Inside: Navigating Mental Health Through a Pandemic GERMANTOWN ACADEMY PATRIOTTHEMAGAZINESpring2022
BY THE NUMBERS
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WE CREATE
There have been 48 experimental video shorts, 4 video interviews, 2 mini documentaries, and 6 short films created in Digital Media classes so far this year. rays of light can be in the darkroom when exposed film is taken out of a camera and placed onto a developing reel. Loading must be done by touch only. ft. high by 6 feet wide is the tallest sculpture ever made at GA. It is a metal horse piece created by Olivia Gorman ’15. different materials including acrylic paint, watercolors, ink, chalk pastels, oil pastels, colored pencils, markers, charcoal, graphite, intaglio printmaking, relief printmaking, collage pieces, encaustic wax, and silkscreen printing are used to create in the painting and drawing studio. different types of power tools are used in the sculpture studio. 30
brushes (at least!) are in the drawing and painting studio. They range from very small synthetics to large bristles, and Department Head David Love’s favorite–natural bamboo. of students (approximately) take Visual Arts for all four years of Upper School.
Pentax K-1000 film cameras are used in the Photography Foundations class. Traditional film cameras are used to teach patience and how to be present during shooting, processing, and printing.
From breathtaking miniature worlds and movies that take you on amazing adventures, to lifelike sculptures and stunning photography, Upper School students learn what it’s like to capture their own viewpoint and share it with the community.
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April 2022 Dear Friends, Two years into a pandemic amidst a backdrop of worldwide divisiveness and strife, our greatest need and sincerest hope remain to strengthen our community so that the children in our care thrive as happy, healthy, whole Creatingindividuals.joyful experiences, deep interpersonal connections, and engaging learning on a daily basis are certainly key to supporting personal wellbeing at GA. Every teacher and counselor has made it a priority to extend themselves in meaningful ways to our students over the past many months. Our division heads have been especially imaginative in fostering fun across campus through moments great and small to ensure that GA serves as a vital oasis during anxious times. Throughout this edition of The Patriot we will transport you to Oasis GA! Whether we’re celebrating incredible achievements in athletics and the arts, introducing our dynamic new Assistant Head of School, highlighting our captivating counselors and teachers, or sharing glimpses into gleeful campus revelry and special events, we are seizing this opportunity to showcase GA’s holistic approach to raising the spirits of our students and community when we need it most. I’m happy to share with you “Lessons Learned,” a special feature on page 10.
The annual Philadelphia Alumni Event at The Union League welcomed alums (pictured right) from 1950 through 2019 who mixed and mingled, shared stories, caught up with former faculty, and learned how staying connected to each other and to GA keeps our school strong. Special thanks to George Riter, Jr. ’11, Ken Anderson ’13, and Alumni Society Board President Jen Rotzell Leming ’97 P’27 ’30 for speaking, and congratulations to Meredith Letner ’10 for winning the swag basket! Thank you for being an essential member of the GA family, for your continued support of our mission, and for your love of GA! If you haven’t been to campus lately, please come visit. I would love to show you the latest and greatest across our magnificent 126 acres. As always, please be in touch and stay connected. School
RichGratefully,Schellhas 1760 Head of
RICHSCHE L LHAS1760 HEAD OF SCHOOL AREPATRIOTSBACK and in person! Happy. Healthy. Whole. 2 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY
COVER STORY: Navigating mental health through a pandemicCLASSNOTESLESSONSLEARNED THEPATRIOTMAGAZINE Patriots announce new babies, work accolades, minireunions, and more Stay connected with GA!Visit www.germantownacademy.net SPRING 2022 HEAD OF SCHOOL Rich Schellhas 1760 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Larry Altman Bela D. Bagga Ira AmyBrownsteinSeyfertConnelly ’90 Anthony DiSandro, Jr. Mark Dooley Judy A. AnnamarieJanetLoriJudiJohnDesreneFelgoiseFreemanM.GallowayJ.Goodman1760R.Griswold1760HaugenGeppertHellebusch ’84 Philip SamanthaMichaelHuangH.JordanMacGregor Jordan ’88 John P. Korman ’76 Jennifer Rotzell Leming ’97 Carol Momjian Dr. Linda White Nunes ’80 Salvatore J. Paone, Jr. ’95 Carl D. Rapp George M. Riter ’76 Cheryl KezirahTedJeffreyAndrewRossD.SandiferT.Sultanik’72SwansonLinnVaughters ’91 Kathy Wyszomierski 1760 TRUSTEE EMERITUS Brad Korman ’83 CHARTER TRUSTEE John W. Rex ’63 EDITOR Carla DirectorZighelboimofCommunications & czighel@germantownacademy.orgMarketing DESIGN Dina AssociateKatzDirector of Communications & Marketing FEATURED WRITERS Joseph Cicchino, Heather Durkin 1760, Melissa Fikioris, Rich Schellhas 1760, Sara Sultanik ’05 EDITORIAL STAFF Audrey Schnur, Martin Dean, Heather Durkin 1760, Melissa Fikioris, Kelli Kaput, Christine Passaglia, Meg Peake, Sara Sultanik ’05 PHOTOGRAPHY Joseph Cicchino, Dina Katz, and Carla Zighelboim COVER PHOTO Cover Art– iStock by Getty Images 104 Head of School Rich Schellhas shares what he has learned over the past few years 14 CAMPUS NEWS From much-needed haircuts to celebrations communitywide 18 WHY I TEACH Vic Montemayor and Bertina Hsu-Miller share why they love teaching at GA 21 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Mike Flemming ’88 credits coaching success from his teachers 28TABLE OF CONTENTS
Navigating Mental Health Through a Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic doubled the prevalence of depression and anxiety in youth across the globe, compared to pre-pandemic estimates. That’s according to an August 2021 study published in JAMA Pediatrics. The researchers concluded that mental health awareness and recovery planning are more important than ever, which reinforces GA’s commitment to making mental health a top priority.
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The mental health programming at GA has expanded greatly over the past several years. A formal counseling department that started with Dr. Janet Maurer 1760 in the 1990s has grown to include six full- and part-time counseling staff members. The department is currently led by Dr. Andrea Kurtz and Dr. Shannon Sweitzer who are Co-Directors of Counseling Services, and there’s a reason for this expansion. “The amount of anxiety that we have seen has increased dramatically over the past few years, and there are many more kids and families who are seeking treatment,” said Dr. Kurtz, who also serves as the Middle School psychologist. With the increase, comes innovative ways to educate students about the differences between stress and anxiety as well as letting them know about the resources that are available to them to get help. At GA, that education begins as early as “AcrossPreKindergarten.theboard, we’re really teaching students strategies within the Social Emotional Learning realm how to grow up to be successful, and we’re working in collaboration with the Health and Wellness faculty,” said Dr. Sweitzer, Lower School Psychologist and teacher of monthly Lower School Social Emotional Learning classes. In the youngest grades, Dr. Sweitzer utilizes stuffed animals called Kimochis––the Japanese word for “feeling” ––each with their own stories to help teach about social and emotional skills: sadness, high energy, “bossy” behaviors, making mistakes, and trying new things.
One of the main reasons I enjoy sharing mindfulness and meditation techniques is because I believe that if every person could sit in a room on their own, in silence, and feel good about that, our world would be an infinitely better place. One of the greatest techniques no one ever teaches us is how to experience the ‘gap’ in between the thoughts; and that is where true peace, wellness, and tranquility lie.”
GA’s goal is to create more programming as the years go on in order to see a decrease in the stigma around mental health. “We want more safety nets now so kids don’t slip through the cracks. But I think we can always do better and there’s always room for improvement. There’s no perfect system,” said Dr. “BeyondKurtz. direct instruction, infusing ways throughout the day for students to build their skills and to help encourage healthy mental wellness is a priority,” continued Dr. Sweitzer. All of this is to help our students become their best and healthiest selves.
In the upper elementary grades, some topics covered in the classes include stress management, self-esteem, growth mindset, conflict solving skills, empathy, kindness, how to see a problem from multiple perspectives, and “I” statements.
Other topics discussed in Middle School classes are selfesteem, eating disorders, body image, anxiety, depression, and suicide awareness. In Upper School, GA offers a ninth-grade seminar, tenthgrade Health and Wellness, and a senior-year Positive Psychology series. Executive functioning and stress management groups are also in the works. Topics covered include stress, anxiety, depression, resiliency, gratitude, and Uppermore. School also held an inaugural Mental Health and Wellness Week as a way to introduce students to different ways to incorporate activities in their lives to boost mental health. Students took part in art therapy, yoga, pet therapy, and “Wemore.wanted to tell students that your mental health is important and there are things you can do to reduce your stress level and to then give them a taste of some of those different resources,” said Dr. Sweitzer.
“We talk in all grades about how our feelings are connected to our thoughts which are connected to our behaviors,” added Dr. ThroughoutSweitzer.the Middle School grades, the mental health programming is intertwined with Health and Wellness curriculum. There is discussion about the connection between physical, mental, and emotional wellness as well as social skills, figuring out who you are as a person, and where you fit in––made more difficult by the pandemic.
Providing a Place for Mental Well-being
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“We’ve seen a lot of social difficulties with kids. I think because kids have been isolated for so long due to the pandemic, some kids have not developed the social skills to navigate their day,” said Dr. Kurtz.
Director of SecurityGERMANTOWN
“GA is proud to partner with the Safe2Say Something (S2SS) state-wide school health and wellness emergency system and we always take submitted tips seriously. We believe that the implementation of this system is another tool we can use to protect our community and to help others in times of crisis or difficulty. We have a wonderful staff of counselors in our school who are always willing to help those in need. ” Now more than ever, members of the GA community need outlets and services to help them take care of themselves. The pandemic has proved we are in a position of strength in providing ways to combat stigmas surrounding mentalGreghealth.Keenan,
Richard Lyntton P’21 ’23 has shared mindfulness and meditation techniques with students and the GA community for seven years, with free practices every Saturday morning in the McVeigh Community Room. “ “Yoga is a practice that builds strength, balance, and flexibility. Yoga practice can also be meditative and provides the possibility of stepping out of negative thought patterns and self-defeating ruminations. This allows one to settle into an appreciation of the present moment and to focus on what helps move us forward as opposed to what mires us down. It is especially helpful for developing our capacity for handling stress.”MaryFraser, Upper School Library Department Head and yoga teacher, has taught yoga at GA during special events for students, 9th grade physical education classes, and by request with sports teams and individuals.
Today, Erin is a current GA parent who specializes in providing online therapy for New Yorkers who struggle to translate academic or career success into personal life success, and vice versa. “My personal focus is with executives and musicians and how their early attachment wounds impact their capacity for both personal and professional success, which I also focus on in my separate coaching and consulting business. I also have a significant recent interest in ADHD as a result of my own very late diagnosis (two years ago) and my growing awareness of how many extremely successful and intelligent folks are missed with regard to this diagnosis.”
GA Shapes Path for Careers in Mental Health 6 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY
A natural “counselor,” according to her family and friends, Staci studied psychology at Gettysburg College and earned her Master’s at Catholic University. As a clinician, she works with adolescents and adults addressing anxiety, depression, stress, and trauma through an integrated lens that focuses on a mind/body approach to wellness. As the Clinical Director, she supervises and trains clinicians. “Fortunately, our field is growing and evolving, and it’s important to me that our practice provides comprehensive and cutting-edge treatment.”
Erin McMaugh Tierno ’94 P’35, LCSW-R, Founder and Clinical Director & Psychoanalytic Therapist at The Keely Group: Online Therapy NYC and Coach/Consultant for Attachment, A nxiety & Executives, remembers that she wasn’t originally destined to enter the mental health field. She was studying to become an attorney. But with the trauma of living in New York during 9/11 and the sudden death of her boyfriend, she was struggling to cope. “I was acting out in so many ways, and just so very unhappy,” Tierno recalls. “One of my law professors suggested I consider social work as a profession, because I struggled with the concept of ‘black letter law’ whereby it cannot matter why a person stole a loaf of bread.” So, she entered the NYU Silver School of Social Work, and headed down a path of emotional healing.
That growing and evolving mindset is exactly what mental health professionals have been encountering, especially since the pandemic “Thebegan.mental health field has absolutely evolved since the start of the pandemic,” said Jacqui Kates Agins ’06, LCSW, owner of a private practice, and Certified Thanatologist (professional with expertise in death, dying, and bereavement). “Although there is still significant work to be done around destigmatizing mental health, I do believe that the discourse around mental health, therapy, and self-care has seen a dramatic positive shift in the last two years. Our society is collectively grieving, although our individual losses look very Withdifferent.”aninnate ability to connect emotionally with others since childhood, Agins says she was always attracted to helping professions. During a college internship working in juvenile probation, she met her first social worker. “The judgements, stigma, and labels fell away as she connected with clients and held space for the young, scared children they were. They were seen, heard, and valued in her presence. This experience was a pivotal moment in the trajectory of my professional aspirations,” she said.
Jacqui graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Delaware and received her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. “When I came to GA in 10th grade, the ethos was so dependent on the high-achieving, competitive, talented, and unique attributes of the students. I went from being in the top 10% of my public-school class to an average student with no athletic prowess, theatrical talent, or artistic genius. I internalized these differences as failures and consequently, my selfworth plummeted, and mental health challenges became very loud in my reality. My ability to navigate this period in my life allowed me to discover the beauty of post-traumatic growth and the resilience of the human spirit. So in a sense, Germantown Academy played an important role in me finding my professional calling.”
“Social service was hardwired in me as a result of my connection with Peter McVeigh and CSO,” she stated. “The countless hours I spent making PB&J sandwiches, providing food to the homeless of Philadelphia; hammering, sawing, drilling at Habitat for Humanity builds; and brainstorming, strategizing, planning, and realizing the National Conference for High School Students Against Hunger and Homelessness were an important part of my formative years.”
“I can’t imagine where I would be today if I hadn’t entered the mental health field. It has been personally transformative and professionally fulfilling beyond what words can capture,” said Tierno. Staci Esterhai Connolly ’91, LCSW, Clinical Director/Owner of Cornerstone Therapy and Wellness in Malvern, also shares similar sentiments, calling the opportunities in the profession “limitless.” She also credits GA with inspiring her to enter the field. “I grew up in a home that emphasized the importance of service, but GA was instrumental in reinforcing this value,” Connolly stated. “Mr. McVeigh and CSO were an integral part of my education. The emphasis on looking beyond ourselves and engaging in opportunities to help or improve our community was a fundamental message that resonated throughout my years at GA and beyond.”
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NIDHI MCVICAR TAKES ON GA
You did not originally begin your career in education; tell us about that. I started my career as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. It was a very different environment from independent schools but I learned a lot about relationship building and data-informed decision-making. After getting an MBA and doing some fundraising work in the non-profit world, I discovered teaching. I spent 12 years at the Benjamin School in Palm Beach where I taught economics and discovered a deep love and respect for the art and science of teaching. I wanted to look at schools through a broader systems lens and figure out how to create the ideal conditions for schools to grow and improve, so I completed an M.Ed. in Private School Leadership. My family then moved across the country to Seattle where I spent three years at the Overlake School overseeing the school’s progressive academic program. What does an Assistant Head of School do every day? It is so much more fun than I ever imagined! I jumped in with both feet and have been learning as much as I possibly can about the GA community, its wants and needs, successes and challenges. I have served as the co-chair for our Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS) interim accreditation, visited with many faculty and students across the three divisions, taught a senior economics elective, and cheered at as many athletic events as I could, especially basketball, which I lack the coordination to play but enjoy watching as a very loud fan.
www.linkedin.com/school/germantown-academywww.instagram.com/germantownacademy www.instagram.com/germantownacademy www.patriotconnect.net
Great schools embrace a growth mindset; they are constantly evolving, striving to get better, and re-examining their assumptions about teaching & learning in service of improving student outcomes.”
GermantownAcademywww.facebook.com/
When Nidhi McVicar P’31, ’31 interviewed for the Assistant Head of School position in Fall 2020, she immediately felt a connection with GA. McVicar instinctively knew that our PreK-12 school, with equal parts tradition and innovation, was the place where she could see herself grow, learn, and lead.
What are some of the ideas you would like to implement? I’d like us to continue to think intentionally about feedback and metacognition in our teaching. I want students to understand how they can build a comprehensive set of skills as lifelong learners and that school is about finding your passions, not just earning grades. I also feel really strongly about the importance of metacognition - the idea of thinking about your thinking. It’s a crucial skill and one that students will take with them to college and graduate school and work. I also hope to help build more collaboration across disciplines and divisions. It’s important for faculty and students to connect with each other, and also to see their own stories and identities reflected in our curriculum and in how and what we are teaching and learning. What do you feel makes GA so special? We strike such a great balance at GA – it’s a place where we ask a lot of one another and strive for continuous improvement while ensuring that each member of our community feels seen, heard, and celebrated– that is really special and hard to duplicate. When the PAIS visiting team shared their praise for the deep and noticeable sense of JOY that students, faculty, and staff have here at GA, I was so pleased. It has certainly been a source of joy for me and my family to join this community. “
What are the big areas in which GA is looking to do a deeper dive? There are several areas where we continue to focus our attention – Equity, Inclusion & Anti-Bias Pedagogy, Health & Wellness Programming and Curriculum, Experiential Programs & Learning, Educational Technology & Integration, Faculty Growth & Professional Learning, and Cross-Divisional Alignment & Collaboration. We have made a lot of great progress in these areas, and I’m looking forward to continuing to build on that momentum.
Osbourn Honor Roll Anonymous (2) Ben and Laura Archer P Averbuch and Rachel Rivest P’15 Gordon Balle ’22 Milton Betelle Carol and Arnold Bierman P’86 Mildred S. Bird Robert F. Bole, Jr. ’57 Booth Macauley Bradley James A. Bricker and Lawrence Brownstein P’17 William Buehler III Burke James A. Burkhart P’10 ’12 George Christiansen ’65 and Barbara Christiansen WilliamCressmanJ.Cusick, Jr. P’09 Day Herbert Doerr, Jr. 1936 P’68 ’59 R. Fancourt Carl Funk Christopher1917C.Garsky ’99 and Pedro Geraldino
1936
’15
Wilhelmina
Helen
Leslie
members have endowed financial aid, faculty chairs, and assured experiential learning opportunities in nearly every corner of our school. We are proud to recognize those who, through their commitment and foresight, have directly helped to fortify our educational mission in perpetuity.
The society distinguishes an honor roll of proud Patriots who have remembered GA as a beneficiary of their will or trust or have established a life income gift to our school. These most loyal donors have left a legacy of support for a stronger GA both now and into the Osbournfuture.Society
1760
Peter
Homer
Peter
’30 Steven
’66 Iris
’44 Brian
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1933
WHAT IS THE SAMUEL E. OSBOURN SOCIETY?
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Jane and Robert Hamilton P’06 James Hanlon, Jr. ’26 Annamarie Geppert Hellebusch ’84 P’23 ’28 and M. Stroud Hellebusch P’23 ’28 Katharine V. Hendrickson P’72 ’76 ’74 R. Craig Henkels ’73 Robert Henkels 1923 Herman Hutchinson 1933 Robert Hutton ’44 Thomas Hyndman ’42, P’69’75’77’72 Geoffrey Jackson ’87 P’26 ’27 and Gretchen Jackson P’26 ’27 G. Chapin Jenkins, Jr. ’38 and Jeanne Jenkins Henry Johnson, Jr. ’42 Glenn L. Kelly ’54 David M. Lawson ’70 and Julie Lawson John R. Leopold ’60 James B. Loughridge ’44 Richard S. Lowe William Mackleer 1937 Edward Mahler II ’44 Donald Maize ’42 Robert Marshall, Jr. 1936 Susan Stratton McGinnis ’78 P’11 ’13 Thomas W. Morgan ’76 Hugh Moulton P’76 ’79 and Catherine Moulton 1760 P’76 ’79 Norman Mullock ’87 John Murray ’62, P’86 William Nicholson III 1929 Reade B. Nimick 1760 Joe CharlesO’HaraPittman III ’47 and Claire Pittman William Platt ’39 Marjorie and W. James Price IV Carolyn and Robert Purdy P’10 John Rex ’63 George Riter ’76 P’11 ’13 Paul and Cheryl Ross P’10 ’13 Samuel L Sagendorph 1935 and Carol Sagendorph Harold H. Saunders ’48 Rich Schellhas 1760 John Sheble ’47 and Barbara Sheble P’73 ’77 ’79 ’75 William Shellenberger ’42 Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. 1928 Sharon and Peter Siegl P’06 Thomas Skirm 1927 Harriet Smith ’73 Steven Snyder ’56 Sara Solis-Cohen ’76 P’06 Frederick Stuart, Jr. ’61 and Karen Davis Anna and Solomon Sultanik P’72 Rhea Pincus Turteltaub ’78 Peter and Mary Anne Van Blarcom P’82 ’80 Michele and Bernard Vieille P’02 Thomas Vischer, Jr. ’49 Jay Watson 1936 Daniel Weintraub ’82 and Beth Weintraub Alexander Wiener 1926 Sara S. Wolf 1760 Wayne Yeager ’60 Legendary Headmaster Samuel E. Osbourn served for over 33 years, leading the school through two world wars and The Great Depression. Among his most influential acts of leadership was bonding the alumni around investing in an endowment, assuring the fiscal health of our Academy well into the future. In tribute to his unique vision, we honor him by dedicating this society of donors in his name. Would you like to include GA in your estate plans? Please contact Martin Dean in the Office of Institutional Advancement at 267-405-7458 or mdean@ germantownacademy.org to learn how you could become a member.
FROM THE ARCHIVES:
In his book Miracle of Fort Washington, former trustee Jerome A. O’Neill wrote that “October 9, 1960 was the date of the cornerstone laying of the Lower School Building and the speaker for the occasion was Robert McLean, publisher of the Philadelphia Bulletin and donor of the ground.” Fortunately for GA, Edwin M. Lavino 1760, a guest of a trustee, was also present that day. Lavino was not entirely new to GA; he was a member of the class of 1897 before graduating from the Lawrenceville School. It’s nearly impossible to walk around GA and not feel Lavino’s incredible impact on the campus. In the years following his return to GA, through his combination of foresight and energy, he played a critical role in developing many buildings as the Academy was settling into its new home. A successful businessman, Lavino was well-versed in blueprints, fundraising, and civic affairs and had a passion for the arts. He took a leadership role in the funding and design of the multipurpose building which housed the small gym, dining hall, Common Room, and swimming pool. The buildings were dedicated as Lavino Hall in a ceremony on June 14, 1965. Under his watchful eye, Lavino also helped to design the Upper School and the Arts Center. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1976 before the final Art Center design was completed and the eventual ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on October 14, 1982. Lavino’s legacy lives on at GA through these buildings, and also through his establishment of the Edwin M. Lavino Foundation for Germantown Academy. By placing GA in his estate plans, Lavino has provided funding in perpetuity to care for the Lavino buildings, and even provided for the construction of the Field House in 1987. His admiration for GA will forever be remembered through his dedication to the expansion of our Fort Washington campus and for ensuring through his estate that the Academy remains relevant, and strong for current and future generations. “
Mr. Lavino had a great sense of humor. He was a hard worker and a loyal friend, but I think he was at his best and happiest when he was designing and planning for the future. Germantown Academy was, and continues to be, very fortunate to have had Mr. Lavino working thoughtfully for its –future.”JohnM. Walton III 1760, from the Winter 2000-01 edition of The Patriot.
Lavino’s Legacy
I learned, of course, that nothing matters more than having happy, healthy, whole people in your school. I also learned that you can have a SWAT team of superhero nurses who turn your Field House into an extraordinary hub for public health. And you can do tens of thousands of vaccines and boosters and nose swabs just with the goodwill of one independent school community; we served relatives, former faculty and staff, and several hundred people from the region.
Lessons
I have learned so many things over the last few years. The first is that the GA motto, “By persevering, we shall see the fruits,” is more true than ever. We had literally only three days of downtime when Covid hit, before, miraculously, our teachers turned our entire school into a virtual learning environment, GA@Home. Our faculty and administration worked equally hard to get everyone back into the classrooms, and last year, we had students on campus nearly every day. We were the only school I know of that didn’t have any teachers working from home on a semi-permanent basis. They were all in the building every single day taking care of the kids. It’s a lot to be proud of, Ourhonestly.intrepid
Learned
Excerpts from Rich Schellhas’ presentation at the Philadelphia Alumni Regional Event in March 2022.
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Not surprisingly, the Class of 2020 took the hardest hit because their last quarter of senior year was spent mostly off campus. Their prom was canceled; their graduation postponed. And so we tried once again to reinvent things. We took Prize Day and the Senior Send Off Celebration and we turned them into an outdoor drive-in movie theater at Temple University in Ambler.
faculty and staff showed exactly what GA was capable of when we put our minds to it. And we certainly did see the fruits, but we also had an opportunity to reinvent some of our favorite traditions and to invent some new ones. We had our very first GA/PC pep rally outside at Carey Stadium in 2021. You didn’t get that reverberating “my ears hurt” moment in the Big Gym, but you did get decorated golf cart floats, a fantastic Lower School dance, crazy seniors, as they always are, and it was really a wonderful time.
Of course, you can only be a happy, healthy, whole human being if you see yourself reflected, admired, and encouraged by the people around you. We have made real strides in our equity and inclusion work at Germantown Academy. The Identity Wheel (as shown in our Action Plan in the last issue of The Patriot) includes some of the traits that we are thinking about intensively as a school to make sure that every kid and every employee sees themselves reflected in mirrors, but is also able to see windows of others who live a different life experience. It is our intent to draw people together in important ways so that there are moments of affinity and there are moments of allyship. I believe it will become commonplace for all students to say, “You know, I stand up for that; I want everybody to feel safe and happy and know they belong in our school, and I’m going to be part of making that happen.”
At the same time, we know health and wellness isn’t just about physical wellness. It is also about emotional and mental wellbeing. Of course, we still gave tests and assigned papers, but we also created joy for our kids that they could really savor. Given that health and wellness has been on our minds, we’ve been dreaming big. One of the things we’ve been dreaming about is a solution to our strength and conditioning room, which is currently in the corner of the Field House. It is not large enough to house our physical education classes or even a Middle or Upper School sports team. So, we’ve started dreaming about how we can further health and wellness to support our students. I’m pleased to say that through a gift to the school, we have hired our first Director of Health and Wellness to start this coming fall, a position that will oversee PreK through 12 curriculum so that we can have 21st century, cutting edge, state of the art, really important, rigorous health and wellness education for all of our kids. We’ve dreamt that maybe we could create a GA Health and Wellness Center right in the perfect trapezoid between the pool and the Field House25,000 square feet of incredible fitness center spaces where we envision meditation, mindfulness, yoga, movement, dance, P.E classes, counseling classes, health and wellness classes, and more taking place. We started to dream big because we always want you, our community, to be proud of your campus.
TWO–Pervasive joy was in the air when they were on their tour. They could tell that the kids were happy to be in school. I never take that for granted. THREE–The fact that we’ve had extraordinary successes in our hiring of relatively new administrators and teachers. We’ve had close to 40 retirements since I came on board at GA 13 years ago, with more slated for the end of this school year. When you have a school where the teachers want to stay, their retirements seem to come all at the same time.
GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 11
I have also learned, and this hopefully is not a surprise to anyone, that Germantown Academy is indeed a leader among our peer schools, and not just because of how we handled the pandemic. While I am proud of that good work, my pride is extended as we continue to innovate in exciting ways. Our whole school was founded in this bridge between innovation and tradition, and the friction where those intersect is often where we do the most exciting things in our programming. In terms of being a leader, we recently had our five-year check-in with our accrediting agency – Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS) - with three heads of schools from other schools in Pennsylvania spending a couple of days with us. And they were so impressed. While they loved seeing things like the new buildings and new programs we are developing, they also focused on the financial management of our institution. It is my pleasure to report that they found our school fiscally sound. I know that’s not super exciting, but if we are not on the right footing financially, there would be no more GA after 262 years. However, they did point out that it will be imperative for GA to build its endowment in the years ahead to maintain GA’s financial sustainability and to keep us in business for another 262 years of excellence. We were also proud of the fact they pointed out three other highlights: ONE– We are a school that is constantly thinking about forward momentum. We’re thinking about what we do, and how we can do better. How can we serve our kids better, and how we can provide the very best education possible?
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We are also proud of the fact that the PAIS team noticed that we continue to have excellence in athletics, in academics, in arts, and in service. You can see it in a recent victory in our robotics team(s), which is an extraordinary Upper School program. We are proud of our engineering, our robotics, and our economics class as new, invigorating programs for our students. We’ve also had some very recent successes on the athletic front. In addition to our boys soccer and coed golf teams’ Inter-Ac Championships in the fall, the GA coed ice hockey team won its fourth Independence League Championship in the last five years, which is amazing. After the swim teams went undefeated in the Inter-Ac, boys and girls, we also won the combined Easterns Swimming Championship held at Franklin & Marshall College. Service is fundamental to everything we do in our mission statement and as a school. During February, we had 20 students from the Upper School take an extended trip from GA to participate in a Habitat for Humanity build in Wilmington, North Carolina, as part of our Germantown Academy Experience Program (GAXP). In early March, a Middle School student took the initiative to begin a school-wide drive to make sure that we were doing everything we could to support Ukraine. Volunteers are going over to Ukraine to hand-deliver the donations and medical supplies via the Green Route. Such an extraordinary achievement in service by one young sixth grade boy. And, of course, we continue to celebrate the arts, which are alive and well, across the school. We just had four sold-out shows of the Middle and Upper School musical, Newsies. Our band and orchestra concerts have been outstanding, and the art and photography showcased in the Arts Center Gallery, Lower School and Middle School hallways, and Upper School Honors Art Gallery have been stunning. We love that alumni are finding us through Patriot Connect (our online networking site) so that they can become mentors to students in the Upper School. We are grateful for alumni who want to build connections so that kids can say, ‘Okay, so this is what I can learn from my experience, and this is how I can parlay it into future success once I graduate.’ Patriot alums can be an integral part of that journey for current students. We are so much better as a school when alumni engage with us – either in person or virtually. By sharing stories, good, bad, or somewhere in the middle, alumni stay connected to their proud alma mater. We recently had folks come back for Club Med (sadly not a kind of Caribbean cruise), which is for students who are interested in pursuing careers in medicine. We hosted a mental health week in Upper School, where alum professionals volunteered and shared resources. In addition, we had numerous events where college-aged alumni shared their stories of the college counseling process and their college experience thus far with students and their parents. And as always, coming back for reunions, alumni weekend, and coming back for GA/PC, especially next year when we are HOME - those moments matter to us. Seeing friends, sharing experiences, mentoring kids, sponsoring a senior project and yes, giving to the Annual Fund, are all important parts of being a GA We’vealumnus.beenhere for 262 years. I certainly plan for the school to be here for at least 262 years more. Our history proves that we are successful because our community stays connected and wants to further the school and make it possible for future generations of Patriots to have as good, if not a better, education. We need your help in doing that, always. We want this dream of the perfect blend of old GA, new GA, and future GA to come together. Because you are out in the world living our mission, we will forge the next great chapter in our school story together and make the dreams of current and future students come true.
NATIONAL MARIAN ANDERSON MUSEUM VISITS
Germantown Academy was proud to host its annual Head of School Distinguished Speaker Series in early February as a kickoff to Black History Month. This year’s guest was the National Marian Anderson Museum. Founded at the Philadelphia residence of American contralto and civil rights trailblazer, Marian Anderson, the museum is run and maintained by the Marian Anderson Historical Society. Along with the museum, the Marian Anderson Scholar Artist Program is a major fixture that supports young artists, classical and opera singers, instrumentalists, and visual artists who are ambassadors of Marian Anderson’s musical legacy. These artists perform regularly for a season of shows and events that the society sponsors around the world.
Faculty and students in grades 3 through 12 enjoyed developmentally appropriate presentations by these performers throughout the day. In the evening, a community concert was held in the Arts Center where the group performed a medley from the American opera “Porgy and Bess” to the delight of the audience, both in person and on the livestream.
“When I think about Marian Anderson, I am inspired, and I’ve learned that greatness cannot be stopped. That even if it’s detoured in many different directions, ultimately greatness will rise to the surface.”
-Head of School Rich Schellhas 1760
MAKE-A-WISH TOURNAMENT 14 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY
CAMPUSNEWS
A new Case Study program hosted by the College Counseling Office was held for juniors and their parents as they embark on the college search process. Admission representatives from Drexel University, Muhlenberg College, University of Richmond, Gettysburg College, College of the Holy Cross, Dickinson College, University of Pennsylvania, Bucknell University, and Kutztown University, some of them vice presidents at their respective colleges, ran an Admissions Model where small groups became mock admissions committees for a fictional institution.
GA PREPARES FAMILIES FOR COLLEGE ADMISSION
Sofia Eichsteadt ’22 created a stunning mural which will be permanently housed in the Modern Language hallway in the Upper School. The mural consists of four different wooden panels painted with acrylics to represent the four different languages taught at GA. Each panel focuses on architecture from countries where the language is spoken and features backgrounds inspired by traditional patterns and silhouettes.
COACH WETZEL KEEPS HIS PROMISE!
Boys Varsity Soccer Head Coach and fifth grade teacher Kurt Wetzel ’88 P’20’23 proved to be a man of his word. The head of hair that Wetzel had been growing since Thanksgiving of 2020 was shaved off by his team after the Patriots won the Inter-Ac League title in 2021. The Patriots finished the year 17-3 and 8-2 in the league. Christian Combs ’22 was named League MVP while Sean Lipschutz ’22, Tyler Weiss ’23, Joe Joe Cava ’22, Eli Torrey ’23, Nick Venziale ’23, and Connor Wetzel ’22 were named to the All-League Team.
SENIOR CREATES BEAUTIFUL GIFT FOR UPPER SCHOOLYEAROF THE TIGER In addition to our students who study fireworks.food,chalkboardanLunarandLowerlanguageofshowcasingChinesetheirknowledgeChinesehistoryandviavideo,manySchoolstudentsfacultycelebratedtheNewYearwithcrafts,assembly,andbeautifuldrawingsofmoney,animals,and
The Fenerty Family was on-hand at the 24th annual event which has now been renamed the Jim Fenerty Make-A-Wish Basketball Tournament. It is in honor and in memory of Fenerty’s dedication to not only GA, but the Make-a-Wish foundation.
EVERYBODY WINS!
MODEL UN MEMBERS TAKE HOME HONORS
Jacob Sasson ’23 and Robert Leeds ’25 qualified for the 2022 National Preps Wrestling Tournament after Leeds finished third at 113lbs and Sasson finished fifth at 138lbs at the PAISA teamwasChampionships.WrestlingLeedsalsonamedsecond-All-Inter-Ac.
Presenting a concert after just one day of rehearsal, Carolyn Connolly ’23, Sam Wang ’23, Ansh Kakadia ’24, Alex Badami ’22, Andrei Vava ’24, Alex Cai ’22, and Jordan Boymel ’23 worked with director of bands at Temple University, Dr. Patricia Cornett, at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 11 Band Festival.
UPPER SCHOOL Through a new program with College Counseling, GA welcomed Alex Kurtz ’17, Andy Huang ’17, Shreya Shah ’18, Allie Ernst ’16, Mykal-Michele Longino ’18, Olivia Negro ’19, David Niemynski ’17, Brianna Owen ’16, and Kristine Wang ’19 in person and virtually to chat with students about their academic and career pursuits.
STUDENTS PERFORM AT TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
DESIGN DAY LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR LOWER SCHOOL
Upper School students participated in the 2021 Model UN Senate Hearings on the topics of Big Tech and Social Media, and Carbon Capture and Sequestration in Philadelphia. Seven students won speaking awards with Austin Graffam ’25 and Kayla D’Eletto ’23 taking home outstanding honors and Sam Wang ’23, Katja Wetzel ’23, Celina Bagchi ’24, Noelle Paynton ’23, and Logan Shallow ’23 receiving honorable mention. Luke Weidemoyer ’23 and Wang met Khawar Nasim, Acting Consul General of Canada, at the 2021 Model Senate on Science and Technology.
GRAPPLERS QUALIFY FOR NATIONAL WRESTLING TOURNAMENT
YOUNG ALUMNI VISIT
Lower School flexed their creative muscles on Design Day this year. The students launched into a gift giving experience by learning more about a friend. They then got into action by designing a apecial gift for their partner.
While Covid pushed the Parents’ Committee’s annual Faculty/Staff Appreciation Lunch to a boxed-lunch and online raffle event, this year’s version was amazing! Thanks to the generosity of the parent community, there was a prize for each of the 280 full-time employees at GA. David Niemynski ’17 Shreya Shah ’18
GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 15
HEALTHCARE ALUMNI GIVE INSIGHT WITH “CLUB MED” STUDENTS
CAMPUSNEWS
A published author walks among our Middle School students. Mallea Kelly ’27 had a passion for creative storytelling and horror, which led her to write her first book. Titled The Orphan’s Game, the book tells the story of Carmen –an orphan, who was chosen by a mysterious woman to be a contestant in her annual Orphan’s Game. But the devil hides in the details, as Carmen soon finds out. The book can be found on Amazon.
CROSS-DIVISIONAL PEN PALS CONNECT DURING WINTER GA’s Upper School Club Med, comprised of students interested in pursuing a medical career, welcomed alumni back to campus in early March for the Medical Professionals Panel Discussion followed by one-on-one conversations. Hats off to the Club Med student leaders who organized the entire event and thank you to all of the alumni panelists! Student leaders and alumni panelists included (L-R): Aayush Kevadia ’23, Maria Petko ’23, Dr. Pamela Lorenzon Simms ’86 (Licensed Psychologist), Dr. Jillian Baron ’03 (Attending Physician, Infectious Diseases and HIV), Dr. Andrew Mersky ’96 P’24 (Emergency Physician), Dr. Carlyn Patterson Gentile ’02 (Pediatric Neurology Resident), Dr. Charles Vollmer ’85 (Chief, Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Penn Medicine), Kirby Begley, BSN, RN ’12 (Nurse, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit), Dr. Alexander Poor ’99 (General Surgeon), Sangeetha Bhuyan ’22, Dr. William Kay ’04 (Veterinarian, OwnerHickory Veterinary Hospital), Jason Wang ’22.
CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH GA celebrated Black History Month in a variety of ways this year. Kicking off with a festive party in the Upper School, throughout February students and faculty attended weekly poetry readings in the Roberts Family Library, held discussions about Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and participated in several other activities coordinated by the Black Student Alliance. Our Lower School also held a special assembly, produced completely by students, and shared with parents.
GA COMMUNITY PROUDLY SUPPORTS UKRAINE
First and sixth grade students wrote and received letters from each other during the winter thanks to “Pen Pals Across the Quad,” a project to help build community and practice writing. This spring, the Pen Pals will meet in person on Connor Quad for a game of kickball.
To support the citizens of Ukraine, the all-school Community Service Organization (CSO) collected monetary and medical supply donations allowing employees and Middle and Upper School students a dress down day that incorporated the colors of the Ukraine flag, blue and yellow. Contributions from outside the GA community included medical supplies donated from Doylestown Hospital and Johnson & Johnson. In addition to the supplies that will be sent, Middle School students created handmade cards to go in the boxes. Daniel Dashko’28, whose family hails from Ukraine, led the effort.
MIDDLE BOOKPUBLISHESSTUDENTSCHOOL
Newsies, GA’s winter Belfry musical, had the largest cast of any Belfry show to date, with more than 80 Middle and Upper School students showing off their talent in acting roles, stage crew, and playing in the pit band during four sold-out shows in the Arts Center. Led by director and Middle School drama teacher Joanna Rominger, Newsies was a dazzling display of collaboration between students and faculty, including assistant directors Upper School theater teacher K. Richardson, Middle School English teacher Kristen Donches 1760, and special guest teacher Emma Hearn ’14. Hearn, taking a break from her Broadway pursuits, created original choreography along with choreographer Maria Jackson and dance captains Morgen Zighelboim ’23 and Brianna Geist ’24 that led to spectacular and large dance scenes throughout the show.
LIVE THEATER IS BACK AND “NEWSIES” GOT THE WORD OUT
Alissa Freeman ’23 gave voice to Miss Medda Larkin (left) and Asher Sasson ’23 (below) created some sparks in the Technical Theater shop.
Senior Will Cooper ’22 and sophomore Madison Quinter ’24 led an all-star cast that many audience members returned to see night after night. In addition to developing the show from an acting perspective, the production crew created a fantastic set of mostly steel which required extensive welding. It was designed and produced by students, including set designers Bethany Matje ’22 and Candice Medina ’22, and overseen by production director and technical theatre teacher Paul Moffitt.
Prior to his arrival in Fort Washington seven years ago, Dr. Vic Montemayor was a professor at Middle Tennessee State University for 25 years. Following his retirement from the feltGermantownultimatelyatHehisPennsylvaniatoMontemayorUniversity,waseagerreturnhometowherefamilystillresides.lookedatpositionsothercolleges,butfeltthatAcademylikehome.
Q: What is your teaching philosophy? A: I’m a theorist, so I’m big on the theory and mathematics of things, but more so than that, I’m big on application. I want students to realize that physics is all around them. Q: Are you still in contact with former students? A: During winter break, I host an alumni get together, and this year, more than 30 alumni attended. It is always awesome seeing them and they just want to tell me about how things are going and the courses they’re taking and what they are doing out in the world. It’s really neat.
A: I have always loved writing. When I was in high school, the awards I got at graduation were all for humanities and writing. People assumed at one point I was going to college for journalism; Those who weren’t in my math or science classes. I’m working on two books now - one on theoretical physics based on the math class I am teaching at GA, and one on medical physics, or radiation oncology physics.
Q: What occupies your time outside of GA?
LowerHSU-MILLERBERTINASchoolChineseTeacher
Q: Why do you enjoy teaching at GA?
WHY I TEACH 18 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY
A: I love the community here, I love my students, the families, and the administrators. I love the freedom and the support that goes with it, to grow –personally and professionally - and to bring my authentic self to the classroom and then ask the same from my students. Being with them is just so much fun.
Q: Why do you enjoy teaching at GA?
If you are ever looking for Bertina Hsu-Miller, you can find her at the intersection of “Education” and “Utopia,” otherwise known as Lower School’s McLean Hall, Room 4. Hsu-Miller calls the classroom her “Edutopia,” and it is just one of the reasons she loves being a Chinese teacher and the Chinese Curriculum Coordinator at Germantown Academy.
VICTOR MONTEMAYOR Upper School Physics Teacher
A: It varies, but the one steady thing is that I love working with the kids here. As I searched, there were a couple of other teaching options, but the ironic thing is the courses I am teaching here are actually a higher level than the courses I would be teaching at the universities.
Q: What courses do you teach? A: I am fortunate to teach both ends of the Upper School experience with Honors Physics for 9th graders and AP Physics. Honors Physics at GA is at the level of an algebrabased college physics course. I have students work on problems on whiteboards and I say something like, ‘I debated giving you this, it might be too hard,’ and it’s game over–I can’t give it to them fast enough, and they can’t wait to dive in. There’s lots of discussion, and some arguing, which is Onawesome.theother end, I teach AP Physics C, calculus-based introductory physics, and AP Calculus BC. I also teach this super-unusual class called Advanced Applied Mathematics. That’s a course I designed for our sophomore physics majors at the University. I was invited to other universities to discuss the course, the design, and how I made it work. It is typically a junior or senior level physics course and here I am doing it with seniors at GA.
Q: What is your teaching philosophy?
A: I try to make it practical and fun at the same time. There are days when we’re not in the classroom; we’re looking at artwork all around the school or we’re going outside when the weather is nice. Context is everything in language acquisition and trying to confine it to this space is kind of outrageous to me. There are too many wonderful, beautiful things around us that are naturally useful, or that provide a new environment to use student’s skills and have fun. I started doing organic world language my second year. It’s very interesting to see year-byyear the change in the communicative proficiency on their exit and comments from my colleagues as far as what they can do with their classes and how much faster they can go.
Q: How do you make learning languages fun for the students?
A: For the coordinator role, it’s very much trying to create alignment from PreK-12. I feel like every year, piece by piece, we put a little bit more together and try to allow flexibility. There are different factors to consider for across the Quad than there are in Lower School, but still trying to create an experience where the transition from one level to the next is natural and flexible. pay PA when you can support GA? Take Control of Your Personal or Individual Pennsylvania State Income Taxes to Benefit Germantown Academy! In 2022, 60 GA families opted in redirecting their state income tax dollars to favor financial aid programs at GA. In 2001, the state introduced the EITC program (Educational Improvement Tax Credit) where corporations that pay certain PA tax could redirect those payments to qualified schools, like GA, in exchange for credits to apply toward their personal state taxes. That program was recently expanded to include Special Purpose Entities (SPE). These partnerships are made up of individual contributors, like you.
A: Several years ago, I was able to attend an Organic World Language bootcamp. I’ve been to four altogether – two as a participant and two as a facilitator – and it really changed how I see education and how I build my classroom experience for the students. The authenticity and organic part are so important. In college, when you’re in your education classes, they’re teaching you to plan out basically every minute of the day. What I’ve learned is that when I pull away from that and tune into the kids and let them direct it with what I want to teach, it’s completely different. It’s more about me being observant and responsive to what I see in front of me and what they communicate with me rather than preparing a list of things that I want to get to.
GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 19 Why
Q: What are your duties as Chinese Curriculum Coordinator?
The Friends of Education LLC, an SPE created to directly benefit GA, is seeking new members to join right now! Find out how you can participate. Please contact Martin Dean at 267-405-7458 or martin.dean@germantownacademy.org.
Karly Boles, Lily Acker 200 Medley Relay 1st 1:43.24 All-American, F&M Pool Record
Landon D’Ariano 200 IM 3rd 1:47.94 All-American, Jr. Longcourse Champs, Standard
Henry Morrissey 500 Freestyle 2nd 4:25.10 All-American, Jr. Longcourse Champs, Standard
Jack Maketa 100 Freestyle 2nd 44.75 All-American
Landon D’Ariano 500 Freestyle 1st 4:24.46 All American, Jr. Longcourse Champs, Standard
Emily Hamill, Taylor Grimley 400 Freestyle Relay 1st 3:24.68 All-American, F&M Pool Record
Emily Hamill 200 Freestyle 1st 1:48.31 All-American
BOYS AND GIRLS SWIMMING WIN THE INTER-AC ICE HOCKEY TAKES THE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
Germantown Academy’s boys team finished in second to Mercersburg Academy with 533 points, but scored enough to beat the Blue Storm for the Combined Team Championship. After the season, Jack Maketa ’22 was named the Inter-Ac League’s Most Valuable Boys Swimmer. He, along with Landon D’Ariano ’24, Brandon Fleck ’25, JJ Freeman ’23, Henry Morrissey ’22, Andy Zhou ’24, Brendan Hodgens ’24, Karly Boles ’25, Sarah Freeman ’25, Taylor Grimley ’24, Emily Hamill ’25, Eliza Meth ’23, Nicole Ranile ’22, Arina Vorobyeva ’25, Libby Brewer ’25 and Laurel DePolo ’25 were named All-Inter-Ac.
The 2021-22 Patriots ice hockey team defeated Academy of the New Church, 3-2, to win the Independence Hockey League Championship (IHL) for the fourth straight year. GA fell behind by two scores against the Lions, but two goals from Walker Schwartz ’23 and one from Shane Tronoski ’25 in the second period gave GA the win. This year the Patriots were dominant on the ice, reeling off 12 straight wins, outscoring opponents, 81-44, registering a 14-1 overall record and going 10-0 in the league. Forwards Walker Schwartz ’23 and Drew Schwartz ’23 earned First Team All-IHL honors, while Dierks ’22 claimed First Team honors on defense and Dominic Saputelli ’23 was named First Team goalie. Richie Podulka ’24 and Colin Rink ’24 were named Second Team All-IHL at forward, while Dominic Perazza ’25 (the only freshman to earn IHL honors) earned Second Team honors on defense. The Patriots graduate just three seniors and will look to be a contender again next season.
Jack Maketa 100 Butterfly 1st 48.12 All-American, Jr. Longcourse Champs, Standard
SPORTSREPORT
NAME RACE FINISH TIME HONORS
Sarah Freeman, Arina Vorobyeva
Taylor Grimley, Emily Hamill Meet Record
Emily Hamill 100 Freestyle 1st 50.30
The 2021-22 season will be one that Germantown Academy swimming and diving remembers for a long time, as both teams went undefeated in dual meets and swept the Inter-Ac League on their way to league titles. For the girls, it was the first time since 2015 that they won the league, while the boys won for the first time since 2012.
The girls took home the Easterns Championship for the first time since 2015 with 679 points.
’83ShoulbergBecky thrilledwas to attend GA’s Black byperformancesfeaturingCelebrationMonthHistoryartists from the National Marian Anderson Museum. Along with Becky and Head of School Rich Schellhas 1760, pictured here is Jillian Patricia Pirtle, CEO of the museum and dear friend of Becky’s, who was one of the featured performers that night. Additionally, Becky will now be serving on the board at the National Marian Anderson Museum.
Retired Lower School science teacher Craig Newberger 1760 published a book entitled, Spring Processional. The book chronicles encounters with the natural world during the spring season. Each essay is accompanied by a watercolor illustration or photograph. The appendix focuses on student involvement in environmental protection projects. Check it out at amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.
Bob Hitchings ’53 and Irv Cherashore ’53 met at GA in seventh grade and have remained lifelong friends! Bob went to Irv’s 86th birthday in Larchmont, NY this summer. Princeton University awarded Julia Wolfe ’77 its top graduate alumni award, the James Madison Medal, on February 19. The medal is awarded to someone who has forged an exemplary career, given selflessly in public service, and remained a steadfast pillar in the cause of graduate education. Wolfe earned her Ph.D. from Princeton in 2012 and is just the second composer to receive the award. Edie Pardoe Webb ’78 became a grandmother on June 27, 2021 and retired from Duke Energy after 20 years, on June 30. What a year! She now takes care of grandson Charles one day a week and it’s the best job she’s ever had! She also volunteers for Meals on Wheels one day a week which is an amazing organization.
Geoff Jackson ’87, David Pierce ’87 and Jim Snyder ’87 gathered to watch the Eagles take on Tampa Bay in January.
Members of Class of ’91 extended all of the fun of their 30th reunion in November with a trip to Steamboat, Colorado hosted by Jo Finkelstein Schell. Involved in the fun were (l-r) Kim Grahn Bumbaco Frick, Coni Zingarelli, Simi Kaplin Baer, Meredith Rizzo Turner, Kate Delp, Heather Cunningham Roth, Jo Schell, Siobhan Nicholas Welsh and Jeanne Harrington Felter Tyler Fenwick ’99, the associate head coach of swimming at the UniversityyearsecondforteamandSwimmingDivisionNCAAtheteamledVirginia,ofhistooverallIDivingtitlethe in a row! He caught up with Emma Atkinson ’20, who swims for Virginia Tech, at the NCAA Division I USAChampionships.Wrestlingannounced Taylor Lukof ’99 as one of three major wrestling supporters who have agreed to serve as Stewards for the Living the Dream Medal Fund (LTDMF). The LTDMF provides bonus payments to wrestlers who win a medal for the United States at either the Olympic Games or the Senior World Championships. Since the program’s inception, a total of $4,150,000 has been awarded, impacting 37 athletes, including men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers.
CLASS NOTES 17601950s1970s 1980s1990s GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 21
McVEIGH DAY OF SERVICE
Camille Peggs Dargan ’07 and her husband, Dorian, welcomed baby girl Callalily, into the world on January 26, 2021 in San Francisco. Camille also recently spoke virtually to GA’s 4th and 5th grades about her ventures into the NFT market. Brian O’Neill ’07, was the lone returning Olympian on Team USA in 2022. He currently plays in the KHL and is currently third with 33 assists and eleventh in points with 42.
Eleanor Wedell ’07 earned recognition for both academic excellence and leadership potential as part of the 2022 class of Siebel Scholars. Wedell puts her background from a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Drexel University to good use as a graduate student now focused on graph theoretical and machine learning solutions to outstanding problems in bioinformatics and scientometrics. Wedell remains devoted to learning how best to work with others to help achieve goals together. She’s especially inspired by making a broad community impact, which is why she took full advantage of an opportunity to work in an area that helped provide benefits for union funds.
The GA community came together on Saturday, April 9, for the annual McVeigh Day of Service to honor the legacy of longtime faculty member and CSO founder, Peter C. McVeigh 1760. In addition to Philadelphia, alumni came together in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles were involved in community service opportunities.
Tripp Weber ’05 and wife, Nikki, are thrilled to announce the arrival of their first child, Sari Leigh Weber born September 10, 2021. The family moved to the Philadelphia area in August 2020.
Amy Gowing ’11 married Edward Klumpp III on March 26 in La Quinta, CA. Shown here alongside her parents, former trustee Sara and Jim Gowing, are sister Kristen Gowing Parrish ’07, her husband, Nick Parrish, and daughter, Sally. GA alums in attendance included PJ McGinnis ’11, Jamie Conn ’11, Meg Palmer ’11, Stephanie Wolfson Cohen ’11, Ali Becker ’11, Laura Conn ’13, and Megan McGinnis ’13
22 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY
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Danielle Krueger Pugliese ’07 and her husband, Nico, welcomed their third child, Vero Giosuè, on September 12, 2021. Big siblings, Emilio & Cecilia are thrilled to show him off!
The start of 2022 also marked the start of a new business venture for Brendan Kelly ’01 P’27 and Matt Lukof ’01. In January, they co-founded KLS Machines - a company that “provides high-speed capsule-filling equipment, parts, and service to the pharmaceutical and supplement industries.” They are based in Souderton, PA. Singer and actress Courtney L. Williams ’03 has had quite the year working on a number of impressive projects. She recently wrapped up Dear Miss and attended the red carpet premiere for the independent feature film in Chester, PA. Dear Miss was written and directed by Sam Anthony. Williams also finished shooting a short film entitled Smudge and worked on the production of a play that streamed in October. She also performed a voiceover for a Wellspan Health commercial during the Super Bowl which aired in the Lancaster market.
Ellen Martin ’10, is engaged to marry Joseph Rada on September 3, 2022.
Lauren Altman ’12 married Doug Chesnulovitch on 2/22/22 in Wharton, NJ alongside mom Cathy Altman ’83, P’12 ’14, brother Dan Altman ’14 and Trustee and father Larry Altman P’12 ’14
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’16GraselaKendall ran in the hermemoryCHOPwithMarathonYorkNewCityTeaminofclassmate TaggartBobby ’16. In doing so, she raised donations to support the oncology ward at CHOP. Grasela is a registered nurse at CHOP and an assistant basketball coach at the University of Pennsylvania.GERMANTOWN
ACADEMY 23
IN MEMORIAM Eileen Wallace 1760 John B. Henkels ’41 John H. Loughridge ’41 John E. Brogan ’47 Joseph A. Brooke, Jr. ’47 Robert T. Butler ’47 Rev. Peter E. Camp ’47 Rudolph Chillemi ’47 Albert L. Katz, Jr. ’47 Peter W. Kiefaber ’47 Harold Lambert ’47 William G. Pfaff ’47 Charles A. Pittman ’47 Theodore L. Reimel, Jr. ’47 W. David Carpenter ’48 William J. Neth ’49 William D. Jones ’50 Edward S. Meadowcroft ’51 Richard A. Ameisen ’53 Dyer Cornell ’55 Skip Clayton ’58 Robert L. Stewart ’59 Ronald H. Dorn ’60 Edward H. Grieb ’60 John N. Phillips ’64 Alfred G. Piranian ’65 E. Allen Breuninger ’68 Helen Piszek Nelson ’70 Henry A. Hurst ’73 Michael H. Stoumen ’74 Vaughan de Bertholet Prichett ’79 Sharon Wagner ’88 Andrew G. Mann ’90 Joshua B. Adler ’97 Victoria Edwards ’10 In November, Lamont Jackson ’11 started working at Nylas, a provider of productivity infrastructure solutions for modern software developers, as a Senior Sales Operations Analyst. A special date for a special wedding!
After two years at Engine, Eric Corliss ’15, started a new career in the New York City metropolitan area. Corliss started his new role as Research Manager at Maru Group in November. Maru helps its clients make informed decisions in real-time by combining proprietorial software, deep industry experience, unique IP in system 1 apps and access to the best minds in research across a number of geographies.
Maddie Stambaugh ’13, marathon runner, was interviewed by Eddie Wooten, the author of the Running Shorts blog, and was featured in their website in August 2021. In January, Natalie Dowzicky ’14 started a new job in Washington D.C. as Deputy Managing Editor of Reason Magazine, the nation’s leading libertarian magazine. Emma Hearn ’14 served as an assistant director and co-choreographer of GA’s production of Newsies this winter. Hearn has been teaching Upper School theater classes this year as she is on hiatus from Broadway. She is a 2018 graduate of the Texas State University BFA Musical Theatre Program. Hearn played Bombalurina in the national tour of CATS and was on Broadway as a swing and understudy in Diana,The Musical Kristen Vaganos ’14 starred in the mystery thriller For Love or Murder, which premiered on the Lifetime Channel on October 22, 2021. Quaran “Q” Branker ’15 added to his already impressive resume by performing on one of the world’s biggest stages –Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles – as a halftimeduringdancertheshow.
Due to his innovative nature, Mitchell believes his work is never done. He said his current work feels valuable and important, but that he will probably feel that way in the future about the next group he is helping. “I think when you’re working at systemslevel issues, you’re never really done,” Mitchell said. “You’re constantly working at it because the issue itself continues to evolve. The issues slightly change, but they’re systemic in nature so there’s always work to be done. I don’t think you ever really are finished.” MITCHELL: MAKING SYSTEMIC
The impact of a Germantown Academy education is quite evident when talking to Derek Mitchell ’98, the President and Co-Founder of LEADS (Leaders Engaged and Activated to Drive System-wide change). The organization is an executive leadership program for diverse crosssectoral leaders working in post-industrial communities in Massachusetts. Mitchell said that the LEADS program is a spinoff of an organization that he previously ran, the Lawrence Partnership, which is a collaboration of business and civic leaders committed to building a local economy that benefits Lawrence, MA. and helps grow However,businesses.without the roots that started in Fort Washington, Mitchell’s passion for giving back and being involved may have taken longer to spark. Mitchell said he became involved with community service which put him “on a different track.” Whether it was teachers like Peter McVeigh 1760 – who Mitchell said played a huge role – or coaches like Ted Haynie 1760, Mitchell had plenty of role models. Yet one of the most influential happened to be a peer. “When I was 16 or so, I remember having a relationship with a classmate – we played lacrosse together – and he had cancer,” Mitchell said. “I remember though, battling cancer, he had a lighter perspective about how the world worked. I remember so many conversations with him that really opened my eyes. I took his inspiration into college, where I found that I wanted to live a life full of value and Mitchellimpact.” attended Brown University and earned the Theresa L. Sidiropolous Prize for community service. After college, he joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in a small village in Nicaragua. Once back in the United States, Mitchell became directly involved with gang and criminally involved youth and ran a refugee resettlement agency. Through these operations, Mitchell realized more action was “It’sneeded.always been my goal to not only give back, but also to make really systemic contributions,” Mitchell said. “I realized through so much direct service work that you really only change peoples’ lives – and you only change conditions at a local level –through collaboration. No one person, no one organization can move the needle on these large issues. When I realized collaboration was the key for change, it drove me to move away from direct service to thinking and acting more strategically in the context of bringing people together and facilitating Ultimately,change.”itwasthat thought that led to LEADS. Mitchell said the LEADS program was piloted through a relationship that was established with people from Harvard Business School. According to Mitchell, the town of Lawrence is a post-industrial community that is 80 percent Latino and has historically been one of the poorest communities in New England. He added that the diverse, often-times overlooked, leaders that work in these communities benefit greatly from the opportunity to experience a wonderful leadership program but also to connect with each “Theseother. communities, like post-industrial cities all over America, have experienced incredible demographic and economic shifts, over the last generation or two,” Mitchell said. “Across the board they have higher poverty rates and unemployment, as well as higher rates of first-generation immigrants. They are places that have historically been seen as liabilities for those reasons, but we believe they are places of opportunity and innovation.”
CHANGE
Derek Mitchell ’98
24 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY
CLASS OF 1998 DEREK
“I realized through so much direct service work that you really only change people’s lives... through collaboration.”
facilities.rentals@germantownacademy.orgMeetingEVENTSYOURAuditorium•Stage•Room•Athletics•Pool•Zipline•Photo/FilmLocationFormoreinfocontact:
Ben Grossman ’17 and his former classmate at University of Rhode Island Andrew Bikash were recognized by The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship in January by placing first among 13 finalists in the Entrepreneurship Experiential Education Competition at the USABE 2022 annual conference.
June 20 to August 12 Day Camp, Sports, Wilderness, Coding, Design, and much more! www.gacamp.orgGetReadyForGASummerCamps!
Hurry! Spaces are limited.
Grossman and Bikash developed a peer-to-peer app, KANU, that allows students to set up business or side hustles and provide services or goods to the campus community. More than 800 students launched businesses using KANU at URI, Drexel, and Florida Gulf Coast this past fall. Evan-Eric Longino ’17 is returning to Johnson & Johnson as a Customer Experience Information Technology graduate intern. Longino was a Student Project Intern for Johnson & Johnson in 2017 and an Information Technology Leadership Development Program College Intern in 2018. Cole Storm ’17 was promoted from Associate Account Manager to Account Manager for Mondo in February. Mondo is the largest, national staffing agency specializing exclusively in high-end, niche IT, Tech, and Digital Marketing talent. Storm has been with the company since June of 2021. Only two competitors have ever won three Southeastern Conference heptathlon crowns and Kyle Garland ’18 is one of them. The University of Georgia junior won his third straight heptathlon title at SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships in February. Garland bested former Bulldog Devon Williams’ meet record score of 6,047 from 2017 with 6,205 points to finish atop the scoreboard and improve his No. 5 all-time collegiate performer spot. Garland’s total also gives him a higher No. 2 overall mark in this year’s NCAA standings and gave Georgia its 10th title in a row in the event. Oliver Haddow ’18 began working as a Volunteer English Teacher at George Washington University’s Washington English Center in February. Haddow planned weekly course work and homework, and instructed classes of immigrant students seeking to learn English. Mykal-Michele Longino ’18 (shown above, front row, far left), a senior at Spelman College in Atlanta, was selected to be a model for Ralph Lauren’s latest collection, a limitededition inspired by the rich heritage and esteemed traditions of the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) school. Conceptualized and designed by Morehouse and Spelman alumni at Ralph Lauren, the collection marks the first time the brand has produced a campaign with an allBlack cast. The ad campaign kicked off nationwide in March.
THINK OF GA FOR
Despite having a passion for traveling, Ke never was able to study abroad. At GA, she studied French and took a few trips to Quebec and France with Madame Linda Test and Patrick David 1760, and even remembers navigating the metro in Paris after learning about it in class. In college, she was a member of the rowing team at Washington University in St. Louis, so the timing was never right. She did spend time in Shanghai as part of her MBA, but only briefly. Ke said that when she started her career, the opportunity to live abroad was something that she wanted. She added that she was always interested in having a global perspective, traveling, and being able to experience different parts of the world. Thankfully, she found that with Stryker.
“I’m lucky to be surrounded by such an international team and to be able to work with people from different countries,” Ke said. “It allows for more ideas and more perspectives. I also think culturally it helps me a lot.”
Ke’s love for science was cultivated at GA with the help of Dr. Susanne Johnston 1760. Ke recalled that during her freshman year, Johnston would start connecting her – and other students – with different labs and researchers in the area. Ke was also given the chance to compete in multiple science fairs, making it to the international stage twice. “Having Dr. Johnston’s support in connections,makinghelping us get internships and jobs over the summer, made it a huge success for me,” said Ke. “She had a fantastic program in place and that, I guess, made possible opportunities that weren’t so realistic for most high school students. She influenced me a lot, and I think many of the science teachers at GA made sure we had a robust program so we could at least hold a conversation with people who were a lot older and better educated at the time.”
26 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY
CLASS OF 2007 EILEEN KE:
With travel now opening up, Ke said she is excited to be able to see customers in different countries and to run courses for surgeons again. Outside of work, Ke has been involved in the triathlon club. She said that it has been a chance for her to travel around Europe, do a few races and see mountains. Ke added that she has already done two full-distance Iron Man races in France and probably “a dozen or so” half-distance races in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. We will be cheering her on as she races in Luxembourg this June. PASSION FOR WORKING ABROAD
“I am lucky to be surrounded by such an amazing international team...It allows for more ideas and more perspectives. I also think culturally it helps me a lot.”
Eileen Ke ’07 was always interested in the scientific side of things. She was actively involved in the Science Fair in high school and even worked at Fox Chase Cancer Center as a student researcher from 200407. However, when she was getting ready for college, Ke said she knew she did not want to enter the academic or research world, so she opted for the business side. After moving to Amsterdam, Netherlands about seven years ago, Ke has settled into her role as the Innovative Solutions Marketing Director for the Trauma and Extremities division at Styrker. “It’s a pretty big company, I think 40,000 employees worldwide,” Ke said. “The company covers a wide variety of medical device fields. I am specifically working in a division that specializes in trauma. We partner with the major trauma centers that take in these patients and support them with products and services as much as we’re able to.”
Eileen Ke ’07
WE ARE LOOKING FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF PATRIOTS! UPCOMING ALUMNI EVENT SAVE THE DATE! Join your fellow alumni who are continuing their legacy as GA Parents! We invite you to consider how GA can be a part of your child’s future. Connect with us via our Officeadmissioneventswww.germantownacademy.net/websiteortheAdmissionat267-405-7070.GERMANTOWNACADEMY 27 ALUMNI PARTY AT THE SHORE Friday, July 22 from 4-6pm Icona Avalon – The Sandbar Village 7849 Dune Drive, Avalon, NJ Check www.germantownacademy.net/alumni for details and link to RSVP!
Mike Flemming ’89
28 GERMANTOWN ACADEMY
After graduating from Western Maryland College and getting hired by Liberty High School in Eldersburg, Maryland to teach English, Mike Flemming ’89 realized that he also wanted to coach. A member of the wrestling program at GA and a varsity letterwinner in college, Fleming became the head coach at Liberty which began a 17-year journey during which he accrued 254 wins. In 2015, he made the move to Westminster High School and his success followed. Flemming produced 31 county champions, 12 regional champions, and qualified 64 wrestlers for the Maryland State Tournament. Twelve of his wrestlers became state finalists and five were state champions. In November of 2021, Flemming’s 28-year body of work was recognized as he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He said that this honor was “extremely surreal,” especially considering he is an active coach, and that the experience was very “Beinghumbling.inducted into the Hall of Fame was something that made me reflect on the 28 years I’ve been teaching and coaching,” Flemming said. “The pride that I feel comes from people that I’ve been fortunate enough to have in my life and possibly have had a positive effect on their life. That’s the biggest thing. Also, to see my mom smile like that was pretty awesome.”
Flemming got his first experience coaching while working at small camps for kids, and said he was honest with potential employers about his desire to coach as well as teach. He said that he sees the two as the same, just in different classrooms. In fact, it got to a point where for 10 years he was coaching year-round with football in the fall, wrestling in the winter, and lacrosse in the spring. To some that might sound crazy, but Flemming said it helped him budget his time properly. While coaching football was more about finding a potential grappler, wrestling and lacrosse were sports that Flemming said he “always loved.” However, that was not the lone reason he felt the need to coach. “I know I was fortunate to have been coached by Mike Betts, who was instrumental in restarting the [wrestling] program at GA,” Flemming said. “I was right there when it first started back as a club and became a varsity sport. From Betts to Craig Ikeda to Bo Ebby, and then to have the influences of guys like Ted Haynie 1760, Dave Martin 1760, Jim Buckley 1760, Bill Caum ’64, Jack Turner ’56–these were the men that coached me and I felt they had such a positive impact on my life which gave me a desire to give back to the community in the same way that benefitted me.”
CLASS OF 1989 MIKE FLEMMING: A LOVE FOR TEACHING AND COACHING “...as much as we make sports a priority in society, the reality is it should be something that’s fun for the student-athlete.”
Flemming said, “A philosophy of Mr. Haynie’s was, ‘relax, it’s just a game’ and as much as we make sports a priority in society, the reality is it should be something that’s fun for the studentathlete. It’s those positive memories that will always live with them.” Those memories are not just coming on the mat in the form of wins and championships, but also in the classroom. After thinking he would be a physical education teacher, Flemming said he was fortunate that English, literature, and analysis were subjects in which he felt comfortable. When it came time to make a final decision, Flemming said he thought that a degree in education would go well with all of his English “Itclasses.ended up being one of the best decisions I ever made,” Flemming said. “It’s great when you see a student not just get a concept but want to continue to explore and find more. It’s always been rewarding to see a kid who maybe doesn’t see themselves as an academic find a reason to excel. In the classroom and in athletics it’s about trying to be your best at all times.”
Diamondwithservingwhilesummerawardsearnedthisthe
VirginiaChampionships.TechSwimming’s
Former GA girls teammatelacrosse Elise Smigiel ’21, who plays for andUniversity,Marquette RappCharlotte’19 , who plays for the University of Chicago, had the chance to reconnect on the field during a recent fall ball outing. 2020s
Beach Patrol in New Jersey. Loughlin was named the Male Athlete of the Year while Spratt was named the Rookie of the Year. Deon Savage ’20 was named to the Muhlenberg College Dean’s List for the Fall 2021 semester.
Five GA Track & Field alums had a mini reunion at the NYC Armory recently where Caleb Johnson ’19, Issy Goldstein ’20, SJ Cohen ’20, Meaghan Toscano ’20 and Ola Abinusawa ’19 all competed at the Ivy League Indoor Track & Field
Chris Kim ’20 and the University of Michigan finished as runner up in the team standings at the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Lifeguards ’20LoughlinGavin and ’20SprattNoah
GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 29
Jake Schell ’18 was hired as the new football operations and analytics assistant for the Virginia Tech Hokies. He previously served as a defensive student assistant at Penn State, helping the Nittany Lions earn berths in the Citrus, Cotton & Outback Bowls. Schell also gained experience as a football operations intern with the Arena League’s Philadelphia Soul in the summer of 2019. He also provided weekly freelance analytics reports to ESPN’s Chris Fowler to assist his preparation for weekly matchups & events. Jack Sullivan ’18 was invited to join the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. The Society recognizes just the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students across all disciplines and is the oldest, largest and most selective of all such honor Swimmingsocieties.forXavier
Garrett Comrie ’20 played his first concert with New England Conservatory of Music. He performed Overture to “La forza del destino” by Giuseppe Verdi and Variations on “America” by Charles Ives.
Emma Atkinson ’20 was a two-time podium finisher at ACC Championships in the 200 Free and 200 Back. She was also a member of each of the school record breaking relays for the women. Atkinson qualified for NCAAs in the 200 Free, 100 Back and 200 Back.
University, Erin Merke ’19 earned a spot on the All-Big East team for her performance in the 200 Freestyle Relay at Big East Swimming & Diving Championships. Merke was also an All-Big East performer in 2020. There were no selections for the 2020-21 season. Xavier finished third at the championship meet. Emma Caplan ’19 will be working alongside the Creative Development Team at Nickelodeon this summer as a Graphic Design Production Intern. According to Caplan, the opportunity is “a dream come true.”
FORTU.S.NON-PROFITPRESORTPOSTAGEPAIDWASHINGTON, PA PERMIT #20 Germantown Academy 340 Morris Road Fort Washington, PA 19034 Save the date for GA/PC Day & Alumni Weekend! In addition to the big games being HOME in Fort Washington, please join us for the Athletic Hall of Fame, the MaGerks all-alumni party, and of course...REUNIONS! For more information, go to: www.germantownacademy.net/alumni/reunionweekend
