to go to college without a little help from their country.”

Vice President-elect Joe Biden drew on a close, 36year personal and professional association with the Pell

family in his earnest comments. Recalling when, as a young senator, he lost his wife and child in an automobile accident, he turned to Nuala and acknowledged how “you acted as if your heart was as broken as mine.”

He related that sense of empathy and support to the senator’s overarching career when he said, “The decency that Claiborne Pell evidenced toward all was the thing in my view that set him apart from every other man and woman I’ve come in contact with.” Throughout his politics, “he had this sense … that the only thing that separated those born of great means from those who were born into poverty was opportunity.”

Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed combined lighthearted personal remembrances with deep veneration for his predecessor and colleague. He emphasized, “For 36 years, Claiborne Pell did not simply represent Rhode Island in the United States Senate. He represented the ideal of what a public servant should be. He combined wisdom with compassion, he combined courtesy and gentility with principled tenacity, he understood that the human spirit, enlightened by education, would invariably triumph over the forces of inhumanity.” On a personal level, he said that in the case of Senator Pell, “respect and reverence was really love and affection, and it was hard earned and well deserved.”

The senator’s grandson Nicholas Pell ’95 delivered the final eulogy, and he was as captivating, as composed and as articulate as the men who preceded him.

He talked about Pell’s leading traits: consistency, frugality, resolve and humility. He praised his grandfather for “how he came through when you needed him most, always there, always dependable, and always true to his moral compass.” And he remarked that even in the face of significant physical disability, Pell’s “will to live was of mythic proportions.”

Sen. Pell’s other grandchildren participated in readings during the service, including Dr. Tripler Pell, who read the Old Testament lesson from the Book of Isaiah; Mr. Herbert Claiborne Pell IV, who read the 23rd Psalm; Mr. Eames Hamilton Yates Jr. ’04, who read a New Testament piece from the Book of Revelation; and Ms. Christina Pell Randall who read a piece from the Gospel according to John.

To be in that room on that day with such an extraordinary collection of family, friends and political luminaries was memorable and moving. The occasion was nothing less than a fitting tribute to a great man.

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PHOTO BY

WILLIAM MERCER

Geronimo: 1998-2008

School at sea A decade after its christening, Geronimo continues to keep our experiential marine studies program going strong

BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY

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Chrissy Connett Mulligan ’87 and former SG Board of Trustees Chair Betsy Michel christen the “new Geronimo” in 1998.

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hen the school committed to building a new boat for the Geronimo program more than 10 years ago, Captain Stevie Connett, of course, was a key consultant. Connett, who had been running the program since it began in 1974 with a donated boat, was eager to have a new vessel that would lend itself to expanding the sail-training/ marine-studies program. He also knew that when he and his wife, Babbie, retired, the school was going to have a hard time finding another captain and first mate to work on a 53-foot boat with only one cabin— and six students.

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“Babbie and I had enough emotion—and were invested enough—that we could tolerate the living conditions,” Connett recalls, “but there was no way anyone else would. There was nothing else to do.

We had to get a new boat—otherwise the program would die.”

J. Philip “Phip” Lee, a former member of the SG Board of Trustees who served as a key member of the Marine Committee, agreed.

“In order to have a top-flight program, we needed a more modern vessel,” Lee said.

Today, the “new Geronimo” continues to enhance the academic program at St. George’s by providing an opportunity—truly unique among independent

GILBERT Y. TAVERNER ARCHIVES PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE

schools—for students to study at sea. Not only do students, many of whom have never been on a boat before, learn to sail, but also they experience other cultures and gain awareness about marine life and the health of the world’s waterways.

“Having students on board see the volume of manmade debris float by in the ocean is a really eyeopening experience for many,” said Deborah Hayes, captain of Geronimo since Stevie Connett’s retirement in the spring of 2001.

When the latest Geronimo was christened in an all-school event at Fort Adams State Park in Newport on Sunday, Sept. 20, 1998, in front of the entire student body and faculty—and more than 200 friends of the school—the boat was dedicated to Stevie and Babbie. (Sadly, Babbie, who was first mate on the boat for years, died after a year-long battle with cancer in 1997 before being able to see the new boat set sail.)

Lee, as head of the construction committee, participated in the ceremony as well as Chuck Hamblet, headmaster and mathematics teacher (1989-2004), emeritus; and The Rev. John S. Rogers, head of the Bible and theology department (1976-1999), emeritus. The ceremony culminated with the traditional breaking of the champagne bottle across the bow by former SG Board of Trustees Chair Betsy Michel and Connett’s daughter, Chrissy Connett Mulligan ’87.

It took 14 months to build Geronimo—a 69-foot cutter-rigged sloop designed by Ted Fontaine, formerly of Ted Hood Yacht design—and it took much longer than that for the Board of Trustees’ Marine

Committee to wade through the research and comment phase of the project.

The first Geronimo was an aluminum-hulled yawl designed by Bill H. Tripp and built in 1963. She served the program at St. George’s from 1974 to 1998, but was old enough “and old-fashioned enough,” according to Lee, to suggest that it was time to think about a new vessel. Coming to the conclusion that the school would build its own boat didn’t come hastily, however.

“First we went the route of trying to find a vessel that would meet our requirements,” Lee said. The Marine Committee of the Board of Trustees looked up and down the East Coast for existing vessels. But soon it became apparent that Coast Guard regulations for a certified Sailing School Vessel were so stringent, it would be difficult, and very costly, to convert an existing recreational boat. The school even received a donated boat with the intention of converting it, but had to give the boat back when it became clear that it would cost an exorbitant amount to do so.

“The committee thought, ‘If we’re going to spend all this money, let’s explore designing a new boat—a sort of dream sheet—purposely built for the Geronimo program,’” Lee said.

Fund-raising for the new boat, which ended up costing a little more than $1 million, became part of the school’s 1996 Centennial Campaign directed by Assistant Head of School for External Affairs Joe Gould, which in total amounted to $36.6 million.

Everyone—from students to teachers to alumni/ae and friends—weighed in on the decision to build Geronimo, according to Lee.

Left: Geronimo midway through construction at New England Boatworks in Portsmouth, R.I. Right: Captain Stevie Connett inspects the new boat as it nears completion.

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PHOTO BY

MARY ELLEN GROSVENOR P’00, ’02

Geronimo: 1998-2008

Tim Friend ’01, Melissa Mitchell ’00, Kristen Olson ’00, Anna Vietor ’00, Sarah Hunt ’00, Chrissy Brewster, ’00 and Caleb BushBrown ’00 crewed on Geronimo’s maiden voyage to the Bahamas in the fall of 1998.

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“But ultimately it was a wonderful experience for the program to be under a microscope,” he said.

“The most important result of the new boat being built was that the entire Geronimo program—instead of being run by a group of eight marine enthusiasts—was molded into the whole school process.

Now there’s no difference between it and the football team, or the choir.”

Even the decision about where to build the boat took time. “We sent out the plans and interviewed a bunch of places—from New Zealand to Great Britain—and then it really became apparent: Why not have it built in Rhode Island? A Rhode Island-built boat for a Rhode Island school,” Lee said.

When the bid from New England Boatworks (NEB) in Portsmouth, R.I., came in and was competitive, it sealed the deal.

Designs for the new boat came together with consultations between Fontaine, Connett and the Marine Committee.

The first Geronimo, an Abeking & Rasmussen racing yacht donated by friend of the school James Grove, was narrow, with a deep hull that was hard to maintain. Both Lee and Connett called the old Geronimo a “fantastic boat.” “She sailed hard,” Lee said, “to Europe and back a few times. She was a serious off-

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shore racing sailboat.”

But Connett didn’t have it easy: “He would spend all day hanging by his feet to get to the engine,” said Don Watson, head boatbuilder in the composites division at NEB. When the “new Geronimo” wish list was compiled, on the top of the list was an engine room.

Fontaine also knew that he had to pay attention to a practical schedule for upkeep.

“It’s true that the emphasis was on low maintenance,” Watson said. For instance, the handrails on Geronimo aren’t varnished; they’re more utilitarian stainless steel.

“Most boats have lots of varnish, lots of toys,” noted Hayes. “You go the opposite way for a sail-training vessel. We have no autopilot, no push-button winches. You need to have the kids physically involved in the sailing.”

“But it’s not workboat construction,” said Watson, meaning the boat isn’t meant to take a beating.

“It’s fairly modern: a fiberglass hull with a foam core, filled with epoxy resin and all of it vacuum-bagged.

The construction protocol is typical of what we might use on a yacht.”

The U.S. Coast Guard regulations for a sailingschool vessel restricted the height of the mast, there-

fore limiting sail area. “Geronimo isn’t built for full-on speed,” notes Watson.

“And it’s forced into a particularly rigorous inspection and maintenance schedule,” added Paul Dow, NEB’s electrical systems expert.

Ted Hood and NEB worked closely throughout each phase of the building.

“We blew up a few fuel tanks. It didn’t all go so smoothly,” recalls Watson.

Liquid testing for strength of the integral water and fuel tanks was rigorous. The tanks had to withstand a 12-foot water column, five pounds per square inch of pressure. At least two cracked and had to be rebuilt.

Ultimately however, what St. George’s came away with was a school-owned boat unequaled by our peers.

With a six-foot draft, “She can tip-toe through the Bahamas,” Lee said. “But she’s hearty enough to sail the Atlantic.”

Upgrading the boat has helped a vibrant program stay on the cutting edge.

Back in the late 1970s and 1980s, Connett took his crews to the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic, even Haiti.

“Most of them had never seen a third-world country,” Connett said.

But the itineraries changed over time when some of these places became more dangerous, according to Connett.

When Geronimo began teaming up with The Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida in 1984, the focus of the trips became the Bahamas.

Still, Connett looks back fondly at the early years.

Crews were out for 14-16 weeks at a time. “The trips were a richer, more complex experience,” he said. “The Civil Rights revolution was at its peak and there was a lot of historical and sociological excitement about where we were.”

It was also a great time for marine studies in general. “[Jacques] Cousteau was still alive and well, and very popular—and really making us aware about what was going on in the ocean,” Connett said.

When Geronimo first went South, Connett’s children, Chrissy and Stevie Jr., were five and seven years old. They lived on the boat with their parents and took a correspondence course with the Calvert School, a private K-8 school in Baltimore, Md. with a

nationally recognized home-schooling division.

“It was a real family enterprise and I think it worked out really well,” he said.

Expanding and refining the program took time.

“Wherever we went we did a lot of homework,” Connett said. An instructor in Florida, for example, helped Connett learn more about shark biology— where best to fish, how to get bait.

“It seemed like the boat had everything you could possibly need. It was clear that the boat was designed to be practical and safe, but it still managed to be the best-looking boat at the marina.”

Tim Friend ’01–crew member on the maiden voyage of Geronimo in1998

But the payback academically was huge, Connett said.

“It’s like any class, even at school,” he said, “but you have a chance to make a massive impression on the kids.”

Dozens of alums have gone on to study marine science and work in the field, crediting the Geronimo program for sparking their initial interest.

Tim Friend ’01, Melissa Mitchell ’00, Kristen Olson ’00, Anna Vietor ’00, Sarah Hunt ’00, Chrissy Brewster ’00 and Caleb Bush-Brown ’00 crewed on Geronimo’s maiden voyage to the Bahamas in the fall of 1998.

Brewster, now Chrissy Marrero, had “never really seen a sailboat before” when she walked on deck that September. Today she says she still remembers “the combination of excitement and anxiety” as she imagined her coming trip.

Marrero and Bush-Brown both cited the same event as one of their most memorable experiences: the pursuit and capture of a four-foot loggerhead turtle.

“It took our entire crew to drag this 200-pound dinosaur into our boat,” Marrero said. “I remember it huffing and puffing as we attempted to insert the tag

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE

GILBERT Y. TAVERNER ARCHIVES

Geronimo: 1998-2008

in the turtle’s ear. Even Mr. Connett seemed in awe of this ancient creature that had somehow managed to survive the ever-changing ocean.”

Bush-Brown said the great part about being the first crew was that nobody was familiar with the vessel so everyone, including Connett, learned and became familiar with the boat together. “The other unique aspects to our experience were the mishaps and challenges often encountered with maiden voyages. Within the first couple weeks of the trip we emptied the grey water tank with a cup and sponge to find a roll of tape left from the construction, encountered issues with the hydraulic boom vang, had the radar repaired in Florida—and hoisted Mr. Connett up the mast to un-foul the main halyard from its sheave,” he said.

During construction, Geronimo’s hull is transported across the shipyard at New England Boatworks.

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Today seven students, after applying and writing an essay, are selected each season of the school year— fall, winter and spring—and continue to participate in one of three seven-week trips. And as of last year, an off-school-year trip is offered for credit in the summer. Students don’t miss a beat in their studies.

Deborah Hayes, Geronimo program director and captain at sea during the spring and summer cruises, and Mike Dawson, captain during the fall and winter

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cruises, set aside time on these cruises exclusively for schoolwork. Several teachers have also visited the boat mid-sail. In the Bahamas, students get to know the locals, tag sea turtles, learn to sail, and study navigation and marine studies in addition to pursuing their core academic subjects.

Lee credits Hayes with admirably and ably carrying on a long tradition. “That she could jump in there and run a program so well that was so heavily associated with another person is fabulous. And the program continues to be healthy. We’re blessed to have her.”

In terms of dramatic rescues at sea, both the “old” and the “new” Geronimo have had their turn in the spotlight.

Babbie Connett was on deck when she spotted Janet Culver, then a 48-year-old legal secretary from New Jersey, floating in a life raft on July 31, 1989. The crew saved her life.

Not to be outdone, however, the crew of the “new” Geronimo on Jan. 30, 2004, rescued a 49-yearold Polish seaman who’d fallen overboard from the merchant ship Pilica a day earlier. When the seaman, who’d broken his wrist but was otherwise in good condition, was found, he was wearing only a wedding ring. Bill Taylor ’04 offered his SG sweatpants.

On the web A

D D I T I O N A L@ C O N T E N T

@

VISIT US AT WWW.STGEORGES.EDU

O N

T H E

os t o ph

I

N T E R N E T

VISIT US AT WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/ STGEORGESSCHOOL/COLLECTIONS

Alumni/ae and colleagues are

We p o s t e v e n t p h o t o s , f u l l y d o w n l o a d a b l e ,

s h a r i n g t h e i r m e m o r i e s o f M r.

o n f l i c k r. c o m . Ta ke a l o o k !

William Schenck on our web site.

Add yours to the thread!

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R AY WOISHEK ’89 PHOTO BY

In real life A new course design for AP biology incorporates the study of HIV/AIDS into the curriculum

BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY

Science teacher Tom Evans meets with Advanced Placement biology students Anna Mack ’09, Laura Lowry ’10, Carl Nightingale ’10, Moritz Petre ’10, Scott Chanelli ’09, Si Min Yun ’09, and and Alex Layton ’09.

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Biology teacher Tom Evans remembers the moment he knew he was really onto something. He was talking to Dr. Gregg Dean, a nationally renowned immunopathologist and HIV researcher at North Carolina State University’s Infectious Disease research center in Raleigh, N.C., last summer.

“Send me what they come up with,” Dean told Evans. “You never know where the great ideas come from.”

Dean was referring to the students in Evans’ AP biology class, who this year are taking part in a new version of the course, one specially designed “to increase students’ exposure to the practical applications of science, math and technology,” as outlined in the school’s 2006 Strategic Plan.

“I want to use the complex science of HIV/AIDs

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as a unifying thread to connect traditional classroom discussions with real-life, cutting-edge science,” Evans wrote in a report last summer.

The course covers each of the required topics for a traditional AP biology course, but whenever possible the complex science of HIV and AIDS is used to support the classroom work.

At the end of the course, each student—using “background, the biology and the research about vaccines that have been tried already, and imagination”—will come up with the protocol for an HIV/AIDS vaccine. “But it has to be based on science,” Evans said.

The goal is for the students to realize that, just as top-notch scientists continue to investigate AIDS, they themselves could be part of a new discovery, as noted by Dr. Dean.

Evans teaches two sections of AP Biology, one B block and one F block, to 14 students.

“I’m hoping that they recognize the gravity of the problem of this disease, but also that the hope lies in science.”

Tom Evans–biology teacher

Fifth formers Moritz Petre and Laura Lowry use the Smart Board for a lesson on HIV replication.

R AY WOISHEK ’89

University of Science and Technology in Uganda.

“I told him I was really passionate about helping Uganda,” said Kudenholdt, who has spearheaded efforts at St. George’s to raise money for Invisible Children, an international organization that helps young Ugandan refugees.

Evans said the conference was a special opportunity for both the students and him.

“I was in the midst of science greatness up there and it was thrilling,” Evans said.

For the students in his course, he hopes at least this revelation: “I’m hoping that they recognize the gravity of the problem of this disease,” he said, “but also that the hope lies in science.”

PHOTO BY

Laura Lowry ’10, who’s in Evans’ F Block section, said she really “enjoys learning this way.”

“It allows us to apply what we are learning to a real problem. It makes us realize the importance of what we are studying,” she said.

To kick-start the course, Evans spent last summer connecting with a number of nationally recognized AIDS researchers.

He was invited by Dr. Dean to visit his research center in August. He also contacted and received encouragement and support for the class from the Harvard AIDS Initiative, the Brown Medical CollegeDepartment of Infectious Diseases, North Carolina State University Department of Biomedical Research, the Centers for Disease Control-Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, and Merck & Co. In July, Evans met and discussed HIV/AIDS research with Dr. Tim Flannigan, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Rhode Island and Miriam hospitals and Brown University Medical School, and a nationally known HIV expert.

Evans says the positive reception he received from all his contacts was overwhelming.

“Most said the fact there’s interest in this subject at the high school age is promising,” Evans said.

Eight of the 14 students in his classes were able to attend a prestigious conference on Nov. 19 at Harvard Medical School in Boston titled, “AIDS in Africa: Long-Term Effects of ARV Therapy.”

“The kids sat there riveted,” Evans said. The conference, which was attended mainly by notable physicians and academics working on HIV/AIDS research, was moderated by Max Essex, a Harvard professor who with a colleague was the first to identify the surface protein of HIV-I that is used for blood screening and diagnosis of AIDS. “There were some really great scientists there, so it was overwhelming at first,” said Clare Kudenholdt ’10, who’s in Evans’ B Block class and who also participated in a program on DNA science at Yale University last summer.

“I have always enjoyed science, but this inspires me to pursue it further because it shows me how science can better humanity,” added Lowry.

Kudenholdt was particularly interested in meeting attendee Dr. Conrad Muzoora, a lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Mbarara

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REV. C ANON WHITE PHOTO COURTESY OF THE

Canceling out fear Canon’s cheerful disposition defies dangerous assignments

BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY

Left: White waits to leave St. George’s “with a few of my people and four of my bodyguards from the Iraqi special forces.”

Right: White meets with Yasser Arafat in the Muqata in 2003. “The outcome of meetings with him often depended on his mood,” White said.

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An Anglican canon with multiple sclerosis whom the church deemed too sick to work in England—so they sent him to Iraq, he says—was a guest for the day at St. George’s on Dec. 4.

The Rev. Canon Andrew P.B. White, Vicar of St. George’s Church in Baghdad, delivered an address in chapel and fielded questions from community members during an all-school presentation in Madeira Hall. White, formerly the Archbishop of Canterbury’s special envoy to the Middle East, and now head of the London-based Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRRME), has attracted worldwide media attention for his reconciliation efforts in Iraq, including a CBS “60 Minutes” profile originally broadcast on Dec. 3, 2007.

As Vicar, White tends to the pastoral needs of his Iraqi parish, the last Anglican church in Iraq, and that of the largely American and British Anglican congregation in the fortified Green Zone. In addition, White works for interreligious reconciliation throughout Iraq, and is often directly involved in hostage negotiations, often putting his own life in peril. To visit his St. George’s congregation in Baghadad he must be escorted by well-armed bodyguards from the Iraqi Army.

St. George’s Church, on Haifa Street just north of the Green Zone, is now the largest church in Iraq,

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and is at the heart of the Iraqi Christian community which has been besieged since the 2003 invasion.

Today it has grown from approximately 250 to more than 2,000—a mix of largely Chaldean, Assyrian and Eastern Orthodox Christians, overwhelmingly women and children. Sadly, most of the men have been killed, including, at one point, the whole layleadership in 2005. With the assistance of Christians in the U.S. and U.K., as well as U.S. military support, the church now has a flourishing school, and medical and dental clinics tending to the needs of the local population of all faiths.

White himself acknowledges the Iraqi Christian community has a long and complicated history, though observers say he seems to move effortlessly between Shia ayatollahs, Sunni clerics, tribal sheikhs and coalition officials. “I feel privileged to serve a Christian community which has such a heritage and has been active for such a long time,” he said.

Danger is just part of the job.

“I’ve been hijacked, kidnapped and held at gunpoint. I’ve been held captive while all around me there were little bits of fingers and such all about the floor,” White, 44, told the students. “One year I had 11 of my staff killed.

“I know it’s really dangerous, but the fact is I don’t really care about my own life very much. As a Christian, I feel, once it comes, it comes.”

Trained as a doctor, White switched careers and

R AY WOISHEK ’89 PHOTO BY

particularly,” said Scott. Asked if he ever preached as church warden, Scott replied, “My spiritual gift was getting helicopters for Canon White and taking care of logistics for both congregations, and security for St. George’s.”

During the discussion session at SG, White was complimentary of the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

He spent the previous day in Washington, D.C., updating military officials on FRRME’s religious reconciliation efforts. “They’ve done an outstanding job,” he said. “I really like the Pentagon because they give me [for FRRME] a lot of money.”

“The work isn’t over in Iraq,” White added, and much remains to be done in support of the St. George’s growing congregation, in particular.

When asked what keeps him going in an atmosphere of intense danger, White replied, “God—and the need to bring security to my people.”

“Perfect love cancels out all fear,” he said. “My people love me so much.”

R AY WOISHEK ’89

Above: White addresses the community during a chapel service.

Later, when a student asked about White’s relationships with Sunni and Shiite Muslims, White said he gets along very well with both.

“Otherwise they’ll kill me,” he added.

PHOTO BY

was ordained in 1990 after studying theology at Ridley Hall at the University of Cambridge. He began traveling regularly to Iraq in 1998 after the International Center for Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral received an invitation from Tariq Aziz, who was then Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister.

Now, as president of FRRME, White is called upon frequently to help in obtaining the release of hostages.

Still, he seems an unlikely hostage negotiator, one reporter wrote in the Times of London. “He is tall, conspicuous and quintessentially English. …

But he has long experience of Iraq, matchless contacts and a winning manner.”

Indeed, White wowed the crowd at St. George’s with his candid stories and pointed humor. Three times he took to task a student in the front of the crowd whom he said needed a haircut, even calling on his assistant to give the boy money to go get one.

White’s visit to St. George’s was made possible through the collaborative efforts of St. George’s chaplain, the Rev. Ned Mulligan, and retired Marine Colonel Ward Scott, father of third former Veronica “Noodle” Scott. Scott worked in a civilian capacity in Baghdad from 2004 to 2005, when he met Canon White. Scott ultimately became the Anglican Congregation’s senior church warden and FRRME’s “man in Baghdad,” assisting White in his full range of duties, including relief to the besieged St. George’s congregation. When the British Foreign Office prohibited White from going to the church for security reasons, Scott traveled there clandestinely on his behalf. “I just felt called to service, Christian service

Left: Col. Ward E. Scott II P’12 and Canon White outside Lambeth Palace in London in September 2006 prior to attending an event with the current Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. and Right Hon. Rowan Williams.

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R AY WOISHEK ’89 PHOTO BY

The greening of King Hall From trayless lunches to a water-saving dishwasher, the dining hall is on an earth-friendly track

BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY Walk by the dining hall at St. George’s and

Associate Director of Dining Services Steve Moyer poses in front of King Hall with the school’s new electric van.

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you’ll immediately know if it’s meal time—but not from the clanking of dishes or the smell of roasting potatoes: Associate Director of Dining Services Steve Moyer won’t allow the lights to be turned on until the students arrive.

That’s because for Moyer each decision about mealtime, and each new purchase, is an opportunity to “go green.” For the past three years, Moyer has overseen a number of initiatives that are making the food hub of campus more environmentally friendly.

The latest is the purchase of a GreenVan from Vantage Vehicles of Corona, Calif. The electric van cost $18,000 and operates on six 12-volt batteries, with no emissions.

“It’s quiet and it’s green. That’s the biggest thing,” Moyer says. The vehicle has such a small,

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light profile, it can also fit on walkways and run over grass without damaging the grounds. It takes about four hours to charge from a standard electric outlet, according to Moyer, and can run about 30 miles.

The dining staff uses it primarily for catering activities around campus.

During Parents Weekend, when Moyer’s 17member staff was serving close to 1,000 dinners in the Field House, the vehicle came in particularly handy.

Beyond the electric van, Moyer is also paying close attention to King Hall’s energy and resource usage. A study last year showed the hall’s new energy-efficient dishwasher, installed last summer, will likely use approximately 200,000 fewer gallons of water per year, saving the school $5,100. Now that diners aren’t using trays, an initiative also launched last September, the hall also hopes to reduce food waste by about 50 tons per year as well.

RUBENSTEIN PHOTO BY L EN

For those skeptics, Moyer says, “I invite anyone to stand behind the window and watch how much food comes back on the plates.” Earlier this fall, he notes, a local pig farmer was picking up 500 pounds of food waste per week.

Even the dining hall’s used fryer oil is being recycled. As part of a contract with Newport Biodiesel, the firm picks up a 55-gallon drum of waste vegetable oil from the school each week and turns it into an environmentally friendly alternative fuel for boats and homes.

Produce for the hall comes from Community Fruit, a wholesale supplier based in Cranston, R.I. “We’ve got a standing order with them that we want nothing but local produce if at all possible,” says Moyer. The growing season in New England isn’t long, acknowledges Moyer, but the number of local produce items the school receives continues to increase.

“We get all our whole potatoes from Lacerda’s Farm in Portsmouth,” Moyer says. “[Science Department chair] Steve Leslie picks them up.”

Last fall, Leslie worked with Maxine Muster ’09 on a special project in which she composted organic

scraps from the kitchen a few times a week in compost bins on campus. The compost is used in a community garden.

The hall also is careful about the food choices it serves. “We buy only cage-free eggs,” Moyer says. We purchase fish according to the recommendations of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, which issues a comprehensive “Seafood Watch” that lists both endangered species and those fished using methods that are detrimental to the marine environment or wildlife. That means no Atlantic cod or Bluefin tuna and only wild-caught Alaskan salmon.

Even outdoor barbecues and special events are an opportunity to think about doing things differently, Moyer said. When disposable cups and utensils are called for, he orders 100 percent biodegradable, compostable ones made out of polylactic acid (PLA) and corn/wheat starch.

Now it’s time to get really creative, Moyer said, acknowledging he’s got some innovative ideas for down the road.

“I’d like to somehow serve a ‘zero emissions’ dinner,” Moyer said. “And to grow shiitake mushrooms in coffee grounds.”

Students do some last-minute studying during breakfast in King Hall. New initiatives are making the hall a “greener” place to be.

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Different takes H A P E L

T

A L K S

PHOTO COURTESY OF

ANNA MACK ’09

C

Reaching your level of God’s perfection

BY ANNA MACK ’09 Editor’s note: Following is a chapel talk delivered on Nov. 20, 2008, On the evening of the talk, a swim meet was held at the Hoyt Pool with students from St. George’s and Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Mass., where Anna’s twin brother attends school.

Anna teaches John how to sign the word “bird.” Big Bird was one of John’s favorite characters.

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E

veryone is familiar with the sinking feeling of the stomach—the dread of encountering something you do not know, or simply would rather not face.

My fear, growing up, was the playground.

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Unlike most other kids, I did not play at the playground. I worried. What if I got lost? What if the nanny forgot me? What if I was stuck at the playground forever?

Besides, playgrounds are dirty. There are “bad” words written on the structures and garbage is strewn about. The metal slide always burned my backside, especially in the hot sun. But worse of all, there are all kinds of wild, unsupervised, and cruel children. It was these fearsome children, most of all, that made me loath the playground.

One particular memory stands out in my mind.

I was seven years old and it was another summer day at the Bristol Commons Town Park. I was with John, my twin brother; Joe, my younger brother; and the nanny. After a few minutes of moping on the swings, I noticed that John was missing.

I looked for John on the ground, under the slides, by the swings, beneath the monkey bars. He was nowhere. I began to panic. Who knew what might happen to him? I was about to bring the matter to the nanny when I heard laughter. I looked above to the jungle gym and there John was, surrounded by a gang of children who were pointing and laughing at him.

My insides burned hotter than the metal slide.

That was my twin brother they were making fun of. I felt so useless. John did not even know that they were making fun of him. A blur of cruel words, crude gestures, and mean faces still burns in my memory as does the remembrance of humiliation, frustration and anger—anger at the negligent nanny for letting John wander off, anger at the kids for taunting my twin, and anger at myself for not knowing how to handle the situation. At that moment, all I wanted was to bring my brother home.

John is disabled with CHARGE syndrome, a rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation in the operator gene CHD7.

You don’t need to know the name of John’s disability or understand what exactly is wrong with him to observe that John is different. He has elephant-shaped ears and his face is drastically asymmetrical. He makes funny squeaking noises, and he moves in the staggered, uncontrolled manner of a drunk person. He insists upon carrying toy figures of Big Bird, Elmo, and Oscar with him everywhere; and, if it were up to him, he would wear dress pants and a bright red Hawaiian T-shirt every single day.

Growing up, I never really thought about the implications of having a severely disabled twin brother. The fact that I was born John’s twin sister meant that I knew big words like “sensory integration” (a technique for calming John down) and “coloboma of the eye” (a form of blindness that all CHARGE kids have). It meant I knew sign language; it meant that I had to share my birthday parties; and that I would not always get Mom’s attention when I

needed it or wanted it. John came first.

And yes, growing up with John meant that occasionally I would witness the fear and intolerance of people who didn’t know him.

But I’ve learned a lot from living with John.

I’ve learned to make light of imperfection. I’ve learned to let go of things I can’t control. I’ve learned to redefine the ways in which I measure success.

Take, for example, John’s learning curve. It takes a lot of patience and effort to teach John certain skills that you and I learned when we were little children—skills like how to dress yourself, how to tie your shoes, and how to take a bath. And sometimes, after many weeks of training and a lot of hard work, we don’t always get the results we anticipated. Several years ago, we finally “pottytrained” John—a huge feat—only to learn that he could not tell the difference between the toilet at home and the model toilet at the Home Depot; nor did he understand the privacy implications of pulling your pants down in the bathroom, not in the middle of McDonalds.

The fact that John is totally and completely unpredictable can be hugely embarrassing; it can also be entertaining. Two years ago, after months of preparation and a lot of hard work on my mom’s part, John was going to make his First Holy Communion. We bought John a handsome black suit, taught him how to put it on, and explained to him (many times) the order of the day. The other second graders in his CCD class even learned how to sign the “Our Father” so that they could be part of John’s experience. When the big moment came, John accepted the communion, but, much to the priest’s displeasure, decided that he would rather not take the body of Christ right there on the spot.

John has his own mind, and does what he wants, when he wants to do it. In fact, sometimes I’m a bit envious of John’s freedom of expression.

If he is tired of shopping, he knows that the fastest way to get home is to pull the fire alarm; if he wants someone to leave our house, he will take their hand and guide them out the front door. If he wants to go home in the middle of a movie, he throws a tantrum. If he is feeling like nobody is paying attention to him, he bites himself and bangs his head.

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SG swimmers Aubrey Baumbach ’12, Harriet Davison ’12 and Anna Mack ’09 along with coach Tom Evans cheer on swimmers from the Perkins School for the Blind during a meet on Nov. 20.

During the event, SG students wore goggles that simulated blindness.

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It is not always easy to find the light. It is most difficult for me to encounter people who are fearful or intolerant of my brother: The penetrating stares, the old lady who shushes him at church, the little child who hides from John behind his parent.

I know that people tend to be afraid of that which is unfamiliar to them or that which they do not understand.

To be honest, there is still a lot I do not understand about my twin brother. I don’t understand John’s obsession with “Sesame Street.” I do not understand why John refuses to walk through a certain door in our house. I don’t understand why he insists upon cutting the tag off of every shirt he wears. I do not understand why John will draw hundreds of pictures of Elmo, Big Bird and Ernie, and then tear them all to shreds.

I don’t understand why he will never talk. Why he will never live independently.

Why he is disabled instead of me.

John will never run a cross-country course, sing in a choir, live on a sailboat, appreciate poetry, learn a foreign language or see another world under a microscope as I have here at St. George’s.

But what is remarkable about John, and what most people underestimate, is that he has the ability to love and be loved.

I’d like to share with you a story from a newspaper article called “Seeking God’s Perfection” by

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Leslie L. Gutterman: “At a school that serves Jewish children with developmental disabilities, a father gave a speech at a fund-raising dinner. He said: ‘Where is the perfection in my son Shaya? Everything God does is done with perfection. My son can’t remember facts and figures. Where is God’s perfection?’ Then he answered his own question: ‘I believe that when God brings a child like Shaya into the world, the perfection God seeks is in the way people react to him.’

Then he related this story: One afternoon, Shaya walked with his father by a park where boys were playing baseball. Shaya asked, ‘Do you think they would let me play?’ Shaya’s dad knew that his son would not be welcomed. Nevertheless he asked them.

‘We’re losing by six runs, and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team.’ Shaya smiled broadly and the father was ecstatic. In the bottom of the ninth, Shaya’s team was behind by two runs, with two outs and the bases loaded. Shaya was given the bat. He didn’t know how to hold it. But the pitcher moved closer and lobbed the ball in softly.

Shaya swung clumsily and missed. Then a teammate approached and together they held the bat, swung, and hit a slow groundball. Everyone started yelling, ‘Shaya, run to first!’ Never in his life had Shaya run to first. Everyone yelled, ‘Run to second!’ Finally, Shaya rounded third, the boys behind him screaming, ‘Shaya, run home!’ Shaya stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero. ‘That day,’ said the father, with tears rolling down his face, ‘those boys reached their level of God’s perfection.’”

I urge you to rejoice in the abilities you have been blessed with. Do not be afraid of something that is different. Do not be afraid of what you do not understand. There will always be something you do not understand. Embrace it. Be curious.

Ask questions. Appreciate the skills and ability you have and use your talents to the fullest. No matter the situation, you get what you get and you make the best of it.

And finally, I encourage you all tonight to come to the Perkins swim meet and help create your level of God’s perfection.

Anna Mack ’09 is from Bristol, R.I. She can be reached at Anna_Mack@stgeorges.edu.

SUZANNE MCGRADY PHOTO BY

When the walls come tumbling down A student talks about living with Crohn’s disease

BY ANNIE IRELAND ’09 Following is a chapel talk delivered on Sept. 25, 2008.

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opened my eyes slowly, and adjusted to the light. The first thing I noticed was an ugly picture on the wall—something I have never understood about hospitals. If someone is sick and has to sit in a bed all day, why not put something

pretty on the wall to look at? This immediately led to noticing the hideous print of the wallpaper. It was some sort of paisley, and the colors were deep purple and green. After a while of simply staring at them, the walls finally began to move. Slowly, at first. The curves of the wallpaper print began to swirl, and after some time, were melting down the wall and into the floor. The carpet turned into one

Annie Ireland ’09 credits her mom and her brother with helping her get through tough times spent in the hospital.

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giant puddle, mixed with the dripping walls.

Next, people began to appear in the reflection of the black, turned-off television screen. Suddenly, the people were standing in the room, standing right next to my bed. I could see them so clearly, just as I could see the carpet swimming across the floor. It was the strangest thing; nothing about the situation seemed at all odd and when I reached out to grab the people, I was never able to grasp them.

The reason is because the people were not there. I was having severe drug-induced hallucinations. Bizarre things like this happen to me all the time, because I spend anywhere from a few days to a few weeks in hospitals several times over the course of each year. The reason for this is that I have Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s is a chronic illness that comes in random episodes, or flares. It is a form of inflammatory bowel disease; its causes are unknown and there are currently no cures. That means that no matter what I do, it is something that I will have for life.

My experiences with Crohn’s are one of those things that you can never explain to someone and have them fully understand unless they have been through it. That is why I appreciate my mom and my brother so much, for making me laugh, bringing me good music and movies, and always taking turns staying long, miserable nights in the hospital with me, doing anything they can to make it better.

I’ll be honest with you: Most of the symptoms, tests, and procedures for Crohn’s are not pleasant, so I will not describe them to you. The pain medications make me violently ill, and not all of the drug-induced delirium is funny. More than once I have been completely convinced that everyone was trying to kill me. There have been times, when it has gotten so bad that people have prayed over my body. I have also had one experience where I thought it might be the end. But this is not what I choose to focus on. I’ve been through a lot of serious stuff, and it does make me tougher, but I try to always look for the positive. Those of you who know me well know that I am not a fan of pity parties; it’s just not my style. My grandmother always told me that you either laugh or you cry, and I tend to choose laughing, and focusing on the funny and good things.

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I had my first major encounter with Crohn’s in eighth grade. Up until a few months before that, when I had stomach aches on a daily basis, I had been extremely healthy in every way. I had never been in an emergency room or hospital for my own ailments. Crohn’s is different for every person who has it, which makes it a disease that is incredibly hard to define. I have days when I feel as good as anyone, but I also have days that come with no warning, when I feel absolutely horrible.

On these days, I don’t want to do anything but lie down and wait for it to be over. When the pain comes, it feels as though either someone is ripping out my stomach and intestines or stabbing me over and over with knives. The good thing is that this is not an everyday occurrence; however, when these days come, they really hit me hard.

And it does not always last for just a day or even for a few weeks. Crohn’s was the reason that I missed almost all of the first semester last year, from the fifth day of school through the end of January. I was incredibly sick and the specific problem kept being misdiagnosed, so I continued to get sicker for several months before I finally had exploratory surgery.

But my dealings with Crohn’s definitely haven’t been all bad. If I’m feeling terrible one day, it usually means that during one of the next few days I’ll feel great again. I have learned so much about x-rays that I could probably run the machine that gives CAT scans, or draw someone’s blood. I have no fear of needles, because they have to be stuck in my arms and hands all the time. I know what things like “orthostatic hypotension” mean and what PICC lines are. I know enough about Crohn’s that I am able to tell when doctors are not giving me the correct amount of pain medication, or are not telling me the whole truth.

In addition, all of these times spent in the hospital and also some times at home, I am on huge amounts of morphine, Demerol, Dilaudid and fentanyl. While it’s not exactly the best thing always to be on the most severe pain meds that are available, it certainly provides huge amounts of entertainment for everyone around me. I am always convinced that something like the scene I described at the beginning is seriously occuring.

Those of you who have spoken to me while I have

been absent from school can certainly attest to this.

For those of you who have not, simply imagine “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” meets 17-yearold girl in local hospital, and you can imagine the types of ridiculous scenes that tend to play out.

While morphine doesn’t make me that loopy, only pain free, dilaudid and fentanyl do quite a number on my mental stability. They make me incredibly stupid, and cause me to ask an absurd number of dumb questions. Just ask my brother; he absolutely loves it.

One of the things I loathe most about hospitals is the pain scale. Each and every doctor and nurse who comes into your hospital room asks you to rate your pain on a scale of one to 10. Though this might sound simple, I have an impossible time with it. First of all, while I may whine about a papercut or some other little thing, I am definitely not a complainer when it comes to big things. I tend to really suck it up, and never let on about how much pain I am in. I attribute this quality of mine to my older brother. Growing up, I was always trying to be as tough as he was. If there was blood everywhere, my response to our mother was that it only hurt a little bit.

Thus, my pain scale is unbelievably skewed. My two or three would probably match someone else’s five or six, and my eight or nine would most likely be equivalent to someone’s 12 or 13, which do not even exist on the pain scale. One nurse tried to help me out by telling me to imagine a one as the tiniest ache or pain, and to imagine a 10 being a shark biting off my foot. I explained to her that this made absolutely no sense whatsoever, because I obviously still had both of my feet, so I clearly did not know what having my foot bitten off by a shark felt like. Needless to say, she was not pleased, and I have not gotten any better at giving accurate or acceptable answers for the rate-your-pain question.

One of the bigger run-ins I have had in a hospital was an argument with my surgeon and one of his partners. The issue at hand was where to make the incision for my first surgery. Although my biggest fear is to be put under anesthesia and never wake up, I was almost more concerned about where my scar would be. This is, of course, because I am a teenage girl and the ability to wear bikinis is crucial. Most colorectal surgeries require an inci-

sion down the middle of the abdomen. I made it quite clear to my surgeon that I did not want to have to get up every morning and look in the mirror at a disfiguring scar down the front of me.

Although having a bikini-line incision made for a longer, more painful recovery, I decided it was necessary.

Yet another benefit of Crohn’s disease is that I get to watch a number of highly intellectual television programs. For example, the “Playboy Mansion E! True Hollywood Story,” among others. I have watched a disgusting number of daytime television game shows, and some of the strangest documentaries. My brother and I, glued to the television trying to block out the sights and sounds of the hospital, were some of the first to hear the breaking news of Jamie-Lynn Spears’ pregnancy, and probably some of the most horrified.

Essentially, Crohn’s is and always will be a part of my life until the day I die. But it’s really not the end of the world for me. I don’t have terminal cancer; I don’t have a time limit in which to live my life. I have had lots of other trials and tribulations in my life aside from Crohn’s, and I always will.

At the end of the day, everyone has their problems. Each of our problems is unique to us, but everyone has hard times that they must go through. The point I wish to make is that you can’t let the difficult things you go through run your life.

You have to take control, as much as is humanly possible, and focus on how to make your life better.

I cannot rid myself of Crohn’s disease, but I refuse to let it define me. Part of being a human being is to realize that not everything is going to go your way. Having a strong mental attitude of optimism and being determined to make things better will make all the difference. Though it is not always the case, often, if you want to get better or make something better, you have the power to do so. Obviously, on some days, the things that eat away at us will win the battle, and we will be upset, tired or angry. But by not allowing our problems to define us, we choose to live better, happier, more fufilling lives. No one can be his or her best every day, but I urge you all to take this theory to heart.

Annie Ireland ’09 is from Monticello, Fla. She can be reached at Annie_Ireland@stgeorges.edu.

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Patriotism–in a new light

BY C. JOSEPH GOULD Following is a chapel talk delivered on Nov. 11, 2008.

On that day, St. George’s honored four faculty members and 16 staff members who have served in the military.

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Assistant Head of School for External Affairs Joe Gould, a Navy veteran, delivers a chapel talk on Veteran’s Day 2008.

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oday is Veterans Day—the 11th day of the 11th month, initially a holiday to mark the armistice, which ended the Great War, the war to end all wars. It did not turn out that way and Armistice Day has evolved into Veterans Day, a day to honor all our American veterans. I am a veteran and I am very proud that St. George’s has chosen to honor the group of us staff and faculty who are veterans.

Though we are presented to you as a group, we are all individuals with our own experiences and points of view. So I think it is important to say that I am not here to speak on behalf of my fellow veterans, but rather to offer my own story and perspectives.

I grew up in Brockton, Mass., in the 1950s. My father, the fourth of six siblings but only the second child to be born in the United States, was a member of the “greatest generation”—a veteran of World War II. As I remember it, the 1950s were a time when most of us Americans believed in the words, “my country right

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or wrong.” Every morning in school, we stood by our desks with our hands over our hearts and recited in unison the “Pledge of Allegiance.”

A lot changed in the 1960s. And a lot changed for me. And this year, with the presidential election process in high gear, I’ve been thinking again about patriotism. And I guess since it’s my 40th reunion year from Harvard College, my memories of 196768 are sharper and clearer than they’ve been in a while. I wasn’t much older than you back then.

My senior year began with the birth of Red Sox Nation. Our hapless local team had not had a winning season for 10 years and had not won the American League pennant since 1946, the year I was born.

It was the easiest ticket in town. As a matter of fact, the ’66-’67 team had finished ninth in the league with 72 wins and 90 losses. But our brash new manager Dick Williams predicted we’d “win more games than [we’d] lose.” Three teams were still in the race on Sunday, Oct. 1, the last day of the season. The Red Sox were tied with the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers were a half game back. The Sox had to beat the Twins, and the Tigers had to lose at least one game of their season-ending double header against

the California Angels. My roommates and I sat huddled in front of our TV as the Red Sox beat the Twins, but the Tigers won game one. We waited breathlessly until we heard on the radio that the Angels had prevailed in game two. We had to share our joy, so we took the T to Fenway Park to mill around with the celebrating crowd. The Sox eventually lost the World Series in seven games to the Cardinals but that was OK. Winning it all wasn’t so important back then. But there was no more joy that senior year.

The Vietnam War was raging and it was not my “daddy’s war.” However, unlike war today, it was, like World War II, personal for all Americans because there was still a draft. The people in power knew about war from personal experience and knew that they were putting their own sons at risk with their decisions. My “2-S” student deferment would run out upon my graduation and I knew I’d be re-classified to “1-A”—that is, fit for military service. It didn’t matter that I had graduated from a distinguished prep school or was attending an Ivy League college. I was confused and I was afraid, and I was not alone.

By the fall of 1967, for many Americans, both rich and poor, patriotism stopped being defined by “my country right or wrong.” The anti-war movement was not political; it wasn’t Republicans vs.

Democrats, or liberals vs. conservatives. The earnest and honorable U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy launched his challenge for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination against the sitting Democratic President Lyndon Johnson. And people like my dad were questioning the rightness of the war.

I was the captain of the 1967 Harvard soccer team.

I had been a pretty good player but I started having a strange problem that fall. My legs would go to sleep as I’d run, and then I couldn’t run. By the Yale game, I couldn’t play at all. Trainers and doctors had tried to figure out what was the matter to no avail. My dad, also a doctor, told me years later that with hindsight he’d finally decided that my affliction was due to stress.

By the fall of 1967, there were very few ways to avoid the draft. Teacher deferments and marriage deferments were gone. Graduate school didn’t work, unless it was medical school. For a while I thought I’d be headed to medical school. My dad was a doctor and so was my brother. I was a biology major, but I wasn’t doing very well in my coursework and I didn’t enjoy what I was doing. In fact, I didn’t want

to be a doctor. The National Guard was closed, unless you were really well connected, as was the Coast Guard. Of course, I could have left the U.S. and gone to Canada and with 20/20 hindsight that might have been a good option. But in truth at the time I didn’t know where I stood on the war.

Finally, to avoid the draft and hopefully to avoid combat on the ground, I enlisted in the Navy and was accepted in the Naval Officers program. I didn’t enlist to be patriotic. I did it because it was the most acceptable option for me. The winter of 1968 brought the Tet Offensive, when it became clear the war would not be won. There was a ray of hope for me when Robert Kennedy entered the race for the Democratic nomination for President as an anti-war candidate. I had loved JFK. LBJ said in March that he wouldn’t run again, which offered more hope. I was excited to learn about that time that Martin Luther King Jr. would be our Class Day speaker. But hope turned to dismay when Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, and Bobby Kennedy was shot on June 5 and died the next day.

My Harvard graduation was June 13. My family and I watched the ceremony on closed circuit TV because it rained that day and there wasn’t room for all the graduates at the indoor facility. It hadn’t rained on a Harvard graduation since the 1920s. But it seemed like a fitting ending for the Class of 1968.

I was sworn into the U.S. Navy on July 15, 1968, the day after Jennifer and I were married. I served for three years and by the luck of the draw, I never went to Vietnam. I was the only one of my roommates who actually went into the military, however. Three found doctors who convinced their local draft boards that they were unfit for military service; the fourth joined the Peace Corps and then extended until he turned 26, so he was too old to be drafted. I never resented their actions, nor did I ever consider them unpatriotic. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also graduated from college in 1968. I can’t remember how Clinton avoided the military, but he did; and Bush came from a family of such extraordinary influence that he somehow got into the National Guard when no one else could. I don’t resent their actions back then either.

On May 4, 1970, I was on board ship when I heard the news that the Ohio National Guard had opened fire on student protesters at Kent State University. Four had died. It was at that moment that I decided with

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certainty where I stood on the Vietnam War. Who were the patriots that day? In Vietnam, several died, I’m sure, serving their country. But what I decided that day was that those students were every bit as patriotic.

They gave their lives for their country too.

America is an ideal and, in my opinion, it must earn our love and respect every day. It can’t, and shouldn’t, rest on its laurels. I don’t believe in those words “my country right or wrong.” Instead I believe that we are patriotic when we give of ourselves in meaningful ways to help our country live up to its ideal.

Notwithstanding the anguish of that school year 40 years ago, all Americans were engaged in a great struggle over the American ideal and I believe we were all patriots, whether we served or we protested.

That’s not so today. With our so-called volunteer military, we are not all engaged in our country’s actions. Instead, we are divided rich and poor, Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives. Our leaders are not putting their sons and daughters at risk with their decisions. I need not worry about my children. And I suspect most of you are not worried either. Most of us can go about our business, bored by the news of distant wars, and more concerned about gasoline prices and interest rates.

Four thousand Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. How many more would have died were it not for the body armor? Instead they’re maimed and scarred physically and emotionally. These wars are on page four of our newspapers, and are listed somewhere down the line of important issues during the current Presidential campaign. Most of us today, it seems to me, are asked to demonstrate our patriotism only by affixing yellow metallic ribbons to our automobiles and by singing songs at major league baseball games. Perhaps that’s why I think we should return to a draft or universal service for all young men and women. That’s certainly why I think we all have a responsibility to vote.

So I ask you please on Veterans Day to think about patriotism. Politicians and pundits, until a week ago, have reduced patriotism to slogans and flag-waving, and have forgotten the lessons of the 1960s when the American ideal was held to a high standard and we were all called upon to take a stand.

President-elect Obama in his victory speech in Chicago took me back to another time when patriotism had real meaning to me.

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I was in prep school, a ninth grader. At his inauguration on Jan. 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy spoke to me, to all Americans, and to all citizens of the world.

His words still speak to me today, and perhaps they will to you: “In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course.

Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

“Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, ‘rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation’—a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

“And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you—Ask what you can do for your country.

“My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

“Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

Joe Gould is the assistant head of school for external affairs. He can be reached at joe_gould@stgeorges.edu.

Current St. George’s faculty and staff veterans

Ed McGinnis

Tom Noah

Bob Frost

David Keilty

Joe Gould

Luis Carrion

Greg Boone

Grounds

Army

1991-1994

Walter Bowers

Maintenance

Air Force

1959-1963

Luis Carrion

Housekeeping

Army

1983-1993

David Castelluzzo

Maintenance

Navy

1976-1984

Antoine du Bourg

Faculty

Army

Robert Frost

Finance

Army

1970-1973

Stephen Gordon

Housekeeping

Army

1969-1971

C. Joseph Gould

Faculty

Navy

1968-1974

Bob Jenckes

Campus Safety

Navy

1955-1958

David Keilty

Maintenance

Navy

1964-1969

Joe Lanuez

Grounds

Army

1968-1970

Bob MacDonald

Campus Safety

Army

1966-1968

Ed McGinnis

Faculty

Navy

1982-2002

Ernie Morrill

Campus Safety

Navy

1964-1970

Tom Noah

Campus Safety

Navy

1986-1993

Bob Nula

Human Resources

Air Force

1968-1976

Dean Scanlon

Campus Safety

Navy

1962-1970 1978-1992

Bill Snell

Campus Safety

Navy

1985-2005

Daniel Tittle

Dining Services

Army

1966-1969

Robin Wallace

Health Center

Army

1969-1971

Bob Nula

Joseph Lanuez

Greg Boone

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Brash and bright ‘Argumentative’ senior finds things all work out in the end

BY DIATRE PADILLA ’09 Following is a chapel talk delivered on Oct. 6, 2008.

Diatre Padilla ’09 (third from left) poses with crosscountry teammates David Vasquez ’11, Kevin Lee ’10, Matt Sowley ’10, Martin Ejiaku ’11 and Alex Wieler ’08.

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y name is Diatre Padilla, known to most students, and even some faculty at this school, as e-mail guy, Entertainment Committee announcement guy—or the most popular yet, D-Train. I am a person of many traits and characteristics. I have a loud cackle that may turn into a crying screech if something is extremely

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hysterical. I have a penchant for singing choir songs or rapping explicit Lil Wayne lyrics everywhere I go, including here in chapel. I am extremely argumentative, because, despite the truth, I believe that no one is more correct than me—except Barack Obama. I’m not very good at sports, especially squash, except that I’m OK at track because I strategically chose events that no one else does just so I could do better at meets. I’m brash, loud, in-yourface, a victim of mood swings, and I am so stressed

by classes, extracurriculars, and college stuff that I look forward to cups of coffee, the sole reason I can handwrite three pages in 30 minutes for AP English.

But, of all my traits, I hold highest the one that I have served this school loyally for the three past years to earn: I, my friends, am a senior. And I told myself that when I became a senior, I would admit to anything. It’s not so much that I was afraid about what people would think, but more of a social experiment: I wanted to see who I could become despite these things. And that got me thinking about what I could admit to you all today, but nothing I came up with seemed adequate. For instance, I could talk about how at 16 years, six months, three weeks, and five days, I am the youngest member of my class, and younger than half the class below me, but no one ever notices that until I tell them. Maybe I could talk about how I am one of five black people in a class of more than 90, but the race card? Come on. Maybe I could talk about how on April 11, 1993, exactly one month after my first birthday, my father decided that not even I was worth living for. Or maybe I could talk about how difficult it is to be an, up until now, closeted bisexual in a fairly intolerant school. But not even this seemed right, and I told myself that I would rather go out with a bang than come out with one. I honestly thought that there was nothing worth speaking about. But after some more thinking, it dawned on me. It’s the one thing I’ve been working my chops off all this time for, and the one thing that in seven months and 16 days will become a reality for me, other than a new MacBook, unless my mother is lying to me. That thing is graduation. This morning, I want to talk to you about graduation. But not the one coming, no, that would just be too cliché, too simple, too … normal. I want to tell you a story, if that’s OK with you all.

June 10, 2005. On a beautiful day, seven stories above the Bronx ground, a 13-year-old boy woke up, looked out of the window upon a beautifully shining Manhattan skyline, walked into the bathroom, looked into the mirror, and said, “This will be the most important day of my life thus far.” He was right.

In less than 12 hours, that boy would be graduating from De La Salle Academy, the small private school he had attended since sixth grade, and on numerous occasions, where he had proved to be the most controversial person. He had top grades, top scores, and

top attitude, so much so that he was almost expelled and asked to reapply. The faculty decided against this, allowing him to complete his eighth grade in style.

He had been admitted to St. George’s School, a purportedly elite boarding school in Newport (but really Middletown), and in essence was living his dream of heading off to a boarding school and starting anew.

The beautiful sunny, yet cool New York City day continued to unfold pretty calmly. Being a procrastinator, the boy had not yet even bought his impressive graduation outfit, so he travelled out with his grandmother (with whom he lived, so that he wouldn’t have to leave his school and live with his mother), and picked up what he thought was a gorgeous combination of gold and brown formal wear. He returned home, sat around, played video games, watched TV, and anticipated. He waited. And waited. His heart raced. This was it. It was finally going to happen. This day would be perfect.

Meanwhile, on a highway, the location of which is still unknown to the boy, a beautiful sparkling new Toyota Sienna minivan, holding a girl just two weeks older than her fourth birthday, another girl three months younger than her second, and a 37year-old woman, pregnant with her fifth, unborn child, drove calmly and silently, somewhere between Hartford, Conn., and New York City. Gracefully and curtly sideswiped, this car veered off the road and into a ditch. The brand new car was totaled. The woman was headed to her son’s graduation.

His grandmother walked into the room as he was contemplating just what this day would mean for him, and exclaimed, “Get ready to head out. You are getting on the train with your sister and cousin.”

What? Why? He certainly didn’t wish to ride public transportation on his big day. She explained the situation to him and said, “I need to pick them up, but we will all get down to your school before graduation starts.” He rode the train silently with his sister and cousin, all the way down 96th St. and Broadway, and climbed four sets of stairs to the onefloor school, and greeted his friends. He acted as if everything was fine, because he thought that it would be. He put on his gown. He took pictures.

6:30 p.m. The Class of 2005 lined up for the procession. No call, no text, no warning, the boy had no idea if his family was coming. Still, he processed in, all smiles, sat down, enjoyed the ceremony,

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received his diploma, and recessed out, all with a clear mind. As families reunited with their newly graduated children, he waited outside, looking for his family. His sister and cousin were there.

But no one else. No graduation dinner, no celebration, no family. The boy rode the train back home that night. He got back at around 9 or 9:30, changed his clothes and watched TV. At around 11, the family he had been looking for walked through the door: mother, sisters, uncle, grandmother. He watched them struggle in, visibly tired. The mother slowly walked forward, grabbed her son and wept. She apologized, but it wasn’t her fault. The day was not as perfect as the boy wanted it to be.

The woman was stranded in New York without a car. Even if she got a ride or a train back to Hartford, how would she get to work every day? She worked in the outskirts of Hartford, where no public transportation reached. She had no means of getting to work, let alone back to her home. She was fired. With no job to pay for the home in which she was living in Hartford, she was evicted. She was forced to return to New York, the place that she had always wanted to leave. She cried often. She was miserable. She was diagnosed with clinical depression. The new apartment was not nearly as nice as her Hartford one. On Aug. 29, she went into induced labor a month before her due day.

Her misery, her struggle, her sadness angered the boy. “Why don’t you just call your father, my grandpa, and ask him to help you? He bought the new minivan and the one it replaced. If you had simply let him buy you a new car as soon as you lost your old one, you wouldn’t be in this situation, we wouldn’t be in this situation, I wouldn’t be in this situation. Why so stubborn? Why so … independ-

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ent?” On many occasions, the boy thought to himself, “I really hate my mother right now.”

What is the point of my story? Having been that boy, I am speaking to you only to make one simple point. While I hate to be cliché, my message to you all is a simple one: “Everything works out.” My mother now lives in a quiet town in Northeastern Pennsylvania, raising her children in the way she always wanted, working the job she always wanted, living the life she always wanted. And I stand here before you, not quite a man yet, but certainly no longer that stubborn, one-sided boy. Despite the various problems that I feared would impoverish my very life, I find myself here, giving a chapel talk in the school of my dreams, with the friends of my dreams, living the life of my dreams. Hopefully, I will head to the college of my dreams (which is actually Columbia, if anyone can pull some strings), have the career and family of my dreams, and continue to live the life I have so actively sought to gain.

You may notice something about me: I’m not often sad. I laugh a lot, I smile a lot, and though I am very, VERY easily annoyed, I am not often sad, and that’s because I know that everything works out. As T.S. Eliot put it best, “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” If you make a mistake or seem to have found some detrimental flaw within yourself, understand that it never ends there. Life keeps going, we learn from our flaws, and things become all the better because of it. So, whenever you feel down and out, whenever you feel different, whenever you feel overwhelmed, odd, or just unable to keep moving, remember that, although it might take years, days, minutes, some coffee, a song, a joke, a friend, everything will truly be OK. The bright side is the only side worth seeing.

Diatre Padilla ’09 was offered admission to Columbia University in December. He can be reached at Diatre_Padilla@stgeorges.edu.

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Band of brothers A football player anticipates his last game on the gridiron

BY DOYLE STACK ’09 Following is a chapel talk delivered on Nov. 6, 2008.

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ello all. My name is Doyle Stack. Since I was a freshman, I have never had more fun than I’ve had going out each and every fall day playing football with my schoolmates and coaches. Today, I will be talking about friendship and what it means to me on and off the field.

Before I talk about that though, I would like to talk a little bit about myself.

I came to St. George’s my freshman year all the way from Santa Barbara, Calif. I was small, blonde (!) and to many of the older students, a little punk (!). I had been playing football for six years at that

point and I thought I was a hot shot. I was picked up and thrown around my first week of preseason practice. I broke my leg a couple weeks after school started, but that didn’t seem to phase me that much. I didn’t understand how important football would be to me while I was at St. George’s. I was actually excited that my leg was broken because I had never broken anything before and I thought I would get the sympathy vote from the ladies—but that didn’t happen.

Today I take football very seriously, but it’s not about winning to me as much as it is about being with my friends and having a good time. I feel especially blessed this year because I play next to all of my best friends. When I look in front of me,

Doyle Stack ’09 cheers on his teammates during the Dragons’ final home game, against Middlesex.

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Seniors Tom Evans, Doyle Stack and Pat Guerriero (front)

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behind me, to the left and to the right I am comforted with the knowledge that if anything goes wrong I will not be alone, and then my worries about the next play are eased. My role on the team is simple. Although I don’t make the touchdowns or the 42-yard field goals to win the game, I do my part by executing all the little things. You like to “get down and dirty.” is what my mother always tells me. But I can’t do it alone. I feel like one of the Army men from “Band of Brothers,” running out side-by-side with a task in mind. I try to take my time getting onto the field every day because I

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know soon enough it will all be over. School will continue like it always does, but the game I have been playing for the majority of my life will be coming to an end in just a couple days. As I came out to practice one day a couple weeks ago I stopped to chat with Mr. Bullock who seemed to be mesmerized by the baseball field. “What are you looking at?” I asked him. He replied, “Oh nothing, just thinking about what to do with this field.

Stack, you should get over to practice. You guys have a chance this year, you guys have a chance.”

Now I did not quite get what he was telling me, but I believe he was referring to the group of people that I would be joining on the field over from him, and the opportunity we had this year. The opportunity was not only to have a successful winning season, but it seemed to be something more than that. These people, this group, is something that this school has not seen for decades. It is hard to put it in words at times because we are the only ones who truly understand it. This school and the people at this school are magical. In a couple months when I leave this place some things that I have done will be forgotten, but my heart will always remain in these halls and on these fields. On Saturday, when I play my last game of football, I will be playing for my father who has taken four “red eyes” this year all the way from California just to see me play. I will be playing for my coaches who teach me everyday not only about football, but about passion and love for those around me. And finally, I will be playing for my brothers, whom I love. I know they would do anything for me, just like I would do anything for them. Thank you and good luck to all of our teams.

Doyle Stack ’09 played split end and linebacker as No. 5 on the varsity football team in the fall. He’ll play Danny Zuko in the school’s production of “Grease” Feb. 27-March 1. He can be reached at Doyle_Stack@stgeorges.edu.

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Strangers become friends

BY CRAIG BOYCE Following is a chapel talk delivered on Oct. 23, 2008.

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came to St. George’s just over a week ago as a stranger, or perhaps as a partial stranger. I had met three teachers from St. George’s who had been to Hong Kong and spent time at Chinese International School. Before arriving I had e-mail communication with another teacher here. However, you were strangers to me, I was a stranger to this part of the world and to you here at St. George’s.

This week has been the first time we have met. You as a school have expressed a kindness and generous hospitality throughout my stay such that in a couple of days, when I return to Hong Kong, I will be leaving, not as a stranger, but rather as a friend.

Indeed throughout my life, from the age of 19, I have had many occasions to meet strangers, people who lived in a different world and a different culture than the one in which I grew up. Some of these strangers have become my friends. There was a Maori girl, Marcia, who helped me to overcome my shyness; there was a black Solomon

Islander, Silas, who helped me work through issues of racism; there was Bop Mutu who taught me how to sing and to enjoy life; and there was an Indonesian man, Kris Theedens, who spent one year in New Zealand at the college where I was studying and who helped this shy fellow find a wife. When he found out that I was 24 years old, he searched the college to find me a wife. He became my matchmaker and one night went through a list of girls, eliminating Jean, Betty and Mary. Then he introduced me to Janet, and extolled her virtues saying he thought she was the perfect girl for me. Janet and I were married 27 years ago. These friendships began with two people meeting as strangers.

There is one other person I would like to introduce to you. Two years ago I thought it important to take my family—my wife, Janet, daughter Jessica and son Andrew—to Yunnan Province in southwest China to see three minority or ethnic groups of the country—the Bai people, the Naxi people and the Tibetan people. Before we left on this trip I told my family that I would like to meet one

Director of Global Studies Tony Jaccaci welcomes Chinese International School language instructor Craig Boyce to campus in October.

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stranger who would become a new friend. That was my hope, my prayer: one new friend. It was at the end of our journey in a place called Dongdian, the Shangri-La of China, that I met Dorjee.

Dorjee was to be our guide in Eastern Tibet. I met him for the very first time in the lobby of a hotel. When we greeted each other with a smile, something tugged within and I heard the words, “Here’s your new friend.” Over the next few days we traveled overland together sharing many stories about our lives. Dorjee and I have become close friends. I have met his family; he has met mine. He has an orphanage in Western Sichuan Province for Tibetan children, which we are now involved with together.

Why have I told you about these people? I tell you this because these friendships have shaped my life, because it is friendship that builds bridges and connections between people, and because I believe that “no person is a failure who has friends.” The Chinese word for stranger is “moshengren,” three characters. “Ren” is the word for person, “sheng” the word meaning “to be born, or to have life” and “mo” a character of two parts which can mean “raised paths or streets.” I might say that in Chinese the word stranger means “a path to becoming human.”

Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, has helped me understand friendship and how to meet people who are strangers. Aristotle in Book VIII of his “Nichomachean Ethics” talks about three types of friendship. First, he speaks of friendships of utility in which a weaker person receives help from a stronger person and the relationship is focused on this help, a friendship for the purpose of my benefit. Second, he goes on to talk of friendship for pleasure in which two people relate to each other because of reciprocal need, and each person maintains the relationship for

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what they can get out of it. Third, Aristotle speaks of the deepest kind of friendship, in which equals care for each other out of something like pure virtue, that is, friendship for friendship’s sake.

Now I think in real life these friendships often overlap. When coming to a new place where you meet strangers, you size them up and friendship often begins with the first type, because in a new place you are often very dependent on those who already live there. You learn to contribute to the community and friendship becomes a friendship of pleasure. But in friendship you have to go further. The miracle of the third type of friendship is that it can bridge any barrier: personal, cultural or social barriers. These friendships are based upon mutual respect, admiration and a strong desire to help the other person. To have friends like this is a fortunate thing.

Throughout my life I have had such good fortune to meet strangers who have become friends of 10, 20, 30, 40 years. I leave St. George’s on Saturday morning having begun some new friendships.

These are friendships that have taught me much about caring for others in a school setting. As I leave, my challenge to you is threefold: Think about your friends here, and about the strangers you will meet in life. Are your friendships ones of utility (What I can get out of it?) Are they friendships of pleasure where you get a good feeling from doing things together? Are they friendships that honor the other person and express a genuine concern for the welfare of others?

At times they will be all or a mix of these three types of friendship. I hope that during your time at St. George’s you will experience rich and meaningful friendships that may endure across a lifetime.

Thank you for the friendship you have shown me.

Craig Boyce is a Chinese teacher at Chinese International School in Hong Kong. He can be reached at craigbo@cis.edu.hk.

Emeriti/ae faculty Passages: Ms. Conchita Kreisler Manuel was a member of the faculty at the Abbey until his retirement in 1997. During that time, he served in numerous capacities, including chairman of the Modern Language Department, Dean of Academic Affairs, Dean of Faculty and Assistant Headmaster.

Horton and Kreisler corresponded over the years, after the Kreislers moved and settled in Madrid.

Manuel and Conchita devoted their lives to their teaching and their children. In retirement, the two could often be found attending cultural events, including the concerts of the Spanish Symphony Orchestra, for which the two had a subscription. “I am so happy in Madrid without work and with Michael, grandchildren, family and friends,” she wrote to Horton a few years ago.

Kreisler, who earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Madrid, also sustained a long friendship with her successor in the Spanish Department, Mafalda Nula, and her husband Bob, St. George’s human resources director.

Just before her death, the Nulas were able to visit Conchita in the hospital. “She was an excellent, very warm person,” Mafalda said.

“She was an elegant woman, very proper,” remembers Bob Nula. “And the consummate teacher.

She took pride in her students’ accomplishments— and she demanded a lot from them. They respected her for that.”

Ms. Kreisler is the first member of the emeriti/ae faculty to die since the honorary status was established by the board of trustees three years ago.

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onchita Kreisler, head of the Spanish Department from 1976 to 1996, died following a courageous battle with cancer in Madrid, Spain, on Sept. 29, 2008. The beloved wife of Manuel and mother of Ana and Michael, Ms. Kreisler was known to the SG community as an impeccably dressed, highly cultured teacher who was loved and respected by her students.

A woman of high standards, she held her students to them as well.

“Ms. Kreisler’s enthusiasm for teaching was absolutely contagious. For me it translated into an enthusiasm for learning her native language,” said Todd Iannucelli ’91, who won the Spanish Prize in 1989. “Her unbridled ear-to-ear smile greeted us at the beginning of each session, and it would only briefly disappear when we did something wrong—like speak a word of English!”

Marcela Fernandez ’95, a star Spanish student who won the Spanish Prize in 1993, also remembers Ms. Kreisler as an enthusiastic teacher.

“She was always elegant, funny, and full of energy,” Fernandez said. “She was passionate about the language and about her culture, but was also interested in learning about her students and theirs. I always looked forward to going to her class.”

Ms. Kreisler also was known for her social graces and the vibrant parties she would give at the home she shared with her husband Manuel at the Portsmouth Abbey School, where Manuel was on the faculty from 1974 to 1997. “Conchita was a most hospitable hostess, a memorable chef who would bedazzle her guests with a stunning array of Spanish cuisine, including tapas,” remembers Beth Horton, Head of Instructional Services, emerita, and a devoted friend of Ms. Kreisler.

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Head of the Spanish Department (1976-1996), emerita

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Campus happenings

Sportswriter tells it like it is

BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY

B Two of Frank Deford’s books — the novel “Everybody’s AllAmerican” and “Alex: The Life Of A Child,” his memoir about his daughter who died of cystic fibrosis—have been made into movies. He’s now trying to get his screenplay tentatively titled, “Sister-inLaw,” made into a film. Recently Cathy Schulman, producer of 2005’s Best Picture, “Crash,” signed on as producer.

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emoaning cuts to physical education at U.S. schools, sportswriter Frank Deford told an audience gathered in Madeira Hall Nov. 6, the new motto for public education needs to be “No fat child left behind.”

Ford was speaking on the day before the 2008 SG Sports Hall of Fame ceremony, which highlighted the induction of 10 athletes, friends and coaches.

With a mixture of humor, candor and nostalgia, Deford recounted stories from his decades-long career as a sportswriter for magazines, radio, television and film.

The winner of numerous journalism awards, Deford is said to have “defined intelligent sportswriting during his 27 years with Sports Illustrated magazine, where he continues to serve as a senior contributing writer.

He is the author of book-length biographies of several athletes, including Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe, and Bill Tilden, and has worked as a sports commentator for CNN, and ESPN Radio. Every Wednesday he can be heard on National Public Radio, where he serves as the sports commentator for “Morning Edition.”

He is a regular correspondent on the HBO

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show, “RealSports With Bryant Gumbel.”

“Kids just aren’t getting enough exercise,” he told the students. “The result of this is your generation will live a shorter life than your parents.”

During the talk, however, Deford both praised and criticized the world of athletics.

“You do learn so much on the field of play,” said Deford, who at six-foot-seven inches, played basketball in high school, but discovered he got more accolades for his writing. “You face pressure, learn confidence. You try to perform well while people are watching you.”

But there are two sides to athletics, according to Deford, who six times has been named Sportswriter of the Year by the National Association of Sportswriters and Sportscasters.

“Sports sometimes tears down character,” he said.

He noted as tragic fall 2008 reports that Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young contemplated suicide “just because he got booed.”

“We’ve gone from playing games the right way to trying to humiliate your opponent—and that’s something of a shame,” he said.

The heroes of sports are what have made his career satisfying, he said.

After Jackie Robinson, he counts Billie Jean King

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Students in the Voice in Speech & Acting class performed tales from Greek and Roman mythology on Oct. 21 and Oct. 25, in the Wheeler Garden.

Performers included Teddy Swift ’10 (left) as Pygmalion and Christina Haack ’09 (right) as Venus.

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Liza Ghriskey ’10 (left) signs up for the Sustainability Club—with the encouragement of club heads Seton Talty ’11, Meredith Kaufman ’09 and Hannah von Meister ’09—at the club fair in September.

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as the next “single greatest cultural icon in sports.”

He called Arthur Ashe “the most intriguing athlete.”

As a writer for SI, Deford was with the late tennis player when he traveled to South Africa in 1974 to compete in the South African Open. The year before Ashe had become the first black to win a title—a doubles match—in that event.

Deford recounted the story, also mentioned in Ashe’s own memoir, “Days of Grace” about the tennis player noticing a black boy, about 14, who day after day watched his every move around the grounds of the tournament.

Finally, Ashe decided to ask the boy why he was following him.

“Because you are the first one I have ever seen,” he answered.

“The first what?” Ashe asked.

“The first truly free black man I have ever seen,” the boy replied.

Many of today’s professional athletes are letting people down, he said.

“Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens took steroids.

I think it’s clear they cheated. But it’s over. They got away with it.

“The best you can do is hope that it doesn’t happen again. Both Bonds and Clemens were great before they started taking steroids. Perhaps the saddest part of that story is that they didn’t need them.”

Sports, at the end of the day, aren’t very important, Deford said. “Life will go on if they aren’t around,” he said. “But sports do bring us together, and we need community. They can be a valuable part of our lives. They’re not necessary, but they’re there, so they matter.”

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Students in Ms. McGrady’s Creative Nonfiction class— seniors Bridget Killeavy, Paige Ehart, Meredith Kaufman, George Williams, Clay Davis, Nick Biedron, Peter Lawson-Johnston, Charlie Fleming and Hannah McQuilkin—met with sportswriter Frank Deford P’98 before his all-school talk on Nov. 6, 2008.

Grace Alzaibak ’12, Sophia Noel ’09 and Katherine Adams ’12 take cues from Rachel Lee ’06, captain of the competitive cheerleading team at Babson College, who visited campus in January to help with the choreography for the winter musical, “Grease.”

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Exchange student Jamie Strang takes part in one of SG’s cross-country races.

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hen Jamie Strang arrived in the United States in October for a six-week stint at St. George’s, he’d never been to the United States, never taken high school classes with girls and never, of course, seen the St. George’s Chapel.

The option to attend St. George’s wasn’t even on the list at the time Strang, a sophomore at Bishops in South Africa, applied for an exchange, so he was quite surprised when he landed the assignment.

“I didn’t really know where Rhode Island was at the time,” admits Strang, who found himself surfing the Internet pretty soon after he was told about the opportunity.

To apply for an exchange experience at Bishops, students have to write an essay about why they want to attend school in another country and what makes them a good candidate for the highly sought-after assignments. About 80 of the 150 students in Strang’s class wrote an essay, about 30 were interviewed by administrators, and about 12 were chosen.

“It was a great privilege. I think it’s a fantastic opportunity,” Strang said.

The first thing you notice about Strang is his manners. Growing up in South Africa has imparted

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upon him some of the social graces we here in America just don’t see every day. He opens doors for people, is exceedingly gracious, and well-spoken.

When the Independent School League crosscountry championships took place at St. George’s on Oct. 31, Strang ran a strong race, though his time couldn’t be counted in the team stats. Still, he counts the race as one of his three most memorable experiences at SG. The crowd, hundreds strong, was inspiring. “Running is my greatest passion,” Strang said.

He’s always been involved in sports, and at 6-foot-3inches, he made his mark in several venues. “It also fit into my cricket schedule,” he said.

Bishops uses a “house” system, whereby each boy is assigned to a certain group of students. The houses compete with each other, most often in athletics.

Newport reminded Strang of Kent in England, where his aunt lived, and where he and his mother visited.

He was struck by our chapel, not just for its architectural presence, so much as for the sanctuary it offered him during his stay. “It’s such a peaceful place,” he said. “For me, chapel is a place were I can go for 10-20 minutes a day and find a restful spot and ease my mind.”

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Dr. Paul Farmer (fourth from right) met with Mr. Jaccaci's Global Studies class—Jenny Chung ’09, Tria Smothers ’09, Kara Meringolo ’09, Mr. Perry, Kajsa Mashaw-Smith ’09, Margaret Hawkins ’09, Anna Mack ’09, Ms. Wilber and Tim Kim ’09 last fall. Class members head to Panama in March.

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At Bishops, a larger school where there are about 150 students in each grade, the boys go to chapel four times a week. Of students who don’t enjoy the services, he suggests, “It comes from you. You like it and you can find what’s best about it for yourself.”

In South Africa, Strang lives in a suburb of Capetown called Rondebosch, about a 10-minute drive from Bishops. He gets up at 6 a.m. for the 8 a.m. start of school. At school, he’s known as a “day boy,” in an institution were only about 30 percent live on campus. “There’s loads of different races,” at his school, Strang says, from Afrikaans to Indians, to Xhosa, who speak the local language, and students from many different countries whose families have settled in Capetown.

Like most Anglican schools, the place is strong on tradition. There’s a patch of grass on the Bishops campus on which only graduates are allowed to walk.

Strang has two more years left at Bishops before he heads off to university. He’d love to come to school in the States, though he’s not counting on it. “I’m keen to become a chartered accountant,” he said, making the CPA profession sound downright glamorous with his British accent.

After St. George’s he traveled with history teacher Peter Anderson, who arranged the exchange and who teaches a class on South Africa, to Boston, Baltimore, New York and Washington, D.C. He also spent time with the family of Thomas Growney ’09 in New Canaan, Conn., and with the family of Lydia Willie ’09 for Thanksgiving.

When Strang returned home, he had until Jan. 20, when he had to return to school. The school has four terms with breaks in between. He said he would be occupied with sports, particularly running training. And he was looking forward to “just being able to sleep in and take things a bit slower.”

Upon his departure, he left a note to the community on the SG e-mail server: “I just wanted to write a brief paragraph before I leave this Friday, thanking all those who have made me so welcome at St. George’s,” he wrote. “I feel that it is appropriate by starting off mentioning how generous and hospitable every single person at this school has been. … I have thoroughly enjoyed each minute here at St. George’s! … It greatly saddens me to leave such an amazing school!”

Camilla de Bragança ’09 (above) and Callie McBreen ’09 spent time in Peru last summer on a trip organized by Rustic Pathway (see p. 52), in which they helped rebuild a school following a massive earthquake.

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Ms. Lothrop meets with seniors in her A.P. English class: Justin Hoffman, Diatre Padilla, Nam Hee Kim, Lydia Willie and Merrill Pierce.

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Books are ready to be distributed to seniors, including Alex Cook, Leslie Muzzy, Clay Davis and Charlie Fleming, on the first day of physics class.

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Third formers Valdair Lopes, Nik Khiatani and Jaleel Wheeler look over their new class schedules on opening day.

Seniors Dan Fortunato and Emma Simpson make their way to the Hamblet Campus Center.

Members of Mr. Cornog’s English class, Novels and Tales of the Sea—seniors Nick Kiersted, Paige Ehart, McCrea Davison, Alex Layton, Lulu Keszler, Logan Hoover, Alex Cook, Teddy Collins, Sam Kinney and John Harris—visit the Seamen’s Bethel in New Bedford, Mass., after reading “Moby Dick.”

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Fifth formers Philip Baus and Sam Livingston head to class.

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Mathematics teacher Cheryl Larson meets Algebra 2 students Tabitha Walker ’11, David Vasquez ’11 and L’Oreal Lampley ’11.

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Chinese Department Chair Zhuolin Wang goes over lessons with his students, including Laney Yang ’10, Nam Hee Kim ’09, SoYoon Jun ’09, Tony Kim ’10, Mary Behan ’10 and Stephanie Johnson ’10.

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Maddie Carrellas ’09 works at the pottery wheel in the Drury/Grosvenor Art Center.

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SUZANNE MCGRADY

Thomas Growney ’09 and Eliza Girty ’10 collaborate on an art project.

McCrea Davison ’09 takes a private music lesson on the alto horn with teacher Adam Barczak in the chapel.

Hillary Wein ’11 and Sophie Flynn ’11 take in “Partly Sunny,” an exhibit created

by R.I.S.D. students that was on display in the Hunter Gallery last fall.

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Saturday, Dec. 13, marked a special day for the varsity swim team, when one senior and three freshmen teamed up to break two school records in one meet.

Anna Spencer Erickson ’12, Kara Meringolo ’09, Erin Hendrix ’12 and Logan Hendrix ’12 combined to set new school records in the 200 Medley Relay (2:02.16) and the 200 Freestyle Relay (1:48.31) in SG’s 64-30 victory at Worcester Academy.

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Boys varsity soccer player Graham Knisley ’10 picks up freshman Valdair Lopes as Thomas Growney ’09, Michael Casey ’11 and Matt Martyak ’10 celebrate a goal

by Lopes against Middlesex.

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The boys varsity soccer team had their winningest season in school history last fall. Under the tutelage of coaches Jeremy Goldstein and Marc Haskell, the boys finished the sparkling season with an ISL record of 7-5-3, and 9-5-4 overall. The team traveled to Lexington, Mass., on Nov. 12 to take on Tilton in their first New England tournament match ever. Though the match ended with two fiveminute golden goal overtimes with no scoring, and resulted in a penalty shootout with Tilton prevailing, it was “an historic season with Herculean efforts by the entire squad and great community support on the Hilltop,” Goldstein said. “Not only did the third-, fourth-, and fifth-form players put forth solid efforts all season, but notably seven sixth formers move on from our program this year: Wells Howe, Phil Royer, Carmen Boscia, Tim Kim, Max Fowler, Thomas Growney, and Scott Chanelli.”

Squash teammates Jesse Pacheco ’10 and Courtney Jones ’10.

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Merrill Pierce ’09 was the winner of the Field Hockey Coaches’ Cup.

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Kara Meringolo ’09 helped break two school swimming records this winter when she combined with three freshmen in the 200 Medley Relay and the 200 Freestyle Relay.

Seven students earned Fall Independent School AllStar honors from the Providence Journal in a special feature published Jan. 17. They were: Leslie Muzzy ’09 (field hockey), Drew Miller ’09 (football), Galimah Baysah ’09 (football), Doyle Stack ’09 (football), Max Fowler ’09 (soccer), Graham Knisley ’10 (soccer), and Lindsey Brooks ’10 (soccer).

Shea Guthrie ’05, the senior forward and assistant captain for the Clarkson University men’s hockey team, was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week for two consecutive weeks Jan. 19 and 26. Guthrie was credited with playing “a leading role in the resurgence of Clarkson by highlighting the Knights’ offensive” game. In a two-game sweep at home, against Union and RPI, Guthrie tallied five points and three goals—including both overtime gamewinners. In a Jan. 24 come-from-behind win over the Engineers, the 2005 NY Islander draft choice tied the game 3-3 late in regulation and then connected for his third game-winning goal in the previous three contests.

Adam Choice ’06, a junior at Colby College, had a different kind of two-pointer the week of Jan. 19. A day after earning New England Small College Athletic Conference honors, Choice was named the Maine Men’s Basketball Coaches and Writers Association Co-Player of the Week on Jan. 20. (He shared the award with Andrew Duncanson of Thomas College.)

Choice averaged 19 points and shot 52 percent from the field in two wins, against Bowdoin and Rhode Island College, that week.

A Sports Illustrated magazine article last fall had a few former athletes reminiscing about their past on the field with Alan C. “Porky” Clark P’80, ’81, ’88, head of the mathematics department (1977-1995), emeritus—and a former star SG football coach.

Clark, also a member of SG’s Sports Hall of Fame, appeared in SI’s Dec. 1, 2008, edition. An article about the resurgence of the single-wing offense in football featured a photo on p. 58 of the 1950 Princeton University Tigers with Clark, No. 61, playing right guard.

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Andrew Meleney ’09, Halsey Landon ’09, Dan Fortunato ’09 and Hendrik Kits van Heyningen ’10 head for the finish line during the ISL Cross-Country Championships, which took place on the Hilltop Oct. 31.

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FALL ATHLETES MAKE THEIR MARK 2008 S T. GEORGE’S FALL ATHLETIC AWARDS BOYS’ CROSS COUNTRY

BOYS’ SOCCER

Galvin Cross Country Award . . . . . . . . . . . . Emanuele Cicero Cross Country Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris McCormack Cross Country Most Improved . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Meleney All-County . . . . . . . . . . . Emanuele Cicero, Chris McCormack, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hendrik Kits von Heyningen Captain-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hendrik Kits von Heyningen

Soccer Most Valuable Player Award . . . . . . . . . . . Max Fowler Soccer Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Growney McIlhinny Most Improved Award . . . . . . . . . Michael Violette NEPSSA Senior All-Star Game . . Max Fowler, Carmen Boscia All-ISL, first team . . . . . . . . . . . Max Fowler, Graham Knisley All-ISL, honorable mention . . . . . . Carmen Boscia, Phil Royer Providence Journal All-State . . . Max Fowler, Graham Knisley Captain-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Graham Knisley

GIRLS’ CROSS COUNTRY Galvin Cross Country Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hillary Wein Cross Country Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leigh Archer Cross Country Most Improved . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Harrison All-County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clay Davis Captain-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Suzy Reynolds

FIELD HOCKEY Walsh Field Hockey Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leslie Muzzy Field Hockey Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Merrill Pierce Field Hockey Most Improved Player . . . . . . . . . . Kelty O’Brien All-ISL, first team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leslie Muzzy All-ISL, honorable mention . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Deavers Providence Journal All-State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leslie Muzzy Captains-elect . . . . . . . . . . . Courtney Jones, Maria Gebelein

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

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Thayer Football Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drew Miller Claggett Football Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Galimah Baysah Football Most Improved Player . . . . . . . . . . . Charlie Fleming All-New England . . . . . . . . . . . Drew Miller, Galimah Baysah, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pat Guerriero, Doyle Stack, Nate Pearson All-ISL, honorable mention . . . . . Teddy Collins, John Harris, . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Evans, Streeter Warren, Danny Johnson Providence Journal All-State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drew Miller, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Galimah Baysah, Doyle Stack Captains-elect . . . . . Streeter Warren, Teddy Swift, Ben Lewis Galimah Baysah ’09 was the winner of the Claggett Football Award. He also earned Providence Journal All-State and All-New England honors.

Girls’ soccer team co-captain Lindsey Brooks ’10 was the winner of the Most Valuable Player Award. She also earned Providence Journal All-ISL and All-State awards.

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Diatre Padilla ’09 and Maxine Muster ’09 compete in the finals of the All-School Debate in November.

Diatre Padilla ’09 and Evan Read ’12 emerged the winners of the all school debate on Thursday, Nov. 20. Padilla argued the negative side of the debate topic (Resolved: The United States should abolish the electoral college system for the selection of president and instead select the president through a direct popular vote.) and Read argued the affirmative. Read battled fellow underformer Graham Anderson ’11 in the debate and Padilla went up against fellow senior Maxine Muster.

Camilla de Bragança ’09 and Callie McBreen ’09 participated in a Rustic Pathways program last summer near Túpac Amaru, Peru, where a devastating 7.9 earthquake struck in 2007, causing major building destruction in the city and destroying the livelihoods of most residents. The two helped build sanitation units and participated in building a new pre-school to replace one leveled by the quake.

When complete, the school will be the daytime home for more than 80 children, 3 to 4 years old.

Stephanie Johnson ’10, Everett Muzzy ’11 and George Williams ’09 were the winners of the “Mountains Beyond Mountains” photo essay contest this fall. Students were asked last summer to

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submit photos of places they felt helped them connect to the message of Dr. Paul Farmer, the subject of Tracy Kidder’s award-winning work and a cofounder of Partners in Health. The photos and accompanying essays were displayed during Farmer’s talks—titled “Rethinking Health and Human Rights”—to the school community and the public on Sept. 12.

Molly Boyd ’10 and Jake Riiska ’10 have been chosen to take part in an exchange this summer with two schools in South Africa: St. Cyprian’s School, a private boarding and day school for girls in Oranjezicht, Cape Town, and Bishops, an all-boys school situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town.

Sam Livingston ’10 and Hendrik Kits van Heyningen ’10 received an Arete Award, for a project or work of exceptional quality, for their performance during an Oct. 17 Music Guild of “Hungarian Rhapsodie No. by Franz Liszt (18111886), arranged by Richard Kleinmichel and Franz Bendel. The “piano for four hands” was performed in the chapel, and later repeated during an allschool service in November.

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“Outside of Dubois, Wyo., along the Wind River Range, this forest was burned years ago in a fire. Although, when looked at from far away, the forest looks dead and far beyond hope or salvation, much like the world’s view of Haiti, when you stand in the middle of the forest, like I did this summer, you see smaller plants starting to emerge from the ground. The growing plants, much like Paul Farmer’s actions in Haiti, represent the new life emerging in the impoverished area. Paul Farmer’s actions, as well as the plants, may take some time to completely reverse the area, but with time this landscape and especially Haiti can be transformed into thriving areas.”

—Everett Muzzy ’11

The award for best costume at the 2008 Halloween contest went to fifth former Ben Lewis ’10 .

Ben dressed up like his dad, Math Department Chair Doug Lewis.

Heydi Malave ’11 and Diatre Padilla ’09 attended the Student Diversity Leadership Conference Dec. 4-7 in New Orleans, La. The conference focused on “self reflecting, forming allies, and building community.” It was part of a joint conference with adults, the 2008 People of Color Conference, sponsored annually by the National Association of Independent Schools.

Julia Oak ’10 , head of the Sustainability Club, spearheaded an effort this school year to reduce waste at the Hamblet Campus Center Grill. Students now get 25 cents off coffee and tea when they bring in their own mug.

Magdalena Franz-Soeln ’11, one of four students studying abroad this year, has been keeping a blog about her experiences in China. The posts, which feature details of Franz-Soeln’s travels— along with a shocking photograph of her with black straight hair—can be found at http://magdalenasyearinchina.blogspot.com.

Four new students joined the fourth form in January: Simon Hardt ’11, most recently from Barbados and the Bahamas; Rich Higgins ’11of New Canaan, Conn.; Carrie Uhlein ’11, younger sister of Chase ’08 and Maggie ’10; and Alex Whipple ’11 from Long Island, N.Y., whose sister, Emily graduated from St. George’s in 2002.

Andrew Colacchio ’10, Philip Baus ’10, Emily Adams ’11 and Sophie Flynn ’11 are soon off to Paris. From March 7-15, the four will take part in a French program, organized by teacher Allison de Horsey, that will feature trips to the Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre and Montmartre, along with a Bateau Mouche tour, macaroons and tea at La Durée, and a day at a French high school. Students will spend evenings with their host families in the Parisian suburb of Surèsnes.

Jesse Pacheco’s ’10 design is featured on the 2009 SG Green Cup Challenge Tshirt. The competition, among several schools, is meant to build “awareness about climate change, educate the community about the importance of resource conservation, and encourage the participation of the entire campus.”

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College Acceptances (as of Jan. 13) Following is the list of colleges that have accepted SG seniors in either the early-admission or early-action process: Early Decision

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Babson College - 1 Brown University - 1 Bucknell University - 1 Carnegie Mellon University - 1 Colorado College - 4 Columbia University - 1 Dartmouth College - 1 George Washington University - 2 Gettysburg College - 2 Hamilton College - 1 Haverford College - 1 College of the Holy Cross - 1 Middlebury College - 1 New York University - 1 Rollins College - 1 St. Lawrence University - 1 Stanford University - 2 Trinity College - 1 Wake Forest University - 1 Washington University in St. Louis - 1

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Tria Smothers ’09 performs a solo routine during the SG Dance concert Nov. 9.

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Katherine Pryor ’09 was the winner of this school year’s Christmas card competition. Her design was published on the hundreds of cards sent to friends of St. George’s and prospective students during the holiday season.

She also won $100.

KATHERINE PRYOR ’09

The cast of the winter musical this year will be performing “Grease” for the public on Saturday, Feb 28, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, March 1 at 2 p.m.

The cast features Doyle Stack ’09 as Danny Zuko and Margaret Hawkins ’09 as Sandy Dumbrowski.

Arizona State University - 1 Bard College - 1 College of Charleston - 8 Colorado College - 3 Drew University - 1 Eckerd College - 1 Elon University - 3 High Point University - 1 Lewis & Clark College - 3 Loyola University New Orleans - 1 University of Denver - 1 University of Edinburgh - 2 University of Glasgow - 1 University of Michigan - 1 University of Montana - 1 University of New Hampshire - 1 Roanoke College - 2 Santa Clara University - 1 Southern Methodist University - 1 University of Vermont - 6 Washington College - 1 Whittier College - 1

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G L B T C O N F E R E N C E W I L L F E AT U R E P H O T O G R A P H S O F S T U D E N T - AT H L E T E S A photography exhibit of openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender high school and college athletes by California artist Jeff Sheng will be on display during St. George’s first GLBT Conference March 27-29.

Sheng, an activist and educator, also will be the keynote speaker at the event, addressing the entire school community on Friday night. His photo exhibit is called “Fearless.”

Sheng, 28, was born in Southern California and grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, where he played competitive tennis from third grade through high school.

“I was never ‘out’ in high school, however, which is a big reason why I decided to start ‘Fearless,’” Sheng said.

Sheng said he eventually felt comfortable publicly

acknowledging his homosexuality after enrolling at Harvard in 1998.

Sheng is a lecturer/visiting assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he teaches introductory and intermediate photography classes, as well as a class about Asian American male identity and Asian American Queer Studies.

He began compiling his exhibit, which now includes almost 70 athletes from across the United States, in 2003, and exhibiting the project at various high schools and colleges in 2006.

Sheng hopes to photograph 100 athletes before he publishes a book next year. In less than two years, the images have been seen at more than 20 schools, including Yale University, the University of Florida, Dartmouth College, Columbia University, the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Oshkosh.

In addition to the talk by Sheng, the SG conference will also include a panel discussion on Saturday morning for conference attendees about the Episcopal church, and religion in general, and GLBT identity.

For more information, contact English teacher Alex Myers at glbtconference@stgeorges.edu.

An exhibit by photographer Jeff Sheng titled “Fearless” features portraits of student-athletes from across the country who’ve self-identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

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Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean ’66 stands by then-Sen. Barack Obama during a preelection gathering at Al Gore’s house in Nashville in October.

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Newport photographer and print scholar Richard Benson ’61 has released a book called “The Printed Picture,” that one critic says “may be the best introduction to prints and printmaking in a generation.”

Providence Journal Arts Writer Bill Van Siclen interviewed Benson for his review of the book in the Nov. 2 edition. Benson, a Yale University professor and a 1986 winner of a coveted MacArthur Foundation “genius grant,” says the book is “a kind of magnum opus.” “Most of the book is based on the lectures I’ve been giving at Yale for the past 30 years,” he said. The book also serves as the catalog for an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art that runs through May 2009.

upon Milton’s traditions and closely held values.”

Bland’s parents both graduated from Milton in 1958.

Former school prefect and a three-sport varsity athlete Todd Bland ’86 was named the 12th head of Milton Academy last fall. He will begin his duties on July 1, 2009. For the last eight years, Bland has served at The Seven Hills School, a K–12 school with 1,060 students in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he is now interim head of school. Franklin W. Hobbs, president of Milton’s board of trustees said he was delighted to welcome Todd to Milton. “He is a leader who is highly esteemed by his community and his peers,” Hobbs said. “Todd’s successful experiences in three schools earned each community’s trust and confidence as he assumed numerous roles integral to the schools’ strength and effectiveness. He will build

Closet Couture, an Internet business founded

by Christine Elia ’92, has been named one of the 50 best start-ups of the year from around the world

by TechCrunch, a blog “devoted to obsessively covering web startups.” Closet Couture, a social network that connects stylists and retailers to women interested in fashion, was launched in a beta version Sept. 10 at the TechCrunch conference in San Francisco. You can read more about Closet Couture at www.closetcouture.com.

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People magazine reported this fall that Julie Bowen Luetkemeyer ’87 is expecting a baby, reportedly a son, this spring. Best known for her role as English teacher Carol Vessey on “Ed,” Leutkemeyer, whose stage name is Julie Bowen, most recently played attorney Denise Bauer on “Boston Legal.”

She’s also appeared on “Lost,” “ER” and “Party of Five.” This will be the second child for the actress and her husband, real estate investor Scott Phillips. Their son Oliver was born in April 2007.

Philippe Cousteau ’98 and his sister Alexandra were the subjects of a profile in the French magazine Sélection last August. Philippe appeared alone on the

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cover of the magazine, with the subheadline “Sur les traces de mon grand-pére.” The Cousteaus’ work, like that of their grandfather, Jacques, centers around raising public awareness about the world’s waterways.

The alumni office received word that Rohan Gopaldas ’98, an employee of the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, India, was safe and well, after suspected Muslim militants stormed the luxury hotel in November. The Associated Press reported “a chain of attacks across Mumbai left at least 119 people dead and the city shellshocked.” Gopaldas graduated from Cornell’s School of Hotel Management in 2002.

A few days after Bernie Madoff was arrested for what federal agents described as a massive Ponzi scheme that could leave investors with billions in losses, Jim Vos ’81 was making the rounds on the financial news circuit. That’s because Vos, who runs Aksia LLC, a firm that advises investors, came away worried after examining Mr. Madoff ’s operation.

“There’s no smoking gun, but if you added it all up you wonder why people either did not get it or chose to ignore the red flags,” Vos told the Wall Street Journal. Vos also appeared on television talking about the scandal. He told MSNBC he advised clients not to invest with Madoff long before his arrest in December.

When the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission voted in December to finalize new rules designed to curb conflicts of interest and promote competition in the ratings business, James Gellert ’86, CEO of Rapid Ratings International, was a popular talking head. He shared his insight with CNBC, Fox News Business and the Wall Street Journal.

Louella “Ellie” Bryant, wife of Harry Reynolds ’69, appeared at the Hill Library on Oct. 2 to read from her book, “While in Darkness There is Light.”

The book recounts the years when Reynolds and his friends, including Charlie Dean ’68 and Kim Haskell ’69, became expatriates in Australia during the Vietnam War. Dean died in Laos in 1974. A forward for the book was written by Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean ’66.

The Aug. 25 Crain’s New York Business feature “Composing his legacy; Music producer does battle with brain cancer” tells the story of Michael Kissel ’67.

Kissel, who’s been battling the disease since June 2007, has been undergoing an aggressive course of intravenous chemo, along with actively exploring clinical trials and alternative therapy. He told the paper that surrounding himself with music is another form of treatment. Kissel opened his new recording studio in the historic Brill Building overlooking Times Square on the same day his doctor broke the news he was suffering an aggressive form of inoperable brain cancer—glioblastoma multiforme. At that time he was given about two months to live.

Philip Marshall ’71, grandson of the late Brooke Astor, was a featured speaker at the Sustainable Development and Restoration Summit held Oct. 15-17 in Newport. Marshall, a professor at Roger Williams University, served as a delegate at the conference, which featured “sessions with planning, architecture, finance, construction, and real estate investment leaders as they share solutions and explore new paths to sustainable development and the key role played by restoration in America’s historic cities.”

Louella Bryant, wife of Harry Reynolds ’69, discusses her nonfiction book, “While in Darkness There is Light.”

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Rachel Lee ’06, captain of the competitive cheerleading squad at Babson College, visited campus to help choreograph some of the routines for “Grease,” the winter musical.

When Alex Merchant ’08 was wrapping up his senior year at St. George’s last year, he donated $246 to the Obama campaign. That’s just one of the pieces of information out on the Internet connecting the former senior prefect to his favorite president. Now finishing up a gap year before he heads to Columbia in September, Merchant served as a field coordinator for the campaign and could be found giving inspirational talks to students in and around Pittsburgh

throughout the fall. “Pittsburgh is the ground zero of our western Pennsylvania strategy because what we’re really hoping to do here is drive up our vote total in Pittsburgh, the amount of people who vote here, and registering more students because that way we can offset the challenges we’re going to be facing in the rest of western Pennsylvania,” Merchant told the University of Pittsburgh newspaper in September.

PHOTO COURTESY OF

ERIN KUBIAK O’CONNOR

The Loon Preservation Committee in New Hampshire staged a special celebration for the 100th birthday of its founder—Rawson Wood ’26—on Sept.

16. Rawson founded the committee in 1975 after becoming concerned with the diminished population of loons on Squam Lake, where he and his family had summered for many years. Under his guidance, the committee became a statewide organization and the loon population has more than doubled. In honor of his 100th, committee members arranged a special proclamation from N.H. Governor Lynch and established the Spirit of the Loon Award to be presented to an individual who exemplifies outstanding volunteer service to loons. Rawson attended Harvard University after SG, worked for his family’s business, and devoted himself to social justice and nature preservation organizations.

A bench honoring the memory of Travis Kubiak ’95 was dedicated during a late afternoon private service on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Kubiak was crossing a street in Denver when he was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in July 2004.

Police arrested and charged the driver the following year.

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On this day in … 2009

PHOTOS BY

MORGAN S TEVENS

Mark Stevens ’82 and his daughter Morgan capture inauguration day in pictures.

An SG grad and his daughter attend the presidential inauguration

BY MARK W. STEVENS ’82

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n Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 3:45 a.m., we boarded the chartered bus from West Chester, Pa., to Washington, D.C. My 12year-old daughter, Morgan, is a big Obama fan (as are the rest of her family members), so I had purchased bus-trip tickets to the inauguration as a Christmas present as soon as they became available from our county Democratic committee. When we arrived, it was 7 a.m., 20 degrees and windy. I had lived in D.C. for two years after college, working as a doorkeeper (tour guide) in the Senate and as a gofer at a lobbying firm, and had never experienced that kind of cold there before. I knew we were going to be outside until at least 5 p.m.

As a parent, I’ve learned firsthand the truth of the adage “90 percent of life is showing up,” and have tried to be there for my girls’ “big moments,” but I didn’t expect to tear up when I got on the Mall (I told Morgan it was due to the wind). The crowds, the monuments and the beauty and inspiration of the moment were overwhelming. There were entire families camped out in the cold.

Goodwill and joy were evident everywhere. I learned later that there was not one recorded arrest connected to inauguration festivities—this with an estimated crowd of 1.8 million.

We watched the ceremony on a Jumbotron TV set up adjacent to the Smithsonian. People around us sang, cheered and waved flags. Over 1 million were handed out free of charge. For “W,” many booed.

We did a lot of people watching, and took some fun pictures before the camera died. (My daughter had remembered to charge her cell phone, though!) We bumped into Chris Matthews (host of MSNBC’s “Hardball”), who popped out of a media trailer at the same time we happened to be walking by. Chris had recently explored the possibility of running for a U.S. Senate seat from Pennsylvania, so I introduced myself and we chatted about politics. My daughter remarked that she had no idea she would see “celebrities” at the inauguration. I told her there were probably more movie stars in Washington that day than in all of Hollywood.

Following the swearing-in ceremony, we made the long, circuitous trek back to the parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue (walking past many of the 5,000 Porta Potties in town for the day— apparently the largest such assemblage ever).

Against all odds, we wanted to get a live glimpse of our new president and the first lady, and were just able to see their limo when a very nice couple approached us and gave us their VIP-access tickets so that we could get a more close-hand look, remarking how nice it was to see a dad and his daughter together.

I couldn’t have agreed more.

Mark W. Stevens ’82 lives in Exton, Pa. He can be reached at markwstevens@verizon.net.

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Faculty/Staff Notes

PHOTO BY

SUZANNE MCGRADY

Bickford were selected to participate in a 30-hour seminar titled, “Teaching About China, Japan, and Korea,” organized by the Rhode Island National Consortium for Teaching About Asia. The seminar, which began Jan. 15 and runs through April 30, is being held at St. George’s Thursday nights from 47 p.m. The seminar is sponsored by the Five College Center for East Asian Studies in Northampton, Mass., and funded by the Freeman Foundation.

The Ethical Literacy Team recently organized a faculty in-service day to discuss ways to integrate the subject of ethics into the curriculum.

A faculty “in-service day” featured a workshop directed by Paula Merck of the Rockland, Maine-based Institute for Global Ethics. “Not knowing the difference between right and wrong can lead to world-class disasters,” Merck told teachers. Faculty members took part in group discussions about the state of society’s “ethical barometer,” ethical values that we might use to define our school, and how to help students.

Recommendations from the large group now go back to the Ethical Literacy Team comprised of 11 students and four faculty members—Assistant Head of School for Student Life Tim Richards, Interim Director of Studies and History Department Chair Deb Foppert, Dean of Students Katie Titus and Fifth-Form Dean and math teacher Bob MacMannis. The ELT will continue to investigate ways to integrate the subject of ethics into the curriculum. “The students want it to be a more palpable part of their daily experience here,” Richards said. “The more we can put it into the classroom, the more deeply ingrained the topic will be.”

Faculty members Jeremy Goldstein, Lucia Jaccaci, Carrie Kelly, Patricia Lothrop and Beezie

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English teacher Alex Myers is having lots of success in the literary world. A personal narrative of Myers’ called “The King and I,” about his experience as a youngster before he became a transgender male, was the first-place winner in the 2008 writing competition sponsored by the literary journal Tiny Lights. The journal, which began in 1995, is published twice a year to celebrate the power of personal essays and memoirs and can be found online at www.tiny-lights.com.

Myers’ writing has also been published in several journals. Selected publications include: “Keep Watch” Apple Valley Review, Fall 2008; “Baited” Johnny America, August 2008; “Skin Fold” Fiction Weekly, August 2008; “Back of the Band” Word Riot, June 2008; “What Makes the Man” Flashquake, Winter 08/09; “Far Gone” Santa Clara Review, Winter 08/09; “Diving Lessons” The Battered Suitcase, January 2009; and “Proof of Loss” Ghoti, January 2009. A nonfiction piece of Myers’, “Sleeping Indian,” was scheduled to be published in the Winter 2009 issue of Conte.

And Myers was a finalist for the Glimmertrain Short Fiction Award in February 2008 and a semifinalist for the 2008 Faulkner-Wisdom Prize for short story.

Head of School Eric Peterson has been appointed to The Association of Boarding School’s Board of Directors. TABS is a voluntary membership organization for nearly 300 boarding schools in the United States, Canada and abroad.

Its next annual conference is scheduled for Dec. 2-6, 2009, in Chicago.

KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY PHOTO BY

Head of School Eric Peterson last fall announced the retirement of longtime history teacher Bob Kmen. Kmen, who also served enthusiastically as the coach of the J.V. boys lacrosse team, began his career at St. George’s in 1982.

Director of Diversity Kim Bullock, along with Director of Technology Charles Thompson, history teacher James Bullock, Spanish teacher Anthony Perry and two students, attended the NAIS People of Color conference in New Orleans Dec. 5-7, 2008. The conference, titled “Music for Life, Food for Thought, and Friendships that Sustain: Rebuilding and Preserving the Essence of People of Color in Independent Schools,” featured affinity groups and workshops on such topics as “Building Inclusive Communities” and “Exploring Racial/Ethnic Identities.” Academy Award-winning actor, civil rights activist and humanitarian Sidney Poitier gave the opening keynote address. Dr. Bullock said the event, which was held in conjunction with the NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference, “really peeled away some layers.” She said she was struck by the personal stories she heard and how much the students seem to gain from the experience. Approximately 1,200 students and 1,400 adults were in attendance.

School physician Dr. Robin Wallace was the subject of an Oct. 1 profile in Newport This Week, about his contributions to the local sailing community. The article, “Dr. Robin Wallace, the man on the UFH” asserts that, “In the last three decades, Dr. Wallace has become the backbone of race management in Newport.” Wallace, who studied medicine and sailed at Oxford University, was vacationing in Newport in 1964 when he got to sail aboard the 12-meter Trivia, doing practice starts against Peter Scott on Sovereign. Later he took a job at the Aquidneck Medical Associates as a pediatrician, served in Vietnam and made his home in Newport in 1971. With Bob Conner, he helped organize the race committee for the 1977 America’s Cup Challenger Series. “Each event has its own interesting points, and hopefully we learn from every day we spend on the water,” Wallace told the paper. “Getting involved in the America’s Cup Challenger Series opened doors for me, as I sailed and managed races locally, nationally and on an international level.”

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PHOTO COURTESY OF

THOMAS L AMONT ’79

Faculty/Staff Notes

Former SG history instructor Tom Lamont ’79 teaching at the Doon School in India last year.

A Hilltop on the other side of the world

BY THOMAS LAMONT ’79

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rom January until June 2008, I taught at the Doon School, one of India’s most distinguished boarding schools.

At Doon, I taught medieval history to C Formers (eighth graders) and helped coach basketball. My wife, Barbara, spent her time exploring the surrounding area and made many new friends while our 11-year-old son, Johnny, enrolled in the C Form at Doon. We lived on the Doon campus in a very comfortable bungalow in the shade of an enormous Banyan tree. Although our stay was not without a few complications and frustrations, we came to deeply admire and adore both the Doon School and India, a country in the midst of tremendous and significant change.

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The Doon School was founded in 1935 in Dehradun, at the time a small and pleasant city which was a gateway to the nearby foothills of the Himalayas where lay the summer retreats of wealthy Indians and bureaucrats of the British Raj. Rudyard Kipling was a frequent visitor to the city in the late 19th century, and the British built in Dehradun one of the largest buildings in India from that era—the Forestry Research Institute—a colossal red brick edifice that makes St. George’s Memorial Schoolhouse look like a token booth. Today Dehradun, like much of India, is vastly changed. It is a bustling city of almost one million, and like better-known Indian cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, it has a preponderance of traffic, pollution, noise and dire poverty.

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Dehradun also, however, possesses a strong and growing middle class whose aspirations and energy are emblematic of India’s rapid and impressive economic development. The city also can boast that it is India’s education hub with its many fine schools, state and private, old and new, scattered about the city and nearby.

The Doon School campus sits on a hill in a part of Dehradun called the Cantonment, essentially an old British military base that still houses many active and retired Indian army personnel. The rigors and routines of military life punctuate student life at Doon as they have for decades. Each and every day a hand-pulled bell atop the red brick schoolhouse alerts students to every change in the day’s schedule including

meals, classes and bedtime. The first bell rings before sunrise, when within minutes almost all of Doon’s 500 boys are lined up on the main cricket ground wearing shorts and T-shirts. The oldest boys lead the rest of them through PT (physical training), or what we would call calisthenics. The boys learn to stand at attention, stand at ease, turn “quick right” and “quick left,” and basically follow orders. In February, when the temperature is barely above freezing, this is no easy task. After PT the boys take a brief communal shower, often a cold one since the electricity, as in much of India, is erratic, especially during the winter. At 7:30 a.m. it is off to first “school,” Doon’s term for class. At breakfast at 9 a.m. the boys sit with their form mates and housemates, and, after grace is said, they shovel down cold toast, cereal, tea and perhaps some fruit.

Matrons, or dames, who are responsible for the boys’ well-being, cajole them into eating properly, and, of course, the boys protest feebly: “Ma’am, must I drink my milk, ma’am? My stomach is not quite right today.” I occasionally conspired with the boys to spare them having to eat or drink any dastardly concoctions, especially one of the porridges the boys had christened “frogs’ eyes” because of its unappealing texture and appearance. Boys who serve as waiters jostle at the kitchen for more food until a bell announces that 10 minutes have passed and they can ask a “master” or dame for permission to sit and enjoy the meal. Ten minutes later another bell announces the end of the meal, and the boys wait for the adult at the table to give them permission to leave.

Just like at Harry Potter’s beloved Hogwarts, Doon’s dormitories are organized as houses, and points can be earned for one’s house in almost every activity including academics. Students become intensely attached to their fellow housemates, in spite of the fact that, or perhaps because, the older boys, especially the seniors, or SC Formers, wield significant power over the younger ones. It is a very Spartan existence.

There is no heating or air conditioning in the dormitories or school buildings, and so during the winter the boys huddle under heaps of sweaters and blankets and during the summer they lay under the ceiling fans.

The students are allowed only a few items; cell phones and computers not among them, and parents are granted very limited access to their children.

It all seems very English and very “old school,” and, not surprisingly, many features of Doon are lifted consciously and directly from Eton circa 1900. The school’s first headmaster was a science teacher from Eton, and many of its original “masters” as well as its early financial benefactors were educated in Britain. Yet Doon is distinctly Indian in many important ways. Meals are at common Indian meal times: 2 p.m. for lunch and 7:30 p.m. for dinner. The food is almost exclusively Indian cuisine such as dhal, rice and breads, and most people eat their meals using their fingers as is customary throughout India. At the daily assembly, a non-sectarian prayer recited in English is followed by a traditional Indian song sung in Hindi.

The sculptures that dot the campus portray various Hindu deities in a distinctly Indian motif. The campus is a former tea estate and has many beautiful flower gardens and a diversity of trees. Many of the trees were planted by the Forestry Research Institute.

(There are 20 species of poisonous snakes on campus, mostly hidden in the clumps of bamboo, but so far no student has died from a snakebite.) Given the vagaries of the weather—extreme heat during April and May, and monsoon rains during July, August and September—the numerous huge shade trees add more than just character, they provide a green lung for the city.

Besides the large red brick buildings, there are also many white stucco bungalow-style buildings with beautiful courtyards, designed to catch breezes and stay cool. Student performances are held in the lovely Rose Bowl, an outdoor amphitheatre built by Doon boys, with delightful friezes

along its exterior. Many of the buildings are more functional in appearance and reflect Doon’s desire to be more practical than ostentatious.

Despite the winter school uniform, with its heavy wool coat and cricket sweater, the students at Doon look typically Indian. I taught only one blond child during their stay at Doon—my son. In April when the temperature quickly spikes to 90 degrees, the boys put away their woolens and bring out their very thin and very white kurta pajamas to wear to dinner. Although almost everyone speaks very good English, the preferred language of casual conversation among the boys and the adults, especially the staff, is Hindi. Doon’s faculty is also very Indian; only one teacher, a part-timer, is a foreigner, and only a handful of the teachers hold degrees from Western institutions. The curriculum requires classes in Sanskrit and Hindi, and, of course, Indian history is the main focus in social science. Doon’s staff is enormous and, in addition to the usual maintenance and grounds crew, the staff includes cooks, sweepers, laundrymen, seamstresses and even barbers. One kindly old workman who helps oversee Doon’s water supply always deferentially offered me a greeting of “namaste” with his hands clasped together. When there is construction at Doon the workmen live on campus in small shacks with their families. For community service, some of the boys and faculty teach the workers’ and the staff ’s little children in a building provided by the school.

The entire campus at Doon appears very well organized and carefully maintained, from the exquisitely maintained cricket ground to the wooden plaques that proclaim the past winners of various contests ranging from badminton to basketball.

However, this being India, Doon can be a very confounding and chaotic place, especially for a foreign visitor. From the mysteries of the job description to the seemingly ever-changing schedule, Doon demanded both careful attention and patience from

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Faculty/Staff Notes me. I learned the value of being adaptable and flexible. In late April I introduced myself to a couple of very pale and anxious looking boys from New Zealand who had recently arrived at Doon School to spend a month as exchange students. I asked them how things were going, and they replied “Actually, sir, we find it very confusing here.” I replied that I had been at Doon for three months and was still confused almost every day. For the first month or so I seemed to be missing meetings and events with unfortunate regularity because I either misread the calendar or was simply uninformed. The announcements at assembly and at meals by both students and faculty were particularly bewildering. They usually included an alphabet soup of initials that represent people and places, and at first I suspected that this was some sort of elaborate code. “TLA needs to see 133T, 187K, and 22H after assembly outside the MPH.” Translation: “Mr. Lamont needs to see Pradeep Singh, Rohan Aggarwal, and Arjun Pranav after assembly in the multipurpose hall.” Actually, this kind of communication is not really an Indian habit per se but is rather something the British brought to the subcontinent and, unfortunately, left behind. Finally, it took me some time to get used to uniquely Indian conventions and behaviors such as bobbing the head from side to side instead of nodding the head up and down when signaling agreement or an affirmative.

The other main challenge for me came in the classroom. I had not taught 12- and 13-year-old boys in almost 20 years and found teaching at Doon an enormous adjustment, especially since there were so many boys in each class—25 of them to be exact. At times it was so noisy and hectic in the classrooms that I felt that all of India’s one billion people were there. I scrambled to find ways to manage the remarkable volume and energy of the school’s charges. I tried patience, reason, trickery, bribery—and sheer terror. I was quite unsuccessful with

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the last approach, but eventually I found how to keep the lads entertained and engaged. Naturally, the boys tried to and succeeded in taking advantage of their new teacher from America; “Sir, please, sir. I am thinking that this is too much reading for us Indians, sir.” “Sir, may we not have homework today because we have so much work to do in our chemistry class, sir.” In India, it pays to be aggressive, and it would be against their nature for the Doon boys, Doscos as they are called, to be passive and submissive.

A Dosco’s strength is his resilience and adaptability. This was ably demonstrated for us during the famous “midterms” when all

I could not help but think that Doon is like St. George’s was 100 years ago. teachers and students leave campus and head north for four days of trekking in the Himalayas. Bobbi, Johnny and I joined 20 C Formers and one other teacher for a trek up to 10,000 feet. After a four-hour bus ride along cliff-hugging dirt roads that seemed to frighten no one except me, our group reached a lovely mountain valley where our first night was spent on the concrete floor of a small school building. The next morning the group commenced its climb in a downpour that steadily became worse. As the rain soaked me to the bones and I watched the children struggle with their packs and complain about the cold, I suggested to the veteran teacher leading the group that they turn back. The teacher smiled at me and insisted that they would be fine. So on they went. The rain got harder and the temperature dropped, and as it became clear that many students were, in fact, in tough shape, the teacher agreed that they should seek shelter. The students in the front of our group located an empty shepherd’s hut with

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dirt floors, piles of straw and a few dung paddies stacked in a corner. It was good enough, and so we all piled in and lit a fire that soon threatened to asphyxiate us. Yet within an hour, every student was laughing and singing. The rest of the trek was not quite as exciting. However, the entire exercise confirmed for me that Doon students are a very impressive group whose personal courage and physical toughness would put most Americans to shame.

There is indeed much to admire about The Doon School. I could not help but think that Doon is perhaps much like St. George’s School was almost 100 years ago.

The emphasis on competition between the boys is unapologetic. The results of examinations are printed in the yearbook for all to see. Yet Doon, like St. George’s, is constantly evaluating itself and its situation, and considering ways to improve. One of the most important challenges for The Doon School is how to adapt to the rapid changes occurring in India, including just outside the school’s gates where shops, residences and vehicles seem to be multiplying each month.

Should Doon become coed? Should it alter or end some of its traditions and practices such as midterms? Given the strength of the school’s leadership, I think that Doon will continue for the foreseeable future to be an extremely attractive option for parents and students. Like St. George’s School, the Doon School is adept at finding the right balance between tradition and change because at the heart of the school is a deep commitment to academic excellence and the development of character in its students and graduates. In 40 years Doscos may not be calling their teachers “sir” or “ma’am,” but in their interactions with adults they will likely demonstrate the same respect, affection and intelligence that they do today.

Thomas Lamont ’79 was a history teacher at St. George’s from 1991-1997. He now works at Groton School and can be reached at tlamont@groton.org.

Community Service E A C H I N G

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Sophie ’12 and Alex Layton ’09 help a local girl learn to skate during a community rink event in December.

Fifth formers Shealagh Coughlin, Kevin Martland and Esme Yozell create a quilt square for a Rhode Island man who died in November after contracting AIDS. The project, directed by volunteers for the National AIDS Project organization, was part of a community service day at SG on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 19.

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Around Campus E E N

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KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY

Timon Watkins ’11 checks his e-mail as he waits for class to start.

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Students head to Memorial Schoolhouse on the first day of classes in September.

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PHOTO BY

Members of the girls thirds soccer team have some fun dressing up for Halloween. Front row: Sophie Layton. Middle row: Alex Paindiris, Sarah MacDonnell, Logan Hendrix, Erin Hendrix and Emma Garfield. Back row: Sabra Wilson, Emily Adams, Erin Killeavy, Sadie McQuilkin, Lisa Lho, Trisha-Joy Jackson, Grace Alzaibak, Casey Hansel, Hannah Greenwood and Heydi Malave. Coach Tony Jaccaci sported a crazy wig and green hat.

SUZANNE MCGRADY

PHOTO BY

R AY WOISHEK ’89

Seniors George Williams and Campbell McNicol spend time in Dragon Quad between classes.

The Rev. Ned Mulligan, SG’s new chaplain, offered a pet blessing last fall on Oct. 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals and the environment.

RUBENSTEIN PHOTO BY L EN PHOTO BY

PHOTO BY

DIANNE REED

R AY WOISHEK ’89

Students share some downtime in the Hamblet Campus Center grill.

Sebastian Bierman-Lytle ’11 performs during the Rock Guild in January.

Esi Ozemebhoya ’11, Annetta O’Leru ’12, Alex Hare ’10, Chris Barron ’10, Heydi Malave ’11, Joy Bullock ’12, Caroline Gummo ’11 and Tria Smothers ’09 participate in a meeting of the Double Dutch Club on the terrace of West Steps.

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Reunion Weekend ’09 R

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Alumni/ae invited back May 15-17

ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL REUNION WEEKEND 2009

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

Scheduled events begin Friday, May 15, and are 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, which this year goes to Howard R. Balloch ’69, a former Canadian ambassador to China and an expert on Pacific Rim nations. A welcome reception as well as a variety of evening events for individual reunion classes will follow the Diman Award presentation.

Saturday’s activities include Chapel tours, class visits, student and faculty panel discussions, a picnic lunch on the front lawn, assorted home athletic contests, and a formal dinner at the Stephen P. Cabot and Archer Harman Ice Center. This festive dinner celebration is in honor of all the reunion classes.

A memorial service for William M. Schenck, Prince Chair in History, Assistant Headmaster, College Advisor and Head of the History Department (1952-1990), emeritus, along with a special alumni/ae memorial service will take place on Sunday morning, May 17. Mr. Schenck died Jan. 30.

Alums will be receiving an invitation to Reunion Weekend in early March, but for now, save the dates—May 15-17. Please visit our website at www.stgeorges.edu for Reunion Weekend registration, hotel information, weekend schedule and a list of alumni/ae who have already registered.

Home Athletic Contests Saturday, May 16, 2009 Varsity Baseball vs. St. Paul’s 3:30 p.m. (Elliott Field)

REUNION CL ASSES 1934 • 75th

1974 • 35th

Girls Varsity Lacrosse vs. St. Paul’s 3:30 p.m. (Crocker Field)

1939 • 70th

1979 • 30th

1944 • 65th

1984 • 25th

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

1949 • 60th

1989 • 20th

1954 • 55th

1994 • 15th

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

1959 • 50th

1999 • 10th

1964 • 45th

2004 • 5th

1969 • 40th

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Diplomat chosen for Diman Award

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oward R. Balloch ’69, a former Canadian ambassador to China and an expert on Pacific Rim nations, has been selected as this year’s winner of St. George’s highest award for a graduate, the John B. Diman Award.

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

Balloch is president and founding partner of The Balloch Group, an independent advisory and merchant banking firm that serves domestic and international clients in China. Established in 2001, the firm was ranked one of the top five largest M&A and private placement advisors by China Venture in 2007.

TBG’s professionals are located in Beijing, New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Wuhan and Hangzhou.

Balloch lives in Beijing and owns a summer home in Jamestown, R.I. Last November, Balloch was appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Metals and Mining and participated in the inaugural Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai. The summit was called “the biggest ever brainstorming session on the global agenda by leaders from academia, business, government and society.”

Last August, he was a keynote speaker at the

Diggers and Dealers Forum, a three-day mining industry event in Australia attended by more than 1,700 delegates of mining and exploration companies, brokers, bankers, investors, financiers and mining service industries. Balloch’s speech, “Supercycles, Superman and Kryptonite,” addressed the current and future trends in commodities markets, arguing that despite recent slowdowns in the West, commodities demand in emerging markets led by China will continue to fuel the current supercycle well into the future.

Balloch served as Canada’s ambassador to China from 1996 to 2001 following a 20-year career in Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, where he helped to develop bilateral exchanges between Canada and China and led the promotion and protection of Canadian interests in China.

He is an expert in the political and economic environment in China and has extensive experience in building strong relationships at the highest levels in Chinese political and corporate sectors.

Balloch earned his bachelor’s degree and M.B.A. from McGill University in Montreal and pursued further graduate studies at the University of Toronto and Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques in Paris.

The Diman Award ceremony will take place May 15 at 5:45 p.m. in the Chapel.

Howard Balloch ’69 with His Excellency Zhu Rongji, Former Premier of P.R. China

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Traditions C

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Left page/top: Sabra Wilson ’10, Stephanie Johnson ’10, Lydia Willie ’09, Thomas Growney ’09, Maddie Carrellas ’09 and Jane Goldstein (baby), daughter of faculty members Lucy and Jeremy Goldstein.

Bottom left: Tony Ye ’09, S.J. Tilden ’09 and Nont Jiarathanakul ’10 as the three kings.

This page/clockwise from above: Sophia Noel ’09; Garrow Geer ’12 and Valdair Lopes ’12; Evan Read ’12; Halsey Huth ’12, Garrett Reis ’12 and Matthew Gilbert ’12; Alex Whitehouse ’12 and Katherine Adams ’12.

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Top: Hubert “Ted” C. Hersey, Independence Foundation Chair and Head of the Computer and Science Departments (1952-2001), emeritus, oversees the start of the 50th Annual Pie race (Inset photo) Ted and Shirley Hersey.

Top right: History teacher Patrick Durning, Emanuele Cicero ’10 and Jamie Strang, an exchange student from South Africa.

Bottom left: From “Star Wars,” Katherine Pryor ’09, Linnea Bostrom ’09, Mary Behan ’10, Sarah Harrison ’09 and Katherine Wilkerson ’11.

Bottom right: “Titanic” seniors Camilla de Bragança, Paige Ehart, Lindsey Beck, Izzy Evans and Callie McBreen.

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Giving back E W S

F R O M

T H E

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L U M N I

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F F I C E

PHOTO BY

R AY WOISHEK ’89

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Murrays recognized as outstanding volunteers

T

he Phillip Murray Reynolds Annual Fund Volunteer of the Year Award was pre sented Sept. 26, 2008, to Betts and Wisner Murray P’07, ’10.

The parents of Francis ’07 and Polly ’10, Betts and Wisner served with passion and professionalism as co-chairs of the Parents Committee for three years, from 2005-2008. Famous for their welcoming and rallying speeches during Parents Weekend, they embraced the job fully and gave it their all, according to Annual Fund Director Susan Russell.

A quote from the Murrays during one of their Parents Weekend addresses speaks volumes about their enthusiasm and commitment to the school:

“People have asked us why we agreed to chair the Parents Committee, and we said, ‘How could we not?’ Whether your child’s passion involves a soccer ball or a violin, we hope you will find that passion to be contagious, as we have. We are passionate about this school, and hope you are too.”

Under the Murrays’ spirited leadership, current-parent participation rose this past year to 91 percent, the highest it has been in the past eight years. There was tremendous momentum among current parents last year, which led to maximizing the anonymous donor’s challenge match, Russell said. The final result was $986,726—the highest dollar amount ever raised from current parents for the Annual Fund.

Wisner and Betts Murray display their award.

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Show your spirit with some new SG gear!

Dragon Sweatshirt • Gray with “DRAGONS” down left sleeve and “SG” on the back of the hood

S - M - L - XL - XXL $49

Stadium Blanket • $50 or two for $90

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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Upcoming Events 2009 Sat., Feb. 28-Sun., March 1 Winter Musical: “Grease”

Fri., March 27-Sat., March 28 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Conference*

Fri., May 15-Sun., May 17 Reunion Weekend

Mon., May 25 Prize Day

*For info., contact Alex Myers or Kevin Held at glbtconference@stgeorges.edu

You’re invited: Regional Receptions Feb. 26, 2009

April 22, 2009

Chicago, Ill. Racquet Club of Chicago Hosted by Patrick Wood Prince ’88

Philadelphia, Pa. Philadelphia Cricket Club Hosted by David Hearn ’76

March 3, 2009

April 29, 2009

Palm Beach, Fla. At the home of Burke P’02 and Susan Ross

Boston, Mass.

Boston College Club Hosted by Bonnie Leonard ’80 and Chris Toro

For info., contact Ann Weston at Ann_Weston@stgeorges.edu or 401.842.6731

Founding Friends of the St. George’s Chapel Thursday, April 23, 2009 A Service Celebrating St. George’s Day

Friday, October 23, 2009 Lecture by Lyn Hovey, Stained-Glass Artist

Friday, December 11, 2009 A special service of “Lessons and Carols”

Thursday, February 18, 2010 Music recital featuring the Chapel organ

For information about the Founding Friends of the Chapel program, contact Bill Douglas at Bill_Douglas@stgeorges.edu or 401.842.6730

In this issue: Claiborne Pell ’36 (1918-2009): A complex man with many achievements Geronimo celebrates a 10-year anniversary AP Biology students focus research on AIDS A British canon talks about life in Iraq The greening of King Hall Chapel talks: Reaching your level of God’s perfection BY ANNA MACK ’09 When the walls come tumbling down BY ANNIE IRELAND ’09 Patriotism—in a new light BY C. JOSEPH GOULD Brash and bright BY DIATRE PADILLA ’09 Band of brothers BY DOYLE S TACK ’09

Class Notes Emeriti/ae Faculty Deaths: Conchita Kreisler: SEPT. 29, 2008 William M. Schenck: JAN. 30, 2009

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