Foote Prints Spring 2019

Foote Prints Spring 2019

The Foote School On the cover Linocut prints by sixth graders Norah McPartland (owl), Dani Aseme (light bulb), Rory McCormack (bear), Antonio Giraldez-Greco (tree) and Nicholas Huber (rocket) On this page Seventh graders launch hand-built rockets on Rike Field, part of a physics unit in Tim Blauvelt’s science class.

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From the Head of School Foote’s Enduring Impact ‘Work Hard and Have Fun’ Jim Adams gets fifth graders—and that understanding helps him push his students to greater heights.

Steel Pulse Foote’s steel pan ensemble is energizing students and the music program, one pop song at a time.

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Growing Up Foote What defines the Foote School experience?

It’s learning that connects, teachers who care, a welcoming community and so much more.

The Volunteer Brigade How the Foote PTC became a cornerstone of the school community Foote News In Brief Connecting the Dots Grandparents Day Alumni Achievement Award

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Legacies at Foote Class of 2015: Where Are They Now? Young Alums Day Class Notes Why I Teach

Foote Prints Spring19 18

Spring 2019 | Vol. 46 No. 1

The Foote School

50 Loomis Place, New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 777-3464 • www.footeschool.org Foote Prints is published twice a year for alumni, parents, grandparents and friends.

Editor Andy Bromage Class Notes Editor Amy Stephens Sudmyer ’89 Design AHdesign, Angie Hurlbut Thea A. Moritz Photography Stephanie Anestis, Andy Bromage, Joe Charles, Judy Sirota Rosenthal Copy Editor Anne Sommer Contributors Jody Abzug, Amy Caplan ’88, Deborah Fong Carpenter ’82, Joe Charles, Muffie Clement Green ’61, Cindy Leffell, Susan Neitlich, Amy Stephens Sudmyer ’89 Board of Directors J. Richard Lee, President George Atwood Richard Bershtein, Immediate Past President Kim Bohen Elon Boms Wick Chambers ’62 Constance ‘Cecie’ Clement ’62, Vice President Danielle Ginnetti, PTC Co-President Mona Gohara Rebecca Good Francie Irvine George Joseph, Vice President George Knight Nadine Koobatian, Secretary Michael Krauss Melissa Matthes Jennifer Milikowsky ’02 Bonnie Moskowitz, PTC Co-President Stephen Murphy, Treasurer Annie Paul Jason Price Kiran Zaman Ex-Officio Carol Maoz, Head of School The Foote School does not discriminate in the administration of its admissions or educational policies or other school-administered programs, and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, or non-job-related physical disability.

FO OTE ’ S ANNUAL HALLOWE E N PAR A D E AND FAIR , now in its sixth decade,

is a celebration of the season and an opportunity to support New Haven’s most vulnerable residents. The student-run fair raised $1,000 this year for Columbus House, which operates homeless shelters for men, women, veterans and families. Pictured, a fourth grader plays the Spider Toss.

02 | Foote Prints

From the Head of School The Foote experience is more than the sum total of opera trips, sludge tests and maypole dances.

Foote’s Enduring Impact W HAT I S IT THAT MA K E S

The Foote School unique? What defines our approach to learning and the ‘Foote experience?’

these qualities, I believe that Foote is the rare school that successfully combines all of them.

As a faculty, we spend a great deal of time reflecting on our mission, our curriculum and student outcomes. We do so in order to improve our teaching and to create a more inclusive community that respects every child’s individuality.

Foote has also continued to evolve in order to embrace 21st-century values and prepare our students for the changing world. In recent years, we have put significant focus on diversity and inclusion efforts, because we understand that student success begins with feeling known and appreciated for what makes each of us unique.

For this issue of Foote Prints, however, we wanted to capture the essence of Foote using your words and memories. We surveyed alumni, parents, faculty and friends, asking you to share recollections and describe how Foote has impacted your lives.

What we heard in your replies was both universal and unique, and echoes something I hear repeatedly from alumni—that their years at Foote were the most formative of their education.

The memories you shared crystallize the spirit of Foote: Kindergarten friendships that have lasted a lifetime; lines you can still recite from school plays; teachers who genuinely cared about you, embraced your quirks and encouraged your passions.

But something else came through in your memories.

The Foote experience is more than the sum total of opera trips, sludge tests, maypole dances and math competitions.

What this school has done for decades is help to raise good human beings by celebrating childhood; prioritizing play; challenging children to be their best, authentic selves; and providing a highly stimulating and rigorous academic program that prepares children for their next steps.

These have been constants since Foote’s founding. While many independent schools can lay claim to some of

Walk into any Foote classroom today and you’ll hear powerful conversations taking place about stereotypes, kindness, social justice and personal identity—each tailored to the age of the children and facilitated by highly skilled teachers who embrace their own role as lifelong learners.

In charting this course, we have relied on best practices in education; the latest research on child development and brain science; and the collective experience of our faculty.

Our progress has been aided by educational experts and input from parents.

I love this school. It makes me happy and proud to come to school each day and be part of the indelible spirit of Foote, empowering another generation to meet the challenges of the world with joy and purpose.

Enjoy this issue and please stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Carol Maoz, Head of School Spring 2019 | 03

Foote News in Brief

Tom Brand ’88 leading an assembly for Middle School students

‘There is Music Inside All of Us’ spent a week at Foote in January as this year’s Ellie Warburg Class of 1945 Visiting Artist. As the founder and director of the Elm City Girls’ Choir, United Choir School and Saecula Singers, Tom has created the largest choir school in Connecticut, which over 25 years has given more than 4,500 girls the opportunity to sing and conduct in a supportive community of peers.

FO OTE ALUMNU S TOM B R AND ’ 8 8

Tom led three energetic assemblies, as well as workshops for every grade, focused on folk music from around the world, specifically the Ghanaian folk song “Sansa Kroma” and the Malaysian song “Chan Mali Chan.” Tom broke down the musical elements of the songs—and how they’ve each evolved—and challenged students to work together to create their own improvised tunes.

“I wanted to get across that it is possible for anyone to create music,” Tom says. “There is literally music inside all of us.”

04 | Foote Prints

Another theme of Tom’s residency: music brings people together. “There’s always a song in your heart and you have to look for it,” he says. “It takes courage to share it with the world, to express what matters to you. That is, to me, kind of the purpose of life.”

The visiting artist program was established in 2016 with funds donated by the family and classmates of the late Elinor Bozyan Warburg ’45, a devoted Foote alumna and lover of the arts. The program brings a different visiting artist to Foote each year to work with—and perform for— students and faculty. This year, Ellie’s son John was on hand to watch an assembly. > Watch a video from Tom’s residence at www.footeschool.org/warburg.

Sharing the Refugee Experience, Graphically JA K E HALP E R N AND MI CHAE L S LOAN

first encountered the Syrian refugees who From left, Chris George of IRIS, Jake Halpern, Michael Sloan, Issa and Aminah would become the subjects of their Pulitzer Prize-winning series in the parking lot of Sports Haven off Interstate 95. It was Election Day 2016, They were joined by Chris George, executive director of and the Syrian family was on the last leg of an arduous IRIS (Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services), and Issa journey to escape their war-torn homeland. They arrived and Aminah, the Syrian couple who were their subjects. in the United States just as a political earthquake was about Together, the panelists recounted how they created the to send shockwaves across the country. As Jake, a freelance series and discussed the challenge of building trust amid journalist, recalls, “This is a story about a family who anti-immigrant sentiment in parts of the country. landed in one country and woke up in another.”

Guests enjoyed traditional Syrian snacks provided by Jake and Michael, who is a former Foote parent, discussed Sanctuary Kitchen, a nonprofit program that promotes the creation of their New York Times graphic series, the culinary traditions, cultures and stories of refugees “Welcome to the New World,” on October 30 for a resettled in Connecticut. special event hosted by the Foote committee MOSAIC > Listen to a podcast of the event at www.footeschool.org/podcasts (Multicultural, Open-Minded, Supportive, Accepting, Inclusive Community).

Foote Campus Featured in Architecture Tour location for this year’s Docomomo US Tour Day on October 6, an annual celebration of modern architecture and design.

Architect George Knight, a Foote parent and Board member, led a lively group of two dozen visitors on a tour of Foote’s mid-century modern buildings, as well as newer additions to campus. The original campus was designed in the 1950s

by E. Carleton Granbery and Diana Allyn Granbery, a husband-andwife team with progressive ideas about design and about a woman’s place in the workforce. The free tour was sponsored by the New Haven Preservation Trust.

FO OTE WA S A FE AT U R E D

George Knight leading the architecture tour outside the Kindergarten building

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Foote News in Brief

Teacher Wins National Horizons Award Sue Shaw won a national award this year for her teaching in Horizons at Foote, the school’s summer program for low-income city students.

Sue has taught in Horizons since the program launched in 2015, an experience she describes as life-changing.

“It’s made me more aware of the haves and have-nots and makes me want to do more for children who have fewer opportunities,” she says. “I want families of color to trust me, and I have to earn that trust. I want to make a LE AR NING S U PP O R T TE ACHE R

Sue Shaw teaching Kindergarten in Horizons at Foote in 2015

difference in people’s lives one inch at a time.” Sue traveled to Baltimore on March 1 with Kelonda Maull and Jaime Perri, the current and past executive directors, respectively, of Horizons at Foote, to accept the Lyn McNaught Teacher Award, which is given to three Horizons teachers nationwide. Congratulations, Sue!

New Horizons Director IN N OVE MB E R , Foote welcomed

Kelonda Maull as the new executive director of Horizons at Foote. Now in its fifth year, Horizons provides a six-week, full-scholarship summer enrichment program for low-income New Haven public school students.

Kelonda came to Foote from Greens Farms Academy, where she served as Director of High School and College Programs for that school’s Horizons program. This summer, Horizons will welcome its first sixth-grade class, an expansion that brings the program closer to its full enrollment of 144 students in Grades K–8 by 2021.

Kelonda Maull with an incoming Horizons second grader

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Books We Love Recommendations from Foote’s art teachers HAP PY D R E AME R

THE Q U ILTMAKE R ’ S GIF T

BY P E TE R H . R E YN O LD S

BY JE FF B R UMB E AU,

Peter Reynolds’ picture book is a great reminder of the benefits of dreaming.

I love the fun illustrations and the social-emotional lessons presented in this book, which takes a positive approach to something that can feel so stifling for a child: the expectation to “be quiet.” To me, it’s a great message for young artists: follow directions, but never stop dreaming!

—Jennifer Youngblood IF YO U P L ANT A SE E D

BY K A D IR NE L S O N

If You Plant A Seed, better known by my son Sam as the “bunny book,” is a warmly painted visual feast from Los Angeles-based artist Kadir Nelson. Nelson, known for his New Yorker illustrations and contemporary album art, weaves a modern-day fable that gently encourages communal sharing and investigates the negative repercussions of selfishness.

ILLU S TR ATE D BY G AIL D E MAR CK E N

I read this book to the third graders as they design a geometric pattern for their pillow top, which they sew by hand and machine. The story follows the relationship between a greedy king and a quiltmaker. When the king asks for a quilt, the quiltmaker says he will only make one if the king relinquishes all his possessions. After initially refusing, the king finally agrees and discovers that happiness comes not from treasures but from making a difference in the lives of others. Gail de Marcken’s illustrations are beautiful, colorful and rich in detail.

—Karla Matheny

Digital Foote Prints a podcast featuring interviews with faculty members, as well as recordings of presentations given to parents and students by special guests. Below is a sampling of recent podcasts. Find more episodes and a link to subscribe at www.footeschool.org/podcast.

FO OTE HA S L AUN CHE D

I nterview with Michael Milburn, ninth-grade English teacher amily Tech Talk with Head of F Lower School Beth Mello and Director of Technology Pam Fortin S tress and Anxiety in Middle School with Dr. Michael Kaplan, Foote’s consulting pediatric psychiatrist I nterview with ninth graders on their experience at the Student Diversity Leadership Conference R aising Children to Have a Healthy Racial-Ethnic Identity with Dr. Sandra Chapman, Director of Equity and Community at Little Red School House

—Mike Golschneider

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Connecting the Dots

The Questions Behind the Questions is teachers’ use of “essential questions” to guide student learning in the curriculum. Essential questions are open-ended and have no ‘right’ answer. Instead, they are meant to provoke student inquiry and debate. They address conceptual or philosophical foundations of a discipline, and they naturally spiral back into the curriculum throughout a year—or over many years—creating a recurring touchstone for students as they broaden their understanding.

ON E T HI N G THAT D I S TINGU IS HES FOOTE

To borrow a phrase from fourth-grade teacher John Climie, a good essential question is a “North Star” for classroom discussions. Here is a sampling of essential questions in use at Foote today:

What is the value of seeing a culture from multiple perspectives?

Grade 9 Humanities

Humanities co-chair Deb Riding begins this course by showing students “The Danger of a Single Story,” a TED Talk by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The takeaway: one interaction is not enough to know an entire culture. “That’s important as we get to know our visitors from China,” Deb says.

“The students learn about China by knowing a wide variety of people.”

Essential Qu Why do people migrate?

Grade 4 Social Studies

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This question guides the fourth-grade year, from their study of Chinese immigrating to work on railroads to the European immigrants who fled war and persecution. It also guides the difficult topic of forced migration (slavery) in the United States. “The more we use the question,” says teacher John Climie, “the better our program gets.”

How finely can matter be divided?

Grade 8 Science

Science teacher Leslie Long believes a good curriculum needs a narrative arc—and this question provides one as eighth graders investigate solutions and precipitates, molecules and atoms, protons and electrons.

“We never fully answer the question,” Leslie notes, “but they will use it to study science more deeply.”

Was math discovered or invented?

Grade 4 Math

What happens when ... ?

Grade 1 Math

First graders wrinkle their noses when teacher Cara Hames asks, “What happens when you add the same number twice?” Students soon discover it always produces an even number—an exciting outcome born of inquiry and inspiration. “We do a lot of talking about what we do,” says Cara, “and it makes our work more meaningful, more purposeful.”

Lower School math chair Heather Zetterberg loves to watch fourth graders puzzle over this question after researching famous mathematicians like Gauss, Descartes and Pascal. The question inspires higher-order thinking, if not a clear conclusion. “When we create our own knowledge, we are proud of it,” she says. “It’s the difference between merely renting your knowledge and truly owning it.”

estions

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Grandparents Day

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Grandparents Day honorary chairs David and Joyce Price, grandparents to Jason (Grade 5) and Jacob (Grade 4), welcome grandparents and special friends in the Hosley Gym.

Grandparents and special friends learn to make Chinese moon cakes in a minicourse led by Chinese teacher Wenyan Witkowsky.

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Faculty Profile

‘ Work Hard and Have Fun’

Jim Adams gets fifth graders—and that understanding helps him push his students to greater heights.

“ TO DAY W E ’ R E GO IN G

on a world tour of restaurants. You can pick three items from the menu. Then total them up and calculate the sales tax and a 15 percent tip.”

grandmother out to brunch every weekend, and I have to do this to pay the bill. This is a skill you will use any time you go out to eat.”

With that introduction, Jim Adams kicks off a morning math lesson about working with percentages. He gives each of his fifth graders a paper menu from restaurants with names like Mr. Wonton, Olive Vine Café and Double Rainbow Ice Cream. Students pore over the menus, mock ordering spicy cheese dip, salads and red snapper. “I’m going to get a crispy eel!” remarks one student, to which his classmates react with a collective “eeew!”

Before moving on to another subject, Jim previews the next day’s math lesson about the Base 5 number system, a topic he knows can be challenging. “Sometimes we do things that are hard, but you can do it. Come with a good attitude, and plan to do your best. Remember, in fifth grade we work hard and have fun. So let’s do that.”

Within minutes, a line of students eight deep forms at Jim’s desk. He parries each question with Zen efficiency, giving each child just enough help to solve the problem using what they already know.

After 30 minutes, he rings a bell and collects the menus.

“Restaurants are a place where you use percentages all the time,” Jim tells students. “I take my 98-year-old

“Work hard and have fun” is Jim’s motto for fifth grade, and it’s not an empty one. The class moves fast but Jim takes care to make sure that students aren’t left behind. He expects and helps them to keep pace—because he knows they can.

“He has high expectations and he doesn’t dumb things down for kids,” says Adam Solomon, Jim’s fellow fifth-grade teacher. “He’s also playful. My kids call me Solly pretty much every year because Jim will just walk into my class and shout, ‘Hey Solly!’”

“Jim makes sure to get to know each of his students in individually meaningful ways,” observes fifth-grade teacher Jake Burt. “And he does it with a sense of humor.”

Jim knows that he can be demanding. He tells his students: “If you push yourself you can really produce some amazing and awesome results. My job is to help you do it, and to push you and guide you and show you that you can do this thing.”

The ‘fun’ part is equally important to him. “My students are still kids. We should do things that are exciting and goofy and silly. But we can’t have fun without doing the hard work.

The best-case scenario is we do both at the same time.”

Jim and students examine pond organisms at Deer Lake in 2013.

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That was certainly the experience for Elsa Rose Farnam ’15.

“Mr. Adams showed me that goofiness and intelligence are not mutually exclusive,” she says.

Jim introduces the “fast plant” unit, in which students cultivate a fast-growing variety of mustard to learn about the life cycle of plants.

Parents say Jim helped their children develop a deeper sense of self in his classroom. “Jim brings so much to his students and truly connects with them as individuals,” says Susan Farrell, three of whose four children had Jim for fifth grade.

“Even now, as a college senior, our daughter’s face lights up when reminiscing about fifth grade in 5Z with Mr. Adams.”

Jennifer Milano, whose children Zoe and Owen had Jim, adds, “Mr. Adams taught both of my children to be stronger writers, deeper thinkers and more cooperative classmates.” in 2004 from The Children’s Storefront, a tuition-free private school in Harlem where he also taught fifth grade. “That was my first year teaching,” Jim recalls “It was like going through a carwash with the windows open.”

JIM C AME TO FO OTE

He had landed in New York City after graduating from Brown University with a degree in comparative literature and “no real plan.” After working an eclectic mix of jobs (helping non-English speakers get their GEDs and working as a research assistant at Esquire, among them), Jim enrolled at Teachers College, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Education.

He initially focused on Grades 7–12. But after teaching martial arts to third graders (yup, he did that too), he recognized his knack for connecting with elementary school students.

“Fifth graders are playful and eager and able,” he says. “You can teach them things they’ve never considered, like that writing fiction is the same as writing a poem—both need hooks at the start, you have to choose your words carefully and both require lots of revision.”

At Foote, fifth grade is the last year students stay with homeroom teachers for math, social studies and language arts. As such, fifth-grade teachers cover a wide array of

“ My job is to help students, to push and guide them, and show them: you can do this.” subjects: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, journalism, ratio, probability, geometry, ecology, ancient Egypt and Greece.

The list goes on.

Jim loves that about fifth grade. “Everyday is different, and new and fun.”

Colleagues admire Jim’s embrace of change. Recently, he led the charge on incorporating a new 1-to-1 Chromebook program into the fifth-grade curriculum, and he has introduced new projects that make authentic connections for students. One example is entering the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, an annual event organized by author James Kennedy. Students are tasked with distilling a Newbery Medal-winning book into a 90-second film, which is then submitted to a nationwide film festival.

“If he finds something interesting, he dives right in,” says Adam. Adds Jake, “For any kid at any level, if they need something, whether it is part of or outside what we normally teach, he will go all out for it.”

Next year, Jim will take on a new challenge—teaching fourth grade for a year, as Foote will be adding an additional class of fourth graders. Diligent and thoughtful, he is already deep into preparing for his new assignment—where, no doubt, working hard and having fun will be the order of the day.

Spring 2019 | 13

Feature

STEEL PULSE Foote’s steel pan ensemble is energizing students and the music program, one pop song at a time. just after lunch, and a small group of eighth graders bursts into the Sandine Theater for afternoon music rehearsal. After stashing their coats and bags, the eager students hoist their instruments—huge Caribbean steel pans—onto metal stands and grab their mallets.

IT ’ S T U E S DAY,

As they warm up, the smooth, watery sound of steel pan music fills the theater, instantly conjuring images of sun, sand and a slower pace. All that’s missing is a warm Caribbean breeze.

The eighth graders are rehearsing for the spring assembly, now just four weeks away. They’ve selected two pop songs to perform as a mash-up: “Ocean” by Martin Garrix and Khalid; and “Pompeii” by the British band Bastille.

The task of arranging these synth-heavy songs for traditional steel pans falls to music teacher Debby Teason, who has led Foote’s steel pan program since founding it in 2011. Debby is no stranger to this sort of musical translation.

In her eight years helming the program, Debby has arranged dozens of contemporary pop songs for steel pan—by Adele, Toto, Zedd & Aloe Blacc, Carly Rae Jepsen and others— 14 | Foote Prints

giving students a chance to play songs that are relevant to their lives in an ensemble that’s fun and challenging.

Almost anyone who has attended a Foote assembly or graduation in the past eight years has been wowed by the eighth- and ninth-grade steel pan groups. The program has become a favorite of students and parents alike, though it had humble beginnings.

In 2011, the Music Department was looking for a new ensemble to replace Baba Coleman’s African Drumming elective. Former music teacher Sarah Heath knew that Debby Teason taught steel pans in New Haven and suggested starting a program at Foote.

That first year the ensemble had only enough pans for four students. After that successful debut, the school purchased a full set of steel pans the following year from a variety of sources, including Trinidad and West Virginia.

(above) The eighth-grade steel band performing at Eighth Grade Celebration in 2018

“ Being able to play an instrument is incredibly empowering.”

Debby’s first exposure to steel pans came in 1990 when a friend invited her to join a steel band forming at Wesleyan University. “There was a set of steel pans under a stairway that a janitor was using as trash cans,” she recalls. “A faculty member who knew what they were got them tuned and fixed up.”

For Debby, it was instant love. “Their sound is like nothing else in the world.” After teaching herself to play, she eventually established steel pan ensembles at Neighborhood Music School and at St. Luke’s Church on Whalley Avenue, a largely West Indian congregation.

Debby is deeply respectful of the instruments’ cultural and historical context, which she calls “one of the greatest recycling stories ever told.” In the 1940s, empty oil drums that were stored at a U.S. Naval base in Trinidad were taken by locals, including musical pioneer Ellie Mannette, and fashioned into instruments. Since leaving Trinidad in 1951, steel pans are now played all over the world and used to perform every genre imaginable, from classical, popular and jazz to South American music and calypso.

“Pans have never been only about the music of Trinidad,” says Debby, who has been to the island four times. “They have always been about showing that this is a legitimate instrument in its own right.” In that way, she says, Foote’s practice of arranging pop songs for steel pan fits into a well-established tradition.

Dominique Williams ’12 was part of the first steel band at Foote as a ninth grader and says he learned a tremendous amount playing in the group.

“Music does a great job teaching many fundamental concepts in areas like math and physics but also teaches essential soft skills like perseverance, teamwork and appreciation of beauty,” Dominique says. “Hearing your part when you practiced alone and then hearing how it fit into the whole ensemble was an incredible experience and a great way to show that a group can be greater than the sum of its parts.”

For Dominique, playing pan also deepened his sense of cultural identity. “I personally felt connected to the instrument since it’s from Trinidad, where my dad grew up.

I’ve heard steel pan music since I was little, and being able to create that same sound myself was really cool.”

Looking ahead, Debby and the music faculty are hopeful to incorporate more of the steel pan’s cultural context into the eighth-grade curriculum to offer students a fuller understanding of the historical, artistic and economic forces that created steel pan music.

“Being able to play an instrument, even in the most rudimentary way, is incredibly empowering,” says Debby.

On this Tuesday rehearsal in the theater, Debby keeps time with a cowbell while the students painstakingly work note by note through the songs they’ve chosen. Debby lets students pick the songs to give them greater ownership of the learning process.

“We recognize that eighth graders are just coming into this place where music is part of their social lives,” she says.

“There is power to a song you like and a group feeling about a song. To then translate that song into something you can actually play brings a real sense of achievement.”

The steel pan course is challenging by design and requires students to apply the music theory they’ve learned as part of an ensemble that relies on each player doing his or her part.

Debby Teason instructing eighth graders in the Sandine Theater

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Around Campus

16 | Foote Prints

A drab retaining wall on Foote’s campus exploded into a bright palette of colors last fall as ninth graders transformed it into a mural with personal stories to tell.

Each ninth grader painted a rectangular section with symbols that reflect their cultural, racial or personal identities. The mural was inspired by the art of Keith Haring, the late New York muralist, graffiti artist and gay rights activist. “We were trying to come up with a new ninth-grade arts curriculum that would be more relevant to students and not just focus on a bunch of white guys and the history of Western art,� says art teacher Mike Golschneider. Mike hopes future ninth grades will add to the wall, creating an ever-changing tapestry of student stories.

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Cover Story

Growing Up

Foote

What defines the Foote School experience —then and now? It’s learning that connects, teachers who care, a welcoming community and so much more.

18 | Foote Prints

I

magine a time traveler from the distant future setting her dial for the year 1916 to learn about a place called Mrs. Foote’s School in New Haven, Connecticut.

What would she observe about the methods teachers used, the way children learned, the atmosphere created in that living room-turned-classroom?

Now imagine our time traveler hops back into her machine and sets her dial for 1945, landing just a few blocks south, on Saint Ronan Street, to observe Foote School during the Sturley years, when students mostly walked and biked to school in a converted carriage house. What would be similar about the school then, and what would be different?

“ My food plate is still displayed in my parents’ home, and every time I visit I am reminded of the creativity and individuality that Foote instilled in me.”

— ALE X K LE INE R ’0 0

Finally, picture our time traveler making one last stop, this time up Canner Street to Loomis Place, to visit present-day Foote School. Would she recognize it as the same place? Is there a through line connecting the Foote experience from its inception to today?

For better or worse, we don’t have time travel to answer these questions—at least not yet. But we have something better: a community of alumni, parents and teachers who have carried their Foote experiences with them throughout their lives.

For this issue of Foote Prints, we wanted to play time traveler and embark on a journey in search of the enduring spirit of Foote School across the decades. What has changed about our school, what has remained the same, and what binds us together regardless of era?

This winter, we sent out a survey asking for your memories and reflections about what makes Foote unique. We received responses recounting stories about caring teachers who believed in your potential, creative projects that inspired your careers, and a welcoming community that accepted you for who you are.

Much about Foote has evolved over time—the school is more diverse now than ever, with an even greater emphasis on kindness and inclusion. And much remains the same: (opposite) Maroons and Greys from the Class of 2002 walking hand-in-hand on Field Day

Ceramic food plate by Alex Kleiner ’00

academic excellence, learning by doing, teachers who are deeply invested in students’ success.

As we pored over your responses, we realized that while experiences can be highly individual and not easily encapsulated by a single event or anecdote, there is nonetheless a clear commonality to many of the stories we heard; several consistent themes emerged and we have grouped your responses accordingly.

All responses will be catalogued in their entirety in the school’s Anna Huntington Deming ’35 Archives—a record that, perhaps, will save future humans (and Foote School itself) from the unanticipated effects of time travel.

Spring 2019 | 19

“ Teachers demanded the best and academic achievement was really valued. No nerds in our classes; if you were smart, you were a star!”

— C ATHLE E N GR E AVE S R OWLE T TE ’ 5 3

“Mrs. English’s first- and second-grade class was filled with small animals and reptiles in cages. A competition was held to name the new garter snake. Jenny won with her suggestion of ‘stripes.’ The atmosphere in the classroom when I dropped her off was so inviting that I wished I could be a second grader again!”

—Linda Henley, past parent “Foote’s approach to teaching and learning is experiential to its core. One skill builds on another and all participants (students, teachers and parents) are an integral part of the enterprise in a way that binds the community together. That unity is reinforced by shared activities that include the kind of annual events that become part of the very fabric of the school. May Day is the ultimate example. As if by magic, children bedecked with flowers wrap the maypole with multi-colored streamers in a complex and much practiced dance that personifies the Foote ethos in an unforgettable way.”

—Diana Kleiner, past parent & Foote Board member

Character & Confidence “We were taught character and doing the ‘right’ thing in addition to our subjects. I attribute much of my lifetime love of learning to my parents and teachers at Foote. Mr. Edwards was an athletic director who believed in teaching us not only a given sport, but character, good sportsmanship and fair play rather than the value of winning alone.”

—Barbara Hammond Schoenly ’67 First and second graders performing on May Day

An Inspired Place to Grow Up “Foote provided endless memories, but none more formative than the art program. I remember walking hallways filled with pieces of colorful art. As a Kindergartner, I recall eagerly anticipating the year it would be my turn to create the famous ‘food plate.’ When the year finally arrived, I planned each component of the meal carefully, paying far more attention to the artistic challenge of each menu item than to the meal as a whole. The result: a petite loaf of cornbread, rigatoni covered in a green pesto sauce and a whole rainbow trout—certainly not a combination that would pair well by any standard, but a delight to dream up and craft! My food plate is still displayed in my parents’ home, and every time I visit I am reminded of the creativity and individuality that Foote instilled in me through these types of projects and am grateful that I had the chance to dream them up and make them my own.”

—Alex Kleiner ’00

“Foote has taught me that being different can be the best part about me. I grew up at Foote. The fact that my mom, Cindy Raymond, teaches there played a huge role, because not only did I grow up in a loving community, but also in one which accepts me for who I am and who I want to be.”

—Gemma Raymond ’14

A 1983 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

20 | Foote Prints

The Class of 1992

A spring day in 2015

A Caring Community

Academic Excellence

“Foote was my daughter’s community from before she was even born. The Foote Quilters (Sue Shaw, Sue Delaney, Ann Baker Pepe and MaryBeth Calderoni) created a beautiful quilt for Linnea for my baby shower, during my first year teaching at Foote. Linnea grew up at Foote attending the Halloween Fair and May Day every year until she joined the school as a student. Now she is so happy to know that Foote is her special place for many years to come!”

—Alexandra Wittner, Kindergarten teacher

“Teachers demanded the best and academic achievement was really valued. No nerds in our classes; if you were smart, you were a star! I remember being accountable. If I messed up at school, my parents would hear about it. When I broke my leg and had to be off for six weeks, I didn’t do some of the work Mrs. Hitchcock had assigned. I can’t remember just how she dealt with it (very firmly, no doubt!) but something turned around in me and I went from being a decidedly mediocre English student to being a pretty good one, even winning a special award! And what was my future career? An English teacher!”

—Cathleen Greaves Rowlette ’53

“My eldest son, Jim, inherited Best’s disease, a nasty form of macular degeneration, and is presently undergoing treatment involving genome manipulation at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School. The lead physician and researcher is Bruce Conklin, Foote Class of 1975, whom I first met at Foote at the 2010 reunion; it was our 60th reunion and Bruce was receiving the Alumni Achievement Award.”

—Mary Pigott Johnsen ’50

Feeling Welcome & Accepted “Foote is committed to helping children be open-minded, independent and enthusiastic learners. Foote encourages children to learn more about others, be respectful of differences, broaden their curiosities about diversity and other cultures, while challenging students academically.”

—Allison Geballe, parent “We greatly appreciate that Foote is such an inclusive and welcoming place. Our Kindergarten daughter is learning about all sorts of holidays, traditions, beliefs and backgrounds.”

—Rebekah Westphal, parent “My daughter’s friend group from sixth grade to present has been very important to her happiness at the school and the diversity of her friends—racially, socioeconomically, gender and gender identity—has been really important to her self reflection as she enters into her teen years.”

—Middle School parent

Former headmaster Frank Perrine teaching in 1980

Spring 2019 | 21

“ Foote teachers trust students to make the right decisions.

This approach allows children to develop a strong sense of self-worth.”

— JE NNIFE R MIL AN O, PAR E NT

“On December 8, 1941, our fifth-grade teacher, Mr. Bailey, ignored the previous lesson plans for the day and spent the entire day explaining the causes of World War II. I can still vividly remember that day. I think this carpe diem attitude and respect for the interests and intelligence of Foote students was emblematic of the Foote faculty.”

—Jane Whittlesey North ’45 “We put together the first ninth grade in 1971–1972.

Combining English, history and science worked beautifully but the absence of grades proved too stressful for ninth graders! Instead of a textbook we used a rich selection of readings, mostly primary sources, including the Bible, Thucydides, Machiavelli and texts from New Haven history as we delved into the history and literature of four ‘Golden Ages’ in Israel, Greece, Florence and New Haven.”

—Virginia Wilkinson, former faculty

Discovery of Self & Talents “I credit Foote and, to a lesser extent, Choate for my writing skills. As an executive with a Swedish multinational, I am known as ‘The Red Pen’ for my penchant for editing my colleagues’ work. Even our advertising and PR agency is on notice that unclear and poorly constructed prose will be summarily rejected.”

—Peter Bigwood ’73 Science teacher Tim Blauvelt leading a field biology class in 2007

Progressive Culture & Teachers “Mrs. Spiro let us take our notes into our science tests, completely changing our notion of what it was to learn something. The lesson she taught us about the importance of knowing how to record and organize information, how to find the relevant details and, most importantly, how to know what to do with it all, stands out as one of the most important things I learned at school.”

—Athene Reiss ’76

“I remember my composers and music theory from Mrs. Shepler’s music class, which I impart to my kids now that they are taking piano lessons. I’m not much of a musician, but I understand how music works and I write about music as part of my job as a magazine editor, and I can thank Mrs. Shepler for that lifelong knowledge of a subject I’m passionate about.”

—Matthew Reed Baker ’86

“Foote teachers trust students to make the right decisions.

At other schools, our children were made to line up and walk with their hands by their sides in silence. At Foote, the children are released from class and allowed the freedom to move and socialize and make their own choices. This approach allows children to develop a strong sense of self-worth, because they are trusted instead of doubted, and they are talked to from a place of understanding, instead of scolded.”

—Jennifer Milano, parent Friends in the Sacred Woods, 2004

22 | Foote Prints

“I can’t think of anything that has influenced my adult life more than my time at Foote. From read-aloud story times in the cozy classrooms and library, to checking out my favorite books over and over again and getting new recommendations from Mrs. Johnson, to eagerly anticipating every art class with Polly and Karla, Foote is where my love of reading and of art was born and grew. I’m now editorial director of picture books at Abrams Books in New York City, and I’m forever thankful for my own experience when I was the age of our readers, because it made me want to share Foote’s passion for learning and creativity through the books that we publish!”

—Emma Ledbetter ’03

“ I can thank Mrs. Shepler for a lifelong knowledge of a subject I’m passionate about.”

— MAT THE W R E E D B A K E R ’ 8 6

Teachers Who Care “Foote instilled a desire to reach high expectations. There was no slipping by; if you weren’t measuring up, teachers wanted to know why and wanted to help rectify the problem. I even remember Mrs. Corbière coming to our house one night to discuss my progress (or lack thereof!) in math.”

—Cathleen Greaves Rowlette ’53 “I had Mr. Baldwin in fourth grade and he made sure to find things that each kid would find interesting outside of regular classwork. He knew I loved languages so he taught me Russian for a few months, and I still remember some phrases!”

—Matthew Reed Baker ’86 “If I had to make a list of my top five favorite teachers, four of them would be from Foote. We as students can tell when a teacher cares, and I think that’s part of what really encourages the students to go that extra mile.”

—John Harbinson ’13

Mrs. Shepler conducting the Glee Club in the 1966–1967 school year

Learning that Lasts a Lifetime “Recently I attended the Shanghai Symphony’s Chinese New Year concert. They played a selection of Chinese and Western symphonic melodies, and when the clarinet, or the trombone, or percussion played an emphatic note or stanza, I was brought back to Mrs. Shepler’s music class, where we first learned about wind, reed, string and percussion instruments. The impact of those classes, some 40 years later, cannot be overstated.”

—Member of Class of 1975 “It must have been third grade, 1947. Winifred Sturley was our beloved principal. She was English. Her daughter-in-law, who was Australian, gave us an intensive course on Australia.

We drew maps, studied all the strange animals, the cities, the various climates. Australia, although the size of the U.S., had only 9 million people! We knew more about Australia than most Americans and I still remember the facts she taught us.”

—Eligio Petrelli ’53

Art teacher Karla Matheny with a Kindergartner in 2014

“What comes back to me most strongly are the Christmas pageants. To this day I can recite the first part of my role as God in the Noah play. Years later, when I ended up teaching Anglo-Saxon poetry and the medieval mystery plays to high school sophomores, I found I knew most of the mystery plays by heart, and what Foote had presented were the actual texts of those bygone dramas. How good is that?!”

—Lee Gaillard ’52 Spring 2019 | 23

Theater

24 | Foote Prints

Members of the cast and crew of this year’s 7th- and 8th-grade play, George Washington Slept Here, react during a dress rehearsal in the Sandine Theater. The comedy tells the story of city dwellers who face hilarious dilemmas when they buy a wreck of a Colonial house in the country. “The Foote students were exuberant about bringing this play to life on stage,” says Drama Chair Julian Schlusberg. “They trusted each other; they supported and collaborated so beautifully. They succeeded in taking an ‘old’ play with a valuable lesson and infusing it with a fresh, young, modern perspective. What could be a better learning experience?”

Spring 2019 | 25

Alumni Achievement Award

for People and Planet At Reunion Day on May 4, two Foote alumni will be honored for their efforts to protect workers and the environment.

Bun Lai ’84, Chef and Sustainable Seafood Trailblazer with an endlessly inventive sushi restaurant and a message about a better way to nourish humans and the planet. As the chef/ owner of Miya’s in New Haven, the world’s first sustainable sushi restaurant, Bun has been disrupting the culinary world since before “disruption” was a thing.

B UN L A I HA S R I S E N TO CE LE B R IT Y CHE FD O M

He has famously added any number of sustainable ingredients and invasive species to his menu—from Asian shore crabs, lionfish and Kentucky Asian carp to crickets and Japanese knotweed—modeling a more sustainable way for humans and the Earth to co-exist. And Bun harvests invasive critters himself, diving deep into Long Island Sound and foraging the woods near his Woodbridge farm.

Miya’s noninvasive menu features an almost epic array of creative dishes, such as the one Bun was serving on the February day we visited: a special soup in honor of Black History Month featuring 12 spices from the story of the Queen of Sheba, and topped with collard greens.

Bun’s trailblazing has earned him worldwide acclaim (Miya’s has been written about in two dozen languages) and major awards, notably the 2016 White House Champions of Change for Sustainable Seafood. He was also a James Beard Foundation nominee for Best Chef in 2013, and a film about Miya’s was a finalist for a 2018 James Beard award.

26 | Foote Prints

Bun is leading the conversation about a food system that’s healthier for people and the Earth.

Now after a wild few years that included writing a television show (about hunting for invasive species in the Everglades) and restaurant-deal offers from a major hotel chain, Bun is back in the kitchen at Miya’s with a renewed emphasis on the basics: food and family. His longtime chef recently departed, and Bun has taken the opportunity to reconnect with his roots by hopping behind the sushi bar snd the stove at the restaurant, which he runs alongside his sister, Mie Lai ’91.

“We were on a rocket ship and I just put the brakes on,” Bun explains. “Now that our parents are getting older, I didn’t want to be on that rocket ship and miss out on everything. Just getting back to the fundamentals is reminding me of what’s truly important in life.”

Ai-jen Poo ’89, Champion for the Unseen Domestic Worker for the rights of the nation’s 2 million domestic workers. As executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), Ai-jen has spent decades organizing and advocating for the housecleaners, nannies and health aides working in private homes—a largely invisible workforce that is vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

A I - JE N P O O I S A TIR E LE S S A DVO C ATE

Ai-jen spent her post-college years in New York City organizing caregivers the hard way: by approaching them cold in public playgrounds, train stations and bookstores and inviting them to meetings, and urging them to join the fight.

It’s taken years, but the NDWA has won significant new workplace protections for domestic workers. In 2010,

Foote Reunion Day May 4, 2019 See details on inside back cover

Ai-jen has helped win crucial rights for the nation’s housecleaners, nannies and health aides. after six years of lobbying from the NDWA, New York State passed a Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights that gives caregivers the right to overtime after 40 hours of work, a day off (or overtime pay) every seven days; three paid days of rest each year; and protection under New York’s Human Rights Law, plus a special cause of action for workers who suffer sexual or racial harassment.

Seven other states have enacted laws protecting domestic workers, and earlier this year a federal Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights was introduced by U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

Along with securing workplace protections for these laborers, Ai-jen wants to change the narrative around domestic workers. And she’s found some high-wattage help from Hollywood in getting her message out. She attended the Golden Globes as the guest of Meryl Streep in 2018 and director Afonso Cuarón (of Roma fame) this past January.

Ai-jen believes the issue will only become more critical in years to come, as baby boomers age and the United States faces a potential shortage of quality caregivers.

Spring 2019 | 27

Legacies at Foote

CHILD R E N O F ALUMNI have been

attending Foote School since at least the 1950s, and more than a few families span three generations. This year, 38 students have parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles or other relatives who attended Foote.

28 | Foote Prints

Spring 2019 | 29

Alumni

Class of 2015: Where Are They Now? Mira Vlock Arbonies William Badrigian Jonah Berman Tré Breland Max Brigham Matt Carroll Liza Diffley Nandini Erodula Elsa Rose Farnam Victoria Fletcher Tess Friedman Adelyn Garcia Hagan Gasimov Jackson Haile Sam Hauser JJ Hellerman Klee Hellerman Noah Hermes de Boor

30 | Foote Prints

Suffield Academy ’19 Drew University Yale University Hamden Hall Country Day School ’19 Trinity College Georgia Institute of Technology Choate Rosemary Hall ’19 Gap year, Yale University Deep Springs College Mount Holyoke College Syracuse University Clark University Clarkson University Choate Rosemary Hall ’19 Miami University Hotchkiss School ’19 Kent School ’19 University of Chicago

Tristan Jamidar Maya Karlan Vincent Kenn de Balinthazy Erin King Liana Klin Clara Lee Sid Lewis-Hayre Donovan Lynch Liza MacKeen-Shapiro Madison Mandell Eddie Martin John Mayes Jack McCallum Lucio Moscarini Jared O’Hare Sydney Osborne Pablo Otero Paugh Henry Pearson

Kent School ’19 Bryn Mawr College Ridley College ’19 Hobart William Smith College Tulane University Brown University Yale University Colby College Oberlin College Brown University Lafayette College Central Connecticut State University University of Vermont Yale University Avon Old Farms ’19 University of Connecticut University of Connecticut Massachusetts Maritime Academy

The Class of 2015 and faculty advisers in sixth grade

Juli Perrino Zachary Pine Maher Hannah Price Rebecca Radebold Anli Raymond Grace Romanik William Rosenbluth Helen Ruger Amy Russell Madison Sakheim Neal Sarin Elliot Sawyer-Kaplan Evan Schott Charlie Shaw Dylan Sloan Jake Stackpole Lauren Tompkins Hannah Volk

Boston College Union College Bucknell University University of Munich (Germany) Mount Holyoke College DeSales University Yale University Columbia University University of Maine Hamilton College Gap year, Yale University Yale University Yale University St. Lawrence University Bowdoin College Ursinus College Unknown Brandeis University

Lindsay Wiehl William Wildridge Zev York Daniel Zanuttini-Frank Emily Zetterberg Sarah Zhao

Eckerd College Choate Rosemary Hall ’19 Middlebury College Yale University Colgate University Yale University

Spring 2019 | 31

Young Alums Day

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, 88 alumni from the Classes of 2016 through 2019 reunited on Loomis Place for Young Alums Day, gathering in the Twichell Room to greet friends and former teachers.

Members of the Class of 2018. From left, Colleena Healy, Joey Rebeschi, Isabella Mandell, Theo Curtis, Rory Latham, Ian Haile, Megan Stefanowski, Vivian Mudry, Pablo Rollรกn (in front)

32 | Foote Prints

Members of the Class of 2018.

From left, Sophie Sonnenfeld, Sylvie Moran, Ali Collins

Members of the Class of 2016. From left, Sebastian Shin, Isaiah Miller, Andrew Gee, Raysa PĂŠrez, Sam Curtis

Members of the Class of 2017. From left, Lilah Garcia, Quinn Raymond, Nate Krauss, Imaan Jabarkhail, Pablo deVos-Deak, Manny Candelo-Diaz

Members of the Class of 2018. From left, Casey Nadzam, Olivia Dreier, Mia Sloan, Grace O’Keefe

Spring 2019 | 33

Class Notes 1938

“ I cannot but concede that my brilliant and clever Foote classmates have influenced each other into a thoughtful, kind and supportive collective that shares memories and an ever-unfolding path to the future.”

— Class of 1975

We’d love to hear from you!

Please contact your class correspondent or Amy Stephens Sudmyer ’89 at asudmyer@footeschool.org to share news about you and your classmates, or visit www.footeschool.org/alumni.

We are sad to report that Thomas Lund passed away on July 17, 2015. Tom grew up in New Haven and attended Foote, along with his sister, Joan Lund Butter ’37, who predeceased him. He attended New Haven High and completed his freshman year at University of Michigan before being drafted into the Army in August 1943. He was discharged in January 1946 as a paratrooper after service in Europe. After he returned home, Tom graduated from Stanford, earning a degree in both mechanical and civil engineering. Tom was employed by the California Dept. of Transportation and retired in 1982 as senior highway engineer. Tom was passionate about anything with wheels from an early age. Pictures of him from the 1920s and 1930s show boxcars, bikes and automobiles used to embark on exciting races and adventures with cousins and friends.

His fervor for vehicles and speed quickly developed into a lifelong love of motorcycles.

In 1955, Tom met his wife, Barbara. Tom and Barbara celebrated their 60th anniversary in 2015. Together they had three children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Throughout his life, Tom restored antique motorcycles and automobiles, which routinely won awards and prizes all over California.

Tom loved camping and waterskiing with his family, he was an avid waterskier and ping-pong player and enjoyed playing cards with his family.

75th Reunion, May 4, 2019

1945 Class Correspondent: John Gardner jhgardner@earthlink.net We are sad to report that Charles Sargent Jr. passed away on August 3, 2017. Charles grew up in New Haven and attended Foote along with his older sister, Dorothy Bauer Comish ’39, who predeceased him. Most recently Charles resided in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Williams College in 1953, majoring in physics, and received a master’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1957. Charles was an electrical engineer for Mitre Corporation for almost 50 years.

Charles was always a gentleman. He and his wife, Sheila, attended his 60th Reunion in 2005.

1946 Class Correspondent: Kent Healy kent.healy@verizon.net Kent Healy continues civil engineering consultation on Martha’s Vineyard.

He reports that his first two years as a selectman in West Tisbury have gone well.

1939

1947

80th Reunion, May 4, 2019 Class Correspondent: Anne Campbell Clement shclement@comcast.net

Class Correspondent: Gladys Bozyan Lavine gblavine@gmail.com

1942 Class Correspondent: David Hitchcock Jr. hitchdl@aol.com

1943 Ruth Healy is living in Georgia and working as an episcopal minister.

34 | Foote Prints

1944

We are sad to report that Lee Blanchard Seniff passed away on April 9, 2018. Lee attended Foote with her sister, Deborah Blanchard Richardson ’49, and graduated in 1951 from what is now Hopkins School. She obtained an associate degree from Briarcliff Junior College and studied occupational therapy at Columbia University. Her husband, Robert, who predeceased her was an orthodontist who attended Yale

as a resident. They married in 1958 and moved to Guilford, Connecticut, where they resided for more than five decades. A piece of property they purchased in Sharon, Vermont, became their shared passion.

1948 Anne Tyler Calabresi and her husband, Guido ’46, are creating what they expect to be their last “nest.” They purchased an apartment in downtown New Haven where they can stay when roads or time do not permit returning to their farm in Bethany, Connecticut, and which is also near Yale theaters, museums and libraries.

1949 70th Reunion, May 4, 2019

1950 Class Correspondent: Mary Pigott Johnsen jlmpjohnsen@west-point.org Some 69 years since our graduation, many of us are still quite active. It seems we have taken up gardening or at least planting. Unfortunately, somewhat like when we were toddlers, we are prone to face planting, which is what Vicki Meeks Blair-Smith did a few months back. At Foote we learned that if we are going to do something, do it well. So Vicki ended up really doing it up well with a fractured neck that got her “surgery to screw the fractured C2 vertebra and three months in a neck brace.” I’ve heard that Frances Salter McElheny is also prone to falling. As a class activity, this is not recommended! John Dollard and his wife, Rae, have moved from Austin, Texas, to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Rae is quite an artist, so they are now in a world famous artists’ colony. Maybe that is where we should have our next reunion— but no planting! Larry Barbour continues to be a duplicate bridge player. He enjoys reading and taking care of his 4-year-old Standard Poodle, Louie.

1951 Class Correspondent: Emily Mendillo Wood birdofmilford@gmail.com We are sad to report that Barbara Babb Read passed away on August 17, 2018.

1952 Class Correspondent: Harald Hille harald.hille@gmail.com From class correspondent Harald Hille: “Sitting in southwestern Connecticut on a cold but snowless Saturday afternoon, I am musing about the state of the Union as the country slouches through the fourth week of the government shutdown over a border wall. Years ago, during the Korean War, just as we were finishing up at Foote, President Truman, faced with a steel strike, ordered his secretary of commerce to seize the steel mills so as to ensure U.S. steel production during the war. He and others felt the situation qualified as a ‘limited’ national emergency, but the Supreme Court struck down his executive decision a month or so later. I’m not sure that in 1952 our class was aware of those dramatic events. We hadn’t begun to be involved in running our democracy and certainly felt no responsibility for the situation. Now that we are nearing the other end of our involvement as citizens, we do bear some responsibility for the current situation.

It would be good to be able to bounce some ideas around with Mrs. Hitchcock.

I stopped working on a fairly regular basis as an editor/translator for the U.N. last month, although the very occasional job still comes in. I was very much involved all fall with the 65th anniversary concert of the Yale Russian Chorus, which took place in Woolsey Hall (where Mrs. Nahum and Mrs. Cowles led us years ago in a performance of the ‘Toy Symphony’). The concert was in mid-October with about 120 singers who had to be housed, fed and rehearsed.

It was a great occasion and the singing was surprisingly good. Jenny and I have been active in our local Indivisible group, resisting the Trump agenda and planning for the coming legislative sessions. It is good to be doing something with like-minded people rather than grumbling. Starting to have to deal with college tuition bills

for my four granddaughters. Between the rising costs of health care and education, this country is no place for poor people.

Be well and see you in a few years again at Foote!” Nancy Osterweis Alderman, ever-active and generous with her notes, sent in the following from New Haven: “The Foote School years and classmates remain firmly in my consciousness. May I add that I still cannot spell despite all those spelling tests each week and all the times I had to return on Friday afternoons to write the words that I had misspelled a hundred times. Who knew back then that the world would get spell-checkers on all of our computers. I continue to work with 10 wonderful physicians and public health professionals on projects that will better protect human health from environmental harms. Some of our initiatives for this upcoming legislative session are removing toxic flame retardants from infant products; regulating E-cigarettes in the same way as regular cigarettes; banning single-use plastic bags and expanding the bottle law to include juice and iced tea bottles; and banning fracking waste from coming into Connecticut. Working with Environment & Human Health remains a full-time job for me. Our four grandchildren are grown and have all now graduated from college.

They are all employed and that is certainly a happy thing. I miss Stephanie Dunhan Howell; to lose her was so sad. Had she been alive she would have seen her son-inlaw become head of the FBI [daughter Helen Garrison Howell is married to FBI Director Christopher Wray], and I know she would have been so proud. We will be proud for her.” Lee Gaillard has moved from Saranac Lake, New York, to the Pacific Northwest, where his wife, Ann, has taken an Episcopal parish in Eugene, Oregon. They write in their Christmas letter: “Last year at this time we were still in boxes, unpacking our stuff in the home we had just moved into here in Oregon. 2017 was a year of massive change.

A year and a half later, as we finish this year of 2018, transition is almost complete.

We’ve moved into our new house, which we love, and begun landscaping. After several years of part-time and interim rectors, Ann is bringing financial stability to her new parish of St. Thomas. She is instituting new programming and expanding its approach to community outreach. People have enthused about her wonderful singing voice and stimulating sermons. In Eugene, she Spring 2019 | 35

has found a terrific group of fellow clergy with whom she has regular coffee gettogethers. She has been able to be far more active in the Diocese of Oregon than she could be in the Diocese of Albany. Over the summer, we took some delightful vacation excursions to the Pacific Coast, to Bend and Sisters in the mountains nearby, and to Portland just two hours north of us. Lee has been chugging along, helping a Yale classmate edit contributions to the Passy Press, a blog based in Paris that addresses issues of national and international interest.

He is also refining his essay on how John Keats went about revising the very first draft of his ode ‘To Autumn,’ is participating in a local men’s discussion group and has various other writing projects in different stages of development.”

memorable visit with Celestine LaFarge Nicolas and her husband, Joep, at their home/studio in the Netherlands. Jordan Mott retired from the yacht chartering business. He travels the world extensively and is now widowed with five children and eight grandchildren. We extend our sympathy to Sarah Willard Penegar, whose daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Penegar, passed away on November 25, 2018.

1953

1955

Class Correspondent: Robert Wing wing@astronomy.ohio-state.edu

Class Correspondents: Nawrie Meigs-Brown nawrie@comcast.net

The year 2018 turned into a celebration of 65th reunions. In May our class celebrated our 65th, and in October the Yale Russian Chorus celebrated the 65th anniversary of its founding, an occasion that saw Bob Wing once again singing in Woolsey Hall. But the high point of the year for Bob was his trip to Europe in August with his son Roger and grandson Ezra, including a

Lee Dunham ldunham@sandw.com

1954 65th Reunion, May 4, 2019 The Class of 1954 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Amy Stephens Sudmyer ’89 in the Alumni Programs Office at asudmyer@footeschool.org.

Nawrie Meigs-Brown took a train from Los Angeles to Seattle in April 2018, where she then cruised the San Juan Islands. In November 2018, she traveled to Montana.

She currently spends lots of time walking her big black Lab.

1956 Class Correspondent: Will Amatruda willtam88@hotmail.com Sally Loeser is a retired hospice coordinator and office manager for an international women’s business organization. She has two grandchildren at Northeastern University in Boston. Her granddaughter Emily is in her second year at the School of Design at Northeastern, and her grandson Alex is in his first year studying business after spending his first semester in London.

Sally stays in touch with Barbara Brennan Usher by phone and occasionally sees Barbara’s brother Chip, who lives in the suburbs of Chicago.

1957 Class Correspondent: Kevin Geenty kevin@geentygroup.com Tim Gaillard is busy with his custom furniture making, church activities, family visits and landlord duties. His brother, Lee Gaillard ’52, is now living in Eugene, Oregon, and just turned 80! Tim writes, “That’s REALLY old! We are both proud that Foote is doing so well!” Carol Miller Rand writes, “2018 has not been an easy year.

Our mother, Elizabeth Miller, whom many of you knew growing up, died at 101, and we lost a favorite cousin to cancer. It put into perspective for me a subsequent fall which resulted in two broken ankles. That was a learning experience I’d have rather not had, but I’m on the mend and about to head off to San Miquel de Allende for some sun and fun.” Kevin Geenty is still working in real estate brokerage, managing many investment buildings, as well as reading, hunting, fishing and motorcycling. He plans to travel to Switzerland for two weeks in June. Kevin writes that he enjoys hearing from classmates!

1958 Class Correspondent: Barry Stratton barrystratton@yahoo.com

Bob Wing ’53 and Celestine LaFarge Nicolas ’53 visiting at her home in the Netherlands 36 | Foote Prints

Mary Hallock Fields has been a curler for 45 years and has traveled the world for curling meetings. She did not compete but did go to Sochi, Russia, and Pyeongchang, South

birthdays. I will be 75, my husband 80 and my son 50.” Kerry Triffin writes, “Retirement is a very interesting topic frequently occupying a seat at the table, so to speak, on my very frequent and often rather long walks with my dog (my best four-legged friend and teacher). I would love to hear back from any and all who would have interest.”

1959

A custom coffee table made by Tim Gaillard ’57 Korea. Barry Stratton is now retired and is spending his time with grandkids, playing golf and doubles tennis, reading, doing some photography, and on a new hobby, some duplicate bridge once in a while.

Alice Ely Chapman writes in for the first time to Class Notes, “In 1996 we moved to southeastern Ohio so my husband could open a gunsmith shop. I helped him by doing all the paperwork on a part-time basis.

This was because in 1997 I began working.

After two years working for an after-school program I started for a church in Marietta, as a volunteer, the church could no longer afford the program. So I decided to start the Ely Chapman Education Foundation to offer academically oriented after-school programs for elementary and, soon, middle school students. Eventually the foundation opened a full-day, full summer camp.

Margie Howe Emmons ’60 and her family

It is all academically based, hands-on learning and physical activity. Each week is a different theme. In 2016, we started a full-day preschool built on the principles of respect and responsibility. Since founding the organization, I have been working 48 to 60 hours a week, now down to 50 hours a week, as I love being with the students.

Until 2012, I continued to work at my husband’s shop, which closed due to his health concerns. In September 2014, we lost our younger son to brain cancer. He fought a valiant war against this horrible disease.

Our older son lives in Seattle with his wife and our two grandchildren, the oldest of whom is in college. I am not sure that this is what you would call retirement but I am doing something I love. We get together with our son at least once a year and hopefully more this year as we have three major

60th Reunion, May 4, 2019 The Class of 1959 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Amy Stephens Sudmyer ’89 in the Alumni Programs Office at asudmyer@footeschool.org.

Rebecca Watt is a retired RN and is on the board of directors of a small local historical society. She does lobbying on behalf of the underserved mentally ill in Colorado.

Rebecca also enjoys hearing about Foote and New Haven!

1960 Class Correspondent: Happy Clement Spongberg happyspongberg@earthlink.net Happy Clement Spongberg shares, “My fairly recent changes in activities include working for the food pantry here on Martha’s Vineyard and joining The First Congregational Church of West Tisbury choir. After 17 years, I stopped working with the reading program for elementary students and took on the collection of items from two of the many food pantry drop boxes on the island. I then get the donations to the pantry headquarters. Said activity is just what I need, more movement and physical exercise and hauling and lifting. It is beneficial to increase physical activity at my age. Harder for the vultures to get at me if I am on the go! The choir, what can I say? I like to sing! It’s good for my spirit. I’m one of six altos.” Happy also volunteers at the Chilmark Library. Margie Howe Emmons writes, “Charlie and I still love living in Maine, where our three kids are not far away and Squam Lake is only a two-hour drive! That’s my heart home. I worked on a camp archive project for about three years as our family historian and the end result is amazing. I’m feeling quite proud! Our oldest grandchild has recently Spring 2019 | 37

Ellen Fuller Faller ’62

Wind in Her Sail traveled around the world to windsurf and to teach others the sport that has become her lifelong passion.

E LLE N FALLE R HA S

Her first experience on a windsurfer came in 1980 during a Club Med vacation when she was 30. Ellen finished the day sunburned, bruised and tired, but hopelessly hooked on the sport.

That experience set Ellen on a course for windsurfing “fanaticism.” She and her husband would windsurf on Long Island Sound and a Rhode Island salt pond. Within two years, they were participating in races in Florida, the Outer Banks and elsewhere.

“It’s definitely an addiction and your friends are whoever you sail with,” says Ellen. “Windsurfing people—we’re all crazy in the same way.”

In the 1980s and ’90s, most windsurfing instructors were male and not always well-suited to teaching women, because, as Ellen puts it, “guys are built totally different. I thought we should have more women doing this.”

So Ellen got certified to teach.

A few years later, the windsurfer manufacturer Starboard approached Ellen, then 50, about becoming a sponsored instructor. Ellen said yes and for the next decade she traveled the country (and abroad) leading free 38 | Foote Prints

clinics for up to 80 people a day. Ellen’s dedication to the sport earned her the honor of being named Windsurfer of the Year in 2004 by the U.S. Windsurfing Association.

been accepted at Bates College. Her younger sister is passionate about lacrosse. Our younger three grandsons thrive on outdoor stuff. My three brothers and I gather in New Hampshire as often as possible.” Pat Fiorito Oakes welcomed a second grandson. She continues as part-time assistant to the CFO of New Canaan Country School. Elizabeth Reigeluth Parker’s mother is a magnificent 100 years old and lives in an apartment behind what was Quinnipiac College.

Elizabeth sees her fairly often. Across the pond, Steve Wilmer published Performing Statelessness in Europe, a book on theater about and by refugees. He has rowed crew for 25 year and races several times a year.

Bill Henning writes, “My grandson Gordy is 2 months old in this photo (see below); he’s 18 months now. Any grandparent known or unknown to me will understand why I carry this picture with me everywhere I go. Being with him provides a kind of bliss that can’t be defined.”

The teaching gig came with no salary but covered her travel expenses and allowed Ellen to share her passion for windsurfing on the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes—even three weeks in Thailand.

1961

“The program was called ‘A Taste of Windsurfing.’ I was like the lady that stands at the end of the grocery store aisle and says, ‘Would you like to try these potato chips?’”

Class Correspondent: Donald O. Ross dross9@cox.net

Class Correspondent: Muffie Clement Green m_c_green@sbcglobal.net

1962

Don Ross writes, “When I emailed classmates asking for news for the

Ellen managed all that on weekends while working full-time as collections manager for mineralogy and historical scientific instruments at Yale’s Peabody Museum, a job she held for 38 years until her retirement in 2009. Ellen continues to volunteer at the Peabody two days a week, where “lifting heavy rocks” continues to keep her in windsurfing shape, and vice versa.

“My job kept me in shape for my sport, and my sport kept me in shape for my job.”

Ellen still windsurfs and has recently taken up her husband, Jack’s, hobby of birding, which has led to new and different adventures. “I was never much for doing regular stuff and adventure seemed like a nice idea.”

Bill Henning ’60 with grandson Gordy

Tom Kleeman ’62 moved to Alaska last May and does telemedicine in remote areas of northern New Hampshire. upcoming Foote Prints, I had no idea what the reaction might be. What started as a simple comment about my nickname back in 1962 turned into an incredible congregation of fabulous updates and witty remarks, as well as a complete compilation of our brilliant class’ classic New England nicknames through an email trail of over 60 entries! While every email was a treat to read, the entry from Tom Kleeman has to be at the top of the list. Tom, apart from the glasses and white beard, you actually look just the same, including the gun! Tom writes: “It seems a lot has happened in the last 12 months. After 35 years of surgical practice and running a spine institute, I decided it was time for a new adventure so my wife and I moved to Alaska last May. I started a program with my hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire, to do what’s called telemedicine in remote areas of northern New Hampshire. Basically I can sit at my laptop computer in Alaska and remotely evaluate patients in Berlin, New Hampshire, using their local hospital. They have set up a computer and camera in an exam room, and using one of their nurses I have been able to evaluate patients with back pain. If they require surgery, I am able to fly back to New Hampshire and perform the surgery. This allows me to maintain a scaled-down surgical practice. I am also writing a book about treating back pain without opioids. The rest of the time I’m able to explore the last frontier. I am still

flying, and the views in Alaska are breathtaking. I continue to miss my friends at Foote and wish them all well. As you can see from the photo, you don’t go hiking in Alaska without taking bear protection.”

Natalie Wilmer Blenk is still living in London and writes: “Hi Donny (sorry—just couldn’t resist)! Watching tense session of Parliament voting on latest Brexit amendments last night and at the same time glancing at these jovial email exchanges. So nice to be reminded of the carefree days of childhood! Thank you everyone!” Buffy Alley Kelly writes: “Buenas dias! We’re still in New York City except for this month, when we’re in Mexico. Judging by the temperatures I see up there, I wish we could stay here!” Deb Stilson Abbott (Debby) writes: “Our first grandchild was born on November 25, 2018, to Laura Abbott and her husband, Jay Miner. His name is Eamonn Carter Abbott Miner (some folks may recall that my father’s name was Carter Stilson). Laura is an OB/ GYN in the Kaiser system in northern California, though the family may move East sometime in the next few years (we hope!).

Jay works remotely on IT for the Appalachian Mountain Club. Our son Stephen and his wife, Stephanie, have bought a home in Denver. Steve works for the Rocky Mountain Institute in Boulder; Stephanie is a family physician. Our daughter Kate is living in Williamstown, Massachusetts, working freelance as a journalist and about to launch her website for the region. My husband, Tony, retired some years ago; I am working less than full-time, still as a clinical psychologist in Guilford, Connecticut. We’re on our 43rd year of renovation of our Cape Cod home in Guilford. We also spend time at our farm in Pomfret, Connecticut, trying to make a little money on hay and select timber cutting.

We’re healthy and grateful to be active, usually hiking and gardening. Our travel seems to primarily be focused on California, Colorado and Massachusetts. My best to all; I’ll look forward to news.” And from Wick Chambers: “How nice it is to gather virtually (following a lengthy series of emails among classmates). As for names, my family and most of my oldest friends (i.e. you guys) still call me Red, or much less frequently, Reddy.

I stopped using both names when I went away to school. I hope everyone will contribute to the Class Notes. I hope everyone is well and in good spirits.”

Caroline (Callie) Woodman Quarrier is a nurse and enjoys cross country skiing, painting, writing and travel. She lives up on the St. Lawrence River on one of the Thousand Islands. Virginia Jenkins writes: “Hello all! It’s been good seeing your names, photos, etc. So it’s time I stopped lurking and spoke up! I’m living in Hyde Park, Vermont, north of Stowe; I have been in Vermont for almost six years. My husband, Tom, and I have been enjoying some travel and volunteering for the local library, theater group and nursing home.

I’ve also been making art since we retired.

I am currently working on an exhibit of a friend’s poetry and my illustrations in collage. It’s been fun.” Ellen Fuller Faller writes: “Okay, this is what I do to keep out of the recliner (see profile, opposite). Well, okay, after a good day of windsurfing, a recliner is a nice deal! This photo was taken in Bonaire, southern Caribbean, a heavenly place for windsurfing, snorkeling, diving, etc. My thanks to Marc Van Stoll for the photo. Just in time to submit to the anti-recliner file. After various injuries, cancer, etc., every day of sailing is a good day of sailing. Windsurfing was not invented until 1967 and I did not find it until 1980, but I was sponsored by two manufacturers in 1999, an odd time for a female athlete, but heck, why not? And a warm sunny beach in the Caribbean is more fun than shoveling snow at home in Clinton, Connecticut.

Where is David Gross? Jessica? Deb? The rest of the NPK? Didn’t we get chased for throwing snowballs off Mill Rock? Did those guys beat us to it?” Jessica Rostow writes: “Not much news on my part. I’m still working but plan (hope) to retire in 2020, and I have a new granddaughter, Mabel, who is now 8 months old. I also have two other granddaughters: Rosalie, who is 9, and Riley, who is 4.” Amos Galpin writes: “As before, my wife, Elise, and I split our time between Seattle and Sun Valley. We travel a lot and paint a lot. Most recently we traveled to Scotland, with blustery hikes in the Highlands. I’ve been taking painting classes in Seattle now for 15 years and post my paintings on Instagram under my name.

If any of you go there, write me a note? That would be fun for me! They are scenes from my travels. A tour of Rajasthan was an inspiration with its market streets, people and animals. I have relinquished the camera to Elise; my sketchpad goes everywhere. Still enjoying sports—hockey, cyclocross, XC Spring 2019 | 39

skiing, sport climbing— averting my gaze from the gradual decline in speed and skill but thankful to be out there. Seeing the list of emails is an inspiration. Best to everyone.” Don also heard briefly from Susie Swords, Tom Sturgess, Sam Howe and unfortunately the wrong Doug Curtis. Don writes, “Sam and I missed a dinner together in Andover in early December as he was sunning himself in Florida. He also claims to be an ice block ‘hooker’ on Squam Lake in the winter as it freezes and the traditionalists (God bless them) are still cutting and storing large blocks of ice for the summer colonists who still use ‘iceboxes.’ Goodness, Sam, too cold for me, especially after seeing a video on the subject. Other than encouraging a dialogue among classmates about our astonishing nicknames—Sammy, Buffy, Reddy, Denyal, Donny, Sturge, Amo-Amas—I am still working in investment advisory and breeding and raising cattle in Virginia while living in Newport, Rhode Island, where I get to play tennis with Todd Martin, now head of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Susan and I just had our 45th anniversary!

We have four grandchildren, ages 4–9, three of whom are girls. Like Jessica, we have a granddaughter named Riley, 7. Please come visit us in Newport! Cecie Clement and I ran into each other last summer at the wedding of my niece, Chelsea Ross ’06, in Cuttyhunk, Massachusetts. Cecie is a godmother and a cousin of Chelsea, who is the daughter of two Foote alumni: Philip Ross ’64 and Amy Estabrook ’72. And Cecie has not changed one bit. She is enjoying her reduced schedule at the Yale Center for British Art and easing into retirement. Cecie comments, ‘I am honored to serve on Foote’s board, along with Red. The school is thriving.’ Is our class lucky to have both Cecie and Red on the Foote Board! Or we should say how lucky is Foote School to have both Cecie and Red on the Board!

Whoops—Wick. For all those classmates who were part of the email train remembering all of the nicknames and fun things we did back in the late ’50s and the first two years of the ’60s thank you! Alden wrote that the coolest nickname and I guess the one that wins the prize is Buffy. If anyone can dig out email addresses for those we missed, please send them along.

Keep the emails alive! Great for the soul!”

40 | Foote Prints

1966 Class Correspondent: John N. Deming Jr. jndjr@yahoo.com

Members of the Class of 1962 visited the St. Ronan Street campus in February 2019. From left, Wick Chambers, Buffy Alley and Susie Stevens. They were glad to see that the old coal chute on the building next door is still there.

It brought back happy memories of watching from behind the recess fence as the coal was delivered next door.

Charlotte Cloud organized “A Celebration of Brooks Kerr” at the Church of the Heavenly Rest at Fifth Avenue and 90th Street in New York City on October 11, 2018. The “Music, Memories and Recollections…” were a great tribute to Brooks. His classmates were well-represented, with John Deming, Grace Holden and Doug Reigeluth in attendance, as well as Doug’s brother, George Reigeluth ’63, and Cam Henning ’65, along with many of Brooks’ relatives. Efforts are being made to keep Brooks’ music alive.

1967

Class Correspondent: Susan Stratton susanstratton4@gmail.com

The Class of 1967 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Amy Stephens Sudmyer ’89 in the Alumni Programs Office at asudmyer@footeschool.org.

1964

1968

1963

55th Reunion, May 4, 2019 Class Correspondent: Verdi DiSesa vdisesa@cchosp.com Chase Twichell was featured in a September 2018 article in The Guardian about flooding and climate change. Chase’s new book of poems, Things as It Is, was released by Copper Canyon Press in 2018. Chase and Russell are now splitting the year between Saratoga Springs and the Adirondacks.

Pauline Lord continues to expand White Gate Farm in East Lyme, Connecticut, with lodging, farm-to-table dinners, cooking and other classes and a fun farm stand.

Her other farm, “Lazercat” in Colorado, has come online with high-end cannabis products. In August, Pauline and David took custody of his 6-year-old granddaughter, Scarlet, an exciting new development! Robin Hicks regrets that, due to recent travel to New Haven, he will not be able to return again this year to attend reunion in May.

1965 Class Correspondent: Eric Triffin eric_triffin@aya.yale.edu

Class Correspondents: Rob Clark rclark@perrigo-inc.com Leland Torrence lelandtorrence@optonline.net Rob Clark writes: “Leland Torrence and I have volunteered to fill the breach as class correspondents. I’m not sure what either one of us was thinking since we are both still working full-time. Leland said, ‘You do this month’ and I replied, ‘No, you do it. I’ll do next.’ He bought lunch and I’m doing this month’s notes. I have to tell everyone in the Class of ’68 that we would not be doing this if it were not for the 50th reunion we had in May. We had an amazing turnout and the enthusiasm was infectious. I received a wonderful note from Cathy Smith Cuthell talking about how much fun it was to see everyone last May! ‘Unlike college reunions where everyone is trying to look successful, we all remember each other as 4-, 5- or 6-year-olds and just pick up where we left off. No judgments or posturing. It’s really special—and quite amusing! Looking forward to the 55th.’

Cathy beat me to the ski slopes with a hip replacement after I had a knee replaced last

June. Don’t groan here! Both of us want to continue the activities we have pursued over the last few decades— skiing, tennis and everything else that we should avoid with bad joints. Jim Bigwood sent me a nice note about his latest project: ‘I have just finished producing season one of the BET series American Soul, which debuted February 5. It is based on the true story of Don Cornelius and his creation of the groundbreaking television series, Soul Train.’ Jim and I actually have an overlap. My son-in-law, Zack Whedon, wrote an episode of Red Roads which he produced in 2014. George Holden, Leland and I correspond a lot— just like old times. George is a professor at Southern Methodist University and author of Parenting: A Dynamic Perspective, one of the primary books on parenting, discipline and family violence. He has travelled the world speaking about corporal punishment and its effects on social development in families. George and his wife, Anne, traveled to Prague in September, where George received a Distinguished Career Award from the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. Martha Vietor Glass sent exciting news that her daughter Marietta and her husband, Matt, are expecting in May! ‘My first grandchild. Gender unknown until the birth.’ Some of us have been there already, but others have not. Your first grandchild is the best because it’s such an adventure for the whole family. June and I continue to work. June went to Paris in February for the World Synchronized Skating Competition and I had my second knee done in February as well. Send notes and pictures. Leland and I just started with this a couple of weeks ago, so you are safe this issue, but I have to warn you that we are going to come looking for those of you under the radar, particularly those of you who missed the reunion last May.”

1969 50th Reunion, May 4, 2019 Class Correspondent: Meg McDowell Smith megsmithvt@gmavt.net

1970 The Class of 1970 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Amy Stephens Sudmyer ’89 in the Alumni Programs Office at asudmyer@footeschool.org.

1972 Class Correspondents: Amy Estabrook heyamo@snet.net Cathy Hosley Vouwie chv79@hotmail.com Tom Kilgerman reports; “We are now empty nesters, traveling for fun and work.” He has been going on sabbatical every year and went to Rome in 2017 and Santa Fe in 2018. Tom is thinking of traveling to Madrid in 2019.

His youngest daughter, Magda, is in school at the American University of Paris. She is a first-year studying art and generally living a life of museums, coffee and baguettes.

His middle daughter, Katherine, is studying architecture at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a senior. Tom and his wife are very proud of her, as last year she won a $30,000 scholarship in a design competition.

Katherine promptly donated half of it to students in need. And his daughter, Rebecca, is living in Brooklyn and working for a small Michelin-starred restaurant group that serves $200 hamburgers among other things. Tom and his wife bought an apartment in Manhattan that they are about to renovate. Tom is still very busy with many interesting architectural projects and, as always, he is thinking of his Foote classmates and hoping everyone is doing well. Amy Estabrook shares, “My daughter, Chelsea Ross ’06, was married to Chris Gagnier on Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts, on June 30, 2018. The logistics of hosting a wedding on a tiny island with only a small market, a few gift shops and one ferry a day was challenging to say the least. I had a blast designing invitations, place cards, signage, flower arrangements and bouquets, sewing tablecloths and a veil, and even baking nine layers of an all-butter cake with 16 cups of buttercream frosting. Countless friends and family came forward (on island and off ) with offerings of peonies from their gardens,

use of a pick-up truck, a KitchenAid mixer, harvesting of greens and grasses, flower arranging, decorating, the list goes on. It was this outpouring of love from our community— and spending time with the people we love most in the place we love most—that made this wedding the perfect way for two people to start a lifetime together.”

1973 Class Correspondents: Peter Hicks phicks@websterbank.com John Persse johnpersse@bhhsne.com

1974 45th Reunion, May 4, 2019 The Class of 1974 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Amy Stephens Sudmyer ’89 in the Alumni Programs Office at asudmyer@footeschool.org.

Jose Carlos Delgado writes from San Diego where he works as a translator. Jose attended Foote until sixth grade in 1971 when his family moved back to Spain. Jose looks forward to getting back in touch with classmates.

1975 Class Correspondent: Jessica Drury sjsaz@optonline.net Bruce Conklin is working as an investigator at the Gladstone Institutes. The Gladstone team was awarded more than $3.6 million over the next five years to assess the safety of genome editing in human cells and tissues.

Bo Sandine is the program manager for an IMatter project currently under way in New Haven. The IMatter Project is a multimedia program that fosters youth empowerment by cultivating and celebrating self-worth and well-being. The project hung nine banners featuring photographic portraits of teens and young adults. Larger-than-life banners, billboards and interactive art exhibits are

Spring 2019 | 41

strengthened by each person’s written and recorded “IMatter” statement. Jessie Drury writes: “The brutality of this early winter cold has had little effect on the warm glow that perpetually radiates from the Class of 1975. The condition is shocking to me as I harken from a well-hewed background carved by cynicism and sharp edges. I cannot but concede that my brilliant and clever Foote classmates have influenced each other into a thoughtful, kind and supportive collective that shares memories and an ever-unfolding path to the future.

I hold out the following note from Joanie Bigwood Osborne as a testament to my words: “You might have heard a loud din in the tri-state area on December 16 at 1 p.m. coming from a cozy little corner of New Jersey, where Jonea Gurwitt was indisputably surprised by a pop-up wedding shower in her honor at Jessie’s house to celebrate her late-breaking engagement to Don, her beloved of several years. If you were at the last Foote reunion, you might have met Don, a Jonea-sized sweetie-pie who took dozens of loud-mouthed Footies in his stride and laughed convincingly at our stories of long ago. That’s Jonea’s shining knight, and we girls wanted to show our heartfelt approval of her Lifetime Choice. The challenge was to reach as many of the girls we know by email (some dozen) to participate in the surprise for ol’ Nay Nay (who, nearing our collective 60th birthday, has managed to keep her girlish figure, as have so many of the 1975 girls, but that is for another day). Somehow Emlyn Hughes got on the secret email string but was not free to appear as a male stripper

on that date. Kept away by weather, out-oftown-guests or logistics, those not able to come in person nevertheless contributed to Jonea’s handy reference guide to a happy partnership. Jonea had to guess the author of each bon mot and nailed more than half.

We haven’t changed much, apparently. Cessy Bickel won the Wisdom Sweeps with “Don’t ask me for marital advice.” Reedie, Cessy, Joanie, Susie and Duby all made it to Jessie’s table, while Michele, Martitia, Georgia, Jenny, Katie, Melanie, Mindy, Jeannie and Sarah B. all chipped in their best advice. We enjoyed especially the company of Cessy’s mini-me, Claire, who earned a degree in Footiness by the end of the afternoon. For entertainment, we completed a highly risqué Wedding Night Mad Lib (authored by me) and gifted Jonea extremely unusual and eminently useful items for her new life as a married woman, with more guessing required by the bride.

Duby found a fountain pen in homage to our obsession with ink in our latter years at Foote. But the best part about the gathering of such old friends (so old that our mothers in the Foote years look like spring chickens in comparison) was Jessie’s Cordon Bleu luncheon. We had homemade everything: from the first course of butternut squash soup to the melt-in-your-mouth gallettes, washed down with Prosecco, and topped off with fresh fruit salad, Susie Campbell Grimes’ chocolate cake and Jessie’s salted caramel ice cream, all served with dollops of hilarious reminiscences that make Foote gatherings such rip-roaring fun. Thanks to so many fans of Nay Nay, we reminded this adorable bride that old friends are hands-

down the best friends. Best wishes for many more happy years with Don! And we’ll see everyone for our 60th birthday party at Jessie’s! Right, Jess?” Yup, and this time, we’ll be expecting Emlyn.

1976 Class Correspondent: John Holder johnholder@comporium.net

1977 Class Correspondent: Elizabeth Daley Draghi gdraghi@sbcglobal.net

1978 Class Correspondent: Stephen Fontana stevef1701@aol.com

1979 40th Reunion, May 4, 2019 Class Correspondent: Bonnie Welch bonniewelch@taftschool.org

1980 Class Correspondent: Liz Geller Brennan gelbren@aol.com We extend our sympathy to Eamon Roche, whose father, Kevin, passed away on March 1, 2019.

1981 Class Correspondents: Nicolas Crowley nyjcrowley@hotmail.com Jennifer LaVin jen2766@gmail.com We extend our sympathy to Paud Roche, whose father, Kevin, passed away on March 1, 2019.

1982 Class Correspondent: Bethany Schowalter Appleby bethany.appleby@gmail.com Members of the Class of 1975 and family at Jonea Gurwitt’s wedding shower. From left, Claire Bickel (daughter of Cessy), Cessy Bickel, Duby McDowell, Joan Bigwood Osborn, Jonea Gurwitt, Susie Campbell Grimes, Jessie Drury and Reedie Field King 42 | Foote Prints

We extend our sympathy to Denis Roche, whose father, Kevin, passed away on March 1, 2019. At a ceremony in Tunis on October 4, 2018, the United States

USAID/Libya Senior Development Advisor Clinton White ’82, third from left, served as master of ceremonies at a ceremony in Tunis on October 4. government and the government of Denmark announced their joint support to strengthen Libya’s electoral processes. USAID/Libya Senior Development Advisor Clinton White served as master of ceremonies.

1983 Class Correspondent: Brinley Ford Ehlers brinleysf@aol.com

1984 35th Reunion, May 4, 2019 Class Correspondent: Ann Pschirrer Brandt annie.brandt@rocketmail.com We extend our sympathy to Thomas King, whose mother, Nancy King, passed away on September 30, 2018, and to Nicole Clarke Gilson whose mother, Ruth Clarke, passed away on December 17, 2018. We extend our sympathy to Anne Roche Perrine, whose father, Kevin, passed away on March 1, 2019.

1988

1995

The Class of 1988 needs a class correspondent. If you are willing to help collect news from your classmates, please contact Amy Stephens Sudmyer ’89 in the Alumni Programs Office at asudmyer@footeschool.org.

Class Correspondent: Jack Hill seaburyhill@aol.com

We extend our sympathy to Claire ShubikRichards, whose mother, Julia, passed away on October 18, 2018.

1989

Class Correspondents: Brett Nowak nowak.brett@gmail.com Katy Zandy Atlas katy91@gmail.com

30th Reunion, May 4, 2019 Class Correspondent: Toya Hill Clark trose7@hotmail.com

1997

During the government shutdown in January, marine biologist Ari Friedlaender was interviewed by NPR about the effects of the shutdown on his research. Ari wrote, “Because of the shutdown we were not able to get our permits completed and signed so we are hamstrung from collecting some critical data and deploying tags on whales to study their behavior and population structure.”

Alexander Niejelow and Ioanna Kefalas were married on November 10, 2018, at New World Symphony Hall in Miami Beach.

1990 Class Correspondent: Amy Crawford amycohncrawford@mac.com

Class Correspondent: Eliza Sayward elizasayward@yahoo.com

1998 Class Correspondents: Andrew Lebov aklebov@gmail.com Elisabeth Sacco Klock saccopotatoes@gmail.com We extend our sympathy to Vanessa Soto, whose father, John Soto, passed away on September 21, 2018.

1991 Class Correspondent: Bo Bradstreet ebradstr@gmail.com

1985

1992

Class Correspondent: Carter LaPrade Serxner lapserx@gmail.com

Class Correspondent: Katie Madden Kavanagh katieblee@hotmail.com

1986

1993

Class Correspondent: Jody Esselstyn jesselstyn@gmail.com

Class Correspondent: Jenny Keul jennykeul@gmail.com

1987

1994

Class Correspondent: Jonathan Levin jdlevin@stanford.edu

25th Reunion, May 4, 2019 Class Correspondent: Arna Berke-Schlessel Zohlman arna.zohlman@gmail.com

We extend our sympathy to Alice Roche Winthrop, whose father, Kevin, passed away on March 1, 2019.

1996

Wende Valentine ’89 and Katherine Perrine ’84 bumped into each other at a fundraiser in Marin County, California, in November 2018.

Spring 2019 | 43

Jennifer Milikowsky ’02

1999

“ It’s been exciting to talk about forests and food systems all over New England.”

2000

20th Reunion, May 4, 2019 Class Correspondent: Jeremy Zuidema jmzuidema@gmail.com

Class Correspondents: Alex Kleiner alex.m.kleiner@gmail.com Shannon Sweeney smsweeney07@gmail.com

Forest to Plate W HE N JE NNIFE R MILIKOWS K Y

finished graduate school, she wanted to tackle a problem that has long vexed New England farmers and environmentalists: how to make conservation of forest land not just altruistic but profitable for landowners.

It was a topic she had explored at Yale, where she earned an M.B.A. and a Master of Forestry as part of a joint-degree program. One day, while walking in the woods at the Yale Myers Forest, she found herself literally tripping over the answer: acorns.

Oaks are abundant in Connecticut and their nuts are ubiquitous on forest floors. While acorns’ bitter qualities make them unappealing as human food, pigs go hog wild for them. Spain is world famous for its acorn-fed pork, considered the finest in the world for its exquisite taste and healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Why couldn’t New England farmers get in on the game?

In 2014, Jennifer founded Walden Hill, a company that partners with New England farms to produce acorn-fed pork that is sold to restaurants and direct to consumers.

The idea was innovative but posed some immediate challenges—for instance, how to collect acorns in bulk and dealing with yearly variations in acorn crops.

44 | Foote Prints

“Someone needed to create a brand around acorn-fed pork, educate people about it and figure out the best products to produce with this premium pork,” Jennifer says.

Walden Hill’s model is to collect acorns and supply them to pig farmers; purchase and slaughter the pigs; and market and sell the finished acorn-fed pork. It’s a win-win: farmers get a higher price for their pork while drawing value from their undeveloped forestland, promoting forest sustainability.

The monumental task of collecting enough acorns—Walden Hill farmers use 100,000 pounds a year—begins with data collection to identify areas experiencing a bumper crop. Walden Hill then drapes huge nets to passively collect acorns or harvests them using machines designed to pick up golf balls from driving ranges. Jennifer’s fiancé, Tylan Calcagni, who is also her business partner, has designed a sorting machine that removes sticks and leaves from their harvest, vastly improving efficiency.

Caitlin Cahow was inducted into the Branford Sports Hall of Fame on November 16, 2018. Caitlin was a member of the U.S. Olympic Hockey team, earning a Silver Medal in 2006 and a Bronze Medal in 2010.

Shannon Sweeney and her husband, Tyson Seely, welcomed their first child, Scarlett “Etta” Aylwin Seely, on August 29, 2018, in Morristown, New Jersey, and could not be happier! Ian Lebov lives in Santa Cruz, California, and loves going to the beach with his wife, 18-month-old son and dog.

2001 Class Correspondents: Adam Jacobs 14 Tanglewood Lane Woodbridge, CT 06525 203-393-1760 Cassie Pagnam cassie.pagnam@gmail.com

Walden Hill is currently redesigning its website to enable online sales, particularly of charcuterie—dry-cured salamis, coppas and, someday, hams.

“It’s been exciting to talk about forests and food systems all over New England.

And sampling our own product is an added perk of the job!” Jennifer says.

Shannon Sweeney ’00 and her husband, Tyson Seely, welcomed their first child, Scarlett “Etta” Aylwin Seely, on August 29, 2018.

2002

Ron Coleman Jr. ’04

Class Correspondent: Hope Fleming hope.fleming@gmail.com

“ We want to be out there with others supporting the dreams of students.”

Clay Wiske was married to Bay Hudner on September 16, 2018 in Little Compton, Rhode Island.

2003 Class Correspondents: Courtney Holmes msholmes@att.blackberry.net Adam Shapiro adamshapiro1488@gmail.com

2004 15th Reunion, May 4, 2019 Class Correspondents: Dillon Long know33@gmail.com Dana Schwartz Danaschwartz5@gmail.com Ronald Coleman Jr. co-founded a nonprofit called New Haven Counts, which prepares high school students and community members with the skills necessary to mentor youth and close the achievement gap. The main areas of focus are critical thinking, financial literacy and math numeracy (see profile on this page). Scout Sanders was married to Billy Kemper on July 21, 2018, in Chicago, Illinois. In attendance were Scout’s step-siblings, Ali Gusberg Healy ’97, Jessie Gusberg ’98, Spencer Gusberg ’00 and Ben Gusberg ’05.

2005 Class Correspondent: Gabriella Rhodeen gabriella.rhodeen@gmail.com

2006 Class Correspondents: Adam Gabbard adamdgabbard@yahoo.com Audrey Logan logan.audrey@gmail.com We extend our sympathy to Errol “EJ” Nisbeth, whose mother, Cindy, passed away in November 2018. Yuri Sakurabayashi Ogasawara gave birth to a daughter named

Solution Finder R O N CO LE MAN I S WO R K ING

overtime—as a volunteer—to help close the opportunity gap in New Haven schools. On top of teaching math and coaching basketball in the New Haven school district, Ron co-founded the nonprofit New Haven Counts in 2018 to provide one-on-one math tutoring, financial literacy and entrepreneurship training for middle and high school students—free of charge.

New Haven’s achievement gap is stark: only one in five New Haven students achieves grade-level math scores.

Along with co-founders Daniel Hicks and Domenico Dugo, Ron devised a partial solution by creating a community of cascading mentorship where volunteers tutor students one-on-one to think critically, gain confidence with math numeracy and solve problems with accuracy.

“I love working with students oneon-one because you build deeper and more meaningful connections,” says Ron. “We believe this is a city of visionaries and a city of dreams and we want to be out there with others supporting the dreams of students.”

To launch New Haven Counts, Ron and Dan went through the Collab New Haven program, which provides funding, mentorship and education to Connecticut entrepreneurial leaders.

New Haven Counts’ first program, held last summer, was a two-week entrepreneurism course in which 22 high school students designed business ideas to address various problems, learning budgeting and financial literacy in the process. At the end of the course, each group received $250 in seed money to help launch their idea, with two “winning” groups each getting $500. One fellow, as participants are called, bought camera equipment to start his photography business, and another is hosting art therapy workshops for introverted students.

Throughout the school year, New Haven Counts provides individual and group tutoring for students during after-school hours and on Saturdays. To date, the program’s 12 mentors have served 42 students in city schools, drawing exclusively on extended word problems and business scenarios to make math more engaging and relevant for students. Ron has done all this while juggling teaching and coaching, and without drawing a paycheck from New Haven Counts.

Looking ahead, Ron says New Haven Counts is seeking more mentors and funding in support of its mission to bring equity and opportunity to New Haven students and families.

“I love seeing students unleash their creativity,” says Ron. Spring 2019 | 45

Scout Sanders ’04 with her step-siblings, from left, Ben Gusberg ’05, Spencer Gusberg ’00, Ali Gusberg Healy ’97 and Jessie Gusberg ’98, at her July 21, 2018, wedding to Billy Kemper in Chicago

Yuri Sakurabayashi Ogasawara ’06, husband Jun and daughter Hana

Hana in January 2018. Yuri lives in Japan with her husband of four years, Jun, and looks back fondly on her time at Foote!

Chelsea Ross was married to Chris Gagnier on Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts, on June 30, 2018.

2009

2011

10th Reunion, May 4, 2019 Class Correspondents: Chris Blackwood christopher.blackwood@tufts.edu

Class Correspondents: Nate Barton natebarton95@gmail.com

2007

Eva Kerman edk2123@barnard.edu

Class Correspondents: Kenny Kregling kregke01@comcast.net Symphony Spell symphony.spell@gmail.com

2008 Class Correspondents: Michael Milazzo michael.milazzo12@gmail.com Kate Reilly Yurkovsky kate.yurkovsky@gmail.com We extend our sympathy to Shalice Nisbeth, whose mother, Cindy, passed away in November 2018. Natalie Lapides is living and working in London. She takes advantage of her location and regularly travels to other countries on weekends.

Evan Andrew Horwitz will graduate from Brown University and Trinity Repertory Company with an MFA in acting and directing in May.

46 | Foote Prints

Alex Leffell and Ben Rosenbluth are living in New Haven and working at 4Catalyzer in Guilford, Connecticut. 4Catalyzer is a biotech company, where Alex is part of a team developing a wearable device for epilepsy sufferers. Ben is working on protein engineering. Luca Powell is teaching in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Britney Dumas bdumas13@gmail.com Francesca Ferrante is working as an AmeriCorps teacher at Saint Martin de Porres Academy in New Haven.

2010 Class Correspondents: Brandi Fullwood brandi.n.fullwood@gmail.com Clay Pepe cpepe@guidepoint.com

Chelsea Ross ’06 and her husband, Chris Gagnier, at their wedding on Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts, on June 30, 2018

2012

Caitlin Farrell ’12

Class Correspondent: Harrison Lapides yalehockey20@comcast.net Caitlin Farrell was named a Hermann Trophy semifinalist for 2018. The Hermann Trophy is awarded to the top female player in women’s college soccer (see profile on this page). Margie Lewis is a senior at Lafayette College and will be interning for the A&R department at RCA Records, which is a subdivision of Sony Music Entertainment. Harrison Lapides plays hockey at Lafayette College. Cassidy McCarns will graduate from Bates College in the spring and attend Yale School of Nursing in the fall to study to become a pediatric nurse practitioner.

2013 Class Correspondents: Lawson Buhl lbuhl@snappymaterials.com Anika Zetterberg azetterb@skidmore.edu Nathaniel Kerman is an astrophysics and photography student at Yale. He is studying abroad in Dublin this spring. His family moved to Buffalo, New York.

2014 Class Correspondents: Robinson Armour rarmour@amherst.edu Sophia Matthes Theriault sophiamtheriault@gmail.com Andrew Baxter is currently a sophmore at Brandeis University and will be there this summer to plan the 2019 new-student orientation.

Goal Oriented Caitlin Farrell has already cemented her place as one of the best young soccer players in the country.

And she’s just getting started.

AT AGE 21,

Caitlin will graduate from Georgetown University this spring after an exceptional four years. With Caitlin as their striker, the Hoyas won three Big East championships and made it to the College Cup (the final four of college soccer) twice. Last fall, Caitlin scored 18 times, tying a university record for single-season goals.

Caitlin’s road to success was paved with long practices, early-morning runs, drives to far-flung tournaments and no small amount of personal sacrifice. She heaps credit on her brothers, parents and coaches for believing in and supporting her along the way.

Her passion for soccer kicked off at age 4 and developed over years playing in the Wallingford town league, on premier teams, and at Foote and Choate Rosemary Hall, where her team won New England championships. She recalls missing a lot of sleepovers and social events—and even school once or twice—during her Foote years because of games or practices. But she never took her eye off her goals.

“With anything you are passionate about you have to be willing to make sacrifices,” she says.

At Georgetown, Caitlin is a government major with a Spanish minor. Balancing academics and a Division 1 sport is hardly easy, she admits, but time management skills learned at Foote and Choate have made it possible. This year, Caitlin was a First Team All-American and a Scholar All-American.

“ With anything you are passionate about you have to be willing to make sacrifices.”

Last fall, Caitlin was named one of three finalists for the MAC Hermann Trophy, the soccer equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. “I had absolutely no idea I would go as far as being a finalist,” says Caitlin. “That seemed too surreal.” While she didn’t ultimately win, she was flown to St. Louis in January for the award ceremony, where each of the finalists was celebrated for her achievements.

With graduation imminent, Caitlin is looking for her next game. She plans to play soccer professionally, either with the National Women’s Soccer League or in a European league.

“Last year, as a junior, I realized that if I did not keep playing I would have only 20 more games and that didn’t seem like enough,” she says. “I just love soccer and I want to see how far I can take it.”

Spring 2019 | 47

2015 Class Correspondents: Anli Raymond agcsoccer15@gmail.com Will Wildridge william@wildridge.org Klee Hellerman is in Wellington, Florida, competing as an adult amateur/owner in equestrian jumping. She is finishing up her last year of high school at Fusion Academy and continues to compete internationally, in addition to breeding and raising young horses. Julianna “JJ” Hellerman is completing her senior year of high school at Hotchkiss abroad in Italy this year. She will be back to graduate in May and has lined up a summer internship for next year with Concord Music Group. William Badrigian is a freshman at Drew University, where he is a Frances Asbury Scholar as well as a Baldwin Honors Scholar. William is also a foilist on the NCAA fencing team. Erin Low is a freshman at Hobart and William Smith. She won an award at her Cheshire Academy graduation for excellence in writing throughout her high school career.

Dylan Sloan and a classmate from Hopkins will take part in an Ironman Triathlon in memory of Evan Schechner on May 11.

They have launched a GoFundMe page, www.gofundme.com/ironmanforevan, to raise awareness and funds for mental health treatment and access. Also in Evan’s honor, his mother, Christina Herrick, and sister, Phoebe Schechner ’18, are working with the African Library Project to provide books to eager readers in Africa who have very few books. Christina and Phoebe are asking for help collecting gently used books or raising money to help pay for shipping to Africa.

It takes only 1,000 books and $500 to

Pablo deVos-Deak ’17 (first on left) at the Southington Marching Festival start a single library and make a huge difference in children’s lives. Find out more at bit.ly/2WLauG7.

2016 Class Correspondents: Omid Azodi omid.azodi@cheshireacademy.org Evelyn Pearson evie.pearson11@gmail.com Siraj Patwa and Tyler Stevens-Scanlan, both students at Hopkins, were named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. Isaiah Miller writes, “I’m a senior at Millbrook School now. I’m the captain of the varsity squash team and also I am a zoo curator in my school’s zoo.” Omid Azodi is a senior at Cheshire Academy. He is on the varsity soccer and lacrosse teams. He will attend Connecticut College next year.

to VEX Robotics World Championships in spring 2018 to represent Choate Robotics.

Pablo deVos-Deak writes, “In 2018 I was the junior youth dean for the UU United Nations intergenerational spring seminar.

I will be the senior youth dean for the 2019 UU United Nations intergenerational spring seminar. Over the summer I worked as a volunteer teacher at the IRIS summer school program.” Jake Nadzam writes, “I’m currently participating in the Science Research Program at Choate. Eight students are selected for each of the two sections, quantitative and biology, and over the course of a year they prepare for summer work in a college lab. Students will conduct research for eight to 10 weeks in the labs they’ve applied to and gotten into.” Graley Turner continues to enjoy Hopkins and participates in as many plays as she can. She recently finished directing her first show.

2017 Class Correspondents: Graley Turner graleyturner@gmail.com Hilal Zoberi hzoberi20@choate.edu

Klee Hellerman ’15 in Wellington, Florida, competing as an adult amateur/owner in equestrian jumping

48 | Foote Prints

Hilal Zoberi is a junior at Choate Rosemary Hall. Over the summer he participated in Foote Summer Theater and played Nathan Detroit in the production of Guys and Dolls.

He played varsity water polo in the fall and was on the swim team in the winter. Nate Krauss is a member of Choate’s Advanced Robotics Concentration Program. He went

Hilal Zoberi ’17 plays varsity water polo at Choate.

2018 Class Correspondents: Alexandra Collins alexandrabcollins03@gmail.com Pablo Rollán pabloo.rollan@gmail.com Andrew Crews is a student at Choate and is getting used to life as a day student.

He was an intern at the New Haven Land Trust in summer 2018. Pablo Rollán writes, “I started at Kingswood Oxford and I am loving it! But I miss Foote so much!” Will Geballe is attending Guilford High School and playing soccer for USSDA at Beachside.

Alex Lee is enjoying his freshman year at Hamden Hall and running cross country.

Madeline Vintimilla writes, “I am currently a sophomore at Hamden High School. I am enjoying my classes and getting to know my new classmates. I am particularly excited to continue my love and learning of Chinese at Hamden High. I still love BTS and attended my first concert this fall with a fellow Footie.

I continue to enjoy creative writing, theater, Chinese language and culture.” Camille Gipson is a sophomore at Guilford High School and is starting her second season of fencing this winter. She recently joined the Women in Science Club and the Best Friends Club. Casey Nadzam is attending Sacred Heart Academy. She volunteered at Horizons at Foote in summer 2018. She has done many cabarets for great causes; her favorite was going to San Francisco to perform in Broadway Against Bullying presented by No Bully. Phoebe Schechner and her mother, Christina Herrick, are working with the African Library Project to provide books to eager readers in Africa who have very few books, in memory of Phoebe’s brother, Evan Schechner ’15.

Christina and Phoebe are asking for help collecting gently used books and raising money. It takes only 1,000 books and $500 to start a single library and make a huge difference in children’s lives. Find out more at bit.ly/2WLauG7.

Faculty News Huge congratulations to fifth-grade teacher Jake Burt, whose debut novel, Greetings from Witness Protection!, won the 2018 Connecticut Book Award. School Nurse Heather Russo and husband Matthew welcomed Maxwell Joseph Russo on October 25, 2018.

In Memoriam Thomas Lund ’38 July 17, 2015 Charles Sargent Jr. ’45 August 3, 2017 Lee Blanchard Seniff ’47 April 9, 2018 Barbara Babb Read ’51 August 17, 2018 Lola Salowitz, Former Faculty March 29, 2019

Daniel, second child of Tong Beina (Bella), born on December 15, 2018.

Former Faculty News Tong Beina, our 2017 Chinese guest teacher (nicknamed “Bella”), had her second child on December 15, 2018. All is well with Beina and baby Daniel. We are sad to report Lola Salowitz passed away on March 29, 2019.

Mrs. Salowitz taught math from 1965 to 1984, as well as U.S. history.

Maxwell Joseph Russo, son of school nurse Heather Russo

Spring 2019 | 49

Fall Sports

50 | Foote Prints

Foote’s sports program continues to grow. Last fall, 94 students in Grades 6–9 participated in soccer, field hockey and cross country. Through well-earned victories and tough losses, Foote’s athletes demonstrated teamwork, determination and support for one another, with experienced players helping newer ones and everyone contributing to a sense of belonging and spirited competition.

Spring 2019 | 51

Looking Back

The

VOLUNTEER Brigade

How the Foote PTC became a cornerstone of the school community B Y C I ND Y L EF F EL L

parent volunteers have played an indispensible role in the life of the school. The Parent Teacher Council (originally the Parent Teacher Association) has long been the catalyst for bringing our community together and coordinating ways for parents to contribute to the financial and educational welfare of the school.

S IN CE FO OTE ’ S E AR LIE S T DAYS ,

The earliest records of the PTA are handwritten meeting minutes from 1929. In the 1930s and 1940s, the PTA programmed two or three well-attended events each year, usually a parent expert or outside speaker addressing some aspect of education or child-rearing. Parents were then invited to review their children’s classroom work and talk informally with teachers. Families were expected to join the PTA, paying $1 in annual dues, which funded scholarships to supplement financial assistance awarded by the school.

In the days before email, PTA meetings served to convey information from the school to parents. PTA meeting minutes from October 23, 1935, mention a “discussion of parking rules for cars…pupils urged to cross Saint Ronan Street at designated place.” Police supervision was requested during morning drop-off because of cars speeding down Saint Ronan and parents double-parking and blocking driveways. Some things never seem to change!

At several PTA meetings, Winifred Sturley, who was headmistress from 1935 to 1955, implored parents to send 52 | Foote Prints

A hand-drawn poster for Foote’s Nearly New Sale in April 1978

their children to bed earlier so they would be well-rested and focused during the school day. Recommended bedtimes were 7:45 for third and fourth graders, 8:00 for fifth and sixth, and 8:30 for seventh and eighth graders.

In 1961, the PTC debuted the Nearly New Sale, a huge fundraiser that took place twice a year (fall and spring) for nearly 20 years. Families donated items to be sold, primarily women’s and girls’ party dresses and men’s and boys’ suits and tuxedos. The sale took over the gym and required an army of volunteers working full-time for several weeks beforehand. Donated items (15,000 in 1972!) had to be sorted, catalogued, priced, tagged and laid out for sale, then staffed by parent volunteers, recalls Annie Clark, the

Drumming at the Foote Family Picnic in 2000

A partial list of PTC-sponsored events and initiatives throughout the years After School Dinner Annual Fundraising Auction Art Hanging Arts Night Basketball Clinic Bingo Night Book Fair Book Swap Bulb Sale Community Service

Cookbook Educational Enrichment Faculty Appreciation Breakfast Faculty Meeting Refreshments Fall Dinner/Parents Night Fall Family Fun Day Fore for Foote golf tournament Foote on Ice skating social Foote School Store Gift Wrapping

longtime faculty member who served as PTC president from 1973 to 1975.

All that work paid off for Foote. In the 1970s, the sale netted around $10,000 a year from shoppers who came from around the region to purchase clothing, accessories and housewares—a hefty sum to contribute to the school’s budget.

Donna Batsford, who was PTC president from 1980 to 1982, saw her role as supporting volunteers to “make things work smoothly.” Following the demise of the Nearly New Sale, there was greater interest in volunteers being “worker bees” who contributed to the school’s needs in small but meaningful ways. Of her own many volunteer roles, Donna especially enjoyed talking with prospective families about Foote during admissions tours. She meshed so well with the admissions director that when her PTC stint ended, Donna took a parttime job in the admissions office—marking the beginning of a 28-year career in various administrative roles at Foote.

For Catherine Sbriglio, who was PTC president from 2008 to 2011, a highlight was the spring gala auction of 2010. Named “Mosaic: An International Celebration,” it represented a

Hearing & Vision Screening Host Families Library Assistance Magazine Sale May Day Picnic May Day Video Movie Outing New Parent Orientation Newsletter Photography

Plant Sale PTC Class Reps PTC Guest Speaker PTC/FSA annual meeting Quilt Raffle School Photo Day Shopping Promotion Tag Sale/Nearly New Sale

new emphasis on inclusivity and multiculturalism for a fundraising event. Tango dancers, steel pans and other global rhythms entertained guests, and partygoers wined and dined on many international treats while raising funds to support Foote.

“If you are at a Foote event with parents, the PTC is most likely behind it,” says Melissa Castleman, PTC co-president from 2016 to 2018. “That’s a lot of hours of volunteer work, a lot of opportunities for parental bonding and collaboration between parents, teachers, administrators, grounds staff and board members.

“In other words, the PTC is all about bringing together people who are very busy and who would probably otherwise be just passing ships during these important years when our children are in school together,” Melissa adds.

“The PTC makes Foote a better, closer, richer community.”

Cindy Leffell volunteers as Foote’s head archivist, co-chairs the Centennial Campaign and served on the Board of Directors from 2009 to 2018. Her two children, Alex ’09 and Dahlia ’11, are both Foote graduates.

Spring 2019 | 53

From the Archives

54 | Foote Prints

At the dawn of the new millennium, the entire Foote School—469 students and 102 faculty and staff—gathered in the main courtyard for an all-school photo. Can you spot yourself, your classmates or your former teachers?

Spring 2019 | 55

Why I Teach

I hope for my students to find amazement in words and, with them, to practice courage and compassion.

BY S U S AN NE ITLI CH

was born in the eccentric drama of my childhood family: dozens of Hungarian aunts, uncles and cousins often showed up at our house bearing noodle kugel—and their old-country stories. There was my mother’s handsome cousin, Teddy, who had a luxuriant moustache and worked as a tour guide in Jerusalem. My mother adored Teddy, as did I, because he had an exciting tale. He had worked on the ship Exodus that transported Jewish refugees from France to Palestine after World War II. From those same cousins came gloriously misguided English expressions, funny characters (my grandmother’s neighbor with the pet monkey) and ample tragedy. My mother reported on it all with gusto, and the mystery of the way their lives had unfolded took hold in my heart.

MY WO R K A S A TE ACHE R

I see words as tiny shrines with rich offerings, and stories as doors left gently ajar to unexplored rooms. I carry favorite poems in my handbag, and when I go on vacation, I pack what my sister calls my “traveling library,” a group of wise writer-friends to gossip and drink coffee with on the journey. I love poet Gwendolyn Brooks’ description of books as “meat and medicine / and flame and flight and flower, / steel, stitch, and cloud and clout, / and drumbeats in the air.” I love having writers as companions that help me pay attention to the world. I love remembering that the word companion comes from Latin “with bread,” as I feel that my students and I are breaking bread when we gather in class, reading by turn, their young voices piping through the air.

The stories I like best are the children’s, and each child searches for truth with her very own inflection. They leave their thumbprints on odes to ugly sweaters, summer nights, fire escapes, Thanksgiving football, cherry blossoms, even punctuation. They write about moving to new houses, loving their grandparents and getting pierced ears. The late 56 | Foote Prints

poet Mary Oliver said it well: “I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular.” The walls of our classroom fall away, and we are suddenly sitting around a dinner table in Hong Kong as a grandmother serves a spicy pork dish. Then we’re saving glimmering wild squid on the coast of Maine, or peeking into an abandoned ancestral house filled with snakes in a Greek village.

Sometimes before a student reads aloud, she will say, “This isn’t good,” and I see what deep courage it takes to be a young writer, or a writer of any age, because all of our stories lead to our hearts and hopes and fears. This year a Muslim student shared a story about being harrassed when wearing a headscarf not far from her madrasa. Her classmates’ outrage at her experience—and their tenderness for her hurt—was palpable in the ensuing silence. We all want to understand ourselves and others better, and to make meaning of and appreciate our time here.

The practice of seeing the fullness of our humanity through our stories is never far from my mind, and some advice about writing can be great life advice, too. In his “List of Essentials” for writing prose, Jack Kerouac gives some stunning pointers: “Be submissive to everything, open, listening / No fear or shame in the dignity of your experience, language, and knowledge / Be in love with your life.” What I hope for my students is for them to find amazement in words, and with them, to practice courage and compassion. What I hope for them is to be in love with their stories—and their lives—as they write and revise them.

Susan Neitlich has taught eighth-grade English and Middle School humanities at Foote since 2009. She is the mother of three Foote graduates: Daniel Broder ’04, Madeleine Broder ’06 and Emma Broder ’08.

2019

Foote Reunion Day

Saturday May 4, 2019

catch up with friends Ò see what’s new on campus Ò honor Bun Lai ’84 and Ai-jen Poo ’89 Ò check out your first-grade cubby Ò visit the library Ò meet new friends Ò talk with faculty Ò visit the art room Ò test your Foote trivia Ò share your story for Foote’s podcast To register and for more information, including local accommodations, visit the reunion website at:

www.footeschool.org/alumni/reunions

The Foote School 50 Loomis Place New Haven, CT 06511 www.footeschool.org (203) 777-3464

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAI D New Haven, CT Permit No. 181

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Notice: Postal regulations require the school to pay 75 cents for every copy not deliverable as addressed. Please help us contain costs by notifying us of any change of address, giving both the old and new addresses.

Mark Your Calendars

May

Reunion Day

Oct

Grandparents Day

Saturday, May 4, 2019 Join classmates, faculty and friends for coffee, lunch, an open meeting of the Alumni Council and individual class dinners. With special celebrations for classes ending in 4 and 9, from 1934–2009, though all alumni are welcome! More information and registration at www.footeschool.org/alumni/reunions.

Friday, October 11, 2019 Grandparents and special friends are invited to visit grandchildren’s classrooms, participate in faculty-led minicourses and enjoy an all-school assembly.

Foote Prints Vol 46.1