Worcester Hilltopper Fall 2021 by Good Design

HILLTOPPER WA welcomes an all-in leader

GEORGE STRAIT JR. ’62 187TH COMMENCEMENT HILLTOP FRIENDSHIPS 2021 EVERYDAY EXCELLENCE REPORT fall 2021

VOLUME XXX / ISSUE 1

CONTENTS

Dr. Dana Huff doctoral research generates discussions about grading at WA

FALL 2021

contents

Meet 32nd Head of School Kevin Breen, An all-in leader befitting the times

Excellence Leads to Impact: George Strait Jr. ’62 reﬂects on an award-winning career that spanned journalism, public affairs, academia, and business

14 20

187th Commencement

Hilltop Friendships: Class of 1982 friendship sparks amazing gift in memory of Worcester Academy graduate

departments 14 20 22 26 28 31 34

ON THE HILLTOP HILLTOP FRIENDSHIPS ALUMNI NEWS WA ATHLETICS GIVING NEWS CHECKING IN PASSINGS

36 everyday excellence report

the

HILLTOPPER BOARD OF TRUSTEES

officers & members President Vice President Treasurer Secretary

David Shamoian ’70 Megan O’Leary P’20 Jonathan S. Stuart ’86 Susan Puryear P’19,’21 Dr. Marla Abodeely ’90 Benny Sato Ambush ’69 Sava B. Berhané, J.D. ’03 Nora Toohy Brooks Jamie E. Lavin Buzzard ’02 Courtney N. Carr, Esq. Peter Cronin ’80 Lawrence A. Gordon ’72, P’11 Michal Grabias ’11 J. Michael Grenon ’88 Ernst Guerrier P’19 William Haddad ’92 William H. Kettlewell ’69, P’08 Michael J. Mangaudis P’11,’14 Michael J. O’Neil Jr. ’01 Jacqueline Peterson Caroline Reich P’06,’08 Dr. Michael T. Shannon ’73 Luke M. Vaillancourt ’01

fall 2021

VOLUME XXX / ISSUE 1

Head of School Hilltopper Editor Graphic Designer Photography

Kevin Breen Neil R. Isakson P’15,’19 Good Design LLC, www.gooddesignusa.com Ursula Arello ’85, P’21 Karla Cinquanta Alicia Figueiredo Neil Isakson P’15,’19 Tom Kates Photography

Kim Stone, Director of Development Alicia Figueiredo, Director of Alumni Relations Alex Garcia, Development Associate Neil R. Isakson P’15,’19, Director of External Communications & Development Operations Mark E. Lufkin, Director of Major and Planned Giving Anette Macintire P’22, Development Database Manager Suzanne S. Nebelung P’22,’24, Annual Fund Manager Jennifer Sabatini, Director of Individual Giving Development Office

Featured Writers

Contributing Writers

Cheryl Bardoe is a visiting educator, author, and a frequent writer in the educational field. Christine Foster is an independent school fundraising, writer, and communications professional. Ursula Arello ’85, P’21 is director of annual giving at Anna Maria College. Previously, she was director of donor engagement for WA. Alicia Figueiredo, who began at Worcester Academy in 2007, is director of alumni relations.

MISSION

Worcester Academy exists to instill in its students the desire to learn throughout life, to engage passionately with the world around them, and to be honorable persons of strong and resourceful character.

CORE VALUES

We are a community—curious, thoughtful, generous, and thriving in our The Hilltopper is published twice yearly by Worcester Academy. diversity. We embrace each of our core values as essential to the mission Reader comment, as well as information of interest, is always welcome. of Worcester Academy and as testimony of our beliefs and commitments. Please write to Neil R. Isakson, Director of External Communications HONOR | RESPECT | COMMUNITY | PERSONAL GROWTH | CHALLENGE

2 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

2016 CASE DI Silver Award winner for General Excellence, Independent School Magazines

& Development Operations, at Worcester Academy, 81 Providence St., Worcester, MA 01604, or email neil.isakson@worcesteracademy.org.

ON THE COVER 32nd Head of School Kevin Breen and his wife, Dana, his daughter Caitlin, and his son, Matthew on the steps of Abercrombie House, home to WA headmasters.

from the head of school

inspired by WA As I drove across country in June, thinking about the tremendous opportunity in front of me, I imagined part of my job would entail inspiring and reinvigorating Worcester Academy’s alumni. I envisioned conversations in which I would have to provide an exciting vision for the Academy’s future to reestablish a connection between the Academy and its graduates.

This was a significant miscalculation. As it turns out, as I meet our graduates and hear their stories, I am the one who walks away inspired. The alums I have met don’t doubt for a second that we will emerge from this pandemic stronger. Their love for our school is profound, they know the Academy to be a resilient place, and they fully expect us to gather momentum heading into our third century. While this issue of the Hilltopper introduces me as Worcester Academy’s 32nd Head of School, these meetings with our proud graduates remind me that the story of our school is the sum of all our stories, not just the story of its leaders. That realization helps me to understand that the best way to honor our rich tradition is to encourage all of us to keep adding to the school’s collective history. I feel profoundly privileged to join the Academy at this moment in its history. With a strategic plan in place, we are ready to expand and improve our campus, to grow the endowment and increase accessibility, and to double down on our unique urban programming. Indeed, the emerging vision truly is exciting; with the encouragement of donors and friends, we are daring mighty things for WA. While the ink is hardly dry in this fall edition of our alumni magazine, I am looking forward to the spring issue for two significant reasons. For one thing, my photo will not be on the cover of the spring issue, so I will be far less self-conscious about the content. More importantly, know that, with the guidance of the board of trustees, it is our intention to use the spring issue to present our vision in greater detail. Between now and then, I hope to hear many more of your stories. If you find the time, please email me at Kevin.Breen@ worcesteracademy.org or drop me a note about your story and share your aspirations for this wonderful and evolving Academy. Our strength emanates from a collective, and we will continue to build on that foundation.

Kevin Breen

Worcester Academy

Meet 32nd Head of School Kevin Breen,

An all-in leader befitting the times By Cheryl Bardoe

When Kevin Breen comes to work at a school, he is all in. So, when the WooSox invited him with just five days of notice to throw out the first pitch of a baseball game, of course Worcester Academy’s new head of school said yes. And of course, his pitch made it over home plate. Over the past three decades in education, Worcester Academy’s 32nd Head of School has been a classroom teacher, coach, dorm parent, department chair, director of enrollment, associate head of school for external relations, and head of school. At every step, he has a solid track record of being student-centered, focused on a growth mindset, and getting the job done.

Teaching as a calling Kevin first started teaching to help pay the bills while he was getting a master’s degree of arts in writing at DePaul University in Chicago. Planning to make a career in advertising, Kevin had an internship writing press releases at Citibank corporation, and then worked in the evenings teaching literacy to adults. “I was struck by the 4 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

fact that I had little joy working in my office cubicle,” Kevin recalls, “and I had unbridled joy working with adult learners who were writing sentences and poems for the first time.” He still has a thank you note from a student named Dessie Luckett, a woman in her 60s. The note represented her first piece of written work. “That’s how I caught the bug and started looking for jobs in teaching,” he says. A Massachusetts native who graduated from Westwood public schools before attending Notre Dame for his

bachelor’s in American Studies, Kevin returned to the East Coast right after graduate school to teach in a summer session at Phillips Academy Andover. He then answered an ad in the Chicago Tribune to teach English and coach soccer at Holy Trinity High School, which served mostly students of color on Chicago’s Near West Side. It was his first “real job” and it started three days later. Kevin taught five sections of English each day, with 37 students per class. He also coached three sports, ran the school newspaper, and took odd jobs on the side to make ends meet. “It was the kind of school where if you were the last coach in the locker room for the day, then you mopped the floor,” Kevin says. And he loved it. “As teachers there, we were indoctrinated with the notion that teaching was your life’s work and the reward was in the results.” During these years, Kevin met Dana, to whom he has been married for 27 years. They met in graduate school when Dana was getting a master’s degree in elementary education and curriculum development. Teaching has run in Dana’s family for

generations—her grandmother was one of the first women to go to college and get a teaching degree in upstate New York. Planning to buck the trend, however, Dana originally envisioned herself making a career in public relations. Then she took a job as a summer camp counselor, which turned into a full-year program—and she also became hooked on teaching. “I guess it’s in my blood,” she says. “There’s something about teaching that you just know when it’s what you’re meant to do.” Since then, Dana’s career has included teaching in pre-kindergarten through grade 5, and also working in admission. Kevin taught at Holy Trinity for only two years before the school’s accreditation review forced him out because he lacked a teaching certificate. So, he took a new job at Brooks School in North Andover, MA. He and Dana packed up her car and drove across the country—stopping in her hometown of Buffalo to get married along the way. “Those were very meaningful years,” Kevin says, noting that he still keeps in touch with soccer players he coached at Holy Trinity. “But I wouldn’t have found independent schools if I’d stayed.”

Nothing is more important to engagement than students seeing their work as relevant and time-befitting. I’m thrilled to be at Worcester Academy investing in the next generation of creative thinkers and problem solvers. —Kevin Breen, 32nd Head of School

Worcester Academy

In Kevin and Dana, you’ll find two individuals who are all-in when it comes to education, and that will have an incredibly positive effect on the school. —James Hamilton Head of School Berwick Academy

6 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

Kevin Breen

Discovering independent schools Teaching at Brooks was a completely different experience. With 12 students in a class, sitting around a Harkness table (where students discuss ideas with minimal teacher intervention), Kevin was able to help students go deeper in their exploration of literature and in developing their own writing. He also got to know students better by working in the dorm and coaching. “I came to understand how the boarding school setting gives teachers such a strong relationship with students,” Kevin says. “And then you can ask more of the students—you can challenge them more in the poetry elective, or on the ice rink, and in their personal growth.” Kevin remained at Brooks for 14 years, during which time he chaired the English department and coached the girls hockey team to win the school’s first New England championship. “Kevin has a real passion for education,” says Brooks Head of School John Packard, who worked alongside Kevin as a teacher and dean during those years. “He sees schools as transformational, offering opportunities to deepen kids’ abilities to achieve their own hopes and dreams.” John also admires Kevin’s advocacy for teachers. “As a department chair,” he says, “Kevin worked to ensure that we did all we could as a school to attract and retain excellent teachers for this all-encompassing boarding school setting.” While at Brooks, Kevin also moved into admission. Learning about the school from a different perspective led him to ask more questions about the direction of schools and education in general. That eventually led Kevin

to want a seat at the table to consider new ways of things being done. “Curiosity is an important part of my personality,” Kevin says. “I don’t seek change just for the sake of change, but I am willing to look at things differently and consider what opportunities a new approach might bring.” That outlook led Kevin to the University Liggett School—founded in 1878 and Michigan’s oldest coeducational independent school—in the suburbs of Detroit. Kevin arrived in 2008, when the economy was in crisis and the auto industry was collapsing. School enrollment, which had been over 600 students a few years prior, had dropped below 500, and Liggett was considering closing its middle school. Kevin came on as the director of external affairs, overseeing both admissions and advancement, and launched multiple new initiatives, including offering merit aid, and fundraising to support financial aid. Within several years, enrollment had rebounded to 612 students, the middle school was on solid footing, and the school was celebrating a successful capital campaign. “We did everything differently,” Kevin says. “We rebranded the school, and it worked.” In 2013, Kevin became head of school at Marshall School, a college-preparatory independent school for grades 4–12 in Duluth, MN. He is credited with expanding Marshall’s international boarding program, cutting attrition, introducing successful new tuition strategies, and raising faculty salaries. Leading a successful capital campaign and renovating facilities at the century-old school were critical to enriching student engagement and leadership, Kevin says. “We redesigned the campus to make the classroom the third teacher,” he explains, referring to the Reggio Emilia philosophy about the importance of the educational environment. “Then we asked teachers to

redesign the curriculum to implement more hands-on, self-directed learning.” “Kevin has a great track record of analyzing situations in schools and systematically putting plans in place to move a school from wherever they are to a better place,” says James Hamilton, who worked with Kevin at Brooks and is now head of school at Berwick Academy in Maine. “He knows what good teaching looks like, and he does an excellent job speaking eloquently about the exciting things that are happening at schools.”

Coming to Worcester Academy Like many during the pandemic, Kevin and Dana decided that they would like to live closer to extended family and began looking for opportunities to return to the East Coast. Kevin wanted to work at WA, Dana recalls, as soon as he saw the opening. “Kevin is always looking for the fit between himself and a school,” she says. “Worcester Academy caught his attention because he likes

schools with grit, energy, and heart.” Kevin recalls two things that stood out when he reviewed the prospectus describing WA: “The students here were described as joyful, and the writers of the prospectus identified authentic personal growth as the school’s most important core value. That resonated with me.” Kevin also appreciates WA’s long history of mentoring students. “Decades after graduation, many alumni still describe Worcester Academy as the most meaningful educational experience of their lives,” he says. While undergoing a nationwide search, the hiring committee was quickly impressed by Kevin. “I’ve never received more positive and enthusiastic recommendations about a candidate,” says trustee president David Shamoian ’70. “I spoke with board members, faculty, and other school heads, and everyone talked about what a thoughtful, collaborative leader Kevin is.” Such rave reviews build confidence, particularly during this era when COVID-19 and other world events are prompting schools to adapt quickly. “Kevin’s career,” David says, “demonstrates his ability to really sink into a topic and provide a solid direction, including making good recommendations

Kevin has a real passion for education. He sees schools as transformational, offering opportunities to deepen kids’ abilities to achieve their own hopes and dreams. —John Packard Head of School, Brooks School Worcester Academy

Kevin Breen

Kevin has a great track record of analyzing situations in schools and systematically putting plans in place to move a school from wherever they are to a better place. —James Hamilton Head of School, Berwick Academy for change when necessary.” Kevin’s former colleagues also agree that WA is lucky to have him. “Kevin has an incredible generosity of spirit and does an excellent job of helping everyone to remember that it’s all about the kids,” John Packard says. “He has great integrity and is extremely experienced. I know Worcester Academy will get a lot from him.” “In Kevin and Dana,” James says, “you’ll find two individuals who are all-in when it comes to education, and that will have an incredibly positive effect on the school.”

Prioritizing personal growth Leveraging WA’s core values, Kevin has declared “authentic personal growth” to be the theme for this school year because it is the foundation of lifelong learning. He considers a growth mindset to be as important for faculty as it is for students. “We have to model what we ask of our students,” Kevin says. “I believe that 8 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

when teachers commit to this mission, it also harkens back to the joy that brought us to the profession.” Reflecting on his own professional journey, Kevin says that becoming a parent played an important role in his self-growth. “Being a parent of children who learn differently was an awakening,” he says. Kevin’s son, Matthew, 22, is currently a senior studying criminal justice at Dean College in Massachusetts and his daughter, Caitlin, 19, is currently a sophomore studying Spanish and Latin American Studies at the University of Tampa. WA’s Hilltop will be the home base for both young adults during their school breaks. “Early in my career, I expected students to learn in the same way that I had,” Kevin says. “That needed to change so that I could become truly student-centered.” Working as an administrator has also created many moments of growth. “Being a school leader provides you with a constant feedback loop,” Kevin says. “If you’re not up for listening and learning from that, then it’s not the right role for you.” Kevin sees personal and professional growth as being closely linked. “In order to lead others effectively,” he says, “you first need to know

yourself.” Engaging at this level is what elevates a career to being a true calling in service of others. Kevin wants to support WA faculty in evolving pedagogy, curriculum, and programming to ensure that every aspect of the WA education is studentcentered. “What I ask of faculty is work that I’ve done myself,” he says.

An education befitting the times Kevin is also inspired by visiting schools and following educational trends around the world. Matthew and Caitlin were born in Colombia, so the family has often spent time there, and Kevin visits schools and examines education systems wherever he travels. “Colombia is a nation that is pinning its future on education,” Kevin says. “Education is a shared priority and seen as an engine of progress there. “There is exciting work being done in education around the world,” he says. “I fear that our country has entered into a period of complacency, that we lack urgency and have forgotten just how important it is to prioritize education.” Kevin was also inspired by the public discussion several years ago surrounding a United Nations initiative designed to bring quality education to impoverished nations. Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina articulated one wish for her country: to provide a “quality and time-befitting education.” Quality and time-befitting education, she argued, would allow her nation “to keep pace with the modern world,” and bring “dignity and honor to the workforce.” Kevin defines a “time-befitting

education” as one that addresses the issues at hand in the United States and globally. “We seek to graduate problem-solvers and peacemakers,” he says, “therefore, we allow students to hone those skills with us.” One of the qualities that attracted Kevin to Worcester Academy is that it is well-situated to fulfill this work. He and Dana are both eager to get to know the dynamic city Worcester and cultivate connections between town and school. “The city offers us so many opportunities that we should see it as an extension of the classroom,” Kevin says. As he begins his work at WA, Kevin has asked the academic leadership team to review and refine curriculum to heighten the connections between the classroom and the world beyond. “Nothing is more important to engagement than students seeing their work as relevant and time-befitting,” Kevin says. “I’m thrilled to be at Worcester Academy investing in the next generation of creative thinkers and problem solvers.” W

Kevin has an incredible generosity of spirit and does an excellent job of helping everyone to remember that it’s all about the kids. —John Packard Head of School Brooks School

Curiosity is an important part of my personality. I don’t seek change just for the sake of change, but I am willing to look at things differently and consider what opportunities a new approach might bring. —Kevin Breen

Worcester Academy

EXCELLENCE LEADS TO IMPACT GEORGE STRAIT JR. ’62 REFLECTS ON AN AWARD-WINNING CAREER THAT SPANNED JOURNALISM, PUBLIC AFFAIRS, ACADEMIA, AND BUSINESS by Cheryl Bardoe

A native of nearby Oxford, MA, George Strait Jr. came to WA in 1958 hoping to become well-prepared for college. “I had a great four years at Worcester Academy, and I got a great education,” he says. In fact, George found himself well-prepared for the odyssey of a five-decade career as a prominent voice for science, public health, and equity.

On The Hilltop In looking back fondly on his time at WA, George recalls English teacher Robert J. Macko, whom students thought was “cool” because he drove a Thunderbird convertible. “He was a big bear of a guy, and he was intuitive,” he says. “He could tell if you were having a bad day, and he’d give you a boost to get you going.” George also had a strong relationship with his first algebra teacher, John A. Bloom, who later

became head of school and who helped to ensure that George got the advanced courses he sought. George earned varsity letters in soccer, swimming, and cross-country running, and he enjoyed meeting students from Vietnam, Thailand, Guatemala, and Venezuela. Being the only Black student on campus as a freshman, and one of only a few in subsequent years, was sometimes difficult. George wrote an essay about his journey of race and place that is featured in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. “For my parents, it was a given that I would succeed. That was

There was an ethic that was important at Worcester Academy, and if you were going to succeed there, then you had to live up to that ethic and then expand it. 10 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

their expectation of me and that was my expectation for myself,” he wrote. George says WA gave him an environment to take on new challenges, make his own choices, and figure out what the school motto, “Achieve the Honorable,” meant for him. “There was an ethic that was important at Worcester Academy,” he says, “and if you were going to succeed there, then you had to live up to that ethic and then expand it.” George, who still wears his class ring, has always been proud of graduating from WA. During the 1990s, he became the first Black alumnus to join the Academy’s board of trustees, and throughout his career, he has recognized the importance of having diverse perspectives among organizational decisionmakers. With that in mind, he supports the work that WA has already done and strives to do in the future around diversity, equity, and inclusion. “The effort must be made throughout the whole institution to have a permanence,” he says.

Launching His First Career George earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Boston University and then enrolled as a graduate student at Clark Atlanta University, contemplating medical school or getting a doctorate in biochemistry. His plans changed, however, when he fell in love. Within six months of moving to Atlanta, he had met and married Lisa, his wife of 52 years. George curtailed his educational plans to focus on supporting the young couple while Lisa finished her degree at Spellman College.

George Strait Jr. ’62 At first, George worked as a cab driver. Then he heard that a popular local radio station was looking for a disc jockey. He applied. The station managers thought he had a good voice for radio, so the next night George began co-hosting the midnight to 6 a.m. shift as the first African-American disc jockey at the station. Soon afterward, he took a second job as a sports reporter for a local television station, and in 1972, he got an offer to move to Philadelphia and become a TV news reporter. “I realized this was the career I wanted, and I kept putting one foot in front of the other to move up,” George says. “Being married, and then becoming the father to two boys, I was always looking for what would be the next step.” George’s oldest son, Eric, is now 49,

with two sons of his own. Eric lives in the San Francisco Bay area, where he and his wife are lawyers. George’s younger son, Kevin, 46, also has two sons. He lives in the Washington, D.C., metro area, where his wife is a lawyer and a writer, and he is a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. “I’m so proud of both sons and everyone in our family,” George says. In 1977, George signed on with ABC as a general news reporter to cover President Jimmy Carter’s White House. ABC also was looking for a way to distinguish its nightly newscast because, at that time, it was the lowest rated among the three major networks. George was one of several correspondents to develop feature stories to attract viewers, which meant

a promotion and the opportunity to enterprise his own stories. With his educational background, George was naturally drawn to topics in science and health. The network noticed his skill in presenting such stories and quickly promoted him to be the first medical correspondent on network news. For 22 years, George carried the title of chief medical correspondent, reporting stories for World News Tonight. “The job of a science journalist is to translate into understandable English what scientists produce,” George says. He also played an important role in helping editors determine what subjects had credibility. “I provided perspective and context,” he says. “Without a firm grasp on where an experiment or policy comes from, and where it’s

We confronted issues of the day. We were concerned about representation on the air, the choice of what stories got coverage and how Black people were portrayed in news stories. likely to lead, then it’s impossible to report on new developments correctly. And if science and health stories are misreported, then people don’t have a chance to evaluate them fairly.”

Expanding Impact While in Philadelphia, George became a founding member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, the nation’s first professional association of black journalists, which still exists today. “We confronted issues of the day,” George says. “We were concerned about representation on the air, the choice of what stories got coverage and how black people were portrayed in news stories.” George recalls pitching editors a story about health disparities, based Worcester Academy

on research published by Howard University. “I had intuitively known about health disparities based on my own family experience, and this was a good piece of research.” George’s editors, however, did not recognize the study’s significance. Research on health disparities was just beginning, and eventually, other universities and the federal government began publishing studies, too. Then George could move forward with the story. “As this work became ‘validated’ by white researchers,” he says, “my white editors came to see it as something real.” Over time, George also succeeded in bringing attention to other stories centered on the concerns of African Americans. “I had established a degree of excellence in my work that gave me leverage to advocate for stories that should be told—or make the case that some stories should not be told,” he says. This expanding influence helped George become the first network

correspondent to go to Africa and report on HIV. “We opened the eyes of a lot of people to what was happening there and how it compared to what was going on here,” George says. Later, as a board chair for the Kaiser Family Foundation, he helped to launch a successful HIVprevention program. “We made an impact in South Africa in ways that had never been done before by teaching sex education to children ages 10 to 13.” George’s travels in South Africa also brought him the opportunity to cover Nelson Mandela’s release from prison and the 1994 election, which was the first in which citizens of all races there could vote. “Several of my colleagues took home ballots as souvenirs,” George recalls. “I didn’t do that because it seemed the same as stealing a vote, and people had worked so hard for that right.” Another particularly proud moment was in 2008, when George created a documentary about the Tuskegee

In the past, the way that information was obtained and distributed allowed for vetting. If your broadcast went on at 6 p.m., then you had all day to determine what was real. Now, when an idea crosses anyone’s mind, it’s out there right away. Mainstream journalism has to respond, even to misinformation. There so much to process that people don’t know whom to trust, and they retreat to their own tribes because they only want to hear what is comfortable.” 12 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

syphilis study, called The Deadly Deception, for the NOVA series on PBS. As part of the piece, he interviewed the four remaining people who had been part of the four-decade experiment studying untreated syphilis in Black males. “That was incredibly moving,” George says. “It was an important piece to do, and that documentary is still used today in medical ethics classes across the country.”

New Directions and Reflections In 2000 George left mainstream journalism to launch his second and third careers. He moved to California, where he helped launch Drspock.com, which dispensed pediatric advice to parents. He soon became vice president of public affairs at the University of California Berkley, and eventually he ran public affairs departments at the National Institutes of Health and the Federal Drug Administration. During these years, he also launched a consulting and speaking business that his wife, Lisa, helped to manage. George finally retired in 2020: “I tried to retire from the FDA three times before it really happened,” he says. “The first two times I failed.” This time, however, George doesn’t miss his pre-retirement avocation. Journalism, he says, is harder than ever now. “In the past, the way that information was obtained and distributed allowed for vetting. If your broadcast went on at 6 p.m., then you had all day to determine what was real. Now, when an idea crosses

It’s important to expand the perspectives in the layers behind the scenes that determine what gets covered, by who, and how stories get reported. anyone’s mind, it’s out there right away. Mainstream journalism has to respond, even to misinformation. There is so much to process that people don’t know whom to trust, and they retreat to their own tribes because they only want to hear what is comfortable.” Nonetheless, George is optimistic about the quality of people getting into mainstream journalism. While he appreciates seeing more diverse representation among correspondents, he still points to a lack of diversity in positions of power. “It’s important to expand the perspectives in the layers behind the scenes that determine what gets covered, by who, and how stories get reported,” he says. In looking back, George didn’t anticipate leading such a trailblazing career. “During my generation, it was common to be the first or only African American at your school or job,” he says. “I didn’t have time to reflect on that. I was just trying to support my family and do excellent work. You can only control your own excellence.” W

George Strait Jr. ’62

Worcester Academy

e h t on

The Class of 2021 14 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

HILLTOP Naima Abdirahman Jack Adiletta Shun Agata Zoe Alpert Isabella Amorello Allison Athanas Ian Battles Amy Belliveau Michael Berberian

Peter Bersani Cressida Blythe Ryan Bonja Dominic Brown Stephanie Brown Kelli Buckley Shannon Burke Jack Byrne

Julio Calish Leo Chaikin Yanjun Chen Chingwo Cheung Giovanni Cino Christopher Cordeiro Alejandro Coury Leah Crowley Olivia Cyr

on the hilltop

Victor Fields ’71 TELLS WA GRADS TO ‘MAKE HISTORY’ “If you want to make history, you need to do historic things,” Victor Fields ’71 told those gathered at Worcester Academy’s 187th Commencement Exercises, June 4.

Trung Dang Ciara Dauer Ava DeAngelis Alena Dobriakova Cooper Dutton Hannah Dyer Faith Eteng Jhamyl Fricas Zach Girardi

Lauren Gray Stella Gray Keegan Greene Sierra Grinnell Zheyuan Gu Jesus Guarcas Zhilang Gui Catherine Harvey

“You, in the Class of 2021, are exceptional, and what you have done is truly historic. I am here today and excited to be a part of your history.” Victor, a WA alumnus and Billboardcharted American jazz performer, offered his encouragement and best

wishes to graduating students, even as he referenced the challenges of attending school during a pandemic. One-hundred and twenty-nine students received diplomas at this year’s graduation ceremonies, held on the historic Quad, under fair skies that

Patrick Harvey Joonhyuk Heo Anh Hoang Mary Honan Angela Hooker Wenjing Hu Xinchen Huang Yijun Huang Yixin Huang

Yueting Huang Owen Hughes Hunter Hutchings Tucker Jones Cole Keeler Alanna Mireille Keyo Oliver King Raghu Vivek Kommalapaty Worcester Academy

yielded rain showers only after the event had ended. In addition to Fields, speakers included the Academy’s Class of 2021 valedictorian Zoe Alpert of Southborough and salutatorian Ava DeAngelis of Shrewsbury. Worcester Academy Board of Trustees President James Pietro ’81 officiated, as did Head of School Ron Cino. Director of Upper School Madeline Surgenor Richards read off the names of WA’s newest alumni. According to Victor, the Class of 2021 has “big problems to solve” as it heads off to college, including a divided country and concerns about racial equity and justice. He also believes the graduating students are excellently prepared for success moving forward, including being positioned to have a positive and honorable impact on the important conversations of the day. “Unfortunately, it’s too easy to kick the can down the road,” he said. “To the Class of 2021, I am filled with hope. Change begins within and you are the hope of the future. There’s no problem that’s too big for you,” he concluded. “You’re smart, you’re capable. You’ve already shown that you have great endurance. I celebrate your history. I celebrate your legacy. May your stars shine brightly. God Bless.”

Thaddeus Kyenkyenhene Brian Lavin Anna Leclerc Samuel Levenson Joseph Levins Pengfei Li Yifan Li Owen Durant Lockwood 16 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

CLASS OF 2021 AWARD WINNERS Bucknell Award: Jack Adiletta of Bolton Class of 1935 Prize Trophy: Shannon Burke of Melrose Class of 1890 All Around Athletic Prize: Zach Girardi of Millbury The Rev. Edward Merrill Dart Class of 1927 Award: Alanna Keyo of Worcester Sarah Duemmel ’94 Memorial Award: Anna Leclerc of Northborough The David A. Echelman Award: Selena Shen of Shrewsbury The Allan Glazer Memorial Award: Christopher MacLean of Holliston Marc D. Levine ’84 Lifer Award: Juliette Noel of South Lancaster William W. McAlpine Award: Allison Yanco of Princeton Neil W. Peters III ’74 Award: Gaurav Savant of Shrewsbury Cole Porter Class of 1909 Visual & Performing Arts Award: Victoria Tirado of Worcester HG Rader Grant: Zoe Alpert of Southborough Donald “Dee” Rowe ’47 Award: Isabella Nascimento of Grafton George T. Sargisson Class of 1927 Award: Angelina Mancini of Holden Richard Winters Drama Award: Giovanni Cino of Worcester Sigma Cup: Jack Adiletta of Bolton

Darius J. Lomax Devin Lomax James Lorion Forest Ma Hongsheng Ma Christopher MacLean Angelina Mancini Owen McCarthy Catherine McDermott

Lea Michel Abdisalam Mohamed Annalise Monopoli Erianna Moore Thomas Moreth Alexandra Mrotek Thomas Mullane Aiden Murphy

Isabella Nascimento Johnathan Noel Juliette Noel Hunter O’Toole Abigail Papetti Devin Perry Anthony Petrone Madelyn Platzman Emma Potas

on the hilltop

Tyla Puryear DeMeulenaere Olivia Randazza Angelo Rassias Lillian Reynolds Kyle Rizy Mackenzie Ryder Rowen Sadlier Alana Saucier

Gaurav Savant Selena Shen Derrell Smith-Porter Joseph Thompson Victoria Tirado Michael Canning Tonelli Linh Tran Caroline Wages Alan Wang

Hanli Wang Yunqi Wang Ziteng Wang Rohin Warner Richard Waterfall Jr. Zhongguo Wei Eleanora Winston Guanqiao Wu

Allison Yanco Chaoyu Yang Yifan Yao John Zapata Luping Zhang Xifeng Zhang Xinyi Zhang Xixuan Zhang Adam Zivny Worcester Academy

FACULTY PROFILE

Dr. Dana Huff DOCTORAL RESEARCH GENERATES DISCUSSIONS ABOUT GRADING AT WA by Christine Bardoe

Decades after her high school chemistry class at Warner Robins High School in Georgia, Dr. Dana Huff EdD can still remember the concept that caused her to stumble—the mole (simply speaking, it’s a unit of measurement for atoms and molecules). “I just didn’t get it at the time, and everything that came afterward was contingent on my understanding of that concept. I think

my teacher gave me a passing grade because I tried so hard, and I was an engaged student,” she says. That experience reverberated in the doctoral dissertation that Dr. Huff, the chair of the English department at Worcester Academy, recently completed at Northeastern University. Her argument is that a traditional grading system—using summative assessments

that offer a snapshot of how students did on particular days—is likely not the best measure of student success or of determining when to promote a student from one level to the next. And, while she doesn’t suggest eliminating grades, she prefers authentic assessment and proficiencybased grading practices. Dr. Huff’s conclusion, which challenges teachers and schools to think differently about grading and assessment, is facilitating deep discussions among teachers at Worcester Academy, many of whom were central to her research. She used Academy faculty for a focus group that discussed and tested alternative methods of assessment.

WHAT’S IN A GRADE According to Dr. Huff, a self-described “nerd,” she began thinking about and blogging about educational issues, including grading, when she was a teacher at the Weber School in Atlanta in the early-2000s. One of the things that she was particularly concerned about was a disconnect between what she thought grades communicated and what students perceived. “What happens a lot with grades is they may not be showing, ‘This is what a student knows,’ ” says Dr. Huff, who has taught at Worcester Academy since 2012. “They’re showing, ‘This is the level of hard work,’ or ‘This is what the student has put into it.’ Sometimes teachers could throw in things like, ‘Did you bring your supplies?’ Some people 18 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

grade behavior; that gets into grades.” When Dr. Huff began her doctorate in education in 2018 at Northeastern University, she actually had in mind that grades could be eliminated entirely. As she did more research, she softened that position. Still, she believes most systems rely too much on summative assessments. Traditional grading practices, she and others argue, cause anxiety and cause students to avoid taking risks. They also tend to be biased, favoring more privileged students. Dr. Huff’s alternative would set standards that students need to achieve in a course, and if they don’t succeed, they try again. In this scenario, she never would have been passed along in high school chemistry without understanding a mole.

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT AND PROFICIENCY Dr. Huff and her Academy focus group, when discussing and testing alternative grading methods, used a set of guidelines that she developed about

on the hilltop “Dr. Huff has raised the bar in terms of teachers to ask, ‘How equitable is your grading?’”

senior breakfast

—Doug Poskitt, associate head of school

implementing proficiency-based grading and authentic assessment. Chief among alternative strategies was using assessments other than tests to measure where students are. Alternative assessments might include projects, writing, portfolios, presentations, performances, and creative options. The COVID-19 pandemic, she notes, presented both opportunities and challenges. “One of the teachers was a physics teacher and he said, ‘No, I can’t really do demos. We’re in this pandemic, and it’s really hard.’ So, instead, he assigned the students to do the demos and video themselves,” Dr. Huff says. One major difference with this approach is that students tackle things again and again until they understand. “It prevents students from falling through the cracks when they haven’t mastered the material,” she says. Dr. Huff is also very direct with students about how they will be graded. Her syllabus, for instance, explains how students can also revise their work and how revisions factor into their grades. When turning in those revisions, students are asked to fill out a Google form about what changes were made and why. Reflection is built into the process, she says.

VALUABLE WORCESTER ACADEMY DISCUSSION Doug Poskitt, Worcester Academy’s associate head of school, appreciates Dr. Huff’s research and leadership

on the issue of assessment. “Dr. Huff has really helped move the needle forward in terms of raising awareness among Worcester Academy colleagues about proficiency-based grading and why one would choose to use it,” says Mr. Poskitt. “It has spurred a lot of important conversations that really started in that pilot group, and then like a ripple effect of concentric circles, it has spread into other groups across both divisions here at Worcester Academy.” “Dr. Huff has raised the bar in terms of encouraging people to ask, “How equitable is your grading?” he says. He says that since questions were raised by a member of the faculty, rather than mandated by the administration, it was especially effective. “They respect Dana. They trust her, and they also know that this process was a way for each of us to reflect on what we do in an attempt to become even better.” Dr. Cherese Childers-McKee, a fulltime faculty member at Northeastern’s Graduate School of Education, served as Dr. Huff’s dissertation chair. She says Dr. Huff’s research will contribute to the education field as a whole. “She contributes to a conversation that folks have been having for a while now about moving away from the static, multiple-choice, one-way of assessing the way kids are learning.” Dr. Huff says she is pleased with the results of her doctoral dissertation and hopes to continue engaging supporting Academy faculty as they try out these more equitable grading practices. W

The Class of 2022 gathered for a welcome back breakfast on their first day of classes on Sept 1.

The Alumni Transition Team, a student leadership group on-campus, coordinated with the Alumni & Development Office to plan the breakfast.

Worcester Academy

HILLTOP F·R·I·E·N·D·S·H·I·P·S Jill Overdorf and Mercedeh Mirkazemi Ward

Class of 1982 friendship sparks amazing gift in memory of Worcester Academy graduate ‘GIFT OF LIFE’ HONORS BELOVED HILLTOP FRIEND, MERCEDEH MIRKAZEMI WARD by Christine Foster Editor’s Note: You asked for it, we responded! Many of you answered our recent alumni survey by saying you’d like to read more about Worcester Academy friends and friendships. Well, here’s our first story. Last spring, a Worcester Academy alumna walked into Cedar-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, CA, for an elective surgery. About a week later, a second woman—a total stranger— walked out with the most amazing gift: a newly transplanted kidney that will allow her to live longer, thanks to an anonymous donor.

What that kidney recipient didn’t know, however, was that she owes that gift—her very life—to a friendship that began at Worcester Academy more than four decades ago.

A hilltop friendship

20 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

became a chef. Today, she is director of business development and foodservice, as well as corporate chef, at Naturipe Farms in California. She and Mrs. Ward both moved west, to Colorado, and then to California.

Bonds strong decades later In 2005, they realized they were within 20 miles of each other in Southern California, and to their joy, they reconnected. But there was one big challenge. Mercedeh had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. It was no barrier to the friendship that they had formed on the Hilltop, however. “She was going in for her first of many chemo treatments, and in

Hilltop Friendships Graphic: Antonina Prokhorova/Shutterstock.com

This story began in the late-1970s with the journey of a brave young woman, Mercedeh Mirkazemi ’82 (cousin to Mitra Morgan ’84 and Tav Morgan’87), who left revolution-torn Iran at the age of 14 to live with an aunt in Massachusetts. During those years, the Academy enrolled dozens of ex-pat Iranian students, and Mercedeh was one of them. “She felt so confident going to the United States on her own,” remembers her sister, Mina Mirkazemi. “That was amazing to me. She was very independent and courageous.” At WA, Mercedeh met Jill Overdorf, a Hilltop classmate, and the two

became fast friends. “Mercedeh and I played soccer together, or rather, we rode the bench together,” Jill recalls, laughing. “But we were also active as theater kids, and we were nerds, so we found we were kindred spirits.” After graduation, the two went their separate ways as high school friends often do. Mercedeh—driven, and intellectually capable—earned an engineering degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She went on to a career in the toy industry, including many years at Mattel, where she was the go-to person for girls toys. She married, took the last name Ward, and had two children, who are now young adults. Among her most best-known creations were the Bratz fashion dolls, which she hoped broke stereotypes and empowered girls. Jill, for her part, went to UMass Amherst, but later found her true calling in the food industry. She attended the Culinary Institute of America and

hilltop friendships “Our lifelong friendship reflected the strong bonds that Mercedeh and I formed at Worcester Academy.” —Jill Overdorf ’82

perpetual Mercedeh fashion, she said, ‘Why don’t you come and join me for a chemo treatment? We can catch up,’ ” Jill remembers. “We picked up right where we left off. It was so easy. We rekindled our friendship around an IV pole with chemo.” Over the next 16 years, the two women had lunch regularly and attended Worcester Academy events together. Mercedeh invited Jill to many gatherings in her home, where she was embraced as a member of the family. And, for some time, Mercedeh’s cancer was in remission, giving them the gift of time for renewed connection.

“Our lifelong friendship reflected the strong bonds that Mercedeh and I formed at Worcester Academy,” she says.

How do you say goodbye to your best friend? Jill says the last “normal” interaction before the COVID-19 outbreak was a lunch outing with a group of women, just before Valentine’s Day 2020. Mercedeh, speaking to her friends at a restaurant that she loved, shared that she was no longer in remission. “One of

Jill Overdorf ’82, center; back, from left, Mina Mirkazemi (sister of Mercedeh Mirkazemi Ward ’82), Mitra Morgan ’84, and Ruth Baylis ’82. According to Ruth, Mercedeh and Jill’s friendship had “evolved” and become more “concrete” over the years. “Their friendship was just that much more real as adults,” she says.

our friends said, ‘I don’t think we’re all ever going to have another lunch with her again.’ And we didn’t.” Mercedeh’s failing health and the arrival of COVID19 pandemic restrictions prevented the group’s reunion. And the cancer spread. Despite Mercedeh’s immune-compromised condition, she and Jill were able to visit together, often outside under a gazebo in the California spring. In late-June, the friends had a final visit. Mercedeh died July 3, 2020, just days later.

A friendship lives on Because of Jill and Mercedeh’s special bond—established on the Hilltop in the most formative years of their lives— their friendship, and their story, doesn’t end here. Jill knew she would miss her friend’s generous spirit and she wanted to honor that. She decided to make a remarkable gift: to donate one of her kidneys to a stranger, in honor of Mercedeh Ward. Three weeks after Mercedeh’s death, Jill wrote a letter to the Cedar-Sinai Kidney Living Donor Program in LA, explaining her intention. She also wrote the Ward family. “I have explored this opportunity for a number of years, but my final catalyst was the too early death of a dear friend of 40 years,” Jill wrote. “I choose to donate a kidney to honor my friend, Mercedeh, and to do so in memory of her spirit and generosity.” For Mina Mirkazemi, the idea that her sister was the catalyst for such a gift, was overwhelming. “I read Jill’s letter in disbelief,” Mina says. “It’s such an act of selflessness and kindness.”

Everyone has something to give Mercedeh’s long health battle, her life of compassion, and her steadfast courage, gave Jill the strength to pay it forward–saving a stranger’s life and thus continuing Mercedeh’s legacy of love and selflessness. Jill states that she and Mercedeh were always inspired by the WA motto “Achieve the Honorable.” She is grateful for her Worcester Academy experience, including the diversity of friends and cultures that made her bond with Mercedeh possible. “Thank to Worcester Academy, a girl from Grafton became lifelong friends with a girl from Tehran. Because of that friendship, someone received a life-changing surgery and has a new chance on life. “We all have something to give,” Jill says, “whether it’s a kidney or platelets, whether it’s time, expertise, or money. Whatever you choose. We have an obligation to give back and to honor the people who are important and special in our lives.” Although Mercedeh is missed by her family and friends, there is comfort in knowing that her legacy of kindness endures. From the WA hilltop and beyond, Jill and Mercedeh continue to demonstrate that a beautiful friendship can make a resounding impact and truly ‘Achieve the Honorable.’ W Do you have a story of a special Hilltop friendship that you’d like to share? Email Neil Isakson, editor, at neil.isakson@worcesteracademy.org, or write to us at 81 Providence Street, Worcester, MA 01604. Worcester Academy

Alumni News 2021 alumni award recipients

The following alumni were recognized at our Reunion Festival Sept. 18, 2021. Also recognized were our 2020 award recipients Michael H. Shulan ’70, Distinguished Alumnus/a Award; Rebecca L. Vaudreuil ’00, Young Alumnus/a Award; Leslie Jacobson Kaye ’80, Cole Porter Arts Recognition Award. Complete bios on our 2020 award winners can be found the Winter 2020–2021 Hilltopper here: http://tiny.cc/Winter2020-2021Hilltopper

ADAM S. NAJBERG ’86, Distinguished Alumnus/a Award Adam “Naj” Najberg always dreamed of being a foreign correspondent—and for a quartercentury, he lived that dream. After serving as editor of The Vigornia for two years, Naj reported and edited for his college newspaper, The Bowdoin Orient. He graduated summa cum laude, phi beta kappa with a degree in Asian studies from Bowdoin College in 1990, lived in and reported from Japan for a year, then attended the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley. After brief stints at The Associated Press in San Francisco, ICRT Radio in Taipei, and as a stringer for American Public Radio’s Marketplace show, he embarked on a 21-year career as a reporter and editor at AP-Dow Jones, Dow Jones Newswires, and The Wall Street Journal. His journalism career took him to over 20 countries and territories, including Hong Kong, China, and most of the Asia-Pacific, Kosovo, multiple European Union nations, central and eastern Europe and the Middle East. He studied or picked up five languages to be able to operate as a 22 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

journalist outside his home country. Also, along the way, he went digital, learning to produce his own radio pieces and podcasts, shoot and edit video, and produce or direct three documentary films. He won a “Best in Business” award from the American Society of Business Writers & Editors, multiple “Webby” and Society of Publishers in Asia awards and was a finalist for “EU Business Journalist of the Year” in 2002. Naj left journalism in 2015 to fuse his passion for China, technology, and storytelling to build a global communications and content team at Shenzhen DJI, the world’s largest maker of consumer drones. He joined Alibaba Group in Hong Kong in late-2016 and spent nearly five years at the world’s largest e-commerce company in a variety of senior content and public relations roles. The news hub he built out at Alibaba garnered multiple awards between 2017 and 2021. He currently serves as the head of global communications for Tencent Games International based out of Singapore and is a pro-bono advisor and mentor to the SOSV Chinaccelerator and its incubator companies in Shanghai. He’s a husband of 25 years to Merve Zefer, who hails from Hamburg, Germany, and father of two

nearly-grown polyglot children: Mats, a political consultant in Brussels, and Matthea, a rising senior at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. Naj is an author, with two works of fiction and satire to his name, and he is currently working as executive producer with his company, Socially Distanced Productions, on a new feature-length documentary, based in Milwaukee, WI, on the ever-harder struggle to achieve the American Dream.

EVA M. NAZAREWICZ ’01, Young Alumnus/a Award Eva Nazarewicz is a director of growth marketing at LinkedIn, where she is responsible for generating new customer revenue globally for LinkedIn’s largest business unit, LinkedIn Talent Solutions. The combination of creative and analytical approaches, along with expanding access to tools that connect talent with opportunity and allow members to advance their careers, makes this role her favorite thus far. Prior to this position, Eva spent six years working across multiple marketing functions at LinkedIn, spanning customer,

alumni news San Francisco, serving clients such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Eva lives in sunny San Diego, CA, with her husband, Brinton, her son, Aleksander, and their dachshund, Wellesley.

MARTHA E. SULLIVAN ’81, Cole Porter Arts Recognition Award

product and brand marketing, product launches, and consumer marketing. Eva began her path towards a career in marketing after graduating from Claremont McKenna College with an economics and math degree. After graduation, she joined management consulting firm Bain & Company in Los Angeles and found herself gravitating towards every consumer goods or marketing project that became available. After four years at Bain, she enrolled in the MBA program at Harvard and dedicated her time there to making a career switch into marketing. After graduation, she joined the marketing team at Intuit, where she worked on brands such as TurboTax, Mint, and QuickBooks. Eva has continued her commitment to education and social impact from her time at WA. She currently serves on the board of associates for the Robert Day Scholars Program at Claremont McKenna College and mentors students in their academic and professional paths. Previously, she volunteered with We Teach Science, mentoring middle school students in the Bay Area in STEM. She also spent six months at the Bridgespan Group in

Composer and soprano Martha Sullivan has enjoyed a varied career in concert music. After undergraduate work at Yale, she attended Boston University for graduate studies in opera performance, where she developed a reputation as a go-to singer for challenging new concert music. She later moved to New York City, singing primarily new music. She has premiered and recorded works by important 21st-century composers such as Toby Twining and John Zorn.

She has also earned attention as a soloist in performances of such mainstays of the avant-garde repertoire as Milton Babbitt, Morton Feldman, and Steve Reich. She also performs regularly in professional choral ensembles. Singing has allowed her to travel around the country and the world, to cities as diverse as Moscow, Tokyo, London, Verbier (Switzerland), and Tel Aviv. In 1999, the internationallyacclaimed organist Stephen Tharp asked Martha to compose a new work for organ. She agreed, despite never having composed an original piece of music before. This became the four-movement organ symphony, “Slingshot Shivaree,” and launched her career as a composer. Soon after, she won the Dale Warland Singers Choral Ventures competition for emerging composers, and later, the Sorel Medallion for women composers. Many choral groups around the country have commissioned music from her; she has also composed

chamber and symphonic music for various instrumental ensembles. After a decade of success as a professional composer, Martha returned to school to study music composition. She earned her MA in Music from Rutgers University in 2018 and is currently working on her PhD dissertation, also from Rutgers. Re-entering academia allowed Martha to sharpen her research skills as well as her teaching. She has presented papers at many national and international conferences on numerous topics, ranging from comparisons of Steve Reich’s and Leonard Bernstein’s text-setting of Hebrew psalms to theme songs of science-fiction television series from the 1960s. Teaching music theory, musicianship, and composition has in turn made her a better composer and performer. For this, she is grateful to her students at New York University, Rutgers, Bard Conservatory, Westminster Choir College, Hunter College, and Columbia. W

new member of board of trustees MICHAEL J. O’NEIL JR. ’01 Michael J. “Mike” O’Neil Jr. is a partner and chief compliance officer of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P., a $30 billion alternative asset management firm. Prior to joining Kayne Anderson in 2012, he was a compliance officer at BlackRock Inc., where he was responsible for regulatory compliance matters related to trading and portfolio management activities across equity, fixed income, and alternative assets. Mike,

who played football, baseball, and basketball at the Academy, is a graduate of the Class of 2001. He earned a B.A. in international business & management from Dickinson College and M.B.A. and L.L.M. degrees from Boston University. His sisters, Elizabeth M. O’Neil ’02 and Kathleen M. O’Neil ’06, also are Worcester Academy graduates. Mike lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Katrina, and three young children. W Worcester Academy

2021 hall of fame inductees FRANK R. CALLAHAN ’71

Frank Callahan Diana Canterbury

Photo by Kara Emily Krantz

Victor Fields 24 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

Frank Callahan is a Worcester native with deep roots in the city that extend back many generations in all the branches of his family. He entered the Academy as a sophomore day student in the fall of 1968; his favorite subject was history, and soccer was his favorite activity outside class. In his senior year, the Urban Affairs program was a highlight as he walked the beat with a Worcester policeman as his project. After graduating in 1971, Frank pursued his love of history at UMass Amherst. Soon after Frank returned to the Academy to work in the Alumni and Development Office in 1996, the estate of Jacques C. LeBermuth notified the school of the bequest from an alumnus who had not graduated and about whom the school had no knowledge. Frank worked on this bequest for all of his 24-year career at WA, and it turned out to be one of the largest bequests ever made to an American boarding school. Frank learned lots of stories about the school’s history from his visits to alumni and former faculty and through researching the Alumni Office records. Soon, the faculty and administration asked him to give talks on the history of WA at assemblies, classes, and alumni events. In addition, he gave talks at local venues. In particular, he researched Cole Porter, Class of 1909, who became the Academy’s most notable alumnus as he went on to become one of the great composers of the Golden Era of Broadway (1930–1950). Through the influence of his parents, Frank became involved in many aspects

of life in the city by volunteering in charities and political campaigns. Notably, he has served on the Board of the Greater Worcester Land Trust for more than 30 years in which time the trust acquired thousands of acres of land and created an extensive trail system for public enjoyment. Frank is a member of a very large family and is a resource to his relatives when they ask about their common ancestors. He is a member of the 1834 Society and has signed a pledge for a bequest to Worcester Academy.

DIANA CANTERBURY P’02 Diana Canterbury has wonderful memories of the 25 years she served as director of theater at Worcester Academy. After completion of a theater major at Boston University, an MFA in directing at UConn, and seven years as assistant professor of dramatic arts at Washington University in St. Louis, Diana returned home to Massachusetts. Initially hired by WA to teach English, she began to offer electives in theater arts. Soon, her acting classes became too large and noisy for the classroom in Kingsley Hall, so a search began for a more suitable space that culminated in the transformation of the cavernous basement study room in Walker Hall. The space, which would become known as The Andes Pit Theater, was the central location for the entire theater curriculum of four levels of acting classes and a yearlong class called Directing: Theory and Practice, as well as a gathering place for young theater artists. Over time,

the program grew to include theater design and technology as well as costume design. During her tenure, Diana directed more than 50 plays in the Pit Theater, including many challenging scripts rarely presented at the secondary school level. Her most prized memories of her time at WA are of her students’ incredible intelligence, insight, and commitment to the creative process. Diana fostered a program that focused on creative collaboration and ensemble, and her students were deeply committed to the core values of the theater program. It’s been decades since Diana began her career at Worcester Academy, and, remarkably, she is still in touch with many of her former theater students, and she loves hearing about their artistic and personal achievements and milestones. Diana has received a number of awards for her teaching. At Washington University, the students in the College of Arts and Sciences presented her with an award for Excellence in Teaching. She was also recognized by Worcester Academy with the O’Connell Teaching Award and was honored to receive The Olmsted Prize, a national award for outstanding secondary teachers, presented annually by Williams College in Williamstown, MA. These days, Diana continues to direct an occasional production near her home in Barre, MA, and she often reminisces with her husband, Kevin, and her daughter, Kate Watson-Cole, WA Class of 2002, about her memories of working with her brilliant and courageous WA students as they explored the challenges of the creative process and the

alumni news excitement of making plays together. She’s deeply honored and proud to have been selected to the Worcester Academy Hall of Fame.

R. VICTOR FIELDS ’71 Victor Fields, an American jazz singer and Billboard-charted artist, was born in Brooklyn, NY. With the exception of grades 5–7, during which time he attended public schools in Los Angeles, CA, Victor grew up in Worcester and attended Oxford Street School. He entered the Academy as Worcester’s first A Better Chance Scholar. A Better Chance is a notfor-profit founded in 1963 to identify, recruit and develop leaders among young people of color throughout the United States. Victor was selected as

A Better Chance Scholar and awarded a full four-year scholarship to the Academy for his community youth leadership and for his achievements as a student-athlete. He attended Worcester Academy as a day student in his freshman and sophomore years and spent his final two years as a boarder. While on the Hilltop, he contributed a series, “Black Perspectives”) to the Vigornia; was active in student government, theater, and athletics; and was selected as captain of his varsity basketball and soccer teams. He also developed artistically, receiving the “Best New Actor” award for his role as “Tony” in the production of “Westside Story.” After receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science at Bowdoin College, Victor moved to Oakland, CA, where he fostered a successful business

career, all the while studying voice and becoming an emerging classical singer. But popular music was his passion. With the help of Kashif Saleem, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and member of the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, Victor released his debut album, “Promise,” in 1999. The recording earned impressive reviews and launched his professional singing career. Reinventing himself as a silky soul jazz singer with a rich gauzy tenor, the Los Angeles Times describes him as “stylistically accomplished” and the legendary performer Lou Rawls once called him “the man with the golden voice.” An internationally-acclaimed and leading interpreter of classic American music, Victor has been a dynamic presence at Worcester Academy as a

trustee for the last two decades, recipient of the Academy’s Class of 1908 Cole Porter Award, and as the founder of the Worcester Academy Association of Black Alumni, known as WAABA. Last February, he was a featured presenter in WA’s Achieving Excellence Speaker Series and was WA’s 2021 graduation speaker. He has a special interest in the student experience at WA and passionately supports our commitment to diversity and inclusion. Of his time on the Hilltop, Victor says, “Worcester Academy changed the trajectory of my life. I have great memories, and I have many lifelong friends here.” A resident of Oakdale, CA, he lives with his wife, Regina, a retired law partner and the namesake of his record label, Regina Records. The couple has a grown daughter, Regina Victor. W

Worcester WooSox Nathan Harris ’94 and his family.

Worcester Academy Alumni and guests were invited to meet new Head of School Kevin Breen and his wife, Dana, for an alumni event at Polar Park in August. Mr. Breen threw out the first pitch. Alumni later took in the game featuring the Worcester Red Sox.

Kevin Bresnahan ’82 and Kathy (Gardiner) Tirado ’85 enjoyed connecting at the game.

Class of 2015 alumnae Emily Isakson and Sarah Potter. Worcester Academy

WA ATHLETICS 26 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

Worcester Academy

olympians

With the Tokyo Summer Olympics behind us now and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics starting in February, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the many Worcester Academy graduates (athletes and coaches) who have earned a place and succeeded on this international stage. From gold and bronze medalists to fierce international competitors, each has represented the Academy, and his country, honorably since the first appearance of a WA alum in 1896. W

WA Olympians

Wes Piermarini Class of 2000 Rowing, Beijing 2008

Jeff Bannister Class of 1965 Decathlon, Munich 1972

Bill Toomey Class of 1957

Decathlon, Mexico City 1968

Basil Francis Class of 1936

Breaststroke, Los Angeles 1932

John D. Clarke Class of 1945 Lacrosse, London 1948

Nevin Harkness Class of 1939 Lacrosse, London 1948

WA athletics

WA Olympic Coaches

Charles Proctor Class of 1924 Ski-jump, St. Moritz 1928

Jeff Bannister Willard Tibbetts Class of 1922

Bill Comins Class of 1921 Broad Jump, Paris 1924

Track, Paris 1924

J. Oliver Johnstone Class of 1912

Charles French Class of 1905

High Jump, Stockholm 1912

300-Yard Dash, London 1908

Donald “Dee” Rowe Class of 1947

Basketball, Assistant Coach, Moscow 1980 (U.S. did not attend, games were boycotted by the Carter Administration)

L. A. Whitney Class of 1910

Shot put, Stockholm 1912

Who will be Worcester Academy’s next Olympic athlete?! Arthur Francis Duffey Class of 1899 100 Metres, Paris 1900

Bascom Johnson Class of 1896 Pole Vault, Paris 1900

Donn Nelson Class of 1982

Basketball, Lithuanian Assistant Coach, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000

Worcester Academy

PHILANTHROPY AND GIVING

For Pam Lefferts: Worcester Academy opened doors to a bigger world by Christine Foster

“Everybody wants to know, ‘Did I make a difference?’ Well, Worcester Academy—you made a difference to me!” Pam Lefferts, 1834 Society member

Pam Lefferts’ WA story began in 1986 when she came on board as a school nurse. She never could have imagined that it would last three decades and leave her with friends all over the world. But over time, Mrs. Lefferts shifted roles, on multiple occasions, at each step increasing her responsibilities and

28 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

her contacts with students from every corner of the globe. First, she moved into health education, and then she became director of student activities and community service. She takes pride in having launched the community service program at Worcester Academy.

“What began as a requirement for graduation blossomed into an integral part of the curriculum, and giving back is something the students understand and many embrace,” she says. “There are many stories of kids who became teachers or doctors, or entered specific occupations, because of their volunteer work.” Mrs. Lefferts then was called upon to become director of residence and student life, playing a huge role in increasing the boarding population, especially girls, since Worcester Academy was once an all-boys school. She also continued developing close relationships with students, especially those from abroad, who needed a parent figure at school. “I always loved new adventures. It was eye-opening for me, living with the international population, I had never really been exposed like that. It’s one thing to visit a country or to say, ‘Oh, I have a friend from Japan,’ but it’s another thing to actually live with these children, and in our case, be their far-away parents and see first-hand the cultural differences.”

giving news lives, and that changed my life as well, and I thought, ‘How do I give back?’” The answer for her was obvious— she wanted to open more opportunities for international students to come to Worcester Academy. Now, as a member of Worcester Academy’s Planned Giving program, the 1834 Society, she and her husband, Bill Lefferts, have committed to giving a portion of their estate to WA for a scholarship earmarked for international students. “It was so simple,” Mrs. Lefferts says. “Really, when I hear about people leaving things to schools, I think, ‘Oh, how do they do that?’ But it was really a very easy process. We talked to our lawyer, and we just said, ‘Build this little part into our will,’ so on top of everything else, we took the opportunity to show our gratitude to Worcester Academy and to give something back.” Giving back doesn’t stop there, either. She and her husband built a hobby farm in Woodstock, CT, where

The O’Connell Award celebrates teaching excellence and ongoing service to Worcester Academy students and to the Academy community at large. This year’s winners were Ming Tseng, Upper School English faculty member and international student advisor; Kyle Layne-Allen, Middle School English faculty member

For information about joining the 1834 Society, see the Academy website or contact Kim Stone at WA at 508-459-6926 or at kim.stone@worcesteracademy.org.

AWARD WINNER

Ming Tseng

and John Hope Fellow; and Eileen Glassmire, Science faculty member and department chair, who retired at the end of the last school year. In addition to receiving a monetary award, faculty members will have their names carved on an oaken tablet in the Megaron. Given annually by vote of the faculty, the award is named for esteemed

Eileen Glassmire

O’Connell Award Winners

2021

Kyle Layne-Allen

2021

they now run Ferncroft Wildlife Rescue, focusing primarily on protecting, healing, and rehabbing opossum. In May, she published a book, “From Pouch to Couch: Why Lavender the Opossum Lives in a House.” Ever the educator, she continues to do programs at libraries, teaching children about how to co-exist with wildlife. Her heart, however, remains at Worcester Academy, and especially with her WA friends around the world, who taught her so much. “I didn’t want to just die and never say, ‘Well, you guys made a huge difference in this life,’” Mrs. Lefferts says. “Everybody wants to know, ‘Did I make a difference?’ Well, Worcester Academy—you made a difference to me!” W

longtime Worcester Academy chemistry teacher Andrew J. O’Connell, who taught at WA from 1942–74. His son, Brian O’Connell ’67, grew up on the Academy campus and was longtime treasurer of the Worcester Academy Board of Trustees. The trustees generously endowed the O’Connell Award following Brian’s O’Connell’s passing in 2019. W

Zachary Gardner

Mrs. Lefferts’ final official role brought all these pieces together. As director of global alumni relations. she cultivated bonds between Worcester Academy and its global alumni and parent communities, traveling overseas and connecting with old and new friends. She retired in 2014 after nearly three decades at WA. “That was, in many ways, the most gratifying part of my job, because I got to go back and I got to see these kids— now adults—and have them say, ‘You know you made a difference. Do you remember the night I was crying, and you were there? Do you remember when I was sick, and you were there?” Mrs. Lefferts remembers. “Or they would talk about faculty, and they would talk about these wonderful teachers they had. Maybe it was the English teacher or the history teacher, or the drama teacher, but someone who changed their life.” Mrs. Lefferts knew what that felt like because Worcester Academy had touched her, too. “It changed their

Laurin Baldwin

Tien Student Impact Worcester Academy honored two faculty members with the 2021 Tien Student Impact Award. Recognized were Laurin Baldwin, Middle School English teacher, and Zachary Gardner, Upper School history and social sciences teacher, who also received a monetary award. The Tien Student Impact Award was established by Michael Tien ’68 to honor the life-changing positive influences that outstanding teachers, coaches, dorm parents, and other adult mentors had on his life during his time at Worcester Academy. Any current employee is eligible for the Tien Award based upon nominations received from students, parents, or young alumni (Class of 2002 or younger). Nominators are asked to submit a short letter outlining the personal impact and lasting positive influence that the teacher, coach, or adult mentor has had on their lives (or that of their child). W Worcester Academy

30 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

in 1985

Class of 1985 WA friends ELIZABETH ANCARANA and NORA ELIASATCHUE at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

1989

2000

ELISABETH DELEHAUNTY

REBECCA VAUDREUIL, 2021 Young

showcased her work, Elisabethan by Elisabeth Delehaunty, at the Smithsonian Craft Optimism Virtual show featuring nearly 100 climateconscious artists, last April and May. Check out Elisabeth’s shop at elisabethan.com.

Alumnus/a Award recipient, has written a book, “Music Therapy with Military and Veteran Populations.” Check it out at: amazon.com/musictherapy-military-veteran-populations/ dp/1787754790.

1990

2001 SUSAN ABRAHAM is living in California and is a TV actress. She recently visited with faculty member Barbara Gould while back in Massachusetts.

1988

2002

CAITLIN MCCARTHY shared that her script A Native Land, a crime thriller, has moved to the finals in the 2021 Mystic Film Festival Screenplay Competition. The script most recently won her an Artist Fellowship in Dramatic Writing from the Mass Cultural Council. It was previously promoted as a “highly-rated script” by The Black List website.

DOUG GIULIANA reports he received Worcester Academy themed Father’s Day gifts this year from his wife and son!

behind the post GEORGE KOVEOS is in a new role as of March as the COO of a digital health company called Ro. Worcester Academy

2003

2005

2008

2009

In Spring 2021, BRITTANY NYZIO accepted a new job opportunity with Google. Formerly with IBM, Brittany resides and works in Atlanta, GA, but is based out of the Boston Google offices.

2004 Congratulations to ERIC FINS for being promoted to deputy staff director, Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Congratulations to BEN CLIFFORD and his wife, CHRISTINA CONSIGLI, on the birth of their daughter, Phoebe Athena Clifford, on April 9, 2021.

2007 CAELYN (BELLEROSE) SIPLEY sent in a photo of her daughter, Piper Rose Sipley, wearing her Oskee shirt that was sent to her by the Alumni & Development Office.

COURTNEY PELLEY was recently quoted in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette for her work as the chief of staff at Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center. The center provides Worcester Public School students with physicals, sports medicine, care for acute and chronic illness, immunizations, and more. Thank you to WILLIAM CLARK for sending the Alumni & Development Office a photo of his son in the WA Oskee shirt we sent him!

join worcesteracademyconnect.org TODAY! SITE IS WA’S DEDICATED ALUMNI NETWORKING PLATFORM—DOWNLOAD THE APP! Join WA’s dedicated alumni community TODAY by visiting WorcesterAcademyConnect.org online! Meet up with friends and classmates, expand YOUR professional network, and cultivate a culture of helping and giving back in a trusted WA environment. YOU’LL be amazed at how vibrant YOUR WA community is! Sign up, sign in, link YOUR social networks, and hang out with fellow Hilltoppers today at WorcesterAcademyConnect.org! For assistance, email Director of Alumni Relations Alicia Figueiredo at alicia.figueiredo@worcesteracademy.org.

32 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

get connected

Worcester Academy has a variety of social media channels to help you stay up to date with the latest news from the Hilltop. Whether you still live in the area and want to know about upcoming events, or you live overseas and want to see what is happening in our classrooms through videos, social media is our way of bringing the Hilltop to you.

checking in

2017

Here are just a few ways that you can stay connected: Become a fan of the Worcester Academy Facebook Page and the WA Alums Facebook Page. See posts about upcoming events and connect with the Worcester Academy Online Community.

Congratulations to JULIA PELLETIER for being named 2020–2021 hockey captain for the Holy Cross Womens Hockey team.

Visit Worcester Academy on Flickr to see the latest photos from games, performances, and school life. www.ﬂickr.com/photos/worcesteracademy Watch videos of students, faculty, alumni, and parents experiencing a real-world education. www.youtube.com/user/WorcesterAcademy

MARIANO RICCIARDI, former

Catch breaking news about events, lectures, and more when you follow @WorcesterAcdmy on Twitter.

2013

2014

Worcester Bravehearts baseball star, was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the MLB Draft.

2016

TELL US WHAT’S NEW WITH YOU! To submit a class note, please send note and/or image to Alicia Figueiredo at alicia.figueiredo@ worcesteracademy.org.

TURNER GEENTY, a recent senior on the Union College football team, was recognized for four years of academic achievement by earning a spot in the 2020 NFF Hampshire Honor Society as announced by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame in April 2020. He recently started a position at WPI as a football coach.

Worcester Academy

passings 1942

THOMAS P. LATIMER passed away on May 14, 2021. He was being cared for most recently at Morton Plant Rehabilitation Center (Madonna Ptak) in Clearwater, FL. He is survived by his wife, Jacqueline Shaner Latimer; two daughters; six grandchildren; and nine greatgrandchildren. While at Worcester Academy, he excelled academically as well as athletically in track and field. During World War II, he served in active combat and received five bronze stars for his service. After the war, Tom completed his education at Cornell, graduating with a B.S in engineering in 1949. He went to work for Clark Brothers, a supplier of gas and oil equipment in

former trustee WARREN C. “BUD” LANE JR., a long time Worcester lawyer and former Worcester Academy trustee, passed away on July 14, 2021. He is survived by a son and a grandson. His wife, Cynthia Rugg Lane, died in 2018. A sister, a daughter, a son, and a grandson predeceased him. Born in 1923, he lived in Worcester for many years before moving to Boylston, MA, where he served for several years as town moderator. Bud was a graduate of Harvard College (1946) and Harvard Law School (1949), and was a Navy veteran (Lieutenant J.G.) of World War II, serving in the Pacific theater. He was a partner at Bowditch, Gowetz & Lane (later Bowditch & Lane) until 1977, when he founded the law firm now Lane, Greene, Murtha & Edwards. He retired in 2012. He was an assistant district attorney for the Middle District of Massachusetts from 1953–55. His most famous case was as lead counsel in Consumers Savings Bank vs. Commissioner of Banks, which he successfully argued in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. This decision resulted in the NOW (Negotiable Order of Withdrawal) account being declared legal throughout the country, offering the savings bank equivalent of a checking account to compete with commercial banks.

34 the HILLTOPPER : fall 2021

Olean, NY, eventually becoming Group Vice President of Dresser Industries, which had been incorporated into the company. In 1970, he was recruited by Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company in New York City and became CEO. After Tom retired in 1986, he and Jackie divided their time between homes in Bellport, NY, and Clearwater Beach. Tom was honored to serve for many years on the board of the Logistics Management Institute (LMI), a nonprofit consulting organization to the government. He was a member of the Union League Club of New York and the Carlouel Yacht Club in Clearwater Beach, Florida.

FRANK G. MICHALAK of Shrewsbury, MA, passed away on April 12, 2021. He was preceded in death by his wife, Jane (Smith) Michalak, in 1982; three brothers; and 4 sisters. He is survived by a son, Frank Michalak II of California, and a daughter, Lisa Michalak of Worcester. He also leaves many nieces and nephews. Frank’s career involved scientific glassblowing and sign making. He was a gifted athlete and a four-letter man at Shrewsbury High School and Worcester Academy. He was accepted at several Ivy League schools, and later left Brown University to serve throughout the European Theater with the Army Air Force. At the time of his death, he was the last living member of his World War II division. After the war, Frank attended university in Oklahoma before moving back East to Shrewsbury.

1946 ALBERT A. SCOTT JR. of Walpole, MA, passed away on June 9, 2018, in Sharon, MA. Born in Boston, he was raised in Arlington, MA, and attended Arlington Schools. He went on to attend Worcester Academy and Norwich University and then served in the Air Force during the Korean War. After his military service, he graduated from Tufts University and attended Williams College School of Banking and Stonier Graduate School of Banking. Al had a long distinguished career in Banking from Outside Collector to Senior Vice President and Senior Commercial Loan Officer. He worked for Norfolk County Trust Company and Guaranty First Trust Co., where he was Senior Vice President and Senior Commercial Loan Officer. He finished his career working for American Profit Recovery Co. Al was also a past selectman for the Town of Walpole during the late 1970’s. Albert left his wife, Frances K. (Kendall); daughter, Deidre C. Scott of Canton; a son, Albert A. Scott III of Walpole; and three grandchildren.

former faculty member JOHN P. LEPOER of Spencer, formerly of Petersham, a former Worcester Academy faculty member, passed away on Aug. 20, 2021 in Life Care Center of Auburn. John was born in 1927. He enlisted in the Air Force before going on to study at Springfield College, and graduated from Worcester State and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. John later taught math and science at Worcester Academy and Petersham High School. He was a 6th grade teacher and principal at Petersham Center School. He is survived by his wife; Ann (Withington) LePoer of Auburn; two daughters; and two grandchildren. He was predeceased by four brothers and four sisters.

1951 PAUL E. “COACH” GROGAN of Glastonbury, CT, passed away on June 8, 2021. Paul taught physical education at Glastonbury High School for 37 years, and he coached just about every sport during that time. He was known for his rapport with students, and his patience, understanding, and empathy for everyone. He leaves behind his wife of 62 years, Carol Bletzer Grogan; four children, Lisa Shaw, Paul Grogan Jr., Jeff Grogan, and Kelly Clarke; ten grandchildren; and hundreds of former students whom he guided through their high school journeys. Upon graduating from Worcester Academy, he went on to play basketball for Springfield College on an athletic scholarship. Upon gaining his teaching degree, he got his first and only teaching job—in Glastonbury. While teaching at Glastonbury, Grogan played semi-pro basketball for the East Hartford Explorers. He earned $5 a game playing in gymnasiums up and down the country against players such as the great Bob Cousy, who went on to star in the ABA and NBA, and against the world famous Harlem Globetrotters.

1954 DONALD BARNES HAYWARD of Greensburg, PA, died July 16, 2021. Born in Milford, Mass., the only son of Samuel Penniman Hayward and Dorothy Barnes Hayward, he is survived by his wife of 63 years, Sally Marker Hayward; their three children, David Hayward of Rockport, TX, Susan Koshewa of Columbus, OH; and Sarah (James) Lynch, of Dothan, AL; two granddaughters; and a sister-in-law. He was predeceased by his parents; in-laws; and infant son, Dan Hayward. Don was a graduate of Northbridge High

School in Whitinsville, MA, and Worcester Academy. He received his electrical engineering degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and was a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania. He worked his entire career for West Penn Power Co./Allegheny Energy/First Energy in several engineering and managerial positions and retired in 1996. Shortly after joining West Penn Power in 1958, he served two years in the Army at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Don was extremely active in the community. He and his wife traveled extensively with friends and family; they vacationed most often in New England and the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

1956 SGT. MAJ. LAWRENCE KENDRICK BLAIR II USMC (RET.) of Vancouver, WA, passed away April 9, 2021. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he was the elder son of Daphne Bunting Blair and Lawrence Kendrick Blair of Worcester. He joined the Marine Corps in 1956 serving four tours of duty in Vietnam, and receiving the Silver Star and Bronze Star for conspicuous gallantry in action, as well as numerous other medals and ribbons, including four Purple Hearts. He spent a total of 30 years in the Corps, retiring in the Pacific Northwest, where he served another 18 years as a member of the Clark County Sheriff’s Department in Washington State. He is survived by his wife, Donna Blair, of Vancouver; his brother, Robert Bunting Blair, of Berlin, MA; a daughter, Michelle Blair of Byhalia, MS; three sons, Douglas Blair of San Antonio, TX, and Gordon Blair and Sean Blair, both of Vancouver. He also leaves nine grandchildren and two great granddaughters.

HAROLD J. “HANK” KEOHANE of Belmont MA, formerly of Arlington, MA, passed away on Aug. 3, 2021. Hank was the devoted husband of 53 years to Patricia (Hurley) and the loving father to Suzanne, Michaela, Elizabeth, and Michael, a 1997 graduate of Worcester Academy. He had three grandchildren. He is also survived by his brother, Daniel, of Natick MA; his sister, Maureen, of Winchester MA, and many nieces and nephews. A graduate of Arlington High School, Hank went on to Worcester Academy where he made lifelong friends and remained a loyal alumnus until his passing. Among his proudest accomplishments was helping to establish the Rowe Family Scholarship at Worcester Academy in honor of his good friend, Dee Rowe ’47. At Harvard University, Class of 1960, he excelled academically, and captained the Varsity Football team. He served as a lieutenant in the Army Infantry from 1960–1961 before earning his law degree at Harvard Law School. After law school, the AfroAsia Public Service Fellowship afforded Hank the opportunity to serve two years as Inspector of Native Courts in Nigeria, Africa. He returned to Massachusetts to become assistant district attorney for Middlesex

County, followed by assistant United States attorney. In 1968, he was a Congressional district coordinator for U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy’s campaign. Later, he became Massachusetts’ assistant attorney general, followed by chairman of the Mass. Public Utilities Commission. He served as New England Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Energy for the Carter administration. In 1980, he started Keohane and DeTore Attorneys at Law. Among his happiest moments were Worcester Academy reunions.

1960 WILLIAM K. “BILL” MCALLISTER passed away in Panama City, FL, on April 18, 2021. He is predeceased by his daughter, Suzie Bittmann; and survived by his wife of 27 years, Linda Singleton McAllister; a son, Cliff McAllister, Atlanta; a brother, Doug McAllister, of Worcester; and grandchildren. Bill was a city planner in Sumter, SC, and Pasco County, FL, prior to becoming a professor of Community and Regional Planning for 25 years at Alabama A&M University, Huntsville, AL. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Clark University, a master’s degree from the University of Rhode Island, and his PhD from Tennessee State University. He was named Alabama Planner of the Year in 2001 and became a Fellow in the College of Fellows of American Institute of Certified Planners. Bill worked at NASA for three summers and also for the U.S. Forest Service in Washington, D.C. He taught numerous courses at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He was a member of the Alabama Academy of Science, American and Alabama Planning Association, and the American Institute of Certified Planners.

1963 JAMES M. YOUNG of Longwood, FL, passed away on June 18, 2021 in Sanford, FL. He was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, the son of Myron H. Young and Ruth Annabelle Miller Young. He attended Worcester Academy and Heidelberg College in Tiffen, OH. Jim served in the Ohio National Guard. He was a retired trust officer. After retirement, he worked as a cruise travel agent. His survivors include his wife of 50 years, Carol; two children, Linda of Clermont, FL, and Ed Young of Altamonte Springs, FL; a sister, Sally Kemp; and numerous nieces and nephews.

1971 DR. STEPHEN SIMMONS HULL JR.—father, teacher, and mentor—passed away on July 9, 1953 in Arcadia, OK. Steve was born in Jersey City, NJ, to Stephen Simmons Hull Sr. and Jean Holthausen Hull. He married Kathryn Reilly in 1978 in Westboro, MA. He spent the

first half of his adult life researching sudden cardiac death and the last half raising alpacas and teaching animal husbandry and pasture improvement to alpaca owners. He leaves his wife, Kathy; sons, Tom and David; a daughter, Kaitlyn; and his brother, Christopher.

1980 REV. ANDREW C. CARLSON of Rutland, VT, died on Aug. 5, 2021. Born in Worcester, the son of Charles P. and Patricia (Holt) Carlson, he was primarily raised in Shrewsbury, where he and his former wife, Karen, raised their children. Fr. Carlson was a proud graduate of Worcester Academy. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Trinity College in 1985 and obtained his master of divinity degree at the Berkeley Divinity School-Yale University in 1989. Fr. Carlson worked in many agencies as a mental health and pastoral counselor, including his most recent position at Rutland Mental Health. He also served as the chaplain and bereavement coordinator for Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice of the Southwest Region (VNAHSR) for several years. Fr. Carlson was ordained into the holy orders of priesthood in 2010 in the Anglican diocese known as the Anglican Network in Canada. In 2016, he was installed as Rector at All Saints, Worcester. He was father to James, Rachel, and Stephen Carlson. He is also survived by his former wife, Karen; a brother; Jonathan Carlson; and several aunts, uncles, and cousins.

1982 MERCEDEH MIRKAZEMI WARD passed away July 3, 2020, in Torrance, CA. Mercedeh is survived by her husband, Bruce; children, Kyle and Ari; parents, Manoucher and Madiheh Mirkazemi; and a sister and brother-in-law, Mina Mirkazemi and Shahin Esmali; as well as many aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and cousins. Born in Tehran, Iran, Mercedeh embraced her father’s passion for basketball and architecture, and shared her mother’s gregarious and loving spirit. In 1979, she moved to U.S. to attend Worcester Academy and lived with her aunt and uncle, Mahroo and Barrett Morgan. She graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a degree in engineering. A gifted artist, Mercedeh combined her creative talents with her engineering skills to build a distinguished career in children’s toys. She spent the early part of her career at Mattel working on the engineering, fashion design, and production of Barbie and Barbie accessories. At MGA, she brought to life the Bratz doll collection, a ground-breaking cultural phenomenon in fashion dolls. In her most recent role at Spin Master, she worked on the Paw Patrol collection, among others. (See the story about Mercedeh’s friendship with Jill Overdorf on page 20.) W

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