HAVERFORD SCHOOL Today
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HAVERFORD SCHOOLToday
HAVERFORD SCHOOL TODAY
LEFT TO ACCOUNT FOR PERFECT BINDING SHIFT board of trustees,
2018-19
Jennifer Paradis Behle P’20 Oray B. Boston Jr. P’17 Caroline R. De Marco P’20 ’22 Randall T. Drain Jr. ’01 Thaddeus J. Fortin ’77, P’09 Maurice D. Glavin ’83, P’14 ’16 ’20 William C. Hambleton William T. Harrington P’24 ’24 John F. Hollway P’18 Jason W. Ingle P’22 Barbara Klock P’23 ’23 Jeffrey F. Lee ’95 George B. Lemmon Jr. ’79, P’12 ’19, Treasurer Joshua R. Levine ’94 Michael S. Lewis ’99
John J. Lynch III P’10 ’12 Christopher J. Maguire P’16 ’19 Wade L. McDevitt P’28 ’30 Sharon S. Merhige P’16 ’18, Secretary H. Laddie Montague ’56 Jonathan R. Morgan ’03 John A. Nagl, Headmaster Jennifer N. Pechet P’15 ’17 Amy T. Petersen P’15, Vice Chair Ravindra Reddy ’90 Peter A. Rohr P’12 ’13 ’15 G. Bart Smith ’95, P’28 ’30 Dorothy S. Walker P’22 ’24 ’27 John C. Wilkins Jr. ’95 William C. Yoh ’89, P’18 ’24, Chairman
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE HAVERFORD SCHOOL
A $50 million comprehensive campaign that will touch the experience of every Haverford boy With your support, we hope to fulfill the following critical priorities:
John A. Nagl, D.Phil. • assistant headmaster Mark Thorburn chief David Gold • managing editor Jessica Welsh editors Emily Chahar, Sarah Garling, Jessica Welsh • class notes editors Andrew Bailey ’02, Emily Chahar, Sheryl Kaufmann, Jessica Welsh layout/design Emma E. Hitchcock printer Intellicor, LLC., Lancaster, Pa. photographers Emily Chahar, Ann Glavin, Sarah Garling, Yan Graf, Jordan Hayman, Lisa Martin, Mike Nance, Andrew Poolman, Andrew Putter, Jim Roese, George Scarino, Jessica Welsh headmaster
financial officer
Investing in extraordinary educators for our boys, honoring and supporting them with competitive salaries and professional development Faculty engage regularly in professional conversations, designed to foster collaboration between disciplines and divisions. Read more in the feature story by Becca Davis, Dean of Faculty, on page 24.
Jessica Welsh, Director of Marketing and Communications; 484-417-2764; jwelsh@haverford.org address changes Please send address changes to Disty Lengel at dlengel@haverford.org. about Haverford School Today magazine is published for alumni, parents, grandparents, and friends of The Haverford School. Nonprofit postage paid at Southeastern, Pa., and additional mailing offices. Copyright © 2019 The Haverford School (all rights reserved). contact
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this publication. Special thanks to: Agustin Aliaga, Nikhil Chakraborty, Becca Davis, Andrew D’Arcangelo, Yan Graf, Ryan Hughes ’14, James Lavino ’91, Elijah Lee, Nelson Liu, Michael Mitchell ’69, and Anthony Youngblood ’98.. special thanks
Front cover: Third graders demonstrated the mummification process in a skit that they performed during the Ancient Egypt Museum. Back cover: For Freedom Tour 2019, a cohort of students, along with History Department Chair Hannah Turlish and Director of Diversity and Inclusion Brendon Jobs, traveled to Washington, D.C., and cities in Alabama, including Montgomery, Selma, Tuskegee, and Birmingham. covers
FEATURES 18 Composing his future
with James Lavino ’91
21 Fuel for Haverford’s young writers By Yan Graf, Form VI and Nelson Liu, Form V
24 Cultivating a learning community By Becca Davis, Dean of Faculty
HIGHLIGHTS 6
SCHOOL Today
Realizing inspiring spaces for every boy, with completion of the final piece of our campus master plan: a new Middle School intentionally designed to facilitate boys’ learning and growth
HAVERFORD
opportunities
Spring lectures
10 Michael Stairs Memorial Concert
Opening doors for remarkable boys, enabling students from varying backgrounds and financial circumstances to access a Haverford education while enriching our community
Forging a community of differencemakers who have character at the core of their being
Join us by making your commitment to the Character at Our Core campaign. All gifts to The Haverford School count toward this campaign.
haverford.org/characteratourcore
FROM THE HEADMASTER 2 Charting the future of Fords Nation
AROUND THE QUAD 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 8 8 9 9
Brotherhood Project Lower School coding with engineering students Project-based learning New clubs Classical Society artistry Reflection Series Lectures Dr. Rodney Glasgow, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Academy Natalie Bridgeman Fields, Accountability Counsel Alizé Carrère, National Geographic W.D. Ehrhart, The Haverford School Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Rutgers University Guatemala trip World Cultures Ancient Egypt Museum Middle School Minimester
ARTS 10 Michael Stairs Memorial Concert 10 The Notables in Denmark
11 Scholastic Art Awards 12 Haverford musical theater 13 Arts Fest 2019
ATHLETICS 14 Winter sports wrap-ups 17 Basketball champions 17 Coaches Corner
PARENTS 27 Spring events
ALUMNI 28 Alumni spotlights Ryan Hughes ’14, Google Anthony Youngblood ’98, U.S. Navy 30 Alumni events 32 Alumni Weekend 35 Class Notes
REFLECTION 60 Nikhil Chakraborty, Form VI
FROM THE HEADMASTER
Charting the future of Fords Nation By John A. Nagl, D.Phil.
Dear Fords Nation, It was an exciting spring at The Haverford School! The Class of 2019 produced seven National Merit Finalists, the Theater Department put on a virtuoso performance of the challenging “Sweeney Todd,” and our baseball team got off to a particularly strong start – including hosting a triple-header fundraising event for pediatric cancer. At The Haverford School, we’ve come to expect excellence in academics, the arts, and athletics, and while we’re not taking anything for granted, we hope to continue to have successes like those we’re seeing now. Equally as inspiring are the strategic – even historic – changes to our future and our campus that are playing out right now. The 18-month strategic planning effort, which has benefitted from the input of alumni, parents, students, faculty, and staff, has reached a critical phase. Three working groups are combing through data and ideas generated throughout the process to determine what strategic priorities we should implement over the next five years. As our world changes rapidly, we must adapt both what and how we teach, a task overseen by our 21st Century Teaching and Learning team chaired by Trustee Jennifer Paradis Behle P’20 and Assistant Head of School Mark Thorburn. A Character, Culture, and Community team chaired by Trustee Randall Drain ’01 and Head of Middle School Jay Greytok ’83 will work to ensure that our programs are developing the men we need to lead our nation through the challenges we face now and into the future. And to guarantee that The Haverford School continues to prepare boys for life for another century to come, Bart Smith ’95 and Chief Financial Officer David Gold are leading a Financial Sustainability working group that has enormous implications for the long-term health of the institution we hold so dear. In terms of changes to our campus, the most obvious of these is the work that has begun to replace our Middle School. Maurice Glavin ’83 and I were present to witness the first backhoe-scoop of ground being broken; that utility work enabled us to get a quick start after Commencement on clearing the ground for a new learning space that will give our faculty everything they need to prepare Middle School boys for life. A new Middle School will be one of the outcomes of the $50 million Character at Our Core campaign. We are grateful to those who have already contributed to the campaign, but we need additional gifts to achieve our vision. Campaign gifts will be used to attract and retain extraordinary educators like those our alumni remember from their time at Haverford and those who are now teaching our boys. They will be used to fill our classrooms, art studios, and athletic fields with remarkable boys who would not otherwise be able to enjoy the benefits of a 2
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Haverford School education. They will allow us to complete the campus master plan’s objective of realizing inspiring spaces for every boy. They will ensure that we use all of these resources to forge a community of difference-makers – men of character and virtue who will lead our world. If you’re not a part of this effort yet, please reach out to me or to Jill Miller in Palmer House. We need the support of every member of Fords Nation to reach our ambitious goal! As much as we have to look forward to, we are also celebrating the accomplishments of our boys and of the faculty who have worked with them for decades. I’m particularly proud of Bill Ehrhart, the first current faculty member to be honored as the speaker at our Edward R. Hallowell Literary Lecture, who is retiring after 18 years teaching history and English and coaching winter track; and John Nostrant, coaching his final season as the man who made our lacrosse program a national powerhouse. I was also honored to be present recently as David Kim, Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, amazed and inspired our community and the boys at the first Michael Stairs Memorial Concert. We stand on the shoulders of giants, and must do our part to ensure that their work continues to educate and inspire today’s boys, and tomorrow’s. Thanks for all you have already done, and will do, in that effort. Go Fords!
Dr. John Nagl Ninth Headmaster
Headmaster John Nagl presents Strategic Plan survey findings to Middle School faculty
Brotherhood Project fosters mentorship between Upper and Lower Schoolers As part of the Brotherhood Project, Upper School students work throughout the year with Lower Schoolers, assisting with projects and modeling the School’s core virtues. The project was started by VI Former Khalil Bland and V Former Tyler Rippie, both leaders in the Upper School Diversity Alliance, with the goal of building stronger ties between the divisions. Bland’s younger brother is in fourth grade, so he was particularly eager to introduce Lower Schoolers to role models within the community. “The programming is intentional, but the interactions and the moments we have with the kids are very natural and authentic,” said Bland. “It’s a great lesson for the Lower Schoolers on how to interact and have positive experiences with people who may be different from them.” Rippie has attended The Haverford School since pre-kindergarten. “I see this as a great way to mentor my younger brothers,” he said. “I grew up in the same environment as them, so I hope to be a good example and guide them as they get older.”
Lower Schooler talks coding and game design with engineering students At nine years old, third-grader Teddy has found a passion for coding and game design skills. He’s fluent in many programming languages, including Java Script, Phaser, C Sharp, HTML, CSS, and Python. “I started coding three years ago after deciding I wanted to try to recreate some of the games I was playing at home,” said Teddy. “Now I want to help others learn to code. My goal is to create a website with lessons for other people.”
Teddy uses similar platforms and coding languages as the Form VI engineering students to whom he presented in April. The group discussed inspiration for games, coding platforms, and the challenges of coding. “The fact that Teddy learned everything on his own is really amazing and demonstrates his independent nature,” said VI Former Winslow Wanglee. “Coding is growing in importance as our society leans further into technology.”
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AROUND THE QUAD
Project-based learning in practice
Four Upper School teachers, English teacher Taylor Smith-Kan, math department chair Justin Gaudreau, math teacher Nathan Bridge, and science teacher Daniel Goduti, embarked on an intensive training session on project-based learning (PBL) at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Over the 2018-19 school year, they worked to incorporate four core principles of PBL – disciplinary practice, authenticity, collaboration, and iteration – into their classrooms at Haverford. “Unlike generations of students before them, our boys have instant access to information. They don’t need a lecture hall to learn because the facts are a click away,” said Smith-Kan. “Instead, PBL provides students with authentic projects in which to implement knowledge and create something useful.” “The PBL course gave us a common platform and framework to discuss these ideas,” said Goduti. “Collaboration and authentic
experiences are not just principles of project-based learning. These are principles of good teaching.” Gaudreau and Bridge worked with their peers to incorporate PBL practices into a traditional Calculus word problem. The goal was to determine what dimensions of a 3D rectangular box would produce the greatest volume. “When students finally arrived at an answer, they did so through trial and error,” said Bridge. “If we explain too much at the outset, it takes away from the students’ opportunity to problem solve, to work together creatively to overcome challenges, and to experience failure before trying again.” “The most important thing is not for the students to memorize facts and figures, but instead to have an understanding or curiosity about the world around them,” said Gaudreau. “We are teaching our students how to be thinkers.”
New clubs add to diverse extracurricular activities in the Upper School By Agustin Aliaga, Form IV
The 2018-19 school year saw several new clubs in the Upper School, including the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), Accountability Counsel Club (ACC), Pan-Asian Alliance (PAA), and more. “The idea that new clubs can be created at any time offers students the sense that Haverford is more than just a school. Creating clubs gives students a space that they can own and feel connected to,” said Brendon Jobs, Director of Diversity and Inclusion and faculty advisor for a number of clubs. According to GSA President and co-founder V Former Conor Wood, the GSA focuses on providing a safe space for all people. Members discuss local issues 4
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and stories from members of the LGBTQ+ community. The GSA hosted a Day of Silence in mid-April. “It felt like we were lacking any representation for the LGBTQ+ community,” said Wood. “In starting this club, I hope to help bring our community to a more inclusive point.” The ACC was involved with bringing Accountability Counsel CEO Natalie Bridgeman Fields to speak to the Upper School community, and brings students together to discuss global political issues. “The club has a worldwide perspective, and helps people who are negatively affected by environmental projects and human rights issues,” said IV Former
and ACC founder Patrick Bottin. “The club studies government programs, international business, and finance topics that we don’t always experience in the classroom.” The PAA was founded by V Former Sunny Yu as a space for students of all backgrounds to congregate and talk through issues impacting the Asian community. “We really thought our school should expand to include more formalized affinity groups,” said Yu. “I think it is important to have a place for everyone to feel welcome to share their experiences.”
AROUND THE QUAD
Students get creative to showcase traditional artifacts from Greek and Roman cultures Several Upper School students participated in the Philadelphia Classical Society’s traditional artistry competition, submitting entries in the drawing, models, and 3D printed model categories. Students created art representing an artifact, subject, or scene from classical Greek or Roman literature, architecture, mythology, or history. “This competition gives students the opportunity to supplement their studies with independent research and investigation,” said Dr. Andrew Fenton, who teaches Upper School Latin. “Each of these boys had to display his knowledge of the Roman world with his project; what’s more, they had to master the skills needed to bring these objects to life.” Entries for the competition included a 3D printed lar, or household god, a model of Pont du Gard, a model of Mt. Vesuvius, and a drawing of a helmet and swords. VI Former Intel Chen earned Best in Show for his 3D printed Roman coin die, which can make a Play-Doh replica of a famous coin from 42 BCE that commemorates the assassination of Julius Caesar.
Upper School Reflection Series provides look at different perspectives, life experiences Now in its 15th year, the Upper School Reflection Series serves as an opportunity for Haverford community members to share a talent, transformative life experience, or perspective in an assembly with Upper School students. “The Reflection Series is one of our most powerful community building tools and is instrumental in building empathy, unity, and mutual understanding,” said Mark Fifer, Upper School Dean of Students. “It brings the entire Upper School community together and allows us to have a shared experience that can serve as an entry point for dialogue on a range of important issues.” In a recent reflection, Upper School history teacher Brian Long shared that as a white child living in Kentucky, he rarely heard of racial violence, yet as an adult, he
found historical reports of violence just miles from his hometown. “Society had actively ignored and undermined the legacy of race and its effect on our culture,” said Long. “What we can do as a community is continue to educate and equip ourselves with an understanding of this history, so when racial moments arise, we are armed with the knowledge and context to support others.” “With every reflection, I think we get closer to building the type of community we strive for,” said VI Former Jesse Goldman. “They give students the opportunity to view the people they see every day through a different lens, and open our minds to ideas that are new and challenging.”
2018-19 Reflection Series speakers VI Former Yiheng Chen The immigrant experience Dr. Daniel Goduti Understanding privilege and perspectives Jesse Sataloff How failure helps shape you Brian Long Race relations growing up in Kentucky Hannah Turlish Experiences being an elite swimmer VI Formers Troy Barnes & Jamaal Shaw Passion for poetry Katie Schroeder The importance of speaking up when a loved one needs help Tom Trocano 14 years at The Haverford School
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Dr. Rodney Glasgow presents at 11th annual Middle School Diversity Conference More than 400 middle school students from 28 schools attended The Haverford School’s 11th annual Middle School Diversity Conference in March. This year’s theme was “Kinship and Friendship: Making Connections Across Lines of Difference.” Dr. Jay Greytok ’83, Head of Middle School said, “The message of the conference still rings clearly in my ears as the students who attended brought tremendous energy, hope, and positive commitment to making the world a more inclusive, supportive, and equitable place for everyone.” This year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Rodney Glasgow, Head of Middle School
and Chief Diversity Coordinator at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Academy in Potomac, Md. After sharing some of his experiences as a middle school student and administrator, Glasgow invited students to discuss their own stories. “I have found that every time I tell my story, a little part of me heals,” he said. “Your boldness in being who you are has a direct impact on your school community.” For more on the School’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, please visit haverford.org/awareness.
Joseph T. Cox Servant Leadership Symposium
Natalie Bridgeman Fields Natalie Bridgeman Fields, the founder and executive director of Accountability Counsel, presented to Upper School students on her life’s work of giving a voice to marginalized communities around the world. “We don’t have a utilitarian balancing act that we need to weigh, of whether the greater good requires us to sacrifice vulnerable people in order to benefit the whole,” she said. “Vulnerable people need to be partners in decision-making in the global economy, so we all benefit.” William Edward Gwinn ’86 Memorial Science Lecture
Alizé Carrère
On March 14, Upper School students heard from Alizé Carrère, a renowned cultural ecologist and National Geographic Explorer, regarding her experiences documenting and researching climate change adaptation. Carrère travels the world to understand how communities use local innovation to adapt to their changing environment. In Bangladesh, she interviewed farmers who are building floating farms in response to rising sea levels and flooding. “Around the world, it is important to be 6
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open to change, and adapt when we need to,” said Carrère. Carrère is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Miami’s Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy. She earned a B.A. at McGill University in Environmental Sciences and International Development and an M.Sc. in Bioresource Engineering. She is the great-granddaughter of Leslie R. Severinghaus, former headmaster of The Haverford School.
AROUND THE QUAD
21st annual Edward R. Hallowell Literary Lecture
W.D. Ehrhart
In his final year as an Upper School English and history teacher and winter track coach, W.D. Ehrhart served as the 21st annual Edward R. Hallowell Literary Lecture speaker. Ehrhart recited several of his poems, and shared the stories that inspired his writing, to a standing-room only audience on April 23. The next day, Ehrhart recited poems to an Upper School assembly and held a masterclass with more than 50 English and history students. “Giving the Hallowell Lecture was a high point – perhaps the high point – of both my career as a teacher, and as a poet,” said Ehrhart. Ehrhart’s lecture marked the first time a current faculty member was invited to serve as the Hallowell speaker. His lecture provided a look at his life – from his time serving in Vietnam, to his daughter’s childhood, and time spent with friends. He also reflected on his teaching career at Haverford. Ehrhart is the author of 18 books of poetry and prose, and a dozen poetry chapbooks. He’s also served as the editor or co-editor of four anthologies. His most recent book, Thank You for Your Service: Collected Poems of W.D. Ehrhart, was published in early 2019. He began teaching at Haverford in 2001 and retired at the close of the 2018-19 school year. 29th annual Davis. R. Parker Memorial History Lecture
Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar delivered the 29th annual Davis R. Parker Memorial History Lecture on April 10. Her presentation focused on the experience of Ona Judge, a young female slave who fled George Washington’s family in 1796, and her subsequent years spent as a fugitive. Armstrong Dunbar noted that history often ignores the experience of enslaved people, and glosses over the injustices they faced by prominent people in our nation’s history. “I was able to use Ona as a portal to the early history of the United States,” said Armstrong Dunbar. “Ona’s story gives us a unique lens through which to see the founding of a nation.” Armstrong Dunbar is the Charles and Mary Beard Professor of History at Rutgers University. She earned a B.A. from the
University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. She is the author of Never Caught: The Washingtons’
Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge, which was a National Book Award finalist.
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AROUND THE QUAD
Understanding the traditions and challenges of Guatemala By Andrew D’Arcangelo, VI Form
Over spring break, I traveled to Guatemala with 12 other Haverford students. While there, we studied the effects of colonialism on agriculture and production, and learned about religious traditions. I left understanding how the Guatemalan people are still fighting today to heal their nation from more than five centuries of turmoil. We began our journey in Antigua, but traveled to several cities. In San Juan, we spent time studying native production methods for items including coffee, tamales, fabric dying, and weaving. In San Lucas, we spent four days with host families and worked with the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute (IMAP). IMAP explained that historically, each family grew their own crops and made their own supplies. After colonialism, this tradition was destroyed by monoculture, or planting multiple fields of the same crop. This practice is detrimental to the
environment and IMAP is combating this style of farming with permaculture, in which varying crops are planted together to mimic the natural processes of a forest. Finally, we traveled to Santiago Atitlan, where we learned about the history of religion and spirituality in Guatemala. We visited religious locations, including a healing house where a female shaman blessed each of us. As we returned to Haverford, I thought of the lessons from our IMAP guide who told us that “Guatemala does not need foreigners to come and paint churches, but to come, learn about the culture, and to fight for social change.” By understanding a culture’s history, we discover the root of their issues and can directly advocate for impactful change. I will take this lesson and continue to implement it in my life in and outside of Haverford.
in the classroom
Form II World Cultures Form II students taking World Cultures at Haverford get the chance to step into the shoes of knights of feudal Europe, ninjas of feudal Japan, Confucian scholars, and European colonizers. Led by history teacher Kori Brown, students engage in reenactments of various historical periods, with each student assigned to a different social role, class, religion, or country. “These kinds of lessons deliver content in a way that is much more tangible, memorable, and enjoyable than just reading a textbook or listening to a lecture,” Brown said. “The students are able to experience the daily life of people living in different time periods and build stronger connections to history.” For example, throughout the unit of study on feudal Europe, students are assigned to be peasants, knights, lords, clergy, or the king. In the unit on colonial Africa, groups of students are assigned to be European countries that colonized parts of the continent, and need to consider what life was like for local Africans under their rule. 8
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AROUND THE QUAD
in the classroom
Ancient Egypt Museum showcases design thinking and technology Third-graders followed the LAUNCH process of design thinking to create their own artifact as part of the Ancient Egypt Museum. Artifacts included replicas of Egyptian gods and goddesses, ancient games and trade items, and tools used in mummification. “The students engaged in the design thinking process first through Look, Listen, and Learn: they visited museums online, learned from experts at the Penn Museum, and researched an artifact of their choosing,” said Kate Thorburn, third-grade teacher. “They then experimented with several different prototypes to create their own artifact to represent the culture of a civilization.” To infuse technology into the lesson, students created a webpage with an image and description of their artifact. Parents
could access the webpage for each artifact via a QR code, and also hear directly from each student about his artifact. Also as part of the Ancient Egypt Museum, students performed skits on the
mummification process, pyramid building, and daily Egyptian life, dressing in papyrus sandals, hand-made jewelry, and Egyptian garb.
Middle School Minimester focuses on empathy, leadership, and community Middle School students took part in the annual Minimester this spring. The four-day workshop explored themes that help each student grow as an individual both at Haverford and in their own communities. The sixth grade focused on being agents of change, while Form I boys explored leadership skills and traits. Form II students sought to understand their roles in the local and global communities within the School’s Character and Citizenship framework. “The boys often ask us whether the content they are learning in school will apply to their lives beyond the classroom,” said Kori Brown, Form II history teacher. “Minimester encourages them to think about their place in the world. The boys begin to shift their focus to how they can use their education to make a difference.” “Minimester made me realize there are so many people who are in need in our world, whether from sickness, homelessness, or something else,” said sixth-grader Alex. “It’s made me think: how can I help? It seems like we can’t do much, but I’ve realized any help really goes a long way.”
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ARTS
Famed violinist David Kim performs at the inaugural Michael Stairs Memorial Concert
David Kim, Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra, was the performer at the inaugural Michael Stairs Memorial Concert in March. Kim, a world-famous violinist, performed a variety of pieces, including Stravinsky’s “Suite Italienne,” Sarasate’s “Carmen Fantasy,” Kroll’s “Banjo and Fiddle,” and more during the one-hour concert. Kim also gave a presentation to Middle School and Upper School students, and spent time with music students while on campus. Kim was a personal friend of Mr. Stairs, who was a beloved Haverford School music teacher, director of the Glee Club and The Notables, and long-time organist for the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Michael Stairs Memorial Concert Fund was established in 2018 by alumni, parents, and friends to honor Stairs’ service to the Haverford community. The concert series brings a renowned musician to campus to perform in Centennial Hall and spend time in a master class with Haverford students. The event aims to celebrate music as an academic discipline as well as a source of inspiration and joy.
The Notables and B-Flats take on Denmark
The music exchange between the Haverford School Notables, Baldwin B-Flats, and Ordrup Gymnasium B Sharps began with Michael Stairs after a Scandinavian tour. The three schools have shared music for the past decade in a reciprocal exchange, allowing students to live in and experience one another’s cultures from an authentic, household perspective. While musical performances are the primary mission of each exchange, the bonds of friendship that are forged often last for many years.
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ARTS
Student-artists recognized for painting and photography Judged locally by the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership at The University of the Arts, seven Haverford School studentartists were recognized for 13 pieces in the categories of Drawing and Painting and Photography as part of the Scholastic Art Awards. They earned four Gold Keys, three Silver Keys, and six Honorable Mentions. Across the region (Bucks, Chester,
Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties), 83 Gold Keys were awarded. Regional Gold Key winner Toby Ma, Form V, won a National Silver Key at the judging in New York City for his painting “At the Ruins” (below right). Ma said the inspiration for his piece came from abstract and surrealist artists such as Salvador Dalí and Wassily Kandinsky.
“I wanted to create a contrast between familiar and other-worldly elements,” said Ma. “I was inspired by both classical architecture and abstraction, so in my painting I placed abstract structures in the middle of old ruins, which creates an incongruity that I think makes the painting really interesting.”
“Tibetan Woman,” by VI Former Yiheng Chen (left), received an Honorable Mention; “At the Ruins” by V Former Toby Ma (right) received a National Silver Key.
Elijah L. Haverford, PA 19 fellow Notables 1,098 reviews 927 photos
fords
2019 Notables Denmark Music Exchange
4/1/2019
Copenhagen is a walkable, clean city. It was interesting to see the differences between the suburbs of Philadelphia and Copenhagen. Wide, open streets made the city very pedestrian- and bicyclefriendly. We visited local shops, food vendors, and attractions. After meeting our hosts, we were given the opportunity to fully immerse ourselves in Danish culture, including the language, the food, and the customs and mannerisms. As the week progressed, we continued to experience how people lived in comparison to how we live. A prominent example was transportation. Instead of driving everywhere, people preferred to bike or use the country’s robust and extensive public transport lines. Throughout the exchange, we were given the opportunity to create lasting friendships with our hosts in their homes and during our travels. The Denmark Exchange allowed us to not only reap the benefits of traditional exchange programs, but also an opportunity to make music with each other, the Baldwin B-Flats, and our Danish hosts. We sang at unique acoustical environments, such as Frederiksborg Castle and many churches with majestic architecture and colorful stained glass windows. Although we were from different groups, we were able to collaborate and make beautiful music. It taught us that music is, indeed, a universal language, capable of provoking profound emotions in audiences and performers alike. All in all, this exchange opened up my eyes to embrace different cultures and people. I, along with my fellow Notables, are humbled by this experience and hope that Haverford will continue to engage students with opportunities to travel and learn about other cultures.
Parent volunteers included (from left) Gayle Gowan, Co-Chair Andrea Pettibone, real fords. real reviews. Co-Chair Sharonda Smith-Sims, Pam Carlino, Lee Seaman, and Jennifer Maddaloni.
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ARTS
UPPER SCHOOL MUSICAL
“Sweeney Todd” “Following ‘West Side Story’ last year, Mark Hightower (US music teacher) and I wanted to challenge the students (and ourselves) in a different way,” says Darren Hengst, Theater Director. “Could we all tell this story of revenge and obsession while learning one of the most complex scores ever written for musical theater? Could we tell this dark story and still find the humor and humanity in these characters?” Thanks to the hard work of all involved, the show garnered six nominations in the Philadelphia Independence Awards.
MIDDLE SCHOOL MUSICAL
“Newsies” Based on the real-life newsboy strike of 1899, the Disney musical “Newsies” tells the story of Jack Kelly, a rebellious newsboy who dreams of a life as an artist away from the big city. After publishing giant Joseph Pulitzer raises newspaper prices at the newsboys’ expense, Kelly and his fellow newsies take action. “I had the honor to direct a show that not only captured my soul, energy, and passion for what I do, but it has fully captured the infectious spirit of the remarkable Haverford boy,” says Jennifer Hallman, Middle School Theater teacher. “Working on this show with this particular crop of students has been incredible.”
ARTS
Arts Festival 2019: A reflection By featured artist Michael Mitchell ’69
I enjoy a wide range of photography, including landscapes, portraits, urban scenes, architecture, and wildlife. Extensive travel in recent years has afforded me the opportunity to capture images of cultures overseas, as well as many parts of the United States. I find photography a totally immersive experience. It is a voyage of selfdiscovery, as well as a source of immense fulfillment and opportunity to build strong connections with others. For this year’s Arts Festival, I shared a
selection of photographs that I captured on trips to Cuba in 2017 and 2019. They’re a mix of portraits and interesting scenes. I also tried to capture some of the amazing architecture. The reaction to an image I most like to hear from folks is, “That is a place I’d like to see in person” or “That is a person I would like to meet.” I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity at this stage of life to explore photography. I am forever grateful and appreciative of the scholarship that Haverford awarded
me, enabling me to attend the School for six years. The education and other activities at Haverford were life-changing experiences for me. The opportunity to sing the male lead in the production of “H.M.S. Pinafore” our senior year was the highlight of my time at Haverford. I must say that my 50th reunion year came quickly, but I feel both pride and appreciation every time I walk onto the campus at Haverford.
The annual Arts Festival showcased work by members of the Haverford community, including faculty, alumni, current students, and friends of the School. (Clockwise from right): featured artist Mike Mitchell ’69; John Panko ’09, Rick Garrity ’01, and Rich Hoffmann ’92; Haverford students and families inspect the detail in a showcased piece; IV Former Jaamir Shaw stands beside his photograph titled Bee Happy.
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ATHLETICS
Winter Sports Wrap-Ups Basketball Head coach: Bernie Rogers Overall record: 28-0 League record: 10-0 League finish: 1st place Team captains: Gavin Burke, Christian Ray, Jameer Nelson, Asim Richards Individual accomplishments: All-Inter-Ac First Team – Christian Ray, Jameer Nelson All-Inter-Ac Second Team – Jameel Brown All-Delco Second Team – Jameer Nelson All-Southeastern Second Team – Christian Ray Markward Club Inter-Ac Player of the Year – Christian Ray Markward Club Ferguson Student-Athlete Award – Gavin Burke Markward Club Andy Dougherty Manager Award – Luke Kania All Star Labor Classic Selection – Christian Ray, Jameer Nelson
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Iverson Classic All Star Game Selection – Jameer Nelson • Christian Ray named All-Inter-Ac Player of the Year for second consecutive year and Delco Times Player of the Year, and became the School’s all-time leading scorer • Back-to-back 10-0 seasons in Inter-Ac play • Captured the School’s first PAISSA Championship in basketball • Became first Inter-Ac team since 1930s to go full season undefeated
Ice Hockey Head coach: Daniel Goduti Overall record: 1-8-1 League record: 1-8-1 League finish: 6th place Team captain: Mac Costin • • • •
Growth year for the Fords that saw many players step into new roles and improve their skills Freshmen made an impact early, earning game time and respect of their teammates Many games were closely contested due to the skills of senior goaltender Carson Rooney Tied Episcopal Academy 1-1 in a game played at the Wells Fargo Center in January
ATHLETICS
Squash Head coach: Asad Khan Overall record: 10-1 League record: 3-0 League finish: 1st place Team captains: Spencer Yager, Nicholas Parente Individual accomplishments: All-Inter-Ac First Team – Spencer Yager, Graham Joyce, Christian Shah All-Inter-Ac Second Team – Quintin Campbell, Yeshwin Sankuratri All-MASA First Team – Spencer Yager, Graham Joyce All-MASA Second Team – Christian Shah • Undefeated in both Inter-Ac and MASA play and champions in both • 7-2 victory over Episcopal Academy clinched Inter-Ac title • Won MASA Championship by defeating Episcopal Academy 6-3 • Finished No. 2 in the High School National Championships
League finish: 3rd place Team captains: JR Leitz, Thomas Russell, Jason Chen Individual accomplishments: All-Inter-Ac First Team – Brian Brennan, Antonio Octaviano, Jack Deppen All-Inter-Ac Second Team – Bobby Blewett, JR Leitz, Antonio Crescente All-Delco First Team – Brian Brennan, Antonio Octaviano, Jack Deppen All-Main Line First Team – Antonio Octaviano, Brian Brennan, Jack Deppen All-Main Line Second Team – Bobby Blewett, JR Leitz, Antonio Crescente All-American – Antonio Octaviano, Brian Brennan, Bobby Blewett, JR Leitz, Antonio Crescente, Jack Deppen • Finished 6th out of 50-plus teams at Easterns • Broke three School records throughout the season • Finished No. 2 at Inter-Ac Swimming and Diving Championship meet • Antonio Octaviano was the 100-yard breaststroke champion at Easterns
Swimming and Diving Head coach: Sean Hansen Overall record: 1-3 League record: 1-3
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ATHLETICS
Winter Track Head coach: Luqman Kolade Team captains: Dan Whaley, Khalil Bland League: Track and Field Coaches Association of Greater Philadelphia Individual accomplishments: All-State Honors 4x200 – Dan Whaley, Guillaume LaForest, Kevin Thomas, Daiyaan Hawkins All-State Honors 200m – Daiyaan Hawkins All-State Honors 60m – Daiyaan Hawkins Delco Champion shotput – Petey Lemmon Delco Champion 4x800 – Lleyton Winslow, Ben Szathmary, Obaida Elamin, Khalil Bland • • •
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Dan Whaley medaled in the 400 and Daiyaan Hawkins double-medaled in the 60 and 200 at the Pennsylvania State Championship Meet (PTFCA) New School winter track records were set in the 60 and 200 dashes (Daiyaan Hawkins), 55 hurdles (Kevin Thomas), and 4x200 relay (Kevin Thomas, Guillaume LaForest, Daiyaan Hawkins, Dan Whaley) The 4x200 relay team also was among only six high school teams invited to compete in this year’s 112th NYRR Millrose
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Games, the oldest indoor track meet in the U.S., and the first Haverford School runners to receive such an invitation Daiyann Hawkins and Dan Whaley each double-medaled in the Association Meet of Champions, and Lleyton Winslow and Petey Lemmon also medaled
Wrestling Head coach: Jesse Sataloff Overall record: 1-9 League record: 0-4 League finish: 5th place Team captain: Kwaku Adubofour • Kwaku Adubofour placed 3rd at States to qualify for National Preps • Max Rosenberger placed 4th at States to qualify for National Preps • Secured first win against Abington Friends, 36-18 • Strong performance at Radnor High School tournament
ATHLETICS
An historic season The Fords varsity basketball team took home the PAISAA title after defeating Westtown 67-62 in overtime. The title capped off an undefeated season that saw the Fords win 21 consecutive Inter-Ac games, which ties the School record set between 1925-1928.
Luqman Kolade serves as head coach of the varsity winter track and spring track and field teams, and is an Upper School English teacher. As an alum of the University of Pennsylvania’s track team and a USATF-certified coach, Kolade brings vast experience in hurdling, jumping, and sprinting to the programs. Kolade’s 2018-19 winter track team saw many successes this year. The team was invited to the prestigious Millrose Games in New York City in February, and individual runners qualified for state and national competition at various meets throughout the season. Since Kolade began coaching, he’s seen an increase in the number of students participating in both winter track and track and field. Kolade focuses on making sure every athlete, regardless of experience level, is a little better than when he first started.
Coaches Corner
Luqman Kolade
winter track, track and field
“The best part of coaching and teaching is the same: the moments in between the lessons,” said Kolade. “Boys are trying to figure out how to navigate the world, and if I can help just somewhat in that regard, then I’ve done my job.”
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Composing his future with James Lavino ’91
“The timeless qualities are still the most important qualities,” says composer James Lavino ’91. “What matters is being collaborative, being kind, and forming solid relationships with mutual respect.” Lavino’s life story is best traced through the friendships and connections he has nurtured, beginning with those at The Haverford School. Lavino enrolled at Haverford in ninth grade after attending St. Peter’s School in Philadelphia. Music played a significant role in shaping his outlook and his future. “Michael Stairs loomed large in my Haverford experience,” he says. “It was a nice bridging of different groups of students. “Music builds connections. It’s good for group solidarity. Choral singing, for example, is very helpful from a physical and emotional point of view. At Haverford in those days, Centennial Hall was this kind of refuge for misfits in some ways.” He found Edward Hallowell and Dr. Robert Peck to be particularly inspiring teachers. “Along with Mr. Stairs, the influences of these men still shape my life today,” says Lavino. “I recall a particular snapshot in time: Dr. Peck doing the scene from “Macbeth” in which Macduff finds out that his wife and children have been killed and he doesn’t respond, except to pull his cap down over his eyes a bit … even for Shakespeare, the master of language, there were some experiences that couldn’t be articulated. “At their best moments, the teachers at Haverford created a scenario almost like when a bunch of kids are playing by a river, and someone gets a frog and cups it in their hands and everyone leans in to look – that’s what learning was like at Haverford. It had that sense of something amazing being revealed.” In addition to singing in The Notables and playing music, Lavino also found fulfillment and success in crew. He recounts a story that began with him being ousted from the team as a stubborn 17-year-old, but that ended with a lesson in character. “I clashed with one of the coaches and was kicked off the team as a junior,” he recalls. “It was humiliating, but also a weird badge of honor. Then, in my senior year, Dean of Students Russell
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MacMullan invited me back onto the crew team on a probationary basis. He taught me a lesson about mistakes and redemption. I had to row for the first part of the year with the freshmen. By the end of the year, though, I rowed in the varsity quad and we won the national championship. After that, MacMullan wrote me a letter and said I had showed true character, and told me that’s what was so important about Haverford.” After graduating from Haverford, Lavino attended Boston University and spent his junior year abroad at the University of Oxford, studying British poetry, politics, and history. He earned a master’s degree in English from Yale University and then moved to New York City in 1999, working as an associate editor for the acclaimed literary magazine The Paris Review. If the English and music faculty were the first connections of inspiration, Lavino’s time at The Paris Review spurred the next. “George Plimpton was the editor of the magazine,” he says. “He was a wonderful and fascinating person who had gone to the bullfights in Spain with Hemingway, who watched his friend Muhammad Ali at the Rumble in the Jungle, who allegedly dated Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, and who wrestled the gunman to the ground who assassinated Bobby Kennedy. His offices were in the basement of his townhouse in the Upper East Side and he would have parties where Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer would show up. It was the end of an era in New York literary life, and that was really neat to be part of.” Also while in New York, Lavino joined a band. The power of connection surfaced once again when a friend hired Lavino and one of his bandmates to write music for a Disney show called The Book of Pooh. “I had fun, and got paid a little money,” Lavino said. “There it was – Tigger and Piglet on the television, singing words and music I had written. That planted the seed that maybe I could do this.” He began writing music for friends’ short films, and quickly realized he needed more formal instruction. He attended an evening program at The Juilliard School, studying theory, composition, and
conducting, and continued writing short stories and screenplays – tellingly, one about a musician. In 2001, Lavino decided to put his screenplay writing and editing for The Paris Review on hold for one year – just enough time to see what would happen when he gave himself fully to his musical efforts. Delving into a new chapter of his career, Lavino moved to London with his wife, Molly Hughes, who he had met during his year abroad at Oxford. They believed they could pursue their careers more effectively in either London or Los Angeles, given the combination of music and film industries that was thriving in both cities. Hughes was offered a job in the art department of the Harry Potter movies, so London became home for the next eight years. “I knew there was a vibrant and centuries-old choral-music tradition in England, and had already established a few relationships there,” said Lavino. Some of his most fulfilling choral work transpired in England, including being commissioned to write pieces for the Choir of Westminster Abbey. A fan of William Blake’s poetry since his Haverford days, Lavino particularly enjoyed writing for the church’s 250th anniversary celebration of Blake’s birth in 2007. His music was also sung at St Paul’s Cathedral in London in the presence of Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. He was a member of the BBC Symphony Chorus in England and has been on stage to perform with Monty Python. While Lavino is commissioned for both choral and film composing, there are striking differences in the creative process. “If someone wants a choral piece, they defer to me as the authority,” he says. “They may set the basic parameters – that it should be based on a secular text, and they want it to be five minutes long, or that they want a simple adaptation of a Dylan Thomas poem, but I decide what it’s going to sound like, and when it’s finished.” Lavino relates that the film music composer’s day-to-day life is more like presenting pieces that he or she thinks is nice – and having someone else tell them how it’s not nice. “It can be a very bruising experience. It requires a different approach to music and to creation that isn’t precious about anything. Oftentimes, film directors aren’t musicians so they may give feedback like, ‘it’s not sad enough’ or ‘I love the tree, but there are too many leaves,’ or ‘I feel like I’m on a bullet train in Germany and I want to be on a steam train in England,’ and you have to be able to translate that into sound.” Further complicating the process is the fact that the composer is
typically hired late in the editing process, after the scenes have been shot. Lavino explains that the editor and director will often put in temporary music as they edit, to get a sense for the emotion and the rhythm of the scenes. “This may seem helpful because the composer has a musical roadmap to work from, but because editing is such a repetitive process, the director has heard this pre-existing music so many times with a scene that they can’t un-hear it,” he explains. “They either want you to mimic the temporary music as closely as you can, or they can’t get their heads around your vision – the image and the sound have become one element to them.” Lavino talks about how important it is for a composer to be able to collaborate and communicate, while not taking his or her work too seriously. “It took a long time to develop that muscle of collaboration. You need to be emotionally invested enough to make it as good as it can be, but also be okay with it not working out.” When he starts working on a film, Lavino first has a spotting session with the director. They point out the scenes that need music, how they want the scenes to feel, and what instruments they envision using - down to 1/24th of a second in a particular frame. They’ll compare notes and discuss ideas, and then Lavino will get to work. “My process is just improvising a lot: putting my hands down and playing music,” he says. “This is another instance where technology is incredibly helpful. I can just record myself improvising and if something amazing happens – it’s there! I do that until I know I’ve created something that has potential. And then I start building it out or developing variations.” The most meaningful project of Lavino’s career was writing music for a commemorative video to be shown at the 9/11 Memorial dedication, while former President Barack Obama was speaking. Lavino had been living in New York City on 9/11, so the event had special significance to him not just as an American, but as a community member. “I remember my wife calling me when the first plane hit the World Trade Center – it flew right over her head. I went outside and saw the second plane hit. I had a stake in this, and the museum dedication was a great moment to contribute to.”
About James Lavino ’91 James Lavino is a composer whose film/television music includes scores for Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning HBO documentaries. Recent scripted projects include Wiener-Dog, starring Greta Gerwig and Danny DeVito, and Never Here, starring Mireille Enos and Sam Shepard. Lavino has written songs for Disney and has twice collaborated with Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood. Lavino’s choral and concert music has been performed throughout Europe and the U.S., and has been broadcast on NPR, the BBC, and Classic FM. Commissions include pieces for the choirs of Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral (London), Merton College (Oxford), and Exmoor Singers of London. As a member of the BBC Symphony Chorus, he performed at the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican Centre, and other venues, and appeared on recordings on the Naxos and Chandos labels. Lavino studied music at The Juilliard School in New York City, where he was a composition student of Behzad Ranjbaran. He also studied in London with Paul Patterson of the Royal Academy of Music. Lavino holds a master’s degree in English from Yale University and was an associate editor of The Paris Review. He earned a B.A. at Boston University.
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His documentary work has presented similarly heavy moments, but Lavino finds them to be fulfilling because they have real impact on the world. He talked about Which Way Home providing a lens on the hardships of immigration and Unlocking the Cage shifting the definition of “personhood” and influencing animal welfare laws. Music for a documentary, Lavino explains, is different than music for a scripted movie. “Working with archival footage – with footage the viewer knows is real – affects how hard you want to push with the music. One of my mentors, Dario Marianelli, did a documentary about 9/11 and we discussed the question of whether you could really put music to a man falling to his death. Dario’s feeling was that you have to have the music there as a buffer between the audience and what they are seeing. Otherwise it’s too real, in a way.” Creating music for a documentary usually takes about six weeks, with Lavino completing two-to-three minutes of music on a good day. The process, though, can have an unexpected impact. “For a documentary about Jack Kevorkian, I had to watch the same 90 seconds of a man dying over and over again for two days. What sound complements this action? From an artistic standpoint, how do you bring death into a room?” An Oscar-winner and highly accomplished composer, Marianelli has been an important mentor for Lavino, demystifying celebrity and showing the human side of the business. Behzad Ranjbaran, Lavino’s composition teacher at Juilliard, taught Lavino to approach his work the way a carpenter would: this is my trade, I show up every day and I do it the best that I can, and I have respect for the work and I have respect for the art of it. “Mentorship provides an immense sense of generosity,” says Lavino. “It makes you feel like part of a chain of wisdom.” While mentorship may have provided a grounding presence throughout Lavino’s career, technology, on the other hand, has demanded dramatic shifts of the industry and of the people who comprise it. Technology makes it possible to work with directors and producers across the globe; it means that rather than hiring musicians to play music – and knowing the instruments’ sounds and capabilities – a composer can access music samples online; it allows digital editing right up until the film’s release, rather than the laborious process of literally cutting film. But will AI one day be able to write a Bach fugue, or a top 40 hit? Will the composer’s art one day be rendered obsolete? “You might not know whether what you’re hearing was actually played by real instrumentalists,” says Lavino. “In the early days of
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artificial string sounds, it was a synthetic sound that was generated by a machine. Now, when I use a string sound as a sample, it’s actually a violinist playing a real violin. It’s difficult to tell where the real ends and the not-real begins. But because the software is so good now, every little articulation – the rasp of the string against the bow – can be manipulated to make it sound like the note is being played differently. This is hugely helpful in documentaries, which don’t have the budget to hire live musicians.” Today, it takes little more than an iPhone to score a movie. Lavino just upgraded from a 2007 computer to a Mac mini. He has a couple of external hard drives, two monitors, and a TV that shows the movie he’s scoring. “My typing keyboard is still the old IBM Model M keyboard,” he says. “There’s a little resistance at first on the keys at first, then they clack. I find that sound really comforting. It’s something about reaching back to a more tactile age.” Lavino still trusts that no amount of technology is going to make up for the connection between two people sitting in a room. “As technology makes the work easier to produce, it also highlights the importance of the interpersonal relationship in terms of collaboration.”
“As technology makes the work easier to produce, it also highlights the importance of the interpersonal relationship in terms of collaboration.” As Lavino reflected on his own career, he had words of advice for those aspiring to get into the film business. “Assuming that you work hard and have talent, the best thing that you can do is to be in Los Angeles, or secondarily in New York City. The people you know are the most important. Network horizontally. Steven Spielberg is not going to come pluck you up. But one of your cohort will become be the next Steven Spielberg, and you’ll be lifted up together.” And as Lavino believes, that is the true power of collaboration, kindness, and respect.
Fuel for Haverford’s young writers In the regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties), 12 Haverford School student-writers earned two Gold Keys, four Silver Keys, and eight Honorable Mentions in the categories of journalism, personal essay/memoir, and short story. VI Former Nelson Liu received a Regional Gold Key for “The Solitude of the Road,” a personal essay. V Former Yan Graf earned a Regional Gold Key for “European migration part I: a view from North Africa,” which originally appeared in The Index. Both student-writers advanced to the national competition in New York City, where Graf was recognized with a National Gold Key. “Recognition like this is fuel to a young writer,” said Tom Stambaugh ’90, chair of the English department. “Most boys are primarily writing for their teachers or perhaps their classmates. When outside readers, especially those from what our boys might call ‘the real world,’ appreciate a student’s work, the student writer feels validated — others have heard his voice.”
European migration part I: a view from North Africa By Yan Graf, Form V The Syrian Refugee Crisis recalls terrible images of thousands risking death to start a new life. The photo of a three-year-old who washed up dead on the shores of Greece. The rows of people holding “refugees welcome” signs. Although the height of the Syrian Refugee Crisis has subsided from its peak in 2015, the topic of migrants and refugees still occupies the screens of European television on a nightly basis. As Bashar al-Assad regains control over much of Syria, and the brutal civil war slowly comes to an end, the focus is shifting to new waves of migrants attempting the journey from the south. Hundreds of thousands have attempted the trip from the coasts of Libya, risking being sold into slavery and drowning in the Mediterranean in order to reach Italian shores. A new frontier for migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, has additionally opened up in Spain, through the Strait of Gibraltar.
What to do with hundreds of thousands of foreigners landing on European shores still dominates Europe’s political discourse. This issue has fractured the European Union and seen the rise of far-right movements across all of Europe, as resentment against the refugees grows. Examining the complexities of European immigration would be far too long to fit into one article. I will divide my opinion on this subject into three different articles, each taking a look at a different facet of the issue. In part one, I want to examine the current situation in southern Spain and Morocco. The small Spanish port city of Ceuta seems unassuming when you first arrive. The streets are flanked by ordinary Spanish architecture, and Spanish is the main language. Yet Ceuta and its sister city Melilla, three hundred miles to the east, have become the new epicenter of the most divisive issue in European politics: migration.
“Yan Graf’s award-winning piece on immigration is an example of looking beyond the lens of Haverford to consider a global issue,” said Alicia Evans, English teacher and Index adviser. “I appreciate his brave ability to bring in the perspectives of multiple people in his exploration of the topic. He also showcased different modes of writing in his article, including narration, cause and effect, and compare and contrast, to make his argument. It is clear that Yan sees writing as an art form.”
To understand why, we must understand these cities’ precarious geographical position. The two cities are technically part of Europe, but located in Africa. Remnants of Spain’s colonial ambitions, they hug the African coast, sharing a border with Morocco — detached from the rest of Spain by the Mediterranean. You can enter Europe from Africa without getting your feet wet. This unique geographical position has meant that these towns have become a hotspot for sub-Saharan African refugees. Of course, the Moroccans and the Spanish know this and have made sure to protect the border. But, once they cross the intimidating and intense border wall that exists between Morocco and the Spanish exclaves, refugees are afforded all the protections given to them by the EU, as
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they are technically in Europe. From there, they can make the fifteen-mile boat trip to mainland Spain and, due to the European Union’s so-called Schengen Zone, can travel freely between European countries. After the Italian Navy closed the migration route between Libya and Italy, more and more migrants have been using this “Western Mediterranean” migration route to get to Europe. Over the summer, the route has become the most popular of the three major trans-Mediterranean migration routes. None of that is visible from the outside. The city seems normal, as if the people here had never heard of refugees. When my father and I asked our hotel receptionist what he knew about the migrant situation in the city, he said simply, “There is no problem here in Ceuta.” The news tells a different story. On the other side of a six-layer border fence, thousands of migrants are waiting to attempt the border crossing. Some swim through dangerous and frigid waters around the border, others hide themselves in the bottom of cars, and many more attempt to simply storm the wall. These waves of migrants are not uncommon — a month after we left Ceuta, 800 migrants stormed the wall during the night. The border often gets shut down by the Spanish police as the attempts get larger in scale and number. As my father and I walked around the city, we noticed several African men standing in front of grocery stores. When
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we decided to interview one man, he turned out to be just the kind of person the hotel receptionist told us were non-existent. Hassan, from Senegal, was surprised when he realized we wanted to talk to him. Once he realized what we wanted, he seemed happy to explain his situation. Hassan told us in broken English and French about the journey he had made to get to Ceuta. He told us that he made the journey to Ceuta by swimming around the border. He told us he had been “working in Ceuta,” but there was no evidence of that as he leaned against the grocery store on a sunny afternoon. He wanted to leave Ceuta as soon as possible and planned on moving to France or Germany to find a job there. We tried to talk to some others, but we had a hard time getting anything from them, mostly due to the fact that we spoke little French. While Hassan made himself and his fellow migrants seem like honest people looking for a better life in Europe, the tone quickly changed once we crossed the border into Morocco. On our way to Tangier, another popular migrant destination on the coast, we noticed large groups of sub-Saharans, all young men, standing along the side of the road. It was 8 a.m., and most of them seemed to have been sleeping there. When we asked who these men were, our taxi driver Muhammad told us that these were indeed migrants, mostly from Senegal as well, who loitered here on the coast in search of boats to take them to
Europe. He said that they were dangerous, as they often carry knives, looking to make money. He showed us deep scars on his neck and arm and said that a group of these men had stabbed him. He no longer picks up migrants. Muhammad explained how the police have set up checkpoints along the road to arrest these men who often have passports. As a result, most migrants hide in the forest. Indeed, on the one-and-a-half hour trip, we passed at least three police checkpoints that blocked the road, where officers checked every car that came by. The trip to Tangier gave us a look at what is really happening in Morocco, a country that bears the responsibility of handling these refugees, and their methods of dealing with it. The situation in Morocco and Spain is by no means unique. As the past couple of years have shown, there are millions of Hassans out there in the world. In fact, 1.8 million refugees have arrived in Europe since 2014. The numbers are decreasing, with The Guardian reporting only 37,000 arriving this year, but the issue still dominates European headlines on a daily basis. The history of migration to Europe stretches back much further than 2014. While the American public has only noticed this phenomenon in the past few years, refugees and migrants have been a touchy subject for decades. In the next installment, I will examine the history of these migrants, the ones that came before the Syrians, and their story in Europe.
The Solitude of the Road By Nelson Liu, Form VI There is a special solitude about the road: a tranquility unlike that provided by nature or the home. Because the road is not an escape from society. Rather, the road exists in the liminal space between separate spheres of society. Between the yellow and white solid lines on asphalt, you exist in a narrow tunnel of isolation; you are at once part of a cosmopolitan and sprawling system of interconnected roadways while simultaneously existing alone, uniquely detached from the motorists and world around you. The road is a source of solitude in the middle of a bustling society. I remember one rainy autumn evening this past September. The air had been crisp and clean despite the rain, hinting at the impending fall of the leaves. As I walked out of the Conshohocken Rowing Center and quickly made my way through the cramped residential parking lot, the sky above seemed a shifting mosaic of cloud and color. Certain quarters seemed to have been lost to the towering gray citadels of rain and wind: bleak and lifeless but for the falling drops of water. But in the west there were certain pockets of soft orange peeking through the bottoms of distant clouds, streaked with soft hues of yellow and red and pink. The light shimmered as it hit the dripping turquoise-green skin of my mother’s BMW (if I recall correctly, my humble Jetta had been in the shop that day). In the mix of setting sun and stormy sky, the light seeping through the clouds seemed to imbue these shifting colors with a sense of life and vitality. And yet for all the beauty of color, I was focused single-mindedly on getting home and taking a warm shower. I didn’t stop to appreciate that interlude between shutting the driver’s side door and turning on the four-cylinder engine. If I had, as I now do looking back, I would have been struck by that sense of possibility which suddenly infused the air. A blanketing quiet, silent but for the falling drops of rain and distant sound of passing cars, filled the air. The road beckoned with adventure. The engine roared to life, and dropping it into reverse I sped out of the parking lot and through the sharp
corners and stop-light intersections of southern Conshohocken. Still, there was a certain silence, a certain solitude, which surrounded my drive. But still I didn’t notice. Because that’s the trap of the road. The trap of routine. I, like so many others, had become so focused on the destination that I failed to recognize the beauty of the 90-degree corners and constant press of the brake. Because there’s a beauty to the local city road which is unique: that silence of the inside which contrasts so sharply with the activity of the outside, that isolation from the rest of the motorists lining up and anxiously waiting for the green light, that unique solitude within a crowd of people. It wasn’t until I got onto the highway that the moment came which inspired this story. I had just merged onto I-76 West and crossed into the leftmost lane,
passing cars. But it was muted. It was dull. It was distant. And above all, sitting in the warmth of all those lights, it was peaceful. In that moment, coming up on the righthand curve before exit 330 to Gulph Mills, I understood the beauty of the highway’s solitude, the beauty of the road. The road is a refuge of isolation. And not only the highway, but also the local roads. In those moments of beautiful lights and muted sound, when you are at once constantly interacting with other motorists but also worlds apart, you have an opportunity to take reprieve from the activity of the day and huddle in the cocoon of a car. What makes the road unique, what separates it from the solitude of nature or the home, is how the road is not set off from society. The road is not a Walden Pond, miles from the city and from your normal life. The road is not the isolated, self-contained domain of the home where you are trapped by seldom-changing surroundings. The road is not a pure silence, where you must wrestle your
“Nelson Liu’s personal essay, ‘The Solitude of the Road,’ was produced in the Honors English class during the fall,” said English teacher Dan Keefe. “Each student chose a theme, in this case solitude, and read a selection of essays that corresponded to that theme from The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology. Nelson’s work attempted to imitate the rhetorical structure of master essayists while simultaneously incorporating sentence patterns examined during the study of The Art of Styling Sentences. His command over sentence variety and his interconnection of image show his stylistic prowess.”
right up against the center divider, when the moment struck. Nothing actually happened—at least, nothing physical or tangible. It was an internal recognition of beauty. It was the rain-splattered windshield, the glistening mist coming from the cars in front, the soft sunlight peeking through the distant clouds, the little red lights on the top of the semi-trailer coming opposite-direction, the red taillights fuzzy and blinding in the darkening evening rain, the soft orange glow of the radio dials, the bright instrument panel directly in front of me. But it wasn’t only the lights and the colors: it was also the sounds. The best way I can describe it is peaceful. There was a constant light tapping of rain, a slipping of wind, a rolling of tires, whispers of
thoughts to submission in the strange ambiance. No, the solitude of the road is a solitude of society. That day, I realized that I didn’t need to retreat to the woods or plug in earphones or separate myself from society to find reprieve. Because by definition the road is a link between parts of society, between parts of life. The road connects home and school, school and boathouse, boathouse and friend’s house, friend’s house with some other location. I can find the beautiful colors and soothing sounds of the road wherever I am or wherever I may be heading. The solitude of the road is universal.
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Cultivating a learning community By Becca Davis, Dean of Faculty
“Learning at Haverford has been a pleasure because of the faculty. Thank you for genuinely caring, showing excitement every day to teach and to learn, and making sure we are prepared.” – 2019 yearbook reflection
These lines caught my attention because so often yearbook reflections name a particular coach or teacher, but I appreciate that this young man recognizes the collective quality of this faculty, regardless of personality, discipline, or pedagogical style. He recognizes that through his time at Haverford, through his successes and failures, the teachers have facilitated, guided, challenged, and inspired his learning. While Haverford has long enjoyed a reputation for academic rigor and a faculty well-grounded in their disciplines, in the last 20 years, we have worked with more intention to assure that we not only hire the best teachers, but also support them so that they continue to develop and achieve as educators. In the 1990s, recognizing that independent school compensation was poor and that this reality was affecting the quality and breadth of Haverford’s applicant pool as well as the retention of good teachers, the Board of Trustees committed to raising faculty salaries to a professional level and to improving their benefits. They then asked the faculty and administration to provide data around the faculty’s pursuit of excellence in the practice of teaching – particularly in light of the breakthroughs in cognitive science and its implications for learning. The response was and still is the faculty evaluation – a system that has changed the teaching culture of Haverford. This evaluation system – while conventional and similar to other professional evaluations in its general outline and instruments – continues to evolve into a dynamic mechanism connecting to the School’s strategic plan and promoting the personalized professional development of each teacher, no matter where that teacher is in his
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or her career. A major objective initially was to break down the silo model of a teacher’s classroom and encourage collaboration and building a learning community. While the blueprint of the original plan is still visible in our current evaluation system, the evaluation has become more organic and transformative than anticipated. If I could go back in time, I would argue that we should title the faculty evaluation “Professional Conversations,” while still acknowledging that a piece of it is external evaluation. The teacher in full evaluation has a team of three: Division Head, Department Head, and peer evaluator. At the heart of a teacher’s evaluation are the conversations – at least 11 – in a seven-month period. The teacher leads the first meeting and shares his or her work, professional objectives, and teaching portfolio. The next nine conversations occur after a team member has observed a class. Often these conversations result in suggestions for sharing and collaborating or for such professional development as visiting another classroom, reading an article, trying a different strategy, attending a workshop, or participating in summer enrichment. The final meeting is composed of the full evaluation team and offers an opportunity for feedback and reflection. The team members, then, are not simply evaluators, but listeners, problem-solvers, collaborators, network-builders – often coming back at the teacher’s request to see more classes. Consequently, the teacher is learning and growing throughout the evaluation process. At the end of the evaluation cycle, the teacher receives a narrative which celebrates the teacher’s achievements and offers the teacher a plan for next steps. The part of the Haverford evaluation process which has changed the culture of the faculty is not the standard evaluation form or tool, which we certainly use, but the added time and attention that the team and teacher give to discussing the craft of teaching. The effect of faculty evaluation has been transformative. The feedback from those who recently participated in the evaluation is positive, even excited. A typical comment from a teacher finishing his or her first evaluation: “I was nervous going in, but I learned so
much and found every conversation helpful. I felt my team had my back and was there to challenge and support me.” The evaluation challenges each team member as well: a regular comment from these members is “serving on an evaluation team is wonderful professional development for me.” As brain science has recently revealed, developmental differences and the uniqueness of learners’ brains require that teaching be differentiated. Methodologies such as project-based learning, active learning, and argument-driven inquiry have emerged as approaches that can inspire each student at his current stage of thinking and doing. Others will appear to challenge and complement these. Excellence in teaching in this century must include ongoing learning about cognitive science, multi-culturalism, as well as data-driven instructional practices. Haverford seeks candidates who are grounded in their discipline, experienced in relational teaching, and hungry for learning and growth. Our evaluation system assures that the professional development of each teacher is relevant, immediate, and deep. The formality of Haverford’s evaluation has instilled the practice of professional conversations, which is embedded in the fabric of our culture. As all good teachers do, Haverford teachers reflect on their work, but they also go a step further, seeking out colleagues to problem-solve, to better understand a learning profile, or to improve a lesson. It is often the case that professional learning communities or small affinity groups emerge from these conversations. Constant reflection and improvement leads to teachers sharing their expertise within the Haverford community and beyond. In addition to daily exchanges and professional development during the school year, every summer about half of Haverford faculty ask for funding to pursue particular opportunities. Increasingly, our teachers are seeking out “training the trainer” workshops and conferences so that they have a more intense experience to bring back to their students and colleagues. Most importantly, Haverford faculty are committed to reflecting on their own teaching, seeking out strategies that will engage and advance the boys’ learning. Rebecca D. Davis was appointed Dean of Faculty in 2006. She joined The Haverford School in 2001 as English department chair and currently teaches English in the Upper School. Davis earned a bachelor’s degree at Goucher College, a master’s degree in education at Johns Hopkins University, and a master’s degree in English at Middlebury College.
Read on for a glimpse into recent classroom lessons and teaching approaches that were shaped by professional development opportunities.
LOWER SCHOOL: GLOBAL EDUCATORS CONFERENCE Four faculty across the School’s three divisions attended this conference hosted by the Global Education Benchmark Group
(GEBG). GEBG researches and establishes best practices for global education and prepares students to succeed in an interconnected world. Its Global Educators Conference focuses on bringing global perspectives and knowledge directly into student learning. MEGHAN LENAHAN, FOURTH GRADE
Haverford’s Director of Global Studies Andrew Poolman once advised me: “You can ‘go global’ right where you are.” With this concept in mind, and rooted in the School’s Circles of Responsibility framework, I worked with my grade-level partners, Mike Kearney and Rebecca Henrich, to build background knowledge for global education in my students: starting close to the boy, moving outward toward their various communities, and spreading to a global scale as the school year progressed. The fall trimester for social studies and language arts focused first on each boy, then moved outward to the city of Philadelphia, and then finally the state of Pennsylvania. The most impactful part of the trimester may have been the “What’s in a Name?” unit, in which we read multiple books with characters of diverse backgrounds, races, faiths, and life experiences. After taking this deep dive into literature and discussing topics such as inclusion, identity, and culture, the boys explored the story behind their own names as part of a design thinking project. They represented their names and stories in a unique way, with one student sketching a portrait of his namesake and another illustrating how his name relates to his faith. By “going global” in the classroom, the students developed a strong sense of community and mutual respect. Throughout the year, students continued to ask thoughtful questions about the world around them and demonstrated growth in their critical thinking skills.
MIDDLE SCHOOL: LEARNING AND THE BRAIN Three Middle School faculty attended the Learning and the Brain Conference, where educators were challenged to reframe their approach to incorporate more creativity. The conference conveyed the message that today’s educators must prepare students to enter a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. They must help students build flexible thinking, strong communication skills, and empathy so that they can thrive in any environment. SARA BARTON, ENGLISH
In English class, learning specialist Karen Suter and I have applied the ideas presented in the book Visible Learning for Literacy. The three authors and researchers impart that middle school reading programs should focus on the development of skills for deep reading. All texts should be explored first at a surface level, then at a deep level, and finally connected to an outside text or experience. This idea builds on the strategies the Lower School uses in language arts, making text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-toworld connections. For instance, the sixth grade boys demonstrated their sound understanding of the storyline of Treasure Island by writing
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analogies between characters from the story and animals, creating song playlists for characters, and designing board games based on the characters. After implementing strategies from the Learning and the Brain Conference, I have seen an increase in students’ ability to transfer information about characters from stories to new platforms. By thinking in new, creative ways, our students are diving deep into the crevices of the content, thinking critically about material, and generating unique perspectives based on their experience. KAREN SUTER, LEARNING SPECIALIST
Dr. Douglas Fisher, chair of the department of educational leadership at San Diego State University and one of the authors of Visible Learning for Literacy, urges teachers to have kids talk with each other, especially about what they’re reading. When a student isn’t practicing reading regularly, words acquired within the context of the school day don’t stick – and that inconsistency can have negative implications for academic and testing performance. Dr. Fisher identified access, choice, and time to talk as three ways to engage kids in reading at school. I remain committed to providing reading time during class, to talking about books during class, and to encouraging the boys to talk about books with and to each other. We invite the Middle School librarian in for book talks and inspire the boys to be creative in their reading. They have written book reviews on Twitter, created book flyers, and developed book commercials and podcasts. Now, I see that there is a wider variety of books – and more of them – traveling around the sixth grade. Students are learning what they like and what they don’t like, which leads to better reading choices and more engagement.
UPPER SCHOOL: TEACHING WITH COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT Several Spanish faculty are being trained in Comprehensible Input through the Montgomery County Association for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (MCATFL). Upper School Spanish teacher Brooke Kenna is president of the organization.
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BEN WHITE, SPANISH
Comprehensible Input is a framework for making the second language relevant and accessible to students at all levels. Rather than focusing on arbitrary vocabulary lists, Comprehensible Input strives to reach students where they are and with topics that interest them. At the lower levels, students create texts based on their interests, playing with a lot of cognates and practicing several grammatical structures in a lesson. Generating these stories gives students ownership and allows them to be a little wacky as they acquire a new language. At higher levels, the teacher may adapt material to highlight cultural stories, history, or themes. For instance, in Spanish IV, we read the legend of La Llorona (The Weeping Woman), revised to the students’ level of vocabulary. By the end of the unit, we had covered eight different versions of the story that expanded the story’s complexity and provoked discussions of themes. The real-life, relatable elements of the story made the lessons compelling for students. ANDREW POOLMAN, SPANISH
One element of Comprehensible Input is the practice of vocabulary and conjugation through movement. In the past, I would give a presentation on the how-to of verb conjugations or take a more deductive approach of giving students a story and asking them what happened. Now, the students are creating the content. In one exercise, we stand in a circle and each student selects an action and the others repeat it: I eat, you eat, for example. We first learned about the approach of kinetic learning when Haverford School Spanish teacher Javi Lluch organized an Organic World Language (OWL) workshop for local schools. The instructor taught us Japanese vocabulary by modeling kinetic learning, and then he went through the various structures and techniques that teachers can employ to extend the technique. Another example of Comprehensible Input in Spanish II is using group storytelling to learn vocabulary and conjugation. From the class, we selected two artists, one decision maker, one note-taker/quiz maker, and seven audience members. Together, the students created a character they termed “oso-bot” – a hybrid bear-robot. As the audience members were envisioning it, the artists were drawing it. They began to ask questions about what “oso-bot” did last week, what types of activities he enjoys, and what he eats. This activity empowers students to be involved in the creation of a character and to build stories that they can connect to as they use the language.
PARENTS
The Haverford School Parents’ Association held three events in the spring. Fathers/guardians and their sons watched the Philadelphia Wings on April 6 at the Wells Fargo Center. The event was chaired by Andrew Putter. During the annual Spring Luncheon and Shops, held May 2, the HSPA celebrated the parent community and presented a gift of $220,000 to the School. It was chaired by Lee Seaman and Pam Carlino. On May 9, the Spring Fling featured sportsthemed inflatables, including an obstacle course, sports games, and a slide. It was chaired by Erin Hinckle and Nancy Smartt.
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ALUMNI
phone. I later spent six months at Google writing code to simplify the Chromecast setup experience. That really opened the door to a number of other opportunities. My next internship was at Snap in Los Angeles, where I wrote code to analyze and visualize GPS data. The program I developed correlated different data sources with regard to how and where the app was being used. It was interesting to see the differences between Snap, a relatively small, nimble company, and Google, a much more established and process-oriented company. I came to learn that very similar problems can be solved in vastly different ways.
ALUMNUS SPOTLIGHT
What advice do you have for current Haverford students?
Ryan Hughes ’14 Google
Ryan Hughes (above, left) is a software engineer at Google, a job he earned after graduating from Northeastern University’s Cooperative Education program in May 2019. He has completed internships at Comcast, Snap, and Google.
How do you stay involved with Haverford? I go back to Haverford a few times every year to talk with the robotics students about how to build teams and about the mechanics of creating a high-scoring robot. I enjoy seeing what the guys are working on and offering suggestions. They all have a passion for learning the technology and are very interested in talking about anything they might do to make their robot better. I learned a lot from others when I joined the robotics program in Form V, so I try to return the favor by helping current Haverford students develop their technical skills. The robotics program helps students learn how to work with a team, develop expertise in the mechanics of building a robot, and learn how to write code that works. It is an excellent way to develop a solid background for studying computer science at college. That was one of the real benefits for me of my robotics experience – I felt like I was a step ahead as a computer science major because I built the foundation while at Haverford. What internships did you complete as part of the Northeastern University Cooperative Education program? I started out at Comcast working on the Xfinity TV iOS app that lets Comcast subscribers watch movies and television on their
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There are many interesting opportunities with great companies in the tech space, but they often have a difficult time finding qualified people. If you like technology, start learning how to code early and work hard on projects that you are interested in and that you enjoy. Robotics is a team environment that requires students to develop expertise with both software and hardware in order for their team to do well in competitions. Developing both of these skills while at Haverford will be very helpful down the road. What did you learn at Haverford that has stuck with you to this day? One thing that I learned at Haverford was the benefit of working with people who are passionate and who have a common goal. Students often spent afternoons, weekends, and breaks building and programming robots, practicing and training for a sport, or preparing for the school play. Students enjoyed what they were doing and routinely put forth a lot of effort. The culture of effort, commitment, and hard work has helped me get involved in some amazing programs and meet a lot of interesting people.
“The robotics program helps students learn how to work with a team, develop expertise in the mechanics of building a robot, and learn how to write code that works. It is an excellent way to develop a solid background for studying computer science at college.”
ALUMNI
What inspired you to serve your country?
What do you do as an information warfare officer? I do cryptology, also known as signals intelligence – providing indications and warnings of adversary combatants. My job is to keep the ship safe. On one mission, we were in the Persian Gulf and my ship, USS Higgins (DDG 76), had launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles into Syria. It was my role to monitor the response from Syria, Iran, and Russia using signals intelligence. This kind of work requires a keen attention to detail, a calm head, and the ability to properly communicate with others. In an environment like that, you have to have succinct and clear communication and be able to work well with a team. It’s necessary to put aside your personal comforts to be able to contribute to the greater good. What should Haverford’s young men understand about the concept of service? You have to look beyond yourself. You have to want to be a part of something that is bigger than you. We all stand on the shoulders of great men and women who have made sacrifices to allow us to enjoy civil liberties, including attending a school like Haverford. But then there comes a time when it’s your turn to make sacrifices so that those who come after you can enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities. The decisions you make today will impact the future. The belief in a higher purpose is something I learned at Haverford. I encourage Haverford students to soak up everything the School has to offer. It’s a unique and special place that truly prepares boys for the real world. Every day, I apply lessons I learned at Haverford. Without a doubt, the School has contributed in large part to the career that I’ve had so far – and it will continue to do so going forward. What is a favorite Haverford memory? At the top of the list is all of the pageantry that goes with EA Day. That whole week is an amazing experience. Ingrained in my memory are playing basketball on Friday nights, winning
Anthony Youngblood ’98 U.S. Navy Lt. Anthony Youngblood ’98 (above, right) joined the U.S. Navy in 2014 and is an information warfare officer. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Howard University and a master’s in public administration from the University of Pennsylvania. At Haverford, Youngblood was on the Inter-Ac and state championship cross-country team, and also ran track and played basketball.
ALUMNUS SPOTLIGHT
The inspiration for public service was always in me. My fascination with the military in particular started in a WWII class with Dr. Brownlow. I knew then that at some point I would serve my country. Circumstances didn’t lead to me joining the military right after college, though. I took a typical career path: after graduating from Howard University, I worked in corporate America in the financial services industry. I continued to feel the pull of public service, and went to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania to study public policy. I began working for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter in 2009; he lost his bid for re-election, but during one of our discussions he gave me some career advice that I took to heart. He recommended the Navy because he saw leadership qualities in me and felt that the military was a great place to harness those skills while helping make the world a better place.
“You have to look beyond yourself. You have to want to be a part of something that is bigger than you. We all stand on the shoulders of great men and women who have made sacrifices to allow us to enjoy civil liberties, including attending a school like Haverford. But then there comes a time when it’s your turn to make sacrifices so that those who come after you can enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities.” the Inter-Ac Championship in cross-country, and competing on the track team. I learned perseverance – not just through these experiences, but through everything I did at Haverford. No matter how hard a situation gets, keep putting your best foot forward and you’ll achieve success. When I went to Haverford, I thought the work was extremely hard. But when I got to college, I was grateful for the experience because I was more than prepared to handle the workload. I felt I had an advantage over other students, mostly in terms of being a competent writer. The English department at Haverford set me on the road to success and I’m still seeing the results today, especially when it comes to writing reports that are haverford.org
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Alumni Events
Russ Ball III ’84 (second from left) and John Stoviak ’69 (third from left) were honored at the annual Alumni Awards Assembly in April. Ball received the Distinguished Alumnus Award and Stoviak received the Alumni Service Award. Josh Levine ’94 (far left) and Headmaster John Nagl (far right) presided over the ceremony.
More than 30 alumni gathered for the Boston Regional Alumni Reception at Grill 23 & Bar in mid-April.
Haverford alumni caught up at The University Club in January for the San Francisco Alumni Reception.
Young alumni joined Andrew Bailey ’02 for the Boston College Dinner Tour at Naco Taco in April.
Jeffrey Warren ‘82 hosted the Los Angeles Alumni Reception in January. Headmaster John Nagl joined alumni at the Los Angeles Country Club.
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You can find more alumni photos at haverfordschool.smugmug.com
ALUMNI
Headmaster John Nagl met Los Angeles alumni at The Nickel Mine for a Networking Happy Hour in January.
Elias Economou ’13 visited Haverford to hear W.D. Ehrhart speak at the Hallowell Lecture in April.
Former Board of Trustees Chairman Ted Rauch ’57 (left) and Jerry Aldrich ’58 attended Alumni Weekend’s annual Golden Fords Luncheon in May.
Henry Fairfax ’99 (far left) and Shane Jefferson ’99 (far right) joined Haverford VI Formers Khalil Bland (second from left), Junius Jones (center), and JR Leitz (second from right) on a panel at the annual Scholarship Luncheon in April.
Alumni from various decades gathered on campus for the annual networking event. The panel discussion, led by Nick Dodds ’07 (Vanguard), included Ravi Reddy ’90 (Citistructure), Ben Grant ’07 (Daily Overview), and Kyle Colburn ’14 (Merrill Lynch) in May.
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Alumni Weekend 2019 Alumni Weekend events included the Golden Fords Luncheon, with its newest members (Class of 1969) and the Arts Festival and Reception featuring Michael Mitchell ’69 (see the Arts section for details). Saturday’s highlights included the Service of Remembrance, Alumni Family Brunch, Alumni and Family Barbecue, and the Reunion Class Parties. Visit haverfordschool.smugmug.com for photos from Alumni Weekend.
“I think being on campus surrounded by the old and new, surrounded by the people who had shared experiences, is critical. That’s why I come back to campus as often as I can.” Josh Levine ’94, Alumni Association President
Reunion classes
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The Class of 1949: (front row, from left): Quincy Williams, Clark Driemeyer, John Scott; (second row, from left): Headmaster John Nagl, Peter Sprague; (third row, from left): Buck Patterson, Craig Biddle; (fourth row, from left): Dick Corkhill, Alan Kimbell
The Class of 1959: (front row, from left): Hank Collins, Tom Test, Dave Fletcher, Chris Harvey, Alex Howson; (second row, from left): Blaine Krickl, Bruce Lindsay, Frank Wilkinson, Al Greenough, Peter Crouse, Headmaster John Nagl; (third row, from left): Ståle Berdal, Tom Widing, Bob Bordogna, Bob Kreitler, Victor Sheronas
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The Class of 1954: (front row, from left): Spike Yoh, Bruce Krause, Wes Heilman; (back row; from left): Headmaster John Nagl, Tom Kellogg, Dayton Lummis, Hugh Dougan, Harry Bonyun, Wes Hackman, Bill Fortenbaugh, John Stetson
The Class of 1964: (front row, from left): Jeff Pfaeffle, Glen Nye, Craig LaForce, Elon Bateman, Peter Stevens, Dan Greenwood; (back row, from left): Henry (Harry) Bryans, Courtney West, Bill Hunt, David Hughes, Bill Bullitt, Bill Prewitt, Ed Kennedy.
ALUMNI
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The Class of 1969: (front row, from left): Headmaster John Nagl, Mike Mitchell, Jay Seiler, Mike Margolies, Cliff Cohn, Andy Fisher, Greg Kane; (second row, from left): Frank Porter, John Stoviak, Ken Balin, Jamie Evans, John Spahr, Steve Del Viscio, Don Wilkinson, Bob Lamp; (third row, from left): Jeff Groff, Dick Ivey, Ted Stokes, Bill Stabert, Peter Johnson; (fourth row, from left): Richard Green, David Lonsdorf, Ted Hill, John Burns, John Gerbner, Tom Lichtenberg
The Class of 1979: (front row, from left): Jeff Elias, Bob Clothier, Geordie Miller, Allen Purkiss, David Martinelli, Keith Thompson, Gerry Van Arkel, Wistar Wood, Dave Potts; (second row, from left): Lance Taylor, Headmaster John Nagl, Joe Greitzer, Mike Bradley, Tom Murphy, Joe Rovito, David Keiser, Steve Stinson, Chris McGurk, Charlie Clark, Wayne Griffith, Chet Simmons, Phil Scott, Jim Egan; (third row, from left): Doug West, Fritz Thornton, John Mynott, Steve Kent, Rob Meyers, Willard Wolf, Ted Gilpin, Geoff Egan, Scott Stein, Keith Morgan, Hal Yoh, Marc Tecce, Rich Atkinson
The Class of 1989: (front row, from left): Neil Rankin, Chris Hart, Gregg Jewett, Drew Clapham, Peter Odiorne, Jonas Miccolucci, Jonesy Lerch, Rich Smith, Jeff Conn; (second row, from left): Chris DiMarco, Rob Robinson, Gordy Walker, Geoff Beucler, Dean Malik, Ter Ryan, Fred Dewey, Headmaster John Nagl, Dan Murphy, Greg Howson, Mark Cortese, Blair Keller, Jaime Rantenen; (back row, from left): Scott Carriker, Brad Daggett, Steve McConnell, Jaime Kalbach, Garth Hoyt, Rob Scott, Bill Rouse, Sean Bonner, Peter Laveran, Brian Simmons, Bill Yoh, Fred Furia
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The Class of 1974: (front row, from left): Bill Ewing, Clarke Blynn, Brant Henderson, Trip Hansen, Chuck Yarnall, Peter Unger; (second row, from left): Martin Cooper, Graeme Thomson, Joe Troncelliti ’75, Jim Harrity; (third row, from left): Jon Hart, Jeff Williams, By Graf, Chuck Dutill, Doug Seiler; (fourth row, from left): Earl Forte ’75, Jamie Heldring, Rocky Schnaars, Steve Schwartz, Richard Toth, Peter Vogt, Leigh Hopkins, Keith Forster
The Class of 1984: (front row, from left): Kent Silvers, Brannon Claytor, Mark Micolucci, Bill Massey, Rob Ruggerio, Jennifer DiGiacomo, Headmaster John Nagl, Bill Kay; (back row, from left): Terry Spahr, Bill McCollough, Jeff Ballard, John Stewart, Tad Ward, Tom Hooper, Jerry McEntee, Jay DiMarino, Tom McGoldrick, Jim Corl, Russ Ball
The Class of 1994: (front row, from left): Piruz Partow, Kevin Ertel, John Fizzano, Chris Trucksess, Josh Levine, Matt Rosato; (back row, from left): Ted Harlan, Chris Arcuri, David Zhang, Jeff Berger, Seth Greenberg, Alex Shrom, Jack Walls, Greg Doemling, Scott Burkhardt, Chris Forte, Geoff Bennett, Saras Agarwal, JB Wiggins, Josh West
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’99
The Class of 1999: (front row, from left): Weld McIlvain, Geiger Smith; (second row, from left): Brian Glavin, Heath Ochroch, Mac Santomero, Chris Origlio, Jay Brown, Mike Silverberg, Matt Leone, Ted Claghorn, Henry Fairfax, Ryan Ferrier
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The Class of 2009: Charlie Hudson, Jes Bickhart, Kevin Lumbergh, Michael Gillin, Scott MacGregror, Nick Patrylak, Drew Miller, Graeme Nicholls, Dan Wigrizer, Bailey Candell, Phil Lynch, JJ Newland, Matt Wilson, Dan Noone, Jonathan Leung, Christian Purcell, Keven Eberly, Christian Amabile, Ferg Myrick, Alex Cyr, Jason Morgan, Andrew Friedman, Samir Butt, Austin Wolfington, Mike Petrakis, Ben Ware, Dilan Swain
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The Class of 2004: (front row, from left): Ridge Chew, Luke Zeller, Stu McCormick; (back row, from left): Dan Wilson, Ben O’Brien, Brendan Cannon, Stokes Carrigan, Andrew Geffken, Pat O’Rourke, Adrian Rooney, Rob Casullo, Andy Greig
The Class of 2014: Albert Ciardi, Dylan Henderson, Mike Soloman, Brendan Burke, Chet Bickhart, Hep Hepburn, Connor Keating, Beauchamp Zirnkilton, Bryan Rodriguez, Kyle Coburn, Josh Klein, Chris Wong, Nick Helber, John Zipf, James Holston, Connor Black, Jake Cohen, Paul Addonizio, Will Tacket, Henry Ortmeyer, Chris Sukonic, Mark Broderik, Joe Raymond, Frank Bonini, Evan Holeman, Troy Trauger, Aaron Langfurt, Christman Henderer, Justin Chermol, Narayan Rustigi, Thomas Walker, Angelo Brutico, Steven Boyd, Terry Rossi, Steve Scoriengi
Upcoming Alumni Events Oct. 10 Washington, D.C. Regional Alumni Reception The “Doc” Thomas Golf Classic originally scheduled for May 13, 2019 has been rescheduled to Sept. 16, 2019. Register at haverford.org/docthomasgolf
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Oct. 24 Boston Alumni Networking Happy Hour Oct. 30 NYC Regional Alumni Reception
REFLECTION
Penn Harvest: helping the food-insecure in my community and beyond By Nikhil Chakraborty, Form VI
My love of community service began early in my high school career, and since then, I’ve had the opportunity to found and run an organization called Penn Harvest. It provides nutritious meals to families in need through multiple outlets and also fights child poverty. My inspiration for creating the organization was borne out of several experiences, both at Haverford and in the community. I attended a youth program run by Robin Hood, New York City’s largest poverty-fighting organization. Each day of the program, we explored a different facet of poverty: food insecurity, job training, early education, and homelessness. Seeing the situations that people live in awoke a purpose within me. It’s easy to gloss over facts about food insecurity. However, my perspective shifted after seeing children struggle with obtaining the food they need to develop, people unable to find employment, and families left without a place to live. Part of food insecurity is the cycle of poverty, which leaves children unaware of the bright futures they can have. For example, in Form IV, I volunteered with an organization called Aslan Youth, which tutored children who were at risk of not graduating. I was paired with someone my age, except he had significant family challenges, including a mother in prison, an absent father, and a grandmother serving as the only income-earning adult in the house. There were not many role models in his life to motivate him to succeed, and he didn’t have anyone to tell him of the opportunities that lay before him. Seeing how someone so similar to me led a very different life was a highly personal experience, and it inspired me to continue along the path of fighting child poverty. Further, I noticed the supply problems that local food pantries combat every day. People donate during the holiday season, but almost every pantry begins to run out of food during the spring and
summer. This lack of food hurts families, particularly children. The problem continued to bother me, and when I started at Haverford as a V Former, I went to Ms. Loos, Director of Service Learning at the School. She encouraged me to do something about the problem, and maybe even start an organization that could guarantee food security for the pantries. At the time, I had no idea what this would entail, but she helped me navigate the process. I learned how to fundraise through her and the other students on the Service Board. Ms. Loos connected me with people who allowed me to grow my organization, and her encouragement and support made a world of difference to me. Within a few months, I had launched Penn Harvest. Today, I partner with local farmers and grocery stores to obtain food at a discounted price, and make weekly deliveries to several local pantries. I began raising money through social media to fund my efforts, and found the support of several volunteers. The organization delivers more than 4,200 meals a month to four pantries in the Greater Philadelphia area. The support for families living in poverty doesn’t end with supporting food pantries. As Penn Harvest has grown, so too has our scope of work. We are currently taking our first steps into national advocacy work, specifically focusing on policies that will reduce child poverty surrounding food security, early education, and healthcare. We are also growing our volunteer network of young people across the country and mobilizing them to help the povertystricken in their own communities. I’m very grateful for the Haverford service learning program. Before I came to the School, I was passionate about service, but Haverford taught me how to use the resources around me to achieve real impact, and gave me the confidence to make a difference.
Hear more from our our remarkable boys.
The Big Room Blog haverford.org/blog
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LEFT TO ACCOUNT FOR PERFECT BINDING SHIFT board of trustees,
2018-19
Jennifer Paradis Behle P’20 Oray B. Boston Jr. P’17 Caroline R. De Marco P’20 ’22 Randall T. Drain Jr. ’01 Thaddeus J. Fortin ’77, P’09 Maurice D. Glavin ’83, P’14 ’16 ’20 William C. Hambleton William T. Harrington P’24 ’24 John F. Hollway P’18 Jason W. Ingle P’22 Barbara Klock P’23 ’23 Jeffrey F. Lee ’95 George B. Lemmon Jr. ’79, P’12 ’19, Treasurer Joshua R. Levine ’94 Michael S. Lewis ’99
John J. Lynch III P’10 ’12 Christopher J. Maguire P’16 ’19 Wade L. McDevitt P’28 ’30 Sharon S. Merhige P’16 ’18, Secretary H. Laddie Montague ’56 Jonathan R. Morgan ’03 John A. Nagl, Headmaster Jennifer N. Pechet P’15 ’17 Amy T. Petersen P’15, Vice Chair Ravindra Reddy ’90 Peter A. Rohr P’12 ’13 ’15 G. Bart Smith ’95, P’28 ’30 Dorothy S. Walker P’22 ’24 ’27 John C. Wilkins Jr. ’95 William C. Yoh ’89, P’18 ’24, Chairman
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE HAVERFORD SCHOOL
A $50 million comprehensive campaign that will touch the experience of every Haverford boy With your support, we hope to fulfill the following critical priorities:
John A. Nagl, D.Phil. • assistant headmaster Mark Thorburn chief David Gold • managing editor Jessica Welsh editors Emily Chahar, Sarah Garling, Jessica Welsh • class notes editors Andrew Bailey ’02, Emily Chahar, Sheryl Kaufmann, Jessica Welsh layout/design Emma E. Hitchcock printer Intellicor, LLC., Lancaster, Pa. photographers Emily Chahar, Ann Glavin, Sarah Garling, Yan Graf, Jordan Hayman, Lisa Martin, Mike Nance, Andrew Poolman, Andrew Putter, Jim Roese, George Scarino, Jessica Welsh headmaster
financial officer
Investing in extraordinary educators for our boys, honoring and supporting them with competitive salaries and professional development Faculty engage regularly in professional conversations, designed to foster collaboration between disciplines and divisions. Read more in the feature story by Becca Davis, Dean of Faculty, on page 24.
Jessica Welsh, Director of Marketing and Communications; 484-417-2764; jwelsh@haverford.org address changes Please send address changes to Disty Lengel at dlengel@haverford.org. about Haverford School Today magazine is published for alumni, parents, grandparents, and friends of The Haverford School. Nonprofit postage paid at Southeastern, Pa., and additional mailing offices. Copyright © 2019 The Haverford School (all rights reserved). contact
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this publication. Special thanks to: Agustin Aliaga, Nikhil Chakraborty, Becca Davis, Andrew D’Arcangelo, Yan Graf, Ryan Hughes ’14, James Lavino ’91, Elijah Lee, Nelson Liu, Michael Mitchell ’69, and Anthony Youngblood ’98.. special thanks
Front cover: Third graders demonstrated the mummification process in a skit that they performed during the Ancient Egypt Museum. Back cover: For Freedom Tour 2019, a cohort of students, along with History Department Chair Hannah Turlish and Director of Diversity and Inclusion Brendon Jobs, traveled to Washington, D.C., and cities in Alabama, including Montgomery, Selma, Tuskegee, and Birmingham. covers
FEATURES 18 Composing his future
with James Lavino ’91
21 Fuel for Haverford’s young writers By Yan Graf, Form VI and Nelson Liu, Form V
24 Cultivating a learning community By Becca Davis, Dean of Faculty
HIGHLIGHTS 6
SCHOOL Today
Realizing inspiring spaces for every boy, with completion of the final piece of our campus master plan: a new Middle School intentionally designed to facilitate boys’ learning and growth
HAVERFORD
opportunities
Spring lectures
10 Michael Stairs Memorial Concert
Opening doors for remarkable boys, enabling students from varying backgrounds and financial circumstances to access a Haverford education while enriching our community
Forging a community of differencemakers who have character at the core of their being
Join us by making your commitment to the Character at Our Core campaign. All gifts to The Haverford School count toward this campaign.
haverford.org/characteratourcore
HAVERFORD SCHOOL Today
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HAVERFORD SCHOOLToday
HAVERFORD SCHOOL TODAY