ECFS Reporter Magazine Winter 2022 by Ethical Culture Fieldston School

ECFS Reporter Ethical Culture Fieldston School Magazine Winter 2022

It’s innovative moments like the ones shared here that make an ECFS education truly unique. It is my great honor and privilege to serve as Interim Head of School. In my sixth year at ECFS, I am excited to lead our dedicated faculty and staff and to share with you the many facets of our world-class progressive education. At ECFS, we bring a progressive lens to every discipline and every division, from Pre-K to 12th Grade. We encourage students to break out of traditional frames of learning in order to think about issues in the world around them. We live in a contemporary society that demands contemporary solutions, and we prepare our students to be engaged citizens both in and out of the classroom. Take a look at some of what’s happening at our School every day in this issue of the “ECFS Reporter.” It’s innovative moments like the ones shared here that make an ECFS education truly unique. I am excited to work with our incoming Head of School, Joe Algrant, to lay the strategic foundational work for years to come. I hope you will take the time to explore this issue of the “ECFS Reporter” and discover the many distinctive features of an ECFS education. Sincerely,

Kyle Wilkie-Glass Interim Head of School

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In This Issue

Families Gather for On-Campus 2021 Commencement Celebration

4 Questions with Kyle Wilkie-Glass, Interim Head of School

Becoming Agents of Change at Ethical Culture

Fieldston Lower’s Holistic Approach to Social-Emotional Learning

8 Questions with Russell Marsh, Director of Community and Inclusion

Engineering at Fieldston Middle Embodies ECFS’s Core Tenets

A Return to Form — Arts and Athletics at Fieldston Upper in the Time of COVID-19

Senior Art Showcase

Family Fun Zone

Alumni Q&A: Dr. Gina Gregory Burns ’77 Ben Tumin ’08

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Class Notes In Memoriam: Fieldston Alumni

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2021 Commencement

Families Gather for On-Campus 2021 Commencement Celebration Author ECFS Communications Team

n the last week of May, the Ethical Culture Fieldston School hosted a cherished tradition: Commencement. After a year marked by new safety norms, hyflex schooling, and a total reimagining of the high school experience, the Class of 2021 returned to campus with their families — a marked change from last year’s Commencement, which due to health and safety guidelines could not host families on campus — to celebrate their graduation. As the audience milled around finding their seats, the seniors waited to make their entrance. Livestream viewers ticked up to almost 500 as friends and family logged on. The first notes of “Pomp and Circumstance” picked up, and the doors to the field swung open. (Commencement usually takes place on the Quad, but this year was moved to an enormous tent on the field to allow for physical distancing and to provide relief from the hot sun and cover in case of rain.) Accompanied by their advisors, the students began their procession to thunderous applause.

The graduates took their seats next to their families, and Head of School Emerita Jessica Bagby kicked off the celebration with brief remarks. She began with a line from a Henry James essay titled “The Art of Fiction,” published just six years after the founding of ECFS. He wrote: “Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost.” The Class of 2021, Bagby said, “tried to live into the spirit encouraged in this line.” From making the most of a junior and senior year marked by “unprecedented circumstances” and loss, the students “exhibited remarkable and inspiring imagination and inventiveness as well as resilience and grit.” Bagby told the seniors: You have become more self-reliant, even as you have figured out how to stay truly connected to those you care about deeply, despite the heartache of physical disconnection for too much of the time or far too long. You have also acted with conscience, compassion, and conviction in response to profound social injustices and serious communal needs. And still you have found joy and light in the darkness and kept your sense of humor, too. I daresay you have been people on whom nothing was lost.

agby introduced the keynote speaker, Lee Gelernt P’20, P’24, Deputy Director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. Gelernt gave a striking address with a call to action: “Don’t worry about solving all the big problems — just get involved. Just help one person.”

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I’ll remember this Class of 2021 as a class that truly came together and formed a special, bonded, and unique community. — Nigel Furlonge, Former Fieldston Upper Principal

Former Form VI Dean Carl Anhalt called Gelernt’s remarks “a powerful and sobering reminder about our collective responsibility to keep working against violence and injustice while recognizing our individual abilities to make a difference where each of us can.” The three student speakers took the stage next. As part of their speeches, Axis Familant ’21 offered a land acknowledgment for the Lenape land on which our campus stands; Thomas Grant ’21 embarked on a multimedia presentation based on a letter he wrote to his future self at the start of high school; and Ananda Vidal-Burgie ’21 challenged her classmates to start work on creating a more compassionate world. As Vidal-Burgie concluded her remarks, Familant and Grant joined her onstage along with Fieldston Student Government Co-Presidents Calder Stokes ’21 and Nina Kronengold ’21 for a surprise tribute to Anhalt, who moved on from ECFS at the end of the academic year. To applause, Vidal-Burgie said, “Anhalt, you always stood by us. While we, the Class of 2021, are graduating, Anhalt sort of is, too.” Grant handed Anhalt a bouquet of flowers, and the graduates awarded him a plaque that reads: “Mr. Anhalt, you make the world a better place. We love you. Fieldston Class of 2021.” “I was shocked and speechless by the students’ gift for me, and I will remember their kindness forever, but I also wasn’t surprised,” says Anhalt. “It was one last act of selflessness and consideration for others that has always characterized the Class of 2021. I will miss them dearly.”

Projected on a screen above the stage, a video of the Senior Jazz Ensemble played. Filmed as individual segments that were then stitched together into one ensemble piece, the video showed students performing Eddie Harris’s “Cold Duck Time.” As each student played their solo, the audience applauded. Fitting multiple jazz performances together into something cohesive was a huge undertaking, and yet it worked; if you closed your eyes, you wouldn’t know the musicians hadn’t filmed in the same room. In the last remarks of the day, Former Fieldston Upper Principal Nigel Furlonge rose to the podium. He began with an expression of gratitude for the many teams that did work that was “nothing short of extraordinary” to make the day — and, indeed, the entire year — possible. “It was an honor to work alongside these generous, dedicated, thoughtful employees,” he said. Furlonge spoke about how he will remember this time, saying, “I will remember the Class of 2021 as resilient, even when it was hard to be so. I’ll remember that, as a group, you collectively centered the health, wellness, and safety of our community. You honored the many citizens who have given of themselves so selflessly as first responders and frontline workers. But, most of all, I’ll remember this Class of 2021 as a class that truly came together and formed a special, bonded, and unique community.”

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After Furlonge’s remarks, Anhalt took to the stage to award diplomas. He read each of the seniors’ names as the students collected their diplomas from Furlonge. In a year of differences, there was at least one welcome moment of normalcy: Safely distanced from their classmates, each graduate took off their mask to pose for photos. The audience applauded, thrilled to see full-faced smiles. As the graduates redonned their masks and exited the stage, Anhalt offered them fist and elbow bumps, which they giddily returned. Diplomas in hand, the new graduates of the Class of 2021 threw their caps in the air, waving to those watching on the livestream. “This year’s ceremony was uniquely special,” says Chief Philanthropy Officer Sarah Wendt, whose team, alongside colleagues at Fieldston Upper, planned and executed the event. “Prior to the event, the students’ families had the option to take graduation photos, and the Quad was abuzz with excited soon-to-be graduates and their parents who were happy to reconnect after a long 18 months of not seeing one another enough.” It was an opportunity to come together as a community — an effort made by students, families, faculty, and staff throughout the academic year — for a tradition so deeply valued. Indeed, Wendt says, “It was a very special, moving, and celebratory day for all.”

Class Notes

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Faculty and Staff Q&A

4 Questions with Kyle Wilkie-Glass, Interim Head of School Author Robin Becker

yle Wilkie-Glass, Interim Head of School for the 2021–2022 academic year, is ready to lead the Ethical Culture Fieldston School through a time of transition.

Wilkie-Glass first joined ECFS five years ago, and since then, he has overseen pivotal departments of the School, including Finance, Operations, and the COVID-19 Task Force, as well as high-profile projects like the Tate Library renovation, Student Commons renovation, and creation of the Design Studios. Prior to his time with ECFS, Wilkie-Glass served as Assistant Vice President for

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Campus Operations and Planning at Sarah Lawrence College and as an Adjunct Professor for Finance and Business at Manhattanville College, along with serving in other student life and operational roles in higher education. As Wilkie-Glass said following the announcement of his new role, “The past five years have provided the opportunity to work with and get to know so many of our colleagues, students, and families — I am grateful to start our work together in a more familiar way.” Here, Wilkie-Glass reflects on the year. What are you looking forward to this year? What I’m most excited for is exactly what we saw on the first day of school: Everyone is back, and the joy is just palpable. From seeing families during drop-off at Ethical Culture to students and faculty at the Fieldston Middle assembly or later in the day in the cafeteria — it’s moments like these that remind me how much joy there is in working in a school. The past year has been tough because we needed to shift away from that and prioritize a much more utilitarian style. So, days like the first day of school — and more days like it — are what I am really looking forward to. What do you see as an opportunity for this year? I strongly believe that, even in the current pandemic environment, there are ways for us to do everything we want to do safely. It might not look exactly like what we’ve done in the past, but there are ways to do it all safely. There are different elements of the academic program that we are looking to bring back that will enrich the quality of student life here. There are aspects of the co-curricular and after school programs — like Fieldston Middle and Upper theatre and dance — that we weren’t able to host last year but are now back. For example, in October, the Fieldston Upper Fall Drama was performed outside on the Quad. The opportunity that I see this year is understanding more about how we can operate in the pandemic and finding ways to do things that allow our community to feel the embrace of school life. Do you have a favorite spot on campus? My favorite place on campus is in the Tate Library — on the main floor, overlooking the Quad. We put really comfortable chairs there when we renovated the space. It gives you this beautiful view any time of day. I like it best in the evening, in the fall, when the sun is setting and the leaves are turning. It really hits all those bucolic notes that you would expect from the Quad at ECFS. It’s a nice place to be because

you’re also very much on the flight path — people are coming and going, faculty and staff are walking to their cars, students are studying. It’s one of those moments where, when you’re sitting there, even if it’s just for 20 minutes, you feel very connected to the School. What was your favorite TV show or book that you enjoyed over the summer? One of the things that you see at the end of every academic year, while people are cleaning out their classrooms or offices, is that everyone puts books out that are available to take home. I was in the faculty lounge at Fieldston Upper and I saw a copy of “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. It’s a short book, around 200 pages. It’s very well known; it’s been on “The New York Times” bestseller list several times since it came out in 1997. It’s one of those books that I’ve wanted to read for a while, and so I grabbed it off the table. I read it in July, and it was a nice, grounding experience. It’s a good reminder of ancient wisdom that’s still very relevant in the contemporary world. It’s probably categorized as philosophical self-wellness, and it offers a really interesting perspective on things.

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Inside the Classroom

Becoming Agents of Change at Ethical Culture Author Katie Kopacz

n Danny Crawford’s 4th Grade classroom, students sit on the carpeted floor watching an animated video about voting rights. The video is age-appropriate, but it doesn’t gloss over the real inequities. The narrator explains, for example, white Southern efforts to keep Black people from voting, like poll taxes and literacy tests. The video goes on to point out instances in which figures like Fannie Lou Hamer, John Lewis, and Martin Luther King Jr. faced violence in response to their civil rights activism. The students are enthralled. Some express indignation as the narrator talks about the ways in which voting rights are still limited today. The students in Crawford’s class — like the rest of the 4th Graders at Ethical Culture — are in the last few weeks of their civics and government unit. “What is the 19th Amendment?” Crawford asks the class.

“The 19th Amendment gives women the right to vote,” Asher H. ’30 says. He’s partly right — and the students will, over the course of this unit, dig into the nuances of the 19th Amendment and emphasize the activism necessary to bring about change. “The ultimate goal of this unit,” says 4th Grade Teacher Catherine Chou, “is to empower students to take ownership of their learning and understand the work we need to take on to create a more just country for all people who share our land.” Further, “Our civics and government unit supports our School’s ethics, values, and mission in several ways,” says Liba Bronstein-Schwartz, 4th Grade Teacher. “By introducing the unit through the lens of rights and responsibilities, students develop an understanding of responsible citizenship within our community, our School, and our society.” The unit began by focusing on the children themselves, giving them the opportunity to envision their roles within the more abstract constructs of civics and government. They answered questions like What are rights? What are responsibilities? What is free speech, and how have you participated in it? The students start with a broad lens, examining the birth of the Constitution and discussing the voices excluded from the process. They move on to a lesson on the three branches of government and the lawmaking process. The conversations are comprehensive. “We spend time discussing the identities of government officials, such as the nine Supreme Court justices, and whether the diversity of the American people is truly represented,” Bronstein-Schwartz says. After watching that video on voting rights, students in Crawford’s class return to their seats to read through a packet on the 19th Amendment. “The Bill of Rights and amendments 13 and 14 are about our civil rights. Civil rights are those guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution,” Lily R. ’30 reads. “Underline that last sentence,” Crawford says.

few weeks ago, Crawford assigned his students different government roles for a mock bill-drafting session, putting the three branches of government into action in the classroom. The bill focused on who has the privilege of sitting in a butterfly-style chair at the front of the room. Generally, Crawford will call randomly on students to sit in the comfy chair, but he says that some of the

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students felt aggrieved by the random process: “So-and-so has sat in the chair eight times and I haven’t gotten a turn yet!” “This was intentional,” Crawford says, “because I want them to have that tension and say, ‘We need a policy.’” Students viewed the issue through the lenses of equity, equality, and fairness. Is it fair that Crawford calls randomly on people in class? What is the most equitable solution to the issue at hand? What if some people don’t want to sit in the comfy chair? To this end, students drafted a bill, which then went on to “senators” for revision, before Crawford and the “executive branch” made amendments. The bill then went to the class’s “Supreme Court”: five students who compared the bill to the class rules, which are written in colorful marker on a large sheet of paper displayed in the class. 4C’s Class Agreements: – We will try our best each day. – We will be respectful and kind. – We will listen carefully. – We will follow safety protocols. – We will appropriately participate. – We will be empathetic to others. – We will uphold the school’s mission and values.

The students’ curiosity serves as a reminder that they are on the path to becoming agents of change, which is the ultimate goal of the ECFS mission. — Carline Samson, 4th Grade Teacher

The students playing the Supreme Court justices were instructed to recognize that they might have their own opinions about the bill, but as members of the Supreme Court, their job is to look at their interpretation of the class rules. The Supreme Court ended up striking the bill down because it would allow students to sit in the comfy chair during snack time, which, with less than six feet between the chair and other students, doesn’t comply with the class rule of following safety protocols. The class looked to Crawford and said, “But we just did this for 90 minutes. What happens next?” “We don’t have a policy!” Crawford responded. The children were stunned, but they learned that you can go through the formal process and still not get anywhere. It’s a grievous reality about government work — one laid out in stark relief to the students. In that vein, the class also learned that more than 10,000 amendments have been sent to Congress, but only 27 have been passed. This left some students stunned. Shouts of “What?!” and “Jeez!” radiated throughout the room. The next week, they returned to the bill about the comfy chair. By writing the same text but removing the word “snack,” the bill passed

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within 20 minutes. These days, they’ve moved on to different government roles to figure out what happens when there are extra snacks in the room. “That role-playing was great,” Crawford says, “because the children get to experience what it’s like to be in that role, to live through what making a policy is like — especially that part of using our class agreements as our mini-constitution, and analyzing that.”

few days after watching that video about the 19th Amendment, the 4th Grade class turns its attention again to voting rights. Placed in the center of the room is a giant, four-sided poster pop-up, mailed to the class from the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Crawford invites the students to walk around and “safely explore” the pop-up, reading in-depth information about the 19th Amendment. Kids shift around, getting down to crawl on the floor in order to see more information. Together, they sound out words like “suffragist.” “Who can define the word ‘amendment’?” Crawford asks. “An amendment is a change so the government can amend the Constitution,” Kayla G. ’30 says. “So, historians,” Crawford says. “What is the 19th Amendment?” This time, it’s a more nuanced conversation: The 19th Amendment gave some women the right to vote and excluded most women of color and Black men for decades. Again, the students are indignant, and ready for action. “The students’ curiosity serves as a reminder that they are on the path to becoming agents of change, which is the ultimate goal of the ECFS mission,” says Carline Samson, 4th Grade Teacher. The students are encouraged to embrace various forms of advocacy other than voting. Crawford suggests they start by looking at the issues on the ballot and talking about these issues with their parents, guardians, and peers. For instance, if a 4th Grader is passionate about climate change, which representatives are talking about that issue? In previous years, some students have been inspired to write to their city council members, employing outreach as a form of activism. At this point in the civics and government unit, lessons emphasize the children’s role as citizens, examining their rights and responsibilities within that role.

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As the children begin to develop their own thoughts and opinions about voting rights and civics and government in general, the challenge shifts. How does one insert facts to back up their opinions without reducing the discourse to statements such as “I don’t like that.”? Crawford talks to the class about which words they use when writing and which words they omit. This lays the groundwork for writing skills they’ll utilize over the next few years — and beyond. Later in the academic year, the 4th Grade students will take on self-determined research projects with the goal of teaching classmates about an important activist of their choosing. “It’s really powerful to see the children take what they learned from civics and government, what they learned about states, and then their own interests — to do that research as independently as possible,” Crawford says. In just a few days, the students have soaked up a wealth of information, questioned narratives, and developed complex understandings of historical oppression. They’re fired up and ready to get involved.

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Inside the Classroom

Fieldston Lower’s Holistic Approach to Social-Emotional Learning Author Emma Ronan Johnson

t’s a crisp fall day at Fieldston Lower, and the students are happily engaged in an outdoor assembly. Distant rumbles of laughter and rays of sunshine bounce off the burnished windows of the Fieldston Lower Library. As students return indoors, they flood the artfilled hallways with chatter. The academic year is well underway, but the excitement of a new beginning hasn’t subsided. Led by their teachers Sydney Beres ’14 and Ashley Balmy, the students of the 2nd Grade class, 2C, happily find their desks. “Let’s show whole-body listening, friends,” Beres begins, and her friendly disposition certainly isn’t lost behind her mask. With each student sitting attentively at their desk, Beres explains they will begin the activity by reading a book — “Niko Draws a Feeling” by Bob Raczka — as a class.

“When Niko was inspired, it felt like a window opening in his brain. An idea would flit through the open window like a butterfly, and flutter down to his stomach,” Beres reads. After circling the room to show the illustration on the page, she asks, “Has anyone ever felt that feeling, like a butterfly is fluttering in your stomach? Sometimes it is because you are nervous, sometimes it is because you are really excited.” A few students nod, and others sign “me too” or “I agree” in American Sign Language. Moments later, Iris, a character in the book, looks at one of Niko’s drawings, and suggests that Niko must have been feeling sad when he created this particular picture. “How do you think Iris knew that Niko was sad when she looked at his drawing? How would she know that?” Beres asks the class. Sadie H. ’32 quickly suggests: “His drawing looks a little sad. There is a lot of blue.” “The title is ‘Niko Draws a Feeling.’ Maybe he is drawing what he feels when he thinks about the thing that inspired him,” Colin K. ’32 adds.

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Social-emotional learning is a term not so much on the lips of students — the students see it and live it — but it shows up in our programming. — Joe McCauley, Fieldston Lower Principal

holistic approach to learning at Fieldston Lower begins in Pre-K and persists through 5th Grade graduation. “Social-emotional learning is a term not so much on the lips of students — the students see it and live it — but it shows up in our programming,” says Fieldston Lower Principal Joe McCauley. “We begin by focusing on the self, because when you understand your own identity and who you are as a person and as a learner, you are better able to understand others and recognize the similarities and differences. That is where empathy comes in.” In Kindergarten, students are introduced to ideas of self-awareness, community, and what it means to be a good friend; in 1st Grade and 2nd Grade, they practice conflict resolution and self-regulation, and develop an understanding of both self and social advocacy; as early as 3rd Grade, students begin to engage in conversations about inclusion, learn to celebrate diversity, and develop strategies for recognizing discrimination. “If we are holistically approaching education, we are also preparing teachers to have these different conversations,” says Simira Freeman, Fieldston Lower Psychologist. “If a student brings something up that is difficult to discuss, we encourage the class to grapple with it, to put their arms around it and make sense of it together. We invite the children to think about how you problem-solve or what supporting someone looks like. The emphasis is always on community.”

eres and Balmy, in their second year as co-teachers, explain that social-emotional learning is an essential element of the culture in Room 2C. They find that fostering strong social-emotional connections provides students with an environment in which to learn, take risks, and challenge themselves. After reading “Niko Draws a Feeling,” Balmy transitions the 2nd Graders to the next part of the activity, aptly named “Walk around the room like.” “How would you walk around the room if you were really nervous, as if it were the first day of 2nd Grade?” asks Balmy. The students of 2C proceed to quietly pace around the classroom. Luke G. ’32 pretends to bite his nails, while Sienna H. ’32 stands still, fidgeting anxiously with her pencil. “Now, how would you walk around the room if you are having the best day of your life, because today is your birthday?” The energy of the room immediately shifts as the students begin to jump up and down and throw their arms in the air.

If a student brings something up that is difficult to discuss, we encourage the class to grapple with it, to put their arms around it and make sense of it together. — Simira Freeman, Fieldston Lower Psychologist

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“Last one. How would you walk around the room if you were really, really sad? Your playdate got canceled today and you were really looking forward to it,” says Balmy. This time, despite instructions not to talk or interact with their peers, the students look to one another with loving glances. One student, Will R. ’32, even goes so far as to offer his support to a fellow classmate with a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

his is the third academic year changed by the global pandemic. School administrators and teachers across the world scrambled to transition to learning online, intricately build cohorts, and measure distances between desks; these enormous changes occurred as educators attempted to preserve the integrity of the academic experience for their students. “When crises happen in the outside world, as a community, the School is always thinking about how we can support everyone — from the teachers to the kids to the families outside of School,” Freeman says. Components of socialemotional learning in the classroom — managing emotions, showing understanding and empathy, building and supporting community, making ethical choices, and dealing effectively with conflict — have never been more important. Freeman took community-building one step further by creating a website, The Relation Station, which serves as a resource for Fieldston Lower community members, parents, and guardians. “I wanted it to be a walking, talking resource that parents and guardians would have access to. It is a two-way street all the time,” Freeman says. “How do I talk about divorce or loss of a loved one with my kids? It’s an additional tool on top of the parent support that is already part of our fabric.” McCauley adds that it’s “incredibly important to have a caring, loving adult facilitating these conversations, so the kids aren’t only having the conversation on the bus or the playground. This way they don’t scare each other and we can mitigate possible anxieties — we, meaning a teacher, administrator, parent, or guardian.” In addition, Fieldston Lower has a dedicated time of day where an ethics teacher comes in and partners with grade-level teachers in leading conversations with the students about things happening in their daily lives, where ethical decisions are so important to consider. “We are founded on this idea that we can create a society where students are front and center in improving that society. And this is all

balanced with the curriculum and programming,” McCauley says. “We want them to become advocates for both themselves and others.”

nce students finish “walking out” their feelings, they take a moment to sit silently at their desks.

“Close your eyes and check in with your bodies,” Balmy says. “Especially after thinking about all of those feelings. Do you see any colors as your eyes are closed? What do those colors mean to you?” After a few minutes of silent contemplation, Balmy turns on meditative music, and the students grab pieces of paper, slates of watercolors, and paintbrushes. They begin to “paint their feelings,” just as Niko had in the book. The students spend the next 15 minutes identifying their feelings in that very moment, and selecting colors to represent those emotions. As their colorful paintings lie drying on their newspaper-covered desks, Beres encourages them to share. Kate K. ’32 holds up a painting covered in deep blue and purple swirls. “When I was painting, I was feeling lonely and sad,” Kate says softly. “Lonely and sad. I hope we can help you feel less lonely and sad. Do you think we can help make Kate feel a little happier and supported throughout the day?” Beres asks the class. Without hesitation, the students of 2C respond with a resounding “Yes!”

eaching social-emotional skills takes a child-centered approach. Ultimately, there are things they always bring in, because of the things they are exposed to in their daily lives,” says Freeman. “We want to make sure they are getting support and developing the skills necessary to process this information.” In a time when we are all besieged by uncertainty, a walk past the classrooms at Fieldston Lower feels oddly ordinary — even with the faces covered by patterned masks. Students are reading, writing, and learning arithmetic. But they are also engaged in something else: They are developing communities, taking responsibility for their actions, and learning; they are self-aware, and they are expressive. And most importantly, they recognize when another student could use a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

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Faculty and Staff Q&A

8 Questions with Russell Marsh, Director of Community and Inclusion Author Julia Sonenshein

n July of 2021, Russell Marsh, who previously served as the Fieldston Upper School Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Coordinator, moved into a new role: the school-wide Director of Community and Inclusion. As Head of School Emerita Jessica Bagby wrote in a message to the community, “The strategic need for this full-time, all school role is critical given our mission and the challenges of the cultural and historical moment that call for communities of conscience and schools, in particular, to respond to them. As we continue to pursue our current institutional goals and anticipate our next strategic planning process, Russell’s leadership and vision will be invaluable.”

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In his four years at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Marsh has endeared himself to students, parents, faculty, and the broader community with his patience, vibrance, and care. In anticipation of his transition into the Director of Community and Inclusion role, we sat down with Marsh to get to know him better. What are you most excited about for this year? I’m most excited about working with the whole school. Last year, I was just in Fieldston Upper, and while sometimes I did work with the lower schools and Fieldston Middle, I’m excited that it’s my charge to work with the whole school — the parents, alumni, and Board of Trustees — in an official capacity. Whom do you look up to? I actually look up to my son, my little guy. He is bright, intelligent; he perseveres. All the stuff he has to do — being a young guy, being eight years old, being a big brother because we’re foster parents. He adjusts to being a big brother — he’s a great big brother. I look up to my little son. He’s a nice little guy. How have your experiences prepared you for this new role? Before ECFS, I was the Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Brooklyn Friends School, and I’ve been here for four years as a DEI Coordinator. I’ve been an educator for over 20 years, so a lot of that experience falls into the work that I’m going to be doing next year. You’re looking in the mirror before the first day of school. How do you psych yourself up? I have daily songs. Throughout my interview process, I was playing PJ Morton’s “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.” That was my song that settled me, so I’ll probably sing that — “everything’s gonna be alright” — and just walk out the door. What do you think makes the ECFS community unique? The student life. The student programming. Putting students first. Some schools say they do it, but I know we do that a lot here. The faculty are really passionate about the kids, for the kids, and make the kids better, so I think that’s really unique. What’s your favorite spot on campus? My office! I have the inside office [where his desk sits] and the outer office [with couches], and after COVID-19, my door will be open. Kids just come in here, and they make fun of my jar of candy — they say it’s granny candy or old church candy — but they always just

pop in, and the jar is empty. It’s my favorite place; everyone’s in here. What do you think your biggest challenge will be in your new role? I have to get to know how other divisions work. After four years, I’ve got Fieldston Upper down pat. (Well, not all the way down pat!) I know individuals in each division, and I know administrators in each division, but I have to get to know the smaller cultures. That’s gonna be a challenge. If you were a baseball player, what would be your walk-up song? It’s maybe because he just passed: “Who We Be” by DMX. Dah dah dah dah. I just love it. That’s the first song that came to my brain. “As I’m coming up, they don’t know who we be.” That would be it. For the Yankees!

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Inside the Classroom

Engineering at Fieldston Middle Embodies ECFS’s Core Tenets Author Rishona Michael with Robin Becker

he 7th Graders enter their classroom and head directly to their work stations. With determined focus, they begin tinkering with the intricate, animated scenes they are constructing out of cardboard. The classroom, located in the Design Studios on the Fieldston campus, is bright, open, and filled to the brim with materials, tools, and partially constructed projects. John Baglio, Fieldston Middle Science and Engineering Teacher, moves around the space, admiring students’ work and encouraging them to try new ideas and especially to self-direct. “My goal for all of my students is to increase a sense of agency,” says Baglio. Baglio heads the Fieldston Middle Engineering program, which began nearly eight years ago. Since that time, hundreds of students have experienced the thrill of generating an idea, creating a plan, and building something that is entirely their own.

At the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, progressive education is guided by ten tenets: Education must be responsive, relevant, ethical, experiential, interdependent, challenging, inclusive, empowering, healthy, and playful. The Fieldston Middle Engineering Program exemplifies these tenets through a robust curriculum that keeps students highly engaged, excited, and eager to learn. Responsive While the pandemic altered the curricular plan for many departments, it threatened to derail engineering entirely. Students were no longer able to work in the beloved Design Studios, and trying to teach inherently hands-on assignments posed a unique challenge for Baglio. Shortly after the pandemic took hold, Baglio decided he still wanted his students to build things, even with everyone sheltered at home. He introduced an assignment to his students that asked them to craft something out of paper — and he immediately ran into a roadblock. Many students didn’t have any paper at home — or any other crafting materials — and families did not feel comfortable visiting the store. “I had this revelation that, if I want kids to do hands-on anything, I am literally going to have to give them everything.” Baglio collaborated with a company in California that makes educational electronics for kids. He spent several months sourcing materials and planning what would go into each box. Before the start of the 2020–2021 academic

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year, Baglio sent every engineering student a toolkit that included a Micro:bit (a miniature, programmable computer), a sound recorder, and craft supplies such as pompoms, glue, tape, popsicle sticks, paper, and rubber bands. Instead of giving up on the idea of teaching hands-on engineering remotely, Baglio met the demands of the moment, providing the means for his students to create exciting, innovative projects from the safety of their homes. Relevant In the spring of 2021, Baglio tasked his 7th Graders with a unique and topical challenge: using materials found at home — along with their engineering toolkit — design a container that could keep a COVID-19 vaccine safe from physical impact, light, and changes in temperature while in transit. In place of the vaccine, students used the Micro:bit, which is capable of sensing these types of environmental changes. At the time of the assignment, the COVID-19 vaccines had recently been introduced to the public, and there was considerable discussion in the media surrounding how to safely transport the vaccines to remote locations. It was an opportunity for 7th Graders to practice advanced engineering skills inspired by a significant moment in time. Ethical Ethics are at the heart of an ECFS education. In the Fieldston Middle Engineering program, the study of ethics is on display both in the curriculum itself and in the way the projects are executed. Baglio is currently working on putting more environmentally safe projects into the curriculum and ensuring that existing projects are as sustainable as possible — and that our community maintains its ethical stance on supporting our planet. “We do our best to minimize waste in everything we do,” Baglio explains, and items from projects are recycled or reused whenever necessary. Baglio also plans to combine the lessons he teaches his students on sustainability with hands-on engineering education. This year, 8th Graders will undertake a new project called Future Cities, in which they will design a model city with a circular economy where no waste is generated. Students will learn not only how to construct a comprehensive model, but also the importance of planning for a more sustainable future.

I almost always err on the side of letting them find out on their own. Mess around. Make mistakes. — John Baglio, Fieldston Middle Science and Engineering Teacher

Experiential “This class is very hands on by definition,” explains Baglio. For their first project of the year, 7th Graders build a fully functioning automata from cardboard, foam, and other craft materials. The students work in teams to brainstorm an idea, develop a construction plan, and build a machine that displays a moving scene when a handle is turned. It’s a complex engineering process, which is one reason Baglio chooses to begin the year with it. “I do this project first because it forces them to iterate — it almost never works right the first time. They have to work through it, and they experiment with actual mechanisms,” explains Baglio. While Baglio is always nearby in the classroom to help students with specific questions as they work, he is also committed to giving them the space they need to learn through experimentation. “I always grapple with how much to tell the students and how much they should find out on their own,” says Baglio. “I almost always err on the side of letting them find out on their own. Mess around. Make mistakes.” Interdependent “Where is the cat?” one student calls across the table. “Did you check over there?” another student responds. Suddenly, an arm reaches across the table, cardboard cat in hand.

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“Here you go!” The students are working together to create their automata, which will eventually display a cat walking along a path. Once the missing cat is found, the students ask each other a more complex question: “Do we need to redo this?” The wheel that is meant to spin and animate their automata isn’t working, and the students are considering going back to the drawing board. As they discuss, they continue to work — one is cutting a square of cardboard; another student is attaching a paper handle to a wooden stick. Each student is reliant on one another to complete the project — experiencing all the triumphs and challenges along the way. Group projects are the norm in the engineering classroom. Students don’t just learn critical engineering skills; they also learn the invaluable life skills of collaboration and teamwork. Challenging One way that Baglio challenges his students is by not providing them with detailed instructions on any given assignment. When Baglio creates models or samples of projects, he keeps them purposefully vague so that students may dream up their own designs without influence. The example-automata Baglio displayed for 7th Graders was a simple white box with a wheel and a stick — he then directed his students to turn around and build something that both functioned fully

and told a story through its design. Not only are engineering classes meant to be very hands on, but the projects are designed to allow the students to learn as they go and to challenge them to learn from their mistakes. The point is to fail and to try again — iterating until an idea becomes a reality. Inclusive Engineering is — intentionally — a class that is light on both reading and writing. For any students who struggle with these modes of learning, Engineering offers them the opportunity to absorb information in a different way. Students who think with their hands, or who prefer a more kinesthetic style of learning, are given the chance to excel in a class where the early phases of a project revolve around drawing, prototyping, model building, and experimentation. Baglio also makes a concerted effort to foster inclusivity and diversity in his classroom. “Research on what invites in and what pushes away people who are traditionally underrepresented in the STEAM fields — women and people of color — informs my teaching,” Baglio explains. “I teach an ungraded class that works in a collaborative way that involves some level of creativity and personal expression into each project for a reason. These things, as opposed to an individualistic, graded class that is competitive in nature and rewards students for their achievement of a single idealized product, are conducive to an inclusive environment.” Empowering “The secret agenda of my class is not really to turn students into professional engineers but to use engineering as a way to cultivate a sense of agency in my students,” says Baglio. When students learn that they can create something by designing it and building it themselves, or learn that they have the ability to modify or fix physical objects, they develop a sense of agency over not just their learning, but their lives. “They get the idea that they can change their life, their circumstances, their health, and their world for the better,” explains Baglio. Healthy “If sitting is the new smoking, there is not much smoking in my class,” jokes Baglio. Throughout every Engineering class, students can be seen standing at work stations, darting across the room looking for materials, or circling up with each other to discuss a project. Students are rarely sitting, and almost never using screens.

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Engineering offers 7th and 8th Grade students the opportunity to get up out of their chairs and engage with their work in a much more hands-on, active way. Playful At first glance, the Engineering classroom in the Design Studios could be mistaken for a toyshop. The counters are lined with playful cardboard cutouts of cats and boats and fish. There are gears and tools and colors galore. As Baglio puts it, “This room is what I imagine the inside of my brain looks like.” The space certainly fosters creativity and playfulness. Throughout his classes, Baglio guarantees as little structure as possible with lots of time for students to iterate and play around with whatever assignment they may be working on. The result? Students enjoy a learning experience that both challenges and delights them. “Kids aren’t given enough time to play — this class is a lot of playing,” says Baglio.

The secret agenda of my class is not really to turn students into professional engineers but to use engineering as a way to cultivate a sense of agency in my students. — John Baglio, Fieldston Middle Science and Engineering Teacher

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Program Spotlight

A Return to Form — Arts and Athletics at Fieldston Upper in the Time of COVID-19 Author Kevin Dyer

ircle up!” bellows Clare Mottola, Chair of the Fieldston Middle and Upper Theatre and Dance Department, to a room of excited Fieldston Upper students.

It’s a temperate day in October, and the room is abuzz with excitement. The scene is familiar, energetic, and alive — it’s the first day of tech week before the Fall Drama, “Julien,” premieres. As Mottola outlines her expectations for the week, students listen intently. Every student seems eager and ready as Mottola begins to touch on the unique challenges they’ll be facing this year, and on the groundbreaking work they’re about to undertake — performing the Fall Drama outside on the Quad. After all, as familiar as the scene is, it feels far from normal: This is the first tech week held on campus since the onset of COVID-19.

It’s been stressful, but the stress is well worth it. The theatre kids are very close. It’s about being around people you like being around. — Susie H. ’25

Now in her 24th year teaching at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Mottola has her finger on the pulse of life at the School. She describes the impact of COVID-19 as one of intense conversations and canceled programs, of a sense of loss in the community. “Our School and our departments are really profound homes for people,” she says. COVID-19, she explains, saw that home disrupted — with sudden distance in a community of students who value connection and intimate environments no longer possible in the age of physical distancing. The Theatre and Dance Department used the disruption of the pandemic as an opportunity to reinvent and reinvigorate themselves. “This past year has been a turning point for us,” says Mottola. Committed to reinventing theatre in a virtual space rather than simply transposing the old onto the new, the Theatre and Dance Department commissioned five writers to generate new work intent on utilizing the confines and restrictions of the now much-familiar Zoom or Google Meet screen. The department witnessed students truly take to the challenge, creating content possible only in a virtual environment. “We had a play which took place at a drive-in,” recalls Mottola. The play featured six actors playing three couples, with the two students in each couple situated beside each other in the virtual layout. Through virtual meetings and rehearsals, the students put on a show wherein the props could be passed from one screen to the next, and in which — despite their physical distance — the actors inhabited a space of collaboration. “Being in theatre right now is a bit like being in control of the chaos,” Mottola muses. “There’s so much about live theatre we can’t control.” This notion of control, Mottola points out, is similar to the reality

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ECFS students are living through. With the pandemic ongoing and the situation ever-evolving, students and their families have started looking for ways to grow past the difficulties, to transform in ways that will open up new doors. That ethos of ongoing transformation is visible now more than ever as life returns to some semblance of normalcy. With all students back on campus, it’s full steam ahead in every department. In Theatre and Dance, that energy is evident in “Julien,” a new play written specifically for the current epoch at ECFS. “We’re basically taking the auditorium and recreating it outside on the Quad,” Mottola explains regarding the unique approach the department is taking to being back in person. She outlines how they will be using the unique space of the Quad as an outdoor theatre, bringing the campus to life in new ways. While this is a monumental effort, the excitement is palpable in both Mottola and her students. “I never want to do indoor theater again,” she says with a laugh. “It’s been a really different but really cool experience,” says Noa S. ’25. She looks to her friend, Susie H. ’25, who confirms. “It’s been stressful,” Susie says, but the stress is well worth it. “The theatre kids are very close. It’s about being around people you like being around.”

on’t let this game end,” Gus Ornstein ’94, ECFS Director of Athletics, remembers thinking. “This might be it for a while.” Ornstein recalls being at a baseball scrimmage in March 2020, just before Spring Recess, when the news hit that the School would be closing its campuses and transitioning to remote learning. Ornstein characterizes those early months of the pandemic as a slow-rolling realization that things wouldn’t be returning to normal anytime soon. And as the fall 2020 athletics season approached, Ornstein knew the world was still far from normal. “First it was canceling the fall pre-season,” he says. After that, it was about figuring out how to ensure that the students, already stressed from loss of community and such trying times, still had something good to hang on to. While every department at ECFS was affected by COVID-19, the Athletics and Theatre and Dance departments were hit in especially unique ways. How do you practice a contact sport when students need to stay six feet apart at all times? How do you perform a play or a dance when you can’t get students under one roof, let alone together for rehearsals? Or, as Mottola puts it, “How do we build community in spite of our distance?”

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The answer for both departments came back to this idea of keeping students connected, not despite their circumstances, but because of them. “We pivoted to a community-oriented mindset,” Ornstein explains. For the 2020–2021 academic year, with no games to play due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, the Athletics Department shifted its focus from winning games to building camaraderie among the students. While Ornstein explains that being student-focused has always been present in his vision for Athletics at ECFS, it became the backbone of the department during the pandemic. Crediting the work put in by his coaching staff and the spirit exhibited by the students and their parents/ guardians, Ornstein explains how inclusivity came naturally even as the community found itself cut into physical halves with the hybrid learning model. If some students were in person, whether on the basketball court or the football field, there was always a laptop nearby, camera pointed at the action, for the students off campus that day. It was a chance to slow down, focus on the technical work, and celebrate team building. “In a time where many people gave up on certain activities and routines,” says Jedd H. ’23, who plays on the boys varsity soccer team, “Fieldston fought to give their students a needed sense of normalcy. The community the School works so hard to develop and strengthen is very strong.”

Even during incredibly difficult times, Ornstein emphasizes, the students had fun. “That was the most important part of the experience,” he says. With half of any team remote at a given time, practices took on a more lighthearted tone. Ornstein, a Fielston alum and former quarterback for the Fieldston Varsity football team, returned to his old position. “I got to make a comeback,” he jokes about practice days when the student quarterbacks were virtual. On those days, Ornstein gladly stood in on the field. For the 2021–2022 academic year, students and coaches are thrilled to have some semblance of normal back. With students on campus full time, regular practices and games have resumed. In October, the School hosted a successful Homecoming, with hundreds of ECFS families, students, alumni, faculty, and staff gathered together on campus to cheer on Fieldston athletes. After many months of isolation and hardship, the event felt particularly joyful. The girls varsity soccer team capped the 2021–2022 fall season by winning their first-ever NYSAIS championship — an incredible accomplishment. “There’s a resilience to kids that we as adults don’t understand,” Ornstein explains. “There’s a mentality of getting back up again in the face of setbacks.” Whether it’s the volleyball players adapting to playing games while fully masked or everyone coping with seating charts on buses and rigorous COVID-19 testing protocols to keep the

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community safe, there’s a real sense of looking forward. “It’s funny,” Ornstein reflects. “We’ve been in this space for so long. But once the game starts, you’re just playing baseball. You’re not thinking about COVID-19 for once, even if it’s always there in some form.”

hrough it all — the setbacks, the surprises, the transformations, and the adaptations — Ornstein and Mottola make one thing extremely clear: At the end of the day, the School’s success in adapting to COVID-19 isn’t just about the students — it is because of the students. “The School’s value is to create ethical leaders,” says Mottola. “The art that we make has to reflect that. Everything we do is student-driven. They conceive it, they push it, they pull it. As adults, our job is just about unlocking the right doors for them.” “We want to win as badly as anybody else,” Ornstein says with a laugh. “We just want to do it in a way that reflects who we are.” As students get back into on-campus life, they are displaying admirable resilience. Despite the masks, despite the disruptions, despite the ongoing chaos and the never-ending questions about what comes next, at ECFS, the students aren’t just surviving — they are thriving.

There’s a resilience to kids that we as adults don’t understand. There’s a mentality of getting back up again in the face of setbacks. — Gus Ornstein ’94, ECFS Director of Athletics

Ethical Culture Fieldston School

Senior Art Showcase The Ethical Culture Fieldston School is known for its robust Arts program, weaving creative practices into our students’ education. Fieldston Upper offers students a wide array of Arts electives, allowing students to major in their area of interest. This edition of the “ECFS Reporter” features a new visual arts showcase where we celebrate the work of selected seniors and learn about their artistic journeys at ECFS.

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Ritvik (Ritz) B. ’22 I came to Fieldston in 9th Grade. Prior to then, I had just barely dipped my toes into the ocean of the world of art. However, through Fieldston, I was able to realize all it has to offer. My first painting was the first in a two-part water polo series which explored the movement and patterns of water, the turbulence of the pool, the energy and sound of the game, the intensity of bubbling water and jostling bodies. In junior year, I started a more abstract piece surrounding race and the presence of South Asian Americans in the spotlight. This influenced my next piece, the one I want to talk about, which began exploring how emotion plays a role in my art. This piece, titled “Nana” (Hindi for grandfather), was started in May, after my grandfather passed away. The day I found out that he had passed, I sat in my room for hours, letting everything I was feeling out onto a piece of sketching paper. After showing Mr. Wolfson the result and telling him I wanted to create a large painting in the same style, he was only encouraging. And thus started the 4ft-by-4ft leviathan which now overlooks the studio room from atop a bookshelf. “Nana” took me the rest of junior year and a good chunk into senior year to complete. Somewhere along the way, I realized the piece had become less of an abstract representation of what my grandfather meant to me and more an exploration of who I was and who I was becoming. Beyond the distress and pain, it demonstrates my growth and transformation into someone more mature and at home with who they are. I honestly feel that, without this piece, I would have had a significantly harder time coming to terms with reality, both of my grandfather’s passing and of my emotional turmoil during this time. And I also feel that without Mr. Wolfson’s help in exploring these ideas, I wouldn’t have even been able to start “Nana” in the first place, making it the perfect representation of not only all these things aforementioned, but also of how much Fieldston’s Art program has helped me become who I am today.

Grace D. ’22 During my high school years at Fieldston, I have been encouraged and supported by my art teachers. With their mentorship, I have grown as an artist. I feel more confident in my art-making process and in expressing my own ideas. At first my thinking was very linear. Now there is wider deliberation and exploration in my projects. In addition, I have been able to explore new mediums and techniques ranging from oil painting to working with wood in sculpture. This particular piece, “Monument for Community,” is a response to a prompt to create a monument. I wanted to make a monument that could be used by a community, moving away from traditional statues of people and events. I utilized repetition and organic shapes because I find those traits aesthetically pleasing. The piece is made from papier-mâché, hot glue gun glue, and paint. I was inspired by the Alice in Wonderland statues in Central Park and how kids are always playing on them; I want my monument to appeal to and serve children. The monument is meant to be a place for relaxation, rest, and play.

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Rylee L. ’22 Since 7th Grade, film has been an amazing creative outlet for me, and the past two years I’ve been a film major. I have always loved documentaries and learning about people, passions, and what drives human behavior — the surprising and the subtle to the obvious. Film has always been the vehicle I use to tell the human stories I want to share. Thanks to Fieldston, I feel incredibly lucky to have uncovered this passion and found what I believe will be a lifelong mentor and friend in Mr. Buskey. My film “Growing Up COVID” is about a moment in time. When COVID-19 cases were soaring and the pandemic was truly devastating our world, I wondered: Would anything good come out of this time? Right in front of me, my 6-year-old sister, Ellie, was thriving in unique ways. She was becoming more empathetic, more independent, and so much more creative. At the time, I felt it was important to tell a COVID-19 story through a unique and different lens. I was beyond surprised to see it subsequently go viral, be popularized on the film circuit, and make people smile during an intensely difficult time.

Carson L. ’22 I have been a 2D Visual Arts major at Fieldston for the past three years and cannot even begin to describe the joy I feel when I am creating and expressing my feelings, thoughts, and ideas through art. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than painting and drawing in the art room. I am fascinated by why people think and act the way they do, and I use art as a way to better understand others and myself. I am particularly interested in the connection between the brain and the mind — how emotions show themselves in our expressions and also are hidden. That is why I created the “Inner Self Portrait” psychological portrait series — to explore the dual personality that I find within myself at times. I took six photos of myself with different expressions and overlapped them in pairs to show how the face I put out to the public is not necessarily the way I might be feeling on the inside. Fieldston has given me so many amazing outlets for all of the creative sides of me, and I am grateful for Mr. Wolfson, who has been so supportive throughout my artistic journey. I wouldn’t be the artist I am today without him.

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Stay connected with ECFS Give back Making a gift is a important show of support for our students and our School. Make a donation at supportecfs.org or mail your personal contribution to:

Ethical Culture Fieldston School P.O. Box 1130 New York, NY 10008-1130 Volunteering is an easy and approachable way to get more involved with our School. Email

advancement@ecfs.org

to learn more and get started.

Share the love Have a favorite ECFS memory or story you want to share? We’d love to hear from you! Email us any time at advancement@ecfs.org.

Follow along We’re always sharing stories from the School on our website and social media. Browse articles and photo galleries at ecfs.org/en/news and follow us on Instagram and Facebook to see the latest updates from ECFS. @ecfs1878 @ecfs1878

Family Fun Zone Take a moment and gather your family for some quality time together. We hope you enjoy the ECFS-themed word search and coloring pages.

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ECFS Word Search Can you find all the hidden words in the grid below?

H H

Q U

Z M

D G M V

A M R

A M P

K M D O

A N

G W

O N

L W N

W H

H O

U Q

C H O O

G Q

F M U

T M S

ECFS FIELDSTON ETHICAL FELIX EAGLES SCHOOL ART LEARNING FRIENDS CLASSES SPORTS MUSIC ADLER CAMPUS QUAD

Alumni Q&A

Dr. Gina Gregory Burns ’77

ina Gregory Burns ’77 attended Fieldston for six years. Burns always knew she wanted to be a doctor, and after graduating from Fieldston, she went on to study medicine at Yale University and Howard University College of Medicine. She’s been a doctor for over 30 years and is dedicated to using her practice to address underserved populations and to solve disparities in healthcare.

How long did you attend Fieldston, and what brought you to the School? I became familiar with the three hill schools when my brother attended Horace Mann. At the time, I was a student at Hunter College Elementary School, which was held in an office building in Lower Manhattan. When it came time for me to attend either Hunter College High School, an all-girls school in another office building, or Fieldston, I knew I wanted to go to a coed school where there was grass and outdoor space! Do you have a teacher who stands out from your time at Fieldston? Or a class you took that you especially enjoyed? I was flipping through my yearbook, and all of these memories came flooding back. What I loved about Fieldston was how the teachers inspired us and taught us to think critically and to question and analyze everything. Harry Smith, who taught English, would have us read Shakespeare out loud. We were completely immersed in literature

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from a different time and would talk about the similarities and differences in how ideas were expressed. How to think was a big part of my Fieldston experience. But a standout memory has to be when, in 7th Grade, I was given the opportunity to take a Latin class. My grandfather taught Latin and Greek at Howard University, so it was something already in my mind as a cool thing to do. It was a small class that would come in early, and we’d get to do things like read “The Odyssey” in Latin. Just like we had in Smith’s class, we’d find ways to relate to those stories from a different era and use them to pull us into grammar and language. Learning how to push ourselves outside of our comfort zones and feeling good about the challenge was really great. What advice would you give to current Fieldston students? Take advantage of the exposure and experiences that Fieldston has to offer! It’s incredibly special and unique, and sometimes you take it for granted. I learned everything from how to set type to woodworking to how to draw hands (I still have my sketchbook from when I learned how to draw hands!) to modern dance to how to write a 20-page paper in Spanish. Fieldston is a place where you’re respected for your potential and challenged to live up to it. When it comes time to leave high school, it can feel daunting to look ahead to what’s next, but as a student at Fieldston, there are already so many skills you’ve achieved and challenges you’ve overcome. All of these experiences and accomplishments are things you will carry ahead into the rest of your life.

What inspired you to go into the medical field, and how do you see the ethical education you received at Fieldston impacting your work today? I knew I wanted to be a doctor from a young age. My grandfather was a doctor and I knew he had a challenging life, but the fact that he could do it despite all of that was inspiring. He taught my mom and uncle to be curious about science, so even though we grew up in a New York City apartment, we had microscopes and tons of books about science. I also grew up with the role models of my grandfather and one of his close friends, who was our doctor growing up, as examples of African American and Afro-Caribbean men practicing medicine. I saw people come from all over the city to see them, their stature in the community, and the trust people had in them. It was so inspiring to me. At Fieldston, my love for science continued with my classes, and I learned many of the foundations that I use to bring ethics and community to the forefront of the work I do today. What is your favorite Fieldston memory? There are a lot! But I remember when spring would arrive, everyone gathered on the Quad in the warm weather, full of energy and the excitement of being with friends. I am still in touch with friends like Dana Bowen Matthew ’77. We talk all the time, our families know each other, our kids know each other — it’s great. Our class has also done virtual meetups and even recently had Michael Lazarus ’77 teach us how to make drinks! Because I live in California, not New York, being able to stay in touch with my classmates on social media has been a lifeline. It reminds me of getting together and laughing with friends on the Quad.

Alumni Q&A

Ben Tumin ’08

en Tumin ’08 attended Fieldston for 13 years, finding a love of history during his time at the School. That passion for how the past shapes our present and informs our future motivated Tumin to study history at Pomona College. Now, he hosts a comedy web series, “Skipped History,” in which he uses humor to engage people on questions about overlooked parts of the past. What brought you to Fieldston? My maternal grandparents came to the United States after fleeing Germany to escape the Holocaust. As they worked to assimilate into the U.S., they joined the Ethical Society, which is where they met. My mother and her sisters attended Ethical Sunday School at the Ethical Society of Northern Westchester, which my grandparents founded, and when it was time for my sister and I to attend school, my grandfather was adamant that we attend ECFS. The rest, as they say, is history.

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How do you see the ethical education you received at Fieldston impacting you today? The guiding motivation behind “Skipped History” is an effort to get to the bottom of how society came to be what it is today — including the flaws that we often overlook — and a desire to not repeat the wrongs of the past. That ties back to the experiences of my grandparents, but also to the many years I spent in ethics classes at Fieldston. After 13 years of studying ethics, I may not remember every single lesson, but I know that they informed my eagerness to get to the bottom of what’s wrong in U.S. society and how to reimagine it so we can make it better. Who was a favorite teacher or what was a lesson from Fieldston that you’ve carried with you? I can vividly remember loving my history classes at Fieldston. I’m still in touch with some of my teachers, like Bob Montera and Nancy Banks. When I went to college, I didn’t immediately know what I wanted to major in, but I gravitated toward studying history. That pull to dig into the past was inspired by Montera and Banks as well as so many other teachers. Their love of history made me want to learn more. What advice would you give to current Form VI students after they leave Fieldston? My first piece of advice is to not listen to any advice that comes from me! My second piece of advice — with the disclaimer out of the way — is to take classes that pique your interests and move you. You may not always know what you want to major in or what you’re going to do, but if you follow your interests and passions, things will evolve from there.

Why did you choose a comedy web series to share your interest in history? Historians spend huge chunks of their lives reading and studying horrible moments in the past, but outside of academia, history is, to generalize, often watered down and made uninteresting and unrepresentative of huge swaths of the population. Myths are perpetuated because of how they maintain the status quo, and teaching history in a way that people don’t enjoy is a way to keep people disengaged from the reality of our past. For me, the question is not whether history is interesting or not; it’s how to make it interesting with the way you present it. When you use comedy to teach difficult parts of history, you can inject levity without taking things lightly. You’re able to reach people who may not have found a more traditional history class engaging or relevant. What is your favorite Fieldston memory? There are so many good memories! It’s hard to choose just one, but I do remember Montera, in middle school, retelling “The Odyssey” and “The Iliad.” He would take the last part of class and tell us stories from those books. I had no idea that school could be like that, and I loved it. Another great memory from Montera’s class is when I reenacted the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar. I brought in big plastic tubs, filled them with water, and recreated the battle with a set of wooden boats. I narrated the events of the battle, putting the boats in proper formation, and lit them on fire to show which ones were sinking. It had the intended dramatic effect, although the historical accuracy was questionable.

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Class Notes

Class Notes Class Notes are your chance to share your personal news and to keep up with what’s going on with your fellow alumni. Have an update you’d like to share? Send your personal and professional news to alumni@ecfs.org.

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Alice Kahn Ladas presented on coping strategies at the annual conference of the New Mexico Psychological Association in October. She is working part-time as a somatic psychologist.

Sam Florman has enjoyed finding ways to safely meet with friends and family during COVID-19, including two great-grandsons! He fondly remembers Elbert Lenrow’s classes on the great works of literature and Madam Leguinier’s French classes.

1940 Diane Arbus and her contributions to the field of photography were honored with a sculpture at the 60th Street and 5th Avenue entrance to Central Park. The statue will be on display through August 2022. (right) Statue honoring photographer Diane Arbus

Barbara Michaels is remembering her teacher Victor D’Amico, who had a great influence on her and her siblings in the appreciation of the arts at Fieldston. Herbert Oppenheim enjoys woodcarving at the Art Student League and regularly speaks with fellow classmate Marion Kaplan ’42 in his free time. Elaine Slater and her husband Jim have kept busy with their nine great-grandchildren and look forward to one more on the way. She remembers some of her favorite teachers at Fieldston: Phil Kotlar for listening sympathetically, Elbert Lenrow for the introduction to the world’s greatest literature,

Ethical Culture Fieldston School

Bernie Werthman for leading the class in singing choral music, Harry Heller for encouraging creativity, and Ken Bassett for understanding teenagers.

1944 Joan Kron spent the COVID19 lockdown “visiting” with family over Zoom, including seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She is still working and is currently developing her second documentary, “Weapon of Beauty,” about the history of Botox.

1945 Lois Lapidus recently moved from Long Island to Rochester, New York, to be close to her daughter and family. Stephen Wechsler hopes his friends from the Class of 1945 reach out to say hello! He is keeping busy writing a book introduction and mailing out monthly Berlin Bulletins from his home in East Berlin.

1946 Nathan Lubow is retired and keeping active. His biggest plan coming up is a trip to Cancun, Mexico, with his entire family of 17 in April. He looks forward to having everyone together at the same time and in the same place.

1948 Richard Falk’s political memoir “Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim” was published by Clarity Press in 2021 and includes details of his experience at Fieldston. He lived in Yalikavak, Turkey, for two years and returned to Santa Barbara, California, in the fall of 2021.

1950 Robert Gordon’s first scholarly article on theoretical neuroscience was published as a chapter in the book “The Neural Basis of Mentalizing.” He enjoys bicycling with a recumbent trike. Linda Olenik Pastan’s 16th book of poems, “Almost An Elegy: New and Later Selected Poems,” will be published by W. W. Norton & Company in the fall of 2022.

1951 Stephen Wechsler says hello to his classmates from the Class of 1945!

Ann Galton is sad to report that her husband, Barry Galton ’50, passed away in May 2021 after

66 years of marriage. He is greatly missed. Nina Small Salamon is recovering from abdominal surgery and still enjoying playing classical guitar.

1952 Ann Aceves took her first trip since before COVID-19 to visit family in California. She is currently living in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Lois Epstein Fenton is happy to report that she recently became a great-grandmother! George Litton learned the hard way that at his age, one should never be in a hurry. After rushing to get his 5:00pm martini, Litton tripped and fell, necessitating surgery and months spent in a rehab center. He’s back home, doing physical therapy and grateful for the care he’s received from his fiancee Alessandra, although he has lost his taste for martinis. Naomi Meisels Epstein enjoyed a wonderful family reunion at Mohonk Mountain House that was made even more special when her grandson proposed to his girlfriend. Miriam Roskin was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree by Bard College, her alma mater, where she previously held the role

of Director for the Dance Education program. Richie Roth has become a YouTube celebrity and has been featured on numerous channels sharing his memories of his grandfather, the renowned architect Emery Roth, designer of many of New York’s most iconic buildings.

1953 June Atkin Sanders illustrated “The Pumpkin Patch: A Traditional Buddhist Tale.” Ann Eldridge and her husband Bob live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and have eight children, 15 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Since Bob’s retirement, they’ve kept busy traveling and spending time with family. Betty Rollin is doing well, enjoying fond memories of her time at Fieldston, and continuing to write. Her books “First, You Cry” and “Last Wish” are still being enjoyed. Sadly, her husband passed away this year. Rollin wrote a piece about their last two years together, which will be published in the winter edition of AARP Magazine.

1954 Junia Doan recently traveled to Arizona for a family wedding and is enjoying

Class Notes

the imaginative outdoor restaurant seating in New York City. Larry Hartmann is enjoying life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Maine and is finding time to connect with colleagues, friends, and former Fieldston classmates on Zoom. Steve Kates had a long recovery from COVID-19 but is doing well now. He is hoping he can safely travel next summer to Venice, Italy, the last place on his bucket list.

1955 Adele Logan Alexander has three grandchildren. Her granddaughter got married last spring, and both grandsons recently graduated from college. Lois Berkowitz, along with Tamara Livingston Weintraub ’55, has kept the Class of 1955 connected throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with regular Zoom meetings. Various alumni have given presentations, including Bob Strassler ’55, an expert on Greek and Roman history, and Dotsy Otnow Lewis ’55, a forensic psychiatrist who worked with serial killers. Berkowitz recently moved into a continuing care community and is enjoying the lovely, wellequipped campus.

Bill Cramer is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Purdue University, where he teaches and does research on the structure and function of energy-transducing biological membranes. One of his several books on the subject is now under revision. His wife, Hanni, has retired from Purdue but still teaches French and German informally. Gail Lichtenstein Edelman is recovering from a knee replacement. Carl Leubsdorf is writing a weekly column for the Dallas Morning News and Tribune News Service. He welcomed his third grandchild in July 2021. John Meyer recently won Best Story in the LA Animated Short Festival for his animated short titled “Magical Mystery of Musigny,” which documented his experience with a bottle of wine. He is currently writing and producing a short film about Franz Kafka befriending a girl who has lost her doll. Marina Mirkin Engel is a proud great-grandmother to four great-grandchildren! Lucy Soffer Blankstein was recently a co-curator of the Group 92 Artists’ Exhibition at American University’s Katzen Arts Center in Washington, D.C.

Ethical Culture Fieldston School

1956 Author Roberts has kept busy making comedy and drama reels for his website, where he also displays portrait and scenic photography from his travels, including photos from a trip before the COVID-19 pandemic to Italy, Morocco, Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Croatia.

1958 Stephanie Bernheim and her partner spent the COVID-19 pandemic isolating at a farm upstate with her daughter, son-in-law, and grandsons. They passed the time by taking walks and staying connected with friends via Zoom. They have since returned to New York City, where Bernheim has reconnected with fellow Fieldston alumni Paul Hammerschlag ’63, Nancy Amiel ’58, and Joe Amiel ’55. Elena Lesser Bruun wrote a children’s book, “Maxine Gets Her Vaccine,” which launched on Amazon in June 2021.

Constance E. Cramer Porteous is staying busy playing the piano, participating in activities with her French group, and visiting her children living in Europe. She stays in touch with Marion Gaines DeCoudreaux ’58 and remembers and misses her friend Bruce Fitch ’58. Annette Hollander has spent the COVID-19 pandemic working on editing 10 years of poems for publication. Her book “What You Always Wanted to Know” was published in January 2021. Fiona Rhodes is living in Southern California. She is staying in touch with her classmates, including Annette Hollander ’58, Bob Jervis ’58, Francie Freed Einenkel ’58, and Sheila Nadler ’58. She remembers the kind teachers who piqued her interest in ethical matters, encouraged diverse friendships, and increased her concern for the consequences of her actions. She sends good wishes to the next generation of Fieldston graduates.

1959

Elena Lesser Bruun

Ed Fishman is retired and living in sunny Boca Raton, Florida, where he plays tennis and bridge. Fishman is still in touch with his classmates Jeff Moskin ’59, Allan Shedlin ’59, and Rona Mendelson ’59 and remembers his classmates Jimmy

Leiter ’59 and Richard Levien ’59.

1960 Julie Adams Strandberg had a documentary film made about her 50 years spent as the founder of the Brown Dance Program at Brown University. She also was awarded the Rosenberger Medal of Honor, the highest award the Brown faculty can receive, for her work as a teacher, artist, and scholar and her ongoing engagement with the community. Adams Strandberg will be retiring from Brown University at the end of the 2021–2022 academic year to pursue new projects, including Dancing Legacy, which will develop art programs for people on the autism spectrum.

Julie Adams Strandberg, left, receiving the Rosenberger Medal of Honor

Melanie Brown is happy to report that the Communiversity of South Africa, which she founded in Cape Town in 2012, has seen 1,400 students move through the program since its inception. The Communiversity is a fourmonth college and work prep

program to give young people from high-risk communities a second chance. More than 85% of the graduates from the program have entered college or an apprenticeship. Tom Fisher has moved to Melbourne, Australia, from an owner-built adobe home to a home farther out in the bush.

Class Notes

1961 Carolyn Adams was recently appointed Director of Education at the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation. Her new role will have her overseeing the operations and growth of the Taylor School. Adams has been with the Paul Taylor Company since 1965.

Hal Freedman and his wife were featured in a number of articles and podcasts throughout COVID-19, highlighting their collection of designer masks as well as their goals for and approach to philanthropy. They serve on the boards of several nonprofits.

Dale Koppel currently resides in Savannah, Georgia; Lake Worth, Florida; and Cape Ann, Massachusetts. She supports the legalization of marijuana through her real estate company, CannaBLISS, providing pot-friendly Airbnb rentals in Colorado.

1963 ”Notes on the Creation” by David Kann

Dan Rottenberg has kept busy writing about sports and satire for various publications.

Diana Kinoy and Jerry Miller were married in October 2021 and are living in Massachusetts.

Diana Kinoy and Jerry Miller

Carolyn Adams

David Kann recently published a book of poetry, “Notes on the Creation.”

on Native Americans and enslaved African Americans in Colonial times.

Judy Allen is the Theatre Director of Tompkins Corners Cultural Center in Putnam Valley, New York. She has been working alongside Alice Jankell ’79 to establish the Putnam Theatre Alliance, a partnership of three arts organizations created to present new works. Their next live theater project focuses

Barry Perlman’s memoir, “Rearview: A Psychiatrist Reflects on Practice and Advocacy in a Time of Healthcare System Change,” was published in April 2021.

1964 Nick Meyer’s new novel “The Return of the Pharaoh” was published in November 2021 from Minotaur Books and has received positive notices from Jonathan Lethem and Alex Ross, among others. Bill Rapaport was recently on a podcast discussing actor Lucille Ball. Rapaport and his wife Mary own Ball’s childhood home and have restored it to what it might have looked like in the 1920s when Ball lived there.

Ethical Culture Fieldston School

1965 John Field sends his warm regards to his fellow classmates and shares this quote from Pirkei Avot: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” Bart Kogan met up with Mickey Lemle ’65 and Mickey’s son Aaron Lemle ’09 for dinner. Aaron is an Emmy Award winner and a master’s degree candidate at the University of California Los Angeles School of Theater, Film and Television.

allegiance to the Yankees and the Brooklyn Nets. Danny Goldberg recently published “Bloody Crossroads 2020: Art, Entertainment, and Resistance to Trump,” which documents the 2020 presidential campaign through the lens of artists. Gigi Lincoln is happily back to in-person learning in Battle Creek, Michigan, where she serves as the District Librarian. This fall, she was chosen to lead the Homecoming Parade in a bright red Corvette as Grand Marshal as the school celebrates its centennial anniversary!

1966 Loraine Obler has co-led online sessions on ethical wills, dying with dignity, and dementia to two groups she is a member of, including a group of feminist psychologists.

1967 Jim Brudney has spent the last 10 years teaching at Fordham Law School and doing international labor rights work. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Anne Doyle and regularly enjoys visiting with Bob Bearnot ’67. Brudney pledges his sports

Lois Scarlata is enjoying life in a village of 1,000 people in Provence, France, which she says reminds her of growing up in Washington Heights.

Lois Candee Scarlata sends greetings from Provence!

Gil Scott-Heron’s contributions to the music world were honored with the renaming of the St. Mary’s Amphitheater, now named the Gil ScottHeron Amphitheater. He was a pioneering soul and jazz poet, musician, and author. Scott-Heron was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the spring of 2021.

Gigi Lincoln and her red Corvette

S. J. Rozan’s 18th novel “Family Business” will be published by Pegasus Books in December 2021. The book focuses on crime, family, and real estate in New York City’s Chinatown. “Family Business” by S. J. Rozan

Jonathan Shimberg retired from practicing law in November after 47 years. He heads a Sherlock Holmes scion society and is keeping busy digitizing his record collection.

1968 Katrin Belenky Peck and Samuel Peck ’68 recently moved to Glen Echo, Maryland, where they connected with their former classmates Marleigh Dover ’68 and Jon Kerner ’68. They have traveled to Florida several times to visit with Jayne Dworman Greenwald ’68 and her husband. Katrin is an active volunteer, and they are both excited to welcome a new granddaughter. Ellen Kirschner recently welcomed her first grandchild, Amelia Rose. She spends her time in Beacon, New York, drawing, writing, and making pottery as well as antiquing and playing the autoharp. Kirschner rows with the Beacon Sloop Club and volunteers at the Beacon Hebrew Alliance.

Ellen Kirschner and Amelia Rose

Class Notes

Pat Pincus fondly remembers her years at Fieldston and has worked in education throughout her life with the hope that the private education she received could be extended to public schools. Pincus has two adult sons and currently lives in Brooklyn. Rick Strong moved back to Riverdale in 2019 and currently works at CUIMC Pathology as a software architect and engineer. He maintains his presence as a jazz musician playing the string bass, electric bass with practice sessions, and occasional gigs as venues open up. Strong’s son Alex is an excellent musician who is working on his master’s degree in computer science at Binghamton University.

1969 Joan Fenton has spent the COVID-19 pandemic babysitting her granddaughter and managing the move of her retail business to a new space. Susan Leicher spent time during the COVID-19 pandemic recording an audiobook of her novel and writing its sequel, scheduled to come out next June. Steven Rosenhaus wrote and published his tell-all memoir “My Wild, Wild Life” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Margaret Sapir is enjoying time at her house in Rincon, Puerto Rico. Phil Straus is working with the Center of Defense Information to control Pentagon spending as well as serving on the board of Mother Jones magazine. He lives in Philadelphia with his partner Margaret near their children and grandchildren. Throughout COVID-19, Straus has explored artistic endeavors, taking his photography in new directions, making dance videos, and doing improv theater virtually.

1970 Mary Bassett was recently appointed as New York State’s Health Commissioner by Governor Kathy Hochul. Bassett is known for taking racial justice and social equity into consideration when setting policy as a public health professional.

1971 Michael Bergmann moved to Acton, Massachusetts. His wife, Meredith, recently sculpted the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument in Central Park, for which Michael was the project manager. His first video game, “Of Two Minds,” will be released this year.

Ethical Culture Fieldston School

1973 Mindy Barad is working hard as a legal superhero, grandmother, publisher of three poetry chapbooks, and novel writer!

Ken Shulman is in his 19th year directing an LGTBQ+ youth agency. The agency works with children from 26 U.S. states as well as Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and England. Shulman was recently invited by the U.S. State Department to train leaders from 30 different countries. When he’s not working, he enjoys gardening, skiing, kayaking, hiking, cooking, and spending time with friends.

1974 Mindy Barad getting re-married three years ago!

Roger M. Davis entered retirement early due to COVID-19, but continues to work in environmentalism, restorative justice, and social justice. He now lives in Boston where he is working on a memoir, which will be released in 2022 by AKU Press International. Patti Harris welcomed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, alongside President and CEO Alice Greenwald.

Nina Dabek’s collection of short stories “My Father’s Wife and My Daughter’s Emu” was published in September. Robyn Roth-Moise has spent the pandemic working alongside her father, Richard Roth Jr. ’52, and uncle, Emery “Ted” Roth ’64, holding a series of virtual events with Untapped New York about her great-grandfather and architect, Emery Roth. Patti Harris, second from right, with Alice Greenwald, Meghan Markle, and Prince Harry

1975 Dick Tofel retired from ProPublica after 14 years and now consults through Gallatin Advisory, writes his Second Rough Draft newsletter on Substack, and leads a faculty seminar at the Harvard School of Public Health. Jennifer Willis’ youngest son Abner married his partner Alexandra in a small ceremony in Portland, Maine, where she has lived for 28 years. Willis is retired from teaching yoga and is enjoying spending more time in her ceramics studio.

Jennifer Willis’ son Abner and his partner Alexandra

Robyn Roth-Moise with her father and uncle as they discuss Emery Roth

Sue Wolf serves on the board of NYRep while running Foster Your Dreams, a theater organization that matches dreams and opportunities with families, caregivers, and children in the child protective services system. She lives on the East Coast.

Class Notes

University of Virginia School of Law, received her doctorate, and published a book titled “Just Medicine.” Bowen Matthew lives with her husband in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C. Walter E. Harris III published his 17th book, “Moving Through the Empty Gate Forest: Inside Looking Out.”

the Conservation of Nature Harold Jefferson Coolidge Memorial Award in recognition of her work with nature and natural resource conservation. She is the founder and director of the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program in Papua New Guinea.

Amanda Morgan’s executive coaching and training business successfully survived the pandemic. She lives in New York City.

1978 Sue Wolf collecting toys for children in the child protective services system in New York City

1976 Susan Hinkson was named Managing Member of Capalino Ventures, LLC. The firm focuses on real estate and special project development and financing.

Bill Beres is living in Westport, Connecticut, and ventures into New York City every few weeks. He stays in touch with his fellow alumni. He recently played softball with Matt Mandell ’78, visited with Mitch Hauser ’78 and Dana Robin ’78 this summer, and celebrated Greg Kisloff’s ’78 birthday in October.

1977 Dayna Bowen Matthew began her tenure as Dean and Harold H. Greene Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School in August of 2020. She previously held the role of William L. Matheson and Robert M. Morgenthau distinguished Professor of Law at the

John Beres ’81, Bill Beres ’78, and Efraim Grinberg ’76

Lisa Dabek recently received the International Union for

Lisa Dabek

Miriam Harlan is in her 36th year of teaching and currently teaches 3rd Grade at an independent progressive school in Philadelphia. Harlan and her husband are proud grandparents. Meg Lindholm made a cross-country move with her family from Fargo, North Dakota, to Richmond, Virginia, in August 2021. After a shortage of truck drivers delayed the delivery of her belongings for two months, she now knows that she would prefer living through a severe winter over living without furniture! Lindholm helps nonprofit organizations develop podcasts in partnership with a radio station in Charlottesville.

Ethical Culture Fieldston School

Mark Stewart recently moved to a 1795 home on the Susquehanna River in Columbia, Pennsylvania. The brick house served as the first stop on Pennsylvania’s Underground Railroad in the early 1800s. Stewart and his wife, Sarah, are busy unpacking and exploring false doors, bricked-up tunnels, and secret rooms in their new home. Julie D. Taylor has been featured in a number of podcasts discussing public relations and marketing for architects and designers, which her firm of 27 years, Taylor & Company, focuses on.

1979 Jean Hanff Korelitz’s book “The Plot: A Novel” was released in May 2021. It was a New York Times’ best seller and was picked for the Tonight Show’s #FallonSummerReads for 2021. Hanff Korelitz’s husband, mother, sister, niece, and nephew are all fellow Fieldston alumni!

Rob Weiss visited with Cynthia Petterson ’79 and Joyce Schoenheimer ’79 in Hawaii. They are celebrating 48 years of friendship!

1982 Audrey Axinn recently returned from China after helping launch Juilliard’s campus in Tianjin. She is now teaching at Juilliard New York and at the Mannes School of Music at the New School.

1984

Cynthia Petterson, Rob Weiss, and Joyce Schoenheimer

1980 Pam Marcus has retired from her radiology practice. Jordana Pomeroy is living in Miami, Florida, where she serves as the Director of the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum and teaches at Florida International University.

Johanna Gorelick and Lindsay Stamm Shapiro ’65, along with a team of their colleagues from the National Museum of the American Indian, opened the exhibition Native New York after nearly a decade of planning. Gorelick hopes that the exhibition and related resources will be a catalyst for New York State to change its mandated social studies learning standards around Indigenous Americans, which have remained largely the same since she began working at the museum in 1989. David Pachter’s book “Remote Leadership: How to Accelerate Achievement and Create a Community in a Work-from-Home World” was published in September 2021.

1985

Jean Hanff Korelitz

Jordana Pomeroy

Melinda Beck recently completed an 80-foot mural on Market Street in Philadelphia in partnership with Mural Arts Philadelphia, the largest public art program in the nation; Wexford

Science + Technology; and the University City Science Center. The mural features a trompe l’oeil atrium that reveals a vibrant, colorful hub of activity inside.

Class Notes

England. He also had fun exploring new hikes with his family over the summer. Eden Wurmfeld and Margaret Munzer Loeb ’90 co-directed the awardwinning documentary “Chasing Childhood.” The film explores how free play and independence have been replaced by perfectionism, anxiety, and depression and how communities and parents can alter this trajectory in children’s lives. It is currently on a national community screening tour.

She is writing her third book, “Reconceptions,” about civil rights, family values, and reproductive technologies. Lehmann-Haupt helps run StoryMade Studio, a small company which helps people tell their stories in print or online.

Rachel Lehmann-Haupt on a recent trip to New York City Melinda Beck’s mural in Philadelphia

Eden Wurmfeld and Margaret Munzer Loeb ’90

Allison Weintraub coproduced a documentary, “Reporting 9/11 and Why It Still Matters,” which premiered on YouTube this summer.

1988

1989

Jessica Bacal recently published a book, “The Rejection That Changed My Life,” which includes interviews with 25+ powerful women, including actress and fellow Fieldston alum Alysia Reiner ’88.

Jenny Herdman Lando would like to wish her classmates either a belated or an early happy 50th birthday!

1986 Julia Pimsleur’s book “Go Big Now: 8 Essential Mindset Practices to Overcome Any Obstacle and Reach Your Goals” was published March 2021. Jon Schapiro’s band, Schapiro17, recently released two recordings on Summit Records.

1987 Daniel Schacht recently began a two-year tenure as Co-President of the Psychodynamic Couple and Family Institute of New

Liz Garbus has a new film, “Becoming Cousteau,” in theaters nationwide. Rachel Lehmann-Haupt is living in Sausalito, California.

Jarod Schlossberg married Brooke Crocker in October 2021. Orin Berman ’89 was in attendance at the wedding.

1990 Rachel Zucker has returned to New York City after living

Ethical Culture Fieldston School

in Maine for 18 months. Her older sons are in college, and her youngest is a 9th Grader at Fieldston.

Rachel Zucker

1992 Caleb Weinstein and his family moved from London to Palo Alto, California, in 2017, and they have been enjoying the sunny California weather. He has reconnected with fellow Fieldston alums Renny Maslow ’92, Neal Brandenburg ’92, and Jake Sussman ’92.

1993 Charles Imohiosen joined the Andrew Goodman Foundation as President and Chief Executive Officer. Robert Santos is helping to establish and grow Perkins Eastman Architects’ newest office in Providence, Rhode Island. They were recently commissioned to restore a century-old school building. He recently celebrated his 10-year anniversary with his wife.

1994

2000

Daryl Freimark created and produced “Operator,” a podcast about how phone sex was brought into the mainstream. He also produced the feature film “Giving Birth to a Butterfly,” which is playing at film festivals worldwide.

Abe Streep’s book “Brothers on Three” was published in September 2021.

1997 Joelle Obsatz’s business, Butterfield Market in New York City, was recently highlighted in an article in Forbes that explored how businesses succeed when they pay attention to their customers’ experiences.

1999

”Brothers on Three” by Abe Streep

2001

Marissa Arciola joined the board of the Syrian Music Preservation Initiative and is an active musician in the group. The group recently had their first performance since the start of the COVID19 pandemic.

Shira Cahn-Lipman is in her second year working as the Manager of Education Leadership with Planned Parenthood Federation of America. During the COVID19 pandemic, Cahn-Lipman and her partner welcomed both a child and a new dog to their home! Their cat, Logan, is happy to have everyone working from home.

The Syrian Music Preservation Initiative performing at North Beach Bandshell, Miami

Nora Griffin is a painter and teacher living in Red Hook, Brooklyn. She is represented by the FIERMAN gallery on the Lower East Side and teaches at the School of Visual Arts and Maryland Institute College of Art. Frequent telephone calls with Niko Vicario ’00 and Becky Brown ’01 helped get her through 2020.

Lev Rosen’s novel “Camp” was optioned by HBO Max and will be turned into a feature film.

2003 Aaron Gibralter lives in New York City with his wife, Natalie, and their two children. He recently joined the tech startup Mighty as Vice President of Engineering after six years working at Greenhouse.

Class Notes

Head of Talent at the livestream platform ShopShops. Her first child just turned 18 months old.

2005 Mai-Len Kennedy recently got married to Amine Nagi in Central Park. Keithara Davis ’05, Eileen Will ’05, and Giselle Vandenburg ’05 were all members of the bridal party.

2006 Aaron Gibralter and family

Jono Schafler married his wife, Maia, and welcomed their child Ari, grandchild to Pam and Scott Schafler ’68. Jono builds e-commerce brands with his business partner and sibling, Michael Schafler ’00, at their company SBROS.

Javi Diaz married the love of his life, Brittney Carroll.

2008 Emma Roth and her husband, Daniel, welcomed their baby, Ethan, in May 2021. She works as a reproductive justice attorney at National Advocates for Pregnant Women.

Jono Schafler, Maia, and Ari

2004 Hillary Robbie departed William Morris Endeavor where she had been a Comedy Agent and is now

Emma Roth’s son Ethan

Ben Tumin spent the COVID19 pandemic producing a comedy web series, “Skipped History,” that aims to educate people about historical events

through comedy. He was recently featured in the New York Times.

2009 Jordana Elias was excited to have ECFS students as campers this summer at Camp Half-Blood. Jonah Feingold and Spencer Barkoff ’09 released their film “Dating and New York” over the summer. The romantic comedy explores dating and relationships in New York City.

Reunion returns Saturday, June 4, 2022! If you are a member of the classes of 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, or 2012, we hope you’ll join us! Contact alumni@ecfs.org for more information.

Ethical Culture Fieldston School

2010 Nathan Bram and Margot Beda got married in October 2021 with Fieldston alumni there to celebrate alongside them. Eagles of all ages enjoyed reconnecting at the celebration! In addition to the alumni pictured below, Laura Blankfein ’71, Efraim Grinberg ’76, Elizabeth Sarnoff ’79, Lily Sarnoff Cohen ’11, and Julia Sarnoff Cohen ’16 were also in attendance.

Eric Wimer is a Senior Organizer for Democratic Socialists of America and is helping to train chapters across the country. The organization has won victories across the country to transform policy, including blocking fracking in Akron, Ohio.

2012 Rafi Ellenson moved to Boston to study at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College after several years living in Jerusalem working in the nonprofit and activism fields.

Caroline Danehy’s recycled-plastic swimwear company, Fair Harbor, was written about in Forbes for its success during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ben Fitts’ second book, a horror-comedy novella titled “Snailbutter,” was published by Hybrid Sequence Media in the summer of 2021.

2016

Eric Wimer with DSA-endorsed candidate and Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez Fieldston alumni reunite on Halloween eve to celebrate Nathan Bram and Margot Beda’s wedding. Left to right, front to back: Quinn Jackson ’10, Phoebe Nir ’10, Ali Thomas ’11, Kevin Chenault ’10, Zach Brown ’10, Sam Silverman ’10, Nathan Bram ’10, Jenny Bram ’20, Scott Roth ’10, Susan Sarnoff Bram ’81, Robert Pruzan ’81, Danielle Fuerth ’09, Michael Bernstein ’10, Henry Bram ’13, Robert Godosky ’81, Michael Presser ’10, Will Marron ’12, Arianna Thomas ’12, Michael Guba ’10, Molly Cafaro ’10, Alison Pruzan ’11, Emma Kurz ’10

2015

2013 Maxwell WhittingtonCooper will play John Lewis in an upcoming Netflix Film about Bayard Rustin.

2014 Charlotte Lee graduated from Kenyon College in 2018, then studied to become a makeup artist for TV, film, and theater. In 2019, she worked as an apprentice at the Juilliard School. She is currently freelancing in narrative film, television, and corporate commercials as a makeup artist and is working part-time in the wig shop at Saturday Night Live.

Natalie White recently created the first sneaker specifically designed for female basketball players, Moolah Kicks.

2020 Emma Venarde attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, as one of 10 delegates representing the Youth Climate Program in November. Her passion for the environment began as a child and led her to attend programs at the Wild Center and organize the Bronx Youth Climate Summit during high school. Vernarde currently studies environmental science at Brown University.

In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Fieldston Alumni ECFS honors and remembers the alumni we lost in 2021. They are missed and their families and loved ones are in our thoughts.

George Mueden ’35 Paula Latz Lewis ’39 Sibyl Herzog Grubstein Thalhimer ’40 Theodore Jackson ’40 Hedi Seligsohn Piel ’41 Edith Beck Kates ’41 Jerome Percus ’42 Richard Loving ’42 Jacqueline Kraunz Wilner ’42 Evelyn Brand Boxer ’44 Rita Kupsick Katz ’45 Sandra Friedman Blum ’47 Martin Boykan ’47 Alan Dworsky ’48 Patricia Barrett Perkins ’49 James Scheuer ’49 Barbara Antell Silber ’50 Barry Galton ’50 Jonathan Mirsky ’50 Anton Kris ’51 Daniel E. Schapiro ’51 Donald Slotkin ’54 Peter Jacobs ’55

Jeffrey Paley ’56 Alan Frankel ’57 Ellyn Harber Goldstein ’58 Ingrid “Ganga” Stone ’59 Elizabeth Affelder Kahn ’61 Joan Kramer Tucker ’61 Nicholas Weiskopf ’62 Julia Fitch Moran ’64 Michael T. Sillerman ’64 Eric Weiss ’68 Marian Strauss ’68 Louise Kaplan Weinberg ’69 Lisa Kantrowitz ’70 Mark Josephson ’73 Sandra Chaplan ’73 Benita Raphan ’80 Jack Polsky ’84 Glen de Vries ’90 Dasan Broadnax ’13 If classmates are missing from this list, please email alumni@ecfs.org so we may honor them.

Ethical Culture Fieldston School

Barbara Antell Silber ’50

Jonathan Mirsky ’50

Daniel E. Schapiro ’51

Barbara Antell Silber passed away on March 11, 2021. After graduating from Fieldston, Barbara received a Bachelor of Arts degree in physiological chemistry from Smith College, a Master’s degree in biology from New York University, and a Master’s Degree in genetic counseling from Mount Sinai Medical Center. Barbara was a decades-long Science Teacher at Fieldston, where she taught in the Kotlar lab before later becoming a genetic counselor for expectant couples in cityrun health centers in Brooklyn and Queens. Barbara was a devoted and loyal alum who attended Homecoming each year and kept her classmates connected to their alma mater. Barbara’s four children, Andrea Dickey ’73, Jeffrey Silber ’76, Laura Silber ’79, and Michael Silber ’82, and her three grandchildren all attended Fieldston. She will be remembered for her dedication to ethical education, her eternal good cheer, her loyalty to our School, and her limitless encouragement of students.

Jonathan Mirsky passed away on September 5, 2021. After graduating from Fieldston, Jonathan received a Bachelor’s degree in history from Columbia University, studied Mandarin at the University of Cambridge, and received a Ph.D. in Chinese history from the University of Pennsylvania. Jonathan specialized in the history of the Tang dynasty and became a professor of Chinese language and history at Dartmouth. A well-known historian and journalist, he popularized the field of modern Chinese and Asian studies and was an outspoken critic of Communist China. Amongst many notable writings, he interviewed the Dalai Lama and became famous for his on the ground reporting from the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989.

Daniel E. Schapiro passed away on November 10, 2021. After graduating from Fieldston, Dan received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester, served for two years as a medical corpsman in the United States Navy, and later attended New York University Medical School. He completed a residency in neurology at the Mount Sinai Hospital of New York and practiced medicine for more than 40 years at Lenox Hill Hospital. Dan loved cars, photography, tennis, and his family. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Marion Lyon Schapiro, his two sons, Jonathan Schapiro ’86 and Barnaby Schapiro ’87, his daughter-in-law, Emily Ross, and his three grandchildren, James Schapiro ’15, Lydia Schapiro ’17, and Oscar Schapiro ’26. His family’s strong connection to ECFS began with his mother, Alma Binion Cahn ’24, and continues with a philanthropic legacy committed to the mission of the School.

In Memoriam

Jack Polsky ’84

Glen de Vries ’90

Jack Polsky passed away on July 6, 2021. After graduating from Fieldston, Jack attended Harvard College where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. He also received a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University before joining the Chicago-based investment firm William Harris Investors, where he served as CEO for 14 years. Jack proudly served as an ECFS Trustee from 2002–2010 and counted his ECFS classmates as some of his closest friends. Jack is remembered for his good-natured practical jokes along with his sharp sense of humor and immeasurable kindness. He had many interests and hobbies but his greatest joy was spending time with his wife, Rebecca, and their three children, Jasper, Zoe, and Peter. In addition to his wife and children, Jack is survived by his parents, his four siblings who also graduated from Fieldston, and his many nieces and nephews, six of whom are also ECFS students or alumni.

Glen de Vries passed away on November 12, 2021, only weeks after realizing a life-long dream of going to space. Glen was one of four crew members aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket for the NS-18 mission in October. After graduating from Fieldston, Glen received his undergraduate degree in molecular biology and genetics from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was also a trustee. Glen was a scientist and entrepreneur who co-founded Medidata Solutions, a clinical research tech company whose platform is widely used around the world, impacting millions. Prior to Medidata, he worked as a research scientist at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and studied computer science at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

Ethical Culture Fieldston School

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Administrative Council 2021–2022

Board of Trustees 2021–2022

Kyle Wilkie-Glass Interim Head of School Jon Alschuler Interim Principal, Fieldston Middle Jessica L. Bagby Head of School Emerita Erin Bernstein Director of Finance/ Chief Financial Officer Lauren Coulston Director of Communications Rob Cousins Principal, Ethical Culture Jeannie Crowley Director of Technology Charles Guerrero ’89 Director of Enrollment Management Holly Manges Jones Director of Human Resources/Chief Human Resources Officer Tony Marro Interim Principal, Fieldston Upper Russell Marsh Director of Community and Inclusion Joe McCauley Principal, Fieldston Lower Gus Ornstein ’94 Director of Athletics Sarah Wendt Chief Philanthropy Officer

Susan Sarnoff Bram ‘81 Advancement Co-Chair Margot Bridger Eunu Chun DEI Chair Anand Desai Akin Dorsett ‘88 Andrew Holm ‘01 Treasurer, Buildings & Grounds Chair, Finance Chair Tal Kaissar Nick Kaplan ‘88 Fieldston Alumni Network (FAN) Chair Jesse Klausz Faculty Representative Rob Lewin Vivian Lin Meghan Mackay Vice-Chair, Academic Life Chair Seth Meisel Dhari Noel ‘11 Faculty Representative Kathleen O’Connell Stan Parker Nori Rost Society Leader

Jon Roure Jonathan M. Rozoff Governance Chair Carline Samson Faculty Representative Bree Sheahan P+T Representative Liz Singer President, Society Board (Ex-Officio) MinYoung Song Faculty Representative Kim Smith Spacek ’91 Board Chair, Investment Chair Emily Tisch Sussman ‘00 Krishna Veeraraghavan Vice-Chair, Audit & Risk Management Co-Chair Rielly Vlassis Josh Vlasto ‘00 Stephanie Wagner Advancement Co-Chair Jeff Walker Secretary, Audit & Risk Management Co-Chair Kyle Wilkie-Glass Ex-Officio

ECFS Communications Office

Contributors

Molly Alpern Communications Manager for Advancement Robin Becker Assistant Director of Communications for Institutional Engagement Lauren Coulston Director of Communications

Kevin Dyer, author Katie Kopacz, author Rishona Michael, author Anna Oliver, artist Emma Ronan Johnson, author Julia Sonenshein, author Chris Taggart, photographer

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Ethical Culture Fieldston School

ECFS Reporter

Winter 2022