GEORGIAN
Vol. 90
No. 01
pu bl i c at i on of ge orge scho o l, ne w tow n, pennsy lvania
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i b c han g e make r s
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2018
George School IB Diploma candidates make their mark around the globe.
Ralph Lelii shares his insights into the IB Diploma program.
INSIDE
pr e par i n g stu d e nts fo r a g lo bal futu r e
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26
125 years captured in digital
alu m n i we e ke n d
memory lane
Everyone is welcome to come back to campus May 4-6, 2018.
Interactive timelime launched to celebrate Quasquicentennial.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Vol. 90 | No. 01 | WINTER 2018
01 PERSPECTIVES IB Change Makers 02 Ari Solow ’87 04 Alison Crawford ’07 05 Aneeka Rahman ’96 05 Andrew Chen ’91 06 Mathieu Croizet ’92 06 Ayushi Kokroo ’15 07 Noorjahan Akbar ’10 08 Akobuije Chijioke ’92 10 Ryan Mellon ’02 10 David Selinger ’02 11 Ama Karikari-Yawson ’98 11 Peter (Greg) Plumb ’07 12 Sara Wolf ’99 13 Amelia Erwitt ’98 13 Erica Nakajima ’04
Ralph Lelii, in his twenty-third year as International Baccalaureate (IB) program director, shares his vision for the future of the program at George School in “Preparing Students for a Global Future,” on page 20.
14 Eden McEwen ’17 15 Lucy Lang ’99 15 Inna Alecksandrovich Plumb ’07 16 Fenna Mandolang ’00 17 Ezra Rosser ’96 17 Michelle (Shelly) Chipimo ’13 18 Adi Blum ’96 18 Margaret (Maggie) Cherney ’14 19 Tasneem Paghdiwala Raja ’00
20 FEATURES 20 Preparing Students for a Global Future 22 125 Years Captured in Digital Memory Lane
A look at the 125-year history of George School is now showcased in a new interactive timeline. It was launched as part of the celebration of the school’s quasquicentennial anniversary. See story on page 22. To visit the timeline go to www.georgeschool.org/history.
26 Alumni Weekend, May 4-6, 2018
28 CAMPUS NEWS & NOTES 31 ALUMNI TELL US 49 IN MEMORIAM
Front Cover: Akobuije Chijioke ’92, a physicist with the Mass and Force Group of the Quantum Measurement Division of NIST, is shown here with a laser interferometer used to make accurate acceleration measurements in dynamic force calibration systems.
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HEAD OF SCHOOL SAM HOUSER talks with students about the benefits of the IB Diploma program.
George School IB Change Makers This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Organization. George School has been graduating IB Diploma candidates for more than thirty years. When the school joined the IB in 1985, it was a match made in heaven. The two organizations and their missions dovetail nicely. A quick look at the IB website hints at the synergy: “The International Baccalaureate is more than its educational programmes and certificates,” it states. “At our heart we are motivated by a mission to create a better world through education.” This could also be a description of George School’s philosophy. The mission statement continues, noting that the IB, “aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect...” and achieved through “challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.” Or as Head of School Sam Houser puts it, “a cosmopolitan way of asserting academic excellence.” Like George
School, “IB programmes also encourage students to be active in their communities and to take their learning beyond academic study.” This issue of the Georgian delves into how the school has made the IB its own and how graduates demonstrate that the answer to “What can I be with IB?” is, as Sam says, “nearly anything.” Continue reading to learn about a crosssection of IB alumni from Ari Solow ’87, the first George School student to earn a diploma, to newly IB-minted Eden McEwen ’17. Representing varied fields and different points in their lives and careers, these twenty-four individuals are unified by being interesting, successful, globally minded, and as Sam describes, “bringing ethical commitment to their work.” Because like George School, the IB teaches teens to look beyond themselves and within themselves to bring out the best self possible.
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Ari Solow ’87 D AT A S C I E N T I S T, S C I E N C E A P P L I C AT I O N S I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O R P O R AT I O N “IB impressed upon me the importance of holistic education.”
Ari Solow is “student zero” when it comes to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program at George School. The first to earn an IB Diploma, Ari had not heard of the IB when he applied to George School, coming because his parents did not feel the local schools provided adequate academic challenge. By the end of his sophomore year, he and two other classmates joined the new program. He jumped at the chance to participate although he was not considering attending college overseas. “I was most incentivized by the promise of maybe saving a year of college tuition.” As it turned out, he was not able to parlay his IB Diploma into reduced time at college—first Case Western Reserve and later the University of Maryland—
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because the IB wasn’t yet well known at US institutions. Nevertheless, he is “so glad that I did it.” In the program’s first years, Ari recognizes, “the school could not set up a separate course of study for three students.” So he and his fellow pioneers took the same classes they would have otherwise, with the faculty helping students meet additional requirements. The notable exception was Theory of Knowledge, an IB-only class first taught by Sam Smith. Ari enjoyed the “unstructured, discussionfocused class” dedicated to “exploring how we understand our understanding of the world.” Sam Smith said of Ari’s success at the time, “Ari was the kind of student who was going to be most successful because he was very thorough and determined. Everything he did he threw himself into and worked very hard at it.” “An IB student takes as rigorous a course load as you can imagine,” said Lin Parker, former head of the Math Department and the first coordinator of the IB program at George School when interviewed about Ari’s diploma. The reward, Lin said, besides possible sophomore standing and advanced placement in college, is the satisfaction of completing a program with an international focus, of knowing “that you are doing the same program as many other students around the world,” perhaps more important, IB students “learn how to learn,” Lin said. “They make very good college students.” The other highlight of Ari’s IB career was the independent project—“similar to projects I worked on at the university level in depth and scope.” Conducting research outside of class and largely on his own for about six months, he wrote “a paper on the feasibility of building and using a Bussard ramjet for interstellar travel,” with hydrogen harvested from space to provide fuel. “I loved it. It was important to be exposed to that kind of work before university.” Ari went on to get his bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s in technology management. Today he works as a data scientist, as well as a database and software engineer. He collects, cleans, aggregates, restructures, analyzes, and transforms large amounts of otherwise less than intelligible data into informative data at structures at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). SAIC is a technology integrator that designs,
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develops, and sustains programs that support diplomatic missions, support warfighter requirements, and advance exploration. They are a leader in supply chain management, hardware integration, and global network integration.
Ari is happy with the overall result. “It’s hard to separate the effect of IB and the effect of George School as a whole. I think there has definitely been a long-term effect. IB impressed upon me the importance of a holistic education.”
Introducing the IB Diploma Program at George School It was 1984. Ronald Reagan was elected to a second term. David Bourns was in his fourth year, having succeeded Eric Curtis as head of school. Assistant Head of School Fran Bradley was charged with assessing George School’s reputation and its future. “There was the impression that we were attracting fewer strong academic students and the feeling was that we needed a program that would retain our academic diversity,” Fran said. He believed that the International Baccalaureate Diploma program, launched in the United States in 1975, would “strengthen our overall academic program by attracting students with a strong academic expectation for their experience here. The IB program seemed to be consistent with our Quaker ideals and with George School’s strong history of internationalism.” “Virtually no other US boarding schools had the IB. The program helped carve out an attractive marketing niche for George School,” Fran said. “Our academic program already had a strong international focus and adapting
to the IB program was less challenging for George School than for other independent schools that had attempted it. In addition, our unusually strong Arts Department also made it easier for students to meet the wide ranging IB Diploma requirements.” George School was chartered by the IB Organization in 1985 and Ari Solow ’87 earned the first IB Diploma at George School in 1987. Lin Parker served as the first IB coordinator and stayed until 1995. Under his guidance, the program grew, though its offerings were modest in the beginning. Ralph Lelii assumed the IB coordinator role after Lin’s retirement, and after twenty-two years, is celebrating the thirty-second year of the program at George School. “The IB at George School appears to have greatly exceeded our expectations,” said Fran. “The program has helped George School maintain its strong academic focus, attract a large number of international students, and provide a unique opportunity in the boarding school market.”
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Alison Crawford ’07 TEACHER GERMANTOWN FRIENDS SCHOOL “I believe that in some way my career in education is a continuation of that desire to question and learn.”
Alison Crawford’s Theory of Knowledge class started her considering big questions about life and the nature of learning. “I believe that in some way my career in education is a continuation of that desire to question and learn,” she says, alluding to several endeavors—from Philadelphia to West Africa and back again—that have transformed the nature of learning for students and her as a teacher. While at Haverford College, Alison went to Ghana as an intern to be part of the Titagya School Program, with the goal of increasing the quality and availability of early childhood education. “At that time, there was publicly funded school in Ghana that started around kindergarten, but before then there was nothing. I went over as part of an
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educational nonprofit to help start a preschool program. I helped work with the teachers there to write the curriculum for the school. I helped show them what the structure of a pre-K school should be.” Returning with a sense of pride, Alison graduated with a major in English literature and relocated to Boston to be a founding teacher at a charter school that was taking over a failing public school. “There were eighty of us who met before school started, and we got together to decide what we wanted the school to be about. I got to be a part of that. That first year we broke a Massachusetts state record for most improvement, judging by test scores.” Alison is now back closer to home in Philadelphia, teaching at Germantown Friends School, where she is still using the lessons learned over a decade ago, especially regarding writing. She always enjoyed writing, but Alison’s passion for it grew in the IB. She has fond memories of the program and its teachers, who helped give her confidence and a desire to face challenges in addition to skills. Of Stephanie McBride, she says, “I’ll never forget her graphic organizers, comments, and of course, ‘dreaded’ scoring system, which made me read and re-read my work for grammatical errors. I recall diving deep into texts and writing about them with great fondness, and I try to teach those same skills to the fifth graders I now teach.”
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Aneeka Rahman ’96 E C O N O M I S T, W O R L D B A N K Like many IB students at George School, Aneeka Rahman came from abroad, returned abroad for college, and chose a career path with global purpose. She is a senior social protection economist at the World Bank, based in Bangladesh, where “my work is largely focused on strengthening government systems and institutions to reach out to and better the lives of the poorest.” She is
Andrew Chen ’91 CAPTAIN, US PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE When disaster strikes, Andrew Chen helps rebuild communities. As a regional emergency coordinator for the US Department of Health and Human Services and a captain in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, he has worked on problems from hurricane relief to the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. He was deployed to Texas for Hurricane Harvey and to Puerto Rico for Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and he is currently on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. And that’s just 2017. In 2015, he helped with the Ebola crisis in Liberia, and in 2013, he assisted with the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. According to Andrew, his time at George School and in the IB program prepared him for the rigors of life— first for college (good time-management skills were assets at Tufts and for his MBA at Columbia) and then for his current work. “They both demand a lot of work in many ways and also subscribe to the concept of selfless service,” Andrew says. “I didn’t find out about this until some time later, but apparently when I applied to my first job out of graduate school, my hiring manager noted that I had an IB degree and was extremely impressed.”
especially excited by “being exposed to different cultures, different people, different backgrounds, and yet always coming back with the sense that we are all striving for the same goals, no matter where we come from or where we live.” Hailing from Great Britain, Aneeka found that “the IB was critical for my entrance into British universities [she completed undergraduate and graduate studies in development economics and environmental economics at the University of London], which do not recognize the US high school diploma. The IB is held in high regard in the UK, and I was fortunate in having made the right decision to be part of the IB program at GS, as it expanded the scope of countries where I could choose to study.” Aneeka recalls her time at George School as “some of the best years of my life—from the people I met, the friends I made, everything I learned beyond academics. While being involved in IB and AP classes was certainly challenging, the teachers made learning so much fun: Paul Machemer ’65 teaching us how to fold KOB notes, Bill Enos helping us calculate how much back spit is left in a can of Coke when shared amongst a group, Tom English making US history bearable, and words I have never forgotten from Rob Orr ’76: life is choices!”
Andrew had always wanted to fly tactical jets for the military, but his poor eyesight ruled that out. Still, he persevered. “I earned my pilot’s license a few years ago and recently became an instrument-rated pilot,” he says. In keeping with the “selfless service” manifest in his professional life, he uses his license to fly for charity.
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Mathieu Croizet ’92 AT T O R N E Y A N D A U T H O R For some, the decision to get an IB Diploma is a nobrainer even if the program itself is anything but. Such was the case for Parisian attorney Mathieu Croizet, a French native who needed the diploma to, as he puts it, “open the gates of the French education system.” “With the IB Diploma I was able to go to a French university. Without it, I would have had to go back to high school for another year in France after graduation. Let’s say that the IB program and the diploma ‘saved’ my life,” he confesses, adding
Ayushi Kokroo ’15 I N T E R N AT I O N A L S T U D I E S A N D S P A N I S H MAJOR, EMORY UNIVERSITY IB Diploma student Ayushi Kokroo ’15 wrote to her advisor Carolyn Lyday and IB coordinator Ralph Lelii after her first day of classes at Emory University in 2015, “Yesterday was my first day of classes and I am excited to say I am pretty confident in the classes I have this semester thanks to George School. I am taking Econ 101, Precalc, Spanish 318, and Political Science 110. I am especially excited about my Econ class since my professor reminds me of Chris Odom! I already feel completely comfortable around campus and I honestly feel that I owe this confidence and calmness to George School. There are so many similarities between George School and Oxford College at Emory and in a way I am very grateful for this. The main thing that is not
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“It was difficult enough for me to go back to France after six years in the US. Maybe I would not have been a lawyer without it.” In the French post-secondary system, students choose their path upon entering college and Mathieu essentially embarked on his legal studies right away. He attended the University of Nantes for two years and the University of Aix-en-Provence for six before being admitted to the “lawyers’ school” in Marseille, where he spent a year as a student intern, taking his oath as a lawyer in 2002. Mathieu practiced law in his hometown of Marseille for twelve years before moving to Paris. There he does mostly criminal, and some commercial law. He is admitted before the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, both located in the Hague, Netherlands. Along the way Mathieu has written two hardboiled thrillers—Polka and Random—and is working on a third. His first, Polka, received the La Plume de Glace prize in 2010 at the Festival of Police Novels held in Serre Chevalier, France. Reflecting on his “four amazing years at GS,” Mathieu admits that it is hard to see his friends and classmates, though he keeps up via social media. “George School has had a very big impact on who I am today and I am forever thankful.”
present here that was very prominent at George School is the sense of community. What is special about George School is that it had such a strong sense of community from the first day I arrived there four years ago.”
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Noorjahan Akbar ’10 C O M M U N I C AT I O N S A N D E X T E R N A L ENGAGEMENT OFFICER, WOMEN FOR W O M E N I N T E R N AT I O N A L “The nurturing academic atmosphere at GS gave me the chance to see my views as valid and worthy of voicing, something that many women my age were deprived of.”
When Georgian readers last heard about Noorjahan Akbar (spring 2015 leadership issue), the Afghan native and women’s rights advocate had recently graduated Dickinson College with a sociology major and co-founded Young Women for Change, an advocacy organization. Since then, she has continued educating herself (an MA in journalism from American University) and the world about women’s equality and education. Today Noorjahan is Communication and External Engagement Officer at Women for Women International (WfWI), which helps women who are survivors of war to rebuild their lives. She travels internationally to interview women served by WfWI and, using traditional and new media, tells their stories. Noorjahan also runs a collective of Afghan women writers, activists, and students called Free Women Writers, which advocates for gender equal-
ity in Afghanistan through storytelling and education. Much of what it publishes treats gender-based violence, including You Are Not Alone, a book that provides legal guidance and emotional support to women in abusive households. Noorjahan began finding her voice in Afghanistan, but it became clearer and more eloquent in Newtown. “At George School, and especially through the IB program, I learned to think creatively and critically. I also developed important writing skills that I continue to use on a daily basis. My IB English classes taught me to write with precision and without jargon, a skill that is essential for any communications job. My Theory of Knowledge class prepared me for philosophy classes in college but also gave me the analytical skills that enable me to make tough decisions today.” She continues. “I remember Ralph Lelii talking to us about the power of our words. I also remember many thoughtful conversations with John Gleeson ’65 and Terry Culleton, especially conversations around power and colonialism in literature. These classes truly contributed to my emotional intelligence and give me the language to speak about forms of oppression I had faced and felt many times before, but didn’t know how to articulate.” In addition to writing and thinking skills, however, George School fostered her calling: “The nurturing academic atmosphere at GS gave me the chance to see my views as valid and worthy of voicing, something that many women my age were deprived of. This has led me to become braver and more outspoken as a leader.”
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Akobuije Chijioke ’92 P H Y S I C I S T, N AT I O N A L I N S T I T U T E O F STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY “The IB program and George School encourage independent thought and investigation.”
Ako Chijioke has had a sense of his life’s path since George School. “I was interested in practical applications. I loved physics and always wanted to go in that direction,” he says. Today he is a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency within the Department of Commerce that maintains scientific standards for basic units of measurement. He works in the Mass Force Group, making sure that measurements of force are accurate. It is a simple concept, but it can get incredibly complex. As Ako describes, what is being measured can range from yourself on a bathroom scale
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to the thrust of a rocket to the forces in an automobile crash. “We have measurements of force accurate to a few parts per million,” Ako explains. “We can measure devices to make sure they are accurate, and we do this for large companies, for other labs, and for other countries. One of the challenges is doing this for forces that are changing very quickly.” Ako was recognized in 2016 for establishing the NIST 2 kHz - 2 kN calibration system, the first dynamic force standard with its accuracy and frequency range. His work positioned NIST to make these complex and exacting measurements traceable to the International System of Units, with uncertainties better than previously believed possible. These measurements are essential to enhance the competitiveness of US manufacturers, opening new avenues for the development and testing of manufactured materials and products, benefiting a wide range of applications, such as automobile crashworthiness, aerodynamic measurements, materials testing, and impact protection in sports, to name a few. Given Ako’s early fascination with applied science, his career seems natural, but there have been twists along the way. His family moved from Nigeria to the United States as he was approach-
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AKOBUIJE CHIJIOKE ’92 was one of the George School alumni featured in the one-hour documentary created by the International Baccalaureate Organization to commemorate their fiftieth anniversary in 2018.
ing high school age. He knew about the international portability of the IB Diploma, and he knew that George School offered IB. Since he was unsure where he would attend college—perhaps abroad— getting the diploma seemed a prudent step. In the end, Ako chose to attend US universities—Duke for his bachelor’s, MIT for a master’s, and Harvard for his doctorate—shifting from engineering to physics over time. Though he chose to pursue the IB for one reason, he became thankful he did for many more and finds that he uses what he gleaned in high school regularly. “George School remains the highlight of my educational experience,” Ako asserts. “The impact is pervasive. It made me much more comfortable and confident as a student, not just academically, but in the non-academic sense.” He thoroughly enjoyed the boarding experience and “formed a strong bond with the school,” while “the classes themselves were challenging and provided opportunities for growth.” In the early ’90s, many courses were still a combination of IB and AP, but Theory of Knowledge was strictly IB. “I really enjoyed the questions and the topics we thought about, and I loved Sam Smith’s jokes.” Ako recalls one particular discussion around the question, “Do you believe math is invented or discovered?”
“I remember being blown away that people thought differently than I did.” (For the record, he believes it is invented.) To this day, when working with other scientists and mathematicians, he uses the question as “sort of a short-cut personality test to understand a person quickly.” “IB certainly helped me for college,” Ako continues. “The intellectual development and rigor of the program were really good preparation. It was not just about placing out of basic courses,” which he did, enabling him to take more higher-level physics, “but also about being well prepared for the courses I did take.” So how does the IB at George School connect to Ako’s work in force metrology? He sees both his former school and current job as exciting places to learn and grow, to ask questions and discover truth. “The IB program and George School encourage independent thought and investigation.” As he told an interviewer for the International Baccalaureate Organization, “Support of curiosity was the biggest thing I took away from the IB.”
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Perspectives I B C H A N G E M A K E R S Ryan Mellon ’02 AT T O R N E Y, H B O No spoiler alert necessary. Ryan Mellon may be an attorney working on the world’s most popular television show, Game of Thrones, but he does not learn what is happening before episodes air. “Technically I could,” he admits, “but as a fan myself, why ruin the experience? I would rather watch it when it premieres with everyone else.” A lawyer for the last eight years, Ryan has spent the last five with HBO. “Most recently, I have managed HBO’s global trademark portfolio. This primarily involves helping to select the titles of new HBO programs and then seeking to register those titles in most countries throughout the world.” He has worked on marketing campaigns for many of the network’s shows and organized the international “Game of Thrones: The Exhibition.” As Ryan puts it, George School generally and the IB program specifically trained him to have the rigorous academic discipline needed for his job. He ranks his senior year at George School among his most challenging
David Selinger ’02 S E N I O R C O R P O R AT E C O U N S E L , SCIENTIFIC GAMES Fifteen years after graduating from George School, David Selinger is an attorney. After working for two large law firms and as corporate counsel for Aon in New York City, he moved to Chicago, where he is senior corporate counsel
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academic experiences, including his undergraduate years at Colgate University as well as Columbia Law School. “Aside from the content of the courses, the ability to absorb information and manage my schedule have been invaluable throughout my life and career.” The IB program holds another special place in Ryan’s heart. His wife, Lauren Mauro Mellon ’01, is also a George School IB graduate.
in mergers and acquisitions for Scientific Games. His work as an attorney, he says, is much like his work in IB English classes: “As a lawyer, writing and reading are basically what I do.” For David, the strong IB focus on close reading, careful analysis, and clear writing—particularly in classes with Stephanie McBride and Terry Culleton—taught him an attorney’s most critical skills, skills he feels are lacking in a lot of new lawyers. “I did particularly well in law school,” he says of his time at Fordham. “The way to attack things in law school is not just to read something once, but to come back to it. In IB English, there was no way to get a good grade without doing the homework more than once.” David also credits the IB with giving him the flexibility to take more advanced, career-focused courses at Washington University in St. Louis, since it enabled him to place out of introductory classes. In addition to a BA in economics, he earned a second major in finance through the business school and a minor in legal studies. “The main benefit of the IB program is that it is holistic,” says David. “Each thing builds on the next. The skills you learn in English class are useful in other ways, like in Theory of Knowledge.” And even in law.
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Ama Karikari-Yawson ’98 AUTHOR Ama Karikari-Yawson’s life has been dotted with significant achievements. With a BA from Harvard, an MBA from Wharton, and a JD from Penn Law School, she was working as a securities lawyer for Citibank when a painful experience took her in a new direction. In 2013 a barber suggested that her son’s afro-textured hair was unattractive and should be shaved off. Ama’s response was to write a children’s book, Sunne’s Gift, whose story is about a magical child teased for her spirally hair and whose message is about “the beauty and power of difference.” Moved by her experience, Ama decided to become a full-time author and educator. “IB was an extremely worthwhile experience,” Ama goes on. “It prepared me well to go onto those institutions of higher learning, even for my political career.” (She recently ran an impressive, though unsuccessful, campaign to become the first woman comptroller of Nassau County, New York.) She cites the holistic perspective inherent in the program as being at the heart of her success.
Peter (Greg) Plumb ’07 V I C E P R E S I D E N T O F S T R AT E G Y A N D B U S I N E S S D E V E L O P M E N T, S U M A L L
“IB taught me to connect the dots. Whether I’m consulting, in a campaign, or in an academic enterprise at an Ivy League institution, I can connect the dots and hopefully be a force for good in any arena.”
Greg Plumb credits the rigors of the George School International Baccalaureate program for his current professional success. He works as the vice president of Strategy and Business Development at SumAll, an innovative marketing analytics company based in New York. SumAll was named by Fast Company as one of the world’s top ten most innovative companies of 2015 in big data. Prior to that he was the director of Strategic Planning for Global Supply at Criteo, a commerce marketing company. “The IB prepared me for the real-world challenges I would face after high school,” said Greg. He went to Penn State for his undergraduate degree and later for his MBA. “It taught me how to think. Taught me to construct an argument and support it with evidence. Taught me the importance of displaying aptitude on a test.” He said the program offered benefits beyond his academic life by giving him a great sense of community and global citizenship.
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Sara Wolf ’99 HEAD OF PROGRAMS, INNOVED Q U I S Q U E YA U N I V E R S I T Y “I’ll be forever grateful to George School and the IB program for giving me the world.”
For Sara Wolf, George School and the IB program didn’t just “open doors to the world.” They “pushed me into the world at large. Not only was the curriculum global, but the international learning opportunities served to open our eyes to cross-cutting problematics of political, cultural, and social importance.” Of course, Sara played a big role in pushing herself into the world. “I’ll always recall the life-changing experiences with GS classmates on trips to India, Israel/Palestine, and Vietnam. It was these experiences which led me to study political science [she got a BA in political science and Latin American studies from Haverford College and a master’s in urban education from Harvard University], teach recent immigrants for five years
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at a public high school on Queens, New York, and lead American students and youth in numerous educational trips to Cuba. And it was the Quaker values and George School experiences that led me to Haiti, where I now live with my Bulgarian-born husband and four-year-old daughter.” In response to the earthquake of 2010, Sara headed to the devastated island nation, where today she is the founding director of InnovEd, an educational institute of Quisqueya University in Port-au-Prince “that is dedicated to honoring the human right to education.” InnovEd provides professional development in “progressive educational approaches that we call Lekòl Vivan—Haitian Creole for Dynamic School. We believe in conducting research locally to inform an educational framework that is relevant for the Haitian context rather than perpetuating models that are parachuted from abroad.” Among those who opened doors for Sara are the “terrific teachers in my history, English, science, and math classes, who provoked me to question, think creatively, and work cooperatively. Our teachers were stimulating, caring, and wise. I cherish the memories of lively classes with Polly Lodge, Erin Sio, Norm Tjossem, Laura Kinnel, Molly Stephenson, Fran Bradley, and so many more. “I’ll be forever grateful to George School and the IB program for giving me the world.”
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Amelia Erwitt ’98 MANAGING DIRECTOR, CITIES FOR FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT FUND Amelia Erwitt has worked on behalf of powerful leaders and disadvantaged people. She was an intern in the office of Vice President Al Gore in Washington, where “I had a security pass for the West Wing and would go on walks through the halls to try and catch a glimpse of what was going on there.” Other stops in her career include an organization that promotes women running for office, one woman’s campaign for the New York State Assembly, and government-funded agencies working in HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment. Currently in New York, Amelia is the managing director of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, an independent organization she helped start that provides mayors and their teams with funding and technical assistance to develop financial empowerment strategies. She came to this role after running New York City’s Office of Financial Empowerment, started by former mayor Michael Bloomberg, and leading its programs, policies and research to support the financial stability of residents with low incomes.
Erica Nakajima ’04 M E D I C A L R E S I D E N T, VA N D E R B I L T UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER “Ralph Lelii’s Theory of Knowledge course had a significant impact on my awareness of how we come to form our opinions and beliefs,” says medical resident Erica Nakajima. “Each patient I encounter has slightly different beliefs about their health and how to maintain it. I work to tailor my interactions with each individual to establish a partnership with them, where I feel they are receiving good care and they feel that their goals are respected.” Erica is completing her medical residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her focus is oncology research, and she starts an oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins in summer 2018 (finally living under the same roof as her husband). Going forward, she plans to investigate the use of medical imaging to better characterize cancers and their response to therapies.
“The IB program gave me the skills and confidence to compete at the collegiate level,” Amelia says. “My success in earning the IB Diploma debunked my own conception of what academic achievements mean and look like.” Her IB Diploma further helped her at George Washington University, as the credits she earned through IB allowed her to study abroad. She went on to earn her master’s at Columbia University and feels that having the IB Diploma credential on her résumé so early in her career helped her stand out to employers.
But all is not lesions and lab coats. “Several of my teachers at GS inspired a love of reading and writing poetry in me, and despite the demands of residency, I’ve kept writing. I’ve found science and medicine to be areas rich in inspiration. A poem about my experience in anatomy lab during medical school, ‘Heart in Hand,’ was just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.” Erica continues: “The support and mentorship I received from the faculty gave me the courage to step out of my comfort zone in numerous ways, whether testing my skills in the woodshop or speaking up in meeting for worship. This willingness to try the unfamiliar has been essential in my career as I have transitioned between institutions and as medical training has required me to expand my knowledge and skill sets on a daily basis.” While the demands of the IB curriculum helped prepare her for the rigors of college and career—especially the IB’s focus on writing, which “was tremendously beneficial from essay writing in college to grant writing in medical school”—Erica measures the rewards on a broader scale. “The IB curriculum aided me by expanding my awareness of different cultures, peoples, and beliefs. It was an incredibly rich education.”
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Perspectives I B C H A N G E M A K E R S
Eden McEwen ’17 S T U D E N T, U N I V E R S I T Y OF CALIFORNIA BERKLEY “Just thinking about the IB program makes me smile. I really do identify my education with the IB. I don’t think I could be the same type of student without it.”
Eden McEwen is a recent graduate of George School whose IB Diploma program opened up her college possibilities. She is currently a student at the University of California Berkley on a unique degree track which will result in a bachelor of arts degree in Computer Science. Computer Science is traditionally offered through the College of Engineering and results in a bachelor of science degree. Eden said her experience at George School influenced her decision to seek out her unique education. “I fell in love with the humanities while I was at George. I joined a literary club. I got to do a creative writing class. I found a love for history and writing and art,” Eden said. Her love of the arts made her college decision a little tougher. She wanted to find a balance between a computer science program and a humanities program. Her current degree path was made easier in
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part by her IB credits. “When you graduate with an IB Diploma, Berkley considers it twenty credits, so it was a sixth of credits that I needed.” Eden started college with thirty-five units of credits total, partially from her IB Diploma and partially from her test scores. At Berkley, because of their credit structure, she started as a sophomore. Those extra credits give the option to earn her degree in three years. The IB program meant more to her than credits. It prepared her for a successful college experience giving her the skills she needed to be able to read and quickly analyze texts. An unexpected benefit was the bond it created with other students who earned the IB Diploma. “I can connect with people at my college in different ways because we both took Theory of Knowledge or because we took the same higherlevel classes.” The influence of George School has followed her to college as she has tried to replicate the closeknit feel of campus by surrounding herself with supportive people. She lives in a dorm with approximately forty other women all pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. In addition to her college studies, she is also working as a junior developer with USAePay. For Eden, the IB program and the George School experience helped shape her future. She said, “Just thinking about the IB program makes me smile. I really do identify my education with the IB. I don’t think I could be the same type of student without it.”
PERSPECTIVES
Lucy Lang ’99 SPECIAL COUNSEL FOR POLICY AND PROJECTS, NEW YORK CITY DISTRICT AT T O R N E Y ’ S O F F I C E “No problem is so big that it can’t be solved by a diverse group of thoughtful people sitting around a table discussing it respectfully.” So says Lucy Lang, special counsel for policy and projects in the New York District Attorney’s Office. She runs an in-office think tank called the Manhattan DA Academy, which “takes policy goals, dictated by the community, and figures out how to
Inna Alecksandrovich Plumb ’07 DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, DIA & CO. Inna Alecksandrovich Plumb has a talent for growing companies. She currently works as the director of finance at Dia & Co, a mail-order clothing company, started in 2014. This is her second turn helping to cultivate a young business. The first one she worked with is now a household name, Blue Apron, a mail-order meal service company.
operationalize them by bringing all the stakeholders to the table.” The goal is to “imagine a safe and just world by bringing people together who have different ideas of what that looks like.” The similarity to George School classes, especially Theory of Knowledge, is not lost on Lucy. “A really critical component of everything I do is based on the liberal arts seminar model, which I was hooked on at George School, and more specifically IB. I remember having very small classes where intense and respectful conversations were happening.” After George School, Lucy attended Swarthmore College. She majored in political science and minored in history, with a concentration in “interpretation theory, which is essentially TOK—how ideas get produced. I think that has been very important to my ability and desire to have a bird’s-eye view of ideas and their implementation in society.” For law school, Lucy attended Columbia University, where she now teaches a course in legal practice to firstyear students. She also has two small children. Looking ahead, she says, “I want the kind of education for them that I received—the safe and intimate opportunity to express uncomfortable ideas and to experiment and to think critically.”
Her career today is a step away from her college studies. She had prepared for a job in finance by attending the very competitive Huntsman Program at the University of Pennsylvania. In that program, she earned a dual-degree in economics and international studies. After college she went into finance, working in investment banking and private banking, although she felt that she wanted more out of her career. She wanted to create something new. This is where she said the IB opened her to new possibilities. “The IB program is very rigorous. It forces everybody who goes through it to have a balance in everything that they study. You are not just doing math, or just doing liberal arts, you are doing everything,” Inna said. “I took the plunge to go onto a start-up. I think having that grounding in a variety of academic pursuits that the IB gives you, gave me the courage to look beyond finance.” One of the courses that stands out for her when she thinks back to the program was Theory of Knowledge. She said it taught her how to question and learn. “You do not just study for a career, you study for the sake of knowledge.”
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Perspectives I B C H A N G E M A K E R S
Fenna Mandolang ’00 O P E R AT I O N S M A N A G E R B U F FA L O R E C Y C L I N G E N T E R P R I S E S “When your education helped you see that there are different ways of seeing things, it makes it easier to relate to them.”
The trajectory of Fenna Mandolang’s life is not straight and her education, vocation, and avocations likewise varied. Nevertheless, they are guided by a consistent compass, one at least partly calibrated during her years at George School. Raised a Quaker, Fenna grew up in Florida before heading to Pennsylvania for high school. From there she continued north, attending Alfred University as an undergraduate studying art theory and the University of Buffalo for graduate school studying urban and regional planning. Notwithstanding a side trip of sorts—a Fulbright fellowship to Indonesia to research contemporary artists—she has remained in Buffalo since. There Fenna is the operations manager for Buffalo Recycling Enterprises, a single-stream
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recycling facility. She is also clerk of the Friends Peace Team Asia West Pacific, which builds longterm relationships and provides administrative support for peace work in that region, and she facilitates local workshops for the Alternatives to Violence Project. Though it is hard to separate the impact of her Quaker upbringing from that of her Quaker schooling, Fenna points to George School as the place where she first saw Friends values applied on an institutional scale, affirming her personal experiences. In a similar way, the IB program—whose courses are not taught from a strictly US point of view—reinforced Fenna’s global perspective. “It was my IB classes that made it as international as it was,” she says. “I always appreciated that we learned about ALL of the Americas in history class and that we read both Palestinian and Israeli literature in English class.” Fenna draws a connection between what is at the core of George School—“respecting everyone and being open to other ideas”—and her activities today. “Here at the plant, the majority of entry-level labor positions are held by refugees. They are from Burma and Bhutan and Sudan. When your education helped you see that there are different ways of seeing things, it makes it easier to relate to them.”
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Ezra Rosser ’96 PROFESSOR, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WA S H I N G T O N C O L L E G E O F L AW Ezra Rosser has harnessed his education—at George School, Harvard, Yale, and Cambridge—to explore the inequality he observed in his youth and give voice to Native Americans. Today he is a professor at American University Washington College of Law, where he writes and teaches in the areas of federal Indian law, poverty law, housing law, and property law. Ezra grew up, in a small part, on the Navajo Nation. “The Navajo word for whites is “bilagáana,” he explains, translated roughly as “white, the other, or the enemy.” Given what he experienced, it seemed fairly accurate. He and his brother were able to escape the relative poverty of the reservation through scholarships to both George School and Yale. Ezra credits his time at George School and the teachers in the IB program with helping him hit the ground running when he went to college. “To this day, Paul Machemer ’65 remains probably the most important teacher of my life. He was always careful with his words and was a gifted teacher, complete with amazing stories. But mostly, Paul’s high expectations regarding academics and life were inspirational.”
Michelle (Shelly) Chipimo ’13 ARCHITECTURE MAJOR, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY “IB is the whole reason I decided to come to America, and especially George School,” says Shelly Chipimo. But the “investment in yourself (or child),” as she calls it, is already yielding dividends for the aspiring architect. “All the critical thinking skills I had to use in my
Now Ezra lives in a very different world—an East coast suburb—so the comparison with the Navajo Nation can be jarring. The poverty is so shocking that it demands his attention. He is working to represent the interests of indigenous populations and is writing a book about Navajo economic development.
various IB endeavors have truly paid off. Critical thinking in architecture is extremely important. You have to be an active part of a solution in today’s world.” Shelly is in the fifth and final year of her architecture studies at Northeastern University, which have included two six-month internships at William Rawn Associates, a medium-size architecture firm based in Boston. After her first “co-op” as a model maker, she returned in 2017 as a designer, “helping more on the technical aspect of things and generating architectural graphics.” As if school and work were not enough, Shelly also models and curates content for an online platform called Afriquette, a media company showcasing African art, lifestyle, fashion, and social content. “I think my life and career now are a byproduct of the many hats I, and numerous other students, wore at GS.” She cites a better work ethic and discipline, along with critical thinking, among the long-term benefits of the “late-night studying” and rigor of IB. “I am not one to take the path of least resistance,” Shelly admits. “I like a good challenge.”
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Perspectives I B C H A N G E M A K E R S Adi Blum ’96 MANAGING DIRECTOR, BLACKROCK, ENERGY AND POWER INFRASTRUCTURE To Adi Blum, there is a clear connection between George School and his current career. His work for BlackRock, investing in global infrastructure companies and projects, “melds a number of my interests, including economic development, investing, and international affairs. I came into GS with an interest in international affairs, and the IB program contributed to my continued interest.” It’s not a big stretch from his IB research paper on nuclear non-proliferation and his concern for environmental conservation and animal welfare to some of his recent projects. Among the investments he has managed are a large wind farm in Mexico and a portfolio of solar power plants in Europe and North America. He originates the opportunity, negotiates the investment, manages the construction process when needed, and oversees operations and strategic activities. “IB prepared me well for Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service,” Adi continues. (He also attended business school at NYU.) “I received college credit for my diploma, which allowed me to more quickly take electives.” It also helped him on his three study-abroad experiences: in Delhi, India, Strasbourg, France, and a month-long international conflict-resolution symposium in the Hague,
Margaret (Maggie) Cherney ’14 PUBLIC HEALTH MAJOR, FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE
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Netherlands for which “the preparation from IB allowed me to win the best research paper award.” “The guidance of George School teachers was especially helpful, as I felt well prepared entering Georgetown. I always appreciated the international student body of GS, including having a Korean student as my sophomore roommate.” Less obvious but no less a factor in Adi’s achievements is a realization he came to after struggling mightily and ultimately triumphing in a Paul Machemer ’65 math class: “Paul gave me the tools to succeed and taught me a lifelong lesson about self-empowerment and setting lofty goals. Though I may not be as naturally smart as many, if I work really hard, it will compensate. What matters in Paul’s classes is how you finish.”
Maggie Cherney wrote to IB coordinator Ralph Lelii in January 2017, “I wanted to tell you how grateful I am that I got my IB Diploma. I am at Franklin & Marshall College, one of the schools that awards a full year of credit for a student with an IB Diploma. After returning from my semester abroad the past fall in Copenhagen, Denmark, I was able to take this semester off from school to do a dual internship with the Maryland Public Health Association and the Maryland Environmental Health Network. I worked closely with an F&M alum during the legislative session in Annapolis where we were trying to get various health and environmental bills passed into state law. Additionally, because of my excess credits, I will end up saving on my tuition. This allows me to work part-time with the Partnership for Public Health in Lancaster. I just wanted to thank you for your support and let you know how IB gave me the liberty to do college differently.”
PERSPECTIVES
Tasneem Paghdiwala Raja ’00 JOURNALIST AND EDITOR
“More than anything for me, George School was a place where I started to create a sense of the kind of person I wanted to be in the world, and the world I wanted to live in.”
Tasneem Raja has spent her entire career “apply yourself to very different ways of expressing as a journalist—a frequently changing, and moving, journalist—since graduating from Bryn Mawr College. She has written for alternative weeklies in Philadelphia and Chicago, worked for a startup news site in San Francisco, led a team of datadriven reporters for Mother Jones, and launched a podcast on race and identity for NPR. Now she’s running a small local news organization in East Texas. “Especially after the election, we were asking ourselves, ‘What does it mean to be journalists at this moment?’” says Tasneem, by way of explaining how she and her husband (a fellow journalist) came to operate the Tyler Loop, which they are in the process of turning into a nonprofit. “There’s so much discussion about how do we rebuild democracy? Trust? Civic engagement? The answer always seems to come back to building up local news. The impact we can have feels very immediate, very real.” At the same time, Tasneem is maintaining her journalistic variety by freelancing for magazines, including The New Yorker, Mother Jones, and The Atlantic. She attributes this unified diversity at least in part to her IB experience. “Putting together a portfolio that represents your intellectual journey through the IB program was a very useful exercise. It made me think of the system, the holistic package, rather than this here and that there. You see education as parts of a whole.” Like the different forms of journalism she’s been involved in, her IB portfolio enabled her to
yourself but having it all feel like it’s part of something cohesive. This is my body of work.... That’s a remarkable thing to ask of people at that age.” IB also prepared her to be a writer, Tasneem feels, by encouraging her to be a voracious reader. “Eighty percent of journalism is reading other people’s work,” she adds, but “more than anything for me, George School was a place where I started to create a sense of the kind of person I wanted to be in the world, and the world I wanted to live in.... There was my book learning education and also my emotional education.” At least in part because of the school’s cultural diversity, “The teachers at GS helped me find my moral compass. They helped me learn how to communicate with people who are very different from me and find shared meaning and shared values with people I would otherwise have not felt comfortable around. That’s the biggest gift. As a journalist, your biggest job is to communicate with people and find truth in difficult places. I can’t imagine being as ready as I was to jump into this field without my experiences at George School.”
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Preparing Students for a Global Future PROGRAM DIRECTOR RALPH LELII meets with his Theory of Knowledge students on the Anderson Library patio.
BY RALPH LELII
In the United States, unlike most other countries, there is no pedagogical unity or vertical coherence between schools, public or private, as to what is being taught. Finland, whose educational system is ranked first in the world, teaches every student, coast to coast, the same curriculum. We have in our country a kind of curricular anarchy, lacking the will to make even the simple claim that we agree about what our children should know. When I accepted the opportunity to be the director of the International Baccalaureate program at George School in 1995, I was drawn then, and I remain so today, to the inspiring and persistent belief that adults around the world can construct and sustain a unified curriculum, one that proclaims loudly on the IB website, “We have a common cultural heritage, there are universal beliefs and truths worth passing on, and different cultures, with different beliefs, can come together to link our young people with ideas more substantive and enduring than the latest celebrity icon.� In a small but substantive way, the IB Diploma offers students a chance to be a citizen of the world, both in symbol and in substance. In addition to this global participation, when a student chooses the IB, they become in fact a member of two discrete but highly complementary high schools. They partake in the rich spiritual heritage
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of Quaker worship, avail themselves of our stellar and highly diverse Arts Department, and participate in all required George School athletics and service opportunities, while forming the kind of deep personal friendships that characterize this campus. It is a rich and diverse experience, one that is unique in its own right. When a junior decides, however, to earn both diplomas, the experience grows more intellectually rigorous and provides them a chance to study, write, and create in a school of eight hundred thousand students scattered across more than one hundred and fifty countries. There is great power in that, when they sit down to an IB examination in May, students in Iran, Cuba, Vienna, London, Beijing, Peru, Nigeria, and over a hundred other countries are taking the exact same examination. One is measured against not only our own George School standards, but also a rigorous, externally assessed curriculum that is collaboratively revised every five years. The challenge this presents is daunting, and we have had great success at it: in fact, for the past twenty-two years George School has surpassed the world average in diploma graduation rates and average scores. By the class of 1996, the IB program had grown broadly at George School from its early beginnings. Twenty-two students sat for their IB Diplomas that year, and all but one were successful. In nine years, we had increased the number of diploma candidates by a factor of ten. We began to realize that we could do some great things with the program, but we were also cognizant that curricular change would have to come. During this early period, our offerings in the IB Diploma were spartan. Students had one choice in history, the higher level, two choices in science with no higher-level options, and no real chance of competing in higher-level mathematics. Our English Department offerings were relatively
FEATURES
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT HEAD COLETTE WEBER conducts a mini Socrates Cafe with her Theory of Knowledge class.
non-diverse, and we were just beginning to conceive of Theory of Knowledge as an independent, rigorous academic offering in its own right. Over the next ten years many of my colleagues went to extraordinary lengths to accommodate the growing student appetite for more choice within the IB Diploma. In history, science, art, foreign language, mathematics, and English, a broader curriculum began to emerge, one that was grounded in a more global recognition of alternative pedagogies and one that sought to recognize and affirm that we needed as a school to adapt to a changing market, one where increasingly international students had specific academic and intellectual expectations of us. Since 2009, our student test scores have been consistently over the world mean. When I am asked by prospective parents about our mathematics scores, I am able to provide empirical evidence that we can match up with any of our competitor schools, and even exceed them. Today we have eighty-eight juniors and seniors enrolled in the IB Diploma program at George School. Since 2011, we have had a 100 percent success rate, far surpassing the world average of 80 percent. No one can tell where the future lies in regard to the IB Diploma, but as of this writing, it continues to flourish, with nearly five thousand schools in more than one hundred fifty countries. The IBO has recorded a 39.9 percent growth rate over the past five years, an astonishing claim given the difficulty, both politically and logistically, of implementing such a disruptive and rigorous program. In my twenty-third year as IB director, I remain committed to the program, and more
importantly, to our IB Diploma students. I love them for their energy, idealism, ambition, and most of all, for their courage in committing to hard work and delayed gratification, to risking failure. Imagine signing on at sixteen for two years of sustained, rigorous academic work, while knowing that you will not receive the results until after you have graduated. It is a staggering act of faith and it is impossible to work with such young people and not maintain one’s own idealism, to believe that the future is in good hands. To do otherwise in the face of this phenomenon would seem almost a sin. There are many heroes in this narrative. The students who take the IB Diploma do so as an act of faith, both in themselves and their teachers. They receive little if any official recognition along the way, and they must persevere until after their GS graduation to find out if they were successful. In an age of stupefying expectations for instant gratification, we have students who quietly and purposefully pursue this second diploma, and they do so with as little as 70 percent of the class time that competitor IB schools have. I love them for their idealism, commitment, and humility. And as for their teachers, I owe a great debt for their consistent willingness to push our pedagogical boundaries further from those of the past, to share pedagogical initiatives with colleagues from around the world, and they too with little fanfare. As Harry Truman once said on a whistle-stop stump speech, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.�
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125 Years Captured in Digital Memory Lane A LOOK AT THE 125-YEAR HISTORY of George School is now on display in a new interactive timeline. It was launched as part of the celebration of the school’s quasquicentennial. To visit the timeline go to www.georgeschool.org/history.
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The timeline guides users through a photo journal from its origin—when John M. George left the majority of his estate for the purpose of erecting a Quaker boarding school—to today. Photo captions help the reader dig deeper into the school’s compelling stories.
Get ready to grab your tablet, mobile device, or computer and click your way through the school’s colorful and innovative history. But for now, simply peruse these paper pages to ponder the past of a school that empowered its students to be their best selves.
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FEATURES
We need your help! The next edition of the G E O R G IAN will be a special commemorative issue celebrating our Q UAS Q U I C E NTE N N IAL. Instead of our traditional class notes, we plan to highlight your FAVO R ITE M E M O R I E S and stories about your time at George School. Was there a particular faculty member who made an impact on your life? A memorable campus event? A team member, classmate, roommate, or best friend? Please use our standard “class notes� form at www.georgeschool.org/classnote, to share your story with us or email us at georgian@georgeschool.org.
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Celebrate 125 Years of George School History on Alumni Weekend 2018 Put on your party hat—the Alumni Weekend Quasquicentennial Celebration starts on Friday, May 4 and runs through Sunday, May 6—plan to be here! All community members are welcome to attend.
In 1893 a group of Philadelphia area Quakers brought an amazing concept to fruition with surprising speed and success. The concept? To create a boarding school somewhere in eastern Pennsylvania for Hicksite Quakers that was: distinctly Quaker, moderately priced, an advocate of plainness and simplicity, with a useful and thorough curriculum that would train hands, minds, and spirits. The notion was so compelling and innovative that it attracted far more students than expected. One-hundred and fifty-five students arrived its first year: seventy boarding girls and sixty boarding boys with twenty-five day students from the neighborhood. Part of the school’s attractiveness was that the Main Building was a model of built-in emerging innovations: electric lighting, central heat, dazzlingly equipped scientific laboratories, and wood and metal workshops.
evening program that includes an address by Head of School Sam Houser, tributes for retiring faculty members, and an all-alumni Welcome Reception.
SATURDAY On Saturday, May 5, 2018, start off the day at 8:00 a.m. with a Community 5K Fun Run. At 10:00 a.m. join us for a Leadership and Vision Panel with Heads of School David Bourns, Nancy Starmer, and Sam Houser, who will reflect on four decades at George School and during which we will unveil the portrait of civil rights pioneer Julian Bond ’57. Other Saturday events include a memorial meeting for worship, picnic and buffet lunches, reunion class photos, and alumni games. The big celebration, a 125th birthday party, will begin at 2:00 p.m. on the South Lawn. The carnivalstyle event will include food, carnival games, and a bounce house. Alumni can also get a glimpse into school history at the 1893 memorabilia display.
SUNDAY Alumni Weekend 2018 concludes on FRIDAY The weekend will kick off on Friday, May 4, 2018, with an All-School Assembly in Walton Center Auditorium. The scheduled speaker is Kareem Afzal ’93, vice president of PDC Machines Incorporated, a pioneering leader in the hydrogen refueling market for vehicles. Other events planned for Friday include a campus walking tour, a performance by the George School Vocal Ensemble, and an
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Sunday, May 6, 2018, with meeting for worship and Sunday brunch. Whether you’ll be celebrating your fifth reunion or your 65th, introducing your children to George School—or your grandchildren—please come share the Cougar spirit, May 4-6, 2018. We look forward to seeing you on campus!
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Campus News & Notes BY SUSAN QUINN
Entrepreneur Club Partners with MIT The Entrepreneur Club, a new student organization at George School, gives student innovators a chance to develop their business ideas into products as part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Launch Program, which helps high school students
start companies. Working in teams of three to six, students will develop new business ideas into actual products or services, helped by an MIT mentor specialized in their area. In April, all teams will pitch their products to MIT via video. Finalists will have the chance to visit MIT and pitch their ideas to MIT professors and potential investors.
Wood-Fired Kiln Expands Ceramics Curriculum George School has joined an exclusive club in the world of ceramic arts, as one of only a handful of educational institutions with its own wood-fired kiln. The inaugural fire was lit in October as part of the festivities of Harvest Weekend. Ceramics created with the wood-fired kiln are glazed naturally by the wood ash.
Faculty Take on Harvard Project Zero Course Last summer George School faculty members, Meredith Alford ’01, Ben Croucher, Ralph Lelii, Colette Weber, Eric Wolarsky, and Melaina Young ’93, applied and were accepted as a cohort for an online professional development course titled Teaching For Understanding, at Project Zero (PZ), a program run through Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. PZ courses are designed to support educators in developing learning experiences that help build the skills that matter most for students in today’s complex, global, and interconnected world.
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CAMPUS NEWS & NOTES
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail Comes to Campus This year’s fall theater performance was The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, a 1969 play about Henry David Thoreau who was jailed overnight for refusing to pay a poll tax. He believed that the money would be used to support the Mexican-American War that he opposed. The play was selected by Director Mo West to stimulate provocative and relevant conversations among students.
Jeffrey Love ’19 Takes First at George School Invitational Jeffrey Love ’19 took first place at the 65th annual George School Cross Country Invitational, finishing the race in 16:33 in September 2017. This marked the first time that a George School runner took the top prize in the boys’ race in the history of the competition. More than six hundred runners from twenty area schools competed on a beautiful course throughout George School’s 240-acre campus. Varsity Boys Soccer Team in FSL Championship Game The George School varsity boys’ soccer team defeated the number-
New Laser Cutter Enables Cross Collaboration Chris Odom, robotics and physics teacher, demonstrates the new laser cutter. Using computer-aided design, the laser cutter can perform precise engraving operations into wood, fabric, fiberglass, and more. This equipment helps students in robotics create and cut pieces faster when assembling their projects, and complements the 3D printers and other tools in the Spruance-Alden Science Center lab.
one-seeded Germantown Friends School 1-0 in a penalty shootout in October 2017 to advance to the Friends Schools League championship. Shipley School defeated the Cougars 4-1 to take the championship for 2017. Seventeen Students Selected for Golden Teams Seventeen George School varsity athletes were recognized by The Bucks County Courier Times as members of Golden Teams for their standout seasons this fall. Izzy Robinson-Cloete ’20 was named to the Field Hockey First Team. Julia Wilson ’18 and Eva Kinnel ’20 were both named to the
Second Team. Kate Klaver ’18 received honorable mention. Alexandra Long ’20 was named to the Second Team for Girls’ Soccer. Julianna Caplin ’18, Ella Davidyock ’21, Nora Greer ’19, Cynthia Menna ’18, and Sidney Walters ’19 received honorable mentions. Nadia Arenas-Purvinis ’18 and Ashley Silver ’18 received honorable mentions for Girls’ Volleyball. Jeffrey Love ’19 was named to the First Team for Boys’ Cross Country. Miles Pinnock ’19 was named to the Second Team for football. Phil Cavallo ’18, Logan Hillegas ’18, and Jordan Valdepeñas-Mellor ’19 received honorable mentions for Boys’ Soccer.
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From the Editor
GEORGIAN
Vol. 89
A number of alumni and faculty members wrote to us after the publication of the Spring 2017 edition of the Georgian to tell us about their work behind the camera. We were fascinated by their stories and disappointed that we could not include them in our “behind the camera” issue on alumni in the film industry. We hope that you will enjoy their notes below. Susan Quinn, Georgian Editor
No. 02
publi cat i on of ge orge s cho ol , ne w tow n, penns y lva nia
2002
INSIDE
01
SPRING
alu m n i fi lm make r s :
2017
George School alumni make their mark on the industry.
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stu dyi n g fi lm at g s
the green initiative
alu m n i we e ke n d
Students enjoy remarkable success.
Student proposals target energy conservation, environmental issues, and sustainable living.
Everyone is welcome to come back to campus May 5-7, 2017.
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1967
Stephen L. Gessner writes, “I was delighted to see the article in the recent Georgian on Film at George School. The article says the current program was started in 1997 by Judy Bartella, however in my second year of teaching at GS in 1967, I started a film production course. I was teaching English and Drama and with support from both of those departments and the administration I launched the program. The students wrote, filmed, acted, and edited a film about a robbery at George School. We shot in black and white and had a great experience. (It would be wonderful to find that film). The next year in 1968, I taught a film study seminar for seniors, in which we read scripts, viewed films, and learned how to critically analyze films. One of our most interesting projects was based on The African Queen. We read the novel by C.S. Forester, the screenplay by James Agee and John Huston, and watched the film, directed by Huston. It was fascinating to track the development of a work of art from novel, to screenplay, and finally film. I left GS in 1970, and I believe film went dormant, until Judy revived it. It is nice to think that the seeds were planted earlier and came to fruition later.
Steven (Steve) E. Sweitzer writes, “Looks like I need to read my GS email more closely. After over 40 years as a visual storyteller, imagine my initial delight at seeing that the most recent issue of the Georgian was dedicated to ‘alumni who work with the moving image.’ I was sorry that I missed the email requesting alumni let you know if they would like to be included. I thought my fellow classmates might like to know that my contributions to photographic journalism were recognized by the National Press Photographers Association with their highest honor, The Sprague. I share this honor with a distinguished group of visual icons including Ken Burns, Pulitzer winning photographer Eddie Adams and Life photographer and Hollywood director, Gordon Parks. During my forty-year career in broadcast TV news photography, I also served as president of the National Press Photographers Association, an organization that at the time represented 12,000 working still and video journalists. As chief photographer at WISH-TV, the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis, I won the title of Indiana News Photographer of the Year and led the staff in winning several News Photography Station of the Year awards. Also, in the spirit of giving back to the profession that has meant so much to me, for twenty years I have chaired the
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internationally known Advanced Storytelling Workshop, which attracts reporters and photographers from all over the world for a week-long experience. Today, I run my own multi-media company, Sweitzer Productions, and regularly report, shoot, and edit stories for a nationally syndicated show about animals and the people who love them.”
Simon A. Biswas writes, “I was reading the Spring 2017 Georgian and saw there was a huge piece about all the alumni film makers. I have been running a production company with my wife for three years. Since 2014, NORTH + NOMAD has produced and directed projects around the world for clients including The New York Times, Microsoft, West Elm, and Jim Beam. The DELQA project we shot at the New Museum won three Cannes Lions and was nominated for a SXSW Innovation Award and AICP Next Awards in 2016. Our latest short film is a SoCal CIFF 17 Official Selection and was screened in Los Angeles in August 2017. Molly C. Paddon ’03 did hair and makeup for us on our short film. (I took the picture she used in the Georgian on our set. <smile>)”
Fomer Faculty Mark Osterman writes, “I received the Georgian yesterday and enjoyed the articles on alumni film makers. I had no idea there were so many George School connections. While I realize it focused on alumni, I thought you might be interested in a faculty connection. I taught photography at George School from 19791999. During that time, I introduced an unusual curriculum of handmade photosensitive materials for my students that eventually caught the eye of the International Museum of Photography in Rochester NY. I was originally hired by the Museum in 1999 to teach photograph conservators. Now named The George Eastman Museum, my job here has changed to teaching a master pro-
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gram in photograph preservation and public workshops in a great many of early photographic processes. My original research in early processes while at George School actually spawned an artistic movement. My wife and I are well known in the fine art photography community, being represented by Howard Greenberg Gallery, NYC. By coincidence, this week I am teaching how to make motion picture film. This is not so much how to shoot film, produce it, or direct it, as many of your alumni featured in the issue, but how to actually ‘make’ film. We mix the light sensitive gelatin emulsion, coat the acetate plastic stock, slit the coated stock to 35 mm and perforate the film for shooting in the camera. Participants expose the film in a cine camera and develop it in wet chemistry. The subject people choose to film in these workshops is less important to them than the experience in understanding how this material was made in an era where we expect it to become superseded by digital. We are the only lab in the world that can offer this curriculum, so generally, our attendees are film makers and film historians who want to know more about the medium before the industrial product disappears completely. So as it turns out, you have one faculty alum who is the only one on your list who is actually a film ‘maker’ in a literal sense—and still teaching. Learn more at eastman.org/event/ workshops/35mm-motion-picturefilm-making-session-ii.”
Alumni Tell Us EDITED BY EMMA WELLS ’13
seventy-three years is an exact quote from a George School English teacher: ‘Make it meaty, concise, and to the point.’”
1945 For Alumni Contact Information Visit our alumni website: www.georgeschool.org/alumni Contact the Advancement Office T. 215.579.6620 E. advancement@georgeschool.org
1942 Eleanor Jessup Stevenson writes, “My excitement mounted when I received my copy of the Georgian. I especially enjoyed the new format with the inclusion of more pictures and personal stories expressing the experiences of students and graduates. In the past, I have rarely missed attending the special five year reunions of the Class of 1942, but this year was different. My daughter was celebrating her 55th reunion and my son was celebrating his 50th reunion, both from Moorestown Friends School, on the same day as our 75th at George School. That had to take priority. I believe I was the first to marry in my class. We had fifty-four wonderful years before Harry was taken by cancer. I lived at home by myself for a while and then twelve years ago moved to The Evergreens, a CCRC in Moorestown. I still drive, take advantage of the many activities offered here and enjoy many new friendships. George School is close to my heart. I take hope that the Quaker Message is spread around the world through the many backgrounds of students and it gives me some hope for a peaceful world.”
1944 Joel Raphaelson writes, “I graduated from George School in 1944. That is seventy-three years ago. I remember with great fondness sticky buns on Thursdays, May evenings on the lawn, and many of my classmates. I probably learned a thing or two as well. My standard for good writing for
Robert (Chip) D. Miller writes, “The class of 1945 was an outstanding group and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. Many of us who have survived are ninety years old and curious to learn about our classmates. I currently live in Yorba Linda CA with my wife Barbara. We are both healthy and active. I retired from a career in manufacturing management in 1997. Today I keep busy with music (I play trumpet in a concert band), do watercolor art, play golf, and enjoy reading. Barbara and I enjoy many family outings with our three sons, grandchildren, and one great grandson. This year’s highlight was a huge birthday celebration in September 2017 for my 90th. Best wishes to all.”
1946 Carlos Luria writes, “Greetings all! Still going (relatively) strong in Salem SC, once the heart of the Bible Belt but slowly becoming more liberal. Nonetheless, it’s still sixtyforty Trump country, so we liberals have a way to go. I presently chair a discussion group of retired foreign service, CIA, military officers, academics, business people, Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians that meets bi-weekly to acquire a better understanding of the world’s problems and each other’s viewpoints, and occasionally even to emerge with a consensus.”
1947 Gouverneur (Gouv) Cadwallader writes, “I still do mathematics for fun, including torus geometry, fractal graphics, and magic squares. I intend to be at all reunions from now on.” Sarah (Sally) McVaugh Swetka writes, “I’ve been a widow for five years, and I’m dealing with Parkinson’s. I keep busy with exercise and bridge and keeping up with family,
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which is spread from one end of the state to the other. My son runs the tennis shop that my late husband Alex and I began back in the seventies.”
1951 Margery (Marge) Levy Lustig writes, “It is with great sadness that I send the news of my husband Shelly’s passing in September from Parkinson’s disease.” Diana Moon Woodward writes, “My husband Gene and I recently experienced a terrific cruise around Cuba, a place I’ve always wanted to visit as my mother was born there. She lived on a sugar plantation until various civil wars occurred and the family returned to the United States. My mother was about eleven years old when they moved to Virginia.”
1952 Mary Shoemaker McKinney writes, “I have moved from my home of forty-six years in Augusta GA to an independent senior living community in Athens GA near where my two younger daughters and their families live. I still spend summers as the historian for the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole WY and enjoy being near my two older daughters and their families there. I would love to connect with any alumni in either place.”
1953 John C. Raushenbush writes, “Last winter I published my book Mike Mulligan: The Magic Eagle of Yellowstone, written for ages 8-14. I expect its sequel to be published winter 2018.” David E. Steward writes, “Chroma Volumes One through Five (Brooklyn, 2017) in press with Richard Kostelanetz’s Archae Editions.”
1954 E. David Luria writes, “I’m a professional architectural photographer and founder-director of the Washington Photo Safari, which has just received its fifth annual Certificate
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of Excellence from Trip Advisor. My company has trained 35,000 amateur photographers on 5,200 safaris conducted since 1999 in the nation’s capital. My eleven instructors and I have also volunteered our time by providing free photo safaris to raise over $25,000 in support of international disasters for flood, hurricane, and earthquake victims.” Peter (Pete) D. Glusker writes, “There is an interesting exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles CA about my mother until February. Check it out: www.skirball. org/exhibitions/another-promisedland-anita-brenners-mexico.” James ( Jim) L. Whitely writes, “Note to our ’54 classmates: We have an active and enthusiastic group site: gs54@yahoogroups.com. Notable contributors are Peter H. Gum, Elaine (Laney) Martin James, Peter (Pete) D. Glusker, Margot Stevens Trout, Robert (Bob) A. Freedman, even on occasion our grand poohbah class prez E. David Luria. No vetting. Just type in the address. Join us!”
1955 Richard (Dick) B. Clement writes, “In spring 1956 a college friend and I were walking to downtown Hoboken NJ when we passed a forlorn pile of metal and rags parked on a side street. A 1940 Mercury, the car was dirty and smelled musty. I borrowed $25 and the first major purchase of my life was mine! We had to push her back to campus, and sometime later my father towed my prize home to Woodbury NJ. My mother Rebecca Borden Clement ’16 was underwhelmed with the Mercury as I extolled its virtues. A dear Quaker lady, she said, “Rich, no matter what you do with it, it is still an old car.” My best friend William B. Long and I worked on the Mercury every day in June 1956. It was a wonderful summer until my father suddenly passed away. I leaned very hard on the Mercury, working on the car every day from dawn to dusk. Soon my mother said
the Mercury had to go, as she wanted to rent our parking space. But shortly thereafter I went back to college and then to flying school with the US Air Force, which turned into a twentythree-year career in service of our country. During my tours I often dreamed of coming home and finding the Mercury in my garage. After my service years I returned to New Jersey and was determined to find the Mercury. As a last resort I wrote her [the Mercury] a letter in an antique car magazine and she answered me. What a thrill for me when someone named Bob said, ‘I have your Mercury.’ Bob had fully restored the Mercury, and she won many awards. On August 22, 1956, my father passed. On August 22, 2017, the Mercury returned. She now sits in my garage.”
1956 Diane Rosebraugh Klein writes, “Still happily living in paradise (the mountains of Virginia are like a Sierra Club poster), near to some of my family. All three of my granddaughters now have a boy. All are thriving and doing well. Who could have dreamed that we could reach this impressive age? Well, I’m impressed! Hugs to the wonderful Class of 1956. We had the best of times.” John C. Wobensmith writes, “As Maryland secretary of state, I just returned from a highly successful official visit to Saint-Omer, France and Belgrade, Serbia. I participated in a historic inauguration of the Chapel of the Jesuits in Saint-Omer. In Serbia I led a business and senior government delegation, helping them with environmental issues of air, water, and land.” Kathleen (Kitty) Irving Krier writes, “The most difficult thing about living in the northwest after retirement is not being near old friends on the east coast. I left Philadelphia PA in August 1965, spent eleven years in the Chicago suburbs, thirty-four years in southern California, and have been in Coeur d’Alene ID (one hundred miles from
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1946 Carlos Luria ’46.
1955 Three photos of his 1940 Mercury from Richard (Dick) B. Clement ’55.
1955 Richard I. Grausman ’55 is with his daughter Deborah and chef Jacques Pépin.
1956 Kathleen (Kitty) Irving Krier ’56: Missy is six years old and gives us many happy moments no matter what the season.
1956 Kate Polsky Vivian ’56 surrounded by Louisiana musicians on her front porch. Kate died in October 2017. See In Memoriam, page 53.
1957 Wendy Coleman Goble ’57, Polly S. Stevens ’57, Ellen N. Chase ’57, Judith (Judy) Talbot Campos ’57, and Jennifer Abraham Page ’57
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the Canadian border) since the winter of 2009. My husband grew up in Idaho and we moved here to be near his family. My daughter Leanne lives in the Bay Area CA and I fly down to see her annually. Besides church activities, I enjoy being secretary of the Habitat for Humanity Board of Directors. Having fibromyalgia limits the activities I can commit to because my muscles often dictate when I can do things. I am looking for something like Pennswood, even though my husband Gary is a true Idaho farmer—they never plan to retire. It is beautiful here in all seasons, but I especially like staying at our campsite in the mountains in the summer when it’s not smoky from the forest fires. I am in love with the moose we see occasionally. My best to you all!” Martha (Mart y) Paxson Grundy writes, “Mario Capecchi came to George School this past October to speak with students and to film a documentary about his life with an Italian film maker.”
1957 Judith ( Judy) Talbot Campos writes, “Several members of the Class of 1957 got together in October 2017 to celebrate our seventy-eighth birthdays. We learned a new song, ate a potluck dinner (including cake), shared adventure stories, and laughed a lot.”
1958 Alden F. Briscoe writes, “I continue to run Brakeley Briscoe Inc., a firm which consults with nonprofit organizations in strategic planning, board governance, and fundraising. Our emphasis is on counseling nonprofits in fundraising, and the company has been doing this for ninety-eight years. My wife Marianne is president and I am executive vice president. We have nonprofit clients in all sectors all over the United States and we have affiliate companies in Europe and Asia. This year we traveled to Paris, Stockholm, Hong Kong, and Singapore on business. As of September 2017, Brakeley Briscoe
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purchased an executive search firm, Leadership Search Partners, which helps nonprofits find candidates for executive director and top fundraising positions. Integrating that into our work should keep us out of trouble for the near future. In the spring I attended a memorial service here in the San Francisco Bay Area for John Streetz (ffac) where John F. Steinfirst ’58 and I were among the speakers. Recently I attended an event for the Fred Finch Youth Center, the organization of which John Steinfirst was CEO Officer for seventeen years. John was there as was politician Loni Hancock. We are looking forward to seeing all classmates at our 60th reunion!” Nancy Baker Martin writes, “I just bought a 2018 calendar, which reminds me that it will be sixty years ago this coming June that we graduated from George School! Kind of scary, isn’t it? Hope we have another wonderful reunion! My husband Skip and I are in the process of moving from our home in Dorset VT to a condominium on a pretty golf course. Friends have said to do this before you are seventy—we missed that one! We are fortunate that Hurricane Irma didn’t damage our Florida home where we’ll happily spend the winter. See you at our reunion!”
1960 Mahlon (Lon) A. Barash writes, “I have been living in Lima, Peru since 2008 when I returned here from a contract in Mexico. Now I am teaching English to three second-level management students at Adidas, the sports equipment company. I am also conducting an evaluation of a local NGO’s home improvement loan program. This is the fourth time I have lived in Peru, starting in 1965 as a Peace Corps volunteer working in the sierra helping small communities build better schools. In February 2017 I became a Peruvian citizen (in addition to my American citizenship) when my application was finally signed by the president after waiting four years. In 2010 a local university
published a book Images of Peru of my black-and-white photographs. I will try to get it published in the United States.
1961 Richard (Dick) Brown II writes, “We have lost an exceptional person, a man who inspired us, comforted us, and often made us laugh. John Streetz (ffac) was the heart and soul of our class, inspiring us with his own accomplishments, challenging us with his intelligence, delighting us with his humor, and always taking pride in our accomplishments.” James C. Michener writes, “Classmate James ( Jim) M. Talbot and I met for dinner recently. We had a good talk about our lives since George School. The meet-up was occasioned by a soccer game that my life partner Carolyn refereed near Jim’s home. I enjoy going to her games and being a ball boy.” James ( Jim) M. Talbot writes, “Burt L. Ross rocked the house when he spoke to the George School students in October 2017, giving them some sage advice. It was the fifth time Burt has been requested by the students to speak. He did us proud.” Kathryn Waddell Takara published her most recent book, Shadow Dancing: Selling Survival in China. Amazon reports, “Award winning author Dr. Kathryn Waddell Takara provides a compelling and intimate traveling stage through her pictorial poems that witness her impressions of the waking of a sleeping dragon—the New China, including the startling successes and disquieting obstacles and corruption. She likewise illuminates the reader of Chinese spiritual qualities, history, and their continuing reverence for knowledge, ancestors, and nature. Most strikingly, Kathryn experienced the historically racially unfamiliar climate for many black people who have sojourned in China.”
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A Big Hit
Score Tax Savings and Support George School If you are age 70½ or older, you can make a gift to George School directly from your individual retirement account (IRA) without including the withdrawal in your taxable income. This provision, known as a “charitable IRA rollover,” was made permanent as part of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015. You can direct your gift toward the George School Fund or fund a program that is important to you.
Please contact Renée Mayo ’93, Leadership Gifts Officer for Planned Giving, at 215.579.6574 or rmayo@georgeschool.org for more information about this special incentive for donors with IRAs.
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1960 Mahlon (Lon) A. Barash ’60 with his naturalization title, officially making him a Peruvian citizen.
1961 The family of James (Jim) M. Talbot ’61 at Pocono Lake Preserve.
1961 Kathryn Waddell Takara ’61.
1962 The grandchildren of Sara (Sally) Wislar Farneth ’62.
1964 Photo from Morgan (Scott) Phenix ’64 of railroad tracks winding toward the Neshaminy Creek trestle bridge.
1966 Robert (Bob) S. Klein ’66, Cheryl Klein, Barbara Patch, and James (Jim) P. Patch ’66 inside Wisconsin Capitol.
1966 Richard (Dick) L. Danley ’66 rafting on the Colorado River.
1969 The grandchildren of Lucy S. Judson ’69 in Boulder CO.
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Katrina Dyke Mason writes, “I’m writing this from the end of the Camino de Santigo. I walked about one hundred miles, hiking solo with a borrowed backpack, a change of clothes, rain gear, comfortable sandals, and a walking stick I bought from a woodcarver along the way. As I walked, the George School song floated through my mind: ‘Faith, hope, and love we cherish. These our common goals to gain.’ Those words sum up much of my Camino experience: faith that you can keep walking; love of the peaceful solitude, of the beauty of the countryside, of sunsets and sunrises; and hope that the simplicity, friendships, sharing of stories, and cheerful salutations can continue when the walk ends.”
1962 Douglas O. Maass writes, “My son Aaron and his wife Ashley welcomed their first baby Caleb James Maass in March 2017. Caleb joins our two older grandkids Zachary and Caitlin who live in Pembroke MA with their parents Ethan and Laura.” Ruth Bonner Levine writes, “I enjoyed watching my granddaughter Adira Bonner Abbett (1) appear in the movie The Zookeepers Wife. My daughter Rachael Levine ’89 was the camera operator of this movie, which was filmed in Prague, Czech Republic.” Sara (Sally) Wislar Farneth writes, “My husband Alan and I are enjoying hanging out with our grandchildren. We just came home from ten days in Wisconsin while Katherine (Kate) Farneth Hirsch ’94 and her husband traveled. In late August, we hung out with our in-laws while Melinda (Lindy) Farneth Hankins ’92 started her master’s in education.” W. A. Stewart (Sandy) Wright Jr writes, “I’m about to cross the fiftyyear finish line of marriage. Wanted: Several 5-hour Energy shots and a good psychiatrist.”
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Carol Ellis Duke writes, “I moved from Cincinnati OH to Federal Way WA three years ago. We live right on the Puget Sound so our summers and winters are quite mild. We live three hours from three national parks. My daughter’s family lives twenty minutes away and I spend lots of time with my grandchildren. My husband and I enjoy hiking and camping in the nearby mountains as much as possible. Since my retirement from public school teaching, I have been involved in teacher training. When I left Cincinnati OH, I left behind my position as a director of a teacher training program. When I moved to Washington I was given the opportunity to develop an online course that could be used to teach teachers how to instruct students who have trouble learning to read. The development of the course took about a year, and in the fall of 2016 three teachers enrolled. I am now co-director of this course, and in January 2018 we will have forty-five teachers enrolled. We have students enrolled as far away as Bogotá, Colombia!”
Kathryn McCreary writes, “Dear classmates, it is harvest time, and time to plant again for the future. The garden is a refuge, a reminder of our interdependence and of the rhythms of nature that are steady and life giving. This fall I have enjoyed quite a few days of substituting at the high school. The kids are funny and energetic, and I keep my gloomy thoughts to myself as I try to soak up their delight in each other. The truth is, I struggle with fear and discouragement as the daily news trumpets forth with violence, injustices, assaults on the environment, presidential threats, and a seeming retreat from values I had thought fundamentally American. It’s hard to know how to effectively combat this strange and horrible time in history. I sign petitions and write letters constantly, as do countless other people, but in the end to feel any peace of mind I have to return to the dirt behind the gate. I hope you have a garden of sorts to sustain you in the face of today’s grim realities. I have such respect for the staff at George School who strive daily to inspire youth with hope, determination, creative vision, and the skills and knowledge to move us forward.”
Robert (Bob) W. Thomas writes, “Who can believe next year will be our 55th Reunion! I often see Carolyn I. Evans, Joan Haggerty Giunta, and Holly Smith and we are already thinking ahead for next year. We met on campus with the Alumni Director and the campus has really changed in the last five years. We will be meeting again in November and working on a mailing. Good Lord willing I will again be hosting our dinner at my house on Saturday, May 5 so mark your calendars and hope to see as many as possible again. Anyone who would be interested in working with us in this planning stage, please get back to me. We did hear that Leah Kerr Barrows passed away but have no other information, and we are working on finding some of our ‘lost’ classmates. More to follow.”
Morgan (Scot t) Phenix writes, “My first novel Elizabeth’s Story was published in March 2016 on Amazon and Kindle. In the book, Elizabeth travels by train to California to visit her high school roommate Kathryn. She takes her memoir manuscript with her and shares pieces of her story along the way. It’s a story of truth suspended between fact and fiction, contradiction and coincidence. Special thanks to Kathryn McCreary for inspiration, namesakes, and priceless encouragement over the past couple of years. The first few chapters of Elizabeth’s Story and another chapter further in remind me very much of George School.”
1965 Martha S. Wilson writes, “My 1972 work Breast Forms Permutated is on view through January 14, 2018
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1970 Roger L. Kay ’70 relaxing on Lake Cochituate MA.
1972 Barbara L. Gregson ’72 shared “a photo of my outside desk by our pond where I tried to write a book this summer.”
1974 Paul G. Church ’74 and Rebecca Armstrong ’75 attended the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque NM.
1976 Ann Sweeten ’76 live at the Clayton Opera House.
1977 Debra Gross Balka ’77 shared an end of the evening selfie.
1980 Jill C. Wilkens ’80.
1981 Dwyn Ann Wen ’81 at the helm.
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at Met Breuer, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s contemporary art outpost at 75th and Madison Avenue in New York City. I am mighty pleased to announce that this work has been acquired by the Met for its permanent collection.”
1966 Richard (Dick) L. Danley writes, “I recently completed my sixth Grand Canyon river trip (but the first in twenty years). This time I went in a small unmotorized raft with only two other people, as I wanted to get closer to the tranquility of the river and to fully appreciate the power of the rapids. The changes along the river were startling, as huge fields of vegetation have grown up because of stabilized water flows through the Glen Canyon Dam. Drought and flash floods have also changed the character of many wonderful places. I currently live in Sun City AZ caring for my mother (92). But I very much miss the days I lived in Flagstaff AZ and at the Grand Canyon itself.”
1967 S. David (Dave) Miller writes, “I had a wonderful time at our reunion. Special thanks to Anne Culp Storch, Laurie Rendall Coursin, and Steven (Steve) E. Sweitzer for pulling this off. And thanks to everyone who showed up— it was the biggest turnout ever! I left Newtown and drove to my hometown of Sharon PA for a memorial get together for my parents. My granddaughter stayed with me for a month while she was at day camp. Between the gym, the yard, the library, and of course my wife, what else could one ask for?”
1968 Michael (Mike) Brick writes, “Looking forward to our 50th reunion! Our class was very special. We had such a great chemistry, especially our senior year. All of you meant so much to me as a young man and still do.”
Douglas S. Crow writes, “After many years teaching at graduate schools and working in policy think tanks in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, we relocated to Washington DC.” Marcy Herron Hammerschlag writes, “Twelve years after a longterm marriage ended I married the kindest, sweetest, most devoted man I have ever met in October 2017. A new chapter begins.”
1969 Catherine (Cass) Seely RulonMiller writes, “In December 2016 I received my master’s in pastoral care and counseling. I hope to work with the addicted population.” Deborah Snipes Hale writes, “I have recently divorced after forty years and moved from my beloved house on Lake Ontario. My life has been turned upside down, but I am making progress toward healing. I’m retired so I can visit my granddaughter in the New York City area and the Snipes family on the Homestead in Morrisville PA.” Elizabeth Cope McDonald writes, “Ever since I retired from teaching six years ago, I’ve been busy giving tours at our recycle center here in Wichita KS, where I am the education director. I start off with a presentation in the classroom and then give a tour of our amazing facility. I also give presentations at schools, businesses, and events. Let’s do our part to reduce, reuse, and recycle!” Lucy S. Judson writes, “My husband Craig and I are in Los Angeles CA taking care of grandchildren while their mom is filming a movie in Vancouver, Canada. Our other two grandchildren live in New Jersey. It has been great going back and forth visiting them. I am getting more and more ready to retire.”
1970 Roger L. Kay writes, “A surreal year. I’ve been stunned by the trans-
formation of our country into a lesser place. Things don’t make sense. Values have been turned on their heads. In that context, this fall we became empty nesters, as the last went off to college on the West Coast. I’m also a grandpa times two now by way of my older daughter. We’re still working, but not too much longer. Various things keep us interested and engaged. I’ve taken up sailing small boats.”
1971 Donna Caulkins Parsons writes, “Everyone from ’69 to ’73, please friend me on Facebook. I might give a big beach party next summer!”
1972 Barbara L. Gregson writes, “Thank you all for the wonderful 45th reunion! Especially Nancy Brockway Marvin and Barbara P. Winn for their parties and dinners. I loved seeing you all. I have been writing my book, Theater Artist Play: A Guide to Creating your own Theater Work, due out in December 2017 (it has taken me much longer than I thought). I am finally coming to the last chapters. Then on to the next project. See you at our 50th I hope!”
1973 Jonathan L. Dworkin writes, “I recently completed my fourth year as a financial services representative for TD Bank. My wife Jane, son Steven, and I are enjoying the newest addition to our household, a miniature golden doodle puppy named Shayna (AKA pretty girl).” Jeffrey S. Schwartz writes, “So much to say: Anthony got engaged, Jeffrey graduated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, my son Jarred spent the semester at New York University Stern School of Business in London, Alec started at the University of Rhode Island, my father-in-law turned ninetyfive, my mother moved down the block from us, and we’re redoing the house! Other than that nothing going on. Any alums in the Long Island NY area should hit me up and stop by.”
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1974 Paul G. Church writes, “Visited with Rebecca Armstrong ’75 in Albuquerque NM in October 2017. Up before dawn to take in the Mass Ascension of hundreds of hot air balloons during the two-week Balloon Fiesta. We had great conversations. Forty-plus years later we are both still guided by the standards instilled in us during some of our most impressionable years of life while at George School.”
1975 Sally Henry Garber writes, “I’m still working at Southern Methodist University on the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series, with great speakers covering lots of topics. I am loving being a grandmother to Harper Love (3), and we are expecting another granddaughter. My husband of thirty-five years Ken and I downsized our home and have been enjoying more travel to places on our bucket list. I really enjoy staying in touch with so many of you on Facebook.” Alberto Gutierrez writes, “This year I retired from the Food and Drug Administration after twenty-five wonderful years. It was an honor to do public service.”
1976
youngest son is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My oldest son volunteers at the thrift store that supports our domestic violence clients. I am involved in various church committees, and I’m currently on a committee to elect our first black mayor.” Ann Sweeten writes, “My new album Flying Solo Silhouette has been entered into the Grammy Awards to be held in New York City this year. Reviews have been spectacular so I am hoping for a Grammy nod! This is now my thirteenth album but first alloriginal solo piano. I missed our last reunion so am hoping to attend the 45th (can that be right?). The year has been challenging as I was diagnosed with leukemia in April 2017, but I am adjusting to treatment. Blessings to my classmates!” Evelyn Hoopes Street t writes, “Funny how life comes full circle sometimes, isn’t it? Born in Pennsylvania and raised in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, I moved to the Carolinas in 1980, where I lived for almost thirty-two years. In 2012 I received numerous divine confirmations that I was to ‘Come home...the Quakers are going to quake again!’ So I did. I met my future husband Warren Wright, whom I married in July 2017. I learned he too has Quaker heritage, with some George School connections. For our honeymoon we enjoyed a Rhine River cruise, and we are continuing to settle into our Southampton PA home. Our fulfilling work through Restoring the Foundations involves helping people identify hindrances to more fully embrace their generational inheritance. I’d be honored to hear from George School friends via a Facebook message or my website, www.evelynstreett.org.”
Elizabeth (Beth) Davison Hyde writes, “Elizabeth (Liz) P. Larsen has been performing in Beautiful on Broadway. Since our reunion, David L. Koffman, Jean Morrison, Stuart L. Alexander, and others have been trying to plan a trip to New York City, catch the play, and take Liz out to dinner. Despite much effort by David, our group has still not yet descended on Liz. Jean did get to a play with her daughter Sara without us. Hope you all get to go. I hear she is fantastic!”
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Mavis Mathis Smith writes, “I am currently serving in my third year as board chair of Sarah’s Refuge Domestic Violence Center. I am still working at Kenansville Health and Rehab Center in Kenansville NC. My
Debra Gross Balka writes, “It has been an exciting year for us, especially May 2017 when our class celebrated our 40th reunion. We had a fun reunion party with a pretty decent turnout that everyone seemed to really enjoy. Then at the end of
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May my son Maxwell (Max) H. Balka ’13 graduated from Johns Hopkins University, and the day following his graduation, my husband Jay and I were married! We had a private ceremony at the home of dear friends in Chestnut Hill PA. The intimacy of our ceremony and the exquisite setting made the day more special than I could have ever imagined. Jay and I recently returned from our honeymoon to Italy, where we spent a Saturday night in Florence with the awesome Dale M. Rutstein. We are so impressed by the work Dale has done and continues to do for UNICEF, protecting the rights of children around the globe.” Rex J. Horwitz writes, “Sorry to have missed the 40th reunion. I would have liked to have caught up and have seen some old familiar faces. I moved to Wapakoneta OH about four years ago to renovate a historic 1908 high school that is on the National Historic Registry as the first centralized HS in Ohio. The granite structure became the benchmark for all future schools in Ohio, Eastern Indiana, and Northern Kentucky, influencing the education model for the next sixty years. It has been a labor of love in renovating the structure to fiftyseven senior and general population government-subsidized units. The spirit of astronaut Neil Armstrong who went to school here lives on with people who went to school here and those who now live here. I am also completing renovation of another fifty-five units in Sidney OH, about forty minutes north of Dayton. I continue to provide housing in central west Massachusetts for international graduate students where English is a second and third language in a communal, American-immersion focused environment. There is nothing like having a Thanksgiving dinner with Russians and Chinese with a lively game of neighborhood poker— complete with brandy and cigars. To all, if in the area, please reach out and call for a cup of coffee, or a place to stay if desired. www.LFRrentals. com or RJHorwitz@LFCRinc.com.”
ALUMNI TELL US
1978 Judith ( Judy) Lavori Keiser writes, “This has been a year of hurricanes, in nature (Hurricane Irma was quite disruptive but we were very lucky—only landscape and dock damage), politics (the struggle to keep focused on positive news is very wearing), and personal life (some family issues have occupied me more than I anticipated). Nothing is certain, and we have to reach for what matters most: our inner resources and the love and support of friends and family. I snuck into reunion a year early because I was in the area visiting my son, who’s at Princeton University. He met me on George School’s campus and was thunderstruck by the atmosphere of love that he felt. I was so proud to share the eternal truth of George School. It is an oasis of acceptance and support in this complicated world, and I’m grateful it’s going strong.”
1979 David L. Hostet ter writes, “In April 2017 I presented a paper titled The Anatomy of Truth: Speak Truth to Power, Anatomy of Anti-Communism, and AFSC Strategy to Thaw the Cold War at the Academic Symposium of the American Friends Service Committee’s Waging Peace Summit centennial celebration in Philadelphia PA. Video excerpts and conference papers are available at www.afsc. org/resource/academic-symposiumprogram.”
1980 Jill C. Wilkens writes, “My husband and I are excited that our daughter is joining the George School Class of 2021 this year and is off to an excellent start as a boarding student. Her twin brother chose to stay close to home and attend an all-boys school, Gilman. We are both private practice radiologists in Maryland, my husband specializing in neuroradiology and I in women’s imaging and pediatric imaging. It’s so nice to keep in touch with many from George School
through social media. I hope to see some old friends now that we’re on campus more often!”
1981 Dwyn Ann Wen writes, “Santa Barbara CA is home to my lovely sailboat C’est La Vie. Come sailing, alumni, the weather is gorgeous! When not at the helm, I’m traveling the country, doing federal policy work, and working on a book on crony capitalism— there are endless examples to choose from. My grown kids are great, the single life is awesome, and sailing is my passion.”
1983 Michael (Mike) L. Sherman writes, “It’s near the end of my second cross country season here at George School as a coach, and the words ‘grateful’ and ‘proud’ describe every day. The campus is still so familiar to me but new in many ways as well. The kids are all so very different and all so very interesting, just as they were when I was a student. Watching them run, running with them, and listening to them is wonderful and challenging. I hear about their fears about running and also how great they feel having just beaten a personal record or achieved a goal. There is so much growth here, it’s impossible to describe entirely. I knew I liked to run when I first came to George School, but I started loving it. Through my teammates, our workouts, our races, and our bonded friendships, we loved running together. And that is what happens here today as I help them understand what it is to run and race. There is so much more to running than just lacing up your trainers and jogging off. I’ve seen this sport connect them in ways that aren’t possible unless they’ve run alongside someone else suffering as much as they are.” Tara R. Greco writes, “It was great seeing Marise Meynet Stewart and Heather Stiers-Dorn in October 2017 in Harvard Square MA. Good food, tasty cocktails, and lively conversation make up for lost time.”
1985 Hannah Galantino-Homer writes, “My daughter Dana graduated with George School Class of 2017 and is now at Swarthmore College. I recently visited Karen Strassburger (ffac) and M. Kathryn Marshall ’79 at their farm in Vermont. I am still busy with my equine hoof disease research at Penn Vet, helping my son Davy with his science experiments, and kayaking on the Brandywine Creek with my husband Dave.” Victor Khodadad writes, “I had a great time with my brother Rhazi Khodadad ’87 and Kirk E. Innes ’84 at our annual Eagles game in Philadelphia PA. My opera company New Camerata Opera continues to thrive in New York City following our fall 2017 production Triskaidekaphilia, which played to sold out houses at Brooklyn’s hottest night spot House of Yes. Our spring 2018 offering Divide Light will be performed in Manhattan NY in April 2018. Please check out www.newcamerataopera.org for more info!” Lane J. Savadove writes, “I am now a full professor of theater at Rowan University and continue as the artistic director of EgoPo Classic Theater in Philadelphia PA, now in its twenty-fifth season. The company was recently nominated for eleven Barrymore Awards, including Best Director and Best Production for my staging of Chekhov’s The Seagull. M. Kelly Rayel and I attended each other’s fiftieth birthday parties this past summer.”
1986 Laura Grontkowski James writes, “J. Christian Stevens and I have decided that after thirtyfour years, life is too short not to be happy.” Anna M. Williams writes, “I completed my MSEd in recreation education in May 2015 at Lehman College here in Bronx NY, and I’m happy to report that I’ve started
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work as an urban park ranger/park enforcement patrol officer for New York City Parks! I’m looking forward to seeing school mates next time they visit the area.”
Pennsylvania. We now live in Glenside PA and I am teaching in the Philadelphia School District. It is a big change for us, but we are closer to family which is a huge plus.”
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Scot t J. Loev writes, “I hear updates from my niece Olivia Holtzman ’20 who finished her freshman year. As medical director of Interventional Pain Medicine at St. Luke’s University and Health Network in the Lehigh Valley PA, I’m excited to perform new treatments that are changing how we treat chronic pain. The most exciting is a treatment called spinal cord stimulation, which allows us to place implanted electrical leads along the spine to decrease or relieve patients of chronic pain and to wean them off their opioid/narcotic medication.”
Joan Burton Whent writes, “It’s been a busy fall with the passing of Hurricanes Irma and Maria here in Turks and Caicos. I am impressed daily with the community spirit in these islands as everyone has come together to clean, rebuild, and support one another. The main tourist island where we live, Providenciales, was spared a lot of the destruction evident on some other islands, and our kids Jake (11) and Harry (9) are excited to be back in school. Even our little beachfront restaurant (made of wood!) made it with only a bit of roof damage. If you’re planning travel in the next few months, consider coming to Turks and Caicos, it’s a lovely place.”
1988 Dara Silverman Berger writes, “I recently wrote a book titled How to Prevent Autism, which was released July 2017. I am currently working on a documentary film based on the same subject as my book. I have also been appearing on many radio shows and podcasts to promote my book as well as writing articles on preventing childhood chronic illnesses for many online publications. I hope my work can make a difference in preventing chronic illness in children.” Jennifer Rogin Wallis writes, “It’s hard to believe that our 30th reunion is coming up in May. Please come back to campus to see old friends and reconnect with former classmates (it’s corny but true). I live in Fairfield CT with my two kids. My daughter just started high school and my son (10) is all about baseball. I do fundraising for the Jewish community and manage to keep busy. Stay tuned for more information about our big reunion.”
1989 Rachel Snyder MacDougall writes, “My family moved from Las Vegas NV and returned to
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1991 Laura Swanstrom Reece writes, “My family and I recently relocated from Washington DC to Palm Beach FL. I look forward to continuing my volunteer and philanthropic work as well as my equestrian pursuits. I hope to see any George School alumni living nearby!”
1993 Kareem O. Afzal writes, “My wife Nihad and I are thrilled that our daughter Layla Afzal ’21 has begun her George School journey. She’s all moved in and settled.” Aaron Q. Brophy writes, “Although a bit reclusive of late, I have been living in Washington DC for the past two decades. Last year I joined the art faculty at Sidwell Friends School. On a recent Thursday evening in October, I found myself in the newly minted DC Wharf marina district, at my own art reception, watching fireworks, drinking pilsner, and roasting marshmallows in a gentrified urban fire pit, while listening to Kevin Bacon’s jam band play before my very
eyes. In this one bright shining surreal moment, I realized that my six degrees had become one.” Elijah (Lije) S. Dornstreich writes, “Gennifer Miller Dornstreich ’99 and I continue to enjoy life together in Philadelphia PA with our girls Miriam (3) and Penny (2). I’ve been spending time with Bradd A. Forstein, recently enjoyed a beer and a burger with Robert (Rob) T. Whit tenberger, and have had the pleasure of reconnecting recently with Christopher (Chris) N. Kerr ’08 and Nicholas (Nick) Kerr ’00. Genny and I also see Gregory (Greg) P. Miller Jr ’95 regularly, but only because he keeps showing up to family gatherings.” Noah S. Harris writes, “It’s been a busy year for me. I broke my collar bone skiing, got married, had an operation to repair my collar bone, almost moved, and now my wife Beth and I are expecting our first child in January. Looking forward to seeing everyone at our 25th reunion.” Christine Markow Johnson writes, “I am honored to have been voted Best of Bucks 2017 for the category of psychologist. I run a private practice in Newtown PA that focuses on clinical and health psychology from ages five through adult. I earned my PhD at Drexel University in 2006 and have been in private practice in Newtown for the past five years. I enjoy helping individuals through difficult times, transitions, or medical diagnoses. Although I trained in cognitive behavioral therapy at the Beck Institute in Philadelphia PA, I try to take an eclectic approach tailoring the therapeutic treatment for each client. You can learn more about me and my practice at www.drchristinemarkow. com. I currently reside in Newtown with my son Christopher (9) and daughter Alexis (7). We have been enjoying reconnecting with the George School community as my children are riding at the equestrian center. I would love to hear from anyone in the community.”
ALUMNI TELL US
1983 Heather Stiers-Dorn ’83, Marise Maynet Stewart ’83, and Tara R. Greco ’83
1985 The son of Victor Khodadad ’85 at his second birthday party.
1986 Laura Grontkowski James ’86 and J. Christian Stevens ’86.
1988 The recently published book by Dara Silverman Berger ’88.
1993 Christine Markow Johnson ’93.
1993 Elijah (Lije) S. Dornstreich ’93 in Miami FL .
1993 Arabesque, a sculpture by Aaron Q. Brophy ’93 on exhibition at the Wharf in Washington DC.
1995 Adjowii Cooper-Henry ’95 shares a photo of Nancy J. Lloyd ’62 and his son enjoying the first fondue of the season.
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1994 Ryan R. Kerney writes, “I just got back from a Fulbright sabbatical in Sri Lanka where I was studying their frogs with a collaborator in the city of Kandy. I’m settling into a new semester of teaching at Gettysburg College and our four kids are back to school. I also received a research grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in September to work with scientists at Columbia University and Stony Brook University. I’m expecting many trips to the New York City area over the next three years. Hoping to see some old George School alumni friends in these travels.”
1995 Adjowii Cooper-Henry writes, “I wrote and published a children’s book called To and Fro earlier this year. The characters in the book are inspired by my two children Ece (14) and Kyo (3), while the context is in large part based on a poem I included in my application to George School years ago. This summer my godmother Nancy J. Lloyd ’62 came to visit me and my family and stayed with us in our home in the Swiss mountains.”
1997 Alyssa Katz writes, “For the past ten years I have been a Spanish teacher for Lawrence Township Public Schools. I spent six years at the middle school and am now beginning my fifth year at the high school. I am also the club advisor to our chapter of Students Helping Honduras, a national nonprofit that aims to alleviate extreme poverty and violence in Honduras through education and youth empowerment. This past summer I traveled to northern Honduras with fifteen of my high school students to paint the Jorge Fidel Duron Middle School. This school is painted red to honor Lawrence High School’s fundraising efforts, and displays a plaque with the names of students who were fundamental in raising the $25,000 needed to build the school. Ten of those students were also in Honduras during the summer of 2016 to break ground on the school, so seeing the
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project from start to finish was quite an emotional experience. I look forward to bringing more of my students down to this beautiful country and inspiring them to continue working hard so these amazing children can have the privilege of an education.” Christopher (Chris) D. Miller writes, “Hi Friends! I hope all is well and everyone had a great summer. Things were pretty busy for the last few months. I am still working as a college counselor and doing what I can to help my colleagues be better counselors too. Back in April 2017, I collaborated with other educators to develop a symposium to discuss diversity and equity issues in college counseling and higher education, and in June 2017 I took a group of my students on a college trip to Boston MA and New York City, and we even got a special tour of Columbia University from my old George School roommate Cameron Walker-Miller, who gave them all official Columbia Public Safety caps! I also hung out with K. Nura Abdul-Karim AbdurRahman and Elihu (Eli) C. Miles ’95 here in Silver Spring MD later that month! In July 2017, I presented at a conference on equity and inclusion in the college admissions process in Las Vegas NV, and I hosted a student leadership conference at my school in November 2017. In other news, my daughter Nia is starting second grade and loves hanging out with Eli’s daughter Ella. It was great seeing so many of you at the reunion in May, and I just got the postcard for George School’s 125th birthday party next year! But don’t wait until then—let me know when you get to Maryland or Washington DC!”
1999 John D. Fort writes, “I’m excited to be teaching high school physics and geology at the legendary Chaffey High School in Ontario CA. My daughter Amelie continues to impress and inspire me as an athlete, a scholar, and a person. She just ran in the Varsity Cross Country meet on Catalina Island CA! We look forward to seeing
my sister Victoria K. Fort ’03 in New York over Thanksgiving.”
2000 Marguerite Hachey Shifrin writes, “Come visit the Rocky Mountains! We have lots of space and gorgeous views. I cannot believe it’s been so long since I’ve been on campus and I wish we were closer, but alas, perfection is not always convenient. I’ve been married almost ten years, and I’m back in grad school at Duke University for my nurse practitioner degree. Life just keeps moving quickly! My daughter (6) and I made a cross-country trek this summer and spent some wonderful time with fellow classmate (love you forever) Fenna C. Mandolang in her beautiful home and at Niagara Falls. Come visit!”
2001 Jasmine V. Bailey writes, “My second book of poetry Disappeared was published by Carnegie Mellon University Press in October 2017, and I am in the process of completing PhD coursework at Texas Tech University. My husband Dan and I had a daughter Freya on the twenty-fifth birthday of Brennan M. O’Rear.”
2002 Noelle M. Minter writes, “I started a business in spring 2016, 3rd Wind Network LLC. In fall 2017 we won third prize in the 2017 New York Public Library StartUP! Business Plan Competition. 3rd Wind Network offers creative art classes and events in the Bronx and Westchester NY to transition recent retirees into a new lifestyle of personal growth and social engagement. For more information, visit www.3rdwindnetwork.com.”
2003 Ross A. Hollister writes, “This September I visited George School for the first time in nine years. I ran into Julia B. Nickles and joined a Sunday meeting for worship with the boarding students. Hoping to make the 15th reunion next year.”
ALUMNI TELL US
1997 The students of Alyssa Katz ’97.
2000 Marguerite Hachey Shifrin ’00.
2002 David (Dave) L. Selinger ’02 sent this photo of his daughter Emma sporting a GS bib.
2003 Ross A. Hollister ’03.
2004 Jelani K. Day ’04.
2004 Daniel (Dan) C. Suchenski ’04 officiates his third wedding.
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2004 Photo by Jessica (Jess) M. Klaphaak ’04 of her meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark.
2005 Lacey R. Maurer ’05 and Brandon Kovacic .
2006 Chelsea J. Sillars ’06, her partner Will, and Newton in Maine.
2008 Eliza Catalino ’08.
2010 Stephanie M. Feinman ’10 at Big Bend in Moab UT
2016 Eleanor (Elly) A. Thomas ’16 on the summit of Mount Katahdin ME.
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ALUMNI TELL US
2004 Avery M. Blank writes, “I had the opportunity to co-publish an article with my colleague at Harvard Law’s Executive Education program on millennials and how organizations can capture business opportunities, as well as attend the Aspen Ideas Festival as a scholar. I visited Washington DC a few times to speak, including at the National Diversity Women’s Business Leadership Conference.” Jelani K. Day writes, “I’m currently living and working in Harlem NY where I serve as the brand manager for my dad, the Harlem legend and iconic fashion designer Dapper Dan. I have successfully brokered a deal for a Dapper Dan memoir (to be released in 2018 via Random House) and a partnership between the Italian luxury fashion house Gucci and the Dapper Dan of Harlem brand. Aside from my work with my dad, I also serve as director of operations and marketing for CityLax, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to grow the game of lacrosse in New York City’s public schools and underserved communities.” Jessica ( Jess) M. Klaphaak writes, “I have come to be an active member of the Quaker meeting here in Copenhagen, Denmark. Every Sunday I sit with Ulla and Mogens, who are both in their nineties, lived through World War II, and took part in the Danish resistance against the Nazis. We have ten regular attenders and members, and I am the youngest of our group by thirty years. In July 2017, my family and I went to the Scandinavian Yearly Meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden. I voiced my concern that our greatest challenge in Denmark is building community and getting people to stay and take on responsibilities, and that I struggle with a feeling of hopelessness for our community. Being a Quaker is such a big part of my life that it’s difficult to witness the community struggle so hard to keep afloat. In Copenhagen, I often feel like I’m alone on the mast of a sinking ship. But my experience
in Gothenburg left me with the sense that we are all delicately connected— a connection that exists because we as Quakers reach out beyond ourselves to create community. Perhaps Quakers are particularly good at this because a sense of community is formed when we answer that of God in others. Although programmed meetings face dwindling membership across the planet, the few who stick around often accomplish great things through service and lobbying activities. Silence is a tool we use to listen to our inner Light, but it’s what we do with the messages we receive that defines us as individuals and as a group.” Daniel (Dan) C. Suchenski writes, “I was fortunate enough to officiate my third wedding this summer to a lovely couple in Birdsboro PA. The reading for their ceremony was well suited for the George School community. It comes from the book A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit: ‘Going the usual way from the base of Mount Whitney, you walk up from a road high on the eastern side of the slope. The view to the east, behind you as you toil uphill, gets bigger and bigger. Around 10,000 feet you look across the wide valley between the Sierra and the first range of the White Mountains. When you’ve risen for an hour or more, you see over the range to the next one, and the desert landscape keeps getting larger and larger, until you are looking across basin after range after basin into the distant depths of Nevada. You realize that no matter how much terrain you cover, there is far more than you ever will. As you step up to the ridgeline, the world to the west suddenly appears before you, a colossal expanse even more wild and remote than the east, a surprise, a gift, a revelation. The world doubles in size. Something like that happens when you really see someone.’”
2005 Jason Hellinger writes, “I recently bought a house and moved back to Philadelphia PA. I am really excited to be closer to family and friends.”
Lacey R. Maurer writes, “In September 2017 my husband Brandon and I were married at La Cañada Flintridge Country Club in Southern California surrounded by family and friends, including my cousin Jonathan B. Turner ’86. A wonderful time was had by all.”
2006 Karina H. Costa writes, “I am now living in western North Carolina, about forty minutes south of Asheville, with my husband and our young son. We have a thirteen-acre homestead and encourage anyone from the George School community in the area (or just passing through!) to connect.” Chelsea J. Sillars writes, “Hi Friends, I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy! I have been working as a producer with a focus in fashion advertising and editorials. Currently I am working with American photographer Annie Leibovitz as her in-house producer. I live in Brooklyn NY with my partner Will and our furry buddies Newton and Gatsby! In the past year, I have dived into the magical world of ceramics. I couldn’t be happier to have finally found my creative outlet!”
2007 Rachel A. Wells writes, “In August I got married with many of my favorite George School friends and teachers in attendance. My wife Nora and I are both still teaching at Quaker schools and are enjoying family life on Snipes Farm.”
2008 Eliza Catalino writes, “In the climate that we’re living in I am so grateful to have gone to George School! I am eternally grateful to have been molded by a place that goes above and beyond in its commitment to diversity and inclusion. I’m glad to have entered the field of education and can pass on all that I have learned at George School to my own students.”
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2010 Stephanie M. Feinman writes, “Since graduating with a degree in anthropology and fine art from The George Washington University in 2014, I have worked for four years in media production and creative media development. I recently joined the staff at the National Geographic Channel in New York, fulfilling a life-long dream. I currently work with two executive producers on a variety of network projects including documentary series, scripted series, animation series, and feature films. Current projects include a range of content such as an animated series about the ancient Maya; a series focused on British adventurer Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild; a documentary series about Americans fighting extremism in Iraq, Trinidad and Tobago, and South and Central America; a new Explorer series which includes segments of exploratory stories from across the world; and a documentary film on Alex Honnold, who became the first climber to free solo Yosemite’s three-thousand-foot El Capitan wall. I feel so privileged to work in such a dynamic and emotionally rewarding environment. Our social awareness and documentary projects in particular resonate with me as advocacy through media, which has been my focus for years. Being in a space where others share the same mission brings me back to my days at George School.”
2011 Maria J. D’Amico writes, “I’m in my second year at Boston University School of Medicine, and I’m one of the student leaders of a service learning group that was new on campus last year. The group is called CALM (Cuddling Assists in Lowering Maternal and Infant Stress), and we organize medical student volunteers to hold and soothe babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome after in-utero opioid exposure (essentially the babies are born in opioid withdrawal). The group has been getting a lot of attention given the opioid epidemic in the United States.”
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Amelie E. Meltzer writes, “I completed a one-year post-baccalaureate pre-med program at Bryn Mawr College and began medical school at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in August 2017.”
Trail. Many thanks to all my George School friends who supported me along the way, and a special shout out to Chris Odom and Kathleen O’Neal, who helped greatly with preparations.”
2012 Elise A. Riley writes, “After finishing a year of service with Quaker Voluntary Service in Atlanta GA, I am starting a dual master’s program in history and library science at Simmons College in Boston MA.” Julian H. Strachan writes, “I was accepted into the Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies based in Bologna, Italy for my first year starting August 2017. I received a BA in international affairs from the Lewis and Clark College in Portland OR.”
2015 Mat thew (Mat t) D. Simon shared that he spoke on October 25 for the Bucks County Chapter of the United Nations. Currently a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, Matthew spoke about his adventures as general secretary of the Ivy League Model United Nations Clubs—the third largest Model UN conference in the world that annually brings 3000 high school students from across the world to the University of Pennsylvania conference. He was selected to serve as coordinating director at the Model UN Expo in Beijing, China, in the summer of 2017 and applied and was selected to serve at the Ivy League Model UN Club in New Delhi, India, in November of 2016.
2016 Eleanor (Elly) A. Thomas writes, “After graduating from George School I took a gap year. I spent the first nine months working various jobs and earning money. In March 2017, I started my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, a 2189.8-mile journey from Georgia to Maine. I am pleased to report that in August 2017 I summited Mount Katahdin ME, the northern terminus of the Appalachian
Class notes for this issue were received as of November 8, 2017. The “Alumni Tell Us” and “In Memoriam” sections of the Georgian are shared online. If you do not want your name to be included in notes from others, contact us at advancement@georgeschool.org or 215.579.6564. The views and opinions expressed in class notes do not necessarily represent those of the school. Notes submitted for publication might be edited due to space limitations and Georgian style guidelines.
IN MEMORIAM
In Memoriam EDITED BY EMMA WELLS ’13 Joan Payne Platner ’37
March 29, 2017 Joan was born in Cleveland OH. Predeceased by her husband Joseph Warren Platner, she is survived by her four children, her sister, eleven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Joan was a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College. An early childhood educator, she taught at and directed the North Guilford Nursery School for over thirty years. She was an avid reader, a world traveler, a Guilford Library volunteer, a Quaker, a lover of Great Pyrenees dogs, an accomplished sailor, and a writer. She had a strong interest in social and political causes and was involved in a number of organizations. Malcolm H. Roberts ’37
December 23, 2012
Laboratories, where he helped develop many weapons systems. Worn down by years of making weapons, he and Marcia moved to Greenwich Village NY where he began his next career as owner and operator of Schildmacher, a small industrial carpentry shop. When Robert and Marcia retired, they moved to Lady Lake FL where Robert pioneered the construction of one of Florida’s earliest passive solar homes. Upon their move to Sarasota FL in 1988, Robert began his final career as a community volunteer for twenty years with a long list of organizations. He greatly enjoyed a monthly haircut and neighborhood gossip with his barber. Besides his love of family, Robert loved gardening, crosswords, and routine. Ever the methodical engineer, Robert told time by breakfast: one poached egg on shredded wheat on Mondays, granola with bananas on Tuesdays, scrambled eggs on Wednesdays, and so on, concluding with satisfying blueberry pancakes on Sundays. Bob was loved by so many and will be greatly missed.
Marcia Coutant Averre ’38
November 6, 2016 Marcia passed away peacefully in Bellingham WA. Miriam Tufts Hall ’38
March 14, 2013 Miriam was a resident of Keene Valley NY. Robert B. Judson ’38
February 18, 2014 Robert was raised on an apple farm in Kinderhook NY. He was a man of many careers, but his best, brightest, and longest career was as husband to Marcia, father of three, and grandfather of two. Robert graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and enlisted in the Air Force, serving as a lieutenant in Iceland during WWII. After the war he married Marcia and they moved back to Kinderhook NY where he started his next career: managing the family apple farm and raising a family. Moving to Washington DC in 1952, Robert began his third career as defense contractor at Vitro
Jacquelin Hitchcock Kearney ’38
January 1, 2013 Jacquelin grew up Quaker in Wilmington DE and Baltimore MD. She had been a member of Friends Meeting of Washington since 1954. Mary Louise Brown Wright ’38
November 11, 2016 Born in Green Bay WI, Mary Louise attended Pierce College. She was an executive secretary for most of her career, and then went on to work in the Methacton High School library for many years. She was always active in volunteer work and volunteered at Montgomery Hospital for over forty years. Mary Louise was also a member of the Norristown Garden Club, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Elmwood Park Zoo, Philadelphia Zoo, Montgomery Hospital Auxiliary, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the ASPCA. She was a member of the Religious Society of Friends at Norristown Monthly Meeting and Upper Providence Meeting House.
In her leisure time she was a top bridge and scrabble player and completed the NY Times crossword puzzle almost daily. She was married to Hamilton Wright, who preceded her in death. Survivors include her two sons and her grandson. Herbert W. Fraser ’39
May 2, 2017 Born in Andover MA, Herbert had lived in Richmond IN since 1967. Herbert earned his BA in history from Swarthmore College and his master’s and PhD in economics from Princeton University. He served as a US Navy fighter pilot during WWII, flying Grumman F6F Hellcats off the USS Hancock in the Pacific. Herbert was hired as a professor of economics at Lehigh University, and then taught at Muhlenberg College and Washington University in St. Louis MO until 1964. From 1965 to 1967 he served with the Rockefeller Foundation as an advisor to the economics faculty of the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. Herbert joined the Earlham College Department of Economics in 1967. He was proud of his role in strengthening the economics program at the college. Herbert took a sabbatical leave from Earlham College in 1973, and he and his wife Mandy drove through Mexico, Central America, and Panama, transshipping the car to Colombia. They then drove to Chile, over the Andes Mountains to Argentina, and then to Uruguay, with the final destination in Sao Paulo, Brazil. There, he and Mandy visited their son Peter, daughter-in-law, and new granddaughter, who were living there. Herbert was a long-time member and past president of the Rotary Club. He was on the Policy Committee for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, volunteered with the American Civil Liberties and Indiana Civil Liberties Unions, and was a member of the Clear Creek Friends Meeting. Herbert had a life-long commitment to social, economic justice, and peace issues.
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Joseph W. A. Thatcher ’39
August 25, 2017 Joseph was born in Rome GA and attended Vanderbilt University. In 1953 he married his wife Lucy, who predeceased him in 2011. Joseph served as a naval officer during World War II, including duty in New Guinea and the Philippines. In 1946 he joined Standard-Coosa-Thatcher Company, which was founded by his grandfather. Joseph was employed in various supervisory and executive capacities until his retirement in 1986. Active in community life, he served on boards of various civic and trade groups, including Dismas House, Senior Neighbors, and the United Way for many years. Joe was an active tennis and golf participant, and he and Lucy enjoyed many years golfing in Highlands NC. In sports and in life, he loved to pull for the underdog, especially his favorite team, the Atlanta Braves. Joseph was a true gentleman who quietly served others at every opportunity, never seeking recognition for himself. He had a sharp mind and a quick wit, which kept family and friends on their toes. Joseph was loved by all who knew him. Richard A. Lockyer ’41
June 2, 2017 Raised in White Plains NY, Richard enlisted in the US Navy in 1942, where he served as Quartermaster aboard the destroyer USS Hambleton. After seeing action in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of operations, Dick steered the Hambleton into Tokyo Bay and witnessed the Japanese surrender in 1945. In 2015 he was awarded the Legion of Honor by the French government for his assistance in the liberation of France and Europe. Richard married his beloved wife Maryanne in 1949. They raised their family in White Plains NY and later Thornwood NY. He had a long career as a real estate appraiser for the Home Savings Bank and served as a volunteer firefighter in White Plains. Richard and Maryanne retired to Brewster MA in 1987. His love of Cape Cod dated from childhood trips with his parents, and he shared his love
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of the land and water with his own family. He loved fishing, canoeing, swimming, woodworking, and working outdoors. Along with his devotion to his family, Richard was dedicated to serving the communities in which he lived. Richard served tirelessly as a volunteer for the Brewster Ladies’ Library, which twice presented him with its Mayo Award for Outstanding Service. Richard also served on both the Brewster Water and Cemetery Commissions. No job was too big or small for him. Kenyon B. Brown ’42
served as scoutmaster. A birthright Quaker, Charles was a member of the Kennett Monthly Meeting of Friends where he served as treasurer, auditor, clerk of the trustees, and member of several committees. He and his wife were members of Kennett Golf and Country Club and Greenville Country Club, where he enjoyed tennis. For many years he and his wife sailed from the Chesapeake Bay to the coast of Maine in their Concordia yawl Condor. Charles was a member of Wilmington Power Squadron, the Quiet Birdmen Association, and the George Washington Society.
June 6, 2017 Barbara Stephens Starr ’42 Janet Ellis DeGrouchy ’42
April 22, 2017 Janet was born in Trenton NJ, and she was raised on the grounds of Trenton State Hospital. She graduated from Trenton State Teachers College in 1946, lettering in field hockey, basketball, and tennis. After graduation, Janet taught physical education in the Chevy Chase MD school system and later was active in teaching tennis in the Princeton community tennis program. She was a ranked tennis player and longstanding member of Pretty Brook Tennis Club. She was also a life master bridge player. Janet was an extremely generous and beloved friend and a devoted dog lover. Janet is survived by her husband Jack, her children, her grandchildren, and her great grandson. Charles G. Shoemaker ’42
February 24, 2017 Charles graduated from Swarthmore College. He was a flight cadet in the Naval Reserve and was training as a carrier-based night fighter when WWII ended. In 1945 he married his wife Joann, and the next year he matriculated to the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. In 1948 he joined the family lumber business. Charles became chairman of the company and continued in that role until 2008. A lifelong resident of Kennett Township PA, he served twelve years as a supervisor and, having earned the Boy Scout rank of Eagle,
July 21, 2017 Barbara was born in Philadelphia. She took a job doing industrial photography at American Viscose Corporation, where she met her husband Sam. They moved to Rose Valley PA to raise their children in the house where Barbara grew up. There, Barbara taught kindergarten and dedicated her life to being a mother, a Quaker peace activist, an educator, and an artist. In later years, Barbara was a strong advocate for women, gay rights, and death with dignity. She was a fan of opera, sewed clothes and costumes, made greeting cards for family members, and arranged flowers. Fairly shy people, she and Sam had a small group of lifelong friends, mostly Quakers. Barbara and her friends spent most Sunday evenings together, camped together every summer in Maine, and threw New Year’s Eve parties filled with pyrotechnics. Jean Taggart Lindblad ’43
September 8, 2017 Jean grew up in Philadelphia PA and later in Newtown PA. She graduated from Middlebury College and earned a master’s degree in early childhood education from Wheelock College. Jean was the founder and longtime director of the Congregational Church Nursery School in Needham MA. Predeceased by her husband Carl and her brother Robert H. Taggart ’41, Jean is survived by her sons, grandsons, and great-grandchildren.
IN MEMORIAM
Elizabeth Brey Paxson ’44
Ruth Pet tit Johnson ’45
February 27, 2017 Elizabeth grew up in Philadelphia PA, and she met the love of her life Edwin M. Paxson ’44 at George School. Upon graduating Elizabeth attended the University of Pennsylvania, earning a BS in biology. After Edwin finished medical school they moved to Burlington VT for his residency. Enamored with Vermont, they remained in Burlington until moving to a beautiful old farmhouse in Charlotte VT, where she raised five children. Elizabeth had boundless energy to give to her family and community. Her passions were her children, her animals, classical music, her legendary vegetable garden, and later creative writing and poetry. After buying her first horse for her children to learn to ride, she became the director of the Charlotte Pony Club, a position which she held for over ten years. She treated everyone she met with equal love, respect, kindness, and energy, leaving indelible marks on their lives.
May 7, 2017 Ruth was born in Woodstown NJ and grew up on the dairy farm of her parents. She earned a BS at Ursinus College. Ruth married her husband Ralph in 1950 and started a family in Petoskey MI before moving back to New Jersey. The moving resumed in 1961 when Ralph accepted assignments with the American Friends Service Committee in Jordan, then with USAID in Nepal and Nigeria. Naturally gregarious and communityoriented, Ruth made homes and friends in other countries until the family settled near Dover DE in 1972. A lifelong Quaker and member of Camden Friends Meeting, the Peace and Social Concerns Committee was her greatest passion. A political activist, Ruth was the heart and soul of the League of Women Voters of Kent County for over forty years, recruiting and inspiring others. Ruth played tennis all her life. She and Ralph competed in the Delaware Senior Olympics and in the Nationals. After Ralph’s retirement, they operated a Christmas tree farm and worked a large vegetable garden, sharing its bounty with friends and neighbors.
Ruth Coe Fergusson ’45
July 30, 2017 Ruth, of Bryn Mawr PA, passed away nine days after the death of her husband of sixty-seven years, Carter A. Fergusson. She is survived by her three daughters, six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. George J. Hossfeld ’45
May 31, 2017 George was raised Quaker and was a member of Manhasset Meeting on Long Island NY. He thrived at George School, and later sent his children G. John Hossfeld III ’7 1 and Karen J. Hossfeld ’73 there. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was president of Jakobson Shipyard in Oyster Bay NY. George was a talented man who was modest about his many accomplishments. He lived a long, full life and died peacefully with his wife by his side. George is survived by Mary Jo, his loving wife of sixty-five years, three children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandson.
Charles Neff ’45
July 5, 2017 Charles was born in Philadelphia PA and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in political science. He balanced his studies with membership in the Phi Delta Theta fraternity where he formed lifelong friends. Charles had a successful career in the steel industry, working in steel companies throughout the east coast. His career path led him and his family from Philadelphia PA, to Haddonfield NJ, and then to Fayetteville NY. After his children grew up, Charles and his wife Marjorie headed to Columbia SC and Johnson City TN before leaving the steel industry for the world of finance in Tryon NC. He enjoyed a twenty-two-year successful run as president and owner of Tryon Financial until his health mandated retirement at eighty years old. Charles balanced a successful career and lov-
ing family life with a commitment to service to others. Wherever he lived, Charles was always an active member of his church. He was also a huge supporter for his children and grandchildren in their educational and athletic pursuits. As his grandchildren started careers and families, Charles was always ready to give encouragement and sound advice with a smile. Geraldine Dana Tisdall ’45
January 5, 2017 Born in Swarthmore PA, Geraldine settled with her husband Edward in Villanova PA in 1962. After 1980 she moved to Chestnut Hill PA, Wyndmoor PA, and then to Gwynedd PA in 2004. Geraldine was a noted watercolorist, an avid gardener and landscaper, and a club champion golfer. A member of Radnor Friends Meeting, she supported many charities including Planned Parenthood, Open Land Foundation, The Sierra Club, and Doctors Without Borders. John E. Ackerman ’46
September 26, 2017 L. Jane Lovet t Acuff ’46
September 23, 2017 Jane was born in Trenton NJ. In addition to being a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother, Jane served as the secretary and bookkeeper for her husband’s business. She was a member of the Junior League of Greater Princeton and spent many years volunteering at Mercer Hospital. Jane was an avid golfer and member of the Trenton Country Club. Julia Walton Smedley ’46
April 10, 2017 Born in Wilmington DE, Julia was the beloved wife of Williard “Chip” H. Smedley Jr with whom she shared sixty-six years of marriage. She was a mother of two and a grandmother of six. Patrick C. Arnoux ’47
August 13, 2015 Patrick was born in Hot Springs AK. He attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the Norfolk division of
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the College of William and Mary. He was a member of the National Guard of Virginia, honorably discharged in 1954. As a young boy he moved to Norfolk VA where his father became the president of WTAR radio and television, one of the first radio and television stations in the nation. As a teenager prior to WWII Patrick earned his radiotelephone operator license. He started working at WTAR as a control room engineer. He later went to Memphis TN to work at a local television station, then to Spartanburg SC where he was greeted by a young secretary Gale, who he later married. Patrick and Gale moved to New Bern NC where Patrick was hired at a new television station. Patrick and Gale returned to Norfolk to work at WHRO, a public television station. Patrick was a friend and mentor to many while at WHRO and was highly respected in his profession. During his tenure at WHRO he was awarded the George Foster Peabody Award for Overall Television Programming Excellence. He retired in 1992 as the vice president for public television and station manager. Patrick and Gale moved to Boynton Beach FL to spend their retirement in a warmer climate. They enjoyed living among a community of close friends and were members of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. In 2015 they moved to Tampa FL to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren. Rupert O. Clark ’47
February 4, 2015 Rupert is survived by his recent wife Martha, four children, and three grandchildren. At the age of eightyfive, Rupert walked over two miles a day. He continued to enjoy concerts and fine dining. His family is grateful that he was able to enjoy life to the end. Philip S. Kemp ’47
May 10, 2017 Born in Easton MD, Philip and his family moved to Goldsboro NC in 1931 to start Kemp Specialty Furniture Company. Phil excelled at wrestling at George School, and he
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continued on to the University of North Carolina, where he won the Southern Conference championship. Philip entered the US Air Force and graduated flight school in Columbus MS in 1952. He was stationed in Naha, Okinawa with his wife Ruth, where he flew the F-86 Sabre fighter jet in training missions at the end of the Korean conflict. Philip enjoyed adventure in air, on land, and on and under the sea. He was a creative engineer and entrepreneurial horticulturist, and he made farming his career. Philip and Ruth moved their young family to a farm where he innovated many useful inventions for his farming business. Grapes and persimmon trees later became his passion. Philip was a member of the Third Haven Friends Meeting in Easton MD. Philip loved his family and friends. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, two sons, ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Roy T. Abbot t ’48
April 25, 2017 Born in Brooklyn NY, Roy lived most of his life in the greater New York City area. Roy graduated from Dartmouth College, and he married Leigh in 1954. He began his long, successful career in finance at Chase Manhattan Bank and later at Gulf and Western Industries and Drexel Burnham Lambert. One of Roy’s passions was travel, and he took his wife and four children on numerous adventures throughout the country and around the world. Roy spent much of his recreational time on tennis and paddle tennis courts, and he also loved to ski. Roy and Leigh made Palm City FL home in their retirement. Roy’s second home in retirement was in his beloved Hanover NH, where he would spend the fall seasons watching the Dartmouth football team. He rarely missed a home game, and he was happy to discover the internet later in life which allowed him to watch games he could not attend in person. Roy eventually settled in Bozeman MT in 2016 to be near his three children. His golden retriever Barney was his cherished, constant, and loyal companion.
Jean Reeder Dew ’48
May 2, 2017 Jean was born in Langhorne PA and earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Earlham College. Jean was the beloved wife of Thomas R. Dew with whom she shared fortyfive years of marriage prior to his passing in 2002. Before her marriage and children, Jean taught elementary school in Bucks County PA and Greenville DE. After a career break to raise her family, she returned to teaching in the Garnet Valley and Chichester PA school districts. Jean enjoyed her family and watching her kids sporting events. She was ahead of her time, snapping many pictures to record every event long before the advent of smartphones or Facebook. She loved children, animals (especially cats), and Philadelphia sports teams. Jean was a member of Wilmington Friends Meeting. She was devoted to Wilmington Friends School and served as a trustee of that institution for multiple terms. Harold Stone ’48
June 10, 2017 A theater director and former associate director of the Juilliard Drama Division, Harold began his career as stage manager for producer David Merrick, then directed regional theater, off-Broadway, and Broadway. In 1974 Harold joined Juilliard’s Drama Division, where he spent twenty-seven years as director, teacher, and administrator, mentoring countless students and colleagues. Harold’s family and friends mourn the loss of his warmth, humor, and generosity. Elaine Coe Hammer ’50
March 5, 2017 Elaine graduated from Duke University in North Carolina, married and raised her family, and taught in the elementary schools in northern New Jersey for many years. She also enjoyed spending time at her summer home on Long Beach Island, NJ. Elaine is survived by her two daughters and a grandson, and will be dearly missed by her longtime friends.
IN MEMORIAM
William G. McKee ’50
David H. Johns ’54
September 20, 2017 William was born in Pittsburgh PA. He graduated from Dartmouth College and was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. He served in the United States Navy in the 11th Naval Headquarters in San Diego CA and then as personnel man on the USS Talladega. For a number of years William lived in Mexico, where he was part of the management team of Denny’s Restaurants and Kentucky Fried Chicken. He then built and franchised his own chain called Chicken-Itza. Moving from Mexico City to San Miguel Allende, William then began the internationally famous restaurant La Flama. He worked directly for the governor of the state of San Luis Potosi, establishing all the green areas of a new state park and developing the first reforestation project of dry weather pine trees in Mexico. William was also a Texas master gardener, professional landscaper, and nurseryman. In his later life, William graduated from the San Antonio Police Academy, and he served as an officer of the Public Safety Team as a voluntary patrol officer.
February 27, 2017 Born in Milwaukee WI, David later moved with his family to Longmeadow MA and Bucks County PA. After receiving a BA from Dartmouth College and an MA and PhD from University of Chicago, he began a long career in the Political Science Department at San Diego State University (SDSU), retiring as full professor in 2002. At SDSU he served as an undergraduate advisor and cofounded, with faculty from across the disciplines, the international security and conflict resolution major. In his retirement, David served as a volunteer for the San Diego Hospice and the Museum of Photographic Arts. He is survived by his wife Ann, his brother, three children, his son-in-law, and three grandchildren.
Philip B. Righter ’50
March 10, 2017 J. Douglass Davis ’53
June 9, 2015 Robert E. Stahl ’53
April 22, 2017 Robert was a loving father and husband, an astute businessman, the founder and owner of Tiger Distributors, and former owner of J.B. Richardson & Sons, both in Trenton NJ. His greatest passion was sailing— he summered his entire life in Beach Haven NJ, residing there for the last fifteen years. He was a lifelong member and a trustee of Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club in Beach Haven and served on various committees through the years. He served on the boards of Mercer Medical Center and the local chapter of the American Cancer Society. He was a Sigma Phi fraternity brother at Lehigh University.
Helen Benton Boley ’55
April 12, 2017 Helen lived a long and vibrant life. She was adopted as a baby in Chicago IL, and she conducted a successful search for the identity of her birth mother. Helen attended Oberlin College and Sarah Lawrence College, then married John Boley in 1957. They raised five children in Illinois, divorcing in 1972. Helen was a lifelong Democrat and always volunteered in campaign phone banks, also going door-to-door with pamphlets well past when common sense should have told her to stop. She kept very well-informed and yelled at the television frequently when Republican escapades got out of hand. Helen spent many years involved in the cattle business in Wisconsin. The countryside had a special hold on her heart, allowing her to indulge her love for horses. Her compassionate, altruistic nature led her to co-found the Wisconsin Community Fund, a non-profit which made grants to progressive community groups. She and some friends also established and ran an alternative school for their children called Hillcountry School. Helen was an active member of Grace Episcopal Church,
volunteering to work in their food pantry for many years. Helen loved music, especially Texas swing and boogie, and she played cello, guitar, and piano. She never stopped dancing. Her artistic interests also included writing short stories and painting with watercolors. Although Helen did not relish cooking, holiday baking was a must, including Christmas cookies and animal-shaped breakfast breads. Green Bay Packer game days were sacred. Helen was devoted to her family and friends, helping them all in more ways large and small than we will ever know. She was adored by everyone who knew her. Kate Polsky Vivian ’56
October 9, 2017 Kate, funny, kind, loving, generous force of nature, died in October 2017. After graduating from George School Kate went to the University of Connecticut nursing school before marrying a Fulbright scholar and moving to Paris so he could pursue art. Kate learned to cook and appreciate art and carried those talents through the rest of her life. She moved to Rhode Island in 1965, raised two daughters and earned her BA from the University of Rhode Island in 1990. She had various jobs, working for the Rhode Island School of Design, then Planned Parenthood, and an oceanography group, and opening an art gallery in her home. She created her dream job as the event coordinator at The Towers, a historic McKim, Mead & White building in Narragansett. Kate spent the last twenty years organizing the programming at The Towers, almost exclusively music events, hiring dance bands and developing a passion for Cajun music, Cajun bands, and Cajun dancing. Kate said yes to travel, yes to art, yes to staying out late, yes to more love with more friends. She died at home, surrounded by her family including Molly K. Sexton ’85, Peggy Polsky Pennell ’54, Katherine (Kate) Pennell ’81, and James R. Vivian ’01.
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John D. Streetz ffac
March 18, 2017 John graduated from high school at sixteen and attended Lincoln University. He left college to enlist in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Though his goal was to become a pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen, the Army’s quota for black pilots had been filled and he trained as a mechanic. After military service, John returned to Lincoln University to
David Moore Weigand ’57
September 2, 2016 David, a resident of West Chester PA, was a beloved husband to Joan Ann Weigand, father of two, and grandfather of three.
complete his undergraduate education where he met his second wife, Jacqueline Moore. By the time they married in 1950, they had become Quakers. That same year he accepted a position as a science teacher at George School and became its first black educator. John quickly became a beloved teacher with a reputation for scholarship and high expectations, a reputation confirmed by the fact that two of his former students, Kenneth Wilson ’52 and Mario Capecchi ’56, went on to win Nobel prizes in science. During his tenure, he also served as boys’ track team coach. John and Jackie, following a school tradition, sponsored the graduating class of 1961. The class returned for their 50th reunion in 2011 to honor John and Jackie by establishing a scholarship fund in their names. Jackie died in 2013. In 1966, John left George School to become assistant headmaster at the Oakwood School in Pough-
reflected in his extensive art collection. For years Edward attended the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He is survived by his sister, his nephews, and their families. Christine Jensen Storch ’58
Edward N. Lippincot t ’58
August 29, 2015 Edward lived most of his life in Montclair NJ. He graduated from Brown University and Rutgers Law School, where he was the articles editor of the Law Review. After clerking for New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Vincent S. Haneman, Edward spent virtually his entire legal career at Stryker, Tams and Dill, where he became chair of the firm’s real estate department. He was involved in all aspects of commercial real estate, including land use, survey, planning, development, construction, and financing. Outside of the office, Edward enjoyed opera and the arts. He had eclectic tastes which were
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October 10, 2017 Christine passed away in Oberlin OH. She is survived by her husband Howard. Randle E. Dorland ’59
July 17, 2017 Randle was born in Detroit MI. After his parents divorced, he spent the school years with his mother in New Jersey, and he would take the train to Detroit MI to spend the summers with his father. Upon graduating from George School he joined the US Air Force. After one year of intense training he was transferred to the 689th Radar Squadron at Mount Hebo Air Force Station. He was an aircraft
keepsie, NY, and in 1968, he and his family moved west to California to become head of the Athenian School, in Danville. In 1971, he left Athenian to become ombudsman and vice president of Student Services at California College of Arts and Crafts. Later the Streetz’s joined with another couple to invest in several ventures including starting a successful southern fried fish restaurant on the Oakland/Berkeley line. John remained active at George School throughout his life, serving on many of its advisory committees to guide the school with wisdom, affection, playfulness, and dignity. John is survived by his son Reginald, daughter Pamela ’70, his loving companion Alice Way Waddington ’45, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Excerpted from a memorial program written by Amelia Victoria MederosStreetz, April 23, 2017.
control and warning radar repairman from 1959 to 1962. He was transferred to Ontario, Canada until 1963 when he was honorably discharged. While stationed at Mount Hebo OR he met his wife Lois. They moved to Torrance CA where Randle worked for International Rectifier. After two years they decided to move to Portland OR, and Randle worked for Bonneville Power Administration as an engineering technician. In 1988 Randle was selected as an electrical transmission and distribution craftsman. He retired after thirty years of service, and his performance was recognized by many awards. Randle and Lois had a son and a daughter. Randle was involved with the National Railway Historical Society and the Great Northern Railway Historical Society for more than thirty years. He was part of the Southern Pacific 4449 Steam Locomotives volunteer crew for many years and made many lifelong friends.
IN MEMORIAM
Georgia Machemer ’61
Scot t A. Herman ’7 8
March 30, 2017
June 10, 2017 Scott grew up in Virginia Beach VA. He was a varsity wrestling champion at George School and he graduated from Northern Arizona University. After college, Scott joined his father at the Lighthouse Restaurant in Virginia Beach, and they worked together for twenty years. Throughout his life Scott was an avid athlete, completing many marathons, surfing, and skiing. Scott was caring and kind, with a great sense of humor. He loved his dogs, reading, sports, the arts, and travel, but most of all he loved his family and friends.
Margaret Arnheim Nettinga ’65
June 14, 2017 Peter D. Vickery ’67
February 28, 2017 Peter’s lifelong passion was birds. He was known throughout Maine and farther afield for his knowledge of Maine’s avifauna and his unparalleled skills in field identification. He was also known for sharing his knowledge and inspiring appreciation of birds in others. He had a wide-open heart, ready smile, warm hugs, and an enjoyment of all the wonders in the natural world. Peter attended Connecticut College and completed his MS and PhD in wildlife ecology at the University of Maine. His research in avian ecology led to the publication of over thirty scholarly articles and books. Peter worked for Massachusetts Audubon Society for twentythree years, first as a natural history travel leader, leading trips to all seven continents, and then as an avian ecologist. His book Birds of Maine, which covered 450 species of birds, was truly the culmination of Peter’s life’s work. He enjoyed exploring and savoring the natural areas of Maine. His heart’s center was always Morse Mountain in Phippsburg to which he was first introduced by his future wife Barbara when he was fifteen. Peter and Barbara spent as much time as possible there in the last eighteen months of his life. Peter’s passing leaves a giant hole in the hearts of those who knew and loved him. His boundless love, humor, and zest for life will be most deeply missed by his wife of forty-seven years Barbara St. John Vickery. Mark P. Newbold ’72
April 30, 2017 Mark was a resident of Pennsylvania and attended New Mexico State University. Terry A. Benczik ’75
December 9, 2016
VT before moving to Albuquerque NM. His future was bright, as he worked to establish his glass studio and retail space, with a dream of teaching young kids at risk to blow glass. As a little boy, Dakota was most often seen in his Batman cape and mask. He grew into an impeccably polite young man with sharp intellect, wit, and humor. His sweetness was omnipresent; when he won his first soccer game, he cried because his best friend had been on the opposing team, and he felt sad for his friend’s loss. He was a friend to all, especially animals and children. His loving extended family and lifelong friends are among those he cherished and adored.
Jill Roberts Sarantschin ’80
July 28, 2017 Born in Allentown PA, Jill was a graduate of Denison University and received her master’s degree from Antioch University. She taught at Doyle Elementary School for the last twelve years. Her primary passion was nature, and she spread this love to her family and friends through many years of volunteering at Peace Valley Nature Center, visits to her parents in southwest Florida, a lifetime of summers at Buck Hill Falls in the Poconos, and most recently on a safari with her daughters to Tanzania. Jill will be remembered for her strength, empathy, generosity, and selflessness. Jill has left an everlasting impression on everyone she met, and she will be missed dearly and thought of often.
Notification of deaths was recorded as of November 12, 2017. We edit and publish information provided by families of deceased alumni, faculty, staff, and trustees. Notes submitted for publication might be edited due to space limitations and Georgian style guidelines.
Robert Lawrence Burchman ’96
February 27, 2017 Dakota William Powell ’10
August 25, 2017 Dakota, a young, tall, handsome man, all heart and all talent, attended Colorado College where he majored in business and economics. During a school break he enrolled in a glass blowing class in Albuquerque NM and fell in love with the art. His glassware was unique, whimsical, elegant, and finely formed, speaking volumes about the heart and soul with which he filled each object. He perfected his glassblowing technique in Quechee
Printed using soy-based ink on paper containing recycled fiber. Cover and text stock are certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) and contain 10% post-consumer recycled fiber.
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TOG ETH E R
WE IGNITE THE LIGHT WITH I N EACH STU D E NT
YO U R G I F T M A K E S A B I G D I F F E R E N C E !
Please make your gift to the George School Fund today. The sooner you do, the more direct impact you will have on enhancing our global community, innovative programs, and beautiful campusâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;this year and for many years to come. Support the 2017-2018 George School Fund. Online: georgeschool.org/donate Mail: 1690 Newtown Langhorne Road, Newtown PA 18940 Phone: 215.579.6564 THANK YOU! WE ARE ALWAYS GRATEFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT.
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STAY CONNECTED
HOLD THE DATES
Visit the alumni website at georgeschool.org/alumni to stay connected. Submit a class note, find friends, update personal profiles, check out upcoming events, and much more.
FRIDAY–SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23 & 24, 2018
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 18 & 19, 2018
Winter Theater Performance The Laramie Project
Spring Theater Performance Rent
FRIDAY–SUNDAY, MAY 4-6, 2018
Commencement
You also can see what is happening at George School by visiting our Facebook page at facebook.com/georgeschool, following us on Twitter and Instagram @GeorgeSchool, and enjoying our blog at georgeschool.org/voices.
Alumni Weekend
SUNDAY, MAY 27, 2018
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GEORGIAN EDITOR Susan Quinn georgian@georgeschool.org 215.579.6567
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Georgian designed by Rutka Weadock Design
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PHOTOS: Inside Back Cover: Encompassing a library, five classrooms, and a learning center, the 26,400-square-foot Mollie Dodd Anderson Library stands on the south end of campus. With a number of state-of-the-art features, including a vegetative roof and geothermal heating and cooling system, the building earned gold LEED certification. (Photo by Bruce Weller) Back Cover: Students used virtual reality viewers to venture inside a human heart in biology. Virtual field trips to global locations, augmented reality tools, online summer course offerings, and interactive tools that support both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration across the globe are expanding the traditional George School education. (Photo by Jim Inverso)