Bulletin Winter 2011 by St. George's School

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

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

S T. G E OR G E ’S 2011

winter Bulletin

St. George’s School 2011 winter Bulletin

In this issue: Science students land coveted internships in Paris BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY Three students have ‘backstage pass’ on library project BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY Hark back to your Hilltop days: Selections from the Red & White archives Chapel talks: Choosing happiness BY VICTORIA LEONARD ’11 A shower of thoughts fits together BY ZACH MASTRODICASA ’11 The ‘well-rounded me’ came before the ‘egg’ BY CHAD L ARCOM ’11 Finding home in an unfamiliar place BY ABI MOATZ ’11 Giving (and getting) a second chance BY SAM PETERSON ’11

St. George’s on the Web Class Notes Left: Choir members Carine Kanimba ’12 and Michelle Hare ’12 sing at a recent chapel service. PHOTO BY R ACHEL R AMOS

I NSIDE :

A groundbreaking internship • Library construction • Web extras

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

Upcoming Events Global Week

Mon., March 28 - Sat., April 2 Schoolwide Day of Service

Mon., April 4

Tues., April 5 - Wed. April 6 Fri., April 8 - Sat., April 9

Admission Second Visit Programs

Los Angeles area reception Tues., April 12

Santa Monica, Calif. The Huntley Hotel Hosted by Rudy Bethea ’87 Reunion Weekend

Fri., May 13 - Sun., May 15

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

Spring Dance Concert

Sat., May 28 Prize Day

Mon., May 30 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.

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

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

Student-made banners for Middlesex Weekend decorate King Hall. PHOTO BY R ACHEL R AMOS

Contents On the cover: Sebastian Bierman-Lytle ’11 and L’Oreal Lampley ’11 star as Romeo and Juliet in the 2010 Fall Play. PHOTO BY R ACHEL R AMOS

Suzanne L. McGrady, editor Dianne Reed, communications associate Toni Ciany, editorial assistant Rachel Ramos, web manager Contributing photographers: Andrea Hansen, Kathryn Whitney Lucey, Bill Rakip, Rachel Ramos, Len Rubenstein, Louis Walker The St. George’s Bulletin is published bi-annually. Send correspondence to Bulletin_Editor@stgeorges.edu.

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

From the editor’s desk ........................................................................................................................................2 Science students land coveted internships in Paris BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ..............................................3 Three students have ‘backstage pass’ on library project BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ................................6 Reunion Weekend ................................................................................................................................................8 Hark back to your Hilltop Days: Selections from the Red & White archives ......................................9 Hilltop archives ..................................................................................................................................................17 Hall of Fame pitcher once visited the Hilltop BY SUZANNE L. MCGRADY ..................................................18 Chapel talks: Choosing happiness BY VICTORIA LEONARD ’11 ........................................................................................20 A shower of thoughts fits together—like pieces of a puzzle BY ZACH MASTRODICASA ’11 ............23 The ‘well-rounded me’ came before the ‘egg’ BY CHAD L ARCOM ’11 ................................................26 Finding ‘home’ in an unfamiliar place BY ABI MOATZ ’11 ..................................................................28 Giving (and getting) a second chance BY SAM PETERSON ’11 ............................................................30 Highlights: Student achievements ................................................................................................................32 Classrooms ..........................................................................................................................................................38 Geronimo ..............................................................................................................................................................42 Arts ........................................................................................................................................................................45 SG Zone - Athletics ............................................................................................................................................48 Campus happenings ..........................................................................................................................................54 Traditions..............................................................................................................................................................58 Around campus ..................................................................................................................................................60 Global outreach ..................................................................................................................................................63 On the Web ..........................................................................................................................................................64 Post Hilltop: Former community members, alumni/ae in the news ....................................................66 Faculty/staff notes ..........................................................................................................................................68 Board notes ..........................................................................................................................................................71 The fondest of memories: Michael Wynne-Willson ’37 BY QUENTIN WARREN ........................................72 Class Notes ..........................................................................................................................................................77

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St. George’s From the editor’s desk I

Connor, 4, and Suzanne in Watch Hill, R.I.

just got through reading Patti Smith’s memoir of her relationship with the artist and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe called “Just Kids.” It was a great book that also made me think a lot about memories—the memories we have of people we’ve come to know at one time or another in our lives, and the way our memories can either elude, or invade, our minds at times. I remember going to see Mapplethorpe’s work in Boston in 1989 and the hauntingly beautiful pictures he took of Smith. In her book, Smith’s memories of her growing bond with Mapplethorpe are so sharp and keen. Probably because she kept journals, she could write about even the outfits she wore back in the 1960s. The book was a testament to keeping track of the small moments that will matter later in life. But then again, when you have those meaningful moments, the mind pictures and those waves of emotion, so pure, seem next to impossible to quell. What are your memories of the Hilltop? This edition of the Bulletin includes an archival spread of Red & White front pages aimed in particular at this year’s major reunion classes. Perhaps the headlines will bring back memories for some. And please note: The full editions of all those stories are available on

our web site. They could even provide some talking points around those reunion roundtables. Memories are also what make up a number of chapel talk themes (pp. 20-31). It’s remarkable how many of our students use their chapel talks to reveal parts of their childhood selves, how powerful those memories are for them, and how even early on in adulthood, young men and women grow nostalgic for times gone by—as they will for the rest of their lives. When baseball great Bob Feller died this winter, the news brought back some indelible memories for a few of our alums. (“Hall of Fame pitcher once visited the Hilltop,” p. 18). Nothing like pure, raw, God-given talent—which we have in abundance here at SG—to do that. Have you checked out our YouTube channel? I dare you not to get chills listening to Elodie Germain ’12 and L’Oreal Lampley ’11 singing “Amazing Grace.” Of course being on the Hilltop is also about getting the chance to make new memories, and the teachers and students here are working hard to move forward productively in their academic pursuits. Two girls will get the chance to study in France this summer at the famed Curie Institute (“Science students land coveted internships in Paris,” p. 3), and three boys are learning about architecture and sustainability in the real-life work site that is the Hill Library construction project. And speaking of memories … Recently our students rallied to get the school on board to help them plan a classic prom. Sure the Winter Formal has always served as the school’s fancy dance, but it seems the students are looking to make one more of those dressed-up nights for the memory books. Hope the photographs are spectacular.

Suzanne McGrady Bulletin Editor

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Science students land coveted internships in Paris BY SUZANNE MCGRADY

It’s an impressive answer to the question, “So what are you doing this summer?”— “I’m doing cancer research in Paris.” And that’s just what two of our standout science and language He ydi M al avé ’11 and Sa die students—H M cQ ui lk in ’12—are able to say thanks to the careful planning and teamwork of Head of the French Department Al lis on de H or sey and Tom Eva ns, a biology and microbiology teacher in the Science Department. Malavé and McQuilkin are scheduled to spend three weeks in

Paris in June and July—two of them as research interns at the world-renowned Curie Institute, one of the top medical, biological and biophysical research facilities in the world specializing in the treatment of cancer. They will be the first-ever high school age interns to study there. For St. George’s, the program is a real coup— representing a promising extension of our global and off-site curricular offerings, and a progressive, real-

Sadie McQuilkin ’12 and Heydi Malavé ’11 work in the biology laboratory in the Science Center.

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The Institut Curie at 26 rue d’Ulm, Paris.

world application of an interdisciplinary course of study. For Malavé and McQuilkin it’s the chance of a lifetime: Neither has been to Europe. “And these are students who are really passionate about science,” said Evans. How the internships came about is a study in determination and the desire to find superior students superior opportunities. Evans was inspired by de Horsey’s expansion of her summer cultural immersion trip to Paris in which she secured weeklong internships for four students last summer: An drew Co la c ch io ’10, S op hie Flynn ’11, L inn ie Gum mo ’11 and Ma c k Fe ldm an ’11 each took part in an internship at either Poilâne, a famous artisanal bread bakery; Hôtel de Banville; Tg Communication, a public relations firm specializing in luxury goods; or Gatard et Associés, a research and marketing firm. De Horsey named it the Global Cultural Initiative Program (GCIP). Evans, who’s also helped land a number of science-centered internships for his students in the United States, asked de Horsey to investigate an opportunity at the Curie, and she embraced the chance to move into new territory. “I was really excited when Tom approached me about finding an internship in Paris for French/biology students,” de Horsey said. “It’s not an obvious collaboration, but that’s what’s so great about it—we found an incredible cross-curricular opportunity at the Curie Institute that will add another unique component to the GCIP program and Tom’s science internships—another layer of learning for the students and what they can bring back to the classroom

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for our departments.” De Horsey said the two teachers have similar thoughts about the positive impact that internships can have on their students. “And though our disciplines are different, our objectives are the same: to find meaningful learning experiences via internships that will allow our students to put their skills to use and expand their knowledge—the ‘learning by doing’ model,” she said. This semester Evans and de Horsey are meeting with both Malavé, of Newark, N.J., and McQuilkin, of Portsmouth, R.I., outside of the regular class schedule to get the girls even more prepared for the internships. They’ll be studying alongside some of the most respected scientists in the world— researchers like Anne Houdusse, head of the Curie Institute’s Structural Motility Team, who was the recipient of the prestigious FEBS/EMBO (The Federation of European Biochemical Societies and The European Molecular Biology Organization) Women in Science Award for 2009 for “outstanding contributions to the field of structural biology.” McQuilkin’s research will focus on the proteins involved in cell movement. Investigating the way proteins are moved to different places inside cells or secreted from cells helps scientists better understand how diseases develop. Malavé will delve into the study of cellular signaling, or the ability of cells to perceive and correctly respond to their microenvironment. Miscues in cellular processing result in disease. At the Curie, the girls will get an inside look at a vast network of facilities, including a research center on biophysics, cell biology and oncology and a cancer treatment hospital. McQuilkin, a section editor for the Red & White student newspaper and a standout runner on the cross-country course, says her favorite subjects are biology and English, so she knows she’ll likely pursue those in college. The medical field draws her, she said, because “that’s just an awesome field to help people.” “My aunt had breast cancer,” she added. “Knowing that I could help people like her would be great.” The internship, McQuilkin said, might help her narrow down which areas of the medical field she

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wishes to pursue. “It may help me decide whether I like the research aspect or want to be with people and be a pediatrician or something like that,” she said. Malavé, who graduates in May, knows the experience will ready her for further study in college. “I’ve never really had any research training except for here in micro[biology] class,” she said, “so I can use those skills and obviously learn more.” Malavé, meanwhile, is all about the science. She’s taking the year-long A.P. biology course; she took microbiology first semester and is taking the D.N.A. science elective this spring semester. She says she is especially happy to be investigating the research side of the medical profession. “We need vaccines, we need medication for people who are already suffering from these diseases. There’s not only a need to practice medicine, the research is also important.” “Studying microbiology and preparing for the internship have opened a new way of thinking for me,” Malavé said. Of the cross-disciplinary aspect of the trip, Malavé said, “It think it’s perfect.” “Not only are you into a new culture, but you’re going to get an academic perspective on research. In both fields you’re going in there knowing that you’re not necessarily the top at it, but you’re going to learn a lot from it—language and science research.” McQuilkin admitted the adventure is a little intimidating. “But I think being able to combine different disciplines is going to be a great way to apply what we’ve learned here,” she said. Evans himself also was preparing to branch out into new territory. “A lot of this is beyond what I teach in the classroom, so I’ll be learning along with them and hopefully together, we’ll get them ready to go over there, and hopefully the professors will be impressed. They’re going to be put right to work.” For the last few years, as Evans has incorporated real-life research on AIDS into his advanced placement biology course, he’s talked to a number of researchers who he said want to support science in schools. “Almost every one of them told me that what we need are younger people getting involved in this challenge now,” Evans said. “We need more basic science.”

“We need more and more young people to get passionate about science and research earlier.” In the French classroom, both Sadie and Heydi are also excellent students, according to de Horsey. McQuilkin won the Alliance Française Prize last year, for excellence in French at the intermediate level, and skipped a level—going from French 3 Honors to AP French. Beyond their strong language skills, though, both girls distinguish themselves as curious, motivated students. “They are not afraid of a challenge and always work to mastery and a higher level of understanding in French,” de Horsey said. The traits are just what de Horsey looks for when selecting students for the GCIP, itself inspired by the Global Engagement and Culture of Innovation pillars of the Strategic Plan. “I’m a huge believer that internships are the next step after the classroom in the learning process,” de Horsey said. “What’s being taught in the French classroom can be experienced directly through student travel and cultural immersion. Education can continue through internships to show students how skills are honed and how careers can be built around cultural interests.” De Horsey says she told her students at the end of last year she’d be meeting with the Director of Education at the Curie Institute, Jacqueline Legras, about the possibility of establishing an internship. McQuilkin sent her an e-mail written in French the day before she left for France to say she was very interested. So when de Horsey met Legras she was able to tell her she had a student in mind for the program. Madame Legras’ response was, “Don’t you think it’s our responsibility to create these opportunities when we have motivated students?” “Right then I knew that we had similar philosophies and that the chance of an internship becoming a reality was strong,” de Horsey said. “It even gave me the confidence to ask for two internships.”

Sadie McQuilkin ’12 and Heydi Malavé ’11 will take part in a two-week internship at the Curie Institute in Paris this summer.

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Three students have ‘backstage pass’ on library project As the school seeks LEED certification for the building, these boys are actively involved in the process

Alex Wilsterman ’11, Evan Read ’12 and Alex Elron ’12 are taking part in a special project during the winter term focusing on the reconstruction of the Hill Library.

Every Wednesday afternoon after classes, three students with an interest in architecture and sustainability head over to the center of campus where the Hill Library is undergoing an $8 million restoration/expansion project. The three make their way into the cavernous interior of the nowgutted structure where they’ve been getting a behind-the-scenes look at the building project—one that no other students and very few faculty members are even privy to. In the process, A l e x E l r o n ’12, A l e x Wi l s t e rm a n ’11, and E va n R e a d ’12 are also helping the school notch one more point toward the coveted LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification of the building, showing St. George’s

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commitment to best sustainability practices. For the boys, getting involved in a special project centered on construction and environmentally friendly building has been a true education. While they are interested in the project—the building materials, the construction techniques, the science behind the new 215-foot tower on the north façade of the library—they’re also deeply involved in the community. “We’re interested in the school. We want to know what’s going on here,” Elron said. Throughout the winter sports season, the three boys have been spending the afternoon wearing their own personalized hard hats and getting a guided tour of the project from Site Supervisor Renato Cabral of Shawmut Design and Construction. “Having this opportunity to go ‘backstage’ and having the superin-

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tendent of the entire project as a guide has been so interesting,” Elron said. St. George’s is on target for a “gold” level LEED certification of the library project and a few points from “platinum.” Administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, the LEED certification process isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s imperative that the project even in the beginning stages of design be focused on environmentally friendly building practices and operation goals. Certification is based on a points system, in which points are earned in categories such as sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and materials. LEED certification for schools goes even further by guiding education centers in the construction or renovation of buildings that provide healthful and environmentally sound areas for students and teachers. Within a 100-point rating system, the project earns points that determine whether the building gets one of four levels of certification: certified, silver, gold or platinum. By getting certification, St. George’s is showing its commitment to sustainability, and building with an eye toward the impact on the environment and operational efficiency. For the students, learning about building—literally from the ground up—has been something of a coup. “I have really enjoyed this project,” Read said. “It has been a very humbling experience. It has helped me realize how much goes into making a building, especially a LEED-certified building. Often, what seems like a pragmatic solution is made complicated by various safety factors or environmental

issues that only a specialist would have considered.” Each of the boys is taking on different aspects of the project to study. Elron’s research includes site selection, water use reduction, construction waste management, and daylight and views, while Read is taking on stormwater design (quality and quantity control), water efficiency as it relates to water efficient landscaping, optimizing energy performance, materials and resources (with a goal to maintain 75 percent of existing walls, floors, and roofs), indoor environmental quality and green cleaning. Wilsterman is researching alternative energy, certified wood (ours comes from Maine), the use of Energy Star appliances, water-efficient landscaping (it’s hoped rain run-off from the roof will help water a garden near Twenty House dormitory), and indoor chemical and pollutant source control. As a group the three are also integral to the “LEED as a teaching tool” component of the certification. “I think I can speak for all of us when I say we have gained a deeper appreciation for the work all the men and women have contributed to this project,” Read said. Wilsterman agreed. “It’s been great to be able to see the progression of the library even through the small time period we have been doing the project,” he said. “To be able to talk to the superintendent of the project when we go in has been a huge help, too. He answers any questions we have and is one of the friendliest people I have ever met.” “Wednesdays,” Elron added, “are something that we all look forward to.”

The new entrance and stair tower for the Hill Library began to take shape in January and February.

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Alumni/ae invited back May 13-15 Mark your calendars for another great Reunion Weekend in May, says Events Coordinator Ann Weston. Scheduled events begin Friday, May 13, 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 Peter Woicke ’61, former investment banker and managing director of the World Bank and the current Board Chairman of Ashesi University in Ghana and Chairman of the International Save the Children Alliance. 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 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. Alums will be receiving an invitation to Reunion Weekend in early March, but for now, save the dates—May 13-15. Please visit our website atwww.stgeorges.edu for Reunion Weekend registration, hotel information, weekend schedule and a list of alumni/ae who have already registered.

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1936 • 75th

Senior Picnic, Spring 2006.

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1976 • 35th

1941 • 70th

1981 • 30th

1946 • 65th

1986 • 25th

1951 • 60th

1991 • 20th

1956 • 55th

1996 • 15th

1961 • 50th

2001 • 10th

1966 • 45th

2006 • 5th

1971 • 40th

Hark back to your Hilltop days The next section of the Bulletin was put together in an effort to spur a memory, reconnect you with your past, and in the meantime show off another “Web Extra” on our website. On the following pages you will find a selection of front pages from the student newspaper, the Red & White—one each from the graduation years of our major Reunion classes from 1941, 1951, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001. But fear not: We know this may just be a tease. We’ve added the full editions of each of these papers to the Archival Miscellany section of www.stgeorges.edu. We hope you enjoy the opportunity to browse through what may be a forgotten portion of your past. And we hope you stay actively involved in what we have going on today. Browsing through these papers reminded us that no matter the era, a thread of continuity—exhilaration and angst—marks the high school years. Meanwhile, if any of this content prompts an urge to reconnect with the community, please do post your thoughts on our Facebook page. We welcome the dialogue—and continuing the ongoing story of St. George’s.

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Advertisements from the February 2, 1938, Red & White, recall a different era, when a Thames Street business rented typewriters to students and there was a “department store” in Newport. And yet ice cream (though Dutchland Farms is no longer in business) has remained a hit throughout the decades. S T. G E O R G E ’ S 2 0 1 1 W I N T E R B U L L E T I N

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Bob “Rapid Rober t” Feller: Nov. 3, 1918 – Dec. 15, 2010

Hall of Fame pitcher once visited the Hilltop BY SUZANNE MCGRADY Alums recall seeing Feller, who remained among the elite power pitchers in baseball history, throw from the mound on North Field behind the St. George’s Chapel.

hen baseball great Bob Feller died on December 15, 2010, in Gates Mills, Ohio, at the age of 92, at least a few St. Georgians were struck with a personal memory of the famed fastballer. Recruited to the majors directly out of high school (he never had to pay his dues in the minors),

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Feller interrupted his career midstream to serve in the Navy—and for a time he was stationed in Newport. Julian Sloan ’45, Porky Ballard ’43, Robin Rogers ’44 and Peter Ward ’43 all report seeing Feller hurl his trademark heater from the mound on North Field behind the chapel. “I was an impressed little kid and awed by his celebrity,” said Sloan. At the time Feller, who had already played for the

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Cleveland Indians for five years and garnered national attention for his remarkable pitching prowess at a young age, was training at the Naval gunnery school. Another of his assignments, however, was to put together a Naval baseball team. According to the Newport Daily News, Feller looked over hundreds of players and eventually chose 30 players with backgrounds in minor league and college teams. One day the team apparently made arrangements to practice on the Hilltop. Published reports at the time say Feller also made a few local public appearances. In June 1942, he told the members of the Sportsman’s Club, which met at the Hotel Viking, that he was coaching a good club but was handicapped by lack of a real ballpark. Rogers says he remembers standing with fellow students behind the backstop on a spring day in ’42 and knowing full well the boys were in the presence of greatness. “He threw the ball so fast that it went through the backstop!” recalls Ballard, who said even though Feller himself was still only in his 20s, the boys looked up to him as a man. “Certainly a sports hero,” Ballard said. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 and the winningest pitcher in Cleveland Indians history,

Feller still regarded his time in the military as some of the most influential years of his life. In an essay he wrote on his military service, “Answering the Call,” Feller claimed he always felt he was a “Navy man at heart.” “I never have to strain my memory to recall the day I decided to join the Navy. It was 7 December 1941. I was driving from my home in Van Meter, Iowa, to Chicago to discuss my next contract with the Cleveland Indians, and I heard over the car radio that the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor. I was angry as hell.” Feller had already spent almost six full seasons in the major leagues, with a record of 107 victories and 54 losses, and he had a family-related draft exemption. “But I knew right then that I had to answer the call.” After four months in Newport, Feller was assigned to a battleship, the USS Alabama, as a gun-captain, and saw action off Tarawa, and in the Marshalls, the Carolines, and the Philippines. But in August 1945, he returned to his baseball roots. “Just 15 days after the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, I went on inactive duty,” Feller wrote. “It was back to baseball after that.”

Top left: William Feller caught the fast balls fired by his son at his own risk. When Bob was just eight, he broke three of his father's ribs with a pitch. Top right: Bob Feller warming up during the 1940 season, when he went 27-11 as a 21-year-old.

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Choosing happiness Smaller joys can add up–if you notice them BY VICTORIA LEONARD ’11 Following is a chapel talk delivered on Nov. 4, 2010.

Victoria Leonard ’11 poses with family members at her Confirmation service last year in the Chapel. With her are her grandparents, Joseph Gagne and the late Rita Gagne; and her grandmother, Marsha Leonard.

ood morning. I’m going to start us off with a fundamental question of philosophy: Who am I? Cliché right? Yeah I know, but let’s just go with it for a while. After some soul searching, I have concluded that I Am A Noticer. I’m perceptive. I notice things—about people, words, places, hair, the sky, a song, the grass, pretty much anything. For example, let’s take the chapel. While some kids sit in chapel and stare across the aisle into each other’s eyes, I tend to look up and around. Have you ever noticed that those two angels up there don’t have bodies? Did you know that there’s a baby lamb in the

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back eastern window? What about the ceiling above the organ? It has stars painted all over it. Or, how about the plethora of wild beasts in the altar window? There are also a few enormous oil paintings in the back that tend to be overlooked. And when you’re walking through the chapel during the day, have you ever noticed the spots of colored light on the walls? Did you realize that even after almost everyone is out of the chapel, Doc G continues to play organ pieces? Well, those are just a few of the little hidden treasures that I’ve picked up on. I also pride myself on noticing changes. For example, when Mary K returned from summer her hair was substantially lighter! Or, just recently, a

display of miniature pumpkins was installed on the Great Room’s mantel. So autumnal! When I notice something that provokes a question, like “How do the enormous Main Common Room doors stay open without a latch?” I go on little investigations to solve the mystery. I discovered that there are magnets on the bottom of each door, which attract to a magnet on the wall! Isn’t that fascinating? I think so. Maybe I’m alone or wicked weird because I delight in these little factoids and tidbits, but I truly believe that it’s the little things that help us get by and that give day-to-day life special meaning. If we’re only truly happy when we win a game or ace a test, then honestly, joyous moments would be sporadic, and I don’t think we should live like that. A hug in the hallway or an especially funny e-mail on the Food Court really gets me going. I also love it when there’s a faculty member standing behind you in chapel and they just belt out the hymns. These little things also help me recover. Let’s say I bomb a test A period on Friday. I feel terrible, hate myself for not studying more, and just become the largest of Debbie Downers. Then, I walk into King Hall … and it’s taco day. Instantly a smile spreads across my face and my heart flutters. Taco day! My mood is significantly altered and I can put the test behind me and just relish in euphoria. Well, that’s a little exaggerated. But really, small things like that affect me. This past summer I went through something much more difficult than bombing a test. Actually, it was the hardest period of my life. Right before Prize Day, Memere, my grandmother, fell down and was taken to the hospital. The MRI showed that there was a tumor growing around her spinal cord. Mem and Pep, my grandfather, live in Wakefield, which is one town over from where I live. It’s no more than an eight-minute drive and consequently for my whole life, I haven’t gone more than three or four days without seeing them, and even that’s a stretch. They used to babysit me every Tuesday and I would sleep over at their house a lot. Basically, they were always around. So, it hit me pretty hard when I realized that we had to move Mem to a nursing home because she couldn’t stand up or get around by herself. But honestly, I wasn’t really worried. She was a two-time

breast cancer survivor and it didn’t even cross my mind that anything would happen. But as the summer progressed we weren’t seeing very much improvement. Even though Mem was always in the back of my mind, I focused on little things to help me get through the summer. My family and I relied on each other to stay positive and help each other to continue to live our lives. But, inevitably, sometimes I would get anxious and worried. It was in those moments that little delights kept me going. Playing tennis with my boys or going to the farmer’s market with my sister and mom would distract me and let me enjoy the summer. A day at the beach with my family would propel me to be positive and realize just how lucky I am. Nothing put me in a better mood than when my dad wore his red T-shirt that says “Pope My Ride” with a picture of the Popemobile on it. The fact that he doesn’t really get the MTV reference makes it even better. Or when he would try to convince me that “crisp” was going to be this year’s word for “cool.” He would then singlehandedly make the prophecy come true by frequently dropping phrases like “your shirt is criiiisp.” Anyway, those were just a few of the things that helped me cope. But unfortunately, as summer came to a close, we were forced to accept that Mem wasn’t going to get better. Soon after, her pain ended and she passed away. At that point in particular, small delights were especially important to me. Any tiny thing that I could find beauty in made it that much easier for me to deal with losing one of my biggest supporters, and someone whom I loved more than anything in the world. Above all, it was the love offered by my family and friends that I relied on to survive this difficult period. Now, when I find myself stressed, or missing Mem, I force myself to stop and look around. At school and at home, there’s always something or someone that reminds me of how lucky I am and ensures me that everything will be OK. I’ve discovered that the seemingly mundane parts of my day are the ones that I cherish most. Being woken up by nudges from my dog’s nose or being able to drive to school when the sun is rising over the water are just two of the thousands of little gifts I receive every day.

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VICTORIA LEONARD ’11

Victoria Leonard ’11, shown here at the SG compost bin, worked on a special project last fall that focused on sustainability and local farming.

Appreciating the small pleasures in my life also allows me to gain perspective as to what is important, and what isn’t worth freaking out over. I remember a few weeks ago I was at Sweet Berry Farm with Mr. Leslie, working on my special project. I’m doing my project on sustainability with a focus on local farming. Our task for the day was to shuck Indian corn: not very glamorous. We set up a table behind the barn and began ripping the husks away from the cobs. The kernels were revealed to be multicolored and they looked like gemstones. Every time a new cob was opened, we would say that it was more beautiful than the last. We started a little competition to see who would find the most special cob of all. I distinctly remember Mr. Leslie shouting “Yahtzee!” after finding a cob covered in bright red kernels. In an activity as minor as shucking corn, we were awestruck by true beauty. This goes to show that if you take the time to look for something to cheer you up, it’ll be there. So, next time you’re walking through the Schoolhouse, check out the inscriptions on the walls and notice crests on the ceiling. Or if you’re headed down to the beach, take a look at the school’s compost bins

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behind Merrick House. And when your favorite hymn is chosen for chapel, don’t be shy! Sing it loud and proud! Step back and think about how many times you laugh during the day. Start noticing when you make other people laugh. We all have the power to make someone’s day so try and go out of your way to thank someone who always has your back or makes you giggle and know that even the smallest thing you do can positively impact everyone around you. Appreciate what you have, and don’t let the little things that make you smile become insignificant. Henry Ward Beecher said, “The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.” There are millions of simple pleasures to be found here at St. George’s; don’t let them pass you by, and remember, you can always choose happiness. V ic to ri a Le o na rd ’11 of Narragansett, R.I., is a school prefect, head of the SG Choir, head of the Women in Leadership club, and a member of the Snapdragons a cappella group, the handbell choir and the varsity tennis team. She can be reached at Victoria_Leonard@stgeorges.edu.

ZACH MASTRODICASA ’11 PHOTO COURTESY OF

A shower of thoughts fits together—like pieces of a puzzle BY ZACH MASTRODICASA ’11 Following is a chapel talk delivered on Nov. 16, 2010.

twist the knob roughly halfway so that the water is the perfect temperature. I step beneath the spout to feel the stream begin to penetrate my thick hair and wet my scalp. I snap open the shampoo, and as I begin to massage the foam into my hair, it starts, almost as habitually as my shower routine

itself: Ideas, memories, hopes and daily recollections all begin to enter my mind as if I am scrubbing them into my brain as I lather my head. Nevertheless, I know why this consistently occurs, especially at an institution such as St. George’s, where one’s time in the shower is one’s only consistent moment of solitude when the mind is free to wander. Just a few days ago while I was in the shower, the

A younger Zach Mastrodicasa ’11 and his family members play their favorite Game Boys.

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ZACH MASTRODICASA ’11

A childhood photo shows Zach Mastrodicasa ’11 and his two sisters, Hillary and Shelby, with geese during their annual summer vacation on Long Lake in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, where Zach’s mother is from.

memory of my favorite childhood video game, “Banjo-Kazooie,” drifted into my head. The goal of this Nintendo game is to use a bear, Banjo, and his bird companion, Kazooie, to navigate several worlds in search of “Jiggys.” These “Jiggys” are golden puzzle pieces that can be attained by completing certain tasks and have the power to unlock new worlds within the game until you reach the witch, whom Banjo and Kazooie had to battle in order to save Tootie, Banjo’s kidnapped sister. I used to play this game for hours on end, year after year, while my little sister, Shelby, watched me. This recollection prompted another memory of when my family constructed a brand new jigsaw puzzle only to be left with one missing piece. Equally confused and disheartened, we searched everywhere for the final piece to join the 999 others and complete the 1,000-piece puzzle, yet to no avail. Although we knew exactly what we were looking for, no amount of searching could solve this dilemma, so we gave up, and left the nearly complete puzzle on the table. Before I was finished pondering this old memory, another thought popped into my head. I remembered when the word “jigsaw” itself first made a registered impact on my brain: after I watched my first R-rated movie. You may be familiar with the “Saw” films, but if not, it is a horror series based upon an old man named Jigsaw. In the films, Jigsaw kidnaps people he deems not grateful of life, and places them in various ghastly traps he calls “games.” Jigsaw’s aim in creating these assorted traps is to test the person by giving them a bizarre ultimatum in

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which they have to make a choice between extraordinary pain and death. For example, in the first film, one victim, Paul, was a man with a decent life, yet who decided to slit his wrists, presumably for recognition and attention. According to Jigsaw, the irony of Paul’s situation was that if he genuinely wished to die, all he would have to do in the trap was simply stay where he was and the trap would become his tomb. However, if his self-mutilation was indeed only for acknowledgement and he actually wished to live, he would have to “cut himself again” by piloting his way through the tight barbed wire maze out of the trap to freedom. Jigsaw’s gore-filled tests such as this one cause him to be frequently perceived as a villain. Yet, just as the movie’s title “Saw” contains a double significance representing both the tool and Jigsaw himself, I argue Jigsaw’s intentions aren’t as one-dimensionally evil as they may appear. Although I admit Jigsaw’s methods are immoral, wrong and unethical, and that the films are unnecessarily explicit, I do agree with the message Jigsaw attempts to pass on to his subjects: that being thankful for life is the most vital concept of all. At this point in my shower, I began to rinse off, when yet another thought crossed my mind. With Thanksgiving on the horizon I began to contemplate what I myself am most thankful for in life, and concluded that I am most appreciative of all the characteristics I have received and inherited from other people. For example, I believe I received wits from my father, personality from my mother, artistic thought from my older sister, and my partial free spirit from my younger sister, who always does as she pleases. Additionally, I received emotional strength from my aunt, Sharon, who discovered she was pregnant days after she lost her husband in a traumatic car crash. My Uncle Michael is laid back and has taught me how to differentiate between what is truly important and what can be less important probably because he was raised and still resides in northern Ontario, Canada, where the atmosphere and lifestyle always seem so stress free. At St. George’s I’ve collected a few more pieces, such as wisdom, articulation, and the fine art of arguing. Thanks, George. However, perhaps I am most

ZACH MASTRODICASA ’11

with my puzzle thought complete, I had one final idea. I imagined how wonderful it would be one day to have the largest hot water tank possible so I could just linger in the shower for hours thinking and reminiscing until my mind attains an acute enlightenment. Which brings me to my final piece of advice for you: to think. Now this sounds quite obvious but I’m not referring to class and homework, but rather times such as when you’re in the shower, or before

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thankful that I have received my gratitude puzzle piece, though I’m not sure where exactly from, without ever having to endure one of Jigsaw’s tests. This contemplation helped me recognize that, in a way, we all are like human jigsaw puzzles; multifaceted with many different characteristics. With the water turning cold, I further realized the age-old advice “to be ourselves” is impractical, since other people gave countless pieces of our own anatomical puzzles to us. At the end of this reflection, I turned off the shower and reached for my towel assuming my roaming brain had finally returned. I was wrong because just as I began rubbing my hair dry it felt as if I had rubbed one more thought into my head. In the “Saw” movies, Jigsaw cuts a jigsaw piece out of the victim’s flesh if the victim fails the trap. I think Jigsaw does this to symbolize that the victim is missing their gratitude piece—which brings me back to my family’s puzzle mystery. After a few days in which our 999-piece puzzle sat on the table unfinished, we noticed the missing piece had been put into its place. It turned out that my little sister had taken one piece when we began the puzzle in order to ensure that she would be the one to place the final piece. In that instant, every thought that was jumbling around in my brain fused together for a moment. I realized that building a puzzle is a lot like building your character and self. At first, it’s difficult as there are only a few pieces in place. However, after some time, you begin to develop and build the foundation of your life with pieces inherited from others, much like a puzzle’s frame is formed. Eventually, despite an assortment of setbacks, you progress, and find your identity by discovering who you truly are as a person just like when you near completion of a puzzle and are able to see what it depicts. Nevertheless, just as everything is coming together and you think you’re about to reach completion, you may come to realize you are missing a piece. My advice to you is, when you get this feeling, instead of simply assuming the piece is lost after a few minutes’ search, as my family did, seek out the person who is holding onto that last piece you need. When I got back to my room after my shower,

you go to bed. Just as the journey matters in terms of our final destination, I believe thought process is of monumental importance in evolving our completed ideas. I encourage all of you to simply let your mind drift off the next time you come across one of these free moments because in the end you never know what your traveling thoughts may trigger; they might even produce a chapel talk. Zach Mastrodicasa ’11 of Millis, Mass., is head of Red Key, the admissions tour guide group; senior dormitory prefect in Diman; senior writer on the Red & White; and has been on both the Disciplinary Committee and Student Council. He plays football, hockey and baseball, and his biggest hobbies are fantasy football and rocketry. He can be reached at Zach_Mastrodicasa@stgeorges.edu.

“When I see this photo [of my family] it reminds me of my childhood and the basic ‘puzzle pieces’ I inherited from each member,” says Zach Mastrodicasa ’11.

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CHAD L ARCOM ’11

The ‘well-rounded me’ came before the ‘egg’ BY CHAD LARCOM ’11 The Larcom family at Thanksgiving: Erin Larcom, 21, Patrick Larcom, 25, Ian Larcom, 17, Chad Larcom ’11, Mrs. Elizabeth Larcom, Mr. Charles Larcom and Elizabeth Larcom, 12. (Missing is Megan Larcom, 22, who was teaching English in Egypt before being evacuated to Qatar by the State Department in February.)

Following is a chapel talk delivered on Nov. 30, 2010.

elcome back to the Hilltop, I hope you all had a restful and fun break wherever you ended up going. Throughout my time here at SG I’ve heard my fair share of unique and engaging chapel talks. I’ve listened to the “Tao of Tofu,” learned that there is something you can take away from the “Saw” movies, and learned a lot about other people and what their experiences can offer me. I’ve learned a lot in my four years of listening to chapel talks, and now I hope I can give back some-

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thing I’ve learned. I grew up one of eight in a military household. I was born in Augsburg, Germany, and have lived in five states from Alaska to upstate New York. The dogma of my childhood was the pursuit of being well rounded, the mythical Renaissance man, the jack-of-all-trades. No one ever told me not to be well rounded. Until, that is, someone told me to be an egg. Prior to this advice, I sought “Grade-A” perfection in everything I did. From planning fundraisers to pop quizzes, everything had to be perfect. Even the most insignificant activities of daily life were consid-

ered essential for my well-rounded development. I based this assumption on the successes of my five siblings (including my twin), who all fervently strove to be the best in everything. Take my Thanksgiving for example. My older brother successfully baked a “pumple” cake, which is a pumpkin pie cooked inside a chocolate mayo cake and an apple pie cooked inside a vanilla carrot cake, all topped with star and buttercream frosting! Immediately following the unveiling of this baked behemoth my sister Skyped in from Egypt to inform us that she was now not only teaching English on a Fulbright Scholarship but being paid to play on a basketball team and rowing in the Suez Canal. Yes, in case you were wondering, I have a lot to live up to. As a result, as of two years ago I contiguously played nine different sports, considered five states and two countries home, and claimed interests ranging from surfing to playing the trumpet. Whether my fervor for activity hatched from the intense environment of a large, ambitious, Army-brat family, or from my own internal competitive nature, the result remains that I sought only to be well rounded. Thus, my approach to life was scrambled when a teacher told me to be an egg. At first, I’ll admit, I thought he was crazy. However, as my junior year of high school went by, I realized what he meant. He didn’t want me to smell like an egg, look like an egg, or break like an egg. He wanted me to shape my life like an egg. To live eggshaped is to be arguably well rounded but to have a focus point, an aspect of life that you are sensitively conscious of and focused on. It means realizing there is something you love and concentrating on it to achieve not only sufficiency in that field, but excellence. Once you start to do this you stretch your perfect sphere of traits towards a specific point of interest, in essence you become an egg. Once this ovoid lifestyle is attained, not only do you stand out in a certain aspect, but all of your other skills and traits start to lend themselves to that focal point. Sure enough, much to my surprise, my teacher’s ovoid philosophy began to take form during my junior year biology class. I had always managed to do well in school, but before this class I never really

made a connection between my classroom experiences and my extracurricular life. Soon I started drawing connections between my seemingly unrelated summer activities, with my family’s past, and what had become my favorite subject in school, biology. My work with the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, a cancer research fundraiser, stemmed from my mom’s battle with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and contributed to my interest in biology. I began to see that while I used to do many activities in the pursuit of being well rounded, not every one of these activities contributed to a greater purpose. Recognizing my passion for biology and embracing the egg-shaped philosophy have allowed me to take all of my talents and funnel them into one area of interest, biology and cancer research, which I hope to study in college. The egg-shaped philosophy has made me confident with what I want to study and with its grounding in everything else I do. What I want to leave with you is the ovoid philosophy. I’m not saying not to be well rounded. In fact, I would urge you to go out and try new things. Test out everything you can, because you never know when someday your choir singing voice or your advanced calculus will help you achieve your central interest. Go try new things and search for something that you truly enjoy and then focus on it and achieve greatness. Recognize that everything you do is connected, like pieces of a shell, and they all define you. Being well rounded is important, but you should have one defining characteristic, one interest that you focus on. Use your shell and everything you’ve learned to focus on something you love and you will accomplish more than you would have if you tried to scramble yourself across many things. Ch ad L a rco m ’11 of Middletown, R.I., is the sports editor of the Red & White, was the captain of the varsity cross-country team, and enjoys playing trumpet in the Brass Players and Jazz Ensemble. He founded the Middletown Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Kids Ride and is coordinating the third annual ride this coming spring. Chad wants to go to college for pre-med, and he can be reached at Chad_Larcom@stgeorges.edu.

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ABI MOATZ ’11

Finding ‘home’ in an unfamiliar place BY ABI MOATZ ’11 Following is a chapel talk delivered Oct. 7, 2010.

Abi Moatz ’11 surveys a school in Fungurume, DRC, that her father’s company was rebuilding. “I helped with painting,” she said. “This was one of the old classrooms, before the remodel. This particular classroom fit around 50 students. The students had to bring their own chairs (the cinderblocks on the ground).”

o you know that feeling when someone asks you a question you don’t quite know the answer to? Often you let out a nervous giggle, and look around hoping someone else can jump in and save you. The question that always makes me feel out of place is, “So, where are you from?” I know, what a weird question to get nervous about, but when you really think about it, what does this mean? Where is your home? Or, what is your home? All the time around here people say, “I am just going home for the weekend” or “Ughh, I really wish I was home right now.” These little comments always make me think. Does home mean where I was born? The area where I grew up? The place my parents live? Or the place where all of my personal belongings are? I was born in Sun Valley, Idaho, where my freespirited parents lived for 11 years before I was born. They were free-spirited enough to seriously consider naming my sister Rainnebeau Trout. They resided in a very secluded area right off the Salmon River. I lived there for a very short time before we decided to pick up and move. We moved from Idaho when I was only one, so I could not possibly call that home, right? Fresh from the middle of nowhere, my family moved to a typical suburban neighborhood just outside of Denver, Colo. To say the least, I absolutely loved Colorado. The people are calm, love nature, and always seem to have a knack for hospitality. There is great skiing less than two hours away, and I was actually excited to get up and go to school every

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day. All of my friends had siblings two years older and were exactly my sister Hillary’s age. Every weekend all of the kids would play “night games,” like Capture the Flag, in the green belt in our neighborhood. My sister and her friends would be on one side of the creek, and my friends and I would be on the other. Yes, the older kids always won, and yes, at least one of the younger siblings would be pushed into the creek every game. In Colorado, I was always able to be outside, I had a really close group of friends, and their parents could just as well have been my parents. So I could call that home, right? After going from pre-school, to elementary school, and to middle school fairly close to home, I was more than ready for high school. At this point in my life I honestly thought Colorado was my home, and I would continue to call it that until I moved away for college. However, what I most certainly wasn’t ready for was to start a brand new high school with kids I had never met before. Because of my dad’s job, our family was picking up and moving to Cave Creek, Ariz. Hillary was at school at St. George’s, and as for me, I hadn’t really been accepted yet. So I started freshman year of high school at Cactus Shadows High. I was very bitter about moving from Colorado, and wasn’t pleased with the thought of living in Arizona. I would always say, “Mom, this is a retirement community, I’m not really thrilled about being here.” The people didn’t seem as friendly, but maybe they just weren’t as “granola.” I couldn’t ski every weekend—but then that would just be me being selfish. Even though I was bitter about moving, I had

Ab i Mo a tz ’11 is a dorm prefect in Zane and played on the varsity field hockey team last fall. Her family has now returned to the United States. She can be reached at Abi_Moatz@stgeorges.edu.

ABI MOATZ ’11

and mostly way too much to compare it to. These experiences have given a whole new meaning to the word “home” for me. Home needs to be somewhere you feel happy, comfortable and safe. The big move to Africa made me seriously realize home is more of an idea and a feeling than an address. Was I selfish to feel that I wasn’t at “home” in the States, when I was safe and I always have family nearby? Maybe, but perhaps it’s only human to feel lost when there isn’t something solid to rely on. Now, I am not saying that whenever I am happy I think, “Ooooh, so this is my home.” No. Home doesn’t need to have a roof, a backyard, or an address, but it needs to give the feeling of contentment, safety and happiness. Therefore, it’s only appropriate that I am not even capable of articulating a concrete definition of what “home” means to me. A place where safety embeds itself into the earth, which then lets me exceed my personal boundaries. What exactly are those boundaries, or do they even exist at all? Despite my difficulty verbalizing what my home is, I’ve come to understand what all of these various moves have allowed me to feel: comfort in places of unfamiliarity. Restrictions now prove inexistent, in the sense that I’m consistently doing various things on my own. Not for enjoyment really, but simply because it was what was necessary. Perhaps I had to grow up and mature faster than anyone should have to. However, these experiences have transformed me into who I am today. Although I’m not sure who exactly that is yet, I’ve come to understand that only through experience will my true character take form. In the words of Bob Dylan, “The Ballad in Plain D”: “How good, how good does it feel to be free? And I answer them most mysteriously. Are the birds free from the chains of the skyway?”

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lots of friends at school, and, even though it took me a while, I began to see the odd beauty of the desert. I was reluctant about calling Arizona my home, though, because my heart was still in Colorado. I don’t know exactly what made me do it, but after one year of Cactus Shadows I decided to reapply to St. George’s and pray that this time I was accepted. I repeated my freshman year here and became very comfortable with my friends, my teachers, and of course the dorms. Arizona now seemed too far away to be called home, and I had lost touch with most of my friends there anyways. Every open weekend everyone was able to go home, and it made me feel lost. Spending weekends alone in my room or alone in the upstairs of my grandparents’ house I really began to wonder, “Where exactly is my home?” I would sit in my room, almost numb, thinking about how I wished to lie in my own bed and to sit in the sunshine in my own backyard, but I couldn’t even do that for a long weekend. Everybody says, “My home can be your home,” and while this is wonderful and I appreciate it, how uncomfortable would it be if you walked downstairs and you saw me eating your cereal and petting your dog? Really uncomfortable. Between my sophomore and junior year, my family packed up our house in Arizona and put everything in storage. My dad’s job was moving us to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. You might recognize this country from the Invisible Children video we saw yesterday. To get to my house in Africa it takes me approximately 48 hours. That’s five planes rides and several very surreal car rides. The moment I first landed in the DRC I walked off the small rickety plane, and 30 feet from me an Army painted UN plane landed on the tarmac. Without time to take it all in, I was herded forward, past a group of Congolese police sitting in the bed of a truck holding AK-47s. I subtly looked around—and to my surprise nobody else found this out of the ordinary. My new “home” felt more like I was picked up, spun around, and placed in some sort of documentary. The airport has just two small rooms, one for native Congolese people, and the other for business people. The more and more I looked around, the more out of place I felt. There was too much to look at, too much to try to comprehend,

Abi Moatz ’11 with (l-r) her sister, Hillary ’08, dad and mom in Newport.

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Giving (and getting) a second chance

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BY SAM PETERSON ’11

Following is a reprint of a chapel talk delivered on Sept. 21, 2010. This version corrects information in the author’s biography printed in the Notes from the Hilltop.

I Sam Peterson ’11 warms up before a match in the Hoopes Squash Center.

want you all to take a moment to close your eyes and think. Think about two people in the St. George’s community. The first person is someone you don’t particularly like. The second is someone who doesn’t like you. It is only human nature not to get along with everyone. I am not up here today to preach to you about all being friends and holding hands around a bonfire. I just want to talk about the power and importance of a second chance and not judging someone too quickly. People

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often say you only get one chance to make a first impression. Well yes, that’s true. But how well can you judge someone’s character from a single moment? I would argue that how you carry yourself after making a bad impression or after making a mistake is a true test of character. It is easy to be confident and comfortable when everything is going your way. It’s a different story when things aren’t. In a small community like St. George’s, sometimes a second chance is all it takes to form a great friendship. St. George’s is a place that is intended to help us grow and mature so that hopefully by the time we leave the Hilltop on Prize Day we have the confidence and tools for success. With growth come many challenges and mistakes. I have learned more

from my mistakes here than I have from all of my successes combined. Many of you know I spent the spring semester last year away in Colorado. I arrived in Colorado pretty nervous and anxious to make new friends. Most of the kids were great, but one kid annoyed me a lot. His name was Max and he was from North Carolina. To me he came across as rude, sarcastic and just disrespectful to people in general. I’m telling you this because now Max is one of my best friends. Max told us after we returned from Spring Break that he was committed to changing. He had realized how rude he had been and wanted a fresh start. So as a group we decided to give him a second chance and with that he thrived. Judging anyone before you really know him or her is always dangerous but it is so easy to see someone walk into King Hall and instantly comment on how weird they seem or how ugly their dress is. We too often try to box people in, in order to classify them or to understand them. However, life and someone’s personality and character cannot be simplified into a simple derogatory phrase or hurtful comment. Everyone in this chapel has more to contribute to this school than that, and you shouldn’t limit yourself by not giving people a chance to show you who they really are. If you were in their position you would want the same chance given to you. As I think of my time at St. George’s I have experienced both ends of the spectrum. I have given second chances and I have received them. I have been judged too quickly and I have judged too quickly myself. Everyone in our community should have a chance to show who they are. When I arrived it was often, “It’s Mr. Peterson’s son”, or “Yeah, that’s the head’s kid,” this is but a small piece of who I am. Those of you who share in the joy of being a fac brat or who have older siblings who have walked these halls before understand what it means to be defined by someone who isn’t you.

Whether you are a new student who has only been here a week or you are a fellow sixth former preparing for the final haul to Prize Day, there is something you can take away from this talk. To the new students: Be careful. Don’t judge too quickly. You’ve only been here a week. It is but a small piece of what your experience will be. Looking back on the first few weeks of freshman year I couldn’t honestly tell you who I was with or what I was doing. That isn’t to say these days aren’t important for you. It’s all very new, fun and exciting; it just isn’t the end-all of your experience. Also, give yourself a second chance. You will make mistakes during your time here; it is only natural. What you do after these mistakes is how people will come to remember you. Your friendships and who are you will continue to change over your remaining time here. Seniors, looking back, do you remember what we were like initially? So much has changed since then and so have many people in our grade. Be careful as you begin your final year here not to carry with you judgments from the fall of 2007 or even the spring of 2010. Give someone a blank slate. Let them prove themselves to you. It is our last year here and we will all miss it more than we know. We are no longer the scared 13- and 14-yearolds who arrived here some years ago. We have grown up together as a class and because of that we all share something special. We all know what it takes to succeed here. We all know how hard it can be. As you look yourself in the mirror on that last Monday in May, will you be able to say you have done all that I can to make my experience and the people around me all that it can be? I would expect nothing less. Sa m Pe te r son ’11 is a member of the school’s Honor Board, a chapel prefect and captain of the varsity squash team. He will be attending Hobart College in the fall and can be reached at Sam_Peterson@stgeorges.edu.

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GUMMO ’11

MISSION

accomplished

Linnie Gummo ’11 at the Rift Valley Children’s Village in Tanzania, Africa.

Thanks to vigorous sales of a self-produced CD featuring original and cover songs performed by SG musicians and vocalists, Linnie Gummo ’11 has achieved her goal: to help provide a dining place for a special group of underprivileged children in Africa. With the goal of raising $10,000 for The Tanzanian Children’s Fund to support The Rift Valley Children’s Village, Gummo last year convinced a number of musically talented students to record performances for the CD, titled “Kushirikiana Dunia Moja: Sharing One World.” Hundreds purchased the CD, which is still being sold in the SG Bookstore and on iTunes for $11.99.

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Proceeds from the project will be used to build an open-air dining room for the children of the village, many of whom have lost parents to illness or poverty. The dining room will be called the St. George’s Café, a project estimated to cost approximately $10,000. Along with the CD, Linnie also organized a dress-down day, and several donors came forward with extra donations to help the cause. By January, proceeds totaling $11,068.41 were ready to send to the Tanzania Children’s Fund. All future proceeds will be sent to the orphanage as well. For Gummo, the project was highly personal. Her relationship with the children at Rift Valley began when she first visited the orphanage with a friend and her mother in 2009. Rift Valley is operated by Executive Director India Howell, a friend of Linnie’s mom, Marci. When Gummo went back to the orphanage a second time, in 2010, she brought her guitar. “You can’t get it away from me; it’s my third arm,” she said. What she hadn’t anticipated, though, was the reaction of the children. They were so drawn to the music, they would gather around Linnie, touching the strings as she played, and begging her to play more. That’s when the idea set in to write a song about them and put together an entire CD devoted to raising money to improve their lives. When Linnie witnessed the children eating lunch on the dirt floor at school, the idea for the dining room was born. On the CD, Gummo performs a song with M ag da le na Fr an z-So el n ’11, called “Serengeti,” inspired by her experiences with the children. The CD also features “Blackbird,” by M iri am E l haj li and Se ba stia n B ie rma n-Lyt le ’11; “Man in the Mirror,” by B ric e B erg ’12, Da vi d Ke ho e ’13, O k sa na Nag o rnuk a ’10 and Ni c o De Lu ca -Ver ley ’13; “I’ll Stand by You,” by V ic to ri a Le o na rd ’11, Linnie and La n ey Yan g ’10; “Makes My Life,” by Linnie and Taylo r R isl ey ’11; “Imagine,” by Ta rle to n Wa tki ns ’11, H en drik K its va n H eyni nge n ’10 and N ic o De Lu ca -Ve rley ’13; “His Eye is on the Sparrow,” by L’Or ea l La mpl ey ’11 and L ara Mc Le o d ’10; “Compline D’un Autre Ete: L’apres-midi” by So phi e Flyn n ’11, E mi ly Lew is ’12

and H e ndri k K it s van He ynin ge n ’10; as well as “I Can See Clearly Now,” by the female a cappella group the Snapdragons and “Amazing Grace,” by the St. George’s Chapel Choir. Recruiting and organizing the host of students to sing and play for a CD was one thing, but Gummo also had to arrange recording studio time at a studio in Pawtucket, R.I., and oversee the production of artwork for the cover, by L au ren Hi lto n ’10—and she drove to visit Grammy-Award-winning producer Nile Rodgers and convinced him to record an introduction for the CD. At the center of it all were Gummo’s memories of the children and their determined spirit to prosper despite their circumstances. “Overall they’re very happy kids when they come to the orphanage. They learn to be happy with limited things,” she said. “You know, here in the United States if kids have a soccer ball that’s broken, they throw it away. These kids will kick it around anyway.” In June, Linnie will go back to Tanzania for the third time, now being able to make her dining room dream a reality. And Rift Valley will always be a part of her life. “Oh, yes,” she said. “I’m always going to be back there.” Cha d La rc o m ’11 was recently voted a finalist in competition for one of the country’s most coveted merit-based college scholarships: the Morehead-Cain offered by the University of North Carolina. The Scholarship committee notes four areas of accomplishment they evaluate: moral force of character, scholarship, physical vigor and leadership. Larcom, who intends to pursue a program in pre-med, has impressed the selection committee so far with a vibrant academic and extra-curricular high school program. Along with serving as the sports editor of the student newspaper, Larcom was the captain of last fall’s varsity cross-country team, and an accomplished trumpet player in the Brass Players and Jazz Ensemble. Inspired by his mother’s successful battle with cancer, he founded the Middletown Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Kids Ride three years ago. The third annual ride will be held this spring. At press time, Larcom was getting ready to head

to the Morehead-Cain Final Selection Weekend in Chapel Hill, N.C., being held Feb. 26-March 1, 2011. The Class of 2015 scholars will be notified on March 3. A number of students have pitched in this year to help continue a composting program organized by the Sustainability Club. S a di e M c Q ui lk i n ’12, C ha rl o tt e vo n M e is te r ’12, Se to n Ta l ty ’11, A li Ba l la t o ’12, I sa b el le D ove ’11, P a u li na Go d z ’11, A le x E l ro n ’12 and Al e x Wi lst e rma n ’11 have been among the students helping out by devoting time each day to working in King Hall. Biology and Environmental Science teacher H e a th Ca p el lo, the school’s sustainability coordinator, said the group, along with faculty members Ste ve L e sl ie and P a t ri c ia L ot h ro p, has been composting 2-6 five-gallon barrels of vegetable scraps per day. The compost will be used to help fertilize the soil in gardens around campus.

Pepper Nagle ’14

Margaret Schroeder ’14

Chad Larcom ’11

Three third formers have been elected by their peers to help the class have their voice heard in student government issues. Pepper Nagle ’14, Margaret Schroeder ’14 and Lu c Woo da rd ’14 were named Third-Form Student Council representatives in February. They’ll join representatives from the other forms in a group chaired by Senior Prefect H ill ar y Wei n ’11 during weekly meetings. The Student Council discusses, proposes and votes on issues relating to school policy including discipline, athletics, and the spiritual, academic and social lives of the student body. In February, Jo hn ny K im ’14 was elected by his peers to be the Third-Form Honor Board representative. The Honor Board,

Luc Woodard ’14

Continued on page 34

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Phongpol "Up" Punyagupta ’13 (second from left) and Morgan Buffum ’13 (second from right) had the chance to hear a presentation in January by the divers who discovered the remains of the USS Revenge, a ship commanded by U.S. Navy hero Oliver Hazard Perry and wrecked off Watch Hill, R.I., in 1811. The divers, Craig Harger (left) and Charles Buffum, Morgan's uncle and the brother of James Buffum ’78, told the Associated Press that they made their first discovery in August 2005, "and kept it secret as they continued to explore the area and make additional discoveries. Since then, they have found four more 42-inch-long cannons, an anchor, canister shot, and other metal objects that they say they’re 99 percent sure were from the Revenge."

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TULEJA

PHOTO BY DEEDEE BUFFUM

Four students excelled in the All-School Debate competition Nov. 16, making it to the finals: Luc Woodard ’14, Grace Alzaibak ’12, Jack Barthelot ’12 and Jack Coaty ’13. Alzaibak and Coaty emerged as the winners in the final.

which issues recommendations to the Head of School in most student discipline cases, was formed last spring as a way to reduce the often-overwhelming duties that had previously been placed on the School Prefects. The prefects continue to lead Student Council initiatives, bring student concerns and input to the adminisJohnny Kim ’14 tration, and organize student bonding and school spirit activities. Honor Board members are selected by students and approved by faculty members based on their own attention to issues of ethical leadership.

Math teacher and track coach Warren Williams, Allie Fuller ’14, Brittney Corso ’11 and Director of Library Services Jen Tuleja ran in the 10K Jingle Bell Run in Newport in December to raise money for SOLA (the School of Leadership, Afghanistan). It was the first road race ever for each of the girls and all four runners came in under one hour. SOLA’s mission is to prepare “the very best Afghan students for study in the U.S. and abroad so that they can return home to become the future leaders of Afghanistan.”

PATRICK HOLOWESKO ’11 PHOTO BY

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SCOTT YANG ’11

Student sees business opportunity in boyhood hobby BY SUZANNE MCGRADY

There’s a story behind this photo of St. George’s. Can you imagine where it was taken from? OK, that’s not fair if you don’t know Patrick Holowesko ’11. An ingenious student looking to make a little extra money last summer, Holowesko has a bit of notoriety here on the Hilltop: He recently turned a boyhood hobby into an idea for a start-up Patrick Holowesko ’11 business. And well, let’s simply say, it’s just getting off the ground. But-ump-bump. You see Holowesko ’11, who grew up in Nassau, Bahamas, has been flying radio-controlled aircraft since he was 5 years old. These days, Holowesko’s got about 25 planes back

home (though he told a student reporter last spring that in the last 10 years he has crashed another 25-30 planes.) And these aren’t inexpensive toys. Actually, Holowesko’s “toy” aircraft aren’t really toys at all. An expert on aerospace engineering recently called the technologies in today’s radio-controlled vehicles “remarkable” in Air & Space magazine, citing the toys’ more efficient motors and lighter batteries. And Holowesko’s taking full advantage of the new improvements. He used them to create a ‘super-helicopter’/modern helicopter and found it was a great way to hoist a camera. So last summer he came up with the idea to attach a Nikon to his heli and start an aerial photography business. Since he managed to get it up and running only a week before school, he never had time to utilize it, besides taking photos of his own house, he said. “But I wanted to bring (my helicopter) to school to potentially work with local real estate agents and take photos of local real estate and houses for sale,” said Holowesko, who

along with his clothes and books, lugged the rig back to school in September. His first photography test flight on the Hilltop came over Columbus Day Weekend in October. Most students had gone home for the weekend, but Holowesko and a friend were on campus, so he says, he decided to try it out around here. “Using the helicopter’s GPS hold feature, to essentially ‘lock’ it in place where I wanted it gave me the freedom to pivot the helicopter and adjust zoom, tilt and shutter of the camera, while the helicopter flew itself,” Holowesko explained. He says he got off about 20 shots that day, though the windy conditions made about half come out blurry “due to the wind speeds increasing in relationship to the height.” Of course Holowesko knows he can’t invade SG air space whenever he wants: the vehicles can be disruptive to quiet study, not to mention distracting to nearby passersby who might not expect to see (and hear) an R-C helicopter zooming over North Field. For now, Holowesko’s future business activities are … in a holding pattern.

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College Acceptances (as of Feb. 10) 73 members of the Class of 2011 have received a total of 126 early acceptances from the following 67 colleges and universities Babson College Baylor University Bentley University Boston College Brown University Chapman University College of Charleston College of the Holy Cross Colorado College Connecticut College Dartmouth College Davidson College Dickinson College Eckerd College Elon University Fairfield University Franklin and Marshall College George Washington University Georgetown University High Point University Hobart and William Smith Colleges Ithaca College Johns Hopkins University

Kenyon College

Stonehill College

King's University College

Suffolk University

Lake Forest College

Temple University

Lehigh University

The College of Wooster

Lewis & Clark College

Tulane University

Montana State University, Bozeman

University of Alabama

New York University

University of Connecticut

Northeastern University

University of Denver

Northern Arizona University

University of Edinburgh

Ohio Wesleyan University

University of New Hampshire

Philadelphia University

University of New Haven

Providence College

University of Mississippi

Rhodes College

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Rutgers University

University of Rhode Island

Saint Anselm College

University of San Francisco

Savannah College of Art & Design

University of St. Andrews

Santa Clara University

University of Vermont

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Sewanee: The University of the South

Vassar College

Southern Methodist University

Wake Forest University

St. John's College

Washington and Jefferson College

Stanford University

Wentworth Institute of Technology

29 of those students are now settled and plan to enroll at the following institutions: Saint Anselm College

Babson College

George Washington University

Brown University (2)

Georgetown University

Stanford University

Colorado College

Hobart & William Smith Colleges (2)

University of Rhode Island

College of the Holly Cross

Johns Hopkins University

University of St. Andrews University of Vermont

Connecticut College

Kenyon College

Dartmouth College (3)

Lehigh University (2)

Vassar College

Davidson College

New York University

Wake Forest University (2)

Franklin and Marshall College

Rollins College

College decisions will continue to come in through the regular round in April

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Academic Honors for First Semester 2010-11 Head of School Commendation for Academic Excellence The Head of School Commendation for Academic Excellence is St. George’s highest bi-annual honor. These students received no grade below an A- during the 2010-11 first semester: Sebastian Alexander Bierman-Lytle Emily Derecktor Bethany Lynn Fowler Polina Victorivna Godz Olivia Louise Hoeft

Honor Roll III Form Samuel Frederick Alofsin Katherine Elizabeth Bauer Camilla Pepperell Cabot Margaret Deane Cardwell Edward Hill Carter Yu Yao Cheng Woo Won Chun Cameron Roarke Cluff John Anthony DeLuca Ian Bowen Dickey Charlotte Rhucent Ytable Dulay Mary Olivia Keith Margaret Peyton Kilvert John Jongmin Kim Thomas Edward Kits van Heyningen Hannah Marie Macaulay Samantha D. Maltais Jorge L. Melendez Virginia Casey Moylan Sophie Pepper Nagle Grace Connors Polk Virginia Tully Ross Aubrey Miles Fitzhugh Salmon Lily Joy Sanford Margaret Elizabeth Schroeder Ian Oliver Schylling Seung Hyouk Shin William Eberlein Simpson Brendan Peter Vischer Robert Loux Woodard Jieun Yoon

IV Form Colby O’Neil Burdick Josephine Rose Cannell John Garvoille Coaty Carolyn Keely Conway Rebecca Warren Cutler Nico Cyril DeLuca-Verley Sophia Elisabeth DenUyl Kelly Frances Duggan Miriam Elhajli Rahil Karim Aliff Fazelbhoy Genevieve Barton Flynn Bethany Lynn Fowler Hikari Hasegawa Anderson Hershey Jessica Leong Hom Andrew Pierre Issa

John Jongmin Kim Charles Bayard Larcom Heydi Malavé Evelyn Dawn Maldonado Hannah McCormack Nicholas King Larson Xingyan Li Hannah McCormack Duncan A. McGaan Allison Armstrong McLane Alana Claire McMahon Lisbeily Mena Jeremy Monk Andrew Walker Moreau McKenzie Nagle Chanjoon Park Daniel Perry, III Katarina Pesa Tyler Andrew Pesek Oona Carolena Pritchard Callie Victoria Reis Vivianne Renee Reynoso Theresa Anne Salud Jae Young Shin Virginia Margaret Smith Caroline Claire Thompson Sienna Warriner Turecamo Han Xu

V Form Katherine Pond Adams Caroline Elizabeth Alexander Scott Ethan Allen Grace George Alzaibak Hayden Alexander Arnot Alexandra Elena Ballato Jack Ives Bartholet Honoria Newbury Berman Kendra Lindsay Bowers Joy Imani Bullock Claire Emily Chalifour Woo Sung Chun Robert Joseph Citrino, IV Calvin James Cotanche Eliza Duncan Cover Casey Elizabeth DeLuca Emily Derecktor Katherine Mitchell Desrosiers David Alexander Elron Megan Hope Everett Eric Oliver Fornell, Jr. Sean Noraas Foss-Skiftesvik Devon Elizabeth Fownes Emma Dane Garfield Matthew Field Gilbert William Todd Gilbert Ellen Abigail Granoff William Hackney Greer

Tao Ouyang Oona Carolena Pritchard Bettina Kauffmann Redway Sharnell Chory Robinson Margaret Elizabeth Schroeder Amanda Marie Hansel Michelle Ann Hare Jamison Campbell Harrington Elizabeth Wynn Haskell Erin Sumi Hendrix Richard Camden Howe Halsey Clay Huth Kun Min Kim Michael J. Kim Sophie Barksdale Layton Stephanie Jimin Lee Emily Jeanne Lewis Lisa Heeyoung Lho Frederick Parker Little, III Valdair Corsino Lopes Charles Webb Macaulay Sarah Auger MacDonnell Joseph Matrone Mack Elizabeth Todd Manning Riley Joseph McCabe Alana Marie McCarthy Sadie Ruth McQuilkin Tao Ouyang Alexandra Rose Paindiris Pearson Bahan Potts, Jr. Julia C. Rayhill Evan Parker Read Bettina Kauffmann Redway Emma Rossiter Scanlon Veronica Gabrielle Scott John Ingalls Snow, IV Rachel Charlene Sung Charlotte Anne von Meister Helen Elizabeth Weston Alexander Sheldon Whitehouse

VI Form Emily Thayer Adams Virginia Merrill Adams Graham Thomas Anderson Matthew Eric Archer Rachel Grosvenor Asbel Sebastian Alexander Bierman-Lytle Sarah Collum Burdick Brooke Beverley Burrowes Anna Elizabeth Carr Julia Stanton Carrellas Michael Patrick Casey Christopher John Chew Graham Dean Cochrane Leiter Campbell Colburn Haley Anne Congdon Michaela Gia Davies

Jae Young Shin William Eberlein Simpson Virginia Margaret Smith Carolyn Cooper Uhlein Han Xu Vanessa Keane deHorsey Niall James Devaney Lukaia Cree Edward Dolbashian Isabelle Ross Dove Jonathan Leo Dunn Mack Edward Feldman Sophie Carol Flynn Magdalena Theresa Franze-Soeln Yongjie Yong Fu Olivia Isabella Beatriz Gebelein Polina Victorivna Godz Caroline Lauren Gummo Olivia Louise Hoeft John Patrick Holowesko Daniel Alan Johnson Anh Viet La L’Oreal McKenna Lampley Charles Bayard Larcom Victoria Kathryne Leonard Madeline White Lucas Heydi Malavé Evelyn Dawn Maldonado Phoebe Saran Manning Zachary Charles Mastrodicasa Katherine Hume McCormack Avery Lynn McDonald George Grove Mencoff Caroline Hosmer Miller Kelly McPhillips Miller Abigail Moatz Erin Christine Monahan Everett Richard Gray Muzzy Lilias Juanita Noesen Mary Elizabeth O’Connor Esiwahomi Amina Ozemebhoya Jeremy Thomas Phillips Kyle Joseph Powers Katharine Rose Putnam Virginia Randolph Reynolds Manon Cameron Richards Taylor Anne Risley Sharnell Chory Robinson Rachel Elizabeth Sellstone Jordan E. St. Jean Carolyn Cooper Uhlein David J. Vasquez Martin Ventoso Hillary Louise Wein Katherine Steel Wilkinson Taylor Marion Williams Alexander Gove Wilsterman Harrison Peabody Wulsin

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Right: Members of Gary Cornog’s English class, “Novels and Tales of the Sea,” visited the New Bedford Whaling Museum in November, where they had a special visit from John Bockstoce, author of “Whales, Ice and Men,” and “Furs and Frontiers in the Far North: The Contest Among Native and Foreign Nations for the Bering Strait Fur Trade”.

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GARY CORNOG

Above: Sean FossSkiftesvik ’12, Jimmy Ferretti ’12 and Caitlin Connerney ’12.

PHOTO COURTESY OF

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Seniors Niall Devaney and Lindsey MacNaught at work in the biology lab.

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Right: Oona Pritchard ’13 and Hannah McCormick ’13. Far right: Suzanne McGrady’s Journalism class.

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RUBENSTEIN

Above: Thomas Kits van Heyningen ’14, Drew Michaelis ’13 and Anderson Hershey ’13 review their new class schedules.

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R ACHEL R AMOS PHOTO BY

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Above: Sophia DenUyl ’13 takes control of Geronimo while under way. Right: Nico DelucaVerley ’13 at the helm with (l-r) John Harris ’13, Bettina Redway ’12 and Michelle Hare ’12.

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Mate Stu a r t Sid do ns, along with students K a the rin e Ad ams ’12, A le xa n dra Ba ll at o ’12, Re id B urn s ’13, B ec ky Cu tle r ’13, Will Fle ming ’13, E l len Gra no f f ’12, Sa ra h Ma c Do nne ll ’12, C ha rlo tte von Mei ste r ’12.

C APT. MIKE DAWSON

aptain M ike D awso n and student crew members set sail Jan. 30 for the Winter 2011 Geronimo voyage after the boat underwent her Winter Yard period at Rybovich Shipyard and Marina in West Palm Beach. The Fall Geronimo trip ended Nov. 18, 2010, when the boat arrived in Harbour Island after a nice sail north from the Exumas, according to Program Director Deborah Hayes. “The crew [captained by Dawson] had a chance to do a “Buoy Chase” in which the students retrieve a buoy that has been thrown over the side. By handling Geronimo under sail, the students get to practice their boat-handling skills as well as their teamwork and leadership skills,” she said. “They were able to get in some very successful turtle sampling in the waters surrounding North Eleuthera before finishing the program,” she added. “The last day on board was spent giving Geronimo a thorough cleaning followed by festivities that gave the students a last chance to be together as crew before they all flew home for Thanksgiving holiday.” The professional crew on the Winter Voyage will include First Mate K are n M ac Do na ld and Second

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Summer Geronimo program of fered for new students New Dragons will have the chance to get to know a few classmates even before the school year begins when a first-time Geronimo program begins this summer. Designed by Geronimo captain and program director Deb or ah H aye s, the “Sea Legs” initiative will allow incoming new students to get to know a bit of SG culture prior to the start of school by embarking on one of two possible seven-day adventure cruises aboard the school’s 69-foot sail training vessel. The dates for the new “pre-orientation” cruises are July 18-25, when the boat will sail from Portland to Rockland, Maine; and July 29-Aug. 6, when the boat will sail back to Portland from Rockland. If needed, a third trip will be added Aug. 10-17 and students will sail the boat back to Newport from Maine. “The biggest goal is to provide a platform for new students to meet and interact before arriving on campus,” Hayes said. Working with Hayes, Director of Admission Jim H a mil to n said he hopes the new program will also allow incoming students to connect with a faculty member before arriving at school and to develop community and social skills through living and working together on the boat.

“It will allow them to have an experiential learning opportunity,” Hamilton said, “and a head start on getting to know some kids who will be going to school with them in the fall.”

Daily shipboard activities, such as sail setting, cooking and navigation, also will help students build leadership skills and confidence. Off the boat, students will explore the islands in Casco and Penobscot bays in a number of hiking trips. And the program might even heighten students’ interest in applying to one of the existing seven-week-long academic-based Geronimo cruises offered during their school years. “They’ll get terrific insight into the Geronimo program,” Hamilton said, “and they might feel it will be the right thing to add to their curriculum.”

John Harris ’13 keeps an eye on the mainsheet while tacking.

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Carol Hamblet visiting SG for the stone dedication at Convocation is here with Evelyn Maldonado ’11.

KATHRYN WHITNEY LUCEY

The fall crew in Washington, D.C. before stopping in Fernandina Beach, Fla. to visit Mrs. Hamblet. Left-right: David Kehoe ’13, Sophie DenUyl ’13, Bettina Redway ’12, Nico DeLuca-Verley ’13, Andrew Harris ’13, Magdalena Franze-Soeln ’11, Bethany Fowler ’13 and Michelle Hare ’12.

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“A V isit from Mr s. Hamblet” Editor’s note: The fall crew of Geronimo hosted Carol Hamblet, coordinator of student health services, emerita, and wife of the late Headmaster Chuck Hamblet, on board last fall. Mrs. Hamblet retired from St. George’s in 2004 after serving the school loyally and passionately for 15 years. While on our way down the Florida coast, we stopped at Fernandina Beach and took a road trip to the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida, the organization that uses the data Geronimo collects. We met a few of the scientists, whom Michelle tried to win over with a couple of turtle-related jokes. We also met a group of their graduate students. After listening to a brief presentation about the importance of their research and about sea turtles in general, we were able to ask questions and truly get an idea of what our work in the Bahamas will be like. It only took a few pictures of green turtles and some free chocolate to get our whole crew fidgeting with excitement and anticipation. Even though we felt ready to get under way at that

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moment, there was one more night to spend at the marina in Fernandina. We got to spend it with a guest. Mrs. Carol Hamblet happens to live in the area and we invited her to have dinner with us onboard Geronimo. It was exciting to talk about our trip with the woman who had such a connection to the school and to Geronimo. She told us about her experiences at Exeter and St. George’s, including a few stories about Mr. Weston when he was as young as 14. She left us in good spirits and with a healthy amount of baked goods to save for watch snacks. We are well prepared to start the last stretch of our journey. —Bethany Fowler ’13

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Leave it to the Art Department to teach the rest of us how to be creative when your workspace is altered during a construction project. Since September, the department has been getting along without use of the Hunter Gallery, which is being used temporarily for books and study space while the Hill Library undergoes a large-scale renovation project. So, in an effort to keep the studio arts front and center in the community, art teacher L isa Ha ns el has organized a series of artists’ workshops and exhibitions in the lower level of the Drury/Grosvenor Art Center. The events have gotten rave reviews from participants and exhibit guests. Featuring local artists working in various media, the workshops have been offered on Sundays throughout the year and have allowed both art enthusiasts and novices alike to learn more about the process of creating art. Guest artists have included Cameron Cluff ’s mom, K are n Ro a rke P’14, a painter who offered “Exploring Transparency: Acrylic Painting and Glazing Techniques;” art teacher and local artisan Te d Stu r teva nt ’96, who taught the workshop, “Casting Plastic Objects: Mold Making and Casting Techniques;” Rachel Asbel’s mom, Ho l ly Gros ve no r ’75, P’11, whose class was titled “Painting Architecture: Water Color

Techniques to Describe Architecture;” and community member A ni a Wo ish ek, wife of art teacher R ay Wo ish ek ’89, whose upcoming workshop will be called “Visual Simplicity in Painting: Experimentation with Collage, Composition and Color.” As with the previous Hunter Gallery exhibits, student musicians are also taking part in artist’s reception night festivities. For the Roarke reception, Joo a nna Xu ’13 and R ac he l Su ng ’12 played a piano and flute sonata by J. S. Bach. A painting by Cl ai re Ch al ifo ur ’12, along with a mural she co-produced with friends, has been getting some much-deserved attention in Jamaica. Her painting titled “The Painter’s Path” won a silver medal in the annual national Jamaica Cultural Development Commission art competition and was on display last summer in the Jamaica National Gallery. The work also inspired another effort. Claire and friends, with the help of Fiona Godfrey, a wellContinued on page 47

Top: Cameron Cluff ’14 with his mom, artist Karen Roarke, at a gallery opening in the art center. Above: Flutist Rachel Sung ’12 and pianist Joanna Xu ’13 perform at the Roarke reception.

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Above: Claire Chalifour ’12 with friends and family— Bianca Lalor, Rebecca Chong, her mother Michele Chalifour, and Raquel Gordon— work on a mural to honor Stephanie Crispinelli, a student from Lynn University who died in the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Right: The mural on display at a school in Race Course, Clarendon.

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known artist, painted a mural inspired by Claire’s painting to honor Stephanie Crispinelli, a student from Lynn University who died in the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Stephanie’s great-grandfather, grandfather and great-uncle all attended St. George’s. Crispinelli’s family was in Jamaica on a mission with Food For The Poor building a school in Race Course, Clarendon, for 150 students. The mural, called “Stephanie’s Path” is now hanging on the outside of the school.

Coming Soon! Coverage of the Winter Musical: “Little Shop of Horrors” ~ Feb 26. & 27

Upcoming Event: Spring Dance Concert ~ May 28

“Soda Bottle,” a photograph by O o na Pri tc ha rd ’13 is featured on the January cover of Newport Life magazine. The photo was an entry in the magazine’s 4th annual Reader Photo Challenge. Pritchard took the photo as part of Kathryn Lemay’s “Visual Foundation” class last year as a way to look for texture for a subsequent charcoal drawing. A photo contest judge said there was “an excellent mix of lines, pattern and texture in this tightly composed abstract image.”

Above left: Lucas Campbell ’13, Seton Talty ’11 and Polina Godz ’11 perform in the Fall Play, “Romeo and Juliet.” Above right: L’Oreal Lampley ’11 (Juliet) and Kate Hamrick ’13 (the Nurse, Angelica).

os t o ph Visit us at www.flickr.com/photos/ stgeorgesschool/collections We post event photos, fully downloadable, on flickr.com. Take a look!

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Above: Varsity hockey player Mike Reed ’13. Top right: Varsity basketball player Mary O’Connor ’11.

Congratulations to the members of the girls’ varsity basketball team, who prevailed in three competitive games to walk away champions of the first annual 2010 St. George’s Girls’ Basketball Holiday Classic. In the opening round of the tourney on Friday, Dec. 17, the SG girls pulled out a 44-36 victory against St. Mark’s, before they played crossisland rival Portsmouth Abbey later in the day. “Eight returning St. George’s players remembered the emotional one-point overtime loss to the Ravens last February,” said Head Coach Ju li e Bu tl e r. Subsequently, the girls played their best game of the 20102011 season, she added, winning by a convincing 55-23 score in the second round of the tourney. On Saturday, the players picked up where they left off on

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Friday night, Coach Butler said, and a strong defense was key. “When 5-foot-10-inch Canterbury guard Krista O’Gara, who poured in a tournament high 37 points in Friday night’s second-round game against St. Mark’s, hit the first bucket of the game, it looked like she was off to another big outing. But senior cocaptains K el ly Mi ll e r (Atlanta, Ga.) and M a r y O ’Co n no r (Middletown, R.I.) shared her defensive assignment in the first half, keeping her scoreless for the remaining 15 minutes of play. Unselfish team passing led to a balanced SG scoring attack. This, coupled with a strong team defensive effort sent the Dragons into the half with a convincing 30-5 score. SG was prepared for O’Gara to have a breakout second half, but sophomore S ha n no n Le o n ar d (East Greenwich, R.I.) picked up where Miller and O’Connor left off, holding the junior from New Fairfield, Conn., to two second-half field goals. Sophomores Je ss H o m (Holmdel, N.J.), T h er e sa Sa l ud (Morganville, N.J.), and Leonard combined for 31 points. O o n a Pr it c ha r d (Middletown, R.I.), Jo y Bu l lo c k (Middletown, R.I.), and Ver o ni c a Sc o tt (Plymouth, N.H.) gave their usual consistent play off the bench. Sophomore Ke mi R ic h a rd so n (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) and freshman M e gg ie O ’C on n or (Middletown, R.I.) also contributed to the Lady Dragons’ victory.”

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Two St. George’s graduates were among 19 outstanding scholar athletes recognized last fall by the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA). In October, the ICSA named its 2010 ICSA All

Above: SG varsity swim team members Michael McGinnis ’13, Emil Henry ’11 and Patrick Holowesko ’11 cheer on swimmers from the Perkins School for the Blind during a swim event in December.

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Mike Ca sey ’11, along with field hockey player Ve ro ni ca Sc o tt ’12, cross-country standout E va n Re a d ’11, and football players Drew Boyd ’12 and Ch ris Ch ew ’11 were named 2010 Providence Journal Independent Stars in December for their play during the fall season. Scott was named to the Independent School League all-star team for her outstanding all-around play. Boyd, a 6-1, 230-pound offensive lineman and linebacker, earned first-team All-ISL honors and AllNew England selection after leading the team in tackles with 84 stops. Chew was the winner of SG’s Thayer Cup for the team MVP. The 5-8, 205-pound running back, defensive lineman and kicker also earned All-ISL honors. And Read earned All-New England Division 3 honors and was an ISL honorable mention selection.

Left: Maddie Lucas ’11 readies for a J.V. squash match.

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Varsity field hockey’s Rosie Putnam ’11 angles for the ball during a matchup with St. Mark’s.

Chris Chew ’11 carries the ball in a varsity football game against St. Paul’s.

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Galvin Cross Country Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eva n Read Cross Country Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chad La rco m Cross Country Most Improved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joe Mack All-ISL, Honorable Mention . . . H ythem Al-Mulla, Eva n Read All-New England, Division III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eva n Read All-County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E van Read, Hythem Al-Mulla ProJo All-Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eva n Read Captains-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eva n Read, Joe Mack

Thayer Football Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Chew Claggett Football Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brett Passemato Football Most Improved Player . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeremy Phillips All-NEPSFCA, Class C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drew Boyd All-ISL, First Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Chew, Drew Boyd, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jaleel Whee ler, Alex Elron All-ISL, Honorable Mention . Jeremy P hillips, Mac k Feldman, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brett P assemato, Kai Dolba shian ProJo All-Stars . . . . . Chris Chew, Drew Boyd, Ja leel Wheeler Captains-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drew Boyd, Jaleel Wheeler, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alex Elron, Jimmy Ferretti

GIRLS’ CROSS COUNTRY Galvin Cross Country Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hillar y Wein Cross Country Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anaise Kanimba Cross Country Most Improved . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erin Monahan All-New England, Division III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hillar y Wein All-County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erin Monahan, Sadie Mc Quilkin, . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret Schro eder, Meg O’Connor, Eliza West, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rachel Sung, Logan Hendrix Captains-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sadie McQuilkin, Rac hel Sung

FIELD HOCKEY Walsh Field Hockey Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . Katherine Wilkinson Field Hockey Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ro sie Putna m Field Hockey Most Improved Player . . . . . . . . . Colby Burdick All-ISL, First Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Veronic a Sco tt ISL Sportsmanship Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . St. George’s School ProJo All-Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Veronic a Sco tt Captains-elect . . . . . . . Veronica Scott, Charlotte von Meister

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BOYS’ SOCCER Soccer Most Valuable Player Award . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Casey Soccer Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patric k McGinnis McIlhinny Most Improved Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jason Park All-New England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Casey NEPSSA Senior All-Star Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Casey All-ISL, first team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Casey, Valdair Lopes ProJo All-Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Casey, Valdair Lopes Captains-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Valdair Lopes

GIRLS’ SOCCER Soccer Most Valuable Player Award . . . . . . Phoebe Manning Soccer Coaches’ Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Julia Carrellas Soccer Most Improved Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gigi Moylan All-ISL, First Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anna Ca rr All-ISL, Honorable Mention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mar y O’Connor Captains-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joy Bullock, Oona Pritchard

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Evan Read ’12 is the winner of the 2010 Galvin Cross-Country Award.

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Academic Sailing Team, an honor that acknowledges the students’ “success at the highest levels—both on the water and in the classroom” for academic and athletic performance during the 2009-2010 academic year. Jef f rey K now le s of Middletown, R.I., who graduated from Brown University last May with a GPA of 3.76 in neuroscience, was named a member of the 2010 ICSA All Academic Sailing Team – First Team; and H a nna h B ur rou ghs of Peace Dale, R.I., a senior at Stanford University studying engineering with a GPA of 3.75, was named a member of the 2010 ICSA All Academic Sailing Team – Second Team. Boys Varsity Squash player Ra hi l Fa ze lb hoy ’13 captured the 5.0 division championship title of the Rhodysquash RI Open on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010. The tournament, which was attended by a number of topranked professionals, was held in the Hoopes Squash Center at SG over the weekend of Nov. 20-21. In the final championship match 28-year-old professional Shaun Delierre of Montreal, ranked No. 74 in the world, beat tournament favorite No. 35 ranked Julian Illingworth 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 12-10 in a hard-fought 97-minute match. As a freshman last year, Fazelbhoy, of Mumbai, India, finished third at the New England Class B championships. His regular season play at first singles along with his tournament performance made him a first-team All-ISL selection. Girls Varsity

Girls varsity soccer goalie Phoebe Manning ’11 makes another dramatic save in a game against Pomfret.

The 2011 Alumni Hockey Game was held on Saturday, Jan. 15, and reports indicate varsity boys hockey coach Ryan Mulhern ’91 organized a fun reunion on ice. “We all survived. It was a great day at SG,” reported Bill Batchelder ’61, who led the self-proclaimed “semi-centennial” line, along with Fred Stetson ’61 and Oliver Hamill ’61. Joining them were Bill’s son, Jon (left), and Tim Lineaweaver ’75, Jim O’Brien ’75, Christian Whatley ’80, Greg Ferguson ’85, Steve Connett ’86, Jeff Kimbell ’89, Ray Woishek ’89, Dan Woishek ’91, Rich Dempsey ’92, Cooper Schieffelin ’95, Peter Schieffelin ’96, Will Seifert ’99, Gerrit Lansing ’02, Henry Sheehan ’02, Cam Dyment ’04, Jay Kendrick ’04, Jon Lareau ’05, Liam Chatterton ’06 and Anthony Longo ’06.

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Dining Services Baker Kendra Gardner wowed the crowd with her lifelike cake for the Middlesex Weekend Pep Rally.

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Squash Coach and English teacher Co li n M o r t won the consolation round of the Men’s 4.0 Singles division.

It was brief but exciting, according to Varsity Boys Soccer Coach Jeremy Goldstein, when St. George’s welcomed the soccer team from a school in Saumu, France—Institution St. Louis—for a visit to campus on Sept. 10 and 11. The 15 French teammates were in America as part of an exchange program and their first stop was Newport, where they played and won a small tournament with three U.S. schools. “I appreciate the entire community being friendly and quickly involving both players and coaches in our fun activities,” Goldstein wrote to the community. “Our willingness to host international guests makes SG a special place.” French Department Chair Allison de Hor sey helped organize the visit, and a number of host families opened up their homes to the guests. The French boys went on to spend some time in New York City and in Massachusetts.

Sports Hall of Fame induction caps off celebration of high school athletics

ne longtime fan and supporter, one veteran coach and four outstanding former athletes were inducted into the SG Sports Hall of Fame on Friday, Nov. 12, 2010. Entering the Hall were Dr. Robin Wallace, SG’s school physician and avid follower of SG athletics; former coach the Rev. John S. Rogers; and star athletes Henr y P. Bristol II ’72, David B. Hennessy ’81, Melissa Brown Bride ’84, and Jill Doyle Jablonsky ’93. The ceremony was MC’d by Associate Director of Admission Ryan Mulhern ’91, a former professional hockey player and member of the Hall himself. Mulhern presented each of the entrants with a framed certificate and read each entrant’s citation, specially prepared by a former player or close associate. Marie Dougherty Hinman ’75 wrote the citation

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for Wallace’s induction. “Since 1974 [Dr. Wallace] has been patching our wounds, listening to our conflicts, prescribing remedies for our ailments, giving counsel to the administration and cheering on our sports teams,” she wrote. Wallace, an expert sailing race organizer renowned in Newport, was also the recipient of the United States Sailing Association’s 2006 Harman Hawkins Trophy “for his race-management skills, implementation of rules and regulations, equitable judging and fair and impartial appeals resolution.” Wallace remains a member of the school’s full-time faculty. 1980 alumna Sarah Rogers McMillan penned the citation for Rogers. “In 1977, [Father John Rogers] set the tone for his St. George’s coaching career,” she wrote. “Named the St. George’s Coach of the Year, FaRa led his varsity baseball team to the co-champi-

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four-year prep school career,” wrote basketball coach Julie Butler in her citation for her former two-year captain. She was “the consummate team player, one who brought skill, enthusiasm, intensity, determination, and humor each day with her unconquerable competitive spirit.” After the inductions, the student body participated in the annual Middlesex Weekend pep rally, ate zebra cake and burned a specially crafted zebra in a bonfire on Cliff Field. On Saturday, the teams hosted Middlesex School squads on the Hilltop. Veteran sportswriter E.M. Swif t P ’10 was the featured speaker Thursday, Nov. 11, the day before the Hall of Fame, for an allschool event in Madeira Hall. Swift, a special contributor for Sports Illustrated, where he has been working since 1978, has covered 15 Olympic Games, starting in 1980 when he reported on the “Miracle On Ice,” the goldmedal winning U.S. hockey team. Swift’s talk highlighted those years, and he regaled the audience with personal reflections of the relationships he made through his work with hockey luminaries like Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr. He also read excerpts from “Sports in a School Curriculum,” an essay he wrote for the Teacher’s College Record about the importance of prep-school athletics.

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This year’s Sports Hall of Fame inductees: David Hennessy ’81, The Rev. John Rogers, Jill Doyle Jablonsky ’93, Melissa Brown Bride ’84, Henry Bristol ’72 and Dr. Robin Wallace.

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onship of the Southern New England Independent School Conference. In 1992, Fa-Ra was again named St. George’s Coach of the Year, and his varsity basketball team’s undefeated record on the road and overall 15-1 season earned him the Independent School League coach of the year.” Bristol, Hennessy, Bride and Jablonsky were praised for their prowess on the playing fields and in the gymnasium. As a student, Bristol was a versatile athlete, but in the winter his success came in the wrestling pit, where he notched three consecutive New England championship titles in his final three years on the team. He came back to the Hilltop to teach math and photography after graduating from Bowdoin College, where he served as wrestling team captain in ’75 and ’76 and picked up sailing. Hennessey played on the varsity football team for two years and on the varsity hockey and lacrosse teams for three years at St. George’s. “As a running back on the varsity football team his senior year, he recorded a 96-yard run from scrimmage, one of the longest running plays in St. George’s history, on a victorious Middlesex weekend,” classmate Christopher L. Brigham ’81wrote in his citation. Hennessey co-captained the varsity lacrosse team in 1981 and played the majority of each game switching back and forth between defense and attack helping to lead the team to its first-ever Independent School League (ISL) Championship. Bride was captain of the field hockey, basketball and lacrosse teams at SG and won the MVP award in field hockey and numerous ISL All-League selections. On Prize Day in 1984, she won the Elliott Cup. “Mel moved on to Colby College where her athletics were once again an intricate and valuable part of its athletic program,” wrote Dolly Howard, director of girls athletics and dean of day students, emerita, in Bride’s citation. Doyle, another Elliott Cup winner, “made an immediate impact in soccer, basketball, and track, earning a varsity letter in every season during her

E.M. Swift P’10

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Right: Pamela Layton P’09, ’12 was on campus in October to deliver a lecture on stem cell research. Far right: John Visconti was another speaker in the Science Department’s Brown Bag Lunch Series.

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In the mid-16th century, some of the most popular books coming off the printing presses were those that proclaimed to hold remedies or cures for illnesses and troublesome human afflictions. And as Dr. Jo hn V i sc on ti told an audience gathered for one of the Science Department’s “Brown Bag Lunches” in December, these so-call “books of secrets” also represented some of the public’s first experiences with published science. Visconti, author of “The Secrets of a 16th century Venetian Woman: Isabella Cortese and Alchemical Medicine,” gave a compelling presentation on some of the first mass-produced instructional science manuals

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Above: Ericka Hines ’89 was the guest speaker for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Chapel service in January.

St. George’s graduate Er ic ka H ine s ’89, whose career now focuses on helping individuals and socially conscious organizations contribute positively to their communities, was the guest speaker at the annual music-filled Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel service Jan. 17, 2011. Hines, a former lawyer turned entrepreneur who started Social Change Diva to promote her message of empowerment, urged students to “step up their leadership” and be “agents of greatness.” “I know service is ingrained in this community,” she told students, faculty members and staff. “Now you can think about ways to serve smarter.” She encouraged students to investigate whether they might be able to serve more than one social purpose with their efforts, such as donating clothing as well as sponsoring dress down days to give

money to charities. She also encouraged the community “to learn and connect globally, but act locally.” “Martin Luther King was a social change agent on a macro scale,” she said, “but we all have the opportunity to be social change agents on a micro level” by helping our neighbors. The MLK Service also featured poignant music performances by Chri s Chew ’11, who sang “Deep River;” the Snapdragons; and E l od ie Ge rma in ’12 and L’Or ea l La mpl ey ’11, who sang “Amazing Grace.” (available on our YouTube channel. See page 47 for our Web extra information.) All students will participate in a communitywide day of service in April.

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Campus happenings

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San do Ba ys ah ’05 was on campus Jan. 25, 2011, to talk with students interested in pursuing a career in medicine—another lunchtime talk organized by Science Department Chair Ho ll y Wi lli a ms. A secondyear medical student at Brown University, Baysah outlined her tips for planning a collegiate career and curriculum geared toward the ultimate goal of becoming a doctor.

Above: Stephanie Wein ’06. Below: Sando Baysah ’05.

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Another “Brown Bag Lunch Speaker Series” offered by the Science Department featured Stephanie Wein ’06, who returned to campus Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, to talk about her work as a biology research assistant. Wein, who graduated from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in 2010, titled her talk “The Science of Sexy” and described her work researching male ornamentation and sexual selection in the Common Yellowthroat bird population. As an undergraduate earning her bachelor’s degree in biology, she and her fellow undergraduate research assistants spent months logging data from bib measurements and feather and blood samples to discover how the most brilliantly decorated male birds continued to win female attention and whether their offspring fared better in the long run. Wein, who credited Steve Leslie’s Environmental Science class for her interest in scientific research, said the research helped her discover she has a passion for the study of evolutionary

biology and ecology. “It’s not just about dinosaur bones and fossil relics in the Natural History Museum,” Wein said. “It’s exciting to look at evolution as it’s happening.” This past summer Wein began a new research project by taking part in a trip to the Panamanian rainforest to study the effect of introduced disease in glass frogs. She currently attends the University of Maryland, where she is at work on her Ph.D. Wein is the daughter of Celeste and B o b We in, a physics teacher at St. George’s. Her younger sister, H ill a r y We in ’11, is the senior prefect.

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to a group of interested students, faculty and staff members on Dec. 6 in the Dupont Science Building. Primarily recipes and sets of instructions, the books featured everything from how to avoid the plague to cures for baldness and bad breath, how to make disappearing ink, and a sort of 16th century equivalent of Viagra. “Let’s say they were epistemologically eclectic,” Visconti said. The authors of the books, “the professors of secrets,” were often on the margins of academia and the educational world. “Certainly they were less academically pure and more commercially inspired,” Visconti said. Though the so-called cures never seemed to fulfill their claims, the professors of science seem to play to an eager, if not hopeful, audience. “And there were vast social and economic implications for these books,” Visconti said. “The authors assumed that we needed to look more closely at nature for the answer to medical issues.” Dr. Visconti moved to the Hilltop this year with his wife, Sarah Lawrence, a new member of the History Department, and their 2-year-old daughter, Veronica.

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She showed samples of her class lists while she was an undergraduate studying biochemistry at Harvard and told students about taking the Medical College Admission Test and filling out med school applications. Baysah, who was born in Liberia, took several trips abroad while at Harvard to research the health care systems in places like Switzerland and China. For her essays, she said, she emphasized her interest in the Liberian health care system. “They want to know about something you’re interested in,” Baysah said of admission reps, “a project you can see through to the end. “Don’t just say you like ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’” The first Music Guild of the school year on Oct. 17 featured appearances by the Orchestra, the Jazz Ensemble and a number of solo vocalists. Showing off their singing talents were Ju lia n Tu rne r ’14, No ra H o gan ’14, Jo se ph Gri me h ’13, L’Ore a l La mpl ey ’11, Gra c e Al za iba k ’12, Jo se phi ne Ca nne ll ’13 and E mmy Dere c kt or ’12.

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St. George’s continues to answer the call to service for the Rhode Island Blood Center. On Nov. 8, in an effort this year organized by Assistant Athletic Director and Trainer Wendy Dr ysdale, the school surpassed its goal and students, faculty members and staff donated a total of 41 units. The next blood drive is scheduled for Monday, April 18. This marks the completion of SG’s 25th year working with the RIBC. Retired French teacher Steve Horowitz, a French teacher at St. George’s for 34 years, instructional services faculty member E llen Mino r and Drysdale have served as SG’s blood drive coordinators over the years.

Performers during Parents Weekend included the Hilltoppers (top), Peter Carrellas ’14 member of the Brass Ensemble (middle) and the Snapdragons (bottom).

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St. George’s admission programs for prospective students continue to be a hot ticket on the school tour circuit. This year the programs have played to a full house of more than 100 visitors at each event, according to Associate Director of Admission Ju lia Sa bou ri n. The “St. George’s Today” program is designed for candidates and families who wish to explore the school for a longer period of time and in

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greater depth than is possible during a traditional visit. The programs run from 8 a.m. through lunch in King Hall at 12:15 p.m., and feature several presentations in the Main Common Room by faculty members and current students, as well as class visits and campus tours. This year’s “St. George’s Today” programs took place on Oct. 9, Nov. 6, Dec. 4 and Jan. 8. Know a prospective student who may wish to be included next year? Call the Admission Office at (401) 842-6705 or e-mail admission_office@stgeorges.edu.

NEW YORK RECEPTION SITE AND SCHO OL HAVE HISTO RICA L CONNECTIONS Our reception in New York city draw hundreds to the historic New York Yacht Club at 37 West 44th St.—a club steeped in tradition, and even more important for our purposes, with close ties to St. George’s. At the recent New York gathering in November the club’s Vice Commodore, Thoma s Ha rrington P’12, outlined for the audience exactly how closely the two are actually aligned. Harbour Court, the club’s home on Halidon Avenue in Newport, is the former home of the Brown family of Providence and Newport—“the link between the New York Yacht Club and St. George’s School,” Harrington said. “Mrs. Natalie Bayard Brown built Harbour Court for her son, John Nicholas Brown, between 1904 and 1906. She hired the architectural firm of Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson of Boston. The design was inspired by her sister’s chateau in Normandy, France. “Natalie Brown’s only son, John Nicholas Brown, attended St. George’s school where he studied as a day student until 1918. In 1920, while still in college at Harvard, he approached architect Ralph Adams Cram, who had become a close friend, about creating a chapel, which he could present to St. George’s, much as his mother had presented Emmanuel Church in Newport to its congregation 20 years earlier. Ralph Adams Cram said, and I quote: ‘This particular chapel has for me much more than an architectural and professional interest, for I had known the donor since he was three years old….’ The classic Gothic chapel was consecrated on St.

El od ie Germa i n ’12 and L’Ore a l L amp ley ’11 sing “Amazing Grace” at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Chapel Service. Available on the St. George’s YouTube Channel.

WATCH SG VIDEO ON YOUR PHONE: 1. Download a barcode reader app on your Smartphone. 2. Scan the QR code (left). 3. Press Play!

or visit w w w. yo u t u b e . c o m / s g d r a g o n 3 7 2 on your phone’s browser. George’s Day in 1928. “In 1930, John Nicholas Brown married Anne Seddon Kinsolving. Their first son was Nicholas Brown who was christened in the St. George’s Chapel in 1932. From 1952 until 1954, John Nicholas Brown served as the 36th Commodore of the New York Yacht Club. “In 2005, St. George’s School dedicated the John Nicholas Brown ’18 Center in honor of the school’s illustrious alumnus.” Of course another connection between St. George’s and the NYYC is St. George’s alumnus and trustee Joe Ho opes ’62. Harrington called Hoopes “a gentleman who has given of his time and treasure to both the yacht club and to St. George’s School.”

Upcoming Events D o n a l d V a n d e M a r k ’77, a former broadcast journalist who now makes motivational speeches about leadership and success, is scheduled to be a guest speaker on campus Monday, May 16, at 7 p.m. As a former correspondent and anchor at CNN, CNBC and public television, Van de Mark interviewed hundreds of leaders in business and politics, including Jack Welch, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz, Intel Corp.’s Andy Grove, Charles Schwab, Bill Bradley, Body Shop Founder Anita Roddick, and best-selling authors such as Stephen Covey, Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra. Now he’s using the wisdom culled from those interviews to help others navigate the road to more fulfilling careers. He is the host of “The Wisdom of Caring Leaders” and “The Wisdom of Teams,” training videos used by corporations and schools. St. George’s looks forward to having Van de Mark share some of his tips on strengthening leadership skills. Clips of his speeches can be found on YouTube.

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Traditions

The 99 th Annual Christmas Festival and A Service of Nine Lessons & Carols 2010 Above: Sebastian Bierman-Lytle ’11, who served as the Master of the Feast at this year’s Christmas Festival, sings “The Boar’s Head Carol.” Left: Emily Walsh ’14 was one of several pages and Evans Barnes ’14 was this year’s jester at the Christmas Festival. Opposite page, top left: Crucifer Emma Scanlon ’12 carries the newly restored Peaslee Processional Cross at the Service of Nine Lessons & Carols. Top right: Choir members L’Oreal Lampley ’11, Succentor, and Timon Watkins ’11, Precentor, lead the singers into the chapel.

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52nd Annual Pie Race More than 80 “runners” turned out for this year’s 52nd annual Pie Race Nov. 15, 2010. While conditions were cold and gray, school spirit ruled the day as Joe Mack ’12 of Bristol, R.I., crossed the finish line first ahead of a motley assembly of costumed creatures, theatrical types, dogs, small children and those with afternoon study allergies. Mack finished the 1.1 mile course with a time of 6:04. “Junior Evan Read of Manhasset, N.Y., was running about 10 yards ahead of Mack for most of the race until he took a mysterious detour into the school’s Charles A. Hamblet Campus Center just before reaching the finish line,” wrote math teacher and race organizer Doug Lewis in his post race wrap-up. “When asked what led him off course, Read momentarily put down an order of cheese fries, wiped some ketchup from his lips, and said, The Incredibles participated in this year’s Pie Race: (in the front row) Will Peterson and Jake Peterson; and (in the back row) Librarian Jen Tuleja, ‘No comment.’” Katie Harris ’11, Sage Hill ’14, Admission Officer Krista Peterson, English The Pie Race is the brainchild of legendary teacher Stuart Titus, Head of School Eric Peterson and Polina Godz ’11. physics teacher and track coach Ted Hersey, who devised the race back in 1959 as a way of bolstering school spirit. Each November since then, students have sprinted around the Hilltop campus in an effort to win home-baked apple pies, approximately 20 of which were awarded at a school assembly on Friday, Nov. 19. Winners received their awards for a variety of reasons, few of which had to do with athleticism: Nick Larson ’13 and Andy Moreau ’13 won the “Twelve Items or Fewer Prize,” given to those runners completing the race while pushing a grocery cart.

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Remembering Nick Givotovsky ’83 A tree, planted in memory of N i c k G ivo tovs ky ’83, will be dedicated on campus at the end of this school year thanks to the generous donations of his classmates. Givotovsky, a husband and father of two, died tragically in a tractor accident at his home in Connecticut on July 3, 2009. He was 44. Nick’s vibrant career as an Internet consultant and his many contributions to discussions about digital identity and rights earned him the respect and camaraderie of many in the industry. “I believe we need explicit, uniform, enforceable, and yes, universal rights to our own user-related data,” Givotovsky wrote in one online forum. “Not just for purposes of privacy, but so that individually and collectively we can use our leverage as rightful owners of what are in fact valuable assets …”

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A resident of Cornwall, Conn., Givotovsky also had a passion for the outdoors. Cornwall First Selectman Gordon Ridgway told the local paper, “He came to our farm every spring and bought plants for his yard. He was very involved with the agricultural fair. He was a positive, upbeat person who was always willing to help out. His loss creates a big hole. Cornwall needs more people like him.” Givotovsky left behind his wife, Laura Kirk, and his children, Nina, 12 and Sasha, 10. The tree, a Mt. St. Helens® Flowering Plum, is planted between Memorial Schoolhouse and the library, behind Auchincloss Dormitory. A small rounded tree with purple leaves, its light pink flowers bloom in the early spring. The tree dedication ceremony at SG is tentatively set for early this summer.

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Chapel photo wins photo contest The Grand Prize in the 2010 Beautiful Middletown Photography Contest went to a photo of the cloister at St. George’s Chapel. Portsmouth photographer Susan Berman took the photo. “Probably no single structure in Middletown is more iconic than the St. George’s Chapel,” the judges wrote. “Yet we seldom see the grace and symmetrical beauty of the supporting structure itself. This photograph captures that with great detail. The blue stone walkway leads you into the image, while the shadow detail and color palette provides a calmness that equally draws the viewer into the photograph. Technically, the perspective control is superb, the color rendition accurate and balanced and the depth of field perfect.”

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The copper dragon sculptures on the exterior of the east side of the Nathaniel P. Hill Library were removed prior to the start of restoration of the building last fall. Though they appear to have been made specially for St. George's, the sculptures were actually manufactured in the early 1890s for an office building in downtown Providence known as the Manufacturers Building. The dragons wrapped around large metal flagpoles at the seventh-floor level of that building, which was in continuous use until 1964, when it was demolished in an “urban renewal” effort. Luckily for St. George’s, the dragons were saved—thanks to Frank Mauran ’43, former Art Department Head Richard Grosvenor, and the late Headmaster Archer Harman, who were instrumental in bringing the two magnificent sculptures to campus after the Hill Library was completed in 1978.

EMMY SULLIVAN

These antique, cast-iron urns now decorating the entrance of Old School were donated by the Class of 1985 on the occasion of their 25th reunion in memory of classmates Jonathan L. Cohen ’85, Ralph C. Menapace, III ’85, and Jeffrey A. Napoleon ’85. Talented SG gardener Lori Silvia filled the urns with festive cuttings from around campus of Red Twig Dogwood, three varieties of holly, Blue Spruce, Juniper “Grey Owl,” Cypress, Arborvitae, Weeping White Pine and Winterberry.

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The seniors in this year’s Seminar in Global Studies class will travel for 10 days beginning March 7 to Senegal, where they will conduct research for a cultural studies project on a topic of their own choosing. Pictured here are (in the front row) Caroline Miller, (in the middle row) Katherine Wilkinson, Polina Godz, Rachel Sellstone and Hillary Wein; and (in the back row), seminar instructor Jeremy Goldstein, science teacher Devon Ducharme, Phoebe Manning, Magdalena Franze-Soeln, Victoria Leonard, Timon Watkins, Mary O’Connor, Brittany Corso, Anaise Kanimba and science teacher Kim Bullock.

Davi d Ch oi (left), an exchange student from South Africa, arrived on campus Oct. 3 for a seven-week program of study at St. George’s coordinated by Director of Global Progams Jo e Go ul d (right). Choi, 17, is a student at Cape Town’s all boys Bishop’s School. An ongoing exchange begun two years ago allows the South African students to study here in the fall and two St. George’s students, one boy and one girl, to travel abroad in the summer. The St. George’s girl attends the nearby all girls St. Cyprian’s School in Cape Town.

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Community members are now watching Hilltop events from the comfor t of their own homes, live on the web. Don’t miss another night of SG entertainment!

WATCH SG VIDEO ON YOUR PHONE: 1. Download a barcode reader app on your Smartphone. 2. Scan the QR code (left). 3. Press Play!

or visit w w w. s t g e o r g e s . e d u / s c h o o l _ l i f e / we b c a s t s on your phone’s browser

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DIRECTIONS FOR DOWNLOADING OUR PHOTOS FROM FLICKR.COM

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1. Go to www.flickr.com/stgeorgesschool/collections 2. Click through our galleries to see the photography. 3. Once you have selected a photo you’d like to download, click on the “Actions” tab at the top left. 4. Scroll to “View All Sizes.” 5. Click on the “Original” Size, then click on “Download the Original size of this photo” above the picture. The photo will be saved to your computer. Now you’ve got your printable photo for free!

VIEW SG PHOTOS ON YOUR PHONE: 1. Download a barcode reader app on your Smartphone. 2. Scan the QR code (left).

or visit www.flickr.com/photos/stgeorgesschool/collections

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A photo by Charles A.Y. Thompson ’88. An exhibit of prints by acclaimed photographer C ha rle s A.Y. T ho mpso n ’88 was on display at the Pobeda Gallery in Moscow, Russia, from Dec. 17, 2010, to Jan. 31, 2011. The exhibit was titled “Sirin and Alkonost,” after the mythical half-bird/halfwoman creatures of Russian folklore. In his statement for the show, Thompson wrote: “To me the myth of Sirin and Alkonost encapsulates the yearning to escape our human limitations and enter the realm of pure power, beauty and infinite possibility. While they are obviously also symbols of female power, beauty and intelligence, Sirin and Alkonost stand for something more universal. This desire to metamorphize and transform oneself into something extraordinary is perhaps shared by all humanity, but to me, in Russian culture, and especially in ballet, it is in a particularly raw form. The ballerinas featured in these images are captured at that very moment of transformation, where bird wings have yet to appear, yet the human body has already achieved flight.” Thompson’s editorial and art photography have been published in, among others, Vogue, Esquire, Elle Décor, Town & Country and The New York Times.

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Davi d To dd ’77, P ’14 has been making the rounds, publicizing his new book, “The Texas Legacy Project: Stories of Courage and Conservation,” which was published last fall. The book, is a collection of stories about Texans who’ve devoted parts of their lives to preserving land and wildlife, or advocating for public health, or for a voice in media and politics. “To find and preserve these stories of courage and perseverance, the Conservation History Association of Texas launched the Texas Legacy Project in 1998, traveling thousands of miles to conduct hundreds of interviews with people from all over the state,” Todd writes. The oral histories now also have been made available online with accompanying video and audio. Stories include everything from a West Texas grocer fighting nuclear waste to an Austin lobbyist pressing for green energy. Todd is the founder, coordinator, and interviewer for the Conservation History Association of Texas. He has worked as an environmental attorney, environmental donor, and cattle rancher, and has served on the boards of Audubon Texas, the Texas Conservation Alliance, Texas League of Conservation Voters, and Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. La ure n Stra ssn er R usse ll ’90 and the furniture company she co-owns with her father, Russell & Mackenna Furniture, were featured in the Nov. 15, 2010, Wall Street Journal as part of an article on parents and children going into business together. In “Parent & Child Inc.,” reporters Colleen DeBaise, Emily Maltby and Sarah E. Needleman focus on what they call the less-than“traditional path to entrepreneurship.” Russell says she started her company after a marketing client of hers saw a nauticalthemed vanity she had in her home that had been designed by Russell and built by her husband, and requested one for herself. The

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A new book co-authored by David Todd ’77, P’14. client then ordered a host of other furniture items from the duo. The orders inspired Russell to start her own company, “but neither of us had any business experience,” Russell told the reporters of herself and her husband. “I knew really quickly to make it work we were going to need some help.” Luckily her father, Larry Strassner, who had just retired after serving as chief executive officer of a publicly traded staffing company, was available for guidance. Now, seven years later, the father and daughter duo have grown their co-owned business to more than $1 million in annual revenue. The recipient of St. George’s 2010 Diman Award for distinguished alumni/ae, Ka te Ze rnike ’86, has been making the media rounds to promote her new book “Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America.” Along with a number of print interviews with international publications such as the Christian Science Monitor, Zernike made television appearances on shows including a panel discussion on C-Span’s Book TV, in which she appeared with Tuc ker Ca rl son ’87 and “This Week in Washington” with Christianne Amanpour and “The Press Club.” Ja me s A. Tor rey ’66 was nominated for an administrative post in the Obama

administration in November when the president suggested him for a seat on the board of directors for the Overseas Private Investment Corp. OPIC is a financially independent U.S. government agency that helps U.S. businesses invest overseas, fosters economic development in new and emerging markets, and supports U.S. foreign policy—at no net cost to taxpayers. Eight members of OPIC’s Board of Directors are from the private sector and seven are from the federal government. A hedge fund investor since 1977, Torrey is a senior advisor to Cadogan Management, a fund-of-funds firm with offices in New York, Tokyo and London. He founded The Torrey Funds in 1990 to identify and invest with promising hedge-fund talent. In 1992, he formed one of the first exclusively international fund-of-funds. Prior to the founding of The Torrey Funds, he held a variety of executive positions with Kidder, Peabody & Co, The First Boston Corp. (now Credit Suisse), Paine Webber and Alex Brown & Sons. All members of OPIC’s Board of Directors, which meets four times per year, must be appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Syd T hayer ’68 was making a name for himself this winter in the world of threedimensional film. “Vancouver 2010 – Stories of Olympic Glory,” a 3-D film Thayer co-produced with Cassandra Henning, premiered in December on DirecTV. It was the first 3-D film ever shot at the Olympics, according to Thayer. “It’s a start, but as technology improves, this will become the standard,” noted Thayer, who works for the independent film production company Cappy Productions in New York.

The film, which is 46 minutes long, includes stories on speed skater Apolo Ohno and his quest to become the most-decorated American winter Olympian of all time, the controversial showdown between figure skaters Evan Lysacek and Evgeni Plushenko, and the Chinese pairs team of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, who earned their nation’s first-ever gold medal in figure skating. Jamestown, R.I., resident Sc ot t Ferg us on ’80 retained his title as sailing’s Laser Standard Master fleet winner at the Laser Masters World Championships in Hayling Bay, England on Sept. 19, 2010. His final tally of 15 points placed him 21 ahead of his principal rival, the Netherland’s Arnoud Hummel. Conditions were wavy, but Ferguson held his own, while Hummel suffered an unfortunate “death roll.” “I was a little bit surprised I did as well as I did because there are a lot of really good guys out there,” Ferguson told reporters after the event. “A lot of things fell into place for me.” It was Ferguson’s fourth world championship appearance. He was third in Brazil his first time out, fourth in Spain his second, and won in Halifax in 2009. Last summer US-61, a 12-metre yacht owned by Guy He c k ma n ’69, was tearing up racecourses up and down the east coast. The storied boat won her class at the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta and the Around the Island Race, as well as every regatta in Newport and Edgartown, according to Heckman. She also won the North Americans in the grand prix class. US-61 is housed at the Newport Shipyard, and is the only “Twelve” with a forward canard rudder. She was originally built for Tom Blackaller, the three-time America’s Cup competitor, world champion, engineer, sail

Guy Heckman ’69 on the 12-metre US-61.

maker and internationally famous helmsman, who died in 1989. Xo c hi na E l H i la li ’07 was the subject of a feature story in the January 2011 issue of

Carnegie Mellon Today titled “Ridiculous,” by free-lance writer Sally Ann Flecker (available online). Right now El Hilali is finishing up the requirements for her chemistry major and her minor in economics at the Pittsburgh university—and she credits her boarding school experience for part of her success. “I studied with people who otherwise I would never have had the chance to interact with,” El Hilali said of St. George’s. She told Flecker she felt an emphasis here to be “more than a good student; the students were expected to be leaders.” College counselors here told her about Carnegie Mellon. “I probably wouldn’t have applied here if I hadn’t gone to St. George’s,” she said. Last year El Hilali was selected as a United Negro College Fund/Merck Undergraduate Science Research Scholar, which is intended to encourage the interest of African American undergraduate students in science and biomedical science careers. Included with the scholarship are two paid Merck internships—one she attended in 2010 and one she’ll embark on after her graduation in May.

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Faculty/Staff Notes Veteran St. George’s sailing coach Roy Wil lia ms is the subject of a profile on the industry web site Sail1Design.com (www.sail1design.com/ airwaves). “Notes From a Very Fortunate High School Sailing Coach” by alumna Je n ( Van de mo er) Mi tc he ll ’00 outlines Williams’ philosophy on coaching and how he’s developed the program over Roy Williams the last 21 years on the Hilltop. While Williams admits SG’s resources have helped the teams succeed, high school sailing, he says, is all about the opportunity for him to “innovate, educate, motivate, and appreciate” his students. “I’m rewarded seeing the students get into sailing and develop confidence and skills,” he told Mitchell. He’s also supported by wonderful resources. As the article notes, SG has the largest high-schoolowned fleet of club-collegiate 420’s in the country with 22. The program also has two FJs and four power boats, so Roy and his team of coaches operating from the Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport Harbor, can train the team and set up courses to suit their needs. The program usually has about 45 student sailors each spring, with those on the varsity team training for the Fleet Racing (Mallory/Cressy) and Team Racing (Baker) National Championships. Mitchell, a former member of the SG varsity sailing team, graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in English. She sailed on the varsity sailing team at St. Mary’s and was a co-captain in her senior year. She was a three-time All-American Crew and a two time National Champion. A hearty congratulations to English teacher Ale x M ye r s, who recently received his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree from Vermont College. A prolific writer, Myers’ fiction and nonfiction has been published in a number of literary journals, including Juked, A Alex Myers

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Capella Zoo, Flashquake, The Battered Suitcase, the Apple Valley Review and Short Story America, which nominated a story of his for a Pushcart Prize. He won first place in the Tiny Lights 2008 personal narrative contest for “The King and I,” previously reprinted in the Bulletin. In March, he’ll be published in Whistling Shade. Art Department Chair Mike Ha n sel’s ’76 sculptures were the focus of a solo show at Rhode Island College’s Bannister Gallery in December. The show, “Sculpture In All Its Parts,” highlighted Hansel’s use of natural and mechanical elements to suggest “...that nature and industry aren’t really opposites, but more like complementary terms.” “Mike Hansel uses sculpture to point people away Mike Hansel ’76 from what they take for granted towards an oddly humorous world composed of vaguely familiar elements. His works are reinvented associations made between careful observations and the half-forgotten elements of memory,” noted Curator Professor William Martin, chair of RIC’s art department. A large-scale piece of Hansel’s sculpture was installed at the south end of Adams Library on the RIC campus and will remain there until September. Sar ah Dic k, a 2007 graduate and former school prefect, has accepted a position to serve as an internship fellow in the Admission Office for the next two years. She’ll begin work this summer. Dick, who will graduate from Claremont McKenna College with a bachelor’s degree in art this spring, has continued to pursue her passion for lacrosse. She has been an AllAmerican for the past two seasons as well as her league’s player of the year last year, and she’ll captain the team this spring. “We are very excited to have Sarah working Sarah Dick ’07

with us for the next two years,” said Director of Admission Ji m Ha mi lto n.

Showing endurance and stamina: Director of Library Services Jen Tu le ja completed the Marine

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Director of Library Services Jen Tuleja successfully completes the Marine Corps Marathon in October.

R ACHEL R AMOS

Corps Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 31, in Washington, D.C. Tuleja used the event to raise money for the American Cancer Society in honor of her dad, who was diagnosed with the disease two years ago. “His courage and strength to get better inspire me.” Admission Intern M a tt D’An no lfo completed the New York Marathon Sunday, Nov. 7, in 4:53:02.

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Science teacher Dr. K i m Bu llo c k was among 40 teachers, graduate students and community activists to participate in the 9th annual International Nonviolence Summer Institute at the University of Rhode Island July 6-16, 2010. The gathering, intended to certify participants as Kingian nonviolence trainers, was taught by Nonviolence Kim Bullock trainers Jonathan Lewis of the Gathering for Justice; Gail Faris, of the URI Women’s Center, and Dr. Paul Bueno de Mesquita, director of URI’s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies. Dr. Bernard Lafayette Jr., noted civil rights luminary and distinguished visiting scholar, returned directly from a current training project in Nigeria, to serve as the institute’s senior trainer for the ninth consecutive year. Bullock says Dr. Martin Luther King’s principles of nonviolence truly inspired all participants throughout the intensive training.

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Geronimo Captain and program coordinator De bo ra h H aye s was invited by Sail Training International (STI) to speak at the group’s annual conference in November. Her talk was titled, “Risk in Sail Training: Recognizing and Managing it,” and was one of several workshops held at The International Sail TrainDeborah Hayes ing and Tall Ships Conference 2010 in Stavanger, Norway. STI is a worldwide sail training organization representing 30 countries and hundreds of sail training programs.

Associate Director of Admission Betsy Leslie and science teacher Steve Leslie, who returned from a yearlong sabbatical in Montana last summer, presented a talk on their research of the wolf population in Yellowstone National Park at one of the Science Department’s Brown Bag Lunches.

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Faculty/Staff Notes

SUZANNE MCGRADY

Longtime receptionist takes her final call

hen the red doors of Old School opened to usher in the start of the 2010-11 school year, there was a palpable difference in the front hall. Along with a renovation of some of the peripheral offices, longtime receptionist Gail Miner couldn’t be heard greeting newcomers or giving directions. After 25 years at SG, Miner retired last September. Miner, tucked in her small office in the lobby of Old School, was a friendly fixture in the life of the school for visitors and community members alike. She arrived at a time when the school was just making its first foray into the modern age of telecommunications. “We’ve never had this position. Make it!” she says she was told on one of her first days on the job. Business Manager Wes Hennion had recruited her with the intention of providing callers to SG a centralized phone service. Miner seemed right for the job. Miner arrived in Newport in 1962 from Utica, N.Y., “an 18-year-old kid, the bride of a sailor,” she said. For 13 years, along with raising four girls and a boy, she worked for the Answering Service of Newport, where she often fielded off-hours calls dealing with

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A born conversationalist, Gail Miner arrived at a time when the school didn’t have a switchboard—and became the welcoming voice of SG emergencies. The job was very stressful, she said, “and after a while you got burned out.” On her first day at St. George’s, she recalls meeting then Admission Office and Summer School Assistant Marge McFarland out on Sixth Form Porch. As the two sat together in the light breeze overlooking the beach, she remembers saying, “You know, I could get used to this.” The two would later forge an enduring, close friendship. McFarland went on to serve as the school’s registrar. St. George’s seemed to suit Miner’s feisty, up-beat personality to a “T”. Still, she admits, “I was so new at first, I just sat back in awe.” The seriousness of the school’s purpose, and the intellectual and personal lives of community members all wove themselves into the fabric of Miner’s own life. She has fond memories of many aspects in the life of the school, and the people she met here. The recently deceased Jean Peirce, she said, ran the SG Dining Hall with commander-like intensity, with the end result being a lot of well-fed individuals. “You could really walk out of King Hall feeling like you weighed 400 pounds,” she said. She enjoyed socializing with the parents who came to pick up

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their students, though celebrities and the not-so-well known were all alike to her, she mentions. She remembers the actor Jason Robards, the author Danielle Steele, golfer Raymond Floyd (who gave her an autographed photo for her son-in-law) and the former CEO of Reebok, Paul Fireman. An avid reader with a thirst for knowledge, she often found that being a receptionist allowed her to have a number of engaging conversations throughout the day. She also took pride in being a reliable source of information for just about anyone with a question entering the building—or already in the building for that matter. Students hold a special place in her heart, and she particularly recalls Jason Monroe ’95 waiting for her at her car one day, just to stay in touch. A devout Catholic, Miner began nearly every workday at the beach, where she would read the newspaper and say her prayers. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 23 years ago, but only recently required the use of a wheelchair. She remains optimistic about her retirement years. Memories of St. George’s sustain her. “I smile a lot,” she said.

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Bethea appointed to SG Board of Trustees; Lee, Ariail remembered

Trustees and the community warmly remember former trustee and faculty member Charlie Lee P’87, who died in a single-car crash near Killingly, Conn., Dec. 10. The bow-tie-wearing Lee was an SG

trustee from 1982-1991, the father of Chris Lee ’87 and the brother of honorary trustee Phip Lee. He was an ardent supporter of the Geronimo sail training and marine studies programs. Lee lived in Narragansett, R.I., with his wife, Camilla, of 44 years. As an investment banker, Lee for a time lived overseas in Hong Kong and Tokyo, and also resided in New York, Boston and Providence, where most recently he was a vice president of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. According to those who knew him best, however, he had a special fondness for the shoreline of Rhode Island, where he kept his boat and spent time with his family. An avid fisherman who took daily walks with his dog, Tucker, Lee also was well known in Rhode Island for his support of Canonchet Farm, 174 acres of land in Narragansett that environmentalists hope to protect from development.

THE 1976 L ANCE

The St. George’s Board of Trustees welcomes to its ranks Rodulphus Bethea Jr., who graduated from St. George’s in 1987. The Board voted unanimously to appoint Bethea at its meeting on Oct. 16, 2010. Bethea is the vice president of global sales and strategy for Rodulphus (Rudy) Bethea Jr. ’87 MetLife’s employee benefits arm, Institutional Business. He has been with MetLife for more than 15 years in various roles. In 2009, Bethea received the YMCA Black Achievers in Industry Award, and he was previously recognized as one of the Top 50 Under 50 corporate executives by Black MBA magazine. An active volunteer for A Better Chance, Bethea is also the vice chair of membership for ABC’s National Advisory Council. Bethea graduated from Bowdoin College with a double major in government and African-American studies and a minor in economics. As a Consortium for Graduate Study in Management fellow, he attended the University of Southern California where he received his M.B.A. in 2000. Currently, Bethea and his wife, Aliya, live in Southern California with their daughter, Maya.

PHOTO COURTESY OF

Charles P. Lee, P ’87, SG faculty 1975-1977 and trustee from 1982-1991.

The community also mourns the death of John Ariail P ’89, ’94, a former trustee who

died on Jan. 20. Ariail lived a life filled with generosity to others, according to his family. Proud of his Irish roots, the Alexandria, Va., lawyer used his good fortune to benefit others and the city around him. He was a supporter of many efforts to beautify the city and helped those in need on a regular basis. A graduate of Davison College in 1964, Ariail received the school’s Alumni Service Award in 2004, recognizing him for his “high degree of service to the college.” He was also a talented and involved business owner and landlord. He co-owned a number of restaurants including Restaurant Eve, The Majestic and Eamonn’s Dublin Chipper in the city. He was also founder of Sport and Health Clubs, and co-owner of Lorton’s Workhouse Arts Center and the Alexandria Times, according to the newspaper. Like Lee, Ariail also enjoyed time outdoors with his dogs; he could be seen regularly “walking his beloved American water spaniels, Snickers and Moon Pie, around the city,” the paper noted. At St. George’s, Ariail was a devoted St. George’s parent who always kept the school close to his heart. He served as a member of the board from 1986-1992. Ariail leaves behind his wife, Leslie, his sons, Jay Ariail and J.E. Shreve Ariail ’94, and his daughter, Allison Erdle ’89. On a final note, also at the Oct. 16, 2010, board meeting, the trustees voted to appoint Foxhall “Foxy” Parker ’43 an honorary trustee. Parker served the school as a trustee for 21 years and retired from the board in 2010.

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QUENTIN WARREN PHOTO BY

The fondest of memories BY QUENTIN WARREN

“I shall always be grateful for that place.” —on Jackson Pond, Dedham, Mass., September 27, 2010 He flew night fighters for the RAF in World War II, sold hairbrushes in New York, plugged British sports cars in Boston, ran a marmalade business in Hamilton, Mass., became a radio and television personality on both sides of the Atlantic, operated a mobile broadcasting studio up and down the U.S. East Coast, married the love of his life and then, upon losing her, married the other love of his life. He has traveled the seven continents. Throughout it all, he has never forgotten or failed to appreciate the year he spent at St. George’s, and he remains among the school’s staunchest advocates

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G “

ood afternoon, Sir,” I said, “ I’m Michael Wynne-Willson, the new ESU Exchange student from Radley College in England.” “A warm welcome to you, Mike, please come in,” he replied. “I’m glad to meet you and I hope that you will enjoy your year here.” “I’m sure I will, thank you, Sir,” I replied. “I want you to know that I’m here to broaden my mind and not my education!” So went the inauspicious give-and-take when St. George’s School Headmaster Vaughan Merrick greeted a new senior from Great Britain in the fall of 1936. Recalling the words of Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine in the memorable film “Casablanca,” it was destined to become “the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Michael F. Wynne-Willson ’37, P’73, spent a single academic year at St. George’s on an English Speaking Union scholarship. But the bond he formed in those indelible nine months as a 17-year-old rivals any you’ll find in fellow alums before his time and since. His SG experience is woven like tracer thread through the course of his colorful life—his priceless relationships with people, his unflappably positive take on things, his poignant humor, and the eclectic, often hairraising events that came to shape him in all his complexity to this day. Wherever he went, whomever he met, and whatever he did, he’ll insist that lurking behind it all, every step of the way, was that pillar of fortitude, camaraderie and mischievous good cheer that took root in his sixth-form year right here at SG. And to seal it like a bug in amber for all of perpetuity, embarrassingly he’ll point out that his photo has appeared on the opening spread of “Class Notes” in the Bulletin more times than even he cares to admit. Suffice it to say, Michael’s allegiance to St. George’s and indebtedness to the year he

Perched on the West Steps outside Sixth Form House in a photograph taken by Michael during his SG days are cohorts and close friends from the class of 1937— Johnny Bell, Kinsley Twining, Dick Sheble and Hack Wilson—along with a young Johnny Merrick, son of the headmaster. Opposite, Michael in vintage RAF sheepskin alongside Head of School Eric Peterson on a recent visit to the Hilltop. attended run deep. He served on the Annual Giving Committee in 1990-91, resumed that post in 2008 and continues at it today. He has been a loyal and prolific class correspondent for as long as anyone can remember. He is a member of the Ogden Nash Society. He has attended more SG events including reunions, dedications and special Chapel services than anyone can begin to tally. He is a vocal ambassador of St. George’s who champions the school at every opportunity. He has endeared himself to the Alumni/ae Office. He is wholly sincere in his support. On the occasion of his 50th reunion at the 1987 Alumni/ae Weekend Chapel Service he delivered the homily. “How lucky and grateful I am that, through a stroke of good fortune, I was chosen to come here from Radley College in England and how totally it altered the shape of my life,” he remarked.

ichael was born in London, England, on Sept. 13, 1919. His father, Linton F. Wynne Willson, served in the British military during World War I and the Boer War in Africa, following which he became the headmaster of a school for boys in the county of Gloucestershire. Michael’s description of him as it appears in “Before I Forget!,” the first in a series of two

self-published autobiographical accounts containing Michael’s memoirs through 2002, is worth noting because it could be used just as easily to describe Michael himself: “He was the owner of a superb sense of humor and a love for life, his fellow man, girls and all sports.” And who but Michael’s mother to soften the edges even further, whom he describes thus: “A kinder and more thoughtful lady than my Mum would have been next to impossible to find.” The result of their union was a delightfully funny fellow with a huge heart and a uniquely optimistic world view. “I was the luckiest of kids when I was young, for I never doubted for a minute that my parents loved me,” Michael writes. “They instilled in both [my sister] Betty and me the basics of love, honesty, trust, obedience, humility and caring for others. They charted the way for us and made it all as simple as possible for us to follow by their example.” He was enrolled at Radley College in Abingdon just to the south of Oxford when he received an English Speaking Union scholarship to St. George’s in 1936 for his senior year—no need for confusion, mind you, as the British term “college” coincides with the American notion of “secondary

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MICHAEL WYNNE-WILLSON PHOTO COURTESY OF

Michael (front row, third from left) and fellow fliers in the RAF 255 Night Fighter Squadron gather on a typical Sunday afternoon outside one of their favorite wartime watering holes, the Adam & Eve pub in Trunch north of Norwich and the Norfolk Broads. Below, Michael toasts family and friends at his 90th birthday party in Brookline, Mass. on Sept. 13, 2009. school.” He was already well versed in the art of schoolboy high jinks, having discovered at an early age that girls, good friends and a fun-loving spirit resonated far more conspicuously in his view of life than dogged academics. So armed, he came to the Hilltop wondering “what in heaven’s name I had got myself into,” although certain that the year ahead “was surely going to be different and anything but dull!” And so it was, a year of eye-opening firsts and new people and an introduction to the U.S. where, a decade later, he would come to live. At St. George’s he moved into Sixth Form House and made friends instantly—with his roommate Kerr Collingwood, with the unforgettable black groundskeeper and night watchman, Sam, to whom he became particularly attached, with Maggie who served tea in the Main Common Room, with Vaughan and Bea Merrick, with George and Marge Wheeler, and with classmates and fellow students. His own words at his 50th leave no doubt as to the significance of the experience: “The tolerant understanding of the faculty, and the lasting, never-to-be-forgotten and most valuable friendships which have meant so much for so long … the Merricks

and the Wheelers, and some of those within my class. Is it any wonder then that as often as I return to this most special and beautiful of places, I feel as if I’m returning home?” On holidays and weekends, like any Dragon today, Michael would venture off campus with friends and visit places like Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Montreal. Shenanigans aside, it was on one such foray that he met a girl named Jackie Chambers whom he would end up marrying seven years later. As the story goes, he went to

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Rhinebeck, N.Y., to visit an old family friend who had started a school for girls there called Foxhollow. He was delighted to catch up with this familiar vestige of his childhood, but even more so “to ascertain that I was the only male in her hen-coop of gorgeous young maidens!” Jackie happened to be the president of the senior class, and she and Michael struck a chord, corresponded regularly and would remain attached throughout her all-too-brief life, which ended with cancer in 1967.

raduation from St. George’s came, as Michael laments, “all too swiftly,” and he returned to his family in England. As it happened, his father died of a heart attack quite suddenly and the future lost its glimmer, especially on the brink of yet another world war, with Great Britain poised in the cross hairs of Germany’s bombsights. Michael joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1939 and flew twin-engine Bristol Beaufighters among other aircraft in night-fighter operations against the German Luftwaffe until 1946. For an active RAF pilot, it was a time of excitement and fear, learning and growth, and in Michael’s case, more stories than can possibly fit in these sundry pages. He writes in “Before I Forget!”: “What was WWII really like for me? First I must say that in my way of thinking, war of any kind is ungodly, hellish, often terrifying, a ludicrous waste of time, money, and, above all, humans. Secondly, I have to say that, for me, war was challenging, educational, exciting and I must say ashamedly if honestly, often fun.” On leave at one point in 1944, Michael returned to the States and married Jackie in Middleburg, Va., in a ceremony the attendees of which included none other than Vaughan and Bea Merrick. Following the war they lived in England, but faced with untenable career opportunities (“When I came out of

MICHAEL WYNNE-WILLSON PHOTO COURTESY OF

the RAF, all the four-engine bomber boys were getting the good jobs in civil aviation!”), and health issues with regard to Jackie’s ability to bear children, they made the decision to move to the U.S. in 1948. They lived in New York City for a brief while where Michael sold hairbrushes for Kent of London. (“I knew as much about how to sell a Kent brush as a mermaid might know about how to put on trousers!”). From there they moved to Boston where he sold British automobiles, then to Hamilton, Mass., where, over the course of 19 years, they produced and marketed homemade Mendip Marmalade, and he became involved in broadcasting on both sides of the camera in the early days of on-location news reporting. They adopted two children, first Wendy, then Mark, who would go on to become a member of the class of 1973 at St. George’s. Alas, Jackie succumbed to cancer in 1967, the end of a loving era, leaving Michael a widower at the age of 46 in Hamilton with Wendy and Mark, dogs Minus and Duchess, cat Perky and pony Piglet. He became very involved in public relations for the New England Aquarium, the Boston Zoological Society, and Harbor National Bank, and during that time he met Anne Patterson who became his second wife on June 8, 1968, and remains devotedly so to this day. They moved from Hamilton to Westwood, Mass., in 1970, very close to the town of Dedham where they now reside. True to form, Annie and Michael have lived an active, outwardly productive life together, including some 40-odd years of extensive global travel as organizers and tour guides of high-end excursions to exotic locales—Antarctica, Africa, India, the Far East, Jordan, and more. Paid to accompany first-class tourists all over the world amounts to classic Wynne-Willson entrepreneurship, providing the two of them with, as Michael puts it, “champagne-class

Michael and Annie in springtime regalia at a June 1982 outing. Of Annie he would write in his second book of memoirs, “It is my delight to dedicate this to Annie who, as you may have gathered, is just one kind, loving, caring, patient and super special girl. Should you know her, you will know that that is next to an understatement!” travel on a beer budget.” But, to be honest, what better travel companionship could anybody with a passport ask for? And as far as St. George’s is concerned, what better friends to count among its own? Annie and Michael visit the Alumni/ae Office every summer on the hottest day imaginable loaded with deli sandwiches, chips, cold leek soup, homemade cookies and the tastiest iced tea on the planet. It used to be a picnic for the office outdoors on the rocks, but last year it morphed into a spread on Sixth Form Porch. Personally, I think they do it because they like us, but there is more. There is the Hilltop, and the school, and the setting, and their own genuine belief that it is

important to remember the impact all of it had on a young boy from England in 1937. In a chat last fall Michael described the feeling as one of “absolute sheer gratitude for the fact that it enabled me to get a little bit of a look at the future, which you don’t usually have at the age of 16 or 17.” Ironically, for a man with the most lighthearted touch and disarming wit, the gravity of what really counts in life hardly escapes him. From the Chapel lectern on the occasion of his 50th reunion he said, “If experience has given me the right to suggest anything to anyone, it is to try to remember never to forget any kindness or favor done, and to constantly try to remember those who touched one’s life in that way over the years.”

Michael with the members of the Alumni/ae Development Office during their annual midsummer picnic: (l-r) Cindy Martin, Linda Michalek, Quentin Warren, Michael, Toni Ciany, Krista Sturtevant, Bill Douglas and Natalia Tavares do Couto.

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Upcoming Events Global Week

Mon., March 28 - Sat., April 2 Schoolwide Day of Service

Mon., April 4

Tues., April 5 - Wed. April 6 Fri., April 8 - Sat., April 9

Admission Second Visit Programs

Los Angeles area reception Tues., April 12

Santa Monica, Calif. The Huntley Hotel Hosted by Rudy Bethea ’87 Reunion Weekend

Fri., May 13 - Sun., May 15

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

Spring Dance Concert

Sat., May 28 Prize Day

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

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

S T. G E OR G E ’S 2011

winter Bulletin

St. George’s School 2011 winter Bulletin

St. George’s on the Web Class Notes Left: Choir members Carine Kanimba ’12 and Michelle Hare ’12 sing at a recent chapel service. PHOTO BY R ACHEL R AMOS

I NSIDE :

A groundbreaking internship • Library construction • Web extras