Spring 2008
A GLANCE INSIDE: • Who, What, When?
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• news from north park
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• Faculty profile
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HB Trivia
Susan Levitan
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ADM iniSTrATiVE T E A M: William Christ Head of School Clarke Wilson Leslie ’80 Associate Head of Advancement Virginia rose Director of Upper School Sue Sadler Director of Middle School Katherine Zopatti Director of Primary School Jane Brown Director of Early Childhood Sarah Johnston Director of Admission pam Fife Director of Alumnae Relations Elona gortz Assistant Director of Alumnae Relations
COMM UniCATiO nS T E A M: Terry Dubow Director of Communications Vanessa Butler Assistant Director of Communications Kathleen Osborne Assistant Director of Communications Susan Faulder Associate Director of Publications Chela Crinnion Contributing Photographer ELEMEnT Principal Design DAViD HAgEn of KALMAn AnD pABST Principal Photography We wish to thank the following contributing photographers for use of their images in this issue: barbara bower, hannah Canepa ’08, marius Chira, Stephen Cutri, the dorsey Family, bianca Falcone ’08, angela groves ’08, brad Newton, kevin reeves, katie Simon ’08, hope Shiverick ’08, deb Southard, Wes Stewart and ilana Wolstein ’09 AbOUT ThE COVER: angela groves ’08 is a born leader with a vision and a commitment to love and serve the people she leads. She’s found one of the thousand ways hb girls can succeed in and out of school.
letter from the head of school With our zeal for measuring, at times it can feel as if we’re a nation of tailors and seismologists. We seem to measure everything and draw broad conclusions from the results. There may be no sector more prone to this reflex than the field of education. Often armed with good reasons, districts and governments measure student preparedness, teachers and parents measure student progress, and students measure their own abilities. This proclivity to compute, of course, has some unfortunate manifestations such as the new media rage of ranking high schools much as they rank colleges. Most of these studies use questionable and inappropriate standards (number of AP tests taken divided by number of students and tallying the number of students matriculating in a handful of elite colleges and universities, for example) to arrive at debatable conclusions. These lists do little to help us understand what makes a school effective, and they do a lot of harm by defining success in extremely limited and exclusive ways. We ourselves find some definitions of success hard to deny, but, as this issue of HB attempts to convey, we try to deliver the alphabet soup of measurements—GPAs, SATs, APs—and also rise above them. We measure our success by our ability to help students evolve as thinkers, artists, athletes and human beings. The days of the academic caste system are over. No matter where an HB student falls on the spectrum of scores, she will have the opportunities and tools she needs to define success in authentic and meaningful ways. For years, that has been our goal, and as evidenced by the stories in these pages, it’s a goal achieved time and time again. At HB, we know that true success is defined one student and one passion at a time.
19600 North Park Boulevard Shaker Heights, Ohio 44122 216.932.4214
hb.edu
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Spring 2008
Contents Who, What, When?
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HB Trivia
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News from North Park 9 Cover Story: 1,000 Ways to be Wildly Successful
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Feature Stories: The Ransohoff Brain Trust 28 Ballerina on Horseback
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A Math Mind 32 What's the Story?
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Learning Through Floods, Frostbite and Fun
The Evolution of the Brown Bag Art Gallery
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Locker Room
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Faculty Profile 42 Susan Levitan
Alumnae Profile 44
Bailey Vance ’04
Advancement Update 46
Honoring Past Gifts
Philanthropy Update 47 A Great Investment: When Faculty Give Back
The Smith Family Legacy 48 Alumnae News
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As a leader in 21st century education, Hathaway Brown is committed to becoming more environmentally friendly. We are educating students about the many environmental concerns and imperatives that we all face, and we’re working hard to lead on these issues. We’re also taking steps to reduce our own carbon footprint and rethink our use of water, energy and paper. hb 4
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“Give up bottled water.”
Julie Sullivan Hahn ’71
“Use cloth napkins at meal time and clean with cloths rather than paper towels.”
“Become a vegetarian! There is a huge price to the environment when animals are raised for food.” Ginnie Jeavons Thomas ’71
Betsy McAfee Wilson ’90
“Put those recyclable wine bottles “Buy a hybrid vehicle and where they belong, or you’ll get replace every light bulb with 30 lashes with an aluminum can.” Sarah Calfee Morse ’57 the energy-efficient curly fluorescent type.” Susan Owen Bookshar ’72
“Plan all errands carefully to make good use of gasoline.”
“Bike as much as possible.” Jen Griffith ’98
“Turn on water only to wet and rinse the toothbrush” Janet Nutt Lembke ’49
Jeanne Elliott Ruff ’56
“Call catalogue companies and ask to be taken off the mailing list (I make sure to bookmark the site on my computer if I like it.)” Mary Anne Grimwade ’95
We’re proud to present this issue of HB magazine printed on paper approved by the Forest Stewardship Council. FSC standards serve to protect forests and their critical role in the ecosystem. The council literally tracks the integrity of a product through its entire life cycle. In fact, each sheet of FSC-approved paper used by Oliver Printing in producing this publication can be traced back to its forest of origin.
It’s gratifying to reduce our impact on the earth while promoting our School’s impact on the world. Visit hb.edu for more alumnae tips on going green.
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(From the 1981 Specularia) •
Edwin Newman, NBC Correspondent and author, with Mr. Glassman, HB English teacher for the 1981 Hathaway Brown School Colloquium
• “Watch Your Language”
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(From the 1981 Specularia)
(From the 1981 Specularia)
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(From the 1938 Specularia)
• Front row, l to r: Anne Herrick, Mildred Dickey, Mildred Stone, Jane Huber
(From the 1973 Specularia)
• Senior Winning Field Hockey Team, 1938
• Mrs. Harding, Mrs. Cortese and Mrs. Burke; Science
• D. Hitchcock, M. Sullivan, Mr. Moredock, Miss Bidelman, N. Wolf, L. Sauerbrei, C. Files
• 1973
• 1981 Specularia • Diana Prufer, Hanna Sullivan, Alison Brooks, Katie Cronquist, Dana Smythe, Sandy Bergsten, Ginny Bradford, Amy Lidsky
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Back row, l to r: Jeanne Norweb, Mary Johnson, Mary Brown, Florence Brown, Captain, Jane Stearns, Nancy McLaughlin, Shirley Williams
(From the 1948 Spec – p 103) • Jeanne Holbrook
(From the 1938 Specularia) •
The Cast of the Senior Play (1938): “The Women Have Their Way” Don Julian – Nancy McLaughlin Santita – Jeanne Norweb Diequilla – Graham Latimer Adolpho – Florence Brown Concha Puerto – Eloise Smith Guitarra – Sally Brown Angela – Suzanne Wellman Pilar – Barbara Cosgrove Dona Belen – Margaret Todd Juanita La Rosa – Mary Jane Bouse Pepe Lora – Patricia Knowlton Don Cecilio – Mary Meldrum Village Girl – Jane Stearns Sacristan – Anne Herrick
• HB May Queen of 1948
• Sandy Bergsten, Head of the Fine Arts Department
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Who are the leading ladies among this large cast of characters? What is the play and the year it was produced? The trophy, sticks, and definitely the shorts will help you guess the year this team had a winning season. Can you identify these Athletic Warriors and the year? A pretty girl is like a melody… Who is this young lady and for what celebration did she wear such fancy attire? Fashion speaks volumes in this photo. Can you identify the teacher and students, and guess the year it was hip to sit on top of the lockers? Donning their white lab coats are three former HB teachers. Who are they and what subject did they teach? These students posing for the camera collaborated on what project? Can you name them and identify the one who teaches at HB today? Who was HB's distinguished guest and on what occasion did he visit the School? Can you remember what he spoke about? Do you remember the teacher in the photo, too?
spring 2008
WHO, WHAT, WHEN?
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Photo by Hannah Canepa '08 HB MAG Final.indd 8
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news from
nOrTH pArK
From September 2007 to February 2008
Service Learning Hathaway Brown’s Service Learning Program continues to have a rich impact on student life, as it supports a myriad of philanthropic organizations. The caliber and depth of the program are recognized throughout the area. Last fall, the School was honored by East End Neighborhood House with the Paul Hill, Jr. Community Service Award for its seven-year relationship with the settlement. During these years, students have given hundreds of hours to East End’s preschool and after-school tutorial programs. Eighth-graders Sarah James, Rachel Adler and Shawneice Floyd, officers of the Middle School’s G.R.O.W. Foundation, and their advisors Cammy Dubie and Laura Zappas were invited to present at the Case Mandel Center’s Youth Philanthropy and Service Workshop in February. Their topic “How to Create a Student-Run Foundation in a School” was targeted for teachers and administrators.
SErViCE LEArning
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nATiOnAL SCHOLASTiC AWArDS
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Again this year, four HB students serve on United Way’s Youth Fund Distribution Committee. This outstanding community-wide program gives high school students the chance to make difficult decisions about funding the nonprofits that submit grant proposals on issues concerning youth. Juniors Julie Golinski and Lizzie Coquillette and seniors Hannah Canepa and Alison Oreh are HB’s representatives.
National Scholastic Arts Awards HB was well represented at the 28th Annual Cuyahoga County Regional Scholastic Art Exhibition hosted by The Cleveland Institute of Art, receiving a total of seven Gold Key awards: Hannah Canepa ’08 (2), Hope Shiverick ’08, Katie Simon ’08 (2); three Silver Key awards: Jennifer Higley ’08, Samantha Reilly ’09 and Ingrid Zippe ’13; and four Honorable Mentions: Micaela Dumm ’08, Oreh, and Shiverick (2). Canepa, Shiverick and Simon also received Gold Keys for their photography portfolios, accounting for three out of 12 portfolios chosen in the region. The photography portfolios and individual Gold Key pieces were sent to New York for the National Scholastic Competition.
article continued on next page…
inTErnATiOnAL LEArning
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DiVErSiTY
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SCiEnCE & EnginEEring
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rEMEMBEring
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news from nOrTH pArK
Additionally, Oreh received the American Vision Award Nomination, a Best of Show designation, and Shiverick received the Herb Ascherman Excellence in Photography award.
“i WAS SO HAppY FOr AnD prOUD OF THE girLS,” SAiD SANDRA BERGSTEN, HEAD OF THE FinE ArTS DEpArTMEnT. “TO rECEiVE gOLD KEYS AnD HAVE THiS AMOUnT OF WOrK SEnT TO nEW YOrK iS A MAJOr EVEnT AnD grEAT HOnOr.”
nine-nation consortium of schools of which HB is a co-founder. The delegates made plans for further connections among the member schools, including the creation of a student leadership congress within the WEA. While in South Africa, the three went on an extensive tour of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy. Afterward, Christ had a private meeting with John Samuel, CEO of the Academy, who “was fascinated by what he heard about HB,” said Christ. Samuel sent the dean of students from the Academy to HB in December for a short visit. She told her HB hosts that she had dreamed of what her school ultimately could be like, and now she knows it is possible because of what she saw at HB.
aFterWard, ChriSt had a Private meetiNg With JohN SamueL, Ceo oF the aCademy, WHO “WAS FASCINATED BY WHAT HE HEARD ABOUT HB,” SAID CHRIST.
While in South Africa, the three went on an extensive tour of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy.
International Learning Under the umbrella of the Center for Global Citizenship, the School’s international program is rapidly expanding. The HB community had the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational experiences during the fall and winter. Two hundred thirty students, faculty, staff and guests attended the second International Education Symposium in October where they heard two key-noters, Lisa Ling and Elizabeth Kolbert, along with a wide variety of speakers. Immediately following the symposium, Bill Christ, Bitty Dorr and Patty Hunt traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa, to attend the third annual World Educational Alliance, the
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Meg Fargher St. Mary's School, Waverly, Johannesburg, South Africa
Bill Christ Hathaway Brown School
Michaela Witt Stromarn Schule Ahrensburg, Germany
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“The evening certainly created a new awareness among the audience of what HB is doing,” said Diane Nichols, director of the Center for Multicultural Affairs.
Lisa Ling IES Keynote Speaker
Dr. Caitlin Killian ’91 IES Presenter
Science & Engineering
Diversity When it comes to heightening awareness of multicultural and diversity issues throughout the School community, HB does more than talk the talk. In November, Head of School Bill Christ and the offices of Multicultural Affairs and Admission convened a well-attended parent gathering highlighting HB’s diversity initiatives and programs. A panel comprised of faculty, students and alumnae spoke from multiple perspectives on curricular and programmatic changes. “The evening certainly created a new awareness among the audience of what HB is doing,” said Diane Nichols, Director of the Center for Multicultural Affairs.
“Everyone was so impressed with the quality of faculty speakers that they wanted to expand upon the idea,” said Nelson.
This year, a Faculty Diversity Speakers’ Series was established by Nichols and history teacher Judy Nelson. It is the outgrowth of the Diversity Day faculty in-service held in spring 2007. “Everyone was so impressed with the quality of faculty speakers that they wanted to expand upon the idea,” said Nelson. Informal discussions led by faculty are held once a month after school. Topics have included “Helping U.S. History Students to Develop Critical Thinking Skills,” “The Black Image in the White Mind: The Portrayal of African Americans in the Mass Media,” and “Epistemology and Race in ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘Glory’.” The Black Cultural Awareness Club sponsored a five-day bus trip to Atlanta during Spring Break to visit Martin Luther King, Jr. sites and historically black universities.
When the Siemens Foundation announced regional finalists and semifinalists in October, seven HB students found themselves among an elite group in Ohio and in the nation. A record number of 18 Science Research and Engineering Program (SREP) students met the rigorous entry requirements that represented three to four years of research. In the competition just for seniors, HB’s finalists were the only students from northeast Ohio named to the regional semi- and finalist categories, and they made up the majority of the 11 Ohio students to receive the honor. HB placed third in the country in total Siemens semifinalists and first nationally for total female semifinalists. The regional finalist was senior Alison Oreh, whose work advanced to the top 35 projects in the nation. The national semifinalists were
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news from nOrTH pArK
Remembering her classmates Doris Basali, Suzanne Mazhuvanchery, Ashley Mitchell, Claire Pavlak, Laney Kuenzel and Sarah Counihan. One of only three from Ohio and the only one from the Cleveland area, Oreh was also selected in January as a semifinalist for the Intel Science Talent Search for her same research project. This honor earned her a $1,000 scholarship and an additional $1,000 for HB's Science Research and Engineering Program. Built upon the 10-year success of the School’s Science Research and Engineering Program, TeamHB was established this year, focusing specifically on robotics and engineering education and research. The team is comprised of 25 Upper School students supported by six Upper School faculty from the Science, Math and Computer Technology departments. Dr. Wyatt Newman, from Case Western Reserve University’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, and a volunteer team of his graduate students serve as TeamHB’s coaches. This collaborative program was designed to prepare TeamHB for the FIRST Buckeye Regional Competition, held March 20–22 at Cleveland State University.
The HB community lost three retired and highly distinguished members of the faculty this past year: Marjorie White Lohwater, former chair of the Math Department, Pollee Hruby, assistant to five former heads of school, and Margaret Sturgess McCreary ’41, former chair of the English Department. Marjorie Lohwater passed away in June 2007. She taught math and served as chair of the department. Among the many students who held her in high regard is Jane Elliot Pinkas ’73. “No one ever felt anything but confidence in her ability in Mrs. Lohwater’s class,” said Pinkas. One of her favorite expressions was that ‘can’t’ was a four-letter word, and that she didn’t want to hear it. She was nurturing and encouraged us to take risks. She was totally beloved by her students.” Lohwater received the Anne Cutter Coburn Faculty Chair for the 1987–88 school year in recognition of her many years of devoted teaching. The Upper School annually presents the Lohwater Award to a math student who has demonstrated extra effort and dedication in her studies. After she retired from HB, Lohwater taught math at Cuyahoga Community College until the age of 80. Tri-C bestowed the annual Eastern Campus Adjunct Teacher of the Year
award upon her, again in recognition of her teaching excellence. Pollee Hruby worked at HB from 1964–80 as assistant to heads of school Anne Cutter Coburn, William Harris, Edward McAchron, Bancroft Green and Margaret Madden. After leaving HB, she enrolled at Case Western Reserve University to pursue a master’s degree in English. Many faculty and students still remember her distinctive handwriting on documents that kept the many details involved in running a school in order. Prior to her administrative duties, Hruby taught American history at the School during 1944. Margaret (Peg) McCreary ’41 is remembered with great fondness by HB alums who were fortunate to have her as a teacher. Niece Meredith McDaniel McCreary ’70 described her as “an iconic teacher. She worked so hard to prepare for her classes that her students felt compelled to study equally well. She was absolutely unbelievable.” McCreary said that students also remember their teacher’s fondness for high heels and sweater sets and her willing mentoring of new young teachers who came to HB. After retirement, McCreary continued her association with HB by serving as a member of the Corporation.
THiS COLLABOrATiVE prOgrAM WAS DESignED TO prEpArE
TEAMHB FOr THE FirST BUCKEYE rEgiOnAL COMpETiTiOn 10 HB MAG Final.indd 12
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Photo by Hope Shiverick ’08 HB MAG Final.indd 13
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1,000 WAYS
by Terry Dubow & Susan Faulder
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The Goddard family knows Hathaway Brown. In the span of six years, three Goddard girls donned the white gowns and shook hands with the head of school. Two of them, Maggie ’07 and Libby ’05, were lifers. Kate ’03 entered the School in second grade. Those years afforded the Goddards many glimpses into the soul of the School. After Libby graduated, her parents shared some of what they saw with Bill Christ. In describing to the head of school what they loved about HB, the girls’ father uttered something that stuck with Christ for years. He said that at HB “girls had a thousand ways to be wildly successful.” In the years that have followed, the phrase has become part of the HB lexicon because it seems to capture something essential about the School. Engendering success is at HB’s core. The School is designed to help girls inflame curiosities, identify passions and exercise talents so they can capitalize on their abilities and imaginations. But as much as success is central to the School, so is joy. The School wants to help girls love what they do.
“It’s not one kind of school,” explains Anne Unverzagt, mother of the Goddard girls. It’s a “complex place” where success is “broadly defined,” she says. “It’s not the A. It’s the positive experience. If you lined up 20 girls randomly in the hallway, you would find 20 different stories of success at Hathaway Brown.” Rick Goddard feels the same way. He notes that his three very different daughters each experienced the struggles and joys of work and achievement. He speaks rhapsodically about the culture of experimentation, success and support that they found at HB. “The celebration is central to what Hathaway Brown School is all about,” he says. Of course, the Goddards are not alone. For many years, HB has had a tradition of helping girls succeed, however they define that word. Transformation is in the School’s blood. It has long had a culture of joyful success and successful joy. It turns out that on any given day there are about 1,000 people walking HB’s halls. The School hasn’t assigned each of them a number, but it has committed to helping each of them find a kind of meaningful success. The pages that follow describe how this commitment has been part of the School’s life for many years. It seems that the Goddards found words for something that has long been a part of the HB phenomenon.
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1,000 WAYS
leadership
n o . 21
As soon as Angela Groves ’08 was old enough to run for student council, she did exactly that. At first, it didn’t go as well as she’d hoped. The fourth-grade presidential election at Boulevard Elementary ended up in a four-way tie. The run-off didn’t treat Groves well. Hathaway Brown is grateful and fortunate that Groves kept at the leadership game. “I just really like feeling like I’m able to make a difference and help improve whatever community I’m in,” she says. She began making differences almost as soon as she arrived on campus her freshman year. Groves was class president in ninth and 10th grade. As a junior, she became the all-school representative to Senate and now as a senior she’s the Senate President. Groves’ commitment to working within systems to improve them is central to her character. The daughter of a judge and a lawyer, she believes passionately in creating inclusive and just environments. She’s as open to learning as she is to leading.
Just last summer, she attended the Tavis Smiley Youth Leadership Institute in Houston. “It was really one of those defining life experiences,” she says. There, she felt the power and responsibility to lead her peers toward a better, more just world. There, she identified what she calls “the essence of leadership.” Groves likes to quote Professor Cornell West, who told the students at the conference that “you can’t lead the people unless you love the people. You can’t save the people until you serve people.” Groves sticks to this description of leadership because she believes that the art of leading well is really a form of connection. “You can’t be superficial. If you’re trying to lead for the title or the spotlight it won’t work. It’s not real.” Groves’ time at HB has been transformative. “I’ve just seen how much I’ve grown from being here,” she says. The School has benefited just as much and will be altered even further before she’s done with the place. For the past year, she’s been working on a Strnad project that emerged from her work at the leadership conference. The goal of her project is to “investigate strategies of bringing about change in black America, focusing specifically on how to mobilize youth.” To do so, she’s created a Youth Covenant
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Committee, tutored and mentored young African Americans throughout Cleveland, organized voter registration drives, and planned a Youth Leadership Conference for young African-American leaders. The conference happens this April. It aims to be inspirational, and no one at HB doubts that it will be just that. While Groves clearly needs no role model, she will be able to count on Dana Lovelace Capers ’86 as a mentor. Capers is known throughout the Greater Cleveland community for her leadership roles in community involvement both professionally and as a volunteer. “My passion for community-oriented work began at HB,” says Capers without hesitation. “My senior project involved working with victims of domestic violence at a local center.” That senior project set Capers on a 22-year trajectory that is her profession and her passion. As Vice-President and Director of Hometown Bank Initiatives for Huntington Bank, Capers is responsible for supporting the development and execution of the Cleveland region’s community investment strategy. As such, she manages the area’s charitable giving activity, ensures appropriate performance under the Community Reinvestment Act, and supports business development efforts in the community development market sector. “The beauty of what I do is linking my institution to the needs of the community’s products and services,” says Capers. “I love working with parts and pieces that make communities function beyond business and politics.” In addition to her professional responsibilities, she serves on several boards including the YWCA of Greater Cleveland and Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation. She has been recognized by Kaleidoscope Magazine and by Crain’s Cleveland Business as one of the area’s “40 under 40” leaders. Capers hasn’t forgotten the school that helped instill this passion; she is chair of HB’s Alums of Color. In this capacity she participates in AOC discussions for current families of color as well as fellow alums of color. “Dana has such a fine perspective,” says Pam Fife, Director of Alumnae Relations. “She has great instincts about how to move things forward. She is always available for help, has a wonderfully positive attitude, and is great to work with.”
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1,000 WAYS
SWEAT
n o . 812 Around the office in Atlanta, Katie Redeker ’00 is known as “the golfer,” which might seem like an innocuous label, but it’s not. When she’s called that, it’s often with astonishment. “Men react surprisingly well,” she says. “They like the competition because they’re not used to it.”
Redeker is, in fact, remarkable with the clubs. She was a freshman when Hathaway Brown inaugurated the golf team. By the time she was a senior, she was the captain and the only Ohioan selected for the Compaq Scholastic All-American Golf Team. Redeker then went to the University of Maryland, where again she was captain of the varsity golf team during her senior year. Her time on the links prepared her well for life in corporate banking and investment. “A lot of those values you take with you into the real world,” she says. “Those skills never really go away.” The skills, of course, aren’t limited to the mechanics of her swing. In fact, Redeker cites patience and integrity as among the most important lessons that golf taught her. After all, when you’re on the golf course, “you’re your own rule keeper,” she says. Working in a male-dominated industry where a lot of work is conducted between putts has had its challenges, but her time at HB and on the links gave Redeker the experiences and confidence she’s needed to excel. “Growing up, I was always out playing with the boys,” she says. “Having those skills as a woman differentiates you from other professional women because you can compete with the men and play on the same playing field.” Elisabeth Ptacek doesn’t know it yet, but she’s already moving down the path blazed by Redeker and other female athletes. Though she’s just four years old, she’s already found her place on the fields and in the water, learning the dimensions of her mind and body. As a member of her Early Childhood class, she swims in The Carol and John Butler Aquatic Center on Fridays. “You can’t get her out of the water unless her lips are blue,” her mother says.
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Ptacek’s time in the pool isn’t simply about play—just as Redeker’s time on the golf course wasn’t simply about winning. “Movement is the essence of existence for every young child,” explains Julie Kerrigan-Ettorre, HB physical education teacher. “The philosophical premise for the Early Childhood Physical Education program is that every child practices a variety of developmentally appropriate movement experiences. With the addition of the pool, the class encourages a child’s natural curiosity and playfulness to develop a positive water attitude and the foundation for aquatic skill achievement to enhance a lifetime of success in the pool.” Elisabeth is also a monster on the monkey bars and spends weekends on the soccer fields. She comes by her athleticism honestly. Her father played Division I soccer at The University of Akron. One of her grandfathers is in the University of Akron Hall of Fame for his soccer skills. The other grandfather is a
legendary soccer coach at Walsh Jesuit High School. And her mother, Carmen, was a Division I soccer player at The Ohio State University who went on to play professionally. She is now the assistant coach of HB’s Division II state champion varsity soccer team. “Elisabeth is always surrounded by the older players,” says Carmen. “She understands what it means to be part of a team. She loves the cohesiveness. She sees the compassion and friendships. She’s a team player.” Ptacek and Redeker make the value of athletics very clear. HB girls play to win, no doubt, but they take with them much more than the accolades that follow victory and the lessons that come with defeat. They learn who they are, what they’re capable of and where they belong.
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1,000 WAYS
the stage
the
stage When she was a sophomore at Hathaway Brown, Missy Iredell ’96 won a radio contest. The prize? Backstage passes to the Dave Matthews Band, the group she loved long before they found fame. She remembers the energy of being behind the stage. She remembers watching people with their badges zipping around with purpose. She remembers thinking, “This is what I want to do with my life.”
Emma Wahl ’13 has a New York agent and a performance résumé envied by older actors. She appeared for six months in the original Broadway run of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” and has performed in seven shows at northeast Ohio professional theaters. At age nine, she was one of the youngest actresses ever to be cast as lead in a professional production of “Annie.”
While Iredell and Wahl spend their time on opposite sides of the stage, they both feel passionate about it. Through a bit of luck and a lot of work, Iredell now helps manage two bands. One is up-andcoming, The Rapture, and one is arguably the biggest band in the world, U2. When U2 tours, one of Iredell’s jobs is to escort the band’s guests to their seats. It could be Julia Roberts one night. It could be George Clooney another. She’s part of a team that few people ever see. “There’s a whole world behind the curtain,” she explains. While the band is bringing people to their feet, 25 staffers are backstage on their laptops.
As an HB lifer, Iredell had her passions for music nurtured. She loved Mrs. Southard’s guitar group. “She’s a fantastic music teacher,” Iredell says. But the most critical skill she learned: confidence. “I never thought that I couldn’t do my job,” she says. Moving behind the scenes of the music industry wasn’t particularly difficult for her. “I had the skill set because I knew how to talk to adults. I knew how to handle myself.” Iredell makes a point of introducing herself to people. She sends handwritten thank-you notes. She believes that success is “very much making the most out of every opportunity.”
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Clearly, Wahl has done just that. The young actress has turned her passions into the rarest of success. Still, she views her work in a remarkably mature and professional manner. She loves acting, but she sees her theatrical roles as work to be done to her very best, not as reasons to act like a prima donna. She is not jaded by her successes or large actor egos. She enjoys friendships with actors of all ages. Her healthy outlook is due in large part to her parents, who have supported her career without being stereotypical stage parents. At HB, Wahl is known as “the ultimate team player” according to her mentor, Lucy Lytle ’82. She is an honor student, loves to read and write, hang out with friends and her twin brother, and this year became an enthusiastic field hockey player and a WEST Fellowship recipient. “People [at HB] do anything to support my acting schedule,” says Wahl.
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1,000 WAYS
PHILANTHROPY
Sarah James ’12 and Pam Butler Keefe ’62 are generations apart, but both come from families that instilled in them a strong commitment to philanthropy and community service. Their parents often reminded them of their many blessings and stressed that it was incumbent upon them to give to those less fortunate. For James, giving back to the community is an integral part of her family’s lifestyle. Her parents expect their children to donate half of their allowances to charity. As a family, they often participate in community service activities through their church. Recently, they cooked dinner for residents at Ronald McDonald House in downtown Cleveland. Keefe’s grandmother established the George M. and Pamela S. Humphrey Fund in 1951. Her own mother, Carol Humphrey Butler ’40, directed the Humphrey Fund upon her parents’ deaths, and Keefe took over as president upon Butler’s death in 2001. Keefe recalls staging a neighborhood dog show when she was in Middle School. She personally delivered the admission collected to a local charity. “My parents demonstrated for their three daughters a commitment to volunteerism and philanthropy by the way they lived their lives,” she says. Keefe continued the family’s philanthropic commitments with her own daughters, Cynthia Pamela Grover ’88 and C. Grier Hynes ’89, in a variety of ways, and she is pleased that they share their assets and talents in their separate communities. The Humphrey Fund under Keefe’s leadership largely focuses on nonprofits that support health, children and education issues. James is the current president of the Middle School’s G.R.O.W. Foundation, a grant-making organization. As such, she is learning the many facets of philanthropy and has a personal interest in issues of hunger in northeast Ohio. Both exemplify HB’s mission to “foster in [their] hearts a constant devotion to strong character and public service and to rise boldly to the challenges of their times.”
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n o . 612
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1,000 WAYS
It’s not an exaggeration to say that a sisterhood forms among many Hathaway Brown students, a bond of common trials and triumphs. But there is an ultimate test of the School’s ability to connect students while giving them the tools they need to be themselves: when the School sisters are real-life sisters as well.
sisterhood
HB certainly passed the test with the Cho sisters. Kathleen ’89 loved her time at the School. Now an anesthesiologist at University Hospitals in Cleveland, she started HB as a high school freshman. “I found that the classes were exceptionally advanced and challenging, the teachers were nurturing and warm, and that the ambiance of the place was just full of pride and dedication to our futures,” she recalls. “HB is where I discovered my interest in sciences. I did a Strnad project in AIDS education which heightened my interest in medicine… HB is where I began to value learning. I became confident that I could succeed at whatever I chose to do.”
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n o . 412 Her sister Karen ’92 had a very different experience. She calls her time at HB “defining,” but calls HB’s influence “indirect.” She didn’t share her sister’s love of science and medicine. Instead she loved art—both appreciating and creating it. She spent six years in Seattle at Amazon during the dot-com boom and then began plotting a new path. “I was intrigued with the idea of creating a business drawing from both my business experience and my creative side. I’ve always loved shopping at specialty stores that carried items from independent designers and labels and thought I could bring something new to Seattle.” The result: Urchin, a store that sells specialty home products and accessories. She’s loved “watching it grow from idea to an actual store with an energy and momentum of its own.” The path from HB to her successful venture may have been indirect, but she attributes some of her willingness to take the risk to “the level of confidence that HB instilled in me early on that I could achieve anything.” The new sisters on the block are Chloe and Kayla Schwartz. They “love HB” and think it’s “kinda fun” to be in the same school. First-grader Kayla loves math and Spanish—really all of her subjects. She eagerly assists her classmates when a need arises. Third-grader Chloe is a voracious reader whose favorite book is “whatever I’m reading right now.” “The most touching aspect of Chloe is her kind heart,” says her teacher Chris Franc. “She is the first to empathize with those around her or with characters in a book.” “Chloe and Kayla are a microcosm of how we look at all of our students,” explains Kathy Zopatti, director of the Primary School. “At HB we do not follow a one-size-fits-all program. The Prime faculty are aware of Chloe and Kayla’s individual strengths and interests and provide opportunities for them to develop those while supporting them when they need a little boost.” While only in their second year at HB, the Schwartz sisters talk like old-timers as they share their thoughts about the School: “I hope I can stay at HB ’til I graduate in 12th grade,” says Chloe. “The teachers are all great and make school so much fun.”
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1,000 WAYS
THE PAGE
Once upon a time, a Moravian bishop named John Amos Comenius had the revolutionary thought that girls deserved an education. Nearly 400 years later, two women walked the halls of Hathaway Brown and proved once again that Bishop Comenius was no fool. With their pens and their minds, Paula Welshimer Locklair ’68 and Betty Rosen ’08 define their success around their ability to find words for what they see, feel and know. As the Vice President of Education Programming and Research at Old Salem Museum and Gardens in WinstonSalem, Locklair has a hard job. Whether on text panels for exhibits or in grant proposals, she must bring an old world to life through her words. The museum itself is a living history of the Moravian settlers of Salem, North Carolina, where people like Bishop Comenius, who wrote the first parenting book and was “the Dr. Spock of his era,” lived their lives. To do her job, Locklair must write “very succinctly and make it interesting at the same time,” she says. “You have to be able to write descriptively and say what you mean.” Locklair believes that “the foundation started at HB,” where she boarded throughout her years in the Upper School. Ironically, this author of two books says she was not the best writer when she went to HB, but that the constant focus on writing in her classes prepared her well. “We had to be able to say something meaningful in a short piece,” she says. This emphasis on clarity and brevity helped her develop the habits and skills that she uses every day.
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Though Rosen prefers poetry to history, she has many of the same feelings about writing that Locklair describes. “I’ve been making up stories since I could talk,” says Rosen. “As soon as I learned the alphabet, at age four, I began to write down the stories.” By age six, Rosen was composing poetry and in sixth grade she wrote a novel. She credits her early love of words to her parents. Great readers themselves, they read to her all the time. “There is a high caliber of creative expression in our home,” she says. Rosen realized early on that her literary talents were going unnoticed in her public school. During fifth grade, she told her parents that she needed, even craved, to attend an independent school. From the beginning, she found a welcome home at HB. Fellow students were interested in and enjoyed writing. She met classmates who were passionate about other subjects. These shared passions led to new and fulfilling friendships.
Rosen salutes Middle School teachers Mark Newton, Leah Thornton and Susan Levitan for mentoring her writing talents. Upper School faculty note that Rosen is “always inquisitive. She pushes her thinking and understanding of texts by constantly delving deeper for meaning.” This year, Rosen is the first scholar of HB’s Center for Humanities. She is working on an independent study titled “Comparative Thesis on Ancient Tibetan and Egyptian Books of the Dead.” Rosen is looking forward to a 10-year journey toward a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature. “I may take a two-year detour at the Iowa Writers Workshop,” she predicts. However long the journey, there is little doubt that the HB community will be reading her work soon.
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Spring 2008
by Susan Faulder
“I thought it would be fun to do something ‘out of
the box,’” says Amy Ransohoff ’08. What began as an activity to occupy her days two summers ago
led her to being a presenter at the 2008 annual
meeting of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston in
mid-February. By itself, the honor is enough to
make any family proud. But the Ransohoffs had
more to celebrate. At the very same conference her
father, Dr. Richard Ransohoff, was inducted as a
Fellow in AAAS. The coincidence is testament to the power of the Ransohoff brain trust.
Although Amy always enjoyed biology and anatomy courses, her passions have been expressed in the performing arts, namely singing and ballet. A former member of the select Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus, she met the requirements for membership in HB’s chamber a cappella choir Bravuras and the HB Singers. She studied ballet off campus for 13 years.
Amy began her Science Research and Engineering Program project in her father’s lab at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation with a postdoctoral fellow as her mentor. Her work involves studying human autopsy brain tissues as she pursues her project “Comparison of Cortical Pathology in PML and Multiple Sclerosis.” Amy entered her research in the Ohio Academy of Sciences in April 2007. She placed second in the state, an achievement that earned her the honor of presenting at both the AAAS and the American Junior Association for the Advancement of Science (AJAS). She was one of four in Ohio to receive the Melvin Scholarship, which helped underwrite her conference expenses. Also presenting their SREP research at AAAS and AJAS in Boston were Sarah Counihan ’08, Caitlin Duffy ’08, Lizzie Coquillette ’09, and Uma Mohan ’09. Like Amy, they were awarded this right through the Ohio Academy of Science event, at which Counihan and Duffy placed first and fourth in the state, respectively. Dr. Ransohoff ’s induction into the Association is a significant recognition of his professional achievements as Director of the Neuroinflammation Research Center at CCF, where his team studies multiple sclerosis, stroke, ALS, muscular dystrophy and Alzheimer's disease.
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Amy Ransohoff ’08 And Dr. Richard Ransohoff
THE rAnSOHOFF BrAin TrUST
Dr. Ransohoff recalled that Amy, who was enrolled in HB’s Early Childhood program, played an important, if tangential, role in the early days of HB’s Science Research and Engineering Program. She happened to be “hanging out” in her father’s lab one Saturday morning when two HB Upper School students came to meet the doctor. Kate Griswold ’98 and Sarah Tyler ’98 were recommended by their biology teacher to engage in a research project that went beyond advanced science courses at HB. Dr. Ransohoff agreed to mentor the girls primarily, he says, because “I didn’t want to disappoint Amy.” That positive experience had great impact on the birth of the SREP. To this day, much of the program is in the mold of that initial project set up by Dr. Ransohoff. Griswold and Tyler are currently senior residents in pediatrics at University Hospitals of Cleveland and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, respectively, and they keep in touch with their first medical mentor. The doctor has made his lab available to SREP students continuously since the program’s inception. In fact, he opens his lab to all ranges of students, from high school students in the SREP to college students to medical students. “Summer becomes a real jamboree around there. We have a lot of fun,” he says. Amy agrees.
Although the dual appearances of daughter and father at the American Association for the Advancement of Science was a coincidence, each was clearly proud of the other’s achievements and delighted in this unique family occasion.
She haPPeNed to be “haNgiNg out” iN her Father’S Lab oNe Saturday morNiNg WheN tWo hb uPPer SChooL StudeNtS Came to meet the doCtor. hb 29
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Spring 2008
ballerina oN
horSebaCk
by Terry Dubow
“it takeS a Lot more thiNkiNg aNd PreParatioN,” hortoN eXPLaiNS. “i Like hoW it ChaLLeNgeS me.” HB MAG Final.indd 30
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Equine Artistry by Barbara/Barbara’s Visions
BALLErinA On HOrSEBACK
Rachael Horton ’12 can’t explain the feeling she has in the saddle. When she rides, it’s just her and the horse and the uncomplicated relationship between them. Horton doesn’t ride simply to escape, though. This Hathaway Brown eighth-grader is a dedicated and acclaimed competitor in the quiet sport of dressage. Horton describes dressage as “ballet on horseback.” The rider must control the horse and avoid visible corrections so that there appears to be no separation between the rider and the animal. “The point is to make it look like you’re not doing anything,” Horton explains. In dressage, the rider communicates to the horse through aids on her hands and legs. If Horton moves a finger or changes pressure, the horse responds. Every movement of the horse is connected to an aid or position. “It takes a lot more thinking and preparation,” Horton explains. “I like how it challenges me.” So how advanced is Horton? After only a few years in the field, she’s progressed dramatically. In a recent article in The Horsemen’s Corral, Candy Lawrence suggested that Horton has “already established herself light years ahead of other equestrians… Rising like a lightning bolt from Introductory Training Level to showing at Third Level within a year’s time is akin to walking on water, passing through solid walls or levitating above tree tops.” There are 10 levels in dressage, and Horton is a little over halfway up the ladder.
This winter, she spent three months in Florida working with Betsy Steiner, a renowned trainer. Horton’s goal is to prepare for the North American Junior Championships in July. Ultimately she would like to go to the Olympics in 2012 or 2016. Balancing her riding schedule and her commitment to school can be complicated, but HB is committed to helping her. “Rachael, her mother and her teachers work closely together to maximize her experience at HB and in her riding competitions,” says Nicole Trombetta, Horton’s advisor and eighth-grade science teacher. “The Middle School prides itself on being flexible.” While Horton was in Florida, she had a geometry and a Spanish tutor who helped her keep up with her HB curriculum. Using an online course management system called Moodle, Horton’s teachers posted assignments and saw the work she completed. “It was an experiment with distance learning,” Trombetta says. “It was such a fantastic opportunity for Rachael. It’s not something we wanted her to miss out on.” Horton is very aware of how fortunate she is in terms of her riding and her education. “I don’t want to go anywhere else,” she says. “HB is great at challenging and supporting students.”
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Laney Kuenzel ’08
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A MATH MIND
Anyone who maintains the outdated notion that girls are weaker in math aptitude than boys doesn’t know senior Laney Kuenzel, a stellar representative of HB’s outstanding Math Department. She can’t remember ever not loving math. “Math problems have always been like games for me,” she says. Kuenzel’s father, a college math major, “told me stories as a way of explaining mathematical ideas,” she recalls. “I enjoyed it. Math was never a subject to memorize.” She has taken this love of the fun of math to high levels by participating in a series of math contests that have earned her national recognition. In her junior year she was ranked seventh in the country, according to iTest, a combined ranking that takes into account scores from three recognized national contests. She completed the online four-round USA Mathematical Talent Search with a total score of 99/100, earning her a gold ranking. Math teacher Eileen LaVerde lauds Kuenzel’s class participation. Her ability to clearly articulate her thought processes enhances classmates’ understandings as well. Kuenzel in turn credits Math Department Chair Dan Pierce for encouraging her to attend a summer math camp. She got hooked on the fun of working with like-minded students there.
During the summer of 2007, she attended the six-week Research Science Institute at MIT, where she enjoyed, for the first time, working on a research track. “I made lots of cool friends,” she enthuses. She parlayed this experience into a full theoretical Strnad Fellowship research project on game theory and entered it into the Siemens Competition. She qualified as one of HB’s group of seven semifinalists in 2007. As president of HB’s local chapter of Mu Alpha Theta national math honorary society, Kuenzel has achieved staggering results at local, regional and national levels. Additionally, this modest young woman makes time to volunteer as an English tutor in a Cleveland bilingual school, serves as co-president of the School’s recycling club, and takes a specially designed Spanish honors tutorial. Her teacher, Silvia Kenneweg, said Kuenzel’s major essays are nearly perfect linguistically. Kuenzel is grateful to HB for designing this course and a post-calculus class for her and Betty Rosen ’08. “I don’t think too many schools would be so accommodating,” she says.
-SF
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spring 2008
Learning through Floods, Frostbite and Fun HB MAG Final.indd 34
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WHAT'S THE STORY?
Much to the dismay of their young students, there was a big flood on the farm last fall in Julie Harris and Lori Yates’ Early Childhood classroom. The children discovered it when they arrived one morning. After their initial shock and concern for the animals and structures they had created, a lively conversation followed. “How can we fix the problem,” they wondered aloud. The consensus was that they needed to design and construct a “water-sucking machine,” and they did just that.
theater, complete with characters, costumes, props, and unexpected events. However, the choice of topic begins with the teacher, and the structure is carefully designed. Specific curricular goals are identified ahead of time and woven into the action. Two years ago, fourth-grade teachers Mary Boutton and Lois Cameron received an HB Catalyst Grant to attend a Storyline workshop and later the International Storyline Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Shortly thereafter, in true HB style, the Primary School became the first in the central states to pilot Storyline when they developed a framework for their Ohio History unit.
to allow more people to own land in the Western Reserve. In the process, the girls discussed how history may have been different if the ordinance had benefited more than rich white men. “There are wonderful opportunities for cooperative learning and curricular integration. We worked with the science, music, and technology teachers. Everything in the curriculum can come together in Storyline,” say Boutton and Cameron. “An important aspect of the method is respect for the learner. It respects what children know and what they want to know. This is especially important for the ones who are reticent, or feel they don’t have the ability to excel when reading and writing are presented in more formal ways. Once they have this outlet for their artistic sides, these children begin to emerge as leaders. Children with attention issues are more successful because they can move around, create, be active—and all of a sudden, we see them come to life as learners.” In July 2007, the Prime faculty attended a weeklong Storyline in-service given by two of the original trainers of the methodology. “It’s no exaggeration,” said Kathy Zopatti, Primary School Director, “that what follows these initial experiences may well transform teaching and learning in the Primary School.” -SF Note: For a longer piece describing Storyline, contact Jane Brown, Director of HB’s Early Childhood program, at jbrown@hb.edu.
In a fourth-grade classroom, students suffered from frostbite because they were slow to complete their new dwellings in the Western Reserve. They also experienced a bear mauling and dealt with a measles epidemic. Speculation and then research were required to learn how best to survive those terrors of the time. While creating scenarios based on prior learning experiences is nothing new in Primary School classes, these particular episodes employed a new methodology, Storyline, which uses a narrative structure designed by the teachers as a framework for learning. It is a lot like improvisational
Inspired by the excitement and energy of the fourth-graders, Harris and Yates designed the farm unit for the pre-kindergarten children. “It seemed like such a natural thing to do with preschoolers. We know that children love storytelling, are incredibly engaged in their creations, and take real pride in their work,” say Harris and Yates. While children are at the preschool level, oral language is central to literacy development. In the higher grades teachers can involve the students in a broader range of literacy skills, according to Boutton. Recently, the fourth-graders rewrote the Northwest Ordinance
“we know that children love storytelling, are incredibly engaged in their creations, and take real pride in their work.” hb 3 5
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Spring 2008
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THE EVOLUTiOn OF THE BrOWn BAg
“It was tiny,” remembers Siri Herbruck Benjamin ’85. “You walked up to the counter, which was on one of those half doors, so you had to look in and point to what you wanted.” Lucy Lytle ’82 remembers that “they originally sold school supplies, a few HB mugs and backpacks, and a limited number of snacks. No clothes at all—we really didn’t wear HB sweatshirts outside of the gym in those days. The space was so small that students weren’t even allowed in the store!”
cafeteria and the Brown Bag,” she explains. Over the next months, the store moved twice and had one stint in the spring of 2002 when the volunteers lived as nomads, Poutasse says, until they got their new home in the former faculty workroom. Once it got its new space, the Brown Bag became a more visible and vibrant part of the HB community. Students could now walk into the store, browse and buy what they needed. While the new space and the traffic were good signs, the store’s cinderblock walls and poor lighting weren’t always inviting.
Today’s Brown Bag is big enough to welcome students and to generate enough revenue for the HB Parent Association to contribute meaningfully each year to the School’s various projects. The evolution of the school store is noteworthy in its own right, but maybe more so because of the light it sheds on how invested the parent community is in the life of the School. The all-volunteer store is thriving solely because of the commitment and affection parents have for HB.
So in 2005 the Parent Association Board formed a task force to improve the Brown Bag. Kathy Wagner, the president of the Parent Association at the time, solicited the help of parents Wendy DeGirolamo, who had expertise in retail, and Stephen Ciciretto, an architect, to redesign the space. Poutasse and Margaret Gothot also played critical roles in the reinvention of the store.
The original Brown Bag sat in the School basement and was established in the early 1980s by Rindy Nash Collister ’58 and Ellen Thomas, who had daughters in the Upper School. “Students would pass the Brown Bag as they came down the stairs on their way to lunch in the old dining room,” says Lytle, daughter of Collister and current Director of Middle School Admissions. The store stayed in the basement until the summer of 2001, according to Margaret Poutasse. “That summer’s construction of the Atrium removed the stairs leading down to the old
The current edition opened in 2006 and has been an overwhelming success. It now sells all kinds of HB gear and works closely with other arms of the School to provide students and faculty what they need. The current team consists of 30 parent volunteers who work in the Brown Bag on a regular basis and another 30 who work the sports cart at sports practices and games. The store is led by Kathy Barbagallo, Lis Bulmash, Ann Javorsky and Deb Retino, all of whom contribute hours and imagination to making the store a success.
According to Barbagallo, who coordinates the volunteers, the Brown Bag has expanded its offerings dramatically. There’s now a snack card, which functions like a pre-paid voucher. There’s also the sports cart that offers healthy food and drink for athletes and spectators. And there’s all manner of merchandise bearing the HB logo that attract all kinds of people. “Just this week, a mom of a graduate came in to buy the poster for her daughter’s first apartment,” Barbagallo says. “The daughter had gotten her first job in Washington, D.C. and her mom was looking for a HB memento to decorate it and thought the poster was perfect.” All of these improvements have allowed the Brown Bag to support the School in dramatic ways. Since 2001, the Brown Bag’s revenues have more than doubled, with profits totaling nearly $50,000 over the past six years. This revenue has allowed the Parent Association to support everything from The Carol and John Butler Aquatic Center to technology improvements throughout the School. As it’s evolved from its humble beginnings, the Brown Bag has done a tremendous amount of good for the School. Each year and each improvement is a testament to the generosity and commitment of the parent volunteers who have nurtured it since it was just a tiny room in a basement. -TD Check out the Brown Bag’s newest offerings on page 49.
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spring 2008
While performing great works of art in our choral ensembles and orchestra, Upper School musicians are provided with the opportunity to grow both their performance skills and their musical understanding. Through thoughtful instruction, rich and varied literature, exciting performance opportunities and active listening, the girls are able to embrace the world of music. Our students are some of the finest young musicians in northeast Ohio, continually representing HB in both regional and state honors ensembles.
(Above) Photo by Biance Falcone ’08 (Right) Photo by Angela Groves ’08
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ART GALLERY
Photo by Katie Simon ’08
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spring 2008
Locker Room
2007 ended with the Blazers being like no other—state championships in doubles tennis and soccer, district and sectional championships in numerous sports, and individual records everywhere. And in early 2008, the girls’ varsity basketball team placed second in the state in Division II. But these achievements are only signs of Hathaway Brown’s deep commitment to the value of athletics. This year 85 percent of Middle School students participated in fall sports and the Upper School sponsored 11 fall and four winter teams. What happens on the field, in the pool, and on the court is more than about victory and defeat; it’s about leadership, character and commitment. It’s about being a Blazer.
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LOCKER ROOM
Photo courtesy of the Dorsey Family
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spring 2008
Faculty Profile:
Susan Levitan Susan Levitan likes to make work for herself. She’s not good at standing still. But she is good at teaching eighth-grade English, which she has done for 27 years at Hathaway Brown. For each of those years, she’s brought her raspy laugh and stirring wit as well as a commitment to reinventing herself. Over the course of her career, Levitan has revised her curriculum more times than she remembers. She’s particularly excited about her newest invention for which she recently won the Margot Strom Teaching Award from an organization called Facing History and Ourselves. The award brought her well-deserved acclaim as well as funding to revise her eighth-grade English curriculum. Levitan began her journey with Facing History and Ourselves a dozen years ago when she went to a conference in Boston. There, she came “as close as I’ve ever come to having a religious experience,” she says, because the program spoke to so many issues about which she feels passionate, such as social justice and the power of individuals. “Nothing is inevitable in history,” she says. “Small acts of individuals begin colossal events that can be dire or sublime. And everyday small decisions lead to habits of the mind that lead to how we live our lives and shape the society we live in.” For more than a decade, Levitan applied what she learned in Boston to discrete units that she had her eighth-graders study at the end of each school year. These were satisfying but not enough, and so when she had the chance to apply for the Margot Strom Teaching Award she took it. Even though she knew that if she won, she’d have given herself the assignment to become an entirely new teacher. Well, she won. And so last summer, she spent her days trying to turn a history curriculum into a literature curriculum. As she ravaged what had succeeded for years, Levitan performed the trick that has made her one of the most effective and revered members of HB’s Middle School. “This most recent change to the social justice theme in her English classroom is an example of Susan’s remarkable capacity for reinvention,” says Sue Sadler, Director of the Middle School. “Girls this age need to be taken seriously as they begin to grapple with really deep topics. Susan deftly coaxes, challenges, nudges, and encourages girls toward more enlightened thinking.”
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FACULTY PROFILE
In the end, forgiveness was granted. Levitan grew up in Stamford, Conn., Levitan and her friend were maids of and earned degrees at Harvard and honor at each other’s weddings. Still, Brown universities. Just out of graduate when Levitan sees middle school school, she found herself at Laurel meanness, she picks up the phone and School, where she was hired to be calls her friend to apologize again. among a team of young teachers to be mentored by veteran faculty. She “There’s such an intensity in eighthenjoyed her time there and learned graders,” says Levitan. “Kids that age quite a lot about the profession, but feel it all so profoundly, and everything then her position was eliminated, and matters. You see them beginning to care she was left jobless in a city that was not hers. She did get some help, though. about things. They’re able to see things Laurel’s head of school had heard about abstractly, but they’re also so concrete because the world is based in the an opening at HB. Levitan made a call. experience of the moment.” Things worked out. During her 27 years at HB, Levitan has remained committed to the Middle School because she loves working with 13-year-olds. “Things have certainly changed from when I was 13, but there are certain constants. The cruelties, the kindnesses, the intensities all stay the same.” Levitan understands why people often consider the middle school years as unpleasant. She, herself, wasn’t always pleasant when she was 13. She recalls how she turned on her best friend during eighth grade.
Working with eighth-graders never gets old for Levitan, which she’s found can surprise people. “People don’t say to lawyers, ‘Oh, you’re still doing corporate law?’ They don’t say to obstetricians, ‘Oh, so you’re still delivering babies?’ There just seems to be an attitude towards teaching that it would have to get boring after a while. But it doesn’t.” Part of why teaching doesn’t bore Levitan is that she’s never satisfied. She remains committed to finding ways to be the best teacher she can to be able to transform as many lives as she can.
“I love coming to this job, and I don’t “I told her that she just wasn’t cool know if a lot of people can say that enough to be in our group of friends anymore. The mind boggles at just after 27 years.” -TD how low the bar of coolness must have been.” But then as she began 10th grade, Levitan realized that she had made “a serious mistake,” and so she spent a lot of time winning back the friendship.
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Spring 2008
hb alumnae Profile
Bailey Vance Bailey Vance ’04 is just one of those girls. It’s not that she graduated at the top of her class at Hathaway Brown—though she did very, very well and was deeply respected by her peers and teachers. It’s not that she invented some new device or cured some unshakable disease—though she contributed meaningfully to HB and to the city of Cleveland when she ran Carnival and was a fixture in the Service Learning program. It’s more that, since she was a kid, Vance has brought passion, confidence and talent to every challenge she’s faced. She’s just one of those HB girls.
Now at 21, she’s the Director of New Media at Tenth Street Entertainment, an integrated music management company, representing such acts as Blondie, Meat Loaf, Hanson and Buckcherry. “On any given day, my job can range from creating widgets and websites to working on traditional online PR to facilitating our company through the ever-quickening pace of media development,” she says. “With the ever-changing music industry, you have to find new ways to expose content to existing fans and potential new ones and the internet is becoming that destination. It used to be radio. It used to be MTV. Now everything is online. It’s a very exciting position for me to be in.”
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ALUMnAE prOFiLE
“It’s this mentality that you can walk into any situation and be confident and aware of your abilities in the face of new situations.” How Vance found her way to Tenth Street tells you as much as you need to know about her. After leaving HB for NYU in 2004, she took advantage of internship after internship to learn the music industry. “There’s not a lot of glory to unpaid internships,” she says, but the work didn’t turn her off from the industry. In fact, the opposite happened.
specializing in the music business and expository writing. After graduation, “it made sense to jump directly into the industry since NYU had given me the city at large beyond the classroom.”
Vance landed at Tenth Street after interning there during her final year at NYU. She made quite an impact. During her first and second years at “We were so impressed by her capabilities NYU, Vance interned for the president of that we thought she would have been Atlantic Records, a woman named Julie a perfect fit to be our Director of New Greenwald. “Seeing such an important and Media,” says Jordan Berlaint, Tenth high-powered female executive in a maledominated industry was really inspirational. Street’s General Manager. “Thus far, she has exhibited professionalism and It was very cool to have that exposure,” she integrity, and oftentimes we forget that says. she’s only 21.” Vance also interned at Rolling Stone Vance sees her time at HB as a critical and Muse Recordings. At the same ingredient to her trajectory. “From a very time, she worked her way through NYU and graduated in three years with a BA early age, HB gives you this academic and
responsibility capability booster,” she says. “It’s this mentality that you can walk into any situation and be confident and aware of your abilities in the face of new situations.” She points to “the rapid succession of changes” that occurred at the School while she attended it. “The Writing Center, Service Learning, sports, arts, music— everything elevated in those years.” She also points to her senior project, during which she interned at Cleveland’s famous Odeon Theatre. It gave her her first glimpse into the music industry and boosted her confidence to send out résumés when she landed in New York. Vance has lots of plans for the years ahead. But for now, she’s working to be the best 21-year-old executive she can be. She’s just one of those HB girls. -TD hb 45
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Spring 2008
honoring Past gifts by Shirley Reynolds
When the James R. Stewart Learning Center opened its door in 1972, it marked one of the most profound changes to take place at Hathaway Brown in the 1970s. The Austin Memorial Foundation honored James R. Stewart, an attorney with Arter & Hadden LLP, for his service on Hathaway Brown’s Board of Trustees from 1948 through 1970 and as its president from 1965 through 1970 by funding a new library with a generous gift of $150,000. Centrally located on the second floor of the Classic Building, the Stewart Learning Center soon became the heart of learning and research for Middle and Upper School students. It offered space for individual study and had freedom of access. With its bright lights, vivid colors, study carrels, increased shelf space, and the addition of microfilm readers and television sets, the Center was considered a state-of-the-art facility. The mantelpiece preserved from the former Mary E. Raymond Memorial Library provided a quiet seating area in the middle of the library.
A plaque now marks the former site of The Stewart Learning Center and recognizes James R. Stewart’s longtime service to the School. The Stewart Learning Center served the School for 20 years before a new library opened its doors in its current location on the second floor of the east wing. While honoring James Stewart, we must recognize the significant contributions made by his wife, Elizabeth Cobb Stewart Eastwood ’28. Her countless volunteer hours in HB’s archives helped to restore and preserve HB’s history. The Stewart children—especially Mary and Susan, who are both HB graduates—are very proud of their parents’ accomplishments and dedication to the School. Dr. Mary Stewart ’55 is an accomplished writer, painter, and professor living in England. Dr. Susan Stewart ’58 is a distinguished physician who co-authored “The Women’s Complete Health Book.” She will be honored in June at her 50th Reunion with the 2008 Distinguished Alumnae Award.
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ADVAnCEMEnT / pHiLAnTHrOpY
a great iNveStmeNt: WHEN FACULTY GIVE BACK by Debra Mayers Hollander
The very act of teaching is making an investment in the future. As teachers help shape and educate the growing minds of younger generations, they plant seeds for a better future. Some faculty at Hathaway Brown, however, take an extra step by making planned gifts to the School. Associate Director of Publications Susan Faulder believes that HB’s motto could serve as her life’s motto: We learn not for school but for life. “Hathaway Brown has been a very formative institution in my life and not just the place that I’ve worked,” explains Faulder, who has been with HB since 1970, primarily as a first- and secondgrade teacher and later in the Advancement and Communications departments. When he made his commitment to HB more than two decades ago, Clyde Henry wanted to show gratitude to the school where his career blossomed. “The collegial relationships I have made have been wonderful. These associations have really developed me as a person and I think it has just been remarkable,” explains Henry, a 28-year teaching veteran and English Department Chair for the Upper School.
He also remarks that he’s “happy to support an exceptional educational institution that succeeds in transforming the lives of women.” Both Faulder and Henry are members of the Mary E. Raymond Legacy Society, which was established in 1994 to recognize those alumnae and friends who perpetuate their educational ideals by making a planned gift. Glenn Looman, Math Department Chair for the Middle School, established the Glenn and Wendy Looman Aspire College Access Endowment Fund to assist students who are part of the Aspire Program in their search and preparation for college. For the past seven years, The Aspire Program has nurtured girls attending under-resourced public schools in Cleveland through a tuition-free academic enrichment summer program. Looman and his wife, Wendy, a senior research analyst at Benjamin Rose Institute, hope that the endowment will “level the playing field.” As he explains, “We wanted to give a gift to the School but we wanted it to align with what we felt would support the School and provide funds for the kids who need it.”
Judy Nelson, a history teacher for the Upper School since 1979, established an endowment to provide funds for students with financial need to participate in activities that involve learning about world affairs. The Endowed Fund for World Affairs allows students of all financial backgrounds to participate in programs such as Model UN. Nelson, who established the endowment more than 10 years ago, previously kept her endowment anonymous. But she “thought that if people knew I believed in the program enough to support it myself, then they might also want to make a contribution.” Endowment gifts like the ones established by Glenn Looman and Judy Nelson can be designated to support a specific area at HB or can remain undesignated to aid the School’s general educational goals. To learn more about designated or undesignated endowment gifts or how you can become a member of the Mary E. Raymond Legacy Society, please contact Mary Rainsberger, Director of Gift Planning, at 216.320.8115.
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spring 2008
The Smith Family Legacy
From left to right: Kavita Hosali-Syed, Clyde Henry, Lois Cameron, Pauline Thornton, Lucia Smith Nash ’46, Susan Levitan and Bill Christ.
With gifts from Eleanor Armstrong Smith ’17, Kelvin Smith and their daughter Lucia Smith Nash ’46, The Eleanor and Kelvin Smith Chair in English became Hathaway Brown’s first endowed faculty chair. At a recent gathering of past chair holders, Lucia Nash learned how the Smith Chair has influenced the teaching of English at HB since its inception in 1983 and how it continues to benefit the faculty today. For the faculty, the meeting provided the opportunity to express what an honor it is to receive this academic distinction. Recognizing outstanding English teachers who emphasize strong skills in writing, reading and speaking, the Smith Chair perpetuates the same standards of excellence in English preparation that influenced Eleanor Smith’s early education under principal and English teacher Mary E. Raymond. “We were taught how to communicate, which is so important throughout one’s life. We had a wide range of fascinating reading requirements which stimulated our curiosity for books, and we were carefully trained in the art of writing.” Eleanor’s belief in the preeminent value of a strong English department prompted the creation of the Smith Chair in English. With their gift, the Smiths encouraged the tradition of excellence to continue.
Every five years, the Smith Chair is awarded to a member of the English Department faculty for excellence in teaching, and provides salary support and a stipend for the Chair holder. The current holder of the Chair is fourth-grade teacher Lois Cameron, who, along with her colleague Mary Boutton, introduced a new language arts program in the Primary School called the Scottish Storyline Method. Storyline is based on the structure of a story: characters, setting, problem, series of events and resolution, and has met with great success at HB. (For a profile on Storyline, see page 34). Instrumental in establishing the Chair and longtime member of the Board of Trustees, Lucia continues her support of the School and her keen interest in strong, independent education through her philanthropic spirit. Lucia annually supports the School with generous gifts to both the Annual Fund and The Eleanor and Kelvin Smith Chair in English. “Lucia’s dedication to HB is immeasurable and her support indispensable,” says Bill Christ, Head of School. “I have always held her friendship, vision and bold thinking in high regard.” We are confident that the Smiths would embrace their daughter’s drive to preserve the family’s legacy to enrich the teaching of English at HB. -SR
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Youth Fleece $32 Soft and cozy, this L.L.Bean zippered pullover is embroidered with the HB crest. Available in pink or aqua in youth sizes 18M–XL.
poster $20 note Cards $12 These high-quality posters and stationery depict an original watercolor painting of HB’s recognizable entryway by Joan M. Losee ’59.
Brown Bear $16
Blazer Fleece $35/$37
This fuzzy plush bear sports an HB T-shirt. Brown Bear makes a wonderful present for an alumna’s new baby!
Join Blazer Nation! Support the Blazers and keep warm in this soft fleece. Available in women’s sizes XS–XL/$35 and men’s sizes S–XXL/$37.
T-Shirt $12
Travel Mug $15 Ceramic Mug $8
Wear your pride with this traditional block-lettered t-shirt. Available in pink, brown or grey.
Baseball Cap $19 These comfortable hats with raised embroidery are available in pink, white, brown or black.
Enjoy a hot beverage in these stainless steel and ceramic mugs that proudly bear the HB seal. Water bottles are also available.
Parent
association
All Brown Bag sales directly benefit the School. To place an order or for information about other items, please call the Brown Bag at 216.932.4214, ext. 7244.
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Over one million children in Malawi are without a parent, a home, and an education. This moving photograph, by Ilana Wolstein ’09, shows just some of their faces. Prints are available for purchase. Proceeds support H.E.L.p. Malawi. To order, email publications@hb.edu.
www.helpmalawichildren.org.
non-profit Org. U.S. postage
HATHAWAY BROWN SCHOOL
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19600 NORTH PARK BOULEVARD
SHAKER HEIGHTS, OHIO 44122
PA I D
Cleveland, Ohio permit #3439
3/12/08 4:04:01 PM