EMS - Appletree - Winter 09/10

appletree

The Hudson River a scientific and historical resource on our doorstep A Publication of The Elisabeth Morrow School ~ Winter 2010

Mission The Elisabeth Morrow School pursues the highest educational standards in a supportive, creative environment. We challenge our students’ intellects, promote academic excellence, encourage independent thinking, and cultivate individual talents. Our dedicated, experienced faculty fosters moral growth and social responsibility. In our culturally diverse community, we value tradition and innovation and the joy of lifelong learning.

Core Values • An educational environment committed to academic excellence and child-centered learning; • An educational process symbolized by the Four C’s (courtesy, consideration, cooperation and compassion) that focuses not only on the intellectual, but also upon the social and character development of children; • A passion for learning; • A strong sense of community among students, teachers, families, administrators and staff.

Vision • The Elisabeth Morrow School will educate three-year-olds through eighth graders in a supportive, child-centered environment of restricted class size.

• The Elisabeth Morrow School will prepare students to be proficient academically and strong of character.

• The Elisabeth Morrow School will attract, develop and retain the highest quality faculty, staff and administration.

• The student body and professional staff will reflect diversity of ethnicity, heritage and economic status.

• The Elisabeth Morrow School will be in a position of financial strength.

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The Elisabeth Morrow School 435 Lydecker Street Englewood, NJ 07631 www.elisabethmorrow.org

appletree is a publication of The Elisabeth Morrow School Editorial Committee Beth Anne Brennan Director of Early Childhood Programs Evan Brown Director of Communications and Alumni

appletree

Aaron Cooper Assistant Head of School Germaine DiPaolo Principal of Morrow House Dr. Alison Egert Director of Special Learning Services

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Letter From The Head of School

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Going Beyond The Classroom: Experiential Learning In Our Hudson River Region – Hudson River Fieldwork and EMS Environmental Education

Liza Jones Hards Director of Auxilliary Programs

~ Gary Lyon: Director of Environmental Education

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Penny Lippe Director of Development Dr. David M. Lowry Head of School Richard Pagano Business Manager

A Living Curriculum: The Hudson River As Historical Resource ~ Sanda Cohen, Phyllis Grossman, Jackie Riley: Fifth-Grade Teachers

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The View From Here – A Few Images from The Elisabeth Morrow School, August to November, 2009

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Morrow Society Reception

Jane Phend Principal of Little School

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Elisabeth Morrow Adopts A New Handwriting Program

Blair Talcott Orloff Director of Admissions and Financial Aid

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~ Beth Anne Brennan: Director of Early Childhood Programs

Beyond EMS: The Secondary School Application Process At The Elisabeth Morrow School ~ Aaron Cooper: Assitant Head of School

Photography and Photographic Contributors Evan Brown Shannon Brown Amber Coe Sanda Cohen Michelle Goldstein Maura Gruber Eva Gurian Annie Hur Loraine Kulik Shelley Kusnetz Photography Jordan Levine ’01 Kevin Riley Phyllis Schmaus Alexis Wolfer ’96

Editorial Assistance Jan Keshishian Adrienne Buda ’79 Anderson Gail Winter Design Evan Brown

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Fall Sports Review

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Media Literacy Takes Center Stage ~ Laura D’Onofrio: Staff Writer, Northern Valley Suburbanite

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Our Legacy - Group Photograph

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ClassNotes – Alumni Profile: Greg Schmaus ’06

Fifth graders taking wind speed measurements along the Hudson River at the Alpine Boat Basin in Palisades Interstate Park, October 2009.

Letter from the Head of School Dr. David M. Lowry

Before marriage and children, I lived in Hawaii for a year. Around the corner from my dwelling was the WikiWiki Wash-o-Mat. Wiki is a Hawaiian word for “quick” or “fast,” so when “Wikipedia” entered our lives, I got the meaning “wiki!”

When it comes to information these days, wiki is the best word to describe access; good, bad or indifferent, information and data from around the globe can be at our fingertips. With email, it even comes looking for you. Just think about your alma mater newsflashes or the EMS Wednesday Envelope, all dropped in our laps by Constant Contact or the like. Add in the articles, jokes and YouTube videos that are forwarded on to you with little to no thought about quality, your possible interest, or much of anything else. There are days that I feel it is “open season’” on my poor brain – I seek information and get more than I can use; others pour stuff in; I have to struggle to put together a defensive filter to maintain my focus. Yet, I panic when our email and internet connections go down – how will I get my work done?

Some years after my year in Hawaii, I was the head of the Lower School at Friends Seminary in Manhattan. While email had yet to enter our lives, the phone was still pretty active. “Home-School” communication was almost as intense as it is now, except that the busy signal slowed things down and there was almost no voice mail. Either you reached someone or you didn’t. The receptionists would leave pink “while you were out” slips in our mailboxes, and calls were returned: you reached them or you didn’t, and we occasionally left messages on the occasional “answering machine.” Cell phones were years away, so calls were only made when people were at home, not on the run.

One fall day, the huge Bell Telephone switching station on the corner of 14th Street and Second Avenue burned to the ground. The mechanical switches filled ten or more floors – no digital switching then. What a sight! We walked students out to Stuyvesant Park to watch the spectacle.

Pumpers, hook and ladders, police cars, sirens – I thought the kindergartners were going to explode with excitement!

And then, no phone service for almost five months! Emergency payphone banks were set up on a street nearby, and every few hours someone from school would call in for messages that had been left at our sister school in Brooklyn. Parents sent in notes with their children; the schoolhouse halls seemed so quiet without the familiar ringing.

A filter had dropped over our lives, both professional and personal – many of us lived nearby, so our phones were out, too. We communicated through mutual friends who had phone service, and we didn’t want them to have to relay “trivial” information. We became highly selective. Since communication was slow and took real effort, everyone bothered only with essentials. Time would pass and the emotion originally attached to a concern seemed to melt away. The importance of whatever it was dissolved. An unexpected peace came over the school and over our homes.

My plan for the New Year is to do a better job of constructing a filter for all the informational interferences. Perhaps to turn wiki into lohi – Hawaiian for “slow” (full disclosure: I found lohi by going to a Hawaiian dictionary from Google; it took 3 seconds).

Maybe what I am saying is that high-speed information access, some sought, some delivered without request, is here to stay. It is part of what today’s students need to be able to navigate and use successfully. They need to create some of it, too. But, as in so much of life, a balance needs to be struck. At The Elisabeth Morrow School, we try to help bring that balance into young lives, giving time to experience, play, consider, reflect and move more slowly, be it on a field trip to the Hudson, in the cooking or writing clubs, or on the playground.

May the new year give each of us some balance to the frenetic pace of all of our lives.

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GOING BEYONDTHE CLASSROOM

experiential learning in our Hudson River region

Director of Environmental Education, Gary Lyon, shows a blue crab to a group of fifth graders on a recent field trip to the Hudson River 3

HUDSON RIVER FIELDWORK and EMS ENIVRONMENTAL EDUCATION

by Gary Lyon Director of Environmental Education

As our school sits in the middle of two significant watersheds (the Hudson River drainage basin on the New York side, and the Hackensack River drainage basin on the New Jersey side, which flows into the meadowlands around Secaucus), studying the Hudson River forms an important component of the developing, environmental education curriculum at The Elisabeth Morrow School. To that end, back in October, forty excited fifth graders visited the Alpine Boat Basin for the annual, “Day in the Life of the Hudson River” fieldwork trip. This event was coordinated by the “River Project,” and was part of a multiinstitutional effort to raise awareness of The Hudson River, increasing appreciation of its vital importance and value in our daily lives.

Involving groups that ranged in age between elementary school children and university researchers, students were asked to take careful measurements of a variety of parameters that would be a sign of the state of The Hudson River. The data collected would then feed into a central database to be analyzed and interpreted, thus providing a meaningful study of the dynamics of the river and an understanding of the river’s “health.”

Elisabeth Morrow students were engaged in careful measurement of water quality parameters, such as, salinity oxygen levels and percent saturation, water temperature, nitrate levels, pH levels (acidity), chlorophyll levels and turbidity (the clarity of water). In addition, observations were made of prevailing weather conditions, such as cloud cover, wind speed and direction, and air temperature. Physical changes, such as tide changes and current speed, were also determined. Our students also had the opportunity to use a seine-net, allowing them to capture and identify fish from the Hudson River estuary.

In the past, we’ve caught a diverse array of fish, but this year only managed to capture white perch and silversides.

The Hudson River study has been a recurring aspect of the fifth grade science and social studies curriculum for a number of years. The value of this fieldwork cannot be underestimated, since it introduces students to the direct, hands-on techniques used by scientists as they conduct their own research in the field. Such applied research also develops important skills: observation, recording, and predicting.

“The Day in the Life of the Hudson River” is just one of the ways Elisabeth Morrow uses our local environment as an outdoor laboratory. Throughout the entire school, we want our curriculum to develop in our students a sense of wonder and appreciation for our temperate biome and the ecosystems that fall within it. Our third graders, for instance, study The Hackensack River Watershed and go every year to the Meadowlands for a boat trip where they learn about the tidal wetlands and witness the impact of humans on the environment.

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“The value of this fieldwork cannot be underestimated, since it introduces students to the direct, hands-on techniques used by scientists as they conduct their own research in the field.�

Even our own campus serves as a valuable workshop.

Our students use the Wharton-Lessin Forest and the associated brook as study sites for environmental activities. We have constructed a pond to complement our studies of the brook. The pond has several catfish, some goldfish, numerous frogs, including developing bullfrog tadpoles and (we hope) two surviving red-eared terrapins.

Students learn how to manage the pond and that it is also maintained by rainwater runoff. Elisabeth Morrow also has a bathhouse, a weather station, and a number of gardens.

In the vegetable garden, students have sown and harvested squashes, tomatoes, Indian corn, sunflower seeds, beans, basil, potatoes and much more. The vegetables are then used to prepare delicious meals in our school kitchen. As well, pokeweed berries and acorns have been harvested and used to produce dyes for wool, then knitted or weaved into fabric. We also have a wildlife friendly garden that provides splendid displays of color along with a variety of blooms and blossoms. These gardens also attract a variety of animal species to our campus: cautious deer, tentative turkeys, cunning and furtive red fox, malodorous skunks, cute cottontail rabbits and corpulent groundhogs have graced our garden.

Students use these gardens for research and observation.

Maintenance is also important, as we pass through the autumn equinox; students learn to prepare for the next growing season. Leftover material from the gardens is composted and the students begin to plant colorful bulbs for next spring.

The Elisabeth Morrow School has easy access to the Hudson River, easy access to many parks and preserves in our region, and even easier access to our own small biome on campus, just outside our classroom doors. Very convenient, true, but more importantly our students are able to experience environmental science directly; beyond just reading or seeing, our students are doing. Clearly, when students are active participants in the lessons, the lessons have greater impact. To keep matters in perspective, we know that preparing students for high school, and eventually college, has taken on new dimensions in the twenty-first century. As important as it is to get our students thinking globally or using technology effectively, we must also educate our children about the environment, as many signs seem to indicate that conditions are changing drastically. The Elisabeth Morrow School has taken significant initial steps to making environmental science and stewardship an integral part of its curriculum. And not just a class here and there or a dedicated club or two, we are trying to make sustainability and environmental studies part of our core, from age three to grade eight, in hopes our students will carry with them a lifelong understanding and passion for protecting the planet.

Opposite Page Top: What was in the bucket? A blue crab. And it really is blue.

Middle: Ms. Grossman demonstrating the use of wind gauges Bottom: Mr. Lyons starts the fieldwork day at the Alpine Boat Basin along the shores of the Hudson River.

This Page Top: Mr. Lyon and Ms. Riley use a field guide to aid in identifying the fish they caught with the seine net.

Bottom: Dr. Day leads a group in testing water quality.

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Battlefield classroom: While students gathered in front of the replecated revolutionary war, military encamplment, guides talked about life in camp and demonstrated the use of muskets.

A LIVINg CURRICULUM: THE HuDSON RIVER AS HISTORICAL RESOuRCE

by Sanda Cohen Phyllis Grossman Jackie Riley Fifth-Grade Teachers

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Anyone familiar with the Hudson River’s history knows that it served as a vital highway into the continent for merchants and military in the early days of our nation. And, having the Hudson River within a few miles of our campus offers our students an incredible opportunity to interact with and experience a landmark that played a significant role in the development of our country.

Beyond reading about the river, we try to have our fifth graders experience it. On trips to Stony Point Battle Ground and the United States Military Academy at West Point, they were asked to walk along the water’s edge imagining the area free of buildings, bridges and roads, while discussing the imposing beauty of the river valley Henry Hudson and his men would have observed, 400 years ago. Our visit to these sites also provided us with an understanding of the river’s military importance during the revolutionary war as these locations played strategic roles in hindering the British from transporting vital

“Beyond reading about the river, we try to have our fifth graders experience it.� supplies between their Manhattan base and their forts upriver. Seeing the Hudson River Chain and the open views of the river for cannon fire helped the students see the strategy used by the Continental Army to prevent British boats from passing.

On other trips, to Greenbrook Nature Sanctuary and on a sailing trip up river on the Hudson River Sloop, Clearwater, our fifth graders explored first-hand the various habitats and societies connected to the river.

They also learned about the environmental importance of the river, the role it plays in our lives today, and gained appreciation for the people who have dedicated their lives to keeping it clean.

In our study of the Hudson River, we feel that it is vital that we establish a sense of continuum; to experience and to understand this significant region as it exists over time.

This can not be done with just text books or the internet. That’s why at Elisabeth Morrow, whenever possible, we make strides to bring our students on-site, to the scenes where history happened, to the locations that hold meaning for our society. In this way, our students move beyond the classroom and the places we visit, like the Hudson River, become essential resources within a living curriculum.

Top: fifth-grader Kate Buquicchio points out over the Hudson River from the remarkable vantage point at Stony Point Battlefield State Park.

Middle: guides, in revolutionary-era costume, talked about military life in the eighteenth century.

Bottom: Students learned about and examined period artifacts.

THE VIEW FROM HERE A few images from the Elisabeth Morrow School • August to November, 2009

Above: Sunflowers grow in the Grace Muller Courtyard.

As well this summer, cherry tomatoes, squash, pumpkins and purple beans showed up in the courtyard. Elisabeth Morrow students learn to grow, harvest and prepare everything in our gardens.

Right: Two EMS boys warm up for a soccer match against Tenefly Middle School.

Opposite: Students enjoying the many treats and activities of Family Field Day back in September.

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2009 Family Field Day A special thank you to our chairs, Ted and Teddy Hunter and Jay and Kelli Agresta (above), for organizing this wonderful event.

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Above: A fall tradition; children from Chilton House and Little School come up to Morrow House to sing songs around the apple tree.

Right: Dangerous in pink; The Girls’ Volleyball team lost only one game this season.

Here special pink shirts commemorate their final game and their fundraiser for breast cancer awareness.

Above: One student’s take on global education at EMS. Above Right: Fifth grade hall: getting ready to head outside.

Right: Preparing to play at a Little School assembly.

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Morrow Society Members of the Morrow Society gathered at a reception graciously hosted

by Eugene and Julie Diaz in their home.

First celebrated more than twenty years ago, the Morrow Society honors members of our community whose generosity, at leadership levels, significantly enriches the unique educational experience at The Elisabeth Morrow School. We thank them all.

Top: Cecilia Mercado, Shari Brooks and Michael Pizzillo Middle Left: Jayne Gurland Lein, Mankyu and Doran Park, Kyungae and Seungchae Chung Middle Right: Jennifer Shaia, Rosemary Mills Russell and Gregory Shaia Bottom: Eugene and Juila Diaz with Dr. David Lowry

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From Chilton House:

Elisabeth Morrow Adopts a New Handwriting Program

by Beth Anne Brennan Director of Early Childhood Programs The topic of handwriting skills, fading within the curriculum of many schools, is often featured in newspapers and articles, and debated in educational circles across the country. The faculty at Elisabeth Morrow weighed in on these debates, did some research, consulted with occupational therapists, and recently reevaluated our own teaching practices for developing the skills of handwriting. We found that a change would be beneficial for all learners; thus the Handwriting Without Tears program was adopted this fall.

Handwriting is an essential skill for children and remains the primary tool of communication for young learners. Poor handwriting has been linked to poor spelling, poor note-taking skills, and an aversion to writing in later grades.1 Our goal in teaching handwriting in the Early Childhood Program is that it should be automatic (done without thinking about it), neat and performed quickly. As well, our teaching should focus on the needs of all types of learners.

We felt that the Handwriting Without Tears program provided a multi-sensory approach, designed to make fluent handwriting an intuitive skill.

More than just pencil-in-hand, the program uses play dough, wood pieces to build letters, dry erase boards, chalk boards and songs about letters (order and rhyme). The variety of materials enables our children to explore, manipulate, or play with letters during center time in school. Each of these materials has specific objectives in mind for the varying stages of handwriting development. So far, we are finding that the techniques for instruction are uniform, meaning that letter formation builds upon basic shapes and strokes—a process that makes sense for teachers, parents and most importantly, children.

The Handwriting Without Tears program has been in use for over thirty-five years and occupational therapists and educators have been steadily advocating its implementation as handwriting problems increase due to keyboard use becoming more prevalent. At Elisabeth Morrow, the program has already met with favorable results.

One of our Kindergarten teachers recently commented on how much she loved teaching handwriting this year: “The children are having meaningful experiences manipulating letters, and I am noticing that more children are having success transferring their learning to their written work.”

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Pictured Left: Handwriting Without Tears offers children a variety of tools to help understand and create the shapes and strokes necessary to form letters: these tools include, playdough, wooden sticks, magnetic boards, chalkboards, and workbooks.

Feder, K.P., & Majnemer, A. (2007). “Handwriting development, competency,

and intervention.” Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 49, 312-317

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BEYOND EMS The Secondary School Application Process at The Elisabeth Morrow School

By Aaron Cooper, Assistant Head of School

At Elisabeth Morrow, we are as committed to guidance as we are to providing an outstanding education. The Secondary School application process is all about finding the right match for each of our students. We encourage our students to play a more active role in their next academic steps. Despite the anxiety and stress that inevitably accompanies this process, applying to secondary school is a wonderful learning opportunity for our thirteen- and fourteen-year-old students. The high school search process assists in the development of self-knowledge, sense of identity and emerging interests; it is an invaluable time to establish student and parent goals, and measure the student’s character and preferences against available academic experiences in an effort to find an ideal “fit.” Fortunately, there are plenty of secondary school options available to students and families. In the past four years, Elisabeth Morrow students have been accepted at sixtynine different, exceptional high schools. Of those sixty-nine schools, our students have enrolled in thirty-eight, as detailed on the next page.

Applying to secondary school formally begins in the spring of the seventh-grade year when Elisabeth Morrow hosts the following events: a general orientation meeting, a parent panel consisting of graduates’ parents, and a secondary school fair consisting of admissions 14

representatives from two dozen different schools. Parents are also invited to meet individually with the Assistant Head of School, Mr. Cooper (who oversees the application process) during the seventh-grade spring or summer to speak specifically about their child and family, and to create a preliminary list of potential school “matches.”

There is much for families to consider: Public or private? Large school or small? Urban or rural? Near, far, or somewhere in between?

Religious or secular? Single sex or coeducational? Boarding school or day school?

What academic programs are offered? Are sports important? Are the arts important? What about college placement? Or technology? How about culture? Communication is the key throughout the process. In the eighth-grade year, Mr. Cooper is in regular contact with the families as they visit schools and trim to a final list of applications. At the same time, we offer our students a once-a-week course, called Decisions, to assist them with aspects of the application process, such as interviewing skills, test-taking strategies, essay writing skills, and tips on managing the process. Throughout the eighth-grade winter and early spring, students and families make their official choices. Look for results from the class of 2010 in HEADlines this spring.

Seconday School Placement Timeline April, 7th grade: May, 7th grade: Fall, 8th grade: Fall-Winter, 8th grade: Winter, 8th grade: Late Winter-Spring, 8th grade:

Orientation meeting; Parent Panel Secondary School Fair; Individual meetings Visit schools; Interview; ISEE/SSAT test Application deadlines (vary by school) Notifications (vary by school) Family decisions (vary by school)

The Elisabeth Morrow School: Secondary School Placements, 2006 – 2009 Name of School Enrollments Dwight-Englewood School 21 Bergen County Academies 11 Riverdale Country School 7 Ethical Culture Fieldston School 7 Horace Mann School 6 The Masters School 6 Don Bosco Prep 5 Academy of the Holy Angels 5 The Dwight School 4 Hackley School 3 Montclair Kimberley Academy 3 Peddie School 3 Loomis Chaffee High School 3 The Frisch School 3 Blair Academy 2 Englewood Academies 2 American School 2 Bergen County Technical Schools 2 Phillips Exeter Academy 2 St. George's School 2

Name of School Enrollments Green Meadow Waldorf School 2 Saddle River Day School 1 Bergen Catholic High School 1 Paramus Catholic High School 1 Newark Academy 1 York Prep 1 Choate Rosemary Hall 1 The Hotchkiss School 1 Berkshire School 1 The Calhoun School 1 Columbia Grammar and 1 Preparatory School The Dalton School 1 Immaculate Heart Academy 1 Portsmouth Abbey School 1 Regis High School 1 South Kent School 1 The Spence School 1 Trinity School 1

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FALL SPORTS REVIEW Girls’ Soccer

Girls’ Tennis

The girls’ soccer team should be extremely proud of the progress they made over the course of their first season at The Elisabeth Morrow School. Gaining experience with every game, they learned the position basics, ball-handling skills and the importance of fitness in game situations. With a short roster, they often lacked subs: the girls played for almost all of the entire ninety minutes of each game. Emily Latinsky and Jaclyn Schmaus scored all of our goals, and Mimi Goss with Colette Daibes led a strong defensive line.

Taylor May began as an offensive player, but soon proved to be a strong defender who fought hard for possession. Ali Myers and Samantha Kirsch started out as our only two goalkeepers, but were soon joined by Isabella Oropeza.

Ashley Bryan was strong as a midfielder and helped keep the ball in the opposing team's side for most of our final game against Dwight-Englewood. We look forward to next year and another great season from the girls’ soccer team. ~ Coach Tammy McKenna

Season highlights: • Emily Gruber wins her first tennis match vs Horace Mann on the exhibition court.

• Emma Loring plays an hour-long, court-three, singles match against an older, more experienced eighth grader from Saddle River.

• Phoebe Mattana has a winning season and plays an epic match to a tie-break loss against Saddle River’s #1 player.

• Natsuko Takashima finds her forehand and hits her way to a win vs. Dwight on court-three singles in the team’s first victory.

• Leah Primak has an undefeated season on court one.

• Doubles powerhouses, Sofiya Joseph, Carolina Zuluaga, Ana Bandazian, Emma Loring and Lena Woo work together to deliver consistent wins for the team.

• Exhibition experts, Isabella Martin, Natasha Nouri, Phoebe Gennardo, Emily Rule, Emily Gruber and Simona Newman-Ladjen show great improvement, support the team and play with confidence every week.

• Best day ever? Our surprise trip to Ben and Jerry’s or our first five-court victory over Dwight?

Boys’ Soccer The boys’ soccer team had a good year. Defensively, the team was lead by eighth graders, Benny Kesslen and Sam Loring, as well as sixth-grade goalkeeper, Sang Uk Park.

Offensively, Basil Williams, Jacob Hyman and Teddy Swenson led the team in scoring this year. The Eagles had big wins against Dwight-Engelwood and Collegiate School as well as a hard-fought tie against Montclair Kimberley.

Andrew Abrahamsen and Jacob Solheim showed their diversity by playing many positions for the Eagles. The boys worked hard in practice and in games and showed nice improvement throughout the season (as was demonstrated by our opening 7-3 loss to Saddle River but then keeping things really close in our 2-1 loss against the Rebels the second time around). ~ Coach Andy Escala

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The Girls’ Tennis team had an outstanding inaugural season.

They worked hard as a team, supported each other and improved their skills and strategies. In practice, we focused on consistency, stroke production, and both singles and doubles strategy. In matches, we played three courts of singles, two courts of doubles, and three courts of exhibition doubles—everyone played and the team spirit was fantastic.

Our final record was three wins and three losses, an excellent showing. Congratulations on a great season girls! ~ Coach Martha Loring

Girls’ Volleyball

Boys’ and Girls’ Cross-Country

The Girls’ Volleyball team enjoyed a winning season with a record of 8-1. Although it was a rebuilding year with only two players returning (Rebecca Federman and Zoe Homonoff), the girls pulled together and worked hard on developing their skills, and achieved much success.

The first game of the season was away at Montclair Kimberley Academy (MKA) where the team grabbed its first win. The girls went on to beat Tenafly MS on three separate occasions and scored a victory over Horace Mann when they came to play at EMS. We had a narrow win against DwightEnglewood, and an easy win when MKA played us again at home. The girls took their perfect record (7-0) to Riverdale, N.Y., on October 29 to play Horace Mann. It was a battle in the first game, going into overtime, and EMS came up with the win. Horace Mann came back strong in the second game and then won in the tie-breaking match, giving our girls their first and only loss of the season. The season ended at home with a game against Dwight-Englewood in a packed gym. The first game was extremely close and EMS lost, however, they were able to re-group and came back in the second game and tie-breaker, and won the match in front of a roaring crowd.

The girls individually and collectively provided many highlights during their winning season. Eighth grader and all around player, Rebecca Federman, proved invaluable in many of the close matches with critical, game-winning service aces. Elizabeth Harris and veteran Zoe Homonoff added much support to the defense of this inexperienced team. Offensively, Lauren Dickerson, Vivica Riley, and Selen Nehrozoglu kept the ball moving over the net, while Rafaela Peralta-Vasquez, Caroline Myers and Sara Merker honed their setting skills. Congratulations girls on a great season! ~ Coach Ginny Smith

The Elisabeth Morrow Cross Country team had one of its most successful seasons in 2009. The boys’ and girls’ teams (they practice together but race separately) trained hard on the hilly roads around the school all season.

Runners were focused on improving their times and performances in each of our seven races. In addition to the two smaller meets at Tenafly Middle School, the team raced in weekly invitationals at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, considered one of the oldest and most famous cross country facilities in the United States. The boys’ race typically has around two hundred runners from twenty teams and the girls’ race consists of seventy-five runners from ten schools (as a number of boys-only schools participate).

Throughout the season, the team had many good performances. At the championship race on November 11, each team member focused on running his or her best race of the season. Most succeeded. The boys’ team came in 4th overall, behind Collegiate, Trinity and The School of Columbia University, and ahead of schools such as Horace Mann, Riverdale and Buckley. Individually, Joe Del Rio (grade 8) placed 6th in a time of 10:03 (about 6:12 per mile) and Greg Hyer (8) placed 9th in a time of 10:17 (about 6:22 per mile): Zach Walsh (8) placed 37th, Carter Hirschhorn (6) placed 53rd and Michael Anagnos (8) placed 54th. The girls also finished fourth overall, as Egan Sachs-Hecht (7) placed 8th in 11:56 (7:22 per mile) coming across the line first for the Eagles. Egan was followd by Rachel Park (8) 11th, Eva Gurian (7) 17th, Sandrine Yesilian (7) 22nd and Caitlin Ferrarese (8) 38th. In all, it was an excellent season, with 5 boys and 4 girls posting times in the top-ten in Elisabeth Morrow history. Egan’s time ranks as the best-ever time for a girl on the Van Cortlandt Park course. ~ Coach Aaron Cooper

GO EAGLES! 17

Marty Keltz, executive producer of the 1995 film ‘The Indian in the Cupboard,’ oversees students at Elisabeth Morrow School as they work creatively on their computers. The students, part of the Machinama Club, use the virtual world Second Life to help them create movies.

(Photo: Kevin Riley)

MEDIA LITERACY TAKES CENTER STAgE

BY LAURA D’ONOFRIO, STAFF WRITER, NORTHERN VALLEY SUBURBANITE

As we move to the 21st century, things are changing faster and faster. It is no longer a material world, it’s a digital world. Elisabeth Morrow School is at the forefront in bringing this reality to the educational curriculum.

Last week Marty Keltz, the executive producer of the 1995 movie “An Indian in the Cupboard,” visited the Machinama Club, whose name is derived from machine and cinema.

The club is a place where students act and use computers to create movies. The films are made by combining student acting and their self-created digital selves also known as avatars. This is done through a Web site called Second Life. Second Life is a 3-D, virtual universe where users can interact, socialize and create societies using voice and text chat.

Keltz had much to say on the importance of this method of learning and creating. It seems everything these days can be done through computers and the Internet. This is the new literacy of the 21st century and educator Marianne Malmstrom is bringing this revolution to Elisabeth Morrow.

“The work Marianne is doing through the avatar persona is being followed by K-12 teachers all across the country and the world. It is the cutting edge and where education needs to be,” said Keltz. “Literacy used to be decoding black dots and knowing the meaning of words singularly and together. Today literacy is television, blogging and gaming. Education was traditionally defined as knowledge transferred; now it is knowledge manipulated. If you have a kid who has created a Webkin or has a Club Penguin character and you hand them a crayon to color in the lines, there is a complete disconnect. That kind of education is dangerously out of touch with the reality these kids and the

world is in.” Sam Loring is a student with a real knack for the digital work. “I really have fun working with Second Life and the virtual world. You can do whatever you want and there is always new inspiration. The digital world is the future,” he said. “I even participated in a film called ‘No Future Left Behind.’ We made it with students from Ramapo middle school whom we had never met all through connecting on Second Life. It is a film about kids the real world rhyming about their role in the future and those adults can’t take that away from them.”

Malmstrom even got Keltz to her classroom through Second Life. “I have been doing a lot with media literacy but it is hard to find people doing this in education. We have been really developing this on our own. But there was this huge conference on Second Life, it was running 24 hours a day with several different workshops. It was there that I connected with Marty,” she said.

All this digital training seems to appeal to the creative side of many of the students, not just the logical and technical end.

Samantha Kirsch, in the seventh grade, explained the handiwork needed while working in Second Life. “It is interesting. Not only do you see cool things others have made, but you can build yourself. Whatever you want— cars, boats, you can fly,” she said. “There are so many different things you can do on the computer.

It is the future.”

Reprinted with Permission, courtesy of Northern Valley Suburbanite • NorthJersey.com

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Our Legacy It is a unique honor when alums select The Elisabeth Morrow School for their children. This year, we have the privledge to teach forty-three children whose parents were once students here.

ThankYou! Than you to the students for taking time out to pose for this unique picture. And to the faculty and administrators who assisted in getting the children down to Little School for the photograph.

The students (along with their parents) are identified below.

STUDENT 1. Isabella Oropeza 2. Olivia Oropeza 3. Alex Lien 4. Emily Insana 5. Abby Rivoir 6. Carter Hischhorn 7. Julia Hyman 8. Eva Gurian 9. Katie Anderson 10. Alex Borg 11. Jacob Hyman 12. Alex Imperatore 13. Daniel Lein 14. Galen Raab 15. Austin Borg 16. Thomas Insana 17. Anna Insana 18. Zoe Hyman 19. Augusta Imperatore 20. Amelia Anderson 21. Christian Maloney 22. Matthew Gerber 23. Ava Chiocco 24. Sara Rivoir 25. Anya Swift 26. Maurizio Miglietta 27. Shant Amerkanian 28. Enzo Fata 29. Zoe Swift 30. Garo Amerkanian 31. Jacqueline Cohen 32. Francesca Fata 33. Joseph Agresta 34. Charles Oropeza 35. Alexander Cox 36. Garrett Escala 37. Charles Borg 38. Ian Maloney 39. Agatha Hershey 40. Sareena Parikh 41. Hunter Escala 42. Alessandra Miglietta 43. Harrison White

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PARENTS Mr. and Mrs. David Oropeza ’75 Mr. and Mrs. David Oropeza ’75 Mr. Lawrence Lein and Mrs. Jayne Gurland ’67 Lein Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Insana (Melinda Panella ’82) Mr. Thomas Rivoir and Mrs. Theresa Chin ’72 Rivoir Mr. and Mrs. Eric Hischhorn (Hilary Sprung ’75) Dr. Joshua Hyman ’75 and Ms. Elizabeth Corsini Mrs. Susan Gurian (Douglas Gurian ’75) Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Anderson (Adrienne Buda ’79) Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Borg ’80 Dr. Joshua Hyman ’75 and Ms. Elizabeth Corsini Mr. and Ms. Arthur Imperatore, Jr. ’75 Mr. Lawrence Lein and Mrs. Jayne Gurland ’67 Lein Dr. Rajnik Weerackody Raab ’78 Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Borg ’80 Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Insana (Melinda Panella ’82) Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Insana (Melinda Panella ’82) Dr. Joshua Hyman ’75 and Ms. Elizabeth Corsini Mr. and Ms. Arthur Imperatore, Jr. ’75 Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Anderson (Adrienne Buda ’79) Mr. Peter Maloney and Ms. Felicia Zeckauskas ’74 Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Gerber (Amy Shlafer ’75) Mr. George Chiocco and Mrs. Kimberly Agresta-Chiocco ’75 Mr. Thomas Rivoir and Mrs. Theresa Chin ’72 Rivoir Mr. Joshua Swift and Ms. Sonali Weerackody Dr. and Mrs. Maurizio Miglietta (Courtney Meyers ’81) Mr. George Amerkanian and Dr. Natalie Capan-Amerkanian ’84 Mr. and Mrs. Roberto Fata ’80 Mr. Joshua Swift and Ms. Sonali Weerackody Mr. George Amerkanian and Dr. Natalie Capan-Amerkanian ’84 Mr. and Mrs. James Cohen ’70 Mr. and Mrs. Roberto Fata ’80 Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Agresta, Jr. ’78 Mr. and Mrs. David Oropeza ’75 Mr. William Cox and Ms. Dana Romita-Cox Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Escala ’83 Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Borg ’80 Mr. Peter Maloney and Ms. Felicia Zeckauskas ’74 Mr. and Mrs. Adam Hershey Mr. and Mrs Saumil Parikh ’87 Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Escala ’83 Dr. and Mrs. Maurizio Miglietta (Courtney Meyers ’81) Mr. and Mrs. Sean White (Alexandra Brill-Edwards)

ELISABETH MORROW ALUMNI Evan Brown, Director of Communications and Alumni · 435 Lydecker Street, Englewood, NJ 07631 · 201-568-5566 · alumni@elisabethmorrow.org

CLASSNOTES ’41

’81

Jim Webster writes,” After fourteen years, still liking Nevada— and what’s not to like? We have lots of sun, we have seasons, outdoors very accessible and no state income tax.”

Andrew Bonanno joined Kohlberg & Company as Managing Director of Business Development.

’46 Tonin Mersch MacCallum writes: “Still working full time as an interior designer in my own firm, by my own name, and have been since 1974. Still traveling as much as is humanly possible, most recently to Scotland this past spring. Luckily the weather was gorgeous. Still going to our house in Watermill every weekend.”

Jason Rand together with his brother, David ’90, recently launched Harrison Rand Marketing and Communications in Guttenberg, New Jersey. Prior to this, Jason was a Creative Director with RDA International.

Thomas Taccetta was featured in the Sunday New York Times, on ABC’s Nightline and on South Florida Today, for people in finance who consult psychics.

’60

’88

John Seidel, Ph. D. is a Psychologist working in Greenwich, CT. He has two children; a daughter, 17, who attends performing arts school and a son, 18, who plays hockey.

John’s hobbies are sea kayaking and camping.

Beth Thomas Cohen has been working in the fashion business for the past twelve years. Recently, she started a PR firm, B’ Squared, specializing in the representation of emerging luxury and accessory designers.

’63

’89

Richard Hunter writes: “the recession has lapped the shore of the Virgin Islands and, for some industries—like tourism—has washed over the beaches. Fortunately, the practice of law has remained strong here. Our two boys are now nine and eleven.

Our eldest son, Ryan, is sailing in regattas and learning piano.

Robert has read every book in the house.

Danny Forster is the principle of his own Brooklyn-based design firm, Danny Forster Design Studio, and a teaching associate at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. You may also catch Danny on television, as he is the host of Discovery Channel’s, Build It Bigger.

’69

David Rand together with his brother, Jason ’81, recently launched Harrison Rand Marketing and Communications in Guttenberg, New Jersey.

Stefan A. D. Bucek was recently promoted to Regional Production Manager for Comcast-California Production Group.

’70 Rob Brisk writes, “I am having a very good time heading The Wellington School, in Columbus, OH. We are in our third year here after eight wonderful years in Oregon. My two sons are Wellingtonians; Billy entering ninth grade and Ben entering seventh. My wife, Monica, works for the Fatherhood Commission in the governor’s office, working to reduce absenteeism among fathers.”

’90

Reshan Richards was married this past June and is currently in his second year of his doctoral program at the Teachers College, Columbia University.

Alexis DiStefano Stewart lives in New York City with her husband and 2 1⁄2-year-old daughter, Riley.

’92 Shari Levy is currently attending Brooklyn Law School.

’74 Rumors abound that “Uncle John” - John A. Borg - has been seen at Elisabeth Morrow visiting his nephews, Alexander, Austin and Charles.

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Top: Kristen Lorello and Eric Piazza, both Class of 1994, visted The Elisabeth Morrow School last May to talk about their education and careers with eighth graders.

Above: Jordan Levine ’01, President of the Penn Democrats, here pictured with then Vice-Presidential candidate, Joe Biden Right: Alexis Wolfer ’96, has recently launched her own on-line beauty magazine, www.beautybean.com

’93

’96

Jillian Fascitelli graduated from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University this year.

Alexis Wolfer has recently launched an online beauty magazine, The Beauty Bean (thebeautybean.com), created to “promote better body image while maintaining the glamour of every woman’s favorite monthly glossy.”

Nicholas Topjian is currently the founder of Redpoll Group LLC., a Beijing-based firm that helps international companies succeed in China. Nicholas resides in Beijing but travels frequently to the United States and Europe.

’94 Samantha Brenner received her Masters in Public Health from Harvard last year, and her M.D. from New York University this past summer. Currently she works in the Office of Business Development at NYU Medical Center.

Caitlin DiStefano married Michael Zucker on November 21, 2009, and they are living in New York City.

Kristen Lorello, along with her former classmate, Eric Piazza, visited The Elisabeth Morrow School last spring to talk with eight graders about education and careers. Kristen, a former Fulbright Scholar, is now the Associate Director of Eleven Rivington Art Gallery in Manhattan.

Charlotte Mouquin is a painter and has recently become involved with Brooklyn Artist’s Gym, in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

’99 Daniel Zane Maroti is a University of Vermont graduate, he currently attends the Philadelphia Institute of Art where he is studying photography.

’00 Raina Bretan is now a senior at Skidmore where she was elected Student Government President. She is currently working on law school applications.

Andrew Margaritis will be graduating from Franklin and Marshall College in May. From there, he will be working for an international manufacturer in New York City.

’01 Jordan Levine A junior at the University of Pennsylvania serves as the President of the Penn Democrats. He spent the summer as an intern for Anita Dunn, President Obama’s Communications Director. He is pictured on this page with Vice President, Joe Biden.

Anoop Nebhnani currently resides in Paris and completing his MBA at INSEAD.

’03

Eric Piazza, along with his former classmate, Kristen Lorello, visited The Elisabeth Morrow School last spring to talk with eighth graders about education and careers. Eric owns his own real estate company, Eric Piazza Real Estate, in Manhattan. He is also an avid triathlete, competing in events around the world.

After graduating from Horace Mann, David Maroti is now attending Washington University in St. Louis where he is majoring in Chemical Engineering.

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Darien John Amirsaleh is currently attending Georgetown University where he is a Political Economy major.

Emma Meyers is attending Johns Hopkins University.

Alumni Profile:

GREG SCHMAUS ’06

Four years. Not a lot of time, right? But consider this: our Elisabeth Morrow ’06 grads are high school seniors now. They are filling out college applications, writing essays, maintaining their grades (when most of them have just about had it up to their eyeballs with academic assignments) and experiencing acute uncertainty about what they’re going to do or where they’re going to be after they “walk” with their class in June.

But it’s not a problem for Greg Schmaus, Class of 2006, as he’s in the driver’s seat. Or rather, he’s holding the driver, as Greg, who attended Hackley and Northern Highlands after Elisabeth Morrow, is now a senior at Hank Haney* International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head, South Carolina. As a result of his successful high school career, his training at IJGA, along with his current course average of 71 (including a record 66, shot this summer in Hilton Head), Greg is fielding athletic scholarship opportunities from a number of NCAA Division 1 universities. “I am very excited for what the future holds,” he says, “for college, I plan on staying all four years and graduating....I am leaning toward studying business while incorporating sports management. After that, the plan is to turn professional and try and play the PGA Tour.”

Greg’s passion for golf came early and was strongly encouraged: “I started going to the driving range with my dad and brother when I was nine or ten. After a few trips to the range, I was hooked. Every summer after that, my parents sent me and my brother to the Nike Golf Camp at Williams College.…My parents have always supported my passions. My mom would usually be the one travelling to my tournaments and would walk every hole of every round. She would keep my score and give me insights. They have sacrificed family time and vacations for me to pursue this.”

Attending The Elisabeth Morrow School from the fourth grade, Greg has many fond memories of this school and his teachers: “I attended EMS from fourth to eighth grade. I found it to be such a great community to grow in and develop a foundation for my studies and as an individual. Some of my best teachers include Ms. Kris, Mrs. Bower, Mr. Penny, Mr. Love, Mr. Escala, and Mr. Cooper. They taught me respect, responsibility, and a solid work ethic. At EMS, I learned values that I incorporate everyday in life and on the golf course.”

For now, Greg remains focused. His daily schedule in South Carolina is rigorous: mornings spent in class, afternoons out on the course, or range, and evenings spent in the gym. “I believe if I never quit and continue to work hard….If I keep improving, remain positive, and have trust in myself and my support (family, friends, coaches), I will fulfill my dream of competing against the best in the world.” * Hank Haney is the coach of Mark O’Meara and Tiger Woods.

Greg when he was an Elisabeth Morrow soccer standout.

’06 Arielle Isackson currently attends the University of Michigan, majoring in Psychology and History.

Allison Perelman is now a senior at Horace Mann School, was captain of the field hockey team along with being editor-inchief of Prime, a math magazine she founded with her friends.

Currently, she is applying to college.

’07 Rachel Lubliner is attending The Dwight School.

’08 Daniel Ackerman is a sophomore and enjoys attending Trinity School. He reports that he gets to see his Elisabeth Morrow friends on the weekends.

Gregory Chassapis sends thanks to all of his teachers at Elisabeth Morrow. Gregory is currently attending Don Bosco Prep where he plays JV soccer, and participates in the French honors society, and is a member of the Model UN. At a conference at the United Nations, he recently won the Best Delegate Award.

Matthew Meyers is attending Bergen County Academies.

Ariana Panbechi is enjoying Dwight-Englewood School, where she plays Varsity Volleyball, Basketball and Softball. She writes, “I still keep in touch with many of my old classmates; they’ll always be my best friends.”

Brian Sullivan is attending Don Bosco Prep.

’09 Chase Harnett is attending Berkshire Academy in Sheffield, MA and loving it.

Saundra Kornbluth is in her first year at Dwight-Englewood School where she is a member of the cast of the fall play and joined the basketball team. She writes: “EMS has done an amazing job of preparing me for high school.”

Emily Perelman is in her first year at Horace Mann School.

She has been busy: “I played varsity field hockey, I am a service learning coordinator and a student ambassador.”

Da Yeon Song is currently attending Dwight-Englewood School.

Molly Williams writes, “I miss my wonderful teachers and friends at EMS. I will definitely be coming back for a visit.”

Molly is in her first year at The Dalton School.

Send uS your newS: alumni@eliSabethmorrow.org

A New Alumni Directory The Elisabeth Morrow School is working with Harris Connect The Elisabeth Morrow School Alumni are scattered across the country and even around the world. But no matter where their lives have led them, our alumni all share a common bond--and that's the place they started out.

That's why The Elisabeth Morrow School is working on a new publication designed to help bring our alumni back together. This new alumni directory will include comprehensive biographical listings with contact information, career overviews, and family highlights of our graduates. Plus, a special section about the school will help you reminisce as you read about our past and learn what's in store for the future.

To make sure our directory is as up to date as possible, our publisher, Harris Connect, will begin contacting alumni soon to verify that the information we will print is accurate and complete.

Harris Connect has more than 45 years experience researching and publishing alumni and membership directories.

Please help us make this publication full of the latest information about you and your fellow alumni. It will be a fun and useful reference, as well as helpful in keeping people in touch with one another.

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there are some things that spark

“a passion for learning”

– for that, there’s the apple tree Fund. the apple tree Fund helps our teachers engage students in learning through projects and activities that inspire excellence. at the elisabeth morrow School, education is about challenging students and nurturing a spirit of inquiry. our students are excited about learning. they learn to reason, think independently and solve problems. opportunities abound to develop individual talents in their classrooms, in the arts and on the athletics fields. they are engaged in community service projects and develop a moral compass, working cooperatively with integrity. they develop “a passion for learning.”

Please support our passion with a generous gift today.

Office of Development 435 Lydecker Street, Englewood, NJ 07631 212-568-5566 x 7222 plippe@elisabethmorrow.org www.elisabethmorrow.org

www.elisabethmorrow.org > giving

HOW ABOUT THAT...

Elisabeth Morrow students are among the few middle schoolers who present experiments to the public during Chemistry Week at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. Pictured here, from left, with protective goggles: Dr. Lowry, Mrs. Weeks, Emily Rule, Simona Newman-Ladjen and Emily Gruber.

The Elisabeth Morrow School 435 Lydecker Street Englewood, NJ 07631 www.elisabethmorrow.org 201-568-5566

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