Groton School Quarterly, Fall 2011

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Groton School Quarterly

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Groton School uarterly Fall 2011 | Vol. LXXIII, No. 3

Then & NotowGroton

eturns The Form of 1961 R for Its 50th Reunion

Fall 2011 • Vol. LXXIII, No. 3

Tiffany Doggett

Girls crew team members Maeve Hoffstot ’13, Sarah Black ’12, Molly Lyons ’12, Charlotte Berkowitz ’13, Olivia Bono ’13, Marissa Garey ’13, Allie Banwell ’12, Diana Chen ’12, and Faith Richardson ’11, the team’s captain, brought home the Peabody Cup for the School/Junior Eights event at the 2011 Henley Women’s Regatta in England, the world’s leading women’s regatta.

VISIBLE ON PRIZE DAY: Identical boaters and enormous smiles

Fall 2011 | Vol. LXXIII, No. 3

INVISIBLE:

Contents Circiter | Featured on Campus 3

Reunion Weekend 2011 A Celebration of Groton’s Reunion Forms and the Distinguished Grotonian and Cui Servire Est Regnare Awards

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Prize Day 2011 Speeches, Awards, Diplomas, College Matriculations

Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle 43 18

Why Groton is Different A Chapel Talk by D.D. Willard Gardiner, Jr. ’82, Trustee

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Art and Beauty A Chapel Talk by Zachary A.K. Nicol ’11

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On Being Wrong A Chapel Talk by Alice S. Gauvin ’11

The fact that more than one-third of our new graduates attended Groton thanks to financial aid Groton awards more than $4.4 million in financial aid grants each year, allowing the Admission Office to compose the optimal incoming class, with diverse and complementary strengths. A healthy scholarship program benefits the whole student body by bringing the best possible students here to live together and learn from one another.

A graduate from the Form of ’43, Nick Witte takes great satisfaction in being part of this equation.

A few years ago, he took advantage of the short-term tax law allowing individuals aged 70½ or older to make tax-free charitable gifts directly from their IRAs. “As someone who went through Groton on a full scholarship ($1,400 per year in my day!),” Nick said, “I know the impact of financial aid on my own life and business career. It’s nice to be part of this life-changing formula—this time as the donor—and I am very happy to be making this gift.”

This past winter, Congress voted to reinstate the IRA provision, so once again, donors over age 70½ can use their IRAs to fund charitable gifts. Many tax advisors are encouraging clients to take advantage of this limited-time tax law, since IRA funds that remain in a person’s estate at the end of his or her lifetime are subject to double taxes—both income tax and estate tax.

We encourage you to consult your financial planner and find out whether tapping your IRA as a “charitable checkbook” would be a smart move for you as well.

Like Nick Witte, you could have the pleasure of knowing that you and your gift are part of Groton’s “life-changing formula.”

For more information on gifts to financial aid, whether through an IRA or other assets, please contact Elizabeth (Betsy) Ginsberg, Director of Major Gifts at 978-448-7584 or eginsberg@Groton.org.

43 Cover photos by Arthur Durity; photo at right by David Sperling, SperlingInteractive

Groton School uarterly Personae | People of Note 54

Acting “As If …”

Alumna Profile: Elizabeth (Lisa) G. Abbott ’88

by Elizabeth E. Graves ’88

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Commemorating 27 Years Mary Ellen Sweeney

by Nancy Hughes, faculty member, et al 54

60 A Fond Farewell John Niles: 21 Years at Groton

Grotoniana | All Things Groton 62 Gallery News Exhibits Change at the de Menil and Brodigan Galleries 65

Spring Play More Than We Bargained For: 36 Variations on Peter Pan

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68 Book Review For Love of Country

by William C. Hammond III ’66 Reviewed by Lt. Col. Bartlett Harwood III ’81 69 Spring Sports Varsity Team Season Recaps 76

School News Groton Women’s Network and Groton School Alumni Association

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In Memoriam | As We Remember 77

Jeremiah L. Sullivan II ’70

Notabilia | New & Noteworthy 79

Form Notes

117 Marriages, New Arrivals, Deaths

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FROM THE EDITOR

Groton School Quarterly Fall 2011 | Vol. LXXIII, No. 3

“What’s past is prologue …”

— William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1

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lthough the fall issue of the Quarterly always covers the final weeks of the academic year, it arrives at readers’ homes when a new academic year is just beginning. While we at School are initiating new programs, welcoming new students, and starting a new year, the fall Quarterly gives its readership a chance to witness how the last year ended, offering a sense of where we will end up as we begin another academic year’s journey.

With the arrival of new students and their engagement of new schedules, courses, new friends, and subjects, we also have new leadership here in the Quarterly office. Gail Friedman, who joins the Groton faculty from Concord Academy, will be the new director of communications and takes the reins as the Quarterly’s new editor. She looks forward to your participation in making the Quarterly a vehicle for alumni profiles and compelling stories. She also hopes to assist our graduates with their participation in the features of the School’s new website, www.groton.org, which launched in August.

I hope you will feel comfortable getting in touch with Gail through our designated address, quarterly@groton.org. I know she will enjoy hearing from you. Under her steady and talented hand, the magazine will continue to evolve, with more features that cover the exploits and accomplishments of alumni, as it continues to present the vibrant life here on campus.

Four years ago, it was my good fortune to establish the Communications Office here at Groton and to inherit the editorship of the Quarterly. While developing twelve issues, I have encountered more alumni and learned more deeply of their lives than at any other time during my 21 years here. It has been a truly gratifying experience, and, with the other duties of the office, I have grown much from the opportunity.

Much as the 2011-2012 school year at Groton will build upon the wisdom and achievements of past school years, my own new beginning will build happily on the years that have come before it. As I depart for a sabbatical year and take a new path that awaits me in the field of service to schools, I say goodbye with gratitude and wish only the best to Grotonians old and new.

John M. Niles P’02 Editor

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Editor John M. Niles Graphic Design Jeanne Abboud Contributing Editors Julia B. Alling Elizabeth Z. Ginsberg Elizabeth Wray Lawrence ’82 John D. MacEachern Andrew M. Millikin Melissa J. Ribaudo Amybeth Babeu Sim Photography All photography by Arthur Durity, Michael Sperling, and Vaughn Winchell, unless otherwise noted Editorial Offices The Schoolhouse Groton School Groton, MA 01450 Phone: 978-448-7506 E-mail: quarterly@groton.org

Other School Offices Alumni Office 978-448-7520 Admission Office 978-448-7510 The views presented are not necessarily those of the editors or the official policies of the School.

Groton School of Groton, Massachusetts publishes the Groton School Quarterly three times a year, in late summer, winter, and spring, and the Annual Report once a year, in the fall.

At right, Greg Russell ’77 juggles on the Circle.

Circiter | Featured on Campus

REUNION WEEKEND

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eunion Weekend: Headmaster’s Welcome

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eadmaster Rick Commons addressed the alumni meeting on Saturday morning with comments about the state of the School. His comments covered events of the academic year, the admission season, strategic planning, and program development. Before moving on to reports and awards, the headmaster closed his remarks by saying: “In my eighth year, the School feels very strong, steady and moving forward, not resting on its illustrious history, but striving to get better by changing where we must and staying true to our mission of ’inspiring lives of character, learning, leadership, and service.’”

CUI SERVIRE EST REGNARE AWARD

Headmaster Richard B. Commons

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r. Commons turned over the podium to Ann Bakewell Woodward ’86, president of the Alumni Association, who presented the Cui Servire Est Regnare Award.

Reunion Weekend Ann Bakewell Woodward ’86, President of the Alumni Association:

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he CUI SERVIRE EST R EGNARE Award recognizes the service of an outstanding younger alumnus or alumna who, through his or her exceptional contribution to the School or the world, has truly lived up to the School’s motto.

This year’s award goes to Betsy Wright Hawkings, a member of and key volunteer for the Form of 1981.

Betsy has served as a chief of staff for members of Congress for nearly two dozen years. Working for her hometown Congressman, Christopher Shays of Connecticut, for two decades, Betsy took a leading role in establishing the 9/11 Commission and helped build the coalition to enact the Congressional Accountability Act, which applied labor, civil rights, and workplace safety laws to Congress. She also helped Congressman Shays advocate against the use of torture and on behalf of women’s human rights around the world.

Following Shays’ retirement, Betsy served as deputy executive director of Amnesty International USA, leading their campaigns against the torture and physical abuse of women globally, until joining the staff of Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio in early 2010. In addition to overseeing his office operations, Betsy focused on helping Congressman Turner prevent and protect victims of sexual assault in the military, and protect the child custody rights of deployed service members.

Betsy is a 1986 graduate of Williams College, where she was named a Mead Scholar of American Studies. She graduated from Groton cum laude and was a National Merit Finalist in 1981. Along with members of her form she is a founder of the Form of 1981 Memorial Fund at Groton, which supports student financial aid.

Betsy has served the School as a form agent since 1996, raising nearly half a million dollars in this position. She has been a career advisor, an admission interviewer, hostess for Groton events in her home, and was a founder of the Groton Women’s Network.

Betsy has recently taken on a new challenge as chief of staff to Congressman Bobby Schilling of Illinois. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, David, and their two sons, Harry and Charlie.

Please join me in congratulating Betsy on her wonderful and impressive service to our country, her community, and to the School.

Groton’s 2011 Cui Servire Est Regnare Award recipient, Betsy Wright Hawkings ’81 (left), receives a gift from Ann Bakewell Woodward ’86, president of the Alumni Association.

“The Cui Servire Est Regnare Award recognizes the service of an outstanding younger alumnus or alumna who, through his or her exceptional contribution to the School or the world, has truly lived up to the School’s motto.”

1986 formmates pose for a quick reunion picture.

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Circiter | Featured on Campus Betsy Wright Hawkings ’81 (upon accepting the award):

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hen Rick called a few weeks ago, I asked, “Why me?” Not only because we are probably pushing the “young alumna” criterion here, but also because my first thoughts were about the members of the Form of 1981 who truly define service: Our longtime form prefect who has dedicated her life to the education and guidance of young people—a truly selfless act; Our formmate who has built his Citadel of Love faith community in inner city Hartford over a quarter century, and in so doing helped rebuild the neighborhood where he grew up; Betsy Wright Hawkings ’81

“In the usual translation, ’To serve is to reign,’ one has an option to serve. It’s a strongly encouraged option, but an option. But in Uncle Paul’s translation, the perfect freedom of service is a given. The only choice is whom to serve?”

Frisbee on the Circle, Reunion Weekend

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The nurse practitioner who became a physician and whose innovative medical practice now brings wellness to so many; The founder of Epiphany School, whose work is a living tribute and legacy to what he and all of us were given by Groton; The Marine colonel who has been deployed to serve in three wars over two decades; The Episcopal priest who is called to lead in the fast-growing religiousenvironmental movement, helping people of all faiths put their belief into action for the Earth; Our irrepressible form secretary, and all those who support the School with their time, talent, and treasure—making the jobs of form agents like me so much easier.

My uncle—a math teacher, not a Latin scholar—translated the School motto as “Whom to serve is perfect freedom.”

In the usual translation, “To serve is to reign,” one has an option to serve. It’s a strongly encouraged option, but an option. But in Uncle Paul’s translation, the perfect freedom of service is a given. The only choice is whom to serve?

My formmates have made some profound choices of whom to serve.

It isn’t surprising; they were already inspiring people 30 years ago, and they taught me a lot. Our Groton teachers, formmates, and the opportunities we shared showed clearly there are so many choices of whom to serve.

Of course, Groton is not perfect.

During Fifth Form spring, our Form confronted—inside and outside the classroom—the reality that utopia is an illusion. Sometimes at Groton we have to dig down deep and find our strength and our voice. That’s true beyond Groton, too.

Reunion Weekend After running out of money during college and working for a year to earn enough to return, I went to see the director of financial aid, who asked why an education at that particular college was so important to me. “After all,” he said, “you’ll work a couple of years, get married, have kids, and drive carpool. Why work so hard to come back here?” That was 1983.

When I accompanied a college roommate to report her “date rape” by a lacrosse star, we were asked by the dean whether perhaps she hadn’t “misunderstood.”

That was 1985.

Early in my years as a congressional chief of staff—I was 27, and one of only five woman chiefs—a well-meaning constituent patted me on the head and said, “You’re cute, but what makes Chris Shays think you can do that job?” It was 1991.

Because of my education here, a determined mom, and dear Groton friends who helped me keep my strength, I had an answer. I had choices, and I had my own voice.

It turned out that I could do that job. And because of that job, I am grateful to have had the opportunity over the last two dozen years to try to help give some other people a voice. My hope is that more and more people have the choices that were opened up to all of us by this School’s terrific education. I know the need to work to help give others a voice will continue.

I am thinking of the 12-year-old Tanzanian girl who would like protection from HIV and becoming pregnant from rape by her schoolteacher so she can stay in school and maybe eventually become a doctor who helps provide care in her village.

I am thinking of the 37-year-old Palestinian grandmother who dreams of just one of her 10 children graduating from college.

I am thinking of my roommate, who did not “misunderstand.”

I am thinking of Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach, who was brutally murdered before she could secure a transfer to another base, which she sought after reporting her sexual assault by a fellow Marine.

And I am thinking of all those whom my formmates, and all of you, serve—in the various ways you have chosen.

Groton students today are even more talented and committed than ever. As Rick says when describing to alumni the School’s admission criteria, Groton doesn’t just look for accomplished student athletes; it looks for students who want to build lives of “Character, Learning, Leadership, and Service.”

It looks for people who care how they treat one another.

And my personal favorite: It looks for applicants with “grit.”

It seems to me that by supporting Groton, we all help the School continue to give tomorrow’s students the choice we had to serve, and the grit to dig down deep and have the character to do what it takes to keep perpetuating lives of leadership and service.

I hope I’ve made a difference. But mostly I hope we all do everything we can to help this School continue to give its students, and all those whose lives they touch in the future, a strong voice—and the choice we all had of “whom to serve?”

Thank you.

The Peabody family with Headmaster Rick Commons

“[Groton] looks for people who care how they treat one another. And my personal favorite: It looks for applicants with ‘grit.’”

Members of the Form of 2006 listen at Roll Call over Reunion Weekend.

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Circiter | Featured on Campus THE 2011 DISTINGUISHED GROTONIAN AWARD Richard B. Commons, Headmaster:

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Malcolm Peabody ’46, the 2011 recipient of the Distinguished Grotonian Award, addresses reunion alumni.

“When the president arrived in his open touring car, the Rector and Grannie were standing at the top of the steps of their house to receive him properly, but as Roosevelt maneuvered his paralytic legs to get out, a shot of terrible pain crossed his face and Grannie, forgetting all decorum, floated down the steps, embraced him, and exclaimed: ‘Franklin—dear boy.’”

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t is my privilege to present the next award. The Distinguished Grotonian Award recognizes graduates whose lives of distinguished service reflect the values of Groton School. Today, it is my great honor to present the 2011 Distinguished Grotonian award to Malcolm Endicott Peabody, Jr., a member of the Form of 1946.

Mike graduated from Groton cum laude, went on to Harvard and from there to Harvard Business School. After business school, Mike devoted himself not to business but to military service in the Air Force and then to government service as executive secretary of the New York State Commission for Human Rights and the New York State Commission Against Discrimination.

Back in Massachusetts, Mike chaired the governor’s committees on civil rights and low-income housing before becoming the civil rights advisor to the governor. He then spent four years serving in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In the midst of all of this illustrious service, Mike ran for Congress in 1968, started Peabody Corporation, the real estate development business he has run for nearly 40 years, and chaired the board of trustees of the Washington International School for more than a decade.

In 1995, Mike founded an organization called FOCUS, an acronym for Friends of Choice in Urban Schools, which promotes school reform in the District of Columbia through the development of high-quality charter schools. In the last 16 years, under Mike’s direction, FOCUS has reached more than 28,000 students in the District as the primary advocate for the establishment of 57 charter schools, accounting for 38 percent of all public schools in Washington, D.C. It’s no overstatement to say that Mike Peabody and FOCUS have dramatically altered and improved public education in the nation’s capital.

Educational entrepreneurship, service, and standing up against injustice run in the family. Mike is the grandson of Reverend Endicott Peabody, founder of Groton School, and the son of the Right Reverend Malcolm Peabody 1907, who was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, and Mary Elizabeth Peabody, who gained national attention in 1964 when, at the age of 72, she was jailed for protesting for civil rights in Florida. I was told last night that her response was to ask, “And what does one wear to jail?”

Mike and his wife, Pamela, have been married for 52 years, live in Washington, D.C., and have two children, Carter and Payson ’82. Please join me now in welcoming to the podium this year’s recipient of Groton’s highest honor, the Distinguished Grotonian Award, Malcolm Endicott Peabody.

Malcolm Endicott Peabody’s ’46 (upon accepting the award):

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’ll confess I am abashed to receive this honor in front of my formmates, whom I’m sure were surprised to see the Mike Peabody they knew at school deemed distinguished at anything. I’ll admit I was as surprised as they were. But I’m pleased not to see the faces out there of any of my former masters, who I’m guessing would be registering not only surprise but disbelief since I’ve noted opinions of masters tend to be set in stone when you graduate.

My grandmother, the Rector’s wife, was aware of this frozen opinion syndrome and fearful that it might mar the visit in 1938 of a really distinguished Grotonian, President Franklin Roosevelt, one who had less than a stellar career when at School. As a precaution, Grannie asked each of his masters to show proper respect to Roosevelt by addressing him as Mr. President, not Franklin, or even “Boy.” Sadly there was one who

Reunion Weekend forgot instructions. When the president arrived in his open touring car, the Rector and Grannie were standing at the top of the steps of their house to receive him properly, but as Roosevelt maneuvered his paralytic legs to get out, a shot of terrible pain crossed his face and Grannie, forgetting all decorum, floated down the steps, embraced him, and exclaimed: “Franklin—dear boy.”

But the theme of my talk today is addressed to today’s students to inform them that despite a disappointing record at school, it is still possible to have a worthwhile life—but there is generally some luck involved by running into a boss or a mentor after school who actually approves of you despite what you suffered at school and even when you kind of agree with the school assessment.

My luck was meeting a man named Elmer Carter. In 1959 I had joined the Rockefeller administration in New York and was referred to Elmer, one of Harvard’s few black graduates at the time. He was chairman of the State Commission Against Discrimination (SCAD) and was looking for an executive secretary. I knew nothing about civil rights and was amazed when he hired me and even more amazed when he took me under his wing and became my mentor as well as my boss, and that he often gave me his time and attention when more senior executives were clamoring to see him.

I remember one morning when he arrived and four or five of these execs were clustered at the elevator door to catch him but he waved them off, proceeded to his office, and then asked his secretary, “Send me Mr. Peabody.” I arrived a minute later with a stack of documents for his signature, but he waved those off as well and then asked me, ”Did I ever tell you how I worked with W.E.B. Du Bois to develop the NAACP?” There then ensued a fascinating hour’s history lesson.

I did not realize the powerful effect Elmer’s approval of me was having until two years later as I was giving the main speech at his retirement ceremony when I suddenly choked up, my eyes filled with tears, and I could not go on. It was from Elmer that I developed a passion for civil rights and the confidence to pursue goals that would have completely intimidated me before.

I returned to Massachusetts in ’61 to campaign for my brother Chub, then running for governor, and after the election became his volunteer civil rights coordinator while working at the Boston Urban Renewal Authority as a specialist in minority housing.

Alumni reminiscing in the Fives Courts

Katie Gannett ’06, Richard Parke ’61, Yusha Auchincloss ’46, Fletcher Harper ’81, Grace Song Park ’86, and Chaplain Beth Humphrey gather before Sunday’s Chapel service.

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Circiter | Featured on Campus

Mr. Commons welcomes reunion alumni to a reception held at the Headmaster’s House.

“During the next few years, I became aware of the destructive effects of our urban renewal and public housing programs and learned how they robbed poor families of choice.”

Lukie Osborne Wells ’81 enjoys conversation before the alumni meeting on Saturday morning of Reunion Weekend.

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It was during Chub’s election when my mother was addressing a women’s group that I began to realize the personal change Elmer had wrought in me.

Mother—uncertain what to say in her address—asked the hostess for advice. “Just talk about your children, Mary. We all want to hear about them.” So mother went down the list. Well, there is Marietta, she is the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, and then there is Endicott, who has had a wonderful career at Harvard and as a submarine officer during the war. Then George, our only son who followed his father into the ministry, and Sam, a wonderful teacher in New York and involved in important philanthropy. Then she hesitated and looked over at me on the sidelines and said, “and then this funny little bald thing came out.” Before Elmer I think I would have reddened with embarrassment and withdrawn to nurse wounds, but instead I thought it was hilarious, as did others.

During the next few years, I became aware of the destructive effects of our urban renewal and public housing programs and learned how they robbed poor families of choice. When they were relocated, they had no choice but to enter the projects, where they were isolated from their families and community structures and even their husbands that used to support them, and where their lives were controlled by a several-layered bureaucracy reaching up to Washington, D.C. The effect on their children was ruinous. In the back of my mind, I heard Elmer telling me, you have to change this, and Chub gave me the chance to do so by appointing me the chair of a special legislative commission on housing. Through this we got the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency established and, more importantly, the nation’s first rental housing voucher program, which enabled poor families to choose private housing in neighborhoods they preferred.

In 1969, after a failed attempt running for Congress, I joined HUD, then headed by George Romney (Mitt’s father), and there managed to convince Richard Van Dusen, the undersecretary, to let me organize a housing voucher experiment in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a great success, and when Senator Brooke from Massachusetts learned of it, he drafted and got passed legislation to start a much larger demonstration in eight cities, the success of which eventually led to the Section 8 Housing Allowance Program, which now grants housing choice to more than a million families.

At that point I began to feel that I had done my duty for Elmer, and left the government to make money in real estate, but before long he was back to haunt me.

In the ’70s and ’80s, along with many others, I became gravely concerned at the breakdown of schools serving inner-city children.

Due to a perfect storm of events, public housing and urban renewal among them, the family structure in these poor communities had broken down, teenaged motherhood

Reunion Weekend had shot up, and when the children of these disorganized families began to swamp the local schools, bureaucrats and the teachers union refused to teach children they deemed unready for school and fought the needed reforms. Soon a rising stream of these children dropped out and formed the street culture that we all know today.

Several reform efforts in the ’80s were launched throughout the country to address the problem, and, in many of these, reformers learned that if they could set up a school where a principal had control over curriculum, finances, and staff, improved results were immediate. However, they also learned that the bureaucrats and union would soon reassert authority, and the good results would vanish.

Frustrated by these experiences, a reform group in Minneapolis in 1992 convinced the legislature to set up a school that was legally independent of the local school board and voilà—the first charter school was born.

In 1995, driven by the same frustration, I formed a group to improve D.C.’s public education by granting choice to parents—the Friends of Choice in Urban Schools—and in 1996, when Congress passed an excellent bill enabling charter schools in D.C., we became the chief advocate of the program, recruiting and training groups to start schools and defending them against the many mayoral and council attempts to undermine their autonomy and rob them of their funds. Since then, 85 schools have started, of which 57 remain; although the law allows full autonomy, if they fail to produce results they can be closed by their charter board as 28 have been—which is real accountability. D.C. parents have now chosen to enroll 29,000-plus of their children in these schools or close to 40 percent of the total public and public charter school population. But what is really gratifying is that the competition we have given to the regular schools has finally forced their reform as well. Last spring, Michelle Rhee, D.C.’s [former] school chancellor, got the union to sign a contract giving up their sacred tenure and seniority rights—something the unions publicly admitted was forced by the loss of 40 percent of their jobs to charter schools.

However, the next chapter is now opening. Despite the success of the charter schools in D.C. in narrowing the achievement gap between middle class and poor, no school has closed it because of the wide gap that develops among these classes of children from birth to school age. This has impelled Geoffrey Canada, a frustrated charter school leader in Harlem, to start educating mothers and their children from birth, with exciting results that have deeply impressed President Obama, who has funded planning grants for 20 cities to replicate this program. I joined the effort to win one of these grants in the Parkside neighborhood in D.C. Elmer is still at work, it seems, and though I am enormously pleased and proud to receive the year’s Distinguished Grotonian Award, it is clear that I must share it with Elmer Carter.

Members of the Form of 1961 at Reunion Weekend

Roll Call during Reunion Weekend

1981 formmates Becky White Dilworth, Crista Herbert Gannon, and Mollie Rimmer Hoopes meet in the Schoolhouse.

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Circiter | Featured on Campus

2011eunion orms eturn to Groton

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Reunion Weekend

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Reunion Weekend

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Reunion Weekend

Clockwise from top left: Reunion Weekend bell ringers.

Tom Reynolds ’96 In the Schoolhouse at Reunion Weekend.

Charlene Geffen P ’14 contributes to the panel discussion.

Jeff Rockwell ’81 and his wife, Annie, at the Headmaster’s Reception. John Gunderson ’01 and formmate Andrew Chen speak with John and Kim Niles P ’02 at the baseball game.

William Polk ’58, the former headmaster, speaks with ’96 formmates Ben Lyons and Burke Ramsay at the Headmaster’s Reception.

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PRIZE DAY 2011

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Ninety-one students in the Form of 2011 received their diplomas on the fifth day of June 2011. The Form, representing 22 states and eight foreign countries, will attend 60 different colleges and universities in the fall. Fifty-three members of the Form received Prize Day awards for their excellence in academic fields, leader足 ship contributions, and artistic or athletic excellence. Congratulations to the Form of 2011!

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Circiter | Featured on Campus

PRIZE DAY 2011 Richard B. Commons, Headmaster:

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efore we begin the tributes and awards of Groton School’s 126th Prize Day, I want to welcome once again the families and friends of the graduates, who have come from near and far to celebrate the accomplishments of this remarkable group of students.

Allow me to introduce the people on the stage behind me: Trustees Polly Reeve ’78, P’07, ’09, ’11; Jonathan Klein P’08, ’11; Andrew Paul P’11; Charles Anton ’75, P’10, ’12; and Jamie Higgins P’02,’06; former Headmaster Bill Polk ’58; and our keynote speaker, Canon Andrew White, whom I will introduce more fully later in the ceremony.

Special thanks to Connie Brown, our expert registrar, and to John Conner, who has followed the great Hugh Sackett in the tradition of personally selecting the book given for each prize.

My first duty and privilege today is to introduce the president of Groton’s Board of Trustees, Jamie Higgins, parent of James ’02 and Palmer ’06, who will hand diplomas to the graduates today.

James H. Higgins, P’02, ’06 President of the Board of Trustees:

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hank you, Rick; and let me add my welcome to yours. It is wonderful to see everyone gathered here this morning. And let me allay those troubled looks: no cause for alarm! I won’t keep you long from our celebrations today!

Formmates of 2011, this is your Prize Day! Anybody who has been to a Groton Prize Day knows it is a uniquely special day. My drive up to the Circle for this big day always causes me to reflect on just why it is so special.

I confess I do love all the wonderful pageantry—the grand tent, the gathered families, the procession from the Chapel, the prizes, the diplomas themselves, each carefully tied with its special ribbon of Groton colors, and, of course, who could not feel the elation of the straw boaters in the air!

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Headmaster Commons addresses the Form of 2011.

But, for me, the pageantry is really a feast for the eyes. It is the day’s fusion of joyfulness with solemnity that speaks so specially to one’s soul. It seems to make time stand still for a moment, and in that moment you can so clearly remember each step of your Groton journey as a student, and imagine all the destinations to which they might lead in the “active work” of your life still to come.

But as you imagine that “active life,” what is it that will matter most about your time here? You have taken many Groton courses, competed in many Groton games, produced many Groton creative works, and had roles in many Groton performances. But, in your life’s “active work,” I believe it is Groton values—character, learning, leadership, and service—that will be your foundation and your guide.

Just in your time here on the Circle, social networking dawned on the world, America elected its first AfricanAmerican president, China became the second biggest economy, the global financial system almost collapsed, American debt exploded, and the Middle East has moved to the threshold of a transformation to something as yet unknowable. None of these breakthroughs or challenges was well forecast before you entered the gates on Farmers Row for the first time.

Whether they be large and global or small and intimate, who can tell what new rich opportunities you may be able to seize or troubling threats you may have to face on the road ahead?

But each is likely to harbor ambiguity, which will

Prize Day require a character of integrity and the courage to be forthright. Each is likely to present deep complexity, which will require the creativity and imagination to learn new things and place them in an increasingly global perspective.

Each will demand leadership to create a shared vision and the entrepreneurial drive and responsibility to produce results. And each will require empathy and the commitment to fair-minded justice to ensure that serving the needs of others is not forgotten.

Character, Learning, Leadership, Service—these are Groton values and traits; these are the foundation stones that Groton has sought to inspire in you. I know that they are a part of your being as Grotonians. I also know that, armed with them, wherever your life’s work takes you, you will make the world a better place.

If Prize Day is that special moment in between receiving all that Groton can give to a student and going forth to pursue the “active work of life,” then it is also the perfect moment for Groton to give you the opportunity to express your gratefulness to your parents and your families, and to your faculty and your friends, for it is they who have made your Groton experience possible.

I would like to ask all of you, the Form of 2011, to please now stand to turn and face all those who sit behind you, and from whom you have received so much. I know that you would like to give them a heartfelt round of your grateful applause. *

*

*

Now, let me end with the same note of personal sentiment I have offered in the past years that I have had the privilege to be on this dais.

I have found in my own life that there are very few times when one is surrounded by so many family and friends who admire you so greatly, love you so much, are so appreciative of your friendship, are so proud of your accomplishments, and wish you so much success in your future.

This Prize Day at Groton School is one of those times.

Drink deeply of today, for it will sustain you for the rest of your lives.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the entire Groton community, I salute you, the Form of 2011.

Graduates Joshua Imhoff, Philip McNamara, and James Cottone

Richard B. Commons, Headmaster:

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hank you, Jamie, for those words and for your leadership and stewardship of Groton.

Our celebration today includes a fond farewell not only to members of the Sixth Form, but also to those members of the faculty who are moving on to new destinations.

Helen Woolworth ’06 arrived mid-year as a gift to the Admission Office, the squash program, and the entire community, with her knowledge of the School, her ability to communicate it convincingly, and her valuable perspective on the Groton experience. She is off to Episcopal High School of Virginia, where she will serve as assistant director of admissions.

“Character, Learning, Leadership, Service—these are Groton values and traits; these are the foundation stones that Groton has sought to inspire in you. I know that they are a part of your being as Grotonians. I also know that, armed with them, wherever your life’s work takes you, you will make the world a better place.”

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Graduate Blair Amorello stands with her family after the Prize Day ceremonies.

Chris Labosky has served as a teaching intern in history and a coach of cross-country, squash, and track. The quality of Chris’s teaching belied his limited experience, and his spring elective on the ethics of happiness proved to be both fascinating and uplifting. Chris is off to Yale Law School next year, and he goes with our admiration and affection.

Despite our best efforts to get him to stay, Jon Page has chosen to follow his calling as a minister in the United Church of Christ. He has been a superb and challenging teacher, an exciting thinker who role-models intellectual curiosity and engagement, and an expert coach who brings out the very best in his rowers. Godspeed, Jon, as you serve your new parish in Ames, Iowa.

Matt Westman came to us two years ago as a one-year intern, and in a short time has made an outsized impact here as a teacher of French and Arabic, a coach of soccer, basketball, and tennis, and, when the School needed him

Sixth Former Kirsten Craddock assists formmate Fabrizio Filho prior to Prize Day ceremonies.

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this spring, a dorm head. Matt, you have shown us how a kid from Massachusetts can become a true citizen of the world, and, while we will miss you here, we applaud the next step on your journey, teaching at King’s Academy in Jordan.

Though she has been with us for only two years as assistant head, Carol Santos has made a lasting mark on Groton as an inspiring mentor to countless students and a wise and compelling leader of the faculty. Carol’s style is direct and confident, yet she is also self-effacing, attentive to others, and able to keep things in perspective for all of us with her wonderful readiness to laugh. I have relied on Carol’s judgment and instincts in small matters and big crises, and she deserves tremendous credit for behind-the-scenes work to bring us through our tragedy in the fall. Next year Carol will be the associate head of Miss Porter’s School, where she will continue to make a profound difference in the lives of all who are fortunate enough to fall within her sphere. Thank you, Carol; you and your family will be greatly missed.

A graduate in Groton’s Form of 1993, Will Webb has served on the faculty of his alma mater for six years, first as director of alumni affairs, and then as associate director of admission. Along the way he has run Webb’s Dorm in the upper and lower schools, coached lacrosse and tennis, supervised Dory’s and Scudder’s, conducted Blue Bottles on the School’s birthday, and in countless other ways provided leadership and enthusiasm for Groton’s most important traditions and values. Will heads to Heritage Hall in Oklahoma City next year, where he will be the assistant head of school for external affairs and will coach football and tennis. You have given a great deal to Groton, Will, and we wish you and Sarah every success and happiness and hope you will return often to the Circle.

Adrienne Miller came to Groton seven years ago and has been a creative and inspiring teacher of Sacred Texts, World and the West, and fascinating electives such as the History of South Africa, Modern Latin America, and The Global Village. She has also been the deeply caring head of Miller’s Dorm, the creator and leader of Groton’s Buddhist-Hindu Sangha, and Groton’s first director of global education. Adrienne has been appointed founding head of the Karuna School in nearby Lincoln, Massachusetts, where the core values are interdependence, sustainability, and compassion.

Adrienne, we are grateful for how you have instilled these values into our community at Groton, and we look forward to forging a close relationship with the Karuna School in the years to come.

And now I have the honor of paying tribute to two faculty members who are retiring after decades of distinguished service to Groton, much of it working closely together.

Prize Day John Niles spent 17 years as director of admission, where he had a profound influence on the quality of our student body, one of the School’s historical and enduring hallmarks. Consider for a moment that John is responsible for admitting approximately 90 students to Groton each year for 17 years: you can do the math to understand that more than 1,500 Groton graduates, including some who will cross the stage today, can trace their beginnings at Groton directly to the discernment of one John Niles.

Four years ago, John took on the role of Groton’s firstever director of communications, a job that most schools divide among several people but which John has done entirely on his own, publishing our Quarterly, managing our website, and handing all media relations. Meanwhile, John has graciously blended his talent and experience with his successor in the Admission Office, supporting new directions and contributing significantly to recent dramatic increases in applications to Groton from all over the world.

During his years at Groton, John also has distinguished himself as an expert coach of the boys crew team.

His career on the river brought to Groton crews NEIRA medals of various hues, coveted team points trophies, and (so far) Groton’s only national championship for boys crew in 1995. Many of the students who rowed for John have continued successfully at the highest levels in college, and they have learned lessons from him that reach far beyond the river.

In the years to come, John will turn his attention to

Sixth Former Hannah Kessler celebrates the moment upon receiving her diploma.

consulting with the Baker Group, advising admission offices around the country on best practices of the kind he has instituted at Groton over the last two decades.

Thank you, John, for all you have given to Groton. Will you come forward for a token of our appreciation?

Twenty-seven years ago, Mary Ellen Sweeney arrived on the Circle, beginning her career at Groton as the head of Sweeney’s Second Form Dorm, while serving as a charter member of what is now our Health Issues

Graduate Michael Corkrum stands with his family following the Prize Day ceremonies.

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Ms. Sweeney shares goodbyes with Sixth Former Annie Bergen.

Group, a leader of what is now our Choices Program, and a member of the Buildings and Grounds, Landscaping, Library Renovation, and Brooks House Renovation committees. She managed all of this while raising three young sons, all of whom grew to distinguish themselves in remarkable fashion at Groton, in college, and beyond.

Credit nurture or nature, and we’re still in awe of Mary Ellen … with a slight nod to Hoyt.

In 1993, Mary Ellen joined the Admission Office, where she has been both supremely welcoming to all visitors and carefully discerning in selecting Groton students for the last 18 years. For countless students and

parents, Mary Ellen was the very first person they met at Groton, and members of this Sixth Form have told me that it was Ms. Sweeney’s warmth and kindness that led them to choose Groton, not to mention the reason their parents felt comfortable leaving them here in our care.

In addition to her more formal roles, we all know Mary Ellen as one whose kindness and understanding often save the day for a homesick second former or a sixth former trying to negotiate the college process. As an advisor, she has made the critical difference to countless students with sage advice and timely support, and she has done the very same for many colleagues and for me.

Two weeks ago, a sleek and sturdy new crew shell was christened and named for Mary Ellen and Hoyt, an honor reserved for very few who have served the School with such commitment and grace. Mary Ellen, we are more grateful than words or boats or gifts can convey, but will you come forward anyway for a token of our esteem and gratitude? *

*

*

And now I would like to address the Form of 2011, to whom this day belongs.

How to characterize your remarkable Form? I’ve heard you described as “the intellectual form,” because you couldn’t sit down at the Sixth Form table for breakfast, lunch, or dinner without being ready to join a vigorous

2010-2011 Senior Prefects and House Prefects: Orme Thompson, Adrianna Pulford, Hannah Reeve, and Ross Julian

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Prize Day intellectual debate. Neutrality or intellectual passivity was not an option at the Sixth Form table this year; you had to have a theory, and you had to be prepared to defend it.

I’ve heard you described as “the functional form,” because, despite those debates and your diverse talents and interests, you have remained one big happy family.

You stayed united through your time at Groton, and you kept the student body together during the tragedies and tumult of this year, speaking to us in Chapel as much about us as about yourselves, pushing us always toward deeper meaning and fuller purpose.

Certainly the faculty would characterize you as an academic form. The number of students about to graduate cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude is the highest in memory. Colleges clearly recognized this, offering you more choices among the most selective schools in the country than we have seen in years. And did you know that of the 22 National Merit finalists who came from U.S. boarding schools, four of them were from Groton? That’s 18 percent. I’m sure most of you had already completed that calculation.

Some have called you the artistic form. We’ve seen songwriters find their voices, dancers their rhythms, painters their subjects and scenes, playwrights their characters and themes. Flautists flauted, guitarists strummed, the choir sang like angels, and drummers (forgive me) they drummed. And the acting! Raisin, Much Ado, the island of Ti Moune—it was all much more than we bargained for.

Somehow your form manages to be athletic too, as you have led us to ISL and New England championships in multiple sports and to strong seasons in others where we had previously struggled to be competitive. Thanks to you, the Burnett-Peabody Trophy for the total number of wins over St. Mark’s will forever have engraved at the top of the list of winners “Groton 2011.” And I can tell you that it wasn’t close.

And yes, you will go down in history as the form that managed to smuggle 370 students down to the boathouse at 6 a.m. on a Monday morning for a Chapel and Roll Call all your own, evading detection by the special forces of Groton security and then filling the student body with Dunkin’ Donuts and much-needed school spirit. I will remind you for future operations that it is essential to have an exit strategy other than the headmaster on his mountain bike herding underformers back to the Schoolhouse.

I will conclude and give over to one who will capture your spirit much better than I, but let me say first to the Form of 2011, that in the handshakes you are about to receive, I hope you will feel the strength and warmth of our thanks for all you have given of yourselves to Groton.

Sixth Formers Jack Wilkinson and Margaret Zhang stand and applaud during Prize Day ceremonies.

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nd now it is time to hear from a representative of the Form of 2011, who gave one of the most compelling Chapel Talks of the year. His formmates asked to hear from him again today, and I am delighted to introduce Matt Hennrikus.

Matthew Hennrikus ’11:

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ow, this is a little different than speaking in Chapel. You’re going to have to bear with me because when I get excited I start to speak kind of fast, and it’s pretty impossible to not be excited right now. One piece of advice my mom gave me before I came up here was “Matt, make sure you talk slowly.” And I know Mr. Cadeau didn’t understand a single word of what I said in Chapel, so I’ll try to keep it slow for you, Mr. Cadeau, even though I do think you need to keep working on your English.

But, my being here today—not only graduating but also speaking—is somewhat ironic, and I actually think really amazing. About three years ago, I was doing my chemistry homework in the kitchen of my home, and it was a huge packet—I went to a big public school in Fresno, California, Clovis West High School, and keep in mind, Fresno is probably the furthest place from Groton, not just geographically speaking—but I was working on this homework, I had this huge packet, and my mom walks into the room, and she looks at me and kind of just bluntly says, “We’re moving.” And to Quarterly Fall 2011

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Student speaker Matthew Hennrikus addresses the Form of 2011 and the Prize Day audience.

be completely honest, the first thought that came into my mind was, “Does this mean I don’t have to do my chemistry homework?” But in reality it was a little jarring. I had applied to Groton, but I passed up on it.

I had two older brothers come here—Billy graduated in ’07, Nick graduated in ’09—but I didn’t know what the purpose of prep school was. It seemed distant, strange, foreign to me. My mom said it would refine me a little bit. She always said I was a little rough around the edges.

I’d like to think I’m a little smoother now, but I don’t know. But it begs a question—in this day and age, is prep school still relevant? Are Groton and schools like it still

Graduate Likhitha Palaypu stands with her family after the ceremonies.

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relevant? And in answering this question, I’d like to share some of my experiences here.

For a while this year, I thought my time here would kind of be encapsulated in this one Wednesday morning I had. I was studying my butt off for a bio exam. I was in the burn room, and we had the senior photo the next day that goes on the inside of the yearbook, and I really wanted to be there for it, so I set my alarm. I fell asleep in the burn room. I set my alarm so I could get up and study a little more and then make it for the picture, but, alas, I wake up, and it’s probably a half hour after they’ve taken the picture and probably 10 minutes to my bio exam, and in my rush I run out, and I nail my head against the door frame. So I have a throbbing headache, but I still run to see if they’ve taken the picture because I just really wanted to be there and, you know, no one’s around. But then I run to the Health Center, and I go up to the desk and I say, I need some Advil, and she says, no, you need stitches. I guess I had a gash on the top of my head. But I ran away from the lady with needles because I needed to get to my bio exam. And it was like T minus five minutes, so I get there, disheveled. I don’t know if Ms. Marks noticed the cut on my head, I kind of think I just showed up disheveled to class every day. But she gave me the test, and I didn’t have a pencil, I didn’t have anything, but I borrowed one from one of my formmates, and I took the test. Needless to say, I didn’t do very well on the test, and I’m still not in the senior picture.

There are a lot of times at Groton where we’re just working really hard and, you know, may be disheveled, bleary-eyed from studying for so long. But there really was so much more to my time here. And it brings me back to my Chapel Talk because I think it really was one of the

Prize Day formative events during my time here. I really revealed a lot of things about myself, things that I hadn’t really told anyone, let alone an entire school. I was cautious of what people’s reactions would be. I think it’s really akin to Mr. Commons in Chapel this Thursday. And I think I can speak for the entire School when I say thank you, Mr. Commons, for your honesty and candidness. Because this year has been different. It’s been tragic. And I don’t say this to turn it into a lesson, because it’s been tragic, and there is no other way to describe it. But I would like to say thank you to the people here who were so brave in the face of what happened.

I think it’s a testament to this community that Mr. Commons and I were able to give those talks, were able to reveal things about ourselves, really show who we are. Because after my talk the outpour was just so complimentary from teachers and students alike, and it was extremely humbling. But two reactions in particular stood out to me. Unfortunately, one I perceived to be a little negative, but the other very positive. And I’m going to start with the negative one. I had just given my talk, and later in the day a teacher ran into me, and he shook my hand, and all he said was, “The cat’s out of the bag, and everyone thought you were just a quiet student.” Just a quiet student. And he said this as if he had labeled me just a quiet student for a long time, perhaps as if other members of the faculty had, and as if they would continue to label students. But let me be very clear—there is no such thing as “just a quiet student.” Nor is there such a thing as an outgoing, or brainy or dumb, or an athletic student. Life and people are complicated. And I know we all do it, we try to simplify our lives as much as possible.

We try to simplify people. We label them. But you can’t put someone in a box. You have to embrace their

A segment of the 2011 handshaking line, as sixth formers say goodbye to the faculty

Graduate Coco Paul-Henriot stands with her family following the Prize Day ceremonies.

“But let me be very clear—there is no such thing as ‘just a quiet student.’ Nor is there such a thing as an outgoing, or brainy or dumb, or an athletic student.

Life and people are complicated.” complexity and seek to understand others’ perspectives to enrich our own limited perspectives.

A phrase is often thrown around that “As the Sixth Form goes, so goes the School.” And this is true to an extent: the Sixth Form has a huge role in the path the School takes. But I think just as important is, “As the faculty goes, so goes the School,” because sixth forms come and go, but many of the faculty are here for a very long time. And I don’t say this to criticize them, because they are absolutely phenomenal, but I’m just telling them to be wary. Because although wisdom often comes with age, age is not a substitute for wisdom. We never stop learning; no matter what age, all minds, whether men’s or children’s, teachers’ or students’, are little. I’m up here somewhat preaching to you, but I don’t know anything. I feel like I discovered so much about myself here, but next year, I’m just another college freshman; I’m going to have to rediscover myself all over again …

We all make mistakes. Not one or two, but countless.

“Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven.’” So according to Jesus, we can forgive up to 490 times. But forgiveness, forgiveness is infinite. And I urge you, when we make mistakes, please treat each other with compassion and understanding.

The second reaction: I think many of you are going to be surprised whom this reaction came from. It was a Quarterly Fall 2011

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Members of the Sixth Form say their goodbyes to the faculty at handshaking.

student … Camilla. I was going to second-period Statistics, and I showed up a little early, and she was early too, and I see her staring at me, kind of beaming. I’m kind of quiet, shy, so I didn’t say anything to her, but I was a little weirded-out that she hadn’t said anything. Eventually she clears her throat, I look over, and she says, “Matt, I really liked your Chapel Talk.” And I said, “Thank you, thanks Camilla.” And she said, “I’m so proud to know you.” And being my socially inept self, I just came back with another awkward response like, “Oh, I really appreciate it, thank you.” It was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever heard—to be able to inspire that sort of appreciation, to feel that you’ve made a difference. And it really made me realize how proud I am to know all of you. The students here are so amazingly talented. One of my greatest fears— and I feel very lucky that this even is a fear, because many people are just fighting for day-to-day survival—but one of my greatest fears is mediocrity. I feel that at a school like this, it’s impossible not to sometimes have those feelings …

On the same note, I’d like to warn all of you: Do not have a sense of entitlement. I feel at times that can come around; we are no better than students from Lawrence or students from public school. We are privileged and lucky to be here. Because no matter what background you came from, you had the ability to know about this School, to apply, and to come here. Not everyone has that chance. The short story I read in Fourth Form English class still sticks with me, by Flannery O’Connor, called “Revelations.” And in it, Mrs. Turpin, the middle-class woman living in the South, is constantly belittling those people in the classes below her because she believes herself better because God made her with health and some money and land. But at the end of the story, she has a revelation.

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She sees people walking from Earth to heaven. But the first people in line, the first people to enter heaven, are those people she has constantly belittled—the poor, the uneducated. And bringing up the end of the procession was a tribe of people, and she recognized at once those who had always had a little of everything whom God had given wit to use it right. Just remember that we are lucky, but no better than anyone else.

This brings me back to my old point, how we’re always learning. “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” —Matthew 18, lines 3-4, Humility. Humility is all-important. Ms. Humphrey used a phrase almost every single day in Chapel—I’m not sure if it was every day though it seemed like it. And I think at times it was something said so often that it can become predictable, comedic, and maybe lose its meaning. Or so I thought. But some day in the winter term—and there was nothing different about this day—I really heard what she said, and it really stuck with me: “The things of God we ask for, give us grace to work for.”

Nothing is given. We have gifts, but use them correctly.

Use your talents to enact change. Something they said at the Alumni Dinner—and I feel they keep saying—is that this graduation is about something bigger than ourselves.

And I know it’s hard to see that at this stage because, make no mistake, adolescence is a war. Competition is a part of life. But we have been competing so hard here for college, athletics, social standing, but you can’t lose yourself. You can’t lose what’s important. So perhaps in the end, it’s more important that we collaborate and work together. Perhaps we’re all in the same boat, and maybe we rise and sink as Prize Day means boaters, diplomas, and embraces.

Prize Day

Graduate Emma Peabody, next to her father Robert ’73, stands with members of her extended family on Prize Day.

one. And if you work in a team, you can always blame others if something goes wrong. But in all seriousness, fail and succeed with others because the problems of our generation will not be solved by individuals but rather in teams, with groups, with unity. What a better group to fail and succeed with than my peers here.

I think one of the greatest traditions at Groton is the Alumni Games in the winter. Before the tip-off of our basketball game, some of the older alumni were talking to the seniors and, keep in mind, the older alumni always get to start even though they’re creaky and not as athletic. But seniority takes precedence. Steven Hill ’80, one of the creators of Black Entertainment Television, was talking to the seniors, and he said, “You all better

go easy on us because we’ve got jobs waiting for you when you get out of here.” And we were laughing and messing around with the alumni, but when he turned around, we all kind of looked at each other thinking, “It’d be really cool if he’s being serious.” I remember Alozie saying something akin to, “Man, I want to work in Hollywood.” But what I’m really getting at is the greatness of Groton. What I’m getting at is this extended family. It’s something that I never would have Graduate Sage Redman stands with her father, Scott, and sister, Reed ’14, following the ceremonies.

“Fail and succeed with others because the problems of our generation will not be solved by individuals but rather in teams, with groups, with unity. What a better group to fail and succeed with than my peers here.”

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Circiter | Featured on Campus had going to school in Fresno. Because although we are graduating, we are taking different paths, alumni will always look after each other …

I went to my brother’s graduation. He just graduated from Harvard this spring, and one of the speakers really stood out for me. He talked about the thin line between love and hate—his love and hate of his school. And Groton is the same way. Is Groton perfect? No. Not even close. Are there things I hate about the School? Without a doubt. Are there things I love about the School? Without a doubt. If you don’t learn to both love and hate this place, then you haven’t been paying attention …

I remember after my first year here, my Fourth Form year, I was at Prize Day talking to my father. And my brother Nick had just graduated, so my family was here.

But I was with my father, and I don’t know, many of you probably see me as the epitome of manhood, but I was actually crying, crying profusely. I wasn’t sure if this was the right place for me or if my talents would ever make a difference here or if this School even had anything to teach me. But I grew, and I learned. And if there’s any advice that I could give to present and future students, it would be, don’t limit yourself. Don’t come to the School just to play hockey or because Harvard’s the only school you want to go to. I’m not saying it’s wrong to have passions and ambitions. If there’s something you really believe or you truly love, pursue it wholeheartedly.

But be eager to learn …

Love to learn. And be true to yourself. Never forget where you came from, which can easily happen here because we are in a bubble, and we’re away from home

for so long. But remember your origins, remember your humble roots, remember your parents because this accomplishment is as much theirs as it is ours. And I think I can speak for the rest of you when I say, “Mom, Dad, I know I often disagree with you, but I know, I have always known, that you have my best interest at heart. And I hope to be half the person of either one of you.” Remember your family as a whole. Your parents, your brothers, your sisters, your cousins. They are your reason for living. And remember that moment, that moment when you’re all ready for school, you’re all dressed up, you have your backpack on, but before leaving you look in the mirror. And it’s not one of those looks to see how fresh you look, but it’s when you really look at yourself. You look yourself in the eyes, and you think, who am I? Really? It’s about looking yourself, everyone, in the eyes, the entire support group, your friends, your teachers, your advisors, your coaches, your parents. It’s being able to say to them that you did everything, everything you possibly could. You gave every ounce of effort to honor them, their sacrifices, the love that they show you.

My grandfather passed away shortly before I began my junior year, and at his funeral my father gave the eulogy. It was really this eulogy that inspired me to give my Chapel Talk in the spring. It was amazing to see my father encompass my grandfather’s life in three things— marriage, community service, and humor. I really think we can encompass anyone’s life in those things. Love, serve, laugh. Because that’s what really matters. That’s all we really can control. I realized it here, and if you haven’t,

Following the ceremonies, graduate Philip McNamara stands with three generations of McNamaras and spouses; among them are Mr. and Mrs. Frank L. McNamara, Jr., Peter ’03, Elizabeth ’04, Frances ’05, John ’07, and Lucy ’13.

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Prize Day Richard B. Commons, Headmaster:

A Formmates Brooke Moore, Haley Ladd-Luthringshauser, and Charlotte Bullard Davies smile before Chapel on Prize Day morning.

perhaps you’ll realize it in college or somewhere down the road, but you will meet people who are better than you.

Better than you at the things you most pride yourself in.

And you will realize that, in the grand scheme of things, we’re not special. But that doesn’t mean we don’t matter because the little things do matter. Common courtesy, being a good person, our relationships. Pour your heart and soul in them. Your relationship with your friends, your teachers, your family.

I ask for the Sixth Form to look to the person to the left of them and then to the right of them. Perhaps you’ll keep in touch with them, perhaps not. Inevitably some of these relationships are over, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t matter. Because what we did here did matter … Perhaps we’re overquoting the Gospel of Matthew, and it’s not just because he shares my name, but I think there is so much that is relevant now; this is one of my favorite lines. I used it in my Chapel Talk. Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Inspire and lead by example. I believe in the power of the word, but more so in the power of action. When I was elected Prize Day speaker, a younger member of my dorm, the first thing he said to me was, “Wow, that’s surprising.

You’re not very vocal.” And I think leadership is often confused with raising your voice above those around you.

And to other forms, I’d like to say, encourage each other, encourage us as we have encouraged you. Because I hope that you exceed our accomplishments as a form. That is the sign of true leadership.

In closing, I’d just like to say thank you to this School because I believe in this place. I believe in what it has to offer. Is Groton relevant? More so than ever. The teaching done here goes beyond the classroom. And to the Sixth Form and to the future Sixth Forms, I truly do say with a most sincere heart, good luck.

nd now I have the distinct honor of introducing our keynote speaker, CANON ANDREW WHITE, who has built an extraordinary ministry of reconciliation and conflict mediation in the Middle East. Having worked for many years in Israel and Palestine, where he negotiated the end of the Bethlehem siege in 2002, Canon White now works almost exclusively in Iraq, which has earned him the nickname “the Vicar of Baghdad.”

In the face of significant threats to him personally and repeated bombings of the church, Canon White pastors St. George’s Baghdad, which ministers to over 550 local Iraqi Christian families and operates well outside the safety of the International Zone of Baghdad, known formerly as the Green Zone. Based in the church compound, St. George’s Clinic employs medical staff from across sectarian divides to deliver humanitarian relief to its neighbors, regardless of patients’ religious or ethnic background.

Graduate Jack Cohen stands with his extended family, including sister Madeleine ’13.

Canon White also engages in conflict mediation with the most senior religious leaders in Iraq. Building relationships of trust and confidence, Canon White has brought together the leaders of the opposing sectarian factions, producing the first-ever joint Sunni/Shia fatwa against violence in Iraq, which was read out in mosques throughout the country, as well as on Iraqi television.

Canon White has been awarded several significant prizes for his peacemaking efforts, including the International Council of Christians and Jews Prize for ­Intellectual ­Contribution to Jewish-Christian Relations, the International Sternberg Prize, and the Tanenbaum Peace Prize.

Canon White has also received the Woolf Institute Peace Quarterly Fall 2011

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Canon White is also an Eric Lane Fellow at Clare College at the University of Cambridge and has written several books, including Iraq: Searching for Hope (2005), a copy of which he has given to each of today’s graduates.

When not in Baghdad, Canon White resides in England with his wife, Caroline, and his two sons, Jacob and Josiah.

It has been a great privilege for students and faculty to get to know Canon White these last few days, as he graciously arranged to arrive on Thursday so that he could meet with classes, lunch with students, attend our culminating events, and come to know our School.

Canon White, on behalf of the Form of 2011 and the many students and faculty you have met these last few days, I welcome you as the keynote speaker for our 126th Prize Day.1

Canon Andrew White:

I

t’s very good to be here. To be honest with you, when I first heard about Groton School I was standing next to a tank in Baghdad, and it was Colonel Ward Scott who first told me it was a wonderful place. I thought to myself, “Hmm, I wonder if he’s telling the truth.” And then I heard about it quite a few other times from various people. But I honestly thought, it can’t be like an English school. English schools are proper. So I came here last Thursday to see, and the first thing I noticed, I said to the headmaster, they’re not dressed properly. Today I’m pleased to see you all are dressed properly. But they tell me it only happens once a year. Never mind, it’s a start. We hope that it can develop.

Canon White biographical information from www.frrme.co.uk

1

Boaters, boutonnières, and the School tie

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Sixth Form girls in their pre-Chapel preparations, with Headmaster Commons

See, I had to wear one of those hats every day. Why don’t you? But the really important thing is today is the day when we look at the past, the present, and the future. I don’t really need to say anything more because Matt has said it all. His words are perfect. But as I’ve come a long way, I think I’ll say a little. Is that OK? Good.

The first thing I want do is to repeat what President of the Board [Jamie] Higgins said because he said one of the most important things: the reason you’re all here is because of your parents. I know that when you are teenagers, parents can be a little difficult sometimes.

They’re not quite as you expect them to be. But they sent you to the best school in your country. I have never seen a school like this, and I’ve been to many throughout this country. I mean, it is clearly outstanding. And do you know, I was thinking if I were American, I’d want my child to come here. Now that is a major statement. It’s the biggest statement I’ve ever made. So thank you to you parents out there; you have done a wonderful thing in sending your children here and providing for them the most important thing in life, which is the best education.

It’s very important that we remember the past, we live for the present, and we look to the future.

It’s been quite interesting remembering the past. I went to see Mr. Brown, the archivist, the other day. I looked through the archives. I can’t say Peabody as you say Peabody because you don’t say it right. But anyway, it was wonderful to get the book about Peabody of Groton, but it was also quite strange for me because there was mentioned my wife’s great-great-grandfather. So I spoke to my son yesterday, and I said, “Did you realize that the man who started the school where I now am was a friend of your great-great-great-grandfather? “Oh,” he said (he’s only 12). He said, “Was it Joseph Chamberlain?” I said, “Yes, it was.” He said, “Well, was he a friend to the bad one as well?” “What do you mean, Jacob?” I said. He said, “You know what I mean, Neville Chamberlain.” I said, seeing as I saw a picture of Mussolini in the archives, “He probably was, yes. It kind of goes together, part of the set.”

Prize Day And then, today I had two very important memories of the past. I was walking into Chapel and, lo and behold, I saw somebody wearing the tie of my college. And I said to him, “Is that the tie of Magdalene College in the real Cambridge? Not the pretend one down the road?” He said, “Yes it is. I was a student there. My daughter’s graduating today.” And then, as I said, that was when I went into Chapel, and I must say, the other major surprise for me was the fact that your Chapel is outstanding. Your choir is the best choir I’ve ever heard in America. They sing like an English cathedral choir. And I used to have to join in, and I was very inadequate myself. So as I was coming out of Chapel I saw somebody, and I thought, no, that can’t be right. He can’t be here. Why is he here? And it was my fellow chaplain from Baghdad. ”Oh,” he said, “I’m a friend of the School nurse so she brought me along. And we used to have the best-ever chaplain’s chair. It used to be Saddam Hussein’s throne, but he didn’t need it anymore; he was down the hole in the ground. So we used to have it. And it was great. So it reminded me of my past, a little.

Past is past. Present is you. Future is you. You are both the present and the future. Not just at this School, but of this land, and of this world. My mentor in life used to be the Archbishop of Canterbury, and every time I left him he used to shake hands as you do, and he used to say to me, “Don’t take care, take risks.” I want to say to you today—don’t take care, take risks.

I tried to look up on the Internet yesterday about risktaking. And I wanted it to be relevant, so I looked up zebra risk-taking. Just to try and make it relevant. And they even had pictures on YouTube. Guess what it’s of?

Do you know what zebras can do? They can kill a lion.

The zebras can beat the lions. You knew that though, didn’t you? Did you? Yes, St. Mark’s hasn’t got a chance against you Zebras. What they can do is when a lion attacks them, they run toward the water, they get the lion in the water, and they push it down and drown it. Maybe Graduate Hannah Reeve with her family: (from left) Polly Cross Reeve ’78, brothers Nate ’07 and Adam ’09, and Brock Reeve

Canon Andrew White addresses the Prize Day audience.

“My mentor in life used to be the Archbishop of Canterbury, and every time I left him he used to shake hands as you do, and he used to say to me, ‘Don’t take care, take risks.’ I want to say to you today—don’t take care, take risks.” that’s what you should do to their mascot. Give it some zebra treatment. Keep it down. And then you can achieve your endless goal. Is that OK saying that, Headmaster?

I’m sorry about that. So, as my mentor said, I decided I wouldn’t take care, I would take risks. I started off my life in medicine and then ended up going into the church. And medicine was very good, because I was an anesthesiologist. So I could put people to sleep with drugs quite quickly. Then I went to Cambridge to the vicar factory to train to be a priest. And there you learn how to put people to sleep slowly. So I can do it both ways. But I realize the medical way is actually better.

You are leaving here to start your present. You are leaving here to study, to work, to prepare for what is to come. All of you must realize that you must—not maybe, not can—you must achieve the most in life. And you can do that by taking risks. If you just go to college and do your studying and do your sport and push pieces of paper from one pile to another pile, you’ll be like most people in this world. I divide everybody into two kinds of people, Quarterly Fall 2011

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Prior to Chapel, Headmaster Commons, Canon White, and Sixth Former Ward Scott share a word.

those who can make things happen and those who can’t.

I tried to assess the percentage of each. And I discovered that 96 percent of people in the world can’t make things happen. You must be of the 4 percent that can. If you’ve come from one of the best schools in your nation, you can do that. I want you all to be the 4 percent who make things happen.

People often say to me, why did you end up in Baghdad?

Well, if I’m being flippant I say because not being there is really boring. At least you never have anything boring there. And the other thing I say is that in Baghdad, you don’t need alarm clocks because every morning we have bombs. And they wake us up a bit like the fire alarm this morning in School. So I felt at home. But I ended up

Graduate James Conner with his family at Prize Day

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there, I started going there well before the war of 2003.

I started going there in 1998, and I was working with all the various religious leaders. Little did I know that a few years later they’d all be killing each other. But I knew them worthy. And the thing is that sometimes we don’t know at the time why we’re doing something, but in a short while we will. You see taking risks is about, for us as Christians or Jews or Muslims or anything else, doing the work of the Almighty. Yes, I have a wonderful church, 4,000 people, big clinic, big school, lots of food relief; it’s quite good. I look after the American Army. They used to have chaplains in Iraq; they don’t seem to have any anymore. I look after the U.S. Embassy. The thing about the Americans, they go to church. The English don’t. The person who is here who used to be chaplain in Baghdad, he used to say in chapel in Baghdad, “Next Sunday’s a bring-a-brick-to-church Sunday. Well, my wonderful news for the Chaplain is, it didn’t work then, it doesn’t work now. Still doesn’t work. But being in Baghdad is the most wonderful thing I’ve ever done. Yes, I’ve been blown up, I’ve been held at gunpoint, I’ve had knives thrown at me, all those kind of things, but everything is usually okay. Wasn’t so good the day I was thrown in a room with chopped off fingers and toes. I thought, oh dear, it’s going to be mine next, so I put my hands deep in my pockets and I found lots of money. So I gave it to the guys and I got out …

You can make great things happen if you’re prepared to take risks. And the risks that you all take are not just for yourselves. They’re not just to be for the 4 percent of

Prize Day

Graduate Ward Scott stands with his extended family.

people who can make things happen. The risks are for those around you to love, to direct them, to help them.

One of the great things about what Jesus had to say and Matt told us, he said, love your enemies. Now most of your enemies are in your family. But some of them are not. You know, I have to say to my people we must even love those who blew us up last week. And they look at me as if I’m mad. I am a little. But you sometimes have to do things that are really risky. But my people— I’ve had 227 killed this year of my congregation—my people are grateful that I knew the bad people. Because I direct the Interreligious Council in Iraq, and we have there a variety of people, but they all have to fall into four categories. One, they have to be big religious leaders with people following them. Two, they need a big major exposure. Three, they need political links. Four, they need to be bad. Interfaith relations are not just about sitting down with nice people. Nice people don’t cause the problem. And so we brought together all those four groups, including some of the bad people, and they could make a difference. We issued another joint fatwa, and the killing of our people—of all the Christians in Iraq— stopped that day. I give that to you as an example of what taking risks is all about. Your motto—the wonderful motto of this School—talks about service. And that is righteousness. That is the work that all of you are called to do in the future.

The oldest words of Jesus were when he was a little boy, and he went into the Temple, and his parents lost him. And he said to them when they found him, “I was

about my Father’s business. That is where I’m meant to be.” And this morning as I heard your School’s song for the first time, the words, “the Temple gates stand open wide, oh Christ, we enter at thy side,” they were words of great courage, of great strength. They are risky words.

You go up there today, you go to study, you will eventually work. Please make sure that whatever you do is inspired by your time here, by this place. Don’t just shuffle extra papers from one side of the room to the other. Be the best doctor. Be the best lawyer. Be the best accountant. Be the best businessperson. And who knows, one day one of you might join me.

Graduate Coco Paul-Henriot acknowledges applause after receiving her diploma from her father, Trustee Andrew Paul.

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GROTON SCHOOL PRIZES

Sunday, June 5, 2011 THE CHARLES LANIER APPLETON PRIZE Awarded to members of the Sixth Form who have greatly served the School

THE ROSCOE C. THOMAS MATHEMATICS PRIZE Given by the Sixth Form of 1923 and awarded to a member of the Fifth Form for excellence in Mathematics

AdrianNa Marie Pulford and ORME WILSON THOMPSON

JUNG WOO Choi

THE HISTORY AND LITERATURE PRIZE Given by the late Rt. Rev. Julius Atwood to the best scholar in the combined fields of History and Literature Daniel Rene Rodriguez THE ROGERS V. SCUDDER CLASSICS PRIZE Given in memory of Rogers Scudder, who was a distinguished teacher of Classics at Groton and a much loved member of this community Adam Louis Klein

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THE PERRY HISTORY PRIZE Given by Mrs. Eliza Endicott Perry to the best scholar in the field of History Edoardo Saravalle THE THORPE SCIENCE PRIZE Given by Mrs. Warren Thorpe to members of the Sixth Form who have been the most successful in developing an appreciation of the spirit and meaning of science Sung Won Cho and Julia Winslow Metzger

Prize Day THE BUTLER PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN ENGLISH Given by Mrs. Gilbert Butler

THE PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE Ji-Soo Min and Russell Jack Cohen

Morgane Isaure ELSPETH Richer La Flèche THE DENNIS CROWLEY DRAMA PRIZE Given by Todd C. Bartels ’01 to a member of the Sixth Form who has made the greatest contribution to the theater program Catherine Lavin Reilly THE GEORGE LIVINGSTON NICHOLS PRIZE Awarded for the best essay on an historical subject Kenneth RUDY Ballato, Jr. and Theodore Lawrence Leonhardt THE MODERN LANGUAGES PRIZE

THE HARVARD BOOK PRIZES Given to two members of the Fifth Form who exemplify excellence in scholarship and high character combined with achievement in other fields The Harvard Book Prize Given by Harry Eldridge ’20 in memory of his brother Francis H. Eldridge ’24 Elizabeth ANN MeLampy The Harvard Book Prize Given by Mark A. Medlinsky ’76 in memory of his father Walker S. Evans

Morgane Isaure ELSPETH Richer La Flèche THE HUDSON MUSIC PRIZE Given by the friends of William Clarke Hudson ’56 to recognize effort and progress in music during the school year Jocelyn Jane Hickcox, William Graham Bolton, and Adam Louis Klein THE CHOIR CUP Awarded each year to the Sixth Form chorister who has exhibited musical growth in sight-reading and vocal technique Sage Millicent Redman and Zachary Arthur Kemeny Nicol THE ISSAC JACKSON MEMORIAL PRIZE Awarded to the best mathematics scholar in the Upper School

THE FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT DEBATING PRIZE Given in memory of Franklin D. Roosevelt 1900, by W. Averell Harriman 1909 Theodore Lawrence Leonhardt THE GROTONIAN CREATIVE WRITING PRIZE Given by the Grotonian board of 1946 to a member of the Upper School for the best example of prose fiction written in the past year Julia HAYNES PORTER Combs THE ENDICOTT PEABODY MEMORIAL PRIZE Given in memory of the Rev. Endicott Peabody by the Sixth Form of 1945 for excellence in the field of Religion and Ethics Do yeon Lee

Sung Won Cho and Taehoon Lee THE REV. FREDERIC R. KELLOGG UPPER SCHOOL ART PRIZE Given in his memory in recognition of distinguished work in art Genevieve BLACKFORD Fowler and Olivia WILLS TraSe THE ANITA ANDRES ROGERSON DANCE PRIZE Yu Qing Zhang and Zachary Arthur Kemeny Nicol

THE REGINALD FINCKE JR. MEDAL Given by the Sixth Form of 1928 in memory of 1st Lt. Reginald Fincke, Jr. and awarded to a member of the Sixth Form who has shown in Athletics his qualities of perseverance, courage, and unselfish sportsmanship Matthew Thomas Hennrikus THE CORNELIA AMORY FROTHINGHAM ATHLETIC PRIZE Given by her parents and awarded to a girl in the Sixth Form who has demonstrated all-around athletic ability and has shown exemplary qualities of leadership and sportsmanship Faith Elizabeth Richardson

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Circiter | Featured on Campus THE O’BRIEN PRIZE Given by the Hoopes family to a member of the Lower School who has shown qualities of integrity, loyalty, enthusiasm, and concern for others MattHEW Borghi

CARROLL and JOHN KING HODGES PRIZE Given in memory of Carroll Hodges, Form of 1905, and John King Hodges, Form of 1910, and awarded to a Sixth Former who has distinguished him- or herself in a capacity to be designated by the Headmaster Sung Won Cho

THE GADSDEN PRIZE Given in memory of Jeremiah Gadsden of the Form of 1968 by his classmates and friends to a member of the Fifth Form who has demonstrated inspirational leadership encouraging social and interracial understanding in the Groton community

SATURDAY NIGHT AWARDS CEREMONY

Nya ANISHA Holder and Peter Laboy

The John Jay Pierrepont Prize Awarded to the best mathematics scholar in the Lower School

THE TRONIC AWARD Given in honor of Michael G. Tronic and awarded to a member of the Sixth Form who has made especially good use of the resources of the Library and shown strong interest in the life of the mind

BYUNGHOON Min

Likhitha Palaypu THE ELIZABETH AND MARGERY PEABODY AWARD Given to a member of the Sixth Form, other than a School Prefect, whose contributions to the community demonstrate sensitivity, strength of character, leadership, and integrity

The Lower School Studio Art Prize Ellie HUGHES Dolan The Lower School Shop Prize Robert ANTHONY Beshere The Lower School Creative Writing Prize HAROLD NICHOLAS Ogilvie-Thompson

Emory Howe Wellman The Monte J. and Anne H. Wallace Scholar In recognition of scholastic excellence by a student who has completed the Fourth Form who has as well those qualities of character and commitment so important to the Groton community Ranfei Xu THE LAURA J. COOLIDGE ’85 POETRY PRIZE Given in her memory by her husband Peter Touche to a member of the Upper School who has shown a love for the power of poetic expression and a sustained interest in writing and reading poetry Julia Wright Haney THE ASMA GULL HASAN 1993 CIRCLE VOICE JOURNALISM PRIZE Given to acknowledge outstanding leadership in creating, editing, and producing the School’s newspaper Edoardo Saravalle

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The Modern Language Department Prize Honoring noteworthy work done in many languages Julia WINSLOW Metzger, Ward E. Scott, and Alexander TALBOT Southmayd The Richard K. Irons Public Speaking Prize Established in 1972 by McGeorge Bundy ’36 and Arthur T. Hadley ’42 in honor of their teacher, Richard K. (Doc) Irons, and presented to the student who most logically and effectively presents his or her ideas during The R.K. Irons Speaking Contest, held at Groton each spring Daniel RENE Rodriguez Avery Ashdown Chemistry Contest An honorable mention was awarded this year to a student who has demonstrated excellence in the academic study of chemistry.

Ranfei Xu

Prize Day Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award Awarded each year to a member of the Fifth Form who demonstrates exceptional promise in the sciences Carter ELLIS Harwood

The Williams Book Prize Given to a member of the Fifth Form who has demonstrated intellectual leadership and has made a significant contribution to the extracurricular life of the school MADELINE ANDERSON Lyons

The Rensselaer Medal Awarded to a promising Fifth Form student who has distinguished himself in mathematics and science ARTHUR JOSEPH Santry IV New England Science Teacher’s Award Awarded to that student who, through personal initiative, has done the most to promote awareness of science or technology Morgan FERRIS LaPointe and Ysis AVON Tarter The Fels Science Prize Given in honor of Stephen B. Fels ’58 and awarded each year to a member of the Lower School who has demonstrated exceptional enthusiasm for and proficiency in the experimental aspects of scientific inquiry Conor SEAMUS O’Shea and Evan CALDWELL Long The Bertrand B. Hopkins Environmental Sciences Prize Given by the Form of 1948 and awarded annually to a student who has demonstrated outstanding achievements in Environmental Studies

The Jefferson Book Award Given to a member of the Fifth Form whom the faculty considers to best represent the Jeffersonian ideals of scholarship, leadership, and citizenship ARTHUR JOSEPH Santry IV The Dartmouth Book Award Given to a member of the Fifth Form who is of strong character, has made a positive impact on the life of the School community, and has excelled in at least one non-academic area ChrisTOPHER STONE MacDonald The Wellesley Book Prize Given to young women who have been top scholars in high school as well as talented performers in extracurricular areas ABIGAIL ELDREDGE Morss The University of Chicago Book Prize Given to a member of the Fifth Form whom the faculty considers most dedicated in deep intellectual inquiry in a range of academic disciplines Luke Duroc-Danner

Morgane Isaure ELSPETH Richer La Flèche The Randolph College Classics Book Award Presented to a member of the Fifth Form who has demonstrated achievement in and enthusiasm for the Classics Cerel Munoz National Latin Exam This year all Latin students took the National Latin Exam, and 55 Groton students earned summa cum laude distinction and a gold medal. Two students, moreover, earned a perfect score, an achievement which only 0.4 percent of the nation’s participants attained. For this outstanding accomplishment, the American Classical League recognizes: Henry cleave Barker and Madeline claire Bossi

Graduates Kirsten Craddock and Fabrizio Giovannini Filho

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form of 2011 Diplomas and College Profiles Janet Omodele Adeola State University of New York, Geneseo Yoon Hae Ahn Magna Cum Laude Johns Hopkins University Blair St. John Amorello Cum Laude Vanderbilt University Elizabeth Abigail Bailey Denison University Kenneth Rudy Ballato, Jr. Cum Laude Cornell University Anne Julia Bergen Case Western Reserve William Graham Bolton Cum Laude Davidson College Rebecca Emily Brown Villanova University Charlotte Elizabeth   Penniston Bullard Davies Magna Cum Laude Vanderbilt University Meghan Marie Burke Stonehill College Bronwen Endolyne Carter University of Pennsylvania Sung Won Cho Summa Cum Laude Massachusetts Institute of Technology Weon Woo Choi Magna Cum Laude Princeton University Russell Jack Cohen Colby College James Reynolds Conner Bowdoin College Michael Warren Corkrum II Babson College James Connolly Cottone St. John’s College

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Kirsten Emily Stewart Craddock Cum Laude Georgetown University Mayra Cruz Cum Laude George Washington University Ngozi Alozie Erondu Villanova University Alice Sturges Gauvin Cum Laude Colby College Fabrizio Giovannini Filho, Jr. Magna Cum Laude Princeton University Katherine Chisholm Hambleton Cum Laude Tufts University Julia Wright Haney Harvard College Whitney Hyde Hartmeyer Trinity College Matthew Thomas Hennrikus Cum Laude Georgetown University Jocelyn Jane Hickcox Summa Cum Laude Stanford University Sung Hoon Hong Trinity College John Quincy Hunsicker Summa Cum Laude Middlebury College Joshua Lawrence Imhoff Magna Cum Laude Bowdoin College Ross Tyler Julian Brown University Hannah Katherine Kessler Cum Laude McGill University Adam Louis Klein Magna Cum Laude Yale University

Remington Forbes Knight University of Wisconsin Haley Jeanne Ladd-Luthringshauser Cum Laude Williams College Gerrit Alexander Lane Cum Laude University of California, Los Angeles Morgan Ferris LaPointe Cum Laude University of Montana, Missoula Katherine Donahue Lapres Fordham University Daniel Choi Lee Magna Cum Laude University of Chicago Do Yeon Lee Magna Cum Laude Columbia University Theodore Lawrence Leonhardt Magna Cum Laude Duke University Maxwell William Lindemann Columbia University Alexander Michael Machikas Furman University Nils Christopher Martin Colby College Michela Susan Mastrullo Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Prize Day

Sage Millicent Redman Goldsmith College, University of London

Kahlil Lorenzo Stuckey Randolph-Macon College

Hannah Cross Reeve Magna Cum Laude Middlebury College

Dilong Sun Summa Cum Laude Yale University

Catherine Lavin Reilly Magna Cum Laude Wesleyan University

Garrett Joseph Sunda Milwaukee School of Engineering

Faith Elizabeth Richardson Princeton University Morgane Isaure Elspeth Richer La Flèche Magna Cum Laude University of Chicago Daniel Rene Rodriguez Magna Cum Laude University of Pennsylvania Vincent Alexander McClelland University of Vermont Philip Gabriel McNamara Cum Laude College of the Holy Cross Julia Winslow Metzger Summa Cum Laude Princeton University Ji-Soo Min Summa Cum Laude Harvard College Connor James Wesley Miyamoto Cum Laude Hamilton College Brooke Lyman Moore Trinity College Zachary Arthur Kemeny Nicol Cum Laude Northwestern University

Marcel Romero Salve Regina University Andrew Y. Ryu Cum Laude Cornell University

Ysis Avon Tarter Magna Cum Laude Stanford University Rushi Yogendra Thaker Drexel University Orme Wilson Thompson Magna Cum Laude Harvard College John Russell Trautlein, Jr. Reed College Shalini Nili Trivedi Boston University

Edoardo Saravalle Magna Cum Laude University of Pennsylvania

Alison Grace Villa Cum Laude Boston College

Eriche Rochelle Sarvay Cum Laude Middlebury College

Kaitlin Paige Wagner Cum Laude Baylor University

Adriana Sclafani Fordham

Emory Howe Wellman Magna Cum Laude Georgetown University

Ward Ellis Scott III Cum Laude United States Naval Academy Zoe Marian Silverman Cum Laude George Washington University

Likhitha Palaypu University of St. Andrews, Scotland

Eric James Smyth Summa Cum Laude Amherst College

Madeleine Cosima Paul-Henriot Cum Laude Wellesley College

Alexander Talbot Southmayd Cum Laude Amherst College

Emma Parkman Peabody Tufts University

Abderahmane Sow Magna Cum Laude Dartmouth College

Adrianna Marie Pulford Cum Laude Hamilton College

Andrew John Swansburg Cum Laude Colby College

Michael Anthony Storace Cum Laude University of Vermont

Gage Shackleford Blauvelt Wells Magna Cum Laude University of Virginia Elizabeth Camilla West Wellesley College Jonathan Wilcox White Trinity College James Mason Wildasin, Jr. Gap Year John Ryan Wilkinson Bucknell University Yu Qing Zhang Cum Laude Vassar College

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Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle

Some 40 years ago, weekday Chapel Talks became regular occurrences at Groton. They are now a School tradition, four times a week, that welcomes parents, trustees, alumni, faculty, and students to address the School. The talks enrich the Groton experience by virtue of the ideas, experiences, and opinions that are expressed in Chapel as we begin our day. More than 100 speakers present each academic year. We offer three examples from the spring term here.

Why Groton is Different A Chapel Talk by D.D. Willard Gardiner, Jr. ’82, Trustee April 15, 2011

“I have shared honey and vodka with Russian truckers in a sauna in Northern Siberia near the Arctic Circle, and I have eaten shark fin soup with Chinese dignitaries in an exclusive Communist Party villa in Shanghai.”

A

s I went through my emails late on a rainy, cold February evening in London, I realized that my time had come … the long dreaded email from Rick Commons had arrived: “Dear Will, I hope you’ll forgive an email on an important subject, but the time difference is my excuse. I wonder if you would be willing to be the Chapel speaker on Friday, April 15, during Trustees Weekend. I think the faculty, the students, and your fellow trustees would greatly enjoy hearing from you. All the best, Rick.”

I knew that this was coming, but I wasn’t ready. And now … not only was I expected to speak, but also I was expected to say something that the faculty, students, and trustees would greatly enjoy hearing!

OK. I’ll give it my best shot. My goal is to tell you why I think Groton is different from all other schools. Or to put it another way, what is it about Groton that motivates me to fly over from London four times a year for these board meetings?

Let me take you back to June 3, 1979. Thirty-two years ago … before the Internet and smartphones, in the days of the Soviet Union and the Cold War. I was a 14-yearold third former, just finishing my second year at Groton. The Prize Day speaker was Brendan Gill, who was the editor of The New Yorker at the time. I remember seeing him standing at a lectern set up just outside this Chapel, on the other side of the wall to my left, addressing the School community. In those days, Prize Day was held on the lawn between the Chapel and the Dining Hall. He was giving advice to the departing sixth formers: “I will address myself to another kind of hazard that may be lurking in the back of your minds, and that is the possibility that your Groton experience will have proved so precious to you that nothing in the world outside or hereafter anywhere is likely to measure up to it. Two points in that respect: One, the world is full of wonders; it will not disappoint you. Point two, you won’t have stopped gaining from the Groton experience simply because it happens to be behind you in time.”

When I left Groton a few years later, I remembered that advice, and having now lived 29 years since leaving the School, I can say I absolutely agree with Brendan Gill.

The world is full of wonders, and I have been lucky enough to experience many. I have lived and traveled through much of the world—from Italy to Israel, and from Chile to Kazakhstan. I lived for two years in Mexico; I have lived the past 13 years in London.

I have shared honey and vodka with Russian truckers in a sauna in Northern Siberia near the Arctic Circle, and I have eaten shark fin soup with Chinese dignitaries in an exclusive Communist Party villa in Shanghai. I remember going to the movies in Guatemala when I was working there and seeing Star Wars in Spanish, and I have bought pressed butterflies from a young boy on a train heading down the Urubamba River to Macchu Pichu in Peru.

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Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle And I have continued to gain from my Groton experience—more so as it has receded. I have gained from my experiences with teachers and with friends, from the momentous experiences and the little ones.

I remember Bob Gula, my Second Form dorm master sitting at the end of our hall of cubicles after lights-out, reading “The Most Dangerous Game” to us as a bedtime story.

When I was in Second Form we didn’t have our own rooms, just a stall—probably more suited to housing a horse, separated from our formmates by just a thin red curtain.

Bob Gula was a fabulous teacher and my advisor. He was a concert pianist and a master linguist. Before computers were widespread, he had the job of creating a class schedule that matched 350 students with their teachers and classrooms. He also was a great eccentric, who would hide his bald spot by wrapping his quite long hair into a ball around the top of his head.

I remember the sound of our cleats clicking on the road as we walked out to play St. Mark’s in lacrosse our senior year—after losing the previous three years quite badly, we beat them that year. I remember walking to Johnson’s through apple orchards in the fall, as the leaves blazed in multicolor all around us. I remember the blizzard of 1978—more than 27 inches of snow, and people jumping into drifts out of secondstory windows. I remember reading The Odyssey in a one-on-one Greek tutorial with Mr. Sackett. (I think he did most of the reading!)

As Brendan Gill also said that day: “We mine our past as if it was the richest possible ore. You will be returning here a thousand times, ten thousand times, in memory.”

So Groton has its lacrosse games and its snowstorms, as do many other schools.

Groton has an incredibly beautiful campus and fabulous facilities, as do a few other schools. Groton has wonderful teachers and fabulous friends, and we create indelible memories here through great experiences. But what else is it?

Let me take you back again, to June of 1982, to the last time I stood up here. When I was the senior prefect that year, it was not customary for all Sixth Formers to give a Chapel Talk, but it was customary for the senior prefect to do so. So I gave a Chapel Talk about an incident that happened when I was a third former. It was an incident that had a dramatic impact on me—and still does.

A group of us third formers—possibly including Will Thorndike and Jimmy Windels, two of my fellow trustees—decided to conduct a snowball raid on the Second Form study hall. We gathered our snowballs, which quickly became ice as they melted in our warm hands, and stood poised outside the Schoolroom door. One of us ran into the back of the room and switched off the lights. We threw open the front door and threw our snowballs—right into the faces of charging second formers, who had quickly realized our plan when the lights went off.

I ran—leaving one second former hurt on the floor. After fleeing around the Circle and hiding out behind the Chapel (huddled behind a bush, again just behind this wall to my left) trying to figure out what to do, I cautiously returned to Brooks House, fully expecting the worst.

I stood outside my study and soon heard Mr. Gula—the Second Form dorm master and my advisor—coming down the hall.

“Where’s Gardiner?” he shouted. Mr. Gula stormed down the hall, with his hair no longer in a ball on top of his head, but flying out behind him. I presented myself.

He grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and marched me back to his study—or rather I half ran and half flew as he pulled me down the hall in a rage.

I emerged half an hour later, chastened and absolutely terrified. I won’t repeat here what he told me then, but rest assured, his “strong advice” as to how I should behave has been something that I often remember … and still live by.

So Groton is also a place where we grow up. We learn important lessons for life, often difficult ones, but lessons that are crucial in guiding our behavior in the world outside and beyond the Circle. But, to be fair, that happens at all boarding schools, and at day schools too. So what is different about Groton? What is special about it?

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Why Groton is different

George Dwight ’45 and his wife, Eleanor, were honored by the George H.P. Dwight and Eleanor C. Dwight Internship Fund, which sustained Naomi Wright ’13 during her summer work with New York’s Community Connection for Youth.

If it were just about the beautiful Circle, the great friends, the lessons, and the fun, it would be special and a lot of fun, but it wouldn’t be Groton.

Let me take you back one last time, to August 1977. I had recently been accepted into the Second Form. Rowland Cox, who had only been headmaster for a few years, died that August. My mother and stepfather, Eleanor and George Dwight, decided to bring me to his funeral. So we drove down from Maine. It was a beautiful summer day.

We drove in through the main gates and around the Circle—and I saw for the first time one of the most beautiful vistas in the world. I saw Brooks House, the Schoolhouse, Hundred House, and the Chapel for the first time.

We walked into the Chapel and saw a plaque in honor of Jerome Dwight, Form of ’47 and George’s brother. We sat in one of the pews, waiting as others filed in for the service. George said to me, “Will, you must remember the School’s motto: cui servire est regnare.”

“What does that mean,” I asked. He responded, “To whom service is perfect freedom.” “What does that mean?” I responded. “It means that one’s life is only truly fulfilled by serving others. That’s what this School is all about. You, as a Groton graduate, will have a real responsibility to give something back to the world. It is a great privilege to go to this School—with its great history, its great teachers, and beautiful grounds and buildings. Don’t waste that privilege!”

George Dwight, Form of ’45 (you can see his name on his form’s plaque in the front of the Schoolhouse, by happy coincidence just below mine, which is with the class of ’82) died about two years ago. He did his best to follow the School’s motto. He spent a lifetime involved in New York City politics, helping people in large ways and small—helping an old lady with her grocery shopping at D’Agostino’s on Columbus Avenue, or campaigning to protect small business owners threatened by the arrival of Walmart in Harlem.

After George died, my mother and I decided to set up the George H.P. Dwight Internship Fund. Sadly, my mother’s name, Eleanor C. Dwight, has also been added to the name of the fund. My mother passed away this past winter.

“You, as a Groton graduate, will have a real responsibility to give something back to the world. It is a great privilege to go to this School—with its great history, its great teachers, and beautiful grounds and buildings. Don’t waste that privilege!”

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Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle “I was really glad to learn that Naomi Wright ’13, who lives in New York City, will be the first recipient of the internship. Naomi will be working this summer with Community Connection for Youth, a nonprofit organization in the City whose mission is to develop effective community-based alternative-to-incarceration programs for youth.”

Practicing for the 2011 spring choir concert are Emma Paine ’14, Molly Belsky ’12, Marianna Gailus ’13, and KC Hambleton ’11.

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As hopefully you all know, the purpose of the fund is to foster a mindset of social justice and action that responds to long-term needs and leads to social change and community development. We wanted to provide an opportunity and an incentive for a Groton student to spend a summer giving something back to the urban communities of this country—and hopefully to New York—where George spent his whole life.

I was really glad to learn that Naomi Wright ’13, who lives in New York City, will be the first recipient of the internship. Naomi will be working this summer with Community Connection for Youth, a nonprofit organization in the City whose mission is to develop effective community-based alternative-to-incarceration programs for youth. Naomi will “interview youth who have been incarcerated to determine the key factors leading to their delinquency and what young people believe they need in order to turn their lives around.”

I know that my mom and George would have been really excited about your project, Naomi. I look forward to hearing how it goes.

So to me, cui servire est regnare is what brings me back here, on top of the great friends, teachers, and memories, and makes it worthwhile to spend time and money to make this a great School.

In closing, I’ll share with you one more Groton memory. Winters are long at Groton; there is nothing colder than walking around the Circle in front of the Fives Courts with the wind whipping up the snow just before 10 p.m. as you trudge back to check in.

And then spring comes. Sunshine, Frisbee, Roofball, lacrosse, baseball, and crew.

Classes outdoors.

In spring term there was nothing more fun than playing “foursquare” on the pavement outside the Schoolhouse. I assume that you still play; if not, the rules are not complicated. I would love to play later this afternoon and would invite anyone who’s interested to join me for a game.

Many thanks, and enjoy the spring.

Art and Beauty A Chapel Talk by Zachary A.K. Nicol ’11 May 27, 2011

“Art at its basest form is not entertainment—it is something less superficial.

It is the jump into someone else’s universe.”

Zach Nicol ’11 and Hannah Kessler ’11 at work in Kenya, Summer 2009

W

e have wants, and we have needs. It’s a simple concept—there are some things in life that we don’t require but we long for, desire, and some things that we must have to survive. As humans, you could say that we only need five things: oxygen, water, food, sleep, and protection from the elements. It’s certainly not a very long list—there’s not much else that we would need if we got lost in the mountains or became shipwrecked. All of those five essentials protect us from harm. But I would argue for a sixth essential.

Fundamental to our sanity, necessary for our lives—we need something greater than the simple protection of our physical selves to fuel us. Life is more than eating, drinking, sleeping, breathing; we wouldn’t survive very long if we did only that. We need a certain beauty upon which to thrive. Finding and creating beauty is one of the single most important things that a human can do, and I think we need it to live.

Beauty is a broad term, however, completely subjective in nature; something can be beautiful to one person and be ugly to the next. So why don’t we use the word: art.

The first definition of the word “art” in the Oxford English Dictionary says that it is “skill; its display, application, or expression.” The 25 definitions after that all say something different. So what is this thing that I dare call a necessity? What is art that I can rank it alongside air, food, and water? Should I be speaking for myself here, or can I really say that it is essential to human survival? Some describe art in terms of intent: the musician has placed the notes with intent; the sound of someone sitting on the piano keys by accident would not be art. The sculptor has molded the clay into what he wants; the discarded clay sitting on the table would not be art. Others have described it in terms of eliciting a reaction, good or bad, from another person. Or, art might be art when it is something created for the sole purpose of expressing emotion— good art expresses emotion better than bad art. The definition varies based on whom you talk to, and I’ve talked to a lot of people about this. But the question remains: how long can you go without art? To escape it completely would be an amazing feat; it is all around us. Creating something that is purely functional is almost impossible, because there are designed elements to virtually everything created in this world. We cannot escape seeing art every day. We cannot elude it. So, this question might be the most difficult to answer. And yet, wouldn’t you agree that there is a big difference between the “art” that we pass by on a daily basis and the art that we choose to see with intention? If you choose to go to a museum, or a play, or a concert, you are choosing to experience something artistic because you want to thrive off of it in some way. You want to feel emotion in something someone else has created; you want to live in someone else’s world for a moment. Seeing someone’s painting is viewing the world through his or her eyes; the same goes for hearing a song, or watching a dance.

Art at its basest form is not entertainment—it is something less superficial. It is the jump into someone else’s universe.

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Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle

Zach and other members of his Form at the piano at Parlor during their Fourth Form year

“People say, ‘I wasn’t given the talent,’ or, ‘I don’t have the skill,’ and I think, why should that mean you aren’t an artistic person? Human expression is the challenge of making your skill catch up to what you want to express.”

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I thrive off of what others create. Going to see a creation, whether it be a performance or a display, revives me like nothing else in this world. At the first step outside a theater or a concert hall after a performance, I feel reborn in a way, almost like I can see the world through a different lens, or add some sort of new depth to my own lens. Without art, I stay stagnant in my world view. It is the way I learn and experience the world.

I also thrive off of creating art. Self-expression is incredibly important to me, and I feel lucky that, at Groton, I have the means to artistically express myself in many different ways. However, creating art is one of the things that make some people stop in their tracks and back up. We’re talking about needs and survival here—how can you who think you couldn’t create anything artistic if you tried need creation and self-expression to survive?

I think about the fact that people say that they “aren’t artistic” a lot. People say, “I wasn’t given the talent,” or, “I don’t have the skill,” and I think, why should that mean you aren’t an artistic person? Human expression is the challenge of making your skill catch up to what you want to express. The great artists (dancers, painters, musicians, actors), they worked to match their skill to what they wanted to express, and the greatest artists probably achieved this equilibrium of skill and expression better than anyone else. I think of it as a point that gets closer and closer to another point, but can never touch. All of our artistic skills differ, and all of our skills can improve, moving closer to the point of ultimate individual expression, that is, what we want to say through our art. Every human on earth has something that they want to express artistically. That is a necessity. However, the skill may not be as high as what we may like, so we stop trying in frustration. Sometimes I see a painting hanging in a museum, and I say to myself, “I’d like to paint too,” because it seems like an amazing form of expression. So I go home, and I try to paint a self-portrait, and it is terrible. So I crumple it up, try again, and I end up looking like Barack Obama.

So I crumple it up, try again, and soon enough get frustrated. My skill, in this mode, has not caught up with what I am trying to express.

So, back to the question: if creation is indeed part of this “necessity” that we possess to experience art, how can the people who struggle to express themselves need art to survive?

Training is one way; simple exposure to art is another. At Groton, talented individuals continue to create art and expose us all to their worlds through music, theater, writing, drawing, dancing, and all the other modes of expression. For a school, I believe one of

Art and Beauty the most important things it can provide for students is exposure to art, and we have more exposure at Groton, at this moment, than ever during my time here. You go to a recital or see a performance, and you can become inspired to an unimaginable depth.

The sheer beauty of so much of the art that is created on this campus astounds me every time I experience it. Tomorrow evening, we will experience a purely student-created piece of theater in the CPAC, which I think is absolutely extraordinary and speaks miles toward the need for students to express themselves artistically. Viewing a piece of theater like that, walking through the art center and looking at the paintings and photographs, reading something written by your classmate—it can give you the drive to increase your skill. When I see virtuosity in art, something that someone has created that no one else on this world could create, it makes me want to become better in my craft, or start educating myself in a new craft.

You who struggle with art: how can you take the expression that you have within you and set it out there for the world to see? Through this cycle of inspiration, education, creation, inspiration, education, creation.

The cycle is a way to create multi-faceted artists. The worst thing artists could do to themselves would be to specialize. How could you? Art is all interconnected, interwoven, a web of means to create beauty. Artists need to grow as artists, not just as writers, or painters, or actors. How could you just write, or paint, or act? To be able to express yourself fully, you need to do all three and more. You know what you thrive on—you know the way you express yourself. For the musicians, dance as you make music. For the actors, paint with the words you say. For the visual artists, sing with what you draw on the canvas. It is difficult, but it will get you where you need to go, push those points of skill and expression closer and closer.

I am only just coming to terms with the idea that we need art to survive. Artistic expression, both in experiencing it and creating it, can affect us deeply if we let it.

Expressing myself—it was first something I did, then something I wanted to do, then something I needed to do. And slowly but surely, it transformed into my food, my water, my air, and my shelter.

One thing I truly believe is that you do not need to express yourself for other people; you express yourself for yourself. If you still think that you lack whatever necessary “skills” you need to create art, all you need to do is try expressing for yourself, not for anyone else.

This is a true story—two legendary artists were sitting in a restaurant in New York City late at night. Both were known for their pioneering dance and choreography: Agnes de Mille and Martha Graham. It was in 1943, during the run of a musical called Oklahoma!, for which de Mille was hired to choreograph. De Mille says that she was “bewildered” because she had gained “unexpected, flamboyant success for a work [she] thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work [she] thought was fine.” She told Martha that she had a “burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that [she] could be.” Graham began to speak softly, and said this, which I will keep with me for the rest of my life: “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.”

“You go to a recital or see a performance, and you can become inspired to an unimaginable depth. The sheer beauty of so much of the art that is created on this campus astounds me every time I experience it.”

Zach playing Papa Ge, the demon of death, in the fall 2010 performance of Once on This Island

— Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham (Random House, 1991)

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Circiter | Featured on Campus

On Being Wrong A Chapel Talk by Alice S. Gauvin ’11 May 20, 2011

Callout

Alice Gauvin in her role as Ti Moune in the 2010 fall performance of Once on This Island

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D

uring one long conversation at dinner, Hannah and I pooled our knowledge of human tastes and opinions to form an important conclusion. There are two types of people in the world: those who prefer dark chocolate and those who prefer milk chocolate. We then expanded this conclusion—anyone who prefers milk chocolate is inherently less “deep” and less interesting than those who favor dark chocolate. White chocolate lovers were later placed on an intellectual rung even lower than milk chocolate. And as for the unnatural few who dislike chocolate altogether—well, they were not worth including.

Of course, it only took polling the five or six other students in the senior section for us to realize that this conclusion was utterly inaccurate. To be honest, the only information we started with was our mutual taste for dark chocolate—from there, the rest was speculation. This conversation of ours has been one of several during which one small correspondence of ideas has carried us away to draw irrational and, frankly, silly conclusions. I guess we could justify these conversations by saying, “Well, look at Aristotle, he thought that matter could be created out of thin air. Einstein advocated the ‘static universe.’ Even the greatest minds are wrong sometimes. But then again, both these scientific theories were substantiated by evidence. Not to mention it might be a stretch to compare our brains to those of Aristotle and Einstein.

Even though ours was an obviously silly idea, it was still a disappointment to find it so easily proven wrong. There must be something embedded in the culture here that makes many of us absolutely recoil from the idea of being wrong about something.

Most of us, I’m sure, have been at a lunch table when someone, let’s say person A, happens to say something that person B absolutely disagrees with, and then persons C, D, E, F, G, and H join in one heated argument. Usually someone storms off before lunch is over. It’s a Groton phenomenon.

Classroom discussions mimic the Dining Hall environment, or maybe it’s the other way around. At any rate, you can partake in some really first-class bickering in pretty much any classroom, if you so choose. I remember one Expo class in particular in which this bickering was particularly aggressive. We had just read Cynthia Ozick’s essay “On Excellence,” in which Ozick compares her mother’s exuberance to her own controlled perfectionism. Reading this in the library the night before, I had gotten pretty excited because I completely recognized my own personality in Ozick’s description of her mother. She writes, “She was an optimist who ignored trifles: for her, God was not in the details but in the intent.” Was she saying that was excellence?

If so, my carelessly slapdash approach to everything in my life was not only justified, but apparently commendable. Unfortunately, James Cottone didn’t interpret Ozick’s meaning that way at all. In class, Mr. Goodrich unknowingly tossed a hand grenade when he asked, “Which is real excellence, the exuberance or the perfectionism?”

My natural stubbornness was aided in this argument by the fact that I was basically

On Being Wrong justifying my own character, and the debate that ensued was an epic battle that lasted the rest of the class period. Neither of us would allow ourselves to be proven wrong.

I think it’s fair to say that most of us here hate being proven wrong. I certainly do.

Unfortunately, this is something I’ve had to wrestle with all my life, because, truth be told, I am wrong a lot. I was wrong during my first week of freshman year, when I boldly insisted to my history class that India belonged to the continent of Africa; I was wrong the other day when I referred to the Lakers as a football team; and I have said and will continue to say something completely wrong at least once every chemistry class for the rest of the year. And still, being wrong hasn’t gotten any easier.

Here especially, being incorrect is often treated as a kind of uncomfortable situation.

Many people utter the timid phrase, “I think you might be wrong about that” in the same manner one might say, “I think your fly is unzipped”—in other words, with obvious embarrassment. Of course, there is the other extreme, the Jocelyn Hickoxes of the world who seem to relish in the art of a good, solid “shut-down.” Then there is the drawn-out, blunt response—the one Mr. Lamont has perfected so beautifully: the unresponsive, blank stare for one, two, three, four seconds and then …“No.” Being on the receiving end of any of these reactions can really make you squirm with discomfort.

And trust me, I speak from extensive experience.

Why does it bother us so much to be wrong once in a while? Isn’t it one of the first phrases you learn in Latin, errare est humanum—to err is human? And as we’ve already established, even the greatest minds, like Einstein and Aristotle, are sometimes wrong.

So really, it shouldn’t matter if we are not right all the time. But for many of us, it does.

One could argue that this is just the steely competitive drive that attracts students to Groton in the first place. We are taught to hold true to our convictions, and are given the liberty to voice our disagreement freely. Furthermore, Groton teaches us how to thoughtfully and articulately express an opinion or argument. This is a skill few teenagers can claim to have. Unfortunately, the danger is that we articulate an argument, and because it’s neat and convincing, we assume it’s right. This is another Groton phenomenon.

Sometimes this tendency can lead us to confuse fact with opinion—a dangerous mistake to make, because it can lead us to skirt the edges of intellectual conceit. Here’s a real-life example from my own experience: Say you come up with an excellent phrase justifying your dislike of opera, such as, “Opera is not music. It is a cacophony of fat men and women bellowing to each other in Italian about infidelity.” Sounds like a pretty convincing argument? Well, it’s still not a fact. It is an opinion and should be expressed as such, not as a universal truth. Because some people happen to like opera.

Other times, we latch onto an idea merely because we know others will disagree.

Last year in bioethics, Mr. Pomeroy used a typical moral analogy: there is a train heading down a track about to hit five people, but you could pull a lever and make the train switch tracks to hit only one person. Do you pull the lever? Everyone was silently contemplating this quandary. Everyone, that is, except Harsh Govil, who replies after a moment, “Kill the five people of course.” When Mr. Pomeroy asked why, Harsh replied, in a tone which suggested he was stating the obvious, “Overpopulation.” He then added, “Do you have any idea the toll it’s taking on the economy?” For those of you who didn’t know Harsh, this tongue-in-cheek argument was not at all out of character. He was a master at playing a convincing devil’s advocate. But of course, he is not the only one who has earned this title. Groton seems to breed students who are champions at arguing just for the sake of an argument.

Naturally, these disagreements spark some very engrossing debates, both in and out of the classroom. Teachers certainly do all they can to fan the flames of dispute in class, and with good reason—it generates the most interesting discussions and creates an active learning environment. In fact I think these discussions are the most valuable aspect of the education here, and certainly the most enjoyable. Especially since, most of the time, there is no right or wrong answer.

Chemistry teacher Bobby Lamont P ’09, ’12 assists students in her afternoon lab.

“Why does it bother us so much to be wrong once in a while? Isn’t it one of the first phrases you learn in Latin, errare est humanum—to err is human? And as we’ve already established, even the greatest minds, like Einstein and Aristotle, are sometimes wrong.”

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Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle

Members of the Form of 2011 at Parlor

“Really, is it more interesting or more significant that Napoleon was defeated in June as opposed to July, or that Shakespeare wrote 37 plays as opposed to 137? The minute you can answer a question with a cold, hard fact—that is when the question loses its significance.”

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We’ve all heard this before, yet it is a fact that is difficult for many of us to come to grips with—the notion that, at the end of the day, we still might not have the right answer. Yes, in math you learn that x equals x, and x does not equal x plus five. Yes, the Earth spins on its axis, the moon revolves around the Earth, and the Earth revolves around the sun. Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo on June 18, 1815; a star is composed of burning plasma held together by gravity; and Shakespeare wrote 37 plays in his lifetime. All these facts appear to be concrete and irrefutable. If you said that the Earth revolved around the moon which is made of green cheese, you would be wrong.

So solid facts do exist.

But what good are they, actually?

Really, is it more interesting or more significant that Napoleon was defeated in June as opposed to July, or that Shakespeare wrote 37 plays as opposed to 137? The minute you can answer a question with a cold, hard fact—that is when the question loses its significance.

Over spring break, I was in New York City for a few days, and while I was there I went to see a play by Tom Stoppard entitled Arcadia. In fact, it was while watching this play that I hatched a tentative idea for this Chapel Talk. Arcadia takes place at a grand estate in the English countryside, where a scientist and two literature academics are researching different aspects of the history of the house. One makes the grave mistake of calling the other’s research “trivial.” This starts a vicious debate between the three of them over the importance of science and math versus the importance of literature.

Later, after the dust has settled, one of them remarks: “Comparing what we’re looking for misses the point. It’s wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we’re going out the way we came. That’s why you can’t believe in the afterlife. … Believe in the after, by all means, but not the life. Believe in God, the soul, the spirit, the infinite, believe in angels if you like, but not in the great celestial get-together for an exchange of views. If the answers are in the back of the book, I can wait, but what a drag. Better to struggle on knowing that failure is final.”

It is a comfort to know that in less than three weeks, when the senior class has said goodbye to Groton, at least we will be well primed for college; for “the active work of life”; and of course, for the “undiscovered country” beyond. We will be well prepared, not only armed by the names, dates, equations, and other facts we know to be “right,” but with the ability to question—to articulately and tactfully disagree. Yet I believe it’s necessary to temper this skill with the humility that comes from sitting across the table as Mr. Lamont gives you his withering response in the negative; that comes from getting a C on the paper you were sure you would ace; that comes from the understanding that you aren’t meant to be right about everything and that you are meant to stumble sometimes. Can you imagine how boring, how disappointing it would be, if the answers were all in the back of the book? After all, to err is human—it’s wanting to know that makes us matter.

Personae | People of Note

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Personae | People of Note

Acting “As if …”

A Profile of Elizabeth (Lisa) G. Abbott ’88

by Elizabeth E. Graves ’88

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S

ocial justice has long been a part of Lisa Abbott’s life. As a young girl she accompanied her father on a day trip to New York City to march outside the United Nations against nuclear proliferation. She remembers clearly that she and her father were asked to help carry a banner that read “Fund Human Needs.” The declaration on the banner puzzled Lisa. Just what was the connection between funding human needs and stopping nuclear proliferation?

What Lisa took away from her experience marching outside the U.N. was that when there is something really important at stake, people can come together, and from that comes a sense of power and hopefulness. It was an impression that Lisa would always keep with her at Groton, as a member of Groton Community Service and as captain of the field hockey and ice hockey teams. I remember distinctly the morning in Roll Call, our Fifth Form year, when Lisa and other formmates stood and sang “We Shall Overcome” in response to an offensive Chapel Talk given by a sixth former. It was a painful moment at Groton, where opinions and feelings ran deep, but I always remember the courage Lisa and Lori Hill and others showed in clasping hands and singing.

It is Lisa’s courage to this day that compels me to write this profile. I want to share Lisa’s story with Groton students wrestling with the life question “what next?” after Groton, after college … and I also want to share Lisa’s work with alumni who may be helping to shape corporate sustainability initiatives and state and national energy policy.

Lisa’s current focus is Kentucky, my home state. In Kentucky, Lisa says, “environmental issues, at their core, are human rights issues. The two are not separate matters.” During a recent interview, I asked Lisa about how her work today took root early in life.

Lisa gave her parents, both teachers at Millbrook School in the 1980s, credit for influencing her first. Mr. and Mrs. Abbott had been influenced by the 1960s and lived their values of equality, thrift, and sustainability daily. Lisa studied them closely, looking for signs of hypocrisy, especially during her teenage years, but she found little evidence.

Throughout her time at Groton, Lisa served the School community as a leader in social issues, athletics, and as a lower school prefect. In fall 1988, Lisa headed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead Scholar.

When Lisa got to college, she was determined to act on her values, not just talk about them. During the first week of school, Lisa attended her first meeting of the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC). Dynamic student leaders spoke, and Lisa was inspired. The group became Lisa’s community and defined Lisa’s college experience for the entire four years. In fact, as she recalled, she attended “the University of SEAC” from that point on. Students taught each other how to work democratically

Lisa Abbott ’88

Lisa Abbott ’88 and her eldest son, Myles

and disagree, how to establish common goals and strategy, and how to get work accomplished. We learned the importance of challenging oppression, respecting quiet voices, and celebrating small successes. We learned from our mistakes and from the time-honored tradition of ready, fire … aim!”

One particular issue made a lasting impression on Lisa and informed much of her elective course work at UNC. In 1989, the state of North Carolina began to build dump sites for out-of-state nuclear and hazardous waste. Lisa and others watched as the state tried to locate the facilities in various communities. Inevitably, local politicians would say ”yes” to the “jobs” and local citizens would say “no” to the waste itself. Citizens would organize against locating the facility in a given area based on the threat it could pose to the water sources nearby, and the state would shift to proposing the sites in more rural, usually lower-income areas populated by minorities. Lisa noted that decisions were being made on political grounds, not scientific ones. Politics and inequality lay beneath what she had thought was an environmental issue. The links between economic justice, racial justice, and environmental justice became clear to her. The ever-present question in her mind became “How can we build communities that have good jobs without expense to people’s health, quality of life, and the environment?”

As a college senior, contemplating her first job, Lisa began looking for an organization that would give her the opportunity to learn how to engage people directly affected by various injustices and to help them “figure out how to fight back.” Lisa found her match in Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. Two weeks after graduating from UNC, Lisa began working as a community organizer in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. She found herself in the heart of Central Appalachia’s coal-producing counties at a time when surfacemining techniques such as strip-mining and mountaintop removal were growing in prevalence. Lisa worked with several small communities struggling with the impacts of surface and underground mining. Together, they worked to protect communities and demand enforcement of existing state laws.

That same fight, to right the imbalances between the “Goliath” coal industry and the local “David” citizens in the mountains of Kentucky, continues today. Local citizens are empowered to choose routes to effect change, with support from KFTC staff. Media interviews feature volunteer members, not staff. Only on rare occasions do organizers like Lisa make the front page of a major state newspaper.

February 11, 2011, was one such occasion. A diverse group of Kentuckians, aided by KFTC staff including Lisa Abbott, requested a meeting with Governor Steve Beshear.

Lisa noted that decisions were being made on political grounds, not scientific ones. Politics and inequality lay beneath what she had thought was an environmental issue. The links between economic justice, racial justice, and environmental justice became clear to her.

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“I believe that each of us must pursue our lives as if our actions matter, as if what we do makes a difference. This is, I think, an operational definition of hope. Hope is not the same as expecting a good outcome. As Vaclav Havel explained, hope is the belief that something is worth doing, regardless of the outcome.”

Lisa, second from right, stands with fellow members of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth as they emerged from the state capitol after a weekend sit-in.

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They wanted to express their strong disagreement with his decision to join with the National Mining Association in a lawsuit against the EPA. After a cordial 30-minute conversation with the governor, the group decided that their requests had not been met, and members decided to risk arrest by not vacating the premises. Their intent was to spend the weekend in protest in the governor’s antechamber.

As Lisa described it, people were fed up. “The same protest signs used in the 1960s were still relevant today, the coal industry’s abuses hadn’t changed, the dynamic hadn’t changed in the state, and it was time to garner national attention.” For 50 years, residents of Eastern Kentucky had been turning to their elected officials to try to get reasonable laws passed to protect the air, land, and water around them. For the first time since a 1977 federal surfacemining law was passed, the federal government was saying “we’ll follow the science” and figure out how to fully and fairly enforce the Clean Water Act and the federal surfacemining law. And yet the state government was trying to block this effort, Lisa explained.

As a group of longtime KFTC members saw the situation, “it was long past time” to make their case and put the issue “on the front page.”

“At least for a couple of days,” Lisa recalled, “Kentucky had a conversation about what’s going on in its mountains and about the role state government is playing or isn’t playing to solve problems.”

Ultimately, the governor committed only to two things. He agreed to visit the communities devastated by nearby mountaintop removal, and he agreed to speak out against the violent nature of the debate happening in those communities. To this day, Governor Beshear’s administration continues to thwart federal efforts to enforce existing mining laws and regulations that would stop the most egregious environmental methods of coal mining.

Yet, Lisa remains committed and hopeful. As she revealed to UNC students at a recent celebration, “I believe that each of us must pursue our lives as if our actions matter, as if what we do makes a difference. This is, I think, an operational definition of hope. Hope is not the same as expecting a good outcome. As Vaclav Havel explained, hope is the belief that something is worth doing, regardless of the outcome. By acting as if what we do makes a difference, we release ourselves from paralysis that can otherwise set in. We don’t have to decide whether or not it will matter. We can simply choose to act as if it does. Similarly, when we volunteer or commit to live a life of service, we are acting as if our individual choices are worthwhile. And lo and behold, when enough people act as if what we do makes a difference, anything becomes possible.”

Commemorating 27 Years at Groton

Mary Ellen Sweeney

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t Prize Day, Rick Commons talked of how for 18 years Mary Ellen Sweeney has been the welcoming face of Groton School to so many in the Admission Office. She surely has been that, but she has been much more as well. One of the sustaining aspects of our lives in this community is that we have the chance to play many roles. Well, by my count, Mary Ellen has played at the very least four critical roles during her career at Groton.

Nancy Hughes, English teacher and Community Service coordinator, gave Mary Ellen this tribute at the year-end festivities.

Role One: Dorm Head

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ack in the day when former Headmaster Bill Polk had to gain Board approval to allow a non-teaching faculty member to run a dorm, after calling multiple references he placed Mary Ellen in charge of the second form girls dorm. And what an extraordinary dorm head she was. This nine-year period running Sweeney’s Dorm has served as the cornerstone of Mary Ellen’s work here, grounding her always with a deep awareness of the responsibilities of working in a boarding school. As adults in this community we serve in loco parentis. Mary Ellen understood the meaning of this from the beginning of her time here until her final night of duty in the girls third form dorm. I have chuckled in the past few years when I have heard a second or third former

Above: Mary Ellen Sweeney stands with advisees Aria Kopp ’13, Madeleine Cohen ’13, Helen Woolworth ’06, Olivia Trase ’12, and Lori Hill ’88.

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“I will never forget how with tenderness and purpose she took care of me and helped me grow—at my own pace— this first year at Groton.”

comment about how “mean Ms. Sweeney is,” how “strict,” how “she doesn’t like me.”

They are children, and what Mary Ellen knows—that they don’t—is that children need boundaries and clarity—and quiet—to study. They also need patience, understanding, comfort, and gently offered advice, and few among us have offered as much of these as Mary Ellen has. Here is what one former member of Sweeney’s Dorm had to say about Mary Ellen: “For all of us young kids away from our parents for the first time, Ms. Sweeney’s support proved invaluable, and I cannot thank her enough for her dedication to us all.

Groton will not be the same without her.”

And another: “Ms. Sweeney was my second form dorm head in 1989. I was 13 years old and desperately homesick for warmer weather and the familiarity of my family and my small town, Beaufort, South Carolina. Ms. Sweeney spent many, many nights with me, tucking me into bed in my curtained cubicle, listening to me weep and worry, and simply being a steady voice of strength and a shoulder to cry on. I never felt judged or hurried by her. She took me seriously, which matters a great deal when you are young and struggling.

“Ms. Sweeney is one of those people who have that wonderful gift of making those around her feel calm and safe. She is gentle and wise, honest and nurturing. I will never forget how with tenderness and purpose she took care of me and helped me grow—at my own pace—this first year at Groton. As much as anyone, Ms. Sweeney represents for me all the best that Groton is and stands for, and I will always be grateful for my time under her warm and supportive watch.”

Role Two: Advisor

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A new rowing shell for the boys program was donated this spring in honor of Mary Ellen and Hoyt.

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ne of Mary Ellen’s many responsibilities in the Admission Office was pairing advisors with new students. While in the Deans’ Office, I did this work with her, and learned a great deal in the process. An easy approach to this matching process would be to see what adults were available and connect them with kids they would see naturally and frequently in a class or on the field somewhere. But that was not Mary Ellen’s approach. What some might do in a period of hours usually took us two full days, as Mary Ellen reviewed her notes, reflected on the needs of the family, measured the child’s—and the adult’s—personality, remembered the cousin’s bad experience—you get the picture.

Reading through the collection of advisee letters Helen Woolworth ’06 compiled for Mary Ellen, I was struck by the following comment of a current fifth former:

Mary Ellen Sweeney “I definitely lucked out when Ms. Sweeney was appointed my advisor my third form year; I couldn’t ask for anyone better suited to me. She accepted my relative quietness as well as my otherwise eccentric moments. It’s almost hard to believe just how accommodating and sweet she is toward everyone she meets. She would take time out of her day just to stop me and tell me how beautiful I looked that day. I must say, those compliments made my entire week. As well, she would never fail to tell me how wonderfully I was doing, or else compliment my maturity. She really was my mother away from home. Though I can thank her a thousand times, I don’t think I could ever repay her for what she has done for me. She was such a significant part of my Groton career, and I am truly sad not to have her as my advisor my senior year. Regardless, I will probably come to see Ms. Sweeney all the time anyway, just for visits. You are amazing, Ms. Sweeney!”

Amazing indeed. What this young woman does not know is that there was no “luck” involved in her coming to have Mary Ellen as an advisor. When this student’s name came up, Mary Ellen said quite quickly, “Oh, I have to take her.” Not a greedy act on her part, to save the best for herself, but rather a way of easing a reserved child (and her nervous mother) into life at Groton. Classic Mary Ellen—a deeply conscientious admissions professional and an extraordinary advisor.

Role Three: Mother and Femme Fatale

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uring her time at Groton, Mary Ellen (with Hoyt) has raised three stunning young men. Mary Ellen also has helped to raise countless young women, adoptive daughters—students and young faculty, who have received in Mary Ellen a mother figure and a mentor. Blending her toughness and unyielding conviction with graciousness and compassion, Mary Ellen has offered all of them comfort, counsel, and courage.

One advisee remembered that Mary Ellen had described her as “a femme fatale with a kind heart.” The former advisee went on: “My inner steadiness and confidence today are traits that I’m proud of and traits that I attribute greatly to your help. Together, they’ve gotten me far. I’m the vice president of my finals club. I’m running a mentoring program for high school girls about women’s empowerment, and I have wonderful friends. I had never heard of the phrase ‘femme fatale’ until you explained it to me, and I’ve done my best to live up to its independent and strong definition. You showed me that I could get through anything, and I’ll be forever grateful.”

“Mary Ellen has also helped to raise countless young women, adoptive daughters—students and young faculty, who have received in Mary Ellen a mother figure and a mentor. Blending her toughness and unyielding conviction with graciousness and compassion, Mary Ellen has offered all of them comfort, counsel, and courage.”

Role Four: Gift and Deal Sealer

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ill Polk once told a mother of an incoming student that he had given her a gift—that “gift” was Mary Ellen as an advisor to her daughter. And that daughter wrote recently to Mary Ellen: “There is no chance that [Mr. Polk] had any idea what a gift he was actually giving. Through the good times and the bad, the doors to your office and home were always open, and I will always be so thankful for that.”

A couple of days ago, I was talking with a current parent, and when I mentioned my sadness at Mary Ellen’s departure, she gasped and said, “What?! Mary Ellen is the deal-sealer in admissions. What will they do without her?”

Mary Ellen has been working at it from the beginning to the end—the welcoming face and the deal-sealer. She has sold so many on Groton and so many of us have been sold on her. She is a gift to all of us, a guide, and an inspiration. We can’t return what she has offered us. We can only offer her our thanks and love, and wish her great joy.

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A Fond Farewell

John M. Niles Faculty member for 21 years

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ohn came to Groton from St. Andrew’s School in Delaware, where he taught English and coached rowing and basketball in addition to serving as director of admission. During his many years at Groton, John served as director of admission, English teacher, rowing and basketball coach, faculty sponsor for The Circle Voice, editor of the Quarterly, dorm head with his wife, Kim, and in his last four years on the Circle, Groton’s first director of communications. In the coming years, John will continue to pursue his love of music and hopes to share his admission and communications expertise with other independent schools as a consultant.

The following reflections pay tribute to John’s impact on members of the Groton community. John, thank you for all you have given Groton over the years.

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~

hen I told my friends in Chapel Hill that I was considering boarding school, most wondered what offense required exile, and I headed north uncertain. I was very fortunate that John Niles interviewed me, and his memories from his undergrad days at UNC reassured me that I wouldn’t be the only Tarheel on the Circle. (Only after I arrived in my third form fall did I learn that an archrival Blue Devil, Mr. Alexander, lurked down the hall from Mr. Niles’ office.) This comforting introduction set the tone for a fun visit, and I had no doubt that Groton would be a wonderful home.

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John with his son, Ben ’02, and his wife, Kim

Our paths crossed many times around the Circle in the next couple years, and in fifth form, I was glad to fall under Mr. Niles’ daily watch on the river. My initiation was a wet, cold preseason, which might have been a miserable experience were it not for the spirit Mr. Niles instilled—that hard work would conquer the elements and yield rewards in the months ahead. That year, 1994, Mr. Niles had taken over boys crew from Todd Jesdale, who had coached the Zebra first boat to consecutive undefeated seasons. Tackling the season with quiet confidence, Mr. Niles led us to an undefeated season and a NEIRA championship; the next year, our one blemish, a onetenth second loss at the NEIRAs (which still shattered the course record), was redeemed through an open-water victory at the inaugural national championships in Cincinnati.

Mr. Niles offered firm but restrained leadership, setting expectations but giving his athletes the room to find our route.

There was little yelling and less drama, rather a fatherly figure setting out a challenging program that stretched our limits within workouts and improved our rowing over the season.

Within this framework, he tweaked here, adjusted there, but mainly let us develop.

He made sure the season wasn’t only about the sport, but also about the team and the School, and he forged this camaraderie throughout the season: Mrs. Niles’ family hosted us on an away race; 1996 graduate Damien Zunino’s parents threw a grand feast the night before another; and Doc Scudder uttered annual pre-NEIRA incantations, quickened by a quart of Quinsig [Quinsigamond River] water over the bow. Importantly, Mr. Niles’ approach affirmed that the crew succeeded because of,

John M. Niles not in spite of, its foundation in the greater Groton community.

He was a stalwart of the School traditions that brought all together, undivided by form, gender, or interest—morning Chapel, Sit-Down Dinner, Roll Call—and these ceremonies redounded in the boathouse’s wooden plaques and on the Nashua’s immutable banks, reminding us that while we might chart our own course, we remained part of a broader family of students, faculty, and staff who drew strength from those before us and sustained a creed for those who might follow. Our shells bore the names of not only rowing legends and benefactors, but also of schoolmasters who, although they never took a stroke, still inspired us as students and as oarsmen.

Sports teach a tough lesson found nowhere else on campus—that no matter your effort, a team’s talent, and a year’s preparation, a season may still end in defeat. Unlike in academics, your success depends completely on your comrades, and unlike in the arts, there is always a loser. Disappointing though it may be, defeat doesn’t always spell failure, and a season may bear sweeter fruit than a championship. So Mr. Niles, in the days before the final race of the season, declared, “The hay is in the barn.” How we harvested is probably more important than how many bushels we reaped, and I’m forever grateful that Mr. Niles taught us the yeoman way.

—Henry Nuzum ’95

T

~

he electric guitar rests against the amplifier, its brilliant sunburst finish reflecting light onto the walls of the studio. The instrument’s exquisite appearance suggests an extraordinary sound that will surely include deep bass tones and the ability to sustain a note longer than any human voice can. John Niles gently lifts up the guitar, adjusts the strap, and begins to play. Holding the instrument as carefully as a mother or father would hold a baby, John begins to strum the strings softly. Around the room echoes a soulful melody, probably written in the Mississippi Delta back in the 1920s. John looks blissful and content.

John Niles is passionate about guitars and passionate about the blues. He owns several guitars, and each one is cared for as if it were one of the crown jewels of England. Over the past two decades, John has mastered many of the techniques of this quintessentially American art form, as well as acquired an extraordinary grasp of the history of the genre. He listens often to the most obscure recordings of blues artists and watches

John carrying alumnus-to-be Ben ’02

YouTube clips of his hero Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones in order to figure out exactly how Keith plays a particular song.

As a key member of the “faculty” band, which has performed for more than a decade under various names, including the Faculty Band, the Diminished Faculties, and Viagra Falls, John has taught us a lot of classic blues songs (and Rolling Stones songs) and has led our group in many memorable performances, often during the school year’s final morning Chapel service in June.

Both of us have played in lots of bands with lots of people, but we have never played in a band with someone so easy and so pleasant to work with. Always agreeable and humble, John, the son of a U.S. Naval officer, was also utterly reliable. Indeed, he is the antithesis of the traditional blues musician, and, thankfully, the only aspect of Keith Richards that John emulates is his musicianship.

We also both coached boys basketball and boys crew with John, and we can attest to John’s powerful desire to win and to teach his charges how to do the same. John’s booming voice would reverberate along the bank of the Nashua River—“Pull harder!”—and on the basketball court; he demanded the best from his players. This aspect of John would seem somewhat incongruous to John’s easygoing manner as a musician. Yet playing music with John, we saw the same dedication and intensity in his pursuit of excellence that he brought every day to his job at Groton School.

We will miss our bandmate and colleague as he heads off for the almost inevitable solo music career. We know that with his stable of guitars and Kim, his most devoted groupie, at his side, he will never really be feeling the blues, only singing them.

—Thomas S. Lamont, faculty member since 1997 and William F. Maguire, faculty member since 1985

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Gallery News Christopher Carey Brodigan Gallery fall

Exhibit

Personal Mythologies Works by Abdellah RamRam and Cher Shaffer September 19 through December 9, 2011

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bdellah RamRam was born in Morocco in 1966 and raised in a family of artists: his father was a designer, and his mother made carpets. He has been drawing his entire life. After extensive travels through Europe, he moved to the United States in 2000 and settled in Boston.

RamRam is a vigilant observer of his surroundings. His work consists of intricately rendered ink drawings that explore the complexities of life, creation myths, religion, and spirituality.

Using a ballpoint pen as his primary tool, RamRam creates, in an obsessive manner, complex patterns that fill the drawing surface.

Layers of imagery emerge from this maze of patterns, forming delicate interpretations of mythological creatures, goddesses, religious figures, zodiac symbols, trees, and animals.

He is deeply concerned about current world politics, and his drawings cry out against war and inhumanity and plea for a universal respect for nature and the gifts of the Earth. The stylistic and cultural influences of North Africa are evident throughout his drawings, which are reminiscent of Moroccan textiles and mosaics.

“My real inspiration comes in the evening, when I can see the world in front of me without interruption. As I become immersed in my work, these heavy subject matters almost become muted by the intricate and obsessive patterns of color and texture. I allow myself to be seduced by this meditative process. I only hope my audience will also be seduced by, at least, the visual beauty of this work, no matter what spiritual or cultural background.”

– Abdellah RamRam

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Gallery News

C

her Shaffer was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1947 on a small farm. She spent her youth surrounded by earth, sky, and the whistling pines of the American South. Her mother, who was of Native American descent, accompanied Shaffer on many of her long walks and taught her about the woods and lands that they both cherished.

Shaffer began painting shortly after the death of her gifted mother. As she explains, this event opened a “Pandora’s box” of emotions and memories. Painting these memories seemed the best way to express and preserve her cherished childhood. In 1978, with no formal training, Shaffer began transferring her memories to canvas. It was a significant factor in healing her grief. Her early works are depictions of church gatherings, warm holidays, festive celebrations, and everyday farm chores. They are idyllic and flavored by the innocence of youth. Shaffer’s work developed and began to depart from these traditional folk art scenes into true fantasy. Electric color and smooth graceful lines evolved.

In 1985, Shaffer’s life again took a tragic turn. Due to extreme exhaustion, her heart failed. She emerged from this terrifying event with a greater sense of responsibility for what she would leave behind. Her work began to explore the question of death, with ghostly images haunting her style. She says her work from this period came from a “primal level.” In addition to painting, Shaffer also works in wood, stone, and mixed media, and designs three-dimensional creations such as dolls and masks.

In 1989, Shaffer’s work appeared in the traveling exhibition, “O, Appalachia: Artists of the Southern Mountains.” Her work has been featured in Art Voices/South, Country Home, and other publications, and is in collections including those of Whoopie Goldberg, Jane Fonda, Richard Dreyfus, Rob Reiner, Henry Winkler, and one of her most-appreciated fellow artists, Thornton Dial.

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The de Menil Gallery Fall

Exhibit

Detroit/Havana: Photographs Photographs by Andrew Moore September 19 through November 18, 2011

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he de Menil Gallery will open this fall with an exhibition of photographs

by Andrew Moore, who is best known for his poetic images of urban decay. Two cities for which Moore has shown a special affinity are Detroit and Havana. Moore made three extended trips to Cuba in 1998-99, resulting in a number of large-format chromogenic prints that evoke a bygone era before the Cuban Revolution, featuring the grandiose but now dilapidated buildings of the aristocracy as well as American-made autos of the ’50s and ’60s. The images of Detroit, by contrast, as a reviewer in the New York Times noted, suggest a city “… more like Pompeii than, say, Buffalo … a city whose demise arrived overnight rather than over decades, whose residents fled en masse, midsentence, instead of drifting away as the jobs ran out and prospects dwindled.” Others describe these images as a “case of nature reclaiming land the city appropriated, slowly erasing these remaining vestiges of a failed metropolis.”

Moore has had eight solo shows in New York as well as numerous exhibitions in the U.S. and internationally. His photographs are represented in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Library of Congress, the Israel Museum, the High Museum, the Eastman House, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. He has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the New York State Council on the Arts, and several private foundations.

“Detroit/Havana” will be on exhibition from September 19 through November 18. Groton School’s galleries are free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays (except Wednesdays) and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends (except School holiday weekends).

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More Than We Bargained For

36 Variations on Peter Pan

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M

ore Than We Bargained For marks the first show in the Asen Theater completely created by Groton students. This original piece of theater was based on the writings of J.M. Barrie and was further devised over the spring term by the student ensemble. The result was a dreamlike experience combining beauty and humor that was enthusiastically received by Groton audiences.

The play’s development relied primarily on a method of theatrical creation called Moment Work, a technique developed by the Tectonic Theater Project in New York City.

In this process, the actor/writer explores theatrical elements such as light, sound, gesture, color, language, impulse, architecture, and imagery. Working together, the company then uses these explorations to establish a language made up of short units of theatrical expression called “forms.” Once

a series of exciting forms emerges, the collaborators layer and sequence the forms to make a larger piece of work.

Using Moment Work, Groton student writers and actors constructed a work based on their own reactions to various themes and motifs they found in Barrie’s novel, Peter Pan. Their success was evident in the theatrical nature of each and every creative choice. It was not playwriting; it was performance writing.

Previous page: Nick Ogilvie-Thompson ’14, Ben Ames ’12, and Alice Stites ’13 in More Than We Bargained For. Below: Emma Thomasch ’12 (center) as author J.M. Barrie, surrounded by Barrie’s characters.

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More Than We Bargained For

Clockwise from top left: Nick Ogilvie-Thompson ’14, Alice Stites ’13, and Ben Ames ’12; cast members; Morgane Richer La Fleche ’11; Molly Belsky ’12; Likhitha Palaypu ’11; and Sage Redman ’11

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• Book review •

For Love of Country

by William C. Hammond III ’66 Reviewed by Lt. Col. Bartlett Harwood III ’81

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illiam C. Hammond has written a spellbinding account of the adventures of Richard Cutler, a wealthy and successful member of the Cutler family shipping business. Mr. Hammond combines a man’s love for his wife and a brother’s love for his family with the stressful life of a leader of men and the history of a post-Revolutionary period. Set in the 1780s, Richard Cutler is a ship captain who must attempt a rescue of his brother, Caleb, and the crew (of which Caleb was a member) of one of his family’s ships who have been taken hostage by the Barbary pirates. Torn in different directions by his sense of duty to his wife, to his brother, to his own ship and crew, and to the crew of the ship held hostage, Richard Cutler devises a daring rescue plan for which he enlists the help and guidance of icons such as John Paul Jones, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams. The reader is lured along with the touching story of the novel, all the while being immersed in the history of the earliest years of our country. Hammond’s style and method are so effective, the reader feels actually present as the history of the young republic unfolds.

Richard Cutler finds himself in the unenviable position of having a younger brother very much in harm’s way—a brother whose only fault is following in his older brother’s footsteps. The context is that the United States is a very young country with no ability to either prevent this piracy or to effectively respond to this act of war. The irony lies in the satisfaction of the citizens for having recently gained their independence from England yet their helplessness against the naval forces of the pirates. Richard must decide how much of his family’s fortune to risk as he sails for the Mediterranean to offer a ransom, knowing full well that if he were to take all his family’s wealth and lose it to pirates on the way, he would have no way to finance another attempt. Richard must also decide which men to take with him and how much time to spend preparing and training for the rescue mission. To be unprepared would be to fail, yet his brother is languishing in an Algerian jail not knowing if his family knows what has happened or if anyone is going to come and free him.

There is a heart-wrenching scene when Richard has finally made it to the dey of Algiers to offer the ransom and is refused. Shrewdly, however, the dey offers to let Richard take only his brother home for a ransom. But a true leader prioritizes a sense of duty and

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commitment to the entire crew over the instinct to protect one’s family; Richard refuses the offer, unwilling to show favoritism and abandon the crew to their despair. Later, when Richard meets with Caleb before departing Algiers, pride returns to Richard when Caleb tells his older brother he would not have left anyway without the rest of his crew regardless of ransom required by the dey. Richard feels vindicated that Caleb has learned the true sense of duty toward the men of the ship (albeit at the expense of being in harm’s way).

With the word out of an American ship with a hold full of money, the pirates attack as Richard leaves Algiers without Caleb and the crew, and it takes all of Richard’s skill as a ship captain and all the fortitude of his own crew to escape. Gravely wounded and his ship badly damaged, Richard and his crew make it to France to heal from their wounds and repair their ship. While there, the reader is witness to an account of the very beginning of the French Revolution.

The ideology that precipitated the French Revolution was one of entitlement versus covetousness born by hunger and poverty.

William C. Hammond successfully illuminates these ideas by contrasting them with the corresponding ideology of the fledgling United States—an ideology of independence and selfdetermination. The irony here is that France has come to terms with the dey of Algiers and has no piracy problem, while the United States, in the spirit of independence, refuses to negotiate with the pirates. Yet France, with the more effective foreign policy and a true ally of the colonies in the War for Independence, is the country socially imploding—not the United States.

While in France, Richard Cutler finds himself thrust into another rescue operation—this time for a former lover. The reader is again immersed into history, this time French history, as the novel continues to unfold. Richard is torn again, this time by his sense of fidelity for his wife versus his innate need to assist a helpless woman and her children escape the violence of the French Revolution.

Throughout the story, Richard relies on an ironclad integrity and a very clear sense of justice—or more precisely, an intolerance for injustice. It is this “knight-like” quality which keeps the reader in rapt attention and brings American and French history to a clarity that is not achieved elsewhere.

Spring Sports

SPRING SPORTS Girls Varsity Tennis | 9-6 Overall, 8-4 in ISL

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he varsity girls tennis team opened the season with some minor injuries and quickly suffered two resounding defeats to Deerfield and Andover. Those early results did benefit the team though, by helping to ensure that the Groton players would work hard and humbly to improve every week, and Groton ended up avenging one of those losses by finishing ahead of Andover at the New England Championships.

Chatting and joking around were the norm during warm-ups each day, but when it was time to get down to business these girls displayed their sincere desire to raise their play to higher levels. By working well and supporting each other at all times, the players managed to improve together. They went from losing 0-7 to Deerfield at the beginning of the season to coming within a hair’s breadth of upsetting powerhouse Milton in the final week. They also chalked up many a win along the way, accumulating a record of 9-6 in a year that boasted an exceptionally deep pool of strong opponents. It was never easy to predict who would contribute sets to the team’s total on any given day, but the team became so solid, from the top of the ladder to the bottom, that it could take advantage of any favorable match-ups encountered, even against the strongest teams around.

Team MVP CC Ho ’13 lines up a backhand.

The season ended in fitting form, with a team effort bringing very good results at the New Englands. Whitney Hartmeyer ’11 and Ali Norton ’12 battled well in their singles draws, but fell to strong opponents. The two doubles teams, however, fared much better, with Emory Wellman ’11 and India Dial ’13 finishing fourth in the B’s and Julia Metzger ’11 and CC Ho ’13 coming away with the hard-earned title of New England A Level Doubles Champions. Their final match, a three-set marathon against a strong pair from Hotchkiss, made for a wonderful culminating event to cap off a successful season of committed work, steady improvement, unfailing support, and great camaraderie.

All-League: CC Ho ’13; Honorable Mention: Julia Metzger ’11 Team MIP: Emory Wellman ’11 Team MVP: CC Ho ’13 Coach’s Awards: Whitney Hartmeyer ’11, Julia Metzger ’11 Captain-Elect: Alexandra Norton ’12

–Coach Dave Prockop

Boys Varsity Tennis | 11-4

I Carolyn Grenier ’13 concentrates at practice.

All sports photography in this section by Vaughn Winchell, Insight Studios

t was a wonderful season on the courts for the boys tennis team. Rebounding from a tough year in 2010, the boys soared to an 11-4 finish in the ISL, good for fourth place in the 16-team league. Their record also earned the squad an invitation to the A division of the New England end-of-season tennis tournament, where the boys battled valiantly but lost to the number-two seed, Taft. Groton was led this season by a quartet of captains, Orme Thompson, Ken Ballato, Jack Cohen, and Ted Leonhardt, who worked hard in practice, had terrific sportsmanship, and battled valiantly every match. These Sixth Formers were aided by other veterans, including classmates Brian Choi, a valuable utility player, and by managers Jamie Conner and Bubba Scott. The team was rounded out by two newcomers, Tyler

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Grotoniana | All Things Groton Phelan ’12 and Charlie Oberrender ’14, who offered terrific play throughout the season.

Groton seemed to win all the close matches, none more exciting than an 8-7 thriller up at St. Paul’s. After sweeping the doubles, St. Paul’s battled back, leaving the match resting at the end of the day on the shoulders of Charlie Oberrender. He played a dramatic tie-breaker, coming back from 4-6, to win the day for Groton. Charlie’s teammates and coach raced onto the court after the final point was secured. Other close victories were notched against Middlesex, St. George’s, and St. Mark’s. In commenting on the season, Coach Conner observed: “I loved the way these boys competed all season long. They all seemed to relish the thrill of competition, and they represented Groton beautifully.”

For his outstanding player at number-one doubles and numberone singles for most of the season, Orme Thompson earned AllLeague recognition. His play and attitude this spring set the tone for the squad. Next year’s captain is Tyler Phelan, who earned AllLeague Honorable Mention recognition from the ISL coaches.

–Coach John Conner

Co-captain Jack Cohen ’11 prepares a forehand.

Girls Varsity Lacrosse | 7-8

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Co-captain Ted Leonhardt ’11 serving

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e began our spring early in March, traveling to Florida with a group of athletes willing to give up a portion of their vacation and excited about improving their lacrosse skills. We stayed in Wellington, where we had the opportunity to practice, to scrimmage other teams, and to watch college teams kick off their seasons. Upon returning to campus, we had tryouts and began our play shortly thereafter. (When we left Florida behind, we also left behind sunshine, as this season seemed to be punctuated by wet, rainy, and windy weather, especially gravitating to Wednesdays and Saturdays!) With a strong core of returning Varsity players, led by co-captains KC Hambleton and Adri Pulford, and the seasoned coaching staff of Gracey, Hagerman, and Mongan, we were optimistic about what this season had in store for us. We got off to a terrific start, with wins over Tabor and Andover. But the most meaningful win of the season for us was our victory at home over perennial ISL and New England powerhouse Thayer Academy. We battled hard and held on for an 11-10 win.

As the season went on, we faced some adversity (illness, injury, and the like) and lost some close games. After we finished a particularly tough stretch in our schedule against the leaders of the ISL, we talked about how we wanted to finish the season.

The team responded beautifully and played their hearts out, winning at home in a wild offensive flurry versus St. George’s and earning an especially hard-fought victory on the road against NMH. Unfortunately, our dreams of a winning record were not realized, as we lost our final three games of the season. Yet we have much in which to take pride. We played as a team, we never quit competing in any contest, we supported each other, we improved

Spring Sports

Boys Varsity Lacrosse | 8-9 Overall, 6-9 ISL

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ISL All-League player Ashlin Dolan ’12 eludes the Thayer Academy defense.

our individual and team skills, and most of all we showed passion for this wonderful sport and love for our teammates. Our seniors, Adri, KC, Gracie, Haley, Michela, and Brooke, will be hard to replace as they gave their best to the team this spring. We have a strong group of rising seniors who will take the reins and play with pride for Groton: Ashlin, Nicole, Abby, KG, Kaly, Katie, and Julia.

We thank our parent body for the support and encouragement through this season.

NEPSWLA All Stars: Ashlin Dolan ’12, Maeve McMahon ’13 ISL First Team All League: Ashlin Dolan ’12, Maeve McMahon ’13 Team Co-MVPs: Ashlin Dolan ’12, Maeve McMahon ’13 Coach’s Awards: Adri Pulford ’11, Gracie Villa ’11 Co-Captains Elect: Ashlin Dolan ’12, Nicole Fronsdahl ’12

–Coach Martha Gracey

Hope Cutler ’12 looks to pass downfield.

hirty-seven Grotonians headed south on our annual trip to Florida, the highest number in the history of the program. We enjoyed playing against the likes of Westminster (CT), Exeter (NH), and Denver East (CO), all competitive programs that helped prepare us for our ISL opening games. In spite of the result, our 10-4 loss to top-ranked Governor’s showed our improvement, as did our strong effort at St. Sebastian’s, an 8-5 loss. Beating Lawrence Academy restored confidence, only to be followed by the nadir of our season—our Roxbury Latin and St. Paul’s stretch. Our resilience was astonishing versus Nobles, as we battled to a 6-6 fourth quarter tie, only to lose, 9-6, in the end. Versus St. Mark’s, again, inconsistency reared its ugly head, as we let a 6-4 lead slip away to our determined rival. Earlier in the season, we fared well against out of league foes Vermont and Berwick, 18-3 and 11-4 victories, respectively.

Sixth Form midfielder Philip McNamara earned the Coach’s Award for his quiet, indefatigable work ethic and leadership, while defenseman Trevor Bossi earned the Most Improved Player. Jack Wilkinson earned Most Valuable Player, and was elected All-ISL and NE Prep All-Star, representing the East in the annual AllStar game. Fifth Form captain Jack Rhinelander (ISL Honorable Mention) often drew our opponents’ top defenseman, while captain-elect defenseman Walter Hunnewell also earned ISL honorable mention status. Sixth Form attackman Josh Imhoff steadily improved all season long, scoring some big goals in big games, while formmate and midfielder Zander McClelland played relentless defense, helping us win the battle on the ground.

Defenseman Mike Storace contributed maturity, work ethic, and enthusiasm, all crucial elements our young team needed.

Our midfield unit was led by faceoff man Luke Turchetta, Nils Martin, and captain-elect Mike Doherty, while Fourth Formers George Bukawyn and Adam Hardej contributed heavily. Our midfield depth was rounded out by a promising group: Charles Terris, Nick Funnell, Pat Harvey, Mike Somerby, and Jack Tyler.

David Belsky, Jasper Morgan, and James Forse worked hard and

Sixth Form midfielder Philip McNamara advances downfield against Vermont Academy.

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Grotoniana | All Things Groton showed improvement throughout the season. Our defense looks promising, given our returners: Tim Morrill, Joe Scott, and Brian O’Neill. We are fortunate to have two quality goalies in captainelect Peter Mumford and fellow Fourth Former Tom Santinelli.

Tri-captains Jack Wilkinson, Nils Martin, and Jack Rhine­ lander, as well as Sixth Formers Josh Imhoff, Phil McNamara, Zander McClelland, and Mike Storace helped our program earn more victories in one season than in past seasons. But as our program continued building on the relative successes of and foundation built in recent years, we also showed our program’s “adolescent” growing pains. Tremendous efforts versus perennial powers St. Sebastian’s and Nobles were interspersed with devastating losses to RL and St. Paul’s. An historic win over Belmont Hill was followed by a tough second-half outing versus Rivers.

A double overtime win versus Milton was hampered by our loss at St. Mark’s. Still, in spite of the peaks and valleys, the respect our program has gained and earned within the league has been extremely gratifying.

Many thanks to Coaches Fred Beams, Kevin Mahoney, Will Webb ’93, and Peter Fry, as well as to alumni, parents, and supporters. Special recognition goes to Coach Webb, who moves on to exciting endeavors in Oklahoma. We will be forever grateful for his passion, energy, and commitment to our students, our staff, our lacrosse program, and Groton School. Many thanks to our manager Dan Hong.

ISL All-League: Jack Wilkinson ISL Honorable Mention: Jack Rhinelander, Walter Hunnewell NESSLA SR East-West All-Star: Jack Wilkinson Coach’s Award: Phil McNamara MIP Award: Trevor Bossi MVP Award: Jack Wilkinson Captains-Elect: Jack Rhinelander, Mike Doherty,

Walter Hunnewell, Peter Mumford –Coach Bob Lowe

Fourth Form midfielder George Bukawyn eludes a defender in an early spring game.

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Evan Hansen-Bundy ’12 follows through on a pitch against BB&N.

Varsity Baseball | 5-11-1, 5-10 ISL

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he 2011 Groton School baseball team started the season strong with its annual spring trip in March to sunny Fort Pierce, Florida. Our week got off to a sensational start with a dramatic come-from-behind, walk-off 8-7 win against John Cooper, a Texas team that had already played a dozen games. We finished the week going 3-2, with additional wins against Dexter School and Blair Academy (New Jersey). The team worked extremely hard, as the days were filled with team drills, individual sessions, and a lot of conditioning to get the boys ready for the season. The coaching staff had a lot of positions that were up for grabs, and they were extremely happy with the work that the boys did before the trip. The majority of the team started thinking about baseball in early January, as they began indoor workouts in the gymnasium.

Our regular season began with a home game against Deerfield Academy. The March 30 date was not looking good, as we still had significant snow on the ground. With the help of B&G and Mike MacDonald, the field was in great condition for the home season opener. The teams battled until dark, ending in a 4-4 tie.

The Zebras struggled from there, as they would lose their next eight games. Even though they could not get a win, the team had chances in each contest, but couldn’t capitalize. With only one sixth former, Tri-Captain Ross Julian, the team’s inexperience

Spring Sports

First baseman Joe Donald ’12 anticipates a pick-off throw in a game against BB&N.

showed in its difficulty putting all three phases of the game (batting, pitching, and fielding) together to get its first win. The team finally pulled it off, however, and got in the win column with a convincing 10-3 score against Brooks. This started a stretch of five wins in eight games, as they began to play well as a team and get timely hitting and tremendous pitching. The annual St. Mark’s game did not turn out in favor of the Zebras. Leading 2-1 going in to the fifth inning, they handed St. Mark’s two unearned runs, losing the game 3-2.

Groton relied on the leadership of its three captains: Julian, Fifth Form pitcher/third baseman; Joseph MacDonald; and Fifth Form catcher Patrick Florence. Julian, a four-year starter who will be missed next spring, solidified the infield and was a dangerous presence in the middle of the lineup. MacDonald provided a lot of big hits for the Zebras and led the team in batting average, RBIs, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Florence was the leader on the field, working well with the pitching staff and derailing any running games that we came across. Other players making important contributions to the team were Third Form first baseman Joe Gentile, who had a .326 average; Fifth Form outfielder Cullen Coleman, contributing several big hits and a home run; Fifth Form pitcher Evan Hansen-Bundy, who ended

the year with a 2.55 ERA in 44 innings pitched; and Fourth Form infielder/pitcher Dan Glavin, who added two wins on the mound for the Zebras.

With 14 experienced players returning next year, we look to improve upon this year’s record. Newly elected and returning captains MacDonald and Florence will look to provide tremendous leadership, motivating the team to work harder and be more prepared than ever. As Ross Julian moves on to Brown University to continue his baseball career, we wish him luck and look to replace his dangerous bat and desire to win. Playing in the ISL is a challenge, as many of the most talented baseball players in the state are in this conference. With a core group of experienced players coming back, we look to compete as hard as we can in every inning of every game, with an ISL championship as our goal. We will begin in early January and gather steam as we head down South to prepare for the 2012 season.

Coach’s Awards: Ross Julian ’11, Patrick Florence ’12, Joseph MacDonald ’12 All-ISL: Joseph MacDonald ’12 Honorable Mention ISL: Ross Julian ’11, Evan Hansen-Bundy ’12, Patrick Florence ’12 Captains-Elect: Joseph MacDonald ’12, Patrick Florence ’12

–Coach Glenn DiSarcina

Boys Crew Captures 2011 Team Trophy at NEIRA

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t’s been nine years since the Groton boys crew team left Lake Quinsigamond with the team trophy, but this year two gold medals, a bronze medal, and valuable points from the finals of the first four race were enough to earn Groton the right to carry home the trophy again. The NEIRA team trophy was the climax of a solid 2011 racing season.

Groton’s opening race on April 20 saw the crews sweep four races from Derryfield at home on the Nashua River. The crews

The boys first boat at the finish of a stroke, during practice on the Nashua

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Grotoniana | All Things Groton then swept St. Mark’s and Middlesex on April 27. Three days later, on Pomfret’s Quassett Lake, the crews swept five races from Pomfret, Deerfield, and Dexter. At the Wayland-Weston Regatta on May 8, the third and fourth fours continued their winning ways with two gold medals, while the second four came home with a silver. The first four raced into the finals and finished fourth.

The next weekend saw the crews on the Charles River for the annual rematch with Belmont Hill and Brooks School. Third and fourth fours remained unbeaten, while the first four ran second to unbeaten Belmont Hill.

On Saturday, May 21, the crews from Noble and Greenough School traveled to Groton to contest the Cooke Family Cup. The cup is awarded annually to the school that earns more combined points in girls and boys races. The races against Nobles this season turned into yet another sweep, climaxed by the first four outracing Nobles by one length to conclude the day. Groton will keep possession of the Cooke Family Cup for a second year.

Saturday, May 28, the crews traveled to Lake Quinsigamond for the annual NEIRA Regatta. In the morning heats, Groton completed a sweep of first-place finishes by winning all four races.

At midday, the sun burned through the cloud cover and the winds came. By the start of the afternoon grand final racing, 20-mile-perhour winds were blowing up the racecourse, presenting some very tough headwinds. Our unbeaten fourth boat continued its run and captured the gold medal for the fifth time in the last seven years in this event. Groton’s unbeaten third boat came through again, capturing the gold medal in a hotly contested race and completing an unbeaten season for the first time since 2007. Our second boat raced hard in the difficult conditions, earning a well-deserved bronze medal for the second year in a row. In the last grand final, our first boat, after outracing Deerfield, Dexter, BB&N, Pomfret, and Lyme in the morning heat, struggled in the wind and chop and finished sixth. Though the crew was disappointed at not capturing a medal, the first-boat finish earned more than enough points to give Groton the 2011 NEIRA team trophy.

The boys second boat in a late spring practice on the Nashua

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Art Santry ’12 will be the captain next season. The 2011 captains, Max Lindemann and Remy Knight, will be missed next year, along with Sixth Formers Gage Wells, Edoardo Saravalle, Fabrizio Giovannini Filho, Jon White, and Matt Hennrikus.

–Coach John Madden

Girls Crew 33-0, 2nd in NEIRA, Winner of the Peabody Cup (School 8) at the Henley Women’s Regatta

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he Groton boats won a lot of races this spring. In fact, this was the first time that all four varsity boats have been undefeated in dual races, compiling a 33-0 record.

Add the two gold, one silver, and two bronze finishes at the Wayland-Weston Regatta and you see why this was such an exciting season to be rowing on the Nashua.

The girls had a plethora of good athletes rowing. Emulating the model of Co-captain Faith Richardson ’11, the talented sixth former who won a silver medal with the USA eight at the World Junior Rowing Championships last summer in the Czech Republic, the squad pulled hard and showed intensity in practice and on race days.

Highlights included beating perennial power Exeter in eights in the first scrimmage, the opening sweep of BB&N and Miss Porter’s, offering a taste of what would come, and the victories over Nobles to defend the Cooke Family Cup against our oldest rowing rivals. It was also encouraging to see a large, spirited, and well-coached JV squad.

There were a few low moments, too. Co-captain Hannah Reeve ’11 injured her knee and had to stop rowing. Sixth Former Emma Peabody, a powerful and spirited presence, also went down to injury. And on a very windy Lake Quinsigamond, the first and second boats had disappointing NEIRA performances, finishing fourth and third. But there were a couple of terrific races from Coach Tiffany Doggett’s boats: the fourth boat won a gold medal, rowing a beautiful race and opening up a length lead over top-seeded Winsor in the last 500. The third boat finished second to Winsor but put great pressure on them and was happy with a silver medal.

Because the first and second boats had dominated their competition so thoroughly throughout the season, they decided in early May to go to Henley, combining into an eight. After a couple of weeks of training, Groton raced at the Reading Amateur Regatta, just upstream of Henley. This regatta follows the same match race format as the more famous Henley Regatta, so it was an important warm-up for racing the eight. On Saturday, June 11, Groton beat Bristol University by two-andtwo-thirds lengths and then sprinted away from ­veteran Mortlake Anglian Alpha Rowing Club of London to win by one-and-one-third length

Spring Sports

The girls first boat working through the drive during practice in late spring

and earn handsome medals in the Intermediate II Division. The next day, Groton was promoted to Intermediate I and responded with two more victories, this time against St. Paul’s School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. A steering mishap in the final resulted in a formal disqualification, but the girls left the banks of Reading knowing that they had speed.

In the week leading up to the Henley races, we trained twice a day, working on improving the tactical parts of the races. By Saturday, June 18, the girls were aching to race. A very experienced umpire called our start against Monkton Combe School “awesome,” and Groton powered away to win an “easily” verdict. We knew that the semi-final against Lady Eleanor Holles School was in all likelihood the real final. LEH is one of the two superpowers of English schoolgirl rowing. They had set a new course record by 18 seconds at the Schools Head of the River regatta in March, and their eight was powerful and experienced.

Five from their boat will represent Great Britain in junior national team competition this summer. Groton had raced LEH in the semi-finals of the Peabody Cup in 2000, losing by a length and a half. But this year it was a very different story: Groton jumped out on the start again and powered away down the course, winning by two-and-a-half lengths. Overjoyed, we gathered together and rested for an hour and a half before the finals against St. Paul’s, who had won their semi-final to set up an All-American final.

This race, like the one a week before, was all Groton. St. Paul’s fought gamely but was no match for the determined Zebras.

The Peabody Cup was given by three Groton faculty members, Richard Fox, Rogers Scudder, and Maureen Beck, to honor our crew’s first win at Henley in 1994. Since that time it has come to symbolize supremacy between English and American schools. It was wonderful to win it again and to have so much fun doing so. Allie Banwell and Molly Lyons were elected co-captains for next year.

–Coach Andy Anderson

bow 2 3 stroke cox

1st Four Faith Richardson, C ’11 Marissa Garey ’13 Allie Banwell ’12 Molly Lyons ’12 Diana Chen ’12

2nd Four Charlotte Berkowitz ’13 Olivia Bono ’13 Maeve Hoffstot ’13 Sarah Black ’12 Mayra Cruz ’11

3rd Four Sarah Brooks ’12 Marianna Gailus ’13 Christina Strater ’12 María J Herrera ’13 Naomi Primero ’13

4th Four Becca Gracey ’14 Jacq Anton ’12 Rachel Reed ’14 Talia Horvath ’14 Katy Wagner ’11

The girls second boat at the catch on the Nashua

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Grotoniana | All Things Groton

SCHOOL NEWS GSAA

GWN

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t was another banner year for the Groton Women’s Network. The team, which includes alumnae, parents, and faculty, coordinated 16 diverse and engaging events and made significant progress on an initiative to help the School evaluate alumnae giving.

The GWN city chair team hosted a varied slate of events, including tours of a Morgan Library exhibit and the new Art of the Americas wing at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts; a presentation on empowering women and educating girls in underdeveloped countries; six community service opportunities; and gatherings that allowed members of the extended Groton family to socialize in informal and fun venues. Two city chairs, Mary Murphy ’95 and Lauren Midon Huntley ’99, stepped down from their volunteer roles in June. Mary and Lauren, thank you for all of your work and commitment over your years of service to the GWN and the School.

The group launched a new project to help Groton’s Office of Development and Alumni Affairs look at alumnae giving.

A team of four volunteers, Sara Becton

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Ardrey ’91, Kate Blow McGloon ’81, Tiverton Smith McClintock ’92, and GWN Vice Chair Julie Weil Futch ’84, is looking at Groton alumnae giving patterns and interviewing alumnae on philanthropic interests. A key part of this project is partnering with five peer schools in the hope that, by working together, each partner school will glean data that will help with fundraising going forward. The group hopes to wrap up the project this fall with a document outlining the data, trends, and conclusions.

Looking forward to the new school year, GWN Chair Merrill Stubbs Dorman ’95 is excited to have the GWN city chairs as part of the upcoming October 15 Day of Service in honor of the School’s birthday. Still in the planning stages, this day will include a host of community service options throughout the country, some in GWN cities and some in a few new locations, thanks to parent and GSAA volunteers. In addition to coordinating the Day of Service and finishing up the philanthropy project, the GWN team is already hard at work planning a plethora of interesting and fun events.

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his spring, the GSAA welcomed the Form of 2011 to its rolls. As these new alumni left the Circle for new experiences at college or on a gap year, many members of the form four years their senior were making a similar move—in this case from college to the work force.

Finding that first job is never easy, and it is especially challenging in this difficult job market, but the Groton Career Advisory Program has become a valuable asset to many of Groton’s graduates. The Career Advisory Program is designed to help Groton alumni through networking and career advice. By volunteering to become a career advisor, you are offering to help your fellow Groton School alumni by sharing your expertise in your field and by providing networking tips and career advice to those looking for new opportunities.

As one college-aged alumna says: “I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Groton Career Advisory Program for helping me to secure interviews and information throughout my search. Fortunately, I ended up getting an internship in Credit Suisse’s Private Banking in NYC for the summer. The Groton Career Advisory Program is a tour de force.”

To volunteer as a career advisor, contact Drew Millikin, director of recent graduate relations, at dmillikin@groton.org or 978-448-7588.

Building upon the success of the career networking panel and reception in New York City last January, the GSAA will expand this event to two other cities— Boston and San Francisco. These events will take place in late January and early February—the perfect time to follow through on those New Year’s resolutions to find a new career. Look for more information late this fall or early winter.

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M E M O R I A M

Jeremiah L. Sullivan II ’70

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December 29, 1951 – January 22, 2011

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t is with great sadness that we note the passing of Jay (Jocko) Sullivan on January 22, 2011. From his sister Ann Sullivan, we have these details: Jay graduated from Yale early in 1973 (a year ahead of schedule) with a B.A. in English. In 1974 he went to work for Hilton Hotels in Guam for three years, rising to third in command, but decided not to make a career of the hotel business. At this time, he taught himself software development and had Mobil Oil and the U.S. government, among others, for clients. Jay also taught programming courses at the University of Guam. In the ’80s, he joined Commonwealth Realty, later Century 21, on Guam doing commercial real estate; by the early ’90s he was doing more than a million dollars in annual sales. Unfortunately, the mid-’90s saw the collapse of the Japanese economy, to which Guam’s prosperity was tied. Then followed various typhoons and earthquakes that severely damaged the U.S. Navy base. Jay had rental property on Guam that suffered in consequence, especially as people left the island and jobs evaporated. In 2002, Jay moved to Mesa, Arizona, with his long-term partner Florence Hawkins, whom he met on Guam. Jay tried his hand at Arizona real estate but was unsuccessful due to the economic downturn and poor job market. Repeated hospitalizations and a long illness resulted in Jay’s death. The Form of 1970 sends their condolences to his sister, Ann, her husband, Nelson Holt, and their daughter, Lily.

Here are some remembrances from his formmates: David Walton: My most vivid memory of Jay is from our Third Form year. A bunch of us were in the nicely furnished studying room, down the hall from the main study hall. Jay opened a grape soda and proceeded to pour it onto a lit table lamp. A cloud of bright purple erupted, and then the lightbulb exploded. In the days when we felt like any little thing could bring the wrath of Mr. Nichols upon us, this seemed a particularly audacious act. We lost Richard Henry very prematurely.

Let us drink life to the lees as we remember them both.

 Tom Cleveland: This is sad news indeed since Jay was a close friend of mine from football (he was the captain our senior year) and from rowing, where he was a ferocious competitor with a big heart and a powerful finish. All these many years, after college and first jobs and starting families, whenever I got together with any of the rest of you, we always wondered where Jay had disappeared to. I was always wishing that I could see him again to reaffirm my recollection of our mutual past and just to hang out with him and his sardonic sense of humor.

Jay was a great football player and loved the fact that we were undefeated and totally awesome in that fabled fall of our senior year, before the winter of discontent and the spring of senior projects scattered us back into a rougher and tougher world of serious choices.

 David Hadden: I remember Jay’s swagger in the early days, when we were young boys in Mr. Abry’s Second Form dorm in Hundred House. When I first saw Patrick Swayze and his

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In Memoriam | As We Remember I N

M E M O R I A M

swagger, I thought to myself, he reminds me of Jay Sullivan.

Frankly, I was frightened by Jay’s swagger in Second Form.

After a few decades observing swagger, I wonder how much fright lay behind 13-year-old Jay’s. I sure didn’t pick it up then.

I wish I’d known him better.

George Winter, a fellow bell-ringer with Jay: “I mostly remember his body-building efforts. I remember him often complaining about his lack of mobility due to the fact that he was so ‘bulked up.’”

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Bill Baer: I got to know Jay best during our first few years at Groton—what an impressionable time. I remember a person who was very intelligent and very sensitive; he was unafraid of confronting authority or friends or enemies. I admired his honesty; he was equally hard on himself and others. I went with him to his parent’s house for Thanksgiving vacation— probably Third Form year. His parents were humble people who accepted me without judgment or reservation. We had a good time just hanging out and away from the physical and mental confines of school.

Frank Richards: Thinking of Jay, the main images that come to mind are recording sessions in the Dome, with Jay on lead guitar and Pete Brooks on the drums, with myself as recording engineer wannabe. Jay had notions of producing a demo tape.

Recording contract? In a few takes, Jay and Pete would lay down a blues track and then move on to a different song. As I recall it, after the initial sessions we had a couple of Jay-only sessions, with me playing the original track back and recording a new one on top as Jay played the bass. I remember that the tape recorder was basic stereo, although it must have had dual recording capability … I doubt it was Walter’s Tandberg!

The goal was a one-track mono recording of the Jay Sullivan Blues Band. I was never sure what came of it, but it gave me a chance to get to know Jay and his music and spend a good deal of time in the Dome. It also helped feed my ADD in terms of electronic devices, and I think he paid me $20. The results were only so-so, but I hope that Jay was pleased with the result. Hope he got to keep playing. (According to Jay’s sister, Ann Sullivan, Jay did continue playing at Yale.) Thanks Jay! I’ll listen to a little Clapton on my morning commute!

1 Jeff Dunn: I was saddened to hear about Jocko. We were roommates in Pest House Fifth Form year and shared a study during Fourth Form year. Needless to say, we were an odd couple. Jay was probably the least pretentious person I have ever met. He always downplayed his considerable intellectual abilities, though he was proud of his writing. I remember him wanting to be a detective story writer. We dodged quite a few bullets when putting out the smokes just before Mr. Theobald would “pop in” just to see how we were doing. “Mr. Theobald, I don’t smoke. I think I have asthma and Dunn doesn’t know how to light a match.” Once after throwing his baby blue electric guitar in the snow, I watched apprehensively after I saw a knife quivering in the wall next to me. I often wondered if Jocko worked for the CIA. He was smart, incredibly strong, and mysterious, and wound up at the cold warrior spy school in New Haven.

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78 | Quarterly Fall 2011

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1 Philip Kunhardt: I find it very sad to hear that Jay has died before we could get him to come back to a reunion. My memories of Jay are few and fleeting. He wore white socks with his loafers. He lifted weights with true seriousness—in a preArnold Schwarzenegger world. He was a wrestler, a football player, a body builder. Our lives didn’t intersect that much outside the gym. My chief memory of us together was one day when he and I went running on the Big Triangle, forcing ourselves to complete the entire loop, and making a heroic effort sprinting the final furious yards. When we got back to the gym, I, who didn’t exercise as intensely as he did, was bright red—even purple—in the face, the blood pulsing, the sweat running. I felt utterly exhausted. But he looked at me and said I looked “cool” that way, that I really should become more of an athlete. He urged me to work out with weights (and later showed me how). I remember him enjoying swimming in the outside pool behind the gym. We swam together up the Black River one time. He noticed me. Someone like him, so different from me or how I saw myself, forged a bond of commonality between us. There was nothing negative ever between us.

I remember watching Jay playing bass guitar in the Pleasure Dome—wearing dark glasses. He really liked that. It was the spring time and we were happy surrounded by music. But I can’t recall him in Chapel, or in English class, or in Dramat, or in marching, or in dorm life. I think he lived in Pest House.

I remember him in the Dining Hall—he loved eating ham, as did Mr. Robinson. I find it terribly sad that his life turned out to be so difficult. I would like to have seen him again before he died. So long Jay Sullivan (I can’t call you Jocko). We are becoming a band of brothers, the Form of 1970. We feel the need to stand by one another.