Belmont Day Magazine 2018–2019

2018 | 2019

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2018 | 2019 Head of School Brendan Largay Editor, Director of Communications and Marketing Koreen McQuilton Graphic Design Good Design, LLC gooddesignusa.com Writer Cheryl Bardoe Photography Tom Kates Photography Jim Walker Send alumni news to: Andy Rentschler Belmont Day School 55 Day School Lane | Belmont, MA 02478 or email bdsalumni@belmontday.org Comment?

We’d love to hear what you think.

Please write to Koreen McQuilton, Editor Belmont Day School 55 Day School Lane | Belmont, MA 02478 or email communications@belmontday.org

ON THE COVER Our eighth grade students are buddies to pre-kindergartners in our cross-graded partnerships, which build confidence and community for younger and older students.

Belmont Day School was founded in 1927 by a group of parents committed to providing children with a strong academic foundation and many opportunities for creative expression. Today, as then, the school’s program guides and challenges the intellectual, social, emotional, moral, artistic, and physical growth of each child. Belmont Day School strives to be a diverse community dedicated to academic excellence and intellectual discipline where students feel secure, experience the joys of learning, and know their accomplishments are valued.

core values respect | honesty | responsibility | caring | joy | excellence

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A Profound Journey Take an in-depth look at how students grow into learners and leaders at Belmont Day, from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

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contents

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Raising the Barn Discover how this new facility supports STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) athletics, and school growth.

2 | From the Head of School 17 | Lower School 20 | Middle School

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22 | Arts Spotlight 25 | Athletics

28 | Lasting Bonds

31 | Why I Give 32 | Alumni in Action 36 | Class Notes 38 | 90th Celebration

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FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Celebrating 90 Years

by Looking to the Future Brendan Largay Ninety years ago, Belmont Day School began at a nearby parish house before relocating to a farm with rolling fields. Today the bluestone walls of our original farmhouse are a distinct architectural feature of our library and “the Barn” refers to a new building with a full-size gym, an innovation studio, and other classrooms. Thanks to the vision of our predecessors, we look upon this anniversary from a position of strength, being at the forefront of dynamic curriculum and new growth. What knits the past, present, and future of Belmont Day together is our ongoing dedication to innovation, the intentionality with which we pursue our mission, and a deep understanding that education blossoms in the context of community.

The group of students who will graduate during Belmont Day’s centennial year is already enrolled, and we are preparing them for a future that will be dramatically different,

even within ten years. Change is one of the few constants of our world. Thus, to truly serve our students, we must nurture the skills they need to constantly reassess their landscape: the ability to synthesize information, the application of learning to solve real-life problems, and the capacity to communicate and collaborate.

The Barn captures this vision of education that is cross-disciplinary and integrated, and it supports work already underway among our faculty, who are both innovative and intentional.

We have taken the changes in our physical plant and growing enrollment as an opportunity for an in-depth curriculum review, paying close attention to the continuum of student experience. Each division—early childhood being defined as pre-kindergarten through second, upper elementary comprising grades three to five, and middle school focusing on grades six to eight—has its own arc that honors that phase

knits the past, present, and future of Belmont Day together “What is our ongoing dedication to innovation, the intentionality with which we pursue our mission, and a deep understanding that education blossoms in the context of community.

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FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

of child development. I’m proud to report that over the summer, more than 70 percent of faculty signed up for a Lenesa Leana Endowment for Innovative and Collaborative Education grant or for a summer innovation stipend to develop new ideas to bring to students. I am constantly struck by our faculty’s enthusiasm for thoughtful curriculum development. This is the foundation of our programmatic excellence.

Another element that remains unchanged throughout our history is the value of strong relationships in the process of education. The deep covenant between teacher, student, and parent preserves what has made Belmont Day great for these ninety years. We foster student success by celebrating students for who they are and challenging them at the level that best fits each individual’s need.

We commemorate our 90th anniversary at a time of fulfilled promise and growth for the school. This past year, we received the highest number of sixth grade applicants since the inception of the middle school. This is the start of expanding our middle school enrollment.

Applications for our pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes are also on the rise. Along with new students, we are also adding faculty to continue our small class sizes. Ultimately our students are the truest keepers of our values and culture that we could hope for. They are bold; they are remarkable; they are truly inspiring.

These learners and leaders will keep our eyes on the horizon, looking ahead to a bright future.

The deep “covenant

between teacher, student, and parent preserves what has made Belmont Day great for these ninety years.

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journey: A Profound

by Deborah Brissenden

Assistant Head of School and Director of Curriculum and Instruction

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have an impact on the world.

They take pride in knowing that their voices matter.

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Every year we think her experience can’t get any better, and then it does.

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Belmont Day parents often tell us how much they appreciate a school that focuses on pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

The pedagogy that makes this model so successful is that it allows children to be fully grounded in each developmental stage, building long-term relationships as they develop the talents and interests that make each student an individual. With a passion for child-centered curriculum design, Belmont Day teachers recognize the potential of this structure and strive to maximize its opportunities. Consequently, Belmont Day students discover who they are as learners and build the skills of self-advocacy and leadership they will use in high school, college, and for the rest of their lives.

Schools that serve pre-kindergarten through eighth grade usually feature three phases of growth: early childhood, upper elementary, and middle school. Each phase has its own educational arc, which together comprise a cohesive journey.

These phases are balanced so that each one is honored and fulfilled. The earlier

years of schooling are built upon and skills are reinforced. Eighth graders view themselves as role models as they embrace their biggest challenges yet in academics, arts, athletics, and activities.

Achieving the promise of this model requires thorough planning. Anticipating the opening of the Barn and strategic growth in our middle school, Belmont Day faculty have engaged in a rigorous review, paying special attention to the arcs within our program.

Curriculum has been examined gradeby-grade, and subject-by-subject. Faculty teams have reflected on their own work and collected national and international data about best practices and curriculum standards. This process informs and energizes our work as teachers cultivate the Belmont Day values of excellence, respect, honesty, responsibility, caring, and joy.

A snapshot of our academic program, in Belmont Day’s 90th year, illustrates the success of these principles at work.

A P R O FO U N D J O U R N E Y

Early Childhood:

the journey begins

From the beginning, pre-kindergarten immerses students in the collaborative, hands-on learning style of Belmont Day. “In pre-k they don’t just study bats,” says Jennifer Blecher, whose three children just completed pre-kindergarten, second, and fourth grades. “They transform the classroom into a bat cave, and dress up like bats, and make bat sounds. My daughter absorbed the curriculum because it is all-encompassing.”

Belmont Day’s early childhood teachers are experts at layering pedagogy with play as they introduce students to the basics of literacy, number sense, science, and social studies. “We spend a lot of time getting to know students and adapting our lessons to ensure that each individual connects with our curriculum,” says pre-kindergarten teacher Alice Henry. “Children feel supported and successful, and we see their learning incorporated into their play.”

Kindergarten and first grade expand on this foundation during an intense skill-building period. Students take pride in their increasing independence and add more specialist classes until they have a full slate that includes physical education, French, library, visual arts, music, theater arts, and woodworking. By second grade students are solidifying and applying skills to their first research projects. They study endangered animals, write about their findings, and create sculptures of their animals in woodworking class. They also research “change-makers,” combining original artwork and pertinent facts

about historical figures to create inspiring bookmarks, which are distributed in the Erskine Library. “Students enjoy being able to show their thinking in different ways,” says second grade teacher Tina Fox. “We support them by scaffolding that process.”

During these early years, each grade level is served by a team of two teachers, plus an associate teacher whose residency at Belmont Day is part of the master’s program at Lesley University’s Graduate School of Education. Serving a full-grade cohort together in large, bright classrooms gives teachers maximum flexibility for designing small-group instruction to match students’ skills. Being together also helps students build strong bonds. As students move out of Belmont Day’s early education wing, they do so with a sense of fulfillment. “The students are excited to discover that they can have an impact on the world,” says second grade teacher Nancy Fell. “They take pride in knowing that their voices matter.”

Upper Elementary: In third through fifth grades, students take on assignments with greater depth and complexity. At Belmont Day, this means managing larger projects over extended periods of time, researching material in new ways, incorporating feedback from teachers and peers, and reflecting on work with greater clarity.

This is transformative education as students gain new skills and knowledge,

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broadening the base

while they also grow and change in how they understand and apply these gifts.

The third grade State Fair is a pivotal experience. For two months students each study a different state. They investigate each state’s history, geography, and notable people to write their first in-depth research reports; they use math skills to write story problems based on their research; they create relief maps from salt and flour dough; they produce sculptures of state animals and describe their physical and behavioral adaptations. Then students engage peers, parents, and faculty in their work. When the students confidently present to their audience, they share interesting facts about their chosen states, and reflect on what they have discovered about themselves through this process. “For a lot of students, getting through this project changes how they see themselves as learners,” says third grade teacher Leigh Twarog. “We are empowering students to stretch their thinking and to consider how they learn best.”

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The interdisciplinary approach continues in fourth grade. When students explore ancient Egyptian culture, they also build a scaled model of a pyramid in math and study osmosis by mummifying Cornish hens in science. A study of ancient Greece includes writing a mini-magazine, designing coins, and peering into the night sky for astronomy. It culminates with the Greek Festival, at which students present their work, along with a play adapted from a Greek myth or epic poem. “My daughter loves that her teachers weave together so many elements,” says Jennifer Blecher who has three children at Belmont Day and whose eldest daughter just completed fourth grade. “This environment supports kids in branching out in many different ways.”

Fifth grade brings more leaps in cognition, introspection, and collaboration. Math focuses on logic and problem-solving. Reading and writing assignments examine the world from different perspectives. Students design prosthetic limbs and perform their own adaptations of Shakespeare and other classic literary works. “Fifth graders understand that having more independence also means more responsibility,” says fifth grade teacher Debbie Grossman. “They take the opportunities we offer to build their own capacity for problem-solving and peer-to-peer leadership.”

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through this project changes how they see themselves as learners.

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Middle School:

a sense of accomplishment Middle school students encounter many opportunities that put them on the forefront of representing themselves and their school. Each season, students commit to an interscholastic sport, which builds healthy habits, personal discipline, and a sense of teamwork. After a sixth grade foundation in every arts discipline, seventh and eighth grade students choose from a variety of arts electives, including the opportunity to be on stage or on the production team for a collaborative theater and musical performance.

Students also choose from clubs that meet once each week to engage in a variety of topics, ranging from mountain biking to math games, from creating a literary magazine to participating in Model UN. Academically, middle school students continue to challenge themselves with goal-oriented, project-based work.

Throughout these years, the mathematics curriculum emphasizes a rigorous, B E L M O N T DAY

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The Capstone Program

takes flight

For his Capstone project, Alex Tobias ’18 built a drone and explored the field of aerial photography. He researched applications, investigated privacy issues, and created a website for an imagined aerial photography business. Of the hundreds of images that he took, he selected about 50 for a presentation portfolio.

The biggest challenge in this project was assembling the drone: Alex learned by solving problems that he encountered along the way.

First, the control board was difficult to install, then Alex’s early attempts at soldering didn’t hold firm, so he had to disassemble parts and re-solder the connections. “This project taught me that you have to stay determined to complete a big goal,” Alex says. “I kept myself motivated by imagining how cool the drone would be when it worked. When it did fly for the first time, it was so exciting because I had made it myself.”

Alex will attend the Brooks School in the fall.

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problem-solving approach. Starting in seventh grade, students move into a lab setting for science, becoming experts in the scientific method and writing lab reports.

In world language, students choose from French, Spanish, or Latin; with each year of study building more vocabulary, grammar, and cultural awareness. In social studies, students increasingly analyze primary sources. In English, they learn how to read critically and write clearly for many purposes. In all classes, teachers challenge students to cultivate their critical thinking, creativity, and communications skills. “Our students are considering many perspectives and clarifying their own ideas,” says English teacher Elisabeth Klock. “They learn how to speak and write in ways that will resonate with their audience.”

The culminating experience of the Belmont Day journey is a student’s Capstone project. This initiative begins in the spring of seventh grade, when students identify two possible topics that they will consider over the summer. When eighth grade begins in September, students dive into researching and writing a 10-page thesis. As the year progresses, they design and implement a project, and in the spring, they deliver a 20-minute presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience of parents, peers, and teachers. Throughout the year, students meet weekly with their faculty Capstone advisor.

The Belmont Day Capstone is intentionally ambitious. It inspires students to dream big about whatever is meaningful to them. Over the years, students have designed their own sneakers, toured the marine biology lab at Harvard, explored the works of Shakespeare, visited doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Florida, created sophisticated art portfolios, and realized many other dynamic ideas. “Capstone teaches students so many transferable skills,” says Jennifer Friborg, French teacher and coordinator of the Capstone Program. “They practice working independently and learn how to meet with a mentor. They discover what it really means to be prepared. The Capstone journey lets students experience the connection between hard work and satisfaction, and they are always proud of what they achieved.”

A P R O FO U N D J O U R N E Y

Capstone Explores Brain

Having observed three younger brothers as infants, Talya Borisy ’18 has long been fascinated with how young children acquire language.

For her Capstone project, she visited the Harvard Laboratory for Developmental Studies to observe firsthand how psychologists study cognition in children ages 3 months to 12 years. Talya then set up her own study to see if children of different ages could understand instructions to put a stuffed animal in, on, behind, in front of, under, or next to a box. “I found that children began to comprehend these prepositions around the age of 2 years and 8 months,” Talya reports. “After my experiment, I found that other scientists had reached similar conclusions.”

As part of her research, Talya interviewed internationallyrecognized psychologist Alison Gopnik, of the University of California, Berkeley. “Before this project, I was very shy,” she says.

“But when I reached out to Dr. Gopnik, and the Harvard Lab, and the parents whose children were in my study, everyone had a positive reaction. So I have more confidence now.”

Talya appreciates the flexibility of the Capstone program: “You have so much freedom. This project is really about what interests each student, and what you want to go out and do.”

During her presentation, Talya mentioned that Belmont Day’s cross-graded partnerships gave her experience for working with younger children. “I love having buddies in the younger grades that look up to me,” she says. “It gives you a sense of responsibility.”

Talya will attend Concord Academy in the fall.

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The Capstone journey lets students experience the connection between hard work and satisfaction...

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Lessons from

leadership

At Belmont Day, we use the arcs within the pre-k to eighth grade model to honor and celebrate every child. Our youngest students thrive in an educational environment that meets them where they are, while encouraging them to aspire toward their future. Our middle school students, whether they came to Belmont Day during those years or earlier, rightfully see themselves as leaders of their school.

To unify the community as a whole, Belmont Day brings students together through cross-graded partnerships, with older grade students serving as mentors for younger grades and both sides enjoying a tremendous confidence boost from these

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connections. Students also engage with each other at school-wide sharing assemblies, field days, after-school enrichment programs, and other events. This unifies the community, as older students recall fond memories from younger grades and younger students get a glimpse of what they have to look forward to.

Dianne Wheeler, whose children are currently in first and fifth grades, appreciates these interactions. “When we first visited Belmont Day, we were so impressed with the older students. “They are confident and clearly feel that their opinions matter.”

This is the biggest reward of Belmont Day’s pre-k to eighth grade program: Our graduates head off to high school knowing who they are and with the tools, experiences, and goals to become leaders in their next school community.

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At Belmont Day I learned how to learn, and I learned what it meant to take on a leadership role for things that I care about.

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Alumnus Builds on Capstone to

dream big

Abdurezak Shemsu ’09 makes no small plans. Since high school, he has traveled the world performing community service and studying language and culture.

He worked at an orphanage in India, studied some lasting effects of apartheid in South Africa, taught English in Spain, and studied Arabic in Morocco. He also graduated from Harvard University last spring with a major in economics and a minor in global health and health policy. “Economics is a driving force in how the world works,” Abdurezak explains. “So it is incredibly helpful for thinking about things from different perspectives and seeking solutions to problems.”

Abdurezak credits Belmont Day’s academics and athletics with laying a strong foundation for his high school and college years. “At Belmont Day I learned how to learn,” he says, “and I learned what it meant to take on a leadership role for things that I care about.” After playing a variety of varsity sports at Belmont Day, Abdurezak went on to be team captain for the varsity soccer and track teams at Belmont Hill School. At Harvard he volunteered with a student-run organization that provides mentorship to young men in under-resourced AfricanAmerican and Latino communities.

Abdurezak has taken a job in consulting at Oliver Wyman. He still remembers his Capstone project with enthusiasm: “It was a great experience. The work was incredibly difficult, but it was amazing to have teachers guide me through the process.” Abdurezak investigated water filtration, visited a water filtration plant, and helped kindergarten students build a model filtration system in their classroom. “Once you’ve had the experience of doing such a big project, then you feel ready for another one,” he says.

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Raising

N E W FAC I L I T Y S U P P O R TS ST E A M , AT H L E T I C S , A N D S C H O O L G R OW T H

by Koreen McQuilton

Director of Communications

For the latest news and photos on the Barn construction, visit www.belmontday.org/highlights/raising-barn/news-and-updates

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ver since construction broke ground on Belmont Day’s newest campus addition, buzz has been building. “This expansion represents our growth and commitment to the whole student,” explains visual arts teacher Anne Armstrong. “We are on the cusp of creating so many new opportunities for students. I can’t wait.”

Within months of honoring its 90th anniversary, Belmont Day will cut the ribbon on a building that exemplifies the school’s vision for a strong future. The Barn, so named as a nod to the long-ago farm that became the school’s campus, is a new facility to allow Belmont Day faculty to create academic, arts, and athletics programs limited only by their imagination and energy, not by the physical plant. As a result, it will become a focal point for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) curricula, athletics programs, and community gatherings. Beyond school hours, it will expand resources for after school and summer camp programming. It will also address critical space constraints, opening capacity to grow middle school enrollment.

The new building features two art studios, a woodworking studio, a science lab, and an innovation studio. While Belmont Day faculty already collaborate across disciplines to inspire creative problem-solving,

the spaces for these disciplines have been dispersed throughout the school building.

Innovation and art teacher Kurt Robinson, whose classes range from photography to robotics, looks forward to teaching in an innovation studio closer to the woodshop studio. When Kurt collaborated with woodworking teacher Bill Smith in the past, students transported their projects through hallways and up stairs as they spent alternate class times in each space. “In the new building,” Kurt says, “our rooms will be next door. So students can seamlessly work on the wood parts and the wiring and coding at the same time.”

Having a designated classroom for an innovation studio is an addition to Belmont Day’s academic spaces. The studio will be equipped with 3-D printers, a laser cutter, plus a variety of tools and supplies to support robotics, coding, and creating with other media. Belmont Day students formerly constructed such projects in multipurpose classrooms, often using portable carts with fewer tool options. The Barn will also offer room for work to be displayed while in process and after completion. “Having supplies on hand means that students can prototype more easily,” Kurt says. “Seeing what others are doing will spark new ideas.

Both teachers and students will think more

broadly about what is possible.”

Science teacher Sandra Trentowsky is similarly enthusiastic about the potential that an additional science lab represents.

“Having a specialized space, with the appropriate tools, contributes to the mindset of students,” Sandra says. “Students feel like they are doing more in-depth, real-world science when they work in a lab setting.”

The new lab will be available for use by all grades. It enhances the science program by providing another space for students to collaborate and work across academic disciplines, on many types of experiments and projects. Movable lab furniture can be reconfigured to match the needs of a project or different ages of students. Strong natural light and easy access to the outdoors will make the new lab particularly conducive to studying natural science.

Creating a hub of classrooms to serve—and facilitate collaboration between—science, technology, and arts classes reinforces Belmont Day’s initiatives to foster design thinking and teamwork.

“We’re creating an atmosphere,” says Director of Technology Dolly Ryan, “where students come into a space expecting to not know all of the answers.” In this environment, she explains, students will stretch their imaginations, build communication

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Right: Bradley Lewis P ’17, ’20 and Margaret Wade P ’15, ’15, ’17, ’18, Raise Y[our] Voice Campaign Co-chairs

Capital Campaign

Success

by Mary Merrill

Director of Development

skills, and translate ideas into reality.

Students will then test their ideas against specified goals, most likely needing to make multiple attempts before they succeed. “We want students to understand that failure is part of the process of learning,” Dolly says. “If something doesn’t work, what new information or resources can they apply?

We want students to learn how to take in feedback and decide what to try next.”

The Barn also brings vital new athletics facilities. It features a gym with two full-size basketball courts. Having twelve baskets opens up the possibility for two full-court games, or four cross-court games. The gym can host two full-size volleyball courts—a capacity that the older gym does not have. In recent years, Belmont Day intramural and interscholastic athletes have filled every possible space during afternoon practice times.

Fencers have parried in the lunch room and the badminton team has practiced in the Palandjian Arts Center. Having a second gym provides more space for Belmont Day’s current teams and creates room to add more sports in the future. It also makes it possible for Belmont Day to host events for which teams previously had to travel.

“The Barn represents our school’s investment in its student athletes. The students recognize that and feel valued,”

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On June 30, Belmont Day celebrated the successful conclusion of the Raise Y[our] Voice Capital Campaign, which exceeded its goal by generating over $8.2 million to build the Barn, the driveway, and implement other vital campus renovations. The campaign brought three new initiatives that demonstrated the depth of our commitment to Belmont Day students.

First, an anonymous donor stepped forward to propose the Grandparents’ Challenge. This incentive offered a 1:1 match for any new or increased donations from grandparents, up to $250,000. When proud Belmont Day grandparents surpassed that goal by giving $271,000, the original donor was inspired to match that full amount.

Then in November 2017, with construction about to begin, a few anonymous families banded together to offer the Raise the Roof Challenge. This effort offered a 1:1 match for any new or increased gifts up to $450,000. Once again, our community exceeded that goal.

As the Barn took shape in the spring, coming ever closer to reality, the campaign created an online Barn Registry of equipment and supplies to furnish the new spaces. From sound systems to innovation kits, from stools to microscopes, from 3-D printers to volleyballs, donors chose from a wide variety of items. Some families enjoyed shopping from the registry with their children, knowing that every item, whether large or small, would be valued as a tangible part of the child’s day-to-day school experience.

As the campaign wrapped up, co-chairs Bradley Lewis and Margaret Wade expressed gratitude at the generosity of the Belmont Day community. “We are greatly comforted by the knowledge that the school and all who make up its greater community are stronger than ever,” Bradley says. Margaret adds: “Belmont Day is well-positioned to successfully carry out its mission for years and decades to come.”

says Director of Athletics John O’Neill.

“The design of the building also reflects who we are as educators and what we expect of students. This space will be used by everyone for many purposes.”

Anne Armstrong agrees, pointing out that Belmont Day supports well-rounded

student growth in academics, arts, athletics, and community activities. “With the Barn, this concept of integration will be amplified,” she says. “We’re opening the book to the school’s next chapter. With these new resources, students will discover more things they can do.”

LOW E R S C H O O L Meet the Faculty:

Minna Ham Minna joins Belmont Day as our Lower School Head. She has worked at The Gordon School in Providence, Rhode Island, for the last 16 years as an elementary educator and administrator.

Q: What inspires you as an educator?

I love tapping into children’s natural curiosity about the world. In the younger grades, teachers guide and nurture that instinct to lay the foundation for children to see themselves as learners. I was a first-grade classroom teacher for ten years, and have worked as a literacy specialist with children up through fourth grade. As an administrator, I’m focused on thinking about the big picture, but I always remember that student and teacher perspective.

Q: How does your experience as a literacy specialist give you a unique perspective on education?

Being a literacy specialist is almost like being a learning specialist because you are thinking about many different ways children learn. It also brings you into close collaboration with teachers, students and parents. You are forming trusting relationships that are all focused on how to best serve the student.

In my previous position I also served as a liaison for professional development, working with teachers to determine what would be most useful and connecting to external resources. Those are all skills that I’ll bring to this new position.

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It’s wonderful to see teachers who are so excited about teaching, students who are deeply engaged in the classroom, and parents who truly value the process of watching their children grow.

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Q: What do you look forward to about being at Belmont Day?

I’m looking forward to seeing the curriculum come alive in the context of this community. Already I have a clear sense of how strong the community is at Belmont

Day. I’ve heard that message from current parents, from new parents, and from faculty. It’s wonderful to see teachers who are so excited about teaching, students who are deeply engaged in the classroom, and parents who truly value the process of watching their children grow.

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Faculty Profile: Betty Chu Pryor Celebrates 10 Years at Belmont Day

Our classroom “ is about fostering

independence, and the children are very proud to take ownership of their learning.

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Kindergarten teacher Betty Chu Pryor has wanted to be a teacher ever since kindergarten. She vividly remembers her first day of school. Walking in nervous, without knowing anyone, she found confidence in completing a butterfly puzzle that had been laid out as a morning activity. “I was in awe of my teacher and the warm space she created,” Betty recalls. “I loved school.”

That feeling never left. Betty played school at home and later took summer and volunteer jobs that involved working with children. Now she has logged 17 years as a teacher, and 2018 marks her tenth school year at Belmont Day. Reflecting on the school’s 90th anniversary, Betty is impressed by how Belmont Day blends

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classic educational philosophy with an eye toward the future. “My colleagues blend the beauty of honoring traditions with the excitement of innovating and keeping curriculum relevant,” she says. In her decade at Belmont Day, she has seen sustainability topics become more integrated into classroom lessons, alongside a continual evolution in the purposeful use of technology.

Betty describes kindergarten as a pivotal year for children because they start to see themselves as learners.

Facilitating this experience through a dynamic curriculum that incorporates a lot of play requires a delicate balance between in-depth planning and thinking on one’s feet. Betty collaborates with fellow

kindergarten teacher Brianna McDuffee and associate teachers. “We spend a lot of time strategizing about the details of how to engage each class with the curriculum,” she says. “Our classroom is about fostering independence, and the children are very proud to take ownership of their learning.”

Outside of Belmont Day, Betty volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, where she has mentored a “Little Sister” for 10 years. The teen is now a junior in high school and is considering becoming the first in her family to go to college.

Betty says: “I love seeing children at any age reach that ‘aha’ moment where a new idea clicks or students realize that they have something of value to share with others. It is fulfilling to be a part of that growth.”

LOW E R S C H O O L

21st-Century Library a Hub for Literacy and Research Belmont Day’s Erskine Library bustles with activity: early birds gather there when they arrive before school starts.

Students visit regularly to check out books and enjoy read-alouds. It is also the site of school events, ranging from a parent book club to the display of student work.

Librarian Amy Sprung works closely with classroom and specialist teachers to seamlessly integrate the library into students’ experience—as both a fount of literature, and a resource for gathering information and determining next steps. Second graders visit the library to study endangered species.

When fourth grade students designed fitness trackers as part of a collaboration between

their physical education and library classes, they started by using library resources to learn about exercise and heart rates. In the middle school years, Amy offers strategies for evaluating sources, synthesizing information, and using information ethically.

Amy describes the role of the library, as articulated by the American Library Association, as guiding learners to become engaged and effective users of ideas and information. “Our role is to start students on the path to becoming lifelong learners,” she says. “We want students to see the library as a place of community, inspiration, and a place to start when faced with any big research question.”

After School Programs

Extend Fun and Learning

For many lower school students, school dismissal means the beginning of more fun in Belmont Day’s After School Discoveries program, which runs until 5:45 p.m. each day. Enrichment classes, which run until 4:30 p.m., are

another after-school highlight. Together these programs serve more than one-third of Belmont Day students.

Belmont Day faculty often use these classes as opportunities to test out curriculum before using it in the classroom. Second-grade teacher Tina Fox, for example, recently taught Mathletics, with fun math games to engage diverse levels of learners. Blair Fross, director of after school and enrichment programs and Kathy Gruzynski, middle school math specialist, have received a 2018–19 Lenesa Leana Endowment for Innovative and Collaborative Education grant to implement an engineering and coding curriculum. Associate

teachers also lead enrichment classes to practice developing curriculum and to apply the techniques they learn from Belmont Day’s mentor teachers.

With about 20 offerings each trimester, enrichment classes offer students an impressive variety. Recent classes included Art Unplugged, Chess, Basketball Buddies, Experimentivity: Mad Science, and Business Sharks (in which young entrepreneurs develop business ideas to present to a panel of parents). “Students love being with their friends and having agency in choosing which activities they participate in,” Blair says. “Our classes are cross-graded, and the older students also enjoy making friends with and mentoring younger students.”

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MIDDLE SCHOOL

“

Middle school students thrive on change. They crave variety.

Middle School Embraces

”

Growth and Change Liz Gray

Middle School Head Our 90th anniversary coincides with a time of exciting transition for Belmont Day’s middle school as we welcome the largest class of sixth grade students in the history of our school. This is the beginning of a planned growth phase for our middle school. As each grade cohort grows from mid-30s to mid-40s, subject area classes will divide into three sections. So even as the students’ social network expands, we will preserve the small student-teacher ratio that allows us to know each individual so well as a learner.

We are using this opportunity to review and strengthen our program at each grade level and across each academic subject. Beginning this September we will

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offer Latin as a third option for language study, and we are increasingly incorporating problem-based challenges into our math curriculum. In seventh grade, we are launching a modular structure in which English and social studies teachers will collaborate around a focal point for each term. Students will rotate through different teachers throughout the year and we are excited that this will bring Head of School Brendan Largay into the classroom. While he teaches English, I am thrilled to join the rotation teaching social studies. In arts, we are fine-tuning course rotations to prepare sixth grade students with an even stronger foundation to curate their own artistic journeys with seventh and eighth

grade electives. Behind the scenes, we are strengthening the departmental infrastructure that unites teachers as peers within their fields to promote dynamic program development. This is just the beginning as we envision what new possibilities a larger faculty, larger student body, and new facilities will bring.

Middle school students thrive on change. They crave variety. Ultimately, they need lots of options to explore in the context of a structured community. I am proud to say that this is what Belmont Day offers—a myriad of opportunities and the support middle school students need to discover who they are and how they want to contribute to their world.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Meet the Faculty:

Nicole Buck Nicole joins Belmont Day to launch a Latin curriculum in the middle school.

Q: What do students like the most about studying Latin?

Q: What do you like about teaching grades six through eight?

I love how students this age are energetic, funny, and honest. They are at a developmental stage to be figuring out who they are, so teachers can make very meaningful connections. I try to bring as much fun as possible to the classroom. Building that student-teacher relationship is the most important element for productive learning.

Students may have heard about some piece of ancient Roman civilization from movies or books and been intrigued; studying Latin is a chance to dive deeper. A favorite event in my classes is Gladiator Art Day, when students draw these combatants with all their armor.

Putting themselves in the shoes of ancient people brings the culture to life.

Students are also surprised to discover that Latin is not a “dead language.” We explore how often Latin shows up in English and is the foundation for other Romance languages. Studying Latin does tend to improve students’ scores for vocabulary on SATs and other standardized

tests. Students also enjoy finding allusions to ancient Greek and Roman culture in books, television shows, movies, and advertising slogans all around us.

Q: What do you look forward to about teaching at Belmont Day? I’m originally from Connecticut, but in recent years I’ve been teaching at a charter school in Arizona. I started the Latin program at my former school, and it was the only world language offered in the middle school. I loved collaborating with language teachers from the high school campus, and at Belmont Day I’m excited to work with a team of teachers in my subject who are also focused on the middle school years.

Festival Inspires Young Mathematicians

In March students exercised higher-level mathematical thinking at the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival. This event emphasized fundamental mathematical principles through activities relating to pattern recognition, logic, spatial awareness, and problem-solving. Faculty facilitated stations by asking students guiding questions and reinforcing student discoveries. “This is a way to bring joy and creative thinking to math,” says middle school mathematics specialist Kathy Gruzynski. “We are incorporating teaching strategies similar to what real mathematicians do—which is focus on problem-solving.”

For 90 minutes, all middle school students explored puzzles, games, and hands-on challenges. Some students sampled many activities, while others became intrigued with examining one activity in-depth. “Some students were skeptical about how much fun they would have at the beginning of the event,” Kathy says. “But everyone became so engaged that by the end they found it hard to pull away.”

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t Ar s

S P OT L I G H T

In the Studio at Belmont Day Anne Armstrong

Arts Coordinator and Visual Arts Teacher Children are natural artists because they are always observing their world and creating. Our arts program gives students foundational skills to channel that creativity through a variety of artistic expressions. As a result, we cultivate students who are creative, confident, and know how to bring ideas to fruition.

Our arts curriculum grounds students in music, theater arts, visual art, woodworking, and digital arts. Lower school grades explore all of these disciplines, with our work integrated into the students’ school experience. Third grade students, for example, create mixed-media flowers connected to their study of the 50 states, while fourth grade students design clay tiles relating to ancient Greece. Lower school classroom teachers and the entire arts team unite to bring class plays to life. Then, when students reach seventh and eighth grades, they mount full-length theatrical productions and choose their own artistic path from our unique arts elective offerings.

A core strength of our program is how we facilitate the giving and receiving of feedback. Our students quickly learn that art is not made in a vacuum. We emphasize the process of creating and refining art before we applaud the pieces students create on the stage and in displays throughout our school. As a result, our students come to recognize art as an expression of themselves that also draws us together as a community.

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Ensembles and Electives Let Students

Sample and Specialize Throughout the week, Belmont Day’s halls ring out with song. In addition to a regular rotation of music classes, students in first through fourth grades can participate in ensembles on Tuesday afternoons. Students in fifth through eighth grades can choose from five different ensembles that practice on Friday mornings: string instruments, woodwinds, guitars, world drumming, or chorus.

Advanced fourth grade students may also play in the older string and woodwind ensembles.

These ensembles meet all year and perform at concerts, assemblies, and other school events.

“We offer ensembles because students appreciate choices,” explains performing arts teacher Susan Dempsey.

“Some students focus on one instrument and build advanced skills throughout their middle school years. Others try a different ensemble each year. Either way they learn about reading music, performing, and the process of listening to and playing off each other as musicians.”

When students reach seventh and eighth grades, they can also hone their musicality through specialized arts

electives. Each term, students pick from a variety of courses in visual, performing, and digital arts. Recent musical electives included Lady (& Gent) Sings the Blues; Rap, Rhythm and Rhyme; and Beethoven’s 5th and Other Favorites. During the final quarter, electives focused on mounting a musical.

“The arts help students find passions and confidence,” Susan says.

“With opportunities to experience all of the arts, and to choose their focus, students can discover things they may not have known about themselves.”

Young Inventors Combine Woodworking and Computer Coding

Woodworking teacher Bill Smith and innovation and art teacher Kurt Robinson have collaborated to help fifth graders design, build, and program interactive games. As part of Bill’s class, students created unique game boards and devices.

In Kurt’s class, they added sensors, copper tape, and wiring to connect their handiwork to computers. They then programmed the computers to know where players are in the game, triggering lights and sounds based on where players land on the board. “Students found this project exciting,” Bill says, “because they applied new skills to develop their own ideas.”

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A R TS S P OT L I G H T

Hats Off

to First and Second Grade Performers Imagine a place where every person wears a hat and is even a hat maker themselves.

One day, two visitors arrive who do not wear hats! What happens next was the plot of the 2018 play presented by Belmont Day’s first and second grade classes.

Every grade brings Belmont Day students some unique opportunity to star on the stage. In first grade, students debut as a chorus; in second grade they take the stage with individual speaking roles.

“Being in a chorus introduces students to performing without a lot of pressure,” explains teacher Chris Parsons, who directs the plays in first through fourth

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grades. “First grade students have a lot of nervous energy about being on stage for the first time. Starting in second grade, they demonstrate growing confidence in taking on individual roles.” These early productions build experience, so that by fifth grade, students are ready to perform an adaptation of a classic work; by seventh and eighth grades, students produce a full-scale musical or play.

The performances are interdisciplinary collaborations: In the lower grades, Chris works closely with classroom teachers to select and adapt plays that integrate curricular themes. (Hats,, for example,

explored character development.) He also connects with visual art teachers, who help students create sets.

“Our curriculum teaches students what it means to be part of the theater through acting, singing, dancing, and working on the technical side,” Chris says.

“We help them understand all aspects of being a thespian.”

B E L M O N T DAY On the

Field John O’Neill Athletic Director

At Belmont Day, we help every middle school student discover the athlete within.

Students know that our coaches—whom they also encounter as teachers in the classroom—will challenge and support them every step of the way. Because they choose an interscholastic sport each season, students gain the skills and confidence of well-rounded athletes. Our students develop healthy attitudes toward fitness and competition as they learn how to compete with grace and respect. They understand teamwork and cultivate a love of the game.

As they go off to high school, and eventually college, Belmont Day graduates carry with them the foundation of what it means to be a true athlete. Their high performance and leadership are rewarded, as they often become team captains in high school and place on Division I teams in college.

Our athletic teams honored the school’s 90th anniversary year with strong seasons. Our fencing team went undefeated, while boys’ varsity basketball logged a record of 9–1. Girls’ field hockey charted a record of 4–2–1; boys’ soccer ended its season with a 6–2 record; our ultimate team finished their season with a record of 6–1; and several competitors from our track and field team qualified for the State Championships.

The full story of athletics at Belmont Day, however, is about more than winning.

Our students are so proud to don their uniforms and take the field each season to represent Belmont Day.

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that school “I tell students and sports go hand in hand. You can apply your experience in persevering on the field to solve difficult situations in the classroom.

”

Coach Profile: Dale McGhee Highlights Long-term Lessons of Athletics Most parents know Dale McGhee as an accountant in Belmont Day’s business office. Middle school students, however, know him as “Coach.”

Dale is an example of how staff working behind the scenes at Belmont Day also share their unique talents with students. Growing up in Michigan, Dale played baseball, basketball, and football in high school, followed by football at Eastern Michigan University. He now coaches

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junior varsity boys’ basketball, which often has players new to the sport. “I particularly like the moment each season,” he says, “when players recognize the connection between the drills they have been learning in practice and the offense or defense that they play on the court.”

Dale meets student-athletes before basketball season begins through his role in supervising sixth grade study hall. So like other Belmont Day coaches, he gets to

know students on and off the field. “I tell students that school and sports go hand in hand,” he says. “You can apply your experience in persevering on the field to solve difficult situations in the classroom.”

Dale finds the most joy in watching a group of individuals come together as a team. “Regardless of what path students pursue in life, they are going to find themselves part of a team, so it’s beneficial to know how to navigate those situations.”

B E L M O N T DAY AT H L E T I C S

Boys’ Varsity Celebrates Full Court Press

The boys’ varsity basketball team completed a spectacular 2018 season with a record of 9–1. School spirit ran high when they also won the Friday Night Hoops game against Lexington Christian Academy and secured first place in the Middle School Classic, an annual tournament with Shady Hill, Meadowbrook, and Pike schools. This team was unusual in that captains Jordan Clayton ’18 and Alex Tobias ’18, along with teammate Dylan Lasry ’18 had all joined the varsity team as sixth graders. By eighth grade, these athletes had grown into leaders who inspired each other and other teammates to bring out their best.

Alumna Earns All-American

Honor in Track Ever since she tried track and cross country at Belmont Day, Samantha Friborg ’14 hasn’t stopped running. In eighth grade, she became the Middle School State Champion— and set a state record—in the 800-meter race.

In her sophomore year at Acton-Boxborough High School, she placed second at the All-State meet and again at the New England meet in the 600-meter. As a senior, she finished her 2018 winter season ranked as fourth nationally in the 1,000-meter and fifth nationally in the 800- and the 600-meter.

With All-American status, Samantha now heads to Yale University, where she will compete as a Division I athlete.

“I love every minute that I’m running,” Samantha says. “Having so much joy in it

catalyzes my success.” Friborg attributes this appreciation to the style of coaching she experienced at Belmont Day. “The coaches challenged us enough to get better, but they also emphasized truly enjoying a sport,” she explains. Her high school coaches have continued this approach. “Running is hard work, but I haven’t burned out because there is still so much to explore.”

Samantha feels a similar devotion and sense of discovery for her studies. “In track, how you perform in any race is completely determined by how much you put into it,” she says. “That work ethic applies in my academic life too.”

coaches [at Belmont Day] challenged us enough to “The get better, but they also emphasized truly enjoying a sport. ” B E L M O N T DAY

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Lasting

bonds

Connect Past and Present Alumni enjoy memories and discover even deeper appreciation for Belmont Day when they engage with the school as parents, trustees, and volunteers.

Stephanie Kadnar ’84 is glad her children will enjoy a complete journey through eighth grade at Belmont Day, rather than graduating in sixth grade like students did in her era. “By eighth grade, students have a much stronger opinion about what type of future they envision for themselves,” she says. “Belmont Day introduces students to so many possibilities—including cutting edge topics like robotics and STEAM initiatives. Then students are prepared to fully understand their options in high school.”

After Belmont Day, Stephanie boarded at Miss Hall’s School, in Massachusetts, and attended Dickinson College, in Pennsylvania, before pursuing a career in finance. She now lives in Winchester and focuses on working with nonprofit organizations. In her ninth year as a Belmont Day parent, Stephanie values how teachers engage students in academics, athletics, and arts. “Belmont Day allows kids to love school,” she says. “You can see it in the eyes of all the students because the faculty encourage them to be leaders, innovators, and lifelong learners.”

From her own time at Belmont Day, Stephanie fondly recalls favorite traditions like Halloween parades. “The sense of community is very much the same now as it was when I was a student,” she says. That connection has inspired her to become an active parent volunteer, serving as a grade parent, working as a parent ambassador for admissions, and co-chairing the auction. She likes meeting parents whose children are in different grade levels than her own; she is impressed at the commitment parents invest in their children’s education. “I feel so grateful to the teachers, administrators, and everyone who make Belmont Day what it is. I give my personal time as a way to say, ‘thank you.’”

Belmont Day allows kids to love “ school. You can see it in the eyes of

all the students because the faculty encourage them to be leaders, innovators, and lifelong learners.

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”

L AST I N G B O N DS

Belmont Day is a grounding “place in people’s childhood, where you first come to be who you are. Alumni realize what a privilege it was to have that experience and it draws people back.

”

Johanna

Mendillo ’90

relished attending Belmont Day School. “The teachers there ignited my curiosity and sense of independence and desire as a learner,” she says. Now a teacher herself and still engaged as an alumna, Johanna recognizes one of the school’s secrets for success: “Belmont Day is committed to cultivating teacher leadership,” she says. “The school encourages teachers to be lifelong learners themselves. I was a beneficiary of that mindset.”

Athletics and arts played an important role for Johanna at Belmont Day. “That was the beginning of my enthusiasm for sportsmanship—learning to fail and pick yourself up again, plus enjoying triumphs as a team. The school exposed us to so many interests, which was crucial to me developing as a well-rounded person.”

After graduating, Johanna attended The Winsor School, followed by Cornell University, in New York. She worked in the field of environmental education and outreach before getting a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has now been a science teacher with Boston Public Schools for 13 years. She currently volunteers at Belmont Day as chair of the alumni and friends council. She credits the school’s alumni department with recent initiatives to reconnect with past graduates, who are responsive to the outreach. “Belmont Day is a grounding place in people’s childhood, where you first come to be who you are,” Johanna says. “Alumni realize what a privilege it was to have that experience and it draws people back.”

Johanna comes to campus regularly for events and recently attended a Capstone presentation, a tradition that had not started when she was a student. “As an alumna, I enjoy meeting students who have the same enthusiasm for the school as I do,” she says. “Reaching 90 years is a great accomplishment for a school. I’m so proud of Belmont Day’s growth and am excited for its future.”

Kirk Chisholm ’87 was interested in Belmont Day for his sons when they became school age, but he also visited other independent schools to explore the area’s educational options.

When he returned to campus for an admissions tour, “the school sold itself,” he says. “Belmont Day epitomized what my wife and I wanted as a learning experience for our children.”

Kirk particularly liked how Belmont Day engages students with hands-on activities and gives classroom learning a real-world context. In kindergarten, for example, his sons spent time in the Belmont Day garden, with lessons about science and math seamlessly incorporated into their day. “We live in a fascinating time with a lot of new research being done about the process of learning,” Kirk says.

“These grades are critical because developmentally, children’s brains are so pliable. They are just being introduced to the school experience. We want them to build a lifelong interest in learning and become confident and responsible community members.”

After graduating from Belmont Day, Kirk attended Belmont Hill School, followed by Trinity College, in Connecticut. He now works in wealth management as a principal at Innovative Advisory Group. Kirk serves on the BDS Board of Trustees and is chair of the investment committee. Being a Belmont Day trustee gives Kirk a chance to make a greater impact on the educational experience of his boys. It also provides more exposure to the planning that occurs behind the scenes at a school. “Belmont Day teachers are constantly looking at the best ways to teach,” he says. “Knowing that gives me an even greater appreciation for how the administration and faculty support my children.”

When Kirk attended Belmont Day, the space that is now the Palandjian Arts Center was a gym. What is now the lunchroom was an auditorium. Yet walking through the front entrance still gives him a familiar feeling. “The lower school wing is designed just right to welcome a young child to school,” Kirk says. He also remembers eating sloppy joes, pizza, and Tater Tots regularly, and observes that the school now puts a strong focus on providing healthful food choices.

“That is an important detail,” he says, “because it shows how much thought and mindfulness goes into every aspect of the school experience.”

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L AST I N G B O N D S

Jill

Finnerty ’84

describes sharing assemblies as her favorite part of the week when she was a Belmont Day student.

She vividly remembers sitting alongside other students to form a large circle in what is now Coolidge Hall, and then rising when her class was called to walk around inside the circle, holding up something of interest. “As a student, I looked forward to seeing what everyone else was doing and sharing my own work,” she says. “As a parent, I recognize how sharing assemblies make kids comfortable with public speaking.”

Jill mostly fell out of touch with Belmont Day as she went on to The Winsor School, Williams College and the Yale School of Management before building a career in information technology in the health care industry. When her own children were ready for school, she visited Belmont Day mostly out of nostalgia. “We were instantly taken with the school,” she says. “The caliber of teaching and the small class sizes offered opportunities that wouldn’t exist in our public school system.”

Jill now has one child in sixth grade at Belmont Day, and a graduate who attends the Cambridge School of Weston. Serving on the board at Belmont Day has given her a deeper understanding of what goes into running a top-notch school. “It’s been a privilege to see the intentionality with which decisions are made,” she says. “When children are your key stakeholders, you always make decisions with that as the guiding principle.”

As a trustee, Jill has been very involved with making plans for the Barn. “I can’t wait for it to open,” she says, “because it represents so many exciting new learning opportunities for students.”

The new facility also reflects the strength of the Belmont Day community. “It’s the result of years of consideration by so many people,” Jill says. “It’s a way to invest in the school for our children now and be sure that it will serve students into the future.”

been a privilege to see “theIt’sintentionality with which decisions are made. ”

Kristen Lewis P ’17, ’20, Jill Finnerty P ’17, ’20, and Melissa Noble P ’18, ’21

Send Us

Your Story!

In honor of our 90th anniversary, send us your memories from attending Belmont Day School.

We are collecting the stories of students and faculty from any era.

Contact Andy Rentschler, Director of Alumni, at arentschler@belmontday.org.

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WHY I GIVE

Bridge Family

Makes Philanthropy a Tradition More than a decade after their youngest child completed her Belmont Day education, the Bridge family still refers to “the BDS way” as a shorthand for following the path of integrity. “We chose Belmont Day for our children because we liked the school’s mix of structure and tradition, along with its nurturing and attention to character,” Meg Bridge explains. She and her husband, Tom, felt that the school’s six core values—excellence, joy, respect, honesty, responsibility, and caring— closely aligned with their own.

“When you learn something so young, it really sticks with you,” says Amy Bridge Hausmann ’06. Older brother Charlie Bridge ’01 adds: “It was important to me that excellence was only one of the values. There are lots of ways to be excellent. Learning how to be a good person is something that we started learning very young.”

A close family, the Bridge siblings appreciated attending the same school and sharing a common experience. “Belmont Day was tightly woven into the fabric of our family for a long time,” Charlie says. “It’s an important part of our family story.” Since attending Belmont Day, all three Bridge siblings have completed their undergraduate degrees at Harvard University. Charlie works in a law firm after completing his J.D. at Yale University. Amy is currently in her third year of law school at Yale. Ellie is pursuing a master’s of education degree at Harvard and completing teaching residencies in Boston and Brooklyn, NY.

Ellie ’09 recently wrote a college paper about the role the six core values played in her education. “Now that I’m a teacher myself,” she says, “those are things I try to bring to my own students.”

All three alumni, along with their parents, have been regular donors to Belmont Day’s annual fund and capital campaigns. While the Bridge children were at Belmont Day, Meg was very active as a volunteer, serving as classroom parent, president of the parents’ association, and as a trustee. A former teacher herself, she also has worked with nonprofit organizations for many years. “We understand that schools function based on lots of people chipping in, in lots of ways,” she says. “It is important for a school to not be entirely reliant on tuition, especially in making the school accessible to students who would not otherwise be able to attend.”

Over the years, Meg and Tom modeled for their children that being part of a community means everyone coming together to do their part.

As a result, the Bridge siblings follow in their parents’ footsteps. “I’ve been given everything in terms of education, and I’m extremely grateful,” Ellie says. “I believe wholeheartedly in giving back in some way, whether financially or through your actions. That is part of why I chose to become a teacher.”

Charlie agrees: “It’s a privilege to pay forward a blessing and be part of passing an educational experience on to the next generation.”

“

Meg and Tom modeled for their children that being part of a community means everyone coming together to do their part.

”

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A LU M N I I N AC T I O N : S P OT L I G H T O N T H E

t Ar s

Body-Positive Comic Book Reframes Menstruation for Girls in Rural India

Ariana Abadian-Heifetz ’04 wishes that all teen girls could have the positive, body-affirming experience she did when they get their first periods. “Throughout much of the world, menstruation is seen as a curse and something secretive,” she explains. “I want young women to see their bodies as miraculous and having innate worth.”

Ariana likens puberty to the metamorphosis of butterflies, which is why she titled her new book Spreading Your Wings: A Health Infocomic for Girls of All Ages. The book was inspired by Ariana’s work at a local nonprofit organization that empowers women in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, India. As she helped women organize to improve their financial situations and access civic institutions, they vocalized an urgent need for menstrual health education. She heard tales of women using packets of ashes, mattress padding, and dirty rags while menstruating. She also heard of women dying from resulting infections. Women were eager for information and when they responded enthusiastically to Ariana’s approach to the topic, she made plans to reach more people.

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The 115-page book, published in English and Hindi, introduces sisters Anjali and Pooja, who have a lot of questions about their bodies. The book delivers its message through playful storytelling, games, and practical elements—such as patterns for making cloth sanitary pads. As important as the medical information, the book dissects myths that affect individuals’ health and ability to attend school, and that promote overall bodily shame and female discrimination. Many girls, for example, are told that they cannot bathe or eat certain foods during this time of the month. They may believe that menstruating is a purging of toxic material and, thus, serving foods or touching men while menstruating could cause contamination and illness. “Addressing the underlying stigmas is critical,” explains Ariana. “If a girl thinks of herself as inherently impure, then she won’t prioritize her body to care for it or realize she has the right to set boundaries and protect it.”

Addressing such misunderstandings must be done with respect so that people remain open to the new ideas. Ariana, who studied political science and international relations at Carleton College, in Minnesota, makes a strong effort to ferret out the origins of menstruation myths. The ban on bathing, for example, is passed down from a time when people washed in communal baths. Young women can use Spread Your Wings to discuss with parents how ideas

that once made sense are no longer relevant. “Providing those explanations honors a community’s wisdom,” Ariana says, “while also providing rationale for adapting healthier methods for self-care.”

Ariana raised $10,000 through a crowdfunding campaign to produce the book and has secured further donations to distribute it to schools and communitybased organizations throughout India.

She expects the book to be read, passed along, and also to serve as a manual for

A LU M N I I N AC T I O N

If a girl thinks of herself as inherently impure, then “ she won’t prioritize her body to care for it or realize

”

she has the right to set boundaries and protect it. facilitating workshops on menstrual health.

“It is meant to be read in the context of community,” she says, “because social change requires the power of mobilized group voice.”

Ariana learned to view challenges holistically when she attended Belmont Day. “I loved how the subjects were intertwined and given global relevance,” she says. “That got me asking questions and analyzing from different angles.”

The many hands-on projects from those years taught her how to collaborate and put what she was learning into practice, which was “ultimately, how I created the book,” she says. Ariana serves as the writer, artistic director, and production manager for the book. She assembled a team of artists, researchers, translators, and doctors to complete the project. “If there was something I didn’t know how to do, like write legal contracts, it wasn’t an

obstacle,” she says. “I knew how to seek support and teach myself.” Her Belmont Day teachers played a pivotal role in this: “I felt I mattered to each of them, and that is an invaluable gift for a child.”

Now working at the Heritage Xperiential Learning School near New Delhi, Ariana designs curriculum to foster civic engagement, leadership development, conflict resolution skills, and social-emotional awareness. She still has her journal from the Facing History and Ourselves curriculum that she studied in seventh grade. She brought it with her to India as an inspiration for her work with students there. “That class taught me to look at history with the idea that I’m a relevant actor and to wonder what I can do to make an impact on the world,” she says.

For more information, visit spreadingyourwings.com.

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Sci-Fi Debut Launches Trilogy Patrick Duffy ’93 caught the bug for writing when he was an English major at Harvard University. He wrote fiction while working construction during the summers and then attending Harvard Law School. He wrote while starting his career as a small-town lawyer. And he wrote as he moved into real estate. For years he rose early, squeezing in time to write before 7 a.m. “All that time I had been developing the discipline that is required to be a writer,” Patrick says.

Finally getting a call from a publisher then came as a surprise. “Even when you’re working toward that goal, it’s hard to envision it happening,” he explains. “I’ve written a lot of novels that have only been published by my own printer.”

Ninth City Burning, which received excellent reviews, is the first of a trilogy that was published in 2016 by Ace, a division of Penguin Random House, and one of the book world’s longest running and most influential publishers of science fiction. Patrick has taken J. Patrick Black as his nom de plume because many others share his birth name. “Black” is the English

translation of “Dubf,” which is of Gaelic origin and the root for Duffy.

Patrick discovered the sci-fi genre when he borrowed A Wrinkle in Time,

by Madeleine L’Engle, and The White Mountains, by John Christopher, from the Belmont Day library. “I remember the librarians were always encouraging about any book that sparked students’ fancy,” he says. He describes those books as “mind-blowingly weird”—and he loved them. Duffy also fondly remembers teachers and still sees friends from his Belmont Day years. He was particularly touched when the mother of a former classmate recognized him and came to hear him read at a bookstore in San Francisco.

Patrick’s second book is scheduled to be released soon, but he still works in real estate. Having one published book on the shelf, however, has changed his identity as a writer, making it easier to give priority to his craft. “There’s the rest of your life happening,” he says, “and then you have to clear out time to write.”

the World SEND US YOUR NEWS... ...so we can share your achievements with the Belmont Day community!

Contact Andy Rentschler, Director of Alumni, at arentschler@belmontday.org

34 | 2018–2019

Zachary Moore ’04 has contributed to the lighting design of roughly 100 stage productions at theaters and other venues in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Los Angeles. His work also appears at Six Flags Magic Mountain, in California, where he creates dramatic effects for live shows and illuminates 200 acres of theme park for events such as the Halloween-season FrightFest. As a middle school student at Belmont Day, Zachary designed lights for many productions under the tutelage of former drama teacher Kathy Randall and former Middle School Head Rob Houghton. Zachary later attended Milton Academy and California Institute of the Arts, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in lighting design.

©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/YONGCHAROEN_KITTIYAPOR

Lighting Up

A LU M N I I N AC T I O N

Hit Shows With a

Global Perspective Amanda Krentzman ’98 joined Netflix’s International Originals in February 2016, just a month after the content streaming provider expanded its service to 130 countries. Netflix is now available in more than 190 countries, with more than 100 million members—and Amanda has served as an executive producer for two of its critically-acclaimed series. Club of Crows, the first original Netflix series to be released in

Spanish, has begun filming its fourth season and explores the relationships of a family-owned, Mexican soccer team. Dark, the first original Netflix series to be released in German, debuted in 2017 and has a new season scheduled for 2018. Dark is a science fiction thriller that employs time travel to develop a mystery across three generations.

“There’s no denying its ingenuity,” The New York Times wrote of the show.

Musical Talent Gains

Momentum The band New Dakotas, featuring Alasdair MacKenzie ’11, has recently released Marsh Street, an EP with five original songs. This is the third EP in two years for the indierock group, which performs frequently at local venues. In addition to playing drums and being a vocalist, Alasdair writes songs and books gigs for the band. “I love

making music, and developing a kinship with other people through it,” he says.

In seventh grade, Alasdair brought fellow students together to create an official rock band at Belmont Day. He took a proposal for the band to former Head of School Lenesa Leana and succeeded in scheduling auditions, plus practice

Amanda is also a founding member of HollywoodWEST, a network of 200 women who are working to change the culture for women working in the entertainment industry. Amanda studied economics at Wesleyan University before launching her career. She is passionate about empowering storytellers, all around the world, to share their authentic stories on a global platform.

sessions during the time set aside for club activities. “If a student has a strong desire to do something at Belmont Day, it can happen,” Alasdair says. “That makes the school a great environment to stretch and try things.” The band even had an opportunity to play at the spring concert and other school events, alongside ensembles directed by faculty. “To be legitimized like that was a nice feeling,” Alasdair recalls. Alasdair devotes himself to music while also studying political science and government at Harvard University. “I’ll spend at least a couple of years—and hopefully the rest of my life—playing music,” he says. “Nothing else that I’ve tried is as fun or fulfilling.”

Visit www.newdakotas.com for links to listen.

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class

notes

As we continue to grow the class notes section of this magazine, we are looking for class representatives to help oversee the collection of news and updates from former classmates and friends. If you are interested in serving as a class representative, please contact Director of Alumni Andy Rentschler at arentschler@belmontday.org.

1950s

1960s

BARBIE (HOTTEL) WILLIS ’51 | I fondly remember Lucy Pitcher, Marcia White, Sally Ann McLean, Gus Rose, and Peter Bramhall.

We had complete freedom at recess, and I was very adept at walking on stilts. Would love to get in touch with any or all of them. Wonderful memories!

STAVROS MACRAKIS ’66 | My younger daughter Clio just graduated from MIT in civil and environmental engineering, and my older daughter Eleni is in the urban planning program at Harvard Graduate School of Design. My mother Lily lives with me and is doing well. My partner Robin Fleming teaches at Boston College. I love my house and garden in mid-Cambridge, but they do require some upkeep.

After years as a software researcher, engineer, and product manager, most recently at Google in Cambridge, I’ve started on a new mission: travel guides for mobile technology. My company, Travel Guide Systems, works with writers and publishers of existing and new travel guides to make your phone into a personal guide with rich content. If you

MARY (DEUTSCH) EDSALL ’55 | I have worked with my husband, a journalist, since our marriage in 1965. He is currently an opinion columnist for The New York Times and I research for him.

Photo is of my (recent) 75th birthday.

I would love to hear from classmates!

36 | 2018–2019

1973 classmates (L–R): GREG FRIED, VIKI BOK, ADAM FROST, VICKY SUESCUM, and AMY PORTER have thoughts about what the ideal mobile travel guide should be, contact me!

1970s BRUCE GREER ’72 | My sister, Alison Greer ’77, is dean of admissions at Garrison Forest School in MD. I hear from Ken Hahn ’72, now a rabbi in Northampton, MA. Kevin Foley ’72 is in Belmont, Medea Palandjian ’72 is a local real estate agent, John Driscoll ’72 is back in New England and I am split between St.

Louis and Hawaii. I flew F-14s after college, taught at Northwestern, and am working in the chemical sector still.

Several BDS classmates gathered recently at the house of VIKI BOK ’73—Vicky Suescum ’73 (in from San Antonio, TX), Adam Frost ’73, Greg Fried ’73, and Amy Porter ’73—for an impromptu reunion! “Vicky Suescum, a painter (that’s her painting behind us in the photo) was in town for her Wellesley reunion, prompting the get-together. It was so lovely to see everyone and to share memories as well as catch up.”

C L ASS N OT E S

CHARLES PINCK ’76 (pictured far left)

JONATHAN MIRIN ’84 performing “To Bee or Not to Bee” CHARLES PINCK ’76 | I have served as president of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society since 2002. OSS was the World War II predecessor to the CIA and the U.S. Special Operations Command. On March 21, 2018, the OSS was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, its highest civilian honor. I accepted this medal on behalf of the 13,000 men and women who served in the OSS under the command of General William J. Donovan.

1980s JONATHAN MIRIN ’84 | My wife and I live in Charlemont, MA, with our 8-year-old son. We run a touring theater company and are drawn to environmental themes. A recent musical production “To Bee or Not to Bee,” toured New England this summer. The play is concerned with pollinator disappearance but aims to inspire action and hope. Check us out at ptco.org!

1990s SARAH (KAHAN) ABBETT ’92 | I hope everyone is well! I live in Brookline with my husband and three sons (ages 6, 8, and 11) and am currently an anesthesiology resident at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Brighton. Hope no one from our class needs surgery, but if you do, some to St. E’s, and I’ll be happy to take care of you!

JULIA DUNN ’96 | It’s hard to believe it has been 22 years since my BDS graduation ceremony in Coolidge Hall. My life has taken me some amazing places since then, mostly due to my job in television news. It also put me on the front lines of some of the world’s top stories.

Whether it’s London to cover the royal wedding in 2011 or being on scene when police nabbed the Boston Marathon bomber in Watertown. Today, I am the morning anchor at CBS6 News in Albany, NY. It’s a grueling shift—I go to work when most people are going to bed!

But it’s incredibly rewarding, and extremely humbling to be the first face people see when they wake up telling them the news of the day. I will always remember BDS. Whether it’s Field Day, The Lambs Gambol, Marglow Press, the Big Toy, or Mr. Houghton’s Medieval Banquet. Amazing memories I will keep with me forever.

JULIA DUNN ’96 from BDS Halloween parade

2000s CHARLES BRIDGE ’01 | After years of college, work, and graduate school, I am back living and working in NYC. I married Catie Williams in Mattapoisett on August 18, 2018!

QUINN FITZGERALD ’01 returned to campus as our 2017 Alumni in Action speaker. She is co-founder of Flare Jewelry, a startup company working out of Harvard’s iLab to create jewelry embedded with technology to promote personal safety. In April 2017, Flare won the top prize in the social enterprise category of Harvard Business School’s New Venture Competition among a field of 50 teams.

SARAH AMERI ’04 is a thirdyear medical student at the University of Massachusetts.

After spending nearly a decade in the Pacific Northwest, CHRIS MCDONALD ’05 is excited to be returning to the East Coast to continue his career in medicine as an orthopedic surgery resident at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University.

DARIA AMERI ’06 is a third-year dental student at Tufts Dental School.

Having graduated from Boston College as an undergraduate, LARA AMERI ’06 is currently a law student at Boston College Law School.

AMY (BRIDGE) HAUSMANN ’06 | I am happy to report that Andrew Hausmann and I were married

in August 2017 at All Saints Parish, Brookline, MA. Currently, we are living in New Haven, CT, and I will begin my third year at Yale Law School this fall.

JESSE RAPAPORT ’06 | Jesse’s short film “Circumstantial” has received awards from the Accolade Global Film Competition, Best Shorts Competition, and most recently the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood, where it premiered in April.

MIRA SINGER ’06 recently published two articles on the online journal Mythcreants: “The Last Jedi and the Power of Failure” mythcreants.com/ blog/the-last-jedi-and-thepower-of-failure and “Three Movies with the Wrong Main Character” mythcreants.com/ blog/three-movies-with-thewrong-main-character.

ALEXIS CHENEY ’07 | I live in Washington, DC where I’m working as a paralegal at the Department of Justice. Outside of work, I volunteer at the French Embassy, organize a creative writing group, and plan arts and culture events for a women’s professional organization.

ALLIE PENTA ’08 | I am back in Boston and about to finish my first of four years at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, where I am working towards my DMD degree and hopefully becoming a pediatric dentist! I have been an active mentor for Minds Matter Boston for the past two years and participate in many community service initiatives through Tufts related to oral health.

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Celebration Our 90th Anniversary

On June 2, 2018, we welcomed over 300 members of our Belmont Day community to celebrate the school's 90th year. Amid hardhat tours of the Barn, crafts projects, an archival photo gallery, and the ever-popular dunk tank, the true highlight of the afternoon was the reunion of current and former students, parents, faculty, and friends—spanning over 75 years of BDS history! A sincere thank-you to everyone who joined us to make the day so special, as well as to those who were unable to attend but sent thoughtful birthday wishes to the school.

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38 | 2018–2019

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1. Former Head of School Lenesa Leana is surrounded by Zeren Earls, former art teacher; former board chair Andrew Troop P ’05 ’09; Lisa Serini ’69; former board chairs Kathy Knight P ’99, ’00, ’06 and Andrea Sussman P ’05 ’09; and Paul Barth P ’99, ’00, ’06.

2. Assistant Head of School Deborah Brissenden shows off her Belmont Day pride with Delores Wesley P ’95 ’05.

3. Dianne Wheeler P ’22, ’26 and Onur Kas P ’26 with first grade pals Ewan Wheeler ’26, Deniz Kas ’26.

4. Former staff member Linda Corso GP ’99, ’04 is joined by former middle

C L ASS N OT E S

MARIAM AMERI ’09 graduated from Boston University in May 2017 and is now working in the business development division at a global software company involved in critical event notification.

After wrapping up her undergraduate education at Gettysburg College, LORI ATINIZIAN ’09 was accepted to Disney’s College Program and, as part of the renowned 5 to 8 month program, had the opportunity to gain valuable work experience and meet and network with people from all over the country.

5 school head Rob Houghton P ’07, ’10 and former head of school 5. John Fitzgerald Sarah Levine. ’61 catches up with former physical education teacher Seth Chaves, who taught John’s daughters Paige ’95, Reid ’98, and Quinn ’01 over the course of his 20-year tenure at BDS. 6. Sixth grade teacher Kaleen Moriarty catches up with former students Ishaan Prasad ’14, Arnav Prasad ’14, and 7. Director Gavin Colbert ’14. of Development Mary Merrill describes features of the new teaching spaces in the head house of the Barn to former Head of School Annette Raphel.

8. John McCluskey and Margaret Ramsey McCluskey P ’05, ’09, ’14.

9.

Former board chair John Moriarty and his wife and former faculty 10. Paul member Carol Moriarty.

Barth P ’99, ’00, ’06, Kathy Knight P ’99, ’00, ’06, Martha and Don Greenhalgh P ’00, ’06, and Kevin Greenhalgh ’06 11. Director of Communications Koreen McQuilton P ’08 and Director of Technology Dolly Ryan, two of Belmont Day’s longest-tenured faculty, catch up with Kit McCarthy P ’05, ’07, ’10.

12. Simone Pattisall ’24 and Natalie Jean ’23

6

ELEANOR BRIDGE ’09 | Immediately following my college graduation, I began work on my master’s degree as a Harvard Teaching Fellow.

Currently, I am about to finish up my teaching residency year at my school in Brooklyn, NY, and am planning on coming back and teaching in the Boston area next year.

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2010s 8

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CONNOR MCCANN ’10 | I recently graduated from Yale University with a BS in mechanical engineering. While there, I worked in a robotics lab developing a novel type of robotic hand. I’m now pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering at Harvard University, focusing on soft robotics—a new and emerging sub-area within robotics aimed at making robots out of flexible materials such as fabric and rubber. In particular, the lab where I work (Harvard Biodesign Lab) focuses on the development of soft exosuits that can be worn by humans to augment their natural strength for medical or military purposes.

After graduating from Dartmouth College this year with a B.A. in computer science, ROBERT SAYEGH ’10 moved to Manhattan and has begun working at CITI as an investment banker.

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JULIEN HERPERS ’11 in Cameroon

JULIEN HERPERS ’11 | Currently entering my senior year studying history at Dickinson College.

I’ve spent the last five months studying abroad in Yaoundé, Cameroon, researching French colonial administration and interning at the National Archives of Cameroon.

ALASDAIR MACKENZIE ’11 is entering his senior year at Harvard, but he still finds time to write songs and book gigs for his band New Dakotas.

The group has produced 3 EPs in the past two years and performs at a variety of local venues (see page 35).

JOSH ROY ’11 and his Hack@ Brown team hosted a successful hackathon at Brown University.

He led the hardware team to offer support and advice to peers interested in learning more about technology and computer science.

DAVID KOTLIKOFF ’12 | Check out David’s newest album, “Short Stuff,” on SoundCloud and Spotify. The album features eight unique tracks written, recorded, and produced by David, along with fellow musician Erik Zimmer.

One of just two freshman selected to the men’s varsity tennis team at Goucher College, DANIEL KIM ’13 is playing at #6 singles. He recently claimed his first ever collegiate victory by winning 6–4, 6–0 against his opponent from Stevenson University.

GEORGINA STEEL ’13 had a successful inaugural season on the women’s 1XI field hockey team at the University

40 | 2018–2019

of St. Andrews. Georgina and her teammates went on to win their league’s tournament—comprised of the top 4 teams—and received medals.

Georgina was recognized as the St. Andrews 1XI Player of the Year for her outstanding effort, both on and off the pitch, that led to such a winning season.

Having recently graduated from Noble and Greenhough School, LACHLAN MACKENZIE ’14 will head to Brown University in the fall.

SARAH MCCLUSKEY ’14 | I am excited to head to New York City to major in acting and minor in business at NYU Tisch School of Arts.

ISHAAN PRASAD ’14 was selected from an applicant pool of more than 90,000 high school seniors as a 2018 Coca-Cola Scholar. He will receive $20,000 for his future studies and will attend Harvard University in the fall.

GIOVANNA CIMA ’15 and her BB&N varsity soccer teammates, including Sara Bauman ’16 and Meredith Green ’16, were named ISL champions this fall.

BEN CLOSSEY ’15 and his band, Over Easy, were one of four groups selected to perform at Arlington High School’s Battle of the Bands last winter. They played to a sold-out crowd of over 300 with proceeds from the event going to support Save the Children.

Belmont Hill School rising seniors HAMZA SHEMSU ’15 and MICHAEL WADE ’15 were both named Boston Globe All-Scholastics All-Stars in wrestling and Hamza was a 2018 Graves Kelsey Tournament Champion.

The Belmont Hill School varsity soccer team had a successful season, ending with a thirdplace finish in the Independent School League. Rising junior ADIL KASSIM ’16 was a terrific addition to the team and saw action on the back line.

SUSANNA KELLER ’16 and her Winchester High School field hockey team made history, beating Watertown 3–0 to put an end to an incredible 184-game unbeaten streak.

MADISON LIESCHING ’17, ALASDAIR MACKENZIE ’11, SOPHIE ROTHMAN ’13, and LUIS VICEIRA ’12 returned to campus in May to take part on a panel and presentation for parents about the value and benefits of the BDS middle school experience.

Former Faculty & Staff HEIDI STOWE (1969–1989) | I am delighted to hear about the Barn!

How fortunate the BDS community felt when the science room and Erskine Library were built while I was teaching there. Our board of trustees with Warren McFarland as chair made dreams a reality for “the little school on the hill.” The love, support, and mission continue with the unique BDS community. Warm regards to Angela DeVecchi ’75 who was one of my students at BDS. PATRICIA MORIARTY (1988–2010) | I can’t believe I have now been retired for eight years. At the time, I cited wanting to spend more time with family and to be able to travel to new places. In these last years we have welcomed four more grandchildren and have had the opportunity to travel to Vietnam and Cambodia, Peru and Ecuador, Turkey and Greece, Morocco, and the Mediterranean.

Our greatest joy is time spent with children and grandchildren.

We gathered on the coast of Maine and at our family cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire this summer.

This year we’ve faced a few medical issues and made the huge decision to downsize from our home of 30 years—we are enjoying every single moment.

I’ve enjoyed keeping in touch with so many BDS friends,

former parents, and former students. BDS continues to hold a very special place in my heart!

Parents of Alumni ELIZABETH CALLAHAN P ’05 (Michaela) | We were welcomed by our host family, the Wesleys, and have remained friends ever since. They helped us to feel a part of the community of learners at BDS and to enjoy events. The host family program is so important and effective.

DAVID KAPLAN P ’75, ’79, ’81 | I had three sons, all of whom went to BDS. Our youngest, Tommy, died in July 1977. He was born with a congenital heart defect that in those days could not be fixed. He died on his ninth birthday. The school, in his last year, moved his classroom so that he did not have to walk up a flight of stairs—that meant a lot to us. In his memory, his grandmother (my mother) planted a tree behind the school. The last time I looked, the plaque and the tree were still there. We lived in Belmont from 1965 to 2005.

Both my other sons went on to Belmont Hill School after BDS and my younger son Steven has been a teacher there for more than 20 years. My wife and I set up a fund in Tommy’s memory— the Tommy Kaplan Library Fund—and we have contributed to it over the years.

PLEASE EMAIL US... ...so we can return the favor and keep you up to date on all things BDS. Share your news—your classmates will be glad you did!

Contact Andy Rentschler, Director of Alumni, at arentschler@belmontday.org.

Follow us @bdsalumniandfriends

inspired

learners & leaders Our students learn early on that pursuit of excellence can also be fun.

Contact us today to register for a tour!

OPEN HOUSE:

Saturday, October 20, 9:30 a.m.–noon Priority Round Application Deadline: Thursday, January 10, 2019 Second Round Application Deadline: Friday, March 1, 2019

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55 Day School Lane Belmont, MA 02478 Address Service Requested

This fall, Belmont Day School will cut the ribbon on its new building, nicknamed

the “Barn.�

Stay tuned for an invitation to its opening event.