News From Friends | Spring 2009

news from friends spring 2009

An Unwavering Desire for Truth:

Science @ Friends

Dr. Paul Coleman ’45

in this issue features 8

A Lifetime of Research

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Science @ Friends Today

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Campaign Surpasses $15 Million

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A Gift of Education

Dr. Paul Coleman ’45 remembers the people at Friends and how they shaped his curiosity, imagination, and desire to understand—to know the truth Highlights from the science classrooms at Friends from this past school year Milestone reached a year ahead of schedule A true multi-generational story of philanthropy

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Opening Shots

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Buzz on 16th Street

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Notes on Silence

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In Service

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Spoken Word

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Class Notes

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Tribute

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Back in the Day

A dance benefit and a battle for a rebound Auction, Peace Week, the Chapman Academic Center, Earth Day, and an historic inauguration Stephen Chinlund ’51 discusses how silence has impacted his life Service Day and other service projects at Friends this past school year “Rivers and Roads: The Journeys Not Taken” by Christina Moustakis News from alumni Obituaries of members of the Friends community Timothy Foote,’44, a student at Friends during World War II, tells the story of renowned Friends science teacher Walter Hinman

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The Friends Seminary Choreography Club performed “An Evening of Dance to Benefit Dancers Responding to AIDS” in the Meetinghouse on February 11, 2009. The performance included dances choreographed and performed by Upper School students and the Third Grade.

From left to right: Tory Brewster ’09, Marielle Torres ’09, Jacob Hiss ’09, and Ellen Mayer ’10.

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Friends Seminary’s Eric Brest ’09, right, battles for a rebound during Friends’ 64-62 victory over Staten Island Academy during the semifinals of the ACIS tournament on February 24, 2009.

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buzz on 16th street For the Benefit of Friends

Auction 2009, held on March 5, 2009 at Gustavino’s, provided a significant contribution to Friends Seminary’s operating budget and financial aid program.

This year, the Auction, attended by nearly 500 people, raised $370,000 (net). The Cash Call raised $210,800, which will benefit the Special Fund

Peace Week 2009 Echoing the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., this year’s Peace Week theme, “In the Presence Of Justice: The Politics of Peace,” stressed the criticality of justice in the peacemaking process.

During the week of February 8, the Friends Seminary community observed,

for Tuition Aid. In all, roughly 420 items were donated, and the event was made possible through the underwriting support of 55 sponsors who helped defray the costs of the event and assured that all proceeds go directly to the School.

The success of the event was made possible through the overwhelming participation from members of our community.

Principal Bo Lauder speaks during Auction 2009.

explored, and celebrated peace and justice through a variety of interesting activities, which included a line-up of compelling speakers. The week-long event has quickly become part of the community’s fabric and is a highly anticipated event.

Here are but a few highlights of the week: Mary Robinson, the first woman President of Ireland

Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, speaks in the Meetinghouse on February 12, 2009.

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and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, spoke in the Meetinghouse about her own quest for justice, and discussed current world events with attendees during an open forum.

Also in the Meetinghouse, Linda Biehl , co-founder and director of the Amy Biehl Foundation in the U.S. and the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust in South Africa, spoke to students about the life and death of her daughter, Amy, who was murdered in 1993 while working in South Africa against apartheid.

The First Grade engaged in their annual Post Office Project, creating stamps of characters from books they’ve read this year whose lives modeled fairness.

The week also included a variety of classroom activities, which included research projects, and book and film discussions—all of which stressed the connection between justice and peace.

The week ended with the entire student, faculty and staff bodies joining for Meeting

for Worship. Several Third Graders framed worship for the community by reading statements about their Peace Egg Project, an activity where each Third Grader carries around a hollowed egg for the day, protecting it from harm, caring for it and hopefully, returning it to the class at the day’s end—an apt metaphor for the fragility of peace indeed.

The Mariana Wright Chapman Academic Center Gift from Class of 2008 Helps Students of Today and Tomorrow The Mariana Wright Chapman Academic Center received its elegant block-lettered name plate in March to remind us of how much the Center, made possible through a gift from the Class of 2008, thrived since opening its doors in late September 2008.

The Center, which is available for students in grades 7 through 12, is staffed by faculty members who have strong backgrounds in the areas

of Math/Science or English/ History, and have experience with one-on-one coaching of students. The Center is located on the second floor near the Main Office and features two large rooms equipped with new furniture.

“The Center meets each student’s current skill level and supports the process of growth toward academic excellence within the framework of the Friends curriculum,” Mark Barr, Director of the Center, said.

“We know, for example, that even the strongest students can sharpen their analytical writing or improve their test preparation strategies by working closely with a teacher.”

The Center also administers Friends’ Peer Tutoring program, overseeing the selection, training, and assessment of peer tutors, while providing them with an appropriate environment in which to work.

While the number of students taking advantage of this unique resource has continued to rise, equally significant has been the greater variety of assignments for which students request support, with requests for “coaching” on history and English assignments driving this trend. It’s clear that both students and faculty are discovering new ways to support the learning process by reaching beyond the boundaries of classroom and clock. In the months ahead, visits to classes and conversations with teachers will continue to support this collaborative, creative process of discovery.

Earth Day 2009 In celebration of Earth Day, on April 22, 2009, the Senior Class unveiled a bicycle power generator connected to a used stationary Schwinn bicycle; the bicycle is just one of three parts of the Senior Gift, Running On Your Own Energy: The Class of 2009 Fund for a Greener School.

The bicycle will harness a readily available source of renewable energy—human power. The power output is directly proportional to the effort of the person pedaling.

Students should be able to produce 100 to 150 watts of energy, so that they will be able to charge their cell phones and iPods and other small appliances. Electronic gauges mounted on the bicycle will measure the physical effort required to generate electrical power, as well as the amount of energy used in charging, and will be a valuable educational tool in teaching an appreciation of the power that is often taken for granted. The Science Department will also be integrating the bicycle into their curriculum.

The two additional parts of the Senior Gift include: the hiring of a consultant to assess the School’s environmental impact, who will, in turn, create a long-term plan for achieving a greener school culture; and the creation of an endowment fund, which will allow the School to implement a sustainability plan.

As If We Were Actually There Principal Bo Lauder Accounts an Historic Inauguration Witnessed from the Meetinghouse The Friends community gathered on Tuesday, January 20, to watch the historic inauguration of Barack Obama.

Grades K through 3 took over the Library and watched on a television, while grades 4 through 12 watched the event on a large projector screen in the Meetinghouse. It was an incredible couple of hours, one of those signal moments that I hope our students will always remember. And when they are asked ‘where were you when the first black president of the United States was inaugurated?,’ they will think of Friends.

We went live to D.C. via CNN and watched as dignitaries took their places. We were

immediately a captive audience.

I spent almost as much time looking around the room at students’ expressions as I did watching the screen. At the moment of Obama’s swearing-in, when the Master of Ceremonies, Senator Diane Feinstein, asked the crowd to stand, we rose to our feet as if we were actually there. It was a great moment and showed me just how much we were all transfixed, how much we were all ‘there.’

As the national anthem began to play, signaling the ceremony’s conclusion, it surprised me that we stood once again. Many students and staff had their hands over their hearts. I even saw some of our older staff, some of whom may have actually burned flags in their youth, singing. I think it was a moment when we could all feel proud to be Americans. We did more than study history that day, we were witness to it.

The Friends Seminary community watches the inauguration live in the Meetinghouse.

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Solving the

Alzheimer’s Puzzle An Alumnus’s Lifelong Work in Medical Research Story by John Galayda Photographs by Mark Peterman

Dr. Paul Coleman ’45 photographed in his lab at the Sun Health Research Institute in Sun City, Arizona.

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D

r. Paul Coleman remembers the many classrooms at Friends Seminary. He remembers the room where he had Latin class with Ms. Hermine Ehlers, the science room at the top of the stairs where Mr. Walter Hinman held sway, the gymnasium where basketball games were played and school dances were held.

He remembers the immensity of the Meetinghouse and the Christmas pageants produced there by Ms. Jesse Winterbottom.

He remembers the small yard where he played baseball with classmates, and he even remembers the room he entered on his first day of Kindergarten in 1931.

But more than places, Coleman said he remembers the people at Friends and how they shaped his curiosity, imagination, and desire to understand – to know the truth.

And nearly 64 years since he received his diploma in the 15th Street Meetinghouse, Coleman is still fueled by that same desire in his pursuit to understand and treat Alzheimer’s, a perplexing disease that currently affects 5.2 million Americans and is projected to affect 12 to 15 million baby boomers in years to come.

Today, at the age of 81, Coleman is one of the world’s

Coleman’s senior photograph in the Friends Seminary yearbook.

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leading researchers of the devastating disease that robs the mind. And while many of his peers have long since retired, Coleman maintains a rigorous work schedule that has him traveling between Rochester, N.Y. and Phoenix, Ariz. In Rochester, Coleman is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry Center for Aging and Developmental Biology. In Phoenix, he is a Senior Scientist and Co-Director of the Alzheimer’s Research Center at the Sun Health Research Institute.

Over the past year, he has also found time to lecture in Germany and Denmark and conduct research at the University of California, Irvine.

The complexity of the Alzheimer’s puzzle and the disease’s effect on the brain have presented Coleman with a daunting challenge – a lifelong marathon of research he has been able to undertake thanks to an unwavering desire for truth instilled in him during his 14 years at Friends. (Being left back in Kindergarten, Coleman joked, is the one blot in his academic career).

“I was always interested in things biological,” Coleman said, “and my general experience at Friends led me to believe in the importance of the mind and its seat in the brain. Friends also gave me a desire for truth and an intense interest in the world outside my own skin.”

As a high school student at Friends, Coleman joined classmate Thane Asch ’45, who went on to become a radiologist, as a volunteer operating room orderly at a nearby hospital through a service program at Friends. That

Coleman at work in his lab in Arizona.

“I was always interested in things biological,” Coleman said, “and my general experience at Friends led me to believe in the importance of the mind and its seat in the brain.

Friends also gave me a desire for truth and an intense interest in the world outside my own skin.” experience, Coleman said, sharpened his interests in things medical and tested his compassion.

“I vividly remember how physically and emotionally draining the first couple of days of volunteering were,” Coleman said. “I saw the stress and suffering of the patients and felt such empathy. It was then I knew I had to maintain a personal balance and not sacrifice myself completely.”

Today, Coleman focuses his efforts on researching the molecular biology of Alzheimer’s.

“We are making excellent progress with the early diagnosis and treatment of this disease, but our progress could be much more rapid if federal funding for Alzheimer’s

research was greater than about $140 per patient” Coleman said. “We know the disease has been working its mischief in the brain for decades before somebody starts to notice symptoms. The fact that the disease develops for perhaps 50 years before it becomes a serious problem for patients presents a wonderful window of opportunity for early diagnosis and effective treatment.”

Coleman said understanding why some brain cells die while others nearby thrive may be the key to understanding the disease itself. Naturally, frustration is inevitable when trying to unlock the answers, but Coleman said he remains focused by utilizing a set of Quaker practices he learned among the white pillars and benches of the Friends Seminary Meetinghouse.

“A combination of silence and discussion became a vital part of my life after Friends,” Coleman said. “Silence as a way to focus, discussion as a way to broaden.”

Coleman added that even though his research has bounced him around the country and the globe, he has been able to find Quaker meetings to attend.

And out of the dozen or so highly prestigious educational institutions he studied, taught, or conducted research at, Coleman said the school on 16th Street continues to occupy the warmest place in his heart – the type of invaluable memory Coleman does not take for granted as he fights to understand and eradicate a disease that erases the similar coveted memories of millions.

Coleman, left, with classmates his senior year.

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Science “The desire for truth so prominent in the quest of science, a reaching out of the spirit from its isolation to something beyond, a response to beauty in nature and art, an Inner Light of conviction and guidance!”

These words, spoken by famous Quaker Astrophysicist Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, boisterously filled a London lecture hall in 1929 during the Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

“We need not turn away,” Eddington continued, “from the measure of light that comes into our experience showing us a way through the unseen world.”

Eighty years later, students at Friends Seminary are examining

the unseen world through microscopes, computer programs, and a variety of experiments and lessons led by the School’s 12 science teachers.

Here is a look at some of the interesting projects Friends students are involved with this year:

Lower School Oyster Gardening

Fourth Graders have taken on an oyster gardening project.

Once a month, students travel to the East River to directly interact and observe the oysters anchored there. Students learn

about oyster biology, growth, and behavior, and the aquatic ecosystems surrounding New York City, as well as the history of local waterways and the environmental impact of human activity.

The project is under the direction of Science teacher Ben Horner, who is reporting the students’ findings to the city’s Oyster Gardening Program.

Ultimately, the anchored oysters will be handed over to the city’s program and established on local oyster reefs as part of a larger effort toward the ecological and environmental health of waterways in the region.

Middle School The Young Scientists

Teacher Lauren Buchanan instructs the first half of a twoyear General Science course to Fifth Graders. The material emphasizes the physical sciences with topics from Chemistry and Physics and focuses on the thought processes of a scientist such as asking questions, developing predictions, designing and implementing simple experiments, interpreting data, and drawing conclusions.

Teacher Hassan Wilson’s Sixth Grade Life Science class, an inquiry-based class, designed experiments, many of which have involved live brine shrimp, mealworms, and plants.

The class also built and tested mini-ecosystems with land and aquatic organisms.

Then, the class designed and conducted experiments to test how outside factors affect the ecosystem.

Upper School St u d y i n g M a tt e r

After breaking down matter to the subatomic level in the first quarter of Chemistry, teacher Carla Moopen’s class has been busy putting it back together again. Students studied how atoms combine and how this combination process affects the properties in solids, liquids, gases, and solutions.

Additionally, students learned Aissatou Gueye ‘15 examines insects in teacher Hassan Wilson’s class.

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@ Friends Today

how to predict the future (or at least the products of different types of reactions), through the use of some “molar magic” to calculate theoretical quantities of reactants and products. The class also roasted marshmallows over liquefied sodium chlorate, which served as a dramatic introduction to the study of energy’s role in chemical reactions.

Exploring the Galaxy

Students in teacher Monica Witt’s Ninth Grade Physics class learned about the science of planet hunting during a forum hosted by Mary Anne Peters,

of UC Berkeley’s Astrophysics program, and former Friends teacher Chris Di Scenza, who is now working for the American Physical Society (APS). The two guest lecturers also fielded questions about our galaxy, neighboring galaxies, and how our galaxy and universe were formed.

Investigation Through Innovativ e E xperiments

Monica Witt’s Ninth Grade Physics students are also busy this year investigating the physical world utilizing an experiential approach, in which observations are made or data

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During a visit to Friends last fall, Dr. Rod MacKinnon works with students to model a voltage-gated potassium channel.

is collected, and then analyzed.

Activities have included: determining the power one’s thighs and arms can produce; dropping eggs and throwing eggs to explore momentum; constructing weight-bearing building structures with only 20 pieces of uncooked fettuccini and one meter of masking tape; making music with straws; and making saltwater batteries that power small LED lights.

Monica Witt adds, “We discuss the fact that things are not always as they appear. It takes careful investigation and good questioning to understand and make sense of the world around us. The artistic contributions of the likes of Newton and Einstein are just as important to our understanding of the

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world as those of Beethoven and Shakespeare.”

Protein Modeling with Nobel Prize Winner Rod MacKinnon

Students were visited this fall by a Nobel Laureate, Professor Rod MacKinnon of Rockefeller University. Dr. MacKinnon visited the Advanced Biology class in October and is working with students to model a voltage-gated potassium channel, which are essential for the proper functioning of the neurons, and thus, the nervous system. Friends Seminary is the first high school in the country to do modeling of this type under the direction of a Nobel laureate. By project’s end, both Friends Seminary and Dr.

MacKinnon’s lab will have a 3-D model of the protein and students will have developed an interactive Web site to share their work. Additionally, some students are traveled to New Orleans to present their protein model at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology annual meeting.

Evolution of the Brain w i t h NYU P r o f e s s o r G a r y Marcus

The students of the Advanced Biology class were also treated to a lecture by NYU Professor Gary Marcus. In preparation, students read Kluge, a book on the evolution of the brain by Dr. Marcus. During his visit, Dr. Marcus discussed how a child learns to talk and why humans

can acquire language when no other species can.

Al z h e i m e r ’ s D i s e a s e Rese a rch with Dr . Paul C o l e m a n ’4 5

Dr. Paul Coleman ’45 (featured in this issue’s cover story) visited with the Advanced Biology class and discussed his research with students. He fielded a variety of questions from students.

Service Learning

Hassan Wilson’s Twelfth grade Science of Disease class volunteered as route marshals during the American Cancer Society’s Breast Cancer walk in Central Park last fall. The class also volunteered during an annual AIDS Walk.

Campaign Surpasses $15 Million In late January, the Lift Every Voice Campaign surpassed $15 million, a watershed moment in the history of fundraising for the School. This milestone was reached almost a full year ahead of schedule.

When the Campaign began in 2006, a $15 million goal in support of endowment and renovations was set. A second, and equally important goal for Friends was to create a new culture of philanthropy. Both have been accomplished beyond anything imagined.

The Campaign does not end with the achievements to date.

First, the plan is to build on the positive momentum, seeking to further grow the endowment.

The preliminary goal set out in the new Long-Range Plan is to position Friends with an endowment of $25 million by 2013.

Second, the efforts will continue to raise support for the renovated facilities. At the beginning of the Campaign, the School borrowed $15 million, at a very reasonable interest rate, in order to commence the project that reached completion in 2008. The Campaign goal for this, however, was only $7.5 million—half of the total debt incurred. The School continues to carry the debt service on this and seeks to raise what it can to offset the costs of this critical capital project.

Finally, with two guiding principles in mind, first, to protect the School’s financial health, and second, to preserve the community of employees, students, and families, the School has embarked upon a special fundraising effort for emergency tuition aid.

The Friends is Family Fund will provide a pool of spendable monies to assist current families in need who have never received aid before, but, because of the current economic crisis, will need support to continue at Friends Seminary. Among recent highlights was Auction 2009 where the cash call raised a record $200,000 earmarked for this Fund. These funds are not

intended for entering students in need. The Financial Aid budget for them remains generous as it has been in the past, nearly 14% of the School’s budget. The goal is to raise $1.5 million for this Fund to be available for the next two school years: 2009-2010 and 2010-2011.

The needs continue, as will the effort to meet them in the Lift Every Voice Campaign through June 30, 2010.

The enthusiasm, commitment, and tremendous beneficence of all those involved in Lift Every Voice are affirming beyond measure, and give testimony to how deeply Friends is valued.

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Notes on Silence “They Must Be Crazy!”

by Stephen Chinlund ’51

Editor’s Note: Notes on Silence is a recurring feature in which a member of the Friends community discusses how silence has impacted their life. If you are interested in submitting your story, please email John Galayda, editor, at jgalayda@friendsseminary.org.

Artwork and/or poetry pertaining to your experience with silence may also be submitted.

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I entered the First Grade at Friends Seminary in the middle of the year, so my classmates were already more accustomed than I to Quaker ways. Silent Meeting was explained, but I did not believe that they were serious. “They must be crazy! We cannot be expected to sit here in silence for an hour! If I have to do that, I will go crazy!” We were closely monitored, so poking the child in the next bench or surreptitiously throwing things were acts quickly suppressed under pain of sitting on the side with the teachers.

Even that first meeting, as I recall, was a process; I was amazed that I did survive.

That process of discovering the treasures of silence has continued all my 75 years. Entire books have been written about it, but it continues to be, for me, a vast land of new discoveries. I am honored and glad to share a few personal reflections.

Fear is the most common reaction to imposed silence and I must honestly admit that I am still a little afraid of silence. I suppose that is the reason why it is used as a punishment!

We have all had the experience of being in a group, even a congregation, when the leader says, “We will now observe a moment of silence as we remember...” Invariably the silence lasts only a few seconds and we are then set free into the land of more words.

As an Episcopal minister, I talk with a couple about the details of their wedding ceremony. I always make a pitch for a minute, or even five minutes, of silence. And they almost always say that their family and friends would be too upset. I never push it, but always wonder about the reasons for the fear, even terror, of silence.

One may be that we do not know what to do with ourselves. Our waking hours are all active. To be entirely passive may be disorienting.

Another reason may be our primary worry. While we are busy, we can forget a parent who is sick; the spouse with whom we just had a fight; or the child who may be using drugs. Silence may be the occasion to go on a long march into that pain with no easy exit.

Still one more fear may be simply moving into a place where there are no words. We are accustomed to thinking consciously in words, so it can be scary to feel ourselves moving beyond words to a new space, floating, with our feet no longer on the ground.

For me, each meeting begins with my mind racing; work to be completed; letters to write; phone calls to make; groceries and cleaning. Usually I can move past this nervous yammering, but sometimes it is difficult.

The next level often is saying the Lord’s Prayer even though that can lead to new anxieties about doing things.

So I find myself going through a list of family and friends for whom I feel

thankful. It is a long list and fills the silence with joy.

Then I often try counting my breath: one, in; two, out; three, in; four, out; one, in; etc. Usually it takes me to a more non-verbal place.

Or I try “one-pointing:” Looking at the eraser on my pencil, or one finger nail, and try only to look. It is a great challenge and I can never do it for long before new words come back into my head.

I often think of snorkeling, especially that first moment when your head is underwater and the sounds of the beach and the boats are shut out. There is only the rhythm of your own breath and the visual delights, which are not so clear from above the surface of the water.

Silence can be dangerous. If one is deeply troubled, silence can makes us feel even more helpless against self-accusatory thoughts or depression. So there are times when avoiding silence, like enjoying denial, can be helpful to our emotional equilibrium.

But silence at the non-verbal level, even if it is only brief, can be like a delightful massage. It can help us opt God, whatever our definition of God may be. We can see colors and shapes, hear pieces of remembered music, luxuriate in the texture of the wood of the bench, be more open to “experiencing the whole universe in a grain of sand.”

The moments of silence waiting for a bus, or driving a car or standing in line can be informed a little by the experience of Silent Meetings, but they are certainly no substitute.

I do not understand why it is a more powerful experience to be silent in a group in which everyone is committed to probing the silence in endlessly individual ways. But it is.

“Two weeks after 9/11, I went to the 15th Street Meeting though that is not my custom. The silence seemed especially full. Almost at the end a woman stood up and said, ‘While walking in the street yesterday, I came upon a dead bird. The thought came to me, “His eye is on the sparrow.”’

She said no more and sat down.”

Chinlund, a talented artist, works in his Manhattan studio.

Two weeks after 9/11, I went to the 15th Street Meeting though that is not my custom. The silence seemed especially full. Almost at the end a woman stood up and said, “While walking in the street yesterday, I came upon a dead bird. The thought came to me, ‘His eye is on the sparrow.’” She said no more and sat down.

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In Service God’s Love We Deliver The community at Friends Seminary participated in the annual God’s Love We Deliver holiday bag decorating workshop this past December. After the bags were decorated with festive designs and ornamentation, they were given to the God’s Love organization, where they were filled with meals and delivered to people who, because of illness, are unable to prepare meals for themselves. The bag decorating tradition was started at Friends in 1990 by the late John Jones, a beloved art teacher. Since his passing, the event is dedicated in his honor.

Isabella Marcellino ‘21, left, decorates a bag with teacher Judy Anderson ’66, center, and her father, Nico Marcellino ’90, right, during a God’s Love We Deliver bag decorating workshop on December 4, 2008.

Lower School students sit beneath the decorated bags during a holiday concert in the Meetinghouse on December 11, 2008.

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Peace Club The Friends Seminary Peace Club, Garden of Forgiveness, and Stuyvesant Square Park community came together on October 25, 2008 to formally dedicate the Garden of Forgiveness in Stuyvesant Square Park. A plaque naming the garden as a Garden of Forgiveness was unveiled and secured in the garden for posterity. The plaque features a quotation from Desmond Tutu, “Without forgiveness, there is no future.”

During the dedication ceremony, Garden of Forgiveness Executive Director Lyndon Harris and

Service Day Hungry and weary, the homeless walked into a church in the East Village. Content and appreciative, they walked out—both the homeless, as well as the Friends Seminary students who served them a hot meal.

“It was rewarding,” student volunteer Ben Farber ’10 said.

“These people looked like they needed food and we were able to give it to them.” Farber, along with his classmates at Friends Seminary, served food at various soup kitchens throughout New York City on April 9, 2009. The service, culminated with a variety of other service events that day, was part of the School’s fifth annual Service Day. “Participating in Service Day is a way in which the Friends Seminary community realizes the community service mission statement,” Rachel Gomez, Director of Community Service at Friends, said.

Gomez said Service Day, in past years, was designed for the participation of Upper School

Claire Brennan, student leader of the Peace Club spoke of the importance of forgiveness in peacemaking, and of the significance of the first youthdriven Garden of Forgiveness in New York City.

Many families had gathered the morning of the dedication to help plant some bulbs in the garden. Designed by Craig Snoke and constructed by Peace Club students, the garden includes white mums in the shape of a white dove of peace opening its wings.

From left: Rachel Gomez, Director of Community Service at Friends Seminary; Rev. Lyndon Harris, Executive Director of the Garden of Forgiveness; Craig Snoke, garden designer and designer of the Stuyvesant Square Park Garden of Forgiveness; Claire Brennan ‘09, Peace Club Leader; and Carly Ritter, Executive Assistant of the Garden of Forgiveness.

students, but this year, the School designed the day to involve all grades.

Through the Starlight Children’s Foundation, Friends Seminary Kindergartners helped make stuffed lambs, which were distributed to seriously ill children.

Other service events included work at Stuyvesant Square Park, East River Park, Morningside Park, and Prospect Park—where students mulched, weeded, raked, and planted flowers. Another group of students participated in Building Libraries, an organization in the Bronx that helps create libraries. In Harlem, a group of students helped clean and paint the Association to Benefit Children.

Much of the work at the soup kitchens and food banks was coordinated through the Youth Service Opportunities Project (YSOP), a Quaker organization that coordinates service work to support homeless men and women in New York City.

Samantha Jacobs ’12 serves bread to the homeless at a nearby shelter on Service Day.

Catherine Bactat ‘16 shovels mulch in Stuyvesant Square during Service Day.

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“You know, returning to Friends for an alumni event last December was really moving for me. I always knew that Friends had a profound impact on me, but it is amazing to still feel the effects so many years later. Being inside the four walls was a great reminder as to what a powerful and special place Friends is. I am guilty of always meaning to donate, but never quite making it to the mailbox. I am glad I did this year, and will continue to try and increase the support as I am able to.”

– Amanda Melnick Blitstein ’93

Left, Amanda Melnick Blitstein ’93, Director of New Business and Marketing at Food Network, is photographed in the halls of the Chelsea Market where the Food Network’s corporate offices are located. In her position, Amanda is responsible for the development and oversight of brand extensions for Food Network. A recent project she worked on was the branding extensions for concessions stand at the new Yankee Stadium.

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rivers and roads:

An abridged version of Christina Moustakis’s 2008 graduation address.

the journeys taken I recall your imaginative journeys down fateful waters and roads: Caesar at the Rubicon, Moses in the bull rushes and later in the Red Sea; the dalliances and dilemmas of Odysseus on his return home from Troy; Joshua’s crossing the Jordan; Jesus’s baptism by John; the vicissitudes of Huck and Jim on the Mississippi; Prince Hamlet’s danger-filled voyage to England; and Marlow’s harrowing journey along the Congo.

My journey to Friends began in my early teens when I worked on a farm and read Circus Doctor, a biography that convinced me to become a veterinarian. And, indeed, that was the road I chose when I began my college education; however, as Robert Frost notes, “way leads on to way.” After two years in the program, and having been inspired by a renowned professor of literature, I changed my major.

I cannot speak about this new road without mentioning several teachers: their life’s lessons remain with me. Miss Denton, my grade school art teacher, enforced pedagogical methods that were about as flexible as a two-by-four: she drew on the blackboard and we copied.

During a particularly plodding lesson on a bowl of fruit, I became restive and began spilling purple grapes down the side of my bowl. Suddenly Miss Denton yanked the paper from under my fingers, held it up, and barked, “This child has taken it upon herself to draw fruit without waiting for the proper

illustrations on the board!” With that she tore my page in half and deposited it in the wastebasket.

I sat paperless until, her lesson concluded, she left the classroom. Miss Putnam, our

challenged the school board’s rejection of his proposed course in human anatomy. Their objection? The needed text contained explicit illustrations about reproduction. After weeks

unit again.”

I trust, dear students, that if and when you find that your chosen path is not the best one for you that you’ll choose another. I hope you have a

Christina Moustakis speaks during graduation in the Meetinghouse last June.

homeroom teacher, instructed us to take out our readers, approached my desk, leaned down, handed me a clean piece of art paper, and whispered, “Go ahead now and make your lovely bowl of fruit.”

Mr. Olds, my middle-school history teacher laughed us into memorizations with old saws such as, “You rip-a-deese pants and some undies will show.” He let no class pass without some laughter.

Intrepid Mr. Logan, my high school biology teacher, took “the road not taken,” “the one less traveled by,” when he

of heated debates, he secured our course with the condition that students pledge not to bring the textbooks to school.

“Absurd! Benighted!” Mr. Logan exclaimed as he collected our pledges in September. Once, during this challenging class, he sighed and quizzically raised his eyebrows while returning a set of tests: no one had scored above 70, and most had failed.

Rather than chide us, he stood thoughtfully for a minute, then, chalk in hand, advanced to the board, turned to us and declared, “Well, I guess I didn’t do something right. Let’s try this

phantom Miss Putnam to help you rebuff life’s slings and arrows, I wish you to never live a day without some laughter, and that with a ghostly Mr. Logan by your side, you will always know how to take responsibility for yourself and what you do. And lastly, ages and ages hence, may the sigh you give in summation of your lives be not one of regret or disappointment, but may it be, as surely as is mine after twenty-seven rewarding years at Friends Seminary, one of deep satisfaction and great joy.

news from friends spring 2009

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A Gift of Education A True Multi-Generational Story of Philanthropy

by Lyn Traverse, Campaign Director

i

n 2008, Lift Every Voice Campaign Council member, Helene Kaplan, and her husband Mark, made a commitment to the Campaign to provide for permanent endowment and, in so doing, honor their two alumnae daughters, Marjorie Kaplan ’72, and Sue Kaplan ’74, by naming the Library Alcove for them. Not only were Helene and Mark involved parents at Friends in the 1970s, they also saw their grandsons, Jacob and Nathan ’08 become members of Friends community three decades later.

Marjorie and Sue were deeply moved by the gift

The Kaplan Family. From left: Mark, Helene, Sue, and Marjorie.

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their parents had made in their honor. Their desire to do something especially meaningful to mark their parents’ 55th wedding anniversary provided the impetus to expand their own commitment to Friends—this time to honor their parents. Marjorie summarized the thought process that gave rise to their decision to establish the Helene and Mark Kaplan Scholarship Fund.

“At this time of exciting change but enormous challenge, Sue and I wanted to thank our parents and honor their values by making the gift of an education at Friends Seminary that they gave us more accessible to others.

“This shared generational commitment made our gift feel all the more significant,” Helene said.

“As young parents, we felt a deep commitment to the institution. There was a true sense of community and family...”

They are involved with many not-for-profit organizations, but Friends has always been near and dear to their hearts.

Our parents were living in Stuyvesant Town when we were born. My mother was determined to send us to Friends and walked by the school every single day, making herself known. They really had to stretch to afford the tuition – my father remembers taking out a pad and pencil and doing the calculation – but there was something about Friends that seemed very special to them. I’m not sure they would have been able to articulate at that time what made it so compelling, but they came to learn a lot about and appreciate the Quaker principles of integrity and peace and simplicity, and the value placed on the individual child. So not only did we benefit from a Quaker education, but our parents did too.”

Sue recalled: “When we were students at Friends, we didn’t realize the profound impact that silent meeting was to have on our lives. For all of us, it kept alive the notion that there is something profound and spiritual in the world that often goes unnoticed in the frenetic pace of day-to-day life. And, at a recent visit to Friends, I was struck by how important it is today. It is wonderful and moving to see a group of teenagers sitting in silence (sometimes dozing off, of course) without headphones or cell phones. We also felt that it was important for the fund to emphasize diversity as a core value. As a family of New Yorkers, we know that diversity of all kinds is what makes New York such a vibrant, wonderful place to live. For children to be true citizens of the world they need to work, study, and play with people of all kinds. We know that all of the students at Friends will benefit, and that the school will be a more exciting and educationally vibrant place, if there is socioeconomic and racial and ethnic diversity in the student body.”

When Helene and Mark learned of this “reciprocal” honor with Friends being the beneficiary, Helene said she and her husband were overwhelmed and touched by the forcefulness of the act.

“This shared generational commitment made our gift feel all the more significant,” Helene said.

“As young parents, we felt a deep commitment to the institution.

There was a true sense of community and family. I was very active in the The alcove (pictured right) in the Library at Friends Seminary, is named in honor of Marjorie Kaplan ‘72 and Parents Association and Mark was a Sue Kaplan ‘74. fixture at the school fair, every year borrowing a hotdog stand from a client and selling hotdogs and sodas with great enthusiasm.”

Mark added, “What we valued then, we still value today – the commitment to justice and equality, and the knowledge that every human being is unique and important. Friends provided so much to multiple generations of our family.

It is a pleasure to be able to give back as a family as well.”

news from friends spring 2009

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Class Notes

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Tribute Elaine Seymour Hayes ’29 passed away Jan. 2, 2009, at Brighton Gardens of Dunwoody in Atlanta. Elaine was born in France on Dec. 1, 1910, and her childhood was spent in the Greenwich Village section of New York City and in Los Angeles, Calif., where she and her mother acted in films of the ’30s and ’40s. Elaine was a frequent visitor at William Randolph Hearst’s castle in San Simeon, Calif., where she was popular with the actors and actresses who were also guests. A prolific writer and art expert, Elaine joined the staff of the Los Angeles Examiner where she became a member of the society staff under her professional name, “Elaine St. Maur.” During World War II, Elaine served two years with the American Red Cross in Europe where she conducted canteen clubs in North Ireland, Wales and France. In the 1940s, she moved to New York and joined Time, Inc. as a writer/reporter for Time Magazine and the newsreel series, The March of Time. When the magazine Sports Illustrated began publication in 1954, she joined the staff as writer and art editor. In Atlanta, Elaine was a member of the Lockheed Aerospace Club, raising funds for scholarships for students in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech.

She was also active in the International Women Associates of the Georgia Council for International Visitors.

Donald Clayton Hamilton ’30 died March 7, 2009, at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J. Born May 11, 1914, in New York City, he was the son of Clayton Hamilton and Gladys Coates Hamilton.

Following his graduation from Friends Seminary, Donald attended Williams 46

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College and graduated with a degree in History in 1934.

After graduation, he worked for several years in Broadway theatre before becoming the assistant business manager and production manager for Norman Bel Geddes in industrial design.

This was followed by 13 years at WOR-Mutual. In 1956, he moved to Business Affairs for CBS, where he worked first for the news and then the sports division, where he was proud to have secured the television rights for CBS to the 1960 Rome Olympics. He moved back to the news division, where he subsequently became Vice President of Business Affairs for CBS News, negotiating talent, union and contract rights for the likes of Eric Severeid, Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather.

He was a great lover of the arts, travel and the New York Yankees.

Edward Lucas Chambers ’34.

Edward Lucas Chambers ’34, a former research biologist with the Marine Biological Laboratory and longstanding member of the MBL Corporation, died in Coconut Grove Station, Fla. on July 6, 2008. Recognized for his contributions to cell research, Dr. Chambers was

perhaps best known in the field for his research on fertilization and early development. As early as the 1930s, he was aware of the importance of ion transport in fertilization and differentiation. In his 60s, Dr. Chambers received a sixyear grant from the National Science Foundation. In his late 80s, he received a threeyear continuation grant from the NSF and a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health. He continued to work in his lab until he was 83. The author of more than 80 publications, several of which were collaborations, Dr. Chambers’s work was held in high esteem by experts in the field. In a memorial tribute at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, Dr. Greer said of his friend, “In these days, in which so much of life processes can be explained by ion flux, we look back at his research history and are forced to conclude that he saw the light before so many of us did, and heard and followed the sound of another musician—a piper or a drummer.”

Bessie “Bess” McCollum Tway ’37 passed away on Dec. 1, 2008, in Alexandria, Va. Bess was born in Commerce, Texas on May 12, 1920, to Dudley Foster McCollum and Bessie Huie McCollum. After attending Friends Seminary, Bess attended Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. and the University of Georgia. She married Duane Converse Tway on July 18, 1942.

After a 27-year Air Force career, Bess and Duane moved to Troy, Ala. in 1970, where Duane chaired the History Department at Troy University. During her 38 years in Troy, Bess attended the First United Methodist Church where she was active

Bessie “Bess” McCollum ’37 with great-grandson Liam.

in Sunday School and Circle.

She was a member and officer of Troy Woman’s Club and Modern Study Club, and enjoyed an informal Birthday Group. She was an avid traveler; her final trip was in February 2007, when she and her daughter, Diane, went on an expedition to Antartica. Following the trip, Bess said, “I realized that I have now set foot on every one of the seven continents on the planet Earth. What a thrill!” Daughter Diane writes, “She [Bess] never feared death, rather looked at it as her last great adventure.”

William Earls Fears ’39 died Aug. 25, 2008, at his home in the Hermitage on the Eastern Shore, Onancock, Va. He was born Sept. 28, 1920, in Jonesboro, Ark., to Katherine and Arthur Earl Fears.

William received a degree in metallurgical engineering from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Cincinnati. He served as Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps during World War II and was stationed in England and France. He married Belle DeCormis of Accomac in 1944.

Prior to moving to Accomac to begin his law practice in 1950, he was a patent attorney

for Aluminum Company of America in Pittsburgh and for International Nickel Company in New York. Mr. Fears practiced law in Accomac for 50 years and was active and involved as a spokesman for his community, first as Commonwealth’s Attorney, then as State Senator for 24 years. He was never without an opinion or ever at a loss for words about the way things should be.

Elizabeth Gelhorn Resnick ’45.

Elizabeth “Lizo” Gellhorn Resnik ’45 passed away on July 26, 2008, with her husband, David, at her side, at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield following a stroke. Classmate Jill Underhill Ligenza ’45 writes: “Growing up, Lizo moved from place to place, never in one school for long. In order to graduate from Friends, she had to live with my family in New York during her senior year, a possibility since she and I had been friends since the second grade (at another school). We continued to see each other on and off, remaining friends until her death following a stroke in July 2008. After a year in Medellin, Colombia, Lizo studied at Black Mountain where she met and married Dave, her husband for the next

sixty years. They settled in Stockbridge, where they raised four children, lost two and became an integral part of the community. An avid reader, gifted artist with a talent for sketching people at work and play, she held various job and for years was part of the Stockbridge Library staff. It’s hard to believe she will no longer be there to provide me with a home away from home on my frequent visits to the Berkshires.”

Betsy Prinz Gemming ’50 passed away at Chapel Hill Rehabilitation Center on Sept.

18, 2008, surrounded by her family. Born Dec. 27, 1932, in Glen Cove, N.Y., to Ruth Blackburn Prinz and Alexander H. Prinz, she attended Friends Seminary where her father was Principal. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1954. While at Wellesley, she spent a year in Germany teaching English on a Fulbright scholarship. In 1957, Betsy married Klaus Gemming, a German immigrant, with whom she had two daughters, both of whom they raised in Brooklyn and New Haven, Conn. Betsy authored numerous books for young people, was an editor and translator, and assisted Klaus, a freelance book designer, for many years.

Doris Broder Korey ’38 writes: “On September 13, 2008, my precious son, Barry Korey ’70, died of metastatic melanoma.

Seven years ago, he had been treated for ocular melanoma, but this year, a cell, or whatever else may have caused it, went to his liver. Barry left behind three wonderful kids: Sharyn, who graduated two years ago from Middlebury College, Magna Cum Laude; Nate, who graduated from RPI, Cum Laude; and Leigh, who is in her

second year at Cornell. These are wonderful kids, and during the four months that Barry lay ill, he pleaded with them not to be sad.

He also leaves behind a beautiful and caring wife, Deanna.

Barry was 56, a graduate of the Einstein Medical School, and an outstanding psychiatrist.”

Barry’s classmates, Belinda Broido, Anthony “Andy” Tron, and Ellen “Chana” Ben-Dov attended Barry’s memorial service. Belinda writes: “Barry was an amazing father, parent , friend and, judging from all the praise and adoration from his associates, an incredibly gifted psychiatrist, heading up a major facility. I hope everyone takes a moment to remember what a unique, wonderful individual Barry was.” After graduating from Friends, Barry graduated with a degree in English from Sarah Lawrence College, where he indulged his love of writing and his passion for Homer.

He attended Albert Einstein College of Medicine, class of 1982, and began his residency in Neurology at Bellevue HospitalNYU Medical Center. A lifelong interest in psychiatry prevailed, and he completed his residency at Long Island Jewish Hillside Hospital. At St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in Harrison, N.Y., Barry served as Chief of an adult psychiatric unit.

Emma Bee Bernstein ’03, much loved daughter of Susan Bee and Charles Bernstein, and sister of Felix, passed away on December 20, 2008, in Venice, Italy. Emma graduated from Friends Seminary in 2003 and the University of Chicago with a BA with honors in Art History and Visual Arts in 2007. In the time since, she published essays on a new generation of feminists, spoke on several panels including at the Brooklyn

Emma Bee Bernstein ’03.

Museum, and exhibited her work in New York and Chicago.

She showed her photographs at A.I.R., the Smart Museum in Chicago, and in other spaces in Chicago. She also starred in the film Emma’s Dilemma, directed

by Henry Hills, in which she interviews dozens of artists from the downtown NYC scene. At the time of her death, Emma was working on a number of projects, including GIRLdrive, a project co-authored with Nona Willis Aronowitz, that aims to “interview and photograph young women across the country, finding out what is important to them and what they think and feel about feminism.” GIRLdrive is scheduled to be published as a book that includes “photos, essays, interviews, and diary entries” by Seal Press in the fall of 2009. For more information on GIRLdrive, see www. girldrive.blogspot.com. Emma was also at work on an event for the Belladonna Elder Series.

The Belladonna book that Emma edited is available with an introduction by Johanna Drucker, photographs and an essay by Emma, an interview with Marjorie Perloff, and artwork and an interview with Susan Bee. For more information, please see www. belladonnaseries.org. For further information about Emma, visit http://epc.buffalo. edu/authors/bernstein/blog/ archive/emma-bee-bernstein. html.

news from friends spring 2009

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Measurement, Milikin, and the Battle of Marne: A Portrait of Walter Hinman An excerpt from the essay, “Like the Algonquin Round Table or the Old New York Yankees” by Timothy Foote ’44. Foote, a student at Friends during World War II, has been a foreign correspondent, is the author of a book about Peter Bruegel and was for years a Senior Editor (and Book Review editor) of Time magazine and history editor of Smithsonian Magazine.

Walter Hinman taught science: physics, chemistry, general science, plus biology which in those dark days was considered the only way most of the girls would be willing and able to acquire a serious science credit.

He had fought with the Marines at Belleau Wood as a much decorated 1st Lieutenant in World War I, wore rough wool sweaters (other men teachers wore ties and jackets), took time out at regular intervals to gulp down medicinal glasses of water, always made us stop everything in the lab at precisely 11 o’clock on November 11th to observe a moment of silence on Armistice Day. Europe and America were then past the time when traffic all over the Western world really stopped on that day, while cities went silent in remembrance of the dead. When I first stood in frozen silence with the other students, we were, in fact, on the brink of another war, but at those moments you could still feel a sudden softening of the noise of New York around you.

Besides, Mr. Hinman was such a no-nonsense character that his almost mystical seriousness on these occasions compelled our deep attention.

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Lest we forget, each year he also gave a history lecture in the lab, with a perfectly accurate map of Europe chalked on the blackboard, telling us how the Kaiser lost a war game with Bismarck (or was it Ludendorff?), how infantry divisions meant for the Western Front stayed in the East and how as a result the great wheeling motion of the German armies coming down through Belgium got strung out enough for the French to counter attack, causing the First Battle of the Marne in 1914 and saving Paris. I heard this lecture four times; it was always fascinating, particularly the last three times because by then we were acutely aware that Germany’s 1940 attempt to sweep to Paris had been tragically successful.

Mr. Hinman was the first (of many, as life went on) to tell me that he thought The Brothers Karamazov was a greater book than War and Peace, a view, to my intellectual disgrace, that I still don’t share. In his instruction he was the very personification of what I still take to be the scientific approach. Two and two always make four. If you do the math and get five, try again. Cause and effect apply if you can find them out and replicate the result. Things need to be measured carefully. Words have precise meanings. There is an absolute difference between what he called “kitchen cleanliness” and USP (for U.S. Pure), between USP and CP (chemically pure).

If he asked for one, you didn’t want to use something different.

In short, the physical world is

Science teacher Walter Hinman photographed in the early 1940s.

rational; its laws and physical properties can be measured and predicted. If it appears mysterious that is only because we have not yet found out how to take its measure.

We used a college textbook in physics, Millikin & somebody, I think it was, but he always wanted you to understand that there were physical realities behind formulas. Even in the simplest cases. Somehow he found a straight stretch of sidewalk along the East River where we could get a thousand feet apart and still see each other, dropped a flag and fired a starter’s pistol at precisely the same moment at one end, and had us measure the difference in time between instantaneous sight and sound. It turned out to be one second, a figure none of us ever forgot. Another device was to clock the speed of each of the boys in physics class as they dashed up the long steep stairs that led (and

still lead, I think) up to the top floor lab. You took your best time out of three tries, then, calculating your weight and the distance moved, you could determine how much horsepower (or fraction of same) you generated. It seemed very fitting that John Estey, class of ’43, the best all-around athlete in the school, had the most horsepower. Girls did not try this.

He cared a lot if you could bring common sense to bear on a problem. I was essentially a feather merchant but, it being wartime, he bore with me through biology, chemistry and physics.

I had, I think, only one moment of real triumph using a rule from geometry to solve a problem in physics. It was pretty primordial, but if you didn’t apply it you couldn’t get the answer. As luck would have it that day, nobody else did.