THE ADMISSIONS MAGAZINE OF EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
Christine Albertsson ’83, P ’17 ARC HITECT
M AKIN G THEIR MARK
Jennifer Teachworth ’07
(page 14) Describe Emma in two words: Liberating and magical What’s your favorite Emma tradition? Ring Week, when the seniors dressed juniors up and we had to guess themes. I was dressed as Samara from The Ring. Who is one of your female heroines and why? Rosalind Franklin, who received no recognition for her brilliance. To be a woman in an investigative science field is to face latent discrimination regularly. Not losing one’s focus as a result of such obstacles is remarkable. What music is on your playlist? Tori Amos, Kamaiyah, Florence Welch, Neko Case
Rachel Birnboim Kochman ’93
(page 26) Describe Emma in two words: Open minded What’s your favorite Emma tradition? Morning school-wide assembly Who is one of your female heroines and why? Zaha Hadid—female architect who stood up for what she believed and broke many barriers, despite much criticism, and set an example for others to be strong. What music is on your playlist? Ray Charles’ “Oh What a Beautiful Morning”—so inspiring to start the day.
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THE ADMISSIONS MAGAZINE OF EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
Erin Pihlaja
Head of Communications epihlaja@emmawillard.org Jamie Hicks-Furgang
Director of Enrollment Jhicks@emmawillard.org Megan Tady
Managing Editor www.word-lift.com Lilly Pereira
Designer www.lillypereira.com Dr. Susan R. Groesbeck
Head of School, Interim
F E AT U R E S
14 Temporary Shelter
The “Hurricane Katrina” girls, ten years later.
20 A New Foundation
Hands-on physics classes bolster all sciences. Emma Willard School 285 Pawling Avenue Troy, NY 12180 518.833.1787 alumnae@emmawillard.org or www.emmawillard.org/alumnae Signature, the magazine of Emma Willard School is published by the Communications Office two times each year for alumnae, parents, grandparents, and friends of Emma Willard School. The mission of this magazine is to capture the school’s values and culture through accurate and objective stories about members of the Emma community, past and present, as they put Emma Willard’s mark on the world.
26 Brick, Stone, and Light
Emma architects share their work and wisdom.
D E PA R T M E N T S
02 From the Triangle
12 Faculty Voices
Commencement 2016, serving the community, space travel, national rowing champions, teamwork in basketball, meet the new head of communications, and more.
Q&A with Director of Research Katie Archambault.
10 The Classroom ON TH E COV ER This “signature” is brought to you by Erin Pihlaja. In the photo, Christine Albertsson ’83, P’17. Photo by Natasha D’Schommer, natashadschommer.com.
Preston Sundin teaches Chinese with stuffed animals and real-world simulations.
34 Admissions 36 Signing Off Interim Head of School Dr. Susan R. Groesbeck reflects on the traditions that make Emma special.
From the Triangle
Senior Tea On June 3, when the Class of 2016 returned from Senior Retreat, they dressed in their finest for Senior Tea with Dr. Groesbeck at Wellington-Lay. Each girl took her time to thoughtfully choose from Emma’s exquisite tea cup collection. Some focused on finding the cup her mother or grandmother had given, while others sought out a unique cup to fit her one-of-a-kind personality. Once selected, the girls enjoyed connecting and reminiscing with friends about their experience at Emma one last time before Commencement.
FROM THE TR IA NGLE
Serving & Shaping Supporting Children’s Mental Health
PAVING THE WAY When Emma Girls arrived back to campus for the 2016-17 school year, they found bright new sidewalks around the Senior Triangle and in front of the Dietel Library and the Hunter Science Center. The sidewalks were made possible by a generous anonymous Emma Fund donor.
The New York Office of Mental Health (OMH) recognized Katherine Wallace ’17’s advocacy work for children’s mental health as part of her Signature project. Katherine launched NAMI@Emma, the first high school chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She was honored at OMH’s “What’s Great in our State 2016” event. Katherine says reaching young teens is crucial because it will “decrease the stigma” of mental illness.
Phila Helps Local Children
Each year, the generosity of Michal Colby Wadsworth ’65 enables Emma’s philanthropy club, Phila, to award $5,000 to organizations doing good in the Capital Region. In 2016, Phila funded groups offering poverty solutions to children, including a summer camp in a low-income neighborhood, a new mentormentee match program, supervised visitations for incarcerated parents and their children, tool kits for new parents in need of assistance, and a holiday shopping experience for lowincome families.
Giving a Helping (Robotic) Hand
Girls in our Round Square House partnered with the Informatics department at the University at Albany to assemble prosthetic hands as part of the e-NABLE project. Prosthetic hands can cost up to $50,000, but a 3D-printed version costs $50 to $80. The hands are in high demand, and volunteers help assemble them to be sent to children in need worldwide. Learn more about the e-NABLE project at enablingthefuture.org.
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FROM THE TR IA NGLE
REUSE, RECYCLE & REPURPOSE Don’t need it anymore? At school’s end, resident faculty members collected items from the dorms to donate to local organizations, including Goodwill and the YWCA. They hauled:
90+ 50
bags of teen clothing
Food for the Soul Using donations of fresh, local produce from Field Goods and bread from local bakeries, Emma Girls distributed meals to over 50 residents at Joseph’s House and Shelter in downtown Troy. Though many girls had never cooked before, the experience with Joseph’s House was a transformative one that they are eager to repeat.
large bags of bedding
12 5
bags of shoes
boxes of toiletries and food
35+ 15 lamps
boxes of school supplies
30 3,600 35+ vases
hangers
Rowing to National Victory
In May, Emma’s crew team, including Charlotte Kershaw ‘18, Grace Mitzen ‘18, coxswain Kaeley Stout ‘16, Annabelle Fiest ’16, and Molly Dexter ‘17, took the National Championship in the Women’s 4+ Grand at the National Scholastic Rowing Championships. The team won by a tenth of a second in their new boat, Jester—a generous gift from a number of families and friends.
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garbage pails and shower caddies
FROM THE TR IA NGLE
5 Questions with ERIN PIHLAJA, Emma’s New Head of Communications
In April 2016, Emma welcomed Erin Pihlaja as our new head of communications. Her unique background and enthusiastic, girl-power mentality made her a perfect fit for our community. Get to know Erin by reading her responses to our five questions. What did you do before coming to Emma? I started out my career in business management and found that I loved media and marketing. I spent time developing my video, design, and photography skills before owning my own commercial production company. I have a journalism background as well that took me up to the editor level, where I specialized in features and news. Immediately before accepting my post at Emma, I was the executive director for the Downtown Business Improvement District in Troy, where I handled all of the communications and outreach for the organization and its constituents. Why did you want to join Emma? I have always been extremely female-centric—I have four sisters and three daughters. The mission of Emma Willard School was one that appealed to me and I jumped at the chance to bring my skill sets to this iconic institution.
Travel to Mars? In April, NASA scientists Bob Ess and Scott Wilson gave girls a peek at space travel, the life of an astronaut in training, and the Orion spacecraft, poised to fly astronauts back to the moon and then on to Mars.
What are you most looking forward to next year? There are so many changes going on right now—in the world, and at Emma. I am excited to launch the initiatives that we are currently developing, including new communication mechanisms for our alumnae, faculty/ staff, students, and parents. What do you love about communications? To be in this field you have to acknowledge that you will never know enough. There are so many new advances in the way we communicate, and those are constantly changing. I know I will be forever learning and I wouldn’t have it any other way. When I was in high school, I was… An extroverted loner. As a child in a military family, I had to learn the ropes of a new school really quickly. I loved meeting new people, but I was very happy to do my own thing. I’m still like that today.
LET THE SHOW BEGIN! Off-Broadway and film actor and playwright Nilaja Sun gave pointers to Emma Girls in our theatre department. For two days, they focused on creating solo performances before rehearsing Emma’s adaptation of Ms. Sun’s play, No Child. The play, initially a onewoman show, embodies 17 different characters, which Emma actors adopted with fresh inspiration.
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Congratulations, Class of 2016. Go forth and put your mark on the world!
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FROM THE TR IA NGLE
Commencement A little rain couldn’t dampen spirits for the Class of 2016 at our 202nd Commencement. Each senior lit up Mott Gymnasium in her unique white dress, radiating a sense of accomplishment. Interim Head of School Dr. Susan R. Groesbeck shared the experiences she had enjoyed over the last year with the graduates, whom she described as women she admires. Principal Emeritus Dr. William Moore Dietel P’76 ’81, GP’16 reflected on the Emma Willard School of today, sharing what he called his “grandfatherly” advice. Senior speaker Katie Gonick, chosen by her peers, said each Emma Girl is like a unique song she shares with the world. As a tribute, Katie created a Spotify playlist, including songs to represent every classmate, which she had shared with classmates during Senior Retreat. “Know that I like your song,” Katie added. Two awards were given out during the ceremony. The Jameson Adkins Baxter Award was presented to Nicole Kitajewski and the Clementine Miller Tangeman Award to class president Libby Evan. PH OTOS BY M AR K VAN WOR M ER
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FROM THE TR IA NGLE
ON T H E CO URT
BY KATIE COAKLEY
Basketball: Teamwork in action The old adage, “There’s no I in team,” rings true when talking to Emma Girls on our varsity and JV basketball teams. Sabine Stain ’16, Kendall Ackner ’16, Heidi Zahnleuter ’18, and Sharde Johnson ’18 all say the joy of the game is in large part due to the close friendships forged on the team. These bonds make victories—and there were many during the 2016 season— all the more sweet. Each girl brought varying levels of basketball experience with them to Emma. For Kendall, trying out for the team her freshman year was a moment many years in the making. “For as long as I can remember—since I was really young—I’ve been coming to Emma Willard basketball games,” senior Kendall says. “There was a player on the team that was my idol. I wanted to be just like her.” Her commitment and talent earned her a spot on the varsity team that year, and she’s become a player that younger girls look up to—on and off the court. Sophomore Heidi also joined the varsity team as a freshman, and says she appreciates the opportunity to meet a diverse group of girls. “Girls in my grade who don’t play sports can be intimidated by upperclasswomen, but being on a team with them gives me the chance to ask questions on everything from classes to game strategy, which is nice,” Heidi says. Shelley Maher, dean of students and wellbeing, says that basketball is a shining example of the nature of Emma athletics. “Lifelong friendships often begin by belonging to a team,” Shelley says. “Girls may not always remember every classmate, but they will absolutely remember their teammates.” This supportive approach to team sports can be a great relief to girls as they are considering trying out. “The competition of the teams here is intense, but my coaches and teammates are so supportive that it feels like I’m having more fun than anything else,” says Sharde, who found a home on the JV team. Pizza parties and bus trip sing-alongs increase the camaraderie, but each girl buckles down when it comes to focusing on the court and in the classroom. For Kendall, it’s all about time management. “You have to get into a rhythm—practicing, doing homework, and then going to bed. You don’t always have time for much else,” she says. Sabine says she uses “time in the van or bus to focus on homework instead of hanging out.” This approach has paid off.This year, Sabine was named the scholar athlete award winner for the Central Hudson Valley League—selected out of ten outstanding athletes from competing league schools. Considering basketball? Sabine says to take the chance. “Even if you’re not 100 percent sure you’re going to make it, just go out and try.”
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Teamwork is the beauty of basketball. Five people working as one. You become selfless. —Mike Krzyzewski
FROM THE TR IA NGLE
SO C IA L ME D IA
facebook.com/ emmawillardschool
Follow us @emmawillard @emmawillard “In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make reality.” —Kristian Kan #WednesdayWisdom
New York State Trooper Kevin Holohan and his K-9 companion, Mike, visited with Emma Girls in our forensics and physics classes.
Color Wars
Emma is so proud of Ava C. ’18—a new powerlifting world record holder!! http:// bit.ly/23BQ6md #PasstheBag #withMalala and help support #girlseducation by donating your old clothes.
Emma Girls were encouraged to put their creativity to the test at a pop-up makerspace dedicated to duct tape designs.
Triangle Takeover
Dance Assembly
We welcomed next year’s #RoundSquareHouse members with a campfire, Fair Trade S’mores, and good conversation!
Embrace the endless possibility. #MondayMotivation #QOTD
Emma alumna Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Class of 1832, is among the women to be featured on the updated $10 bill!
College Chalk
#ILoveEmma because... https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=_17-NZIsa_4
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The Classroom
BY MEGAN TADY
Mastering Chinese There’s a pile of stuffed animals in the middle of the table in Preston Sundin’s Mandarin Chinese I class. A student picks up a stuffed dinosaur and twists the tail as she answers a question in Chinese about the difference between red tea and black tea. She’s not distracted—the puppets are all part of Preston’s plan to help Emma Girls learn a language that requires mastering 4,000 to 5,000 characters and five tones. Preston, who joined Emma in 2015, finds that the toys help diffuse girls’ self-consciousness in his classes, from beginners to even his most advanced students in Chinese IV. He often acts out a new lesson plan with the puppets, or allows his students to speak as one of the toys. “Students get nervous when a teacher calls on them to say something,” Preston says. “When you use a puppet, it draws the attention away from the student. So it reduces the stress and it’s a little fun.” Sarah Foster ’17 says she took on Chinese because it’s an emerging language in the United States. Now in Preston’s Chinese IV class, she says using the puppets helped her step out of her comfort zone when trying complex grammatical structures. “I absolutely love Mr. Sundin’s teaching style,” Sarah says. “He is always exuberant and his constant energy gets the class going; he can make any bad day transform into a
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great one, while you are learning a tough language.” The lesson plan during this particular class isn’t actually about tea; he likes to follow spontaneous threads—in Chinese—whenever possible, from the weather to pop music. The tea discussion fades, and the girls get back to business learning how to give directions. Preston turns on a projected map of the Boston subway system, called the “T.” He asks his class in Chinese, “How do I get to Logan International Airport?” He makes every effort to create hands-on lessons that simulate real-world experiences. “It’s one thing to be able to produce a sentence in the classroom,” he says. “In real life, you go to China, you’ll be waiting in the bus line, you have to take your money out, you’ll have to give directions to people. Language is, at its most basic, about communication, about trying to express yourself and to connect with others. You just can’t
sit back and memorize sentence patterns. You have to be active.” Mandarin Chinese is a language with five tones, and speakers pronounce the same syllable with different tones to convey a different meaning. This year, Preston has taken a new approach to teaching tones. “I think we set students up for failure because we say, ‘Tones don’t exist in English.’ We do have tones in English,” he says. “Tones don’t affect the meaning of a word in English, but we use tones to change the emphasis or to change the nuance of a sentence. For example, we have different ways of saying, ‘Nooo.’, ‘No!’ or ‘No.’ So girls have the framework for it already.” Students are also challenged when learning Chinese characters, which number in the tens of thousands. Also called Hanzi or the Han characters, Chinese has the oldest continuously used writing system in the world. So how does Preston teach characters, when a dot or a line can
TH E CLASS RO O M
significantly change the meaning of a word? “There’s really no magical way to introduce characters,” he says. “I think the biggest secret is not to scare the students. To say, ‘You can do this. It gets easier. The more you learn, the easier it gets.’” Preston can point to himself as an example. He didn’t take up Chinese until college, and after one semester he was hooked. He studied abroad in Beijing and then lived in Taiwan for four years, where he earned his master’s in Chinese. “[Learning Chinese] makes me feel like I’m part of something
bigger,” he says. “You learn this language and you can step into the minds and hearts of a billion people and into thousands of years of history. Learning Chinese made me feel like I belonged to a whole new culture, and learning to express myself in a new way helped me discover new facets about myself.” He’s hoping his enthusiasm (and those puppets) will encourage girls to take up Chinese at Emma. “I would love more girls to discover that it’s doable,” he says. “It’s difficult, but completely doable. Take the chance.”
“ You learn this language and you can step into the minds and hearts of a billion people and into thousands of years of history.” Asking for directions in a foreign language can be intimidating. Teacher Preston Sundin helps his Chinese I class gain confidence with a lively lesson plan.
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Faculty Voices
INTERVIEW BY MEGAN TADY
Katie Archambault
A Futuristic Library—Right Now Katie Archambault and her team want to catapult Dietel Library into the 21st century. As she looks across the room, she’s excited about the possibilities— high-tech teaching rooms, writable surfaces, flexible furniture, and students and teachers taking learning to the next level. How do you want students to feel in the library? I want the library to be warm and welcoming and buzzing with life—the academic hub and heart of the school. This should be a place where people come to collaborate, to curl up with a good book, and to come for help with research and academic support. I’m thrilled to have Maureen Harrison, our cognitive support specialist, working in the library, too.
Since arriving at Emma in 2013 with six years under her belt working in independent school libraries, Katie has made it her mission to transform the school’s library, preserving the old (archived collections) and ushering in the new (3D printers). She’s also the president-elect for the Association of Independent School Librarians. She describes herself as a librarian with “a sense of whimsy.”
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What is your vision for a 21stcentury library? A 21st-century library is no longer a shushed, dusty warehouse of information. It offers a balanced collection, the best print and digital resources to support the school’s curriculum, and encourages pleasure reading. It is a flexible space with movable furniture and writeable surfaces that can be easily configured to fit the needs of the community. It has loud and sometimes messy areas, learning spaces where users question, collaborate, create, and engage with new material. It also has quiet spaces, protected for those
who prefer it. Librarians collaborate with teachers, work with students, and teach everything from honing a research question to evaluating web sources, to refining a database search, to prototyping new ideas utilizing a 3D printer. Ours is on its way to becoming the ideal: housing not only the librarians, but also the History and English departments, tech support and tech integrationist, tutors, and cognitive support specialists. What have you already done to improve the library? We needed more places to display student work, so we took out some magazine walls, added a countertop and a 55-inch monitor to give us a teaching space. We put in device charging stations at workspace tables and in the fireplace pit. We have rolling whiteboards, and we weeded the physical collection, making good materials easier to find. We added several new databases, purchased thousands of eBooks, provided three high-speed Macs loaded with software programs that some students
PH OTO BY AMOREENA O’ B RYON
might not be able to afford, and we are currently building a Maker Space in our basement complete with 3D printers and a CNC mill, in addition to low-tech prototyping materials like duct tape, pipe cleaners, and popsicle sticks. How does technology enhance the library of the future? Why do you want a technology-enhanced classroom inside the library? We have a space on the third floor of the library where we can teach among the books and have the digital world at our fingertips. The library of the future invites the world in. It offers a classroom to all disciplines and to students doing group work. It is a cutting-edge environment that reflects the level of work that is
“ I want the library to be warm and welcoming and buzzing with life— the academic hub and heart of the school.” taking place in every other academic space on campus. Why preserve Emma Willard’s archived collection? We have researchers who call on us from all over the world because our archives are so rich in women’s history and the history of women’s education. Right now our collection is a hidden gem in the basement of the library. Archives of this caliber
TH E CLASS RO O M
Katie Archambault (middle) and fellow librarians and archivists, Nancy Iannucci (left) and Caroline Buinicky (right), have a clear vision for the future of Dietel Library.
deserve to be brought to the surface. In my ideal world, the archives would be presented as a state-of-theart museum on campus. Why continue to improve Emma’s library? Emma is known worldwide for our rigorous academic environment, and our unique care for and attention to our girls. The library is the crown jewel of the academic program. We have a great space, and I believe we can make it better by continuing to modernize and adding tech-nology to connect classroom learning to the world. Our future library reflects the amazing academic offerings, innovative Signature program and incredible faculty of Emma Willard.
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A TEMPO
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BY NAOMI SHULMAN
RARY (SHELTER) HURRICANE
K AT R I N A
D E S T R OY E D T H E I R NEW ORLEANS SCHOOL. EMMA INVITED THE STUDENTS NORTH. FOUR WOMEN R E C O U N T T H E TA L E .
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UGUST 28, 2005. SUNDAY MORNING.
The airwaves had been abuzz with the name Katrina for days, and most residents in Liz McCord’s New Orleans neighborhood had boarded up their homes and hightailed it for higher ground. But Liz’s parents hadn’t left yet—her father, a physician, had patients to consider, and her mother, a veterinarian, was boarding several animals. “So we were going to stay,” Liz says. They’d done it before. It would take a special hurricane to scare them.
Christie Brouphy
Gabi Bonin
Elizabeth McCord
Jennifer Teachworth
The four girls from New Orleans as pictured on their Emma ID cards.
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Turns out, this was a special hurricane. When Liz woke up that Sunday, her parents were frantically moving furniture and pots outside, clearing paths for—for what? “What’s going on?” she asked. “My mother turned to me,” Liz says, “and screamed, ‘It’s 200 miles an hour and it’s coming straight at us!’ I’d never seen her like that in my life—I was deathly terrified.” Their neighbors had already left; so had all her friends. Where would they go? And what about all of the animals? A mandatory evacuation confirmed they had to flee, and the McCord family packed the car to the brim, including two cats and four dogs—two of which were yapping Chihuahuas. “It was like Dr. Doolittle,” Liz recalls. “It was ridiculous.” But even if they looked a little silly, the scene behind them was deadly serious. “We drove out of the city on the levee at 5 p.m.,” Liz continues. She turned around in her seat to look behind her as they left. “This barely sounds real, when I say it, but it’s true—you could see the bands of the hurricane coming in. I’ve never seen such dark clouds, and the sky was green and terrible. I had never seen anything like it before.” Ten years later, it’s easy to forget what a shock Katrina was—to New Orleans, to the nation, and most of all, to the people who had to outrun it. But anyone who was there remembers it like it was yesterday. At the time, Liz was about to start her junior year at St. Mary’s Dominican High School, a private Catholic school for girls, and many of her fellow classmates had similar stories. Liz’s classmate Gabi Bonin took only two days’ worth of clean clothes to her aunt’s house when she left the city. It never occurred to her she’d be gone longer than that. “I didn’t understand the magnitude of the situation. No one did.”
E M M A WI L L AR D SC HO O L
Their classmate Jen Teachworth recalls that up until that point, evacuations had felt like spontaneous vacations. “You got sleep, you got away from school, and then you went home and everything was fine,” she explains. “So, I didn’t really believe what I was seeing—places I’d been the morning before were completely underwater, to the tops of the buildings.” Christie Brouphy, another classmate, had never seen her father cry until the moment they learned their camp—a favorite family gathering place for generations—had been destroyed in the storm. “That was the worst of it, watching my dad,” Christie says. The devastation was far reaching and seemingly never ending.
PH OTO BY ST. M ARY’S D OM IN ICAN H IGH SCH OOL
A classroom inside St. Mary’s Dominican High School was upturned by Hurricane Katrina, which flooded the school with 18 inches of water and mud.
Not long after, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) sent out a call encouraging schools to provide temporary shelter and continued education to girls impacted by the storm. With the blessing of then Head of School Trudy Hall, the school quickly placed an ad, which was reported on various websites across New Orleans. Liz, Gabi, Christie, and Jen were scattered at different schools in the region—and all four were missing their former school and each other. Christie was excited when she stumbled across a notice from Emma Willard School on nola.com. She felt a flicker of hope. Would her parents allow her to board in another state so far from home? They said yes— but only if her friend, Gabi, would go with her. “I’d never been away from home,” Gabi says. A phone interview with Kent Jones at Emma helped quell some of her apprehensions. “They sounded so nice. I was relieved by how accepting they sounded on the phone.” Gabi was “in”—which meant Christie was “in,” too.
The McCords braced themselves DOMINICAN…HAD BEEN for full-on wreckage when they HIT HARD. ITS ENTIRE returned several days later, but their house was still standing. Liz F I R ST F LO O R H A D F LO O D E D. assumed she’d go back to school. S C H O O L WA S O U T F O R But Dominican, as its students call it, had been hit hard. The entire THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE, first floor had been flooded. Soon L E AV I N G L I Z , G A B I , J E N , Dominican students across the city AND CHRISTIE IN LIMBO. were learning the same thing: school was out for the foreseeable future. Liz, Meanwhile, Liz and Jen were Gabi, Jen, and Christie were in limbo. community raised $6,000 to having a similar back and forth, help buy books for an elementary with Jen urging Liz to join her school whose library had been in Troy, New York, over 1,400 destroyed. Then Kent learned that miles away. Liz called her parents other schools around the country Hundreds of miles away, Kent immediately, thinking it was a long were reaching out to students in Jones, then director of admissions shot. But they quickly jumped at New Orleans to offer a helping at Emma Willard School, watched the opportunity. hand. He wondered if Emma, too, the story unfold. A week or so after could do more. the tragedy first struck, the Emma
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
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Christie Brouphy visits a classroom this spring at St. Mary’s Dominican High School. The school was able to reopen 4.5 months after Hurricane Katrina.
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PHOTO BY CLAIRE BANG SER
A TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCE When the girls arrived on the Emma Willard School campus for the first time on that September day in 2005, they each had the same thought: “Hogwarts!” The Emma campus, with its castle-like buildings, conjured Harry Potter, the fantasy literary series that is a part of nearly every 21st-century girl’s adolescence. “It was magical! Totally magical,” Jen says. “It was a beautiful fall day, and I was in shock and awe of everything that was around me. I felt like I’d gone from some kind of hell to some sort of heaven in a matter of a few hours.” The beauty of the campus—the trees, the green spaces—stunned Liz. “We came from this small Catholic school, and suddenly there was this castle. It was truly outstanding— and frightening.” The girls were grateful to be at Emma, but all four were also coping with some post-traumatic stress— and some academic stress as well. Liz and Gabi couldn’t be placed in an equivalent math class for their level, so math teacher Bob Nielson tutored the girls every evening. The biggest challenge of all, though, would be immersing themselves in an entirely new social environment and living far from home—which they hadn’t even imagined three weeks prior. “It was stunning to me and to other members of the community how beautifully [the girls] stepped into our environment,” Kent says. “They acclimated with extraordinary poise. And our students received them with equal enthusiasm.” By the end of the fall semester, St. Mary’s Dominican was up and running, and Liz, Christie, and Gabi decided to return home. Jen stayed on through the spring, and then went home for her senior year. In those short few months, the school made a lasting impression on the girls. Ten years later, all four
T H E M O S T I M P O R TA N T T H I N G WA S T H E P E O P L E . THEY HELPED US WHILE WE WERE GOING THROUGH SOMETHING SO DESTRUCTIVE.
girls share a common thread: a sense of confidence and adventure gained from their experiences at Emma. “Emma helped me become more independent,” Christie says. She is now an emergency room nurse at a hospital in New Orleans and sees connections between the trauma of Katrina’s aftermath, her formative days at Emma, and her highly demanding job. “I think it helped me become more of my own person. I had to figure things out for myself.” Gabi is studying cultural and artistic management in Paris, and says she’ll never forget her time at Emma. “The most important thing was the people,” Gabi says. “They helped us while we were going through something so destructive.” In Portland, Oregon, Jen is working toward a graduate research position in psychology. “I wouldn’t be who I am now if I hadn’t gone there. The people at Emma were so generous to me, and I’ve felt ever since that I wanted to do the same thing— be generous to the world.” Liz, who will never forget turning in the backseat of her car to see her
city engulfed in bands of apocalyptic clouds racing toward her family at 200 miles per hour recalls, “When I was on my own at Emma, I grew so much stronger, and I knew— because I’d survived and thrived there—I knew I’d be able to do it again.Everything after that would be a choice. It wasn’t a choice to lose my home, but no matter what happened, I could conquer it and survive.” Every year during Mardi Gras, the girls commemorate their time at Emma Willard School in a distinctly sweet way. They send the school a King Cake, a traditional New Orleans dessert known for its bright colors and its association with celebration. “They’ve never failed to remember us that way,” Kent says. Naomi Shulman’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and on New England Public Radio. She lives in Western Massachusetts. While at Emma, Christie Brouphy, Elizabeth McCord, Jennifer Teachworth, and Gabi Bonin enjoyed the school’s proximity to NYC with a weekend trip to the Big Apple.
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/ A NEW FOUND ATION
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BY NICHOLE DUPONT PHOTOS BY KYLE ADAM S
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A radical shift in teaching physics
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O N A B R I G H T A N D E A R LY Tuesday morning, Emma Girls pair up in John Evans’ physics class to embark on the “Vector Challenge.” They’re measuring the force tension created when a weight pulls down on two opposite strings. The students must discover how to create equal tension on both strings, and there’s a lot of trial and error. “Be patient with yourself, your partner, even with me,” John instructs. “It takes a level of patience to set this up. This isn’t for a grade, it’s for practice.” This is one of the many hands-on labs that incoming freshman tackle in their very first science class at Emma Willard School. The physics course is a year-long, lab-based immersive class that prepares Emma Girls for the rest of their science journey at the school and beyond. It marks a radical shift in how science has traditionally been taught. Seven years ago, the school joined a nationwide movement called Physics First to transform its science curriculum by offering physics to incoming freshman. Teachers and administrators of the newer curriculum recognized that the old way of teaching science—which started with biology and then chemistry—was out of step with students’ needs. Teaching physics at the end of the high school career posed many problems. The class gained a reputation for being tough, so students often dreaded it or felt they weren’t science- or math-minded enough to do well. Also, seniors were sometimes forced to bypass the class altogether because their schedules were already full by the time they entered their final year. Physics First turns the old model on its head, introducing physics right away so students learn essential science and math skills and concepts that they’ll use throughout their science studies. Essentially, girls build a foundation for answering real world questions about energy, motion, force, sound, and light—the basic concepts that unlock biology and chemistry.
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“Physics First helps students deal with the preconceptions [they have about science],” John says. “Sometimes the girls are worried because they don’t have the math background, so we gear the course to make it comfortable.” THE DOOR TO THE SCIENCES Emma’s physics classrooms are outfitted with state-of-the-art labs, and every week girls are out of their seats, gathered around one experiment after another. The students have bounced basketballs and dropped coffee filters in order to discover the terminal velocity of falling objects. They’ve tracked the speed of sound, listening for the echo of a noise as it bounces off a building and into a field. And they’ve used Slinkies to measure the speed and motion of waves, creating a lively lab in which a
It’s a conceptual course; we use real-world, applied scenarios that looks at the ‘WHY’ OF EVERYTHING. Why is this thing moving, and that thing slowing down? The students can see and understand that.
Girls measure force tension in the Vector Challenge; Georgia Namuth ‘19 demonstrates that every action has an equal and opposite reaction on a life-size cart; Dr. Julie Matthews shows Megan Pontin ‘19 and Prim Budsaratragoon ‘19 how to interpret motion sensor data using the application Logger Pro; Caraline Lecoz ‘19 and Jiny Ryou ‘19 measure the buoyant force of a floating piece of wood.
favorite childhood toy becomes an instrument of discovery. Each lab utilizes simple objects— a bicycle wheel, string, stop watches—as well as high-tech tools like motion sensors and computer software to get at the heart of not-so-simple concepts. Science Department Chair Jon Calos says the goal of the physics curriculum is to inspire students to “think like scientists.” He also says that physics is the door to
the school’s science program, and encourages Emma Girls to be inquisitive, take thorough steps, and to not be intimidated by the heavy math component that is essential to foundational equations. “Girls work their way through that first physics course and are able to talk about things in a really abstract way,” Jon says. “They’re truly educated citizens by the time they leave the school.” Dr. Julie Matthews, who was a postdoctoral associate in
hematology/oncology at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami before joining Emma as an instructor last year, says physics puts every girl on a level playing field. “When the girls come in for the first year, their skills vary widely,” Julie says. “Physics is all about learning to do lab science that’s reproducible. And it’s essential for the next three years of their science career.” The course is still evolving, and is now incorporating chemistry. The next iteration, called Physics
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coming to physics my first year in high school. But working with Dr. Matthews, I really started to like it. I started to actually understand force vectors. Time flies in physics class. I’m always doing a lab or using computer software to make 3D models.” Katherine is looking forward to taking biology and forging ahead with the sciences. “It’s got me really thinking about being a biologist—someone who contributes to the world, like developing a cure for a disease,” she says. Emma alumna Hannah Bower ’10 credits her physics course with setting her on a life-long science trajectory. “With physics, I hit the ground running,” Hannah says. “It really was the hardest subject for me. It’s A FUTURE IN THE SCIENCES a real accomplishment to get through this class.” It was a bucket of slush and a sixHannah has continued to achieve hour Saturday lab with Dr. Julie in the sciences. While at Emma, she Matthews that got one Emma Girl interned at Rensselaer Polytechnic asking, “Can I do this for a living?” Institute, and then earned an internIn what’s affectionately known ship at NASA during her freshman as the Sludge Lab, each girl is given year of college. She just coma cup of a mixture of unknown Gloria Martinez ‘19 and Allie Buckley ‘19 calibrate their scale to use for further experiments. pleted her master’s in Mechanical liquids and solids. They’re encourEngineering at the University of aged to draw from the lab skills California at Irvine, and in the fall they’ve learned throughout the year of Matter and Motion, is in place she’s off to Stuttgart, Germany, for a this fall. There are multiple opportu- to separate the mixture into its basic components and identify the proper- four-month program at the Institute nities through the school for girls ties of each. It’s an empowering lab, to participate in internships at of Aerospace Thermodynamics. where Emma Girls make discoveries college labs, conduct independent “The teachers at Emma really on their own, and for some, it illumi- harnessed my excitement for sciresearch, and to design their own nates possibilities for their futures. labs and projects as part of Emma’s ence, especially for chemistry,” she “The labs really bring out the Signature program. says. “They made it fun. We knew it inquisitiveness and the confidence Jon, who is the school’s Homer was not about just passing an exam L. Dodge Instructor in Science, and in the girls,” Julie says. “They want to but about knowing the material and explore further in other fields.” director of both Emma’s Signature applying it in an everyday sense.” Katherine Schultze ’19 was that and STEAM internship programs, The number of women working girl inspired by Sludge Lab. She says is constantly tweaking the science in the sciences continues to climb, curriculum to create a fully accessible her physics experience opened the and nearly 60 percent of all degree door to new possibilities. and challenging science experience holders in the sciences are women. “It’s an amazing feeling to have that extends into the future. Going forward, many Emma alumthis kind of confidence,” Katherine “It’s a conceptual course—we use nae will be able to trace their career says. “In middle school, I took real-world, applied scenarios that paths back to their freshman year, look at the ‘why’ of everything,” Jon earth sciences and biology. At first, when they dropped basketballs, says. “Why is this thing moving, and I thought it was … very questionable pulled strings, sifted through a cup that thing slowing down? The girls can see and understand that.” The shift to a hands-on, physicsbased foundation is having a monumental impact on Emma Girls. Audrey Toop ’19 says the physics class made her inquisitive about the sciences and excited to see what’s around the corner. Audrey’s experience is shared by many of her classmates, and the camaraderie and excitement extend beyond the lab. “At lunch the other day we were talking about physics class and arguing about an object rolling down the slope of the table,” Audrey says. “Physics was always complicated to me. To see it, to understand it, to understand the math element is huge for me.”
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of slush, and practiced being scientists in the physics lab. “In this field you have to show young girls that they don’t need to be geniuses in math to pursue a science career. They just need to be devoted,” Hannah says. “Coming from Emma gives you a toolbox. It’s with you— it’s tethered to you for life.” Nichole Dupont is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in The Take Magazine, Huffington Post, Berkshire Magazine, and other online and print publications.
They made it fun. We knew it was not about just passing an exam but about knowing the material and APPLYING THE MATERIAL in an everyday sense.
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Brick, Stone Light
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W H AT IT TAK E S TO BE A F E M AL E ARC H I T ECT
Behind every building is an architect—and Emma happens to have many in its ranks. These alumnae are surging forward in what is still a maledominated industry; the number of women working as architects or architectural designers hovers around 25 percent nationally. Women still experience imbalances, from unequal pay to clients assuming a female architect is the “decorator.” We asked a handful of Emma alumnae in architecture to share their triumphs, struggles, and delights about the industry they love. These women are changing the way the world looks—from smartly designed student housing, to eat-in kitchens, to homes that reflect and tread lightly on the landscape. With brick and stone and light, they’re shattering ceilings even as they build them.
[ WIE BKE THE OD ORE ’ 7 7 ] A RC HI TEC TURA L DESI GNER, CO-OWNER, THEODORE & T HEO DO RE The Lilly Pond House hugs a ledge overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, while providing high outlooks and an upper terrace for the solar PV panel system.
A RROWSI C , M A I NE
Wiebke is passionate about using architecture to bolster communities. She taught at the Architectural Design Studios at Bowdoin College for six years, and also introduced a design program to her local elementary school. Most recently, she co-founded the Bath Freight Shed Alliance to preserve a 19thcentury mercantile building and support the downtown of Bath, Maine. She launched her firm in 1988 with her husband, giving her flexibility as a mom of two young daughters.
WH AT G E TS YOU JA Z Z ED A B O U T A P ROJ EC T? When
PHOTO BY TRENT BELL
we can make architecture relate to the site and then make the place create its own energy on a reasonable budget—I get charged up about that. Like the Lily Pond House we just completed in Maine, which can blend in and be a part of the landscape.
elegant and durable. Relating to the site is essential. We’re drawn to salt-water farms and barns in Maine. Our studio is in our barn. You could say there’s a vernacular connection that way, but I wouldn’t call it a “style.” WHY I S I T I M P ORTANT TO I NTRODUC E C HILDREN TO DESI GN? To be able to
H OW D O YO U DESC RI BE YO U R D E S IG N STYLE?
We use the word “rational.” We make things simple and
translate visual ideas from a 2D- to a 3D-model that you have in your hand is very empowering and fun.
You’re not having someone prescribe to you, “This is how something should turn out.” There isn’t a right or a wrong.
break down gender stereotypes. I’m good at plumbing and electrical, and my husband is good at colors.
WHAT ’S YO U R EXPERI-
HOW DID EMMA IMPACT
ENCE AS A WO MAN IN
YO U ? I think I had a lot of
T HIS FIELD? I think I get
these things inside of me, and being at Emma, I was able to totally find a place where I could express ideas, learn, and be heard.
judged because I made a choice to be an architectural designer and to have that flexibility for my daughters. Sometimes I get judged the opposite way—isn’t your career more important? On a job site, my husband and I
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[ ERICA H. LING ’75 ] P RI NC I PA L, ERI CA H. L I NG A RCHIT ECT WA SHI NGTON, D.C .
Erica Ling calls herself an “accidental architect.” In college, she first pursued medicine, but eventually found a natural home in architecture. She worked on large projects for other firms for fifteen years before going out on her own, and she now focuses on residential renovations. Her eye has been influenced by traveling and living abroad in Indonesia. When Emma Willard School embarked on building projects in the late 1990s and in the mid-00s, Erica served on the Facilities Committee which selected the architects and guided the projects, which included the Hunter Science Center, the Cheel Aquatics Center, and the Community Life Spaces of Kellas, Hyphen, and Sage.
An exterior and interior view of Erica’s renovation of her 1922 bungalow, in which she tucked a new second floor and stair hall under a higher roof with front and rear dormers to preserve the look of a bungalow. Left: Everything above the brick walls was new construction.
W H AT D O YO U LOV E A B O UT A RCH I T EC TU R E ? It’s a chance
to make memorable places and to enhance how people live, work, and play. I care about how spaces look and feel and how they work. Making architecture is a way to bring beauty and order to the built world. DESCR I B E YO U R D E S IG N A EST H ET I C . I’m moved by color and
the use of natural light in spaces.
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I’m probably a closet modernist. In Washington, I don’t get to do a lot of modern work, as my residential clients tend to want more traditional architecture. WHAT WA S YOUR M OST C HA LLENGI NG P ROJ EC T? The
hardest work was being my own client. It’s very hard to design for yourself. We have a 1922 bungalow that needed a secondfloor addition. It took two years
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to design and only three months to build. Only after we had three buckets on the floor catching the rain from the leaky roof did we decide, “Okay, we have to do this.” HOW DID YO U R T IME AT EMMA IMPACT YO U R CAREER? At Emma, with its
breathtaking campus, I learned to appreciate beauty, history, and culture. Emma fostered my love of the arts, fed my curiosity about life, and gave me a foundation in the liberal arts. I credit Emma with teaching me about
collaboration, which is fundamental to the architectural process. HOW DID IT FEEL TO INFLUENCE ARCHIT ECT U RE AT EMMA? It was a joy to serve the school and be a steward for the buildings and grounds that I love. The architects for Hunter and Cheel—Tod Williams and Billie Tsien—are among my heroes, and I learned a lot from the process of seeing those projects built. Hunter was controversial, but I appreciate the inspiring and serene spaces of both buildings.
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Rachel leads KSQ Design’s Manhattan office, one of seven offices of the national firm. She specializes in multi-family housing and university student housing. She helps clients realize their visions while managing a team of people that ranges from designers and production staff to engineers and contractors. She also credits fellow architect Erica Ling ’75 for helping to inspire her pursuit of architecture as a career. The two first met at an alumnae event on campus, discovering they grew up in the same neighborhood in Troy (a block apart) and recognizing that they shared a passion for architecture.
[ R ACH E L B I RN B OI M KO CH M A N ’93 ] SENI OR A SSO CIAT E, KSQ DES IGN M A NHATTA N
problem solving, which is one of the reasons this industry is so appealing to me—on both a client and an internal management level. I love the wide range of opportunities to grow and learn every day, and aim to inspire others to do the same.
and succeed in it. I felt great satisfaction by accomplishing something I’d never done before, while embracing and enjoying the challenges of it. That’s when I knew it was my calling—but it took years of experiencing different aspects of the practice for me to know that for certain.
WH AT IS TH E B IGGEST
WHAT I S YOUR EXPERIENCE
R E WA R D? Earlier in my career, when I was promoted to the role of project manager, I was admittedly intimidated and overwhelmed by it. I didn’t yet know how to define my own role, let alone understand how to grab onto this new role
BEI NG A WOM A N IN T HIS
WH AT G E TS YO U EXC I TED
PHOTO BY ME LISSA LUKENBAUG H
A B O U T YO U R J OB? I love
I NDUSTRY ? This is still a male-dominated industry— that’s just a fact. I’ve worked extra hard to prove I’m just as capable as the next person, but that doesn’t have anything to do with gender—that has to do
with striving to do the best job I can to serve our clients and our firm. Clients, contractors, consultants, and colleagues should feel they can rely on me just as much as the next person, if not more. HOW DID HAVING ERICA LING AS A MENTO R IMPACT YO U ? Seeing how Erica has created her own specialty and path in this industry has always been really inspiring. Her confidence and passion for her work comes through wholeheartedly, and made me realize I wanted to be proud of whatever I do and who I am, especially as a woman in this industry.
The Rye High School Science Wing was a renovation of an exist-ing science building and creation of a new state-of-the-art science wing, respectful of the tone and character of the existing campus structures.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FO R EMMA GIRLS CO NS IDERING ARCHITECT U RE? Don’t be intimidated.
It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s worth the hard work. And be open-minded. There are so many opportunities within this industry that are beyond what’s typically perceived as “architecture.” Embrace every opportunity—as you never know where it will lead. With passion, knowledge and experience, you will find exactly what it is that you love to do and be.
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As a child, Christine spent hours making buildings and gazing out the car window at houses and structures. In college, she tried to shake the need to build things, but the pull was too strong. In 1990, she received her master’s of architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, and she worked for several prominent Minnesota firms for nine years before founding Albertsson Hansen in 2000. Her work is guided by the notion that buildings can be beautiful and sustainable. From 2010–2015, she mentored Emma alumna Celeste Pomputius ’12, who has interned several times at the firm.
[ C H RI S T I N E A L B E RT S S O N ’ 8 3, P ’1 7 ] FO U NDING PART NER, ALBERTSSO N HANS EN ARCHIT ECT U RE MINNEAPO LIS , MINNESOTA
A loft remodel in downtown Minneapolis uses reclaimed lumber from the client’s family farm, with an eye toward setting soft textures against an industrial frame.
WH Y D ID YO U STA RT YOUR OWN F IR M ? At many firms,
this is a very work-till-you-drop, ego-driven, clubby industry. Once I went part time, I wasn’t being given very interesting projects. Not wanting to accept that, I realized I could pursue the kind of work I wanted to do and maintain the flexibility that I needed as the parent of a young child. WH AT’S YO U R D EF I NI TIO N O F A N IN T ERESTI NG P ROJ EC T? I get very excited
if a client says, “We want to make an incredibly special place for our family.” I can use my
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imagination and my passion to create a building that fits lightly on the land and is a magical place for those people. To make a space to be in, to enjoy the passing of the day, to make a snack for your kids, to watch the snow fall, to play the piano— whatever that activity of dwelling might be.
proportion, and the windows, and that incredible porch.” There was something in the bones about it that was beautiful and compelling. I’m interested in playing with proportion and scale, and finding different ways to work with a recognizable thing, like looking at the relationship of a window to the body of a kitchen layout.
WHAT GUI DES YO U R AES THETI C ? I grew up in Vermont. I can remember driving around with my brothers and saying, “Look at that house, that’s so cool.” And they would say, “That’s a shack.” And I would say, “Yeah, but look at the
HOW DO YO U T READ LIGHT LY O N T HE PLANET ?
We help people understand how little they actually need. Do you really need five bathrooms? We focus on quality building so that homes are as efficient as
possible. Lastly, we encourage people to build as beautifully as you can because the beautiful, magical building is not going to get torn down. If you build a cheap box, it’s going to end up in a landfill. HOW WAS YO U R EXPE RI ENCE AS A MENTO R OF A N EMMA ALU MNA? I’ve gotten so much fulfillment out of seeing Celeste grow and thrive. It’s just thrilling. It’s especially wonderful that we’ve had this opportunity to get to know each other, and it would be great for other women to mentor young people.
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I’m interested in playing with proportion and and finding different ways to work with a recognizable thing, like looking at the relationship of a window to the body of a kitchen layout.
scale
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Good Bones A PRE SE RVATI ON S PEC I A L IST SAVE S ST. PATRI C K ’S CAT HED RA L
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Gothic architecture is all about raising the building up to the heavens and letting the LIGHT pour in...
Perched on scaffolding one hundred feet above the church pews below, architect Sarah Rosenblatt ’05 peered at a stained-glass window in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. She could almost reach out and touch the initials that a past worker had carved into the ceiling. The light poured in from the windows, color dancing on the walls. You could call it a holy moment for a preservation specialist like Sarah. “I got to see a lot of dusty old corners in the cathedral,” she says. “I would never have seen those tiny initials from the floor. It was such a joy to find those little surprises.” It was early last September, and Sarah didn’t dare dawdle. She and her team at the architecture firm Murphy Burnham & Buttrick had an important deadline: Pope Francis was arriving in a few short weeks, and the $177 million building restoration needed to be complete by the time he stood at the pulpit. Sarah was tasked with returning the cathedral back to its former glory. Over the years, the cathedral, which was designed in the Gothic Revival style by James Renwick and completed in 1878, had experienced wear and tear. The roof was leaking, marble blocks were crumbling, and the stained glass was cracking. A previous restoration made the building too somber and dark. “Gothic architecture is all about raising the building up to the heavens and letting the light pour in,” Sarah says. When Sarah and her team were finished, they logged at least 30,000 repairs to the building, including cleaning the façade so the white marble gleamed. On September 24, 2016, after a processional down Fifth Avenue, Pope Francis stepped into the newly renovated cathedral for evening prayer. Sarah was ecstatic. “We all just felt so proud,” she says. “It’s really the only word for it.” Sarah had been preparing for this project long before she graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and then Columbia University. Her love of architecture was cemented at Emma, from gazing up at the towers on campus and from a history of architecture class with Jack Easterling. “I loved learning about the logic behind buildings and the different design movements,” she says. “That class really sparked a passion.” Sarah’s now onto her next project: The Billie Holiday Theatre in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. She says her work is as much about preserving history as it is about building sustainably. “Every time a building gets torn down and another one goes up in its place, that’s a bunch of material that’s going to a landfill,” she says. “We should be working with what we have to see how it can serve the community.”
[ S A RA H RO S E N B L AT T ’0 5 ]
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Admissions
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How to Apply
Applying to a new school can be overwhelming. The admissions team at Emma is here to help make the application process as easy as possible. The Emma application process includes the following: APPLICATION This can be completed online at www.emmawillard.org/admissions. The application includes: ❑ Application Form ❑ Essay ❑ Parent Statement ❑ Application Fee TRANSCRIPTS Should be completed by a school official and contain a minimum of two years of credits as well as the first semester or trimester of the current academic year. RECOMMENDATIONS ❑ English Teacher ❑ Math Teacher ❑ Teacher of Choice
TESTING While we look at much more than test scores when selecting our future Emma Girls, standardized tests help us learn more about each girl’s academic background. More information on the tests we use in our admissions process can be found at www.emmawillard.org/ admissions. INTERVIEW Please contact the admissions office at 518.833.1320 or admissions@emma willard.org to schedule your interview. IMPORTANT DATES Application deadline: February 1 Financial aid application deadline: February 1 Admissions decision: March 10 Enrollment contract and deposit due: April 10 emmawillard.org
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Signing Off INTERIM HEAD OF SCHOOL, DR. SUSAN R. GROESBECK
Come Back Often Our castle on Mount Ida is home to hundreds of exceptional young women at any given point, and has been my home now for almost a full year. So many bright and talented Emma Girls have come and gone from our campus throughout its long history, and the Emma Class of 2016—the 202nd graduating class of our beloved school, and the first of mine to graduate— will forever hold a special meaning for me. Like so many Emma Girls before them, this class and I were able to share in the many Emma traditions that we love so well, from Revels to Ring Ceremony to Senior Tea, and finally, Commencement. Eventide came not long after my arrival on a balmy 60-degree December evening. Instead of candles in the snow, we had luminaries—many of which caught fire in the brisk wind. Then, Revels was upon us. This class worked two Jesters into their 101st rendition of the play—along with a third acrobatic Jester who yearned for acceptance. In the end, she was hugged and welcomed into the fold, symbolic for how Emma Girls pull others into their community. This year’s Revels had Gargoyles and the Alchemy of Pride Alliance, which created a glorious rainbow that was better than gold. The chaos of the Devils, and the wise words of peace and working together won the day. On a sunny day in late spring, mysterious dinosaurs—some inflated and others furry and also resembling pajama-clad seniors—appeared all over the campus. The chiming of the bells, a reminder to keep a prompt class schedule, morphed into the sounds of a roaring . . . Velociraptor? Perhaps it was the dreaded T-Rex. Tour guides on safari overtook Morning Reports, and the rest of the Emma Willard School was overrun by various Jurassic creatures. Who doesn’t love a good senior prank—especially in the hands of Emma Girls?
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Senior Tea for this class was the picture-perfect Emma tradition of years past, complete with the oneof-a-kind alumnae teacup collection and plenty of socializing in the sunshine on the decks of WellingtonLay. Ours ended with four girls, dressed in their best, stuck in the elevator as they tried to take an unscheduled tour of the facility. They were promptly rescued amid laughter and relief, and I am quite sure the retelling of that story is one each of those girls, and I, will not soon grow tired of sharing. Emma’s global reach for the Class of 2016 spanned the Bahamas, Botswana, China, Ireland, Korea, Russia, Rwanda, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States. All of these girls, together inside our castle walls, learned from one another in so many ways. In student-led clubs and organizations, from Amnesty International to 12 Tones to School Council and Proctoring, Emma Girls truly embodied our mission: to serve and shape their world. Two-thirds of all seniors played a varsity sport, and the Jester team spirit and camaraderie earned impressive marks on the local, state, and national level. Seventy percent of this class used their Emma voices to sing, act, and play their hearts out in Choir, Campus Players, Orchestra, and a number of smaller ensembles. More than half of them play an instrument. And so, another generation of Emma Girls left their mark on Mount Ida as scholars, athletes, musicians, actors, Proctors, Peer Educators, community servants, and, most importantly, friends. Those of us who watched over them know how well prepared and outstanding they all truly are. To all of our Emma Girls: come back often. You mean so much to this school, the faculty, staff, and your fellow alumnae. You may have left Emma’s campus after graduation, but know that long after you said your goodbyes, we all continue to wish you all the best for your future success, and above all, happiness in your lives.
285 PAWLING AVENUE, TROY, NY 12180