THE
CAMPUS UNDER
COVID Also Inside: Gould welcomes Tao Smith ’90 as the new head of school Engineering a better future with Desiree Plata ’99
GAZETTE Fall 2020
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4 Campus Under Covid
Generations from now, people will look back on this year—with the first major pandemic in a century—and wonder what life was like at Gould. We share this story as much for them as for you, who are also living through it. By Julie Reiff
Engineering for the Environment
Desiree Plata ’99 is changing the way we invent materials to help prevent environmental damage. By Kristen Walsh
16 Tao Is the Way
Gould welcomes Tao Smith ’90 as 39th head of school. By Kim Siebert Macphail ’73, P’07 page 16
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Students planted 2,977 flags on the upper field to honor and remember each of the victims of 9/11.
departments around campus . . . . . . . . 2-6 fall sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 class notes . . . . . . . . . 24-28 in memoriam . . . . . . . . . . . 29
aroundcampus Head of School Tao Smith ’90 Assistant Head of School for Institutional Advancement Chris Sparks Editor Julie Reiff Design Greg Gilman Photography M. Dirk MacKnight & Greg Gilman Class Notes Editor Amy Connell Board of Trustees Phyllis Gardiner, P’09, President Sarah S. Taymore, P’09, ’11, Vice President Chris L. Brooks ’99, Secretary Stuart B. Abelson Samuel W. Adams ’77, P’18 Donald M. Christie Jr. ’60 C. Henry Fasoldt ’98 Richard E. Foyston ’75, P’14 Leo P. Menard III ’03 Laura H. Ordway ’89, P’20, ’24 Sarah C. Ovenden ’81 Wendy E. Penley Kenneth A. Remsen ’67 Pamela M. Senese ’82 Jan L. Skelton ’84, P’16 Christine S. Teague ’66 Gregory S. Young, P’19 ON THE COVER: Head of School Tao Smith ’90 stands masked in front of Hanscom Hall.
Head of School Tao Smith ’90 addresses the Gould community at the opening of school assembly.
New Faculty & Coaches TAO SMITH ’90 head of school
JANET WILLIE nurse
JOANNA BROWN director of health services
MEGAN AHEARN U14 coach
ROSE GOLDBERG ’15 middle school teacher
GARRETT LASHAR U16 coach
BOB HARKINS athletic director
MARISA HANNING U19 coach
JENNIFER HOLDEN admissions & on snow representative
Some employees are in new roles as well.
BEN KAMILEWICZ ’95 associate registrar & humanities teacher
MAGGIE DAVIS DEI coordinator AMY CONNELL engagement officer
Cover photo: M. Dirk MacKnight, P’10
SARAH KAMILEWICZ science teacher
© 2020 Gould Academy gouldacademy.org
GREG MILLER advancement data specialist
BETH GARFIELD engagement officer
ALEX NORDEN head women’s alpine ski coach
CASEY MOREY auxiliary programs coordinator
MESA SCHUBECK music teacher
SHANNON ROBITAILLE athletic trainer
JACOB VOLZ math teacher
LORRAINE SUMNER food services director
DAVE WILLIS assistant head of school for finance/CFO
SARA WHALEN-SHIFRIN ’88 director of innovation
KATHLEEN WILLIS engagement officer
MEGHAN YOUNG college counselor
The GAzette is published twice a year by the Communications Office at Gould Academy. We welcome your letters, story ideas, and photos.
Contact the Editor:
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Julie Reiff 39 Church Street, P.O. Box 860 Bethel, ME 04217 reiffj@gouldacademy.org 2 207-824-7781
Students watch the first presidential debate in Holden Hall, while Hunter Curtis ’21 (inset) shows off her first-ever voting sticker at the Bethel Town Office.
Election 2020 This fall was an election to remember for our students, a dozen of whom voted for the first time, and others who experienced their first U.S. presidential election. Students from across the political spectrum came together with respect and civility, and reaffirmed their desire to remain friends and support one another.
Cum Laude Four scholars were inducted in October into Gould’s chapter of the Cum Laude Society, from left, Lydia Bennett ’21, Eliza Skillings ’21, Kaitlyn Saidy ’21, and James Yao ’21.
Huntley Blair ’22 makes a putt on the 15th hole.
Par for the Course Donated by trustee Greg Young P’19 and designed by Alexander Baribeau ’21 as his Senior Four Point Project, Gould’s newest attraction this fall was an 18-hole disc golf course just beyond the lower fields—a perfect distraction in a pandemic world and another great reason to get outside.
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S U P CAM R E D UN D I V CO
om erations fr n e g n o k c what life ill look ba d wonder t people w n n a e — m o ry m tu n c r you, tori mic in a ce them as fo e r d This is a his n fo a h p c r u jo m first ma tory as now—the write this s e time. W . ld u o G moment in is th h g was like at u o living thro who are als lie Reiff
by Ju
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ames Yao is at the podium as half the school gathers on the lawn and under a tent in the courtyard between Hanscom and Bingham. It’s a perfect early September day; a cool breeze from the mountains comes across the upper fields but the sun is strong enough to keep us warm. The other half of the school is “Zooming” the all-school orientation meeting from their homes or dorm rooms—because this school year is like no other. Gould is opening its 186th school year in the midst of the largest pandemic in a century. I can think of no one more appropriate to address the community on this auspicious day. James, a four-year senior from Wuhan, China, is more than 7,000 miles from home and hasn’t seen his family in nearly a year. Like much of the audience, he hasn’t had a haircut in a while either. He is soft spoken and not a confident public speaker, but this is a topic he feels strongly about. “At first I was really sad not to see my family,” James says, “I tried to ignore everything we’re facing and not care about the world, but that made me feel worse. Luckily I got through it. Everyone is going to face a big mental challenge in this kind of time. We need to face that and do our best to get through it as a community, and help others do their best.” Just getting to this moment took months of planning by a task force that was assembled back in May. That group met daily throughout the spring and most of the summer, trying to find ways to reopen the school safely this fall.
When it became clear that the pandemic would still be with us in September, the Covid response team morphed into a Reopening Task Force (gouldacademy.org/about/ reopening2020) that released broad strokes of Gould’s plan in June and more details in mid-July. From then on, there were weekly emailed updates and Zoom “coffee chats” with parents; student leaders arranged Zoom meetings by class. Beyond the logistics of how to bring everyone back safely, Assistant Head of School Brad Clarke led a group that looked at the teaching and learning process and how we could accommodate students who needed to study remotely, how we could de-densify classrooms, and how we might shift smoothly to a fully remote model if the need arose. We added high-tech cameras that follow a speaker’s voice in the classroom to help make remote learners feel more a part of the discussion, whether they’re in Gehring or at home in Hong Kong. His group also focused on the essence of good teaching and added applied learning blocks to the schedule—longer periods that allow students to do more hands-on activities. Classes have used that time to cook a Roman meal over a campfire for history, to collect minerals from the Sunday River for chemistry, and to calculate a plan to build a roof for the new greenhouse. Athletics has unique challenges this year as well.
Making a Plan The spring term was difficult for all. The decision to send students home in March and stay remote through the spring was made easier by stay-at-home orders from the governor of Maine and the closure of all nonessential businesses, including Sunday River.
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James Yao, a senior from Wuhan, China, helped welcome the school back in September, having spent the entire spring and summer on campus.
“Coaches and athletes have had to recalibrate their goals and their approach in order to find success,” says Athletic Director Bob Harkins. Running, mountain biking, and golf hosted asynchronous matches with other MAISAD schools, never meeting their opponents, but contact sports like soccer and field hockey focused on skill-building and played intramurally to get some game-time experience. “All is not lost,” Harkins says. “The shift away from competition has given athletes the opportunity to focus more on skill development and conditioning—a real bonus for younger, developing athletes. In a normal high school sports season, the window to work on developing their skill base is relatively short, maybe two to three weeks. In a season that is void of trophies or championships, this encourages athletes to focus intrinsically on their personal best. The result will be long-term benefits that will serve athletes very well going forward.”
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Challenging times present new opportunities for leadership, and the Class of 2021 is rising to the challenge. Soccer teams created the Covid Cup, and field hockey challenged the faculty. Beyond athletics, Reachout dove into community service with gusto even if they couldn’t actually go into the community. They made and donated masks to the local elementary school, organized a pink dress-down day for breast cancer awareness, and created a Halloween scavenger hunt for faculty children who couldn’t go trick or treating.
What It’s Like to Be a Senior But no matter how grateful students are to be back on campus and learning in person, there is no doubt that social distancing takes a toll. Cassie, Eliza, and Lexi are prefects and live in the only triple room in Gehring. I checked in with them in late October, to see what senior year has been like for them so far. They talk about some of their best moments—sitting outside without masks, socially distanced, biking over on Pine Hill or throwing a Frisbee around, having lunch on the Ordway porch with other seniors. “Even though we’re sprawled almost to the door, eating with our masks off,” says Cassie, “we’re laughing, and it feels normal.” And that seems to be the key for most students—the moments here when life feels normal, for a little while. But they are honest, too, about how hard it has been. “We know it’s not going to be normal for a really long time,” Cassie adds. “Everything is changing. We know it could be better, but we have to shift our minds, and some days all we want is to hug someone who isn’t a roommate—not that I don’t love these guys.”
Todd Siekman’s chemistry class [left] engages in a little applied learning at Artist’s Bridge near Sunday River, collecting samples they will later analyze at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum. Lauren Head [right] moved her blacksmithing class outside to be more Covid compliant. Brett Shifrin [below] meets with his class on the IDEAS Center patio.
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“I try to take it one day at a time,” says Eliza. “Honestly, my goal was to get to midterms, to have that break. My next goal is to get to Thanksgiving break and then to Christmas when I go home. We have absolutely no control over any of the variables that are affecting our lives, and if I spend my time worrying about what the rest of my senior year is going to look like, it’s going to be horrible. So I’m trying to take it one chunk at a time, to live in the moment as much as possible. No matter what, my senior year is going to be unique, and I’m going to remember it the rest of my life.” As seniors, they are in the midst of applying to college, and as prefects they also feel the pressure to be on their best behavior and always remember to set an example for others, but it hasn’t been bad, they are quick to explain. Just hard. Eliza describes her long weekend. Between stints of homework and studying for APs, she went roller skiing out on the North Road. Five or six inches of snow fell overnight up in Grafton Notch, so a few members of the Nordic team went there to ski at 7 the next morning. The day after that she went surfing down on the coast with Mr. Smith and Mr. Hayward. “Oh, and I went mountain biking, too,” she adds.
“The fresh air, being with the team and with my friends, a little bit more bonding with the whole class. Having all of these amazing opportunities is fantastic,” she says. “That’s the hard part for me. I’m doing super cool things, and yet I’m still not super happy. It’s hard to understand why, and sometimes I beat myself up because I’m so lucky to be here, so incredibly lucky. How am I not over the moon right now? I don’t know the answer.” From a Nordic skiing point of view, hard isn’t necessarily bad, Eliza is quick to point out, “that feeling of working really hard is rewarding and makes you feel good about yourself.” But the challenges these students are facing isn’t about how hard the work is. “Being back on campus with our friends is probably the best part,” says Lexi, “because everyone was missing that human connection last spring. I know the freshmen aren’t struggling as much, but I’ve been here six years, so to come back this fall and have it be not even close to what I was expecting is just super hard, because I remember what it was like before.”
From left, roommates Cassie Pyle ’21 and Lexi Ordway ’21 atop the Jordan summit at Sunday River on Mountain Day in October. Math students calculate the angle of the barn roof as part of their applied learning. Classrooms have OWL cameras this fall to help better integrate remote students with what’s going on in the classroom.
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Not being able to see their families has been tough, as have not being able to go off campus on their own when they need a little space, and, for Lexi, not being able to compete in soccer against other teams.
At a special assembly, Lexi and other student leaders made an appeal to their fellow students to follow the Covid guidelines, reminding them how much is at stake for some of their peers.
I’m trying to take it one chunk at a time, to live in the moment as much as possible. No matter what, my senior year is going to be unique, and I’m going to remember it the rest of my life.”
“Some of the boys hiked up a grill, and we had burgers and dogs,” Lexi says. “I hate hiking, but it was nice to be on the summit with the whole class, because we didn’t see each other for months.” There are some classmates she rarely sees now that the number of people who can be in a shared space is so limited.
You learn to live with the new restrictions, they explain,
“We don’t know when things will return to normal,” Lexi said. “So we need to start living now. We need to find new ways to make activities fun. And we need to find challenges that we can overcome in different ways than we have before. We’re here with our friends—we’re together. We’re playing sports. We’re going to in-person classes. Six months ago that all seemed insane. And we’re doing good. And we’re trying to do even better. Use your strengths and ask for help when you need it. Try to focus on the things that we have and not the things that we don’t.”
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Everyone is using the field house more, they say, and picking up new hobbies. More kids are starting to play lacrosse, and then there’s the new disc golf course on campus. Skateboarding has become really big, too. There have been a few senior bonfires out at the yurt some weekends. And Mountain Day.
and learn to navigate it all, but they also say it’s important to focus on what you can change.
ENGINEERING FOR THE
ENVIRONMENT BY KRISTEN WALSH PHOTOS BY LILLIE PAQUETTE
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esiree Plata ’99 helps her son, 6, and daughter, 4, climb onto the flat rooftop of her garage. (Her threemonth-old son stays inside with her husband.) It’s Earth Day, and the MIT professor couldn’t let the day go by without a science experiment. Her kids are nearly jumping up and down as they wait for her to help them toss the homemade egg launchers they built as part of the “egg drop challenge.” The popular STEM activity includes constructing an egg launcher using materials (typically recyclables) to protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped from a set height.
“Once I told my kids that I failed miserably at my first egg drop challenge at Gould—I basically threw an egg out of the third floor window of Hanscom Hall—they were determined to beat me,” says Plata, who is now the Gilbert W. Winslow (1937) Career Development Professor in Civil Engineering at MIT. “The great thing about this kind of open challenge is that they got to think about the design principles to protect the egg using the materials right in front of them. They were so excited to see if the eggs were intact.” (They were, and Mom was impressed.)
Desiree Plata ’99, who is a professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at MIT, is well-known for her research in environmental engineering. She is a National Science Foundation CAREER awardee, a two-time National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering fellow, and a two-time National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science fellow.
Plata sees that same kind of anticipation from the MIT stu- pened to Plata in fourth grade, when a teacher challenged dents known as her “lab family.” students to a trash cleanup. “It’s discovery, and it’s exciting,” she says. “They feel so privi- “Most of us thought there wasn’t going to be any trash, but leged to have access to a lab and the ability to do those kinds by the time we walked around Baxter Boulevard in Portof experiments and figure out what the answer is going to be.” land we had filled up three huge bags full,” Plata recalls. “It illustrated to me that we need to take care of our planet.” Only instead of egg cartons, Styrofoam, and a plastic-bag parachute, her students use high-end equipment like geo- Plata was also “heavily influenced” by teachers at Gould. chemical tools “to understand how chemicals move in the environment and where they will end up, and what that means Chemistry teacher Annette Laursen Brickley did something that Plata jokingly says didn’t particularly enjoy back in for potential exposure to human and ecological systems. high school. “The mission of my lab team “She used to make me is aimed at changing the way do extra homework, that we invent materials and including college-level processes so we can incorpoassignments, which I rate environmental metrics thought was terrible at during the design phase and the time. But she never prevent environmental damlet up on me. I realize age,” Plata adds. now that it was imporWhile sustainable innovatant to keep me stimution typically focuses on lated and engaged. brand new materials, Plata Her strong coaching believes that there are a lot and cultivation of me of established technologies as a student is probthat still need to be evaluatably the reason that I ed to explore interventions am an environmental to improve processes from chemist today.” an environmental perspective. One example that she has studied extensively is the It was a class field trip to Evans Notch with science teacher carbon nanotube. (“Imagine carbon atoms arranged in a Erik Janicki ’91 to study its ecology and history that spoke hexagon pattern and rolled into a tube that is only a nano- to Plata’s love of the outdoors. meter across,” she explains.) It can negatively impact both “During a hike in the woods I remember finding an endanaquatic and soil organisms. Another issue is the process of gered trillium flower and thinking, This is the coolest thing natural gas extraction—the need to determine how to get I’ve ever done! I had to then write about it for an assigncarbon-based fuels safely out of the ground. ment, and that combination of hands-on outdoor experience and project work is what really hooked me on environTrash, Homework, and Inspiration mental research and made me think that it was something I When Plata talks about carbon nanotubes and such, her wanted to do with my life,” she says. energy mimics that of her students in the lab and her children atop the roof. “From an early age, I have always had Tree to Tree a strong connection to the environment and the earth sysThough many of Plata’s formidable “science-inspiring” tem,” she says. experiences in Maine were enjoyable, one was more soLike many scientists, inspiration came from experiences. bering. It happened north of Portland in the rural town of Growing up near the coast of Maine, one of those hap- Gray. She was just 8 years old.
BEING A PROFESSOR IS A HAPPY SOLUTION. I GET TO BE A SCIENTIST BUT ALSO ENRICH PEOPLE’S LIVES AND BE THERE FOR INDIVIDUALS. AND THAT’S ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS THAT WE DO.”
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Madame Ouwinga suggested Plata had too much personality to be behind a lab bench and needed to be interacting with people. “I heard her voice in my mind every year,” Plata said, “when I was in college and graduate school considering my career path.”
“I started noticing that a lot of people in my grandmother’s neighborhood were getting really sick,” Plata says. “My grandmother and my uncle had multiple sclerosis. Several neighbors had cancer. I remember telling my mother that there has to be something everyone shares that is making them sick. Everyone shares air and water.” Plata didn’t know at the time, but the town sits atop one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund sites, the McKin site, where industrial waste was disposed of from 1965 to 1978. It was in college that she ultimately came across a New York Times article reporting that the industrial waste had contaminated the drinking water. “TCE (trichloroethylene) is one of the main culprits,” she says. Around that same time—when Plata was completing a degree in chemistry at Union College and exploring graduate programs including at MIT—her aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer and began treatments in Boston. It’s one of the reasons Plata chose to attend MIT.
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“I wanted to be close to my aunt,” Plata says.
The other reason was, of course, the “amazing science” that happens at the institute. Instead of going into a “straight chem degree,” Plata enrolled into the MITWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution joint program in oceanography, which Plata is convinced she got thanks to a shining recommendation from longtime Gould faculty member Lorenzo Baker. Today, Plata is well-known for her research in environmental engineering. She is a National Science Foundation CAREER awardee, a two-time National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering fellow, and a two-time National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science fellow.
A Happy Solution Though she is a highly regarded scholar, Plata is most inspired by educating others. “The thing that really hooked me on being an educator was the opportunity to engage in cultivating other people and helping them become their best selves,” says Plata, who previously held academic posts at Yale and Duke. “That was also something that my Gould French teacher Madame
Ouwinga suggested to me—she said I had too much personal- Great and Meaningful Science ity to be behind a lab bench and needed to be interacting with Unfortunately, Plata’s aunt passed away from cancer in people. I heard her voice in my mind every year when I was 2008. “My aunt grew up about one mile from the plume in college and graduate school considering my career path.” and moved on top of it when she was 18. Based on what we Being a professor is “a happy solution,” she says. “I get to know now, it is probable that her exposure to TCE during be a scientist but also enrich people’s lives and be there for her developmental years contributed to her cancer. I miss individuals. And that’s one of the most important things her every day.” that we do.”
That experience makes Plata all the more committed to her The advice she gives her graduate students—who are bal- work. “Great science comes from solving problems, and ancing long hours and rigorous work in the lab—is some- more importantly preventing problems. For many scientists, that stems from seeing the impact that could have on thing she learned on the Gould orientation hiking trip. someone’s life. Through the work that I do, my hope is that “I hadn’t done much hiking before and I was really ner- it keeps somebody’s parent or child from getting cancer.” vous. But Lorenzo Baker gave me some great advice: ‘Just find a tree in front of you and make it to that tree. Then find And she knows that it will take great minds to make progress: the next tree and make it to that tree.’ That got me through “One of the things that really motivates me is to think about orientation, and it’s something I share with my students how we educate students to fulfill their dreams and also help who are working on research that can last five or six years.” construct the future that we want to see for the world.”
Plata refers to her MIT students as her “lab family.” A highly regarded scholar, she is most inspired by educating others.
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Gouldmoment
Students and faculty bundled up to watch a movie on the upper field. Photo by Zach Schmolka ’22
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Tao Is theWay N E W HE A D O F S C H OOL TAO SMITH ’90 A ND THE PAT H BA C K T O GOU L D By Kim Siebert MacPhail ’73, P’07 Photos by M. Dirk MacKnight, P’10 From the moment Tao Smith ’90 set foot on campus as a prospective student, he felt an immediate connection. It was the summer of 1987, and things had not been going well for him at public school in Pomfret, Vermont. “I stood out from the other kids my age,” Smith says. “Private school was not in our purview, but I needed a change. We’d looked at a few other schools, and liked them, but when we came up here, I felt like I belonged in a way I hadn’t felt anywhere before then. We were driving away—not even out of sight of the field house roof—and I turned to my mom and said, ’That’s my place.’” Including that day in 1987, Smith found his way to Gould Academy three times. First, as a three-year student. Second, as a ski coach and faculty member, from 1995 to 2001. And third, as the 39th head of school—and first alumnus to serve in the role—arriving just in time to lead Gould through reopening plans in the face of the pandemic.
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This is Tao Smith’s third turn at Gould— first as a student, then as a young teacher, and now, 19 years later, as head of school.
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Finding the Way to Gould, Part One As Smith tells the story, he was born “at the tail end of the hippie movement” on a houseboat in Sausalito, California. His father worked as a fisherman, a blue-collar, New England-conservative, “realist” from Vermont. His mother was a free-thinking, first-generation American, New York “idealist” with opinions that put her decades ahead of her time. Their neighbor was author Shel Silverstein. Their social circle included musicians Neil Young and Stephen Stills. When he was 3, the family moved back to Vermont, joining the larger, back-to-the land movement taking place in the mid-’70s. “So many of the things I love in life come from growing up in rural Vermont,” Smith says. “There was an aspect to the place that was open and welcoming, in the Robert Frost tradition. But, at the same time, it was not very sophisticated.”
The differences between his family and their neighbors increasingly set Smith apart from his public-school classmates. “Conversations around our dinner table were interesting, to put it mildly,” Smith explains. “There was a lot of philosophical and political discourse. I got to see, firsthand, differences in opinion and viewpoint of the world.” While the seeds of intellectual curiosity had been planted before he got to Gould, Smith credits his teachers, like English teacher Mac Davis, with igniting his interest in learning. “At Gould, the program matched my passions and interests, whether academic, out-of-doors, or athletic,” he says. “I was accepted for who I was by the adults and the other kids for the first time in my life.”
I felt like I belonged in a way I hadn’t felt anywhere before then. We were driving away— not even out of sight of the field house roof—and I turned to my mom and said, ‘That’s my place.’”
Smith as a Gould senior
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Smith with his advisory in 1998
After Gould, Smith attended the University of Vermont, majoring in comparative religion and minoring in history. An avid skier, he badly wanted to join the UVM ski team, which had won the NCAA championships two years in a row. But Smith had not been recruited to the team. “I went to the ski team director’s office in the fall, introduced myself, and said that I’d really like to join the team.” The director was skeptical, but he told Smith what he’d have to do. “It was the first time in my life I had to actually work for something I wanted,” Smith says. “School and athletics had always come pretty easily. I kept telling myself if I could outwork everyone on the team—be the fastest, the strongest— I’d have a good chance.” The team had ten slots and nine were already filled. Ten other aspirants, besides Smith, were vying for that last spot. On the day the roster was due to be posted, Smith went
straight to the director’s door and saw that he’d made it. He was number ten. “The coach congratulated me but said they’d picked me not because of my racing results, but because of how hard I worked for it. They wanted that [attitude] on the team,” he recalls. “It convinced me there is very little we as human beings can’t accomplish if we put our minds to it. If we believe in it. If we can will it with every ounce of our being, every molecule in our body.” Five years and two more NCAA championships later, Smith graduated, having taken a lower course load to be able to train and compete. Simultaneously, Gould was starting to invest in the competitive skiing program and Smith was invited to apply as ski coach. He’d always liked working with kids at summer camp jobs and volunteer programs so he decided to take the job and take some time to figure out what to do with his life.
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Finding the Way to Gould, Part Two
But he had one stipulation: He also wanted to teach. “I got to Gould in the fall and was unsettled to find that I didn’t have any classes assigned. I went to talk to [then Headmaster] Bill Clough and [then Assistant Head] Dutch Dresser and they told me I’d be gone too much of the winter. But I really wanted to teach. So they gave me two sections of 10th grade history, enough to get my feet wet. The students I had those first two years can probably attest to the fact that I was a better coach than I was a classroom teacher.” Smith now sees he was naïve to imagine he could step into a teaching role without the life experience to understand how to create connections with students and how to make the course material relevant. Also, as predicted, his coaching schedule posed obstacles. To address the problem, he and former English teacher Lucia Owen co-taught an elective they called “The Idea of Religion” that drew on Smith’s college studies and allowed him to observe and learn from a master teacher. “We taught that course for three years and had so much fun,” Smith says. “It helped me become a better educator, and I’m thankful.”
“When I came back as a faculty member,” Smith recalls, “Paul dug up some old correspondence between Gould and my family about some trouble I’d been having as a student. He said, ’I usually burn these things but I want you to have them. They serve as a reminder that we are all works in progress—every one of us, every day of our lives.’”
Finding the Way to Gould, Part Three
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“I was so young,” Smith says. “I figured if I wanted to get back into education, I could at a later time. I started looking around, from Google to manufacturing. But at the same time, Killington Mountain School was going through a headmaster change. I knew the president of the board of trustees from ski racing who said ‘Why don’t you apply?’ I took a look at the school and knew I could leave it better than I found it.
We have the most beautiful campus of any boarding school in New England, nestled up against a beautiful town. It’s the root of all our good fortune and impacts our curriculum, the people we attract, the decisions we make about sustainability.”
Smith also learned a valuable lesson from former history teacher Paul McGuire.
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Outing Club; coached mountain biking, lacrosse, and tennis; and learned more than a few lessons from his former teachers/now colleagues.
Smith left Gould after six years, during which time he’d helped build Gould’s competitive ski program; led trips abroad; taught history, French, and Ideas of Religion; served as a Davidson dorm parent; restarted the dormant
“I didn’t know much [at 29] about running a school,” Smith admits, “but I spent the next 19 years at KMS following three simple guidelines: Leave a place better than you found it; treat other people the way you’d want to be treated; and, if you have the right attitude—the right outlook—there’s very little you can’t accomplish when you put your mind to it. Running a school is complex but being successful at working with people is that simple.”
Coming back to Gould with his wife, Dawn Barclay, a hospital physician, and their children is a homecoming made particularly challenging by the coronavirus pandemic. Yet, Smith says, his family takes things one day at a time and is thankful, given their busy schedules, whenever they can be together. His typical day as head of school is, at this moment, full of meetings. By the end of the fall trimester, more than 900 Covid tests had been administered, and there had been no positive cases. “There are two overarching priorities: the health and wellness of students, faculty, employees, their families, and the Bethel community; and the continuity of Gould education,” Smith says. “Being in person this year requires being able to tolerate a certain degree of uncertainty. We know there will be students here all through winter break and all next summer. Gould may never have a completely empty campus again for some time.”
Tao Smith with his wife, Dawn Barclay, and their children Gaven ’23, Addie ’23, Tobé, and Lillian. (Their children Hannah, 19, and Ayden, 18, are both away on gap years.)
Tao Smith has a more intimate and multifaceted understanding of Gould than any previous newly hired head but he says he will nonetheless take the next year or so to identify “the inherent strengths of this place and then sing them to the rafters.” “A revolution is not needed here,” he explains. But Smith does see evolution as a necessity, one that will accentuate and enhance Gould’s assets to make it the best version of itself that it can be. “I learned early on that you don’t make someone or something better by trying to turn it into something that it’s not,” Smith says. He expresses frustration that Gould’s location has not been celebrated enough. “That’s our signature strength!” he says emphatically. “We have the most beautiful campus of any boarding school in New England, nestled up against a beautiful town. It’s the root of all our good fortune and impacts our curriculum, the people we attract, the decisions we make about sustainability.” He also points to the curriculum and the faculty.
“The quality of education and the quality of the people here are better, in many ways, than when I left 20 years ago,” he says, although the faculty has lost some of its joie de vivre during five years with three leadership changes. “This is hard work that we do,” Smith says. “Everyone needs to feel as though they are in this together—with camaraderie and spirit and trust—[especially] right now in the climate of pandemic, social unrest, political upheaval, and calls for racial justice.” Putting the pieces of his vision together, Smith holds close to his personal watchwords: acceptance and belonging, home, intellectual curiosity, hard work, respect for others, respect for the land, people as ongoing works in progress, community, communication, leaving a place better than you found it. “There are no original ideas,” Smith admits. “But I keep coming back to the Maine State motto: Dirigo, meaning ‘I lead.’ “Rather than following, Gould should be doing something unique. We should be leading. Let’s go deeper with something that we already are.”
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Envisioning the Way Forward
FALL SPORTS Sports were challenging this fall, but new Athletic Director Bob Harkins worked with coaches and peer schools to find ways to compete safely. Matches and races were asynchronous, meaning teams were on the course at different times. Field hockey and soccer only competed intramurally but found ways to make it fun and still build players’ skills. Here are some highlights.
SILAS SHUTTY ’22
tackles the rock garden at Pine Hill at a home meet in which Gould took the top 10 spots for boys and the top and only spot for girls (Cassie Pyle ’21). The team dominated the MAISAD League, taking 17 of the top 20 spots at their final meet.
LYDIA BENNETT ’21 normally
plays soccer but couldn’t resist the opportunity to compete at the first home cross-country meet of the year— even on a flooded course.
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CATE MACCINI ’22 competes in the
equestrian team’s only show this fall. Former Gould faculty member Lucia Owen was on hand to judge the event at Deepwood Farm. Cate earned 1st place in both tests. Casper Daigle ’22 and Leah Ohms ’21 each earned a 1st and a 2nd place. Tatum Keighly ’22 earned a 2nd and a 3rd place, and Madeleine Long ’26 (Gould’s only middle school rider) earned a 3rd place.
Ethan Bouchard ’23
chips a shot toward the hole at the Bethel Inn Resort. The Gould team recorded a 3-0-4 season, finishing in first place overall in league play.
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class notes
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Cheryl Grenier Bennett and Don Bennett received the Spirit of America Award, given annually to citizens who have displayed devotion to their community. “They have done exactly that for Bethel, a place they’ve called home since 1966,” said Select Board chair Pete Southam (and Gould STEM Department head) who presented Don and Cheryl with the award in September. Their children and grandchildren were also at the presentation, along with other town officials. Cheryl served as an emergency medical technician and director of the Bethel Ambulance Service from 1988 to 2012, and was a SAD 44 bus driver for 38 years. Don served as a selectman from 1998 to 2019, a planning board alternate from 1995 to 1997, as an assessor from 2008 to 2020, and an Ordinance Review Committee member from 2003 to 2019.
Sarah Ovenden ’81 and Anthony Hanson ’82 showing off their new Gould masks! Get yours today and help #ProtectthePack! - gouldacademy.org/store
Jim Konkel ’81
Alastair Storm Browne ’75
1964 classmates Cheryl Grenier Bennett and Don Bennett, on the Bethel Common, received the Spirit of America Award, given annually to citizens who have displayed devotion to their community.
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Alastair Storm Browne is happy to announce the publication of his first book, Cosmic Careers: Exploring the Universe of Opportunities in the Space Industries, by HarperCollins in February. “The publishers divided my manuscript into three books. This first volume is on future space industries and the careers and jobs that will be available. It also tells a little something about space development, more of which will be covered in the next two books.”
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William Song writes, “I spend most of my time with my pack of wolf dogs, Malamutes, Huskies, Shepherds—all 800 pounds worth. Morning group hug and howl is soul-soothing, but I have to do it indoors so as not to disturb the neighbors!”
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Jim Konkel writes, “After a five-month hiatus from traveling in this new era, I was able to make my annual pilgrimage to Alaska in August for the 28th consecutive season! The fishing was absolutely awesome, but the highlight was being able to see friends in person! We had to all test negative prior to going, so it was truly one of the safest places to be! This was the selfquarantining needed. Great fishing as well!”
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Susan Stuart writes, “I finished my undergrad in London, England, and graduated veterinary school at NCSU CVM in 1991. I have lived in Indiana, where my husband is a professor of large animal surgery at Purdue University. I have been in small animal emergency practice for the majority of the last 23 years but am transitioning to general practice to save my sanity. I have four children ranging in age from 17 to 26. I have had the opportunity to travel to Grenada, Hawaii, Ireland, Scotland, and Italy in recent years and am looking forward to going to the Galápagos next spring. Counting the years until retirement and enjoying Purdue’s All-American Marching Band. Child number three, Caroline, is a member of the All-American Twirl Team, an auxiliary to the band.”
instructor. Last winter she took a trip to Mount Hood, OR, to train as a TetraSki instructor. TetraSki is a sit ski that can be controlled using a joystick or with a sipand-puff mechanism. As of last season there were only six TetraSkis in the world. Idin Dalpour lives in Manhattan with his wife, Deborah, and their son, Maxwell, 3. Idin works at OTTE Partners, a real estate development firm in New York where he was recently named partner, with hopes of expanding his developments to Maine one day. Lee Reeve is a data specialist in the quality department at Allagash Brewing Company and lives in Portland with her partner, Sean. They have two dogs, Bender and Scuppers, and three unnamed chickens. She loves to garden, cook, and ski in her free time.
Samantha Peabody McClary ’01 and family
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Kristen Murphy Caldecutt works as a product manager at a B2B website called SevenFifty, which connects all three tiers of the wine, beer, and spirits industry. “My husband and I purchased an apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens, in 2019. Our daughter, Lexa, just turned 4 in September and has started pre-K in one of the wildest school years ever. Our family was able to spend two months in Bridgton, ME, over the summer, where Lexa got to hike and swim at Step Falls to have a truly Maine summer! I was able to visit Lindsey Murray’s gorgeous wine shop in Portland and to enjoy some outdoor dining at The Thirsty Pig, the restaurant owned and operated by Allison Stevens ’99. Kian Merchant-Borna lives in Rochester, NY, with wife Rachel and two kids, Mani and Lucy. He is research faculty in the Department of Emergency Medicine at University of Rochester. (See page 27). He loves to commute by boat on the Erie Canal to and from work and travels home to Maine often (but not often enough). Sam Olney and her boyfriend are renovating a house in Merrimac, MA. She recently became an assistant principal at Woodward & Curran, where she works with Anne Colpitts Sablich. Sam is going into her 13th winter as an adaptive ski
Historic Return The Penobscot Nation is celebrating the historic return of 735 acres by the Elliotsville Foundation. The parcel, which is part of the Penobscots’ ancestral territory, is home to native brook trout, Atlantic salmon, deer, and moose. “It’s surrounded by Penobscot land, and so it made a lot of sense for continuity and also for larger reasons to give land back to the tribe,” Lucas St. Clair ’96 told Maine Public Radio. “The Wabanaki Confederacy has done an incredible job managing their land, being incredible stewards of Maine’s natural resources, and I think that this could potentially inspire others to give land back. My hope is it’s really just the beginning.”
Lee Reeves ’03 and her dog, Scuppers
Leo Menard and his wife, Liz, welcomed a daughter, Ruby Elizabeth, on July 16. She has been a wonderful addition to the family. Their son, Kineo, turns 3 this winter. Leo works in renewable energy for Enel Green Power.
Leo Menard ’03 and family
In a written statement, Chief Kirk Francis said the Penobscot Nation is extremely grateful, and that the gesture shows the foundation’s commitment to strengthen its relationship with the Wabanaki tribes. The Elliotsville Foundation was established by St. Clair’s mother, Burt’s Bees co-founder Roxanne Quimby. The foundation, the Quimby family, and 50 land trusts have joined together in First Light, an effort to learn the history of Wabanaki land dispossession and to work to expand Wabanaki presence in their ances-25 tral territory. Currently, the Penobscot Nation and other Wabanaki tribes have access to less than 1 percent of the land that once supported their cultures.
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Samantha Peabody McClary writes, “I moved to Maine two years ago with my two daughters and work as a nurse in the Emergency Department at EMMC Bangor. I recently got engaged, and we bought an old farm in Detroit, ME. My girls and I are happier than we’ve ever been and it feels great to be living in Maine again!”
class notes the Marvelous Miss Mabel to the Gould community!”
John Perrone owns a golf shop, Fit To A Tee, in South Yarmouth, MA. Although Covid has affected his schedule a bit, he teaches power yoga and “yoga for golfers” as well as non profit yoga for PTSD and heavy trauma, where the classes are free for participants. Lindsey Murray opened Grippy Tannins, a wine store and tasting lounge in Portland, ME, after stints in Sonoma making wine and in Boston as a wine buyer. Her horse, Wisp, is still kicking at 24, and her Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Lilly, 12, rounds out her little pack. Martha Gray Janick lives outside of Portland, ME, with her husband and two boys. She enjoys riding her bike and tinkering in her garage. She recently started working with Megan Holtham Bliss ’02 at her picture frame shop, Lower Village Frameworks, in Kennebunk.
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Anthony Liberty lives in Windham, NH, with his wife and two daughters, Avery, 3, and Riley, born in May.
Ian Siekman writes, “Both Jack Kantelis and Morgan Carver got married this fall, and Erin Murphy got engaged!” Congratulations to all!
Hadley (Planting) Powell lives in Brookline, MA, with her husband, Alexander, and their 20-month old daughter, Garrett. Hadley is an art advisor, consulting for private and corporate clients. They are looking forward to spending time in Maine this summer.
Hana Gilman Mixter and husband Colin welcomed a healthy baby girl into the world in October. “Her name is Mabel Elisabeth Mixter, and she was born in Santa Cruz, CA, measuring 7lbs 9oz and 20 inches. We look forward to one day introducing
Mabel Mixter wearing a hat knit by Barret Allen Borden ’08 and wrapped in a blanket crocheted by Sara Kerney McCarthy ’08.
Hillary Hough Anderson writes, “Six years ago, an Alumni Weekend proposal, followed by five years happily married, and now expecting a baby boy this holiday season!”
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Susan Sams lives in Maryland and just finished her first year at the University of Baltimore Law School, and will soon complete a judicial internship as a clerk in the Kent County Circuit Court. She’s currently single and looking for a nice, stable, working man!
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Loie Merritt Rawding had her debut novel published in November by Kernpunkt Press. Tight Little Vocal Cords is a prismatic journey into the depths of one young person’s chaotic psychic and physical awakening. Part fiction, part poetry, part cabaret, it sketches a surreal world that is at once historical and hauntingly modern; a place where to deep dive into love can save, and to stay silent will most certainly destroy. “Buy local and support indie artists!” she says. For more information, visit loierawding.com.
Ashley Oliver-Broderick ’03 and Kevin Broderick ’99 welcomed their first child, Everett, in May.
Hillary Hough Anderson ’07 is expecting a baby boy this holiday season!
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Eben Wilde graduated from North Seattle College in the spring and is studying business administration at the University of Washington in Seattle.
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Head of School Tao Smith ’90 ran into Kat Dade at a horse show in South Royalton, VT. “She says to say ’Hi’ to Mr. Riley from his favorite student ever!!”
Testing the Test Kian Merchant-Borna ’03, MPH, MBA, served as principal investigator for a University of Rochester Medical Center-hosted clinical trial of a quick Covid-19 diagnostic testing device. The $5 diagnostic test, developed by Abbott Laboratories, is roughly the size of a credit card, and detects Covid-19 from a nasal swab within 15 minutes. It has received emergency use authorization from the FDA.
Head of School Tao Smith ’90 & Kate Dade ’19
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Class of 2020, we hope you enjoyed your first GAzette as Gould Alumni. Contact Beth Garfield if you are interested in becoming your class agent! Email garfieldb@ gouldacademy.org.
“This is really exciting,” says Merchant-Borna, a faculty member in the Department of Emergency Medicine. “Eventually, anyone in their home will be able to use this, before you send your children off to
school, or before you go to visit your grandparents. It’s the same technology as a urine pregnancy test, and just as easy to use.” The test correctly diagnosed a coronavirus infection 97.1 percent of the time and a negative test result 98.5 percent of the time, Merchant-Borna says. “This far exceeded what anyone expected from a lateral flow test.” Merchant-Borna praised the university for quickly paving the way to participate in the testing. “What normally takes about three weeks to process we did in about eight hours,” he says. “I think that really speaks to the institution’s awareness for how important this project was.”
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Henry Smithers graduated from Georgetown in 2019. He is still an avid runner but is now running in the Army. “Just completed basic training and am now in Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning, GA. I am really enjoying army life.” He remains a thoughtful, patient, reflective human—observant of the people and places around him.
class notes Maine elects first openly transgender official Geo Soctomah Neptune ’06 (they/them) has become the first openly two-spirit, transgender, and nonbinary person to be elected to office in Maine. Elected to the school board in Indian Township with 155 votes, Neptune was the top vote receiver and one of three candidates elected. “I feel confident saying that I am a person who makes their opinions known and is not afraid to speak out against injustice when I see it,” Neptune said before the election. “I care for our culture very deeply and see the preservation of our language and other traditions for future generations as being my first priority. Confidence in one’s cultural identity translates to confidence in life.” A member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Neptune is a master basketmaker as well as a drag queen, an activist, and an educator. A two-spirit is an indigenous cultural gender role that is a sacred blend of both male and female. “As people who have had all of those things actively removed from our communities, it’s important for us to not only retain what we have but bring back the things that we have lost,” Neptune says. “If there is one thing I hope to accomplish in my four-year term, it’s to keep the momentum going in these areas. “I feel very lucky that I live in a place where my community accepts me,” they said, “because a lot of trans people don’t have that.” Their four-year school board term began on October 1.
From the Archives When wool was the wicking fabric of choice… This wool jersey and a varsity letter sweater belonged to Charles M. Smith ’50. The jersey was made by Horace Partridge Company, the oldest athletic goods house in America, established in 1847. The company also supplied the official uniforms for the Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox, and Boston Braves.
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in memoriam We are saddened to report the deaths of the following members of the Gould Community since the last publication of the GAzette. Ruth E. Ault ’46 Charlotte Westleigh Avanzato ’60 Anne Litchard Loring Bird ’44 Brent L. Covert ’66
7/28/20 6/2/20 4/23/20 9/27/20
Frank A. Vogt
9/19/20
Joanne L. Libby Hays ’44 Barrie-Lee Johnson ’65 Darrell S. Nichols ’66 Elmer E. Runyon ’42
8/24/20 9/10/20 6/19/20 6/15/20
A beloved English teacher and coach, Frank was hired in 1959. A graduate of Deerfield Academy and Middlebury College, he already had eight years of teaching experience. He and Jim Owen directed some of the first performances on the new Bingham Hall stage. For more than 20 years, he was a dedicated teacher and coach at Gould. He also coached track and field, but his cross-country running teams won several championships. Most important, he taught his athletes not only to strive to win, but also to enjoy the sport and have fun while working hard. He retired from Gould in 1982 and was named to the Gould Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011. The school hosts the Frank Vogt Alumni Fun Run in his honor every Alumni Weekend. Frank was also a lifelong fan of Gould athletics and could be seen with his wife Janie on the sidelines of various sporting events, cheering on their grandchildren and other Gould athletes. Frank had a great love and respect for the outdoors. He was an avid fly fisherman and coached cross-country skiers with Maine Adaptive Sports into his early 80s. He was a founding member of the Mahoosuc Land Trust, a 12-year member of the Bethel
Frances M. Bernier
photo courtesy of Craig Angevine ’03
Planning Board, president of the Lakes Association of Norway, board member of the Bethel Family Health Center, assistant Boy Scout leader, and member of the Western Foothills Land Trust. His children are Dan ’71, Cayte ’72, Susan Vogt Brooks ’77, Amy Vogt Downie ’78, and Laurie Vogt Bailey. He has 15 grandchildren (several Gould alums among them) and three great-grandchildren. His wife, Janie, passed away in 2019.
8/23/20
Fran was a Scot, through and through. She met her Merchant Marine husband, Captain Richard Bernier, in Scotland when he was working oil rigs in the North Sea. They married and settled in Bethel in the early ’80s. She found her way to Gould in 1983, joining Alvin Barth ’54 as a secretary in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations. It was a time when the school was earning its spurs in the fundraising arena and bringing alumni closer to the school. It didn’t take long before she endeared herself to alums, and they eagerly volunteered to help at the many phonathons she organized on and off campus. She engendered confidence and put people at ease. She jumped at the chance to organize the Gold Key volunteers, students who helped the office with large annual fund mailings and on Alumni Weekend. The kids loved her vivacity, infectious laugh, and commitment to them and the program.
When Fran flew into a room, as she often did, it was as though all the lights turned brighter. She took on whatever needed doing and did it. Her energy was infectious. She was fond of saying, ‘If we aren’t having fun doing what we’re doing, we’re not doing it right!’ That was particularly true with phonathons. Fran had a large, handheld bell that a volunteer would ring when a significant gift was made. Laughter and applause would spontaneously break out. Overheard by those being called, the excitement she helped create had to have helped garner additional pledges. In short, Fran brought to our office a commitment to achieving seemingly unachievable goals, unquenchable exuberance for all things Gould, and lots of laughter. —John Todd ’60, P’88,’90,’93, former alumni and development director
39 Church Street | P.O. Box 860 Bethel, ME 04217 communications@gouldacademy.org 207-824-7700
WILL YOU GIVE GOULD A LIFT? With so many added expenses due to Covid, Gould has been intentional in not passing those costs on to parents who are already making tremendous sacrifices. This year, your Gould Fund gift is more critical than ever, ensuring that we can safely stay together on campus. Support Gould today!
gouldacademy.org/give
